User blog comment:USS Enterprise CVN-65/The New (And Improved) Official Roleplay Room/@comment-12161342-20151205042241/@comment-14850713-20151213012446

IC:

The Fissure's rocky surface is now teeming with Sith troops, while other Axis gunships and escorts swarm overhead. Suddenly, the waters around one side erupt in geysers as multiple missiles break the surface and head upward. They are launched by a squadron of 12 Oraborus sub carriers which has approached undetected. Half of the missiles have warheads that dispense radar and IR-guided skeets, and these explode in the midst of the low-flying gunships, knocking several out as the confused Vampire fighters watched. The other half have armor-piercing warheads, and they strike the undersides of the slowly-rising Soviet ships. The missiles use their guidance systems only on the terminal phase, instead relying on the highly-accurate long-range AAW radar (a precursor of the AMDR) of the Duperre stealth cruisers, which have hung back from the main battle. The submarines then withdraw at high-speed, their streamlined hulls unburdened by their attached aerospace craft.

As the subs leave the scene, over 200 Hyper Harpoon ASMs come in at wave-top level and then rise up on an arching trajectory to their targets. Though many are shot down by Axis air defenses, those that get through prove devastating to the massed Sith ground formations. These missiles have come from 24 Durandal fighters, which have launched from the sub carriers before they made their attack, and have hovered beyond the detection range of the Axis. They have advanced in a 6 abreast formation, releasing salvos at 500 km and 300 km before swinging back and repeating the maneuver (referred to in the fleet as the caracole) until their missiles were depleted. Hundreds of Sith troops and many support vehicles are destroyed, giving the beleaguered defenders some respite.

But the attack is no more than a pinprick to the Axis juggernaut. As the AFOH force desperately tries to disengage, a secure message is quickly sent to the UAC:

"Enemy holds the surface in strength. Defense now next to impossible. Suggest the defenders break out while they still can." - Tenelapis Command