NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: For those of you who have kept up with Elarian History, you should know what this is about. No spammers, only those who have been given permission, ie my allies and those who TG me and I give permission are allowed to post here. Thanks.

IC:

Admiral Hester walked to the front of the bridge to behold beauty and chaos. The ship was cloaked to avoid detection, one of the only reasons that the ship had escaped with the last survivors of Elara the first time.

"Slow to impulse,...scan those vessels."

Infront of them lay an Armada, these were not Elaran though...these belonged to whomever had almost exterminated the Elaran Race thousands of years ago.

"Admiral sir, the ships arent as powerful as this one, but they are massive....and each one having the power of an Entire Fleet." "Our own ships would be like toys compared to these."

Admiral Hester sighs deeply as he sits in his command chair.

"Very true, though it appears our ancesters were more powerful, this vessel we sit in is proof of that." He sits pondering, tapping his armor covered fingers on the armrest of his chair. "Then how did they defeat us?" "Superior numbers?" He mumbles to himself.

"Your orders Admiral?"

"Comm, get me High Command, I need to speak to the Emperor...encoded incase our friends are listening."

"Yes Admiral!" The Comm Operator opened an encoded transmission and gave the Admiral the signal that he was on with the Emperor.

"Sire, we have located the Homeworld..."

"Hester, my old friend , so great to hear from you after all these years we were begining to worry." "But even greater, to hear that you have found the Homeworld....Elara."

"You used to speak with me of an ancient enemy....they are here m'lord." "Their vessels are more powerful than any I have ever seen, not including this one." pause "We have had to rebuild I know, and we've come so far...but Emperor...I do not think this is a war we can win." "Their ships have the power of entire fleets, and it looks as though they are building an invasion force to spread beyond this system." "The only way we stand a chance is if we can bring entire fleets and armies , not only ours but our allies....even then...the chances arent great."

"No no, we WILL do this ourselves...I do not want to endanger our allies." "Theyve done enough for us already, its time to prove our strength."

"With all do respect my liege if this invasion force launches they are already endanger."

"No!" "We will do this alone...I do not want to be the cause of the pinkskins extermination if they get involved and fail." "The might of the Empire will overwhelm them, we have the weaponry we designed in secret to use against the Sha'Ra...I have faith in my people, as you should." "Now that you have found the Homeworld it shouldnt take you long to get back." "Meet back at Earth, I will be assembling our Fleet in its entirety, as well as our Legions."

"APTO will surely notice such massive military movements."

"Perhaps, but keep this quiet for now."

"Yes m'lord, with haste we shall return." Admiral Hester salutes as the screen turns black, Roland lifts from his chair to a golden sunrise.

"Thousands of years since Ive seen the Homeworld...Elara." "Finally...."[/b] He turns to his Generals who have been listening. [i]"Give the orders..."

+---+---+---+---+

By midday the Elaran Legions and Fleets are being assembled, and the mighty Elaran Fleet is visibly by the naked eye from ground. Surely APTO would notice this, but Emperor Roland was hoping they wouldnt pay attention.

== Aries Shipyards-Liberty System==

Marshall/Chancellor O'Connor walked through the corridors of the observation area. His son and Vice Marshall walked behind and beside him. Thier train of various Admirals and Captains were in thier wake.

The turn in the corridor indicated thier location. The Main observation lounge.

O'Connor was stunned as he looked out the window. He was satisfyed.

"High Marshall, may I present to you, Alpha fleet." SaidVice Marshall O'Connor(Jr.).

He had been away at the system shipyards for 3 years now. After the passing of the Fleet Budget, the CLF began its huge project. 3 Fleets, with brand new designs.

The joint R&D treaty with the ETE had produced the empire fine forces as well. The Trinese Emperor Arys Oakheart was quoted in saying, "Now my brother[William O'Connor], we shall stand at the fore front of this galaxy, for these Armadas will not be stopped by anyone else here."

High Marshall O'Connor commented

"Let's hope this is enough. Ensign, get me Intel on the phone, I want the latest from our blue-skinned brethren"

Not much occured in the reaches of space, these days, that CLF Intel didn't hear of...

"Shit, Nicky, shit." Jain Granger breathed quietly as she stared at the overweight Admiral in front of her. "That's the biggest concentration of firepower I've seen in a long time." She stared at the numbers then back up at the assembled knot of people. "Signal to the Elaran Fleet that Admiral Jain Granger will be back in uniform and ready to do our part. Recall the Fleet, dust off the mothballs, recall the reserves and reactivate the engines. There's a bond of blood here, let's go."

Through the streets of Elara the heavy clanking of armor is heard as the Imperial Army marches to the Transports.

Through the soft mists of the morning planes come and go, continuing to transport all non Elarans out of Elara and back to their homelands. And just barely visible off the coast lies the mighty Elaran Naval Fleet preventing any non Elaran ships from entering. All this by order of the Emperor.

Emperor Roland stands in the Silver Tower staring out at the Legions as they board the transports. A young Elaran Warrior walks in and keels down with his head lowered looking at the floor.

"M'lord, a Fleet reports that Adejaani has sent them a message saying We are ready to do our part , your orders sire?"

"I have fought with these people, the least I can do is let them know whats happening....thank you, continue on with your duties."

The young Warrior stands, bows takes a few steps backwards until he reaches the door then turns and leaves.

"They must know but...I cannot endanger them...they must not join us in our task." Roland says with a deep sigh as he walks over to a small desk presses the screen and begins to speak...

Transmission Opened:
Target: Adejaani, Liberty Fighters, Sambizie, Atlantian Outcasts.

"My friends, a matter of great importance has arisen." "I would like to invite you all to Elara so that I might explain in full the situation and put your minds at ease over the massive military movements Elara is making at this time." "Thank you all."

Andromada recived the transmittion.
She walked out of her room. "Whats this about an Elarian military buildup? Why does no one tell me anything?"
The other officers on the station looked at each other,looking for a scapgoat.
"Nevermind. Is Senator Orion back yet?" she asked.
"No mam, he's still in Neo-Atlantian territory" said one of the officers.
"He's taking his time, thats for sure. Alright, I guess I'll have to fill in. Get me my Shuttle. I'm taking a trip to Elara. If Orion gets back before me, tell him where I went" And with that, she walked out of the room, and towords the shipyard, compleatly unaware that the station was suddenly reporting a battle occuring in the Uxal system--the Neo-Atlantians had arrived.

**********************************

She arrived in Elarian space soon after. Travle by jump nodes was quick--sometimes.

Two Elarian Gentari Fighters fly up next to the Atlantian vessel, one of the left and one on the right.

"Atlantian craft, this area has been closed off to.." The pilot stops talking as he listens to an incoming transmission. "Please follow us, and if you have tracking signatures, turn them off."

The fighters fly into a heavily forested area away from all installations and cities, suddenly the forest seems to open up revealing a large landing bay.

"Please land, youll be met and led to the meeting area." The two Gentari Fighters fly off back up into the sky...

Pluskat was sitting at his desk, nothing special, the fleet orders, the army orders, the navy orders of that day had been issued. He had just pulled out a cigar when Aegent, the head of the Abwehr came bashing into the room....

"PLUSKAT!!! God dear Pluskat!"

'What is it man!??!"

"Look read!!" He hands him the intel reports.

"Good god, what the hell is Elara doing? Or who are they going to kill!? I must know more! Ok"

He returns to his desk with Aegent still standing before him. A large video screen slithers down from the ceiling. Pluskat presses a button.

"Roland, what are you doing old Komerad? Whats this buildup? Please, it looks as if a War is comming, we have been allies for how many years..and have never turned out backs on one another! So, please fill me in, and god speed!"

The Scarab Shuttle landed, and Senator Andromada stepped out, acompainied by two Trident guards.

"God damn, I've never met the leaders of Elara" she said to herself "they were always Orion's freinds" She sighed. She had no idea what was happening to Orion, the planet Uxal, the combined Atlantian/Zoir/LRR fleet, or the Zoir empire. All she knew was that AO had found its old homeworld, and that nearby, there was another Atlantian nation. The Irony was, she didn't even know that the Elarians had also found their homeworld.....

"A sight to behold, a sight to behold!" Everyone grinned as Dan "Nicky" Nichols was clearly excited and practically jumping for joy. A very serious officer, who was determined not to let his injuries or weight get in the way of his duties... And he was very good at that.

Admiral Jain Granger smoothed the front of her dress uniform, looking as smart as ever. She'd resigned as President, handing power back to Halvent, though still had all the power as if she still attained the position.

Standing along in the row was Vice Admirals Nichols (Fleet Ops) and Shield Williamson (Deputy Fleet Commander); Lieutenant Generals Art "CAG" Graham (Senior Commander Air Group) and Jack "Jackie" Reynolds (Marine Commander), who could barely contain their enthusiasm.

The dry rot that had settled in after the full surrender of the Sha'Ra was reversed and it was definitely a sight to behold. The Constitution (Granger's Flagship) looked decidedly flamboyant, painted a silver grey, with red trim. Similarly adorned fighters in perfect formation flew past. One could almost imagine the ground tremble and the whoosh as they flew past. There were only four little Sambizie class Destroyers as escort, who were wearing their usual dull "war paint" colors.

"What if they tell us not to go?" Graham interjected from somewhere on Granger's left.

"Then we remind them just who we are and who Roland's wife is and the bonds our nations share." Granger replied evenly. "And remember, as much as I said that AMF, Crimmond, Pantera and the now vacant Imitora are the cornerstones of APTO power, it was Adejaani, Elara, Liberty Fighters and Sambizie that won against the Sha'Ra. That's nothing to sneeze at, Arty. If they turn us back I'll play that card. We're in this together, we're close. Bond of blood."

On cue, someone handed a clipboard to Nichols. "Recall of personnel is at 77%. Fleet-wide status at 83%. The entire Fleet, upgraded and ready for the next round can sortie within a week."

Granger nodded approval. "Good. Signal the Elarans that me, Nicky, Shield, CAG, and Jackie will be down in a shuttle pending clearance."

Military build up had been constant and magnificent druing the times of the ShaRa war, the CLF had reached the peack of thier power at that time, but since the surrender, the great war machine of Liberty since faded. It had taken only such a rumor, and evidence of the actions of Elara, to re-fill the hole left by the mighty forces that once stood for the Commonwealth. And when called upon, the people, and soldiers, nearly filled that gap...in days. Strong were the ties between Elara and the CLF, and the people reacted accordingly. They would not let thier brethren stand alone.


The War Reft bills had passed congress instantly, and the country began to reach wartime economy. Most slots were filled in days, and it was expected to take 3 months to reach the same height, if not higher, as was in the war with the ShaRa.

At the Zues shipyards, crewmen scrambled everywhere, the second, or Bravo Fleet was preparing to show themselves, to thier new Admiral. Benson was her name, she was the replacement of the famed Admiral Albrecht, who met her demise when a plasma conduit exploded, burning her alive, for hours.

The Admiral was pleased to see her brand new command so armed, not single foe would be able to stand against Bravo Fleet.


The same scene was played over at the Athena shipyards with Charlie fleet. The old offenive Armadas of the common wealth were to stay in home defense. The Vanguard Fleets, as well as the Primary fleets, out dated Carrier Space Groups. There was a new dawn in the warfare of the Commonwealth, and it was lead by the jewl, the Inuendo class Battle Cruiser, as well as dozens of other new classes, ready to strike out with the fury of liberty....

**LSS-O'Connor FS-1***

The Ensign at the helm turned around, "Marshall, we are in range to launch a shuttle pod sir."

O'Connor sat at the command chair on the Ship's Bridge. Innuendo Class, the Armada's flagship. "Thank you ensign, Admiral Shoemaker, you have the bridge. Colin, with me."

The Marshall and Vice Marshall strode off the bridge and into the microtransporter, down to the shuttle bay.

The shuttle left the forcefield and out into free space. It began to decend into Elarian Airspace, asking for landing clearance. The only other person on the shuttle was the pilot, a Midshipman fresh from the academy.

BUMPage

OOC: Sorry Ive been busy the last few days, prepping for a move in the next few months or so. But now back to it. Lets get this thing rolling again and have some fun with it.

IC:

Transmission Opened:
Target: Adejaani Vessel,
Target:CLF Vessel:

"This is Elaran Command, please turn off any tracking signatures you might have." "If you notice to the sides of your vessels youll see Gentari Fighters, please follow them, the Emperor is expecting you."

Transmission Ended.

As the sun begins to set the Gentari Fighters finally reach the misty, vast forest below. The pilots instruct the two vessels to land next to the Atlantian Scarab Shuttle and then fly off into the evening sky.

+---+---+---+---+

A hooded Elaran man in a black cloak approaches the Atlantian Delegate, Andromada. In his hand he holds a strange silvery looking device. Infact at every entrance and doorway there appears to be two of these hooded Elaran figures, in same dress and carrying the same strange device in hand.

He bows deeply to the Atlantian showing great respect as is custom in Elara. Then with a very noble and authoritative voice he began to speak as he rose:

"Welcome to Elara Senator Andromada, please if you will follow me I will lead you to the Sacred Hall." As he left two more hooded Elarans walked up, one for CLF and one for Adejaani.

The hooded Elaran and the Senator seemed to be walking forever, walking down winding halls with intricate designs and paintings on them, they appeared to be showing a story. Finally they reached massive double doors that looked to be made of marble and stood 20 feet heigh and each 10 feet across. Each door baring a silvery crescent moon which appeared to almost glow.

The hooded figure pushed open the doors with ease, in the room was armor and weaponry unlike any had ever seen, incased in glass and each guarded by one of the hooded figures, down the middle of the floor lay a silky rectangular cloth leading to a table with chairs, that appeared to have been recently put there for this meeting, and passed that was a thronelike chair where the Emperor, Roland Meridius sat.

The hooded man took a few steps in a then got on his kness and bowed, his hand near the floor and his hands to the sides of his head.

"Sire, the Atlantian Senator Andromada."

Roland stood and walked over to Andromada and the bowing hooded figure.

"Rise my friend, thank you for showing our guest here."

The hooded man stood, bowed and then left the room, closing the massive doors behind him.

"It has been too long since the Atlantians and the Elarans have been together my friend, too long." "I wish to thank you for coming, and without much reason why...yes now I am sure the Atlantians have not forgotten their brethren."

Roland walks over and takes a seat at the table. "Please have a seat, the others should be here shortly."

Andromada walked over and took a seat
"I'm sorry Orion could not be here. He is currently busy with something....different" she said.

Roland nodded to Andromada.

"I understand, Im just pleased that a representative of the Atlantian people, an ally of the Empire, was able to make it." "I thank you for making the trip Andromada." "When the others arrive all will be revealed to you."

As the hooded figure approached the two Flag Officers stiffened up. And followed the Elarian down the halls. Each man wore thier dress uniforms, red boardering around thier shoulders, of the jacket, and a red shirt. Black pants with a red stripe down each leg. On each of thier thigs in a combat holster hung a pulse pistol. And a scanner/sensor device on thier hip. Rank ensignias on thier collar, Marshall with six filled pips with a golden boarder, Vice Marshall with five filled pips and one dark pip, with the golden boarder.

When they entered the hall the Atlantian senator was already there. Marshall O'Connor[I will refer to him as William] strode foward, and held out his hands to embrace his old friend. The Vice Marshall[I will refer to him as Colin] stood at ease respecfully nodding to the senator.



"Roland!, my friend, brother! It make my heart sing to see you again."

William had gained some weight and more silver in his hair, he was still as strong and quick as ever. Colin still stood respectfully, he needed to ovbserve the ways of his Father.

"It is truely great to see you brother!" "I trust all in CLF goes well?" Roland paused a moment... "I just remembered, Ive been saving something for you." He reachs under his cloak and pulls out a vial of glowing blue liquid. "You know that Elarians dont age...I do not want to see a brother die, and a nation lose a hero and leader." "My scientists developed this a while back, I gave it to Mwto'ar of Sambizie to stop him from meeting the same fate as other Humans." "It will stop your aging perhaps even make you younger." "I give it to you, its your choice whether or not to use it." Rolands armor covered hand reaches out and hands William the glowing vial.

Colin's eyes widened larger than the room. William was taken back as he stammered.

"Well we...well I.. You always liked confounding me didn't you. I thank you, and your wisdom is correct, I will have to think about this..."

He looked back to the Atlantian Senator.

"Senetor, Andromeda I presume, your reputation proceeds you. It is good to be in your presence."

He looked back to Colin.

"Friends, may I also introduce my son, and Commander of my armed forces under me. Vice Marshall, Colin O'Connor."

Andromada looked at the Vial. LF and Elara must have fairly close ties....closer ties then AO ever had with any nation She thought. Then she remembered Novus Italia Oh ya......too bad they didn't survive their civil war


"Senetor, Andromeda I presume, your reputation proceeds you. It is good to be in your presence." said William, intrupting her train of thought.

"As am I to you, Mr.....?" She felt embarrised she didn't know his name. Hades, why did Orion have to be busy with some long lost intrgalactic "Cousins"? She thought. He's the one who always deals with the international stuff

Roland looks to Connor and nods his head slightly.

"Pleasure to meet you Connor." "We've kept an eye on your progress through your career, you seem to be doing very well." "Tell me, is this your first time in Elara?"

FIRST ACCIDENTAL MULTIPOST

SECOND ACCIDENTAL MULTIPOST

An LRR dreadnaught, the LRRSV John A. Entwistle, approaches the Elaran border.

The thousands of LRRSF listening posts had caught wind of an Elaran military buildup, and arrangments had been made to be in on whatever it was. (Referring to our TG). The LRRSF hated to be left out when "things" were afoot.

On board the Aqualung, admiral Ix, commander of the LRRSF's roving fleets, sits in his captain's hammock off to the side of the bridge, sipping a tall glass of lemonade, even though he is a robot. A Queen CD plays softly in the background. next to him in a chair is the man who will probably take center stage in whatever comes up, Captain Poskar Mercury, a rather aged frigate captain.

"So, Poskar, is this your first, er, whatever we are doing?"
"Yes, I'd have to say so, sir."

Before long, the bridge is caught up in singing along to Seven Seas Of Rhye, and the AI has to inform border control of their arrival.

"Attention, Elaran border control, this is the LRRSV John A. Entwistle, arriving for the pre-arranged conference with your government, over."

OCC:

Since I'll be gone for a week, could mabye AO take over for me? I trust him a lot, and I've RP'ed with him quite a few times.

Transmission Open:
Target: LRRSV John A. Entwistle:

"LRR Ship, two Gentari Fighters will escort your shuttlecraft when it is launched, the shuttlecraft must turn off all tracking signatures, your clearance code is Alpha 984 Blue, if the tracking signatures are not turned off the shuttle will be shot down, if the clearance code is not given the shuttle will be shot down." "We are sorry but these are rules for those who are new to dealing with the Empire and considering whats going on the Emperor doesnt want to take any chances." "Thank you, and welcome to the Empire."

"Turn it off, Lieutenant, that's an order. The day the Elarans would let us get into any danger is the day we can all crawl into our little holes and surrender." Granger ordered the pilot of the old ISSAPC who landed them gently down.

Granger stepped out alone onto the docking pad, cursing silently as her closest friends and advisors remained in orbit. "Now where?"

The hooded Elaran figure assigned to the Adejaani delegation stepped forward and bowed.

"Welcome to the Empire, the Emperor is expecting you." "Please,..follow me."

The hooded Elaran woman took them down the vast winding hall and finally to the great doors of the Sacred Hall. Pushing the doors open she stepped inside a few steps and then bowed.

"M'lord, the Adejaani Delegation has arrived for the meeting."

Roland looked over to the group and smiled.

"Welcome my friends, please come have a seat we are about to start the meeting." He says as the hooded woman stood and left, closing the massive doors behind her.

"Emperor." Granger bowed, then stood up straight and grinned. "Good to see you, sir. Reminds me of the old days."

OOC: LRR: I'll try....I can't make any promises. Heck...I don't even know your guys that well....

IC:

Andromada watched the doors close.
"So, what exactly is this all about?" she asked.

A serious look came about Roland face as the Adejaani delegation took their seats.

"My friends it has been many years since Admiral Hester left in search for the Homeworld in the ancient craft." "For those who dont know the story, an ancient craft was found under the sea not far from the Elaran (or Elarian) islands." "The craft was vastly superior to anything we've ever seen, we managed to get her to fly." "The ship was infact the ship that brought the last escaping survivors of Elara to Earth where it met a watery resting place until a few decades ago." "The Elaran Survivors swam to the Elaran Islands and started anew, whatever technology they had with them I forced them to hand over, that technology as well as some other things have been guarded here for many centuries." "We started from scratch with spears and hammers just like the Humans were using at the time, ....I didnt want to give us an unfair advantage over Humanity."

Roland took a swig from his goblet of Elaran Ale.

"Im sorry Im getting too far off of why we are here." "Admiral Hester has finally got in touch with us, hes found our Home System,...and our Homeworld." "Guarding the system was our former enemies, the ones that took the system and almost made the Elaran race extinct, they would have if they had caught the last of us escaping."

Roland pauses and takes another drink of his Elaran Ale and sighs deeply.

"It looked as though they were preparing to spread beyond the system....they were preparing their fleet, and an invasion force." "Their technology is like our old Empire used to be, it is beyond anything any of you can comprehend." "Now....Elara will be moving to stop them and reclaim our Homeworld....I know that our chances of victory are low but we must try." "I just wanted to get my allies here so that I could explain to them why my fleets are in orbit and why the Elaran Legions are moving around like they are." "If we fail they will no doubt track us and finish the job they started long ago." "I dont want any of you to get involved, the consequences would be horrible and I dont want you all to risk everything to help an old ally." "I have fought these....things...over five thousand years ago, and I can tell you that they would show you or your peoples no quarter." "So I ask you all should the unthinkable happen, do not try and come to our rescue."

Granger leaned back in her seat. "First, it is not your choice to make, it's our choice. I don't know about the other nations represented, but mine certainly is about volunteering for things. I chose to stick my hand in the air, say an oath and don a uniform for my nation and my beliefs.

"Second, there would be no unthinkable as we'd all be there, fighting alongside you as we have in times past. Don't you dare think for a moment we will shirk this task. Our people have fought and died side by side for many years and will continue to do so long after our gravestones have crumbled to dust.

"Third, you will never walk alone on this earth, not when you've got friends. So don't you dare try and stop us, we're in this to the end, Emperor."

Andromada stood up.

"Atlantians lost their homeworld over 13,000 Years ago. We know what its like not to have a homeworld. It was destroyed by the race known as the Zoir. Ironicly, the Zoir are now one of our closest allies. I agree with the Adejaani delagate here when she says 'First, it is not your choice to make, it's our choice.'"

She took a breath I hope to Olympus Orion agrees with this she thought. Then she continued.

"I KNOW I can speak for all of the Atlantian race when I say We will not abandon our allies in their time of need, weather you like it or not."

William laughed to himself, and partly aloud.

"Admiral Granger, you have no idea how much I love you as a person..."

He then turned to the Emperor.

"Roland, what in the heck ran through your head that made you think that I would not stand with you, let alone expend my entire power to do something for you? Sometimes I think you drink too much ale my friend.

But the fact stands, the Commonwealth stands with you, to the end...and back. Because we will return, you know my policies, we just don't lose. Now I'm sorry if my tone and diction do not match the mood and diplomatic needs for this meeting, but we know eachother here, and there is no need for such contrived behavior.

And now that I have babbled on endlessly, lets get back to the point. My friend, and Lord Emperor, I know I speak for everone here when I say that we're with you to the end, its just that simple."

Colin smiled as he watched his father conduct his crude form of politics. He knew his father well enough to know that he hated politics, and hated the 'politician within him' that was sometimes needed. His father for the most part liked being straight foward and blunt.

Colin, remember to get a word with the Emperor later, its as good a time as any to get to know him, and I'm sure he would like to be answered.

Colin continued his internal dialouge, as he observed and listened to the confrence at hand, knowing full well how monumental it would be in the history of this galaxy...

Roland looked around the table and smiled. These were his friends, his comrades, his brothers and sisters. Through much they had fought to get where they were today and Roland wasnt about to let it slip away.

"I know I cannot stop you, even without the coordinates youd find a way to track us down." "Do not go with the illusion that this will be like any war youve ever fought before, for it will not." "The Sha'Ra would be like a schoolyard tiff compared to the beings we now face." "Imagine a race of hardened warriors, with the most advanced technology imaginable, stolen from us over five thousand years ago and then used to exterminate our people." "This will be the most difficult war youve ever fought, many, if not all, will die."

Rolands blue face begins to light up as a grin appears on his face.

"But the glory afterward....the reward." "Oh how I miss the Homeworld and the Home System." "No Human or Atlantian for that matter has ever made it there to witness its magnificent beauty, think of a system of rich worlds filled with precious resources that cannot be found anywhere else, a place where the rolling hills and clear streams seem to go on forever." "No place I dare say can match its beauty and wonder."

Roland paused a moment appearing in an almost dreamlike state...his eyes glowing with a light blue aura. He missed his homeworld so much... but there was just so much his friends and allies did not yet know.

One of the Hooded Figures standing Guard over the Emperor eased forward keeping his head lowered to the ground though and began to whisper: "Sire...please remember..." Roland sat up straight and adjusted himself, with a blink of his eyes the aura disappeared and he cleared his throat.

"Perhaps united together we can drive back the horde before it can spread like a plague across the universe."

Roland stands and raises his silvery goblet high into the air.

"To glory and honor my friends, once again we venture into the unknown together." "May the gods bless us, keep us, and watch over us always as we step boldly into eternity." With that Roland downs the last bit of ale in his goblet.

Granger smiled as she raised her glass. "'It is a far better thing that I do now, than I have ever done... It is a far better thing.'."

She then set it down after a drink. "Perhaps, Emperor, you could begin by telling us everything you can about our enemy. Designs, technology, observations, strengths, other known factors. We'll make sure you return home in due time. We'll make damn sure of it."

Father and son stood, with thier goblets raised. Highly out of Character, Colin beat his father to speak.

"To Adejaani, The Atlantian Outcasts, The Commonwealth, and to what Elara will be. Do or die, guts and glory, semper fi."

Colin did take after his father in some ways, they both took long sips of thier ale.

Roland smiled as he poured himself some more Elaran Ale and sat back down.

"Semper Fi indeed, I believe we shall get along quite well on the battlefield Colin, Ive heard much about your career and look forward to seeing you in action out there." "Now then about our enemy, they are known as the Drovan." "They are a snow white colored race with pointed ears though weaker than Elarans." "They thought us a threat, and so using genetic engineering they enhanced their warriors , and they also stole Elaran technology since their own was inferior to our own."

Roland sighs deeply.

"We disregarded their military buildup, we were so sure of ourselves." "They accused us of a great many things and then struck in a suprise attack, the cowards couldnt even formally declare war." "We were caught offguard and so the began exterminating our people, only a few of us were able to get in the last Elaran vessel and escape and find Earth." "They planned on wiping us all out , declaring their race superior to every other race." "But alas they never did find the Elaran Emperor....and however many made it aboard from the Capital before we were forced to cloak and leave." "Their weapons will be vastly superior to all of ours , there will be weaponry and technology used your not prepared for and have never seen." "This is like entering a duel without a weapon my friends Im sorry I cant tell you more." "I do know they didnt have that many fighters at the time and went for our carriers in the initial assault before we could launch." "Im sure theyve fixed that problem by now though." "I can tell you that their ships are powerful but slow and not so easy to maneuver, at least thats how they were when we fought against them, so lets see if we cant use speed and evasion to our advantage." "Also, the Drovan never had cloaking technology, thats one thing they didnt steal." "Perhaps we can use this to our advantage, if you all have cloaking capabilities that is."

"My apologies, Emperor." Granger had finished scribbling on an old fashioned paper notepad and looked up. "If their technology was less than yours and had to use your technology to augment theirs, how is it they are now superior? Have you also not advanced over the generations?

"My other question is, if your two nations fought on a roughly equal technological footing, as I understand it, was it numbers that decided the battle? The Drovan had more numbers?"

The Marshalls looked at eachother. A glint hit Colin's eye and William saw it, he gestured him to speak he knew he had sometihng to say, and he knew what it was.

Colin reached to his side where he held a PADD. He made a few keystrokes and then threw it down on the table, it slid nicely to the middle of the table.

"One of our newest vessels, made from a class that once saved my life personally. Our old Shadowblade has been uprated. The Defiant-Class. Our first ship of this 'new age' built strictly for battle. A very small crew, and a small ship. They are fast, stealth, and deadly. Combination of the agility of the fastest fighter, with the power of a large crusier.

Sounds like just what we need. The enemy is slow and un manuverable, the Defiant will cut it to pieces. How will it get close? Why cloak of course. As you can see I am very confident, with the dirty end of the stick..."

==If you want specs, just say sometihng about picking up the PADD and I'll post em==

"Emporer Roland" Said Andromada. "The Atlantians have also fought a powerful race. If I may remind you all of the Demon war a few years back, a coalition of forces where brought together to halt the Demon advance. With that as my example, it is proof that a unified front CAN take down a superior threat."
She paused for a moment, then continued:
"The larger Atlantian ships are fairly slow, but armed to the Teeth. The smaller ones and the fighters are fairly manuverable. All Atlantian ships have Ablative Armor, Sheilds, and most have Cloaking devices."

She sat back down, contempating her thoughts. Oooooh gods I hope Orion agrees with this
****
The LRR Shuttle approched Elarian space with Admiral Ix on-board

"If you remember Granger I said earlier that we crash landed in what is now known as the Elaran Sea and swam to what is now known as the Elaran Islands." "We started from scratch, using spears and hammers." "And in the war the Drovan had slightly fewer numbers than we, but the begining of the war was a suprise to us, they took out our Carriers first leaving us without the advantage of Fighter support." "Also it appeared that they had somehow gained access to some of our ships secretly without us finding out because some of the ships systems such as weapons and shields did not function at all when everything started." "As for ground warfare they used biological and chemical warfare against our troops....and our people."

Roland nodded to Colin as he took a drink from his goblet.

"The Drovan will have many fighters, once uncloaked the Defiant will need fighter support, or be cut to pieces." "We must also be prepared and understand that they may have some sort of anti cloaking devices to detect us now, after all 5000 years is plenty of time to develope that, and perhaps even cloak themselves."

Roland turned to Andromada and began to speak.

"Im appreciative of your confidence, its something we'll need Senator." "Im pleased that you have some...heavy hitters...in your fleet, we'll need them." "Now, Ill be sending out my entire fleet, as well as most of my ground military forces." "I know its a risk leaving Elara almost undefended but if we dont win this war then Elara is lost anyway." "Understand the Drovan are a ruthless enemy, when we get in battle show them no mercy, for they will show none for you."

Colin took the "front seat" as his father stepped back. They were talking Space Warfare now, and out of Will's element, he was a Marine, and always would be. Colin was an Admiral, and he had proven it.

"My lord Emperor, do not be mistaken for a second that I am underestimating the Drovan. I can quite understand the odds we are taking, and I do not imply that the Defiant, or any other single class will be any large advantage. I merely was making an example of the kind of preparedness that the CLF holds. We understand that it will be a fight, but we KNOW we will come out victorious, anythingelse would negate all logic. We're Irish, how can we lose?"

Colin gave a smile, hoping they all caught his humor. He did understand the odds, but he wanted to make it known that everything the Commonwealth could muster, would be thrown at the Drovan, until the snowy-white freaks were routed.

Just then Colin's attention went elsewhere, he made a sudden headmovmenet, to look off into space. William did the same, but in a different direction. The Microscopic communications implants in thier ears were feeding them a communication. They had given orders to only let in Priority 1 hails. This fit...

William stepped back up and began to speak, he was very solem.

"Friends, forgive the tangent at such a tenst point in this topic, but I regret to be the bearer of bad news, the Lord Reaver, Bastien, has fallen. He is dead."

"You misunderstand me, Emperor. How did they manage to gouge you from your homelands in the first place? You have said they started out with technological inferiority, but they managed to reverse engineer your systems with effective countermeasures. Please, sir, it's not the time for pride, we need to know if we're to fight them properly."

OCC: Hey, all! I'm back! Thanks for filling in, AO.

I need to get one thing straight, though. I noticed that I gave two different names for the same ship. The cruiser LRRSV John Alec Entwistle is the ship's name and class. Could we jump ahead to Ix and Poskar being in the conference room, perhaps?

OOC: Alright LRR.

IC:

"What??" "Bastien,...dead?..." Roland said squeezing the metal goblet into a crushed piece of metal as his Elarian blood mixed with Elarian Ale dripped from his shaking hand. "Brother...." "How,...who is responsible?"

The LRR Delegation , Ix and Poskar were then led into the room and seated.

Sven though shocked by the news leaned over to address the Adejaani delegation.

"From all I have learned from my Father, and if youve been listening , the Drovan had stolen Elarian technology, they used it against us , not only that but they had agents to inside Elara to sabotage our ships before they launched their war." "With most Elarian ships sabotaged and non functional the war was lost." "Only one escaping ship made it to Earth carrying as many Elarians as it could."

==== SCENE: Interior, Conference ====

"Well, Emperor... Any other information you can give us will help. Even pictures, sketches, comments, thoughts, memories, anything at all." Granger said quietly.

==== SCENE: Earth orbit ====

"ANS Constitutionto unidentified craft. Please, respond. Unidentified freighter, you are carrying dangerous cargo and you are venting drive plasma. Please, respond... Sir, we got something here." The technician waved and Admiral Nichols came over. "That big freighter is carrying what looks like contraband and is venting. There seems to be a hold warrant out on it. There, sir, it seems to be rapidly moving off. Headed out-system."

Nichols pursed his lips and reached for the phone. "Jack? Yeah. Listen, fire up your sublights and head 224 mark 7. Yeah, just do it!" Nichols craned his head to the window and watched one of the long slender escorts break formation. "Yeah, good. Best speed. You're after a freighter. There's a hold warrant and it also seems she's carrying contraband. Yeah. Just disable it and board it, tow it back. We'll sort it out when you return. Yeah. Yeah... Good hunting, Jack."

"Hello, everyone. Sorry that we're late. May I ask for a summary of what has been discussed so far?"

Admiral Ix wears a pair of loose-fitting grey denim pants and a faded sky blue T-shirt, many sizes too big, not tucked in. His spindly composite arms and head are an asthetic shade of light blue, and on his feet he wears a pair of laceless brown shoes. Poskar (a human) is dressed in a more traditional fashion, wearing the standard-issue olive drab flight suit, with a pair of large insulated rubber boots.

Um...no prob, LRR...even though I really didn't do anything.....

IC:

Andromada listened to Roland's explenation that one ship sounds alot like us..... That's when the LRR delaget spoke up. Andromada took the moment to answer him, as the others continued with their business.

"Emporer Roland has been explaining to us their history. More importantly, the loss of their homeworld eons ago to another race called the Drovan. Now if that dousn't sound familiar, I dunno what does"

Roland nodded and tried to calm himself.

"Im sorry no pictures or sketches,...all I can say is that their ships are slow and not very maneuverable." "Though they have godlike power, we must use speed to our advantage, cloaking is also an advantage we'll have, Drovan never used cloaking it was only used by the Elarians, and to my knowledge they didnt get their hands on it." "During the war Elarians only used the Elarian Swords for ground combat , we thought that the use of Plasma and laser weaponry on the ground was dishonorable, we only used it on our fighters and spacecraft." "The Drovan devloped something similiar to a rifle though staff like and with a spike on the other end for hand to hand combat." "I guess that may be one reason we lost..."

Roland stands to his feet with his armor covered blood stained hands on the marble table. He closed his eyes and began to try and remember his homeworld and the home system.

"Our Homeworld is the largest planet in the system , slightly bigger than Jupiter and very Earthlike, though with its own differences." "Drovan is the size of Earth now there are many worlds in the system , rich with resources not found anywhere else." "Now what you need to know about Drovan is..."

Suddenly the room begins to shake violently, the giant marble doors to the room begin to crack and the glass cases protecting the old artifacts break. Three loud booms are heard in five second intervals.

"What in the name of the gods..." A large viewscreen comes down from the cieling and a staticy transmission comes through from the orbiting Imperial Fleet. "Sire!" "This is Centurion Treyu of the Gervalt." "New Berlin....New Dublin...New Dosh'la...they...they are all gone m'lord."

Roland caught himself as his legs tried to give from shock , his eyes bulging and his mouth wide open as a tear falls from his face....a warrior king crying, not often you will see this sight.

"How?!!"

"We monitored the three explosions m'lord but we have no idea where they came from or who.." Treyu is cut off in mid sentence by a much clearer incoming transmission, on the screen is seen a snow white skinned man with pointed ears , golden eyes and black hair, smiling from cheek to cheek. He wears a black robe and a tunic appeared to be made of skin...blue skin...Elarian skin.

"Ahh Roland, I thought I killed you and your pathetic race." "Even though cloaked your ship was detected , I had a cloaked fighter track you to this quaint , cute little world." "It shall make a wonderful addition to the Drovan Dominion, ahh and what are these pinkskins, their females will make good breeders for my warriors haha." "As Im sure youve just figured out , that fighter was carrying a few of our new missiles....its just a taste of whats to come, I shall enjoy bathing in your blood old fool."

"Ok, thanks. Yeah, I get you there."

Ix, not a very eloquent speaker, decides to stop the conversation then, and turns his attention to the other speakers.

Poskar jots major points down on a pad of paper.

The Drovan, thought Poskar. Have I ever heard that name before? Don't think so.

But with the transmission, Ix and Poskar are both speechless.

"Poskar, what do you reckon?"
"Probably the Drovan, sir."
"Are they, then? Do you have your Sub-etha transmitter?"
"Yes, sir."
"When there is a lull in the action, try to contact the ship."

Ix then speaks up:

"So, it appears as though we are now all in a tight situation. But I may have a solution..."

Ix looks around for anything that would indicate the Drovans being able to hear their conversation....

Granger physically flinched as she whispered to herself. "He's at Earth? Why didn't we detect him? Half the Adejaani Fleet is out system, the others still getting ready. We're dead. They'll blast this conference from orbit and that's it."

ANromada turned her chair to look at the screen
We have seen the face of our enemy, and they have seen ours.... she thought to herself.


Things where about to get interesting.

Ix continues scanning the room, his silicon brain taking in information at a high rate.

"Poskar, I think its clear. Use the sub-etha."
"Aye, sir."

Captain poskar takes a small, square object out of his pocket and lays it on the table in front of him. It unfolds, and he begins pressing the various colorful buttons, opening up a sub-etha channel with the Entwistle.

Will's eyes grew stern, his fists clenched. The fire within the man, which was usually kept dull, grew. His son however, had a look of horror on his face. Will's fist slammed down on the table, with suc great force, it was lucky his hand didn't bleed, he would need to get to sickbay later for it, but he didn't feel the pain.

"The bastards shall pay...they shall PAY! They have not only struck the ities, and innocents of our brotherlands, but they have struck Commonwealth citizens as well. Our Embassy was in New Dublin. All lost shall be honored as the first warriors that fell to these evils. But they will not be the last, there will be more. But I promise, they will not have died in vain. For the fiends that have done this, will be annihilated, that is a promise.

Emperor, let us begin, we have a race to exterminate!"

Colin's horror did not end, it was now out of his father's mouth. William O'Connor was a lover of life, human and other, and for him to wish the utter destruction of an entire race, meant that there was something inside the man that had awoken, and it wouldn't be pretty.

Colin spoke up.

"Emperor, Admiral, the Armada's of the Commonwealth are ready."

Andromada looked up.
"As is the Atlantian Fleet."

So....they can blow up whole city's with a fighter......good. I like a challenge She thought to herself.

Ix looks on, surprised, as Poskar types feverishly on the small keypad attached to the Sub-Etha transmitter (a bit of Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy Technology).

The message reads something like:

Assemble a contingent somewhere where we can find you, prepare for battle.

Ix then speaks out.

"I'm sorry but I am a little confused. Are the Drovan here? At this conference? Or, rather, around it and poised to destroy it? But I'm sure Poskar here will have an expedition of our own ready to help you out...short of genocide of course."

Emperor Roland puts his armor covered hand on Will's shoulder and then looks around the room, fury in his eyes, a kind of fury that demons and gods would cowar from.

"The Elaran Fleets and Legions are assembled and waiting in orbit, now is the time!" "We meet them head on before they meet us!" "This Universe has a plague known as the Drovan, a plague in which I intend to CLEANSE in BLOOD AND FIRE!" As Roland spoke his eyes began to glow a bright blue aura around them, his words sounded uneasy, almost evil.

Roland turned to Ix with a flash, his eyes narrowed as he glared.

"You remember what that Drovan was wearing correct?" "A midnight robe, with a blue skin tunic over it...it doesnt take much to figure out what the tunic is made of." "You say short of genocide,...that is all the Drovan want is genocide, to exterminate all who oppose them, they use what they want and then they destroy it!" "But perhaps you need more....perhaps you would like to see what I am FORCED to remember every day, every second , every heartbeat." Roland looks up at the viewscreen and points to it. "Computer, HD 233.4 - 6.892." "Now do not avert your eyes..."

The viewscreen turns on and chaos is seen, ash falls from the sky as crumbled and burning buildings are seen in the distance. The screams or women and children are heard, and then....an Image of Drovan Warriors skinning an Elaran woman while shes still alive, her screams are almost deafening, and she appears to have been raped , beaten, and tortured. Then an image of a small boy, not more than six years old, being lowered slowly into molten steel, screaming in agony until he can finally scream no more. Images of rape, slaughter, the defiling of innocents, torture, absolute horrors , and all the time drown out to sound of screaming and yelling in Elaran tongue. As Drovan Warriors laugh in amusement at what they have done. Suddenly the screen turns black, no doubt a relief to some of the delegation.

"Do not speak to me of genocide, when my people were almost exterminated , and three cities just wiped out with some sort of new missiles the Drovan are using." "The woman and child, the first that you seen on the viewscreen...was my Empress...and my son." "I welcome your help, but do not try and dictate to me how this war will be fought." "The Drovan know nothing of mercy, that word isnt even in their language." "So I will show them the same honor and respect they had for MY people....none."

Emperor Roland looks around the table at his comrades his allies. His face is cold, uncaring, the memories of billions dead now haunt his mind.

"Theres one rule I wish you all to follow whilst in this long war." "None of you are to take any technology from our enemies, I do not want another Drovan created from the ashes of the old like a pheonix being reborn." "I will be keeping good watch over these things, consequences for taking such technology will be harsh." "You must understand this is for the defense of all the universe." Pauses a moment and then a look of great worry comes over his face. "My wife,...my daughter...please tell me they werent in New Berlin."

A sick feeling rose in Andromada's stumich as she watched the footage.
Oh gods I'm going to throw up
She got up out of her seat. "Excuse me" she said, as she walked out rather quickly.

OOC: LRR sent me a TG stating hes having some trouble posting and asked me if I could post it for him, so heres LRR's response:

IC:

"But sir, if you return their aggression you are no better than the Drovan. You must be strong, and be secure in your morality! What do we have to hold on to but our morality? I beg you, do not be your enemy. You must be better than them, you cannot stoop to their level. Kill all their combat personnel, fine, but do not destroy the entire race. You must show compassion where they do not, or else you are no better than them."

Will still had the fury in his eyes as he replied cooly.

"Then the rats will become slaves of the Empire. I do not care for slaves, but they will be targeted everywhere, and anywhere, until they surrender unconditionally. That is the only way. I am not brining my people into this for our own personal gains. I am supporting those who made the Commonwealth exist! And now the rats who oppose us have struck my own people. They will pay until the only thing left than can do is grovel for mercy, and then I will leave it up to the Emperor."

He straightened his unform jacket down at the base, tugging it so it was flush on his upper body again.

"And I assure anyone who attempts to keep my brother the Emperor from what he wishes be done, you will be opposed fully, by all the force I can muster. I promise that."

An Elarian Centurion walks in and kneels before the Emperor humbly.

"M'lord 50,000 Dorman troops are waiting in transports off of Imperial Waters , they say they are pledged to Elara now for our war." "They heard of what has happened and in accordance of the alliance between us and since Dormie was once an Imperial Colony they wish to shed first blood with us."

"Mighty quick of our Dorman comrades...have them placed on an Elarian Transport immediately." "Your dismissed Centurion."

The Elarian Centurion grins and stands , he then bows, takes a few steps backwards , turns and leaves the room.

Roland smiles as he looks around the room as his loyal allies and friends.

"Thank you all for pledging your support." "I think its time we gave our Drovan friends a hello." "I will be sending you all the coordinates of a wormhole, its a natural wormhole that my scouts discovered that will drop our ships in close to Elara." "Now, I know the Atlantian Fleets are currently tied up but will meet us on the battlefield as soon as possible." "Ill need a list of everyones ships, this, and using the wormhole instead of giving you the exact coordinates of the system is protection." "I do not want anyone taking any technology, if a ship is found thats not on the list it will have the entire Imperial Fleet baring down on it until it is destroyed." "If a ship is spotted trying to leave the system, it will be destroyed." "I would hope youll all do the same , this technology is not to leave the system." "After the war every ship and personnel will be inspected by the Imperial Guard." "As I said, consequences for taking technology will be extreme, and could even cause war." "Understand, this is for the protection of everyone, not just ourselves." "Its a simple rule you must all follow."

Roland takes a new silvery gem encrusted goblet and fills it with Elarian Ale. He then lifts it high into the air with a smile...

"Now let us go, and let vengeance be ours!"

Roland takes a swig of Elarian Ale and then walks out with Sven following closely.

+---+---+---+---+

A mere few hours later the sky is filled with coallition and Imperial vessels vissible by the naked eye. Everyone knows whats going on, virtually every Imperial Military Force except the Police have loaded onto Imperial ships and Transports. The Imperial and Coallition Fleets except that of AO begin to make their way to the wormhole.

The sight of the wormhole is quite something to be seen , it is guarded by 5 Imperial Battleships 2 Imperial Carriers and swarms of Imperial Fighters. Anyone seen going in or out would be annihilated by the guardians of the Wormhole.

The Imperial ships go in first followed closely by the Coallition Vessels, on the lead Imperial Ship "Valkyr" stood Roland, he was a warrior as well as an Emperor and would not sit at home as his Warriors marched into battle. As soon as the ships get through the wormhole they recieve a barrage of heavy fire, 5 Imperial Battleships and 2 Imperial Carriers (With Imperial Fighters) stay at the wormhole to guard it. Swarms upon swarms of Drovan fighters begin pouring out of the massive Drovan Battleships like the rainfall in the first 40 days of Noah's Flood.

"Launch all Fighters, protect the Troop Transports!" "Launch countermeasures for incoming missiles!" "Im home..."

Roland said as incoming fire hit the ship hard , sparks flying but the shields were still holding. So much fire coming from those massive vessels, it seems as if the gods themselves are trying to exterminate the liberaters.

A few Drovan Warriors beam aboard the bridge of the Valkyr, gleaming metallic spearlike weapons in their hands. Roland stands and unsheaves his Elarian Sword just intime to block a Drovan Warriors lunging at him, with two swift stroke the Drovan Warrior's head was cut in half , as was his body. The other Elarians aboard the ship begin to fight off the boarding party as they seem to continue to beam aboard the entire ship now....the war had begun.

+---+---+---+---+

Elarian Fleet Statistics:

-100 Imperial Battleships
-125 Imperial Cruisers
-150 Imperial Destroyers
-75 Imperial Carriers
-150 Imperial Transports
-750 Imperial Fighters
-100,000,000 Elarian Warriors (All Ground Branches)
-50,000 Dorman Soldiers (Abaord an Elarian Transport)

+---+---+---+---+

Drovan Fleet Statistics (Just Guarding the Planet Elara):

-300 Dominion Battleships
-500 Dominion Heavy Cruisers
-400 Dominion Destroyers
-200 Dominion Gunships
-5,000 Dominion Fighters
-50,000,000 Drovan Dominion Warriors (Ground)

"Emperor, your wife and daughter are safe. They were in Felix City promoting Elaran arts and poetry. You Elarans are among the finest warriors we know yet you have a magificence that would make the finest poets weep." Granger had smiled reasurredly.

But now, as she hung on for dear life, her confidence becoming more ragged with each tremble of the deck, perhaps they might not be, eventually... "Status report!" She called out.

Nichols gripped the table and hung on. "For us? Six dreadnought-carriers; eighteen battle carriers; sixty heavy cruisers; one hundred and thirty destroyers remaining! Plus we have about fifteen hundred fighters by aggregate." He ducked as another Drovan hit struck their ship and the fighters went in.

-Sol System-
The AO Fleets entered the Sol system, but there was no sign of the Neo-Atlantian force that had survivied the collpse of the NA jump node.
"Anything?" asked Vega.
"Nothing" responded Sing. She suddenly got a hail. Senator Andromada appeared on the screen.

"Attention Atlantian fleets. As we speak, AO has declared war. I've already cleared this up with Orion and the rest of the council. You are to procced to Elarian space-" she was cut off by Vega
"Are you telling me we've engadged an ALLY?" he asked, now slightly worried
"-to the following coordnets. Remember to decloak. Your about to face an enemy much like the demons, and just as strong. I cannot tell you more, I'm sorry"
"I see" Vega replied. Andromada flickered off the screen, no doubt to inform the other fleets. He turned to face his crew.
"Well,you heard the lady. Let's get moving!"

------

-Drovian wormhole-

The 1st Atlantian fleet arrived and decloaked at the rondavue point. The other 4 fleets soon arrived as well.
Vega opened the comm channels to the other ships, and he spoke.

"My fellow comrads. Our people have fought many battles over the ages. Many won. Many lost. But one thing was always the same. We fought as hard as we possibly could. I kknow as little as the rest of you about what lays beyond this gate we call a wormhole. It could be to Tartarus itself. It may not. But on thing is known, we will fight until we can't fight anymore."
With the comm link still open, he turned to his crew.
"Engage engins. raise sheilds, and arm weapons"
The turned back to face the screen, filled with the image of the wormhole.
"Let's kick some ass. Engage"

And sure enough, the Atlantian fleet entered what they knew as Tartarus.

12 Titan Battleships
75 Pyramid Heavy Cruisers
125 Poseidon Light Cruisers
250 Barracuda Destroyers
25 Exodus Gunships
100 Phoenix Cargo Ships
6,000 Obilisk Fighters
1,250,000 Assorted Troops (out of 10,000,000 total troops of mine)

--the depts of the Olympia, Vega's ship--

a small device was monitering transmittions the ship was sending and reciving....an old enemy would soon learn....

Sol side of the Wormhole, the Elarian Ships launch eight diamond shaped blue metallic devices. It appears they each have their own crew as they fly perfectly with no help into positioning. They encircle the wormhole and then suddenly begin shooting beams back and forth to other other and then with a bright flash a glowing shield is made. With all eight Diamond Ships in position they all set up their own personal shields and arm their weapons....these little diamonds were armed to the teeth.

Onboard Lead Guardship: The Imperial Battleship "Vel'Toth"

"Diamonds in place sir."

"Good, nothing is getting in or out of there now." "We must hope our Fleets are successful...gods be with them."

OOC: hope you don't mind me speeding up my subplot

IC:
Gamma and Epsilon monitered the transmittions from the Olympia in the depts of a station orbiting Uxal.
"Interesting" noted Gamma.
"Indeed. Shall we inform our leader?" asked Epsilon.
"No need. I'm already here" said a voice from the shadows. A figure stepped into the dim light. Part Atlantian, part machine. The ought dead by the Atlantian government, he had survivied the distruction of his ship near the end of the Atlantian civil war. However, he was injured, and thus machanical parts where installed on him.
"Alpha, my lord" said Gamma. Both of them bowed.
"So....what's this about an enemy with the power of the "Demons"?" asked Alpha.
"Apperently, an alliance of APTO ships have entered a wormhole in Sol and are now engading the enemy. We don't know much else. We do know, however, that the Elarians set of a defence system in front of the wormhole."
"I see" replied Alpha. Something was beyond that Wormhole, and he was going to find out what........

---------------------

Sol System

The Neo-Atlantian fleet was cloaked, and slowly flying through the system.
"Sir, I'm getting stange readings. Sort of like a full-fledged wormhole" said the sciance officer on the command ship said.
The commander walked over. "Indeed. Set a course. But do not get too close, and remain cloaked. I want to know what this is"

Roland stands in the bridge of the Valkyr gripping his blood drenched Elarian Sword, dead Drovan Warriors and spattered blood everywhere.

"Report!" 'How in the gods names are they beaming through shields?' Roland thought to himself.

"Crew reports no more beaming aboard this vessel sir, all Drovan Warriors eliminated aboard the Valkyr, still getting reports of beaming and heavy fighting aboard other ships sire." "We're taking a beating but we're holding."

Just then the Atlantian Fleet arrives through the wormhole.

"M'lord, the Atlantian Fleet has arrived."

"At last, inform the Guard Ships and our Allies that if anything else comes through that womrhole to blast it into oblivion." "Also, inform them utterly destroy ever Drovan ship, do not let it just break up into pieces."

"Done Sire!"

+---+---+---+---+

Drovan Fleet at Elara, lead Dominion Battleship "Kaylos":

"How cute." "Exactly what I expected, the blueskin dogs had to bring help from these pitiful little things."

"Commander should we call for aid from the Home Fleet?"

"Against this pathetic rabble?" "You overestimate their chances...this will be over quicker than it began." Dominion Commander Shintor said arrogantly with a half grin on his Argent face. "Let us begin taking the monkey ships, begin beaming Warriors onboard immediately."

"Yes Commander!"

"As for the Elarians..." Shintor walks over to the comm and leans over it whilst holding down a glowing red button. "Attention all Dominion Battleships, target the Elarian vessels, Auselian Beam..."

+---+---+---+---+

The Valkyr - Imperial Fleet:

"Emperor,...what is that." The Tactical Officer points to the Drovan Battleships in the distance, and what appeared to be glowing light blue-teal orbs that were growing on the bottom plating of the Drovan Battleships.

Roland stood up quickly and took a few steps forward. "By the gods...they found out how to use our Auselian weaponry..."

"Auselian Sire?"

[b][color=blue]"Before your time young one...before the fall of the old Empire." "Brace for impact...."

Suddenly great beams shot from the Dominion Battleships and into the Imperial Fleet, each beam ripping through and destroying several ships.

"All fire on those Battleships!" "Now!"

IC:

Just then, the LRRSF contingent arrives on scene. A full 20 heavy cruisers, 200 frigates, and 2,000 total Hurricane II fighters (embarked in the 20 cruisers) enter the battle. Ix's command vessel, the John Alec Entwistle, is indicated by the large shark's mouth painted on its bow. Captain Poskar's ship, the heavy cruiser LRRSV Stevie Ray Vaughn, is also present.

The LRR ships prepare for battle, and fighter crews prepare for launching.

Aboard the LRRSV John Alec Entwistle......

"All crew, man battle stations!"
"All weapons stations manned and ready," reports the ship's second-in-command, the AI.
"All weapons systems at full power, HEPD shields and laser point defense at full power."
"Engineering reports the drives are in excellent condition, and the hyperspace module is fully charged."
"Very good."

Ix stands in front of one of the bridge display screens, looking out on the battle.

"Attention, Elaran fleet, this is the LRRSF fleet. We request targeting orders, over."

In the hangar bay of the Entwistle, fighter pilot AIs load themselves into their fighters, and prepare for launch. Maintainance crews check over the craft thoroughly. The Hurricane II is a very well armed fighter, with a dual-barreled plasma cannon for enemy fighters and a powerful fighter-class ion cannon for enemy capital ships. It is also a manouverable fighter, and depends on that to survive in large part.

The cruisers and frigates make themselves into a loose rabble, facing the Drovan ships.

Transmission Opened - Target - LRR Fleet:

"Glad to see our robotic comrades join us." "Focus all your firepower on those battleships!"

Transmission Ended

Transmission Opened - Target - LRR Fleet:

"Glad to see our robotic comrades join us." "Focus all your firepower on those battleships!"

Transmission Ended

The fleet immediately begins firing on the Drovan battleships, as the cruisers and frigates manouver wildly to evade retaliatory fire.

The classic LRRSF tactic of a massive torpedo barrage is put into practice, as thousands of high-explosive torpedos are shot out from the cruisers and frigates, along with ion cannon shots.

The four antimatter cannons on each cruiser target the Drovan battleships, directing huge amounts of antimatter in their direction. The only problem with the cannons is their low rate of fire, which means that they can only be used against the highest priority targets.

For the moment, the group decides to keep the fighters safely tucked away inside the cruisers' hangar bays, since Drovan fighters had not made their appearance and smaller Drovan support vessels were not yet a major target.

The highly manouverable heavy cruisers stay out of the main Drovan fire while they target their antimatter cannons, concentrating on the drives, and using the torpedo barrage as cover to get in relatively close. While the antimatter cannons charge, the smaller ion and plasma cannons, and the laser PD nodes, ward off enemy torpedos and smaller ships. Weapons fire breaks on the shields of LRRSF cruisers and frigates, but it is nothing crippling. The frigates, lacking any weaponry to take on ships much larger than themselves, go after the smaller Drovan ships in packs, not stopping as they rocket through enemy formations.

However, the weaker frigate shields mean that some frigates, especially the ones that had taken the most fire, were being boarded. Three frigates so far had suffered this, and pull out of the main battle so as to better contain the boarders. Other frigates rush to their aid, disrupting transport frequencies with their own shields and sending over marine contingents to expell the boarders.

Aboard the frigate LRRSV Spike.....

Enemy warriors had appeared all over the ship, with barely any warning, overwhelming many compartments. The 20-man marine contingent, along with the 30 surviving crew, battle back the onslaught.

The corridor leading up to the bridge and the hatch leading to the engineering compartment are sites of intensive battle, with plasma rounds being exchanged. The rattle of SMGs can be heard as well, and bullets cut down the attacking ranks. Captain Yuri Chernov rallies the marines and crew on the bridge, and charges into the Drovan warriors. He cuts down the Drovan warriors with SMG rounds as the marines fire their plasma rifles. He drives the Drovans towards the airlock, where a corvette pulls up with 10 marines and 10 crewmen of another frigate, the LRRSV From The Cradle.

The corvette docks, and the reinforcments pour in, to be met head-on by the retreating Drovans. At close range, the plasma rifles carried by the marines prove useless, and are wielded as clubs as the SMGs carried by ship's crew cut swaths out of the Drovan ranks.

==OOC:The CLF is now the UFLF(United Federation of Liberty Fighters) If you want more info, I'll link ya, its not done tho...==


Due to the distance of the L-System from Sol, it was only until now that the three UFLF Armadas arrived on the Sol side of the worm hole.

Colin O'Connor sat in the middle command chair on board the O'Connor. A magnificent Dreadnaught of the Vith-Tir class. Tapping a button on his chair console, he opend up a channel to the Armada's.

"All fleets report in.

The comm channels respoded from each of the FAdm's.

"Alpha-1 fleet is go, Apha-2 fleet is go...."

The comms went on and on.

"Charlie-2 is a go, Charlie-3 is a go."

The First officer, Cdr Kennings, turned to Colin.

"All fleets reporting in sir, everything has reported sir."

"Good, Coms open."

The Ops officer put the Wormhole on the viewer as well.

"Federation Armadas, here is where we fight for true liberty, we free the most valuable thing to any being, thier home. Today we free the Elarian homeland, to re-pay all what they have done for us. Today we make the cosmos proud. Armada Alpha will enter first, followed by Bravo, and last Charlie. All fleets, detach your Marine Flights, sorry jarheads, you wait for your turn to fight. Make it so!"

Energy signatures would have been hell for any science officer to try and read accuratley, so many orders follwoed at once, so many different actions. Impulse ions floded the area as thousands of Federation warships passed through the wormhole. Tachyon levels were also high.

The Marine Floatilla sat there, waiting to thier punch they packed.


As the Armadas arrived on the other side, they saw chaos, coalition ships in pieces, in a fight for thier lives. Fighters swarmed like bees.


"Main Viewer!" Colin commanded.

The Bridge crew was in awe, as it msot likely was for the brudge crews of all the vessels. Some were beginning to envy the Supply, Medical, Marine, and everything crews on the other side of the wormhole.

"O'Connor to all fleets, red alert! Carriers, launch all fighter/bomber wings. Everything you stay with the carriers. All vessels: attack pattern Alpha-1. Engadge now!"

The ships did as they ordered, the Federation classed cariers began to spit out fighters like hot air out of a balloon.

Cdr Kennings turned to Colin again.

"But sir...Apha-1 is a head on attack."

"I know Commander. Lets do this people!"


zu-Destroyers; Streamrunner-Frigates; Saber-Light Cruisers; Norway-Medium Cruisers; Akira-Heavy Cruisers; New Orleans-Frigates; Nebula-Battlecursiers; Galaxy-Battleships; Excelsior-attlefrigates; Sovereign-Battle Ships. As well as one Vith-Tir Dreadnaught. Quantam Torpedos firing, Phaser beams sprawling, and Pulse Phasers pummeling the enemy.

==OOC *its Sun-Tzu Destoryers and I know how to spell Battlefrigate, for some reason If I try to backspace in the middle of a sentence, it over writes...how annoying eh?==

Several blasts shook the bridge of the Olympia.
"Steady, Lt. Sing" he said, holding his chair.
"2 Drovan destroyers are on our tale. they're opening fire" said the science officer.
Sure enough, the Bridge rocked agian.
"Returning fire"
Several beams of red light shot out from the Olympia, slicing through the enemy vessles. They should have known better then to take on the Atlantian flagship alone.
"The enemy vessles are falling back"
"Good. Now, lets focuse on the others" replied Vega.
"Sir, the 62nd and 63rd wings have fallen back. The 5th fleet is entering position."
"Have attack wings 33 and 44 follow us, we're going in" replied Vega. several fighters followed the Olympia further into the battlefeild....
---------

The cloaked Neo Fleet approched the Wormhole.
"Interesting" said he commander

OOC: LF, try pressing the "Insert" button on your Keyboard

Behind the Olympia, another unfamiliar vessel appears. The LRRSV Stevie Ray Vaughn had come to ward off the Drovan destroyers, followed by a gaggle of frigates. A wing of 100 Hurricane II fighters sweeps high over the Olympia, destroying Drovan fighters in the process. The LRRSF cruisers had one by one deployed their fighters to counter the Drovan fighters and frigates encountered as they got deeper into the battle.

Too late to assist in warding off the destroyers, the Vaughn falls in behind the Atlantian flagship.

"Good to see you, Olympia. Have you taken any damage?"

Meanwhile, most of the cruisers continue hammering on the battleships as frigates and fighters battle with their Drovan counterparts. The Hurricane II, as of yet not battle-tested, proves an excellent fighter, able to take much damage and continue to fight.

The frigates, too, suffer no losses as of yet, but 10 are forced to withdraw with heavy damage.

Then, out of one of the Drovan battleships, a powerful energy beam impacts Ix's ship, bow-on, very nearly splitting it down the middle. The bridge, located towards the top of the hull, is vaporized and along with it 15 crewmembers, including admiral Ix. Escape pods shoot from the slabs of wreckage, and are quickly picked up by Sherpa tugs.

But the loss of the fleet flagship and the highest ranking admiral in the LRRSF shocks the rest of the task force.

"Not enough firepower!" Nichols cried out. "Four cruisers, six destroyers gone! We need more firepower!" He jabbed at the screen. "Fleet HQ, we need the old NG dreadnoughts. Yeah, I know what... Do it! They have those big guns we need! Damn! Two more destroyers!" Nichols watched his monitor as the other ships concentrated their fire and kept taking hits.

Vega smiled when he heared the voice of the LRR Admiral "We're--" a horrific explosion eminated from the LRR flagship.
"Brace for impact!" shouted Vega. The Olympia tumbled backwords.


The 5th Fleet was all but distroyed. Without the backup from the 1st fleet, they had been quickly surrounded and elimitated. The 3rd and 4th Fleets had fallen back to assist the 1st and 2nd fleets. All AO forces where now tightly packed and where being surrounded......things where not looking good for Atlantis.
"What I'd give for a finished Mothership" muttered Vega to himself.

Poskar, newly promoted to the position of fleet admiral that he felt he was certainly not ready to handle, remains as concentrated as he can on the task at hand.

"They might not have heard us. Repeat, Olympia, this is the LRRSV Stevie Ray Vaughn. Have you taken any damage, over?"

The bridge on the Vaughn buzzes with activity. Out of the 17 other cruisers attacking the battleships, the flagship had to be the one to get sliced in half. Now with the weight of command on the shoulders of captain, now Admiral Poskar, he tries to rally his forces and continue the attack. The cruiser crews regain their composure and press on with the attack with more energy than ever.

16 cruisers continue directing their fire at the Drovan battleships, while the three others had found other tasks.

The Hurricane II wings engage in giant, twisting dogfights with the Drovan fighters, and begin to take light losses. SAR corvettes dart in and out, picking up ejected pilots of all sides.

Frigate wings occupy themselves by engaging Drovan escort vessels in huge packs of 10 or 15, drawing fire and cutting down Drovan anti-fighter capability to make way for allied bombers.

"Hard to starboard!" shouts the captian of the frigate Strange Brew as the helmsman jerks the ship to the side just before it would have impacted a Drovan destroyer. Weapons blasts can be seen across its hull as the frigates in the Strange Brew's pack strafe it with ion cannons.

"We're taking light damage" replied Vega. Another blast shook the bridge. This time, sparks flew.
"Aft sheilds failing. Attack wings 3 and 4 are gone! All forces have been surrounded. The 5th fleet is GONE, I repeat, the 5th fleet is GONE" Sing continued to ramble off bad news left and right. Another hit caused the bridge to shake. The lights flickered as more sparks spewed.
"As I said, we're taking light damage" said Vega

"Roger that, Olympia. We are here to cover you."

The Vaughn is joined by the other two cruisers not involved in pummeling the Drovan battleships, and the three ships form up behind the Olympia.

The Drovan fleet appears still in good shape , with the loss of a few carriers and battleships they seem to be holding well.

The shielding of Drovan ships and weaponry are what make them so calm, their shielding is actually three lowers of shielding, also they have a devide aboard their ships which takes the shielding of enemy ships and adds power to their own whilst draining the enemies shielding power.

"More blasted pinkskins...." Commander Shintor watched as the Federation Fleet entered through the wormhole.

"Fighters concentrate on those new monkey vessels, rip them apart." "Auselian Beam fire into the Atlantian and LRR Fleets , so glad they got so close for this."

"Gunships, begin ripping at the Imperial and other monkey (Adejaani) Fleets." "Continue boarding of all the fleets, tell the warriors to show no mercy, rape the women , skin the crew , take trophies off your kills." "Haha, let us show them pain like they have never seen before."

Jain Granger stared angrily at the viewscreen. Nichols was lying on the deck, blood streaming despite the bandage pressed there hastily. He needed medical attention, but there was no one to spare for that. "Damn the Drovan..." The lights flickered and whatever few people remaining alive worked to continue the fight.

The Adejaani Fleet had now lost about twenty ships with about another twenty out of commission, another thirty damaged and the whole Fleet continued to be mauled relentlessly.

"Withdraw." Granger said heavily. "We're losing fighting cohesion. We're in no position to continue." She swatted at the stinging smoke as the ship turned slowly. "Pull us away... And send our apologies to the Elarans."

The beam struck at the Olympia, obliterating one of it's lower corners. Atlantians who had been unfortunent to be in that area where either incinerated, or where lost to the cold depts of space.

The biggest explosion yet rocked the bridge. Vega fell out of his seat as several support beams of the celling gave way. Several control panels blew.

"Hull integraty at 32% We've lost all weapons in Delta Quad" Another explosion helped to tare the bidge apart. Pillers of flame shot out from different locations.

Vega thought for a long moment. "Can we escape?"
Sing replied. "Negative. All AO forces, as well as some LRR ships have been surrounded. We won't last much longer" The bridge was a burning wreck. Another explosion erupted as she turned to look at Vega. Her face was full of hopelessness. Vega couldn't blame her for that. Not even he thought they would win this......or even get out alive.....

------------

"It's primitive technology" said the Neo science officer.
"I wonder what's on the other side that's so valuble...." muttered the Commander. Then he issued an order. "All ships, lower your cloak and open fire!"

Drovan Fleet:

Gunships move in between the Adejaani vessels and the wormhole forming a circle around the Imperial and Coallition Fleets. There was no escape, fight or die.

"See,...they are falling apart, our Warriors keep them from operating their ships properly whilst we blast them into nothingness." "I see now that Sol will fall easily." Shintor said with a smile. "Full volleys, lets blow them all apart at once...it shall make a nice show."

+---+---+---+---+

Bridge of the Valkyr: Smoke and fires filled the ship, small amounts of Drovan continued beaming about the Imperial vessels , and casualties were mounting.

"Come Drovan, show us all that you have, we will die fighting!" "With Honor!"

"Sir, we're recieving a transmission....no, this cant be right..."

Roland turned to look at the Comm Officer, sparks flying from the panels around him as he stepped over the ripped, bloody dead bodies.

"Speak, what is it?" "Which Coallition ship is it from?" Roland said as the ship took another hit making it shake violently.

"No Sire, its in Elarian and its coming from the planet surface..."

"What?!" "What does it say??"

"Thats just it sir it makes no sense, its just numbers...they keep repeating over and over... 235.678 - 9847.01 - 74352.39 , and then it repeats." "Those cant be coordinates Ive already tried that."

Roland beamed a smile as if the Gods themselves had come down to save them all. In his happiness he quickly grabs the young Female Elarian Warrior and kisses her on the lips Then laughs almost histerically.

"Gods be praised!" "Thats not coordinates...thats for the Drovan shields..." "Give those numbers to the Coallition and Imperial Fleets!" "Tell them shielding, the commanders will know what to do."

Roland walks over to his Tactical Officer and leans down to him pointing down at the panel with his armor covered hand. "Now this is what I want you to do..."

A few moments later the Imperial Fleet opens up full fire on the Drovan Gunships, the Elarian Plasma Torpedoes and Tracker Fragmentation Missiles go right through the shielding of the Dominion Ships and ripping a few of them apart instantly.

About 500 small golden yellow vessels suddenly rise from the planet surface and engage the Drovan Battleships , their fire also goes right through the shielding , ripping at the hulls of the Drovan ships.

OCC: ooops. I missed your post there, Elara. Sort of ran off too early I suppose.

IC:

Recieving the new shield frequencies, the LRRSF cruisers and frigates target the now ridiculously weak Drovan ships. Antimatter and ion cannon fire rips through Drovan shields with deadly efficency. The cruisers continue to circle the Drovan heavy ships, their high speed and manouverability keeping them out of the firing arc of Auselian beams while allowing them to target with ion cannons, and the occasional antimatter shot (like all heavy weapons, the antimatter cannons have trouble tracking in violent manouvers).

Frigates and fighters now easily overwhelm smaller Drovan ships. Without shields, the mass wings of 100 fighters each cut down Drovan frigates with terrible ease. LRR frigates (of no unified design) are able to destroy Drovan carriers, and bat away Drovan fighters, robbing the Drovan of their fighter cover.

The Vaughn pulls in close to the olympia, and prepares to offload the crew of the stricken ship if need be. The three cruisers by the olympia ward off attack after attack on the Atlantian command ship by desperate Drovan forces, and the cruisers, by now detaching themselves from the battleships engagement, run rampant, explosions erupting in their wake as they streak through the battle.

"You heard the man...er...robot! Everyone, get off this ship!" shouted Vega. The officers looked at each other, then at Vega.
"Now without you" said Sing.
"I appriciate the concern, Lt, but I think it's in your best-"
"If you say interest, I'm gonna knock you down" said Sing. "We stay"
"Fine. Be difficult" Suddenly, several numbers appered on Sing's control panel.
"Its the numbers for the Drovan sheilds!" said Sing.
"What?" wondered Vega. Then he gave the order. "Nevermind, now blast those suckers to Mount Olympus!"

-----------------------

The Neo-Atlantian fleet decloked and opened fire on the Elarian defences guarding the wormhole.

Aboard the Elaran tranposrt Ship

"General Pluskat please report to the bridge"

The Dorman troops had been on the ship for a few days, everything seemed calm, they thought it would be a nice trip to conquest, for thats what the Dorman armies are trained. General Karl Larckner Pluskat was specifically chosen for this mission, he has vast experience in combat. He was the former commander of the infamous 21st Panzer Division, which has earned its merits over the years as being the most tenacious fighintg unit ever known. But, Pluskat had doubts about this one, he knew that he had a duty to help the Fatherland, but fighitng a new enemey, not even of the same species, and on foreign ground would be difficult. but of course, he thought, his troopers could handel it.
------------------

::Bridge of the Elaran Transport Vessel Seigen::
"Sir!" Pluskat snapped to attention infront of the ship's captain

"At ease son, look at that" He points to a large view screen "That is our entire fleet, this battle is a historic one, and we will need your men, I just wanted to express my thanks for you and your men comming to help out race."

"Sir, it is an honor to fight with our Vaterland, we feel a bond to you Elarans..."

Leutnant Steiger, communication offiver aboard the Seigen, cut in to his sentence:

"CAPTAIN! We have reports all voer our battle net that the Drovan's are boarding our ships through a type of teleportation, straight through the shield sir."

Captain Hauer, captain fo the Seigen, said, "How can that be, it seems that we are winning the battle, yet they are still boarding our ships..."

"Sir, it seems they are moving in waves through the fleet...sir we should prepare to repel boarders" Steiger said.

"Yes, sound the general alarm.... Pluskat, you and your men are the only type of ground forces on this ship, since you guys came along our marine contingent was reassigned, im going to need you to mobilize your men and prepare to repel....."

Mid sentece a mysterious blue beam appeared just right of Pluskat, it began to take shape and Hauer and Pluskat jsut stood there watching it with amazement, neither of them could make out what it was. Then it finished... a drovan warrior stood straight and leveled his rifle... he let out a burst of fire that caught Pluskat in the side and past him into a command counsel. The Drovan warrior turned about to fire at the crew when Pluskat pulled his Luger and fired 8 .45 caliber rounds into the being. Wounded but not out of action it turned again and level the barrel to Pluskat's face, then from behind the creature Hauer pulled his sword and sliced off the creatures head. He helped Pluskat back to his feet. All around the ship small firefights errupted, the Drovan's transported warriors to every part of the ship, but they hadn't counted on an entire Dorman division to be stationed on board. throughout the battle the Dormans continued to clear the ship, and place guards in the essential areas, when the General alarm sounded the men grabbed their weapons, but not their special armor for there was not enough time. Men died, Elarans died, but most importantly Drovan's died, more drovans then Dormans and Elarans, the supurb training of close quarters battle helped the Dormans fight, and the unrelentless determination of the Elarans hatred helped turn the tied and destroy the Drovan invaders.

::Back on the bridge::

A medic was tending to Pluskat, the energy beam had only skimmed his side, just charred flesh, he was lucky...The battle around them was not over but casualties were taken.

"Sir, now with this attack the Drovans just made our actions not of Duty to the Vaterland, but they made it personal!"

OOC: Had computer problems and lost a huge post. Oh well time to turn on some rock and start typin again.

IC:

Wormhole Guard Ships and Diamond Shield:

"Those are Atlantian ships!" "The traitors!" The Centurion of one of the Elarian Battleships says as 20 Elarian Fighters launch from the 2 Carriers.

"For the glory of the Empire!"

The 20 Fighters fly in Vanguard Formation and begin strafing the Atlantian ships as the 8 Diamond Ships open up with their Rapid Fire gun systems. The 2 Imperial Carriers stay back providing covering Fire as the 5 Imperial Battleships move up and launch continuous volleys of Plasma Torpedoes, Laser , and Missile fire.

+---+---+---+---+

OOC: LRR Drovan ships are not small and their hulls are not weak , they still pose a major threat.

IC:

Drovan Fleet:

"Evasive maneuvers!" Shintor shouted loudly, his eyes bulging in disbelief. "STOP PLAYING WITH THEM!" "Send more Warriors , EVERY damn ship!" "Destroy them all!"

Drovan ships tried to use speed and evasive maneuvers to their advantage , something their ships were not built though, they were built for power and integrity. Drovan Fighters begin providing cover for the Drovan Ships as more waves of fighters are launched from the planet surface and begin targetting Coallition Ships.

The Drovan Fleet opens full its attack , mass amounts of Warriors are beamed aboard Coallition and Imperial vessels. As Drovan begin to get desperate trying to destroy the enemy Fleets as quickly as possible.

With the Drovan Battleships moving out of formation a Dominion Space Station/Shipyard is revealed behind them, it begins launching massive volleys at Coallition and Imperial ships, hoping to rip them apart before the tides can change.

"Inform Dominion High Command , tell them to keep all vessels out of the area until they can change the Shielding Signature on all Ships and Stations." "Tell them we believe we can still push back the invaders."

+---+---+---+---+

Imperial Fleet:

Imperial Fighters target Drovan Battleships , though many of them are cut off and bloody dogfights with Dominion Fighters ensues.

Imperial Battleships move in Vanguard formation launching volleys into the Drovan Gunships as Imperial Cruisers and Destroyers move in to protect and assist the Adejaani Fleet.

One Elarian Transport with Fighter Escort breaks from the main group and begins heading towards the Dominion Space Station/Shipyard under orders from the Emperor to take it, not destroy it.

Casualties are still high and many ships are working with skeleton crews since Drovan Warriors continue to beam aboard and firefights and sword fights break out. Some Imperial vessels are captured and used against the rest of the Fleet as many explosions take place around them.

Some Imperial Ships are left useless after nearby Imperial Ships blow up right next to them causing their ships to be ripped up and inoperable.

Even with an advantage, its still chaos...

OOC: Id appreciate it if everyone else waited until UFLF and Adejaani posted. AO you can continue with the Wormhole attack though, just not with your ships fighting the Drovan. Thanks all.

OOC: gotya

IC:

The commander shook his head in discust as the enemy missles bounced harmlessly off the ship's sheilds.
"Missles? How primitive, it's almost cute." He turned to face his tactical officer. "They think they can play with the big boys. Finish them off"

The tactical officer smiled, then went to work. The flanking Neo Vessels fired a large, thick beam of red light at the Elarian ships.

the center ones focused on the dimonds.
"Fire a Poleron wave" ordered the commander. A large EMP wave was fired by the vessels in the center at the Dimonds.

OOC: Ya, I know It's gomodding. But don't worry. The Neo-Atlantians are mearly a plot device for this RP and pt. 2 and 3 of my own Homeworld RP.

OOC: We've already worked this out. He has his rules to follow since I allowed him to do this for a temp thing for his RPs.

IC:

All 20 Fighters are incinerated immediately as they flew straight through the red beams.

The Diamond Ships as well as the 7 other Imperial Vessels are disabled but soon blow up from the damage.

OOC: I know its quick but I want to get this stage out of the way so we can move on with everything else.

"Better." Granger nodded approval. "Fleet status?"

Nichols was hanging onto the table with shaking legs. He was finally bandaged up and was on the verge of collapse, but insisted it could wait. "Our tech boys and girls are doing an excellent job. We're analysing the data and making our defensive screens stronger. Problem's firepower. We're still the weakest in terms of overall offensive strength. However, our increased defenses should even the score a bit."

"Yes." Granger agreed. "We're going to need a lot of repairs before we can continue to the next phase of operations, though. Uh... Tell Cruiser Squadron Four to budge up tighter! Squadrons Six, Eight and Nine, plus Destroyer Squadrons Four, Fifteen and Sixteen, hit them straight through the middle! Break the Drovan formation!"

Drovan Fleet:

Just then the volleys of Coallition and Imperial Fire are stopped....they hit shields again.

"Dominion High Command, I thank you." Shintor said with a laugh as he sat down, now calmed and at ease.

Dominion High Command had re-calibrated the shielding signatures of all Dominion Vessels and Space Stations. Hell had just got hotter...

The Federation Armada's neared firing range of the Drovan vessels. It was no longer line combat; it was chaos. There were coalition and dominion ships in a large tangle of fire fights. The O'Connor leading the large wave of advancing ships.

Onboard, Colin looked to his Science officer.

"Lieutenant, what do we have?"

"Sir, the Adejaani fleet is near collapse, Atantian and LRR fleets are close to the same fate, yet they're staying solid together. Imperial vessesl are faring well...all considered that is."

The frequencies came in, the shield modulation combinations, Frigra, the Science officer knew what they were. But as she imput them her readings changed.

"Sir, we have been transmitted the enemy shield modulations, but they're already shifted, it won't do any good..."

"Well that was short lived..." Colin said, with a very bitter tone, "Looks like we'll do this the hard way. Coms, send this: Fleets Alpha 2 and 3 are to help our Adejaani friends. Bravo 1 is to assist the Atlantians and Robots. Bravo 2 assist the Elarians. Alpha 1, Bravo 3, and Charlie Armada, change attack pattern. Kappa 0-2-0"

The Tactical officer manning weapons spoke up.

"Sir, Their fighters have concentrated on our ships sir."

"Excellent, well time to show them we are more than fighter bate. Screw the phasers, I want 3 torpedos for every fighter, smash them to oblivion"

Colin grinned, he liked how he was underestimated, it made it easier to surprise and impress.

Being 500 ships to a fleet, minus thier carrier sections and Marine vessels, the UFLF's allies recived much support.

Onboard the USS Venus, a Soverign Battleship, Admiral Benson, verteran of the ShaRa wars, commanded the 2nd Alpha Fleet. Opening a frequency to Admiral Granger's ship.

"Admiral, sorry we're late...like always. Just like old times eh?"

Fighters began to fire thier micro-quantam torpedoes, and the Larger vessels, Destroyers, Frigates, and Escorts, began thier first attack runs, fully stocked armories, they were ready.

OCC: Let me rephrase that....weak in the face of swarms of frigates targeting individual ships. And its not like my forces aren't taking losses- they split one of my cruisers down the middle! Of course, this will necessitate a major redisgn of the cruiser class....

*goes to drawing board*

IC:

With the Drovan shields restored, things go back, more or less, to how they were.

The swarms of frigates find that their massed attacks no longer exact the same amount of damage, and abandon the dangerous tactic in favor of evasive manouvers, taking quite a few losses from the re-invigorated Drovan assault.

Fighters battle eachother in giant, twisting dogfights with no clear victor. Damaged craft limp back into the docking bays of their parent cruisers for repair.

"I'm hit! I'm hit!" screams Valhallah 6. (Out of a 25-fighter group).
"I got him, six! Now hold on, we'll protect you!"
"Casualty report!" calls the fighter controller on the LRRSV Leon Russell.
"We've had four destroyed," an explosion sounds in the backround, as well as the humming of a recharging ion cannon and the rattle of the plasma cannon, "and three disabled."
"Copy that, Valhallah flight."

The remaining 18 fighters concentrate on protecting their damaged comrades from Drovan onslaught.

"What the hell are those?" calls Valhallah 7 at the arrival of neo-atlantian ships.
"Whatever they are, concentrate on the task at hand!" calls 1.

The situation is similar all around the battle for fighter wings.

The cruisers stay in some formation, usually twos or threes, near their fighter wings as they exchange shots with Drovan capital ships. The cruisers try to engage side or head on, where the armor is thickest and their profile is the smallest. The battle devolves into a slugging match between the coalition and Drovan ships, something the relatively lightly-armored LRR heavy cruisers were simply not built for. They take cover behind wreckage whenever they can, and some captains have their repair bots retreive slabs of wreckage to weld onto the hulls of their cruiser for additional armor protection. The LRR and Atlantian ships stay close to eachother, batting away Drovan assaults on their damaged formation.

The Vaughn and its two cohorts manage to disembark all of the surviving Atlantian crew from the Olympia, and then pull away as fast as possible.

"How are we gonna win this?" asks Poskar.
"Incoming Liberty Fighters vessels!"
"Excellent. UFLF ships, this is the Vaughn, we have just disembarked the Altantian command ship crew, and we're taking heavy fire. Could you cover us, over?"

OCC: Damage:

120 frigates lost (out of about 540)
15% fighter casualties (out of about 2,000)
1 Cruiser lost
3 cruisers out of action (they withdrew to a safe position for repairs)
5 cruisers heavily damaged
8 cruisers moderately damaged
3 cruisers lightly damaged

The Neo ships cloaked agian as they entered the wormhole. Arriving on the other side, the commander watched the battle unfold.
"Hmm.....powerful ships. I want to know what race they are"
"Our library is centuries out of date.....but I think it's Drovan"
"Drovan, really? They supposedly have powerful weapons. We could use those. I want a ship captured. Dousn't matter what size"
"Aye sir"
The fleet moved in, and the flagship locked on to a destroyer class vessel.
"Fire a Poleron Wave"
"Our EMP wave is still recharging"
"Then have another ship fire it"
The ship to the left of the flagship fired the wave, and then locked a tractor beam on it.
"Excelent, let's get out of here" said the Commander.

The fleet began to turn around and head for the wormhole.

---------

The Olympia:
Another blast hit the bridge.
"Sir, I'm detecting Neo-Atlantian ships in the area" Sing reported.
"What? On-screen" ordered Vega. A fleet of Neo ships appeared on the screen, apperently with a Drovan ship in tow.
"Shit. Do we have an opening yet for the fleet?" asked Vega.
"Affermative. We've managed to punch a hole through the Drovan lines. We're no longer surrounded on all sides"
"Good. Then have all remaining ships intercept the Neo ships."
"Aye sir" replied Sing. The Atlantian ships moved away from the battle field, following the Neo ships.
"We won't be able to make a dent in them, sir. You do know that" said Sing.
"I know very well, Lt. I'm just hoping our allies come to help us out" replied Vega.
"We're in range"
"OPEN FIRE!"
The Atlantian fleet exchanged fire with the Neo fleet, in a running battle to the womhole. Alas, the Atlantian fleet failed to stop the Neo fleet, as they entered the wormhole.
"Damn. We lost them agian" said Vega. For a moment, the bridge was silent. Then, another blast shook the bridge.
"More Drovans?" asked Vega.
"Sir, the Elarians have opened fire"

Roland stood infront of the viewscreen furiously as the comm officer opened a transmission.

"We give you our trust, even after you shouldnt have been trusted , even after what you did in our Civil War, and you blatantly defile that trust." "One rule to follow, but you couldnt take it , you couldnt keep your hands off the power could you?" "We will not make the same mistake again."

The entirety of the Imperial Fleet turns and begins to assault the Atlantian Fleet. Imperial Fighters run in packs close the the hulls of the Atlantian ships strafing them as they make their attack passes. Volleys of Plasma Torpedoes are fired off from the Imperial Fleet.

"I say this to the other Coallition members, I gave one rule and a warning." "I hope that you will all stand with me in holding to that one rule, if not then leave this system now.

The bridge of the USS Juno was dimly lit, and the red alert lights were flashing, the alarm had long since passed however. The Defiant classed escort sat on the entrance to the wormhole, along with 15 others of its class. Commodore Redfield sat in the command chair, he was given specific orders to hold the wormhole with the Elarians; as well as provide exra security for the Marine Section waiting on the other side as well.

16 fully armed Defiant-classed escorts sat cloaked. The wormhole began to emit its usual radiation. It began to swirl with color and it opened.

"Commodore," The Science officer of the Juno began. "Atlantians retrating sir."

Redfield stood up walking over to the operations officer.

"On screen. Open a cha...those aren't friendly atlantians. Maintain cloak. Open a channel to the rest of the flight."

"Open sir."

"Good, all ships, maintain cloak. Approach those Atlantian vessels, Danger close. Drop cloak and open fire on my mark only."

The 16 deadly vessels flew secretly, helmsmen for Defiants were chosen specially. They needed to be able to fly within meters of an emey ship; that was exactly what all 16 of them were doing.

"Science, are we in thier firing arc?"

"No sir, the ships themselves can't hit us, others can, but they'd be firing at eachother."

"Good, order to drop the cloak. I want all ships to remain danger-close, but lock all weapons on that drovan ship. Give it everything we've got till it's gone."

Pulse phasers and rapid fire quantam topedoes slammed into the hull of the captured and damaged Drovan vessel

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Onboard the USS Imperial Poskar's messege was heard.

FAdm Murphy stayed seated.

"We will cover any LRR vessels, as for the Atlantians..."

Murphy ran his fingers along his command chair console, he transfered main tactical ops to his chair, sharing it with the tactical officer on the bridge; who spoke up hesitantly.

"You could have just ask--oh no..."

Murphy punched the last key. He had programed, and now fired a specific firing pattern; all weapons. Half a dozen type XII phaser banks sliced into the Atlantian command ship. Followed in seconds by a barrage from 3 Quantam torpedo banks.

"Lieutenant, continue firing until that ship is gone. Coms, order all fleets to cover the LRR vessels, open fire on all Atlantian vessels in range. They have attempted to steal technology, and we stand by the Elarians. Do it!"

The 1st Bravo fleet took positions along the LRR lines, firing at Atlantian and Drovan vessels.

"Stop, stop, stop!" calls Admiral Poskar. "Those are friendly atlantian ships you are firing on! Hold on- we will designate the friendlies for you."

But with the influx of Liberty Fighters vessels, the LRR/Atlantian line, if one could call it that, stabilizes. It even looks, now, as though there might be a chance of, perhaps, winning.

"Admiral, the Atlantians direcntly violated the agreement, they have begun to salvage enemy technology, they were warned such action would mean destruction. They can surrender now and leave, or they can die. Orders from the Chancellor Marshall, not me Admiral. I'm sorry, but I am a soldier following orders, and nothing more."

"Admiral, the Atlantians direcntly violated the agreement, they have begun to salvage enemy technology, they were warned such action would mean destruction. They can surrender now and leave, or they can die. Orders from the Chancellor Marshall, not me Admiral. I'm sorry, but I am a soldier following orders, and nothing more."

OCC: Wait, are you firing at the command ship Olympia, the modern Atlantians ship, or the NeoAtlantians? Because if you are firing on the NeoAtlantians, that's fine, but the modern Atlantians aren't doing anything bad.

The 500 mysterious Golden Yellow Vessels that are assisting Coallition ships fly in one massive pack as they move in and open fire on the Atlantian Vessels, mimicing the Elarians.

Transmission Open:

"Atlantians are a unified race, and as far as I know no other race has ships like that." "Those were Atlantian Government ships stealing tech and breaking the one law we had." "They are traitorous dogs, and they will be destroyed unless they leave."

Roland shakes his head negatively.

"I do not like to think that they did this but they have...LRR if you are with us stay, but if you are loyal to the Atlantians leave...we understand and will think nothing of holding alliances and friendships dear." "Even if they are dishonorable." "We will be watching you if you leave though, do not attempt to take tech, or war will be declared and you will be fired upon."

OCC: Wait, are you firing at the command ship Olympia, the modern Atlantians ship, or the NeoAtlantians? Because if you are firing on the NeoAtlantians, that's fine, but the modern Atlantians aren't doing anything bad.

OOC: Like Elara said. I know the Neo-Atlantians stole it. But they look Atlantian, so we follow an agreemtn wer made with the Empire. To help inforce the rule. We don't know better

"What the hell are they firing on us for?" Vega demanded to know.
"How should I know? One minute, we're chasing Neo's, next thing you know, the entire figggin coallition except LRR's firing on us" replied Sing.
"Sir, another fleet's been destroyed. Only 3 remain" another officer reported.
"Then.....retreat. Back to Atlantian space. We'll regroup there." Vega ordered.
"What if they follow us?" asked Sing.
"Then the entire coallition with know our wrath. None shall step on our capital world" said Vega. He paused, but just for a seconed. "Open a channel to the LRR's. They're the only ones who don't seem to be firing on us. Ask them a big favor. Watch our backs as we get out of here"

"What the hell are they firing on us for?" Vega demanded to know.
"How should I know? One minute, we're chasing Neo's, next thing you know, the entire figggin coallition except LRR's firing on us" replied Sing.
"Sir, another fleet's been destroyed. Only 3 remain" another officer reported.
"Then.....retreat. Back to Atlantian space. We'll regroup there." Vega ordered.
"What if they follow us?" asked Sing.
"Then the entire coallition with know our wrath. None shall step on our capital world" said Vega. He paused, but just for a seconed. "Open a channel to the LRR's. They're the only ones who don't seem to be firing on us. Ask them a big favor. Watch our backs as we get out of here"

"This is getting way out of hand" says Poskar, "open up a transmission to all Coalition ships."
"Done."
"Attention all Coalition ships, the following vessels are not to be fired upon!"

The Vaughn sends a complete list of modern Atlantian vessels to each coalition vessel. Hopefully, they would be able to distinguish between the different classes and stop the friendly fire.

Murphy sighed, he commanded the only ships in firing range of Atlantians on this side of the wormhole.

"Hold fire. Open a com."

"Admiral Poskar, unless the Atlantian rats are retreating without firing, and without more stolen tech, I will resume thier destruction. They have violated the agreement, and the Federation will stick to both agreements we made."

"30 seconds to the wormhole" said Sing
Another wing of fighters was obliterated.
"15 seconds"
A small destroyer was incinerated.
"Here we go" the 1st of the Atlantian fleet vanished through the wormhole. Soon, the other surviving fleets got out of there. 3 fleets out of 5.
"We're clear" said Sing.
"Open a channel to Cirrus. Get Orion on he phone. And set a course for the Atlantian star cluster" Vega ordered.
The 3 surviving, battered fleets made it o the jump node and vanished....re-appearing in AO space.

--Next post: "Aftermath", a new thread--

Murphy sighed, he commanded the only ships in firing range of Atlantians on this side of the wormhole.

"Hold fire. Open a com."

"Admiral Poskar, unless the Atlantian rats are retreating without firing, and without more stolen tech, I will resume thier destruction. They have violated the agreement, and the Federation will stick to both agreements we made."

"You are confused between the two types of Atlantians that have made a showing. The modern atlantians, and the Neo Atlantians. Two completely different sides. Both are retreating, the Neo Atlantians with stolen tech, and the modern Atlantians to escape destruction. But they've left now."

With the exit of the Atlantian fleet, the coalition fleet visibly decreases in size. The LRR fleet is close to collapse.

Granger didn't have time to argue as the open channels continued carrying the bickering. She cringed as one of her Destroyers took one heavily on the chin and continued. "Hate to break up the party, boys and girls, but the Drovan are still hot on our tails."

Back on the USS Venus Admiral Benson stood to action.

"Helm, bring us into a support angle along side Granger. TacOps, nothing touches either of us, get me?"

Sarah looked at each department as she gave the order, standing behind the helmsman, she leaned on his chair with one hand.

"Ops. Notify the fleet, I want all elements to "mingle" with the Adejaani vessels, we're fresh, lets give em some support."

"Aye ma'am....sent."

"Good, alright people, this is it..."

The Venus took up a support role adjacent to Granger's ship. Federation vessels began to take up positions with the Adejaani fleet. Becomming the 'patches' for hols in the line, a re-bolstering of the formation; firing all the way.

On the Juno Murphy stepped into action as well.

"All vessels, take point, let the LRR elements rest, we've got this. Ops, get me the O'Connor, on scren."

Vice Marshall O'Connor's image appeared on the screen, his bridge crew hard at work, but they had been able to keep together quite well.

"How are things holding up Admiral?" O'Connor spoke up first, he was obviously in a hurry.

"The Atlantians, and the 'Neo-Atlantians' or whatever they claim they are, have left. You know I respect you Colin, but I've been at this longer than you, so I am offering you my suggestions.

1.) We are going to need those Marine Cruisers, they may not be full naval officers, but they are deadly with those ships, only in a way a marine could be.

2.) We need everything."

Murphy waited with anticipation, hoping his younger, but superior officer would see his point.

"Hmm. You know I respect you and your seniority Admiral, and there is a reason for that. I agree with you completley. Hold that left flank with LRR. I'll have our support."

The screen went back to the main viewer of the battle. COlin walked back to his chair and accessed his console. He tapped a few keeys and entered an authorization code.

250 Intrepid-Classed Medium Cruisers got the messege on the other side of the wormhole. A single man was beamed off the Polaris right before the wormhole began to swirl. The ships went through, tachyon levels rose again. Others had gotten thier messeges as well.

On the battle side of the wormhole; if there was such a thing in existance as a bored science officer that day, they might have noticed the insanley huge levels of tachyon particles, but that was all...for now.

With the flank reinforced with Liberty Fighters vessels, the lighly armored LRR cruisers make quick repairs and pull their formations back together. The more heavily armored frigates (in terms of proportions here) continue on the line, supported by the remaining fighter wings. Although losses were high in terms of ships, actual deaths among the LRRSF crews were relatively low. The thing about the LRRSF was that it might loose the battle, but it would never take anywhere near high casualties among the crews.

Drovan vessels were in loose blocky formations but were trying to tighten their ranks.

"Now thats alot of Monkey ships....focus on beaming Warriors onboard their vessels, all ships except gunships continue to fire into the monkey and robot vessels, gunships and Station continue pounding the blueskin fleet."

"Sir, what about the others?"

"Station and gunships can deal with them too, though dont beam warriors over there....it would be a waste of men."

"Commander we've lost the outer layer of our shields!"

"Its alright, the monkeys still have 2 more to go through, theyll be dead before then..."

Shintor began to grow angry as he realized almost all of the fighters had been wiped out in their strike against the "monkey" fleet. And what was left of them were being knocked out by Imperial Gentari Fighters. Still he kept his arrogant and cocky mood as another wave of Auselian Beams were fired at the Federation Fleet. Around that time about 50 Dominion Cruisers decloak behind the Federation Fleet and open up fire with phaser banks and torpedoes, thus putting the Federation in a bit of a crossfire.

The Imperial Fleet as well as the 500 golden yellow mystery ships pounded on the Drovan Station trying to drop the shields before the Transport ship could reach it.

Suddenly Dominion Ships begin launching swarms of small maroon fighters....though scans show they do not have weaponry, they appear to be very fast and very maneuverable as they shreak towards Coallition ships. They look as though they are going on an attack pattern to skim enemy vessels and strafe....but they do not fire...they just continue to shreak towards Coallition vessels until they slam into the shielding of the ships and those ships unfortunate enough to have lost their shields find these small swarms hitting their hulls. They appear to be carrying alot of explosive energy.

"Evasive maneuvers fire everything we've got!"

"Theres too many of them sire!"

"All extra and reserve power to shielding." "Brace for Impact!"

Many Imperial ships are blown to pieces , the Imperial Fleet cannot dstroy them all fast enough for there are far too many... the mysterious golden yellow fleet also takes a large hit as over 200 of their own ships are blown into small burning pieces of wreckage.

Even more troubling another Drovan Fleet has appeared , the same size as the Fleet guarding the planet Elara. Though strangely it appears to have damage itself....

On the O'Connor, Colin was getting worried. The ship shook as he watched 5 more maroon ighters slam right into the view of the viewer.

"Sir, they've got cloak! 50 cruiser types have appeared behind us."

The young ensign at ops showed his adreniline as he yelled out his report.

"Alright..."

Colin walked briskly over to the ops console and opened a channel

"Admiral Malek, you're target, those albino rats on my flank. Destory them completley."

The face of a middle aged Rear Admiral came on the viewer, her auburn hair was up in a bun. Trill stripes ran down her face.

"Consider them dust Vice-Marhsall."

It it were possible for tachyons to start an alertgic reaction, every humanoid in the sector would have died by now. 375 Defiant Classed Escort Vessels de-cloaked, seconds later they were skimming meters from the hulls of the Drovan rusiers, pouding round of 4 burst quantam torpedoes and quad pulse phasers into the enemy vessels; exactly what they were designed to do. Fly close enough to the ship so its own defenses couldn't lock, and if other ships fired, they would risk hitting thier own.

Back on the O'Connor, a security ensign stood with his LV Mark V, next to the microtransport pad leading to the bridge. A red shimmer apeared a meter from him. Before he could level his weapon, he was knocked violently to the ground by a Drovan warrior.

Only one had managed to get through, luck, the composite of the hull of the ship was full of surpises. The warrior took 2 mroe steps, and on his third, 3 phaser beams triagulated his cranium, and he fell. When on Red-Alert, the Vith Tir class made sure only authorized personel survived their arrival on the ship.

On other vessels however, they weren't so lucky. The Armada's quickly denied all acess to thier bridges,and all compartments were saled off, with armed crewmembers waiting to fire on any red blur. Several ships were teporarily or permanently lost to the enemy boaders.

The most damaging was the combination of the Auselian Beams and the suicide fighters. Ship's whose shields were strong enough to withstand the massive beams, were decimated by the maroon terrors. Other ships were simply sliced apart by the deadly blue beams.

"M'lord another Drovan Fleet has appeared and is on its way to our location."

"By the gods....alright, inform the fleet berserker tactics, we must finish this fleet and regroup before that one gets here." "We need that station though, inform our friends in the yellow gold ships we need those shields down quickly."

The Comm Operator nodded as Roland walked over to his Command Chair and sat down. On the viewscreen he could see Imperial Destroyers , Cruisers and Mwto'ar Class Frigates move in quickly around Drovan Ships. Imperial Battleships stay back providing heavy fire to support the rest of the Fleet. Drovan Gunships come in close and begin ripping at the shields and hulls of the Imperial Fleet. Though Imperial Fighters move in to deal with the Dominion Gunships.

The scene is pure chaos, ships exploding everywhere, beams of blue , green , red and yellow shoot from ships... some vessels lose control after being boarded by so many Drovan Warriors and full into the atmosphere. Screams, yells and cries for help are heard over the comms of the Imperial Ships.

As the Defiants streak over the Dominion Ships some lose 2 layers of the shielding but they still laugh at the Human Vessels as they begin firing torpedoes and phasers into the close flying Defiants.

Drovan Warriors are especially excited about getting trophies which makes them all too eager to skin the Humans, a species they had never saw before. And those that they would take were clearly marked to tell which "Monkey" nation they came from...Adejaani or the Federation. Beaming has slowed down on the Imperial Ships as the Drovan seem to favor beaming aboard Federation and Adejaani Vessels.

Whats left of the Drovan Fighters begins the target Adejaani ships which, like a shark smelling blood they since are too weakened to fight them off.

Granger dived behind a chair as she expertly put two 45 caliber rounds into the nearest Drovan invader. "Status report!" She barked as security personnel fired their own weapons at the Drovan.

"We're the weak link!" One of the veterans at the communications yelled. A good man, Granger remembered, with two kids. "We're more or less on equal footing again, but we're the least equipped to repel invaders. Our ships aren't exactly carrying board parties." The commo tech yelled.

Nichols, on the other hand, despite being balding and almost as wide as he was tall, showed grace and stamina that would've done someone half his age and a quarter of his weight proud. He'd gone hand to hand with a Drovan warrior, managing to slam the heel of his fist and shattering that warrior's nose, ending it off with a slightly wobbly, but powerful roundhouse kick. Showing quick wit and bravery, he'd then picked up a fire extinguisher and smashed the face of another Drovan.

"Good news is, our fighter squadrons are managing to keep the worse of these suicide swarmers away. Our little anti-missile and anti-fighter missiles are perfect for the job, so we're sending our fighters to help take the heat off the others." Nichols gasped as he tried to suck in breath.

One lone Atlantian fighter remined intact. Most thought it was just debris. It was just floating among the leftovers of the destroyed Atlantian 4th and 5th fleets. The life-support was almost off-line, and there where no lights.

However, the pilot was still alive. She knew not to contact the surviving fleet, she'd be caught. He simply sat there, watching the battle, hoping that she wouldn't be fired upon.

OOC: Ya...shameless plot thread. If anyone wants to pick it up.

With repairs done on many of the LRRSF cruisers, they return to the battle with renewed (more or less) energy. A good deal of the LRRSF fighters remain intact, but the relatively poor performance (in LRRSF eyes) of the Hurricane II means that it'll probably be replaced by newer versions of the super acolyte.

But with the majority of the frigates and several cruisers destroyed in the pitched battle, and with the arrival of the second Drovan fleet, things look increasingly bad.

Meanwhile, however, at the other end of the galaxy, a full 50 smart-looking vessels, each 2.5km in length, sit outside a small LRRSF base, surrounded by a cloud of frigates. A total of 5,000 Super Acolyte V fighters sit in the docking bays of the cruisers, the very newest type, and the first of 250 planned to be built.

"All ships of the 1st flotilla, prepare for hyperspace."

OCC: If you think this is a godmod, pulling 50 good-sized ships into the battle in the near future (after the other drovan fleet arrives), just tell me so and we'll work something out.

OOC: Sorry this nearly died everyone, real life caught up with me, including an emergency surgery. So now that Im back lets get right back to it.

IC:

It has been over a month since the begining of the Homeworld Campaign, and it had only been just recently that the fleet got its first victory. However this small taste or glory was bittersweet, so much had been lost and the heavens were filled with the bodies of the brave and the twisted burning metals of hundreds of ships from not only Imperial and Dominion ships but of Coallition vessels as well. This place and this time would not easily be forgotten, and it still was not over, though there was not resistance in the starry skies anymore the planet itself was still not taken and the rest of the system needed to be cleansed as well. The Drovan Shipyard/Station which had been taken by Elarian Boarding Parties was a top priority, even though taken it was so badly damaged from the hard fighting that its inoperable, Elarian Engineers work hard to get it back up and running to repair the fleets and prepare for the Ground Campaign. Though repairs are slow, Drovan isnt an easy language to read, and of course there isnt any other engineering teams coming from Coallition members because Roland is too worried about keeping technology secure that it does slow the pace,....as well as anxious Admirals constantly hounding that the station be operational soon because of fear of a new Dominion Fleet arriving. Also Shintor had escaped to the planet surface and was leading Dominion Ground Forces there which had the Elarian Commanders a bit on edge though still exuding the normal Elarian confidence.

The Bridge of the Valkyr, Elarian Flagship:

"Admiral Hester, Sebas wishes to speak with Roland, how long will this conference in FCN be?"

"Shouldnt be that long, inform Sebas that the Emperor is eager to meet with him as well but he was needed at the Conference, there is much to be dealt with there." "Also, contact the Engineering Teams...I want a report..."

"Yes Admiral."

"If only Roland would allow some Coallition help in the repairs..we could be proceeding with the ground campaign by now..."


+---+---+---+---+

Current Imperial Fleet Statistics:

Elarian Fleet Statistics:

-23 Imperial Battleships
-56 Imperial Cruisers
-61 Imperial Destroyers
- 15 Imperial Carriers
-55 Imperial Transports
-450 Imperial Fighters
-25,000,000 Elarian Warriors (All Ground Branches)
-45,000 Dorman Soldiers (Aboard an Elarian Transport)

-100 Unknown Warships (The Mysterious Golden Vessels Which Flew From The Planet Surface And Gave Aid To The Imperial Fleet.)

+---+---+---+---+

Dominion Statistics:

-50,000,000 Drovan Dominion Warriors (Ground)

In the month following what has become known simply as "The Drovan Incident", which led to the crippling of Atlantis's space forces, they have been building up agian, scrapping their mothership project, and re-building their fleets with newer classes. They have been waiting for multiple enemies, weather it be LF, Elarian, Adjeenian, Drovan, or Neo-Atlantian.

Total military at this time:

5 Fleets:
The 1st 2nd and 3rd Fleets each Contain:
3 Titan Battleships
15 Pyramid Heavy Cruisers
25 Poseidon Light Cruisers
50 Barracuda Destroyers
5 Exodus Gunships
20 Phoenix Cargo Ships

The 4th and 5th Fleets each Contain:
3 Leviathan Battleships
15 Oceanus Heavy Cruisers
25 Centaur Light Cruisers
50 Jaguar Destroyers
5 Exodus Gunships
20 Phoenix Cargo Ships


5 Armies (all in reserve):
Each Army Contains:
50,000 Hoplite Infantry
50,000 Centaur Cavalry
50,000 Anubite Heavy Troops
50 Zeus Mechs
50 Hyperon Mechs
50 Chariot Tanks

Special Forces:
1,000 Trident Guards

Defenses:
5 Citadel Battlestations (one in orbit of each inhabited planet)
50 spears of Harpy defense turrets (5 covering each inhabited planet/moon/node to Earth)

"Have the engineer work on the Inertial Dampeners." Vice Admiral Dan 'Nicky' Nicholas ordered as he hung onto the console as the ship spun slightly as it decelerated. His ship, the ANS Excalibur was a brand new prototype, almost literally fresh from the shipyards with his crew performing shakedown literally as they flew along. Nicky looked away as a few of the bridge officers threw up. He was close to it too, but held it in.

"Yet another thing going wrong in a nonetheless finely tuned ship." One Officer muttered quietly. It was true. The weapons and defense systems worked fine... Hardly anything else did. The Inertial Dampeners were a necessity to keep the crew from being tossed around. In this case... They were out of alignment. It was basically similar to being inside a dark room and spun around. You feel sick.

"Agreed, Lieutenant. But right now, the Excalibur is going to be a necessity. We left after the disengagement. Partly our orders but also mostly to get the experience gained into the Fleet. Right now the Adejaani Fleet here consists of one ship. Us. But the rest are being retrofitted as per the experience. Automated security systems now line most of the corridors in case the Drovan board us again. The rest of the Fleet will return in due course.

"For now, signal the Elaran Flagship and tell them that we're back and the rest of the Fleet will be here soon."

In the weeks after the end of the first fleet engadgement, the Federation Fleet had been in a cosntant state of shift. Floatillas being sent back for upgrades and retro-fits. Personnel being transferred at the end of tours. And supply shipments entereing and leaving the system. The only vessels that seemd to have stayed the whole period were the maintenence ships, slavage craft, and the LFV O'Conner.

==On the bridge of the O'Conner==

The Captain sat in his chair, sipping his Northwesterner blend coffee brew. It was a specialty of the LF natives from the Northwestern quadrant.

The Tactical officer at Ops was shook out of his monotonus observations of the various repair and slavage ships, when his short range scanners alerted him to the arrival of a new ship in the Area.

"Captain," The young blonde man said, turning to face the Command chair, he wore the red department jacket of Chief Tactical Officer for the O'Conner "An Adejaani vessel is entering the sector, the ANS Excalibur sir..."

Kendall stood up. He was the commanding officer of the O'Conner However had taken a temporary down step to 2nd officer while the Marshalls were aboard.

"Thank you Commander, alert Marshalls O'Conner, and open a channel."

The LCdr nodded and turned back to his console with a short, "Aye sir!" He ran his fingers quickly across his console, sending a computerized notification to the two Marshalls, and then Opened a channel to the Excalibur.

"Its open sir." He added.

"Excalibur, this is the O'Conner, Captain Darian Kendall Speaking, its good to see you boys back in the sector, rummors were flying that you had left us. With all due respect, you seem to be alone...what gives?"

"Domestic issues." Nicky replied smoothly. "The Excalibur is our brand new heavy cruiser. More or less specifically to fight the Drovan. We're mostly here to get the bugs ironed out. Plus, we're here to take a look at that Drovan facility. See if we can't upgrade ourselves to be more useful. The rest of the Fleet shall be here after their upgrades are complete."

The Elarian Planet Surface: The sound of whips and hollering in Drovan tongue, a language about as cuddly as a barbed wire fence. The massive city is nothing but ruins, in the distance many great Temples or the Elarian Gods of old can be seen, or would be able to be seen if not for all the dust being kicked up by Dominion Warriors working on walls and installations. Shintor appears walking down the trodded paths and inspecting the work of his Soldiers. He is followed closely by a Drovan man in a Dominion Officers Uniform, he says very uneasy...

"My liege lord Shintor, I beg of you, call High Command, ask them to send a Fleet to finish this once and for all...."

"High Command overestimates their chances, they want to finish the weapon before they risk another fleet." "The Shovot knows though....with the weapon all they will be able to do is watch is their pitiful races are subjugated to our will." "Ahh yes it will be nice to have slaves again." Says with a snicker and a half grin. "Personally Id like to try some of those pink females." "You should see their ships, obviously an inferior race, we will be doing them good by making them slaves it is the only thing for which any other race is properly suited."

"And what about the other problem...I lose more men each night to the monsters, how long must I tell you and the High Command before you will take me more seriously." "Do you know the targetting systems and S&D Devices they sent me didnt even have power cores?" "And now with the return of the blueskins the attacks have increased ten-fold!" He says walking infront of Shintor with glaring eyes.

"Perhaps if your men would work harder fixing the two surviving Auselian Beams and Turrets from our downed ships and setting them up YOU, Commander Drex could deal with the problem and that of the enemy fleet above us without any help from High Command at all." As Shintor turns and looks on at the very tired Drovan Warriors who continue working diligently as their Overlords whip them he says quietly: "And even if you cant the weapon will be finished soon and we can take care of your problems as well..."

Commander Drex sneers as he begins to speak, his words filled with hate and contempt for Shintor, who seemingly didnt care about 'a few dead Warriors'... "You put too much faith in that weapon!"

Shintor turns to Drex very calmly and puts a pistol at his head and squeezing the trigger ever so gently turns Drex's head into a fine gray mist. "And you do not put enough faith in your people..."

The Robotic Galactic Space Flotilla quickly scraps its old cruisers and replaces them with saucers, altogether larger vessels. The new RGSV saucers are much better combat ships, and much prettier too. Colorfully painted saucers, covered in the LRR flag, head to finish the Drovan wars.

Assembling in deep space, the impromptu fleet calls the rest of the coalition fleets and prepares to rejoin the battlegroup.

Captain Kendall was about to reply when the lift doors opened onto the bridge. It was Vice-Marshall Colin O'Connor. He wore his red shouldere'd and black uniform; including the flag officer jacket. 6 silver pips on his neck, the last a black circle, with silver trim.

"Ah, well welcome back to the System Admiral." The Marshall said quite jovially. "We haven't been up to much besides clean-up, repair, and refit. However we do have exciting news. Construction on a facility of our own is to start in 8 hours. An Immense-Class Station. Just like the ones that Orbit earth, and the planets in our system."

He nodded to Captain Kendall who took his seat to the left of the center command chair, which Colin walked over and sat in.

"Other than that, things here have been quiet. The planet's surface however is quite different. My Generals are still working with the Elarians on how to take it...it will prve difficult, just as when you last were here. It is good to see you back with us, I am sure morale will boost with this news."

Picking up a PADD from an officer wearing red shoulders who had handed it to him. He skimmed it quickly and nodded, returning it to her.

"My father is back on Earth at the moment, so I am in command, please feel free to call me at any hour. The sands in the hour-glass are deminishing, we need to make our next move soon."

Admiral Poskar Ives walks onto his Type-L heavy protected bulk carrier, RGF jargon for a dreadnaught-freighter.

The big ship is painted in the regular Robotic Galactic Flotilla paint scheme, an aesthetic shade of powder blue with the flag emblazened on what is assumed to be the bow.

Admiral Ives floats down the corridors and onto the bridge, a comfortable-fitting garden of screens. Data feeds from the various ship 'departments' and the AI fill a forest of displays, most of which shouldn't concern Ives or the four bridge robots, but are nice to know.

The bridge gives an excellent view of surrounding space and Ives' command. Assembled around a large station built into the side of a moon, the fifteen-some independent cruisers and their 50 escort destroyers sit around, making final systems checks and repairs.

The Stevie Ray Vaughn, Poskar Ives' command ship, is a large saucer about 4 kilometers in diameter. The independent cruisers measure on average .85km in diameter. Although they are shorter than conventional vessels, they have significantly more internal space for whatever can be fit inside.

"So, do we have a coalition rally point yet?"
"No, sir. We have not been able to reach Elaran command."
"Ok. So...fleet's doing ok. Back to combat strength. I think we're ready."

Admiral Hester approached the Valkyr's Comm Station of the Bridge as a young female comm operator calls him over with a wave of her hand.

"Yes Ensign, this better be important..." Says brushing passed a passing Warrior,...the bridge was filled and the noise was like standing next to a train trac as a locomotive passed, though the conflict in space (for Elara anyway) was over the Empire still needed to plan the ground assault.

"Sir, the LRR Fleet has been trying to contact us, they say they are here to aid us in this war until its completion."

Admiral Hester smiled widely as he leaned down over the panel and holding down a blue flashing symbol-like button he begins to speak.

"Greetings and welcome back Admiral Poskar we are most pleased you could join us." "Any help with the 'elimination' of the Drovan threat is welcomed, just remember as the Emperor ordered no-one is to 'scavenge' or take any take that comes from the Drovan or Elara." "We will inform you when we are about to start the ground campaign, Admiral Hester out." Transmission Ended

+---+---+---+---+

Drovan Spacestation/Shipyard:

Lights around the station start to flicker and start to light up, the engineers fall to the ground with all their tools.

"Haha!" One of the Engineers gets up and looks at the readings on the panel trying to make out what it says in Drovan.

"Life...support...full...percent." He smiles and takes off his helmet but then begins coughing. "By the Gods, dont they bathe?" He reaches over and presses the comm panel. "Valkyr, this is Drovan Shipyard/Station, you boys see the lights from the outside?"

Through the Comm: "Boys?!" "This is Admiral Hester, remember to whom your speaking, son!" "Your an Elarian, start acting as such."

"Yes m'lord!" "Im sorry sir it wo.."

Through the Comm: Sighs "Nevermind soldier, and well done." "You and your men should come back as soon as possible for some well deserved rest and relaxation." "Ill start getting crews over there to man the station."

"With permission sir my men and I request taking R&R here, they have some sort of simulator room here and the bar and dining room is looking quite nice."

Through the Comm: "As you wish, start taking it youll be needed again soon, Admiral Hester out."

+---+---+---+---+

Bridge of the Valkyr:

"Inform the Imperial and Coallition Fleets they may begin docking their vessels at the station for repairs, also they may begin sending people over for R&R if need be."

"Aye Admiral!"

"Admiral Reigart, welcome to the front lines."

"Good to be here, Admiral Nichols. Here are the signed orders." Rear Admiral Leslie Reigart was a fearsome figure. Compared with Nichols' easy going nature, Reigart was feared by everyone, especially those serving under him. One of the most aggressive Fleet COs, though not reckless. He had a skilled mind and a sure touch, though once he decided on what to do, he drove everyone under his command like a slavedriver. More than one bridge officer had left the bridge in tears, having cracked under the strain and then cashiered from the service.

Nichols calmly rubbed his chin. "Well, I guess it is your fight. I designed these ships but it takes someone with passion to drive them properly." The two men shook hands. "I stand relieved, sir."

Reigart nodded solemnly and offered a rare smile. "I relieve you, sir. Attention on deck!" The salutes were exchanged and final handshakes before Nichols went below to hitch a ride back to Earth. "Enter into the ship's log. Rear Admiral Leslie M. Reigart commanding Adejaani Task Force as of oh-eight-hundred, relieving Vice Admiral Daniel J. Nichols.

"Oh and signal the Elarian Fleet that we're now standing by with twenty four Excalibur class heavy cruisers. No fighters or ground troops, but signal we're designed to fight the Drovan heavy ships. We'll cover their backs and take the brunt."

"Ship coming in." Reigart faced the officer. "A transport, sir. Carrying two Brigades of Combat Engineers and two more of Medical Corps."

"Ah, yes." Reigart scratched his forehead. "Combat Engineers and Medical Corps. We speak of discipline but we don't come close to those groups. I've seen one of their Doctors take a bullet in the leg, two in his gut and still continue to operate, while under fire. It was only after the impromptu surgery was finished and the kid's life was saved that the Doctor keeled over and died from blood loss.

"The Combat Engineer's motto is First we dig 'em. Then we die in 'em! Those people in that transport are the toughest, most dedicated people I ever know." Reigart finished and stared at the monitors.

"Sir?" A young ensign asked meekly and Reigart nodded. "Sir, this is going to be the first battle without Admiral Granger and the Constitution..."

"So?" Reigart drew up to his full height and his voice took on a hard edge. "Son, Jaina 'Hermione' Granger is not God. She is not invincible. Her presence alone is not the cause of victory. Discipline, will and a good battle strategy is!" Everyone on the bridge snapped to attention.

"So the next time anyone mentions Admiral Granger again will have a strange sensation in the seat of their pants, that being my boot! I'm the Commanding Officer of this ship, battle group and Task Force, so shut the hell up! We are here to do a duty and we're damned hell going to do it! If anyone doesn't like it, they can leave this ship right now!"

Reigart waited until bones almost started cracking. "Get back to work and put your bloody warfaces on! We've got a war to fight and we're damn well going to win this one!"

The Stevie Ray Vaughn recieves Admiral Hester's message about an hour later. Even traveling at sub-etha speeds, it still takes a while to reach the shipyard base, located some distance away. All the naval infantrymen and support troops are loaded into troop transports, which join the fleet as soon as they are built and staffed.

"Alright. So, that's settled."
"Plotting a hyperspace route to the Elaran position," says the AI.

http://screens.relicnews.com/cataclysm/images/movie/TheBentusi.jpg

An RGF independent cruiser captain in Admiral Ives' flotilla, preparing to make the hyperspace jump.

Soon, the Elaran Expeditionary Flotilla hyperspaces to the Elaran fleet's position, bringing a total of 15 independent cruisers, almost 90 destroyers, several thousand fighters, five repair ships, 30 troop transports, and thousands of fighters, plus the Stevie Ray Vaughn.

The fleet disappears in a huge flash of light, leaving the once teeming station lonely in space.

"Well, that was pretty," says one of the repair bots, and goes back to replacing an old window while listening to his Cream collection.

Elarian Planet Surface:

"Are they ready Commander?" Shintor said staring at the massive Auselian Beam Weapon, a small evil grin appearing on his face.

"Yes Lord Shintor!" "We had enough for three and as well as the Turrets and the other item that you wanted."

"We might not need High Command to send us a Fleet after all..." Shintor turns on his heels to his two Dominion Bodyguards who hold a limp Elarian body by its arms, it is a yound female Elarian Bridge Officer, her face is beaten and broken and her clothes are ripped and torn, she has apparently been raped and beaten to the point of near death. She shivers and moans in pain lightly, apparently taken off of her ship when all the boarding was taking place in the space battle. "It is a pity, I would like have liked to try one of those pink females. Grinning he takes the long dull Drovan Spear and disembowels the young Elarian Woman who falls to the ground with a horrific shreaking scream and lies there a few moments before her trembling body finally stops and she dies.

"Open fire Commander...tear the dogs apart..."

"Fire!"The young Commander says loudly with no hesitation, as there should be none, all Dominion Warriors know the penalty for questioning Shintor or High Command.

The massive guns open up from three different locations on the planet in streams of blue light, with those about 50 rapid fire turrets open up from all over the planet surface targetting all Imperial and Coallition vessels.

At about the same time an unencrypted transmission can be heard by all listening, the sound of a frantic Dominion Warrior and weapons fire are heard.. "Seravel! Seravel.." The sound of a short yell stopped suddenly and then a bloody gurgling sound is heard and then static.

Shintor walks over to a comms Operator the skies still lit up behind him, he leans down inputting a frequency code and then standing up slowly his hands behind his back.

"Is your squadron ready, Overlord Averidex?"

"Yes my Lord." "The fools, how could they not have at least scanned the moons?"

"Your forgetting, for one they are inferior races you cant expect their brains to function on the same levels as ours, secondly the two moons are teeming with primitive life, finding a Drovan in all that jungle with all that life is near impossibility, not to mention your underground." Stops a moment and glaces over the readings... taken of the coallition vessels... "Interesting, the Pink things have returned, newer more advanced vessels, same markings though....engage them first and if you can have some of your men attach themselves to some of the incapacitated ones and drag them down through the atmosphere for examination, we must know our new enemies and future slaves, if High Command doesnt order the race 'cleansed'."

"Yes my Lord..."

The vanguard of 1000 Dominion Heavy Fighters launches itself from the twin moons of Senna and Deron orbiting the planet of Elara and decloak themselves right as they go into their attack on the Adejaani Fleet. Elarian Imperial Fighters launch quickly and move in to begin skirmishes but they are outnumbered over two to one by the larger heavier Dominion Heavy Fighters.

"Holy-" Reigart began but was pitched into a console as the Excalibur was hit. "High orbit! Scatter from that ground fire!" He moved about the bridge checking on people and getting them over their initial shock. "Target those weapons batteries and fire at will!"

"No can do, Admiral!" The Science Officer coughed loudly and wiped a streak of blood from his cheek. "No idea what they're firing, but it's ionising the atmosphere. We can't get a lock. We can try and fire 'blind' down there, but under fire and plotting manually, it won't be fun. I surmise that it uses energetic kiron particles in a magnetic-"

"Shut up!" Reigart yelled and the Science Officer fell silent. "Alright, signal those fleets that do have fighters and tell them to airstrike them! What was that? Anyone?" Nobody answered and Reigart went to check for himself. The console operator was dead so the Admiral carefully plucked the man from his chair, lay him carefully on the deck and closed his eyes. "Rest in peace, son."

After a moment of silent prayer, he stood up. "Fighters. A lot of them. Alright! Conical formation! Tell the Elarian fighters to break off and swing around behind us. We're going to use missiles. They're to catch any 'leakers'. The rest of the LF, LRR and Elarian Fleets can go pound those ground based weapons batteries while we take care of those fighters. Move!"

Twenty three ships, identical to the Excalibur in every detail except hull number and name moved off. Hatches began opening and missiles started hurtling towards the mass of Drovan fighters.

Reigart smiled thinly. As a young officer, he'd seen the Aegis combat system on (earthbound) naval vessels with Vertical Launch Systems spew out hundreds of missiles, plucking aircraft and enemy missiles from the sky. Now, he had over a thousand VLS launch tubes and plenty of missiles. What's old is new again...

Bridge of the Valkyr:

"Move in!" "Inform Sebas to order his vessels to do the same!" Admiral Hester yelled, his face tense and serious as he gave his orders.

"Aye Admiral!" A young Elarian Comm Operator shouts as her hands struggle to keep up with the Admirals commands.

Meanwhile, Elarian Fighter Pilots use theyre superior skill to their advantage dodging and quickly moving around Dominion Heavy Fighters just in time for the Adejaani Missiles to fly in knocking off some 100 fighters almost instantly as the rest launch counter measures to avoid the missiles, they also begin skimming the surface of the Adejaani Vessels making strafing runs as the Imperial Fighters break off and head to the planet surface.

"Target Engines and Life Support Systems and open fire!" Averidex yells excitedly.

+---+---+---+---+

Bridge of the lead golden vessel:

"Admiral Hester, this is Sebas, do not bombard the planet surface!" "Our Warriors are trying to take care of some of the problem down there now, if you fire without being able to properly target you may hit some of our Warriors!"

+---+---+---+---+

Bridge of the Valkyr:

Admiral Hester sits down in his seat deep in thought.

"Comm, inform the rest of the Fleet that we are about to start landing troops, do not fire on the planet surface from orbit until we can figure out how to properly target." "Also inform the General to commense landing procedures, fighters engage those turrets and Auselian Beams and also try to provide cover for those transports."

The Imperial Transports begin to head for the Planet...the most bloody stage of this campaign was about to begin...

"Those damn fool Elarians!" Reigart barked. "Tell whoever's in charge of the Elarian Fleet to get the fighters away! We're swapping the missiles for AA fire! Status report!"

"Uh..." The Science Officer waved the thick black smoke from his face. "The Poseidon took a nasty hit to its engines and have fallen back. The Bainbridge, Orinoco, Georgia and Ark Royal have suffered pretty badly, they're at fifty percent effectiveness. Every other ship has sustained minor damage but are still in fighting trim. Personnel losses are high..."

Reigart bit his lip as the communications screen blipped. "Tell our transport to land the Engineers and Medics, then tell them to find somewhere safe. Status of the Elarians? Oh... They're mostly behind. Fire the AA batteries!"

As a young kid, Reigart had watched footage of the first Gulf War, when George H.W. Bush (Bush Senior) had taken on Saddam. The Iraqis had tried to fill the air with anti aircraft fire. But the light show then didn't compare to this at all.

The Excalibur class had four weapons groups. The first were four large Plasma Cannons which were the main anti ship weapons. The second were Ion Laser emplacements, the secondary anti ship weapons and were dual purpose. The third were the VLS tubes of different sizes, carrying the Starfire missile, everything from the anti fighter to anti ship versions.

The last were dual barrelled Light Plasma Cannon point defense turrets... Specifically in the anti air role. Each Excalibur mounted forty eight point defense turrets. Their low 'raw combat energy output' was offset by the fact that each turret barrel was capable of firing a plasma bolt every quarter of a second... Thus, for each second, each Excalibur class ship could pump out three hundred and eighty four (384) anti fighter plasma bolts.

They weren't powerful enough to harm capital ships and fighters could absorb them for a short while, but not forever... On Reigart's command, the remaining ships unleashed hundreds of light blue spheres into the mass of Drovan fighters.

The RGF task group, led by Poskar Ives, arrives at the site of the battle.

"All ships, prepare for battle."

Drones are launched, as are anti-fighter corvettes, and the cruisers form up along with their destroyer escorts in a somewhat random cloud that puts most of the destroyers, lightly armored but equipped with a very powerful main gun, between two loaves of cruisers.

Since the end of the major fleet engagements, the Federation Fleets had moved to the rear of the sector, holding a secondary position near the wormhole, the one thing that absolutely could not fall. It was essential for relief, supplies, and re-enforcement’s to enter through.

Recently, Federation cargo and construction vessels could be seen hourly coming and going. The construction of the newest Immense Class facility was beginning, and coming along nicely.

However, with the cargo and construction vessels, the Marine Flotilla, the hard point of the Federation Fleet, had joined in their arrival in the sector. Having participated in the ends of the major fleet battle, they were the most in need of replacements, upratings, and relief.

The rear guard of the 3rd Marine Flotilla(the element assigned to the sector) had arrived and taken right flank positions with the fleet.

An hour later, the Drovan decided to strike. It came so fast, and was so well hidden, that no sensor readings were able to read it soon enough to make any difference. Instantly the battle became thick. The first readings came through the science consoles on the bridges of vessels across the Federation positions. Most Science officers were shocked in reporting the readings.

On the bridge of the lead ship, the Innuendo-classed O'Connor, the com frequencies sparked to life only moments after the first battle readings were reported.

"Sir, Admirals, Murphy, Osborn, Carlson, and Shoemaker all want to speak to you." Reported the officer at ops.

Before Vice-Marshall Colin O'Conner could respond, the officer interrupted him again.

"And now add McCabe to the list sir."

Colin shook his head. He had walked over to the Science Officer's console when the female lieutenant junior grade had given him the first reports. He was leaned over, holding himself up on the back of the Officer's chair. Thrusting himself up, standing straight, he looked to the ensign at ops.

"Put them all through."

"Aye sir"

The view screen split into several sections as the faces of the Fleet Admirals appeared. They all began to speak at once, all with urgency, their various bridge crews could be seen scrambling. The most common things heard by O'Connor were questions as what to do now, and when they could break formation.

"Listen now, all of you. There is no time. Those Fighters are tearing them apart. Engage targets at will NOW!"

There was hesitation, as orders flew through communication webs in the fleet. Almost simultaneously, hundreds of Federation combat vessels sped towards the battle, only a few hundred thousand kilometers away.

The channel had not been closed, Colin had more to say.

"Third Fleet, you will spear head, support the Adeejani ships! First and Second, support the Elarians. Fourth and Fifth, follow me and the sixth. We need to provide cover for those Jarheads."

There was a chuckle from the fleet flag officers.

"That is all."

The channel was closed, but the Vice-Marshall was not finished.

"Get me General Hoy."

The Screen came back to the face of a Marine Flag Officer, he wore 4 silver pips on his collar. General.

"Shayn, this is where you boys shine. Its time to dwarf Normandy. Avenge wake, make up for Fallujah, and ensure Delta45 will never happen again. Semper Fi General, my father will be with you shortly."

The Man said nothing, he only closed the channel, he knew his job. Following the 3 Fleets, they neared the planets surface, close enough to land the Marines. Hulk XXIX heavy landers detached from their mother vessels, who now looked like skeletons, with their numerous, now empty, holding sections. As soon as all the landers had detached, the odd looking ships withdrew.

The multiple thousands of heavy lifters descended into the atmosphere. This landing had been planned from the beginning, and Federation Marines wouldn't be anywhere near the rear of the battle, that was assured. Clearing the atmosphere, the pulse-phaser banks lining the heavily armored landers acquired targets and did their best to clear the LZ's.

Back in orbit of the planet. The Marine Flotilla vessels, Combat classed, but crewed all by marines, entered the fray with the fighters. Saber, Streamrunner, Norway, and Defiant. Vessels targeted and fired on multiple fighters at once. Phaser beams, and micro-quantum torpedoes streaking towards their targets. The only blessing of arriving to the battle late: getting the first shot.

The 4th-6th fleets held their formations above the marine LZ's, they were essential to be held if the ground campaign would succeed.

Reigart cursed loudly as he tapped open a commlink. "This is Admiral Reigart to LF vessels. Keep your distance! We are warning you that we are more or less firing indiscriminately. We will try to watch it, but we cannot guarantee your safety if you move ahead of us.

"Please stay behind our formation and chop up the 'leakers'."

With its support vessels and four reserve cruisers situated at the rear of the battle, the fleet gets ready to enter the fray.

"All ships deploy drones on attack vectors," comes the command from the Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Clouds of the small, remote controlled drones assemble in geometrical formations. Each drone carries a pair of mass drivers, and while individually they do not carry much firepower, there are always lots of them, and they can therefore do quite a bit of damage on enemy fighter formations.

The destroyers, with their very heavy cannons, move to target planetary weapons from what is percieved to be a safe distance. Heavy bombardment missiles are also thrown into the atmosphere by the Destroyers, while the cruisers stay safely away from visible weapons planetside.

The 2nd and 4th Fleets silently slipped through space cloaked. The 2nd fleet consited of the older, more armored, more omoinus classes of ships. But the 4th fleet was made up of newer classes. Less armed, but faster. The combination of these two fleets was deadly. Heavy hitters fighting side-by-side with fast attack cruisers, with hundereds of fighter craft to boot. The fleet surrounded 10 Exodus class gunships, and 40 Pheonix class cargoships. All 10 gunships where loaded at maximum, with 5,000 infantry troops each. Also, each one contained 10 Chariot Tanks, 5 Zeus Mechs, and 5 Hyperon Mechs. They slipped through the wormhole into Drovan space, still cloaked. no one knew of their presence, allied or not. But all weapons where armed, waiting for the cloak to drop. All fighter craft where ready. And every last man and woman where ready to kill.

The 2nd Fleet:
3 Titan Battleships
15 Pyramid Heavy Cruisers
25 Poseidon Light Cruisers
50 Barracuda Destroyers
5 Exodus Gunships
20 Phoenix Cargo Ships

The 4th Fleet:
3 Leviathan Battleships
15 Oceanus Heavy Cruisers
25 Centaur Light Cruisers
50 Jaguar Destroyers
5 Exodus Gunships
20 Phoenix Cargo Ships

Land Forces:
20,000 Hopelite Infantry
20,000 Anubite Shock Troops
10,000 Centaur Cavalry
25 Hyperon Mechs
25 Zeus Mechs
50 Chariot Tanks

The approximately 5,000 small gundrones, each one carrying a torpedo in addition to its mass driver cannon, close with the Drovan fighters at high speed. They fly in several 100-drone spheres, intended to engulf enemy formations.

The drones open up on the Drovan fighters, with manned corvettes following a reasonable distance behind.

bump

I hope this is still going...

"All destroyers, commence firing on planetary weaponry."

A chorus of "roger that"s come from the cloud of destroyers. They immediately release their missiles at the planet's surface, aiming for weapons batteries and other military facilities. Heavily-armored troop transports also get into landing pattern.

Aboard the troop transports are various implements of ground warfare. Hovertanks mounting heavy weaponry and many-legged battlemechs are housed in the assault transports along with rank-and-file naval infantrymen, armed with blaster rifles and support weapons, as well as missile launchers and mortars. For now, they remain safely outside the battle, but they are set to land within the hour, after the destroyer captains have decided that the Drovan weaponry is softened-up enough.

The independent cruisers stand ready to fight off any Drovan capital ships, along with the other allied fleets.

LRR: Elara is currently in the process of moving. He shall return to continue RPing soon. Like....a few weeks.