Establishment of Sol Station
It was an amazing sight, seeing the entirety of the Revenian Third Fleet make Starrise on the outskirts of the Sol system. One moment, it was just an empty bit of space, the next, two hundred sixteen sleek ovoids of varying sizes simply 'appeared.'
A few minutes later, an additional seventy two ships popped into existence, though only thirty six of them shared the sleek, ovoid design common to ships of the Revenian Star Navy.
The other thirty six ships were bulk haulers, not much else could be said about them.
Immediately upon arrival, nine 100 meter diameter sphere detached from those bulk haulers, and formed up in a truncated triangular formation, three on a side.
Three of the medium-sized bulk haulers moved into position in that formation, taking up location where the points of the triangle should be. Massive doors were opened, and what was obviously pre-fab framework was hauled out into space by vac-suited workmen. Each ship contained the supplies and workers to construct one of the RSN's deadly Devilstar Star Fortresses.
The rest of the ships congregated in the middle of the triangle, the biggest one had removed its containers of materials and would serve now as the basis of the station under construction.
That station would be a Fortress Rock System Controller, and would become the basis for Revenian actions in-system. It would take the form of a 2km diameter sphere with four 'outriggers' in the form of 500m diameter spheres.
---
Meanwhile, in Earth Orbit, a single outdated heavy cruiser detached itself from the parking orbit it had maintained for entirely too long. The RNS Nemecles lit its High Drive for the first time in decades, and headed out an a course that would allow it to join up with the newly arrived Third Fleet and its dependents.
---
OOC: Questions, comments...No?
...Good.
Rear Admiral Daniel Cook lounged in his command chair. The Revenian Star Navy's premier starship designed was a medium-sized mine with silver streaks in his close-cropped brown hair.
The Resplendent Glory class Command Dreadnought was of the oldest designs used by the Star Navy. That didn't change the fact that it was an excellent ship.
It lacked the Super-Heavy Mass Drivers that (then)Commodore Daniel Cook had designed for the Supremacy class Dreadnoughts. Those big guns had quickly become centerpieces on some of the larger RSN ships.
However, the Resplendent Glory class made up for it with a heavy battery of D-EMP Emitters. The ships had been the largest battle-line units it the RSN up until the advent of the Fortress Ship.
The RNS Changer's Way was a beautiful ship. She was fresh from the slip at Nexus Orbital, and his nostrils still detected that 'new starship smell.'
In fact, his entire battlegroup was brand spanking new. Which, of course, wasn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, far from it, it gave him a chance to prevent the decay of ships that was common with some commanders.
Well, not with this one.
His eyes drifted to the holotank, and he smiled oddly.
The Revenian Star Navy's Solar Battle Group was of Task Force size, at thirty six ships. It maintained a fifty/fifty split between battle-line and carrier units, as was common among most RSN deployments.
Accompanying the Changer's Way were five Supremacy class Dreadnoughts, perhaps Daniel Cook's most prominent ship design. Twelve Slayer class Battlecruisers rounded out his battle-line.
It was pretty light, but the full command group would be a blessing. Normally, with a detachment that featured primarily battlecruisers, the command dreadnought would be accompanied by Battleships. Not so, this time.
Holding the SBG's carrier power was the RNS Jonathan Swift and its cohorts. The Johnnie was a Philosopher class Command Carrier, and its great spherical bulk dominated the eighteen ships of the SBG's carrier group.
The Johnnie was accompanied by five Hecate class Fleet Carriers and twelve Outrider escort carriers.
His little battle group wasn't big, but it didn't really need to be. Undoubtedly, if a determined foe -really- wanted to bust up Sol Station, it could. The idea behind the extensive fortifications and the inclusion of the Solar Battle Group was to require them to spend lavishly to accomplish this.
You see, Sol Station's real protection wouldn't be in the static defense, or in the rather nasty battle group. It would be in the threat of retribution from the Revenian Star Navy, which was something that shouldn't be taken lightly.
The RSN might not come the next day, but they -would- come.
And, of course, while they were coming, one still had to deal with Rear Admiral Daniel Cook.
Construction was moving along rather nicely. The spheroid hulls of the System Controller and the three Star Fortresses were beginning to take shape.
Dysaryn Stark lounged in his command chair, his feet propped up on polymer box that he kept around for exactly this purpose. Of course, the whole chair reclined and did other strange things, but his, rather, uhm, unorthodox posture was better suited to a separate foot-rest.
His right hand bore an unadorned, very utilitarian computer gauntlet. The command circlet he wore, with its crystalline screen flipped down, combined with that gauntlet, served as the Revenian equivalent of the Solarian 'laptop.'
At this particular moment, he was writing. He did a lot of writing, actually. It was a Stark thing. Over his decidedly long lifetime, he'd written a good number of books, including a few military treatises and texts that contained a number of things that he really wish someone had told -him- the first time he commanded men in combat.
Indeed, a number of the texts used by the DSSC were written by him, and even more were written by other members of House Stark.
Unfortunately, he hadn't been on any enlightening campaigns that inspired in him an entirely new approach to battlefield tactics.
So, he was writing a cookbook.
Second Lieutenant Jaime Coldfist, Revenian Fleet Marines, focused. Facing him across the mat was Sergeant First Class Vanessa Porter. The short-sleeved skintight black shirt he wore revealed the four concentric circles branded into the interior of his left forearm.
Vanessa Porter also bore four concentric circles.
Jaime Coldfist was fast, he had always been fast, but Vanessa Porter was possibly even more so. The few members of his platoon watched in awe as the two individuals who had breathed new life into what had been the worst platoon in III Corps faced off.
They seemed to move as one, limbs blurring, then abruptly coming through in perfect stillness as one or the other blocked a blow. It was quite amazing for individuals who had never seen two Fhellant'im face off against each other.
They were pretty much evenly matched, so it came down to strategy. At this, Jaime tended to have a bit of an advantage over his diminutive platoon sergeant.
Finally, Jaime caught Vanessa by the wrist, and his greater strength and body mass came into play as he sent the tiny 5'3" NCO flying.
He stood in place, his chest heaving. Then stood up, and looked over in surprise. Standing there was a good three fourths of his platoon, all applauding him.
He grinned and took a bow, which gave the now recovered Sgt First Class Porter a golden opportunity. Her elbow came down on his spine, and Jaime went down.
Jaime rolled over onto his back, and looked up into his Platoon Sergeant's smiling face.
"I'll have you know that ambushing one's CO can have detrimental effects on one's career."
Porter's smile was wicked, "Oh, maybe...I just have a gut feeling that it wouldn't be, in this case..."
Jaime heard somebody clearing their throat, and rolled his head to the side. He found himself staring at a pair of perfectly polished boots. He tilted his head up at angle, and groaned. Loudly.
"You and your can-not-be-sufficiently-damned gut feelings. Hello, Uncle Dys."
Sir Dysaryn Stark extended his hand downwards and helped Jaime to his feet. Jaime promptly saluted and assumed a position of attention. This brought a chuckle from the silver-haired Warprince.
"At Ease, Jaime. You know the rules. No saluting in the Gym."
"That only applies to Marine Officers, Your Grace," said Jaime, relaxing to parade rest.
"Jaime, I am a Marine Officer. You bloody well should know that..."
The two men walked out of the Gym to one of the nearby lounges, to catch up on things, and such forth. Behind them, Vanessa Porter finally allowed herself to giggle.
It was just bloody funny, y'know. The -Warprince,- coming to talk to a Marine 2nd Lieutenant. Especially -that- 2nd Lieutenant. Funny, Funny, Funny.
Rel Markinson stood at a viewport aboard the RNS Victory. He simply could not keep the grin from his face as he watched the RNS Hrosvatir lithely slide into position to dock with the mammoth fortress ship.
She was only a tenth of the size of the Victory, and yet, Rel was already in love with her.
She was only the second ship of her class out of the docks, and she was all his. No more clunky old heavy cruisers for -him,- thank you very much. Nope, Rel was now the proud possessor of a brand new Administrator class Crisis Cruiser, purpose built for the Diplomatic Service's Crisis Respnse Teams.
She was built on a battlecruiser hull, at five hundred meters in length. But, most importantly, she was a dedicated hull, designed specifically to transport and aid Administrators in their duties.
She would also be his home until the Calirnevris was completed, which, admittedly, suited him just fine.
The Nemecles had already left the system, en-route for a complete overhaul, upgrade, and rebuild. After that, who knew?
Commodore David Neuer leaned back into his massive leather office reclining office chair. It was an impressive chair, to go with the impressive office, which was necessary, as it -was- the Office of The Commanding Officer, Calirnevris.
The word meant 'Valiant Guardian,' in Middle Ascended, and it was somewhat appropriate, though it was a bit of a stretch, and the subject of such debate, that it was not worth contemplating further.
The massive 'Fortress Rock' pattern System Controller consisted of a gargantuan 10km spherical main body, with four outriggers in the form of 500m diameter spheres. The Calirnevris was surrounded by a a network of weapons platforms in a two-dimensional triangular pattern.
The three vertices of the triangle were Devilstar pattern Star Fortresses, 850m diameter spheres. Nine Siegfried pattern A-OWPs formed the sides, three to each.
Then, adding to those defenses was Rear Admiral Daniel Cook's Solar Battle Group. Cook was Sol Station's CO, and the direct superior of one Commodore Dave Neuer. All in all, it was a hell of an emplacement, and it could hold its own against anything but a determined attack, which was the idea.
Thelasi Star Imperial Tag
His Grace The Warprince Sir Dysaryn Stark, Prince Celestian, peered at the two individuals standing before him. One had luxurious red curls and sharp, aristocratic cheek bones. The other had knife-straight silver hair and a decidedly grim outlook, which, undoubtedly, suited him just fine.
System Administrator Rel Markinson, Earl of Hartford, was the individual with the red hair. Standing next to him was Field Administrator Sir Vernon Sevirek, the individual who would be serving as Rel's right hand.
Rel was still more than a match for anybody upon the field of honor, but Vern Sevirek was of the new breed of Administrators. A breed of Administrator that owed just as much to Owen Stark as it did Sero Relaren.
And Vernon Sevirek looked it. Beneath his white robes of office was a muscular body. A body with four concentric circles branded into the inner left forearm. A body covered in ICBA armor (Individual Concealable Battle Armor.)
The only obvious weapon Sir Vernon carried was his Tri-Staff, identical in appearance and function to that carried by Rel Markinson. However, as Rel carried his heavy dueling pistol on him at all times, Vernon carried a full assortment of hold-out weaponry.
Dysaryn nodded, slowly. "Welcome to Sol, Sir Vernon."
The tall, (6'4") Administrator bowed deeply, "Thank you, Lord Warprince."
Idle banter continued in that vein for some time...and the three men felt much better about the situation in Sol. Then, the two Administrators left to return to Calirnevris, and the Lord Changer was left alone with his thoughts.
Three massive ships popped into existance in a wedge formation, perfectly intertwining themselves with Sol Station proper. These three ships were different from most Revenian ships, in that they were a bit more bulkier and less sleek than the usual ovoid design.
The three ships were termed 'Battle Barges,' and each one was designed to carry an entire Angel Regiment into battle. Accordingly they were highly automated, of Battle Dreadnought (1.5km) size, armed accordingly, with large troop bays.
Three of the twelve Angel Regiments were present, then. By the insignia on the barges, a Revenian (and only a Revenian. These ships look amazingly like Revenian bulk haulers...) could identify them as being the Storm Angels, Lunar Angels, and Frost Angels regiments.
Daniel Cook received his brief from Lorik V'dalion, Brother-Colonel of the Frost Angels and de-factor CO of the task force.
"Admiral Cook, the Warprince has detached us here to allow a quick strike in the case of certain...occurances."
That was all that was said. All that needed to be said.
Three Thousand of the Supremacy's elite drop infantry was a formidable force indeed...and they should be capable of carrying out their intended mission without additional force. Should that become necessary...
Well, suffice to say that the DRC had jumpships on standby...
Now, as to the details on the force composition. Each regiment consisted of exactly one thousand individuals. All support structure was extra-regimental and not counted on the roster. The regiment was lead by a brother-colonel, each of the ten companies of that regiment (sans first, which was commanded by said Brother-Colonel, directly,) was commanded by a Brother-Captain.
The relevant officers in this case were:
Brother-Colonel Lorik V'Dalion of the Frost Angels (Insignia: Winged icicle)
Brother-Colonel Horace of the Lunar Angels (Insignia: Winged moon)
Brother-Colonel Darius Santiago of the Storm Angels (Insignia: Winged Storm Cloud)