NationStates Jolt Archive

The probes just outside of Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah space were reprogrammed to send a new message. The message goes as follows:

"HEED THIS RECORDED MESSAGE! YOU ARE ENTERING UR-QUAN KOHR-AH SPACE. THE DOCTRINAL WAR HAS ENDED, AND THE ETERNAL DOCTRINE LOST. WE ARE NOW RETURNING TO 'NORMALCY'. WE WILL SAY IT AGAIN: THE DOCTRINAL WAR HAS ENDED!"

Those probes were set to automatically send the said message to all non-Ur-Quan ships that enter their wide range. Even ships using FTL systems should be able to receive it. The recording is controlled by a Talking Pet, so everyone should be able to understand it.

--

Originally the war was fought between the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za, the Green Ur-Quan, and the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah, the Black Ur-Quan. Two such Doctrinal Wars were fought. The Kzer-Za were victorious in the first one. The Kzer-Za followed a doctrine called "Path of Now and Forever", that meant enslavement to all non-Ur-Quan species. During the second Doctrinal War neither side would win, because their war was stopped by outside forces, and for the first time in their history, both Ur-Quan were defeated by outsiders. The Sa-Matra, the Grand Prize, was lost. The Kzer-Za saw the folly of their ways, and they surrendered. The Kohr-Ah did not surrender. Their fleets were decimated.

Now, time has passed, and the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah found their way here. They have changed their ways, or at least most of them have done so. There is a growing faction of Kohr-Ah that follow the Eternal Doctrine. This means that the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah are now forced to fight against themselves in the ritual war.

This Doctrinal War is fought over the doctrinal differences of two Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah factions, one following the age old Eternal Doctrine, which says that all sentient life must be exterminated, excluding the Ur-Quan themselves. The other does not follow this doctrine, they have chosen to attempt to live in peace. You could call their doctrine "the Doctrine of Adaptability".

As the War is fought between two Kohr-Ah factions, certain, different rules were set:

1) They would fight their war only in Ur-Quan systems. Leaving the area is not permitted, and is considered high treason by both sides.

2) No fights would be fought above shieldless, habited planets.

3) Alpha Horologii would be the main point for fighting. Repairs, rearming ships and such things would be done in Delta Horologii. Beta Horologii would hold the Grand Prize. Fighting can take place in all systems, but Alpha Horologii IS the main warzone.

4) Both sides would attack interfering outsiders. Because they have learned from the fate of the last Sa-Matra, the new Sa-Matra would be kept online at all times, to ensure its safety.

5) Winning side can dictate several terms on how the other side will act after the war.

6) Changing sides during the Doctrinal War is considered as high treason by both sides. Death is the only appropriate atonement for this.

And the last rule is that if the local, peaceful Kohr-Ah lose the war, the followers of the Eternal Doctrine should spare the other local species, at least until they have destroyed all other species in this area of space.

EDIT: Forgot to put links to related threads: The Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah related thread (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=64217) and the Rogue Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah related thread (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=79002).

The rogue fleet now came to Alpha Horologii, in which the other Kohr-Ah already waited for them. Transmissions were sent. Neither side would stand down. Someone fired the first shot. The first Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah Doctrinal War had officially started.

The rogues do not believe in the power of the Kzer-Za Dreadnoughts, so most of their fleet consists of Marauders. The only few Dreadnoughts in their fleet are ones that were stolen from the other Kohr-Ah faction. On the other hand, their enemies have an almost equally large fleet of Marauders and Dreadnoughts. The ships are very evenly matched. This war is going to be a bloody one.

Alpha Horologii consists of seven planets that orbit a red star. The current position of the two fleets is in orbit of Planet III. Planet III is a rocky planet with a weak atmosphere, quite a lot like Mars before it was terraformed. It would work as the stage of the first fight. When Ur-Quans fight, there is no retreat, not until the enemy is completely destroyed.

The black ships move in the orbit of the planet, in a loose, three dimensional diamond formation. The few rogue Dreadnoughts launch fighters, causing a swarm of them. The fighters form to guard the Dreadnoughts and hold position. The ships break formation a bit, as to prevent friendly fire.

Black discs were fired, a few dozens of them, in the general direction of the enemy, to make their formation break up. Only a few fusion blasts were detected, as the amount of rogue Dreadnoughts is very limited and most of them are in the center of the fleet. A small group of Marauders would detach from the left side of the main fleet and jump into HyperSpace, in an attempt to flank the enemy and force them closer to the planet. The main fleet reforms to a three dimensional diamond again.

OOC: You said I could interfear with your war, so for the moment I'll assume I have an invite.


IC:
Space distorted at the edge of the Beta Horologii system, lightminutes from anything of signifigance; for a moment, unobservible, befor the epic, thirteen kilometer long form of a Kanuckistani battleplate apeared; sheathed in a barrier field of a power traditionally more suited to planetary shields.

"This is the Kanuckistani High Gaurd Vessel Jagged Razor of Methodical Dismemberment to Ur'quan Kohr-Ah forces," a powerful male voice anounced, "We are here to investigate an attack on the Fuzzy kitten so that the cost of their transgression can be properly exacted. We will not interfear with your war unless fired upon."

This is followed by a recording of the aforementioned incident; tactical plots showing the 3km long Kanuckistani Superfortress tracking 30 Marauders; blurred areas beside the bracked form of each ship presumibly sensor and targeting data. Suddenly, they fire; thirty disks hurtling towards the ship, each inturn bracketed moments after launch. Seconds pass, the disks closing; never reaching their target befor being intercepted by a wall of gravitationally warped space-time; thirty beams lancing out at the Marauders in return only to be met by expanding spheres of fire. When they disipate, the ships are gone; not even debris remain. After a few moments, more plots light up where they had been; unblurred text showing them to be probible signs of recent hyperspace incursions.

Point-defence beams lick across the bladded forms still hovering near the Superfortress, quickly dispatcking them. The recording ends.

Their sensors detected the HyperSpace jump, but they would disregard it for now. They knew that the enemy was up to something, but did not care. One could see about fifty Dreadnoughts and about the same amount of Marauders on this side of the battlefield.

As the discs were closing in, the fleet reformed from a wedge to several loose stacked lines. Ships that might have been affected by the enemy firing fired up their shields, causing a sickly red glow to engulf them. The discs caused no damage. The fusion blasts caused some small minor damage to the armor, but nothing fatal. The shields were quite effective against such undirected attacks. Almost all the shots made by the enemy had hit different ships, and some of them had dropped to the planet's surface, causing huge craters. It would now be their turn to attack.

As the Dreadnoughts launched their fighters, they caused a massive swarm of them. Well above a thousand fighters were there. They would move towards and attack the enemy fleet, attempt to destroy their fighters and cause general chaos. The Marauders shot their discs and the Dreadnoughts shot their fusion blasts, but they were much more directed, targetting only several enemy ships. Their intention was to kill. This is a Doctrinal War, not a game. They would fire with all they have, excluding the ones with their shields up. The stacked line formation permits this.

OOC: Actually, it's quantum teleportation writ large, not hyperspace. :wink:

I'm also in Beta, not Alpha where the main battle is happening.

IC:
The Kanuckistani ship waited for a reply; they would be content to do so for now, but not forever. Time may be eternal, but their patience was most certaintly not.

"This is the Kanuckistani High Gaurd Vessel Jagged Razor of Methodical Dismemberment to Ur'quan Kohr-Ah forces," a powerful male voice anounced, "We are here to investigate an attack on the Fuzzy kitten so that the cost of their transgression can be properly exacted. We will not interfear with your war unless fired upon."

In Beta Horologii, the Sa-Matra sends a reply. A cold, hostile voice booms: "I am Number one of the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah Hierarchy. You have already interfered with our war. Further interruptions will not be tolerated. But in hope to stop you from interfering with our War any longer, I shall say this: if a Marauder has attacked you, it was a rogue Marauder. Now, LEAVE."

OOC: Actually, it's quantum teleportation writ large, not hyperspace. :wink:

((OOC: I sent the message to reply on the Rogue message, not on yours. I only saw it later, and then the site started acting up.))

In Beta Horologii, the Sa-Matra sends a reply. A cold, hostile voice booms: "I am Number one of the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah Hierarchy. You have already interfered with our war. Further interruptions will not be tolerated. But in hope to stop you from interfering with our War any longer, I shall say this: if a Marauder has attacked you, it was a rogue Marauder. Now, LEAVE."

The Razor, no less than half-way across the system, was quick to reply, "I'm afraid I can't do that, Number One. The transgressors are requiored to pay a substantial compensation, or have it exacted from them. "

"What little intel has been able to divine of your rogues sugests they will not respond to reason. If that is the case, their fleets shall be decimated for their arogance. We do not tollerate acts of agression against our kin."

As the targetted ships brought up their shields, they found out that they were quite ineffective against heavy, concentrated attacks. Several Marauders in the front of the three dimensional diamond were destroyed. There were about eighty five Marauders left from the original ninety. Some of the enemy discs had dropped on the planet, causing even more craters and superficial damage to it.

Added to that, the enemy's fighter attack was quite effective. The overwhelming amount of them were simply too much for the rogue fighters, which were promptly wiped out by the superior fire power of the enemy. They did try to defend themselves, shooting at their hostile counterparts, but as said, they were completely overwhelmed.

The fleet formation was breaking up and all Marauders shot their discs, intentionally in between of the enemy ships. After firing, the Marauders started to move towards the enemy at highest possible speed. Novas were used to destroy as many enemy fighters as possible. The Dreadnoughts had detached from the main fleet and created their own group. They concentrated their fusion blasts on two enemy Dreadnoughts, five on both.

The Razor, no less than half-way across the system, was quick to reply, "I'm afraid I can't do that, Number One. The transgressors are requiored to pay a substantial compensation, or have it exacted from them. "

"It is obvious that they did no damage. If their intention would have been to destroy your battlestation, they would have done so."

"What little intel has been able to divine of your rogues sugests they will not respond to reason. If that is the case, their fleets shall be decimated for their arogance. We do not tollerate acts of agression against our kin."

"Their fleets will be decimated ONLY in our Doctrinal War. Any direct interference will be met with deadly force, from both sides. Heed our words commander, you do not want that. We do not tolerate acts of aggression against our brothers in war."

"An attack need not be sucessful for it to be an act of war. Any Kohr-Ah vessel firing upon this ship will be destroyed; in the unlikly event we are overwhelmed, and both sides engage us fully, interstellar artillery has been targeted upon this system and those two nearest it; enough firepower to wipe them clean."

And with that, already epic power levels spiked further as space itself bleed to feed the awsome ship of war; barrier field quadrupling in stregnth, while tens of thousands of weapons blisters came to life and powerful FTL sensors scoured the system and beyond.

Then, suddenly, she disapeared...

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

In Alpha Horologii, a handful of light seconds away from the engagment around the third planet, space again distorted; a moment unobservible befor birthing the titanic Kanuckistani vessel. Intel was queried, the sides divined, and a broadcast sent even as targeting soloutions were drawn.

"This is Admiral Hayes of the Kanuckistani Battleplate Jagged Razor of Methodical Dismemberment. In response to an unprovoked attack upon our kin, a state of war officially exists between the Dominion of Kanuckistan and the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah Rogue Faction as of this moment."

They did not fire, yet; instead letting their enemies come to them, even as hyperspace interdictors spooled up.

The two Dreadnoughts were destroyed before they could even fire up their shields. Only four of the blasts hit, still making them explode. Six of them dropped on the planet, causing massive devastation on its surface. The fleet itself started moving towards the enemy fleet as to evade the discs that now floated in space, moving slowly towards them. Some of them hit some Marauders, but they were able to bring their red shields up in time, and a small portion of the discs again fell on the planet. The fighter swarm took heavy damage from the novas, as they had directed their attack on them after destroying the enemy fighters. What was left of them continued firing at and following the enemy Marauders, being nothing more than a nuisance.

The Dreadnoughts and the Marauders now formed into two smaller fleets, one consisting fully of Dreadnoughts and the other was fully made of Marauders. The Marauders would attempt to hold off the enemy fleet while the Dreadnoughts would fire at the enemy Dreadnoughts. Every single Marauder would shoot at least three discs, creating a formidable minefield between the two fleets. The Dreadnoughts on the other hand would fire all they have on the smaller enemy Dreadnought group, with only minor hopes of success.

[Post deleted, war continues.]

The Kanuckistani vessel watched it's prey flee; watched them imprison themselves lightyears away.

And waited...

----------

Near the edge of the system-shield, a small ship apeared, no more that two hundred meters long; one of a handful of new weapon prototypes.

Power built for a long moment; neutronium superfluid spun and compressed into a torroidal singularity; gravitationally launched into an area of warped space-time generated within the ship, and disapeared.

The small Kanuckistani ship quickly fled like had arrived, it's cannon sub-systems burnt out; a moment later, the torroidal singularity, hurtling at the massive slave shield at lightspeed while in a state of quasi-infinities, impacted the barrier and let loose terrible, cataclysmic energies; a release rivaled only by the death of stars themselves.


And in the distance, lightyears away, the Razor watched; her commander little concerned of the attack's outcome. It was, afterall, only a test; of the strength of both the system-shields and of their own weapon. If it failed, they would only have to wait longer to exact payment.

OOC: That bugger would be the super-weapon I named back in a fairly recent GA thread, back befor it started sheading members like a duck would water. It's a one-shot spinal-mount, the ship built around the weapon system; most of it's only so much slag now.

[Post deleted, war continues.]

OOC: I've got to go now, tho I'd be suprised if none of the Kohr-Ah have realised that it was the Eternal Doctrine that brought Kanuckistan down on them.

I'll also ICly have a perminant watch on this system from Alpha Horologii, so TG me when the shield comes down, in case I miss it; well, unless you're going to do so in the next day or three, as I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.

[Post deleted, war continues.]

OOC: As I understood it, you were using passive-stealth; your ships still had mass(thus they'd register on mass-scanners and gravitic inferncers), and still cast a silouet against the background glow of the universe(thus they'd show up on ultra-high res EM wide-band sensors). My ship was also on the same side of the planet as yours.

I do not claim sensors with infinite range; I claim FTL sensors with resoloution that degrades with range, and an impenitrible shield a couple dozen light-hours across is a very big blip. These are neighbouring systems, and at that range I might have been able to pick out large formations of ships, at most. It's not that bad; star trek claims sensors vastly longer in range.



If by "satanic doomsday cannons with infinite range" you are reffering to the torroidal singularity launcher, that was a one-shot prototype, and the only one I have(the others mentioned are prototypes for varrious other weapons concepts).

If you're reffering to my interstellar artillery, well, the Admiral was exagerating(they do that, you know ;) ); I can't pull off anything on the magnitude I did in the 'GA base attacked' thread, tho I do have a handful of smaller, tactical batteries left.

And if you are reffering to my heavy cannons, well, yes, they are incredibly nasty and are still dangerous at a couple lightyears out, but the beams propigate at lightspeed, and thus are limited by the speed at which a target can evade(probally under a light second for your ships, if they were flying evasive patterns).



Now, for "13 kilometer, fast moving battlestations." Yes, I have three of these, and no, they're not stations, they're ships-of-the-line(or wall, if you perfer). Some people have grand fleets; I have a handfull of hard-hitters. The size is, well, not that unusual, especially if you consider I only have three and am a December nation.
As for speed, well, with her power output and inertial direct-drive, she's pretty fast at sublight, if a little ungainly, but that's what overlapping arcs of fire are for; if you're reffering to the quick interstellar hop she made, well, the nature of my FTL is that it's instantanious; drive charge time is determined by mass-to-transport, distance, and power avalible. It was a short hop, and she had plenty of power avalible; the second point is moot in this case, because the Razor, being my fast-response heavy-hitter, was sitting in a custum-built displacer station(otherwise she'd around an hour to cross the galaxy, and to compound the matter, her base is located a few dozen kilo-lightyears outside the milkyway), so her own FTL's capasitors were fully-charged(this also means that the frigate that was just here is the only possible backup she has aside from the arty, and the admiralty hates using those buggers; you could buy a conventional war fleet for what those one-shots cost to replace).




I'm sorry if I've inadvertantly spoiled your fun, but I'm sure we can find an alternitive course of action that would be mutually enjoyible; The Razor could always spend the war dueling the Sa'matra or something(say it engaged me befor I left Beta, or the gaurd fleets quickly towed it to Alpha befor I could do much damage to the rouge forces there).

OOC: As I understood it, you were using passive-stealth; your ships still had mass(thus they'd register on mass-scanners and gravitic inferncers), and still cast a silouet against the background glow of the universe(thus they'd show up on ultra-high res EM wide-band sensors). My ship was also on the same side of the planet as yours.

((OOC: They still had mass, yes. You cannot remove mass, even if you tried. But the fact is, they weren't even close to your 3 kilometer long... Whatchemmacallit. The idea was that they were FAR away, which is why I did not even say that there were other ships as well there (but there were!), and your Fuzzy Kitten was lighted up like a christmas tree. The projectiles have a long (yes, a VERY long range, but the propability of a hit decreases considerably as the range becomes longer) range as they don't burn or anything, they are just slabs of some unknown alloy. They don't slow down much either, as friction isn't really an issue in space. Of course, they would show up on a scanner, but who would care about something that mostly looks like a pile of dark matter in the distance, until they fire upon thee. Then the only silhouette you could get is the silhouette of their frontal bits. And you'd think that the longer the range = the worse the picture.))

I do not claim sensors with infinite range; I claim FTL sensors with resoloution that degrades with range --

((OOC: Aa-ha!))

These are neighbouring systems, and at that range I might have been able to pick out large formations of ships, at most. It's not that bad; star trek claims sensors vastly longer in range.

((OOC: True, but the ships were orbitting a planet, supposedly in close orbit too. I would think that you would be more likely to detect the shielded planet than the ships that sometimes use their shields and sometimes do not. It's not like they run on active sensors there, they have actual visual contact. And they have six eyes.))

[quote]If you're reffering to my interstellar artillery, well, the Admiral was exagerating(they do that, you know ;) ); I can't pull off anything on the magnitude I did in the 'GA base attacked' thread, tho I do have a handful of smaller, tactical batteries left.

((OOC: That's exactly what I meant. You used that thread as a reason to come into this thread, thus I also assume that your claims still stand.))

Now, for "13 kilometer, fast moving battlestations." Yes, I have three of these, and no, they're not stations, they're ships-of-the-line(or wall, if you perfer). Some people have grand fleets; I have a handfull of hard-hitters. The size is, well, not that unusual, especially if you consider I only have three and am a December nation.

((OOC: Those were the things that I felt like I could accept, the see-through-all-and-see-a-perfect-silhouette-and-data sensors and the GA combat thread cannon were, on the other hand, things that I have hard time to swallow. Now that they have been removed, it seems quite OK now.))

The Razor could always spend the war dueling the Sa'matra or something(say it engaged me befor I left Beta, or the gaurd fleets quickly towed it to Alpha befor I could do much damage to the rouge forces there).

((OOC: Reply to this in the other thread, too, but I'll say it here as well. Magic is the answer. Your battle.. Uh... Pill MAGICALLY returns to Beta Horologii, and a fight commences. WITHOUT any all consuming cannons with infinite range that would make a planet depart from its orbit!))

OOC: Ok, so shall we just assume the Razor, instead of hopping off to Alpha, targeted the nearest formation of Rouge ships and and moved to intercept?

Say, revise the refferenced post to, to....

IC:
"An attack need not be sucessful for it to be an act of war. Any Kohr-Ah vessel firing upon this ship will be destroyed; in the unlikly event we are overwhelmed, and both sides engage us fully, interstellar artillery has been targeted upon this system and those two nearest it; enough firepower to wipe them clean."

And with that, already epic power levels spiked further as space itself bleed to feed the awsome ship of war; barrier field quadrupling in stregnth, while tens of thousands of weapons blisters came to life and powerful FTL sensors scoured the system and beyond. Intel was queried, the sides divined, and a broadcast sent even as targeting soloutions were drawn.

"This is Admiral Hayes of the Kanuckistani Battleplate Jagged Razor of Methodical Dismemberment. In response to an unprovoked attack upon our kin, a state of war officially exists between the Dominion of Kanuckistan and the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah Rogue Faction as of this moment."

They did not fire, yet; lightminutes away from anything, there was no way they could score a hit of their targets. Instead, setting course for a patrol of rouge vessels in the outter system, even as hyperspace interdictors spooled up; within moments, it would be impossible to transition between hyperspace and truespace anywhere within a lightsecond.

As unidentified ships started to jump into HyperSpace, the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah sent a message to the battleplate: "We move unhindered. Your attempts to stop us have failed." A whole bunch of Hyper jumps were made. All more or less unidentifiable. They were not normal Ur-Quan vessels. What were they?

What the Kanuckistans failed to grasp was that the Ur-Quan were not from this reality and as such, their usage of HyperSpace differs from the rest as well. Their HyperSpace is somewhere in between the local and their own "local" HyperSpace. That is why no one has even seen their ships in HyperSpace. That is also why their jumps are physically different. The Kanuckistani interdictor did not interdict their jumps.

All Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah left the Sa-Matra, leaving it to the rogues once again. If they wish to use it to counter this threat, they can do so, even if the Sa-Matra is more a status item than a weapon for them. What the Kanuckistans also failed to realize was that all Marauders look the same, and use the same identification markings. Both sides could attack their plate, as both sides are at risk here.

A message was sent from the Sa-Matra, a one even colder and harsher than the one before: "War? War... You are not our enemy, you are filth. It is now your time to be cleansed." The Sa-Matra's weapons systems came alive, targetting the enemy vessel from afar. It moved slowly towards it, towed by a multitude of Ur-Quan vessels. The rogue fleet in Beta Horologii continues to guard it, as does the local Ur-Quan fleet as well. The Sa-Matra was their Grand Prize, no one would be allowed to damage it.

--

In Alpha Horologii, the Marauders continued on to engage the enemy. Their smaller Marauder fleet could not match the rogue Marauders, no. But what was there? A minefield?! Six Marauders rammed directly into it, being badly damaged. One of them lost power completely and started to be taken in by the planet. Its pull is too strong. The others sustained heavy armor damage, but could still continue fighting. Still, one of them was losing pressure and another was losing power, so they would not be there much longer. They would have to act, soon.

The Dreadnoughts were not surprised by the enemy attacking them, but by the amount of ships doing that. Although they were able to bring their shields up in time and had started evasive maneuvers, five of the ten were easily destroyed by the sheer number of the massive fusion blasts. Even the five, still surviving Dreadnoughts sustained heavy damage, but could still continue fighting, though just barely. They would engage their deflector shield systems and start moving as fast as possible at the enemy, fusion blasts blazing.

The planet was craterized even further as many fusion blasts hit it as well. If anything was alive there, it won't be after this fight.

The now broken Marauder fleet would concentrate its fire against certain targets this time, focusing on fifteen enemy Marauders. They would attempt to do something useful this time. There were eighty four fully operational Marauders left, though five of them were badly damaged. The damaged Marauders in the minefield would engage their engines to maximum and attempt to advance through to the enemy. They were outnumbered, but they were determined.

They did not expect the enemy to behave this way. Several of them had their weapons disabled by the fusion blasts and fell back quickly and jumped into HyperSpace. Some got nasty hits into their armors, but they survived. One or two were completely decimated before they were able to regain their composure, after which the fleet took evasive action and all ships that could started firing at the small group of hostile Dreadnoughts.

The enemy had fallen into the minefield, but the damage caused by it was lighter than they had expected. The shots from the enemy were evaded by most ships, but four were completely crushed by them. Some of the targeted ships took medium damage to the armors, but still could continue the fight.

They would now concentrate half of the Marauders' fire power to the ships in the minefield, as they presented a major threat to the whole fleet, especially as they were coming closer. Who knows what they would do if they were allowed to come too close. Other half would fire at the breaking enemy fleet, again concentrating shots at individual ships.

All ship wreckages were pulled in by the planet, being very hazardous to the rest of the fleets. The combat was becoming very dangerous.

Even as the battleplate watched it's prey flee into hyperspace, engineers and technicians were adjusting the interdictors; reinforcing the natural barriers between truespace and the layers above and below, it's range was halved, but the enemy would not slip by again.

Changing course, she now set her sights upon the Sa'matra and her escorting flotilla several light-hours away; setting course to intercept, she began launching stand-off missiles at the swarm of enemy craft, in an alpha-strike pattern; four hundred and eighty gigatons in yeild each, the guided weapons spilt forth towards the Ur-quan at near-light speed; ten thousand missiles strong, their varried speeds would allow the entire mass to converge upon them at the same time, while potent ECM made the deceptivly small weapons apear as if a simple recon flight of twenty fighters. It would not be until death was upon them that they learned the truth.

OOC:
Alpha-strike just means that the flight-speed of the missiles is varried, so that they will all arrive at the exact same time, despite being launched over a course of around thirty seconds.

Stand-off weapons are just those intended to be launched at extream range, in this case from nearly half-way across the star system, and thus take some time to reach their targets.

four hundred and eighty gigatons in yeild each, the guided weapons spilt forth towards the Ur-quan at near-light speed; ten thousand missiles strong,


Unfortunately for the hyper- advanced space nation, it didn`t calculate the effects of relativistic time distortion on their missiles, of which each carried a larger firepower than the entire nuclear arsenal of the USA, while being powered by masses of fuel, larger than the entire amount of hydrogen on earth, to produce the giant amount of energy neccessary to fly near light speed.

So, while flying with near light speed, for every second of time vanishing at the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah ships, only ~0.15 seconds 'happened' at the missiles. They seemed to crawl towards the ships, slowly, despite their extreme speed.

So, it shouldn`t be any problem for the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah ships to dodge.

((OOC: What the hell is this? I thought I said no planetary system destroying weapons. Now you are claiming that "I'M SHOOTING A KAJILLION GIGATONS AT YOU!" that could easily leave this whole system, uh, in a very bad condition.))

IC: Suddenly, the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah in Beta Horologii realized something, they had been hallucinating all this time! The transmissions had been one sided, and no missiles were really coming at them and there really was no battleplate there. "A very vivid mass hallucination it was, yes, but let us now continue the War", said Number 1 of the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah Hierarchy to the Primat of the Rogue Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah, who acknowledged the comment. Who would have believed it! A mass hallucination!

In Alpha Horologii, the war rages on.

OOC:
180 gigatons really isn't that much, expecially for an omnidirectional explosion occuring in a vacume. I really don't think you're realising just how big space is; now if someone started throwing around firepower figures in the thousand-exaton range, you might have to start worrying about the impact on the solar system as a whole.

And in all honisty, I expected you to see through the ECM with the Sa'Matra and dodge them by hoping into hyperspace and coming out closer to my ship, so that by the time the missiles turned around and caught up, the battle would be over.


*sigh* By far the biggest problem with mixing different sci-fi universes is ballancing; FTL, special technologies, firepower, etc.

I lifted my ships and tech from a personal universe I was developing; most power systems utalise matter-energy conversion via hawking reactors, with firepower scaled acording to fuel consumption and E=mc^2(which turns out to be 22.5 megatons a kilo), and the nature of my reactor technology.

The original craft were actually my Dark Valor class frigates(which, at max output, will run out of fuel after an hour, almost exactly on the dot. And around two thirds of their loaded mass is neutronium superfluid fuel), intended to a viable threat to Star Wars vessels(something about '200 gigaton heavy turbo lasers' from an official, published source; long story). The rest evolved from there.

Now, near-lightspeed is also subjective; anything about 75% Cee can easily be called near-lightspeed compared to everything else, while not experiancing the obscene power requiorments and time dialation. And Der Angst, you seem to be forgetting that motion is relative; befor aparent timeflow varriance becomes very noticible, you're moving at a damn good clip. Time dialation also does not affect aparent speeds in the manner in which you think(the fact that I'm gauging speeds relative to the launching platform aside).



Listen, why don't you just dynamicly ballance the missile yeild, and we try and avoid firepower numbers for the rest of the thread?

OOC:
180 gigatons really isn't that much --

((OOC: YOU said "four hundred and eighty gigatons in yeild each". 480 gigatons EACH. That would be 480 * 10 000 = 4 800 000 gigatons, which is 4 800 000 000 megatons. It wouldn't even MATTER if Sa-Matra would be able to dodge that, the Ur-Quan homeworld WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO DODGE THAT. The god damned SOLAR SYSTEM wouldn't be able to dodge that. Get the picture? Even though it's kind of funny, launching a hellish missile attack and saying "HA! DODGE THAT!" ... ... .. . . .. ))

The Marauders that had left the minefield were annihilated by the onslaught, all but one, that continue to advance on the enemy fleet. It had hard time navigating through all the debris, and sustained some additional armor damage from the wreckages floating around it, but it was still operational.The fleet that was going around the minefield lost three ships, five losing some hull integrity and their weapons capabilities. Those five jumped into HyperSpace. Many others sustained additional armor damage, but they still were very much operational. There were now seventy two more or less damaged Marauders left.

The lone Marauder was now close enough to the enemy fleet and it self-destructed, causing a massive explosion. Its pilot died in the process. The other Marauders mostly continued going around the minefield on all sides, some of them shooting random shots at the enemy fleet.

The five remaining Dreadnoughts took heavy damage, three of them breaking completely and being pulled in by the planet. The two, badly bruised and weaponless Dreadnoughts just jumped into HyperSpace, to go to Delta Horologii for repairs.

Now, the ten ships that had jumped into HyperSpace at the start of this fight, jumped out, just behind the enemy's Marauder fleet, attacking it with all they had. The original rogue fleet was actually 110 ships strong, even if it was supposed to be 100 ships, making the fleet 81 ships strong at the moment.

(OOC: Heya... Just saw this and figured it made sense for a defunct planeteering tool to make note of himself. No point, really.)

With the enemy Dreadnought problem taken care of, the Dreadnought fleet would now help the battered Marauder fleet. Although the minefield had been able to make enemy movements slower, they were closing in on an alarming rate. The Marauders would have to take care of the new threat, though.

They had already started shooting at the enemy, as several of them were quite close to the Dreadnoughts, even if they were trying to avoid the Dreadnought fleet. The enemy was apparently trying to go over and below, from the left and the right of the minefield, which obviously was not the wisest possible option. Eighteen Marauders would feel the wrath of the Dreadnoughts, and nothing was barring the line of sight.

The explosion of the rogue Marauder caused a small chain reaction, as three ships were destroyed by it. Their armors damaged and shields neutralized, they were easily taken out by it. One of the three now wrecked ships rammed a still working one, destroying it and causing it to start dropping onto the planet.

The surprise attack by the ten enemy Marauders was quite devastating, removing another three ships from the fleet. Four others took extreme damage from the attack, losing their capability to fight. They jumped into HyperSpace to be repaired in Delta Horologii.

The Marauder fleet would cut itself into half, making two groups, one 17 ships strong (and shall hereby be called "Team A" for the sake of clarity) and the other 18 ("Team B"). In the smaller group would be the ones in best shape, and they would face off with the ten enemy ships. The other group would help the Dreadnoughts to devastate the larger, but weakened enemy fleet.

Team A instantly after regrouping started firing at the ten enemy ships, which was still quite actively tailing the Team B's tail, which was evading any new shots quite well. Team B had targeted the enemy group that was moving on the left side of the minefield, the one the Dreadnoughts were firing upon, but the ten ships were making their life harder. Who knows when they would actually hit.

At this point, most ships were too damaged to use their shields, or their pilots too busy to even think about them. They needed all the weaponry they could use and they had to take all the shots they could.

OOC:
180 gigatons really isn't that much --

((OOC: YOU said "four hundred and eighty gigatons in yeild each". 480 gigatons EACH. That would be 480 * 10 000 = 4 800 000 gigatons, which is 4 800 000 000 megatons. It wouldn't even MATTER if Sa-Matra would be able to dodge that, the Ur-Quan homeworld WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO DODGE THAT. The god damned SOLAR SYSTEM wouldn't be able to dodge that. Get the picture? Even though it's kind of funny, launching a hellish missile attack and saying "HA! DODGE THAT!" ... ... .. . . .. ))


OOC: Oops, I was thinking of my standard anti-ship missiles, not the high-yeild stand-offs. Still, that's only 4.8 petatons; if it all went off together(which it won't), it might be dangerous to an unshielded planet or ship for a million or so km(which your homeworld isn't), at the absoloute most(spherical dissipation is a bit*h). The missiles would turn around and head for my ship to 'regroup'(tho they'd take a few hours to get there) once you jumped into hyperspace(Kanuckistan's issure is with the rouges, not the Kohr-Ah proper, so even if unshielded, they wouldn't target it), and your homeworld is sitting under an impenitrible slave-shield anyway.

But, like I said, why don't we just forget about numbers, as we're clearly using two completly different firepower scales, and stick with verbal descriptions and dynamic ballancing?

The Dreadnought onslaught destroyed five ships, others were able to evade. They were quite far away from the Marauders, so most of them had enough time to react to their actions. Of course, as in most shootings earlier, several of the surviving ships did take some nasty hits, but their armors still were not breached. Four did lose their weapons' capabilities, and jumped into HyperSpace. Many fusion blasts dropped onto the planet once again, and some of them hit the discs in the minefield, making it smaller.

The shots from the so called Team B crushed two more ships, which was unavoidable, even if they were pretty far away from the ships, considering that they are all orbiting a planet, and as such. shots are a bit different than in deep space, and a long range is a bit different concept too.

The shots from the enemy Team A caused some destruction as well, although the said ten ships were still in best of shapes. The rogue fleet was of worse quality than the normal Ur-Quan fleet, which they had not taken into account. Two ships took critical damage and were destroyed. Others evaded and continued firing at the Team B when possible. Destroying at least one of the enemy fleets would be a good thing right now.

The other Marauders had already made it to the other side of the field, and had started firing at the same targets as the other now eight ones, the eighteen damaged enemy Marauders. They had taken no additional damage, as the enemy ships were not concentrating any fire at them.

The Dreadnoughts of course, continued firing at their closest target of nine Marauders that kept on taking evasive action, while the Dreadnoughts kept moving closer to them. They were already quite close enough to the Marauders, so their evasion should be much harder from now on.

Team B started taking heavy fire and the group was suddenly reduced from eighteen ships to ten ships, and five of the ten even jumped into HyperSpace, as they had completely lost their capability to continue the fight. The massive firing from the enemy had caused very high losses, mostly because it wasn't quite what they had expected, but of course, the ships were already badly damaged as well. The five remaining Marauders of Team B took evasive action, made a complete U-turn, and started firing at the eight enemy Marauders following them, just like Team A had been doing all along. The Dreadnoughts would have to take care of the largest enemy Marauder fleet now.

For Team A it was pretty much the same as it was for the rogue Marauder fleet, nothing shot at it right now, but it kept shooting at the smaller enemy Marauder group with not much ingenuity.

In the end, the Marauders could not evade the Dreadnought fusion blasts. Five of them were annihilated, four of them left the warzone. At least they were able to make their entry to the actual battlefield a bit slower, even if losing them was a major blow to the rogues. They had been able to fire at the Dreadnoughts a bit, for a while, before losing it completely.

Another two of the ever shrinking group of Marauders were lost again, making it a group of six Marauders now. The ones still alive continued firing at Team B, as that was still their target. The larger, much left alone fleet of Marauders did that as well, firing at the group, until it would be completely destroyed.

The rogues felt that taking out all enemy Marauders was necessary. That way it would truly be a war between two different Ur-Quan factions, both using different ships altogether. But their somewhat worse quality of ships was really becoming a problem.

The shots from the destroyed group of Marauders caused some dents to the armor of the Dreadnoughts, mostly caused by explosions from their own fusion blasts as they shredded the discs into pieces. They continued on to attack the largest concentration of enemy Marauders, but were too far away to make a difference right now. It would take a while for them to reach any kind of firing range.

The five ships of Team B were no match for the combined rogue onslaught anymore, and only two of them were able to flee into HyperSpace before utter destruction. They had shot some discs against the six enemy ships, though.

The ones in Team A knew that they were soon to be the enemy fleet's targets, and they suddenly changed their tactic to a more aggressive one, attacking the six enemy ships with renewed vigor. They needed to be destroyed. Team A got a sort of boost in morale while doing this. They could not lose this fight. The enemy was outnumbered, even if the presence of the large enemy fleet was quite... Overwhelming. Team A would not engage it until the smaller enemy fleet had been destroyed. It was their mission now.

The six Marauders lost the match against the now more active Team A and the final cry of Team B, as some of their discs had shredded through the rogue Marauders. Three were completely annihilated, but they took one ship with them as they were taken in by the planet. Two jumped into HyperSpace, evading final destruction. They did not have the time to turn around and attack Team A, so no additional harm was done by this group of rogue ships.

The fleet of rogue Marauders would now strike against Team A. Many discs flew through the darkness of space towards them, striking down anything in their path. They were outnumbered and outgunned. The Dreadnoughts were too far to help them. Only a miracle could save them now.

No miracles were needed. As the Marauders in Team A were still mostly in good shape, their nova systems still worked. Ten of them were capable of getting them up, and seven stayed behind them, out of harm's way. Only one of the ships was destroyed, and another lost its fighting capabilities, jumping into HyperSpace. Both were ones that had lost their capability to use the nova. Then, all of them would take evasive action and move away from the enemy Marauder fleet, waiting for the Dreadnoughts.

The Dreadnoughts, as it happens, had come into range to fire, and started shooting their blasts at the fleet of Marauders. They still were quite far away, but with so many Marauders packed in a tight formation, they were bound to hit something. They themselves moved in a rather loose formation, as to allow all of the ships to shoot. Maximum devastation during the first attack, that was their chosen option.

The rogues were quite surprised by the fact that their enemy still had that many Marauders with working nova systems, but they now had a new problem: The Dreadnoughts. They had fired. At least ten of their own Marauders were destroyed. They would have to retaliate.

As such, they stopped firing at the enemy Marauders and instead they fired all they had at the Dreadnoughts and started moving closer to them. It would be easier to strike them down at close range, although the Marauders of the enemy were still quite concerning. Still, the Dreadnoughts posed a much larger threat to the fleet at this time.

The Dreadnoughts took quite some damage, as five ships were annihilated by the firing and three more or less disabled, and jumped into HyperSpace. One more was destroyed by the wreckages that were once again moving towards the planet. The surviving ones continued firing at the enemy fleet with added precision and accuracy, as both fleets closed in on each other.

Now that the enemy fleet had stopped firing at Team A, it would slowly start to move towards and merge with the Dreadnought fleet that was now under attack, but firing at the enemy fleet at the same time. It is not impossible at all, as their ships would "slide" towards the Dreadnoughts while they shoot to some other direction.

As the rogue fleet was now taking damage from both the Dreadnought fleet and Team A, it took some severe hits and lost seven ships, and this time, four ships jumped into HyperSpace to go to Delta Horologii for repairs.

This only added to the fervor and need to win for the rogues. They were in a berserk-like state, still aware of their surroundings, but it boosted their accuracy, as they shot more and more discs at the enemy Dreadnoughts. They needed to win this war. There was no other way. They could not lose. They would not be engulfed by despair. No, their traitorous brethren would have to lose.

The Dreadnought fleet was surprised by the sudden change in the rogue tactics. Many ships were lost. Seven ships were destroyed and another four left the battlefield, to join their brethren in Delta Horologii for repairs. They started have some problems with morale, but would continue fighting. It was not the Ur-Quan way to leave a fight without giving all you have to it, even the part where some leave for repairs was new practice. Earlier, even they would have stayed in the fight 'til the bitter end. But this was a war between Kohr-Ah, not between them and the Kzer-Za.

Team A had reached the Dreadnought fleet, and now both fleets were combined again. This added to the morale of the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah, and they replied with death and destruction to the attack. Most of the Marauders would stay at the "front" of the fleet, to fend off enemy discs with their still working novas.

It was going to be a close call for which side was to win this first fight, everyone knew that. Winning it would hold great symbolic value, as it would most likely be the largest battle of the war, and the most honorable one too. Both sides had sent a large portion of their fleets to this one battle.

The enemy had accidentally destroyed most of the minefield that was still somewhat hampering the actions of the rogue fleet, but this did not help them when the Dreadnoughts and the Marauders shot at them. Four ships were lost once again, and additional two were in no condition to fight anymore, and left the battlezone.

The Marauders kept going closer and closer to the enemy fleet, soon they might even be too close to it. Of course, they shot at them as well, with all they had left. Discs flew against the enemy fleet as they had all the time the fight had gone on, but they were rather disorientated because of the state they were in. It was becoming more a burden than the good thing it was before.

The fight had become a rather boring battle of chance, in which the side with better luck was going to be the winner. Or maybe the one with better timing and tactics, who knows. But what was known was that the next battle would be less based on honor than this one. Both sides had already sustained heavy losses. Neither side could afford continue fighting the War like this.

The Marauders of the former Team A found their nova systems overheated, and could not use them at the moment, which caused severe damage to the unsuspecting fleet of ships when the enemy discs came upon it once again. The idea had been great, but it was impossible for them to keep it up forever. Four Dreadnoughts destroyed, three Marauders crushed. Two Dreadnoughts and one Marauder jumped into HyperSpace. That was the damage done to the fleet.

Now would they start their final, aggressive attack. They had not been too aggressive until this point, as they knew that it was all up to them now. The ships, Marauders and Dreadnoughts alike, started firing like they had not fired as of yet, until their weapons started overheating, at which point they would accelerate to maximum to engage the enemy head on on very close range. It was all up to this one final act. The victor of this battle would be then decided.

The last bits of the rogue fleet were very much devastated by the attack, many ships not being able to evade in time and biting the dust. A full dozen of ships were destroyed and five lost their weapons completely and jumped into HyperSpace.

The remaining ships were now close enough to the enemy fleet... Two of them attempted to move closer to the Dreadnoughts and self-destructed, two to the Marauders and did the same. The last four ones would instead jump into HyperSpace, as they had already used all their ammunition. They had been there only to work as a cover for the others.

The sudden moves of the rogues were totally unexpected. With only four Marauders, they were able to destroy ten, already badly damaged Dreadnoughts and six Marauders. The four rogue ships had already left the area, and they were now alone.

What was left of the mighty Ur-Quan fleet that had contained a hundred ships, fifty of both ship designs? Seven Dreadnoughts and five Marauders were still there. They had won the first battle, yes. But at what cost? The planet below them had taken so many hits from the weapons and of the ships that had tumbled down to its surface, that it did not even look like the planet it used to be. The orbit of it was full of debris. That planet would from now on be considered as a hazardous area. But the battle was won. That was, in the end, all that mattered. The superior quality of their ships had ultimately prevailed in the first contest of arms.

The last ships jumped into HyperSpace, to get repairs in Delta Horologii. The fate of the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah would be decided in some other, more desperate and most likely smaller battle. Indeed, this was only the beginning.

Quietly, on the fringes of the battle, a small exploration vessel watched the conflict end. The crew of the vessel had no idea what was going on, except that it was a battle...

The captain of the vessel sent a coded transmission back to the Five Civilized Nations' homeworld, the Citadel.

***Emergency Transmission to Exploration Headquarters***

Witnessed a stellar battle. Believe that we've stumbled upon a war... Requesting further instructions...

Witnessed a stellar battle. Believe that we've stumbled upon a war... Requesting further instructions...

((OOC: Had you read the first post, you would have realized that what you have now done isn't an easy task. The probes would have noticed your ship and they would have sent you the message, as said in that post. Unless your people have an uncanny ability to miss important stuff.))

OOC: The science vessel has orders to observe... All communication units except those for communication to and from the Citadel has been black out, by order of the Captain... In addition, the science vessel is only armed with a couple of ion cannons, for defense only, so it can't possibly be a threat...

OOC: -- communication to and from the Citadel has been black out -- vessel is only armed with a couple of ion cannons --

((OOC: Very well, understandable. But still, as an OOC warning, the Ur-Quan do NOT like people interefering with their War. Tread lightly, or your ship might be shot out of the sky without a warning.))

OOC: Understood...

IC: The science vessel quietly proceeded through space towards an asteroid field to hide in and to collect mineral data...

A Marauder jumped into the system and dropped something into the orbit of the planet where the battle had been fought just an hour ago. Those were probes, and their task was to keep an eye on the abandoned battlefield. After doing this, the Marauder jumped back into HyperSpace.

Some ships were then stationed in Alpha Horologii to act as a defensive force if someone was to invade the Ur-Quan's sacred grounds. No one would steal Ur-Quan secrets and live. Both fleets had suffered heavy losses, and these ships were not even ones that would take part in the war. They were the few Marauders and Dreadnoughts that had been modified to give them more cargo space. They were freighters. They still had their primary weapons, but lacked many defensive systems. They would have to be enough at this moment.

For some reason, it seemed that rogue activity was growing in Delta Horologii. They were scouting too far from their own repair facilities, actually, they were too close to the other side's similar facilities. It seemed like they were up to something, and as such, some of the remaining reserve ships from Beta Horologii found their way to Delta Horologii. This did not seem too good. If either side was to lose their repair capabilities, it would serve a critical blow to that particular side.

The repair base lacked many militarily used sensors and its defense capabilities were not up to par. It could not detect if someone was in HyperSpace, and its ability to detect jumps was limited to rather close range only. The Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah now would have to be extremely cautious, as they do not know what the rogues might do. All of the remaining reserves of the rogue fleet had left the Ur-Quan homeworld some time ago, saying that they can't make up a strategy if the other side knew how many ships they were going to use in the next fight...

The other side was very much right when it thought that the rogues were up to something... It was just that they did not know the extent of it. They still had sixty seven ships left. Twenty seven had escaped from the earlier warzone, and fourty were in their reserves, all but two were Marauders. But, what they were going to do now...

Suddenly, a group of thirty Marauders jumped out of HyperSpace close to the other side's repair facilities, shooting at the station itself. It seemed that the other side was mostly ready, only a couple of ships were still badly damaged. The rogues did this, although the enemy had a seemingly superior number of ships stationed at their facility. The rogues had the element of surprise, and they were going to use it to its fullest extent.

They weren't all that surprised by the rogue attack. So, this was what they were up to. They had made an agreement that neither side should use the shields in any of the fights after the last one, as they were too effective and too ineffective at the same time. And it is not honorable in a fight like this. Instead of using the shields, several Marauders tried to stop the incoming discs with their novas, highly successfully. Only four of them actually hit the ships around the repair facility. Yes, they sustained damage, but they had been repaired. The armoring of the said ships suffered, but still withstood the attack.

They had fifty ships stationed at the facility, twenty six of them being Marauders and twenty four of them were Dreadnoughts. The two ships that still required repairs were both Dreadnoughts. All of the operational Dreadnoughts launched fighters, causing a swarm of six hundred fighters. They had had their fighter bays filled. Fighters are some of the cheapest parts of a Dreadnought. They would be the first ones to attack the enemy Marauder fleet.

The Marauders and the Dreadnoughts again split into two groups. The Marauders would stay in a defensive formation around the facility, so not all of them could fire. On the other hand, the Dreadnoughts would attack the fleet head on. All with direct line of sight fired at the enemy Marauders.

Little did they know of the rogue tactics as the Dreadnoughs closed in on the fleet that had jumped out of HyperSpace. Several, at least six ships were destroyed or disabled by the onslaught, and the fleet started to break up due to the evasive maneuvers they had to take. Novas were fired up as well, to stop further damage.

But then the rest of the rogue fleet, thirty five Marauders and two Dreadnoughts, jumped on the far side of the facility, so that the hostile Dreadnoughts would not have a direct line of sight. They started firing at the almost defenseless station itself with all they had, and it still had two ships inside it. Fifty fighters detatched from the two Dreadnoughts and closed in as well.

The other Marauder fleet, that was fired upon by almost all of the enemy fleet, now fired upon the incoming Dreadnoughts, whenever they had the possibility to do so.

The station took so heavy damage that it could not stay intact. It exploded in a massive ball of fire, destroying the two Dreadnoughts inside it and eliminating ten Marauders that were protecting it as well. Four Dreadnoughts were destroyed by the enemy Marauders too, but the rest would stay on course and fire at them all the time. The Marauders that were still working would turn around and attack the same rogue Marauder fleet that the Dreadnoughts were pounding.

They had assumed that the enemy would do something as drastic as this. They still hadn't used their trump card. It would now be the time to use it. A huge black Marauder jumped out of HyperSpace close to the practically defenseless rogue repair station. They had not, apparently, left one ship to defend it. It targetted the station and fired quickly after that. Continuous fusion blasts and discs were shot. The ship was only second to the Sa-Matra, that is, in the Ur-Quan fleets.

The repair station was ripped apart by the unidentified, hellish Marauder. It was left defenseless, the rogues had thought that the whole enemy fleet was at their station. It was a very bad mistake, and they paid dearly for it. They had lost their capability to repair their ships, just like their enemies had. This might be the final fight, as it would be now impossible to continue it. The war had just started and this was only the second battle fought, but their fleets were not large enough to make it a very long one. They were not quite ready yet.

The explosion caused by the enemy's repair station made critical damage to five Marauders which promptly exploded as well, causing a smallish chain reaction destroying three more ships of Marauder design. Seven Marauders were destroyed by the combined enemy Marauder and Dreadnought fire. Their novas were recharging and they were unable to bring them up, and were easily destroyed.

The fleet that had come later, which shall now be dubbed as "Group 2", as opposed to the fleet that had come before, which shall be called "Group 1", followed and fired at the enemy Marauders as well as they could.

A Marauder was critically damaged and it exploded with massive burst of flames, engulfing another ship and causing it to explode as well. The Dreadnoughts only sustained light damage this time, and all ships continued firing at the hostile Marauders, the ones which the enemy had dubbed as "Group 1".

The Marauder that had destroyed the enemy's station jumped back into HyperSpace and started to close in on the battlefield. Soon it would be there to help destroy the remaining enemy fleet. It would be hard, yes, but it is quite doable even in these circumstances.

The fighting was intense, but the superior quality of their ships could win it for them, even if the enemy has more ships than they do.

Group 1 kept on taking hits and became smaller once again, as two ships were destroyed and they took one other ship with them as well. Two others lost their weaponry, but would not disengage, as they already knew what had happened to their own station. It would be pointless to leave anymore. Instead, they would engage their thrusters to maximum and attempt to ram the enemy Dreadnoughts.

Group 2 would continue as it had done for all the time after destroying the station, shoot on the enemy Marauders. This requires almost no creativity, but is basically all they could do at the moment. The swarms of fighters were a bit of a pest, but they were mostly destroyed by the novas already, and more would perish through additional nova strikes.

Yes, most of the fighters had been destroyed, and the remaining ones were pestering Group two, as the bigger ships were fighting the other group. On the other hand, one Marauder and Dreadnought were destroyed by enemy fire this time.

As they realized that the two Marauders from Group 1 were trying to ram them, the Dreadnoughts, half of them to say the least, fired at them frantically, attempting to rid the space of that danger. The rest continued their project to destroy the first Group, and so did the remaining Marauders as well.

The kilometer long Marauder was closing in on the battlefield quite fast as it was coming through HyperSpace.

One of the two were destroyed before reaching its destination, the other was badly damaged but was still moving towards the Dreadnoughts, and it self destructed close to them. Five Marauders from Group 1 were utterly annihilated, but most of them were already well damaged and close to destruction anyway. There are no ships in that group that would not have sustained damage anymore.

The rest of the enemy fighters were now taken care of, and Group 2 could now start shooting at the enemy with higher rate of fire. It would not be a good thing for their sworn enemies, no, as they had been only shooting at a half of their capacity up to this point. Group 1 would still attempt to evade hits and shoot whenever possible, but it was getting harder all the time.

The Marauder fleet had become sloppy. Ten ships were shredded to bits by the enemy, as their firing became more deadly and accurate. Now there were only three Marauders left on the battlefield. Added to this, three Dreadnoughts were critically damaged by the self destructing enemy Marauder, and exploded. Two other Dreadnoughts were destroyed too, by the enemy fire.

Lucky for them, their largest ship arrived right about now, and it instantly started firing at the same group of Marauders that they had been attempting to destroy. 4 Fusion Blasters, 3 Disc Launchers were the most evident weapons it had, as it used them with stunning accuracy and quickness.

The remaining ships regrouped around this massive Battleship-like Marauder. Maybe this war will be won after all!

They were completely stunned for a while. The tables had suddenly turned completely. Group one was, or what was left of it, completely annihilated by the new comer. Unless they would be able to destroy that ship, they would lose the war. It was obvious to them now that they would have to concentrate all their fire on that ship, or they would be done for.

And they did just that. All ships, Dreadnoughts and Marauders alike of Group 2, fired at it, especially targetting its weapons' systems. Those modified fusion blasters had to be destroyed, just as much as the disc launchers.

They almost used the nova system out of habit, but then they realized that they could not do that, or the remaining ships would be destroyed by it. Instead, a whole lot of PD weapons, fusion cannons, lasers and the like emerged from the black ship, trying to intercept the incoming discs and fusion blasts, but it was partly in vain. Even as two thirds of them were destroyed, the rest blew away two of the ship's fusion blasters and crushed one of the disc launchers, and caused mediocre armor damage. The ship itself was still intact.

It launched fighters, as it had a hundred of them with it, and they would fly slowly towards the enemy. Anything should be thrown at them. The remaining Dreadnoughts and Marauders were now in good positions and fired upon "Group 2". The large Marauder was turning into position.

The whole rogue fleet engaged its thrusters and started moving towards the enemy quite quickly. They were up to something now, it was quite obvious. The Dreadnoughts of the fleet and three Marauders were ripped apart by the enemy fire, but the rest kept on crawling closer and closer to them, while firing of course. They tried to shoot to the general direction of the disc launchers, but were not sure if any of them would actually hit.

This battle would be the last one of the War, and it would dictate which side is to win. Neither side can afford losing here.

The two remaining disc launchers were destroyed, as the PD systems were deemed useless against Ur-Quan weaponry. They knew this already, but still had to try their effectiveness, just to be sure. Two Marauders were destroyed by stray discs from the enemy, which was deemed as very bad luck.

It still had two working main weapons, the fusion blasters, which would now fire at the enemy, to help the other friendly ships. As the enemies closed in, the Dreadnoughts and the lone Marauder took evasive action and went a bit farther from their flagship, as they might have to let it use its Nova system without getting fried themselves in the process, of course.

What was left of Group 2 was still closing in on the enemy flagship, firing randomly at it. Most of the ships weren't even able to shoot anymore anyway. Three ships were destroyed again, as the enemy firing had become quite accurate, thanks to the rather close range they were now in. Winning would be almost impossible now, but at least they could do maximum damage on the way out. That is what they are trying to do now.

The flagship's PD systems were devastated by the random discs, but it still withstood the attacks. Two of its fusion blasters were still operational.

The enemies were close now. The large Marauder, identified as the flagship of their fleet, engaged its Nova system. Its fusion blasters went inside the great armor of the ship, and suddenly a huge burst of hellishly hot flames came out of it. The nova was at least four times larger and more powerful as the Nova of a normal Marauder. The ship was basically that much larger than a normal Marauder, anyway.

The other ships kept firing at the enemy ships as much as they could, but the ships were too damaged to take a more active role in the fight at this point.

Most of the ships still had their novas, and they engaged them before being engulfed by the larger one. Five ships did not survive the attempt, five took critical damage and floated dead in space. But the other ten, it took heavy damage as well, but could still continue. Group 2 had diminished into a group of ten Marauders, but they could now do what they set out to do.

One ship rammed the front of the now basically defenseless flagship and exploded. One other rammed the flagship in the center of its bottom side before exploding as well. Third Marauder hit it in the right side, exploding once again. Two of the still remaining ships would do short HyperSpace jumps, and one would ram its engine area, and the other would ram it in its backside. Both made massive explosions after impact.

The five last ones would fire at the last remaining enemy Marauder. Or more like the last two ones, as three of them could not fire anymore.

The flagship was destroyed by the damage caused by the enemy ships. Even if it was larger than they were, it was not THAT much larger. It couldn't survive, and it just exploded, at leastwith a very large explosion. Added to that, the last normal Marauder was destroyed as well. They now had no Marauders left.

The Dreadnoughts, after recovering from the moment of disbelief when the flagship exploded, started firing at the enemy Marauders. Fusion blast after fusion blast, they were sure to destroy the enemy. They would not settle for anything less than complete victory.

It had now happened. The five Marauders were disabled by the enemy fire, and all of them self destructed. They had lost their honor and they had betrayed their brethren. They had no right to live anymore. The war had ended in the complete annihilation of the rogue fleet.

The Rogues admitted defeat as they could not continue fighting anymore. The Doctrinal War had ended!

They had won the gruesome ritual war. Only twelve Dreadnoughts were remaining, and only seven of them were actually capable of firing at that point anymore. They were ecstatic, their chosen path had won the war, and now would start a new time of peace - and that of creating new fleets as well. They had lost almost all of their weapons' capabilities.

Soon would they dictate several rules the rogues would have to follow, but that time was not yet. Now the last bits of the fleet would have to return home, and then, then would be the time. They would now take possession over the Sa-Matra, which is their right as the winners of the Doctrinal War.