NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Okay, this is a continuation of the Shadow War (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=447537&page=27) IC thread. The OOC thread is here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=446607). Feel free to check the OOC thread and join in.

IC: The ocean outside the wall-sized window was as gray as the sky above. The wind was blowing hard enough to stir the crests of the waves into a frothy foam. The man, who looked to be somewhere in his early forties, stood in front of the window looking out at the restless bay, glanced at his weather console.to his right. The temperature had dropped three degrees in the last ten minutes, and the barometer had fallen in the same time.

Sandy haired, slim, and obviously in top shape, he frowned at the pale reflection of himself in the window. His face looked tired, almost haggard, from his restless night spent tossing and turning for reasons he wasn’t really sure of himself. A sense of forboding plagued him when all of a sudden a cold shiver raceed down his spine like someone just walked over his grave.

Restlessly, he walked over to his private bar where he poured a generous measure of a deep amber liquid into a crystal glass. Then he walked back to stand again in front of the window. He looked to his left to check the time, attached to that wall was what looked like the wheel of an eighteenth century sailing ship, it’s hands stood at five minutes to three. Chris would be here in about five minutes.. The computer’s voice cut into his thoughts, “Christopher Towson is waiting, David.”

“Come,” his voice barely rose above a whisper, but the door slid open without a sound, and a man slightly younger than himself came striding in. “You’re a little early, Chris,” he sat his drink down on a little stand behind him and moved to the bar to poor his friend a drink of his own.

“What? I’m a couple of minutes early? I would call that being prompt.” he chuckled. Christopher Towson was Captain David McCoy’s Second Officer and friend for the past twenty years. A big man, wide at the shoulders and with narrow hips, along with a muscular torso, he had a face that assured he would never spend a leave alone. He was more than just a friend to David, more than just his second officer, he was his adviser, his confidant, and sometimes his concious. His rich black hair and deep brown eyes, matched a skin of a rich, deep, chestnut.

“I guess I’m not ready yet for this mission,” David admitted, then tossed his own drink to the back of his throat, as Chris picked his up from the bar.
Chris swirled his drink, a little frown furrowed his brow, “You’re not ready? I don’t think I’ve ever heard that from you. You’re always ready,” then, “Dave, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, really,.a feeling, a... I just don’t know.” David set his empty glass back onto the bar and went to stand again, with his back to his friend, staring out at an ocean gone wild with storm.


“Look, Chris, if I don’t get back from this one, I want you to find Genna for me and... well, just tell her to put all of this stuff,” he gestured to his belongings, “into stasis until little David is grown. When he is, it’s his.”

“What? Why are you saying... ok, ok,” he shut up when he saw his captain’s chin stubbornly jut out. “but you are coming back. I promise you that, or neither will any of us.”

“Chris, you know better than that!” David chided, “you’ve been in the fleet long enough to know that. Come on, it’s time to go.
”

* * *


“Captain on deck,” Lieutenant Rawlings jumped up from the Con.

“At ease,” Captain David T. McCoy automatically said, as he navigated toward the Captain’s chair. “Ensign Barker, take her out, one quarter impulse.”

“Yes, sir!” Ensign Barker acknowledged with an eager grin, her brignt blue eyes sparkling with anticipation, she punched in the controls and the big ship slowly began to move as it slipped out of Space Dock. In a few minutes they were finally free of the confining enclosure of the giant orbiting complex, her first real mission was finally underway.

Seeing his young navigator, fresh out of the academy and so eager, David couldn’t help but smile. How well rememberd being in her place. He couldn’t get enough of space back then, or since, for that matter. He sobered, wondering, ‘What the hell is wrong with me?” He shook his head slightly, trying to clear the cobwebs of sleep deprivation that seemed to slow his thoughts. Usually , just at the thought of going on another mission. he'd be so anxious to get going that he couldn't sleep the night before, either. But not like last night, last night he had dreaded every hour leading to this minute, almost as if he was afraid, but why?

The sound of the automatic door opening onto the Bridge swooshed. He turned to see Chris coming in. Immediately he stood up from his seat, “Commander, take the con,” he ordered.

Surprised, Chris came over to take his place. “Anything wrong, Captain?” he asked, concerned.

“I’ve got a whale of a headache, Chris, I’m going to pay the doctor a visit.”

“I Hope you feel better soon.” Without a reply, the captain left the Bridge. As soon as the door whisked shut, Chris punched the intercom for Sick Bay.

“Doctor, here,” came the voice of Patachnou, a Chronian medical officer from the planet, Chrona IV.

“Pat, the captain’s heading down your way. Would you like to give me a call when he leaves?"

“Sure thing, Chris, you sound worried.”

“Could be, there’s something wrong, I... don’t know what, but,” he lowered his voice even more so no one could overhear, “Dave is not acting right.”

“What do you mean, ‘not acting right’?”

“He said he wasn’t ready for this mission, he just left here a moment ago with a splitting headache, he... I don’t know, something isn’t right. I feel it...”

”I’ll get to the heart of it, don’t worry.”

“Thanks, Pat, Commander out."

The little Chronian medical officer frowned, thinking about what the Commander had said. In the fifteen years since the Captain had taken over the command of the previous ship, the Titan VI, he had never known David McCoy to ever leave the Com for a mere headache. The unique senses of his people stirred, the room felt suddenly a little colder, and a prickling sensation spread down from his coarse, yellow Chronian hair to spread over his shoulders and down both arms.

He reached out with his mind, immediately sensing McCoy’s approach, but he sensed something else, too... but he couldn’t get anymore.

The Sick Bay doors opened, admitting Captain McCoy into Pat’s world aboard the huge, brand new Andromeda Class Starship, Titan VII. “Hey there, Dave. For the maiden voyage of this monstrosity of a ship, you sure look down in the mouth. What’s the problem?”

“I've got a monstrosity of a headache, Pat. Can you give me something for it?”

The doctor immediately ran his tricorder, a brand new mini-model, much improved over the last one he'd used, over the captain. “I can't see a thing wrong, Dave, did you have problems sleeping again last night?”

“Yes, I guess you know me pretty well after fifteen years.”

“Well, I'll give you this,” in a moment he gave the captain a dose of a mild sedative, then, “My tricorder doesn’t tell me much but my own senses tell me your are bothered very seriously about something. Care to tell me about it?”

McCoy, smiled ruefully, “I don’t know what to tell you, Pat. It’s like a premonition, or something. Like... something bad is hanging over us, something that doesn’t show up physically yet. A gut feeling,” he stumbled over his words, then shook his head, “I know it sounds nuts, but...”

“No, not to me it doesn’t. Just your presence in here is transfering it over to me. I don’t know, yet, what it is but all my senses tell me it is very real.”

“Well, if you get an idea, please tell me about it.”

“I will, Dave, but in the meantime, get some rest. That sedative I’ve given you ought to help that out, anyway. Until something develops there’s no point in worrying about what we cannot see.”

“True, Pat, Chris has the Con so I’m heading for my room."

In a moment the doctor was talking to Chris on the Bridge, “He's fine, Chris, physically anyway. I gave him something to help hm sleep and he’s heading for some as we talk.”
He was still almost whispering into the intercom, “He was telling me when we met earlier today, in his apartment, that he had a bad feeling about this mission. He started telling me if he didn't...” Chris looked up until Ensign Barker passed him on her way to check another data console. As soon as she was out of ear shot he went on with, “...if he didn't make it back, to put all his stuff in stasis, until Little David was grown.”

“He sure didn't mention anything like that to me. We'll see tomorrow what he's feeling then. But we should all leave orders to that effect. We all know some won't make it back for one reason or the other, that’s a foregone conclusion, and a nephew is as good as a son to leave thing to, if you don't have one yet.”

“I'll record it with Star Fleet tonight, after my shift,” Chris murmured into the com system, half talking to himself. “I don't want to tell Genna this it will only worry her. She worries enough about her brother as it is.”

“She needs a husband,” Pat grouched, “for that little boy,mostly, he needs a father as much as she needs a husband.”

“That she does, Pat. But I sorta... well, I was hoping...”

“Oh, really? Did you tell her that? Huh? You know you can have a family on board, so why haven't you taken it to her?”

“Because of Dave. Can you imagine his sister and nephew living on board? I doubt if Star Fleet would even allow it.”

“Well, you might be right, at that. Sick Bay out.”


* * *



Everything seemed to go fine for the next several days. The ‘feeling’ David had didn’t go away, if anything it only got stronger, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. As time passed, he began to think it was all in his imagination after all.

Then, about four days into the mission when all seemed fine, about an hour into the shift, the Communications Officer swiveled on her chair to say, “Captain, Star Fleet has issued an immediate return to base order for all star ships.”

“What? Transfer it to my ready room, Lieutenant,” and before she could say anything, he turned his gaze to Ensign Barker, "Ensign, take us back home immediately, Warp Nine.”

“Yes, sir.” she ignored the heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach as she quickly plotted out the new directions. The big ship rolled slightly in its slow turn after it had dropped out of warp speed. Then with a flash it left the local space it was in.

“Captain McCoy here,” he said to the Star Fleet officer on his screen, in his comfortable ready room., “let me speak to Admiral Rankin.” In a moment the old admiral's ruddy cheeks were facing him on the screen. “What's going on there, sir?” David asked.

“Captain, it seems we have a problem. We are being attacked even as we speak by an unknown enemy. They just came in without tripping any of our safeguards, and without anybody seeing them. We figure it is probably some sort of Cloaking Device, but if so, it's nothing like the Klingons’ or the Romulans’.

“Right now their, I assume, small planetary attack ships are straffing San Francisco. I am speaking to you from the subterraneum shelters beneath Star Fleet headquarters, everyone still on the surface won’t be alive. None of our own vessels can even begin to penetrate their shields. Our only hope, Altera’s only hope, are our military vessels. The ones in Space Dock are trapped there, behind the shields they don’t dare drop. You know, David, our interplanetary forces do not have the new shields we have on our star ships. Until now, we didn’t think there was a need for them. We were wrong. And whatever energy they use for their offensive weapons cut through normal shields like a hot knife through butter, as if they weren’t even there.”

“How many ships are there now? For when they can get out,and how many are within a reasonable distance and be called home in a short time?” Damn, he thought to himself, it wasn't us, or me, in danger, it was Genna and Little David! Almost as an afterthought he added to himself, and Altera herself!

“Not many,” the old man answered, “not near enough. How long until you get here?”

“We are returning at warp nine now, Admiral, but still we couldn't possibly make it for at least a day and a half.”

“Well, come as fast as you safely can, son,” David's face shifted at that, the admiral had never treated him fatherly before. “We'll do what we have to do to survive,” then, “Star Fleet out.”

He got up immediately and entered the Bridge with a stern, “Engineering, take us to warp ten.”

“Warp ten, Captain?” Chris stood up to make way for the captain to sit while he returned to his own duty station, “What's going on at home?”

“All hell is breaking loose, Chris, some new unknown enemies just broke through all our defenses...” quickly he repeated, in front of the bridge crew, everything the admiral had told him. Altera was home to the governmental headquarters of hundreds of star systems, and more than a trillion citizens that the Federation called its own.

“Sir,” the com officer turned to say over her shoulder, “Admiral Rankin, at Star Fleet is asking for you.”

“In my ready room, Lieutenant,” he ordered.

“Yes, Admiral?” he asked as soon as he saw the haggard face of his Commanding Officer on screen.

“David,” David noticed immediately the unusual emotion flooding the commander's voice. “They're gone, as quick as they came, they disappeared. And we still don’t have a clue where they came from or where they are going to.”

“Then it is over? You beat them out? That was quick!”

“No, I don't think so. They hit us hard with everything they had, then they retreated, no doubt to hit us again, in a while, or in the future, I don't know which yet.”

“But they're gone, if only for now it'll give us time to get home, and the other ships too, and then if they hit us again we'll be ready for them."

“Vulcan is sending everything they have and the Klingons, too. And, believe it or not, but both the Cardassian's, what's left of them, and the Romulan's are on their way as well, with their own fleets. Romulans,” he shook his head in wonder, “Your Great, Great, Grand-dad should be here to see that.”

“You mean both of them, don't you? My Great, Great Grand-dad, Leonard McCoy, and my Great, Great Grand-dad, James T. Kirk?”

The admiral chuckled a bit at that, “Yes, I guess so. Kirk's daughter married Leonard McCoy's son. Talk about Star Fleet born and bred!” he laughed out loud. Then at another thought he sobered instantly. “David, that isn't all I need to say.”

David's gut clenched at these words. Something inside already knew what the Admiral was about to say. Unconciously he took a step backward, almost as if to ward off a blow.

“Half of San Francisco is wiped out. Even the Golden Gate is gone...”

“Oh God, no,”David groaned hoarsely, he staggered and almost fell, then stumbled toward the Ready Room's window looking out toward the vast emptiness of the stars. He heard the Admiral's voice...

“Your sister and her little son, he, uh, was named after you, I heard, anyway they're gone, David. They never suffered, it all happened so fast. Neither one even had the time to get scared... I'm so sorry, David, so sorry to give you this news, and maybe I should have waited until you got here, but...”

“No... no, Admiral, thank you, but I’m glad you told me now, not later,” his voice caught, then stifling down a grief striken sob, he thought, Oh, God, not sis and Little David!

It was nearly another twenty minutes, after they had disconnected the link between them, before he got up the strength to leave the Ready Room and enter the Bridge again. Without saying a word, he beckoned Chris a little impatiently, to get come over to him where they could talk more to themselves. By the time Chris stepped to him, he'd changed his mind, saying instead, “Come in for a minute, Chris, I have something to tell you.”


* * *


By the time they got back to the Solar System, it was already becoming a bit crowded in earth orbit. The huge ship was forced to slow down, for safety's sake. Some of the Klingon ships were already coming in, those that had been touring quite close to the System at the time of the attack. Half the nearby federation vessels were parked outside of Luna orbit. They had to leave room for the maneuverings of the Interplanetary Solar Fleet, usually kept within the boundaries of the System. David noticed that some of the big passenger ships were also being parked just inside the Fleet's assigned area.

Upon arriving from the shuttle, David found Admiral Rankin in a damaged section of the complex, the rest being rubble scattered. “Sir!” he said, coming to a stiff salute. “Captain David McCoy, at your service!”

“At ease, David, no need being formal with me. Not right now, anyway,” Admiral Rankin looked ninety, if he looked a day. His face had the deep lines of horror cut deeply into the creases around his eyes, nose, and mouth. His eyes were blood shot, and wet with tears unshed.
“Admiral, sir, your family? Are they all right?”

The Admiral stiffened, David could see how the muscles clenched beneath the old man’s jaws. “Barbara wasn’t with me...” for a moment it looked like he would collapse, but he was Star Fleet. He straightened up, facing him. “I’m not the only one who will be alone now, Captain.”

“I saw some of the destruction on board the shuttle craft, sir. It was... was unbelievable.”

“I know, Captain, when I took a tour with the President yesterday, and got my first look at it, I... I believe it's the worst disaster to hit the Altera since Hiroshima in the early twentieth century. In San Francisco alone, we estimate more than half a million people are dead or missing, and as much as two million or even more injured. It's a nightmare! If we’d only had a warning, somekind of a warning! We could have set up an energy field similar to what our star ships have around the city, but by the time we realized what was happening it was already almost over.”

“And the rest of the planet? How did the other cities fair? I didn't have time to check before I came down?.”

“They seemed to have concentrated most of their firepower on San Francisco, probably because both Star Fleet and the Federation Headquarters are here. Oh, and there’s Star Fleet Academy, too. It too has been all but destroyed as well. We've lost fully half our students. Thank God a lot of them were away for the trials on Ganymede. The shipyards are almost totally destroyed, as well. It'll take us more than a year to build them back, and then only if we build around the clock, in shifts, and that means no new ships for double that time.”

They did hit London, destroyed a major part of the old city, and their ship yards for the ocean going vessels. Amsterdam, too, and Mexico City, Brisbane, New York and Boston, Montreal... But, why just those cities?" he seemed to muse a few seconds in silence, then, "We haven’t the slightest idea, yet.. but the rest of the world seems to have fared okay.” He frowned in thought, “Wish I knew why.”

“Any idea who they were yet? Surely someone, somewhere has an idea. My God with all our technology...?”

“Technology?” the Admiral laughed a bitter laugh, “We might as well have thrown sticks and stones at them, or had bows and arrows for all the good our technology did us. No, that's the strangest thing of all. None, absolutely none of our alert satellites, or sensors worked. Not even the system ships with sensors had an inkling. No one, it seems, saw or suspected a thing.”

“That just doesn't make any sense. Were they sabotaged or anything?”

“No, we've been checking them since the attack left off. They are all undamaged and working just as they are supposed to do. These aliens have some unknown kind of energy shields protecting them. It puts the Klingon and Romulan Cloaking Devices back to useless junk as far as their technology is concerned. These creatures, whatever they are, are way beyond us, them, or even the Borg.”

“I'll bet the Klingons and the Romulans don't like that a bit.”

“No, they are talking war, even though no one seems to know with whom to go to war with. But you can't blame them, just as we didn't see them coming, you can bet none of our known neighbors will either.”



* * *


Within a month Star Fleet got itself pretty much up and running again. Most of the Fleet had been dispersed at the time of the attack, saving, no doubt, the Star Ships needed for defense since the scientists now believed that they, too, would have been vulnerable to these new, unknown, weapons. The Federation moved, as much as possible in so short a time,temporarily to Vulcan. The Vulcans weren't happy about it, but under the circumstances, they realized it was the only logical thing to do.

The Academy, such as remained, started up again with what classes it could, speeding everything up so that students not expected to graduate for another two years could be off and assigned on missions in as little as six months. Star Fleet remained on Altera orbit, all engineering genius's in the Federation were heading Altera-ward. Their mission was to try and make the Altera's protective sensing devices a hundred times as sensitive to known, as well as unknown activity. The Federation, and the governments of other, now terrified worlds, were demanding new technologies to protect them. For the first time in centuries Altera was feeling like a backward planet again. Unprotected from the unknown coming from in from out of the Solar System. Be it comet, asteroid, or extra terrestrial beings from outer space, fear remains fear in every century.


* * *


The entire Federated Worlds were joining together for the worst battle any of them had ever dreamed of, let alone known..

While far away, in an unknown sector of the universe, the enemy prepared for their final return...

A transmission was broadcast on all frequencies.

Attention, all vessels in range. The capital planet of the Holy Empire of SeaQuest has just withstood a surprise attack from a fleet of superior forces. All ships, we are currently requesting any aid you will be able to provide. I repeat, the planet has been heavily damaged and are requesting any assistance that can be provided.

The message was set to repeat at five-minute intervals. Meanwhile, a message was sent to the I.S.S. Anubis (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=9830584#post9830584) ordering it to divert from its course to the Abh Capital and to head to Altera at her best possible speed.

OOC: Tag will make post tommrow.

The message was recieved by the Emperor was he was still going over reconstruction plans in the War Room. "Divert Lord Rahl to the capital. Inform him that Doron is to report back to the Capital and that he is to find a commander for the VCD Truth while he commands the Excalibur."

Message to the Holy Empire of SeaQuest.~

We are sending you two of our newest Destroyers to lend aid to you. Unfortunatly this is all we can send at the moment due to the fact that we were also hit hard and lost many forces. We hope that these two ships will prove useful.

Emperor Dusanyu~

Doron left from Neo D'Hara on a Whitestar heading back to the capital. Richard and his wife boarded their own shuttle and headed to the space yard where there awaited two Destroyers for them. They needed to find another commander and Richard knew just the man. He only hoped that he wasn't thrown in the brig at the moment.

After being informed of the attack on Altera and having the relayed message from the Abh Emperor given to him only a few minutes apart in his space-going citidel, Emperor Bridger dictated a response to the Abh Emperor.

To: Emperor Dusanyu
From: Emperor Bridger

As I have only just recieved notice of the full damage to our home system, I would like to extend you my sincere gratitude for the help you are sending. According to the report I have read, the Alteran system is blind and any ships you send will greatly help in providing eyes and ears for us while we repair the sensor grid. The identity of the attackers is not currently known, but I have been informed that the sensors did capture a short, low-quality recording of the attacking ships, so we may be able to identify them later. Technicians will retrieve said recording as soon as the sensor grid is back up and running.

After the message was sent, Bridger ordered that Atlantis alter course and head for Altera.

King Bradley still at the Abh capital got word of the attack and split his forces that were dedicated to this war.

Sea Quest we will be able to send one Eclipse Class SSD 10 Cruisers,And Two Medicale ships in your aid if you wish. The Eclipses main cannon is offline however do to damage taken in the Jurai war. It will be repaired in four days so lets hope its main cannon wont be needed tell then.

Richard commanded the Truth while Kahlan took the helm of the Excalibur. Their destination was a remote outpost on the a@@ end of the Abh territory. The outpost was used for those that had breaken their fair share of rules in military command.

The planet was an iced planet with almost no life except for the few outposters running sensors and manning several large ion cannons and tactical nukes. Sargaent Savage was sitting next to a thermo heater in the barracks for getting into another fight at the local bar.

Lord Rahl and his wife exited Hyperspace and haled the outpost.
This is the Victory Class Destroyers Trust and Excalibur here on official business of the Abh Empire. Request deactivation of deflector shield to prepare for landing.

Richard waited for the reply and the acknowledgement came in the form of energy los around the planet. He took his shuttle to the pick up his wife and headed down to the planet surface. They were dressed in thick furs to pick up the new recruit.

Richard and Kahlan were greeted by a few gruff guards carrying plasma rifles. "Greetings Lord Rahl, Mother Confessor; please follow us inside."

Richard allowed his wife to go first before entering the iron clad shelter. Richard stopped both guards. "I want to see Savage."

They stopped. "Sir...he's in the brig."

"Then let him out. I've selected him for an important mission."

"Yes sir." They turned and descended several stairs and found the man they were looking for behind steel bars. It was obvious he hadn't either showered or shaven in several days. "Lord Rahl, sargaent Savage."

Richard removed his hood and smiled. "Hellor Sargaent."

Kendaryn sensors function in strange ways, not perfectly understood even by those that make them. Usually, they work much like any other such system, but sometimes there are... oddities. Sometimes, for example, a ship will pick up readings from something that should have been far too distant to detect. Such readings are very rare, usually important, and never ignored.

So, when Captain Garyl Morgeel received the message from SeaQuest, his response was immediate.

SeaQuest forces,
This is the battleship Karalën, of the Kendaryn Border Patrol. Your call for assistance is being relayed to the Capital. For now, we are coming to give you what help we can. Are you still under attack?

Then Captain Morgeel began preparing for the first jump of the many that would bring his ship to the place where it was needed. After that, he would have to send an explanation back to Kendari...

Richard finished explaining everything to Savage. "Well that's quite an impressive story Lord Rahl. Your prepared to give me my own ship, albeit a prototype? And I'll have all incidents erased from my military record."

Richard only nodded."

"Well then show me outta here."

"First you shave and shower."

"Ah, right."

About an hour later, the helm of the Excalibur was turned over to now promoted Commander Savage and the two destroyers entered Hyperspace heading for the border of the SeaQuestian homeworld.

Messages

In response to Neo Zeta message:

Your highness, any aid you send will be accepted. Our fleet headquarters lie in rubble. The Academy is currently operating at seventy-five percent capacity. Ninety-eight percent of our ships in-system at the time have been destroyed. The starbase orbiting the planet currently has no life-support on half of its levels. The star systems entire sensor grid is heavily damaged and long range sensors are off-line.

In response to Kendari message:

The enemy forces have left the system. Though we have recieved heavy damage to our planet. Our main city lies almost fully in rubble. We would appreciate any asistance your ship would be able to provide. Our medical facilities are operating at full capacity, but they are unable to keep up with the current situation.

Alteran System

The Atlantis emerges from a Hyperspace Window at the edge of the system. The capital city ship begins to head-in towards Altera using her Gravitic sub-light engines.

Karalën's medical capabilities are limited, but yours. We also have equipment that could be useful in search-and-rescue operations. Hospital ships will be dispatches as soon as it can be arranged. Expect our arrival shortly.

Again, the information was relayed by hyperlink to Kendari, where a relief effort was beginning.

"Sir! Seaquest needs our help!"

"I'm sorry, Admiral Aran, but our hands are tied. We need every ship we can get." The praetor sat down at his desk.

"What for? The Tyranid offensive ended months ago. You can't honestly tell me we need a Bird of Prey to help in relief and aid?"

"Sorry, Aran, but it's a no. The FNS Feather is impounded during its refit. Then it goes straight on patrol. Its refit will be finished in three days time, and then it's going on patrol. And you can't stop it going on patrol. You may be a Fleet Admiral, but I'm this station's praetor, and I have the master key." He waved in in front of Aran's eyes to reinforce the point.

"The mistake you beureaucrats made is teaching me all this stuff." Said Aran, snatching the key. "Honestly, what kind of an idiot teaches people how to become supermen and then expect to control them? Even the Jem'Hadar were engineered with an addiction to ketracel-white to keep them loyal. Well, that should be some food for throught. I have a ship to steal. Toodle pip."

He leapt out of the window, shattering it, and flew towards the Alpha Stardock. The police had already been summoned, and were chasing him in jetcars. Aran landed in the stardock's car park and sprinted towards the piers. The police were chasing him on foot now, firing gauss rounds at him from pistols. He leapt into his yacht and blasted off towards the orbital drydock. The police had sent the communique to impound the Feather, but they didn't have the key, which was sitting safely in Aran's knapsack.

He docked the yacht with the Feather, and made his way to the bridge. The nightwatch were sitting at their posts, making sure everything was OK. "Nightwatch, Captain is on the bridge. You are dismissed." He tapped his communicator. "Bridge crew, please report to the bridge." A total of five beeps and "On my way, sir" later, he took his seat. As the crew arrived and took their positions, Aran briefed them. "We are going to aid the Seaquest nation in their war against a mysterious race known as the shadows. We are almost certainly going to die. If you do not wish to take part, well, tough, I'll either shoot you in the face or eject you into the ether. Understood?" The crew nodded. "I know I can trust you, my most trusted friends, to help me. Well, what are we waiting for? Helm, set a course for the Seaquest homeworld, Comms, inform the drydock that we are leaving. If they don't respond, I want Psi to disintegrate the docking arms. Ops, scan the surrounding area, see if the police are coming calling. Enge, get the warp thrusters online."

Deep Space... A few light years from the Inhabited Planet, Ixius 3

A Black Monolith slowly span, out of control... moving as though who or whatever was control of it, was no longer...

The Monolith was a beautiful sight to behold, gracefully drifting through the cosmos, its obsidian black surface, reflecting a distant stars light... It was as though some perfect force of nature had created this artifiact then hidden it from view in the depths of space...

Then it stopped drifting, Suddenly as though some unearthly dark force had taken command, it instantly stopped drifting, righting itself and moving with some pace towards the Planet, Ixius...

(OOC: I have signed up for this, and have permission to invade an inhabited planet, this is a test for my new alternative FT nation, and this will also aid its development, I would like if possible someone to have forces on this inhabited planet, however, you know nothing of what this race is, so please RP it as though you have discovered some strange new artifact, Thanks)

The two destroyers exited hyperspace in separate jump points. Richard swiveled around in his chair as his wife slept in their private room. "Send a message to the SeaQuestian government informing them that we have arrived."

To the Holy Empire~
This is this is the Victory Class Destroyer Truth along side the Excalibur. We are here from the Abh Empire and have come to lend aid. The ships are commanded by myself, Lord Rahl, and Commander Savage. We are standing by awaiting your instructions.

On the Excalibur, Savage was getting a much better feel for the ship. He choked back a few pills without water to get rid of his hangover. "Yuck, I can't believe I have to work in this condition."

Both ships held their current position awaiting further instructions.

The Monolith continued its course, some unearthly device, never betraying any signs that it was occupied, because it was not... powered by some unknown power it moved with cold efficiency, traveling... never stopping, just moving towards its goal, no rush, no increase in speed, this device had all the time in the universe to reach its goal.... for now it would just move... gracefully move towards its target....

Messages

In response to Abh message:

Acknowleged, Lord Rahl. You may enter into a standard orbit. We have managed to retrieve a small portion of the video captured of the attack. We are sending it to you now. We apologize for the extreme low-quality, but video restoration is not a high priority here at this moment. Our main priority right now is to get medical relief to the masses in the destroyed city. Co-oridinates of the city will be uploaded to you shortly.

Alteran System

Atlantis slid smoothly into an orbit around Altera. Her fleet of Puddle Jumper class transports launched and flew towards the planet below. They were filled with troops who would restore order to the city now that its general infrastructure lay in ruins.

Meanwhile, at the edge of the system...

The I.S.S. Anubis slid its massive bulk from a Hyperspace Window. Her black-on-black hull was hardly visible against the backdrop of space.

OOC: Got to go for a few hours. BBL.

The two destroyers entered orbit over the planet. Orders were given for all hands to stand down and get some rest. Savage was requested on the Excalibur to go over the video.

Savage's shuttle arrived shortly after and they sat in the small conference room as the video feed came through and the holographic display. At first all that could be seen was static and then a distinct image glided over the screen.

Savage looked on in shock. "What the hell was that?!"

Richard's heart sank. He couldn't believe he brought his wife into this. "It's a shadow. They attacked the capital and destroyed many, so very many that day died."

Savage's eyes went wide. "How could anything get to the Capital?"

Richard only shook his head. They had a major problem at the moment. They had two of the most advanced destroyers but that would mean very little against a fleet of Shadow Vessels.

Richard left the room immediatly. He made it to the comm and sent an urgent message to the government of SeaQuest.

Message to the Holy Empire from Lord Rahl~

We have a major problem. It appears as if the Shadows have visited your nation as well. You are going to need everything at your disposal for this battle.

A reply was sent back to the Abh ship after a few hours while personnel on the ground looked up what they could on the Shadows.

Acknowledged. If the ancient myths and legends in our databanks hold any truth, the Shadows are a formidable foe. We will have as many of our ships as we can gather here in preparation for a strike. If the legends are true, the Shadows don't like to be on the defensive. The ancient legends also speak of creatures of light and order that opposed creatures of darkness and chaos. These two groups, according to legend, fought each other to a stand-still. We are inferring that the creatures of darkness are the Shadows. We will need to seek out these creatures of light mentioned in the legends.

"Sir!" Said comms. Aran looked up. "I've been monitoring subspace channels. Seaquest speak of creatures of darkness being repelled by creatures of light."

"Creatures of light? As in, psichics?"

"Quite possibly, sir. After all, that is what people call the choir."

"Great. In that case, we are equipped to help Seaquest. The Feather may not be the strongest ship in the navy, but it certainly has the largest psichic choir. This is good news."

Ops interrupted him. "Sir, we are entering the system."

"Splendid," remarked Aran. "Comms, inform Seaquest that their good friend Status Aran is here to help."

Richard quickly moved to the comm at the helm while Savage remained in the conference room. "I need all information on the Shadow battle at the Capital sent to this ship immediatly."

"Yes sir. Sending message to the Capital."

"Good. Inform me when it arrives." Richard stood up from his chair and made his way back to the conference rooom to take a closer look at the video feed from SeaQuest.

OOC: Just a general F.Y.I., the creatures of light was my way of making it sound like an ancient reference to the Vorlons. We need to get those dudes into this. We may be able to repel the Shadows eventually, but the loss of life would be staggering.

IC: On the surface

Medical teams were rusing all over the place. Goa'uld were using their Healing Devices wherever they could. In some places, people were pulled from the rubble of collapsed buildings, some alive, some not.

In orbit

The Anubis emerged from a Hyperspace Window after making a short hop through from the outer edge of the system and slid into an orbit just outside that of Atlantis.

OOC: Dude, psichics need to play some part. That's the only real thing I can offer to this RP. And also, dude, would you please reply to my message.

OOC: Psychics will play some role in this so don't worry.

IC: The good news on the Truth was that the Abh Intelligence Agency was exceptional at gathering information. Debris from Shadow vessels had been anhilized and a read out of their planet killers was gained.

For Lord Rahl's eyes only (AIA):

Debris from Shadow vessels have been aquired and we have annhilized their technology. Their technology is largely advanced from our own but we are still able to discern some of the basics. Their ships are largely organic with one major weapon part of a high power concentrated energy beam. Their ships are also perfect for ramming and suffer no damage. This is why projectile weapons are completely useless. Their hull also seems to be able to absorb energy attacks which is why our ships need to focus our attacks for long periods of time until they are overpowered. This technology is being integrated into our destroyers to make them more affective. Unfortunatly we cannot put this to use on our smaller ships.

On the case of the planet destroyers, we have discovered that there is a superstucture underneath the cloud. The structure does have a crew for defense along with many turrets. Several turrets similar to the Shadows ray along with other energy cannons. It has been determined that a high energy strike on a sensitive area in the structure will bring it down. However, there were no survivors to bring us back this information. It is our hope to come up with an answer soon for this problem. If we do not then you will have to find one for yourself.

AIA out-end transmission.

"Well that was interesting. So the Empire is experimenting with Shadow technology. I hope they know what they are doing with this."

OOC: Dude, psichics need to play some part. That's the only real thing I can offer to this RP. And also, dude, would you please reply to my message.

OOC: Understood. Sorry if I missed your message, been kind of busy.

IC: "General," said a Captain as she walked into the office of the General in charge of the military police taking over for the local cops as they rebuilt, "For some reason, the communication center only just sent this message over. Its from the Falcanians and was recieved some time ago."

The General takes the padd she hands him and reads the message.

"Send a reply," he orders, "tell them," he smiles, "that any help will be more than welcome. We await their arrival."

She takes back the padd and turns to leave.
"Oh," he adds just as she was walking out the door, "make sure the Emperor's cousin, Isaac, and his ship, the Freedom's Ransom, get here. He and his crew are the only ones that currently have had contact with any Falcanian personnel and are the closest things we have to experts on them."

"Aye, sir," replied the Captain.

She snapped a salute and left.

OOC: Dude, its Falcanians. Not Falconians.

IC:

"Sir! We're being hailed."

"On screen, Comms." Comms patched it through.

"Greetings, sir. I am Fleet Admiral Status Aran, of the FNS Feather. I am here on an unauthorized mission to help. What would you have me do?"

<Tag Seaquest>

OOC: Sorry about that, dude, I was starting to see double and went to bed a few minutes later.

IC: "Fleet Admiral," replied the Captain on screen, "If I understand these records correctly, your people have experience in the use of Esper (OOC: Psychics). We would appreciate it if you would help our security forces keep order in the devestated areas."

<Tag: Falcania>

"Certainly. We have a Psichic choir of 200 onboard the Feather. Our use of the 'esper' as you call it isn't as other races. Each psichic isn't too skilled on their own, with a few exceptions, including our beloved Psi-Lieutenant Jon Craw here." He beckoned, and Craw nodded. "They work best in conjunction with each other, channelled through these few, and boy do they kick ass. It just so happens that we have one psi-lieutenant and three psi-ensigns onboard. That makes 50 choir per channeller. Acceptable? If so, we shall beam down our channellers to aid your security forces. The choir can work from up here."

Richard dismissed Sargaent Savage later on and both ships launched their fighter supports to get a good reading on the outlying area. Reports were brought back every fifteen minutes with a negative on all acounts.

Richard was sitting in his chair looking at the video screen at Savage. "By all reports, the Shadows are gone along with all energy traces."

Savage nodded his head on the other end. "My scouts have reported the same. We shall hold our current position here."

"Agreed. We will patrol a little further out to see what we can see. Truth, out." Richard ended the communication as the engine ignited.

"Certainly. We have a Psichic choir of 200 onboard the Feather. Our use of the 'esper' as you call it isn't as other races. Each psichic isn't too skilled on their own, with a few exceptions, including our beloved Psi-Lieutenant Jon Craw here." He beckoned, and Craw nodded. "They work best in conjunction with each other, channelled through these few, and boy do they kick ass. It just so happens that we have one psi-lieutenant and three psi-ensigns onboard. That makes 50 choir per channeller. Acceptable? If so, we shall beam down our channellers to aid your security forces. The choir can work from up here."

The Marine Captain nodded.

"We will uploaded the co-ordinates for the largest area free of debris in the city. Central Park has been transformed into a make-shift medical area. You will find map kiosks located throughout the city. Hopefully, their internal Naquada reactors weren't damaged when the main power-grid went off-line. If any have, they will have to be disposed of in deep space. If one of them goes critical, the resulting explosion would be at least two times as powerful as a nuclear explosion of the same mass. Also, the pipe system maybe damaged in areas, so watch out for gas leaks. The slightest spark could ignite it."

"Hmm. A field hospital? We can beam down our medical team. In fact, is there any place free of debris that is roughly 600m x 600m for us to land the ship? It would be far more convenient."

"Hmm. A field hospital? We can beam down our medical team. In fact, is there any place free of debris that is roughly 600m x 600m for us to land the ship? It would be far more convenient."

"I'll check," the Captain replied as she picked up a map P.A.D.D., "according to this, their are two locations: the marina, but I don't know if your ship can float, and a spot outside the city limits, a forested area."

"Marina? Perfect for this ship. This class of ship has an unfortunate tendency to fall over on dry land, crippling the gauss broadsides. I'll begin my landing immediately. Aran out." Comms cut the link. "All stations, condition blue. Nav, upload the coordinates of the marina into the console. Helm, use those to steer us in that vague area. Psi, get the choir to make a massive wave of water, or pedestal, or something to make the landing easier. Use your imagination. Eng, prepare the hydroelectric boosters. That makes everyone."

"You forgot me, sir!" Said the new Ops officer.

"Oh, whatever. Find an area with low life, so we don't kill too many fish, or something, ensign."

The Feather turned its nose towards the planet.

OOC: Do you want me to take control of the shadows? Or do you have a plan for them?

Finally, Karalën arrived, emerging from a hole that opened in space some distance from the planet. At 200 meters in length, it wasn't large for a battleship, but it was designed to handle anything it might have to deal with in the border territories... including disaster relief.

-This is the Karalën, reporting arrival. We'll do what we can to help as soon as we've landed. Further assistance is being prepared in Kendari. What do you need most urgently? Also, what sort of landing space is available?

OOC: Sorry about the long delay, there.

OOC: @Kendari: Not a problem.
@Abh: No, not currently. Got enough on my plate without adding that. Besides, I rather enjoy coming up with tactics to use in battle against an enemy I don't control. Perhaps later.

IC: Messages

In response to Kendari message:

Currently we are still doing damage assessment. We are uploading the co-ordinates of the city to you now. You can send your medical personnel to the Central Park to help out the medical field center set-up their. Your security personnel will be able to help us in the search for survivors. You can either set your ship in orbit or you can land your ship.

Splash! Even with the psichic choir dampening the effects of the landing, a Falcanian Bird of Prey makes an impressive landing in water. The hydroelectric power was on, and the ship began its slow chug towards the side of the marina.

OOC: Alright I'll take care of the shadows for the moment but get in contact with me about what your plans are so we can map the story out.

IC: Several scout vessels from the Shadows came back to check on their work. They phased in and out on levels of hyperspace to avoid being detected.

The energy of readings of so many ships and so many lives drew them. Death, destruction, and chaos were their purpose. One of the first races to ever travel space with no other desire than to throw what they considered lesser and inferior races into darkness.

The scout ships scanned the surface of the planet and reported to forces that were still lying in wait. The first assault was merely to soften them up for a final assault on the planet. Now even more ships were prepared to attack. This time, there wouldn't be a planet to rebuild.

They also took the time to study the other races and learn who their new enemies were. If they posed too much of a threat, their worlds will be destroyed as well.

Steath and information was the primary objective at the moment though.
--------------------------
Richard patched through to Savage on the TRUTH. "Commander Savage, it seems we have some visitors. One of our fighters said he spotted something peculiar flying around SeaQuestian space but it was gone long before he could get a clear reading on it. That sounds like one of the Shadows. Their phasing in and out. What they are doing here I'm not exactly sure but I would guess that they are scouting and plannig a larger attack. We only have two ships but we need to stop these scouts from leaving."

Savage sighed on the other end. "Understood. I say we use one ship to push the scout into the other vessel. They aren't going to want to engage a superior vessel at the moment."

Richard nodded. "Yes. I'll set him up for you. Use a level 2 firing to make sure you destroy it. I'll let you know when we are clear so you have a safe shot."

The two Victory Class Destroyers were enroute to the last known location of the scout. The TRUTH eventually broke off and positioned itself on the other side of a moon to hide in wait while the Excalibur patroled the area.
------------------------------------
Za Ha Dum:

The Drakh Horde return to their masters. They have received new information about their enemies and their capabilities. They wait until their masters call them forth into battle.

*OOC: i guess ill post a entry and such on what my situation is in this war and on my plan in the story is to battle the vile S.O.B shadows to my very last guy*


Ship Captain Serge Valoriamartia was walking around in his private room on the ship Thor's Hammer one of the largest ships in the Lusthinarians fleet it was roughly the size of half of the Planet Earth's moon and for some odd reason it resembled a spearhead. Then the intercom cut into the thoughts of the Captian it was his navigation officer Carl Jones "um sir we have more calls for help from numerous different fleets should we aid them and anaylize the situation. An also sir it seems that whatever attacked these races is highly advanced is energy and shielding technology " .



The Captain stood there for a moment thinking this over then he slowly stated in his unnaturaly deep barotone voice " might as well send the usaul responses stating that we will be sending our non-combat medical teams to help with the injured and also ask for any information on this new enemy. On a more serious note send word to the Entire fleet to get ready and bring out the reserves also we may have a fight on our hands".

OOC: I suppose an intry post will do. I don't know where SeaQuest has been lately with this thread. I believe he is just busy at the moment and will get to it when he has time. In anycase....

IC: The scout ship moved among dock ships as it phased in and out without their knowledge. It began feeding back information on fleet strength and the status of the planet below.

A large ship was on approach and the shadow scout began to make towards the moon in an attempt to make a clean jump out. The scanners on the large ship prevented the scout from phasing in and out.
-------------------------------
Richard urged the engines forward. "I want full burn. Make sure it knows that we are chasing it. Keep the scanners on full so he doesn't get away."

"Yes Lord Rahl."

The ship pushed the scout further towards the moon. The Truth sent a message out to the Excalibur. "Commander Savage, prepare for Level 2 firing. The ship will be within range in about five minutes."

The message was received and Savage gave the order for the main guns to warm up.
----------------------

The shadow scout came around the moon preparing to jump out of the system when it was greeted by another ship of the same class as the one chasing it. It made the move to retreat but it was too late. The tree prongs of the Excalibur linked together with high energy and met at the nose which increased the power even more. The large energy concentraition went out at the Shadow scout and held it there for what seemed like forever. The scout shaked violently and then exploded as the last of attack finished.

The Karalën landed in the closest available location to the Central Park to unload its medical crew and equipment, then moved to a more out of the way location. Scout drones were deployed to search the damaged area for life signs, and the ship's soldiers (a large fraction of 3,000 people) joined those who were performing rescue operations. Some piloted heavy fighters (30 such crafts are available), using attraction beams to move heavy pieces of rubble.

OOC: Is there anywhere to land 1,000 X 300 m disaster relief ships?

OOC: Yeah, sorry 'bout being gone. I've got two research papers to write. I've also noticed, I happen to be better at taking part in an RP than I am at running one and taking part in it at the same time (at this involvement level any ways). So, someone else will have to take charge till I take care of some things.
@Kendari: At least two, outskirts of city, and the harbor (picture a map of the RL San Fransisco and you'll get the basic design of the city).

IC: Altera's Third Moon - Deep Underground

"General, we need to put Project Beyond The Grave into full swing. Get me more of those super soldiers. Field Marshall Gun Grave is a powerful individual and I need more like him. Make sure you have enough of the supplies you need. Atlantis out."

The comm line disconnected. General McMann sighed.

He turned to his aide and ordered, "Make sure we have enough of the chemicals, drugs, Sarcophagi, and genetic manipulation tools to create an army for the Emperor."

"Yes, sir," she replied turning to leave.

"Oh, and make sure we have the right kind of volunteers in the right numbers for this."

"Aye, sir."

The two Victory Destroyers patroled the reaches around the room to make sure there were no other surprises.

Savage paced back and forth on the bridge. "Set scanners at full. I want to make sure there aren't any energy spikes out there or unauthorized jumps."

"Yes sir."

Message to SeaQuestian government and gathered ships:

We have just destroyed a Shadow scout ship and have chased the rest off. It's a good bet they know we are here. I would recommend to prepare to engage the enemy far away from the homeworld. I would almost guarantee that they will bring a planet killer to finish the job down below. Any ship that can be spared will be appreciated to help defend this area.

Messages

In response to Abh's message:

Acknowledged. We are currently reactivating stored ships as soon as we scrounge up enough crew for each one. The first group should be here within the hour.

Edge of Altera System

Several ships of designs never before seen outside the Holy Empire drop out of Hyperspace Windows and begin their journey towards Altera.

The destroyers launched their contigent of fighters which wasn't much. A total of 200 thunderbolts took up position along side the Victory Destroyers and awaited the shadows to appear again.

They were the frontline, center, and reinforcements all rolled into one at the moment. All Richard could think about was, "What in the Abyss was I thinking listening to Dusanyu to let Kahlan come along."

*On the Spartan Alliance home world*

Ah a message from my good buddy over on the Seaquestian home world.

Message: Good day Sparta. I am sending you this message because there has just been an attack on our home world. If you may please send any reinforcements and or supplies necessary while we start the rebuild of our home world.
Signed,
Seaquest

*taps the call button to his secretary*
Yes Emperor?

I need the Grand Admiral of the Naval forces and the Grand General of the Army on screen now.

Yes sir.

Ah gentlemen, well i have received a message from our friend Seaquest. He is asking for reinforcements, supplies, and protection. So what can you give me?

Naval: Emperor, i can give you the 5th Tactical Fleet composed of:
4 Imeprial I Class SD
8 Venator Class Capital SHip SD
12 Acclamator Class SD (also these are transports sending a battallion on each ship along with supplies)
6 Venator Refit Carrier SD
4 Tie Interceptor Wings
2 Tie Bomber Interceptor Wings
6 Tie Fighter Wings
3 LAAT Gunship Wings

Army: Emperor i will have the following battallions operational and load onto the Acclamators:
505th
392nd
609th
412th
31st
65th
92nd
501st
352nd
125th
183rd
256th
(all battallion names and what they do are classified)
1 Battallion= 1000 Men

Excellent, how soon will the fleet be ready to disembark from the home world?

Naval: The Acclamators will meet up wit the rest of the fleet at the Death Star about 1 day away, they will be escorted by or frigate and destroy fleets here on the home world. Then the Acclamators will group up with the 5th Tactical Fleet and head to Seaquest which will take about 5 days estimated we could make it there in most likely 4.

Understood

Army: The Acclamators will be finished loaded in about 1-2 days.

Excellent. Thank you men, this will help boost our relations with Seaquest even futher. Good day Gentleman.

Both: We fight for Sparta, we are Spartans.

*All three salute and walk out of tactical room*

Altera's second moon was really a hollowed out storage depot for uncrewed ships. They were put into moth-balls until crews could be found to man them. Holographic projectors helped hide the entrance tunnel to the complex. Now that Altera itself had been attacked, several ships stored there were reactivated and manned with skeleton crews. Luckily, the Holy Empire's most secret construction project was still hidden deep in inter-galactic space. The only reason it escaped notice during the attack was because the Shadows were focused on damaging the planet itself.

OOC: Sorry that I've been slacking on this story. Been a bit busy. Thanks to whoever sticks with this. I'll pay more attention since I do want to finish this.

IC

The Shadow ships came just as Richard had feared and they came in groves. 200 battlecrabs along with their fighter escort phased out of hyperspace. Lucky for the two destroyers that the Shadows paid them little heed. The reason was that they towed a planet killer behind them.

It appeared that they intended to finish the job. Their main concern was blowing by all ships that were in the way as the headed for the main planet.

Richard was already turning the destroyer to bare down on the shadow fleet.

Get your men to their ships! You got a shadow fleet in bound. There target seems to be the planet itself. Get all ships you can to defend it and take out the shadow vessels. Leave the planet killer to us.

The two destroyers were heading for the planet killer as it continued to make its way to planet. Battlecrabs opened up on any ship in its path to the planet. If the cloud got around the planet, then it would all be over.

OOC: Not a problem. Been busy myself lately.

Random Lab - Planet's Surface

A rust-colored rectangular slab shaped device is sitting. Two men in white labcoats are poking it when a third man comes running in.

"Does it work?"

"We don't know yet. What's the rush?"

"We got a Shadow Death Cloud incoming."

The two other men's eyes widened as they understood the situation.

"Well," said one of the first two rushing to a column-like device, "the phase cloak may not be operational, but we can hook this interphase generator into the planet's shield grid. If the grid is fully operational, it should phase the entire planet, only without the cloaking effect. Without the cloak effect, it will be impossible to tell if the plan works or not," he pause for breath as he ran cables to and from the device, "we will just have to deal with the ecological effects after the crisis has past."

The other of the first two techs joined him in wiring while the third called for help before joining in.

Orbit

Their had only been enough time to gather a single fleet of SeaQuestian forces. The Dragonwing fleet was composed of fifteen Sharlin class (http://www.b5tech.com/minbari/minbariships/sharlin/sharlin.jpg) war-cruisers, thirty Tinashi class (http://www.b5tech.com/minbari/minbariships/tinashi/tinashi.jpg) war-frigates, twenty Vorchan class (http://www.b5tech.com/centauri/centauriships/centauricapships/vorchan.jpg) attack cruisers, ten Primus class (http://www.b5tech.com/centauri/centauriships/centauricapships/primus.jpg) battle cruisers, ten G'Quan class (http://www.b5tech.com/narn/narnships/narncapships/gquan.jpg) heavy cruisers, twenty T'Loth class (http://www.b5tech.com/narn/narnships/narncapships/tloth.jpg) assault cruisers, thirty Th'Nor class (http://www.b5tech.com/narn/narnships/narncapships/thnor.jpg) light cruisers, fifty Liandra class (http://www.b5tech.com/isa/lilandra/lilandra.jpg) patrol cutters, sixty Bluestar class (http://www.b5tech.com/isa/bluestar/bluestar.jpg) scout ships, twenty-five Whitestar class (http://www.b5tech.com/isa/whitestar/wsglory.jpg) monitors, fourty Ha'Tak class (http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b91/SeaQuest_Sim/Jaffa/hataksmall.jpg) long-range warships/assault ships/carriers, sixty Al'Kesh class (http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b91/SeaQuest_Sim/Jaffa/alkesh.jpg) mid-range bombers, twenty O'Neill class (http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b91/SeaQuest_Sim/Asgard/oneillsmall.jpg) advanced long-range warships, and fifteen Valenn class (http://www.b5tech.com/isa/valenn/valenn1.jpg) heavy cruisers. The forces had been pulled in from as distant as ten light-years and had emptied the storage depots, including Altera's second moon, in a radius of five light-years. The Atlantis and the Anubis took up postions in orbit around Altera while the fleet formation moved to form up with the ships their allies had sent.

On the Spartan homeworld.

Ah. Commodore Katan what is the current situation of the fleet?

Commodore: Emperor we are atleast 1 day away from Seaquest.

Excellent, before arrival sound all alarms to go to battle stations. If there are any enemies wipe them from space. Show em who the Spartan Alliance are.

Commodore: With pleasure Emperor.

*Emperor closes channel and turns to his communicator on the desk*

Lindsey, ready my shuttle I am going to go check on the project.

Secretary: Yes Emperor. *Taps communicator and gets Emperor's personal shuttle preped for launch*

Now time to go and see how the project is coming along on the station.

The Shadow ships fired their shadow rays at anyship that blocked their route to the planet. Their formation shrank almost into a thin wedge where they could push ships aside and then encompass the planet. All enemy vessels would be shot down that got in the way.

The planet killer was not without its own defenses. It had several hundred shadow ray defense turrets along with several missle silos.

Richard was in the command room looking over the information that the AIA had sent him. He skimmed through files and files of vessels and what the scientists had discovered. Some of it sent a shutter down his spine, others intrigued him but he couldn't find what he was looking for. He finally found what he was looking for. "Ah there's the little beast."

Richard walked back and establish a communication to Commander Savage and the rest of SeaQuestian fleet.

From recent studies by Abh scientists and the AIA, we have discovered what the Shadow Cloud is composed of. The cloud is just a front hide a superstructure underneath. It is comprised of interlocking beams that lock around the planet along with defense turrets and missle silos. We are going to need a coordinated effort to bring it down. We have to find the weak point.

Messages

In response to the Abh signal:

Acknowleged. We have a plan in place for just in-case the Death Cloud reaches the planet. If it works, the Shadows will be in for a big surprise.

Dragonwing Fleet

The ships that made up the fleet moved into a conical formation. The Valenn class ships fired a volly of ten tricolbolt torpedoes and five Isolitic torpedoes each. The tricolbolts would create a subspace shockwave while the Isolitic torpedoes would generate subspace tears. The Isolitic and tricolbolt torpedoes had been designed for use against fleets that tended to clump together. Each ship that could, launched its fighters. The swarm of SeaQuestian fighters rammed head-on into the mass of Shadow fighters. Some were destroyed when the collided with enemy craft, but the rest kept slugging it out.

The two destroyers pushed forward. They used level 1 firing at the moment trying to hit the structure. Even now launching missles when they got a clear shot though to no avail. There were just too many defense turrets and fighters swarming the cloud.

"I need Savage right away!"

The commander was brought up on screen. "Look through the layout of the cloud and find a weak point. We need to bring it down and fast."

"Yes Lord Rahl." The screen went out revealing the battle infront. Richard pointed a shadow fighter inbound and the Destroyer locked on and blew it away. Shadow parts flying everywhere.

The Shadow ships paid no attention to the others. Their main focus was reaching the planet and clearing out its defenses. They left their fighters behind to take care of any pests.

Knowing that the Shadow Death Cloud was nearing, the scientists in the lab had convinced the local authorities to let them plug the interphase generator into the recently repaired planetary shield grid. Men and women rushed about. Some were moving cables to connect different things, while others were trying to program systems to allow this to work.

OOC: Last post for the night.

Savage stood there studying the holographic layout of the Shadow Cloud. It was an impressive piece of machinary to say the very least. The problem was finding a point where the structure would crumble.

The center point was easy enough to find. It was a large welding point where beams met and fused together. There were six such points which meant that destroying one wasn't going to do it.

He walked out of the command room and back to the deck. "Get me Lord Rahl."

Richard's face appeared on the screen. "Lord Rahl, It seems to be that there is no one central point. That leads me to believe that it cannot be destroyed with one blast. There is one thing, we are picking up life form readings inside the structure. I believe that there is a control center in there somewhere. If we blow it, we stop the cloud and that only leaves the shadow vessels to deal with."

Richard nodded and smiled. "Sounds good. You find the control center, we will take care of the Shadow vessels."

The Victory Destroyer targeted a large battlecrab and began pursuit. Richard sat in his chair. "Level 2 firing." The three prongs came together in a large yellow surge and met at the nose some hundreds of meters away where its power was amplified a hundred times over. It streaked out towards the battlecrab and caught it in its hunger for a victim. The Shadow vessel shook violently and exploded. "That's one less."

Finally, a great hole opened in space and Kendaryn vessels started pouring out. This fleet had been designed with the Shadows in mind, focusing purely on anti-ship vessels. First came three heavy battleships, a deadly Pike class vessel and two smaller, more agile Halberd ships. These were followed by ten swift Broadsword battleships, then a flood of destroyers and interceptors. Finally, leaving Kendaryn territory for the first time, the pride of the Kendaryn navy emerged... Doomweaver, four rows of massive Type V turrets running along its length. As the fleet raced forward, two kilometer long Disaster Relief Vessels and a few small hospital ships appeared, the portal closing behind them.

Type IV and V cannons opened fire as the Kendaryn fleet shot towards the Shadow vessels, and light one-person fighters began launching from the heavy battleships. It had been decided that heavy fighters, lacking missile launchers, might not have the firepower to deal with Shadow ships, which were reportedly very durable. The lightly armed disaster relief ships remained behind the war fleet, dropping swiftly toward the planet.

A hole in the fabric of normality opened and the entire Navrosian fourth fleet came pouring out of the warp.Hundreds of the specially refitted scorpion fighters disengaged from the carrier frames that had brought them through the Immaterium,and began weaving in and out of the ships,in the standard "finger four" formation.

The NRS Revenant,an Ark-Royal class carrier,disgorged its twelve Broadsword squadrons and then returned to the fleet.The Navrosian Navy had arrived.

The Shadow's saw that there Planet Killer was well on its way to surrounding the planet and begin ranning destruction. They broke off from their escort and engaged the new enemies. Who they are made no difference. They fed off of destruction and Chaos. They wanted death to all races that did not submit.

Large battlecrabs launched hundreds of their small fighters so they could go ship to ship. The battlecrabs focused on large ships and began firing their shadow death rays. A few even broke off and began tearing up the surface of nearby moons to destroy anything that might be there.

Shadow vessels extended a long line out and began to surge forward to sweep away any resistance. All ships here were documented as well. They would know who these inferiors are trying to interfere and death would come to their homes as well.

Any ship that got too close was easily destroyed merely by the flick of one of the vessels tentacles.

Savage sat there in his cushioned chair trying to solve this riddle while the Destroyer gave pursuit. Where was the blasted thing? "Computer. Bring back holographic image of the structure."

The screen brought the Planet Killer back up minus the clouds which left only the structure itself. Savage paced back in forth from the screen. "Now, show only junction points."

This eliminated the beams in between each large and small junction. Savage stood their with his chin in his hand. What next? "Now....take away all large junctions. It wouldn't be there, it's too obvious."

The computer complied and that left it only with the small junctions the beams to one another. There were still a good number of them and time was fast running out. A revelation came to him. "Eliminate all junctions that are not guarded by anti ship defenses."

The entire screen went black except for one small dot that blinked. The only junction that was heavily guarded. "Get me Lord Rahl now!"

Richard sat in the other Destroyer as they engaged more Shadow ships. Explosions rocked close to the ship as a fighter was engulfed in flames from a shadow death ray. "Blast! Launch Beta squadron. Weapon's control. Fire at will!"

The communications officer turned around. "Lord Rahl, it's Commander Savage."

"Put him through."

The commander's face appeared on screen. "Commander Savage tell me you have found something. These ships are good but they can't take too much more of this."

Savage nodded. "Yes Lord Rahl, I believe I have found it. There is a small junction that is guarded by missle silos and anti ship turrets. I believe we blow that, the cloud will stop."

"Can you make a shot then?"

He shook his head. "Not at this distance and the shot will be a difficult one. It's well armored and the blasted Shadow fighters are everywhere. I need some room to fire."

Richard nodded his head. "I understand. Let's get there first and then we will discuss firing solutions."

The two Victory Class Destroyers fired the gravimetric engines and pushed towards the cloud. They focused a single attack on one battlecrab. Yellow energy from the weapons sent ripples through the vessle as it began to glow yellow and then exploded. The two pushed through at full speed now heading for the cloud.

Surface

The last connector was rammed home and the last relay checked. Everything was set so that a flick of a switch, the effect of the hastily installed interphase generator would begin to be emitted from the entire planetary shield grid. As the grid was not designed for this type of use, it wouldn't last for long. They could only hope it lasted long enough.

Orbit

The second moon was turned into rubble from the fire of the Shadow ships. In around a thousand years, Altera would have some rings around it. The Dragonwing fleet, which had been housed in the second moon for use as a system defense fleet, scattered and ganged up on enemy ships where they could. The only new thing this fleet had was a new type of torpedo that had been loaded into the Al'kesh. This new torpedo was designed to target the molecular bonds of a target. The Polyphasic Disintegration Torpedoes were one of the off-shoots of the research that developed the interphase generator and first generation phase cloak.

OOC: Last post for the night.

The shadow vessels began to take losses now that there were more ships in the area. They had already lossed fifty battlecrabs but still had a large contigent of fighters in the area. They focused their attacks on larger ships that posed as the most hazardous. Several Shadow vessels began taking up formations much like they did on the attack of the Abh capital where they would cut through formations and ram ships followed by wings that would launch attacks with their shadow rays.

They wanted death to all those that had attacked them and would destroy a hundred worlds for every ship that they lost. All would die or serve the bringers of chaos to the universe. Ones that are one of the oldest races of the universe.

The two Destroyers had gotten into firing range of planet killer but were being met with heavy resistance from shadow fighters. Both destroyers launched all their fighters which numbered at about two hundred total. The defense grids activated and began taking the shadow fighters with streams of solid yellow energy being shot out.

"Commander Savage, we need to attack now before it is too late."

"I agree Lord Rahl. We are already powering up for Level 2 firing. We will fire the first shot and then you will follow ours when the area is cleared. Have the fighters stay close since our ships will be offline for a minute."

"Understodd. Powering up now."

Savage's Destroyer was ready for its strike. The lights dimmed inside and out of the ship. Power beyond comprehension surged through the three prongs of the ship as they began pulsing forward. Yellow energy began extending from the nose of the ship as well. The three prongs of energy met at the nose where it was amplified and shot towards its target. The ship was knocked back a bit from the blast and power went out.

The shadow fighters that were in the area were obliterated from the attack and a few defense turrets were destroyed. The only damage to structure itself was that a few of the beams got burned and warped under the blast.

The second Destroyer began to power up for the decisive blow...

Interceptors split into two groups, circling around to attack the Shadow vessels from above and below, while the rest of the Kendaryn fleet met their enemies straight on. All three heavy battlships rotated to present their full length to the approaching foes, raining Type IV bolts and guided missles upon the Shadows; the Broadsword battleships spun swiftly, targetting the largest ships with their front-mounted Type Vs. Destroyers darted about through the fray, keeping well clear of the dangerous Shadow ships; they used hit and run techniques against larger vessels, with front-mounted Type IVs and missiles, while taking on fighters with Type III turrets. Finally, thousands of Kendaryn fighters wove throughout the battle, firing rockets considerably more powerful than antimatter bombs of a similar size.

Kendaryn shields were holding up fairly well, with only a few Interceptors and Destroyers lost - one of which had gotten too close to a Shadpw vessel. Losses among the unshielded fighters, however, were heavy despite their small size and agility. A number of them had been struck by tentacles, detonating their remaining rockets and their power supplies in explosions far more deadly than what their weapons could generate.

Meanwhile, Doomweaver's crew had noted the effort to attack the Shadow planetkiller. Spinning with incredible speed for a ship of its size, the mighty vessle loosed a broadside volley from 12 Type V and 100 Type IV turrets, followed by 40 enormous missiles... enough firepower to devestate a continent. the angle was carefully calculated to avoid risking damage to the world beneath the giant Shadow structure.

Shadow vessels took hit after hit from the concentrated fire of the Kendari ships. One Battlecrab took a pounding and lost much of its propulsion. It went on a chaotic course spinning on its axis trying to ram any nearby ship.

Shadow fighters went one on one with other fighters flying in groups of four to gang up on lone Kendari fighters.

The Shadow Cloud took some hits from the bombardment but nothing substantial to bring it down. A few beams were severed but that's it. Defense turrets handled the majority of the missles that were coming in.

The last Destroyer began following suit. Energy hummed through the ship as its main weapons came online. Yellow waves pulsed from the prongs and met at the nose. The combined energy shot out towards the control center of the planet killer. The yellow power surge hit the control center dead on and in short order blew through it, destroying it.

The affect was slow at first but soon began to take shape. The structure closed on itself prematurely and missed the planet. It stopped in its tracks and held current orbit over the planet.

"Commander Savage this is Lord Rahl again. It stopped. Send fighters in to secure the cloud until we can arrive. We'll send it back to the capital so that it may be studied."

"Understood Lord Rahl."

Altera - Surface

The Chief of Planetary Security had his hand hovering near the control that would activate the interphase generator hooked into the shield grid. He watched a tactical display of the system to judge when he should hit it.

Meanwhile...

The ground based torpedo launchers and energy weapons that had been repaired fired upwards at the Shadow craft. While the fire was thin, the ammo from the non-operational weapons could be diverted to the functional ones, thus increasing the time they could be kept firing. Volly after volly of Polyphasic Disintegration Torpedoes, Hellfire Torpedoes, Plasma Torpedoes, Transphasic Torpedoes. Quantum Torpedoes, Poleron Torpedoes, and Photon Torpedoes came shooting at the enemy.

Altera - Orbit

The surving ships from the Dragonwing fleet wove in and out of the incoming fire from the surface. They were using the torpedoes to block any incoming enemy fire.

Several more Shadow vessels went down from the planetary bombardment. One Battlecrab broke in two and spewed black liquid every as it tumbled away. Several others though focused a few firing solutions on the planetside in an attempt to eliminate silos.

The Shadows were now down to less than fifty percent of the forces they had brought with them. Battlecrabs were now being caught in crossfires and their fighter support was finally beginning to thin. The Shadow cloud had been brought to a halt by the two Victory Destroyers.

Richard stood at the helm looking at the video screen to the cloud. "Launch fighters. Inform them to begin towing that Cloud away from the planet. Commander Savage and I will move in as defense."

Fifty Thunderbolt fighters moved into close proximity of the Cloud. The control panel was blown so defenses were no long operational and anything alive inside would soon be dealt with. The fighters launched grappels and began towing the thing away.

The two Destroyers moved along the flanks firing at Shadow vessels at will.

OOC: Nice grab, Abh. You can have the Shadow Death Cloud class planet killer as I have a more subtle weapon waiting in the wings.

IC: Altera - Surface

As turret after turret was destroyed, the decision was made. The fire from the unmanned turrets slowed and then stopped altogether. To prevent any more damage, the interphase generator would be activated. With this jury-rigging, it was calculated that everything would fry after a maximum of thirty minutes activation. After that, everything would have to replaced. In his office, the Chief Of Planetary Security hit the control. The generator started humming as power began to flow through it. The entire planet was now phase cloaked, without the invisiblity part.

Altera - Orbit

The Dragonwing fleet's surving members continued fighting to the death. The crew of those ships knew that they would go down in history as having died while helping defending their homeworld from a technologically superior foe that outnumbered the defending forces.

OOC: I don't get it until my marines can kill what's on board and the Intelligence Agency figures out how it works. Not that easy but I'll take what I can get XD

IC
The fighter wings had moved the cloud well away from the battle and began setting up defensive positions in case a Shadow Vessel should materialize to claim it back.

The two Destroyers launched straight in at the Battlecrabs by launching several nuclear fusion missles. Heavy Neutron Cannons, Fusion Beam Cannons, and Heavy Quantum Discharge Cannons poured into the shadows. They worked their way into the SeaQuest fleet to lend aid.

Lord Rahl gazed at the battle scene that was taking place near the SeaQuest. "Level 2 firing. Inform Commander Savage to watch our tail while the ship goes offline for a moment."

Richard's Destroyer began humming with energy as the lights dimmed along the hull and inside. Power surged throughout the ship as it was funneled into one large blast from the Super Heavy Quantum Discharge Cannon.

Battlecrabs began to focus their attacks eslewhere now that the planet had gone silent. Several broke off to deal with the Kendari fleet in groups of four. Energy mines were spewed out along with intesive fire from the shadow rays as they went for larger ships that looked like they commanded the fleet.

The rest went to finish of the SeaQuest fleet using their rays from a distance. Others materializing within the ships to rake more havoc. One battlecrap went on a ramming course for the command ship. Tentacles were thrown back for an added boost but it stopped abruptly just before it could ram the ship. Waves of yellow energy from Richard's Destroyer rippled through the battlecrab as it twitched violently until it finally broke apart spewing black goo everywhere.

Altera - Orbit

The remaining ships that had composed the Dragonwing fleet buzzed about doing whatever damage they could. The fleet flagship had been destroyed before the planet activated the interphase generator. Each ship commander was operating on his or her own. A few sub-fleet commanders had the foresight to co-operate, but their wasn't much chance of them having the peace needed to plan a co-ordinated strike in the chaos of the battle. Atlantis had jumped to Third Space to see if the Octavians that called that realm home would send any ships and the Anubis cut loose with her primary beams. These primaries were shotgun style cartridges and only lasted fifteen seconds before having to be replaced, but they approached the Shadow's Death Ray in shear fire-power. Each shot with the primaries was enough to physically move the mass of the Anubis a little due to a recoil-like effect.

Altera - Surface

"Did any of the Bigs take damage?"

"No, sir. All four are unharmed in their launch silos."

"Good. And the pilots?"

"All but one are on-world. One Dominus is currently off-world on an assignment for the empire."

The Shadows were in a frenzied state at this time. There were only fifty Battlecrabs left and their fighter support wasn't enough to be of any assistance. Shadow vessels through themselves at the allies with abandon no longer caring about the damage they had taken. They only thing they now cared for was the destruction they would cause.

Richad stood from his chair as more vessels came into attack. "Fire all nuclear fusion missles." Silos all along the ships hull opened wide. A volley of missles poured out and rained down on the Shadow Vessels.

OOC: Time for the calvary. Abh, your RP of the Shadows is about to get a little taste of its own medicine. Lol.

IC: Altera - Orbit

Several SeaQuestian ships took direct hits and exploded into millions of tiny bits. The rest kept on slugging. The crew of the ships knew that if the failed today, the civilians on the surface would be fair game to the Shadows.

Altera - Surface

The strain the interphase generator was putting on the shield grid was visible. They couldn't hold on for much longer. Already, several fuse assemblies were already starting to melt down.

Space between Altera and orbit of fourth planet

Twenty Ambassadore class (http://www.b5tech.com/vorlon/vorlonships/vtransport.jpg) light cruisers phased from Hyperspace into normal space. The Vorlon's had sent a scouting party as soon as word that their ancient enemy, the Shadows, had stuck their noses out into the open once again. The Ambassadores came at full burn towards the remaining Shadow ships.

OOC: Sorry about the delayed response.
IC:
As the wounded Battlecrab spun into the Kendaryn fleet, destroyers darted out of its path. The closest Broadsword spun, bringing the enemy vessel into its forward sights, and fired a full-power Tor Ganot shot at it from each of the four Type V cannons - each shot easily strong enough to turn bare ground into a volcano. If the thing somehow survived this attack, there should be time for one more volley before it slammed into the battleship...

Losses were increasing more rapidly as backup shield generators gave out, and the group tactics of the Shadow fighters were taking a deadly toll on the Kendaryn forces, despite fire support from larger vessels and efforts to work together.

Doomweaver, however, finally had time to deploy its drone supply. The Dart heavy combat drones were a recent addition to the Kendaryn arsenal, and this would be their first test in actual combat. Doomweaver carried all of them that had been produced when the fleet departed - close to 45,000. About half the size of a small fighter craft, Darts are even faster, and far more agile. They consist of a small control computer, a propulsion system, a small shield generator (capable of holding up for a few seconds against most point defences), and a large power supply. If shot down, damage to the power supply would cause the release of its energy in a concentrated, directed blast, often more than enough to destroy the gun that shot it. When reaching the target, the drones would simply ram into it at full speed, releasing their remaining power in a narrow, forward-directed explosion. Given sufficient time and no point defences, they could even land on the hull of an enemy vessel, clinging like barnacles, and fire all remaining power in a sustained blast. In tests, they had proven very effective; their performance in this battle would play a large role in determining the fate of the project.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As many of the remnants of the Shadow fleet turned their full attention to Kendaryn forces, losses continued to go up. Three of the battleships had been destroyed, and most vessels had fewer than a third of their shield generators functioning. Energy mines were easily triggered by Type I and II cannons, and few of them struck their targets, but the ray attacks were dealing heavy damage. Fortunately, the concentration of fire on the largest vessels took some of the heat off the remaining destroyers and interceptors. Doomweaver, though the most obvious target, was by far the toughest; its powerful computer and patchwork shielding gave it much higher defensive capabilities, and deadly Type V turrets were the most powerful weapon by far in the Kendaryn fleet.

OOC: There, I think that's everything. The Darts are directed by Doomweaver's computer, by the way.

OC: No problem Kendari
@SeaQuest: lol. sounds good and if you haven't seen the last Bab 5 movie-Call To Arms- the Victory Destroyers have a bit of Vorlon technology in them in the form of the Vorlon Death Ray from their capital ships.

IC:
Pieces began to fall off Battlecrabs from the drones when they got close enough to unleash blasts since they did not posses anti-fighter defenses in the conventional sense. Their idea of a point defense were their tentacles that would easily knock a decent size ship off its axis.

The Shadows were now beginning to lose their advantage as more and more Battlecrabs went down. Their fighter support was almost gone with the new drone attacks. Kendari cannons seared away parts of shadow ships in a single blast but unfortunatly they were still more than capable of continuing the battle.

Shadows in their ships sensed that something was amis in this area of space. As the force came closer, they realised what had emerged. With the allied force already arrayed against them, they knew that would not win but with the appearance of the Vorlons clearly taking an interest, this was not good. Shadow vessels shimmered and then disappeared from space heading back to the safety of their home.

One battlecrab remained behind though. It sent a telepathic message to the Vorlons. So you believe that you can save the lesser races? The only way to truly save them is submerse them into chaos where only the strong one will survive. Let the weak die off. *A long hiss* It's too late. It's already started and you cannot defeat us. The battlecrab shimmered and disappeared.

OOC: Abh, I recall that movie. The two Victory's, the Victory and the Excalibur, took on the Death Cloud. Only the Excalibur survived. I saw each movie the first time it aired.

IC: Altera - Surface

The planet phased back to normal as the last fuse array melted down to slag. Several leads, emmitters, and fuses would have to be replaced on a planetary scale before the shield grid could be used again.

Altera - Orbit

The Dragonwing had been devestated. Only a handful of ships had survived the battle. The Home Defense Fleet was out-of-commision and would have to be rebuilt. The debris from Altera's second moon that had been destroyed by the Shadows were starting to settle into an equitorial orbit around the planet.

Vorlons

The Vorlon ships maintained a stationary position where they had stopped after the last Shadow ship had Phased into Hyperspace. They maintained radio silence and would not communicate with any ship that hailed them. After a few minutes, all but one would peel off and returned to Hyperspace. The one that remained approaced Altera at 0.25c.

A third Victory Destroyer exited hyperspace after thing was all cleared. The fighter wing cleared around the Shadow Cloud as the destroyer latched on with its grapel. The Destroyer and planet killer were soon gone from the system.

Richard and Savage's destroyers soon moved in closer to the SeaQuest planet to see where they could lend a hand.
This is the Victory Destroyer from the Abh Empire. It seems the enemy has fled. We will stay behind and see where we can be of assistance to you.

The battle was finally won; now, it was time to figure out the price. The few reamining fighters began gathering and landing in the Pike - from the looks of it, less than a fifth of them had survived. The destroyers and interceptors had also taken heavy losses, four Broadswords were destroyed, and three damaged, one of the Halberds was heavily damaged, and even Doomweaver had lost two of its primary turrets.

The Darts had been a great success. Doomweaver gathered in the few of them that remained, then deployed a great cloud of industrial drones, which would recover what they could from the wreckage and begin repairing damaged vessels.

As the undamaged Halberd slipped off through a portal, what was left of the Kendaryn fleet began taking a gloomy inventory of who had survived, and who had paid the final price.

Altera - Orbit

A single Warlock class ship, the I.S.S. Titans, dropped to normal space. The Anubis had transmitted a message to her. The Titans was to take place of destroyed command center on the surface. The scattered remnants of the Dragonwing fleet rallied around her. Out of the entire fleet, only one out of every three ships had survived. The damaged Anubis also moved into formation with the Titans.

Altera - Surface

The use of the interphase generator had pretty much totaled the planetary shield grid. While the planet had survived, barely, their was heavy damage. Several riots had started in several areas that had lost damage. Police versions of the Viper class urban combat vehicle prowled the streets of the city streets in several urban areas.

Vorlons

The single Ambassadore came to a stop right outside the hanger of the Titans. It waited for door to open so that it could land inside.

OC: I suppose we need to decide where we are going to take this story next.

IC:
The two Destroyers waded through the debris of the battle field and finally settled into orbit over the planet.

OOC: Agreed, Abh. But I get claim to the debris from this battle. I need to get some Shadow tech for my Project Montana. Perhaps we can get one of the other nations in this RP to have one of their things attacked by Shadows next.

IC: A message was broadcast from the Titans:

All ships, we thank you for helping in the defense of our home world. As the Shadow forces have now left the area, you have now obligation to stay here. We all need to police our dead and lay them to rest.

Shuttles had been launched in the meantime to collect any organic SeaQuestian debris. The remains would be launched in special torpedo casings directly at the sun. Not even a Sarcophagus could revive something that had been exposed to the near-vacuum of space after a space battle, it would be in just too many pieces.

After the shuttles had launched the Vorlon craft made its way into the hanger of the Titans. Once it was in position, it deployed tendril like structures and rammed them into the floor. The tendrils would spread through-out the ship, transforming it.

OOC: I'm trying to Vorlon-ize the Titan. This way, I can get Vorlon tech for Project Montana.

OOC: @SeaQuest: I see that your G.F.F.A. allies are more likely to send aid than your U.E.O.O. allies. I would send ships if I could, but, as you well know, I only have the five ships equipped with the Hyperspace Window generators you gave me plus the one ship with a backwards engineered one.

OOC: I think NZ said he wouldn't mind taking them on but with his civil war with Yevon, he really has no naval force. We can always move on to beat down Za Ha D'un.

IC:
This is Lord Rahl to the SeaQuestian government. Commander Savage and his Victory Destroyer will remain behind while I return to the Abh Empire. In time there will be more ships sent to help secure your region. I bid you farewell.

Richard's Destroyer opened a jump gate and glided into hyper space leaving behind Commander Savage.

OOC: Time to do it Ferengi style, come in after the battle and sell relief supplies. *Snicker* As the 34th Rule Of Aquisition says: "War is good for business."

IC: Two D'Kora class (http://www.startrekaustralia.com/startrek/ferengi/dkora/1024x768/dkora001.jpg) marauders dropped to sublight in the Alteran system. The huge half-dome section at the rear of the hull is comprised of multiple cargo decks, as the ships were designed (in true Ferengi fashion) to ferry cargo and goods to make profit.

The lead ship broadcast a message:

This is the F.C.S. Acquisition. We were dispatched after our probes monitored a battle in this system. Is there anything you need that we could get for you? At a reasonable price of course.

OOC: @Abh: Got ya. Looks like he and I are in the same situation. All of our forces are occupied elsewhere.
@Zi: Lol, you got that right. Seems Sparta forgot he was sending in some ships. I also remember the FTL units I gave you. A backwards engineered one? Nice touch, sis.
@FC: ROFL, always after the buck. Just like a true Ferengi. I can see why you like them so much.

IC: Messages

In response to the Abh message:

Acknowledged, Lord Rahl. Without a system defense fleet and with the homeworld's shield grid disabled, this star system is currently undefended. It would be appreciated if you could help our surviving ships defend this system until we can pull enough ships out of mothballs for use as an auxilary fleet. Its a good thing we never scrapped those ships as they went out-of-date.

In response to the Ferengi Consortium message:

F.C.S. Acquisition, this is the I.S.S. Titans. How typical of the Ferengi to manage to show up just after the battle is over. But, on the negotian side, we can't offer payment to you as we don't know what you have.

The Acquisition sent another message:

This is Daimon Brex, commander of the Acquisition. While your statement shows that you have had bad past experience with Ferengi, please note, we came as fast as we could. Had we arrived earlier, we would have gladly taken part in helping to defend your planet. As to what we have in our cargo holds, we stocked according to standard disaster relief aid plans. The price is fifteen bars of gold-pressed latinum per kilogram of cargo. Of course, the price is open to negotiations. May I ask who I am talking to aboard the I.S.S. Titans?

In response to the FC message:

This is Captain Susan Ivanova, commanding officer of the Titans. Fifteen bars per kilo? Looks like we will have to haggle over this.

OC: Then we can take a break with this story for a bit and then come back and hit their homeworld if you want.

Commander Savage was already having his fighter form back up for patrols.

This is Commander Savage. This Victory Destroyer along with my fighter escort will remain behind to see that the system remains secure from foreign invaders.

In Response to the Abh message:

This is Major Jonathan Rose.My fighter squadron will also be remaining behind,and will assist you if nessecary.

Commander Savage was just about to take his leave since it had been well over twenty-four hours since he had any sleep when a communication was coming through.

"Commander, there is a call coming through from Star Forces."

Savage sighed and plopped back down into his chair with his head in his hands. "Patch it through."

What he saw wasn't exactly what he expected in the form of a young Abh commander. The screen popped up and the Abh gave the typical salute of Star Forces with two fingers up to his tiara. Savage returned the salute.

"This Captain Abriel of the first Eclipse squadron. We have been informed of the situation here and figured a nice ship like this would add some stability here."

What was an Abriel doing here? Surely the royal family could have been used elsewhere with all the fighting going on. "Yes Prince. Thank you."

The communication ended and the Eclipse took up a defensive position over the planet. Fighters poured out of the large ship and formed up with Savage's own.

"Commander, another communication coming through. This one from allied forces. They say their fighters will work besides ours."

Savage nodded. "Acknowledged. Tell them to accompany Gold Wing on long patrol runs."

Communications returned to his post and sent the message.

Messages were sent thanking everyone for their help. The offer of the Abh forces to stay behind to help keep things safe was gratefully accepted. Captain Ivanova continued to barter with the Fereing commander for the supplies, but would soon get her way as the Ferengi were a bit wary of all the big guns in the area.