NationStates Jolt Archive

Confederate Starfleet Command, Nova-Texas, Zarahemla

Admiral Leyhem did not have a big command altogether. He had but two Clouds under him, the Abject Mayhem and the Slow Torture Clouds. Sure, it sounds nice to say at a cocktail party “I’m in charge of 2,000 ships”, but when the only ships you’re really “in charge” of are no longer than thirty meters, it doesn’t really have much substance in it. Admittedly, he did have a small ground forces detachment to call his own. But to deal with the situation at hand, this would not be anywhere near enough. He knew it the second he got the news.

“Admiral! Capsule Corporation has collapsed!” – his subordinate told him, standing at attention in front of the older man. Admiral Leyhem passed his fingers through his grey-white hair and considered his options. He knew that soon enough there would be other nations rallying into the sector of space formerlly controlled by Capsule Corporation. With his resources, he would not be able to capture any other formerly-Capsule held worlds. In fact… he would be hard-pressed to hold on to the Allanean enclaves on Zarahemla, unless he immediately took action.

He decided to go for it – even though he would be going over the heads of Congress and the President. There was no time to wait for confirmation now. He’d have to wait to be rewarded – or court-martialled – later. For now, he had to act now – to protect Allanea. He sighed inwardly, remembering his days as an instructor at the Robert Edward Lee Military Academy – one of the most advanced private establishments of Greater Prussia. He remembered the words etched above the entrance: “Attempt to do your duty in all things. You can do no more. You should strive to do no less.”

But what was his duty now? To follow the law – or to jeopardize the freedom, life, and property of millions of Nova-Texans and Zara-Khristians?

* * * *

Two hours later, movement began in orbit of Zarahemla. First, five Allanean Hughie MK-II class vessels began to make their way out of the star system. On it’s very edge, the vessels sent out their messages of affirmation. This is CSS Running Wolf, entering hyperdrive in transit to Sol. This is CSS Erotic Suspension, entering hyperdrive in transit to Sol. This is CSS Virtual Zoophilia, entering hyperdrive… In the meanwhile, the powerful military commuication systems on Zarahemla beamed out an encoded tightbeam FTL transmission to the Allanean government. The transmission carried the news. The ships had carried men that would confirm it first-hand if Congress or the President needed any confirmation that couldn’t be transmitted digitally.

In the meanwhile, Leyhem took action – action that was necessary, even if thoroughly illegal. He ordered his troops to seize all Capsule Corporation posessions on Zarahemla. He didn’t have a lot of troops – but in the chaos that was the former Capsule Corporation territories, he didn’t have to have a lot of troops.to do it with, really.

Somewhere on the Capsule Corporation-Allanea border, Zarahemla, four hours later

Five Justice George Sutherland mechas moved swiftly along the highway, leaving horrible jagged footprints where their birdlike feet touched the asphalt, looking for all the world like giant steel ostriches running at eighty kilometers per hour. As some soon discovered, they were rather mean oystriches.

The name of the Capsule employee who decided to test the durability of the units’ armor with his assault rifle would not be recorded in history. What happened to him was recorded - by the on-board cameras of five mechas. The front unit spun in place, and then proceeded towards the place where the man stood, spraying ammunition wildly into the advancing grey hull. Then, he saw the beak and head of the penguinlike Dohwar operator pulling on the controls of the Sutherland, winking at him through the canopy. The manipulators of the vehicle grabbed the Capsule employee. A short scream, a horrible ripping and squelching sound – and the giant steel ostriches went on their way, leaving behind a wrecked road and a trampled, mutilated huddle of flesh that used to be a man.

Similar scenes occurred through the Zarahemla systems By the time – ten hours later - that the Allanean President received the message of Capsule Corporation’s fall, all properties within Zarahemla except those in Lunatic Retard Robot posesion where in Allanean hands. He was now faced with an existing fact.

Nobody wondered about the name of the Zarahemlan ripped apart by the Allanean mecha pilots – even though he, like Erzgerzog Ferdinand centuries before, was the first casualty of a great war.

Vice Admiral Jemalin Ullyshi recieved the message from Empryian Command as she waited for her small task force's jump drives to finish recharging. Her small task force, accompanied by 5 assault transports for the ground war between The Federal Union and the Cassiopiean Galaxy, was almost prepped and ready by the time the message was recieved. Her brain recieved the message by neural uplink attached to the back of her skull. She immediatly knew her new orders. A first wave of reinforcements, under Commodore Hideki Nastira, were changing course from the TFU border worlds and heading for the new destination. A second wave under Rear Admiral Obdurat Lentar would follow shortly after that. She made sure she understood her orders clearly: "Capture Argon IV and the systems surrounding it. If any hostile forces are met, engage with extreme prejudice. The God-Emperor's light be with you."

41 warships plus the 5 transports, under her flagship the battleship Potestatem, reset course for the Argon IV system. The small numbers of warships meant nothing to her. As an Empryian Naval Officer, she was used to always being outnumbered at least 4 to 1, if not more. Empryian Naval Supremacy came from its superior technology, and lavish amounts of StrikeFighters. An Empryian Eagle-class Heavy Cruiser with its own substantial firepower and armor, with its accompanying wings of Strike Fighters, could severly cripple or destroy at least 4 Imperial Star Destroyers before structural damage began in any significant quantities. Of course, such firepower came at a heavy price. Empryian warships were a treasure to behold: crammed with a staggering array of firepower and armor that cost hundreds upon millions, which limited the numbers the Empryian Government could create at any given time. The price of an Empryian warship would make most nation's scoff and shudder, except for those whom hold excellence and perfection at their hearts.

The 41 warships consisted of the following:
One Angel-class Battleship, (Flagship, Potestatem)
Two Beckoning-class Light Battleships (Ravenor, Star Traveller)
Four Catalyst-class Heavy Carriers (Clarion's Trumpet, Bringer of War, Five Horsemen, Dependale Messenger)
Six Disturbance-class Assault Carriers (Riot Starter, Gauntlet Runner, Seige Breaker, Blockade Runner, Prospects of Gain, One Thousand Swords)
Six Eagle-class Heavy Cruisers (Suggestions in the Night, Nights of Autumn, Pillar of Night, Nightlight Sonata, Shadows in the Night, Night's Justice)
Four Apex-class Heavy Cruisers (Abominable, Ace, Archer, Armor)
Six Chivalry-class Light Cruisers (Knight Errant, Sword and Shield, Banner Bearer, Lady of the Lake, Trials of the Quest, Death before Dishonor)
Three Wanderer-class Scout Cruisers (Trail Blazer, The Road Not Taken, The Final Frontier)
Five Adamant-class Destroyers (Tune and Order, Honor Above All, Unbendable, Fortress of Steel, The Great Wall)
Four Protector-class Destroyers (Energize, Enterprise, Eternity's Gate, Emerald Light)

And the 41 warships and 5 transports opened their respective wormholes and warped to the Argon IV system, where what awaited would be prizes and riches for the glory of the Monarchy.

-=Near Orikai - Barclay System - A.N.S.S. Kelt Elissa Class Battleship

"Damnable Barclay," growled Admiral Colombe Absalom. Every day that his fleet was on civil patrol duty to menace those insurgents on Lebowa-Izenu was another day wasted, gauling him to no end.

"Incoming orders," intoned the massive vessel's digisent Artemis.

"Fleet on station," responded Colombe.

"Capsule Corporation has appeared to have collapsed and its assets are now up for grabs. Rear Third's Elissa Scion has been tasked with capturing and holding Noah PR 103. If necessary, used armed force, but otherwise try to negotiate. If hostile forces are too great in number, your secondary objective will be to take as much Capsule Corporation technology as possible and immediately move back to Arizonan territories. Your force is also being granted one Seige Stargate vessel; use it only in the case that you cannot hyperjump out of the system in the normal fashion."

"Understood. Operations will commence within the hour. You do realize that we have little ground power at the moment?"

"Reinforcements will be sent later if the operation proves successful; for now just secure local space."

"Excellent. Please pass along the instructions to the rest of the Elissa Scion, Artemis."

"Already done sir."

Forces Allocated:

One Elissa (http://anikari.zioncreation.com/elissa.htm) Class Super Battleship
Ten Neodämmerung (http://anikari.zioncreation.com/Neodammerung.htm) Class Battleships (50% Ground Forces ready)
Twenty Arrow (http://anikari.zioncreation.com/arrow.htm) Class Cruisers
Twenty-Five Vanguard (http://anikari.zioncreation.com/Vanguard.htm) Class Cruisers
Five Golem (http://anikari.zioncreation.com/golem.htm) Class Carriers
Five Jormungand (http://anikari.zioncreation.com/jormun.htm) Class Battlecarriers
Thirty-Five Stahldolch (http://anikari.zioncreation.com/stahl.htm) Class Destroyers

[OOC: Tag.]

oOc: tAg

What had happened that day in the Argon IV system would only be understood, later, as a great misfortune. The relatively small Allanean back-up force had only short-range FTL systems – only capable of jumping for about 5,000 ly without refueling. This was mostly due to the nature of Allanean craft – small, even miniature refits of the fabled Hughey Mk II. To resolve this problem, the Cloud – a full thousand of Hugheys – deployed by order of Congress to Argon IV – was accompanied by ten automated ships, former Jormungand drone carriers refitted as fuel tankers. At Argon IV, they were scheduled to stop and refuel before proceeding to Zarahemla.

They didn’t know they were wading straight into a fight.

Argon IV, outer system orbit

“‘Erotic Suspension’, do you read me, over?”

The pink, elongated ship, in which one would be hard-pressed to recognize a product of Arizonan industry, broke out of hyperdrive, bristling with dozens of decorative hooks like the ones used in obscure body modification disciplines. Four turrets with ship-to-ship missiles protruded from between the hooks.

“’Takilan Soccer Fan’, I read you loud and clear, just out of warp, over.’

The former Hughey that broadcasted the original message was a command-configuration ship, the main turret replaced by broadcast and phased-array sensor domes. The fact those domes were repainted as gigantic soccer balls gave that ship it’s name.

And so it went. The Allanean navy resembled most closely a rag-tag pirate fleet, a thousand of small, thirty-meter ships, each unique in it’s own way. The Allaneans encouraged the crews to modify and alter their ships on the assumption personalized was better. The Arizonans who invented the original Hughey Mk II (http://anikari.zioncreation.com/hughm2.htm) were always kind of surprised when they saw what the Allaneans did with it. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v42/allanea/happycow.jpg)

“’Takilan Soccer Fan\, this is ‘Wesley Crusher’, enemy in sight, I repeat, enemy in sight, over”

If the Empyrians were to inspect their skies through visual sensors, they would see a horrendously ugly, Barbie-pink-colored vessel break formation with the Cloud and begin to approach them. From it’s pink hull, two nacelles protruded.

“’Wesley’, this is ‘Takilan Soccer’, please provide detailed VSR, over.”

And the world fell silent and calm.

This was going to be one hell of a storm.

Defense Tower, Centennial Plaza
Caprica City, Northrop-Grumman, Earth

General William Harris focused on the calendar on the far side of the room. Retirement. Only a year away. It was something that the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force Space Command was looking forward to, mostly because he would be able to spend more time with his five grandchildren. Although he knew he would certainly miss this job but didn’t really like the paperwork that came along with it. Who would?

He pondered how he should finish off the last year of his career. Certainly not sitting at this desk getting out of shape. He longed to be back out in command of a starship but no military action had been needed since the end of the civil war. He sighed and leaned back in his chair then the telephone rang.

“General Harris speaking.”

“General, I need your expertise for a mission once again.”

Harris instantly recognized the always irritated voice as the Chairman’s wife or as everyone called her “Mrs. Chairwoman” for a lack of a better title. “Yes, ma’am, what would you like me to do for you?”

“As you may or may not know, the Capsule Corporation has recently collapsed. I have taken an interest in their technology and holdings so I want you to command the Second and Third Carrier Battle Fleets and take control of Optera IV. Use whatever force you deem necessary, but overall I want that planet.”

“Very well. I shall leave immediately.”

“Excellent, I have already called ahead and the Second Fleet has already been sent through the orbital stargate to the Criun System where it waits with the other fleet. Good luck.” The phone immediately cut off. Harris looked at the receiver and shook his head. He hated people that ended a phone conversation like that. He sighed again, picked up his coat, and headed down to the stargate for the quick trip to P3X-719. There the combined fleets would be departing within the hour.


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

Combined Second and Third Carrier Battle Fleets
OOC: I'll write them in later.

Leader.COMM> Well. Capsule Corp gone. Pity... but how does it affect us?
fido.COMM> Well... lemme say a few things. Ungoverned planets. Easily cowed population. Major industrial base.
Skree.COMM> Other people're gonna try and grab the thing, you can bet on it.
Leader.COMM> We'll just have to beat them to it, shall we?

******

Enter the vanguard of the fleet:

AugShip Bowling Ball
AugShip FedNuke - We Deliver Anywhere
AugShip Artful Persuasion Through The Use Of Pointy Objects
AugShip Stop With The Goddamn Smart-Ass Names Already I'm Sick Of Having My Targeting Display Overflow and it Gives Me A Headache if I Use DNI Input Instead

A carrier, two destroyers, a cruiser.

Deployed in orbit around Helios IV.

-snip-

When Jemalin and her task force arrived in Argon IV, she was expecting a defense of some sort. The sight of a thousand thiry-meter ships did kind of surprise her, especially with no major capital ships in sight. The Postestam, breaking 5.75 kilometers, would definately destroy enough of them. However, Empryian Naval Technology only limited her battleship to a certain amount of Assault Missile launchers and Rapid-Fire Railguns in the hull. Many of the other battleline warships in her fleet, except for the Apex-class Heavy Cruisers, severely lacked the necessary anti-Strikefighters weapons to deal with such a horde of enemy small craft. Even the Apex's only had a moderate amount of anti-fighter weaponry. But Jemalin had another weapon up her sleeve, another weapon more powerful against the fighter sized craft than the Apexs. Strikefighters.

She had Four Catalyst-Heavy Carriers and six Disturbance-Assault Carriers. The Heavy Carriers carried 200 StrikeFighters and 50 StrikeBombers, while the Assault Carriers, which sacrificed hangar space for armor and more anti-missile/fighter weaponry, carried only 70 Strikefighters and 30 StrikeBombers. The StrikeBombers would be of no use in such a fight, so it would be down to the 1220 StrikeFighters to deal with these oncoming threats. She had no need to maintain any for Combat Air Patrol in case everyone of them died. Each battleline warship carried a small to moderate compliment of StrikeFighters aboard. Expensive, powerful Technology, and lots of Strikefighters were the mainstay of the Empryian Navy.

And so was Honor and Chivalry. She had no doubt that her StrikeFighters would eventually overwhelm and destroy the enemy, especially with the help of the battleline warships. So, she would do the right thing, and not begin the unnecessary deaths of such pilots.

"Honorable Pilots of Allanea," she started, sending out this message on all wavelengths, "Power down all of your warships, except for life-support, and surrender your vessels. Let us not begin unnesscesary slaughter. I repeat, all Allanean warships, power down and surrender your vessels. You will not be mistreated if you comply. Failure to comply will result in your destruction."

She waited and watched. In two hours Commodore Nastira's task force of 53 warships would also arrive, adding that much for firepower to her fleet. Time was with her. She could always wait and just annihilate them if need be. She hoped it would not come to that. Wasting Empryian lives was so distasteful.

If Jemalin had actually taken time to research on the Allaneans – which she couldn’t have, granted she was seeing them for the first time – she would have discovered a lot of interesting stuff about their culture. She would have discovered their civilization included sentient penguinoids and mutant (but equally sentient) killer whales. She would have found out that public nudity was legal. But most importantly, she would have found out that threatening an Allanean with overt brute force would be most likely to accomplish just the reverse of whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish, in the first place. And this would especially hold true if you’re trying to get them to surrender. That’s not very easy with Allaneans even if you’re not threatening brute force.

Suddenly, and without any reply whatsoever, the Allanean ships began to unfold in a formation – or rather, lack of it – that took them far, far, far away from each other… a huge ball growing ever distant from it’s center. That center was the Empyrian armada. And the ball kept growing, the ships growing more and more distant from the Empyrians. Perhaps, for a few seconds, it would even seem that the Allaneans were fleeing.

Then, the motion stopped – as far as you can stop something in space. And then, several of the vessels moved ever so slightly against the eternal night sky of space – or the eternal day of space, be it as it may. Several nuclear Buster missiles were fired, moving inexorably closer to the Empyrian fleet – and detonating in a brilliant shower of lights before they were even close to hitting anything.

Naturally, in space, a nuclear missile does not do you much harm unless it hits your across the head. There’s no atmosphere to carry the shockwave. But it does have other interesting functions – like doing merry thing to your sensors. Think of it like looking at a signal flare from hell. Of course, if you brace your ship to it, you can protect some of the sensors – and it’s easier when your target is a 5.2 kilometer ship and you’re sitting in a thirty-meter blob of metal.

The globe began to shrink, collapsing upon itself, with the Postestam as it’s inevitable center. The commander of the Cloud was laughing maniacally as it happened, watching on the screens of his spacecraft as, to his left, a Shiva-modded craft (with ifour long anti-capital missiles as it’s only armament) launched it’s entire payload.

Each of the Allanean craft had it’s own weapon – particle-beams, space torpedoes running the entire length of the craft, smart anti-matter-warhead missiles, you name it, someone would have it – and it was all focused on one target.

Further, in a moment of desperation, someone has triggered another weapon – two of the former-carriers-now-fuel-tankers were now speeding towards the capital ship on the full power of their engines. With this kind of acceleration, even if they blew up the bits would be quite fast – and hopefully damaging.

-=Third Fleet; Elissa Scion, Middle Orbit of Noah PR 103

Night had fallen on the former Capsule Corporation holdings on Noah PR 103. Chaos had broken out on the planet in the wake of the collapse; some had advised holding fast, others at making a power grab. They had expected that a force from outside would descend on the planet, but not so soon. The Third Fleet's Elissa Scion descended on the world without warning, sending out a simple message: with the exodus of Capsule Corporation authority, Arizonan forces had been sent to restore order to the area. No civil liberties would be infringed upon, and in fact the denizens would be granted Arizonan citizenship, but armed resistance would be interpreted as an act of war from an independent state. There was nothing to fear - they came in the capacity of an allied state restoring the old authority, not as conquerors. The message was, of course, sent as the first wave 101st Assault Corp began its firey descent to the world. The armored titans left brilliant tracks of light across the sky as they slammed into clear zones outside the colonies; Otagian armor, Arizonan soldiers, former CC possessions. Of course armed resistance cropped up - but without any real military presence, it had little chance against the professional military, especially it's elite echelons. Those who chose to stay out of the way watched as barricades and rushed fortifications were overthrown, first by the 101st, then by the succeeding waves of reinforcements - battlemechs, hovertanks, and power armor corps, aided by surgical air strikes and fire support from the orbiting fleet. By morning, the remaining partisans had surrendered and been given, in exchange, their lives. The rest were welcomed into the fold as Arizonan citizens. The assault hardware packed up and went back up, while temporary defensive installations dug in. The Arizonan banner now covered Noah PR 103.

OOC: Bumped for glory.

Chaos. Anarchy. Civil war had broken out in Xenon III, not much unlike the other systems controlled by the now defunct Corporation. Whatever defenses had been in the system, they were now being used as offensive weaponry to take out whatever anyone opposed to them could muster. Orbital defense platforms brought death onto the surface. It was as though the whole system had been engulfed by bloodlust.

Death cults and the like had begun to spring up like mushrooms in the rain amongst the civilian populace. Sanity was indeed a rare commodity for those who had no way of defending themselves from the raiders or from the constant skirmishes taking place all over between the warring factions. No one cared if they shot a bystander or three by accident when they fought for supremacy. Not many cities stood untouched - only the most remote ones had survived.

No one knew what pure insanity could accomplish. While everything was at war, no one cared for what was being done by a precious few. If it wasn't for these death cultists turning to the darker forces for protection or whatever they wanted, Ermor would have never found its way to this dim speck in the night sky. Of course those cultists did not know what they had done. They had just tried one thing after another in an attempt to get in contact with something from the beyond.

They had created a beacon within the Underworld.

After several weeks of the fact, nothing had changed - the battles had only become harsher, the raiders more demanding. Several sides had grown stronger, but almost equal they still were, whilst others had diminished and faded away, some new ones had sprouted up and began fighting, but for the common people, the situation had not changed at all. War was being waged on the streets of unprotected, unclaimed, badly damaged cities, and they could not do anything about it.

But then, quite suddenly...

A chilling darkness came upon the entirety of the planet, sunlight could not penetrate it. Artificial lights were rendered almost useless, even the strongest lighting could only shed light for a few meters. Temperatures dropped dramatically. Only hours after the fact, unsheltered people began to perish. And that was counted in the millions - the battles had left most cities, towns and villages in ruin.

As though that was not enough, soon after the darkness had come upon the land, a new, horribly effective fighting force, indiscriminate in its killing, had come upon the planet. And above it. In fact, it was everywhere in the whole star system.

Contact to the orbital defenses and practically everything else not on the planet was lost faster than thought possible, either because of strong interference or because of immensely swift and decisive military action. Which was true, no one planet-side would know - attempting to leave the planet would've been suicide anyway.

On the planet, the exhausted would-be-conquerors could not stop the advance of the pitch black troopers of this new enemy. It was as though whenever their numbers diminished, the numbers of the enemy seemed to grow, as though their own weapons had turned against them. Whenever they abandoned a defensive post, even more came. They had no time to rid the battlefields of their dead comrades. No one knew what had happened to them.

There were rumors that the enemy forces did not show on infrared. Or anything else they had for picking up lifesigns. Rumors of combatants seeing lost comrades marching alongside the emotionless enemy were rampant. The enemies did not seem to stay dead, no matter how many times they had been shot they continued to fight on, save complete evaporation. Although, due to the extreme cold, darkness and constant warfare that had taken place for quite some time, anything planet-side was unreliable, especially the run-down minds of men.

Not to mention that the enemy seemed to act like any conventional army - it did not just come at them mindlessly. It acted with caution. It did not just march into their glaring ambushes or defensive lines, but went around them or pinned them down with heavy fire from longer distance than they could've hoped. The low visibility did not seem to bother them as much as the locals. More often than not the enemy had seen them kilometers before they had been able to see the enemy, but that could be rationalized with the enemy having control of the orbit and of all the satellites in it. Of course they could see everything.

But one thing was certain - there was no escape from the dark.

He watched the planet fall into the hands of the Empire from one of the orbital platforms, cackling with glee. It was a great day for the undead - a system taken by surprise, and with haste never quite seen before. With quantity never seen before. For the first time had the Ashen Empire brought forth millions upon millions of their elite legions into the fray at once. They were everything he had dreamed of and more.

For the first time in many millennia, Etimmu, the only truly Ermorian Wraith Lord ever to walk upon this realm of existence, was pleased. Indeed, had their hard work to bring the legions to levels that matched current technologies been successful.

"Lord," uttered a Spectator, a spectral mage who had been one of the numerous Thaumaturgs before the Fall, behind Etimmu, whilst slowly hovering closer to him.

"What?" replied Etimmu and turned, expectantly. "What is it?"

"The last remnants have been beaten. No one is alive upon the planet below us. We are now in control."

"Good. No one can stop us now. We can proceed to desecrate the other planets... And the sun itself," Etimmu turned back to gaze at the planet. Then he turned back towards the Spectator. "The legions shall leave immediately. We may need them elsewhere. As we usually do, the soulless shall be left to wander, as well as the longdead. And these orbital yards shall be taken to a safer place... The other star system we control."

Etimmu turned back again to watch the planet.

The Spectator nodded and said, "It shall be done."

Etimmu turned again.

"You can go now."

The Spectator nodded again and disappeared into the darkness, leaving Etimmu alone, who once again resumed watching the planet. Their planet, as it were.

Indeed, it had been a good day for the undead.

Somewhere in the Allanean Headquarters at Zarahemla

“Admiral, I believe we have good news for you so far.”

“Yeeees?” - the Admiral paused cautiously, waiting for the reply to stun him altogether – with these young men, 'good news' could well be 'The enemy is arriving by the thousand, we're going to have a glorious fight!”. Or on the other hand it could be something minor by the extreme, such as “A Hughey Mk II has come in as reinforcement, Sir, waiting for you at Dock Three!” In this case, however, it seemed that the young men were bringing something really -

“Marvellous, Sir! The fighting has died down, and most of the CapsuleWorlds are left unseized, Sir! It seems Ermor is here, and they seized some planet or another, but only one. Also, the Arizonans have also seized a world, so we have allies on our side if something goes sour.”

The Admiral nodded. It was marvellous indeed. But he was not sure if he was getting all the implications. He smiled to the young adjutants, and tapped away at the datapad. Yes. He was right. Several planets remained unconquered – several systems in fact. Now, just to wait for the young people to suggest this oh-so-obvious idea. Blame them later if it doesn't work out, be rewarded as the Hero of the Capsule Wars if it does...

“Admiral, I and my friend Michaelson here, we believe that we are standing in the face of a marvellous opportunity here, which it would be wrong – very wrong, Admiral – to pass up in the face of this renewed calm.”

For a few seconds, they paused. The admiral looked at them from underneeth a pair of angry, grayed eyebrow, his grey-green eyes piercing like steel. He played with a pen for a second or two, then asked: “So, lads, what is this marvellous new opportunity you are all talking about with all this vigour and fervor and whatnot? Lemme guess... You want us to just go out there and go seize a planet when nobody else is looking, is that approximately right, lads?”

They blinked, looking at him in a form of mild suprise. But of course I knew what you were thinking of, lads. I'm the Admiral for a reason. He was still playing nonchalantly with his pen, looking at them with a smile. “And let me guess, lads... that planet is Eve, now isn't it?”

One of the adjutants dropped his datapad in shock

* * * *

USS Body Modification, hearing you loud and clear, exiting hyperspace in transit to Eve. USS Skunk-Grower, do you read me, over?

USS Skunk-Grower, I hear you nice and shiny, exiting hyperspace in orbit of Eve, weapons ready to lock, load, rock, and roll, over.

More and more ships, small, multicolored, bristling with weapons, broke out of hyperspace and entered realspace around the former Capsule colony of Eve. The defenses were never very strong, and now, with the Corporation in rubble, they were nearly nonexistent. There was nothing to withstand – much less, slow down – the advance of Allanean firepower.

click

Welcome. You have entered the Helios IV system. Unfortunately, the system is currently being consolidated by the Augmented. Buisness should return to normal in a few weeks. In the meantime, go away and have a nice day somewhere else.

click

******

Within days, Helios IV was swarming with ships. Most of them were tiny robotic drones, scouting and mapping the planets and belts insystem. A few bored and equally robotic escort carriers cruised behind their drone swarms, computerized systems barely ticking over.

In the inner Belt, the two-kilometer Augmented factory ship Citybuilder ground along its slow path, devouring entire asteroids and spitting out missile racks in its wake. Within a week, the system would be virtually impregnable... in theory.

Most of the activity was robotic. If one paid any actual attention to in-system chatter, one could discern that of the hundreds of Augmented ships in the system, only six had real, living Augmented pilots.

If anyone paid a little more attention, they could discern that each of those six ships had only one living occupant, and one of them was the factory ship. The other five were assembled at the edge of the system, preparing to leave.

One by one, they each left for their own destinations.

******

click

Welcome. You have entered the Lehi - PV-112 system. Unfortunately, the system is currently being consolidated by the Augmented. Buisness should return to normal in a few weeks. In the meantime, go away and have a nice day somewhere else.

click

******

click

Welcome. You have entered the Enoch - PV-782 system. Unfortunately, the system is currently being consolidated by the Augmented. Buisness should return to normal in a few weeks. In the meantime, go away and have a nice day somewhere else.

click

******

click

Welcome. You have entered the Capsule - PN-181 system. Unfortunately, the system is currently being consolidated by the Augmented. Buisness should return to normal in a few weeks. In the meantime, go away and have a nice day somewhere else.

click

******

click

Welcome. You have entered the Samuel - PS-247 system. Unfortunately, the system is currently being consolidated by the Augmented. Buisness should return to normal in a few weeks. In the meantime, go away and have a nice day somewhere else.

click

******

click

Welcome. You have entered the RC-104 system. Unfortunately, the system is currently being consolidated by the Augmented. Buisness should return to normal in a few weeks, athough we aren't sure what you're up to messing around in a destroyed system anyway. In the meantime, go away and have a nice day somewhere else.

click

Adul read the message from the Helios system. He grunted. He turned to his sensor nodes. They read thousands of contacts. Full Plasma Bombardment. Came the order from the Admiral. Adul's ship would fire thousands of interceptors, small unmanned ships, capable of destroying a ship many times larger than it. A Carrier class ship only needed one man, for everything was done psychically. Unfortuneately, there weren't many Templars that survived the Zerg's attacks. All of them were put into Carriers. Every Carrier in the G&E fleet was in this battle. The total forces were:

3 Super Carriers
10 Dreadnoughts
30 Carriers
60 BattleCruisers
80 Slip Space Cruisers
100 Arbiters
200 Wraiths
200 Longswords
200 Corsairs
200 Scouts
200 Valkeries

All at once, 1283 ships launched into Warp Space. A huge energy backlash left everything within one light-year vaporized.

A huge crack ripped open space about three light years from Helios IV. The Carriers arrive and make another jump. Each ship group arrives, and jumps. After all of the ships had jumped at the Helios IV system, a large battle station followed. This battlestation was 10 kilometers wide, 15 kilometers tall, and boasted thousands of weapons. It took three days to jump to this spot. Now, the drones in Helios IV have three hours. You have been warned.

A bored drone vanquished the long list of numbers with some elementary division and subtraction.

ignore

Ass. Oh, by the way, 1,100 of those ships are fighters. Just wanted you to know. Ass.

OOC: Bump