NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: There will be two 'native' sides to this civil war - the rebellion, and the imps. The sides to this war are far above the troops, and this is a troop side war - the command elements are so far rmeoved as to be off world - I plan to open up an OOC and political reasoning thread about WHY it's happening. That won't stop the war, it'll just give background. Anyway. Without further ado...

IC:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/Aescapulius/OrbitalInsertion.jpg

"All units, insertion is go. Repeat; insertion is go. Good luck. Ozymandias out." Came the order, pilots snapping to attention, hands reflexively gripping their Hades' controls tighter. They'd awaited this order for hours, whilst the battleships overhead fought with mammoth guns and huge swarms of missiles, energy, kinetic, and gravimetric weaponry erupted like miniature suns. Everyone aboard silently waited, the long range railguns having blasted the planet-side defenses from orbit long ago. Waiting for the right moment to carry out their orders.

With all eyes looking for the huge and destructive battle overhead, noone noticed the quartet of massive dropships idling along in low orbit, engines off, occasionally correcting their silent and ponderous course.

And with that command, the ships came back alive, correcting their orientation to the planet and getting entry speed from the long nacelles that slid back in position to run adjacent to the heavy dropship's hull, the four craft's position in relation to one another as random as that of the space wreckage that fell towards the atmosphere, fiery pinpoints of light far below.

They would soon join them in the fury.

~~~

The planetary command station was tagging falling debris as fast as its huge processing matrix allowed, but even with the virtually inexhaustive power of the AI sorting it all, there was simply too much debris to be sure. They'd only know once the ships came. The main planetary defense batteries - the ones engineered to blast heavy capital ships from high orbit - had been obliterated by high velocity rail-cannon from the moon's proximity. That meant at least one battlecruiser lay in wait for their forces, as small as they were.

For Alexander Geoffords, and those like them, this was the price they paid for their insurrection. If the ships in orbit did not prevail, the soon to arrive troops would hunt down, and execute or imprison them all.

The sky beyond the mountain range glittered with the lines of thousands of silvery bright falling stars. The city below the night sky was dark, save for a few obstinately stupid people, marching the streets, proclaiming they'd stop the invaders by force of numbers.

"Activate city defense platforms, tag and destroy any debris with a projected path within two hundred kilometres of the city limits." Hopefully they'd get lucky, and they'd catch a few of the bastards before they made planetfall.

Huge, five hundred metre long weapons platforms - anti-air, anti-entry, and missile defense weapons, blazed to life, brilliant violet beams clawing towards the silvery flames above, the AI notifying a direct hit and listing them as needed.

This would be a long night.

OOC: Is this open, if so 'd like to join as it looks good. You've got a nice style. So how can I join?

OCC: irrelavent post. Will include IC post soon.

OOC: Pretty sure this is the OOC signup http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=462068 -glorified tag-

Nili is correct. OOC thread is http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=462068

Cheers everybody, let's have fun.

Over the seafarms, a resonating boom shook the armour ceramal stations that dotted the Hammer Whelk pens, the men aboard the stations looking about in confusion, staring at the hundred metre high fiery blossom in the night sky...

Seconds later the communication systems along the seafarms vaporised, as well as the farm connections - kilometre long bridges of ceramal and steel, blasted to bits, to prevent any type of rallying. Kind of redundant, the Seafarms had no way of protecting themselves if the dropships so decided to drop munitions.

But they did not, simply leaving the injured and dead to themselves, continuing their low and fast traverse of the shore lines. Soter city was a seaside affair - nestled into a massive bay, the city had anti-air sites dotting the water, the shores, even the mountains that lay a couple hundred kilometres beyond. And the defense platforms would reduce any flying target to a greasy fireball in nanoseconds. The AI was ever vigilant.

So they'd trek overland, the myriad tanks, heavy trek vehicles, and infantry would descend on key installations via the streets, and take out what they could. Power would be a problem, as the eighteen fusion reactors were buried a good half kilometre under the ground, circling the city, even out to sea.

This would be an interesting night.

The space is silent. Empty. A enternal void in which takes years to cross, empty but for a few remote stars, there light lighting up the infinate dark. You could watch this one patch of space for a thousand years and nothing would change. Once or twice a gas partical might drift across your vision but that would be it.

But in this part of space, a few billion miles away from a small system of planets something is cursing through the void. To be more accurate several things are. From this ditence it is hard to tell what the small white blobs that appear so far away are, but as they draw closer it is odvious what they are.

Ships.

Hundreds of them.

Huge white beamoths cruising through space, the approximate size of a large city, the shape of a aincent fighter plane. The arcutects have done there jobs well and the smooth white lines hide the missile launchers and gunports. The fighter bays are hidden by massive steel doors, hundreds of meters high, that are lifted by immence hydrulics in the blink of an eye.

There are 120 ships in the 6th Expladitionary fleet, of that 120 20 are battleships, the second largest ships in the fleet, miles long and bristling with weapons, one is a capital ship, the largest in the fleet. Twice the size of the others it dewarfs everything with it bulk. The rest of the sips are no more than destroyers and carriers, atking almost 1 million colonists to new worlds.

As the great capital ship draws closer you can see it's name emblazioned in gold on it's right flank in 300 meter high letters. The HMS Palpatine, named after the Emporers long dead brother. As it draws even closer you might be able to see the bridge, 12 stoies high covered in a seethrough material. Small figures are running about all over the bridge, the youngest being younger than my own son, 12, the oldest being as old as my grandfarther.

And who am I? I am Lord High Front Admiral Sir Prince James Rikard MAB CAE JAE, Duke of Tanka, Lord of the Western Plain, Commander of His Most Imperial Majestys Fleet. I have more titals but those are in Important ones. I am the Commander of 1 million souls adrift in the darkness of space, searching for new coloneys to add to the Empire.

So far I have found 2 new systems suitable for addition to His Most Glorious Majestys realm. One I have named after myself, the other after my Wife, I have been granted the cammand of both systems. For the Emporer is my cousain and he is generious.

Ahead long range sensors have found another system, it is not ahuge system, very much like Solarus Terrius, our home Syetem. Sensor scans alos pick up some kind of battle going on round the third plnet, a civil war maybe? We don't know but there is only one way to find out, to kep travelling straight towards them unil we are within hailing range. I turn to the Captain in charge of the fleets communciations.

"Captain."

"Sire?"

"Full steam ahead."

The Black Wind, a massive ship, nearly seven kilometers long, impressive even among capital ships. Not only that, but it was still armed with the most advanced weaponry the Triumvirate had to offer. It was quite a steal indeed for the Sons of Darius, a political group which formed only days after the death of the late emperor. With the rest of the Empire on their tail it was only a matter of time before their tactical retreat would take them into contact with other powers. They were finally half way across the galaxy when this finally happened...

"Emperor Azariel..." One of the navigators spoke over to him in a pleasant voice. She too was one of Darius' children, though nowhere near as old as he, "I am detecting numerous ships on the monitor."

"Is it the Triumvirate?!" He shouted back at her as he flicked a switch at his side, causing a replica of the monitor she was looking at to appear in front of him, "...Who are they? Do we have any information on them?"

"Not really sir, they're not on the ship's database. Should we hail them?"

"Not necessary. They're moving away from us towards that star system."

"That system is uncharted as well. We're detecting some type of battle around the third planet. What are your orders?"

"Well I suppose we should investigate into this activity further. It is my duty as future emperor to do this type of thing, correct?" Azariel voiced over to the woman, in a voice that was not entirely serious for once, "In anycase it is almost necessary that we go there."

"Sir?"

"I haven't told the other ships, but we've actually lost far more supplies during our escape than I let on. At this rate we have at least... One or two weeks left. We can't afford to send any more of the crew into forced hibernation. So lets move in and find out what we can before we draw any suspicion. Drop out of stealth mode and have the other three ships follow suit."

"Yes, sir!"

~~~~~~

Almost miraculously the massive four ships seemed to phase into the surrounding enviornment, as well as on most types of radar. Though the largest among these was the Black Wind at a length of 7 kilometers, the other three were no less massive, at nearly 3 kilometers each. Moving in formation with the main capital ship surrounding on four sides, the Sons of Darius made their way cautiously forward, ignoring the other ships for the time being as they began their own approach to the star system.

Admiral Graves stood on the perfectly spherical bridge of the Imperium's ship of the line, the Gilgamesh. A monstrously long battlecruiser, armed and bristling with more weaponry - laser, munition, or otherwise - in the fleet. He peered out over the full immersion bridge display, rendering perfectly the void about them, the bright blue gem of Soter hung below them, and the immense red eye floating adjacent was the flurospar streaked moon of Soter - Horus.

It was like sitting at the throne of power, looking over one quarter of his kingdom.

But of course, to the loyal sons of the Imperium, he was still Admiral Graves, by fact of the matter, his family was fifteenth in line to the throne.
He would not see it anytime soon.

Or so everyone else thought.

"Report on the troopships." His voice boomed out. He could ask the AI to report, but he liked lording over his men.

One of the men on communications spun and looked up at the command chair.

"Sir! As far as we can tell, the ships have safely begun their -"

And then...

"Contacts! Sir - I'm picking up huge ship signatures - Engine streams and vectors as follows!"

Admiral - Detecting energy emissions, various sublight drives, and vectoring for Soter. - Sir, I regret to inform you that Lord and Lady Nergal have been killed upholding the Imperium laws. Marking their deaths, and that of their valiant crews. Orders?

"Damn. What is the status of the orbital emplacements?"

Fully operational, and the Planet AI is subverting my targeting locks. I cannot gain a better lock, and the other ships are sustaining heavy losses.

Suddenly a full hemisphere of the bridge faded out, to be replaced with casualities, sensor logs, and magnifications.

The two fleets - they are different - one has four large ships, easily 7 times the Gilgamesh's bulk or more. The capital ships of the line in either fleet are much larger than ours. Their fleets may easily outclass us.

"Tell the fleet to back out of the Orbital Defense Platform's offensive range. Form back on the Darwin and the Gilgamesh. Lock and load for offensive, and send the hailing signal. They're not ours, but they don't look friendly. Soter is ours!"

~~~

Below, the troopships had ripped out a clearing, and disgorged their deadly payload. The first two carried two hundred Imperial Marines, cald in power armour and carrying gauss cannons. The second disgorged two ATAVs, and four high speed jeeps. It would soon begin.

~~~

Ships are retreating, Alexander. Your orders?

"... Elaborate."

Nothing in planetary orbit, they are retreating beyond Horus. Debris field is collapsing - I'm expecting a lot more debris showers over the next few days.

"This is odd, why would they stop pressuring our flank - they've managed to take out the planetside heavy weapons, and the orbital weapons are barely holding on." He peered once again over the city, a look of consternation on his thin face.

"It's some kind of trap. Press the advantage, fortify the city, and the bay, and try and get some communication out to the sea-farms - tell them to keep low... This could be very bad."

Commands barked out across the HMS Palpatines bridge. "There falling back sire!" A midshipman barked, his young voice having a suprising amount of athority, "We can't get within hailing range." He was excited at the prospect of combat for the first time.

"Shall we launch fighters sire?" the 6th luteant asked,

"No, we want to appear freindly!" Replyed Lord High Front Admiral Sir Prince James Rikard, "Keep going forward until we can contact the planet at least. Have weapons ready to fire incase they don't think the same about us."

"Sire." The Lutenant replyed, busying himself to his task. James looked up at the planet that sat in space ahead of them. At the moent it was little bigger than a Large egg, he knew within minuates it would fill the screen. even from here he could see the flashes of light of weapons and ships sublight engines. He knew that one of the fleet,s the attacking fleet, was withdrawing round the small moon that orbited the planet.

He turned his gaze to the empty peice of space to the left of the planet, taking in the millions of stars that carpited the nights sky. Unmoving, majestic....excapt 4 of the where moving...

"Tompson?" He summoned the ships leading Astrophysist to his side. "Have you ever seen anything like that before?" The old man squited towards the stars at which Rikard pointed.

"Thats impossable....unless..."

"WE HAVE CONACT SIRE! SHIPS TO OUT STARBOARD SIDE!" The midshipman screamed in excitment. James turned to look at the senor readings, the where the ships he had seen just moemnts before. 4 of them, large and pwoerful looks, and heading in the same direction they where.

The midshipman was almost wetting himself with excitement now so James ordered a guiard to escort the young officer to his quaters, then he truned his gaze back to the viewscreen. "Hail them."

"Sire." James quickly typed a message into the computer and sent it out, ordering the AI to translate it into every known lanaguage, Austian, english, chinise.... Greetings. I am Lord High Front Admiral Sir Prince James Rikard of His Most Powerful Majestys 5th Expladitionary fleet. We are new to this region and come in peace, could you please fill us in on what is going on on the planet below. We thank you for any assistance you could give you.

james smiled and lent back in his seat, relaxing for a moment, the ships was in no viasble danger and...

"Sire, we are within hailing range of the planet, James leaned forwards again and began to type, Greetings. I am Lord High Front Admiral Sir Prince James Rikard of His Most Powerful Majestys 5th Expladitionary fleet. We are new to this region and come in peace. We wish to know why the fleet above the planet is attacking you and if we can be of assisatnce.

"Emperor, we've been hailed by the group of ships around the planet-" The navigator quickly stopped mid-sentence before staring back over at Emperor Azariel, "We've received a message from the other ships sir! The translators- Ah! Its finished. I'll relay it to your console."

"Thankyou..." He said with a slight smile as he leaned back in his seat, the console in front of him suddenly buzzing with activity, "They don't seem to know anything. Try opening a commlink with the ships that tried to hail us, I'll handle this other fleet."

"Yes my emperor."

Quickly moving his right hand over the console, precariously running his fingers across it as it began transmitting back into their own language, to save them the trouble.

Ah and a greeting to you! This is Azariel, Commander of the Black Wind and future Emperor of the Autocratic Triumvirate of Nili. We too our new to this region, only passing through when our supplies began running out. I suppose this is quite ironic, perhaps fate has willed this to happen? In any case, it was a pleasure meeting you, yet unfortunately of little help for either of us. Praise Zeres.

"Oh and navigator, put our shields on full while I attempt to get a message through. For all we know this could erupt into a war at a moment's notice."

"Yes my emperor. Good luck."

"Hah, lets just hope that their translation programs are accurate."

Or if they even have one...


To: Unidentified Ships
From: Commander Azariel

Greetings! This is future Emperor of Zeres Azariel aboard the mighty Black Wind. My fleet and I were passing through when we discovered yourselves doing battle with the citizens of that planet. Perhaps if you were to clear up what you are doing there we may be able to help... You see our ships are running low on supplies, and any possibility of resupplying at this time is looking rather hopeless. So judging on how your translation program is, perhaps we can assist one another?

Sincerely,
The Sons of Darius

Greetings. I am Lord High Front Admiral Sir Prince James Rikard of His Most Powerful Majestys 5th Expladitionary fleet. We are new to this region and come in peace, could you please fill us in on what is going on on the planet below. We thank you for any assistance you could give you.

"AI. You handle this. English gives me a headache." The Admiral waved his hand in a dismissive gesture.

The Imperium respectfully wishes the 5th Expeditionary Fleet to keep their distance, this is a private matter of the Imperium. We will deal with these Insurrectionists as swiftly and timely as possible. Extermination of the planet's Imperial population may or may not be authorised. Please stay outside of close orbit with the planet. The Gilgamesh's AI stated, waiting for another high powered greeting. To clarify the use of English in the Imperium is wdiespread as a second language, please default to that for further communication.

The AI noted a second message transmitting to the planet below, and raised the alarm.
~~~

Greetings. I am Lord High Front Admiral Sir Prince James Rikard of His Most Powerful Majestys 5th Expladitionary fleet. We are new to this region and come in peace. We wish to know why the fleet above the planet is attacking you and if we can be of assisatnce.

"What? Put me through to them!"

"This is Alexander Geoffords. I am the leader of the forces planetside. The Imperium ships above us have succeeded in almost destroying the citizens of this planet for their own purposes, with little to no regard for the death they reap. Soter, as a nation, is attempting to break from their rule. They are not the sovereign party here! The Imperium has become the domain of corrupt aristo-"

I regret to inform the Battlefleet has jammed communications off planet.

"Damn."

Greetings! This is future Emperor of Zeres Azariel aboard the mighty Black Wind. My fleet and I were passing through when we discovered yourselves doing battle with the citizens of that planet. Perhaps if you were to clear up what you are doing there we may be able to help... You see our ships are running low on supplies, and any possibility of resupplying at this time is looking rather hopeless. So judging on how your translation program is, perhaps we can assist one another?

"Excellent, the insurrectionists don't know of this fleet either. Soter be damned, this will be a short fight!" Graves chuckled, peering over at the message with a nasty grin on his face.

"AI, as before."

Black Wind, we are the Imperium of Kasim Sul Nahr, and we lay claim to this and several other planets - we are dealing with this planet because they will not accept our rule. We may have to reduce the planet to a cinder to put down this rebellion - Their orbital defenses are formidible. Please remain outside of the inner orbit range, And we can discuss resupply soon afterwards.

As the message went out, the AI did not realise that the Planetary AI, lightyears ahead in terms of development and processing power, had attached a message of its own:

Black Wind. I speak on behalf of the free people of Soter, the Imperium has no claim to this planet other than the subjugation of the colonists.
They have no claim, nor are they the sovereign rulers of this planet.
The Aristocracy simply wishes to have their power absolute.
Please, if you have any decency, Help us fight against these monsters.
Soter AI out.

"so what do we do sir?" James sighed and sat back in his seat.

"Our mission is to claim more systems for the Emproer, correct?"

"Yes sire."

"And not to lose too many ships?"

"Yes sire."

"So I think the best situation would be to support the winning side, and it looks to me as if those Imperial guys are winning. Plus they seem to follow the correct system of governance that our Emproer has devinded. I suggest we let these two batter themselves to a standstill and then destroy the victor."

"Sire."

"However, personally I like the sound of these rebles, contact the toher fleet, see what they plan to do and offer allince to them."

"Sir."

Azariel sat back for a moment, staring at the message, a solemn look on his face. Though genocide of a people was not high on his list of things he wished to get involved with, he was aware that such things were not unusual in the galaxy. Standing up slowly and a bit taken back by the two messages, he slowly rose from his seat and stared up at one of the monitors.

"Captai-" The navigator began to speak before being interrupted by Azariel.

"Monsters and decency huh?" Azariel muttered as he looked over at the girl, rubbing a hand under his chin thoughtfully, "Things really have changed since I was frozen... Ah well..."

"Sire, we've received a message from the other foreign fleet. They wish to know of our plans!"

"Haha... Well I'll send them a response I guess. For all we know the Imperium could have even more ships to aid them on other planets. While I doubt the Black Wind would be defeated... I'm not sure."

Encryped Message

Sir Prince James Rikard. At this point we will throw our hands in with the Imperial government. However only that was may resupply our ship soon. While we don't agree with genocides such as these, and find such tactics a waste of the planet in question, we have little choice in the matter. Fate seems to have predetermined the outcome of this battle.

~Commander Azariel~

Sir Prince James Rikard. At this point we will throw our hands in with the Imperial government. However only that was may resupply our ship soon. While we don't agree with genocides such as these, and find such tactics a waste of the planet in question, we have little choice in the matter. Fate seems to have predetermined the outcome of this battle.

~Commander Azariel~

James sat and considered the message, then responded.

That is as it seems to me also. While I do not balive that genocide is a honourable weapon I fail to see how I can stop it. My fleet may be large but mos of our ships are full of coloists-transport ships if you will. I have only 12 or so battleships under my command. The only possable way I can see of stopping this is if our forces joined together.

Soter, the name of the AI in charge of the Planet, considered recent events, and chose its decision with the finality and sobriety common to his kind. He didn't see a good end to this skirmish, unless he did something drastic. Plans formed, possibilities emerged, and a decision was reached. It only hoped that the world it governed would forgive it...

~~~

Alexander. I'm charging the long range CTD for launch. I plan to cover it with a barrage from the railcannons in orbit - If we can bite a large enough piece of out BattleFleet, we may be able to avert a second attempt.

"What? That's our last line of defense, Soter, we can't simply let-"

I ask you not to intervene, trust me. The AI could not hear the shouts of anger and betrayal Alexander vocalised. It was concentrating.

~~~

The CTD looked innocuous enough, floating serenely within the Railcannon's huge firing chamber, a mere speck in the near fifty metre wide cylinder. A pulse of magnetic waves creased the light, warping the world about the device.

And suddenly, whilst a maelstrom of tungsten and particles whipped into the void, on a beeline towards BattleFleet, the CTD took a different course, out beyond Soter's orbit, and at odds to the storm of anti-capital fire thundering towards the BattleFleet at close to .5 c. It was invisible, as it had been designed to be.

Soon, it would unleash it's own fury.

please sign up for peace in the land of NS and oppose the NS world war going on. we will have a peacekeeping army sent out to intervene if any bombs/nukes are fired or anything like that.
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=462901

Battle raged across the world, even the heavens about it were torn by war, but there were a few quite places that watched the struggle unfold.

More than space saw the fight.

Nearly five hundred ships raced to the scene of the war. They were numerous, but small. On the deck of the largest warship, The Shahoyant, one man prepared a mesage.

TO: Soter Rebels
FROM: THe Principality of Nuekallaya

This is Soverign of the People Cyrus Zathuri, I have come to render what assistance may be required of me. Nuekallaya opposes the monsterous aristocracy of the empire and is willing to do what must be done in order to end it. I have three-hundred frigates, one-hundred and fifty destroyers, and fifty light cruisers. Our soldiers are among the best trained in the galaxy, and are equiped with highly mobile power armor and powerful missile launchers. We are here to fight for the end of corruption

Be advised Nuekallayan forces, There is an Imperial BattleFleet and a collection of other ships in orbit.

"This is Alexander Geoffords - The Democratic State of Soter welcomes you to our space, and respectfully requests you watch yourself - this region is currently a hotbed of politics. Our sensors aren't strong enough - knocked out by the BattleFleet in high orbit, but we have been made aware of two other fleets in the region. We'll open an avenue for you - make your way towards low orbit, try and avoid BattleFleet. They want like your presence at all. We'll keep you covered." The Orbital defenses locked and loaded, now searching for the IFF codes of Nuekallayan ships. Anything else would become scrap.

~~~

"Damn them! Damn them to hell!" The Admiral threw his cup at the bridge screen, shattering on contact, the tough chainglass composition of the bridge not even denting, a series of nanobots quickly recycling the plastic-ceramic cup.

The Planet AI is using our communication signals to pinpoint our location for their munitions sir. The other two fleets are currently in high orbit.

"What are they up to."

I cannot answer that question.

"It was rhetorical, machine!"

"Sir! Orbital Salvo imminent!"

"All ships to evasive manuevers, break, dammit, break!" The Admiral shouted himself hoarse, as the BattleFleet - both cruisers, the five dreadnaughts, all fifteen destroyers, the three carriers, and the hundred odd smaller corvettes and frigates broke formation, attempting to dodge the heavy rail swarm, as it sizzled into uncomfortable proximity - some of the rounds exploding with silvery flashes amongst the black and dull grey hulls of the BattleFleet.

One corvette did not turn fast enough - it was consumed in a furious blast of kinetic and fusion fires, a gout of plasma blooming in the dark void.

"Damage assessment!"

Azariel looked on, his eyes widening a bit as he witnessed the sudden attack from the planet. It was quite damaging for kinetic weaponry, not to mention unpredictable, as he had expected the planet's defenses to have been exhausted by now. Slowly standing up, he pointed a hand at the screen, deciding not to stick around doing nothing. However what he did plan on doing was anyone's guess...

"Navigator! I want half of our podfighters released along with half of our bombers!"

"Their orders sir?"

"For now we'll wait for a bit more. I'm not sure if this is a good idea, but it is about time I stopped being a spectator in this war. Not just for my crew and our resupplying, but also for our honor..."

"Yes sir! I want half of our podfighters and half of our Atmospheric bombers released immediately! Stand by for further instructions!" The young woman shouted into her headset.

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

Outside of the blackwind, numerous bright flashes began to emanate from the ship, perhaps hundreds of them. For a moment it looked as if the ship would fire some weapon, but within a minute or so it quickly became apparent that it was simply releasing smaller ships, hundreds of them. Though they did not move, if one were to zoom in they would notice that at least four hundred of them were tiny silver spheres, moving in small formations of three or five. The rest were flat looking triangles, though from certain angles it was apparent that they were bombers of some type.

And so they remained, as two of the Harmony Class ships moved at either side, and though it was difficult to see, they too began releasing dozens of fighters. The third remained stationary behind the rest, seemingly preparing some form of attack.

"Sir, another fleets join the batlle. on the rebles side."

"Keep watching..."

Incoming. Another salvo from the orbital platforms. Armour sections throughout starboard rail-turret damaged, superconductors holding. Orders?

"Evasive tactics!, pull us towards the moon, the gravity well should impair the accuracy of their salvoes!"

Orbital platforms have ceased to fire. I would suggest sending in more troopships.

"If we can, do it. I want that fucking Alexander's head on my desk!" Hissed the Admiral, dismissing a medic with an angry shove.

~~~

"You'd better know what you're doing, Soter."

I am an etched-atom processing matrix. I don't make many mistakes. The huffiness in the artificial voice was its attempt at humour.

Alexander wasn't in much of a mood for laughing.

"What's the status of the Orbital Platforms, anyway."

The extended battle with BattleFleet has brought down Platforms 16, 17, 18, and 20. 18 was hit by long range kinetics from one of the battlecruisers, on its way down to deal with the planetary heavy guns. Other than that, they report full operation readiness, save for a slight reactor drain in the north hemisphere's laser defense arrays. That was from intercepting a corvette and frigate lance. Our ammunition, missiles, and other kinetics stand ready at 60%. We lost one platform - 13 - after its ballistics magazine jammed, all warheads ruptured. I have repair drones en route to 14 - the blast from 13 damaged it. In all, of 64 platforms, 5 are down.

"That's better than expected."

Indeed. An image burned to life, a long range sensor log of the BattleFleet, hiding behind the moon, their black hulls almost invisible against the moon's brilliant glow. They lost almost 8 capital ships. Corvette losses are extensive, and they lost all frigates in the forward lance. The image magnified - focusing on two hulls, much larger, much more vicious looking, bristling with weaponry, visible even at that extreme range.

The Gilgamesh and Darwin are both present. The AI's voice sounded contemplative, almost smug. I believe the Darwin fired the shots that obliterated our long range defenses. Speculative, at best. Those Long Range Rail Cannons have a bigger range than we do. But they no longer have the element of surprise.

"The other fleets?" Alexander sounded hesitant. They represented an unknown. BattleFleet didn't have the numbers to take Soter without orbital bombardment, and so long as the orbital defenses remained, they'd hang back.

The first arrivals - designated Fleet 1 and 2, are hanging back in the null gravwell. Fleet 3 so far is headed inwards at steady clip - ETA to be announced once I can gauge their acceleration.

~~~

The troops had momentarily stopped, watching the great volley of fire from the glittering and deadly orbital platforms, before continuing to move ahead. The mission was all that mattered at this moment - anything else could be managed later.

Not long now, before they crossed Soter City's sandy mouth. And then, all Hell would break loose.

~~~

Even as they approached, efforts were made to barricade homes, storefronts, major highways, any large building with open views, was a potential sniper hole, the huge and ragtag army grimly partaking of the duty, turning their tranquil idyllic city by the beach into a fortress.

This fight, would not be without bloodshed.

"What do you think sire?" Now was the vital moment James thought, if he acted here he could tip the balance one way or the other. what to do? who to support?

"Sire?"

"Get the fleet on red alert, where going in." He smiled at the young midshipman, wondering how many of his crew would survive to fight again. "I want all fighters out, the Legions ready for drop ship once we arrive. Get the engineers ready as well.

"Sire!" The bridge was suddenly a hive of activity, orders flying two and through. James barked more commands, commands that just the fleet would go forward. he walked to hius control panel and sent a encrypted message to the rebles.

Hold out. Where coming to aid you. we'll hold there battlecruisers off for as long as possable and get some troops down on the surface.
Engineers are coming as well. Don't shoot down our drop pods. Where going to send a unencoded message to the Imeprials saying where coming in to help them.
Then we'll stebb them in the back.
James.

After that was sent he moved to send one to the imerials.

Where coming to aid you and bombard the enermy from orbit. i shall send Austian marines to the surface to kill them.

Standby for an interference run - Don't worry about us hitting your ships. With these orbital defenses I could perform eyesurgery from the moon. Said the first message to the Austians, heavily encrypted. The second simply emphasized the word 'moon' in the same message.

~~~

"Should we trust them?"

Of course not. If they take out the BattleFleet they won't have any large offensive force at their backs. And if we don't shoot their ships, they could easily drop troops into our midst and overrun us.

~~~

Your troopships will land in staggered formations, at coordinates I'll provide, apologies, Aust, our air defenses are programmed to hit anything that lands within two hundred kilometres of the city.

Registered: I'm putting the co-ordinatess into our computers at the moment. I have a feeling though, that you don't trust us.
I don't blame you. But you should know that no Austian has veer been known to break there word,
breaking an oath is a capital crime in our society. You have my oath we are on your side.
The 20 battlecruisers sweapt towards the belugered planet, missiles gaining targeting lock, fighters otu far in front of them...coming ever closer, egtting into range...

"Excellent. Those bastards on the ground won't know what hit them."

I have their beacon, sir.

"Then let us crush these rebels once and for all! Charge for volleys!"

~~~

Now.

~~~

The CTD, which had lain harmlessly, several burrowed kilometres underneath Horus' surface for the past two hours, when suddenly, it came to life, opening slowly, it's miniature gate systems screaming into action. Runcible physics turned the entire construct brilliant blue, and ripples of underspace snapped at the void.

And then. Then. The world below the BattleFleet turned brilliant white, and Einsteinian physics intercepted Runcible physics, turning the matter that had been accelerated to many times lightspeed, into pure, furious, energy.

~~~

The white hot, furious energy ball was visible from the planet below, turning night to day in a shocking instant, and then, brighter, brighter, the monstrous blast temporarily blinding those who were unfortunate to look up at the wrong instant.

And then, as brightly and quickly as it rose, it disappeared. Along with a good eighth of the mass of the moon, rocked loose by the CTD's initial blast, hurling towards the BattleFleet in orbit around it. Rocks the size of houses roared into their tight formation, ripping it to shreds.

~~~

The Gilgamesh was ripped apart - several massive planetoids tearing the giant battlecruiser to bits. Atmosphere blew out, fires raged and died, and lights all over what remained of the bulk of the 'cruiser guttered and died.

The same happened all over the 'Fleet, as the scattering asteroids snarled into their midst.

The Darwin pulled away in time, it, and a small portion of the fleet powering engines to escape from the shotgun effect the CTD had culminated.

~~~

"What was THAT?!" Roared the Admiral, as his massive ship rocked with aftershocks, causing him to grip the hard leather seat ever harder. Around him, men and women were thrown from their seats, the gravity plates in their section guttering.

"Massive explosion from the moon! It tore up mass and dumped it right on top of us! Damage assessment is huge! We've lost at least 60 percent of our fleet! Gilgamesh included!!" Screamed a communications officer.

"Those Bastards! They booby trapped their own moon!" Cried the Admiral, mopping blood from his newly reopened cut on his forehead.

~~~

"That was your plan?!"

I deemed it necessary. Nothing else would have worked so effectively against them. The change in mass of the moon will probably send it into a much more eliptical orbit, if it isn't completely lost. But it is much better than the alternative.

"We'll lose the Seafarms! The infrastructure, plus all the bay settlements..."

Will suffer. But this is the casualty of war. You must continue to fight with all your might, Alexander. This war is just beginning. The AI was not insane, it was just determined to protect the planet. At any cost.

The Battleships of the Second fleet are approaching, and the third Fleet is now in orbit, and I am issuing deployment orders now.

"God..." Exclaimed the man, as already, the sea in the bay became turbulent and wild.

"Emporer Bones!" James was not a religious man, ijndeed no Austian was, but the sight of the moon teared to peices and the devistation it wraught upon the enermy fleet caused him to utter the old oaths. "And they need our help."

The computers estikmated that 60% of the enermy fleet had been devistated, easy paray for the Austian fleets missiles. "Are we ready to fire yet, Captain?"

"in range....targeting locks reajusted....I'd say so sire."

"Fire then, and may the Emporer be with us." As the order was relayed throughout the battlefleet a serisis of ominious clicks could be heard as men in protective suits manahndled the nuclear missiles into there firing bays then, once they where loaded and the men had cleared the turrets, they fired. 12,000 nuclear missiles, each 8 times as powerful as the H-Bomb lancing towards there targets, guided by a pwoerful targeting computer and navigating using jets on there sides.

They couldn't miss.

Nuclear warheads detected!

"What!? Full countermeasure spread, all Fleet assets, protect yourselves!"

The relatively small Point Defense kinetics sizzled in the void, depleted-uranium slugs rushing out to intercept the diaphinous cloud of warheads, the fleet ships capable of fighting back doing so with desperate fervor - if they did not, there was no doubt they would die.

Once again, bright flashes dotted the night sky of Soter.

~~~

Fleet 2 has delivered. Fleet 3's dropships are en route. I'm getting nuclear spikes past all the debris and interference thrown up by Horus' eruption. Soter informed the Planetary control centre.

"Just concentrate on intercepting any strays. A few of those warheads in Soter's atmosphere could reduce anything unshielded to slag." Growled Alexander. This was getting too far out of hand. These fleets were in position to either help or hinder, that much he knew. The Dropships had deployed near the Seafarms, on the far side of the bay. He'd not heard anything from the Seafarms yet. Had he been too quick to suggest communications silence?

"Inform the city sector commanders to begin patrols of the outskirts, and if met with resistance, to fall back to ambush and fortification sites." He said to a communications officer, who rapidly began uplinking.

Fleet 2 launched a huge barrage of nuclear missiles at the 'Fleet's flank - I'm seeing countermeasures and point defense blasts. They are here- The holograms shifted and resolved, displaying the heavenly bodies and fleets. Red and Blue arrowheads pinpointed both fleets, and sphere of green dots - some missing - surrounded Soter - the orbital defense platforms.

The first fleet to arrive is still out beyond sensor range - I don't think they want to get too close to a skirmish like this. I have managed to do some fancy satellite work from the OPSS. Four ships. At least. I don't see much else, but we're lucky we caught them in sunlight. I can make them out due to that.

"This third fleet - have we raised them again?"

Trying to.

~~~


Nuekallayan Marine Command. This is Soter Central. Situation Report and new data:

BattleFleet in moon orbit is under heavy duress from another Fleet in system, but we think that they managed to get enough troopships in to lay quite the siege on us. We can't be sure, but we think we may have more incoming.

Follow the coast, and look for a setdown point near NAV data. The Seafarms in that area should provide help or at least information. Be advised we have no idea of enemy's strength or numbers, but a good estimate would put a good 5000 invasion troops on the ground. Beware - they are very good at what they do.

SC out.

James smiled as the viewscreen blazed with points of nuclear fueled light, where the Austian strike had hit the Imeprial fleet. Could they win this, it seemed likly.

"have they returned fire yet?" He saked and got a negtive.

"No sire. They don't appear to have done so. shall i order fighters to attack?"

"Do it, Captain." Outside the thousands of small snubfighters, designed on the lines of the old Hound fighter planes, zoomed towards the enermy, carrying there payload of missiles and lasers to hit the already belugered enermy fleet. There job was to clear away the last enermy fighters and take out as many enermy guns as possable. To keep the enermy busy while the next strike was prepared.

"Are we ready to fire yet?" Reloading a turret took 1 minuate adn 30 second to do. Marines had to run into the turrent it'self, manhandle one of the missiles into it's chamber and get out.

"Missiles loaded. Configuring targeting systems. 10 seconds."

James drummed his fingers with antisipation...

"Targets configured."

"FIRE!"

Another band of missiles streaked away. As the marines reloaded yet again James tried to get a message down to the rebles below.


Where holding the Imperial fleet off. We don't have any damage reports yet but they don't seem to be doing too well.
I would use this oppertunty to fix up your base. Have you got any enermy forces landed as I can send Marines and Bombers down to deal with them.
Please Respond.
Aust.

Send them down to coordinates. I'd watch yourself - they're not ordinary marines.

Alex. the fighting's begun...!

~~~

The planet's rag tag defense force were beset, a platoon of marines catching them unawares whilst they boiled past, random weapons shining in the street light.

~~~

"Engage the Underspace Buffers! Get us out of here, now!"

One by one, the frigates began to disappear, a momentary red flash engulfing the ships, and then, gloriously, the battlecruiser was struck by a nuke. All down its bulk secondary explosions growled up, a good third melted to slag and over half the lights guttering.

But meaningless and swirling fury took the ship - Underspace drives tearing it and a few survivors from the fight.

~~~

BattleFleet has fled, Alexander. Soter is ours.

What do you mean by that?

The fiorst Austian Special Services soildiersclimbered into there dropships ready to go...