NationStates Jolt Archive

Since the very moment the League of Hyperspatial Travel declared it's independance from the Republic and the founding of the Alliance of Worlds, the palace had been in an uproar. The Emperor Constans had been waddling back and forth, followed by a swamr of eunuchs and advisors as he went from conference with his generals, to advisory session, to meetings with foreign envoys. He was just glad that his newly appointed Templar had dealt with the barbarians on the western boarders long before anything major happened. Despite the fact that Julian had been crowned Emperor by his province and the Empire was now in a dormant civil war, he still felt confident. With three quarters of the Empire's fleets at his command, that number again in ground forces, and the entire Republic at his back, he still had enough to deal with the League, put down the small rebellion of his younger brother and be back in time for tea.

When he finally felt satisfied with his plans, troop deployements, and civil affairs, he made his formal announcement. The Republic was now at a state of war with the League and its friends within the Alliance of Worlds, and since he had a determination to rise above or at least attain the same level of greatness as his forefathers, he decided he would personally lead the assualt on the League's fortress of Zegenthis. "What is more heroic and glorious than showing up at the head of one's legions?" he had said. The campaign was scheduled for a week from the date, as the fleets had to be called up from their posts, and enough shocktroopers loaded into them to cover an entire planet.

The base at Zegenthis had been readied for war, as always. Hundreds of fighters skimmed around the planets on training exercises, and six cruisers stood on standby. However, against a full-blown assault, it was nothing.

The thousands of ships that had once stood at the fortress had been decommissioned, the insanely powerful defensive fields disabled, in the interest of promoting trade.

Councillor Arakasi, Councillor for Defense, had just requested Magnius Exaionae, commander of the League's fleets, presence, on-screen.
Arakasi spoke, and, when he did, he did so, with a short, clipped voice. "Magnius. Where in hell are our fleets? Zegenthis could be attacked at any moment, and six cruisers is hardly enough to stop a full-blown pirate raid, let alone a full-scale invasion.

Magnius kept his face a stony mask, and replied, in a slow, measured voice. "Arakasi, I'm using my authority as League Fleet Commander to hold back a third of our fleets, in order to counteract any raids the Taledonians might confuct on our outer worlds. The League has grown weak, and soft, in my opinion. The Inner Worlds demand defenses, and my fleets are spread thin, combating the growing pirate menace. I could spare another twelve ships, all of them frigates, at most."

Arakasi cursed. "Damnit, man! Are you trying to tell me the League has less than a hundred capital ships in service?! Are you mad?!".
Magnius looked at him, and said, simply, "Yes. The League has ninety-four capital ships in service, after three official movements to decommission the fleet, and the ground troops. We have six thousand four hundred fighters, and approximately twenty thousand attack drones. We also have some sixty thousand mechanical combat units, and one point three million combat-ready soldiers. You all think I'm conspiring against the League, in reality, I'm trying to hold on to my last few ships."

Arakasi looked at him strangely, and then spoke. "Then where did all that money go? We pour TRILLIONS into the League Fleet every year."
Magnius sighed, and cleared his throat before replying. "Repairs cost money. The lawsuits undertaken by the planets, who greedily suck money out, due to military blunders. Pirate traitors, our information network, for god's sake! I've made our ships superior to Taledonian ones, but I doubt they'll be a match for an entire fleet. We've got intelligence reporting a major buildup. Honestly, I suggest we conduct an evacuation to the Protectorates now."

Arakasi slammed his fist down, and yelled. "You know damn well I can't do that! It'll kill my approval rating, and, what's more, my voters will conduct an emergency vote. Just work with what you have, damn you!"

With that, he cut the transmission. Magnius smiled. The League, did, indeed, have enough ships to counter this invasion. Their frigates, cruisers, and all sorts of capital ships, added up to a little more than a thousand ships. They had ten times the capacity of drones he said they did, and many, many more fighters. Of course, the restraining chip put in all his troops, had sent them, in either drydock, or cryo, to six different installations.

All he had to do now, was to wait for the Taledonians to do what he already planned to do...

Constans moved through the halls of the Acipiter, his capitol cruiser that sat floating in space surrounded by his majestic fleet. He'd regretted the decision, but bringing the old High Admiral Sulla back from retirement was a wise move, as it was he who had led a siege on the League fortress years before, and had come back victorious enough to merit being promoted, and he needed someone with enough experience of Zegenthis for a good advisor.

"The fleets have been assembled, my lord, and your armada awaits your commands to move out. All vessels and men are accounted for. On your order the first wave can arrive within seconds at the League's doorstep, and clear a path for your arrival." Sulla said in his old, knowledgable tone.

The Emperor nodded, "Then cry havok and let slip the dogs of war."

The orders were transmitted to the first wave of craft, which, even tho smaller than the rest of the force, would still make a super offensive strike, one that could easily devastate the League's defenses that were still in the area, hopefully intelligence was correct about their darkfield* being decommisioned...

(OOC: Wasn't sure if that was the right word, but I think it was darkfield.)

OOC: The Darkfields are only around the Inner Worlds, and Zegenthis uses the Star Gate to bypass them.

Commander Sy'an, a Veldye, one of the few part-humans left within the League, sighed. It was fairly obvious, the route the Taledonians would take. They'd plough straight through, and attack the only worthwhile defensive outpost in the system, Zegenthis itself. Once they secured the planet, they could rip open the Star Gate, and invade the Inner Worlds. The populace had always relied on the nanoaugmented, trained from birth clones, and had chosen to fund them less, and less, in the interest of their own luxuries.

He holstered his Rippter Pistol, Rippter were one of the few arms companies left within the League, but they made damn good weapons. He also had a transpheric rifle, which was his father's before his, in the days that they were still manufactured. The rifle itself could fire through shields, and had a range of several kilometres. It was, he estimated, worth as much as a gunship. Of course, it was only electromagnetic energy, that materialised, which wouldn't be enough to kill anyone. At the very least, he'd give them a damn good scare.



Up in the orbit of Zegenthis, two Maiat-class Orbital Battle Platforms stood, their green-gold armour all but indistinguishable in the dark red light of the star of the Zegenthis system, but still proud. These platforms had stood the test of time, and were the match for a cruiser, each of them, at least.

The shimmering blue glow that signified cheaper engines leaving Truespace appeared, and twelve frigates flew out of nowhere. Sy'an sighed. He was only the commander of the ground forces, although, it seemed, despite his complete lack of training, he was to be the de facto commander of the space force as well. He was about to sink into despair, when a face appeared on his viewscreen.

The face, tinged with bronze, and stubble atop its head, spoke. "This is Lieutenant Admiral K'rala, reporting for duty in the area, sir! May I request who is in command of our space forces?".

Sy'an looked at him, despondently. "You are", he replied, before shutting off his viewscreen. Six League Cruisers, each a match for two Taledonian ships of the same size, or so he hoped, and twelve outdated frigates, four of them, at best, a match for one cruiser. If he was counting power in cruisers, he had eleven. He wasn't sure how big the Taledonian fleet was, but, if it was bigger than twenty-two cruisers, well, they were pretty screwed.

The long-range scanners showed movement. They were pretty ineffective at this distance, however.. It could be the Taledonians. The FTLi was inactive, and had been for years. He barked the order, and the shields went up. Weapons went online. The men hurried into bunkers, and the worn out missile defenses were activated.

He smiled. It was time to die for the glory of the rich.

(OOC: Oh, I thought you wanted to use them so I agreed to have some ships blow-up in them, hence why I sent the first wave in first, but oh well.)

IC:

If the League blinked, they would have missed it. In less than a second, great rays of blue streaked the void and revealed the first wave of Taledonian battle ships. Twelve frigates, two of which were support ships and weren't equiped for fighting; a pair of Star Launcher class carriers, full of small craft ready to be deployed; four Typhoon destroyers, the main vessel of the Taledonian fleets, each housing great destructive power; and at the fore, an Imperial class battle cruiser, flanked by two Protectorate classes. An entire standard fleet.

They slid through the black inkyness of space, moving ever closer to the first planet of the system, the first target that would prove to strike fear into the hearts of the enemies, letting them know that doom was inevitable. They moved up, a small planet that wasn't too populated or defended, perfect for the first demonstration. They continued their purposely slow pace towards the target, and prepared for a fight, no doubt defending vessels would be there shortly, after all they were in the system, the radars told of their presence.

OOC: Ah, well. What's done is done.

IC: "We've got multiple inbounds, all over us! Goddamnit! Fire! Fire! Lock down the 'gate! We don't have much time!", Sy'an screamed, into his comm, repeating his orders, before taking a breath, and getting his own troops into order.

The cruisers blinked into Truespace, and out again, as close as they could to the Taledonian ships. If they got close enough, they could take them out at close range, and avoid any extra ships firing at them, for fear of hitting their own ships. It was a pity that the HellShield had not been perfected, but, in simulations, it had a 62% success rate in reflecting Taledonian Angel Cannons.

Fighters streamed out of bays, over six hundred, in total, and over two thousand attack drones. It'd be enough to defeat the initial attack wave, he was sure of that. Of course.. There really wasn't that much they could do. If they held off the outer wave, they'd suffer heavy losses on the planet itself.

Luckily, the Lock Fortress was well ensconsed into the ground, a constant flow of power locking down the Star Gate. The Taledonians would need to manually disable it, as a massive blast of power could seal the gate permanently. He had sixteen thousand men, all combat-hardened, and ready to fight. He just hoped they'd use those famous Angels. Maybe, just maybe, if their Angels turned on them, the League would have a fighting chance.

He levelled his gun at the sky, and then.. folded, down to the bunker. Hopefully he'd be able to trick the enemy into sealing the Gate. Maybe then, they'd have to take their chances against the Darkfields of the Inner Worlds.

He sighed. There were two inhabited planets in Zegenthis, and one was a non-League affiliated mining colony. Ah, well. The civilians had been warned of the risk...

In came the defenders, hard and swift, taking out three frigates by sheer surprise before the others could activate their shielding, tho it was anyones guess why they weren't activated in enemy territory. TF-20s flew forth from the ships, matching the numbers of the enemy, and seeing that there was no darkfield around Zegenthis to make a trap, a signal was sent back to the main fleet, signalling them to come in. They would arrive momentarily, so until then the seemingly doomed first wave would have to hold their own, as retreating would be a disastrous setback in the invasion.

Grand Council Man One looked at his new intelligence reports. "So Taledonia has finally decided to destroy the rebel scum," he said to the general council. "We have attack vessels. They can reach the rebels in a few hours. All in favor of helping Taldeonia's invasion, say aye."

Not a single person didn't agree with the attack. "So it is settled," said One. "It is time for attack. Summon the admirals and get them ready for attack. Dismissed."

OOC: Sionju, this is closed between Taledonia and myself. It's already completely planned out, so we don't want anyone else in it. If you want to create another combat thread, and plan something with another member of the AoW, you're more than welcome to.

IC: "We've destroyed three frigates, sir. They didn't expect such a quick reaction, I'm assuming. We've lost sixty-nine fighters, but we're expecting larger losses from their side of things. The Melodious Strike has lost its shielding, however, it seems their fire was concentrated on that particular cruiser."

Sy'an sighed. They had superior firepower and shields, but their speed put them on a constant defensive. He looked over the battlefield momentarily, and then swore. They'd have to abandon their first line of defense. On top of that, the Melodious Strike was carrying... An insane amount of antimatter.

"Melodious Strike, this is High Commander Sy'an. Use a Truespace jump to ram the Taledonian battlecruiser. They don't appear to be carrying any form of internal FTLi, so, let's make this wave pay for their mistake. We'll flashclone you, and revive your minds. Just take out that damn battlecruiser!

The ship careened wildly, and flashed into Truespace. Sy'an had to exploit every mistake the Taledonians made. It was only a minor one, but it would give them... sixty-nine more seconds, if it worked. Explode the antimatter inside the enemy battlecruiser, and he'd crush the centre of their initial attack wave.

"Rest of the fleet, pull back. We're going to have to abandon the miners to their fate. Every second we buy here is a second the League can use to prepare. Move, damnit!".

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

In the League, however, preparation was slow, and painful. Six hundred gunships had just been nanocloned, and had taken power from all of the Inner Worlds. Riots had begun, and the League Troopers were easily putting them down.

Meanwhile, a Councillor went to meet with the representative of a deathdueller on Zegenthis... The deathduellers were the best non-military fighting force in the League, and there were some five hundred thousand of them, on each of the Inner Worlds. If they could get the deathduellers on their side, they'd have a fighting chance in the ground battles..

The cruiser was torn apart in a matter of seconds, and the screams of the men onboard echoed over the comm links for awhile before being silenced by the abyss. That was the last straw, the League would pay. The destruction of the cruiser wasn't the only flash that occured, for near to the first strike wave, the remainder of the Emperor's fleet appeared in a ray of blinding light, and opened up with all their weapons.

Turbo lasers lashed forwards, and the humm of the energy cannons as they charged and released their great blasts of pure energy, blue as the sea, a true testimate to the power of the Empire, and the very Republic in which it protected; energy torpedoes sped forwards, the wizzing sound dieing out as they left their tubes and entered noiseless space, joining the lightshow that raged before them; and from the great hangers of the vessels flew forth thousands upon thousands of Stingers, Wraiths, and even Einhanders, the mighty fighters that could decimate an entire frigate by themselves.

Onboard the Accipiter, the Emperor stood at the front of his command deck, watching the events that unfolded, and the carnage that his forces were creating upon the haughty and once mighty League, and chuckled as he recognised their forces retreating with all speed.

"My lord," Sulla interupted his thoughts, "the troops are assembled, and ready to be deployed to the surface. Shall we proceed?"

Constans shook his head quickly, then waddled away from the window, "No, no, this planet has far too little people, and is just a mining colony. Not worth the men. Burn the planet, and pursue the League vessels further into Zegenthis. From now on, all colonies with small populations are to be burned, only the ones with dense populations will be taken."

"Yes, my lord," replied Sulla as he pointed to a nearby officer.

The Imperial Class Battle Cruisers formed up around the planet, and their bottom hatches opened, revealing mighty cannons that extended outwards. It took several minutes, but soon the guns began to glow white, and then with great speed and with a force that shook the vessels, massive rays of white energy surged towards the planet below, causing mighty explosions and creating a veritable hell. Unless the planet had some sort of planetary shielding that diminished the full force of the guns, then the planet would now be a scorched wasteland of ash and rubble.