NationStates Jolt Archive

Captain Carson Gaines stared through the viewport and the wrecked Covenant destroyer before him. It had cost the humans a frigate destroyed and another badly damaged, but they'd brought the damn thing down.

"Stand down to Condition 3, pass the word to begin repair operations. Away rescue and recovery parties to the Alexander and Damocles."

"Aye sir," came the chorus of replies from around the bridge of the Stalwart, one of UNSC's last surviving Marathon class crusiers. The Stalwart had a few surprises for the Covenant though. Her MAC guns were the most powerful in the UNSC aresnal with the exception of the Super MAC platforms orbiting Earth. She was also bristling with Archer missle pods and point defense cannons. Her launch bays held 61 Longsword fighters of the elite 25th Fighter Wing. She was a force to be reckoned with. In addition to the Stalwart the little fleet included the now destroyed Damocles, the crippled Alexander and the destroyers Tacoma and Bastogne.

Suddenly, the bridge was bathed in red and alarms sounded throughout the ship.

"Report," Gaines ordered.

Lt. Griers at Sensor Control responded first. "Sir, massive energy diruption off the port bow, range 170,00 kilometers. Looks like ships emerging, big ones."

Gaines muttered, "What now?"

The ships were strangely shaped. "Those aren't Covenant," stated the Intel Officer, Lt. Wu.

The signal from the ships surprised everyone.

Gaines replied, "I'm Captain Carson Gaines of the United Nations Space Command vessel Stalwart, to whom am I speaking?"

U.S.S. Ambassador
On its first mission...

"Admiral, we are secured from warp speed," said the Helm officer.
"Good," said Admiral Hood. "Run a full systems check-"
"Sir! I'm detecting a group of ships, distance, 170,00 kilometers."
"Full scan." ordered Hood. "Can you identify them?"
"Simple hull construction, small energy outputs," reported the science officer. "They apear to be heavily damaged."
"Have our escourts stand by, and open a channel on all bands," said Hood.

[I]This is Admiral Hood of the United Federation of Planets. We are on a peaceful test mission. Do you require assistance?

"Will somebody shut the zoggin' grots up!"
Warlord Gorkreg 'ead guzzler's nob bodyguard scurried to obey. You didn't often get good eating on ship.
"Now, we 'ave turned up in some new place, and da meks says its habi... hapi... hiba... stuff lives in it, so spread da word, da waaaaagh! is on!"
There was a chear from the nobs and oddoyz off his retinue, when a young spanna' boy hurried in for what passed on the hulk as a bridge.
"We iz pickin' up shipz, boss!"

+++"The Fleet has arrived, Admiral," came the calm, emotionless response as Third Fleet, comprised of four Battle Squadrons--sixteen Gloria-class dreadnoughts, massing seven million tonnes each--and their supporting twelve destroyer squadrons--one hundred ninety-two Yahweh-class destroyers--finished up dropping out of the beta band at the hyper limit, twenty-two light-minutes from the star. Whoever spoke it had not even thought about the lives that would be lost today.
+++Grand Starmarshal Jeremy Asimov smiled predatorily, watching the tactical plot with a practiced ease from his command chair. Red lights sprinkled the spherical hologram, denoting positions of hostile units, but by their spread, it looked like the ships had taken them by surprise. True enough, for the Republic had not declared war on this fringe nation, nor did they ever before they took over new real estate. "Tactical, instruct the Fleet to move on Plan Romeo-Delta." The plan was standard, with the destroyers moving to cover the Wall of Battle in an anti-LAC pattern, while the carriers held well back, sending their ninety-six LACs, two-thirds of which were the anti-ship Gabriels, with 300-centimeter grasers as their main weapon, with supporting Hammerstrike missile/countermissile LACs as the remaining third. The LACs spread out in an inverse wedge, the Hammerstrikes at the rear of each wedge. Each was a squadron of seven LACs.
+++At four hundred forty-one-point-five gravities of tactical acceleration, the whole formation would reach the main planet (ie, third) in five hours.

EDIT: Nixed by the owner. Sorry for the misunderstanding--don't reply to this.

Minbari Patrol, Edge of Minbari Space

"Shai, we are detecting unknown contacts in the a neighbouring system. Their ship configurations are totally unknown to the Minbari database. Should we investigate?"

"It's probably the Earthers trying to come up with a new design to kill us. Signal our escorts, we'll go in and investigate."

The Sharlin class warcruiser Star of Minbar, was one of the largest ships in the Minbari military. Slightly over one kilometer in length, they were near unstoppable by any of the younger races' militaries. They sent a signal to the two Tinashi class ships acting as escorts for the Sharlin, and all three vessels opened a jump point and entered hyperspace, destined for the system with the abnormal readings.

The system was within fifteen minutes travel with the powerful Minbari hyperspace engines, and the jump point opened up at their destination, and the three Minbari ships exited the jump point. The lead Sharlin sent a transmission to all ships in the area, saying

We are from the Minbari Federation, we wish to initiate peaceful conflict with your peoples, whoever they may be.

The Minbari gun ports were open, a traditional sign of respect to unknown people. The gun port sign had got the Minbari in a war once, and it may do so again..

Just then, 1 million romulan warbirds decloaked and opened fire, killing everyone.
The End.



No just kidding :p *Tag*

OOC: SQ or TPM, either of you guys can claim the Canopus system. It's directly between you. Doesn't really matter because either way I'll eventually be attacking you both.

Galactic Void
2000 LY Beyond The Rim of the Milky Way Galaxy

"The worldships are dying, Dread One. We cannot travel the void much longer."

"We shall not travel the void any longer. I have had a vision from the Gods..."

Around the Imperial throne room the entire court gasped collectively. It had been millenia since the Yuuzhan Vong had started their journey across the galactic void. Uncountable generations had grown and died on the worldships. Now, after years of careful scouting, the Yuuzhan Vong had found a new home - the Milky Way Galaxy.

"The Gods came to me in a dream and told me that this galaxy is the chosen one for the Children of the Gods. It is the galaxy promised to the Yuuzhan Vong countless millenia ago. Truthfully, there are many peoples to be conquered. Powerful and weak. The Romulans. The Cardassians. Klingons. Those are but a few but they shall be first. We shall go forth and destroy them and take this galaxy as our own. It is our right. Our destiny!"

Canopus System

The massive Kor'Chokk Grand Cruiser emerged from dark space at the edge of the system. Around it were several Mi'id Ro'ik Cruisers and I'Friil Ma-Nat Frigates, the advance force of the entire Yuuzhan Vong civilization. They had been dispatched to clandestinely seize control of this Klingon (Romulan?) colony world to be used as a staging area for the invasion.

The small fleet slowly bore down on the tiny world, no communications were made. None were implicitly possible. The Yuuzhan Vong do not dabble in technology. To even touch technology is to blaspheme. The colonists did not stand a chance the fleet commander knew, but he proceeded cautiously. These people may have a few surprises. Turning his head to the right, Commander Lah spoke into a shoulder mounted villip while he surveyed the fleet from his personal quarters. "Sub-Commander, how long until the fleet reaches high orbit above the infidel world?"

"At present speed and course, 4 hours Commander." The tiny organism, taking the shape of the Sub-Commander's face, responded.

"Are there any signs of infidel vessels in the area?"

"No, Commander. I shall inform you immediately of anything."

"See that you do."

And so the fleet continued on it's course, slowly approaching the enemy world. Whether there would be resistance remained to be seen...

White Star 1, Scouting Mission at Klingon/Romulan Border
Skirting the edges of Klingon and Romulan territory, White Star One crept through the star system, watching yet another unknown race advance through the Milky Way Galaxy.

"Captain Ivanova, what are your orders?"

"Let's get as close as we can to the unknowns, don't let them detect us. Those look like biotech ships, which we know of no races that use biotech anymore due to the possible health issues. Engage stealth and bring us closer."

"Aye, Captain.." the navigation officer said with no small measure of doubt.

White Star One cruised in closer to the Vong fleet with full stealth on, making it nigh impossible for younger races of this galaxy to target her. However, races from other galaxies with more advanced technology, who knew what they could do. A measure of caution was warranted, so the White Star class stayed just outside of their believed sensor range. All weapons and shields were brought online, and the jump systems were kept ready. Most every crewmember was nervous about this encounter, as several unknown races had just appeared near Minbari space within the last few weeks. Another unknown species and the Minbari may just crack..

Canopus System

"Commander. We are detecting a single vessel approaching us. It would appear to be a frigate analog..."

Commander Lah turned his head to the villip on his shoulder. "Very well. I shall be on the bridge in a moment."

Moments later, Commander Lah was on the bridge, his head engulfed in a congnition hood and viewing the display of the approaching vessel. "Hm... It does not seem to be a threat. However, have two of our Mi'id Ro'ik cruisers break off from the group and investigate. Bring forth the villip for communicating with the infidels, I would speak to these infidels.."

"Yes Commander, it shall be done at once."

On the left of the Yuuzhan Vong formation two cruisers broke off on an intercept course with the approaching vessel. No fighters were launched and no true signs of hostility were made visible. At the same time a signal was broadcast toward the ship. Although more primitive in practice than technological communications, the villip still allowed for hazy visual communication as well as audio. The heavily tattooed and scarred face of the commander stared back at anyone receiving the signal. "Infidel vessel! Halt your movements and lower your blasphemous shields! You are encroaching upon Yuuzhan Vong claimed space and will be boarded. If you resist we shall destroy you!"

We'll destroy you whether you resist or not, infidel... The Commander thought, but did not say. Who knows, perhaps this would be easy...

White Star One
"Captain, they're demanding that we lower our shields and board us."

"Screw them. They're claiming Klingon space and want us to surrender? Power all of our weapons, get us maneuvering. Bring us onto the right side of their right vessel so when they open fire only one of their ships can hit us. Fire on my command."

The White Star accelerated to combat speeds quickly, angling itself to the right of their right vessel. It got itself into a position where it could fire it's massive-yield heavy quantum gravimetric cannon easily at the Yuuzhan Vong vessel, and the flight crews prepared the four Nial class heavy fighters.

"There should be a Sharlin and a couple Tinashis around this system, send the communication to them and get them the hell over here. Tell them that there's a hostile fleet that annexed a Klingon system.."

"Aye, Captain."

Ivanova was determined to have White Star One get the first shot in at the Yuuzhan Vong. As the nimble ship maneuvered around the Yuuzhan Vong cruiser analog, all the gunners waited for that ubiquitous order, the order that would change their lives for a long time. The beginning shots of the Minbari-Yuuzhan Vong war were fired by Capain Susan Ivanova of White Star One.

"Fire."

The quantum gravimetric cannon fired a huge yield shot at what appeared to be an unshielded area on the huge Vong vessel, and the White Star began pumping fire at it's opponent using all it's turrets. It began to circle around the vessel at a range of roughly 375,000 kilometers, making it far more difficult for the vessel further from the White Star to target it. The Nial class fighters were prepared to launch, but they weren't being launched until the unknown's weaponry were determined..

"So they shall fight? All the better, there is no honour in simple slaughter. Launch fighters and dispatch a Miid Ro'ik and two frigates to the area. They shall be destroyed. Do-ro'ik vong pratte!"

As the WS1 began it's attack, the two vessels begaun launching fighters, 60 to a ship and the right most ship returned fire as best it could. Projectiles from the ship's lava cannons criss-crossed space desperately hunting the enemy vessel. The larger vessel, in order to better shield itself, came to a dead stop and continued firing at the enemy vessel. No longer propelling the ship, the dovin basals concentrated entirely upon throwing up shielding singularities in front of enemy fire. Singularities large and small swallowed enemy fire, not all, but a good deal. What fire that did make it past the dovin basals impacted on the hull, gouging holes in the great ship's side. Painful, but not deadly.

The second ship, unable to fire for fear of hitting it's "wingmate" instead came to a stop and began to lock dovin basals on the enemy ship. Acting like a tractor beam, the gravity manipulating creatures attempted to bring the ship to a stop and drag it into a position of crossfire between the two cruisers.

At the same time the fighters were beginning to come into play. Swarming around and after the WS1, the tiny yorik-et fighters began their own barrage, firing at what appeared to be the ship's engines. Flying with perfect precision, thanks to the workings of the fleet's yammosk war coordinator, the coralskippers were able to attack from all sides simultaneously. The larger ships may pack a bigger punch than a single squadron of fighters, but 10 attacking at once were a force to be reckoned with.

OOC: Last post for tonight I think. I might stick around for one more.

As White Star One shuddered due to enemy fire, her shields remained mostly intact. Her four Nial class fighters launched and targetted the coralskippers, firing their neutron cannons at them. White Star One fired the main gun again in the same spot where the hull was pockmarked, and continued firing salvos at the side of the ship. The Yuuzhan Vong dovin basals were rather ineffective against the gravitic drives of the Minbari vessel, slowing it down a tad but not achieving the desired effect. Smaller point defense turrets fired at the coralskippers from the White Star One, destroying their KE weapons and attacking the smaller ships. Her deflector shields were down to about ninety-two percent of maximum value, and she could fight for a long time before reinforcements arrived.

Nearby Minbari Patrol, System 5 LY away

"Shai Alyt, White Star One has encountered a hostile alien race, reporting two large battleship-type vessels and she's engaging. Ivanova needs backup."

"We don't have much of a choice in this matter, do we, then? Signal the other Sharlin and our escorts, we're going in."

The two Sharlin class warcruisers quickly opened jump points and entered jump space, followed quickly by the four Tinashi class escorts. 5 LY was a fifteen minute cruise for this flotilla, and they collectively hoped there would be a White Star remaining when they showed up...

U.S.S. Ambassador
On its first mission...

"Admiral! Multiple alien ships have arived in the system!"
"Report!" Admiral Hood ordered. "Can you Identify them?"
"Negative," replied the science officer. "However, one group of ships apears to be biologically manufactured."
"Very well," said Hood. "Open a chan-"
"Sir! The aliens are opening fire on the second group!"
"Red Alert!" shouted Hood. "Raise shields! Contact Command and request reinforcements! Helm, move us in to protect the damaged ships."

The Ambassador, along with the Apollo and three Miranda-class cruisers moved between the engaging forces.


(ooc: got to go for tonight. will be back. )

"Waaaaaagh!"
The distinctive orky warcry was blasted across every frequency as a medium fleet consisting of a battlekroozer, five kill kroozers, two terror ships, thirteen onslaughts, seven savages, three ravagers, sixteen brutes, and a rok charged into the midst of the battle. It ought to be enough to take on both fleets, but not at the same time and not if they used good anti-ork techniques, which they were hopefully unaware of.

The first target was the Minbari. The orks advanced as quickly as their shoddy engines allowed, firing salvoes from their prow guns and torpedoes, some pathetic and inflicting damage more slowly than could be repaired, some respectable volleys, and some reaking massive havoc as differant guns came on and off line, or were hastily upgraded.

Terror ships launched clouds of fighta bombas, which ranged ahead to attack, along with little mobs of Onslaught gunships escorting the Ravagers to close range where there unreliable torpedo fire would be most effective. Brutes accompanies them, then broke away, activating huge banks of thrusters to smash their armoured beaks into the enemy, while more onslaughts, together with the savages, clustered around the larger ships for mutual protection.

OOC-I'm going to RP like I have captured UNSC and Covenant ships.

Captured UNSC Halcyon Class Cruiser
The bridge was choked with the Flood's green fog that seemed to be wherever they were. At the front was a huge blob, it gurgled, somehow it was controlling the ship and the flood that inhabited it. Huge vains spiraled from it's body all across the room. Human combat forms roamed around, without meaning.
Their only reason for being there was to spread. They were to multiply. The alien star ships in the area were perfect. Unspoked orders were sent. The Flood combat forms packed into UNSC Longsword fighters, each of which had it's own blobby brain form.
The large ship drifted into an area where several other forces were fighting.

Blam!

A MAC gun fired through space, aimed at an Orkish ship. At the same time, a Covenant battlecruiser, also captured by the Flood, moved in. Phantom's were packed and sent to land in enemy ships.

The Flood would spread.

Exterior - Alliance Space - Klingon Sectors

Sensor stations located along the border of Alliance space near Romulan claimed territory had picked up energy signatures similar to those usually associated with ships in the disputed Canopus star system.

Operating under the assumption that the Romulans were attempting to annex the system for use as a possible staging point into Alliance space, Chancellor Gokon had ordered a wing of Vor'Chas to the system at maximum warp.

The three attack cruisers departed from Klach D'Kel Brakt. They had arrived early enough to catch part of the battle between the Vong craft and the Whitestar (OOC: Technically, the Whitestar class is an Interstellar Alliance ship and Ivanova would be a EA and ISA character).

Canopus Star System - I.A.S. Toh'Kaht - Bridge

"HaSta!"

Captain Kor turned in his chair to face the tactical console after his order to activate the main viewscreen had been followed

"Tactical, report!"

"Sensors are reading a battle taking place between ships of unkown design."

"Romulan?"

"Unknown. They aren't in our databanks."

Kor swiveled back to face the main screen.

"Any that look similar to Romulan?"

"One."

"Show me. Put it on the viewer."

The tactical officer nodded. A little work at his console switched the display on the main viewer from a zoomed out overall look at the battle in general to a zoomed in tracking display of the Whitestar, which, due to its duble hull design, was very similar in design to the D'Deridex class warbird.

Kor snarled and roared, "Analysis of their weapons!"

The tactical officer replied, "They appear to be unkown type. The ship also appears to be supported by several much larger ships."

"How large?"

"More than twice our length."

The screen switched to show one of the Sharlins.

"Interesting design."

"It is. Would make for a glorious honor if we were to kill it."

"Agreed. Tactical, arm weapons. Helm, prepare to take us in."

Both indicated officers nodded and set about doing as they had been ordered.

Exterior

The three cloaked Vor'Chas came about from their position in an orbit five-thousand kilometers outside the system's Oort Cloud. With Kor's ship in the lead, they stealthily made their way towards the targeted Sharlin.

OCC: Unless I state otherwise, assume all my dialouge is in Klingon for now. I'm not going to look up every word and phrase, but I'll spice things up with some actual Klingon now and then.

The MAC round blew straight through the flickering power fields of one one the Onlslaughts, dampened, but by no means stoped, and impacted heavily with the hull, blowing bulkheads, starting fires, and generally messing up the ship, which exploded. Quite spectacularly.
"Buggrit, more ships. Send some landas and fighta-bombas to distract 'em."
The battlekroozer and the terror ships emptied their bays, while the fighters already launched began to patrol around the fleet. Swarms of agile orc fighta-bombas began to hurtle towards the flood, equipped with the mobility and weapons for dogfighting, but enough heavy missiles to make respectable scars in a capital ship. Sprinkled in amongst them were landas, little more armoured delivery beaks with an engine and a mob of belligerant boyz thrown in, but lethal if there screaming green cargo could make it onto a ship and start rampaging, with no regard for their own lives. Some fightas formed escort screens around these boats, while other beganto hunt for flood fighters.
The capital ships, meanwhile, continued their viscios assault on the Minbari.

The Longsword fighters redirected towards the enemy fighters, at the same time, the MAC guns continued to fire on Orkish ships. Phantoms, packed full of Flood, started to try to land on the ships that were not fired on.

The other UNSC ship, a Marathon class cruiser, began firing it's MACs onto a Yuuzhan Vong ship. Landing parties and fighters were sent out to land on other Yuuzhan Vong ships.

The escorts began to scatter, regrouping behind the strong armour and power fields of the kroozas. The majority of ships used their turrets to bat away the phantoms, but those equipped with launch bays (most of which were simply cut out of the hull and had no doors) presented vulnerable targets, and vicious combat broke out in the hangars.

As the fightas continued their dogfights, the ork swung away from the Minbari and charged, concentrating their firepower on the Covenant vessel, at this range their 'eavy guns would inflict obscene damage.

In the hangars, Phantoms began dropping dozens of Flood combat forms, infection forms, and carrier forms. The warriors bagan firing their various human and covenant weapons, leaping great distances, and swarming. The Orks would have to watch out for the extremely numerous infection forms, which would try to turn any they touched into the Flood.

The Covenant cruiser's sheild sparked as it was hit, the many plasma turrets lining it bagan to fire on the Orkish fighters, Phantoms and Seriph fighters flew out of the hangars and began to fire. The gurgling brain forms that controlled them reacting at inhuman speed.

OOC: The fire from all those ships is gonna do plenty more than a shield spark. Plenty.
IC: "Waaaaaaagh!"
The orks battled desperately, killing anything in sight that wasn't green, their shootas blazing desperately. Although the big shootas and rokkit launchas mixed into the mobz were largely inneffective against the infection forms, the burna boyz were very distinctly not.

The ships continued their salvo, while the fightas returned from their escorting landas to the enemy ships and clustered defensively around their motherships, while, as the capital ships continued their withering fire, escort swarms attacked the UNSC ships, gunz, torpedoes, and repeated, brutal ramming should soon overwhelm the cruisers.

With the squeak of leather, Kor raised his hand. He clenched his hand into a fist to signal the dropping of the ship's cloak. Then, with a viscious jerk down, he ordered the selected triple fire torpedo tube that had been locked to fire. Due to the position of the Toh'Kaht, all three Photons would slam into the aft part of the targeted Sharlin's port fin.

"Open a channel."

"Channel open."

Attention alien vessel, you have entered space claimed by the Imperial Alliance. Stand down and surrender your vessel, or be destroyed.

With a quick chopping motion, Kor ordered the channel closed. The comms officer nodded as she did so. Kor knew full well that the message they had transmitted to the ship they had just shot at wouldn't go over so well. Though, if he managed to deal enough damage to them before being destroyed, the deaths of the crew under his command as well as his own would be honorable.

OOC-Sorry, don't know what your stuff is capable of.

The Sheilds sparked and went out in that section of the cruiser, a large hole opened up in the ships armor in that section. Seriph fighters bagan firing their plasma cannons and plasma torpedoes on the Ork fighters.

As combat forms were shot down, infection forms entered their fallen bodies and reawakened them. The combat forms would be able to fight until their torso was destroyed, or, if their arms were blown off, their legs. Carrier forms exploded, not only would they hurt the Orks, but they sent out dozens of infection forms. Several of them exploded in the middle of the Flood, sending other Flood forms flying. More and more Phantoms piled into the hangars as others left. Flood that were burnt became ineffective and were left behind.

Aproximately 50 million miles from the current battle

"Where in the galaxy are we?" asked the metallic voice of Carozzo Ronah.

"It is unclear, sir," came the reply from one of the XOs aboard the Zamouth Garr. "We hit some sort of temporal anomaly, is my guess, and ended up way out here."

"Well, let's at least try to find out where we are in this damned portion of the galaxy," replied Carozzo. "First, though: how many ships do we have with us?"

"We have the Zamouth Garr, twelve Zamouth Giris, fourty six Zamouth Jeths, and one hundred and fifty four Zamouth Nadas, your excellency," said the tactical officer.

"And how many mobile suits are they carrying, and what types?" asked Carozzo.

"Each Zamouth Nada is carrying three Den'an Zons and one Den'an Gei. The Zamouth Jeths are each carrying four Den'an Zons, one Berga Giros, and one Berga Dalas. The Zamouth Giris are each carrying six Den'an Zons and two Dahgi Iris. Finally, the Zamouth Garr is carrying four Den'an Geis, two Berga Dalas, two Berga Giros, and two Vigna Ghinas, as well as you personal unit, the Rafflesia, sir."

"Excellent," said Carozzo. His face emerged from the shadow of his command chair, showing his Darth Vader/Roman Legionary combination helmet come into view. "We're prepared, at least."

Total Forces

Zamouth Garr x1
-Rafflesia x1
-Vigna Ghina x2
-Berga Dalas x2
-Berga Giros x2
-Den'an Gei x4

Zamouth Giri x12
-Den'an Zon x72
-Dahgi Iris x24

Zamouth Jeth x46
-Den'an Zon x184
-Berga Giros x46
-Berga Dalas x46

Zamouth Nada x154
-Den'an Zon x462
-Den'an Gei x154

"Shai, we are detecting three seemingly cloaked vessels coming up on our port side. They have not decloaked. Orders?"

The Shai never got a chance to respond as the three ships decloaked. The three photon torpedos were targetted by the point-defense turrets of the Sharlin, and two were destroyed. A third slammed into the deflector field of the mighty battlecruiser, damaging it.

"Return fire! Fire the anti-matter cannon at the lead one there, order our escorts to launch all fighters and take out the Imperial Alliance ships. White Star One can survive."

The two Sharlin class battlecruisers targetted the lead Vor'Cha with the anti-matter cannons standard on every Sharlin, and unleashed a hellish salvo. Quickly following that were the main gravitic neutron cannon, eighteen on each ship. The smaller guns, Electromagnetic Neutron and Electromagnetic Fusion in type, targetted the other two Vor'Chas and sent scattered fired at the Orks, Yuuzhan Vong, and Flood ships. The four Tinashi class cruisers began acting as lighter point defense for the Sharlins, taking Orkish punishment and dealing it in the form of powerful Minbari weaponry. Yellow beams streaked across the void of space as the Minbari unloaded all possible punishment on the aggressors.

Thirty Nial class fighters dropped out of the hangars of the Sharlin class warcruisers, cruised over, ten per Vor'Cha, firing their heavy neutron guns without mercy. This impressive barrage of firepower would show the Klingons that the Minbari Federation was not to be trifled with..

Unimatrix One - Delta Quadrant
Several species of interest were in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants right now - notably, the Minbari, Yuuzhan Vong, Klingons, Orks, and the varying types of Humans. The Yuuzhan Vong were an unknown to the Collective, and the Collective believed their biotechnology would be a great step in the Collective's stride for perfections. Watching live videos of the battle from a small Borg scoutship in the system, the Borg Queen saw the free-for-all unfold as Minbari ships fired at everything in sight, the Yuuzhan Vong yorik coral getting plastered and cracked open, Orkish ships and Flood ships ramming each other in attempts to get boarding parties in. As this knowledge was added to the Hive Mind, the newest priority was to assimilate a member of the Yuuzhan Vong species to add his distinctiveness to the Collective.

One Borg Cube slowly moved away from a Borg facility deep in the Delta Quadrant, and accelerated into transwarp speeds, breaking all known speed barriers to warp. Crossing the seven thousand or so light years was simple for the Borg, as their transwarp technology was decades ahead of anything the lesser races had. The Borg Cube would drop out of transwarp one and a half light seconds from the battle thirty Earth minutes after leaving the Borg facility.

Half an hour came and went, and the Borg Cube dropped out of transwarp. It transmitted the ubiquitous Borg message to all vessels in the vicinity.

We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile

To show that the Borg meant business, the Cube fired it's cutting beam at the nearest ship, which happened to be a Flood-controlled UNSC Halcyon cruiser. It would by all certainty connect, they were the Borg after all. If it connected, it would slice the Halcyon in half..

A world of metal and countless torments lies amongst the damned worlds of the Eye of Terror; a world shaped and bound to the will of one of the most fearsome beings in all of existence. More fercocious than the Despoiler; madder than the hounds of hell itself. Black is the furnace of his heart where the smoulder flames burn; terrible is the hatred he holds for the holy Emperor of Terra. Yet atop the grandest of all the Towers of Medrengard; Perturabo waits.

An eye; driven insane by the continual sight of the warp-stained skies stares out from the Sorcerors World. Magnus the Red; insatiable in his hunger for power and knowledge; choking back the fury of a legion turned to automata by the pride of his protoge. This is the hungering maw of Tzeentch; the fetid heart of sorcerous Incant.

Angron roars in pitiless fury; emergent again into reality; howling his vengence against the servants of the False Emperor who forsook him; who banished him. He, the consumer of Worlds!

A demon infested whip slaps against red armor; a Chainaxe; Gorechild; bites at the gleaming, soul-chaining armor of its foe. Lucius the Eternal and Kharn the Betrayer strike each other in an endless war over yet another demon forsaken world. They stop; the cries of the Betrayer for blood ceasing; his maiming at an end. They both stare at the sky; as though hearing something.

Brooding within his mighty bastion; the Planet Killer; Abaddon strokes the blade at his side; the mighty Drach'nyen. He gazes out at the blazing tumult of the Eye; the limitless glories of the Manifest Gods; and he grits his teeth. Vengeance ought to be his; vengeance against the Imperium; against all the enemies beyond the Eye. This was their galaxy; a galaxy to be laid low before the manifold glories of Chaos. Yet he can be patient; and as each world within the Eye hears the psychic whispers that Ygethmor projects; he knows that his will shall be done. Demon, Mutant, Heretic and Cultist of every banner. He shall bind even the Primarchs together in war; he Abaddon; truest Son of Horus. He Warmaster, He Master of 13 Black Crusades. How much blood has he drawn like a serpent from the Imperium? How much torment has he brought upon the races of this fetid galaxy?

He shall feast once more...

Shadowing the orbit of a planet to avoid detection by gravitic sensors, a single cloaked Valdore Class Warbird watched in silence as the events before them unfolded. Upon sighting the borg vessel, she broke orbit and headed for Romulus at warp 9.6.

Once clear of the system, they opened a subspace channel to thier command. The captain of the warbird was suprised to be redirected to a live, emergency session of the Senate. They were given orders to set thier course for Earth and contact Starfleet Command...

Meanwhile, dozens of ships from all across the Neutral Zone were warping towards Romulus...

U.S.S. Ambassador
On its first mission...

"Borg cube in system!"
"Damn!" yelled Admiral Hood. "Contact Command! Get a fleet out here ASAP!"
"Sir! Incoming landing craft!" reported a lieutenant. "They're from the same group that attacked the other alien ships."
"Target phasers and fire!" ordered Admiral Hood. "Keep the shields up, they're ships are to small to penetrate."

"Shai, we are detecting three seemingly cloaked vessels coming up on our port side. They have not decloaked. Orders?"

The Shai never got a chance to respond as the three ships decloaked. The three photon torpedos were targetted by the point-defense turrets of the Sharlin, and two were destroyed. A third slammed into the deflector field of the mighty battlecruiser, damaging it.

"Return fire! Fire the anti-matter cannon at the lead one there, order our escorts to launch all fighters and take out the Klingons. White Star One can survive."

The two Sharlin class battlecruisers targetted the lead Vor'Cha with the anti-matter cannons standard on every Sharlin, and unleashed a hellish salvo. Quickly following that were the main gravitic neutron cannon, eighteen on each ship. The smaller guns, Electromagnetic Neutron and Electromagnetic Fusion in type, targetted the other two Vor'Chas and sent scattered fired at the Orks, Yuuzhan Vong, and Flood ships. The four Tinashi class cruisers began acting as lighter point defense for the Sharlins, taking Orkish punishment and dealing it in the form of powerful Minbari weaponry. Yellow beams streaked across the void of space as the Minbari unloaded all possible punishment on the aggressors.

Thirty Nial class fighters dropped out of the hangars of the Sharlin class warcruisers, cruised over, ten per Vor'Cha, firing their heavy neutron guns without mercy. This impressive barrage of firepower would show the Klingons that the Minbari Federation was not to be trifled with..

OOC: I said Imperial Alliance. Nowhere in that message was the word Klingon uttered.

IC: Due to the shear vehemance(sp?) of the Sharlin's attack, the shields of the lead Vor'Cha were partially overwhelmed in a matter of mere seconds. Those of the other two lasted a bit longer before losing shields, but they veared off with a few parting disrupter shots. Kor's ship, however, actually increased her foward velocity.

I.A.S. Toh'Kaht - Bridge

Smoke filled the air from damaged consoles. Dead warriors lay where they fell.

"Perhaps today is a good day to die!" roared Captain Kor, "Prepare for ramming speed!"

He looked over towards the helm console when he got no response from the helm officer. He growled as he saw that a rod of metal had been blasted through the officer's skull. Kor leaped from his seat and landed himself behind the helm console. With a few deft manipulations, he brought the dying ship to full impulse (0.25c) on a direct collision course with the attacking Sharlin.

"I'll see you all in Sto-vo-kor!"

Kor's last words echoed around the corpse laden bridge as the Vor'Cha rammed into the Sharlin in a massive fire ball as the matter/anti-matter reactor at the heart of the ship went critical during the destruction caused by the impact.

OOC: No problemo. At long range, their unreliable rust buckets, but close in, they reak havoc. That's a good enough general rule.
IC: "Waaaaagh! Waaaaaagh!"
The orks continued their battle, but their numbers were dwindling, fast, and already, mutilated greenish-brown ork combat forms began to appaer. One brainy nob ordered the idle burna boyz to dispose of ork corpses, while another took very deperate measures.
"We iz loozin enuff fightas dat we can looz dis hanga. Pile up lots o bombz and go-faster juice."
Meks scurried to obey, and as the orks abandoned the hanga, a nutta boy was shoved into the fuel air bomb with a detonater.

BOOM!

Landas, realising that there wasn't enough room for all of them, began suicidal attacks on the hangars of a UNSC Halcyon, readying to deploy mobs of burnas, nuttas, 'ard boyz, and others who would inflict plenty of damage if they got aboard.

To the borg, Warboss Darzum Gut-Chewa, commander of the detachment, transmitted:

"Fanks for da help, but we aint surrenderin no kultaural dist... dits... woteva it woz you sed!"

IC-
The explosion killed most of them. But, it would damage the ship as well. Phantoms began to crash themselves into areas of the ship, once they crashed in, the Flood poured out. If they didn't make it, it was no loss. They had plenty.

Dozens upon dozens of Flood poured in to attack the Orks. Uncountable amounts of infection forms swarmed around the Orks, jumping on their backs and covering them. The combat forms let out an barrage of gunfire on the Orks, then quickly charged, tentacles swinging. They were moving fast, and were leaping high and far.

U.S.S. Ambassador
On its first mission...

"Landing craft are still coming, sir," reported the weapons officer.
"Continue tracking the Borg Cube," ordered Hood. "I want to know every move it makes."
"Sir! the Cube has opened fire in one of the aliens!" shouted the sensor opperator.
"Admiral! Command has sent the 3rd fleet to support us," reported the communications officer.
"Hold position until the fleet arrives," ordered Hood. Repeat our message to the damaged ships.

(ooc: message to Upper Weston)

This is Admiral Hood of the United Federation of Planets. We are on a peaceful test mission. Do you require assistance?

IC: "Dis is krazy. Wot 'av we lost?"

"Maybe three Onslaughts, coupla Savages, an' a brute or two. And da Big Shooty Thing just blew up wun of its hangas."

"Dey should 'av taken losses by now. I can only count three ships out dere."

The Kill-kroozers maintained their salvo against the Covenant, while the escorts fired on the Halcyon the Borg weren't hitting. Although short ranged, the 'eavy gun had two advantages over a regular gun: power and reliability. You couldn't go wrong when your gun was that kind of size. All remaining fightas had been recalled, and were hunting Phantoms along the hulls of the cruisers.

On one of the Halcyons, orks rampaged through the halls, "waaaaghing!" and blazing. Shoota fire bounced around the halls, burnas engulfed whole corridors, and nutta-boyz leapt into plasma machinery, waving stik-bombz and screaming "Viva le Waaaaagh!". They did some very strange things, nutta boyz, thought Sarjent Bigtoof, second storm-boyz kompanies, "Da Big Stiks Dat Hit Stuff", as he let fly with his shoota. Similar things were happening on the orkish ships, although there they were making a small effort not to blow too many holes in the walls. A small effort.

Somewhere within Minbari-controlled space...

The Crossbone Vanguard had been travelling for days. However, their fuel supplies were running low. There was no telling how long their fuel reserves would hold out.

The fleet continued, oblivious as to where they were headed.

Bridge of the Kor'Chokk Legacy of Torment

"More and more ships of varying makes and allegiances continue to arrive, Commander!"

"Are any firing on us?"

"Just our original foe and a smaller vessel of differing origin. The others are fighting each other. One vessel of interest is this one, nearly 3km across. They broadcast this on their blasphemous communications: 'We are the Borg....'."

"Ha! These "Borg" evidently don't know the Yuuzhan Vong! But perhaps they shall prove to be worthy foes yet. Our task force shall continue attacking the original vessel (WS1), the rest of the fleet target this Borg..."

Canopus System at Large

The battle against WS1 continued to heat up. The three Miid Ro'ik vessels continued to fire at WS1, no doubt taking it's toll on the vessel's shields and hull. Coralskippers broke off from attacking the ship and began to engage the small contingent of Minbari fighters. The tiny agile fighters, acting once more in perfect precision would have easily flown circles around the larger Minbari fighters. At the same time the pair of frigates positioned themselves on either side of WS1 and began firing volley after volley of concentrated fire into the infidel ship.

The rightmost Miid Ro'ik continued to take damage but nothing disabling. Dovin basals continued to absorb much of the incoming fire. The ship reported it's pain to the captain but continued to obey it's master and return fire. It was fighting for it's life.

The UNSC attack came as a bit of a surprise, but the Yuuzhan Vong reacted quickly. Dovin basals redirected to block enemy fire and the targeted cruiser turned it's attention on the Marathon cruiser and opened fire. Volley after volley of lava cannon fire rained down on the UNSC vessel. Boarding parties send after Yuuzhan Vong ships would have found a nasty surprise waiting for them - there was no hangar or external port in which to land. The hull was closed off. All that greeted them were shielding singularities and lava cannon blasts.

Across the system, the other 40 odd vessels of the advance force turned in unison on the Borg Cube. The Borg, half-machine half-organic and by far the most technological of races in this galaxy were the epitomy of blasphemy. They were the most hated of hated infidels. Any being that grafted technology to itself deserved no less than a slow, horrible death.

Coralskippers were launched, some 500 or more, and directed in swarms at the Borg Cube. Targeting specific points on the hull, one hundred or more fighters poured fire into five seperate points on the hull, ripping their way inside in an attempt to locate vital areas of the ship. At the same time, the capital ships opened fire, blasting the side of the Borg vessel closest to them with a single perfectly timed volley. Every ship fired in unison, thousands of plasma/lava projectiles hurtled across space at the Borg Cube, impacting simultaneously. A few seconds later, another volley, then another. On and on and in perfect unison. Not even the Borg were as coordinated as Yuuzhan Vong vessels under the influence of a yammosk. No amount of adaptation could stop a lava projectile from burning it's way into the core of the Cube. Soon it would resemble a 3km wide piece of swiss cheese more than a starship...

OOC-Nova, you kind of ignored the fact that I had like 50 Flood swamp into the place where you landed.. and that is just combat forms. Then there are carriers and tons upon tons of infections..

The Borg Cube's shields took the pounding with remarkable resiliance, shielding held for the intial bombardment and the fight had only just begun for the Yuuzhan Vong. The Hive Mind had immediately determined that one Cube was insufficient for this, so ten more had been dispatched from various Borg facilities in the Delta Quadrant to reinforce the one in this system already. The Cube, while taking enough fire to annihilate worlds, opened fire. Cutting beams larger in diametre than the coralskippers would slice them in half, while other skips were grabbed with Borg tractor beams and begun to pull them in, and they would be pulled into Borg hangars and dissected.

More fire came in, and the Borg managed to adapt themselves to the heat damage of the lava cannons by changing their shields, however, the kinetic impact of the lava could not be adapted to fully. Shield adaptation complete - 10% of kinetic impact cancelled out, Hive Mind unable to adapt further. 95% of heat damage to shields cancelled out - Further adaptation needed.

Cutting beams lanced out at the larger Yuuzhan Vong vessels, in seemingly random patterns to avoid the dovin basals so observed by the scoutship. Massive borg torpedos shot from all launchers on every side of the Cube, targetting the biggest threats, the Yuuzhan Vong capital ships. The ten-cube reinforcement force would be there shortly, to capture the Yuuzhan Vong and add their distinctiveness to the Hive..

OOC: Ten Borg Cubes! Crud. Well, it was nice knowing you guys. *Sits back to watch the Borg's overkill fleet assimilate the Canopus star system and everything in it*
@Empiricalis: I don't recall the Borg having shields in TNG or First Contact, but some kind of electromagnetic field. In First Contact, they showed all weapons hitting the Cube's hull directly.
@All: Only way I see of the Borg not assimilating everything is for everyone to band together and fight them, then they may loose.

IC: Captain Klar, commander of the least damaged Vor'Cha, and now commanding officer for what was left of the wing of ships, shouted, "Damage report!"

"Ventral weapons systems have been either disabled or destroyed," reported the tactical officer, "one hundred have gone to Sto-vo-kor, our sister ship has lost her port nacelle and can't go to warp. There is also a Borg Cube incoming."

"Bring us about, but send a transmission informing High Command what happened here."

The comm officer nodded and set to work sending the message.

In the meantime, as the two moderately damaged Vor'chas came about, Klar's bridge crew broke into song as they prepared to engage the worst enemy known to the galaxy, the Borg.

The captain of the more heavily damaged Vor'Cha broadcast an open message on all frequencies so everyone in the system could here it:

May your deaths be glorious ones. An honorable death in battle assures that we will meet again to do battle in the halls of Sto-vo-kor.

With that, both Vor'Chas accelerated as fast as they could toward the Cube with every weapon they had left blasting away. Klar's ship hung back, as he had a special plan. If anyone was equipped to detect it, they would see his ship's warp core was being taken to levels it wasn't designed to handle.

"Shai, the lead Vor'Cha has taken severe damage, they're heading at us at max spee-" the targetting officer said quickly, before being cut off by a massive explosion across the port bow. The Sharlin class's deflectors failed on the Vor'Cha ramming it, and the massive kinetic impact crippled the ship. Explosions wreaked through the vessel, killing crewmembers left and right. The quantum energy core of the ship finally went postal and exploded, wiping every trace of it from the galaxy in a massive explosion that turned all the viewers bright white.

"Shai, the other Sharlin has been destroyed, the High Command advises we pull out."

"I must agree. All ships in the vicinity are to pull out, retreat to Minbari space."

The look on the Minbari soldier's faces were that of shock and horror. None of the younger races had destroyed a Sharlin for decades, since the Earth Alliance had fired on the Black Star unprovoked, causing the Minbar-Earth war.

White Star One was being brutalized by the withering Yuuzhan Vong fire. Upon the order to retreat, it fired some last parting shots at the Yuuzhan Vong vessels, opened a jump point, and entered jump space. The fighters quickly followed, whatever ones were left of them.

The loss of the Sharlin had sobered the Minbari, it began a massive movement to mobilize the military for war. Thousands of Sharlin class, Tinashi class, and Nial class fighters were mobilized and put on patrols along Minbari frontiers, and the production of the White Star was stepped up dramatically.

The Federation prepared for War, War against those who attacked Her...

Above, fleets warred, fighting and dieing. Below, nothing. No signs of life, no air, no atmosphere.

Nothing.

And yet there was life, or a semblence thereof. There was motion, and eery silence. Life in dath. Mechanical beings beyond any pain.

The Necrons had roused.

Warriors and Immortals stride the halls, a mighty Destroyer Lord floats in terrible majesty. Scarab Swarms move across the landscape, Tomb Spyders and menacing Wraiths hover among the assembling army, as the first ships begin to lift.

Jackals and Dirges flitted among the rising mass of the Tomb Fleet, cruisers and Harvest ships lifted to space, all surrounding one mighty titan: a single massive Tomb Ship. Dwarfing even the largest of the other ships in system, the powerful vessel had the ability to simply crush entire squadrons under its massive guns.

Now the small Tomb Fleet rose from the planet, coming to life and preparing for the Harvest. It was time to feed.

With the Minbari retreat, the Yuuzhan Vong vessels engaging them turned their attention to the UNSC vessel attacking them. Dovin basals reached out and tugged at shields, gently at first but quickly escalating to tearing, doing everything they could to rip the shields right off the vessel. At the same time the fighters began to swarm like bees around the ship, attacking from all sides without regard to casualties. Coralskippers damaged beyond repair dove into the vessel in a final act of destruction. The larger ships poured fire into the cruiser and manouvered to surround it.

Facing the Borg Cube, the rest of the fleet continued to pour volley after volley into the Cube, disregarding casualties and damage. Coralskippers were blown to pieces in tens or twenties but still swarmed, desperately attacking this most disgusting of blasphemies. The capital ships took their own casualties as well, a half dozen frigates were broken in half by Borg fire and a pair of Miid Ro'ik cruisers disintegrated under fire from Borg torpedoes, but still they fought. The fleet, realizing that an attempt to envelope the Cube on all sides was doomed, instead manuevered to a single side and concentrated on destroying it.

Legacy of Torment

"The vessel is taking immense damage by our estimations, but still fighting. It's resilience is incredible. We may not be able to destroy it, Commander."

The Commander stood at the forward viewing portal on the bridge, watching the destructive display of the battle and listened to the report of his second officer. "You may be correct... Summon the Master Shaper, I would speak to him immediately."

Moments later the Master Shaper was present on the bridge. A high ranking member of his caste, the caste responsible for creating and maintaining the Yuuzhan Vong's servants, the Master Shaper may well prove useful in this instance. "You summoned me, Commander?"

"Yes. Tell me, have we any of your caste's terraforming ingredients aboard?"

"We do, Commander. Enough to seed a planet. Why do you ask?"

"We have creations capable of devouring the infidel's "metal", correct?"

"Of course."

"Have the Hunters prepare their landing craft. They shall surrender to these Borg..."

"Surrender? Surely you jest?"

"Have you no strategic sense? It is a deception. These Borg will take their landing craft aboard, but the craft will be seeded with your creations. Their vessel will be devoured from the inside out."

"A most brilliant deception, Commander."

"Indeed, now see to it."

Minutes later the vessels were launched, filled with Hunters - the elite of the warrior caste. A simple message was broadcast to the Borg Cube. These men wished to surrender. Wished to add their "distinctiveness" to the collective. Should the plan work, the Borg would add far more to their collective than they thought...

The Yuuzhan Vong onboard the Hunter vessel would find themselves in trouble. After sending the message, numerous Borg transporters locked on to the Yuuzhan Vong Hunters in their ship and transported them in to the main assimilation rooms in the Cube. They would see themselves strapped down heavily, to the point where they could not move one muscle an inch without running afoul of their restraints. They could not kill themselves to avoid assimilation. Their plan had failed, and the Borg had got what it wanted...Yuuzhan Vong Drones.

As the Vong watched, a Drone with a tube filled with Borg nanoprobes approached. He held the tube firmly against the neck of the Vong, and inserted, sending thousands of microscopic Borg into the cardiovascular system of the Yuuzhan Vong. He turned grey, as the nanoprobes spread throughout his system. The nanoprobes, each about the size of a human red blood cell, latched onto Yuuzhan Vong cells and rewrote their DNA, forcing the cells to construct new pathways for the Borg's purposes. Electrical systems and neural pathways constructed themselves quickly, as another Drone brought forth the optical system. The Vong Hunter, once a proud and mighty Yuuzhan Vong Hunter, watched as the drill came screaming at his eye to adapt his systems to the Borg..

Outside the Cube, the battle continued with a vengeance. Far away from where their comrades were being assimilated and added to the Collective, the Cube's armour was pockmarked, as shields had failed in portions and had not been resuscitated. Lava chewed through layers of Borg armour and stopped, as a fresh lava blast replaced it. The front of the vessel looked like an inferno, burning armour and craters the size of asteroids. However, internally, the vessel was in fine fighting condition. The Borg used so many redundant systems and had armour so thick that it could take nearly any sort of bombardment and survive. The total combat capacity of the Cube at this point was approximated at 85%, and the ten-cube reinforcement force were coming soon.

Offensively, the Borg rotated so it's previously top side was now the side facing the Yuuzhan Vong, and the carnage restarted with a vengeance. Cutting beams lanced out at the believed flagship of the Yuuzhan Vong, firing in half-dozens at a time, capable of slicing lesser ships in half. Borg torpedos attacked with a vengeance, seeking out coralskippers and frigate analogs to destroy. Knowledge of fighting Yuuzhan Vong was increasing by the minute as the assimilation of the Hunters proceeded, areas of the ships without dovin basals were targetted with the cutting beams especially. A tractor beam lanced out at an unmolested coralskipper and hauled it in closer to the Cube, aiming to transport it in and obtain a fully operational Yuuzhan Vong combat ship to study.

"Clever. But no matter, they will learn nothing from our men..."

Aboard the Cube, as the Hunters were strapped down in order to be assimilated, each one bit down on a hollow tooth in the back of each one's mouth. Filled with a poison many times deadlier than cyanide, each false tooth burst and the poison immediately killed the Hunter. The Yuuzhan Vong are not so easily captured. Suicide does not require arms or legs to succeed. Unfortunately for one warrior, however, his poison failed to work and he was left alive. Pain did not matter to him. Pain was life. His anguish came from seeing the blasphemous technology enter his body. The mental stress was enough to drive him insane. Most of his knowledge was tainted by this insanity, destroying much of the information the Borg would have gotten, but not all.

As the Borg Cube rotated, the Yuuzhan Vong fleet shifted it's fire to the new side. Fire was concentrated on areas where enemy fire was coming from. More casualties were suffered but still the fleet fought on. Surrender and retreat were unknown to the Yuuzhan Vong. Even if the whole fleet perished here, they would still not retreat. Fire was poured into this new side, it would be destroyed or the whole Yuuzhan Vong fleet would die trying.

As a single coralskipper was grabbed by the tractor beam, it's pilot ordered the living vessel to overload it's plasma cannon. Within seconds the cannon exploded, destroying the vessel and it's pilot. There would be no more prisoners.

There was battle. What to do?

Harvest.

Feed.

Destroy...

The Tomb Ships massive bulk moved toward the first of the cubes. They seemed to be the less numerous of the foes. Easy prey.

Gauss batteries glowed with a sickening green light, and strange arcs of energy could be observed within the weapons. Moments later, they fired. Bolts of verdant energy shattering the vaccuum as they ripped towards the opposing fleets. Harvesters moved with eerie grace towards the cubes. Each turned towards a different foe, unleashing their own guns on the bizarre craft. Cruisers supported their larger bretheren in their attacks, firing madly into the hulking cubes.

On board the Tomb Ship something stirred. Older than all the others, the Tomb Lord directed this battle with mechanical precision. Immortals and Warriors prepared themselves for battle, such as they could. Wraiths and Flayed Ones flexed their claws, waiting for the moment to strike.

It came. Necrons disappeared from their places on the ship, sent to assault those Cubes that they could not engage with their own vessels. Forces 20 strong appeared on 4 cubes. Immortals and Warriors Gauss weapons glowed unpleasently in the dimly lit pasages of the Cube. Wraiths seemed to fade from sight as the scuttling Flayed Ones advanced through the passages. When they encountered Drones, things would begin to become ugly.

Unfortunately for the Necrons, the Borg had transporters as well. All the detected Necrons that had boarded the Cubes were immediately transported into open space, as they were deemed a threat to the Collective. There would be no intrusions into Borg Cubes for the Necrons, and the Borg would constantly adapt their shields to prevent Necron incursions. The gauss beams impacted the shields of the Cubes, draining them instantly and chewing apart metres of armour before the shields snapped back up, this time adapted better to the gauss weaponry. With every attempt to destroy the Borg, they got stronger..

Cutting beams lanced out at the Necron warships, as the original Cube streaked by the Yuuzhan Vong flagship, taking lava cannon fire and returning with cutting beam and Borg torpedo fire. It's shields had been depleted on another side, and it rotated to face with another side and continued fire. The knowledge obtained by the assimilated Vong warrior told them of the Caste system, and the newest Borg priority was to assimilate a member of the Shaper caste. Tractor beams targetted coralskippers indiscriminately, knowing now that their warriors would self-destruct the ships upon being hit with the tractor beam.

The ten Cubes fought a holding action against the Necrons as now the original, damaged Cube sought out it's original target, a Yuuzhan Vong shaper. Once that was obtained, the Borg would go home. They entered Warp speed, moving faster than light ahead at the Necrons. They dropped out of warp behind and above the Necron flagship, and they targetted it with streaking blows of cutting beams and torpedos, wanting to open a hole it in that they could exploit with hundreds of thousands of Drones..

So...they adapted. One was badly damaged...chewed even, by the fire of the strange living fleet. Let them adapt to what could be thrown at them by the Harvesters blades. One moment the Harvest Ship was there, a moment later, it was just a few hundred meters from the Borg Cube, and moving swiftly towards the battered face. It could simply embed itself in the hull, and CHEW its way out with its Gauss weaponry, from inside the defenders shields.

The cutting beams did indeed slam home, and they sliced through the Necrodermis hulls of the ships as they were designed to do, but that was all that was normal about this battle. Immediately the hulls began to repair themselves, in time the rift would be fully repaired, and whatever drones had made it onto the ship would be trapped, surrounded, and destroyed by the mighty weapons of the Tomb Lord and his followers.

Those Necrons condemmed to Hard Vaccuum did not suffer for it. How could they that did not breathe be destroyed by lack of air? They that needed no heat be slain by bitter cold? How could those that did not die be killed like simple mortals?

Again and again the powerful Gauss weapons of the Necrons blasted through space, Lightning Arcs hammered away at Borg defenses, and aboard the Tomb Ship, a massive buildup of energy warned of coming devastation. Destruction and Harvesting was the order of todays battle. They would not be denied.

Captin Gaines looked the ships from something called the "Federation" and thought.

"I must admit Captain, I've never heard of you before."

The large vessel appeared out of nowhere and slowed down with X-Wings and smaller carriers following the flag ship. The crew inside were rocked from the sudden stop out of coming out of hyper space. The Captain stood up and looked around.

"Reports on our position?"

The pilot called back the status. "All engienes O.K., sir. We are slowly entering an unknown sector. We should be- wait."

"What is it, pilot?" asked the Captain.

"We are picking up multiple targets about 200 clicks away, sir. But theirs one little problem, sir. They aren't Imperial OR Rebel."

"... Well, what are they than?" The captain became impatient.

"I don't know, sir. There seems to be some activity there. Should we see what it is or go around it?"

"Drift towards the site. I'll see if we can pick up any transmissions."

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

"This is a messege to all units in this area. My name is Captain Thomas of the 8th Rebel army fighting against the Empire. We come in peace. If you provoke us, we will use action. We ask, who are you?"

OOC: Well I had plenty of Orks in the hangar bay you landed in, what with landas being one of its main craft, and remember, since landas have breaching gear, they can go through the hull almost anywhere. Not to mention that you've "kinda ignored" by rabid, constant salvoes from several Kill-kroozers.
IC: The gunnery assault continued, huge shells hurtling through space at the little flood ships. As hangar after hangar followed the example of Big Shooty Fing, the flood would have nowhere to land, and would have to try some other boarding technique. But there were lots more people in system now. Fortunately, many were fighting the same as him, but not all. He would loot these hulks and go.

"Mek, you got shields from da curvy wun?"
"No boss."
"Then send in Kommandies with tellyporta teknologee and whack their boss."
"Right away."

Orks were the finest tellyporters in the 40K galaxy, not even mars could match their prowess. As soon as a ships shields went down, it was vulnerable. A glow appeared on the bridge of the Covenant ships, and formed into several Bloodaxe Kommandos, who set about nything they could find alive.

"It is time, my warriors. You have fought bravely today and we will all die well. I will see you all in Sto-vo-kor."

Klar was walking around the wreck of his bridge giving one final assurance to the young warriors that had come to the bridge to replace those that had died. Klar grunted as he eventually returned to his seat.

"Engage!"

At his command, the power of the warp core, now operating at 186%, was channeled directly to the nacelles. While this would destroy the systems inside, the ship was still sent to a speed no Vor'Cha had ever obtained before. The ship slammed into the closest side of the Borg Cube the Vong were fighting at Warp 9.998. The other Vor'Cha would work on cleaning up any debris of the Cube left that still fought back.

"sir"
"yes private"
"we've picked up a message from the 8th army reporting some kind of battle going on about 450 cliks starboard"
"Send a reply, This is the 5th army fighting the empire, We are currently holding position outside your sector. We are battle ready if needed and are awaiting your report, Commander Jonler"
"what do we have left after the last engagement private"
"well us the flagship, four cruisers and three battleships. about 100 x-wings and about 60 y-wing bombers. And a handfull of b-wings sir"
"Hold position private, we may be here a while

"sir"
"yes private"
"we've picked up a message from the 8th army reporting some kind of battle going on about 450 cliks starboard"
"Send a reply, This is the 5th army fighting the empire, We are currently holding position outside your sector. We are battle ready if needed and are awaiting your report, Commander Jonler"
"what do we have left after the last engagement private"
"well us the flagship, four cruisers and three battleships. about 100 x-wings and about 60 y-wing bombers. And a handfull of b-wings sir"
"Hold position private, we may be here a while

OOC: Fubaba, you have to sign-up in the OOC thread first.
http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=480567

The warbird dropped out of warp near the Oort cloud of the Sol system and sent out a transmisson.

"The is the Imperial Romulan Warbid Valdore hailing Starfleet command on Priority One Diplomatic Channel:
We have detected borg activity!!!!, as well as other unknown alien activity in the Canopus System, sending sensor data. We are worried the borg are moving on the Alpha and Beta Quadrants and request full support of the Federation and its allies. We are massing our fleet and will rendevous near the Thaylock Nebula near the Neutral zone."

The ship did not wait for a reply before warping out at top speed.

to Upper Weston

Your ships appear damaged. Do you require assistance?



to The Phoenix Milita

To: Admiral Romano, U.S.S. Challenger NCC-76211
Commander, 5th Fleet
From: Starfleet Command
Subject: Orders
Take your fleet to the Thaylock Nebula and make contact with the Romulans. You must join them in stopping the Borg. Additional ships are currently unavailable. Good luck.
Adm. Paris

Captain Thomas sat in his seat looking on in his Corvette. He looked on the radio and saw the many dots running around on the screen. Then out of no where a huge explosion happend and it rocked the ship.

"What the Hell was that?" screamed Thomas.

"I'm not sure, sir. It seems to be heavy activity in that area. Orders?"

"Hold position. We don't want to get caught up in this since we don't know who's fighting or for what reasons. Let's hold here, send out that messege again. Maybe some friendlys here can help us get out."

Minbari Grey Council, Sharlin-Class Warcruiser
"This meeting of the Grey Council was precipitated by the catastrophic events in the Canopus system. White Star One encountered several vessels of a race now known as the Yuuzhan Vong, bent on conquering the disputed Klingon/Romulan territory. White Star One opened fire on a Yuuzhan Vong vessel three times her size, and seriously damaged the vessel. Reinforcements were sent in the form of two Sharlin warcruisers and four Tinashi warfrigates, and several other races joined the melee, including a race now known as the Borg, and the Imperial Alliance ships, we believe they were Klingon in design. After an Imperial Alliance Vor'Cha rammed into the Sharlin, destroying it, our fleet withdrew. This meeting," the warrior caste representative in the Grey said, "will determine the future of the Minbari military in these times. It is my personal belief that we begin a massive shipbuilding and research program to bring our technology up to par with the Yuuzhan Vong, Borg, and this new race that is pounding the Borg. If we do not take heed of these threats, and if we remain as complacent as we are, the Borg will overrun us. If not the Borg, the Yuuzhan Vong. If not the Vong, then this race that preliminary reports are calling 'Necrons'. We must act!"

The other two Warrior Caste representatives clapped hard, as that speech represented the entire Caste's view on these new battles in the Canopus system. The leader of the Grey, a religious caste member named Delenn, said, "My opinion is that we should align ourselves with the younger races to fight off these threats, the Federation, the Romulans, the Covenant, and the Imperium of Man. We must stand together, for if we stand alone, we will fall alone. We may have thousands of ships, but the Borg are reputed to have millions, and the Yuuzhan Vong, Valen only knows. We cannot stand alone!"

"The Worker Caste will defer to the wishes of the Religious Caste in this situation, we share the belief that we must suck our pride in and ally with the Young, because the Old are no longer around to help us. However, we also agree with the Warrior Caste, that we must build more ships and begin researching larger warships. The pride of Minbar, the Sharlin class, pales in comparison to the Borg Cubes, or even to the Yuuzhan Vong warships. I have assigned hundreds of scientists and engineers to designing the next Minbari capital ship, codenamed Victory."

"We will vote on this matter later, Grey. We have detected a large number of what appear to be spacecraft carrying warships in this system." Delenn said, looking at her screen.

The Sharlin class entered jump space slowly, appearing again one light-second ahead of the large Crossbone Vanguard fleet.

"Shai, we have detected two-hundred thirteen ships of varying sizes, led by a larger flagship. Initial scans of the interiors indicate that humans are onboard, however, the vessels themselves are completely unlike any other Human vessel. We have not recieved scans back from the interior hangars of these carriers."

"Open a channel to the flagship of the fleet."

"Yes, Shai. Open."

"Unknown vessels. This is Minbari Federation space, identify yourselves or we will blow you out of space."

Minbari Grey Council, Sharlin-Class Warcruiser
"This meeting of the Grey Council was precipitated by the catastrophic events in the Canopus system. White Star One encountered several vessels of a race now known as the Yuuzhan Vong, bent on conquering the disputed Klingon/Romulan territory. White Star One opened fire on a Yuuzhan Vong vessel three times her size, and seriously damaged the vessel. Reinforcements were sent in the form of two Sharlin warcruisers and four Tinashi warfrigates, and several other races joined the melee, including a race now known as the Borg, and the Imperial Alliance ships, we believe they were Klingon in design. After an Imperial Alliance Vor'Cha rammed into the Sharlin, destroying it, our fleet withdrew. This meeting," the warrior caste representative in the Grey said, "will determine the future of the Minbari military in these times. It is my personal belief that we begin a massive shipbuilding and research program to bring our technology up to par with the Yuuzhan Vong, Borg, and this new race that is pounding the Borg. If we do not take heed of these threats, and if we remain as complacent as we are, the Borg will overrun us. If not the Borg, the Yuuzhan Vong. If not the Vong, then this race that preliminary reports are calling 'Necrons'. We must act!"

The other two Warrior Caste representatives clapped hard, as that speech represented the entire Caste's view on these new battles in the Canopus system. The leader of the Grey, a religious caste member named Delenn, said, "My opinion is that we should align ourselves with the younger races to fight off these threats, the Federation, the Romulans, the Covenant, and the Imperium of Man. We must stand together, for if we stand alone, we will fall alone. We may have thousands of ships, but the Borg are reputed to have millions, and the Yuuzhan Vong, Valen only knows. We cannot stand alone!"

"The Worker Caste will defer to the wishes of the Religious Caste in this situation, we share the belief that we must suck our pride in and ally with the Young, because the Old are no longer around to help us. However, we also agree with the Warrior Caste, that we must build more ships and begin researching larger warships. The pride of Minbar, the Sharlin class, pales in comparison to the Borg Cubes, or even to the Yuuzhan Vong warships. I have assigned hundreds of scientists and engineers to designing the next Minbari capital ship, codenamed Victory."

"We will vote on this matter later, Grey. We have detected a large number of what appear to be spacecraft carrying warships in this system." Delenn said, looking at her screen.

The Sharlin class entered jump space slowly, appearing again one light-second ahead of the large Crossbone Vanguard fleet.

"Shai, we have detected two-hundred thirteen ships of varying sizes, led by a larger flagship. Initial scans of the interiors indicate that humans are onboard, however, the vessels themselves are completely unlike any other Human vessel. We have not recieved scans back from the interior hangars of these carriers."

"Open a channel to the flagship of the fleet."

"Yes, Shai. Open."

"Unknown vessels. This is Minbari Federation space, identify yourselves or we will blow you out of space."

"Lord Ronah! We're being hailed by an unknown ship that is outside of our sensor range! We have barely any visual on it, but we can see something to the effect of a ship, although it's undetermined!"

"Hmmm...could these be our first contact with a new sentient species?" asked Carozzo.

"Undoubtedly, my lord!"

"Have my personal unit, the Rafflesia, ready," commanded Carozzo. "I'm going out to find out where this ship is. Make sure my men are ready, as well."

As Carozzo made his way to the door to the bridge, he said one more thing.

"Send back a message to them. I don't care what you say."
______________________________________________

Attention, Minbari vessel. We are the Crossbone Vanguard, and this is our first time encountering an alien species. Our Lord Carozzo Ronah will be on his way shortly.However, we would humbly request that your ship move in closer to our fleet due to lack of fuel, and that we cannot locate your exact position because of our inferior sensors.

With a flicker one of the main vessels of the Commonwealth, a High Guard Heavy Cruiser, exited the strands of slipstream. The Star of Vedra's powerful sensors reached out supplemented by the sensor drones to see what was going on in this unmapped system.

The only reason the Star was in the system at all was due to an error in the slip piloting, a rare but happenable event.

The Borg cutting beams continued to lance out across space, mingling with Necron Gauss weaponry, being damaged and dealing damage. Borg Cubes continued to adapt, however slowly, to the Gauss weaponry, decreasing the damage done with every blow. However, the damage to Borg shielding was still severe, forcing several Cubes to switch to secondary or tertiary shielding generators.

The Harvest Ship immediately pulled itself close to the Borg Cube, which shot up from the Harvest Ship, not allowing it to ram the Cube. Borg cutting beams and Borg torpedos ripped through the void at the close-by Harvest Ship, in such intensity as to rip the ship totally in half. Borg sensors were slowly adapting to find Necrons onboard their own ships, and the first attempt at taking Necrons for assimilation purposes was attempted on the Tombship that had holes in it. Certain Necrons that were believed to be less heavily armed were immediately beamed onboard the Assimilation chambers, which had had forcefield generators placed around it to prevent Necrons disappearing and reappearing in the Assimilation Chamber. The Necrons appeared in the assimilation chamber with the green glow of the Borg transporters, and the assimilation process began, very similar to the way the Yuuzhan Vong were assimilated, with the initial injection of hundreds of millions of nanoprobes to seize the biological systems (if any existed) of the Necrons.

To cause a distraction for the Necrons to pre-empt them from trying to recapture their comrade, ten thousand Borg Drones were transported onboard the largest vessel, the Tombship, in various points. They set themselves up in squadrons of ten, all armed with plasma and cutting beam cannons, beginning to advance throughout the Necron ship, constructing Borg alcoves and other Borg technology quickly.

Necron Gauss weapons finally scored a kill on a Cube, weaponry disintegrating the molecules until the quantum core was hit and damaged, destroying the Cube, covering the area a light-second around in debris. As the vessel exploded, a port opened and a Borg Sphere exited. It rejoined the battle, accelerating to transwarp, heading directly at one of the heavier Necron vessels..

In the midst of the battles, there was suddenly a gigantic explosion. It was enormous. The Flood controlled Covenant Cruiser suddenly blew it's own reactor core. It would destroy anything and everything nearby.

At the same time, one of the UNSC ships rammed itself into one of the Ork ships. It, too, blew it's reactor.

The third ship made a jump through slipspace, leaving Flood fighters to fend for themselves.

They had been called for something.

Something big.

"Attention, Minbari vessel. We are the Crossbone Vanguard, and this is our first time encountering an alien species. Our Lord Carozzo Ronah will be on his way shortly.However, we would humbly request that your ship move in closer to our fleet due to lack of fuel, and that we cannot locate your exact position because of our inferior sensors."

The Crossbone Vanguard message rang across the bridge of the Sharlin, and the Shai pondered for a moment. He said, "Open a channel."

"Open."

"Certainly. My ship will be moving to four thousand klicks directly ahead of your flagship vessel. Sharlin out." The Shai slashed across his neck, signalling the comm officer to close the channel. Shai Ningon said to the navigation officer, "Well, you heard me. Move the ship to a point four thousand klicks ahead of the Crossbone's flagship. Open the gun ports and power down the deflectors. Treat this as a standard first-contact situation."

"Yes, Shai."

The Sharlin class moved at it's top speed to it's destination, 4,000 klicks ahead of the Crossbone flagship. The gun ports were open as the traditional Minbari sign of respect, and the deflector field was powered off as to show to the Crossbones that they were not looking for a fight in this situation..

As the transmission took place, Carozzo began final preparations for the Rafflesia. Nearby, the other ten mobile suits were preparing as well, meant to be an escort in case anything went wrong.

Finally stepping into the exposed cockpit of the massive mobile armor, the glass that was the only protection for the mighty Cyber Newtype sealed him in, and several wires swarmed towards Carozzo's helmet, interfacing directly with his thought patters.

"This is Iron Mask. I am prepared."

Roger, Iron Mask. Stand by for launch. Your escort is launching first.

"Understood."

Soon after, the four Den'an Geis stepped on to the launch catapults. After locking in, the controller spoke.

All units are cleared for take off. Units seven through ten, launch!

Then the four Den'an Geis launched simultaneously. Soon after their launch, the catapults reloaded, this time with the four Berga units.

All units are cleared for launch. Units three through six, launch!

And then it was the Bergas' turn, jetting from the catapult at top speed to join their Den'an Gei brethren.

Following up, the two Vigna Ghina units rose up on to two of the catapults. Their pilots: Bera and Dorel Ronah, Carozzo's daughter and son.

This is Unit 01, Bera Ronah. Launching!

The first Vigna Ghina took off.

This is Unit 02, Dorel Ronah. Launching!

And Dorel's unit boosted to join his sister.

Alright, my lord. You are clear to launch. Opening the hatch doors.

Below Carozzo, the two bay doors unsealed, letting a crack of light through the doors, before they began sliding open, revealing open space. As soon as the doors were opened completely, the four docking clamps holding the Rafflesia lowered the massive mobile armor into open space below the Zamouth Garr, and then released it.

Carozzo's mind reacted instantly, telling the mobile armor to boost forward. The mobile armor's psycommu system transmitted the command, and the armor complied, sending the Rafflesia careening through space to join its escort.

"All units, form up on me. Bare your weapons to show that we are trustworthy.'

All the units complied, baring what weapons they could.

Carozzo, however, unfolded the petal binders on the Rafflesia, releasing the one hundred and twenty five electro-heat tentacle rods that each measured in length at nearly one hundred meters.

He then opened a channel to the Minbari.

"This is Carozzo Ronah, leader of the Crossbone Vanguard. We come in peace, baring only our weapons so that you may see that we have nothing to hide."

"This is Carozzo Ronah, leader of the Crossbone Vanguard. We come in peace, baring only our weapons so that you may see that we have nothing to hide."

"Open a channel over to the Vanguards, comm."

"Yes, Shai. Open."

"We see that, Mister Ronah. We would be honoured if you could come onboard our vessel to speak with the Grey Council, they are, in fact, the ruling body of Minbar. This Sharlin class warcruiser is their personal ship. There is a space for you and your fighter craft in our hangars on the lower deck, if you would prefer, a tractor beam can pull you in."

The massive hangars of the Sharlin class, already loaded with fifteen Nial class heavy fighters, were about to be loaded down with however many mobile suits the Vanguards wanted to land. The landing crews for the hangars watched as the mobile suits drew nearer, using the cameras in the pressurized area of the hangar bay to watch. The hangar bay doors opened with a massive mechanical grinding noise, exposing an area to open space where the Vanguards could touch three mobile suits down.

The main guns could be powered on at a minute's notice, however, to blast the hell out of the Vanguards if they tried something. The Minbari had learned their lesson from the Earth-Minbari war..

"I would be honored to meet with your ruling council. I will attempt to dock the Rafflesia within the hangar, although it will be the only unit that will be able to land within your ship. I am moving into your tractor beam's line of sight."

Carozzo then sent a message to his fleet.

"I shall be boarding their cruiser to speak with their ruling council. All are to remain stationed as they are until further notice."

The Rafflesia's petal binders then retracted their tentacles, folding up against the main body, allowing the Rafflesia to enter the docking bay of the Minbari vessel.

"I must also mention that docking clamps and some form of large ladder will be necessary to reach the cockpit of the Rafflesia. It has no docking gear of its own, unlike the mobile suits which have their feet."

As the sensor drones, miniscule devices that were designed to be next to impossible streaked out into the system to pick up information, they began picking up weird ships.

Relaying the sensor information back to the Star of Vedra, the Glorious Heritage class cruiser activated it's Magneto-Plasma Dynamic Drive and speed off to see what strange people these were. The GH class was ideally suited for missions like this as it was only one, and thus generally untreatening, but more than a match for all but the most extreme problems.

Once in combat range, or a little over a light minute in distance, the captain sent a message to the ships. "This is the Star of Vedra of the New Systems Commonwealth, we request information on who you might be."

ooc: The transmission is STL.

Sensor panels beeped as yet another unknown vessel appeared from nowhere, this time larger than the Vanguards and seemingly more advanced.

"Shai.."

"I know. Open a channel."

"Open."

"This is sovereign space of the Minbari Federation, Star of Vedra, who might you be and where are you from?" The Shai slit across his throat to signal the ending of the transmission, and he sighed to himself.

"So many new species..I'm surprised the entire Grey haven't had coronaries yet, to borrow an Earther expression."

"Let the Vanguards dock, bring in one of the docking clamps and arms, we have those, don't we?"

"Yes, Shai. I'm on it."

The Shai rubbed his forehead several times, as he was now going to need to explain to the Grey how two new races had suddenly jumped into Federation territory without anyone noticing.

In the hangars, the docking preparations were made. A large docking clamp and arm were set out in a good position for the Rafflesia, and a ladder was grabbed from storage to allow the pilot to come down. The tractor beam lashed out at the Rafflesia in space, and guided it into the hangars. An underling of the Shai was waiting when the Rafflesia entered the hangar and it was pressurized, and as the Rafflesia's pilot exited the mobile suit, he said, "Welcome to the Black Star II, Mr. Ronah."

The Vanguard Fleet was still unaware of the new ship, not having the necessary equiment to detect it at such a far range.

Onboard the Black Star II, Carozzo Ronah stepped forth from the cockpit and was greeted by one of the Minbari.

"I thank you for your hospitality," he said, taking a minute to observe the odd physiology of the Minbari behind the dark, forboding eyes of his mask, which had given him his second name, Iron Mask. This mask would look unsettling to even the most battle hardened war veteran. "I take it that you are my guide and welcoming committee?"

"James, there are what appears to be two groups, one that is presently docking aboard a vessel that claims alliegence with something going by the Minbari Federation."
"They don't show up as part of the database, do they?" The captain asked
"No, it appears we've either found a new species or a part of the old commonwealth that's picked up an unusual name and ship scheme."

"As prior stated, this is the Star of Vedra, a Glorious Heritage class vessel of the New System Commonwealth High Guard. We would be interested in a chance to meet you in person as we have no prior knowladge of your Federation."

The first detonation destroyed clouds of retreating fighter craft and blew the power fields off several nearby escorts, but as the second vessel moved in, Onslaughts, ravagers, and kroozers all poored fire into it, while a still-shielded brute responded in kind, its power field absorbing the intial impact shock before dieing and its massive beak cleaving through decks and bulkheads as numerous other vessels used the delay to escape the blast radius.

By the time the ship detonated, reducing the Brute to a blazing hulk, an Onslaught had reached the first kamikaze ship and was using its tellyporta to send in salvage parties, who began removing any useful looking equipment or body parts for later use by meks and mad doks.

"What did we lose?"
"Three Onslaughts, two Savages, a Ravager, four Brutes, all salvable except an Onslaught an' a Brute, coz there on fire, an' the terror ships 'ad to gut 'emselves to keep the zombies off, but we iz alredy fixin em up. Loads a fighters and landas, and lots a boyz in tellyporta raids, but no kroozers."
"Good. Send da hulks away with one of da Terror Ships, the more banged up one, with a kroozer fer escort. 'Ave da rest form up in a big wedge and 'ed for a planit."

As the escorts buzzed into new positions, the two large ships pulled the numerous escort hulks into the warp, while many of the crew survivors began re-fitting the Halcyon into a new escort.

The retreating ships emerged in an empty void, where the hulks were immediately docked to a real, miles-long space hulk and set about, hordes of meks and grots quickly patching up the ships before the arrival of the new crew.

Back in the Canopus system, the fleet moved towards a large habitabal planet and readied to land boyz via tellyporta.

The captain had waited for an hour and yet he heard no responses.... but he was hearing a lot of chatter over open channels between other vessels. He was growing furious and almost ordered an attack. Yet he stayed cool, and decided to give the people one more chance before they left to link up with the 3rd army and recieve orders.

"Privete, open up that channel again. I wanna try to see if they will respond. If not, see if we can set a course around them."

"Aye, sir. Channel opened."

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

Attention,

This is Captain Thomas of the 8th army of the Alliance. We would like to know who you are and where you came from. We come in peace and do not wish to harm you. If you attack, we will respond. Please respond.

OOC-Nova, you wont be able to refit it at all. It's useless. You might be able to use it's twisted chunks of metal, but you wont be able to refit it.
And you would have a LOT more damage. A Halcyon class exploding destroyed Halo in the game, which is a 10,000 km wide ring.

"As prior stated, this is the Star of Vedra, a Glorious Heritage class vessel of the New System Commonwealth High Guard. We would be interested in a chance to meet you in person as we have no prior knowladge of your Federation."

The Shai pondered over this message. Yet another new species jumping into Minbari space willy-nilly.. he thought.

He said, "Open the channel again, Comm."

"Open."

"Yes, certainly, Star of Vedra. There is a docking space open for you in our hangars for a shuttlecraft or fighter, we can tractor you in when you're in range." He looked at the comm officer, who closed the channel.

He rubbed his temples, as the Shai was obtaining a headache rapidly..

Minbari Hangar Two
"Yes, I will be showing you to the Grey Council's chambers, they're interested in meeting you. We have never heard of the Crossbone Vanguard before, and the Grey wish to know about you and your people." the Minbari man said to Ronah. He motioned to the lift doors, and said, "Follow me. I'll take you over to the Grey Council's chambers."

A short while later, one of the Star's shuttles detached and crossed to the Minbari vessel. Aboard were four lancers and the captain of Star of Vedra.

Pulling into range, they awaited the docking procedure of these Minbari to guide them in.

The massive armada of mostly Valdore and D'deridex class Warbirds had finnaly been assembeled. Nearly 1,000 Talon(Theta) class Scout ships and several hundred science ships which had been modifed to serve as warships for the Dominion war had also gathered. Leading the armada was the "IRW Raptor" a brand new ship that was built shortly after the previous flagship was lost in battle with Dominon forces. It appeared very simmilar to the Scimitar in basic configuration but it was the same green color as the other warbirds, and lacks any Thalaron radiation emitters. It also contains, in additon to standard torpedo launchers, disruptor beams and disruptor cannons, a pair of phased polaron beams stolen from a JemHa`Dar ship. It also carries a wing of Scorpion-class attack fighters as well as a full infantry complement including Romulan and Remen warriors. Tal Shiar members are also rumored to be among the crew.

With a single order, the entire fleet vanished in a split second, except for the Raptor which would wait in plain view for the federation warships to arrive.

"With pleasure," replied Carozzo, falling straight into line with the Minbari.

Carozzo's Newtype abilities then began exploring the ship, allowing Carozzo to gater information on the thought patterns of a Minbari. He didn't know if they could feel him 'reading' their thoughts and emotions, but he was about to find out if they knew.

OOC: Ithink Halo's destruction was probably a chain reaction, because the Autumn taking out halo on its own seems roughly equivelant to a huge nuke taking out Earth. But enough bickering, just remember I outnumbered you, and I only had one foe to worry about, yet lost more than twice what you did. Hey, what did you lose, anyway? That covie ship shoud of gone down ages ago. But if you're still un-happy after this little rant, I'll lose a couple of cruisers. Oh, and if I was playing with canon stats, It would of taken three or four MACs to destroy an Onsluaght.

The massive republic assult ship came to a stop followed by several frigates and fighter escorts
"sir"
"yes captain"
"We've outrun the pursuing CIS forces but we've picked up several transmisions,Not republic, but not CIS either. only a few in english, It appears there is a battle in the next sector sir"
"hold position and try to intercept a few more transmissions, If we can get a picture of who or what is fighting we may be able to help someone"
"Yes sir"

Tagy

OOC: Ithink Halo's destruction was probably a chain reaction, because the Autumn taking out halo on its own seems roughly equivelant to a huge nuke taking out Earth. But enough bickering, just remember I outnumbered you, and I only had one foe to worry about, yet lost more than twice what you did. Hey, what did you lose, anyway? That covie ship shoud of gone down ages ago. But if you're still un-happy after this little rant, I'll lose a couple of cruisers. Oh, and if I was playing with canon stats, It would of taken three or four MACs to destroy an Onsluaght.
OOC-You outnumbered me here...
And yeah, I'd like you to lose more. I lost two cruisers.
And most -at least the Halcyon- UNSC ships have 6 MAC guns, if I've read the books correctly.

OOC:I belive Halcyons had two, and remember, and for all I weaken my stuff for fairness, my escorts are still the size of your cruisers. I'll call it one Kill-Kroozer down, and for the future: say stuff like "the flagship" or "a medium sized ship". Just "a ship" means that for all I know, you were firing purely at escorts.
IC: The fleet bean to deploy landas from the battlekroozer and terror ship, stormboys leaping out in the atmosphere and activating their jet packs, scouring the LZ for potential foes, while the landas touched down and belched out infantry and light vehicles. The speed freek contraptions, bikes, traks, and buggies advanced rapidly, followed by boys, nobs, and grots, who secured a perimeter and began entrenching their mobile big gunz and setting up earthworks. When they were done, an immense rok landed in the centre of the defences, protected by the few remaining fighta-bombas, and began deploying the heavier stuff, namely blitz brigades and supa-gunz.

Now they just had to wait untile the space battle ended and the planet was theirs.

"Admiral, we are approaching the nebula," said a lieutenant.
"Drop our of warp," ordered Admiral Romano. "Hail Romulan vessels."

All 112 ships dropped from warp. The fleet was mostly made up of older classes, but did include a few newer ships. Leading the squadron was the Galaxy-class dreadnaught U.S.S. Challenger, flagship of the 8th fleet.

"Only one Romulan in the system," reported the tactical officer.
"They must have cloaked their fleet," said Romano. "Alright, hail them."

This is Admiral Romano of the Federation. We are responding to your message about the Borg threat. Our fleet is at your disposal.

"Sir, more radio chatter, and a message in english, Its from a captain thomas sir. He appears to be commander of a fleet somewhere near the battle. He said the 8th army of the alliance, he requests to know where we're from and who we are. Sould i send a response?"

"Yes captain, I am commander thornly of the grand army of the republic stationed on corosant. Please confirm what is going on in the next sector. If we are provoced, we will attack."

"while your at it captain. Open the republic channel and see if you can pick up any friendly fleets that can remain on call."

Narenda III - Orbit

The Kronos One (http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b91/SeaQuest_Sim/Schematics/Mirror%20Alliance/Iks_kronos_one.jpg) slipped out of orbit with three Galors for escort. The Emperor of the Alliance had decided to send Chancellor Gorkon out towards suspected Minbari space to see if they could manage to apologize for the rash actions of the hot-head Vor'Cha captains at their first informal meeting between the two great empires.

All four ships travelled at full impulse speed to the edge of the star system and went to warp speed in the direction of a region of space large enough to fit the Minbari empire where ships had been known to dissapear from time to time. This was thought to be due to the Minbari protecting their borders.

The Borg cutting beams continued to lance out across space, mingling with Necron Gauss weaponry, being damaged and dealing damage. Borg Cubes continued to adapt, however slowly, to the Gauss weaponry, decreasing the damage done with every blow. However, the damage to Borg shielding was still severe, forcing several Cubes to switch to secondary or tertiary shielding generators.

The Harvest Ship immediately pulled itself close to the Borg Cube, which shot up from the Harvest Ship, not allowing it to ram the Cube. Borg cutting beams and Borg torpedos ripped through the void at the close-by Harvest Ship, in such intensity as to rip the ship totally in half. Borg sensors were slowly adapting to find Necrons onboard their own ships, and the first attempt at taking Necrons for assimilation purposes was attempted on the Tombship that had holes in it. Certain Necrons that were believed to be less heavily armed were immediately beamed onboard the Assimilation chambers, which had had forcefield generators placed around it to prevent Necrons disappearing and reappearing in the Assimilation Chamber. The Necrons appeared in the assimilation chamber with the green glow of the Borg transporters, and the assimilation process began, very similar to the way the Yuuzhan Vong were assimilated, with the initial injection of hundreds of millions of nanoprobes to seize the biological systems (if any existed) of the Necrons.

To cause a distraction for the Necrons to pre-empt them from trying to recapture their comrade, ten thousand Borg Drones were transported onboard the largest vessel, the Tombship, in various points. They set themselves up in squadrons of ten, all armed with plasma and cutting beam cannons, beginning to advance throughout the Necron ship, constructing Borg alcoves and other Borg technology quickly.

Necron Gauss weapons finally scored a kill on a Cube, weaponry disintegrating the molecules until the quantum core was hit and damaged, destroying the Cube, covering the area a light-second around in debris. As the vessel exploded, a port opened and a Borg Sphere exited. It rejoined the battle, accelerating to transwarp, heading directly at one of the heavier Necron vessels..

The Necron Wraiths they had captured would do them no good. Assimilating them would be nearly impossible, and killing them would be just as difficult. First one, then another, began to phase out, bypassing the restraints that held them pinned to the tables. The massive claws that were their only weapons would make short work of anything they touched. They moved with frightening smoothness, silent in their horrible mechanical perfection. Lengthy spinal columns swayed beneath the flexing blades, moving closer to the Drones with impossible speed.

Onboard the Tomb Ship forces were mustering. Scuttling Flayed Ones combed the corridors, Immortals with their Heavy Gauss weapons moved with deadly precision, Warriors hefted Flayers, and a sinular presence guided them all. Old. Older even than the Immortals, the Tomb Lord carried his Staff of Light into battle.

The Harvest Ship targetted by the Cube broke cleanly in twain, shattered by the energies turned against it. The first loss was a relatively minor one, but it still hurt. They could outfight the enemy individually, but at a one to one loss ratio they would never win.

Bolt after bolt of verdant energy slammed through the void, shattering the blackness with their hateful fury. Every gun focused on a single cube, while the ships maneuvered for advantage. The maneuvers, and the manner in which Necron vessels moved, meant the Sphere sailed harmlessly through a space that had once been occupied by a Harvest Ship.

Minbari Core System - Black Star II
They went up the lift quickly, the inertial dampers working perfectly as they went throughout the ship at speeds that could turn them into paste normally. The lift slowed, and stopped, at a floor somewhere in the middle of the Sharlin. They exited, and the Minbari guide said,
"The Grey are waiting for you in here. I must leave you now, so all you must do is enter this door and the Grey will talk to you."

The Minbari nodded to the stranger, and entered the lift to go back to his duties.

Minbari Border System
An incessant beeping filled the ears of a sensor operator on White Star Four and it's escorts, two Sharlin class warcruisers, four Liandra class patrol cutters,, and two Tinashi class warfrigates, a regular battlefleet against any lesser nation. "Shai, we are detecting four Imperial Alliance vessels, one K-7 class and three Galor class. The Imperial Alliance attacked our vessels at the battle of Canopus, and the Grey are voting right now what to do with them.'

"It is my opinion, comm, that the Imperial Alliance declared war on our Federation when they attacked our ships in Canopus. Lock onto the lead ship, order our escorts to lock onto the three escort ships. Open a channel to the Imperials."

"Open."

"This is Minbari Federation space. Your people destroyed one of our warcruisers, and you yet again intrude on our space. You will be destroyed. Close channel."

When the comm said, "Channel closed," the Shai said, "Send a communication to Minbar and try to get us one of the experimental Sinclair class ships, it'll prevent them from getting away. Give the order to fire to all ships!"

"Aye, sir."

The White Star Four powered up her weaponry and deflector fields, and her escorts followed behind, doing the same. They formed into a claw type formation, with all the escorts forming up around the largest ship, the Sharlin class, with the escorts in a reversed claw in front of her. White Star Four targetted the lead Imperial vessel with her main 100,000 terawatt gun, and opened fire, sending a massive yellow beam across the void at the lead K-7 class. Her point defense guns were immediately activated against any Klingon torpedo attacks, the smaller guns lancing out with precisioned accuracy at the Imperial disruptor banks and torpedo bays. The Sharlin and Tinashi classes opened fire using their main gravitic neutron guns at the three Galor class escorts, preparing to cut massive swaths through the Imperial fleets. Dozens of Nial class fighters prepared on the hangar decks of the escort vessels, further adding insult to injury for the Imperials..

Minbari Core System - Black Star II
They went up the lift quickly, the inertial dampers working perfectly as they went throughout the ship at speeds that could turn them into paste normally. The lift slowed, and stopped, at a floor somewhere in the middle of the Sharlin. They exited, and the Minbari guide said,
"The Grey are waiting for you in here. I must leave you now, so all you must do is enter this door and the Grey will talk to you."

The Minbari nodded to the stranger, and entered the lift to go back to his duties.

Carozzo nodded to the Minbari guide as he left, and then stepped forth to the doors. They opened, and and the six foot seven inch tall Ronah monarch stepped into the room.

If anything, the first noticable thing about Carozzo would be his iron helmet.

Across the galaxy, ork ships warped in to systems briefly, then warped out, in serch of Flood. They would find the soon enough, and show tham who was in charge. Some of their ships had no shields, and they relied on a single creature for operating the ship. Ideal targets for the tellyporta, leaving covie vessels to fall to orkish fightas and orkish guns.

"Admiral, we are approaching the nebula," said a lieutenant.
"Drop our of warp," ordered Admiral Romano. "Hail Romulan vessels."

All 112 ships dropped from warp. The fleet was mostly made up of older classes, but did include a few newer ships. Leading the squadron was the Galaxy-class dreadnaught U.S.S. Challenger, flagship of the 8th fleet.

"Only one Romulan in the system," reported the tactical officer.
"They must have cloaked their fleet," said Romano. "Alright, hail them."

This is Admiral Romano of the Federation. We are responding to your message about the Borg threat. Our fleet is at your disposal.
After a brief scan the Romulan Commander asked "They really have no idea what we are going to be up against do they?" rehtorically.
With a nod several thousand romulan ships decloakd and began to move in on intercept courses with the Federation ships.

"This is Commander Rivak Valdore VI of the Romulan Star Empire on baord the Warbird Raptor. One of our ships has detected a massive battle occuring between the borg and number never before seen ships in the Canopus system which as you know is a disputed area anyway. We do not know who the borg are attacking or the full scope of the battle an the races invovled but we know that this must mean the borg are moving out of the delta quadrant for some reason and they must be stopped at all costs. If you have cloakable ships, I would advise they cloak and follow us now, All romulan ships including the Raptor wil cloak and follow you into the Canopus system.... Are these all the ships the Federation can muster? And what about the Klingons... haven't you contacted thier high command? Surely this is a threat to all of those who inhabit the alpha and beta quadrant, and we will need as much force as we can get."


OOC: My ship hadn't detected any klingons in the Canopus system yet.

and Terren come on where are the Defiants and Akiras leftover form the dominon war and the enhanced USS Voyager with its uber torps :p

Minbari Core System - Black Star II
They went up the lift quickly, the inertial dampers working perfectly as they went throughout the ship at speeds that could turn them into paste normally. The lift slowed, and stopped, at a floor somewhere in the middle of the Sharlin. They exited, and the Minbari guide said,
"The Grey are waiting for you in here. I must leave you now, so all you must do is enter this door and the Grey will talk to you."

The Minbari nodded to the stranger, and entered the lift to go back to his duties.

Minbari Border System
An incessant beeping filled the ears of a sensor operator on White Star Four and it's escorts, two Sharlin class warcruisers, four Liandra class patrol cutters,, and two Tinashi class warfrigates, a regular battlefleet against any lesser nation. "Shai, we are detecting four Imperial Alliance vessels, one K-7 class and three Galor class. The Imperial Alliance attacked our vessels at the battle of Canopus, and the Grey are voting right now what to do with them.'

"It is my opinion, comm, that the Imperial Alliance declared war on our Federation when they attacked our ships in Canopus. Lock onto the lead ship, order our escorts to lock onto the three escort ships. Open a channel to the Imperials."

"Open."

"This is Minbari Federation space. Your people destroyed one of our warcruisers, and you yet again intrude on our space. You will be destroyed. Close channel."

When the comm said, "Channel closed," the Shai said, "Send a communication to Minbar and try to get us one of the experimental Sinclair class ships, it'll prevent them from getting away. Give the order to fire to all ships!"

"Aye, sir."

The White Star Four powered up her weaponry and deflector fields, and her escorts followed behind, doing the same. They formed into a claw type formation, with all the escorts forming up around the largest ship, the Sharlin class, with the escorts in a reversed claw in front of her. White Star Four targetted the lead Imperial vessel with her main 100,000 terawatt gun, and opened fire, sending a massive yellow beam across the void at the lead K-7 class. Her point defense guns were immediately activated against any Klingon torpedo attacks, the smaller guns lancing out with precisioned accuracy at the Imperial disruptor banks and torpedo bays. The Sharlin and Tinashi classes opened fire using their main gravitic neutron guns at the three Galor class escorts, preparing to cut massive swaths through the Imperial fleets. Dozens of Nial class fighters prepared on the hangar decks of the escort vessels, further adding insult to injury for the Imperials..

Once the first shot had been detected, the ships banked and scattered while still traveling at warp speed. The K't'inga class Kronos One and her escorting Galors circled at warp speed. The superluminal velocities should protect them from the slower-than-light weapons of the Minbari ships.

The Kronos One broadcast a message to the Minbari ships:

This is Chancellor Gorkon of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. The Emperor sent me here to give you an apology for the attack of the hot-headed wing commander of the three craft you interacted with in the Canopus star system and to also attempt at possibly repairing the damage his actions may have caused with relations between our factions.

With the Borg and the other powers involved, we can't afford to allow our petty differences to consume us any longer.

Will you hold your fire so we can discuss things?

ooc: uber torps, I like the sound of that... or for any 'south park' fans, I heard a joke once about 'kyle's mom' torpedoes...


IC:


Commander Rivak Valdore VI, this is Admiral Romano. We are setting course for the Canopus star system. My fleet is all that StarFleet can spare at the moment. The 6th Fleet is on its way. They will meet us in the Canopus system. As for the Klingons, I do not know if StarFleet contacted them. That is not my concern. Engage at warp 8 in ten minutes. That is all.

OOC: Curtesy bump.

Black Star II
As the Crossbone Vanguard leader entered the Grey Council's chambers, he would notice a massive room draped with the Federation banners, with the Grey themselves arranged in a "u" shape across the room, several chairs in the mouth of the "u" for the guests. The leader, Delenn, said, "We have been informed of your presence here. Please, sit down," and motioned to one of the chairs.

Minbari Border System
The Minbari vessels powered down their weapons, although they continued tracking the Imperial vessels as they shot through space at warp speed. The lead vessel sent a transmission back, saying,

We have powered down our weapons. Sent a shuttle to the lead Sharlin class and we will begin talks. Any further offensive actions against the Federation will result in immediate destruction of your people.

OOC:Sorry about this one being so short, I'm just having a horrible case of writer's block.

Black Star II
As the Crossbone Vanguard leader entered the Grey Council's chambers, he would notice a massive room draped with the Federation banners, with the Grey themselves arranged in a "u" shape across the room, several chairs in the mouth of the "u" for the guests. The leader, Delenn, said, "We have been informed of your presence here. Please, sit down," and motioned to one of the chairs.

Minbari Border System
The Minbari vessels powered down their weapons, although they continued tracking the Imperial vessels as they shot through space at warp speed. The lead vessel sent a transmission back, saying,



OOC:Sorry about this one being so short, I'm just having a horrible case of writer's block.

OOC: Not a problem. Like they say, its quality that counts and not quantity.

IC: The Alliance ships dropped to sublight velocities and used their impulse engines to regroup with each other before sending a response message.

Acknowledged. Though, we must inform you, we imploy matter-energy teleporation devices instead of shuttles.

I, Chancellor Gorkon, and my party will beam over to your ship. Transmit the co-ordinates for your hanger.

I'm on a leave of absence from this rp, for just a short while. Sorry SQ. RL matters and all.