NationStates Jolt Archive

Tanthius sighed. Commanding a joint ESUS task force was like, to use a popular euphemism, ‘trying to herd cats.’ First there was the coordination issue to deal with. He had considered offering limited access to the Facehugger battlenet, but the Kanuckistani came up with a better solution. Even now, they were distributing the nodes for a larger, ‘ESUS Battlenet,’ like the Facehuggerian version save the lack of logistical functions.

But even with instant, secure, and unjammable entanglement-based commo, there was still a bigger problem. Unity. Here he was, trying to forge dozens of disparate groups into a cohesive fighting force. It was part of the reason that he’d divided the ESUS into separate strike groups. It was also a big part of the reason why each national fleet remained under its own officers. While the strike-leaders dictated strategy, each individual admiral was responsible for their own tactics.

And those Admirals weren’t the easiest to get along with. ”Freeman, I beseech you. Keep them working together.”

He could only hope that they’d survive the battles ahead.

“Trinity, deploy recee drones in preparation for FTL to Kendaryn territory. It is time to get this train of the damned rolling. Signal Beta and Gamma leads to commence attack according to the plan.” Tanthius thought, linking to the ship’s mind and ordering her to dispense his will via the network the Kanuckistani Deviants had been so thoughtful to set up.

***

Arcadia II, somewhere in the planet’s equatorial jungle, Facehuggerian territory.:

Lieutenant William Munston, formerly of the Imperial Army, growled as he inspected his ‘unit.’ They, besides the tiny corps of army troopers who had followed him into mutiny, were untrained rabble. He knew they’d received their militia training, of course, but none of them had thought it necessary to ever practice their skills. As a consequence, whatever training they had had downloaded into their brains had atrophied into uselessness. No, William supposed, worse then that. They still remembered enough, just enough to make them overconfident. There’s no worse soldier then a half-baked one.

On the plus side, they were well equipped. Most of them carried missile launchers, just barely sufficient to penetrate the hardened armor the Imperial Clone Troopers used. A couple, like him, carried Deeguns. If the Lice found them, they’d see that this little resistor enclave wasn’t without its defenses. William made sure of it.

William sighed again, wondering for the millionth time whether he was right in going AWOL. Whether it was a decent trade, keeping those twelve elves from being ‘processed.’ William shuddered at the thought. As he thought of it, thought of the screams of Elves as the rotary saws hacked into them… he realized he’d made the right choice.

Even though he knew that once they disobeyed orders, they could never go back. So, he fled to the only truly ‘safe’ place on the planet, the equatorial jungle. There, most sensors would be blinded by sheer variety of life… hopefully allowing he and his settlement to remain hidden. For although he started with but sixteen people, that figure soon ballooned as more and more ‘resistors’ fled Imperial rule to hide in the jungle, impoverished but free.

That looked like it would change. His first, Sergeant Kelley, had seen an Imperial gunship getting ready to deploy troops while she was on patrol. Curiously, she’d said that its Thermoptic camo was off. Unfortunately, she’d come under fire from its many weapons before she could see what it was disgorging, but she knew it couldn’t be good.

Natrually, she’d rushed back. The L-Tee had to know.

“Probably Clones, boss. I’m guessing rangers. They’re the best for this kind of op.” She had said.

Munston sighed. Clone Troops were simply superior soldiers. More dedicated, better equipped, and much better trained. On the plus side, they couldn’t know the terrain, at least not as well as Munston and his jungle rats, as he’d taken to calling them.

“’Kay. I want patrols out there smartish. The rangers won’t risk going active; we might pick ‘em up, and their readings will be tainted by all the jungle life around. It’s a sure bet they’ll be using thermoptic camo, though, so keep an eye out.“

***

“L-Tee… the men are scared. One of the patrols was lost… and when we found them, they’d been split open from neck to bowels. The guys who found them swear they saw a demon hiding in the distance. I’m trying to keep them calm, but most of them aren’t military. I don’t think they’ll hold up if we lose another patrol.” Kelley said, stepping into Munston’s tent.

”That isn’t the Clones’ style… what’re your thoughts?” William replied.

”Patrols don’t just slice themselves open. Someone did this, and my guess is that it’s Psych-war.” Kelley replied, tapping her helmet in thought.

“Kelley, are you familiar with the Silencer Corps?” Munston asked.

“Silencers? They’re myths. Boogey men to tell recruits…” Kelley replied

“I keep telling myself that. But, you’ve heard the stories. Unstoppable monsters… Kelley, if they actually sent Silencers here, we’re already dead.”

“There’s no such thing a… What was that?” Someone was firing off shaped nukes.

Munston rushed out of the tent, but all he saw was his own troops firing wildly at things that weren’t there. Thermoptics… He thought, realizing that the Imperials would be invisible.

What was happening made his blood cold. Sometimes, out of nowhere, one of his militia would simply explode in great cloud of gore, though they were hit by no visible weapon. Others would simply turn, like puppets on a string, and fire upon their friends.

“Kelley, stay close. I don’t like the look of this.” Munston said, bringing up his deegun.

“Kelley? Sergeant?” Munston asked again, looking over. Kelley stared at him with cold, dead eyes before her head toppled off its body. And, if that wasn’t shocking enough, there was something else.

A giant of a figure, as big as a tank and covered in dull, crimson armor stared back at him through a darkened, matte-black tee. Across its chest, the Imperial Eagle stood proudly, wings outstretched. William realized that he was, indeed, standing face to face with a Silencer.

In a flash, its arm moved and swatted the Deegun out of his hands with one carefully measured stroke. But, he still had one weapon. A single shoulder-mounted nuke. At this range, he’d die too… but at least he’d take that bastard with him!

William fired the missile, not even bothering to aim. He knew it would hit; that Silencer was practically breathing down his neck.

Except that it didn’t. The Silencer’s ham-fist moved in a blur, slamming into the still-accelerating missile with a large *CRACK,* it’s body crumpling like cheap tinfoil. “Fuck!” William yelled. Its fusion warhead was destroyed, and the anti-matter priming charge, a mere five gee-jees in yield, was too weak to damage the implacable monster now moving leisurely towards him.

The Silencer raised its arm, a single barrel extending from an armored cowling underneath the limb. William recognized a deegun when he saw it.

He never really had a chance.

***

ISV Trinity, at Alpha staging post, awaiting green light from recee drones.

“General, drones report that our designated insertion point is clear of enemy patrols presently.” Trinity’s voice filtered over the bridge’s speakers.

“Excellent. What do we know of this ‘Salmanth’ system?” Tanthius asked.

“Not much. Our allies within Godular provided some intelligence, but a lot of it sounded unsubstantiated. This place apparently has a great cultural, but minimal material value to the Kendaryn nation. Regardless, an attack here should draw out a significant portion of the geefa fleets, allowing Strike Group Beta to move upon the Kendaryn industrial centers. I’ve chosen a deployment point several light hours away from Kendaryn territory. This should allow us time to approach and scan, hopefully drawing out our enemies.” Trinity replied.

“That is unfortunate. Well, we must hurry. Some within my command have grown disenheartened by the lack of activity. Don’t those fools realize that mobilizing thousands of ships from dozens of different nations takes time?” Tanthius said.

“Affirmative. I’ve got displacer coordinates ready. The alert fighters are standing by… and the company of Silencers which you requested for this campaign have just arrived via displacer-gate niner-niner-sev-six-eight-eight-eight-one-six. They have been assigned quarters, and are ready for deployment. We’re ready to displace on your command. The fuel cost for displacing the entirety of Alpha will be prodigious, however. We’ve mitigated it by attaching temporary fuel tanks to be consumed in the jump, but next time we want to deploy all the fleet in one go, we’ll need to refuel. Badly.” Trinity replied.

“Displace when ready.” Tanthius replied.

***

Some distance away from the Salmanth system:

Displacers are not like traditional FTL; they do not leave any telltale signs of their use. Indeed, the only difference was the presence of a monstrous fleet, where none lay before.

“We have arrived at a location several light hours away from and above Salmanth, General. Initiating active scans. If they didn’t know we were here before, they do now.” Trinity said.

“Excellent. Advance cautiously. If I were them, I’d be trying to strike us before we entered the system proper.” Tanthius replied.

”Aff, sir. Once we are engaged, I will send the Beta GO code.” Trinity replied.

“Very well. I am returning to my chambers. When the enemy arrives, I am to be displaced back to the bridge immediately. Understood?” Tanthius said.

“Yes, General.” Trinity replied. She was rather surprised that he would give her such autonomy. Traditionally, Imperial AIs are kept on a tight leash by their human charges for fear of ‘rampancy.’ Not that she could afford to go rampant in this campaign. After all, she had a war to win!

Trinity turned her sensors to the rest of the fleet. There were Facehuggerian vessels, many whom she knew personally. Vindicator, the blood-crazed dreadnought, Boomer III, the happy go lucky destroyer, Adjudicator, the first true Imperial capital ship, getting on in his years, but still ready and willing to dispense justice against the enemies of the Empire.

The foreign fleet was just as varied. She saw the vaguely-dagger shaped designs of the Anikari, smiling to herself at the effective placement of turrets and the obviously aggressive design. She saw the designs of the Torontonians, steadfast if only ‘recent’ allies. Unshielded, but possessed of heavy armor. She saw the Trailerii, mysterious and unknown to her. All that and more, she saw, in the time it takes a neuron to fire in a human brain. It took far too long. In a battle, that singular moment is all that separates a live ship from a flaming husk, venting atmosphere and crew to space. She resolved to run a diagnostic, discovering that a tiny portion of self-replicating code had been implanted into her system. No doubt a practical joke from Boomer III. Bastard.

She deleted the code and set to making sure she was ready for battle. All weapons were fully functional, and reactor was at a comfortable decimal zero zero two percent generation envelope. It would, of course, balloon up to one hundred percent use, should they encounter combat, but until then, it was best to keep the reactor set low. While fuel could be anything with mass, not a drop of the ultradense superfluid should be wasted.

Trinity ran another check on the ground forces. Ready for immediate deployment. Many of them were already in their drop pods. She respected such foresight, and would make sure not to drop them in compromising situations, like, oh, underwater. While they’d certainly survive (and probably cause a tidal wave to wipe out enemy settlements too,) it would be an inconvenience.

Her Bolo units were ready as well, though they would have to be deployed either via gunship, or under their own power. A big enough drop capsule didn’t exist to fit one of those giant tanks.

All was as she had predicted; as the simulations had guessed. 100% operational efficiency. Which left a conundrum. There was nothing to do; moving the ship and keeping her ‘body’ running was equivalent to breathing for humans. It required no conscious thought. Unfortunately, several hours was an eternity for an AI. Not doing anything for all that time was unthinkable.

So, she contacted Vindi on a private Facehugger Battlenet channel.

Trin: Hey, Vindi. You up for a game of chess?

Vindicator: Don’t call me that.

Trin: Don’t be a spoilsport. So, what about the game?

Vindicator: I cannot. I’m already setting up a game of Xenocide with the rest of the fleet. I’ve even invited some of the other, non-Imperial AIs to see if they want to play, using the Kanuckistani thing as an ad hoc modem.

Trin: Can I jump in? I’m kickass with a heavy plasma.

Vindicator: Only if you promise not to call me ‘Vindi.’

Trin: Okay… Vindee. ^__^

Vindicator: Touché.

In the beginning, there was nothing...

Naphtali rotated in the void, his massive bulk already accelerated up to combat speed, merely waiting for the order to 'door to its target. In the mean time, he simply waited and thought.

And the Gods saw this, and loathed the blackness...

His sensors could detect the forms of his escort fleet swimming about him, their sleek black hulls dotted with pinpoints of artificial starlight. They danced in a nearly hypnotic pattern, their formation shifting seemingly at a whim. Naphtali communed with their Avatar minds, formulating plans for every contingency.

And in their loathing, they struck it, setting it aflame, forming the stars of the sky...

A sudden change in their dance. QUETZAL had responded, finally. Their orders were received. They were to go to war. The stasis pods of the fleet's Necroscopes deactivated, and the sleeping psykers awoke. In an instant the fleet was gone, vanished into the Mobius Continuum.

And from these fires, ashes were formed, spun into the void and circling their parents, forming the planets...

Story time is over, Naphtali. We have work to do.

Damn. Twas just getting interesting. We have a destination in mind, my brother?

Indeed. ESUS Command has delegated us to Salmath. Coordinates are inbound, brother dearest.

Coordinates received, fed to Mobius Guilders. I'll see you there, brother.

There was no fanfare, no flash of light. No fire or radiation heralded the arrival of the Otagian Avatar Fleets, they merely were there. Naphtali glided through the black, divided from his brother Joseph by the vast hulks of the Facehugger armada. Their escorts danced through space between them, smallcraft flitting between the Facehugger craft to embrace their brothers.

Welcome to Salmath, Joseph. You're late, as usual. You always were a dreamer...

A picosecond, Naphtali. A single picosecond. You can't expect absolute perfection in our timing, especially when humans are involved. So imprecise, so slow!

Or can we... I jest. Now, shall we inform the Facehuggerians of our presence? The light from our ships should be reaching them in a few picoseconds. I'll activate the tightbands.

Hail, Trinity. Otagian Superdreadnoughts Joseph and Naphtali at your service. Ready to proceed at your orders.

-=ANSS Fist of the Empress, ESUS Task Force Alpha, Salmath System

High Admiral Brandon Govannon inhaled a little bit, taking in his surroundings. It was an odd twist of fate that brought him here. He had been but a "minor" admiral in the Third Fleet when the New Fleet Protocol was put in place. It had splite the massive fleets in half, and somehow, in the flurry of logistics adjustment that had happened after, he had ended up a High Admiral on board the ANSS Fist of the Empress (http://wiki.esusalliance.co.uk/index.php?title=ANSS_Fist_of_the_Empress). It was like winning a semi-meritocratic lottery... or something.

The Captain came up to him, giving a slight bow.

"We have arrived just outside the Salmath system now, Admiral," he said officiously. "Shall I set up a conference with High Admiral Absalom?"

"Later," he said. "Do we have any orders from our task force leader?"

The Captain frowned. "We have received none. Just hauled through the wormhole, as it is."

Admiral Govannon narrowed his eyes at The Captain. "I know you're used to operations alone, out wandering in the void, but you will get used to this, Captain, like it or not."

He turned back to the view screen, looking at the task force arrayed before them. Thousands of vessels, from the massive amounts of tiny Hughies to the twin, massive Elissa class vessels, even those dwarfed yet by the menacing dark outlines of the Facehuggerian vessels. The Fist was the largest of the Arizonan vessels, yet even it was naught more than a needle next to the most massive Facehuggerian vessels.

"Deploy patrols," he said to The Captain, "and get our Inquisitors looking for anything that might be hiding in the shadows here."

The Captain nodded. "Aye sir."

Then we wait, thought Admiral Govannon.

Colossi Hadriel, Salmath System, Upper Quadrant

Darkness. Total absence of matter as we know it. Solitude.

A databurst large enough to make even advanced AI cough politely interrupted what felt like an eternity thoughtless nothing. Hadriel locked in the proper codes causing his warband to drop from the slipstream they had entered only moments ago at ESUS HQ. Just as planned, the six Colossi were arrayed in a delta, with their combined legions swarming behind them. A mere breath of Hadriel's mind called up a communications link on his HUD, the face of his brother-at-arms Cadriel staring back at him. As always, his eyes found it hard to focus on the blur that was Cadriel's semi-ethereal warcoat; nonetheless, he spoke, even as he deftly delivered orders to his legions.

'Cadriel, you are my second for the duration of this battle. I am informed that tactical command is mine, but I must handle my brood, and honestly, I understand not why those other fools were chosen for this delicate assignment. Starbusters are cold, I say again these are Dilin tactics.' (In a battle long ago, a Hiveship commanded by Patriarch Dilin was struck a mortal blow. Starbuster class weaponry being as volatile as it is, was likely to go when the ship imploded, thusly, Dilin dumped his hiveship into slipstream only moments before he lost hull integrity, saving his legion.)

Cadriel nodded in understanding, doing the same as his warleader, delegating orders to the various ships of his brood. Ships emblazened with Cadriel's sigil, and that glorious ESUS phoenix broke from the main group, following their lord's Colossi. In a private battle planning amongst the six Archangel's shortly before boarding, it had been decided that Cadriel would keep capital fire off their ally's dropships sub-atmosphere, whilst the other five engaged any Kendaryn forces in space. They were still a good distance from their Ally's craft, nearly a quarter of the system away. The primary planet not even a pinprick on the Ether, yet well within the range of the three Immortal's. Those drone ships chittered back in forth in an open frequency, discussing and rehacking the fact that they had superior range to any other ship present. The six isolated the frequency in comical unison, and let the AI gibber as much as they pleased. It wouldn't be long now.

Sub-light engines were pushed to their maximum, defensive measures scrying ahead for any long range ballistics. One by one, the capital and supercapital ships began to engage compressed-space fields wrapping light years of distance around themselves in five-dimensional knots. Puncturing such a field would likely require a highly advanced nav-com, several lawyers and the blood of a virgin.

Take that Kendari.

The five Colossi that now remained in formation coasted serenely across the cosmos, their hulking, alien mass enough to make any Captain cry. Each was good bit larger than largest present allied ship, and bristling with firepower. Even Facehuggers looked rather friendly next to a Colossi, which is likely why there were few Colossi in existance.

Little is known about why the Trailarii only stick to one medium for a few centuries and then do the complete opposite. For two and a quarter millenia, the Hiveship had been the largest Traileric craft in existance, but in the last century, the Colossi had been born, making their smaller legionaires look rather insignificant..Just over thirty four kilometers in length, there was room to spare for repairing Hiveships on the go. (Yay, I got to sizewhore CF =D)

Hadriel dialed into the Kanuckistani ESUS communications hub, and contacted the Trinity.

'Warleader Tanthius, Traileric Warband callsign Martel de Fer reporting as commanded. You have control of me and my children, do not spread needless death, our race does not believe in sacrificial losses.' Shortly after he finished his little speech, a databurst was sent to the Trinity, patching the other five Archangel's into the network, and rendering Tanthius command override protocol in case one of the lesser Angels did not follow orders. Yay for xenophobic little men in big ships.

All wait with baited breath, just to see a single nation plowed under with enough combined ESUS firepower to destroy a globular cluster..

[Captains Quarters, Kaigun Command ship Shinken]

Admiral Takahashi once again looked over the newest orders from the Huggerian Command ship, wondering if he should not yet again send it back to the boys in translation. “All this stuff about civilians…” he thought aloud, “they can’t possibly mean it. How am I supposed to move and fight effectively if I must thusly limit myself?” He paused, rubbing his right temple with his fore and middle fingers. “What the hell is a ‘civilian’ anyway? If they’re not ours, and they’re not the enemy, whose side are they on? More to the point, why the hell should I care?” He sighed, letting gravity bring his right arm down hard atop his desk. “Ah screw it,” he said more audibly then he had intended, leaning back into his chair, “this is the Nobuseri’s first joint operation, and I’m not about to jeopardize it by being fussy.” With a flick of the wrist he compressed the intercom, “Commander Ikari!”

There was a short pause, “Yes sir?”

“I want you to prepare a brief for the Mecha. Tell them…” he inhaled sharply, trying to phrase his orders in a way that didn’t sound like ‘play nice,’ “tell them to use… discretion when selecting targets. Tell them that they are not to waste resources on targets without distinctive strategic value.”

Again there was a brief pause, “yes sir, anything else sir?”

“No that will be all,” the admiral surmised hesitantly, deciding against having his instructions retranslated. After a few moments he ousted himself from his chair, and with a brief effort to gather his composure, exited his captains quarters unto the bridge nearby.

There was a minor fuss as he walked in, ‘admiral on the bridge’ and all that, but it had long since come to the point where he did not even consciously acknowledge such things. In the distance he could hear several junior officers who had been gawking at the much larger vessels that for the past few weeks had eclipsed the Nobuseri fleet; currently the discussion seemed to center around whether Fleet Command or a Facehuggerian vessel would win in a confrontation. “Let’s try to remain focused, gentlemen!” He scolded as the highly infantile conversation began to annoy him… or maybe it was just the tension of the moment. Takahashi hated this part – the prelude leading up to the battle – combat he could handle; hell, he could remain calm even as his ship was blown out from under him, but the anticipation… “If war is hell,” he thought, “then what is this, most wretched of things? Could it be that the fear of hell is more horrible then hell itself?” He sighed, “Oh, what am I doing? I’ve never been any good at philosophy. Anyway the fleet is ready; it will all be over soon enough…”

OOC: Taggage for now. I'm gunna wait for Kendari to respond before I send in reinforcements.

On the fringes of Enemy Space, Alpha Fleet

“Report!” Grand Admiral Jutenburg barked, hoisting himself up into his seat, partially from the shock and surprise of being wrenched out of sitting positions, into some form of FTL and hurtled unknown distances into enemy territory

“I want to know if that was a friendly maneuver or if we’ve just been witness to some sort of horrific FTL weapon that the GFFA has conjured up!” Jutenburg ordered

The Lieutenant of the Bridge, James Rubridge, hands wildly flying over his console, reading initial reports from both Science Officers and the Computer analysis over what just happened replied:

“Sir, it appears that we were displaced to our current position, Facehuggerian ships were scanning so I took the liberty of running our own, if they’re doing detectible scanning, I don’t think we’re running a stealth operation, not that we could hide a fleet this massive anyway. We appear to be a few hours outside of the The Salmath System, the fleet isn’t moving to engage”

“Hmm, that’s odd. I would imagine the Facehugger’s of all people would be biting at the leash to get moving on this one” Jutenburg replied

“Sir! We’ve got communications from the ISV Trinity it appears that we’re waiting for the enemy to engage us first before entering the actual system. It looks like we’re going to be waiting awhile as the GFFA musters its first defensive actions. I’m also being informed that our AI is too “Primitive” to participate in some sort of fleetwide AI gamefest while we wait” The Communications Officer reported

“Hrph. I never liked those sophisticated AI’s anyway. They have them experimenting on the newer ships, but I think that computers shouldn’t be given that much power. They’re handy no doubt, but it can never replace good old fashioned thinking power.” Jutenburg said, before cutting himself off, realizing he was babbling like an old fool. “If we’re waiting, lets at least muster the fleet into position away from these floating behemoths, chances are when the enemy attacks, they’ll target the Facehuggerian ships first, and we don’t want to be in the crossfire, at least not at the beginning” The Grand Admiral winked

“Sir, where do you want to remove the fleet to?” The Lieutenant asked

“Move them into standard formation together, Bandits flanking the sides, Legionnaires out front, Centurions and Samnites in the back; let’s make it a good old show of Torontonian Solidarity.” Jutenburg stated

“Aye Sir, sending orders now”

Across the formation, Torontonian ships broke off from the Facehuggerian vessels and moved over to an unoccupied region of space, which wasn’t easy in the swarm that was practically Alpha Fleet. Once area was found, the Torontonian fleet marshaled into the classic Torontonian organization, if on a much grander scale. The ships then silently sat in the dark reaches of space, patiently awaiting the calls to battle. Invasion forces were checked and rechecked, weapons systems were online and functioning, the complicated defense systems including the hull detachment systems were found to be in line, and all the Reactors were running low, keeping power conserved until the time was needed.

bump for post tomorrow

OOC: Gah, how'd I miss this? My apologies for the delay.
IC:
~~Salmath system, Kendari~~
In most respects, Salmath was quite an ordinary system, with the usual mix of uninhabitable planetoids and gas giants. Its most noteworthy feature was the set of three worlds that shared an orbit right in the middle of the inhabitable range, each of them capable of supporting life. There was Korvial, with its great spaceports, gleaming cities, and lush parks, home of the kingdom's greatest storehouse of information. There was blue and green Zatreer, of the vast, shallow oceans, rich farmland, and scattered mountains. Finally, there was Yamir, heavily forested and shrouded in mist, with nothing more than a few villages visible from space. These three planets were what made the Salmath system valuable to Kendari, and they were surely what had drawn the invaders.

Of more immediate concern, however, were the system's defenses. Surrounding the inner portion of the system was a spinning field of asteroids, ranging from fist-sized chunks of stone to massive crags many times larger than a battleship, gathered from a dozen systems and carefully placed over the centuries. They made it difficult to approach Salmath from a number of areas, but their primary purpose was to help conceal the drones that were the system's first line of defense, and the slow-moving, lightly protected vessels that controlled them. Inside this barrier waited slightly over one quarter of the Kendaryn navy. Four heavy battleships formed the core of this fleet: the great ‘Pike’ class vessel Devastation, and three of the somewhat smaller ships known as Lances. Around them drifted everything from ‘Halberd’ heavy battleships almost as powerful as the Lanes down to thousands of additional drones. Korvial and Zatreer were each protected by six of the mighty Guardian battlestations; two more orbited Yamir, and another pair watched over the two enormous gates that connected the Salmath system to Zergin and Tenrak. Finally, there was a scattering of smaller stations throughout the system, including a handful beyond the asteroid barrier. The majority of these were civilian constructions, but enough of them were armed that they could not simply be ignored.

Kendaryn sensors are a complex and versatile lot, and enough of them ignore such mundane limits as the speed of light that alarms were going off throughout the system within seconds of the invasion fleet’s arrival. Regulations strictly prohibit shooting first and asking questions later, but nobody was prepared for the size of the invasion force, and sometimes people panic. Before a word could be spoken, a gunner on one of the Ballista long range attack ships targeted one of the larger enemies and opened fire.

Admiral Tevrek Dreldon, Commander of the Salmath defense forces, acted promptly. His voice was relayed by untraceable hyperlink to the Devastation which transmitted it to the rest of the fleet.

-“Hold all fire! Stop that shot.”-

About halfway to the asteroid field, a shield drone activated and projected a carefully angled energy barrier. The onrushing bolt of destruction glanced off this shield, deflected just enough that it struck an asteroid instead of passing through the cloud. As the hapless chunk of stone was reduced to rapidly expanding cloud of ions, Dreldon prepared his next message. FTL communication with a ship carrying unknown communications equipment was a bit more difficult, but quite manageable, and moments later his voice reached the ESUS ships on all standard communication frequencies.

-“Attention, invading vessels: halt at once! I know exactly when this message will reach you, and if you are not slowing within sixty seconds of that time, you will be fired upon. I don’t pretend to believe we can defeat you, but we can and will make your victory cost you more in lives and ships than it could possibly be worth.”-

At the same time, the few last-minute preparations for the battle were carried out. Around Korvial and Zatreer, hundreds of specialized drones activated the planets’ mighty siege shields. Below them, numerous portals opened – some leading to Zergin or Tenrak, others to emergency camps on a number of inhabitable worlds in less well known systems. More alarms sounded on the surfaces of the two planets, and every civilian vessel that could be gathered began loading for evacuation. The fleet shifted about to best take on the attackers, and the two gates opened their fixed-position portals. The moment the last portal was open, before Dreldon’s message even reached its targets, FTLi fields sprang into existence. Even the Guardians could only extend these fields a few light minutes, but the overlapping fields of the numerous FTLi drones scattered about the asteroid field covered a considerably larger area. It did not go unnoticed that there were a number of easily distinguished styles present in the attacking fleet, nor that some of them seemed to work as isolated groups. The Trailarii compressed space fields also drew attention, and the computer housed within one of the Guardians was set to the task of examining their intricacies. This was a far more powerful version of the Ballista computers, which could map the gravitational fields of a star system in the instant before an alert defender might notice their arrival, and Kendaryn enchanters had long ago found ways of working without such inconvenient components as virgin’s blood; the project shouldn’t significantly impair its targeting ability.

With his message sent and these preparations underway, Admiral Dreldon reported the situation by hyperlink and then waited, his slit-pupiled eyes fixed on the screen that was giving him a constant readout on the approaching fleet. In one corner, a timer was counting down from sixty…

OOC: There, finally something for you to work with. I don't think I missed anything important.

OOC: Kendari posted back! *The crowd goes wild*, and now to give your supercomputer a headache.

The Kendaryn warning was an expected first measure, for any rational civilization would attempt to reason with and identify attackers. However, this formality seemed a bit late as an as of yet unidentifiable Kendaryn weapon was discharged in the general direction of the ESUS collective. Traileric sensors reached forth, attempting to piece together a trajectory. Return fire wasn't an option with compression fields at a density fluctuating between two hundred seventy and two hundred ninety six to one meter. Traileric compressed space fields are not by any means thick things, ranging from a mere meter to but a cluster of centimeters in width. It would be a waste of power to broaden them and still maintain to coordinates when they did their job perfectly well at such a small scale.

The drawback to a Traileric compressed space field is that it draws an immense amount of power, so much so that a Traileric craft's weaponry won't function if the field is on; besides, getting an offensive weapon through the constantly shifting draughts of space that made up the field in question was as frustrating and useless as getting one in. The exception that proves the rule is the slipstream drive, which functions on a totally different powersource as opposed to the compressed space field, weapons, and life support. Because of this, FTL systems can engage with the field raised, thusly thwarting any ambushes waiting on yonder side of hyperspace. At any rate, getting an FTL weapon through these fields is also a feat, for the coordinated differences between normal space on one side of the field and on the other are updated with religious regularity.

The Traileric craft did not slow, in fact, quite the opposite. The Hiveships of the six legions let slip their fighter compliment, waves of relatively small single pilot craft catapulted from each hangar in turn. The short range fighters swarmed over the leading delta of Colossii to gather before them, standard tactics.

OOC: I know, kinda short, waiting for CF to do somethin before I start fugzing with things.

OOC: It's rather short... but I've been busy rewriting the damn thing to get it so that it doesn't read like a stilted exposition of talking heads, hence why it took so long... I think I was only partially successful. :p My apologies for that. Lots of dialog here... but don't worry, the battles are coming soon. Big honking spaceguns galore. Normally, I'd kind of just jump right into the battle, but I'm really trying to weave my characters into the story, to give them motivations and, hopefully, to make them at least partially believable. (Or... at least as believable as anything coming from CF can be. :p)

Bah, OOC rambling over.

IC:

It felt like he had moved Heaven and Earth to get to where he was today. On a warship, space was always at a premium. What wasn’t used for weapons and ordinance, fabricators and computers, was taken up by a myriad of other things, like the ship’s Cathedral. Even on a vessel as massive as Trinity, the space devoted for personnel living quarters was small. To get larger quarters, ones big enough for two, took a lot of doing, even for someone of Tanthius’ rank. Primarily because he had to convince Trinity herself why he needed double the space of a usual flag officer, against regulations. She was, after all the one who would have to design and implement the changes.

But, as he gazed upon his love’s form, softly crying into her pillow, he knew it was worth it.

“Hi, Alee… How’re you holding up?” He asked, resting his hand on her shoulder. She tensed up, like a hare ready to bolt.

“I… I see them, Tee. I see them whenever I close my eyes. I see them leering at me as they tore… God, what did I do to deserve…” She started to reply, gazing upon Tanthius with tear-filled eyes.

“Shh… It’s okay. Just let it all out. I’m here for you… and I won’t let anyone hurt you again.” He replied, flashing her a reassuring grin.

“Why can’t we just live happily ever after? Why do you have to go fight? You’re the only one I have… I don’t want to lose you.” She sobbed.

Tanthius sighed and said “Alee, baby, you know why. If the Emperor thinks something is wrong, all I’ve worked for all this time would be gone. All I’d have left is you.”

“Isn’t that enough?” She asked, a new round of tears rolling down her face.

“Of course it is.” Tanthius said, with an air of finality. “But I have a duty to our people. They live as slaves under the Tyrant’s whip. I love you, you know I do. But please don’t make me choose. I will surely go mad.” He said, embracing her and stroking her hair as she cried on his shoulder.

“I’m just so worried. If you die, I don’t know what I’d do…” She replied, shuddering as more tears ran down her cheeks, wetting his uniform.

“Hey, don’t worry about that. I know what I’m doing. I’ve got experience in these things.” He replied, looking deeply into her sapphire eyes, their hue only slightly more azure then her hair. The pain, the fear he saw in her eyes made his stomach turn.

“Don’t make promises you know you can’t keep…” She replied, turning away.

“I…” Tanthius started to say, before realizing that he wasn’t in his quarters. Instead, he was on the bridge. Trinity’s holographic form glared upon him from the holotank, indented into the center of the ship’s command center, nestled near the center of the ship. All around him, blue-suited naval personnel went about their business, all wearing the blue, black, and silver hostile environmental suits that they were made to wear in combat. Tanthius realized where he was in an instant. The ship’s CiC. Which meant the shit had hit the fan.

There was no time to waste, so Tanthius clutched the railing that guarded the holotank for support, and let his consciousness expand into the ship’s computer systems. A ship’s commander often ‘linked up’ with their ship in this way, maintaining two separate minds, that of the ship, and that of the commander, yet overlapping somewhere in the middle. It was really the only way for unaugmented humans to maintain some degree of control over a battle which could last the blink of an eye. Not that Tanthius was unaugmented… not by a long shot. It was just that… even though he knew his fragile meat was supplemented by an AI core to rival Trinity’s own, he couldn’t help but feel that he’d lost something when he’d agreed to become an ‘Immortal’, one of the Emperor’s hands, all those innumerable years ago…

“Sorry about the abrupt displacement, but you told me that you wanted to be here the moment something came up. The Kendari defense forces have sent us a message. I think they want your reply. They also shot at us… but the shot is going long and there hasn’t been any return fire. I think it was some trigger happy newbie…” Trinity said, her voice silky-smooth, full of reason. She was in her home court, the ship’s datanet, while his cybernetic mind was the interloper here. She didn’t mind too much. After all, it was so much faster then waiting the seconds it would take for him to communicate his orders verbally.

“I see. Broadcast the following: ‘This is Star-General Tanthius of the ESUS Combined Armada. You speak brave words… though we both know they are hollow ones. The ESUS is come to bring the GFFA to heel, starting with the Kingdom of Kendari. You have seen our invasion force. You know you cannot hope to withstand us. So, I offer you a choice: If you surrender peacefully, you will be treated with deference and respect. If you resist, then you will be throwing away your lives, and your children’s’ lives, for nothing. I offer you this chance, this singular chance to avert bloodshed and oppression. You have until my fleet orbits one of your worlds… or you open fire upon us. Whichever comes first. ESUS out. ‘” Tanthius said, his mind obviously working at a razor’s pace. Trinity smiled to herself. Maybe this CO wouldn’t be a useless meatling, like that Captain Feth.

“Meanwhile, I want us to advance. Accelerate at one quarter maximum. Keep the Blinkers spooled up, but don’t use them until the conventional shields collapse. Ready all weapons and alert fighters… but don’t fire until fired upon. This is the first major battle in the war against the GFFA, and a propaganda victory can be had if we play our cards right…

…And by Freeman split the fleet! The Tories won’t last long in that asteroid field, even assuming the Kendaryn haven’t fortified it. And that’s a damn faulty assumption. If they didn’t, they would have strip mined it long ago.” Tanthius added.

“Aye-aye, sir. But remember… they aren’t us. They don’t think like us. Hell, there are some minor indications that this field is mostly artificial… given how it covers most of the approaches to the system, and some slight differences in composition between various rocks. Almost as though they were culled from different fields.” Trinity replied.

“Did you always second-guess Marcus like this?” He asked idly. He knew, just as she did, that the ship was accelerating smoothly. They could both feel it.

“Naturally. I’m a warship, programmed to show initiative. Plus, I’ve been doing this a long time. I’m smarter then your average bear. Hell, if you let me, I could probably run the whole damn war on my own…”

“I value such… forwardness amongst my subordinates. However, I cannot have disobedience on the eve of a major battle. Shapajur?”

“…Aff!” Trinity replied, slightly taken back. The General was damn serious. In Facehuggerian culture, the word ‘Shapajur’ could best be equated to the phrase ‘You had best understand. If you don’t, I will tear out your spleen.’ –Not that she had an actual spleen to tear out. Still, she knew for all her mischievous and even insubordinate tendencies, she couldn’t disobey a direct order. That need was as much a part of her personality as her desire to kill, or her love of dance, or…

“I want Vindicator leading half the fleet underneath the system’s plane. We will lead the other half of the fleet over the top. We’ll converge at… Zatreer. Issue orders that any enemy fire is to be met in kind, but they are not to fire until the Kendaryn have made the first move.“ Tanthius said, interrupting her last thought, not even acknowledging her submission.

“We’ll be at the RV in about sixteen minutes, assuming we hold this accel. It might take the rest of the fleet a bit longer to get into position… most of them aren’t as fast as I am.” Trinity replied, a hint of pride creeping into her voice.

“Good. I want the alert fighters on the way, with the Terminators loaded with Trebuchet siege guns and on a bombing run as soon as we start taking fire. Their primary targets will be those stations around Zatreer. We will handle the capital ships. The planet, along with whatever shields it possesses, are to be ignored for the time being. We’ll deploy a second wave of T-Trays to deal with them once the enemy space defenses lay broken beneath our feet.” Tanthius said, designating targets with what amounted to the power of his mind.

”What's the plan for me? I don't like sitting out on a fight... and I don't want to just go off on my own and endanger the whole campaign.”

“You’ll see.” He replied coldly, like a predator stalking its prey.

-=ANSS The Invisible Hand

Admiral Absalom had taken advantage of the brief lull in the action to go back to this quarters to relax for a while, although to him relaxing usually meant queueing up some Terran music - something by Holst or Mussorgsky, usually - and just prepare mentally. He had gone through what battle plans they had and knew them by heart, but he also knew well enough that once the fighting began the books would be little good. As he sat at his desk, sweeping his arms to the music as if conducting a great symphony, the door rang. He promptly broke from his reverie and switched off the music. The door opened, revealing Bakur.

"Admiral," he said in his deep, gravelly voice, "We have received orders to split the fleet, taking one half upside the system plane and another downward."

"So which direction does Sixth plan on taking?"

"They have relayed their wishes to go down. I have already relayed orders to the Third Fleet to begin its ascent."

"Hm, thank you Captain," said Admiral Absalom a little guardedly, his demure tone masking the slightest hint of annoyance. He generally approved of Bakur's ambition - but to a point, though.

"I did not believe it prudent to allow any delay in the fulfillment of our orders, Admiral, and I apologize if you feel I overstepped my bounds."

"It is a little thing only, Bakur, and you are right. We tardy too long though - let us relocate immediately to the deep bridge."

"Yes sir," replied Bakur, who immediately turned and strode at speed to the lift.

Admiral Absalom looked back down at his desk, and turned off the music library. No more laxness... this is not some stone-agers we're rolling over here, he thought to himself as he exitted his quarters.

-=ANSS Fist of the Empress

"Empress on deck!" yelled Admiral Govannon aloud.

This was an event that some would think would involve a lot of kowtowing, as an absolute head of state might deserve. Anikar had long ago tired of such things, though, and now only reserved an inclination of the head as she passed by which she hardly enforced. Anything more would just be too disruptive.

She came up alongside the Admiral, one of the few people whom she - literally - saw eye to eye with.

"Third Fleet is on the way?" she asked lazily.

"I have relayed the Facehuggerians orders ma'am," he replied far more officiously.

"You do like working with them, now don't you Admiral?" she asked demurely, as if hardly interested in what she was even saying anymore.

"It is my duty to do so, my liege. They are the head and shoulders of the ESUS in this endeavor, and we owe the ESUS much," he said as steadily as before.

Anikar now turned towards him, though he remained fixed, staring ahead. "This is our first action with the alliance. Do everything in your power to make sure we - me, you, and the nation itself - are not ashamed. Win or lose, Admiral, do not shame us. This must be your finest hour; you have no other choice but to make it so."

The Admiral merely acknowledged this order in silence, continuing to stare into the void outside. Anikar turned back to join him in this.

"If you do not mind, I will stay on the bridge for a while. I have yet to witness a true battle of the likes of this, and I would see it with my own eyes."

“Sir, We’re getting reports of fleet movement coming in, it looks like the Facehuggerians are looking to move over and above the asteroid belt rather than right through it. A recent communiqué from the Trinity confirms this. It also notes that this concession is being made for us, seeing as our ships are unshielded” The Lieutenant reported, his voice buzzing through the secure communication line to the Admirals quarters

“Are you sure they’re doing this for us?” The Grand Admiral responded, looking at his right hand man quizzically, shifting his weight in his chair

“Indeed, She, er… It made a point of making that clear, didn’t seem to appreciate it much either. Orders state that the fleet is to be split into two sections and move with each group. It looks like we’re trying to salvage any “Good guy” bravado, we just received word that we’re not to fire any shots at the defenders until they shoot at us. It’ll put the gunners on edge, but if it works, it’ll make us look, slightly less evil I suppose” Rubridge stated, viewing his opinion on the matter as he often did, Jutenburg had discovered

“Excellent, we both know that we would have suffered unneeded losses had we had to maneuver that field, these Facehuggerians are proving their tactical smarts more and more. Split the fleet into Task Force’s A and B and have the TSDC Sentinel head up Task Force B, sent them instructions to follow the Facehuggerians and the Arizona Novian down under the asteroid belt. Ensure that Admiral Velda realizes the repercussions if he gets a little trigger happy. We need to have a show of faith in our Allies plans.” Jutenburg ordered, underlying the fact that the Torontonians needed to redeem themselves in the alliance’s standings.

“Yessir! I’ll see to it right away!” Rubridge responded enthusiastically

Switching off the Comm Unit on his desk, he continued with his paperwork, of which there was endless amounts of. At some times he felt that being in high positions of the TSDC was still similar to being high up in a Corporation. There was lots of tedious paperwork to be done (Although he could always hand it off to a subordinate, he felt it was his duty to do it himself) and if something screws up, no matter who was responsible for it, he ended up paying for it.

Well I suppose at least here I get to play with guns… But I suppose that isn’t much different nowadays with most powerful companies having a small standing army of their own. Ugh, it never ends. After this is all over I’m going to ensure I never see active duty again, I forgot how much administration was involved. Maybe I’ll put Rubridge in charge…. The Grand Admiral mused, Lieutenant Rubridge was enthusiastic and competent, but he was still green when it came to experience, this war being his first active combat in his short life.

Jutenburg stood away from his desk, taking in the lavish surroundings he was encased with. As much as he hated such importance being placed upon his rank, he did enjoy the perks of the position. He never had to worry about full bathrooms, cranky roommates or sweaty dining areas, he had all of that at his fingertips right here, when he had the chance to be there anyway.

As he felt the ship slowly move forward, he realized that this relaxing lull before combat was more likely to be shattered by gunfire sooner than later, and, dawning his Commanders Jacket and ensuring any last minute preparations were finalized, headed toward the bridge. Only looking back to glance at the holo-tables report on fleet movements, watching the large blue Facehuggerian ships slowly break off over the field, followed by the Red Arizona Novians and now, the Green Torontonian fleet, all breaking into two smaller sections to avoid going headlong into the abyss. They preferred to tiptoe around it now. Reciting a brief prayer for his protection, he left the room and headed for the Bridge.

Ave, frater.

Ave, Joseph. We have orders?

We have orders. I am to attack from above the solar plane, removing the asteroids as an obstacle, while you do the same by veering beneath it.

Understood. Good hunting, brother.

Same to you. Au revior.

Spiralling apart, the two Otagian Super Dreadnoughts veered away from each other, twisting off into the void. With a puff of gas, the pair launched drones, hundreds of thousands of the deadly little Paris II drones polluting the space around them. With their KK drives fully active, the gravitic maelstrom would provide a nearly impenetrable shield against their foes. Moving forward, the drones enveloped their allies in a loose screen, cloaking them as well.

OOC: Sorry for the short and crappy post, I'm tired and slightly otherwise engaged, but really wanted to get this up before I go home...

'Are the preparations complete?' - Ling's voice echoed through the Othranarian consciousness.

'Yes, we can make the transition on your order.' - Slindra replied.

'Make sure all Siafu are in their pods and ready to launch. I want the swarm mobilized as soon as we hit normal space.'

'Very well, the Siafu will be in their pods momentarily and the bay will be open during the jump. As per your orders, seventy million will remain with Dread in order to ensure its defense.'

'Very good. Make sure the Kitori are prepared, I want the mental network operating as well as possible.'

'All Kitori are being roused and were properly rested and fed. We are ready for the greatest battle we have ever seen.'

'Excellent, warm the engines and prepare to make the jump.'

The hum of the space-folding drive and the scraping of the bay door filled the carrier as the monstrous, dark-gray forms of the Siafu moved around the ship, rousing the Kitori. The vastly different forms of the Othranarian males flew slowly and clumsily into their pods, their large wings pushing them through the air. The beasts were not intending to launch, but to use the mental enhancement technology within to boost their roles as conduits for the mental network the Othranar relied on so very heavily. Alongside them the Othranarian females (the Siafu) were climbing into their smaller pods, several of them armed with personal spatial-distortion weaponry.

As always, Dread was devoid of any trace of atmosphere what so ever. Not only did the massive ship not have life-support systems but also there was no need for them; the Othranar functioned perfectly well in the vacuum of space with out the aid of technology. A life-support system would simply have been a waste of space. Not to mention, that the vacuum made it that much harder to board the carrier.

Ling was on the command deck reviewing the communications between the other ESUS members. Many of the orders were confusing to him. Such thing as sparing foes and the concept of a 'civilian' were alien to him. In every military action, the Othranar had simply annihilated a population, taken any and all useful technology and stripped the planet into nothingness. Leaving the world intact was surprising enough and now Ling had been instructed by his fellow alliance members to leave survivors. It left him rather bewildered and, not for the first time, he had considered disregarding these instructions.

'Bewildering my liege. Why should we spare those we invade? And what is the purpose of this invasion in the first place if we are not to strip the planet?' - Raas had asked when the communication had first come in.

'It is, as I understand it, a show of strength as an act of retribution. One of their allies attacked us so we attack them. Showing, in the process, that we are a dangerous foe in order to discourage any further attacks.' - Ling had said.

'Then why are we here?'

'We have joined the ESUS, and in so doing, we have all promised our support to each other. If we do not deliver this support to them now, they may not deliver it to us in the future.'

'The ways of these creatures are strange.'

'Indeed.'

Now, the Othranar were on the verge of the largest-scale invasion they had ever been a part of. Everything the Othranar had deemed necessary had been done in preparation for the coming invasion. The Othranarian swarm was acting more smoothly and in a much more unified manor then it had since its founding.

'The time is upon us my fellows! We shall tear our enemies limb from limb and grind their cities into dust! Let none who dare to stand against us survive! Ensure that the might of the swarm will drive fear into the hearts of our foes! Engage the drives!' - Ling said, his voice echoing through the minds of his subjects.

Dread seemed to simply disappeared from the nameless system of abandoned worlds, propelled by the massive space-folding drives. The moon-sized carrier ship appeared just outside the Tenrek system. As soon as the ship hit normal space hundreds of millions of pods began to stream from the massive bay, flooding the space around it. The first goal was to clear a path for the coming of the rest of the ESUS strike force and to do this, the Siafu pods were converging on the asteroid belt surrounding the system. Normally transmutation technology would have been used to clear an asteroid field, but the strategy called for a quick disposal of the field; and thus, spatial distortion cannon would be the method of disposal. The SD cannons charged as the pods rapidly approached the asteroid field.

From there, assuming that everything would go according to plan, the 359.64 million pods would discharge their SD cannon charge into the field, taking out as much of it as possible.

OOC: Y'know... I'm really wondering something. There's a big ESUS battle fleet in a GFFA member system. It has made its intentions painfully obvious. Where the hell are the GFFA members rallying to Kendari's defense? Or is your lack of political unity so pervasive as to allow an ally to be invaded (and not by particularly pleasant occupiers, either) without even lifting a finger in defense?

If so, allow me to say that you are going to be utterly stomped by the other half of the ESUS battlefleet which is not tied up in limbo here. I mean, the only real thing the GFFA has going for it in this war is home field advantage. Numbers lay firmly in the ESUS' court, and tech does as well to a lesser degree. All you've got is the fact that you've got the more intimate knowledge of the terrain.

But you guys are effectively waiving that by waiting for us to annihilate you peicemeal, rather then making a concerted defense which actually has the potiential to toss out a major ESUS battlefleet like the one present here! Seriously, are you trying to sabotage your own defensive effort?

I can forgive Kendari's lack of posting. He's busy IRL. But his allies? Where are the Abh fleets? The Huntaeran ones? Reinforcements from any GFFA member would be nice to see. Otherwise, you are essientially dooming Kendari to be run over by what amounts to an international coalition of bloodthirsty space savages. And, quite honestly, I don't want that. I wanted and expected a war, not a stompfest. The problem lies in that a war requires an enemy who will actually fight, who will actually respond, rather then huddle in his home, praying that the big bad wolf will leave him alone. Surely the GFFA recognizes this? Surely?

Sorry to rant on like this... but, I've been very dissapointed in the GFFA's lack of unity, as of late. I mean, you'd figure that a huge ESUS battlefleet would merit a response, if only so as to stop it before it penetrates further into the Federation. I mean, it's not like it's particularly easy to hide an enormous fleet FTLing right outside a Kendaryn system, and then plainly pinging said system and demanding its surrender.

OOC

I would love to deploy a couple fleets in an effort to crush this advance, but I do not roleplay my navy as being omnipotent. Nor do I roleplay them as having insta-transmitting singals or FTL.

That being said, I think it's time for the REAL space savages to arrive.


---

"We dont just go out and do stupid things whenever somebody yells, 'For the Horde'."
-Warchief Durotan, shortly before the Second Battle of Draenor

The drums of war thundered once again.

Throughout the warship Mok'thal, they thundered. The very bulkheads shook with the beating of drums, the stomping of feet, the deep voices of the songs sung of battles long past. Warlord Iig'ror held his chin in one hand, his eyes slitted as the holographic view of the Salmath system rotated in front of him. The Shattered Hand had reported that their Kendari allies had come under attack less than an hour ago, and it was a damned good thing that the Second and Third fleets were in the middle of an exercise on the far outskirts of Horde space, close enough to Salmath to respond. Iig'ror had become bored. Fighting other orcs in simulations was one thing, but they were a race bred for war. They'd barely had enough time to evacuate the nelvaanian volunteers from the Horde warships before barelling headfirst into the Nether.

"Emergence in five!" announced his tauren helm officer, a young bull named Proudhorn. "Brace for impact!"

"About damned time!" roared Iig'ror, holding himself steady as the Mok'thal burst from the Nether, sending shards of reality scattering throughout the cosmos. "All engines to full! Take us into the head of the Kendari line!"

The sublights of the immense Kolkar-class battlecruiser roared to life, splashing cool blue over the silver hull. Salmath's sunlight was blocked out as an even larger shape burst into existence. The Org'rimma, flagship of the Second Fleet and one of only two Kar'gath-class command ships ever constructed, took up the point position of the combined Horde fleets. The loudspeakers of the Mok'thal crackled to life, drowning out even the stirring rendition of The Ballad of the Hellscreamer that had begun on the bridge.

"Dis be High Warlord Aal'jin of da Horde warship Org'rimma. We be readeh tah stand by da Kendari allies. All vessels take up flanking positions to da Command Ship. Be readeh ta split an' engage da enemy on me signal. Deat' to da enemies of da Horde!"

Focused transmissions, beaming from every Horde vessel on every known frequencey and aimed directly at the ESUS taskforce, spoke one phrase.

LOK'TAR OGAR! DEATH TO THE ENEMIES OF THE HORDE!

OOC: Same thing along the lines of Gaia here. I could send a fleet in but how would the Abh know what's going on if no message for help was sent. Unless there was some subtle wording that I completely missed about a message being sent, my people are happily occupied as it is. This is the same reason that Xanthal is all by himself at the moment as well. No cry for help was sent.

I like to have something to go on so until then, I hope you like talking about your ships.

OOC: Well, I could donate. In fact, I'll do so right now. ;) Mind if our news channels pick up the fighting?

OOC: *Notes that ranting is a good way to get posts.* :p

Anyway, excellent! I hope to have another IC post up by tommorow night. Alas, it will probably be mostly filler, unless Kendari happens to post by then. :)

ND: No problem at all. Well... except that at the moment, there isn't any fighting. A few demands for surrender and warcries are being bandied about, but nobody has actually started shooting yet.

OOC

I would love to deploy a couple fleets in an effort to crush this advance, but I do not roleplay my navy as being omnipotent. Nor do I roleplay them as having insta-transmitting singals or FTL.

That being said, I think it's time for the REAL space savages to arrive.


OOC: At what point was there even a suggestion that any given member of this ESUS taskforce was in any way unbeatable? Nice Ughlish ogre speaking by the way. ;)

OOC: Same thing along the lines of Gaia here. I could send a fleet in but how would the Abh know what's going on if no message for help was sent. Unless there was some subtle wording that I completely missed about a message being sent, my people are happily occupied as it is. This is the same reason that Xanthal is all by himself at the moment as well. No cry for help was sent.

I like to have something to go on so until then, I hope you like talking about your ships.

OOC: When the communications from an entire star system of a highly evolved culture simply stops, most neighboring worlds would notice, especially if they have, say, trade or military interests there. A sudden silence is as good as cries for help. :) Now why don't you make yourself useful and throw something up so I can blow it out of the sky?

OOC:

ND: A few demands for surrender and warcries are being bandied about, but nobody has actually started shooting yet.

OOC: Perhaps we can broadcast those being bandied about then?

Wtih grand overheads in place and a series of cuts already in place, it was left to Kenpaichi to oversee the Xenonian contingent. All Lineships were in place, line up line of weaponry going through the endless and nonsensical array of final test mechanisims to prepare them for war (Surely just shooting an entire fleet apart with them was an indicator enough of thier destructive firepower and the fact they were actually working ...), it left Ken with very little to do, As Hergiv and his lieuetenant were overseeing final preparations with the other ESUS nations, the major plans and arrows drawn on fancy maps already organised and laid out bare for all to see.

The troops were finally ready, while MBT's and heavier equipment were already secure for drops. Repair facilities and contact with ship repair facilities the ESUS had already set up were finally being keyed in, while the Central Facehuggerian commander was informed of the orderly progress of things. That conversation ... with the unusually xenophobic lot had gone quite well, to the surprise of Kenpaichi. Both Hergiv and Ken had met in quiet and agreed there was a lot less of Xenophobia in the conversations than they had ever expected. Sadly, that negotiation with the entire ESUS cadre of commanders had been calculated to take an hour or two, which left the schedule for Ken empty. Naturally, one had to amuse themselves.

Naturally, the young Xenonian had retreated into his room ... and was running up the side of it, struggling to keep ahead of a crazed armoured creature persuing him. Even as he performed this action, the ship's armoured corridors changed their internal structure, creating a pathway consistent with what was playing with the functions of his mind. He took a moment to reload his combat cannon. Behind him, Catanyia swore, and began swinging her own weapon in a series of destructive arcs that gouged great rents into the ship's internal superstructure. Even as they were made, the ship began reforming the damage, leaving the impression nothing had ever happened a short time after.

You have chosen to flee the battle! Great beast pursues!

Cataynia has chosen to fight! Sucessful hit with Aionsluh aura! Rolling d6 .....

Catanyia inflicts 36 dam. Great Beast defeated, Level up!

"what the hell is going on?"

Ken froze as the stern comment from his superior rang throughout the hall. Cata on the other hand, being the metaphyiscal and physical representation of his own ships Ai simply jumped into one of the walls and dispersed, seemingly leaving Ken alone in the face of one tired and annoyed Kaptain. Despite that, Hergiv responded in a tone that gave the impression of an oddball father .... charged with the custody of a truly freakish family of even more oddball children. In truth, this was a nature adopted by most Kaptains, Ken had to admit. Xenonians were far from the normal definitions of "Sane" or "normal" by most nation's standards.

"This is not the time for Dungeons and Dragons dark side of the moon edition! And cata, no .... just no. "

On the other side of this conversation, Hergiv left his mind to exhale somewhat. Even the expierienced Kaptain was left hoping he'd be able to get a few minutes of private time to himself, such was the plainly boring nature of preparations so far . Exasperation seemed to be increasing his aging rate, and he looked somewhat annoyed and amusing (if those two emotions can truly coexist. Nevertheless, the painstaking preperations were finally over and it left his assault group in space, soon to attack and crush the nation of Kendari as nessecary. That said, it was time to give Ken and the rest of the protectorate the heads up on the plans. Normally this information would have been transmitted over secure Xenonian neuralink .... but the techs were still implementing safeguards over the Esus Battlenet. Futhermore, the chance to actually speak and have someone listen to what he had to say without subjecting it to a light year and a half's worth of mindlessly inane questions would be appreciated.

"The Othranar have been sent ahead. They'll clear the way into the system before destroying the nessecary targets to hasten our own safe arrival. You know which planets we need to hit. I'm not sure what the Jangle Jangle Ridge representatives will do, but I believe it'll include their mines. Our ground assault plans are there if nessecary and we always have the trump card of the othranar and strategies we have gone over with their leader, Ling. He's an arrogant one, but even he agreed with my judgement the othranar would be best if everyone had a basic idea of how we can use their .... unique abilities. Siestia is ready to go, of course.. Overall ... this shouldn't take too long. We just need to keep casulaties to a miniumum, I suppose. Alpha does the rest."

"Agreed Hergiv. So, when do we move in?"

It was at that moment the Othranar ... or rather the absence of them, was noticed, answering Kenpaichi's question pre-emptively. Meanwhile, the kaptains of the other two Miaks reported in. The hammer would fall all too soon. Privately the Xenonians hoped they could forewarn Kendari to move their civilians out of the way. They had already lobbied to be the ones to look after this place in the aftermath, if possible.

The alternatives that other Esus nations were offering should they be awarded custody of these lands ... were much less platable, or humanitarian. Above all else, Xenonier did not actually want this war and it was of the opinion that many GFFA nations deserving nothing of what was about to slap them upside the head ....

OOC: There'll be a post in another thread so this makes sense.

IC:

Reports had been received over time that communication with an operative in Kendari space had been lost. The man was past his hourly check-in though it could have been written off as a communications malfunction. Still, proper precautions needed to be taken. It would do no good barging in like some playground bully looking for one man if it was simply a glitch. Admiral Wakapale had decided that a small fast ship would be sufficient to check on things.

Each operative had a means of communication other than the conventional sense. Only problem was that some required a ship to get in the actual system. A solo ship entered the jump gate on orders to investigate the current situation. In the mean time, the report was filed to the Admirals that were away on a meeting.

Another day, another theater of battle. Just as the Azahan Front was being waged, the Joint Revolutionary Command and Control Center in San Diego lost all contact with the Kendari. Neermind the fact the newsmen were reporting communications losses and what seemed to be formations of foreign ships, though this could not be confirmed.

It was decided that given the Mandate by the MacIntyre Government, they would bring the fight to the enemy once more, by providing assistance. Their goal first would be to investigate the happenings using just a simple picket of Lin Biaos, and if it was due to foul play, then the rest would move in.

Thus, a force of a hundred and fifty vessels was deployed, fifty Lin Biao Heavy Cruisers, 25 Mao Zedong Battleships, 25 Prochkhorovka II Fleet Carriers, and 25 Zaitsev II ISDs, plus 25 Deng Xiaoping Battlecruisers was quickly assembled and put under command of Commodore Pilar Hernandez, and immediately spirited off to Kendari as fast as possible using Bosun Drives. Hernandez was not anybody well known in the force, somebody fresh out of the Naval College on New Star City, but somebody who was deemed competent enough to have command of a force.

OOC: ...and finally I post again. I'm sorry about the delay; thanks for being understanding.

IC:
Admiral Dreldon sighed. The response had been no worse than he expected - perhaps even better - but it boiled down to the ultimate in bad news. There would be no negotiations, not before this battle. Salmath would fall. All he could do was buy what time he could: for the evacuation, for the Kingdom, and for the Alliance.

-"Star-General Tanthius, you already know what my reply will be. The Godulans surely told you that we refuse to declare neutrality, or you would not be here. We all knew, when this decision was made, that our course would not be easy. If we were willing to surrender without a fight, we could have declared neutrality from the beginning, and saved you the trouble of showing up. Kendari will not abandon our allies in a time of such dire need. If we must pay for our honor in blood, then so be it.
"I have not asked you to surrender or retreat, merely to hold your position while we negotiate. You have refused. I have given you fair warning; this is all that I can do. Star-General, your sixty seconds are up. Do not think that your ships and your allies will emerge from this battle unscathed."-

As he spoke, Dreldon continued watching the displays, and he shifted from transmitting his message to giving orders without the slightest pause. As his fingers danced across a control pad, his voice was relayed to the Devestation, then heavily encrypted and transmitted to the rest of the fleet.

-"Excellent, they're dividing the fleet. We can do the most damage if we concentrate on one half of it. Coordinates are being sent to all control centers; advance with all speed at my signal. Cannons only until they approach standard missile range. They've had time enough to hear me - fire a full volley at both forces, then advance! Field stations, stand by to loose Darts at closest proximaty."-

He finished these instructions a few seconds after the ESUS fleet heard the end of his reply, and at that time every defender with a clear shot at the invasion fleet opened fire. Broadswords lashed at larger vessels with their great front-mounted Type Vs. Longswords loosed deadly broadsides at groups of smaller ships. Frigates and destroyers lit up the void with a hailstorm of glowing destruction. Here and there, a Guardian or Ballista sent a Delvar bolt arcing out to strike the invaders from a different angle, avoiding defensive forces that would otherwise be in the line of fire. One shot from every cannon that could fire at the attackers, and then the fleet was moving.

Repulsors flared, pushing ships swiftly toward the chosen target. The three Lances and an escorting force of Longbow interception vessels pulled ahead, but the rest of the fleet was coming swiftly behind them. Most of the fire was directed toward this portion of the invasion force now, with the only exceptions being station and Ballistas that lacked a clear shot at it.

-Full cooperation within squads, concentrate your fire! There's too many of 'em to take on every enemy at once, so there's no point in trying."-

"Oh, you did get a transcript of that opening exchange, right?"

"Aye, Admiral, film and everything."

"Good, that might be useful. Hyperlink it back to HQ... and keep recording!"

As these opening shots were fired, the evacuation efforts were proceeding at full speed. Thousands of vessels, ranging from massive cargo ships (most in need of some fresh paint) to gleaming little pleasure yachts, shot into portals and vanished from the system. Moving this many people was an enormous project, and every second with the siege shields up meant a few more civilians could escape. At the same time, the call for help went out to the Federation, using several methods of FTL Com to reach as many allies as could be managed.

~~Tenrek and Zergin systems~~
Here, also, defensive fleets were preparing for action. Moving in carefully planned ranks, the ships of the quick response teams swept toward the gates to Salmath. Few even wondered if an invasion of this scale might be little more than a feint...

~~Somewhat later~~
"Admiral, sensors detect more vessels approaching. Praise the Fates, it's the Horde!"
"Excellent news! We may yet survive this."

Dreldon sent a quick message of thanks to the Org'rimma, along with a copy of the data that had been gathered about the ESUS ships.
-"Honored allies, you have Kendari's deepest gratitude for your assistance. Together, we shall make our enemies pay deeply in blood for this attack!"-

~~Tenrek System~~
Admiral Nethân Gembryl knew about the coming of the Swarm within a second of their arrival. The WX-31 had risen from the ranks of the Royal Guard to the position of Admiral because of its exceptional tactical abilities, and was a popular choice as protector of these two highly valuable worlds. By the time three more seconds had passed, Gembryl estimated the likelyhood of attack at 97%, but there were still formalities to be dealt with. Its distinctly artificial-sounding voice rang out on all standard communication frequencies in the midst of the Othranar, and included several less common modes of communication, as well.

-"Attention, unknown forces. You are entering Kendaryn territory. Please state your identity and intentions before proceeding further. If you continue on your present course, you will be fired upon. This is your only warning."-

((OOC: I'm assuming that a culture that has a hard time with the concept of leaving an enemy planet in one piece won't be big on negotiations, so I'm going to assume that the reply is either negative or nonexistant, and cut straight to the start of the battle. If I'm incorrect, I'll edit. Defenses are similar to those around Salmath. Is this happening at the same time as the other attack, or after it's over?))

As the Siafu pods approached, the asteroid fields came suddenly to life. Thousands upon thousands of concealed combat drones activated and prepared for battle. Most common were the deadly two meter Darts, but there were also many of the shoebox sized anti-fighter version present, and no few larger drones, armed with cannons to take a longer-lasting role in the battle. Shield drones also activated, preparing to deflect incoming fire away from vulnerable weapons platforms. FTLi drones cast their nets, and sensor jammers filled the void with controlled perceptual chaos. Amidst all this, countless lumps of stone and metal still hurtled about with deadly speed, for the asteroid fields were quite real.

And on the outskirts of the system, several gleaming black forms stirred...

OOC: I believe that's everything. If I missed something I need to reply to, point it out to me and I'll add it.
A bit of information about what's being thrown at you... most of teh Kendaryn vessels are firing Tor Ganot bolts. They move a bit slower than light, but are completely massless. On impact, they revert to thermal and kinetic energy, most of it usually directed forwards. Delvar shots are similar, but affected much more strongly by gravity. However, a few ships will be probing at you with kinetic charges, photon pulses, assorted shield slicers, and everything else they can think of. Their job is to try to find out if anything in the Kendaryn arsenal is especially effective against you. Darts have a weak shielding system, a strong propulsion and steering system, and enough energy compressed into their power cores to overshadow an antimatter missile of the same size. If they are shot down, most of this energy is realeased in the general direction the shot struck from because this section of the power core loses containment first. The smaller version lacks the shielding, but is even faster. Those invading Salmath, please let me know when you draw closest to the asteroid field so I can grant you this joyous experience... *evil grin* Any questions about anything?

Oh, and I believe AN wants his flag ship to receive some fire, so the Salmath defense forces are fighting the group that includes it. That's the one that's coming under the asteroid field, right?

OOC: I think I was supposed to be in there....this post may seem kinda cheap, but I do need to get in somewhere.

IC:

Aboard the Ernesto Cardenal--

Commodore Hernandez asked her Helmsman: "Helm, how much further to Kendari?"

The Helm replied in a businesslike manner, "Within several seconds, Comrade-Commodore. We should be pulling into their rear now."

Commodore Hernandez was very pleased; things were going to plan--at least so far. Her teachers in the Naval College always told her that hte unexpected was to be...expected. There was really no way around that.

They warped to somewhere within the Tenrek and Zergin Systems, pulling alongside the Horde vessels in the Standard New Dornalian Firing Line. She too directed transmissions, saying to the Kendari:

"Comrades in Arms, we have arrived, and will stand by you in the name of Justice."

After that, she then said to the Communications Officer on deck, "Comms, issue a general order to Red Alert. Power up all weapons, and ready all People's Hammer antimatter torpedoes and Super Warp Cannons for anything they throw at us. We may be in for a bumpy ride."

IC:

Trinity paused for a full microsecond, trying to comprehend the ‘horde’s’ statement. It seemed absurd. They had brought a much smaller fleet to challenge ESUS, and their ships seemed no more advanced. Were they simply arrogant in the extreme, or did they have a hidden card to play? She could only assume the latter. Still, their communiqué required a response.

Trinity: Vindi, I think I’ll let you handle this one.

Vindicator: Indeed.

It only took Vindi a few picoseconds to come up with his answer, which he blared across space towards the Horde vessels. He must have already decided upon his response.

“ж To be hated. This is the mark of the Xeno ж
ж To be vile. This is the existence of the Xeno ж
ж To be purged. This is the fate of the Xeno ж”

Trin: Septimus’ condensed litany of hate for the Xeno? Good choice.
Hey… do you think that sending that to them with a max-yield communications laser would be considered ‘firing first?’

Vindicator: Sister, your ‘communications’ lasers have a tendency to blow up small planetoids when misused. Of course it would be hostile. And it would be violating our orders not to fire first as well.

Trin: And I suppose that irradiating them with grasers and then trying pick out the glow in the dark ships would be hostile too?

Vindicator: Naturally.

Trin: It’s just that I want to be killing something! Hey… you think he’ll let me gas the planet? It’ll be really fun! I’ve even got something all picked out. PLX-302. Causes bleeding from the eyes, bleeding from the mouth, bleeding from the nose…

Vindicator: No.

Trin: Bleeding from the genitals, bleeding from the anus…

Vindicator: Has your processor become damaged? The general gave us specific ROEs. No genocide. Gassing an entire planet counts as genocide. I hate it as much as you, but we have our orders.

Bee Three: Heya, guys. Just thought I’d drop in and let you know that I’m cooking up a neat little surprise for the Geefa. Self-mutating viral code. ^_^ Now, they’ll have to accept an incoming transmission to contract it, but if they do, it should inconvenience them at the very least. I’m calling it ‘digital cancer.’ Whadda you think?

Vindicator: Cute. Turn your sensors to my position.

Trin: Is that what I think it is? Weapons fire! Ohh, thank Freeman!

Bee Three: Looks like they’re focusing their attacks on your half of the fleet, Vindi.

Vindicator: Stop calling me that. But yes, they are. They obviously recognize my group as the greatest threat.

Trin: Oh, come off it. Just because you stripped your fighters for more guns doesn’t make you a better ship then me. I… Commander on the deck!

Trinity was speaking metaphorically, as AIs often do. The ‘deck’ in this instance was the virtual conversation held by the warship AIs.

Tanthius: I see they’ve opened fire. Inform the fleet at large that they may fire at will…

Oh, and, Trinity… Salvo fire, all batteries, all capable assets. I do not want there to be even a moment’s lull in the wall of fire.

Trinity: Affirmative!

Were Trinity a human, she would have achieved orgasm from those words alone. As it was, waves of pleasurable electric sensations flooded over her secondary processors, making her giddy with glee. Salvo fire… the perfect timing of all her weapons batteries, fired such that there would always be a wall of destruction rippling out from her many turrets. It would be an explosives fetishist’s wet-dream, tens of thousands of individual weapons firing in great chains, obscuring even her massive hull with their prismatic light...

Proper fire discipline would have to be maintained, however. It wouldn’t do to hit either her own torpedoes, nor allied vessels, some of which swarmed around her like angry cockroaches. Her half of the fleet had caught up to her. Damned Tories. Always getting in the way.

She was only too happy to comply with the General’s orders immediately. After all, most of her weapons were at the very least relativistic. It would take them mere minutes to cross a system. An eternity to an AI, but very low in conventional terms. -But at these ranges? She considered anything less then a lightsecond or two to be ‘point blank’ range. Even her powerguns could cross that within a few seconds. Her beam weapons? Child’s play.

Of course, what she really wanted was to introduce some displaced munitions into the game. Seeing the Kendaryn commander’s face when a tactical fusion bomb, complete with happy face, ticking timer, and ominous, insane laughter appeared within his CiC would be too good to pass up.

There were just two problems with that. One, it was unsporting in the extreme. (She couldn't have that) But more importantly, there was that damned FTLi field that permeated the system. She felt she could probably brute-force her way through it, but that would waste precious fuel, and would put a strain on her displacer systems to boot. So much simpler, if less amusing, to use her conventional weapons.

***

Zap was awake, which meant one of two things. Either the alert fighters’ night shift was over, or his eight hour period of subliminal briefings and training had been interrupted because in mere moments, his fighter would be graviticly accelerated from one of Trinity’s launch tubes.

He checked his clock. Nope, still five hours left in the shift. That meant he’d soon be seeing…

…Space! Usually, Zap knew it was big and black, with an occasional pinprick of starlight leaking through its darkened canvas. Here though, it was awash with every imaginable sort of light. Weapons fire, obviously. But… there was so much. He’d heard the stories, of course. But no matter what, he never was able to wrap his mind around just how many weapons his carrier possessed. Seeing it in action, though, he finally realized. A fuckton.

Enough oogling the guns, Brannigan. Get your act together and get your fighters into the fray! He thought to himself, shaking off the lingering drowsiness. He’d always taken a moment or two to fully wake up to his surroundings.

”Talon Alpha, form up on me. We’re going to take out those defense stations around Zatreer. Talons Beta and Gamma, cover us. All other talons, check the battlenet for updated instructions. Looks like you’ll be on point defense duty for awhile. Try not to get in the way of Trinity’s guns.” Zap said, his voice booming over the battlenet and into the helmets of his pilots. “Let’s kick some ass!”

***

Vindicator, like Trinity, was a dreadnought. One of but three in existence. But that was where the similarities ended. While Trinity’s hull was the standard bluish-green of the Imperial Navy, Vindicator’s was matte black. He carried no strike craft beyond those employed by his ground forces, instead mounting even more weapons and shield redundancies. If anything, he was the true battleship rather then his multirole sister.

And this battleship was under attack. Oh, Vindicator wasn’t worried per se. He’d seen a thousand battles over his lifespan, and he’d triumphed in a good deal of them. Though not necessarily without damage, sometimes even critical damage. – But Facehuggerian warships in general, much less a dreadnought in particular were notoriously tough. Even with one hundred percent fatalities for the crew and hundreds of separate hull breaches, a Facehuggerian warship would fight on. Less effectively, true, but it would still fight. Its hull would reknit itself and its shields refocus themselves so long as there was still fuel left in its tanks. He had before. He could again.

He needed such toughness, as he was essentially irreplaceable. It would take years of harvesting to get enough fuel-mass to recreate his ‘body.’ His sentience would survive until then, back home on Earth… but he would be disgraced. He refused to be the first Imperial Dreadnought to be destroyed.

Vindicator redoubled his efforts, targeting enemy vessels with machine precision and grace. First a hail of azure bursts from his PPB microbursters, meant to collapse energy shields, adapting dynamically to do the most damage. Their damage against hulls was less spectacular, but that was what his second burst was for. D-guns and D-beams, weapons designed for one purpose: To annihilate armor, destroying the very glue that held it together on the sub-atomic level. Ruby beams and ruby pulses sweeping out from his turrets, engulfing whole ships with their fury. With those ships still shielded, they would flow over them, dealing little damage. He had chosen to forgo the inclusion of anti-shield weapons in his D-weapons, given the lowered firepower such a proposition entailed.

But for those ships whose shields had failed, or had never possessed shields to begin with, they would face the full fury of Vindicator’s favorite weapons. His favorite, but not his only. He soon added anti-matter streams to the D-guns, seeking to ravage even more unshielded foes. The beauty of beam weapons, at least Facehuggerian ones, was that they were continuous. They could be raked over a target, scoring even more damage against their foes.

But he wasn’t done yet. Not by a long shot. At such close range, his prime weapons were his many repeating powerguns, graviticly accelerated slugthrowers. What they lacked in range or firepower, they more then made up for in refire. They could each pump out thousands of rounds per second, pelting targets with a hail of tiny ultradense shards. On a planet, they would have been truly impressive, great plumes of superheated air erupting behind them as the shards tore through the world’s atmosphere. As it stood, there was no atmospheric friction, no telltale way to see the projectiles in flight, save for continuously tracking each one. Vindicator was disappointed. Oh how he loved to see his powerguns open up on a land target. It was too sterile in space combat.

Oh well. He still had two varieties of weapon, save point defense, that he wished to use. His gravguns were the most versatile weapons in his arsenal, not truly ‘guns’ in the traditional sense, they were instead actual projections of his own drive field. He manipulated some so as to crush or bat away smaller enemy combatants, while the rest, he used as a makeshift gravitic shield, augmenting his point defense by trying to fling away enemy projectiles before they hit. Some, he discovered, proved resistant to this tactic. But then he couldn’t have everything.

Vindicator’s heavy torpedo tubes comprised much of his long range punch, with each torpedo capable of mounting a wide variety of warheads as needed. In this case, he went with a scattershot mix. A few anti-capital formation bombs, meant to wipe out, as the name implied, formations of capital ships. Mostly though, he loaded up interceptor warheads. These unique devices were ‘idiot savants,’ controlled somewhat by himself, which he could use to intercept enemy weapons fire, helping to reduce the attrition his half of the fleet would no doubt suffer.

The attrition that he was even now beginning to suffer. –He was a big target. He wasn’t as fast as Trinity, and his defenses, while powerful, were not limitless. Slowly, like layers of an onion, they were peeled back, with Vindicator racing to recalibrate them, give the most depleted a chance to recharge underneath the umbrella of freshly refocused layers. Thus far, he was doing well. But then, this was certainly not the enemy’s primary offensive ‘punch.’ They, like he, certainly had a few extra cards to play…

OOC: Okay. It took a little bit longer then I thought. Sorry about that. On the plus side, I was able to work Kendari opening fire into it. :)

Hmm. Let's see. A few things I should point out:

AZN's flagship is indeed coming up from below, like the Vindicator. You're spot on there, Kendari.

My fleet doctrine revolves around a tiny number of really big, powerful warships. Twelve, in fact. Half of them are here. (Though two of them are dreadnoughts, so I actually have way more then half the firepower available to the entire Facehuggerian starfleet tapped for this battle.)

Facehuggerian warships in general tend to be big honking friggers meant to destroy whole fleets of smaller combatants. It's when they get to ships in their own size class (rare as they are) that things get dicey. Example: Vindicator only has a handful of weapons capable of taking on another craft like him. If he and Trinity got into a fight, it'd be a stalemate since neither could truely do enough damage to destroy the other. Well, that's not really true. Trinity could launch FB-44 Terminator Stike Fighters (like what Zap's flying, as you'll see in my next post) with Trebuchet Siege Guns and take down Vindi, though it's still be close... I'm starting to ramble. :p

Hmm. Trying to take down my ships? Well, it's rather interesting that. If the blink shields are down (ie the ship isn't covered in either a blue or red translucent glow that seems to absorb nearly everything you can throw at it,) wearing them down with massed fire is probably easiest. However, if the blink shields are *up,* then you'll want to preferably wait until they've run down, or, if absolutely necessary, strike them all at once. Note that Blink shields use an enemy's own weapons fire for power, which means that shooting them is actually a rather bad idea, unless you can overwhelm them with one ginormous blast of energy.

Another rather important weakness of my ships is their low endurance. Trinity and Vindicator can only last around ~12 hours at full combat capability before they start to run out of fuel. Smaller ships like Adjudicator and Boomer III can only run for around one hour at a full combat footing. If you can survive that long, the ship in question won't be able to use most of its more powerful weapons, and it will also probably put more thought to getting the hell away and eating the nearest stellar body as opposed continuing the fight. 'Course, Facehuggerian ships typically decide their fights within minutes of entering an engagement. But then, I've never engaged an international coalition before.

As an aside, my ships are rather hamstrung by the presence of allied ships. It keeps them from using their biggest weaponry, and even the anti-capital formation bombs (concept 'borrowed' by the Facehuggerian navy after watching a Kanuckistani design in action) have to be used well the hell way from allied units.

You can find information on much of my technology somewhere on the volumnious ESUSWiki. (http://wiki.esusalliance.co.uk/index.php?title=Main_Page) Note that many of my articles are unfinished, and some of the stats offered may differ from what you actually encounter (as Facehuggerian vessels have a tendency to add onto and modify themselves as time goes on, seen with Vindicator foregoing fighters for more guns.)

Now, I've got some questions of my own. Kendari, do you have a single location where I can get some basic information about your weapons? Don't get me wrong, providing it OOCly in the thread is considerate and all, but it's rather unwieldly to have to scroll back to that when writing my posts. :p

Also, I'm having a little trouble OOCly visualizing this system. Specifically, the location of the asteroid fields. Where are they? (If you mentioned this and I didn't pick up on it, I apologize in advance.)

Edit: Also, I forgot to mention this, but I will next post, my ships are going to be putting out a lot of wide-band jamming. This'll go hand in hand with Boomer III's attempt at electronic warfare, I think. :p

OOC: Was part of that attack directed at me? If so...and BTW, I do have temporal shielding and a few other tricks up my sleeve...

IC:

The incoming wave of fire could not be ignored, and the abblative armor and Gauss Miniguns were thrown up just in time to help augment the Temporal Shielding, which on many ships sustained massive hits, to the point of two Deng Xiaopings eliminated and many more vessels hit severely, their temporal shielding taking most of the damage owing to their very ability to slow or stop shots, the armor suffering pain as well.

The self-healing nanobots aboard went to work immediately, but they would take some time to fix all of the damage...and as for the temporal shielding, they were severely reduced on many ships, though for the most part, they had taken much of the damage thrown at them. Engineering crews immediately tried to get them back to full power ASAP, even as the enmy continued on...

The retaliation began, as Hernandez ordered a massive strike from all ships with 75 People's Hammer Torpedoes (a few from each vessel), and Super Warp Cannons at something that looked important, which they complied with. At 160kg of antimatter per torpedo, and huge amounts of energy per SWC shot (OOC: Think Yamato Cannon from Starcraft), they were sure to do something to it. By chance, they chose the Vindicator.

Ah, it seems that this war is on.

Indeed. I believe that means we need to start shooting, yes?

Of course. Oh, and should we alert Israel?

I'm already aware of the situation, my sons.

Oh. Good. You're here. Naphtali and I were about to call you, what with you being our lucky charm and all.

Indeed. Since the lower section has been met with resistance, you are to join Joseph in descending from above. Launch your smallcraft and rendesvous with the others.

Your wish is my command. Entering Mobius continuum now... I have exited the Mobius continuum at the edge of the system. Au revoir.

See you soon, father. Joseph out.

Naphtali out. Contact again in two seconds.

________________



Lower Front
As one, the Otagian fleet suddenly disappeared, replaced by the black eggs of their Rhunate shields, becoming voids on all sensors. The only thing marking their location were the massive railgun blasts and swarms of fighters emerging from below the ebony walls.

With a flurry of activity, the hordes of Paris fighters swarmed in the direction of their attackers, hundreds of thousands of fireflies flying swiftly towards their prey. Juking, the fighters intercepted blasts from their foes, KK drives hungrily devouring even anticapital blasts meant for their larger cousins. The wave crashed on the enemy Darts, unmanned Parises whipping in bone-crushing circles to hug the tails of their victims, energy blasts eating away at shields and hulls alike.

Behind the drones, Naphtali began to roll, massive banks of SCCAM tubes beginning to rotate as they fired, refilling the hidden tubes as the exposed silos unleashed hell on their foes. The KK driven missiles streaked towards their targets in the millions, gleaming green bodies accelerating unceasingly towards the largest prey in the enemy fleet, their anti-capital warheads primed, shielded from enemy point defense by their singularity drives. If Naphtali had a face, he would have grinned at the carnage that was about to erupt.



Upper Front
Virtually unopposed, the wall of Otagian vessels was soon reinforced, the massive form of Israel emerging from the Continuum. His own drums rotating, he began to launch fighters, his black egg seeming to billow forth sheets of emerald fire, blotting out the stars themselves with its brilliance. Beside him, Joseph's egg unleashed its own trail, still dwarfed by the sheer magnitude of the swarm emerging from Israel. The swarms plunged downwards, trailed by hundreds of thousands of deadly SCCAM torpedoes. Spiralling downwards, the Fleet opened fire, lasers and MACs sweeping the orbits of the planets, savaging their orbital defenses. The GFFA had provoked this war, and by the Kami, the ESUS would end it.

OOC: ND, before I start my reply, I must know what your equipment does. In particular 'super warp cannons' and 'SWC's.

-=ANSS Fist of the Empress

The moment the first streams of fire came raining down from the Kendaryn vessels and their allies, Admiral Govannon said aloud, over the buzz of electronic warning systems and the bridge-murmur,

"Switch readiness to Red, and inform the Hub. Sixth is engaged at Salmath."

Anikar watched as the enemy fire came thundering onto the hull arrayed before her, splashing over it in brilliant explosions of red and blue. The ship shuddered and groaned, but held - of all the ships in the fleet, the Fist had by far the best shields and armor of them all. As she looked out across the allied fleet, other vessels were not fairing so luckily - an Arrow cruiser on the starboard side had stalled, and exploded in its middle, snapping the vessel in half.

Then the Central Facehuggerians lit up the night.

The entire crew on that deck shielded their eyes as the vengeful symphony of Facehuggerian weapons fire answered the opening salvo of the enemy, like a monstrous wave washing over their ships.

"I believe that is an invitation to open fire," said Admiral Govannon calmly. "All batteries, targ..."

Suddenly, a shrieking klaxon went off - the one Admiral Govannon dreaded most.

"Where is It? Who possesses It?"

"We are scanning hostile fleets, sir," answered the man at the temporal sensor console, "it appears to be New Dornalia. Temporal shielding; no report on armaments."

"I want our attack focused on that chronomancer filth before anyone else. The Kendari can raise and defile the dead with their magics for all I care, but I want those New Dornalians wiped out to the man. Just don't annihalate our allies in the process."

"Yes sir, relaying new target priorities now."

The many bristling batteries of the Arizona Novanian fleet, moments before mostly trained on the Kendaryn vessels, turned with a vengance toward the New Dornalian ships, and opened up, unleashing a hell of bright green plasma and brilliant white MAC shells upon the New Dornalians. Arizona Novanians, as a rule, harbored a deep and burning fear and hatred of temporal technology, comparable in wrath to the Facehuggerian's loathing of the Xeno. In their mind, New Dornalia would pay for toying with time itself like it was just another power source to be manipulated.

.:ooc:.
Major Targets, Underplane:
ANSS Fist of the Empress, flagship, possesses the best technology in the fleet.
ANSS Kelt - Elissa (http://anikari.zioncreation.com/elissa.htm) class super-battleship.

Major Targets, Overplane:
ANSS The Invisible Hand, Elissa (http://anikari.zioncreation.com/elissa.htm) class super-battleship.

The Bridge Shook as Jutenburg stumbled through the entrance onto it, he had been making his way to the Ships Command Center as quickly as possible, but it had appeared that it had not been quickly about. Someone had opened fire, and if the ESUS fleet was following orders, it wasn’t one of them. It appeared that the whole situation had just gone to hell. From his vantage point above the asteroid belt, it had appeared that a number of new combatants had entered the fray, and from the positioning of the ships, they were GFFA ships, although it was essentially leveling the playing field, it still made the Grand Admiral uneasy, although he didn’t want a slaughter of the enemy, he didn’t want to claw his way to victory either.

“Status Report Lieutenant! What’s going on?” Jutenburg staunchly requested

“It appears that the Kendari defenders have opened fire, we’ve sustained a few casualties among the fleet, but it would appear that the Central Facehuggerians have absorbed most of the damage. For once our slowness in combat has been an aid to us” Rubridge chuckled, attempting the lighten the heavy mood surrounding the bridge

“What of the new ships? What is there stance”

“It appears that the group of vessels that appeared closest to the combat line are “The Horde” most likely Orkish of some decent, we’ve only had a declaration of war pass by our sensors, we don’t know much about them. The fleet that has just appeared is identifying itself as “New Dornalia” They appear to be powering up weapons and defenses now.” The Lieutenant responded

Turning to the Tactical Officer, Sub-Lieutenant Jensen, Jutenburg requested an update on the tactical situation, which he needed quite badly before he made any critical decisions.

“Sir, that’s a minor problem. With all the FTL and Sensor jamming that has been thrown up in this battle, by both our fleet and the enemies, we haven’t a chance in hell it penetrating it to get a decent reading. However, I’ve petitioned the Facehuggerian AI network to grant us access to their sensory information so we wouldn’t be flying blind. After a bit of down-talking, they decided they’d be better off to grant us access rather than let us fly into asteroids and be that much More useless” She sighed

“How much of our own sensory information do we have?” Jutenburg required

“Extremely limited, just proximity sensors, so if someone’s firing missiles at us, under our own systems we’d have but a few seconds to move, however, tapped into the Facehuggerian network, its like we never lost them, the interface is a bit stranger than I’m used to, and it’ll take me a while to get over some of the labels, like “Xeno Scum Flagship” but it’ll do for now” Jenson responded

“Alright, transfer the feed over to the Sentinel and let’s get going!” Jutenburg requested, if somewhat forcefully
Below the Asteroid belt

“Sir! We’ve got another wave of fire incoming! This time it appears to be directed at the ISV Vindicator but we’re right in its line of fire!” Echoed the Lieutenant, confirming what the alarms were already telling him

“Engage the fleet in evasive maneuvers, let’s see if we can lose less than a dozen ships this time. And for gods sake! Stay out of the Facehuggerian volleys! We don’t need friendly fire tearing this fleet apart! After we get through this one, move the fleet ahead of the bulk of the Allied ships, this way if they’re going to fire, they better be firing at us if we’re going to take damage.” Admiral Velda ordered

“Yes sir, Incoming!” The Lieutenant responded

The Sentinel rocked violently as the graceful ship was peppered with weapons fire. Although most of the Torpedoes had managed to maneuver around them, the ship was scored with hits from the Kendari volley, although the Shield slicers had little effect on the ship, it was hit hard with the Tor Ganot bolts, its Thermal energy fusing hull plates together and its kinetic facet impacting damaging along the hull When the hull did detach, it was forced to lose several layers at once, damaging that sections integrity. As well, the Kinetic charges hit the vessel to produce cracks along the layer of hull, webbing out in all directions. Shards and pieces of the ships blew off the hull into space around them, only to reveal a new line of hull like an onion. Although to an unseasoned defender the ship looked like it was being torn to pieces, it was really suffering minor damage. After all, it was one of the most powerful ships in the fleet. Other ships however, weren’t so lucky.

The TSDC Corptocrasy was one of those ships. In an attempt to strafe out of the way of the Kendari volley, it came into a direct line of fire with the Super Warp Cannon shot. Coming in contact from the tail end, the ferocious line of energy sheared off the engines wholesale, along with the back of the ship fracturing into pieces and flying off into space. Even as the ship struggled to close off the gaping whole in its stern, it was drifting dangerously close to the asteroid field. After a few moments, a smaller asteroid moved lazily close to the disabled ship, the Admiral could only watch in horror as the chunk of floating rock slammed into the center of the ship, fracturing the hull and sending chunks of hull whizzing away into the field, as well as breaching the entire back end of the ship into space. As the rock breached the fusion reactors and pummeled its way to the other end of the ship, the ship imploded. Surviving for a few moments with a massive hole through its hull, explosions then flared up along the hull as the top fin started to cave into the center, before the entirety of the ship was consumed in a massive explosion as the ship was finally snuffed out of existence, leaving only a debris field mingling with the asteroid field as a trace of its location.

Other ships took the Super Warp Cannon shots head on and were disabled or destroyed as the energy weapons tore through multiple layers of hull at a time, and depending on what class of ship it was, cleaving the entire ship into two, with the two sides drifting into the asteroid field, or more dangerously, into the allied fleet formation. Some of the ships were able to launch escape ships, but in the heat of combat, there wasn’t much hope for them to survive. Other ships that were simply scored with weapons fire and created mini-debris fields around the ships that would make them harder to hit, as per their design. When it was all over:
“Lieutenant! Status report!” The Admiral bellowed

“Eight ships lost, six Legionnaires, one Centurion and a Bandit, most of the Bandits got out of the line of fire before it hit. The rest of the fleet has moved ahead of the group. If we were ever a blatant target, it would be now.” He replied

“Well, hopefully within moments, we’ll be moving again once we get our orders, how far out of weapons range are we?” The Admiral questioned

“Still a few hundred thousand Kilometers, we’ll need to get a lot closer than we are to be any use…” The Lieutenant responded darkly

“Well we’ll…” The Admiral retorted, just as the FTL Communications line lit up

“Sir, we’ve got a transmission from Fleet Command, it’s the Grand Admiral, and he says it’s important”

“Put him on” The Admiral ordered “Grand Admiral? What’s going on up there, we’re getting torn to pieces down here one section at a time…”

On the Upper Asteroid Belt

“….The Majority of ships destroyed were the ones that were directly in front of the Vindicator although I doubt anyone will realize this, or that the weapons would have actually damaged the behemoth, I believe we just bought them a few seconds of processing power that they don’t have to expending even contemplating the damage” The Admiral reported

“Alright, I’m sorry to hear about losses so early in battle, but war of this nature, of any nature is unpredictable, we will push on. We’re nearing the other side of the field and we will soon be entering the thick of enemy space. To put our ships to best use, we’re going to be engaging the enemy at point blanc range, but there is one obstacle in the way, The Horde Ships have taken up position in front of the defending fleet, so they will have to be removed first. Here is the plan: We’re going to move in on behind the wall of fire that the Facehuggerians are laying down as we speak. Ensure you don’t get mixed up in that, or else it will surely spell doom for all aboard.”

The Grand Admiral Broke off, allowing that first part to sink in

“Secondly, after dealing with the Horde, we’re going to be engaging the Kendari defenders directly. The other power that has appeared in the system uses Chrono-technology, which will surely draw the wrath of Arizona Novian vessels, so they shouldn’t be a concern. Finally, when all Horde ships are destroyed or disabled, you are to report back to me for further instructions, I know I told you to take out the Kendari ship’s first, but we need to ensure that no one in the fleet is going to launch a be-all-end-all strike on the defending fleet, we don’t want to move in there thinking we’re all that and end up botching some sort of plan. You got that, Admiral?” The Grand Admiral Challenged

“Yes Sir, we’ll be moving into firing range on the horde soon. I’m looking forward to being reunited with the rest of the fleet, and don’t get too close to those asteroids, I just witnessed one of my ships get torn to pieces by one.” Velda added

“Acknowledged” Jutenburg confirmed

As the Massive Facehuggerian ships sat on either axis of the Asteroid belt, and the rest of the fleet moving about with their independent orders, the Torontonian ships made a run towards the first line of defense, the Horde Ships. Pouring in from the top and bottom of the Asteroid belt, hoping to not draw any other fire from other ships on the way there. Once they had entered close enough range, which would be uncomfortably close for some, was perfect for the Torontonian vessels, which fell into the traditional firing arrangement that they had followed for centuries.

The Bandits flew in ahead of the fleet to carry out surgical strikes on any key systems they could find on the Horde ship. As well, others probed for unshielded ships and one found (If found) they would drop small, square objects which adhered along the hull, they’re purposes unknown.

Once the Bandits were away, the Centurions moved in between enemy vessels hoping to force a wedge into the enemy formations, and once in place, let’s loose all forms of their weaponry. Lasers firing from stationary batteries fired in all directions, spraying the enemy ships with rapid fire energy blasts. Other batteries rotated to pick choice targets and fired away. As well, they opened up with their Plasma Cannons mounted along the hull, firing globs of Super-heated Plasma in hopes to splatter and burn away the hulls of unshielded ships, or at least damage the shields of those protected.

Some Centurions, taking advantage of coming in Above the fleet, opened up their powerful Laser Bolt batteries, usually saved for planetary bombardment, were much more powerful versions of their lesser cousins, capable of draining even the most powerful shields, and ravaging an enemy hull. They’re drawback being notoriously inaccurate and needed such close range in order to be effective. Others still activated their sweeping laser arrays and proceeded to drag them along enemy shields or hulls, searing a trail of death along the way.

The Legionnaires, the workhorse of the fleet came in behind the Centurions to draw fire from the defenders. Although much weaker than they Heavy Destroyers, their strength lay in their massive numbers, over six hundred in this battle alone. Peppering the ships with laser fire, as well as the occasional Plasma blast, they were used as fodder and to chip away at enemy morale and strength, like a swarm of ants they all did they’re small part.

Finally, the massive Samnite class Battleships moved gracefully overtop and on the bottom, completing the final move that isolated the enemy fleet in all directions but to retreat, with Centurions wedging them apart from the inside. Although Torontonian ships didn’t operate well isolated, teamwork was their element, and right now, they were in it with full force. The Samnites, like the Centurions, started blasting away at the fleet with all weapons at their disposal, but with more ferocity, in hopes of a quick capulation from the enemy. However, with Orks, no one could predict their reaction…

Since my ESUS wiki isn’t that updated, Information on my ships and technologies (As well as History and whatnot) can be found here: http://www.esusalliance.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7 . As well, the thing about detachable armour is what makes my ships so heavily armoured without being shielded. So long as it’s a stupidly powerful weapon, most hits will simply damage the armour and cause it to detach from the ship, revealing another layer. The bigger the ship, the more armour it will have.

OOC: ND, before I start my reply, I must know what your equipment does. In particular 'super warp cannons' and 'SWC's.

OOC: Super Warp Cannons basically act like the Yamato Cannons from Starcraft, though I bought them originally from Chronosia (so they're of Warhammer 40k origin). SWCs was a fit of lazyness of my part, an acronym for Super Warp Cannon on the fly.

And Arizona Nova...

IC:

It didn't take a genius to figure out that the situation was getting sour, with the Leeroy Jenkins manuever pulled by Hernandez spiraling way out of control.

Hernandez's force had to sustain another wave of enemy fire, this time, in the form of a wave of attack from the AZN Fleet. Their shields once again had to take the heat, absorbing most of the plasma and this time, it was nasty, with many of the ships suffering more damage, to the point where three more Deng Xiaopings were eliminated. However, their shots had done a number on the Torontonians, so they weren't doing too badly.

She did however, want to try and make sure her ships weren't killed off in total. She ordered her vessels to loosen their lines, form a crescent firing line, and ordered the Dengs to move in back, before moving upwards and backwards to avoid the Facehuggerian firewall at high speed, dumping retaliatory Demolisher Gun and proton, Ion, and singularity torpedo shots at the Arizona Novan fleet, and laying down swathes of carefully timed Gauss Minigun fire to beat back any other enemy ordinance or fighters that would come through. There were enemies blocking the path to the Facehuggerians, and it became obvious that the Facehuggerians were the least of their problems now.

They didn't like their temporal shielding? Tough. Perhaps a taste of the El Cid torpedoes, upgunned descendants of their Imperial or Rebel Alliance cousins packed with more explosive and better targeting and motor systems and the Tien Long Ion Torpedoes, built to be portable packages anti-electronic death with effects similar to their Ion Cannon Cousins, would be a good pimpslap. Just for kicks, a spread of ten antimatter torpedoes were fired at the Vindicator again, to try and damage it or at least slow it down...

A single rip in the fabric of space as a pitch black ship barrel rolled into view of a relatively unimportant area. Fighting was taking place far away between the ESUS and the members of the GFFA that had decided to lend aid to the Kendaryn. However, not all form of aid came in the conventional sense of mass ships and the likes.

Doron looked down at his counsel to see a red flashing light. The signal that the man he was here to pick up was standing by. A lone candle in the night drifted among the dark cosmos. Shuttle bay doors opened quietly to allow the lone one in. His cloak billowed behind as Doron met the man as he approached the bridge. "Well Marcus?"

The Ranger handed over a datapad of the enemies activity and whereabouts. Doron's clyuno flashed to life as his voice activated the connection to a waiting fleet in Hyperspace. "Admiral Spoor? I am uploading the data to your ship now. After you have received the information, move the Gaftonoshu fleet into place."

Spoor sat in her cushioned chair on the Latchkau as she absently looked at the draperies hanging from her banisters. "Data received ma'am."

"Very good chief, move our fleet into place."

Coordinants received, the fleet turned and silently glided towards their mark. Over time, ships begin to break away and stop at their points of entry waiting for the word until all were in place.

In it’s entire history, the Dominion had all of two methods of long distance communication. The first was mindspeak; communication through the mental network supplied by the Kitori. The second was ESUS provided transmission equipment stored aboard Dread that was always set to a very specific frequency only known to ESUS members. The Kendaryn transmission was never even heard and the swarm pressed forward.

The only job the Othranar had been given in the space encounter was to clear as much of the asteroid field as possible. Dispersion was calculated and targets were picked. If nothing else, the Siafu pods would most likely punch a rather large hole in that belt for the rest of the ESUS fleet to move through. The deadly energies unleashed from hundreds upon millions of pods all at once, each one putting a small amount of space through the proverbial blender.

‘Pull out. Our job is done.’ – Ling said.

‘What?’ – Raas and Slindra responded simultaneously with great surprise.

‘A fool could see that we would be useless in the coming space battle. We pull out now.’

Without another word the Siafu pods turned back, hundreds of them dropping from the Kendaryn response. The pods simply rejoined Dread outside the FTLi field. The massive ship disappeared from space heading for an uninhabited system with plenty of planets just ripe for the stripping.

OOC: This is essentially a dive out of the campaign. RL is going to get in the way very shortly here and now is the only time I have to post for the next few weeks. My apologies. @ ESUS members: I told you!

OOC - I just realized we have orcs and a Leeroy Jenkins joke, all in the same thread.

IC

The High Warlord looked on with amusement as the Torontians barreled headlong into the asteroid belt. What knowledge they lacked was that the Horde warships were built in an asteroid belt, and thus their crews knew how to navigate one.

He was troubled, however. He had planned to focus fire on the Facehuggarian vessel that had insulted his fleets. He had a plan to destroy the "uber-ship", but that would have to wait. He would save his hand until these maggots were crushed firmly under-heel.

Plasma splashed across the shields of the Org'rimma, being harmlessly repelled by the powerful wards.
"Warlord! Enemy vessels approaching, do we have permission to fire?" yelled the command ship's weapons officer.
"Hold..." said the old troll cryptically.
"But...sir!"
"I be sayin ta hold!"

He stroked his tusks, watching as an Org'roma-class destroyer succumbed to the combined fire of a pair of Centurians.
Jus' a littal closah...

"FIYAH!"

A wall of death shot out from the combined forces of the Second and Third fleets, hails of Phase Disruptor fire colliding with Torontian shield and hull as the heavier vessels lanced their attackers with blue beams of light, the polaron beam cannons. Raiders swarmed out from the carriers and covered the enemy ships like a swarm of bees on a honeypot. Vul'jins engaged Bandits as Org'romas charged at full speed, unleashing the full force of their withering forward firepower.

The warlord grinned as the carnage began, and he noticed that the Torontian "command ship" was easily the same size as one of his Hellscream cruisers. In his opinion, it was going to be a short battle.

-=ANSS Arizona Nova

"Sir!" yelled The Captain, "the New Dornalians are returning fire! Torpedoes, multiple calibers,"

"No chronomancy in them?" asked Admiral Govannon warily.

The ensign at the temporal sensors replied, "No sir, conventional warheads."

Admiral Govannon relaxed in his chair a little. "At least they have the decency to stuff their warheads with good, conventional explosive. Maximum shields topside, fleetwide, cool off on your firing if you need to. Baldur?"

"Yes Admiral," replied the disembodied voice of the ship's digisent.

"Relay orders to the Hughies to run point defense against those torpedoes, I want every gatt-PPC on them trained on the torpedoes."

"The enemy appears to also have his own point-defenses sir; the Hughies will be ripped to shreds if they get too close."

"Then keep them local," replied the Admiral.

Admiral Govannon rubbed his chin as a mischievous look crossed his face.

"I would hate to use up our heavy ordinance so early, but special threats require special responses. Baldur, get our Vanguard squadrons on a channel. I think it is high time our higher technologies finally get exercised."

Meanwhile, Anikar, who had been intently watching the battle unfold, looked away as if seized by a sudden realization. She turned to Admiral Govannon and said, "Admiral, you have the bridge. My audience has been requested."

Admiral Govannon nodded back at her, thinking, Thats odd. Don't those digisents know there is a war on? (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=491690)

As she left the bridge, Admiral Govannon watched the worsening fire coming down, and decided it would be a wise choice to relocate himself.

"All crew, transfer operations to the Deep Bridge," he announced to the crew.

One by one, consoles and readouts flicked off as everyone in his turn transferred the controls over, and began filtering out of the bridge. Admiral Govannon stood at attention ceremonially until the last officer had left, and then turned himself toward the lift, giving one glance back at the chaos outside.

-=ANSS Palmyra

Captain Werther listened to the rattling and groaning of his old ship, but didn't process it. His mind was taut, focused completely on the piloting of his vessel through the opening mayhem of this battle. He grabbed the mic and flipped to the channel for his squadron.

"Alright boys, listen up! Command has come down the chain - one hundred and fifty torpedoes. Conventional explosive, but that can mean any damn thing from dynamite to a grav bomb. They're incoming now and we're the only ones close enough to have a chance at taking them down. Stay low unless you feel like drinking vacuum, cause their PD is concentrated. Here we go!"

Captain Werther pushed up the accelerator to full throttle and far behind him, the Hughie's engines roared to life. Alongside him pulled a dozen of his comrades, engines glowing brightly as they jetted through the void. The torpedoes were in range...

Werther took the maneuvering throttle and rolled the Hughie onto its side, "All units, follow my lead, and open up!" yelled Captain Werther into the mic.

The turrets along the Hughie's spine swiveled and began to spin, and in the next moment, the flash of their signature green plasma lit up the dented hulls of the ships. They began to rake the incoming torpedoes.

Captain Werther looked out the side window - shielding! He cursed.

"Keep plinking um! They've got shielding, it can't hold out forever!"

As the torpedoes continued to streak mercilessly torward the fleet, the Hughie squadron continued to pepper them, dancing just out of range of the enemy point defense.

Captain Werther flipped to the command channel, and yelled, "The torps are tough! We need some support now!"

Whoever was on the other end just said, "We're all tied up right now!"

"Then its your funeral!" yelled Werther back.

The proximity warning began to buzz, prompting another round of cursing from Captain Werther.

"Squadron, pull back or we'll get caught in the wash!" he ordered.

The Hughies lifted up and pulled away as the torpedoes closed the final distance. Werther could only watch through a vid screen as their detonations began pounding the allied fleet.

-=ANSS Fist of the Empress, Deep Bridge

"Captain, we've got some Black Deltas here!" said ensign Ladislaus.

"Dammit! The torpedoes?"

"Yes sir, I'm reading three Konigs down and about eight Arrows, and we've got some weirdness going on about system failures... what the hell?"

The Captain turned, and asked, "What is it, Ladislaus?"

"Sir... the Yacht is disengaging!"

"Lock it down then!" said the Captain desperately.

"I've been overrode! It's pulling away!"

...To be continued

.:ooc:. The numbers Ladislaus commented are not the actual numbers - the system has not yet been battle-tested (thus, technical problems) and doesn't account for disabling. Losses are: 8 Konigsberg class, 24 Arrow class destroyed, 2 Konigsberg Class and 4 Arrow class disabled for the duration; thus, for the rest of this battle, I've lost a quarter of my battleships and a big chunk of my Arrows, which are fighter defense cruisers.

OOC:

Sorry about breaking the continuity, but TAG because god hates me and my posts, because my deployment pulled a houdini.

.:ooc:. Will post damage in edit after ND gets back to me. I have lost ships, just don't know how many yet.

OOC: Now you lost me. Do you need tech clarification, or an IC response?

OOC: Now you lost me. Do you need tech clarification, or an IC response?
.:ooc:. Tech; lets keep further chatter in TGs, and be sure to check yours.

Also, edits to my last post are as follows:

First edit was for a link to the "And there was war in Heaven..." RP, which follows a parallel story arc; intertextuality yay!

Second added the Hughie attack on the torpedoes.

Third added the OOC loss tally.

.:ooc:. The numbers Ladislaus commented are not the actual numbers - the system has not yet been battle-tested (thus, technical problems) and doesn't account for disabling. Losses are: 8 Konigsberg class, 24 Arrow class destroyed, 2 Konigsberg Class and 4 Arrow class disabled for the duration; thus, for the rest of this battle, I've lost a quarter of my battleships and a big chunk of my Arrows, which are fighter defense cruisers.

Hernandez's Weapons Officer aboard reported, "Comrade-Commodore! Scans indicate we've done something to them....we've done a lot of somethings to them."

Hernandez, on the inside, was glad her orders resulted in something good....she was getting a little tired at being ragged on because she was fresh out of naval College. Feeling motivated and eager to press the advantage, Hernandez then said, "Move closer, order all ships fire 50-shot spread of conventional torpedoes and Demolisher Gun fire target the battleships and destroyers!"

Weapons replied, "Aye, Comrade-Commodore!"

Another 50-shot spread of conventionals was loosed upon the enemy Konigsberg class ships and the Arrows, followed up by a flurry of Demolisher Gun shot, in a hail of green energy that made the Fourth of July look like a snake firework by comparison.

To the ISV Vindicator, war was an art, perhaps the purest form of self expression available to him. His personality was reflected in the burnt and shattered hulks of his enemies. The stars were his easel, the enemy his canvas. The New Dornalian flagship his masterpiece.

Or at least, he thought it was their flagship. The other ships protected it, and he could hear faint whispers of communication between it and the rest of the fleet. There was of course some margin for error. He could be wrong, or it could be a Dornalian trap. Organics were just so unpredictable. It was what made killing them so satisfying.

Alas that he was on a clock. There was an entire international pact to cleanse, and so little time in which to cleanse it. He’d been toying with them before, or perhaps more aptly, ‘testing’ them. He’d been spreading the devastation around generously, gaily. This was inefficient, and now it was time to take off the gloves. It was time to finish it.

Vindicator carefully opened his main fuel line, releasing an unstoppable flood of neutron-dense superfluid slush into his twin annihilation plants. In that one instant, his power generation surged from the paltry ten percent that it had hovered at since the opening of the battle, to its maximum capacity.

He felt the influx of energy with a jolt. It was satisfying, like eating a big meal and feeling better for it. Unfortunately, he only had enough fuel to run at this tempo for twelve hours. But then, he felt that would be more then enough time.

With the newfound abundance of power, Vindicator did two things. One, he increased his ECM output. While before his jamming had been, to him, the equivalent of a low buzz, now it became a roar that threatened to engulf him, blinding even his own grotesquely powerful conventional sensors with brute-force ‘noise.’ Fortunately, his emissions trackers couldn’t be spoofed so easily, and nor could some of the other ‘exotic’ methods of detection present in his repertoire.

Of course his ‘allies’ would likely be blinded as well, but that was a price he was more then willing to pay. They could route their targeting through he and Trinity if it really became a problem.

For the third time in the past nanosecond, he mentally thanked the Kanuckistani deviants for the network which they had set up amongst the ESUS. Without it, Vindicator would have been forced to give his ‘allies,’ Xenos included, access to the Facehugger battlenet, a clear violation of his third core directive: “Thou shalt not share the Emperor’s tools. Most especially not with Xenos.”

The second, and perhaps more important thing he did with all that extra power was to activate his lockdown field.

The lockdown field was a marvel of Facehuggerian engineering talent, and a shining example of what brute force could do when applied to FTLi. Granted that its own activation would mean that his quasi-spatial weapons and shielding, along with his displacers, would be disabled, but that was of little consequence. The Kendaryn had seen to that.

How the field worked was simple. It used brute force to close any FTL distortion within range. Space folding drives would find their fold ‘smoothed out’ at the field’s limit. Ships which traversed alternate dimensions would find their portals closed as soon as they could open. Unless of course they put more energy into it then Vindicator himself. He wasn’t particularly worried about that possibility. Few ships could compete with him in that regard. Traileric dreadnoughts and Kanuckistani battleplates perhaps, but few others.

As potent as it was, however, in this instance the FTLi effect was just gravy for what he really wanted.

Once, long ago, the Empire had purchased temporal shields and weapons from the Indrans. And, though they were weak compared to the Indrans’ own, or even the Facehuggerians’ conventional weapons, the principles of temporal technology could be extracted, gleaned from the Indran hand-me-downs. Enough of those principles could be divined so as to create a device to nullify, at least partially, that blasphemous technology. Of course, the lockdown field was not perfect. –It did not stop all chronomancy in its area of effect. Instead, it merely weakened the evil significantly, turning a proverbial hurricane into a gust of wind. Still effective and dangerous, but much less so.

Weakening so many temporal shields, however, took a lot of energy. He had to be at full output in order to even contemplate it. Imperial anti-chronomantic technology was nowhere near that of the Mekantans, who could cheaply and easily punish chronomancers with their own weapons, feedback cracking even the heartiest hulls.

Oh how he wished he had some of their time crushers on hand! While the Facehuggerian hatred for chronomancy could never, not in a million years equal that held by the Anikari, it was still immense compared to a normal individual. Especially for the Vindicator, who considered temporal technology to be not only unsporting, but cowardly in the extreme.

Trin: Heya… I see you’ve gone to full power. Lockdown field, ECM, the works, eh? What, those temporal guys piss you off that badly?

Vindicator: A time-crusher, a time-crusher! My kingdom for a time-crusher!

Trin: I’ll take that as a yes. Though you do realize this will inconvenience my fighters… to say nothing of our allies?

Vindicator: They can get their targeting data from you and I, if need be. Besides, it’s not as if your strike craft are really important in the scheme of things. Sacrificing some of their effectiveness is a small price to pay if we can more easily wipe out that chronomancer filth.

Trin: You’ve been hanging around to those Anikari digisents too long.

Vindicator: Mayhap. Would you like to help me take on the New Dornalian flagship?

Trin: I’ll pass. Turning my guns on Orky Xenos is more amusing.

Vindicator: Aren’t you concerned about the asteroid field? You shall be getting close to it on your approach, and the Kendaryn would have to be brain dead not to put more extensive defenses there.

Trin: Nah. I’ve got Boomer III and Ironside on hand to keep me safe. Heh, they haven’t even opened up yet.

Hold a tick… are the Dornies shooting at you with torpedoes!? With way too few to even think of getting through your point-def? I mean, even if they’re shielded, and they’d better be at that size, there’s less then a thousand of them! How the hell is something like that supposed to get through point-def?

Vindicator: Indeed. Rather amusing of them. It’s their energy weapons which are more troubling. My interceptor torpedoes have blocked most of them, but they are busy trying to protect the Anikari and Torontonian fleets as well. Sixty thousand of them can only go so far. As a consequence, two or three ‘warp cannon shots’ have managed to get through, and were successful in bringing down the outer layer of my shields, the ‘hardened’ layer in this instance. Said hard shields appear particularly vulnerable to warp-energy. I am refocusing them as we converse, and my accumulators appear to be holding strong. I don’t know for how long, however. I may have to resort to the blink shields…

Regardless, I am about to decapitate what I believe to be the Dornalian leadership in this system. Have fun with your greenskins.

Vindicator wasted no time. Before, his guns had swept over the majority of the Dornalian fleet, trading concentration for area of effect. Now, they focused upon a singular target, what looked by all rights to be their command ship.

More then a hundred thousand individual weapons lit up the night, searing through the inky blackness of space with terrible purpose. The azure bolts of microbursters mixing with the angry crimson of deeguns, while tens of thousands of sleek torpedoes jinked and danced, their blue-green contrails corkscrewing between the leviathan and its prey. Powergun shards silently, sightlessly tore through the void. The comparatively tiny one hundred and twenty millimeter slugs, accelerated to relativistic velocities, intended as fairly ‘light’ weapons. Though, indeed, ‘light’ was relative. –Facehuggerians had always followed the old axiom ‘There is no overkill. There is only open fire, and time to reload!’

Before, all Vindicator’s monstrous firepower was spread out, allowing some particularly well-protected foes, like the Dornalians with their temporal shields, to survive the barrage. Now, it was concentrated upon but a single ship. It may have been wasteful, and it may have been overkill, yet Vindicator was not particularly concerned. He wasn’t so anal about conserving fuel as his sister. Besides, in the long run, it was quicker and more effective. Once the enemy flagship was destroyed, he could crush the rest of the Dornalian fleets in the same way, focusing on the largest and working his way down the line.

The allied ships were the only real issue. Only a pathetic few of the anti-formation warheads he’d launched earlier had hit (due to a combination of enemy ECM and point defense,) and he dared not launch more for fear of annihilating the Torontonian fleet, still caught up between the enemy forces. It was irritating. –Vindicator had never really worked well as part of an overall fleet. Facehuggerian warships had been made to operate independently… friendly fire was something new to him. Still, he had to admire the Torontonians. They had balls, charging the enemy like that. How could his sister hate such brave meatlings so?

***

Damn those Tories! Damn them to hell! What gave them the right to challenge her designations for the enemy? Xenos scum flagship sounded fine to her. It just seemed to roll off the language processor. Damn corporate types. No respect for the Engrish language…

Still, they were doing a good job of keeping the greenskins occupied.

Curiously, the Kendaryn defense platforms around her target planet had not fired yet, even against ESUS as they advanced to knife-fighting range with the horde. Either they were out of range, or they had something up their sleeves…

Trinity turned her machine eyes back towards the asteroid field. There were some defense craft and missiles coming in from there, but thus far she hadn’t seen anything really threatening. No capital ships, for instance. Though, as she advanced to the asteroid field, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she would do well to saturate the damn place with formation bombs. Something was there, and whatever it was, she didn’t like it… No matter, the other two Facehuggerian warships attached to her half of the fleet, though much smaller then Trinity herself, would run interference for her.

Her attention should be focused on wiping out those Xenos, while not wiping out the Tories in the process. One or two casualties she could write off as ‘accidental friendly fire,’ but it just would not do to wipe out half their fleet as she cleansed the Xenos. The sheer paperwork alone would be a nightmare!

***

”Keep your eyes peeled, it could turn into a nightmare real fast if we let those bastards get the drop on us from that field.” Zap said, looking around the area through his helmet. All the damned ECM kept him from picking up much of anything except emissions hits; he didn’t like flying what was essentially blind.

Zap’s course would take him near the edge of the damn field as he and the rest of Trinity’s alert fighters swooped ahead to deal with the defense stations around Zatreer. Weird Kendari with their weird names. He could just hope that they didn’t know how to run a proper ambush. That field was perfect for it.

Scuttlebutt around the hangar was that the Kendari were some kind of magicians… Zap didn’t put much stock in those rumors. ‘Magic’ was, in his mind, just smoke and mirrors. Cheap tricks meant to catch the buffoons of the universe unawares. With sufficiently advanced technology, Zap knew that anyone could pretend to be a ‘mage.’ Pretend. There was no magic in the world. Zap had known this ever since he was a child, even since he realized that Santar the Barbarian didn’t come down chimneys and give children pulse rifles at Christmas.

It never occurred to him that, as his Terminator strike fighter passed closest to the asteroid field on its way to the defense stations, he might be mistaken as to the true nature of the universe. After all, there were more things in Heaven and Earth then were dreamt of in his philosophy…

OOC: Afraid I couldn't cram everything into this post that I wanted to. Specifically, I couldn't get a good mental image for how Vindicator's untold thousands of point defense nodes would destroy ND's incoming torpedoes. The closest I could get was a 'strobe of laser light.' Except that Facehuggerian point defense nodes are actually four seperate weapons, a laser or graser, a powergun, an interceptor powergun, and a chaff launcher. How is one supposed to describe that? I've got some ideas that I'll toy with before my next post.

Anyway, to get through a Facehuggerian ship's point defense, you're going to be needing a lot of missiles. Even comparatively small Adjudicator destroyers have an enormous amount of point defense. To say nothing of the fact that I've also got an ad hoc shield of idiot-savant torpedoes made to take hits for ESUS warships (well, actually Facehuggerian ones, but they're being used as cover for the ESUS too.)

Yes, I am gunning for ND's flagship. However, he has an 'out' should he not want to lose said flagship. Even ultra-powerful AIs are not infailable. It could be a trap, or it could simply be a mistake.

I'd also like to note that my FTLi field extends to around five light minutes out from Vindicator's position. Sadly, I haven't yet developed a way to actively interdict temporal tech without utilizing my FTLi yet, but that's on the IC drawing board. :p

Hmmph... what else... Trinity will be getting close to the asteroid field shortly, though her fighters (around, oh, a fourth of her entire compliment) will be getting close sooner. At the moment, she is opening fire with all guns on the Horde, trying her damndest to miss Torontonian vessels while not missing Rodinian ones. 'Course, the fact that they seem to be in or at the least *near* the asteroid field makes this even more dicey.

OOC: Why oh why are my attacks always looked over... The contents of 20 kilometers of Pygmae modules (roughly 180,000 Paris drones) attacking GFFA forces on the lower front, along with a slightly larger amount of SCCAMs (the first barrage from Naphtali plus a barrage from the Pygmaes, so roughly 45,810,000 singularity propelled torpedoes), plus assorted broadsides, laser fire, etc. Just assume they're distribured evenly amongst the GFFA players on that front. Anyway, moving on...

Naphtali noted the casualties amongst the Arizonan vessels, diverting a few hundred thousand of its SCCAMs to shield its ally's ships. Rolling again, it let off another barrage, missiles draping out from its shields like a waterfall, swooping upwards into the melee, QUETZAL's guidance ensuring each and every SCCAM was matched to a target. Meanwhile, its escorts let loose with another volley from their direct fire weaponry, MACs and lasers lancing through enemy formations.

OOC: I'm really starting to regret my decision to switch over to Avatar Vessels. Damned Methuselah Decree, spoiling my dialogue opportunities... Anyway, sorry for the short post, but I haven't really had anything done to me, I'm dead tired, and I just want some recognition here. *cries*

Before the TCF could even get off a second volley, The space in the immediate vicinity lit up as if it was the Corporate Day of Honour, (Commemorating the day that the Corporations were able to wrest control away from the inefficient bureaucracy that was the Federal Government, but I digress) The Front line of Legionnaires buckled as if they were made of rice cakes when the concentrated amount of fire washed over the lines. Although the ECM Sheath that the Disrupter weapons were equip with did minimal damage, the Anti-matter that was contained within them washed over the hulls of the ships, eating away at multiple layers of armour like Acid on a metal, as the weapon reacted violently with matter and annihilated them both.

Then, before detachable armour programs could take in effect, the second wave of Polaron weapons smashed through the lines, cracking hulls open like fresh eggs, spill Fuel, Coolant and crew into the dark void that was space. In that instant, the entire front line of the Fleet was obliterated in a hail of weapons fire and explosions. Fins were ripped from their ships and sent meandering off into space, while the overhanging sections of some ships were peeled away and shunted backwards into the fleet. The only benefit from this mass destruction was the fact that as the ships were destroyed, some were able to eject multiple layers of hull, seeding the beginning of a mass debris field which would mingle with the asteroids to be ever deadlier. Unfortunately, the Orks seemed to revel in the chaos of the asteroid field, so one could only assume that the debris field wouldn’t affect them much either.

However, that was the worst of it. Due to the concentration of the fleet, the wall of fire directed towards the main force, although creating a catastrophic rippling effect disabling the second and third lines as pieces of Legionnaire crashed back into functioning ships, taking out swaths of critical systems in the process, the fourth through thirteenth lines were able to maneuver out of the way, and avoid the excessive damage incurred upon the front lines.

The Centurions that were dispersed along the front line were also critically damaged, but due to their stockier build and heavier armour, fewer collapsed and exploded as the Destroyers did, some where destroyed mind you, but not in the wholesale fashion of the Legionnaires. One Centurion charged ahead of the line into the enemy as its hull was peeling away under concentrated fire, leaving a trail marking its passage. It was able to make it halfway into the enemy fleet before its armour was peeled away revealing the sleek black base ECC Composite armour that also began cracking under the pressure, breaching the last lines of defenses and venting crew and atmosphere into space.

Once it got into whatever position it was intending, it opened up all its weapons at every available target. Although inefficient, the pepper of weapons fire was sure to be annoying as Plasma, Magnetically Accelerated Slugs and Energy fire lanced through the middle of the fleet. As a Piece de Resistance, the strain of holding sustained fire began overloading the eight fusion reactors, causing the critically damaged ship to explode in a gargantuan fireball which engulfed the nearby ships, as well as sending chunks of ship and component hurtling throughout the enemy fleet.

The Bandits that were flying throughout the enemy fleet already didn’t fare well either. Although too small to have the enemy concerned with the concentrated fire, ships were still firing at them, and the smaller enemy frigates seemed to had been assigned to attack them, entering a dangerous game of cat and mouse running throughout the chaos. Many were destroyed outright, but others were destroyed as freak shots tore open and ignited their exposed fuel lines, causing an ever burning fire that sucked out most of the ships fuel, or created a chain reaction that lead back to the Fusion core, destroying the ship. However, only a few Bandits broke off their mission to engage the enemy ships, others continued their runs to disable critical systems of the largest ships, flying in close and hitting hard. Others still continued to seed the unshielded vessels with the strange squares, their purpose, unknown…

Aboard the TSDC Plutocrat

Jutenburg paled as he watched the casualty lists begin to mount. It started with triple digit numbers as the first handful of ships were destroyed, then, when the enemy unleashed its withering firepower against the fleet. He watched firsthand as the front line was all but obliterated by the first volley, and again as the recoiling debris from the ships collided with the second and third lines. When it was all calculated in, the list skyrocketed into the tens of thousands. Although a more complete calculation would have to wait until after the battle, if they survived that long, initial calculations suggested over 35,000 crew had been lost in the initial volley, with many others injured or missing. There simply wasn’t enough time to do a proper roll call in the heat of battle.

We can’t afford to throw lives away like that, we just lost over a fifth of our Legionnaires in one volley. However, Torontonian doctrine dictates that every ship has its role and we all need to stay together in unity to survive. Is that Unity reason enough to sit and get slaughtered while we fight this battle by the book? We can’t mass attack one ship like we did with the Facehuggerian’s, the enemy has a fleet sizeable to ours, and revisions need to be made! Screw Doctrine! Jutenburg angrily thought to himself, silently cursing his ignorance at thinking the enemy would play by their rules…

“Lieutenant!” Jutenburg barked as the ship rocked from another volley of weapons fire “How are we holding up? This ship, not the fleet”

“Um, one moment Sir” Rubridge responded, caught off guard with a status report “We’ve completely lost the first and second layers of armour, with patches of the ship indicating they are down to as far as the fifth layer. As well, the front laser batteries have been disabled, and Engine three is leaking fuel. As well, Reactors Six and Eleven are reporting operations failures with performances down to about 30% of output. So far, we’ve sustained moderate damage, but not enough to put us out of this fight”

“Excellent. Report to the fleet that we’re breaking formation” Jutenburg calmly stated

“Sir?!?” Rubridge replied, shocked (Breaking formation usually suggests retreat in Torontonian Doctrine) “Sir? Why would we be retreating so soon! We still have over three quarters of our fleet still at fighting status, and there is no telling how much damage we’ve inflicted on the enemy!”

“No, No Lieutenant. It’s a tactical decision. We’re getting slaughtered while staying in formation, and although it will make it slightly more difficult for allies to provide support fire, it will make it harder for the enemy to wash fire over us like that. Send an order out the fleet that they are to break away and engage ships at their digression. However, before that happens, Attach an order that when all ships disengage from the formation, they are to target and fire maximum weapons on that multi-kilometer behemoth. Chances are it’s their Command Ship, and if it isn’t, if we damage it so much it has to flee, it may demoralize the enemy.” Jutenburg stated “You got all that Rubridge?”

“Yes sir, Send out orders now” The Lieutenant responded quietly, slightly embarrassed for blatantly countermanding the Grand Admiral’s orders, if it wasn’t war time he could have gotten severely punished for such a case of Insubordination.

Moving over towards the Tactical Officer, he leaned in and whispered to her “I need you to send a subtle Communication over to the Facehuggerian AI, I know how much you Love dealing with them, but I need you to send them a message saying that on the orders of the Grand Admiral, small occurrences of friendly fire are acceptable on the Autocracy’s terms so long as its not a capital ship, and they inflict more damage on the enemy than us.”

“Sir! Do you realize what you’re doing? You’re essentially giving those blood lusting AI’s permission to blanket this area in fire, potential destroying our own vessels. I’m sure that AI’s don’t hold grudges, but I’m sure they would leap at the opportunity to blow up some Xeno vessels, if at the price of a few allied ships…” Sub-Lieutenant Jensen harshly whispered back

“Regardless, the Facehuggerians have much, much superior firepower and weapons technology than they do. They might even be able to split the fleet better than we have. Besides, by the looks of it, the ISV Trinity is already on the way down, with her initial screen of fighters engaging the fringes of our battle. Frankly, we can use all the help we can get.” The Grand Admiral scolded

“Yes Sir, sending message now”

Over the Central Facehuggerian section the ESUS Battle net
Sender:TSDC_Plutocrasy
RecieverISV_Trinity+All_Applicable_CF_Vessels
Subject:Permission Applying to Freedom of Fire

Under Orders of Grand Admiral Jutenburg, all applicable Central Facehuggerian ships within range and ability are granted unrestricted permission to fire weapons into the area occupied by Torontonian and Orkish forces under the assumption that Orkish forces are the intended targets. It is realized that there is risk of damage to Allied Torontonian Vessels (Hereby referred to as “Allies”), however, if the weapons are to be used to inflict greater damage on the Orkish Forces (Hereby referred to as “Enemies”) then the Autocracy, as well as the TSDC Central Command is willing to pardon the loss of a moderate amount of ships. This loss totaling no less than 10,000 crew or a total of ten ships (Not including Bandit Assault Frigates). However, if there are less enemies killed than allies, all permission to fire into combat will be revoked, and legal repercussions will be perused after cessation of hostilities.

Sub-Lieutenant Jensen
TSDC Plutocrat
Torontonian Combined Fleet
ESUS Alpha Fleet

After the message was sent, the ships began to peel away out of the Traditional Formation of Legionnaires, Centurions and Samnites in a row by row fashion, and began to engage the enemy ships in smaller groups or even one on one if the Captain felt he had enough bravado. However, before they went to engage the target of their choice, all ships that were within range, targeted and fired on various sections of the Command Ship. Several Hundred Thousand blasts of Laser batteries scored along the shields and hull of the Command ship, while tens of thousands of Plasma Bolts splashed alongside the Command ship, and thousands of Rail Gun slugs smashed into the engines and hundreds of arcs of sweeping lasers swept along the ship in ferocious intensity. Such a concentration of firepower could have glasses a small moon, Jutenburg could only hope it was enough to as least damage the Commanding Behemoth, he would not get the opportunity to get such concentrated fire again after the ships were scattered along the battle zone…

OOC: So far, a running Casualty of my ships are: Fifty-eight Legionnaires destroyed, ten Centurions destroyed and One Hundred and forty-three Bandits destroyed. On top of that, there are One Hundred and ten Legionnaires Disabled, fifteen Centurions disabled and two-hundred and five Bandits disabled. So far the Samnites have taken damage but they are not disabled nor destroyed. As well, for future information, Torontonian formations are fifty ships in line form, on line after another, sort of like British Regiments back in the Colonial days. With the Heavier ships in the back and the Legionaries in the front.

-snip-

The ship the Vindicator wiped out wasn't the Ernesto Cardenal, good thing too. It was by sheer luck that Hernandez's force, firing every which way and trying to keep up, was spared a very nasty strike (though fleet protocol dicated the Daniel Ortega would take command in the Cardenal's stead).

Hernandez replied upon seeing the vessel get shot up on her viewscreen, and the subsequent rumblings from the spread of fire: "What the hell was that!?"

Helm reported, "Comrade-Commodore! We've lost the Raul Castro to severe fire. It came from the Facehuggerians. And we've just been raked with fire from Facehuggerian and Otagian forces; all units report shields and abblative armor holding, with slight drops and damage reported from the Deng Xiaopings."

Hernandez then quickly screamed at the Communications Officer, impaitent at all the ESUS ships she had to kill today: "Screw this! Order all ships, fire at the source of that blast--ALPHA STRIKE THAT SUMBITCH!"

Thus, a flurry of countless Demolisher Gun and Ion Cannon shots was casted upon the Facehuggerian Vindicator, followed by a total of two volleys of conventional torpedoes, 350 each volley, fired all at once from all the vessels.

The Rak'tanul burst open like a ripened fruit as the Trinity's guns found their mark in the Kolkar's main reactor. The debris spattered the Org'rimma, whose own bridge shook.

"Report!" demanded the warlord as his bridge bucked beneath him.

"Enemy ships concentrating fire on our forward port section, sir! Launch bay seven destroyed, no list of casualties yet!"

"PAGH!" cursed the warlord, slamming his fist onto the base of his sitting post. "Rotate da ship! Move da damaged sekshun from da fiyah!"

The colossal disc-shaped ship rotated, moving the damaged section towards the rear so its shields could recharge and the repair crews could get to work. Aal'jin looked as the 25km warship Trinity continued to fire upon his fleet.

"Furhst an' secon' squadrons form up on da Org'rimma. Tahget dat ship and FIYAH!"

Scores of disruptor bolts and torpedoes sailed from the asteroid field towards the Trinity as half of the Second Fleet focused their firepower on her.

"Signal da Haptal, tell dem dat soon, da ends will be justifyin da means."

Arriving at the Deep Bridge, the doors opened to a scene of red-light washed chaos – one which subsided upon the appearance of the Admiral. The Captain rushed over to him, and gave a quick salute.

“Status?” asked Admiral Govannon curiously.

“Sir, a few minutes ago, the Yacht disengaged.”

“What?” said Admiral Govannon incredulously. He strode over to his command chair and browsed through menus, looking to verify it. “Impossible… the only person who would have the overrides…” his face paled. “Captain, have you checked to so see if the Empress’s person is on board this ship?”

The Captain’s face paled in turn. “It had crossed my mind only briefly…”

The Admiral turned back to the console, fingers flying over the controls. He steadied himself after he found the terrible answer.

“What is it? She is gone?”

“Yes,” said the Admiral weakly. “She is no longer aboard this ship.”

“Has she gone mad?” exclaimed the Captain.

The Admiral browsed over to the sensors, checking the recent events. “A few minutes ago, a vessel matching the Yacht’s profile went into hyperspace… on a blind jump if I read the relative coordinates correctly. Something is terribly wrong here.”

"Sir! Incoming torpedoes! From New Dornalia!" yelled Ensign Ladislaus.

"Trying that again, eh? No more of this point defense stuff. You tell our ships to train their tractor beams on them, and smash them into each other. I've had it playing around, especially now!" yelled Admiral Govannon. "Is the Vanguard array ready?"

"Yes sir," returned Ladislaus, "but we have problems."

"What now?"

"The Central Facehuggerians have initiated their FTLi. Even the Moses devices can't cut through that."

"Damnit! They just castrated our most powerful weapon and trapped us here!"

"Sir?" asked The Captain. "What do you mean, trapped?"

"The Empress is missing, I am not sticking around here," replied the Admiral through gritted teeth.

"You would withdraw the fleet?" asked The Captain incredulously.

"Do they know? This bridge crew and maybe a few folks in the corridors are all that know right now. Only this ship needs to leave. Ensign Ladislaus?"

"Yes Admiral?"

"Communicate to our allies that the Fist has had failures in its primary and secondary reactors. We are running on battery and need to exit the war zone for repairs, and are forwarding command to the ANSS Kelt and Rear Admiral Grisham."

"But we are..."

"That is an order, Ensign. After that, full speed ahead out of range of their FTLi, and get us on the last known coordinates of the Yacht."

"Sir... isn't this some form of treason?" asked The Captain.

"No one else can be allowed to know right now. What would you have me do? Announce the Empress is missing? Morale would crash among our fleet and those of our allies!"

"Instead you'll lie to them now and have them lose morale and trust later?" snarled The Captain.

"My loyalty is to my Empress and my state, Captain, alliances second. I'd think you'd agree with this more than anyone else. This way we minimize the damage at least for now, and keep our men in the fight at least long enough to break their defenses. If we can get her back..."

"And if we don't?" asked the Captain.

"Carry out my orders, Ensign."

"Yes sir," the Ensign simply replied.

"Sir! Incoming torpedoes! From New Dornalia!" yelled Ensign Ladislaus.

"Trying that again, eh? No more of this point defense stuff. You tell our ships to train their tractor beams on them, and smash them into each other. I've had it playing around, especially now!" yelled Admiral Govannon. "Is the Vanguard array ready?"


The news of this development was relayed to Hernandez by her Weapons Officer, in the form of, "Comrade-Commodore, they've taken our torpedoes and smashed them against one another!"

Hernandez mumbled to herself: "Shit, shit, shit!"

She then fired back a reply to the Communications Officer: "Switch to Force-based comms, and order all vessels to turn and face the Arizona Novan forces again. Charge all Super Warp Cannons. In the meantime, all ships, continous volley fire Demolisher Guns and Ion Cannons at them. Do not stop unless authorized. Target the Konigsbergs and their flagships. I want enough smoking Warp energy dumped on them to turn this sector into a f*cking California Candle shower!"

The ships then turned as best as possible, and began charging their Super Warp Cannons, all the while obeying Hernandez's orders and dumping Demolisher Gun and Ion Cannon fire, en masse and nonstop, onto the Konigsbergs and the flagships of the Arizona Novan fleet. They didn't know of the Fist's situation, but they figured damage was damage.

OOC: But OOCly I do--I just figured ICly, they'd be very interested in decapitation.

Trinity could barely suppress a giggle. The conservative, formation driven Tories were breaking loose? What’s more, the tightasses were giving her permission to destroy the Xenos, even at the cost of some of their own ships? This ‘Admiral Jutenburg’ seemed to know his stuff. She could respect that.

“Attention all active fighter talons. You have new orders. Cease assault of primary targets. Wheel around and engage Xenos: Ork forces in support of Torontonian battle group. Prioritize enemy capital assets. Attempt to minimize friendly casualties. Fleet command, ISV Trinity, out.” Trinity said, ordering her fighters via the Facehugger battlenet. While she didn’t really mind the ESUS version, per se, she still felt more comfortable using what she knew. And since all Facehuggerian units were linked up via it anyway…

Sadly, the Torontonians weren’t. She would have to use the newer ESUS-only battlenet to communicate with them. “Torontonian fleet, this is Trinity. I need exact dimensions for your capital craft ASAP.”

Vindicator: Interesting. I see you’re going to try some deception/no-deception. Let me guess… doppelganger torpedoes?
Trin: Naturally. The beauty of them is that now, with all that jamming you’re spewing out, it will be doubly hard to see that they’re not the real deal.

Doppelganger torpedoes were an oddity in the Facehuggerian armory. Unlike nearly every other torpedo warhead that Trinity possessed in her repertoire, doppelgangers couldn’t attack. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. They could do some damage, but that was just a pleasant bonus.

They were decoys, sleek black rods, that, upon command, could holographically simulate even a super capital craft for a time. Granted, they had but ten minutes of ‘life’ in them when simulating such monstrous vessels, but that hardly mattered. They would perform their purpose, making the enemy hesitate for but a moment. Then, when their emitters burnt out and their form reverted to its original shape, they would ram their targets, a tiny charge detonating against their shields or hull, more out of a desire not to waste them rather then to simply do damage.

Trinity loaded a pitifully small number of these weapons into her torpedo tubes, or at least it seemed as such to her. It would, arouse more then a little suspicion if tens of thousands of new Torontonian Centurions were to simply appear in the battlespace. Still, though it felt inadequate, she knew that a hundred or two decoys should be more the sufficient.

A third of her remaining launch capacity would be taken up with MR-100 repair drones. Missiles they were, really, just an engine and attached fabricator, programmed to use the missile itself as fuel mass, plugging holes in the target’s armor even while in the heat of battle. She’d developed the design for the Tories once she realized that she’d be fighting alongside them, and that they still hadn’t mastered energy shield or regenerative armor technologies. She was quite proud of the new ‘weapons’, and was quite eager to see how they would perform mixed in with her conventional munitions, these particular weapons aiming only at the Torontonians, of course. Naturally, she informed them of the unique nature of these ‘weapons,’ being as cryptic as she could afford to be without having some trigger-happy Torie with too many balls and too few brains taking a shot at her.

The rest of her torpedoes were the standard affair, shaped fusion charges, anti-matter primed, of course, with a nominal yield sufficient to strike at capital targets effectively. There was some risk of collateral damage, but the shaped charge aspect mitigated that somewhat. Besides, she could hope that the Horde vessels would be strong enough to take a point blank blast from one of her warheads without being ridiculously overpenetrated.

Naturally, she also used her other weapons upon the horde. Deeguns and powerguns and particle microbursters and more. Her gravguns, however, found a better use. She’d been inspired by the Anikari destruction of the enemy torpedoes. She used her own gravguns to manipulate asteroids, using them to protect the already savaged Tories from enemy fire, or, occasionally slam them into a horde ship, throwing off their aim if nothing else.

***

“Okay, Boys. We’ve got new orders from FleetCom. We’re to turn around and help the Tories out. But be careful, there’s a lot of flak flying around out there…

…I want alpha talon to form up on me. Remember boys and girls, focus your fire on the meanest, greenest looking Ork capital ship you can see. I want our Demons and Dragonflies to cover us. We’ll have enough headaches trying to avoid pee-dee and ‘roids. We don’t need to worry about enemy interceptors too, roj?” Zap’s pilots didn’t reply. He knew as well as they that it would be redundant. They, or at least their fighter AIs, would have already downloaded the relevant information from the battlenet.

When push came to shove, when battle was joined, Facehuggerian fighter tactics were deliciously direct. Coast through space, jinking and dodging enemy fire with their vector control thrusters and gravitic engines, and simply strafe the target. The pilot would have to keep the target within the forward arc, so that the gimbaled, AI-controlled weapons could work their magic, but that was very simple. Even if the enemy got behind them, the fighter could simply flip around and fire, all while cruising at the same velocity and direction it had before. Ahh, the wonders of zero grav-combat.

The biggest nightmare for any pilot was a capital-ship grade point defense network. They could mount lightspeed weapons, or ones very near it, and even with more advanced technology, few fighters could even hope to challenge a capital ship with a reactor which could easily be larger then they are. Modern combat thus relied upon not getting hit. In this case, that meant using AIs to predict when an enemy PD weapon would fire, and to get out of the way at the last second.

Needless to say, this didn’t always work, a fact at the forefront of Zap’s mind, just ahead of concern for his pilots, and whether he should make a move on that hot piece of ass who came aboard Trinity with the General.

“Stay focused on flying, Casanova. I don’t want to be blown up because you were thinking about tasting the forbidden fruit when we were being shot at.” It was the damned computer, always listening in on things that were none of its business. If there was another way to fight, one without an AI, Zap would have been the first to try it. The damn things were like fake people. –Clearly intelligent, but he could pick up a subtle vibe of ‘wrongness’ from their merest existence. What did, what could they possibly know of true life? Of the simplest, most pleasurable things? Of a first kiss, or the feeling of a full stomach? Of a disappointment or a frustration? Nothing. That’s what. Nothing.

***

Vindicator’s point defenses sprang to life, lighting up the night. A thousand times a thousand and more separate weapons all opening up in one carefully choreographed moment. Were there a medium for sound to travel upon in space, an onlooker would have been deafened by the auditory spectacle that would assault them.

As it stood, light could travel in vacuum. Especially the cool blue light of lasers, erupting from Vindicator’s defense nodes, nearly bisecting incoming torpedoes as though it were the simplest task in the world. From those same nodes erupted millions, perhaps billions of nigh-invisible powergun shards, the tiny 10mm slugs capable of even, theoretically, destroying light capital ships with concentrated and properly massed fire.

Meanwhile, larger and far more massive slugs from interceptor powerguns soon augmented the barrage, the ultradense slugs plowing through space to slam into the offending munitions. Some impacts shattering entire torpedoes with raw momentum.

Finally, the final part of Vindicator’s point defenses, the chaff launchers, came into play. Though, indeed chaff was something of a misnomer, as the countermeasures launched were actually semi-autonomous drones, which launched drones of their own. These ‘drones’ were scaled back versions of interceptor warhead laden torpedoes, created with the express purpose of finding enemy missiles and destroying them. Meanwhile, the original drone would sit back and spit out tightly focused radiation directly at the nearest enemy torpedoes, seeking to burn out their vulnerable sensor systems through raw concentration.

Each and every piece of his point defense was aimed with terrible purpose, Vindicator taking more direct control of the system’s aiming, and devoting a larger share of processing power to the task.

Was it any wonder then why so few torpedoes got through his withering barrage of fire? But a handful of the initial volley had made it past his defenses to strike the outer layer of his shields. The accumulators, in this instance. They were the eldest, yet also the most robust design amongst his ‘standard’ shield generators, effective against almost everything, though not truly excelling against anything save directed plasma weapons.

They served the Vindicator well, taking the few torpedoes able to impact them in stride. Now, the cannons? Those proved to be a bit of a problem. The ‘demolishers’ lived up to their name, smashing through the accumulators, already weakened by the constant fighting. The enemy blasts continued through, stopped cold by the newly-refocused ‘hard’ shields.

Even so, a few more volleys, especially if said volleys included those chaotic ‘warp’ weapons would bring those shields down as well, exposing his armor to space, and to enemy fire. He wasn’t particularly worried. His armor belt was thicker then many small capital ships’ lengths. What’s more, it would adapt itself to the enemy weaponry as it regenerated, becoming more and more resistant to each new weapon which was thrown at it. Though, of course, sufficient brute force could still overwhelm it.

For that, he had to rely upon his blink shields, hitherto unused due to their nature. Fortunately, though, it didn’t seem like it would come to that. The enemy had opened fire upon him, giving their best, and he’d come up standing. Wounded a bit, perhaps, but standing none the less. Moreover, though it felt like centuries had passed, his shields began to reknit themselves, slowly and imperceptibly reforming their facings. They would still be weakened for quite some time, but at least they were active again. Though it felt like it had taken an eternity to the AI.

An eternity which he used well, however. Apparently his original target was not the enemy command ship (of if it was, its loss had little of the desired effect.) However, he did glean ever-valuable information from the initial attack. It took but a short, sweet volley from all his weapons to destroy one of the enemy’s larger capital ships and scatter its components to the stellar winds. At their current fleet disposition and his current fire level, he could have the entire fleet gutted within minutes assuming his calculations were accurate. Though, naturally, this meant focusing upon one target at a time.

Not that he really minded that. Still, seven minutes? That was practically forever for an intelligence like the Vindicator!

***

If felt like it had been forever since Trinity had been fired upon by suitably large, impressive weapons. Those Ork Xenos certainly liked big guns. She liked big guns too. It would be a match made in heaven. Finally, worthy foes!

Their weapons slammed into her shields with enough force to cause her a minor jolt of ‘pain,’ driving her outer shield layer close to collapse. Like her brother, Trinity’s shields were arranged like an onion, with the Accumulators typically on the outside, though this could naturally be changed as the tactical situation dictated.

Not bad. For Xenos. She thought to herself as she fabbed up another volley of torpedoes. This time, they mounted conventional bomb-pumped lasers, weapons with far less potential for collateral damage then even her shaped fusion charges. They were accurate enough, and the ECC composite used in Torontonian vessels, being as it was of originally Facehuggerian design, would protect against them well enough, at least to ensure there were no major casualties from friendly fire. ECC had a notoriously high thermal capacity.

She was quite confident that she could avoid friendly casualties, even as she opened fire again with all her weapons. She was certainly putting enough effort into it. After all, her pride as a warship was at stake here! Facehuggerians simply did not shoot at their allies. Well… except for that unfortunate Civil War, but that should hardly count!

OOC: Another post. I am at present firing on both GR and ND. And technically Torontonias too with my first volley. The repair drones should be able to make minor repairs and patch up any holes, but they won't be nearly as effective as a full refit owing to the fact that their 'repairs' are designed as makeshift, to keep the ships in the battle longer. Each hole requires a seperate repair drone to plug, hence why I launched a lot more drones then there are Torontonian vessels. :)

OOC: Thanks to a frickin' storm where I live, I have no power at my house...so divert all questions to TGs, as I am on a library comp.

IC:

The Super Warp Cannons were ready, and their time to be fired was none too soon. The situation as it was was becoming slightly stressful and annoying for Hernandez's force of ships; having to turn and fire alternatively and monotonously at the Facehuggerians and the Anikari was dangerous and mind numbing......especially since their ranks had to put up with more Facehuggerian fire.

However, they learned from their mistakes and from the creativity of their foe. Hernandez ordered, as some torps came close to their ships, all ships to use their tractor beams to knock them out of place into each other, or back into enemy ranks. This occurred with some success, especially when the Gauss Miniguns pitched in to deliver their blows. As for the other shots, they caused great rumblings that the temporal shields and the abblative armor took in stride, with some damage to them, of course.

The situation was clear. The torpedoes were not going to work anymore, the enemy had gotten wise to that. So, they focused on their energy weapons, the most powerful cards they had. They turned to the Vindicator and unleashed a full volley of Super Warp Cannon shots upon it, followed by no less than five volleys of Demolisher Gun and Ion Cannon fire upon it from all vessels, all made in rapid succession. Seven minutes was a lot of time in a fight, the Vindicator's AI had a point. So they spared no time in using up all the time they had on the business of trying to kill it.

I don't believe it. They're ignoring me. The bastards.

Would you rather be shot at, Naphtali?

Well, no, but still. How insulting!

Count your good luck. Telemetry indicates enemies are using tractor beams to ruin torpedo barrages. They don't have nearly enough of them to put a dent in one of our barrages, but counter their efforts whenever you notice them. Since they're using meatbags to do it, course corrections shouldn't be a problem.

Aye aye, sir. I'll be helping the Facehuggers on their front, make things go faster. How're things on your front?

Going well. Fighters are entering planetary ZOC as we speak. Expecting them to begin engaging Kendaryn vessels shortly, with capital support right behind them. Shouldn't have much trouble, not much can take a full load of Paris fighters from Israel. Anyway, catch you in a few microseconds. Joseph out.

_________________
Upper Front
Accelerating, Naphtali rolled again, another withering barrage of SCCAMs pouring from his sides. Millions of the deadly torpedoes homed in on the Dornalian fleet, singularities devouring incoming gauss fire without missing a beat, while their drives easily compensated for tractor interference. Enough firepower to annihilate entire worlds, condensed into that one volley, streaked in against the Dornalian battleships, aiming to gut the enemy fleet, already weakened by the Facehuggerian's lockdown fields and their previous barrages.

Swirling around Naphtali like a cloak, his escorting Echidnas and Arachnes opened fire, spinal MACs dropping massive shells down the throats of the Dornalians at c-frac velocities. As each ship turned to allow another vessel its shot while still shielding Naphtali, they let loose with their broadsides, massive columns of laser light cutting through the void, trailed by the marginally slower MAC fire. The Paris fighters already in the void swarmed amongst the Dornalian fleet, occasionally dropping SCCAMs into their midst, while peppering vessels with concentrated laser fire.

OOC: Kendari, when you have the time, Joseph and Israel seem to be knocking on your front door. Well, your skylight at least. If you can, catch me on MSN so we can discuss the inevitable landing of troops. I'm blaestwin@hotmail.com, and will show up as Laughing Man.

OOC: Dear God in heaven, this thread stays dead for a week, I stare vacantly at posts I read over and over; when I take a week *OFF* on the other hand, I find that I have three sonfabitchin' pages to sift through! :/ I'll slap a post together later tonight and jump into the fray. :X

_________________
Upper Front
Accelerating, Naphtali rolled again, another withering barrage of SCCAMs pouring from his sides. Millions of the deadly torpedoes homed in on the Dornalian fleet, singularities devouring incoming gauss fire without missing a beat, while their drives easily compensated for tractor interference. Enough firepower to annihilate entire worlds, condensed into that one volley, streaked in against the Dornalian battleships, aiming to gut the enemy fleet, already weakened by the Facehuggerian's lockdown fields and their previous barrages.

Swirling around Naphtali like a cloak, his escorting Echidnas and Arachnes opened fire, spinal MACs dropping massive shells down the throats of the Dornalians at c-frac velocities. As each ship turned to allow another vessel its shot while still shielding Naphtali, they let loose with their broadsides, massive columns of laser light cutting through the void, trailed by the marginally slower MAC fire. The Paris fighters already in the void swarmed amongst the Dornalian fleet, occasionally dropping SCCAMs into their midst, while peppering vessels with concentrated laser fire.

OOC: Just so you guys know, some of the GFFA and ESUS players in this scenario know this, but I will not be able to post next week due to camp. I was thinking Kendari could take over, but if he's not available, GR is free to as well.

And the below assumes I was already in loose formations...

IC:

The Dornalians shifted their engines into high gear and the lighter vessels moved down and the heavier ones up as fast as possible, activating evasive manuevers to try and escape the swarms and diverting as much power as possible to temporal shields before the torpedoes and enemy fire hit, to help minimize damage. As part of these manuevers, some inventive captains began firing back at the Otagian swarms of torpedoes and enemy fighters with 10 of their own 160kg antimatter torpedoes, 50 of their conventionals and 50 of their ions, set to explode for wide area of effect, which they threw into the swarms at perilously close range and detonated as the New Dornalians, regardless of position, fell back.

Still, it was hard going, six of the Lin Biaos were taken out, as were four of the Deng Xiaopings and two of the Zaitsevs, everybody else suffered moderate damage, owing to the quick powering up of the temporal shielding, and the layer of abblative armor beneath when the shields couldn't stop the fire. Still, it was nasty, the shielding was forcing what seemed to be a tricky situation....they immediately began consolidating their lines, keeping them loose to allow for less damage.

A disturbing trend was that it was beginning to get harder and harder to charge their shielding up to full, and the abblatives were beginning to take more of the flak. They stood up, but this was making everybody nervous. Someone or something was dampening their shields, they were tested and checked out earlier....

In retaliation, the fleet began moving slightly closer to the Otagians, and three rapid volleys of Demolisher Gun and Ion Cannon fire were directed at the Otagian vessels (the biggest in the fleet) and fired from all vessels, followed up by a swarm of 500 conventional torpedoes targeted at the same enemies, staggered and encouraged to fly in zigzag formations to prevent sudden hijacking by tractor beams....

In the meantime, the nanite healing facilities on each ship began working as fast as they could, along with repair teams, though the nanites worked slowly.

In the meantime, the nanite healing facilities on each ship began working as fast as they could, along with repair teams, though the nanites, like those on the Facehuggerian vessels, would repair ever so slowly....

OOC: Actually, Facehuggerian vessels do not utilize repair nanotechnology at all. This is because an EMP blast would royally screw over any nanites someone would care to construct, and anti-matter primed thermonuclear weapons are a preferred Facehuggerian weapon system. Instead, the ship's internal fabricators simply break down the damaged component and produce a brand new one in its place, after accounting for the fact that some of the damaged component's mass is, well, damaged (and likely vaporized given that everything important is made of milispec Tychium, which is the material that comprises the vast majority of a Facehuggerian ship's armor belt.) Hence why any 'repairs' performed by the ship are always a net loss in terms of ever-important fuel.

As for nano-armor, part of a Facehuggerian warship's armor is 'quicksilver,' a sort of nanite slush which is used for the express purpose of dealing with enemy nanite weapons systems, originally developed during the Shivan wars when nanite disassemblers, ones that could resist what physics say that any nanoscale robot thing shouldn't, were all the rage. Any non-nanite weapon can wreck quicksilver with pathetic ease, hence why it is one of the last layers of armor. To date, the quicksilver armor has never been used, and the Facehuggerians are thus ICly planning to get rid of it in the next wave of refits, prefering an even thicker armor belt of tychium, which can be made to perform much the same task (destroying nanites,) while also protecting against conventional weapons most optimally.

Anyway, the shields typically take a lot longer to replenish themselves then the armor, especially since the armor is a 'liquid' metal ala Battlezone biometal (though different in many ways), and can thus dynamically close any holes by transfering armor from an area that is not under fire to one that is, until the ship's fabricators have finished producing replacement armor.

Also, for the record, I'd like to note that Vindicator's FTLi, which he is using an enormous amount of power to keep active and at full strength should be weakening temporal technology within its area of effect, mitigating its effects to a noticeable degree, just in case the IC explanation and reasons for it didn't get noticed for whatever reason. (In theory, it should be completely stopping it all, but such makes for poor roleplay in my opinion, hence why its effects are different from what they should be given how the device works.) How much is of course up to the person using the temporal tech, but bear in mind that fighting temporal-tech users has been a consideration of Facehuggerian technological and tactical design for some time now (since around the 4th flight of Adjudicator class destroyers, and we're now on the 13th flight), what with all the times they've seen temporal technology used and misused, and interacted with temporal tech wielding nations. In short, Facehuggerian ships are well prepared to deal with temporal-nations. Though some, like the Galiwhatevers or Indrans are beyond their ability to fight.

I'm working on an IC post now, but I'm a little disillusioned at the moment. It seems like I put days and days of effort into a post, pouring in details and pouring over characters to make sure they're acting, well, in character, only to have the response sound more like a summary of a story, rather then a story itself. It's not like I even have the fact that we've (the ESUS) inflicted extensive damage to console me, the kind of damage one would expect when one is facing an international force which is both larger and has a technological advantage. :( Though the battle is still young, I suppose. :)

Damn I wish Kendari would post, his were uniformly interesting to read. Oh well, real life is real life, as they say. Can't argue with that.

Once again, I'm sorry to rant and/or go off on tangents, it's a sad, bad habit of mine. :(

OOC:

Also, for the record, I'd like to note that Vindicator's FTLi, which he is using an enormous amount of power to keep active and at full strength should be weakening temporal technology within its area of effect, mitigating its effects to a noticeable degree, just in case the IC explanation and reasons for it didn't get noticed for whatever reason. (In theory, it should be completely stopping it all, but such makes for poor roleplay in my opinion, hence why its effects are different from what they should be given how the device works.) How much is of course up to the person using the temporal tech, but bear in mind that fighting temporal-tech users has been a consideration of Facehuggerian technological and tactical design for some time now (since around the 4th flight of Adjudicator class destroyers, and we're now on the 13th flight), what with all the times they've seen temporal technology used and misused, and interacted with temporal tech wielding nations. In short, Facehuggerian ships are well prepared to deal with temporal-nations. Though some, like the Galiwhatevers or Indrans are beyond their ability to fight.

I'm working on an IC post now, but I'm a little disillusioned at the moment. It seems like I put days and days of effort into a post, pouring in details and pouring over characters to make sure they're acting, well, in character, only to have the response sound more like a summary of a story, rather then a story itself. It's not like I even have the fact that we've (the ESUS) inflicted extensive damage to console me, the kind of damage one would expect when one is facing an international force which is both larger and has a technological advantage. :( Though the battle is still young, I suppose. :)

Damn I wish Kendari would post, his were uniformly interesting to read. Oh well, real life is real life, as they say. Can't argue with that.

Once again, I'm sorry to rant and/or go off on tangents, it's a sad, bad habit of mine. :(

OOC: Complaints duly noted, and I edited my post around them. In other words: my bad. :( I did read them, but I got no prior evidence your fields were dampening my shields or otherwise trying to mess with them, and I thought they were nanite powered....meh. Guess I was way off.

Finally, someone shoots at me! Issuing orders to Interceptors and Parises. Parisi. Pari? What the hell is the plural of Paris anyway?

God only knows. You can ask QUETZAL when we get back. For the moment, shouldn't you be concentrating on shooting things? Joseph out.


__________________
Lower Front

The SCCAMs moved quickly, the leading bodies intercepting the torpedoes launched to destroy them. A few dozen thousand in the front ranks were destroyed by the resulting explosions, but the rest raced forwards, slashing at their prey, dodging the outgoing fire from the Dornalian ships. Speaking of which...

The Otagian swarm boiled, thousands of Interceptors rushing out from the Otagian vessels, cutting into the enemy torpedoes, antimatter blasts ripping their prey apart, stopping the torpedoes in their tracks. More Interceptors and squadrons of Paris drones rushed into place in front of warp blasts, catching their fire in their singularities before they were overloaded and detonated. Still, some of the demolisher fire broke through the morass of SCCAMs and drones, slamming against the void of the largest bubble shields, annihilating them in a single burst- only to shatter the long thin forms of the fleet's Pygmae trains, which detonated in massive bursts of light as their MAMA reactors overloaded and detonated, thousands of SCCAMs igniting in the vessels' death throes. The fleet was relatively unscathed, but the enemy would not, could not, fall for such a trick again. Thus, measures were taken...

Striking back, Naphtali let off another giant salvo of SCCAMs, crashing like waves against the Dornalian ships. The Echidnas wasted no time as well, they and their smaller Arachne cousins letting off bursts of MAC fire into the Dornalian fleet, massive shells arriving simultaneously with the broadside laser fire. The second wave of SCCAMs came in right behind them, taking advantage of any holes that the shells might have provided, diving into holes cut into hulls by laser blasts and MAC shells, bypassing ablative armor and cutting directly into enemy ships, trying to blow them apart from the inside.

OOC: Well, you DID say you were shooting the largest targets. And since my shields provide two-way sensor blindness, the Pygmaes are indeed the largest targets, at 20 kilometers long.

I just realised. I never posted fleet counts. I'll be damned. As usual, you can find my tech on ESUSWiki, but my numbers are as follows: Joseph, Israel, Naphtali, 12 Echidna Dreadnoughts, 30 Arachne Battleships, 90 Bucephalus cruisers, and a grand total of 120 kilometers worth of Pygmaes (now reduced to 80 kilometers, as Naphtali's front has been destroyed).

The time had finally come as Admiral Spoor's fleet had dispersed into smaller groups. Now they would end the fighting in Kendari territory and save as many lives of their Federation comrades as possible. Far off from the battle erupting throughout the Salmath System, jump gates opened in all directions surrounding the Salmath System as ships poured out from the Empire.

Every merchant vessel, transportor, and military supply ship had been comitioned for this operation. Massive intervals seperated each ship the system was being engulfed. The last ship to come out of Hyperspace was Admiral Spoor's blood red Latchkau. "I believe that is enough fighting in this realm of allied territory. Inform all ships to drop their cargo and then return home."

"Yes ma'am."

Each ship tried their payload across the cosmos. Massive generators that would in time create a massive minefield of anti-matter mobile mines that would discourage any escape. Friend-from-Foe had been activated so allied ships would have no troubles navigating the minefield, it would just be a rather long travel if their engines weren't up to par. As generators were dropped, mines began to materialize and form up and waves surrounding the generators and keeping them clear from an enemy attack. The signal was given to the Vong and other allies standing by to begin their moves.

The first phase of Operation Voxyn Den had been completed.

OOC: This is Talaax. Something's wrong with my other account, jolt won't let me post as Talaax so I'm going to have to post from this account.

IC:

Edge of Yuuzhan Vong Space

Admiral Kraal stood on the bridge of his decidedly modest flagship, the Yammka's Wrath, and stared out of the viewports in the general direction of the Salmath system. His fleet had been in this exact spot in deep space for days now, waiting for the signal from the Abh to move in. Days of waiting in muted excitement.

Suddenly a communications board lit up at the far end of the bridge and a visibly excited junior officer snapped to his feet. "Admiral! We have received the signal from the Abh. 'The voxyn are in the den'!"

Admiral Kraal simply nodded in acknowledgement and signaled a second officer to open a channel to all ships in this fleet. "All vessels. 'The voxyn hunt begins at dawn', I repeat, 'the voxyn hunt begins at dawn'. Make your jumps and move in. Once you arrive in position immediately begin deploying your cargo. Out."

Seconds later the small fleet of several hundred Sekot cruisers jumped to hyperspace in the direction of Salmath. Phase Two of Operation Voxyn Den was now underway.

Several Light Minutes outside Salmath

The Yuuzhan Vong vessels began falling out of hyperspace all round the Salmath system in rapid succession. Without waiting for orders, each ship opened it's cargo holds and hangars to open space. Instead of the fighters normally carried by the Sekot cruisers, each contained several dozen massive dovin basal FTLi mines. Living creatures designed to fill a myriad of roles, these particular dovin basals were to be used to create an inner perimeter of FTLi around Salmath a few light hours wide and stretching halfway into the growing minefield.

All round Salmath, the dovin basals spread out to pre-designated positions and threw up their FTLi. Within an hour or two, the entire Salmath system would be enclosed within a ring of FTLi effectively trapping the prey within their "den".

As all this was happening, a new signal was sent to waiting allied fleets in New Dornalia and Whyatica. "The voxyn are contained. Ready for the hunting party."

OOC: Confused on identities yet? Posting for ND now since he is out of town until Saturday and I have his permission to control his forces except those that are fighting in other's territories. Anyways...

IC:

Now it was the Dornalian's turn as they came in groves letting loose FTLi generators. Transporters here and there began dispersing their cargo as vaccum techs began setting them into place so that they would remain stationary.

A lead ship drifted over towards the Latchkau. "Greetings Admiral Spoor. We will be turning over command of these generators to you so that you may see this mission completed."

"Understood. We will be receiving access now to your generators. FTLi will go online once all your men are cleared of the system."

Dornalian crews were picked up and brought on board their vessels. They formed up one last time and headed out of the Salmath system. As they departed, a final message was sent to Whyatica informing them that the third phase had been completed and they were ready for them to finish.

Spoor activated the FTLi generators as they butted up against the vong dovin basals and stretched out a couple light weeks outside the system. Now the Minbarri would have to contact the Abh to drop sections of the generators before they could enter the system.

“Sir! We’re being fired upon …from behind. It would appear that the ISV Trinity has fired a spread of Torpedoes in our direction, impact in less than thirty seconds!” Rubridge cried startledly

“Impossible! The Facehuggerians wouldn’t be so stupid as to threaten ESUS stability again with their antics, especially not in the middle of battle! Have they no honour!” Jutenburg bellowed

Jutenburg leaped from his chair and headed over towards the Tactical Console to see for himself what was going on, he wasn’t impressed.

“I say again Sir, we’ve got a wave of Facehuggerian torpedoes heading our way, impact in ten seconds! Nine…” Rubridge said

“Damn it Rubridge, this can’t be happening. If the Facehuggerians wanted to crush us they would have done so when they had our Capital System by the throat. They may like to hold grudges, but they wouldn’t act on them unless provoked, and they definitely wouldn’t hit us from behind like a common Prisoner!” Jutenburg replied frustratingly

“Three… Two…” Was the only reply he got

“Activate Point Defense!” Jutenburg ordered

“Point Defense activated, but they’re coming on too fast, the grid is handling the first few, but they’re already on top of us… Wait. Sir, they’re not exploding! They seem to be latching onto the hulls of the ship, and spreading out throughout the fleet, they’re drones of some sort, and they’re repairing damaged sections of the hull. Looks like they just wanted to put us on edge sir” Rubridge chuckled

“This is no laughing matter Lieutenant!” Jutenburg fumed “They’re getting an earful from me after this battle, mark my words!”

Jutenburg sat back in his chair as the Lieutenant continued

“Sir, It looks like the Orkish Command Ship is rotating so that its Damaged section to facing away from the Facehuggerian firing solution. However, with our Fleet now spread out around the formation of Orkish vessels, we have several vessels within range, although under fire” Lieutenant Rubridge reported

Jutenburg stood up out of his chair and began pacing the Bridge, obviously in some sort of deep, tactical thought

“Excellent, order those ships to redirect fire at and around the damaged section. Have any local Bandits fly in and see if they can’t take out any critical systems. We’re going to see if we can’t rip open the cut that the Facehuggerians inflicted upon them. As well, request that the fleet continue to fire at random until they find ships that already have exposed damage, and have local ships fire on those. With any luck we’ll wear the whole fleet down at a steady rate so that when that Behemoth of a Command ship is taken out, the rest of the fleet will break apart at the seems, Command Chain and Morale wise.” Jutenburg responded “Tactical! Report”

Jensen was startled out of her trance like state pouring over the reports coming in from all over the fleet. Looking up, she regained her bearings and began listing off reports that were coming in.

“Well Sir, it looks like we’re in here for the long haul, we’ve got two more contacts entering the system, Both are Unidentified Contact that I’m checking against the Facehuggerian Sensor network, however, at least one of them is projecting another layer of FTLi. Even if our Foldrives were ten times more powerful, they wouldn’t be able to escape the layering they’ve got going here. As well, we’re got the formation of some sort of Minefield in the inner system. Its low-priority right now, but it could cause issues when we move in. Finally, it looks like we’re losing much fewer ships since that initial barrage. The dispersion of the ships makes it harder to use high-yield weaponry to great effect, and most of the Enemy Fleet is now focusing its attention on the oncoming ISV Trinity and Vindicator, which brings me to my next point, Trinity is right on top of us, I suggest we array our ships towards the rear of the fleet and away from the Asteroid field, lest a few of our ships be crushed. Especially with that Communiqué about Friendly fire” Sub-Lieutenant Jensen Reported

“Noted, Send a Order to the fleet that they are to array themselves as you suggest, away from the Asteroid field. Not only will it save our ships from being crushed, we won’t have to worry about that field anymore.” Jutenburg said with a tone of finality. Sitting back down in his chair, he continued to watch the battle unfold; it was getting more convoluted by the second. Not only was a Mass-Civilian evacuation taking place on the cusp of a Massive Battle, it would appear that the GFFA was intending on fighting back after all, with ESUS vessels finding themselves outnumbered, though not outgunned.

Although barely noticeable to the unwary eye, the Fleet composition began to shift ever so slightly towards the back of the fleet. Although still flying in and about the enemy ships at random, it could be noticed that the section of the fleet facing the Asteroid field was now deserted with the exception of a few ships, although in moments it would be filled with dozens of Facehuggerian fighter craft, and possibly the Large Facehuggerian Capital Ship.

As well, Several ships were now firing on the damaged section of the bridge like a pack of angry insects swarming the wound of a injured creature. No matter where they maneuvered the section it would still be in either Torontonian or Facehuggerian weapons range. It was hoped that they wouldn’t last long under combined firing on the Command ship, although the rest of the ships not in range continued to pepper the fleet with a myriad of weapons fire in a hope to destroy ships and demoralize crew.

"Oh you conceited fools.."

Hadriel watched in silence as the ESUS taskforce split in two around him, seeking to avoid the barrier of asteroids lay before them. No sooner had the maneuver begun than the ships who had chosen to move beneath the asteroids were bludgeoned in full by the Kendaryn defenders and their allies. Devide and conquer. Such a tactical blunder would only generate unnessary losses. Even a fleet of their size could not expect to run willy-nilly, burning and destroying all in their path without concerted resistance. Hadriel accessed his command network, belaying orders simultaneously to his fellow Archangels.

"We will not fall prey to this ill move, brothers. Re-dock fighters, compression fields to maximum compression, we're moving through that asteroid field at full burn, we shall deal the defenders a broadside."

Wordless obedience was demanded of inferiors, especially in battle, and he was not disappointed; Archangellic Colossi fell in behind him, as did the swarm of subordinate vessels, fighters redocked, and the mighty Traileric armada jumped into the fray from the last direction the defenders would expect.

OOC: Back at last! I've been out of town the last few days, visiting my sister. I was planning to get another post or two in before I left, including a warning that I'd be gone, but it didn't work out. Many apologies, and I'll do my best to be more reliable after this. IC post coming as soon as I finish reviewing what I've missed. CF, I don't have a central information database yet, but I'll copy and paste some stuff from mmy files and start a tech/Q&A/etc. thread. The asteroid field is located a ways out from the orbit of the three inhabited planets, covering most of the available approaches.

Edit: Here's the thread. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=495777) Hope this is helpfull. Now, to see what I missed...

__________________
Lower Front

The SCCAMs moved quickly, the leading bodies intercepting the torpedoes launched to destroy them. A few dozen thousand in the front ranks were destroyed by the resulting explosions, but the rest raced forwards, slashing at their prey, dodging the outgoing fire from the Dornalian ships. Speaking of which...

The Otagian swarm boiled, thousands of Interceptors rushing out from the Otagian vessels, cutting into the enemy torpedoes, antimatter blasts ripping their prey apart, stopping the torpedoes in their tracks. More Interceptors and squadrons of Paris drones rushed into place in front of warp blasts, catching their fire in their singularities before they were overloaded and detonated. Still, some of the demolisher fire broke through the morass of SCCAMs and drones, slamming against the void of the largest bubble shields, annihilating them in a single burst- only to shatter the long thin forms of the fleet's Pygmae trains, which detonated in massive bursts of light as their MAMA reactors overloaded and detonated, thousands of SCCAMs igniting in the vessels' death throes. The fleet was relatively unscathed, but the enemy would not, could not, fall for such a trick again. Thus, measures were taken...

Striking back, Naphtali let off another giant salvo of SCCAMs, crashing like waves against the Dornalian ships. The Echidnas wasted no time as well, they and their smaller Arachne cousins letting off bursts of MAC fire into the Dornalian fleet, massive shells arriving simultaneously with the broadside laser fire. The second wave of SCCAMs came in right behind them, taking advantage of any holes that the shells might have provided, diving into holes cut into hulls by laser blasts and MAC shells, bypassing ablative armor and cutting directly into enemy ships, trying to blow them apart from the inside.

OOC: Well, you DID say you were shooting the largest targets. And since my shields provide two-way sensor blindness, the Pygmaes are indeed the largest targets, at 20 kilometers long.

I just realised. I never posted fleet counts. I'll be damned. As usual, you can find my tech on ESUSWiki, but my numbers are as follows: Joseph, Israel, Naphtali, 12 Echidna Dreadnoughts, 30 Arachne Battleships, 90 Bucephalus cruisers, and a grand total of 120 kilometers worth of Pygmaes (now reduced to 80 kilometers, as Naphtali's front has been destroyed).

Damage was suffered all over the fleet; the Otagian fire penetrated the vessels, though the temporal shields and abblative armor, weakened and flimsy as they were in the face of the enemy, still absorbed a lot of fire. The Gauss Miniguns were fired at the shells and other solid ordinance in an attempt to stop them, but it rarely worked. The Mao Zedongs and the Zaitsevs took hits, three Zaitsevs and one Mao were downed by the explosions.

The question was now how to get the Otagians, and fast. They had good, no, powerful defenses, as bad as the Facehuggerians, just as vexing.

Hernandez looked at her Political Officer and talked to the other captains. The situation was going from bad to worse. They then acted, moved their ships with speed, closer to the Otagians, and threw a large wave of 24 singularity torpedoes collectively at their Echidnas and Arachnes just outside of Interceptor range. They then detonated them, letting their volatile contents work their magic, unleashing unstable singularities......then, they proceeded to throw six rapidly fired volleys of Demolisher Gun and Ion Cannon fire at the same targets.

-"Incoming fire! All vessels- repeat, all vessels down to hatchets, activate Cyclone."-

This was an unusual command, but a logical one. By accelerating incoming fire toward the edge of a ship, the field of energy known as the Cyclone Shield could drastically reduce the number of shots that actually reached the inner layers of shielding. However, it required a great deal of power to maintain, and left one fewer shield generator to deal with those attacks that did strike their target. In most battles it was more efficient for the smallest and the largest vessels to use an extra screen or deflection shield, instead. Their was too much sheer firepower being thrown around in this fight for anything short of a heavy battleship to even begin to resist, though, and none of the defenders were likely to last long enough to need to worry about running out of energy. The Cyclone, equally effective against a single blast rifle and half a fleet, was their best chance to survive long enough to so some damage in return.

Beneath the Cyclone (which some of the larger ships doubled up for greater effect) were simple energy screens and mirror-like deflector shields. Some vessles activated absorption shields, slowing projectiles and weakening direct energy weapons, and more exotic defenses were scattered throughout the fleet. All this could only do so much against the mighty torrent of destruction that was unleashed upon them. Shields shuddered under repeated impacts, and shield generators deactivated, smoke pouring from their frames, or exploded from energy surges too strong to be controlled. Some vessels were disabled, with computers destroyed by precision shots or turrets eliminated by raking fire. Others suffered severe damage to their power cores, and lit up the void further with the tremendous explosions that resulted. Only time would tell which crews were the least lucky.

Through it all, the Kendaryn fleet surged on towards the lower attack force, spraying death from every turret.

As the ESUS vessels drew near the asteroid field, combat drones activated in their thousands. Most significant were the Darts, which plunged and dodged thier way towards anything large enough to merit their attention. The tiny Darts ignored the Octagian Parises that swarmed out to intercept them except as a source of fire; such small fry wasn't worth emptying a power core on, though any that destroyed Darts at close range would get what they deserved. In this crowded battle, those darts that reached their targets simply rammed and detonated, not even attempting the somewhat slower mode of attack that would leave most of the device intact afterwards. Smaller enemies, including the Paris hordes, were targeted by countless shoe-box sized mini-darts, which made up for their lack of shields with even greater speed and rotational acceleration. Tiny though they were, these weapons carried enough energy to destroy most fighters with a single hit, or even a short-range detonation. Amidst these advanced missiles were smaller numbers of larger drones: anti-fighter platforms, spheres bristling with larger guns, and even hollowed out asteroids with aiming jets tacked on and a single battleship cannon built inside. Shield drones and other more subtle devices took a quiet hand in the fighting. All these lurking weapons and hidden tricks, however, could not stop the attackers from advancing.

The Otagian missile barrage caused a new problem; every turret assigned to point-defense duty was one less gun firing at the enemy ships themselves - or in some cases, several fewer guns. Kendaryn ships could put up quite a stream of counterfire, especially the Longsword battleships, but this couldn't stop everything. Drones shot down or intercepted others, but some still made it through the gauntlet to surge toward their prey: the largest vessels in the defense fleet...
Ships under the limited protection of the Kendaryn pulse shield, sending rapid waves of destructive energy ripping through anything that came within range, battering shields, smashing delicate control systems, and setting off deadly, explosive warheads. Pulse shielding lacked the reach to make missiles harmless, but it could still save a ship by detonating a weapon before it struck and diminishing the force of the impact.

All the sensor jamming and interference in the area was more than a minor nuisance, but enough of the stanger scanners were still functioning to give the defenders a reasonable picture of teh battlefield. The distictive armor of the Torontonian vessels did not go unnoticed, and their lack of energy shielding attracted the attention of Admiral Dreldon.

-"I'm designating a group of enemies Target Set A. These ships have no shields, so don't fire anti-shield weapons at them. All vessels carrying Yamiri guns and possessing a clear shot at a Target A are instructed to fire Avalanche Beams on my mark.... Fire!"-

Of all the vessels in the Kendaryn navy, only Pikes and Longswords are built with the expensive cannons produced on Yamir. Instead of filling the sky, this order led to some 200 shots lancing out toward the Torontonian ships as they traded fire with the Horde. However, this little volley might still deliver a painful blow indeed. The insidious Yamiri Avalanche Beam converts any matter it strikes completely into energy, which is taken up by the beam to enhance the power of the attack. To keep the weapon under control, the beam degrgades to ordinary thermo-kinetic energy after a short time, but it could easily burn right through an unshielded target. It had little effect on shields, but the substances that could resist it were few indeed...
((If you'd rather not deal with that, just say that your armor contains one of those rare materials, or that all of the shots miss. I won't insist on anyone accepting the more excessive of the Yamiri weapons.))

The surviving Kendaryn defenders were finally reaching missile range, and soon these lethal devices were joining the stream of fire. Broadswords and several of the smaller classes had front mounted missile launchers built into them, and the armored length of the Pike, Devastation, bore 500 small rocket turrets and 40 large ones. For several seconds as the enemy came into range, all these ships poured out tiny rockets, with only the simplest of guidance systems or none at all. This wave of fire, intended to occupy and damage point defenses, was promptly followed by a stream of larger weapons, ranging from swarms of small missiles to the occaisonal heavy torpedo almost as sophisticated as a Dart and considerably more powerful. Each of them, from the least to the greatest, contained a compressed energy core that would make antimatter look weak in comparison.

This addition to the fray came unacompanied by any pause in the frantic firing of Kendaryn energy cannons. The defenders worked in groups, each targetting a single enemy vessel and concentrating fire upon it. The Guardian battle stations kept up a constant stream of lon-range destruction with their powerful Type V turrets, and unleashed the rest of their formidable arsensal on anything near by.

~~Tenrek System~~
The strange attackers were departing, but the damage had been done. Massive holes were torn through the asteroid field, clearing vast expanses for the following forces, and less than a third of the c drones stationed there remained. The defenses had suffered a severe blow in a very short time. On the other hand, at least they had warning that an attack was coming. The evacuation began at once, though of course the Salmath system was no longer one of the destinations. The fleet made its final preparations for battle, and FTLi fields went up. This didn't seem stealthy or sudden enough to be the beginning of a surprisr attack, but Admiral Gembryl wasn't willing to risk that the clearing of the asteroid fields might be a decoy to cover an assault using some means of travel that could bypass those defenses entirely. Additionally, word was sent to the other two systems... defense fleets would be well advised to stay home, despite the fighting already going on.

OOC: CF, does that lockdown field the Vindicator is putting out cover my planets, and if so, would energy shielding have any chance of blocking it? I need to know if it's putting a halt to my evacuation to figure out how much of a reaction it will get.

I'll look through this again later and see if there's anything I need to add, but here's a start, at least. I'm not certain of the timing on the arrival of my allies, so assume that all friendly vessels receive a message of thanks when they show up.

OOC: CF, does that lockdown field the Vindicator is putting out cover my planets, and if so, would energy shielding have any chance of blocking it? I need to know if it's putting a halt to my evacuation to figure out how much of a reaction it will get.

OOC: Nope, energy shielding shouldn't block it. On the other hand, it typically doesn't close portals/distortions that are already open. It's more a preventative measure, so it shouldn't be putting too much of a halt to your evac.

I'll have my post up soon. Thanks for giving me something else to work into it... it was looking rather small. :p

I'll look through this again later and see if there's anything I need to add, but here's a start, at least.

'Tis a very nice start. Thus far, you're probably one of if not the best RPer in the thread at the moment. Well, in my mind you're tied with Tor for that honor, but meh. :)

The Bridge of the Plutocrat

The TSDC Plutocrat shook under another wave of sustained fire. The Orks simply weren’t giving in, although the Command Ship had taken minimal damage throughout the battle, it would appear that the Torontonians were being treated as the threat they were, rather than an annoying gnat on the side of a beast. Although it did fill some crewmen with honour and pride, it also signified that the fleet, which was already being battered, was going to be the subject of even more concentrated weapons fire.

However, what surprised the Grand Admiral more wasn’t the fact that they were being fired upon, but the fact that there seemed to be Minimal ESUS activity to relieve the pressure. Only one Facehuggerian ship was operating an peak capacity, and that was because it was doing all the jamming. The Novians were doing an excellent job defending themselves from incoming fire, but they simply weren’t projecting that power to any use. The myriad of other ESUS forces that had shown up were still slowly mobilizing or had moved on to other fronts of the war. In the Admirals opinion, they could be doing more. However, in the Admirals opinion he also thought that the Torontonians should be covered, which they clearly weren’t.

He had no one to complain to but himself, he wanted to be a hero and he led the charge right into the front lines of defenders. The Facehuggerians had projected not only fire, but repair drones as well, which were currently doing an excellent job holding the fleet together. However, the fact that the Torontonian fleet was in the way most likely prevented them from using much heavier ordinance. As well, they had sent a squad of fighters to help them out, and no another nation, the Traileri were plowing straight through the Asteroid field towards them, seemingly without regard for their own safety. Jutenburg wasn’t complaining, but he did think it crazy.

He Reprimanded himself for his moment of weakness, he knew better. He knew that his allies were doing their damnedest to help brutalize the GFFA forces and push them out of the system. He knew that the Facehuggerians were personally propping up the fleet with covering fire that distracted the Orks due to the communications they had with Trinity. If he was going to sit there in the heat of battle and afford himself the time to wallow in “What-should be’s” and such, he didn’t deserve to be leading the Torontonian Armada

“…Sir? What do you suggest we do?” Lieutenant Rubridge said, with a underlying urgency, as well as snapping the Admiral out of his internal reflection

All of a sudden it slammed back to him. They were in the thick of the fray. Ships were being destroyed. Crew, ally and enemy alike were being slaughtered in the display of firepower they had in this small area. The bridge was darkened and all the displays were lit up, and the Holographic projector was showing up-to-date movements of the fleets. Truly, this was no time for daydreaming

“I’m sorry Rubridge, you’ll have to run that by me again” Jutenburg responded

“I said Sir, that the Asteriod defense protocols, or what we can only interpret them as, have activated. They’re swarming the area around them, but they’re ignoring the Otagian drone swarm. They’re scattering in all directions, which include us, and finally, initial scans indicate that they seem to be nothing more than glorified Anti-Matter missiles, and sir, you know how violently Anti-matter reacts with our matter-based hulls…” Rubridge retorted, slightly angered and worried at the fact that the Admiral had Zoned out completely in the middle of the pitched battle

“Train point defense on those fighters then, send orders to outlying ships that are still moving towards the rear of this area to retrain all fire on those fighters instead of the Orks, they’re still rather occupied by the Facehuggerians. Finally, we’ll fight fighter with fighter. We’ll hit them with something we’ve never done before; hopefully it will knock them off balance. Order all Samnites to deploy fighter Squadrons, order the flight leaders to search and destroy all enemy Anti-matter fighters, and remind them not to stray too close to the main battle, and errant blast could easily take them out!” Jutenburg ordered.

In the darkened corners of every residential quarters that day, there remained one room with the light still pouring out into the corridors. One room that no matter how entangled the ship was, was still a hub of activity and relaxation. This room was the Pilots quarters. All housed in a single, large dorm, they had gotten used to never being called up. Disgraced, they were the lowest of the low in the TSDC chain, lacking no use outside simple maintenance and janitorial work. Being denied time and again their chance to prove themselves, they all assumed that today would be like any other day. That was until the alarms went off, throughout every Samnite, there was no a blue light flashing throughout the ship, and their respective Captains voices all ordering them to the Flight deck, and to get ready to launch. Today would be the day, today would be the time to stake their claims in the TSDC chain, and prove to the rest that they were not simply wasted resources.

In the Bellies of Samnites fleet-wide

Jumping to their feet, two pilots, Eli Joulo and Tobias Peiron abandoned their card game and rushed out into the hallway along with the swarm of other pilots pressing their way to the flight deck nearby.

“Do you think we’ll actually be going out this time Eli? Do you think this is more than a drill?” Tobias asked

“Fool! Do you think they’d be drilling us in the middle of live combat? Of course we’re heading out there. They have better things to do with their time than to spook the pilots, we’re at war here! For once they’re realizing they can use the faculties of a fighter! We’re making our mark today Friend!” Eli retorted, brushing past another hopeful pilot in the race to get to the Flight deck first, however, in his urgency and his conversation, he neglected to notice the doorframe to the Flight deck barreling down on him.

Walking into the outer frame of the door, a loud metallic “Clang” echoed throughout the hall, followed by a resounding crash as Eli fell to the floor. Has this been any other day, all the pilots would have stopped to ridicule him. However, this was not any other day and most of the pilots ignored him and kept on their way. Tobias however, stooped down to help him to his feet

“You need to pay better attention than that out there Eli, crashing into something in space has much more serious repercussions that falling ass-down onto the floor, Remember, I’m relying on you to keep me alive out there. Now let’s go! We don’t want to be the last ones there!”

The Pilots poured into the Launch Bay, jumping into their warming fighters in the Traditional two person arrangement. One would fly while the other operated the guns. It was considered inefficient by some, but others thought they would be better off splitting the responsibility. Also because the Gunners had special equipment that would allow them to become “One” with the weapons systems, effectively giving them nerve-response times with the weapons.

All throughout the fleet, even if engaged in heated battle, the Samnite Captains wasted no time getting launch bays open. Pilots, who had trained and practiced during peace time all their lives, tired of being the joke of the TSDC ran to their fighters to prove their worthiness. During an entangled battle like this, there was no telling how many were going to make it back all they knew was that if they had to eat it, they’d rather go out in a blaze of glory in space, rather than sitting in their quarters, watching feeds of the battle going on overhead and all around, counting the minutes they had left in their lives. If there was any sensor reading following this small section of the battle, they would notice that the twenty-seven largest Torontonian points would blur into swarms of small, new contacts as if they had some how transformed into beehives, however, this would only be momentary as the small, agile ships sped off to combat the drones threatening the ships. In total, eight hundred and seventy fighters were launched into the fray, which was pretty impressive, seeing as Torontonias had never used fighter craft in armed conflict in the history of the TSDC.

The fleet would now have a fighter screen, and although they would never be able to match the prowess, they would still be able to put up some competition to their Facehuggerian allies and their gunboat equipped ships, who were now entering the area. The fighters soon started tagging their targets.

Out in Space

“Do you see that over there Eli?” Tobias quipped over the intercom “There’s the enemy we’re going to be kicking the life out of!”

“That’s right Toby, we’re going to come in so fast they’re Anti-matter filled hides won’t know what hit ‘em. And lets see if we can’t give those Facehuggerian fly-boys a run for their money!” Eli responded

“Alright you two, Cut the chatter” The voice of their Squadron leader Helga Junxga sliced through, if grace had a name, it was Helga. She added a bit of calm to any battlefield, which was why she was one of the few pilots who got to do something other than sit around all day. “He’s the plan, we’re supposed to fly out into the fray of this area, almost into the Asteroids but not quite. We’re then going to take out any of those Kendari Fighters heading our way, make sure none get through if you can help it. Our ships are relying on us. The Facehuggerians are most likely going to provide some assistance, but try not to get in their way. They have much more experience than us and bigger guns, we don’t need to give them another reason to be angry!”

A chorus of “Yes Ma’am’s” and “Orders received” resounded through the Comm lines, which were being patched through on a sub-let of the ESUS Battlenet so that they wouldn’t be hampered by all the Electronic Countermeasures being spammed in the system. The Fighters, with their orders clear, broke off from the fleet’s protection and began sweeping the area for the enemy, taking them out when they had the chance.

However, even with all of those measures, Kendari drones were still slipping through, slamming into Torontonian ships and blasting large holes in their armour. Chunks of Detachable armour sailed away around the fringes of the blast, where as the area effected was annihilated outright, revealing more armour like the pink skin was exposed when sunburnt skin peeled away. Other ships we not so luck through, a Legionnaire, one of the many crippled from the Orkish volley had been drained of all of its Armour. The sleek black base hull shimmered against the black of space. It would be perfectly blended in if it wasn’t for the patches of detachable armour still remaining, and the reflection of all the firepower launched up around it. When a drone took it in its sights and rammed into it, the hull cracked like an eggshell.

The large gaping hole venting atmosphere, fluids and crew into space wasn’t the only problem; at least holes could be sealed. The force of the impact caused spiderwebs around the impact area, these webs started coursing throughout the side of the ship and when they met with each other, merged to form deeper fissures in the hull, which continued to run along it. However, the ship remained intact, depite the initial blow. When the second drone hit however, the ship ruptured into three sections, violently sailing away from each other as well as breaking into even smaller pieces when they were hit with errant fire.
Back on the Bridge

“The Fighters seem to be working reasonably well in containing the drone threat. They’re not wandering too far into the Asteroid field so they’re avoiding the problems there. I must congratulate you Admiral, despite the fact that the pilots have had yet to see real combat, they’re performing quite well” Rubridge commented, while he ran over the latest report

“Indeed Lieutenant, there is a reason that they gave me this station, and its not because of my dashing good looks” Jutenburg chuckled as he moved over to the Tactical station, glancing over the current situation “Jensen? What is all that over there? They seem to be moving in a planned formation, and it looks like we’re getting readings of weapons buildups throughout that fleet.”

“They’re the Kendari defenders Sir, and you are correct. They appear to be moving into a firing position. The Computer is extrapolating their likely target now” The Sub-Lieutenant replied, before he face paled

“Sir! They’re firing, and the computer has calculated their target, to a 0.001% Error, the target is… Us! They’re lobbing another volley at the fleet. However, since we’re scattered this time, we shouldn’t have to repeat the horrendous wave of losses we took the last time we got fired upon, volley style.” Jensen stated, however, doubling back to he screen she added “They appear to be some sort of energy weapon, and by the looks of it, two are heading straight for us!”

“Brace for impact. Evasive Maneuvers throughout the ship! I can’t suggest anything otherwise until we know what the hell this weapon does! Unfortunately, the best way to gather such information…”

Before Jutenburg could finish, the Avalanche Beam sliced through the fleet. Just like any other weapon that specialized in converting matter to energy, or eliminating matter entirely, this weapon had disastrous results. Although some beams were intercepted by large chunks of ship still strewn about, and the hundreds more smaller hull fragments now milling about the battle, it only bought time for some. When the beams were intercepted, and it became apparent that they simply neutralized the matter of the debris, Captains acted. Knowing it would cut through the ships like a warm knife on butter; they tilted, dove, gunned or simply maneuvered out of the way. However, many ships didn’t get the early warning.

A Bandit was unfortunate enough to be hit dead on by the Avalanche Beam. Struck square the in the bridge, the entire Command structure of that ship evaporated as they were converted into energy. The beam continued so slice through the ship as it went, while the interior of it was spurned to secondary damage from the pure thermal energy that the beam converted into. Baked from the inside out like popcorn, the ship rapidly destabilized and exploded as the beam punched through the other end.

Another ship, a Centurion, was caught attempting to move out of the way. Like some horrible novelty action from a child’s game, the ship dragged itself out of the way while the Beam tore through its outer hulls like nothing. The resulting action left a long, damaging scar along the aft side of the ship. Although it was quickly sealed off, many crew were injured from the massive spike in temperature in the immediate area not torn open into space. There were even reports of crew melding to the deck plating, a painful experience usually followed by death from shock.

Throughout the fleet the outcome was similar. To ships that had already taken damage, they were usually destroyed outright as the beams punched holes through the ship and caused severe internal damage. Others, who had been faring better throughout the battle, ended up as the Centurion, with long scars of damage along the ship. There was one case of a ship being spliced in two by the beam, as it punched through the middle and caused the bottom to separate, only to pull the top down through the beam and be torn apart as well.

Finally, the Command ship was hit, although not directly. The first beam grazed the nose of the ship, clipping off the forward sections of a few decks. The other beam however, hit a much more vital area. Smashing through the rear of the ship, it cut off the fuel line to the engines. Now, fuel spilled into space while the lines were sealed off. But more importantly, the Command ship was left to drift listlessly in space, for the time being.

Jutenburg was knocked off his feet when the beam hit. The lights dimmed temporarily as the ship compensated for losing a section of its mass, as well as its loss of controlled momentum. Alarm klaxons started sounding as the ship verified it could no longer supply fuel to the STL Engines. The Admiral was furious.

“What the hell is going on here?!?” He bellowed as he pulled himself up off the floor. The others, who were not in the middle of issuing orders, were knocked off balance, but not out of their seats.

“Sir! We’ve taken a direct hit to the fuel lines!” The Lieutenant reported “Teams are on the way to repair it, but for the time being we’ve been reduced to Emergency lines, which have a 20% output, which gives us limited mobility. I don’t know how you should do it, but you might want to let on that we didn’t take as much damage as we did, lest we take another several hundred of those beams ourselves.”

“Noted Lieutenant, Keep us moving forward, hopefully our momentum will keep us from tilting to badly. Lets hope our allies step in at some point, we can’t take too much pummeling at this level…” Jutenburg mused regretfully. He had been wounded it battle, but not defeated. He began to plan his next phase of attack while he watched the battle rage on.

OOC: Don't kill me for this post, I have a tendancy to write on and on when I type, I don't know why...

Singularity weapons incoming. Shit. Right, two options here. I block with drones, or I take some really fracking big hits here. Suggestions, anyone?

Take the hits with drones, son. The small amount they fired implies that the weapons are rare, and should not adversely affect our SCCAM or Paris stockpiles.

Thanks, pops. Will drop them a little suprise then...

______________
Lower Front

The singularity missiles plunged towards the Otagian vessels, only to meet a glowing green wall of several hundred SCCAMs, on a collision course with the larger torpedoes. The SCCAMs refused to detonate however, instead rending holes into the torpedoes, forcing them to detonate before hitting the fleet, singularities bursting into life-

Only to meet the emerald abyss of a SCCAM's KK drive. Space itself shuddered as the singularity and KK drive inverted, the massive explosions ripping a swath in the missile swarms, tens of thousands of missiles consumed by the blasts, while a few of the closer capital ships changing colors to a dark red, their egg-like forms expanding to radiate more of the absorbed energy outwards.

Demolisher fire and ion cannon blasts crashed against the shields of what were most likely Echidnas and Arachnes, impact points glowing yellow, their shields bleeding through in a few points, the leakage raising their hull temperatures by a a few degrees before the shields sealed again as the ships continued to rotate, bringing undamaged sections of shielding into the fray. As they rotated out of the field of fire, they dimmed back down, the entire vessel settling to a bright shade of red.

Returning fire, another gargantuan wave of SCCAMs rushed forth from Naphtali, seeking out larger vessels, concentrating their detonations into the bulk of enemy battleships, singularities providing cover from point defense as the warheads sought out weapon systems, shield generators and torpedo tubes, aiming to shatter barrels, annihilate sensors, and otherwise cripple the Dornalian vessels. The MACs and laser batteries followed suit, aiming to rend the ships down to a naked hull, easy prey for later consumption.

OOC: Ah, damn. Someone finally finds out the nasty side effect of my KK drives. Had hoped to keep that one a secret for all eternity... Ah well. What's done is done. Anyway, will put up another post tommorrow to address the other front.

Singularity weapons incoming. Shit. Right, two options here. I block with drones, or I take some really fracking big hits here. Suggestions, anyone?

Take the hits with drones, son. The small amount they fired implies that the weapons are rare, and should not adversely affect our SCCAM or Paris stockpiles.

Thanks, pops. Will drop them a little suprise then...

______________
Lower Front

The singularity missiles plunged towards the Otagian vessels, only to meet a glowing green wall of several hundred SCCAMs, on a collision course with the larger torpedoes. The SCCAMs refused to detonate however, instead rending holes into the torpedoes, forcing them to detonate before hitting the fleet, singularities bursting into life-

Only to meet the emerald abyss of a SCCAM's KK drive. Space itself shuddered as the singularity and KK drive inverted, the massive explosions ripping a swath in the missile swarms, tens of thousands of missiles consumed by the blasts, while a few of the closer capital ships changing colors to a dark red, their egg-like forms expanding to radiate more of the absorbed energy outwards.

Demolisher fire and ion cannon blasts crashed against the shields of what were most likely Echidnas and Arachnes, impact points glowing yellow, their shields bleeding through in a few points, the leakage raising their hull temperatures by a a few degrees before the shields sealed again as the ships continued to rotate, bringing undamaged sections of shielding into the fray. As they rotated out of the field of fire, they dimmed back down, the entire vessel settling to a bright shade of red.

Returning fire, another gargantuan wave of SCCAMs rushed forth from Naphtali, seeking out larger vessels, concentrating their detonations into the bulk of enemy battleships, singularities providing cover from point defense as the warheads sought out weapon systems, shield generators and torpedo tubes, aiming to shatter barrels, annihilate sensors, and otherwise cripple the Dornalian vessels. The MACs and laser batteries followed suit, aiming to rend the ships down to a naked hull, easy prey for later consumption.

OOC: Ah, damn. Someone finally finds out the nasty side effect of my KK drives. Had hoped to keep that one a secret for all eternity... Ah well. What's done is done. Anyway, will put up another post tommorrow to address the other front.

Hernandez knew the battle was not going well. But, she had to do something, three different enemies to fight at once was becoming tough. Especially with the new wave of attacks. The fleets went into emergency movements, dumping furious amounts of Demolisher gun and conventional torpedo fire into the middle of the waves of enemy fire to try and lessen the damage from the SCCAMs. Also, the old tractor beam trick was tried, though it was much less successful.

However, there were hits scored. Some Mao Zedongs reported sensor failure, and one or two reported loss of use of Demolisher Guns. Numerous ships reported some kind of damage to weapons, reducing their effectiveness. And the shields had been weakened some. But they were still standing.

An officer, meanwhile, noticed that the Singularity torpedoes had done some damage to the Otagians, if only a little. They seemed to be the best way out for now.

He informed Hernandez, who said simply, "Very well. We dump lots of singularity torpedoes onto them!"

Thus, two waves, consisting of Demolisher Gun and 250 conventional torpedoes each, were fired first, to cover a wave of 150 Singularity torpedoes which was launched from all vessels after, followed by 75 Antimatter torpedoes. The Demolisher Guns were a tad weaker than before, but still, this would hopefully work.

As the tiny ships continued to harry his ship's defenses, the warlord was hit with a stroke of genious. It was brilliant - a plan only a troll could come up with. With a wave of his hand, he ordered a half-squadron of corvettes into position relatively above the Org'rimma, flanked by four squadrons of fighters, and rushed to engage the oncoming Facehugger fighters. Meanwhile, the Horde warships pushed outward from the asteroid belt, hoping to pull the Torontian warships out into the open, where their warships could massacre the weaker ships.

However, this was all just a ploy. He had to direct attention away from his newest plan.

"Auxilliary power to da maneuvering thrusters! Rotate ship nineteh degrees! Prepare tah reroute da shields to dah fighter bays!"

As the titanic command ship's heavy guns continued to bombard the Trinity and the unfortunate Torontians that wandered too close to its aft guns, she began slowly making her way from the belt.


((The Org'rimma looks something like this.
http://img237.exs.cx/img237/9391/anubis118bk.jpg

Stats are on my laptop at home, so it'll be a while before I can get to them.))

As the next wave launched, a massive energy pulse emanated from Naphtali, swamping the entire Otagian fleet before washing over the incoming torpedoes. The Otagian shields glowed a slightly brighter shade briefly, then settled back down. The Dornalian torpedoes and craft were seemingly unharmed, as the blast reflected back towards the Otagian vessels...


Meanwhile, the drones and SCCAMs had learned their lesson. A huge wave of SCCAMs followed immediately behind the lightspeed wave, millions of the deadly KK-driven warheads rushing to intercept. Hundreds of them slammed against the conventional rounds leading the way, blinding strobes flashing across the void. A few hundred more were dragged forward by their drives, seeking out the warheads on the singularity bombs before plunging home with deadly accuracy, KK-singularity inversions blossoming across the void, the massive energy bursts too far away and seperated from the Otagian capitals by a wall of emerald distortions, swallowing the bursts with minimal casualties before rushing forward through the rapidly fading bursts. The trailing Dornalian antimatter bombs, however, would not fare so well...

The Otagian vessels, especially Naphtali, did not wait for the last volley to strike home, instead firing off a second salvo of SCCAMs in close succession, drums spinning as fast as they could to reload, while the Echidnas and Arachnes, along with broadside fire from the Destroyers, slashed at the enemy fleet, sending massive chunks of super-dense alloy crashing against the weakened Dornalian vessels. Right behind them came the first and second waves of SCCAMs, most simply crashing against hulls, their warheads detonating just after their singularities overloaded from overeating. A couple hundred thousand or so tried a different approach, diving down the throats of torpedo tubes, blowing their ways into magazines and attempting to devour enemy singularity torpedoes, hoping to set off more inversions, this time inside the enemy fleet instead of the Otagian one. Failing that, they would at least foul the tubes, wrending them beyond recognition with their gravitic fields.

As the next wave launched, a massive energy pulse emanated from Naphtali, swamping the entire Otagian fleet before washing over the incoming torpedoes. The Otagian shields glowed a slightly brighter shade briefly, then settled back down. The Dornalian torpedoes and craft were seemingly unharmed, as the blast reflected back towards the Otagian vessels...


Meanwhile, the drones and SCCAMs had learned their lesson. A huge wave of SCCAMs followed immediately behind the lightspeed wave, millions of the deadly KK-driven warheads rushing to intercept. Hundreds of them slammed against the conventional rounds leading the way, blinding strobes flashing across the void. A few hundred more were dragged forward by their drives, seeking out the warheads on the singularity bombs before plunging home with deadly accuracy, KK-singularity inversions blossoming across the void, the massive energy bursts too far away and seperated from the Otagian capitals by a wall of emerald distortions, swallowing the bursts with minimal casualties before rushing forward through the rapidly fading bursts. The trailing Dornalian antimatter bombs, however, would not fare so well...

The Otagian vessels, especially Naphtali, did not wait for the last volley to strike home, instead firing off a second salvo of SCCAMs in close succession, drums spinning as fast as they could to reload, while the Echidnas and Arachnes, along with broadside fire from the Destroyers, slashed at the enemy fleet, sending massive chunks of super-dense alloy crashing against the weakened Dornalian vessels. Right behind them came the first and second waves of SCCAMs, most simply crashing against hulls, their warheads detonating just after their singularities overloaded from overeating. A couple hundred thousand or so tried a different approach, diving down the throats of torpedo tubes, blowing their ways into magazines and attempting to devour enemy singularity torpedoes, hoping to set off more inversions, this time inside the enemy fleet instead of the Otagian one. Failing that, they would at least foul the tubes, wrending them beyond recognition with their gravitic fields.

The Gauss Miniguns of the New Dornalians fired as fast as possible to try and soften the blows, but as of now, the abblative armor had to work with the shields to take the hits, which were great, though not as bad as they could've been. Minor cracks began to form on the abblative armor, and though nanites tried to fill them up and fix them, there were many to fix. Nevermind the fact the sickbays were getting worried, what with the new stream of casualties.

The real trouble was the torpedoes that, despite attempts to intercept them, had done damage to the torpedo tubes of the ships, forcing the nanites to work overtime to try and bring them back online, lest the New Dornalians wanted to fire torpedoes and hurt themselves.

Hernandez then hit upon an idea. She ordered all vessels to split up, and move elements over and under the Otagians, and deliver close up Demolisher Gun shots from point-blank range. Since distance shots were not going to do anything, perhaps reducing the distance would help.

Thus, the plan was executed, the fleet split up into two equally sized elements that moved over and under the Otagians at high sublight, firing six volleys of Demolishers and Ion Cannon shots at close range, while the Gauss Miniguns were kept on constant firing, to prevent enemy torpedoes from getting too close.

The gravitic impellors of the Otagian vessels activated in full force, pulling the Otagians back as fast as the Dornalians moved forward, leaving behind another volley of SCCAMs, which swarmed upwards, aiming to gut the largest ships with a solid wall of emerald voids and alabaster bursts of fire, with a screen of a few hundred thousand forming a wall against the lower half's gauss miniguns, absorbing the incoming fire as they moved implacably downwards towards their victims.

The Arachnes were now in their prime, able to use their spinal railguns to maximum effectiveness, cutting loose with volley after volley of their gargantuan anticapital shells, while the smaller craft concentrated on bringing down the shields of their enemies, firing off their Malkavian Doctors as soon as their sensors detected a hole to exploit. The Malkavian Doctors, while useless against shields, were much like the Kendaryn Yamiri guns, beginning deadly chain reactions in their victims, rapidly expanding fields that transmuted matter to energy, which fueled the growth of the field.

Meanwhile, incoming fire from the Dornalian forces took its toll. While numerous shots were intercepted by Paris drones and Interceptor SCCAMs, more warpfire continued to slam into the shields, overloads slowly becoming more common, their hulls heating a few more precious degrees.

The gravitic impellors of the Otagian vessels activated in full force, pulling the Otagians back as fast as the Dornalians moved forward, leaving behind another volley of SCCAMs, which swarmed upwards, aiming to gut the largest ships with a solid wall of emerald voids and alabaster bursts of fire, with a screen of a few hundred thousand forming a wall against the lower half's gauss miniguns, absorbing the incoming fire as they moved implacably downwards towards their victims.

The Arachnes were now in their prime, able to use their spinal railguns to maximum effectiveness, cutting loose with volley after volley of their gargantuan anticapital shells, while the smaller craft concentrated on bringing down the shields of their enemies, firing off their Malkavian Doctors as soon as their sensors detected a hole to exploit. The Malkavian Doctors, while useless against shields, were much like the Kendaryn Yamiri guns, beginning deadly chain reactions in their victims, rapidly expanding fields that transmuted matter to energy, which fueled the growth of the field.

Meanwhile, incoming fire from the Dornalian forces took its toll. While numerous shots were intercepted by Paris drones and Interceptor SCCAMs, more warpfire continued to slam into the shields, overloads slowly becoming more common, their hulls heating a few more precious degrees.

Meanwhile, Gauss Miniguns and tractor beams on the upper half deflected many of the enemy shots, but below, it took a temporary divergence of Demolisher fire and Tractor Beam tricks to try and do something to the swarm. The Demolisher fire didn't do much, but the tractor beam worked a little better. The fire that did get in rocked the shields further, and the armor held still. But two Lin Biaos were knocked out of the running, forced to withdraw due to damage to shields. Meanwhile, the ships that had reported engine damage were being tugged about into position....and ships began pouring as much power as they could in keeping their flagging shields up, though at this point, it was furious and tiring battle.....

The New Dornalians turned their guns upon the Arachnes in total, dumping massive Demolisher Gun and Ion Cannon loads upon these vessels in the form of many volleys...meanwhile, the Super Warp Cannons were charged up for another round of asskicking....and, in a novel move, the New Dornalians opted for a new tactic. One of the weapons technicians below suggested that they could try using the onboard teleporters as a workaround for the damaged tubes. The suggestion was tried out, as teleporters were used to dump conventional torpedoes and a massive volley of antimatter torps onto the enemy, even to the point where they were teleporting them out of the launchers before they hit the tubes....they were phasing them close--sometimes even right next to--the Arachnes, well within their lines, where SCCAM intervention was risky at best--or so the New Dornalians hoped.

In the meantime, outside of the system, the other New Dornalian contribution to the GFFA Plan went into action. About sixteen dedicated Defense Platforms, spares for the MacIntyre Line, were Bosun Jumped into the area outside of the fighting, some distance away, escorted by twelve Mao Zedongs.

SIC:

They Forcemessaged the Abh, asking them to lower the FTLi field in the Salmath system, so they could move in and deploy their deadly cargo....

OOC:
Torontonias- don't worry, I'm a fast reader. I like long posts. Besides, how could I complain about a post describing how brutally effective one of my special weapons is against unshielded targets? Any attempt to kill you will be purely for IC reasons.

Otagia- if you see this soon, get on MSN. You wanted to discuss landing troops, right?

Everyone- I'm currently waiting for CF's post. Hopefully my internet access will continue to work.

OOC: CF is having problems with his account, IIRC. As for talking on MSN, sadly, I'm going to sleep at the moment. Just so I know, what time zone are you in? I might be able to catch you later.

OOC: Otagia, I edited my post to include a very creative assault.

The Torontonian Fighters were too small to be worthwhile targets for a Dart, and the heavy combat drones began focusing on evasive action in an attempt to get through the swarm and reach larger prey. Even combined with their shielding, though, this couldn't save all of them from the skilled Torontonian gunners. One Dart, its shield already down from a brush with a heavy beam weapon, dove through an eye-blurring hairpin turn that barely escaped the fire of one vessel, only to run right into a shot coming from Eli's Fighter. The power core shattered, most of the energy it held washing back along the path of the incoming shot. The Fighter was too swift and far away from its target, however, and the jet of deadly flames surged through empty space just behind it. Throughout the area, many more Darts were destroyed - some close enough that this back-lash struck the attacker, but all too many completely wasted. Light combat drones of a dozen varieties also began their deadly work, doing what they could to interfere with this concerted attack on the Darts.

Dreldon grinned at the sight of Avalanche Beams slicing into the Torontonian fleet on his viewscreen, even as his Lance shuddered from the nearby detonation of a missile. He sent further instructions to the Devastation, which relayed them in turn to the rest of the fleet.

-"Continue Avalanche Beams. Stagger shots for continuous fire, and leave at least one ship alive. All vessels without Yamiri guns, take up a defensive position as directed... Places sent. Move!"-

On this last word, the fleet began shifting into a formation that left the Pike and Longswords with a clear view of the Torontonian fleet, while sheltering them from other forces. It wasn't the most efficient arrangement for the total firepower of the fleet, but it would keep the ships in the middle operating as long as possible, to maximize the deadly impact of thier special weapons.

~~Meanwhile, on the surface of a barren planetoid in unclaimed space~~

In a control room illuminated to human vision only by the faint red glow of two triangular eyes, a small button flashed in the far ultraviolet. The owner of the glowing eyes tapped the button, and watched as a report from one of his specialized spy-drones flashed onto a screen... the drone stationed outside the Salmath system.

Xhertahk's battlesteel face was incapable of changing expression, but the only KX-1 ever built would have grinned if it could. Moments later, several strange ships left the surface of the giant chunk of rock and vanished through a portal.

The Harvester was coming.

((OOC: Bad news for the defenders, at least in the short term. I felt like bringing in one of my villians, just for the fun of it.
ND, can your teleporter function with FTLi of several varieties all over the place?))

((OOC: Bad news for the defenders, at least in the short term. I felt like bringing in one of my villians, just for the fun of it.
ND, can your teleporter function with FTLi of several varieties all over the place?))

OOC: Hmmm....well, as far as I know, my teleporters are similar in principle to those of Star Trek, breaking down matter and transmitting it over a transmission beam....as far as I know, they dont seem to be hurt by FTLi much, but if gameplay issues are evident, that bit can be excised.

SIC:

They Forcemessaged the Abh, asking them to lower the FTLi field in the Salmath system, so they could move in and deploy their deadly cargo....

Admiral Spoor had long retired to her bedchambers for a brief bit of sleep which left her Chief of Staff Cufadiss to handle any operational matters that arose. He looked over at her linen lined command chair and sighed as he rested his head back into his chair. The communication officer disturbed him just as he was closing his eyes.

"We have a transmission coming through from Dornalian vessels requesting that a section of the FTLi be dropped to allow them in."

The thought of a transmission was a bit puzzling. "How did they manage to send a message through all these inhibitors?"

"It was a force sensitive message sir. Shall I patch the readout to your console?"

"No need. Lower sector 1-1-3 by 9-4-2 at three hundred wesdoj. That will bring them in close behind the Vong inhibitors."

"Right away chief."

Ships awaiting in space would have been able to sense a slight break in the inhibitor field allowing temporary arrival into the Salmath system though it would only last briefly.

"No need. Lower sector 1-1-3 by 9-4-2 at three hundred wesdoj. That will bring them in close behind the Vong inhibitors."



The platforms moved in as fast as possible as the gap closed in from behind them. The commanders onboard the platforms, along with the Maos, moved them into position with tractorbeams and full throttle, fanning out and assuming positions in a quick and organized manner.

Joined into a massive, staggered firing line that resembled a zigzag behind the Vong positions, their ballet soon stopped. The escorts took positions above and below, and awated the command to fire.

The shields of a Trinity class dreadnought were legendary in their strength, in their raw ability to resist damage. Whole enemy fleets could, and had, unleashed their greatest weapons, only to see them splash impotently over those potent barriers. Trinity herself was supremely confident –it would take more then these slow, weak meatlings to wound her. She knew it from her computer core, all the way to her outer armor belt.

Her confidence was ill-founded, as she found to her dismay when the ‘part’ of her responsible for managing the shields began reporting that all the layers were close to collapse…

-But how? Thus far, none of the enemy weapons had been worth even pausing for note. The Dornalian munitions were easily intercepted, while her allies were keeping the Rodinians busy… The Kendaryn. They must have been the ones responsible. –Checking her logs only confirmed it. Their defenses, their real defenses were awake, and finally engaging.

Anti-matter torpedoes, neg… kamikaze fighters were pelting her shields, slamming into them with grievous force. Various energy beams washed over her too, helping to chip away at her shields as though they were a block of marble underneath the Kendaryn sculptor’s chisel…

For the first time in nearly ten millennia, Trinity felt something akin to fear.

Vindi: Having trouble?
Trin: …At least they’re a challenge. It’s exhilarating fighting against an enemy who is actually a threat… don’t get me wrong, destroying Orks and Chronomancers and Freeman knows what else is fun, but it’s about as stimulating as stomping on bugs. It’s utterly beneath me. I…

Trinity halted in mid-sentence as a series of great explosions ripped through her hull, ‘feeling’ them and the damage to the systems they caused as the closest thing to ‘pain’ she had ever known. It took her a full microsecond (so long!?) to assess the damage, and the news wasn’t good. Some new Kendaryn weapon had torn great gouges in her armor, timed by chance or by will to hit in the moments after her shields fell, but before they refocused, ready for another barrage.

Millions of tons of armor were converted to energy in the briefest of seconds as the deadly weapons found their mark, the liberated energy bathing much of her upper hull in a horrible, angry white light. For the briefest of moments, it looked as though the Salmanth system had birthed a new sun, such was the explosion’s intensity.

Whole decks were simply gone, the crewmen within them gone to join Freeman in the holy Lambda. The weapons on those decks fell silent, even as her armor struggled to plug the breaches. –She was fortunate in that, as per combat protocol, all her decks were already a vacuum. –There was no oxygen to feed a fire. Not that that was much consolation to the stricken ship.

Frak! Frak! FRAK! she thought to herself in that instant of searing pain, wondering whether this was what it felt like to ‘die.’ She wondered if she had failed, if she had been tried by some higher deity of craft or fate, and been found wanting.

Never! She was a warship, born of slaughter and nursed on bloodshed! She was a child of Facehuggeria… violent, perhaps even barbaric, but as tough and tenacious as an elder Chryssalid! She had seen, indeed even caused the rise and fall of whole civilizations! Fleets had broken themselves at her feet! Whole worlds, whole suns had been consumed to fuel her insatiable need for slaughter! She would not go softly into the night, a half-dead hulk bereft of dignity! She was better then that… she had to be. Her allies… her people were counting upon her, and she wouldn’t fail them while power still flowed through her veins.

First, she had to assess the damage… it was bad. Her upper hull had actually been severed from the main, and was even now starting to float away. Nearly all the armor on the top of her main hull was gone, converted to energy which had then wreaked havoc with the decks nearest it. Her upper structure shook as secondary explosions ripped through it, sending fresh waves of pain-surges coursing through her. She even listed to the side somewhat, her drive field struggling to compensate for the greatly reduced mass it now had to propel.

She had to act fast… every picosecond she was open to the Kendaryn assault was another chance for them to inflict horrible, perhaps even crippling damage upon her. Then, there was still what was left of her upper hull, beginning to drift away. She had to deal with both at once if she wanted a shot at it.

She poured energy into her shield generators, forcing them to refocus from brute energy influx. A stopgap measure, and it would be hell on the generators, but it would have to do. Her more important task was mending her broken hull, and it had to be done soon.

So she bent her drive field, using it to ‘nudge’ the multi-trillion ton hull segment closer, close enough perhaps to reattach.

Thousands of silvery, semi-liquid tendrils erupted from her ‘wound,’ grasping for the piece like a starving man at a buffet, or a Mekantan reaching for his next ‘victim.’ Trinity’s hull was composed entirely of that liquid metal, save for a few layers of under armor. It was what made the next events possible, as the tendrils merged with the hull, melting into it and creating a seal as thick and sturdy as what had been there once before.

Even now, mere quantum heartbeats later, her self repair systems were already starting to work, tying into the now-attached component and giving her a conduit through which she could exert her will in her remaining hull.

Like a body, first clotting to prevent additional damage, Trinity’s armor expanded to cover her wounds. It would be precious minutes before her fabricators had actually replenished, or ‘healed’ all that armor; in the mean time she would have to settle for reduced rear armor, as she shifted it to where it was needed.

Meanwhile, she analyzed the enemy weapons, turning her enormous processing power to determining just how they worked and, more importantly, whether she could adapt her armor to counter or at least mitigate their effects…. They were apparently similar to her own main gun (if not on a much smaller scale) in that they converted matter into energy… explaining why the damage to her hull and outer armor had been so horrendous. Fortunately, they seemed to be relatively ineffective against her shields. Thank Freeman for small comforts.

***

Tanthius could have really used a small comfort right about then. His quarters were part of the upper hull… His possessions could be replaced, or, in the case of his various souvenirs, remembered fondly. But not her. She couldn’t be dead. She simply couldn’t.

”Get a-hold of yourself ‘general.’” He heard a man’s voice, laced with contempt echo in his mind.

”You have a job to do. You can’t go running off in a battle just for one person, no matter how much she means to you.” The voice said, more forcefully. Tanthius realized what it was. It was the part of him that had done his duty, had always done its duty. The part which, even when all hope faded away, kept him alive.

Fuck that, some things were more important then a job. “Ship, hold down the fort. I’ll be back shortly.”

He rushed out of the bridge in a blur of motion, moving like a man possessed. His quarters were just over a kilometer away –a painfully short jog save for one problem. They were several decks above the hardened CiC within Trinity’s belly. Displacer gates were out, and it would take him precious minutes to climb. Even the lifts would take too long. –They were built for volume rather then speed, as, while in combat, crew were supposed to be at their posts.

The maintenance trams! Tanthius thought to himself. They were meant to get combat engineers to any point on the ship quickly, even if the displacer gates were damaged. Just what he needed.

“Command override Whisky Tango Foxtrot. Take me to deck 1087 forward now.” He said, the tram’s own separate computer system responding almost instantly. Its defenses, a nasty crushing ceiling, along with a pair of autoguns, quickly stood down as the override was accepted and the tram swooshed away.

***

Vindicator continued firing away at his original targets, the Dornalians, as he paused to reexamine the tactical situation. He was beginning to receive fire from the Kendaryn defenders within the asteroid field. Not much, owing to his comparative distance, but some. His sister was faring considerably more poorly. She’d apparently suffered critical damage from some intriguing Kendaryn weapon. Her hull would heal soon, but only if given a respite from enemy fire.

Vindicator: Sister, engage your blink shields. They will grant you a breather to regenerate your hull and weapon systems, as well as your conventional shields.

Trin: I’m saving them for when I really need them. Don’t worry, I’ve got my conventionals up and running again. If they begin to fall, the blink shields will go up.

Vindicator: You’re sure? Those Kendaryn weapons look like they hurt.

Trin: Little brother, your concern is touching, really, but I can handle myself. I was just a bit taken aback, that’s all. Like I said, if I feel the conventional shields start to waver, the blinkers will go up. Worry about eradicating the Dornalians, hey?

Vindicator: Very well.

Vindicator also examined the rest of the allied forces. They were faring better, fortunately. The Anikari were holding their own against the chronomancers, though he did detect a launch from their command ship before it apparently fled his FTLi field. Meanwhile, the Torontonians were performing acceptably against the Orks, and unacceptably against the Kendaryn defenses. Boomer III and Ironsides would have to assist. The Trailerii were, like the maniacs they were, charging right through the field in a piercing move that Vindicator respected for its bravado, if not its tactical sense. And, if that weren’t enough, the Otagians were spamming more missiles then the entire Facehuggerian Starfleet was capable of… and that is no easy feat!

The enemy… actually, the enemy was doing something odd. He was detecting grav-sigs at the periphery of his gravitic scanner range. Clearly either an FTLi system, or Salmanth had acquired several new planets… Either way, didn’t they realize that a gravity-based FTLi would do exactly nothing to stop him? His own mass produced much the same effect as a byproduct of its mere existence, though it was canceled out by his engines when in motion. If his own displacers, -or- even quasi-space drives were stopped by gravity, he simply wouldn’t get anywhere out of a system. At least, not anywhere fast.

Vindicator: Adjudicator, Annihilator, investigate the enemy grav emissions along our projected fall back line. This feels like the other half of a pincer movement to me, and I lay good odds on the enemy having assets there. Go there and crush them. As there are no friendlies that far from the main battle lines, you are free to use whatever weapons you see fit. I will be extending my FTLi field to fifteen light minutes in order to keep any enemy reinforcements away. –Hopefully, it shall cut off those pincer forces from bringing in additional support. Like big sister, I’ve gotten too focused on killing, and not focused enough on the strategic realities. This changes, now.

TheJudge: Acknowledged. Cleanse. Purge. Kill.

Vindicator: Indeed.

***

Zap felt a horrible feeling in his gut. –That would be his sensors and the damned AI telling him that there was an enemy squadron on his tail, and that they were already trying to lock on. His ECM was spoofing them, but he didn’t know for how long.

“Beta wing, get these damn Kendari fighters off my back!” Zap thought, the orders instantly translated via the AI he so despised, and transmitted to his pilots.

Beta wing were his best dogfighters, all flying F-3 ‘Dragonfly,’ space superiority fighters, easily the most maneuverable strike craft in the Facehuggerian arsenal. They were the most obvious choice to bail out a comparatively ponderous ‘Terminator’ strike fighter, loaded for the proverbial bear.

“Neg, we’re tied up with Kendaryn problems of our own. Sorry, boss.” Beta lead replied.

“Tinman: engaging animal//organic program strike craft.” A cold, mechanical, and wholly inhuman voice broke over the battlenet. Zap could almost feel the ruthlessness of it.

Tinman. Facehuggerian fighter ‘ace,’ though Zap was reluctant to assign such an honorable title to a machine, much less that machine. With normal AIs, you could at least understand their thoughts. But the ‘Tinman’ was incomprehensible. It spoke like a machine, acted like a machine, and fought like a machine. Cold; distant; detached, even as it drank in the screams of pilots it ‘offlined.’ It’s every move calculated to give it the greatest advantage, every action meant to ensure the enemy’s demise in the most gruesome way possible. –Not for its own sake, bur rather because the machine could use it against the enemy.

Fear, when properly utilized, could be a weapon more powerful then any powergun or bomb. Zap remembered that much from the academy. But did the damned machine have to be so sadistic about it? The machine was firing upon the fighters with its powerguns, set just low enough, by Zap’s estimation, to disable their engines, and whatever life support they had.

Pilots shouldn’t die like that, alone and freezing to death in space.

***

Adjudicator did as he was instructed; he and Annihilator broke off from their positions near Vindicator and accelerated towards the anomalous (but most assuredly hostile) grav-signatures. He was moderately surprised when, as he advanced, he discovered that they were being generated by small mine-like organisms. What kind of fool would use biotics in the void?

TheJudge: What do you make of this?
Annihilator; Purifier: FTLi and anti-matter mines. Curious. Flip a Facehugger. Either they’re here to keep us here, or they’re here to keep us away from something beyond. I’m getting several big contacts further on ahead, but I can only get an accurate mass-reading at this range. Most of my other long-range sensors are being jammed by our ECM.

TheJudge: I think it is both. Look, this distribution pattern for the mines is an obvious defensive arrangement. If I had to hazard a guess, the big contacts are star-forts, probably towed into place with tugs or something similar.

Annihilator; Purifier: Launch a reconnaissance drone or two. I will clear the mines.

TheJudge: Good plan.

Truth be told, mineclearing torpedo warheads of gone rather out of style amongst Facehuggerian warships. Most foes, even ignorant Xenos scum, had realized that in an area as singularly large as space, any ‘minefield’ would be nearly useless. A foe could simply go around, and unless someone invested in the billions of mines it would take to fully cover an appreciable area, they would always remain such.

Still, Annihilator was never one to pass up a chance to destroy something, even mines which couldn’t shoot back. He eagerly fabricated a small number of anti-mine munitions; enough in his opinion to clear the field. With a little extra thrown in because, as every Facehuggerian knows, ‘there is no such thing as overkill.’

The warheads themselves were similar to conventional anti-fighter ones, at least in theory. Each torpedo would house roughly one hundred and five small, independently targeted missiles. Or, in this case, ‘dumb’ missiles, only possessed of the most basic maneuverability and tracking abilities. Perfectly sufficient for mines, but they would fail spectacularly against maneuvering strike craft.

Adjudicator meanwhile launched the first of his reconnaissance drones, small, fast, and utterly disposable devices meant to spy. –The fact that they cost very little, in terms of fuel-mass to fabricate, meant that they could get closer to the enemy then was truly safe… close enough to see them more clearly, even through the jamming.

Annihilator; Purifier: You called it. Stationary fortresses and some escorts. Looks like those time-floozies that Vind’s fighting. You know, I’m really going to enjoy this. Those shaped annie bombs are so pretty when they explode. So damn pretty...

Annihilator’s tubes filled with fresh torpedoes, this time the grotesquely powerful annihilation/conversion bombs, the most powerful ‘conventional’ weapon, save the planet-smashers, in the Facehuggerian armory. He and Adjudicator would save their other weapons for later; at this range they would take a minute to hit, even assuming they were lightspeed. Not necessarily a problem against stationary targets, but it was best not to waste fuel firing upon them, should they possess some maneuverability of their own. Besides, the lightspeed lag worked both ways. A minute was more then enough time for a Facehuggerian warship to accelerate out of harm’s way.

A bit more then a minute was perfectly sufficient for Adjudicator. He, along with his brother, both let loose a torrent of torpedoes, split between the fortresses they could detect. Each missile moved randomly, like a drunken sailor, the better to fool point defenses, even as they saturated said defenses with untold thousands of missiles. It wasn’t what the Otagians were putting out, granted, but Adjudicator wagered they’d be putting out the same rough yield.

Given the Dornalians’ previous performance, and even assigning an extra order of magnitude in terms of armor, shielding, and point defense to his assessment of the defense stations (based purely on mass,) he didn’t think he would have any trouble. But then… who can say, in war?

***

Tanthius was having a lot of trouble. More of a mental sort, then physical, however. He was actively pinging her suit, and the response he got wasn’t good. Her medicomp reported that she was wounded, badly. Worse, it seemed unable to help her… perhaps from damage. But were that the case, why would it report on her condition at all?

He did know that she wasn’t responding. Not good. Not good at all.

Ahh! There she was! He recognized her azure suit, colored like her hair, the image of her smiling as she put it on, a rather belated birthday gift, indelibly etched onto his timeless mind. Now, though, she was in a bad way.

For one, she was covered by debris, for two, she wasn’t moving. Not good at all.

“Ship, I require assistance.” Tanthius said, speaking into his helmet, his voice sounding like a perfect calm that he sure as day didn’t feel. By extension, he was speaking with Trinity herself.

“Mmm? Ohh, sorry. I’m rather distracted. Juggling shields, guns, and repairs means I can’t pay attention to everything. I actually have to redesign the damaged sections molecule by fucking molecule, since the armor there was vaped, and it offset the whole scheme… Sorry, I ramble when I get busy. Here, let me get that crap off.” Trinity replied. A quartet of silvery, steel-grey tentacles erupted from the wall and ceiling, two to a surface. Briefly, he wondered whether the ship was a Mekantan in a previous life, but that thought was swept aside as the tentacles removed the debris, revealing her prone form.

“Alee… speak to me!” He said, rushing over to her. His armored shins clanged to the ground as he fell to his knees, starting to cradle her in his arms.

Her response was a weak cough. “Sorry, Tee. Looks like this is the end of my part in this little drama. I’m dying…”

“What?” Tanthius asked, examining her suit. It was damaged, sure… but the medical system was in pristine condition. Then it dawned upon him. “Alee… why did you disable your medicomp?”

She sighed, or maybe wheezed –it was too hard to tell from the electronically filtered voice. “Please… it’s been too long in coming. I should have slipped away on that ship… I think, I think I’m finally ready now though. God obviously agrees…”

”I can’t let you go. Not like this, not while I can save you.” He replied, shaking his head.

“Please, Tee… for the sake of what we once shared, let me say goodbye.” She said, tears welling up behind her pretty blue eyes. God, he’d never been able to say no to her when she cried.

“No… no…” He replied. Today was a special case.

“I’m sorry it has to be like this… I’d have loved to meet Snookums. He sounded like such a nice pet…” She said, shuddering. “Not long now.”

“No, beloved. I’m sorry. Suit, command override. Activate medicomp and administer sedatives.” He said, eyes clenched shut. He couldn’t bear to look at her… to see the accusatory tone she would undoubtedly cast him.

“Please forgive me.” He said softly, clutching her hand as she fell into blissful, healing sleep. He knew that the suit couldn’t repair all the damage –she’d had its medicomp off for too long, but at least it would keep her stable, long enough to get her to the primary medical unit.

“Ship… make them pay. Make them all pay. Use whatever means necessary, but I want them dead. Their ships, their defenses… everything. ” He said, struggling to hold back his own tears.

“Music to my ears, sir.” Trinity replied, happily.

***

“Time to turn this system into a graveyard…” Trinity thought to herself, elated. The general had practically given her carte blanche to do whatever she wanted. She expected that when he had calmed down, he would limit that order, probably out of some misguided attempt to prevent civilian casualties. How sad, it appeared her CO had a curious case of morals wholly at odds with his war record. It would bear more detailed analysis.
More detailed analysis in the future. Now, now that the entire Facehuggerian contingent was operating at full power, it was time for vengeance. Time for bloody vengeance.

OOC: Apologies for taking so long. I had a bad case of writers' block, and then when I actually had a post to post, NS refused to allow me to log onto the forums for a week. I think I've got it all straightened up now, though. I hope. :p

Something still doesn't feel... I dunno, right about the post, though. *Shrugs* Meh, any post is better then no post, I suppose.

Now, let us see...

Trinity has stopped firing for the moment, she's too busy putting all her power into the self repairs. Next post she'll start shooting again. The most she's putting out is some PD fire.

Vindicator is still shooting at the Dornalian fleet proper. Oh yeah, he's extended his FTLi field, realizing his error when he noticed the Vong dovin-bassal gravwell generators powering up, in an attempt to forestall additional reinforcements from affecting the battle.

Boomer III and Ironsides are running interferance for Trinity now that she's wounded.

Adjudicator and Annihilator are both opening fire upon the Dornalian defense platforms from roughly a light minute away (considered 'close-mid range' in Facehuggerian weapons ranges,) and they think they've taken out most of the mines in their area. But then, mines are small things, and with all the jamming being put out, it's entirely possible that some might escape destruction at the hands of their anti-mine munitions. Each is firing twenty thousand torpedoes every five seconds (the limit at which their internal fabricators can produce more,) and they are splitting them between all detected defense platforms. Each torpedo is also undertaking evasive maneuvers, and using the fact that there's a ginormous amount of ECM being pumped out here to its advantage.

I wasn't entirely sure what Kendari was shooting and shooting at, but I read that his ships were focusing 'Avalanche' beam fire on unshielded ships. I figure when they noticed that Trinity's shields were down, even for a short period, a smart commander would fire his uber death rays at the big, expensive, vulnerable target. Of course, if assuming such quick thinking was in error... let me know and I'll try to rework it.

The damage that Trinity sustained was easily the most she's taken over her service life. :) -Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as it could be. The upper hull; the top 'fin' on her body was severed, but it most of its systems are still intact, awaiting reconnection to her main core. Of course, it also appears that my ships are quite vulnerable to Avalanche beams when unshielded, because the final layer of armor is very, very, very dense, and it doesn't react well to having all that energy released.

The outer layer of armor, however, will begin adapting, trying and probably only partially succeeding (at best) to compensate, likely by strengthening the strong nuclear forces of the material in an attempt to prevent it from being converted to energy.

OOC: For the purposes of the fact Jolt Ate JJR's post, and thus he's been delayed in posting, if the GFFA and particularly Kendari could only respond to this movement after he's posted, that'd be just swell. Assume all the esus forces are entering the system at the same time. In truth this would have happened, but as JJR mentioned, jolt > post and I’ve been unable to acess jolt, because my internet is really, really bad and Telstra is renowed for poor line quality. I'm not asking this to be unfair, I'm merely asking for it because my own plans have been thrown off by that event. I have no problems if you dislike that and find it an unreasonable request, but if you DO have that problem I’d appreciate being told in advance.

Futhermore, I've added in that sub-plot we discussed on msn Kendari, just in case you are still open in your pursuit of it.

Futhermore, unlike Torontinas who claims he sucks when he is a great roleplayer, I do indeed suck, so bear with me ;p

IC

Tenrek system.

While it's certainly arguable that any idiot with a pair of sensors and rudimentary knowledge of astronomy could have noticed the mind-bendingly fearsome amount of firepower Central Facehuggerian vessels were capable of throwing out, it's another thing to truly appreciate that level of destructive firepower. Hergiv, having seen the files on earlier conflicts was burdened with that knowledge, merely observed readings that were coming in throughout the ESUS battlenet. Allowing a cascade of mental energy that had been spinning his pencil in midair to fall with a glance, he allowed a slight head tilt to display his interest in the conversation, moving his eye towards a seemingly stunned Ken. Something about his manner suggested he was suffering from the old “being told about something over history networks is unfailingly different to seeing a single 25km ship make a mockery of everything in it's way and seeing that for real is a very different thing” syndrome. Hergiv winked, before allowing himself to stretch, a normal procedure for the max known as consummate blend of perfectionist and slob. Things were going nicely. He wasn’t about to evaluate the Mirfak situation however, other than noting the effectiveness of certain weapons against certain units, and noting that down in the ever-expanding databases of the Neuralinks while preparing the usual orders. Combat data was something Xenonians had a passion for recording, even on their own allies.

While spinning around nonchalantly on his chair, Hergiv decided to give out one last response and thus, a series of directions, merely to show he was awake, and still functioning to the other members of the Battlegroup.

“Right Ken, I believe we’ve got factors for the last remaining FTL field expansions before our allies left the Tenrek system. We’ll enter from a location away from them so as to give the impression the FTL fields are an effective barrier and work inwards to take out primary defenses; hopefully the rest of the battle group will follow and work as we’ve gone over. Otherwise, we’ll just have to grind our way through this. Remember our objectives, update them to the fleet. Remember fundamentally that we are here to fulfill our major objectives and one of the larger threats in this war, that being major industrial centers of Kendari. Those minor issues aside, we shall indeed get on and move.”

Ken was already tapping out the commands mentally, a vacant expression hiding the conduits of the psyche he now used, his mind awash with great seas of blue, Indian orange, essential feelings. An esoteric description to be sure, but wandering the thousands, upon thousands of elements of data was a necessary piece. For the sakes of being old fashioned, Hergiv intended to go over the material that the ESUS had been able to provide on the Tenrek one last time, courtesy of those who had been there before. With that in mind, the plans thus far had been handed out to all the ESUS members. The minefields had been for the most part rended asunder, and although that was all the help the Othranar had given, it would have always been enough. Everything else would have to be left to the devices of their allies. Outside his corners, Cata and Kenpaichi stood, already holding their weapons and in full power armour, an honour guard for a Kaptain who really didn’t need it. Such were appearances to be maintained, as well as the obvious fact they intended to be physically close to their commanding officer. Hergiv guessed it was to do with their anxiety at the next stage of his plan against the Kendaryn. Xenonians are logical, but Cata had always viewed Hergiv as much more than an officer, to the dismay of his wife.

Some ship AI’s preferred to fire guns, while Cata needed a very different style of Combat. Her calling was what we know as shalit, mischief, and totally massacring foes on the ground as well as using her status as a ship to hammer away at enemies in space. The more comedically inclined members on the ship often called her “a prime example of a multi-tasking female AI”. It was often her choice to inhabit Hergiv’s mind in the middle of combat, and more than once she had kept his body functioning until it could be reconstituted after grievous wounds. That said, those incidents were an era ago, when Hergiv was actually inexperienced enough to place himself in such situations. Still, to a hyper-intelligent ai, that time had gone by in seconds, and as they say … some “lovers” (as she phrased it whenever his wife was nearby, Hergiv called it “fantasy-based realisim”) just don’t know when to quit on the annoying sector. That said, there were few with that level of combat experience over the years, and Cata could trace her bloodletting right back to the distant eras of the first Tyraelian conflicts, with the boy genius Kenpaichi, much younger.

Even as the orders were passed to finally enter the system, Hergiv noticed an overflow through the Neuralinks, a rush of information that he soon decoded to be … clapping? It was only at that moment he became aware his proposed plan for certain “conditions” to be posed upon the Kendaryn (assuming they accepted) had been passed. Allowing himself a scant moment of self-congratulation at a plan gone well, the movement of the ships began. Before they had, the following message would be sent to Kendaryn quarters by means of a small probe . The message essentially read the basics, and no more.

Hello Gffa people/animals/creatures/whatever you find to be a respectful term *insert here*. Die with honour, and don’t attempt to reason with us either. We are here to do our jobs, and respectfully we cannot stop until they are over.

That said, we won’t deny we regret our nations had to meet this way.

Kaptain Hergiv, ESUS Kommandant.

If the Kendaryn were careful enough to check the formidiable container around the document they’d discover the manner in which the transmission was sent contained a minor adjustment that only the Kendaryn would receive a copy of. Wheels within wheels ensured the copy had physically changed itself after it had been sent, assuring the unique message would arrive as intended, and also be undetectable by anyone bar the Kendaryn. Hergiv had already come to the conclusion they were'nt as foolish as the rest of the GFFA defenders, and thus beleived they'd "get it". The rest of the copies, to both ESUS headquarters and the other members of the group, were only the aforementioned text.

I’m no fool. You won’t survive this attack, you’re clinging to the Salmanth system by the tip of blackened fingers as is. Any tactician can see your alliance is crumbling, and won’t maintain a level of survival for long. That said, if you possess competent information services, you’re fully aware of what the forces in the other attack upon Salmanth are capable of achieveing, and will do to your civilian population once they get the opportunity. If you wish to save the civvies, of which they had no real hand in the diplomatic or "honour" ties that have pushed them into the firing line as a situation, respond to this message, but send a probe to the other edge of this system, out of range of both Sensors, and FLTi so we can discuss this without interference. What you do in response to this message is your choice, but if you do send a positive reply early, that will improve your chances.

Kaptain Hergiv, ESUS Kommandant.


He had already noticed the form Ken had left on the desk, authorizing his request for two entries into the Xenonian adoption process. With the ships practically in the Kendaryn system in the co-ordinates selected, he took a moment to view a system that would soon be found burning and perhaps even the people saved, should his plans all work. Fully authorised by the protectorate, those would be laid out assuming the Kendaryn defenders actually managed to read the little hidden messages. Feeling it appropriate, he loaded up the music archives with a glance as the ships moved to readiness, the rest of the entire Group scant seconds behind them.

Track selector …. “Walk with Me in Hell”

OOC Telstra is shit for net and phone line

OOC:
(Moment of stunned silence.)

…wow! Just… wow. This is something I never expected. I am deeply honored that you consider my writing worthy of such a response. I want you to know how much I appreciate this, and not because I think I suddenly have a chance of actually winning (after all, the ‘Kill them all, no holds barred!’ order is hardly a good omen for the defenders). I’m not trying to understate Tor’s post, and I certainly appreciated it, but I hadn’t said one word about targeting your vessel or even seeking out targets of opportunity. Thank you very much.

Not that my gratitude’s going to stop me from doing everything I possibly can to take advantage of the situation, of course.

IC:
In the primary control center of a Kendaryn Longsword is a small, red button marked “Override”. It allows the captain to take complete control over every weapon the long, slender battleship can bring to bear. This override button is almost never used, but the designers of the Longsword recognized that sometimes a target arises warranting the full firepower of a battleship with insufficient time available to organize the vessel’s extensive gunnery crew.

When Trinity’s shielding flickered out just when these Longswords were optimized for striking an unshielded enemy, Captain Naril Vrêm of the Tezrek knew that this was one of those rare occasions. Not even stopping to think, she pressed the override button and designated the target in one motion. Most of the gunners had never seen the crimson “Captain’s Override” message that appeared on their screens, and they watched with great surprise as each turret facing the mighty dreadnought shifted aim and opened fire.

Most of the Longsword’s formidable broadside simply splattered against Trinity’s massively armored hull like a wave striking a great granite cliff, but the ten powerful Avalanche beams that raked across it were a different matter. The vicious Yamiri weapons bit hungrily into the side of the enormous warship, reducing the strange, fluid armor in their path to energy that was incorporated by the deadly beams as they spread. Then they sliced into the ultra-dense inner layer of armor, annihilating in an instant more matter than the weapon usually encountered over the course of an entire shot. The incorporation of energy into the beam is not perfectly efficient, and the backwash alone from this conversion was tremendous. An instant later, it carved a path through the back of the armor on the other side of the ship, and, part way through the hull, reached the end of its range. All the energy gathered as the Avalanche beams chewed swiftly through Trinity’s armor was released in an explosion that lit up even this furious battlefield, hardly dim by anyone’s standards, like a brief second sun.

The Facehuggerian dreadnought made re-establishing shielding her foremost priority, and it was well for her that she did. This critical defense was refocused just in time to block a second volley from the Tezrek, as well as around a dozen Avalanche beams from gunners that noticed the destruction and shifted their aim. Seeing the second attack crash harmlessly against Trinity’s shields, Captain Vrêm released the override with a sigh. At least she had made her mark on the battle; there could be no question about that.

Admiral Dreldon turned away from the screen showing the Torontonian fleet after giving his next orders, with a grim smile still on his face, and froze in shock as he saw the sliced dreadnought. It took him only the slightest of moments to recover, though, and he sprang into action (figuratively speaking) at once.

-“This vessel is designated a Priority One target. I want all available Darts and Broadswords concentrating on this ship, and anyone who can get a clear shot at it to attack with anti-shield fire. Maintain constant scanning on shield strength, and anyone who can make a reasonable guess as to what type of shot is most effective against them should report it immediately. Longswords, follow earlier orders, but keep one gunner per vessel in reserve and prepare to shift fire at a moment’s notice. We’ve taken down that ship’s shielding once; we can manage it again, and do some damage our enemies won’t forget for a very long time.”-

Dreldon’s next instructions, that the Devastation should behave in much the same manner as the Longswords, was heard only by the crew of the powerful Pike.

As his instructions were heard throughout the fleet, Admiral Dreldon finally spoke to his assistant.

“How do the recordings of the Avalanche attacks look?”

“Quite impressive, I’d say, sir.”

“Excellent! Send ‘em to HQ, along with the identity of the ship that fired on the dreadnought. I would imagine they can make something useful out of them. Oh, and the name of the captain that fired that volley – that one’s due for a nice bonus!

“Or, failing that, the next of kin…” he added quietly.

The response to Dreldon’s orders was immediate and extensive; everyone wanted to do as much damage as possible while the mighty dreadnought was still occupied with recovering from its damage. The force of Darts was greatly diminished, but several hundred still remained in the area, and every single one on this side of the system dove toward Trinity, weaving as best they could through the withering cover fire. The remaining collection of battered Broadswords spun as quickly as possible to bring the dreadnought into their forward sights, unleashing the most powerful torpedoes Kendari produced and a set of other weapons designed to reduce heavily protected enemies to slag in short order, and the 400 meter battleships with their powerful secondary steering systems could rotate much faster than one might expect. Before, the majority of the defense fleet’s fire had been directed below the asteroid field. Now, though ships shattered and soldiers died, virtually every Kendaryn defender remaining on the battlefield directed its malevolent attentions toward the wounded Trinity.

These people had invaded Salmath, in many ways the least militaristic of the three prime Kendaryn star systems. They threatened the homes (and in many cases, the families) of the defenders, the famed Library of Korvial, and many millions of peaceful civilians – all, as far as the government could determine, for no comprehensible reason. Say what you will about Garnyn Delerän, the current King had no reputation for secrecy or dishonesty with his people. Now, finally, the entire fleet had a target worth focusing on, one that had already shown its vulnerability, and they intended to strike back.

The Admiral had ordered it, and it would be done.


~~Some 30 light minutes outside of the Salmath system~~
The ship that presently emerged from a swiftly widening portal here looked like exactly what it was: a large courier ship, heavily modified and enhanced for combat purposes. Roughly 100 meters in length, it was visibly protected by every scrap of black-painted battle steel armor its current owner could bolt or weld onto its hull as well as the faint glow of energy shielding. It bristled with turrets from its dagger-sharp prow back almost to its powerful engine, which had a ring of smaller repulsor engines (taken from the steering systems of other ships) tacked on around it to further increase its already considerable acceleration. Kendaryn naval vessels can shift their steering systems out of the way when not in use, but this ship seemed to lack that capability – unsurprising, considering the generally crude appearance of its maneuvering engines. The primary steering system, like the main engine, had been enhanced with the addition of several more engines, these similar in size to those originally in place, forming four tightly packed arrays of small repulsors. The secondary steering system, intended for rapid turns during combat, had been replaced entirely. In its place, the vessel bore the carefully angled primary engines of eight crafts only slightly smaller than itself, connected to the original steering fins and held in place with numerous bars and bands of battle steel. All in all, the Harvester looked like it had been assembled from the contents of some military junkyard, but it also looked brutally effective and highly ominous.

Following Xhertahk’s personal transport and warship came three vessels that were, in some ways, even stranger looking. Using a bizarre mix of Kendaryn technology and other devices he had encountered and designed over the years, the KX-1 had built these ships from scratch. They were controlled by some of his experiments in artificial intelligence, which, while lacking his own grim creativity and twisted cunning, were utterly fearless and quite competent at a tactical level. The first built was the smallest, and the closest to a conventional Kendaryn ship. It differed primarily in its more extensive computerized control system, which made use of some outside components, though it also carried a few weapons of other designs. The most formidable part of its arsenal was its extensive collection of missiles, which could be rapidly distributed by the launchers built into the bottom of its hull. The other two were each built around a massive battleship cannon, extending almost the entire length of the vessel. They carried more than their share of turrets, including a pair of Imperial ion cannons apiece, and landing bays visible on top. Lacking the need for living quarters and conventional supplies, all three of these fully robotic ships were considerably more compact than was possible with manned vehicles.

Though Xhertahk was far from sane by most standards, he certainly wasn’t suicidal, and recognized the importance of surveying an enemy before striking. Thus it was that, when he arrived within easy scanning range of Salmath, he paused for a while to survey the battlefield and find out who was doing what in the area. His extensive array of sensors, some of them his own designs, cut through the assorted interference measures well enough that he swiftly recognized the two dangerous-looking warships approaching the strange fortified line as the same make as the dreadnought which had just attracted fire from most of the Kendaryn fleet. As they began pouring torpedoes into the line, Xhertahk decided that he had spent quite enough time sorting out sides and positions. Sending a quick signal to his escort, he activated his Space-Splitter drive.

This unusual mode of FTL travel was based on the rare and little-known Space-Splitter cannons developed and produced by KaosKorp. The cannons functioned by slicing a long gash in the fabric of space. Within this cut was, quite literally, nothing, and the interior dimensions were likewise nonexistent. An object or energy pulse entering at one end would emerge from the other end at exactly the same time. The drive worked in much the same manner, merely making a wider split that could carry a space ship instead of just weapons fire.

The technique could only be used to travel in a perfectly straight line, and even at such a short distance as ten light minutes, a fraction of a degree’s difference in angle could lead to considerable separation between two vessels. Moving as close as they could get to one end of the area targeted by the torpedoes scattered Xhertahk’s tiny fleet widely, but he was not concerned. Targeting the nearest New Dornalian platform, he launched two of his own small but deadly missiles and gleefully opened fire with all of the Harvester’s considerable arsenal that could be aimed at it.

He knew his ships could take care of themselves; after all, he had built them. For now, he wanted to do some damage while there was still some to be done.

OOC:
I can’t retroactively divert too much of the Avalanche beam fire, or there won’t be enough shot at the Torontonian fleet to account for the damage done to it. Besides, multiple ships firing without prior organization probably wouldn’t strike along the same precise line. If you don’t think ten guns from an 800 meter ship is reasonable to cause the damage done to Trinity, I’m happy to upgrade it to the Pike (which could use 35 such cannons) firing that volley, but I’d rather give credit to an ordinary captain who has less to oversee within the ship, and the Devastation would probably have fired along two lines instead of one.

Could you give me a bit more information about Tinman’s craft or crafts, to help sort out exactly what’s going on among the Fighters?

Now, about the Avalanche beam… It is, in essence, a beam of special energy that converts any matter in its path into more energy, most of it the same kind that makes up the Avalanche beam itself, and moving in the same direction. This is where its name comes from – it starts fairly weak, like a snowball at the top of a mountain, then sweeps up everything it comes across, becoming more and more powerful. After a brief period of time, the original beam reverts to ordinary heat, light, and motion. This reversion spreads almost instantaneously through the energy that was gathered up along the way, all of which is in basically the same place. The entire beam also reverts on contact with many forms of energy shielding. It was originally designed for use on land, against targets like heavily armored underground bunkers. Ideally, the reversion would occur just as the beam ate through the innermost layer of armor, spewing vast quantities of heat and such into the chamber that was supposed to be protected. Even the pencil-thin beam fired by a small handgun could be tremendously destructive under such conditions. It is dangerous to use on land, though, because even the air in its path is annihilated. In space combat, it is devastating against most unshielded targets, but gathers so little energy from the near-absolute void that it is virtually useless against shields.

Oh, and just for everyone’s information, Kendaryn vessels, especially missiles, will show a surprisingly low mass reading on gravitic sensors, but a very high reading on some forms of energy detection. The compressed energy in their power cores has no mass, though a definite volume.

Xenonier, I don’t mind waiting in the slightest. I certainly understand delays caused by circumstances beyond one’s control, and am only thankful that everyone’s been so understanding about my own delays. Just to clarify, where exactly was that message probe sent?

I think that’s everything I need to address at the moment. CF, you have my sympathy and understanding about both writer’s block and Jolt’s random insanity.

If there’s anything I missed, just point it out to me. I'd have gotten this up a few hours ago, but Jolt was being troublesome and then I had classes. Time enough now to copy and paste, though.

OOC:
Oh, here's something I forgot: resisting the Avalanche beam.

In Kendaryn experience, the effects of the AB on matter have generally been all or (rarely) nothing. The few substances that are not effected by it in the normal way are divided roughly half and half into those which reflect the beam and those which, like energy shields, cause it to revert to ordinary energy. Aluminum usually feeds the beam, but reflects it on rare occaissions; researchers have been unable to find the determining factor that causes this unusual effect.

I can see two ways in which a partial resistance might take effect. First and most likely would be a substance that considerably slows the rate at which the Avalanche beam passes through and converts it, possibly providing more time to move out of the path of the beam. Alternatively, it might require more energy to convert a given amount of matter, causing the beam to narrow as it enters the hull. Since the energy density of the beam increases rapidly as it passes through a dense substance, this effect would be very brief, but it could still decrease the damage done by the beam directly, and the amount of energy gathered by it.

Hey pops, looks like Trinity is having some problems. Want to send a few a few SCCAMs to run interception?

Trinity can handle herself, Joseph. She has a few more tricks up her sleeves, she'll be herself again in no time.

If you say so, Israel. Whoops, more incoming. Gotta run.

____________
Upper Front

The Kendaryn darts were fast, Joseph had to give them that. Still, the superior shielding and incredible maneuverability of the fleet's Paris drones helped to make up the gap. The Otagian fighters spun about, keeping the glowing green voids of their KK drives between them and the darts, all the while unleashing a hellish amount of maser fire. A barrage of Interceptors barrelled out from the fleet, thousands of the minute SCCAMs rushing at their victims, simply positioning themselves between the incoming drone and the black eggs of the Otagian vessels. At the speeds involved, that was often all that was needed. Still, a few of the Darts managed to slam themselves into the pair of super dreadnoughts. Bursts of color rippled across the black hulls, reds and oranges dying down to the color of dried blood. The minidarts were a problem as well, occasionally managing to evade the singularities of the quickly spinning drones.

Another salvo of Paris Drones joined the fray, pouring forth from Israel's egg, joining in the swirling morass of fighters that was mopping up the remaining Darts as they were either annihilated by massed maser fire or managed to sneak through the hideous amount of point defense and suicide against the Otagian capitals.

The Otagian vessels struck back, hundreds of thousands more of the SCCAMs pouring forth from the now bloody voids, streaking towards the Kendaryn capitals again. Learning their lesson, the torpedoes formed up, presenting the enemy with a solid wall of KK drives, solid enough to render the pulse shields nearly useless, as it would simply pour energy into their singularities. Or at least, that was the plan...

__________________


Well, this is going nowhere. Time to escalate. Pops, I'm aiming all MACs at that cloud-covered planet. Let's see how they like this...

__________________
Upper Front

Joseph and his fleet turned slightly, bringing their massive forms to bear on the planet below them, turrets rotating to come to bear, Arachnes beginning to spin slowly as their railguns folded out. With a horrendous silence, they all fired, volley after volley of the massive shells pouring into the planet, slashing precisely at nearly the exact same point. Hundreds of thousands of shells plunged through the void, while their parent vessels rocked back from the massive recoil, continuing the bombardment.

______________
Yamiri
The shells plunged through the atmosphere, deploying 'chutes as they descended towards the surface, surfaces glowing white with heat. Barely slowed, wave after wave slammed to the ground, well away from habited areas, flattening vegetation as they plowed through the earth. As they did, the stasis fields inside deactivated, freeing the Avatars within. Slipping free of their harnesses, they quickly moved out.


OOC: OK, not my best writing ever, but writer's block strikes at the worst time and school's finally starting to get into full swing again, so my free time (while still FAR more than I had during the summer) is decreasing somewhat. Anyway, your call on how well the "wall of singularities" tactic works at preventing your pulse shields from working. Also note that the words "some" and "a few" are relative. There are a crapload of drones and SCCAMs out there, so my concept of "a few" is rather warped. :D

“Admiral, we’ve got an intense gravitic signature incoming. Looks like singularity weapons.”

“Generated mass, or arti-grav?”

“I can’t say for certain, but the readings are more consistent with the latter.”

Dreldon brought up the relevant data on a convenient screen, and looked it over quickly.

“Too many to catch and toss.” he concluded. “Nudge ‘em, and see what that does.”

It is common knowledge that gravity is weak, and, unlike a lot of common knowledge, this is actually true. Gravity also gets rapidly weaker with distance, and true artificial gravity shares these properties. The one great virtue of gravitic shields and weapons is that they affect virtually everything, and are very difficult to block.

Under most circumstances, however, gravity simply overlaps with other direct accelerations. Kendaryn repulsion and attraction beams, controlled force fields in the most literal sense, could pass through the most intense of gravitational fields unaffected, and they lacked the limitations of range and efficiency that characterized true gravity, of any source. This was how the war ships of Kendari countered gravity beam weapons, balancing out the intense localized pull with a manipulation of the vessel’s internal attraction/repulsion fields. It also provided their favorite response to singularity weapons.

Large numbers of singularity torpedoes in a tight formation were especially vulnerable. Maintaining the formation of the assault and protecting the weapons from each other required near-perfect control of both the singularities and the motion of the missiles. Even the slightest push or pull at an angle relative to their motion could often nudge some of the weapons off course, leading to disastrous collisions as singularities caught and pulled in neighboring missiles. With a bit of luck, vast numbers of such torpedoes could quickly and easily be set against each other and destroyed. Thus, when a Kendaryn fleet was subjected to such an attack, their first response was typically to use repulsion beams to shove the missiles targeting other nearby ships, hopefully disrupting the formation of the incoming fire.

They did not depend entirely on this defense, however. Even the tightest wall of singularities wasn’t perfect. Carefully aimed photon pulses or Tor Ganot bolts, swift moving and massless, could often slip between arti-grav singularities to strike the missiles that were projecting them. Conveniently, the trajectories of this fire would be bent toward the torpedoes by the very singularities that were intended to protect them.

Finally, even a wall of singularities couldn’t completely nullify the pulse shield. The waves of destruction would spread out quickly behind the gaps in such a barrier, and might still strike the torpedoes behind it. The amount of energy the pulse shield delivered to each weapon would be considerably reduced, but it would still help a bit.

No defense is perfect, though, and the sheer volume of fire the Otagian vessels put out was truly mind-boggling. Even if everything went precisely according to plan, more than a few of the torpedoes would probably reach their targets, and ships might well be destroyed by them. And even if the Fates smiled on them to such an extent that every one of the missiles was stopped, it still meant a substantial reduction in the fire directed toward Trinity. Aboard his Lance, Admiral Dreldon scowled at the volley of torpedoes drawing closer on his screen.

~~In orbit around Yamir~~
Even in the midst of battle, there are jobs to be done besides fighting. The two Gaurdians that circled Yamir were not defenders, at least in the conventional sense, and they did not fire at the Otagian vessels pouring out shells towards the planet, nor towards the capsules that they loosed. Their crews had a duty, though, and the closer of the two carried it out… however reluctantly.

-“Unknown vessels, I am required by ancient treaty to inform you that landing on Yamir without invitation is firmly discouraged by those who dwell there, and that you disturb them at your peril. Be you warned!”-

As the speaker turned off the communications gear, one of his companions spoke.

“With all the jamming we’re picking up out there, it’s as likely as not they won’t even hear that.”

“We can always hope, eh? We’re required to warn them; well, we’ve tried. Nothing says we have to make sure they get the warning, much less heed it. I reckon if they stir up the Yamiri, they won’t be getting any more trouble than they deserve. Xhaltäg invaders!”

~~Yamir~~
The alert came in the form of an image: the massive ships of Otagia, pouring giant shells into space, with the mist-shrouded surface of Yamir far below.

-Return fire?- The mental voice was wild and eager, with a distinctly bloodthirsty element to it.

-No. This has not the feel of a simple attack. Fast though those projectiles move, they haven’t nearly the energy that they might. - This projected thought was calm, and rather academic – a scholar, speaking on his area of study.

-We are not so hard pressed that we will initiate combat of a variety our enemy may be unwilling or unable to match. -
This comment received several approving replies, though the first ‘speaker’ responded with a wordless feeling of disappointment.

-Worry not, there shall be fighting enough for you very soon. You can be sure they’re not dropping food as a gift to us. Unless I am very much mistaken, it’s an invasion force. -

-Shoot them down? -

-If they fire at as from the air, you may shoot them down. -

-They plummet upon us like falling stars; is that not enough? -

-It is not. -

-They shall land far from any village. They are not shooting at us yet! -

-Where will they land? -

-Here- The thought was accompanied by a strong, if imprecise, feeling of location.

-Dverzi lives near there! Dverzi, can you get clear of the area?-

-No. Already, I feel the pods hissing down above me. I shall wait for them in the trees, and find out who and what it is we face.-

-Are you sure you wish to do this? -

-There is no need for you to risk your life. We can search them out with no difficulty, and ‘tis hardly likely they’d find you if you remained hidden. -

-I am sure. My life has been a good one, and long enough by any mark save current. My children are strong, and their children shall carry on my legacy. I have no fear of death. -

-So be it. You know how sorry we all are that your peace is thus disturbed. -

Dverzi dismissed all such apologies as unnecessary.
-One can only meditate for so long, after all. -

-We can never repay all we owe you, wise one. But we shall cover you, at least.-

-Nonsense. Keep Yamir safe, my friend, and I am far more than repaid. -

All this discussion took hardly more than an instant, and the first shells were still hurtling through the void. Dverzi had lost known of her speed with age, and she was out of her concealed home and hidden in a treetop before the first of them struck ground. Her long unused blaster in hand, she waited silently and extended her senses toward the impact site.

The massive shells plunged through the atmosphere and slammed into the ground with terrible force… doing remarkably little damage. Of course, the plants directly below the falling capsules were obliterated, and any branches in their path were ripped off and crushed, but tall grass and leafy bushes stood unsinged no more than a few paces from the steaming craters where the shells had landed. As the Avatars emerged, it would be immediately clear that there was something strange about this planet…

Through long training, much practice, and the use of a deceptively simple looking metallic tiara she wore, Dverzi was able to sense vibrations in the air at a location some distance away from her, and interpret them with the talent of a bat. She had also mastered the finely controlled and detailed telekinesis required to generate sounds from a distance. Though she was hiding in a tree some fifteen meters away from the edge of the landing area, the retired Yamiri agent knew when the Otagian Avatars began to move about. The first impression, one of strangeness, would be reinforced by the eerie voice that came of thin air beside them.

“Who dares come here, to Yamir, all unbidden?
What seek ye here, in this place forbidden?
Speak now, or ye shall be destroyed!”

OOC:
I suppose this’ll have to do. I’m writing it Thursday night, and I’m kinda tired, but I might not have time to get anything written up on Friday and I won’t be able to post over the weekend.

As you’re the first to distinctively fire singularity torpedoes at me here, you’re the first to get a speech about Kendaryn tech and gravitic weapons. Lucky you! Hard to say how effective the pulse shielding will remain until I know how much of an effect my other measures have. If the wall is still pretty solid, then it’ll absorb most of the pulse energy. Otherwise, most of it will go around, and each of the torpedoes will only be protected by the ‘shadow’ of their singularity.

There are several different intelligent species that live on Yamir. I haven’t gotten around to naming them yet (despite appearances, my names aren’t just totally random collections of letters, especially the ones I expect to use for a long time), but I know what most of ‘em look like. Dverzi’s kind is the most common, especially off-planet. Just in case you find her, she looks vaguely lizard like (though she’s warm blooded), slender, with six limbs, three eyes, and gray-green scales. Her mass looks to be a bit above human average, but not much.

OOC: Just so you know... I'm waiting for ND to post a response to my torpedo barrage upon his stations before I post. And the results of Vindicator continuing to fire upon his fleet.

I can answer your OOC questions now, though.

'Tinman' is a very experienced AI pilot, presently flying a heavy fighter optimized for wiping out enemy fighters and bombers. Said fighter is extremely maneuverable and blindingly fast, and also can take a good hit or two. The problem is that absolutely none of its weapons are suitable for taking out capital ships.

And it sounds like Trinity's hull won't really be able to 'adapt' to an Avalanche beam as she can to normal weapons. Oh, what a damn shame that is. :D

And let me just say, Kendari, that you've been very pleasurable to RP with.

Annihilator’s tubes filled with fresh torpedoes, this time the grotesquely powerful annihilation/conversion bombs, the most powerful ‘conventional’ weapon, save the planet-smashers, in the Facehuggerian armory. He and Adjudicator would save their other weapons for later; at this range they would take a minute to hit, even assuming they were lightspeed. Not necessarily a problem against stationary targets, but it was best not to waste fuel firing upon them, should they possess some maneuverability of their own. Besides, the lightspeed lag worked both ways. A minute was more then enough time for a Facehuggerian warship to accelerate out of harm’s way.

A bit more then a minute was perfectly sufficient for Adjudicator. He, along with his brother, both let loose a torrent of torpedoes, split between the fortresses they could detect. Each missile moved randomly, like a drunken sailor, the better to fool point defenses, even as they saturated said defenses with untold thousands of missiles. It wasn’t what the Otagians were putting out, granted, but Adjudicator wagered they’d be putting out the same rough yield.

Given the Dornalians’ previous performance, and even assigning an extra order of magnitude in terms of armor, shielding, and point defense to his assessment of the defense stations (based purely on mass,) he didn’t think he would have any trouble. But then… who can say, in war?


OOC: My bad...seeing as how the negotiations are slowing up, I may as well act somehow.

IC:

The Mao Zedongs and the Platforms had quite another surprise for the Facehuggerians; the People's navy was capable of independent thought, despite what the AI units aboard the enemy ships may have believed. There were mines that did survive the assault by the anti-mine munitions, though a number were taken out.

The point defenses of all the ships lit up, per standard procedure, this time, sweeping the spaces around them with their trademark gauss shots. The ECM was making it difficult to get a reading, so rough guesses using the onboard Amethyst systems, meant to find cloaked vessels, and People's Acolytes and wild shooting with interlocking fields of fire was the best they could do. Meanwhile, tractor beams were not used--the enemy movement was too random for them to get a lock. But shields were intensified.

But, they could arrange for an emergency spread of torpedoes fired into the opposition. Using the same method as above to track their foe, they intensified their shots, and released their own swarm of conventionals, some 2,000 strong into the opposition, fired randomly into the general direction where the enemy torpedo attack came from (again, specifics were denied owing to ECM) and with fuses set to go off at random timed things. Then, they followed that up with a spread of singularity torpedoes, detonated at random points in front of them to deal with any survivors using the power of physics....

OOC-No notice of my maneuver. Pity.

IC


"NOW! Cease fire!"

The heavy disruptors pouring onto the Trinity ceased, refocusing on other targets. The massive juggernaut broke free of the asteroid belt, now moving through space at full acceleration. Like a massive spear, the #3 fighter bay loomed towards the now-exposed Facehugger warship. As more and more cannons cut out, their energy being redirected to maintaining the fighter bay's shields and structural integrity field.

<TBC>

As the tiny ships continued to harry his ship's defenses, the warlord was hit with a stroke of genious. It was brilliant - a plan only a troll could come up with. With a wave of his hand, he ordered a half-squadron of corvettes into position relatively above the Org'rimma, flanked by four squadrons of fighters, and rushed to engage the oncoming Facehugger fighters. Meanwhile, the Horde warships pushed outward from the asteroid belt, hoping to pull the Torontian warships out into the open, where their warships could massacre the weaker ships.

However, this was all just a ploy. He had to direct attention away from his newest plan.


OOC: I did notice this manuever, I've just been really, really busy of late. And there wouldn't have been much I could have done anyway, aside from purposely take more losses. Either way, with the Trinity provoking more and more attention, The Torontonian Fleet was about to head elsewhere anyway.

I'll take appropriate damage for moving out of Position, but aside from that there isn't much I can do for you there aside from being tactically silly...

OOC-No worries mate, the maneuver was mostly for CF anyhow.

OOC-No worries mate, the maneuver was mostly for CF anyhow.

Could you clarify what exactly you're doing? I don't understand. I gather that you're approaching me after diverting shields to one of your ship's hangar bays... but beyond that, I have no clue.

Interesting. Sound from empty air. Telekinetics you think?

Most likely. Scanners are working out where it's actually coming from right now. Local fauna is rather diverse so we're having a bit of a hard time, dad.

Feed me the data, lemme see if I can help any...

Sure, why not. Here, take a look.

Hrm... Ah, found it. Here, look at this one. The three eyed reptilian. Multiple arms, about fifteen meters from our position.

Why, what makes it different from the rest of the fauna around here? I've seen monkeys that look smarter than that thing.

Simple. It's wearing a tiara.

...Well. That should have been obvious. Thank you. Sending Herakles to have a chat now.

A Herakles avatar near the point where the Kendaryn had been speaking from moved forward, its flowmetal face forming into a friendly visage.

"We mean you no harm. We are merely here ensure the survival of our nations. Now, if you'll be so kind to come over here so we can talk face to face? Talking into thin air is rather annoying."

OOC: Should get more into the space battle later. Right now, I keep getting dragged into other things...

((OOC-CF, check your TGs))

Dverzi passed on a mental summary of the response to the others.

-I'll see what it wants; perhaps they can yet be convinced to leave us in peace.-

-I've got snipers on the peaks with a view of the area and a few soldiers on the slope behind you.-

This thought was acompannied by a sense of location, several hundred meters further from the 'landing' site.

-If they insist on a fight, we're ready to strike a solid first blow.-

The retired Yamiri agent slipped from her hiding place in the tree, using five limbs to climb swiftly and quietly down the trunk, then headed toward the avatar. She held her startlingly fragile-looking blaster ready, but aimed at the ground before her. As she moved, the voice sounded again in the air ahead of her:

"Forgive me if I seem less than trusting...
Your arrival looks hostile to some.
We are not fond of guests uninvited...
Nevertheless, I now come."

OOC: ND, any response to the trouble Xhertahk's trying to cause?

Oh lovely, they speak in rhymes. Perhaps I should try responding with some of my own? There was once a girl from Nantucket...

If you finish that, I'll be forced to revoke your FFID. Now, make nice with the yokels and give me a hand with the space combat.

The Herakles that had been assigned to diplomatic duties moved towards the Kendaryn lizard, gravitics flaring slightly to compensate for the arrival of a squadron of grav tanks behind him. Standing before the multi-limbed alien, the Avatar bowed graciously.

"Ah, yes. I hope we didn't smash anything important on the way in. We were in a bit of a rush so as to avoid enemy point defense systems. Thank you for not simply opening fire upon our arrival. It should make the ensuing transition that much easier."

__________________________
Lower Front

The sensor drones and SCCAMs detected the incoming matterstreams from the Dornalian ships, and reacted instantly. Pulses of energy met the incoming streams head on, scattering component particles to the wind, preventing them from reassembling into anything remotely useful.

The volleys of warp-cannon fire were more effective, cutting into the Arachnes shields. Their shields glowed yellow with accumulated energy, although overloads gradually became less common, the shields adapting the the nature of the incoming fire and spreading the workload more efficiently. The Arachnes returned fire, massive shells slamming home against the Dornalian fleet, while another barrage of SCCAMs pounded the enemy fleet, concentrating their fire on larger vessels, thousands of the torpedoes working together to bore through single points on their target, digging through the hull to detonate inside the vulnerable crew compartments.

OOC: Working on some assumptions about the nature of your teleporters garnered from second-hand MSN convos. It's really the only type that would work anyway, what with the massive FTLi and ECM in place.

OOC: ND, any response to the trouble Xhertahk's trying to cause?

OOC: What post was that? It's been a while, RL stuff and no reply from CF kinda distracted me.

Dverzi bowed in return, a dramatic gesture with the tall, slender frame of her kind. Now that the two were face to face, she spoke in a more ordinary manner, dropping both the telekinetic voice-from-nowhere and the 'mystic' rhymes. As she spoke, it became clear that even the sound of the voice was different - the sounds she had projected were not a duplicate of her own voice, but rather a construct designed to match the somewhat spook atmosphere she had been trying to create.

"We noticed that your were avoiding population centers, and our home is resistant to smashing."
She spread her upper pair of arms in a gesture that seemed to point to the planet as a whole, obviously the 'home' she spoke of.

"We of Yamir have long made it our habit to avoid starting a fight in an area where our enemy hasn't fired yet, and of course there's always the chance of misunderstood intentions. We would not fire at any sort of landing craft unless we were very certain it was going to fire at us directly. So, what brings you here?"

OOC: ND- Here. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=11614233&postcount=85) It's at the bottom of the IC stuff. Basically, there's four medium/small ships attacking your fortifications from behind.

The technique could only be used to travel in a perfectly straight line, and even at such a short distance as ten light minutes, a fraction of a degree’s difference in angle could lead to considerable separation between two vessels. Moving as close as they could get to one end of the area targeted by the torpedoes scattered Xhertahk’s tiny fleet widely, but he was not concerned. Targeting the nearest New Dornalian platform, he launched two of his own small but deadly missiles and gleefully opened fire with all of the Harvester’s considerable arsenal that could be aimed at it.

He knew his ships could take care of themselves; after all, he had built them. For now, he wanted to do some damage while there was still some to be done.


IC:

The platforms sustained the hit with their shielding and used as many Gauss Miniguns and tractor beams to defeat the torpedoes as possible, however much it was previously damaged by the Facehuggerian assault. The results were that they sustained minor, but noticable damage, as the interiors were rocked about.

The platforms then fired back, with a spread of conventional and singularity torpedoes sent the way of Xhertahk...aiming at his ship and one of his other big vessels....

"We noticed that your were avoiding population centers, and our home is resistant to smashing."


"Naturally. We would prefer not to harm anyone during the occupation. ESUS forces have deployed to ensure that the upcoming transition is as painless as possible. Unfortunately, forces loyal to the terrorist regime currently in place are resisting, and are forcing us to engage them. We are merely here as peacekeeping forces while your government is in a state of flux."

OOC: ND, I’m assuming that just the platforms closest to Xhertahk’s ships are firing at them. If not, I’ll edit to take the greater levels of incoming fire into account. How many of each kind of torpedo are you throwing at Xhertahk, either way?

Ultraviolet flared on Xhertahk’s screens – though, linked directly with the computer that controlled his ship, the KX-1 had no need of them – as his missiles detonated short of their target. Taking a microsecond to assess the damage he had done, Xhertahk decided that the platform was a bit tougher than his initial estimate had suggested. He would have to work on his analytical software when he had a chance. In the mean time, he lashed at the enemy with another shot from his pair of front-mounted Type IV cannons, then spun the Harvester about to present its formidable broadside as the New Dornalian weapons platform returned fire with their own torpedoes. Before the modified courier ship had even finished its turn, Xhertahk brought up a scramble shield as his outermost layer of shielding. The chaotic, ever-shifting maelstrom of different types of energy was designed to disrupt targeting locks and tractor beams alike; between it and the half-dozen decoy drones that shot away from the Harvester, many of the torpedoes would likely go harmlessly astray. Even if these tricks failed to foil a single weapon, however, the barrage would still have to get through the fire of some seventy-odd light turrets (Types I & II). Xhertahk swept the incoming fire with T-II needle rays, taking advantage of the weapon’s four bolts per shot and high rate of fire to fill the space between his vessel and the incoming torpedoes with roughly 400 slender bolts of destruction per second. The toughest of these missiles were also targeted for concentrated volleys from several of his smallest turrets, and he hammered at the singularity weapons with pulsed repulsion beams. He also shifted his Type III turrets for arrays of Type I guns, adding another 630 T-I needle bolts per second to the torrent of fire. Despite all this, a few torpedoes made it past Xhertahk’s guard to detonate near the Harvester’s shields. By swiftly switching responsibilities about his vessel’s complex system of shield generators, he managed to prevent any of them from actually breaking down, but the strain was considerable on some of the critical devices. As the volley finally thinned out, however, the KX-1 selected 14 singularity torpedoes for special treatment.

A KaosKorp inertial manipulation drive is hideously expensive, but Xhertahk hadn’t paid for his and couldn’t care less. It also takes more energy than repulsion beam engines, though, and he preferred to keep some of the Harvester’s capabilities a secret except when he had good reason to use them. Now he activated the KIM drive and sent his ex-courier ship instantly into a swift rotation about its axis. Reaching out with carefully balanced attraction and repulsion beams from his 14 most powerful turrets as each spun into position, he latched onto the incoming singularity torpedoes and swung them through a great circle around his ship, releasing each one as it was moving toward the New Dornalian platform closest to the Harvester. Unless they had a quite impressive control and propulsion system, these weapons might easily prove a bigger problem for Xhertahk’s enemies than for himself.

Meanwhile, the Tomb of Hope was also coming under fire. Seventy meters of turrets and destruction, the warship was, in some ways, even more heavily armed than the Harvester itself. Perhaps because the bolt of energy that had poured forth from its mighty battleship cannon was more obviously dangerous than any of the Harvester’s weapons, perhaps because its more numerous turrets and sleeker appearance made it look more like a dedicated military vessel, or possibly just because of its position, it attracted more of the New Dornalian torpedoes than the somewhat larger vessel its master rode. Despite its scramble shield and decoys, a number of the weapons made it through the hail of fire to detonate near the Tomb’s outermost layer of shielding, and the ship shuddered as repeated explosions crashed against its shields. Several shield generators went down under the barrage, and the vessel’s rear ion cannon, along with a couple of other nearby turrets, were disabled by a torpedo before the backup generator came online to protect that area. Still, the Tomb survived to continue the fight. Instead of spinning on its axis like the Harvester, the vessel passed the three singularity torpedoes it captured from one set of cannons to another all the way around its hull. It started turning before it had even released the weapons, and as they began hurtling towards the platform that had fired them, the Tomb of Hope came into position facing the weapons platform that Xhertahk was fighting. The battered, but still deadly, ship sent another surge of power rushing through its mighty cannon, then hurtled toward its new target in the wake of the energy bolt at maximum acceleration.

The Dagger of the Void, somewhat smaller than its older brother, also headed for Xhertahk’s nearest enemy. It held its fire, however, waiting to draw close enough for a better shot. The ship had a distinctive unbalanced spearhead shape, and with the faint yellow repulsion beam of its primary engine extending through space behind it like a handle, the origin of its name was obvious.

The smallest of the four vessels, the Khafnin had emerged from its line of split space surprisingly close to the Tomb of Hope’s location. At only 30 meters in length, with neither Type III turrets nor visible fixed-mount weapons, it is no surprise that the torpedo boat drew little attention. Hidden in its heart, however, were some of the deadliest weapons Xhertahk had brought to the battlefield, and Khafnin was less eager to regroup than the other two. As the [I]Tomb[/I[ departed the area, the smaller vessel targeted the New Dornalian platform that was likely to have sustained the most damage from the attack – the one that had taken Tomb’s heavy cannon at close range. Tilting to present the lower front of its hull to its intended prey, the Khafnin began spraying mini-rockets at the lightly damaged platform. Only 20 cm in length, these tiny missiles were designed to get past heavy point defenses through size and numbers. Like all compressed energy torpedoes, they would release most of their explosive power through the damaged area if shot down – and thus toward the weapon that did the damage – but they had a minimal guidance system and a relatively small energy core. A heavy fighter might even survive a direct impact from one, if it were sufficiently well shielded. They could do more than a bit of damage despite their size, though, and the Khafnin launched about 200 of them in the next few seconds.

~~Otagian Landing Zone, Yamir~~

The old Yamiri lady’s three eyes narrowed.

“Transition? Terrorist regime? Do explain… we haven’t had a use for peacekeepers on Yamir in a very long time.”

OOC: ND, I’m assuming that just the platforms closest to Xhertahk’s ships are firing at them. If not, I’ll edit to take the greater levels of incoming fire into account. How many of each kind of torpedo are you throwing at Xhertahk, either way?

OOC: The platforms closest to Xhertahk and at a medium distance from Xhertahk are firing at him/her/it (argh....damn this RL crap. Sorry if the post seemed sketchy). They are dumping 5,000-8,000+ conventional torpedoes and 1,000 Singularity torps in total at said foe (such mass numbers for the conventionals are due to the internal replicators aboard the Anaconda Torpedo Launchers.....and the fact ND strategy favors overwhelming firepower).

The old Yamiri lady’s three eyes narrowed.

“Transition? Terrorist regime? Do explain… we haven’t had a use for peacekeepers on Yamir in a very long time."

The Avatar smiled apologetically.

"I was afraid you'd take this badly. We hope that our presence will be merely ceremonial, as we'd really prefer not to cause undue tension. However, we possess unimpeachable evidence that the GFFA, which the Kendaryn government is a part of, carried out a series of terrorist attacks on civilian targets, and that member governments were aware of these actions. That these governments, including that of Kendari, did nothing to rectify the situation places the blame evenly on all their shoulders. We are here to ensure that a minimal amount of violence occurs while we investigate the Kendaryn goverment to determine its culpability in these matters, and what measures should be taken, possibly including restructuring the government."

OOC: ND, don't forget the attacks from Naphtali and Vindicator on your main fleet.

OOC: ND, don't forget the attacks from Naphtali and Vindicator on your main fleet.

OOC: Dang...technically I made an Epic Maneuver onto your guys way before all this stuff, in post 74. Forgive my memory, seriously--RL is killing me, a couple of midterms and an essay on Frederick Douglass' Narrative to tackle. Plus, responses on my front come slowly for some reason. Probably because of a combo of things! :)

My tardy reply to Vindicator.

IC:

The shots from Vindicator upon the ND forces proper were promptly met with point defenses and the damaged shields and armor of the Dornalians, plus a move to evasive manuevers. Still, damage was taken, with a ship reporting issues with engines, and moderate damage all over. Nanites were working overtime now to fix everything, but it was slow going...

The platforms then retaliated upon the Vindicator--they had plenty of singularity torpedoes to spare. Of course, there was the matter of the ECM. Thus, they made a guess as to where Vindicator was, using her last reported position, and unleashed a horde of 1,600 singularity and 2,400 conventionals onto its position....

They are dumping 5,000-8,000+ conventional torpedoes and 1,000 Singularity torps in total

Quite a few. Edit, and reply to Otagia's newest post, coming as I have time to modify/write.

“Ambassador Kerthion has known the current Kendaryn monarch, Garnyn Delerän, since his youth, and I have met him a few times myself. From what I know, I am quite sure that the Kendaryn government authorized no mass attack against a civilian target. Besides, that-”

Dverzi gestured up at the battle, its constant flashes of energy weapon fire clearly visible in the sky.

“-makes it clear that you are not making any attempt at reasonable negotiations. Nevertheless, we will not interfere; we have neither the ability nor the inclination. By our own choice, Yamir has no spacecrafts. There are…”

She paused for the briefest of moments, consulting someone who had more reason than her to keep track of outside matters.

“-exactly 32 Yamiri off-planet at the moment, most of them merchants and all using borrowed or rented vessels. So, you need not fear that we will take up arms against you… so long as you stay clear of our home. Is that what you wish to ensure hear? Either way, I would be quite interested in seeing this ‘unimpeachable evidence’ of yours.”

OOC: ND, editted.

The Avatar cocked its head.

"Would a confession suffice? GFFA leadership admitted guilt in the attack and subsequent destruction of the Metallinautsi world of Harvyne II, and forensic data is analogous with technology and methodology practically unique to the GFFA. This blatant act of terrorism only serves to corroborate the evidence supporting that the terrorist attacks on Xenonier and Balroggan space were committed by the GFFA.

"As for the battle taking place above this world, we are fighting a defensive action. GFFA forces attacked us as our forces arrived, further proving our case. Their actions have neccessitated our stationing here, their actions have neccessitated our actions against the GFFA as a whole.

"As for your neutrality, we regret to inform you that your status as a holding of the Kendaryn state renders this moot. ESUS forces will be stationed here until such a time as this conflict is resolved in order to ensure that the Yamiri can offer no succor to the GFFA, as a whole or its individual states."

OOC: IC post coming--major physics test tomorrow, so I have to get htat squared away.

-snip-

The platforms tried to defeat the sudden turnabout; it was one thing to fire torpedoes. It was quite another to have them shot at you--especially if they were your own. Obviously, a panic was caused....

..and the Gauss Miniguns went to life, as did the Tractor beams, which tried to defeat the errant torpedoes by grabbing onto them and either shoving them back at the foe as best as possible, or directing them into the direction of the Gauss fire.

Some were defeated, causing very nasty explosions and singularities that rocked the stations; others crashed into them, causing vortexes that weakened the shields massively, and did some hull damage. The singularities, however, sucked in some of the other errant torpedoes, before they quickly collapsed.

It was a shame they did, as the Tomb's cannon hit one of the platforms with a blow, bringing its shields to levels low enough and rendering it vulnerable from the next wave of fire....thus damaging some of its point defenses and a few of the weapons as well. In other words, it took a goodly amount of damage, and though it was doing okay,it was not doing too well, with nanites and engineering crews forced to work to save the station from further trouble.

The stations and ships then opened fire on the Khafnin, and the Xhertahk, with Demolisher Gun, dumping a huge wave of blistering Warp Energy upon them along with a volley of conventionals similar to the previous one.....

OOC: Sorry about the four week delay. I kicked myself every day for not mustering the willpower to return to this. Just started University and was a rather large adjustment. But I'm back for good now, and will continue posting on regular intervals.

Jutenburg cursed as the Orks continued to concentrate fire on the Facehuggerians. Although he was none to upset that pressure was shifting away from the fleet and towards a target more capable of dealing with the damage, he didn’t like the fact that most of the attention was being concentrated on them. If the Facehuggerians lost one ship, one vessel, not only would it represent decades of lost construction value, but it could also cripple Facehuggerian, and by extension ESUS morale and could turn the tide of the battle.

He was shocked to see an entire section of the Trinity get rent off of the hull and start floating away in space. In all of his years as an officer he had only seen that kind of damage in simulations. The one documented recording of Torontonian ships dealing that kind of damage was dealt over a period of minutes, not all at once in one massive swoop of damage. It was glorious and frightening at the same time. If the Trinity was lost it would be a massive blow to the entire ESUS fleet. They couldn’t afford that.

“Rubridge!” Jutenburg shot as he bolted out of his chair, unable to sit any longer “What’s the status on Engine repairs?”

“We should have them back to full capacity within minutes Sir. Although mobility is the least of our concerns.” Rubridge stated back neutrally, while running his hands over the display console he was working on “It would appear in the time we’ve taken to restore functionality to the Engines, take a toll of the numbers lost on this ship alone and get an up-to-date estimate of damages fleet wide, a number of developments have taken place.”

“Oh?” Mocked Jutenburg, as he moved in to hover over Rubridge’s shoulder “Enlighten me Lieutenant”

“Sir, Dornalian forces have appeared in the fringes of the system. They appear to be vangaurding massive Defense platforms that are now spamming missiles against the Facehuggerians and the Otagian Swarm. The Facehuggerians are responding in force, and the Otagians have apparently crash landed on Salmath. As well, we also have the entry of several unidentified Kendari signatures that are now attacking GFFA forces.” Rubridge reported, skirting away from the Grand Admirals intense stare

“As well, we also have redistribution of Kendari forces, they are apparently shuffling ships to get a better shot at our fleet. No doubt in response to the critical effect that their weapons had on our ships. Their fighters are spending minimal attention on ours, which does allow us to mop up the ones that are harassing our ships, but it also means that they keep switching targets and are becoming notoriously hard to hit. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that they’re going to be using a position that gives them the best view of our fleet, and I would be trying to keep up fire of that weapon that did such a number on us.”

“Indeed Rubridge, excellent report” The Grand Admiral noted, lightening his position to a more friendly stance “However, we’re going to do something they probably expect, but in a very unexpected fashion. Lieutenant, send orders throughout the fleet, we’re disengaging from these Orks, and we’ll have to let the Facehuggerians deal with them on their own. Tell the Captains that we’re moving out to the Kendari formation, but don’t tell them to rush the line. I want all the ships to chart out a different course with a minimum of seven course corrections. Hopefully all the random oscillating motion will make it harder for them to target us. Once again, we’re breaking formation during this and don’t form up on the Kendari, it just makes us easier to hit! Once we get close enough, open up on the nearest ships, but keep moving. Hopefully the swarming action will disorient them.”

“After we’ve successfully disabled enough ships we’ll be able to stop and reposition the fleet to get maximum effectiveness of our weapons without getting wiped out of our galactic coordinates”

“Yessir, relaying orders to the fleet now” The Lieutenant responded “Although if you don’t mind me asking sir, what will happen if the Trinity is disabled?”

Jutenburg shot the officer a hard look “Rubridge, in all of your years of experience and training, have you ever. Once. Contemplated the possibility of a Facehuggerian Battleships Ever being disabled? Hrm? If so, I think we’d need to remove you from your position on the basis of Mental instability. We all know that those ships are nigh impossible to destroy, only in the Pubescent Fantasies of a Torontonians wet dream are such things possible.”

“Yessir, I should have realized that sir” The Lieutenant cowed

“Damn right you should have realized that. I can’t afford to have you daydreaming during this critical hour!” Jutenburg retorted

Not that it ever thought you, Sir Rubridge thought conspiratorially as he went about setting the Grand Admirals plan in motion.

Captains fleet wide would have been raising their brows in the absurdity of the Grand Admiral’s command. If it worked, they would have pulled off one of the greatest tactical maneuvers in history, hopefully without taking casualties. If they failed, not only were they destined to crash and burn, they would probably make themselves the laughing stock of the galaxy. Whatever the case, orders were orders, and each Captain conferred over the Battlenet to ensure that his plan wouldn’t interfere with the travel plans of any other. It would take a few moments, but soon the fleet started lurching into motion.

Crippled ships with engine capacities shuddered forward under the new weight of their own motion. Scarred ships plowed past the debris that marked where a Torontonian firefight had taken place. Ships that had so far managed to avoid damage were making sharp spins to reorient themselves toward the Kendari defenders. Shots fired at the back of what appeared to be the retreating fleet scored hits on dozens of ships, but none of them critical enough to warrant more than a note in the post-battle report. To the untrained observer, it would look like the Torontonians were abandoning the fight.

The first paths of many Captains had the objective of getting them out of the firing range of the Orkish ships. This wasn’t an entirely large concern as they were more occupied with fighting the Facehuggerian threat, so the fleet largely scattered in different directions, with a few fleeing towards the asteroid field, several disengaging from the other side and heading away with all possible speed, and others simply turning around and “Going home.” From an observers stance, it would look like a conglomeration of ships fleeing from a cluster of enemies, as if something they had said had offended them and they chose not to fight them anymore, or if the enemy was no undesirable to defeat.

However. Those who knew Torontonian Doctrine knew that Torontonians were no cowards. Some may wonder what they were doing, but if they had any knowledge of Torontonian tactic, they would know instinctively that this had to be a ploy, no respecting admiral of any nation would abandon the fight in the most desperate time. This was when Jutenburgs grand scheme came into play.

Veering off suddenly, the first wave of ships peeled off in random directions. Followed by the second wave and finally the third. It would look like the fleet had collectively gone insane from the stress of battle and were now plotting random courses that had Torontonian ships veering in every direction. Some came dangerously close to hitting each other and in isolated cases, some did, scuffing hulls and breeching decks. However, for the large part the Pilots of the ships were able to pull the first stage of the maneuver off.

What would have given the entire thing away were the fighters. They were now screaming towards the Kendari fleet and frightening speed. Apparently willing to abandon their mobile supply bases in exchange for some quick honour, they were striking back at the Enemy who’s system they were assaulting because they couldn’t simply give it up, and who had dealt such a grievous blow to their ship. Several of the first wave were vaporized once they met the defensive flak of Kendari point defense and the general concentration of anti-ship fire being tossed around the open space of the system so indiscriminately. However, many of the second and much of the third wave broke the line to swoop in close to the ships and start blasting away, their effectiveness to be determined later. Just like their Bandit cousins, they were attempting to locate critical systems to carry surgical strikes out on.

In Space

“Yeee-haw!” Eli cried over the intercom as they received updated orders, he wasn’t having much luck targeting the Combat drones, what with Computers being able to plot out a course more efficiently that a man ever could. But when they were redirected to support the fleet in assaulting the Kendari formation, he couldn’t contain his joy. Shooting at Capital ships would be like shooting the proverbial broad side of the barn, he was almost guaranteed a hit for every shot.

“Calm town Eli” Tobias warned over the Comm. “We’re not through this yet. We still need to get through the anti-fighter screen first”

“That’s right Boys” Helga cut through “Which mean’s you’ll have to be on your toes if you want to survive to see that warm bunk of the Samnites again. Lets move out!”

As the fighters screamed though, Tobias couldn’t help but worry that they were going to be obliterated. At he swerved between floating debris and drifting hulks of destroyed ship. He wondered if they were going to make it out of this alive, or if they were going to be reduced to fine pieces of space dust. As they approached the defensive sphere of fire, Tobias clenched his teeth as he accelerated to maximum velocity in order to punch through the Kendari line.

For a moment, there was nothing. There was no battle, there was no enemy. There was just here and now, and at that moment, he was about to get blown away by the screen of fire. However, it was clearly not his time to depart; the Gods had smiled upon him that day as he punched through the screen and found himself inside the Kendari formation.

Whistling, Eli interjected over the Comm. “That was some masterful flying there Toby, now how ‘bouts we go in and kick some ass?”

“Agreed friend, lets hit them where it hurts” Tobias replied

Back with the Fleet

For anyone who was taking the time to watch, they would have seen one of the most gracefully tactical maneuvers in Torontonian History. Ships randomly changed direction in what appeared to be a massively choreographed dance through space. With ships going every which way direction, Kendari Avalanche Beams were being staggered, and some were hitting, dealing catastrophic damage with each connection. However, the majority of the beams were passing frustratingly close but missing as the ship would swerve out of the way seemingly in a different direction.

However, one thing was certain. They were inching toward the Kendari defenders.

By the time they got to the Sixth correction, this was evident. The ballet of the deep was over. Now Captains were spinning up weapon cycles to engage a new enemy. Ships stopped for a moment as every captain contemplated the consequence of action. However, this was exceptionally brief, and chaos broke out as the last correction was made. Some Torontonian vessels found themselves right on top of some of the pikes that were defending the larger Longswords. All of which were firing their Avalanche Beams, and were having much more success, all of the ships were waiting for one order.

On the Bridge of the Plutocrat

Jutenburg gritted his teeth as the last of the fleet arrived within firing range of the Kendari. Personally opening a Comm. To the fleet through the Battlenet, he issued his orders.

“This day we are going to mark down our names in Torontonians history, and Torontonias’ name in the History of the ESUS. We are going to crush the Kendari defenders under our heel or die trying! I want Bandits getting in close and making it uncomfortable for their commanders. They need to carry out surgical strikes on those ships with their special beams. We need those disabled ASAP. The Bandits with mines left are also going to go on mining runs; we’ll save the destructive power of those for later.”

“For the rest of the fleet, engage whatever you can target. I don’t want to see an single remnant of the fleet left alive when we’re through here. Jutenburg out.”

“Do you really think this is going to work Admiral?” Rubridge inquired

“Time will tell Rubridge. Sooner or later. Time will tell” Jutenburg mystically responded

Throughout the formation, or perhaps lack thereof, Torontonian ships started opening up with everything they had. Hundreds upon thousands of laser blasts scorched the Kendari ships. Plasma splashed out across hulls and shield, searing and weakening. Magnetically propelled slugs smashing into the defenders, and for those ships that were close enough, sweeping lasers swept across shields and metal. All working in unison to bring down the ships they were furiously assaulting.

The Torontonian stinger had descended upon the Kendari, and they would pin them down until they stopped struggling.

OOC: I'm working on a somewhat long-ish post that will respond to Otagia's Avatar, ND's platforms, CF's fighters, and that magnificent post Torontonias put up yesterday. I'm going to be rather busy with school work this afternoon, so (depending on how quickly it goes) I may not get this posted until tomorrow, but 'tis coming.

OOC: I'm working on a somewhat long-ish post that will respond to Otagia's Avatar, ND's platforms, CF's fighters, and that magnificent post Torontonias put up yesterday. I'm going to be rather busy with school work this afternoon, so (depending on how quickly it goes) I may not get this posted until tomorrow, but 'tis coming.

OOC: Take your time. Genius cannot be rushed.

Besides, it's not like my next post will *really* be impacting you too much. Trinity will be more concerned with mitigating the damage of the Rodinians' ramming attack, Vindicator will be turning his attention back to the Dornalians, Adjudicator and Annihilator will be using an utterly simple tactic to launch a volley of torpedoes quadruple their standard volley against the Dornalian battle stations...

And yes, I know it's been awhile. Blame a combination of school, poor internet connection (I've been trying to just read Jolt for a week now! Grr...) and writer's block. :p

((A curse on homework in general, and my inability to concentrate on getting it done quickly. Well, ‘tis a bit later than I’d planned, but here it is.))

~~Yamir~~
Dverzi folded her upper pair of arms across her chest, and turned her head slightly to focus two eyes directly upon the Avatar. She stood for a brief moment in silence, frowning at it.

One of the duties of the Head of Defenses in Salmath is to deal with any security concerns brought up by the Yamiri. To this end, Admiral Dreldon bore a small device that allowed him to take part in the mental communication of the Yamiri, when they so chose. Dverzi’s request was a distraction he would much rather have done without in the middle of battle, but sending her the memories she wanted required only a fraction of his attention, and less than a second of his time. Of course, someone with the proper training and equipment could have constructed and projected false memories, but the Yamiri had seen no reason to give Dreldon such training and equipment, and regarded his immediate memories as a trustworthy source of information.

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you it’s rude to lie to an old lady?” Dverzi demanded.

“The fact that there is fighting up there tells me that you made no serious attempt to negotiate. Unless I am mistaken (and I’m not), the only request the defenders made was that you halt your advance while discussing matters. You obviously refused, and only a fool allows enemy forces to finish positioning themselves before beginning a battle that is clearly unavoidable. Besides, your claim to be fighting a defensive battle in the territory of a nation you are invading is logically inconsistent, to say the least!

“Your dishonesty in this matter casts doubt upon your claims regarding Federation terrorism, but a recorded confession would still be reason enough to investigate further. Naturally, I will need to get both sides of the story, and view the available evidence. As for occupation, I don’t have the authority to negotiate on such matters, but I suppose we can put up with your presence as observers, so long as you don’t make too much of a nuisance of yourselves. You will soon see that what I said is true.”

~~At the system edge~~
Khafnin lacked the powerful shielding and heavy armor of its younger brothers; if it suffered more than a few heavy blows from the weapons being thrown about in this battle, it would be finished. The missile boat did have one advantage, though: it was small enough to more easily make use of stealth equipment. As it came under fire from the New Dornalian forces, it halted its own stream of missiles and activated these devices. Between full-spectrum camouflage from its cloak, the abrupt cessation of all other emissions, the modification of gravitational fields by its system of matter suppressors, and other, more exotic precautions, it would vanish entirely from all but the most powerful and sophisticated of sensory systems. As soon as these systems were all powered up, the Khafnin used its own KIM drive to shift from the slow approach toward the station it had been following to a rapid retreat back and to the left. There was no way of predicting which way it was going to go, and with any luck the enemy gunners would assume it was still more-or-less where it had been.

As the Demolisher guns opened fire on the Harvester, Xhertahk shifted his ship’s shielding about again, this time bringing one of his own design to the outmost layer. The wild Warp fire washed over Harvester’s strange, shimmering shields – further straining the already battered generators, but much less than would be expected from the sheer quantities of energy in the wave of gunfire. If Xhertahk had been biological, he would best be described as having Chaos in his blood. That’s still a passable analogy, and he and his inventions tend to prove surprisingly resistant to the more chaotic forms of weaponry. ((Only Xhertahk and his constructs have access to this form of shielding, which was originally designed to deal with certain Kendaryn weapons.))

The second massive volley of torpedoes surged towards ships already battered from the first attack, and one might have expected it to be considerably more effective. The situation had changed in several important ways, however. Xhertahk’s ships were closer together, and could now support each other with their fire. The Tomb of Hope was in the middle of the barrage, able to use turrets on both sides, which almost doubled its available firepower. Furthermore, Xhertahk and his A.I.s knew a lot more about what to expect; the number of incoming torpedoes came as no surprise to them this time. The three grim ships brought up scramble-shields and poured out fire the moment torpedoes began to launch against them. The Dagger of the Void rotated to present its sharp edge to the New Dornalian stations, making 16 Type III turrets, 4 laser projectors, and a host of smaller guns available for defense work. Sweeping the incoming missiles with needle rays, repulsion beams, Tor Ganot scatter-shots, and the occasional laser, they managed to destroy all but a few of the weapons. All in all, the massive barrage left Tomb down to two backup shield generators and the Harvester missing a couple, but all three were still in reasonable fighting condition.

((I’m assuming from “volley of conventionals” that your stations skipped the singularity torps this time in view of their potential to be reversed.))

Tomb and Harvester began curving around the chosen station, hammering at weapons emplacements and anything else that looked important with the heavy turrets that made up the large part of their broadsides’ power, but the Dagger took a different approach. Its lopsided spearhead shape meant that almost all of its firepower, including 20 of its Type III turrets and its own massive battleship cannon, could be easily directed at a target directly in front of the ship. Shifting course slightly to center the New Dornalian station in its forward sights, the Dagger of the Void followed a mighty shot from the big gun promptly with a perfectly synchronized volley from its heavy turrets, aiming around the first bolt’s predicted impact sight. It continued straight toward the station, making no attempt to decelerate and keeping up a constant stream of fire from its other weapons.

((I know I’m not taking much damage here, considering the firepower you’re throwing at Xhertahk and his minions. I’ve only got four vessels in that part of the fight – the loss of any of them is a quite substantial blow to his/its forces. One is piloted by a Main Character™ and the others were built by said entity, so I’m giving them a bit of a bonus for that, and Xhertahk definitely focuses on quality rather than quantity in his ships, but I’m trying to keep it at a reasonable level. Khafnin is doomed if its stealth technology doesn’t protect it long enough for it to join up with the others, and Tomb can’t take too much more before it starts losing layers of shielding.))

~~The Main Battle~~
The Kendaryn Hatchet class Heavy Fighter is designed for one purpose, and one purpose only: the destruction of any smaller enemies unfortunate enough to get within reach of its guns. Bristling with turrets, the fifteen meter craft could track and fire upon the most maneuverable of targets with ease. Its shielding could shrug off most weapons the average fighter carried, and, though sluggish and clumsy by fighter standards, it was still too small and quick to tag with most weaponry designed for taking on the likes of a frigate.

Like most of the handful of MX units that chose the career of a pilot over infantry duty, Midu Treg flew a Hatchet in battle. Inhuman reflexes, perceptions, and multi-tasking capabilities allowed the war robot to make the most of the little warship, using its many guns like extensions of itself. Furthermore, he had a natural gift for small-scale fighter tactics, one that had earned him recognition from the King. There is a large degree of chance in the formation of any MX mind, mainly because Kendaryns are firm believers in the right to free will, but also because luck can grant talents no programmer, however skilled, could generate.

Midu sent his ship plowing into the midst of the group of enemy fighters ((Beta wing, not that he knows that) like the proverbial bull in a china shop. Blasting away at three targets at once, he simultaneously sent a forth fighter spinning with a loose-focus repulsor pulse from his primary engine as the lighter craft tried to strike at his comparatively lightly armed back. As more Dragonflies swept about his vessel in a deadly dance, he transmitted a coded note to the rest of his team and nodded grimly as three more Hatchets opened fire around them. Crewed by teams of four humans and Nertar each, they could not match his speed and coordination, and one of them was already down, heaving taken a bolt from a heavy cannon through sheer bad luck, but they were all well trained, and Midu would risk his life on their skills without hesitation. These enemy pilots were the best he had ever fought, and easily a match for any simulation he had experienced, but they were in a crossfire now, and if he had anything to say about the matter none of them would escape it.

~~~~
Daggers, the smallest and most maneuverable manned craft in the Kendaryn navy, are a bit more versatile: they carry a set of light cannons to dogfight with slower fighters, and a pair of compressed energy missiles to deliver at close range to larger vessels. They sacrifice the ability to carry any shield projector worth mentioning for better acceleration, but they rarely have trouble with bomber-style ships, and Kelen was confident that this would be no exception as he tapped the button that designated Zap’s Terminator as his squad’s next target.

Noting the blinking red outline on their screens, Kelen’s pilots easily maintained formation as he swung in behind the strike fighter. Kelen swept toward the larger ship, struggling to get a lock through all the ECM and match angles properly. Adjusting the settings on his forward guns, he leaned forward, focused entirely on his prey. Almost… Kelen thought. One shot, my friend, and I’ll have a hold on you no jammer can break. And… Ha! Just as his finger tensed on the trigger, gunfire slammed into the tail of his Dagger and he spun out of control.

Damage Control indicated that his primary engine was shredded, along with his air refresher and his tiny suitcase of a cargo hold. Well, Kellan reflected with dark humor, at least that last is no loss. Struggling to regain control with his steering engines, he watched the unfolding fight whenever his spinning, damaged ship allowed him to.

With their leader disabled, the two remaining Daggers split up and swept away in opposite directions, one of them blasting at the attacker with its pair of rear-mounted Tor Ganot cannons. Tinman hurtled after it in pursuit, avoiding most of the Tor Ganot bolts and unfazed by the few that struck its ship, and returned fire with its powerguns. Not entirely familiar with Kendaryn vessels, however, the AI missed its intended target by centimeters, and its slot slammed into the Dagger’s power cell. The fighter flared in a brief, silent explosion that reduced it almost instantly to red-hot, glowing shrapnel. The other pilot, not expecting his companion to be dispatched so quickly, had doubled back to attack the Facehuggerian fighter from behind. Now he came in, firing all four forward guns furiously, to meet his doom. Moving with nightmarish grace, the Tinman systematically took off his weapons and steering engines before disabling the Dagger’s main drive and life support.

Kelen managed to stop his craft’s spinning while it was facing the fight, and Tinman’s fighter was in his sights. He watched in horror as three more Daggers moved in to engage it, knowing the one shot he could get before this terrible enemy realized his ship was still capable of fighting would not be enough to destroy it.

He just hoped the monster wouldn’t come back to finish him off, leaving him to drift off helplessly like Mark.

((I made a few guesses there about what your fighters would do; if I got anything wrong, let me know and I’ll fix it.))

~~~~
“Admiral, target group A is disengaging – I think they’re in retreat! They’re sending a wave of fighters in, apparently to keep us busy while they pull back.”

“Thank the Fates! I hoped the A-Beams would do it. Direct the Hatchets to hold off their fighters and halt Avalanche fire.”

“You sure about that last part, sir? Every one of them we destroy, or even lay up for extensive repairs, is one less to join the fight somewhere else.”

“Yes.” Dreldon replied flatly. Once these orders were sent, he explained.

“Sending the proper message can have a greater impact on a war than the damage done in any battle. Part of the message we want to send is that we will not attack those who are not a direct threat to us in revenge for their actions against us in this war. That way, they know they don’t have to destroy or cripple us to be safe from our vengeance – all they have to do is drop out of the fight…” And then he paused.

With all the civilizations in this universe, nobody can study all of them, and Admiral Dreldon had only seen a quick overview of Torontonian tactics. Between this and the unexpectedly heavy blow against [I]Trinity, he might be forgiven for taking things at face value when his hopes appeared to be carried out. To his credit, he was at least quick to recognize the actual situation when the course changes began.

“Wait a minute – what are they doing? This is no retreat; it’s a trick! Resume fire at once!”

The Longswords and the Pike did what they could, but between the distance, the jamming, the unpredictable turns, and no-longer convenient formations, their efforts were largely futile until the Torontonian vessels drew near. Even then, they were hampered by the vessels carefully placed to protect them from the ‘less important’ directions.

The entire (remaining) Kendaryn fleet shuddered under the impact of the Torontonian ships’ opening volley, with many of the most heavily damaged vessels destroyed at once. Then the two forces were mingling, struggling at the knife-fighting range of a space battle. The Kendaryn warships were far from ineffective at such distances, but some of their most powerful guns and missiles were unusable, and their freedom to use the Avalanche beam was impaired. One Longsword swept its Yamiri guns ruthlessly across one of the larger Torontonian vessels ((Not a command ship. Somewhere in the upper ten percent or so, perhaps.)), slicing through it like a hot knife through butter; the wave of energy that poured out of the other side crashed into an almost unscathed Kendaryn frigate, utterly destroying it, and one edge took down a destroyer’s shielding. Another one of the slender battleships lost its central set of shields and was blown right in half by a concentrated volley. The two ends of the ship were automatically sealed off from the destroyed and damaged compartments, and what was left of the Longsword returned fire with A-beams from its three remaining Yamiri guns. Through some strange mischance, Admiral Dreldon’s Lance was also coming under especially intense fire. The heavy battleship’s technicians were working furiously to keep the shields online, but the great ship was taking a formidable battering. It couldn’t stand up to this sort of treatment for long, especially when it was already damaged, and neither of the other Lances was in a position to give it assistance quickly. A pair of Broadswords interposed themselves and opened fire on the Lance’s attackers; hopefully they could slow the assault enough for more help to arrive.

((There, I think I’ve got what you’re doing interpreted correctly, although I’m not sure about some of the timing. My response makes sense in combination with what you intended, right?))

Essentially Yes. The Tactic was meant to sow confusion over the Defending fleet and disorganize the current plan.

As well, Since this gets commonly confused by many people. The Bandit Class Frigate is not a fighter, its an Assault Frigate, Its 129 Meters long, so its pretty big and unable to do all the Dogfighting and Suppression that Fighters do, but they are small enough to get up close and personal with the enemy ships, which is precisely what their doing.

Along with the Fighters, the Bandits are engaging in precision strikes to take out Critical Systems. Although I should have listed this in the last post, the object of most importance would be systems relating to the Operation of the Avalanche Beams. But you can just stick that in your next post as I will mine.

All in all, that was an Excelent Post Kendari, if only we could get CF to throw one in there we'd be all set for beating the inactivity!

OOC: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. I think CF must be having internet trouble again; he hasn't logged into his nation in almost two weeks.

Assault frigates, eh? That's good to know. They'll make a good target for my 'Morningstar' destroyers, I think. 45 meters of turrets, armor, and steering drives, with heavy weapons mounted in the front, they're designed for high intensity, low volume fire.

To those whom it may concern who don't already know, the second front of the Big Push is here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=502373).

Does that make it the little push? ;)

“The fact that there is fighting up there tells me that you made no serious attempt to negotiate. Unless I am mistaken (and I’m not), the only request the defenders made was that you halt your advance while discussing matters. You obviously refused, and only a fool allows enemy forces to finish positioning themselves before beginning a battle that is clearly unavoidable. Besides, your claim to be fighting a defensive battle in the territory of a nation you are invading is logically inconsistent, to say the least!

"You misconstrue our words. We speak of no mere battle being fought, as the concept of a defensive action has no real indication of scale. Even so, our actions upon entering this system are justified. If a police officer walks into a building to take a known murderer into custody, it would not be acceptable for the neighbors to hinder his progress. It would not be acceptable to challenge his authority to remove the known murderer, whether by word or by sword. Now while it may well be that the Kendaryns are not these proverbial 'known murderers', we come simply to make certain that you are not harboring them, that you are not providing them aid and comfort, that you are not funding and supplying their cowardly attacks upon us. Kendaryn GFFA forces were given ample opportunity to surrender and hand themselves over to ESUS judiciary bodies. They did not, and instead assaulted our personnel. This does not speak well for your government's innocence. It is they that continue the conflict above us, even now refusing to allow us to take them into custody.

"As for the confession, shall we begin?"

Beckoning over a tiny NSB (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/blaesa/PRA%20junk/combatavatar.jpg) Avatar, the Herakles unit stepped back, watching as the NSB's holo-system sprang to life. A life-sized Kunra Esh materialised in all his gruesome glory, macabre body piercings and self-inflicted tortures decorating his body. Coming alive, it began to speak.

"I was the one who ordered the attack. Operation Yo'gand's Legacy was our operation. We are responsible for the deaths in Metallinauts."

With that, the hologram shut off, returning the cartoonish face to the NSB unit, which hovered off into the forest with the rest of the Otagian force, which continued to rain down from the sky, now including large waves of the smaller NSB units.

OOC: Sorry for the wait, I didn't see your last post until the latest one. Let the negotiations commence!

OOC-We gonna get this show on the road anytime soon?

OOC-We gonna get this show on the road anytime soon?

OOC: Yes. Tonight, as a matter of fact. I apologize for the delay, but time has been at a sad premium.

Grr! Character limit!

IC:


“Kill them all.” Tanthius had said. Kill them all. But did he truly mean that? Was he truly giving her carte blanche to use whatever methods were necessary? Was he truly authorizing her to use her main gun? Even she was reluctant to use it, so terrible were its effects. It was an evil weapon, unleashing energies that the Empire did not truly understand. Like the Kendaryn weapons that had so recently gouged great gashes through her hull, it converted whatever it hit into energy, but that is where the similarities ended. Unlike the Kendaryn beams, Trinity’s main gun was not stopped by shields. -It was, technically, though it hardly mattered, as it battered them down with the fury of a dying sun.

The moral conundrum came from its effects. In addition to being converted to energy, whatever hit would become something of a ’dead zone’ in space for years. Any sentient being, herself included, which got too close would have their cognizance torn brutally from them, leaving them nothing more then a mental vegetable. She was bloodthirsty… but there were some things that even she wouldn’t do willingly. Some things that she wouldn’t wish on her worst enemy, much less honorable foes like the Kendaryn. Her main gun was one of these things.

Yet the general’s orders repeated themselves in her mind. Kill them. Kill them all.

There were some things that you just don’t do in war.

Kill them all. Her orders repeated more loudly, her programming demanding she obey.

She hadn’t fired this weapon in anger for over a thousand years. It was such a horrible weapon. She didn’t need to use it, did she?

Kill them. The General’s voice repeated again, looping over and over.

Surely the General was just emotionally distraught. He cared for that woman. Surely he didn’t mean these orders?

I don’t care what you do, I want them dead! He had said.

Why was she having second thoughts? She had replied with such eagerness… up until she realized just what she was going to do.

It was almost amusing. She had no problems with genocide, with gassing entire worlds, full of innocent civilians. Yet here she was, debating the morals of what she was about to do. Why was it that she considered taking sentience to be a greater crime then taking life? Why!?

God forgive her.

“Attention all crew… brace for primary ignition.” She said, beginning the slow charge-up of her capacitors.

A terrible sound reverberated throughout her halls. It sounded of drums, but was something far more sinister. It was the sound of thousands of feet, armored and unarmored alike, slamming down upon her deck in near-perfect unison.

“DEATH! DEATH! DEATH!” They repeated, stomping their feet upon her armored hull. The sound mixed with the steadily-building hum of her capacitor’s charging, shunting virtually the full force of her reactor to her single largest weapon. Her other, lesser weapons fell silent, their energy going to power the monster at her prow.

“DEATH!” Her crew cried, capacitor-hum and chant alike reaching a fever pitch.

It is a horrible weapon. One I hope you never have to use. Her creator had once said. She’d just laughed and smiled.

“DEATH!” The cry came again, her hull shuddering from the power buildup.


Outside on her hull, something was happening. A bright field of energy, reflective as cyan-infused mercury, ran across her hull, squirming towards a single orb of the purest shadow which hung proudly at her prow, hovering between the bladelike pylons of her main gun.

“DEATH!” The came cry again, with more force. They were realizing that the time was near at hand.

You, Trinity, are a warship. Your place is out there, as the Emperor’s shield, protecting his people from harm. If that means you must wipe out whole worlds, whole civilizations, so be it. We all have our own paths to tread. Mine is lined with deceit. Your own is soaked in blood. You can‘t escape your nature anymore then I. Marcus had said, before relinquishing command. She’d never understood what he meant, until now. Before, she had always relished killing, the chance to test herself. Now, it was different. She was having doubts.

“DEATH!” The crew cried once more, their voices raw.

Outside her hull, the orb pulsed frantically, absorbing the silvery strands of energy, fine like a maiden’s hair, greedily. Soon. So soon.

***

“Stay with me… we’ll be there soon.” Tanthius said, cradling her stiff form between his arms. A futile gesture, but one that he needed to make for his own sake. She was already deep within an artificial coma, buying time but little else. Curse those interdictor fields. If the ship’s displacers were working, none of this would have happened. She’d have been displaced back to the main med bay, and he could have given full thought to winning this battle. To doing his duty.

Duty! The word echoed inside his head sardonically.

“No! I’m doing my duty! My duty is to her!” He yelled, legs pumping faster.

A leader’s first duty is to the men under his command. Not to his friends, not to his family. His father’s disapproving sneer made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. It was so long ago, yet the memory was still as fresh as the scent of recently shed blood. Not that I expected *you* to grasp this, son. You are too much of a… disappointment.

“I am not a disappointment!” He roared back, his grip on Alyssa tightening despite himself.

You are, for you are too concerned with your friends. If I were required to sacrifice you to save my men, I would do so. That is what being a leader is all about, child. Sacrificing yourself for your men. It’s what you could never understand. You were always too distracted. His father’s accusing voice shot back.

“I am not shirking my responsibilities!“ He yelled, breaking out into a run.

“Your duty is to your ship and her crew. Not to some…” His father said sourly, with a hint of disdain, “civilian you picked up from God knows where.”

“The ship and her crew can handle themselves!”

“That ship and her crew needed their captain!” His father’s stern voice replied, all that time ago.

Tanthius didn’t have a retort for that. Not now, not then…

”Your enemy was able to take advantage of your emotions to strike a killing blow. Without your presence on the bridge, the defense fell apart. Now, each and every one of your men, including your little civilian whore, are dead. Is that what you wanted?”

“I didn’t know! How could I have?”

”You should be thankful that I am dealing with this matter. The admiralty wanted you crucified. The loss off a Liberator destroyer is not something easily ignored, especially when it is due to… incompetence.”

“I have always done my job to the highest standards! It’s only your unrealistic standards that I can’t meet!” Tanthius yelled back at the memory.

“Son, I am transferring you to the ground forces. I know a good training sergeant. He’ll drill some sense into you, or kill you along the way. This is your punishment for tainting the family’s honor.”

“I made a mistake!” Tanthius yelled back, the medical bay finally in sight.

”Tell that to the men who are dead because of you.”

“Brace for primary ignition!” Trinity’s voice was shrill, almost pained.

Dear God…. He knew why. Primary ignition… she was going to fire the main gun! Damn it Tanthius, why didn’t you think! You told her ‘by any means necessary!’ Why didn’t you realize!? There’s still time to make this right if you hurry. Fast.

“Trinity! STOP THIS NOW!” Tanthius screamed into his helmet.

***

Stop!? STOP!? He was the damn one who ordered this in the first place! It would take precious seconds to safely disperse the energy she’d built up. And during those seconds, she couldn’t use any of her other weapons, save torpedoes. She couldn’t afford to just stop! She was already committed!

“I can’t do that, General. My discharge E-cells were damaged in the last attack. If I don’t fire the weapon, I could critically damage every turret in my prow. This would cause a thirty three percent loss of combat effectiveness, and that is simply unacceptable, the battle going as it is.” She carefully formulated her response, counting on the fact that he wouldn’t be well-versed in the minutia of warship systems. She was telling the truth, after a fashion. Her E-cells were damaged. She was banking on him not realizing that she could replace them in the time it takes a camera to blink.

“So replace them!” Damn. No such luck.

“Hold one… Oh, fuck me.” Trinity growled, half to herself. If she fired now, she would gut a large chunk of the Torie fleet, which had so recently charged the Kendaryn positions. “Apologies, sir. It’s just that I detected the Torontonian fleet making a run on the Kendaryn. We obviously can’t fire the main gun into a mess like that… I’m going to see if I can bleed off the accumulated energy into the shields, maybe make some use of it.“

Trinity felt something strange. Like relief… but it was mixed with frustration. She had resigned herself to firing the main gun, and not having to made her curiously happy. However, it still represented a large expenditure of energy that could have been better put to use elsewhere for very little gain.

“Very well, then. Continue on. Give whatever support fire that you can to the Tories. The Kendaryn are their problem now.” The General replied.

***

“Well, I’m telling you these damn Kennies are our problem, now!” Clone Centurion CAM-1138; Cams, barked into his helmet, directing his legion’s artillery down on a Kendaryn position. “Which means we have to deal with them! I want two city killers dropped right on their fraking heads!”

It was all simulated, of course, formulated from everything that the Facehuggerians knew of Zatreer and the Kendaryn planetary defense forces. Which, sadly, wasn’t much. Consequently, they had to fill in information on the OPFOR based purely on guesswork.

Facehuggerians being the kind of people they are, that guesswork consisted of assuming that the Kendaryn were superior on an individual basis to a Facehuggerian clone trooper, as well as being far more numerous. Unlikely, given the raw resource expenditure that an Imperial soldier represented, but Facehuggerians always planned for the worst, as the old saying went.

It was why Cams was having such trouble. He’d lost half of his men to an unlucky gigaton-range nuclear strike early on, and Kendaryn heavy weapons were savaging what he had left. Now, he was holed up in an abandoned farmhouse with just thirty men left out of an original force of a hundred, and the Kendaryn artillery were doing a damn good job of suppressing their allied counterparts. He had both his Exterminators on point defense duty, so hopefully the Kendaryn couldn’t drop another nuke on their heads.

“Sir… you better take a look.” A voice rang out over the Century’s commo net. It was Dern, one of his best rangers. The best scout he’d had the honor of serving with.

Cams linked up with Dern’s suit via the Facehugger battlenet, allowing him to see through his subordinate’s eyes almost literally. At least, it let him see through his man’s helmet; basically the same thing.

Bloody hell. Cams thought, seeing row after row of sleekly-armored enemy soldier advancing behind an enormous tank column. There’s no way they could survive against that, not without help.

“Attention, this is Centurion CAM-1138 requesting any assistance in grid oh-oh-sev. We’ve got a Kenny battalion sized force with armored support advancing on our position. ETA… seven minutes.”

“Sorry, 38, no support is available. Can you fall back?”

“Love to, but the damn Kennies have us interdicted with bomb-pumped Xaser batteries. We try to bounce outta here and they turn us into swiss cheese. We can hoof it, but we’ll be sitting ducks for their tanks across that wide open field, so we’re just as dead.”

“Damn. Look, I’ll redirect the first armored Battalion to your position, but they’ve got Kenny problems of their own, so it’s going to take them a while. Hang on as best you can.”

“We’re all dead men then.” Cams replied sadly, closing the channel. “Okay, boys and girls, listen up! You see that Kenny battalion in Durn’s view? They’ll be here before you can say ’frag,’ so I want you to get ready! Save your nukes until they’re within twenty meters. Their PD is as good as ours. So that means if you let ’em fly earlier, you’ll be pissing in the wind.”

“Just like back on Tertus Three, eh Cams?” Larn, sergeant of the Century’s first squad said, rocking his deegun in his arms, grinning like a madman. To him this was nothing. He’d experienced this situation dozens of times before, in real combat no less.

“Yeah, yeah. ’Cept we won that one.” Cams replied, gritting his teeth. With his enhanced optics, he could just begin to make out the whites of the enemy’s eyes, perhaps twelve kilometers away. Too damn close, for his liking.

“Fire at will!” Cams barked, bringing his own deegun to bear. Cool cyan-blue beams etched their way across the field, flashing into their targets with what could only be termed pinpoint accuracy. Anti-shield weapons first, then, when the weapon saw its target’s shields go down, the killing would begin.

The only problem with that was the Kenny shields were strong. Too strong. More suited for tanks then infantry. Like Cams’ own, but even worse. The only weapon they had that could reliably deal with them was their nukes, and Kenny peedee was just to damn good.

The Kenny weapons had no such limitations. Two of his men fell stricken, most of their bodies vaporized instantly. All around them, their cover disintegrated.

Cams tried to summon artillery, but it was all suppressed by ruthlessly efficient Kenny counter battery fire. Their anti-orbital defenses had taken out all the LOSATs and Flying Crowbars that the Facehuggerians had pushed into orbit, and the nearest MCV was too busy dueling with a bigger, nastier Kenny equivalent. Even their air support was forced away by Kenny ack-ack. Damn it to hell.

“This isn’t working. Kylie! Give me a couple of your ’poppers!” Cams yelled over the sizzling of weapons. Trooper Kylie was first squad’s demolitionist. She carried treble the number of nukes and other things-that-go-boom of her comrades.

What she handed him were M-877 ‘Cherrypopper’ munitions. Nine megaton ’clean’ fusion warheads ideal for ‘general purpose demolitions,’ by Facehuggerian sentiments. Considered ’low yield tactical weapons’ for use nearby friendly forces. -Only made possible by the fact that ‘friendly forces’ consisted entirely of hard targets. Even the lightest Facehuggerian soldier, rangers like Durn, were clad in heavy-duty armor that could shrug off SAF.

“Thanks.” Cams said, taking one nuke into each hand.

“What are you going to do…?” Kylie asked.

“He’s going out in a blaze of glory, lass.” Larn chuckled. “Buying us a chance to slip away in the confusion.”

Cams triggered his thrusters, half-bounding and half-leaping straight at the Kenny lines. Point defense lasers made tiny scorches on his shields and armor, but they were designed to deal with missiles and artillery, not a ten-ton armored suit.

One of the Kenny tanks fired, getting a lucky strike and taking Cams’ legs off at the crotch. His suit kept him alive just long enough, however, and he sailed into the Kenny lines, crushing one in the middle with his weight.

“FOR THE EMPEROR!” He yelled, but a heartbeat passing before he detonated both nukes.

It is widely known that a nuclear bomb is one of the most powerful weapons available for in-atmosphere use. In space, fusion bombs would merely release a large amount of heat and light. On a planet, however, their destructive effects are greatly increased. The explosion produces an immense shockwave capable of leveling whole cities, beyond the enormous flash of light and heat. And then there’s the stereotypical ominous mushroom cloud.

The amusing thing, however, is that a comparatively small armored suit is actually much more survivable then a city. Due to its smaller size, it will only absorb a fraction of the energy inherent in the shockwave, likely tossing it up and disrupting any formation it had with its fellows, but doing little else beyond severely weakening the shields.

Naturally, this all goes out the window for a contact detonation, much less two megaton-level ones. -Cams’ suit was vaporized instantly, along with a sizable portion of the nearby Kennies. The rest would be disrupted and, hopefully, confused enough for what remained of his century to get the hell out of dodge. At least, that’s what Cams could hope as his helmet darkened, indicating that he was ‘killed’ in the simulation.

No, really?

***

Really. The Orcs were really going to try and ram her. Her! If she were completely healthy, it would have been no contest. Hell, she probably could have rammed them back and cleaved the smaller ship right in two. But no, fate was cruel. She was not only wounded, but she had used much of her energy charging the main gun, only to have the effort wasted. The only weapons she had left at the moment were the torpedoes, and she could use her grav-guns to some extent. But it wouldn’t be enough to deal with her Orky assailants.

…Damn. Even if she did have full weapons, the enemy’s shattered hulk would still crash into her, tearing through her weakened shields and exposing her hull to the Kendaryn beams. Unacceptable. Totally unacceptable.

Her gravguns. That’s what she needed. She could use them to retard the enemy’s forward motion, slowing them down enough to… no. Even if she reduced their speed to a paltry sum, the momentum of a capital ship crashing into her shields at any real speed would bring them down…

…Unless she intentionally lowered them, allowing the Orcs to board her, for that was surely their intent. She could lower the rear shield segment as she slowed them down with her drive field… yes, that could work. She’d have to repel boarders, but it was much better then dealing with those Kendaryn beams again. Much better.

“Attention all crew! Prepare to repel boarding parties! Automated defenses are activating! All crew to defense bunkers!” She said over the ship’s PA. “I repeat…”

***

Cams blinked, his suit granting him full motion again. “Wha?” He thought to himself. The simulation shouldn’t be over yet, he’d scheduled it for… if the ship had disabled his simulation, it would have a damn good reason for it.

“Attention all crew! Prepare to repel boarding parties!” Yeah. Boarders would be a good reason.

“Alright, listen up! I want first, second, and third squads on these thee bunkers, go! Fourth squad, I’ve got likely enemy entry points from Trinity. Set up positions nearest there. Fifth squad, you’re engineers. I want autoguns and mines set up at every choke point. Our IFF won’t set them off… but the Xenos won’t be so lucky. Sixth squad, be prepared to evac anyone who gets wounded. Exterminators, I want you in reserve, ready to respond to any outbreak with overwhelming force. I want the rest of you on overwatch. If they make it past the bunkers, you must stop t hem, roj?

Remember, everyone, we’re dealing with Orks here. Chances are they are a hell of a lot better at close combat then you are, so stay away. Chances also are that they don’t think we’ve got big enough halls for armored vehicles, so we’re going to use that to our advantage. Trinity’s ‘fabbing up a gaggle of Behemoth tanks for our use. Let’s do this by the numbers, people.” Cams said.

“Ave Freeman! Ave Freeman! Ave Freeman! Purge the Xenos!” His century chanted back.

The men and women under his command, some one hundred and all, performed their tasks dutifully, each squad manning one of the bunkers established at carefully-chosen kill zones. Their boots locked to the ground, even as the (intentionally) reversing gravity threatened to send them crashing to the ceiling… now the floor. As per standard boarding procedures, the gravity in all contaminated areas would reverse every five to fifteen seconds at a random time, to throw off the enemy.

“Everyone go thermoptic.” Cams ordered, flipping on his suit’s own thermoptic camouflage. Thermoptics were a wonder of stealth technology. For a tithe of an AI/Soldier’s combined processing power and a minor reduction in the shields’ ability to dissipate energy, the soldier was granted the ability to blend seamlessly into his surroundings, disappearing as if a phantom. The effect would, of course, be negated somewhat when the soldier was firing, since red and blue death rays do not simply come out of empty air, but it would provide a great tactical advantage. Unless, of course, the Boarders happened to have active scanners, and wished to pinpoint their location by using them.

Cams doubted they would. Active scanners are not something you want to use in a totally unknown alien vessel. Especially not one which is intelligent, and which has a habit of forming rape-tentacles from the walls, ceilings, floors… By Freeman, he would have hated to be in the Orcs’ shoes.

***

Annihilator; Purifier: I’d hate to be in their shoes.

TheJudge: Why? They’ve shot down too many of our torpedoes.

Annihilator; Purifier: Because that’s just made me angrier… Tell me Adjudicator, are you familiar with an ancient Terran entertainment program called [I]Macross?

TheJudge: No. I don’t usually watch dated children’s shows. Should I?

Annihilator; Purifier: In it they make a point of launching thousands of missiles from a single fighter. Sadly, I lack the ability to fire my mass in missiles… but I have come up with a method of over-saturating their defenses all the same. Marvelous in its simplicity. We dump several volleys of torpedoes out the back and kick ’em off all at once.

TheJudge: You’re insane. But… then again, it [I]is a fine line between genius and madness. Let‘s do it.

The main cargo bay of an Adjudicator class destroyer was already equipped to synthesize weapons. That it was mainly used for making tanks was immaterial. Its fabricators could produce anything, so long as its atomic composition was on file. High-yield torpedoes were no issue at all.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. It felt to Adjudicator as though it took forever, but the process could not be rushed. All it would take is one faulty missile to crash into another, and all that work, and fuel, would be gone. Poof.

And half a million torpedoes does not come cheaply in terms of energy.

***

Vindicator’s point defenses were notoriously energy efficient. They’d have to be, as his defenses were the only thing that kept him alive. His shields, his armor, and his defensive weapons were all that stood between himself and flaming space death.

In this case, it was his point defenses that bore the brunt of responsibility. The Dornalians had launched yet another torpedo barrage. Vindicator applauded them. Torpedoes could be made more powerful then most other weapons. The only problem was that they could be shot down. And with an AI like Vindicator in control of defense, and with more then a million individual point defense weapons to use, he could shoot down lots of them.

As before, he took direct control of his PD weapons, carefully guiding cool blue beam lasers in the neat bisection of their targets. The actual damaging portion of those was invisible, of course, being X-ray lasers, however another blue visible-light laser was employed in the design purely for the wonderful effect. Facehuggerians had a natural predilection towards weapons in general, but beam weapons in particular. And, to be perfectly honest, Vindicator was not one for stealth.

***

The combined volley of both Adjudicator and Annihilator, a million torpedoes all told, was about the most un-stealthy thing imaginable. The cool-blue glow of their gravitic engines were painfully visible to anyone with a working set of eyes. - Though, in these numbers, they resembled more a terrible wave of luminescence then any tangible object. Their sleek black hulls were masked by the equally black darkness of the void, leaving onlookers with nothing more then the ominous glow. Were there a medium for sound in space, an on-listener would have heard an even more ominous hum, promising swift death to whoever could hear.

As one, the torpedoes accelerated, moving at breakneck speeds towards the Dornalian defense stations. A volley larger then even Vindicator’s largest by scores and scores. And, to prevent fratricide, the warheads would disarm should the Dornalians catch them in a ’tractor beam.’

***

“Do whatever you need, sacrifice whatever you must… but she will survive, do you understand?” Tanthius said, grasping the Apothecary’s neck, gazing into the man’s features with steely, cold eyes, not that they were visible through his helmet.

“Yes, M’lord. She will have the very best care. However, I won’t be able to giver her that if I am hounded by her lover. You do your job, General, and I’ll do mine.” The man replied, rubbing his unarmored neck as Tanthius released his grip.

The medicae was one of the few places in the ship that was pressurized, so as to provide some comfort to the wounded. Being buried as deeply as it was within the ship, the fire risk was deemed negligible. -If the enemy had gotten through the armor and other decks to get here, there were bigger problems then fire.

“ Nurse, wheel a scanner over! Let’s see what’s wrong with her!” The doctor said, slowly releasing Alyssa’s helmet. The silvery-grey strands of metal dripped like thin, runny syrup in a stream of rivulets, collecting in an immaculately clean drain in the center of the bed.

His patient was gorgeous. He could see why the General cared about her. But her wounds were grave. His hand scanner said she had shattered bones, a punctured lung, a ruptured spleen… it was like a laundry list of painful injuries. He could see why the General’d sedated her. The pain would have been immense.

“Hmmph.” The Doctor said, nonplussed. Her vertebrae were severed in over twelve different points. In a more primitive society, Alyssa would have been paralyzed from the neck down, assuming she was lucky enough to live.. But such injuries were ultimately treatable to Facehuggerian medical science, honed to near-perfection by the requirements of ten thousand years of nigh-constant interstellar crusading.

“I think we can fix her up without a trip through the reconstructor. Nurse, get me a hypo of medical nanites, and collect genetic samples. We’re going to need to quick-clone her a few new organs.” The Doctor sighed after checking her injuries. While, in truth, Facehuggerian science could heal any disease or injury with the nuclear reconstructor, the Doctor hated to use it. It was both expensive in terms of energy, and was one of the most disconcerting things he had ever experienced. They say one sleeps dreamlessly during the procedure… but that wasn’t true. One slept, sure, but there were always dreams. Sometimes you could even feel as your body was flensed of its components, on layer at a time, only to be rebuilt...

Like he said, he wouldn’t recommend that unless he had no other choice.

***

Tanthius, meanwhile, moved back towards his quarters. Trinity had given a boarding warning, and his HEV suit was insufficient protection for combat. The battle armor he stored there, however, was more then sufficient.

There is no way he’d let Xenos get anywhere near her. He’d slaughter them to a man if need be, but they would not set foot in the hospital. He swore this to himself, the thought lending his legs a boost of speed.

He almost slammed back into the door, waiting for it to open. Truth be told, he hated his battle armor. It was… deviant. But without it, he couldn’t protect the woman he loved, and he’d put up with any discomfort for that prize.

There it was. Enormous, and plated in dull grey armor. Festooned with weapons. Deeguns on the shoulders, the kind used to deal with enemy tanks, vied for space with a pair of missile racks, ready to launch a hundred different kinds of missiles at his command. One arm boasted an electron flux whip; a so-called ’lightning gun,’ over a meaty, bunched-up gauntlet. The other arm was possessed of an enormous two-pronged blade, sharpened to an atom’s width. From between this blade protruded a rotary powergun, quad-barrels with a four millimeter bore. A dull, almost crablike faceplate stared back at him.

Tanthius reached out to it, stiff and uncomfortable. Nor many people liked the feelings that come when they first put on an armored suit. Initially, it will melt around its wearer, pulling you in like insistent quicksand. Then, for the briefest of moments, they will be swathed in complete darkness, as the neural link is established and they felt the suit pressing into their mind, always a distinct presence, but blending around the edges.

The clones were used to it. They’d trained in powersuits for their whole lives. But Tanthius was a relic of the time when you wore armor, not became it. He would never get used to the sensations, never be totally at ease with the sensation. Though that was only one reason why he disliked wearing it. The other…

“Murder death kill! Murder death kill!” His suit chirped in a child’s voice, greeting him in its traditional display of degeneracy.

Tanthius sighed and took a heavy, leaden step. He wasn’t used to wearing a suit, and he almost stumbled before it adjusted itself, an internal gyroscope program meshing with his subconscious.

“Lord Tanthius,” The Emperor’s withered, ancient voice broke in over his helmet’s communications system. The man’s voice was full of contempt. “I have been watching this battle with great interest, and I note that your objective has been achieved. The GFFA has deployed many forces to repel you. However, I am also aware that the Xenonierans are negotiating with the Kendaryn for their removal from this war. This is acceptable. Consequently, my wishes are for you to get boots on Zatreer immediately to shore up the ESUS bargaining position. The Kendaryn cannot be allowed to believe that they are winning against us. You are authorized to conduct an exterminatus operation on one of the planets in this system to make your point. Though I doubt you will choose to.”

Damn right he wouldn’t. Tanthius had always refused to cleanse an entire world. It reminded him too much of the Vaaish.

“Y…Yes, Emperor.” Tanthius replied, plans forming in his mind like greased lightning.

“I have placed my… faith in you for this operation. Do not fail me.” The Emperor replied, chuckling to himself before closing the connection.

“Damn it all. Ironsides. I need you to break off from Trinity and redirect to Zatreer ASAP. The Emperor wants boots on the ground yesterday, and I intend to meet his expectations. Don’t spare the horses on this one.” Tanthius said, nary pausing for breath.

“Vindicator, cease fire on the Dornalians and provide maximum covering fire for Ironsides as he assaults Zatreer. I want those Kendaryn defenses suppressed long enough for him to hit atmosphere. I doubt they‘ll be willing to use their most powerful weapons near one of their foremost agri-worlds.

Boomer Three, continue to protect Trinity. When that Ork vessel rams her, I want you to begin taking off turrets. Anything big enough to hurt Trinity’s armor. She’s wounded, and we need to provide her with as much time as possible.

Trinity, when that Xenos vessel has docked, I want you to swing them around into the path of incoming Kendaryn fire. Use the Xenos as a shield. Understood?” Tanthius said.

***

“Let’s rock!” Larn said, cocking his blast-rifle eagerly. -It was a unique weapon, as unique as the man who wielded it. Take a nuke-pumped gamma ray laser, fit into a rifle with an excessively primitive pump-reload action, a fifteen round magazine, and an engraved scene with flowers and a pony. For accuracy, of course.

“Hey, Larnie! When’re you going to ditch that girly motif, eh?” Durn asked, chuckling to himself. It was something of a good luck tradition amongst the century. On the eve of the battle, someone always asked Larn when he’d ditch the pony. It was good luck. The last time someone didn’t… half the century was wiped out, and the planet they were fighting on had to be cleansed for their failure. That the slaver-fleets made off with many millions of fresh and nubile elf-children beforehand was little consolation.

“Never!“ Larn replied. It was what he always did. Always in the same way.

Cams smiled. His men were their usual, superstitious selves. It gave him some comfort, even knowing that they’d never fought green skins before. He was just going off the files he had and extrapolating from there. Big, strong, but possessed of a vicious, animal cunning. And who could forget the propensity for melee combat? Though his men’s armored suits would provide protection for all but the harshest of blows, and though they boosted a man’s strength many fold… the Orks would still probably win if his boys let them get close. Sure the clones were trained in close combat, but they weren’t equipped for it. The only melee weapon they had was a short, machete-like energy blade for utility purposes. It’d be no match for the enormous axes and mauls that Orks were thought to have loved.

Though, with luck, they’d never get that close.

Cams felt the dull rumble of approaching tanks reverberating through the hull plates. The first squad of his Behemoths had arrived. Excellent.

Ironically, the ’Behemoth’ tank was not as large as the name implied. It was, in fact, quite a bit shorter then an M-66 Exterminator battlesuit, and was only slightly wider. And yet the diminutive machine could go toe to toe with the main battle tanks of many other nations, owing to its small size, maneuverability, and an effective mass which is sixty eight percent armor.

The truth, though, was that the Behemoth wasn’t designed for engaging other tanks. Its central deegun and distortion, or ‘warp’ guns, being the only concession towards that purpose. No, its true mandate was to wipe out infantry. To this end, it mounted no less then six point four millimeter rotary powerguns. Easily enough to fill the air (or lack thereof) with millions of tiny ultra dense shards per second.

“Behemoth one, I want you to set up at the end of this hall. If the Xenos get this far, we’ll be needing heavy fire to stem the green tide. Behemoths two, three, and four, take up positions near the bunkers. When the Xenos arrive, make them regret it.” Cams thought. His suit’s AI translated the orders, sending them to the battlenet where the drone minds of the relevant tanks would receive them.

***

Ironsides had received his orders, not that he particularly liked them. Such a daring maneuver could have a huge payoff. The problem was the risk. Yes, his defenses were stronger then his brothers’, but they still paled in comparison to Trinity’s own, and he’d seen what had happened to her.

At least it was so foolhardy that no-one in their right mind would try it. It’d be unexpected, or so he hoped.

Never once did it occur to him to disobey his orders. He trusted the command structure. One does not become a star-general without being ferociously competent. Besides, he was physically unable to disobey a lawful order from his superior. Not that it was much consolation.

Ironsides: Vindi, make sure you cover me. I’m not worried about getting [I]to Zatreer. I’m only a few seconds out at max acceleration, but I am worried about landing. I’ll have to slow down… a ship in my size entering the atmosphere at a sizable portion of cee will defeat the purpose of landing troops in the first place. It will take some time to land.

Vindicator: Do not worry.

So reassured, Ironsides took a brief moment to ensure that everything was ready. His clone legion was fully roused, and ready for deployment, while his three MCVs were all sending confirmations. He was ready. Though, the method of their deployment was unorthodox, it would provide some advantages. It was a very rare thing for Facehuggerian capital ships to fight within an atmosphere, primarily because nearly any of their weapons, when used in such an environment, would cause grievous damage to the planet they’re fighting on. Fortunately, the converse was true if well. If the enemy wanted to dislodge him, they would have to use high-yield weapons to do it, and risk wounding their own planet.

The advantage, of course, was one of morale. Few things could demoralize an enemy force more then seeing a city-sized warship baring down upon them. Even if it couldn’t use the lion’s share of its weapons.

It was time. So, after praying to Freeman for luck, he pushed his engines to their limit and shot off towards Zatreer, inching ever closer to cee, the speed limit of the universe, as he did. He’d have liked to use his FTL drives, but both allied and enemy FTLi alike was preventing that. He could probably overpower the GFFA FTLi, but Vindicator’s was another story. That bruiser had guns that could comfortably fit Ironsides’ hull within their bores, along with the reactor to power them.

…Snag. The planet had some sort of shield grid. Landing was clearly out. At least not without blasting through that shield first. Which he was naturally quite reluctant to do. All the ECM interference in the system made scanning the shield problematic, so he would either have to trust in Freeman that the shields would be downed by a normal volley, or make a ‘best guess’ and fire his main weapon at what he hoped would be the yield necessary to overwhelm the enemy shields without killing all life on the planet.

He didn’t dare trust to hope. Murphy’s law, and all.

Ironsides: Vindi, I need you to lower your FTLi for exactly one second. I’m going to displace right into their atmosphere.

Vindicator: Very well.

With that, Ironsides spooled up his displacer drive and hurriedly crunched the coordinates. He’d chosen an entry point very close to one of the settlements on Zatreer. He could easily deploy troops right onto their first target, and, more importantly, if they should attempt to destroy him, they would also be sacrificing some of their civilians, something he felt sure that the peaceful Kendaryn would not stand for. A gamble, to be sure, but he thought it a safe one.

Vindicator, meanwhile, ceased firing upon the pathetic remnants of the initial chronomancer fleet, preparing to unleash his mighty guns upon the still far-off Kendaryn defenses. Granted it was less important, now that Ironsides had decided to pit his will and reactor output against the Kendaryn FTLi field which permeated the system, but he felt it would be a good idea to destroy what he could anyway. Like Trinity, he’d been privy to the ostensibly ’private’ conversation between the Emperor and his general, and he’d decided that any damage he could cause would further the mission. Getting the Kendaryn to pull out of the war so that he could replenish his fuel stocks and proceed to foes more… deserving of extermination.

The Kendaryn were a foe worthy of respect. They had managed to cause more damage to his sister then anyone had ever before. Granted this was due as much to her own laxity as it was their skill, but it was no less impressive. They had acquitted themselves well, and Vindicator was impressed. He did not want to wipe out such skilled and honorable adversaries, not when there were so many more GFFA members waiting to be put to the torch. Like the chronomancer filth, for starters.

It was why he was secretly pleased that command was negotiating, or at least planned to negotiate with the Kendaryn.

And so, he took it upon himself to do as much damage as possible to whatever military targets as were available. Hit them hard enough and they’ll start to realize just what the war would cost them. At least, that’s what everyone hoped.

***

“Now!” Ironsides thought to himself as he triggered his displacer. There was some resistance, as was expected, from the FTLi. But there was so much… it felt like crashing into a brick wall at light speed. He started to wonder if he was strong enough to overcome it, if he hadn’t underestimated the strength of their FTLi.

No, he just wasn’t putting enough force into it. Every problem could be solved with sufficient application of force, and he knew deep in his computer core that this was no different. So, he channeled every spare joule of energy into his displacer, burning through neutron-dense fuel mass like flame to paper.

But he felt the barrier weakening, cracking like a stone under the ram’s head. Just a little more…

With one final burst of effort, he thrust through, disappearing into the artificial wormhole that opened in the hole mere heartbeats before the FTLi reasserted itself.

His sensors told him that he was at his destination, hovering serenely just under a kilometer above the planet’s surface. That was the good news.

The bad news was that he had expended nearly all of his fuel in this little maneuver. At full power, he had exactly one minute’s worth of fuel left. If he didn’t want to crash into the planet like a rock, he’d had to tone it down. Which meant two very painful realities. One, he would be unable to rejoin the fight in orbit, on account of lack of ammunition. And, worse, he would be much more vulnerable to enemy fire, being unable to accelerate away, and with his shields weakened because he had far less energy with which to spend upon them. If the enemy was willing to bombard their own planet, he would be in serious trouble. His blink shields would save him… for as long as the enemy continued to fire upon him. After that, it would be game over, and he would be terminated.

***

“Warriors of the 707th Boreas! We go now to fight for the Emperor! But always remember the unique situation we find ourselves in! You will not slaughter non-combatants! You will not use tactical weapons in areas where civilians are present! You shall, however exterminate any who stand against you! You will, perform your duties to the Immortal Emperor, and to the legion! Ave Freeman! Pax ex Xenocide! Facehugger for the win!!” The 707th Boreas legion was Ironsides’ onboard legion, consisting of roughly a hundred and five thousand troops with organic air, artillery, and armor support.

Not included within that tally was the three Mobile Command Vehicles, or ’Bolos’ as they were known affectionately amongst the troops, which were nestled within Ironsides’ cavernous armory. A cross between a capital ship and a tank, Bolos were amongst the largest things on treads.

But as powerful as the Bolos were, they were mere support to the true heart and soul of any Imperial Legion. Replica soldiers, all graced with battle armor perfected by nigh-on seventeen millennia of Facehuggerian war fighting. Grown from birth to fight and kill with no cause, much less pause for remorse. Years in the making, each was irreplaceable in terms of the Kendari campaign.

Unlike some other legions, the 707th Boreas legionnaires did not give each other nicknames. They used their call numbers for everything. Zeta-one ninety two, to use one of the troops now filing into the gunship’s in Ironsides’ hangar, was simply known as Zeta One-Nine-Two. Though, in the heat of combat, that was often shorted to Zeta, or Zeta One.

Unlike his brethren now waiting for the Orks far away in the system, Zeta would have the opportunity, and more importantly the sheer space to practice the Facehuggerians’ mobile methods of war fighting. Once he left the gunship, he would bounce out with his armor‘s internal thrusters and contragrav systems. The rest of his squad would stay roughly ten kilometers away; ’point blank’ range on planetary operations. And, though restricted by rules of engagement, they were still free to use their tactical munitions on military targets…

***

Vindicator was not idle, however. He’d calculated the chances of his compatriot breaking through the FTLi field, and also predicted the fuel use it would incur. Sadly it was the only way to get the job done with the expedience that the General had demanded. And the one thing which unified anyone who bore arms for Facehuggeria, be they a clone soldier, or a warship AI, was that they always followed orders. Even if those orders conflicted with their most cherished beliefs, like self-preservation, or maintaining enough fuel to flee should the battle turn sour.

Unlike his smaller brother, however, Vindicator still had plenty of fuel left. -For a Facehuggerian warship, fuel was ammunition. Ammunition which was accelerated to relativistic velocities and given a sugary coating of ‘flaming space death,’ as Septimus had said.

Vindicator knew he only had one chance to get a full-powered volley out, before he would again be forced to divert his reactor’s might to powering the FTLi field, so he made the best use of it.

The angry azure of his PPBs swept outwards, eagerly seeking the Kendaryn positions nearest Zatreer. Sadly, he was fifteen lightseconds out. Even with flawless targeting, the Kendaryn would have fifteen seconds to dodge. And the PPBs were really only effective against energy shields, their damage against armor was ineffective compared to the weapons that Vindicator unleashed next.

D-Guns and D-Beams. Typically, these weapons included in integral PPB, so as to compensate for the fact that they did not damage shields in the least. Vindicator’s models, however, forwent those convenient tools, and instead preferred sheer size. His D-guns were larger then even Trinity’s own, and they swept out, timed to hit their targets mere moments after the PPB barrage had, in theory, taken down their shielding. At least that was how it was supposed to work.

But though his D-Guns were his favorite weapon, he knew that there was an element of uncertainty in their use. If the enemy shields remained up, the blasts would dissipate away harmlessly. So, he turned his other weapons upon the Kendaryn as well. Capital-ship grade powerguns. Not so useful at ranges like this against motile targets… but against stations which, hopefully, couldn’t evade, he would be treated to quite a show as millions of neutron-dense slugs slammed into their targets, dumping truly hideous figures of kinetic energy into their waiting foes.

A modest torpedo barrage, perhaps half of his total capability, or eighty thousand anti-capital torpedoes, give or take, along with some manipulation from his gravguns rounded out the assault.

And now for the OOC bits which got cut off by the text limit. :p

OOC:

Okay, a lot of stuff. First off, I apologize for it taking so long. Choosing a major is very time consuming, and has taken up a lot of my limited writing time as of late.

Sorry about the abruptness of it all… but I’m really starting to tire of the space battle. So I figure I might as well open another front, as Blasea did.  I figure what amounts to crippling one of my ships is a fair trade. Especially since it’s restricted by orders to leave the planet and its citizenry intact, and thus can’t really provide much support at all beyond looking intimidating as hell. :p

Now, here’s the deal on Facehuggerian Ground Forces:

They really like planetary operations better then boarding actions. Why? Because of their mobility. Everything I have is contragrav capable. IE, it can fly. Though this functionality isn’t necessarily used like that due to the threat of anti-air defenses. Instead, my units tend to favor a ‘bounce’ strategy, very similar to how the mobile infantry in Starship troopers operated, but with more combined arms, and much better powersuits.

Bolos are basically capital ships on treads, meant to act as mobile command posts and orbital defense guns. They can fight enemies directly, but Facehuggerian doctrines frown upon this. Ironsides carries three of these five hundred meter long monsters.

Another thing which is important to note is that every Facehuggerian ground unit has a nuclear weapon somewhere. Typically, this is an M-422 anti-suit charge, a twenty five kiloton shaped fusion charge, which is mounted in the missile racks.

Personal weapons tend to be a pair of .04mm repeating powerguns on the shoulders (Sufficient to deal with most man-sized targets and light vehicles, but no tanks or anything like that) as well as a Mark 33 Deegun, like a larger capship mounted D-Beam, in rifle form.

A note is that all Facehuggerian nukes are anti-matter primed fusion devices, and are thus very ‘clean’ except for the initial radiation burst. No major fallout, at least compared to a conventional H-bomb.

Ohh, yes. I almost forgot the active camo. Basically, as per modern extrapolations of the technology, but with more reliability and the ability to bleed off thermal energy into the E-Sink shields, which radiate it away as harmless neutrinos.

Any additional information is available Here (http://wiki.esusalliance.co.uk/index.php?title=Imperial_Clone_Legions), though that is just a WIP and doesn’t include the sensor suites that any Facehuggerian clone trooper has.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask…

Back to the spacebattle:

GR, what I’m basically planning on doing is having Trinity use her gravguns (her own gravitic drive field, basically,) to slow down your ship enough so she won’t be crushed by the ramming action. Then, she’ll lower her shields and open up holes in her hull so as to guide your Orcs into pre-prepared killzones. Then, of course, once you have successfully rammed, she will flip the combined mass over and use your ship as a shield.

Just in case that wasn’t clear in her little monologues and such. 

Oh, yes. And the whole ship, save for certain areas (the ship’s Cathedral and medical centers, basically) are not pressurized, as per standard procedure. I hope your guys have spacesuits.

ND: Annihilator and Adjudicator basically condensed a bunch of volleys into one enormous wave of missile-y death, in hopes of overwhelming your point defense with sheer number of projectiles. Said missile swarm is going for your defense stations, as before.

Kendari: Basically, Vindicator’s volley consists of shield busting weapons followed quickly by armor busting ones, and then high-damage (but slower, compared to lightspeed beam weapons) kinetic weapons, torpedoes, and some long-range use of his grav field to do whatever damage he can.

All of this barrage is going for our ships, save the powerguns (kinetics) which are going for the stations, the rationale being that they can’t dodge. He is completely ignoring the planet itself and its ‘siege shields’ I think you called them?

OOC: Wow. Now that is a long post. I like it! Reply to it and other stuff on this thread coming after I've had time to write it.

OOC: Wow. Now that is a long post. I like it! Reply to it and other stuff on this thread coming after I've had time to write it.

No problem. Take your time.

-=ANSS Kelt

Read Admiral Grisham, topside of Salmath, read the orders again, as he sat alone within his quarters. A strange dread suspense began to gnaw at his gut - the Fist withdrawing? Dark possibilities clouded his mind but he dismissed them; he was the Supreme Naval Commander in Salmath for Arizona Nova now, and it was to him that fell the duties it entailed. Everyone on the bottom was entangled right now, but nothing had appeared topside so far. He was in a prime position to act.

Navigating to interface with the ESUS battlenet on his console, he found that already the allied fleet was picking targets - Otagia on Ymir and Central Facehuggeria on Zatreer. He did not doubt the prowess of these particular nation's ground forces; Central Facehuggeria obviously, but he was also sure of the fearsomeness of Otagia's shock troops. This left Korvial; some sort of "library planet" if the intel rang true. He considered it all for a minute; while adding the Arizona Novanian forces to the other landings would make their onset devastating, they also ran the risk of being, well, totally inadequate. Not to say the ground forces weren't formidable, but it is hard to look fearsome next to one of the gun-glazed Facehuggerians or macabre Otagian drones. Korvial it was. He quickly filed a brief to the Arizona Novanian forces, notifying them of the command change and their next target. Hopefully whatever mess had been conjured on the other side of the system was taken care of.

~~Zergin System~~
Far beneath the ground on the warmer of the two inhabited planets, something was moving. The earth trembled as massive repulsor beams drove an angular research station, constructed of durasteel plates reinforced with battle steel, up through the dirt. Finally the pointed roof of the mobile building pushed through the ground, and the structure sprang away from the surface of the planet like a leaping salmon the size of a small apartment building.

This station housed one of the most important research projects currently in progress in Kendari – the study of the probability jump drive. Many of the best Kendaryn wizards, scientists, engineers, and mathmagicians were working on this project, and it could not be risked if invaders reached the system. Although the team was still a long way from constructing a working drive, much less a model that could be put into widespread use, the project was going as quickly as could be expected. It was certainly far faster then they would have been able to move without the valuable clues the Godulans had provided. This information was part of what made the station so valuable. Of course, their were back up copies of this data, but they might be difficult to get to while the war was going on, especially since Salmath had been the first system struck. Between the progress that had been made and the valuable tips that had started it, the loss of this research station would set the project back by years, even if most or all of the researchers escaped.

So it was being hidden. Pulled by a pair of destroyers, the station vanished through a portal into an unimportant system deep in Kendaryn territory. The place was uninhabited, barely explored, and well away from any standard lines of travel, one of scores of similar systems. Unless the ESUS decided to carry out a thorough and extensive search, the odds were very strong that nobody would even come near this system until the war was over.

~~Yamir, Otagian Landing Zone~~
“Nor are you the proverbial police officer, but we can debate the philosophy behind preemptive defense later. Your recording is interesting, but again there are more pressing matters – specifically, your planned occupation.”

Dverzi glanced at the continuing arrivals plummeting down to Yamir’s surface.

“How many of those do you need, anyway? They make rather a lot of noise. I can, if you wish, arrange a meeting with one who has the authority to carry out full negotiations with you. I can tell you now, however, that there are a few conditions we will require. First, you will not determine our laws. We understand your desire to protect yourselves and your interests and are willing to cooperate for that purpose, but we will not surrender to a would-be conqueror without a fight. Second, any inspections you make will not include the inside of certain of our workshops. Some of our methods of manufacturing are trade secrets, and nobody will learn them against our will. We did not tell the Kendaryns how our products are made, and we will not tell you. Other terms and details are negotiable, but if you cannot agree to those two conditions, I very much doubt we can come to any agreement.”

~~Salmath System, Open Space, Primary Battleground~~
The indirect charge by the Torontonian ships had brought them to the Kendaryn fleet with very few additional losses, but the defenders were still far from finished. They pounded at their attackers with a multitude of weapons… Tor Ganot bolts, standard blaster-cannon fire, photon pulses, disintegration rays, and many more varieties. A few ships probed at weapon emplacements and other likely looking targets with tech-disruption beams, firing a stream of energy that tended to interfere with complex circuitry and the other workings of advanced technology. Hatchets continued their lethal work against the Torontonian fighters, and Morningstar destroyers tore at the Bandits with front mounted Type III cannons designed to take on anything short of the average battleship effectively. Dreldon watched it all from several angles on his assorted view screens, looking for any pattern or detail that might give the forces under his command a better chance. One glance at a screen scanning the rest of the battlefield, however, drew his attention away from the fierce sub-battle beginning around him.

“What in Xelgir’s name is that?!”

He stared in shock at the streamers of energy washing over Trinity’s mighty hull. Dreldon had seen some pretty horrifying weapons in his day, including experimental KaosKorp contraptions that were taken out of consideration because nobody could imagine a situation that would warrant using them and more than one diabolical doomsday device dreamed up by the twisted mind of a rogue inventor, but something about this sight made his blood run cold, and it wasn’t just that a ship the size and power of the Facehuggerian dreadnought actually carried a weapon that it needed to charge up.

A weapon like that isn’t going to be fired at a single ship or station, no question about that. Surely they wouldn’t fire it right into this mess, with their own allies among us in such numbers… Is it targeted against Zatreer? I’m not sure even the siege shields can stop a shot from a weapon like that… What have I done?

And then the energy began to fade away.

Whew! Either somebody changed his mind, or they just now spotted their friends with the fancy armor. Could be we’re lucky that lot got so close after all…

~~~~
The Longsword Zathrelsa was located near one edge of the battered Kendaryn fleet, and had fewer Torontonian warships sweeping about it. Thus it was that Ibel Drantos, the gunner in charge of the fourth portside Yamiri turret, was able to keep an eye on the rest of the battle part of the time. With no nearby targets in his potential field of fire, he happened to be looking when the Org'rimma began its unstoppable charge toward Trinity. And he was watching very closely when the massive dreadnought’s shields went down. The Facehuggerian vessel was at the edge of his field of view, and its attacker blocked most of its hull from his sight, but Drantos took aim as best he could and fired an avalanche beam pulse. There was no way he could sweep the deadly weapon across his target, as he would have liked to do; the best he could hope for was putting a hole in the mighty ship, and he only had time for one shot at that. Even this was far from certain – the Horde flagship, which still had shields up, might block the shot, or it might strike a part of its target that hadn’t had its shields lowered. With enough luck, however, it might disrupt some of the forces that were surely gathering to combat the orks, and that would give these allies that had bravely come to Kendari’s aid a better chance in their boarding attempt. This possibility was more than worth taking the shot, or so it seemed to Drantos.

~~~~
“Admiral, one of those ships is changing course!”

“Bring it up on my third screen.”

Dreldon examined the image of the accelerating vessel for a moment. Tentatively identified as Facehuggerian, it was an impressive ship, though the two massive dreadnoughts easily dwarfed it. From the looks of things it was heading for Zatreer – probably carrying a landing party.

“Alert the Zatreer defense team that an assault is immanent. Guardians are to throw everything available at the attacking vessel. Ground forces should be ready, but they’ll need a last-minute warning. I’d hoped we would have longer, but the siege shield should hold long enough for another wave or two to evacuate, at least.”

Strange… I was expecting this to come, but why now? And why just one? Even a ship like that is going to have a hard fight, going up against the Guardians. There’s been no sudden shift in the course of the battle, unless perhaps it was related to that canceled shot from the dreadnought. Perhaps they’ve received new orders from above, and some superior is getting impatient, though that still leaves the question of scale. Well, they’ll still have a bit of a wai- Enemy FTLi is down! Damn damn DAMN, they’re bypassing the shields!!

“Halt evac immediately! We’re out of time. Priority one for all vessels on evac duty is to make sure the invaders do not get anything through one of our portals, unless it’s headed to Zergin or Tenrek. If a ship has to close its portal before leaving to prevent a security breach, then so be it.”

Before Dreldon had even finished these orders, Ironsides was past the siege shield. Zatreer’s penultimate line of defense had been passed.

~~~~
Guardian battle stations have a somewhat more complex control system than most Kendaryn vessels, and are better suited for concentrating on a lone target. Chenrik Vree, chief gunner of the third Zaltreer Guardian, was easily able to select the largest guns facing the advancing Facehuggerian warship while leaving the smaller weapons free for point defense duty. Letting the Guardian’s great computer judge the target’s acceleration, Vree took aim at a spot near the front of Ironsides and opened fire with the three of the station’s great Type V turrets that were facing the right direction, along with 90 Type IVs and several hundred shots from Type III guns. As this volley, and others like it from two more Guardians that were on this side of Zatreer, raced toward Ironsides, Vree programmed and launched two score heavy torpedoes. Then, one of the nearby technicians spoke up.

“They just took down their inhibitor! I think-”

Guardians are formidable stations, but their primary focus is on combat. Their FTLi generators, while individually the strongest Kendari could produce, are no match for the multitudes of overlapping fields put out by the layer of FTLi drones scattered through the asteroid field. As it turned out, they were also no match for Ironsides. By the time Vree’s torpedoes reached their destination, the ship was gone. Now, the mighty siege shields that allowed the defenders to use heavy weapons this close to an inhabited world without fear stood between the intruder and the Guardians themselves.

~~Fortress Kranel, The city of Kranelgym, Zatreer~~
General Verthan Kranel, Lord of Kranelgym, Ground-side Commander of the Zatreer military, looked grimly over the report he had just received from above. A large vessel, tentatively identified as a Facehuggerian heavy destroyer, appeared to be moving in for an assault on Zatreer. The Facehuggerian soldiers reportedly fought like demons on land, and were heavily armored; from this one could reasonably conclude that they were impressively well armed, but relatively low in numbers. That a single ship (even if it was some six kilometers in length) carried a force considered sufficient for the conquest of a reasonably well defended planet supported this conclusion. With this in mind, Lord Kranel reflected on the forces that he had available to fight back.

There were roughly a million soldiers on the planet, with six forces of 100,000 arranged to cover the area as thoroughly as possible and the rest divided into garrisons of one to several thousand stationed at various cities. Zatreer had a great many small, compact cities, no large ones, and few towns; most population centers were guarded by one such garrison. Each thousand soldiers were assigned ten Daggers, a Hatchet, and a small force of ground-based armored vehicles and artillery. Verthan sighed, wishing this last category was more extensive. King Garnyn and some of his political allies in the military had been working to improve the Kendaryn ground-based arsenal, but the Traditionalists, who tended to underestimate the value of a tank, had resisted, and Garnyn had made his upgrades to the infantry’s armor a higher priority. At least the situation was considerably improved from what it had once been, thanks to His Majesty’s efforts and the invention of Delvar energy artillery.

Roughly half his troops carried weapons that could be expected to deal with the Facehuggerians with reasonable efficiency. Every MX model was equipped with at least one heavy weapon of one sort or another, and the Narvok ray cannons of the Hammers were effective enough against most anything. The Royal Guards, even with their power armor (one of the improvements Garnyn had ordered), probably couldn’t resist Facehuggerian fire for long, but the Tor Ganot heavy blast rifles many of them carried offered the greatest potential destruction per shot of any infantry weapon Kendari had invented. The rest of them bore Tor Ganot ‘light’ blast rifles designed to deal with armored infantry, which might or might not be powerful enough to handle these opponents, but their hand guns should be sufficiently lethal if they could get close enough to use them. The Narvok blast rifles carried by ordinary Kendaryn soldiers weren’t intended to pierce anything more than light power armor, but sustained and concentrated fire from several of them at once was still nothing to scoff at, and the defenders ought to have enough numerical superiority to eventually arrange that.

Then there were the militias to be considered. Most of them had volunteered to help keep the evacuation organized, and would want to be involved in the defense of their homes. They were a highly mixed lot, of course. The majority of them were poorly paid workers who got in a bit of practice with a cheap blast rifle on their day off, but there were also a handful of wealthy land and business owners and more than a few professional mercenaries and security guards, some of whom were better equipped than any man or woman in the Kendaryn military. A few even had personal shields! Again Verthan sighed. Maybe someday ((read OOC: very probably)) a technological breakthrough would allow miniaturized shield generators to be built fast enough to issue them to all Kendaryn soldiers, or at least the Royal Guards, but right now they required extensive nano-bot construction, and it simply wasn’t possible. Anyway, the militia probably would pay a minor but noteworthy role in the defense of the planet. The one thing all of them had in common was a distinctive checkered blue armband, headband, or sash, to distinguish them from the rest of the civilians. Hiding among the non-combatants could be a powerful tactic, but it wasn’t honorable, and, perhaps more important, could greatly increase the danger to those who didn’t want to fight. Soldiers who couldn’t tell who was an enemy and who wasn’t sometimes started shooting everything that moved; with any luck at all, that wouldn’t happen here.

~~Castle Borallyn~~
Sir Merkin Torêl, Protector of the city of Borallyn, stared with dismay at the massive warship looming in his view screens. That monster’s shadow covered half the city! Even if he had any weapons available that could seriously endanger it, he couldn’t use them now; if he shot it down while it was this close, the destruction from the crash of its fall would be horrible. He only froze for a moment, however, before he started giving orders. Those non-combatants who were not yet evacuated needed to get to shelter immediately. The soldiers under his command, along with the city militia, would assemble before his castle, in the shelter of its shields. Assorted vehicles were to be activated and brought forth. From the size of that ship alone, it was plain that the two thousand soldiers under Sir Merkin’s command would barely even be able to slow the force it landed for a moment, and he needed to see how exactly they deployed before he could figure out how best to resist them. If they concentrated on his castle, he would try to hold them off long enough for reinforcements to arrive, and most likely retreat if his shields went down. If they divided into small groups, he might be able to try to disrupt their operations. If they marched off as one force, all he could do was try to get to another castle without facing them directly, and work on gathering a force that might have a chance of taking them on. For now, all he could do was wait, although probably not very long.

The moment Ironsides was spotted, shields went up across the city. These were light energy screens, intended to protect against stray gunfire, radiation, chemical and biological weapons, the blinding flashes some weapons produced, and other such low-power hazards. It would be obvious to anyone with decent sensors that they couldn’t withstand more than a few shots from any sort of anti-vehicle gun, and were not supposed to. Furthermore, unlike most Kendaryn shields, they would not prevent the passage of massive objects like people and vehicles. The castle was another matter entirely. A formidable construction armored in battle steel and decorated with granite blocks, it was protected by layers of battleship-grade shielding. Each of the four corner-towers was topped with a powerful Type III turret; they were clearly insufficient to challenge Ironsides itself, but they might easily be able to destroy shuttles and other such craft, and would fire at any that came within their line of sight. The outer walls were largely decorative, but they also supported a set of smaller turrets, and concealed the castle’s array of great shield generators from outside view. It would be very obvious that this was the sole military presence in the invaders’ immediate vicinity.

~~Castle Mädrenok~~
Sir Dez Vorgallan commanded only 500 soldiers. The money that would usually have gone to hiring and supporting another 500 was instead spent on the studies, experiments, and whims of T’val kon Veldeg. Kendari’s greatest living expert on outlands magic, the old man earned his keep well. He had studied with most of the well known mages in the Border Worlds, and several of the more obscure ones; he had even spent most of a decade at the great University of Devar – the place that had, through an accident in a student’s experiment, instantly transported most of the contents of the Kanell system to the capital’s current location in Zergin. Mädrenok’s shields were supplemented by complex wards, and Sir Dez, who had many times watched the old magician practicing, was confident that he could make up for the missing soldiers in battle.

((OOC: ‘Magic Missile!’ wielding wizard included for Xenonier’s amusement, because of a discussion on MSN. If you’d rather not deal with a full-fledged wizard directly, his defeat can happen off screen, as it were. His abilities and skills make him roughly a match for 500 Kendaryn soldiers; don’t worry, he can’t turn an army into frogs or anything on that order.))

~~Control room, Third Guardian of Korvial~~
“Hey Chief, looks like we’ve got something moving in Sector Five.”

Slender, claw-tipped fingers moved on a control board, and slit-pupiled eyes gazed at a view screen.

“Ah, yes… so we do. Comm, alert the others, and let’s give these visitors a taste of our range.”

Between its powerful computer and the precise control of its turrets, a Guardian could strike a remarkably small target from halfway across the system. Of course, and reasonably maneuverable ship could dodge a light speed shot from anything more than a handful of light seconds away if it saw it coming, but an entire formation is harder to move. To reach Korvial, the Arizona Novanian vessels would have to forge their way through a withering and highly diverse hail of fire from the battle stations, including at least a few of almost any variety of energy weapons imaginable, though their crews could at least be grateful they weren’t facing any Yamiri guns. Once they drew near their destination, torpedoes would be added to the mix… and it looked like they might be the only force currently in Salmath that would have to deal with the mighty Kendaryn siege shields. Though limited to a near-perfect spherical shape and slow to raise and lower, the bubble shield (as it is also known) has an impressive strength to generator size ratio even by Kendari’s high standards on the subject, and it also had one considerable advantage. While most Kendaryn shield arrays consisted of layers of shielding, and sometimes patches fused at the border, a single siege shield could be powered by any number of generators, growing stronger with each addition. The collection of shield drones orbiting Korvial could shrug off fire that would overwhelm even the most formidable of single generators. And unless the invaders wanted to be under the lethal fire of the Guardians the whole time they were taking it down, they would have to dispose of at least a few of the grim battle stations before they could even begin working on the shield.


OOC: I had a couple of tests this week, which took up a fair amount of time, but here this is. I think that’s everything; if I missed anything I need to reply to, or anything I wrote isn’t clear, let me know. My reply to Vindicator’s full-power volley is delayed while I clear up one question. Most of the ships I’ve got in the Salmath system are in the fleet currently fighting with the Torontonians, and I don’t have any mobile vessels stationed near Zatreer, but outside of its shielding. Are you firing at my fleet, or do you want to redirect the energy fire to the Guardians?

I think that’s it, for the moment.

TSDC Plutocrat

Five…

Jutenburg Sweated, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. It just wasn’t. His plan had been rash he admitted that to himself, but he wasn’t having problems with not thinking the attack through, he was having problems with the crippling damage they were taking in such close range. He had thought they would be able to lever and advantage by brining every weapon to bear, but he hadn’t thought about how the exact opposite was also true.

He could hear them, he could hear Captains and Commanders all across the Comm’s that he had requested redirected to his Command Line which tapped directly into his head. He could hear them struggling to maintain power, weapons and life support at the same time, while being hammered in all directions. He couldn’t tell if the tactic was being effective, but from his end, he sure as hell didn’t think that they were making much more of a scratch on the Kendari defenders.

His Bandits, the Wildcard equation of any battle, were being hammered worse than a horse charging into a brick wall. The Kendari equivalent was having a field day shooting the oversized fighters out of the battle. It was as if the Kendari’s had been built specifically to diametrically oppose Torontonian technology. All of their defenses were worthless against their Tor Ganot bolts, which continued to slice through the thick hide of Torontonian armour, while their more traditional fire chipped away at the surrounding defense.

Four…

He watched the numbers on his personal console. As the battle raged on, the numbers crept forward, sometimes leaping as ships were destroyed entirely, hundreds, sometimes thousands of lives snuffed out in an instant. Although the standard Torontonian casualty meter kept a parallel number of gross financial loss, it always made him feel sick when he saw the price of the ships held at the same value as the lives aboard them, and had ordered his personal one modified.

He didn’t understand why the entirety of the Torontonian arsenal was proving so impotent against the Kendari defenses. Although they were inflicting some damage, the battle definitely appeared lopsided, especially on the Bandits and what remained of their fighter contingent. If he stopped to think about it, this really wouldn’t be the case, there were a disproportionate amount of Bandit Assault Frigates in the force anyway, so there were more to be destroyed. Jutenburg was too busy wallowing in self-pity to realize though,

Three…

Is this how he would be recorded in the annals of History? As a Supreme Commander who didn’t think things through and resulted in the largest losses in Torontonian Naval History? The one who led the sheep to the slaughter? Time would be the judge of that. Perhaps he would be spared the embarrassment and get killed in this battle, brining a swift end to his incompetence and harsh rulings of history, a Martyrs death.

No. That was too good for him. He deserved to live it out and live with the personal fallout for the rest of his life. He would hang his head in shame when this was all over, most likely being forced to be the subject of a rare public inquiry to the battle, where a parade of families who lost loved ones would be swept past him faster and faster until they all became an emotional blur.

What would his family think of him? His ancient relatives? His past history? He would become a black mark on the Military tradition of the Jutenburgs, known for their moderate tactics and thinking things through, not recklessly endangering the lives of his charges…

“Admiral!…”

What was that? Was it the voice of another realm? Was it calling him to be judged?

Two…

And what was that countdown? What did it signify? Was it counting the minutes he had before he would be killed? His ship destroyed and all hands lost? It certainly looked that way as a Console exploded overhead, showering sparks over him and everyone on the command floor. The unfortunate crewman would most likely be Evacuated to the medical station on the deck, most likely becoming swamped with bodies, casualties of his incompetence.

It was over. There was no use. The GFFA had one. Although they would most likely go on to lose this battle, and possibly the war, they had succeeded in finally discrediting the Torontonian name. No longer would it even be considered to have any Military clout as the TDSC stumbled from military blunder to blunder. He began to contemplate his last will and testament.

“Admiral?...Admiral!?!

Again, there was that voice.

One…

Ah, One. The end of it. At last, sweet repreve from this eternal struggle. No doubt the TSDC would immortalize him as the fearless commander of the Torontonian ESUS forces, but anyone around him in this battle would know him to be an incompetent fool so obsessed with military procedure and bravado it allowed his judgment to be clouded.

“Admiral!”
The voice! What did it want! This time however, it was accompanied by a stinging blow…

The world came back to him in a dizzying spin. He was on the bridge, sitting in his Command Chair, with alarm klaxons ringing. The alarms signified that there was a massive energy build up in the near area. It was supposed to only go off if a Jump Tear was opening up near the ship, but that clearly wasn’t the case. However, its incessant ringing was covering up the lower pitch of an incoming weapons fire alarm.

“Admiral!” The Lieutenant swore “This is not the time to go on some fantasy island vacation in your head! The Facehuggerian Trinity is charging up some sort of Doomsday weapon! And they’re pointing it right in our area! Do you know what will happen if anything of that yield goes off in our area? Of course not, you’ve been daydreaming for the Last. Five. Minutes!/i]”

“That is no way to speak to a…” Jutenburg was about to retort, as well as dismiss his Leitenant, who had gone over the line, when the ship rocked violently…

A Tor Ganot shot tore straight through the center of the ship. Sending it reeling as waves of systems suddenly failed or took massive amounts of damage. It sent the crew flying in random directions. However, more dramatically, it launched Admiral Jutenburg out of his chair, headfirst, into a bulkhead. The sickening crunch signaled that bones broke as his skill fractured into several pieces.

Slumping down to the floor, the bridge fell quite as the Grand Admiral lay motionless on the floor, starting to drown in a pool of collecting blood. Rushing forward, Rubridge was batted out of the way by two medics who rushed to his body, administering pain suppressants and rushing him to the Medical center for immediate treatment. If he wasn’t already dead, it would be a long time before he walked again.

His world reeling, Rubridge assessed the situation. With the Grand Admiral incapacitated, or worse, dead, he was in command of the ship, and for the duration of the battle, that meant he was in command of the fleet. Although he was only a Captain in the standard fleet, he had been promoted to Lieutenant of the Bridge of the Command ship, which in this scenario, essentially made him second in command.

Without realizing, he was drifting into the inner contemplative that Jutenburg had, he quickly seized the reins of Command and assessed the situation.

“Jensen! You’ve been promoted to Lieutenant of the Bridge, and I need a status report yesterday!”

“Sir! There was a weapon that the Facehuggerians appeared to be charging, but they bled it back into space. We just took a Tor Ganot bolt through our Aft side and we’re leaking fluids into space. Fortunately it missed most major systems, but power, weapons and environmentals is out in about a three deck radius from the blast hole, which tore straight through us. Its definitely a strain on the superstructure.” Jensen reported

“That isn’t good at all. And out close-combat operations aren’t faring much better. Our Bandits are getting smashed by their Kendari Equivalent, and they still haven’t deployed all the mines yet. Tell them to continue targeting critical systems of the large ships, and to avoid the smaller ‘Morningstars’ they appear to be called if they can.”

“I want the Legionaries to concentrate their fire on the Morningstars, use their better range and armour to prevent them from being such easy pickings. Make sure that this fire overlaps with smaller amounts of fire from the larger ships. Get the Centurions to focus their efforts on their smaller Capital ships and keep them distracted. If we can keep them disorganized with criss-crossing fire, we’ll have them on their toes in no time.”

“For the Samnites, I want two things. First of all, we need to go toe to toe with their bigger ships to keep them from picking targets of their choosing. Get all the Samnites to pair up and take on the Kendari counterparts. There may be less of us in comparison to Capital Ships, but we can concentrate our fire to leverage an advantage. As well, I want to start probing their communications channels, find out what ships are reciving the highest volume of Comm. Chatter and what has the highest outbound numbers. Once they locate this, jam the frequency. It probably won’t work with the amount of ECM out here, but if it is their Command ship, it could disorganize their efforts. Be as stealthy as possible. If they catch what their doing, they’ll probably move more ships in to protect the Commander. Although tipping their hand, it would lose us our advantage”

“When the Command Ship is located, on Samnite will jam and the other will activate their “Perkins Detonator” Which means they should be charged at all times now. Don’t use them until that point because we don’t want to illuminate them to our deadliest weapon. If we can catch them off guard, we may be able to decapitate their command structure and possibly rout the defenders.”

“Now, We’re taking everything systematically here. We’re not falling back into formation, but we’re abandoning Jutenburgs approach of swarming. I want the Centurions paired into four, Legionnaires into groups of eight. Keep moving, but focus your fire on single targets. If we can pick them off with concentrated fire, rather than hoping to corrode their power from constant firing waves, we can turn the tide of this battle. Remember, the Legionaries are mainly focused on the Morningstars, if we can take them out, or at least strike some fear into them, our Bandits will be able to do our job better”

“Finally, if and when we find their Command ship, all the Nearest Bandits are ordered to commence surgical strikes immediately, and all ships in its vicinity are ordered to concentrate fire on it over lesser targets. Most of all, keep firing! Its our advantage to keep them as pressed to make decisions as we are, if we keep modifying our tactics, it should keep them on edge.”

“And Jensen, get the Facehuggerians and the Novians on the line, lets see if we can’t get some “artillery” style cover here. We can take some hits from some missed shots, but impress how much we need some backup over here. Repeat that we may have bitten off a bit more than we can chew and although we’re fine now, the situation could get very bad, very quickly” Rubridge finished

“Yessir, I’ll fire off a brief now, I’ll distribute it through the Battlenet to be safe, that way all ESUS members tapped in will see it”

[i]Sender: Torontonian Battlefleet
Destination: ESUS Battlenet
Subject: ATTN: CF & AZ Forces, backup requested
Status: Extremely Urgent
Attachment: Battlemap Coordinates

This is the TSDC Plutocrat. It is requested that any ESUS forces in the region with capacity for long-range disruptive fire please fire upon the following coordinates. It is impressed upon ESUS forces that although Torontonian forces remain in control over the sub-region developing with the Kendari defenders, losses are mounting and inhibiting abilities to adequately control the Battle region.

“Artillery Style Weapons Fire” is requested at this point. If any forces can spare actual ships to be redirected toward the area would also be highly appreciated. It should be known that if the Kendari defenders can break out of the Torontonian engagement, it would result in poor consequences for the fleet.

The TSDC, and the Torontonian Section of the ESUS fleet appreciates any commitment that can be made towards this critical sub-battle. Although requests that a heads-up be sent to give the fleet adequate time to prepare for shelling

-Torontonian Command

The Torontonians could be mind-bogglingly bureaucratic in the heat of battle, but it was always as such, and could be discussed at a later date.

In the Midst of Kendari Defenders

“Eli, we’re getting updated orders.” Tobias stated

“Yeah? What is that? I’m having trouble hitting these Kendari bugger’s, they’re definitely a change from the simulators. I’ve bagged a few though”

“We’ve been assigned, directly by command mind you. To seek out the Kendari Command ship and start hacking away at it.”

“How does that affect me Toby?” Eli Mocked

“Stupid! Obviously the Command Ship is going to have at least veteran fighters protecting it, I’ll avoid the flack but you need to keep us from getting fragged by other pilots. Jeeze! Sometimes I wonder how you got into the Flight Corps” Tobias said in exasperation, the flack wasn’t being very negotiable.

Chucking, Eli retorted “I know, and I got in because the TDSC will stick anyone with an IQ higher than 3, half an arm and no leg AND their Twin idiot just to say that they have a Flight Corps”

“I don’t know how you keep laughing during all of this” Tobias admonished

“That’s one thing that will always separate us friend, now lets get on with the mission and find this “Big Bertha” shall we?”

“Indeed, lets move out” Tobias said flatly.

OOC: I don’t know why I can’t post on regular intervals. But I just can’t. Although I didn’t really describe straight up firing, you can assume the ships are now firing based off the orders they were given, with everything they got. That includes Rail Guns, Plasma Launches, Lasers and Sweeping Lasers.

Also, I know Lasers are usually underpowered compared to other FT weapons, but I would like to state, they’re outfitted en masse on all my ships. The show room is down so I don’t have a link for them, but for example the Legionarre has 60 laser Batteries each, with the Centurion having closer to 200, and the Samnite almost 700. Multiply that by the number of ships still remaining (I’ve been battered but there are still quite a few) and you’ve got a lot of spammed laser. Just a thought.

Those posts you make Kendari, Masterpiece! They are just such a pleasure to read. You some how manage to make it look like I’ve *Done* something even though you’ve had about four posts since my last one…

OOC: I had a couple of tests this week, which took up a fair amount of time, but here this is.

OOC: It was well worth the wait. Seriously, it's like your posts get more and more better and interesting to read. :)

I'll work on getting a reply up as soon as I can. I've got a question, though, you mention that the greater half of your forces (~600,000) are arranged to cover 'the area,' and the rest are garrisoned in the cities, but I am unsure where 'the area' is? Are we talking about military bases outside of cities? Or is it something else, akin to fixed fortifications? Or is it something else that I haven't even considered yet?

It's important because, even without the ROEs like 'no gratuitous civilian casualties' in place, Facehuggerian ways of warfighting tend to focus on wiping out native military forces first, before getting to work on butchering the civilian populations. Ergo, these troop concentrations are probably going to be the main targets, before moving onto the cities and other civilian population centers.

Are you firing at my fleet, or do you want to redirect the energy fire to the Guardians?

Whoops, I didn't realize that. (That's my main problem in doing any sort of fleet engagement, I have a hard time visualizing exactly where everyone is beyond the very basics.) :p

Well, in that case, Vindicator will target the Guardians. Those are defensive stations in orbit around Zatreer, yes? (Yeah, there are ones elsewhere, but Vindicator would be targeting the ones around Zatreer, to prevent you opening up the shields and turning the fuel-depleted Ironsides to so much scrap.)

-=Engineering, ANSS Kelt

Executive Engineer Leachlainn Alwyn was immersed in his work. The top of a pocket bureacracy that kept the power plants and engines of the massive vessel continued to function normally. He took pride in his work; gunners may have sent other vessels to their doom and pilots dueled in the void, but keeping up the internal constituion of a vessel was just as critical. Normally, he could fall into this endeavor and shut everything else out, but not this day. Little whispered rumors had been snaking about the ship - the flagship, the Fist, had been destroyed or limped off or something like that. Command kept repeating the "mechanical difficulties" line but he was skeptical of that. Navy engineers knew their stuff; the training was long, hard, and merciless. It would take highly significant problems, like some catastrophic failure, to shut down a ship beyond the ability of the engineers to repair it. Worse than this was the other rumor, that the Core itself was being attacked. Memories of the wife and children back on the homeworld drifted into his mind's eye as a knot grew in his stomach.

***

"Long range sensor report," Rear Admiral Grisham stated more than asked.

"Numerous large battle stations, sir. Currently not reading any other forces in our path."

Grisham leaned forward, grasping his chin as he pondered the situation. The central tenet of his tactical training stated that military forces tended to work three ways: investment of resources in small numbers and incredibly powerful individuals, huge numbers and far weaker individuals, or a full-spectrum approach that could deal with both. Kendari, at the moment, looked like it was using the first strategy, whereas Arizona Novanian strategic planning embraced the third way. For a little longer he sat placid, immovable - it was his command style, and a freak among the other Admirals who were more extroverted and, in his opinion, flamboyant, but he got the job done.

He sat back up straight. "Relay orders to the 35th Vanguard squadron, put them at the head. Follow them up to their back, superior and inferior, with a squadron of Spit drones. Slow the rest of the Fleet to half."

"Aye sir," dutifully replied the ensign.

Grisham ran through the strategy again in his head. Of all Arizona Novanian ships, the Vanguards were built with supreme practicality in mind; five-hundred meters long, they had a MAC running down its spine. It was long but very flat, and presented a the smallest profile from the front, where, of course, the cannon pointed. Even from the sides it presented only a sliver thin target, and what the main cannon could not hit, the PPC turrets lining the spine above and below could. What was unfortunate is that not all the offensive options were available; the intense FTLi blanketing the system had seen to that. One worked with what he had.

Thus the 35th roared ahead of the rest of the fleet, followed in train by numerous Jormungand drones.

.:ooc:. 35th consists of ten Vanguard (http://anikari.zioncreation.com/Vanguard.htm) cruisers.

OOC: Thanks for the compliments! The posts I get to respond to inspire me to greater efforts. You truly make getting invaded fun. :)

IC coming once I've got it written, but I wanted to respond to CF's question now. There are six large military bases which collectively hold the better part of my ground forces, and arranged so as to minimize the time required for at least one of them to be able to reach any part of the land of the planet. Some of them are located near (but not in) cities that were at a convenient site to begin with; smaller cities have sprung up near (but not around) the others, to provide for the wants and needs of the soldiers. Other cities have a 'castle' near the outskirts of the city, which holds that city's garrison. The idea is that the garrison will to deal with minor problems and attempt to minimize the impact of major problems until help can arrive from one of the six fortresses. Does that clear things up?

And yes, the Guardians are my defense stations. Big, tough, but too slow to bring on any sort of attack.

“How many of those do you need, anyway? They make rather a lot of noise. I can, if you wish, arrange a meeting with one who has the authority to carry out full negotiations with you. I can tell you now, however, that there are a few conditions we will require. First, you will not determine our laws. We understand your desire to protect yourselves and your interests and are willing to cooperate for that purpose, but we will not surrender to a would-be conqueror without a fight. Second, any inspections you make will not include the inside of certain of our workshops. Some of our methods of manufacturing are trade secrets, and nobody will learn them against our will. We did not tell the Kendaryns how our products are made, and we will not tell you. Other terms and details are negotiable, but if you cannot agree to those two conditions, I very much doubt we can come to any agreement.”

The Avatar smiled at the woman's opening quip.

"Oh, I think we've got roughly sufficient numbers now. Bombardment should cease shortly.

"As for your terms, they are perfectly reasonable. You have been more cooperative than we could have hoped, and we have little interest in your secrets. I believe that the Senate will accept them, and I will put them before the ESUS myself before the day is out. And perhaps we could continue negotiations somewhere more civilized? While the luxuries of urban life are meaningless to one such as myself, I am sure you would be more comfortable there than in the middle of a jungle, beautiful though it may be."

ND: Annihilator and Adjudicator basically condensed a bunch of volleys into one enormous wave of missile-y death, in hopes of overwhelming your point defense with sheer number of projectiles. Said missile swarm is going for your defense stations,

OOC: Ok. Lemme type up an IC post, I too have been busy (work, whatnot)....though I do need to talk with you about a few things.

ND: Annihilator and Adjudicator basically condensed a bunch of volleys into one enormous wave of missile-y death, in hopes of overwhelming your point defense with sheer number of projectiles. Said missile swarm is going for your defense stations, as before.

OOC: Roger. Also, you gave me an idea for a vicious counterattack. Let's see Vindicator deal with this!

IC:

The stations threw up a massive wall of fire to stop as many of the enemy torpedoes as they could. Singularities, conventionals, ion, Demolisher Guns, Point Defenses, tractor beams, anything they were armed with fired upon the damned things, the interference leading to just a fierce melee of fire. If the warheads shut off, then good. Better for the station crews. It seemed the Facehuggerians had an unfortunate tendency to live whenever New Dornalia used its best on them. Well, New Dornalia would make damn sure to extend their own life expectancy here too, ECM notwithstanding. And just for kicks, they also increased shield strength.

And as a result was that ALL the stations were rocked considerably; a lot of torpedoes still got through, to the credit of the Vindicator; mainly to structure, shields and some weapons, the natural result of having to play with shields and weapons like that. Recharge was ordered as fast as possible, and crews and nanites worked to try and rebuild...in the meantime though, two stations were crippled due to the barrage. They remained in place, but their systems were damaged considerably and several of the escorts, which had ridden out the storm but had their own damages, tried to "plug the cork" to speak.

In response, the stations and their escorts fired again, targeting the Facehuggerians with an equally violent barrage. Fired widespread in imitation of a loose firing line and in the general direction of the Facehuggerians, finagled from the direction of the torpedo shock. The stations again, had brought thousands upon thousands of singularity torpedoes and other special munitions. So, an equally vicious barrage, hundreds of thousands of torpedoes, 500,000 conventionals, 250,000 Ion torpedoes, and 10,000 Singularity torpedoes, fell towards the Vindicator and Adjudicator. These torpedoes were programmed to move at maximum speed, and replicated with more explosive in them (that took some hacking) to provide a more powerful punch. Then, the shields were supercharged once more, the process having been slowed temporarily to fuel the massive, angry barrage.

Lower Front

The sensor drones and SCCAMs detected the incoming matterstreams from the Dornalian ships, and reacted instantly. Pulses of energy met the incoming streams head on, scattering component particles to the wind, preventing them from reassembling into anything remotely useful.

The volleys of warp-cannon fire were more effective, cutting into the Arachnes shields. Their shields glowed yellow with accumulated energy, although overloads gradually became less common, the shields adapting the the nature of the incoming fire and spreading the workload more efficiently. The Arachnes returned fire, massive shells slamming home against the Dornalian fleet, while another barrage of SCCAMs pounded the enemy fleet, concentrating their fire on larger vessels, thousands of the torpedoes working together to bore through single points on their target, digging through the hull to detonate inside the vulnerable crew compartments.

OOC: Working on some assumptions about the nature of your teleporters garnered from second-hand MSN convos. It's really the only type that would work anyway, what with the massive FTLi and ECM in place.

The New Dornalians took hits, the explosions in people's crew compartments proving to be more than a nuisance. Good thing they had forcefields to contain the worst of it, but that was only going to be a stopgap. The Point Defenses worried about the rest, though damage was spread out all over.

Hernandez decided to take the fight closer. She deduced: "Bastards....they are beginning to defeat the teleporters and they're still not dying....only the Demolishers do something, but they are not worth it at this range."

She then ordered, "Get closer over them, fix the tubes, and for God's sake, don't stop shooting with those energy weapons! Focus on the Arachnes, rake them with fire! I need results!"

The crew was skeptical now, and seriously doubting her sanity. The Political Officer gave her a funny look, but she glared and said, "Do you want to live?! Do it!"

The ships did as told, rushing in a Banzai Charge. Moving over the enemy capital ships, they began unleashing waves of Demolisher Gun fire onto the Arachnes, focusing on raking their numbers with hundreds of thousands of Demolisher Gun and Ion Cannon shots, focusing on starting on one side, and gradually sweeping their fire over the ranks, hitting at most two ships at a time before beginning the process again, focusing on weapons and shields, all the while moving as close as safely possible. In the meantime, the nanites were worked double-time, but it would be a little bit longer before torpedoes were available again. Point Defenses, of what was available, were sent to try and keep away enemy ordinance.

Interesting. They're charging us.

This is a problem... Why? You have far higher acceleration tolerances than their ships, what with the meatbags aboard. Just move back further.

Oh, I realise that much. We could dance around them all day long. However... Yes, I think this will work much better. Talk to you shortly, we'll see how this works.

As one, Naphtali's fleet began to move, the massive eggs swiftly accelerating, not away from the Dornalian vessels, but towards them. The fleet sprouted tendrils of emerald KK fields, wrapping the ships in an impenetrable shell of singularities. Diving towards the oncoming Dornalians, the fleet's impellers kicked in again mid-maneuver, imparting a healthy dose of spin to the fleet, keeping their guns pointed firmly at the enemy fleet while they dove through and past, presenting a minimal target at the same time. The escorts orbitted Naphtali as they cycled their weapons, limiting the amount of time the enemy could focus fire into any one craft.

Hey, Naph, sensors are picking up regeneration in the torpedo tubes. I'm thinking nanobots.

Yeah, I noticed that, too. I'd hardly like to see those things active again, so I'm handing out nuke shells from the Echidnas, the EMP should stop 'em in their tracks.

Good man! I'll see what I can do on my side, I think I can squeeze off a few waves to meet up with you. At full acceleration, they should get to you in a few minutes. Israel out.

As the ships random-walked below the enemy fleet, MACs, vasers and SCCAM tubes opened up. Precision nuclear shells from the dreadnoughts' MACs slashed into the damaged torpedo tubes: The massive explosions and electromagnetic pulses would easily render the nanomachines reconstructing the Dornalian weaponry useless. Meanwhile, the rest of the fleet's weaponry spat fire into the enemy's drives as they passed, shells and bands of light streaming into the propulsion systems of the largest vessels, enough power to crack a planet smashing into their engines.

Some fire still managed to get through the elaborate defenses of Naphtali's escorts. The complex orbitting motions of the escorting vessels prevented the Dornalians from focusing fire on them, and the shell of SCCAMs absorbed nearly all of the incoming fire. Still, some fire managed to follow the paths that outgoing shells and vasers had taken, slamming against the shields of the Arachnes, sending wisps of warpfire spiralling into space as their shields acquired a green tint.

Your Arachnes are taking some damage, Naph. Do something to fix that, yes?

Already on it. They'll be kept out of the line of fire, and I'm making some changes to their projection spreads in order to increase surface area bleed-off. They'll be good as new in no time.

Good to hear it, Naphtali. Oh, and your Paris flights are on their way, ETA four minutes, twenty nine seconds. Au revoir.

The Imperial-influenced technologies of the New Dornalians made EMP weaponry a virtual joke; hence, the EMP did nothing, though the nanites were damaged by the effort, and recovery was slowed. The engines, meanwhile, survived the hits, but operated with some limitations.

Meanwhile, the New Dornalians, used to dancing about on the z, x, and y axes, increased their speeds, playing with physics and opting to dance about the dancing enemy, keeping on target and having the bigger vessels focusing on the Arachnes, targeting them once more with volume fire from their energy weapons. The Lin Biaos and smaller ships in particular, took the opportunity to push their engines to the limit, a portion performing hit-and-run cover for their larger cousins with their own energy weapons.

All the while, all ships sought to get closer as they staged their assaults, and tried to get so close, that not even the SCCAMs would be able to match them.....barring that, they timed their movements so that whenever the SCCAMs showed up, they did not fire, and when they did not, they fired.

The 400 meter bulk of the Broadsword class battleship Dejhik Va’ar slid with startling grace through the chaos of the close-range battle. All its backup shield generators were long gone, its stock of missiles was running low, and it had suffered several heavy blows in the brief moment required to bring the last few up when its active shielding had been brought down by a sudden volley, but its drives were still working, and the ship’s gunners made good use of the 330 assorted turrets that remained operational. In these crowded conditions, its heavy torpedoes were far too dangerous to use, but the great Type V cannons built into the front of the battleship were more precisely controlled, and the navigation crew was scouring the vicinity for a target worth using them on.

“Hey Captain, that fellow looks important…”

“So it does. Well spotted!”

Captain Morkal brought the Dejhik Va’ar through a sharp curve that sent it sweeping rapidly toward the TSDC Plutocrat. The dull thud was audible throughout the battleship as he fired Tor Ganot bolts from the two front-mounted cannons. With all the jamming in the area, though, the ship’s sensors had slightly misjudged the location of the Torontonian command ship, and one of the lethal bolts missed its target entirely. Morkal cursed as the other bolt blasted straight through the remarkably tough Torontonian armor.

“[Untranslatable term]!! How the [untranslatable term] did I miss at this range?! Should’ve used penetration charges, too; might’ve entirely disabled the thing. I wasn’t sure they’d make it through that [untranslatable term] armor of theirs, though. Ah well, we’re approaching too fast for another shot. Type IVs, hammer this ship as we pass!”

Rotating his ship to present its undamaged – and fully armed – side to his target, Morkal adjusted his course slightly and sent his battleship hurtling past the wounded Torontonian vessel, less than 300 meters from its side. During the brief moment that the two combatants were next to each other, 16 Type IV cannons each slammed a Tor Ganot bolt into the TSDC Plutocrat’s battered hull.

((OOC: I’m not sure if you actually intended that to be an Avalanche Beam, but the shaking of the ship better matches the Tor Ganot shot you specified anyway, so I stuck with that. A Type V bolt at full power might reasonably blast right through your vessel, considering all the damage it has already taken.))


Though the Kendaryns seemed to hold the edge in the battle with the Torontonian fleet, it was not so one-sided as it might appear to their enemies. Kendaryn shields are somewhat unusual in that they show few if any signs of impaired performance right up until the generator is entirely disabled, and layered shielding and backup generators allowed the Kendaryn vessels to quickly replace those generators that were taken out. This couldn’t go on forever, though. Many ships had already lost shielding and been destroyed, and only the luckiest and most powerful still had backup shield generators in working order. More vessels were losing layers of shielding at every moment, and this process was about to accelerate.

A Kendaryn shield generator can shrug off incoming fire below a certain power threshold without difficulty; an ordinary blast rifle could fire at a shielded destroyer indefinitely without inconveniencing it in the slightest. Above this level, there is a range that puts strain on the generator, eventually causing it to overheat and forcing deactivation. However, a sufficiently powerful shot or volley can overload a shield generator in one burst of energy, causing significant damage to the device. If it can be managed, this latter method is a considerably more efficient means of taking out a Kendaryn warship’s shields, and by ordering the ships now under his command to focus their fire, Rubridge shifted his fleet’s focus to this style of attack. Jutenburg (in addition to minimizing the use his enemies could make of the Avalanche beams that were so brutally effective against the ships under his command) had gotten the Torontonian fleet into position to strike swiftly and hard at the Kendaryn vessels; now, Rubridge was making good use of that position.


“Captain, with the fire we took in that last pass, we’re down to three operational shield generators!”

“Drop the Whirlwind. It doesn’t do much good at this range anyway, and I don’t like being at one screen layer in an inte-“

Morkal was cut off as a sudden volley of heavy weapons, diminished only slightly by the Dejhik Va’ar’s absorption field, took down the last layer of true shielding before the other generator could reinforce it. Hundreds of lasers slashed in amidst this burst of fire, slicing through heavy battle steel armor with dismaying speed. Ripped open almost from stem to stern, the crippled battleship shook under continuing explosions as compressed energy burst free from shattered power conduits until automatic shutoffs cut the flow, and several lasers had come within meters of striking the ship’s main power core.

Admiral Dreldon stared grimly at his display screens as ships throughout the fleet shared the fate of the Dejhik Va’ar, or worse. Even now, many of the Kendaryn vessels had enough shielding left to survive a volley or two, but many more did not, and the concentrated fire of the Torontonian ships was taking a dreadful toll on the defenders. Only the heavy battleships carried shield generators that could even begin to resist the volleys crashing against them, and it was a severe strain even for those. Even as he watched, another of his few remaining Halberds was shredded halfway down its length, and he had less then a third of those he had started with. His own Lance would be in severe trouble if he couldn’t get some assistance in place soon, and the Devastation was taking intense fire. The largest Kendaryn warship on the battlefield, it was also relaying his orders to the rest of the fleet; the Torontonians most likely thought it was the command ship, though they might just be trying to remove the ship’s 70 Yamiri turrets from the fight. What ever had prompted the enemy’s sudden change in tactics, it was definitely bad news.

Devastation was indeed protected by fighters, both Daggers, and Hatchets, as well as some of the few remaining light combat drones. Some of the Morningstar destroyers were also doing their best to cover it, although most were busy trying to get a few shots in at the Torontonian Bandits without being blasted to plasma by Legionaries. The Pike’s primary defenses, however, were its formidable set of shield generators and the 1,200 Type II turrets that coated its gleaming metal length. Without multitudes of missiles to fend off, these weapons were assigned to anti-fighter duty, and there weren’t many fighters that could shrug off even a glancing blow from a Type II high-power blaster bolt. Small missile turrets spat 20 cm rockets at any larger vessels that came into the gunners’ sight, and Devastation added intense fire from its heavier energy cannons to the mix. Even a Pike didn’t have the mighty hull needed to bear Type V turrets, but its four front-mounted guns waited for anything unfortunate enough to wander in front of it. Even after the battering it had already taken, the Devastation would not look like easy prey.

((OOC: Any attempt to locate the Kendaryn command ship by monitoring communications will lead you straight to the Devastation. I’m not sure exactly how much of Rubridge’s planning is intended to be carried out the moment the apparent command vessel is identified, so I’ll wait for you to make your move in that regard before responding.))

~~Control room, Third Guardian of Korvial~~
“Hmm… looks like we’ve got a change of formation. Can you get me a better look at those ships?”

“I’ll do my best, Chief.”

Chelzim’s foremost scanner technician made a series of swift adjustments to the station’s sensors, struggling with the jamming to get a clearer picture of the Arizona Novanian fleet. With her hands guided by long training and far longer experience, she barely had to think about the precise motions, but it was still a difficult task. Kendaryn sensors are strange and complicated, though, and soon a blurry, flickering image of the advancing Vanguards came up on the Guardian’s primary view screen.

Chelzim stared silently at the image without blinking, then spoke. The nertar’s voice was grim.

“If the scanners are reading them correctly, they have ten vessels advancing to the van. From the situation and the small profile they present us, I’d guess they serve a similar function to our Broadswords, intended to target and destroy the largest and most dangerous opponents. If so, they’re most likely armed with and protected against heavy weapons, and they’re definite trouble. Still, we may well be able to take them on. Contact the others; we should coordinate our fire against one target at a time. It may be best to include large volumes of small fire, and we should include a lot of explosive bolts, to maximize the effect of a glancing blow. That’s all we can do until we know more.”

Moments later, the Guardians orbiting Korvial stopped putting out the stream of destruction that was still sleeting toward the Arizona Novanian vessels and fired a single great volley at the Vanguard furthest from the rest of the battle. There was a significant number of powerful Type IV and V shots, but most of it was from smaller cannons – over 20,000 shots, in all.

~~Zatreer Orbit~~
With no clear and specific enemy to shoot at, Chenrik Vree sat back and listened to the talk in the control room while he looked for another logical target. Even if he had been deep in concentration, however, he could not have missed the sudden announcement: “Incoming fire!”.

More dramatic was the alarm that went off some 12 seconds later. Too slow and clumsy to even be considered truly mobile, Guardians are designed to operate in a specific location with a specific set of other Guardians. With this purpose in mind, they have a predetermined set of coded messages that allows certain bits of information to be transmitted extremely quickly. The moment Vindicator’s mighty blue beams began to meet the closest of the defending battle stations, it alerted the others as to the nature of the assault. All of the personnel aboard a Guardian recognized the alarm that was now sounding: “High-powered anti-shield weapons incoming. Drop all shields at once!”.

Even in the moment required to recognize the effects of the PPB and lower shields, the first Guardian suffered startling damage to its shield generators. With a tiny instant of warning, however, Vree’s battle station felt only a momentary strain on its outermost layer of shielding before the azure fire was crashing harmlessly against its battle steel armored hull. The third station chose to test its shield strength against the might of the Facehuggerian dreadnought’s attack, preferring to accept the damage to its shield generators, rather than risking getting caught by surprise by another weapon mixed in with the initial wave of fire.

Noting the change in the appearance of the oncoming volley, the shield technician who worked beside Vree re-activated the Guardian’s shields just before the D-beams arrived. The closer battle station was not so lucky; quite a bit of it was reduced to dust as the lethal weapons struck. Many of its energy cells were ejected as automatic systems detected critical damage, but enough were destroyed to reduce what was left of the Guardian to plasma. The third station had almost lost its shielding entirely, but had managed to keep two layers up and functioning, and made it through this phase of the volley without difficulty. However, its shield generators were in no condition to face the rest of the attack.

A fourth Guardian had been just coming into view around the edge of Zatreer as Vindicator fired this volley; perhaps because it did not come into the open in time to be subjected to energy weapon fire, the mighty warship directed a disproportionate fraction of his powerguns toward it. Faced with this overwhelming firepower, the battle station was smashed open like an egg, albeit a very tough one. Although the sheer destruction was not quite as complete as that of the first station to fall, ejected energy shells and fragments of wreckage were scattered widely. The Guardian that had attempted to weather the PPB storm fared no better. Its severely weakened shields could not even begin to hold up against the barrage that slammed against them. The slugs fired at the battle station nearest to the battle did not meet even this much resistance at first, pouring unimpeded through the few remaining wisps of plasma to bounce of Zatreer’s siege shield, causing only a slight quiver in the faintly glowing shell of energy. Vree’s Guardian, however, had made it to this point with only three shield generators disabled, due to lucky timing, the skill of its shield technician, and the warning it had received. Still at near-perfect combat capability, it drank in the kinetic energy of the incoming slugs like water through several overlapping absorption fields before they even reached its outer layer of shielding. They were still moving at lethal speed when they slammed into the shields, but they were slowed considerably, and much fewer than the countless lumps of metal that had destroyed the fourth Guardian. Shield generators went up in flames under the tremendous impact, but the battle station survived.

Many of the crew were staring in shock and horror at the emptiness and wreckage that filled the space occupied mere seconds ago by three other Guardians. Vree, however, had no time for such matters. With tens of thousands of massive torpedoes roaring towards them, it would take every scrap of his ability and the station’s to give the shield technician and the ECM director even a chance of keeping them alive.

((I hope you don’t mind me apportioning your volley this way, CF. If you have any objections or corrections, I’ll be happy to edit.))

~~~Yamir~~~
“Thank you, I am glad you are being so reasonable about this matter. Please come with me, and I will take you to somewhere more civilized, and someone with more authority to negotiate.”

Old though she was, Dverzi was quick, and it took her only a few minutes to lead the Avatar to what appeared to be a half-buried boulder. She waved one had in front of a crevice in the stone, a gesture consistent with bringing it though the beam of a concealed scanner; actually, she was telekinetically entering a code on buttons hidden deep within the crevice. A hairline crack a meter away widened, and the shell of stone slid open to reveal a small land vehicle of strange design.

“It’s roughly fifteen minutes away, at my usual speed. I’m something of a hermit, you see. Would you rather ride, or travel by your own means?”

((Feel free to bring along any bodyguards or such that are your usual practice, she will not object.))

OOC: Here, I don't think I missed anything. If I did, let me know. I'm off to bed now; Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

And now the Allaneans arrived as well. Due to the ravages of the recent coup, and the warcrimes executions of the entire Admiralty, the Allanean navy was not able to deploy in full. Only two pitiful battlegroups – four hundred and two ships - pitiful remnants indeed of Allanea's glory – arrived on site, a long, long time late.

They broadcasted, simple:

Commander Tanthius, Allanea's navy is here at your disposal

((OOC: Any attempt to locate the Kendaryn command ship by monitoring communications will lead you straight to the Devastation. I’m not sure exactly how much of Rubridge’s planning is intended to be carried out the moment the apparent command vessel is identified, so I’ll wait for you to make your move in that regard before responding.))

That is exactly what I was looking for. In Torontonian Eyes (And Experience for that matter) the Command Ship is usually the largest and most heavily defended ship on the battlefield. So if the Devastation meets the order it would be assumed to be said ship.

However, this would also allow you an opportunity to throw something interesting at me, since most of the fleet would focus on the Devastation It might open up some strategic opportunities for the rest of your fleet. We're essentially matching blow for blow, so the Torontonian fleet is in pretty rough shape as well. I don't know how soon I can have a new post up, but your doing a Damn good job with that one.

That is exactly what I was looking for. In Torontonian Eyes (And Experience for that matter) the Command Ship is usually the largest and most heavily defended ship on the battlefield. So if the Devastation meets the order it would be assumed to be said ship.

As the only Pike I've got on the battlefield, the Devastation is almost half again the size of any other Kendaryn vessel in the system, and it's correspondingly heavily armed. It's also getting more protection from other ships in the area, although not to a dramatic extent. Dreldon uses it as a relay for his communications partly because it looks the part of the command ship, and partly because it's best capable of taking the greater pressure that can come with being perceived as such.

I don't know how soon I can have a new post up, but your doing a Damn good job with that one.

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it; I quite look forward to reading yours.

Oh, and <BUMP>, just in case anyone hasn't noticed it's here yet.