NationStates Jolt Archive

A still and silent moment in space. Two nations readying for and one already in the heat of it all. In this the Abh placed their hopes that the nation of Azaha would be distracted with its war effort against the Dornalians. It would come like a thief in the night while people were still going about their lives. They would be given into marriage and working in the fields when the complete removal of an enemy came.

Ten probes phased into the Azaha system to begin intelligence gathering. It began from the fringes with a sole probe scanning and seeking out targets, then disappearing at the same time a new one would phase on down the line giving the appearance of a skipping stone. The first planet a probe came across was a relatively small planet. It's attraction was a rather large space station encircling the planet containing defensive forces. Upon a deeper scan, something interesting was also discovered. There on the surface of the planet appeared to be a massive planet based weapon. A simple scan couldn't reveal its true identity or purpose but it looked formidable indeed. One last scan around, and the probe vanished.

The next four planets that were scanned were merely mining colonies and of no importance. They could simply be bypassed. Next was what appeared to be a major center for the Azaha people. A major city taking up much of the planet that looked unhospitable. Still, it was thriving with life along with a major space port. This to was marked as a target.

One probed phased into an area that was once believed to be the location of a planet however some information on these peoples was out of date. So a probe found itself floating within a minefield a moment before it was destroyed by a side hit. However, it did manage to get the reading of a large metallic object several hundred kilometers out. Object was marked as unknown target before being destroyed.

The final planets revealed on agriculutre based planet while the rest contained defensive forces and ground defense emplacements. The holographic screen froze on the last planet. Surrounding the large picture were the remaining Abh admirals that were either not currently occupied or away on official matters. The Imperial Admiral was away planning the defense of the Galactic Federation with many of its members along with Lord Dusanyu and Admiral Spoor. That left Lord Rahl in charge of the proceedings which didn't always sit well with the Abh having a human leading military matters. Admiral Trife probably stood out among the rest but there was only one other Abh present which was Admiral Wakapale. The three admirals sat in the war room going over the latest videos sent back by the probes.

Richard stood brushing back his golden cape and pulling the screen back to the image of the Asteriod field. His hand glided over a blue pulsating orb and the image magnified to the small section of a metallic station that was visible. Fingers pushed two other buttons and the screen was divided into sections with Azaha IX, IV, III, and I. "Clearly the enemy before us has a number of space docks which is a good defense in itself. That alone prevents one strategic strike from taking them out of the war. Therefore, we must take them all out to deal an effective blow to our enemy. Several of their worlds are just mining colonies with very little defenses which should not be a concern to us."

Admiral Trife leaned back with his arms crossed. "It's going to take an awful lot of firepower to deal an enemy with such a large force an effective blow. We could possibly compromise our defense at home."

"Admiral Wakapale?"

The woman looked down at her personal datapad then looked back up to Richard who was addressing her. "With the recent authorization to use our clone troops in the military, our forces have risen above previous numbers so we can spare the more ships than usual for an offensive assault. Not to mention a successful attack could mean one less enemy trying to attack us. I believe we can supply a substantial fighter squadron."

Richard nodded. "Good. Now my battle strategy is this. We are going to divide our forces to strike many of these targets at the same time. Azaha I, III, and IX will be hit by smaller strike teams while our main fleet attacks the asteriod field and destroys whatever is in the middle of it. Rambirds, missle cruisers, Roth-class Patrolships will attack the dry docks at Azaha I. Azaha III and IX will meet a more conventional attack with destroyers and some of our monitors along with a few support vessels. One exception will be made to Azaha IX and that will be to take out the main ground defense that is there. I would like the Forager to go along for said purpose. It will be there to strictly destroy the weapon and then get out."

Trife leaned forward with his elbows on the desk. "And what if this asteroid field only contains a fueling station? Would you have us risk a large attack on such a minor target?"

"If it is a minor target, then it won't last long with the force arrayed against it. The main fleet will be moving in and establishing an FTLi field around the area to prevent the asteroids being used as a weapon against our ships. The rest I leave up to you Admiral to handle. I will be there to support you with ground troops to take care of the defenses on Azaha IV which seems to be their capital. A full load of clone troops along with my D'Haran soldiers."

Trife leaned back into his chair. "Well the plan seems to be a good one even if we will be outnumbered. I hope we can just take out the shipyards fast enough along with the already active ships."

Richard smiled. "So do I. Else we will have to call in reinforcements from a quick response fleet. Still, the fighter squadrons should give you an added bonus."

The last two Abh admirals stood and saluted. "Remember, for the glory of the Empire. May the stars go with you."

Richard thumped a fist to his chest and bowed in the fashion of the D'Harans. "For the glory of the Empire."

Outside in the depths of space, a roar could be heard as the ships of the Empire came to life. Ship after ship slipped into the depths of Hyperspace setting their respective courses in the Azaha system. War came in chariots of fire as they rode to war which may be the last great war that the Abh Empire would face.

It did not take long for the alarms of an impending incursion to sound. On the small planet of Azaha IX, troops and ships were scrambled. They frantically tried to crew their ships, which had been resting on the station. They did not expect a direct assault on them, this early in the war.

"What is it? Who is it? What the hell are they doing here?"

"We don't know, they just popped out of nowhere. We had whispers of something lurking in our space, but it was dismissed as coincidense with our sensors malfunctioning."

"You what?!"

"Sir, it-"

"Shut up! Just scramble the rapid response teams. I want scouts out there now to see what the hell they are, and behind them I want skirmishers, if they turn out to be hostile, which they most likely are."

"Right away sir."

Within 20 minutes, cloaked ships were dispatched towards the fleets that were incoming. Right behind them were squadrons of 50 Swarm Class escort carriers, one squadron for each scout.

The rest of the system was not alerted yet, but they would be soon. But because of the civil war already raging in Azaha, the message probaby wouldn't make it to Azaha IV, probably to be intercepted by the Azahan rebels, which were dubbed "The Renegades."

The Keldiej and Forger drifted together in the depths of Hyperspace as they approached their destination. Each one had their own destination and mission but the Forger had been specifically chosen for a seek and destroy type assault. It dwarfed any five ships put together from Star Forces and was equipped with a massive laser able to destroy planets in a shot. The vessel had been used sparringly only seeing a few battles in Terivine and during the Angelic Wars but had proven effective every time. Now it's new destination was Azaha IX to remove a large defensive emplacement from existance.

Commander Lexshue, who was on fast tract to Admiral once one retired, was given the command of the massive ship. It was within the hour that her detachment broke from the flagship Keldeij and ripped through the fabric of space to reenter normal space around Azaha IX. A single flash followed by multiple others ignited through space as the Abh squadron approached the planet.

Lexshue stood and drew her command saber while looking down at her tactical display holoprojector. "Begin jamming their channels so they can't alert the rest of the system. Whitestars and Attack vessels, broke off and engage enemy vessels. Destroyers and other heavy ships, remain behind for support."

It was much the same scene at Azaha III where a smaller detachment of the main fleet broke off and entered their designated systems and began jamming all frequencies. Lighter ships banked and engaged hard and fast with any ships that were in the area firing everything they had in the first pass. Artillery ships sat back comfortably behind the lines and began firing on the military space stations in the area.

The asteroid field, which had once been the main planet for the people of Azaha, encountered the main fleet from the Abh Empire. Unfortunatly, they had to exit hyperspace at the edge of the asteroid field to avoid any early deaths due to the asteroids. The pylons of Frontlineships opened wide and prepared to launch a volley to clear away many of the asteroids before committing ships into the fray. Missle cruisers spewed forth various hues of red and purple as missles screamed through space locking onto their various targets.

Off in the distance, a naval base could be seen with little activity at the moment. The signal was given for the Whitestars to move in at once and hit them hard with everything they have at once. Some of the fastest ships in the Empire blasted through and targeted the station with their main cannons.

Admiral Trife and the Keldeij continued to drift through Hyperspace as they approached their target of Azaha IV. Now it was time for the main fleet to come into action as the targets across the system were being carried out simulatneously. Multiple flashes of light lit up the area as Trife's fleet exited hyperspace to enter Azaha IV...

Asteroid Field:
25 Victory Class Destroyers
100 Whitestars
15 Abriel Missle Cruisers
10 Frontlineships
50 Roil-class Attack Vessels

Azaha III
1 Flagship-Keldeij
2 Paryunu Destroyers
25 Frontlineships
35 Abriel Missle Cruisers
50 Victory Class Destroyers
300 Whitestars
100 Roil-class Attack Vessels
500 Thunderbolt Star Furries

Azaha IX
1 Planet Killer/ Sord Maker- Forger
15 Victory Class Destroyers
50 Whitestars
100 Roth-class Patrolships
25 Rambirds
50 Rambirds Mk. II

Azaha IV
150 Roth-class Patrolships
20 Victory Class Destroyers
25 Rambirds
15 Abriel Missle Cruisers
250 Thunderbolt Starfurries

Sorry I forgot the numbers. If you don't count the fighters, the fleet is smaller then the one I told you I'd be using.

Asteroid Field

The loud speakers boomed with the frantic voice of a junior coms officer. His voice was shakey, and light, as if not knowing what else to do.

"Attention! Attention! Incoming fleet! Probability of hostiles is HIGH! Identified as non-Renegades! Scramble, scramble, scramble!"

The massive station started to buzz with activity. Beforehand it was a lazy day, not a sign of Renegades in the entire system. Officers sat in their rooms and offices and enjoyed themselves, and slaves were allowed a very rare oppurtunity: sleep. But now it seemed they were being attacked.

Immediatly, the few patrol ships that were already active in the asteroid field started to form into small squadrons. Most of the patrolships were the Swarm Class escort carrier (http://wiki.esusalliance.co.uk/index.php?title=Swarm_class), but there were about four Dirge class medium destroyers (http://wiki.esusalliance.co.uk/index.php?title=Dirge_class).

They stood no chance on their own, but they recieved orders to try to distract, and lead the enemy away from the station, at least long enough for the few thousand ships in drydock to recrew and reactivate.
Rapid Response fleet=4 Dirge Class
35 Swarm Class

Azaha III

The scene was much the same as with the Asteroid station. However, things here were much more composed, and ready. Most of the ships were already active, only a few being inactive for repairs.

Battlecruisers and destroyers started to dissapear behind the planet, avoiding the artillary fire from the Abh. However, the 'Swarms' did not take this approach.

They were ordered to steam straight ahead at the enemy. Roughly two thousand of the small escort carriers raced towards the enemy, in a scattered formation, so no single shot from an artillary ship could eliminate an entire squadron. Torpedo tubes were loaded, and fighters were being prepped. But the opening shots of the Azahan would be the salvo launch of torpedos. Within 5 minutes, all the Escorts had unloaded their first salvo of torpedos, 6 launched from each ship.
Rapid Response fleet: 7 Foe Hammer (http://wiki.esusalliance.co.uk/index.php?title=Foe_Hammer_class) class
12 Dirge Class
2000 Swarm class.

Azaha IX

"Incoming fleet. Identified as Abh Empire ships. Fleet is sizeable. All inactive ships, begin warm up sequence. Immediatly begin rotation of Mass Drive to 146 degrees by 165 degress. All station sections activate self defense weapons."

That was the automated computer, the soft, male voice drawling over the coms of defensive ships, orbiting station, and the Azaha IX mass driver.

The Admiral was awoken to the loud banging of a commander standing at his quarters door. He had slept through the entire automated response communications that had boomed throughout the rest of the station.

He trudged out of his bed, and walked to his door. He wasn't wearing much except his boxers, and a light robe. He opened the door, and would have reached out to strangle the commander, if the distress in his face didn't worry the Admiral. "What is it?" He asked, in a grumpy and groggy voice.

The commander replied in a squeeky voice. "We're under attack, s-sir."

"Point the driver at them, and blow them out of the sky. That would scare the Renegades away. You woke me up for this?"

"S-sir, it's not the Renegades. The Computer has identified them as Abh... a foriegn force. The rapid response fleet is already prepping, and should be leaving to engage about now. We are trying to turn the mass driver around, but a planet can only move so fast before it rips itself apart."

The Admiral's face grew pale, and he briskly exitted his quarters towards the command deck. He didn't even bother with his uniform.
Rapid response fleet=3 Foe Hammer
9 Dirge class
500 Swarm Class

Azaha IV

The station, the planet were remarkably quite. Not a hint, or a whisper of a defensive fleet. The only ships to be spotted were inactive ships sitting in the station's mothball port, most of them already being disassembled. Things were unervingly quite, atleast to most captains or admirals.

Asteroid Field

"Sir, we have several Azaha ships breaking off from the station."

His muscles gently relaxed as he settled into his chair. "They are either decoys or runaways and are of no concern to our main forces. However, I do not relish the idea of letting the enemy go free."

Greil slid a finger over to his council to activate their communication network. A pretty thing even for an Abh graced the screen. "Hecto-commander, take half of your attack vessels and a small detachment of Whitestars to deal with the fleeing enemy. You have thirty minutes to complete this task before you must return."

The female Abh raised her hand in a salute. "It shall be done, Commander Greil."

About twenty-five Roil-class destroyers and ten Whitestars, broke off from the attack squadron and gave chase to the fleeing enemy. He understood that the enemy had a good jump which is why he ordered some of the more agile and speedier ships to pursue.

In the mean time, the rest of the fleet moved in to closer proximity of the station. The Abh fleet stopped just out of range of its own firing range. Frontlineships and missle cruisers moved to the front and prepared a launch on the station itself. Pylons opened wide to launch anti-matter mobile mines while torpedoe tubes opened and preparead to fire. Greil stood up as the viewing hull became transparent. "FIRE!!"

Azaha III
The first losses for the Abh in this war had been taken at Azaha III where the first salvo launch of torpedoes struck at the lighter class ships sending their crews to an early grave.

Fighters broke off in groups of four to cover one another in a diamond formation to cover their rears and flanks. Fire from rail guns, lasers, and torpedoes ignited the darkness as they engaged their targets. The Whitestars were slightly larger than the escorts and decided to go one-on-one or even one-on-two to level the playing field slightly be firing their pulse cannons and neutron cannons.

Victory Class Destroyers formed a line of suppressing fire and pushed forward. The only ships not fighting at the moment were the artillery ships, the flagship, and the two Paryunus.

Azaha IX
"So the planet is one giant weapon. Fascinating." Commander Lexshue sat in her chair with her shapely legs crossed. "Chief of Staff, Kluyae, assemble a ground force in the belly of the Forger. I believe that colony would make a nice addittion to our empire."

"Commander, our storm trooper batallion is nothing special and wouldn't be sufficient of storming an entire planet. It's made up of clones for the most part ma'am."

Lexshue shifted her wait. "I am aware of that. Arm them and get them ready to land in their dropships. Once we have cleaned this area up, whitestars will break through the atmosphere to sweep away ground defenses while the marine dropships will double as air support."

"Yes ma'am."

Both types of Rambirds held back near the Forger while the rest of the ships moved in to engage any ships in the area that still might have been caught at unawares. In the belly of the massive ship, Abh+ marine divisions were suiting up for a ground assault on Azaha IX to take the planet for their own. They begin filling into their dropships for take off.

Azaha IV
The situation here was strange indeed. Sensors were negative on all scopes. Unfortunatly no cloak sensors were equipped on these vessels though cloaked squadrons were always a possibility. The fleet stopped short of the optimal firing range for their energy weapons. Missle cruisers opened their tubes and fired a single volley at the station. They waited back to see what kind of reaction this would spark before moving in further.

Fighters circled back around with Whitestars to patrol the rear and flanks of the fleet.

Asteroid Field

The commander within the asteroid station cursed heavily under his breath. A very small fraction of the enemy fleet had broken away to chase the decoys, but not enough to truely make a difference.

"Shields to full! High effienciency and asteroid shields active! Get ready to take a beating!"

Inumberable weapons started to tatter across the asteroid shields, which were the first in line. Almost immediatly it started to waver and buckle, but was quickly reinforced by other energy reactors. They had planned ahead as to they might encounter very large asteroids, but withstanding an overwhelming attack was another good use.

"I want those sleeping ships active! I don't care if you can only crew 50 to a ship, all I want them to do is shoot!"

Meanwhile, the ships that had acted as decoys now scattered. They started to go in all directoins, their sensors picking up that they were being followed. All the ships, with the exception of a few dimwitted Swarm captains attempted to use the asteroids to mask their manuvers, so in essense, they'd be invisible until it was too late.

Azaha III

The Azahan line was rittled with enemy fire. IT did not take much to destroy or disable a Swarm class carrier, so many were wiped out after taking fire.

At this time though, they started to release their fighter compliments, and at the same time scattering themselves even further. They tactic was to scatter the enemy forces into chasing the multitudes of Swarms, and let the fighters swarm in roves and attack the much bigger ships. But they did not discount their torpedo tubes, and launched another salvo, but this time at individual ships.

When the last of the fighters and bombers were released, they started to group themselves into massive swarms of 5,000 craft, and began attacking ships like a swarm of wasps on a much larger prey.

Azaha IX

News of the attack circulated through the station and planet quickly. Everyone was scared, everyone wasn't ready to die for a god that never showed the slightest bit of compassion for them, or even a care. No one wanted to die for no apparent reason, yet most were ready to die, whether they liked it or not. But some decided to take actions into their own hands.

As the rapid response fleet started to engage the enemy, without much tactic except for sitting there and plugging away, whispers, and soon shouts of rebellion were ringing through the planet and it's mass driver. It all happened very fast, faster than any other rebellion of Renegades. But whent he chance at freedom was so close you could taste it, you would do all you could to taste the whole meal.

Rings of gunfire, and shouts of slaves filled the planet, and most of the station. It was a pitched, heated battle. Though the slaves outnumbered the soldiers and officers a hundred fold, they had no weapons, and had to resort to fists, and clubs pryed from what ever item they could get their tired hands on.

It was apparent from space what was happening. Communications from the station to the defending ships had all but ceased. The planet stopped it's rotation towards the enemy fleet, and no other attempt was made to defend itself, besides the response fleet that was already fighting.

Azaha IV

The first missile volley struck the station, tearing through the hull with ease, and detatching a few pieces of the station. No attempt was made to defend itself, not even shields were raised it seemed. Even the planet itself seemed very erie in its silence.

Asteroid Field

The small detachment sent off to hunt down the fleeing decoys broke off into smaller groups to track the enemy. Energy ripped through space whenever a target presented itself. Scanners were firing at full power to avoid losing a ship in the vast asteroid field.

Enemy fire pounded into the Abh fleet and took out several of the remote artillery ships as they had moved to the frontlines. Their returned fire in full not budging an inch as the computers bowed down to their masters and were not afraid of destruction. Only simple commands were needed to program targets and execute orders.

"Victories, move in."

Engines hummed with energy as they moved in closer to the enemy defenses. Dark green flowed through the bow of the ships as they targeted the station. Fusion missles streamed from their silos.

Azaha III

Major Kahyule and Admiral Trife stood on the bridge of the Keldeij looking down on the holographic battle as it unfolds. Their initial attacks had taken down many of the Swarm vessels and the battle over this territory looked promising. However with the recent development of these fighters coming into existance, the battle had taken an unexpected turn. "Perhaps we underestimated the enemy's capabilities to far more numbers than we had anticipated."

Trife held his chin in his palm while standing there with his eyes closed. "So it would seem. Well we can't retreat and I can't bare the shame of being beaten by insects."

"It doesn't matter if they were insects or a fleet of heavy destroyers. The fact is that we cannot continue our current tactic."

Stating the obvious was an annoyance to everyone but Trife had a tick about this. "I know that alright." While squeezing the bridge of his nose, tactics race through his mind in a situation like this. Outnumbered. "Bring our ships in together. We cannot afford to let any of them venture out alone and get surrounded. If we circle our ships up with our artillery in the center, we can create a defensive circle with our flanks and rears protected at all times. When one ship goes down, another can step up to fill in the gap. Whitestars, attack vessels, and our Victory destroyers will take front. Give the orders to launch all fighters and link up with fighters already in battle. We'll match our Abh pilots against theirs...even if they are clones."

Fighters poured out from bays in any ship that was capable of carrying a fighter craft. It did not stop until about 8,000 Star Cutters linked up with the already present Thunderbolt Star Furries. So the battle had changed from the larger ships being key to comeing down against the smaller one or two man fighters. The dance of death would begin as dogfights would break out across space. However, they were not to venture out more than five kilometers from the furthest ship or risk being swarmed by other fighters.

The larger ships would act as shields and provide anti-fighter fire while the Abh fighters went ship to ship. Still, a thousand bee stings would take its toll on a ship and some were disabled while others were simply overloaded and exploded in gouts of flame sending shockwaves throughout the fleet.

Azaha IX

Electromagnetic coils flared to life and sending projectiles of containing anti-matter into the enemy fleet mostly at the swarm vessels. It was now their chance to show that they belonged on the battlefield and not sitting in dock unless dire circumstances arised. Laser turrets slid out from retractable panels and targeted nearby ships while anti-proton cannons sent out their fire and brimstone.

The whitestars performed beautifully with stunning acrobatic routines as they danced among the stars and with the enemy. Shots were saved until they were certain of a clear hit so as to not waste energy during the battle.

Destroyers waded in behind sending out constant streams of energy, straffing it through the sky or sending constant beams in to overload a ship's systems. Each ship had its functions and each one had a well trained crew but with every battle, comes casualties. No matter how superior the ship or well trained the crew a single shot can erase all that hard work. In this case there were many shots though none could be considered lucky shots. It was a firm belief that there was no such thing as luck and every Abh and human knew they ran the risk of not coming home. Letters were going to be written to fallen soldiers families. Hopefully there wouldn't be many though.

Despite the losses that were being taken, Commander Lexshue felt confident about the battle. It was now time to move this invasion to the surface world. Sirens blarred throughout the hull of the massive ship as it moved closer to the planet with its escort of automated Rambirds. "The planet seems to have a slight distraction. Now is a perfect time to launch our ground attack while we have an advantage."

"Yes ma'am. Colonel Reiarios has all troops in loaded and waiting for their command."

Golden eyes glimpsed over the shaping battle. "Commence attack."

Lights went from red to blue showing that they had the all clear to attack. Doors slid open and dropships fell out using their engines for a momentary boost past the point of orbit. From then on, the planet's gravity was used to bring them in. Their target LZ was about twenty miles from the mass driver. This was the key here. To take control of the mass driver and eliminate threats from the area to secure the planet. First was storming the complex and a variety of weapons were being brought in along with a single armor unit.

Azaha IV

A peculiar site indeed. Not a single bit of return fire or attack from forces. There was either a problem with intelligence or they just hadn't bitten the trap yet.

The twenty Victory Class Destroyers moved to the front of the line while artillery returned to the rear to reload. Energy hummed throughout the destroyers as lights went dark for a moment. Light returned at four separate prongs surging forward at all points with three prongs meeting the fourth on the bow of every ship. It was from there that the attack gained its power and speed shooting straight for the station with the power that had been proven to punch through a star destroyer.

The downside to this attack, it consumed so much energy that these destroyers wouldn't be able to navigate or fire for at least a whole minute.

Planet D'Hara/ D'Haran System

Wind snapt the pennat of the House of Rahl atop the pinnacle peak on the People's Palace. The force of engines blasting off from the great D'Haran plain blew dust in Richard's face and sent his golden cape flapping back. The Seeker of Truth's sword was strapped to his waist as he stood out watching his D'Haran soldier file into their marine convoy ships. A black silhoutte standing with arms crossed. Ears perked up as the sound of gravel crunching behind him sent warnings that someone was approaching. The red leather of the Mord-sith took a position on his right while an armored marine took his left side. General Meiffert and Mistress Cara had been trusted companions in many battles and in life. Lovers, general and Mord-Sith, soul combatants, they watched along with their Lord Rahl as 500 D'Harans marched into their ships. Armored units could be heard thumping and clanking against the ground as they too were also brought in.

"It's almost time Lord Rahl, we are due to rendezvous with the fleet soon. How do you think the battle is fairing?"

A slight sigh settled his chest before turning a sidelong glance at the general. "Knowing Admiral Trife, he'll execute whatever tactics he sees fit though I imagine them to be quite aggressive given the chance."

"Well we won't do our job just standing here. The Abh+ marines are already on board and the last of our men are boarding now. Say your farewells to the Mother Confessor. It might be a while before you see her again so I better not here any complaints from her."

The Mord-sith had her moments though many of them were annoyances. Richard turned around to see his wife standing there holding their five year old child in her arms. Her long brown hair floated in the wind while her pure white dress moved against her figure. The large palace was her background and the beauty that was Kahlan was enhanced if it was even possible. His arms wrapped around her waist kissing the forehead of their son, Cypher. He looked at his wife with a smile before pushing his lips against hers. Their embrace held for as long as what was needed. "I love you both and I'll see you once the battle is over."

Both Kahlan and Cypher waved at father and husband as he descended the hill.

The great plain was emptied of all ships as they entered space and made for the jumpgate nearby targeting the Azaha System. Weapons, armor, and ammunition was checked. Equipment was put into storage in the event that should encounter a little turbulence.

OOC: (Slow motion shot of men running on a beach) TAG

Asteroid Field

Again, the emmensely powerful asteroid shields of the station held. Explosions and great bursts of fire blossomed on the shields, in a magnificent array of colors and hues. It was really quite beautifal, until the shields finally collapsed, and the hull started to take direct damage.

"Shields down! Sir, recommend we abandon station!"

"Heresy! If this were any other time I'd kill you myself! You expect us to jeteson into space where either the asteroids, or the enemy can eat us whole? I think not! We are sticking to this station until every-last-one of those ships are broken away and fighting."

Slowly, one or two ships at a time began their undocking procedures. Some simply tore away from the station, damaging the ship and the station, leaving both wounded. However, not enough were breaking away at once, leaving them highly vulnerable to be picked off one or two at a time.

Meanwhile the decoys had all but broken off, and were fleeing like cowards. It was a sad day for the Rapid response fleet corp.

Azaha III

As the enemy fleet started to huddle together, fighters began to take their distance, like roving swarms waiting for the perfect time to kill.

While still taking fire, the Swarms started to form a square of ships, numbering several hundred by several hundred. Many ships were lost in this manuver, due to lack of even trying to dodge enemy fire. However, the deadly effectiveness of this seemingly benign manuever was soon obvious.

Once again, a salvo of 4 through 6 torpedos was launched from each ship at the tightly huddled mass of ships. The Abh fleet could easily pick away most of the torpedos shot at them before they hit, except for the fact that at the same time the torpedos were launched, the massive swarms of fighters shot straight towards the enemy fleet.

Some fighters hung back, and acted as shields and guards to the high explosive torpedos, others went ahead and engaged any fighters, attempting to making sure they didn't have any time to engage the incoming torpedos. Finally, the majority of the swarm dove straight into the pack of capitol ships. They simply just didn't try to distract the enemy, but they began to swarm individual ships. The double edged sword. No matter what the enemy focussed on, their would be mass destruction, unless they were of the cunning sort....

Azaha IX

The fleet above Azaha IX was all but decimated. The docked ships at the station itself were being picked apart before they could even be crewed. The rapid response fleet already fighting were already disorganized and failing, many of the Swarms sending out signals of surrender, and powering down weapons, rolling over and exposing their bellies like whipped dogs.

The first thing the ground assault force would notice, was the lack of resistance, a complete lack. It was quite obvious a force was to be stationed around the openings of the weapon, hence guard posts, and armored bunkers. However, they were empty.

If the assaulters had 'standard' radios, they would notice the amount of radio static, namely because of the spam of help pleas and calls for reenforcements from Azahan soldiers.

Azaha IV

It splintered like a peice of dry wood. With an explosion ever few meters, the massive station simply started to fall apart. There were signs of activity, due to the reactor exploding into a huge blue fireball, signs that people were indeed using the station.

But yet again, there was no other response. Not even radio chatter, or sub space activity. It was a clear path straight to the planet.

Azaha IV, Imperial Citadel

The sergeant looked up into the sky. It was another bleak day, the sand from the planet obscuring the sun. But he knew it was to be a big day, the biggest in his career.

He looked back down to ground level, the tall sky scrapers of the city quickly consuming his view. He looked around, and whistled at a distant squad of soldiers coming around the bend of a building. He waved them over to him, and the lightly armed and armored soldiers jogged towards him.

"Come on boys, into the hole. Let's get this show on the road."

He ushered the soldiers into a circular opening in the street with a latter. He looked up at the sky again before heading inside himself. A door was slid closed, sealing the subterrainian shelter.

Asteroid Field:

With the decoys fleeing in all directions, the attack detachment circled back to return to the main fleet. Their mission had been relatively successful for the most part and now it was time to deal with the larger one at hand.

Ships caught trying to leave the space station were immediatly targeted as a greater threat. Fire was concentrated in their general direction by a few destroyers while the rest continued to pummel towards the station.

Reports made there way onto the bridge. "Commander, it seems the shields have failed."

"Excellent. Press the attack until there is nothing left. But monitor for surrender calls in the event that there are any."

"Yes sir."

Azaha III:
Trife and Kayhule looked down as the fighters took their formations. "Strange why they would choose such a close formation with our artillery ships protected in the center."

"Sir, they are firing a wall of torpedoes at our destroyers. If we do not react, we will lose them."

"I can see that Major. Order our fighters not to attack any of the torpedoes, their main concern is the enemy fighters while our destroyers will deal with the torpedoes themselves along with some extra support."

"Right away sir."

Fire shifted from the fighters to incoming torpedoes. All batteries focused forward to at least blast a whole on the mobile wall so as to lessen the damage taken. At the same time, Abh fighters went toe-to-toe with Azaha fighters that had ventured in close to the Abh fleet where the numbers would now outmatch their own. Whitestars worked tirelessly moving about the lines trying to add fire to the destroyers or allowing some to retreat to the interior to make quick repairs to damages.

Perhaps the greatest form of support came from the artillery ships that were reactivated. Pylons and torpedoe tubes opened and let loose a massive barrage in all directions trying to take some of the pressure off the ships on the frontlines. Mobile mines and torpedoes numbered in the thousands as they streamed forth. Still not all ships could be saved and many went down to the massive assault by enemy fighters while others retreated inside to repair. Others remained on the line holding stubbornly using every last bit of energy to fight the enemy until they were completely overwhelmed.

"Move the Paryunu's forward."

"Yes Admiral."

The two titans that were in the fleet began moving forward slightly towards the frontline but stopped and turned broadside. Turrets trained to the side and readied to fire.

Azaha IX:

It was indeed a strange sight for Colonel Riearios with basically nobody around. He waved forward towards the main compound for his dropship and three others to landoutside the complex. They hopped out with the ships hovering a foot off the ground. Rifles cocked, they began searching bunkers and out-building for any straggling soldiers before investigating in further.

In space, the battle raged on with the Abh ships gaining numerical superiorty and ganging up on ships that refused to surrender. Those that surrendered were ordered to power down and to prepare to be boarded. Crew members would be taken to a prisoner camp until the conflict was resumed and released at a later date though the Abh had treated prisoners badly, they sometimes received bad propaganda from unfriendly nations.

Azaha IV:

The space station up above was deemed inoperatible at the time. Clearance was given to the marine forces enroute to Azaha IV where the invasion of the main planet would begin. Ships began running patrols to make sure there were no surprises for when the marines arrived.

Several hours after the New Leningrad battle-

The JRCCC had recieved the report from New Leningrad, and had begun to formulate a plan of action. The Abh were moving as they spoke; reportedly, they were already tearing up the enemy with lightning force--the Newsmen and intel were screaming about that, with spectacular footage to accompany it. All Taniel Gibarian could do was smile and feel frustrated too....the Abh were doing New Dornalia a service, but there was a danger that they would finish the job before New Dornalia could finish teaching the Azahans a lesson. Thus a plan was drawn up to bring the war to the Azaha system before it was too late. Planners worked with what charts they had, and plotted attack routes. They worked late, but eventually came up with something manageable, considering the circumstances.

Operation "Sister Disco," named after the Who song of old, had but one goal in mind. A force of 250 New Dornalian vessels would deploy alongside existing GFFA Forces (the Abh), and begin moving in for the kill. Led by the Adam Savage, one of the Workers State's formidable Chuck Norris SSDs, this operation would be assuredly bloody and dangerous.....but then again, wars were like that.

The various ships were assembled in a hurry. Such was the miracle of modern technology, teleporters and warp routes in New Dornalia helped to bring the various elements together within hours of one another, as men were hurredly beamed up, recalled from shore leave, and ships quickly warmed up and sent to battle.

New Dornalia brought together 2 forces of:

25 Lin Biao Heavy Cruisers
25 Deng Xiaoping Battlecruisers
25 Mao Zedong III battleships
25 Zaitsev IIa ISDs
25 Prochkhorovka II Fleet Carriers

for the kill....marshaled as the Grand Expeditionary Force, under the command of Admiral Yushiro Nomura, who had gotten back from Kuat. He was none too happy about this new force, but he growled and took it-he eagerly wanted to redeem himself, after that last move. It wasn't in his blood to give up, no no....and besides. The Savage was some nice digs, better than his previous vessel.

With that in mind, he ordered all ships to Bosun Jump to the Azaha System. They did so, and within several minutes, they warped on top of the rear lines of the Abh, issuing this succint message in the meantime (OOC; Delivered in a voice similar to Dr. House's from House):

"This is Admiral Yushiro Howard Nomura of the People's Navy of New Dornalia. We're here to help defeat the Azahan forces, considering they did try to mess with us. I'm here to join in the fun. Where do you need us?"

Asteroid Field

"Seal docks 45 through 63! Redirect power to getting ships off the docking clamps! Try to get them damn shields up, NOW!"

Things weren't looking so good for the asteroid station. Though the shields were down, it would simply not be destroyed in a few seconds of punishment. It was a mighty big station, several kilometers long in either direction, in the shape of an X, with a massive central plexus connecting the four wings. The station itself had weapons, but not nearly enough. It was a construction yard and repair yard, not a forward combat outpost.

Things did look promising for the Abh, up until something huge popped up on their sensor arrays. It was a very peculiar reading though. First it turned into a huge reading, then an extremely small, and the entire spectrum in between. Hopefully the Abh would be cunning enough to figure out it was disturbance from the asteroids themselves.

Most of their questions would be answered though, when a massive energy reading shot from the large sensor glob. It was extremely fast, extremely massive, at 100 meters in diameter and extremely dense. It clipped a few asteroids, shattering them completely, before speeding straight at the Abh fleet.

The situation on the station changed from depressing, to exuberant.

Azaha III

Seeing their tactic work only mediocrely, it seemed that more desperate measures were needed. There was only measure left however, for the Swarms, since surrender was not an option for such a large force.

The fighters intensified their attacks. Although they were being picked off in mass numbers, they did their best to do damage. Even ones that were severely damaged were crashed into enemy ships, if it was on purpose was unknown.

At the same time, the massive wall of Swarms started to move forward on the enemy fleet. Salvos of torpedos were launched from ships individually, and in no uniform way. But what was uniform, was the war the swarms started to converge on one point.

The massive wall started to get smaller and smaller, converging on a single point: the Abh fleet.

Chances were that most of the Swarms would simply be destroyed before they could make it to the enemy fleet intact, but they were hoping the shrapnel from their remains, traveling at high speed, would tatter the enemy fleet. There wasn't many options left for them, only the will of Nurgle.

Azaha IX

As the soldiers approached the massive complex that housed the driver, they would notice that things were still extremely quiet. However, the smell of gun powder, blood, and death filled the air. For when they would enter, they would only find death, soldiers and slaves alike.

Asteroid Field:

The hulking mass rolled through the asteroids and turned a destroyer into a spectacle of sparks and shrapnel within seconds. Attention was stolen from the attack on the station to the location. Greil's ship was astir with commotion. "Chief, what in the name of the Abh was it that just hit us?"

Panels flashed to life while fingers flew a mile a minute. "Sir, it...it was an asteroid."

"What? That's impossible. There were no drives on them. We checked."

"Sir, that's not what I mean. It was shot at us."

"Did Commander Lexshue fail to capture the defensive planet?"

"No sir. The asteroid came from within the area."

The words began to sink in on the Ranger. An untouched enemy fleet was in the asteroid field. "Communications, get in contact with the rest of the fleet. Whitestars five thru thirty, break off from the attack and circle around to locate enemy fleet. The rest of us will pour everything we have into the station. Our mission is to blow this thing to hell. We can retreat from the area and regroup with other members of our main fleet to sweep up the rest of the enemy."

Whitestars broke off and began weaving through the asteroids with their scanners on full as they searched for this new foe. Meanwhile, the Abh fleet moved in and unleashed every ordinance that they held from torpedoes to laser fire and even the toilets were flushed in their general direction. Victories began humming with energy as their main weapon came online. It hummed from its prongs and arced out towards the bow of every ship and pulsated towards the station.

Azaha III:

"How much longer until our artillery ships are ready for another volley?"

Kahyule was bent over a council along with a young Abh female who was manning it. "About one minute."

Trife spun around with his cape billowing up. "Hmmm. When ready, give the codes for the ships to fire then move them to the frontlines."

"Sir, are you sure that is such a good idea?"

"Don't question me just do it! All VCD's level 2 firing at the focal point of the enemy swarm."

As one, maximum firing capabilities came on line and targeted the swarm fleets and launched their attack on the smallest points in the swarm fleets. The barrage ended only to be restarted by a rearmed artillery volley full of thousands of mobile mines and torpedoes. Ships were going down left and right but the only way to survive these attacks were to be just as furious in the fight to survive. Fighters continued fighting even without life support or engine power. Projectile after projectile continued to launch. Then, the remote ships moved towards the frontlines.

Azaha IX:

Colonel Reiarios's soldiers swept throughout the complex finding the remains of what appeared to have been a fierce battle. His clyuno began to pulsate with a blue light. "Colonel, this Commander Nuet. Troops are in place along with armored units. Awaiting your orders sir."

"Well done Duenan. We got quite a few dead bodies down here. Looks like a pitched battle between rebels and the regime. Move into the complex and stay on your toes. I don't want anyone getting caught up in the cross fire."

"Yes sir."

The colonel flashed hand signals dividing his clones up and sending them off exploring the depths of the complex to secure it.

Azaha IV:

Flashes of light lit up across the vastness of space as Lord Rahl's ground pounders finally arrived. They pulled up behind the Abh fleet to await the all clear before starting their ascent. However, a message was waiting for them as they pulled up. "So the Dornalians are here. That is good news general. Let us hope that they brought some soldiers to aid in the final assault."

General Meiffert nodded as he sheathed a dagger at his side. "Well at the moment they are awaiting instructions before they can be of any use."

"Indeed. Let's finish this job and get back home. Some of us are not so lucky to have brought our lovers with us." A thick leather glove thumped Richard on the back of his head. "Hi Cara."

"You have orders to issue Lord Rahl. Do it and stop joking around."

"Who ever said I was joking?"

Message to Dornalian fleet:
We have simultaneously executed attacks on all key military targets in the Azaha system. Reports indicate that Azaha IX is within our control. Admiral Trife is taking out Azaha III with the main part of our fleet. We haven't received many reports from the Admiral but I imagine that he is holding quite well. The only status that is unkown at the moment is the attack squadron investigating a station in an asteroid field. The asteroids are making it rather difficult to send transmissions. Sending ships their to lend to the attack would be appreciated. Any soldiers you have that would aid in the assault on Azaha IV would greatly increase our odds of success.

Lord Rahl of the Abh Empire~

"Well it's time to rally the troops." All three leaders of D'Hara went off to ready themselves for the invasion.

"Well it's time to rally the troops." All three leaders of D'Hara went off to ready themselves for the invasion.

Nomura then said, in his dry and sometimes often confrontially witty style, "Let's go, then. Those people won't surrender themselves, now."

The invasion of Azaha IV, as it turned out, would see plenty of New Dornalian soldiers. Some 150,000 from the Adam Savage alone, plus thousands more from the various Battleships and Carriers were moved into position, Marines, Red Army infantry and People's Acolytes prepared their kit, and moved to the many transporters that would teleport them to the surface.

Meanwhile artillery mechs, and all the mechanized attack and support vehicles coming with the New Dornalians were mustered as well, to provide aid to their infantry-based comrades.

The New Dornalians moved on Azaha IV, and some Komsomol III fighter-bomber and Marinesko II fighter wings were deployed en masse to begin patrols along with the Abh ships, and these were joined by Lin Biao Heavy Cruisers. The Mao Zedongs moved closer as well.

And, all the while, Admiral Nomura himself, along with his adjutant and Marshal Rose Torusumi, the famed "Marshal of Eisenstadt." They too, preferred to lead from the front, the Admiral doing so out of disdain for men who led behind desks, and Marshal Torusumi doing it because she wanted to prove to Nomura, who called her a mere "desk jockey," that she had what it took.

Reports indicated, from preliminary scans of the planet, that it would be next to impossible to deliver orbital support and air support, owing to the terrain, which was mainly tall skyscrapers. If they had to do this, it would be done by sheer guts, and definetly with the aid of Powered Armor and tanks. An undesirable situation, but one that could not be ignored.

Thus, the three officers and their men and their death machines had no choice but to begin teleporting down to the surface near Abh positions to assist Abh attacks. Daltrey suits, both the older Model Is and the newer Model IIs, plus the Kurosawa I and II suits and the Jose Marti transforming tanks were present in the ranks of the incoming Dornalian forces, which fanned out and prepared to do battle, the People's Acolytes using their Force sensitivity to perform spotting duty.

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

Meanwhile, 25 of the Lin Biao Heavy Cruisers moved as fast as possible to the Asteroid Field, sending a message to the Abh inside: "This is the cavalry, the NDS Tigershark to be exact. What kind of assistance do you require?"

I looked out upon the asteroid fields. The enemy was reacting quite well to the mass driver attack, I thought. But what troubled me was their sheer tanacity. My fleet outnumbered them vastly, even moreso than the previous engagements in the system, but I knew it did not matter.

"Grand Admiral Thule?" Sheepishly asked a senior officer. I looked over to him, then retrained my eyes on the enemy fleet. Now wasn't the time to bother me, and the expression on my face told him that. He slowly backed away, and waited for me to adress him.

There isn't much a hope here, I thought again. The fleet was just a small prick in the entire conflict. Communiques from Azaha IV establish that a sizeable fleet was orbitting Imperial Citadel, the main, and only city on Azaha IV. They were preparing for an outright assault. I knew that the guardsmen and marines of Azaha IV would not roll over, they would fight to the death, but eventually the invading enemy would win, through the sheer act of attrition.

I sighed. I didn't know what would come of us. I had never dealt with these enemies, nor even heard of them besides slight references. Damn this useless war. Gustable and his Sorcerer were right, but their weakness of being peer pressured into this war cost them a nation. Even now, Gustable hid, with his retuine. We hadn't heard from Gustable himself, or any of his liason for some time now.

Signing again, I turned and glanced at the officer who had spoken to me before. "Connect me into the communication array, use the Azaha Guardian's system itself if we cannot get through, and direct enough power to send a message system wide to both the invaders, and our men." I winced at the thought of what I was about to do.

"Uh, yes sir." He turned around, and scuttled off to rouse the communications officer to do his duty. A couple minutes later, the officer returned. "Ready sir."

I would be seen as a traitor for the rest of history, Azaha's history... if Azaha even had a history book in the future. But I took solice into knowing, that I would be saving billions.

Azaha surrenders. All forces are to put down their arms, or deactivate their ships. To the Invaders. We are surrendering on the condition that we be treated well. Should you decide to treat us like animals, there will be hell to pay. Grand Admiral Thule out.

As Admiral Nomura and company began warping onto the ground, the Azahan message came. Nomura, upon hearing it, threw his chainsword down and screamed, "Cockfags! And I was going to kick some ass, too."

Torusumi breathed a sigh of relief inside, it meant the objective of knocking out Azaha was accomplished, but inside, she felt an odd feeling. It wasn't the feeling of being cheated, but it was an eerie calm. She more calmly sheathed her chainsword, and ordered the Army units already there to stand down, and ordered Naval units to cease fire. Meanwhile, she picked up her communicator, and replied to the Azahans:

Very well. I have stood down my forces. Now, hold up your end of the bargain.

The call for the surrender ranged out through the marine transports as comms became public. Richard, Meiffert and Cara all plopped down to the metallic floor with sighs of relief. They were all soldiers and did their jobs well but the ones that despised war the most were those that fought them. From the back they could hear one D'Haran soldier laugh saying, "I guess they saw D'Harans about to attack and decided to surrender while they still could." The three companions smiled in good spirits but knew that the navy had one this day. "Well I guess I better accept the terms of surrender."

Richard stepped up to the bridge where a holopad was embedded in the floor. The image of a man in a sleeveless black shirt and black trousers with a sword hanging by his hip was projected on frequencies that could have been viewed by anyone. "This is Lord Rahl of the Abh Empire. We accept your surrender and assure you that you will not be treated poorly so long as your people cooperate during the stay of the occupying forces. All Abh military forces at this time will stand down."

Away at the edge of the system, Captain Lexshue heard of the surrender and relayed orders to her marines on the ground that the rules of engagement had changed. They were to finish securing the weapon but not to fire unless fired upon.

All around the system, military ships started to go silent, cease firing weapons, and stopping in their tracks.

With any operation however, there are always hold-outs. I ordered those hold outs that chose to keep fighting to be quickly destroyed by their own comrades. I feared an unecesary reprisal from the Abh and Dornalians.

The only fleet that was left untouched, and the largest, was my fleet. I made the decision to inch out of our asteroid cover, with all the ships at my command. Though our weapons were powered down, our sheer number, which was larger than any other fleet they had encountered so far in the Azaha system, should have been sufficient to cause awe. I was going to make it perfectly clear that even though I gave the order to surrender, it was done on my terms.

"Open a com channel," I ordered the com officer, my voice stern and unsympathetic now.

This is Grand Admiral Thule.

Our national leader has abandonned us, and I outrank all the other generals and admirals in the system, I will formally accept surrender. A formal discussion on each others' terms of surrender will be done on my ship, the Azaha Guardian, as you have destroyed all of our stations.

Two days should be sufficient to write up a proper document. Until then, my fleet will be holding high anchor over Azaha IV, the rest of the system will begin in salvage operations, and search and rescue operations. Your cooperation in the matter would be appreciated.

Message this command ship if you become ready for discussion before the two days. Grand Admiral Thule of the Demi-Imperium of Azaha, out.

The Dornalian fleet's Lin Biaos and Dengs began aiding the Azahans with scanning the nearby planets in search and rescue operations. As this happened, the Zaitsev II ISDs were withdrawn, and sent elsewhere, they were needed for operations.

All the while, Admiral Nomura sent transmissions to Lord Rahl, asking what should the terms be....

Securing those that had abandoned ship whether they were allied or enemy was a natural thing for the Abh. Many from the Azaha fleet had already been picked up and were in the process of being shuttled back to a camp until the conflict could be resolved. Obviously they were expecting a longer battle than this had been. Messages went out to the transports to bring them back into Azahan space.

Richard plopped down into one of the side chairs. "Radio a transmission to the Dornalian fleet."

"Yes my Lord."

"Admiral Nomura, this is Lord Rahl of the Abh Empire. This nation was responsible for attacking and invading your soverieng space. The only thing that we may require is a bit of compensation for the deceased and lost ships of our fleet as well as the security of the last planet in this system. It will be turned into a military fortress while we control the massive mass driver. If you desire, it can be turned into a coalition fortress. What else for the terms of surrender are, that is up to you. We won't impede as long as the people are treated fairly."

"Admiral Nomura, this is Lord Rahl of the Abh Empire. This nation was responsible for attacking and invading your soverieng space. The only thing that we may require is a bit of compensation for the deceased and lost ships of our fleet as well as the security of the last planet in this system. It will be turned into a military fortress while we control the massive mass driver. If you desire, it can be turned into a coalition fortress. What else for the terms of surrender are, that is up to you. We won't impede as long as the people are treated fairly."

Admiral Nomura replied, "I like the sound of that. I was thinking of establishing bases too, keep an eye on them in case they act up again. It's fine in my opinion. We can make it into a coalition fortress."

Admiral Nomura then offered the terms to the Azahans....a coalition fortress on the last planet in Azaha system and some recompension for the damage at New Leningrad, which would be small.

OOC: Figured I may as well get this out of the way; Abh, forgive me if I jump the gun.

OOC: No problem at all but I think Azaha was assuming that we had already offered the terms and built the base.

OOC: No problem at all but I think Azaha was assuming that we had already offered the terms and built the base.

OOC: Okay. In that case, consider this phase of the war finished.