NationStates Jolt Archive

Outer Orbit, Sondaica System
It was horribly silent. It was horribly loud. It was horribly silent.

That's the easiest way of describing the appearance of the Tyranid fleet, at the edge of the Sondaica system. One moment, there was nothing there, and then, 250 AUs from the white star, Sondaica, a rip formed in space. Atmosphere rushed out of the Immaterium, flooding the once-silent space with noise. With the noise came vessels, the horrific warships of the Tyranid swarm, all fleshy and adorned with spikes and organic outcroppings, pulsating and squirming. They were an affront to nature, a carbuncle in the baroque beauty and slow grace of the solar system.

Listening Post, Outer Orbit, Sondaica System
The crew of the listening station were in a panic. Partially because they knew they were about to die, and partially because they knew that the civilians on Sondaica would die shortly after.

"Goddammit!" the captain shouted to no one as he hastily scrawled a note to the Sondaica Space Forces HQ. "How big is that fleet?!" He looked up as the head sensors officer checked.

"Eight Hive ships, Leviathan-class! A whole bunch of those Razorfiend Cruisers... looks like twenty, at least. Over a hundred Prowler drones, eighty Stalker drones!"

The captain and the sensors officer looked at each other for a second, and the second muttered, "Fucking hell, Tim..." Tim, the captain, looked down and realised he had snapped his stylus in half. It didn't matter, the message was complete, and he transmitted it. Someone yelled "incoming!" He closed his eyes and pictured his wife. He hadn't seen her in three months.

His final thought was of her, as a trio of Stalker drones immolated the station with their pyro-acid.

SSF-HQ, High Orbit, Sondaica Prime
Admiral John Hayes grunted as the transmission was recieved:
Tyranid Hive Fleet, 250 AUs, coords 127x/12y. Eight leviathan, twenty+ razorfiend, 100+ prowler, 80+ stalker. LP destruction imminent. Good luck./transmission end
He turned to the crew pit in the station's command center.
"Contact GTR Command, inform them of the situation! Send out a fleet-wide alert, prepare the First Wing for intercept! Get this station ready for combat, activate the planetary defense forces, and order them to impose martial law! Yesterday!" the career officer barked. The pit went from dead silence to a roar of activity.
Hayes moved to an observation port and looked out towards the rim of the system. The enemy fleet wasn't visible... yet.


OOC: Anyone who wants to, join in. I only ask that you don't bring in some uber-fleet and incinerate the Tyranids (...or my people, for that matter) like they're nothing. If anyone wants to RP a character in my military or a Tyranid warrior, you're welcome to.
Oh, and constructive criticism is also welcome.

(OOC:
Interest is thus expressed.
Busy busy busy...)

(OOC:
Interest is thus expressed.
Busy busy busy...)

OOC: That could almost be haiku.

(OOC:
One makes a note,
of an interesting work,
Alas, too busy to post.

:P)

Look before you leap. The old adage takes on a new meaning in interstellar space, where blindly jumping about could put you in the center of a star, or the middle of a raging battle between various forces of system-annihilating power. So it was no surprise that the cautious commander of the AmDes Imperion found it prudent to send a pre-fabbed d-cube into the newly found area of Tyranid activity, before jumping into the middle of the system with his single corporate warship.

"Hive fleet detected several lightyears away from our designated patrol area, Commander." The DataOps officer said after reading a fresh data-burst as his station transmitted it to his neural implants.

"Is it attacking anything, or just moving through?" Commander Urich asked as he made his way from an uninteresting data-cloud to his command chair.

"Appears to be attacking the system named Sondaica Prime, populated by sentients of space-faring capability."

"Shit. Well let's not be idle; log a report with fleet HQ and ready a d-cube from the holds to be phased in near the fleet immediately."

"Report logged, cube ready." The officer said a few seconds later.

"How far away from the area of incursion should we send it?" Commander Urich asked from his command chair.

"25 Astronomical Units should be far enough to evade detection yet still pick up some useful information about the fleet's capabilities." The DataOps officer said from behind his station.

"What information should we expect to gather?"

"Mainly, their precise strength in number, and structural weak-points if nothing interferes with the cube."

"Good. Send the probe off, and a message to the government of the besieged system offering what help we can."

"Aye, sir."

--

TO: The People of Sondaica Prime
FROM: AmDef Commander Tsars Urich
SUBJECT: Assistance

Greetings,

It appears that you have become the target of a hungry hive fleet. We're offering to render whatever assistance possible.

- Commander Urich

--

The aptly named d-cube quickly lost its form, and shortly thereafter its very existence from its storage station in the Imperion's hold, being phased several lightyears away through hyperspace, approximately 25 AU away from the marauding hive fleet.

The communication node immediately establishes a direct link to the master data-computer aboard the Imperion. Infrared and gamma-ray scanners silently sweep over the entirety of the imposing biological warships once every hundred microseconds, while the Hivefleet's immense emission of brainwave activity is picked up and analyzed by the cube's electroencephalogram microprocessor.


***|SM-1|: Initial cycle complete.
***|EEG-1|: Initial compilation complete.
***|CN-1|: Transmitting.

The initial data burst is quickly broken down by the Imperion's computer. Information is analyzed and summarized, then delivered to the DataOp officer's station.

"It's huge, sir."

"We didn't need to send a probe to figure out that much. What else have you found?"

"A general list of 'ships' and a vague list of presumed weaknesses and strengths, but I'm afraid that we're going to have to way a few more cycles before we get an definite information, sir."

"Let's hope it lasts that long."

[iS-qV]

Transferrence is always slightly dangerous. Of course, as the Kun'dari have evolved to deal with it over the years, those dangers are nowhere near as acute as they once were; nonetheless, there's still a small bit of uncertainty as to where exactly one will end up. Normally, going places in tXYZ-space requires trekking through all four dimensions at once, which greatly slows up faster-than-light travel; transferring into iS-qV, where there are only two dimensions -- back/forth and clockwise/counterclockwise -- is significantly easier, especially since there is no time to speak of to hinder one's passage, but retransferring into tXYZ is where it becomes difficult. You could be retransferred just about anywhere in the Universe, although Gali'randi-el technologies are sufficiently advanced that it's a bit less indefinite than that; tXYZ-spacetime is like a massive four-dimensional sphere, and on its upper tangents one could as easily end up on one end of the tangent as on another.

It was Li'thin Ivrik who had first discovered the most stable route from the lightly populated Tann'i Sector of Anisj Galaxy through iS-qV into the heavily populated, economically prosperous Milky Way. The route is fourteen and a half thousand years old now, comparatively new (but a small fraction of the time the First Star Empire had been in existence), but well-travelled; where exactly they'd end up in the galaxy is still being worked out, especially with ships travelling alone, unlinked.

Jan'ith and Dougazne Sivein, along with I'urji Ivrik and even one Theia't-i, named Kai'u, are the latest arrivals to the galaxy. Interlinked, of course; it is standard for several Kun'dari traveling together to do so. Kai'u, the senior (at a little over nineteen thousand years of age) is leading the way into realspace; behind her the smaller I'urji, about three hundred metres in length, trundles along complacently, confident in her own power. The Sivein twins behind them are already flanking out; the Sivein are evolved for sensory information, which they subsequently provide to Kai'u.

Dougazne reports back first; her avatar (all Kun'dari are female) turns back to Kai'u. "It looks like the nearest planet is one called Sondaica, plus seventy-eight il'thari X, minus nineteen il'thari Y."

"Never heard of it," comments Kai'u. "It's not in our resources."

Kai'u's operator, a Ves'dari female named Jil-than, chimes in. "I've never heard of it. It's inhabited, though. Sentience."

Ja'nith nods. "Confirmed... it appears to be life resembling that odd species class we first discovered when probing Galaxy 237A, the u-mani, or whatever they called themselves."

"I believe they referred to the species class as 'u-manoyyd'," comments Jil-than reflectively. "Do we make contact with them? Trade could benefit the Empire greatly."

This is directed at I'urji; I'urji's An'dari operator Yakesh is the one to answer. "I wouldn't recommend it until we know more. They could be hostile to our kind."

Kai'u half-smiles; or at least, her avatar does. "I'll head in anyway. We may as well observe what they're like. Agreed?"

The meeting, located in Kai'u's upper linkup room, concurs. The various ships' avatars, and their operators (on screens, usually), perform the requisite medial limb gesture signifying agreement, and Kai'u turns back to a screen. It's not entirely necessary, and mainly for display, but it enables her to keep in touch with the arties below.

"Right."

And as one, the four linked ships turn towards Sondaica System. Behind her the screens and avatars disappear; the presence of the avatar does have an effect on the functioning of its ship, however minute, and function is what is needed now.

Forty-three il'thari from the planet itself, Ja'nith sounds an alert.

I'm detecting some kind of ... fleet entering tXYZ-space about twenty-nine il'thari off the Sondaican homesun.

Odd. How large?

Ridiculously massive. Probably over two hundred vessels.

That's some kind of horde, not a fleet. Hang on, it's in my sensor range too now.

You getting the same reading on lifeforms as I am?

Looks like it. Not only do they have vessels, there are far greater than the requisite number of Operators aboard.

Perhaps it's a colony fleet.

As the image of the Tyranid fleet is magnified onscreen, then the Listening Post near it, Yakesh watches dispassionately, murmuring something about the primitivity of requiring artificial satellites. He cocks his head slightly as the Listening Post simply ceases to exist, the fleet rampaging through where it used to be a second later.

There were lifeforms aboard that station. I'm not sure how many.

Bloody idiots, putting their own kind aboard artificial stations... don't they have any more efficient means of surveying?

Might I remind you that not every race is fortunate enough to be under the Emperor's care. Besides, I didn't ask for your opinion. Let's hail that fleet, see what they're after... they seem perfectly fine with destroying things wantonly, and I'm not sure that's in our interests at the moment.

Right.

A few minutes later, with Kai'u and some of the arties finishing up their language-scan of the Tyranids, a message reaches the hive-fleet in their language.

Greetings from the Gali'randi-el Theia't-i class vessel Kai'u. We have noticed your activities in this system and are slightly concerned as to your purpose here. Wantonly destroying worlds won't put you in favour with us and we may choose to offer aid to your enemies, or victims, whatever you choose to call them.

If you have a response to this, please offer it.

In the meantime, Kai'u is language-scanning the world Sondaica and preparing to send a message to the inhabitants of that planet as well.

For now, all the Gali'randi-el can do is wait.

SSF-HQ, High Orbit, Sondaica Prime
TO: AmDef Commander Tsars Urich
FROM: Admiral John Hayes
SUBJECT: RE: Assistance

Any assistance would be welcome. Thank you.


Hayes transmitted the message and quickly stood. Around him, the command center was still a flurry of activity, orders and reports being shouted, hurried conversations overlapping each other. The Admiral turned to his tactical officer, Gregor Konawolcyuk, and stared, expectantly.

Captain Konawolcyuk cleared his throat. "The First Wing is prepared to intercept. Commander McPherson is awaiting your orders."

Hayes nodded. "Open a line to the Ill Wind." The Comms officer complied, and Hayes picked up his handset. "Commander McPherson, intercept and engage the enemy. Godspeed." Without waiting for a reply or confirmation, he set the headset down, and turned back to the radar display, watching the progress of the enemy fleet.

Bridge of the Ill Wind, flagship of the First Wing
Commander James McPherson was about to say "Yes, sir," when he heard the headset click. McPherson snorted and put down the headset, muttering "prick".

His lieutenant turned to him. "Sir?"

"Nothing, Acklay. Time to get this ball rolling." He turned on the Capital Ship Tactical Net (CSTN). "All captains, move to intercept the Tyranid fleet. Remain in Retracted Claw formation. Godspeed, Captains, this is gonna be a rough one."

He turned to his own helmsman, and made a small hand signal: Forward.

Queen's Throneroom, Tyranid Flagship
The young Norn Queen hissed quietly as she sat, her ovipositer laying eggs that would soon release fearsome Tyranid warriors. Curse these wretched humanoids. They think they can resist me? she thought. How dare they? Do they not understand the futility of resisting me? She brooded quietly for a moment, then spoke to her children.

Prepare yourselves, my children. The sheep are coming, and they believe they have fangs. They are rapidly approaching. Destroy them.

Another prescence then invaded her mind. Another species communicated with her. This was a totally alien experience.
The voice spoke...
Greetings from the Gali'randi-el Theia't-i class vessel Kai'u. We have noticed your activities in this system and are slightly concerned as to your purpose here. Wantonly destroying worlds won't put you in favour with us and we may choose to offer aid to your enemies, or victims, whatever you choose to call them.

If you have a response to this, please offer it.


She shuddered at the awful impurity of this being's voice. It nearly damaged her mind, so wretched was the sound. She replied to the being, shaping her thoughts as best she could, for the alien's comprehension.

I am Tyranid. If you are a wise people, you will not interfere. If you are wise, you will avoid Tyranid. Do not underestimate Tyranid. If you avoid, you will be avoid devoured by us as long as you choose.
And do not underestimate Tyranid, for I am merely a harbinger, a vanguard.

The Queen shuddered with anger. Such impertinence.

Trouble always seemed to be brewing. First, there was the possibility of the Galactic Empire getting into a war with the Republic, and the Federation had to worry about that. Then, there was the Crusade in the Charybdis Cluster, which they sent men and ships to go aid with that quest there. And just recently, a massive warfleet had been sent to combat a powerful enemy, at the request of a beleaguered nation. So, the Federation had enough on it's plate. Which is what made the distress call from the Listening Post that was just wiped out by the Tyranids even more distress. All that was on hand was the patrol ships that had received the message. It was a small group, consisting of only two destroyers, three cruisers and six corvettes. All of which were now staying in an asteroid field, scanning the battle area. Commander Sanchez sat aboard one of the destroyers, the Saratoga, watching all of this happen. "What do the scans say of these things?"

"Well sir, it is really creepy but interesting at the same time. We can't identify their technology as they basically have known. Their ships are entirely organic; I don't know how they do it but it's totally made out of flesh." Lieutenant Johnson stood at this station, gazing at the scrolling information.

"And what of their numbers?"

The Lieutenant winced. "Well sir, I read around 200 ships, twenty-eight heavy, , one hundred and eighty light." The Commander was silent.

"Anything else?"

Johnson sighed. "Well, we have detected two other signals, each different. One has contacted the organic fleet, the other has contacted the planet below." He turned to face Sanchez. "Your orders, sir?" Sanchez's eyes narrowed.

"Stay silent for now, keep watching. This does not concern us and we are stretched enough as it is. We will wait and see what happens."

"Yes sir."

The message reaches Kai'u, and she wastes no time in sharing it with the other Gali'randi. The ships have moved in slightly, to within electronic energy transfer range, in order to facilitate communications.

So what do we do now?

Well, they're obviously not interested in diplomacy...

You three stay back then. I'll give them a warning. That's what the Ivrik are for after all.

Gotcha. Dougazne, you contact that planet then.

Will do.

I and Ja'nith will stay back here, we'll wait, won't do anything unless threatened, yadda yadda.

Ok.

Then every single Tyranid is suddenly inundated with a rush of excruciating pain.

It is well known that organic, flesh-based life forms conduct their entire life systems with electromagnetic energy, carried via nerves or their equivalent in the species in question. Disrupting that electromagnetic energy can have very dangerous, and sometimes painful, results. As the Kun'dari -- such as the four vessels, the metal outer shells for the inner organic energy-based life form -- are beings of pure electromagnetic energy, merely melded into vessels with the assistance of their An'dari brother-race, it is simple for them to temporarily manipulate nerve endings and ganglia with quite painful results.

For thirty seconds a perfect ecstasy of pain overtakes the Tyranid Hive, then it is gone again. The nerves are left to repair the damage caused them by their massive overload.

Meanwhile, a message reaches the planet Sondaica's central command. It is brief.

We are the Gali'randi-el. The Tyran'idi refused to offer an explanation for their assault upon this system, so we will do what we can to prevent its destruction and discourage them from violence. If you have encountered this enemy before, please send us reports on its activities and nature to better help us deal with it in future (we have already determined its physiology, language, neurology, and weaponry).

Thank you.

Kai'u Theia't-i, Galaxy 237A Liaison-Vessel

Welcome to Augmented FleetNet, AugShip Thermal Damage.

Joining your channel list...

(1) Command Channel Rank 4 (12,405 members)
(2) Sector 77zza Chat (1,708 members)
(3) Hegemonizer Watch Priority 2 (about 21,000,000 members)
(4) C-CC-PB Mind Chat (about 9,000 members)
(5) Supreme Commander Tournament Channel (41 members)
...etc

CCR4:Battlefield Medic> Incident. AugShip Battlefield Medic pilot engaged in combat...
HWP2:ChanSys> ALERT. ALERT. PRIORITY 2 INCURSION. TYPE: TYRANID HIVE FLEET. NUMBER: 28+ CAPITAL 180+ SUBCAPITAL REQUEST AID OF 20 RAPID ATTACK UNITS SECTOR 77zza. JOIN: CHANNEL Tyranid Threat: 77zza

Command adknowledged. Leaving all channels. Joining Channel.

(1) Tyranid Threat: 77zza

Thermal Damage> What's going on here?
I Enjoy Vaporizing> Dunno.
FIDO> All units proceed at maximum speed to star system Sondacia and prepare to receive engagement orders. Now would probably be a good time to back up your little brains in deep storage too. Tyranids are vicious little bastards.

Across the local area, twenty units of the Augmented Fleet drop whatever interesting thing they were doing and begin to accelerate towards Sondacia. While they might not be able to do much damage to the Hive Fleet by themselves, they could certainly aid those already fighting the threat.

At least, when they got there they could. The Augmented Fleet is spread thin, and ETA for the ships is ten minutes away even at maximum speed.

160 AUs from Sondaica
The First Wing advanced with reckless abandon. Leading the charge was a pair of MC80 Star Cruisers. The flagship, Ill Wind, an Oberon-class battleship, was behind them. Surrounding them were two Retribution-class battleships, four Gothic-class cruisers, six Sword-class frigates, and three Nebulon-B frigates.
The Tyranids split into two groups: the Hive ships and nearly half of the others held back. The rest hurled themselves at the First Wing. Stalker and Prowler drones, looking much like a swarm of hornets, took the lead, while the Razorfiends held back slightly, forming a backbone for the battlegroup.

The two formations entered maximum firing range. Bio-plasma and lance beams crossed and lit up the void. The two formations were illuminated as the initial exchange dissipated against energy shields and spore clouds. Both sides pressed the attack, and the first losses on both sides were inflicted: a Nebulon-B was split in half by a jet of pyro-acid from a Stalker drone. The bow of the frigate crashed into the port side of a Sword-class frigate, and the engines continued on for several hundred kilometers. It detonated in the midst of four drones, the blast consuming them. A Razorfiend was destroyed when a pair of lances converged at its heart. It death throes sent a massive claw through the bow of a Gothic-class and covered the ship with bio-plasma.

The fight continued, its brutality and ferocity unabated.

The Queen's Throneroom
The Queen watched as the battle was joined. The First Wing was putting up a strong fight, and it was evident that McPherson was a resourceful commander. The man's image floated past. The Queen would enjoy killing him.

Then the Queen felt that horrible presence in her mind again. Gali'randi. She realized what was about to happen, and temporarily cut off the synaptic connection between her and her children. Most of them would become feral and disorganized for the time being, but it could not be helped.

The pain was purely, beautifully, excrutiating. All across the throne room, blood vessels constricted, then burst, as her psyker powers went out of control. For thirty seconds, she screamed and spasmed, corrupting the clutch of eggs and larvae on the throneroom floor. In those thirty seconds, the queen went truly mad.

160 AUs from Sondaica
McPherson was shocked. Are we actually going to win this?! For some reason, the Tyranid fleet had gone completely silent for nearly thirty seconds. In that time, thirty escorts and a pair of cruisers had gone up in flames.

"Sir, activity!"

A jet of bio-plasma cored one of the MC80s. Goddammit, McPherson growled to himself. Of the eighteen capital ships that had gone into battle with him, only eight were still active: an MC80, two battleships, two of the cruisers, a Nebulon-B, and three Swords. McPherson got onto the tacnet. "We're gonna have to make this a running engagement. Withdraw, full speed."

The ship shuddered as the other battleship was destroyed.

Looks like they completely quit functioning for a bit.

Serves them right. Kai'u, you want to do the honours?

I'd be delighted.

As the Tyranid Queen begins to recover from her spasm of pain, Kai'u simply drops the message into her brain. It's cold and unpleasant-feeling at first, but much easier than direct communications. The message consists of only a few words:

You see why rejecting us isn't such a good idea? Now perhaps if you're willing to withdraw from this system, we won't disrupt the neural pathways of everything organic in this fleet or some other choice maneuver.

Technically, this is just an effort to get them to see reason themselves. With a bit of work we could crack into their computers and set them to transport the fleet to 'somewhere else'. But it's worth a try, maybe at least this hive is salvageable.

Queen's Throneroom
You see why rejecting us isn't such a good idea? Now perhaps if you're willing to withdraw from this system, we won't disrupt the neural pathways of everything organic in this fleet or some other choice maneuver.

The Queen's reply was short:

How amusing.

And psychic contact was severed. The Queen turned back towards the routing Terrans.

All vessels, full speed. Do not stop until we've laid waste to their fleet.
OOC EDIT: Yeah, sorry, too tired to write more ATM.

Somewhere in space, the kesshii /pawns/ bred from Tyranid Genestealers, do a little, happy dance.

Their pulse of happiness floats through the Kesshite /upper-mind/. One of the six /elder mothers/ makes a decision and dozens of ships are readied.

It's time to welcome the Kesshite's cousins to the galaxy, and help them settle in.

OOC: Alright... Let's rock.

IC:

Life signs are off the charts

Yup.

Indeed.

Cut the chatter. We all know what those are

Yup.

Yep.

Mhmm.

Fething Christ... Let's just get this show on the road...

The 4 Battleships of Solari Task Force 56, as well as their supports, moved rapidly once the decision was made. Massive drives powered up, preparing to shatter every law of physics, and then some. Reality didn't appreciate it when Solari ships bridged the gulf between stars, but it happened anyway. To anyone who could hear(read, the psychotic, certain small dogs), the universe tended to scream quite loudly every time it happened. Rather unsettling it was. But that never stopped the Solari. They appeared in their destination system, as ever, ready for battle, and trying to figure out whether or not they still officially existed.

The emergence of several other fleets was duly noted by the still-working d-cube not about 20 AU from the advancing Tyranid fleet, using one of its power-sinks to jump a mere five AU closer to get a definitively clearer picture of the hive-fleet threat.

The Galirandi vessels were the first to be noted, as they were the next to immediately arrive in response to the hive-fleet's incursion. Though their present distance, and the fact that the cube was only able to dedicate a small number of sensor nodes at their location, meant that what data could be gathered was minuscule at best. The only thing that the Imperion's crew knew was that they had managed to affect the Tyranids greatly since their arrival. Then there was the emanation of another spatial disturbance some distance away, though friend or foe was totally unknown.

"So we have one presumed ally, and another possible party with unknown intentions?"

"Yes sir, recommend we phase in another cube near the center of the disturbance to rectify our lack of information as to intent and capabilities of this new entity."

"Go ahead. Anything else?"

--

Another d-cube was phased into the Sondaica system, some 50 AU from the spatial disturbance caused by the still-hidden Telrosii when they made their entrance. It's own arrival was remarkably less specular, and every effort to keep the probe hidden from the scanners of the participants in case their intentions were less than noble.

Tachyon radiation from the tear in space-time was analyzed first, followed by a general scan of all non-relativistic waves that were a result of traditional EM radiation. Then a continuous sweep of said spectrum was engaged, passing completely over the region every few hundred micro-seconds with FTL methods.

If there was anything there, the cube was dead-set on finding it.

--

"Long range scans indicate the approach of what appear to be the Augmented."

"Ah, some good news then. Send them a signal that associates of the Conglomerate government request their assistance in dealing with this matter."

The CommOps sent off a message in the direction of the approaching Augmented vessels.


TO: Augmented Fleet Command
FROM: Ambrosia Defense Forces
SUBJECT: Tyranid Threat

Greetings,

Long range scans have made us aware of your coming. We are a detachment of the Ambrosia Incorporated Defense Forces, a corporate body operating in the Conglomerate. As you have no doubt been made aware through your own reconnaissance, there is currently a large Tyranid fleet moving towards Sondaica Prime of the Sondaica system. Already native forces are engaged, and are soon to be overwhelmed. We request your assistance in combating this bio-menace, so that we may delay them long enough until sufficient reinforcements arrive, or the planet may be evacuated. A data-burst will accompany this transmission with all currently obtained information relevant to the Tyranid threat. We await your response.

-Commander Urich, of the AmDes Imperion

"Sent, sir." Said CommOps.

"Sir! A flotilla of Solari ships has arrived, and seem to be readying an attack against the Tyranids." DataOps said as another burst of information flooded through the various canals of his digitally augmented mind from the ever-watchful but over-worked d-cube.

"Even better," Urich said as the gold of his iris' focused upon the new virtual blips representing the Solari on the holographic battle-map projected before him. "Dispatch a message requesting their aid as well; we can't get enough help against these monsters."


TO: Solari Command
FROM: Ambrosia Defense Forces
SUBJECT: Tyranid Threat

Greetings,

This is the AmDes Imperion of the Ambrosia Defense Forces. We have determined that, like ourselves, you are likely to engage the invading Tyranids, and would like to request your cooperation in defeating this bio-threat before the Sondaica defense forces are overwhelmed, and the system consumed. All relevant data obtained about the Tyranid threat has been enclosed with this transmission. We await your response.

-Commander Urich, of the AmDes Imperion

"Sent."

"Good. Take us into he Oort cloud not too far from the Tyranids, and ready the manufacturing plants. I want them ready to go a hundred and ten percent beyond normal tolerances. Also let the Sondaicians know that we'll do what we can to stall them while they evacuate, since there appears to be little else we can accomplish at this point." Urich said.


TO: Sondaica Defense Command
FROM: Ambrosia Defense Forces
SUBJECT: RE: RE: Assistance

Greetings,

We will do what we are able. However, it seems that the only goal achievable at this point is delay whilst evacuation procedures are put into effect. Otherwise I fear that nothing else can be done except the throwing away of our lives. We are currently trying to coordinate with the commanders of other forces as they have arrived and are arriving. Please let us know what your intentions are in this conflict are before we proceed.

-Commander Urich of the AmDes Imperion

"Sent."

The Imperion quickly phased into the system's Oort Cloud some 500 AU from the battle between the Sondaica and the Tyranids. Drones left the holds, and begin gathering resources from the various rocky bodies that drifted through this dark region of stellar space.

Material was fed into the manufacturing plants within the five-hundred meter long Imperion's hull, with the production of both dumb-fire and smart munitions in mind.

Just then the AmDes Cadion and AmCus Oblitate jumped into the system with a small number of automated gun-ships in toe, not an AU away from the Imperion and her busy drones.

"Reinforcements from HQ have just arrived sir."

"Right on time."

Soon the other ships began doing a similar thing to the Imperion, quickly generating a varied assortment of ordnance in an effort to stall the current fate of Sondaica that was all but inevitable.

OOC: I'm fast-forwarding a bit in this post. The outcome of the space war is inevitable and somewhat boring, IMHO. I'm trying to bring this to the ground.

SSF-HQ, High Orbit, Sondaica Prime
Admiral Hayes grunted as he listened to the transmission. Commander McPherson's voice sounded desperate, even through the distortion of the headset.

"Sir, our forces were overwhelmed. Over 50% losses, remaining ships are critically damaged. We're making a run for it, it's the best we can do. I apologize, sir, and take full responsibility. McPherson out."

Just as McPherson hung up, another transmission came in: twelve heavy transports, equipped to transport the civilians on Sondaica out of the system, had just arrived. Hayes rubbed his temples. So much for retirement... He shook his head and snapped back to reality. He looked onto his tactical map, a 3-D representation of the system. On it were five little blue triangles, representing the remaining ships of the First Wing, and chasing them were two packs of little red triangles, one group representing the ships that had engaged the First Wing, the other representing the Hive Ships and escorts. "Alcay," he said, calling his Executive Officer.

Cmdr. Alcay looked up. "Sir?" he asked, tail twitching slightly. Alcay was a like many members of his species: ruthless and inventive. A fine specimen of the Skaven race, and exactly what Hayes wanted in a XO.

Hayes paused, thinking. "Alcay, send the Third Wing to cover the First Wing's escape. McPherson is a prick, but he's a very good commander and needs to survive. Send the Fourth Wing to escort the transports that just arrived. Get Second and Fifth Wings ready to defend Sondaica Prime. That is all." As Alcay scurried off, Hayes turned to his Comms officer.

"To anyone who shows up to aid us, send them our thanks and any information on Tyranids (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyranid) that we have. Get to work."

80 AUs from Sondaica Prime
A bolt of bioplasma splashed against one of the battleships, but didn't get past its shielding. Slowly, the Risers were getting away. A bit too slowly, in the opinion of a certain Commander.

McPherson looked tensely around his bridge. He rocked forward and backward on his chair, an unconcious attempt to get all the speed he could out of his ship. "Jesus... how close are they?"
"They're starting to slip out of maximum firing range. Assuming this pace keeps up, we'll be safe in five minutes," said Emma Wolfe, his XO.
"Not safe enough..." the whole crew flinched slightly as a shot grazed their hull. "Are we still able to return fire?"
"Sir, our aft torpedo tubes are slagged. We can't fire," reported his weapons officer.
McPherson nodded briefly. The ship rumbled as the force of the engines stressed it. Hold together, baby, hold together...
"Sir, more ships incoming, dead ahead!"

The Third Wing had arrived. Quickly, they arranged themselves and gave the Tyranid pursuers a full broadsides. The night was again illuminated. The Tyranids finally started to pull back, and the First Wing made good on their escape. All, except one.

"Sir, I don't know what's wrong, but our engines just quit, including maneuvering thrusters. We might as well be riding a brick!" shouted one of the officers down in engineering.

McPherson thought he might cry. Looking out the forward port, he saw what they were heading to: Sondaica Prime. We're gonna make a pretty splash... James nervously tapped his fingers for a second, then picked up his handset, and called engineering. "Chief, I don't care what you have to do or what you need to cannabalize, get those retroes back online. Make it sharpish." The man acknowledged and hung up. Wolfe looked at McPherson inquisitively.
"We're going to stop this ship, no matter what. It's just a question of how soft the stop is."

High Orbit, Sondaica Prime, SSF HQ
The crew pit had become a flurry of activity. In addition to the coordination of the evacuation effort, a new warp signal had been detected in-system: this one was much closer. Everyone was looking at each other, all thinking What now?! The bridge suddenly flashed with blinding light: someone had arrived.
"Sensors!" Hayes shouted.
"Yes, sir! Uh... it's a second Hive Fleet, sir! Bigger than the first one!"
Hayes closed his eyes.Dammit. Evacuations were only twenty percent complete. This war was lost, and all he could do was buy time for the evacuees. He got onto his headset.
"All captains, disregard previous orders. First and Third Wing, engage the original hive fleet. Second, Fourth, and Fifth Wing... engage the second hive fleet. Godspeed, captains and crews."

All around the planet, battleships, cruisers, and frigates made ready to sacrifice themselves in defense of their homeland.

the wraith of terra and 4 baatle shipa and 12 srike cruisers exited the warp coms to forces being attacked by the tryanid scum the imperium shall aid thee

Sanchez watched the battle with increasing interest. Though heavily outnumbered, the Sondaican Fleet fought a running battle against the Tryanid Hive Fleet, blasting the hordes with all the firepower at their disposal. On the screen above him, a tactical map displayed the outnumbered fleet and it's current dire position. The Commander leaned forward, eyes narrowed as he saw two of the Sondaican blue blips vanish and on the viewscreen, two explosions punctuated the void that is space. His hands tightened on the grips of his chair, thoughts flickering through his mind faster than light. He didn't want to put the men and women under his command at risk, they were such a small force, what could they do? Yet, here was a respectable nation, under siege by a race of vile aliens, the most vile imaginable...The problem roiled in his mind. "Lieutenant."

Johnson turned from gazing at the viewscreen and faced his superior. "Sir?"

"Get me all information you can on these Tyranid bastards. I know we have some, since our alliance with Chronosia got us loads of information on their enemies, Intel was still codifying and archiving it last I heard." The Lieutenant nodded.

"Yes sir....Calling up info now..." On the captains personal viewscreen, which was built into the side of his chair, he read the data as it quickly scrolled down the screen. After a few moments, he sighed. This was not good, the planet and it's forces didn't have a chance if more help did not come. All the fleets that had arrive would help, but it would not be enough.....Johnson turned.

"Sir, we have detected several new fleets warping in. As long as we don't decide to kill each other, we may have a chance against the Tyranid fleet."

A call from across the bridge silenced that notion. "Sir, scanners have detected another Hive Fleet, larger than the first, coming in. They are being flanked!" Sanchez closed his eyes and sighed.

"Very well. Lieutenant, contact the rest of the patrol group, I want everyone to go to Combat Alert and ready for battle. We may be merely a drop in this Tyranid sea, but I am not letting fellow humans get slaughtered by these disgusting Tyranid bastards." Johnson smiled and sent the message to the rest of the ships. Merely floating in that asteroid belt, their engines flickering as they remained in silent mode. That all changed when the word came to move out and they roared to life, as the eleven ship patrol group turned and rushed towards the battle. Commander Sanchez opened a channel to the entire group and began barking orders.

"All Tactical bomber squadrons, I want you ready on the double! As soon as a squadron is ready for launch, launch it. I want the other destroyer to line up beside me, while the cruisers form a triangle around us. The corvettes will form two more triangles, on each of our flanks. Then, it's full burn towards the second Hive Fleet! I wanted those Tyranids dead yesterday!" The fleet blasted towards the beleaguered Sondaican forces and the second enemy fleet. A channel was opened to their forces.

"This is Commander Sanchez of the Terran Federation. Patrol Group One is arriving to assist. ETA is five minutes. Do what you can to hold off the Tyranids, other fleets are moving in to aid you and reinforcements are on their way."

Sanchez turned to the Lieutenant. "Johnson?"

"Don't worry sir, already sent the call for help. We should be getting some reinforcements, considering the urgency I put in our message, in about an hour and a half, two hours max." They did not bother to mention that if the battle was not won or turned around now, there would not be a need for aid, they would need a warfleet to turn them back.

the emperor snapped i want the 3rd fleet here and a blackstone now yes sir said the tech priest coms to telros ship do you need asitance

One of the bridge crew gazed at the scanners, as they headed to the battle. He watched the battle as it progressed. An alert sounded and he checked the screen, in order to see the Imperial ships having arrive. They were massive behemoths, on the size of their Battlecruisers and even the mighty Carriers! A button began to flash, and he looked over. It was the one signaling they had an incoming message. Turning to the Commander, he spoke up.

"Sir, we have another fleet arriving. It appears to be of some kind of human-make, and the scans show that there are humans aboard. They are hailing us." Sanchez waved a hand.

"Play it." The message played, short and sweet. Sanchez replied.

"Send this as my reply:"


"I am not in much need for assistance, I would request you help the people currently under attack by the Tyranids. Commander Sanchez out."

The manufacturing cycle was complete. Six dozen scatter-tubes floated silently in space near the ships that had created them. Various automated missile boats had also been constructed from the materials collected in the Oort Cloud, along with an assortment of suicide drones armed with small particle cannons or atom lasers.

"We're ready to go sir." The supervising AI from the production facilities said in typical electronic monotone.

"Well, that took us much longer than it should have." Urich replied through n-relay.

"More time was required to procure the needed materials than initially believed."

"Whatever. D-Ops, are the other captains ready to go?"

"Yes sir, and have been for some time." DataOps Officer Corsica replied.

As I thought Commander Urich said to himself. He shifted in his chair and finally initialized the connection to his command chair that brought him into the AmNet.


(Joining AmNet: 4x5y9z0i-Tyranid)
*Security Clearance Authorized*
**Checking EEG Profile... Confirmed**
***Welcome To: Vicious Bio-Orgy***
***Topic: Are We There Yet?***
Urich: Funny, who set the topic?
Fihn: Derek did.
Derek: Great loyalty there, Fihn, really.
Urich: Ok, enough. This is not academy time; lives are at stake now, and will be later on if we don't what we can to end this threat.
Derek: Alright, sorry sir. We'll do our best, right Fihn?
Fihn: Indeed.
Derek: Where have you been anyway?
Urich: You know I hate these things.
Derek: Right. So, back to business...
Urich: Good. We'll be initiating the plan within the next twenty or so odd nanoseconds.
Fihn: Scattertubes, drone clouds, and strike craft in position; weapons charged and ready.
Derek: Yeah, things on this end are good to go.
Urich: Fuck. We've got more bugs.
Derek: Great, do we further exhaust our power reserves producing more ordnance to distract them?
Fihn: This new development was not taken into account during the planning process.
Urich: Don't worry, this plan can still work with what we have now. We'll just have to be faster and more reckless with what we're doing.
Derek: Oblitate's hull won't appreciate this, I'm sure.
Urich: Well the Imperion isn't going to like being shot at by space-pests much either, but I don't hear it complaining.
Fihn: Indeed, chance of failure increases the longer we wait.
Derek: Fine, let's go then.

Everyone immediately abandoned their notions of comfort, and jacked into AmNet through their own relays. Over eight dozen sentients spanning three Corporate Level warships were now operating their constituent stations from the confines of a virtual world, so as to capitalize on the speed and efficiency in combat that comes from utilizing such technology. In the physical world, they just stood, sat, or laid down, apparently unconscious in their current state.

--

The Imperion, Oblitate, and Cadion all phased away from their current locations, taking the free-floating ordnance and strike-craft with them.

They all existed the bowels of hyperspace at three different points, all about an AU away from the Tyranid fleet. Stealth systems limited the amount of radiation being emitted across the entire EM spectrum. Though their gravitic signature was left untouched overall, due to the low amount of power left in their reserves. It was believed though, based on data gained during the production process, that the Tyranids did not have any appreciable gravity based detection technology, so the lack of stealth in that area was not a big concern.

All vessels had existed hyperspace at .75c, with the scattertubes and drone clouds going slightly faster. The attack began when the they were but a tenth of an AU away from the immense fleet of Tyranid warships.

The hundred meter long scattertubes were sectioned, having approximately ten each. The sections broke off, and with their own thrusters positions their firing arcs to point at the center-most concentration of the Hivefleet. From the dense grid of lenses adorning the front of each, invisible gamma-ray beams lanced through space into the marauding biomass. Other sections held a less-dense grid of coilguns that unleashed walls of dense kinetic rounds through space.

The drone clouds were really tightly-packed formations of various drones, eventually numbering ten-thousand in total, divided amongst each ship. They were further divided into two groups: assault and kamakazi. Both groups also oriented themselves in such a way that they were heading directly towards the highest concentration of Tyranids in the fleet. But the assault drones shattered the void with a phalanx of emerald particle cannon fire, while the suicide drones plowed into the Tyranid swarm with over-clocked shields doing their best so that their charge would survive the counter-assault, and explode in a high-gigaton level anti-matter reaction.

The strike-craft were twenty-five meter monsters that numbered in the low hundred per warship, armed primarily with gamma-ray lasers and gauss-cannons, they joined together in a tight formation and dove headlong into the Hivefleet, just off the point where the Scattertubes and drone clouds had attacked with their respective assaults.

Not far behind their automated strike-craft, the Warships Imperion, Cadion, and Oblitate threw the very idea of stealth out the window, and unloaded a furious stream of nuclear missiles and neutron torpedoes into the Tyranid fleet. Each becoming a deadly fire-blossom any time it made contact with an enemy ship. The neutron torpedoes did so with a lethal dose of radiation, while the nuclear weapons let loose a fire-storm that could only be matched by the naturally occurring storms on the surface of a star.

Their own turrets tracked various targets, and embraced them with meson-beams to annihilate the forces binding protons and neutrons in atomic nuclei, or more powerful versions of the gamma-ray lasers being levied against the Tyranid fleet by the strike-craft and Scattertubes. The kinetic ordnance was saved for use later. Finally, the spinal-mounted particle cannons unloaded a bright azure fury upon the more monolithic targets in front of each ship, or was just used to disperse a grouping of smaller Tyranid ships when larger ships were absent.

The attack thusly happened in waves. First with the Scattertubes, then the assault/suide drones about twenty-seconds later, the strike-craft in a rounded spearhead-like formation, and the actual Warships accelerating into the spearhead's center. With each spearhead diverted slightly away from where the Scattertubes and drone clouds made their assault.

OOC: I'm fast-forwarding a bit in this post. The outcome of the space war is inevitable and somewhat boring, IMHO. I'm trying to bring this to the ground.

SSF-HQ, High Orbit, Sondaica Prime
Admiral Hayes grunted as he listened to the transmission. Commander McPherson's voice sounded desperate, even through the distortion of the headset.

"Sir, our forces were overwhelmed. Over 50% losses, remaining ships are critically damaged. We're making a run for it, it's the best we can do. I apologize, sir, and take full responsibility. McPherson out."

Just as McPherson hung up, another transmission came in: twelve heavy transports, equipped to transport the civilians on Sondaica out of the system, had just arrived. Hayes rubbed his temples. So much for retirement... He shook his head and snapped back to reality. He looked onto his tactical map, a 3-D representation of the system. On it were five little blue triangles, representing the remaining ships of the First Wing, and chasing them were two packs of little red triangles, one group representing the ships that had engaged the First Wing, the other representing the Hive Ships and escorts. "Alcay," he said, calling his Executive Officer.

Cmdr. Alcay looked up. "Sir?" he asked, tail twitching slightly. Alcay was a like many members of his species: ruthless and inventive. A fine specimen of the Skaven race, and exactly what Hayes wanted in a XO.

Hayes paused, thinking. "Alcay, send the Third Wing to cover the First Wing's escape. McPherson is a prick, but he's a very good commander and needs to survive. Send the Fourth Wing to escort the transports that just arrived. Get Second and Fifth Wings ready to defend Sondaica Prime. That is all." As Alcay scurried off, Hayes turned to his Comms officer.

"To anyone who shows up to aid us, send them our thanks and any information on Tyranids (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyranid) that we have. Get to work."

80 AUs from Sondaica Prime
A bolt of bioplasma splashed against one of the battleships, but didn't get past its shielding. Slowly, the Risers were getting away. A bit too slowly, in the opinion of a certain Commander.

McPherson looked tensely around his bridge. He rocked forward and backward on his chair, an unconcious attempt to get all the speed he could out of his ship. "Jesus... how close are they?"
"They're starting to slip out of maximum firing range. Assuming this pace keeps up, we'll be safe in five minutes," said Emma Wolfe, his XO.
"Not safe enough..." the whole crew flinched slightly as a shot grazed their hull. "Are we still able to return fire?"
"Sir, our aft torpedo tubes are slagged. We can't fire," reported his weapons officer.
McPherson nodded briefly. The ship rumbled as the force of the engines stressed it. Hold together, baby, hold together...
"Sir, more ships incoming, dead ahead!"

The Third Wing had arrived. Quickly, they arranged themselves and gave the Tyranid pursuers a full broadsides. The night was again illuminated. The Tyranids finally started to pull back, and the First Wing made good on their escape. All, except one.

"Sir, I don't know what's wrong, but our engines just quit, including maneuvering thrusters. We might as well be riding a brick!" shouted one of the officers down in engineering.

McPherson thought he might cry. Looking out the forward port, he saw what they were heading to: Sondaica Prime. We're gonna make a pretty splash... James nervously tapped his fingers for a second, then picked up his handset, and called engineering. "Chief, I don't care what you have to do or what you need to cannabalize, get those retroes back online. Make it sharpish." The man acknowledged and hung up. Wolfe looked at McPherson inquisitively.
"We're going to stop this ship, no matter what. It's just a question of how soft the stop is."

High Orbit, Sondaica Prime, SSF HQ
The crew pit had become a flurry of activity. In addition to the coordination of the evacuation effort, a new warp signal had been detected in-system: this one was much closer. Everyone was looking at each other, all thinking What now?! The bridge suddenly flashed with blinding light: someone had arrived.
"Sensors!" Hayes shouted.
"Yes, sir! Uh... it's a second Hive Fleet, sir! Bigger than the first one!"
Hayes closed his eyes.Dammit. Evacuations were only twenty percent complete. This war was lost, and all he could do was buy time for the evacuees. He got onto his headset.
"All captains, disregard previous orders. First and Third Wing, engage the original hive fleet. Second, Fourth, and Fifth Wing... engage the second hive fleet. Godspeed, captains and crews."

All around the planet, battleships, cruisers, and frigates made ready to sacrifice themselves in defense of their homeland.

Sacrifice was all well and good, but a bit of an obsolete concept in the estimation of the Solari Battleships. KONGO and MUSASHI led the attack, followed closely by their consorts and their escorts. Shells licked through the void, ignoring the Leviathans and focusing on ships they could actually kill in a reasonable time. 600 ton Armor Piercing slugs with 10 kiloton charges would hopefully devastate anything they actually managed to hit. Lighter guns targeted anything they could, bringing numerous batteries against a single target, tearing it to shreds with massed fire, and moving on. Carriers deployed their gunships, and a pair of Assault Transports made for the planet, and major population centers, cutting a path through the Tyranids with their guns, in an attempt to evacuate some further portion of the populace, as well as offload their cargo of Marines and Tanks to join in the inevitable war on the ground. A single Transport was large enough to carry off a Division of Troops and another division of Armor, each could easily rescue more than 50,000 civilians if they were crammed to the bulkheads.

To those once loyal, now wreathed in crimson, solemn reminder of silent sacrifice, to the once loyal, forever wrapped in glory, in white crossed acres, lines of sorrow laid.

Each and every ship would receive some variation on that message, before music flooded the airwaves. Normally a terror tactic designed to shatter the morale of the enemy soldiers, it now bolstered the hopes of the defenders, as the Solari juggernauts bore down on their killers, to the grinding thunder of Last Stand of Humanity.

They're blocking us out, formed some kind of mind-link or something. That or they're growing stronger.

We're outnumbered, let's face it. They have what, four hundred ships or something out there? We have four vessels. We can call for backup, or...

Eh, don't bother. Looks like the Tyrani'di's reputation precedes them. Look.

The Gali'randi ships disappear and reappear a moment later a good deal closer to the system. The Solari and Ambrosian ships are arriving now, deploying all manner of weapons -- both nucleon-based and energy-based -- against the Tyrani'di. Jil-than, the Ves'dari Operator, leans back in her chair, her limbs adducted in a gesture of relaxation.

"Ah, I love the smell of particle warfare in the morning..."

This is serious. We're watching a battle unfold before our eyes; we should seize this as our opportunity to make friends on the system.

"If you say so. Move us in towards Sondaica, and give us some kind of shield to prevent us from being annihilated by these creeps."

And do you have any other requests of us, your Highness?

"Shush, Kai'u. Or I'll hack you."

Well it looks like we're moving in to Sondaica. Do we have any ideas for a shield?

Simple. Relegate the weapons arties to serve as energy shields. A bit like force-fields or whatever the kids call them these days.

The weapons arties weren't designed to serve as shields.

Well, if anything hits them they'll return it with double the energy. It's a property of quantum space and energy feeds and all that technical bullshit; essentially we're 'borrowing' the energy to create the antimatter counterpart of the weapon in question, which then gets fired back at c. I won't bother to explain the whole thing, we've got 5 seconds to go.

Yay massive processing power. Let's move in.

The four vessels are moving in now, cutting a swath across spacetime (traveling at some ridiculous fraction of the speed of light), and surrounded by a faint crackling blue field of some variety. For some time they will not enter within range of the constantly-firing weapons; once they have, it will be up to the parties firing to avoid hitting Gali'randi-el ships. Mainly because of the unpleasant consequences that will have for the ships firing said weapons, of course.

the mighty third fleet entreded the system
coms to telros vessel rogger that

to war they said the tryinid filth shall feel imperial fury

(Bump)

((Bump))

(((bump)))

(((bump)))

OOC: Hey, I just got back from a wedding, I'm too tired, and hungry, to seriously post ATM. Jeez.

OOC: Hey, I just got back from a wedding, I'm too tired, and hungry, to seriously post ATM. Jeez.

I'm not trying to rush you, and it's not as if any of us knew that, either. -_-

I'm not trying to rush you, and it's not as if any of us knew that, either. -_-

OOC: I wasn't acting like I did. Chiiiiiiilllllll. :D

OOC: Just FYI, I ignore Sephrioth as S.O.P. I understand he has dyslexia or whatever, but that doesn't change the fact that he's not a very good RPer.

Oh, and sorry I've been taking so long to reply!

IC:
High Orbit, Sondaica Prime
Everyone looked up briefly as, over the speakers, the Solari war cry, To those once loyal, now wreathed in crimson, solemn reminder of silent sacrifice, to the once loyal, forever wrapped in glory, in white crossed acres, lines of sorrow laid, mingled with the national anthem of Ghost Tigers Rise (http://media.vad1.com/temporary_url_20060919zkkfg/tchaikovsky-marche-slave-op31-orchestre_symphonique_de_montreal-charles_dutoit-11.mp3)

The space battle roiled. Even Hayes's mighty Ramilies-class Star Fort shuddered under the assault of the hive fleets. A nearby cruiser was struck by the pyro-acid of a Tyranid Razorfiend. The Razorfiend latched onto it with its massive claws and feeder tentacles, in preparation of boarding it. As the tentacles punched their way through the hull, the valiant crew of the doomed vessel armed their self-destruct. The blast obliterated their cruiser, and split the Razorfiend in half.

"Sir! Our impromptu allies are attacking!" Cmdr. Alcay shouted from the crew pit.

Hayes looked away from the carnage nearby, and focused on the battle between his allies and the enemy. The Solari fleet managed to crack a Leviathan in half, and obliterated seven of its drone escorts, in the first volley. In response, four Leviathans, ten Razorfiends, and nearly fifty Stalker drones, wheeled around and brought their mighty pyro-acid launchers and bio-plasma emitters to bear on the Solari fleet, boxing them in with a withering hail of bioincandescence. There was nothing Hayes could do to assist them except send several Sword class frigates to escort the Assault Transports towards the planetary surface.

On the other side of the fleet, the Ambrosians made their assault. Their drones, scatter tubes, strike craft, and capital ships ground many of the escort craft and several cruisers into slurry. But the Tyranids answered in kind. A horde of Prowler drones and Razorfiend cruisers raced towards the Ambrosian fleet, while a trio of Leviathan hive ships went broadsides, firing volley after volley of bioplasma at their enemy.

SSF HQ shuddered, the Ramisies-class Star Fort struck by a jet of pyro-acid. Hayes vaguely heard someone shout "Hull breach!", as the horrendous noise of metal ripping filled the air.
He turned to the crew pit. "Status report!"
"Sir, we've got a massive hull breach in the third quadrant! It's-"
Hayes' XO cut him off. "Sir, we've got a problem. The Tyranids have landed a strike force on the ground. They've eliminated an entire PDA regiment already."
Hayes put his face in his hands. "Evacuation status?"
"50 percent, sir. Shall I tell the transports to take off? If we wait any longer, no one will make it off the planet."
"Yes. Tell them to escape. Thank you, Alcay."

Alcay nodded, and complied. On the planetary surface, thousands of engines revved at the transports prepared to take off. Civilians waiting for the ships screamed, and rushed forward, crushing and stomping on each other, but to no avail: the transport bay doors closed with a crash, and the gargantuan transports took off, incinerating those that were still on the launch pad.

The space station shuddered again. An oxygen line burst, and the control center turned into a fiery hell. Bridge officers rushed to and fro, struggling to put out the blaze. Hayes groped his way towards the communication console, and sent a short message to the planetary defenders on the surface below.

"Brave warriors of the Commonwealth: you are the last line of defense. The only hope that the civilians remaining on Sondaica have lies with you. Be their shield, their fortress, and their sword. Fight the Tyranids with every step and every breath. Remember your oath to the Commonwealth. Stand together and weather this storm. Make it through this. Die hard, Sondaicans."

Another bolt of bioplasma struck the crippled station. This one penetrated all the way to the reactor core, in the center of the space fort. The ship shuddered... and the reactor went meltdown. The space fort imploded, becoming a single, white-hot, point in space... and then the reaction reversed itself. All of the potential energy in the reactor rushed outwards in a blaze, obliterating everything in its path. Tyranid and Terran vessels alike were shattered by the blast. Crews were blinded by the fury of it. Tyranid warriors shrieked from the purity of the flame.

And then, there was nothing, for tens of thousands of kilometers around.

OOC: Are the Tyranids gone?

OOC: Are the Tyranids gone?

OOC: ...is that a serious question?

And then, there was nothing, for tens of thousands of kilometers around.

This is fairly vague, don't ya think?

And then, there was nothing, for tens of thousands of kilometers around.

This is fairly vague, don't ya think?

OOC: Think of the scale. Tens of thousands of kilometers in space amounts to, basically, nothing. The majority of the Tyranids, Terrans, etc, are still there... GTG.

Here comes the cavalry. The first thing you hear is its arrival.

******

Augmented drive engineers have certain quirks (like most Augmented engineers). In their particular case, they prefer not to tune hyperdrives for maximum silence and efficiency, but rather grossly mistune them, causing every entry and exit from hyperspace to emit a white-hot electromagnetic scream. If it were a sound, it would be the kind of sound that deafens you for a few seconds before your ears can adjust to the noise.

It has a similar effect on unprepared sensors.

******

The Augmented task force arrives in an unexpected location. To be precise, even they weren't expecting it.

Polysynchronicity> Ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshitohshitohshit...
Thermal Damage> I am going to murder whoever gave me these coordinates.
I Enjoy Vaporizing> YEEEHAAAAAAAA! OPEN FIRE, BITCHES!
Thermal Damage> Floor it. Open fire all weapons. GET US THE FUCK OUT OF HERE.

To be even more precise, the Augmented task force has exited hyperspace in the center of the Tyranid swarm.

This isn't quite as lethal as it sounds. With any luck, the Tyranid swarm is still reeling from the electromagnetic blast that their jump generated - rather like a man who has just had a firework exploded in his face.

And Augmented ships are very fast.

******

Weapons bays slam open - or at least some of them do. Some of the ships jettison their bay doors via explosive bolts. Some of the ships didn't have bay doors in the first place. And some of the ships simply open fire without bothering to open their weapons bays, spraying superheated plasma through gaping, self-inflicted wounds in their own hull.

Particle blasters unload ultraheated tungsten plasma at point-blank range. Lightning guns send gigawatt charges ripping through Tyranid carapaces. Even the point-defense lasers join in, sniping individual drones as the task force goes to full acceleration.

Fusion engines open up full bore, accelerating at thirty gees of thrust. Moments later, secondary antimatter and gravitic engines kick in, pushing the heavy cruisers up to almost two hundred gees of acceleration and spitting white-hot plasma across any Tyranid unfortunate enough to cross the task force's exhaust path.

Thermal Damage> Everyone buckle up. Five seconds till we clear the edge of the fleet. This is gonna be hell - I hope you backed up your mindstates.
Polysynchronicity> ohshitohshitohshitohshitohSHIT...
I Enjoy Vaporizing> Hahahaha. DIRECT HIT! That's two down! AND HERE WE GO AGAIN! BOOM!
Thermal Damage>Well, at least someone's enjoying himself.

Here comes the cavalry. The first thing you hear is its arrival.
OOC: Yeah, I saw this and stopped reading. Then I read the rest, and realised my gut reaction was right.

This RP is now closed to those I invite, and I will probably be moving it to an invite-only thread, and making a sign-up thread.
The new thread will concentrate on the ground war, and the space war will be in the background.
Telros, Solarin League, and Ambrosia Incorporated are still welcome. The Jade Star is also welcome, if he ever does decide to join. I'm a bit more tentative about the Galirandi joining, but he's still welcome.

[OOC: Well, sorry that my style doesn't please you. Do you want the post edited/removed?]

[OOC: Well, sorry that my style doesn't please you. Do you want the post edited/removed?]

OOC: Nah, it's fine. I was gonna start a new thread anyway.

Will I be required to post the continuing actions of my navy in this thread, or will we just kinda keep everything all together? And is there a link to the sign-up thread to be had(assuming it yet exists)?

OOC: I would like to know as well, since my fleet is going to try and keep the Tyranids busy.

OOC: I would like to know if we're going to continue with this, if I am still allowed to join, and if it is going to be in a new thread, the link of the new one.

I look forward to this, I have five paragraphs of a post already written.

OOC: I would like to know if we're going to continue with this, if I am still allowed to join, and if it is going to be in a new thread, the link of the new one.

I look forward to this, I have five paragraphs of a post already written.

The new IC thread isn't open yet.

When it is, I'll post the link in this thread. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=12377944)