NationStates Jolt Archive

Lord Rendacil had spent a fair bit of time waiting for the Fedral Union to move in to position. The order to attack had been given, . Rendacil pondered to himself whether or not the Fedrals had come up with a good plan. Either way it was fine, they could come in a bit later if they needed time, orders had changed after all. The GTFOA Divinity carriers and GAP counterparts would be left behind with a small force of Honour blades. Twenty two in all, their fighter craft could be equipped with FTL rings, a form of FAST Pack that enabled the Tannelornian mecha to make short range FTL jumps without the assistance of the mothership.

Rendacil also went over all available information on the system. Earlier a flight of Kernschattens had slipped in to the edge of the system, using advanced optics and gravitic lense packs, they scouted out the general system as it was a few weeks, to months before, depending on their range. They made no effort to move insystem, avoiding patrols and simply leaving once a general picture of the defenses was in place. Any information gleaned on semi static or moving positions would be completely useless, considering time dilation. He had to change the plan with the order to attack, he would count on the Fedrals as reserves, and sent one last transmission to Tannelorn. The Eternal had to be ready to jump with reinforcements at a moments notice.

Rendacil surveyed the attack squadrons preparing to jump. He had envisioned a two fold strike, quick and ruthless with full scale DEM jamming and nuclear strikes to cut off communications from the planet to the outside galaxy. The GTFOA fourth and seventh fleet detachments, a total equalling an entire GTFOA fleet, eighty honour blades, eight Solarin Battleships and four monitors would strike on the opposite side of the planet from the DCN main strike, supported by a third of the DCN force and four of the Prefectures own Solarins, as well as over sixty of the GAP's HMAF add on Endymion armour's. On the sunward side the DCN would attack in earnest, along with the Prefecture's Solarin battleships, which would forge ahead to smash planetary defenses behind its thick prow and design which accomadates the pin point barriers to the fore, an almost unique design philosophy in Tannelorn. A ship that is fully shielded to its preffered point of attack. Of course the Solarin like any other Tannelornian ship had pitiful shielding on its side, if one didnt count the highly powerful Urenbecht field, highly effective against kinetic attacks, but mediocre against energy weapons.

The Drone fleet of the GFN would move in to support the fleets, engaging and destroying any ships encountered or attempting to counter attack with their multitudes of space optimised Xasers, utilising the same pod tactics one would find used by cetaceans on ancient earth to ensnare and destroy their foes. The GTFOA fifth fleet contingent would act in a reserve fashion, behind the main fleet strokes, adding firepower in the form of heavy Xaser batteries and the Honour Blades own Drone-missiles, each carrying a variable payload ranging from massive graser warheads, to KK killers and massive antimatter bombs, perfect for clearing huge amounts of orbital space.
It consisted of four Solarin battle ships, a Monitor, the Glory of Heaven and thirty two Honour blade Frigates.

There was a problem with his plan however, it called for the DCN ships to engage at long range with their Loengren strategic grasers and heavy spinal Urenbecht cannons, armed with AM and graser rounds, as well as with the heavy Monitors clearing orbital defenses. The mecha formations of Morgenraetes and Alpha II's as well as the new Algol HMAF's, fearsome seventy meter long space mecha, would attack in close. The Algol was practically a one man frigate, they had the agility and speed of fighter craft and the weaponry of an escort class ship. Tannelorn had tried to make high speed attack frigates in the past, their success was mixed. Though the firepower was heavy their main defense, speed and agility was not enough to save them from enemy cannon and missiles. The HMAF could dance around the heavier cannons aboard large ships while deploying its deadly cargo of missiles and pulsar laser's.

The problem in this plan was the lack of heavy DCN cruisers for ship to ship fighting, they were to use their skills to engage defenses first, to clear a path for the troop ships. The Algols and Endymion armour supported by High maneuver frames could make up for this, but they were untested in true combat. This would be their trial by fire, hopefully it would go better then it did for the Beowulf attack Frigate against the Revan armada.

Rendacil was confident in the plan, he and his logistician-mentats left the strategic command bunker of the Balmung and proceeded to the bridge with grim purpose. They had a strange feeling of destiny, of purpose. For so long they sat silent on their guns, protecting their allies and people..when their hearts had longed for the flames and glories of battle.

He had quickly briefed Fleet-Marshall Hellner, commander of the GTFOA contingents, and Commodore Zietski of the Prefecture battle group of the new plan and opened vox lines to all ships. "Men of Tannelorn, be brave, be steady, be resolute in this bloody purpose. Today we gain back our birthright as warriors, as soldiers. It is our divine purpose to drown the stars in the blood of the enemies of Tannelorn and its brethren across heaven. Today we take another territory in the name of the Federation, the Prefecture, the Gahfsberg Federation, the Celestial Republic, the Divine kingdom and the Galactic Empire. We shall bring the torch of enlightenment to these teeming masses that would dare stand in the way of our manifest destiny. For Tannelorn, for the Empire, for the Federation!" Rendacil shouted as the warships of the fleet powered up their jump engines.

Around the vast formations of Tannelornian ships were shoals of Morgenraetes, Alpha II's, Faust interceptors, PASS-19 heavy superiority fighters, Lowe Bio-mech HMF's, hellebarde HMF's and the menacing Algol and Endymion HMAF's.

The thousands of mecha prepared their jump engines first, aiming towards the calculated position of the enemy planet in the observed orbits, jumping as it were through the Aether a million kilometers away from the world. They were preparing to move in and attack the orbital defenses the moment the first volleys of heavy space artillery crashed home. Thousands of tiny points of light opened up, miniscule tears in the fabric of reality as the mecha entered the Aether. Then the ships, having made their own calculations started to enter the Aether, the universe seemed on fire as the massive fleet activated their DO devices. If the enemy were magically or psychically inclined, they might notice the bow wave of the fleet as so many ships moved through the Aether, the psychic backlash of their murderous intent. Behind them the Divinity fleet carriers prepared the second wave of High maneuver frames for launch, protecting the ten Bad Hertzfeldt troop ships of the GAP as well as the six bulk troop carriers of the GTFOA.

Hell was about to be unleashed on the isolated system of Mythrandir.

***Mythrandir***


It would be swift, sudden, almost incomprehensible aggression. The people of Mythrandir knew almost nothing about Tannelorn, as did the Federation know little of Mythrandir, only what the fleet commanders were told prior to the attack. Even with the suddenness and surprise of the attack, the basic location of the world and some of the larger defenses was all that was known to the Tannelornian fleet. They were about to engage in an all out attack on a basically uncharted enemy system.

They hailed the Fedrals, making sure they were ready and briefing them on their plan, then they prepared for what was now to come.

This was what the Knights of the Divine Celestial Navy lived for, and the soldiers of the Greater Tannelornian Federal operational army aspired towards. The Prefecture simply wished to earn glory for itself and its new Empire, however they had also promised the bulk of the ground forces in the campaign. Almost two hundred thousand replicant soldiers of the GAP were stationed amongst the Bulk carriers of the GTFOA as well as another fifty thousand GAP marine's inside the Bad hertzfeldts. In comparison the fifty thousand soldiers of the GTFOA and ten thousand soldiers of the DCN were a minor contingent.

Thousands of points of light, large and small started to tear asunder the very space around the world. Even as they exitted the aether the DCN vessels were loading heavy antimatter rounds in to the Urenbecht cannons, firing the shells through hundreds of thousands of kilometer long space time conduits, the shells racing the rest of the way towards the various orbital defenses at speeds over half the speed of light. One hundred and ten such shells fired towards the sunward side of the planet, preparing to self destruct when targets were within the weapons killzone. From almost eighty honour blade frigates streams of the fighter sized drone-missiles poured forth to pinpoint heavier defenses, racing towards the enemy positions preparing to deploy Heavy kinetic kill, antimatter and Graser rounds.

Loengren strategic grasers were firing their massive beams of destruction in wide arcs across the orbitals of the Mythrandir. The grasers were burning death, carving a bloody swathe through anything they would touch. As this was happening the Solarin battle ships on either side of the world powered up, moving behind the cover of the one and a quatert kilometer monitors, massive graser. The Monitor was essentially a massive space cannon, mounting a Helvinter Graser, fully capable of wiping out a continent with a direct shot. The Monitors were aiming for larger installations, and trying to ensure their blasts would hit ocean, burning in steam and dissipating rather then causing catastrophic damage to the planet below.

With the Solarins rode Balmung, the terror. She would ride upon the enemy positions, flailing at them with her kinetic's, burning them with her nigh inexhaustible grasers and tearing the heart out of anything that would stand in the way of the ground invasion. The Black hole seething at her heart was fully powered now, this most unique of Tannelornian ships had terrified entire worlds with her power, now she would ride at the head of a mission to subjugate this upstart nation.

The GFN and supporting fifth fleet elements took position behind the main attack, preparing to repel any immediate counter attack as well as engage any defenders they identified immediately. Honour blades waited with missiles at the ready, HMF's prepared to repel enemy fighters.

The attack had begun with total surprise, both sides of the world were already under fire as was anything concievably in orbit.However the Tannelornians were in an alien system, barely aware of what they had to face. Luck would have to be on the side of the Tannelornian forces, as well as tactical prowess. DEM jammers went online to full power, trying to prevent enemy communications, both mundane and esoteric.

Manifest Destiny brooks no excuses, it is simple fact. With those thoughts in mind, the Tannelornians prepared to bring war to this world, the opening volleys beginning as the DCN and Grahfsberg forces started to maneuver defensively, keeping their distance as they raked the orbital defenses and world itself with long range beam weapon and missile fire. They had to take this world quickly, hold them and prevent them from being able to assist any of their allies. An attack of such scale on their home world would likely draw their attention for some time.

OOC
GTFOA fleet [whole] http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133/Conan2525/GTFOAAldeberaanfleet.jpg?t=1173239821
Monitor and Honour Blade http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133/Conan2525/Monitorandhonourbladefrigate.jpg?t=1173239851
Monitor Firing Helvinter http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133/Conan2525/MonitorprepfireII.jpg?t=1173239875
DCN Zweihanders dreadnoughts and Balmung
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133/Conan2525/BalmungflotillaII.jpg?t=1173239934
Algol HMAF with Morgenraetes http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133/Conan2525/AlgolRaetes.jpg?t=1173239965
GAP solarin with Fausts and Hellebarde HMF
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133/Conan2525/Solarinattackgroup.jpg?t=1173240000
GFN Bio-mech Drone ship flotilla
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133/Conan2525/GFNBiomechFlotilla-1.jpg?t=1173240039
Morgenraete HMF's and Lowe Bio-com HMF's
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133/Conan2525/Loweandmorgenraetes.jpg?t=1173240074

Some pictures of my stuff to get a nice view of what is used by me.

Alexi grinned his leather gloved hands grasping the armrests of his command chair as his blue green eyes peered out in to the vast darkness of space, he waved his hand fluidly and quickly nodding and smiling gently. The tactical officer nodded and tapped quite a few buttons, his white pale hands rubbing against the holographic consoles the light of the bridge changing from bright white to dark slightly red in color. suddenly the entire fleet burst in to the systems, there gleaming ominously large bodies shimmering in to existence with a crackling energetic noise. alexi smiled he leaned froward as his fleet moved in unison with Tannelornian vessels. suddenly alexi waved his hand with a grin, suddenly the entire federal fleet opened up with a torrent of fire.



beams of white yellowish energy burst out in vast quantiles and huge lengths they sliced through space like screeching crackling energetic beings of doom targeting orbital defenses, the beams where only the first part of the torrent of fire, thousands upon thousands of 18 inch pulse turrets and zica disruptor's fired out crackling and reverberating with loud echo's of fire, shooting again and again lighting up the dark vastness of space with colorful beams and pulses of death. Alexi was pleased already his fleet was unleashing massive fire power.

he waved his hand again and said in a Russian deep voice.

"Fire Projectile cannons and missiles" Suddenly AIEWS destroyers fired out torrents upon torrents of hellish fiery brim stone colored missiles, they raced from VSL tubes and directed tubes filing space as one after another came out, mean while larger ships fired twice ans many missiles to supplement there already intense fire. Suddenly loud crackling energetic booms reverberated throughout the ships, as massive 20 inch and 40 inch Cfractional projectile cannons fired again and again recoiling in a slow steady motion at any orbital defenses, hundreds of these powerful cannons fired from each ship along with massive bursts of energy fire and missile torrents.

Corssairs Flew with ease in there phased cloak states waiting enemy ships in an ambush pattern, they're small construction and powerful engines and guns made them ideal for killing capital ships.

Alexi chuckled gently and said in another commanding voice "Engage FTLI , ECM and ECCM on these fools, let them know they wont have help coming"
Suddenly the entire fleet engaged massive jamming 20 layers of jamming per ships, 4 layers of Faster than light inhibitors per ships, it was a sight to be hold colorful displays of might was only a fraction of what the fleet could do. Alexi smiled his teeth bearing with confidence, his body shimmering in the dim light as he graped the armrest, his blue green eyes panning the colorful display of fire power. he sighed gently as he sat back, crimson squad ships already beside his ship unleashing there powerful torrents of fire. Crimson squad began firing out fold rounds in small quantities as fighter craft and fighter bombers raced out of massive battle carriers beside this display of might and fire power.

Pain gripped at her body while she let loose a blood curddling scream. Sweat beads dripped from her bow which prompted one of the nurses to dab her forehead. Her fists clenched at the sheets while her body raked with another convulsion. She kept wondering when it would end. Each breath took more effort than the last and she had already been at this for several hours. Enough was enough. She wanted it gone.

"Easy child. It's almost out." The doctor had only just started working but Melissa could have sworn he had been down there for days. Time simply dragged by for the poor woman. Blood flowed freely and fresh towels were needed constantly, but the doctor swore it was all a part of the process.

High pitched screams filled the small room. All eyes quickly switched from Melissa to the baby that the old doctor was holding in his hands. "It's a beautiful boy."

His tired hazel eyes darted over to one of the nurses. "Bring me the wash pan and lets see if we can't get this little fellow clean."

Melissa had collapsed into the bed after her final push had expelled the baby she had been carrying around for nine months. Everywhere she rolled, the bed seemed wet with either her sweat or blood. Despite all the effort and pain she had just gone through, she wanted to see her baby. She wanted to see how perfect it was. "I want to hold him. Please, let me hold my baby."

The doctor turned around with a small bundle of cloth craddled in his arms. A little hand poked out, grasping at air. Melissa smiled as she was handed her pride and joy. She brought the baby down close to her and cooed to it softly.

"What will you name him?"

It was a question she had been prepared for since she learned that she was pregnant but the drama of the birthing had temporary fried her brain and she was left wondering what the name was. Rain and lightning pounded the window demanding an answer to the question. "Richard." The memory hit her head like a dwarven anvil.

"A solid name. Richard." The doctor unrolled the scroll that he had brought with him. His hand moved across the parchment in the Myth's flowing script as he wrote "Richard" down on the birth certificate.

"You and that baby get some rest and I'll be back to check on you two in the morning."

Melissa smiled and nodded her head while she still fonded over her infant. The nurses finished cleaning up the room and took their parting. Unlike the doctor, they would take shifts waiting outside the door in the event that Melissa or her baby would need anything. The infant appeared to be perfectly normal, but only time would tell if it would develope properly.

----------

Wind and rain threw themselves at his hair and clothes. Strands of his brown hair snapped in the wind or prostated themselves on his face. His clothes were soaked and his boots squished everytime he shifted his weight. Sebastian loved the rain and especially the storms. Magnificent things he always thought and lightning was a form of art that no human could ever accomplish. All truly amazing to him. A soft footstep in the mud, barely audible in the tempest, made his ears perk slightly then a smile crossed his face. "Good evening War Mistress. I was wondering if you would find me."

The dark elf kept her cloak pulled low, warding off the wind and rain. Still, strands of her stark white hair managed to sneak out. "It wasn't difficult Elder. I merely had to look for the sole fool that was standing outside in a storm like this."

Sebastian shook the water from his face and took a deep sigh. "A shame. I shouldn't be the only one enjoying such pleasant weather. What can I do for you tonight Shizra?"

Shizra had oftened wondered if he was immature or simply insane, but there were the times he could prove to be absolutly brilliant and all of his nonsense made perfect sense. He was truly a remarkable human. "I've brought this evening reports for you. Deep patrols have reported nothing as usual. It remains quiet in our sector of the galaxy and I pray it remains that way. All outposts have reported on time and reported nothing out of the ordinary. Some of our deep probes have picked up unusual activity but it is nothing I think we should worry about. Few even know we exist. I also have the updates from Dag'goroth and SIREN. All systems seem to be running at peak effeciency. Automatic defense systems have all reported in for the daily check and even seems to be running fine. Oh, one last thing. There was a baby born tonight."

Sebastian had returned to closing his eyes and letting the rain pelt his face. The mention of a baby shook him. "Who's?"

Shizra pulled out the datapad and scanned over it for a moment. "One of the servants in diplomatic palace. Melissa is her name and she gave birth to a boy. I believe she has named him Richard."

Sebastian was slightly jealous of Melissa. He and his wife had yet to conceive of a child in all their years of marriage but he made a mental to note to visit Melissa in the morning to congratulate her and check on the baby. "Thank you Shizra. You best find some place dry to get yourself to and catch some sleep."

"You forget, we dark elves are accustomed to the night and do not require as much sleep as you do."

Sebastian bowed in dramatic fashion. "My apologies oh superior one. Now go home and let me tend to mine."

Next Day:

Deep probes had been designed jointly by all four original races. The best of minds had come up with ways for a small probe to detect any and all means of a hostile fleet travelling in the direction of the Mythrandir system. Probes had been dispersed in all directions for thousands of miles as one layer in a web of defense for their home.

An anomonaly had been detected far off from the Myth System but it was relatively unimportant until it got closer. The projected course had computers calculating with near positivity that whatever it was, was heading for Mythrandir. All this analysis happened in mere seconds as warnings were sent to every outpost. The automated defense system was given a signal to power up and prepare for attack. The Lunar Forge base's main security terminal started flashing red runic letters that translated as "warning". Alike messages were sent to Dag'goroth and even the Aero system.

Unfortunatly, enemy jammings cut off further transmissions of verifying or denying this imminent threat. Still, the defense system had a slight warning and was not completely caught unawares when the bombarment started. Many defensive satellites had gotten off one or two shots before they were destroyed. Mass drivers sent large chunks of rock soaring into enemy ships. Powerful energy arrays formed massive cohesive energy beams and sent them streaking through the darkness towards nearby enemy ships. These were then destroyed.

Defensive systems that had managed to evade the first enemy attack were now preparing. Their own shield systems came online as well as personal defense systems against any projectiles. Myth counter barrage was no less impressive with its near light speed projectiles of anti-matter filled asteroids screaming towards their targets. Floating capital class particle beam turrets opened up in furry sending highly charged particles after enemy ships. Energy rays powered up as prongs on each array throbbed with energy until they were brought to one focal point and sent running at light speed for enemy ships.

Around the home planet, moon, and enemy fleet; small devices that had been crafted at the same time as the defensive satellites, began infiltrating the enemy fleet. Their main objective was to get as close to a ship as possible before it even bothered to attack. Ships or defensive satellites were not believed to be the main way of saving Mythrandir in the event of an invasion, it was these little probes. Highly cloaked and stealthed, hundreds began moving towards the fleet and those that were already in the area began moving among the ships.

Communication wasn't exactly necessary to alert lunar base of an enemy attack when they could be seen from observatories and scanners detected them once arriving. Sirens wrented the air in the Lunar Forge base as the main shield system came online. Defensive batteries came out of hiding from their rockey caves and took aim. The moon itself seemed to come alive with activity as crews rushed to their ships in mad dashes, anxious to pull out of dock and attack the enemy. Captains, Commanders, and Admirals all started barking out their commands for order. It served no one any good to get worked up in a frenzy. Right now they needed to get every ship of the Forge in the air to defend their home.

Down Below: Mythrandir

The rain had subsided and the sun shone down in all its glory. Sebastian threw open the balcony doors to his own small palace. He waved good morning to the guards stationed along the walls and in the courtyard. It was a picture perfect morning. Sebastian leaned on the railing and took a long deep breath of the air. Spring air always had a delicious quality to it after a storm such as the one last night. Sebastian loved this kind of weather. In fact, it occured to him that he loved every type of weather here on Mythrandir. The ocean coast near the city, kept the temperature relatively constant throughout the year.

Sebastian looked over his shoulder and smiled to see that his wife, Sarah, still lay sound asleep in their bed. White sheets modestly covered her body while she groped for a pillow to snuggle with. He could without hesitation say, he lived the good life. His wife was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on and she was uncommonly intelligent. She was also his best friend which mattered the most. Sebastian looked out over the slumbering city. Yes. He was blessed to be an Elder of such a wonderful place. Sure, they had their problems and squabbles but so did every society. Everything seemed perfect like every other day. "A great day for a late breakfast and then off to visit the Cathedral."

Sebastian went back into the bedchamber and started rumaging for clothing. He settled on off-white trousers and a sky blue collared shirt. Mythrandir didn't exactly have the same fashions as some other cultures would and Sebastian was probably the least fashion inclined, but he always tried to dress in some way, respectful. Today he wanted to try on an imported fashion while he ate with his wife and went to the Christio Cathedral. He looked at the mirror once he had it all on.

"Not bad. . ." Sebastian whirled around when he heard the voice and saw Sarah sitting up in bed. ". . .But I like it better when they're off." She finished with a playful smile.

He couldn't help but laugh. "Come on and get dressed dear. I'll fix you breakfast and we'll head over to the Cathedral."

Sarah tucked up the covers around her chest while her long golden brown locks fell over her front. Her expression was sarcastically shocking. "Oh? You're going to make breakfast? Should I have the fire lines on standby just in case we need them?"

He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "I have never started a fire in the kitchen and you know my cooking has been getting better. Especially ever since I had lessons from Cassandra."

"Yes. It is edible now."

Sebastian ran over towards the bed, leaped, and pinned his wife down with a smile. "You're just not going to give me a break today are you?"

She coyly smiled back. "Where was that little move at last night?"

Sighing, "I guess I'll take that as a 'no'. Get dressed Sarah. It's beautiful out and I want to spend it with you."

"If you get off me, I'll get dressed."

Their playfulness was interrupted by a loud screaming siren that was now sounding all throughout Mythrandir. Sarah and Sebastian both looked up at first confused about the sound. "What in the Mist is that sound for?"

Sebastian quickly realized what it was all about. He pushed himself out of bed and ran back over to the wardrobe. Finding something that looked comfortable as well as mobile. He tossed them to his wife he promptly picked them up and looked at them in disgust. "Dear...I'm not wearing this. I only wear these when I'm being lazy and feel like lounging around here all day."

"Just put them on!"

Sarah was taken aback by his tone. Rarely had he ever spoken to her in such a way. "What's wrong? What are the sirens for?"

Her answer was interrupted by the loud clanging coming from the stairwell down the hall. Voices were shouting for Sebastian. "ELDER! ELDER SEBASTIAN!"

Guards burst in through the door though luckily Sarah was back underneath the covers. "Elder Sebastian! You must come with us."

"I know. I know. Alexander, send your first runners to round up Elder Alurial, Elder Thrandur, and Elder Raigar. I want them waiting for me in the White Tower. I also need War Mistress Shizra and Lukien there. Send the word out for everyone in the city to make ready. Store their valuables away and head for the shelters. Get in touch with all outlying villages and have them seek shelter either in the mountains or in the city if they are close enough. I want a direct line with Hammer Hall and keep it open. I don't care if it is a direct line or through the comm orbs but I want to communicate with them. Gather up any and all diplomats in the diplomatic palace and get them to safety and send all ships in the harbor away. Send the word through the other sentries and have everyone ready for battle."

Alexander thumped a quick salute. "I'll be waiting downstairs to personally escort you to the Tower."

As the Guards Captain left, Sarah still had a puzzled look on her face. Sebastian's expression had turned grim and happiness seemed to have fade away. "We're being invaded."

It was a terrible day afterall.

***Bridge of the Balmung***


Rendacil could see the entire planet before him through the panoramic displays in the bridge of the Balmung. To set foot on the bridge of a DCN ship was to set foot in to what appeared to be deep space. Rendacil paced around, his long coat swishing around his knees, heavy metal boots clanging against the hull, leaving small hexagonal imprints on the display screens where he stood.

The enemies planetary defenses were now active, and there was a great deal of them as well as around the moon itself. This had been the purpose of not committing all available ships, to be able to immediately tackle any new threats that might arise. Powerful blasts of energy and kinetics were directed past the massive vessel by its supremely powerful Urenbecht field as well as PPB Shield system, asteroids coming towards it were smashed and sliced with massively powerful Grasers, burning through until the antimatter at its heart was exposed to space, reacting before it could harm the massive ship or those immediately near her.

He would not fire the Gotteslicht yet, the massive weapon took almost as long to charge as the Urenbecht cannons did to reload, he would not waste this most powerful of weapons on defenses. Before him the sight of thousands of tiny plumes of blue, green and reddish plasma lit up the night sky. High maneuver frames were attacking the defenses now, engaging anything they could reach with missile, cannon and laser blast, whirling and twirling in a dizzying dance of death against any foe they could reach. The Algol HMAF's closed in behind them, unleashing a rain of destruction, capital ship scale pulsar lasers, heavy anti ship missile-drones and a literal rain of missiles heralded their arrival in to what they percieved as effective range.

Aside from the rather large amount of defenses around the moon base and ring itself, now firing in to the reserve squadrons, things were going according to plan. He saw the Light of Eternity, a GTFOA Solarin battleship struck full on the prow by one of the heavy laser defense batteries. Two of the Pin point barriers were knocked down before the beam stopped. Another beam fired, a different angle slicing down the side of the ship, its own PPB shield system moving to attempt to stop the beam from carving a hole through the ships dozens of meters thick polarised armour. The rest of the Solarins were holding up similiarly well, so far only minor damage. Then he looked to his left as the strategic display announced the death of a capital ship. The March of Freedom, a GTFOA Solarin had attempted to divert and block one of the asteroid-rounds rather then to destroy it with its massive battery of Xasers.

She crumpled like a rag doll down her one kilometer length, exploding in a massive fireball. Even Tannelornian kinetic defenses could only defend to a point. The rest of the vessels started to fire in to the launchers that had destroyed their brother. Azure beams of destruction fired in timed intervals, a constant stream of hard xaser death lancing in towards those that destroyed their comrades.

Lord Rendacil ordered the GFN contingents and the reserves to move in against the moon base. The millions of kilometers long formation turned sharply and started to move towards the moon, scanning for ships as well as defenses as they searched the night for targets. When they found them hundreds of lances of quick firing xasers arced towards the previously unknown threat, lowe bio-mech HMF's roaring in to the attack after the beams. One hundred and thirty six vessels were now racing towards the secondary target, the moon surrounded by the massive industrial ring.

However not all was as it seemed. The gravitic lenses were showing unaccounted for mass. It could be anything, ships hiding in near space, cloaked vessels preparing to strike once the Tannelornians or Fedrals let down their guard, possibly even cloaked fighters or mines preparing to unleashe their payloads in to the unsuspecting Tannelornian and Fedral armada. Rendacil was cautious enough, however he would not waste resources and threaten the battle chasing ghosts. Instead he communicated towards the reserve forces outsystem, requesting a portion of the reserve High maneuver frames to assist in point defense and patrol of the main fleet.

After all with the attack ongoing the vast majority of Tannelornian mecha were now engaging the enemy defenses and fighter craft that had managed to launch. Another few thousand mecha as point defense couldnt hurt.

He looked on in grim fascination at the display ahead of him. Some of the Solarins had taken damage, but much of the fleet was too far from the action to be totally affected. Casualties aside from March of freedom had been relatively light. After all the enemy fleet was still yet to show itself.

He looked out across the gap between himself and the enemy. Watching the brilliant flaring of Ultra heavy Graser beams intercepting kinetics, missiles and anything else that got in the path of the Tannelornian superdreadnought. He smiled softly, and sent a communication towards the planet.

We are the Divine Celestial Federation of Tannelorn, we have come on behalf of the Galactic Empire to bring your world in to the glory of the Empire. Do not resist any longer, one can sooner hold a mountain in his hands then stop the inexorable tide of destiny.

***DCN fleet forces***

The forces of the Divine Celestial navy were attacking in their usual fashion, Einhander gun destroyers circled around the larger zweihanders, laying in a never ending stream of extreme long range Graser and Xaser fire in support of their mecha forces. The vessels of the DCN glided through the worst enemy fire directed towards them. Without the ability to move towards them, to face them in battle, it was unlikely the defenses would be able to counteract the Urenbecht system. Still the highly trained knights maintained absolute evasion discipline. The batteries of Pulsar lasers and UV lances were silent, at this range the power needed to boost their shots to accurate levels was self defeating.

The DCN forces on either side of the planet were now covering the GTFOA attack, Honour blade frigates mingled amongst them, the three hundred meter frigates were designed to support the fleet with heavy drone-missiles and Xaser fire, though at this range it was carefully disciplined deployment of drones that was their main duty. Of course PDS were scanning the heavens in case of any possible attack. Thousands more tiny tears in the Aether formed as the reserve mecha moved in to position to cover the vulnerable ships of the Tannelornian formations.

***DCN Mecha forces***

Jan Azantine was having the time of his life. It was just like the Divine dragon attack back in sol, only with more targets then he knew what to do with. He let loose with another salvo of missiles, primarily with xaser warheads, as they were best suited to space dogfights. He watched as the missiles self destructed in to a brilliant purple beam of destruction, slamming in to the side of a particle cannon satellite. He grinned turning his Morgenraete III fully around, its humanoid form was bristling with maneuver verniers to aid the gravitics in such high speed stunts. It took less then a quarter of a second for his mecha to turn round and switch to space superiority fight configuration. He had already chosen another target, the advanced neural link to his little helper bio-com had instantly made him aware of the next closest targets, as well as a few hundred others in the vicinity.


He could see Alpha II's flying amongst the Knights of Tannelorn, their GTFOA pilots were skilled, many of them ex pilots of the old Tannelornian space services, its civilian run security fleet. They were doing a good job, the enemy fighters had not yet launched, and if everything went according to plan..they would meet them in the air over the Mythrandirs own cities. Jan grinned, Mythrandir he told himself. Sounded like an Elfen name. He chuckled at the insult.

Tannelorn had its own population of Elves, but long ago after the original founding elves had railed against the "mistreatment" of their kin, gaining true and proper Tannelornian educations, all Elven culture was banned as a poor influence. Jan had no trouble taming some errant, wild and capricious elves. It was after all, their cousins who had started the conflict that finally forced them from their ancient home world. Suddenly he found himself locked on by several enemy missiles.

These were far deadlier then the PD fire he was taking, they wouldnt give up till they struck him. He switched to high maneuver configuration and turned sharply, end over end in back flip and faced the incoming projectiles. Quickly his head pulsar lasers started to fire in to them, shooting them down as quickly as they could be targetted. He was rewarded with the sight of a brilliant blossom of fire, which subsided almost as soon as it came in to existence.

With a grim smile he went back to the important task of silencing the defense network before the enemies fleet would be fully operational. He was one of the Divine Celestial Cavaliers best pilots, an ex member of the illfated PIOUS special forces, as well as one of three Divine Celestial Cavaliers to refuse a Kernschatten stealth high maneuver frame. Of course that generally put him in combat with the Knights of the DCN. He didnt mind..he got more kills that way. As he looked around he saw one of the new Algol High maneuver armoured frames scream past him, the seventy meter long space mecha was a beautiful sight, he had tested the original prototype and knew the sheer firepower and agility of this massive beast. He grinned as he saw the trail of destruction the veritable one man frigate left in its wake. This was turning out to be a good battle. Much better then the Divine Dragon, however still not as good as the final battle of Hellespontos.

He would just have to wait and see what the Mythrandir could put up in defense.

***The Divine Celestial Cavaliers strike force***

Over two hundred horizon transports with Urenbecht stealth modules moved as anonymously as was possible in the depths of space. A massive battle was now raging, Divine Celestial navy ships and Monitor's were unleashing a screaming hell of EMP and interference through the discharges of their massive grasers and the detonations of thousands of nuclear weapons.

Surrounding them was a flight of nearly a thousand Kernschatten stealth high maneuver frames. The slim variable mecha were all in superiority configuration, cutting their way through to the ring surrounding what was being designated "fortress moon". Almost five thousand of the Divine Celestial cavaliers were on board these ships. The elite of the elite knights of the Tannelornians, each having dozens, if not hundreds of years of combat experience. Many of these men and women, the bearers of the nova pancrea, masters of manipulating divine energy, had fought the Eldar on the plains of Hellespontos three hundred years before, and took part in the great slaughter of the enemy that had occured when General Barfeldt lead the great counter attack, which saw much of the Eldars forces cut off and trapped, hewn, pulverised, shot and destroyed utterly beneath the blades, boots and guns of Knights militant of the Divine kingdom.

++++

The armoured bunkers that held the cavaliers inside of Horizon valourXII was quiet. The Knights inside were contemplating the furious close range battle they were about to undertake. Archaic as well as fantastically high tech weapons of destruction and doom were being given their final checks. Knight-swords and Graser rifles were given final pre-battle maintenance checks. Oaths were being sworn as well as renewed. Battle was nearing. Majour Kourian Altenar was looking down the file of ninety six cavaliers, arranged in two rows on either side of the bunker. He smiled. These three companies of men, as well as the other three inside the second bunker had been with him through countless battles. Of course there were always a few young ones here and there, it was the knights way to have their children fight alongside them when the age of ascension had been reached.

He could hear a few of the younger ones speaking now, listening in as he often did he could hear the excitement in their voice, almost masking the nervousness they felt. They were new to the Nova pancrea and the Divine arts of manipulating the divine realms power flowing within their young bodies. They were new to the raging life or death struggle they were about to be forced in to. He smiled though at the ability of youth to be able to see past such concerns with their unshakeable curiousity, their ambition and their dreams. Each of them wished to be a hero of old, each wished to emulate feats of legend, hero's like Ivan Pavlowski, fallen in the final battle of Hellespontos. He was a warrior so powerful the Eldar Lord had to ensnare him in webs of monofilament to strike the death blow.

Death would soon claim lives, of the enemy and of his men and women. The Majour sighed, his fine elven shoulders girded in the segmented armour of the Cavaliers rose and fall almost imperceptibly in a shrug. Reminiscent of ancient samurai armour on earth, the warriors of the DCC's power armour contained many incredible technological devices and attachments. Its main strength was not in thickness nor in power, but in versatility. He waited for the gentle rocking that would signify the bunker had detached from the assault shuttle. Then they would storm out as automatic weapon mounts and gras-bomb launchers cleared the area of enemies so they could deploy in to the enemy facility. The ring. A quarter of the force would move for the surface of the moon. Facilities had been detected on its surface, General Toracil had ordered a secondary attack to take the facilities below.

This battle was one of legend. They had attacked a completely unknown enemy, throwing their prodigious strength in to the heart of an enemy system with their allies the Fedrals, in the hopes of wresting it from the decadent nobility that controlled this system. Kourian closed his eyes, awaiting the chime signalling the force to deploy.


***GTFOA forces, dark side***

Fleet Marshall Hellner had been in constant communications with the fleet, from his flagship the Divinity Carrier Warriors peace. Though a few light years away, the aethernet uplinks in the rest of the GTFOA ships enabled near instant communications. He watched in the strategic viewer an image of the world, its moons and defenses. Around them swarmed shoals of engagement markers. He pondered the enemies moves. So far no large amount of ships had engaged the attacking forces. Admittedly the battle had barely begun and it was only now starting to take effect. A Solarin had been lost to a direct hit from a massive enemy weapon system. Others were being damaged by larger laser platforms. Therefore the orders were now to destroy the ultra heavy weapon systems. As the Solarins started to close in on the enemy positions, closer ranged views showed the squadrons of massive ships, flanked by Hellebarde high maneuver frames pouring fire in to the enemy targets that were capable of causing the most damage.

Elsewhere Alpha II's were causing havoc amongst the lesser defense satellites. They were not as destructive as the Morgenraetes, nor were they as hardy but they were putting up a damn good fight. Many of these pilots were veterans of the secession war and he knew that if any could give a good account, it was they.

The Solarins pressed on as the Honour blades layed down a massive amount of cover fire. Bio-mech missiles fired, deployed their ordnance and returned. Here and there the Bio-mech drone-missiles were being shot down, but generally deployed their warheads from a safe distance.

The enemy defenses had been weakened in the initial barrage, they would now begin to apply maximum pressure to the enemy position.


***Divine Hammer: GTFOA Solarin***

"Federal-Captain Ramila, enemy fire striking port section, shall we adjust vector to maximise defenses?" asked her helm officer, Federal-Lieutenant Ajari Kellan. "Aye, evasive maneuvers, all guns target only the large emplacements, the smaller are no concern to us, the HMAF's and HMF's will soon take care of those." she smiled. The brilliant rain of destruction from the ships twenty heavy Xasers and two Hardigan Mega Xaser cannons filled the bridge with a soft blue light, shining brightly around the panoramic display walls. She had not elected to filter the beautiful site.

She was part of a task force that was going to smash through the defenses. They would take up position over the world and prepare to support an orbital landing by ten Bad-hertzfeldt assault ships, based off the same frame as the Solarin and capable of carrying a regiment of GAP troopers As well as a large detachment of DCC troopers was already enroute to the world.

She only hoped that enemy capital ships would soon come to challenge them. Her old, beloved Ikazuki, the Hand of Fate paled in comparison to the Divine Hammer. She had served aboard that ship in the first hellespontos war, as well as in the TSS and PTSS after she was converted to perform the task of border guard, search and rescue as well as policing force. She wished to face the enemies finest in her new vessel, and show them what a Tannelornian, Knight or no could do.

***GAP assault force***

Though they were the smallest contingent, they brought no less then thirteen Solarin battle ships to the field, easily matching the GTFOA's contingent of capital ships. These ships moved with the DCN vessels, however they were staying at range. Using the massive firepower at their disposal to simply saturate the space around the planet with Xaser beams.The beams criss crossed and flickered in and out as they fired, producing a wall of them. Across the formation there could always be traced dozens of beams towards enemy targets. Commodore Zietski was more then competent. He had been a Commodore in the PTSS as well before this, and lead several successful actions against Loyalist forces in the eastward regions of the Tannelornians asteroid field empire, back in sol.

His faust squadrons were attacking in close proximity to the DCN Morgenraetes, supporting the phenomenally agile and well armed Knight-mecha with lightning strikes from heavy particle cannons and missile salvoes. However he had held back most of the Endymion HMAF units. He would deploy them against enemy ships when they did come.

Hellebardes were deployed far out as well as in rings around his vessels. He would mae no mistakes. Whatever tricks the enemy might have were totally unknown to his forces. Therefore it was his duty to ensure that most variables were accounted for. Unlike the DCN ships, he knew the Tannelornian ships of the other armada's could not count on DEM armour on every ship, or the fantastically efficient, safe and high tech crystal power matrices. Even the Klaubauterman bio-coms on the Solarins were less complex, owing more to Mentat dependency on less resource intensive Tannelornian vessels.

He waited and watched to see the results of his careful attack.

***GFN bio-mech fleet***

The pods moved quickly with a grace that could not be matched by ships not of the Divine Celestial Navy. These vessels had been designed by Knights, and their Bio-coms had been lovingly trained by the Klaubautermann of the DCN vessels. They were ready to wage war as their fallen brethren did over Mars, one year past. To gain honour and the approval of their Tannelornian masters. They had overtaken the DCC assault formation as well as powered far ahead of the GTFOA secondary assault wing in their eagerness to get to grips with the enemy defenses and defenders. As soon as range and firing solutions permitted, they had started to open fire on the defenses of the "fortress moon." They almost frolicked through space as they evaded enemy fire. Here and there schwertwhals were hit, some even crippled by the furious fire coming at them. Their agility enabled them to move relatively safely under their protective Urenbecht fields, the same type used by the Knights to avoid fire entirely at range, rather then simply redirect and slow it, like the GAP-GTFOA heavy field.


Lowe Bio-mechs powered ahead. The Lowe were created while refitting the original Mark II Morgenraetes in use by Tannelorn for almost a hundred years. Instead of finding pilots for these craft, who were so numerous by the time of their replacement in the DCN that sufficient pilots could never have been found, they had placed a Bio-com inside of them, and added missile capacity.

The Lowes had upgraded weapons, armour and gravitic control systems. They also had the most ferocious of all Bio-coms installed in them. The Lioness and Lion systems. It had been a long trial and error process before a suitable system had been found. These mecha, these lions of Tannelorn, the hunting cats of the Knights of Grahfsberg now powered in to the enemy defense ring, searching out not only defenses but enemy fighter craft. Firing salvos of nuclear missiles and brilliant laser beams in to whatever they considered a threat. When they encountered a large target they surrounded it and ran them to ground, allowing the heavier firepower of the Lowe-III Lion's to finish the job that the Lionesses could not.


The Bio-mech fleets were anything if eager, it showed clearly in the reckless abandon with which they attacked. To some viewers it might be said that the ships and mecha seemed to be having..fun..in their all or nothing assault. However they had a true purpose in this apparent madness. They were going to draw out any true enemy defenders, engage, hold, and if able destroy them.

The battle was beginning. Now it was up to the Fedrals to complete their objectives in this invasion.

Down on the planet, guards were rushing people into the nearest shelters and helping store provisions. Single soldiers were out in the masses looking for children that got separated from their mothers or helping the infirmed with getting to safety. Surprisingly though, it was all done orderly with minimal panicking. During this time, guards were also hussling to the walls to prepare for any attack on the city itself. Preparations for a defense needed to be made and it was taking a city-wide effort to properly prepare. Weapons needed to be unlocked and a means of communication had to be established despite the jamming.

Outlying villages were seeing to their own security by heading to the nearest fortress, shelter, or Mythrandir if they could make it. The dwarves in their halls were worried little about an assault on their fortress. It would take many thousands of men to route them from their stronghold. Despite this, they to needed to contribute to the defense of the main capitol city. The dwarves had their own little trinkets, or at least they considered them such, in store for any attack on the ground. Great catapults that could cover the terrain around the main city even at the such great miles. Stronghold defenses were turning out from the mountain side. Gun turrets of unfathomable ranges were revealed from their hidden stone housing. Armor from the smithies were being shipped up from the bellows and distributed among the dwarven warriors. Weapons cleared their racks as the dwarves prepared for their stand.

Elves had their own means of defense, albeit mysterious at best. Still, all of their people were recalled to Caer'alfar for its defense as well as mustering a force capable of taking on this new enemy.

-----------

Sebastian was delivered promptly to the White Tower. Already at the base, his colleagues were awaiting him. Shizra's ionized motorcycle was parked right outside the door near Elder Alurial's flaming chariot. Two guards at the door opened the great oaken doors wide for Sebastian and his wife. All was quiet inside during this particular day with much of the staff dismissed to be with their families and seek shelter. At the center of the great room were four hovering teardrop shaped chairs. Seated in three of them were already Elders Alurial, Thrandur, and Raigar. War Mistress Shizra and Captain Lukien stood in front of them. Apparantly the meeting had not gone far at all since they arrived.

"I'm glad everyone has made it safely."

The loud statement turned everyone to watch the human make his way to his own seat. Their eyes trained on him and awaited his own insight. "I know we do not have a lot of time so I will dispense with the good mornings and get right down to it. Shizra, what news is there from our forces in the system?"

The scantily clad dark elf pulled out a black orb and let it hovered before them all. Within a brief moment, holographic images appeared in the room depicting the scenery of the Mythrandir home system. "I would wager that they are throwing everything they got at us. We're experiencing heavy jamming and some of the ships are trying to prevent anything from getting in or out of the system. For now, our battle netowrk is holding with mostly ship-to-ship communication still functional. Long range communication is almost nonexistant. It's taking every bit of power that SIREN has to keep some of the battle network from being completely pushed out of our control."

Sebastian was stroking his chin while he listened to the report. He turned his attention to Elder Alurial. "Send a battalion of your people to SIREN and tell them to hold it all costs. I want all power for domestic communications rerouted to its system and try to bypass their jamming systems. Make sure they pay for every blade of grass they bend."

The elf nodded her head. "I've already dispatched a team. SIREN's shields have been activated and its defense network should be coming online right now."

"Good. It is unlikely we'll be getting any help from Dag'goroth or the Aero System for that matter so we will have to make do with what we've got. Bring the planetary shield generator online. I want to make sure we give all of our citizens every chance they have to survive this. I don't intend to lose our home so make sure every defense system is ready for ground troops and any air attacks. Lukien?"

The elf at Shizra's side strode forward. His bronze armor glistened in the light of the braziers. His great chainsword was strapped to his back and short cropped brown hair gave him an imposing figure. "Yes Elder. With everyone's permition I would like to bring everything we have to bear on the enemy. We can use Hammer Hall as a means for artillery fire. Artillery fire that the enemy will have a hard time silencing I believe if we can rely on our dwarven brethern. Caer'alfar is of no concern as the enemy would have no idea of its existance and merely dismiss it as part of the forest. Even if they do venture into the woods, we have enough soldiers standing by to harass them for days. The enemy's strike will far the hardest against us here. We have the ocean to our back and enough defenses covering the harbor that it would cost many men their lives before they even reached our walls. The main concern is going to be the open fields in front of us. I've contacted Commander Jeishka and the Wyvern riders are standing by. Their battalion should be ready to march within a few minutes. I will also need the War Mistress's approval to use some of her fine warriors from the Warrior's Institute to help defend the walls and the battles outside the gates."

Shizra nodded her white haired head. "Of course. We will all be fighting for our homes today."

Happy to have the War Mistress's approval, Lukien continued on. "I prefer to save us all for the battles where the enemy has already been softened. I would like to throw all Uruks, trolls, goblins, and necromancer units into the first landing. If we overwhelm them, we can make establishing a beach head a very difficult task. Perhaps even long enough to give our own fleets a chance to counter the enemy's fleet and bring in more help from outlying systems."

Sebastian sat there for a moment thinking it all over. It was a good plan for the most part but it was still missing a few things. Not bad for the Captain's first attempt at laying such a large battle strategy. "Thrandur, I'm going to need the help of your dwarven kin before the battle is out. I need the best demolition crews you can spare."

"Aye lad. Dey'll be waitin' fer ye."

Sebastian hopped down from his chair. "Elder Raigar, I trust I can leave communication in your capable hands?"

The enormous griffon fluttered his massive wings until he was standing on the floor. Great talons clicking the marble floor. "Of course. My kin and I shall be here to help in the battles to come."

"We need to also initiate some of the final phases of our defense system. Whether or not Dag'goroth will be able to aid us is a different matter. That doesn't mean we cannot activate our end of the system wide defense. Activate second phase of system defenses."

Shizra was already nodding her approval of the idea. She had come to the same conclusion already. "It is also possible that Dag'goroth knows of the situation since our probes did manage to get off a warning signal."

"Good. I suggest everyone prepare themselves for the battle to come. It looks to be a long one and we will need all of our strength. Make sure the barbarian tribes to the north have some clue of what is going on. We can use them as reinforcements. As for the rest, I leave the finer details of planning in the capable hands of War Mistress Shizra."

Hooking an arm around his wife's waist, Sebastian walked towards the lobby doors that would lead him back out into the city. Shizra stared at him, surprised that he was leaving. "Where are you going Sebastian? Your men will need you this day."

Sebastian turned around with a pleasant smile on his face. "I am going where I must go. Today is as good a day as any to visit the Cathedral. Perhaps even more important today." With that, he left the hall and headed back out into the throngs of fleeing people as he went against the tide towards a large ornate cathedral on a hill.

A system of layered shielding activated from the planet below as the battle near orbit ensued. Shielding protected the main continent from bombardment as well as protecting the city of Mythrandir and outlying mountain ranges from attacks within the planet.

Above Mythrandir:

Planet wide defense systems were still firing away at the enemy intrusion of a peaceful system. Their own point defenses targeted incoming missles and projectiles and created overlapping fields of fire to prevent anything from getting through. Every maching created by the Forge had an upgradeable battle system and every moment that passed, the satellites were adopting tactics to fit that of the enemy. Shields sparked in protest as enemy fire hit their mark. Still, they kept firing even as they were exploding. It was their last shot at the enemy out of spite. Even if they were going down, the system defenses would take some of these enemy vessels with them.

Large energy arrays were starting to dwindle but kept focusing their power into the attacks on large ships of the fleet or anything close within effective killing distance. Asteroids hurled out with new furry, striking out at near light speeds to take down any vessel.

An odd thing began to occur over the planet. More and more planetary defenses seemed to be materializing out of nowhere and launched attacks of their own. They appeared like phantoms though they were probably no better than ghosts. Holographic targets were being thrown out to confuse scanners and any fighters from taking out effective defense systems. It was one part of the of the Mythrandir phase of system defense. The second part took over soon after as anamonalies could be detected by ship scanners off in the distance behind enemy fleets. It would appear that Myth ships were arriving though it would hard to tell without a closer look.

Lunar Forge base:

Streaks of energy laced out above the moons surface as they targeted enemy craft. They might be agile but beam lasers only had to strafe across them to score a hit instead of hitting directly. Flak of high speed shrapnel was thrown up over head in clouds that almost blotted out the base below. Mass Accelerators embedded in the moon's surface started throwing out huge shells filled with anti-matter at enemy ships in the distance. It was an attempt to hit the enemy fleets from the side as they were focused on the planet defense grid. Massive ion turrets flared to life lobbing large gouts of pulsating energy at suspecting ships.

From the craters within the moon, the first sign of ships from the Myth Forge first appeared. Fighter craft funneled up out of the craters like swarms of locusts. Thousands upon thousands of small fighters took to space and prepared their swarm. Goblins had been specifically been bred on Dag'goroth for these fighters. They could take an enormous amount of acceleration that most other beings couldn't, even with inertia dampers. It had been Sebastian's hope that these goblins could out manuever the enemy in flight. The Forge's bet would see whether or not it would pay off as the first of the fighters found their targets in the mechas and dove in after them. Laser fire and missles were their arsenal of choice, accompanied by high speed chase.

*Inside the base*

"Commander Bruenor?"

The dwarf had his battle-ax resting on his broad shoulders. An intimidating figure, even at three and a half feet. "Bah, what is it lass?"

"We've picked up a message from Commander Haldir and Commander Genji. Their patrols are heading this way and are waiting to coordinate an attack. We can't keep the signal secure for too much longer. It's taking a lot of power with the enemy jamming and their constant energy attacks."

The dwarf had been preparing a small defense for the base on the inside while the rest of the crews were moving to their ships. Many of the smaller class ships were housed safely within the moon but the larger Horde Cruisers and Avenger Battleships were still parked outside within the temporary safety of the shields. Though, it was questionable as to how much longer that would last. "Make sure de elf is in'charge. I durn't want dat durn fool Genji commandin' an attack. Keep'em ready until were all out and gots deir attention."

"Yes commander."

The Bridge of the flag ship was ominously silent alexi had stood up looking out as the return fire, his blue green eyes gently panning the vastness of space, his hands to his side as he growled gently, his teeth bearing ever so slightly, he raised his hand and then gave a single to increase fire, his body shimmered gently in the now dimming reddish light of the bridge. he stepped close to the holo view port and chuckled to him self in a rather ominous tone. he watched out side as two cruisers and multiple frigates where decimated right in front of him, they're floating burning grayish husks moving gently out in to the dark lifeless pit of space, debris raining down the rest of the fleet as it began to spread out. the massive cruisers, battle carriers and smaller destroyers and frigates maneuvered out from a tight formation braking off in every direction, they're ominously shimmering bodies moving almost like lighting, they're massive engines pushing the shimmering metallic bodies of death in to positions.

Alexi had sighed gently as his own ship was hit multiple times by enemy weapons fire , the shields rippled with a gentle white and blue fizzing motion. rippling all over the massive ominously shimmering black ship with demonic crimson markings. he looked over to his tactical officer who was at a large 3d holographic console besides him, others where around it looking at targets and weapons fire. Alexi spoke with a dark commanding voice his hands moving up to meet each other in a clap. He said with this voice.

"Increase fire on those defensive platforms, launch fighters and bomber craft to intercept any enemy fighters incoming, i also want our prism system and lighting fields activated "

The tactical officer nodded gently and said "affirmative sir" his pale skin was made dark buy the dim lighting around the bridge, his brown eyes panned the holo console in front of him. Suddenly space was filled with swarms of fighter craft and drone craft, crackling and whooshing out of launch bays, waves upon waves of fighters followed drone craft and bombers as they floated under the cover of heavy jamming and ECM in a defensive pattern.


Devil dog squadron:
This is Devil dog kilo india lima one to all Devil dogs out there, wing one proceed to out flank from port side, wing two out flank from the starboard side remaining wings take the dorsal and ventral sides, lets all give them hell boys.!

The Devil dogs broke off formation, they where flying SF21/A Thunderbolt 4's , the gleaming mid sized fighters flew off in different directions with unimaginable speed , they;re drives pushing them quickly towards They're positions, the gleaming metal bodies shimmered gently in the light of the local sun , the engines emitted a white and blue glowing light. The cockpits where sealed from the outside in metal combat blinds kept the cockpit from being obvious targets. Commander Sinclair taped on his console in front of him with one hand while holding a controller in the other , he looked out side his cockpit via holographic 3D imaging, he sighed gently as his ship approached his targeted area, his face became slightly sweaty his hands clamming up gently as he held the controls through his leather like black gloves, his clear tritanuim mask shimmering gently from the light of the controls, the air mask system gently whooshing and huffing as he breathed in and out, his hands glided gently and smoothly with clam precision. He flicked a blinking control button , suddenly a screen displaying the thunderbolt class fighter came up and 4 missiles went blue so did the main pulse cannon, they blank gently , this process war repeated trough out the squadron.. a soft woman came on to the speakers around Sinclair she said in a gentle voice, Personal EVA system activated..
..
...
...
Uploading commands...

commands... uploaded ... S-AIM-190 Silver shark missiles activated and on stand buy.
40 MM APC-192 auto pulse cannons activated...
Chaff system activated...
Decoy system activated ... Interlinked AIEWS system activated. Good hunting commander

Sinclair chuckled gently and sighed relaxing as he pushed down on the controls constantly making sure his fighter was moving erratically, the other pilots where doing the same.

Alexi chuckled again this time he was sitting on the chair, his hands on his lap twiddling with each other he bore his teeth again and said with a huffing ominous tone and a deep commanding voice, his face turning to a look of a confidant battle hardened man. He moved a hand up and said “ Fire..” His eyes lit up suddenly he grinned his teeth bearing with glimmering brightness. Suddenly massive Twenty inch guns burst in to quick fire, reverberating with crackling energy noises as shells screeched out those cannons racing towards the enemy emplacements, again and again they fired Double turrets firing one after another recoiling and crackling back as 100 tone shells moved out in to the vastness of space. Smaller eighteen inch guns fired in more rapid succession crackling and recoiling again and again as they fired. Following each rapid volley of shells massive bursts of screeching crackling energy moved ahead quickly, again and again they fired out the surrounding space lit with white blue and green pulses of death they flew out of they're cannons like lost souls looking to infest the living. Disruptor fire followed this barrage, suddenly blue tinted beam pulses crackled and slashed in to space as zica weapons fire out from heavy weapons emplacements, the long beam pulse raced in to dark lifeless void of space heading towards targets rushing out one beam pule after another. Alexi stood on his bridge looking out of his holographic port watching in his blue green eyes as a cornucopia of colors filled the vast lifeless darkness of space he gently smiled his mind filled with thoughts of glory and battle and what to do after they won this, he gently looked over to his tactical officer and nodded he said in his deep ominous voice.

“Fire missiles tubes!”

Suddenly every single ship opened up with yellow burst of fire and trails of flames as thousands upon thousands of cruise missiles and anti shielding missiles raced from they're tubes adding more light to the already thunderous colors and fire power coming from the ships

Alexi was all but confident about this but he would not under estimate his opponent they did seem to be more than they looked. He pondered in his head what to do next his hand already on his chin stoking gently as he thought his eyes looking out of his view port, an idea popped in his head suddenly he chuckled gently and looked over to his tactical officer. He said in his commanding tone.

“Target those main stations with our main cannons, and fire concentrated burst at they're power core and magazines”


the tactical officer nodded and taped his console quickly, suddenly two of the four spinal mount cannons of the massive crimson squad battle carrier revved up, a crackling energetic charge was head getting louder and louder more and more, a bright white pint of light became bigger and bigger as the main guns readied to fire. Suddenly a massive burst of energy flew from the main beam cannons , two massive thirty four meter beams pushed out with a crackling hellish screech never heard in the likes of this area, it disrupted space so badly small warps began to form around the beam, rings of energy encompassed the white greenish tinted beam as it flew out firing continuously at full power for 2 minuets, the other two main cannons lay silent until its brothers needed a rest.

It was on the fleet had let loose every thing now and it would continue to do so until its enemy had been defeated.

***Bridge of the Balmung***

The defenses had troubled them long enough, the night side of the world would soon see itself cleansed of any targets. Lord Rendacil had realised that this was taking too long, one solarin down and four damaged was too much for mere defenses. Though the damage was minor, he had decided to deploy the Balmungs fearsome fleet engagement systems, the Massive three kilometer Gotteslicht graser and the Urenbecht kinetic fleet engagement and dispersal system. Lord Rendacil opened a channel to all mecha units currently engaged in orbital fighting over the night side of Mythrandir. Soon it would be bright as day for the defenders, preparing to face the might of the Federation and the Fedral Union. The Solarin battleships behind him slowed, then started to move abeam to the defenses, lining their pinpoint barriers to allow for maximum coverage and firepower while staying far away from the enemy kinetics, allowing for time to evade.

"This is Lord Rendacil to all Tannelornian and fedral units engaged in close quarters battle over the nightside of this world, clear the area immediately, may the Divine Light of heaven purify this world." The codeword had been given. Immediately he could see the Tannelornian mecha squadrons in the strategic display start to activate their own urenbecht catapults, entering the space time conduits and clearing several hundred thousand kilometers of space in seconds, away from the planet.

"Bring us about, fire Gotteslicht for fourty five seconds, then shower the world with the kinetic weapon for one minute." Armsmen Donedal looked at him strangely, then prepared to fire the main reaction cannon of the Balmung. One minutes fire from the kinetic weapon could endanger the planet if the shells were not spaced properly. Too many impacts in one spot could blow off chunks of the atmosphere. Donedal would have to be careful in his aim.

The massive ship turned far more gracefully then its bulk would imply. The forward two thirds of the ship suddenly split, and started to form massive booms. She was now pointed in such an angle as to be able to draw a line from pole to pole against the planet. In between the metal horns now forming the prow of the ship small ribbons of light could be seen emerging from emitters on the inside, the event horizon was being compressed, spitting out gamma rays the way a sponge drips water when squeezed in a fist. The patina of energy grew heavier inside the booms, starting to roll down the kilometers long length of the barrel. Suddenly it stopped, then a massive beam of brilliant white light shot forth, scouring all in its path.

The massive graser could ravage a world and yet it was now being used as a surgeons tool. The beam passed over the heavier defensive installations again and again, clearing as much of the orbital space as it could. Carnage was the only objective, to destroy as many Mythrandir space assets as possible. Fourty five seconds passed, the weapon stopped firing and the vessel turned again, slowly fishknifing as it exposed its flanks to the orbitals. Thousands of hundreds of thousands kilometer long columns of nearly invisible gravitic force extended from the vessel, the space time compression conduits that the black hole was used to power were suddenly filled with "lead" darts flying through them as a rocket would use a staged booster to fire in to the orbit of the world. From these columns erupted tens of thousands of rounds a second.

The weapon at full power could maintain almost a million rounds a minute, and right now it was demonstrating the sheer power of the Urenbecht Kinetic fleet engagement system. The rounds would crash in to any object they encountered with extreme force, creating large impacts on the atmosphere that could be seen, even felt by those below. It would create a thundering peal as the shells impacted against solid air and exploded. The night sky would turn a thousand colours, each one of them a terrifying omen of the thundering destruction that was about to visit them. The people below would hear it, see night turn in to a parody of day. If the massive graser blast brighter then the sun itself had not frightened them..this surely would.

"Ursa?" Lord Rendacil asked. "My lord." The bio-com grunted, the bear like face now appearing on the monitor had its brow furrowed in concentration. "Everything is well?" he asked again. She had grown quiet in the last few minutes, the Gotteslicht and the KFE took much from her. Keeping the black hole from destabilising or breaking free from its magnetic bottle was not an easy task, especially while deflecting kinetic shells and commanding the pinpoint barrier screens in this engagement would definetly be taxing her concentration even more. The enemy was throwing up alot of firepower. Even at this range the sheer volume of it was enough to harm the Solarin attack force.

He watched as the first impacts of the KFE started to slam home, and smiled.

***DCN attack: sunward side***

The Einhanders, Morgensterns, Shield carriers and Zweihanders of the DCC continued to their long range assault. They hadnt moved toward the world or moon, only moved evasively in a ring formation designed to allow them not only maximum supporting firepower, but maximum agility against the distant enemy fire. The weapons of these ships were designed to fire at ranges that would boggle most who used energy weapons, Grasers and Xasers perfected and honed in to burning swords of death. The Loengrens were raking the heavy defenses, the massive beam weapons released a huge amount of distortion and electromagnetic interference every time they fired. The Knights, safe in their DEM armour knew that if they were in close, this might be an advantage, but for now they simply relied on their Knight-fields and agility to keep them out of harms way. Besides, Tannelornian Knight vessels preferred not to engage at ranges which the electromagnetic discharge of the Loengren could stun a ship...that was too close for the PPB system or the Ubecht Knight field to be effective.

From their vantage point the world appeared as a tiny blue orb. Tactical displays across the various panoramic layouts on the bridges of the ships of the Divine Navy displayed far more. Fireballs, ships moving,weapons fire, mecha fighting and death could all be seen on the visual displays. The DCN continued to hold their position, assailing the planetary defenses with their massive lances. In truth they were just waiting for the enemy ships to move out to meet them..then the battle could begin, the DCN would not waste themselves on the defenses as the Solarins were, or more appropriately, had been.

***GTFOA assault: Night side***

It was time to soften them up again. The Seven remaining Solarins turned, moving abeam with the planet, instead of directing their power to move forward they would now focus on evasion. Though only half of their respective firepower was now facing the planet, they would not be moving towards C fracs the size of battleships filled with antimatter. They had a method now however, any of the C fracs approaching their maneuver vectors would be targetted by the heavy Hardigan Xasers and burnt through until the Antimatter was exposed, all the while they would push a full burn on engines and full power to gravitics, away from the path of the deadly missiles.

One had even exploded amongst a group of Honour blade frigates, one was annhillated and two more were crippled. Federal-Captain Ramila had ordered them to lay down a massive bombardment of AM drone-missiles. These did not pack the sheer blast of the anti matter core of a Divine Navy urenbecht spinal round, but they did pack enough punch to effect more of the enemy then the Xasers were. So the Solarins started to fire timed volleys of Xaser fire and streams of AM armed Drone-missiles. The Honour blades followed suit, extending their formations to avoid the return fire of those dreaded rocks. So far the Honour blades were performing well, able to stay well out of combat and still able to contribute greatly to the battle. Soon the world would be saturated in heavy firepower.

Then, one after the other timed in minute stages the Monitors started to open fire again. Each issued warnings to clear the area as the massive grasers, smaller versions of the gotteslicht on Balmung, though still powered by a nuclear charge and not a black hole, prepared to fire. The rounds were loaded between the splitting twin booms, transforming in to a brilliant blossom of energy inside them as it started to channel the Gamma rays in to a cohesive beam through the magnetic lenses at the front of the boom. The massive beams arched towards the planet, targetting individual battle sats then moving on to the next in their fourty five second long bursts of brilliance.

***GTFOA Mecha Squadrons: night side***

Federal-Lieutenant Bale Rosden flew past the destruction of yet another defense satellite. He checked his missiles again, fourty one remaining out of sixty. He had lost two members of his twelve mecha squadron, one a Faust pilot named Yulen, another was an alpha II pilot named Heisen who hadnt quite pulled up in time. Still it was good considering how much flak they were facing. His father had served in the TSS, and he had gotten his start in the TSS near the end of the Secession war. Since then he had been fighting alongside whichever army would have one who was not a Knight. He was a good soldier, always followed orders and it was these orders to invade a world which had done nothing to Tannelorn that were being followed now. He would have no regrets. After all Mythrandir sounded Elvish, elves and their cousins were the blood enemies of Tannelorn, despite the fact that Tannelorn had its own elven population. Of course those were true elves, noble and learned of Tannelornian culture. They lacked the arrogance of their kin.

His Alpha II was a fine machine, far superior to his old Raete I, the three hundred year old craft were rugged and had heavy firepower, but lacked much of the modern equipment of Tannelorn. Still the GAP had kept the old PTSS morgenraete I's, for search and rescue purposes.The Knight-engineers and their Scientist caste allies built equipment to last centuries, but even that equipment could not be counted on forever, eventually it would not be able to do its job. It was as things should be, though he missed the feeling of having so much armour between him and his foe, so many missiles to loose against enemies. His expertise in the old Raete could be seen in the way he handled his Alpha II, preferring to engage in combat in the humanoid High maneuver configuration rather then the fighter configuration whenever possible.

The Alpha II had been a gift to the GTFOA from the Knight-engineer scientific caste combine, it was a gesture appreciated by many of the pilots who now flew the Alpha II. Bale quickly switched from superiority fighter configuration to high maneuver mode, performing a pirhouette as he came to face an enemy satellite. He unleashed a devastating pulse of energy from each of the mecha's arm mounted guns, then turned around and chose another target. So far so good.He thought to himself as he opened fire on the next target on his threat identifier.

***GAP Assault group***

Commodore Zietski ordered half his command to turn about. The mightybattleships started to fire in to the defenses around the moon now, rather then support the already rather succesful DCN attack, Seven vessels turned and started to rake beams across the defenses on the moons surface as well in orbit of the moon itself. They would start to launch drone missiles with heavy saturation antimatter warheads, just as the GTFOA was doing on the other side. The six ships still supporting the DCN simply fired in to whatever the DCN had damaged but not destroyed, or pinpointed other targets of opportunity.

Enemy fighter launches had been detected, he dispatched six Endymion armours and their heavy assault groups to support the GFN and GTFOA advance towards the moon. The Commodore had chosen to emulate the style of the DCN commanders in this attack. After all they had made many planetary assaults before, the experienced GAP commanders were far more at home fighting in battles against ships within the confines of asteroid fields. However this was not so much different, except for all the open space. Here and there rounds impacted against PPBS and other screens, evasive maneuvers had lessened the amount of damage the GAP ships would take. Soon however the enemy fleet would arrive, battle would be joined, ships and men would die.

***GFN fleet Contingent: Assault on the Forge and Ring.***

The Bio-com fleets pressed onwards despite the fire raging around them. PPB screens flared as they were struck and the ships lost valuable targetting time as they "jinked" to and fro, counting on their high end Knight-fields to put the enemy calculations off enough to avoid the worst of the fire now directed towards them. However when being pelted on two, even three sides at times by enemy fire, casualties and hits were inevitable. Schwertwhal 165 was the first to die, being struck hard by enemy fire, which caused the Ubecht field to fail. Then the enemy fire was simply too much for the stricken vessels PPB system to enull, more hits were scored and soon the heavy drone destroyer was so much debris, travelling towards the moon. Several more Schwertwhals succumbed in a similiar manner, a Knurrwhal was hit square on by an Antimatter round, she exploded in a brilliant bloom of secondary explosions as the round tore through her.

The Knurrwhal leading the attack, Giftzahnson, ordered a change in strategy. As one the "pod" seemed to break, scattering to many different locations, widening their formations and doing everything the DCN klabautermann and his mentor, Giftzahn had taught him. This of course meant less opportunities to fire, but the main mission was most important. They would draw out the fleet..already it had started. A rain of Xaser fire started towards the moon itself, followed by nuclear missiles, the Xasers would clear a path through the debris being thrown up for the deadly rounds to make their way down to the surface. The attacks of the enemy had forced the pod to scatter, but that had only lessened their combinedof firepower. They were still no less accurate for it.

They could even now see Lowe high maneuver frames racing in to attack.

++++

The lowes raced on, heedless of the flack now surrounding them. They launched nuclear missiles to clear paths and headed for debris and orbitals, to fight the way they preffered. Some fell to the massive cloud of debris, but much of it was deflected out of the way by nuclear weapons as they passed or their urenbect fields. However it was when the first Lowe was struck by fighter weaponry that things got interesting. Many of the lowes had started to creep forward between pieces of "cover" as the attack had begun. These now turned towards the enemy fighters, attacking in long passes in interceptor mode before moving in close, reconfiguring to high maneuver and firing blasts of laser, volleys of missiles and sweeping past them with deadly laser swords extended.

Those that found enemy fighters behind them had quite the surprise in store for them. It was highly unlikely that the Mythrandir had ever faced veritechs. Though conventional fighters could fly faster and longer and carry larger payloads, these transformable mecha were the epitomy of generations of dogfighting vehicles. Their purpose was simply to close with and destroy the enemy. So it must have been to the great surprise of the pilots of these fighters when suddenly the interceptors they were chasing reconfigured in to humanoid shapes, boosting far to their flanks, letting them pass and firing upon them with accuracy even as they started to turn. Arms could be very useful in a dog fight. Missiles in their thousands streaked towards the enemy fighter craft, the Lowes attacking them with a savage abandon, that a drone could feel bloodlust would normally be laughed at, but Tannelornian drone's computers were part biological, more cyborg then true machine.

The mind of the mecha was that of a lion, a loyal hunter of Tannelorn, but a fierce and deadly opponent. What they lacked in high technology they more then made up for in sheer ferocity. They moved in packs, driving groups of enemy fighters in to the waiting guns of the more heavily armed Lion command drones, just as lionesses in the savannah would run herds of prey in to the waiting claws and jaws of their males.

Contact had been made now with enemy units. The battle had begun.

***GTFOA 5th fleet contingent: supporting GFN attack on the Forge***

Fleet-Captain Yan Uthelian watched on the view screens of the Pax Mortis as the enemy fire started to tear in to the GFN contingent, immediately he ordered the fleet to slow its pace, Honour blades loaded AM and Gras ordnance on to the Drone-missiles and fired. Streams of the massive missiles, ordnance carriers really started to fire in to the moons defenses, the AM shells were being deployed against the scattered targets in orbit, while the gras Rounds were being deployed from a distance against ground targets. Lethal and massive short duration beams erupted from the bio-mech missiles as they closed to range, striking and burning deep grooves in the moon below.

The fleets Solarins started to open fire, their payload of Bio-mech missiles finding almost identical targets to those of the thirty two honour blade frigates. The mecha squadrons held position. The GFN fleet was, while not expendable definetly able to take more casualties then they. They would support them until the ships themselves started to engage, and when defenses were silenced. Still they were firing heavy Xasers precisely in to targets, each beam cannon would strike the same targets again and again until there were no more to fire upon.

The Glory of Heaven's prow split apart in to twin booms. A heavy thermonuclear round was loaded and detonated. The massive beam of destructive force erupted from the Monitor, arching towards the moon below, striking down not only streaming fighters but raking across the defenses, a full fourty five second beam. As the firing stopped the booms closed once again and the batteries recharged, DEM armour and heat sinks dissipating the waste heat from the firing. In a minute or so she would be ready to fire again in to the enemy. Her powerful weapon was designed to destroy squadrons of escorts, capital ships and even superdreadnoughts, she was a Monitor, the ultimate fleet support ship. She gave the attackers a decided edge, the ability to call down death and destruction on any part of the field that could be seen was unparralleled by any but Balmung.

The attack on the moon base had begun now, Fleet-Captain Uthelian, aboard the Light of Justice was getting word of the beginning of the DCC attack on the ring and the moon base. The heavy weapons now firing on the moon base would stop, giving way to precision firing gras-missiles and Xaser beams against hardened targets...battle would soon be joined on the ground. So far the attack was succesful.

***DCC attack group: The Ring***

At once eight hundred Kernschattens attacked the defenses surrounding the insertions points on the ring. Firing missiles from stealthed positions in to fighters, point defenses and battlesats from all directions. Quickly they switched to high maneuver configuration, taking advantage of the densely packed area of space to utilise their stealth modules and skills in hunting foes in secrecy to the fullest. The enemy likely wouldnt even have known what was happening until it was too late, when the grey, spindly humanoid fighters started to fire upon them from rather advantageous positions, mainly gleaned from holding off on firing until they were sure of a kill. After all stealth was one thing, skill another..but firing at an enemies unprotected rear was best of all.

One hundred and fifty Horizons were landing in various places on the Ring, each ship carried a full regiment of one hundred and ninety two Divine Celestial cavaliers. The other fifty continued down to the planet, supported by their own Kernschatten escorts. They would reach their target shortly, but likely not without a fight.

+++++

Chanting filled the bunker of Horizon ValourXII, warsongs and meditative chants were common in the pre-battle nervousness. For one to manipulate divine energy, to peer a moment in to the future while in a battle trance, one had to remain calm. The warriors were ready for battle. The soft thump of bunkers being released. The minor chiming indicating the doors were about to open, the hiss of clamps being released. These noises all meant only one thing. Death was about to stalk the halls of the Ring.

Simultaneously another fifty regiments of the DCC would attack and sieze this facility in the name of the Federation and the empire. A soft sound filled the bunker as cutting lasers on its side bored a hole directly in to the installation, dropping UV bombs in to the breech. Then the engagement shutters opened and Divine Celestial cavaliers dropped in to the breech. Majour Altenar was the first in as his men started to take up position. Impossibly quickly they secured the first room, making their way to the main access points to the rest of this floating city. The men spread out away from the main doors, engaging an override system in the form of a large Xaser shapecharged mine, which they placed on the main bulkhead leading to the rest of the facility. Others released tiny little discs on to the floor in front of the door, a few meters back.

Kourian ordered them to blow the doors, the Knights prepared for battle and stood clear. Not one of them would be visible from their positions. To ensure it they activated stealthing systems.

As the doors opened, a process that was repeating all across the station fired here. The small discs suddenly lifted on gravitic motors, awaiting any sign of enemy movement. When seen the tiny UV mines would blast forwards and explode against whoever was unfortunate enough to be in their path, likely clearing the corridor. Then Divine Celestial Cavaliers with heavy Graser Rifles, supported by steady aimed Knights with Particle cannons would fire in to the corridors, blistering the walls and smearing any defenders across them until none more would come to face them. The DCC didnt win battles just by being damn good, they did it by being smart. Right now, in unknown territory they were trying to be about as smart as their considerably altered minds and awarenesses could be. Still others were feeling for signs of life across the station, the hostility and fear that exuded from those who defended this place would alert them to their presence.

Battle was about to be joined, the Knights and squires said one last final prayer as they awaited the enemy counterattack. This reminded Kourian of Tunnel fighting against the hosts of morgoth on mars, the masses of Orcs and Goblins, trolls armed with thirty millimeter cannons had rushed at them in the darkness in a great horde in the tight and claustrophobic confines. Of course they didnt expect orcs here but they did expect the enemy to perform similiar tactics. After all the Tannelornians had lived a long time in the serenity of their asteroid cities. Living, training and even fighting in such places made for soldiers who fully and wholly appreciated the stark terror of close quarters fighting. As well as the advantages and disadvantages of such combat...

***DCN mecha forces:Sunward side***

It wasnt long before the DCN realised that very little to no fighters would be launched from the planet, seeing the huge amount of enemies boiling from the moon itself however, lead them to believe a different story entirely. Reports were already coming in dictating that the "Fortress moon" was likely the staging point and fleet base for the entire system. A contingent of the DCN mecha now proceeded directly towards the forge. Almost a thousand Morgenraete III's, two hundred HMF-4 Sturmanrurfers and nearly eighty of the two hundred and fifty Algol HMAF's present for the battle proceeded for the brewing dogfight at top speed. The pilots of the Algols were eager to get to grips with capital ships, frigates and fighters alike.

The Algol was the Tannelornian equivalent to an attack frigate, like the HMAF add on armour endymion its total length was over seventy meters, though it had frigate weapons, armour and engines it was still a one man fighter. Its structure wasnt as tough as a frigate and its shielding not as thick. However it could easily evade ships batteries and PD fire was more of an annoyance then a threat.

At least these foes used fighter craft, for without it they would not stand much hope against the relentless assault of these craft, which would strike with near impunity. The Knights piloting them were happy for it, they did not wish for an easy battle.

++++

"Knights of Lux Aeternus squadron, with me!" Jan Azantine shouted over the vox. They had cleared their area of light defenses, now they and many others were to start for the planet below. Preparing to bomb any military targets that had been gleaned from observations during the battle. Several possible targets had already been transmitted to them. They started to descend in a long column, hoping beyond hope to finally engage enemy pilots, or at least tanks or mechanised units on the ground. Ubecht fields were at full power, ground fire would get deadly now.

They were loading the missiles racks with "seek" missiles, designed to sniff out electromagnetic or other means of detection, ranging from the mundane to the esoteric. Then the "Hai 002" would send the deadly missile and its payload crashing in to whatever it found looking for them. An analogue to ancient HARM missiles of the past. Soon they would break past atmospheric interference, the first thousand mecha would land in three places, preparing to bring battle to the enemy, awaiting the landing of the Divine Celestial Cavaliers who would help sieze and hold vital landing areas for the main GTFOA landing, as well as assist the GAP beachhead, which would be arriving shortly, if all went well.

Jan smiled. The just shall always vanquish the wicked. All elves not of Tannelornian stock were wicked, their tall gangliness, their hard, evil eyes. Those that resembled their even more grotesque cousins, the Eldar truely were worthy of nothing but destruction. However the Elves of Tannelorn were beautiful, their genetic codes modified with true born Tannelornian genes. They were not as tall, not as spindly, not as fair..not as degenerate and inbred.

This world would fall beneath their might. This was retribution to the elven race, they would have their justice for what happened in the old Divine Kingdom...they would have it or they would die trying.

Of course this world may only have a name that sounded elfish, but that was a minor point. If elves they be, then the Tannelornian forces would not fall prey to their tricks and magicks, whatever they may use or try, the Tannelornians would persevere. This invasion was not out of hatred, but out of love. Love for ones countrymen, ones friends and allies, ones family. Only when all the elves and those that would aid them were leashed, only when sanctimonious alliances of nations claiming to be "morally superior" to others were reduced to ash could there be peace. Only the self righteous superiority of the "moral" has ever threatened to destroy the federation. Those that believe whatever they do is right, that they are "good" and that is reason enough for their actions, such as the GFFA needed to be stopped.

This time Jan repeated his oath over the vox. "The just shall always vanquish the wicked!." He shouted to his squadron. He was answered back by hundreds of voices, male and female, human, half elf and Tannelornian elven. "The just shall always vanquish the wicked, and we are the just!" the oath was sworn.

The enemy below would have no idea what was coming for them. The elite of the elite mecha pilots of Tannelorn, the Knights of the Celestial Republic, ally and friend to the Galactic Empire were riding down to face their enemies on wings of flame. Jan would be sure to salute his first opponent, as not only a thanks for giving him a good battle, but also as a sign of respect. After all these mythies were putting up quite a fight already....

Jan had killed many Eldar during the final battle of Hellesponto's. Today he hoped to kill many elves. As did all who fought here now in this place.

OOC
More pictures.
OOC
More pictures. I have so many that it would not be good to put them all in one post.

Balmung preparing to fire Gotteslicht: http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133/Conan2525/BalmungprepfireIII.jpg?t=1173616527

Balmung preparing to fire Gotteslicht[rearview]
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133/Conan2525/Balprepfire.jpg?t=1173616689

GTFOA Alpha II [high maneuver configuration, Right and aerospace superiority configuration, Left.]
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133/Conan2525/IIalphaII.jpg?t=1173617766

Endymion HMAF with Anti-ship Beam saber engaged.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133/Conan2525/GAPHMAF.jpg?t=1173619215

Grand army of the Prefecture [GAP] Endymion HMAF in full burn flight.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133/Conan2525/GAPHMAFside.jpg?t=1173619340

GAP heavy attack Squadron, 1 Endymion, two faust superiority fighters [top right and bottom left] A hellebarde High mobility Frame [ Below Endymion, center.] Two PASS-19 Aerospace superiority fighters. [bottom center, bottom right]
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133/Conan2525/Endymionattackgroup.jpg?t=1173619510

Sounds of thunder rumbled off in the distance from the coast at which the capitol city of Mythrandir was perched. It drew the attention of warrior and sentry alike along the southern and eastern walls. Sailors that left the harbor wondered if a storm was coming to drench the defenders, but that couldn't be since a storm wasn't due for another few days. Even people moving towards their shelters paused for a brief moment to listen to the sound. Then they were only spurred on further to get to safety.

"It seems they are bombarding the oceanic part of the planet. Hopefully they do not attempt to flashboil our oceans. Bringing enough ice here to melt, would take an enormous amount of time." Sarah didn't even want to think about her husband's statement. She was grateful though to see the spires of the cathedral coming into view. The cobblestone path meandered up a grassy hill towards the tall wooden doors. It was safety in its own right.

Alurial had taken up her position along the wall's defenders. Archers from all over had gathered to line the perfectly smooth stone walls of the city. Arrows had been dispensed throughout the company and they all stood ready with grim faces. The elven Elder herself stood out among all present. Her golden armor formed perfectly to her body as it cupped up around her chest and curved in around her hips. A mail dress covered her thighs down to her knees while golden leggings covered the rest. Her crimson cape snapped in the wind from such a high vantage point. She asbently pushed a strand of brown hair behind a pointed ear as her eyes scanned over the flat windswept plains. "Stand easy everyone. The enemy's stroke will fall hardest against our walls but we must stand firm. Our finest warriors will be down below us fighting to stave off any advance and we shall rain down death and destruction from above. These are the days that draw us all near. Remember, you will be protecting your homes and your families. Fight well and this day shall be ours."

Thrandur had gotten into touch the Hall under the mountain and already some of the best demolotioners were on their way through various routes. Mine fields would be the second line of defense if the uruks and trolls were defeated. At least this would soften them up a bit further until they finally crashed against the best of Mythrandir. Some of those finest would also be bolstered by a legion of dwarves fully armed and armored. Today looked like a good enough challenge for them. Perhaps even songs would be lifted up before the day was out.

Dwarven carts moved back and forth carrying explosives. Nogrod looked at Frondur who was carrying a bottle of some liquid that looked particularly volatile. "Wat'n arth ye got dere?"

Frondur happened to be mute but he had a way of communicating that made up for this deficiency. He smiled at Nogrod then puffed his cheeks up real big. Then he let the air in one loud pop.

Nogrod looked at him puzzled. "Big boom?"

Frondur nodded his head dumbly.

Lukien was spending much of the time with Shizra, going over the final preparations for the battle. Almost all of the plans had been set and the word was that everything was falling into place. The field of battle was being prepared in due order. The enemy's window of attack was rather limited with heavy gun implacements built along the walls, though none were visible at the moment. The ocean was an excellent defense against invasion preventing easy access to the defenders. This left them with coming across the grasslands which is what they wanted. Hopefully, the enemy would bite.

Dag'goroth:

It was a volatile planet with an unstable atmosphere. Constant danger of electric-shock was prevelant with such strong bolts of lightning raining down almost every second. This environment made it a perfect place for establishing a military base. There was barely any signs of settlement from orbit since everything was built underground. Along with the seemingly endless horde of the Mythrandir ground force also rested another layer of defense. The warning from the probes had been funneled through all the channels and appeared on several screens in the control rooms.

Unfortunatly for the defenders of the homeworld, a couple disturbances triggered a late response from Dag'goroth. Despite their tardiness, the dwarven commanders wasted no time in activating the jammers. A jamming network with power base from an ever present and constant energy source, soared outward to engulf the entire Mythrandir system. It had been designed to disrupt enemy communications, even network establishments, as well as tweak with sensor systems. If nothing else, it would functions a bit more complicated now.

In Orbit:
With the number of holographic images being projected throughout the area, the false satellites had helped stem the tide of defensive systems that fell to enemy bombardment. Still, this did not completely eliminate the number of defenses that fell. The number of planetary defenses continued to dwindle with every enemy volley. Shields groaned in protest and point defenses tired themselves out on enemy bombardments as well as mech suits that kept attacking.

Nevertheless, they continued firing at the invaders. The computers within the defenses were not sentient and did not have to worry about living. Their sole purpose was to fulfill their programing and right now, that was to defend the planet. Perhaps to the enemy's dismay, another layer of satellite catapults was laying in wait. Instead of the huge rocks that they had so easily shot down with their own point defense systems, small rocks that would be the size of a small missle now jetted out at amazing speeds for their new targets. Only the closest ships would be targetted so as to ensure minimal reaction time or that shots were not wasted on ships too far away.

--Goblin Fighters--

Emotion was not something programmed into the fodder bread pilots of the goblin fighters. The only thing they viewed transforming mechs as was a new standard of tactics. Even now the knowledge was being transferred through every nearby receiver so that their battle capabilities were being upgraded. Fighters that were caught off guard by this manuever were the ones that proved nourishing to the rest of the swarm as they were all now made aware of this little feat. A surprise manuever only had a limited window off effectiveness. Now the goblin fighters would seek to eliminate this feat.

The fighter craft of the goblins were constructed with a series of thrusters that allowed them to angle weapon systems at a whim. Thrusters fired at full power to spin fighters around revealing the transformed mechs in their own targeting hairs. Missles and lasers fired in retaliation of the invaders. The only thing that the goblins piloting these ships required was death and destruction. With such numbers, even ships and mechs lying in wait could be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

Fighters from the Fedral Union were not ignored in the attacks. Manuevers of gut wrenching magnitude were performed overhead to give an optimum vantage of firing. Goblin fighters that were infront of targeting systems were gone instantly when they seamlessly accelerated vertically and fired down from above.

Other squadrons deemed the situation in hand with the number of goblin fighters advancing on the enemy. Now they turned their attention to encroaching ships. No ship designs had been programmed into their computers since all of these vessels were foreign to the Myths, though information was quickly being recorded with every passing moment. For now, the fighters would have to hit every accelerator that was available to them to scream by the enemy vessels. Their intent was to scan the layout of the weapons on ships so that their next run would be a more surgical attack by going for weapon systems, shields, and any engine exhausts. The Forge may have bread them without any conscience, but the tactical implants in their brains allowed them to quickly adapt as well as receive any battle upgrades from command units on the planet below as well as the naval base in the moon.

Forge Lunar Base:

Shields went back and forth between critical and stabilizing as they were constantly being taxed by enemy fire. For now, every technician was doing his part to make sure the outter defenses held. Batteries continued firing filling the space around the moon's surface with high speed shrapnel. Beam turrets came online as well with every passing moment. Their steady streams of green energy racked across the space at any incoming adversary. Defenses were hit from attacks but still they continued on as they defended their home with renewed ferocity everytime an enemy ship was turned into a burning carcass.

Lunar Ship Parking Lot:

Heavier ships of the Myth fleet had been birthed outside the moon along the ring where ships could also go for repairs. Now, enough time had passed for the crews to finally get to their ships and ready to break away. Captains and Commanders alike sat on the throne chairs of their respective vessels. Loud voices barked at their crews to shove off, thus releasing a detachment of Mythrandir ships into the chaos of the battle.

For Captain Fralynn, she was relieved to have another Avenger Battleship next to her own. Her only concern was whether or not the dwarf would do something rash. Her fellow captain lacked the sensibility of elves, but she had to admit that everyone was eager to engage this enemy who would strike at their beloved home. A home they had spent many years shaping it the way they wanted. It would not go down without a fight, if at all.

"Captain Drulgar, are you there?"

"R'ght here lassie. Durn't wurry yer pointy ears one bit. De rest of de fleet aughta be comin' out enie moment."

The elven captain sighed. She never could get used to the dwarven dialect. Lights around her own stone throne chair dissipated letting her know that communication had been cut off from the other ship. "Status on the rest of the fleet."

A young ensign dialed through a series of runic letters to pull up a list of ships that were at their disposal. "Horde battle cruisers are falling into place. Angellic cruisers and Wraiths should be coming out of their lunar holdings any moment now."

"Very good. What's the status of our communication abilities?"

"Tolerable, captain. Right now only our battle-network is working and that only allows ship-to-ship communication. We can't contact the planet, the base, or any other fleets outside this area."

Falynn drummed her nails on sculpted griffon head at each edge of her armrests. "I see. Location of the enemy?"

"Their silhouettes do not mach any of our files but there are light units around the moon with a few heavier class ships around the planet itself. Everything else is at a distance."

The captain knew what would be needed though the task ahead of her, and her dwarven counterpart, was a daunting one. "Then our first task is to secure the area around the moon so that we have a safe area to strike outwards from and hit the enemy fleet itself. Unlock all of our safety measures, and bring our fleet into our first targets."

"Yes captain. Bringing us around now."

The two battleships could fight individually but worked best together in a group and with a full fleet with them. Hord battlecruisers linked up in front and around the other battleships so as to form a buffer between enemy attacks and their own larger ships. Right now, they took the opportunity to stay behind the moon so as to not expose the fleet to the enemy awaiting their arrival. With some luck, they could dispose of any fighter craft or mechs in the general area before anyone knew they were here.

Deep casms in the moon opened up once again, only this time to give birth to lighter Angellic cruisers. Speed and armor made up for any deffeciencies they had when it came to firepower but they were also some of the more versatile ships the Forge had created thus far. Along side them, floated the Wraiths who were faster and nimbler than any ship in the fleet except for the fighters. They were running guns, designed to use their speed and energy weapons to eliminate anything on the fly. Now the Myths were beginning to truly fight. Men, women, elves, and dwarves of the Forge were taking up arms against this assailant. The slaughter would not stop until the next generation of planetary defenses and ships were made of the carcasses of their fallen enemy. That or until they were utterly spent.

Inside the ring itself, there was not a soul to be found. The ring above the moon floor was merely a stepping stoon out into the darkness of space and it had been long evacuated as soon as attacks began. Still, dwarven ingenuity would ensure that their unwanted guests would not at least go away empty handed. Dwarven hospitality demanded that if someone showed up for a fight, then they should receive one.

Whether it was a droid hovering through empty halls, or the heat of a body triggering sensors; defensive measures were activated within. Thick iron doors slammed shut, sealing themselvs off from other corridors while hallways were flooded with flames or poisonous gases. A small taste of how dwarves fight in tight coorridors.

Planet Below:

Most of the planetside defenses were underground still in hiding and there were no mechanized troops to speak of on the ground or any for that matter. The only actual targets at the current moment would be those in the mountain halls. An iron side mountain that could take many such beatings before succombing to destruction. The dwarves would simply sit back in their halls and smile with crooked yellow teeth. Content that they were safe down low in the earth. Tannelornian pilots were not the only ones in the air over Mythrandir's sky though. Something ominously flew over the battlefield, awaiting any that would venture down below.

Wind flew through her hair and tossed her long black locks with wild abandon. The elven woman smiled at the neck of her Wyvern. To Jeishka, this was the only way to fly. From here she felt free and could reach out and touch the clouds as they floated past. She could wrap her arms around the fluffy airmass and hold it like a pillow. Normally, she would not permit herself these types of actions as she had reputation to uphold; but, it was doubtful anyone in her squadron would notice at this speed or in these clouds. Now was not the time for such things though, someone sought to destroy her people and bring her world to its knees. This, would not stand. Her bare arm raised the her lance high in the air. In one breath the energized blade was ignited as she pointed down at their target. Swooping down out of the clouds, her and her fellow Wyvern Riders descended on the enemy pilots. Prehistoric roars from the large beasts shook the atmosphere around them. Great talons extended, ready for the grab. Their reptillian legs bended to absorb the shock of contact. Wings were folded back to aid to the amazing speed of their descent. All that waited now was the confrontation as monster met machine.

Myth Fleets 1&2:

It had taken much time and energy, but the four captains of the first and second Myth fleets were finally making their way into battle range. They came from one of their patrols around Dag'goroth and had picked up the destruction of defense platforms around the home planet. Now it seemed that they were bombarding the planet itself. This alone set the blood to boil in many of their veins. Even elves would strike out in anger if their forest home was in danger. Captains Haldir, Genji, Heorot, and Sky Scream kept strict control over their crews. "Save it for the enemy" is what they kept repeating to everyone. There was no sense it working everyone up when they were still not quite close enough to attack the enemy.

In the meantime, the captains went over their final battle strategy. "Long range communication is still out but that is unimportant at the moment. Right now the third fleet has begun to attack and our fighters have been launched. The planet is surrounded on all sides but that is not the main concern at the moment. I want the second fleet to punch their way through the dark side of the planet and towards third fleet in order to link up. From their you will secure that half of the planet. Captain Genji and I will come out of the sun to deal with our adversaries there. This direction should give us more time as we are hoping it will be hard for their scanners to pick up the exact number of a fleet with all of the solar radiation messing with sensors.

I've received word that our third degree defenses have almost completely infiltrated the enemy's fleets. By the time we arrive, it should be complete. That means all orcs are to be in their pods and ready to launch once we are in range. Make sure they are plugged into the network and receive constant feeds and upgrades if needed. That should help keep them on their heels. Whatever is not disabled are being boarded should receive the brunt of our attacks. It is unknow what they are vulnerable to so every attack is a full arsenal of matter and energy. Any questions?"

Three other captains hovered around Haldir's command chair while the holographic communication was still activated. It seemed that none of them had any questions though should not have been any. They all had been going over this exact plan for some time now. Haldir was only ensuring that it was understood what their roles and places were. "No? Then good luck. Today, the enemy dies on the tip of our lances."

The two fleets began their manuevering and final run towards the enemy invasion. With a little space gust, they would get their in a matter of minutes. Fast enough to coordinate a counter-attack in space with the third fleet, and then sorely press the enemy's will to fight once brothers in arms were united.

(ooc not to be an ass or any thing but can you please cut the post sizes down its giving me a headache to read all that, and its way to much to reply to in one sitting)

***Bridge of the Balmung***

Lord Rendacil ordered all available Einhander gun destroyers and Zweihander dreadnoughts to intercept the newly arriving enemy fleets. The enemy had gathered reinforcements from across the system, the reason for the Divine Celestial navies general aloofness towards the planetary defenses would now be apparent. Sixty vessels formed in to five flotillas, each of twelve ships, three Zweihander's and nine Einhander's. Though the enemy was still far, far away they could be seen, and thus the Knights of the Divine Celestial navy would ride out to meet them.

The Lords of Tannelorn had been waiting for proper opponents to arrive. Long range communications started to become difficult, so Rendacil ordered Lord Kendall of the Fist of Purity to take charge of the DCN gun contingent. With them went almost sixty Algol's and over a thousand Morgenraetes.

He looked on, watching as the GTFOA contingent carefully assaulted the night side of the world. It was then that strategic scanners noticed enemy movement within low orbit. It seemed new ranks of defenses were coming up to replace those that had been destroyed. He quickly ordered a warning be sent to the Fedral fleet, a hail of Kinetic fire was now coming towards the combined armada's.Though Tannelornian ships were built with extremely powerful Grav shields in the form of their Urenbecht fields, the Fedral ships had a much more well rounded defensive system, they had kinetic protection, but this storm of fire now coming might overwhelm them. This constituted a grave threat to any close in attackers, especially those of the Fedral contingents.

The GFN contingent was now heavily engaged. He ordered the Kinetic weapon powered up for another salvo, they would clear the Night side of defenses completely, to allow the GTFOA and DCN HMF' divisions assigned to first planetary action to complete their duty.

Again the ports on the sides of the beast opened, pouring forth a stream of death, strafing it along the newly rising defenses, matching the enemy return fire. Ursa had been holding the Event horizon in its magnetic bottle for close to ten minutes, she only had a good fifteen to twenty minutes left before she was forced to shut down the generator. Then Balmungs prodigious defenses would be removed, she would no longer be able to strike with impunity against the worlds defenses.

Time was of the essence. Once again the deep rumblings and multi-coloured atmospheric disturbances in the skies of the planet below would flare and resound. This time however, it would not be for quite as long. The planet was not to be destroyed or harmed in any way...only victory mattered. The defenses would once again find themselves under the full fury of one of this menacing ships main weapons.

***DCN Armada***

As soon as enemies had been sighted, sixty ships of the DCN contingent had activated their sub light Urenbecht catapults and slipped in to the space time conduits they created. Twenty Zweihander dreadnoughts and fourty Einhander's constitued the main DCN engagement fleet. Within a few seconds they had travelled many millions of kilometers, getting far closer to the enemy armada now approaching this world.

The flotillas had spread out the moment they exitted the Urenbecht columns, issuing challenges to individual enemy vessels even as they locked on to their percieved quarry. Of course in this instance the Fist of Purity had issued a direct challenge to the largest enemy vessel. It was only fitting.

They were still a minute or so from full engagement, rather then ride to meet them and risk overflying them, they had dropped out at a respectable distance. They would give honour to this enemy, engaging them in a deep space battle of skill and courage. Still the distance these ships moved in so short a time would likely surprise the enemy, who had never before seen the Vascilian Urenbecht catapults in action. These fractionally sublight travel systems were not interrupted by interdiction. Of course they took an enormous amount of power to keep active, and took along time to recharge during combat.

The DCN specialised in long range beam combat, their visual and FTL sensors could see incredibly far and accurately. Any non line of sight fighting was usually left to the HMF's and HMAF's, however as their non visual gravitic sensors would show where an enemy was, but couldnt necessarily target them. So the Flotillas split, riding out in a semicircular formation designed to leave a gap for one of the approaching fleets to escape through. Of course, if the other enemy fleet chose to engage, the circle would quickly be closed around them both, pinning them in place for Fedral and Tannelornian reserve fleets to engage.

Comms chatter before they had entered the Urenbecht columns had been confused. the GTFOA and Prefecture vessels sensors were not as tuned to long range fighting..they hadnt even noticed the enemy fleets en route to the main planet. Enemy jamming was hard to cut through, but most especially for the ships of the GTFOA and GAP. They lacked the amount of sophistication in their Aether links that the DCN were used to.


++++Sunward side, orbital battle++++

The Morgenstern Battle carriers and Shield Strike carriers held their spacial positions, moving in a circular vector, adjusting it only to add to the randomness of the flickering Knight-fields time shifting. They were targetting enemy orbital defenses with Loengren fire, picking off large targets and allowing their massive weapons to cool down. The second wave of Morgenraetes was still occupying a point defense position with the carriers, protecting their mother craft as well as preparing to move in to destroy enemy space fighters and support the invasion when warranted. The stayed at a safe range, their objective to simply hammer the orbital defenses in to submission.

***GTFOA Main attack: Night side***

The Solarins continued to maneuver around the defenses, staying at extreme range as they picked off the barely mobile enemy battlesats. Even more of them were coming to the fore, the enemy tactic of using holographics had worked well before. The Scanners of the heavy ships confirmed that these new targets were in fact real, using gravitic lenses to detect their mass. So the order for full scale assault was once again held. The defenses were still intact. Honour blades and Solarins both levelled massive bombardments of Drone-missile AM rounds and precision Xaser fire at range.

The enemy return fire had not lessened, but changed. Instead of massive rocks, now the enemy was hurling much smaller fragments at them. Range and the power of their Urenbecht heavy fields kept most of the ships safe, but here and there impacts dotted along the hulls of Solarins and Honourblades, causing damage to the many meters thick armour of the Tannelornian vessels.

Tannelornian anti-planetary assault doctrines were based on the fact that a vessel could perform at longer range far better then a defense platform. The relative speed of a ship outside of orbit versus a target in orbit more then made up for any difficulties in targetting at range. As far as a fleet combat program was concerned, orbital defenses were hardly moving. Ground based Planetary defenses, were a different story if you were to ask a Tannelornian Logistician.

Still the sheer amount of defenses over this world was mounting to be legendary. Not even mars itself could have claimed to have more orbital defenses then the Mythrandir. The Monitors continued to lay down heavy Graser fire against the orbitals, raking the beams criss cross against the face of the world. The Alpha II's and Faust interceptors of the GTFOA were to be amongst the first to attack enemy ground targets. All they needed was a proper opening, one which the Monitors were happy to give.

The Fedral fleets were updated on the enemy positions, as well as the arrival of the new defenses and defenders. The GTFOA continued their attack, awaiting the arrival of the enemy fleets. Then the tactics would completely change, turning in to an all out fleet battle...well away from the guns over this world.

***GAP Fleet:Sunward Side***

Commodore Zietski was unpreturbed by the arrival of the enemy fleets, he and his charges were content to attack the enemy defenses from afar, as well as await the main enemy fleet forces. They would then ride out to meet them, engaging them in bloody battle and reaping glory and honour for the citizen-soldiers of the Prefecture and their Replicant charges.

They remained as they had been, lacing energy fire across the enemy planets orbital vectors, attacking anything that could come in to reach, the others still supported the GTFOA 5th fleet, firing in to the defenses around the Ring. They, like the DCN were waiting for the enemy to arrive in earnest, like all Tannelornians, they wished only to be sung about in the epics, to have honour and glory heaped on their names through the forge of battle. They would not waste themselves on the defenses like the Federal Soldiers, the Celestial Warriors of the GTFOA. That was not the job of the Imperial fleet, the job of the Imperial fleet and the Prefecture was to crush the enemies of Tannelorn and the Empire.. and that is what Zietski intended to do.

***GFN detachment: Assault on the fortress moon***

The bio-com ships detected the first enemy fighters incoming, the Lowe's were outnumbered, despite there being nearly two thousand of them fighting and dying over the moon, amongst its defenses. The enemy fighters had managed to make it past the Lowe's by sheer bulk of numbers. It was then that the Lowe's still on point defense duty engaged the Goblin fighters now coming towards the scattered GFN ships.

They powered in, issuing war cries across all known frequencies as the ships of the pods continued to loop around the moon itself, encircling it at range enough to stay clear of the worst of the fire coming towards them. Of course they were still under heavy fire, one hundred ships could not expect to thwart all attacks directed towards them.

A knurrwhal started to break apart, succumbing to lances of energy and unending C-frac and missile bombardments, as their point defense lowes started to break off to engage the enemy, their defenses were lessened. Still they were in a decent enough position to avoid enemy return fire..however something new stirred amongst the enemy defenses. Movement from the surface..big movement.

++++

Giftzahnson moved with an effortless grace, behind him were nine schwertwhal destroyers, he had known many of them since their birthing and learning. They had been the first to detect the enemy movement on the surface, the first to attack. They descended on them, diving from outside of orbit in to high orbit to ravage the enemy ships with lances of Xaser fire, the hard beams cutting through the enemy ship formations as they rose from chasms within the moons surface.

The rest of the pods had been ordered to attack, the defenses would be ignored now, left to the GTFOA 5th fleet contingent.
The Drone Destroyers fanned out around Giftzahnson, pushing themselves to the limit as they attempted to bring the enemy to battle in low orbit, where their rows of heavy Xaser's couldn't miss.

They weaved around debris and segments with a grace belying their four hundred meter bulk. Here and there Schwertwhals were hit, then Longtooth was struck full on the side by a kinetic battery, he lost propulsion and more rounds impacted, the drone Destroyer was shot down, quickly and ruthlessly. Still they came on, finally managing to make it under the blanket of defenses, and on an even level with the enemy vessels. They immediately started to split, forming a net around the rising enemy vessels. Giftzahn started using his excess propulsion power to lift himself up above the enemy ships, then rolled over to pour heavy turreted fire in to them as his pod circled the enemy, blasting the ships with high end DEM jamming pulses and Xaser blasts. They were trying to force them in to each other, and prevent them from raising any further in to orbit.

There were far too many ships for Giftzahns pod to trap alone, contenting themselves with their prey and the knowledge that would mean plenty for the rest of the pods now aligned in this conflict.

The GFN pods were now attacking the Angellus cruisers rising from the surface, in scattered almost random seeming attacks. Of course the wider strategic picture would show a concerted effort on the part of the Pods to force the enemy in to an area where they could encircle them, press them together to be gutted by lightning strikes through their centers. They were trying to use a tactic that had been used for eons past by cetaceans. Still it would be very effective if it worked.

++++Lowe's around the moon: Dogfight++++


Crimson Mane watched as the enemy fighters turned on their axis, presenting their weapon frontings to his pride. They returned fire, many of them having fallen in the first salvo, they adapted quickly to that minor trick. Some of his lionesses had fallen to it, not considering the fact this prey animal would present its horns to them in such a manner. With a thought he ordered them to hem them in. When prey presented their horns, one would force the attack away from them. Seperate them from each other, take them down as a pride.

His lionesses reconfigured in to high speed configuration, moving alongside the enemy while under fire, they moved under the cover of a hail of tactical nuclear missile fire, the explosions not only blinding enemy visual sensors, but electromagnetics as well. A few of his lionesses hung back, firing salvo after salvo of missiles in to the enemy herd.

Under this cover he moved, his body a superior model to the ones the Lionesses, and he had superior armament. He switched configurations to high speed mode, darting forward, waiting till he had several of the enemy in his sights, locking on he loosed a volley of missiles. Unlike the Lionesses he was armed with Gras-missiles, capable of harming ships and fighters alike. As the missiles streaked towards the enemy fighters, he watched as they self-destructed in to brilliant beams of annhillation, raking across the enemy fighters as his own lionesses moved away.

++++

The Lowe's continued to fight with the Goblin fighters, some attacking all out others using cunning. With the enemies adaptive abilities in mind, the lowe's insured that they would not play with their prey. Instead they acted as a pride, encircling enemy fighter groups and forcing them in to the waiting jaws of the Lion-lowe's and their Gras-missiles. Still Lowe's were dying to the enemies numbers and guns.

They understood their function, they would take the brunt of the fighting, allowing the Tannelornian pilots to enter combat after the enemy positions were revealed. So they threw themselves in to the fray, bolstered by the sudden appearances and disappearances of the DCC's Kernschatten stealth high maneuver frames, each flicker on their sensors preceding an enemies death.

Then the Endymions of the GAP as well as their escorts came, riding in to the raging battle, picking targets with carefree abandon. The Endymions were heavily armed, they loosed massive volleys of Anti fighter as well as anti ship missiles in to defenses and fighter craft alike. Massive explosions detonated along massive lances of Xaser energy, as the ship mount Xaser cannons carried by the Endymions flashed out in anger at fighters, enemy kinetic fire and defenses alike. Something stirred in the dark side of the moon, soon the Lowes and their GAP allies would search out that which did not wish to be found.

***GTFOA 5th Fleet Detachment: Attack on the Fortress moon[The Forge]***

The detachment started to loop around the moon now, slowing as they took up positions far behind the Drone-fleets action. They started to pour fire in to the enemy defense sats and ground defenses with equal abandon. Hard Xaser beams flickered in and out towards anything that could be seen as a threat. Then the Pax Mortis noticed something. Fleet-Captain Yan Uthelien ordered visual scanners to full power.

The enemy fleet is rising to meet us! he noted that the change in the tactics of the GFN fleet had been based upon the assumption that the GTFOA fleet would cover them to engage the enemy. Yan ordered the Honour blades to lay down covering fire, precision Gras-rounds would be used to keep the enemy defenses suppressed.

Then the Glory of Heaven started to fire again. Captain Teradenor had fired without orders for a target...then he could see why. The blindingly powerful lance of energy was in a direct course with one of the chasms. The enemy cruiser weight vessels were starting to rise from their holding bays, the Monitor had targetted them, firing through them in to the inky void of their holding bay. The massive space gun's lethal beam burned brightly for nearly a minute before it flickered out, leaving a glowing trail of destruction in its wake.


***The Ring: DCC strike force***


Kourians regiment had cleared the facility they were charged with taking. Though it had not been without cost. The Mythrandir had left many surprises for the DCC, though their skill in boarding actions, guerilla warfare and fighting in built up areas had negated much of it. Had it been members of the GTFOA or the Grand army of the Prefecture...then things might have gone disastrously wrong. The wounded would be ready to fight again quickly, thanks to their nova pancraea, except for those burnt by the dwarven flame.

"My lord, we have four killed and six wounded, the wounded will be fine within the hour my lord, our orders have changed. We are to proceed to the surface, a garrison will be left behind to hold this facility, already Cavaliers are rewiring the enemies defenses in preparation to be used against them in the case of a counter attack." Cavalier Herzwig stated to his commanding officer. There had been no battle here, just a few needless deaths, he ordered his men and women to reembark upon their bunkers and await their shuttles.

It was a somber procession..but hopefully battle on the surface would cheer up his cavaliers. Deaths were always mourned, especially wasteful ones. Had only a few cavalier specialist teams moved through this place, all this could have been avoided. Time was not a luxury they could afford..after all most would defend such an important resource as the ring.

As the Horizon shuttles came to pick up their payload of knights, they knew that they and another three thousand divine celestial cavaliers would soon be engaged in a bitter life or death struggle inside enemy compounds and possibly tunnel systems on the planet below. The level of excitement in the bunker started to rise again, despite four empty seats.

++++

Cavaliers inside the enemy facility started to frenziedly hack in to enemy computer systems, trying to glean any possible knowledge of the defenders to the main fleet. This had been the secondary objective in this...also they were attempting to find any possible way to override the targeting information the enemy battle-sats were using. Attempts were being made to hack in to the main combat main frames of the defenses around the moon.

Once they made their way in they would either disable the battle-sats, or turn them upon their creators. Of course that was mostly wishful thinking..but if any could find a way, it was the Cavaliers.

***Assault on the Fortress Moon [Forge moon]***

Already the heavy flak had taken a toll on the Lowe's escorting the two hundred kernschattens and fifty Horizon's of the DCC to the surface. They fired one last salvo before screeching to the ground, drawing as much ground fire as they possibly could before the horizons released their armoured bunkers. Several Horizons were shot down, though the bunkers themselves autromatically detached in that eventuality.

As bunkers set down and started to flare out with weapons fire, clearing the immediate area that the DCC were disembarking, Kernschattens started to strike nearby defensive targets. Here and there a Kernschatten was shot down. Just because they cant see you, doesnt mean you cant be shot. The sheer amount of enemy fire in the skies was proving difficult to avoid. The lowes that had made it to the surface started to attack obvious enemy defenses, slicing at them with laser blades, firing pulsar lasers and missiles in to them, desperately fighting against the enemy forces to allow their masters to deploy.

Quickly and efficiently the Divine Celestial cavaliers disembarked from their bunkers. Their had been casualties, but those had mostly been injuries. The armoured bunkers were rated to be able to take a fighter launch Anti ship missile without breaching. Though that didnt mean that injuries could not be sustained by those inside of it.

They had landed a kilometer from a group of surface facilities, even as they disembarked they activated Neutron and DEM sensors, sighting the enemy facilities and looking for mines, traps and possible underground constructions.

They were rewarded for their efforts. Being that this moon had little to no atmosphere, most of the facilities were underground. Assault teams formed up, using their well honed battle-craft and psychic abilities to flush out enemy soldiers that may be awaiting them here. These assault teams made their way to the surface compounds, a few kilometers from their landing point.

Above them they could see the orbital battle for the ring and this moon in full brilliance. Hard beams, missiles, brilliant blossoms of fireballs were lighting up the surface of the world. The DCC activated the thermoptic camouflage on their power armour, and started to move towards the facilities, following behind the assault teams. The assault on the forge had begun. Reinforcements were already en route..the Ring had been "liberated".

Now they stood their best chance of taking this moon quickly, four thousand Divine Celestial cavaliers would soon be running through their corridors, killing wantonly, using their powers of foresight and battle-craft to kill their foes in the unyielding dark below this dead moon.

***Planetary Assault: Mythrandir***


The first HMF's to enter the planets atmosphere did not immediately power towards heavy enemy fortifications. Instead they searched out air defenses and enemy fighter craft in the more rural areas, preparing to cut off the main cities before they attempted to take them.

The HMF's of the DCN escorted Horizon transports, with their cargo of Divine Celestial Cavaliers towards isolated enemy villages and towns, daring their air defenses to strike at them so they could return fire with precision Gras-missile fire. The Urenbecht fields flickering in and out would wreak havoc with the enemies automated defenses, forcing lasers and other such systems to lead and worse. Once appropriate enemy settlements were discovered, the DCC would land under cover from the air to take them.

However the GTFOA forces had a different mission, they were attempting to find any air cover of the enemy forces, and engage and nullify them proceeding the Imperial landing. They were assured of the assistance of the DCN Morgenraetes and Sturmanrufers, many of whom were already taking up positions alongside GTFOA Alpha's and Faust's.

Over three thousand high maneuver frames and interceptors were now in the skies above Mythrandir. The vast majourity being Alpha II's and Faust interceptors, still the DCN presence would likely soon become the most feared if any enemy aerial combatants came to meet them. Their technology, weaponry and the legendary prowess of their Knight-pilots would soon become known to their enemy, one way or the other.

++++

Bale had only been flying amongst the clouds of this world for a few moments when the first threat display readout signified the approach of enemy ground fire. He peeled off at high speed, loosing a volley of missiles in the direction of the attack. Regardless of whether the lethal missile had hit, the fire stopped. Perhaps the low level nuclear detonation of a Xaser-missile had simply distracted the sensors of the enemy long enough for him to evade the enemy sensors, or perhaps it was destroyed. The Hai 002 was a new piece of equipment, he was rather hopeful that it had done its job.

Bale Rosden had called in the location of the attack and position to the rest of his wingmates, then he saw sudden motion underneath him. Through the Panoramic monitors lining his cockpit, he saw a shape disappear in to the clouds. No...it couldn't be.. he shook his head, then looked as he saw the shape again. Well they are elves, I guess it makes sense they would have dragons as well he called in to the rest of his squadron. "Possible enemy contact, moving in to investigate."

He pushed his craft in to a steep dive in to the clouds, switching to high maneuver configuration as he entered the cloud layer, hoping to be prepared for any surprises that may await him. His craft's control mechanisms were not as advanced as the DCC Morgenraetes, he did not share a link in the same manner with this crafts Bio-com..it was then that the warning klaxons fired.An object moving up behind his craft, four hundred meters. He turned just in time to see an object climbing to meet him.

There would be no time for weapons fire, he activated the laser swords in his Alpha II's armoured arm housings, and prepared to engage the enemy in close, darting backwards while still facing forwards in an attempt to get some distance, to gain at least a glimpse of his foe.

(My apologies for the late post but I have been rather occupied as well as taking the time to reread everything that has been written to try and get back into the swing of where we were going. You'll have to forgive me if this post seems lesser than the others. Trying to get back on track here. Please let me know if I have confused anything in my response.)

All around orbital defenses were being torn assunder by the enemy onslaught from afar. Stubborness remained in every last one as they protested each blow delivered. Power rerouted to maintain shield capabilities, increasing power out put, or to simply funnle a last bit of energy to the thrusters to keep the satellite in orbit over the planet. Still they fought on lunching rocks and energy fire off into the distance to try and bring down any and all ships that were close. More and more were lost with each assault and even the holographic satellites were losing their effect as real targets were destroyed.

Defense systems did everything in their power to destroy incoming enemy projectiles or divert energy blasts, but in the end it was only a matter of time before they were overwhelmed. Already, planetary orbital defenses had been knocked down by sixty percent. Gaps were forming in the defense. If the onboard computers could feel emotions, they would possibly relay a sense of remorse for not holding a stronger line against the darkness that had come to their home. Now, they could only fight on to the last. And they would as it was their programming. Even if all were to be destroyed, they would never stop until the last trace of the enemy was erased from existance in their beloved home. But anyone monitoring the battle with the orbital stations, knew it would come down to the blood and sweat of the Myths on the ground and in space.

Battle Above the Moon:

Much thought had gone into planning and breeding the pilots for the Myth fighters. All thoughts of glory, honor, and pride were erased from their memory banks. Sebastian's advice had lead to the creation of a wondrous flying machine were pilot molded into his machine and was one with it. Figuratively of course. Years of training, programming, and testing had now come down to one grand experiment over the rocky surface of the Forge moon. A lone fighter would be a scarce sight indeed over the moon unless all of its wingmen had been shot down. Even then, military protocol would be running through its mind to link up with another squadron to prevent swarm attack from enemy pilots.

Now a horde unleashed swirled like an oncoming storm before converging on their targets. They charged forward using sheer numbers with a heavy barrage of weaponry to bring down any and all in their way. Missles and laser fire struck out like rain and lightning as each seeked out their preprogrammed targets. Lead fighters could be used as fodder to soak up any of side effects from nuclear weaponry. Even though, the Myth had found ways to prevent their computers from falling prey to EMP so easily. They were not perfect but repairs were faster and it reduced the possibility of losing all capabilities.

Light and quick, the Wraiths would happily give anyone blocking their ascent a run for their money. Named wraith for their phasing abilities, they could disappear and reappear on a whim though they did not imploy this method. They also received their name by being quick and able to haunt other ships. Essentially a few high powered particle beams on rockets, Wraiths screamed out from their hold within the moon. They shot out verticle and let loose a forward barrage of high energy fire concentrated on the central area of any ship hovering over them. Their job, to open any route above the Angellic Cruisers. They worked best in groups, as a unit but the moment called for aggressive actions to make way for the light cruisers. Still, they would receive help anyways from those coming along slowly. Ship captains and pilots ordered their crew to strap and hold on. It was hit or miss on whether or not they would blow straight through or collide with enemy vessels.

Supporting them came the Angellic Cruisers that were heavier armed and armored than the Wraiths. Their shields and armor were capable of turning aside missle fire along with moderate energy weapons. Constant attacks was what brought down some of the cruisers. They would not die without protest though. Heavy particle beams ripped from their arrays along with missle fire that swarmed out with multi-warheads intact capable of separating when detecting defensive fire. They ascended along with their comrades in the Wraiths but they were not heading out towards the planet to protect it or out to the larger enemy fleets. Ships were defending themselves but heading away from the battle for the most part. They were gathering together to form up into squardons for added defense of one another as well as lending to each others fighting strength. Their mission was to meet up with the other half of their fleet. The stronger part of the fleet.

Forge Lunar Base:

Anything garnered from docking area's computers would have simply been scimatics of the docking area itself. The moon base itself was a different entity. This didn't mean that Bruenor had left the computers wide open for enemy hackers. False doors had been set-up to terminate entries into the computer systems if not done properly by code at terminals. Sensitive areas within the systems were triggered to terminate if activated as well without a master clearance from the base below. Computer terminals would overload and explode sending out minor waves of energy and shrapnel or wall outlits would simply spark and fizzle out, useless for the time being.

In the mean time, Bruenor had taken the opportunity to seeing that outter perimeters were secured. Armor plating was welded on the outter doors and defense turrets were checked over to make sure they were online. They was only one entrance into the base itself unless they preferred to drill through the moon itself. Given the option, the more sensible choice was to breach the outter door. He didn't doubt that it would be breached, it was only a matter of how long he could hold keep them occupied while he bought time until the assault could be turned back. Mines had been laid on the outside terrain as well as a few nice explosives on the inside. Energy trip wires were put in the walls to trigger when someone stepped across

With a few toys laid out, it was time for the dwarf commander to go pay a visit on his forces. Time was needed to make sure that their programming was ready. He would need all this time to ensure that their initial battle-programming was as high as he could muster it before the attacks came.

Mythrandir Planetside:

Wyvern Riders poured from the clouds as they pounced on the enemy in their skies. Talons and teeth were used to rip apart any machinary while the riders carried an arsenal of lances in two saddle bags by their seat. Lances ranged from energy tips to those that generated a small EMP. Small enough to knock out flight capabilities and send the pilots tumbling to their doom. Most of these riders targeted areas that they thought were the vitals. That meant taking out the human factor in the machine. Lances rained down from above as the Wyverns folded their wings and plunged downward.

Jeishka lead her little squadron with a great heave of her energy lance as she targeted what she deemed to be the cockpit area. With her first weapon gone, she reached back and plucked out another. This one was tipped with three prongs, an EMP javelin. The elf activated an orb device that hovered around her as she continued to fly. Surprisingly the communication orb was able to keep up with her at such high speeds. "This is Knight Jeishka of the Wyvern Riders to all units. We have engaged the enemy off the north eastern coast in aerial combat. Recommend luring enemy units over the Dragon's Spine. Contact Hammer Hall and tell those dwarves they better not be sleepin' on the job."

With her last order sent out to all her other units, she let loose her javelin at a nearby flyer.

Myth Fleets:

As the battle raged over the Forge moon and the planet of Mythrandir, Myth fleets one and two were on their attack vector heading for the battlefront. Haldir and Genji's fleet had already split from the second fleet and made their way in from the sunside. It had been the elf captain's hope that radiation and such from the sun would help obscure enemy scanners along with the aid of the Dag'goroth jamming center. Moments ago he had also received an update that the primary defense had fully infiltrated the enemy fleet and was ready to be activated as soon the orders were given. Orders were relayed throughout the fleets to prepare boarding parties. Orcs and trolls were being updated with battle plans and strategies sending them into a battle frenzy. Restraints on the trolls had to be constantly checked for fear that they would break free and ravage the ship. Growls and screams filled the lower decks as they awaited their opportunity to spill blood. The primeval war cries carried throughout the ship even despite sealed doors to deaden the sound.

Heorot and Sky Scream's fleet was already enroute from the opposite side. They were by far the easiest ones to detect amidst it all but Haldir had hoped that they would get within at least striking distance before the enemy discovered them. His idea was to present one front to the enemy and then attack while their attention was elsewhere. Now the plan was fully in motion and all that was left was the wait. All their thoughts and prayers went with the men and women that were fighting now over the moon or preparing for invasion down on the planet.

***Bridge of the Balmung***

At least as far as it could be told now, all was going according to plan. The haste with which the DCN had reacted to the arrival of enemy fleets had been commendable, though nothing less could be expected of a Knight of Tannelorn.

The Balmung was steadily levelling graser fire in to the enemy defenses now, supporting the GTFOA's Solarin battleships as the enemy defenses started to dwindle and die. Enemy vessels were now en route as well as attempting desperately to escape from the Fortress moon. He was watching the red blips decreasing and increasing seemingly randomly as new units entered the field and others died. The blue blips representing tannelornians slowly dwindled. This was acceptable, the rate of casualties thus far was more then acceptable, falling primarily on the bio-mech's of the GFN, though others were dying as well. So long as the enemy kept dying faster all would be well.

Then an urgent transmission broke through, for the fedrals eyes. They were to leave the system and form up in to a reserve fleet in case of outside aid to the Asfaltum system. With that message he sent a long range communication on Aethernet channels direct to the Charybdis Cluster.

Reinforcements prepare to enter the combat zone as soon as possible. The transmission was short and simple. Lord Rendacil would waste no time in redressing the imbalance in numbers that he now faced.

He turned watching the magnifications on sub screens as searing graser strikes brought down orbital defenses. He crossed his arms and waited to see what his enemy would do.

***The Divine Celestial Navy Gun Armada***

Lord Kendall watched the rapidly approaching dots in the distance signifying enemy space ships millions upon millions of kilometers away. He ordered magnification. "Has the enemy command ship responded to our challenge?" he asked casually to his bridge. "Nay my Lord, not as of yet, shall we continue the hail until engagement?" Lord Kendall simply nodded, throwing back a few locks of his golden hair as he did so. "Very well order all vessels to prepare for tactical engagement in the absence of positive responses to challenges. All Loengrens prepare to target the largest enemy vessels as soon as we reach maximum engagement range, tactical precision." he stated. The order meant that several of the ravenously powerful, but slow firing beam weapons would target the same ship, ensuring hits and damage. They would not be wasted on lesser vessels unless no other proper targets were within reach. In that case several of the massive beams would sweep over the squadron of escorts or swarm of fighters in their sights.

They started to move, preparing to surround the fleet of sky scream, continuing in their ever widening circular formation. The Tannelornian ships started to accelerate as they moved apart. The Einhanders shot out with accelerations most drone ships would find incredibly hard to match as the Zweihanders kept their pace, moving towards and around the enemy fleet, as well as above them. Battle was about to be joined, and though the DCN gun armada was far from help, they were equally far from in trouble. The knights of the DCN had fought countless wars, many of them crewed the original garfish and Ikazuki's of the first hellesponto's war.

Today they had found good targets. They were ecstatic..the enemy was going to give them an excellent fight. The Captains of the Einhander gun destroyers most notably gave praise, for they would be able ride their mounts in to one final battle.

***Sunward Side: DCN Orbital strike***

The Morgensterns and shields continued their steady bombardment, the second wave of Morgenraetes and Sturmanrufers had been despatched, to finish the battle against the orbitals as well as to aid the Lowes and GTFOA attackers against the forge moon. Two hundred of the elite knights raced towards the battle field, maximum burn and gravitic's to full power they would arrive very quickly, adding their considerable experience and firepower to the fight. The rest would hopefully make short work of the remaining orbitals with powerful antimatter rockets and gras-missiles.


***Sunward side: Prefecture contingent***

It could be said the intensive Xaser bombardment from the Grand army of the Prefecture Solarins would be far more effective if they would only move in to closer range, as the GTFOA had, however Zietski would not waste his ships against defenses. If it took a day and a night to destroy the defenses it would not matter. Losing even one ship to such a defense would be shameful. However even at their distance, they could not avoid damage. Unlike the DCN vessels, which could maneuver gracefully and quickly away from enemy fire, the Solarins were not able to avoid the vast cone of enemy rounds directed at them.Here and there hits were being scored. This was acceptable in the mind of the Commodore.

A few destroyed high mobility frames and interceptors as well as some armour damage and minor weapon loss was nothing compared to the shame of losing a vessel. This was the first Prefecture command in a majour naval engagement. The replicant-soldiers of the GAP and their officers were not taking any chances, and they were determined to not only win this battle, but show up the knights.

The thirteen vessels continued to pour fire in to the defenses around the sunny side of the world, with ships now fighting around the Fortress moon they would not target anything close enough to hit their own fighters and bio-mech ships.


Enemy ships had been detected however, Zietski ordered all vessels on standby for Urenbecht catapults. They would not let the DCN take all the glory.

***GTFOA Attack Force : Night side***

The Monitors pounding did not diminish, the massive space guns simply moved from position to position in space, waiting for their guns to recharge before firing again. They would likely need servicing after the majour fleet engagement, after all they would fire many more rounds this day. The massive beams of death continued to lance in to defenses, burning anything in their path as they traced them across the most crowded areas of the planets orbital space. As the enemy fire started to lessen, the Solarins started to move closer and closer to the enemy position, the seven remaining vessels had all suffered at least minor damage. As they moved closer the Righteous Declaration of Justice was well hit, she started to list heavily before disengaging, awaiting the lowering of the Fedral FTLi field before performing a DoD jump to the reserve station, several light years away.

Still there were six almost fully functional, one kilometer behemoths still prowling their vectors, firing their massive xaser batteries in to the ever shrinking cloud of orbitals. The remaining seventy three honour blades continued to fire, attempting to move as far as possible without compromising their mission. A few more were well hit, crippled but not destroyed, they too pulled back. The GTFOA main fleet was taking the brunt of the damage in this orbital battle, however this had been their job. The attack group of the fifth fleet had been made up of veteran warriors from the secession war and the coup. They would earn the glory for the GTFOA against the enemy fleets over their fortress moon, the rest would stand by their honour, and ensure that the invasion would commence shortly.

The withering hail of fire continued to pound the orbital defenses, antimatter drone-missiles, Xaser and Graser beams crisscrossing and detonating in the night sky, creating a beautiful, if not frightening light show for those on the surface.


***GFN Orbital attack on the Fortress moon***

The lowes suddenly found themselves heavily outnumbered by their foes, quickly many reacted by expending much of their ammunition reserves. In seconds hundreds of thousands of missiles started to pour forth out of the Lowes engaged in desperate battle. The enemy fighter craft were in far greater numbers then had been anticipated. Even supported by the HMAF's of the GAP as well as their fausts, the extra firepower would do nothing to help those suddenly found cut off in a swarm of enemy machines. Still the GAP help was appreciated, the Lowes rallied around the piloted craft, fighting with them and throwing themselves in the path of the enemy, preventing their Tannelornian masters from coming to harm, as their programming had dictated.

Still more lowes, out of weapons and damaged accelerated themselves in to the enemy fighters, which at this point it could be easily deduced, didnt care much if they lived or died. Even the Lowe's found this unnerving, they were programmed to survive if possible and were not expendable. Whoever had programmed these fighters, or piloted them did not think in such terms.

The sixty GAP Endymion's were racing in to the battle now, a few broke off to assist the GFN drone destroyers and cruisers trying to destroy or ground the enemy cruiser weights. As the massive, fifty seven meter mecha streaked across the battlefield, they fired massive weapons capable of killing escort sized vessels, missile pods armed with hundreds of high maneuver anti fighter warheads and large explosive radius anti ship weapons in to the oncoming horde of enemy fighters.

The Endymions were far tougher then the little Lowe's, and it was only through a few lucky shots that any enemy point defense fire was able to destroy three of them, all of them targetting the mecha forming the center piece, as well as escape craft of the one man attack frigate. They rolled and dipped in to the enemy, pulling out after firing massive salvo's in to the hordes of enemy fighters. Now they would start to coordinate the Lowe's. Pilots in the needle like faust interceptors were now skirting the edge of the battle, ordering any non engaged lowe's with remaining payloads to follow them. They started to circle around and under the enemy fighter waves, relaying their coordinates and plan to the Endymions and lowes engaged in desperate dog fighting. Some of the Endymions almost immediately pulled up and above the main fighting, firing down in to them at any that would try to follow. The rest did their best to keep them occupied.

+++Drone fleets+++

The enemy had fallen for the bait. The wraiths were now firing on them to save the larger Angellus cruisers, which was no matter to the pods. Ships started to effortlessly move roll away, insuring no accidental collisions. The pods had the drop on the Angellus, though they could give chase to the wraiths the sudden appearance of six Endymion's come to aid them removed that possibility. All that mattered was killing the enemy cruiser weights.


Even as they were fired upon the Schwertwhals continued to hammer in to their foes, darting in as their brethren circled them, firing at extreme close range and whipping past them in a frenzy to find more targets. A few more Schwertwhals died, and in their death throes they did their best to ram themselves in to the slower rising Angellus cruisers. So far thirteen of the GFN ships had been lost, another four crippled. Still they continued on unbowed, their programming would have nothing else. They were in an excellent position, their repeated circling and dive attacks would hit the enemy vessels on several frontings. This would weaken the shields of their desperately rising foes faster, adding even more difficulties to their ascent.

As the wraiths rocketed away after their first attack runs, the GAP's Endymion armour's gave chase. Accelerating after them they deployed their massive anti-ship Xaser as well as anti ship missiles in to them. The first one to get close to a wraith suddenly started to roll, coming in behind it. Then suddenly on one of its sub arms a brilliant plume of yellow energy erupted fully thirty meters in length. The Mecha-frigate powered in on the attack. The pilots of the other five HMAF's cheered as they saw what she was about to do...

++++

3/213 dodged a flurry of point defense fire by rolling amazingly quickly on her axis. The one man attack frigate was a wonder compared to her unaugmented hellebarde. She accelerated sharply then darted to the left as she unfurled her beam saber, the G's meant nothing to her, surrounded in her armoured cocoon, powerful anti gravity generators allowing her to withstand immense forces, capable of crushing even her hardened organic frame. The Replicant pilot was born with the reflexes of a Knight, a scant one year earlier. This was her first action and it was an honour for the replicant to be allowed to test out its capabilities against a determined foe. The enemy light vessel in her sights was accelerating quickly now, she darted in again, avoiding another salvo and using her maneuverability to come up alongside it. Then in one final, massive burn she went past the vessel. Nearly ten meters of the blade raked along the hull as she went past it far closer then any sane person would.

She was a replicant true, but she was still a Tannelornian, one did not shirk from melee combat if born of that blessed line.

***The Fifth Fleet Contingent: Attack on the Fortress moon***

When the Pax Mortiswas prepared to fire again, she was not aiming for the enemy vessels rising to meet the attacking Tannelornian fleets. Instead she was aimed for the massive swarming dogfight above the moon. A warning was issued to all friendly units..then she fired, raking her beam along enemy fighter vectors and groups. The massive strategic grasers were a new concept in Tannelornian naval warfare.

They were capable of engaging squadrons of vessels, Super dreadnoughts, planetary defenses from a distance, orbitals and battle fortresses, fighters and missiles. The beam fired for so long and with such devastating force it could concievably burn a hole through a moon. Had there been even two of these immensely powerful space weapons completed in time, then the battle for their ancient homeland may have turned out differently.

Right now it was simply trying to support the now incoming Alpha II's and Fausts. Almost a thousand high maneuver frames were rushing in to support the attack, missile FAST packs mounted on their shoulders for a first strike salvo and added speed.

The twenty eight Honour Blade Frigates were now loading anti-ship graser rounds. At this range the drones could deploy, line up an extremely accurate shot and pound a four second burst of intensely lethal Graser submunition in to enemy vessels at their leisure. They launched massive salvo's, engaging the fleeing Wraiths and rising Angellus cruisers with a rain of searing light. The Solarins were picking targets as they rose, coming straight on they levelled all twenty six of their heavy anti ship beam weapons, firing until they were forced to recharge, then cycling through the weapons to fire again.

The four battleships also fired their own Drone-missiles, Gras-rounds flashing out even as their heavy Xaser's raked the enemy ships. They all mounted their PPB screens to the fore, massive amounts of ortillery fire crashing in to them, knocking some of the shields down. They would do their best to destroy these enemy vessels as they rose, allowing them to escape to meet the enemy main fleet was not an option they could take.


***The Fortress moon [The Forge] Surface***

The enemy had not defended the outer perimeter of the complex, at least not with troops. The DCC assault teams expertly moved through the complex, identifying the main entrance way as well as..most of the booby traps left by the enemy. These were cunning foes, it took no ordinary men to halt a trained DCC combat engineer. There had been casualties, though it could have been worse. Had a full combat insertion been called, it is possible hundreds of casualties could have occured from a clumsy assault. That, however was not the way of the Cavaliers.

Instead they had moved up steadily, clearing several possible paths before allowing the main force to move in. The bunker was ahead of them..and in the distance they could see enemy vessels rising, beams of death criscrossing against their surfaces as explosions dotted the night sky from the fallout of dogfights and ship duels in the heavens. Grahf Heitzen dispatched most of the Kernschatten force to assist the GFN from the surface. They lifted off, engaging their stealthing systems and stalking off silently to fire small payloads of missiles in to the ships vitals. The Kernschatten's did not have anywhere near the missile payload of the Morgenraete. Instead they used stealth to be able to deploy their payloads exactly where they wanted them.

However a force of Lowe's and Kernschattens remained behind. The enemy bunker would be hit by majour strike before any Knights entered it. To die entering a heavily defended breach with a wild charge when one had the resources to allow a true battle to commence, was wasteful and dishonourable.

The Mecha took positions away from the bunker doors, as did the men of the DCC as the assault troopers primed the massive entry Graser to the bulkhead, priming it for thirty seconds, they moved back with their fellows. The mecha sighted the bulkheads and waited for them to open, then they would launch high maneuver warheads in to the breach, clearing it and allowing the Knights entry.

***Mythrandir: Planetary assault

The battle in the air was now getting heated, strange flying creatures with riders were now attempting to engage the Alpha II's, Morgenraetes and Sturmanrufers now flying air superiority. It came as a shock to some of them, who were struck by EMP weapons and others, forced to either disengage or crashing to the ground, forced to eject. The Alpha II's were the worst hit by the enemy attacks, rarely did they react as quickly to the surprise attacks. Still it battle was now joined, and the enemy flyers were likely not capable of supersonic attacks..nor were they armed with high maneuver missiles. As the enemy flyers showed themselves, they opened up on them with dazzling laser pulses and let loose with heavy salvo's of Xaser-missiles, perfect for dogfighting even in an atmosphere. They started a high speed dance of death, whirling and firing in the air above Mythrandir as the struggle for ascendancy began.

The DCC however, turned on them quickly, switching in to high maneuver configuration, activating laser melee weaponry with an almost savage glee as they rode to meet the Dragons. They didn't even bother aiming for the riders, the Knights were encased in several meters of heavy DEM armour, the dragons were the main threat, capable of tearing them to the ground. Though the riders EMP bombs momentarily dazzled the Morgenraetes and Sturmanrufers, allowing the dragons to get in attacks, they did not have the same effect against DEM armour as did the polarised armour of the GTFOA mecha.

However it was mainly the GTFOA flying air cover, most of the Morgenraetes were still not committed to the attacks in space or on the ground.

++++

Bale maneuvered quickly away from the womans blade as she thrust it at his craft. He could have let the small weapon strike, but he didn't wish to find out if it was magicked. In return he made a counter swing with one of his laser blades, aiming for the neck of the beast she was riding and viffing under him, riding his gravitic's gracefully as he let his opponent pass him. This new mecha was a definite improvement over his old MK I.

His squadron was engaged with these beasts now, dueling with them amongst the clouds of this world. He eyed this woman riding the beast and
twirled around again to face her, loosing a volley of las fire and switching to high speed configuration. With a sudden roll over and a viff upwards, he swung past his target, firing a few xas-missiles at some wyverns attempting to move off.

He once again switched back to high maneuver, twirling around one hundred and eighty degree's to face his opponent once more. Bale was a professional soldier, but he still had honour.

+++Landings+++

Morgenraetes screamed past farmers fields at low level, switching to high maneuver configuration as HMF 4 Sturmanrufers' flew air cover several thousand feet above them. They were escorting a pair of horizonts, two hundred Divine celestial cavaliers to a small town they had seen on their descent. These strategic areas were to be the first majour targets in the ground campaign.

From here field bases would be erected to allow the mecha to quickly rearm for repeated attacks against the enemy cities. This scene was being repeated all over the main continent. The city determined to be the capital lay on one of its shores, if one could cut off its supplies completely it would only be a matter of time, regardless of a successful assault, until food stores ran out. Tannelorn wished to win this war, they were being careful. Grand and foolishly all conquering assaults on the capital could wait until they were prepared. Still now the attacks against Mythrandir assets on the ground would be unceasing.

As the Horizon drop shuttles flew past, they dropped their two armoured bunkers, mounted on wing hard points. One in a field just behind the town, the other directly in the town square. Point defenses scanned for hostile targets, firing on anything that raised a weapon towards the bunkers, the doors blew open and the Divine Celestial Cavaliers streamed out. They set up cautious positions around the town square and village outskirts even as they called out, demanding the surrender of the town guard and mayor.

This was repeated all across the southern portion of the continent. The most sizeable of these towns had several hundred cavaliers, and dozens of mecha dropping down in to their centers[/U]. The Horizon had been in service for almost four hundred years. Its design was the key to it, it stored its troops in two armoured bunkers under the wing hard points, and it could move extremely fast and drop those bunkers. Even dropping from two hundred feet up, at mach four the bunkers would cushion the fall with gravitic motors and advanced shock absorbers.

Within moments there were elite Cavaliers inside every small town and village in the south of the main continent. If these small townships surrendered without a fight, they would be spared any of the carnage that would await them otherwise. Majour cities were spared any form of assault, there simply werent enough DCC to contest them all. Instead the majour cities would be assaulted by the GAP marine forces still waiting at the reserve point.


The ground war had begun.

***Reserve point: Five light years from Mythrandir***

Suddenly the space around the carriers and supporting honour blades was much more crowded. In an instant almost one hundred and twenty vessels, mostly heavy or cruiser weight assault ships, appeared in space, preparing to move out. With them were almost a dozen Fortress-rocks. Eternal would deliver these herself, to the planets orbit. They would engage the enemy defenses with orbitals of their own. The hardy, well armed and most importantly..unmanned asteroids would continue the fight against the defenses while allowing the ships to engage the enemy vessels on their terms, without any distractions.

The formations of the Charybdis fleet formed up, preparing to jump in to the system as soon as the Fedrals left, readying themselves to join the raging battle insystem.


OOC
Sturmanrufer Preparing for Melee combat: http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133/Conan2525/sturmmellee.jpg?t=1175350329
GAP HMAF Endymion with Beam saber engaged:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133/Conan2525/GAPHMAF.jpg?t=1175350390
DCN Morgenstern Battle Carrier with Algol Escort:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133/Conan2525/MorgwAl.jpg?t=1175350439

Myth Fleets:

It was working or at least to Haldir his plan was taking an expected turn. Enemy ships were now moving to attack Sky Scream and Heorot while his fleet kept closing in. Transmissions were already ferrying between the two fleets as the Sky Scream and Heorot reported the layout of the enemy fleet as well as the numbers attacking them. Haldir already issued orders for them to not worry about the encircling enemy. Their main objective was to blow through the front line and wait for the probes to do their job before turning on the enemy behind them. The elf knew that their two fleets were not yet close enough to launch their attack, but he knew that every second that passed brought them closer.

Myth fleets took up their typical position from the start. The two Avenger's were separated by layers of Horde Cruisers and then their two bubbles were brought together with layers of Angellic Cruisers. Wraiths floated out front and off to the sides and a loose pattern as they wanted plenty of room to utilize their speed and agility. It was a rather simple formation and most likely commonly used but it allowed them to changed formation at random. Once surrounded, the whole line could shift so that each battleship was fully enclosed and keep them from suffering needless damages.

Two silent captain's looked at the challenge signal that was echoing through their communications channel. Neither of them were one for words and they would rather leave the babbling to captain Genji who seemed far more competent in that field. Communication officers were ordered to block it out and ignore it. Too much noise for their liking. Killing need no grand speeches or haughty words. It was an action that could speak for itself. After enough had died, they would say, "Never come here again".

Lunar Battle:

With more and more of the enemy units disengaging, logistical programs within the goblins' minds computed that it would be more efficient to send the majority of their fighter units to clear the rest of the moon. What was deemed enough, was left behind the handle those still in combat while the rest would search out new targets. The sight of an incoming mech unit didn't phase a single pilot. Dogmatic programming kept the fighters in alignment while they either pounding the object on collision course with every weapon available to their arsenal or merely took the hit straight on. Afterall, it was one less enemy target that could not be replaced this battle while the goblins and their fighters were easily replaceable. That, was one of their basic programing functions.

More laser fire erupted from the fighters as they continued their undaunted attack. They attacked in common cyclon fashion with fighters teaming up to attack the same targets as they attacked and rolled followed by another and another and another. At the same time, Bruenor had flipped the switch for one last defense network to kick on. Missle silos broke the surface of the moon and swivelled to aquire targets. High speed chase gave way as missles launched towards their targets. Projectiles screamed passed their own goblin fighters with barely enough room to spare a breath as they chased after the enemy.

Fleet Lunar Battle:

Captain Frylann's lips curled in a twisted smile as she looked at her own layout of the battle. It was true that light cruisers were falling back, but it was all for a reason. She was not worried about the Wraiths as they were simply an enormous engine armed with a couple lasers. They could disengage and link back up with the main force at a whim or shimmer into oblivion with their stealth drives. No, she wanted the attacking enemy units to get closer as her and the dwarven captain were waiting out of sight of the main enemy fleet. Further down the moon, every ship had gone through its final checks before they would let the enemy know they were here. Angellic Cruisers kept falling back but simply so everyone would follow.

"Captain Drulgar, I'm removing all safety measures from the weapons systems and giving the orders for all ships under my squadron to fire."

The burly dwarf sat on the throne chair in his own battleship while his short legs dangled off the edge of the seat. "Rah, right wit ye lassie. We've gots a surprise fer dem slimy dogs once dey're in range."

Dwarven dialect, so detestable. Frylann only could assume that dwarves had their uses elsewhere. Certainly she didn't understand why a dwarf needed to be an Elder but there would be time for later musings once she was back down on the planet and under the majestic canopy of Caer'alfar. Already the first wave of cruisers were coming down the arc of the moon with enemy vessels hot in pursuit. Her hands involuntarily clenched the carved phoenix heads on her seat. It was as if she was anticipating an incoming blow.

"Attack."

"FIRE LADS!!"

The two captains both gave the orders to commence their counterattack of the lunar base. Main weapon arrays came online and targeted the first line of enemy vessels. Cosmo guns from the two battleships launched a high focused beam and strafed it across the enemy lines. It was the highest powered energy weapon that the Forge could muster on a warship. By taking the highest known end of the light spectrum, they focused it into one lethal beam. Many thought about renaming the weapon to Guiding Light as it befitted a more heavenly body of light. Initial attacks were followed by their large particle beam cannons.

Not to be outdone by their comrades, Horde battlecruisers unleashed their own attacks. A class called the Horde, was not because it resembled the chaotic attacks often used by orcs. It was just simply not the most pleasant ship to behold. One of the more heavily armed ships in the Forge fleet, the ships looked like thorn bushes once all battlements were displayed. Particle beams accompanied by heavy pulse cannons and burst laser turrets let loose a brilliant shower of high energy beams and accelerated particles.

Forge Moon:

Projector orbs gave Bruenor a decent idea of what was happening outside the stronghold. It seemed that his mine field didn't have as much affect as he had initially hoped but the old dwarf was not yet done baring his crooked teeth. Already laser turrets were coming online along the entry way and firing at anyone to close for their liking.

While that was hopefully keeping them busy, Bruenor moved on to other systems within the Forge. He had already laid traps and explosives on the inside and down the main hall but there was still more work to do. Like reconfiguring the exhaust flow system. Orcs, Trolls and some of the Necromancer units were already in place waiting to hold off any invading soldiers.

Mythrandir Planetside:

It was all so serene with only two people in the entire cathedral while most people were too busy to think about coming here. Though she could hardly blame them. Just by looking at the sky, the War Mistress already knew that pods had already fallen in some of the nearby villages. People were more concerned with their own well being than their own god. A crooked smile crossed her dark face as she looked at the man kneeling up front underneath the statue of his deity. For some odd reason, he had ordered the blood stains to remain on the statue and the floor. Some sort of trick, she assumed, conjured by whoever Sebastian drove off in deep space. He had only said that the stains were a reminder. Shizra's eyes moved to the woman kneeling beside the Elder. Her first thought was that she must be as crazy as he but soon realized were she married to him; she would feel much the same way. Calm, confident, secure were only some of the emotions he inspired in the dark elf herself whenever he was near.

Shizra had stopped at the threshold of the cathedral out of respect for Sebastian's god. She was wearing her twin scimitars and did not want to risk offending an unknown deity. At the moment, she figured they could use all they help they could muster. Her voice echoed off the stone walls like an invading trumpet. Even she did not like the sound of her own voice in this place. "Excuse me Elder, but I must speak with you. We have received reports of enemy soldiers occupying outlying villages. Three of the Elders have already discussed what should be done but the villages are home to your people, your race and therefore your decision carries more weight than all of them."

Sebastian remained kneeling while he heard all that had transpired since he entered the Cathedral. He was slightly agitated at being interrupted but allowed the War Mistress to finish. From what he understood of the area, it would most likely be farmers losing their homes this day along with a wealthy family or two. "In time, we can rebuild our homes but we can never replace the lives that we will loose if we allow this invading army to gain a stronghold without so much as a protest. Has the Forge Horde been readied?"

Unlike hers, Sebastian's voice was enriched in this atmosphere. It was warm and soothed any worries and at the same time, his voice demanded attention and respect. "They have Elder. Lukien is also seeing to our own warriors while Jeishka has a few Wyvern Riders keeping enemy aircraft busy."

"Then inform the others that they have my approval. Take the city to level one defense."

"Yes Elder." Shizra stood at the giant doorstep, lingering.

"Was there something else you wanted?"

Her voice softened as she sighed. "Yes. Why won't you come out and be among the men? I know all of this," her arms swept around the cathedral to indicate her meaning, "is important to you but the warriors would like to see you. Your pressence alone boosts their confidence. I won't ask you to fight alongside them, because I'll protest, but give them something to encourage them by."

There was a momentary pause between the two, but Sebastian's voice finally rose up to cover the distance. "I will be out there when the time comes."

"That is all I ask." Shizra closed the large, carved, oaken doors behind her and headed down to her bike.

------

The towns had already been evacuated in the southern area. The city of Mythrandir was close enough for the majority of refugees to flood into its protective walls. Those further north had fled to the dwarven halls where they would wait to see sunlight when the conflict was over. Now the villages looked simply like a ghost town. There was nothing left, not even anything worth plundering. Only the wind mixed with a sea of grass and wheat was all that remained.

The first bombardment started not too long after Sebastian had given the approval. Those cities in close enough to Mythrandir, found themselves under a silenced barrage as explosives were launched all the way from the western wall of the capitol. They were leveling the city as one catapult unit after another released its ordinance high in the air, only to come down on the cities within striking distance.

------

Jeishka looked around as her flying knights were now engaged in one-on-one combat with enemy arial units. One Wyver lost a wing and a portion of its body to an energized blade. She watched as it fell from the sky, wailing and thrashing about trying to right itself even though it would be dead before falling halfway. The elven commander was just look for the rider when she saw a long figure leap off the head of its fallen mount. Energy lance readied, the man struck with chaotic furry. She smiled seeing the dark elf unleash his hate for the foreigners. Jeishka could only hope his desparate attempt was successful. She had come to admire some of the dark elves during her time of service, but now was not the time to reflect on social problems. One pilot was proving annoying. "I don't like guys that can't take a hint!"

Lucky for her and many of the riders, their mounts were cold blooded and anything heat seeking would be hard pressed to track down these beasts. It didn't matter even if it would be an advantage, she lacked the numbers to supress the attacks. The rest of Wyvern Riders were still kept safe for the moment waiting for a more decisive battle. Jeishka reached back and pulled out another lance, energy, and ignited its blade. She twirled it in the air to get her riders' attention. With a swift stroke, she pointed the way down and lead the break-neck descent. Wings folded back for additional acceleration, the Wyverns plunged down out of the sky at incredible speeds and headed for the mountain range below. The elf looked back to see that many of her riders got the message and were making their way to follow.

***Bridge of the Balmung***

"So they finally come to meet us." Lord Rendacil mused, chuckling as he watched the enemy forces on the strategic display started moving towards them. The GFN contingent was now under heavy fire, but support would come very quickly from the GTFOA fifth fleet detachment. He watched as the white blips on the strategic holo-tank started to dissapear, the FTLi field dispersing as their Fedral allies went to reinforce the main attack in the Asfaltum-Ganoxan system. The loss of five hundred combat ships at this stage of the fight was disturbing, but the reserve fleet had successfully reached the staging area, and would arrive momentarily. Still there were far less enemy ships then Rendacil had expected to meet. After all it was a world with almost two billion sentients, admittedly the ludicrously heavy orbital defenses around the system would have taken a great deal of resources to construct.

The attacking ships would continue to hammer the defenses until the reserve forces, with their compliment of Fortress-rocks arrived in orbit, then with the forces already engaged they would bring the battle to the enemy fleet, allowing the fighters still in orbit to support their comrades on the planet.

As the strategic displays showed the flow of the battle, Rendacil realised instantly that the enemy main fleet was attempting to bypass the DCN gun armada. All ships were currently heavily engaged in fighting either defenses or the now attacking enemy Lunar fleet.

Therefore it was the duty of Balmung as the flag of the armada to hold them until the reserves were in place. With the exit of the Fedral fleet, Rendacil's command was the only ship able to act. With only ten minutes left until Ursa was forced to shut down the generator and utilise backup's until excess strain and heat had been shunted out, they had to act fast. Rendacil ordered that Star Lord Altenor be contacted immediately. It was time to move in, the enemy main fleet had been found.


Then he ordered Balmung to move towards the enemy fleet. The great ship seemingly disappeared, replaced by a hazy line, bending starlight as it shot towards the approaching main fleet as fast as it was able. Still it was far away from its foes, if they were swift in noticing her approach, the majourity could evade the Balmung and press on to hit the attacking fleet before the reserves arrived. Still, there would be that many less ships involved in the counter-attack.

***Sunward Side: DCN contingent***

Lord Helias surveyed the demolition of the enemy orbital positions from his remote spot, millions of kilometers away from the planet Mythrandir. Already Morgenraetes, Algol's and Sturmanrufer's were returning from the orbital battle to rearm, preparing for the action against the enemy fleet.

They would waste no more fire on their enemy, acutely aware of their diminishing payloads of Loengrens, the battle carriers could not store as many of the Bomb-shells that the massive energy weapons used as their gun heavy cousins. Instead they started hard scans of the enemy fleet, blasting the space between them and the enemy with massive amounts of DEM particles.

Thats when they started noticing anomalies around them in space. It was a matter of mass..far too much of it. "My Lord." Scientist Rolanberg stated. "These readings are indicating a few kilotons more mass then there should be in this area of space, we are in effect several million kilometers from this world and we have not been able to pick up any evidence of debris from Mythrandir colonialisation efforts past in the required volume in this area of space to account for this." Helias sighed. Rolanberg never seemed to take a breath. "So its a cloaked ship?" he asked the Scientist. "Possibly my Lord."

The Lord nodded. "All HMF's capable of deploying, launch now and take up point defense positions." The order was swiftly relayed through the waiting ships. They all started to change vectors more aggressively, just in case this wasnt a strange natural anomaly. They continued to wait for the enemy fleet to arrive.

***Sunward Side:Grand army of the Prefecture Fleet.***

Commodore Zietski was now aware of the rapidly approaching enemy main fleet force. That bastard Lord Rendacil is going to engage them all by himself, snatching the honour and glory from the Prefecture. The nerve of that ridiculous high born prat to order us to stay behind and continue firing in to the defenses. They are breaking, the Divine Federation has ensured that, well I wont let him get away with this. Commodore Zietski was angry now. He looked out across the clean, white walls of the bridge of the Resplendent Light of Freedom in to the scanners showing the image of the battles now brewing. "All ships prepare to activate Urenbecht Catapults and engage the enemy fleet, Glory to the Prefecture, Glory to the Empire!." He shouted, raising his fist to his breast in salute, a movement mimicked by all on the bridge with him.

++++

The ships and mecha of the GAP contingent started to turn about, a motion which was rather quick despite their enormous bulk, and activated their Urenbecht catapults.They disappearedin to the long shafts of murkiness towards the main enemy fleet.

***Night Side: GTFOA attack continues***

The battle was going well so far, the enemy fleet had made its presence known and the Balmung was now racing off to intercept. It seemed the Prefecture contingent had also chosen that moment to attack the enemy fleet, engaging their urenbecht catapults shortly after Balmung did. They were a few minutes behind the mighty ship.

The GTFOA fleet continued to do their duty with diligence, though in their hearts every member of the ships crews from Federal-Captain to ship-rating wished they could join those about to engage the enemy fleet. However this was their duty, the fifth fleet contingent would engage the enemy fleet that was hiding behind the moon, and gain honour and fame for the Greater Tannelornian Federal Operational Army.

So this great host of ships continued to pour heavy xaser fire in to the enemy orbital defenses, ensuring that they would be softened up properly for the imminent arrival of the GAP Bad-Hertzfeldt assault ships, as well as the reserve fleets. Once the Fortress-Rocks were in position, they could leave to join the raging battle.

By now the Honourblades were simply sniping away with their Xaser's, preparing to unleash the rest of their payloads on the enemy ships.

***Fortress Moon [The Forge] Orbital battle***

The Lowe's had determined that the enemy fighters were most likely drone craft, their behavior and lack of concern for their own safety had been the main factor in the computations that had followed. As the Lowe's and HMAF's had been warned of the incoming strategic Graser detonation, they had the foresight to move out of its path. Instead they had moved towards it, letting the enemy follow them in their headlong rush to destroy the invading Tannelornians. At the last second, they broke past, maximum acceleration to goad the fighters in to following. As they cleared the blast they knew that the enemy fighters would have to be following them through that intense storm of focused gamma rays. Still it this battle had cost them dearly, nearly one third of the Lowe bio-coms were either incapacitated or destroyed, a thousand fighters, though enemy losses would likely be higher, they had done their task well.

As the missiles and other weapon systems tore in to the Lowe's they turned, attempting to shoot them down with their pulsar laser forearm cannons. It worked for many but definetly not all, they did not have the specialist anti missile lasers in their head mountings, deemed unnecessary for the bio-coms.. Half of the GTFOA Alpha's and Fausts proceeded to attack those mecha that had remained behind in the dogfight around the lunar facility. the other thousand mecha proceeded to counter attack the enemy forces now attempting to chase the Lowe's and HMAF's.


The Endymion armour's turned, unleashing a brilliant blossom of thousands of missiles on to the enemy fighter craft, hoping that the Graser attack would have killed many and at least forced them to scatter. It was at this moment that the fifty two remaining HMAF's involved in the dogfight, and the Alpha II's of the GTFOA fired simultaneously in to the enemy, from two different angles. The swarm of missiles if detectable by enemy sensors would have temporarily filled enemy display screens. The dogfight was far from over, it had only just begun.

++++

The GFN detachment was holding its own for the moment despite the heavy enemy ortillery directed towards them. At least it had appeared so until a large enemy force had appeared on the other side of the world, anhillating three schwertwhals and a Knurrwhal before they could even react.
The bio-mechs showed commendable clarity of purpose in this moment, they continued to chase the enemy cruisers, firing thrusters to full and hammering them, moving from one to the next to prevent them from linking with the enemy main fleet. Even as shells and energy blasts slammed in to them they continued to ignore the enemy main fleet. They believed in the Tannelornians supporting them.

The six Endymion HMAF's continued to harry the Wraith destroyers, the enemy light ships were specific targets of any HMAF, as they fulfilled the role of attack frigates it was their duty to destroy enemy escorts. So they continued to level their Xaser and missile batteries at their foes, at the least attempting to prevent as many of them from joining the main fleet as possible.

One of the Endymions suffered a direct hit to the Hellebarde HMF that made up its center, the damage crippled it and it was forced to disengage. That was the weakness of the Prefectures HMAF, the main connector was also the pilot compartment, and a much smaller mecha then the rest of the frame. Still they were hard to hit, snuggled inside thick armour shielding and plates.

The GFN bio-mechs continued to attack the Angelic cruisers, levelling salvo after salvo of Xray hard beams in to the enemy, slicing and burning through armour and weapon systems alike. They had taken heavy casualties, but their formation was far from combat inneffective.

The enemy fleet was hammering the GFN contingent however, they couldnt last like this for long, without aid they would soon find themselves falling back to regroup. Then, suddenly sixty new points of light came in to view in the distance.

++++

Knight-Captain Helvar Ralahim had sighted the first of the enemy main fleet capital ships, rolling his Algol High mobility armoured frame in to attack position. The ugly thing was ungainly and bristling with weapons. It was forcing him and his comrades to focus much of their energy on evasion. Then they had moved in to close range, his wing of four Algol's continued on until they were within unaided visual range before unleashing a devastating salvo of Capital scale Pulsar laser fire. As they split off they released two containers from the rear of their mecha as well as a swarm of lighter missiles, hundreds of them. They watched as the anti-ship Gras-missiles self destructed in to brilliant beams of light, each equal to the engagement cannons that served as the mecha's arms, smashing in to the enemy capital ship.

++++

So far only three Algol's had been destroyed on the first pass against this enemy main fleet. They had been racing to join the dogfight but had stumbled upon something much greater. Though these mecha had the firepower of attack frigates, they fought in the manner of fighters. These newest additions to the arsenal of Tannelorn were built to fight in the heart of an enemy fleet without fear of destruction from heavy capital guns, but the sheer amount of fire coming from this enemy fleet threatened to test that theory. Still the massive craft rolled and weaved in ways that defied gravity and inertia itself as they proceeded in to the heart of the enemy fleet.

They fired on heavy capital ships with their anti shipping weapons, engaging their beam sabers as they passed lighter escort ships, dipping in to them to to rake the massive energy weapons across their hulls. Then from behind them came massive beams of hard X rays, smashing in to the enemy formations, with them came massive gras-beams deployed from the bio-mech drone missiles favoured by the Honour blade frigates.

The Fifth Fleet detachment had targetted the enemy fleet, and was racing in to support their erstwhile colleagues from the GFN.

++++

Fleet Captain Uthelien was nearly manic with excitement now. An enemy fleet had appeared from behind the moon, now they would bring the fight to this enemy, so that the light of the Divine Federation and the Galactic empire could be brought to this isolated, lonely corner of space. "All ships prepare for full scale attack, all Honour Blade squadrons prepare for supporting fire, Gras and Kinetic warheads only, All Solarin' battle ships, prepare for close engagement." he gave the orders calmly and quickly, everything rested on this moment.

++++

Glory of Heaven would have to wait before firing again, already her twin booms were cooling off as they vented excess heat and radiation, capacitors continued to charge as another round was prepared for loading. Her last shot had been aimed towards the enemy fighter craft, they had warned the Lowe's in an attempt to draw as many of the enemy swarm in to the strategic graser discharge as possible.

The Honour blades started to fire massed volleys of the heavy anti-ship weapons in to the densely packed enemy fleet, even as the Solarins pushed their engines to full power, directing their Pin point barriers to the foreward section of the ship. They came at them head on, maximum firepower and protection with minimal fronting, this had been part of the design of the Solarin. To be able to move all ahead full directly in to the heart of an enemy fleet, where their banks of heavy Xasers could ravage enemy ships with little chance of evasion, the entire discharge of the seconds long beam's slamming home in to the hulls of enemy vessels.


As they moved forward they started to fire in to the heavy enemy ships, raking their beams through the smaller ships that managed to get in the way, trying to burn right through them to get to grips with the large ungainly Horde gunships and heavy battleships. The Honour of the Federal Operational army was at stake, they would not retreat while they still had breath in their lungs.

***DCN Gunship Armada***

Lord Kendall smiled softly. So they choose not to fight as heroes.he thought to himself. "No matter." He said aloud, " All ships prepare to attack, tactical firing engaged, allow the third fleet to pass by us, engage those before us, destroy them utterly, allow the reserve fleet and GTFOA armada to deal with them." he ordered. The rest of the ships followed suite. As soon as the enemy fleet attacked and the first pass was completed, the DCN ships formation would allow them to encircle the portions of the enemy main fleet that chose to fight them. This would allow them to hammer the enemy from all possible angles, causing massive strain and wear on their shield generators and overpowering point defenses.

"Knights and Heroes, today we remove from ourselves the greatest burden we have ever known, ride now, and let death be your guide through this sea of pain." Kendall was not known for the length of his speeches.

++++

The order had been given, heavy Antimatter rounds had been loaded in to the spinals, the massive antimatter weapons were capable of igniting a gas giants atmosphere, and had been chosen as the first round loadout as soon as the enemy fleet formation had densified. Algol's and HMF's raced ahead of the fleet, eager to get to grips with their foes. From the ships, long Urenbecht columns, stretched out in to the vastness of space, then buckled from the recoil of the heavy five ton shells exit. The shells continued to soar in to the enemy formations, preparing to explode once the proper distance from target had been reached.

The weapons would explode in massive fireballs, capable of annhillating whole squadrons of light ships and causing damage to any capital ships within the blast. Any too near to the point of origin would likely be destroyed by the massive blasts. This would be the only time that weapon would be used in this skirmish. It took to long to prepare the rounds for firing, as the antimatter was not loaded until the shell was selected as a safety measure.

Even as the shells exited their urenbecht columns the massive Loengren cannons of the fleet started to zero in on targets, raking across the lighter squadrons guarding the heavy ships. Each detachment of three vessels firing their heavy, brilliant beams of death in to and hopefully through the enemy lighter ships,to hit the heavier ones behind.

Hai 002 controlled anti ship nuclear warheads started to launch in their hundreds from the vessels, more of a distraction then a true anti ship weapon, these missiles would detonate on top of or close to enemy vessels, blinding them for a few seconds to allow the Tannelornian ships to gain a better position. These were the Knights of Tannelorn, destroyers of her foes, they were avenging angels, or in this case harbringers of destruction, nigh unstoppable in their determination to win. To each and every Knight this was the same as the last Hellespontos war, and this time they would not fail. Thousands of ships had fallen to the Divine Celestial Navy in the past, today the defenders of Mythrandir would learn why many feared the DCN.


***Forge Moon: Ground Action***


Even as the enemy defense turrets started up, the DCC were ready for it. They had fought in countless battles over the last four hundred years, each of them not only testing their considerable abilities but adding to their battlefield experience. A few had been caught in the open, and the quick action of the supporting Lowe and Kernschattens had reduced the damage.

They returned fire on the heavy installations, some of them dying even as they ran for cover. Most had already been wise enough to take it, but cover was a luxury that three thousand men could not always afford. Quickly they started to fire Shoulder Launch Tac-nukes and Gras rifles in to the turrets, moving from cover to cover to get close enough to ensure they would be silenced.

Missiles flared from Kernschattens and Lowe drones, firing not only in to the turrets but in to the breach itself. The massive salvos lit up the night with a glow brighter then sun, backblasts flying out from the now blown open corridor threatening to strike those too close to the targets. As DCC fell their comrades administered "little helpers" before pulling them to cover and continuing their attack. Once the defenses on the surface were fully crushed, the assault teams would move in, but for now they continued to ensure they would have a place to retreat to, in case things went wrong.

+++Mythrandir: Aerial battle***

Every second that passed more and more HMF's converged on the dogfight. Almost six hundred were engaged now, filling the sky with Las blasts and missile fire. The Hai-bio coms were less effective then they should have been, which had required a few minutes of recalibration on the part of the pilots and their helper bio-coms. Instead of tracking for mechanical signals, they were now geared towards finding carbon dioxide, the exhaust from living creatures.

The Alpha's and Fausts of the GTFOA were now firing missile salvo's in to the enemy, preparing to kill them as fast as possible to allow for an easy landing for their own troops. The DCN were frustrating these attempts however, engaging the enemy in "heroic" honourable combat, they had essentially removed any possibility of deploying 15kt "Dogfight's."

Still it was an impressive sight. The Knight-machines were phenomenally agile and fast, capable of moving in for quick and savage melee attacks, then moving out to fire weapons so quickly that it was hard for the less modified soldiers of the GTFOA to keep track. As the knights engaged in their death defying aerial ballet with the dragons, the Soldiers of the GTFOA prepared to win the air battle their way. Noting the enemy was attempting to flee, the newcomers to the battle started by engaging in strafing runs with missile and cannon against the wyverns who were attempting to disengage. They were utilising their speed and the agility of being a two form variable mecha to surround and strike at the enemy. They were also using their missile compliments destroy the enemy that they could gain a clear firing solution against. They would not stop until every single enemy flyer had either succesfully disengaged or was dead, littering the fields of battle. Only then the invasion could truly commence.

Tannelorn had fought most of its wars in deserts, Air power was desert power.Massive amounts of air power combined with hard hitting, elite and stealthy infantry had made the Tannelornian military had been one of the single most frightening and lethal on their ancient homeworld. It was little wonder it took the efforts of over seven star fleets to force them off their own home. Then the Tannelornians had been far more peaceful, content to live and let live. Now they knew better, those moralistic bastards had used any justification to do what they had wished, as members of the GFFA had attempted to do when they nearly destroyed a star system in the Cluster. Tannelorn had no trust left in it for those that claimed to be on the side of "justice." Justice would show its true face only through the fires of battle. The Mythrandir were proving to be worthy foes.

***Mythrandir: Frontlines on the ground***

Most of the now three thousand Divine Celestial Cavaliers on the ground were busily setting up makeshift fortifications and refit centers for their mecha. They were building the first air bases from which the conquest of this planet would spring from. These places would allow for supplies to quickly be sent out to the troops on the ground.

Horizon T's with their massive cargo capacities were unfurling portable mecha bays and armouries, most importantly in these areas behind the lines massive Pin point barrier generators were being erected. These would act as a first line of defense against enemy artillery, aircraft and even ortillery, allowing the soldiers to operate in relative safety under any but the heaviest bombardments. Unlike the portable versions utilised by the Divine Knightery of the Divine Kingdom, these were large enough to block massed artillery.

However this did little good for the Knights currently holding the front line villages...

++++

"Majour Kourian! Aller is hit bad, I think he is dead." A frantic voice spoke out amongst the chaos. The precognitive abilities of the Knights had saved all but a few from being caught in the open and incinerated. This allowed them just enough time to jump in to still searing trenches and foxholes cut by gras-entrenchers. Their supporting mecha had immediately lifted in to the air, trying to determine the direction of the enemy shells.

Knights were running to and fro to cover, dragging wounded and near dead in to foxholes and deep trenches even as explosions lit up the valley around them, splintering homes and flinging mud up in to the air. Kourian knew the young ones were not used to this, he could not expect them to be as calm as his faithful knights, who even now were attempting to dig out "mortar" emplacements.

"Young Knight do not fear, if anything can be done it will be, now get down, help Knight Terelian with that gras-entrencher, he only has one arm, he could use a second!." the Majour knew that this first battle would be the most tense for his young knights, that was why he was purposefully giving them harder tasks then most would give green soldiers. They had to learn quickly, their nova pancrea' would hopefully allow them to be forgiven for any mistakes, but in this environment it was chaos. Rounds were exploding everywhere, men were falling to the bombardment..they had no time to set up any defenses aside from a few hasty redoubts.

The village itself was now a smashed ruin. This had not been the intention, but it did not matter..now they were able to use this as a front line for the next phase of the conquest with little fear of harming civilians. They only had to hold out and secure this area until the Bad-Hertsfeldts landed. Then they could reembark and return to their ships and bases, awaiting new orders for deployment.

Then their mecha cover started to fire missiles, small tactical warheads, a new style of hydrogen bomb which used a minute amount of antimatter, rather then a dirty bomb as a catalyst. This would create a pure fusion explosion, at least on paper. These missiles, which were carried only in small quantities just for this purpose now streaked forth from the mecha on the ground and in the air. Counterbattery sensors had not established range. Hopefully this would at least lessen the enemy fire on their positions. Majour Kourian and perhaps as many as five hundred of his colleagues were counting on it.


***Rendezvous Point***

Star Lord Altenor had decided to create two waves out of his reserve force. The first would consist of the Eternal, the ten Bad-hertsfeldt assault ships and the twelve or so kilometer plus fortress-rocks
that would make up the planetary assault contingent. The main fleet would move in after the assault ships had landed. He had decided that surprise would make the best use of his one hundred and fourty ship armada.

As they prepared to move in, the second assault wave of high maneuver frames jumped in system, preceding the Eternal's own STC jump which would carry the fortresses in to position.

Altenor hated that stomach twisting feeling he always got when the system was activated. Suddenly the tiny task force vanished, as space and time folded in on itself.

++++

Without warning twelve very large and very heavily armed automated defense rocks appeared over the planet, taking up orbit even as they levelled their banks of Loengren cannons and masses of missile launchers on the defenses now in front of them. The massive bio-coms' were rather stupid, and their accuracy was not as impressive as the Knight vessels..or even the GAP..however at this range, the rain of fire would be quite impressive.

The five Kilometer long Eternal almost immediately activated its own Urenbecht catapult. The three hundred year old vessel disengaged, moving towards the DCN carrier fleet, making way for the ten, kilometer long assault ships of the GAP. They were based off the same hull as the Solarin, only they were armed with banks of heavy kinetic weapons and heavier then average shielding. They were designed to smash their way through both planetary and orbital defenses. They would now have their third test of such an action against the distracted defenses of the Mythrandir.

They fired heavy kinetic rounds in to the enemy defenses as they passed through them, taking heavy hits that would cripple most vessels as if they had barely touched them, thanks to their pinpoint shielding. The very first of them started to break orbit quickly, glowing red from scores of laser hits to its armour.Fifty thousand replicant soldiers were now landing. The invasion was about to begin.

Myth Fleets:

The sudden return of their full travelling capabilities brought hope to the crews aboard every ship. Now they could simply bypass the enemy vessels rushing out to meet them and attack closer to home with the support of the remaining orbital defenses. Haldir quickly ordered all ships to move into the warp and break for the planet.

Both fleets were engulfed in light as they were pulled into the warp. Now with the safety of the chaotic warp swirling all around them, Haldir could begin the second phase of his plan much sooner than he had expected. All ships were to exit the warp in their predetermined positions. By that time, every little probe should have emitted their pulsars. It would be a mix of constant bombardment along with orc pods trying to take control of some of the enemy ships. Every captain understood that they had to move fast to take full advantage of the situation.

It was a brief window of planning as all of this took but a few seconds with the short jump. Thousands of little probes moved in as class as possible to their targeted ship and decloaked. Enriched barrels began glowing as the pinch within began building up until it unleashed itself in different directions. The Electromagnetic pulsars fired at ships in all directions. Barrels feed the pulse so as to keep a high energy level as it travelled through the near vaccume of space. The Myths in the Forge had hoped the enriched barrels and short distance would provide enough power to the pulsars for them to do their job.

Shortly later a spiral of white energy formed on each side of the planet. Lances of energy twirled around until pulling in on itself and spewing forth two Myth fleets. They charged out into the enemy closing the distance while unleashing their righteous furry in all directions. Orcs drooled in their cages as they sensed the closeness of their prey. Primitive growls and screams filled the pods as they shot out towards ships that they hoped were disabled.

Lunar Battle:

Goblin fighters continued harrying the enemy mech units with break neck speeds and began filling communication waves with growls and blood curddling warcries. Fighters swarmed to every target they could find and lashed out like locusts. A strong beam of energy burnt a hole through their swarm and sent many scattering to avoid destruction but they soon regrouped. They would not be deterred by any attack while they still had hostile readings on their sensors.

Goblins pushed their fighters back into the fight meeting the barrage with their own. Despite the losses, they continued fighting without regard for themselves. Their focus ever being on the simple destruction of all beings that have been deemed the enemy.

Lunar Fleet Battle:

Captains Frylann and Drulgar kept their fleet mobile, using the moon as a shield of sorts to prevent an all around attack by the enemy. This way they could continue to pick off enemy vessels that strayed to close and prevent from being an easy target by any big guns that might be sitting in space.

"Keep the defensive systems firing. Target all projectiles and bring them down. Recall the Wraiths and have them report to the rear of the fleet."

Clouds of high speed shrapnel began filling up the space around the ships along with pin-point laser fire. Everything was being thrown out to lessen the intensity of the barrage on the shields and armor. Wraiths that were wondering out in the distance simply shimmered into their cloaks and began heading back for the fleets main line.

Ion cannons and EM pulsars were sent out in waves to disable or slow down approaching ships. Capital particle beam turrets locked onto incoming ships and sent out thousands of yellow streams. Missle tubes emptied and heavy pulse cannons continually rocked vessels. Captain Frylann watched the battle map as her ships moved about almost like a game. She watched as two more Angellic cruisers succumbed to repetitive fire. The Forge armor was strong and it was certainly proving itself at the moment but there is only so much punishment that a ship can withstand.

"Release safety solutions on the Warp torpedoes. Target the twelve largest vessels charging the fleet."

Twelve large torpedoes entered the warp through a small warp gate through their torpedo tubes. Now that the inhibitor field was finally gone, the elven captain could finally throw more firepower into their attacks by sending high munition torpedoes through the Warp only to have exit in close proximity to enemy ships. Hopefully, too close to counter it with any defenses.

"Launch all fighters and prepare them for surgical strikes."

By now what information could be gathered from the enemy vessels, was being downloaded into the goblins' battlenetwork in their brain. Outline of vessels and assumed gunports as well as anything that looked remotly important was being highlighted as key areas attacks.

Forge Moon:

Bruenor was quite tickled with himself. Even now he had continually bought himself more and more time as the invaders were being careful with their entry. Some of the mines he had laid had exploded as a result but there were still enough traps left to slow them down for longer. An orb was hovering near the ceiling of the blasted door and it was safe to say that none had entered yet. In the mean time he had collected a stockpile of ordinance for his own personal use should they actually breach the threshold. Uruks and Necron tanks were all ready for battle. Bruenor simply grinned as he looked at his weapon cache. The dwarf was going to enjoy being an annoyance.

For now, Dag'goroth needed to be contacted. Perhaps a run on the enemy fleet could get some units down to the homeworld for added defense. Though a lot of this depended on the captains that were in space fighting.

Mythrandir Planetside:

More and more of the Wyverns followed suit with Jeishka as they were not here to completely hault the attack of the enemy. To the elf, this was merely foreplay. She only regretted that some of the best accompanied her, and some of them had fallen in the first attack run. Now the vast majority were all disengaging if they had not already and making a break for the mountain range below.

Wyverns rolled in the air and proved quite agile when avoiding missles and melee attacks. The riders still fought off mech units with their lances to prevent them from getting too close. It was all about speed now and seeing if any of the pilots would follow the retreat.

------

"Lukien, I need you to round up all the kreel and bring them inside the city walls. We'll use the kreel if they breach our defenses since they have will be more suited to the urban combat. I need a detachment of STEADs outside and in the woods."

The elven captain looked at the War Mistress as they walked along, going over the defenses. "Bregger is out there now awaiting orders and Akeela went to Caer'alfar to set up a defense there. Mostly hit and run since we're hoping the enemy hasn't discovered any signs of civilization there yet."

Shizra nodded her approval. "Send a few video orbs out above the battlefield so we can redirect our artillery to be more effective. We'll keep their attention occupied there while the dwarves finish their work. How is the Horde?"

"At the moment they are moving into position through the tunnel networks. Let them get comfortable and then we'll hit them hard."

------

Alurial was whistling in the wind when she saw a missle coming straight for her section of the wall. With expert calm, Alurial reached into her quiver and pulled out an arrow. Still whistling, the elvish Elder knocked the arrow and let it fly. It instantly turned into a line of pure energy and collided with the missle. Alurial flipped back a lock of brown hair behind her pointed ear and watched as it exploded. Shrapnel collided and was then incinerated by the shield covering the city.

City defenses along the wall came on line to deal with incoming missles as the mortar launchers were safely hidden behind the city walls.

***Balmung***


The plan had been going well, then suddenly disaster struck. The enemy unleashed an EMP weapon, right on top of their homeworld. This weapon, though likely nullifying the rest of their own defenses, had hit the GTFOA fleet contingent hard. Worse still, the DCN carrier contingent had foreseen the attack, unfortunately it was almost too late. According to the status display ninety percent of the DCN battle carriers were still attempting to hard boot their power systems and computers. It would cost them several minute, several minutes they didnt have. The EMP attack had not been as harsh around the moon, likely due to the fact that the enemy had a fleet engaging Tannelornian assets there. However they were far to busy to support the GTFOA fleet that was about to be savaged.

The GTFOA fleet contingent had suffered ninety percent failure rate. Only twenty one ships were operational, three of the Monitors, one Solarin, the Divine Hammer and seventeen Honour blades were all that could function. The rest of the ships were on auxiliary power already, the amount of redundancy in a Tannelornian ship meant that it wouldnt be left entirely helpless. In this situation it was barely enough to keep Urenbecht fields at sixty percent, point defenses and their missile weapons.

Unfortunately most of the Bio-com missiles needed to be hard rebooted, already the prodigious amounts of Engineers on Tannelornian vessels were working hard to fix the problems..but orders were already filtering through the comms networks. Once power is restored to the DO device, disengage.

The fortress-rocks were nearly unnaffected, unfortunately heavy sensor and comm's systems were placed on the outside of the massive rocks, meaning they could not be ordered to defend the GTFOA fleets. Instead they continued to fire at the calculated positions of enemy orbitals, hammering them with their massive batteries of Loengren's. At this range the innacuracy of the Rock's was made up for by their sheer volume of fire.

"My Lord, shall we disengage Urenbecht Catapult?" Rendacil had paused for almost four seconds, a lifetime to a Tannelornian soldier. In that time he had formulated a new plan. Eternal was not responding to hails, however they were not in the path of the majourity of the enemy fleet. Instead there was but one option, to save the GTFOA fleet and the nearly one hundred ships now desperately attempting to fight back against the enemy presence, Balmung would have to fulfill its design purpose. "Ursa, estimated time till Event Horizon failure?" Rendacil asked, seemingly to no one in particular. "Twelve minutes, fourty two seconds my Lord." The bio-com responded gruffly. "Prepare for space time compression, Ursa get us here." He pointed to the strategic scanners, the enemies "Main fleet contingent" was now firing in to the nearly helpless GTFOA ships. They would now jump in to the enemies heart and activate their fleet engagement weapons until such a time as they could no longer function effectively. They would buy time for the GTFOA to re-organise and escape.

Balmung slipped out of the Urenbecht Catapult, and activated its Space time compression jump. In an instant the vessel reappeared in the middle of the enemy fleet. Rendacil smiled, The enemy would now feel the full firepower of Balmung, their fleet formation would only add to the carnage. If the Mythrandir had known of the abilities of Balmung they might not have chosen that formation. DCN vessels, especially the flag ship of the navy itself, were designed to fight massive numbers of enemy vessels through sheer quality and power of weaponry.

To engage the Balmung without first spreading your fleet formations over millions of kilometers invited disaster. Its Kinetic weapon could fill areas of space with high speed, ultra dense rounds, its Gotteslicht could sear the skies of enemy. Of course the enemy was likely to realise this soon enough..but not before they were given a bloody nose.

Even as she defolded the ports on the side of the mighty vessel opened up, hundreds of space time conduits traced their way from either side of the vessel, starting to fill space with a hail of kinetic kill rounds, it would be almost impossible to miss at this range. They were firing through the smaller ships to get at the largest vessels, the hail of death continuing on through the tiny vessels trying to protect the large ships.

Rendacil knew there wasnt much time, but if they could hurt the enemy hard enough, they could keep them from killing the thousands of Tannelornian soldiers aboard the ships of the GTFOA. Balmung found its true prey, almost hidden behind a screen of vessels. One of the enemies largest ships was now in its sights, the booms making up the forward section of the ship split as a patina of gamma rays bounced along the magnetic focusing coils adorning the inner booms. They focused in to a searing beam of light, erupting from the Gotteslicht cannon, arching its way through space and escorts towards the enemy's largest ship. Balmung then targetted it with her Loengren batteries, firing through the gap created by the massive strategic graser.

Even if they did not destroy the enemy battleship, the damage to the fleet would be enough...likely more then enough to get their attention...and keep it.

***DCN Carrier Group: Sunward side***


"All ships status report." Lord Helias stated. He was quickly answered by the ships under his command. Generators successfully shut down
prior to the enemy attack. It had taken some time for the pulse to reach them, but reach them it had. Now they were on back up power, stored in the crystal power matrices that lined the internal of the DCN vessels like a capilliary system. It would take approximately five minutes to regain full function. Residual power systems could keep them functional for at best three minutes in full scale combat, which was what they were about to face. With the enemy fleets main force jump to engage, they now found themselves in the unenviable position of being incredibly low on power output while facing a veritable armada of vessels.


Fortunately, Tannelornian mecha reactors were quick to restart, their mecha compliment as with the GTFOA's were operational, though in a quirk of fate that many would find ironic, most of the mecha's backup sensors were fried by the pulse. They were not as well shielded as those in the head-sensor's. After a few moments of confusion, short ranged ship to mecha communications were restored and the decision was made to engage one of the enemy fleet's facing them and to keep them away from the GTFOA armada.

The GTFOA contingent was far worse off then any other, the DCN vessels were soon to run out of combat power, only having at most a few minutes of weapons power before requiring their reactors. Lord Helias ordered his remaining Algol HMAF's, twenty in all to assist the GTFOA fleet and ordered all ships to engage the enemy. No lesser batteries were to be fired, only Loengren. They started to sing the song of death, massive energy beams powering up and firing in to the enemy fleet which was attempting to engage them. Their Morgenraete and Sturmanrufer squadrons screamed in to the attack, racing towards the battle as quickly as possible.

***Night side:GTFOA attack***

"Damage report all units please reply." Federal Captain Ramila asked. As far as she was able to see, Divine Hammer was the sole fully operational battleship. Quickly the monitor's Righteous Indignation, Solbane and the Undying devotion to Duty answered the hails, as did seventeen of the sixty four Honour Blade frigates. "All operational units, form up and prepare to attack, all semi operable units, attempt to engage with Bio-com' munitions until such a time as you can disengage, you have done your job, a dead hero cannot protect their people." She ordered. They started to form up even as the enemies attacks started against them. PPBS barriers were at full strength, attempting to protect the desperately regrouping battle line. Missile impacts and energy beams were already raking across the hulls of the barely mobile GTFOA squadrons, the damage was mounting by the second.

"Order the damn Fortresses to assist the GTFOA, tell them to stop firing at the bloody defenses, they are no concern." she demanded. "My Lady, they arent responding to our hails, it seems their communications as well as sensors may have been damaged in the attack." Federal-Coms officer Monove responded. "Damn it, all ahead full and damn the torpedo's" she grimaced. She had been in worse spots, she had fought in the opening engagement in the first Hellespontos war, when the Aumanii fleet had been decimated by the combined MIDAS fleet. They were forced to retreat to the asteroid belt, where the only space battle of the war Vascilia won was fought. She had been in command of an Ikazuki battle ship at the time, her Solarin was descended directly from that proud line of ships. If ever there was a ship she could trust it was this.

With a soft sigh she rose from her chair and walked briskly over to the strategic holo-tank floating in the center of the bridge. Thank god we have the monitors this time. "Federal Captain Arman, Federal-Captain Hornburg and Federal-captain Grozny please take the rear of the formation, clear us a path through the smaller vessels if you would please." she stated the order, watching as the vessels started to move as she had ordered.

The Flotilla strength unit started to power towards the enemy fleet, one Solarin battleship and seventeen Honour blades were all that stood between the enemy and their defenseless comrades. Then she got the bad news. "My Lady, Freedom's Reign is starting to break up, I have not detected any life boats as of yet." Ramila's Heart sank. Another battle ship lost, half the might of the fourth fleet was now circling this planet. Four of the honour Blades were already starting to die as well. "Incoming enemy contacts my Lady. Enemy daughtercraft incoming, they are not coming towards us my lady." he stated. "All ships prepare to intercep..." it was then that the first good news since the EMP attack started to make itself apparent.

Suddenly the vox crackled to life, the Eternal was nearby, as well she was nearly fully operational, her long range communications were out but that was only a temporary problem for the command ship. "GTFOA fleet contingent, do you need assistance?" a haughty voice sounded over the vox caster. "Aye my Lord we could use a bit of a hand here." she replied. "We have no communications with our mecha divisions or our comrades, where are the reinforcements!" she asked. "Long range communications are down, the Mecha divisions are still active, the EMP blast burned out their long range communications, however Aethernet is still functional, switch to DEM channels now, Captain." Suddenly the Vox came to life, hundreds of voices screaming for status reports, asking if anyone was still alive, swearing revenge on the cowards who would attack defenseless vessels. The HMF's in orbit were still alive, and they were angry.

Her orders were quick and concise. All operation HMAF's in the vicinity would aid in the attack against the enemy fleet, HMF's would engage the enemy and protect the defenseless ships, preventing missiles and enemy daughtercraft from engaging.

Suddenly there was a bustle of activity on the strategic network holo-tank. Hundreds of dots marking HMF's of all types were converging on the enemy assault boats, as well as twenty or so Algol HMAF's, preparing to attack the enemy fleet head on.

Then the Eternal started to move in to formation with them. The three mile long command ship was ancient even by the standards of the Einhander gun destroyers, as old as the Ikazuki's themselves. However their armaments and armour were thick, she was not anywhere near as capable as the Balmung but she had more firepower then two Solarin battleships.

The first action of the Eternal was to deploy a flight of large missiles, which promptly broke up and scattered in to a mass of one kilogram high density darts. These missiles were specifically designed to break up fleet formations to allow the Eternal to escape if surrounded by enemy vessels while her STC jump was recharging. This time they would be used to force a path for the tiny fleet now facing the massed armada of the enemy.


They powered up weapons and started to fire, flaming tongues of hard X rays and brilliant blossoms of pulsar engagement lasers erupted from the Solarins and Honour blades as they powered in to the attack, attempting to take advantage of the breech being made by the Eternal. They watched as the Algol HMAF's disappeared in to tiny pinpoints of light as they started to attack the enemy fleet, finding and engaging the lightest vessels to allow the weight of enemy numbers to be felt far less by the outnumbered GTFOA contingent.

On board the Honour Blade Tempest voices started to raise in song, this spread with like a virus throughout the eighteen ship flotilla now racing towards the enemy fleet. They could not stop them all, and likely they couldnt survive. They were on a mission with a higher purpose then that of simple territorial gain and power, even if they died they would die knowing they fulfilled not only their duty, but their destiny.

***GAP Fleet***

Commodore Zietski's force, like the Balmung had been in Urenbecht transit at the time of the attack. Unfortunately they were also almost a twelve million kilometers from the battle, and had been travelling for several minutes. Minutes they could not get back. Zietski cursed his luck on the bridge of the Resplendent Light of Freedom, and ordered his crews to turn back towards the battle. He sat in his command throne, gripping the chair Tightly as he watched the fleet turn and start to race back towards the battle. Too slow damnit. Damn those Knights, Balmung steals the glory once again. he seethed at this. During the final battle for Hellespontos, Balmung had stolen any hope of glory for the GAP, as it and the DCN forces quickly saw off the GPE combined fleet group attacking holy Tannelorn and the Divine Kingdom itself. The Knights themselves fought the following battles, not allowing any warriors of the Prefecture or of the GTFOA to fight in the ensuing battle.

Not this time. he was seething now. "3/961, prepare to activate DoD device, take us in to the enemy formation." his orders were lunacy. Unlike Balmung which was equipped with a point to poinr space time compression device, they were equipped with DEM drives. Drives which were so horribly inaccurate they were all but useless as a tactical FTL. Ship scientist Keller protested furiously but was silenced by the raising of a white gloved hand. "It is the only way to rescue our brethren in the GTFOA, our fellow soldiers could use our firepower right now, couldnt they?" he grinned. The scientist was mute, and simply sat in his own chair and held on tight.

The ships fired pulses from their DoD's and slipped through the Aether.

++++

A fraction of a second later the vessels tore through in to real space, so close to the enemy that collision was more then a possibility. They were firing even as they regained their bearings. A nearly blind DEM jump in to a hostile fleet was unheard of. The latent velocity was carrying the kilometer long, ten million tonne vessels right through enemy formations. They placed all PPBS fields to the fore and poured seconds long beams of X ray's in to the enemy at close range, their own sides vulnerable as they attempted to slow to a reasonable speed for such a confrontation.


The most severe disadvantage of this attack was that activating such a short Aether jump, in to territory that was not properly mapped was that the vessels were not sure which enemy formation they jumped in to. In fact they werent even sure which direction they were going. Still thirteen heavily armed and armoured battleships in the middle of a formation is going to attract attention. Commodore Zietski would find his glory today. He only hoped none of the ships in his squadron crashed in to enough enemy ships to destroy them.

The ships came head on crashing through the enemy formation, it didnt matter if they knew where they were. It only mattered that the enemy ships, were being struck by the knives of energy slicing out from their heavy turrets. The Hellebarde's, Faust's and HMAF Endymion's of the GAP fleet had followed their parent craft in to the fray. The smaller mecha following in the battleship's gravitational wake, the HMAF's firing their own DoD and making their own random jumps. The Prefecture fleet exitted the Aether, brazenly flinging death and destruction in to the enemy ships. They hoped the enemy would break off from the attack against the GTFOA fleet. If they did not, they hoped the enemy would at least die well.

***DCN gun armada***

Lord Kendall sat smiling in his command throne. Nice trick, but not heroic in the least. He had expected at least one enemy fleet to stay behind to deal with them, but after suddenly losing contact with most of the fleet, as well as detecting a heavy EMP barrage, he understood why.

"All vessels, reload antimatter shells and make for the enemy at full speed." Lord Kendall stood up from his seat and walked forward. The Panoramic displays on the bridge allowed those inside to see as if they were fully in space, holographic sub monitors sprang up everywhere to allow for more detailed sensor analysis and situational reports, and he was reading them all carefully. It was unheard of to give the order to load antimatter shells twice in a battle. They were now nine minutes from engagement, and this time they knew the enemy would fight.

Once again the vessels activated their Urenbecht catapults, not wishing to utilise the Botoru maneuver, as Commodore Zietski had. That maneuver would not normally pass through the minds of any but the most desperate, or foolish captain's. Perhaps Zietski is a little of both Lord Kendall grinned, welcoming the familiar tugging sensation that signified entry in to the space time compressed pocket that was the Urenbecht field. The Mecha squadrons followed behind, simply riding the gravitational wakes of the DCN ships, being pulled through the conduit with the fleet at nearly the speed of light. The sixty or so Algol's now rode to the front and side of the formation of Knight-ships, forming the outriders of the convoy.


***The Fortress Moon [The Forge]***

Crimson Mane understood now. These were drones, and not just drones but mindless, aggressive killer bees. These were the units that they were designed to engage and destroy, they would not disappoint their masters. He and his remaining lionesses quickly turned on the enemy fighters as the brilliant beam of destruction from the Pax Mortis passed through the swarm. Using their remaining missile supply they moved in quickly, staying in formation and cutting a scythe through the enemy forces, watching them break then reform again. Perfection, the Masters shall be here soon, we shall prepare this place for them. The Lions thoughts were cold and ruthless, but he had his moments of compassion. Had these been manned fighters, he would not be considering the action he was now about to take. The enemy EMP attacks had cut off their link with the Pods, but that did not matter.

The link with the Lowe prides was still strong. In his mind he and the elders of the Prides reached a consensus and started to attack the enemy in a concerted encirclement attack. They had fled the incoming beam attack, buying themselves the time they needed to do this. The swarm came on, killing lowe's every second, but they expended their missile supplies, keeping them bunched up in to a rolling, moving ball of units, dancing away from them and descending upon them again and again in high speed lightning strikes.

The HMAF's of the GAP were now hammering the enemy swarm with capital scale Xaser beams and missile pods, anything that could be used to kill as many of them as possible. With the lowes forming a net the HMAF's were able to focus solely on killing as large of groups of the enemy fighters as possible.

Still the sheer amount of enemies was taking its toll, a few more HMAF's fell in the center of the swarm as they performed lightning strikes, firing their massive xaser's and chopping and slicing left and right with their energy blades.

The Alpha II's and Fausts of the GTFOA now descended on the swarm. They sliced through the swarm at high speeds firing massive salvo's of Xas-missiles from their FAST packs as well as their internal supplies, switching to high maneuver configuration to kill anything within reach. As they danced and dodged through the enemy swarm, their point defense lasers, mounted under the carapace started to fire in to enemy missiles. Alpha's and Fausts were dying, but at nowhere near the rate the Lowe's had been. The Lowe's were deemed expendable enough to not warrant the defense laser upgrades that all manned mecha had as standard issue.

The mecha of Tannelorn were working in concert now, lowes surrounding and pinning the enemy with their very lives if need be, while the Alpha II's, Fausts and Endymions engaged the enemy with righteous fury.

+++GFN and the Fifth Fleet+++


Giftzahnson had been hit, not terribly so but enough. He was now down two weapons as well as one of his port missile launchers. It didn't matter, an entire enemy fleet was now in front of them, they were being supported by Algol HMAF's and the Fifth fleet's contingent. All was well for them.

Still Giftzahnson was proud, he had just performed a perfect roll over and evaded a missile which appeared directly in front of him. However Small hump had not been so lucky. He had taken a missile directly in the prow, then another and another as the impact slowed him and sent him out of control. He was now strewn across the orbit, his remains nothing but flotsam and jetsam doomed to forever circle this world.

He and his pod continued in to the attack, enemy fire raining in to them as they split their formation. Encirclement was the role of these vessels in such circumstances as they could call upon the aid of their Tannelornian masters. They no longer continued to pursue the Angellus cruisers with singleminded determination, but instead started to fan out in to a wide formation, using their design agility as well as superior three dimensional awareness to put themselves on the edges of the enemy fleet. The enemy attacks came in hard and fast. The same enemy formations that were allowing the GFN to use their mobility against them, were also hampering their targetting of heavy capital ships. It was also increasing the effectiveness of the enemy cone of fire, which was nullifying some of the agility of the ships. Nearly a fifth of the GFN armada was now crippled or destroyed by the enemy fire, but now they were able to use some of their agility to evade.

++++

Knight-Sky Captain Frey Yarolim rolled her Algol away from a burst of heavy capital weaponry and in to a cloud of shrapnel. Her Ubecht field protected her from more then a few armour scrapes against the point defense weapons, as it did her squadron mates. She pushed her seventy meter mecha through a hard dive and roll up as they passed through an enemy formation, targetting the lighter cruiser weight vessels as they passed. Suddenly warning klaxons sounded and she rolled the PPBS barrier to the right, feeling the impact of a heavy ship weapon on the force field as it sent her back several kilometers, almost in to an enemy star ship.

She took advantage of the situation and powered in, both beam sabers extended, Pulsar lasers flaring in to the enemy ships underbelly. Her Algols had come from a higher stellar plane, they were attempting to weaken the enemy shields as well as take advantage of the barrages of the GFN and GTFOA ships. Knight-Captain Helvar had come from the opposite direction relative to the pods. These mecha were hammering the smaller ships with missiles, all the while attempting to deploy their anti ship missiles against heavier targets. Streams of light erupted in an almost never ending barrage from the incredibly agile mecha. Their sheer size was misleading, they were designed purely for space combat, as such their engines were powerful enough to not only add incredible speed, but incredible agility to their frames. So far Algol losses had been light, of the sixty or so engaging the enemy fleet head on, only four had been lost, with another four damaged.

The five HMAF Endymion' armours assisting the attack centered their attacks on enemy capital ships already weakened by the Algol's, putting their heavy Xaser's and anti ship torpedo's to good use. Then another was lost, flying through a hail of shrapnel a lucky hit managed to pass straight through the pilots compartment of the Hellebarde at the center of the armour, as well as the pilot itself. The pilot, now mortally wounded gunned her engines with her last bit of strength, aiming her several thousand tonne mecha straight in to an enemy capital ship before losing consciousness forever.

++++

"Damage report." Federal-Captain Uthelien demanded. "Prow-left armour damaged by the attack sir." a female voice sang out. The replicant girl at defensive stations was enthusiastic, if a little loud. "Keep Pin point barrier 4 fixed on its location at all times, keep the rest conformal with the prow." She nodded, placing two of the three remaining barriers to the prow of the ship.

"Enemy Fighter launches detected Federal-Captain." another voice sounded out quickly. "Activate Point defense fields, order half of the remaining escort Alpha's, and all remaining Fausts to intercept, all hellebardes remain on point defense." A small attack force moved out to intercept any fighters that were coming towards them, as well as to aid the GFN ships, who had few lowe's remaining in point defense.

Glory of Heaven was firing its heavy Graser again, having moved up in the stellar plane to punch a shot right through the enemy formation. They would punish the enemy for using such a tight formation against them. Had they known of the fleets Tannelorn they would have known what an error it was to allow their strategic grasers and antimatter missiles a clear shot in to many targets. The Honour blades started to level salvo's of the Bio-mech drone missiles, watching as they moved up and over to get the best angles of attack against the enemy. Hundreds of heavy damage, but short length gras-beams started to erupt amongst the enemy fleet, coming from the top.

Then the Solarins crested the top of the moon, firing in to the enemy formations, xasers cutting through the enemy wraith's to get at the fleet itself. It didnt matter which ships were killed, so long as ships were killed. This was the duty of a battleship of Tannelorn.

Uthelien watched on the holo displays, barely feeling the occassional smack of an enemy weapon against the hull of his ship. He admired the battlecraft of the Mythrandir. Though they were inexperienced in the ways of war, they almost made up for it with determination and cunning. Perhaps, he thought to himself they were right to do this, one day the Mythrandir could have threatened them.

He hoped his own Alpha's and Fausts would reach the GFN pods before the enemy fighters did, even though there were only perhaps a hundred spare units. He knew that point defense wasn't a specialty of the pods, and with the lowe's engaging a massive swarm of the enemy on the other side of the moon, the GFN ships were nearly defenseless.

He attempted to raise the GAP contingent aiding the lowes, but was met only with static. Long range comms had been effected by the EMP attack. He tried again, this time he got an answer. "This is GAP soldier 3/123 I am no longer in contact with Commodore Zietski's fleet, may I take your orders, sir?" she asked, the stress of battle not even showing on her cheerful voice. "Aye, move in and support the pods, the enemy is releasing fighters and many seem to be headed right for them." he stated. "Aff." she answered and ended the communication. Uthelien could see the four blips of the HMAF Endymion armour's slipping out of the fleet battle and heading as fast as they could towards the GFN, preparing their still full compliment of anti fighter missiles for battle.

***The Forge Moon: Surface***

Knight-Lieutenant Ybrasil moved quickly in to the breach, leading his assault team down the corridor. He noticed something above him in the ceiling, and fired on it a few times to ensure it was not a danger. Knight-Cavalier Rosa Erethina continued to move, utilising her own psychic talents as well as the DEM amplifier on her wrist to search out traps. The assault teams started to move more briskly, the fourty or so cavaliers were heavily armed. They would not only search out the enemy inside the complex for the main force to engage, but disarm any traps the enemy had left behind.

The rest of the force prepared to enter the compound upon the signal, still in a fire fight with the turrets that showed themselves. Now all that was needed was for the assault teams to make contact, then the battle for this moon could be won.

***Mythrandir: Aerial Battle***

Bale could see the remaining enemy units starting to flee, it was little wonder. Such things as dragons would be best suited to ground support, like a Hellebarde Bale thought to himself. New orders were coming in. Proceed to Bad Hertzfeldts and DCC field camps for rearmament. His command had been reduced by two mecha throughout the dogfight, he looked back one more time at the fleeing enemy before joining the other thousand or so GTFOA mecha in making it to the waiting transport ships. Fifty of the DCN Knights in their Morgenraete's continued to pursue the enemy forces, not only catching up with them but overtaking them at phenomenal speeds, they started to deploy their own 15kt's in to the remaining wyverns, letting the blossoming explosions take the riders as well as the wyverns out of the air.

Bale was curious at the sudden change of behaviour on the part of the Knights, after all they had been engaging in honourable combat. Then the reason why dawned on him...

+++

"I want only three of them to return to the enemy, kill the rest and kill them now, they wish to flee, let them. They rob themselves of the honour they earned this day by refusing to honour our challenges." Jan Azantine stated. He knew full well that the GTFOA wouldnt dare interfere with the challenges of the Knight-pilots, the enemy however might not have.


They stayed just out of reach, allowing the area of effect Mirv'd warheads to not only blind rider and steed, but to blast them with millions of degree's centigrade, and blow them out of the air with overpressure. The Knights preferred to use nuclear weaponry in atmospheric dogfight's, missing didnt matter as much against fragile atmospheric only craft. Even against Aerospace targets, hits at ground zero hits could melt even the strongest orbital ready armour and main battle tanks. The Knights had just used the strongest "safe" weapons they had at their disposal. If they were in space the payloads could be much larger, but orders were strict. No destruction of the biosphere is acceptable.

They then darted in, reconfiguring in to high maneuver configuration and firing volleys of pulsar laser, hyper velocity chain guns and particle cannons in to the fleeing craft that remained.

Then new orders came in. Standard hunt doctrine, then return for rearmament. He informed the mecha under his command of their new orders, and continued to attack. He was going to leave them with just three after all, then they would follow from an extreme distance, then return with as many Mecha fighter's, as well as Horizon's armed with Bomber packs as possible.

***Ground Action***


Almost a hundred Divine Celestial Cavaliers were dead or wounded, a fifth of the forward element. It was expected though, and their duty. As suddenly as they had been deployed, new soldiers came in to replace them. The Horizon T's returned, picking up the Cavaliers, living and dead and returned them to the rear positions. At the same time Assault landers from the GAP were coming in, deploying hundreds of soldiers in to each village area. They were quickly setting up portable Land Pin point barrier systems, allowing the Hellebardes not helping with the construction efforts to act in response to the artillery, engaging as many rounds as possible.

The Bad Hertzfeldt's had broken orbit, and even though most had suffered some damage and Apollyon had been destroyed by orbital fire and the EMP attack. Most of her cargo had been ready to deploy and was able to escape through the massive bays in the underside of the vessel as she plummeted in to the ocean, It was these three thousand surviving troops and Hellebarde HMF's that were forming the line. They would soon be reinforced with heavy artillery and THT-2 formations, but for now they had much work to do.

They were starting by expanding the trench network hastily put up by the Divine Celestial Cavaliers, building up redoubts with explosives and unloading prefab defensive constructions. Earthworks and redoubts were being dug out by Hellebarde HMF's, Mecha could come in very handy at times. Even with these defenses, replicant girl soldiers were wounded and killed as they rushed in to defenses from transports.

The assault transports were carrying other cargoes as well. Upon recieving the first reports of enemy artillery activity, they had deployed missile-tubes. A form of compact artillery that fires a low yield linebreaker round a great distance. The weapons were designed to blast enemy strongpoints out from underneath, denying the enemy non gravitic movement as well as killing any poor person standing over top of the blast. These weapons were now barking out in a return fire.

They did not make up for the lack of real artillery, but this close to the lines, heavy Artillery would only be a liability. The Bad-hertzfeldt's now floating down to the surface, in the rear positions would take up that role. Within a few minutes of the arrival of GAP ground forces in the forward positions, they were greeted by a great thundering noise. Looking up the replicant-girl soldiers would be able to see corkscrewing vapor trails as the massive kinetic weapons started to hammer the positions that had fired the first offensive artillery rounds.

Slowly but orderly the ships started to fire rounds in to the enemy defenses, like battleships of old firing against inland artillery.

The first of the Assault transport ships set down in a small coastal village on the edge of the southern continent, an area the DCC were already preparing for their own Morgenraetes return. As it landed the first of the GTFOA air units started to ask for permission to rearm.

There were three thousand Divine Celestial Cavaliers, nine assault transports, fourty five thousand replicant-soldiers, three thousand high maneuver frames, with another two thousand High mobility frame Hellebardes. A thousand Faust interceptors and two hundred PASS-19 heavy Aerospace fighters made up the strike craft/interceptor compliments of the forces. With this was an armoured division stored in the Bad Hertzfeldts, almost five hundred THT-2's and two hundred Tannelornian artillery tank 1's made up the third and twelfth Prefecture Land squadrons.

Within the first twenty minutes half of the available high mobility frames and Prefecture soldiers were on the ground, helping to prepare fortifications and supply depot's for the coming ground campaign.

+++++

At seventy thousand feet a squadron of twelve Horizon's flew nearly silently over the enemy city. This had been the start point of the artillery barrage that had been killing the DCC before the Prefecture soldiers had landed and set up the PPB barriers. This was only minutes before, the Captains of the transports were still en route to support their charges.

The DCC regiments stationed aboard the Einhander destroyers were only fourty strong contingents, of which thirty two would be fielded in a horizon, which was designed to hold one hundred and eighty of the Knights.

The Horizon's on those ships often carried different load out pods, as in this case many were carrying pre-fab constructions under their wings as well as soldiers. These twelve however, were different.

They were carrying bomb-packs, They contained enough payload to equal the best of strategic bombers. Very few of the Horizon's at this point were deploying the expensive bomb packs, but these twelve would make their presence felt. The Horizon's sheer flexibility is what has kept it in service for so long, now they would show the enemy why. As they passed over their target, the sixty meter transport shuttles dropped their remaining bunkers, which then opened up dropping a cargo of missiles and darts on to the ground. They were guided until impact to strike in to the enemy positions, their targetting-brains locked only on to the locations of the enemy catapults.

From the sky a veritable rain of death dropped on to the Mythrandir capital, though it was aiming for defenses. One could only guess how effective one impact or another might be against a defense, or the houses and shops next to it.

The Knights cheered as they watched the first impacts through sensors, then turned to rendezvous with their Cavaliers.

Myth Fleet 2: Sky Scream & Heorot

The barbarian captain and his griffon comrade had found themselves in a favorable position. At the moment, they out numbered their adversaries while many of the ships were successfully disabled by the probes. Both captains felt confident despite the increasing number of ships appearing. What caused some amount of concern and drew their attention was the rather large vessel that had appeared in their midst. Heorot and Sky Scream quickly surmised that they would handle this ship while the majority of the fleet dealt with the incoming enemy vessels.

Talons clicked on the stone armrest while the griffon thought through their plan of attack. Surrounding the ship and bombarding it from all directions seemed to be the ideal way of handling such a massive vessel. It would also prevent the enemy from receiving any one clear target. Sky Scream remained eerily calm even while ships around him took damage from the continued attacks.

A mountain of muscle, the barbarian man towered over the rest of his crew as he stood to view the developing battle. Much of the same ideas were running through his own mind. "Separate the fleet in half with Captain Sky Scream and I staying back to deal with this ship. We'll only need a few of the Horde Cruisers to assist us. Send the rest forward to engage the hostiles."

A young woman nodded her understanding and relayed the order throughout the entire fleet. There was a notable break in the fleet's formation as the two battleships and a number of the heavy cruisers circled around the Balmung. The rest broke forward in a charge to clash against incoming enemy vessels. Wraiths and Angellic cruisers darted in as close as possible to enemy vessels and blasted with everything they had. Lances of energy raced out to pierce their targets and engulf the enemy in a cleansing flame.

Sky Scream now apraised the situation. "Remove safety measures on the Cosmo gun and prepare to fire to all weapons."

"Safety measures haved been released, all weapons are prepared to fire."

From both battleships, fire and brimstone rained down on the sole enemy vessel as they unleashed their main energy weapon. The Cosmo gun fired its blinding beam into the heart of the ship hoping to pierce its heart. Particle beam turrets from the two ships fired in all directions straffing against anything on the exterior of the ship. Horde cruisers started their bombardment with a deafening barrage of pulse cannon fire and burst lasers. The amount of fire rocked every ship and caused them to adjust their stabilizers every time a full barrage was fired.

Heorot looked pleased with the demonstration but this one little fight could not last too long as there were comrades fighting elsewhere that needed their help. One vessel did not demand his full attention. "Launch fighters and begin surgical strikes."

From the docking bays, waves of goblin fighters darted out from the battleships and few cruisers. No information was known about this vessel or any of its kind. Primary programs took over and their first objective would be to gather information on their own to assist in their first attack. At high speeds, the fighters screamed passed the ship scanning the ship at maximum power to get the general layout of the ship. Once completed, they should have a decent layout of weapon ports and exterior fixtures.

------

The remaining Horde Cruisers had just begin to commence their bombardment on the incoming hostiles when their targeting sectors were disrupted by another group of vessels that appeared seemingly out of nowhere. One Angellic Cruiser was unlucky enough to get caught in the attack and was plowed over sending it back to the rear in pieces.

Undaunted, the Horde Cruisers welcomed the newly arrived with a bombardment that had been meant for those that the enemy was attempting to aid. Wraiths and the lighter cruisers kept up their attacks despite the additional enemy units that had arrived. Bringing them closer together simply meant that they did not have to go looking for the enemy.

Myth Fleet 1: Haldir & Genji

"Well my elven friend, it seems we are not so bad off afterall. It looks like your little plan manage to catch more than a few of them off guard."

The minature holographic image of Captain Genji on the deck in front of Haldir, smiled slightly. Haldir on the other hand had been designated commander of their operations as communication with homeworld had been lost at the beginning of battle. Information was only just now being sent to SIREN on the preceedings of the battle. The situation with the second fleet had Haldir slightly concerned. Like Heorot, he understood the importance of pushing through the enemy units and linking up with other Myth units. "We still have to deal with those in front of us Captain Genji, then we will have to see about clearing the moon. Right now let us concentrate on the moment at hand."

Haldir's attention shifted from the image to his commanding crew. "Fire all missle tubes and particle beam cannons. Save the main cannon for their bulk ships."

Turning back to Genji's image, "I suggest hitting them hard and fast to break them. Then we can move on. Be sure you are in contact with the pods so that the orcs are not without their programming."

From the first Myth fleet came a hail of arrows from their missle silos. They flooded the space before them with their numbers as they danced through space towards their targets. Traces of particle cannons streaked across the darkness as they sought out enemy vessels. Haldir and Genji pushed their fleet forward while defense systems kicked on in preparation for any smaller craft coming in.

Orc Pods:

From all fleets, boarding pods flooded the area as they were launched from almost every ship. The pods containing enraged, battle-ready orcs darted for unsuspecting ships. Any ship was a potential target though they had been launched in the direction of the disabled vessels as it would make boarding easier instead of dealing defense systems.

Sky Scream, Heorot, Genji, and Haldir all monitored the progress of those pods as they travelled at break neck speeds for both functional and disabled vessels.

Lunar Battle:

Captain Frylann felt the shockwave from the blast that rocked her ship. The elf knew her ship had been hit but the extent of the damage remained unknown. Warning sirens were sounding throughout the ship while damage control crews moved about to seal up the breaches in the hull and stabilize pressure on board. Despite her retreating tactic, it had been necessary to pull in as many enemy units away from the support of their surrounding vessels. Now with the moon as a shield, it should let them fight unobstructed.

"Damage report!"

"Damage to the starboard side. Crews are working to stabilize the pressure on the ship but we've lost about twenty missle silos in that attack. Missle silos still functioning at ninety-eight percent."

Frylann blew a strand of hair away from her face. "Captain Drulgar, split the fleet and close the distance to enemy units. Engage at point blank range."

The dwarven captain hopped out of his chair. A wide smile with missing teeth crossed his beared face. "Finally! Now yur talkin' me language elf. A'ight laddies, ye heard de lass. Charge into'em lads!"

Captain Frylann and Drulgar divided their fleet sending half with the elf and the rest with the dwarf. They charged out in different directions trying to close the gap in distance, getting close enough to him them with a hammer throw. MACs rocketed out along with a missle volley and particle beam fire. Their furry was renewed with the sound of the charge and they broke forward with everything they had to soften the crash.

Fighters scrapped past the enemy's larger vessels depositing torpedoes and laser fire on weapon ports, sensor rays, and anything that looked important.

Forge Moon:

An explosion sounded at the front of bulkhead door to the moon base. Bruenor had rigged explosives around the door to collapse it and trap whatever troops had moved into the complex. The door was almost useless on the outside and debris from the moons surface gave way to bring down a section of the ceiling. Up ahead where the hall forked, pressure doors slammed shut and sealed themselves preventing anyone from choosing a path. Trap lasers had been sent up within the hall to fill it with molten plasma should anyone walk over it.

Bruenor saw that it was time for him to get into place. Already what units he had available to him were prepared for the assault. The wiry dwarf scooped up a few weapons and broke into a side panel, making his way through the complex series of doors, chambers, and side passages.

Mythrandir Planetside:

"Now you short smelly bastards! Fire now!" Jeishka barked into the communication orb that was hovering around her. The remainder of her wyvern riders had made it to the mountain pass and were now flying as fast as their mounts could carry them. Energized and explosive lances still flew from their grips as they tried keeping the enemy pursuers at bay, but Jeishka was expecting something slightly more.

Since her first communication transmission to the dwarves in the mountain, had been preparing for their retreat. Turrets stood manned and ready for her wyvern riders to pass by and then they would unleash the dwarven gauntlet that had been prepared.

With her high pitched scream piercing the rush of air, dwarven units revealled themselves in their mountain halls. Heavy laser fire and shrapnel erupted from the mountain chain. Rapid fire anti-air batteries covered the mountain from the top all the way to the bottom. Missle silos targeted the flying machines and unleashed a barrage coming from both sides of the pass.

Jeishka raised an energy lance and signalled for her riders to break for the mountain floor. They had risked friendly fire for the sake of destroying enemy units. The mountain passes were covered with dwarven fire and Jeishka wished to minimize the risk in running the gauntlet. Let the flying machines take the majority of the flak.

------

Video link orbs were hovering over the area of the artillery bombardment and fed the information back to the capitol. Adjustments were being made for the trenches as well as the enemy structures that were being constructed. The next barrage came in heavily for these areas.

The city itself stood strong even with the bombing as more and more of stone wall came alive with defenses targeting the bombardment. Even the White Tower was not without its own defense. City shielding groaned in protest from the impact of enemy bombardment. Still the city held firm much to the satisfaction of its defenders.

------

The War Mistress had had enough of the foreigners already. Information showed her that they were already moving onto a small deserted island of the southern coast of Mythrandir. An invasion from the sea did not trouble her, but letting the enemy walts right up to their main gates without being contested was slightly a problem.

With the captain in tow, Shizra cleared a table in one of the abadonded shops in the city proper. The dark elf unrolled the map which displayed the layout of the area as well as their tunnel network. "Move a fourth of the Uruks here to this location and the Bog units will support them from the northern flank from this tunnel here."

Shizra's hands glided over the map, pointing out the locations she was referring to. "The dwarves from Hammer Hall have already finished their task and now it is up to us to deal with the invaders. Bring Lieutenant Bregger out from the woods on a calvary charge. Tell him he'll have the support of our artillery. I want this town back in our control. From there we can create a first line of defense to aid in purging the foreigners."

Lukien looked at the map, with the village that they were currently bombing circled. The elven captain looked up at the War Mistress. "Does Elder Sebastian know about this?"

"No he doesn't but he would approve since we are taking this village back. Now I want the Uruks programmed with protocol 3 since the enemy has already established a moderate defense. They'll be attacking from the rear of the village so speed is everything."

"What about air cover?"

Shizra pulled out a holographic orb from her pouch. The image of a dark elf male appeared. "Drafir, are your Shra'lak ready?"

The minature figure nodded his head. "We are Shizra. At the moment commander Jeishka is keeping one element of their arial units busy. We shall handle the rest momentarily while her full wyvern battallion provides air support."

Banishing the image, Shizra looked back to Lukien. "That should satisfy you. Now inform Bregger of his duties and carry on."

Lukien nodded and left Shizra alone the abandoned shop.

------

Out in the forest at the feet of Mythrandir's Spine, Lieutenant Bregger saw to his men while he awaited orders. His silver armor glinted in the fractured sunlight as his cape rested limply at his shoulders from complete lack of wind in the thick forest. Metal creaked and groaned as he moved about checking on the STEADs, making sure they were at full power and ready to move at a moments notice.

"Weapons look alright and ion cells are in stasis." Bregger felt the orb in his pouch vibrate from a transmission. Reaching into the leather bag, he produced the orb that was pulsating.

"Yes Captain, what is it?"

***Balmung: Seven minutes till Event Horizon failure***

"Ursa maintain even power distribution, ninety percent efficiency through all weapons, shields and Urenbecht fields. All crew, seal hazard suits and prepare to redirect all power from life support to main defenses." Lord Rendacil ordered as he quickly pulled his helmet over his head, sealing his high collar up to finish the highly stylized space suit, as did the rest of the crew. In a few moments all life support functions had ceased. The crew now prepared to fight the enemy. A fair portion of the enemies heavy ships had decided to stay and fight the Balmung, a mistake that he would not allow them to learn about until it was too late.

While the event horizon was still functional, Balmung was a nigh unstoppable force, however this was only for as long as the event horizon could be maintained. Then she switched to massive banks of fusion reactors, her Urenbecht field dimming in intensity and strength, her added Pin point barriers winked out, and her Loengren grasers switched to far less efficient electron synthesised xasers.

That was not right now. "Port side Loengren's, three and one fire upon heavy enemy vessel three, port Loengren's two, four and five fire on heavy enemy vessel seven. Dorsal and Ventral Loengren fire on enemy battleship class, add fire in from the UKFE, fifty thousand rpm. Starboard Loengrens, all banks fire on enemy heavy vessel one, closest target, bring them down, UKFE at one hundred thousand rpm, UKFE on heavy vessels two, nine and twelve, three hundred thousand rpm. Remaining five hundred and fifty thousand rpm fire on damaged vessels first, then closest. Full reaction engagement missile spread, intercept missiles and kinetics only." Rendacil gave his orders quickly, as the warning klaxon fired he was already speaking, paying astute attention to the tactical and strategic battle hololiths. circling his command throne

"Evasive action, incoming enemy heavy energy attack, PPB to port , bow fourty five degree's, roll twenty five degree's to starboard and initiate three second burn on thrusters, gravitics at full forward-fall." he practically shouted the orders this time. The enemy were so close they barely had a second to react, but react they did. Five of the fifteen PPBS surrounding the mighty vessel started to cycle in to the path of the beam, replacing the others as they winked out, stopping it dead. The other beam passed by just underneath the vessel. Enemy fire was coming in heavy, but much of it was being deflected by the unique Urenbecht field of the Balmung. Kinetics deflected away or skipped off the field like a stone throne on water, beam weapons impacted but were heavily dispersed and slowed by the field itself, missing or impacting against heavy hull and structure.

Missiles were being crushed as they entered the field, the ones that managed to make it in impacted against the hull in tiny blossoms of fire against heavy DEM armour or were shot down by point defenses. "Damage report." the order simply sprang from the Lord's lips, having been given so many times in the past. "Pin points three and six are recharging, pin point twelve is shorted out my lord, aside from this minor armour damage." Engineer Yalorina stated quickly, without looking up from her console.


Rendacil rose and watched the handiwork of this magnificent vessel. He frowned slightly, they had only six minutes to destroy or rout these vessels. Then, even if victory could be achieved against the remainder with the Balmung weakened and sluggish, they would not be able to rescue their brethren. "Bring us around, we shall go through them to the aid of our battle brothers and sisters, do not stop firing upon the targets until they are destroyed." he sat back down in his chair, staring ahead hard in a frown that made his moustache appear to twitch on the ends.

The vessel gracefully started to come around to a new heading, directly through the enemy battleship. They would play a game of chicken with them, all the while firing lances of pure, white light through the enemy vessels. He would deploy the Gotteslicht at extreme close range against the enemy Battleship's. Those had to be destroyed before the time limit was up. Without the added PPB system from the event horizon, and without the Gotteslicht operational then it would start to take damage at an unacceptable rate.

Areas of local space started to fill with deadly Urenbecht rounds, each one designed to impact directly after the other, whittling down shields and punching through armour plate that managed to hold. A halo started to form around the massive ship, dozens of missiles a second were being launched from bays, creating a protective ring of fire in an attempt to prevent the enemies kinetics, as well as daughter craft and missiles an avenue to attack.

++++

With Balmung came her compliment of mecha, as she started the attack, the Knight-mecha of the DCN raced in for the kill. Fully twenty five percent of the three hundred and fifty Morgenraetes, as well as the fourty eight experimental models of the HMF-4 Sturmanrufer, with prototype "safe" DEM generator's were armed exclusively with antimatter missiles. They were in the dreaded Bomber configuration. This was the true close in firepower of the majourity of the Divine Celestial Navy fleets.

Nestled in their armoured frames were almost one hundred semi guided C fractional rockets, armed with massive antimatter warheads, designed solely to cripple and kill enemy ships. The seventy five Morgenraetes and twelve Sturmanrufers armed with these weapon systems raced in to the attack against the second of the enemy battleships. Their primary targets were engines and the heavy energy weapon system used against the Balmung. They were escorted by over half of the remaining contingent, including all of the XHMF-4's. All in all a strike force of two hundred and fifty High maneuver frames.

The bomber variants were vulnerable, thanks to the incredibly volatile warheads inside their anti capital ship rockets. These weapons were not rated for use on land targets, one fighter equipped with the MK VI AM warhead would not only destroy any city it targetted, but itself, its fellows and likely half of the ecosystem. They were solely made for use in space, against heavy targets. They were incredibly innacurate, requiring the mecha to first reach a minimum distance of three hundred thousand kilometers. In this case they would be going in to far under that. There were targets on that ship that had to be killed.


The lead escorts raced in through the flak-storm, firing Gras-warheads in to distract enemy point defenses and intercept enemy missiles as they streaked in to intercept the DCN frames. The rest started to fire against enemy fighters in the path, not allowing them a seconds reprieve as they darted in, fighting them to the death to allow their brothers and sisters, with their precious cargo's to perform their holy task.

The bomber' variants moved in as their brethren started to attack, point defenses started to do damage instantly, first one raete' had its ammo bin ruptured and died in a violent explosion, then another, and another. Still many of them made it in to range. The pilots who were chosen for bomber duty often took a perverse pride in the volatility of their weapon systems. Knowing that they contained enough power in their tiny frames to erase a capital ship from existence more then made up for the simple fact that if they were jostled to hard the rounds might explode inside the mecha. As of yet there was no CASE system able to save a pilot in that instant.

They reached release distance, and in five seconds space was filled with thousands of incoming missiles. Some would miss, but many would hit, some would even strike the target's directly, if the aim was true. The fifty or so remaining bomber' raete's and the XHMF-4's, payloads expended then dived in to the enemy ship, following far behind the rockets as they started to level precise strafing blasts of Xas-rifle and Ubecht Bazooka fire in to vulnerable points, preparing to switch in to the ragged wounds in the hull that would form. One third of the raete'bombers had been lost before they deployed their weapons. Acceptable casualties amongst hero's who knew they had completed their task.

++++

The remaining mecha had been on point defense duty, and were relishing their first encounter with the enemy swarm-craft. They started to engage as soon as they came in to range, firing gras-missiles and space-dogfight missiles in to the oncoming enemy fighter craft, levelling blasts of pulsar laser, particle beam and kinetics fire in to the enemy with no mercy.

They chased them and turned whenever chased, Knights did not flee from an enemy. They stood and fought as hero's, their lifetimes of training and hardship all coming down to this moment on the razor's edge between life and death. The Knights of Tannelorn lived for this moment, every day hoping and praying to be able to engage the enemy on the field of honour, flying and fighting was in their very blood. It was the birthright of the Knights of Tannelorn to ply their deadly craft on the nightmare of a thousand warzones. Only now in the great play unfolding before them, where the Knights themselves were bringing war to an unsuspecting people, could they finally see.

Before they had been beaten for they had wished so hard to protect their homes and loved ones they had let fear of loss blind them. They were destined for war unceasing, for they brought with them the light of truth and true justice. A light which many shrink back from in fear, due to the darkness in their souls.

As the knights duelled and danced amongst the nuclear balefire alighting around the ship, their thoughts turned for a moment at a time to the stark beauty of the scene. In this cold vacuum men and women, machines and the foe were fighting and dying, killing and trying to survive in the names of their ideology and their homelands. This minor struggle only mirrored the struggle of the great beast Balmung, and the brave enemy hero's standing against it, their war cries and death cries filling the endless silence in a way only old warriors could feel, counting the faces of innumerable dead comrades and foes, could feel. The voices were calling to the Knights, calling them ever onward in to greater acts of bravery, piety and faith.


***GTFOA main Fleet: Under Attack***

"Fleet-Captain Ramila, new contacts!" Armsmen Salia stated clearly through the sounds of battle on board a Tannelornian war ship. "Tannelornian, its the Balmung, reading thirteen more signatures, its the
GAP main fleet as well." Ramila crossed her arms. Thank heaven for that at least she thought to herself. "Enemy fire incoming, missile and particle fire, evading ma'am." control stations responded quickly to the enemy attack, letting the Pin points and heavy Urenbecht deflect much of it, however many of the shots were not aimed for them, but the ships floundering behind the counterattacking flotilla.

Honour Blades started to fall apart under the bombardment, hits were striking against the remaining Solarins and the Monitors were now far to busy to engage anything but missile and kinetic fire with their Helvinter cannons. Ramila ordered a lightning strike against the now attacking enemy forces. Pinpointing the rare enemy battleships on tactical she ordered all ships in the flotilla to proceed to full speed and set course through the enemy fleet, towards the heavy ships.

Even as the vessels started to attack they came under a veritable wall of fire, pin points flared and fell, then hits started to resound across the heavily armoured hulls of the Honour blades as well as against Divine Hammer's massive superstructure. They started to pick up speed, preparing a payload of kinetic rounds within their drone missiles as well as targetting the Battleships and their escorts with a full spread of Xaser fire.

The Eternal was slow and ponderous in comparison to the GTFOA vessels. She was far behind them now but still moving forward, unleashing a massive payload of Xaser fire, Loengren and Ingelstung in to the enemy formations.

Coming at an enemy head on allowed Tannelornian vessels to maximise their overall firepower against a smaller point on the enemy vessel, while presenting the ships smallest facing in return. However in the case of a lightning strike they would come under fire from enemy attacks from the side as well as rear. This could cause grievous damage to the Tannelornian flotilla as they passed through the formation. However the targets picked would come under the full firepower of the Tannelornian ships, accuracy would be nearly perfect once they reached that range. The flotilla's size was considerably smaller then was normally used against an enemy formation of that size, but it would have to do.

The Tannelornian vessels streaked towards their targets at full burn, even as the enemy firepower thundered and crashed around them.A flurry of hard beams and drone-missiles lanced out from barrels and missile bays in to the targetted ships. They hoped it would be enough, because after this maneuver there likely wouldnt be enough of the formation left to try again...

++++

At least now the enemy was in one spot, in clear view of the primary Divine Celestial Navy high maneuver frame strike force. The primary enemy fleet now attacking the beleaguered GTFOA main fleet was having a field day against the barely operational vessels. The Knights would not allow this to continue uncontested. The GTFOA were soldiers, not knights, they would fight hard but could not be expected to continue on through such hardship without breaking. Still here and there the Knight-mecha streaking in to attack could see the crippled vessels returning fire against the enemy that was killing them.

Balmung and Commodore Zietski's fleet had pinned a portion of the enemy in space, there task was evident. Zietski and the Balmung could hold out until the Divine Celestial Navy gun armada returned to do battle with them, the Federal Fleet could not.

Knight-Major Ibram Marendicil would not allow his thousand fighter contingent to be wasted in a frontal assault, but they contained almost two hundred and fifty bomber variant's of Morgenraetes and HMF-4's.
The lives of his knights were far to precious to waste in a heroic charge against the enemies heavy capital ships. Instead he would have them sweep in from a long engagement arc, engaging fighters and enemy lighter vessels, the wraiths and Angellus's, designated as light naval vessel and light capital vessel.

As soon as contact was made the fighters on escort duty engaged whatever was in reach, not allowing the enemy defenses or fighters a moments respite, performing maneuvers and firing missiles and cannon from angles that would defy reason to those not familiar with the Knights of Tannelorn. They spent their days training for war, a spartan lifestyle where the only luxury allowed was love of their husband or wife and love of their nation and people.

They would appear in one location then the next as they desperately attempted to force the enemy fleet to break off from their attack against the crippled vessels. As they performed their death defying feats of arms, their brothers in the bomber variants moved in, releasing their payloads at range in a wide sweeping arc, leaving scant seconds for the enemy light vessels to react. Then once their dangerous payload of MK VI AM rockets was expended, they started to target the light enemy vessels and light enemy capital vessels in daring attack runs, rocketting in under the cover of gras fire to deploy Urenbecht bazooka's at extreme close range.

Amidst a backdrop of duelling ships and rippling explosions as far as the eyes could see, a thousand Knights of Tannelorn came in to the attack, every second that had been wasted in transit from their carriers would now be made up for in a few frenzied moments of bloodletting. Contrails and missile flares could be seen everywhere, moving at dizzying speeds and angles as the Knights prepared to rescue the soldiers of the GTFOA.

++++

The HMF's and fighters of the GTFOA were no less busy in attempting to repel the enemy attack. Many of the alpha's were busy simply trying to hold off the enemy's missile storm as well as the enemy fighter craft, it was a testament to their skill that so few rounds got past them.

Hellebarde high mobility frames were the last lines of defense, the single form mecha continued to fight on until the end, completely surrounded by enemies as they singlemindedly intercepted enemy assault boats and missiles as they crashed in to the shuttle bays and flight decks of the Solarin's and Honour blade's.

Many Hellebardes were lost as they did so, but avenged shortly after by the GTFOA's alpha' II's as well as the few Algol's able to assist them. The rest of the HMAF's were taking the fight to the enemy, strafing the Mythrandircapital vessels with streams of annhillation energy and heavy missile fire.

+++

The Algol' HMAF's continued undaunted, darting in and out of enemy fire as they continued to reap the benefits of their target rich environment. Several at a time started to make long strafing runs with their Engagement Pulsar lasers, while those still armed with anti capital torpedo's unleashed them at the end of the line as the mecha-frigates were pulling up from their attack.

With the arrival of the DCN HMF's, the HMAF's were now free to assault the heavier ships that were attacking the GTFOA. Assault them they did, darting in and out of the range of Mythrandir heavy guns long enough to unleash devastating fusillades against them. Tannelornians had long mastered ship to ship warfare, and these inspiring new designs were already proving themselves far superior to the attack frigates they had replaced.

++++

"Federal-Captain, breaching vessel detected in the forward launch bays, request permission to activate auto-defenses." a sing-song female voice reported. Federal Captain Montagnard nodded. "Aye, dispatch marines to intercept boarders, all engineers continue to work on getting the weapons and defenses back online." he barked the orders, much more concerned with enemy fire then the ability of an enemy boarding team to harm a GTFOA Solarin with a full marine compliment. However it was the honour blade's that worried him most, which carried no more then thirty marines, a single platoon. If the enemy assault boats had made it in to their bays, then the Honour blades were most definitely in danger.

***

"All marines report to duty stations, Kappa and delta platoons, with me to the landing bay, we will reinforce platoon beta." Knight-Captain Heurmil ordered, quickly moving towards lifts and access points as his soldiers rushed to reinforce the landing bays. The only likely point of access on any Tannelornian ship, this was as much due to the thickness of hull's as due to the defenses lining the few access hatches on the vessel. An enemy assault boat would have a rather hard time blasting through to reach the internals.

They moved quickly, opening massive blast doors in time to hear the frantic shouts of soldiers as they levelled fire in to enemy forces disembarking from large, ungainly transports which had just blasted their way up through the flight ramp. Hyper velocity shells and las-fire crisscrossed the air as they entered taking up positions in pre-built defenses in the ships themselves. The soldiers had already shut down gravity in the flight bays, as well as blown the atmosphere in on this deck.

"Knight-Sergeant Njarl Holmir, what is the enemies progress and numbers." Knight-Captain Heurmil asked quickly, unshouldering his own rifle and unclasping the safety strap on his Knight-sword. "Two assault boats managed to breach past the Hellebarde's and defensive lasers, as soon as they landed we layed down heavy covering fire, to await reinforcements." The Knight-Captain nodded, ordering Kappa platoon to form up with him at the far end of the massive bay. Solarin battleships, unlike Zweihanders had a rather impressive amount of space available to them. The design differences were mainly in the aesthetic, as a Zweihander's crew of Knights lived a far more spartan lifestyle then did the Soldiers of the GTFOA and GAP.

Quickly platoon Kappa formed up on the left side of the bay, completing an L of fire that would soon encompass any enemies that dared to strike from their landing craft. Platoon Delta split in half, preparing to counter attack any enemies that might make it through the line as well as moving to higher ground, to lay more fire in to the enemy. They readied weapons and waited for the inevitable enemy boarding attempt.

++++

Inside the honour blades it was an entirely different story. A squad of soldiers each was sent to engine rooms and the bridge while the rest of the vessel was decompressed. The remaining two squads would attempt to hold off the enemy attacks. The occasional hellebarde or Alpha alighted on their ship's in pursuit of the enemy assault boats, preparing to fight them in the hangar bay, one of the other advantages of mecha. This would not be the case for most. The first honourblade to fail to contain the enemy went up in a brilliant explosion as the engineers themselves detonated the ship rather then allow the enemy to have it.

***Grand Army of the Prefecture counter attack***

As the ships of the Prefecture gained their bearings, they gleefully charged forward in to the heavy fire being thrown at them by the enemy heavy ships.They would leave the light vessels for the Endymion HMAF's and mecha forces, who were very well suited for such engagements. Any enemy fighter cover was left to the hellebarde's on point defense duty.

The Solarin battleship Hammerfall collided head on with an enemy light cruiser, damaging her forward batteries, as well as superstructure and shorting out most of her pin point barriers in the process. The damaged ship continued to fire with all remaining batteries in to the horde cruisers, levelling return fire against the most worthy threat.

Even as explosions danced around the GAP fleet, they returned fire, impacts dotting their hulls at extreme close range with the enemy, they struck back with heavy lances of X ray's. The hard beams were firing at full power, again and again in to the enemy vessels, not stopping until they were unable to continue to fire, were destroyed or the enemy was a drifting, flaming hulk.


Endymions, fausts and PASS-19 superiority fighters struck out at enemy light vessels with everything from missiles, to x ray lasers, even themselves as they sought to destroy the enemy. They and the Balmung had succeeded in stopping a fleets worth of vessels of the enemy from firing upon the GTFOA. They had bought time with their own lives, they would not sell them short.

The thirteen battleship formation strode proudly in to the maelstrom of fire surrounding them, though they took damage every second they did not shirk in their duty. They would save their fellows or die trying. They strode forward in to the enemy fire, returning it blow for blow, and then some. They started to fire bio-com drone missiles faster then they could be rearmed, firing heavy kinetic and gras shells in to their enemies. Though outnumbered, the Solarins were remarkably powerful vessels, they would be able to hold out for some time without reinforcement..but not forever.

***DCN Battle Carrier Group***

Lord Helias continued to order Loengren fire in to the enemy ships. At this range they were best suited to long range strikes against capital vessels. Two and three ships at a time levelled their mighty loengren' cannons in to a single vessel at range. Then the ships started to run out of operational power, with only a few minutes to wait until engines were reactivated, they activated Urenbecht fields and waited, drifting on their original vectors until the engines would be ready.

Then they would join with and support the DCN Einhander's, which were making for the battle at top speed to counterattack the enemy fleet. They had only to sit and watch the battle for a few more minutes before they could begin to gain revenge for this attack.

***DCN Gun Armada: Counter attack***

Lord Kendall knew that without the support of the Divine Celestial Navy of the republic, the attack was doomed. Despite how well the attack around the moon was going, this would quickly change the moment the enemy was finished with the crippled GTFOA squadrons.

Every Knight knew their duty was to get to grips with the enemy as fast as possible, all possible power was being diverted from life support to engines. The ships had to remain fully combat operational, the crews donned armoured space suits and prepared for battle. All antimatter torpedo's were loaded and the ships estimated time of arrival at battle was counting down so slowly some crew members remarked it was going forward.

Kendall would not allow them to engage at extreme range. He had split the DCN fleet in to two portions, the slower Zweihanders would make up the hammer to the anvil of the rapidly advancing Einhanders. The smaller cruisers would engage first, firing heavy Urenbecht weaponry then skirting around the enemy fleet to fire in to them with heavy energy batteries. The Zweihanders would then crash in to the enemy fleet head on, using their far superior firepower and close range fighting ability to smash the enemy fleet apart. Then they would move on to engage the enemy that Balmung had engaged, allowing the great ship a reprieve.

The DCN knew they could defeat this foe, even with the odds against them as they had a thousand times before. The only difference now was that they were on the attack, for the first time in over three hundred years. To many of the crews, it was like yesterday. Blood would flow and freeze in the icy void surrounding this tiny blue orb.

***Fortress Moon [The Forge] Orbital battle***

The enemy fleet was splitting in to two portions, both of which were attempting to engage the Tannelornian fleet's engaging them. The GTFOA fought as a whole, they would not allow an enemy to goad them in to individual fights. The Pods allowed the enemy ships to pass them, accelerating even as the enemy vessels split formation and started to fire. They quickly passed under them and quickly flipped end over end, in the way only unmanned ships could do, to face the enemy once more.

The GFN pods did not entirely avoid enemy fire in the maneuver, several more ships were damaged and crippled, but this did not stop them. Even the crippled ones prepared to engage full engines, lining themselves up with a target, threatening a ram as they split to the left of the enemy fleets. They continued to fire from the left, right and rear of the enemy forces, allowing the second of the forces to attempt to chase them, letting them realise that trying to outmaneuver the ships of the Pods was like trying to catch starlight in ones hands.

They let the group that broke off to follow them pass over them, and with the GTFOA prepared to attack the main fleet group. Xas fire and missiles filled the night sky as they attacked from the outer flank of the enemy fleet, forcing the second formation to fire through their own vessels if they wished to fire upon the GFN pods, while allowing the GTFOA a clear path through the enemy formation.

++++

"Enemy forces splitting to the right sir, Pods have maneuvered through them, no they are to the left, fourty five degrees below their spacial coordinates now!." a rather shocked tactical officer stated. The pods had allowed the enemy to pass them, then flipped around to attack the enemies flanks. Though they were not as well armed as manned vessels, their agility was impressive.

The battlefield was sheer chaos, the Algol Mecha-frigates were darting in and out, attacking the enemy light vessels in one to one engagements, pounding them with heavy fire, missiles and even beam sabers all the while dancing out of the reach of heavy capital guns. Few were falling, mainly thanks to the escorting GTFOA alpha's and Faust's, who were gleefully engaging the enemy swarm-craft, racking up impressive tallies and scores even as they fell to the sheer numbers of the enemy. Still all things considered, the battle for the moon was going far better then the one for the planet.

Fleet-Captain Uthelien ordered his formation to attack, the Solarins would dive deep in to the enemy formation as the Honour blades would move to the right of the formation, engaging the enemy fleet that had split from its brethren with a furious salvo of extreme range Bio-mech missile fire, all Gras rounds. Even as the enormous missiles unleashed their devastating payloads of seconds long beams of coruscating death, the enemy fire started to impact against the Solarins.


Much of the kinetic fire glanced off heavy fields, but some was impacting. The vessels were tough, and were taking the best the enemy could throw at them. Still the enemy attack was not minor, not one of the four mighty battleships had escaped from some damage, be it damaged weapons, communications or armour damage forcing screens to be permanently placed over exposed bulkheads. Enemy fighters were intercepted by Hellebarde's and faust's, however some were getting through, laying missile fire against point defenses and weaponry, engines, anything obvious on the great ships. The Captain couldn't help but wince whenever a unit tumbled end over end, exploding past his view screens.

Then Glory of Heaven fired once more. It's shipboard factories were straining to keep up with the demand for shells, she was not firing as fast as she had been, but with the enemy fleet suddenly breaking off, moving in a predictable vector, it didnt matter. The blindingly brilliant beam of energy lanced out through Drugar's fleet as they moved, their simple inertia would be enough to carry many of them in to the path of the mighty weapon.

The rapidly advancing GFN Pods had started to push in to the Fleet of Captain Frylann, using them as a shield against the fire of Drulgars fleet. With the honourblades preparing to engage Drulgar with the monitor, the Solarins were racing in to the attack against Frylann..

They would crush Frylann first, then move on to Drulgar. After space superiority had been achieved, they would then assist the attack on the planet.

++++Dogfight around the Fortress moon+++

The Mecha of the GTFOA continued to carry home their counterattack, allowing lowes to gather the enemies attention with daring and savage lightning strikes, then descending upon the enemy with Xas-missiles and heavy pulsar laser fire. The Endymions continued to fire upon entire squadrons of the goblin fighters at once, using massive cannons as well as multitudes of smaller ones and missiles. The Endymion's released swarms of tiny missiles, great huge pods containing hundreds of IFF weapons and larger area of effect weapons as they tore through the enemy.

Lowe's were still dying, but as enemy numbers diminished so did overall casualties. The enemy fighters were fierce and deadly, but their lack of independent action would be their downfall against the calculating lowe's and pilots of the GTFOA. Every pilot, every machine had spent countless hours training to fight a foe exactly such as this, they knew the tactics and weapons which would work best against such a foe. A mindless killer such as this could be dealt with far easier then any warrior fighting with passion in his heart.

In its own desire to kill, they would leave themselves open to be killed by the friends and comrades of those who fought and died in this stretch of space. The deadly dance continued with the Tannelornians eager to destroy this foe.They were working together to vindicate themselves, they the true exemplars of the superiority of flesh over mindless machines.The brave pilots of the GTFOA and the determined Lowe's would not rest until every one of these fighter craft was nothing but a ring of debris and particles, drifting forever in to the cold, harsh void.

***Fortress moon [The Forge] Ground assault***


"So they attempt to seal us in, do they?" Knight-Captain Ybrasil mused. "Knight Erethina, do you detect anything that may hamper our progress?" the cavaliers had already switched to X ray imaging and were taking in their surroundings carefully. Erethina was the teams watchdog, her task was to seek out traps, ambushes and the true path, calculating the myriad futures in her mind in mere seconds. "Knight Braskin, one step further to the left and you doom us all." she stated in a low tone, her mind concentrating heavily on their surroundings. She felt out under the cold stone, feeling the trap that barred their passage. There will be many of these, the mind that built this place is cunning. she thought to herself as she manipulated the various mechanisms of the laser trap with minor applications of Telekinesis.

As they started to move forwards, after having cleared the trap the seventy strong assault team stopped. Their comm's man had regained contact with the outside. Their orders were simple. Advance further in to the complex while the main force finds another way in, capture if possible, hold as much ground as possible and await reinforcements if unable to capture the entire facility. Knight Erathina suddenly called out. "Knight-Captain, we must proceed carefully if we are to safely take this facility. The master of this place is cunning and has left..many..many traps for us to move past. He will not face us until we have run his gauntlet.

They approached the first of the blast doors cautiously, placing shape charged X ray mines on them then stepping back in to the cover of the main hall way. Hopefully at least some of the enemy holding this facility would come to meet them.



++++

Knight-Colonel Illondacil moved with a team of cavaliers to a promising new position. Not a hundred meters below them was a large antechamber in the enemy passage works. Heavy neutron scans of the complex had led them to this as the most logical entry point for his forces.

He quickly called over one of the pilots of the Kernschattens, and asked them to drop a few Linebreakers on to the antechamber. The pilot obeyed unquestioningly, locking and and preparing to unload ordnance once the order was given. Cavaliers had already scattered to cover and were prepared not only to attack the facility en masse through the breach, but to face any possible enemy counterattack. They were fanned out in a wide circle, two thousand men and two hundred mecha taking every available bit of cover and scanning the skies, feeling the ground itself and watching every approach for a possible enemy counter attack. After all, this was unknown enemy territory. Who knew what strange tribes made this moon their home.

All the Colonel needed now was confirmation the five hundred men of the strike team, was in position to take immediate advantage of the breech, then they could begin the assault on the underground complex, and finish taking this moon.

***Mythrandir's Surface: The Land War Begins***

The Midgard-Sormr was floating lazily above a small island off the southern coast. This was to be the overall command center of the campaign, and already nearly four hundred mecha were either on or above the island. Whether they were rearming their Alpha II's, faust's or members of the mechanised Hellebarde divisions, this island was soon to become a fortress. The other eight Bad-Hertzfeldt assault transports were either out at sea, acting as floating air craft carriers for the GTFOA's rearmament, or were floating over the southern continent. Rearming and repairing the mecha that needed it most, all the while engaging in a heavy artillery duel with the city defenses.

Colonel Hahradan looked out across the bridge of the Midgard-sormr at the gentle ocean waves so reminiscent of his home. He had chosen to live on a water world inside the Prefecture, it hadnt occurred to him how much he would miss it once he was gone, travelling in the sea of stars. It didnt matter now, now they had to silence the enemy guns and prepare to bring in the heavy equipment they would use to win this war quickly and efficiently.

Already the Bad-Hertzfeldt assault ships the Solla, Verdant greens, Marakesh and the Yondath had made landing on the southern continent, they were firing heavy artillery shells at the enemies capital city in response to the rain of artillery they had sent on the southlands. The kilometer long assault ships were well packed with shells and missiles and had many heavy guns to use them. They were deploying hellebardes and troops, preparing fortifications and firebases to repel any enemy counterattacks. Standard Bite and hold operating procedures. The Tannelornians would now await the enemy counter attack, destroying it utterly before making their own attack. They had taken the enemies land, the challenge was now out to the enemy to take it back.

Work was going relatively quickly, partly due to the expansive amount of equipment available for fortification to a Tannelornian army, partly due to the education and skill of the best soldier-engineers. The Prefecture offensive army was professional, and unlike in the Charybdis campaign, they were led by a competent commander.

The first of the TAT-1's deployed inside the elliptical perimeters of the sprawling firebases and trench works. Inside these circular trench networks, designed to be attack from any angle and still hold, the artillery tanks started to add their own gravitic assault cannon fire in to the fire of the ships. Much smaller in comparison, but also far more accurate. They couldpinpoint exact enemy discharges and return fire within three meters of target. Compared to the one hundred meter spread of the capital guns, this was astonishingly good.

High mobility frame squadrons started to form up even as the first of the GAP mecha disembarked from the Badhertzfeldts. They were preparing to form up with THT-2's to form the fist of the counter attack that would strike the first enemy forces to attack the Tannelornians. Then they would follow them to their homes and bring the war to them. Forcing them to choose between a lengthy siege and mass death, or surrender.

The first wave of the two hundred Divine Celestial Knight Mecha landed on the southern coast, preparing for re arm and minor refit as the hastily assembled air bases went on line. Little more then a few bunkers from a horizon and some scaffolding, these CAB's would become the vital lynch pin of Divine Celestial Navy activity on planet.

From these bases several hundred Divine Celestial Cavaliers were being dropped in to wilderness areas surrounding the defensive networks. They would act as the first line of defense, armed primarily with heavy Gras-rifles, antipersonnel lasers and gravitic kinetics, as well as tac-nuke shoulder launch and tac-gras shoulder launch missile systems.

They carefully prepared ambushes, using advanced battle craft, as well as advanced technology to completely conceal themselves, to allow enemy formations to pass over them, relaying their locations as well as ambushing them when the moment was right.

During this whole time the Prefecture replicant-girl soldiers and their officers worked feverishly to establish a proper defensive line on the front. The area that was under heavy artillery bombardment was a nightmare sea of mud and dust, obscuring the sun itself. Pin point barrier shields crackled with energy as shells landed on them, mud and dirt as well as people flew in to the air as shells managed to pass between them. Casualties were lighter then they could have been. Had they started to establish base camp before the DCC had brought the enemies attentions down on them, they would have been slaughtered. The low numbers and supreme training of the Divine Celestial Cavaliers had kept the casualties surprisingly low, admittedly they were very heavy for the elite Knights. The replicants would have been caught in the middle of all that fire, with no counterbattery fire milling about in the thousands trying to establish defenses.

++++

"All Knights save Lux Aeternus squadron, break off, we will continue pursuit, notify command of targets of opportunity then proceed to southlands for rearm and refit." Jan stated, bringing his mecha in low and switching to high maneuver configuration. The Knights of Lux Aeternus squadron, the elite of the elite of the Core defenders, followed suit. His squadron was at fifty percent missile capacity. More then enough for the task at hand.

As the mecha streaked in to the pass, their battle brothers evaded ground fire and climbed away, they unleashed a small volley of missiles, each one aiming for the rock face on either side of them. The missiles impacted and buried themselves deep in to the rock, exploding with great force. These were the linebreaker missiles, designed to bury themselves deep in the ground and create hundred meter sinkholes. They were designed to break up enemy formations in the heated desert conflicts of mars, but they would be perfectly adequate in this circumstance.

Even as the missiles were loosed the members of Lux Aeternus squadron started to jink and weave at high speeds, skating on thrust and gravitics as they moved through the mountain pass at speeds in excess of seven hundred kilometers an hour. The walls rushed past them so fast it was but a blur. They weaved around fire, spinning and skating extremely low as they poured heavy pulsar, particle and Xaser fire in to the defenses surrounding them. Backflipping, pirhouetting and jumping to avoid fire, they showed the enemy the limits of their skills, performing intricate battle-dances while inside their mecha.

One of the Knights was struck by a few missiles, then was blasted hard in to a wall. Impacting at high speed, his already damaged frame erupted in to a massive explosion, heavy DEM armour adding density enough to tear in to the mountain pass itself, leaving a ragged trail of flame and debris. Behind them massive explosions erupted in the heart of the cliff face, blasting deep holes in the walls of stone.They didnt have time to look back, their prey was escaping them.

The Knight mecha rose out of the pass, reconfiguring and moving at high speed before returning to high maneuver configuration, landing heavily in the canyon. The canyon walls rushed past them, wind screaming past their armoured frames, they continued to skate after the enemy wyverns as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Jan's teeth were gritted in concentration as he and his squad danced through the hail of enemy fire with the grace of a ballerina.Their Urenbecht Knight-fields allowing them to avoid hits by mere inches that would have proven fatal.

They saw them again, opening fire on the Wyverns from below with their energy weapons and Gras-Missiles, aiming for the beast's underbellies. They then darted up in to them, accelerating impossibly fast, canyon walls falling away as they rose to meet the enemy up close, where their own ground fire would have to risk striking the Wyverns.

Jan had made a vow, and he would keep it. As they dodged and weaved amongst the enemy fire for dear life, they showed remarkable devotion to duty as they engaged the enemy Wyvern riders, exposing themselves to more of the enemy ground fire then otherwise would have been sane.

This was Lux Aeternus squadrons, second only to the aces of aces, the Gospel Train of the Divine Celestial Expeditionary force. Sanity was no limit to their ability.

***Rendezvous Point: Five Light years away***

Fleet Marshall Hellner was worried now. With contact lost with the Eternal moments after it jumped in system, they were now in the dark as to the fate of the forces involved. Fully one hundred and fourty battle ready fighting ships, and a further fourteen Fleet carriers were awaiting the order to jump in system.

This order was not coming. "Patch me through to the DCN vessels, ask them to send a Kernschatten flight to scout out the situation in Mythrandir." he ordered quickly.

He was greeted by the face of Captain Uraki, the dapper, roguish young Captain greeted him with a rather bored expression on his face. "Ahhh Fleet Marshall, are we ready to attack yet?" Uraki asked. "Nay, I need a flight of Kernschattens to investigate the situation and report back. This will dictate our actions." Uraki looked at him increduously. "Fleet Marshall, if our comrades have not responded, they need our help." he stated flatly in response.

"I will not lead us blindly in to a massacre, I want intelligence before we commit to this attack." Hellner stated, flames in his eyes. He was beginning to hate this impetuous young Knight-Captain, though he would not state it to him directly.

"Very well, we will launch." Uraki dismissed him with a wave of his hand. Less then a minute later four squadrons of Kernschattens launched and jumped in to the battlezone.

++++

"Asavahri, prepare for recon mission." Knight-Captain Delathina stated softly. It had been some time since she had fought alongside the other members of PIOUS, but Hector and Jan were here in this warzone. Unfortunately no one had heard anything from them. The Asavahri, or divine warriors moved in quickly, but as silently as possible as they started to take deep system scans. Within a few moments they detected the signs of heavy battle...as well as garbled distress signals. The uplink with the Aethernet had survived in this system, but had been scrambled beyond it.

"This is not good squad members, Tarrasque squadron, report back to the main fleet with all available data, the rest of you, follow me. We will move to assist the main GTFOA fleet, they are floundering out there. Standard culling tactics today, nothing fancy we need to win." she finished softly. The Divine celestial navy Kernschatten pilots were rare indeed, flying mostly with the Divine Celestial cavaliers. However the Expeditionary forces as well as the Grahfsbergs maintained a dozen or so squadrons, for strike missions, recon and stealth operations.

After all twelve high maneuver frames that cant be seen easily could be more useful then a fleet of battle ships in some situations. However, just because they couldnt see you, didnt mean they couldnt shoot you.


She hoped Jan hadnt gotten himself killed yet, likely he was doing something insane, stupid or just insanely stupid. As the rest of the mecha started to move towards the raging battle, tarrasque squadrons dipped back and activated their DEM jumps for a second time, returning post haste to report to the fleet with all available battle data.

Battle with the Balmung:

Shield and armor deflected and absorbed countless attacks being thrown at the defenders. More than once an attack would eventually find a failing point and exploit it, tearing a devastating hole into the punished armor and shields. A loss of mobility was a critical factor in the battle now as the Myth defenders continued to move around the massive ship always changing their positions forcing computers to refocus their targeting.

Unceasingly came the constant bombardment from the floating horde cruisers as their weapons unleashed barrage after barrage of heavy pulse cannon fire meant for dealing with larger vessels. Burst laser turrets were targeted in strategic areas to cripple the ship faster, making way for the larger ordinance. Ships continued to fire and take punishment from the battle that had erupted.

Sky Scream and Heorot were forced to give the Cosmo gun time to cool and recharge before it could be used again but they were not without options. By now they had judged the affectiveness of the enemy shields on the massive ship. Most everything thrown at the mammoth had been harmlessly deflected. Sky Scream looked on with grim agitation and the lack of success their attacks were having. "Prepare Warp torpedoes. Callobrate their entry point to be within the enemy's shield of protection. Can we do that?"

A young woman was making the calculations through the runic alphabet on her screen. She sat in silence as her fingers flew across each character. Finally she turned back to the captain. "The ship's computer has recorded the point at which our fire has been deflected. Theoretically, we can place our torpedoes inside that range but there is no determining the thickness of the shields."

While Sky Scream sat and contemplated the idea, his battleship was rolling away from concentrated enemy fire. Alarms rang throughout the ship as the cause became known from the sudden jolt. Feathered wings flared out in a moment of the griffon captain losing control of his emotions as he jumped to his taloned feet. "Damage report!"

"Pressure destabilizing on decks five and six. One of the wings was sheared off in the attack. Crews are working to seal the hole but it so large that they can only hope to stem pressure loss."

"Have the crews working in that area abandoned it and seal it off."

The man working on monitoring the ship's status nodded and went to work as an outline of the ship was brought on screen. Problem sectors were highlighted in red. "Living quarters captain, losses should be at a minimum."

Sky Scream nodded and retook his throne. "Now launch the reconfigured warp torpedoes and inform captain Heorot of our plans."

Heorot had witnessed the explosion on Sky Scream's battleship even though it was on the opposite side of the Balmung. His own was taking a beating but holding well. The message from Sky Scream came through and was read aloud to the barbarian captain. Heorot rubbed his beard stubbed face, scratching at the ends. "Order all ships to fire a second missle barrage. That should distract its shields and defense systems while our warp torpedoes land on top of the ship."

"Aye captain."

Preparing for the attack, ships mustered the resolve and laid into the Balmung with furry. Missles poured out from ships on all sides threatening to engulf the sole vessel. At that time, the two battleships sent their Warp torpedoes out. A veil in the warp was torn within their torpedoe tubes sending the large anti-matter warhead through another dimension only to have it reappear now within the proposed area of the Balmung's shields. Both captains hoped that it would leave little room for even the defense systems to react.

------

The detachment of the fleet from Sky Scream and Heorot kept up their attacks on the enemy fleet. Guns fired in all directions no matter where the enemy was, they could still get to them. Ships trying to press through to aid the Balmung were met with intense firepower from all sides. Fighters teamed up to take out the mech units that were flying by. Goblin fighters had the support of defensive fire from multiple ships as they used that to distract the mechanized suits and attack from varying angles.

With the detachment being comprised of mostly lighter units, agility was their ally in the fight. Wraiths were able to keep dodging missles and destroy them with their own defensive laser systems, denying death in the face of the missle onslaught. Never did they forget their true targets at hand and always returned to the fray with furry. Even ships below the Angellic Cruisers were not safe from weapon systems that were still lining the belly or the ships' ability to move on the battlefield faster than others.

Myth Fleet 1:

Haldir smiled seeing the enemy's charge. With their range diminishing, it would only make his energy weapons more effective. The elf sat in his ship and waited, letting his solid fleet take some of the pounding that enemy forces were unleashing. In one swift stroke, he ordered all ships to fire. Blinding white energy screamed out of the two battleships strafing across the enemy formation. Horde cruisers unleashed charged bolts of energy that were sent pulsing for a victim as the sheer ferocity of the attack filled up the space before them. Wraiths ignited their engines to full power and used their agility to get right on top of ships to unleash their main laser cannon at close range. Angelic Cruisers stayed behind guarding the flanks and picked off any incoming projectiles thrown at them as well as dealing with outskirting ships.

Aboard Haldir's ship, a holographic image unfolded giving them all a surprise. The dark elf image was unmistakenable. "War Mistress Shizra, what can I do for you?"

"I would like an update on your current situation."

Two phoenix eyes began to glow on his throne, throwing out an image of the current battlefield over Mythrandir. "Captain Genji and I are currently holding out well with minimal losses to our fleet. We have engaged a detachment of their forces and once finished, we will move to secure the moon. Captain Heorot and Sky Scream have taken on the bulk of the enemy fleet it appears as well as what we have guessed to be their flagship. They are holding but are also taking a great deal of damage. I have every confidence that they will be successful, it is only a matter of what it will cost them.

The battle over the moon is the most dirty of the three fights. Captain Frylann and Drulgar have divided their fleet in an attempt to lessen the fire surrounding one another. It seems Captain Frylann has been the target of their tenacity while Captain Drulgar is being left alone for the most part."

Shizra's image shimmered for a moment then stabilized. "I see. I will be sending a transmission to the Aero System and have the third fleet reinforce the moon. That will leave you to deal with the rest of the enemy forces around the planet. I need a lane open so we can send in ground reinforcements to the home world."

Haldir nodded his agreement. "It shall be done. If we can't drive them completely away, then we shall secure an area around the planet for the troops from Dag'goroth."

"Good." With the final word, Shizra's image folded and disappeared leaving the captain back to his duties of commanding the battle.

Orc Pods:

Hulls were cut away, allowing the orcs and trolls access into the ships. Thermal grenades were lobbed out towards the fortifications and the surrounding areas to soften the defenses. Once detonated, growls sounded from the pods as they charged out. Energy rifles fired at abandon from the orcs as they moved about to secure the area. Trolls came through lugging massive rocket launchers on their shoulders. Rockets whistled by aimed for heavy fortifications, defenses and any mechanized units in the area. Barrel after barrel spun at high velocity as the trolls used the chain guns in their meaty hands to mow down enemy troops.

Orc and troll alike relished the blood bath and carnage that came from the combat. Their yellow tusks shone in ugly brilliance as they smiled at the ensuing battle.

Lunar Fleet Battle:

The fleet separation had done exactly what Captain Frylann had anticipated. By separating their fleet, enemy units had concentrated on only one part of the fleet in order to quickly destroy it. Thus allowing the second half of the fleet to pose as snipers and pick off ships flooding the area. Frylann had only wished that it hadn't been her squad that was chosen. The elvish captain gritted her teeth with the impact of an attack against their shielding systems. She quickly programmed the goblin fighters under her command to leave the other ships alone and deal with the smaller and lighter craft that were dancing throughout the battlefied. They weren't much of a problem as weapon systems covered almost every angle of the Myth ships, she simply wanted to concentrate on the larger more pressing units.

Energy units recharged, she let the defense systems deal with the smaller fish while she ordered all weapon rays to target large scale vessels. Focal beam turrets along the bow of her battleship lit up with green intensity as energy arrays unleashed streams of death in all directions. Horde cruisers kept up the barrage of a mass multitude of weaponry as they blocked forces trying to break through their lines. Wraiths glided in all directions of the battlefield covering the sides for the larger vessels, taking out incoming missles, dealing with mechanized units or light craft. Angelic Cruisers kept their particle beam cannons at high intensity as they focused their fire on one vessel at a time while unleashing massive missle volleys on others.

Drulgar saw the enemy's change in directions. "Turn us 'round lads and prepare to surround de slimy bastards. Leave dem wee flies fer de defenses."

Captain Drulgar's fleet turned as one to face the mass of enemy units attacking Frylann. Already a good portion of the moon had separated the two squads with firing in their own direction and only dealing with the enemy units that followed them. Now that the enemy had solely signalled out Frylann for their attacks, Drulgar took it upon himself to slightly change things. The pods attacking his fleet were left to the defense systems and fighters surrounding him. Every missle or laser blast from the little ships was ignored by the dwarf as he saw more important targets. His fleet spread out in an almost crescent formation as they prepared to surround the enemy that nearly surrounded Frylann. They lead the quick counter charge with Drulgar's Cosmo gun firing on the flanks as the rest of his fleet followed suit picking out enemy vessels on the flanks and well enough away from Frylann's formation. Engines fired and the dwarf lead the way with a small grin on his bearded face.

Goblin Fighters:

Goblin pilots had monitored the attack patterns of the mechanized units and were prepared to deal with their new assault. Each squad of fighters flew in two waves with one attacking the obvious units near the moon while the other wave was high above waiting for the manuever to come where enemy mech units would swing above the lower wave. From above they pounded torpedoes and laser fire into the backs of the units.

Even the fighters in the waves below were not without noticing the attacks coming as all of their scanners were still more than adequate to pick up the flying machines. It was true that they looked any individuality but the goblin pilots were quite capable of thinking and calculating. Nothing pleased them more than watching the bodies of fallen enemy pilots float through space in the vastness of their debris. They harnassed that desire to see death into tactics that would maximize their effectiveness.

Forge Moon:

Whistling as he walked the empty hall, Bruenor stopped as he found what he was looking for. An orb floated nearby, displaying the current position of the enemy units within the compound. The short dwarf sat himself down at his work station. He looked at the trash bin and took the pannel off. A series of wires and boards were revealed to him.

Still whistling, Bruenor cut a few wires and then reworked them into the same board but in different orders. "Ah, dat should do it."

The dwarf dusted his trousers off and tossed in a steel cylinder into the trash bin. He continued walking down the row of recepticals until he was finished. The trash bins had all now been reversed with the pressure blow Bruenor's homemade grenades back up into the chamber instead of them going down to the trash compactor. With the added boost from the pressure, the grenades would be launched into the air overhead where they would explode sending out a nice shower of high speed shrapnel and a quite bit of fire.

The orb floating overhead beeped at him then showed him the second batch of intruders trying to breach the compound. "Ah de ventallation shaft. No one ever knocks anymore. Such a rude galaxy we livin' in."

Seeming to agree, the small orb followed him down the hall. Bruenor pulled out a little computer pad and pulled up the ventallation network. Instead of trying to figure out which one they were going down, he decided to turn them all on. Fans and venting units turned back on filling the tunnels with blistering heat and radiation.

At each hall a little ways down from the sealed pressurized doors, two Necron tanks waited inside for the doors to be breached. Their ethral cannons would fill the hallway with the deadly energy.

Mythrandir Planetside:

"Captain Shazir?"

Shizra stood in her base of command while tapping her high heeled toe. Her arms were crossed under her breasts while she waited for a response from someone she would rather not communicate with.

"Ah elder sister. What a pleasant surprise this is. How is mother?" The dark elf smiled a perfect white smile from his throne.

Shizra growled and waved dismissively at the holographic image. "Dispense with the pleasantries brother. I have called you to discuss the matter at hand. If you haven't noticed, our home has been invaded."

The dark elf feigned ignorance. "That's absurd. No one would ever want to attack us. Few even know we exist, but I did notice that communications were done for a brief moment. I simply figured we would be informed of the occurance while we still guarded the Aero System."

"The fifth fleet can guard the Aero System, but I would like you to muster your fleet and reinforce the fourth fleet around the moon. We need your fleet to break the enemy lines surrounding the planet so we can pull in the ground troops from Dag'goroth."

Sitting back to contemplate the manner, "Very well. I will need fifteen minutes and then we shall be on our way. If the elf and dwarf cannot hold at the moon, then we shall bring ground units from Dag'goroth and escort them in."

Nodding her head, "that's good enough for me. Don't daddle, brother."

Shizra banished the holographic image and stepped out of the abandoned shop she was using. A warrior had been standing outside for some time waiting to speak with her. Finally she let the young man in. "What is it that you wanted to tell me."

Intimidated by the aura of the War Mistress but also intrigued by her appearance, the young warrior kept his chin up and chest out. "Captain Lukien ordered me to inform you that enemy watercraft have taken up position off the coast. They have begun bombarding the city in order to bring down the shields and guns."

The War Mistress waved the cadet away. "I will deal with it." Once he was gone, Shizra walked back into the shop and grabbed three communication orbs. As she held out her hand, they hovered up into the air before. Lukien stood to her immediate left while two guard captains made up the other images.

"Bring the city's defense to level two and send out swimmers to handle the offshore craft. A few well placed explosives should send them down into the water."

The two guards saluted and then were gone, leaving only Lukien. "I want Bregger to wait until the bombardment from the city begins. That will be his cue to attack from the north. Hopefully the enemy will be distracted long enough to give him and his men the opportunity they needed."

Lukien nodded his agreement. "It shall be done."

Great battery implacements rose up among the multiple crenalated towers lining the white walls. Armored guards rushed to man the turrets and get their bearings. The southern wall expanse focused on the offshore craft that decided to bomb the city from the water. High powered burst laser bolts rocketed out over the ocean at high speeds as they saught their targets. So many turrets begin fireing that it looked as if a hail of arrows had been unleashed.

From the cliff face itself came rounds a multitude of rail guns that filled the lower area with lead. Divers in the water held tight to their breathing masks as they found their mounts waiting deep within the caves below the ocean's surface. The giant underwater beasts thrashed their tails and fins while riders climbed on their backs and held tight to the reigns. Normally such creatures were used for harvesting oceanic vegetation. Now the invasion had turned them into one more means of destruction. With their demolitions in tow, the small group of divers headed out.

As the barrage from the southern wall commenced, the western wall came alive as well. Much of the same ordinance came from the western side as the southern. The western wall had the addition of a few turrets with high focused energy beams that depended on a target in clear view, however the weapons were powerful enough to blast through almost anything that an enemy cowered behind. Explosions shook the very earth as catapult explosions made contact and energy beams tore the ground apart.

Bregger sat deep in the woods waiting for the bombardment to commence. He knew that once he moved out, his own position would be exposed but he was luckily under the protection of the mountain for now. The loud concussion from the bombardment and the earth shaking vibrations he felt throughout his body, cleared any doubts that the time to attack was now. Behind the lieutenant was a long line of Necron Destroyers. He shivered looking at the ghastly creatures and the massive Nether cannon on their backs. Orbs that hovered above the battlefield had been constantly relaying exact coordinants of enemy positions and their units. Bregger had methodically assigned enemy tanks and ammo depots for the largest part of the attacks while the remaining destroyers would keep the trench network busy.

Bregger walked up to his STEAD and ignited the ion engine. Taking his winged helmet from his side, the lieutenant placed it on his head. The rest of the warriors with him prepared for battle as well. Bregger picked up a lance and activated the pure energy blade. Hefting the lance high, he gave the signal for the Necron Destroyers to begin their attack. Massive gouts of unholy energy flew through the canopy and came screaming down on their assigned targets.

Bregger waved his lance forward signalling that their Necron tanks should begin to lead the attack. Tanks rolled by him with evil grins on their faces, fully knowing that they would now get the chance to destroy the living. Multiple ethral barrels were fused into arms. Metallic claws raked at the air as they barrelled down the northern slopes and out of the woods to cross the expanse to the closest enemy encampment near the city. With the tanks leading out front, Bregger lowered his lance ordering the rest of the riders to follow him as they sped down the hill.

------

The dwarves were well protected within their mountain homes and even a slight rock blockage could be moved with a little dwarf muscle. Rounds fired out in quick succession, tracing the paths that the mechanized fliers took. The sheer amount of fire left little room to breathe.

Jeishka felt the water from the mountain stream mist in her face as enemy fire collided with the stream. Their Wyverns were flying barely above the water in a quick break to an escape route. Up ahead was a narrow crevice that forced her and the rest of her riders to change angels in order to fit through. Closing on her map was the waterfall that she sought throughout their mad dash. She and her Wyvern riders crashed through the water fall and into the cave complex within.

***Balmung***


Lord Rendacil rose from his command throne, a habit that many Knights had in the heat of battle. Almost all of the enemy vessels had suffered heavy damage, but none were heavier damaged then the enemy Battleship to port. "All port Loengrens, fire on target,UKFE five hundred thousand rpm, remaining weapons, targets of opportunity, preferably the more heavily damaged, enemy vessels." Suddenly the ship lurched. Ursa had been diligently preventing the enemy rounds from effecting the ship when she noticed something unusual. Recognising the signature of dimensional faster then light travel she opened the feeds to the Event Horizon and powered up the shields to full. Light started to bend around the vessel, displacing its signature several thousand kilometers.

Suddenly several missiles materialised on the edge of the shields, crushed flat by the gravitational forces. This however still released the cargo of antimatter against the starboard keel. This was enough to release enough gamma radiation to fuse armour and loengrens, even the UKFE ports on the ventral were ruined. The blast itself was meaningless in space, however the sheer heat released by the massive gamma ray pulse was enough to remove a third of Balmungs Loengren compliment. The three top side weapons were melted to slag, fused with the armour itself. The starboard UKFE ports were sealed shut, distorted and disfigured by the blast.

Still the ship was still more then operational. Her main weapon would still be able to fire. "Ursa, damage report please." Rendacil asked reflexively. The Bio-com was struggling to control the rapidly expanding Event Horizon at the heart of the ship. "Loengren four, five and six non operational, UKFE tubes twelve through twenty four are down, armour damage to starboard keel." the Bio-com responded with some static. Rendacil knew their time was almost up, the energy and concentration required to thwart the warp missile attack had almost used up every last bit of control Ursa could maintain. Systems were reaching the red line, threatening to release the increasingly unstable black hole in to the ship.

Rendacil now was faced with a choice, destroy these enemy ships now facing him in a duel to the death, or allow the enemy fleet to destroy the helpless GTFOA fleet. He was a Knight of Tannelorn, he had only one duty. Despite the greatly reduced time on the generator, Lord Rendacil would use the last remaining power to activate the Urenbecht catapult.They would move clear of the enemy vessels and their fire and utilise the Gotteslicht cannon at full strength and extreme close range against the enemy fleet.

Continuing to pour Loengren fire in to the enemy battle ship, she activated her Urenbecht catapult, the Balmung disappeared momentarily, reappearing again at the end of the column, several hundred thousand kilometers away and almost amidst the enemy fleet.

Her Loengren's never stopped firing on the enemy battleship, the range between them meaning less of the beams length would strike the evading enemy vessel, but it would likely still be enough.

As Balmung raced towards the enemy fleet, spitting fire and lead in all directions, her forward section split in to the massive twin booms once again. This time all available power was being directed in to the massive Gotteslicht cannon, no temperance or restraint would do this time, as it had against the orbital defenses.

The true power of Balmung would be unleashed against this enemy, even at the risk of her own destruction. Slowly a thin patina of energy started to dance along the inner booms, creating a rolling sea of light within the forward superstructure. Then the light itself seemed to disappear for a moment as it coalesced in to a coherent beam of energy, almost a kilometer wide that seemed to tear itself free from the magnetic lense forming at the prow of the mighty vessel. The rolling sea of energy reappeared amidst the booms as the beam itself continued to fire forth for almost a minute as the Balmung made minor course alterations, sweeping the beam across as many enemy ships as possible, without hitting any of its allies. The beam at this setting was so hot armour plates on either side of the outer booms started to fuse with each other, any enemy vessel struck by the direct beam would likely be incinerated, those even close to the awful weapon would suffer horrific damage.

It was not without cost. Suddenly Balmung stopped firing, her gravitic distortions became far less pronounced. The twin booms and the prow superstructure started to break up, disintegrating under the strain of a thousand tiny explosions within the capacitors and magnetic shield's that lined the inner booms. She regained secondary power immediately, and started to fire in to the enemy vessels with Xaser fire and the UKFE. However she was now terribly damaged by the failure of the Event Horizon, which Ursa could not stop entirely. The Fusactor's and residual power in the crystal power matrices would sustain her in normal combat, but this was no long normal combat. Enemy fire was pelting her hull now, causing deep pits and scarring as her auto defenses and remaining six pin point barriers attempted to stem the damage being done. She was trailing white hot debris from her prow as she sailed gracefully in to the enemy fleet.

The Balmung was nearly crippled, and far below full combat operation status, she had struck the enemy a mighty and hopefully grievous blow in the process. Rendacil and the crew could only hope it was enough as the impact of hundreds of weapons started to crater her dozens of meters thick DEM armour.

++++

The remaining bomber variants were dancing in and out of enemy point defenses as they struck at the heavy enemy battleship. Heavy twenty kilo kinetic rounds and Gras beams, slamming their fire in to the hull breeches formed by the initial attack. The escorting 'Raetes and Sturmanrufer's raced along the hull, attacking point defenses, or actually entering the breeches in the hull, clinging on to the outside as they let loose with pulsar laser fire and particle beams as well as space "dogfight" thermonukes in to the ships innards.


The damage caused by their bombardment had allowed them an opportunity to dismantle the ship piece by piece, the tiny mecha were dwarfed by the mighty vessel, the Mythrandir, like the denizens of sol before them would soon learn to fear the firepower, dedication and skill of the Divine Celestial Knight-Mecha.

***GTFOA main fleet: Under bombardment***


Fires were burning across the hull of the Divine Hammer as she continued to push her way in to the enemy fleet. Every minute more and more ships were coming online, starting to fire in to the enemy fleet that was savagely attacking them. They launched Bio-com missiles loaded with Gras and Kinetic penetrators, attempting to disable and destroy as many of the light enemy vessels as possible.

Three more honour blades had fallen, another Solarin had been crippled but it didnt matter, they only had to hold for a few minutes longer. The Divine Celestial Navy was almost in range to attack, and when they did the enemy would know fear. Captain Ramila stood on the bridge of her ravaged warship, contemplating what end would now come for her. For three hundred years she had served the people of Tannelorn faithfully, first in the original navy then as a member of the PTSS, tired of war. The bridge had been struck directly by an MAC round, punching through layers of polarised armour until it left a breech in the hull, killing nearly all the bridge crew. She reached out to activate the intercom, the neural uplinks were too damaged. She realised she was reaching out with an arm that was no longer there. No matter, her immune system had dulled the pain while her hardened pulminary system had stopped the blood flow.

Dimly she was aware of the warning klaxons blazing telling her that her ship was about to die if it did not leave the war zone. It didnt matter. She reached out with her good arm and ordered the crew to abandon ship. They started to rush from engineering and strongpoint positions towards the horizon transports still in the hangar bay. The three shuttles left, supported by the remaining point defense hellebarde's of the Divine Hammer and made their way quickly towards the Eternal.

Soon she was alone on board the ship, listing heavily as it moved deeper into the enemy formation. Impacts were tearing pieces of the superstructure from the vessel now. She ordered the bio-com to dump all remaining metallic hydrogen in to the reactor, then overload all remaining weapons stores. Then she ordered the bio-com to change the ships vector, directly towards the enemy battleship they had targeted on their lightning strike. She waited for a few moments before she was engulfed in blinding light.

++++

Federal-Commander Logran Hellerin watched as the Divine Hammer accelerated in to the enemy fleet, directly towards what appeared to be the enemy flagship. The Tempest had taken some damage on the lightning strike, though most of the enemy fire had seemed to be directed towards the Solarin Battle ship. Suddenly the green dot denoting the Divine Hammer merged with the enemy battleship on tactical, then they both disappeared. Whether or not the vessel had struck the enemy was yet to be discovered, but likely the massive reactor explosion had harmed or even destroyed many ships.

Saluting Captain Ramila as she did what any Tannelornian would in the situation, he assumed command of the remaining ships in the flotilla. Eternal was unleashing a storm of beam's and missiles in to enemy ships, targetting first one vessel till it was destroyed, then another, then another. It was specifically targetting the Angellus cruisers, the light enemy capital vessels as they were designated.

The Honour blades were small, but they were based upon the same design as the Einhander. They were hardy and agile, though they were not full scale capital ships. They descended upon the heavier enemy vessels, unleashing a storm of pulsar capital engagement lasers, lance fire and Xasers. As they started to attack the enemy horde cruiser's, they unleashed their primary ordnance. All of it. Every available bio-com was launching, almost deploying at combat range. They were streaming and funnelling in and out of the vessels, reloading their armaments, using every last piece available to them.

When battle was at its most desperate and crucial phase, Tannelornian's were always up to the challenge. Raised on stories of heroic battle and victories uncounted in number. They had faced down the most viscious and callous opponents in a dozen wars, the battle experience of even the youngest knights was the equal of most hardened veterans. The PTSS had formed the core of the federal fleet, even they had gained bitter experience fighting a vastly superior foe in the secession wars. They now used this experience to its fullest.

The honour blades started to weave in amongst the enemy capital ships, directing the fire of several of them against a single point on the enemy vessel, all the while keeping their backs to the enemy, forcing them to fire in to each other if they wished to fire upon the Tannelornian's.

As more ships became operational enough to defend themselves, their point defense fire combined with the hellebarde and alpha squadrons to relieve the massive amount of stress from the Monitors. They in turn started to fire in to the enemy fleet attacking the GTFOA fleet. The brilliant and powerful beams were sweeping the beams over the wraiths and angellus's now, levelling their massive beam weapons upon them until they were nothing more then ashes. They had to support the attack of the Honour blades and the Eternal. Half of the fleet was still unable to do much more then move and direct power from life support to shields. The rest were in various stages of operational ability.

Alpha II's continued to support the Algol HMAF's in the center of the enemy fleet, attacking and destroying the horde fighters in a dizzying dance of destruction, using superior spacial awareness, training and armaments they did their utmost to keep them from the disabled vessels. They would not give up for a moment, despite the sheer number of the enemy facing them. They spat brilliant ribbons of pulsar laser fire in to the enemy, particle fire, kinetics and missiles as they battled amongst the enemy ships.

Knight mecha of the DCN raced in to support the alpha's and Fausts, using superior maneuverability, combat skill and mecha honed and engineered over eight hundred years to dance around the enemy fighters. Gravity and inertia seemingly had no effect on the pilots as they performed maneuvers that would kill any normal biological, in part to their genetic engineering and training and adaptation since birth, in second part to the incredibly advanced gravitic technology used in the creation of Knight-mecha.

Their knight fields made them flicker in and out on sensors, never actually being where sensors said they would be, always off by a few dozen kilometers. A few dozen kilometers that could mean the difference between missing and hitting. Still they were starting to die, albeit slowly. Bomber variants made attack runs on the smaller vessels, striking in to them hard and unleashing their payloads at extreme close range, to ensure maximum destruction. There were no specific targets, simple death of the enemy was all that was needed.

The Algol HMAF's continued to press their attacks against the horde cruisers, targetting already damaged locations and hammering them with Pulsar engagement cannons and their remainining missile supplies. Others moved in to extreme close range, burying beam sabers deep in to the enemy vessels, then racing down the hull, carving deep grooves down the hull and forcing plasma in to internals. Algols were dying on these attack runs, but at a rate far lower then expected. Their agility and thrust to weight ratios as well as their small size and the fact they were only piloted by the most veteran Knights was responsible for this.

It was likely that the Knights of Tannelorn would be using far more of these craft in the future. The GTFOA fleets lack of an HMAF was proving decisive against the enemy. Had they had their own such craft, they would have been able to launch a more effective counterattack alongside the Algol HMAF's, High maneuver and mobility frames and the operational flotilla.

Even now the Algol's were making a monumental effort to destroy the enemy capital vessels. They knew that the more fire directed towards them meant more time for the Divine Celestial Navy Gun armada to make it to the battle before the GTFOA fleet was destroyed.

***Boarding Actions:GTFOA fleet***

Explosions blossomed around the men of the fifth company of the third regiment of the sixth Tannelornian GTFOA division. Platoon kappa continued to level fire in to the enemy, their training and armour keeping many safe from the hail of shrapnel, heat waves, blasts and wall of flying lead. In such tight confines however, casualties could not be avoided. The men and women of the GTFOA were following the lead of their commander, Knight Captain Heurmil. He was toting a Gras-Rifle, which he was sweeping across the enemy forces whenever they rose up to attempt a charge. Then he would level it in to the enemy assault boats, hoping to cause secondary explosions to harm them in their positions. More and more Marines were cycling in now to replace those that had fallen or been wounded.

The Marines started to smile as they felt the gravity control cease. The thrill of combat was starting to make some of them giggle. It was a dark secret of Tannelorn, a dark force that resided in the souls of all of its men and women. The thrill of combat was a part of their genes, though it should not have been. For the Knights it was to be assumed, even exacerbated by their selective breeding..but in the soul of every Tannelornian was a fire burning brightly, seeking out noble combat and an honourable end. This fire could burn brighter then the sun, or dark as shadow. As they fired in to the enemy with a gleeful abandon, Captain Heurmil started to watch them carefully, to ensure discipline did not break down. If that happened they would charge directly in to the enemy with bayonets singing death. If that happened far more men then was necessary would die.

He had a responsibility to his men and he would not shirk it. He winced as a piece of shrapnel struck the leg joint in his armour, his enhanced nervous training only giving him a small pang of indication at the damage he suffered. He raised his heavy Energy weapon and aimed for a large and grisly beast who was hefting a massive rocket launcher, ready to fire in to their position. He smiled as he pulled the trigger, the shock of the nuclear blast causing the weapon to buck in his hands as the powerful beam of energy struck out at the monster.

+++

The fighting aboard the rest of the ships was fierce, some of the honour blades sealed off every section but engineering and the bridge, forcing massive amounts of hard radiation out in to the hull after their marines were forced to retreat to the heavily armoured sanctums through sheer numbers. The solarins were suffering damage to their landing bays, but otherwise the sheer number of skilled marines aboard ship were keeping enemy boarding parties at bay, waiting until the enemy was sufficiently pinned and surrounded before launching their own counter assaults.

Large Tannelornian fighting ships, and Knight vessels contained a large amount of marines, the smaller vessels however, contained barely a platoon. Those vessels were suffering worse under the enemy attacks, but were for the most part holding, after taking damage to internal systems.

***GAP Counter Attack***

Commodore Zietski considered leaving Balmung to its fate. Only for a moment. He was still a Tannelornian, he would not allow that magnificent vessel and its brave crew to die in such a manner. "Open a link to the People's Wrath inform Captain Heolmer he is now in command of the battle group, have the Invincible shield and the Peoples Hammer form up with us. We go to relieve Lord Rendacil." The conflict was raging around them, the thirteen ships of the GAP fleet were holding their own for now, returning fire against the enemy ships with their batteries of heavy Xasers and Bio-com missile launchers. They were targetting the heavy enemy vessels with everything they could give them, kinetics rebounded off of heavy Ubecht fields, lasers were being diffused against the hull and the Pin point barriers were stopping what they could. At this range however, there was little hope of stopping every shot.

The Endymion armour's continued to support the capital ships, engaging the lighter wraiths in an attempt to sweep them from the field, hunting them above all other craft. Fausts flew constant bombing runs against the Angellus cruisers, using their heavy Xas-AS missile compliments to effect against enemy weapons and propulsion. The hellebarde's were doing their best to contain the enemy fighters.


Though not as fast as high maneuver frames, the single form high mobility frames packed far heavier armaments. They could still dance around the enemy, evading their fire while returning a constant stream of death in to the goblin fighters. Clusters of missiles flew in straight lines, directly in to approaching enemy units as streams of kinetic and las fire streaked from gun barrels in to the approaching enemy. Automated point defense cannons mounted on the underside of the torso engaged fighter missiles as the enemy attempted to close on the heavy ships of the GAP armada.

The Replicant pilots were calm amidst the blossoming explosions and criss crossing tracers of fire. They were designed for conflict, their pretty female forms belying their true skill as soldiers. They were synthetic Tannelornians, their muscles and nervous system far in advance of any save the knights in the Tannelornian armies. Their programming was almost perfect, save a few minor flaws which showed more outside of the battlefield then in it. They continued to fight with a determination that was a part of their very genetic make up. A determination to fight, to win and to live that drove them forward against their enemies. They attacked mercilessly in their mecha suits, as they were programmed too. Most of them were barely a year old, yet still they had much to live for. Replicants were still citizens of Tannelorn, though they were under special circumstances as they were outside of the Nursery system in the Prefecture.

Now they were fighting for their lives and the lives of their comrade's aboard the GAP vessels, Fausts and HMAF's, who were all fulfilling their combat roles. The GAP fleet fought as a combined machine, mecha, strike fighters, HMAF's and capital ships all fulfilling a specific role at a specific time.

As the Prefecture fleet continued to circle in a long line formation, pouring fire in to the ships on either side of them, three of them broke off and formed up in an arrowhead. They powered up their engines, pushing through the fighting even as weapon impacts resounded and smashed in to their hulls and shields.

They started to accelerate with their escorting hellebardes and HMAF's covering them, pushing through any enemy vessels that would bar their path. They were moving through the thickest fighting, towards the Balmung.

***DCN Battle Carrier group: Shutdown and new orders***

"My Lord, new orders." Knight-Armsmen Kell stated over the battle-din. Lord Helias quickly recieved them and set about issuing them to the rest of the ships in the battle group. They were already starting to reactivate, their reactors having achieved sufficient power to make the vessels battle ready once more.

They were to reinforce the attack on the moon, the DCN gun armada was almost in position to attack, once they did the enemy would soon find themselves under fire from some of the most experienced captains and crews in the known galaxies. This however was not now.

The Battle group formed up, Fifteen Morgensterns and twenty Shield strike carriers arrayed themselves in neat flotilla's, nearly fifteen hundred escorting Morgenraete's and Sturmanrufers rearming before once again maintaining point positions. They moved slowly under the obscuring effects of their full power Urenbecht fields, hoping the enemy fleets would not notice their movement's until they were at optimal striking distance. They would engage in long range heavy beam combat in support of the four GTFOA Solarin's leading the attack against the Fortress moon and its defenders.

***DCN Gun Armada: Counter attack begins***

It began with almost five hundred Morgenraetes and Sturmanrufer's racing towards the enemy fleet attacking the GTFOA. They were far from the fighting with Balmung and the Prefecture fleet, but that did not matter. The enemy would soon face the wrath of the angered knights. Not only had the enemy fled battle with them, but had attacked a defenseless opponent. No dictates of honour were to be used now, this was a life or death struggle.

As the Einhanders approached within a million kilometers they activated their heavy Urenbecht weapons, the long conduits extended from every ship in the flotilla, unleashing a massive bombardment of heavy, antimatter filled rounds. Three seconds after they exited the conduit and reentered real space, the rounds exploded, their timers making sure the huge explosions would be felt amongst the enemies tight formation.


Before the explosions had even winked out the Einhander's were moving towards the fleet's flank's, firing their heavy Loengren cannons in volleys at individual ships, then raking them through smaller ones. All the while a hail of pulsar laser fire and Xasers smashed in to the enemy with unnerring accuracy, bourne of hundreds of years of training and fighting. They maneuvered using their Urenbecht fields to full effect, not even the exact position of the ships firing would be able to be made out by the enemy crews.

Behind them came the Zweihanders, moving straight in to the enemy fleet, preparing to hit them from the front as the Einhander's swept around their flank to the rear. The incredibly agile cruisers would have little problem in a flanking maneuver against such a complex formation. The twenty Zweihander dreadnought's armed their Loengren cannons and Urenbecht weapons, preparing to fire the moment they got within optimal firing range, still a few hundred thousand kilometers behind the Einhanders. Centuries of warfare had taught the crews of these vessels patience in the face of the enemy. Accurate and effective fire power would always out do masses of heavy fire at extreme range.

The heavy ships started to get closer, then suddenly the lead Zweihander opened up with a full burst from its rows of heavy xasers, more efficient and powerful then the Solarin's own weapons. Then the Loengrens barked, the ships glowed from the heat of their energy weapons, slicing a brilliant arc towards enemy vessels in the distance. Seconds later more of the heavy shells reappeared in real space, the Zweihanders mounted two of the heavy spinal' weapons that the Einhanders had just used. The shells soared towards targets, exploding amidst the enemy fleet in a brilliant white glow. The zweihanders split in to two groups and started to push towards the Mythrandir fleet, preparing to unleash their unparalleled beam armaments in to the enemy.

Then nearly two thousand knight mecha rushed in to the attack, well ahead of the Einhanders, waiting only for the blossoming explosions to finish before they threw their impressive close range firepower in to the hectic, whirling dance of destruction now taking place above Mythrandir. Cries of vengeance escaped from their lips as they engaged enemy fighters, light ships and point defenses as they covered the huge amount of bomber variants now making their attack runs against the larger enemy ships.

The Knights had arrived on the scene of battle. The Einhanders were now in a long formation, almost a semi circle as they started to move past the enemy fleet, firing heavy energy beams in to the enemy with an accuracy they would likely have never thought possible. The Zweihanders presented themselves to the enemy with a salvo of firepower so great that it could destroy a moon, all aimed at the heart of the enemy fleet. If they wished to avoid them in combat before, now they would have no choice but to fight. For if they did not fight their best against the Divine Celestial Navy and the loyal Knights of Tannelorn, they would meet their doom across this fated sea.


***Attack on the Fortress Moon***

Honour blades had started to die in the night as they came under the attention of prodigious firepower, but it didnt matter, they had to prevent the enemy forces from encircling the main fleet. They started to move far more evasively, relying wholly on their bio-com missile ordnance, their main weaponry to engage Frylann's fleet while keeping the enemies attention on them. Then they saw the second of the enemy fleets attempt to surround the Pods and Solarin's.

They moved in to the enemy, firing all Xasers and Pulsar lasers with wild abandon, attempting to force at least a portion of the enemy to acknowledge them. They fought as they had been taught by the veterans of the PTSS and the secession wars, using their smaller ships in groups to attack larger vessels from the flanks or top with an unyielding storm of fire and missiles. They were dying even as they started to attack, but their heavy frames and heavier shielding then previous frigate designs were keeping them alive. It had not been their designed purpose to engage enemy ships directly, but they were based on the Einhander hull, versatility was a part of this design. Their narrow frontings and heavy forward armament was the advantage in this case, as they could use their agility and size to avoid much of the enemy fire, while laying down their own fire in much narrower cones then the larger enemy vessels could.

The pods had similiar idea's. Once again a portion of the formation, perhaps twenty ships including three Knurrwhal cruiser's broke off to engage Drulgar's fleet. Numbers were not as meaningful to Tannelornian ship combat philosophies, preferring to use high quality and agile ships meant that having huge numbers of role specific vessels was not necessary.

The Solarins continued to attack Frylann's fleet, the Pax Mortis leading the charge, targetting the enemy battleship with every one of its seventeen remaining heavy Xasers. Its missiles were still in the process of rearming. The rest of the Solarins were engaging the enemies heavier vessels with a brilliant storm of fire, allowing the pods' to continue to press their attack amongst the enemy formations. Uthelien couldnt help but admire the grace of the bio-mech ships, watching as they looped in between enemy vessels, forcing them to risk shooting each other if they wish to hit the GFN destroyers and cruisers.

Glory of Heaven was not yet ready to fire, but it had already chosen its target. The enemy fleet that had split was now attempting to support the fire of the encircled enemy. A group of Honour blades and Bio-com's had engaged them, leaving the other sixty remaining vessels to hammer on Frylann's fleet mercilessly. Glory of Heaven was drawing a line towards the enemy battle ship leading the second flotilla, from her position far behind the main fleet advance, she waited for enough shells to be manufactured in the auto-factories, before she could fire a full strength beam.

The escorting alpha's and Faust's continued to attack the enemy fleet formations and fighters, Fausts supported by the dog fight oriented high maneuver frames would go in on steep attack runs as Alpha's engaged enemy fighters attempting to either shoot down the Fausts, or attack the capital ships.

++++Dogfight++++

The enemy fighters had split in to two massive swarms, the fighters were doing everything they could to kill Tannelornians. It was then that a plan started to form amongst Crimson Mane and his kinsmen. The enemy did not know that they were not piloted by men, they could not guess at this. Personality had been built in the to Lowe's to ensure loyalty to human ideals, and not the ideals of the machine. Crimson mane and the remaining Lowe's broke off from the Alpha's, forming their own groups and transposing themselves between the manned mecha and their foes.

It was the sheer number of enemy swarm-craft that had caused such damage on the Lowe squadrons, who were now under fifty percent of their original number, and almost entirely without any ordnance. The Alpha's however were faring better, their point defenses and more varied ordnance allowing them more opportunities to strike at the enemy despite numbers.

The Lowe's did not feel even the slightest pangs of jealousy, they were proud of what they were, for unlike any other units of Tannelorn..they were legion. They were the one force in Tannelorn that could take extended casualties in a conflict, and it was what gave them the most pride. They could serve their nation as well by dying as by winning, no other Knight or Soldier could say that.

The lowe's then started to fire heavy bursts of las fire in to the enemy swarm, accuracy was all that mattered, their own lives did not. They were giving them a chance to kill many of them, rather then chase down small squadrons of isolated alpha's, having pushed to far in to the mass. As they did the Alpha's, Fausts and HMAF's started to attack from the sides, acknowledging the change of plans by Crimson Mane. If he survived this day he would become a hero, and a template for all Lowe-Lion's to come.

The Lowe's started to lead the enemy around the orbital facilities, giving them excellent chances to catch them before turning on them and opening fire heavily, timing it to coincide with lighting strikes from above or below by the Algol's, Endymion's, Fausts and Alpha's now attacking the enemy with a reckless abandon. Lowe's were nearly hit by the fire of their comrades as they did all they could to force the enemy to choose between a few deaths and many. To the Lowe's the enemy swarm-pilots were either a calculating drone computer, or a crazed psychotic. Possibly a little of both.

The GAP Endymion HMAF's started to loiter outside of the battle, zooming in to unleash heavy Xaser fire in to the enemy swarm when it massed significantly to kill dozens of them in a single bolt, the rest of their weapons now almost expended The replicant girls and Tannelornian officers were using the most efficient method of fighting now.

The few Algol's involved simply strode through the enemy rank's, watching light fighter fire bounce off of their hulls and shielding, those rounds that did cause damage doing little more then annoy them or damage a weapon system. Though they mounted six ship scale pulsar cannon's, two of them were in a far more maneuverable mount at the end of the "arms." These weapons were constantly streaming in to the enemy fighters, massive explosions rippling along their firing arc's. Missiles were used more sparingly now, but they still flew from the heavily armoured back's of the frigate-mecha. They were not prepared to engage in melee combat yet, slowing down could leave them vulnerable. They would close in for the kill the moment the enemy was thinned enough to make the attacks worthwhile, lest they accidentally ram an enemy fighter at high speed.


The Alpha pilot's were fighting as hard as their legendary ancestor's in the original Alpha High maneuver frame, the first example of that design now five hundred years in the past. They utilised the enhanced missile payloads from their fast packs to continue to fight despite being heavily outnumbered and targeted by multiple enemies at once. The Xas-missiles would allow them to devote all their time to dodging and intercepting missiles, while still striking the enemy. The pilots would not fail the "good pets", the Lowes. They were making this sacrifice so the men and women of Tannelorn could gain victory. It would not be forgotten, nor would the chance be allowed to slip from their fingers.

Battlecries and oaths leapt from two thousand lips as the GTFOA and GAP pilots closed in on the enemy swarm-craft, preparing to finish the job their lowe's had started as over two thousand mecha and fighters prepared to scatter the enemy swarm.

***Fortress moon [The Forge] Ground battle***

As the Knights of the Assault team continued down the corridor they were filled with a sense of impending doom. Before them were two bulkheads, both of which opened to a wider room, there was a blockage hampering their Xray vision spectrum, so they returned to normal viewing. It was not Knight Erathina who called out the first warning, but Ybrasil himself.

"Death waits behind those doors." he stated quietly. The squad placed breeching charges. They placed a few mines down, the tiny devices prepared to fire off down the hall the moment the door was opened. The Knight themselves took cover further down the hall, where the feeling of dread had lessened. It was not just the training and genetic engineering, nor even the nano machines that made up the blood of the DCC that made them so good at what they did. It was their blood, and the gift of it. They were of the "old blood." Pure or nearly pure Tannelornians whose psychic abilities were far greater then those of their kin. This gift was channeled in to many battle dances, kata's and preparations, but also it was used as a way to avoid the worst enemy traps. The assault teams were extremely well trained in avoiding and dealing with traps, however their true talents were often hidden from the enemy.

No one, not even the Aumanii knew that the DCC and many of the Knights of the DCN and even of the DVK gained much of their combat prowess from their talent. Their ability to instinctively feel a second or more in to the future, their ability to foresee events and cataclysm. It had been said during the Hellespontos wars that the Knights of Tannelorn could be everywhere they were needed, yet not be present at all. They only deployed in places that were predetermined to be the most important to the war effort, their armies had been far to small to attempt any guess work.

"Alright, blow the charges." Ybrasil stated, the explosion could be felt through his armour as he and his men and women took cover. Then the mines lifted off and streaked in to the room, exploding heavily against something. "Erathina, safe or no?" Ybrasil asked, turning to the young woman who seemed lost in concentration...

++++

The Knights of the Strike team started to make their way in to the facility before realising something was wrong. The enemy had started to heat up the ducts they were using to gain further entry in to the compound. The heat itself was quickly dispersed through their highly advanced armour, but the strain allowed the increased radiation to have an effect on their nanites, causing them to heal slower then they would in normal circumstances. This would linger until the nanites removed all of the dangerous radiation that managed to penetrate their Cavalier armour, which could take several minutes to several hours depending on the length of the exposure.


The first of the Knights dropped several grenades through the various hatches the five hundred Cavaliers were using to enter the compound, clearing any possible enemies and causing an electromagnetic pulse to give them a few seconds of safety as they started to drop in and take stock of their surroundings, taking immediate cover as they did so.

***Planetary Assault: Sea battle***

The Knossis and the Hero's Rest reeled from the impacts of a thousand weapons, rocked gently in the waves. Much of the kinetic shell fire simply bounced off, or crushed itself against the hulls of the mighty warships. The kilometer long behemoths continued to fire in to the enemy emplacements, now firing their massive gravitic cannons in to the cliff faces, targetting the weapons at sea level with a salvo designed to carve a whole in the cliffs base.

The heavy laser fire was forcing the ships to choose their targets carefully, already their starboard launch bays had been sealed. Dozens of mecha were destroyed as they attempted to escape the wall of fire, mostly Hellebarde's and Faust's on point defense duty, but a few GTFOA alpha's as well. The enemy main position had been in sight for only a few minutes now, it had also just been declared a city. This had caused some troubles in the overall command response.

The first thing that happened was the shell fire immediately stopped against the cliff base. Instead it was once again redirected upwards, but to the shields. A concentrated burst of shell fire was now being levelled against the enemy shields in an attempt to bring them down, so more conventional artillery could silence the enemy guns.

The Mecha moved away from the enemy response, starting to patrol along and underneath the water, plasma-shock expansion thrusters were perfectly adequate for submerged warfare, and there were plenty of Hellebardes being threatened by the long range bombardment. They had elected to dive underneath the waves to continue to provide support to the kilometer long behemoths. This artillery duel would likely last some time before either side was forced to break off, range and the obscuring effects of a Urenbecht field would see to that for the Bad-hertzfeldt's, position and heavy shielding would see to the defense of the city. Still it was a good way to keep much of the shelling away from the majour encampments setting up on the mainland.

***Mythrandir Planetary Assault : frontlines***

When the shelling started anew, the GAP forward positions were ready. They huddled in their trenches, trusting in the pin point barrier systems to protect them from the worst of the fire, heavy artillery returned fire against the new targets, which were laying down a murderous hail of fire with some form of beam weapon, which they knew would only be silenced by the efforts of the bad-hertzfeldts. They simply had to hold, and they knew it. Then great shouts rose up from the mountains flanking the small valley they were fortifying, and fire started to land amongst the Artillery tanks, scoring hits on many of them, killing and crippling them.


Some of the Hellebarde's preparing engineering works as well were caught in the open and killed. The majourity of the combat mecha were still at the primary bases on the southern shore, and unable to assist in the opening phases of the battle. The vanguard regiment had to hold out for at most fourty five minutes before ground support could arrive, air support would likely be incoming immediately, in the form of Faust's, Alpha II's, and DCN mecha which could intercede far more directly on the battle field.

Several large explosions sounded a few kilometers distant, signifying the Divine Celestial Cavalier ambush squads had made contact. The GAP officers knew that it was likely shoulder launch atomics and Gras-bomb's placed in the path of any enemy assault. Silently they hoped the Cavaliers would be on their way back to the firebase..they could use the help.

Even as the enemy first started to show itself, ordered fire brigades started to open up on them. A veritable wall of particle fire and kinetic rounds opened up against the attackers. Hellebardes jumped behind mounds of dirt raised to act as mecha scale cover, going prone and starting to fire heavy energy and kinetic cannon's in to the enemy tanks as they came in to view.


Explosions were churning up vast volumes of mud and debris, but pin point barrier over shields were deflecting much of the main bulk of the fire from the defensive positions and vulnerable areas. Still anyone caught out in the open was either dead, injured or was lucky enough to toss an excavator grenade and dive in to a fox hole. Also being lucky enough not to be the focus of a near miss helped.

There were over two thousand soldiers in the trenches however, most of the regiment having been involved in preparing the main defenses as the attack started. They could also call upon over a hundred Hellebardes, the regiments main battle mecha. A veritable wall of fire opened up against the enemy assault, tens of thousands of rounds and beams crisscrossing the open field between the Prefecture army and its attackers.

Heavy weapons fire streaked out from hard points in the line, as well as from the remaining hellebardes. The remaining TAT-1 artillery tanks started to open up with a curtain of fire, laying down a shield of fire in no mans land. Tannelornian armies used prodigious amounts of firepower to win battles against numerically superior foes. They were always small and well equipped, it had never been the way of Tannelorn to raise vaste armies of conscripts and untrained citizens.

There were no scribes, philosophers, potters and blacksmiths in the Grand army of the Prefecture or of the Knights of the Celestial republic, the Divine kingdom and the Grahfsbergs. All who were in the state armies were born for their task.


The Replicant soldiers were the youngest of Tannelornians, but they were lead by veteran officers of the Secession wars. These officers were now directing fire in to the enemy, ordering the infantry to take down the units closest to the firebase while Hellebardes fired on targets of opportunity and brought down the heaviest units. Even as the enemy artillery storm started to fall, even as the attack commenced vox operators were signaling for artillery support. A hundred kilometers away big guns started to bark out death, flinging their heavy kinetic rounds in to the attacking enemy.

The first reinforcements on scene were Faust Strike fighters, their hyper sonic capabilities exceeding that of the HMF's. They started to unload along no man's land, firing huge payloads of light fusion missiles in to the path of the enemy advance. The GAP Fausts were used both as dogfighters and strike craft, compared to an HMF however, they were poor dogfighters, having their weapons on boom's did not make up for the loss of agility from not having a battloid mode. However they could move much faster in atmosphere and accelerate faster in space then an HMF, they also carried nearly double the missile payload.

As the first units on scene, several squadrons of Faust's were now demonstrating this disparity in armament upon the enemy forces. Still the attack was on the ground, it would be impossible to kill them all from the air without destroying those they were attempting to assist.

The fields surrounding the village lit up brighter then the sun as the Grand army of the Prefecture prepared to repulse the attack.

++++

"Captain Hector, enemy sighted." Knight Cavalier Derien stated impassively. "Wait for them to pass, open fire on the front and end of the column, then release all ordnance and make for the fire base." Hector grinned. Their armour was using its thermoptic camouflage feature's, as well as venting all heat and life signs. More esoteric circuitry was even blocking their life signs, making them appear as dead as cold stone.

Hidden behind the six man squad was a Kernschatten, using its own camouflage to appear to be a rather large stone. The illusion was immediately dispelled when it rose up and fired two missiles from its leg hard points. They leapt out and streaked towards opposite ends of the long column of enemy tanks. Then the squad opened fire with shoulder launch atomics, each one capable of atomising a huge amount of brushland and field. As the rounds ignited they activated their shields, long metal shards seemingly grew and folded out of a bracer on their left arm, transforming in to a four by four foot curved disc.


They braced against each others shields, forming a shield wall as the shockwave and heat swept over them. Glowing white hot, the shields retracted back in to the housings. The Kernschatten behind them fired the rest of its missile payload of Gras-missiles, deadly lances of energy striking anything that survived the ambush. It then took off and made directly for the firebase at mach speeds, switching in to superiority fighter configuration.

Hector moved his hand, pointing back wards. The men of the squad immediately started running, more like hopping through the woods as fast as they could. Using small jump jets and gravitics in the armour they were capable of moving at nearly three hundred kilometers an hour over flat ground. In this terrain they would likely make no better then one hundred and twenty. Still dodging and weaving as they were it would make them hard targets to hit.

Hector grinned listening on the vox for the signs that were showing this scene was being repeated along the perimeter. The units of DCC that were behind the fire base and unable to ambush the enemy were making haste for the Firebase.

OOC post was too long, had to do two, sorry <.<


***Mythrandir: Air war***

Jan followed the wyverns wherever they went, not slowing despite the veritable wall of fire surrounding them. The gunners were clumsy folk, unable to hit true Knights of Tannelorn, or at least so far unable to hit the Veteran Aces of Lux Aeternus squadron. Four hundred years of war on and around mars had given these knights an almost unnatural ability to navigate twisted canyons and avoid ground fire. This was being put to the test. Jan signalled to the rest of the squad as they watched the Wyverns slip in to a small chasm, almost too small for the mecha to pass through. Those of the all Morgenraete Squadron who were not already in high maneuver configuration, switched to it as they slipped in to the chasm.

Even as they twisted on to their sides, Jan raised one of his Pulsar laser gun pods up and started to open fire on the riders, trying even now to kill them, despite the danger of the high speed maneuver they were performing. The eleven Knights moved past the waterfall, a spray of vapour and steam billowing off of them as they passed through the water, their plasma-shock expansion engines vapourising the water under the mecha's feet.

***Reserve Point***

Knight-Captain Arahim was on the vox almost as soon as they reentered realspace at the reserve point. The news was dire. Fleet-Marshall Hellner started to give orders for the reserve fleet to form up and enter in to combat immediately after jumping. The Einhanders of the DCN started to form up in support of the Solarin battleships of the GTFOA and GAP, Honourblade's fanned out in wide formation behind the main fleet as it readied to jump, close to the planet. The battle picture was only a few minutes old, but it showed a most dire threat. The enemies main fleet was pounding the helpless GTFOA main contingent, a hundred ships and almost ten thousand lives were at stake.

The Algol's of the DCN, the GAP fleet and the high maneuver frames of the GTFOA main fleet were desperately fighting the enemy off. The DCN gun armada was far from the fighting and the DCN battle carriers had been inactive at last look.

Hellner made sure every ship was ready, signalling to his counterparts, Captain Uraki of the DCN, and Commodore Helbrecht of the Prefecture Charybdis armada that they were ready to jump out. The Carriers and hellebardes of the GTFOA and GAP carrier groups would stay behind to defend the City-rock of the Knights of the Divine kingdom as well as the rest of the transports containing the main ground army for this invasion.

Within a space of a minute the fleet would jump in to the heart of the battle, one hundred and twenty warships of Tannelorn would now enter the frey.The GTFOA was bringing two more Solarins and a pair of Divinity Fleet Carriers to provide close in air support, as well as the Monitor Reckoning.The GAP was sending an additional thirteen Solarins and four Divinity Carriers with full mecha compliment ready for action. The DCN would send twenty more Einhanders and twenty more Shield strike carriers, to provide close in mecha support and cruiser support to the heavy battle ships of the Greater Federal and Prefecture militaries. All of these formations would be supported by fourty six Honourblades, with full missile compliments ready to provide extreme range support to the attacking fleet. Hellner gave the signal. At once one hundred and twenty tears opened in the fabric of reality as the ships shot forward on their Urenbecht catapults, directly in to the glowing rifts.

Battle with the Balmung:

With the sudden disappearance of the massive ship, it left a massive hole between amongst the larger vessels of the second Myth Fleet. Now they were spread in all directions with their target suddenly gone. Captain Heorot was about to give the orders to reform when the ship suddenly reappeared on their scanners. The distance was great but its intention was known. It had not retreated, much to the dismay of the two captains, but was now on an attack vector.

Even as the Balmung fired from the great distance, ships easily avoided the fire while shields deflected what was left. It was not a problem until the ship began closing the distance. Heorot sat in his throne chair watching and waiting for the massive vessel to play its hand. The barbarian captain would not have to wait long as massive amounts of energy was detected at the bow of the ship. It appeared that their main weapon was preparing to fire while Heorot's fleet was still scattered.

"Evasive actions! All ships evade."

Ships within Heorot and Sky Scream's command dumped everything available into thrusters and engine outputs to avoid the long range energy attack. As it came, there were very few ships close together for the attack to focus on at once. Heorot's battleship came through the attack unscathe and ready to unleash all hell into the now drifting Balmung. Sadly, that was not the case for all others. One of the Horde Cruisers had been overwhelmed by the attack causing its shields to buckle and even the Forge armor gave way as the beam punctured the ship's reactor. All time seemed to stood still in that one moment as the ship waited on the brink between death and destruction until it went up in flames in one breif terrible moment. There was not even enough time for the crews to escape to the lifepods.

Sky Scream's battleship also caught a glance of the attack but it luckily removed a pesky mechanized unit attached to the ship. The damage done to that sector was minimal as much of the crew had been evacuated to other levels. Still, the griffon's ship was listing badly.

"Captain Sky Scream, how do you fare?"

Lights flickered in the background of the image of the great griffon sitting on his throne chair. Blood wetted the feathers at the side of his head but the wound hardly phased him. "We've received damage that is going to eventually take its toll if we do not end the battle quickly. Do you have a plan as to what to do now?"

"I do." Heorot paused for a moment to check the bearings of the charging Balmung. "We are going to reroute as much power as possible to the Cosmo cannon and fire at the bow of their ship. We will try to keep a steady stream for as long as possible while the remaining Horde Cruisers firing from afar with their heavy pulse cannons. That should destroy the foe or at least put them out of the fight."

A sound plan and one that Sky Scream had no objections to at the moment. The communication link was severred leaving the two captains to their duties at hand. Each battleship took up a position opposite the other so as to remain separated in case there were anymore heavy attacks coming this way. For this one more attack, they put all they had behind their attacks as energy continued to build until it could not be contained. As one, they fired on the Balmung from two different angles in order to prevent the vessel from dodging the attacks. Blinding white light screamed through space towards the mammoth while the Horde Cruisers prepared their barrage. Heavy particle beams and pulse cannons opened fire on the same area where the two battleships were attacking. Heorot was hoping that his attack would bring down the heavy shielding and puncture the bow of the ship. Along with the aid of constant attacks from the cruisers, the barbarian captain was hoping to obliterate the bow of the ship and knock it out of the fight.

Even while the attack went on, point defenses still picked off the bombers coming in hoping to score easy targets. If the defense systems couldn't hold off the attack runs, then there goblin fighters above ready to pick off bombers. Lasers and torpedoes shot out from behind, striking down bombers and mechs without restraint.

------

It was becoming clear to the commanders of fleet detachment sent by Sky Scream and Heorot that many of the disabled ships were beginning to become operational. Instead of allowing many of the GTFOA ships return to the forray, they would be destroyed in a massive barrage. Even those units defending the disabled ships would not be able to stem the tide. Weapons fire intensified on the functional ships attacking the Myth squadron. The darkness of space was gone only to be seared away by the blinding light of constant attack from the Myth defenders. Commanders kept up their attack punishing any ship daring to venture closer to their captains dealing with the Balmung.

Turret after turret fired unendingly while fighters pushed their squadrons to full burn, pushing back the mechanized units. Then every ship let loose with a massive missle barrage at the disabled ships. So many objects flew from their tubes that it was amazing that there was anything left aboard. Missles darted and dived around the battlefield towards their targets even dodging defensive fire on their collision course.

With their first payload spent, ships resumed their attacks on the GAP and GTFOA while they awaited for their missle silos to rearm.

Orc Pods:

Orcs were prepared for the loss of gravity aboard many of the ships. Their armor and specially magnetized boots kept them stuck to the floor. Those horde forces that were pinned down in the hangar bays did not remain there for long. Instead of charging the defended positions, trolls blasted out the sides of the hangar and let the orcs pour out into the hallways.

Growls and war cries filled the halls. One orc let fly a tactical nuke from his shoulder to clear the halls and hit the side of the marine forces. Trolls let loose exploding rounds that were as long as a man's forearm and all the while the orcs pressed the attack to put the marines back on their heels.

Those orc hordes that had managed to sweep away the few troops on GTFOA vessels, began scanning the vessel. They had two main objectives: securing the bridge and the engine room. Dividing into two teams, the orcs and trolls split up heading down the halls. Whenever a sealed door was encountered, it was simply blasted away to prevent slowing the forces down. The amounts of radiation flooding the area were a mild concern as it didn't effect the trolls and their thick hide nor was it a problem with the orcs in their armor keeping the radiation at bay.

Myth Fleet 1:

Haldir looked perplexed by the enemy's move. "They're leaving... That's an odd move."

"From the looks of it, it seems that their only concern at the moment is stopping the 2nd fleet from removing their disabled ships."

The elven captain sat there without acknowledging the officer's assesment, having already come to that conclusion himself. Haldir was more worried that this wasn't some kind of trick. "Alright. Prepare for Warp jump. We're attacking the rear of their fleet."

The chaotic realm of the Warp beconned Haldir and Genji's fleet in as tentacles of white energy enveloped them all. For such a short distance, it took a mere second before the fleet exited as was out behind the DCN fleet moving into attack. All commanders waited with abated breath as the DCN ships opened fire on the distant 2nd fleet. Haldir slammed his fist down on the arm rest of his throne and ordered all ships to open fire.

Goblin fighters were sent out to deal with the mechanized units, catching them from behind and firing torpedoes and laser cannons from above. Wraiths screamed forward at full throttle using their capital ship beam weapons on passing runs trying to knock out weapon systems, engines, and destroying the bridge of the ships if they could find it. Angellic Cruisers opened fire on the lighter craft of the enemy fleet focusing their efforts on one ship at a time. The Avengers and Horde Cruisers focused their attacks on the heaviest ships among the enemy. Wave after wave of energy and particle fire from the cruisers was unleashed into the enemy's rear. Haldir and Genji launched a combined missle volley sending their ordinance diving for their targets. Since the attack required little energy, both battleships leveled their Cosmo cannon and unleashed their brilliant attack, strafing across the enemy fleet.

Lunar Battle:

Frylann took solace in the fact that the Myth fleet had been designed to take extensive beatings and still hold. Much like she was taking now with another explosion coming from port side of her ship. She was also pleased to have number superiority which allowed her squadron to throw out my flak than the enemy could give back. Just as Captain Drulgar had done, Frylann ordered that the smaller ships be left to the defense systems. The real concern was coming from the larger vessels that were trying to press in. At the moment she needed time for her weapon systems to recharge before using the main cannons again. Missles had already been reloaded and were waiting for the green light to launch.

"Target bearing on the left flank. Redirect all missle silos to target enemy formation charging. I want all particle beam focused to that side as well."

From the side of Frylann's ship, blossomed a flower of missles that promptly darted out towards the charging ships. Particle beam fire lead the way for the missles, focusing on one part of a ship until finally pushing through shields an armor.

With attention on the left secured, the rest of the squadron opened fire to the remaining areas of combat doing everything in their power to bring down enemy vessels just as they were being destroyed. Wraiths got as close as possible to the larger vessels and fired their main beam cannons into the heart of the enemy ships. They stood there even as they took continued fire, not satisfied until their job was done. Even if it meant that their charred carcasses on a collision course would have to finish the job.

As Drulgar's squadron continued to advance, he gave permission for a number of the Wraiths to bank and engage the Honour blades while the rest of the enemy fleet was left to him. The dwarf looked at the battle brewing below and ahead of him. It was certainly a sight to behold. The intensity of the fighting even made the dwarf wence as he saw comrades doing everything in their power to beat down the enemy. Their was no time for him to waste. Friend-from-foe programs had been installed in all of their missles, so it was time for the captain to get to surgical removal.

From Drulgar's battleship and the Horde Cruisers, came a missle barrage designed at plucking away enemy forces along the sides. It would hopefully allow Frylann a few breaking points to exploit and create some holes in the enemy's formation.

Goblin Fighters:

With each moment came more information about enemy fighting patterns and style allowing the Goblin fighters to change with the enemy. They changed once more now breaking off into three different waves covering the ground of the moon all the way up above the fighting. It was a formation that was versatile for the pilots that were constantly drilled and programmed. Now the formation could swivel to insure that one wave was above the attacks as well as one underneath.

Fighters dodged the massive energy beams coming from afar though still a few would go down every time due to sheer numbers of their swarm. They pressed their attack taking a few losses over the major. Effectiveness was their priority and they could not be effective if they were all dead and destroyed because they chased after one or two pilots.

With a new enemy signature around and their weapons proving ineffective for the most part, a new battle formation was implemented for a select few fighters. The Algols had been assesed to be better equipped and armored than their own fighters. A few fighters breaking off from each tier darted back to engage the Algols. War Mistress Shizra had coined it the the flower formation after programming the manuever into their brains at the onset of their creation. A ring of fighters with one in the center charged at the Algols, firing lasers and torpedoes the entire time. Engines set to maximum, fighters kept charged even with collision warning sirens going off in the cockpit. As a unit, the outside ring broke away to keep the enemy from dodging while the center fighter screamed straight into the Algol. This way, they could be sure that the enemy would collide with at least one of the fighters.

Forge Moon:

Shrapnel from the mines were incinerated by the Necron tank's shields with only a few pieces cutting the decaying flesh. Still, it did not prevent them from reflexively raising an arm to ward off the attack. A minor trait from the previous life that had not been erased. They waited in their positions in the hallway for the enemy to come around the corners. There was no use in firing at nothing.

While moving through one of the side passages seamlessly built into the infrastructure, the orb following Bruenor gave him an update on the soldiers breaching the air ducts. It seemed that the radiation was having little known effect on them, and now they had breached the ceiling to one of the lower antechambers a few meters from his current position.

"A'ight, send a couple orc squads te deal with'em. Seal de chamber doors and have dem wait for my signal te attack."

Brain impulses firing, a group of orcs and trolls received their orders and parted from the Bog units in the halls. Armor clinking and the sound of their heavy boots filled the halls as they ran on. Once outside the room, they waited a few feet down the hall for their signal.

Mythrandir Planetside:

The front of the cave that Jeishka and her wyvern riders dove into was eerily dark. The sounds of heavy breathing filled the front chamber, heat washed over the visitors choking at first. Jeishka and her fellow riders were no where to be seen at first. That was until the chamber ignited in one great blast of light. Up above the missing wyvern riders could be found, as well as many more. In the back ground was the back door to the multiple dwarven strongholds in the vast mountain range and ultimatly the great dwarven city of Hammer Hall.

Blocking that entrance stood the imposing figure of a red Shra'lak, dragon in the human tongue. Armor adorning the great beast's underside glistened in the brilliant light. It's thick red scales looked no less imposing. Down at its side stood a dark elf with his arms crossed. His short cropped white hair was pulled back off the ears and stood out in stark contrast with his dark skin. White teeth crept out from behind his dark lips as they pulled back in a smile.

"You and your friends don't belong here."

Nostrils flaring, a scent in the air caught the Shra'lak's attention. Its head darted to and fro looking for the source into it focused on Jeishka's wyvern way up in the bows of the cave. Even at such great distance, the beast's eyes could see the wound the wyvern received from enemy fire. Displaying remarkable intelligence, the creature's head whipped back around focusing on the mechanized units in the cave. Eyes narrowed accusingly at the intruders. The great horn protruding from its front snout, leveled at the front mech unit. Rumbling growls came from the Shra'lak's throat; shaking the ground and threatening to bring down the cave ceiling.

"Now you've really pissed him off."

------

The warriors in the water were banking that sensors would ignore them due to the fact that they were merely large fish. Still, they took every precaution as they approached the water craft; staying low in the water to avoid patrols and keeping the charges close by. If they were discovered, they would have to break for the ships in a mad dash and place the charges before being attacked. Luckily, the riders' speed was only impeded by how tightly they could hold on.

------

Necron tanks charged into enemy ranks with a blissful glee imprinted on an evil grin. Barrels spun on end repetitively throwing out the unholy ethral energy. Green grass below the each tank whithered and cried out as the taint of the energy sped towards their targets. Soldiers caught out in the open or those that ventured to close to a tank would witness the frightening strength of these undead units. Great iron claws raked out at soldiers, grabbing heads and crushing their heads in. Brain matter was licked off the steel talons as if it were a delicacy.

Bregger had positioned his units so that the charge would take the trenches on the flanks, hoping to make them near useless with the wild charge. Tanks flooded the trenches with their evil taint, threatening to engulf all that stand in their way. The Lieutenatn watched as the necron tanks swarmed over the enemy base. Information was still being fed to him through the orbs in the sky detailing the exact location of enemy units and making the heavy artillery fire even more devastating.

"Enemy soldiers in the open. Bring artillery fire in one hundred yards and fire for effect."

Great gouts of energy came down over the area and blanketed the entire region, clearing the way before the tanks. "Refocus fire on following enemy coordinants."

More death and destruction rained down this time targeting the trenches and heavy defensive emplacements with remarkable accuracy. Fire filled the skies unrelentless in its punishment of the single enemy position.

------

Bregger raised his energized lance to order the charge but stopped just as more units revealed themselves. He couldn't believe his fortune at the enemy's manuever. Now his warriors would have soldiers in clear path of their charge. His lance tip pointed at those out in the open and signalled for the charge. Two hundred of Mythrandir's finest on STEADs broke from the treeline. Their speed was unimaginable as they were in one area one minute and gone the next. Enemy fire zipped by their faces without a single warrior blinking. At that moment they felt immune to everything around them. Laser turrets on their STEADs opened fire to support the Necron tanks charging. Bregger leveled his pure energy lance tip right at the backs of one of the unsuspecting retreating soldiers, threatening to impale him.

------

Shizra walked through the confines of the great city of Mythrandir. Everywhere she looked, the hustle and noise of ordinary citizens had been replaced by the clinking armor of soldiers. Soldiers whose sole concern was the protection of the citizens, this city, and this planet. The War Mistress only wished that more of her clan cared about the city and its inhabitants as much as she did. Then they would show these bastards real terror.

Guard Captain Wulfgar had already received his orders to the dispersle of the citadel guard and had seen to closing down the city. The remaining refugees were now heading to their shelters for the remaining of the fights. The eastern and western gates were seamlessly sealed leaving only the great northern gate to be defended. Shizra saw Lukien walking along the wall seeing to the archers and discussing matters with Elder Alurial. Mythrandir's great shields continued to hold against the bombardment from the water, and even now it was being beaten back by the wall's defenses. She wondered how they would be able to reroute power from an outside source to increase the shield's output and elongate its life.

The dark elf was shaken from her thoughts when the seven foot avian lord descended in front of her. Shizra bowed in respect. "Elder Raigar. What can I do for you?"

It was difficult for Shizra to discern emotions on the griffon's face, but Raigar always managed to convey his feelings. "I've assembled a legion of Wyvern riders to lend support to Lieutenant Bregger's counter-attack."

The War Mistress's face went solemn as she regarded the griffon elder. Now she noticed the energy shield strapped to his back as well as large pouch at his side that she could only assume were explosives. "And what do you intend to outside of these walls, Elder?"

"Lead, of course. It has been the way of our clan even before your people discovered our planet. The head of our clans are decided by only the finest of warriors that is capable of leading. My place will be out there helping in any way I can."

Though she did not like it, Shizra had to conscent to his wishes. She knew everyone within the city would get their fair share of fighting sooner or later. "Fine, but becareful."

Raigar swept his arms and wings out wide and bowed before running down the street. The wind swept under his wings, lifting him clear off the ground and up over the walls. Raigar's great feathered wings beat furiously, carrying him off to the distant battlefield.

Aero System:

Captain Shazir fingered the ebony face of the twin phoenixs on his throne. He did not particularly care much for life in space. What drew away from the chaotic bliss of the Underdark was the chaotic swirl of the Warp. It was in such a dimension that put a chill in his spine and a twisted smile on his face. Goosebumps tickled his flesh at the thought of entering into such a realm again. His only anxiety was that he would have to leave it for an impending battle.

He was now passed the midway point that he had promised his misguided sister that he would arrive to aid in the defense. Behind the dark elf's battleship, gathered the forces of the third fleet. They glided to their destination in preperation for entering the warp.

***Balmung***

Warning klaxons were flashing across the ship, the extent of the damage to the Gotteslicht cannon was remarkable. The weapon itself had started to break up under the stress of firing for so long. Still Balmung was a capable superdreadnought, even without its main weapon and the black hole reactor functional. The "back up" fusion generators were still larger and more powerful then those even on a Zweihander dreadnought, and the residual energy from the Gotteslicht overload had been stored in the ships crystal power matrix.

The enemy battleship charged its own cannon and prepared to fire again, lashing out at the Balmung's ravaged bow section. The beam struck the main pin point barrier shields, knocking them down in turn before it broke through and hit the prow with deadly force. The remaining DEM armour on the bow reeled and buckled, already stressed beyond the point of no return by the Gotteslicht's misfire. One of the prow booms broke off and started to spin off in to space.

++++

"Damage report, all hands report." Lord Rendacil stated, the warning klaxons had been set to mute, the crew needed no indicators to show the ship was damaged now. It would simply be a distraction. "Hull integrity down to seventy three percent my lord, primary damage on the Gotteslicht main booms, four out of ten pin points are down my lord." Rendacil contemplated the situation for a moment. "Press the attack, move us between these ships." he pointed on the tactical displays to one of the heavy warships the enemy used, and the damaged heavy battleship. Balmungs main engines started to flair to life once again as power was restored. She moved slower now, but not so slow, she was still a DCN warship, crew comfortability was sacrificed for armour protection, speed and firepower.

Its Urenbecht field now only obscured the mighty vessel, and did not protect it the way it once did. Still it would make it harder to hit then one would expect. The disadvantage of the black hole power source was that Balmungs shields would not protect it from sensors in the same way as its smaller cohorts, instead it would show up on gravitic sensors as a nice, fat target. However with the black hole inoperable, the ship was able to use its more conventional Knight-field.

This didn't make up for the loss of the heavy shielding that it had recently enjoyed, but it left it well protected just the same. She sailed gracefully towards the two enemy vessels, then in between them as a hail of fire rippled closed between Balmung and the enemy, more and more rounds started to hit the hundred meter thick armour of the main ship section. The Ubecht weapon wouldnt be able to fire for long, but it wouldnt need to. At this range, with the energy weapons striking down the shields, they would be able to lock directly on to the enemy hull.

"Voxman, open a channel to the enemy ship, intrusive wavelength's, make sure they hear this." Lord Rendacil ordered. He started to speak as soon as the channel was established. His face was the primary focus on the screen, a dim red light filled the background and if the Mythrandir looked hard enough, they would see stars behind Lord Rendacil.

"Brave warriors of Mythrandir, I am Lord Rendacil, you fight well this day, it wont be enough however, those strange anomalies racing along your hull now, what you may be percieving as hard scans, are surely not. I would suggest giving the order to abandon ship, you have potential, it would be a shame to lose such fine crews." he ended the transmission with a wave of his hand. Suddenly the dozens columns now attached to the enemy Battleship and Horde cruiser filled with "lead" travelling at nearly the speed of light. No single impact would destroy the vessels, but hundreds of thousands of impacts, with almost no spacing between shots would destroy the enemy vessels quickly.

However Balmung was paying a price for this, the enemy weapons were striking accurately just as its own were, the sheer bulk of the vessel was all that kept it from falling apart from the devastating enemy volleys. One after another the Pin points fell until only three were still straining to stop the most powerful shots. The heavy Loengren cannons continued to fire their focused Xaser beams in to the two enemy vessels, at this range the full devastating force of the heavy energy weapons would slice and burn through the shields and armour with ease.

Balmung was alight with a dozen plasma fires across her surface, death was spitting from every one of her remaining weapon ports, lances of Xaser energy sweeped in great arcs, slicing in to the Mythrandir vessels sides. Before she fell she would ensure the demise of the two vessels targeted, even if she hastened the end for herself. At longer ranges they may have escaped her implacable fury, but this close..close enough for the Ubecht columns to converge with the hull..through the shielding, they would be hammered with hundreds of thousands of C-fractional rounds. Missing wasn't an option..for either side. As the Balmung approached the enemy, the Fighter escort flew back to defend it, the remaining mecha taking up point defense positions, attempting to intercept as much of the enemy fire as they could before it struck.

***Mythrandir Orbital Battle***

Lances of energy criss crossed back and forth across the heavens as the GAP Solarins and operational GTFOA ships, along with the Eternal counterattacked the enemy fleet. The vessels that had attacked the crippled GTFOA fleet were taking a heavy beating from the GAP attack, the heavy Battleships were holding out well, thanks in large part to the cover of over sixty Endymion' HMAF's, acting in the role of escorting attack frigates, preventing them from coming to as much harm, as well as engaging enemy light ships considered unworthy of receiving the devastating hard beams of the Solarins X ray lasers.

The Solarin Battleships continued to cut deep in to the enemy fleet, supported by the GTFOA Monitors many millions of kilometers away. The Monitors continued to fire their heavy Grasers over and over again, arcing and positioning their twelve hundred meter frames so that they would get maximum accuracy and efficiency against the shoals of lighter enemy vessels, as well as intercepting the enemy missiles careening towards the disabled ships.

The nine GAP Solarins in the main fight continued to level their heavy Xaser batteries at heavy ships on all sides, their effectiveness steeply increasing as range decreased, lances of Xaser fire striking the same points on enemy vessels, threatening to cut and burn their way through the other side. Of course the effectiveness of their Pin point barriers was also decreasing. They were taking heavy hits from missile and cannon, one of the vessels, the Truth of Freedom started to list heavily as a fusillade of missiles and energy beams tore in to her internals. The weapons in the non damaged sections continued to fire at the aggressors with no diminishing strength. For many years Tannelornians had lived almost space, multiple redundancies and modular construction were the standard.


GTFOA vessels were starting to come online now. The First battleship to awaken, the Crimson Blade powered up her engines. They vowed that no more of the mighty GTFOA Solarin's would fall this day, three had been lost already, no more the soldiers swore. Crimson Blade started to push forward, joining the counterattacking Honour blades, firing heavy salvo's of Xaser as well as Bio-com drone missiles, all of them were Gras warheads, the collossal detonations transformed in to beams of coruscating death as they targetted anything within reach. A dozen Honour blades joined them, escaping as more of them fell to the enemy Cosmo beams, raking across the fleet itself.


The beleagured GTFOA fleet was returning fire now, though most of the energy was being devoted to keeping them alive, using point defense against missiles and directing their Pin point barriers to the fore, to maximise their energy defense. From behind the barriers, Solarins were devoting operational energy to the heavy Xasers, using the heavy turreted weapons to attack the enemy missile carriers as best as they could, laying down as much fire as possible as their fusion furnaces started to warm up.

All around them explosions and laser fire lit up the night. The reinforcing waves of Morgenraetes and Sturmanrufers chose capital targets that had already been damaged, with shields down and prepared to unleash their payloads upon their weakened frames. FAST pack mounted Urenbecht chain cannons fired on unshielded vessels, slicing their tiny rounds through damaged armour and in to internals.

They ganged up on the smaller wraiths, using their agility and the firepower lent to them by their FAST pack mounted heavy missiles, missile pods, Ubecht gatling cannons and Xaser pods. Still more Knights hunted down the enemy goblin fighters, not allowing them a moments reprieve, twisting and turning, reconfiguring to change firing position and targets as soon as the first was destroyed, using fresh missile payloads of high powered Gras-missiles, their deadly beams lancing out in great volleys amongst them. The knights fought with a skill and efficiency borne from the experience of hundreds of years of combat, even the youngest knights could benefit from the battle-knowledge of their elders.

Algol's continued to hunt the wraiths, coming upon them and staying with them as they raked them with their Pulsar engagement cannons, once their shields were down they would let fly with Missile-drones, firing a large gras-payload straight in to them from opposite angles to the Algols own Pulsar strafing runs. Finally coming in almost head on at them to slice them with their anti capital ship beam sabers, driving them deep in to the internals of the small ships.

The Knights of the DCN had made contact with the enemy in a savage and impressive display of prodigious martial skill. In these cluttered battlefields the pilots of the GAP and GTFOA could only look on in awe at the fearsome assault of the Knights. The inspirational display of bravery and zealous determination to destroy their foes started to bring out ancient race memory amongst the Tannelornian soldiers.


They were not born in a world of conflict like the DCN, but they knew in their hearts they could perform such heroic acts. They redoubled their efforts, the soldiers of the GAP and GTFOA desperately fighting against their foes, alpha's reconfiguring to meet enemy assaults from whatever angle they came, GAP Fausts flipped, weaved and literally turned end over end to engage the foe as best as they could, no matter the range, the angle or the ferocity of the enemy attack the Tannelornians continued to fight on with a skill and spirit that was hard to match. Today was a day for legends, the third largest battle in Tannelornian history.

The soldiers of the new armies of Tannelorn would fight harder now then they likely ever would again, for today they fought in the shadow of giants, the DCN. The soldiers of the GTFOA and GAP would forge their own legends today, no matter the cost to their own lives. With such determination as a guide, the GTFOA renewed its counter attack. As they did the GAP fighters did their best to aid their Solarins in the destruction of the enemy, Hellebardes were unleashing devastating attack runs against the enemy capital ships, armed with heavy missile FAST pack add ons, while Faust aerospace fighters kept the attack routes clear with massive swarms of dog fight Xas-missiles.

Amongst this scene of desperate fighting the DCN einhander group simply ignored the repositioning of the enemy fleet and tore in to the main fleet attacking the GTFOA main group. They released their heavy Graser shells, the scattering of tannelornian mecha being the only sign from the launch of the Urenbecht assisted shells.


At this range the shells appeared within seconds of detonation with the enemy, and the massive graser beam released would soon make a mockery of not only shields but the armour of a ship so struck. With their main payload released their own mecha escort moved out to attack the vessels in the blast radius of the heavy shells. Several hundred Morgenraetes and Sturmanrufers sallied out to attack, using the inevitable breech and confusion caused by the detonation of such a huge amount of explosive to attack those ships that survived with heavy anti ship gras and AM warheads. The rest of the raetes and Sturmanrufers were either escorting the capital ships, preparing to assist the ships own point defenses, as well as engage any enemy fighters that dared to engage them.

Then the Einhanders let loose with their Loengren cannons. The deadly beams lanced out at close range, burning for what seemed an eternity against enemy shields, then through armour and hull itself. The Captains of the Einhanders then ordered all weapons to full strength, and patched a comm link through the interference to the beleagured GTFOA contingent, as well as the Prefecture armada. As they continued to advance along the edge of the enemy fleet, between the GTFOA contingent and the enemy fleet which was attacking them, they opened fire with all Pulsar, Lance and heavy Xasers.


The space between the Einhanders and the enemy lit up with an energy barrage that could not be matched by even the ships of the GAP or GTFOA combined contingents.Whereas the GTFOA and GAP ships were built with several weapon systems as well as versatility in mind, the DCN ships were almost exclusively armed with incredibly powerful and sophisticated energy weaponry.

The main offensive punch of the Tannelornian navy had arrived, and to make matters worse for the enemy, the Knight-fields constantly flickered in and out of normal space time. Causing enemy sensors and detection devices to miscalculate exactly where the ship should be, forcing them to rely on solid reflexes and sheer firepower to effectively strike back. Though with the number of ships the Mythrandir could field, firepower was not something they lacked.

Within moments of the transmission, the remaining fifty or so honour blades, as well as the remaining five Solarins started to move out, laterally away from the battle as the Einhanders provided cover. They started to move towards the moon, and the relative safety of the smaller combat ensuing there.



Slowly the Prefecture ships started to disengage, moving in behind them to cover the still dangerously underpowered ships, many of them still in the process of repelling boarders. The GAP ships were still taking a pounding as they moved, one of them started to break apart as the weight of fire pounding in to it simply proved too much for even its resilient construction to survive. The main fleet was moving towards the moon now, preparing to reorganise their for a counter attack.

The DCN was holding the combined Mythrandir armada's now, moving and firing in ways designed more to prevent the enemies movements, saving the devastating Loengren cannons to finish off vessels whose shields were downed.

++++

The twenty Zweihanders responded far faster then any ship of their size had a right too. Flipping almost end over end, the vessels turned to face the enemy fleet. Their Knight-fields flickered in the darkness, lending an almost ghostly air to the dreadnoughts on visual sensors, and rendering computerised combat calculations nearly useless.



They chose targets, the largest vessels, the horde battle cruisers, then opened fire with their Loengren's. Each Zweihander carried two of the mighty weapons, and used them to effect against the enemy even as their massive batteries of Pulsar, lance and Xaser's opened up, striking at the vessels that had been hit by the Loengren fire.


They broke in to two seperate flotillas of ten Zweihanders each, and started moving in opposite directions as they levelled their devastating fussilade in to the enemy. The design of the vessels ensure that the spread of the weapons would be less then a few meters, ensuring heavy accuracy from what was essentially a giant Einhander gun destroyer. They pressed in against the enemy, firing their heavy spinals.


Three dozen Urenbecht tunnels formed and the rounds flew out towards the enemy ships, this time to their flanks. The heavy antimatter explosions would strike at the enemy fleet in such a way as to force them in to each other, allowing the heavy beam armament to work to even greater effect.

The mecha compliment took up positions between the enemy fleet and the Zweihanders, intercepting missiles and kinetics even as the Loengrens intersected across the path of the enemy munitions. Enemy fire was coming in heavy towards the Zweihander contingent, but the Knight-mecha were at their finest in attempting to deflect it.


Though the Zweihanders were taking hits, their pin point barrier shields and heavy DEM armour were lessening the impact against them. Knight vessels needed to be worn down, their prodigious defenses and back up systems were designed to face foes many times their number, every last technological edge that could be installed in to the frame was placed there. Refits and upgrades were unceasing, as soon as a new system was created, another would be designed to replace it.

The Knights of Tannelorn had to trust their equipment, only the finest equipment could be counted on by a Knight to turn the tide of a hopeless battle. The Knights saw to it that they had what they needed.

++++

Knight Captain Delathina coaxed her squadron in as quietly as possible. They were headed towards the enemy battle ship that was presumably coordinating the attack against the stricken GTFOA fleet.

They flew in to minimum range, the looming shape of the enemy vessel filling their panoramic display monitors. Its shields were down and it had sustained some damage, this had likely been caused when a Solarin self destructed in the heart of the enemy fleet. It didnt matter, they would not let their sacrifice be made in vain. Two of the Kernschattens had heavy fighter launch antimatter torpedo's mounted to the arm shield hard points, their only non internal weapon systems. The rest were armed with a mix of anti ship and anti fighter armaments, as befits a recon mission.

She waited until the lock tone had signalled in her mind for a good second before ordering them to unload their compliment of anti ship missiles in to already damaged portions of the battleship. Using the short range and patience they could afford from their advanced stealth to good effect, their accuracy would be superb. She ordered them to break off and take evasive action, though they could not be seen on sensors, they could be tracked by other means, such as waste gases and heat emissions after firing a salvo of missiles.



++++

Commodore Zietski read the nearby holoprojections, informing him of the progress of the battle. Balmung was within range now, the heavy Solarins broke past the ring of enemy vessels and started to engage the Horde cruisers in support of the Balmung. The three Solarins were making good speed, and had taken a few hits along the way, nothing however that would put them out of the fight. Their supporting squadrons of high mobility frames and fighter craft fanned out to attack the enemy ships, attempting to relieve the pressure on the Balmung.

Zietski's ship rocked as a salvo of missiles impacted against the hull, tearing gouges in the armour. Enemy missile fire had increased in intensity, furthermore it was increasing in its complexity. Zietski ordered that missiles be intercepted by concentrated bursts of DEM jammer waves. The waves had an incredibly adverse effect on artificial intelligence programs. To types such as used in expendable missiles, the effect was deadly, causing them to misfire or prematurely detonate, or simply fly off in spirals. Still they couldnt get every missile, and impacts were striking against shields and armour plating.

The enemies of Tannelorn for many long years had relied upon drone and missile technology as primary weapon systems. To be able to defeat them the Tannelornian armada's had developed prodigious defenses against the tools of their foes.

Zietski's flotilla poured fire in to the closest vessels to the Balmung[/U], in an attempt to give them something else to worry about, they ignored all else in their rush to assist their leviathan ally.

++++

"RPG." corporal Talrendahir shouted wildly, kicking off the deck and towards the hangar roof some fifteen meters up. Behind him and those that heeded the warning in time a brilliant fireball erupted, incinerating some half dozen soldiers who were too slow to escape. The fire stopped for a moment and then redoubled in intensity from the positions occupied by the marines.

Almost as soon as his squad made contact with the roof, they started to fire down in to the enemy, locking the magnetic clamps in their boots in to place. They rained down a stream of shells and grenades from their HV rifles, as well as pinpoint shots from particle fire.

Suddenly a shape loomed up in the darkness as one of the ships supporting Hellebardes entered the hangar bay to do battle with the intruders.
The thirteen meter tall fit in the hangar space with barely six feet from its armoured shoulders and head to the roof. It was in a crouching position as it opened fire with its antimissile cannon, located underneath the main body. The high velocity, rapide fire weapon started to churn up deckplates as it traced across the orcish assault boat, firing in to the rear of the invading orcs, forcing them to attempt an assault across the no mans land of the hangar or die standing.

++++

Across the fleet relief to the beleagured ships of the GTFOA came in the form of assault gunships filled with squads of GAP soldiers, coming from the GAP ships as they formed the rearguard of the retreat to the moon. As they entered the ships, they unloaded anti personnel fire in to the orcish lines or entered the ships themselves, hunting down their orcish foes through the corridors of their own vessels.

The Replicants hurled themselves at the orcs with astonishing strength and martial prowess, driving rifle butt and bayonet in to the enemy with almost as deadly a force as the rounds their weapons fired. They charged on in a righteous indignation, each death amongst them a small penance for allowing such rank and vile foes to set foot upon a Tannelornian vessel.

***Attack on the Fortress Moon [Forge Moon] Orbital Battle***

Fleet Captain Uthelien breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the incoming contacts on strategic scanners. DCN ships, Morgenstern's and swords, a few dozen of them by the looks of it. His ships were taking a heavy pounding. The enemy was almost ignoring the scwhertwhal destroyers to attack the Solarin's and Knurrwhals. Another two Knurrwhals were felled due to the intense fire coming at them from laser and missile weapons, which they were ill suited to defend against en masse.

This however gave the Fleet Captain an opportunity he would not pass up. The great ship Pax Mortis shook as it was struck by yet another heavy salvo of missiles, another pin point shield going down as the force of the enemy bombardment overpowered the generators. The DCN vessels started to take up positions with the Pods, using their agility to constantly change vectors as they targeted enemy vessels with precision Loengren fire and Xaser batteries. still outside of effective range for the pulsar cannons and .

The Fleet Captain was happy to see so many of them, knowing full well that even though the Morgenstern was a battle carrier, it was at least as well armed as his own Solarin Battleship, owing to the superior technologies used in the construction, weapons and power plants of the Divine Celestial Navy ships.

The heavy firepower coming from the battle carriers of the DCN was only a prelude to the attacking Morgenraete and Kernschatten squadrons. Five hundred mecha screamed towards the enemy lines, supporting a hundred of the bomber variants as they prepared to make full scale assaults against the heavy battle ships that were targeting the GTFOA and GFN heavy ships.

They released missiles at long range, mostly heavy Gras-missiles which once deployed tracked the enemy ship's until they reached proper firing range. Then they exploded, thousands of them creating a momentary forest of gras-fire originating from the missiles and lancing straight in to the shielded hulls of the enemy ships.

Then the mecha cover broke to engage the goblin fighters that were harrassing the pods and Solarin's, coming at them at dizzying speeds, maneuvering with the assistance of their Knight-fields as they engaged the enemy with gleeful abandon. The Alpha's and Fausts of the GTFOA welcomed the new arrivals and redoubled their efforts against the enemy fighters, engaging them with purpose as they prevented them from firing upon the Solarin battleships with their missiles. The Algol's involved in this battle continued to harry the smaller ships, even as they attempted to flank the heavier Solarins, they were there to oppose them.

They tore in to the Wraiths, those who were too damaged to fight ejecting if they could, allowing the remains of their HMAF's to finish the job if their guns were unable. The rest refused to give up the chase on the enemy wraiths, engaging at high speed with punishing volleys of Pulsar laser fire, before breaking off and chasing the light vessels down for another withering salvo.

Uthelien ordered the rest of his gunners to target the battleship that was targeting them. It was pouring an immense amount of fire in to the [I]Pax Mortis. They responded with their remaining Ultra Heavy Xaser and the nine remaining heavy Xasers on her port side. The hard beams sliced out into space, towards the Mythrandir battleship. He relayed orders to the pod's, to be carried out immediately.

As the ships of the DCN moved in to position the Schwertwhal's broke off and formed in to squadrons. The enemy ships were primarily targetting the heavy ships, so the Fleet-Captain decided to take advantage of this tactic.

The Scwhertwhals suddenly rolled in and dived on the enemy ships, coming in at high speeds from all angles as they fired their heavy prow Xaser batteries in to the enemy. They moved in tandem, a great wave of ships soaring gracefully inwards, all converging together in the center of the fleet, before passing through it. They took advantage of the relative lack of fire towards them to maximise their accuracy and effectiveness against the enemy. Continually diving. guns blazing in and out of the Mythrandir lines.

The Schwertwhals continued to do this until the Mythrandir ships payed them heed with cannon and missiles, then they started to act evasively once more. They moved back to the battle line, peppering the enemy with long range fire as the Solarins, HMAF's and Mecha did the in close work against the enemy fleet.

The Honour blades continued to give support in the form of Gras-warheads fired from extreme range. The diminutive missile-craft moved towards the enemy host, disengaging the warhead at close range, allowing the mega-beam's to impact against enemy vessels in support of their kin.

Space was filled with brilliant energy beams and tens of thousands of Tannelornian missiles as the combined Spacy's counterattacked against the Lunar fleet. They would not rest until every last enemy craft had either disengaged, or was a floating hulk. With the arrival of the DCN vessels, their chances of victory increased a dozen fold. They were after all the main fleet forces. The hundred or so DCN vessels committed to this battle's numbers were deceptively small. They were the main fighting ships of this naval contingent, in numbers and in power.

***Dogfight around the Fortress moon***

Crimson Mane was pleased with the battle progress. With the arrival of the Tannelornians, the situation had quickly changed in their favour. Still the enemy fighters were relentless, and did not give up easily. He watched as they attempted to ram an Algol, all too successfully. The Algol HMAF flew straight in to, then through the lighter craft, allowing its Pin point barrier to annhillate it and transform it in to shrapnel which pattered harmlessly off its hull. The HMAF's that had been lost, had been lost due to the sheer amount of enemy fighters engaging them at the moment.

Crimsone Mane would not allow them to continue this action. He ordered his squadrons and those that would follow him to engage the enemy as they attempted to gang up on the Algol's and Endymions, dedicating themselves to supporting them. As the enemy lined up with an Algol or Endymion and prepared their attack run, one of his lionesses or another in the area would engage, sacrificing their own existence to save the much more valuable HMAF.

Alpha II's, Fausts, Endymions and Algol's as well as Lowe's now through themselves in to the enemy with abandon. The Alpha's started to engage the enemy in heavy dogfights, maneuvering with the enemy fighter groups, attacking them and drawing them in to protracted engagements. Then as the Faust Aerospace Fighters and HMAF's gained speed and a line of attack, they broke off to allow the high speed missile and energy weapon strikes that would follow to have maximum effect.

The dogfight was going well, even with the limited presence of Knight mecha. Then it happened.

Over a hundred tears in the fabric of space time opened in close proximity to the dogfight now taking place. Through these tears entered the Tannelornian reserve fleet. The mecha support from that fleet immediately entered the frey, nearly seven hundred morgenraetes, over two thousand Alpha II's and a thousand Faust's screamed towards the dogfight, preparing to annhillate the enemy fighters as fast as possible.

Behind them Honour Blades and Einhanders started to engage with point defense weapons and missiles as the main fleet started jamming all possible transmissions to and from this side of the moon. They fleet itself joined in to the dogfight, thousands of reinforcing mecha units and over a hundred ships all turning their guns to the unsuspecting goblin fighters.

Kernschatten's hunted enemy fighters attempting to flee to warn the main fleet of the appearance of the Tannelornian reserves. Soon the main fleet would pass close enough to the moon for them to strike. For now they simply spent their intensive firepower against the enemy goblin fighters, not allowing them a moment to even think about what had just transpired.

OOC I will do the ground action posting as soon as possible. In this way we are able to post for the space fight without having to wait on my finishing the ground fight. I will start making two posts, one for space and one for ground to speed things up a tad thanks to me having to work.

***The Front Lines:Southern Continent***

Great gouts of dirt, rock, grass, mud and body parts were flying up in to the air from the massive explosions, others not quick enough to duck under the trenches were being fried by massive energy cannons. Still casualties were not excessive in these first stages of the battle. Officers were encouraging their girls to fight as hard as they could, knowing that support was on its way. Fausts screamed overhead, unleashing payloads of fusion bombs on to the attacking enemy before they could reach the trenchline, but careful not to go past the tree line. They did not wish to hit the rapidly retreating Divine Celestial Cavaliers. Alpha II's were starting to fly in, a few squadrons at first, targetting the Necron tanks and letting fly with general purpose Xas missiles, well suited to anti tank work.

As the GTFOA variable fighters flew past, they lined up on the massive energy cannons in the mountains beyond, streaking towards them. Perhaps a hundred mecha in all their mission was to silence the enemy artillery.

The Replicant soldiers never let up on their firing, as soon as Necron tanks closed in on the trenches, making it past the hail of fire arrayed towards them the girls rushed out of the trenches.

It was risky to charge at the marauding tanks, but less risky then allowing them to trundle in to the trenches, where with the soldiers tightly packed, they could do more harm then in the open. [U] Hellebardes were struck by the beams from the necron tanks, taking severe damage or exploding outright from the heavy cannon shots.

With the enemy forces attacking their flanks the fifty or so remaining Hellebardes stood and activated their gravitic's and thrusters, starting to "skate" a foot or so above the ground. They moved in to counter attack the STEAD's. Hellebardes unlike normal main battle tanks, used agility as well as armour to avoid damage. In defensive positions they could bring their fearsome weapon systems to bear, but couldn't move to avoid shots.

Now that they were moving..and fast towards the enemy..that would change. The fourty ton warmachines unleashed a massive payload of missiles before charging in to the enemy, heavy laser, particle and kinetic fire streaking towards the attacking STEAD's. The lighter craft would likely have few weapons capable of directly engaging the Hellebardes, but their numbers would make up for that.

Necron tanks were being targeted by relentless aerial bombardment, Fausts and Alpha II's were all directing heavy anti mecha weaponry towards them, most of which consisted of Xaser missiles. Accuracy was necessary at this time. Despite the sheer destructive power the 15kt dogfight could unleash, it would destroy the soldiers they were trying to assist. Targetting the STEAD's was out of the question. It would be up to Hellebardes, Alpha II's on the ground and soldiers to handle them, they were simply too close to the lines to risk a strike with such high powered munitions.

The first Squadrons of GTFOA Alpha's started to assist the troops directly after they unleashed hell on the Necron Tanks. Using the majourity of their Xas munitions on the first pass, they reconfigured to move in to the attack...

++++

The hundred alpha's that had just made their first pass turned sharply, coming from many different angles as they reconfigured in to humanoid mode and dove on to the field. As they landed, they levelled fire on the necron tanks coming from their flanks and rears, pounding them with deadly accurate lance, particle,pulsar laser and kinetic fire. Though their weapons were not designed for one shot kills, the angle of attack and the sheer rate of fire would see to the end of many of the armoured vehicles. Then as the Necron tanks turned on them, they used one of their more fancy tricks to evade them.

The mecha started to lift off, reconfiguring in to aerospace superiority mode and rocketing off in to the air, leaving their enemies well behind before falling upon them again and again. They continued to attack like this while the GAP opened fire on the enemy. The tanks were the primary concern, the Hellebardes could hold the STEAD's until they were reinforced..but not if the Necron tanks picked them off from afar.

As they landed they prepared to lift off even before they opened fire, hammering fire in to the enemy tanks, skating around to keep their guns away from them and finally taking off again only when fire started to dance around them. The eight meter tall mecha were light superiority units, designed to fight enemy combat units on their terms.

Preferably their terms would have been from several thousand meters in the air, dropping bombs in the open. However with such in close fighting, the high maneuver frames had to take matters in to their own hands. Here and there pilots moved in to attack in melee against the Necron tanks, slamming their laser blades deep in to the hearts of the beasts, hoping to get that one hit kill their pulsar lasers denied them.

The Alpha's had to be careful, not only did they weigh a mere twenty five tons fully laden, they were denied their most powerful weapons at the moment..their missiles. Admittedly this had been spent in a devastating first strike. Combined with the amount of heavy fire coming from the trenchlines the Alpha's had to fight with blitz tactics. Overwhelming squadrons of tanks then immediately retreating back to the relative safety of the air.

Then a section of the trench line erupted, exploding under a massive bombardment. A few of the Alpha's immediately landed to provide support to the few scattered survivors of the company. They defended them against the enemy fire coming towards them as they attempted to regroup. A few of the Alpha's were destroyed, fighting desperately against the enemy tanks, amidst a furious storm of artillery all to save a dozen replicants, desperately attempting to escape the maddening rain of death.

It would give the enemy tanks one hell of a headache to try to counter, and would relieve some of the pressure on the GAP.

++++

Hector was enjoying himself, the Kernschattens had already flown off, preparing to assist the main firebase under attack. His own men and women were now running as fast as they could towards the GAP encampment, with a few enemies right on their tail. He watched as Cavalier Destana dove to avoid being skewered by an enemy lance. He saw his opportunity and leapt, assisted by boosters and gravitics on to the enemy STEAD.

He grinned as he moved to keep his balance, fidgeting slightly to stay on. He didn't even bother to relish the look on the face of the enemy warrior at what would likely be perceived as a nearly impossible feat of strength. He simply kicked towards his face, attempting to knock him off his mount with his power armoured boot, and prodigious strength.

Even before he was able to tell how effective the strike had been he had pulled one of the long handled pistols from his bandolier, the knife shaped weapons were designed for close in, instinctive accuracy and he fired several shots in to the enemy. Falling off the STEAD would be a blessing for him now.

***Strike Mission: Silence the enemy Guns***

Bale Rosden continued to monitor the tactical and strategic analysis as he and the XXVI HMF wing, the " proceeded towards their target. They could see the beam's from their position, high in the air and were having little trouble finding them. Reports from the DCN units were that the mountain ranges were incredibly well defended with flack and triple A batteries.

They had been assured that the Yondath would provide them with a heavy screen of fire. They would fire nuclear tipped shells, directly through Urenbecht catapult in to the rock face. Twenty megatons had been slated for the attack, until the payload had been unleashed, the squadron would hold position.

The soldiers of the GTFOA could see the warping effect in the air below them. The only sign of the Ubecht compression field as the Ubecht cannons prepared to fire. Then the fields shattered and protective screens polarised over the sensors. A second sun appeared on the western and easter passes of the mountains, from the location of the enemy beam guns. Of course this was unlikely to destroy a well entrenched target. Twenty megatons was phenomenal against an unprotected, open city or army marching across a vaste plain. However against such a well defended and likely reinforced structure as a fortified mountain range, it would likely be much more a distraction.

The lighter guns and soldiers killed would simply be replaced as feasible fortifications were remanned. The unfeasible fortifications would be abandoned or demolished. Of course this took time, and in that time the residual electromagnetic pulse would allow the one hundred and twenty Alpha II's to make it to the ground, to find and neutralise the enemy heavy beam guns.

Bale voxed the rest of the wing, telling them to move in. The wing split, each squadron targeting a different cannon as they dove far faster then any fighter had a right to. A few hundred meters above the ground they reconfigured in to battloid configuration, dropping down using gravitics and immense thrust from their legs to slow their fall. Quietly and carefully they started to make their way along the rockface, moving past the still glowing face of the mountain behind them.

Hopefully they could get close to the big guns without too much worry, however the team had brought along a full compliment of 15kt dogfights, specifically for this mission. If they couldnt reach the target they could just annhilate anything within a few kilometers of it..possibly even themselves.

It didnt matter now though, the big beam guns had to be silenced.

***DCN Attack: Jan's war***

Jan's face was split with a mad grin. They had not only found the roost of the enemy fighter core, they also had found the entrance to an underground fortress as well as something else. A real live dragon. Jan immediately replied to its challenge.

"Maybe we should not be here, but we are." he chuckled softly, and deployed the shield on his Mecha's left forearm. The small star in the center of the arm unfurled and unfolded seamlessly in to the shape of a shield. Tens of thousands of tiny metal blades sprang out, folding in to each other to create an immensely strong barrier, capable of withstanding nuclear attacks at ground zero. It was a mecha scale Knight shield. He set his Pulsar laser pod to Melee mode. Suddenly the edges of the gunpod started to glow with a barely contained energy. He brought the blade up to the forehead of his mecha, saluting the dragon.

"Perhaps we should not be here, but in seconds I guarantee no one will wish to be here." Jan laughed accelerating backwards while facing the enemy, his squadron following suite. One knight stayed behind, standing firmly in the face of the enemy. He unleashed his payload of Dogfight and Gras missiles, Half of them towards the roof of the cavern, the other half towards the main doors, gras rounds exploding before the nukes, to allow them a chance to reach beyond the gates.

He turned quickly, trying to escape the nuclear firestorm descending upon him as the flash filled the chamber, cooking and burning everything within reach..including the pilot who unleashed the weapons. Anyone fast enough to escape the blast would remain unharmed, as well as anything large enough. Unfortunately for the enemy, the cavern roof had been the target..not any individual wyverns.


Jan hoped to himself that the dragon itself had survived the attack. Something so large and fierce as that would make an excellent opponent, and defeating it would make an excellent end to today's activity. Lux Aeternus squadron had done the impossible, following the enemy right to their own front yard and inflicted a grievous blow. Two of their number would be mourned tonight, but for now all that mattered was escaping the soon to be collapsing chamber.

The squadron was going as fast as they were able to, simply smashing through pillars of rock with their shields and shoulders, using their speed and the strength of their DEM armour to effect.

Hopefully not too many of the enemy would be chasing them.

***Southern Ocean: Artillery Duel***

The rearmament of the GTFOA main force was almost complete, and most of the mecha now drifted lazily above the carriers, high in the air in combat air patrols. They were awaiting the call to battle, the word that the enemy had mobilised a massive air assault. These mecha would stay on guard for such an event, for committing these troops to battle prematurely could be disasterous.

The four heavy ships in and above the ocean continued to fire heavy, high velocity shells in to the enemy shielding, knowing that they could not stay functional in all areas forever. They continued to pour precision fire in to points above the enemy artillery fire, hoping to quickly silence the guns once the shields were disrupted in the area. Shells the size of motorcycles were slamming hard in to the shields, and missiles were pouring heavy Gras-fire in to the same points being targeted by the heavy kinetic guns.

It would become more and more obvious to enemy commanders that the Tannelornian forces wished to take the city and world intact. The destructive force already unleashed was simply a Tannelornian version of holding back. Long years of warfare on mars had taught the warriors of Tannelorn to prefer large scale weaponry, WMD attacks were common in martian wars. Of course on a planet like this, even a small nuke could be devastating to both sides. The atmosphere allowed shockwaves of massive proportions to be produces.

Of course the need to take the world intact would not stop them from using nuclear strikes where they saw fit. The Knossis fired a salvo of nuclear warheads, aiming for the top of the city shield. The rounds left and flew to their target within the space of a minute, detonating above the shield, forcing overpressure and the destructive blast down on to the target. Airbursts were preferred in situations with a biosphere, they did the least damage to it.

The blasts released a brilliant light over the city, one that would likely blind any of those viewing it unprotected. Even as the nuclear fires died down, more and more heavy shells crashed in to the city shield itself.

++++

As the massive beasts approached the Hero's Rest the Hellebardes beneath the waves were ordered to "deter" the local wildlife. Be the beasts just curious wanderers, or another of the Mythrandir's biological weapons the pilots did not know. As plasma-thrust expansion engines propelled them through the water they took aim with their main weapons, preparing to fire warning shots upon them the moment they attacked.

***Forge Moon: Ground Assault***

"Its not safe." Cavalier Erathina stated. "No worry then." Ybrasil grinned and ordered Cavalier Dantaine to the fore. "We need a nuke down that pipe without cooking the rest of us, think you can do it?" Ybrasil laughed at the joke. Cavalier Dantaine was a heavy weapons specialist, his unique talents enabled him to sense where the round was going and guide it partially with his mind thanks to the advanced psycho-circuitry. The first four members of the squad deployed their shields while the rest took cover behind a second line.

They placed them together as Cavalier Dantaine fired the missile down the corridor, barely evading the Necron tank he swung the round up and over, only to explode on the wall behind them in the open area. A massive explosion tore through the area, washing over the first four knights. The shields on their arms glowed white hot as they struggled to fight back the overpressure. A mistake now and all of them would die. For what seemed an eternity they pushed against each other, preventing the lethal blast and radiation from killing them all.

Then with shields still glowing white hot they leapt out in to the hall, Knight-swords drawn and shields ready to guard, the rest of the Cavalier followed, arming close range, lethal weaponry and psychic powers to deal with the threat they faced.

++++

The rest of the Cavaliers made their way through the facility slowly, growing even slower and stealthy as they heard armoured boot's clanging on metal and stone many meters away. The Knights knew the enemy were coming for them, and carefully set up firetrap's and firing lines as they prepared to meet the main enemy defenders in battle.

The rest made their way forward, preparing to act as "bait" to the enemy forces. They moved professionally towards the sound of the enemy, weapons readied at their shoulders, diviners leading the way.

Battle with the Balmung:

Heorot gave no orders to keep the Balmung from splitting up their squadron. There wasn't much to split up in the first place since most of the ships had already moved to surround the Balmung. Those remaining moved along its side unleashing every ounce of energy that was left. The end looked near for the massive ship and the Myth squadron would not relent its attack until the target was destroyed.

Sky Scream ignored the transmission at first. With destruction so close to his talonned grasp, he would take whatever destruction the limping Balmung could throw just to see it die in flames. However, the first warnings that something was amiss came when his damaged battleship lurched from a heavy impact. It was a different feeling than what typically came with an explosion, though explosions did soon follow.

"Status report."

The calm in the griffon's voice surprised the female officer even though she had served with him since the outset. "Hull breaches in all sections. The left wing is gone and..."

Her report was cut short from shrapnel of a round that pierced the ceiling of the command deck. Metal spun out in all directions, cutting the top of the woman's head off. Blood and brain matter sprayed out onto the deck as the woman slumped into her chair. Her lifeless eyes still staring at the panel.

While most of the crew was in a state of shock at the sudden death, Sky Scream rose to his full height and walked to the woman's station. Sighing, the captain pulled the woman's stiff body back off the glass panel. A great feathered arm swept the council clean of blood and gore. The griffon filed through the runic language for a full report on the ship's status. It seemed they were now in pieces. The engine compartment had been sheared off and was now drifting out following the Balmung. All of the ship's engine exhausts and reactors were now gone. Energy levels from the warp gate and reactor were reading dangerously high. If he knew nothing else about the ship's status, that would be enough for him to order the ship abandoned.

Sky Scream had the feeling that there wasn't much crew left to tell to abandon ship. Regardless, the call to abadon their posts rang throughout the damaged halls. The griffon captain bent over the chair and scooped the dead body up in his arms. With his crew in tow, they began navigating the destroyed bulk heads, fire filled coorridors, and the amount of death around every turn. Hoping that a way to the life boats was secure.

Heorot could only watch in disbelief as the life signs of Sky Scream's battleship slowly faded away. How could this happen? Unfortunatly, Heorot was not allowed time to dwell on the loss of one of their battleships. With the carcass of the downed vessel burned into his mind, the barbarian captain threw his Avenger battleship into the space melee with wild abandon. Rounds from the large MACs rocked the ship every time they were fired into the Balmung. Particle beams illuminated the hull of the ship with their eerie green light. Horde cruisers pressed the attack seeing that the end was near, hurdling rounds from large pulsar cannons into the Balmung.

------

With the arrival of the First Myth fleet, new hope welled up within the commanders of the detachment from the Second fleet. Haldir and Genji had targeted the disabled ships from the EMP attack. That left their squadron with the enemy in front of them. With less targets to choose from now, a combined attack came from the Horde and Angellic cruisers on the vessels trying to push their way through the fleet. A blinding wall of energy and projectiles lead the way, threatening to incinerate all within its path. Light ships continued to dance around long range attacks to avoid destruction.

Deeming a vessel unworthy of fighting would come back to haunt certain ships as the Wraiths were being left largely unattended. Commanders of their ships zipped their lithe vessels through enemy formation leaving missles targeted for what looked like strategic locations. Heavy energy beams streaked across enemy hulls as they passed by. Missle attacks from behind were dealt with by the few laser turrets placed on the ship for defense.

The rest of the detachment maintained their formation. Small amount of ground was given to the attacking force but the Myths did not break from their formation. They would not run now, now that the battle over Mythrandir was in full bloom.

Myth Fleet 1:

Haldir and Genji continued their progress towards the downed fleets. Little damage had been inflicted on them, most likely due to the apparent lack of attention they had received. That changed slightly as defense systems picked up on an incoming missle. Defenses all along the hull came to life shooting down missle and assailant alike while the remains crashed against the shields. Sensors built in the Forge did not solely rely on gravitational influences to track targets, but also locating distortions in space including heat differences as well as chemical differences from emissions. The elvish captain ignored the assault, allowing the defenses and fighters to deal with the threat. His deep green eyes were focused on one thing. The flotilla of disabled ships ahead of him. Already his fleet was moving through their downed vessels. Barely any of them could hope to defend against the Myth forces when they were disabled.

A long drawn out ping rang throughout the ship informing the captain that they were in their designated position. The elf would not even allow the intruders to surrender. Not that it would matter in the amount of jamming in the area as well as having communication systems knocked down. Such was the price all would who pay that so callously disregarded life. Those that no longer felt others had the right to live their lives as they pleased, would lose their own lives. A life for a life.

"In position now Captain."

The elf nodded his head. No words were needed to commence the attack. Haldir only had a few parting words. "May the hells take them with eager arms. Rip their hearts out and show these tyrants what it means to attack free people."

All ships within the Myth fleet waited at the brink of destruction. Silence envelopd the entirity of their being until every ship began to hum with the build-up of energy. In one blinding moment, every ship of the First fleet unleashed its potential into the ranks of the GAP and GTFOA ships. The heaviest attacks were reserved for the largest vessels as they worked their way down. A ship coming back to life was like signing its own death wish find that they were summarily targeted. Haldir and Genji continued moveing their battleships through those that were disabled and returning to life. Nothing was left but to hunt down every last one of these invading ships.

If the DCN thought their problems were over with reinforcements, Captains Haldir and Genji had just brought them back down to reality. Even now if they wished to retalliate, the DCN would have to come over and do it personally as a long range bombardment would destroy more of their ships than any of the Myths. Haldir had positioned himself so that ships would have to disengage from the Second fleet's detachment and go to ship-to-ship with his own fleet. It was a much needed repreive for the beleagured detachment that was taking losses from unrelenting attacks.

Orc Pods:

The ball of fire came crashing down on a group of scrambling orcs. One orc was caught right under the blast. What remained once the fire cleared was a charred figure still looking up. Its left arm was reduced to a smoldering stub. Skin on the front of its face bubbled and pulled away from bone and muscle. The orcs body armor was the only thing that prevented complete body damage, which was already beginning to fall off. Neurological construction saved the orc from feeling the antagonizing pain of such high degree burns. Where most would have died from the pain alone, it stood tall, albeit melted in place. Brain components were malfunctioning from the great amounts of heat and the strain of the blast had placed on it. All other impulses were negated, overridden with the sole purpose of killing the enemy. Slowly it raised its rifle and let fire at the marines on the ceiling.

Other orcs gave the order for the trolls to let rockets loose on the marines up on the ceilings. Without much cover on a ceiling, there wouldn't be much hiding from high explosive missles. Orcs continued pouring into side compartments that they had created by blasting walls in the docking bays out. The pressence of a mechanized unit gave the trolls something of an equal footing as they were about the same height. While orcs filed to the outsides, trolls kept up a steady hail of fire to keep attacks at bay and make any head on attacks costly.

Those orcs within ships that they had secured began looking for computer terminals to download information. What one lock of grisly hair appeared to be was actually a plug-in for ports to download intelligence into the brain and send throughout the Forge network. They looked for key information such as ship technical layouts, overall designs, technology, point of origin, and any information that could be gleamed about these intruders.

Lunar Battle:

"A'ight laddies, 'ere we go! Dem smelly bastards want to play, so let's give'em somethin' de play wit."

Drulgar continued to smile even as rounds of the small Gras projectiles crashed against the shields and armor of his battleship. Ships in his half fleet let out clouds of flak into space leaving nothing but high speed shrapnel and super heated particles of energy floating around for the mechanized and smaller enemy units to fly through. To get close to a Myth vessel was going to cost. Now that Drulgar had the enemy trying to pick which squadron was more of a pain, it cut the number of targets in half and allowed thicker cones of fire to be concentrated in smaller areas, increasing their effect. Capital particle beams ripped out the sides of their ships and opened fire on approaching targets. Now with continual information from coming in from the Goblin fighters, their shots were more precise when it came to targeting key structures on enemy vessels.

"Hold da defenses lads!"

Drulgar had been watching the mechanized units flutter around defensive fire throughout the battle. Now with an intensified charge heading his way, he wanted accuracy and precision to destroy as many as possible. If timed right, his fleet could effectively lessen the threat that so many units posed. Main weapon systems continued firing on the advancing ships as well as those still engaged with Frylann. Massive shells exiting the launchers of the MACs caused crew members to shift their weight in order to compensate for the jolt. Enemy mechanized units were allowed to continue to advance even as they fired on the vessels. It wasn't until they were devastatingly close that Drulgar gave the order.

"NOW!!"

From the once silent defenses came close range intensified fire. The dwarf had hoped that even at close range like these, that many wouldn't be able to avoid the defense systems.


Frylann blew a strand of damp hair away from her face. The battle in her area had subsided slightly with enemy forces paying attention to Captain Drulgar now. For now, the battle was shifting and new orders would be needed if they were to keep up. At the moment there was more than enough damage to warrant special attention her vessel while there was a small reprieve in the fighting. There were still shots being fired and ships being targeted, but the severity of the fight had greatly diminished. "Give me a status report."

"There are multiple hull breaches along the port and starboard. Two particle beam turrets are completely destroyed with another six damaged. Engine output is...okay but they could use some time to cool. We've been pushing their maximum capacity for well over an hour."

The elven woman sat on her throne chair and mentally assesed the situation. "Send repair teams out to see if they can make repairs to the hull breaches. Tell them to use whatever they need. Doors, tables, toilets, or whatever. Just get those breaches fixed and see if we can't get those particle beam turrets fixed as well as a few of our missle tubes. We'll reduce engine output by 35%. That should help us to cool down."

"Aye captain. New targets bearing down on us."

Frylann checked the map display on the floor. "Turn the bow of the ship and direct at the enemy. Open fire with main front batteries."

With renewed attacks, Frylann and the rest of her fleet retaliatted with high energy attacks. Wraiths still capable of fighting harried approaching vessels from all angles trying to discourage attacks.

Goblin Fighters:

Units that left the main swarm to attack the few flower formations taking on the Algols would find themselves under intense fire from the rear. The swarms continued floating through the battlefield. No matter what fighter was under attack by a mechanized unit, there were still more than enough fighters around to wash over the enemy. Laser fire and torpedoes lanced through space towards their target as the three tierred swarm continued positioning itself over mechanized units.

The flower formation was hardly discouraged in anyway. It appeared to be having a desired effect by their estimation only now they watched for units breaking off to engage the flower formation. With that opening, an arm of the swarm reached out to snatch up the enemy. Lasers and missles were flung from their ports as fighters flew by over the top of the mech units.

If the pilots were capable of showing worry or looked ready to retreat, they did not betray that emotion. At the start of the battle, they had outnumbered the enemy. Even now with more units coming through space, there was no reason to faulter nor was there any reason to leave the battle to alert the fleets. By now, all information garnered from the battle was spreading throughout the SIREN network. They were one of the main reasons for spreading so much information about ship layouts to the rest of the fleet which was leading to more accurate strikes. The goblin fighters didn't back down in the least. With the furry musterred only by those of a dominated mind, the swarms broke and threw themselves at the new arrivals with wild abandon.

Forge Moon:

The sight around the corner was a grisly scene. Skin from the necron's body bubbled and drooped. Its shields had deflected most of the blast but now those shields were gone. Despite its ghastly appearance, the Necron tank smiled a devil's smile. Steam drifted up off its decaying skin and the blast did nothing to remedy the thing's stench. Only one barrel now worked as the other two were disabled with the attack. It's attack now was considerably weaker than if it was able to charge up for a full burst. To remedy the situation, it fired quick energy bursts for a higher effect. With the tank in the condition it was in, it would not have lasted long against an attack. It would be able to take a few soldiers back to the grave as company, but there was no accomodating for the damage done.

But there was still the matter of the other Necron tank down the other corridor who was more than willing to come up behind the attacking soldiers once they left the entrance. Its first shot ripped down the door behind them to ensure that there was no escaping now. Laughter of the most unholiest of natures echoed off the walls. The Necron tank's triple barrels powered up to their full capacity and fired a funnel of etheral energy down the hall. It continued moving more and more into place ready for another attack in case any survived the first blast.

------

Orc troops moved into place along the enemy's position. From the information Bruenor was feeding them, their main force was just around the corner. By their estimate for the most effective strategy, the trolls were going first to soften the defensive lines. Then the orcs would take on the rest. But they were still waiting on Bruenor's signal.

The old dwarf had to think twice about what he was going to do. It wasn't this most sensible plan but there weren't many options. He had been making his way to the main shaft to collect the bodies of the enemy soldiers that he hoped would have died from the exhaust but unfortunatly that didn't work. Now he was emprovising. Fat stubby fingers lifted the grate and pulled it back. He had been climbing up an innner shaft for five minutes now and his short legs were tired. One leg braced each side of the shaft while his rocket launcher was strapped to his back. He could see the rear of the enemy lines now. Bruenor wiggled up and over the edge of vent while his lower half remained in the shaft.

He grabbed his launcher with two tacticle warheads loaded and took aim. "Hiyo laddies! Welcome to Mythrandir!"

When he got the new born baby kreel look from some of the soldiers, he let fly his ordinance. Each warhead was aimed for a side of the formation. The blast from the launcher sent the dwarf flying back into the shaft. He screamed as he fell all the way back down.

From outside the main chamber, the orcs began their attack.

Mythrandir Planetside:

Shizra watched as the city's massive shield system flickered but return to life and staved off more of the attacks. The nuclear blast had caused it to flicker only for an instant but the reactor was quick in stabilizing power for so many multiple attacks. With the enemy's attention solely on the seaward side of the city, all power of the shield generator had been redirected to ward off that attack thus allowing the defenders even more time before worrying about shields falling.

By now the vast majority of the city's defenses were now online and targeting the four ships on the watter. It was an impressive sight as the dark elf watched the barrage from the ramparts. Artillery fell like on four simple targets. As more and more ordinance fired, the sky grew dark from the sheer volume of lead. Water instantly vaporized as intense energy shots streaked out from the walls and cliff faces. All focusing on the four ships floating in the water.

"How goes the war?"

It had been a while since she had heard that voice. Life seemed so much simpler and less worrisome when she heard his voice. "Better now that you are here. We seem to be in an artillery dual with four of their marine ships though this shouldn't last much longer. I've dispatched some of the sea-riders to see what they can do. Elder Raigar left a while ago to support the attack on the nearest village. Lieutenant Breggar has commenced his attack and Necron tanks are apparently cutting a swath through their forces. Bog units are in the tunnels and ready to commence their attack once given the signal. The battle in space is still a toss up."

Sebastian rested his hands on the crenulated wall in front of him as he looked out over the ocean. Sarah stood by his side, pushing the long strands of her light brown hair back behind her ears. She gently placed a hand on her husband's back, knowing that he was deep in thought and concerned about his people. "I've spoken with the dwarves, if the enemy makes a push for the city, we'll be ready for them. Lukien also informed me that his brother has prepared the defenses for Caeralfar should any wayward soldiers wonder into that area. The fortress Ingal has been alerted so provisions have been stocked up and the garrison is ready for an attack. What about your home? Surely your mother has something in mind."

"My home is here. What my mother decides is anyones guess though I would imagine that she will do nothing unless enemy soldiers venture down to the Underdark."

Sebastian knew Shizra was rare among her people. One dark elf of the few that actually cared what happened to the above world. He also knew the tender relationship that Shizra and her mother shared. All he could say to comfort her was, "Then woe to those soldiers that happen upon the dark elves."

Shizra smiled a sad smile. "Woe to the enemy for setting foot on Myth soil."

------

While the Elder and his wife along with the War Mistress discussed anything and everything but the battle at hand, sea-riders rode through the water roads. By now they could see the underwater mechanized units patrolling the depths around their ships. Patrols were expected. Riders positioned their bodies so as to hide their identity. The key to not being discovered was acting like natural underwater animals. They swam in a school towards their targets while preparing to scatter if fired at. Closer and closer they swam towards the enemy ships. Water flew by lens capped eyes while the riders burried their powerful explosive surprise in between their chests and the beasts skin. They were ready for their flying leap out of the water.

------

The pilots should not have wasted so many words before he attacked. Unlike their younger cousins the Shra'lak had the ability to generate a shield thanks to a rather large gem set into their chests. Losses would have been staggering had it not been for the pressence of the great beast. The unfortunae ones were the Wyverns and their riders out front of the Shra'lak. Unable to protect them, the beasts and their riders were incinerated with the blast.

What looked to be a cave ceiling was actually a retractable cone roof for entering and exiting the complex. The attack merely made it a permanent hole for now which had its own advantages and disadvantages.

"Damnable machines. Why do humans build such contraptions anyways?"

The dark elf stood, dusting himself off. He wasn't worried about giving away the location of the dwarven halls. What were a few dead dwarves to a dark elf anyways? Besides, it would take months to navigate the labyrinth of tunnels without the proper guidance.

At his side, the steady rumbles of the Shra'lak's breathing intensified. The pilot had left his scent on the air. For such beasts, even the slightest whif would allow it to track its prey for miles on end. It would allow no one to ride it, making it difficult to control in battle. Now, it would not need control and attack with relish dealing death and destruction to any and all that would seek to impede it. Great leathery wings beat the ground, lifting the huge creature off the ground and towards the hole in the roof. Strength unparalleled, the beast heaved its might into the ceiling and cleared the rest of the rock out of its way. A roar so great and terrible that it shook the mountain face, cried out as the day waned. Off the great beast shot in search of its prey.

Drafir looked around at the remaining Wyver riders in the cave. "Collect the rest and support the counter attack in the south."

The wyverns fell from their perch and fled the area to gather the rest of their flock. The door behind the waterfall had been sealed thanks to the blast. One less entrance Drafir would have to worry about covering. Now he just needed to inform the dwarves about the giant hole in their roof.

By the Queen how those dwarves smelled...

------

The nuclear strike from the mech units struck against the mountain faces causing many gun ports to be sealed up for the time being. Years of work within the mountain ranges had given the dwarves a chance to better reinforce the mountain and give it strength that most would believe a mountain could have. Now their years of work had paid off as the mountain held against the heavy nuclear attack.

Sporadic fire from the few guns that remained would have been expected but there was nothing that answered their attack. The response came in the form of explosions as lances containing thermal detonating warheads rained down from up above. Raigar had sent a squadron of wyvern rides to patrol the mountain range. Such an explosion certainly drew their attention.

------

A heart cannot be ripped out when it is dead to begin with. The Necron tanks merely smiled at the little girls as they tried to pierce them with their blades or destroy them with explosions. Being so close to tanks like these was going to spell the downfall for many of the soldiers. While the girls were busy sticking bayonets into decaying skin, great iron claws reached down to pick them up. Some simply squeezed their heads until their skulls broke and brain matter started oozing between their fingers. Others ripped their arms and legs off, leaving dismembered bodies along the battlefield. The more sinister of the division actually started devouring the bodies. Steel teeth crushed skin and bone alike until it found the pink soft flesh of the brain. Blood sprayed across their faces as they ate hungrily.

Trying for their weapons had more of an affect as it would make them nearly useless except for melee. Necron tanks could still use their gun barrels and iron claws to attack soldiers not paying attention. Still the greatest threat came from fighter craft firing on them from above. They would have to wait until their ow air support would arrive.

Even the hovering mechanized units were not safe from attacks as the Necron destroyers finally took their positions along the treelines. Their great cannon turrets coming over the backs of half dead and decaying beings. Unholy energy so powerful that the grass withered in pain and then died as the green energy screamed across the land. Mechanized units and enemy tanks were targeted. Artillery from the foot of the mountain continued raining down its death and destruction. Earth was torn and spewn into the air from the many explosions. Bodies and downed tanks littered the ground from the fighting. Still Bog units pressed forward trying to put the enemy back on their heels. They flooded more and more of the trench lines with their life snuffing etheral energy. Determination of their masters pushed them forward to retake the village and push the enemy further back from the capitol city.


Bregger was surprised to see a soldier actually attempting to attack him while on his STEAD. The enemy had just sacrificed sure footing for a position advantage. The blow to his shoulder caused him to twist to the side but seeing the pistol moved his plan into action. Lieutenant Bregger slammed on the brakes of his mount which should have caused the soldier to go flying over his handle bars and out in front of him.

All throughout the field, STEADs kicked into a second mode of sorts. Heavy chain blades extracted from the sides. Teeth spun at high speeds as the warriors of Mythrandir charged into enemy lines trying to cut them to pieces. Even if they ducked, it would at least provide the tanks and artillery time to finish the job.

From the clouds above, Elder Raigar could see the battle unfolding below. It looked as if his support was going to be desperatly needed to stem the attack from the enemy's air unit. Behind him, Wyvern squadrons readied themselves for the attacks. Lances and chains were at the ready. Warriors stared down their prey. Wyverns craned their long scaled necks to take in the air. Raigar beat his great feathered wings to bring his body upright. Straight as an arrow, the griffon lord shot off for the aerial battlefield along with the rest of his wyvern team.

Dag'goroth:

Captain Shazir's fleet tumbled out of the warp above the swirling masses of storm that hovered over the barren planet below. Instead of following Shizra's initial orders, the dark elf thought better of getting more ground reinforcements now. That way he could leave the system once his mission was complete.

"Dwarven command, this is Captain Shazir of the 3rd Fleet. We've come as ordered to aquire Uruk units for the ground war on Mythrandir."

There was a pause for a moment before the dwarven commander's face flashed on the screen. His grisly face squinted at the dark elf, obviously not wholly trusting but his complexion finally relaxed. "A'ight, but dese Uruks bedder make it te da assault. Ye hear me ye durn elf?"

"Crolgar, your antics never cease to amaze me. Do you not understand that our home is at stake here? I am not so sly that I would use this as an opportunity to further my own goals, but I do thank you for the compliment. Now stop squaking and get the Uruks to the boats."

Shazir's voice had the calm and sophisticated tone that simply angered the dwarf even more. The transmission was slammed off leaving the dark elf up in space waiting for the shuttles. Below on the stormy planet, legions of Uruks were being herded into their transport boats. Great trolls in armor squeezed their thick hides into their drop pods. A horde that had been created for such occasions was now flowing from their deep cavern dwellings into a number of shuttles to be shipped off to the battle for the Myth homeworld.

***Balmung***

"Lord Rendacil, starboard armour reaching critical breaking point, shots are striking the internals." a desperate voice cried out. They could feel the impacts against the great ships hull now. "Bring remaining pin points to position, continue to fire upon the enemy heavy combat vessels." Lord Rendacil was sitting in his chair, reading the various strategic displays, scrolling impossibly fast before him.

The Balmung listed heavily as another volley slammed in to her, her weapons never stopped firing in to the enemy, devastatingly powerful Xaser blasts lanced out towards damaged enemy vessels. They were fighting for keeps, if they would die, they would take as many of the enemy with them as they could.

Then, two of the GAP Solaris battleships accellerated forward to line up with Balmung. Zietski quickly opened a short range channel to Lord Rendacil. "I am amazed that a Knight of your caliber would require assistance from lowly peon's such as ourselves, but our assistance you have."

The Commodore had seen the gravity of Balmungs peril. Her remaining mecha were now providing point defense for the vessel, and they along with her point defense cannons and missiles were struggling to keep the ship from being torn apart by the volume of fire. The Endymion HMAF's escorting the Prefecture squadron moved in to attack the enemy ships alongside the Voice of Reason. They immediately targetted the damaged enemy vessels with anti ship torpedo's and heavy Xaser fire, hoping to finish the job Balmung started.

Zietski and his escort fired up thrusters and pushed gravitics to full in an attempt to get behind the Balmung. They cleared the space quickly, even under fire. Then they primed their DoD generators and decelerated sharply, firing the greenish bolts from the unretracted FTL device. The first shot opened a rift directly in front of the Balmung, the second directly inside the other rift.

They had allowed the great ship a means to escape. To where and how far from the world no one could no for certain without tracking the ship. Right now there was no time for such things. Balmung slipped in to the Aether, exiting the battle.

The Prefecture ships then turned to attack the remaining ships of the Mythrandir squadron, three of the kilometer long behemoths, supported by hundreds of HMF's and a dozen HMAF's. They maneuvered towards the weakest point in the enemy chain, firing with an unbridled intensity. The rest of the GTFOA and GAP fleet was retreating, they would stay behind to buy time for the counterattack.

***DCN Gun Armada: Holding Games***

Lord Kendall smiled grimly as he looked at the storm of fire coming towards his dreadnought formation. So far range and constant vectoring had kept them out of harms way. Now they would rely on something new, something used in few battles before this, to close the gap. Then they would strike out at the enemy in full strength. The Zweihanders were the heaviest armed of the warships of the line. They were armed with over fifty heavy and medium capital engagement scale weapons, Heavy Xasers were complimented by twin Pulsar Laser/Lance batteries.


The twenty ship formation suddenly shifted, forming in to a lance point. The lance point was a formation in which all of the ships would form a V allowing them to maximise their pin point barrier shields. It also served in protecting them from Kinetics and missiles attacking from the frontal and side arcs with their Loengren cannons.They let loose a massive storm of Graser fire, the massive weapons, capable of burning a whole through a cruiser weight vessels fired in timed volleys, exactly thirty seconds after each other. They were targeting the lighter cruiser weight vessels protecting the enemy heavies.

They descended first, then rose on the stellar plane to position themselves underneath the enemy, moving straight towards the Mythrandir 1st fleet. Their Urenbecht fields were at full power now, displacements were making the ships appear both farther and closer then they really were. This forced the Mythrandir to shoot wide, not even realising that their own computer systems and calculations were betraying them.

It was like firing at an invisible opponent, despite the fact they were frustratingly "visible" on the sensors. The ships kept coming, barely effected by the weight of the enemy fire. Still just because they cant see you, doesn't mean they cant hit you. Shots rang off pin point shielding and hull, giving the enemy an indicator, albeit minor that something was drastically wrong with their firing solutions.

On the other side of the battle, through the ravaged defensive fleets the Einhanders broke through, coming in around from the opposite direction of the Zweihanders. They used their speed and agility to close with the enemy after launching a devastating salvo against the beleagured Mythrandir fleets that had been attacking the GTFOA fleet and battling the Prefecture forces.

Now the Einhander flotillas would create a pincer with which to squeeze the first Mythrandir fleet. The Mythrandir weapons were aiming at the Zweihanders and the retreating GTFOA and GAP vessels. The Einhanders simply ignored the fire coming towards them and broke in to two groups, each of them striking in to the enemy rear. They too had adopted a lance formation and had allowed a small gap to the front of the enemy formation for the Mythrandir to exit from.

This gap lead straight in to the retreating ships and was meant to seem an inviting choice. But the sixty five vessels of the Divine celestial navy started to pour an enormous amount of fire in to them, forcing the enemy ships in front of them to move forward at all cost, in to the hail of engagement pulsar lasers and lances, as well as heavy Xasers now erupting from the ships of the Divine Navy, in to the Mythrandir 1st fleet.

However waiting in this gap was the main force of the escorting DCN mecha formations. This included thirty of the Algol's not busily trying to "persuade" the heavily damaged Mythrandir second fleet from pursuing the GTFOA. As the enemy ships moved forward, they descended upon them, attacking them with precision missile strikes against engines and sensor systems.

The Algols simply hammered at the enemy shielding with Pulsar lasers until such a time as they could unleash heavy anti capital missiles against unshielded targets. Then they tore in to the enemy vessels as they unleashed their missile payloads, trying their best to cripple or destroy anything that made it past the gauntlet.


The Knights of the Divine Celestial Navy weighed up the enemy fleet before them. The other fleet, the one that had been so recently fighting the Prefecture fleet was damaged badly, these opponents were fresh. It was their mistake to not engage the Knights of the Divine navy directly, instead they continued to try to fire upon the GTFOA and GAP vessels during the retreat.

That was their first mistake. They would be punished for it. The experience wrought from hundreds of battles had given the Knights an intimate knowledge of their own war potential, as well as their equipment. The Mythrandir however had underestimated the sheer power of the ships of the Divine Celestial Navy, each nearly an artifact in their value and complexity of design. They used systems so ancient, so esoteric as almost to be considered magic.

The Knights however could not fault the enemy, they did not know of the reputation of the Knight ships, they did not know of the warcraft of the knights. They would learn now.

With the advantage gained by the Urenbecht field, this battle force was easily the equal of the enemy fleet arrayed against them. Until the enemy was able to nullify the advantage, until they realised their own sensors were betraying them they would fight against shadows. Even now many theories would likely be raging through the heads of the enemy captains. Perhaps the ships are phased, cloaked or even magicked. Perhaps they would even think them ghosts. The simple truth was that the old enemies of Tannelorn relied so heavily on computers, electronics and artifical intelligence, that the Tannelornians devised a way to shield their ships from electronic eyes and minds.

It takes human skills to fight human skills, and that was just how the Knights of the DCN liked it.

***The Retreat***


The Crimson Blade rocked with the force of the enemy firepower against it. Her thick hull and heavy Ubecht field was saving her from destruction, but they were taking a pounding. They along with the five remaining Prefecture ships were shielding the GTFOA column from the enemies fire.They were using their Pinpoint barriers and their bulk to prevent enemy fire from hitting the GTFOA ships. Many of them struggling to repel boarders and come back online.

Mecha were returning to hangars in waves to attempt to rearm and prepare for battle once more. When they were ready they would sally forth and rejoin the battle, but for now they were going back in waves. Each wave would stay to provide point defense for as long as possible before rearming. All the while the ships would return fire with Drone missiles.

The monitors had powered far past the original column. The lead Monitor dipped back, starting to fire in to the battle damaged Mythrandir fleet element which had just engaged the Prefecture ships. Its long deadly beam fired in to the enemy vessels recklessly, not caring what type of Mythrandir vessel it hit, so long as it hit some.

Then the monitors moved back in to formation and the next one turned to fire. It was a slow process but it kept up a constant deterrent to any would be pursuers.

The vessels of the Prefecture navy and the Greater Tannelornian Federal Operational Army took advantage of every second granted to them by the Knights to make internal repairs and rearm themselves for the conflict. Only the most grievously damaged vessels, which consisted of many of the Honour blades would be allowed to retreat.

Over sixty vessels continued to move towards the Fortress moon.

+++Boarding actions++++


The vessels that had been fully compromised sent to the bridges which were now empty to allow access to computer files. In a panic the ships computers, after no longer being in contact with a Tannelornian mind started self destruct procedures. The most the Orcs would glean was information about language and decks, as well as the name of the Divine Celestial Federation as well as the locations of the Republic itself as well as the Prefecture. However little else would be downloaded before the final act of the ship's Bio-coms would initiate the destruction of the vessel.

Tannelornians were intensely paranoid about the secrets of DEM and Urenbecht space time device technology falling in to the wrong hands. They were the bulwarks of Tannelornian defense. Three more vessels were destroyed as they transited.

On other vessels GAP marines started to arrive, aiding the beleagured defenders or engaging in cleanse actions against fallen ships, preparing to re-man them to allow them to escape to the rendezvous point. They attacked them in savage close in actions, using their phenomenal strength and reflexes to close the gap between them and the enemy, laying down a withering hail of fire. Then when they closed upon them they slashed and stabbed at them with bayonets, smashing in to the orcs with enough force to dent bulkheads.

++++

The hellebarde dashed in to the first Troll it saw, clobbering it with its weight and a mighty sweep of its cannon laden arm. It fired in to the other two orcs at close range with its shoulder mount cannon and started to blast the smaller orcs with its AP weapon mounted under the torso. The Thirteen meter tall mecha countinued to pound on the troll it hit as the men above started to counter attack. They jumped from the roof and in to the orcs, pulling out sabers for close combat fighting as well as activated heat bayonets.

The hacked at the orcs with skill, strength and valour, Tannelornians were taught from birth how to use bladed weapons regardless of their upbringing. Soldiers were starting to funnel in to create barricades and close the gaps that were being formed. Using heavy firepower and prebuilt barricades to halt the Orcish advance.


***The Fortress Moon [Forge Moon]: Orbital Battle***


It was time, the retreating forces were at the half way point. The reserve fleet continued to fire in to the enemy goblin fighters with point defenses as they passed by them. They left several wings of fresh mecha to defeat the remaining Goblin fighters and ordered all that were able to rearm.

The fleet split in two and moved in separate directions around the moon. The section containing the Monitor that had been sent with the GTFOA fleet forces hid just behind the moon itself. The rest of the force moved around clockwise, coming up on the battle now raging over the moon itself.

The mecha on point defense duty as well as the vessels own point defense weapons continued to fight against the Goblin fighters, but with the sheer amount of fresh units now in the fighting, things looked grim for the defenders of the Fortress Moon.


The sixty vessel armada broke and attacked, consisting of twenty Einhanders, twelve Solaris Battleships and thirty honourblades. The poured their fire in to the enemy, loosing Gras-Drones and Ubecht Gras Shells in to the enemy at long range. The brilliant blinding flashes of the massive Loengren Gamma ray lasers lit up the night, screaming towards the defenders. It didnt matter which fleet was struck, it only mattered that they were now in a position to force the enemy fleet in to an untenable situation.

The Bio-mech ships and the rest of the GTFOA forces in the area got the message loud and clear, as well as orders. The Solaris Battleships continued to attack, guarding the retreat of their comrade while under heavy fire. They continued to strike from the front of the formation, plowing in to it hard, several million tonnes of Battleship smashing through the enemy battlelines, Xasers and missiles flying every which way even as enemy fire pounded them from close range. Their supporting honour blades dove in to the attack, forcing the gap in the front closed, firing their relatively heavy energy armament bravely in the face of the enemy firepower.

The pods struck as one, turning away from the battle before maneuvering together as a near solid wave of over sixty ships, slamming in to the rear of the enemy formation. They attacked savagely, working together to prevent any enemy ships from breaking through the net about to surround them.

The Shield strike carriers and Morgenstern Battle-carriers moved in closer, throwing the weight of their Heavy Xasers and engagement cannons in alongside the massive salvo's of death from their loengrens. They were striking from the enemy flanks, leaving only one opening in the formation for the enemy to run.

The Tannelornian mecha continued to attack furiously now, sensing that victory over this moon was near, they redoubled their attacks, striking weapon systems and sensors. They were trying to blind the enemy, force them in to helplessness so that they would accept the surrender offer about to be granted.

The net of Tannelornian vessels started to close around Frylann and Drugar's fleet. The only way for them to run would be through a gauntlet of weapons, straight in to the waiting arms of the rest of the reserve fleet. Then once they had withstood the pounding of the Monitor, while their ships were in flight, the net would close destroying all those that continued to fight.

As a precaution against the enemies use of FTL, they calibrated their DEM jammers for Faster then light disruption. The enemy ships would be free to jump at any time, but they would find their calculations off by the barest margins. Margins enough to scatter the ships across the local star systems.

++++

"Crew prepare to open transmission's to the enemy flagship." Captain Uraki was grinning, he was in operational command of the entire bloody attack group, sixty ships in all. It had frustrated the GAP commander to no end and really left the young Captain quite happy. He casually swept a lock of black hair out of his eyes and made sure his uniform was not crinkling over his battle armour.

"Warriors of the Mythrandir, I am Captain Uraki of the Divine Celestial Navy of Tannelorn, Knights of the Tannelornian federation and greatest of the armed forced in the Divine Celestial Federation. You have shown your bravery this day, but I am afraid we must now invite you to stop fighting, to surrender your arms. Your deaths will no longer benefit your people." he stopped, making sure the message was being sent to both battleships.

"We can assure you that our forces are not brutal occupiers, wishing to steal your lands but enlightened warriors, traveling the stars to find worthy opponents and cultures. We find you worthy, now surrender before it is too late for you. Even now your main fleet engages the main force of the Divine Celestial navy. By the time they come to aid you, you will be long vanquished and your exhausted and battle weary friends will share your fate."

Uraki grinned as he watched the massive storm of beam weapon fire from the Tannelornian fleets criss cross each other through the enemy formations. He crossed his arms and awaited a response from the lead vessel.

"Patch me through to the GTFOA and GAP vessels, order them to scramble recovery teams, for our pilots and crew as well as the Mythrandir.

Sky Scream floated through destruction and death of mangled hallways and twisted metal. Fires burned on ends in the dwindling light almost like funeral pyres lighting the way. Only the superb design and construction of every Myth vessel kept the griffons remnant crew alive in those last few moments. He knew they were racing against time before the lost Warp reactor exploded and took this area of space with it.

"This way." His calm commanding voice beckoned his command crew down one more hallway where a blue light luminating above the last remaining escape pod in this section of the ship. The blue pulsating light invited the surviving crew to the last hope of escape. Sky Scream cranked the emergency lever allowing the pressurized door to grind open. Feathered wings flared open as the griffon heaved his back behind a stubborn door and forced it open the rest of the way. Taking his fallen comrade's body, Sky Scream laid the woman to rest along the side while he kept the doors apart for the rest of his crew.

Once everyone was safely inside, the doors slammed shut locking them all in the pod. Everyone secured themselves into cushioned placements while their Captain put in a flight path for the pod. It did no good to shot off into the night and head right into the enemy fleet. For now, Sky Scream would trust in the planet's gravity to bring them all home. Finished with a flight path, the griffon's massive clawed hand smashed the glass jetising the pod into space.

Battle with the Balmung:

Heorot continued to order his vessels to launch attacks into the listing flagship. It was almost over for the ship and even now he was preparing for his main cannon to recharge and unleash one more attack. Missles were preparing to launch in their silos and more massive MAC rounds were loaded into their tubes. The barbarian captain was preparing his ship for one last assault before breaking off.

"Captain, forgive me but there is the matter of the Warp reactor still about to go critical very near by. If we are caught anywhere near it, then we won't be of any much help to our people."

Heorot played the warning off with his typical silence. There was still enough time to get one last attack off that should cripple the vessel. Then they could simply leave it to the reactor in the area.

"My Captain, we have detected new signatures entering our area. Markings match that of their battleship designs. . . They're. . . the target has just vanished from our scope. It made a jump out of our system."

A heavy fist came down atop one of the phoenix heads on Heorot's throne chair. "Damn it! Is there any sign of their path?"

His officer worked at the glass screen for a few moments before answering. "There is a trail of emissions but picking up the path won't be easy to accomplish and there isn't time right now."

"How much time until the reactor goes?"

The response time took less time than before. "Matter of moments. It would be best if we left this area of space immediatly."

Heorot sat there for a moment, contemplating a next move. He could stay and fight the two new ship for a bit but he would risk losing more vessels. "Take us into the warp and regroup above the planet. We'll launch our next attacks from there. Inform our fleet."

"Yes Captain."

The remaining Horde Cruisers and Avenger Battleship dove into the swirling chaos of the Warp for the quick jump towards the planet.

------

Orders were already being sent to the still fighting squadron of the second fleet. Since the battle with the invaders flagship had commenced, the large detachment had taken punishment from a larger force. Still they fought on even as shots rang off the hulls and energy clashed against the shields. Tough compact ships stood their ground against the invading force even as their captain's retreated towards the planet. Now with much of the attention falling to the first fleet, ships took the opportunity to launch rounds at the distracted enemy. Massive shells and torpedoes flew through space to attach the enemy's rear and flanks.

Myth Fleet 1:

"Well it seems we now have their attention."

Haldir and Genji had positioned their fleet right in the midst of the retreating and disabled ships. Wherever they went, the Myth fleet went. There was always the occassional fire from a reviving vessel but the guns were quickly silenced from a concentrated attack in the general direction. Attacks from the DCN groups fell among their own friendly vessels more often than it would a Myth ship. Even the chance round getting through all of the crippled ships, bounced harmlessly off the armor. Readings showed that enemy fleets were trying to push through the GTFOA shield that the Myth fleet had erected but that would mean pushing aside their own vessels.

Depsite the problems jamming would cause or the difficulty dealing with disappearing, reappearing ships; enemy ships pushed aside by encroaching vessels would alert all commanders as to where the enemy was and approximatly how far out they were. Officers would no longer need to rely on their ship computers to plot shots and Haldir had no intention of leaving his comfortable position. As far as he was aware, the GTFOA ships surrounding him had no such capabilities of tampering with computer systems.

"We have encroachment along our port perimeter at the edge of the enemy's retreating ships."

Captain Haldir studied the display with a smug expression across his face. "Put in best estimate of distance and fire main cannon."

"Uploading fire range now....ready."

Haldir's gauntlet mittons clenched the two phoenix heads gracing his throne chair. The posture belied how tense he was. "Fire."

Brilliantly bright light crossed the expanse of one ship to the next as the Cosmo gun of the battleship chose its new target area. A few more crippled retreating ships would go down even if the attack didn't do much damage to the charging ships.

While attacks raged on from both sides, Haldir had to remain one step ahead of the enemy at all times and keep the battlefield changing. Forcing his adversary to adjust tactics continuously would hopefully keep the advantage with Haldir. Now the elf wanted the game to continue which is what brought him to the middle of an enemy fleet that was retreating, changing tactics for all sides. Hopefully he could keep the game up until the enemy tired and left.

"Inform our hangar crew to load the extra war heads into the cargo shutes. Alert Genji and the Horde Cruisers to do the same."

The elf had just confused his entire crew in one moment. "Excuse me sir, but are you sure about that? We won't be able to launch them far and there will be no guarantees that they'll detonate."

"The enemy is attempting to surround us with as many ships as possible in hopes of obliterating us. I want as much firepower at my disposal for when they finally come into contact with our lines. Everything will be fine, trust me."

Orc Pods:

Information was monumental in the minds of the Myths in the Forge. Such knowledge could greatly turn the tide of any battle and it was all being saved even as confiscated ships ultimatly self-destructed. The great expanse of the SIREN battlenet preserved every last bit of information that flooded the channels. Loss of a platoon of orcs or more was more than acceptible exchange for the information being received on their assailants. Now they had a name to put with the face as well as a means for identifying the markings on their ships. Information on the ships themselves were being archived as the battle ranged. A few classes had almost a complete layout of the design including weapon systems and size of the vessel retrieved by the Goblin fighters and now interior designs from boarding parties. Now future boarding operations would be conducted with even greater speed against these identified ships.

Marines charging into a melee with orc units would find themselves crashing against a mountain of a monster even for superhuman strength. Grisly tusks protruding from their green lips would simply smile at the humans. Being bread for the sole purpose of war and genetically altered to withstand the worst of climates or conditions, they had been raised on a planet that only dwarves could stomach with its intense gravity. Gravity doubling that of the Mythrandir homeworld itself put the marines and orcs on equal footings as they would find they have much the same qualities.

Primitive growls and screams rose to new pitches in one of the hangars of a Tannelornian ship as a troll and mechanized unit wrestled on the deck floor. The troll's tough hide and additional armor helped deaden the blows raining down. Chainguns strapped to its waist rolled a few more rounds before a meaty hand grabbed for the spiked mace in its belt loop. The mace came crashing down towards the mech's head.

Orcs all around dove deep into a blood frenzy with soldiers charging into their numbers. Claws and maws raked out at flesh and throats. Serrated knives slashed through the air at their prey working them back while others fired at point blank range.

Lunar Battle:

Focus in the battle had shifted once again as enemy units focused more of their attention on Drulgar's fleet detachment. Captain Frylann 's situation improved by the minute as more and more ships headed back towards the moon to deal with her dwarven comrade. Some stayed behind to harass her but not enough to pose any real threat and they would soon be silenced. At the moment, her battlegroup was repositioning itself to face the now further away enemy attacks. Lines had to be reformed and a quick gasp of breath was needed before plunging headlong back into the fight.

Heat was rising on the bridge of her battleship and it was causing sweat to sting her eyes. It couldn't be help though since workers needed extra power for welding. Great amounts of energy went into fusing the armor at its joints and it was no exception for simple repairs, let alone actually peircing it with an attack.

"As soon as we win this fight, I will treat you all to a cool drink from the bar. Let's keep focused for now and finish off the rest of the enemy. We must be doing something right, they don't know who to attack first. Weapons officer, plot me a course for a missle volley focusing on their flanks. I want all particle beams ready to fire and trained on the center of their formation. Charge burst cannons to maximum power. Lets punch through the hull in a few quick shots."

"Captain, sensors on the moon have detected a fleet taking up position on the other side of the moon."

The news wasn't surprising but it wasn't welcomed. "It just means our number of targets has increased. Begin the attack."

Drulgar watched as fleet formations changed with enemy and allie alike. More and more attacks were pounding against their shields and armor. Still everything held strong just as if it were brand new from the Forge. The dwarf was enjoying every moment of the battle even if his crew was not. "Easy lads. Dese bastards think dey can roll o'er us. Well dey're in fer a surprise."

Ship defenses kept up the same repeating tactic of waiting until the mechanized flyers were right on top of the ships before unleashing devastating barrages of energy and shrapnel. Even now Frylann's second attack was already raining down on the forward advancing line of enemy ships.

"Captain, message coming through from enemy vessel."

Drulgar narrowed a wily eye. "Put it through."

"Warriors of the Mythrandir, I am Captain Uraki of the Divine Celestial Navy of Tannelorn, Knights of the Tannelornian federation and greatest of the armed forced in the Divine Celestial Federation. You have shown your bravery this day, but I am afraid we must now invite you to stop fighting, to surrender your arms. Your deaths will no longer benefit your people." he stopped, making sure the message was being sent to both battleships.

"We can assure you that our forces are not brutal occupiers, wishing to steal your lands but enlightened warriors, traveling the stars to find worthy opponents and cultures. We find you worthy, now surrender before it is too late for you. Even now your main fleet engages the main force of the Divine Celestial navy. By the time they come to aid you, you will be long vanquished and your exhausted and battle weary friends will share your fate."

Frylann didn't know whether to take it seriously or laugh out loud. "They have to be joking. What in the Inferno can they be talking about? Bounce a communication signal back to that vessel."

"Link established Captain."

The visual image relayed back to Uraki depicted a female elf sweating but still very much in control of her surroundings. Her silver breast plate glinted in the light provided by the ship and various counsles. Golden hair looked matted and slightly tangled from the sweat but her beauty did not diminish despite her appearance. "This is Captain Frylann of the Forge naval forces of the Kingdom of Mythrandir. I must say that it is flattering that someone out there in the galaxy finds us worthy as warriors. We must be doing something right if you are already prepared to end the battle since we are still willing and able to fight. I hope you have enjoyed your unwanted stay in our kingdom but this is as close as you will get to seeing anymore of it.

I could never allow myself to surrender to a bunch of hypocrites. I tend to despise them with passion. Besides, from the look of the situation; this battle is far from over. You are free to leave anytime you wish though. I will grant you at least that free passage."

Drulgar listened to the exchange of words between both captains. He supposed that he should contribute in some way to the conversation but the dwarf was never much for words. Instead, he hopped out of his throne and calmly walked over to one of the glass screens in front of an officer. A little chubby finger pressed the rune button symbolizing the word "fire". From Drulgar's battleship launched six massive MAC rounds headed straight for the closest ship at the speed of light.

"Dere, dat should do it fer me."

***Artillery Duel in the Oceans***

Kinetic rounds were striking against the Bad-hertzfeldt's Urenbecht Hard field with such fury that some rounds were making it through, cracking against the armour. The Knossis shook with a strike from a heavy enemy cannon which managed to overwhelm the Urenbecht field locally.

"Damage report." Captain Dunkelzahn stated coldly. "Armour damage to port, so far we are holding up well against the siege weapons of the city, the energy armaments are taking a toll on the Hero's Rest. She has been ordered to disengage, the Yondath will be moving in to support."

"Sir enemy shield flicker detected after the nuclear strike." the calm, yet cheerful voice of the Replicant girl on tactical sang out. Captain Dunkelzahn grinned softly. "Prepare another strike, increase the yield by fourty five percent." he ordered.

The next shells loaded in to the main cannons of the Bad-hertzfeldt were nuclear charge. These ones were signifigantly larger then the payload of the missiles fired at the shield previously. "Fire." he ordered.

The STC column appeared only briefly as a distortion leading from the gun barrels to the outer shield. Then everything turned bright white. It was as if a second sun had ignitied over the battlefield. Polarising shutters closed over sensor's and non essential systems shut down to prevent damage to circuitry from the EMP blast.

The captain had wagered that the shield system was identical to those used in the Divine Dragon over mars, when a twelve ship flotilla of Zweihanders attacked the massive battle moon at close range, blasting it with a massive kinetic shell to bring down the shield. So far this shield had withstood everything thrown at it...until a flicker was detected after the last nuclear strike.

The shield in question was only taken down when struck with a force large enough to force it to short out in one go. Suddenly the Replicant girl on comms shouted frantically. "Sir immediate threat located in the water, Hellebardes have declared them "biological" weapons, they are coming right for us."

"All power to shields, polarisation and gravitics, all vessels lift off, fifty meters altitude." with a whine the massive vessels started to struggle to lift out of the water...

++++

They could hear the sound of the massive assault ships lifting off through the hulls of their mecha. A rather impressive and noisy feat for even the massive ships. The squadron had moved in quickly, identifying them as "biological weapons." They would take no chances, the enemy was reported in using flyers of a purely biological origin. Much like one of the many ancient enemies of Tannelorn on mars, these Mythrandir preferred to use biological organisms in warfare.

Without this bitterly gained experience against their own foes in the red planets norther oceans, they would not have been prepared. The squadron moved in to attack the "fleet" of the enemy, firing missiles which flew through the water using supercavitation. Tannelornian weapons and mecha were built to be "all environment." These weapons were not true torpedos and their underwater tracking functions were never as good as a dedicated underwater missile.

However they were fast and packed heavy large warheads. The sheer amount of steam created from a detonation of these weapons in front of the beasts would hopefully make them think twice about approaching the assault ships.


The mecha squadron fired a large salvo of missiles, detonating them directly in front of the beasts, trying to ward them off in case they truly were just panic stricken sea life. The explosions blasted huge pillars of water in to the sky, the mecha targeted the beasts with lasers set to blue-green frequency and prepared to fight them. If they were truly just sea creatures, caught in a cross fire then they would turn around and go the other way...if not...they would be attacked mercilessly.


***Frontlines: Southern Continent***


Replicants and their officers were fighting hard in the trenches to stop the enemy attack. Already forward High Maneuver frame units were assisting the replicants, attempting to break up the cohesion of an enemy assault, a role at which the multiform aerial mecha were adept. They were marine forces, reaction forces able to get to any battle field quickly, and use their superior mobility and heavy firepower to good effect before taking off and returning to base to rearm.

However the Alpha II's were not as large and tough as the Morgenraetes and Sturmanrufers of the Divine Navy, and they lacked the stealth equipment of the Kernschatten. Though they were on the ground for only a short period of time, this made them vulnerable to fire. Even as they completed an attack against an enemy tank, some were falling to shots coming from the forest as well as turrets far away. Others were lanced by the powerful energy beams launched by the Necron tanks, falling over lifeless, or skidding to a halt, crashing in to the ground or a nearby unit.

The Hellebarde single form heavy mecha continued to charge at the enemy attackers, weaving in between weapons fire to strafe the STEAD's and their riders with heavy kinetics and sweeping powerful UV lasers across their formations. Missiles were being saved for the heavy Necron tanks, as these mecha could not expect resupply in the middle of a battle.

They weaved through the enemy fire, some of them succumbing to enemy fire before they closed on the Mythrandir, others using their maneuver thrusters to dash to the side, avoiding the deadly beams from the Necron Tanks.

The Replicants and their officers continued to try their best to hold the enemy at bay, charging once more in to close range, ducking and weaving till they could get to the abominations rear. Their they would slice through armour before planting heavy Xas shape charges. Replicants were falling in the attacks, but after the initial shock of an enemy tank attempting close combat, they were being far more careful.

The last of the Divine Celestial Cavaliers started to run across the no mans land, supported by their own Kernschattens, who had been fighting a rear guard against the final enemy attack waves as they allowed their foot infantry comrades to make it to the battlefield.

They moved as quickly as their esoteric and incredibly advanced armour allowed them, then took positions alongside replicants in the trenches, as many of them already had. They started to repel the encroaching Necron tanks, using a combination of martial skill and nigh supernatural speed, as well as advanced technology to cut down the edge. At close range a Divine Celestial Cavalier was more deadly then a Jedi with a blade, and their chosen weapon, the Knight-sword was as deadly if not deadlier then any light saber. It used a combination of magnetic fields, DEM strengthening and Mono-edged sharpness to slice through almost any material.

Though their numbers were few they were able to be where they needed, Necron tanks fighting off swarms of Replicants would soon find themselves facing master swordsmen in close combat. Sweeps of their claws would be evaded, sweeps from the Cavaliers own weapons would home in on the enemies melee weapons, slicing through metal with the same ease they would flesh. Almost five hundred Divine Celestial Cavaliers were participating in the battle now, with another fourty five hundred in reserve. If things got bad enough, the Tannelornian's most Elite Knight's would make a show in force. Dropping from high altitude from Horizont, or being dropped in battle bunkers behind the enemy positions, in to the mountains themselves.

After all the best defense was a good offense..and that was just what the DCC did best. Suddenly from the rear of the base several missiles launched in to the tree line, disappearing from view. Seconds later a massive flash of light followed by a shockwave which scattered earth and debris across the field. They had been targetting any enemies remaining in the tree's, any which had not yet made it to the attack sight as well as those on the outskirts attempting to provide fire support. Then with a yell the group of over one hundred cavaliers charged directly in to the enemy steeds attacking along the flanks, preparing to assist the Hellebardes directly.

The Cavaliers to the front of the formation slung their rifles and deployed their shields, pulling out their Knight-swords. Those in the rear moved their rifles to their shoulders and charged in behind their comrades. The best shots would support the best fighters in any charge. This was a standard Divine Celestial Cavalier doctrine. It maximised enemy casualties on the charge..and that was just what they intended to do against the highly mobile enemy they would face.

Their armour, genetic modification, training and the special Nova Pancrea implanted in their body made them incredibly fast on their own. They started to fire with horrifying accuracy, aiming for the riders of the STEAD's even on a full run. However their numbers were few, and though each one of their volleys was as deadly as any could be, they could not hope to break the enemy charge with shooting alone.

It would have to be decided, as it was at the front line trenches, with close combat. The enemy were too close now for anything else. The clash of blades and bodies was now to be expected even as the hail of enemy artillery crashed in around the lines.

***Strike Mission: Silence the Enemy guns Phase 2***


Bale glanced around for his wingmen, hoping to see the comforting sight of them on visual sensors to confirm that the tiny blips on his screen were really there. Unlike the psychic control systems of the Morgenraetes, the pilots of the Alpha's could not simply be aware of everything the Bio-com tied to all systems in their own mecha was. As quietly as the eight meter tall mecha were able, they made their way up the mountain passes, following the tell tale signals of enemy artillery in the sky and on sensors.

They prepared to meet some defenders, though not likely any infantry survived the nuclear strike on the outside. The mecha brigade continued on to target, readying their weapons for battle and their souls for death.

++++

Hector started to chuckle. Over a hundred years of service had given him balance that was quite frankly beyond any mortal could hope to aspire too. He stayed with the STEAD despite the heavy shaking and simply drew his pistol and fired in to the control board in front of him. With that he activated the jump jets on his armour and left the enemy commander to his fate.

He started to run the moment he landed, then took off towards the main encampment..which he found himself much closer to. He risked a glance behind to see the fate of the man he had just been wrestling with on top of his mount, and continued towards the rest of his platoon.


***Jans War***

Jan was laughing like a maniac from the pure adrenaline of the moment. He was the last of his squadron to exit the cave system, he switched to aerospace superiority configuration and flew out of the tunnels as the shockwave through dirt, rocks and dust out behind them. The baritone boom of the plasma-shock expansion thrusters and the screeching whine of the Gravitic propulsion system mixed to make a terrible cacophony of noise which echoed along the country side for a hundred kilometers.

At full combat power one could detect a Morgenraete III using sonar alone. At full combat power a Morgenraete, a Knight mecha was not meant to hide from the enemy, but engage and destroy them. Every piece of the machines they rode was crafted for maximum durability and performance.

Performance over all else was the motto of the Divine Navy's engineer's. Lux Aeternus Squadron was now demonstrating that axiom with vigour as they accelerated away from the mountain face at top speed. The AAA quickly subsided as they rocketed to sixty thousand feet, traveling at nearly nine thousand miles an hour.

"Jan, enemies detected, hundreds of them...the enemy air forces have come out in force, hopefully thanks to our intrusion." Knight Arak Harendacil voxed to Jan. "Aye, and we still have thirty percent of our missile loadout, perhaps we wont be returning for rearmament yet," Jan laughed.

They switched configurations turning back towards the rapidly approaching swarm of enemies beneath them. They voxed in the exact position to the Bad-hertzfeldt's and dived on the enemy. As they fell the each fired a cluster of twelve Gras warheads. The missiles fell till they were nearly on top of the Wyvern's and their riders, detonating and firing their graser beams through the formation. As the brilliant flashes of light from the discharges detonated, the Knights of Lux Aeternus were on them, diving at top speed straight through the formation, firing Pulsar lasers, Lances and Kinetics in to the Wyverns and their riders with abandon. They continued on through the formation, slowing their fall in time to land softly on the ground below.

They started to move over the plains on the ground, skating backwards as they started to fire in to the enemy, hoping to bring them down to their level, then their agility on the ground as well as in the air would be the most deciding factor. Arms were useful tools, so were ground mobile legs. As they rode, streams of laser energy filled the sky, aiming for the enemy above.

It was a clear invitation to the enemy, loud and clear. Come and get us!.

***The Fortress Moon [Forge Moon]***


Knights dropped to the ground, trying to avoid the missiles fired at them, deploying shields and preparing to brace against the massive overpressure about to be unleashed upon them. Others were not so lucky, being caught in ground zero without a shield wall. They were vapourised. The rest of the men picked themselves up, falling back to allow the main force to take position in mere seconds, such was the training and skill of these warriors. As the warcries and thunderous footsteps of the enemy came closer, the Knights prepared their shield wall, the best shots standing behind them, preparing to down as many enemy as they could before they made it to them.


As the first of the Orcs appeared, the Cavaliers started to remove their heads for them, thinning them out before the melee truly began..the halls filled with tracer's from Kinetics, hand grasers and lasers as well as particle fire.


+++++

The knights of the Assault team hunkered down in to a shield wall the moment the enemy tank fired. The prescient warning of Knight Erathina had given them time to hunker down. Those in the path of the blast wound up with injuries, quickly they moved back down the line as another group of four knights replaced them. They dropped several more of the tiny mines they carried, activating them and setting them to Seek mode. The mines flew forwards down the hall, seeking to find the attacker. The moment the explosion's could be heard, the first group of four Knights charged down the hall towards them, shields locked together, ready to take the heavy enemy shot so the rest of the assault platoon could advance.

The DCC excelled in close quarters fighting, training for boarding actions was as commonplace as training for field actions and many of the unique tools and weapons they carried were designed specifically for the claustrophobic internals of a star ship, star base or military facility. The rest of the platoon advanced behind them as the squad prepared to clash against whatever enemy lay in wait. Assuredly the moment they were within range the Cavaliers would descend upon it with their Knight blades, hacking and slashing at anything that got too close until they could deal the killing blow, to the enemy troops, mecha or defenses still active in this corridor.

Mythrandir Planetside:

Battle raged on in the distance at one of the villages out on the plains. Sebastian watched it all under a troubled brow. It pained him to see his countryside raped by the ravages of war. How could it have come to this? For many years now the people of Mythrandir had been free of war. It was an uneasy peace that was hard one but it was still peace that was improving everyday in his estimation. Now this. He wondered how much would change once these invaders were, and he knew they would be, repelled.

Time seemed to stop for them all within the protective walls of the city. A cool breeze from the mountains gently caressed his young face and toyed with his wife's hair. The day that had started out seeming so fair was now waning in the blood soaked sky of one of the perilous days since the era of Warring Clans and his father's great war. Ironically the war had claimed his life but it was still called a great war nonetheless. As multiple missles impacted against the divine protection of the shield over the city, Sebastian couldn't help but wonder how anyone could call war "great".

Great gouts of blue energized artillery fire matched the color of his blue orbs as they followed their deadly path hoping that every successful barrage would be one more shot closer to victory. The sound of silence plagued him every moment out on the walls. What was once the heart of the Myths where merchants called out their wares, honest men worked, families lived their daily lives, and children played; was now a ghost town since every person had gone to the shelters. Another pain to his heart as he wondered how many innocent lives had been ruined by all this.

Stones shook from the vibrations of the city's defenses as round after round vaulted through the air to come crashing down on the ships in the water. One ship was listing and pulling back but there were still more to take its place. At the moment it was a standoff while they traded shots. Round for round the city could take what was thrown at it and return fire with equal ferocity even as the massive bombardment struck home on the shields.

Only now, something was amiss. The shield guarding the city went crimson and held that color when it should have went translucent once more. Sebastian and now Elder Alurial joined them as they watched their protector act out its peculiar behavior. The elf looked at the dark elf War Mistress, ever her adversary. "Do you have any idea what that was about Shizra?"

Before the voluptious dark elf could answer, Sebastian snatched up an orb and set it into motion. Ever the assistants of the Myths, the orb began its work as it hovered in the air. Finally a holographic image of a dwarf appeared. The dwarf was apparently dirty and cursing in such vulgar terms that Sebastian's left eye began to twitch.

"Enough!" The shout from the Elder echoed off the walls and brought wide-eyed stares from everyone near him. The typical kind and considerate human Elder had given into a brief lapse in his composure. It did not matter though. Even in his most pleasant form, Sebastian still commanded their attention and respect. There was something to be said about treating everyone as your equals. A notion that some people thought Elder Alurial would do well to learn.

"Enough master dwarf. What is the problem with our city's shields? Are they still holding?"

After regaining his senses from the man's outbursts, the dwarf returned to his kind's typical gruffness. "Aye, that dey are lad but not fer much longer. Dat last attack caused a shortage in one of our back-up lines. Weese normally widstand nuclure attacks fine one of da power cupplings broke causin' da shortage. Rats musta been at work again. Weese workin' as fast as possible but yous got holes in yer shield now. Not so much da enemy will notice but there won't be much stoppin' a lannd attack."

The image vanished leaving those gathered around Sebastian alone to their thoughts. Sebastian wrapped an arm around his wife's waist and pulled her close to him and smiled at everyone. "Do not be saddened. We still have our protection for a moment and the enemy doesn't know anything is wrong. As far as they are concerned, it is just a normal response to a large scale attack."

Shizra was not so easily at rest. It was her position afterall to be prepared for any battle. "I appreciate to opptimism Elder, but I believe it wise to move our warriors into position within the city. If they try to force a landing within the city, then whoever lives to the ground will be quickly swept away by our warriors. Lukien should be alerted and made ready."

Alurials painted face passed into a pleasant expression at the mention of the elf's name. "The bronze knight is always ready. That dear boy of mine will strike fear into their hearts and wipe away their taint."

No one present held any notions that Lukien was Alurial's boy or her lover, but they allowed the elf her rambles. Sebastian just nodded. "I am sure you are right Elder but I believe you should return to your post as well. Our great defenders will need the guidance and strength of Elder Alurial."

Seeming to please the vain elf, Alurial nodded her agreement and turned to leave but not before shooting the dark elf a threatening glare. Then she was off. Her golden armor shining in the sunlight, her crimson cape flapping in the breeze as she walked.

Once she was gone, the War Mistress fixed her attention on Sebastian. "And what is it that you intend to do that will inspire and bolster our men?" It was more than a question, it was a prod to do something.

Sebastian looked out over the wind swept plains before turning to face the dark elf woman. His wife stood mere inches from his side. "I know you are trying to protect us all and me more so than any, but you have to do what is best for our people. I love you. You know that but sometimes you can't always shield me from the parts of you that you think will frighten me. When you were given the position of Elder, our personal lives were put second before all the lives of Mythrandir. You know this and I know this."

The Elder hung his head letting it rest on the top of one of the stone works. He knew he had been defeated, even though he did not like to admit it. Sebastian looked at his wife, smiling even though it was a sad smile. She was a woman who none other could measure to. Sarah commanded a great depth of knowledge that was sometimes lost on others from her beauty and pleasant smile that rarely faded.

Shizra respected the Elder's wife and secretly envied her often. Now she was grateful for her support. She looked at Sebastian once again. "What is it you intend to do?"

Sebastian looked at Sarah before answering. "Head down to shelters and help comfort the people. One of us should be there to calm them and assure them. Besides, I fear this city will not be safe for us very much longer." He pointed to two guards on the wall to ensure his wife arrived safely.

Sarah was gone leaving Sebastian in an odd position. He lamented the loss of the company of one of his closest friends but was also relieved. His eyes, once gentle now set with steele determination, focused on Shizra. In the palms of his hands, Sebastian was scared with four runes each representing the elements of Mythrandir gifted by God. His flesh shivered and the power throughout his body hummed causing those around him to stand back.

None had seen this power from him come to life before. It was a marvelous and terrible site to behold. Shizra stood a few paces off, dumbstruck by it all but wrapped up in the spectacle. This man who was at once the embodiment of gentle compassion, had simultaneously turned into an instrument of death and destruction. A weapon used for cutting away the evil corruption that plagued his world and those he cared about. Shizra could only wondered what this would all look like in full bloom.

A small smile crossed the Elder's face that unnerved the War Mistress for unknown reasons. "The power of my God and the strength of this planet are at my call. You did not think these runes on my palm were only for show, did you?"

------

It had been just as they practiced. While the riders had hoped they would have been able to make their run without any interference, but some resistance was expected. When the shots came, many of the creatures scrambled just as if they were wild beasts in the sea. Some headed back the way they came, others darted off towards the sides disappearing into the vastness of the great ocean, and still a few others broke the surface of the water as if the concussion from the explosions hurt the beasts. The great school of fish that was swimming towards the assault ships was drastically cut down to only two who swam as if they were still trying to get away at break neck speed.

Frontlines:

How anyone have maintained balance on a STEAD going full speed that nearly broke the sound barrier and then came to a screeching hault, Bregger would never know. Fortunatly the man riding with him didn't know the layout of the craft. They didn't have control panels to shoot at in the first place. With the man finally off his ride and heading off in the other direction, Breggar took the safety measures off his weapon system and let the chain barrel throw out a storm of laser fire. The leiutenant reached for the switch to activate the STEAD's blades but the gun shot had disrupted the machine. Bregger slamed his gauntlet fist and cursed as he turned his STEAD to get a better vantage of the battle.

What he saw truly puzzled him. The enemy forces had been pushed back into their trenches and were taking hard casualties. Their big support in their mechanized units was receiving intensive fire which brought many of them low adding to the advantage that the Myth forces had here. But the charge against tanks and the STEAD units seemed more like suicide than anything else. Bregger watched in mild satisfaction as a Necron tank ripped the arms from replicant soldier and left her there screaming in utter agony as the tank moved in search of other prey. The screams managed to lift up over the sounds of battle and reach his ears. It was doubtful that scream would leave his mind for awhile. Still he had to wonder at the sense of all this. Despite it all, Bregger knew his troops could ride circles around the whole field and pick them off without much effort. Perhaps they were trying to lessen the effectiveness of the artillery that was proving deadly here. It was possible.

Bregger did not give it much more thought though. This new manuever by the enemy had to be countered to maximize casualties. Throwing his STEAD into high gear, Bregger charged down to the field to get infront of his advancing men. An orb flew from the back compartment of his mount, the key to communicating with his men on the battlefield. "All riders hault current advances. Squadrons 2 and 3 are to break ranks and circle around the enemy and attack them from the rear. I want a hard and fast charge with chain blades and weapon systems firing. Hit their sharp shooters while the rest of us deal with the brunt of the charge and clear away any messes around the Necron tanks."

The Leiutenant's orb floated back into its waiting space after the orders had been given. His mount was without its chain blades now but that hardly put him at a disadvantage. Bregger steered his mount to the center of their advancing lines. Already his warriors were tearing through those soldiers that could not clear out of the way of their advance or were trying to regroup. The chaos aided them in the slaughter. Bregger spotted the one he had been looking for. A dark elf with a crazed look in his eyes and laughter that went beyond insanity as the man relished in the fight. His brilliantly white hair was splattered with blood accentuated by the gore dripping his face, Tark was the embodiment of a fanatic unleashed in war.

The dark elf was kicking at some near the side of his STEAD. Once Bregger got closer he could see that it looked like one of the remnant soldiers had got caught in the chain blade. Tark stomped on the woman's face trying to her remove her from his bloodied machine. A smile smeared all over his face, the elf was mad with blood lust.

"Tark!"

The dark elf ignored the lieutenant and continued to kick at the quite dead body until the power of the mechanized blades put too much stress on the corpse. Blades groaned and then squealled as the built up power was released severring the body in bloody fashion sending the top half toppling over Tark's STEAD, endtrails littering the ground and watering the prairie grass with blood. The lower half simply slumped into the ground.

"What is it Lieutenant? Did you need something Bregger?" His smile had shrunk down to a more calm level but the level in his voice and the wildness in his eyes showed he was only restrained for now.

The man sighed as he lifted the visor from his winged helm. "Take some riders and clear away the enemy soldiers that are trying to swarm our Necron tanks. Clear them off and then spear head the charge down."

Tark grinned mischeviously then pulled on his helm which should have been similar to Bregger's with wings but Tark had philed down the engravings so that the wings were more like horns than anything. With a final half-hearted salute, Tark charged down into the heart of combat with chain blades whirling and a group of fellow warriors hot on his heels.

Bregger was sitting for a bit of relief for a moment when the treelines in the rear of their formation exploded in light. "Damn! There goes our support."

His aide flew out of its compartment once more to ferry his messages. "Artillery units focus on last sign of fire. Take enemy artillery and then break for redeployment."

The effects were almost instant as great gouts of bluish pulsating energized artillery came falling on the rear of the village where the missle barrage had originated. As soon as the attacks came crashing down, the mounted Warriors began their counter-charge. On cue, STEAD riders split their formation and circled around the enemy lines. The foot soldiers' speed was quite impressive, but the advantage rested with the riders and their mechanized blistering speed. In mere moments they were behind the charging lines. Blades whirled and whined anticipating their next meal of soft flesh. Weapon ports trained their barrels on the nearest target and readied for the charge. All the while, Warriors had fallen to sporadic sharp shooters but determination guided their steps to the targeted zone. Now they were ready.

As the STEADs at the rear of enemy lines started the charge back up, Tark's mad dash downhill began. The dark elf lead the charge down accompanied by loud yelps and whoots. He and his group of riders peeled the sides of swarmed Necron tanks. Laser bursts shot out towards the attacking replicant soldiers that were trying to engage the tanks in close combat. Blades buzzed through the fold of soldiers coming into range cleaving any in their way in two. Tark ripped an orb from a sash across his breast plate and launched it through the air. Once released from the confines of gravity, the orb unleashed a circular energy blade which swept through the masses of energy soldiers like a buzz saw. The orbs were capable of making several sweeps before their energy core expired in one glorious blaze of blinding light and immense explosions.

Tark's scimitar blade fell upon the enemy with wild abandon as he and his coharts chargedinto the melee. Necron tanks kept up their frenzied attacks. One tank grabbed a replicant soldier by her arms and pulled until a loud snap could be heard followed by the blood curddling screams of someone who was having their arms ripped from their body. Blood flowed freely as body and arms were separated in one long painful moment. Screams from the soldier filled the battlefield air assuring that no one would soon forget such a noise. The diseased being let the dismembered body fall to the ground, dying in utter agony feeling fingers that were no longer attached. The Necron tank moved through the field munching on severed arms.

Other armored units found themselves in tighter situations where one lost its fingers to an enemy blade. Still, they had their surprises since the decaying bodies could turn completely all the way around offering a gruesome smile to riders in the back. Tanks solved the problems of charging foot soldiers and their speed by laying down unified wall of fire from their multi-barreled cannons trying to eliminate any mobility the enemy soldiers hoped of having.

Mechanized units still proved a bit a problem for the Mythrandir ground forces. They seemed to be the main bolstering mechanism in the fight attacking both Necron tanks and capable of keeping up with blazing speeds of the STEADs. Bregger knew that these obstacles needed to be removed immediatly to completely drive the enemy back and out of the outlying city. Necron tanks took what opportunities were presented to fire their etheral cannons at the large machines. What remained of the Necron destroyers at the edge of the treelines were brought out onto the field of battle where their great power could be put to use. Their main programed goal for now would be to the utter destruction of any and all heavy enemy units.

A bolster to Bregger's battle came as the first wave of air attacks exploded against enemy troops and earth. Great talons from the Wyverns came sweeping down cutting a swath through the battlefield to create chaos and send all their foes scrambling for cover. The great griffon lord, Elder Raigar, led the harrying attacks. His lance struck out at enemy soldiers without hesitation and in true precision. After his first pass, Raigar beat his great feathered wings to get a panoramic view of the battle. The new arrival of the crazed mechanized pilots was another tally on the list of prospective targets to deal with. Calm and collective like his race typically was, Raigar would not let them bait his flyers down to the ground without reason. At the moment they had the advantage of an elevated position and the Elder's wyverns used it to their advantage by continually launching their explosiding lances or energy draining devices. Removing their agility would allow them to pick each machine apart piece by piece littering the ground with shrapnel.


While Raigar's main attack carried on, wyvern riders continued to harrass the units looking for the artillery units. Explosions continued dropping from above, buying time for the artillery to redeploy at its new position.

------

Massive leathery wings beat the air in great strokes. Reptillian eyes scanned the skies constantly for its prey. Farseeing eyes spied the distant battlefield, every muscle twitch an organic being made, the ruffle of grass caused by air propulsion, and the scent of emissions from engines. Land and clouds flashed by in a haze as the great beast fastly closed the distance at an ungodly speed. Mobile fliers blocking its path were blasted aside by the great horn protruding from his snout. Anyone unlucky enough to stand in the way would have found themselves impaled upon a great ebony horn.

A primeval roar ripped through the sky as the beast sounded its challenge beckoning any brave enough to come forward. Afterall, it came for only one in particular but it would devour anyone that believed that they stood a chance.

Forge Moon:

Bruenor continued on to his next position to be a thorn in these soldiers' side. Now came the unpleasant work of belly crawling under the metallic floor. The dwarf kept his weapons tied close in case they were needed quickly. By now he knew the orcs would have charged in by now.

While Bruenor crawled around the floors, orcs began taking on the soldiers. Perhaps if they were emotional, they might have smiled at the enemy's attempt at a melee charge. Round after round from their rifles, chain guns, and rocket launchers filled the hallways. Cave trolls in their thick armor waded into the fight without regard launching small tactical warheads into the thickest area of soldiers. Rounds the size of a grown barbarian's forearm ripped through the hall in quick succession as they attacked. Some even cleared the hall with great spiked mauls, sweeping aside anyone in their path.

------

While charging soldiers hunkered down behind shields might have been able to ward off the one tank's energy attack, the tank behind them still had its original high powered shot streaming into their backside where the shields were not there to protect them. As they advanced on the forward damaged necron tank, the unharmed tank was following continually blasting high energy rounds into their backsides.

***Main Fleet Action: DCN gun armada***

Lord Kendall continued to watch as the enemy did everything in their power to destroy the GTFOA fleet forces and the GAP attempting to make it to the Fortress moon. The Lords heart was breaking at the display. He was correct, the GTFOA forces simply weren't ready..weren't well enough equipped for the kind of conflict they were thrust in to. Worse still..he wasn't sure if the information the Prefecture intelligence operational unit soldiery was correct. The League of Free worlds had engaged in much rhetoric, but here at mythrandir they were reportedly facing orcs, trolls as well as humans. They had attacked a nation that truly had no intentions of attacking others. Their entire military was geared solely for the defense of their world. The Mythrandir had not been a threat before now. Thanks to the Prefecture, they would become one if actions were not taken.

The letter of Lord Kendall's orders had been to hold the Mythrandir, and allow the Fedral union to invade. With the Fedral union's withdrawal from the conflict, he decided to go with his original mission. They would hold the Mythrandir forces here till the wars end. With Lord Rendacil now out of the battle, he was in command of the entire combined armada. He watched as a blindingly powerful beam of energy streaked past him, destroying several more honour blade frigates and causing extreme damage to the Solaris battle ship, Sword of Peace. The vessel started to list heavily, but despite the severe damage she continued to move forwards.

"Vox Officer, raise Fleet Marshall Hellner, if he wants to save his fleet he is going to need to intercede with that rather..large force of Hellebardes and carriers under his command." Vox Officer Heolmer quickly affirmed the order and started to contact the Fleet Marshall, five light years away.

"Fleet Marshall Hellner here, what is it Lord Kendall, do you need assistance?" The ruddy, stern faced Fleet Marshall appeared on hololith in front of Kendall. "We request your presence here, to aid in allowing the GTFOA third and fifth fleet contingents to escape the field, many still are not capable of using their DoD's as well the enemy is persecuting them above all else." Kendall was not interested in chit chat. "If you wish to save your command, i would suggest directly interceding to save them, after all you have how many mecha still in your flight bays?" Kendall laughed. The GTFOA officers had been convinced that the direct involvement of their carriers would not be necessary, but here and now the DCN were proving that the ability to rearm their mecha in a fight was well worth the risk to the carriers. Besides a Divinity Fleet carrier was nearly as well armed as an Einhander gun destroyer, though it lacked the serious missile compliments of the Solaris battleships.

The Morgenraetes and Sturmanrufers were still brutally punishing the enemy ships defensive and offensive weapons, as well as targetting propulsion systems in a desperate attempt to slow the enemy fleet. So far it was working though the enemy kept attempting to change tactics to compensate for the DCN vessels.


He watched as a Morgenraete chased half a squadron of enemy fighter craft past his ship, the knight shot most of them down with a heavy missile salvo, and caused the rest to break. Still Rendacil almost winced as an enemy machine tumbled burning and dying past his view screens. The enemy was many kilometers away, but the panoramic displays around the bridge made the crew feel as if they were the ship itself, floating in space. They were used to it from many long years of living like this, but still such events as a massive fleet battle were not often witnessed.

"Fleet Marshall, now i would suggest to you to engage in the battle with full force. We will hold the enemy until such a time as the war against the league is over, we will prepare to extricate our ground forces at a moments notice. Now we need to win orbital superiority without losing any more good men and women."

The fleet Marshall sighed. He had been a majour proponent in the bulk carrier programs. So far at least in this situation it had so far been a failure. Still some good could come from it. Being held in reserve meant that they were available now..when they were needed. "Very well Lord Kendall, my apologies to you for not seeing this myself sooner."

"As it was over mars, we are simply not enough in number to hold them back, they choose to destroy your forces utterly and leave us to destroy them. We could win here and now, and kill tens of thousands of brave men and women..on both sides, or you could kindly make it to the battlefront, add your mecha compliments to ours and force the enemy to disengage and fight us." Lord Kendall grinned.

The DCN ships were powerful, hard to fight and the GTFOA were still recovering from the EMP attack. It was obvious why the enemy was allowing the DCN nearly free reign to attack them. The enemy was positioned directly in the middle of the GTFOA forces, moving with them. The GAP vessels had moved back to engage them as best as they could, their heavy Xasers burned in piercing lines straight in to the enemy vessels, targeting those that were closest, or attacking the GTFOA vessels.

At this range their heavy Bio-com missiles would barely have time to leave the launch tubes before letting loose with their heavy payloads, missiles and kinetics were being intercepted as best as they could but the enemy beam armaments had to be intercepted by the GAP vessels themselves. Pin point barriers took damage faster then they could regenerate, flickering and dying to let blasts of energy through to strike the flanks of the GAP battleships, before reforming to defend the ships again.


Mecha forces continued to devote themselves almost wholly to defending the GTFOA fleet from the constant enemy bombardments. Shooting down missiles, kinetics and anything they could hope to intercept as they frantically moved between the retreating ships of the fleet. Brilliant tracers of pulsar laser and kinetic rounds leapt from the tiny gun barrels of alpha II's, joined by heavy kinetic and particle fire from the hellebarde HMF's of the GTFOA and prefecture. So far the battloid only mecha had proven themselves as capable point defenders in space, adding to the predigious amounts of triple A now being thrown up. Faust interceptors and PASS-19's were acting aggressively. The Fausts escorted the heavier armed but less agile PASS-19's in to range of the enemy vessels, surpressing their point defenses with a hail of missile fire. Then the PASS-19's streaked in unleashing their payloads of antimatter shells and then disengaging.

Massive rippling explosions overtook the enemy vanguard ships as the Fausts and PASS-19's made continuous attack runs against them. The Graser and antimatter warheads from the Bio-mech missile-drones added to the fire, brilliant beams and massive ship devouring explosions striking at whatever they could hit. Tannelornians fought harder when the battle was not going well, their sense of honour and the sheer scope of the struggle lent a desperate determination to outdo the enemy and die a glorious death. More importantly they were to try to live, to turn defeat in to victory. With the DCN fighting against the enemy now, they knew they had a chance to.

More ships were coming back online now, Honour blades were shrugging off the remainder of the boarding actions they faced, or were finally being reinforced by GAP soldiers. The honourblades that were active turned and started to fire their Xasers and Pulsar lasers in to the enemy front. Hoping to buy more time for the damaged vessels to reactivate their DoD drives. Once this happened the two GTFOA brigades would jump to safety.

Suddenly many tears opened directly behind the enemy fleet and the retreating forces. Twenty Divinity Class fleet carriers of the GAP and the GTFOA. Carefully the rest of the Fourth and Fifth fleets capital ships took aim with their massive Turreted Xasers. Admittedly they fielded a much smaller amount of heavy Xaser cannons as opposed to their twin ship, the Solaris Battle ship. They went for maximum accuracy and targeted enemy heavy vessels as their escort of thirty two Honour Blade missile frigates opened fire. A new stream of Bio-mech missiles raced towards targets, getting in close before deploying their massive Graser and kinetic warheads.

They were waiting for maximum accuracy, the enemy ships were intermingled with their own. Levelled and timed volleys of Xaser fire slammed in to the enemy rear, picking out only the largest targets. Before the fleet the hellebarde's that had formerly been on point defense duty had returned and rearmed. Now they were launching on mass, fully half of the nearly five thousand mecha were armed purely for anti ship duties. They were being escorted by the GTFOA Alpha II's that had remained behind to defend the heavy carriers. GAP fausts moved in to escort formations and lined up ahead of the main mecha force. They thrusted forwards, careening headlong in to the enemy fleet to clear a path for the massive assault wave now about to crash in to the enemy fleet.

Tens of thousands of tiny lights flared in to life as the hybrid systems Fusion shock-expansion drives kicked in. The mecha formation accelerated quickly behind the Faust's. The space superiority fighters tore through the defending enemy mecha. Those not engaged by the DCN's own mecha forces would find themselves quickly overwhelmed in the rear of the formation by the sheer derth of fresh mecha forces now moving in to the attack.

The Fausts announced their presence with massive bursts of particle fire from their heavy under mount cannons, their turrets moving back and forth as the enemy tried to evade. Then they fired missiles, leaving little time for any unsuspecting enemies to evade. The Alpha's were the next to meet the enemy, firing a massive swarm of dogfight missiles at any enemy fighters attempting to escape, or still standing after the onslaught of the Faust's.

Behind them came the Hellebarde HMF's, moving in to range as the Alpha's and Fausts not engaging fighters started to work together to surpress the enemy ships own Triple A. Hellebardes were lost as they were struck by fire, the magnetic bottling on the nearly one hundred and twenty Antimatter shells they carried ruptured, igniting in a massive explosion..that sometimes sailed straight in to the enemy ship they were trying to kill. Those that made it unleashed the rockets and their devastating payload directly in to the enemy vessels.

They were not aiming for anything but destruction and devastation. With their main anti ship armament unleashed, the mecha joined the dogfighting with their kinetic and energy rifle and shoulder mounted armaments. Spinning and turning amongst the enemy fighters, trying to intercept enemy fire as it left the missile ports and gun barrels.

The ships of the DCN suddenly broke formation, each one of the Zweihanders moved in to the thick melee of fighting, unleashing their full firepower in to the enemy fleet. Dozens of pulsar laser turrets, over a dozen Heavy xasers, the twin loengren cannons, capable of devouring a cruiser weight vessel at close quarters opened fire in to whatever was closest. Anything firing at the crippled GTFOA ships was a target. However in return the enemy fire was hitting the Zweihanders now, their armour started to break and crack as the sheer amount of enemy fire started to hit them. It looked worse then it was, each layer of meter thick DEM armour was designed to hold till it could no longer and simply brake away, leaving a crater in the armour wall.

It was incredibly powerful and efficient protection..however it took weeks to repair a vessel with severe DEM armour damage. This was why the hits against the GTFOA and GAP vessels protected with Polarised armour were more pronounced, as the armour itself would actually buckle and break, ruining entire sections of armour rather then the impact point. It was signifigantly cheaper though, and on the Solaris battleships, combined with the Gravitic shielding it was thick enough to count.

The Einhander force moved in as well, from the opposite direction. They were supporting the GTFOA and GAP mecha wave with direct capital ship attacks. They moved in, each choosing an individual target in the swirling battle now raging around them. Hits were coming in from all angles but the Knights never lost their calm. They continued to rain fire and death in to their enemy counterparts even as the first Einhander started to break up under enemy fire. The Hammer had moved to intercept a heavy volley of enemy energy fire and was struck heavily.

Her Urenbecht Knight field went down and she was suddenly the target of dozens of missiles and guns. Her defenses were overwhelmed and she started to break apart. The Captains last action was to aim his ship for the last enemy they engaged and put whatever power remained in to propulsion. As the ship broke up, hundred thousand tonne chunks of material slammed in to the ship at incredible speeds.

It was a good death for the old ship, the crew had evacuated moments before the ships structural integrity had weakened to the point of no return and were already en route to friendly Einhander's in the area. They would not repeat the mistake of the final battle of Sol. Several more Einhanders took crippling hits and disengaged from the main battle, hanging back to fire at extreme range as well as direct friendly fire from the Morgenraete's and Algol HMAF's to the rest of the fleet.

Lord Kendall smiled softly. His order had not been to destroy the enemy ships in their entirety, but center on crippling. "Mission killed" had been the order. All enemy ships were to be taken out of the fight in such a way as to not destroy them. Engines, weapons and shields were to be knocked out. Then the vessels would move on to the next target.

Hopefully he could save as many of these brave Mythrandir as his duties allowed. Forcing them to disengage rather then fight to the death against a Tannelornian Armada that could double in size if the situation merited it. Their orders were only to hold, not to occupy or destroy their forces utterly. The Knights, allies to the Galactic empire and in overall command of the campaign, would fight the war their way from now on. The Prefecture Commodore was already screaming about the order to prepare to retrieve ground forces as soon as the war was finished.

He silenced his rants about the sacrifices made for this stretch of space with a thought, switching off his comm link to the Commodore. The battle was going to be over soon, the enemy would have no choice but to regroup or lose their chance to destroy the crippled GTFOA fleet forces.

+++Boarding Actions+++

The Marines aboard ship as well as the Replicants assisting them pitted determination and diligent training against the savage fury and emotionless calm of the Orcish invaders. Pistols, swords, loose tools and even boxes were being used in the close in battling, made even more hectic by the lack of gravity. Those pushed off the floor would float, moving in one direction or another.

In the ships that failed, memory cores started to meltdown as the trust schematics of the internal systems came up. The enemy was now fully acquainted with the location of the Cluster and the Republic, as well as the name of the systems in the ships. However the most sensitive information was burned out of the vessels, even before the self destruct sequences started. Prefecture Replicant soldiers rushed in to stop the enemy from accessing the sectors of the computer cores that contained the self destruct sequences.


A rather nasty trojan that opened when one gained unauthorised access to system diagnostics. Tannelornian Xaser, Graser and Urenbecht technology was too sensitive to fall in to enemy hands, as was anything to do with DEM technology. A few more ships died as their fusion reactors released thousands of megatons of destruction inside the ship. Weapon stores ignited soon after and the vessels exploded in massive fireballs. However with the aid of the Replicant soldiers of the GAP, more then enough troops were onboard the remaining GTFOA vessels to begin to destroy the enemy boarders. Through sheer numbers and firepower the Replicants assailed the enemy inside Tannelornian "soil" with righteous fervor.



***Battle for the Forge Moon***

Captain Uraki sighed softly. It didnt matter anymore, the attack had to continue. They had new orders, these orders were less distasteful then the original set Uraki had been given, but still bothered him enough. The enemy could have surrendered, the Tannelornian fleet now surrounding them was far greater in firepower, they were in deep trouble and either didnt see the threat, or were simply going to give their all in the fight for their homeworld.

The young Knight-Captain could understand that, many Knights had died similiarly over Mars four years earlier. They would not allow the same thing to happen to these people. Orders were orders but they could be interpreted creatively. Lord Kendall had done just that. Disable all weapons, shields and engines on enemy vessels. Casualties had increased as the enemy started using their shrapnel weapons closer to the ship. The enemy fire lessened as the mecha pulled back, initiating their attack runs further from the ships. The mecha forces started to target the point defense projectors even as the massive Tannelornian attack force closed in.

The Tannelornian ships closed the net, surrounding the Mythrandir force and laying a horrifyingly large hail of fire towards them. However the weapons were arching for engines, aiming specifically to disrupt shields and targetting any available weapon ports. Then as the ships closed the battle-ship force of nearly thirty Solaris battleships waded in to the fighting.

They started to finish the job started at long range, raking Xasers across weapon ports of unshielded ships and blasting full power frontal barrages of Xaser directly in to enemy engine systems. They were taking their time, aiming for every opportunity to strike a weapon or engine rather then the ship itself. Mecha forces aided them in this as they moved in to attack point defenses and surpress the enemy firepower against them.

Uraki had not been a proponent of this war from the start, however he had grudgingly volunteered to reinforce the main fleet once the Fedral's left the field. If only to ensure his brothers and sisters of the Tannelornian armed forces were given the best chance of completing their objective.

The DCN vessels fired Loengrens at enemy engines, letting the full force of the beams slam through shields, armour then internals. They centered on defending themselves and the Battleships they were escorting and stuck diligently to their new orders. It was a rather astonishing display of martial skill, to watch beams wink out of existence almost as soon as weapon ports flared out, minimising damage to hull and the crew inside.

The ships of the Grahfsberg navy and GTFOA continued to attack the enemy in close quarters fighting. The pods were streaking through enemy formations before turning for another pass at the enemy, utilising their instinct and near prescient abilities in three dimensional fighting to fire precisely on enemy engines and shielding.

The GTFOA hammered in to the enemy ships damaged by the Schwerthwals and Knurrwhals of the GFN, accurately taking out their weapons and engines as soon as the shields went down. The entire Tannelornian armada was working together in an orchestra of destruction against the enemy forces, however they were being as merciful as one could be in life or death fighting. This would give the enemy time to jump away if they were able..which was Uraki's whole intention. Once the enemy jumped the DEM jammers would scatter them, forcing them to regroup. Buying time for the war against the league end so they could end this miserable segment of the war.

Uraki sighed as he watched the first brilliant explosions signifying ships well hit came in to view. Hurry up and jump again he thought to himself as he blew a strand of hair out of his eyes.


++++

The fresh mecha forces of the reserve fleet continued to fight the enemy goblin fighters. Using all available information they attacked the enemy in earnest, missiles and pulsar fire streaked from Tannelornian mecha in to the enemy. The enemy forces had been fighting for a long time now, and the fresh warriors now facing the goblin fighters were itching to prove themselves against the enemy, even an exhausted and depleted enemy at this point would be welcome to those from the Charybdis campaign.

The Charybdis campaign had so far seen little action, the crusaders of that campaign were more then willing to get at least a little fight out of the Mythrandir before returning. They fought like lions, each pilot trying to one up the others. Such as it always was amongst impetuous young knights and soldiers of Tannelorn.

Energy hummed through the dislodged core as it floated aimlessly in space where once a dual of titans had taken place. On one side the invading armies of Tannelorn had thrown a mammoth vessel into battle over the Mythrandir homeworld. On the other side Captains Heorot and Sky Scream, along with a number of commanders aboard Horde battlecruisers, battled in the all consuming darkness of space for the freedom of all Myths as well as their safety. Together the griffon lord and northman fought for the grand ideals that all free people aspired to. In the end there had been no clear victor. The Balmung had retreated to lick its wounds suffered under the continual punishment of Myth forces and Forge naval forces retreated after the loss of Captain Sky Scream's battleship and when reinforcements from the invading army had arrived. Now nothing remained except the debris from blasted out hull sections of the Balmung, floating husks from destroyed Horde Cruisers, the skeleton of the Avenger battleship, and the ever silent dead that accompanied every battle.

And except the warp core from Sky Scream's battleship that was now reaching critical mass as it floated amongst the debris and temporary graveyard. Still there was the foreign taint of imperial forces that sought to destroy the will and freedom of the Myths as the invaders were satisfied with taking this corner of space. All other Mythrandir forces had vacated the area in retreat out from safety from an exploding core.

The core spun end over end in that infintestimal second between stability and utter destruction. Time finally compressed beyond life and death and the warp core went critical. Without any guidance to the great energy unleashed, dimensions between this realm and the warp were torn and left unstable. Great tentacles of energy lashed out in all directions grabbing and destroying without regard until the rest of the energy package climaxed engulfing everything in its path. Chunks of armor, ships, and the nameless dead were all incinerated and sent to their ultimate resting places in one blinding moment. Onlookers could only hope that it would take a few of the enemy with it. At least blind them and make them easier to kill.

Myth Fleet 1:

"Well my elven comrade, you are either a military genius or quite mad." The lean face of the human captain flickered ever so slightly with all of the electromagnetic waves in the area. Genji's smile that was always painted on his face for the ladies, was now annoying Captain Haldir. Somehow the man always managed to have one thing on his mind at all times. Haldir pitied the women under his command, he could be quite forward at times. Luckily Genji was also very charismatic and would not let any situation sour his mood.

All of the appropriate calculations had been completed, now Haldir was simply biding his time. Taking hits from awaking ships and encroaching invaders, the elven captain kept his subordinates calm with constant encouragement and assurances that all would work out for the best.

"Are our quick jump coordinants all checked out?"

The young navigation officer working below his throne chair scanned over the numbers briefly. "Checked and double checked. We are ready to go Captain."

Haldir's eyes fell to the other side of his command bridge. "Weapons, short fuses on the weapons."

"Already computed Captain. I've set it for fifteen seconds for after Warp entrance has initiated."

It was going to be a close call but Haldir knew that time was always essential to every move. Ahead of them he could see the big blue orb that was Mythrandir and adjusting his elven eyes, he could see ships from the second fleet forming a defensive wall over the planet itself. Haldir knew what Heorot was doing. By now, most of the defense grid had been destroyed except for the stations over the polar regions of the planet. Those had only survived because a line of sight was required for them to be effective. So the Captain's were forming a ring allow the planet and letting the remnants of the defense grid handle the rest. Haldir could only hope that these next few moves and the tenacity of the planet's soldiers would be enough to steal the heart of these invaders.

"Screens are full Captain. If we are leaving, then that has to be the time to go."

Haldir nodded his head as he gripped the twin phoenix heads on his throne. "Open cargo bay doors."

Within the belly of the two battleships and number of Horde Cruisers, metallic doors groaned open against the vacuum of space releasing their contents. It only took a few seconds for the great difference in pressure to completely suck the bays clean.

"Cargo bays cleared."

"Into the Warp."

Like clockwork the great chaotic realm of the Warp beconned to its call. Great arms of energy pulled in its travellers warding them from the harm of foreign agressors and what was left behind. Fifteen seconds later, just as the last ship was pulled into the Warp, every spare nuclear and antimatter warhead ignited engulfing the entire sector of space in blinding light.

Haldir and Genji positioned their fleets and prepared to line-up with Captain Heorot for the last defense over Mythrandir.


Orc Pods:

Walls were blown apart, dead bodies piled high, and all the time none of space orcs or trolls would relent in their slaughter. Orcs tore holes in the wall only to come out an attack the flanks of entrenched enemies. Explosives and walls of lead were thrown at the Tannelornian soldiers. Grenades ignited at random and still many of the orc boarding units pressed on for their quest of information or even the higher goal of completely taking command of a ship to use in the fight.

Files downloaded from enemy ships to orcan brains were placed in the great databases and archives that Mythrandir had to offer in terms of computer technology. At the onset of breeding these monsters for their purposes, Forge military minds had protection against viruses and other forms of intrusions. Trojans were quickly dispensed with or the animated mind was shut off from the greater network.

Marines trying to pry the orcs out of their critical positions on the bridge or in engine rooms would find that they were not willing to go easily. All possible entrances were sealed up and anything not nailed down was used in creating barriers and funnels to lead enemy soldiers into killzones of quick and effecient force. If the Horde could lament, they would have only wished that there were a few tanks to help ensure the safety of a captured ship for the remainder of the battle.

Orcs that could not gain any ground with their boarding parties or were being cut down to quickly to make any difference, had one last gift for the defenders. In a matter of spite for the valiant efforts of marines defending their ships, a warhead of great destruction began its ultimate countdown to annhilation. Every orc carried such a device on their backs encased in their armor coating. Blue lights began igniting along a small bump on the back of their shoulders. Hydraulics hissed and groan as the detonation devices locked into place. The yield was great enough to destroy a ship from the inside out and incinerate anyone instantly in the immediate area.

Lunar Battle:

Frylann had all remaining ships circle up. Her single battleship was no encircled by a sphere of ships with the lightest out front protecting the heavier and less mobile classes. As the elven captain regarded the holographic imagery of friendly vessels, it seemed that Captain Drulgar had done the same as well. Their two fleets had continually crept closer together to build upon their defenses. Still it did not matter. At the onset of battle, the two captains had the tactical advantage of position and numbers. Now with the fresh support of enemy troops that had just flooded the battlefield, they had lost both of those points in one dismal moment. Despite the sweat and overall miserable situation, a small smile worked its way up on her pretty face. Whoever the new enemy commander was, he was a far smarter man than the previous one. It seemed they had learned their lesson and would now keep their distance. Frylann could well guess the enemy's intentions. They would maintain their present distance and continually pick off every ship from the safety of their position. It was what she would do if she were in their position. Unfortunatly for her, there was not enough ammunition left to launch an effective counter-attack and at this distance there energy weapons were barely effective. The only sign of fight coming from the Forge naval forces, other than the defense grids, were the large class particle beams that were effective at any range and were in no short supply.

Wraiths fought with little regard to the crisis of the fleet, instead were determined to keep the smaller vessels and mechanized units away from the fleet. Their energy weapons and remaining missle payloads were exasperated on any and all hostile forces that dared approach. Fighting for their homes and family was their strength, freedom their courage, and righteousness was the song in their voice as they beat back wave after wave of tyrannical attacks.

"Establish me a link with Captain Drulgar. Priority message."

The young officer worked furiously at her station typing away at the runic letters on her glass screen and cringing every time a round made contact with the ship or another ship was confirmed destroyed. "Link established Captain."

An image of a smiling grisly dwarf instantly appeared at the head of her bridge, with a little static though. "Aye cap'n elf, wha can I do fer ye?"

Frylann rose from her throne chair and walked uneasily down the aisle towards the holographic image. "Sorry to cut your playtime short Captain Drulgar but our tactical advantage has been forfeited. Even now it looks like Captain Heorot is reforming over the planet for one last defensive line in space. What ships are able to do so have broken off to form up with him. Only Captains Haldir and Genji are holding their own, but unless Captain Haldir has more in store I do not know how long he will maintain that advantage. Our only choice is to jump now and form up with Captain Heorot at the last line of defense. We'll collect all of the Goblin fighters over the moon and head back to Mythrandir. It's the best chance we have of keeping this fight on our terms."

The dwarf on the other end mulled over his options for a moment. Not at all pleased with the idea of a temporary retreat or losing out on his fun with the toy ships the enemy had to offer. "Aiight elf. We'll head back to da planet."

Drulgar ended the transmission and barked out his orders. "Aiight ye smelly dogs of da Forge! We march fer home and ready one last glorious defense. Girt yer armor lads and muster yer strength. After teday, every lip will sing of our valiant efforts, our strenght, and the glorious death that awaits us."

Frylann's orders were not so dismal but along the same lines. Depriving the enemy of their easy targets, the warp opened and beconned them inwards into the safety of its chaotic realm. Tentacles of energy wrapped around every ship and pulled them like a mother pulls her children to her bosom. Gone were the ships of Mythrandir that had protected their small corner of the universe as they set a quick course for orbit over the planet.

------

Goblins kept up their constant attacks on mechanized units. It was a bountiful hunting ground and the fighters did not have the draw back of getting fatigued. Ammunition and fuel would run out long before the goblins in the cockpits ever expired to exhaustion. Onwards they fought with continual arial acrobats over the moon itself all for the sake of a better angle for a killing shot.

The stubborn and relentless attacks which looked like they were constantly on the offense, made their sudden disappearance even more confusing. Where once Goblin fighters filled the inky darkness, now only the eerie silence now remained and the haunting memory of a tireless enemy hunting their targets without end. All that remained was debris and one dwarf inside a moon fending off an invading division.

OOC: Sorry about the excessive amount of time between posts, RL concerns kept me away.

***Main Fleet Action***

There was a pause in the fighting, a moment of complete calm as the Mythrandir fleet forces jumped out of the fight. Sensors started to detect the presence of active weapons, as the wake of the warp jump cleared. Frantically the captains of the ships as well as daughter craft squadrons started to evade away from the hundreds of energy signatures left behind.

Seconds after they started to evade the enemies parting shot was heard. The massive amounts of enemy ordinance lit up the area of space surrounding the rapidly scattering Tannelornian ships. Bursts of energy of massive scale managed to overtake the unlucky damaged vessels. Many more Honour blades were crippled and destroyed, the functional vessels that were still engaged in a valiant rearguard of their fleet suffered the worst of it. Einhanders extra mass was relegated to speed and energy weapons over the Honour blades massive payload of bio-mech drones.

The Zweihanders turned to away from the explosions, guarding their primary arcs from the force unleashed. Several were still caught in the blast and took damage as they slid through it, their shields only able to protect one firing arc. Two of the Zweihanders were now crippled, half of their weapon systems fried by the blasts. Four more had lost appreciable amounts of armour and pulsar laser batteries, as well as a few Xasers. Most however slid through the blast with their shield generators damaged.

The Einhanders incredible agility and distance saved them from harm, they were still closing the net as the Mythrandir jettisoned their remaining ordinance. Most of the mecha forces were able to escape, though several hundred frames and a dozen HMAF's of all types were caught in the explosion, incinerated instantly.

The massive energy released from the combined ordinance hit the retreating GTFOA vessels, destroying their shield systems and damaging many more of them. The GTFOA main fleet would soon disengage from the fight. It had taken a stiff beating while under the effects of the enemy's ECM.

The Monitor Shining Ray of Justice was in the middle of fleet support actions as the Mythrandir munitions exploded. She was devastated utterly. The explosion had caused the round in the chamber to fire prematurely, completely destroying the twin booms making up the massive graser. She was essentially mission killed, barely able to maneuver on gravitics. She limped towards the rendezvous point around the moon, engineers were working frantically to get her FTL back online.

The Prefecture Solaris battleships fared better then the GTFOA, expertly guiding their systems and gravitic hard fields to block as much damage as possible as they maneuvered away from the massive explosion.
Their hulls glowed in places where the gamma ray burst had far exceeded safety tolerances and some weapon barrels were melted or missing entirely. However the GAP contingent was still in fighting shape, ready to turn and face the enemy when so ordered.

++++

"Status report on the fleet, how do we fare?" Lord Kendall ordered. "We took casualties in the last attack my lord, damage reports coming in show
the fleet has lost another ten percent of its fighting capacity." Lord Kendall's eyebrows rose. "The GTFOA contingent, I presume has gone to under fifty percent of its starting forces? Prepare retrieval missions, contact Fleet Marshall Hellner and tell him we will be staying behind to pick up the survivors as the Einhander contingent leads the damaged GTFOA forces to safety."

It had seemed the enemy fleet had jumped back to the embrace of their mother worlds gravity. For now they were in orbit of Mythrandir itself, preparing to defend the world against the regrouping Tannelornian fleet.

Kendall sighed. He still had his mission to carry out. He could not allow his ground forces to be cut off. They would have to challenge the enemy fleet until a time when they could withdraw honourably.

The DCN gun armada regrouped at this point in the line, working alongside the Divinity carriers to retrieve damaged mecha, escape pods and shuttles..at least their passengers. As they did they presented a gun line to the distant world. They would remain here, waiting for the combined Tannelornian Armada to catch up with them.

***Commodore Zietski***

Space erupted in a brilliant white light surrounding the dying enemy battleship targeted by his ship, the Resplendent light of Freedom. The light continued to expand, twisting and writhing unnaturally. Zietski ordered his squadron to turn about, but the Voice of Reason was unable to turn fast enough, her aft sections were completely caught in the warp storm, dragging her back in to it.

Zietski winced as he watched, but it was no matter, Balmung's survival and the media coup that would ensue would catapult his career. Regardless of how many replicants and officers were killed this day.

"Order all remaining HMAF's and HMF's to regroup with the retreating fleet forces, 4/576 how long till the capacitors are charged for Aether jump?" he asked casually. "Twenty six minutes Commodore, if we push all remaining power through the DEM-conversion feeds." the cheerful female voice sang back. "Track the coordinates of the Balmung's jump, as soon as we are able to we follow her." he stated casually. Status displays informed him of the retrieval of the ships mecha compliment, as well as seven other units from the Voice of Reason, to replace damaged and destroyed mecha.

The ship then floated in the stillness of space, waiting for their drives to go back online as they drifted away from the world of Mythrandir, almost all power devoted to bringing FTL online.

***Boarding Actions***

Knight Captain Heurmil made a strangled sound over the com's as a Troll slammed a jagged sword through his shoulder and out through his chest. He reached back, grabbing the blade and wrenching it out, throwing himself in to the enemy with wreckless abandon. He slashed furiously, the pain already being dulled by the suits nano-injectors and his own unflinching will. He slashed up its chest in a wide arc with his Knight sword and threw himself in to the fray. He sighted something out of the ordinary. In the middle of the whirling maelstrom of combat one of the Orc's was simply standing there. At first glance he thought the orc dead but realised with horror that was not the case.

A few more pulled out of the combat and joined them. Suddenly he realised they had some form of self destruct device, the tell tale was in the blue flicker now lighting up the back of their armour, and the twisted glee on their faces. He acted rather then warn. Quickly he rushed the enemy, slaying them in a few strokes. The blue timers kept counting down. He knew what had to be done. He ordered the soldiers providing fire support to exit the hangar, seal the doors and use the emergency release.

He threw himself back in to the fray, recieving a massive sword through his chest. He spat blood in to his helmet and slew his killer. He wrenched the sword free and ordered the rest of his men to escape if possible. The Hellebarde stooped, clearing a path and took on as many as it could, only a few dozen still fighting and of those over half could cling to the hellebarde..the rest tried to make for the escape pods.

The enemy timers counted down quicker and quicker. He leaned back against a bulkhead and fell to the ground, grinning. Everything went white.

++++

The compartment exploded a few hundred kilometers from the ship, rocking it slightly but otherwise leaving it unharmed.

++++

Replicant soldiers brought out heavy Xas charges, designed to ignite and flood the compartment with the plasma, that used to be the door.. before the soldiers went in to the breach and attached them to the sealed bulkheads of the Honour blade's and assorted compartments the orcs and trolls had holed up in the Solaris battleships. As they detonated Replicants rushed in to the room. As the dissipating plasma cleared they started firing in to the orcs and troll's there. They moved in to position with effortless grace, levelling precise volleys in to the orcs and trolls. They did this with practiced ease, as practice was all they were really allowed to do.

Any time an orc or troll showed its head, a dozen rounds flew in to remove it. After reports had come in over the Aethernet of actions aboard GTFOA vessels, where orcs had self destructed..no chances were being taken. Collateral damage was acceptable, even to the level of breaching the hull. No small feat considering that Tannelornian vessels internals were generally protected behind eight to thirty meters of armour.


***The Fortress Moon [Forge Moon]***

Captain Uraki was not as unhappy as some would be about the enemy's escape. Though they would likely have to fight these same ships again, at the very least it would be a little more fair. To a true Knight of Tannelorn a battle could not be truly won through sheer force of arms, but through maintaining your honour. A battle won through dishonour and deceit was a defeat to ones soul, to his character and his essence. It would lead to the death of ones Anima and lead them down the path to great catastrophe.

"All GTFOA and GAP vessels form up, retrieve damaged mecha and escape pods, All DCN vessels prepare to silence the ground batteries." were the only orders issued by Captain Uraki. The ships of the fleet took the time to start rearming their own batteries as well as their mecha craft, pilots incoming for a quick break in the action, and to let reserve pilots take over.

The DCN Knights simply rearmed and returned to patrolling the space above the moon, guarding their larger parent ships as they started to fire in to the remaining heavy enemy particle cannons on the moon below.

The ships of the DCN took positions above the moon, allowing their PPBS shields to guard just enough of the ship to let their Loengren's fire in to the enemy positions in a great chain. Each squadron maintained a massive amount of fire, burning out the implacements with massive beams, whose sheer contact with the ground released massive explosions as the ground was converted in to plasma. The beams continued on, burning holes deep in to the mantle of the moon.

They continued firing until the positions stopped firing back. Then they simply waited for the fleet units of the GTFOA to arrive, so they could lend them technical support and work them in to a viable fighting force once more. The rest of course would jump out, far from this system, protected by a few GAP Solaris battleships as they started the journey home.


Captain Uraki looked out at the scene before him. So many burnt and twisting wrecks, most of them the enemy's lighter vessels. There were Tannelornian dead though, too many. Though they easily forced the enemy to retreat here, and likely could hold off the enemy till the stars went dead, their orders were still to hold them back. The enemy fleet forces were still too strong to leave, and worse still..they were between the Tannelornian fleet and their ground forces.

The next round of fighting would be all the more fierce. Even if the opposing forces were evenly matched, the amount of dead would be enormous. For the Mythrandir fielded many more ships..many more crew's to be blasted out in to the coldness of space. A just war and just defeat of an enemy is one thing but what was this? The just always vanquish the wicked. "But what if the Just, face the Just, who wins then, the one that is more just? Is there such a concept?" Uraki mused to himself as he watched the Tannelornian fleet efficiently reel in the escape pods as well as recovering crew from crippled ships. The ships and pods of both sides...

***The Fortress Moon [Forge Moon] Ground action***


The only thing slowing the advance of the Divine Celestial Cavaliers to meeting the enemy lines was the time it took to deploy their Phalanx formation to block the nuclear weapons, then redeploy the shield wall and advance. The fact that these "men" for they could no longer truly be called thus were advancing through such fire with archaic shields, would likely have caused the enemy mind to know fear. That is if the enemy's they faced could understand such a concept any longer.

It was likely that the enemy would fight all the harder in this context, cold logic stating that the death of one DCC warrior was worth the death of fifty of their numbers in a strategic scope. After all Orcs are fecund creatures, and few know better then those men born of vascilia.

Once before in their long and illustrious history this exact scene played out in the tunnels under old hellespontos. For fifty years the forces of the Vascilian league purged them of the Orcish infestations, left over from when Melkor advanced upon Noriegania, finally being stopped after the self destruction of several hive cities, caused the Ardan forces to run out of supplies.

Cavaliers slammed hard in to the enemy, using the shield wall and the strength of their brothers in arms to push the enemy throng back, to hold them in the entrances to the corridors. Here the immense strength, speed and skill of arms of the DCC would be more then a match for the enemy forces, unable to utilise their numbers. The women and sharpshooters hung back, preparing to act as skirmishers and snipers, picking off any enemy troops that made it past the shield walls of the Divine Celestial Cavaliers.

They fired in to the backs of the enemy horde, Bomb-graser missiles, hand grasers, Particle cannons and esoteric kinetic weapons streaked in to the enemy trolls and anything large enough to be shot over the heads of their comrades hacking and slashing at the enemy in a savage melee. With every orc that fell the Shield walls pushed back harder, men at the back used expert swordsmen ship to ensnare the flails of the massive trolls, getting in to matches of strength with the massive beasts.

Arcane technology flared to life in the power suits and weapons of the DCC, glowing lightly along circuit paths formerly invisible they absorbed impacts and blows as well as sliced through normal weaponry and armour like a hot knife through butter. The Knights of the DCC had found that ancient methods of fighting in corridors were immensely effective. The addition of a shield in a shooting match meant mobile cover, however in tight confines it enabled men to penetrate enemy fire and force them to engage in a melee.

The heavy shields of the Tannelornian Divine Celestial Cavaliers were fabulously strong, incorporating forcefields and esoteric materials forged in rooms bathed in the glow of Divine Energy fields. These shields, when locked together formed not only a physical chain, but a spiritual one, linking the knights strength together. This had the effect of a heavy ground based forcefield, directly in front of the advancing warriors, and was the secret to their ability to deflect even small tactical nuclear weapons, for anything too large would surely be suicidal to the user.

In the tight confines of this lunar fortress, the orcs and trolls, normally the object of a childs nightmares, would soon learn why the DCC were the nightmare figures of the orcs and trolls under Hellespontos. For their technology had leapt to such grounds that the tactics had almost returned to ancient levels. In tight confines the amount of firepower thrown around could vaporise men trying to win a firefight. So therefore the emphasis for the DCC and the Knights of the divine kingdom was on defensive applications in ground warfare. After all when megaton level man portable nuclear weapons started to be used, times had to change. The Knight shield, with its morphable metal and extreme heat resistance as well as internal forcefield was the key to the entire tight confines strategy of the DCC.

Thanks to the shields and their incredibly specialised tactics, the Knights of the orders militant could easily take the punishment thrown at them in these tight confines. In the mere seconds before enemy contact few would fall even before the nuclear weapons they themselves used with such vigour, then the juggernaut of steel and flesh that is a squad of cavaliers in a shield wall would crush the enemy beneath its sheer force. Even before the Knights locked up against the corridor entrances, the heavy toll of fire from the Knights behind the front line of shields would be murderous towards anyone attempting to advance down the hallway.

The Knights on Mythrandir itself were fighting in much more conventional ways, though their battlecraft still made much use of their shields in mobile combat. It was in close combat actions, boarding enemy vessels or facilities such as this, that the true terror of facing the DCC in battle could be known. Their speed, strength and implacable charge made them nightmarish opponents in close combat. Their Knight swords made armour useless, even conventional melee weapons couldnt stand up to a charged Knight-sword.

The worst of it however, was much more subtle, slowly building up. In the rear of the formation were the Aether specialists. Slowly they had been building up a picture of the enemy rear in their minds. Using clairvoyance and premonition to track the enemy positions.


The information could never be quite accurate but they were still able to focus their power on those area's. Joining their considerable mental might together, they focused their wills on the corridors leading in to the main chamber. Suddenly the walls themselves started to tear apart, showering the walls in debris as they used their strength to focus hundreds of ton's of force in to the walls adjoining the corridors the enemy were funneling in from.

Most walls would simply disintegrated under the force, releasing massive amounts of heat and shrapnel from further in, blowing through in to the adjoining column.

The DCC started to unleash all hell upon the orc's. Slashing, shooting, destroying the enemy with the powers of their will. Massive death, this was the result of hundreds of years of combat training, training in tandem with their own unique link to the Aether space, the imaginary realm. A dimension alongside our own from which all DEM technology, as well as the Aether touched, derived their power from. No sharpshooter would miss his mark, no sword would fall silent before slaying his foe, despite this some Knights fell in the onrushing tide of orcs and trolls.Heavy firepower and heavy flails causing some of the links in the shield wall to break even before contact. Quickly those warriors in behind, previously shooting from the cover of shields shields, resting their weapons on the shoulders of their comrades, moved in and drew their blades.

The integrity of the shield wall was everything in this strategy. If it was broken they would have to retreat and resort to nuking the enemy to gain time to reform. Too much of that could destroy anything of value in the facility itself.

Myth Fleets Unite:

"Haha! Excellent work old friend. If they come away unharmed from that little trick, then they deserve to win because I don't have any more bright ideas."

Communication links between the two Avenger Battleships were instantly established just as they pulled out of the warp alongside Captain Heorot's fleet. Haldir was grateful for Genji's compliments but Genji not having any bright ideas was not saying much. Both Captains took a moment to take stock in what they had accomplished. Apparently it had done quite a bit of damage much to the elven captain's satisfaction. Ships were retreating and the enemy's numbers were quickly dwindling even with their reinforcements.

Haldir turned his attention to Heorot's fleet, or at least what was left of it. Almost all of them appeared to be damaged in some way including Heorot's own ship. Haldir was hoping to at least muster the force of two and a half fleets for a strong defense over their home but they were a full fleet behind. They knew of Captain Sky Scream's fall but no word on whether or not he had escaped but there were still other fleets in the area.

The elven captain's image flashed to the barbarian captain's screen. "Captain Heorot, you look a little worse for wear. Where is Captain Frylann and Drulgar? They should have rendezvoused with us by now."

Lights flickered in the background of Heorot's ship. Even as repairs continued the man remained stoic on his throne. "Unknown. We detected their entrance to the Warp but they have not come back out yet."

"What? That doesn't sound right. Frylann or Drulgar would never retreat from a battle unless ordered to do so."

Heorot looked grim but shook his head. "We received a message from Captain Shazir. He is in the Warp with his fleet and reinforcements for our troops on the ground but cannot enter this realm."

"Huh? Why not?"

"It appears that something is throwing off his coordinant system. He is afraid that if he opens the Warp, he may inadvertantly open it inside Mythrandir's atmosphere."

Haldir sunk back into his throne, nearly defeated. "I see. Then it looks like it is just us for now. Make as many repairs as you can, Captain. We'll need every ship available to fight when the enemy comes back at us."

"Yes Captain."

Exhausted and now without much hope, Haldir waved the communication link back to Genji's ship. "Did you hear all that?"

Genji's voice was now more subdued than was usual of his personality. "Yes I did. What do you want to do?"

For Haldir the choice was obvious, no matter the outcome. "We will hold this line and not let any of their ships through. There is no room for prisoners in this battle. Inform your men that they may ignore any surrender signals from the enemy vessels if it should come to that. They have come to burn our homes and take our freedom. By the hells I won't show them mercy for that.

Prepare for battle old friend. We will buy our warriors on the ground enough time to cleanse our home of the enemy's pressence, then hopefully these bastards will leave without anymore complaint."

"...Yes Captain."

Orc Pods:

Fighting was getting sportier by the moment. Orcs pinned within engine rooms were sitting on a large explosive that would possibly do more damage to a ship than the nuclear devices attached to their armored suits. Debris was thrown in the way to obstruct any entry by the knights trying to retake their ship. Most of them kept their heads down while taking the time to study the engine itself and its reactor. Any and all information was vital to the war effort. Perhaps by patching into its systems, they could learn some great secret about these invaders.

While they worked, other orcs bought time by rolling out two types of grenades. The first was termed the humming bird, a black orb with a spinning energy blade that made several passes at enemy infantry before exploding. The second was a thermal detonater used in unison with the humming bird to get maximum effect in casualties.

If the situation ever became dire, there was always exploding the ship's engine and tooking the entire ship down with the boarding party.

Forge Moon:

Orcs and trolls charged into the battle abandoning organized strikes for the primal melee that was breaking out in this one hall and chamber. From slugs they went to the butt of their rifles and the serrated blades they carried at their sides. Despite their grey matter programing, orcs were still capable of entrancing into a bloodlust. It was a quality that was deemed suitable for their work. They bit, they clawed, growled, spit, and dismembered anything within reach of their grubby claws. Trolls strolled into the Knight shield walls wielding spiked clubs and maces dealing out punishment to any that would not flee their path.

For all their fuss primitive life, the orcs would not easily budge from their spot. Even as the walls lining the hall and surrounding the entrance to the chamber began to collapse blocking any way out, orcs continued to fight every inch of ground that the Tannelornians inhabited. Explosions rocked walls, dirt fell, and more than one was killed by a collapsing rock as it crushed the life force out of them.

Bruenor dusted himself off as he exited one of the side pannels in the Forge Moon. Ammunitions spent, the dwarf tossed the empty rocket launcher off to the side and headed back towards the armory. That was until the orb accompany him began flashing alert sirens. The first was of the renewed vigor in the fight with the Tannelornians and the second about the collapsing walls in one of the ventelation shafts.

"Dah damn fools. Dey'll block demselves in. Sen da tank down to seal off de exits. Make sure none of'em get out."

bumped

***The Main Fleet Regroups***

Lord Kendall glanced over the status reports. Eighty five percent of the GTFOA forces involved in the initial stages of the battle were forced to leave the field. Thirty percent of the Grahfsberg forces had been destroyed and the Prefecture fleet had lost three battleships. Fourteen percent of mecha forces were non operational. He looked around at status displays and hololiths depicting the combat fleet now preparing to extract the ground forces from the planet Mythrandir. Of the original four hundred and twenty combat ships devoted to the mission, only two hundred and ninety two were able to take any further part in the conflict. The GTFOA forces were completely unprepared for the EMP attack and the furious enemy assault that followed. Kendall knew it would take several years for the fleets involved to rebuild.

He also knew that Fleet Marshall Hellner had learned from this incident. He was somberly directing his forces, preparing to lead from the front, rather then count on the safety that a few intervening light years provided his carriers. After all Tannelornian carrier ships were designed with heavy weaponry. Though the Divinity class paled in comparison to a Solaris Battleship in combat capability, it carried far more fighters. It also happened to have some very large cannons. Those cannons could have been rather useful after the EMP attack, rushing in to relieve the beleagured battleships. Instead four battleships and almost fourty frigates had been lost. It was the worst disaster in Tannelornian military history, and further proof in the eyes of the Knights the army of the people was not ready for combat. The Prefecture forces had years of experience before the conflict, the GTFOA had previously fought in no conflicts whatsoever.

The entire reserve force was intact, only a few ships had suffered damage. Much of the damage the operational ships had recieved had already been repaired in the thirty minutes since the enemy had regrouped around their homeworld. Over a dozen Knight ships had left with the other damaged vessels. Their damage had been comparatively minor, but would not be even close to repaired in time for battle. A few weapons would not be missed, but shielding and propulsion efficiency would. Those vessels that could not move with the formation, would now escort those ships worse off then themselves home. Several Einhanders had also been destroyed or mission killed. Their last mission claiming them in a glorious firestorm.

This left Kendall with a force of four hundred ships, give or take a frigate. A fifth of the original force committed to the battle had been taken out of action. Still the damage to the enemy force was immense. Many of their operational ships were badly damaged and they had taken heavy casualties. Kendall was deep in thought now, he would plan the strike to extract the ground forces his way. The way he would have preferred to if he he had been given the time to concieve the mission himself.

He would show mercy to the Mythrandir now, The attack on the moon was now being recalled. Orders were being sent to extract all ground forces involved in the fighting and return them to their mother ships. As far as Kendall was concerned, the need to hold enemy forces on the ground was over. Asfaltum, head of the league, was falling, and a counter attack by the GFFA was occuring in orbit. It would be some time before further FTL communications would be possible. Kendall now quieted the protests of the GAP commanders with news of the counterattack.

"Captain Zhalanor. do you mean to tell me that in pursuit of glory against a stricken opponent, you would give up the chance to do battle with the GFFA?" Captain Zhalanor was of Elven descent, the Tannelornian subspecies. Long ago the Tannelornian intelligence service had rescued a group of elves from ethnic cleansing in a neighbouring nation. Tannelorns policy of genetic diversity amongst its citizens meant the new blood was welcomed.

As a "Gift" to those people they created an entire generation of children through advanced cloning techniques. No two children were alike, nor did they grow as elves. In a short twenty five years, a Tannelelf, would grow to maturity, as well they all gained some Tannelornian genetic structure. Making them slightly more robust then their kin.

Half elves were thusly portrayed as a wonderful thing in Tannelornian media leading to the full acceptance of the new genetics. Of course this meant that Zhalanor, an elf was just as likely to captain a ship as a Tannelornian. It also meant they were just as likely to be a complete Prat as many GAP officers. "Our orders were to establish a beachhead for the Galactic empire in this system Lord Kendall, how can we turn back on those orders now?" Zhalanors fine Elven features were curled in to a sneer of contempt for the Knight on the other end of the holoscreen.

"Easily, a beachhead is not as important as ensuring the success of the Asfaltum mission, as our orders were clearly
to hold the Mythrandir forces at bay. Well my friend, they are held, and unlikely to go anywhere any time soon. We sound the battle recall order and make haste to Asfaltum." Kendall responded coolly. Zhalanor nodded. "Very well, we shall aid our allies and bring honour to the armies of Tannelorn." he ended the transmission.

The first phase of Kendalls plan was starting now. He could see the contrails of HMAF's and VMF's blazing in to the distance as the Monitor's moved in to position. They were flanking the main fleet and aiming at a particular piece of orbital space. The piece of real estate in question was directly over the southern piece of the main continent. Exactly where the majority of ground forces were now fighting.

With a though battle orders were cycled through logistics drives and sent to mentat's across the Fleet. The monitors and escorting Honour blades started to fire. Drone-missiles started to streak towards the enemy fleet above the landing zones. Then the monitors fired. Brilliant blossoming explosions filled the twin boom sections of the four warships, feeding the lethal beam now arching towards the enemy fleet.

However the ships were firing in tandem, not at any enemy formations in the distance, but a piece of space. They were cutting a line across the enemy armada, preventing ships from moving in to replace those that would soon be attack by warheads from the Bio-com's. As well they would prevent those ships from escaping and provide cover for the advancing Solaris Battleships. All thirty one of them.

The Solaris battleships were arrayed in a massive wedge, with the Zweihander's behind them. The Einhanders and Divinity carriers were staying back in support. Preparing to level their Loengren Graser's and Ultra Heavy X ray lasers in to the enemy fleet. At this distance those would be the only weapons capable of making a hit.

Kendall waited, the order to advance ready on his tongue as he sat forward in his seat, watching the enemy reactions. He only awaited word from the Midgard-sormr of ground status, before starting the attack.

***Boarding Actions***

The fighting continued sporadically on several ships, more GAP soldiers died as the enemy attempted to hold them off long enough to destroy them. The ferocious Counterattack of the GAP replicants continued unabated, which in turn lead some of the enemy to attempt to destroy the ships they were on board.

This lead to the power plants of several vessels losing containment. However as the enemy inside died it became quickly apparent why Tannelorn had abandoned antimatter in favour of highly charged fusion. Though the massive fireball in the containment field broke free, destroying and burning everything within reach, it quickly burnt out. Starved as it was of fuel it simply could not continue to burn. However those ships were scuttled as the Replicants left with whatever survivors amongst the crew they could find. A ship without a power plant was incapable of moving, and there was no time to tow them home.

The guns of the escort fleet became busy once more as the crippled vessels of the GTFOA fleets and their damaged escorts opened up on the reactorless vessels. Blasting them in to pieces, adding their wreckage to that already floating aimlessly in this war ravaged space.

***Forge Moon***

The fighting continued unabated as steel clashed on steel and muscle met muscle. The knights in the front were the most experienced of hand to hand combatants, and met the enemy in the manner of true warriors. Chopping down any orc or Uruk within reach while defending against the attacks of larger monsters. Still knights fell in the shield wall, and others moved up to take their place. The skirmishers in back started to change tactics. They left the smaller humanoids to the Knights involved in the raging melee, and instead targetted the enraged trolls with precise volleys. Gras beams, Las bolts, Particle beams and Kinetics all started to fly in to the remaining trolls, from above the heads of their colleagues. The flurry of shots and blows was perfectly timed to allow maximum effectiveness.

Each shot would be levelled while another Knight was preparing for another attack, an attack would be mete out while a shot was fired above their heads. Years of training and combat experience meant that one could expect no less then perfect timing and accuracy from the experienced knights. Even the young Cavaliers accuracy could be compared to expert marksmen of most other militaries. The cavaliers, receiving the finest training, weapons, equipment and genetic enhancements, were the pride of the Tannelornian ground forces.

Suddenly the Knight Majour of the forces involved let it be known to his command that the recall order had been issued. The Aether specialists at the back of the line were resting after the massive expenditure of psychic energy and mental will. The shield wall halted, preparing to end the current fight as quickly as possible. They would not be engaging the rest of the facilities forces today after all..

++++


Activity on the surface of the Forge moon was bustling, drop ships were alighting and preparing to load up as many DCC as possible, in as short a time as possible. They were to meet the convoy returning home, and bolster their marine forces for the journey back. The entire force was to meet at the GTFOA's Tamerlaine base for re-organisation and reassignment, however the damaged vessels of the GTFOA fleets were to be the first vessels to arrive. Already damage control and medical stations at Tamerlaine base were preparing for the influx of casualties.


Knight-Colonel Illondacil made contact with his assault team just past the breach. He warned them of incoming fire from the rear and explained to them the changing situation. As he did one of the Kernschatten's that had been providing cover walked towards the collapsed tunnel. It raised its arm, preparing to fire its laser lance in to the stones blocking the entranceway. The beam's charged between the two booms and fired for several seconds, burning a hole straight through it, and down the corridor beyond. The tiny hatches covering its missile payload on the shoulders opened, firing a single 15kt dogfight in to the breach. The mecha raised its arms as knights took cover. The rubble disintegrated, blasting outwards and bouncing off the Urenbecht field of the mecha suit.

Then the mecha stood, lifting in to the air as its plasma shock expansion engines flared, and disappeared, streaking like a dart down the tunnel.

++++

Knight Captain Ybrasil filled the rest of his command in on the situation. They were engaged in a desperate fight against a heavy enemy AFV in close quarters. There was hardly any time to react and a knight was slain by the mechanical beast as they attempted to move back in to cover. The reason for the sudden break in their attack would become apparent in a moment. A kernschatten, almost squatting as it skated down the hallway turned the corner behind them, knocking several of the knights of the assault company over with its backblast. The mecha screamed in to the enemy tank, deploying its laser lance for close range combat. The "blade" of the laser lance extended fully twenty feet, and was thrust hard in to the enemy tank-creature.

With this distraction in mind, the Assault teams let another shot off at the tank that had fired on them from the side. Several Gras rifles retorted, striking for its weapon systems as they ran past. The team evacuated the facility as fast as possible. A knight was fighting for their lives and his own, any tardiness on their part would only leave to his or her death. So the DCC of the assault team left the facility, running not only for their lives but for the lives of its allies.

It was bittersweet, lives had been lost for little gain, and even knowing that the mission objective had been completed and the battle was nearly over did not lift their spirits.

Knight Captain Ybrasil looked back in time to see the Kernschatten exit the facility, missing an arm. Luckily they had escaped quickly. To face two heavy battle tanks in close range was not what the Kernschatten was meant for. However despite the ability of the assault teams to vanquish them, no more casualties would be accepted in fighting for this dead rock.

***Ground battle: Conflict on Mythrandir***

The battle was progressing steadily now, as the enemy units attempted to penetrate the battle line, aided by their Wyvern riders. The enemy was making an extreme show of force. To make matters worse much of the Tannelornian military was preparing to abandon the planet. It didnt matter.
Units were needed in the fighting now to save those in the spearhead from death. The first to respond to the enemy air assault was the DCN Morgenraete squadrons on planet. They dashed in at hypersonic speeds before engaging the enemy with a brilliant shower of missiles, each one blossoming in to a massive explosion designed to thin enemy numbers before contact. Nearly two hundred Morgenraetes and fourty VMF-4 Sturmanrufers collided with the enemy in mid air, engaging in a savage Aerial melee.

Below them, no mans land seemed to light up as if a sun had been born upon its tortured soil. The artillery tanks of the Reserve armoured force had stopped, deployed their heavy gravitic cannons..and fired. One hundred and fifty shots impacted at the same time, followed by another salvo, then another. The machines emptied their magazines of twenty rounds and reloaded as they started to move to a new position. They were still fifty kilometers from the fighting but they didnt want to risk enemy return artillery fire. Minutes later, as the savage fighting in the trenches reached a head and the first of the enemy tanks started to break through..a low boom echoed through the forest, growing louder and louder as it approached.

A force of over a thousand Hellebarde mecha and the heavy, twenty meter long THT-2 hovertanks of the Prefecture crashed through the forest still surrounding the firebase. They moved quickly, targeting enemy armour first and opening up with their heavy armaments. The massive Xaser cannons mounted on the THT-2's glowed brightly as the massively powerful beams arced towards their enemies. As in ship design, Tannelornian tank design called for weapons capable of excessive overkill, the THT-2 did not disappoint.

As the relief force arrived, adding their fearsome ground firepower to the fighting, more explosions started to resound in the forest beyond them. The entire ground between the mountain range and the firebase started to light up as nuclear shells rained down from the heavy GAP battleships. They had focused their attention solely on this battle now. Artillery and nuclear fire rained down upon this peaceful pasture land. Tossing trees like matchsticks and turning fertile soil to glass, this nightmarish bombardment was a backdrop for what was likely the most destructive battle to ever be fought on Mythrandir soil.

++++

The heavy ships of the GAP that were engaging the Mythrandir capital cities defenses slowly, reluctantly started to head for the safety of the island chains and Midgard-Sormr. They were to link up with the rest of the assault ships and coordinate the evacuation of any temporary fire bases, as well as the destruction of all Tannelornian materiel that would not be going home with them. The massive vessels slowly left the firing arcs of the citadels, several fires still burning on some of them. They fired their cannons to surpress enemy fire now and with a stately pace, soared out of the water and on to their antigravity generators. The siege of Mythrandirs capital was now over.

++++

The twelve horizont B's had finished rearming as the order to evacuate was given. Their mission orders changed slightly, instead of supporting the main action, they would take over Bren Rosden's mission. Rather then silence the guns they were going to bomb the enemy positions in the mountains with heavy penetrator bombs.

They were flying at fifty thousand feet, well above the aerial battle below. They were arrayed in a line as they passed over the mountains. The lead Horizon-B dropped his bomb payloads, the massive hundred foot cargo containers on either side of the fuselage dropped slowly to the ground, rolling end over end as it spat its cargo of death. Kinetic pentrator warheads dropped with increasing speed to the ground, gravitic generators hastening their fall. As the first rounds hit, and passed through hundreds of meters of rock, dust could be seen rising from the sheer kinetic impact. Then when they reached caverns, sensing the lack of rock in front of them, they ignited. Small warheads, only several megatons ignited, however under the rock it was with enough force to drop the mountains on top of them by a hundred or more meters.

Whatever lay beneath the mountains would likely survive this attack, but anyone inside at least a few of the caverns would be incinerated by the fire unleashed. This entire area had been declared a military complex. However the Tannelornians had no idea of the dwarves themselves who lived in the mountains. Had they known such a mission would never be undertaken. What the officers of Tannelorn took to be massive underground stockpiles and fortresses..were actually cities. Now those dwarven civilians living there would suffer fully the horrors of this war, as an attack meant to cripple the military might of the Mythrandir, was unleashed upon them. The bombers returned to base, confident in a task well completed. Hopefully now at least, the enemy artillery would no longer bark out its hatred at the Tannelornians on the front lines.

++++

Jan screamed in rage as he heard his new orders. His face contorting in a grimace of rage. He switch to high maneuver configuration right on top of a wyvern, plucking the rider from his saddle and throwing him to the ground before firing his pulsars in to the weaving beasts face. His prey, the dragon they had faced under the mountains would escape his wrath. The fleet was about to begin its extraction and all attacks against the Mythrandir had been halted. He weaved away from a fusillade from the enemy and returned fire, grinning in delight.

His experiences over holy mars in the final war of hellespontos had changed him. The twenty minute aether jump, followed by intense combat to protect everything he held dead had altered his perception of war. To him defeating his foes and making them suffer as they had suffered was the only goal of combat. To earn the fear of his enemies, not their respect. It was in these circumstances that Star Lord Abarrakh had approached him with an offer he had refused at the time. After the cowardly orders of Lord Kendall had been recieved, Jan had started to change his mind. Abarrakh would not have stopped the attack, Abarrakh would have continued for the glory of Tannelorn. Kendall was a weak willed man of no moral character. Tannelornians had DIED for this pitiful little planet..by rights of combat it was now theirs. The Mythrandir had yet to accept it. Yet here, this pitiful lord of the Eastern republic was shaming every true Knight of Tannelorn.

Jan was still a Knight, and he listened to his orders..though grudgingly. At the last moment he became aware of the presence of the monstrous beast he had so wished to do battle with. With a curse he flew towards it, putting himself fully in its view. He fired at it a few times, expert shots slaying the wyverns around it. He put his loudspeakers to full and pointed at the Dragon, floating in midair as the dance of death played out all around him.

"Know this monster, I do not flee this day, but follow the orders of a coward. For even though Lord Kendall is a coward, I am a Knight of Tannelorn and i must obey my lord. Soon I shall have a new lord and when next we meet, I shall be your death." He stared for a long time at the beast, before reconfiguring to high speed mode and rocketing off with the remaining eight members of Lux Aeternus squadron.

Jan's bitter howl was heard by no one but himself. He had lost four brave knights today, and for what? To show mercy to savages who would did not know the meaning of honour. Jan would no longer serve Kendall and Rendacil. Abarrakh had been given a new and loyal servant this day.

Myth Fleet:

Of all that remained from the original defense of Mythrandir, only Haldir, Genji, and Heorot now remained to take up the charge. In one last stand, Captain Haldir had rallied the remnants of the Myth fleets to hold the line above the homeworld of Mythrandir itself. The fall of Captain Sky Scream's ship and his current whereabouts weighed heavily on the mind of Heorot, his brother in arms. Only the mettle of the brave defenders stood between the Warriors on the surface fighting to preserve their freedom and certain destruction that approached from the darkness.

Time had been granted for both sides to make what repairs and preparations as could be mustered. Haldir took stock in what had been lost since the onset of battle. From the original combined force of one thousand five hundred ships, only a breath above six hundred now remained. The complete disappearance of Frylann and Drulgar's fleet baffled much of the commanders but the Captains assumed that this new devilry of distrubing their Warp sequence was keepign the elf and dwarf commander away from the fight. Not only that, but Captain Shazir had answered the call with reinforcements during their hour of need and was now shut out of the realm by some similar scheme. All that remained now were three of the Avenger battleships, with one on the verge of expiring, and a portion of the Horde Cruisers mixed in with the remnants of the lighter vessels. Goblin fighters filled the gaps in the fleets formation as they formed a cloud to defend the souls of Mythrandir from death. Should the enemy charge forward to finish off what was left of the Myth fleet, the fighters would bleed them for every inch of space they tried to gain.

Solace found Haldir in the signs of enemy vessels retreating from space and the shredded carcasses of war vessels that were not so lucky to limp behind the lines. Bodies littered the space surrounding the combatants just like every other battlefield. Only now these would be preserved forever in the darkness and space's cold grasp. Far too much blood had been shed for something that Haldir could not foresee. Even his elven eyes could not see how war here was worth any of this death that had been wrought. More blood would be spilt though. It was only a matter of minutes before the last great space battle over Mythrandir began and the two opposing forces clashed once more in what most likely promised to be the bloodiest engagement thus far.

"All ships, set shields to maximum capacity and angle them for maximum coverage on the front."

The crew knew what Haldir was asking of them. The only probable direction of attack was directly from the front to either destroy the Myth ships or at least push them aside. Positioning their defense on that very angle of attack would at least give them a greater chance of surviving. Weapons were loaded and prepared for the onslaught and the crews across the combined fleets waited with their breath held.

It was not a long wait as the Tannelornian war vessels unleashed a devastating barrage. Only the defensive systems of the Myth vessels answered back for the time as their combined might began picking at the incoming missles and the Wraiths served their purposes in hunting them down to minimize damage. Now the greater threat came as bright streaks of energy were unleashed onto the shielding of war vessels alike. So great was the confrontation that shields and energy bolt clashed in blinding light then snuffed out leaving sparks and smoked metal in the wake. Haldir kept his fleet in check not allowing them to return fire just yet.

Communications across the fleet began to spring to life as movement from the other side was detected. "Captain, the enemy has started their charge."

The elf captain nodded his blond head as he watched the assault on the battle map on the floor. It was as he called for. Destruction or simply making a hole had yet to be seen but he would not let it go unanswered. "Release the Goblins. Let their death pave the way for us."

From the front of the Mythrandir defenders moved the cloud of fighters that had been plucked from the moon and its defense. Having had enough fighters engage the large vessels of the Tannelornian forces, data on each class of their ships was streaming through every Goblins' mind. Specific targets were but a second thought as they screamed forward. No longer did they need to bother with a preliminary fly by to scan the vessel. They came on now in force surgically targeting the great energy weaponry and any structures that were linked to enemy vessels' shields or propulsion.

"Captain, wedge formation detected. They are moving to push aside the fleet."

Haldir watched with his own eyes as the enemy's formation began to change. So it would not be a battle of total destruction but one that was meant to effect their Warrior's on the surface. The elven Captain would not let it be so. Not while there was enough spirit left amongst them to fight off the enemy.

Throughout the lines of communication on every Mythrandir vessel, the resounding voice of Captain Haldir bellowing a single word was heard by all. "HOLD! HOLD! HOLD!"

His solo cry rallying them all to stand firm even as the enemy approached. Pilots and officers gritted their teeth for the inevitable impact.

"Captain! Enemy about to clash with our outside perimeter."

"FIRE!"

From the once silent Myth fleet came a great volley of fire that so filled the space around them that there was not room to breathe. Haldir had saved their first shots until the Knights were right on top of them with little room to move on their attack vector. Here at this close range their weaponry would do the greatest amounts of damage. The elven captain slammed his gauntlet down just as the remaining battleships opened up with their great energy weapon.

Orc Pods:

Fighting aboard the enemy's vessels began to die out. Ships that had been taken over completely by the orcs were summarily destroyed by nearby vessels that had no inclination of letting their ships fall into enemy hands. Perhaps the orcs could have linked into the system and returned fire, but their main function was to gather as much information as possible about their foe along with their technology. Allowing a number of orcs to die for the cause was an acceptable loss.

The rest of the boarders fought on to bring low as many enemy soldiers as possible. Surrender was not a thought in their controlled minds but now merely to cause chaos and destruction. On they fought until every last one of them was gunned down.

Forge Moon:

With the shield wall down, orcs renewed their attack sensing that the battle could be swung back in their favor. The link through their primitive brains kept them aware of the dwindling numbers on both sides causing them to reform in new formations suiting the circumstances. More lead poured out from their rifles along with explosive rounds and rockets. Trolls pummelled enemy lines with unending volleys of rounds from chainguns strapped to their arms.

One Troll waded out into the open swinging madly at knights close by howling in rage from the minor stings he received from their blades. The troll was silenced a moment later as his head exploded from well placed round. Headless, the trolls carcass fell back scattering the orcs around it. Unperturbed they still fought on pressing the attack to push the knights back into the ventillation room. Armored trolls waded into the thick of melee combat swinging maces and swords crushing any who got too close. A sickening crack was heard as one knight ventured in too close to a troll and was met with a swift struck from the large mace. All that was left of the knight was a blood and gore spot on the metallic floor.

Bruenor was still being kept up to date on the battle through the black orb that followed him everywhere he went. A new pressence had arisen which flashed before his eyes as the orb showed what was unfolding in all sectors. The pitched battle in the ventillation shaft was going back and forth with bodies piling high but the moon's surface was buzzing with activity. The dwarf swore as it looked like more enemy soldiers were going to soon pour into the base.

However it seemed it would not be so. As the dwarf watched transports land, he soon realized they were not deploying more soldiers but were instead retrieving those that were already in the base. Already the upper level was cleared out by the small team that had tried the front entrance. Now all that remained were the soldiers on the lower level. Allowing them to break through orc lines and run at will through the moon would not be permitted. Bruenor was going to force them back up the way they came in.

Bruenor switched the orb to activate the remaining orc units in the base. Half would make sure all of this wasn't a ruse and reinforce the upper levels in case more soldiers decided to come pouring in. The remnant would head down to the lower levels and push the enemy back and up out of the ventillation shaft. Once finished, the dwarf had the upper vent open so that there was an exit. It was an opening big enough for two or three people to fit through at a time but it would be enough to allow the knights to climb up and keep anything else from getting in.

Mythrandir Planetside:

Tongues of fire and smoke wrapped around the Sebastian out on the forward walls of the great city. His pain was great as the tips of his fingers felt like they exploded from the heat but pain was temporary and could not fully hold back the transformation as the human gritted his teeth through the torture. Sebastian's feet were lifted from the stone wall as his body twisted in air.

Shizra ran over to help him but there was not much she could do but look on in muted shock. Flames began to shrink back into the palm of his hand and take shape. Smoke drifted up from Sebastian's shoulders as the burning sensations subsided. What appeared in his hand was an animated flame that stretched and began to take shape. Orange and red heat mixed stretching skyward until a loud concussion banished the flames and sent Sebastian back to the ground. Sebastian stumbled for a moment but kept his footing, feeling the effects of calling one of the runes in his hand to awaken. Where once flames had engulfed the Elder's hand, now rested a great blade. The metal shined with an inner radiance and runes etched along the length of the blade appeared to be on fire. Sebastian stood erect and hefted the great elemental sword onto his shoulders.

Strength quickly returned to his body and an inner fire burned within the man's eyes setting the dark elf back on her heels.

"...Sebastian...?"

Before the once quiet Elder could answer, an orb danced in the air noisily demanding attention. Shizra and Sebastian stopped for a moment to see what was happening. Instead they got the holographic image of Elder Alurial's face. "The enemy's ships are retreating from the water. The bombardment has stopped."

A moment of silence passed between everyone around the orb as what was happening began to settle on their minds. Sebastian snapped to attention first. "Recall our swimmers. If the enemy is retreating, then there is no need for them to risk their lives."

Alurial agreed and the holographic image was soon gone leaving Sebastian and Shizra to redirect the focus of their forces. Shizra pulled out her own orb and set it into motion through the air. "The enemy is retreating from the ocean. Captain Lukien, push your forces forward onto the plains and bolster lieutenant Bregger's line."

The elven captain's voice came over the orb clearly. "Yes War Mistress."

Shizra walked back to Sebastian's side and gently placed a hand on his shoulder as they looked off into the distance. Everything seemed to finally be falling into place for them. The enemy was on the retreat and now Warriors were moving out to push the advantage. All was according to plan until the distant horizon ignited in a blinding light as the enemy's nuclear attacks came raining down on the surface. The very thought that someone would bring such massive weapons to use on a planet's surface drove the Elder to the brink of anger. Muscles clinched as his right hand tightened around the hilt of his sword. He would see that they paid dearly for such an atrocity. When the missle bombardment of the mountain range and ultimately into the dwarven cities, Sebastian lost any symbolance of control for his mounting rage.

His fist came down cracking against the crenulated outter wall as he swore. "Order Lukien out now. Kill everyone last one of them!"

Shizra was startled and showed the first signs of fear in decades. "Sebastian, please calm down. We can still win this fight. Do not lose yourself to the anger building inside."

Sebastian spun on her with fire dancing in his eyes. "Send them now!"

--------

Tark lead his counter charge through the rear ranks of the knight's ground forces in wild abandon. He howled with glee as he swept his blades through their masses and let the chainblades strapped to his STEAD feast on the abundant flesh. It was glorious in his eyes as they fell before him or fled the battle. Even now the dark elf could see the front assault beginning as his comrades came charging down in their fast paced STEADs leveling laser fire into enemy ranks.

On Tark charged swinging his scimitar with wild abandon, claiming the life of any venturing too close.

--------

Missles darted everywhere across the sky sending Elder Raigar spinning and darting for the surface below. One wyvern was hit by a swarm of missles, tossing its rider and sending her plummeting towards the ground. The griffon lord reached out and snatched her wrist. In one fluid motion he flung the happless warrior back up into the air where a waiting fellow rider caught her in the back of his saddle.

Raigar hit the ground a moment later in a roll. His lance came out as the griffon regained his feet. In the blink of an eye, Raigar skewerred one of the replicant soldiers and removed the head of another. Beating his wings furiously, the griffon took to the air again and threw himself down in the midst of a cluster of replicant soldiers. A blur of lance, feathers, and blood soon followed.

--------

Bregger watched everything unfold as the battle began to turn in a favorable manner. His soldiers were pushing back enemy forces and the bodies were mounting up in quick succession. Mechanical devices were making an appearance on the field but that was of little concern now. They could easily be countered once the artillery had finished its redeployment. More Necrons could be ordered up as well to help finish them off.

The problem now was all of the aerial units filling up the sky. Those would need to be to addressed rather quickly. For Bregger, it would not be his fate to worry about the battle anymore as the nuclear strike came and was thrown from his STEAD across the battlefield several yards. His mechanical mount crashed into the dirt then fell to its side as Bregger landed with a groan and bruised body. He was out of the fight for now but could fulfill one last duty.

Reaching into his pouch, Bregger pulled out a cracked orb which was linked to the host of Uruks beneath the soil that had been waiting there since the outset of the battle. Originally Bregger had hoped they would have been able to push the enemy back with the Warriors alone but numbers were needing replenishing. Before he fell into unconciousness, Bregger unleashed the horde that lay beneath their feets.

The earth began to rumble once more only now it was the primal roar of the Uruks coming to life and spilling out of tunnels surrounding the village that the knights had occupied. Unlike the orcs the knights experienced on the moon or on their ships, these were taller and stronger than men. Heavily armed and armored, these beasts were bred from the fuels of war and capable of being tossed into the worst situation and able to soak up the punishment without care or worry.

***Battle in Orbit***

The massive wedge of Solaris battle ships powered forward, their engines burning brightly behind them as they pushed every ounce of energy they could in to propulsion and shields. They were acting as a wall for the enemy vessels to fire upon, letting the more vulnerable..or valuable vessels move up behind them with ease. Massive explosions resounded off of pin point barrier shields, knocking them down before they regenerated again, allowing hits to score the heavy battle ships. Still they came on almost undeterred as they first wave of VMF's, HMAF's and Aerospace fighters tore in to the enemy ships. They engaged missiles, enemy gun ports and the enemies engines, helping to strain their shields even further to allow the capital ships and anti shipping weapons of the HMAF's to strike against unprotected propulsion systems.

The HMAF's split off to engage their counterparts, the Wraiths after their initial runs, relying on their capital scale energy weaponry to cripple their opponents. No more would Tannelornian warriors shame themselves by taking unnecessary lives in this battle. They were fighting for a purpose, to retain not only their honour, but the honour of the enemy. They could not expect them to surrender, and did not wish to slay them. The monitor's and heavy DCN dreadnoughts started to fire in to the enemy on either side, they could see clearly that the enemy did not intend to move and that was as it had to be. They would expect no less from these brave warriors on this day. Torrents of fire lit up the space between the opposing fleets. The sheer electromagnetic energy radiating from both opposing fleets in such tight quarters made targeting difficult at best. The tannelornians switched entirely to visual sensors, utilising their inherent advantages in direct fire combat to the fullest..all the while trying to hit the enemy ships and cripple them, rather then destroy them. A task becoming increasingly difficult in this ever growing storm of radiation.

As the first wave of HMAF's and VMF's struck, Kendall gave the order for the Solaris battleships to slow and start to engage the enemy battleships. Thousands of fresh fighters and HMF's from the Divinity class carriers were escorting them, protecting them from kinetic, missile and enemy fighter's as best as they could. As the first Solaris battleships broke through in to the midst of the enemy lines they started to fire punishing broadsides in to the enemy, focusing on engines and weaponry, then moving on to target the next ships in the line. Kendall started to communicate now with the troops on the ground, explaining the situation and ordering them to meet over the islands they were using as a base of operation.

The rest of the fleet held back, laying in precise fire against the enemy surrounding the pocket they had chosen to attack. Blood would still run this day, though Kendall would do his best to minimise it. He was no longer blocking communications, allowing the mythrandir to hear him chastise the commodores of the Prefecture. Kendall was a man of honour and this was, most definetly the point of his action. A knight always shows his disgust towards dishonourable men..even if they are his own allies.

***Fortress Moon***

The cavaliers continued to withdraw in an orderly fashion, carefully collecting up all the falling for treatment. Most of the casualties would be ready to fight again within hours if treated properly thanks to their nano machine colonies, though many still would never draw breath again. The Cavaliers fought with unmatched fury, though it was directed at the orcs it was not reserved for them. It was reserved wholly for the swine of the Prefecture who had lied to them, dishonoured them with their words and actions and forced them to fight over this world. They moved back to the upper levels, insuring the enemy payed a heavy price for following them. At this point the only thing on the minds of the commanders was revenge...against the politicians of the Prefecture. Those that made it to the dropships first swore heady oaths of vengeance against those that manipulated them in to this situation, for the friends and lovers they had lost. They would have plenty of chance to find it soon enough...

***Ground Action: Evacuation***

With the arrival of the mechanised divisions the battle was no longer as one sided. Masses of missile, kinetic and energy fire started to slam in to the enemy heavy armour as smaller cannon started to fire in to the STEAD's and their riders. The sheer amount of firepower now coming towards the Mythrandir from the outskirts of the fire base was staggering. The ground started to burn in places from the sheer heat of the energy weapons passing over and in to the enemy. A massive concentrated armour assault was levelled at the enemy flank, intercepting the enemy STEAD push. Even as the enemies air reinforcements started to make its presence felt the knights of the DCN started to appear in the skies, levelling masses of missiles and energy fire before engaging the enemy in a battle to the death.

All around the warriors the ground and skies burned with the awesome might of the warmachines fighting in the skies and on the ground. The battle reached a fever pitch as the first long shadows started to cast over the ground. At full burn several of the Bad Hertzfeldt assault ships made their appearance in the skies, firing their defensive weaponry in to the masses of Mythrandir dragons and ground troops. Then shuttles started landing, picking up the wounded before all else. A hurried evacuation started to play out in the areas of the base that had held. Damaged mecha were scuttled, all valuable systems destroyed and left to rust in the sun even as their crews alighted the transports.

The fighting in the front however, was still raging fiercely, the fresh armour and DCN cavaliers were fighting a savage rearguard, punishing any enemy daring to make it past them to the retreating forces. The battle would soon be over, but blood would still run on the fields of Mythrandir.

OOC
Great apologies for the length of response time, RL concerns took a drastic hold over my life, and now I have returned, able to spend a few hours a day on the computer, lets finish this thread and get on with some awesome RP's.

Myth Fleet:

Ships of the Forge stood solid acting as a wall of protection to the prized planet behind them. Weapons clashed and shields were broken as men and women died defending their homes and their freedom. Throughout the chaos of the battle that ensued, Captain Haldir was the constant voice of order and reasoning amidst the tumultous sea of battle among the stars. Ships fell by the score in Mythrandir's last stubborn defense to hold the line against invading tyrants.

Goblin fighters swarmed down on the flanks of the opposing forces looking to cause the enemy as much harm as possible. An occasional fighter found itself plummeting towards the commanding area of an enemy ship. The last effort of creatures that had been born to serve their masters. Missles flew in every direction seeking mechanized craft and capital ship alike. The only indiscretion in war was that all were valid targets.

Horde battle cruisers continuously launched hot fire into the darkness as they sent up a wall of death to block the enemy's advance. Constantly changing directions and aquiring targets, the commanders of the cruisers worked tirelessly to bring down as many of the knights as possible before they themselves succumbed to grievous injuries sustained during the fight.

Captains Genji and Haldir worked their Avenger battleships in unison most of the ships at bay. The blinding energy of the main cannon was used for short periods of time to keep energy levels at maximum for supreme effect. Only when assured a kill was in sight did they unleash their righteous fury to defend their lands. Haldir's voice continually rang out on the channels unpeturbed by the possibility that someone might be listening to his constant rallying cries for the Myth to hold their formations and fight on for their homes, loved ones, and their freedom.

The only confusion now for the two Captains was the constant slander filling the channels of the enemy accusing their own allies of some crime. It was lost in the back of their minds as ships fell to concentrated attacks or were sent adrift and out of commission in the battle.

Mythrandir Planetside:

At Sebastian's command, troop ships rose from within the protective walls of Mythrandir and flooded the skies in a roaring rush towards the battlefield across the Aziruth Plains. Lukien, brilliantly dressed in his bronze armor, lead the reinforcements from the lead ship as they skimmed the surface terrain of the land. A hundred more warriors were at his back and with the swarming numbers of Uruks now sallying from their hidden homes from the ground, the elven captain was confident that they would drive back the foe this day.

-------

Attention on the Necron tanks and the warriors saddled in their STEADs provided the massive Uruks a chance to push forward on the enemy. With the retreat of all rear forces, the Uruks were virtually unimposed around the bombed out village. It wasn't until they were within range of the mechanized units of the knights did they begin to open fire. Tactical missles screamed from rocket launchers in the air and on the ground to bring down everything.
Rifles and rail cannons opened a devastating attack on the infantry units moving on the Myth Warriors.

Tark heard the cries of Uruk's primal roar carrying over the battlefield. Smiling like a demon, he twirled his scimitar in the air rallying the Warriors to fight on and slay every last Knight until the end. "Fight on warriors! Slay them as they leave. Cut them down as they run!"

Raigar had finished off two replicant looking girls with his lance before he heard the rallying calls and the attacks by the Uruks. The griffon lord dispensed with two grenages at a nearby enemy armor. Finished securing his area, the griffon Elder beat his great feathery wings to carry himself into the air in order to coordinate the remainder of the air attacks.

Already wyverns were darting across the skies running from the enemy and avoiding missles or teaming up with more of the great beasts to bring the armored flying contraptions crashing down to the ground. The great dragon was perhaps the most fiersome of them all unleashed on the battlefield. Fiery breath blasted in every direction engulfing the fields below and any unlucky soldier in its midst. Steal talons ripped at armor and his powerful maw clamped down hard cutting mechanical bodies in two.

The Myth would not allow the retreat easily for the Knights and they would keep the fight honest to the very end. Already at the rear of the Myth lines, dead bodies of the Tannelornian knights were being erected on great lances. Their dead bodies hung limp on the stakes as the multitude of the dead were tallied up quickly. Soon the total dead would number the same as the great trees of the elven city of Caeralfar. The carrion fowl would feast on the decomposing flesh before the sun had set.

***Fleet Action***


The heavens themselves burned with the fury of a sun as the Tannelornian ships fought their way through the enemy forces and in to low orbit. The forces arrayed against the Mythrandir now were fresh, mainly the reinforcements from Charybdis and the forces of the DCN. The fleet held its position, starting to fire in to the enemy with such fury that electromagnetic sensors would surely be burnt out by the ambient radiation nearby. Blinding nuclear flashes would keep the enemies fire from being as accurate as it could be, even as the Tannelornians suffered the same. Relying almost entirely on visual sensors in such a climate, the Knights and soldiers of Tannelorn fired in to the enemy, aiming to cripple as many of their ships as possible without destroying them.

The Prefecture commanders could sense that the Mythrandir fleet was coming apart, the reinforcements had given the Tannelornian fleet a decisive edge in battle worthiness in this instance. However it was all for naught. Even if they had decided to continue the battle, the DCN would leave as soon as their soldiers had been retrieved. The Prefecture forces would not risk fighting without support. Despite the amount of vessels they could call upon, they did not bring with them enough soldiers to take the planet. That was to be left to the GTFOA soldiery that had been waiting for the order to move in. It was an order that had never come.

The Bio-com units continued to nip at the flanks of the enemy even as the mecha forces provided a brilliantly ferocious point defense screen. Shooting down missiles, kinetics and enemy fighters that made it to near, as well as blinding enemy sensors with nuclear strikes directed at close range. The Tannelornian forces were now attempting their level best to reduce casualties on both sides to a minimum, much to the chagrin of the Commodores of the Prefecture fleet.

The fighting reached a fever pitch, ships bleeding out plasma and dying in the night. Still the Tannelornians remained in a comfortable position. Their efforts were primarily dedicated to reducing the enemy fire power, through shielding, cannon and countermeasure.
Then Kendall recieved the transmissions he was waiting for. There were only two Bad-Hertzfeldt Assault ships still on the ground, taking on passengers. The rest were already moving up to meet the fleet, fighting to escort them to safety.

***Ground Action: The Final Countdown ***

The skies were filled with explosions and ribbons of "lead", beams of light crisscrossed back and forth against the enemy filling the skies. The Knight mecha fought ferociously to prevent the enemy from supporting the troops on the ground or getting at the Shuttles. Even the Knight mecha that were dragged down by the enemy wyverns returned the favour to them, slashing their necks with energy blades or crushing the riders or their steed's skulls with their steel fists. The Knights would not relent the fight until the two bad hertzfeldt's had made it safely away from the battlefront. Aside from the Knights and mechanised units still fighting on the ground, the firebase was deserted. Nuclear charges had been placed under the ground, preparing to ignite once the last of the warriors of Tannelorn were away from this place.

The Knights facing off against the Uruk's held their ground, returning fire with a terrifying storm of energy and kinetic fire. Massive explosions cut through the ranks of the Uruks as they charged. Just as the Uruks were about to reach the Knights hastily formed lines they tossed digger charges. Gras bombs designed to blind unprotected eyes as well as dig out several meter wide trenches to stop an enemy from making it close. As this obstacle was brought up they redoubled their efforts. Firing Particle rifles, Hand Grasers and massive Kinetic weapons in to the charging uruk's.


Quickly they were joined by Morgenstrahl's, descending from above. The thirty foot tall mecha started to add their firepower in to the storm being directed at the Uruk's from the Cavaliers. Then Horizont's landed behind them, the cover from the fighters keeping them alive as the Cavaliers quickly mounted up, allowing the Morgenstrahl's to prevent the enemy from reaching them. With the last of the Cavaliers now alighting the Horizonts, the Morgenstrahls that had been supporting the defense directly on the ground lifted off, escorting the Shuttles as they went Hypersonic. All that now remained was the armour still fighting against the enemy armour. The final Bad-Hertzfeldt's were disgorging as much equipment as possible to make room for the huge amount of armoured troops that would need to mount up. Food, medical supplies even mobile construction facilities were dropped and scuttled, explosives being placed inside of them.

The armour fought a rearguard, the last of them having to abandon their mecha and run up the gangway as the room inside of the great vessels had run out. The massive doors on the sides of the vessels closed, and they lifted off to space.

It was very likely the enemy was cheering in triumph and victory, preparing to take for themselves the spoils of war. Unfortunately someone in the Prefecture forces had other plans. Quickly, after the order for evacuation had been given, a single 12 megaton hydrogen bomb had been prepared and buried as they were loading the wounded on.

However this bomb was special, its final spigot was not clean lead, but cobalt. Minutes after the ships left the view of the warriors on the ground a flash was scene in the center of the firebase. Those who gazed upon it would have been blinded without any form of eye protection but that would be the least of their concerns. Then the heat and shockwave struck. The Mythrandir army that had been fighting was not the target of this nuclear assault, however they were still plainly and clearly in the way. Instead someone had meticulously placed a cobalt spigot in a simple hydrogen bomb. This had the effect of causing the radiation released to jump exponentially. Even with the best genetic engineering technology available, the best filtration and cleansing technologies the land would be poisoned for hundreds of years.

These beautiful farmlands had been intentionally poisoned by someone aboard the Prefecture vessels. Even angered as they were, the Commodores would not have done such a thing. However this was not known to the Mythrandir who would soon have to mourn the dead from the initial blast, and the poisoning of their beautiful lands.

***Withdrawal***

The last of the Bad-Hertzfeldt's made their way in to DEM space under the cover of the Combined Tannelornian guns. Within seconds of their safe withdrawal, Lord Kendall ordered the immediate withdrawal of all tannelornian vessels in the area. The men and women of Tannelorn would dishonour themselves no further over this world. It took several minutes for the last of the mecha and crew who had ejected to make it back to their motherships, then the fleet started to withdraw. First the GTFOA, then GFN contingents, then the Prefecture. The final ship to leave was Lord Kendall's own vessel. He watched in bemusement as one of the enemy battleships fired its heavy spinal laser upon his ship. Seconds before it struck he ordered their entry in to DEM space. The laser passed through the volume of space his Zweihander had occupied only seconds before.

The Battle for Mythrandir was now over. It was a curious kind of stalemate. The Tannelornians had suffered, damage, the third and fifth GTFOA fleets being nearly destroyed, and had made no gains, however their honour had remained intact. To them Honour was the most important thing. They could have pressed on and destroyed the enemy fleet, but that would have been a total and complete loss in their eyes.

The Mythrandir had successfully defended their world, at a huge cost in ships, manpower and to the fertile fields of the southern continent. In this battle, which had only come about because of secret deals and behind the scenes power plays, was finally over.

There was no victor in such a conflict, for both sides had lost something they could never gain back. The Tannelornian Knights had lost the knowledge that they had never in their history fought an unjust war, the Mythrandir had seen a day of great suffering and death. They would never again feel as safe in their isolated home, which was another reason for the shame of the Tannelornian Knights. They had nearly inflicted upon the Mythrandir, what had been done to them over ancient mars.

It had all been for the greed of a few old men, and there would be a reckoning in the future. Tannelornian Unity would now be in doubt...

Mythrandir Planet side:

The light from the distant battlefield was blinding to all who would gaze upon it. Sentries along the city’s walls of Mythrandir hunkered down behind the crenellation to protect themselves from the searing the light and anticipated blast wave. Once all had passed, the countless armored personnel regained their feet to look off into the distance where their comrades in arms had been fighting only moments ago. Murmurs began to dance from guard to guard as they wondered what fate awaited their brethren on the distant battlefield on the plains of Aziruth.

Elder Alurial dropped her Elvin bow as a great pain assaulted her body. It was almost as if a thousand daggers had struck into her breast seeking the life force in her heart. Her hands went out to the wall for support as her knees began buckling. Chest heaving, the Elvin lady gasped for breath that wouldn’t come. All around her, her Elvin entourage looked on concerned then were similarly assaulted with a great pain that brought them low to their knees. Regaining some amount of composure, Alurial hoisted herself up to look across the great expanse of land towards the distant fight. Highly attuned to the essence of the planet around her, Alurial could feel a great and terrible scar inflicted upon the world of the Myths. She just didn’t understand what.

Further down the wall, Elder Sebastian saw the blast as well and was equally concerned though not just for the planet but for every Warrior that was fighting to protect their lives and freedoms. Sebastian stood there for a few brief moments in silent shock numb to the fact that his finger nails were digging into the solid white stone. His demeanor changed in an instant though as he grabbed an orb from his leather pouch and sent it hovering in the air.

“Captain Lukien, report!”

Only static came back from the strange communications device as the Elder and his guards waited for some sort of response. Seconds passed by slowly as they waited for some sign that the Captain and his men were alive. The Elder could not take the waiting anymore, but before he could prompt again, Captain Lukien’s voice came through the sphere along with frizzled image of the Captain.

“Apologies Elder but we had to make an emergency landing. All of my Warriors are alive and accounted for but there is something that is disturbing. The village that was the site of the initial battle… It is gone.”

Sebastian screwed his face up in confusion. “What? You mean destroyed?”

The Elvin Captain shook his head. “No, I mean it is completely gone. The village has been annihilated. Only a small crater remains. Also, our scanners have detected a poison of sorts.”

“A poison?”
“Yes Elder. Whatever that explosion was, it did something to the surrounding area to contaminate it.”

Sebastian’s heart sank as the rape of his world seemed to have been completed. Not only had this unwarranted assault brought terrible destruction but it had also poisoned their world. He was not even aware of Lukien’s continual report that the enemy had withdrawn from the planet and appeared to be leaving Mythrandir space. All that seemed to be with him was the great weight of burden that sat upon his shoulders as all that had been done came crashing down upon him. It wasn’t until Shizra, who had never left his side, finally shook him from his stupor.

“Sebastian. They are leaving. What are your orders?”

The young Elder shook his head to clear away the clouds of confusion. Without bothering to answer though, Sebastian ran down the stone stairs to the main floor of the city.

“Sebastian! Where are you going?”

The Elder’s personal guards were not far behind the War Mistress as she followed after him. A long column of armor found their way down to the city streets and surrounded the Elder when he came to a halt.

“Brad, gather up as many Citadel Guards as you can and get them ready to manage the crowd of civilians that will be heading home. Also find Elder Alurial and have her summon as many woodland seers as she can muster. Shizra, I need you to get the healers ready for the wounded coming in and I need to borrow your mount.”

“Alright…wait what? What do you need that for?”

Sebastian was already heading off into the direction that Shizra had her custom built ionized motorcycle when the question came after him. “I’m going out there.”

In most cases, the Elder had moments where his sometimes rash behavior was an admirable quality. Unfortunately it seemed that the Elder was rushing to his death here. “Going? Why?”

Not wanting to waste much more time on idle discussions, Sebastian threw one leg over the side of the machine and powered up the cell. “I took on the role of Elder to protect my people, all my people. I will not be the lord of a hall that abandons his warriors in their time of need. I go to do what I must.”

Without final words, Sebastian threw the machine into full acceleration. Portcullises opened wide for the Elder as he flew through the cobblestone streets and out of the protective wall towards the burning battleground. Grass flew by in a greenish haze beneath his feet as the ion powered motorbike devoured the distance from the city to his destination.

In the distance, Sebastian could see the few dropships that were carrying Captain Lukien and his warriors towards the fight. Most of them had settled down together in a protective circle where they could secure a perimeter out in the middle of an open field. Sebastian brought his transport to a stop near Lukien’s position.

“How do you fare Captain?”

Lukien brought his fist to his heart in a salute. “Well, Elder. All men are accounted for. Where are you off to?”

“The site of the blast. Be ready to assist Elder Alurial when she arrives.”

Lukien bowed his head. “Godspeed Elder. We will join you once Alurial rides.”

Then Sebastian was off once again flying towards his destination. Thanks to the War Mistress’s wonderful work, the Elder was able to cover the large distance in a matter of minutes. Closing quickly on him was the site of a smoking landscape. Men lay upon the fields moaning from flash burns and a strange sickness that came over them. The great forest of bodies that the Myth Warriors began to erect of the fallen Tannelornians still stood though now they were charred beyond recognition. It mattered not to Sebastian as the dead of the enemy were but a fleeting thought to him.

Putting out the kick-stand, Sebastian dismounted from the machine and moved about the field. So many of his brave warriors lay in pain before him and so little had been gained by all this. Yes they had driven off the enemy but for what purpose? Until the next blood thirsty tyrant came looking for flesh to carve? Sebastian fell to his knees, beaten and shaken as the pennants of the Mythrandir phoenix snapped in the breeze around him. While sadness gripped him, pure rage also coursed through his veins at the injustice of it all.

Sebastian was aware that he knelt in the middle of a contaminated area though it did not phase him at all. All that mattered to him now was saving as many lives of his dying Warriors as he could. Gaining strength and clarity of mind, the Elder looked around for a suitable source for cleaning. It did not take him long to find a streaming moving through the once fertile lands.

Disease began creeping into his body but it was foiled by an inner strength that had been acquired through a long life. One of the runic symbols on his hand came to life in that instant that decay tried to claim his body. The rune symbol “water” ignited and coursed through his body nourishing his every fiber and reinvigorating his body.

With renewed strength, Sebastian went to the task at hand. A nearby Warrior badly scarred from the heat, crawled through the grass to touch the hem of the Elder’s breeches.


“Do not worry for today, you shall be healed.”

Propping the warrior up, Sebastian lead the man into the cool clear water of the stream. The Elder laid him flat out on his back with one hand supporting the back of his skull and the other covering his mouth and nose. In one fluid motion, Sebastian submerged the dying warrior. A light began to build up from the water and continued to grow until it was almost as brilliant as the light from the blast.

When Sebastian brought the man up from the depths of the water, the scarred skin had melted away and all signs of the sickness had vanished. It wasn’t until all the fullness of the man’s skin had returned that Sebastian realized it was lieutenant Bregger.

“Elder....I....I.....what was that?”

“No time. Just bring them to me.”

Not wanting to waste a moment more, Bregger moved out to gather as many Warriors as he could to the Elder. For hours on end the scene was much the same as Sebastian baptized his warriors in cleansing water that drained a bit of himself as the arcane powers within his palm restored the lives to those that came to him. It was the same over and over again with men returning to the surface completely healed from their afflictions to be replaced by another that was on the brink of death. Sebastian did not stop until well near to a hundred warriors had been saved.

When enough had finally been saved, all of Sebastian’s energy had been spent. With his task completed the Elder felt the world swallow him up. The Elder’s once strong arms grew weak and wobbled as he splashed down into the water. From the multitudes of warriors that had been saved, practically all rushed to help their savior. Hands were laid upon the Elder’s frame as he was hoisted out of the stream and set upon the dry land. Behind them, the once clear clean water had now turned as black as night and would forever be known hence forth as the River of the Dead.

Cloaks from every warrior were removed from the shoulders and laid upon the grassy field. No longer concerned about the disease in the air, great care was taken to make a suitable bedding for the Elder. Spears were taken and used as carrying polls and cloaks were wound up for great support and stability. Once all had been prepared, the warriors moved Sebastian from the earth to the cloaked bedding as they hoisted up over their heads.

Honored by his warriors, Sebastian was carried on their shoulders all the way back towards the city as he remained passed out from the exertion. Onlookers remained mute from the site with lieutenant Bregger in the lead and the human Elder being carried into the city. Sentries along the wall removed their helms and lowered their weapons as the procession made its final stretch of the journey into the city proper.

Shizra came running as soon as she saw who they were carrying in. “What happened to him lieutenant?”

Bregger kept his eyes to the street as he lead the train on. “Your pardon War Mistress but he passed out saving us.”

The dark elf was not completely unaware to Sebastian’s devices and quickly sent runners to make ready. “Get him to the Elder’s palace and find Sarah. She is needed.”

Aftermath:

Above the planet of Mythrandir floated the husks of damaged or destroyed Forge vessels. The Captains of the Forge had held off an onslaught that would have subdued lesser men but it had cost them in the end regardless. Captain Shazir had arrived as promised with his reinforcements but they were too late to aid in the ground battle or what was left of the space battle. All that was left was to collect the debris and bodies and see what could be used as information against these bloody tyrants.

Back below, Elder Sebastian was finally beginning to come around from his long slumber. It had been many days since he had gone under the terrible sleep but finally came around on the morning. Sarah was there to caress his hand and greet him with a smile when he finally woke.

“Hello my love. You’ve had everyone worried. Shizra has been pacing up and down the hall so much that she wore out the carpet. The news will spread quickly that you are awake. I’ll prepare the other Elders that you for the announcement.”

Sebastian watched his wife go and noticed more than a few guards outside his door that snapped to attention when Sarah exited the room. There was a brief pause then a great deal of commotion as he heard metal clanking against metal with the guards running about. Hours later the proclamation of war against these invaders would come and no quarter was to be given in response to the terrible destruction brought to their beloved planet. Mythrandir would prepare itself to take back what was theirs and see to it that no one threatened their freedom and their right to live ever again.

Elfin seers worked tirelessly out on the Aziruth plains to undo what had been left behind on their marred world. Whatever disease had been left behind was being contained by their powers of the earth and coerced into a smaller area. A scar on the land would remain until the endings of the world due to what the Tannelornians had done. Even the great works of elves in all things natural, could not undue the raping of a planet.