NationStates Jolt Archive

The charismatic Admiral Staticus stood within the cockpit of his scout craft. The indicators are glowing and engine stability is returning to normal as everyone's calm is regained. The reinforced glass screen flashes with indicators of the size of asteroids and the distance of planets. The Admiral and his team had just escaped a chasing fleet of pirates from the Maelstrom in the Western Fringe asteriod ring and were now once again looking for a rich source of ship fuel for Joura.
"Admiral Staticus, I think you should see this..." The Admiral walked over to the control deck where the sensor indicators were. The soft blue light reflected the scar running over his left eye, the mark from a fight long gone still in the Admiral's training to become a pilot.
"Admiral, our radars picked up a signal to the east. They are fast approching - what are we to do?

"It is probably just a Kroot vessel or the Red Corsairs we encounted before. They will provide little challenge," the Admiral replied, trying to disguise his uncomfort at seeing an energy signature approaching them.

"Radio Joura and tell them of the disturbance just in case it turns out to be something more." Staticus told the controller. "I want High Administrator Justicium himself to know - in case it gets more serious than it already is.
"Yessir. Of course, sir." He replied.
I pray to the Emperor it is nothing more than a Kroot ship... The Admiral thought to himself, scratching his coarse stubble. He fingered the holster at his belt and returned to the cockpit and peered at the approaching craft - a glint in the dark.

In the Imperial Palace, Khalastas Justicium sat in his mighty throne. He was adorned in a white robe and help a thick, red-bound book on the Horus Heresy. Advisors argued in front of him each one sure of their cause when he heard a shout from outside the heavy golden doors. An elderly man ran in, another of his advisors, shouting for the High Administrator's attention.
"What is it, Farqu'as?" Khalastas inquired. He was used to the old man bringing unimportant news in a very loud manner.
"M'lord, a thousand graces upon you and prosperi-" Farqu'as began his over-hyped introductions.
"I do not have all day, Farqu'as. What news do you bring?"
"We have news from Scout vessel S127. They have encountered a signature."
"Keep me updated. You are dismissed for nowm Farqu'as. Good work." Justicium declared that the conversation was over and went back to his day-dreaming while the advisors discussed the new news.

Open RP.

There was a time when the universe was interesting.

An age where living legends bestrode the galaxy as it burned, the firmament upon which they tread as the prize. Time had passed since then, long eons during which the galaxy had changed. It seemed it had moved backwards and forwards, a galaxy divided, a galaxy in anarchy. A galaxy crying out for salvation.

The vessel that slid through the greasy dark of space, plasma trailing as it drifted, was the Harbinger of Salvation, a Desolation Class Battleship. A gleaming red blade-like thing, it cut through the material plane like a knife, as easily as it sliced through the Immaterium. It's surface was aglow with countless runes and incantations, flowing script that danced with colour. Braziers burned in the airless dark, great plasma fires billowing from the eyes and mouths of ornately carved skulls.

This is death, it seemed to say. This is glory.

"My Lord." A servant bowed its shaven head, marred as it was with crudely carved runic script, its robes tattered and dirty. "We have detected a vessel. It would appear this system is inhabited."

"And where are we?" The Admiral's voice was like silk, the decadantly noble tongue of the Chronosian aristocracy, who held so little power in the face of Lord Remiel's might, but who enjoyed a measure of the luxury that Slaanesh could offer them. He let one long pale hand close around a golden ring on his other hand, one of many amongst a dazzling array of decoration, before sliding down to the intricately designed powersword that hung at his waist. Daemonette's entwined around the hilt, beautifully rendered bodies sliding and twisting against each other, drawing his eye, drawing his attention.

"Unknown, Lord. Routine exploration has the benefit of dredging up secrets. Your will?"

"Hold our course. Ready for vox signalling when I am satisfied that the signal is not a hostile one. Praise the Gods that we have been gifted this opportunity, praise the Emperor that we might discover in his name."

((I may get involved later on, but right now I dont feel like typing a whole lot >_> ))

Admiral Staticus prepared a vox transmission to the incoming vessel. He wore his ceremonial robes as was tradition for a vox transmission. He was sure it was a Kroot explorer ship and so decided to speak the native tongue.
"Cedonustnyamcedonent ustsduikedo, sdajoasnyaonlo!" Staticus commanded in the approaching ship.
This yielded no response, so he tried again.
"Cedonustnyamcedonent ustsduikedo, nehnfnya lonya yahnya joasdvosa?" He inquired again, trying to keep his patience.
He waited as static came through. He heard shouts behind him as battle stations were prepared but he doubted they would need them if he was right.

"Admiral Staticus, the approaching vessel is not far now. We may be able to get a reading of their status." One of his commanders on control deck yelled.
"Do it. I want to know what we are meeting." Staticus commanded.
"M'lord, they are neutral. We should approach cautiously..."
"Very well. Steady the engines."

Staticus felt the rock in the cockpit as the ship was slowed to a drift. He peered out at the approaching glint, now bigger than before and beginning to take form...

The massive form of the Hellfire was sliding through space like a deadly beast. It's hull bristling with weapons and covered with litanies telling of the mighty battles of the Legion. The words artfully scripted in emerald green across the violet hull of the vessel. Onboard Kailen rested his vessel had just been through a mighty battle with pirates they had met on a far off Imperial world which had held no new leads for his quest. Despair briefly clutched his soul but he took a deep breath and regained his composure. His angelic wings flowed off the sides of his throne and he looked into the cold blackness of space.

He knew of his reputation for brutality in the Imperium. He was known as an unforgiving unyielding warrior and was only sent to battle those most hated enemies of the Imperium for that reason. So how had he volunteered himself to battle out here in the Dark Galaxy well one reason.......so he could fight the forces of Chaos once more. Oh how he relished it. He had been attached to the Ordo Malleus for this reason. His men were not susceptible to the horrors of Chaos because they knew the horrors of Hell. He remembered softly the day in which he had met Lord Cabot Primarch of Khorne. He had blown him off but Kailen had gleaned enough knowledge that he knew he wanted to know more. He laughed aloud at the insults which Cabot had thrown at him....he had called him a..............Dratherian but he was so much more he and is bretheren were Arcoran for all intents and purposes. They were so much more. And he still lusted to find out more of the god Khorne. It was the desire of many in his legion and himself. Sooner or later he would find this Lake of Blood and Throne of Skulls.

The sensors on the bridge alarmed as they detected a Chronosian vessel. He shouted commands, "What kind of vessel is it!?"

A servitor answered, "It appears to be a Desolation-class Battleship my Lord."

Kailen's expression hardened, "Began data collection! Run drives silent! And engage cloaking device! Which god do they worship?"

The servitor replied, "It appears..........inconclusive possibly Slaaneshi my Lord."

Kailen pounded his fist into his armrest as he knew that yet again he had failed find a lead to Khorne. He looked around silently and said to himself, "What are they doing out here?"

The servitor had replied to him where he had not expected a reply, "They appear to be trying to signal a scout craft of unknown origins."

Kailen thought to himself wildly a vessel of unknown origins to the great libraries of Dratheria. It could only mean this was a first contact......Kailen decided he would wait to find out what would become of this scenario.

Admiral Staticus glanced at the sensors on his screen, noticing another glint approaching. It swiftly disappeared behind a cloaking device. Staticus watched as an asteroid with water farmers whizzed beneath the scout craft. Just as he saw it, the man who had previously called him to the radar yelled again.

"M'lord, Imperial Class Ship approaching," The man shouted, a tone of excitement in his voice.
"What? Another ship?" Staticus asked, his disbelief evident to the radar controller. The Admiral walked to where the radar desk was and saw the two blips on the radar.
"Yessir. The scans show that it is called the Hellfire, and captained by someone named Kailen." Staticus had heard of Kailen. He was a fine leader, if not ruthless. He had not been graced with meeting him however.
"What news of the previously sighted craft?" Staticus asked the man. He felt a twitch in his eyebrow, indicating to himself he was nervous behind his cool personality.

"Err...Oh My. Emperor help us," The man stammered.
"What is it?" Staticus stared at the radar as green writing flashed past, too quick for Staticus to understand.
"It appears that the first ship we saw was not infact a Kroot ship - but a Chaos Desolaton Class Battleship, under no deity..." The man mumbled off, but Staticus had heard enough.

The Admiral walked toward the vox machine and personally sent a message to Joura. He said:

High Administrator Khalastas Justicium, our Scout Craft S127 has encountered two approaching ships. The origial vox message spoke of an anonymous signature. We have identified it as a Chaos Desolation Class Battleship under Undivided. A second ship, the Imperial Hellfire, has also been spotted. We are sending a vox transmission to the Hellfire and will assume he appropriate battle stations. We are requesting help immediately.
S127 out.

Staticus frowned and then went back to the cockpit, ready for one hell of a fight.

Kailen had received the transmission and he was impressed. The little vessel had managed to catch his ship on sensors something those Chaos scum often had trouble doing. He was sure they had escaped the sight of the Chaos ship. He decided he would ignore the message for now. They appeared to be Imperial by current scans however he could not waste this valuable chance to observe Chaos and more importantly to observe this new nation. He silently waited to see what would happen next.

"Well, doesn't this seem interesting" The Admiral almost grinned, a grim sort of smirk spreading across his features. "A xeno language, a wretched race despoiling mankinds glory as it spreads across the universe" He chuckles. "Address them, full vox. I wish to speak on all channels. And summon our guests, I'm sure the good Chaplain and his men will wish to be present for this."

Detestable as your speech may be, it is irrelevant before the glory of humanity. We bring Illumination. The light of the Emperor to the worlds devoid of his love. We bring the will of the true Gods, the will of Chaos in all its glory.

You are nothing before the purity of Man, you are nothing before the chosen of the Gods. Of all mortal species we have been chosen to bear their standard, to subjugate the universe beneath the glorious treads of our warriors.

With the authority of the Imperial Navy, the Emperor himself and on behalf of the V Legion of the Legios Astartes, I demand you identify yourselves, and your loathsome race.

He smirked self-assuredly even as the rush of a door sliding open echoed, along with the pounding of metal on metal. Heavy ceramite footfalls pounded against the floor as the figure advanced, his ceramite plate gleaming in the artificial light of the ship. It was black, inlaid with countless lines of flowing text, ruinous sigils of the powers of the Warp were carved into his armour, inked into devotional pages and his very flesh. He let the shaft of his crozius pound against the ground almost impatiently, as Chaplain Azimuth, Dark Apostle of the Ascendant Daemons, gazed out into the hungry void.

Two warriors in Tactical-Dreadnought Armour stood at his side, flanking him silently. Their armour was aglow as with some inner light, runes blazing like fire, flickering and dancing across the surface of their armour, casting a fell light on their bestial helmets. Skulls adorned their armour, hung from chains and impaled upon poles, vents pulsed with a red gas, reeking of the charnel house as they waited for the command of their lord.

"I have been summoned" He hissed, his voice like the rustling of old parchment, his eyes not yet rising to meet the Admiral, who would avoid his gaze anyway. Azimuth beheld the world from smouldering red-black eyes, gazing out at the universe as though seeing more than mere men, as though privy to the whims of the Architect of Fate himself.

"We have company." The admiral smiled. "Would you like to see?"

Staticus listened as the Vox boomed over the ship. Staticus grew furious at the malicious voice.
"Tharis! Prepare a Vox!" Staticus was mad with rage at the Chaos transmission.
"Of course sir." The man named Tharis replied confidently.
"The Vox is prepared, m'lord, as you requested." A servitor informed him.
Staticus cleared his throat and spoke into the vox which was to be transmitted to the Chaos ship.
"Approaching Chaos Desolation class craft, I do not identify myself to you under your terms nor do I respect you. We have an armada from our home planet of Joura fast approaching, and as I speak we are asking Chiros and Macharia, our good allies, to send their availiable fleets. If you do not turn back now we will not spare you. Praise to the Emperor divine."
Staticus completed the vox just as one was transmitted from Joura.

"Admiral Staticus, this is High Administrator Justicium. The armada is on it's way, and they notify me they just left the asteroid belt. They will be there in approximately fifteen minutes without hitch. Good luck, Admiral." The Administrator finished his vox.

Staticus clasped his hands behind his back and stared out into the swirling dark space. His medals of honour jingled as he puffed his chest and boomed:
"Prepare all guns! We have to be ready to take this badboy down, whether Kailen likes it or not."

Kailen smiled as he listened to the vox transmissions. They still have to be illuminated but for now that didn't matter. This was going to be interesting and he for one was not going to miss a chance to battle one undivided when his time came he would do so.

He looked out across the bow and boomed, "Prepare all battlestations! Ready for a fight brothers! Prepare the MIDAS!" He smiled as he gripped his primarchial weapon tight this would be a fight to remember. For now they would wait but soon they would strike.

The Admiral paused, raising his artfully jewelled hand in a show of pause as though to quiet the thrum that passed through the bridge. They were not filthy Xenos, but instead they had stumbled into the midst of Corpse-Worshippers! Honest to gods Imperials. Not alien scum in their emulation like the Dratherians, or detestable half-breeds like the Rekenese...They were like the people of Hailung, living breathing servants of the Emperor. He paused, as though considering his words.

"Weapons to ready, raise Void-Shields. I don't want these filth to catch us off-guard. Chaplain, I assume your men stand ready."

"They are always ready, Admiral." Azimuth seethed, his voice a hoarse whisper as he let his mind drift, eyes closed. His fingers fluttered up the shaft of his crozius, drawing a satisfied smirk to his lips. "You wish them annihilated?"

"Let us give them a minute to contemplate the folly of their actions."

You are absent friends and lost brothers, consorting with the Xeno in the backwaters of the galaxy. I ask how any man, how any true Human worth his stock, could traffic with the abhorrence.

Humanity is triumphant! Our Emperor leads his forces on the blazing edge of a new era! Manifest destiny unites us to grind the alien races out beneath our heel and drive out the idolatry that plagues so many human worlds. True Gods have placed their Mark upon us, that we may never falter!

The age of the Emperor is a memory. The age of the Alien and the rebel across the galaxy flickers and fades. Only Chaos shall endure. Chaos shall reign long after we are all dust, long after our civilisations have faltered and fell.

You will stay your hand, and we shall stay ours. And we would have words on how the galaxy has changed so.

((OOC: Hmm...mind if I join?))

(OOC - Yes'm, its an open RP)

Admiral Staticus donned his war armour. It glistened with the gold trim. Underneath, he had a plain white robe. The layer above that was the armour itself - blackened adamantine from Joura, adorned with Aquillas and golden trim. The armour had a scroll hanging from the groin - a loincloth, if I may. On it were hundreds of names - the scroll trailed behind Staticus as he walked. The names were written in blood - the names of people Staticus had killed.

Just as Staticus finished fastening his war helmet - with two horns and a visor, taken from Abaddon's personal advisor when they stole the Planet Destroyer class craft, it had been cleansed of the taint and was now the Admiral's identifying war feature - besides the scroll, a vox came through.

It was from the chaos Desolation class ship. Staticus listened until about three quaters of the way through when another was sent, from the fleet approaching. It said:

Admiral Staticus, my name is Faqshuar Heklohelm. Surely you have heard of me, Heklohelm paused for drama. Staticus knew who Faqshuar was alright. He was his pilot trainer back when Staticus was still in training. Faqshuar was the best pilot on Joura - he was also the only one who knew how to control the Planet Eater craft. Unfourtunately, two of the ten ships incoming were destroyed in the asteroid field. To make up for it, I am now coming with Planet Eater. Approximated we will arrive at the destination - well, now. Check your radar...
For the Emperor.

Staticus walked over to the radar screens, his heavy adamantine armour banging on the steel walkways. He looked at the radar and surely enough there were nine ships incoming, and at the helm of the armada was the huge bleep of a Planet Destroyer craft.

"Showtime." Staticus said under his breath as he returned to the cockpit.

Space ripped and teared as a fleet jumps though. 2 Battleships, 4 Cruisers, 5 Frigates, 2 Destroyers, and a Carrier enter the system...
...Right in the middle of the fleets. The ships obscured the firing lines, making it impossible to fire without hitting one. On board the flagship battleship, Pride of the Emperor, alarms and klaxons went of everywhere as the ship lurtched into being. Admiral Skyler was thrown against a bunkhead, her red hair spilling across her face. The fleet grinded to a hault as the engines were stopped.

The Xiscapians are humanoid, and look human to some extent. However, they have fox tails and fox ear, pointed ears, yellow eyes, sharp, pointy teeth, reflexas and speed superiour to a humans, and each and every one has a katana sword. They are aliens, and a proud but peaceful people. Admiral Skyler, at the moment, was not feeling very peaceful. "Damage report!" she yelled. "Engines 3 and 6 operating at 75% power. Shields temorarily down. The rest of the fleet seems realativly unharmed. There was a hyperdrive failure, resulting in a sudden ejection from hyperspace." said a tech. "Sensors reporting that we've emerged between several fleets who seem to be preparing for battle. At the moment, our comm units are down. " "Godsdamnit." cursed Skyler. "Get those shields up as soon as possible!" Skyler was Admiral of the 3rd Expeditionary fleet, looking to find out what lay beyond their home system. Unfortunatly, they had found it.

(OOC - there are no other fleets here yet, just Joura's =D)

Staticus examined the radar as his armada came into a line of ten ships , with the Planet Eater in the middle. As he watched, he noticed another fleet enter the screen in an instant. The scanner showed that they were damaged after Warp travelling. The Admiral, wearing his adamantine armour, observed the radar and saw more ships coming. I'll be damned, that is a Kroot fleet approaching. Now it gets interesting, the Admiral thought to himself.

Staticus walked to the vox transmissions area. He prepared one to the Chaos desolation craft.
"Our fleet has arrived, along with five Kroot ships and three saboteur ships ready to bombard. If you do not turn around now, we will open fire. Strength in the Emperor.

He was content with his first transmission.

"Imperial Craft Hellfire, my fleet is preparing to open fire on the Chaos craft. We expect your full assistance in blowing this badboy out of the sky. Staticus out."

He then sent a vox to the new ships.

"Greetings and pleasantries. You have come about our three way meeting at a bad time - we are about to open fire. I expect full co-operation in destroying the Chaos craft. Love and Serve the Immortal God-Emperor."

And finally, he sent a vox to the Kroot ships:

"Donfuionzyahnya kenyasd ustnyamcedonent. Donyaentadonfasd neha nehcedlonlon nehcedon." Staticus spoke in the Kroot Human language known as Kengon.

He returned to the radar and looked. His ship, in the centre, was surrounded by a line of his own armada. To the left was the Hellfire, to the right was the Chaos ship and away from his fleet were the new ships. He settled in for a rocky ride.

"All engines up and running, Admiral." "Good, let's haul ass." The fleet moved away from where the fighting was to commence. Because they did not know anything about the other races, they did not get involved. The fleet manuvered out to the side to watch the battle. A message was sent:
To: Joura
Unfortuantly, we cannot assist you in battle. We have had no contact with any of your races before and cannot act until more information is obtained.

Staticus listened to the vox transmission by the new fleet. He sent out a vox to all his current fleet to prepare guns to fire on the newcomers. If they won't help, then they're dead, Staticus thought to himself. A red beeper indicated an incoming vox from the Planet Eater craft:

Staticus, Heklohelm here onboard the Planet Eater. The Jouran fleet have made a decision, and it is up to you to stand by it or meet your doom.
We choose to disobey the Emperor. It has been tracking my mind recently - the Emperor is not the saviour we expected. We do this for all of mankind and the Imperium. We must overthrow the corpse Emperor!

Staticus frowned and clicked his tongue. He had also been thinking about overthrowing the Emperor for some time now. For the Imperium and good of mankind Joura could become the new power. He wondered what the Hellfire would think of his new plans...

The Admiral prepared the guns and sent a vox to the Chaos craft:

Chaos, we do not agree with your ways. However, my next preposition is that we join forces to destroy the newcomers. For the Imperium and the good of mankind, the Emperor must be overthrown.

In saying this, however, Chaos is wrong. They have no honour. We would be respectable. These are our conditions - a treaty between our two ships until we destroy the aliens. After that, we shall find a way to work against the Emperor. Staticus out.

Wrong? What path is truly wrong? There are no absolutes, there are only the degrees to which we take our own fates into our hands. Horus knew the Emperor was weak, and so he courted Chaos. We court Chaos because we know humanity can be strong, crushed under the heel of whatever alien filth dares to roam the stars.

Mankind is the rightful heir to the universe. It is our manifest destiny to conquer the stars and unite them under the glory of Humanity. We chose to do so through Chaos. Join us, my brothers, not as converts but as renegades! Cast off the dominion of the Corpse-God, and embrace freedom as never before!

"Raise Void shields." The Admiral hissed. "Ready our weapons, ready the men and the boarding vessels. We shall not falter in our sacred duty to the Gods. These Jourans may yet prove potent allies. All hands to battlestations!

I have seen the glory of the core worlds, I have seen Hydran and Chronosia all. I have walked through the valleys of death and laid down my soul upon the altars of damnation.

I shall not fear these xeno filth!"

"Admiral, they're powering up their weapons! But, the are turning towards us!" "Shields on max, prepare for evasive action!" The smaller craft of the fleet zipped away, but the others were slower in turning, the bulk slowing them down somewhat. Xiscapian ships are fast because there armor is light. Once the shields go down, they cannot take many hits before they are crippled or destroyed. That is why they rely upon strong shields and speed to win the day.
The 2 Battleships, 4 Cruisers, 9 Frigates, 2 Destroyers begin to turn. All ships launch there craft, and the Carrier turns it's back to the enemy and jumps into hyperspace. The fleet now has 8 capital ships, 50 Fighters, 10 Gunboats, 4 Frigates, 10 HAM, (Heavy Assault Mechs)and 20 LAM (Light Assault Mechs).
A message is sent to both fleets:
There is no need for hostile action! This can be worked out peacefully. Please do not make us fight you. We have no quarrel with either of you. We will leave, if you wish. But if you attack us, we will fight.
OOC: Can you both give me a rundown of your fleets? (i.e., how many capital ships, how many fighters, etc.)

(OOC - Are you saying you have the 800 + ships? -.-

My fleet is:
Planet Eater - A craft stolen from Chaos. It is solely designed to destroy planets, and as such it's main gun takes a long time to load and is deadly in accurate against other ships. However, the thousands of turrets onboard the craft do not lack power at all.

3 Kroot Saboteurs - Ships loaded to the helm with explosives designed to ram ships and stations, a Kamikaze (Divine Wind) If I may.

5 Kroot Fighter Craft - Small and speedy craft designed for boarding but also a formidable dogfight foe.

10 Imperial Class Destroyers - Designed for taking out large craft, with boarding crew inside for eliminating drop troops. Detonators cover each craft to clear the way, but are not as powerful in their self-destruction as saboteurs.)

1 Space Recon Craft (Scoutship) - Light armed and the fastest in the Jouran fleets. Weak guns and landing troops.
That's my fleet of 20 craft.)

OOC: I have 8 capital ships, and around 100 small craft. Most of it came from the carrier that just jumped, and the rest from the capital ship's hangers. I'll tone it down, although if you read my factbook and do the math the numbers are accurate. I won't be posting for the next two weeks, sorry, so this thread will have to wait.

Of course, not everything that existed aeons ago is necessarily gone. Seven light hours out, a small orb with a glassy surface drifted. The system the Jouran ship is examining for signs of usable resources is one that has long ago been catalogued, stamped, filed and numbered, as part of the ongoing programme of one race to again re-establish a full real time map of the galaxy. This orb, about a meter across, is the result of that. It’s nothing special. Indeed, if one were to make a completely paranoid search, one would find that they were now sitting, in the cold, lonely fringes of over seventy percent of systems in the entire galaxy.

Needless to say, seventy billion meter wide drones weren’t exactly cheap. It was a major undertaking, even though every corner that could be cut while still allowing the drones to watch every system, and to repair themselves, and crumble to ash if captured, was cut. This drone, number 36,392,299,831, had been synthesised out of an asteroid, captured ten systems over. It had watched this system for signs of life for several decades, and seen nothing to excite it.

It was inert, almost completely, its waste power was a few ergs per second, practically less energy than an ant drifting in space would have released. Combined with its orbit, on the inside of the sytem’s Kuiper-belt-analogue.

Its tiny electronic mind now began to watch what had been happening hours ago. Sooner or later – probably later – it would notice the vessels, and tag them for the attention of its superiors. Maybe those vessels would be noted by, in time, a sapient being. Though it was unlikely that there would be much point, for by that time, the battle would likely be over by then…

OOC Sorry the Army kept me away for an extended period.

IC
The Hellfire had bolstered it's weapons and Kailen had a strong feeling his new allies were not to be trusted. He twisted his smile he knew he had learned everything he could from these pathetic heretic traitors. Now he would make them pay for their deeds. He grasped his blade and stared out across the bow. He then yelled his last orders, "Ready the Nova Cannons and all Lance batteries! I want them charged to full power! Have all fighters scramble on the decks! All boarding parties ready to launch! I will attend to the Chaos scum myself! Have transporters prepared for emergency evac from the enemy ship!" He opened up his vox to the Admiral, "You shall have our help Admiral now si our moment to strike the enemies of Chaos."

The Hellfire was a monster of a vessel with great weaponry it was twice the size of the venerable Battle Barge as was the case for any primarchial flagship. It's great form decloaked from behind the Desolation-class Battleship. The mighty ship was surrounded by fighters and the larger forms of shieldships. Kailen laughed and said, "All batteries open fire on the Chaos ship!"

(OOC: 'Think I'll butt in, if that's not a problem)

...why does Hefonfia deny the glory of chaos? Because it is afraid. Afraid that it will lose it's 'freedom' and 'sovergity' to the rightful ones. The fat businessmen and idiot priests that govern the country are fearful of anything powerful. The enemies of the past held powerful secrets, but when we gained them, they only acknowledged the existance of the weaker ones. They are fearful of change, of chaos, and because of that, they will rot...

The sound of feet walking on metal caused the reader of the book to immeadietly hide the book. The book was banned in Hefonfia, and the possession of it was a crime. It had been written by a Hefon, for Hefons, but the government hated the book. It was an interesting read, but the reader had to hide in steam tunnels to read it. He knew the nooks and crannies of the system, as he was the technician. But he had got so into the book, he had forgot that he actually had a job to do. And the feet on metal meant...

"...I'm in for a bollocking..."

He was grabbed by the shirt, pulled out of the tunnel and brought up to the face of the head mechanic.

"What happened to the job you were meant to do, eh? That the fourth damned time! Remember what I said last time? That one of these days, your skiving will cause us hell? Well guess what? The guidance system is broken. That means we're flying blind! We could end up in a black hole, a sun, a godsdamned war! And it's all your bloody fault! If anything happens, your going into the cells! I'm going to do it myself, now. Your on guard duty. Report to the armoury, get out of my sight. There's no godsdamned hope for you!"

The lizard squeezed into the hole, and the lesser mechanic watched with angst as he started to near his book's hiding place. He thought about what he would do - it would be the asylum or worse for him if the book was found.

"What's this?"

The head mechanic began to unveil the book, and angst was replaced by panic. All reason and common sense melted away as his superior began to flick though the book, wondering if it was what he feared. The lesser mechanic grabbed a hammer, and began to near the head mechanic...

Meanwhile, in the bridge, angst and nervousness also preveiled, abeit for different reasons. Namely, the ship was slowing down, but also nearing a battle that seemed to be starting. The order was given for all the guard to head to the armoury, and prepare for possible battle. The captain had his head in his hands - the ship was meant to be carrying weapons. The cannons on it could defend against pirates, but not heavy warships. It was, after all, a mere frigate. Reneforcements were avialible, but if the ship could pass by this battle unnoticed, they would not be needed. No messages were sent out. The only defense the ship had was hope.

Meer hope...

(OOC: My lot are reptilian aliens, strong and flexible skeletons and legs, spiney backs, dark coloured skin, red eyes, you know. I'm waiting for someone else to toss the first stone at me, be it in message form, boltery or hot plasmaly form.)

The vast majority of the galaxies systems are empty, featureless places that only harbor intelligent life if a ship passes through. Only in the composition of the stellar bodies pumping radiation into the surrounding void offered any true variation. Still, these areas were watched by a myriad of species using cheap machines in the form of probes limited to a single star in their range, or more specialized platforms that encompassed multiple systems. Orwell 121 was of the later type.

Thirty systems fit within a tight radii of traditional electromagnetic spectra and the more exotic tachyon bands. There was also a hysRADAR component but it had never been used in the irrational fear that such action would reveal the meter-wide probe's location. At current the hysRADAR was only used in special circumstances when the corporate overseer deigned the information to be of some importance. The bursts of information over the tachyon sensors that assailed the small machines mildly sophisticated sorting matrix fir the criteria perfectly.

Demetri Martin was the current corporate supervisor whose territory encompassed Orwell 121 among numerous other deep-space exploratory platforms. He was sitting at a desk made of expensive polymers meant to imitate the look and feel of antique wood from now long-forgotten forests. A thick haze swirled slowly under the low ceiling, emanating from Martin's thick cigar. The entire room smelled of loathsome smoke: From the thick beige carpet to the faux-wood walls and gene-modified plants that lined them, to myriad of furnishings that gave the room a very Victorian feel despite the advanced circuitry running around it.

He was moving through the motions of a hitherto uneventful day in the business world. He rifled through various reports so full of technical jargon from either a machine or a patterned tech that they were unintelligible gibberish to him; he signed off on requisition forms that did nothing but move capital around needlessly, and until the moment that the call came in that special circumstances had just arisen in the scanning area of one of the probes, he was simply lounging around in an office contained in a space station above the ice-moon of Delphus II some ten thousand lightyears away.

"The forces of disorder are at it again are they?" He grunted in disgust. The ruinous powers had a very unfavorable reputation in many parts of the universe, this was especially true in the Electronian Conglomerate, and doubly so with Demetri Martin.

"Aye, sir. Whatever the reason the forces of Chaos are gathering in this system and have initiated contact with other races." One of the multitude of techs said from behind his console on the other side of the station. He was communicating through the node, and though engineers far and wide noted the impossibility of conveying all the subtleties of social interaction through cyberspace without full immersion, he knew Demetri was pissed.

"Glory be then, not only are they near another race they are initiating friendly contacts! If we're lucky we might arrive just in time to be invited to the innocent little tea-party they're about to throw." The sarcasm dripped from his voice like a water fall. For reasons he never disclosed to anyone but the daemons inhabiting his own mind, the only thing that could unsettle this normally casual man was the slightest hint of Chaos festering within the material realm, his realm.

"Activate Force Paladin, sir?" The tech asked. The tone of his voice suggested that his question was of no more importance than a request to requisition more bandwidth to accommodate a flood of data pertaining to star formation in a galaxy billions of lightyears away. How detached they were.

"Do you even have to ask? Of course activate the Paladins! Good God man, that was the first thing you should have done once you realized what was actually going on from the data that little console of yours displayed. Activate them immediately. Now, now, now!" His voice boomed through the com-system. Everyone in the station knew that today was not going to be a normal business day.

--

You average soldier was only meant to do so much. There were times within the unknowable that the unnameable would appear and nothing the average soldier was capable of was sufficient to counter-act the threat. Chaos was one such unnameable force in a universe of infinite unnameable forces.

They would break the barrier between the immaterium and actuality, the barrier so many took for granted whenever they marveled at the seemingly peaceful starlit sky.

Daemons would descend upon unsuspecting worlds; entire fleets of corruption savaging their skies and scorching away civilization after innocent civilization, all materializing from those horrible aether storms that could encompass many lightyears of space, casting systems in a pale and malignant light.

Neighboring worlds saw their skies blighted by this otherworldly menace, whereas those farther away only noted the appearance of a new star of queer chroma now where it was not before.

And just as soon as they appeared to ravage the universe, they were gone. The storms would subside and the forces of chaos eventually retreat. Only an epithet of countless bodies heaped into mountain-sized piles, the mutilated carcass of once pristine worlds, and the free-floating husks of once mighty warships above them, remained as solemn warning of the fate of those caught in the cruel and uncaring gaze of forces beyond mortal comprehension from a world beyond the confines of sanity.

Many ignored the warnings, other never saw them. Others, however, took the warning seriously, and sought to avoid being ravaged by a largely unseen and nigh-wholly unknown threat, while also mitigating what damage it had already caused.

Through years of research and funding, the Conglomerate had finally built up a force specialized enough to combat the Chaos threat without risking its traditional military assets. It was known as Project Paladin after the overly-romanticized warriors of cultures and aeons long since passed.

Their ships were small, sleek, and agile beyond reckoning. Their hulls were imbued with powerful runes to nullify psychic attack and allow save travel through the immaterium if it was deigned necessary. Shields were designed to absorb and disperse the same foul energies of the Warp upon contact, whereas weapons were nothing more than psyker-nodes made to eradicate any and all presence of the warp from reality. Their ships were sword-shaped beasts meant to annihilate all trace of unworldly decay.

--

"Lord, we're one AU away from the combat zone, awaiting your orders." TacOps said. The message reverberated through the local cybernode as quickly as it had been thought, straight into the the relay of the SkyLord leading the ten-vessel task force.

"Good. Maintain distance and prepare weapons. I want the Shroud to have secondary power priority, even above the shields. Any chance at keeping reinforcements from arriving to aid our enemies is one I'm willing to take." Skylord Ouran replied just as quickly.

The ships had arrive almost in an instant, from the aether rails powered by the shadow of a burning red star. They traversed the highway of exotic energies and broken physics in mere seconds where it would have taken other ships days if not weeks.

Now they resided between that zone and reality, in a sublayer of the all-encompassing substance where they watched the hostilities in relative safety, waiting for moment to burn a terrible plague from existence.

(OOC - I've been away for a while, sorry.)

The Planet Eater craft prepared it's mighty guns and aimed them at the fleet of 800. If Heklohelm was right, he could take out half or more by shooting the centre with the main Evaporator extension cannon and finish the rest with his smaller, but still devestating, guns.

"Great Admiral, the enemy's new fleet has us worried. We are fair game with only twenty craft." One of his main advisors, Veshak, whispered into Heklohelm's ear.

"Are you kidding me, man? Our Imperial class Destroyer battleships can blow at least fifty ships out of the sky if we unleash the full cannons. And with the Planet Eater here, we are invincible." the Great Admiral replied, shouting it around the ship to highten already low morale.

"M'lord, this fight is getting way too huge. We are in an at least five-way firing squad, and several of the other craft have fleets of their own!" His radar operator called him.

"Vox recorder servitor 32682/AlF, what are the current treaties?" Heklohelm inquired to his trusty vox servitor, which was currently more machine than man.

"Processing data. Reopening current vox statements. Preparing initial download system. Process Complete. Shutting down Servitor 32682/AlF." The servitor replied, shutting off until further orders were recieved.

Heklohelm walked with his head held high and his chest puffed out, his hands behind his back and his greatsword in a sling across his left thigh. He arrived and looked at the data on the screen:

+++Current Treaty Information in War+++
Chaos Desolation - Neutral/Allied. Willing to grant ceasefire until leaving battle.

Hellfire, Imperial Craft - Neutral/Allied. Willing to assist but we have little information behind them.

Xiscapian Fleet - Neutral/Aggresive. Willing to open fire but not before our craft.

Unknown Race - Reptilian craft/fleet (From Radar transmissions) - Unknown, declared as Neutral.

Heklohelm scratched his stubble at the interesting information. No one was full agressive towards their fleet, yet they were all allied. For once, he was stumped as of what to do.

C'tan/Necron craft - (From Radar transmissions) - Unknown, declared as Aggresive due to past relations with the Necrontyr.


OOC: There is no craft. Not only is the probe not transmitting anything remotely like radar, it's so far away, that if it were, it would be many hours before you detected it. I can't even see what you're doing yet. The probe is entirely passive, like a telescope, not active, like radar. What's more, it's designed deliberately to minimise its emissions - it's considerably less visible than the background radiation from the big bang - and to obscure its origin. It's a glossy black sphere made out of some optical material, rather than the usual ominous looking pyramids and eldrich energies of necrontyr devices. Did I mention it's about the side of a man, curled up?

There is no chance in hell of picking it up, let alone when there's the rather more urgent matter of a battle on your hands...

(OOC - Sorry, was just trying to include everyone. I didn't fully understand yours. =(

OOC: Sorry, I've been away. I've edited my fleet numbers, I still have the same number of capital ships but greatly reduced small craft. The small craft numbers at 50 fighters, 10 gunboats, 4 frigates, 10 HAM, 20 LAM. My fleet now numbers a total of 102, with 8 capital ships and 94 small craft. Remember, I had a Carrier.
IC: The fleet hung in space. The damage to the capital ships was mostly fixed now, all ships were functioning at at least 85% capacity. The small craft was out in front, waiting. "I don't like this, there's too many diffrent ships involved." said the Admiral. She tossed her black hair out of her eyes. "Admiral, we can jump now." "Yes," mused the Admiral, "but we would have to turn our backs on these potentially hostile ships." Suddenly the sensors lit up. "Admiral, the Dratheria ship(s?) is opening fire on the Choas vessal! Shall we join in?" "Get a destroyer, two frigates, and 5 HAM and two Cruisers out there to fire upon the Choas ship! Cease fire only when said ship is destroyed or another ship opens hostile fire!" The Destroyer Unshakable, as well as the Cruisers Oath and Dark Star, and the frigates Too Late Now and the Eye, plus the five Heavy Assualt Mech glided forward and opened fire on the Choas ship.
OOC:
Annihilator Class Destroyer
A Annihilator Class Destroyer
Crew: 1,500 and 44 pilots
Armament: Four heavy guns, eight light guns, 70 AS guns.
Hangers (2): 6 Shuttles, 4 Combat Shuttles, 15 Fighters, 2 Gunboats, 1 Frigate
Role: Anti Capital ship, can also use it's light and heavy guns for planetary bombardment

Wasp Class Cruiser
A Wasp Class Cruiser
Crew: 400 and 51 pilots
Armament: Two Heavy Guns, 2 Light Guns, 20 AS guns, 20 Ion cannons.
Hangers (2): 2 Shuttles, 2 fighters, 15 LAM, 15 HAM
Role: Anti Frigate/fighter/gunboat

Destructor Class Frigate: (Max amount stored in hanger:5)
A Destructor Class Frigate
Crew: 3
Armament: Duel front blaster cannons, a missile launcher, a bottom and top turret
Hangers: None
Role: Anti frigate/fighter/gunship

Heavy Assault Mech: (HAM) (Max of 15 can be stored in a hanger)
Two HAM on the ground
2 missile boxes (16 missile tubes)
Duel arm laser cannons
knee/shoulder machine rail-guns
Lots of armor, light shields
Size of a tank
Crew: 2

OOC - I thought the admiral had red hair :P

Admiral Staticus prepared his ships cannon and communicated through voxcast to the Kroot ships at his command. As he recorded the vox, the icon glowed green that showed enemy weapons were powered and either firing or preparing too.
"uidodouiustz nyaon myah ustnyammuionlo nyaonlonyah."
A grunt from the Kroot Space Shapers answered his request. The Admiral ordered the scout to fire three blasts, a symbol of war and engaging the enemy. Staticus then prepared himself for the battle that would ensue, waiting for someone to make the next move.

OOC - You go next, I sorta lost track.

OOC: Well I can't really do anything until that Choas guy comes back. Oh, and her hair colors inexplecitly changed. Yeah. That'll work.

OOC: I think this died, if not, give me a TG.

OOC: I've been busy. Inevitably I will reply. And soon, too.

OOC: Erm...good. I'm just doing this to all the threads I think are dead.

OOC - I'm still here, the thread isn't dead, but the passion isn't really there :)

OOC: Maybe I can help with that, with a good old infusion of a race who likes to blow shit up. And a brewing fight is just the thing to attract them. =P If thats what you want of course.

OOC: I'd say go ahead, but Joura is the thread owner, so ask him. Personally I wouldn't mind another player to get this thing back on it's feet.

OOC - Anyone's welcome, I'd be glad to have more on-board. Mabye we will have to do some more diplomatics. Getting a tad complicated.

OOC: Well, we need our good buddies Dratheria and Chron to come back in order to get things going.

Also, Joura, what do you want in my entrance? Anything special or no?

OOC - Nothing in particular. Just do what you wish :)

The ship shook, rocking with countless impacts as shields flared and hull shuddered. Some injuries had been incurred, the hull scarred and dented by enemy fire in places, as the vessel spun to join formation with the Jourans.

"Enemy vessel detected. It dealt the most damage. Codified as Dratherian."

"Heathens and Xenos, all. Our way is clear, the Gods put the unworthy before us." Azimuth let a cold sneer cross his features. "Return fire, have the Jourans link up with us. Tell them...Never mind...I'll do it myself."



Jouran allies. Behold the treachery of the Corpse God's lapdogs! Behold the taint of the Xeno! Stand firm and fire, brethern, we shall not abandon you.

Azimuth grinned, hitting another button and swiftly switching channels, even as the gun-decks of the Chronosian vessel sent their howling wrath firing against the Dratherian filth.

"Heathen scum! Alien interlopers! Here me! I am Azimuth, Dark Apostle of Chaos Undivided. You have declared yourselves openly as enemies of the Chronosian Imperium, and so worthy of nothing but destruction.

I give you this chance to flee, to run and cower before the might of Mankind's purity descends upon you! Snivelling Dratherian filth, your time will come...You hide in the shadows and strike like traitors and cowards, worthy of the legacy of fools and sycophants!

Alien fools, you are nothing but inferior before the true sons of Man! The Gods have chosen us to purify this Universe of your taint, to cleanse the very stars of your corruption. Bow before the glory of Chaos, or falter before the might of Mankind!

You are each debased and inferior by your very existence, not like these Jourans who see the purpose and the determination needed to usher in Man's Golden Age. Even if you destroy us, you will only bring about your end...The deaths of the servants of Chaos do not go unpunished by our brothers, and they are Legion."

Originally Posted by Chronosia:
Alien fools, you are nothing but inferior before the true sons of Man! The Gods have chosen us to purify this Universe of your taint, to cleanse the very stars of your corruption. Bow before the glory of Chaos, or falter before the might of Mankind!
The Admiral bared her teeth. "Inferior are we? Give them another salvo! Fire!" The Destroyer Fallen Hero and the Cruisers Rendezvous and Smite opened fire on the Chronosian vessal. With a combined eight Heavy Guns and twelve Light Guns, which were made specifically to destroy capital ships, the laser beams now traveling faster then the speed of light should do huge damage to their target.

Staticus listened as the vox came through, feeling encouraged that the Chaos would be happy to stand by him. A sudden thought came to his mind.

Why, after all of these years of my service, do I only now see the Emperor's treachery? Why is it that this whole time I have stood idly by whilst he destroyed the Imperium from within? But then, Chaos is still not the path to true power. I will rule as a human, not some filth. Yet our mutual friendship shall not be denied...

The Admiral's thoughts were interrupted by one of the gunners yelling to the crew. Apparently, the Xiscapians and the Chaos vessels were firing upon one another. To confirm the shouting, Staticus looked out and sure enough a bright light blasted from the Xiscapian craft.

"Vox! Activate!" The now sweating Admiral yelled at the computer. A familiar beeping message returned with a soft voice, "Ready to record. Please set target destination. Maximum limit of 500 words. Maximum distance of vox -"
Staticus cut out the automated voice and began the vox.

"Chaos vessel. If you recieve this transmission after the barrage from the filthy Xiscapians, we thank you for helping us see the light. Staticus out."

The hurried footsteps of an Imperial Priest coming towards him echoed in the ship, which was drenched in red light. It continued to glow on and off, make an irritating strobe effect.

"Priest, have you heard the voxes?" Staticus asked it, his fingers running over the gun at his belt.

"You had no right to say them things. You have been tainted! The Emperor is not to be betraye-" The priest stopped short as Staticus raised his las pistol, the barrel of the gun centimetres away from the man's head.

"You have been lied to your whole life. You chose this position to preach the truth, the word that will bring humanity back to supreme power like it was before any of us were born. So, do you continue your job in the correct way, or do you serve the false Emperor?" Staticus snarled at the man, and all the crew stopped to watch the event unfurl.

"I will serve my leader as I always have. The one true Empero-"

BANG!

The red charge smashed into the man's nose in mid sentence, his head exploding in a spray of red. The blood spilled down his robe and onto the many tomes and scrolls he wore so proudly. It splashed onto the ground as the man tipped slightly back, and then fell fully to the ground with a bang.

All of the watching officers turned back to their various jobs in the ship as the man lay their, only his neck now visible. His brains were splattered all over the steel.

Staticus grunted and shouted,
"Back to your stations, everyone, lest this be your fate. Gunners - send the word to the fleet. I want everyone to fire upon the Xiscapian front ranks. I want the sky to be filled with the lights."

A few people hurried around and talked softly as the weapons were powered up and the messages sent to the rest of the craft in the fleet.

The hundreds of guns on the Destroyer's flashed in the sky, clearing up the hunks of metal space junk floating in space. The Planet Eater, taking a long time to power up its guns, started the spinning turbine at the front of the ship which would soon blast its deadly beam of bio chemicals, designed to eat away any material in front of it.

"What is it that Orks say? Oh, yes. Dakka dakka dakka." Staticus chuckled to himself quietly as the rest of the crew hurried around the ship.

The Hefonfian continued to pass the battle, hoping that it wouldn't be spotted.

On the bridge, a message that had got through from one of the enemy's leaders had found itself on the captain's screen.

"What the hell is a Dark Apostle of Chaos Undivided?"

"Sound's like someone important to me."

"I swear they usually call themselves captains."

"And it looks like they're going to attack us"

The captain looked back at the message again, then turned to say his response.

"They mean that other ship. We've got a trio of human ships, and one alien ship. They can't be meaning us. We haven't even made ourselves known yet..."

"Well, the guards are mobilised.They stand at the ready, as do the cannons. All we can do is hope that they'll ignore us..."

* * *

The mechanic watched as the lifeless body lay there, bleeding into the nooks and crannies of the steam tunnel. The book, for the moment, was safe.

But what to do about the body?

The body was pulled further into the tunnel, and dragged it until he found the most inconspicuous place he could find. The blood trail would evaporate soon. But the eyes stared at the mechanic, accusingly, haunting all the way. He might have been dead, but it was as if his soul was there, mocking and tormenting him. It was his first kill. It could have been a soft blood bag from miles away, but no. It had to been one of his own.

The Strangest thing of all, however, was that, in a very small way, it felt...good. The person he had despised for so long was dead, never to bother him again. The person who locked him in a locker, lashed him, embarrassed and blackmailed him was dead. And the more he felt about it, the better he felt. He wondered if this feeling was catalogued in the book, so he quickly picked it up, and furiously flicked through the pages to find the relevant page...

The mechanic's name was Iskwaeld. And unknown to the staff on the bridge, he had just committed his first murder...

OOC: Um, no one's actually fired on me yet. :/ My fleet is fairly far away, out of range of most weaponry. Only the Cruisers and the Destroyer have actually been sent into battle.

(OOC - Blast! (Hehehe, puns.) Oh, well, I'm firing upon those in your fronter ranks. And Weccanfeld, brilliant intro. Humorous at the least :))

The mighty ship rocked with the impact of the enemy assault. Kailen looked at a servitor and said, "Damage report!?" The servitor frantically replied, "Shields are down to 80%. Everything else seems to be stable."

The amassing Xenos filth were more of a threat to him than these foul traitors. He looked out across his prow and commanded his vessel with the force and authority of a son of the Emperor, "Target the Xenos filth they are a much larger threat. Arm the Nova Cannons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Navy_%28Warhammer_40%2C000%29#Offensive_Weaponry) and fix target! Lance batteries (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Navy_%28Warhammer_40%2C000%29#Offensive_Weaponry) to full power I want full weapons fired at those Xenos bastards! They dare to infest the stars with their filth and try to take what rightfully belongs to the sons of man!!!" The anger visibly surging through his body would strike fear in the heart of any man. First Captain Telkor spoke to him, "My lord what should we do about the traitorous Jourans?" Kailen spoke with malice in his voice, "We will deal with those heretic bastards in short enough time." All at once the gothic vessel shook as the mighty weapons and crenelated turrets of the vessel lit up the space between the battleship and the Xenos fleet with holy fire.

Slowly a smile crept across Kailen's demonic face, "Call in any Imperial reinforcements in the area so that we may cleanse the stars."

The scout ships, hidden in cloak, numbered three light cruisers. Although not heavily armored, they were literally impossible to detect with their drives down. As it was, one scout ship turned it's engines on, and prepared to transit to it's home system, where the information it had just recorded would be analyzed. Already, a massive fleet was being summoned from Home Hive Three, and would be in that system in three days.

These new Enemies would be a problem, but the doctrine would not change. These Enemies must be wiped out, for any other intelligent species in the galaxy posed a threat to the survival of the Order, and any threats must be neutralized.

The other two scout ships stayed in position with their drives down. No effort would be made in contacting the Enemies ships - it would only give away the ship's positions. For the time being, the scout ships would watch and wait as the Enemies fought each other. So much the better.

- - - - -

Twenty super dreadnoughts, ten monitors, and seven assault carriers ground their way from Home Hive Three. After two days of system checks, the flotilla was ready to move out. Their job was to clear the way for the real Fleet, which consisted of thirty battle cruisers, seventeen super dreadnoughts, ten monitors, two fleet carriers and nine assault carriers. Additionally, thirteen battle tugs would shuttle twenty six Orbital Weapons Platforms to the system 'closest' to the Enemies battleground system. It was a powerful force, yet it had not be re-equipped with the newly made v3 weapon systems. However, in turn, the carriers were shuttling over fifty kamikaze craft loaded with antimatter and nuclear weapons.

The fleet would be ready in two additional days. The advance flotilla would transit to the Order controlled system that held one picket unit and await word from the pickets. Then, they would rush the Enemies and distract them long enough for the real Fleet to show up.

OOC: Bloody hell, I'm being ganged up on!
IC: "Jourans firing! Prepare advasive menuve-" A blast rocked the Cruiser as the enemy's shot struck it's forward shields. More shots flew at and past the Cruisers and Destroyer. The two frigates engaged the 3 Kroot Saboteurs and the 5 HAM flew towards the Jouran Kroot Fighter Craft. As the Cruisers and Destroyer recovered from the attack, they turned and opened fire on the Planet Eater ship. The 10 Gunboats, 50 Fighters, the other 5 HAM, 20 LAM, and the other two frigates left in the fleet zoomed out from behind the fleet and began towards the Jouran craft. Once the Saboteurs and Fighters were destroyed they would attack the Planet Eater ship.
Capital Ship Status:
1st Cruiser= 50% shield damage (took the brunt of the fire)
2ed Cruiser= 12% shield damage
1st Destroyer= 7% shield damage
OOC: I'm at a disadvantage. My fleet has only 8 Capital ships. The Jouran fleet alone has 11, Choas has 1, and the Dratherians have 1, making a total of 13 enemy capital ships, not to mention the Jouran small craft which my small craft are trying to destroy. Also, my fleet thinks the Dratherians are friendly, which clearly opens them to a surprise attack by the suddenly hostile fleet.

OOC: The Dratherians are basically me, but not tainted. They're xenophobic and zealous :D

IC:

You have our thanks, brothers. Your eyes are opened to the hypocrisy of the False Emperor, to the lies that wreathe loyalist dogs like the Dratherians. There can be but one fate for them. Death. Cleanse them from the stars and the Imperium shall be at your side, we shall gift you with wonders lost to you for so long, glories from the Imperium of old.

"We are entering formation with the Jourans."

"Excellent. Enter into a firing pattern, aid them in defending their more essential craft. Have the astropathic dispatches been sent?"

"Yes, Apostle." The Admiral bowed his head, clearly cowed by this devoted figure, his armour aglow with the zealous purity of his wrath. "Astropathic dispatches have been sent to the Imperium, requesting reinforcements and codifying our new...Acquaintences."

"Xenos Horribilis, Hereticus Diabolus and a new set of allies? Good. Rather pleasing. Concentrate lance fire on their more formidible vessels. Torpedoes should be kept steady and primary Warp Cannons ready to fire. These filth will not dwell long within our grasp. The stars and all worlds about them belong to Man. It is the manifest destiny of Humankind to purify this tainted realm, and make it ready for the Gods"

The vessel pounded forth with cleansing fire, their weapons roaring in righteous discharge as they trained themselves upon the alien fleet that opposed them, ready to show them the cold edge of human cruelty. There were few among the stars as obsessed with human dominance than the Chronosians, an ideal shared by those who they would now call friends and enemies. But it was the Chronosians who now brought their own howling fury forth, to cleanse the despoilers from the stars.

"Chronosian vessal entering Jouran fleet formation. Appear to be allied." "Damn them! Send a message to Command to update them on this new turn of events, and get them to relay a message asking the Alversians for help." "Yes Admiral." The Admiral turned and gazed out the viewport into the depths of space. The battle raged far from them, most of the fleet having moved away from the area once hostilities were shown. The two Cruisers, the Destroyer, and the small craft still fought on...

The Xiscapian Cruiser Oath...
"Sir, massive energy readings are showing up on our scanners from the Choas vessal!" "Weapons fireing!" The Cruiser fired all of it's guns at the Choas ship. But then the weapon fire reached it, destroying it's shields and damaging it's hull. "Damage report!" "Shields are down to 5%, engine one destroyed, 1 Light Gun destroyed, moderate hull damage, we're leaking atmoshpere." "Pull out. We cannot afford the loss of this ship." The Cruiser, nearly crippled by enemy fire, did something many ships could not do. It moved backwards. Thrusters in the front of the ship fired and the ship shot back, facing the enemy the whole time. It flew desperatly to get to a clear area to hyperspace jump. The remaining Crusier and Destroyer had taken only light damage, and fired another salvo at the Choas vessal. In the Jouran fleet the smal craft continued to attack.

The flotilla transited to the battleground site, and immediately all ships went to cloak. Normally, all of the ships would have transited together, but the Order did not want this flotilla to be observed. So, with their drives down, they watched...and waited. With the intelligence from the other two pickets still coming to them, they'd be able to wipe clean these invaders from this sector. Then, it would be reinforced with the Orbital Weapons Platforms currently en route to the system.

Using 5% power, the bug flotilla moved towards the Enemies.

OOC: I have ten capital ships (I call them monitors), twenty super dreadnoughts, and seven assault carriers (each hold fifteen fighters) in this flotilla.

(OOC: Mind if I join this on Xiscapia's side?)

The Alversian Frigate APS Appearance jumped into the middle of the Xiscapian main fleet. The ship was dwarfed by the larger Xiscapian Battleships.

Aboard, Captain Tony Cavourna peered out over the bridge at the assembled Xiscapian warships "What the...?" he asked himself as he touched the earpiece on his left cheek "Bridge? Get me the Pride of Emperor! I need to talk to the Admiral" he waited while his order was confirmed. He leant on the railings on the bridge and stared at the distant battle.

Kailen smiled as the bastion that was his vessel let loose more vollies of holy fire to cleanse the stars. They would learn that this mighty vessel was to be feared over many in the Imperium as it closed the distance between the foul xenos fleet more fire would lick at the enemy shields as it let loose another volley from it's mighty Nova Cannons. Most vessels could only hope to mount one but such was the ingenuity of the Adeptus Mechanicus that they designed the Nova Battle Barge of which there were eight in exsistence. The mighty flagships of the Imperium. He looked out across the prow and let loose a ferocious howl that would shriek across the warp into the minds of his enemies filling them with horrible dread and fear. He looked down at his sword and his clawed hands and turned with majesty. He looked as a servitor announced a Warp incursion.

Like blades cutting themselves free from the warp's dark embrace came mighty vessels of the Emperor's glory. One Battle Barge, three Strike Cruisers, three Apocalypse-class Battleships, one Nemesis-class Fleet Carrier, two Victory-class Battleships, two Retribution-class Battlships, four Armageddeon-class Battlecruisers, five Orion-class Battlecruisers, three Mars-class Battlecruisers, one Dominator-class Cruiser, one Firestorm-class Cruiser, eight Defiant-class Light Cruisers, fifteen Viper-class Missile Destroyers, and eight Cobra-class Destroyers. The fleet assembled here was the 12th Expedition Force. The very force under the command of Kailen in his Crusades against the foul Xenos and traitorous Legions that dared to assail the rightful stars of Man. He looked out across the bow of his ship as the flotilla rendezvoused with his own. Each vessel was personally picked by him to be armed to the teeth. He looked out across at the enemy fleet and a cruel smile passed his lips, "All vessels target the Xenos threat and fire all weapons!"

OOC Overall weapons fired was 52 Lances, 11 Nova Cannons, and a shit ton of other fire including torpedoes were fired on the Xiscapian forces. Btw Nova Cannons are rather long ranged weapons so they can attack your further back ships.

The flotilla was near the battle when the command went out to halt all movement. It was then that sensors picked up yet another ship that had come to the aid of the outnumbered Enemy. If any of the beings aboard the ships felt emotions, then they probably would have pitied the smaller Enemy fleet. However, all they felt was the need to serve the Order. As it was, they hoped that by the time this was over, all the flotilla would have to do was take on one damaged remaining enemy.

OOC: Holy Fuck, 58 of your ships vs. 8 of mine and some small craft? Can you say massive overkill? :rolleyes:
IC: The screen on the Pride of the Empire flickered to life. The Admiral was on an encrypted, tight-beam transmission to the APS Appearance. "Captain," she said respectfully, bowing low "I am Admiral Greer, Head of the 3rd Exploritory fleet. We've run into some trouble here, and all ships are to be considered hostile-" Suddenly the Admirals faced contorted in pain and she grabbed the sides of her head. "Aruggh!" Behind her one of the Bridge Officers (BO) fell to the floor, unconciouss. "Move...the fleet...away..." growled the Admiral. The fleet began to turn, but as it did so fire from the Nova Cannons began to reach it. A Battleship took massive damage and exploded before the crew could escape. Fire pounded the other ships shields as they micro jumped.

The Oath...
"Oh shit-" these were the last words to ever leave the Captain's mouth as he, his ship, and all those ships around him were obliterated by the massive amount of weapons fire. Only 2 LAM and a fighter escaped the blast, suiciding into the side of the main Choas ship.

Space, coordinates 10096437...
What remained of the 3rd Exploritory Fleet floated in the system. 1 Destroyer, 1 Battleship, 2 Cruisers, and 3 Frigates. Every ship had been damaged. On the Pride of the Empire the Admiral got shakely to her feet. "They'll be coming after us." she said softly.

OOC: Ah, didn't see your reply. Sorry.

Kailen smiled his demonic fangs showing through his wide smile. He licked his lips and watched as the Xenos made their cowardly escape. He laughed cruelly, "Keep a fix on the scum's location we will finish them later for now let us deal with these heretics." He looked back across his shoulder with a cunning look in his eye, "Have all ships emit tachyon pulses unless the Eldar are out there then we should discover any cowardly xenos filth that decided to stay behind and hide in cloak." He then looked at his crew and said, "Lock onto the Traitor vessels and prepare to open fire." He opened a vox to the traitorous Jourans,

You fools dare turn away from the true glory of the Emperor. You sicken me and if you do not immediately repent I will cleanse the stars of you and your kind as well. Along with my dispatch for my Expedition force I also sent a message to the Imperium calling for more forces to destroy you who have turned from the Emperor's Light.

OOC: My tachyon pulse is kind of an FT SONAR.

Staticus paced, watching the thousands of pieces of metal shredding through space at an amazing rate, denting the other ships. The explosion shuddered the craft. He watched as one of his sabetours was destroyed in a mighty bang, taking down two Kroot fighter craft in the blast. Staticus shook his head.

"Techmarine." Staticus inquired, still looking at the bright lights that were traversing the space and destroying the ships. The newly-arriving fleets from other areas of the Imperium and beyond were not yet firing. It was incredibly lucky that they had not been destroyed in cross-fire.

"Reporting, Admiral." The metallic voice responded as the mutant human with hydraulic legs hobbled up to him. The servo-needles on the techmarine's arms were whirring loudly and rotating.

"I need a damage report. On all ships. And status on our Planet Eater. Hurry."
"Please wait, Admiral. The processing will be completed within twelve seconds." It replied automatically.

Staticus, looking around the craft, smiled. Things were going quite well, from what he could see. He just needed to hear the proof -

BOOM!

The ship shuddered as a section of the hull was blown out. The roar of fires was evident and marines hurried to repair the ship. If Staticus had of remained looking through the control window, he would have seen the shard of flaming metal hurtling towards the Recon ship.

"Processing completed:
Capital Destroyers: One destroyed. Two operating at 50%, one with destroyed gunner turrets.
Saboteurs: Two remaining. One suffering severe damage.
Fighters: Two remaining. One requesting landing on Destroyer Sepith.
Scout Craft: Blown hull. Damage critical. Decision pending for landing.
Planet Eater: 99% operation. Guns ready for fire. No repairs neccessary. Minimal damage from cross-fire."

"Thankyou, techmarine. The Xiscapians have retreated out of range. Hmm. Fighters and sabetours, turn around and engage small fighters of the Imperial fleet. Destroyers, fire upon any hostile. Planet Eater, await my command."

Kor'O Ki'num, commander of the Kin'ui'tah, a Kir'quath class starship, paced impatiently across the bridge. Perhaps 'paced' was the wrong word - Ki'num simply moved impatiently. For the Kin'ui'tah was not a vessel designed to survive such a thing as a warp storm - and a mighty warp storm it had been indeed, to blow them so off-course. He and a contingent of Fire Warriors had been headed for the colony world of Kae'la, as a minor Ork infestation had broken out there. Their ship was to provide fire support and a Manta destroyer to aid the troops there. however, the Manta had been lost, and the Kin'ui'tah was far, far off-course. Tau ships that were blown this far into the Immaterium rarely returned, or survived.

However, he ensured upon re-entry to realspace, he would be capable of jumping out, should he encounter hostile forces.

With that, the ship abruptly left the Immaterium, lurching and throwing him about, as realspace reasserted itself.

"Sensors, Kor'vre Uin'ra", he shouted, and, within a scant few seconds, the worst appeared onscreen. Flotillas. Fleets. Many, many ships. And, by the looks of it, an inhabited world. For the Greater Good, such a force must never reach the Tau Empire, he knew. Perhaps they were not hostile, yet experiences in space had led him to believe the worst.

"Kor'Ui Shal'Tar, kindly open a communications link with all fleets in the area. Kor'vre In'fell, prepare the warp engines for transit. We will escape to a nearby star, and hope that we are not followed, should these new creatures turn out to be hostile."

Lastly, finally, the message was sent. Not to inform these new creatures of who the Tau were - but to ask the new creatures who they were. Extreme caution was required.

Greetings, creatures of space. I am Kor'O Ki'num, commander of this vessel. Forgive my forwardness, but, may I ask, who are you?

"Good God, man, what do you mean you don't have a twin-exhaust connector? Johan, get me some grease up here. Crap, this fluid is leaking all over the floor. If something sparks we're all gone! Hurry up with the grease Johan!" Keata, the mechanic, shouted at the other mechanics who were running around looking for pieces of equipment and repairing the damage to the ship.

"I have it here, Keata," Johan handed the jar of grease to Keata.
"Ah! Yes! I have done it!" Another mechanic at the end of a pipe shouted in victory as the engines were repaired. A spark leapt out, hitting the fluid all over Keata. He burst into flames and yelled in excruciating pain as he ran away. An Apothecary ran up to him and began putting him out with a white mist and tending to his wounds.

"Staticus, we have a vox. Chor oh keenus or something like that." A vox operator yelled out, repeating the name to himself trying to get it right.
"Wait, yes, it's Kor'O Ki'num. Sounds alien, might be Tau."

"Great. More xenos in the fray. Prepare a response." Staticus replied, putting on a deep voice for his response.

"Kor'O Ki'num, I am Jouran Admiral Staticus. Our fleet here is in dire straits - we are faced on all sides by attackers.Who are you, and more importantly, are you with us, or against?"

"Immaterium readings are high, Kor'O Ki'num. I suspect some of those vessels may follow the Ruinous Powers."

Ki'num cursed under his breath. He could not - would not risk a meeting with such powers here and now. His ship contained astrogational data that could not be lost.

"Kor'vre In'fell, is the warp drive prepared for transit?"

The kor'vre looked up from her frantic manipulation of controls only to shake her head briefly. "No, Kor'O. A little longer is all that I need. Provided we are not engaged in the next five minutes, we should be fine."

"Good. Work harder. Kor'Ui Shal'Tar, prepare a message to go to these humans. As they have not yet declared us 'xenos', or desire to exterminate us, I feel contact can be made. Nonetheless, they are under attack from multiple sides, and a few squads of Fire Warriors as well as this ship will hardly change their position any."

I am a member of the Tau Empire, and serve the Greater Good. This ship was designated to aid a world currently infested with Orks, however, due to a warp storm intercepting our ship, we have been blown far off course. We managed to exit the Immaterium here, and are currently investigating our situation. Our ship is incapable of combating the level of forces we have seen here, thus, we are presently on no side, and preparing to exit the system. If you would care to brief us on the situation, we may decide to change our affiliation.

"Our Jouran Scout Recon craft was scouting the area, looking for resource deposits. Being quite far away from Joura now, I do not fear for the planet, but I believe our fleet may be crushed. The Xiscapians, another xenos like your kind, have retreated out of range of even out most powerful arsenal. The Imperial forces of Dratheria stand hostile towards me and as I speak out fighter ships are preparing to engage. We have aligned with the Ruinous Powers of Chaos, for the time being. We are willing to have you at peace if you agree to assist us, or are you yet another enemy we are to destroy?"

Staticus replied in a vox to the Tau.

Enemy fire licked at his vessels and the felt the impacts on their shields but still no craft was destroyed. Kailen turned a furious psychic roar on the admiral one that would attack his very mind. He laughed aloud and said, "All fighter units deploy. I knew that Fleet Carrier was good for something." He gripped his blade and looked out across his prow drawing the sword from it's hilt. He smiled cruelly again, "Aim all guns at the Planet Eater such a powerful weapon must be stopped. Aim for it's main weapon if we can't outright kill it then we can at least cripple it!"

Lances struck out in a bright crimson to attack the traitorous fleet and the mighty Nova Cannons recoiled against ancient engines balls of bright blue that would cleanse heretics.

A flurry of activity appeared on the bridge. It was a panic, of sorts. The fear was confirmed. The Ruinous Powers were here, and in force. Though the Tau had less to fear from Chaos than many races, there was still a great deal of hostility and distrust. Chaos exemplified the individiual - pleasure, and pain, bloodlust and taking whatever one could, a direct and stark contrast to the Greater Good.

No, they could not stay here. The longer they stayed, the longer they risked discovery by the Ruinous Powers, the longer they risked being chased to the Empire. Though the Empire was mighty - large, encompassing many systems and worlds, with thousands of ships, and millions of warriors at its command, an attack would be quite dangerous, and could possibly compromise the still-being secured Third Expansion Sphere.

Ki'num looked at In'fell, and spoke. "Kor'vre In'fell, kindly begin preparing the gravitic drive to move us further out-system. I do not intend to be caught in the crossfire between what appears to be Imperial and Ruinous forces, nor do I intend to be in their firing range. We cannot offer our services to those who would align themselves with the Ruinous Powers.

Unfortunately, although we would offer our assistance against the Imperials, we are not willing to aid those who have aligned themselves with the Ruinous Powers, who stand in direct opposition to the Greater Good. We are willing to land on your homeworld, and discuss the matters with your leader - we have a Water Caste diplomat aboard who will be more than capable of doing this. However, we are unwilling to put our craft in the firing line for those who serve Chaos, and would betray us as soon as we had fought for them.

Cavourna cursed the Xiscapian message. The Appearance was an A-Class Frigate, only useful for scouting or escort work. This kind of fleet action was out of their depth "Follow the Xiscapian Fleet!" he ordered to the two Ensigns working the consoles below his platform. The ship immediately turned and jumped to the last location of the Xiscapian fleet. Once it was confirmed that all enemy vessels were out of range, Cavourna put the crew on Green Alert and signalled the Xiscapians again "This is Captain Cavourna, what damage have you suffered?" he was hoping to broadcast to the Alversian fleet nearby to send reinforcements, but he couldn't hope for much.

The Fleet turned back. Instead of fighting new, fresh Enemies, it had decided upon a rather different course. The picket force remained in the system, cloaked, as well as a new ship that the Order had thought up.

The new ship, called the tracker, would release fifteen fighters laden with decoy missiles to 'attack' the Enemy ships. Meanwhile, while the fighters distracted the ships, the probes attack to the underbellies of the fighters would disengage themselves from the fighters and attach themselves to the Enemies' ships. Every day, they would then send their coordinates and other astrogation data to the Order.

It was deemed that within weeks, the Order would know the location of the Enemies main star system. Then, the Fleet would transit there and wipe clean anything that was there. It was as the old saying goes: Cut off the head of the snake, and the body dies.

Cavourna cursed the Xiscapian message. The Appearance was an A-Class Frigate, only useful for scouting or escort work. This kind of fleet action was out of their depth "Follow the Xiscapian Fleet!" he ordered to the two Ensigns working the consoles below his platform. The ship immediately turned and jumped to the last location of the Xiscapian fleet. Once it was confirmed that all enemy vessels were out of range, Cavourna put the crew on Green Alert and signalled the Xiscapians again "This is Captain Cavourna, what damage have you suffered?" he was hoping to broadcast to the Alversian fleet nearby to send reinforcements, but he couldn't hope for much.
Order was being restored to the fleet. Repairs were being made, the wounded were being treated, and the comm units were back online. The Admiral sent a message back.
Transmission:
We have suffered light-moderate damage. Fortunatly for us, we were able to get out of range before most of the fire hit us. However, we lost all our small craft except for shuttles, a Destroyer and three Cruisers. We would normally now cut our losses and run, but the cowardly minions of Chaos must be disposed of. As soon as repairs have been completed we will jump back into battle. What fleet do you originate from? We know this is not your fight, but could you at least spare some fighter? Any help would be greatly appreachiated.
OOC: EDIT: sorry, sorry, Chaos

Ooc: Chaos!

Kailen smirked as the fighters came up on them to attack. He cared not if they attacked they were by far outnumbered by his fighters. He simply looked at them through the viewport his Primarchial phisiology making them easy to pick out from amongst the stars. He stared as they closed in on his ships in odd flight formations and he knew what it was instantly. A tactic used before by many races. A diversion tactic of course but considering their distributing amongst the ships he reasoned they must be trying to plant homing devices. Well he cared not if the followed his ships back to their home system they'd be in for a hell of a fight. Without even looking back he said, "Ships lock onto the incoming xenos fighters and blast them from the stars!" At once hundreds of anti-fighter and bomber weapons turned on the fighters with the complete intent of cleansing their filth.

The Fleet was ... surprised, to say the least. That the Enemy would so vehemently try to stop the fighters was no surprise - the fighters had been traveling in standard formation, but with the volume of anti-fighter fire coming from those ships, none had survived - but what was the surprise is how stupid the Enemy could be. Of course, they did not see it like the Fleet did. The Enemy still didn't know about the other surprise that was in store for them if they lingered in the system.

The Fleet briefly wondered if they should try to attack the Enemy fleet. No doubt, they had the Enemy outnumbered. Alas, the Order had new orders for the Fleet.

And so the picket force remained in-system, cloaked and with their drives down. This time, however, it was joined by three battle cruisers. The Enemy would be hassled with hit-and-run attacks. This would allow the Fleet to complete their new orders and then attack the Enemy fleet.

The picket force waited and watched.

Kailen smirked as the pitiful fighters were wiped from the stars. He looked at the HUD in front of his eyes. The tachyon pulse had done it's job he knew what he was dealing with now. However for now this new.......threat wasn't a danger at all. Now he must deal with the Jourans and their traitorous ways. The ships let loose another mighty barrage and he laughed with bloodlust in his eyes this was what he lived for glorious battle. He looked behind him at his two Vanus and three Venenum Assassins. Laughing he said, "Prepare boarding parties!"

Unknown Star System

The Fleet finished launching it's nuclear missiles at the once life bearing planet. The Order had first found these Enemies when a probe being sent back to one of the Home Hives was caught in a black hole and ended up in this system. The information it sent back to the Home Hive showed that this new Enemy was still in the process of developing projectile weapons. And so, the Order ordered that this system be cleansed free of the Enemies.

The Fleet turned and transited back to where the system was that held the picket force. Perhaps they could make it back in time to cleanse that system as well.

OOC: Dratheria, this isn't my "nations" fleet. I don't have one yet. Could I perhaps "make" my fleet as a sub group of yours? Like my nation is a satellite or protectorate of yours.

OOC Umm prolly not and I'm sure almost definitely not 1. Your Xenos the IoM does not deal with Xenos they purge them. 2. I have never met you before in NS or anything for that matter. 3. My Primarch is really just an evil sadistic son of a bitch.

OOC: Alright. Doesn't matter to me, I just need something to start from =D

Staticus leaned back as his fighters were obliterated by the fighters coming out of the Dratherian transport. A barrage of the Dratherian fire also came, the lights temporarily blinding the Admiral.

BOOM! A destroyer was blown in half, and the fronter part of the hull was sent hurtling into space. Men flew out, covered in blood and cut to shreds. Another volley destroyed the front half as it blocked the fire that would surely have killed the admiral and the Scout Recon craft he was aboard. With his eyes in a purple-yellow blotched effect, through the glass he saw a chunk of metal flying at an amazing rate towards the glass. He sprinted to the far end, his sword and armour clunking as he sprinted.

Bang! The glass shattered as the projectile impacted, the ship now leaking precious oxygen. The mechanics, taking a well-deserved rest after repairing the other damaged area, fumbled with equipment as they ran to repair the hole in the ship. Staticus brushed off rubble as he stood up and watched the ship being repaired.

"Come about. We are going to land on the Planet Eater. Techmarine, give me the damage report fully updated. I need to find out how that barrage effected us. I want to get everyone the hell off this ship and onto somewhere a little safer than this tiny piece of crap." Staticus yelled at the crew. The hole was almost fixed and more oxygen was being pumped into the air to ensure the crew could operate at maximum capacity.

"Damage report:
Capital Destroyers: Two destroyed. Two operating at 50%, one with destroyed gunner turrets, One operating at 75% efficiency.
Saboteurs: Two remaining. One suffering severe damage, fires burning. The saboteur is now flying into the fray to avoid more self-damage.
Fighters: Destroyed. 50% of crew of the fighter requesting landing on Destroyer Sepirith safe.
Scout Craft: Blown hull. Damaged observation deck. Damage critical. Landing neccessary.
Planet Eater: 84% operation. Guns ready for fire. Repairs underway. Destroyer turrets firing on attacking craft."

Just as the techmarine finished the report, the docking passage had been connected to the Planet Eater. Just as Staticus and ten other crew members had safely stepped off the ship, a fire caught on board. The Admiral would never forget seeing men he had worked with from since he was a young boy burning alive. It was horrible beyond words.

Just as he stepped off, he came face to face with Faqshuar Heklohelm.
"So, Staticus. What is this I hear about your heretical actions against the Imperium?" He inquired.

"I spoke nothing but the light that now comes to my eyes. Fire upon the Dratherians with everything we have got - yes, the Planet Eater. I've taken down armadas of a thousand with a single blast from that gun. I would hate the think what would happen to a fairly small one, like this." Staticus grinned as he spoke the words. It was finally going to happen - the blast of a century. The Unforgivable weapon - the Planet Eater Bio-chemical blast.

The blast lashed into the fleet destroying two Armageddon-class Battleships and three Defiant-class Cruisers in a blinding flash of light. Kailen yelled in fury as the data flowing in listed that multiple vessels had also been damaged by the weapons blast. He looked at the Planet Eater and made commands, "I want the Hellfire moved to the port side of the Planet Eater. Have Captain Orin bring his Marines to the ready and have him pull up on the starboard side. We're going to board that horrid monstrosity!"

The violet and green ships pulled their massive girth to either side of the Planet Eater. Kailen yelled over the vox, "All broadside weapons open fire!" With that a storm of lance and weapons batteries and multiple assault torpedoes fired from the sides of the ships. Kailen smiled as he felt the torpedo make purchase in the hull of the massive vessel. He stood gripped his sword and called his Marines, "To Hell!" He pulled free his bolter and charged forward of the assault torpedo and into the causeway. He subvocalised to the rest of his units, "To the bridge and to the firing control center we must stop this blasted thing from firing again."

He snapped off rounds from his bolter at those enemies who dared to come for him. As he pulled his sword free he cried out in bloodlust. They would see the fury that was common of his Legion. He looked behind him and the Vanus Assassin he had brought with him had already disappeared. He smiled now it would begin.

The picket force, still observing the battle, was surprised at the power of the Enemies gun. Obviously, the Enemy was more advanced than the Order had first thought they were.

Nevertheless, with the Fleet returning to the system, soon the Enemies would be gone.

Staticus felt the craft rock as the heavy thuds blasted away at the shield.
Heklohelm began shouting orders.
"Seargant, get that squadron out!"
"Commander, hurry up and get the Secret Service out - I want some ejected rubbish!
"Techmarine, give me a damage report!"

His throat grew hoarse as he continued to roar orders. The techmarine ran up to him, its servo arms rearing to a stop.
"Damage Report:
Planet Eater class Ex-Heretic:
Shields - Not activated
Destroyer Turrets - Briefly offline to provide Planet Eater weapon power
Hull - 65% operation. Repairs underway
Destruction Bomb - Operational - unarmed."

"Are you kidding me, Heklohelm! The shields are down? Put them up! The repairs will take an hour or so - hurry lest we be blown into the stars!" Staticus screamed at the Grand Admiral.

Faqshuar looked up at him, slowly raising his head. He had an evil look on his face.
"My entire family - all of our Imperial generations, all the way back to the Red Corsair refugees, have fought and died in wars. I must do the same. The shields will be activated when our ship is almost destroyed. The self-destruct bomb will be armed, charged with the battery from the Planet Eater cannon, and eliminate everything up to Joura!" After his speech, he laughed menacingly.

"Yes, that is right. I will blow up everything! All of it! And I'm taking all you sick son of a bitches with me."

"You are twisted, Faqshuar. In all of your years of service, did you plan this? Hmm?" Staticus had raised his power sword to the insane Admiral's neck. He withdrew quickly, and with a menacing crackle of energy, Faqshuar Heklohelm, the Greatest Admiral of all Joura and the Western Imperial Fringe, was killed.

His head rolled to the ground, the blood only now started to fizz out of his body. It trickled down his armour as he fell to the ground. The head, still with the evil grin upon it, looked blankly to the roof of the giant Planet Eater.

"Activate the shields! Engage the destroyer cannons! Open fire on the attacking craft! Destroyers, come about and fire on the remaining ships! Saboteur, bombard the capital ship cluste- Oh, wait. jouiaqnyadoasdjo, aqnyamaquisdlo donfa ustuiasceddouilon ustlonjodoasdjo!"

Massive casualties were taken amongst the fleet as ten more of the ships were destroyed and many more were damaged. The Hell's Fury took heavy damage as weapons batteries were turned on it. However as the barrage fell on the Hellfire her shields absorbed much of the impact. As the reports were fed to Kailen's vox bead he yelled in fury a yell so loud yet again it would tear at the minds aboard the ship. Meanwhile his Vanus Assassin did what it did best. Soon the self detonation circuits of the Planet Eater would be taken offline.

Kailen charged forth with blinding speed letting loose a demonic roar. He was no mere Adeptus Astartes where an Adeptus Astartes could crush a man, a Primarch could do the same to the Astartes. He was a tornado of destruction as his bolter let loose hellish fury on the men who came to fight him. As he swung his sword it became a silver flash. He smiled at the thought of the coming bloodshed. Kailen charged forth to the bridge where he would fight the heretic scum. He called out in a psychic voice, Traitor Staticus come fight me. Meet a son of the Emperor in battle and then try to deny him! By Terra you will die!

Meanwhile Captain Orin was heading towards the Engineering section of the ship. His bolter held at the ready to spit it's holy fire at those who came into contact with his forces. All who were aboard the ship were to be considered excommunicate traitorous. His power sword was held in one hand while he gripped his bolter tightly with the other. He looked forward and smiled for ahead it was a bloody future.

Admiral Staticus watched as the enemy ships were torn apart. He heard shots coming outside of the hangar. He ran out to see his guards fleeing from an unseen attacker. They fired shots backwards blindly, and, more than once hit their own men with their wild attacks. Heavy footfalls echoed, clearly not from the lightly armoured Imperial Guardsmen who were busy running for their lives. A guardsmen's arm exploded in bolter fire, the blood splattering on the Admiral's shining armour trim.

He withdrew his Blessed Power blade, Kerogath, the mighty God Slayer. It had a mighty history of it's own - once used by the High Lords of Terra, Eldar wraithbone crafting - the blade is clearly not of Imperial design. It is sleek, one edged with large power tubes throughout. The blade was black, but stained red with blood from hundreds of kills.

He walked out and saw the enemies coming at him, their bolters roaring. The bullets slammed into the guardsmen behind him. He was now alone in the vast corridor, the dark metal still holding the feeling of the Chaos powers that once controlled the ship.

He walked forward, trusting in his war helmet and brilliant power armour. He was power walking, his sword flinging wildly. He was now running, the bullets zooming past him. He made a neck-high slash, decapitating a trooper. He ducked and made a roll, slashing the back of one of the other marine's knees. He cut back the way he had been to cut his kidneys and spun, dived and stabbed the next. They all fall to the ground and the blood dripped from his blade. It was an eery silence. He wiped the blade and resheathed it, listening for more footsteps. He was sure that was not all they would send, making him aware of every noise made around him...

Kailen turned to see the Admiral slaughter many of his marines. He roared in fury. He had been moving so fast the poor fool hadn't seen him. As he turned to face Staticus he noticed the eldritch blade in his hand. He smiled as he swung his blade a jet of black hellfire issuing down the corridor. He yelled, "Now you face the Angel of Death. I am Kailen, Primarch, Son of the Emperor, and your executioner!" He was enraged and his body was now surrounded by the fire that glowed as dark as the void. He gripped the blade tighter and the corridor began to disappear in shadow. Insane murmuring could be heard and the screams of thousands of tortured men echoed. Kailen ripped a guardsmen in half with his bare claws letting his cry fall on the Admiral's ears. His body was drenched in blood. Dripping from all over his body. The ground made a squish as he walked. He smiled and said, "Welcome to my world Staticus! It imitates my birthplace so well!" He laughed cruelly and looked at the Admiral bringing his blade to a swift stance, "NOW LET'S BEGIN!!!" He charged forward at amazing speed his wings spread as he flew.

As they advanced through the ship Captain Orin felt the pain of his Primarch but powered on it was his job to cut off the power supply. He looked furtively to his marines and yelled, "To Hell!"

Ki'num swore. The battle had progressed at a terrific rate - already, many ships had been lost, from one human ship to another. No, this was not a place which they could safely ignore. Should the Chaos-worshippers, or the Imperium triumph here, it would be a sorry thing - both were hostile to the Tau, and both could be dangerous beyond measure when it came to the safety of the Empire.

He had no doubt that the fell powers of Chaos could easily track his ship as it travelled through the Immaterium, however, the ship falling into enemy hands could be just as dangerous.

"Kor'ui Shal'tar, I am decided. Although we cannot aid these humans so long as they are aligned with the Ruinous Powers, it is crucial that we inform the Empire of the existence of these worlds, and, more importantly, that we do not lead those who would destroy us back to the Greater Good. Therefore, I am giving the order to dispatch this ship against the attacking forces. Although this is only an escort, we may yet make some difference in the battle. Should the ship be compromised, you are tasked with ensuring that all records of the Empire's existence are destroyed, and that no navigational data can be salvaged."

The kor'ui nodded curtly, and, long fingers tapping at the console, prepared to do so. The Kin'ui'tah was a mere Kir'qath class, equipped with a single railgun, and a single gravitic launcher. It would hardly be a match for a frigate of equivalent size, let alone a destroyer or cruiser.

A tightbeam message went out, skillfully aimed directly at the Jourans - it would be impossible for any others to pick up.

We are decided. Your conquest by the more radical elements of humanity would be undesirable, to say the least. Should you confirm the fact that you are not xenophobic, and would, as such, not be a detriment to the Greater Good, we will aid you here and now, and petition for a fleet to be sent to your aid.

The vox war clear in Staticus' War helmet, fitted with a vox transmission. He gave a punch to the air, now re-moralised that the Tau were to aid him. He replied quietly, so that Kailen would not hear,
"We stand for the good of humankind. We have teamed with Chaos, and Kroot - one more on the team will not hurt. And whilst we do not believe in the Greater Good, as you see it, we can find a way to work together for the good of both our Empires."

"Kailen, brother, you are foolish. You are a Loyalist, serving the Emperor, and yet you seek bloodlust? Does that not make you as evil as the Chaos you fight so savagely? You see, I find that you are tainted. Give up your attacks, I urge you, so we can work together for the good of mankind! I am the more skilled fighter here." Staticus offered the enraged Primarch. Staticus was indeed the finest swordsman of Joura.

One looking at the face-off would assume that it was Skill vs Crazed Bloodlust. Both had their upsides, but the latter of which would go to further lengths to achieve it. Staticus stepped carefully, he sword held in one hand, the Imperial Lasgun in the other.

He waited for Kailen to make the first attack.

OOC: Theoroshia, the Tau Empire quite often takes auxiliaries and satellite nations, as well as protectorates. Both Telros and I comprise the current Tau Empire, and he's fine with having you as a satellite. If you want to talk to me on MSN about it, my MSN is black_hole_army_13@hotmail.com.

IC: Seconds passed. The Tau vessel moved forward with incredible speed, dodging and darting all the while, adeptly weaving its way through stray fire from the battle above Joura, railgun firing all the while at the Dratherian forces, the prow gravitic launcher prepared, as well.

The small, scarred escort rolled once, a shell narrowly missing it.

"Shas'el Jin'ah, I request that you ready your warriors for battle. The Kin'ui'tah will not likely survive the landing on this "Planet Eater", thus, we unfortunate Air Caste Tau may have to give our lives for the Greater Good. You, however, will be able to land fifty Fire Warriors, and a small amount of armour, to boot, in order to drive the enemy from the Jouran craft. Your task is to ensure that this powerful defensive craft does not fall into enemy hands. Although it is far from me to issue orders, as I am no Ethereal, nor a Fire Caste member, the importance of this craft is an Air Caste matter, thus, I am requesting your assistance in this matter. For the Greater Good, Shas'el."

A murmur of acceptance came over the communicator, and Ki'num smiled. "Kindly elucidate the nature of your forces one last time, Shas'vre. You have time, while we prepare for an emergency landing on this Planet Eater."

Jin'ah replied quickly, the delicate sounds of the Tau language rough in his voice, worry layered over his formerly calm demeanour. "I, myself, have an XV8 Crisis Battlesuit. A pair of stealthsuit teams, with a total of twelve Shas'ui, are prepared. Five Fire Warrior teams, totalling fifty-four Fire Warriors, are prepared. A pair of Devilfish troop transports are readied, although they may not fit within the Planet Eater. Eighteen gun drones, and twelve Pathfinders are also prepared. Two Pirahna skimmers are readied. Three XV-88 Broadside Battlesuits are readied. I am prepared for battle, Ki'num. May you live, and find your way back to serve the Greater Good."

Ki'num sighed. "If we survive the landing, and manage to allow you all to land, we will be forced to leave. I am issuing a message, and.."

His voice trailed off in surprise. "Shas'el, a fleet is nearby. Apparently we are not as far off-course as I had originally anticipated. I am sending a request for aid now. They will be here in... less than an hour. Although it is not a major fleet, over ten capital ships will be dispatched - and apparently no less than twelve Kroot Warspheres. Prepare to land, Shas'el. For Tau, my friend."

The Kin'ui'tah rocked violently and shuddered as one of the engines was disabled, enemy fire scything through the hull as though it had not even been there. With but a few seconds to spare, Tau swarmed out of the ship, landing in the Planet Eater, weapons readied, piled inside transports and
skimmers.

Another strike by enemy forces, and the Kin'ui'tah lost its last engines, losing all chance to flee. The gamble, however, had paid off. A significant force of Fire Warriors were now inside the Planet Eater, able to aid the Jourans against the Dratherians, and perhaps tip the balance in favour of the Jourans.

Now, it was at the mercy of whoever sought to destroy it - or perhaps capture it. As lights flickered inside the ship, Ki'num was thrown against the wall, and crushed, the spirit of life flickering inside him desperately, his bones nigh-turned to powder.

Shal'tar, however, had survived, and, with his last erg of strength, lifted a gun, and fired into the computer console once, twice, five times, in total, before dropping the gun, and collapsing. Perhaps the Kin'ui'tah would be salvaged by the enemy, but now they would not find the Tau Empire. He hoped not, at least, as the ship rocked again, and unconsciousness took him.



Inside the Planet Eater, Jin'ah looked around, dispatching a Space Marine in Dratherian insignia easily, his forces outnumbering the lone Marine, the suit the man was in now a mere burnt-out shell.

He had been given the frequency of the Jouran Admiral just before the Kin'ui'tah had been disabled, and he opened up a commlink to him, and spoke. "This is Shas'el Jin'ah, commander of the Tau forces aboard your Planet Eater. Our ship has been disabled, however, a significant troop stands ready to aid you, Jourans. Please respond, so we can pinpoint your location. We will move to aid you as quickly as possible."

A second message went out, rather more quickly. "Enemy Imperial forces, I advise you lay down your arms now. Your xenophobia and misdeeds against those who do not oppose you do you no good, and harm the Greater Good. Should you refuse to do so, I will be forced to eliminate you."

OOC Umm what is with everybody calling damage on me? I don't call damage to any of your guys or things. I'm getting a little sick of it but whatever. Btw I watch way tooo much Hellsing :D

IC
Across the ship a demonic voice was heard in the men's heads. The voice of Kailen, "While your waiting for us to kill you, we highly recommend pissing yourself followed by a course of praying to your impotent god. Cowering in the corner and begging... always good, But if you act now theres still time for an old fashioned suicide! THANK YOU HERETICS! WE LOVE YOU! GOODNIGHT!"

Kailen laughed and said, "There will always be wars to fight and I will fight them. So human you have lived your pitiful lifespan near to it's end." He smiled cruelly, "I have lived for centuries. The Primarchs were created to be the generals to lead the Astartes, second only to the Emperor in skill, ability, and sheer power! You may be a man of great skill but I was trained by the Emperor himself. And far superior to any man! You humans are incomprehensible!" He stretched his wings and the room was surrounded in darkness. No one could contact either of them now. Slowly the murmurings seemed to close in as if the apparition were alive.

Kailen smiled, "Don't you feel shame? I thought scum could at least feel shame. It's time somebody put you in your place, human! START BEGGING FOR YOUR LIFE!!!!! FOR NOW YOU DIE!!!!" Kailen disappeared in a flash of light. His armor bulged as sinew and muscle expanded with barely controlled power. He was behind the Admiral as he lashed out the jet black flaming blade burning the air as he swung.

Elsewhere the Firewarriors would encounter Captain Orin and his Marines who had managed to dig themselves into a corridor on the ship. He smiled it had been long since he had engaged the Tau in battle. He cried, "To Hell!" Tossing multiple krak grenades down the hall Captain Orin and his men opened fire with multiple assault cannons and heavy bolters. Orin had many Devastators in his company and he had brought two squads just in case they met heavy resistance. Captain Orin yelled, "Xenos scum dares to aid those Chaos bastards! Wipe them from the stars! The Greater Good My Arse!!!" Captain Orin caught the transmission and replied, "Our fight was not with you Firewarrior! Now you make it so! If you wish to have our arms then take them from us Tau! They turned against us and sided with the Chaos bastards and you help them!? I thought you Xenos were smarter than that!!!"

Outside in space mighty ships fell to the relentless attacks that continued to pound at the Expedition. But they weren't going to surrender without a fight. Upon opening fire the stars lit up with the lances of energy that struck out at the Planet Eater. First Captain Telkor ordered the fleet, "Collect the remains of that Tau ship maybe we can give it to the Ordo Xenos as a gift. Also see if you can contact the 23rd Expeditionary Fleet. Perhaps our brothers of the Seismic Fists would be useful here." He cackled with glee and said, "Make them burn!"

OOC: Gwah? The only damage I called on you was a single marine. And the only reason was because you did so to Joura.

Kailen ripped a guardsmen in half with his bare claws letting his cry fall on the Admiral's ears.

I assumed, that, due to that, you had no problems with the death of individual guardsmen and that could easily be used to infer that you had no problem with such deaths of nameless individuals of your own.

Also, Joura, if you have any problems with the assumptions I'm making about the Planet Eater, just tell me.

IC: The loss of an escort such as the Kin'ui'tah would hit its home sept hard. However, it must be prevented from falling into enemy hands. Yet Shal'tar was unconscious - only the guns of the nearby Planet Eater protected the ship now.

Inside the Planet Eater, however, Jin'ah easily deflected incoming grenades with a easy set of blasts from his gun, their explosions roaring from far away.

In heavily accented speech, he spoke, in a language that the Marine would understand. Somewhat slow, his voice rang over the Marines,

"Tell me, brave warrior of the crumbling Imperium, worshipper of a corpse, what your resistance gains? The Greater Good is inevitable. Your irrational faith to your Emperor merely shows us the weakness inherent in your species. If you lay down your arms, and swear to the Greater Good, you will be spared."

Listening intently, he spoke once more, gesturing his troops to either side of the corridor. "We Tau have long seen the necessity in curbing those who would destroy us. You Dratherians are one such we have seen, and have judged to be against the Greater Good. Much like the Chronosians, you fear all 'xenos' irrationally, and loathe us, despite our efforts to save you from your own idiocy. Joura, by comparison, is willing to accept our aid - willing to listen to the voice of reason. They are no enemies, though they may not be willing to incorporated into the Tau."

He took a breath, gesturing tanks into position, Pathfinders looking for ways around. They would find one, he hoped. Engaging enemy forces in a lone corridor was not the Tau way of things, brute force was an Imperial measure, and one it succeeded in more often than the Tau did.

Angered by the Captain's insults to the Greater Good, he sighed, and spoke.

"Perform whatever rituals are necessary for your faith. You will die here."

It was then that the Pathfinder ran towards him. "Shas'el, we have found another path. Drones confirmed it unused."

"What, Shas'ui? What is it? Where is it?"

"It is an unused maintenace duct. The impact of our attack managed to shake it open. It was previously uninhabited, but we will be able to make a beeline for the position of the Jouran Admiral, bypassing the majority of enemy forces to attempt to save him. Ensuring that the Planet Eater remains intact and commanded is our primary objective, correct?

Jin'ah sighed. Typical. Maintenance shafts littered human ships like leaves littered the grand forests of Ygg'fir in its glorious auburn autumn.

"That is correct, Shas'ui. Take half the Fire Warriors, your own Pathfinders, the Devilfish, and Broadside Suits. We will retain our position here, to ensure that we are not outflanked by Imperial forces. Once you are a safe distance along the duct, we will follow you. For Tau, Shas'ui."

He was silent for a moment, as the Tau trooped along another corridor, and then into a duct. They still had enough forces to hold off the Captain's forces, and even defeat them, provided the Imperials came to them.

What good would this accomplish, he asked himself silently? Did it matter whether some humans conquered others? And this far from Tau, what would it affect them?

No, they had been brought to this place by chance, mere random chance, yet the Greater Good would be served. The suicide run of the Kin'ui'tah, a powerful ship that could've served to tip the balance of the battle, indicated some madness, some worry, on the part of the captain. He didn't know why they headed for the commander. Yet the Planet Eater seemed the only chance of the Jourans to win a crucial victory here, to retain control of their world. The different the Kin'ui'tah would make in space was not as great as his own men would in their attempt to save the Planet Eater.

If he won here.. his thoughts contemplated a promotion to Shas'o, and dismissed it easily. Personal glory meant little, service to the Greater Good, even in suicidal situations such as this one, was all.

From the Warp came another transmission.

This is the Tau Fleet Shas'vra. We are en-route to Joura, in order to protect the planet to further the cause of the Greater Good. We have received word that servants of the corpse-Emperor are assaulting this world. This transmission is to ensure your exit of the area before our arrival. We will have no compunctions in the destruction of your fleet, and, indeed, your nation, should you continue in your vain attempts to compromise the Greater Good.

No Tau ship remained to pick it up and reply, yet all on the battlefield would hear it, and hopefully understand. Although, no doubt, the Imperials would remain, to be slaughtered by the avenging Tau, angry and full of wrath for what had been done to their brothers in the name of the Emperor.

Jin'ah fired his weapon twice down the hallway, pulse grenades and rockets jetting down there as well. He had no real hope of defeating them by ducking in and out of the line of fire to attempt to harm them, rather, pinning them down was all he was attempting to do. Hopefully, the Marines would not realise what he was trying to do, before it was entirely too late.

OOC I only called damage on Joura was for artistic license after he wiped out a bunch of my Marines without asking using one guy.

He walked forward, trusting in his war helmet and brilliant power armour. He was power walking, his sword flinging wildly. He was now running, the bullets zooming past him. He made a neck-high slash, decapitating a trooper. He ducked and made a roll, slashing the back of one of the other marine's knees. He cut back the way he had been to cut his kidneys and spun, dived and stabbed the next. They all fall to the ground and the blood dripped from his blade. It was an eery silence. He wiped the blade and resheathed it, listening for more footsteps. He was sure that was not all they would send, making him aware of every noise made around him...

Also we aren't even near Joura itself. My nation isn't at war. This is just a battle in a remote nameless system. I have better staging points for an attack on him such as Ultramar. Also god luck getting to the Admiral and my Primarch like i said before the witchery of the blade keeps others from interfering. Me and Joura agreed to it just for a little bit of a build-up.

IC
Captain Orin smiled as the Tau continued their assault. He looked down the hall as some of his men were killed in the explosions. He looked around and found his Techmarine, "Brother I think that our Brother Xanatos would like to be here to welcome our friends." He smiled slyly. The Hell's Fury still held many vast weapons which to use. One aboard it was a giant who had just been awoken. And he thirsted for battle. The impact of a boarding torpedo could be felt as it rocked the corridor. As the mouth of the torpedo opened the hall shook as the Dreadnought turned on it's powerful legs and let loose with the fury of it's mighty autocannon. Even as the Tau would turn to attack him he let his flamer speak. Promethium jets spilled down th corridor it's hot flame irresitable to those it would touch. Captain Orin yelled, "We had no quarrel with you before xenos but now you insist on interfering with the affairs of the Imperium. They turned their guns on us first. We came to help them against the Chaos battleship! I will share no more words with a foolish xenos."

Captain Orin let fire carefully placed shots from his bolter. This day he would not fall to some cheap xenos attacks they were dug in with heavy weapons and as such were in a better position to fight the lightly armed Firewarriors.

x

Staticus gazed in fear at the wings and the blade which covered the room with darkness. The wings white membrane streaked with veins. He heard footsteps running ahead, and peeped through gaps in the wingspan from war injuries to see a team of Covert Squad III, Omega sect. Five troopers in total ran in with their las-snipers activated, searching for any Dratherian secret sects.

They opened fire on Kailen, their las-bullets striking his wings and tearing yet more holes but doing little other damage. Staticus took the time for Kailen to grow furious towards the attackers. He hated to sacrifice units, but it had to be done.

"For the good of mankind!" Shouted one of the assassins, but was stopped mid-sentence as Kailen's mighty blade was plunged into his stomach and punched in the face. He fell to the ground as he was curb stomped, his head exploding in a torrent of crimson, splattering on the other assassins.

He then cut down another, slashing from shoulder to hip, and shot another. The blood flew everywhere. He struck out with his sword and impaled him, shaking him off and roaring with satisfaction at the kill.

Staticus looked up to see Kailen push the final impaled assassin off his blade and spin around to face him again. Staticus raised his blade and prepared to fight.

Black fire erupted around he blade and seemed to grow the more he killed. Kailen smirked, "Maybe you have a spine after all Staticus. Daring to have your soldiers attack me! I will spread your blood across this corridor! The blood that surrounds us is the blood from every being this weapon has ever slain. A mere illusion of the mind but an effective and dangerous one." Kailen sauntered forward the tip of his blade dragging across the floor causing sparks to fly. He smiled a fanged smile. "Now let me show you how a Primarch does battle!" Kailen charged forward in a burst of speed hiw white wings flowing behind him and brought his blade down in a burning strike aimed at Staticus's chest.

Staticus jumped back and parried the blade aimed at his chest and responded by faking a kick to the knee and then attempting to cut down Kailen at the neck. His armour jangled as he moved, the noise echoing into the corridor.

Kailen laughed as he easily dodged the attack. His wings sweeping back behind him as the blood weeped from his new injuries. Parrying the blade with his sword he drove forward attacking with ferocious fury. Swinging his sword back and forth in large sweeping arcs in an attempt to kill the admiral. He smiled, "I thought you would have a bit more fight than this!" The murmuring seemed to get louder as he pushed his attacks. The admiral would find the floor was slippery with blood. And Kailen roared, "How does it feel to face a Primarch in battle! I am the son of the Emperor greatest of men!"

Staticus swept aside the wild blows and carefully, almost tripping over the slippery blood on the ground. Kailen's final arc of his blade cut a slice of flesh off his right hand. Lucky.

It revealed the metalwork beneath, the circuitry buzzing around and sparking. He felt no pain in that arm, luckily, or he would have been unable to fight. He returned with a skillful cut to the shins, unsure if it would hit.

"Heh, I thought it would be harder than this!" Staticus puffed in response to Kailen's taunting.

Kailen felt the sword cut through the armor on his left leg and bite deep into his flesh. He jumped up with amazing grace and spun over and behind the admiral. He laughed, "Should I make it harder?" Suddenly Kailen became faster beginning to fight closer to his full potential. He lashed out with his blade a silver sliver was all that could be seen as it flew towards Staticus's neck. Bloodlust was deep in his eyes.

The Admiral leapt back quickly, the blade slicing just the skin on his neck. He lunged forward, attempting to stab the Primarch in the stomach. He was scary now, his fury bubbling over. Staticus prayed that his skill and calmness would overcome the anger and randomness of attacks.

A Fire Warrior collapsed, fire shattering his thin armour. The Tau were not built as others were. When they stood against Space Marines, distance was their only protection.

"Shas'el, a major armoured unit, possibly a Dreadnought, has descended. Only our Pirahna remain to challenge it."

"I see. Retain position, Shas'ui. We are taking minimal losses, however, I have a feeling that is about to change."

More grenades were hurled 'round the corridor, and pair of Fire Warriors were taken down the Dreadnought's avenging fire.

"Damn! We don't have any weaponry powerful enough to destroy it outright. Shas'ui, we will move back. Fire at the Dreadnought all the while. If we can lure the enemy out of their position, we may be able to inflict more casualties."

The Tau began retreating down corridors, attempting to draw the Dreadnought out. The Pirahna had fewer options in their retreat, yet the goal remained the same. If the Dreadnought advanced, it would be subjected to crippling pinning fire from the surrounding hallways, if it did not, the goal of holding the area long enough for the other Tau to reach the combat zone would be achieved. So far, despite the worsening the situation, Jin'ah felt confident, full of adrenaline.

A second grenade later, Dreadnought fire caught his armour, throwing him back against the wall. Not for the first time, he praised the sturdiness of his battlesuit. He had survived, although the damage, no doubt, would hamper him.

Now, to wait once more. Play the patient hunter, and wait. Wait for the time where the perfect oppurtunity to strike the killing blow would come..

Ironwood, recommissioned Late Type Musai Light Cruiser, 953rd Evaluation Unit

The ship had suddenly begun jerking violently, awakening the captain who had been sleeping on his post for the last several hours. Although the seat wasn't excessively comfortable and the normal suit managed to make things even worse, it hadn't stopped him from fallling asleep. In fact, for a minute or so, it hadn't even stop him from trying to continue sleeping.

As he opened his eyes, in addition to shaking like a person with Parkinson's, he noticed that the lights were flickering, the monitors were out and people seemed to be panicking around him.

"What the...?", he muttered as he took off his ear plugs, which he regretted the moment he had done that and quickly put them back. There was this loud, booming sound of some kind of metal being torn apart which drowned all the shouting which was taking place on the bridge.

Then, all of a sudden, the jerking stopped and it was completely dark in the bridge. After figuring it might be safe enough to take his earplugs off the the captain again took them out of his ears. It was completely silent. All he could hear was the breathing of the other officers on deck.

After a couple of minutes of complete silence, someone asked, "What the hell was that?", to which another voice replied, "No idea. Any ideas, captain?" The captain said, "Nope, none," and just after that, someone murmured, "How're we gonna get out of THIS mess?"

Another minute passed, and they could hear a hum coming from somewhere in the ship. First, the lights went back on, and everyone sighed in relief in near unison. Then, the monitors went on but showed static for a moment until the computers began to boot up again. A while later, air started to move again as life support went back online.

"Status report!", demanded the captain.

"Just a moment, Sir", said the comms officer as he began contacting the crew of the vessel in different parts of the ship, "No casualties reported. Repair crews are saying that everything seems to be working just fine, and that there are no air leaks, engine damage or anything like that. The faster-than-light device is still shut down, though. Apparently due to overheating, but it'll take more time to find out the actual cause of this thing."

"And where are we?"

"Still trying to find that out, Sir," said another officer on the bridge, "All I can say is that we're completely off course, and we're in an unknown star system."

"What about the other ships?"

"They too were forced out of faster-than-light speed, Sir. All four of them are here with us."

The captain felt slightly relieved about that, although he knew it was wrong to be relieved that others shared the fate of his crew.

"OK. Tell the others to follow us further in to the system. Let's see if we can find anything of use there. Might take us a while before we manage to leave this place and all..."

"Very well, Sir."

"Oh yeah, and keep an eye on those sensors. Who knows what we might run into out here."

"... Yes, Sir."

And so, unknowingly, the small Zeonic group was moving closer to a warzone.

The Xiscapian fleet still hovered far outside the battle. Repairs were still being made and the wounded were being treated. Suddenly the sensors, put on full alert, began to blare. A small fleet of five ships had suddenly, violently, entered the system. A battleship turned it's guns toward the new fleet, wary but not going to fire on unknown ships. Instead a transmission was sent:

Transmission:
Greetings Unknown Fleet. We are the Xiscapias. Be warned that there is a battle occuring between several nations about 3 parsecs from this area. We have taken damage from the Ruinous Powers and are here to repair our ships and treat our wounded. Who are you, what is the purpose of your presence here, and do you require medical assistance or repairs?

"Captain!", shouted out the comms officer all of a sudden, startling the near-asleep captain of the Ironwood.

He opened his eyes and glared at the said officer.

"What?"

"You better come see this."

"Hmph," he grumbled as he stood up and jumped towards the comms officer, "What's so important..."

"This, Sir," said the officer, activating the speaker.

It sounded kind of like static, but it had an obvious pattern to it. I wasn't exactly something one would expect to hear - especially when military frequencies are in question.

But that was not all: The officer changed frequencies, and it seemed that the odd sound permeated the entire spectrum.

"... Is someone jamming us?"

"It's possible, Sir."

The captain turned towards the officer who was watching the sensor readouts.

"Any idea where it's coming from?"

"Yes, captain. But whatever they are, they are very far away. They barely show on the new long range sensors. They aren't even in the system! All that's clear is that whoever is doing this is in some kind of space craft. Their ships are probably larger than ours or they wouldn't even be visible to our sensor array. We're lucky they so generously gave away their general location in the first place."

"How many ships?"

"Can't really tell. They're too far off. It's impossible to say anything with just this information."

"Hmm..."

He jumped back to his own seat, muttering silently.

As he sat down, he said, "Could you try to make sure it's not some kind of a transmission instead of just an attempt to scramble our communications?"

The comms officer nodded silently, and the captain soon realized that that was what he was doing already. Always a step ahead of him.

OOC: Theo, check TGs. Post forthcoming.

Staticus jumped back just in time to dodge the sword. He felt this was going nowhere, and decided to flee. He spun and ran only to hit a solid, black barrier made by Kailen's sword. He whipped out his lasgun with record speed and continually fired, and felt his hidden knife cutting into his flesh. He cut Kailen's collar bones in a fluid motion and then stabbed his chest, and did a side kick to the front with the bootknife. Several attacks in one. Unsure of the damage he had applied, Staticus and jumped back, puffing with the difficulty of the moves.

OOC - Is it just me or has it died again?
Oh, and other roleplayers, please feel free to continue! I really want someone helping my Covert Alpha's searching for them Assassins on board.

OOC: Yeah, I think this has just died, once again. It must be resserected.

Kailen dodged the shots as they came in in a flurry of color. He felt warm blood running down into his armor from a cut on his shoulder as he felt blade dig into his armor tearing ceramite away in shards and chunks. Kailen roared in fury bringing his blade to bear as black flame came sweeping off of it in great gouts. He whispered and it echoed in malevolence around the room, "Ready yourself for your death because now you have really pissed me off." In a movement so fast that Staticus would not see it at all, Kailen was at his throat and laughing, "Too easy fool." Then in another blur he was gone slowly his eyes began to appear around the room. Then it began, his blade slicing out from the shadows cutting at Staticus from what seemed to be multiple directions at once. Kailen was nowhere to be seen and all that could be heard was his laughter.

Staticus watched the blur of limbs and metal as Kailen lashed out at him. He dropped his laspistol and stumbled back, feeling the blade pierce his collar bone. He yelled in pain and fumbled backwards, only to feel a slice taken out of his thigh. He was now on the ground, attempting to pick up his laspistol. He cut at Kailen's shins and rolled to block any attacks. He winced as he slowly stood up, the crimson liquid spilling from his wounds. He raised his sword, yelling;
"For the good of humanity, you vile fiend!"

Ironwood, recommissioned Late Type Musai Light Cruiser, 953rd Evaluation Unit

"Sir! Radar indicates multiple contacts not too far from our position!"

"What are they doing?"

"They are within visual range... They seem to be battling each other!"

The captain jumped up from his seat.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?!"

"It was impossible to say what they exactly were on the radar, Sir! They could have been asteroids!"

"Hmph!"

The captain scratched his unshaven chin. No point taking any risks, he thought to himself.

"Halt our movement, and tell the others to keep formation."

"Aye, Sir!"

"And what's our status on Mobile Suits? I know we have five Dom Fünfs, but how many do we have if we pool all together?"

"Sagittarii reports 6 MS-06FZ Zaku IIs, Sir! Wait, others are coming in now... Fearless reports another complement of four MS-09F Dom Fünfs, Gwamel has three MS-09RII Rick Dom IIs and Ironside has five MS-09R Rick Doms."

"So that brings us to 23 Mobile Suits of very varying quality from the War era, huh."

"Yes, Sir. Each ship also reports that they can be launched whenever needed."

"Good. Tell them to launch them as soon as possible. It's entirely possible that we'll need the escort. Have our Mobile Suits launch as well.

"Will do, Sir!"

The captain collapsed back on his seat.

"I just hope they don't notice us with all their fighting..."

Kailen took a sharp blow to his shin as he felt blood spurt out. Then with his free foot he stamped on the blade stopping it's movement. He then brought his sword to the admiral's throat. Kailen laughed, "For the good of humanity!? You know nothing of the good of humanity. You turn your back on the Emperor's vision! His ideals and his hope for a brighter future for humanity! His light shines in every one of us! The light shines in me but to your kind this should seem home!" He gestured to the room before continuing, "This is your destiny while you stray away from the Emperor's light!"

In a corner a golden archway opened up. Majestic and beautiful in it's glory and beyond it was a glowing comforting warmth. Then slowly Kailen smiled gesturing towards the archway, "Here is your salvation your freedom from death. You will be cleansed and allowed to join humanity in our fight against oppression, decadence, and evil. Here is your chance. That is the exit but if you attempt to exit it without the Emperor in your heart you will die." Kailen's smirk grew he wasn't cocky he knew how much longer he could last but now he would give a chance at redemption. He smiled a benevolent smile betraying his demonic appearance, "Make your choice now."

Staticus stood there, feeling blood run trickle down his neck. The warmth ran under his brilliant armour and stained his white robes. He sighed.
"No. You wish me to retreat to the darkness of the corpse-god? Earth - Terra - should be returned to it's former glory! Return my sword and finish this like a man!"

He shouted at Kailen, not even glancing at the shing arch in the barrier.

Kailen kicked the blade at Staticus and smiled an evil smile, "Fine you have turned your back on us so in turn we will turn our blade onto you. You would side with Chaos the purest evil to make humanity safe!? Realize what these bastards are even siding with Xenos is far more acceptable because all that Chaos wants is suffering!" Suddenly the inky blackness of the arena disappeared slowly streaming back into Kailen's sword. He looked across and brought his blade up for the final strike, "NOW YOU DIE!!!" Then with the power of a son of the Emperor he drove forward the blade's crescent shape flashing through the air in a flash of silver.

Staticus dived out of the way of the immensely powerful blade as it came thundering down upon him. The power within it scorched him, burning a long scar across his back like a whip of fire.

He winced and shouted in agony as he half limped, half ran to safety. The light confused him. His vision was groggy due to blood loss. He was close to collapsing when his vision began to become clearer. He saw the ventilation shaft and heard shouts throughout it, echoing outside.

He squinted and frowned, thinking he was imagining things. He stumbled and leaned against the cold steel wall with his damaged robotic hand, the blue electrical crackle springing off and scorching his damaged armour.

He then remembered before the fight, communicating with Tau. They were coming through the ventilation shafts...

Yes! The Tau would help Staticus to escape to safety. He knew their goal aboard the Planet Eater was to avoid compromise of the ownership of the mighty craft. He was saved!

OOC: I have internets now, for a brief bit of time. It's not at my house, so posts will not be forthcoming. Up to a fortnight's worth of no-internets, to boot. If I can, I'll post, but consider it to be an unlikely thing.

IC: "Shas'vre, we have reached the end of the shaft. Scans indicate that this is the Admiral's position. But there is no way through."

"No way?"

The Tau commanding that segment of the squad looked downcast, for a moment. But then he pulled himself upright, eyes burning brightly. "Then we shall make a way."

"Stand back.", he said, gesturing at the end of the corridor. "On my command, Devilfish and Broadsides open fire there. We will not be forestalled from our goal by petty metal."

A roar of fire echoed past his words, broadsides of plasma hammering into the wall, throwing it off the bolts that had once held it in place, flying past Kailen. Shas'vre Ii'nar ran out, and, behind him came the remainder of the Tau, bar those few who had been left behind to guard the way. He looked around. It was obvious who here was the Jouran, and who was not.

He levelled his gun at Kailen, fumbling for the human words for what he wished to say. "You oppose the Greater Good, Dratherian. I suggest that you leave now, and we shall permit your retreat, should you cease your fire. Otherwise, I will.. send you to meet your Emperor."

(OOC - Err, Drath?)

Kailen brought the blade in front of him and slowly sheathed his blade. Looking at the Tau forces he realized he was severely outgunned. He looked down the hall at Staticus and spat in disgust, his spit slowly sizzled and burned through the metal deck plating. He whispered to his Marines over the intersuit voxnet, "Begin extraction of our forces immediately. We've done what we came here to do." He looked at Staticus's pitiful form and said, "Staticus should we meet again you will not be so lucky." Gripping his sword hilt and spreading his wings he jetted off a side corridor tossing two incendiary grenades to seal off the blast doors behind him. As he ran down the corridor he stretched his wings out feeling the flesh knitting itself back together after the damage inflicted upon them. These were wounds a Primarch could easily recover from however the human wouldn't be so lucky it would take him a long time to regain his former physical health. He smiled as he reached his assault boat. All the other assault boats had already retreated back to their motherships. He looked down the corridor one last time as the Vanus Assassin appeared at his side. He smiled, "Good work."

Moments later he was aboard the Hellfire again and already barking orders, "Open up full broadsides on the Planet Eater! Have all ships focus their attacks on that Emperor forsaken thing! I will not have them drive us off here!"

With those orders the fleet turned their mighty weapons upon the Planet Eater if it would not be driven off then they would destroy it.

Staticus coughed up blood as he limped towards the Tau, waiting stationary as the Dratherian's retreated.
"Thankyou..." Staticus spluttered, the warm blood frothing from his injuries and dripping on the ground.
Just then, an apothecary came to his aid, his servo-arms whirring with medical supplies and syringes. Then began implanting themselves in the defeated Admiral's many injuries.

With his comm-equipment at his throat, he issued an order to those manning the weaponary.
"Open full fire on the Dratherian fleet. Send the Sabetour into this lines. Prepare the Planet Eater gun after the first barrage. I want it ready in five minutes. We're gonna fight these Imperials to the death," he told them as he was knocked by a blast of some cannon on the other craft.

"It seems, human, despite our intent to remain neutral, the forces of the Imperium have provoked us into aiding you."

As Kailen retreated, he raised his gun, aiming a bead at the creature's back. Sighing, he lowered the weapon. "His death would serve no purpose here. No doubt it would merely provoke the combat further. I have no desire to sacrifice the Tau needlessly."

He gestured at a Fire Warrior. "Bring over the equipment you prepared. It seems that humans work equally well when healed by the Tau."

The Shas'vre looked down at Staticus reassuringly. "We will heal you human, as best we know how. Though you will not recover your health entirely on the instant - your servitors lack some of the abilities we do, as well.

The Fire Warrior brought over a small vial. "Another peculiarity of the many world we Tau rule over. If you take it, it will rejuvunate your immune system - speed your healing. I intended to save it for a warrior, yet it seems that allowing you your health back may make this battle more winnable."

He smiled, a peculiar thing for a Tau. Yet the gesture would be understood by Staticus - when speaking terran, it was important to mimic the facial gestures of humanity, in order to ensure that the words of the speaker were taken in the correct light.

"We will drive the Imperium of Man from this place, one way or another. Even if we die here, many more will come. Many more."

Staticus glanced between the Tau. Whilst they were, in Mankind's eyes and the eyes of his new order - filthy xenos, he had respect and admiration. They would make great counterparts - if they survived.

"I am ordering a retreat to Joura," Staticus told the Shas'vre.
"You may continue your purge of the Imperial forces if you wish, or you can retreat to Joura with me, which is the nearest Docking site - we will give you free ship repairs, medical assistance, arms and somewhere to rest after out battle," Staticus informed the Tau.

He admired their battle strength.

His smile faded. "I suspect my ship is no longer capable of being repaired. In our haste to aid the Planet Eater, we ran a dangerous gauntlet against enemy fire. Our ship was not in good repair to begin with - and now.. we have not heard from it in some time."

He sighed. "Nevertheless, I would appreciate transport to Joura, where we will be able to contact transports. As one of the few Tau who have now been in combat with Dratherian forces, I suspect our experiences will need to be disseminated across the Empire as quickly as possible."

Staticus nodded curtly to the Tau.
"Then it shall be. Thankyou, my friends," He told them as he walked to the bridge of the Planet Eater.

Then, in all its glory, the Jouran fleet rumbled home after the space war.