NationStates Jolt Archive

Lethe was an average Jiralhane in some ways, absolutely frightening in others. He wasn't particularly tall-9'7"-and only 41 years of age for a race that had a long lifespan. He was a fearsome warrior, however, and one thing certainly defined him-downright, wholesale cruelty. During the Triple War as the civil war raged, slaughtering Sangheili and Letukan civilians (if you could call their races having civilians) had been more of a pastime for Lethe than a combat scenario. He considered it something "fun", and with the Dominion around, he and the Jiralhanae period had found less and less time for such things.

Though technically the leader of the "Brutes", the elite caliber of the Jiralhanae, Lethe had ascended into the role of the race's leader in recent times as well, especially with the Sangheili forging ahead into a stronger role in the Dominion. Sangheili were his race's enemy, and at the same time, more and more the favorite of the humans...and how good it would feel to press the barrel of his spiker into the brains of 'Vadumee, the Elite commander! Lethe could do with killing Sangheili...but there was one in particular he liked.

Crypt wasn't the average Sangheili, and appearance alone could show that quite obviously. There was very little on Crypt that was still alive, as he was more machine than sentient now. Unknowenst to Lethe, he had a burning hate of Jiralhanae-he had once been a top Sangheili and killed plenty of them, but now he was more of an Amazonian first, rather than a memebr of his race primarily. He had served with distinction within the Dominion Wars, becoming a top military leader...and now was probaly the highest-ranking Sangheili ever in Amazonian history, on par with the low-level Sith-quite an achievement for a non-human, even if he was mostly cyborg.

Lethe, however, was deluded into thinking he was the one backdoor into the Sangheili race-and Crypt knew it. He was savvy enough to play off his enemies-and even more, the Jiralhanae as a race that had the least loyalty to the Dominion. Even the belligerant Letukans-a race that enjoyed wading through innocent blood and had essentially won the Triple War between them, the Jiralhanae, and the Sangheili-were still loyal ultimately to humanity's dominance in the Dominion. This the Jiralhanae were not. Unlike the Letukans, they were primates, much like humans-and were far stronger and tougher, if less intelligent and creative.

This gave the Jiralhanae a false notion that they were guided to at one time ascend to become the leaders of the Dominion-and to provoke it would require the Dominion to be ripped apart, hopefully by a bigger outside force. Raiding the occasional ship had done little to spark outside tensions...so now Lethe, as the leader of the Jiralhanae, wanted to do something rather gruesome. Civilians were always something he loved to dirty his hands with-and he wanted whatever civilization was dumb enough to send civilian ships (he was gunning for star lines particularly, as they were virtually protected by any rule of war) through Dominion open space while the Jiralhanae prowled to know (well, believe) that the Dominion had been responsible for the massacre.

Hopefully, a war would start. The key here would be to force the Dominion to its knees, partially through the outside war, and partially through subtle manipulation within the Imperium itself. The Sangheili, most of all, needed to be purged...and hopefully the two outside forces, the Dominion and whatever other civilization got provoked by the Jiralhanae actions to fight, would busy themselves. It was a good plan, naturally.

But now, all the Jiralhanae would need to do was wait. The plan wasn't new by any form-it was just that Lethe felt the time was ripe. Sentry posts were all over the Open Territory that allowed other civilizations to pass through Dominion territory, and when a suitable convoy was found-civilian in nature and with little in the means (if anything) in defenses that would spark an outrage-Lethe would make his move to contain the group. The Jiralhanae's homeworld was within the Shroud, but the ape commander was keeping the majority of his forces outside the nebuluous field that was closed to outside traffic.

The Emperor could care less about the Brute Commander's actions. More concerning at the time was the maintenance and upgrading of the fleet to newer lines of vessels and a potential upgrade of the entire line of weaponry for the fleet and military as a whole. Though he didn't trust Lethe (he trusted few), he let the Brute commander use his forces as see fit...as so far, the Jiralhanae had been little to work with. The Dominion fleet could easily smash the Jiralhanae fleet forces, and could do so at any time.

However, now Lethe was waiting...waiting to pull out his trap and ensnare some innocents abroad.


OOC:

(Your move, Telros :p I hope your guys can feel anger...

If you're not Telros and you want in, TG me and I'll look at it.)

A small convoy of ships gently floated their way through the stars, heading to a Dominion sentry post, where they could make contact. The ships were a bright gold color, with a light brown secondary shading, with the symbol of the mighty Tau Empire emblazoned across the side of the ships. The Tau Empire had recently come in contact with the Dominion of Amazonian Beasts and, after extensive negotiations with the Water Caste, they had managed to secure a time and place to open formal relations and discuss future options for relations between the two nations. Having only recently discovered the Dominion, they had no idea of the tense race relations or how they would be involved in one of the biggest conspiracies ever known. However, they were blissfully unaware, as an Il'fannor (Merchant) class starship and a Kass'l (Orca) class Gunship, along with a host of support vessels full of supplies and Water Caste diplomats. Aboard these ships were the normal crews of Air Caste who ran the ships, but there was also elite detachments of Fire Warriors, Shas'ui (veterans) who were tasked with providing a guard for the Water Caste diplomats.


The Merchant class ship, the I'lkaith, moved through space, as the Air Caste Captain Ha'jai stood on the bridge looking out. He had watched over the convoy as it had been launched from Gier'la and all the way through Warp space until they had arrived here. Now, he was giving orders for the fleet to go into a typical convoy line, for maximum protection, although they didn't expect any trouble and to show themselves as a convoy. Standing next to him was the commander of the Fire Warriors on his ship, Shas'ui Horkan Gier'la Vash. A well-decorated veteran from many battles, recently with Kae'la under his belt, he was a fine pick for the security of the ship. The convoy continued to make its way to the convoy station, and the Water Caste began to get worked up, eager to begin wheeling and dealing, and setting in motion the steps to aid this monstrous nation to the Greater Good.

A message was sent to the sentry point.

This is the Il'kaith, cruiser class ship of the Tau Empire. I am leading my convoy straight towards you. I request coordinates to best aid my ships in getting to your position.

And so it was that the stage was set for a slaughter of massive proportions....and for a war that would be remembered for decades to come by the Dominion and the Empire.


OOC: Oh they can, AB, they can....

Sentry post AK-41A was manned by humans and two Lekgolo and for the most part, lightly armed. Three turbolaser pulse turrets adorned the 50-meter diameter station, accompanied by a single rocket launcher. It was meant for sensors recon mostly, not for engaging powerful war fleets or blasting aggressive, angry aliens. Granted, humanity knew little of the Tau as the Sith had done much of the previous negotiations regarding contact between the two civilizations, but they didn't seem anything like the Sephs. Regardless, Jiralhanae commander Lethe had much of the jurisidiction over AK-41A, and the humans dutifully transmitted coordinate data that Lethe had provided. It was an in-system coordinate to a local gas giant in this primarily uninhabited system. On the far side of the planet was the Jiralhanae fleet.

Lethe was fairly impatient. The surrounding fleet around his command ship-the Vindicator-class dreadnought Rogue, was a bit overkill for engaging a simple diplomatic fleet. It contained two dozen capital ships and their accompanying fighters and gunships, going into the hundreds. The fleet would certainly be destroyed. Aboard the capital ships, thousands of Brutes stood aboard for boarding operations on the main diplomatic vessel itself...where a scene could be conducted. The others would simply need to be destroyed or irradiated to kill off who remained. Even if a few dying survivors made it out, they would have no idea that the Jiralhanae were conducting an insider operation-communications to the system had been jammed from the Shroud some time ago, and outside the big nebulous ball that made up the Dominion home sectors, this territory was free reign.

To Lethe, the biggest obstacle these aliens would face against the Dominion would come at the Conduit, the passable border into the "stellar cave" that made up the Dominion interior worlds and the majority of their space. The Conduit around the dark border world of Menoon was heavily guarded-almost overkill-with a gigantic three-dimensional field of self-replicating mines, turrets, mobile stations, and ships. However, if they managed to pass, the Dominion would have to commit more forces to quell any incursion-giving the Jiralhanae the time they needed to begin purging the lesser races.

"Jam their entrance," Lethe growled, leaving his musings behind him.

His subcommander's nod was enough for the ape chieftain, who stood arms folded on the bridge of the Rogue. The fleet was well concealed-the flare from the gas giant was throwing off sensors, along with several small orbs sent out earlier to cause sensor static. Now, all that was needed was to prevent these sentients from being able to leave until the correct time was set.

A single Squall droid gunship jetted out of the Rogue's hanger bay, towing an interdiction dispenser behind it. The dispenser was the cheap alternative to using a dedicater interdictor vessel, something that could be deployed in a safe location-this time in the orbit of one of the outer planets-and could project an interdiction field-based primarily on gravitational imagery, but also extending a dimensional block to defend against alternative faster-than-light drives. Either way, it was highly successful, and as strong as comparable systems on an interdictor cruiser.

The Squall clicked and responded back to the command ship-mission accomplished successfully, and the dispenser activated. The backfire was obvious-if these sentients were somehow heavily powered, than the Jiralhanae would have little options. However, Lethe was willing to gamble. The droid gunship shot past the Tau fleet, banking around the gas giant that the Tau had been sent coordinates to. Once they closed within range, the speed of the smaller ships of the Jiralhanae fleet would be used to engage quickly, softening the vessels up for the heavier fleet to engage and send aboard away teams to the main vessel.

"This will be fun," growled Lethe aboard his command ship to no one in particular.

Ha'jai looked at the message and the coordinates added onto them carefully and nodded. “Very well, understood. Il'kaith out.” After cutting off the channel, he turned to his bridge crew.

<”Have the convoy head for coordinates 045-768-789 in quadrant 457. We are heading for that gas giant, we should be getting an escort from the Dominion there, which will lead us to the meeting point. Lets get going.”> The bridge crew acknowledge and sent the appropriate messages and coordinates to the rest of the convoy, which began to shift and head for the gas giant, engines flaring a gentle white as more power was pushed into them. Ha'jai gazed over at Shas'ui Horkan and noticed he was fidgeting. He only did so when he was nervous and that was never a good thing. Horkan was known for having hunches that foretold danger or ambushes, and had saved the lives of his men many times. Ha'jai walked over to the Fire Warrior and put a hand on his shoulder.

<”Horkan, you seem...troubled.”> The veteran soldier turned his helmet to face Ha'jai, and when he spoke, he could a tone filled with dread and that tone that he knew danger was ahead.

<”I cannot help it, Ha'jai. I can feel danger coming; it is thick in the air. I cannot tell where it is going to come from or what form it shall take but I know we are walking into danger. And in space, there is nothing I can do about it.”>

Har'jai smiled, understanding and turned to the bridge crew. <”Alert the convoy to be wary and watch out for pirates or bandits. We don't know if someone will try to attack us while we are vulnerable, despite that we are in Dominion space.”> He could sens Horkans relief and he nodded at him. <”Your intuition has never failed us, my friend. It would be an injustice to not believe you now.”> The Fire Warrior relaxed a little, letting out a sigh.

<”Thank you, Ha'jai. I will go prep my warriors as well. Maybe with our preparations, the convoy will be safe.”>

<”One can only hope, Shas'ui. For Tau.”>

<”For Tau”>

The convoy shifted closer together, allowing for greater and tighter fields of fire. However, they continued to head for the gas giant, not knowing of the inhibitor field, nor of the Brute fleet lying in wait to massacre them.

Despite Horkan's foresight....the Tau would have no chance in the coming battle.

Lethe scowled, as usual, aboard the Rogue's bridge as relay information from the sentry post, several planets out, was sending in sensor data about the inbound formation. The Tau formation was getting closer, and the Dominion apparently still had little clue. His ship crew was getting more and more anxious; the time to strike had arrived for the Jiralhanae aboard the vessels behind the gas giant, and Lethe licked his chops greedily, as if a carnivore coming to feast upon the carcass.

"Advance out of the planet's shadow," he instructed, arms folded across his hairy chest.

The Rogue led the way for the two-dozen ships moving out of the fold-now revealing themselves, though advancing cautiously, slowly, as if to give off an aura of good intentions. Shields raised across the board as sensor pings began to go off around the armed formation, searching for potential cloaked vessels that the Tau may have smuggled in under the sensors of recon. When sensors didn't show any hidden vessels, the formation powered up weapons while simultaneously sending out a conflagration of static to try and jam up the sensors and coms of the Tau vessels. Whatever advantage the Jiralhanae could get, they would take it.

"Load weapons," Lethe grunted. He was having to do very little work in this operation, and so far, it was going smoothly.

"Chieftain, we believe the largest vessel is their one of primary contact," his bridge ops officer confirmed. "Recommed we hit that with our capture weapons."

"Indeed," Lethe said, nothing more. That was just as good as an "affirmative."

Weapons crews began packing in torpedoes and rockets to launchers as cannons charged up for immediate action, closing in on the Tau fleet now with no comms being exchanged. Likely tensions were starting to rise on the opponents, but to Lethe, this was simply the charge into the kill. The Jiralhanae were traditional predators and omnivores, used to killing "simpler" prey-and to Lethe, simpler described the Tau to a tee just as it described humanity, the Sangheili, and vast amounts of others.

"Fire when ready," Lethe commanded briskly and in tempo.

His weapons officer simply nodded, hitting several controls that would indicate to the fleet that weapons use was now in session. The largest vessel was targeted as a device for static cannons-the weapons used to short out electronics systems and the like-only, the rest open for complete and utter destruction. Rogue opened up the fight as four squadrons of fighters poured from its main hanger bay, ripping open with a salvo of plasma drivers, the mass weapons screaming as they accelerated from their coilguns.

With Rogue's opening fire, the rest of the fleet quickly joined in. Energy weapons from turbolaser turrets lit up space in a royal blue fury as antimatter torpedoes and mass drivers shot forth to hit the designated vessels. Against the largest Tau craft, a furious rage of yellow static cannons, bristling with electric energy, ripped through space to engage and hopefully quickly short out the vessel's electronics abilities. Fighter and gunship swarms began closing in, readying missile weaponry.

<”Ha'jai, we are detecting a large fleet appearing from behind the planet.”> A stab of fear entered the Tau's gut and he clenched his chair. Was this an ambush by the Dominion? Had they been lured by a nation just as fanatic as the Imperium? But no, they saw the fleet calmly heading for them, at very slow speeds and not even in attack formation. Relaxing, he leaned back and nodded to his crew.

<”It is alright; they are merely here to greet us and escort us to the meeting point.”> The crew glanced at each other. They were uneasy; if they were here to greet them, why hide behind the planet? The fleets headed for each other, and then, a series of events began to unfold, blasting forth like a flood, to reveal the shocking event that was to come to pass. The navigation officer had decided to check Warp vectors out of the system, and found to his shock that there were none. Upon reinspecting the data, he came to a chilling conclusion.

<”Kor'ui! We are being blocked from entering Warp space!”> The bridge froze as the tension sky-rocketed. Almost if they knew they had been found out, the Dominion fleet began to power up weapons, which their sensors did not detect at first, however, they soon realized they were being jammed and activated counter-measures, which gave them some sensor power back. It was obvious this was a trap and they would not be able to escape from it. So, Ha'jai decided to go out fighting.

<”Have all ships that can fight power up shields and weapons, and engage the enemy as soon as possible. Deploy all Skether'Qan ships and get me some scannning power on the Dominion ships. Have the transports hide near us; we are their best hope of surviving right now.”> The crew set to work and the fleet snapped to attention. The Merchant class cruiser and the Kass'l Gunship prepared for battle, as the other support ships, small and weak as they were, those that could fight came up as well. Shields were raised, weapons powered, targets gained with the Skether'Qan escorts, which were armed as well, and fighters were being scrambled. It was a last stand, a desperate and doomed defense, both they and the Dominion ships knew it. The alarm blared as they were being targeted themselves and they could see fighters being deployed. What fighters they had, Barracudas and Tiger Sharks, were sent out in reply.

The Rogue's plasma drivers slammed through several transports, killing a couple hundred Water Caste diplomats. Ha'jai gritted his teeth and faced the tactical display. <”[i]All forces return fire. Escorts focus fire on the enemy fighters and work over the smaller enemy ships, try to weaken and/or destroy them. Kor'ui Ka'lon, you will take your Gunship and we will take on their lead ship, the one who fired first. All forces, engage!”>

The Tau ships focused their fire and unloaded into the Brute fleet. While they were few and they did not have the power or fields of fire Lethe now owned, they could still put the hurt on the enemy. They were not known for having powerful technology for nothing. White-hot plasma beams lashed out in great arcs, slamming towards the smaller support ships as the Gun Drones used as the frontline weaponry for Tau ships unleashed all they could give, while the few Skether'Qan escorts fired their railgun batteries, a flash of blue accompanying the launch of the projectile, rocketing at hypervelocity towards the support vessels. One at a time, the many barrels of the railgun batteries unloading, sending swift death towards the Brutes.

The Il'kaith and the Gunship targeted the Rogue and unleashed hell upon its shields. Focusing upon one area, the forward weapons batteries, their railguns and plasma beams slammed towards the enemy ship, while ion cannon batteries were also unleashed against it. The Tau equivalent of Imperial lance batteries, these mighty weapons caused massive explosions due to the energy transferred at the subatomic level. Ha'jai was banking on this weapon, and the railguns being slammed in quick succession with the ion cannons, to drive through the enemy shields and destroy the flagship, throwing the enemy into chaos and allowing them to take advantage.

The enemy fleets first salvo hit and it hit hard. Several support ships simply vanished under the fire, while others had gouts of flame shooting across their sides, the enemy missiles wounding them severely. The static barrages of the fleet slammed into the Il'kaith's shields, which caused them to flare, but they held....for the moment. Explosions riddled space as the fleets engaged each other, though most of the explosions were undoubtedly within the Tau fleets.

The Brute starfighters began to clash with the Tau Barracudas and Tiger Sharks, which in support of several support ships and escorts, who unloaded plasma death their way, struggled hard to keep them away from the fleet. They had enough to worry about as it was.

As futile as it was, that is.....

"Heathens," muttered Lethe, a picture of hideous serenity aboard the bridge of his dreadnought.

The starfighters formed into four-fighter groups as they closed in to engage the Tau smaller craft at short range. The Tau support craft had managed to get in the first shots as the Brute fighters broke formation, engine clusters throwing them into scattered single-fighter groups to wrap around and curl back on the Tau light craft. Still, despite evasive manuevers plasma weaponry torched the frontal squadrons, ripping into Nemesis attack fighters and tearing apart a dozen ships. Others held with failing shields, banking around in the manuever to pull behind and rip open with a salvo of laser and driver fire.

The Rogue came under the heaviest attack amongst the capital ships-a fortunate thing, as it was the most heavily armed and armored, plasma shots lancing at the shields but simply impacting with white ripples across the energy field of ray and particle shields. Some of the lighter ships were unluckier, particularly, the smaller advancing ships trying to survive on their speed. Two Defiant attack corvettes fell under heavy fire from the salvos of the Tau, shield banks failing. Hull energization went down to too many hits, leaving the reinforced metal of the hull open to the weapons themselves-and that didn't last too long. Several Jiralhanae were thrown out into space with hull breaches from the corvettes as the ships themselves were cut apart, fire consuming vented atmosphere.

Other ships in the fleet were taking hits, but the stronger ones were still maintaining positive shield integrity while the weaker vessels, keeping shields up but redistributing power grids to maximize efficiency, kept in motion to call away shots. Lethe moved into motion to take advantage of the Tau's opening salvo and to release his own counterfire.

"Full batteries," he ordered to the command staff of the Rogue, "target the aggressor vessels. Make sure to keep the other ships on disabling the largest."

The orders went through, and though avoiding the Il'Kaith, Rogue focused fire on the other attacking vessels. Unloading full power, torpedo tubes projected out several hundred rockets and torpedoes from the flagship in a withering volley, backed up by the rock from over 80 other cannons directed forward and five combine cannons, the weapons directing together turbolaser energy to focus into a stronger, denser, thicker beam capable of sheering apart small vessels and inflicting heavy damage on heavier ones.

The gunships and assault shuttles that had made it past the fighter battle closed with the Il'Kaith, delivering a custom payload out of their rocket launchers-an "electric cocktail" in the form of a giant EMP inside of a standard rocket shell. Three hundred of the weapons volleyed out from the numerous vessels as they pulled up directly after unloading their payloads of the weapons, all directed right at the Il'Kaith. Just after launch, another static salvo from the capital ships shot forth to soften up shield banks before the missile weapons came in.

Barracudas flamed and exploded as laser and plasma fire ripped through their hulls and torched the pilots within. The Tau gave as good as they got, with plasma, ion, and seeker missile fire being traded with the Dominion fighters, explosions punctuating the space between them. The pilots knew they were doomed, being this outnumbered was obvious, with no hope for escape, but they knew they had to at least try. Ha'jai had one hope and they would give their lives to see that hope flourish.The Tiger Sharks, with their heavier set of weaponry, proceeded to dive upon the lighter craft and tear into them with its mutiple plasma and ion weapons, as well as its missiles.

The support craft fired on the fighters, filling space with hot energy but even they, under assault by the fleet and fighters, could not hold for long. Three more ships detonated, and four more struggled to keep firing as fire and oxygen spilled into space out of gaping holes in their sides. They stubbornly continued fighting, driving towards the enemy fighters, blasting with salvoes of missiles.

The Dominon gunships and assault boats that made it out of the holocaust that was the fighter battle unloaded their EMP missile on the Il'kaith. A vast array of PD fire came in the form of the Gun Drones used as turrets and they plastered space with their plasma fire as they tried to take down what enemy craft they could. The EMP's slammed into the shields, electromagnetic energy washing over it. The shield flared white as it struggled to hold back the attack, however, it held as the Tau themselves used EMP weapons from time to time, and had their systems protected somewhat. The shield was weakened significantly by it, which added another worry onto Ha'jai's list. Not only that but the withering fire from the Rogue blasted through six more escorts and five more support ships, greatly weakening the Tau force, almost fatally. The battle had barely begun but as predicted, they were losing fast. Gritting his teeth, Ha'jai had the fleet fire again. Five railgun batteries fired in quick succession as their weapons blasted towards the Rogue, at the same area of shields as the last salvo, followed by the ion cannons and the plasma beams. Missiles shot out and slammed towards the area of the shield that had been targeted by them. The Kass'l Gunship escort added its fire to that of the Il'kaith's, hoping against hope it would do something.

The remainder of the support fleet fired into the smaller ships of the Brute fleet, doing what damage they could and aiming for those with weakened shields and hulls.

The shields of the Rogue splattered white and hot violet againt the fire, the giant ship's energy defenses holding-lightly-against the numerous attacks. Rogue was meant to combat heavy assaults-as was all her class-and this was such standard. Other capital ships of the fleet-considerably smaller-were not faring as well as the larger ship. Several of the destroyers and the frigates of the fleet broke up under fire, exploding in bright fashion as escape pods shot across space-sometimes occupied, sometimes not-and a larger battlecruser took a volley straight into its shield bank, collapsing under pressure, and then recieving the remaining fire directly to its fore. The assault blew into the vessel, sending it out of control and lumbering off into space as flame and atmosphere spewed out.

The gunships recieved heavy losses on the first pass, but no matter-a second wave, armed with standard postrion warheads, was coming in as the PD guns fired off, taking tolls in the first stage. The second wave had recieved lighter damage as the fighter battle began picking off squadrons on both sides, droid fighters swarming still from the rear Brute carriers that were out of the line of fire. The second wave of gunships that had survived the fighter mess unloaded their compliment of warheads, immediately initiatin evasive manuevers to avoid retaliatory fire. Not all would make it, though hopefully the sheer quantity of targets would soon overwhelm the shield banks of the Il'kaith.

Rogue ripped open another salvo as a Challenger light dreadnought-the second ship of the fleet that carried out some lead manueves-guided in three cruisers and a destroyer, a torpedo volley paving the way for a static barrage from the rear as the vehicles swept around to mount an attack from behind the Tau fleet. Rogue kept the rest of the fleet spread out amongst the fore of the Tau fleet, able to launch a withering crossfire without having clumped masses of ships for missile barrages or indiscriminate fire to take advantage of. Static shots from the Rogue complemented standard turbolaser pulses flying in from the fleet as a whole.

The remainder of the support ships of the fleet, apart from the transport ships of the Water Caste, exploded into balls of fire, gas, and shrapnel as the wave of enemy fire washed over the Tau fleet and finally brought about the conclusion both sides knew was coming. The Tau fighters were soon claimed minutes after, their pilots overwhelmed by the Brute fighters and their droid reinforcements. Final, desperate salvos of energy and missile were sent into their ranks before the mass of laser fire crumpled their line and sealed their fate.

All that remained were the Il'kaith, the Gunship and the huddled transports behind the Tau cruiser. The Gunship, however, was not going to last long. It's shields had finally given out and the enemy fire was viciously punishing; great gaps were seen in the ships and flame shot out from various rips and tears in the hull. Firing a final blast of railgun, missiles and energy, its engines flared as it rocketed forward to finish its final task. The dreadnaught was the main reason the fleet was being ripped apart and, even though they were fated to die, they could still do enough damage to ensure a later Tau victory. The ships roared forward, seeking to thrust its entire mass at the shield bank they had concentrated all their fire on. Their hope was the collision and ensuing blast would either destroy or severely cripple the enemy ship.

Even as they did such, however, the Il'kaith finally succumbed to the horrendous fire being poured into it. As powerful as Tau ships and technology was, something as old as massed firepower could still work on them. And in this lopsided battle, it was obvious who had the massed firepower. The shields imploded with a burst of bright white light, the positron torpedoes finally overwhelming the generators. The ensuing laser blasts pummeled the armor, sending chunks of the ship into space, followed by the bodies of those unlucky enough to be in the sections targeted by the Brutes. And, as if to add insult to injury, the static barrages began to play over the ship, shutting down key systems and, almost methodically, shutting down section after section of the ship. Ha'jai, recognizing defeat, keyed the ship wide comm for a last transmission, before it cut out as well.

<”All Shas'ui, the Il'kaith will soon be without power. Enemy boarding is expected to begin almost immediately. Prepare for counter-boarding action.>” Shas'ui Horkan slammed a clip into his pulse carbine and raised it up to his chest, as his fire team readied themselves. Checking their armor, and ammunition, they turned to him, at full attention.

<”Alright, Shas'ui, you know boarding action and what it's like. The Imperials are masters at it and we can only assume these Dominion soldiers are much of the same. As such, show no mercy and fight to win. We are heavily outgunned and outnumbered here. Every delay we can get buys us time for a plan to get us out of here. Any questions?”> There were none. <”Very well, on the move, Shas'ui!”> They rushed down the halls to head for the key boarding points, key areas where they could respond to major areas of the ship, depending on where the enemy came from, as he pushed down his helmet, hearing the hissing of the sealant.

”As if we even have a plan. This is our last stand and we all know it. But, even soldiers need something to fight for at the end.” He thought to himself as he walked after his team, ready for the battle that was to come.

The gunship was a final target as the only hostile still moving-and it recieved a hero's welcome to the full batteries of the Jiralhanae survivors. The apes were a wrathful species; those who took the blood of brothers were slaughtered and cast for dead as many Sangheili had been during their wars only several decades ago. As such, the burning hulks and plasma-venting shrapnel chunks now adding new geography to the local space were motivational boosts to the Jiralhanae consciences that these Tau were nothing but...vermin, to be disposed of as such.

As the gunship charged and the Il'kaith fell silent, Rogue hit reverse thrusters and re-doubled shields to the fore, retreating back as it threw up a wall of fire from all of its fore cannons. The rest of the fleet angled in fire on the charging vessel, space itself lit up like a furnace as energy, mass driver fire, and torpedos lit up local space in an amalgamation of colors and weapons. The fighters and gunships that had survived the fight now made runs on the gunship's engines, several of the droid fighters moving in on suicide runs straight into the shipto end its run prematurely. Droids were always expendable and able to be reproduced quickly.

As the fire poured on the gunship, Phantom-class dropships-less dropships than multi-purpose shuttles-began moving out from the fleet towards the disabled command vessel of the enemy. A phalanx of the expendable Scavenger Droids followed the Phantoms in, a wing of the heavier Predator Droids-comparable more to manned fighters, but sacrificing the low cost and freekish speed that the Scavenger had for bolstered firepower and standard shielding. The Phantoms were well-armed, but not enough to account for any tricks the Tau might have held up in last resort.

All this time, the human operators of the local sentry station were in awed disbelief of the ensuing battle, not exactly sure what to expect. The sentry post had next-to-nothing in weaponry with three turbolasers and a torpedo tube. Not good, especially as the Jiralhanae finally noticed the Dominion station. Around this time, the humans finally began getting their operation together and trying to compose an order of battle to comm off to the Conduit so the message could reach the more important worlds, but they couldn't react fast enough for Lethe's glance.

"The human station," the Jiralhanae chieftain muttered. "On the system's outskirts. I want it eliminated."

There was no sense in arguing the point. Humanity was an enemy too, and a rather weak one in that. For all they made in strategy, intuition, creativity, and courage, humans were pathetic fighters in relation to the bulked Jiralhanae. These would provide no match for the two squadrons of droid gunships barreling down at the station-who the human operators picked up a little too late.

"Shit! Contacts bearing in an attack vector..." one of the lower operators aboard the sentry post yelled frantically in the command room.

The station's commander was fairly young-a big reason for being out here, yet still a job that required a personnel presence as a waypoint-and would not here pass his test.

"Fucking monkeys are turning on us," he uttered through clenched teeth. "Target the gunships."

Rather than getting off the message-there was no survival now-the commander decided to fight. The turbolaser emplacements rang out, several torpedos volleying off from the light station as the droids, perfection in evasive manuevers executed, dodged in between volleys of fire, directing a barrage of huge proportions in comparably little time on the station. Torpedos and rockets slammed into the station, ripping apart the unshielded waypoint through explosive decrompression. It took less than two minutes.

The Phantoms, meanwhile, were reaching the ship, ignoring the transports that had now no hope of survival. Several of the Phantoms connected up to the Il'kaith towards the fore of the ship. All the boarding crews would need to find would be the bridge-and to slaughter the crew. They had a number of crafty devices avaliable at their disposal, but the primary Jiralhanae method of disposing of "undesirables" in space was through simply venting decks to space. It was cheap and easy, and explosive decompression would leave behind plenty of evidence. However, while that worked great for the outer portions of the vessel, the internal bits always needed to be rooted out. The bridge itself had to be kept intact-they needed a return coordinate to send the ship back to in order to send the evidence to the right buyer.

The Phantoms, anyhow, attached to the hull of the Il'kaith, sealing boarding hatches from space and connecting an airtight hole. Aboard each Phantom, the boarding crews attached several Seismic Charges-explosives that had a nasty effect of shredding through just about anything in their path, though the armor of the Tau ship would negate some of that likely-to the hull of the ship in each Phantom's location, roughly at a total spread of 300 meters. Once the charges were in place, a thirty-second timer was activated, and the Phantoms scrambled to move. The connection was broken; the dropships tearing away from the Il'kaith at maximum thrust. When the charges exploded, the dropships wanted to be far away...or get caught up in the conflagration they usually created.

The gunship shuddered and faltered under the onslaught directed at it. The engines flickered and flared into light as droid fighters blasted them and even slammed themselves into their hot glow in order to stop the gunship. The last, desperate move in this one-sided game of chess failed. The amount of fire slamming into the Tau ship finally caused it to break apart, a huge explosion ripping apart the ship, sending chunks of metal flying everywhere and incinerating anything that was too close to the ship.

The Brute dropships would find no resistance, as their static cannons had done their job. Power was out all over the station, the only thing working were the life support systems and those hung on by a thread. The explosives ripped through the hull of the ship, blasting fire and metal throughout the corridors and airlocks that they found themselves in. So far, the Brutes found no resistance, as to the surprise of the Tau, the Brutes had not yet entered close to any of the key areas their small forces had been tasked to defending. So, the Brutes were free to move in and secure the area.

The Jiralhanae moved out from the dropships in packs of ten, a chieftain leading each squad. The bridge and engineering were the two key goals-if each could be taken, the ship would be in complete Jiralhanae control, and the final phase of clearing the vessel would be secure. Already, two packs were converging on the bridge, though the engineering hub was a bit deeper into the ship and to the rear, while the gunships had penetrated near the front and exterior halls.

The bridge had been fairly easy to reach, though the two packs that had arrived both paused momentarily as one Jiralhanae began placing baradium directed-charge explosives to shunt explosive energy and force inwards at the door-both knocking the door in, to allow the Jiralhanae to quickly move in, and sending remaining shrapnel and explosive energy into nearby hostiles without damaging any friendlies.

"When we get in," the Chieftain said, slapping his Gravity Hammer into his hand, "Eliminate the rats quickly. Don't damage the surrounding materials-we need the bridge intact. Do our job."

The Chieftain squared off against the wall as the other Jiralhanae surrounded both sides. The one setting the explosives moved off, clicking a small remote that set off the explosives in an inwards roar.

The packs that headed for engineering, the armory, and other vital parts of the ship soon came under heavy fire, as Tau Fire Warriors unleashed volley after volley of pulse fire at the Brutes. Having been put in key positions all around the ship, they were well-fortified and entrenched, so their fire was aimed at right where the Brutes would come at them. As the Brutes and the Tau got into a hot firefight, another part of the Tau strategy made itself known. Seemingly innocent bumps on the floor popped up, turning into Tau Drones, who began to hammer the rear of the Brute packs with more pulse fire.

As the Chieftain at the bridge detonated the charge, a wave of pulse energy hammered them from behind. When they turned, they would see a large force of Tau Fire Warrior veterans, who were expertly moving down the hallways, some providing covering fire while the rest moved up, and they switched roles. Behind them came one who strode with the ease and skill that one could easily see he was the commander.