NationStates Jolt Archive

On the edge of Tidani space in the Aphotic Galaxy is a system inside the influence of a pulsar. Named the Anglesey System after the sacred grove hidaway of the druids, the pulsar's radiation obscured scans of the system and thus little attention was paid to it until recent mapping brought the surprise that Anglesey III could support human life. The planet has a denser atmosphere and stronger magnetic field providing extra protection from the radiation.

Shortly after this was discovered the Navy built an outpost there to keep an eye on the system and enforce Tidan's claim to the system. Three days ago contact with the base was lost.
_____________________________________________

Anglesey System

Force Admiral Vaughan stood on the bridge of the Gallant Sword of Brennus leading his taskforce on their charge into the system to discover what had happened to the base. The Sword and fellow Gallant Vae Victis under the command of Admiral Torrey, commanded two full elements of the Second Fleet. They were confident that the two Gallants and their escorts of 6 Razorbacks, 10 Ferals, and 20 Harpys each could handle any problems they would encounter. If this was not the case, luckily Tidan and reinforcements was less than a light day away.

Before they returned to normal space the Pulsar's effect was already making communications and sensors difficult. The outpost should have been boosting comm channels and providing high resolution sensor data of the region, but for some reason it was not. As they dropped out of hyperspace and into the system answers were still no where to be found, and it wasn't until they got closer to the planet itself that scanners could get a close enough look to find out what was wrong.

The outpost on Anglesey III was gone. In its place, craters and burnt buildings was all that was left above the surface.

The first strike...

Captain Pala'din stood aboard the flagship Seraphim in his gray-pressed uniform, staring out a window at empty space. A wing of Svent Corvettes passed by his vision as he was lost in his own world. A section of the wall behind him opened, sliding from left to right with a 'shhhft' sound, brightening the darker room from the illuminated hallway. A shadow fell over Pala'din as his first officer stood in the doorway, similarly dressed, with a thin metal data pad in his hand. The familiar 'shhhft' sound followed the second in command as he stepped into the dragon's nest.

"What is it, Mister Dulmare?"

The captain growled as his reverie was broken. Dulmare stopped a few feet from his commander, meeting him in the eye as Pala'din turned to face him.

"Sir, we have new orders from Lord Odi. We are to proceed to the next target system."

Captain Pala'din turned back to the window.

"Contact the fleet and set a course."

"Sir."

Dulmare said with a salute and a click of his heels.

The fleet began to form for another jump and another strike to expand the Dominion. Tidan was the first to feel their push.

Fleet pic. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/azureink/Sci-Fi/ships/DO%20ships/Fleetpart1.jpg)

DO info. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=403226)

FEDBED System to High Command,
A station near Tidani space has gone offline. Recommend dispatch of a task force to investigate this matter. Said station is near Pulsar #28856H, so set coordinates accordingly. MTFBWY.

An indeterminate, but not infinite amount of time later...

It was rare for the Dragon Kingdom of Issus to send ships outside of its sphere of influence, but on the behest of High Command (and the fact that the King's Dragons were bored of late, what with the Jedi hogging all the attention), the Dragonstorm-class battlecruiser Glory of Flames was sent to investigate the matter.

It was a majestic vessal, slightly larger than Star Destroyer, but fittingly, shaped more like an oversized dragon's claw than a cheese wedge. It boasts numerous plasma cannons with comparable power to turbolasers, PPC cannons with all the best of turbolaser and ion cannon power combined, and a full wing of Battle Dragons, whos powers allow them to fight in space as well as any fighter of the Empire and then some.

Escorting the Glory of Flames were two Wraith-class frigates, optimized for anti-strikecraft work although they could back up the battlcruiser if need be.

Captain Goren was the commanding officer aboard the ship, a commanding presence even among dragonkind and definitely someone none of the human crew wanted to get on the wrong side of. He wore his numerous scars with pride, and even an eye-patch over his right eye for extra badassery. In short, this was a Dragon well on his way to becoming Admiral. But today, it would be a relatively simple mission for him...

Anglesey III, High Altitude

Flames licked off the hulls of three dropships as they completed their entry and continued to plummit through the high atmosphere of the planet. Vaportrails and sonicbooms announced their arrival high above the base remains.

The dropships slowed and circled down to a field just south of the base. Twelve men hopped off of each bird and further equipment and supplies were dropped onto the ground before each lifted off again. The two dropships on the sides unloaded marines who arranged themselves into four squads. Their marine armor, uniform but unique, gleamed in the low autumn sunlight. Each group of six men gathered their supplies and equipment and distributed it amongst themselves. Then they moved forward to the men leaving the middle dropship.

From that bird were four squads from the Special Recon Force. They stood out from the other marines in their TOWER armor. Each of these four man squads quickly divided up their supplies while their leaders discussed the operation. When they finished they returned to their men and turned to the marines walking up to them. One of the SRFs then moved forward and put himself between the marines and the rest of his men.

"Alright men listen up. As you were informed on the ride down this is a recon mission. Just in case the bumps knocked it out of your heads on descent I'm going to go over it once more. Something knocked out this base. First glance it looks mostly orbital but we are here to get a better look. If it was mostly orbital that means some of the bunkers may still be intact and there might be survivors."

He pointed to his squad and then to himself.

"I am your commanding officer while we are on this rock. I am leader of Beith squad, and you will call me Beith-One. Green squad you are with us."

Next he guestured to the squad to his left, to his right, and finally the to the far right.

"To my left is Luis squad. Red squad you will report to them. To my right is Fearn squad. Blue squad you are with them. And finally to Fearn's right is Sail squad. Yellow you are with them. Sail is going to take Yellow and secure the top of the ridge on the west edge of the base. That will be our fall back point and evac zone should anything happen. The rest of us will proceed through the base to determine the extent of the destruction. Any questions? Good. Move out!"

The men snapped to attention and saluted before grabbing their things and running off after their leaders.

The base had been divided into quadrants. Beith and Fearn squad would take their marines through the SE quadrant, Fearn moving to the NE while Beith moving to the base center. Luis would head through the SW quadrant and they would all meet up in the NW. Sail would monitor the action from the ridge above and provide support if necessary.
_____________________________________________

Anglesey III, High Orbit

With the discovery of the destroyed base the Sword of Brennus and Vae Victis fell into a defensive possition with the planet protecting their aft and their escorts arrayed in a screen above their bows. Two squadrons of Comet fighters broke off from the Sword to patrol the airspace above the outpost.

Until they could get the outpost's array back online sensor readings in the system were very unreliable and for all they knew the people who did this could still be around.

[Looks like CoreWorlds' ships will arrive in the system in dispute soon. I'll hold off on posting the next attack until some time has passed. Since it takes some time to move from system to system.]

(Where were you planning on attacking? I basically hold my home system and a few more outposts like this one. Not much worth taking unless you want to siege Ti itself, that would be suicide though. I was mostly just looking for some small scale battles. We can keep going though)

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/Retro_1989/ISSeal.jpg

Official Communiqué

Addressing The Clandom of Tidan:

My brothers,
Merchant shipping of the Incandescent Resource Group has reported minor disturbances in your region, following speculative reports of conflict in the Anglesey System. Although this report is officially unconfirmed, do not be alarmed if future-shipping is equipped with defensive measurements.
We regret that we may not aid our ally in such a time, for our home is currently under attack from the Dominion of Feazanthia. Defense has currently absorbed two-thirds of our Fleet-offensive capability.

Should you require assistance once the Feazanthian assault has been destroyed, a fleet will immediately be dispatched to your area.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/Retro_1989/200px-Kushan_species.jpg

Regards,
~Galan Rousse
The Voice of Incandescent Serenity

http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/tidan.jpg

To our kin of Incandescent Sereity,

We have become aware of a diturbance in the Anglesey system and have lost contact with out outpost in that system. A force is on route to the area to investigate and should be arriving shortly.

Your trade ships are welcome to carry their own defenses, we will alert border authorities and port officials of the change. Should you request it we could provide armed escort of your craft through our space, though we are confident the matter will be resolved quickly.

We are upset to hear your nebula has fallen into conflict. Should there be any need of assistance please do not hesitate to ask.

Prince Richard,
Guardian of the People of Tidan until the King's Return


(I always love your communiques IS ^_^ )

Anglesey III, Planetside

Beith-One walked through the remains of the central square. The buildings around him were in ruin and crumbling. It was too dangerous to go inside them and search, but incase survivers were in the rubble Beith and Green squads were playing the call of a specific wild creature that was the Tidani military's code sound for identifying friendly in hostile territory. So far there had been no reply.

Still no clear indication of what had done this could be found and no hostile contact had been encountered. Beith-One wondered if they were still here. But that wasn't his mission. They continued to search the square before moving on toward the NW quadrant. That is where anything of value would be found if it had survived.
______________________________________

Ti System (deployment orders in light of recent attack)

With the report of the destruction of the Anglesey Outpost Fleet Command feared the worst. The Fourth Fleet had departed for Jurai and the two elements of the Second were still monitoring the situation in Anglesey. Worried about it's other outposts inside Tidani space, FleetComm dispatched six other elements from the Second Fleet to secure the rest of their systems.

March of Bolgios and Assassination of Keraunos left for the Man System where Tidani held an outpost on Man II.

There was another outpost on Skye IV in the Skye System. Contingent of Brennus and Requisition of Acichorius departed to insure that outpost did not come to harm.

Thermopylae Pass and Fate of Delphi were also deployed to the Troy System where another outpost existed on Troy III.

This left Allia River and Rome in Flames behind in the Ti System with the First, Third, and Ti Defense Fleets.

[I was hoping for small scale fights also, mainly attacking resource rich or strategic border systems. The problem I have with most of the nations in FT is they make their ships extremely large and unrealistic. I am not certain why you seem to have so many 2km+ starships, since that is almost a mile in length. But, to be honest I am not sure what a good size is for my ships either, but I try to base it on sizes of ships in TV/movie/games if I can find accurate size information. So, which system is a focal point in military maneuvering?]

OOC: Mind if I work my way in? My Fleet is still too busy being outnumbered by Feazanthia, so I thought this would be good for now.

The edges of the Anglesey System

Four rather large ships bearing the markings of the Incandescent Resource Group were immediately diverted towards the source of the Tidani troubles. They did not, however, serve the banner of the syndicate they flew underneath. After all, since the Serenitist return from isolationism, it wasn't just the merchants who had left looking for opportunities. The new 'civilized' realm of the Incandescent Nebula bore no harbour of raiding and chaos that the former pirates had been accustomed too, and so they moved outwards, searching for new opportunities under the guise of traders as to not attract unwanted attention.
Men of their caliber did not go unnoticed, however, and their 'Unique' abilities were far-from forgotten by the peoples of incandescent Serenity. They were, after all, still kin, and the few that remained of the descendants of the Great Exiles were sworn to unity forever.

The IRG Last Autumn led the group, a large trading vessel adapted by her inhabitants. Her hangers had been replaced with small strike-craft bays, capable of harbouring at least twenty fighters, along with resourcing and unimpressive manufacturing facilities, primarily for repairs. Despite this, she was still under a kilometer in length. The three vessels which accompanied the Last Autumn were smaller, two of mere Frigate stature and another comparative to a small Destroyer. none of the vessels were heavily armed or shielded, each armed with a couple of Pulsar Laser Turrets and the Plasma Cutters used for mining. The Last Autumn however had undergone some minor modifications, now armed with a couple of heavier Ionic Pulsar Lasers, along with three medium Kinetic Cannons. Not enough to harbour any suspicion, and without any form of operational shielding she remained far from a war-ship of any sort.
The Clan-ships had their orders from the Council of the Three Cities, and began a series of haphazard hyperspace jumps into the Anglesey System.

The Hii'Ra thirst for blood

. .. ships extremely large and unrealistic. I am not certain why you seem to have so many 2km+ starships, since that is almost a mile in length...

[where i do agree with you on this i also could understand the use of acouple of ships at that size but none of wich would be militaristic.]

There are 2 main reasons my ships are big. I'll be honest, at first I used small ships in squads with tactics and units. And in battle they were pretty much ignored and stepped on by the big ones. Most people use big ships and as much I hate to go with the flow, eventually I just gave up.

The other reason is my current reincarnation of Tidan is made up of ancient celts who according to Roman historians built massive ships by their standards. So I bumped them up this time, my main ships used to be around 1 km, and big ones around 2. At the same time though I also reduced the number of ships I had. My whole nation of 5 billion has less that 2000 ships. That doesn't seem like a lot to me.

Maybe I did go a little overboard, but if you think I'm going to use size as an excuse for power you're wrong.

So strategy. Well basically I have outlined my holdings, I only have one largely populated world, the Ti System. The other systems I outlined in my deployment are more outpost worlds. Light population centered around a military base. I've added them to my NSwiki systems page but there is only a list of them there. You can hit any thing you want. I've sent a force too each one though, so you won't get there without doing some fighting :)

Like I said though the Ti system is very heavily defended, after all, when you only live on one world there is no where to retreat to.

Adormange enters the bridge of The Ferval Claw as the vox officer turns to him and reports.
"sir this is the place our long range scans have detected; scouts have located large activty in the area. walking to the chair in the middle of the bridge he activates the vox channel.
"To all ships in this quadrant" ,starts Adormange, " I am Adormange, leader of the wolfen legion of Reken we mean you no harm. we have entered this area on the intent of exploration. Yet be warned any ship impeeding or threating the mission or welfare of this fleet will feel the full wrath of the legions of Reken." Sitting on the command throne he closes the link via controls built into the throne. "lets see if they wish to test our might."

[I found a Freespace Wiki and managed to find articles that I could use to alter the ship specs... I think Man II's outpost will be the next target.]

The DO fleet under Captain Pala'din departed null-space (refering to the vast, open space between systems) and set coordinates to the Man System. They would be there within the hour, though their jump signature would probably be detected before they made it into the system.

Captain Pala'din's Fleet:

1 Verthica Class Capital Ship
2 Valeji Class Cruisers
5 Caex Class Frigates
6 Squadrons of Svent Class Corvettes (18 ships)

The Edges of the Anglesey System

The tear in hyperspace left by the Draconic Order sent an unpredictable shiver across the hyperspace core of the Last Autumn, which was swiftly converted into a series of text and symbols across the various terminals of the bridge.

"Captain, we've got something here, theres flashing lights and everything..." Heshan exclaimed, vigorously pointing towards the terminal in question, the Captain rolled his eyes.

"Hesh, i don't wanna know when every itty-bit light starts giving you the jumps. Bother me when you've got something good. And if you wanna worry 'bout something go down and take a look at the Hii'Ra, we promised them blood and all sorts of spoils and so far we've got nothin'!"

"No Captain, I think I've got 'em. Except I'm not sure who "'Em" is, really... By the looks of things, something pretty sizable just left the system"

Heshan continued to flicker his eyes across the screen, analyzing everything the Core had felt obliged to share with him. Soon the background returned to its very Serenic shade of blue from the previously alarming red. Displayed across it were a series of lines, all of which had began to spike like tall mountain ranges across some point of their life. Heshan ushered the Captain over and almost forced him down in his chair.

"See them lines? That's hyperspace gettin' sore. There's been barely any travel this sector what with somethin' bad lurkin' around an' all, so everything was calm. Now, the Core's tellin' me something's jus' made a big jump, and whatever it was hasn't used the same core as any Tidani vessel I've seen. in fact, I'd be surprised if these things don't run on steam"

The Captain really, really wasn't in the mood for this, In fact, he was actually quite hungover. He got up, turned around and left the bridge, waving with the back of his hand somewhat half-heartedly as he left.

"You no the Hii'Ra, if something runs, they'll wanna chase it. Its their way"

And with that, the Last Autumn and her team jumped into hyperspace once-more, her old hull groaning under the pressure. She wasn't fast, nor smart, but she liked a chase.

Anglesey System

For the Sword of Brennus and Vae Victis things were about to get interesting. The forces of the Draconic Order had moved on though they didn't yet know that. What was coming their way were ships that had one way or the other noticed the actions in the normally quiet sector.

First to arrive was the Glory of Flames followed shortly by the Last Autumn and her group. Of course with the outpost currently down for the count, they didn't know who had arrived yet. With the potential for hostile ships in the area the two Gallants' escorts were kept on a short leash, but this also meant that there were no stronger sensor signals between the Fleet and the new arrivals.

Attention incomming ships. You are entering space under the jurisdiction of Tidan. Please identify yourself and state your business here.

(gotta run but I'll be back later to respond to Reken and DO, don't worry ;) )

"Sensors, report!" Captain Goren snapped as the three ships scooted closer to the pulsar.

"High levels of radiation due to the pulsar is limiting sensor readings, but the third planet is showing signs of recent destruction." The Rodian sensor operator reported.

"Oh? Must be the outpost. On screen!" The Captain ordered and the long-range holocams complied. There was a scene of great devastation for a small, humble outpost. Someone's seriously trying to provoke an ally of the Coredians and it stoked the Captain's blood that civilians would get caught so. Ruthless the Dragons may be at times, even they had honor. "Hail the Tidani warships."

"Very well. A nation known as Reken is hailing all in this system." The comms officer, this one a female human, replied.

The Captain's eyes narrowed as he pulled up a file on the Reken nation. "Imperium fools. Ignore them and concentrate on hailing the Tidani."

"Yessir." The young woman replied.

"Gallant Sword, this is Captain Goren of HMS Glory of Flames. We have arrived and have just learned of your tragedy. Our condolences to your lost. Be rest assured that Coredia and Issus stand by your side and will assist you in the investigation and bringing the barbarians to justice."

(gotta run but I'll be back later to respond to Reken and DO, don't worry ;) )
[No hurry.]

OOC: Ti and DO, check your TG's. Just to make clear, we have left the Anglesey System in pursuit of the DO fleet, and are now somewhere in the Man System.

The Man System: Exact Location Unknown

The IRG Last Autumn literally shot out of hyperspace, clearly hundreds of thousands of kilometers off-target,

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Screamed Taylor, the ship's lead pilot. The Captain was looking increasingly worried as Taylor continued to fly the bird like she wasn't a nine-hundred kilometer cow. And quite frankly, he was feelin pretty damn queezy...

"Godammit Taylor slow us the hell down! And where the hell are we!?"

The Captain rubbed his forehead and hair, clearly more than just a little-bit grouchy. He probably just needed a nap...

"Straighten my boat out! I'm off for a nap!"

Well that confirms it then...
The Last Autumn slowed to a halt, followed by the team of other ships who were obviously struggling to keep-up. They had picked up a surge in radio-chatter just before they made the jump after the DO, although nobody was sure if anyone would follow. The Draconic Order themselves remained somewhat, well, not here.
Heshan took this opportunity, as he so frequently did when the Captain left the bridge, to politely inform the fleet that he was in charge again. He slammed the radio down and shut-up very quickly when Kayleigh, the ships second-in-command, shot him an icy glare. She was really rather short and cute, until she got her hands on a weapon of some sort, then it got messy. Most of the crew, including Heshan, were pretty damn scared of her.

"Hesh, you better not be playin' with my radio again. I need to know where we are exactly and where the hell the Order is."

Heshan cleared his throat and threw a headset over his face. It was squint.

"Sorry Ma'am, will have them bad-guys on-screen in a tick"
This wasn't true. Heshan didn't have a clue what he was doing for starters.

the exploration fleet was just a meger collection of 5 ships lead by the battle barge The Ferval Claw Adormange's new flagship. The two barges contain the feared first and secound companies of the wolfen legion. the first vetran company contained the closest thing a wolfen could be to a terminator, where as the second company entailed the quick strike elements of the legion like attack bikes, assault troops and land speeders. Even though wolfen were not allways looking for a fight they were never cought unprepared.


Expedition Fleet Wolfen
1 wolfen nova battle barge -(The Ferval Claw)
1 wolfen battle barge - (Lone Wolf)
2 victory-class battleships
1 mars-class battlecrusier
1 dominator-class crusier

"To all ships in this quadrant" ,starts Adormange, " I am Adormange, leader of the wolfen legion of Reken we mean you no harm. we have entered this area on the intent of exploration. Yet be warned any ship impeeding or threating the mission or welfare of this fleet will feel the full wrath of the legions of Reken."

<Legions... We don't have much use for your kind here Centurion. Still we don't make a habit of shooting on sight anymore. Adormange, Welcome to Tidan. We are currently investigating an act of war against our people. We kindly ask you stay out of our way and refrain from mapping our space without our permission. If you require information on our space you will find us much more receptive to asking for it.>



The DO fleet under Captain Pala'din departed null-space (refering to the vast, open space between systems) and set coordinates to the Man System. They would be there within the hour, though their jump signature would probably be detected before they made it into the system.

Captain Pala'din's Fleet:

1 Verthica Class Capital Ship
2 Valeji Class Cruisers
5 Caex Class Frigates
6 Squadrons of Svent Class Corvettes (18 ships)

Without the disruptive presence of the pulsar The forces in the Man System had spread out to secure the area. The closest patrol to where the Draconic Forces were entering the system was a single Razorback accompanied by two Ferals and four Harpys. It had been some time since the [I]Shiltron had started its patrol and had yet to see anything of interest. With the patrols in the system focusing on an overlapping network of short-range, high-intensity scans they had yet to detect the Draconic forces moving towards them.

(hopefully this will give IS a chance to try his thing before we get into a little skirmish.)

The Captain's eyes narrowed as he pulled up a file on the Reken nation. "Imperium fools. Ignore them and concentrate on hailing the Tidani."

<Ah Coredians! It is good to see friends here. Thank you for your condolances but this is not the time for mourning, now is the time for defiance. We are working to get the outpost's sensor array back online. We hope that will provide some answers.>

[I will wait until after Incandescent Serenity posts his run in with your defense fleet before my fleet shows up. And if you could IS, please provide us information of your fleet. That way I have some idea as to how to rp the encounter to come. I also altered the name of the cruiser class slightly; as I found out I misspelled it. It is now Valignat instead of Valeji. According to my calculations, before adding in IS's ships, I have a slight advantage in firepower. However IS will flip the scales in favor of the Tidani if they side with them.]

OOC: No, no, no ,no, please don't wait for me. Check my previous post for armaments. All my ships are ex-mining/trading vessels with no-shielding and easily matchable weaponry. Go ahead and engage each other, my pirates are employed to pick up the pieces if you get me. See post 11 for detail.

The Man System: Location slightly more known

A series of dots began manifesting themselves on Heshan's screen. Naturally, he was relieved.

"Ma'am, I found 'em. Bad guys all over this space. We're running at full speed but my guess is they know we're here too"

Talyor leaned in towards Heshan, whispering in his ear;

"I thought we were the bad guys?"

Heashan returned the whisper;

"No, we just have a slight moral deficiency and are otherwise un-engaged in a field of legitimate employment"

"Oh, right. Okay."

The ships thankfully were still flying under the banner of the Incandescent Resource Group, leaving all channels broadcasting on merchant frequencies open as to not gain any unwanted suspicion. The group began to slow down, and one of the apparant merchant frigates opened up a channel:

"This is Lieutenant Lhorra of the IS Marines, I recommend we engage the enemy vessels during the first clash. And for god's sake could someone get those Hii'Ra to operate their vessels with core containment? The radiation's running havoc with our sensors!"

The Captain miraculously reappeared on the bridge of the Last Autumn, rubbing his eyes and stumbling quite a bit.

"Lucky for you, Lieutenant, that I'm in charge of the biggest ship here, and that makes me in charge of this whole damn group!"

"Not when you're doing a job for the government, it doesn't. Follow my lead"

The Captain shut up and put his radio down. Lhorra had a point, this was government work, after-all they had ships here too. As for the Hii'Ra, he wasn't askin them anything, they were already getting wound up at the fact that it was near feeding time. Instead the merchant fleet continued to wait for the Tidani and Order vessels to clash, before they swooped in like vultures.
After-all, the government wasn't payin' them that much...

A massive surge of energy and a flash of space dust and vapor threads blurred sensors for a moment as a little over two dozen ships exited subspace, coming out of their jump. The massive capital ship, Seraphim, dwarfed its support fleet as it sat within the middle, a queen among the swarm. Immediately upon arriving in the system, the Dominion warships detected vessels in their way, a fleet of similar strength. Incandescent blues and greens bubbled out and encased the DO fleet in protective barriers, turrets groaned silently in the void as they aligned themselves for battle.

"They moved faster than we anticipated. Signal the fleet, target the lead ship. Give me flanking speed."

"Sir!"

Pala'din's fleet surged toward the opposing fleet. Two of the frigates and one of the cruisers formed around the capital ship. Beams sprouted from their hulls like cables and tethered the four ships together. A massive build up of ions lanced forth from the Seraphim's main cannon moments later as they closed, slashing through space and the combined defense fleet, engulfing them in a hellstorm. The DO seemed intent on smashing their way through to the heart of their enemies' fleet. If they succeeded in crippling this enemy, the outpost here would be destroyed.

"My kind? Hold your tongue! do not seterotype the men of reken with that of your 'legions'. In Reken a legion it is merely a way to describe the size of our armies. and an act of war? that intrueges me greatly. Relay the quadrant of this incident bto my ship now and i will take care of this threat for you. in exchange you will give us access to all regional maps and access to your trade routes. Do we have a deal?"

<Ah Coredians! It is good to see friends here. Thank you for your condolances but this is not the time for mourning, now is the time for defiance. We are working to get the outpost's sensor array back online. We hope that will provide some answers.>
"Would you like assistance in this matter, then? Or perhaps in hunting down the fools who spilled the blood of innocents?" Captain Goren replied.

"My kind? Hold your tongue! do not seterotype the men of reken with that of your 'legions'. In Reken a legion it is merely a way to describe the size of our armies. and an act of war? that intrueges me greatly. Relay the quadrant of this incident bto my ship now and i will take care of this threat for you. in exchange you will give us access to all regional maps and access to your trade routes. Do we have a deal?"

<If you had seen the things I have, you would not so carelessly toss around the titles of the Great Tyrant Rome.>

Vaughan muted the mic and slammed a fist down on the table. He fought back the memories from his child hood of villages burning and family slain in the name of that vile bastard Caesar. He calmed himself and tried to remember to protocols for first contact situations.

"Damn diplomats are never around when you need them," he thought, "and always getting in the way when you don't."

Finally he reactivated the mic.

<But I speak above my station. You know not what offense you give, and for that you should not be judged. Unless you can bring men and women back from the dead I don't see how you can help us. Recently an unidentified force destroyed our base in this system.>

Now Vaughan's eyes narrowed and his tone changed from stating facts to inquisitive at the proposal of the wolfen.

<If you wish access to our traderoutes you only need to contact our trade ministry and agree to abide by our laws. Maps are another matter. We are not in the practise of giving sensitive chartographic information to those who we know nothing of their intentions. For what purpose do you wish to map our space? While we do appreciate your concern, we will be able to handle the situation ourselves.>

He shut down the comlink and turned to the bridge crew.

"Lookout, I want you keeping an eye on those ships. They are far too pushy for visitors. I don't trust 'em."

"Aye Admiral. Sensors are shot ta 'ell but I'll do what I can."

"Would you like assistance in this matter, then? Or perhaps in hunting down the fools who spilled the blood of innocents?" Captain Goren replied.

<We would appreciate the help as always. Perhaps you will have better luck identifying the authors of this assault that we have been. We've not seen anything that points to a force we are familiar with. We have forces in position now to safeguard the rest of our outposts. If they try this again... we will catch them. I have a force on the ground if you would like to take a closer look. The area appears to be secure and my men are about to descend to the control center to reactivate the array and see if any of the sensor logs survived. You are welcome to join them if you wish.>

A massive surge of energy and a flash of space dust and vapor threads blurred sensors for a moment as a little over two dozen ships exited subspace, coming out of their jump. The massive capital ship, Seraphim, dwarfed its support fleet as it sat within the middle, a queen among the swarm. Immediately upon arriving in the system, the Dominion warships detected vessels in their way, a fleet of similar strength. Incandescent blues and greens bubbled out and encased the DO fleet in protective barriers, turrets groaned silently in the void as they aligned themselves for battle.

"They moved faster than we anticipated. Signal the fleet, target the lead ship. Give me flanking speed."

"Sir!"

Pala'din's fleet surged toward the opposing fleet. Two of the frigates and one of the cruisers formed around the capital ship. Beams sprouted from their hulls like cables and tethered the four ships together. A massive build up of ions lanced forth from the Seraphim's main cannon moments later as they closed, slashing through space and the combined defense fleet, engulfing them in a hellstorm. The DO seemed intent on smashing their way through to the heart of their enemies' fleet. If they succeeded in crippling this enemy, the outpost here would be destroyed.

Man System, Tidani Razorback Shiltron on patrol in-system

Alarms screamed as the enemy fleet roared up at Captain Reiley's group, weapons firing. The Shiltron wheeled around to bring her bow guns to bear on the enemy. Even as she did the tightly focused Razor beams lashed out pumping into their shields like the tip of a needle longing to break through and slice through their hulls.

Comets launched from Razorback's launch tubes. The four meter long creatures were smaller than any strikecraft Tidan had ever come across but they were not a flawed construct of mortal minds treading beyond their limits. These were the instruments of gods, lovingly crafted from the dust of space. Faster than the solar winds and harder than a meteorite.

The swarm rose from the ambushed fleet like hornets disturbed from their nest. These agile space predators located their prey, they closed in on the enemy's fighter screen and in superior numbers began slamming their hardened shells into shields at great speeds. For the enemy it would be like dogfighting with a barn swallow while flying though an asteroid field, except these rocks were trying to kill the pilots.

The first volley stuck the Tidani ships with force. Shields strained and one of the Harpys that had managed to position itself into the brunt of the fire detonated in a hail of shrapnel and superheated gases. The silent sight haunted the defenders who suddenly errupted with flak fire. The exploding shells burst leaving behind a cloud of reflective particles after the initial debris. These were fired into the path of the capital weapons fire to weaken the strikes before they impacted Tidani shields, and into the formations of strike craft.

This was what the Harpy's had been built to do and they excelled in their roll. The remaining three blasted out their charges in rapid sucession to add their strength to the defender's screen.

The two Ferals spun quickly and began filling the space between them and the Draconic ships with slugs and energy. They both turned their artillery barrage against one of the Draconic cruisers.

Finally the Shiltron herself completed her turn and the two massive mass drivers along her spine launched a volley at the untargeted cruiser. All the while her Razor beams and smaller railguns targetted and fired at the enemy.

The Tidani fleet was errupting in explostions caused by both the enemy barrage and their own defensive flak screen. On the bridge of the Shiltron Captain Reiley barked orders as the sudden changes of momentum from the assault slipped through the gravity dampening, causing the crew to rock slightly with each hit.

"Get me a link to the March of Bolgios now!"

"I canna establish a link Captain. They must be jamming us."

"Find a way!"

muting the vox Adormange turns to his bridge staff and commands,
"Scan the sector for all warp and light travel." ,un-muting to vox he continues, " We desire the maps for gen. mapping for inter stellar travel routes and if we are to share trade routes we would need the maps for that also."

muting the vox Adormange turns to his bridge staff and commands,
"Scan the sector for all warp and light travel." ,un-muting to vox he continues, " We desire the maps for gen. mapping for inter stellar travel routes and if we are to share trade routes we would need the maps for that also."

<Should you wish to use our trade routes, you will be provided with the appropriate data once you agree to obey our laws while in our space and have been approved. General chartographic data on our territory is not released, and certainly not by me. We prefer to keep to ourselves, and all too often those probing our space unannounced are looking to cause us trouble. We will provide you with data on the extent of our territory and our traderoutes should your government request it, but no more. You need to look no further than the base behind us to see why we prefer isolation. So you will understand if we do not participate in your stellar survey.>

"Of all the bloody days." Vaughan thought.

He would probably face diciplinary measures for his treatment of a first contact situation but right now he really didn't care. He had much bigger concerns than the Wolfen Legion. Beside that they were far too pushy for his liking, it pushed his buttons. He knew there was more going on than he knew but until he got that sensor array operational again he would have to wait to deal with them.

After a few moments, the concentrated fire of the two Ferals was enough to break the cruiser away from the capital ship. As the cruiser was battered away the connection stretched and snapped. The Seraphim's main blast dwindled and cut off, having only lasted a dozen or more seconds longer. The rest of the four disengaged and began targeting priority targets.

Outnumbered but smaller than the DO interceptor screen, the Comets began a full-on attack of the smaller warships. What shocked the Dominion was that the Comets rammed their targets. One of the corvettes had its starboard wing ripped off by a passing flight. The Athears went into a heightened alert and began to spread out in order to tear the Comets to shreds. A wave of swarm missiles gutted a Comet squadron, before another group of Comets slashed through the interceptors, smashing the wing into debris. Both sides lit up with flack, making the dwindling fighter squadrons even less of a threat. The lack of interceptors on both sides left their warships without a torpedo screen. A fullsade of torpedoes were launched from the DO fleet to exploit this weakness, which screamed through the ether towards the Harpy squadron.

The battleship and broken cruiser concentrated their fire on the Shiltron, leaving the frigates to their frigates, and the last cruiser to the two enemy Ferals. With the siege cannon offline due to lack of power, and its damage done, the Seraphim switched to using its particle beam cannons to rake the Shiltron as it passed by its port quarter. The cruisers and frigates followed suit, concentrating both beam and laser fire on their singular targets.

"Sir we havent traced any patterns but that doesnt mean they are not there. We have detected a large cluster of ships, possiably a battle, not to far away." reports the nav officer.
"good ready the engines to transport us to that location but keep us at a neutral distance." Orders Adormange.

<We would appreciate the help as always. Perhaps you will have better luck identifying the authors of this assault that we have been. We've not seen anything that points to a force we are familiar with. We have forces in position now to safeguard the rest of our outposts. If they try this again... we will catch them. I have a force on the ground if you would like to take a closer look. The area appears to be secure and my men are about to descend to the control center to reactivate the array and see if any of the sensor logs survived. You are welcome to join them if you wish.>
"Then I shall come. Please prepare for my arrival." The Captain ended the communique on that note. "Move in."

As ordered, the Dragonstorm-class battlecruiser and her escorts entered orbit around the planet and the Captain and an honor guard began to descend onto the planet. The funny thing was, they didn't use any shuttles.

They didn't need to.

Breaking through the atmosphere, a massive Bronze dragon and four slightly smaller beasts flew towards the outpost at a high velocity, their wings slicing gracefully through the increasingly thicker air. At ten thousand feet above the ground, the dragons circled the city twice to get a closer look at the damage before they found a place to land. Once they landed, the Captain and his command staff transformed into their human forms and awaited their hosts.

The Battle of Man

"Light 'em up, its time to move in ladies"

The Captain had stood on the bridge, monitoring the battle from a remote probe not too far off. The Last Autumn and her accompaniment immediately jumped into Hyperspace, revealing themselves from behind one of the many moons of Man II. The jump did not take long, and within minutes the fireworks of the battlefield were displayed right before the Captain's eyes. he licked his lips slightly. Not even Heshan offered any sort of smart comment.

"Hesh, whats the status of the Tango's shields?

"This baby's tellin' me their ripe for the pickin', Sir"

The Captain nodded in acknowledgment and continued;

"Taylor, bring us round behind the enemy's fleet, keep 'em starboard until we're clear of their cruiser, then swing us right round. Plant us right on their port. Kayleigh, listen up; Have the cannons open up on the main engines of that cruiser; I want that girl nice 'n' slow for our boys. You're in charge, I'm joining the boarding parties. Time to catch us a prize"

The supposed IRG vessels began their maneuver, swinging round from behind the Order's ships as soon as the exited Hyperspace. The Kinetic Cannons of the Last Autumn opened up; firing round after round of magnetically super-accelerated ammunition into the prey's engines. They swung round as swiftly as they appeared on the battlefield, slicing up the middle of the DO fleet. Weapons they lacked, speed however, they did not.
Kayleigh leaped into the Captain's chair. She did not waste any time in taking advantage of the confusion surrounding apparant merchant vessels jumping into the fray.

"Deploy the dogs, I want fighter cover for us ASAP. Engage the Heavy Plasma Cutters as soon as we're close enough, and place all Pulsar Turrets on defensive duty"

Moments after she gave the order, the bay doors of the Last Autumn swung open, sending fourteen 'Saber' Class Light-Interceptors and seven 'Retribution' Class Superiority Fighters into the fray. Meanwhile, the various Pulsar Turrets of the group opened fire; concentrating on intercepting enemy munitions and nearby fighter-craft. Seconds later, the group moved into range of the cruiser, with the fleets Plasma Cutters flashing intermittently. The blue glow of the cutters marked the makeshift weapon taking out key enemy systems en-route to the latching point, anything from sensors to weaponry. Then, the behemoth magnetic latches pulled the IRG vessels in close to the hull of the target cruiser, hugging themselves close to its metallic belly.

Then the Cutters concentrated, focusing on exploiting an area already softened by the battle. The boarders would be knee-deep in blood soon, and the Hii'Ra would feed.

Adormange stands as the viewscreen maginifies the battle unfolding before them. Watching carefully as one side begins to flank the other. Sighing he turns from the sceen and mumbles, "amatures." Turning to his weapons officer he calls " Put one round through that battlespace, dont aim for any ships, just get their attention."

Anglesey III, High Altitude
"Then I shall come. Please prepare for my arrival." The Captain ended the communique on that note. "Move in."

As ordered, the Dragonstorm-class battlecruiser and her escorts entered orbit around the planet and the Captain and an honor guard began to descend onto the planet. The funny thing was, they didn't use any shuttles.

They didn't need to.

Breaking through the atmosphere, a massive Bronze dragon and four slightly smaller beasts flew towards the outpost at a high velocity, their wings slicing gracefully through the increasingly thicker air. At ten thousand feet above the ground, the dragons circled the city twice to get a closer look at the damage before they found a place to land. Once they landed, the Captain and his command staff transformed into their human forms and awaited their hosts.

As the dragonlord descended through the atmosphere a squadron of Tidani Comets flew in to intercept them. When they got close they turned into the Captain's vector and took up positions around the group. Two settled into formation out infront to guide the them down to the area where they would be expected. Two came in on either wing and another four took up formation behind the group. All ten were ready to sacrifice themselves in an ambush to protect the VIP, though there had still been no sign of any hostiles since their arrival.

As they neared the landing zone the Comets roared their honor at serving the Captain and began to break formation and return to patrol. Soon all that were left were the two in lead, who held formation all the way to the ground and landed softly (relatively speaking).

When Goren and his guards landed the four men from Sail squad jogged up to them from where they had been standing off to the side of the field. The saluted the Comets who clumsily mimiced the action, then let out a series of low grunts before launching themselves back into the air roaring as they climbed, the joy they received from flight overcoming them.

Sail-One walked up to Goren and saluted again.

"It's an honor Captain. I am Major Caerix leader of Sail squad. We will take you to the bunker where the rest of our men are working to get the array back online."

After they exchanged pleasantries he motioned for them to follow.

"This way Sir. Three you take point. Four take the rear."

Sail-One and Two took up positions on either sides similar to the formation the Comets had escorted the Captain down to the ground.
_______________________________________________

Man System, Outskirts, Shiltron Patrol Group Engaged with Enemy Fleet
After a few moments, the concentrated fire of the two Ferals was enough to break the cruiser away from the capital ship. As the cruiser was battered away the connection stretched and snapped. The Seraphim's main blast dwindled and cut off, having only lasted a dozen or more seconds longer. The rest of the four disengaged and began targeting priority targets.

Outnumbered but smaller than the DO interceptor screen, the Comets began a full-on attack of the smaller warships. What shocked the Dominion was that the Comets rammed their targets. One of the corvettes had its starboard wing ripped off by a passing flight. The Athears went into a heightened alert and began to spread out in order to tear the Comets to shreds. A wave of swarm missiles gutted a Comet squadron, before another group of Comets slashed through the interceptors, smashing the wing into debris. Both sides lit up with flack, making the dwindling fighter squadrons even less of a threat. The lack of interceptors on both sides left their warships without a torpedo screen. A fullsade of torpedoes were launched from the DO fleet to exploit this weakness, which screamed through the ether towards the Harpy squadron.

The battleship and broken cruiser concentrated their fire on the Shiltron, leaving the frigates to their frigates, and the last cruiser to the two enemy Ferals. With the siege cannon offline due to lack of power, and its damage done, the Seraphim switched to using its particle beam cannons to rake the Shiltron as it passed by its port quarter. The cruisers and frigates followed suit, concentrating both beam and laser fire on their singular targets.

(I didn't quite pick up on the other ships combining their power with the command ship, I'll take that more into consideration now. Also trying out some battle headers to try to make it easier to know who is doing what. I've seen others do it. Not sure that a small battle like this needs it, but just seeing how it would look.)

Fighter Screen Between the Fleets

The Comet's small size and agility made them harder to hit. On top of this their linked consciousness gave them coordination abilities bordering on precognition. Their senses were shared, so each individual gained the battle knowledge of every Comet around them. This allowed for some unbelievable manuevers and escapse during the battle. Tidan had tried this once with human pilots, they had all died as soon as the training exercise began. It seemed science could still not match the gods in their creativity.

Even with all of these advantages the heat of battle took a heavy toll on the Comet ranks. Some things just could not be avoided and sometimes the wrong evasion was tried. Still those that remained were single minded in their mission, they would not give up the pursuit of their prey until all had been destroyed. Given that they would begin attacking the capital ships.

Harpy Squadron

The torpedoes burned toward the frigate group. Proximity alerts rang and the flak bursts quickly retargeted the incoming warheads. The Harpys drawn attention did slightly weaken the flak screen of the Shiltron for the time, but the Harpys also began returning fire with their few rail guns and launched salvos of missiles at the emeny frigates before reloading the tubes for another wave.

The torpedoes and concentrated fire proved too much for one of the Harpys. The reactor breached and again the defending fleet was bathed in the glow of the small ships exploding.

Feral Destroyers

With their success one of the Ferals continued to fire at the cruiser that had been driven back. Energy beams and slugs continued to fill the space between them and the Ferals were designed to be very good at dealing out punishment.

When it was clear that the cruiser had broken off from the main formation the second Feral turned and began to focus its fire onto the other enemy cruiser.

Shiltron Bridge

Captain Reiley picked himself up off the deck after the last barrage had broken clean through the Shiltron's flak screen and shields.

"Shields?"

"Primary Generator burnt out with that last hit. Secondary coming online now."

The ship shook again. This was not going well for them. The Fleets were a fairly even match but the initial assault with the siege weaponry had tipped the scales too early.

The explosion from the Harpy filled a corner of the tactical display. An officer called out the status.

"Two Harpys left now. The Ferals seem to be holding their own but the enemy is gaining numerical advantage now."

The Captain looked over the board hoping to see something he had missed. There was nothing.

"That's it. Recall the Comets. Order our escorts to jump back to Man II before we lose them all. The Shiltron will cover their escape."

Tidani Fleet

With some reluctance the Comets broke from their hunt and applied all speed to reaching the hanger of the Shiltron. The smaller ships, Harpys and Ferals, required the use of their FTL generator to form their protective shielding. This meant that they could operate shields or jump, not both. Flak increased as shields fell and the Harpys and Ferals turned away from the battle. They charged up the drive and jumped as soon as they could, unfortunately it was just too late for one more Harpy as the unshielded craft ignited under the focused fire.

Two Ferals and one Harpy made it away from the battle, charging toward Man II and help.

In the meantime the Shiltron damaged and secondary shields faultering, charged the enemy formation. Firing everything it had from the massive kinetic rounds, railguns, and beams to missiles. All the while it was charging up its own FTL drive, the Razorback class and higher were large enough to afford seperate generators for shielding and FTL, and the capacitors peaked just before it broke the enemy line.

In an instant the massive ship that had taken so much punishment disappeared. In its wake, an EMP mine drifted into the enemy fleet carried on by momentum until its proximity fuse triggered.

(don't worry I didn't escape to safety just yet, but that is for another post)

Strikecraft

The interceptors broke off as the Comets did, having lost almost half their number in the battle. However, with the lack of Comets, the four squadrons of bombers could now be launched. The remaining threat here was a rogue third party and the bombers were on their way to gut it. Two squadrons of Athears turned toward the approaching bomber squadrons and escorted them in. It would take a few minutes for the flight to form up for the first bombing run.

Strikecraft destroyed:
~40 interceptors

(Each squadron is ~12 fighters/bombers strong.)

Corvettes

The concentration against the larger ships let most of the corvettes slip through the battle unscathed. Only one squadron was knocked out by a combination of Comet attacks and heavy flak concentrations. Their pulsar and torpedo strikes would now be diverted to taking out modified merchant vessels.

(Each squadron is ~3 corvettes.)

Frigates

The brief battle with the Harpies and Comets before they disengaged at the end meant that they were even more unscathed than the corvette squadrons. One took the brunt of the Tidani beam attacks as it passed between the Seraphim and the Shiltron. Its sturdy frame didn't completely buckle under the pressure though, but its shields collapsed and its power systems bled out, leaving it crippled until extensive repairs could be done.

Cruisers

The initial brunt of the assault and its battle with the two Tidani cruisers left the first DO cruiser blackened along the hull. It had suffered medium damage from the exchange and was still in operational condition. However, its problems were not over as the pirates began to cut through the extensive inner hull. The other cruiser was only lightly damaged from the exchange with the Shiltron, as the concentration was on the Seraphim.

The Seraphim

Captain Pala'din cursed as a flash of ionic energy blinded the sensors of his battleship. The detonated EMP mine had masked the Tidani retreat and skewed the Seraphim's bombardment of the Shiltron, saving it from a possibly crippling blow. Shield strength had been drained from the even exchange between the two behemoths, but the Seraphim was the better off, since the Shiltron had received a glancing blow from the Seraphim's siege cannon.

If the pirates didn't retreat soon, they would be overwhelmed by a relatively intact fleet, many times their size. As well as a terror hidden within the cruiser they were about to board.

Anglesey III, High Altitude


As the dragonlord descended through the atmosphere a squadron of Tidani Comets flew in to intercept them. When they got close they turned into the Captain's vector and took up positions around the group. Two settled into formation out infront to guide the them down to the area where they would be expected. Two came in on either wing and another four took up formation behind the group. All ten were ready to sacrifice themselves in an ambush to protect the VIP, though there had still been no sign of any hostiles since their arrival.

As they neared the landing zone the Comets roared their honor at serving the Captain and began to break formation and return to patrol. Soon all that were left were the two in lead, who held formation all the way to the ground and landed softly (relatively speaking).

When Goren and his guards landed the four men from Sail squad jogged up to them from where they had been standing off to the side of the field. The saluted the Comets who clumsily mimiced the action, then let out a series of low grunts before launching themselves back into the air roaring as they climbed, the joy they received from flight overcoming them.

Sail-One walked up to Goren and saluted again.

"It's an honor Captain. I am Major Caerix leader of Sail squad. We will take you to the bunker where the rest of our men are working to get the array back online."

After they exchanged pleasantries he motioned for them to follow.

"This way Sir. Three you take point. Four take the rear."

Sail-One and Two took up positions on either sides similar to the formation the Comets had escorted the Captain down to the ground.
The Captain and his escorts nodded in reply and followed the Tidani down into the bunker, feeling a mite uncomfortable with the narrow corridor, but suppressed the feeling. Soon, they reached the bunker...

The Battle of Man

"Ma'am, the Tidani vessels are retreating, we're losing our cover very, very frickin' fast"

Heshan's eyes were larger than the battleships before him. He was clearly quite uncomfortable with the situation.

"Hey, I'm just sayin', I didn't sign up to this to get killed!"

"Stow it, Hesh. Goddamn Tidani! What's our status?"

Hesh continued to punch-up keys on the board in front of him. He frequently pondered how many centuries old the thing was.

"It says here... NOT TOO DAMN SHINY!"

"Hesh if you don't start given me something useful here I'm gunna riddle you fulla holes myself, you're not gunna have to worry bout them raiders out there!"

"Alright, alright!" Something immediately caught Heshan's eye on-screen; "I have something, an EMP mine left by the Tidani just detonated; It'll cover us for a few seconds, but we have to move now!"

Something shook the bridge pretty frighteningly, followed by a series of loud thumps along the hull. It did not look good. Heshan carried on once he'd found his head;

"Fighters are docking now. As for that bang; extremity sensors and sub-systems are down but the Core's still up. I've found a couple of moons nearby who's gravitational pull has created a well, we only have enough juice for a short-jump though. It should mask our hyperspace signature somewhat, we'll be pretty damn tricky to follow"

Kayleigh bit her lip, the biggest prize to the Captain's crew in months was a mere scuffle away from them, yet should they fail to take the ship they would surely all be blown into tiny, unrecognizable pieces.

" I don't fancy bein' bite-sized much. Get us out of here"

Hesh finally relaxed slightly then popped open the plastic casing which housed a very large, alarmingly obvious blue-button,

"Three, two, one-"

The Pirate group disappeared into hyperspace, pulling along with them chunks of the cruiser they were attached to. They didn't exactly have time for more refined calculations, however...

'Trace those ships! I want destinations and I wanted them yesterday!' yells Adormange as he bares his fangs. 'these retches wont escape the clutches of the wolfen.'

The cruiser they had left was surprised that they could initiate a jump while attached to the cruiser's hull, tearing a gash across the outer hull. The magnetic field generated by a vessel of that size would mess with coordinate calculations, which sent the Pirates off-course, though still far enough away to prevent a chase. The bombers were recalled before they even reached their target, banking away from the closing hyperspace windows. Their sensors were currently a mess because of the mine, forcing them to use their visuals, and so lost them due to the inability to see interstellar distances.

The DO fleet was damaged, blinded, and confused. It would take them some time to regroup and assess the damage. Most likely they would push on, destroy the outpost on Man II, and then withdraw for repairs.

However, a slightly delayed blast passed by the outer edge of the fleet, fired from Adormange's vessel. One of the squadrons of corvettes and a frigate spotted the round as it sliced by. Their scrambled communications to the fleet tried to warn of another possible hostile at the edges of the war zone, but was mostly unheard.

[Ok, lets see if I have this right: The Tidani retreated from the battle at the edge of the Man system to the inner planets area where the outpost is on Man II. The pirates had jumped to an outer planet's moons in order to hide. And the DO fleet is currently regrouping at the edge of the system, in the battlezone, ready to move in-system in order to attack Man II's outpost and the weakened defense fleet (possibly reinforced by the time of the attack). And Reken's fleet is currently contacting who? Besides shooting into the now depopulated war zone.]

OOC: DO- you're 100% correct. Except I really don't know what Reken is trying... anyway, the end of this post gets a little assumptive, but for the sake of the story I think it works. Any criticisms, please do not hesitate to TG me. Thanks

Man IV: Outer Orbit

Calculating a Hyperspace-jump of this nature wasn't the problem. The sheer gravity-wells posed by the two gargantuan masses of Man IV's moons would pull them out, regardless of kilometers of miscalculations. The problem was however, the Captain. He was less than pleased that he'd not be getting his fill of punches for the day.

"Now what exactly in hell is going on up here? Heres me, all ready to slay some raiders and pinch their rather fine vessel, when I find my ship being flung towards some heathen rock!"

Kayleigh stood-up straight, trying to mask her disappointment in the retreat;

"The Tidani ran, Sir, the best we could manage was a last minute blind-jump. If we'd left it any-longer we'd have been goners for sure"

The Captain wrestled his atmospheric helmet off his head, tried in vain to smooth down his hair, and slammed the thing on the bridges console.

"Fine. Well its just good to see everything's in one piece. It is, isn't it?" The continually discouraging expressions of his bridge officers was somewhat disconcerting to him...

"We'll have to rest the Hyperspace module for a while, she's been running over-time what with dragging this lot round the systems and all. Providing we get everything that was taken out in the EMP blast back-online, the damage we've taken will be purely superficial"

The Captain sighed and dropped himself into his chair.

"All-right. Well guess we'll just have to settle down here for a while, wont we?"

Heshan rolled his chair over to the Captains, with a smirk-grin on his face. The Captain raised a rather aggravated eye-brow.

"I had just enough time clinging onto that monster to complete a few low-wave ultra sonar scans of the thing. I think I've found a better point of entry for next time; some sort of bay or hanger. Best bit is it looks pressurized too. Wait, it gets better still, the atmospheric recycling nature of the ships is similar to our own, which means they shouldn't be able to decompress a single room without effecting the rest of the deck."

The Captain did not share his enthusiasm.

"That's great, Hesh, thanks very much for doing what you're paid for. Anything else?"

"Actually, yes Sir. I took the liberty of dropping a small sub-space communicator probe on their hull. It'll maintain radio-silence until the Tango jumps, then we should have an ID. I'm not sure on their hyperspace abilities, but the shouldn't detect anything unless they were looking right at it"

The Captain began to show a little more interest...

"So, we'll know if they move, then?"

Anglesey III

Sail squad brought Goren through the ruined base. After some time they came to a building of very heavy construction. It was clear that if any structure could have survived the bombardment it would have. Even so the walls showed large cracks.

Inside they found not much besides a very large elevator shaft. The Tidani went aboard the lift and waited for Goren and his men to follow.

"Don't worry. We've used it several times since that attack. It's safe."

When they entered the lift it started the descent into the crust of the planet. After about five minutes of rapid travel the lift slowed and came to a stop. They left the car and stepped out into a control room.

Beith-One walked up to them.

"Welcome to sunny 800 feet below the surface of Anglesey III. The database is up and running. Being down here shielded it from the attack. The array will take some more time though. We have a team of engineers on the way. Captain Geron, if you would come this way you can have a look at the records we managed to call up so far."

Man II, High Orbit

The remaining Shiltron's escorts limped into orbit of Man II. There in orbit the Harpy and two Ferals joined up with the ships not out on patrol.

Currently the March of Bolgios, one of Tidan's two Gallants in the system, sat in orbit with two Ferals and four more Harpys. The Assassination of Keraunos, the other Gallant, was in orbit on the other side of the planet. With the Keraunos was another two Ferals and two Harpys. Currently all the Razorbacks in the system were also out on patrol as the Shiltron had been.

As the damaged ships regrouped with the Bolgios they informed them of the battle that had occured on the edge of the system. Two more patrol groups closest to the enemy's last known position were ordered to move and intercept them. For the first time, they had a face to the put to the enemy.

Man System, Shiltron, Location Unknown

The Shiltron drifted through space slowly rotating end over end. The quick jump had been... light on preparation. They only knew they had been fallen out of hyperspace somewhere behind the Draconic fleet, and the damaged caused by the Seraphim during that last maneuver took most systems offline.

Inside, little remained of the orderly military ship. Repair crews struggled against the failing artificial gravity to get the major systems back online. Until then she was dead in the water and adrift.

[I see no problems with IS's post. But I am not certain on how many ships the two incoming patrols have.]

(sorry that's my fault, sometimes I forget what happens in my head doesn't always come out on paper. I meant to add that at the end of my last post.

Ok here we go:

Patrol coming in from relative left side of DO ships is
1 Razorback
1 Feral
2 Harpys

From the relative right side is
1 Razorback
2 Harpys

Its a little stronger than the last force you faced. The Razorbacks are sort of like my ISDs or battlestars, they make up the bulk of my effective fleet and each patrol is lead by one of them.

Help is on the way IS.

DO I'm seeing the incoming forces as something to either force you into another hard battle here, force your ships to retreat to repair, or force them to strike at the planet now. It will still be another few hours before they arrive so you have time to recover from the EMP.)
_______________________________________________________________________


The message from the Wolfen force was heard by the Tidani defenders. They quickly returned a message.

<Wolfen Force, this is the Royal Tidani Navy. Your assistance would be appreciated. The so far unidentified ships in this system have been assaulting our bases in this sector. We will stop them here, but your aid would help insure this.>

[Since I try to play a civ with the population stated in Nation States, my fleets are relatively small due to the enormous amount of population required to fill those vessels. The reason why ISDs are so numerous is because of the vastness of the Empire. I unfortunately only have enough for a few ISD like vessels, so I have only a handful of Verthicha Class Capital Ships (as the crew compliment is ~10,000 for a 2km carrier like vessel, and I'd say no more than 5% of my population is actively in the military, which is pretty high). EDIT - Actually, now that I think about it, I have the population approaching that of IRL Earth. So, I probably should be able to have a dozen or so vessels, though not all operational 24/7 (think of the resources and logistics needed to sustain a war engine of that size).]

About a half-hour after the battle concluded, the Seraphim's fleet was assembled once more.

Repair drones hummed around the one crippled frigate like flies, small sparks dotted the hull as the ship tried to regain power and mend the gashes in its substructure.

The sensors came online and the Seraphim detected the approach of two small fleets, both headed by a Razorback. Admiral Odi's fleet would not rondevus in time to repel a force of this size. Captain Pala'din smashed his fist on the controls of his chair in frustration, sending a cloud of smoke and glass shrapnel into the air as he destroyed it.

"Order the fleet to withdraw from the system. I will not be caught in a pincer move against even odds!"

(My nation is based on my NS pop also, I think a respected value is 1000 ships per 1 billion pop, but that said I don't follow that. It's actually not that hard to have a good amount of big ships. At one time I had charts and spreadsheets calculating fleet personnel requirements and logistical crew on top of that, I had it calculating what percentage of my pop was taken and all that, it was crazy. I don't do that any more but my fleet is relatively smaller than it was then. Again less than 2000 ships for a 5 billion pop. Also logistics takes more the further away your forces are. If all of my ships are in pretty much one sector, most can remain docked much of the time and then they are all still close to supply if they are out in space.

Anyways, I think I'll give the others some time to respond to the DO regroup before I have anything else happen. Then we'll get things going again tomorrow.)

Reality tore apart. The result wasn't exactly a sight or sound or even a smell. It was more of a... thoom. Everyone who was paying attention thoomed the very fabric of space-time tearing apart and mending itself. And, where there was previously nothing hovered a golden sphere, about 500m in diameter. It just sat there in the middle of space, thooming away.
It contacted Shiltron, the closest ship. The voice that came accorss sounded like a prepubescent robot speaking into a fan.

"This is NeoDalek Voidship Class 3 Designation 431.2. Request explanation of circumstances."

Anglesey III

Sail squad brought Goren through the ruined base. After some time they came to a building of very heavy construction. It was clear that if any structure could have survived the bombardment it would have. Even so the walls showed large cracks.

Inside they found not much besides a very large elevator shaft. The Tidani went aboard the lift and waited for Goren and his men to follow.

"Don't worry. We've used it several times since that attack. It's safe."

When they entered the lift it started the descent into the crust of the planet. After about five minutes of rapid travel the lift slowed and came to a stop. They left the car and stepped out into a control room.

Beith-One walked up to them.

"Welcome to sunny 800 feet below the surface of Anglesey III. The database is up and running. Being down here shielded it from the attack. The array will take some more time though. We have a team of engineers on the way. Captain Geron, if you would come this way you can have a look at the records we managed to call up so far."
"I see." The Captain came closer and began reading the records, looking for any familiar readings.

'Send all aviable apocitaries and mechanics to the Tidant fleet and have apocitary Ralourn lead the group. Tell him he is to stay with the Tidanis untill we have finished this problem.' ,pondering his thoughts he states, ' make sure they have full combat loads, we may be helping them but it doesnt me i trust them quite yet.' Adormange states as the fleet slowly moves toward the location of the battle. ' As soon as the stormbirds get far enough away move to follow that fleet that attacked the tidani.'

[How do you want to do this next part?]

Anglesey III, Control Room

The Tidani took Goren through the readings from several hours before the attack until they came across the contact that ended in the destruction of the base.

"We've never come across anyone like this. Do you recognize these readings?"

Man System, Battle Debris Field

The two patrols arrived some time after the Draconic Fleet withdrew. They scanned the debris field taking in several escape pods. The remains of several Draconic strikecraft were gathered for study. The Comets were taken aboard also to attempt revival or to be disposed of according to their customs.

They began long range scans to locate the regrouping forces. They had to find locate the Draconics before they could strike again.

Shiltron, Location Unknown

Repairs were coming slowly. Reilley was monitoring the progress from the bridge when the ship's AI's voice came over the comm. His holographic avatar sparked and cut-out due to the damaged display systems.

"Caaaaa..Captain a ship has dropppppp..droped out of hyperspaaaaa..hyperspace just off our ppppppp..position. Incomming Message."

This is NeoDalek Voidship Class 3 Designation 431.2. Request explanation of circumstances."

Soon a reply was sent. The transmitter had been damaged also but after repeated several times the NeoDalek ship would get the full message.

<This is Tidani cruiser Shiltron. We came under attack, multiple systems damaged.>

(Reken: did you want to join with my patrols or head to the planet to join with my defense force there?)
(DO: do you want to make a move for the planet or somewhere else, or did you want me to send some ships after yours?)

The gold sphere did not hesitate. It rocketed down through the planet's atmosphere, its hull glowing with the heat. It didn't even slow down as it apporached the ground, simply coming to a complete stop, still hovering several feet above the destroyed base.
Without so much as a sci-fi-esque whoosh, a hatch near the bottom opened and the crew emerged.
Twelve golden robots shaped like salt shakers floated gently down onto the base, surveying the destruction through telescopic protrusions.
"Defense positions!" one of them barked, sounding like a prebubescent boy with the flu speaking into a fan.

[Oh! Skarro 2 was in the Anglesey III's system, not Man II's system... We should ignore that post about the Shiltron's contact.]

Admiral Odi's fleet was a few hours away from the Man system. Do to the withdrawal from the system; the two fleets would meet in the null. From there they would strike into the heart of Man and assault the Man II's defense fleet. In order to bypass the outer patrols, they would need to make a gate, a strategy first deployed against the Kazecistan. Lord Odi traveled with two modified transports; those would be used to create the gate.

Anglesey III, Control Room

The Tidani took Goren through the readings from several hours before the attack until they came across the contact that ended in the destruction of the base.

"We've never come across anyone like this. Do you recognize these readings?"
The Dragon indeed recognized it, but it has been a while since he has saw them. Still, being several centuries old meant that...yes. "I have not seen these readings for quite a while, but they are from a nation known as the Draconic Order. Expansionist and quite aggressive as you now know. Interesting that they would come out after all this time in isolation..."

[Oh! Skarro 2 was in the Anglesey III's system, not Man II's system... We should ignore that post about the Shiltron's contact.]

Admiral Odi's fleet was a few hours away from the Man system. Do to the withdrawal from the system; the two fleets would meet in the null. From there they would strike into the heart of Man and assault the Man II's defense fleet. In order to bypass the outer patrols, they would need to make a gate, a strategy first deployed against the Kazecistan. Lord Odi traveled with two modified transports; those would be used to create the gate.
((Sorry, I didn't realize there were two systems. Guess I should read more carefully.))

Adormange turns to the coms officer,
'contact the Bloody Heart and update aloura on our current situation. Move the fleet into a procective overwatch of the Tidani fleet, this enemy looks more determined than what they showed here today.'

(No worries Skarro, The Shiltron was damanged in a battle in the Man system. Man II is the world with an outpost in that system.

Anglesey System is where the original attack happened that started all this, that system is flooded with radiation from a nearby pulsar so it becomes very hard to get sensors working properly there.

Which one did you want to be in?)

Anglesey III, Control Room

"Thank you Captain. Thanks to you we finally have a name. The array should be back online shortly, as soon as it is we can contact New Tidan and fill them in. If you wish to return to your ship, we can take you there now."


Man II, High Orbit

The defenders of Man were starting to get a little jumpy. The outskirt patrols had finally located the enemy fleet several lighthours outside the system. The patrols had been ordered to intercept, however the way the enemy did not react was concerning, and when reinforcments showed up the advance was haulted. They were expecting an attack soon, and the longer it didn't happen the more the expected it.

It was more important that they know where and what the enemy was doing, rather than send the patrols charging in and possibly being lost and then being in the dark until their next attack.

The patrols around the rest of the system were ordered to double up and keep a wider scan range now that they knew exactly what they were looking for. In the outer system there were now seven patrols, the two nearest the enemy remained together and others around the system exterior grouped together too. With the loss of the Shiltron that meant that one patrol on the far side was sill alone.

In the inner system four patrols worked together but remained appart. At Man II herself protecting the base became the priority and the two Gallants took up formation together over it.

(I know you don't like my big Gallants, but they are more like a 3k dreadnaught with a 2k Battle Carrier attached to it, maybe if you think of them more like that it won't be so bad. They have heavy defense though so don't underestimate them.

Ok I'll be gone most of the day until late so have fun.)

The Lone Patrol

Without the Shiltron, the enemy stretched its projected power too thin. A far off patrol was ill equipped to deal with the arrival of a cruiser and its escort of three frigates and a squadron of corvettes. The instant the battle group appeared, they immediately targeted all firepower on the lead ship. Pulsing beams of ionic energy ripped out across the expanse...

The Distraction

Captain Pala'din kneeled on the bridge as the main view projected Admiral Odi. The fleet had increased many fold with the addition of three more Verthichas and a dozen lesser warships. One small transport vessel was drifting in the middle of this greater swarm, a pulsing ring traced itself around the hull.

"My Lord, my ships have engaged the outer-most patrol."

"Excellent. While they are in a panic, the gate shall slip through their web. We will have a victory most swift."

The "gate ship" was cloaked and was drifting into the system at minimal power. The boost at which it was going when it entered the system would place it close to Man II within the hour. Almost impossible to detect. And when it deployed the real fight would begin...

((I'll be in the Man system.))

[So Skarro's vessel just breached your defense fleet and is now hovering over the Man II outpost.]

Man System

While the lone patrol fought to hold against a larger force, the sudden attack on the other side of the system from what had been assumed to be the main emeny force made the defenders reassess the situation. There were still three paired patrols in the outer system. The closest patrol of two Razorbacks and their support ships was ordered to rescue the lone ship under attack.

The enemy apparently was able to slip past their sight and attack them from any angle. Whether they had received reinforcements or been able to move without detection, the defense force was too thinly spread to defend against such a strategy. To counter it, the Tidani would take up a much smaller defense.

The patrol that was still in sensor range of the main Draconic fleet remained at a distance to keep an eye on them from range. The last two were recalled to Man II.

The patrols in the inner system were also withdrawn. They would simply provide easy targets for the enemy now. If the enemy wanted to pick them off one at a time, the Tidani would deny them that option.

Defense over Man II Outpost:
2 Gallants
6 Razorbacks
15 Ferals
20 Harpys

Man II Outpost

The gold sphere suddenly appearing in a field north of the base drew the attention of the guards. A squad was sent to make contact. The six men were fully dressed in their combat armor. When they approached the soldiers that had left the orb they stopped short. The lead marine called out to them.

"You are tresspassing on Tidani soil. Identify yourself."

[Even though your fleet is double mine, the stakes are relatively even due to the more war like/advanced technology of the DO. I'll make my next post after either IS or Skarro.]

"Thank you Captain. Thanks to you we finally have a name. The array should be back online shortly, as soon as it is we can contact New Tidan and fill them in. If you wish to return to your ship, we can take you there now."
"Very well. Also, we shall remain for the time being in order to take care of the enemy. Once we identify the Draconic Order's location, we can drop right on top of them with our new FTL technology." Captain Goran grinned.

[Even though your fleet is double mine, the stakes are relatively even due to the more war like/advanced technology of the DO. I'll make my next post after either IS or Skarro.]

(Frankly I never expected you to try to carry an invasion through with such a small force. You are well into my space now and I've been trying to keep my forces even to yours to keep this going as long as possible, but I don't want to just give you free shots at my planets. Maybe you think I'm being unfair but I've been trying to give you every opportunity to blow up my ships, I've even been ignoring any kind of sensor network/relay stations to allow you to ambush them. I'm not sure what you mean by more war like, I don't mind you being more advanced but celts are all about war.

The Anglesey System was going to be the main area because it would have been like fighting in a fog. There a smaller fleet or many smaller ones could have kept a larger one busy. But if you carry it on to the rest of my space then just expect to get burnt.

I don't think I'm being unfair, did I read frustration where there was none?)

[I didn't mean that to sound rude or biting... and I plan on being beaten at the end... I was clearing up information about the battle to come.]

The new arrivals were rather odd creatures, thicker at the bottom and covered with black hemispheres until about two thirds of the way up, at which point there protruded two extensions, one like an egg beater, the other like a sink plunger. Their domed tops moved independently of the main body.
The leader turned to the Tidani soldier who had spoken, viewing him through something like a cross between a telescope and a tank turret. When it spoke, two lightbulbs on its head flashed.
"I am NeoDalek Netz. This outpost has come under attack. We are here to defend it."
Another of the mechanical creatures looked down at the surface they, for want of a better word, stood on.
"There does not appear to be an abundance of soil," it remarked.
"It is an outdated language expression," its neighbour said "Used in ancient times before space travel. Everything humans owned was situated on soil."

(Ok, I'm glad I misread. Without IM contact its sometimes hard to judge tone, such is the way of electronic communication. Sorry about that. I have been enjoying this quite a bit so far, and I don't mind losing when I should. Ok back to the story now. Oh and btw, the 5 cruisers I still have in the outer system will still be there by the time you jump into the inner system, just incase you were wondering, and I'll leave whether the lone patrol survives until the reinforcements come to its rescue completely up to you. I'm ok either way.)

Anglesey III

The extra delay caused by the [I]Shiltron's last ditch effort and the DO regroup allowed the engineers back on Anglesey III who had been working since just after the Tidani fleet's arrival to finally bring the array back online. Many of the segments had been damaged beyond repair, fortunately damage was somewhat common so replacement parts were stored in the bunker. Still it had taken until now to perform the repairs, even with the use of the large construction mechs of the Sword of Brennus and Vae Victis.

The array would not be able to remain on indefinitly without the support of the outpost's crew, but that would have to wait for a new expedition force to repopulate and rebuild from the homeworld. For now at least they could get a clean look at the system around them and communicate with NavComm again.

A flurry of messages went from the Fleet and New Tidan and back again. The enemy was no longer in Anglesey as they had come to suspect. In fact, they had already begun an assault on the Man System. Fortunately NavComm had the foresight to send protective forces to the rest of Tidan's outposts, and their somewhat paranoid reaction had proven dead on. Right now the March of Bolgios was leading the defense of Man II. Without the shroud of the pulsar they had so far been able to hold off the Draconic forces, but this enemy was an unknown variable, they had still not seen enough to be able to predict their tactics or future actions.

Vaughan filled Captain Goran in on the situation as soon as he returned to his ship. Vaughan and his taskforce would have to remain here in Anglesey in the event the array became a target again before it could be reoccupied.

Man II, Just North of Outpost Grounds

The marines were a little surprised they had expected a lengthy exchange until the translator could adapt and begin translating, but apparently these machines were familiar with humans and their languages. That would at least make things easier.

"Well thanks for your assistance, though if our defenders fail I'm afraid all of us down here won't be able to make much difference against a siege from orbit."

The lead marine pointed up at the visible ships hovering high above them, before addressing the second comment.

"This world is mostly barren. To support much more than this base would take a massive effort and draining support that is not worth the benefit. But it is still ours, and what is here is worth defending for the sovereignty of Tidan."

Man II, High Orbit

A cloaked transport vessel approached the planet from the far side, undetected due to the fight at the edge of the system. As it entered within several thousand kilometers of the planet a power surge ripped it from the immaterial. Its extensive ring, riddled with glowing runes, flared into a brilliant display of prismatic colors.

The ring groaned in the void of space as it expanded away from the vessel in all directions. The ship detached itself from the growing gateway and began to retreat from the area, engaging its cloak the instant it left the gravity well of the circle. Eventually the circlet reached its maximum and stood silent, more then a kilometer wide, the warships of the Dominion could easily slip through such a portal.

A moment later it activated. A swirling vortex formed on the edges of the halo, slowly circling toward the center, where a splash of energy alerted all in the system of the coming tide.

Man System, Outer System

The cruiser continued to rake the defending patrol with beams of ionic energy. Plasma bursts filled the void as the cannons of the DO expedition tore through the void and into the hulls of their prey. Their shields flared and rippled as they received similar treatment from their opponents.

The Null

A similar structure floated before the draconic fleet. Admiral Odi was pleased that the plan was proceeding according to his designs. Captain Pala'din smiled a row of razor teeth at the great battle he was about to take part in.

"Order the fleet through!"

The first ship slipped into the nether, its hull shined in the light of the gate as it passed through it like water. Disappearing from sight, to emerge at the other side.

Man II, High Orbit

The sparse satellite network around the planet was used mostly for expeditions out of range of the base. It was important to know what was happening on the other side of a planet, raiders and pirates could be setting up a hideout or ambush right under their noses. Today though, they relayed strange readings before a vast ring appeared above them. When the power surged and the function of the ring was observed there was no doubt of its purpose.

The outpost on Man II was around the equater in the southern hemisphere. The fastest route from the enemy on the opposite side of the planet to the base would be to head into the direction of rotation, so that while they traveled the planet brought the base toward them. The Tidani knew this but for now they remained over the target base, the satellite system gave them an advantage of being able to see what the Draconic Fleet was doing. The defenders would wait for them to tip their hand.

'Contact the Tidani fleet tell them if they do not feel threatened here any more we Shall travel to the man II system and assist their forces there within the hour. begin charging the warp engines if they do neet need us here any more i want to be able to leave as fast as possible.' Adormange orders as the bridge crew scramble off to work.

Orbit over Anglesey III

"Prepare the Jump Drive and go to battlestations! I want to be able to lay the smackdown on the enemy at a moment's notice!" Captain Goren ordered as soon as he reentered the ship. "Keep in touch with the Tidani sensor network! I want to know when and where the Draconicians (or whatever) are at all times even if they use the refresher! If we want to surprise them, now's our chance!"

"Sir, yes sir!" The crew yelled, rushing about their work, preparing for the offensive to come. The sensor and comms people were in constant touch with the Tidani sensor people as they plotted coordinate after coordinate and watched and waited for the Draconic Order to show their hand...

'Contact the Tidani fleet tell them if they do not feel threatened here any more we Shall travel to the man II system and assist their forces there within the hour. begin charging the warp engines if they do neet need us here any more i want to be able to leave as fast as possible.' Adormange orders as the bridge crew scramble off to work.

(oh I thought you had already left for the Man system. In that case)

"Roger that Wolfen Force."

One of the control officers on the Sword of Brennus responded. Looking over the sensor readings of the system he then plotted them an exit vector to the Man System.

"System is secure, and you have been cleared for entry to the Man System."

Man II, High Orbit, Ring-Gate

The vessels of the Draconic Order began to stream into the inner system from the Null. Shields and weapons came online as the battle would be joined within the hour.

Fleet:
4 Verthica Class Capital Ship
9 Valeji Class Cruisers
13 Caex Class Frigates
26 Squadrons of Svent Class Corvettes (78 ships)

Recieving the reply from the Tidani fleet Adormange gives the order as the entirety of the fleet enters the warp destined for the man system. Sdormange stands as the affects of the warp entry wears, activating the ship vox he anounces,
' prepare the ships for combat i want this fleet ready to take fire as soon as we exit the warp and i want to be able to return just as fast, Am i understood?'
'yes sir.' is the only thing heard echoing throughout the ship.

bump

[Tidan is having IRL problems... this should pick up in a few days.]

(ooc: well not so much problems, I was at a retreat, but now I'm back.)

Orbit of Man II

The Tidani defenders remained in orbit over the base. They had no intention of being forced to make a move. They wold wait for the invaders to show their hand and then strike.

The Dominion warships moved into main sensor range of the Man II defense fleet. Their hand was shown as the four battleships and their escorts performed the 'tethering'. Linked together by conduits of energy, the siege cannons were pointed in the direction of the two Gallants. DO super guns usually outranged the weapon systems encountered by other races, using the power of multiple ships to give it the energy needed to cross that distance and still be lethal, to better deliver a crippling blow to defense systems before closing. If they struck, the battle lines would change.

Orbit of Man II

The Draconic Battleships would not get a clear shot at the two Gallants as their escorts reformed between the lines, but it did not appear that it would matter much once the power of their siege weapons was released.

Ferals

Taking into account the pull of Man II the Ferals unleashed volleys of kinetic rounds at range. The Ferals had the longest range of Tidani ships but even for them here accuracy would be a problem, but they were not counting on accuracy. General aim could be made and the number of rounds would make up for misses. For now the goal was to make the enemy break formation, and failing that make them face a wave of accelerated metal.

Comets

Unsure to the yield these Draconic battleships could dispense, the Gallants and Razorbacks released their Comet fighters now. A massive swarm now formed around the two great command carriers. Their numbers flowed back and forth in a great cloud, exciting themselves for the hunt to come.

Gallants

The Gallants were a strange breed of ship. It was as though a carrier had been fused with a battleship. Their primary role was that of a command carrier, however, they were often called to operate alone and so they were quite capable of defending themselves. Though the large sections devoted to the carrier role meant that while they had sufficient weaponry it was what you might expect from a ship half their size.

On top of this they were operated exclusively by the Shield of Nav. This added a number of other strange differences. For one, the ship had no normal shield generators of any kind. This is not to say they are unprotected as you will soon see. They are equiped like all Tidani ships with numerous flak cannons for disrupting attacks and very heavy and strong armor.

Each Gallant carries many Shield Knights and they infact are the sources of much of the ship's strength. In the core of the ship is a small room with one chair. This chair is occupied by a Shield Knight and it amplifies their powers providing the ship with a shield and the source of the heavy Light of Nav beam weapon. The occupant can also manually take over many other systems however during combat they usually focus only on defense of the ship.

The Shield sees this form of defense as far superior to the conventional methods of the Tidani Navy, but in reality they are mostly equal to a similar sized defense system.

And so at this time the Shield Knights on both Gallants in orbit of Man II were ready in each 'shield chair'. They would do what they could to protect their ships.

The attackers closed on the defense fleet, small blooms of plasma detonating in front of them, determined to deter them from their goals. The thick shields of the forward elements sparkled as one or more lucky shots glanced their hulls. A ping resonated throughout the DO fleet... They were in range.

"Fire!"

There was a brief moment as the energy of several ships was collected into the main cannon of each Verthica. Like huge maws ready to tear flesh from bone, the weapons yawned open wide. In a flash of destructive energy, the four battleships breathed fire like frightening dragons. The beams lanced through the void toward the screen of defenders, it would be a powerful crippling blow.

"It has begun! Tidani forces, give me exact coordinates of the enemy!" Captain Goren ordered as scanners from the Tidani were directed into the Coredian ships. "Battlestations! Prepare to engage the Jump Drive! All Battle Dragons prepare to fly as soon as we revert!"

A chorus of roars and "Yessirs" rang out throughout the three-ship task force as they efficiently prepared for combat against the Draconic Order...

Orbit of Man II

The energy cut through to the Tidani fleet. As they entered mortal combat, indicators flared on the Tidani defense network, notifying all ships in the area to the location of battle. The two patrols still out on the edge now made full speed back to the planet. Also the Coredian ship and others helping them would know where the major action was taking place.

The four beams collided with the Tidani ships even as they burned full speed toward the enemy closing range quickly.

Harpys

The frigates were scattered across the screen ready to combat enemy strikecraft and deaden incoming warheads and weapons. Three of them were destroyed instantly as their paths intersected with the siege cannon vectors. Their destruction would lessen the assault slightly but as they continued their path of destruction through the fleet the worse was yet to come.

Razorbacks

The largest non-Gallant ships would prove to be the sacrifical lambs in this battle. One was hit square in the bow. It's shields buckled and fell and the energy plowed right down the spine of the ship. Explosions rocked the ship and it errupted into flames of venting atmosphere and debris.

Two more were hit with glancing blows draining their shields and doing mostly superficial damage to the hulls.

Gallants

The two Gallants pushed forward defiantly, aware they were targets but seemingly unconcerned. Three shots from the enemy battleships continued on to hit their targets.

The March of Bolgios was the fortunate of the two. Only one beam hit her and it had already gone through one of the Razorback's shields. While it still took effort her shields held and she passed through the shadow of death intact.

Assassination of Keraunos was fataly less fortunate. Not only did both beams hit her but one was still at full strength, landing a skillful clear shot. This hit drained all shielding and did some non-lethal damage to the bow, but the second, the second cause far more pain.

With the second hit the Shield Knight occupying the 'shield chair' did all he could to summon the strength to repel the force of the hit. He died in the attempt, and the shot scored all the way from bow to stern on the planet side of the ship. The planetside engines cut out and one of the reactors was already overloading. She was still pushing forward but now listing seriously into the planet. Those on her sister ship watched in horror as Assassination of Keraunos fell out of orbit and into the atmosphere, as the battle continued above her she soon crash landed on the surface.

As much as this was a heavy felt blow for the enemy, the loss of the Keraunos stirred fire into the spirits of the other ships. What had been a simple defense against an invading foe, was now bloodlust for revenge. A symbol had been lost, and a cost had to be exacted in blood.

The Bolgios came on strong. Before another siege shot could be made by the enemy, she had charged her Light of Nav. The emitter on the bow of the Gallant glowed from a point of boiling energy, for a moment it might appear as a reactor meltdown had occured or maybe some kind of atomic release had detonated as the point expanded just before it lanced out through a hole in the screen. The massive column of energy closed the gap between the fleets in an instant aimed right for the heart of battleship closest the planet.

Ferals

The Ferals were now in range and again a deadly wave of accelerated metal flew forward at the enemy, this time they would not be so lucky to enjoy numerous misses. By the time the first wave reached the enemy ships the Ferals were already recalculating and preping to fire the next volley. They were targeting the ships linked to the battleships as best they could, but if they couldn't find a clean shot they would clear a hole themselves with.

Razorbacks

Shortly after the Ferals the Razorbacks came into range with their big guns and began firing also. Like the Ferals they were trying to disrupt the battleships' big weapon by punishing the ships aiding them. The two who had barely avoided being hit by the Siege guns were trailing the rest, the made their way into the back of the formation to take cover behind their brothers while they tried to recharge their shielding.

Comets

With the loss of their carrier the swarm of fighters from the Keraunos lost control. They pushed in behind the captial ships as the two fleets closed and as they got closer they went for one of the three battleships that had not been hit by the Bolgios. True they were small and week, but there were a thousand of them bent on the destruction of a single ship. They were fast and tough, they slammed into the shields of the battleship and peppered it with plasma fire. If they could weaken a small area of the sheilds enough they would use their gravity gland to strip away the remaining shielding and give them access to the hull. It was like the effect of the Dovin Basals but at a fraction of the scale. If they could do all this, they would start to burn and dig their way in until they breached the hull and boarded the ship.

The rest of the Comets were still under control of the Tidani commanders but were no less enraged. They entered a kind of berzerker rage and sought out the enemy strikecraft with a violence never boasted about by the Tidani. This made them less organized as a whole, but that would be little consolation to the enemy corvettes and fighters that would feel their wrath.

Remaining Forces: (these are post-siege and pre-engagement numbers)

1 Gallant - March of Bolgios
5 Razorbacks - 2 heavy damage
15 Ferals
17 Harpys
~2600 Comets - 1100 focusing on a battleship, 1500 remaining for fighter screen

The support fleets of three of the battleships were warded away by concentrated fire, breaking their connections to the siege cannons. With their first strike a success, they began to spread out the battle lines in order to force the defenders to stretch their concentration. All fighters and bombers were launched and set upon their targets.

Verthicas

The Phantom was struck by the Bolgios' Light of Nav, tearing through the starboard side and ripping off the outer support struts. Bright plumes of ignited oxygen and other explosive gases blazed for moments in time as the substructure drifted off or disintegrated from the main hull. This disruption caused a sensor hole in the starboard grid and destroyed the maneuvering thrusters on that side. The damaged Verthica came to bare on the Bolgios', the forward PBC cannons began to charge as it closed.

The Blood Moon was earning its name as the shield bubble surrounding the vessel flared all over, covering it in an aura of red and gold. Hundreds of little dragon-strikecraft swarmed around it like bees, slowly draining the massive protective barrier away. The flak systems of the Blood Moon and its support fleet blasted away at the swarm, they wouldn't just let the battleship be lost against this enemy.

The Seraphim formed up with the Dominion's Light, becoming its shield as the Dominion's Light began to charge up its unbroken siege cannon. Admiral Odi commanded that the remaining Razorbacks be destroyed. The Seraphim and its fleet concentrated on cutting a swath through to the concentrating Razorbacks.

Caexs and Valignats

The frigates and cruisers were all over the place. Their main job at the onset of the close was to support the Verthicas. Now they were firing at their number among the enemy, with the Blood Moon's fleet concentrating on the strikecraft attacking it. The concentration on them from the defending fleet had claimed several warships, either destroying them outright, or severely damaging them.

Strikecraft and the Svents

The fighters and corvettes of the assaulting Draconis fleet had their hands full as they were blocked by twice their number. The massive dogfight was almost impossible to follow for any section of space as small craft maneuvered at breakneck speeds and hairpin turns, filling the void with plasma and missile bursts.

The bombers had the most trouble, as they not only had to dodge more nimble interceptors, but they also had to trudge through a wall of flak. The first wave alone lost almost half their number as they delivered their explosive payload to the outer aspects of the defending fleet.

The battle was sliding from one side to the other, with the DO fleet in the advantage... But the recalled patrols, and the impending reinforcements from the many races that took interest in the battle, would soon turn the tide against this superior enemy.


Approximate Remaining Forces:

4 Verthica Class Capital Ships
8 Valeji Class Cruisers
10 Caex Class Frigates
~20 Squadrons of Svent Class Corvettes (~60 ships left)
~332 Athear interceptors, ~128 Oth bombers (~460 strikecraft left)

"We will concentrate our fire on this ship first." Captain Goren stabbed a clawed finger into the hologram detailing the latest sensor report, for the benefit of his bridge crew. The ship he had in mind was the Blood Moon. "Then we will move on from there. Coordinates for the location is set?"

"Yes, sir!" The FTL pilot replied with enthusiasm.

"Engage!" The Captain roared.

Three flashes of Cherenkov radiation erupted as a spacefold opened for each Dragon ship, connecting the two points in the universe to each other. It was essentially a teleport, as the Dragonstorm-class Battlecruiser and its two escorts went from here...to there.

Upon reentry, the three ships wasted no time in opening fire upon the Blood Moon, the massive plasma and PPC cannons aboard the Glory of Flames showing the enemy what it means to fight the Dragons of Coredia. The smaller Wraith frigates took charge of anti-starfighter work, blasting into the enemy starfighter ranks with serious rapid-fire plasma cannons and minimissile swarm packets.

As if it was not enough for the enemy to deal with, a wing of Battle Dragons flew out of the Dragonstorm's hangar bay, follewed by a squadron from both of the frigates. The Battle Dragons were the King's vaunted warrior-mages, something like the Jedi Knights but have more abilities than they. They served as fighters in space and close air support within an atmosphere, having the power to fly within the vacuum and match A-wings in speed and agility, and wear enhanced armored suits that not only allow them to breathe in space, but also served as protection against enemy fire. On the offensive, the Battle Dragons had replaced their fire breath with 'homing' plasma breath to strike enemies in space while their 'missiles' are streaks of light with balls on their tips that launch from glowing wings and serve as glowing missile spam. Powers that rival that of most Jedi were also employed, everything from Lightning to telekinesis, their own deadly claws and teeth and even mental assaults if given half a chance. A few even decided that heavy laser cannons would make good sidearms and used those as well. These aren't your everyday fantasy dragons, after all!

OOC: if you've ever seen that video with Bahamut against Alexander, you know what I mean in terms of light-streak missiles.

OOC: Sorry for not posting my internet has been down

Man II System

Ripping from the warp Adormange feels a slight deja vu as he yet again arrives to find the Tidani fleet under attack.

'Alert the fleet to power their weapons and put rounds into those lead ships!' Adormange orders as everyone hurries off to carry out his order. 'Contact the Tidant fleet and notify them of our arrival. Prepare boarding parties and i want my personal guard to accopany me.' Standing he heads towars the door. ' Commander, if the Tidani contact us patch them through to my armory room.' Adormange finishes as he leaves the bridge to prepare his armor for the impending battle.

Man II, Orbit

The Coredian and Wolf ships were contacted and brought up to speed by the Bolgios command. The situation and strategy were briefly explained and then quickly returned their attention to the fight.

Wild Comets

The wild comets continued to assault the Blood Moon, but as the Glory of Flames and her escorts came into range and the damaged Phantom pulled ahead their attention was drawn away.

They were suffering heavy damage from the Blood Moon's guns, but the damaged battleship provided an unequaled opportunity. The Comets broke from the Blood Moon and flew to the Phantom as it engaged the Bolgios. They dug into the damaged hull and tried to find a way inside.

March of Bolgios

The Bolgios turned into the Phantom's vector to bring her bow guns to bear. The forward shields were reinforced as kinetic rounds fired at the attacking battleship and energy beams targetted its escorts.

Razorbacks

The three leading Razorbacks were at full combat readiness and began their assault on the Seraphim. Behind them the two damaged Razorbacks finally recharged their shields and moved out of the protection of their sister ships and joined in the attack.

Ferals

The Ferals continued to pound on the enemy cruisers even as they took fire themselves. Several burnt out in bright flares as the battle continued to illuminate the space above Man II.

Harpys

As the Harpys continued to try to help the Comets engage the enemy strikecraft, of course with this many units in action what they could do was very limited for now. As the two fleets came into range, the Harpys began to launch their missiles into the enemy frigate formations.

Summary:

1 Gallant
5 Razorbacks
11 Ferals
13 Harpys
~1900 Comets - 800 focusing on a battleship (now Phantom), 1100 remaining for fighter screen

Verthicas

The Phantom and the Bolgios traded broadsides as they began to pass each other. Searing heat blossomed upon rippling shields and cracking armor plating as they pounded each other with all manner of weaponry. Evenly matched and equally damaged... luck would end up spelling the doom for one of them.

The Blood Moon was the worst off, having been targeted by the majority of now multiple fleets. The shields buckled under the intense strain of multiple PBC fire from the Dragons of Coredia, and collapsed. The Blood Moon's PBCs raked over the Coredia warships, trying to disable their weapons.

The Seraphim began to break off from the Dominion's Light as the Razorbacks closed, the path was open. Another soundless screech in the void signaled another siege cannon strike as the Dominion's Light opened up on the center of the Razorback formation. The wall of energy engulfed the space in-between, catching two opposing wings of strikecraft as they battled between the two formations, incinerating them into dust.

Escorts

With the increase in opposition, the number of cruisers and frigates began to dwindle quickly.

Strikecraft

No formations really existed anymore… each squadron had been hit hard by the protracted battle. Stragglers and orphans grouped up to give each other support, but with the strange opponents of the now multiple nations against them, they were fighting a loosing battle.

The DO fleet was being picked apart as the battle continued… a coming retreat was a possibility.

[Sorry for the delay... Time is difficult to balance.]

(ooc: again, don't worry about the delay. I've been busy myself lately and there is no rush.)

Battle of Man II

March of Bolgios

The Gallant was in a fight for her life now. All weapons turned to the closing Phantom and forgot about the rest of the battle. The heavy assault prevented another Light of Nav.

Perhaps the only advantage the Bolgios had was that now many of the wild comets were working their way into the damaged hull of the Draconic battleship. Emergency bulkheads and forcefields were easier to break through than battle plate and shields, and eventually some of them made their way inside. Now these dragons forced their way down hallways and sometimes through bulkheads, burning crewmen they caught by surprise and searching for vital locations inside the ship.

Razorbacks

Whole flights vanished into nothing as the siege cannons cut through the fighters between the fleets. The lead Razorback burst into a cloud of debris and another that had been close to it was damaged in the strike. The others continued to advance though. Ammunition flowed from their guns at such speed that it threatened to drain magazines and batteries alike. Matter assemblers and chargers worked well over the safety level to keep the guns loaded.

The ships were getting close now, hopefully close enough that the siege guns of their foes would be of little use again. The Razorbacks charged into the enemy ranks pounding the Seraphim and Dominion's Light from different angles.

Ferals and Harpys

The Ferals continued to fire and take fire. The harpys kept up their flak screen as best they could, still launching missiles into the enemy formations. As the most vulnerable though, they were still taking enough fire to disable several more.

Summary:

1 Gallant
4 Razorbacks
9 Ferals
10 Harpys
~1100 Comets - 500 focusing on a battleship (now Phantom), 600 remaining for fighter screen

[Question: Should we wait for the others who have entered this thread to post or should we continue ourselves and react appropriately when they do post?]

We can probably just go for it.