NationStates Jolt Archive

That we, in our arrogance, believed that Humankind was first among the races of this galaxy will exposed as folly of the worst kind upon the awakening of these ancient beings. Any hopes, dreams or promises of salvation are naught but dust in the wind. ~~Dogma Omniastra

They come as beasts from the darkness. Enormous beasts of living metal and dead souls. They are older than your civilization. Older than the light of the stars above. Older than your nightmares.

They approach, powerful , silent, inevitable. If you could describe their feeling, you could say that they are sure of their eventual triumph – but of course you can't. They have no feelings, but their triump is indeed coming. A triumph over you and all that you hold dear.

As their raiders and cruisers – no more than twenty or thirty in number – move slowly among the inhabited worlds of the Galaxy, you know it – you feel it – they are coming.

For you are born for a darker purpose than that of mere existence. There will come a time when stygian night never ends, where dead stars will spread before you like islands that slumber on the ocean, and when the beings that hid like shadows will feed on you forever.

These are those beings, and though you know not a name for them yet, they are here now.

Somewhere in the Milky Way – a hundred light years from the Prates Cluster, or perhaps a bit more - they are here.

And they are hungry after their long sleep.

"What the hell are we doing all the way out here?"
Such was a question echoed by soldiers and spacers whenever they went on such a mission: Exploratory fleets tend to do that to people. Lightyears from home for what? Seeing what's out there. Romantic at first, but after weeks of dry, tasteless rations, close quarters with the other crew and no sunlight or fresh air, even the most hopeless of romantics grew rather cynical. The second Exploratory fleet had been gone for months now, and suffered. Pirate attacks, solar storms, dead systems, hostile planets and fickile ship systems all came together in one huge stroke on bad luck. Indeed, the fleet was late returning home by several days. The exploring fleet consisted of four Cruisers, two Destroyers, a Carrier, a Medical ship and a Battleship. So far among the positive things were three: They had established diplomatic relations with one race, they had found a sizable amount of resources on a planet in a close system, and now they were finally going home. The combined crews were tired, but morale was high. Surely nothing could disrupt them at this late leg of the journey....right? The kitsune on board held this with hopeful optimism, but they had been out in deep space for too long to hold trust in luck anymore. They watched and waited for signs of trouble.

The beings, naturally, detect the Xiscapian vessels. They detect everything. Such is in their nature – all-seeing, all-observant, and silent. But instead of actually doing anything about it, they lie adrift, in space, waiting for what they sense is about to happen.

They pretend that their navy is nothing but a bunch of worthless hulks, lying adrift in space. Just the sort of thing a brave, foolhardy explorer would board. After all - imagine the wealth of knowledge that must be aboard these ships! The powerful technologies! The awesome weapons!

The X.O. approached hesitantly. "Sir,"
"What is it?"
"Our forward sensors have detected a mass of ships ahead. All dead, and scans detected no energy or biological signs aboard. Their structure and design does not register in our database,"
"No biological signs at all?"
"No Admiral."
"Curious. That means that the crew abandoned ship. What is the condition of the ships?"
"They do not seem battle damaged. Just empty."
"Hmph," The Admiral sighed. "Any flags? Names? Insignia?"
"No Admiral."
"Most disturbing. Most disturbing indeed. Prepare a boarding party for the nearest vessal."
"Yes Admiral."
In the hangers on the Battleship two drop ships warmed up, engines humming. Kitsune, male and female, struggled into Ship Boarding Attack Unit (SBAU) armor and powered their weapons. In their airtight, well protected suits they would be able to explore the dead ship regardless of damage or system failures. Thirty to each drop ship, sixty in all, plus the pilot and a gunner in the drop ship. The two boarding ships lifted from the hanger and blasted out into the void on a direct course for the nearest apparently dead vessal. The gun crews on the capitals kept an eye out, but they were no where near as alert as they should have been. They did not even bother turning on computer targeting for the abandoned ships, feeling no danger. The two drop ships were specks in the depths of space, easily lost to sensors and scanners due to background radiation and the naked eye due to their small size.

The alien ships lie dead in space, their ships unmarked, except with the ancient hieroglyphs of their kind, bearing messages from the depths of the unknown – warnings? Threats? Ancient knowledge?

Airlocks have been left open in the ancient hulls, to make sure that these new entities could access the ships. And beyond the airlocks, waited entities beyond the comprehension of mortals. Strange metal-like entities with enormous blades emerging from where humanoidds have palms, others with no legs, yet others like monstrous spiders of dark living metal. It was their time.

The Space Hulk, The Torch of the Word entered the area, it was huge, one of the biggest Space Hulks ever to be found on record. It was also one of the oldest to be found, some ships were older than the beginning of the Imperial timeline. At first, it had been used by the Noble Adeptus Astartes of the Word Bearers against the enemies of man, but, even though it still housed its old masters, their puprose had changed all together. Now they were the Holy Warriors of Chaos, and they had detected a large amount of ships nearby, were they Imperial? Hard to tell at such a far distance, the only choice was to get closer, and the Holy Bearers of the Word were ready.

*tag for future post*

The alien ships lie dead in space, their ships unmarked, except with the ancient hieroglyphs of their kind, bearing messages from the depths of the unknown – warnings? Threats? Ancient knowledge?

Airlocks have been left open in the ancient hulls, to make sure that these new entities could access the ships. And beyond the airlocks, waited entities beyond the comprehension of mortals. Strange metal-like entities with enormous blades emerging from where humanoidds have palms, others with no legs, yet others like monstrous spiders of dark living metal. It was their time.
A continious chatter went between the X.O. and the leading pilot:
"Airlocks are open sir. Just waiting for visitors."
"They're open? Seems a little convenient, don't you think?"
"Maybe whoever left forgot to close them on their way out."
"We've got readings of runes. Hierogyphs. Were copying them into our ships computer and transfering them to our database now."
"We're reading the interior of the ships, we've got a lot of junk in there."
"None of it biological?"
"Destroyed parts floating around I suspect. We'll just have to-"
On the bridge there was a keening beeping noise. According to the sensors, a massive ship of unknown origin was approaching. Shields were powered up but weapons left on standby, and a message sent:
Unidentified ship, this is the Battleship Order of second Xiscapian Exploratory fleet. Please state your origins and intentions in the area. Should you choose to ignore this message, we will be left with no alternative to deadly force.
"We've got company."
"Orders, Executive Officer?"
"Hide among the ships until the situation is resolved and await further orders. Do not board the ships while there are potential hostiles in the area."
"Aye X.O."
The ships formed a pattern: The four cruisers out in front, spaced in a diamond formation, the two destroyers on the interior of the diamond, with the Medical ship hanging back along with the Carrier. The Battleship hung in between the formation and the two support ships, having the most firepower of those assembled, but the cruisers the most range if weaker weapons, and the destroyers somewhere in the middle. The Carrier was equipped with ion cannons and anti-fighter defenses, and the Medical ship was entirely unarmed.

Unidentified ship, this is the Battleship Order of second Xiscapian Exploratory fleet. Please state your origins and intentions in the area. Should you choose to ignore this message, we will be left with no alternative to deadly force

The Space Hulk stopped, and hung in space. "Greetings non-believer, my origins are Terra, my intentions; cleansing." Whispered a voice through the channel, and the Space Hulks weapons powered up, and it continued its advance toward the ships.

"Greetings non-believer, my origins are Terra, my intentions; cleansing."
"Shit, how did Chaos find us all the way out here?"
"Admiral, our Medical ship won't be able to stand firepower of that magnitude!"
"Keep it behind. I want the cruisers to open fire the moment that bucket-of-bolts gets in range."
You have opted for oblivion. Very well.
As the drop ships scurried to hide whithin the abandoned ships the Xiscapian vessals powered up their weapons and computer and manual targeting lined up with the huge Space Hulk.
"Admiral, hostile ship's weaponry is powering up."
"Almost there...fire!"

The Wasp class Battlecruisers of Xiscapia do not pack a particularly large amount of power: Only a single MAC gun, Two Heavy Guns, 2 Light Guns, 20 AS guns and 20 Ion cannons. Of these only the first three weapons would do any amount of damage to a capital ship. The Heavy guns were capital killers, Nova cannons almost which could inflict great damage on whatever they hit. Light guns were weaker and made for percision targeting, desinged to lock-on to and destroy fast-moving smaller ships like frigates, gunboats, patrol ships, ect. However they could do a considerable amount of damage to a capital ship, pin-pointed to strike at specific systems or patrs, like engines, weapons, hangers or the bridge. The MAC guns were almost self-explanitory. Normally mounted on a platform near a planet, the guns mounted on the cruisers and other ships had been cut to scale, making the shells smaller but faster firing and still able to shred hulls apart. Nothing like a shell the size of a bus coming at you at thousands of miles an hour to sober you up. Thus the Space Hulk had four MAC cannons, eight Heavy guns and eight Light guns all firing at it in near perfect harmony. If the ship kept coming, it would quickly be in range of the destroyers weaponry, and then finally the Battleships.

~tag~

Edit:
TAG. Don't exactly want to get involved right now...

The alien entities observed the strange encounter, but made no move. They waited for aeons. They could wait for a few more minutes until whoever survived this struggle would board them.

tag for future post.

Farseer Kaldeer stood in the Dome of Crystal Seers surrounded by spinning and glowing runes, through these she traced the paths of fate, determining possibilites, warnings and opportunites. Reaching out a delicate hand she plucked a rune from the air and scrutinised it, sending her sight out along time and fate.

As she searched, the path she was travelling suddenly turned dead black, Kaldeer sensed then malevolent evil and hatred emanating from it, danger to the Craftworld, Necrons.

The runes ceased their spining and returned to the Farseer's pouch, Kaldeer turned and strode out of the Dome of Crystal Seers, she had to summon the gifted Autarchs and Seer Councils of the Craftworld, she would tell them what she had seen using tales and fables from before the Fall, the Autarchs would then decide on a course of action.

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Necrons were the Eldar's most hated and oldest enemy, older even than Chaos and She Who Thirsts, it had been the C'tan who had aided the destruction of the Eldar and destroyed the Old Ones, they presented a very dire threat to all living things, especialy the Eldar.

It had been a near unanimous desicion, whilst the Craftworld would not be directly threatened, inactivity would allow time for the Necrons to fully awaken, they had to strike now while they were just waking, consulting ancient star charts of known Necron Tomb Worlds, it had been decided to send a strike force and eliminate them before they became too strong.

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Far away on a planet forgotten by the wider Universe a tall triangular structure overgrown in weeds, moss and climbing plants suddenly burst into life, energy exploded inside the limits of the structure, which then calmed and formed a shimmering sapphire curtain.

Farseer Kaldeer emerged moments later onto the edge of a forest bordered by grassland, Aspect Warriors followed her, along with tanks and artillery. They would begin the fortification of the nearby area in preparation for the arrival of the Necrons, Kaldeer could feel them out there, nearby, as a stain on the sturcure of the Universe, a desire to destroy all living things. The Necros would come, that much was certain, and the Eldar woud meet them.

The conflict being caused between the Xiscapian and Chaos ships, with the Necron ships in silent observation, did not go unnoticed by the rest of the galaxy. A nearby patrol that was overseeing the induction of Adumar into the Empire detected the energy signatures and had sent a detachment to investigate. They were also given the authority to use force if need be, as the Empire could ill afford conflict on its borders when it was so distracted by the Rebellion.

So as the Xiscapian exploration fleet desperately struggled to fight off the Word Bearers Space Hulk, a flicker of pseudo-motion soon revealed the Imperial detachment exiting hyperspace and revealed the ships in their fully glory. The detachment was five ships strong, and it consisted of two Lancer-class (http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/thumb/6/61/CCGLancer.jpg/250px-CCGLancer.jpg) frigates, a Striker-class (http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/thumb/d/d5/Strike_Cruiser.jpg/250px-Strike_Cruiser.jpg) cruiser, a Vindicator-class (http://www.classic-space.com/plugins/autogallery/Gallery/BigShips/albe-09.jpg) heavy cruiser, and a Victory-class Star Destroyer (http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/thumb/6/6e/VicStarI-EaW.jpg/250px-VicStarI-EaW.jpg). The Victory-class was the flagship of the group, the Executioner, which was commanded by Captain Lann. He stood on the bridge fo the Executioner and gazed at the tactical hologram in front of him.

"Sir, we have arrived at the source of the disturbance?"

He turned and gazed at the officer. "I see. What do have, Ensign?"

"Well, sir, we have a small fleet of nine ships. A battleship-class, a medical or diplomatic ship due to its absence of weaponry, a carrier designation, two destroyer designations and four cruiser designations. A relatively small fleet, sir. And they appear to be engaging a massive ship which does not appear to match any of our current records. It's weapon systems are powered up and its heading for a direct course for the small fleet. I also detect a fleet of ships which are drifting. The sensors cannot tell what they are made of, what class they are, or if they even have power."

Lann crossed his arms. "I see. Very well, we'll deal with the hulk first and aid the small fry. It's obvious who started this little fight. Open a channel, make it general. Maybe we can spook the ones in those dead ships, if there are any."

The officer nodded and tapped in the command. "Channel open."

"This is Captain Lann of the Executioner. I am here on the behalf of the Galactic Empire. This disturbance is too close to Imperial borders, and I demand on the behalf of the Empire for both sides to stand down, as well as identify your nation and intention here in this system. Failure to do so will result in a hostile response. I can, and have the ability, to reduce your ship to rubble, whomever is in that massive rock of a ship. I suggest you power down and move away, before you get a firsthand taste of Imperial might."

He nodded and the channel muted on his end, cutting off the picture until they reopened, but he could still receive messages. "Have all ships gather into Delta Formation, and prepare to launch fighters. Power up the shields and weapon systems, and get me a weapons lock on that space hulk. If it still chooses to not back down, we will provide support to the small fleet. Also, get some boarding craft and parties ready; I want to see what are in those derelicts."

"Yes sir."

The Imperial ships clustered slightly closer together, with the Lancer-class frigates taking point, along with the Striker and Vindicator-class ships taking up position on the left and right flank of the Executioner respectively. Captain Lann sat in his command chair, and prepared for battle. He began to key a message for reinforcements, in case he needed to pull more from Adumar, as well as starting his initial report on the situation. The discovery of a new race, three possibles, would warrant his attention.

The entities see now that there is a chance their prey will get away in the confusion of battle, refusing to be lured into their hulls. This is not to be permitted. They are endangering themselves very little, and their chance of success will be maximized. They aim a strange energy weapon at one of the shuttle. It is not a visible beam like most energy weapons – it is too efficient for that, the technology too advanced to allow for useless energy leaks into light and heat. It functions much like a standard tractor beam, pulling the shuttle in with irresistible force.

They do not respond to the message of the Telrosians, but their scanners do detect, far out on the edge of even their sensors, a faint trace of Eldar presence. Had they had emotions, they would feel rage, perhaps even be driven to rash acts of violence, seeing their ancient enemy here, still alive. But still, they see the Eldar, and they take note. One day, assuredly, the Necron warriors shall descend upon the Biel-tann, and upon that day the Biel-tann will suffer.

Prince Osharin and his retinue of escort ships glided out of orbit, they had arrived via normal sub-light travel combined with short warp jumps to arrive at the planet where the Eldar ground forces prepared, they were only a last defense against Necron penetration of the webway, all knew the main battle would be among the stars.

The fleet Osharin led contained one Void Stalker http://www.tabletopwargames.com/bfg/99110804007.jpg, one Eclipse Cruiser http://www.tabletopwargames.com/bfg/99060804001.gif, and squadron of three Aconite Frigates http://www.tabletopwargames.com/bfg/99060804006.gif. Five ships in all, a small fleet by any standards, but each one fast, near impossible to track when cloaked and deadly accurate; their sensors had easily picked up the inelegant and brutish explosions caused by the battle, they had also found the unmistakable signature of a large Chaos ship, it mattered not, all would fall before the superior speed and maneuverability of the Eldar, for they had traversed the stars before the ancestors of humanity had even crawled from the sea. Psychically linked to the Captains of all the other ships, Osharin, gave the order to make the warp jump.

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Just outside the immediate area of battle, five portals opened, out of which emerged the fleet, as the Void Stalker engaged it's Daetrin Cloak the number of ships appeared to drop to four, a highly advanced form of Holofield, the Daetrin Cloak could only be housed on the largest of Eldar ships and supressed all electromagnetic radiation emitted from the ship, masking it from sensors.

Prince Osharin sat in his wraithbone chair on the bridge of the Spear of Khaine "Begin armament and loading of torpedoes, maintain the Cloak, keep out of range for now, allow the Monkeigh to weaken each other and should Choas survive we will eliminate it."

There were no responses from the crew, each Prince held total control over his ship and the fleet he governed, his orders were always obeyed. Osharin flicked a glance at the clumsy brutish attacks of the warships, then turned his focus to the Necron ships, fury and hatred rose within him as he gazed at those dark, lifeless hulls, he knew all to well the devestating power of the servants of the C'tan, he longed to engage them now, to strike them with laser and torpedo, to make them know fear. He struggled with himself, his emotions tugging him towards outright violence but he disciplined himself, restricting his emotions, that was the way of She Who Thirsts, the way of the Dark Eldar and he would not Fall as his race had done so long ago.

There was a minute power outage from one of the ships, clearly they were waking, soon to be at full strength and too strong to destroy with what he had, but he could not risk an attack with so many potentially hostile combatants in the area.

Whilst each Eldar ship was fast, highly maneuverable and protected by sophisticated Holofields, they could not withstand a concentrated barrage and more than one ship had been lost through overconfidence. No, Osharin was content to wait and see how this little episode played out before getting involved.

They snuick in almost silently. A quintet of Andermani ships, a battleship, 13 kilometers long, a heavy cruiser at seven and a half, and a trio of three kilometer long Destroyers. Not exactly a fleet, it was still one of the two most powerful military units within the system, and with the other being Imperial, there was no threat of having to engage the only threatening presence in the system. The dead ships were no worry, except that they were obviously not dead. Something, possibly an automated program, was drawing a shuttle closer to the ships. Automated wrecks could be a danger, especially if they had automated defensive routines as well as automated capture programs. Swift calculations, and a turret swivelled towards a point on the wrecked ship, before a single particle blast capable of wrecking hundreds of kilometers of landscape shoots out to claw and shred at the hull and systems of the seemingly powerless ship.

You're all too busy trying to kill each other to nitce something strange is happening. Ignorant fools. Imperial Commander, my Wyverns will board the ships momentarily and attempt to shut down whatever automation is engaging us.

On the staging decks of the 5 ships, companies of marines in their armor are prepared to step through gates as they form, and surge across to the other ships. Any shielding they may have will prove immaterial. Setian gates have yet to meet a single defense they cannot bypass, and the Marines that step through them have not yet fought a foe they cannot defeat with enough time.

The ship absorbs the blast of Miehmish energy with no outward damage, but lets go of the shuttle. Active sensor systems power down completely, and the ship appears completely dead once more. It is not clear, exactly, how the newcomers noticed what was going on, but the Entities within will take no chances. They do not reply to the hailing – and in fact, nobody has yet addressed them directly – so far, all have been assuming they're dead.

And they like it that way.

ooc: Sorry to go OOC here, Miehm, can you contact me via AiM? My IM nick is NSNecrons.

The Necrontyr sickle type cruiser Arianra sat two light years off, watching events unfold via the relay systems of a VLA of displaced probes. What idiocy is this? Arianra, whose name translated as stern-lord, wondered to itself. Perhaps these persons were unaware of the malice of the ships apparently used by these alternate/counterfeit/different necrons. It had not thought that the older designs which these vessels resembled, and which it had once been one of, were so poorly known, but then, this had been a region of the universe that its kind had not before frequented.

These ships didn’t have a recognition code that it recognised, or indeed, conform to any identified ships. There were a few ideas it had regarding that, but for now it would wait.

It debated talking to the ‘necron’ ships, but then, it doubted that doing so would be terribly productive. But then, it couldn’t hurt. It shot a signal at them, in a format that was best described as obscure, a standard recognition request signal.

The beings would be surprised, if they were capable of being so. They then informed the other beings of their kind of the identification data of their ships, and of the name of the God which they served. THey did not, however, reveal the purpose of their journey, for such was not requested of them.

Things were quickly becoming complicated, the Chaos ship was currently engaged with two fleets of ships while the Necrons were silently waking, this alone would not have been a problem. However, a new fleet had arrived and had saved the small craft being pulled into one of the dormant ships.

Osharin leaned forward in his chair and scrutinised the readings, the new fleet had only five ships and he doubt any would come close to matching the Spear of Khaine, but worse, in saving the small craft all activity within the Tomb Ships had ceased; Osharin knew this was standard Necron practice when waking, analyse the environment and if hostiles were detected, wait for them to move then release a new wave of more deadly beings, this would go on indefinitely until they were victorious, exhausted their supply of combatants or were destroyed, the first was the most likely.

Fools Osharin thought to himself, you have no idea of the consequenses of your actions, your efforts here will serve only to wake them faster.

"Put me through to Isha's Tears" He was relayed through to the Eclipse Cruiser and then sent a message to the new arrivals using it as the point of origin, maintaining the illusion of there being only four ships in the Eldar fleet:

"You who seek to antagonize the sleeping vessels, you will cease all hostility with them, you will take no further moves against them or they will rise from their sleep stronger than what your pitiful imagination can produce. We cannot allow this to happen, should you continue to provoke them i will destroy you; if they do not do so first. There will be no further communication, do not test me."

"Do you honestly think the Monkeigh will listen and obey?" A voice spoke from the left of Osharin's position.

Osharin turned and spoke to Rantal, the resident Seer on board, "of course not, they are as children and will rebel against our orders, and like children we will discipline them when they do, we cannot allow the Necrons to awaken before we are prepared."

Rantal nodded and glided out into a small room adjoining the bridge, there he would attempt to guide his sight and aid his Prince. Outside, Isha's Tears and the three Aconite ships moved to a position to the left of the Monkeigh ships with the Spear of Khaine moving unseen to take up position on the opposite flank.

Lann was waiting for a response when the alarm sounded, signaling the arrival of more ships. He gripped the railing and prepared himself for the worst. When it appeared to be the Andermani ships encountered at Bilbringi, he was surprised. He knew of them thanks to the order sent to the Fleet by Thrawn not to anger or disturb them, but he didn't expect to see them here.

"Sir, incoming message from the Andermani."

"Put it through."

You're all too busy trying to kill each other to nitce something strange is happening. Ignorant fools. Imperial Commander, my Wyverns will board the ships momentarily and attempt to shut down whatever automation is engaging us.

Lann suppressed the anger he felt bubbling up from the arrogance of that statement. He knew from the message, that they were xenophobic towards humans, and had to be careful. "Open a channel."

"Done, sir."

"If you hadn't been so busy insulting me, you'd notice I have been trying to calm the situation down, so I could focus on those ships. I know something is wrong with them. Ships don't become derelict and remain in good condition. I understand what you are going to do, and I will do my best to ensure you don't get fired upon. I can send stormtrooper squads to aid you, if you so wish. Captain Lann out."

He let out a breath, trying to get himself to relax. This was turning out to be more trouble than he had expected. He might be forced to call in reinforcements at this rate.

"Sir, another message! Unknown origin!"

Lann whirled about to see the message filtering in through the speakers.

"You who seek to antagonize the sleeping vessels, you will cease all hostility with them, you will take no further moves against them or they will rise from their sleep stronger than what your pitiful imagination can produce. We cannot allow this to happen, should you continue to provoke them i will destroy you; if they do not do so first. There will be no further communication, do not test me."

Lann's anger grew, and this time, he did not hold it back. "Prepare the message to Adumar for reinforcements. The minute we get a hostile response, send it. I will NOT be talked to like this."

"Unknown beings, if you even send one missile at my fleet, I will show you the meaning of Imperial power. I will not be threatened by cowards who choose to hide and skulk in the shadows. I will determine what my fleet does, not you. If you initiate hostilities, I will answer in kind. I won't start the fight, but I WILL finish it. Captain Lann out."

In the midst of all this chaos, one vessel, safe behind it's cloak as well as a nearby asteroid, watched the battle unfold before them. The ship was an I-Class Alversian Cruiser and she was part of the newly launched batch of ships. This one had been christened APS Imelia. On her new bridge, Captain Marlon McBride watched the battle with interest.

"And you have no idea where these ships came from?" He asked his First Officer Paddy Smith. The big Alversian shook his head.

"None. They seem to have stirred some interest though"

"So it would appear."

"Should we engage?"

"Battles are for battleships, Mr Smith, not cruisers like our own. We do not engage in battle, standard Alversian Procedure. And there seem to be plenty of ships engaged anyway"

"Still..."

"maintain cloak mode if you will please, Mr Smith and we'll decide our course from there"

"Yes, Captain"

So the Imelia stayed hidden in the shadows, watching the fight unfold without risking her or her 2,000 crew.

With a kind of noise, the Valosi appeared. A huge ship, of the Battleship Alean fleet. It had seen the disturbance on the way to a skirmish and had been sent to investigate. When it arrived it saw more than it needed to.
"By freaking Skorn! Eldar, Imperials, Chaos? What the hell..." He then saw the Necron ships.
"Oh... That'd be why." The ship immediatly went to red alert and powered weapons. "Forward gauss cannon, ready. Wait for my signal to fire on the Necron ship."

OOC: The Valosi: http://www.strekschematics.utvinternet.com/shipgallery/shipgallery1/jembattle.jpg

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!"
The sensors were going wild, ships were appearing everywhere. A second ago it had been just them and this strange Chaos ship. They had been joined by what the scanners registered as Galactic Empire ships, Andermani ships, and multiple more ships of unknown origins, all apparently intent on fixing the problem. "Executive Officer, this is going to turn into one big, ugly showdown any moment, and we're right in the middle. How soon can we jump?"
The Executive Officer looked apprehensive. "Our ships are in the correct direction and our jump coordinates have been logged into our navigation computers, but there is too many ships in the way. We're trapped, Captain."
There was a beep from the console. "Our drop ships are pulling away to regroup with the Harmony, Captain." said the Scanner Officer.
The Captain was sweating heavily. "Very good. Command the fleet to pull out using subspace only, do not attempt a hyperspace jump. Move to coordinates 622385."
The fleet began to move "downward", as far as there can be any sense of "down" or "up" in space. The most important thing to the Captain was getting out of the line of fire. The situation had become suddenly a hundred times more complicated and dangerious. The Communications Officer was able to pick up several unencrypted tranmissions but was told to respond only to the one from the GE forces:
"This is Captain Lann of the Executioner. I am here on the behalf of the Galactic Empire. This disturbance is too close to Imperial borders, and I demand on the behalf of the Empire for both sides to stand down, as well as identify your nation and intention here in this system. Failure to do so will result in a hostile response. I can, and have the ability, to reduce your ship to rubble, whomever is in that massive rock of a ship. I suggest you power down and move away, before you get a firsthand taste of Imperial might."
While the last part of the message was obviously directed at the Chaos ship, the body was nevertheless directed at both sides, and therefore required a response to prevent hostile action from occuring.
This is Captain White, Captain of the Flagship Order of the Second Exploratory fleet of the Xiscapians. We are returning from a mission in Deep Space and wish no harm to the Galactic Empire. We are merely interested in getting home without any casualties, although, judging by the recent influx of ships, this may be more difficult than we originally anticipated.

Lann, as he waited for a reply to his messages sent to Andermani and the strange unknown source, received the Xiscapian message with relief. Here was a peoplen who didn't go around taunting other nations through some arrogant view, or insult them simply because they came to bring about a peaceful end with a little threatening. Waving a hand for the comm officer to open a channel, he prepared himself.

Greetings Captain White, I am Captain Lann. I thank you for your candor and patience in replying, and you are now logged in my databanks. If you wish, I can organize an escort into our space, so you can be in a safe place away from all this madness.

Tag

Greetings Captain White, I am Captain Lann. I thank you for your candor and patience in replying, and you are now logged in my databanks. If you wish, I can organize an escort into our space, so you can be in a safe place away from all this madness.
If it is not too much trouble, I wish for my crews and ships to make it home intact. It is refreshing to see another people who are not openly hostile or snidely haughty. We are proceeding beneath the fire at the moment, and will be approaching your current position in approximently three minutes.
Captain White breathed a sigh of relief. Standered Xiscapian protocal taught that the lives of the crew were to be put before all else, and the Captain was grateful for the helpful hand out of this mess.
I wonder, he mused silently, what the significance of the junked ships is? They are obviously inhabited, one of the drop ships reported a tractor beam trying to reel them in before the ships were hit by fire, but aside from that they have shown no reaction nor sent any messages. With so many ships and people in the area it will be difficult for them to remain hidden for long, once this cluster fuck is sorted out.

"Captain!"

"What is it now, Ensign?" McBride asked patiently

"It seems the Xiscapians are trying to get through the battle unharmed. Should we provide escort?"

Marlon's eye's flashed
"We are not a battleship, Mr. Smith, although we are an Escort vessel and this is an escort mission. Decloak and head for the Xiscapian's position. Charge all weapons and bring shields online! Battlestations! Red Alert!"

The alarms for battlestations began to ring throughout the ship as the crew dashed for their posts.

A message was sent to the Xiscapians as the Imelia appeared and headed straight for the battle, broadcasting the message as she went

TO: Xiscapian ships

This is the Alversian People's Starship Imelia, offering escort
from the zone of battle and providing assistance

Captain Marlon McBride
APS Imelia

TO: Xiscapian ships

This is the Alversian People's Starship Imelia, offering escort
from the zone of battle and providing assistance

Captain Marlon McBride
APS Imelia
"No!" Captain White cried. "This is going to turn into a firefight any second. Their cruiser can't repel fire of that magnitude!
TO: Captain Marlon McBride

Alversian People's Starship Imelia, please refrain from entering combat zone. Ships of the Galactic Empire are providing escort and the situation is going to turn into a war any second. You cruiser will be torn apart in the crossfire. Repeat, do not enter the combat zone. Your help is apprechiated but unnecissary.

"Their cruiser can't repel fire of that magnitude!"
.

OOC: OMG. How cliched.:p

The USS West Virginia bursts out of Hyperdrive, carrying with it's usual six-man crew. Captain McCoy and his five men are famous all over Allanea – they have reaped billions in rewards for discovering alien species and new worlds to colonize. Much of Allanea's wealth and power today is due to the West Virginia. Today, they plan to do some work here, too.

Their tiny ship detects the enormous necron vessels with ease – which is natural, since they make no effort to remain hidden. And so, Captain McCoy makes the obvious decision.

The tiny red starship positions its hull in parallel to the giant necron vessel, and – after politely hailing the Imperial, Miemish, other ships in system – proceeds to dock.

Unfortunately, the Eldar remain undetected by them.

Things were quickly becoming complicated, the Chaos ship was currently engaged with two fleets of ships while the Necrons were silently waking, this alone would not have been a problem. However, a new fleet had arrived and had saved the small craft being pulled into one of the dormant ships.

Osharin leaned forward in his chair and scrutinised the readings, the new fleet had only five ships and he doubt any would come close to matching the Spear of Khaine, but worse, in saving the small craft all activity within the Tomb Ships had ceased; Osharin knew this was standard Necron practice when waking, analyse the environment and if hostiles were detected, wait for them to move then release a new wave of more deadly beings, this would go on indefinitely until they were victorious, exhausted their supply of combatants or were destroyed, the first was the most likely.

Fools Osharin thought to himself, you have no idea of the consequenses of your actions, your efforts here will serve only to wake them faster.

"Put me through to Isha's Tears" He was relayed through to the Eclipse Cruiser and then sent a message to the new arrivals using it as the point of origin, maintaining the illusion of there being only four ships in the Eldar fleet:

"You who seek to antagonize the sleeping vessels, you will cease all hostility with them, you will take no further moves against them or they will rise from their sleep stronger than what your pitiful imagination can produce. We cannot allow this to happen, should you continue to provoke them i will destroy you; if they do not do so first. There will be no further communication, do not test me."

"Do you honestly think the Monkeigh will listen and obey?" A voice spoke from the left of Osharin's position.

Osharin turned and spoke to Rantal, the resident Seer on board, "of course not, they are as children and will rebel against our orders, and like children we will discipline them when they do, we cannot allow the Necrons to awaken before we are prepared."

Rantal nodded and glided out into a small room adjoining the bridge, there he would attempt to guide his sight and aid his Prince. Outside, Isha's Tears and the three Aconite ships moved to a position to the left of the Monkeigh ships with the Spear of Khaine moving unseen to take up position on the opposite flank.

<I do not believe these beings know to whom they speak. Direct the cruiser and destroyers to lock their weapons onto the transmitting ship, if they do attempt to engage, destroy it flat out. Send the marines across now. Arm solely with heavy weapons to make destruction of defenses or controls easier.>

<Aye lord. Will you be going across personally?>

<Not unless it is required. I would prefer to direct everything from the flag bridge for now.>

Aboard the Necron ships, gates open, and a company of Wyverns, between 25 and 30 troops in each company, steps onto each ship. Each carries a massive Mauler or Reaper particle cannon, normally they are squad support or antitank weapons, but in this case they will be better for destruction and ripping consoles into shards.

My apologies captain Lann, that first was intended for all involved parties. If the hostile vessels engage, my escorts have targeted the vessel that appears to be their flagship. If they attack, it will die faster than well, faster than the Rebellion at Bilbringi.

My escorts have you locked up. If you attempt to assault my vessels, you will be the fist to die. Your ships are light. The observed power levels of your ship are less than my cruiser, much less my battleship. Engaging in combat would very much be a losing proposition for your undersized fleet.

Aboard the Necron ships, gates open, and a company of Wyverns, between 25 and 30 troops in each company, steps onto each ship. Each carries a massive Mauler or Reaper particle cannon, normally they are squad support or antitank weapons, but in this case they will be better for destruction and ripping consoles into shards.

OOC: Is that one company aboard all the ships, one company per ship, or some other combination?

OOC: Is that one company aboard all the ships, one company per ship, or some other combination?

OOC: One per ship. Apologies for not making it clear. Each necron ship has been boarded by a company of Wyvern Combat Armor, which will make things interesting, since it'll be about an even fight on both sides.

As the Miehmish men proceed through the ships, they realize, eventually, that there are no controls. The warriors, the steel spiders, the other anti-intruder means – all are silent, popping out of sight just as the Miehm Marines turn the corner. They search, and search, and find nothing.

Meanwhile, as the Allanean ship docks, the Entities act rapidly. As the airlock opens, the blade-handed beings rush in, one after another, followed by the jade-colored metal spiders. Simultaneously, the ship's teleport systems replace all the air aboard with sleep gas. The Allaneans in the airlock are killed rapidly, effectively, but with the attempts to damage their body as little as possible. Some of the entities are, of course, killed in the struggle – but there are far more of them than there are Allaneans, so the results are sort of predictable.

<Lord, there are no control runs, no defensive turrets, nothing internally to deter entrance or to run the ships.>

Aboard the Battleship, a beast of metal sighs(not the easiest thing to do when you're made of metal) and shifts slightly.

<Very well. Return to the portals, we will put across scuttling charges, and you will plant them on the unknown ships. A single shot from a particle cannon did not damage the surface, possibly due to some unknown shielding, but it did apparently drain enough power to shut down the vessel again. We will use military grade charges in double quantities at what appear to be critical junctures, and then evacuate the ship. If nothing else, it will gut them, even if they remain intact.>

Aboard the necron ships, one squad thinks it hears a commotion, and decides to investigate, while the rest of the company regroups to collect a very large amount of extremely explosve hardware, and begin planting it at variousa locations around the ship.

Things were now officially excalating out of hand, four Monkeigh vessels were now concentrating on the Isha's Tears and the three Aconite escorts, which was fine as far as Osharin was concerned, but they had now sent men across to the Necron ships and things would very quickly turn deadly.

Isha's Tears and escort vessels, engage Holofields, lets see how well they can target us now. Aconites, prepare vortex torpedoes, charge pulsars. Isha's Tears, prepare Darkstar fighters and Eagle bombers.

"The Spear of Khaine will step in if neccessary but until it is needed we will maintain the Daetrin Cloak, we cannot fire too early and give away our position. Besides, we may even get a chance to use these Monkeigh as fodder when we go for the Necrons."

The Eclipse Cruiser Isha's Tears and her three Aconite escorts engaged their Holofields and began moving position, their outlines exploded into a dazzling cloud of colour, making it impossible to get an exact fix on them, confusing sensors and disrupting tracking systems.

"No!" Captain White cried. "This is going to turn into a firefight any second. Their cruiser can't repel fire of that magnitude!
.

Marlon noted the desperation of the message and instantly decided on a new course of action.

"Ensign! Send them a new message"

"Yes, Sir"

To: Xiscapian Fleet

We will remain on the outskirts of the combat zone and rendezvous
with your forces once you are clear of the area.

Captain McBride
APS Imelia

Things were now officially excalating out of hand, four Monkeigh vessels were now concentrating on the Isha's Tears and the three Aconite escorts, which was fine as far as Osharin was concerned, but they had now sent men across to the Necron ships and things would very quickly turn deadly.

Isha's Tears and escort vessels, engage Holofields, lets see how well they can target us now. Aconites, prepare vortex torpedoes, charge pulsars. Isha's Tears, prepare Darkstar fighters and Eagle bombers.

"The Spear of Khaine will step in if neccessary but until it is needed we will maintain the Daetrin Cloak, we cannot fire too early and give away our position. Besides, we may even get a chance to use these Monkeigh as fodder when we go for the Necrons."

The Eclipse Cruiser Isha's Tears and her three Aconite escorts engaged their Holofields and began moving position, their outlines exploded into a dazzling cloud of colour, making it impossible to get an exact fix on them, confusing sensors and disrupting tracking systems.

OOC: 4 ships are concentrating solely on Ishas Tears, the Aconites get to play with the Battleship.

IC:

<Sir, their returns just went haywire.>

<We still have gravitics don't we? We can still tell exactly where they are by their mass signatures, so target with the gravitics!>

<Yes sir, sorry sir.>

So many crews these days were inexperienced, and the sensor tech that had just made a novices blunder was no exception. The Setian ships ignored the visual displays and the sensor jamming of the funny little ships, turrets tracking unerringly towards their targets, guided by something that could not be masked, except by a larger mass.

<Lord, when we activated the gravitics, we got a hit off of a fifth vessel, larger than the rest. Should we engage?>

<Let it think it's hidden, but prepare all missile batteries, target on its location, and have all ships fire when it reveals itself. Escorts engage the flagship with all guns, take it down.>

The battleships turrets track the three escorts, ships never designed to survive the fire of a capitol ship, never designed to absorb damage like that put out by a Battleship of the Anderman Empire, and unless they could somehow cheat physics, even they were not fast enough to dodge particle cannon fire at this range.

The 5 ships had been clustered together, but as soon as the first Eldar ship moved, they lit off their drives, their very powerplants doing what these ships needed specialized systems to accomplish, lighting up like 5 brilliant suns, they would appear together on most sensors as something with the energy readings of a planetoid, as they sped free from each other, clearing each others firing arcs and drawing the enemy into a web of crossing fire from which there would be no escape.

Weapons blazed at the Eldar ships, capable of scorching planets in mere hours, the task force would likwely destroy the Cruiser within minutes as they concentrated the full fury of their batteries against it, and the Battleship sent even more powerful bolts of coruscating azure energy into the hull\s of the three escort ships.

Osharin felt something akin to pain as a few stray torpedoes slammed into the wraithbone structure of the Spear of Khaine, he also felt the echoes of screams of Eldar crew on the Aconites and Isah's Tears.

Osharin could feel the red mist of battle descending, the spirit stones set into his chair containing the souls of previous Princes and Captains blazed an angry red as they mirrored Osharin's emotions and desires. Now we will aid our bretheren, drop the Daetrin Cloak, engage Holofields, charge the C'tan torpedoes and pulsars and follow their largest ship, keep behind it and eliminate their engines!

The massive form of the Spear of Khaine suddenly appeared against the backdrop of space, engines roared into life, quickly matching pace with the largest ship.

On all the Eldar ships Bonesingers began their songs and casting their runes, healing the structures of the ships and petitioning the spirit stones to aid them in battle. The Isha's Tears was taking a beating, so far the wraithbone structure held but would crumple under much more fire. Darkstar fighters and Eagle bombers launched from their bays, streaking out of underslung openings. This was the purpose of and Eclipse Cruiser, get in close to lessen distance between its fighters and their target, then use its superior speed to get out of the line of fire, it now used its speed, dodging and weaving, avoiding as much damage as possible and taking out to the fringes of the battle.

One Aconite ship exploded in a fireball under the massive onslaught, the other two broke formation and pushed more power to the engines, none could match the Eldar for sub-light speed except the Necrons and now they showed it, flashing past a destroyer each launching vortex torpedoes and firing pulsars as they sped past.

Vortex grenades made use of sophisticated Eldar advances in warp technology, surpassed only by the C'tan Phase torpedoes, creating highly unstable warp rifts on contact, causing horrendous damage as whole sections of ship and men were sucked into the Warp, lances of light shot out, melting armour plating, creating fissures in the hull.

With two of the Monkeigh destroyers occupied and damaged the Darkstars and Eagles began dancing around the enemy cruiser, they did not assume a formation, such crude tactics served only to make them a larger target, they scattered, creating a cloud of fighters surrounding a larger, lumbering ship.

With the Deatrin Cloak no longer draining power, the Spear of Khaine now let loose with its forward pulsars, scorching shields and engine compartments, then, using the spare power he now had, Osharin engaged the Warp engines, ripping a hole in reality and entering the warp. A few short moments in there and it returned to real space in a completely different area, in the vicinity of the destroyed Aconite, getting a fix on a new target and flashing past the third destroyer, slicing pieces of hull off before moving off once more.

Thus was how the Eldar made war, using their far superior speed and maneuverability, launching a lightning attack before dissappearing and coming at a new target from a new angle, never giving the enemy a chance to determine where they will appear next.

If it is not too much trouble, I wish for my crews and ships to make it home intact. It is refreshing to see another people who are not openly hostile or snidely haughty. We are proceeding beneath the fire at the moment, and will be approaching your current position in approximately three minutes.

Lann nodded. “That will be fine, Captain White. I will see you shortly. Continue to the point behind my ships, and I will provide cover fire for you.” He turned to the rest of the bridge as the link was ended. “Have all ships go to Code Red, and release all squadrons. Shields up and weapons primed. I want a targeting lock on that rock of a ship heading for Captain White and his men, and I want some fire on that ship now!”

As he barked out orders, they began to be followed and the TIE fighters and Interceptors began to be deployed, roaring out of their hangars to their defense positions around the fleet, in case the enemy had their own fighters to send at them. For now, the two Lancer frigates, the Striker cruiser, Vindicator heavy cruiser, and the Executioner all began to move towards the Space Hulk of the Word Bearers. As the two frigates, being in front, got into range, they began to unload their twelve laser cannons each on the Space Hulk. While it wasn't going to do much damage, seeing as they were designed to take on starfighters instead of ships. However, they could get the job done, when the combined fire of the three other ships came into play.


My apologies captain Lann, that first was intended for all involved parties. If the hostile vessels engage, my escorts have targeted the vessel that appears to be their flagship. If they attack, it will die faster than well, faster than the Rebellion at Bilbringi.

Lann relaxed; they weren't disparaging them.

"Understood. If you need help, let me know."

He smiled at the mention of Bilbringi. That was going to be a saying for the Imperials in the future.

That was, until, all hell broke loose. "Sir, we are reading weapons fire being exchanged between the Andermani and some unknown fleet! I am getting gravitic readings, but I can't pinpoint them!"

Lann swiveled around to look at the tactical holo, showing the Andermani moving and engaging strange ships. The weapons fire exchanged between the two was immense, and the power levels of the Andermani were staggering. However, Lann had been given orders to not anger the Andermani, and just standing here fighting against a simple rock of a ship that wasn't very fast, when they were engaging something very fast, if the sensors were to be believed.

"Have the computer pinpoint them."

"I am trying, sir, but it's taking some time to decode the frequencies of the ships."

"Can we target them?"

"Yes, sir. It won't be totally accurate until the computer is done extracting, but we can still hit them somewhat."

"Very well. Send the call for reinforcements, and let the Grand Admiral know that I am aiding the Andermani against a foe. Have the frigates and the Striker-class cruiser engage the Space Hulk, while the heavy cruiser and ourselves dance with these new foes. Redirect all the TIE squadrons to use; the Lancer frigates can handle any fighters that rock of a ship may send."

The Executioner and the Vindicator heavy cruiser turned and moved with all power towards the Eldar fleet engaging the Andermani. All the TIE fighters and interceptors followed them, waiting to engage the enemy targets. A channel was opened with the Andermani.

Andermani fleet, I am moving a portion of my forces to come aid you. I have called for reinforcements and they should be here soon. I do not expect you will need much help, but we are friends after all, and friends help friends."

Lann forced himself to relax and focus on the battle. "Fire when in range, Ensign."

The two ships, when they finally got in range, began to unload their weapons on the enemy. Space filled with green turbolaser fire, red laser fire, concussion missiles, ion energy, and proton torpedoes as the ships began to track the Eldar ships as best they could. Some of their shots would miss completely, but others would be right on target. And as time passed, their shots would improve, as the ship computers began to get more of a handle on the frequencies coming from the ships.

"The Alversians are falling back Captain."
"Good. We do not need the blood of friends on our hands. Any word from the Imperials?"
"Yes Captain, we are to move to a position behind them and they will cover us as we slip away-"
"Captain! Reading massive energy signitures coming from unknown vessals! They're battling, Captain!"
"As I expected. The brutality of fools. What is our current formation?"
"The Harmony and the Gem are centered in the formation, with the Starfire and the Inescapable are flying cover with them. The cruisers are to the rear, and as of yet no one has targeted us."
"Pray to Qonn our luck continues, and that our Imperial friends guns will be powerful enough for us to make our escape."
The fleet was far enough away from the battle that they would not be perceived a threat by any of the fighting nations. They were closing fast on the Imperial fleet, and the scanners indicated that the APS Imelia was shadowing their movements, carefully keeping on the rim of the battle.

As the living metal entities poured into the airlock, McCoy had the chance to fire his pistol once. A humanoid being with blades coming out of its hands fell backwards, it's torso breaking apart. Another shot went wide as a black spider-like being latched on to the back of Captain McCoy's head and cracked his spine with a single pull.

“Fuck!” - exclaimed the Executive Officer as he took a step back, firing his weapon – a stub-nosed rifle – before him on full-auto, two more of the blade-carrying entities toppling backwards – and then a single attacker's hand shot forward, a steel-like blade runnig him throuh, heart to back.

The count was 3-2.

But in the ship itself, the crew struggled to remain conscious, struggled for their very breath as the sleep gas filled their lungs. The penguinoid weapons officer reached with his flipper-like arm for the self-destruct button – and fell down, only inches short from the red, round protrusion that would have at least allowed the crew of the West Virginia an honorable death.

And then it was over.

The count was 3-6.

OOC: Telros, I have TNT's permission to do this, and he has my permission to claim the deaths of my people.

The weight of enemy numbers was beginning to tell against the Eldar, although the Spear of Khaine had suffered only minor damage thanks to its ability to make warp jumps out of dangerous areas, the skills of the Bonesingers and the lightning reflexes of the pilots, the other ships in the fleet were not faring so well.

One Aconite ship had already been destroyed and another was limping badly, the Holofiels were proving to be less effective than usual, and it appeared that the Monkeigh were becoming more accurate as time passed, clearly they could not hope to stay for much longer. Only one Aconite was still functioning well and the Isha's Tears was hoverig around the battlefield, sniping while her complement of fighters fought the enemy's counterparts. Osharin needed reinforcements but the rest of the Biel-Tann fleet was still mobilizing for an attack on the Necrons, which was now out of the question.

Kaldeer, we fare badly as Khaine did against She Who Thirsts, Faolchu must aid Eldanesh or we will join the Infinity Circuit. The message was sent into space, racing for Farseer Kaldeer where she waited with the ground troops, aid would have to come soon or Osharin would fall.

From what Osharin saw there were several fleets moving away from the battle, these were of no further consequence to him, one was split facing him and the Chaos space hulk whilst a further race was tackling him straight on. He needed time to regroup and wait for help, the asteroid field nearby would serve as well as anything.

The Spear of Khaine raked another ship with its pulsars and vortex grenades, and turned to cross paths with the Mini Miehm battleship it originally had targeted. Osharin, linked into the psychic matrix of the ship, felt and knew every aspect of it, now the C’tan phase torpedoes were ready. They were some of the most deadly weapons the Eldar could bring to bear; combining Eldar warp technology and that stolen from the C’tan they produced devastating local warp storms on contact, capable of causing horrific damage if the vessel was not sucked in completely.

Fire, engage warp jump, all ships able to do so will jump, return to rendezvous point. A trio of torpedoes launched, aiming straight for the middle of the battleship, as the Spear of Khaine shot overhead, it jumped accompanied by Isha’s Tears and the remaining two Aconite destroyers. Behind it one torpedo missed while the other two slammed into the hull, each one ripped a hole in the fabric of the universe, punching a hole to the madness of the warp. Swirling energies spilled out engulfing the ship, meanwhile the third torpedo detected it had overshot, recalculated, swung round and hit the opposite side, duplicating the effect of the first two.

The warp storms raged, drawing in smaller ships and damaging larger ones, but Eldar had gone, the Aconites back to the staging planet along with the Isha’s Tears. But the Spear of Khaine had taken a different route, ending up among the asteroids Osharin had detected nearby, Daetrin Cloak once more in place. From here they would repair the wraithbone structure and observe, the Necrons were still here and still a threat to their Craftworld, Osharin had to ensure the continued safety of his home and thus he would stay.

OOC: Biel-Tann, please contact me via AiM [MicroBalrog, MicrBalrog] or via MSN [microbalrog@hotmail.com] or YaM [ilove_freedom2003]

A trio of torpedoes to take down a battleship. Madness. Point defense turrets reached out to shatter the devices long before they neared impact. The Spear of Khaine, however, had come too close, and too badly positioned. As it passed above the Setian battleship, a full volley of fire from every turret on the ship, some 300 in all, ripped directly into it from beneath, before the massive ship turned away. Fire from the Eldar weapons had hammered their shields, and blackened their armor in places, but they had wasted their attempts. The Setian ship had no engines upon which they could beat and destroy, and its aft portion was no more important to its operation than its fore. The Cruiser and Destroyers filled the void with point defense fire, making the assault of the enemies fightercraft tantamount to suicide, their number so few compared to the enemies they had designed these ships to defend against, the thousands put out by human fleets, each ship created as part of the Andermani defensive wall to hold back hundreds of swarming fighters, and keep enemy escorts away from the flanks of their formation. In practice that had been found to be slightly more effective than was expected.

Fire had raked the Andermani fleet for a time, and one of the Destroyers had taken some bit of damage to its weapons systems, but it could still fight, and would continue to do so long after the Eldar had fled the system.

Captain, You have our thanks. The enemy is retreating. I have put out the call for reinforcements, but we have few vessels nearby. A battlecruiser and two more heavy cruisers are all that we can muster. Whatever forces you can bring to bear will be appreciated.

Lann watched as his fire took its toll, in combination with the Andermani fire. Another of the strange ships exploded, and he grinned. They were not going to last at this rate. Turbolaser and laser cannon fire shot through space, impacting with the enemy shields, to followed by the powerful proton torpedoes and concussion missiles. The Vindicator heavy cruiser followed up with more of the ship and that accounted for a heavy amount of fire. The TIE squadrons, in tandem with the point defense guns, took care of the missiles coming at their ships.

Soon enough, the enemy loosed a final salvo at the Andermani ships and then vanished. Or, so they thought. The computer beeped, signaling it had finished the decoding, and as it integrated this new frequency within the systems, the sensors flared and the remaining ships were seen, fleeing towards the asteroid belt. Lann decided to let them go, as he imagined that the Andermani could handle it. "Cease fire. We don't need to bother them any more; they have to worry about the Andermani now. Turn us about and get us in range of that rock of a ship. I want to aid our forces who have been engaging that thing." As the ships began to turn around and head for the space hulk, the computer beeped and transmitted the Andermani message.

Captain, You have our thanks. The enemy is retreating. I have put out the call for reinforcements, but we have few vessels nearby. A battlecruiser and two more heavy cruisers are all that we can muster. Whatever forces you can bring to bear will be appreciated.

"It is no problem. I would be an idiot to not help you. I have their sensor data, if you need it. I see them fleeing towards the asteroid belt. I will not be able to give you much until my reinforcements arrive. I wish you luck."

He turned to the comm officer. "Belay the attack order for the Watcher and have them follow the Andermani. Then continue our present course towards our original target. Fire when in range."

The heavy cruiser Watcher, who had been starting to turn, instead turned back and began to head for the Andermani position. This was all the Captain could spare for the moment.

The sensors operator of the DRC Morbius turned with sudden alarm to Captain Kiel. "Sir, we just picked up a massive amount of energy discharges on the rim of our sector!" Kiel turned away from his screen abruptly. "Exactly how much energy are we talking here? Massive isn't exactly precise..." The s-op swallowed nervously before responding. "Well, sir, I'm not exactly certain. There's a considerable amount of interference from warp-activity. All I know is that this sector seems to be inhabited by a rather wide array of vessels, seemingly from a multitude of nations." Kiel nodded. "Well, that is why we're here, after all. To make introductions. We're not an exploratory vessel for nothing. We haven't exactly had much international diplomacy lately." Kiel let out a sigh at that. "I guess that's what happens when you annex your neighbors..." He turned to the communications operator before speaking once more. "Signal the fleet to move out. We're to avoid hostilities at all costs. This is an information-gathering and diplomatic mission only. We'll hold out of range of the combat zone and see what we can see." With that the man nodded and transmitted the orders to the rest of the fleet.

This wasn't a combat fleet by any means, but it was equipped to put up a considerable fight if needed. The fleet contained one vessel of battleship size, though it appeared to possess minimal offensive weaponry. It did, however, have a large amount of point-defense systems. The other three vessels were a different story. They were cruisers, and were equipped with some long-range offensive weapons, in addition to point-defense equipment. All bore the tri-hexagonal design of the DRC.

This is DRC EF415-S, hailing all nearby vessels. We just want to assure you that we have no intentions of inflicting any harm. We will, however, defend ourselves if necessary. Perhaps once this...ah...scrimmage has settled down we can talk shop?

The Arianra found itself amazed at the stupidity of it all. Still, these… renegades had got their fun, for now at least. It supposed it was time to take a hand. The long cruiser powered up its main hyperspeed drive, and flitted across six light years to deposit itself a few light seconds away from the other necron vessels. The similarity was obvious, it was most like the ‘heavy cruiser’ design of the other fleet, though it was larger, and where the other one mounted its (reserve) engines at the aft of a single ‘stem’ this ship had two of these, and a rear section. The markings – almost impossible to translate without an extensive frame of reference – in high necrontyr were also the same, as was its general analysis-defeating composition.

Are you done shooting at each other? it broadcast - along with the standard IFF and general-service-identification packages; that was an utterly pointless waste of life, wasn't it?

At the same time, it set about its main (for now) ulterior agenda, which was to attempt to locate and if so, bring aboard (by gravitic field or teleporter) any life-pods launched by the eldar ships in the recent conflagration. The Arianra was most interested in learning of new Eldar, but not-spooking them was a difficult task. As an afterthought, it retrieved the foot-wide emissionless displaced-drones, which looked uncannily like rocks, it had been watching with.

OOCness: Actually, and just for the record, Miehm, it’s quite possible to disguise one’s mass. Almost by definition, if you’ve got anti-gravity, you’ve got the means to nullify the effects of your mass on your environment – that’s what gravity is, the mutual attraction of mass. Consequently, a mass-sensor does not inherently have the means to track a vessel with anti-gravitic drive systems. The exception here is the likes of Star Wars repulsors, which as their name suggests, push against something directly, rather than altering gravity themselves. While you are correct that holofields themselves do not do this, gravitic sensors are not unknown in 40K, and gravitic propulsion is an Eldar forte.

Also, the eldar definition of torpedo is probably different from yours. ‘Normal’ (IE, sanely) sized missiles count as part of the weapons batteries in ‘battlefleet gothic;’ an Eldar torpedo is essentially a Chrysler-building sized (at minimum) drone ramship with its own (relatively lightweight) defences and packed with fusion (or often, more potent, as in these cases) warheads. Three of them per ship isn’t that unreasonable; three of them per planet isn’t that unreasonable.

And, eww, C’tan phase torpedoes, surely one of the most horrid and icky pieces of non-canon upgrades ever devised for the Eldar. Franky, I’d stick with vortex torpedoes, and retcon those; they’re a silly idea, and don’t meaningfully improve vortex torpedoes anyway. It was written by a fan in 1999, and there was no real understanding of the nature of the eldar-C’tan relationship (or even that the C’tan were anything but a mysterious, quiescent race that made phase blades) when that was created. If you’re acknowledging the idea that the C’tan are star-gods who fought the eldar gods in ages past, then you really shouldn’t be using their stuff – the eldar don’t do that kind of thing, even when their backs are up against the wall, they won’t even use their own combat robots, let alone the hated devices of the inimical alien star gods who would have slaughtered their race wholesale aforetime.

Lann watched as his fire took its toll, in combination with the Andermani fire. Another of the strange ships exploded, and he grinned. They were not going to last at this rate. Turbolaser and laser cannon fire shot through space, impacting with the enemy shields, to followed by the powerful proton torpedoes and concussion missiles. The Vindicator heavy cruiser followed up with more of the ship and that accounted for a heavy amount of fire. The TIE squadrons, in tandem with the point defense guns, took care of the missiles coming at their ships.

Soon enough, the enemy loosed a final salvo at the Andermani ships and then vanished. Or, so they thought. The computer beeped, signaling it had finished the decoding, and as it integrated this new frequency within the systems, the sensors flared and the remaining ships were seen, fleeing towards the asteroid belt. Lann decided to let them go, as he imagined that the Andermani could handle it. "Cease fire. We don't need to bother them any more; they have to worry about the Andermani now. Turn us about and get us in range of that rock of a ship. I want to aid our forces who have been engaging that thing." As the ships began to turn around and head for the space hulk, the computer beeped and transmitted the Andermani message.



"It is no problem. I would be an idiot to not help you. I have their sensor data, if you need it. I see them fleeing towards the asteroid belt. I will not be able to give you much until my reinforcements arrive. I wish you luck."

He turned to the comm officer. "Belay the attack order for the Watcher and have them follow the Andermani. Then continue our present course towards our original target. Fire when in range."

The heavy cruiser Watcher, who had been starting to turn, instead turned back and began to head for the Andermani position. This was all the Captain could spare for the moment.

Captain Lann. You are assaulting the large vessel? You will require all of your ships. I will take United Abominations and Astronomy against the fleeing larger vessel. My Destroyers will hold back and effect repairs. It will take several hours for them to return to full operational capacity, a hit took out the head of our damage control party aboard Sword of the Architect, and repairs will be slower than normal. If the ship is not destroyed when my reinforcements arrive I will split the Battlecruiser to aid us, and order the Heavy Cruisers to assist you. Khane out.

The enigmatic commander of the Setian ships had finally identified, General Khane, commander of the Auburn Hills sector and one of the more dangerous beings in the Anderman military. His ships surged from what was for them a bare crawl, at 600 gravities, to their maximum(at least, the battleship's maximum) of 1,500 gravities of acceleration in no time, ramping up to c-fractional velocities in seconds, and bearing down on the Spear of Khaine like a pair of vengeful colossi.

Unknown Vessel. This is General Fordesos Khane of the Imperial Anderman Navy. You have attacked our vessels for no reason. Your arrogance and continued hostility leaves me no option but to destroy you, and, if your like are encountered in the future, they will be shot on sight as enemies of the Empire. Your arrogance, especially in the face of such overwhelmingly superior firepower, is disgusting. Your vessel may be cloaked to our regular sensors, but we can still see you. You will not escape again. May the Architect have pity on your wretched souls.

The beings would be genuinely perplexed by the conflagration of violence all round them – if they had emotions, that is. As it is, they had work to do.

The Allanean captain's body was damaged beyond the use of the experiments they had in mind. As such, one of the hand-bladed being raised the famous Captain McCoy in the air, removing his skin in a simple, flowing motion. Then, in a second motion, it put on the skin as a cloak, his face as a peculiar, folded, bleeding mask on the emotionless living metal 'face' of the alien. The other dead Allanean met with a similar fate.

The other four beings – the humans and the pengin-like sailor – are so far unharmed. But they are, on the other hand, teleported aboard the strange cruiser, and then, the West Virginia detaches, the mutilated bodies of the Allanean officers still in its airlock.

The alien ships drift in space for 1.472 seconds more, and then disappear without any flash, sound, or other special effects.



We'll be back...

Osharin did not reply to the Monkeigh as they raced towards his ship, only two opponents to the Spear of Khaine? They insulted him by sending so few against him. Watching the sensor map he saw the exact instant the Necron ships dissappeared, they had phased out of this plane of reality, moving into another and travelling through it, it was one of the few things the Eldar had no knowledge of and they could not follow. With the Necrons gone there was no further threat to the Craftworld and Osharin could return home.

Smiling broadly at the ships racing towards him, he dropped the Daetrin Cloak, engaged the warp drive, and like that the Eldar were gone completely, even those ground troops on the planet returned via the webway as they sensed the Necrons leaving.

One of the most powerful and enigmatic races ever to have graced the galaxy had gone without a trace, yet they still maintain their vigilance and keep eternal watch over their Craftworlds, for without them they will fade to dust and as long as one Eldar remains alive that will not happen. The stars themselves once lived and died at their command and yet there are those who still dare to oppose their will. They will soon learn from their mistakes.

The Arianra found itself amazed at the stupidity of it all. Still, these… renegades had got their fun, for now at least. It supposed it was time to take a hand. The long cruiser powered up its main hyperspeed drive, and flitted across six light years to deposit itself a few light seconds away from the other necron vessels. The similarity was obvious, it was most like the ‘heavy cruiser’ design of the other fleet, though it was larger, and where the other one mounted its (reserve) engines at the aft of a single ‘stem’ this ship had two of these, and a rear section. The markings – almost impossible to translate without an extensive frame of reference – in high necrontyr were also the same, as was its general analysis-defeating composition.

Are you done shooting at each other? it broadcast - along with the standard IFF and general-service-identification packages; that was an utterly pointless waste of life, wasn't it?

At the same time, it set about its main (for now) ulterior agenda, which was to attempt to locate and if so, bring aboard (by gravitic field or teleporter) any life-pods launched by the eldar ships in the recent conflagration. The Arianra was most interested in learning of new Eldar, but not-spooking them was a difficult task. As an afterthought, it retrieved the foot-wide emissionless displaced-drones, which looked uncannily like rocks, it had been watching with.

OOCness: Actually, and just for the record, Miehm, it’s quite possible to disguise one’s mass. Almost by definition, if you’ve got anti-gravity, you’ve got the means to nullify the effects of your mass on your environment – that’s what gravity is, the mutual attraction of mass. Consequently, a mass-sensor does not inherently have the means to track a vessel with anti-gravitic drive systems. The exception here is the likes of Star Wars repulsors, which as their name suggests, push against something directly, rather than altering gravity themselves. While you are correct that holofields themselves do not do this, gravitic sensors are not unknown in 40K, and gravitic propulsion is an Eldar forte.

Also, the eldar definition of torpedo is probably different from yours. ‘Normal’ (IE, sanely) sized missiles count as part of the weapons batteries in ‘battlefleet gothic;’ an Eldar torpedo is essentially a Chrysler-building sized (at minimum) drone ramship with its own (relatively lightweight) defences and packed with fusion (or often, more potent, as in these cases) warheads. Three of them per ship isn’t that unreasonable; three of them per planet isn’t that unreasonable.

And, eww, C’tan phase torpedoes, surely one of the most horrid and icky pieces of non-canon upgrades ever devised for the Eldar. Franky, I’d stick with vortex torpedoes, and retcon those; they’re a silly idea, and don’t meaningfully improve vortex torpedoes anyway. It was written by a fan in 1999, and there was no real understanding of the nature of the eldar-C’tan relationship (or even that the C’tan were anything but a mysterious, quiescent race that made phase blades) when that was created. If you’re acknowledging the idea that the C’tan are star-gods who fought the eldar gods in ages past, then you really shouldn’t be using their stuff – the eldar don’t do that kind of thing, even when their backs are up against the wall, they won’t even use their own combat robots, let alone the hated devices of the inimical alien star gods who would have slaughtered their race wholesale aforetime.

OOC: I thought BFG Torps were more along the lines of DD/CVE/similarly sized surface ships? Though a Chrysler building sized torpedo would still seem a fairly easy target, with "point defense" changed to secondary weapons batteries. I mean, yeah it's not BFG sized, but accuracy is better, and it's a 13 km long Battleship. It's loaded with guns. And I think more of my PD shots(designed for sane weapons) would hit than would normally do so. Either way I think three isn't enough, just because salvo density should have something to do with my chance of killing them.

I'd think a gravitic drive(which is kinda what I was banking on) would make it easier to spot on grav sensors, not harder. The cloak is hiding its emissions, but while it's burning outsystem, I should have a very good idea of where he's going as long as he's moving. Gravity drive should be a big honking gravity signature. I can be corrected if that's not quite right.

IC:

As you are no doubt aware, they attacked us. The Empire does not leave things half done if it can be helped, so what they have started we will end very shortly.

The two ships tore through the system after the Spear of Khaine, weapons charging and shields returning to their full capacity.

<General, the unknown ships have abandoned the system. Our forces onboard give us the coordinates to follow them, but we will have to delay punishing the agressor ships.>

<Order the Destroyers to continue in support of the Imperials, we will pursue the missing ships, and the reinforcements will engage the cowardly vessel that engaged us before. Inform Captain Lann>

A pair of radiation pulses and three messages later and the heaviest Setian ships in the system have disappeared, leaving nothing but their escorts to continue the fight for a time.

OOC: I thought BFG Torps were more along the lines of DD/CVE/similarly sized surface ships? Though a Chrysler building sized torpedo would still seem a fairly easy target, with "point defense" changed to secondary weapons batteries. I mean, yeah it's not BFG sized, but accuracy is better, and it's a 13 km long Battleship. It's loaded with guns. And I think more of my PD shots(designed for sane weapons) would hit than would normally do so. Either way I think three isn't enough, just because salvo density should have something to do with my chance of killing them.Like I said, with its own defences. For a start, the Eldar have the technology to literally make these do a 180 degree turn on a dime. Literally. That's not counting whatever its own armour (which likely doubles as penetrator, after all) and sensor-defeating (holofields, which yes, while they're not a wonderful idea, are basically the main line of defence anyway) contributes.I'd think a gravitic drive(which is kinda what I was banking on) would make it easier to spot on grav sensors, not harder. The cloak is hiding its emissions, but while it's burning outsystem, I should have a very good idea of where he's going as long as he's moving. Gravity drive should be a big honking gravity signature. I can be corrected if that's not quite right.This depends how it works. If it nullifies gravity in some way, then it should be impossible to see on sensors anyway (gravity is after all, a WEAK force) if they're pulling themselves along by making a black hole in front of the ship, that would increase its 'visibility' but that seems unlikely.

More to the point, this is basically the eldar's main defence. From a metagame perspective, saying you can see through it is basically damage calling; just like his saying he could shoot straight through your shields (assuming you have such things) with abandon would be (much as I like the concept of shield-skippers, people don't generally declare them to be instantly effective.

Also, I think the necron player would rather like to be given a chance to say whether or not your boarding teams can successfully get communications off when he is kidnapping them.

Also *prods the Eldar player* have you left any escape pods of any description behind? You've lost ships, after all, and not instantly.