NationStates Jolt Archive

The Danaversian Empire had never been tolerant of opposition and change. They had never been particularly happy with those who stood against them and they hated it when the universe changed around them. The idea that the universe could change without the participation of the Amphibious Empire signified that they were not yet the key to the universe. They may have held a large empire and almost unlimited resources and soldiers, they were not yet the pivot around which the peoples and planets of the galaxies worked and died. The Danaversians were not considered to be a clever people most of the time. Their wit and humour was considered by many to be coarse and primitive, not to be compared to those of superior species. However, the Danaversians were knowledgeable in some areas and now, these Danaversian scientists believed that they had found the reason that the progress of their own empire and its expansion had stalled.

The reasons that the expansion had stopped were just two small and rather small nations in comparison to the mighty Danaversian Empire. They were the United Pridelands of the Alumina, a tall and arrogant race of cat-like people. No one knew much of them, not even the Danaversians. All they knew was that they had stubbornly held the Danaversians at bay for centuries, sometimes sacrificing whole generations for their freedom. The Alumina’s strength was not in quantity, but quality. Danaversian ships were not of bad design, they were sturdy, well armed and armoured but they were no match for the Alumina’s advanced vessels, nor where they a match for the vessels of their allies. The Alversian People’s Republic had long held the Danaversians at bay along the Alumina border, fighting the mighty Empire to a humiliating standstill more than once. The Danaversian Empire saw these as it’s key threats but it had been frozen on that theatre of its Empire but a war in a far flung corner of the galaxy. For more than a decade, mere cadets and retiring vessels held the line of the Alversian/Alumina DMZ while the mighty shoals of the Salvelinus, the Danaversian Emperor, fought their new and unknown enemies. It was well over a decade before that war ended, and the wet, amphibious eyes of the Danaversians could turn again to her border with her greatest enemy. The real Danaversian Shoals were returning from that war, full of confidence and triumph of their victory. They were more than ready to defeat the fleets of the monkeys and the cats.

But the Danaversians were not dim. They had studied the Alversians for some time, using a combination of tortured prisoners and captured mercenaries, they soon realised that a new threat had emerged, or more specifically, new threats. It seemed that their enemy had been busy on the diplomatic front and now had many friends that would come to her aid if she were in war. The most prominent of these for the Danaversians were the Xiscapians, a fox-like group of monkeys that the Danaversians knew would throw their lot in with the Alversians as soon as a shot was fired. They would then drag in other races, the Calaverian Systems and a race known as the Setulans. Little was known of these others races but it was known that they would have to be added to the Danaversian Empire to remove their threat to the Empire’s expansion. The Xiscapians would be the biggest and most immediate threat. They would have to be struck.

Now, there was also a new enemy. This enemy had committed no crimes against the Danaversian Empire yet she was rife with the internal strife that the Danaversian Empire loved. They loved it because races torn from within were easier to conquer and to destroy. Some elements of the Danaversian Empire had tried this tactic with the Alversian Republic yet had found the majority of the people too unwilling to betray their homeland. It was a loyalty the Danaversians could respect yet still resent. Their new potential conquest was the Greali Empire. The amphibious Aliens had watched as the Alversians and Xiscapians had fought a short yet victorious war against these aliens and knew that they could throw enough ships at the Empire to destroy it entirely. Yet this would not be an easy task. The conquest of the Danaversian Empire would have to be swift, there was a need to strike before each race could rally it’s strength behind each other and create a truly unified force. There were some Alliances which were inevitable and the Danaversians planned for this, they were hoping that old war wounds would stop them from aiding the Greali Empire or the Calaverian Alliance. That was the hope.

So the Salvelinus gave the nod and the Shoals of the Danaversian Empire departed from the water covered world of Danaversia and headed towards the borders of each nation. An armada unlike any in Danaversian History, each armada would swarm to each nation and cause war on their borders. The Alversians had often spoken of the Danaversian wars, they had explained how the Danaversians had conquered quickly, using the element of surprise then hung on stubbornly and letting the enemy waste themselves against Danaversian defences.

Now, a thirteenth Danaversian War was about to commence, the greatest Danaversian of them all.

APS Nero
Alversian DMZ

Lieutenant Michael Mullen was bored. Very bored. His was a simple job, not that of a Lieutenant in the Alversian People’s Navy but something that would be better suited to someone who had not attended all those years at the Naval Training centres across Alversia as well as to the Naval Academy, where Officers came from all over Alversia’s Fleets to learn how the ways of being a leader, where exams were taken, personal experience was employed to it’s best effect and the next list of Admirals and Officers were made. Mullen had been there twice already. Once to take his basic Ensign’s training and then just recently to take his Lieutenancy test. Both he had passed with flying colours. It was only his lack of experience that had stopped him being launched into one of Alversia’s warships, either those patrolling the DMZ or probing into the depths of space to find who shares this great space with the Alversian republic.

Instead he had been posted to the Nero, one of the fortress stations that manned the Alversian border with the Danaversian Empire. It was a series of gun platforms, each station having the firepower of a fleet, designed to repel a Danaversian attack before it could penetrate into the soft underbelly of Alversian space. The platform was home to just a hundred men. Five of them were there to man the positions, then the rest of the crew were either Marines or Pilots to protect the station from an attack. The station was alone in space. Mullen’s job was to sit at the scanner and watch as vessels crawled along the border on both sides. At the moment, there was nothing on his scopes, the same as always. Every now and then, an Alversian or Aluminan ship may creep across the edge of his scope and then vanish. That was it. Nothing else. His life was a boring life. Until he could take his next exam and then head further up the ladder.

There was nothing to do. He sat with his back to the scanner and read his holo book, one of his favourites that had he had brought with him when he had been transferred. It was the most peaceful and easiest job he could have hoped for.

Then he saw something on the sensors. At first he dismissed the beep as nothing, not even turning around, assuming that it was nothing more than the normal vessels moving to and from the station. Then he heard another beep and frowned. Two vessels, still no big deal. Then there were four contacts. Then eight. Then twenty. Mullen swung around to look at the scanner and found it crowded out by contacts. There were too many to count, too many to get a look at. All he knew was that they were coming from the Danaversian side of the DMZ. Even now, he could see whole sections of ships vanishing as they hit the cloaked minefields and DP charges left to deter such an attack. The swarm seemed unaffected.

Mullen’s blood ran cold. He could see that the attack was happening along the whole line and that only a fraction would reach his station. Even so, it was the biggest fleet he had ever seen.

Without thinking, sweat running down his forehead, he hit the red button by his panel and activated the vast array of defences that the station possessed. The Nero would be ready for war. Would any others be ready too?

Outer Wuin System,
Xiscapian Space

There was nothing in space initially. The stars and planets remained undisturbed in their quiet and seemingly peaceful part of the galaxy. Wuin was an important system for one very good reason. It was the closest part of the Kitsune Empire to Alversia and thus was the link between the two Allies. Thus, the sector was crammed with military vessels passing between the two nations, while traders passed as much merchandise as possible into the gap, targeting both profits and customers that were not available on their homeworlds. The system was undisturbed and quiet, allowed to go about it’s business as a reward for not interfering in the affairs of others.
However, that was all about to change.

To anyone looking, the contacts on the sensors could have been mistaken for a new merchant fleet incoming. Certainly, the vessels were no bigger than an Alversian Merchant Ship and it looked as though this was also no different. It was just another merchant bringing his supplies to the Kitsune Empire in a search for profits. This was no Merchant fleet.

The first vessels to drop from warp were large, but not overly so. They were long and slender in design, their scaly armour giving the appearance of fish skin and seemed to be covered in a green hue. The front of the ship was dominated by two large fins that stretched down beneath the hull while the ship’s stern tapered to a point, like a tail. Anyone who may have been curious as to this ship’s purpose would soon see their curiosity fulfilled. There was no mistaking the purpose of the long lines of gun turrets down each side of the ship.

There were up to a dozen of these vessels, with more of varying sizes coming from behind. They had hit the key sector of Cholk, nearly two dozen warships of the Danaversian Empire. They were here to wage war on the Kitsune Empire and Wuin would be the first to see that war close up.

Hurtrix,
Greali Empire

Simultaneously, as all other sectors were hit by a flood of Danaversian Warships, so too was the Greali Empire. However, the Greali were unlucky, they had been chosen to bear the brunt of the initial Danaversian attack, where her initial strike would take place. All other attacks were feints, to draw Allied forces away from the Greali Empire while she was hit by the Danaversian fist, and it was a fist indeed. For, attacking the industrial world of Greal, home to her largest ship building centres and so a key part of her war machine, were no less than fourteen Shoals. A Danaversian shoal was no less than a fleet and it was fourteen powerful fleets that had attacked the Greali. Combined, they totalled a hundred and fifty-four ships and were carrying the weapons to war that one needed. They were not only to destroy any Greali forced in the area but to take the planet and so use it as their base for launching more attacks into the Greali Empire. Without a response, an Empire racked by war was doomed.

Throughout the battles, one thing became clear. The Danaversian numbers showed this was no ordinary battle, but a war to the finish,

First Battle of Wuin
8 x Barracuda-Class Battleships
6 x Barramundi-Class Battlecruisers
2 x Razoe-Class Cruisers
8 x Scuppi-Class Destroyers

Battle of Hurtrix
First Wave
15 x Barracuda-Class Battleships
12 x Barramundi-Class Battlecruisers
5 x Razoe-Class Cruisers
19 x Scuppi-Class Destroyers

OOC: Basically, this is the start of the Danaversian War. All of this will be tightly regulated so as to be as enjoyable as possible to all. Anyone who has not been TGed about entering this thread cannot enter without TGing me first for permission.

Hutrix System

With the outer planets falling in enemy hands, the Greal fleets had only two systems left to guard. Fifteen different naval fleets were to guard two systems. Hurtrix was more formidably guarded. Ten thousand light defensive platforms plus two thousand heavy defensive platforms roamed the areas. Not to mention, massive minefields surrounding the planet. Anyone attempting to attack the planet would have to go through the mine field. Then, they would encounter the Greali navy. Seven different fleets were at Hurtrix. The Second, the Fourth, The Seventh, the Eighth, the Second Assault Fleet, The Fourth Assault Fleet, First Foreign Fleet. The Fourth Assault Fleet was still being repaired, while the fourth fleet was trying to replace its losses.

Bridge of the Klackon

Captain Bolvan was at the bridge, as usual. Now with the Vista in the system, the Klackon was no longer alone. He received a visits from Admiral Herlin. Herlin was not affected by the inquiry into the Navy's best commanders. Now the next commander of the Vista was Admiral Tarinia. Much of the navy expressed their anger over a human female being appointed commander of a massive superfortress. Bolvan had other concerns, like now.

"Captain, we're picking up enemy contacts!"

"Alert the other ships. Set Alert One throughout the system."

"They're not Alversian or Xiscapian, sir."

"What? Are they Calaverian?"

"No, there are too many of them."

"What are they doing now?"

"Advancing on Hurtrix."

"Prepare the defenses."

The naval fleets went into their battle formations. The Klackon and Vista would provide fire on the enemy while the Second Assault Fleet fired into the flanks, though it was to stay together. Ground based Mauler batteries were ready to fire. The Vista still showed scars of the Nova Max battle, but at least it was repaired. Thousands of defensive platforms were directed to provide AA fire for the Greali fleet, and direct attacks on the enemy fleet. All the ships, then aimed their weapons at the approaching enemy fleet, struggling through the mine fields.

You are in a restricted sector of the Greali Galactic Empire. Message is simple, identify yourselves and back off or we will fire.

Wuin System, Slint, Governor's Mansion...
Governor Drell (http://photobucket.com/mediadetail/?media=http%3A%2F%2Fi202.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faa149%2FMoonLitNightSky%2FTaki.jpg&searchTerm=taki&pageOffset=13) sat cross-legged on the floor in her office, a soft mat beneath her, head bowed. Mere months ago the system had been attacked by aliens known as the Zillars, and some time after that a Greali plan to attack a space port with a suicide bomber disguised as a cargo ship was foiled. Because of both of these events, security had tightened everywhere, and Drell was glad for it. The Wuin System was the bridge between the Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia and the Democratic Republic of Alversia, major immigration checkpoint, trading center and home to over a billion people. It could not be lost to anyone, and though Drell did not possess the military experience of Governor Dovenhawk nor the fiery passion of Governor Vist, she was intelligent, level-headed and an excellent diplomat, useful talents, should they be employed for soothing squabbling traders, stuffy ambassadors or hostile aliens.
The third use, however, seemed unlikely.

"Governor," Drell had not even heard the servant come in, and she opened her eyes in time to see the white and silver robed female kitsune bow low, "Rear Admiral Yall has instructed me to inform you that one of our Early Warning outposts had detected a Danaversian Task Force incoming from the rim of the system. He says the defenses are coming up now, but wishes to know whether he should give them a warning or open fire immediately."
Drell was not a rash or impulsive person, and though she was acutely aware that no Danaversian had ever been seen inside Imperial borders and that a military task force could only mean trouble, she believed in giving people a chance.

"Send them an inquiry, but if they do not respond or react in a hostile manner Rear Admiral Yall is authorized to use any force necessary to protect the system." Drell stood and strode over to her desk as the servant bowed again and left, the Governor pressing a green button on her desk next to an intercom. "Communications? Yes. Send a message to the Palace informing them we have a probably hostile Danaversian Fleet in the system, that we will be dealing with them accordingly, and that we will be keeping them updated."
Drell turned and looked out the window, dark orange staring into an orange, twilight-colored void. Her mansion was situated on a platform in the air above the city of Drakko, and thoughout the many wars of Xiscapia, the Wuin System had been untouched, unmarred by the scars of war.
She intended to keep it that way, and any Danaversian thinking otherwise would have to go though her first, assuming they even got past the defenses.

Wuin System, Space...
As mentioned, security had been updated, so the Wuin System Fleet now consisted of the Battleship Qonn, the Cruisers Contact and Plauge, the Destroyer Theory, the Carrier Strong and the Medical Ship Enlightenment. At the moment the flagship, Qonn, was at the head of the pack, flanked by the Contact and Plauge with the Strong immediately behind and the Theory below. Rear Admiral Yall, a tall, thin Xiscapian with watery yellow eyes, tawny fur and dirty blond hair watched the enhanced camera image projected by his console, showing the two dozen Danaversian vessels that were coming towards them. Yall knew absolutely nothing about the Danaversians aside from the vague facts that they were amphibious and long-time enemies of the Alversians, but what the enemy was wasn't important to him. What did matter was how they conducted war, fleet combat to be precise, because that was all he ever participated in when xenos were involved. He left the bargaining, the Treaties, the cease-fires and the talks to the diplomats, governors and others of that ilk: They spoke to the enemy, he killed them. It was a system the Rear Admiral liked, and it worked.

"Ship readings?" he inquired to the quiet bridge. It hadn't been difficult to ascertain the exact nature and identity of the ships, once they could be seen clearly: They had a nearly inexhaustible supply of information from the Alversians on Danaversian ships. After a moment, an answer came back from the Scanning Officer. "It's hard to tell, Rear Admiral, but to the best of my readings combined with the database info it would appear that eight of them are Battleships, another eight of them are Cruisers of some kind, and a third eight of them seem to be Destroyers."

"Hmm." Yall looked at the Danaversian craft again. He was outnumbered by four to one, never mind the fact that the Medical Ship wasn't even a combat vessel and almost certainly outgunned, but these were odds faced by almost every Xiscapian officer since times immemorial. When the enemy outnumbers and outguns you, it was taught, you need to make sure you outsmart and outclass him. Yall didn't know how intelligent the Danaversians were, or how durable, fast or well armed their ships were, but he had confidence in his own abilities, and that would have to be enough.
Of course, like any good kitsune, he had a few tricks up his sleeve.
"Eight," he said softly, "happens to be my lucky number. Send them a message."

Attention Danaversian Fleet, you have entered the territory of the Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia. Please stand down by powering down your weapons and ceasing all spatial movement to show your good intentions. Failure to comply and/or evidence of hostile actions will result in your destruction.

Huntrex System

The Danaversians had seen the fortifications. They had seen the preparations of the Greali Empire and they had seen what they would be facing. Danaversians were not smart. Not by a long way, but they were not stupid either. They knew what their enemies could do far better than their Enemies knew what they would do. They were lucky, none of the Allies, save for the Alversians, had ever engaged the Danaversians in a proper fleet battle. They did not know their tactics and they did not know their methods or thought patterns. If they had known, the first thing they would have known was that unless the Danaversians made first contact, they were not interested in words. They were meaningless to them. A Warrior's job was to fight, not to talk. That was a job for Diplomats and Ambassador's. People who could not kill but could talk. Such people were considered lesser amidst the Danaversian Empire. The Empire was more concerned about what it was about to do now.

Immediately, the first thing to hit the Greali were the missiles. Dozens upon dozens upon dozens of them. Fired like machine gun tracer from the hulls of the Danaversian warships. These were no ordinary missiles, for some where designed as conventional warheads, some where designed to pierce deep into a ship's hull before exploding and some where designed to explode on the surface of the shield, draining it of power in preparation for the next strike. All were used on the Greali Fleets. It was a massive defensive armade no doubt, but the higher the numbers, the happier the Danaversians were.

These missiles were followed by the pale green phasers, four from a ship, that struck shields hard and made them scream and flash violently in protest. The Danaversians were going all out for a show of strength and that was also shown by the clouds of fighters that seemed to surround their capital ships like a mist. These now buzzed in on the Greali, ignoring any threats or defences, their sole purpose to hit the warships of the various fleets with DP missiles as well as normal weapons.

Wuin System

As it was at Huntrix, so it was at Wuin. The Danaversians were not interested in talking unless they were the ones that started it. The method was the same. A long tracer of missiles tore from the hulls of the warships, more from the hulls of the smaller vessels, while the green phaser fire tore into the shields of the Xiscapian warships. As if that were not enough, they were joined by another swarm of fighters. The Danaversians knew of point defences and they had designed their fighters to survive a basic sweep from the weapon. It would take twice as long to destroy a Danaversian fighter or missile with PD weapons. True, that may still only be a few moments but it would be enough to fool a targeting system which would move on to a new target, allowing the battered but operating fighter through.

Now these fighters were streaming forward. They were not interested in the battleships. For these were to be ground down by the Battleships of their own Shoal. These Fighters were aiming for the carrier and medical ship behind the lines as well as any merchant vessels in orbit of the planet, Slint, and key installations on the surface itself. They were coming to teach Wuin a lesson on war.

Near Danaversian Empire

The Observer Relentless carried her heavy self in space, he massive sub-light engines keeping her forward. Due to advancements in technology the engines were much smaller now, compared to before, allowing much more room. The Observers now carried compliments of Tomahawk Assault Dropships and TNDS nuclear artillery system. Along with the armies of GOU aboard and probe fighters, she was at the moment, the most lethal Observer in the Calaverian fleet. The others were being upgraded at Celestis, the one interesting thing about thing Observer is that it had no overseer aboard, for this Observer was constructed without the Kitsunes knowing, she had never been brought into space until now. Her intentions were good, to serve Celestis and Calaverian interests without the problem of answering to the Xiscapians. The World Leader wanted increased explorative missions now, seeing as the Greal war took up the use of the other fleets. Captain KW-735 looked into the darkness of space, the souls of thousands walked aboard the massive white vessel. She was a pearl in space.

Hurtrix System

The missiles almost did no harm. The enemy missiles met a massive barrage of AS guns, which mowed down most of them. The few surviving missiles slammed into the shields, which always could be recharged if crucially low. One of the missiles slammed into a mine ship, causing heavy damage. Next, the phasers also hit, causing more problems for the already heavily damaged mine ship. The Danaversians and Greali had never fought each other before. Both would be cautious. The mines kept on coming like missiles, since mines were attracted to ships that were not Greali.

The enemy fighters would first be encountered by thousands of defensive platforms. The defensive platforms merely aimed and their target and fired, supported by three hundred thousand AS guns that would tear apart the enemy numbers. If not, the enemy fighters would have to fight the thousands of Greali fighters, flowing out of the superfortresses and carriers, firing their anti-matter missiles at the approaching enemy fighters. If this wasn't enough, the Greal ships was prepared to fire all their AA guns. While the enemy missiles and phasers were being fired, the Vista aimed its twenty Superlasers at one of the enemy battleships and fired. It was merely to see what the effect would be on the enemy fleet. Twenty Mauler weapons were to concentrate their fire on the enemy battlecruisers. Then, a massive volley of thousands of Disk missiles were fired. Disk missiles were designed to penetrate shields and lay ravage to anything in its path. Following the Disk missiles were anti-matter and Hellfire missiles.

Wuin System...
"Missiles launching from the Danaversian fleet, there's a wing of fighters following them."
"Activate the Point-Defenses, launch our fighters," said Rear Admiral Yall, "and prepare to return fire with our Krystals."
As the missiles came they would be met by railgun turrets and AS gun batteries, firing both shells and lasers at the explosive devices. The PDs might have been computer-controlled, but they were not wired with the program the Danaversians had anticipated: They concentrated fire on an object until it was registered as destroyed, not until the computer thought the target would be destroyed. Xiscapia's enemies were too varied to be pinned by any exact shield strength or engine speed so neatly. Intercepting missiles, fired without warheads and relying on mass and kinetics to help them, aimed for both enemy missiles and the fighters. Finally, one AS turret fired a single shot at an approaching fighter, which struck, but the laser abruptly rebounded to a missile, destroying it, and jumped to the next fighter, doing the same without any discernable pattern. Such was known as 'Diamond Fire', a laser which leapt from one target to the next by being reflected off even the slightest of armor, but which was followed by a much heavier laser which bulled though any object in its way to pursue the first laser.

As the PDs fired on the missiles before turning to destroy the fighters, the hangers of the XIW Strong opened and one hundred Shuriken class fighters screamed out, hovering protectively around their mothership, ready to defend her from marauding Danaversian fightercraft. Ten slower but much stronger and more powerful corvettes would follow in time, to set up a defensive ring around the Enlightenment, but they were not out yet and all the Medical Ship had to protect itself with was its missile PDs. The phaser fire smashed against the shields of the Qonn, Contact, Plauge and Theory, lowering them by eight, ten, ten and sixteen percent respectively. But now on these four warships missile launchers swiveled and fired, sending out a vanguard of several hundred anti-matter missiles to the Danaversian fleet. But these were meant only as a distraction and buffer: Behind them came more missiles, shining far brighter than normal ones, reflecting starlight, explosions and laser fire from their surfaces with brilliant flashes.

These were called Krystals, a new weapon for the Xiscapians named after the Grand Admiral herself on the basis that, though they looked pretty and not at all threatening, they had the capability to utterly destroy an enemy. They were made of crystal, Guilda crystal to be exact, with only a nuclear or anti-matter warhead inside and a small engine at the back. What made them special was the crystal part: The nature of Guilda crystals was that of energy collectors and releasers, useful for power in place of bulky electrical generators or dangerous nuclear reactors. Since they absorb energy, they effectively absorbed and held all energy weapons fired at them, including point-defenses, and would simply release all that energy plus the detonation of the warhead on contact with enemy shields or armor. Thus attempting to shoot them down with energy weapons, even PDs, only made them more dangerous.

This was followed, finally, by a volley of MAC shells at the Danaversians, intending to finish them off after the missiles struck, ripping apart armor and creating massive holes in the hulls.

The Greali lasers hit the Danaversian shields and made them glow an angry green, the vessel disappearing behind the screen of green. When it had rescinded, the vessel remained in position, seemingly unharmed by the attack, it was still firing it's phasers, weapons designed to penetrate shields and bore into an enemy hull. The disk weapons fired at the Battlecruisers had more effect. Like the bigger warships, the Battlecruiser shields were deflected with ease before a series of the missiles seemed to just hit the hulls of two Battlecruisers. The Danaversian warships spat flame from several angles and, one by one, they exploded, scattering debris into the rest of the fleet. However, the Danaversian fleet was getting closer to their Greali counterpart, at a range where the Danaversian hyper-lasers would be most effective, able to pierce anything from the point-blank range slowly being created.

The Danaversian fighters were hit hard by the missiles and AA Fire, yet many of them continued to come forward. Missiles and the laser fire tore fighters away at various intervals but the swarm kept coming. They clashed with their Greali counterparts and soon both sides were tearing into each other. The battle for Huntrex was in the balace, as more Danaversian forces were approaching.

Wuin System

Two Danaversian warships were hit by the Krystal missiles, rocking them with explosions before leaving the two burning hulks of the ships in space. The rest of the missiles though, as with most of the Xiscapian missiles, missed entirely. The Danaversians were above the fleet now and, unlike the Greali battle, the Danaversians were already in position to launch their fearsome turret bombardments. The hyper-lasers were fired with such pace and strength that it rocked the Danaversian warships that had fired them.

The Suiken fighters were engaged immediately by the Danaversian Conger Fighters. Those who had survived the PD defences now bore in like a swarm of locusts on the outnumbered Xiscapian fighters. Not only that but the Danaversians were willing to even ram the Xiscapian vessels, for the shields of a warship only prevented weapons from hitting a ship, not physical objects. They were joined by a whole Danaversian warship that nimbly darted into position to ram the Plague. The movement came as soon as the broadisde had been fired, not giving the kitsune time to react.

Hurtrix System

Herlin cursed silently. Twenty Super Lasers wasted. Now he only had Maulers, which were the only weapons that had any effect. The Klackon and Vista aimed its Mauler Superweapons now at another battleship, and it fired. With the enemy fleet coming, it was within range of every weapon. Thousands of defensive platforms on the flank of the Greali fleet opened fire on the enemy fleet. The seven fleets all fired their combined weapons at the approaching enemy fleet. Greal fighters kept on fighting with their counterparts. These were Mark II Vipers that were highly advanced and heavily armored.

Ground based weaponry were preparing to fire. There were more weapons on Hurtrix then in the whole Greali navy combined.

Wuin System...
Rear Admiral Yall watched as his missiles turned two of the enemy into huge flaming balls of superheated gas, leaving behind only burning debris and a skeletal superstructure. Still, they did not have the desired effect: If they were going to win this battle, he'd have to step it up. The Danaversian lasers continued to smash against their shields, bringing them down further, though none were near critical levels, yet. The only saving grace was that the shields were slowly adapting to the fire, so every time they were hit by a phaser blast they were drained just a little bit less. It wasn't noticeable in short battles, and an array of enemy weapons could overcome this ability, but the Danaversians were perfectly hamstringing themselves by using the same weapon over and over again.

The fighters clashed as point-defenses blazed away around them, explosions occurring almost constantly as missiles or fighters were blown away. It was true that the Xiscapians were outnumbered, but they almost always were, and they had learned and thing or two from their Alversian pilot comrades and their XX-40s. Shuriken fighters flew elaborately to draw the Congers into traps, tricking them into flying above murderous AA fire or setting them up by appearing to run, only to have a comrade come in on their six and blast they apart when the enemy pursued. The Danaversian kamikazes proved not much of a threat: The PDs treated them simply as larger missiles, using solid weapons against them, such as coilgun shells to rip the fighters apart or divert their flight paths, rather than using lasers or similar weapons to try and make them explode. Again, the Danaversians made a fatal mistake: The shields simply formed a force field that would destroy a fighter if it attempted to break though them. If their assumption had been correct, then railgun rounds, missiles or MAC shells would have had little trouble passing though shields, which would make the Xiscapian vessels far more vulnerable in their minds than they actually were, in reality.

The Danaversian warship that had moved to ram the Plague was met by a point-blank barrage of missiles, nuclear, anti-matter and Krystals, as well as the full firepower of the cruiser, nearly a dozen heavy weapons of both solid and energy types as well as thirty Ion cannons. At that point there was little her Captain could do but fire into the ramming vessel and hope she would be thrown off-course or break up rather than her full bulk slamming into the Cruiser. As it did so the Theory, under the Xiscapian fleet and avoiding most of the fire, began to pound away at the exposed underbellies of the largest enemy ships, trying to overload or bypass the shields with her lasers, ion weapons, rounds and shells and damage, cripple or destroy the foe. The enemy was far too close: At this range, pure firepower would win the day. Seeing the Danaversian vessels, one would guess that particular advantage probably lay with them.
However, there was one thing they hadn't factored in when they had attacked.

"Rear Admiral," a Bridge Officer stood at her console, hands behind her back, looking up at her superior. "The rear of the enemy fleet has entered the killing box, all the platforms report they are operational and ready to fire upon your command. Shall I relay the order to fire?"
Rear Admiral Yall nodded solemnly. "They are to fire at once, and to continue firing until the enemy has retreated or been reduced to dust."
It was a favored tactic of the Xiscapians when defending a fortified system, and had worked brilliantly when the Zillars attacked, only months ago. The strategy was simple: Draw the enemy fully into the system, then allow the spatial platforms, which had remained silent and unpowered, to activate and attack the enemy from all sides, thus a 'Killing Box', which was what the tactic was known as.

All around them, behind, over, below, in front of and to both sides, with a significant concentration near Slint, weapons platforms came online, weapons swiveling and locking on to the enemy ships. The Danaversians were surrounded by three thousand of the things, each with the firepower equaling a cruiser. Their sensors would go wild as the discharge showed all around them, that of tens of thousands of weapons, laser, solid and ion, were being fired, hundreds of thousands of missiles besides. The only reason any Zillar had escaped the battle before was because they had run, made the jump to lightspeed as their fellow ships were smashed apart and burned. The Danaversians were lucky: Their ships were of significantly better quality than the Zillars, and the Xiscapians had not activated their FTLi field, which would have trapped the Danaversians until they had been destroyed to a ship.

OCC: Alversia send something at the Relentless for me plzz ^^

Huntrix System

The Greali fire was enough to destroy another warships, cutting the vessel in two clean pieces before it exploded into two balls of fire. The rest of the fleet pressed on, firing their own weapons of phasers, missiles and now, railguns, projectiles that were flung the full length of the warship and hit the enemy with a mind-boogling speed. The Danaversian fighters were still tearing into their opposite numbers both numbering well into the thousands and AA unable to fire in case of hitting one of their own kind. The Danaversians were not going to retreat from this battle and their combinations of phasers, missiles and railgun rounds were more and more concentrated as they focused on one ship at a time, planning to overwhelm it's shields with the firepower of a hundred ships.

Wuin System

The killing box had the desired effect, and four of the vessels were hit from behind and simply ceased working, flames licking their hulls and blackened holes appearing along her length. It looked as though the vessels were still operational but thei crews were already dead. The Danaversians though, continued to press forward rather than back, performing the same tactics as their brethern across the galaxy and firing all of the Shoal's weaponry at one ship at a time, hopeing to overwhlem it with a fleet's worth of railguns, phasers and missiles.

The Danaversian fighters, for their part, were still engaged with their Opposite numbers. They did not have the advantage in skill or quantity but had more than enough ships to make up for it. After all, how could a lone Shruiken drop onto the tail of a Danaversian without four more coming in behind him. The fighters swirled and dodged between the two fleets as they got closer and closer.

The ramming vessel was racked with the explosions and her bow seemed to have disintergrated. However, her engines were still running and now she was edging closer and closer to the Plague. She passed through the shields with ease, them not being designed to withhold such bulk coming at the vessel. The two hit with a sickening thud. The Danaversian vessels had been shaped specificially for ramming in mind, so rather than a flat edge, their bows were flat, sharp and strong, not unlike an axehead. It would not just impact on the surface but would bury down deep into the Xiscapian ship before the real damage would be done. Alversian ships had even been cut in half by Danaversian rammers not unlike this one.

Relentless Position

The Relentless was joined by two vessels. Not just ordinary ships but two Danaversian warships. They began to circle the Calaveran ship in the same way that a shark surrounded it's prey, intimidating it. They did not fire. Yet. They were waiting for something.

Wuin System...
The Battleship Qonn did not shudder or shake under the Danaversian fire, but her shields dropped to fifty percent, at first rapidly before slowing significantly, draining less power as they adapted. "Return fire at once, we only need to hold them at bay while the platforms do their job," said Rear Admiral Yall to his Bridge Crew. The Qonn fired off her MAC, coilgun, laser and ion weapons into the closest enemy Battleship, lighting up space with reds, greens, blue and whites. Each Xiscapian warship was a center of violent bright red laser fire, AS guns shooting at the enemy fighters, firing thousands of beams a minute as the fighter battle heated up, having already claimed the lives of thirty-three kitsune pilots. By this time the corvettes were fully outside the Strong, and began to add their own, more precise fire as they attacked the Danaversian fighters, serving as safe areas for Xiscapian fighters to fly though, as if any Congers followed them, they would be struck down by the corvette's weapons.

The Danaversian ship smashed into the Cruiser Plague, the Captain being thrown to the deck as the force carried both vessels across space. Pulled to his feet by his First Officer, the Captain ordered all crew to move to an escape pod and jettison excepting the Bridge crew, and that all power to be diverted to the engines, swinging the two locked ships in a dizzying spiral. They went up, the Wasp class engines flaring and firing full force as she shed escape pods, and a couple of fighters and shuttles. The enemy ship was unable to disengage, hulls locked together by twisted metal, and all saw the belly of another Danaversian ship speed closer. The Captain closed his eyes, speaking: "Initiate Executive Order Crynyd, and Execute Order Dawning Fury directly subsequent." He swallowed hard as his crew grimly carried out his orders, knowing he had sealed his own death warrant, and that of many others. ""I am a servant of the People," he whispered, watching the bottom of the Danaversian craft come closer, his words echoed by the officers, technicians and marines around him, "I am a servant of the Emperor, I am the servant of honor, my life is not my own, when the people have need of it. My life is given for the People, for my Emperor, and for my honor."
Then there was a noise like worlds colliding, the shriek of steel bending and breaking, a deep roar from the very bowels of the Plague, screams all around him and then the Captain knew no more.

The defensive platforms kept firing, not letting up, more and more missiles coming in to overwhelm the Danaversian PDs, lasers and ion fire flying directly into the engines, towards the bridge and any hangers, portholes or windows. The fire pulverized all four of the disabled Danaversian ships, blowing armor apart, exposing halls and rooms to space and erupting into fire as munitions and energy shells were hit and exploded. Wreckage littered space, floating and spiraling away, flaming debris being thrown off by the four burning vessels, creating a hazardous environment to fly a fighter though, a field of fragments to shred a unshielded hull apart. The escape pods and shuttles desperately made for the Medical Ship Enlightenment, hoping not to be captured by tractor beams or destroyed by fire.
The Xiscapians had been wounded, but they were dishing it straight back out to the enemy by an order of several magnitudes.

Hurtrix System

The Vista's shields had fallen to sixty percent. A figure never achieved before when the Vista was fighting its other enemies. Herlin waited for the Superlasers to ready, then he ordered them to focus their fire on the lead enemy ship. The Maulers continued their steady fire on another warship. However, the Mauler was highly unstable and would need to stop soon for "rest" before firing again. The Vista decided to let the Greali fighters handle themselves, since they might hit one of their one with AA shoot. Thousands of fighters were battling each other, in a seeming endless battle. A fighter pilot may shoot down an enemy fighter, both only to encounter another one. The AS guns were directed to focus on the enemy warships. Hundreds of thousands opened up in a spectacular fire. The Megabolt cannons begin firing along with the Ion cannons. The rest of the Greali fleet, unharmed, continued their heavy fire on the enemy. This would be a fight to the finish.

Huntrex System

Another Danaversian warship was destroyed by the volleys being exchanged but it was not too long before the Danaversians were firing back with thousands of their own weapons. They were not stupid, this was only one of the four waves that would be sent in, one after the other, all intended to tear into the Greali war machine. Some of the vessels began to target the weapons platforms, firing their own weapons into the mass of Greali defences. The Danaversians were stubborn and their vessels powerful. Few of the missiles would reach the warships while the other weapons would perform only moderate damage. In return, the heavily armed Danaversians were pounding on their enemies, using the wide variety of weapons available, from Ion Cannons to phasers to missiles. All were starting to take their toll on the Greali.

Wuin System

The Danaversians had lost two ships in as many minutes but now the slaughter would stop. Now the Danaversians were amongst their enemies, nearly hull to hull and this was where they fought best. Each ship was lined with hundreds of broadside mounted guns and now these began their murderous volleys into the flanks of the Kitsune vessels. Not even a planet could withstand the strength of the bombardment that now pounded into the sides of the Qonn and the other cruiser. Not only this, but the Danaversians were gaining a numerical advantage in the fighter battle over their enemies that, no matter how fast their weapons fired or how advanced their tactics were, there was no end. Even a kill:loss ratio of 1:10 would be enough to achieve victory.
The Danaversians had suffered in the longer distances. Now, however, they would show what they were really made of.
Many of the Plague's escape pods were hoovered up by one of the Danaversian ships. The crew's fate within would be unknown to all but, needless to say, it would certainly be in violation of Xiscapia's great atrocities.

Huntrix System

The Greali fire was enough to destroy another warships, cutting the vessel in two clean pieces before it exploded into two balls of fire. The rest of the fleet pressed on, firing their own weapons of phasers, missiles and now, railguns, projectiles that were flung the full length of the warship and hit the enemy with a mind-boogling speed. The Danaversian fighters were still tearing into their opposite numbers both numbering well into the thousands and AA unable to fire in case of hitting one of their own kind. The Danaversians were not going to retreat from this battle and their combinations of phasers, missiles and railgun rounds were more and more concentrated as they focused on one ship at a time, planning to overwhelm it's shields with the firepower of a hundred ships.

Wuin System

The killing box had the desired effect, and four of the vessels were hit from behind and simply ceased working, flames licking their hulls and blackened holes appearing along her length. It looked as though the vessels were still operational but thei crews were already dead. The Danaversians though, continued to press forward rather than back, performing the same tactics as their brethern across the galaxy and firing all of the Shoal's weaponry at one ship at a time, hopeing to overwhlem it with a fleet's worth of railguns, phasers and missiles.

The Danaversian fighters, for their part, were still engaged with their Opposite numbers. They did not have the advantage in skill or quantity but had more than enough ships to make up for it. After all, how could a lone Shruiken drop onto the tail of a Danaversian without four more coming in behind him. The fighters swirled and dodged between the two fleets as they got closer and closer.

The ramming vessel was racked with the explosions and her bow seemed to have disintergrated. However, her engines were still running and now she was edging closer and closer to the Plague. She passed through the shields with ease, them not being designed to withhold such bulk coming at the vessel. The two hit with a sickening thud. The Danaversian vessels had been shaped specificially for ramming in mind, so rather than a flat edge, their bows were flat, sharp and strong, not unlike an axehead. It would not just impact on the surface but would bury down deep into the Xiscapian ship before the real damage would be done. Alversian ships had even been cut in half by Danaversian rammers not unlike this one.

Relentless Position

The Relentless was joined by two vessels. Not just ordinary ships but two Danaversian warships. They began to circle the Calaveran ship in the same way that a shark surrounded it's prey, intimidating it. They did not fire. Yet. They were waiting for something.

Relentless

The Relentless hailed the two warships. The screen came up on the Danaversian vessels. The white bridge of the Observer could be seen, there was no captain seat, just a circle to stand in where the Commanders neural link was located. The eyes of ten clones stared into the screen, there eyes peircing, as if waiting for something. KW-735 spoke with a voice that demanded respect, but yet was quiet. " I am KW-735 Commander of the Observer Relentless, identify yourselfs, lower your shields and surrender." Relentless's shields came online and her weapons began to powerup. The Fleet-Killer was positive it could win this battle if it had to, but would prefer a bloodless struggle. The World Leader wanted the Relentless to scout out space and take anyone it encountered, something the Xiscapians wouldn't have allowed if there was an overseer aboard. Calaveras was hungry for new worlds now, her only claims were Celestis the capital and Pamp which was receiving a stargate where Calaverian troops would enter and occupy the world, it would become a satalite world for Celestis.

OCC: describe the Danaversians, and what those ships stats are please ^^
OCC2: Yes, hes called World Leader in stead of great leader now.

"Obviously," Rear Admiral Yall spoke in a bored monotone as if giving a lecture to an academy class, even as the shields on his Battleship kept falling, "the enemy has fought the same people for so long they have quite forgotten how to effectively stratigize combat against anyone else. Divert all power to our shields excepting life support and the missile batteries, have the missile targeting computers and gunners fire at will."
The missile batteries on the Qonn and the damaged Contact began to fire, unleashing their rockets point-blank into the enemy, while the Destroyer Theory, under both fleets and ignored, did the same. The Danaversians were obviously used to having their opponet's shields fail by this point, but because they hadn't their tactic had not only been rendered worthless, but had put them in an immensly vulnerable position. So close in, they fired only lasers, but the Xiscapian shields absorbed them and the kitsune returned fire with only missiles. These missiles had mere yards of space to cross before smashing into the enemy, not nearly enough time for PDs to target and destroy them, breaching shields and digging into hulls before detonating, nuclear and anti-matter warheads going off.

On the other hand, the fighters were losing their battle. There was simply too many Congers and not enough Shurikens, so the Xiscapian fighters retreated from open space to hover in the protective fields of fire of the Strong's PD batteries, all but impenetrable to enemy fightercraft, leaving the ten Destructor corvettes to carry on their mission. However, the hangers of the Carrier opened again, and a hundred Drone fighters came out, followed by fifty Predator patrol vessels, screaming into the Danaversian fighters. The Drones were not very intelligent, unshielded and of only medium quality armor, but they were extremely fast and could pull of manuevers no biological pilots could. The Predators were nearly as fast as the Shuriken class, but with strong shields, more powerful, varied and plentiful weaponry, taking on the Congers confidently. The Drones and patrols picked up where the Shurikens had left off, dogfighting the enemy fighters.

The Danaversian shields were holding against the missiles from point blank range, their Kitsune counterparts had underestimated the strength of both their shileds and their hulls. The missiles penetrated and exploded deep within the Danaversian vessels but there seemed to be no loss of combat effectiveness for the Danaversian warships. For those hit by the Nuclear missiles though, that was a different matter. They were gone.However, they were still fighting strong and now they fired tens of thousands of both missiles and hyperlasers into the Kitsune vessels, both too close to use their PD defences. The Thoery had not been ignored but was being hit from above, two Danaversian warships had manouevered to fire into her top with missiles, phasers, Ion cannon and railguns. The two vessels were pouring death into the lone vessel beneath the battle.

The Congor fighters did not seem to treat their bigger opponents any differently than the last group. They permitted the Shruikens to withdraw, leaving them flying pointless in a screen of their own PD defences, while the others were engaged. It didn't matter how big or power a fighter's shields were, if a dozen fighters were firing on it at once, then it would be damaged.

OOC: TG, Xis

Relentless

The Danaversians looked at the message and laughed. They laughed hard. Did this one ship truly believe they could defeat the Danaversian empire with this one ship? They had scanned it extensively and they were distinctly unimpressed. The vessel outgunned both of them, sure but there were more than enough vessels in the Danaversian Navy to defeat it. Without a word, both vessels turned and sped off, leaving the Relentless alone in space.

Relentless

KW-735 stared into space as the ships fled off. His thought's were spoke allowed " Should we follow? It could be a trap, but what enemy could stage a trap for an Observer? It would take a enormous amount of firepower to dispatch a Observer before it could escape. They decided to follow. The hyperspace window opened and the Observer began to pursue the prey that had escaped them. Blue alert was in effect, which was for combat. Pilots manned fighters, waiting for the moment to exit. Soldiers put there boots on and the crew scrambled to there stations.

Bump- Alversia tg me about the Danaversians.

As the battle raged within the Xiscapia system of Wuin, something occurred that was unexpected by both sides. A disturbance in space just a small distance away from the battle appeared and exploded into a full-scale wormhole, a reddish dimension yawning from the mouth torn into the fabric of space. From within this hellish plain of reality, a frigate (http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k308/Nirokasa/300px-H-TB.jpg) shot from the wormhole, which rapidly closed behind it, ending with a wink of light. This was one of the many Unity-class frigates in the Navy of the Nethil, the species of the nation Inter-Union. The frigate, Azure Destruction was under the control of the Nethil version of a captain, a Psi-Knight. Their special forces, commanders, and starship captains were Nethil with greatly accelerated psionic powers. The frigates were scouting the galaxy around their nation and had come across a high energy reading that kept fluctuating. So they had jumped to find out the source of it.

Now, the Psi-Knight Aeisha was wishing she hadn't. Her mind, connected to all parts of the ship and its robotic crew by the Psi-Link, was assaulted by the terrifying image before her. She had come within firing distance of two fleets battling it out with everything they had. She scrambled, turning on weapons and starting to awaken and deploy the Firewall-class interceptors (http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k308/Nirokasa/elnor_fighter_by_bagera3005.jpg), and the Virus-class bombers (http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k308/Nirokasa/AF_Universe___Storm_Cruise_by_Counc.jpg). She changed her course to the rear of both fleets fighting , thus keeping her target profile as small as possible and she shunted power away from the Kinetic Deceleration Field into the engines and shields, giving her more protection and speed. Her small size would allow her to dodge most weapons and the shield should be able to take what else came her way.

but Aeisha was not going to risk it. She began to plot a random jump, hoping to get the hell out of here as soon as possible. She just had to be one to investigate a full scale invasion in its first phase. She cursed her luck; she could only hope the One was with her and would guide her through this catastrophe. Just in case, she had powered up weapons and sensors has acquired enough data to enable weapons lock to occur within seconds, when she wanted it. For now, she sped off, trying to bank on the distraction of her enemies to prevent them from attacking her ship.

OOC: Responded
IC:
Four more enemy vessels went down, innards vaporized by nuclear explosions, crew incinerated, empty hulks filled with fire as the nukes went off. Finally the shields on the Theory went down and she began to retreat, firing missiles, lasers, rounds, shells and ion blasts at the two enemy vessels attacking from above. The Destroyer was legging it back to Slint, leaving the Qonn, Contact and Strong to fend for themselves. Well, them and three thousand weapons platforms. The Enlightenment was also attempting to escape, but two of her engines had been knocked out by enemy phaser fire and she listed badly, slowly crawling away from the battle towards deep space.

"Order Captain Neko on the Contact to break off and escort the Enlightenment," said Rear Admiral Yall, "and order the Strong to divert all power to her shields, engines and life support system. Have her withdraw back to Slint, we'll cover her from here-" There was a rumble and Yall looked up, frowning. "What was that?"
"We've lost shields, sir. That was the third gun battery detonating."
Yall swore loudly. "Get those shields back up, I don't care what you have to do, just-"
At that moment the Qonn shuddered again, struck by more laser fire. The PDs were still active and taking down enemy missiles, but it was only a matter of time before one snuck though. Large black burn spots began to appear on the hull, pieces of armor melting or breaking off.
They were finished.
But Yall smiled. "We'll show these bastards how to kamikaze."

Slowly, rolling ponderously in space, the Qonn made her last attack. Imitating the Plauge that had just moments before destroyed herself and two of the enemy, Rear Admiral Yall had something rather more spectacular in mind. The Danaversian ships were close to the Qonn and close together, and the massive bulk of the Xiscapian warship shoved one, causing it to smash into the one behind it, making them lose control and collide with each other not unlike a slow-motion bowling ball and pins. As the Danaverisan ships scraped and bashed together the remaining missiles on the Qonn were all fired at once in a last salvo as the guns fired in a final volley, continually, overheating before causing the Guilda reactor to overheat and explode with the force of several hydrogen bombs, waves of heat, light and radiation washing over the Danaversian fleet as the Battleship sacrificed herself to end the threat and give the other vessels a chance to run. By this time the fighters, patrols, corvettes, shuttles, escape pods and anything else that could fly were fleeing the battle site, trying to get as far away as possible. Even while all this happened, the platforms kept firing, though with reduced strength now as they avoided hitting the multitudes of escape pods and shuttles.

Click. Click. Click. Years had gone by since he had been in uniform, but he stil walked in a military manner; back straight, head held high, eyes clear and bright but with the capacity to turn as cold as ice in a heartbeat. He unconciously marked time on his leg with his closed fist.
Click. Click. Click. His boots echoed around the chamber as he walked to the raised marble podium. Before him sat the entire Federal Legislature of the Republic of Setulan, the House of Elders in a balcony above them. Rustov Maxellian, President of Setulan and the most powerful man in the system, stopped at the podium and looked out over the crowd. He was calm on the outside, though he broiled inwardly. His words would decide the fate of the Republic...but then, he had been doing that for almost sixty years now. Cameras recorded his every move as citizens across the system watched in awe at the pronouncement about to be made.

"Brothers and Sisters of the Republic, you know as well as I do that our Colony was attacked by an alien species, known as the Kewen. You were all there, watching the same screens you are now, as we all believed that the Colony would be destroyed and every man guarding it would die horrible deaths. We all felt helpless, absolutely unable to do anything that might help our soldiers in that distant system. But help came.
"And it came in the form of the Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia. Selflessly, they threw themselves into the fray, saving the lives of many of the crewmembers of the destroyed ships and saving the lives of the men on the ground. Without there timely intervention, I would be telling you now about the deaths of every one of the Republican Guardsmen and Spacers who had died...and who we could not avenge.
"As you all no, the Xiscapians arrived in our home system not to long ago. We treated their wounded, and ours, for they had refused to leave the Colony without making sure they had removed every single soldier from the smouldering wreck of the planet. And so we treated them, and I and the Council began talks with their leader, Rear Admiral Lintel.
"Yet before our talks were complete, the Rear Admiral recieved dire news not unlike that which we learned of those few days ago. News that an alien invader, hell bent on destruction and death, had attacked one of their systems. Indeed, the attack is ongoing, and the fate of said system is still in the balance.
"The Xiscapians aided us in our time of greatest need, and we will not fail them. There is no formal treaty of alliance with them, only a bond of honor and mutual respect. Our two peoples are brothers, born in the blood of heroes, and we will not let our brother die.
"For that reason, I ask you, the legislature of this mighty Republic, to not let our friends die. To honor those who honored us, and not let their sacrifice be in vain.
"I ask you, the legislature, to declare open and unrestricted war against the Danaversian Empire. We will make war with all the rage and fury this nation contains. We will honor those who honored us...and we will prove that Setulan is loyal to its friends.
"Thank you, and good day."

It was decided in fifteen minutes. There was no debate, no filabustering, no delay of any kind. The Republic was going to war for her allies.

What Maxellian had left out was that help was already on the way.

Huntrex System

Another Danaversian warship was destroyed by the volleys being exchanged but it was not too long before the Danaversians were firing back with thousands of their own weapons. They were not stupid, this was only one of the four waves that would be sent in, one after the other, all intended to tear into the Greali war machine. Some of the vessels began to target the weapons platforms, firing their own weapons into the mass of Greali defences. The Danaversians were stubborn and their vessels powerful. Few of the missiles would reach the warships while the other weapons would perform only moderate damage. In return, the heavily armed Danaversians were pounding on their enemies, using the wide variety of weapons available, from Ion Cannons to phasers to missiles. All were starting to take their toll on the Greali.



Hurtrix System

It seemed that a Greali and Danaversian vessel were evenly matched. The frigate, the Phase was heavily damaged, since the ship was placed directly nearby the Vista to provide AA fire. The Vista stopped firing its Maulers due to the risk of explosion, so the Klackon fired its own Maulers at the lead ship. Since the enemy fleet was heading closer, ground based Maulers could now fire, and they were protected by the big massive planetary shields. The Maulers begin firing, pounding the Danaversians hard. Greali fighters continued their endless battle against their evenly matched foe. Hundreds were destroyed in that battle, and it was still going on. Though the Danaversians were beginning to spread their weapons around instead of on the Vista, they still had a long way to go before they could destroy all these ships. Wrath Class Battleships opened up with their super heavy plasma cannons to test the effect on the Danaversians.

OOC: TG Greal

Huntrix System

The Danaversians and the Greali were evenly matched. Both sides were gutting the other with a combination of fire from all kinds of weaponry. Danaversian ships were being destroyed in the melee but then so were Greali vessels. The disk-like Mauler weapons on the Greali surface were of no use in the battle for space, as it seemed like every Danaversian warship was hidden from view of the surface by the more numerous Greali warships. Any attempt to navigate a sector filled with missiles, phasers, lasers, mass drivers and space fighters was futile, for it would be destroyed long before it reached it's target. The fighters of the Danaversian Empire were soon joined by a new swarm of fighters, seemingly out of nowhere but their source was revealled a moment later.

The blinding flashes of light erupted in a neat and organised pattern, yet what emerged from these shimmering circles did not bare good news for the Greali. For it was the second Shoal, another hundred and ten ships, much more powerfully armed and armoured than their lighter vanguard, these vessels moved quickly to launch over ten thousand missiles over the Greali and Danaversian warships. Things had just got worse for the defenders, as twelve of these vessels broke off from their formation and began to strafe the already occupied Defence Platforms, adding more death and destruction to an already fiery part of space.

Wuin System

With the triple destruction left by the crippled Qonn, the surviving Danaversian warships turned on their tails and fled. From the original two dozen attackers, 15 hulls were burning above the Xiscapian planet. Not that the Danaversians really cared for it like taking a bite from the earth as far as they were concerned. They were more than happy to concede the system from now. They would be back and, when they returned, they would be with more than a few dozen attackers, they would be with as much as was amphibiously possible. And that was a lot.

An awful lot.

Relentless position

The two Vessels permitted the Calaverans to follow them, making no effort to lose or to engage their pursuer. It was almost as if they wanted the Calaverans to follow them. Then, with unmistakable glee, the two Danaversian warships burst from hyperspace beside what appeared to be a monster.

It easily dwarfed the two Barracudas, being at least three times their length and, while they were shaped like manta rays, low and wide, this more resembled a shark. It had a long pointed nose, almost like a ram, with a long streamlined design going back to the tail. Unlike the green paint of the Barracudas, this was painted in a deep, meloncholic grey. The whole length of the warship was lined with turrets, all pointing at the Calaveran weapon. The Danaversians were laughing, unable to believe that they, the dimwits of the galaxy, had tricked a warship of the enemy into facing their monster. And not just one, but two were floating easily in space, the Barracudas nothing to their mighty bulk. They were Marlins and they had been, and still were, the symbol of Danaversian might and strength. The fleet killers of the empire.

Now they turned their weaponry to the Relentless, shields powered to maximum and weapons armed, enough firepower to devastate anything in it's path,
The message was sent at the same time as an FTL-neutraliser field went up, emanating from the two vessels. No escape.

You have been tricked and you will killed. You have
one minute to surrender your vessel to the Danaversian
Empire or you shall perish in a hail of fire and metal.

Aeisha watched in grim fascination as the battle between the unknown factions heated up to a climax that must have been building while she had been traveling her. Just lovely, she transitioned into the area just as the battle reached its most dangerous height. Weapons blasted towards her and her PD systems blew them away while the shields managed to handle the rest. The sensors noted the main battleship class of the ships defending the planet shields went down. Soon enough, the captain of the ship must have seen they were doomed and try to do a last charge. The ship collided with several of the enemy ships and fired off its last barrage until its reactor exploded.

The frigate was close enough for the shockwave to wash over the shields, making the frigate glow a bright blue for a second. When it was over, fifteen of the twenty-four enemy ships had been destroyed, their hulls hanging in space. The enemy then proceeded to retreat. Considering there was still fighting ships and the space platforms had not been touched, it was a wise move. Aeisha decided to dumb down her alert, shutting down the weapons but keeping the shields on. She executed a smooth u-turn and proceeded to head towards the planet until it stopped a safe distance away from their guns. She then opened a channel and sent out a message.

"Greetings to unknown forces defending planet, I know there is not much I can do, but I am willing to assist in cleanup in the battle aftermath. I am Aeisha of the Inter-Union, aboard the frigate Azure Destruction."

This wasn't a large surprise to the Calaverians, they had expected a ambush of sorts. The Relentless knew she could easily take on one of the Marlins, but two of them and the Barrcudas could get tricky. Surrender was most definately not an option to the Calaverian people. A distress signal was immediatly sent to the two Observers Aries and Einstein, once they got the message they would be on there way to assist. The Relentless just needed to buy some time, they could hold there own...for awhile at least. A message was sent to Danaversians concerning there "surrender."

" We will surrender, it is a custom of ours to meet with your commander for the terms of our surrender and the incorporation of this vessel into your fleet. Do you agree, it will make things go by much faster, my crew is quiet afraid for there lifes from your fleet, we were stupid to think we could take on your might."

Wuin System...
Nearly three quarters of the attacking fleet had been destroyed, but at the cost of two Xiscapian vessels, thousands of lives and billions of credits. Now the FTLi field closed down over the system, ensuring that the Danaversians could not return until the field was dropped, which would only go down to admit an Xiscapian reinforcing fleet once it arrived. The Theory, Enlightenment and Strong headed back to Slint for repairs, the Carrier recalling it's fighters, corvettes, patrols and drones. Forty Shuriken class fighters had been lost, nearly half the starfighter complement on the Strong. The platforms stayed online, and now noticed the IU frigate, tens of thousands of guns and cannons swiveling to target the craft, the beeps of thousands of lock-ons sounding on the bridge of the Azure Destruction.

However, the message was received, and the guns stayed locked-on but did not fire. The Cruiser Contact was incoming, releasing two fighters as it did, which flew a fly-by of the frigate on the port and starboard side, banking for a second run, getting close-up scanner readings as they did so. The Contact was coming in slow, weapons and shields up, but it did not lock-on to the Azure Destruction, instead sending a response message:
Aeisha of the Inter-Union of the frigate Azure Destruction, lower your shields and prepare to be boarded. You have breached the territory of the Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia, you have our word on our honor that you will not be harmed unless you show hostility, upon that unfortunate happening you would be destroyed. A representative will be meeting with you along with the boarding party to ascertain your exact intentions and to discuss if you may be of assistance to us.
Boarding a vessel was not standard procedure, but the Xiscapians had just been attacked, for all they knew this was a Danaversian ship in disguise. They had to be certain that they were at least dealing with someone other than the Danaversians, and then see if these people conformed appropriately with their morals, and finally see, if these conditions were met, how they could help.

Xiscapian System, Xiscapia, Rio Casa, Imperial Palace...
"My Lord, I regret to inform you that Rear Admiral Yall perished during the attack on the Wuin System. Grand Admiral Krystal is dispatching the Third Assault Fleet to reinforce the system defenses, and the system is being locked-down until the defenses have been fully bolstered."
The Emperor nodded slowly, face grave. It was somewhat difficult for the servant to tell exactly what he was feeling, and his thoughts were as inscrutable as ever, but his new form changed things greatly. The Emperor was not the one most people knew, not any more. While he still had two arms, two legs, bipedal-looking, opposable thumbs, and the eyes, ears and tail were the same as ever, he could no longer could ever be mistaken for a human, covered in orange fur, looking for all the galaxy like a fox that had learned to walk on two legs and sported two hands and two feet rather than four clawed feet. He looked down the length of his snout at the servant with a heavy heart, red robes flowing around him to the floor in contrast to his brighter orange hair, his mind weighed more than ever with the responsibility of leading an Empire.

"Please contact Alversian Prime Minister Owens for me, she will want to know if she does not already. I suspect they have probably suffered similar attacks. Put her on conference in the meeting room. In the meantime-"

"My Lord!" A second servant entered the Imperial Hall, bowing low. "The Second Exploratory Fleet has just entered the system, followed by the Setulan Task Force Eternal Pain. They are requesting permission to send down the Setulan diplomat, and Grand Admiral Krystal wishes to meet with their Admiral."

"Very well," the Emperor nodded. "Have the Setulan Ambassador escorted directly to here. Inform the Setulan Task Force they may enter orbit over the planet, and the Grand Admiral will be establishing a holographic meeting link with them shortly."

Five minutes later...
The orders had been followed, and the Second Exploratory Fleet had docked at the Protector, a huge orbital Space Station easily dwarfing any ships present. In the Inner Courtyard of the Imperial Palace the Emperor himself stood on the path, a line of twenty Black Guard (http://web.nafcs.k12.in.us/users/galena/Classrooms/Fifth/student51_Smith_Web/TANNER/Tannerpix/Shadow%20trooper%20II.jpeg) to either side and two flanking him. The sky above was slate gray, any light from the sun blocked by the clouds, a light but freezing wind whispering over the grass and across the cherry blossom trees. Xiscapia was deep in the Death Season, nearing the Birth of the Ice Season, the continent of Padga cold and gray and only promising to get colder and darker as the winter months approached. The lights of the Palace shown behind them as Emperor Foxfire Rose awaited the Setulan Ambassador to discuss the delightful topics of culture, society and politics before moving on to the more unpleasant one of war.

Elsewhere in Rio Casa, Xiscapian Imperial Navy Head Quarters, Grand Admiral's Office...
Grand Admiral Krystal had also been affected by the change, looking the same as the Emperor aside from obvious anatomical differences dictated by their genders, and she was shorter and sported brilliant pink hair done up into a conservative bun. It had taken her a little while to adjust, but the Grand Admiral had been though a lot in her time at her position, and this was only another bump in the road. She sat back in her chair, hands clasped and resting on her knees as the network linked with the Setulan flagship. When the link was established her face and upper body would appear on the holo screen, clad in a navy blue uniform with black shoulders and medals and ribbons pinned all over it, a rank of significant power in that she controlled the entire Imperial Navy. She bowed to the human Admiral. "Admiral, I am Grand Admiral Krystal of the Xiscapian Imperial Navy. I thank you for the safe return of our fleet and the crew and troops."

Aeisha grimaced. She should have known. To be fair, she had just arrived, in their eyes, after a heavy and terrible battle had been fought. So, naturally, they would be suspicious of her. Why they needed to board was beyond her, but she knew she had no choice. She had no reason to run, and she wasn't feeling like trying to outrun an FTLi field. She sent a message and then began to comply.

"Understood. I have no hostility towards the Kitsune Empire. I will be lowering shields, although only for as long as this will take. I do not wish to be caught off-guard by whatever attacked you. I will be meeting you in Hangar Bay Four, coordinates being sent now."

The frigate swerved to show off its port side, and coordinates detailed a hangar on that side as their destination. Aeisha loaded in a series of orders for the ship and then put in a transient program to run the Psi-Link while she was gone. Tubes and wires disconnected from her body and her suit lit up with energy as it activated. Easily lifting herself out of the chair, she proceeded to head down towards the hangar bay using the series of elevators within the ships corridors. As the Xiscapian ship landed and disgorged its honor guard and representative, they would be greeted with the sight of a massive mech-like power armor suit (http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k308/Nirokasa/Adrain__s_GB_Armor___Full_body.jpg) standing before them. Bright blue energy glowed from within the suit and its eyes glowed a constant blue as it gazed at them. It smoothly bowed and gazed at the representative.

"Welcome to the Azure Destruction. I am Aeisha, Psi-Knight of the almighty Helios and master of this ship."

OOC: Ah, I didn't understand their range. Ignore it then. Continue on.

Calaverian/Xiscapian Stargate, Rio Casa

The event horizion shot out like a blue flamethrower. Immediatly a Calaverian ambassador and six GOU exited the stargate, ignoring most others. They were headed towards the Emperor's Palace to inform them that the Calaverian people were now at war with yet another enemy, little did they know that the Xiscapians had tasted action first. KW-64, ambassador of the World Leader, marched with his men. They caught glimpses of the Kitsune people from there HUD's. Most looked at them with a sense of disapproval, the same could be said of them on Celestis.

OOC: I really don't want Hurtrix taken, I would appreciate if the Danaversians were beaten off, but in the process, both sides would lose a lot.
IC:

Hurtrix System

The Phase was finally destroyed, along with the cruiser, the Remex. The phasers were annoying, but the situation was about to get worse. With another enemy fleet jumping in, the Greali fleets not had another opponent to deal with. The AS guns simply changed their rotation and fired a massive barrage at the approaching enemy missiles. However, The AS guns were not perfect and some of the missiles slammed into a carrier plus the a super battleship. The carrier, the Mafa, suffered widespread damaged to hundreds of crew had died, taking the carrier out of the battle. The Superbattleship flared slightly better since its shields blocked most of the damage. The Vista now unleashed two hundred thousand mines at the new fleet. The mines would automatically be drawn toward an enemy ship at astounding speed. Next, the Vista and the Klackon had an endless number of fighters to call upon, so the Greali fighters were also reinforced massively, supported by gunboats and corvettes. The defensive platforms, thousand hundreds were destroyed, their sheer numbers made up for losses and they continued firing.

Ground based weapons now had a new target, the new enemy fleet which was more noticeable then the Greal fleet. The Maulers fired on the new targets, supported be nuclear missiles launched from the Klackon. Hell fire missiles were fired from the Vista, then more Disk missiles were also fired. The seven different Greali fleets continued their fire of all their weapons on the enemy. Everything from plasma cannons, to Ion cannons, to Megabolt cannons were fired. The Greali fleets would defend their homeland until the last man, taking every Danaversian with them.

The Holo-screen showed Admiral Marcus Grant the Grand Admiral Krystal in all her decorated glory...and the image she recieved would be similar. He hoped.
Clad in his dress whites, he sparkled with his decorations on his chest, row after row of medals, not ribbons. He needed to present a good face for the highest ranking officer in his allies navy.
Short for a Setunalite male (he was only about 5'6"), he had flaming red hair and a vandyke beard. Bright blue eyes that sparkled for this meeting met the Grand Admirals across the holo screen.
"Admiral, it was our honor," he said, bowing in return. He wasn't used to the whole bowing thing, but if it made them feel good, fine.
"I'm glad we could help as some small repayment for the debt we owe you." Formalities over with, Grant got to buisness.
"We are prepared to engage any enemy you wish, Admiral. Tell us where to go, and we'll get the job done."

Rio Casa...

Marchamp entered the presence of the Emperor relaxed on the outside, calm on the inside. He smiled at the Kitsune standing before him and immediately made a snap decision.
Power. This was a man who knew perfectly well his limits and abilities...and knew they were very, very high. Marchamp liked that in a leader. He bowed low, remembering what Rear Admiral Lintel had told him.
"Emperor, it is an honor to meet you. I am Marchamp, the ambassador sent to meet speak with you."

Huntrex System

The Danaversian PD and shields absorbed most of the weapons, but nevertheless, two of the vessels were destroyed. It was not long before the Danaversians decided now was the time to withdraw and regroup. With that, the amphibious-like vessels turned, firing their weapons as they did and disappeared into hyperspace again. The battle was over, adding ten Danaversian hulks to the orbit around Huntrix. Both sides had suffered heavily but the Danaversians had been repelled on all sectors. Nevertheless, they were not upset or demoralised by their defeats, just determined that the next attack would be in a different position. The eye of the enemy was moving away from the core worlds.

Illesia City

"...a hundred and seventy eight crewmen killed, two stations destroyed and Lord only knows how many damaged. Were it not for the Fourth Fleet, I don't think they would have held," Grand Admiral Ashe finished dutifully, looking at her new leader with respect.

Sami Owens took the datapad that the Admirla had laid down in front of her and sighed. She took a quick look at it and rubbed her eyes grimly, hoping against hope that the information contained within it had changed in those few seconds. To her great displeasure, it hadn't and she was forced to confront what was undoubtably the Thirteenth Danaversian war.

Sami Owens was not an old woman, nor was she especially beautiful. She had a rugged charm about her that suggested she knew what she was doing, even when she didn't. She had short black hair that came down to her shoulders. Her blue eyes were fixed on the report, absorbing the information. She shook her head. She had been Prime Minister how long? A month? Even that? Now she had to guide her people through this new threat. She wondered if the Kitsune Empire would get involved? She hoped they would. Since the cutbacks, Alversia's navy was just a hundred and twenty ships. One of those had already been destroyed and twenty five were out exploring the universe. That gave her ninety nine ships to beat back the Empire, plus the same number of Aluminan ships and whatever the Kitsune Empire felt obliged to send.

It was then that a message entered her Office and Owens accepted it warily. Illesia was now in her rainy season and grey clouds and sheet rain obscured all but the close Senate Building and the Sentries outside, huddled miserably against the cold. Well one, of them anyway, the other was an Android and he just impassively and watched his cursing, shivering friend.

The message was from Rio Casa and Owen's heart sank for a moment. A message from the Empire meant one of two things, either they had heard of the attack or they had been attacked themselves. She prayed for the first.
The screen flickered on and Owens just stared for a moment in disbelief. She was looking at a fox! She had seen pictures of Foxfire Rose before and she had never thought he looked so...different.

Quickly hiding her surprise, Owens offered the Emperor a bow while Ashe took up position behind Owen's shoulder,
"Emperor," She smiled, "I am glad to see you. I trust you have grave news?"

Relentless Position

There was no reply, no indication that she had heard the news from the Calaveran vessel. It took just moments before another three Barracudas had jumped in system and where now flying around the gargantuan duo of warships. It took an age before the Danaversians sent a reply,
We shall beam to your vessel. Deactivate your
shields so we may cross unhindered. Our Letnica is
aboard the thrird Barracuda

Accordingly, the Barracuda's shields dropped and she powered up her transporters, waiting for the Calaverans to comply.

Near Danaversian Territory

The Danaversians were smart, but evidently not the brightest. The Relentless fired her main plasma-ping cannon towards one of the Marlins, unleashing a blast that was known to obliterate capital ships. fifteen of her thirty plasma-pings cannons opened up on the non-shielded barracuda. Her other fifteen began to rip towards the other Marlin. Her Anti-Aircraft turrets spat out plasma at them as well, waiting for any missels to intercept. Hordes of Probe fighters and Tomahawk Assault Dropships exited there hangars. The white swarm headed out, splitting up and taking on multiple targets, mostly the Barracuds that had just came into town. The Kash Wilson and Aries were almost at her side, they would be within minutes. KW-735 smiled and closed his eyes as the nueral link connected to himself, he felt the weapons fire and the shields brace for impact, his emotions feeding the Relentless white hulk. Thousands of GOU prepared for boarding actions, as soon as any Danaversian vessels shields they would be stormed with literally armies of Calaverian warriors.

The unshielded Barracuda was hit and erupted into flames, but the fully shielded Marlins seemed virtually untouched by the ping weapons or their firepower. The attacks were flashed against the shields of the warships before the angry green settled down and became transparent again. They now turned their own weaponry on the Calaverans.
They fired not one but fifteen phaser rounds each as well as nuclear missiles and DP missiles at a rapid speed, these were lead by deflector missiles, designed to throw off the aim of any automated turret or PD defence weapon. These streamed towards the lone vessel in a cloud. These were joined by a thousand rounds from railguns and MAC guns. The full fury of the Danaversians had been unleashed.
The swarm of Probe fighters and dropships may have been big, but it was nothing to the cloud that emerged from the hangars of the Danaversian fleet. Even as the first fighters were engaging in the middle of space, the stream of fighters from each Marlin was still thick as they emerged in a swarm. If the Calaverans had always thought they had the numerical advantage, it was nothing to what the Danaversians could field in battle.

The unshielded Barracuda was hit and erupted into flames, but the fully shielded Marlins seemed virtually untouched by the ping weapons or their firepower. The attacks were flashed against the shields of the warships before the angry green settled down and became transparent again. They now turned their own weaponry on the Calaverans.
They fired not one but fifteen phaser rounds each as well as nuclear missiles and DP missiles at a rapid speed, these were lead by deflector missiles, designed to throw off the aim of any automated turret or PD defence weapon. These streamed towards the lone vessel in a cloud. These were joined by a thousand rounds from railguns and MAC guns. The full fury of the Danaversians had been unleashed.
The swarm of Probe fighters and dropships may have been big, but it was nothing to the cloud that emerged from the hangars of the Danaversian fleet. Even as the first fighters were engaging in the middle of space, the stream of fighters from each Marlin was still thick as they emerged in a swarm. If the Calaverans had always thought they had the numerical advantage, it was nothing to what the Danaversians could field in battle.

OCC: Okay, i think i just don't know about Danaversian tech, how advanced are they? why didn't my weapon work? i feel ignorant......

Nova Reginix

Word had reached the Naval Command that an unknown enemy had struck Hurtrix and was beaten back. The cost was devastating not in terms of ships, but terms of one man. Admiral Herlin was killed during the battle, and his second in command had a tarnished reputation. Admiral Rammer. Rammer met with the naval commanders at the Naval Command Center.

"So, I am presuming that the Xiscapians, and Alversians, and the Calaversians did not launch their attack correct?" asked Rammer

"Correct."

"Then who attacked Hurtrix? That's what I want to know. Are the Xiscapians involved? Or is this some other race?"

"We had a chance to examine the wrecks. They're nothing like I've ever seen." said Captain Bolvan,"This is another race."

"The last thing we need is another war. Will they strike again?"

"Likely. Their forces were intact when they retreated."

"FTL fields are laid over Nova Reginix and other planets?"

"Yes sir. Our ships can still travel freely, its the foreign ships that will have to get clearance to jump in."

"Get cloaked scout ships checking out Xiscapian and Alversian systems. I don't want them massing for an attack on us, again."

"Yes, Admiral."

"Now bring me your full report."

"Losses are three cruisers, three frigates. One carrier heavily damaged, one superbattleship moderate damage, two battleships minor damage. The Vista had suffered damage to some parts of the ship, but its intact and can fight again. Defense stations reports nine hundred and thirty four defensive platforms destroyed or damaged. We lost also about a thousand fighters according to estimates."

"Thank you, that is all."

Wuin System

A small cloaked scout ship piloted by an android jumped into the system from an outpost. It looked around for any signs of massing for an attack, or any other signs. The Xiscapian ships seemed to be active, then the android spotted wrecks of ships everywhere. It seemed like the exact same wrecks like Hurtrix. Did this unknown race strike Wuin also? The android would leave the thinking to the superiors.

Wuin System...
A Xiscapian combat shuttle settled into hanger four of the Azure Destruction, the ramp settling to the deck of the Inter-Union vessel with a soft hiss as four XIN marines (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Image:SithCommando.jpg) trotted out and stood to either side, rifles pointing upwards as the diplomat descended. It was a kitsune of bekko type, meaning more fox-like, with tawny fur, orange eyes and long purple hair, clad in the deep purple and black robes of the Diplomatic Corps with a white katana sword at its side. Though it was somewhat difficult to tell because none of the aliens present had ever seen a kitsune, bekko or otherwise, before, the Ambassador was male. He gave a standard bow, straightening up as he heard the words emit from the power suit before him. After it finished he gave his own greetings in a soft, tranquil voice:
"Aeisha, Psi-Knight of the almighty Helios and master of the Azure Destruction, I am diplomat Cinas from the Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia. Please accept my sincerest apologies for our rude behavior, but as you saw space is not a safe place for us, so all precautions must be taken to ensure the safety of our people. Social and cultural information may be exchanged at your discretion though data dumps to computer systems or information crystals, at the moment I am more concerned with how you can help us. Out there," he spread his hand vaguely to indicate the exterior of the vessel, "there are seventeen escape pods containing kitsune troops and crew who have been stranded among the battle debris. At the moment we find ourselves somewhat underequipped, so we humbly ask if you could assist us by collecting these pods and bringing them to our planet, Slint. Once that has been completed, we will engage in real talks." He paused. "Should you wish it."

Xiscapia, City of Tenfour, Stargate facility...
The Stargate linking Xiscapia to Calaverias was closely monitored and guarded. The Gate itself was placed in an underground vault room, large enough to hold about a dozen beings of human size, armed with a single large steel door and biomaterial killer emitters, which destroyed any organic matter when activated, and a host of other weapons. The confined space and armament displayed what the kitsune feared from their vassal state: Invasion. As it was, the simple fact that any Calaverians were here now alarmed most officials, as any talks were to have been done though the Overseers, but the person who was to meet with KW-64 and his six guards was merely irritated. As they stepped out they were scanned, photographed and readings were taken to confirm that they were who Calaverias said they were, and only then did the door at the end of the room open.

A Xiscapian Grunt (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Image:Sithtroopermodel.jpg) soldier stepped though, motioning to the diplomat and his guards. When he spoke to them his voice was dead and metallic though his helmet speakers, but nevertheless conveyed a sense of authority.
"You," he pointed to KW-64, "come with me. You may bring two of your men." He watched to see his orders obeyed, and turned, leading the three out to a conference room, plushy decorated with soft red carpet, high backed teal colored chairs, soft overhead lights and a round table with seating for six with cup holders and cigarette trays. On the furthest part from the door sat Chief Ambassador Vanadict (http://media.photobucket.com/image/kitsune/ukokusha/anime_kitsune.jpg?o=2), hands folded in her lap, luminous dark eyes watching KW-64.
"Welcome, Ambassador." She nodded across the table. "Please, take a seat; can we get you any refreshments? Tell me why we have received the honor of this visit."

Rio Casa, XINHQ...
Krystal sighed. "I'm afraid it's not that simple, Admiral Grant. Our enemy is now the Danaversian Empire, a distant but powerful nation who our allies, the Alversians, have been at war with on and off for decades. The two sides have set up a demilitarized zone, which I suspect that, if the Alversians have also been attacked, has been crossed in violation of their last Treaty with them. Every war the Alversians and Danaversians have fought have had the Danaversians on the offensive and the Alversians on the defensive, fighting to repel them. We have no idea where any Danaversian worlds are, but on the other hand, they know exactly where most, if not all, Alversian worlds are located, and obviously they are aware of the existence of at least one of our systems.

Due to this, we cannot make an offensive strike, a counterattack, until we find a Danaversian world. It is my intention to bring the fight to them, to put the Danaversians on the defensive and do as much damage to them as possible and hopefully hurt them so much they back down. For now, though, we are on the defensive. We will be meeting with Alversian Grand Admiral Ashe shortly, as she knows more about the Danaversians than I do, and can help up formulate strategies to combat them. After that, it will be decided where your fleet will go and what duties it will have."

Krystal was even now contacting Grand Admiral Ashe for their own meeting while their leaders conferred. The Emperor and Prime Ministers could talk about overall impact, but the fleet commanders were only concerned with fighting the menace.

Rio Casa, Imperial Palace, Outer Courtyard...
The Emperor bowed back to Marchamp. "I am also honored, Ambassador, to host you at my residence. I am Emperor Foxfire Rose of the Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia. I know you and I have much to speak of, but I have the Alversian Prime Minister on conference in the Palace, and I would like you to accompany me to speak with her so we may all voice our thoughts and opinions on this matter and come to a solution." He smiled warmly. "If you would follow me?"

Imperial Conference Room...
As the screen flickered to life the Emperor saw, for the first time, the new Alversian Prime Minister. He did not know much about Sami Owens, and she had not been in power long enough for him to form any conclusions about her intelligence or ability to rule, but those Prime Ministers he had known had always been level-headed and sensible, so he doubted this one would be any different. Noticing her surprise as he returned her bow, the Emperor bared his teeth in a smile. "My apologies for my appearance, it seems I have undergone a unforeseen transformation rather recently. My I introduce Prime Minister of Limur, Zachary Marchamp of the Republic of Setulan?"

He waited as the introductions were exchanged, giving a small bow to Grand Admiral Ashe behind the Prime Minister as she turned to take the call from XIN HQ. He addressed Prime Minister Owens now, speaking solemnly. "Yes, I am afraid Xiscapia has suffered an attack from the Danaversian Empire. The Wuin System was targeted by one of their fleets, and though they were repelled, several thousand kitsune were killed in defense of the system. I am forced to conclude that Alversia has suffered a similar attack, across the DMZ, and that all this sums up to the beginning of the Thirteenth Danaversian War?" He smiled sadly, but his eyes were now hard and cold.

ooc: god, im really really REALLY sorry to interupt your thread peoples, but yea Setulan your use of the word kewen alerted me to this thread, and i read you post theres just a few things i would like to clear up with you via TG if at all possible kbyethx.

"Aeisha, Psi-Knight of the almighty Helios and master of the Azure Destruction, I am diplomat Cinas from the Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia. Please accept my sincerest apologies for our rude behavior, but as you saw space is not a safe place for us, so all precautions must be taken to ensure the safety of our people. Social and cultural information may be exchanged at your discretion though data dumps to computer systems or information crystals, at the moment I am more concerned with how you can help us. Out there," he spread his hand vaguely to indicate the exterior of the vessel, "there are seventeen escape pods containing kitsune troops and crew who have been stranded among the battle debris. At the moment we find ourselves somewhat underequipped, so we humbly ask if you could assist us by collecting these pods and bringing them to our planet, Slint. Once that has been completed, we will engage in real talks." He paused. "Should you wish it."


Aeisha smiled and held back a light chuckle. This race was a most interesting one indeed. They were some kind of....furred mammalian creature that had gained humanoid characteristics. Not to mention this one wore some kind of silk robe and wore a sword by its side. Must have to do with the culture of the society this....kitsune hailed from. She nodded and waved a hand in gentle dismissal. "Greetings, Cinas. Do not worry about your reaction; that is why I tried to remain outside of weapons range so as not to frighten you. Not much good that did, but...." She shrugged and then paused, her helmet's lights flickered at random intervals for a couple seconds and then returned to normal as she moved again. "I have sent the data relevant to our culture out towards the planet and your ships. You may send yours whenever you deem it time. As for the pods, I can easily take care of those. I have a defensive system which I can modify to do the job. If you'd like, I can go ahead and start doing that." She turned to Cinas and began to speak.

"For, as you will see on the data I sent, Psi-Knights are not only the captains of their ships, they are the only ones whom control it. We have total control over the entire ship, when hooked up, and over the robot forces we use for armies. I will be able to begin recovery operations with a minute. You may choose to stay and observe or return to your planet. I will not keep you."

OOC:sure, Kewen. Though next time, I wish you would just send me a TG; I check that a bunch of times a day. You have a TG, btw.

IC:

Grant grimaced slightly.
"That would be a problem, yes." He considered for a moment.
"In all this time...and still no idea where the homeworlds are." He sighed.
"I won't lie, Admiral. I can't stand the defensive. I like attacking, grabbing the bastards by the balls and stomping them until they bleed...but I suppose we don't really have a choice." He stopped for a second, considering what he had just said to the Grand Admiral of a friendly nation who, by the way, was female.
Fuck it, he decided. If the Xiscapian Navy was anything like the Setulanite one, cursing was simply a part of language.

Rio Casa...

Marchamp smiled amiably at the ambassador of...Alversia?...yes, Alversia...as introductions were exchanged. He let the Emperor do the talking-it seemed that the relationship between the Kitsune and the Alversians was very friendly. He noted it, and filed it away for later.

It was not long before Ashe was in contact with Krystal, using one of the secure rooms in the PM house, for the APNHQ was twenty minutes away and, in war, that was too long. She raised her eyebrows as the familiar Grand Admiral appeared onscreen,
"Next stage of evolution, Grand Admiral?" The younger female said by way of greeting. Fox eyes met fox eyes for Ashe was no ordinary Alversian,
Ashe was a half-breed, the result of an Alversian father and kitsune mother. She had the ears and body of an Alversian, therefore she did not have a tale. On the other hand, her pupils were narrow and her eyes a deep purple. She also possessed a pair of deep canines not dissimiliar to Krystal's. She could not smile at seeing her opposite number, there was little to laugh about at this time.
She heard the Setulan swear behind the screen and her eyebrows rose again. She may only have been in her mid twenties, but she had heard worse from the Marines of her former commands. never anyone above a Captain mind, but it still happened,
Ashe immediately began to reel off the information from her side of the universe, knowing Krystal would want the information quickly,

"Our DMZ has been attacked along it's entire length. We have lost two Defence Stations, with several more damaged. We have also lost a Cruiser to action. Our own losses are 1,245 men killed. The Aluminan have also been hit and their losses are lower, just 103 casualties from what we can tell. However, they have not been in contact, predictably," She smiled at that, "And our scouts report that the Danaversians have attacked the Greali Empire. It is a dire situation, Grand Admiral. I don't know about your own forces but we cannot afford a war over multiple fronts. We do not have enough ships"

PM's Office, Illesia City

"Alas, I fear it has" Owens nod her head solumnly, she had nodded to the Setulan beside the now foxlike Emperor. The Setulans were an uknown race to the Alversians, nevertheless, in war they could use all the help they could,
"These are not isolated incidents, Emperor, not only have we been attacked but so have the Aluminan and the Greali Empire. These are not small enough to be raids into these spaces. The numbers total up to only a war. We were lucky that the attacks on all sectors will be repelled but the Danaversians will soon strike again. My Grand Admiral has advised that we forget offensive operations until we can shore up our own defences."

KW-64 took two of his GOU and met the Kitsune. " Were here to inform the Xiscapian Empire of a first contact with an alien race between Calaveras, we managed to hack some of there files before engaging, they are called Danaversians, we hoped you might have some information." He said sitting down, the two guards standing like statues.

Relentless

The Danaversians weapons impacted, the icy blue shields of the Observer were lighting up, weapons impacted and were being absorbed by her. Inside the Observer, you could here the ship slightly moan. Her thirty plasma-ping cannons began to fire in all directions at the Barracudas, her job now was to inflict as much hell to the Barracudas, seeing as the Marlin was not effected by Ping weapons. Power was diverted from all non essential systems to shields, the main ping cannon's energy was also used for shields. The Relentless shields dropped to 89%. The dog fight continued, the Probe fighters heavy build tore into the Danaversian ranks, there chin mounted turrets swivelled and spat out heavy plasma cannon fire in any difrection. The Probe fighters shields also protected them from initial hits, there armor would have to stand up after there shields failed. The Tomahawk Assault dropships used there twin tritanium Vulcan cannons, sending heavy rounds into the abyss that was space, tearing into any unfortunate Danaversian fighter. The Tomahawks also began to fire there air to air missles. Space had become a endless land to wage war this day. The Relentless kept track of her units on the front lines

500 Probe Fighters Operational: 100 KIA

450 Tomahawk Assault Dropships Operational: 50 KIA

Estimated Casualties: 350 KIA

Wuin System...
Cinas went still for a moment, possessing a neural implant which allowed information to be sent to him exclusively from his superiors, who were even now channeling the information the Inter-Union Psi-Knight had sent them. "I do see," he said slowly, data scrolling invisibly across his eyes before shutting away into various files, the Xiscapian having, in mere seconds, absorbed all the information the Inter-Union had sent to them. "My superiors say they are sending you all relevant unclassified information concerning the Kitsune Empire. In the meantime, please, do not wait on my account. I will watch the operation as you conduct it, so once all of our people have been transported back to the planet I will still be available if you wish to discuss matters further."

Rio Casa, XIN HQ...
Krystal didn't even blink as Admiral Grant cursed, she didn't seem to give it any notice, although with her alien visage it was next to impossible to tell what she was really feeling, if she had been offended or not. Some situations justified swearing, as she well knew, and if any did, this was one of them.
"Next stage of evolution, Grand Admiral?"
"Possibly," said Krystal dryly, bowing and then sitting to listen to what her counterpart of the Alversian People's Navy had to say.

"You are correct, Xiscapia cannot afford a war across multiple fronts, we do not have the ships or manpower to conduct a full-scale war in any more than one theatere. However, the odds are evened a little, as Admiral Grant from the Republic of Setulan," she nodded to him, "has pledged his assistance with his own armada. Finally, the Greali will distract the Danaversians for a time, but as to the final outcome on that front I cannot say. I simply do not know enough about the Danaversians," she said seriously, "which is why I contacted you.

Alversia has fought the Danaversians before, many times. There is so much we need to know from you to be effective in combating them. What are the standard tactics of the Danaversians, how highly trained are their soldiers and spacers and how well equipped are their ships? What do the Danaversians fear, what are their weaknesses? How much assistance and coordination can we expect from the Pridelands of Alumina? Finally, where do you predict they will strike next, and how can we prepare?"

The kitsune Grand Admiral glanced to Admiral Grant before continuing. "The Admiral and I were just discussing how we need to fight the Danaversians on our own grounds, to go on the offensive at some point. With all due respect, playing the defensive has only repelled the Danaversians, we need to end this threat, we cannot continue with the constant threat of invasion hanging over our heads. It is time for the Alversians and Alumina and their allies to cross the DMZ themselves and make a foray into Danaversian territory, to strike back and show that they can't fight us without losing territory and resources, more than just soldiers and ships. We, the Allies, cannot afford a prolonged war as you have in the past; we are simply not prepared for one."

Rio Casa, Imperial Palace, Conference Room...
"I assume neither the Greali nor the Alumina have issued official statements on the attacks?" the Emperor asked. "What will Alversia's response to these aggressive, imperialistic actions be?"

Tenfour, Stargate Facility...
Vanadict looked at KW-64 for a moment before responding. "We have very little information on the Danaversians. How did Calaverias come across forces from Danaversia? None of our Overseers have reported sightings or engagements of this nature."

OOC: TG, Xis

Room, PM Building, Illesia

Ashe frowned lightly as she listened to the report from her opposite number on Xiscapia. She had to admit that it was slightly unusual listening to a talking fox, which was essentially what Krystal had become. Nevertheless, she was a professional and she had a job to do. That job had never been a small one and now it had magnified significantly. She gave a small smile at the suggestion of offensive operations. The Setulans seemed to be a rather offensive-minded people. She had to be more cautious in her approach though,

"The Danaversian Empire is a mystery to us in terms of it's culture and society. That is unknown. What is known is in terms of their ships. The Barracudas of the Danaversian fleet are powerful and durable, their Marlin Superwarships even more so. However, they all share a fundemental weakness and it was one we have been able to exploit time and time again. On the bottom of the hull in the back third, they have a small cowling that is used to vent plasma from their main reactor. Unfortunately, it has shielding for both physical projectiles, lasers and missiles. Luckily, we have found that a direct hit with a phaser may not only immobilise the warship, it may destroy it altogether. I can send you all the information we have on this weakness," She gave a nod, It was already enroute to Rio Casa.

"The addition of the Setulan Fleet is indeed an excellent addition and, for once, I agree that strong action must be taken before this war returns to our own space. The Danaversians are currently regrouping, and Alumina long range sensors have detected a planet within two hours of the DMZ. If you wanted an Offensive Admirals, then this is where I would suggest we strike. I will send you the information I have gathered on the planet and it's forces" That intel was on it's way as well to the XN's HQ in Rio Casa. There was a lot of information that the Alversians had not shared with Xiscapia on the Danaversians. It was nothing personal or discreet. The information had just never been interesting enough to bother an Admiral with. Now it was all sent to Rio Casa for analysis.

"As for the Alumina, we shall have co-operation, if not reluctantly. They do not have the strength to repel this attack anymore than we do. If it is a taskforce you wish to send to this planet. Merely say the word and I shall begin work immediately." Ashe put her chin in her hands and watched the screen easily.

PM's Office

"Well, Emperor," Owens smiled, "We and the Greali are not exactly on speaking terms right now after Miller and Nova Max, while the Alumina do not have such a thing as an 'Offical Statement'. They just keep quiet until spoken to," Owens listened, then shrugged at the second question,
"We have declared war, obviously, and placed FTL fields around all of our major systems as well as those stations still operational at the DMZ. The Military policies, I shall leave up to those who know what they are doing"

Relentless

The ping weapons destroyed two of the Barracudas, cutting one of the warships clean in two. The rest retreated behind the bulk of the two Marlins, who were still pounding away on the shields of all three vessels with a breathtaking amount of weaponry. While this battle was raging, the Fighters still tore into each other.

The Congor Fighters of the Danaversians may have lacked shielding but two things they did not lack were armour and armament. They tore into the fighters of the Calaverans, the fighters from a half-dozen ships against those of only three. Even now, bombs were being fired against the shields of the Observers, not to pierce them, but to hit them and so drain their energy away and allow for more powerful weaponry to hit once the shields had gone down. It was a primitive method of taking out a ship but an effective one if enough fighters were thrown at the ship.

Grant nodded eagerly as Krystal spoke about launching attacks, and gravely when she mentioned how thinly stretched the two navies were.
"I'm glad we can help with that, Admiral. I can only hope that Eternal Pain is the begining; with luck, another Task Force might be released to the front. So far as ships are concerned, the Task Force is...well endowed, shall we say." A slight grin followed that understatement. "Two hours is not bad at all. Much closer than I thought it would be, at the very least. Might I make a suggestion, however, that all troop ships only enter the system once we have cleared any orbital resistance? If they are even remotely as heavily defended as this system is," he continued, nodding in Krystal's direction, "I want to make sure that our troops will actually get to the surface in one piece. I can only imagine how ground pounders must feel sitting defenseless as battle rages around them."

Rio Casa

Marchamp arched an eyebrow at the comment about the Greali. Apparently the Alversians had been busy. He liked that.
"FTL fields are all well and good, Prime Minister...but if you do not have the ships to stop the enemy once they warp outside the field, it is just delaying the inevitable. If I might suggest, allow me to break up the Task Force that the Republic has sent and send ships to vulnerable systems as needed."

Aeisha nodded and then turned. "If you will follow me then..." Cinas and his guard would see the Psi-Knight begin to walk away and followed. After a short distance, they came to a sophisticated elevator that automatically opened at Aeisha's approach. Once they were all inside, they shot up at incredible speeds but the dampeners inside the cabin prevented any force from being felt. Finally, it finished its route and opened again. They would see an incredibly technological bridge and another fact, there was no one there. All sorts of machines hummed and lights flickered, but there were no display screens, no keyboards, nothing.

There was a strange chair in the middle, massive by Xiscapian standards and suited to fit the Nethil's large size. Aeisha walked over and sat down. The suits lights flickered as it configured with the chair, tubes and cables coming out to connect to the power suit. The light turned from blue to green as it reconnected to the Psi-Link and assumed control once more. The next time they heard Aeisha speak, it was from all around them, as if the ship was speaking to them.

"Unfortunately, due to the nature of how I control the ship, I will be unable to show you any details on how the process is going. This will only take a few minutes anyways."

The ship then powered up its engines, barely a shudder going through it, as it turned towards the batch of escape pods. They had all been locked on and Aeisha was working to get them all into Hangar Three. She normally did not have any such devices to bring such objects in but they had found out long ago one of their defensive systems would fit the trick. She strengthened the Kinetic Deceleration Field in the area of Hangar Three and focused it to only be around that area. She maneuvered the ship to come into range of the pods and then deployed several sensor probes. They launched out and headed for the pods. Settling near some pods, they turned their ion engines on the pods. Due to their small size and power, the engines would not damage the pods but it gently pushed them towards the ship. They sped up quite a deal due to the amount of force they accumulated from the engine blasting them, but they slowed down upon hitting the field. Then, they were gently set down in the hangar. Over three minutes it took, to carefully collect every single one.

When it had been completed, the ship voice was heard again. "We have collected all of the pods you asked for. What now, Diplomat?"

Tenfour, Stargate Facility

KW-64 answered " A squadron of Probe fighters engaged them and returned to inform us of there existance." This was a lie from the Goverment, but none the less a good one for the moment.

Relentless

The swarms of Probe fighters and Tomahawks reatreated back to the hangars. There fight was over for now, the enemy was adapted against Ping weapons, something that stunned scientists on board. Before leaving they managed to beam some of the survivors of a the decapitated Danaversian Barracuda before it was completely obliterated. All systems that could be used were diverted to the hyperdrive and shields, but the impact of weapons still bore heavy damage to the shields, knocking them down to 70%. Her hyperdrive engine ripped into space, sending the white hulk back to a distant moon where they could fall back and assess the situation.

Zoo(brig) Relentless

A squad of GOU made there way to the Zoo where the survivors of one of the Barracudas had been beamed. They were to be questioned and....scrutinized for information.

Nova Reginix

"What does the intelligence report say?" asked President Forrest. He was meeting with the top admirals in the Empire. Around him were the lush gardens of the Presidential Office. Over head, a squadron of fighters were patrolling the skies.

"From what we've heard, the ships that attacked us are from The Danaversian Empire." said Admiral Rammer. "From our historic files, the Alversians had a war with them because of a dispute about Alumina. Besides that, we have a few other facts about them."

"Are these Danaversians, powerful?"

"Well, we are evenly matched in terms of quality, but they will have to fight the Xiscapians and the Alversians, so their fleets would be busy."

"Alright, what do you have?"

"The Danaversians were beaten back from the Xiscapian system of Wuin as far as our scout ships can tell. They suffered heavy losses." spoke Admiral Reton, in charge of the Third Assault Fleet.

"How are we going with defensive preparations?"

"Its increasing, Mr President. The Danaversians will have a much harder time breaking through then last time. And they can't even jump in due to the FTL fields."

"We may have to contact the Alversians and the Xiscapians."

"Whatever for? You know what they did to us."

"Admiral. This is a chance to make up. The Empire is growing weary of war. Four wars this year, four."

"What shall we say?"

"First, I have to make an official statement. Everyone outside Hurtrix has no clue about what has happened."



Galactic Statement
The Galactic Empire of Greal hereby declares war on the so called The Danaversian Empire. We will not stop until this scum is vanquished from the universe.


Encrypted Message to Alversia and Xiscapia
The Galactic Empire of Greal will recognize the Republic of Berrax as an independent nation and agree to a Non-Aggression Pact if thats what it takes for a peace treaty, and a possible meeting of forming a coalition to rid the universe of the Danaversians.

Rio Casa, XIN HQ...
Krystal nodded once. "This Task Force should be careful when entering Danaversian territory. Only you, the Alversians, have fought them for any length of time, you are the only ones who know what to expect. In any case, we will send one of our Assault Fleets to help take the planet, followed by battalions of XGA soldiers and platoons of Mechanized Infantry. It is standard policy to station troops aboard assault ships," she said to Grant, "but any troop ships we possess will, of course, come in after the defenders have been destroyed or retreated. Do either of you have estimates for a time table stretching between now and when you will be fully prepared to launch the attack?"

Rio Casa, Palace, Conference Room...
"If you have the authority, you may break up your Task Force as you see fit," said the Emperor to Marchamp. "But we need to actually find a world before we can strike. As the Prime Minister put it, we leave strategies up to the military commanders. What I need-"
He was interrupted as a servant quickly entered, scurrying over to whisper into the left ear of Foxfire Rose. The servant stepped back, bowed hurriedly, and left. After a brief moment of contemplation, the Xiscapian ruler turned back to his two counterparts.

"I have just received word that the Intergalactic Empire of Greal has sent us a message. They indicate they will officially recognize the Republic of Berrax as a sovereign state and will sign a non-aggression pact with us. Apparently the reason for this involves the formation of a coalition to fight against the Danaversians." He smiled coldly. "They must be feeling the effects of the attack. Prime Minister Owens, Prime Minister Marchamp, what are your thoughts?"

Wuin System...
Close by there was a flash of light and an unheard roar as the Xiscapian Third Assault Fleet jumped into the system, consisting of three Battleships, two Destroyers, three Cruisers, a Medical Ship and a Carrier, all moving towards Slint. By this time the surviving elements of the Wuin Fleet were nearing the planet themselves, and additional ships were a welcome sight. None took notice of the frigate, the report that came in told it was friendly so it was not bothered. The defensive platforms were powering down as maintenance droids and teams went out to rearm the weapons and keep the stations running.

Azure Destruction...
"Impressive," said Cinas after a long moment of silence, feeling faint signs of wonder and awe from his two guards behind him, the other two having been left back at the shuttle for security purposes. The diplomat had been able to view the pick-up by watching camera feeds from the platforms, and had indeed been fascinated by the technology displayed. "Now, Psi-Knight Aeisha, we must return the pods to the planet so those aboard can let their superiors and families know in person that they have not been Killed In Action. In a moment you will be receiving a message from Slint, the planet, as to approach vectors and landing coordinates. From there, if you wish to leave you may, but if you want to pursue talks of any kind, we would be happy to accommodate you." He smiled. "Qonn knows we need help."

Tenfour, Stargate facility...
Vanadict merely raised her eyebrows. She knew very well that the Calaverian Ambassador was lying to her, and had long since come to the inevitable conclusion that Celestis must have produced at least one, if not more, illegal Observers. "Your violation of our contract will be discussed later," she said coolly, "for now I wish to know what Celestis intends to do about this threat."

Grant nodded in understanding.
"We modify some of our destroyers to transport our troops. We'll have one of the divisions we brought with us ready to warp to the system once we get the all-clear. As for readiness to deploy..." he shrugged. "Our ship's haven't had time to get comfortable yet. We could break orbit and be on our way in three minutes."

Rio Casa

Again, the Greali came up.
"Well...I don't know your past history," Marchamp said, "But if these Danaversians are all that we think they are, I fear that we will need all the help we can get." He waved over an attendant.
"Send a message to Admiral Grant, will you? Tell him I want him to leave sufficient ships to protect the Wuin system before he goes on the offensive and gets himself blow away."

Relentless Position

The Marlins watched as the Calaverans withdrew from the battle. They had not been able to destroy any of the Calaveran warships but then their scanners reported that one had been badly damaged in the battle. In all cases, this was a victory for the Danaversian Empire. That was what they knew. As for those Warriors who had been beamed to the Calaveran warship. They knew what to do.

And they had already done it. All had killed themselves with the use of a small pill that all Danaversians carried should they be captured. The dead bodies were not all that the Danaversians left as a gift for their Captors. One of them was holding a rather large bomb in his chest. It was nothing less than a small MAC shell. The timer that had been placed on it, told the GOU that time had run out...
...2...
...1...
...0...

PM's House, Illesia

"Well," Ashe seemed to thinking about something, looking down at a datapad that she had settled on her lap. After a few moments, she smiled and gave a small nod,
"As we are planning to bring in the People's Army in a follow up fleet, the same as we did against the Greal, all we have to do is detatch one of our fleets. Luckily, as they are all in high alert, we could launch them immediately. However, speed is of the essence if we are to keep the Danaversians off balance. Here," She pressed a button, "This is what we plan to send. Both of us" She grinned.

The message was a simple message and it was sent to both Admirals,
Order of Battle for Alversian III Fleet
APS Challenger - Crossfire Class Dreadnought
APS Foxhound - Forlorn Class Battlecruiser
APS Fuschia - Scarlett Class Cruiser
APS Magenta - Scarlett Class Cruiser
APS Melody - Unity Class Cruiser
APS Iron Maiden - Iron Cross Class AA Cruiser
x 5 Destroyers.

Total Strength: 11 Warships

Order of Battle for Aluminan Fleet
1 x Scmitar Class Battleship
1 x Hadralia Class Battlecruiser
3 x Cruisers
3 x Destroyers

Total Strength: 8 Warships

PM Office, Illesia

"They have, have they?" Owens took the news of the Greali message quietly and sat back for a moment, chewing over what she was going to say. At the same time that the Aide had entered in Rio Casa, she had recieved the message via the small screen built into her desk. She frowned lightly,
"I cannot pretend that I am a fan of the Greali but they have offered to help and, as Prime Minister Marchamp has already stated, against the Danaversians, we shall need all the help we can get. I therefore think we should accept their offer, though cautiously for now."

Relentless

The room had been significanlty damaged and was in dire need of repair, these rooms were fragile to explosives. One GOU was killed by the explosion, his body picked up and sent to become anothers meal.

Tenfour Stargate Facility

KW-64 responded " Our Goverment wants to declare war upon the Danaversians, our casualties are now above 350 KIA, we don't expect you to help(What help have they really brought?, he thought).

APS Nero
Alversian DMZ

Without any warning, a small ship appeared on the edges of the Alversian DMZ. It was a Greywatch scouter, a common sight along with the Explorers, both had more-or-less the same purpose. The Explorers were meant for actual exploration and first contact missions, the Scouters were meant to handle looking into the intersting stuff and, if need be, establishing first contact. Being a scouter, it was small and had very few weapons systems. Instead, these ships were meant to be very fast and very difficult to hit, and occassionally came with some sort of cloak. After initiating some scans the ship moved forward to find out if anything interesting was in the area.

Outer Wuin System,
Xiscapian Space

Chance is a funny thing to the Forbidden Ministry, and today, things would probably be considered hilarious. A ship dropped out of red PSR on the edge of the system, but it was no Greywatch ship. This was very different from anything Greywatch would ever make. The ship's black hull shimmered in the starlight and a faint red glow came from power reactors, engines, and the ships multiple windows. This was a Forbidden Ministry ship, and a large one at that, being about 3Km in length and armed with plenty of weaponry. Of course, this ship wasn't here for a fight, but was instead looking for something else, something specific. The Forbidden Ministry had been wanting to expand for a little while now, and what could possibly be better for scouting out suitable worlds than an advanced and prototype warship? The ship began initiating scans of the system, long range scans bringing up some interesting images. It wasn't the Forbidden Ministry's business but this was something they felt obliged to check out, who knows what one could find. Little were they aware that a battle had recently taken place and little did they know that they had already met one of the players...

Hurtrix,
Greali Empire

As if it wasn't enough, without any warning a Greywatch ship appeared. Like all other Greywatch ships, its presence became very noticeable very quickly as it sent a large gravatational disturbance throughout the area as it pulled from PSR. The massive blue rift closed behind it once it was finally out. It was near the area the conflict had taken place but not close enough to pick it up on short-range sensors. The ship sat for a few moments, unaware of what had just occured in the area, before pulling forward. It was here to explore and establish contact with new races and that's exactly what it intended to do.

Aeisha's voice could be heard again coming from all throughout the ship. "Very well. I do plan on continuing relations, due to the dire threat posed by these new invaders. But first, your comrades." She took in the coordinates from the planet and proceeded to move to the coordinates specified. The frigate moved with startling speed, quickly approaching the vector specified and then began to have robots awakened to begin loading pods on dropships. Aeisha, once again, disconnected from the Psi-Link and stood up again, gazing at Cinas.

"Your escape pods are being loaded into my dropships and will be sent down to the location given to me. I will be proceeding to that location myself. You may leave as you see fit." Aeisha then bowed and walked away, moving to get into a dropship and head down to the planet.

Rio Casa, XIN HQ...
"I have elected to deploy the First Assault Fleet for this operation, commanded by Vice Admiral Murdoc. I do not have a full report from the XGA yet, but their initial numbers detail two infantry battalions, and Commander Holly of the Mechanized Division indicates a mechanized platoon and supporting weapons platforms and artillery. The full numbers are here:
Xiscapian First Assault Fleet ORBAT:
First Assault Fleet: (Fleet 5)
2x Dominator class Battleships (A.I. 1, Alversia)
2x Annihilator class Destroyers (Krystal, Grass)
4x Wasp class Cruisers (A.I. 3, A.I. 2, A.I. 9, The Darkness)
1x Protection class Medical Ship (Silk)
1x Nova class Carrier (A.I. 7)
Element of the Sixth Fleet:
Korr Destroyer (Pain)

182d Xiscapian Grand Army Battalion (Lieutenant Colonel Shakko)
909th Xiscapian Grand Army Battalion (Lieutenant Colonel Dirge)
Mechanized Infantry Platoon
24x 'Piecemaker' Artillery guns
2x Supermecha

"Our combined forces should be more than enough to take the planet." Krystal's head swiveled to look to Grant. "And you, Admiral Grant? What troops and ships will you commit to battle?"

Rio Casa, Palace, Imperial Conference Room...
The Emperor nodded once, gravely. "I may not like it, but we cannot afford to be choosy of our allies in time of need. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I will have the scribes issue an official statement accepting the Greali terms and formally recognizing them as a temporary ally to the Kitsune Empire. I will also arrange a meeting with their representatives at some time in the future to discuss the situation, but my message will also urge them to commit forces to assist us if at all possible."

Official Statement from the Imperial Palace, Rio Casa, Xiscapia, the Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia:
On this day, Year of our Lord Emperor Foxfire Rose 15, Birth of the Ice Season, the Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia approves of an alliance with the Intergalactic Empire of Greal for the duration of the Danaversian War if the following provisions are met:
1. The Intergalactic Empire of Greal recognizes the Republic of Berrax as a free and independent state and respects her sovereign territory
2. The Intergalactic Empire of Greal signs a non-aggression pact with the Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia and all her allies, which applies for at least the duration of the Danaversian War
3. The Intergalactic Empire of Greal turns over all POWs acquired in this conflict to the Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia
If these conditions are met, the Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia vows to do everything in her power to assist the Intergalactic Empire of Greal against the Danaversian threat.
Signed,
Emperor Foxfire Rose (http://s212.photobucket.com/albums/cc317/Xiscapia/?action=view&current=Foxfiressignature.jpg)

Tenfour, Stargate Facility…
“You should not expect any help,” said Vanadict, voice hard. “The Celestis Treaty specifically states that any conflict Calaverias enters of her own accord is not a kitsune problem. However, we have a common enemy in the Danaversian Empire, and we cannot afford to ignore help. Our Overseers will assist your military and administration in any way they can if Calaverias does declare war. However, you cannot count on our assistance; we will be tied up in our own battles with them and will not always be available. Additionally, I have been instructed to inform you to relay a request to the Great Leader: The Emperor is politely asking Calaverias for a sum of nine billion credits annually, to help fund an Alliance we are entering. It would be wise for Calaverias to transfer the funds to us, because anything that helps the Alliance helps Xiscapia, which, in turn, helps Calaverias, and will strengthen relations.”

Azure Destruction...
"I will not see you there; the Governor has requested a meeting." Cinas bowed to the Psi-Knight as she walked away, turning with a swirl of robes to stride back to his shuttle, two guards following silently behind. Boarding quickly the shuttle exited, moving down to the planet as the escape pods were moved into drop ships and flown down to Slint. The specific area was a large landing pad, clear of any other vessels but populated by several engineering and medical teams, as a well as a marine perimeter. The Governor herself was there, standing in the shadow of one of the port buildings, a Black Guard standing behind her. There was an air of nervous excitement about the drop zone, both human-like and bekko kitsune shuffling and speaking in rapid whispers to each other.

Wuin System...
In an instant the platforms were coming back online, treating the FM vessel to the same show the Azure Destruction had received: The frantic beeps of thousands of lock-ons as laser turrets, missile batteries, ion cannons and MAC and railgun launchers swiveled in their mounts to target the invader. Almost as quickly one of the Battleships from the Third Assault Fleet, the Smoke, began to turn, flanked by the Cruisers Speed and Legacy, distant at the planet but obviously intending to power forward to intercept the ship. They would receive a message as, for the third time in less than an hour, the defenses of the Wuin System went on high alert:
Attention unidentified vessel, you have breached the territory of the Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia and have entered a restricted area. Please power down all weapons, lower your shields and prepare to be boarded. Attempts to escape, resistance, noncompliance with our requests, firing of weaponry or launching of small craft will be regarded as hostile acts and be dealt with accordingly.

The response from the ship would be an odd one, as there were no words. Instead, a transmission came back in Cryptic, not the ability but the ancient demonic language. A series of low beeps, whispers, and muffled sounds were all that was in the transmission. But any ship that got close would notice there were no signs of the ship having any weapons or shields at all. In fact, all scans would show was that there was an object there. But to comply with the Xiscapians, a hanger door opened, bright red and white lights would flash around the entrance to allow any visitors in. There was much more to the ship than met the eye, anyone who got within a few hundred kilometers of it would learn this immediately. All lifeforms crossing this threshold would feel a tightness in their chest, like a specteral hand reaching outward and squeezing down on their heart. The sensation would last only for a second and then vanish, after the sensation was felt, another tranmission would be put through:

I am waiting... come closer....

The voice used would be slow and deep, unnatural in its sound. Yet for all the suspiscion such a transmission would stir, the voice sounded somewhat happy, like it was happy to have visitors. Of course, the Forbidden Ministry's Drones had come into contact with the Xiscapians before, and the fact that the ship was in their space did nothing but arouse curiousity. The ship wanted them, it wanted them to come closer, to board it, it wanted this more than anything.

Tenfour Stargate Facility

KW-64 was the Great Leader, just like everyone else was. He was uneffected by the Kitsunes hard response " Here's is an alternate offer for your goverment, well make it ten billion annualy if you remove two of your Overseers, do you not agree?" he waited patiently for the answer.

Presidential Office, Nova Reginix

"They've responded, sir."

The president looked quietly at the message, with no expression on his face. After a few moments, "Prepare another response."

The aide nodded and walked off.

Official Statement of the Galactic Empire of Greal
We hereby accept the provisions included in the treaty. We have representatives that are requesting a location of where to meet. The representatives are Admiral Jetux Reton and Admiral Rammer.


OOC: Greywatch, your ship can't jump into Hurtrix, it has a FTL field on.

PM's House

"In that case, Admirals, we await only the imput of Setulan numbers as well as an area in which to concentrate our forces. I suggest that we choose somewhere along the DMZ. This will allow us to build our forces, safe from interference from the Danaversians, then allowing us to strike when we are ready. It will also provide a safe area to regroup, should we fail," The end note was sombre but not uncheerful. It had to be said, personally, Ashe thought a victory would be no bad thing this early into the war,
"When shall we assemble? It will take two days for the 3rd Fleet to reach the DMZ"

PM's Office

"Indeed," Owens nodded, "The inclusion of the Greali Naval Fleets would certainly bolster our own forces which are rather badly outnumbered by Danaversian forces. A meeting would be no bad thing, Emperor Rose. We need to stand united on this issue or we shall fall before the might of the Danaversian Empire."

Eternal Pain, Bridge...

Grant listened to the Admirals list the contributions to the assault with interest.
"Well...I'll throw in the majority of Eternal Pain for spice." He nodded to someone off screen, and the list of the ships involved from Setulan appeared.

1 Devastator-Class Battleship (Eternal Pain)
2 Harm-Class Carrier Cruisers (Militant, Longevity)
4 Fear-Class Cruisers (Raw Power, Adele, Majesty, Demolisher)
2 Terror-Class cruisers (Wail, Mother’s Blood)
9 Setulan-Class frigates (Orange, Red, Green squadrons)
12 Storm-Class frigates (Eagle, Hawk, Raven, Falcon squadrons)
12 Cobra-Class destroyers (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie squadrons)

"As you can see," he said dryly as the numbers hovered in the air, "We have quite a few ships to spare for the attack. The rest of the Task Force will wait at rendevous point and serve as either reinforcements, to escort in the troop ships, or if worse comes to worst...something we can use to hold back the inevitable counterattack." He looked off screen again.
"So far as the infantry is concerned, we'll provide the 11th Heavy Division under Major General Strong. They'll wait at the rendevous until we clear out the enemy resistance. Assembly is up to the Xiscapians; it's your system, your rules." He took a deep breath.
"Rules of engagement?"

Rio Casa

Marchamp nodded, pleased that the Greali had accepted so readily. He hoped they proved to be solid allies.

Wuin System...
A drop ship (http://devildalek.deviantart.com/art/Jakkar-Drop-Ship-54452638) sped towards the open hanger, Biohazard troopers (http://miggs69.deviantart.com/art/Chemical-Warfare-Field-Medic-62450060) shifting uneasily in their armor, nervous. Marines were not trained to navigate alien vessels if fighting broke out, and while SBAU would normally be sent on such a mission, they were not sufficiently protected from any number of nasty alien weaponry or diseases that could be used against them if those on this ship turned out to be hostile. A diplomat was on board, a female human-type this time, clad in the same attire as Cinas with short light green hair framing a heart-shaped face with orange eyes and orange fur, a blue sheath holding a katana sword like her counterpart. She did not like this mission either, and though the defensive platforms could blast the alien vessel apart in less time than it took to tell about it, there was the question of whether she and her guards would be able to get away before such occurred. Reservations pushed aside, the soldiers readied themselves as the drop ship settled into the hanger, the ramp clanging to the deck an instant before they came wearily down it, rifles up, ready to defend themselves.

Tenfour, Stargate facility...
Vanadict seemed to consider this for a moment. "Here's a different deal: We restrict all Overseer military power, meaning they will be permitted only limited control of your forces when you elect to give it over to them. In return, you pay us an annual sum of ten billion credits."

Xiscapia, Rio Casa, Imperial Palace...
The Emperor seemed to pause for a moment. "The Greali," he said finally, "are requesting a meeting with two of their representatives, Admiral Jetux Reton and Admiral Rammer. They will be patching though to here, so we can inform them of the plan and give them coordinates to the rendezvous point." He looked at both Prime Ministers. "The Greali have what all three of us lack: Strength in numbers, both in fleets and armies. My initial reservations notwithstanding, I feel they will be a strong backer during this conflict."

Xiscapia XIN HQ...
"Assembly is up to the Xiscapians; it's your system, your rules."
"Actually, assembly will be up to the Alversians," Krystal corrected quietly. "We control no territory near the DMZ, any starbases or outposts we use to launch this assault will be Alversian. I will leave the exact place up to Grand Admiral Ashe." She nodded to her Halfbreed counterpart.
"Rules of engagement?"
"Prisoners would be nice," said Krystal dryly. "We don't kill civilians, nor do we target civilian buildings, vehicles or areas, unless said structures, vehicles or areas are harboring enemy troops. Treatment of prisoners will come later if we actually manage to get any, as the Democratic Republic and Kitsune Empire have," she glanced at Ashe, "differing views on the subject. Give the enemy a chance to surrender and a chance to retreat, we're there to take the planet, destroying their fleets and armies is just a bonus. We find orbital bombardments of enemy ground targets acceptable as long as collateral damage is minimal, but WMDs should be reserved for extreme situations. Finally, if we do actually manage to take the planet, we will be occupying it."

The hanger certainly didn't look like one, it was like the entrance to some sort of temple. The room was massive and dark, it was actually like standing in a massive dark room. Some of the windows looked to made of staind glass. Dark markings and designs were all over the walls and violent, red tapastries hung from the cieling. The room was empty, no vehicles and no workers... as soon as the ship entered the doors began to close until they were half-way open. This was the ship's way of saying: 'you don't want to put their lives in danger, do you?' to the other ships in the area. But no harm would come to the diplomats on the Forbidden Ministry's watch. Immediately after they disembarked twenty Drones, all heavily armed and armored, would appear from seemingly nowhere, weapons aimed mainly at the soldiers. "All Drones, stand down. These are our guests...." Said a voice, the Drones immediately stood down. A door on the far side of the room slowly opened and a single figure walked out, he was dressed in black and red. His hair was a dark blue in color but in this light it looked black, his robes were like that of a priest, but much darker and his eye were obscured by dark glasses. He walked until he was upon the Xiscapian group, "Drones, dismissed." The Drones looked at each other for a moment before walking out of the room. "You'll have to excuse them, they don't like unexpected visitors... and you'll have to pardon the ship, its very curious about you, Xiscapian. If you're wondering why we're not dead even though the hanger door is still open, we're using a atmosphere shield, though I imagine you already knew that. So, what may I ask is the purpose of this little visit?" The man smiled a gentle, heartfelt smile.

OOC: Al, TG

PM House, Illesia

"I couldn't have put them better myself, Grand Admiral," Ashe listened as Krystal reeled off the information on the Rules of Engagement, smiling at some parts and nodding at others. It was only when she was done that the Half-Breed tapped a few buttons beneath the screen and brought up a series of co-ordinates for the other Admirals to see,
"This is where we shall have to assemble our force," She put simply, "The DMZ Armoured Defence Stations have erected their FTL Fields and they will affect all of yoru vessels save for our own. Therefore, if we assemble here," She pointed on a small map that both could see, "And move to here, we can deactivate one of the ADS FTL Fields and, in effect, open a gate to let us out. From there, it will be a simple stroll across the DMZ, hit their defences on the other side then advance to the planet itself. I forsee no difficulties. Do you have any questions?" She asked patiently.

PM Office

"Indeed, Emperor," Owens nodded, "The very fact that they are willing to grant the Berrax independance in order to secure this Alliance shows they must be willing to co-operate. We shall have to meet with their representives and have a long discussion with them. After all, we must be united on this war. We cannot have random attacks in random areas after all."

"I do have a question," asked Grant innocently. "When do we leave?" He had listened to the Rules of Engagement with an impassive face, though inwardly he wasn't so sure. Letting the enemy retreat in one piece was a new idea for him...but he would roll with it. What choice did he have?

Rio Casa...

"An enemy biting at our heels would be a serious setback, yes," said Marchamp. He looked at the Emperor, and then back at the PM.
"What support can we expect from the Greali, and why is there such bad blood between you?"

Nova Reginix

Meanwhile, massive Greal Fleets has assembled for war against the Danaversians. Morale was high, for the first time. They knew they have a chance of beating this foe. Admiral Reton and Rammer waited for a location point where they would meet the representatives. There were political problems still, few senators were angry at the president's decision to recognize the Berraxs as an independent nation.

Unknown Vessel...
"I could ask you the same thing," came the diplomats voice, cool, high and steady as she stepped down the ramp. She was at least a foot shorter, and far less intimidating than her counterpart seperated from her by the squad of Biohazard troopers, who now moved into lines of five to for an asile for her to walk down. She did so, robes flowing slightly down around her feet, eyes probing those of the man before her as she approached. "My name is Kira," she bowed, eyes on the being the whole time, "and I am the Xiscapian Ambassador sent to speak with you." She stopped several feet away from the robed one, orange eyes studying him intently.

"We do not particularly like vistors who come in uninvited and unannounced, sir. The purpose of my visit is solely to determine what you are, where you come from, and why you are here. I trust we can share information comfortably, as there is no need for aggression or hostility, neither of us have done anything provakatory. So, unknown alien, I ask," her head tilted slightly, a few locks of hair falling across her fair face, "who are you, from where do you come, and why are you here?"

Xiscapia, Rio Casa, XIN HQ...
"When do we leave?"
"Given that the Alversian fleet must have three days to arrive at the destination, and we require time coordinate and organize once we have assembled, I would put the launch of the Third Assault Fleet and the units from Task Force Eternal Pain anywhere between six hours and a day from now, and the actual attack about four to five days from today." Krystal looked to Grand Admiral Ashe to see if she agreed with her estimates, but in her office there was an electronic beep and she excused herself, answering it. On the screen there was now a Palace aide, one of the hundreds at the Imperial Palace assisting the Emperor, and, after bowing, he began to speak quickly:
"The Emperor has signed a peace and alliance Treaty with the Intergalactic Empire of Greal, and our Intelligence indicates that they are assembling their own fleets for attack. The Emperor suggests you bring their Fleet Admiral up to speed on the plan, and coordinate so that their forces arrive at the rendezvous point so they may assault the Danaversian in concert with Alversian, Alumina, Xiscapian and Setulan vessels. The correct frequency has been provided with this message in a security package, and I have been instructed to inform you that the Emperor urges haste. Grand Admiral," another bow and he was gone.

Krystal sat back and stared at the ceiling in reflection and consideration for a moment before reaching out to bring herself back to the meeting with her two allied counterparts. "It seems," she said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes, "that we have a new set of allies. The Intergalactic Empire of Greal has agreed to assist us, and the Emperor has asked me to coordinate with them so they may bring their own forces to the battle." She paused, awaiting comments or questions.

Meanwhile,

WARNING: THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN RATED YOUR EYES ONLY, DESTROY AFTER READING
Greetings to Fleet Admiral Minia of the Intergalactic Empire of Greal. I am Grand Admiral Krystal, head of the Xiscapian Imperial Navy, your counterpart in the Kitsune Empire. We, the Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia, the Democratic Republic of Alversia, the Pridelands of the Alumina and the Republic of Setulan, are planning an attack on the Danaversian Empire in a short time. We desperately need Greal aide to bolster our forces, as even the four mentioned nations combined cannot match the strength in numbers the Danaversian Empire holds. The coordinates of the assembly point for the attack are enclosed, along with a timetable and ORBATs from the Pridelands, Republic, Kitsune Empire and Democratic Republic. We expect you there.
-Grand Admiral Krystal

Xiscapia, Rio Casa, Imperial Palace, Imperial Conference Room...
"I do not know for certain how much support we can expect from the Greali, but their Navy is far larger and more heavily armed than any of ours. If they truely intend to help us, they will send a large amount of vessels, armadas I think, and armies of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. I know the Greali," the Emperor's expression was unreadable, "when they set out to do something, they throw everything they have at it."
He smiled then, or he at least snarled without noise, turning to look at Marchamp. "Now is neither the time nor the place to discuss past injuries from those who have pledged their support to us. Later, I will tell you, but not now. At present," there was a hum as communications stretched across the void, reaching each other for the first time since before the Imitator War, "we are meeting remotely with two of their diplomats. I do not know exactly what they wish to discuss, but I know the representatives are high-ranking Admirals, in positions of power in the Greali government."

OOC: Greal, we're meeting with you via holographic conference, since none of them could leave to be in person for the meeting. Setulan, you have a TG.

"There is nothing to explain," said the man calmly as Kira stepped towards him. He chuckled to himself as she introduced herself, his thoughts immediately turned to the Elden who shared the same name... a water user if he remembered correctly, and a damn good one at that. The FM kept tabs on her and her kin. His thoughts turned back to the diplomat, "Well, miss, I do not often like to have thousands of guns pointed at me, but alas, I cannot control events. Our purpose here... well there is none. We simply are here, passing through. Surely, you have not been so isolated that a few ships will appear every now and then... for no real purpose other than, maybe, exploration? We are somewhat the same." He looked around him, admiring the vessel and its uniqueness. "But we mean you no harm, you saw no weapons, shields... we allowed you to come aboard, even with such a rude and slightly overpowered response. To be honest, we are curious as to why you Xiscapians are so riled by our presence... maybe the husks of ships have something to do with it? Perhaps a battle?" The man gave a large grin, almost as if he didn't take this seriously. He walked back, "I'm sur eyou've come into contact with us before, at one point or another. We know you Xiscapians very well.... our Drones have seen your kind many times... you're such an interesting race. So full of promise," he paused in thought, Greywatch had met the Xiscapians, there was a diplomat in Greywatch right now. How fitting that the Forbidden Ministry and not Greywatch would find an Xiscapian system, "yet so mysterious at the same time. But you wanted information, no?" He clapped his hands and the group would find themselves in a new room altogether. This one was long, a dark throne at the end of it, pillars to the side, tapestries hanging from the ceiling. The room was black and lit only with red lights. Drone guards stood in front of each pillar facing the group, their dark features exposed as each one only wore a pair of black pants. A man sat at the end of the room, in the throne, he looked over the Xiscapians with cold, dark eyes. He looked over each one carefully, looking into their very core, "So these are Xiscapians... I see. So they visit us? Matthew, leave now." The man who had greeted the Xiscapian party nodded and left the room the same way they came, he simply disappeared. The other man looked to the Xiscapians again, his body shrouded by a dark cloud, "You wish to know who we are? We are no one, we are not your enemies, that is all. From where do we hail? Why should you know? I see no reason to tell you that; we've come into contact with you and you've come into contact with us. That is all you need to know. Why are we here? We seek something specific, and it is not you. But now I wish to ask you a question. What conflict have you just fought in? I know an enemy came for your kind and you held your ground. Yes, I know this. The ship permits me this knowledge through means you do not need to understand."

Hurtrix

The Assault Fleets were assembled. The First, the Second and the Fourth Assault Fleets would make the bulk of the attacking force, but the Second Assault Fleet would stay as reserve. The Assault Fleets were to be accompanied by the First Foreign Fleet and the Seventh Fleet. Also assembling were the massive support and logistics fleet. There were twice as many support vessels as there were fighting vessels. The support vessels would stay out of the fighting and stay in designated safe zones. They were escorted by police frigates. Admiral Herlin who was killed in the battle with the Danaversians was replaced by Admiral Epson. Epson had made his way through the ranks ever since being appointed the command of the battleship Falcon. The Naval Command and Epson resented each other. But Epson had friends in the government, and he was popular with his men, so the Naval Command could do no more then annoy him. Epson ignored the Naval Command and set out to work. Organizing five naval fleets and not to mention, many support vessels was not as easy as it looked.

Epson was on the bridge of the Vista, which had seen combat against many different races in a short period of time. Epson wondered what the Danaversians would be like. Epson had fought Berraxs, Zillars and more recently, the Xiscapians. Now he had to coordinate with the people who nearly destroyed him and his crew. That was more annoying to him. After receiving coordinates from the Naval Command, the Fleets jumped to the assembly point, and waited to see what welcome they would get.

Conference Room, Naval Command, Nova Reginix

Reton and Rammer were more resentful of each other then they hated the Xiscapians. Reton was new, made his reputation by defeating the Zillars in seven different naval battles. Rammer was a bit political, but he spent most of his time reforming the Navy, earning him a reputation. After the Field of Dreams incident, it was a wonder why the Naval Command didn't fire him, let alone let him keep his rank. Reton and Rammer walked into the room and began the meeting. They were both dressed in military uniforms on screen. Reton spoke first simply, making Rammer annoyed, though Rammer was curious what the Xiscapians thought.

"Greetings. I am Admiral Reton. This is Admiral Rammer"

OOC:

1st Assault Fleet

1 Mobias Class Superbattleship (Warrior)
3 Striker Class Battleships (Pain, Skull, Black Rock)
1 Guardian Class Escort Carrier (Interdictor)
3 Niller Class Carriers (John, Honor, Siege)
10 Frimtrix Class Cruisers
10 Lasom Class Frigates
2 Orlin Class Mine Ships (Cruiser, Alversia)
2 Proformer Class Hospital Ships (Torn, Arrow)

2nd Assault Fleet

1 Mobias Class Superbattleship (Black Spider)
3 Striker class Battleships (Contact, Engine, Falcon)
3 Niller Class Carriers (Bash, Iron Hull, Silver Hand)
10 Frimtrix Class Cruisers
10 Lasom Class Frigates
2 Orlin Class Mine Ships (Property, Number One)
2 Proformer Class Hospital Ships (Diller, Month)

4th Assault Fleet

1 Concerm Class Superfortress (Vista)
2 Striker Class Battleships (Rockman, Lekos)
3 Niller Class Carriers (Galaxy, Galactic Empire, Shredder)
1 Guardian Class Escort Carrier (Imperial)
10 Frimtrix Class Cruisers
10 Lasom Class Frigates
2 Orlin Class Mine Ships (Fillix, Ground)
2 Proformer Class Hospital Ships (Lewis, Bombing Rock)

1st Foreign Fleet

4 Wrath Class Gravitic Battleship (Drain, Wrath, Taperlin, Station)
39 Valiant class light escort ships
2 Proformer Class Hospital Ships (Blanket, Grave)

7th Fleet

1 Striker Class Battleships (Marine)
4 Frimtrix Class Cruisers (Orion, Master, Servant, Prisoner)
10 Lasom Class Frigates
1 Orlin Class Mine Ship (Police)
1 Proformer Class Hospital Ship (Winner)

PM House

"Five or six days is not too bad a time schedule," Ashe agreed heartily "and, of course, the sooner we can strike, the sooner we can take the planet and end this war." She took the news of the Greali alliance and listened to it patiently, nodding at a view points,
"I cannot deny that Greali numbers would be welcome for a mission such as this. We shall meet then in three or so days, Admirals. Hopefully, this strike will be a great victory for our cause in this war"

PM Office

"Indeed, Emperor," Owens nodded, "Their numbers will certainly aide our cause in this war. It may even help to open a new bond between our peoples. We can always hope." She turned to face the screen as the two Greali Admirals appeared. She gave each a small nod,
"I am Prime Minister Sammi Owens," She stated simply, "Political Leader of Alversia. I presume you already know of my opposite number in Rio Casa? The Emperor Foxfire Rose?"

ADS Nero

At the AD Station, an area wreaked by the battle, and therefore filled with floating debris, some of it still sparking, and fires raging across the platforms. There were a series of Alversian fighters being repaired and some others were being scrapped for the damage they had suffered. It was here that the Greywatch vessel appeared,
At the controls of the Station was Lieutenant Hillary. The previous operator had been killed while on duty. Lord only knew what his name was or what had happened to him. All that mattered was that he was dead,
"Unidentified vessel, please identify yourself" He demanded tiredly. The stress of combat had frayed his temper somewhat.

The Azure Destruction stayed floating above the area, as the pods were unloaded by Persecutors with great efficiency, handing them off to the Xiscapian forces, to get them out of the pods and back into the open air. As all this happened, another dropship flew down and landed, and the large bulk of Aeisha stepped out, with two Persecutors as guards. They walked up until they were a fair distance from the Governor and then paused. Aeisha bowed, as she had with Cinas and began to speak.

"Greetings, Governor. I am Psi-Knight Aeisha of the Inter-Union of Helios. I am here to open up relations and play the diplomatic game so to speak."

Encrypted Message to: Emperor Foxfire

From: Great Leader of Calaveras

As you have heard we have now officially declared war upon the Danaversian Empire, already falling into a fight of our own with them. A deal was made with your ambassador to lessen the power of the Overseers and in return pay you 10 billion credits annualy, the currency will arrive through stargate if you like. On to my main point, we would like to know of any Danaversian worlds that are charted by the Xiscapian Empire or Alversians so that we may launch an assault upon them.

Hurtrix,
Greali Empire

As if it wasn't enough, without any warning a Greywatch ship appeared. Like all other Greywatch ships, its presence became very noticeable very quickly as it sent a large gravatational disturbance throughout the area as it pulled from PSR. The massive blue rift closed behind it once it was finally out. It was near the area the conflict had taken place but not close enough to pick it up on short-range sensors. The ship sat for a few moments, unaware of what had just occured in the area, before pulling forward. It was here to explore and establish contact with new races and that's exactly what it intended to do.

Hurtrix System

A strange ship coming into Hurtrix didn't go unnoticed. Alerts were sounded around the remaining fleets, and they were all aiming their long range weaponry such as the Mauler superweapons at the ship, which seemed to be blind. On board the Superfortress, Captain Bolvan watched the ship closely, but meanwhile he would have to send a message to this ship.

Attention Unidentified ship, you have entered Sector Forty one of the Greali Galactic Empire, which is restricted. You are hereby ordered to power down your weapons, and lower your shields. Our marines will board your ship soon. Attempts to escape, resistance, no cooperation with our requests, firing of weapons or launching of any small craft will be regarded as hostile acts, and will be dealt with quickly.

Unknown Vessel…
“We have never made contract with you before,” Kira shook her head, “and if you have made contract with us, it was secret, off the record, or a very long time ago, lost in the pages of history. You say you are no one, you will not say why you are here or from where you come, but you know who we are; you wish to know who we fight. You give me answers wrapped in deceit, or no answers at all, yet you believe I should tell you these things of which you ask. You have not answered my questions,” her voice, cool before, was now cold, “I will not answer yours. Such is the way of diplomacy. You have given me no reason to trust you: If you truly wish to establish contact and have your questions answered, stay. If you insist on wasting my time with cryptic words and misdirection, you may depart. Choose.”

XIN HQ…
“Excellent,” Krystal smiled in true warmth now. “Vice Admiral Murdoc will be meeting with you, Admiral Grant, and whoever you elect to send, Grand Admiral, at the assembly point before the battle when the time comes. For now, I bid you farewell good health for both yourselves and your peoples.” She bowed, and cut the connection, turning in her chair. There was much to be done to prepare for the attack, kitsune to brief and outfit, ships to arm and stock, vehicles to be checked and papers to be filled out. She called up her holographic Naval account and began to make the necessary calls…

Xiscapia, Rio Casa, Imperial Palace, Imperial Conference Room…Though it would be impossible for any of those present to tell, the Emperor was surprised. The two men in front of him were the last two Greali he would have expected to be chosen for a diplomatic conference with him, though both had histories with Xiscapia. Rammer was an interesting case: Several months ago, he had been approached by a kitsune Rebel against Xiscapia by the name of Yoki, expressing her interest in allying what was left of the Rebellion with the Intergalactic Empire of Greal. Rammer agreed, and a short time later Yoki was sent a Greali Escort Carrier to her use to bolster the Rebellion Navy. From then Yoki would occasionally bill Rammer for supposed ‘Rebel actions against the enemies of the Intergalactic Empire’, usually claiming credit when Calaverian, Zillar or Berrax ships were destroyed or lost or troops were killed. In actuality, every single one of the operations could be chalked up to pirate activity, equipment malfunctions, incompetence or operations by unknown outside groups.

The climax came when Yoki ordered a small flotilla of Greali vessels to be built for her, the order being completed in less than three months, citing that ‘now was the time for the Rebellion to strike against the Kitsune Empire.’ Rebels took control of the ships, and moved them to Nova Max as part of the defenses, while Admiral Rammer and Yoki took an ‘extended vacation’ with each other aboard Yoki’s private ship, the Field of Dreams. Meanwhile several Xiscapian fleets converged on the Greali-held world of Nova Max and entered combat with the defenders. The Rebel Fleet immediately opened fire on the Greali fleet, taking them by surprise and destroying or damaging many vessels. At that time Rammer had been Commander of a starbase near the Greali capitol, and the Rebels had left behind Yoki’s second-in-command, a Korr, who, with the help of a platoon of Rebels, killed the officers on the station and took control, destroying the starbase and themselves, as well as hundreds of thousands of Greali. On the Field of Dreams, Yoki turned on Rammer, threatening him with a pistol, telling him that she was actually a Xiscapian agent, that all the Rebels were actually volunteers or Xiscapian soldiers, and the entire scheme had actually been a joint XIN-Shadow Ops operation to take Nova Max and inflict heavy damage on the Intergalactic Empire. She forced him to make a message, sent to the Nova Max defenders, pleading with them to retreat on the pain of his death. The Greali retreated, the Xiscapians claimed Nova Max, and Rammer, along with seventy-five captured soldiers, was returned to the Intergalactic Empire.

It had been a humiliation for the Intergalactic Empire, one of their own Commanders being deceived, losing funds and ships to their greatest enemy who used them to destroy Greali equipment and infrastructure and kill Greali troops and conquer Greali territory. So the Emperor wondered why Rammer hadn’t mysteriously disappeared, or been quietly assassinated by his own government, and why he was here, participating in this conference with them. But it was the other one, the one who spoke, that drew the Emperor’s attention, Admiral Reton. This was the man responsible for the atrocity committed against the Kitsune Empire, Reton the Murderer, who the Greali claimed to have gone into hiding to escape persecution. Now, it was obvious, he had been under Greali command and control the whole time, occupying a high-ranking position in their Navy. It infuriated the Emperor, this insult, a slap in the face after all that had happened.
But he was careful not to let his feelings show. Reton would have his day.
Foxfire Rose would make sure of it.
“Admirals,” he bowed, “delighted to make your acquaintance.”

Wuin System, Slint, city of Drakko, Port…
“Governor Drell of the Wuin System,” Drell introduced herself, bowing, “it is an honor.” Behind her the solitary Black Guard stood in perfect stillness, arms flat at his sides, watching the two Persecutors without giving any indication of doing so. Around them the crew and soldiers of the destroyed Xiscapian vessels were being extracted from the escape pods, some loaded onto stretchers and taken away by medical teams, others led away by marine soldiers. Drell smiled softly at the Psi-Knight. “I am aware one of our diplomats already sent you much information on the Kitsune Empire, but if you have any questions, please, now is the time to ask. In the meantime, shall we move to a more comfortable area?” She indicated the beige building behind her, colored orange by the light, in which a metal door had been set and was open, revealing simple but comfortable furnishings inside.

Destroy after reading
Message to the Observed System of Celestis, Celestis
Xiscapia, Rio Casa, Imperial Palace
We have pinpointed the location of a single world, and the coordinates are enclosed in this message. If you wish to strike this planet we would suggest you do so in five days time, as that is when Grand Admiral Krystal plans to do so, along with an Allied coalition force. However, Calaverian forces must retreat and not land to occupy the planet after the battle if it is a victory. If this is not agreed to, any Calaverian forces arriving at the planet will be fired upon by Coalition forces.

Well that would not help Calaveras at all, they needed new worlds to expand, Pamp and Celestis were not enough, they needed one if not two more at least. Celestis had only just begun its expansion, formerly a isolated world, it would become a sort of Isolated empire after it settled down with its claims. This would not do, simply would not do. The Great Leader decided they would send an Observer along with the coalition to well...observe the situation, and try to get intell on other possible Danaversian worlds.

APS Nero
Alversian DMZ

The scouter quickly shot back a reply:
Greywatch Scouter 115, we're not hostile. I repeat, we're not hostile. Can you tell us where we are? Have we trespassed on your space?

Hurtrix
Greali Empire

The Explorer waited a moment before proceeding with sending a message. A message was sent to Greywatch before anything else, then the captain worked on a response.
Weapons aren't even activated at the moment. Shields will be down momentarily. We will have a party ready to accept you.

Outer Wuin System
Xiscapian Space

"The fact I bothered to ask at all was courtesy and nothing more. I'll have my information in a moment, whether you help or not. Ship." There was a pause and then a loud booming voice that echoed throughout the room, "What?" The man stood up, "Don't 'what' me. You know exactly what." There was a deep echoing groan, "Fine, fine. I'm reaching out right now. Not too much data seems to be available." The man sat back down, "Tell me when you find something interesting. We both know Cryption will tell us what we need to know." The voice came back, "Understood." The man looked back to Kira, "You have every reason to trust me, Xiscapian. You're not dead yet, and we haven't simply left the system the way we came in. It may seem like little to you, but for a group of our skill, that's a big deal. Considering that if your were anyone else, I would have you in space right now while this ship would leave the system faster than you're pitiful FTL systems could follow. But don't take my word for it... you said our contacts with us were not official? Contact your leader and tell them the Forbidden Ministry is willing to fight for their cause, free of charge. Hopefully your leader actually bothers to keep tabs on people like us." The man waited for a response, his body still consumed in shadow.

"The commander of our ships shall be Admiral King of the III Fleet," Ashe said, smiling now that the planning was over, "And the Aluminan Forces shall be led by Pantheria-Admiral Milus. We shall meet again, once the Offensive is complete. Admirals," The half-breed nodded to them both and switched off her screen, sighing. It was a lot to undertake in so short a time. Without the Greali numbers, she would have been unsure about the success of such a mission. Now though, she was more hopeful. They had the numbers and the equipment to triumph now. She was sure of it.

PM's Office

Sammi Owens nodded to both Greali Admirals, unaware as to who they were and if they had shared a history with Xiscapia. The Kitsune's war on the Greali Empire had been no business of the Alversian Empire until recently when they had taken advantage of a seeming collapse to liberate the world of Miller. The battle had been minor, with less than a dozen losses over all,
"Admirals, welcome to these talks," She said politely.

APS Nero, Alversian DMZ

"We are recovering from an attack on our defences from a hostile force," The Operatoring Lieutenant explained lazily, "If you are not hostile, what is your purpose in this sector?"

Grant listened intently about the Greali joining them.
"As long as they don't flake or turn on us. As for who will be leading the Setulan fleet..." He shot both Admirals a dare devil smile.
"I will." The signal was cut. He turned to his bridge crew.
"Alright, yall. I want the entire Task Force to be ready to break orbit in five minutes the moment we get the order. I'll send the rules of engagement to each captain. We'll kill all of these fuckers and show our allies how Republicans fight!"

Rio Casa

Marchamp nodded slowly at the emperors words.
"Fair enough."
When the Greali Admirals appeared on the screen, he simply smiled and said
"Prime Minister Marchamp of the Republic of Setulan." That aside, Marchamp noticed a...change...in the Emperor when the Admirals appeared. Nothing overt, and few would have picked up on it, but Marchamp realized that the Emperor, for whatever reason, wanted those two admirals dead.

Conference Room, Naval Command, Nova Reginix

Reton looked at the screens. There was a Alversian Prime Minister, a Xiscapian Emperor, and a Prime Minister from a nation called Setulan. Reton bitterly detested the Xiscapians and Alversians and he would deal with them after the war ends. The Danaversians would certainly lose against this coalition.

"Now lets get to the point here. First off, how many nations are involved in this coalition, and which nations are they. Second off, Admiral Epson is in charge of the Greali naval task force. Please do your best to coordinate with him, he's not exactly a listener and likes to do things on his own. And third off, I shall be interested to know what you will be doing with the Danaversian worlds if we win."

Hurtrix System

As the Greywatch ship was sending their message, the Greali drop ships were already on their way. Another message was sent to the unknown ship.

We request you open your hangers for our boarding parties or we will be forced to cut a hole somewhere on your ship so our marines cna go through there.

Unknown Vessel...
The Forbidden Ministry. Well, at least now she had a tail to pin on the ass, so to speak. Kira turned around to the lead Biohazard soldier of her guard, murmuring instructions to him quietly. A minute of mutters and long-range communications in native Xiscapian language resulted, before Kira finally turned from the soldier to face the man again. When she opened her mouth she uttered a long string of numbers, to what or why she did not indicate, knowing that they would not be lost on the ears in here. When she finished she bowed gracefully, baleful orange eyes on the man the entire time, before straightening up. "We await you." she said softly, a pale hand waving to indicate the room in general. "This meeting is concluded. I would like for myself and my men to be taken back to our shuttle now."

Xiscapia, Rio Casa, Imperial Palace, Imperial Conference Room...
"At present there are four nations, not including yourselves, in the coalition against the Danaversians," the Emperor answered, "The Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia, the Democratic Republic of Alversia, the Republic of Setulan and the Pridelands of Alumina. However, this may change, growing or weakening, as the war wares on. Your Admiral Epson will be responsible for his own failures if such comes to pass, if he cannot coordinate with Allied leaders it will probably be at the cost of his ships and men. Finally, I cannot speak for the Democratic Republic, Republic or the Pridelands, but the Kitsune Empire will probably be occupying any captured worlds for at least a short time, pending planetary stability, conditions of our own military and economy and any agreements between Allied officials on how and when to decide what to do with captured territory."

APS Nero
Alversian DMZ

We're a scouter. We scout things, jump into star systems to find anything interesting. That's all, we aren't really meant to do much more. I mean, this is a twenty man ship, there's not much we could do to you even if we wanted to. If it helps, I could try to get someone from Greywatch on a line and you could speak to them.

Hurtrix
Greali Empire

Try that and watch how many guns get shoved up your ass in the process. I do not tolerate threats, I'm already complying as fast as I can but my ship takes some time to return to full fuctionality after PSR travel. I will have the hanger doors open in a moment, in the meantime, learn patience and drop you attitude, it's more annoying than scary.

After a few moments, the hanger doors would begin to open and the hanger would be clear of shuttles and fighters. A crew waited to intercept the incoming teams. The welcoming party wasn't without weapons, if these people tried to take the ship, they'd certainly have a difficult time trying to. There was one diplomat standing ready, with three Leanorian high-guard, four unarmed Drones, and a few human soldiers. Technicians scrambled to have everything ready by the time the Greali arrived.

Outer Wuin System
Xiscapian Space

The man listened to every number, the Drones remembering and recording each digit instantly. It would be useful later, probably. Both the man and the Drones listened intently to everything, both native tounge and numbers. Everything was recorded as it happened. The man lifted his left hand and, after a long pause, snapped his fingers. The entire Xiscapian group was back in the hanger, all alone, not even a Drone among them. Their ship was waiting for them, no telling what the Forbidden Ministry might have done to it whiel the group had been gone; the hanger doors immediately opened to allow the group to leave whenever they were ready.

Conference Room, Naval Command, Nova Reginix

"Alright. If the Danaversians beat us off when we strike first, will we be going on defensive or strike again? Though I doubt a defeat, many in the Naval Command is concerned about the Danaversian capabilities." said Reton, clearly concerned about the Danaversians. He did not want to be blamed for a defeat. Luckily, he could use Epson.

Hurtrix System

Three Drop ships had landed. Marine squads were ready and poured off the drop ships armed to the teeth. Some carried grenade launchers, large laser weapons. Among them was also a diplomat and a grim looking Marine commander. The marines were looking around at the unfamiliar surroundings when the diplomat came up to the welcoming group and asked,"I have a few questions. First off, who are you, and why are you here?"

ADS Nero, Alversian DMZ

"Well, in that case," The Alversian Lieutenant shrugged, wartime was no excuse to be impolite,
"If you wish to dock in bay one then we shall have someone there to meet you. Apologies for the difficulty in landing but we have just fought off an attack and Bay One is the only bay still active for the moment".

PM's Office, Rio Casa

"At the moment, we are planning to occupy planets only if it is necessary," Owens explained, "At the moment we are unaware of the geography or population of the Danaversian Planet. If it is 100% Danaversian, then we may have an issue in capturing it." Owens narrowed her eyes as she watched the Greali. They weren't exactly the most enduring race she had ever met.

However, this indication of her disapproval went no further than the narrowing of her eyes. Other than this, she gave no sign of her thoughts,
"The Commander of the Alversian Forces shall be Admiral Marlon King while the Alumina shall be led by Patheria-Admiral Milus. If you cannot co-operate with them in battle and it costs any Allied ships, then their blood is on your hands. The attack is due to take place in around five days time. If you wish to take part, then I suggest you gather at the co-ordinates."
Owens gave a small nod to indicate the co-ordinates were on their way,
"Any more queries?" She asked patiently.

"Speaking about the occupation of the planets is slightly premature," said Marchamp idly. "Though I hate to sound defeatist, we really have no idea how this battle will turn out. One step at a time, friends." He shook his head.
"We must first break in our forces by destroying the enemy navy. Admiral Grant will lead his Task Force for the Republic of Setulan, Admirals. I advise cooperation from all parties. Failure to band together now might have very serious results later." Marchamp gave the Greali Admiral a cold look.
"I will make myself very, very clear. If this Admiral Epson goes off half cocked and causes the death of any of the Republic's soldiers by his actions-indeed, if he causes any unecessary deaths at all amongst any of the allies in the coallition-there will be very serious consequences for him."
"Regarding the offensive after the strike...we will have to see. Such things are better left to military leaders to decide then our own. Time will tell."

He desperately wanted to talk to the Emperor in confidence about the Greali. The subtle signs from both the Emperor and the Prime Minister were unsettling. How dependant were these Greali, anyway?

Hurtrix
Greali Empire

The Leanorian High Guard chuckled among themselves as the marines exitted, as if weapons like that were going to do anything if a fight broke out. The Drones simply stood silent and ready, if there was a fight to be fought, it would be over more than quickly. Only the humans were slightly intimidated but even they stood firm and didn't show it. The diplomat gave a roll of his eyes, "Yes, my name a Matthew, nice to meet you too. You'd think you could ask those two questions of yours before storming a ship with enough forces to perform a failed raid on a small Elden village but fine, whatthehell." His voice wasn't exactly harsh, but more completely uncaring, as if the the fact that so many soldiers were there was more of a bad joke than a threat. "This is Greywatch Explorer, that being said, we're from Greywatch and our purpose here is to explore. I figured the fact that there were no weapons online would sorta hint at the whole 'we're not hostile' aspect of our visit but apparently not. Your group seems to be beyond uptight and that's making my group beyond uptight so maybe this blatent penis wagging should stop and we could all cease being beyond uptight. I ask that you try to holster your weapons since its obvious just from looking at this room that we're not a warship." The diplomat waved his hand and a holoscreen appeared in front of him. It displayed the wreckage outside the ship, floating around the planet, "Huh, lotta wreckage out there, I can only assume that you were fighting someone just now. Well that might explain your over-the-top attitude, though by no means does it excuse your over-the-top attitude. But hell, that's really just my opinion. So, what else are you intending to ask, Mr. Interegator?" The diplomat gave no change in expression but had a feeling someone was going to ask for a grand tour of sorts, just to waste his time.

APS Nero
Alversian DMZ

Understood, we'll be moving forward now.
With that short message the Scouter began its approach to the docking bay that had been spoken of. Hopefully this contact could go over well and Greywatch might make a new ally.

Hurtrix System

Forty Marines headed back to one of the drop ships and it took off and flew back to the Klackon. The Klackon watched the Greywatch ship closely. One wrong move would end everyone's lives on the ship. The diplomat and the Marine commander knew they were on a suicide mission if that happened. The diplomat looked at Mathew with his cold eyes and seemed to not care about what he just said."Well yes. Right now we are cautious since the Danaversians have attacked." The Marines now stood there, holding their weapons aimed all over the place, while other marines were looking at their small computers. "I apologize, but this is a serious time and I have orders. What were your intentions assuming you found someone here?"

The diplomat, more than happy to see a group of the marines leaving, felt more willing to open up. "Good, now this feels like a proper diplomatic contact. So you were attacked? By some group known as the Danaversians? Great, someone else to add to my 'groups to avoid' list. But that's a topic for later, you were asking 'what next?' The intentions of Greywatch after finding someone here is the same as anyone else, anywhere else. We establish contact, find out if the people we came across are friendly, have a chat with some tea, start breaking out treaties assuming things get that far, and then go through moutains of paperwork to explain our discoveries to our superiors. As of right now, this system has already been marked as 'occupied,' and our government pretty much knows about everything up to you first boarding this ship. As far as they're concerned, as long as you don't fire on us for no reason, there's no reason for us to fight."

Hurtrix System

The Greali diplomat looked at the remaining two groups of marines. One left for their drop ships. There were only forty marines now, merely keeping an eye on the Greali marine commander and diplomat. "Well, The Galactic Empire of Greal formally wishes to establish diplomatic relations with Greywatch."

OOC: Kinda tired.

OOC: Greal, are you going to respond to our comments and questions in the meeting you started?

Conference Room, Naval Command, Nova Reginix

"Do the Danaversians have strong ground forces? I'm afraid we know nothing much about them, except in ships. The reason why I was asking about the planets was because possibly we could run the occupied worlds together." said Reton, Rammer had not said one word and remained quiet.

OOC: Sucky post, but I'm really tired.

PM's Office, Rio Casa

"I would prefer to get the space battle out of the way before I even consider the occupation strategy of our alliance. Further more, that is something you would need to speak to my Commander in Chief about, for I have little say in military deployments and strategies," Owens gave a wry smile,
"As for their ground forces, what I have been told is that they are very heavily armed, armoured and numerous. A little like your own forces, Admirals. However, they do not rely overly on tactics. Rather brute force. Is this helpful?"

The diplomat gave a glance to the other marine squad and then back to Greali diplomat, "Well this makes my life easier. I have a feeling we could've met under better circumstances... if you don't mind me asking, what was the nature of this attack? I'm going to need to make a report to my superiors, and I imagine they'll want to know exactly who, or what, these Danaversians are."

Conference Room, Naval Command, Nova Reginix

"I have nothing more to say. Except that I wish luck to your forces."


Hurtrix System

The diplomat took out a folder that he had been holding, without everyone's notice. He handed it to the Greywatch diplomat. "You'll find all the info about them in that folder. We don't really know much about them."

Xiscapia, Rio Casa, Imperial Palace, Imperial Conference Room...
"In that case I believe this meeting can be adjourned," said the Emperor, bowing to both Greali. "Admirals," he said with feigned respect, then terminated the transmission, leaving Marchamp beside him and the Prime Minister on the opposite screen. "Prime Minister, I will be keeping in touch, as I know Grand Admiral Krystal will be. Feel free to contact me at any time; this link will always be open to you." He bowed deeply to her, and then cut the link. For a moment he was silent, staring at the holoscreen, before he looked to his Setulan guest. "I am deeply grieved by this war, but I see no other alternative. The Danaversians are not diplomats unless they are forced to be." He sighed, bowing his head to look down his long snout for a moment to the polished floor. "I am equally regretful that I cannot take you on tour of our city as planned. There is much work to be done to prepare, and I will be making and receiving calls and meeting with Xiscapian military commanders almost constantly. So, if it is acceptable to you, my mate will be your guide while you walk the streets of our capitol." He smiled in good-natured sorrow. "My most sincere apologies."

Marchamp nodded at Prime Minister Owen.
"Charmed," he said politely before the link was cut. He faced the Emperor.

"War is a necessary evil, Emperor. When creatures like the Danaversians threaten all that is holy and pure in this universe, it is the job of the good to destroy the evil; the job of the strong to protect the weak.
"And I would be honored if your mate would lead me around the city. Well do I remember the travails and trials of war and what they force us to do for it. You have my best wishes in your task, and rest secure in the knowledge that Setulan stands with you."

The Emperor nodded solemnly. "As a great human once said, we stand together or we fall alone. The pledge of friendship and alliance with Setulan brings me great joy, there is so much evil in the universe, but as long as those like your people and the Alversians exist, that evil is kept at bay." He smiled warmly. "You will be returning here in a few hours to join us for dinner, so I bid you farewell until then." He bowed deeply, and a servant stepped in, unknown to Marchamp until he was at the Ambassador's elbow in the kitsune way of silence, to lead the Setulan out.

In the hall it was gloomy, lit only by guttering candles set high on the walls, odd because there were lights in the ceiling, though these were dark. The sky outside was the same sheet of iron as before, a light drizzling rain falling, obscuring the shapes of courtyard buildings and guards outside. In the distance, though, beams of light could be seen breaking though the cloud cover, scattered and isolated, above the city. The servant had vanished as abruptly as he had come, and for a moment Marchamp was alone. Gradually he became aware of someone walking up the passage behind him, form warped by the shadows and robes, footfalls muffled on the rich red rugs.

The Empress Jade Rose (http://www.1999.co.jp/dbimages/user/hobby/itbig/10051368a.jpg) came into the light, clad in red robes like her husband. She was a strikingly beautiful kitsune, though human-type unlike her mate, purple hair contrasting strongly with her dress, a white katana sword with a full-color flowering cherry blossom tree drawn on the scabbard hanging at her side. She bowed once, low, to the Setulan, yellow eyes studying him, gaze not unkindly. "Ambassador," her voice had an accent, one that if this were Terra could be mistaken for Korean or perhaps Japanese, though it was not heavy and she could be easily understood. "Welcome to Xiscapia, and Rio Casa. My name is Jade Rose, I am the consort of Foxfire Rose, and your guide for the tour of our capitol." The Prime Minister would notice, for part of a moment, the Empress's left hand come out of her robes. It was quickly withdrawn, but not before he caught sight of a patchwork of deep, nasty looking scars. Her eyes flickered for a moment, but she seemed to regain her composure. "Come," she gave a slight bow, beckoning to him with her other, unmutilated hand.

Aeisha nodded. "That area is nice. I can be anywhere that is needed but comfort is a luxury I will not refuse." She nodded to the Persecutors and they moved to follow her. They quickly moved after Drell until they were situated in the room and then spoke again. "I do have some questions. My first one is what exactly happened here? I was on a routine scouting mission when I detected a large mass of fluctuating energy signals. I jumped in to investigate, only to find myself facing a full scale battle on my hands."

Wuin System, Planet of Slint, City of Drakko, Spaceport...
Drell had taken a seat by the window while her guard stood by the door. All were confident now the Inter-Union beings wouldn't try anything: If they were hostile, they would have attacked on sight, attempted escape with the pods, or, once on the ground, attempted to kill the Governor. Of course, non-hostility could be confused with non-death-wish, but that's not the vibe the kitsune were getting.
"The energy signatures you detected were probably weapons fire, shield flares and our defenses coming online. We were attacked by a task force of two dozen vessels, destroyers, cruisers and battleships, from a distant Empire known as the Danaversians, a race of amphibious, fascist beings. Why they attacked now we do not know for certain, but why they chose here is evident: This system is a bridge of sorts, a midway point, between our Empire and the Democratic Republic of Alversia, our closest and oldest ally. Though this assault was probably only a probe, taking the system would effectively cut off our route of quick, easy trade with them. As you saw we managed to repel them, but they will be back, and in greater numbers." Drell looked grim.

"News from Rio Casa, our capitol, indicates we have gained several allies because of this conflict, but the Danaversian Empire is massive, larger than we or any of our allies. If we were to be defeated, they would begin their campaign to take the rest of the galaxy, and our worlds would fall under a curtain of oppression. They will not stop sending fleets or armies until we have fallen, they have lost so much that they can no longer afford the war, or we make some kind of strike to cripple their military. We are superior to them, smarter, faster, with better technology and more powerful weapons, but they have so many ships, so many soldiers and so many resources we cannot hope to compete. Only by standing strong together will the Kitsune Empire and her allies win this war."

Unknown Ship...
The drop ship had been occupied by the pilot the whole time, no one would have been able to do anything to his vessel without him knowing. The party boarded and the ship took off, leaving the odd craft and it's strange inhabitants behind.

Marchamp admitted to himself that he was impressed by the palace. He returned the bow to Jade.
"Empress. It is my honor to meet you." He stood back up and followed her, matching her step easily.
"I find that despite all the heavy duties which surround us, it is good to enjoy what beauty a planet has to offer. Even on a day like today," he added with a wry grin.

OOC: Xis, what's up with the FM ship?

bump[- just waiting for my time to enter ^^

OOC: I'll make a post later., Internet problems.

APS Nero, Alversian DMZ

The Greywatch shuttle would land in small hangar, just beig enough for six or seven fighters and two shuttles. However, now the hangar was filled with wreckage and burning debris. There were hoses and large Damage Control Robots wandering about performing their own duties. The edges of the hangar entrance where burned and chared, showing where there had been a few lucky hits from the station's battle.

Waiting for the shuttle were three people. One of them was an elderly man, with greying hair but with a straight back and razor-sharp eyes. The two people on either side of him were Alversian Marines.
As the shuttle came down and landed, the Alversian waited to introduce himself, wondering who had decided to plague his humble station when it was recovering from an attack. How had it even gotten through the FTLi field?

The ship, too small to actually have any shuttles, brought itself down lightly. A hatch on the top opened up and out came a man dressed in a brown and silver uniform. He was a bald man, muscular too, not the typical look for the captain of a scouter. He bowed to the three, "Lucian Queen, first mate of the scouter. Sorry for a suprise, we can't see what's happening in system before we enter."

OOC: What about the FM ship, Greywatch? The diplomat concluded the meeting and left, effectively dismissing them, although you'll note she left them with a string of coordinates.
IC:
Palace...
"Relaxation is an art my husband has yet to master," Jade nodded with a wan smile. "You have had the misfortunate to come to Padga, and Rio Casa, as we enter the Ice Season. It will be cold, overcast and rainy until it becomes freezing, dark and snowing, but many kitsune find it refreshing. Our planet grows warm and cold in a fifteen-year cycle, in some cases warm enough to walk about during the winter in jeans and a light coat, though in other times similar attire must be worn even during the summer." She led him out into the courtyard where a hovercraft waited, two Black Guards standing to either side of the open door to the back seat, revealing a comfortable black leather interior with dim lights. "There is much to see. Please," she slid inside and sat down, "it will take us several minutes to reach our first destination, so if you have any questions, ask them."

Palace...

"A fifteen year cycle? I am impressed." He entered the craft beside her.
"Where is our first destination?"

Setulan System, Setulan, Setulan Prime...

The Council, minus Marchamp, sat comfortably around a roaring fireplace. This time, they were not alone.
The Leaders-Delanphy, Maxellian, and Tempes-had been joined by the Speaker of the Peoples House, Michael Cook, and the Eldest of the House of Elders, Maria Estev (though she was not a fan of the title).
This time, it was an official council of war.

"We have recieved word," Maxellian began once all had been seated, "that Eternal Pain has reached Xiscapian space safely and is preparing for an offensive. Moreover, Marchamp has spoken to the Emperor and the Prime Minister of another nation, the Alversians." The others nodded-this they knew already.
"What we need, Eldest, Speaker, is permission for large scale mobilization of the Planetary and Republican Guard."
"How large scale?" asked Cook idly. This meeting was more a formality then anything else; there was no doubt that the Houses would vote for the mobilization. But it needed to be held. Tempes answered the question.
"We want to send Task Force Wrath to Xiscapian space immediately, and if they approve, Task Force Reaver to Alversian space." Cook raised his eyebrows.
"You aren't messing around, are you?"
"No," said Delanphy, "And we shouldn't, either. From all indications these Danaversians are a terrible threat. We will need all the firepower we can get." Estev nodded.
"Makes sense. Though I must say, committing three whole Task Forces makes me feel naked. Especially when these Danaversians might attack our home system."
"We are well prepared for that, I assure you," said Tempes. He continued.
"We would also like to mobilize the 38th Drop Corps. That is three Dropship divisions, the 82nd, 56th, and 109th. We can send them over with Wrath."
Cook looked at Estev and nodded.
"We'll do what we can."

"We are going to a small park near the city centre," responded Jade as the hovercraft took off, driven by a Palace official. Though there were no visible guards, they followed discreetly, and more had been placed at every area they would be visiting. After the Incident during the Rebellion which had been a great embarrassment to the Black Guard they kept an extremely close eye on the Imperial Family, already microscopic scrutiny tightening even further. "It commemorates the dead of our oldest, most costly conflict, the Korr War as well as chronicling the history and events of it. The Emperor intends for you to be educated as completely as possible about Xiscapia, and that includes this millennia of death."

Xiscapia, Rio Casa, Xiscapian Grand Army Head Quarters, Office of the Master General...
Master General Dom was quite a figure in the Kitsune Empire. He had led the Xiscapian portion of the Jomstar Campaign during the Korr War, and had proven instrumental in tactically breaking though the Korr defenses on Korrillia during the Final Battle, as it had come to be known, to kill the Supreme Leader. He had coordinated the forces that had routed the Rebels at the Battle of Resistance, then hunted them down and crushed them. His critics called him ruthless; the Xiscapian took it as a compliment. His Weapons Labs were developing terrifying weapons of destruction, his underlings and soldiers admired and even feared him, his enemies broke and ran at the sight of ranks of his soldiers marching on them and he had been picked by the Emperor himself to command the warriors of Xiscapia.
He was a legend, a giant among giants.

His office was spartan, white and black, the only personal touches a elegant katana sheathed in a golden scabbard on the wall behind his desk and an Xiscapian flag hanging over his door. Otherwise he had only his desk, several chairs, a fireplace and several shelves filled with books, by Xiscapian authors and others, all about war. Rain hissed against the window but he paid it no mind, interfacing with his account on the network, long, slender, pale fingers flying over the keyboard. Finally the connection established to a certain Setulan Republican Guard Commander, but unlike the Grand Admiral, Dom did not sit back, nor did he put on a pleasant expression. War was an ugly thing, he knew that, and did not warrant the normal etiquette and politeness that were nearly God in his race's culture. Not that it mattered much anyway: He had heard these humans were a little rough around the edges.
All the better.
OOC: Set, you have a TG.

"Korr war..." Marchamp said musingly. "I have heard many of your people speak of this War, but I must admit to being completely ignorant about it. What was this war?"

SRV Nero

Colonel Mike Green, Commanding Officer of the First Republican Rifles, had been informed of a meeting with this General...Dom?...he checked his briefing file quickly...yes, Master General Dom, about half an hour before the scheduled time via holo projector. The Kitsune who had informed him of his meeting had seemed awed and envious that Colonel Green would get to speak to this Dom character. Well, he would see.
Green was an excellent soldier. Graduating first in his class at the Fist, he had been hand selected to be in the operation to capture Admiral Horto and his ship, the Lustre. He performed brilliantly, was wounded badly and personally decorated by Maxellian. It was for that reason that he had commanded the unit that defended Colony One...and he had been in command on the ground for the battle with the Kewen.
Physically imposing, Green as a colossal man, tall even by Setulanite standards (he was 6'8" and big), he was nonetheless impressed by what he saw.
He sat up straight as the Master General appeared in the screen.
"Master General, I'm Colonel Green, Setulan Republican Guard. How can I be of assistance, sir?"

OOC:Replied

"According to the Ancient Texts and our own records, roughly a thousand years ago the second world in this system, past Jomstar, was landed on by aliens. Crashed on, rather, we think they may have been part of a task force or armada and somehow been separated from the main fleet, and been looking for a place to dock when they lost power and were forced to land on what they named Korrillia. You may have seen some of these beings, they are the Korr, ape-like creatures that stand anywhere from seven to ten feet in height, with tough gray skin and orange eyes. We met with them a short time after their crash, as we had already been here on Xiscapia for several months, and began diplomatic talks. But we were too different...they enslaved their criminals, purged the weak and deviant, slaughtered each other in countless wars and held destruction, death, chaos and anarchy as god.

They regarded us as insignificant, small and weak and strange, ready to be conquered. No one knows exactly what was said, or who fired the first shot, but a small war began between us. There was only a few days of fighting as both sides struggled to remove their diplomats from the moon they had been stationed on, then we and they withdrew, weary and wary. Over the next year or so we trained soldiers, built ships and weapons of war, and prepared. Finally they attacked, and were countered in space around the moons of Jomstar. That set the course for the rest of the war, months or years of fighting followed by a decade of uneasy peace and build-up before the war began anew."

XGA HQ...
"Colonel Green," Dom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Aoshi-030.jpg) answered as if tasting the words, "a pleasure to meet you." He didn't look it, aristocratic features taking in Green's face and physical build with an expression hovering somewhere between disbelief and guarded curiosity. "I have been informed though Xiscapian military reports of your actions in battle against an enemy called the Kewen on a planet referred to as 'Wrong Turn.' First-hand accounts of Marines at the battleground would indicate that the synchronization of our forces is one of the reasons we prevailed there. I would like duplicates of the successes preformed on that planet in this current war we find ourselves in. Therefore I respectfully propose to you the creation of a joint Marine-Republican Guard force to increase efficiency in battle, beginning with the unification of the First Republican Rifles and the Eighth Marine Infantry, who’s Colonel I believe you worked alongside in battle." He studied the Setulan. "What is your opinion, Colonel?"
OOC: Did not receive response, please re-send.

"I see," said Marchamp softly. "Truly, this is a hostile universe indeed. How did you end up prevailing against the Korr?"

Nero...

Green sat stock still for a moment, looking at this haughty General with a curious look. Could the gods truly be that kind?
"I wouldn't mind in the slightest, Master General. As a matter of fact, I would even go so far as to say that such a combination would be nigh unstoppable." He sat back for a moment, looking the General in the eye through the holo screen. "How would we be deployed? Drop troops, storm troops, auxiliaries to the main force..." It was obvious from the way Green said "auxiliaries" that it would be a mortal insult to employ them as such.

OOC: Take two =P

OOC: I asked because I missed the part where you RPed them actually leaving and wanted to make sure I didn't initiate PSR with them still in the hanger.
IC:

The man in the throne room looked upwards, "Ship. Are you done with the scans?" Indeed, not much turned up though. I have been able to identify this race as reptilian... or amphibious in nature... but anything interesting seems to have been destroyed. May I reccomend- "These numbers look like either a code or coordinates. Let's try the latter, get a fix on that location and initiate PSR now." Done and done.
Outside the ship, there would be another gravatational disturbance would form as the ship disapeared into the rift. A moment later, there would be no sign it was ever there. The ship came out at the coordinates, waiting for something to happen.

Jade smiled sadly. "It took us a thousand years, but finally we had to admit defeat. Our people were tired, their sons were dying generation after generation in combat and those who survived were bitter and broken. The Korr had more soldiers, more ships, more equipment and weapons, and they had all the drive of fanatical fascists behind them. Only our spirit and force of will held them at bay. Finally they released a deadly disease into our population, which we called hayai subeta, or Swift Sword, for the speed with which it killed. Hundreds in the military died and we fell back against the brutal Korr advance. We finally swallowed our pride and called for help to the galaxy at large, and by the time it was answered the Korr had landed on our primary moon, Kel.

Our help came in the form of the Alversians, they reinforced our battered military and helped drive the Korr back. Several other nations joined in the fight, although one had it's capitol destroyed and ruler killed during a Korr retaliatory strike, putting them out of the war for good. It took four long years, but we slowly gained ground, into the moons of Jomstar before finally assaulting Korrilia itself. Xiscapian and Alversian troops stormed the capitol and killed the Supreme Leader, ending the war, though it was not without it's costs. We will never know how many kitsune or Korr died from the conflict, but nearly two million Alversians, hundreds of their ships and thousands of other soldiers and civilians from others who assisted us died."

The hovercraft glided to a halt outside a gray iron gate, about seven feet in height and open, with an Xiscapian Marine standing on either side, rifles held pointing at the sky, water splattering their armor and sliding down in shimmering tides. Beyond the gates was a park, a grassy plain with trees here and there, dripping on stone benches, a brick path winding though it past a structure in the middle. It was what looked like a small temple, four simple pillars with a upward sloping roof, made of wood and paper. It contained two massive blocks, made of a stone so black they seemed to suck in light, a color rather than an absence of stuff, light only by thousands of names inscribed on gold covering their surfaces. The place was deserted but for a single man, Alversian, kneeling at the blocks, fingers tracing the name of some long dead soldier.

The driver opened his door and stepped out, holding open the back door so the Empress and Marchamp could exit. Both did and the kitsune silently led him past the unmoving guards to the building. Upon their approach the Alversian looked up, eyes wet with rain or tears or both, and slowly stood, bowing slightly to the Empress. She did the same and he left without a word, out into the storm, arms tucked into his jacket. The Xiscapian said nothing, looking at the blocks in somber reflection, listening to the torrent soak the ground and patter away against the wooden roof.
It was all so unbearably gloomy.

XIN HQ...
"I would imagine," said Dom probingly, "that each would be paired with their counterparts. Any operation undertaken would be done so by both, together as equal parts in the same area. Shock troops with shock troops, medics with medics, and so on. The exact logistical details will have to be worked out between you and the Colonel, after all," he raised an eyebrow, reminding the man; "this is an experiment."

Marchamp looked stood, looking at the blocks somberly. He knew what it was-indeed, Setulan had several monuments not disimilar.
"These are those who died in the Korr war?" he asked. Though it was not his intention, his voice was lowered, revertential. He was in the presence of heroes.

Nero...

Green gave the General his best devil-may-care grin.
"Master General, in the Republican Guard, we're all shock troops." Let the starchy bastard see some panache.
"When will I be able to meet with Colonel Dui to work out the details?"

OOC: Greywatch, what about your guy?

"Only a fraction," murmured Jade in sorrow. "There are eleven other monuments all over Xiscapia, and at least fifty throughout the Kitsune Empire, all with thousands of names, but there is not enough ink or paper in all of the Empire to record the names of all those who died. After we took Korillia we left almost immediately, leaving the Korr without a significant military and a crippled economy. Overnight the planet fell into chaos, dozens of civil wars between surviving military commanders, governors and others hungry for power. Roughly a million fled to Xiscapia, but the rest were wiped out by each other, nuclear weapons, bio bombs, nanobots and other doomsday devices turned on themselves and used, turning the planet into a wasteland. We have co-existed with the Korr for over a decade now, though they hold almost no government offices or positions of power.

Korrillia is currently being cleaned and terraformed, so that one day we and the Korr might be able to live there, but it's an exhaustive task. We have not even finished clearing the rubble and wreckage from the wars, and much of the planet has been rendered so toxic and hazardous no one can approach except in heavily shielded, armored ships or mecha. It had its upsides, though; with it's end, Xiscapia was finally free. Free to explore the rest of the galaxy, free to develop technology that wasn't weapons, free to find diplomatic solutions to combat problems. And with the war came our extensive experience and knowledge of combat, without which we may not have survived future conflicts."

XIN HQ...
"The Colonel is on her own schedule, I would suggest you contact her to arrange a meeting time. However, I believe it is safe to say any joint Xiscapian-Setulan force will not be deploying in this coming battle, though if all goes well it will be seeing considerable action as the war progresses." Dom's voice never lost the clipped, arrogant tone, and though he was not actually impolite, it was obvious that this kitsune was not easy to get along with.

OOC: Thanks for reminding me Greal
IC:

Matthew took the folder, looking at it briefly before handing it to a Drone who immediately went to deliver the foldier to the captain. "That always happens to be the case with these sorts of enemies... coming out of nowhere and disapearing again. I suppose if diplomatic relations are to occur, Greywatch is goign to be pulled into this war... I imagine my captain will start contacting the council to see if we can get some firepower to help you, if you need it. It's races like these that must be suppressed for the greater good of the galaxy."

Marchamp nodded.
"Such experience is a boon indeed, especially in these troubled times. But what other wars have your people fought in since the Korr War?"

Nero...

Green instinctively didn't like the arrogant Kitsune. Reminded him too much of some of his counterparts in the Navy.
"In that case, Master General, if you would be so kind"-this was loaded with deadpan irony-"as to have Colonel Dui contact me, I would be most grateful."

"Many," Jade sighed. "Few wars, but many conflicts. I brought you here for reasons other than honoring the dead, as necessary and respectful as it may be, Prime Minister. Please, follow me." The Empress stroked a hand over a keypad Marchamp hadn't noticed before and part of the floor vanished, revealing a well-light winding set of stairs going down to some unknown destination. She descended it, obviously meaning for him to follow her, into the room below. It was the opposite of the park in almost every way: Bright, white and sterile, containing a few white desks with what appeared to be wired nodes resting on them, empty and deserted otherwise.

"Are you familiar with virtual reality, or VR, Prime Minister?" asked Jade softly, dark eyes staring at the Setulan.

XIN HQ...
"I will send the Colonel a message advising her to contact you at her earliest possible convenience," affirmed Dom, giving a nod that might have been a tiny bow. "I look forward to working with our new allies in this conflict," he paused. "I am sure the Colonel feels the same. Good day to you." He cut off the transmission, immediately turning to depress the button on his desk. "Send Colonel Dui of the Eighth Marine Infantry Regiment the pre-arranged message," he said to the empty room, before releasing it. He then turned his full attention to organizing his troops for what promised to be a long war, full of feints and strikes, advances and retreats, triumph and defeat...
A humorless smile.
Delicious.

Marchamp followed her in warily.
"Yes, indeed. We use it for some training simulations." He looked at her curiously, matching her gaze. Something was up...but what?

Nero...

Green sat back and smiled up at the ceiling.
Perfect!
He tried to collect his thoughts and finish some of the paperwork that had piled up over the past few days, but he kept getting distracted by thoughts of Dui.

OOC: Thanks for reminding me Greal
IC:

Matthew took the folder, looking at it briefly before handing it to a Drone who immediately went to deliver the foldier to the captain. "That always happens to be the case with these sorts of enemies... coming out of nowhere and disapearing again. I suppose if diplomatic relations are to occur, Greywatch is goign to be pulled into this war... I imagine my captain will start contacting the council to see if we can get some firepower to help you, if you need it. It's races like these that must be suppressed for the greater good of the galaxy."

"Yes, these kind of races are always a danger to peace of the universe. We used to be something like that, but now our Empire has changed. We are willing to keep the peace. The Naval Command will be sending a message to your nation showing the coordinates of where you are to base your forces. We are currently planning an assault, which should succeed."

"I see." Said Matthew, "Then you should take this." The diplomat pulled out a small, flat device, "This contains the contact information of Greywatch's Ministry of War. I suppose this is a pointless thing to ask, but do you have any allies we will be working with? It would be nice to know we have more firepower than that of just two nations."

"I see." Said Matthew, "Then you should take this." The diplomat pulled out a small, flat device, "This contains the contact information of Greywatch's Ministry of War. I suppose this is a pointless thing to ask, but do you have any allies we will be working with? It would be nice to know we have more firepower than that of just two nations."

The diplomat began counting off his fingers,"Alversia, Xiscapia, The Calaverians, Setulan, and Inter-Union. Do you happen to have any diplomatic relations with the nations I have just listed?"

The diplomat was suprised, "Xiscapians, we've had diplomatic contact with. Alversians, we've heard mention of but haven't really ever had too much contact with. The last three, never heard of 'em." The diplomat thought for a minute, "But that's certainly good to know. That makes a possible 7 on 1, not bad odds for a war."

The diplomat was suprised, "Xiscapians, we've had diplomatic contact with. Alversians, we've heard mention of but haven't really ever had too much contact with. The last three, never heard of 'em." The diplomat thought for a minute, "But that's certainly good to know. That makes a possible 7 on 1, not bad odds for a war."

"We've been warned that the Danaversians have extremely powerful vessels and are known for their large massive fleets. They are a deadly opponent, so we must be cautious. Our Naval Command is also looking for planetary defenses to buy. Do you happen to have any to sell?"

"Not that I'd know of. Greywatch doesn't do much trade with the rest of the galaxy, though I'm sure with the right connections, one could find anything. I'll have my captain contact the Xarniosi, they're good at taking things apart." Matthew gave a slight smile knowing the Xarniosi would love to take apart an alien ship to find out how it works.

"Not that I'd know of. Greywatch doesn't do much trade with the rest of the galaxy, though I'm sure with the right connections, one could find anything. I'll have my captain contact the Xarniosi, they're good at taking things apart." Matthew gave a slight smile knowing the Xarniosi would love to take apart an alien ship to find out how it works.

"Alright, the Naval Command insisted on a gift, so here it is." said the diplomat, gesturing to a corvette next to them, which seemed to be brighter then the rest of the ships in the hold. "I'm not sure it can fit in your ship, but it is capable of long journeys."

"I have to warn you," she continued, picking up a set of the nodes. "The simulation will be...realistic. Rest assured you will in no way be in any danger during the scenario, but it can be quite graphic. Such is history, I'm afraid." She handed the nodes to him, scarred hand coming into view once again. "Simply attach these like so," she demonstrated, a dozen of the suction-cup like devices fitting onto her head, linking her to the desk. The Xiscapian sat, indicating Marchamp should do the same. "Here we go..."

For an instant there was nothing but darkness. Marchamp could not see, hear, smell or feel anything, though it was not unlike sitting in a movie theater, seconds before it began. When reality came it was sudden but silent, the blackness sprouting thousands of tiny pinpricks of light, a star field. Beside him Jade floated, standing but no supported by anything, supremely at ease, a look of expectancy on her face. In the distance there were dark patches, objects in space blocking the stars, but what they were the Setulan Ambassador could not say.

Gradually he would become aware of a massive orb floating in space near them. It was painted white and armored, surface broken only by several hanger bays and a large dish depression. A voice boomed out, from everywhere and no where, narrating:
"The time is Year of our Lord Foxfire Rose Twelve, Death of the Life Season, two years after the end of the Korr War. This vessel is in Xiscapian space, and has just brought aboard a frigate and two starfighters under the pretense of starting diplomatic negotiations. But once they got aboard, things turned out to be very different..."

They jumped forward suddenly, into one of the hangers, where a old Xiscapian frigate (http://zaked.deviantart.com/art/My-frigate-submission-Sirius-69884898) and two fighters (http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b184/Upum/Star%20Wars/Skipray-Blastboat.jpg) rested. Their crews were outside the ships, eight of them consisting of six bridge crew and two pilots, all with their hands in the air in surrender, a pile of blaster pistols, knives and katanas in a pile nearby. Around the hanger, on the deck, standing on catwalks or on scaffolding, was roughly a hundred soldiers, armed with assault rifles or missile launchers, all aiming at the Xiscapians. Their armor was black and beetle-like, faces a dead pale color, expressions hard and sneering.

The prisoners were separated into groups as more soldiers moved into the frigate, boarding it to take the rest of the crew. The kitsune who seemed to be the Captain went one way, his crew and one of the pilots another, and the third pilot, an attractive Xiscapian female with ivory skin and deep, lush red hair, a third. She struggled in the grip of two of the soldiers as they dragged her along behind another, probably their commander. He turned with a predatory smile, teal eyes flashing, blonde hair cut close with military precision and flattened from years under a helmet. "Shh," he mockingly put a finger to his lips, "don't struggle, it will only make it worse."
OOC: Not done yet, waiting for Marchamp's reaction.

Xiscapia...
Several minutes later Green would receive a transmission from a barracks in the city of Tenfour, from Colonel Dui. She appeared on the screen, and upon seeing him her face broke into a smile. "Green!" she yelped reflexively, then suddenly became embarrassed. "Erm, Colonel," she bowed, "hello. You requested a meeting with me?"

Marchamp watched the scene with interest-he had not been in a VR simulator for years, and he had forgotten just how vivid they could be. He saw the crew being taken away, hands in the air, and he felt anger build in him when he saw the female being taken off by the leering captain. A growl of disgust built in his throat.
"Disgusting."

Nero...

Green smiled back at Colonel Dui happily.
"Indeed I did, Colonel. I had an interesting conversation earlier with a Master General Dom. He said that a joint Marine-Republican Guard unit could work wonders in the field, and asked that since I had experience fighting alongside you, we could work out some details for such a joining. So what do you think?"

"Just watch..." the Empress murmured ominously. The viewpoint shifted, hovering and not actively moving the two to follow the captured pilot, captor and the escort of soldiers. The halls and corridors of the starship were long and echoing, brightly lit with chrome and polished steel. The sounds of the prisoners carried though the entire ship, faint from the hanger but omnipresent, distinguishable or muted only by variants of distance. Shouts, threats and begging came in alien tongues, and the sound of crying is universal, but far worse is the occasional bright laughter of those driven mad by their captivity. More of the soldiers patrolled among the prisoners, laughing at them, poking bayonets or gunstocks though the bars, jeering and snickering.
The ship was worse than a zoo, it was a concentration camp with a hyperdrive.

Into a room they finally went, filled with machinery and humming computers, and in the center was a single chair, not unlike one you might find at a dentist office. The pilot was forced to lie in it, cuffs coming over her wrists and angles to prevent her from moving, and a helmet slid over her head. Abruptly the world changed into an endless, flat field of grass with a forget-me-not-blue sky, cloudless and lit by no seen sun. On the field a short distance away was what looked like a female version of the soldiers, black haired and wearing generic white clothing, carrying a clipboard. She approached the kitsune, patting her on the head as one might touch a pet, who recoiled at her touch.
"Where are you from?" Her voice was high and falsely cheery, like that one might adopt with a child or mentally retarded person. "Are there others of your kind?"

The pilot looked at the person. "I cannot tell you that," she said quietly, shaking her head. The women smiled. "Someone's lying," she said in a sing-song voice, running a hand though the hair and over the ears of the Xiscapian. "But if that's what you want..."
They were jerked back into the room they had been in before, now more soldiers were in the room. One forced the pilot's head forward and another came forward with a collar, strapping it around her neck, before she was led away, still under guard. The same man as before led them on, he seemed to be excited, eyes bright, licking his lips in anticipation.

A short walk later and the guards peeled off, the teal-eyed soldier leading the pilot into another room. Inside it looked more or less like a surgeon’s room, but the operating table and floor around it was covered in fluids, blue and purple, red and white, definitely alien blood. The Xiscapian looked horrified, but in that instant the man behind her lifted his rifle and smashed it over her head, dropping the kitsune to the floor, stunned. There was a doctor behind the table, who quickly helped the soldier lift the dazed female onto the operating table. He then stood back and began to strip his armor down, listening to mumbled instructions from his helmet, while the doctor got to work.

First he opened the kitsune's mouth, examining her teeth, peeled back her eyelids and shown lights into them, observing the slitting and dilating of the pupils. He looked down the fox ears, examined the tail closely, and preformed several basic tests, reflexive ones. Finally he looked around on the girl and found the zipper on her flight suit, which he pulled down, slipping it off her, the clothes falling into a pile on the dirty floor. The soldier's eyes glittered with lust as he paused a moment to look over the kitsune's form while the doctor busied himself with something behind him. By the time he turned back around the pilot's eyes fluttered and opened halfway, her mouth uttering a small groan. "What the hell...?"

The doctor held a slightly rusty, rather bloodied blade in a gloved hand now, surgical mask over his face. He slowly, almost lovingly, cut into the flesh of the stomach of his victim, the knife slicing with ease. The pilot's eyes went wide and she gasped in shock and pain, but it was only a taste of what lay in store for her. He began to run the blade in more, gashing the skin and causing blood to well up, finally losing control and openly stabbing in a frenzy, spittle making a dark patch on his mask, eyes wide and sightless. Now the screaming began, high and seemingly endless, a cry of immense agony as the Xiscapian's stomach was torn open and hands began to remove her organs from her while she still breathed...

Barracks...
The XGA Colonel took a moment to digest this, looking at Green contemplatively. "I think it would be a force unparalleled, either in your military or ours. It's an excellent idea." She nodded. "Our troops work well together, you saw at the battle. But when?"

Marchamp watched silently, taking it all in. He had been removed from the horrors of war too long to be jaded to this...barbarism...but still, thoughts of his own flashed back to Camp 25, where the Emperor's mad doctors had done their work...
His mind recoiled away from the haunting images of his own past and returned to those of the Xiscapians.
"Empress, I trust that you caught up with the...animals...who did this and made them pay a price in blood for their atrocities."
His voice was calm, controlled. But it would be apparent to the Empress that it was a thin veneer over a sea of anger.

Nero...

Green shrugged.
"Not the upcoming offensive, that is definite." It was obvious what he thought of that. "Most likely, once we learn about more Danaversian planets, we'll be called in to do the dirty work. So far as logistics are concerned, I was hoping that you and I could meet to go over details? With our respective command staffs, of course."

"We did," said the Empress solemnly. "I will show you. But there is more to see, still, important to this conflict."
As the atrocious work went on the soldier in the operating room rapidly departed, leaving in haste. He had stripped down to what seemed to be a flight suit, hefting his assault rifle, the corridors of the vessel lit by flashing yellow emergency lights as he darted down them. Elsewhere screams, shouts, the chatter of automatic weapons and the signature whine of blasters discharging could be heard, apparently a fight to take the ship was underway. The halls themselves were deserted, but he finally came out into the hanger Marchamp and Jade had entered though.

It was a scene of controlled chaos: Pilots ran for their fighters as soldiers began to pour in, obviously intent on securing the massive room. Even as they did so, though, four Xiscapian drop ships entered fast, forward turrets blasting away soldiers, pilots and fighters as they landed, spilling out Ship Boarding Attack Units. A fierce firefight began between the survivors and the attackers, shots streaking though grounded fighters and bouncing off bulkheads. The soldier from the operation room began to dodge though the fire, pushing his own comrades out of the way and ducking around fighters, making for one in particular. As he popped the cockpit he sent a burst of lead across the room, piercing the armor of one of the SBAU and sending him to the deck, dead.
This was a mistake.

The surviving soldiers were surrendering, and this burst of gunfire took the Xiscapians by surprise. They began to pour suppressive fire onto the man's position, keeping him pinned and preventing him from entering his ship. He fired back blindly, missing them every time, before popping up to shoot again and finding himself out of ammunition. He charged the SBAU, tackling one of them, which was something akin to trying to tackle a brick wall, yelling "Fucker!" He staggered off, stumbling, before the soldier landed a vicious uppercut to his jaw, sending the human sprawling. Immediately he was surrounded, rifles pointing at him all around. "Surrender now or suffer the consequences!" yelled one of the kitsune.

On all fours and spitting blood, the solder snarled. "Well, I don't have much of a damn choice, do I, you animals!"

The VR froze, all suspended, the man with his face in a grimace of anger and pain, blood running down his chin and pooling on the floor. "These people were known as the Calaverans," said Jade, "a race of xenophobic human-supremacists who traveled the galaxy and abducted aliens to be experimented on, studied and eventually killed on their Observer starships. "This," she gestured to the soldier, "is Kash Wilson, Kash the Butcher as he is known among us. If it were up to most of us, he would have been executed quickly, but by the time his trial had finished the war was over. The war was short, this was it's first of three battles, the next was a small attack by a single ship on Xiscapia itself, which was repelled, and a third one when we located a secret base the Calaverans had made among the moons of Jomstar.

Afterward we assembled an Assault Force, ourselves and the Alversians, to go to Celestis, their home world, and take it to force them to surrender. However, we found Celestis a deserted, dead world, empty of life. It would appear that their military units had been so cut off from their home that when the race was nearly wiped out the Observers were never informed. Though the course of the war we captured nearly four thousand Calaveran troops, male and female, soldiers and pilots and officers. These would have to start their race from scratch by themselves, begin anew, because Xenocide is one of our Great Atrocities, meaning we couldn't kill or imprison the last of a race, even as despicable as they were. So, we couldn't kill Kash Wilson, he was both the highest-ranking officer in our possession and a leader to his people, who nearly worshiped him, without him they would surely die.

We disarmed them, gave them what provisions we could and send them away in exile in a few colony ships, ending the war and our relations with them. We came in contact with the Calaverans several more times, but the exact situations and times involve other races, other wars and other people. We now hold the Observed Systems of Calaveras, as they are called, as a vassal state, and seventy percent of their population is made up of clones of the Butcher himself," she smiled bitterly, "Kash Wilson. He was a man, a monster, and they turned him into a god. They practice a religion called Kashism, state-sponsored and the official religion, which involves the sacrificing of children to the original Kash, and other horrid acts."

The VR flickered, showing dim room, bare but for a chair and a basket. A man was bent over the chair, hands tied behind his back, a gag over his mouth, Marchamp would recognize him as the doctor from the operating room. Over him stood a kitsune dressed in black robes, holding a shining katana. There was a fervent whimper from the prisoner, for a moment shutting out what sounded like a muttered prayer from the Xiscapian, before the blade came down. There was a thunk as the blade split flesh, muscle, bone and then wood as it slashed the head from the shoulders into the basket, and a thud as the decapitated corpse toppled over onto the floor, blood spilling.

Another flash and they were in a hanger, several dozen Biohazard soldiers (http://miggs69.deviantart.com/art/Chemical-Warfare-Field-Medic-62450060) standing on the deck, a couple of yards away from a horde of monsters. These were Calaverans but with strange attachments, tentacles, spines, claws, eyes and arms where they shouldn't be, wearing tattered uniforms, hissing. In the midst of them was Kash Wilson again, looking more or less the same, even wearing an identical set of armor as before. He smiled, a rifle in hands, but in the next moment one of the Xiscapians stepped forward, lifted his rifle with great deliberation, and fired. The bolt smashed into Kash's forehead, killing him instantly, sending his smoking corpse falling to the deck as the rest opened fired, the things screaming as they died.

"And justice was served," murmured Jade. "Our other involvements with the Calaverans involve a lot of other conflicts and races that you do not know of and I have no time to tell of you today. But later," she sighed and bowed her head, "you will know. The Emperor has commanded it; you will know all."

Barracks...
"Yes, sure," Dui nodded again. "My people can talk with your people. But let's do what we can from here." They got down to work, the task of organizing an effective fighting force assigned.

Marchamp shook his head.
"No more than they deserved. We too have a history of being the victims of war crimes...and punishing those who are responsible." His voice became cold as the void itself.
"I look forward to learning all I can about your people, and perhaps enlightening you as to mine own," he said with a smile. "The universe may be cruel, but there are still some out there who fight for the greater good."

"Alright, the Naval Command insisted on a gift, so here it is." said the diplomat, gesturing to a corvette next to them, which seemed to be brighter then the rest of the ships in the hold. "I'm not sure it can fit in your ship, but it is capable of long journeys."

The diplomat smiled, "Well sorry, we got nothing here to give as a gift on such short notice. I be sure to tell my captain, I'm sure he'll have something for you. Speaking of which, you might as well come with me to the bridge so we can have a more... formal meeting."

The diplomat smiled, "Well sorry, we got nothing here to give as a gift on such short notice. I be sure to tell my captain, I'm sure he'll have something for you. Speaking of which, you might as well come with me to the bridge so we can have a more... formal meeting."

"Alright. We can do it right now if needed." said the diplomat."Lead on." two marines would accompany the diplomat, as regulations stated.

"Very well," Matthew looked to the others who had come down to the hanger with him, only one Leanorian High Guard followed him as he led the Greali to the bridge. It wasn't that far in actually walking; they simply left the bridge, used a blink point to blink to the bridge entrance, and walked in. "Captain," said the diplomat upon entering, "The Greali, I brought them here for a formal talk." The captain didn't turn around but finished up a conversation with a superior, looking at the holoscreen in front of him would show an insectoid's face as it spoke to the captain about the possible involvement of Greywatch in this war. No one else but the captain would be able to understand the creature, Kiixori were not able to speak english. The captain then looked back at Matthew, the Leanorian, and the Greali. "Welcome aboard, he said in a deep voice. My name is Captain Vernsu, but you can call me Mark. I've just finished talking to some of the Ministers of War... they're willing to help with this cause, assuming it strengthens the bond between our people." The Kiixori on the screen mutter something in its native tounge which the captain paid no attention to.

"Very well," Matthew looked to the others who had come down to the hanger with him, only one Leanorian High Guard followed him as he led the Greali to the bridge. It wasn't that far in actually walking; they simply left the bridge, used a blink point to blink to the bridge entrance, and walked in. "Captain," said the diplomat upon entering, "The Greali, I brought them here for a formal talk." The captain didn't turn around but finished up a conversation with a superior, looking at the holoscreen in front of him would show an insectoid's face as it spoke to the captain about the possible involvement of Greywatch in this war. No one else but the captain would be able to understand the creature, Kiixori were not able to speak english. The captain then looked back at Matthew, the Leanorian, and the Greali. "Welcome aboard, he said in a deep voice. My name is Captain Vernsu, but you can call me Mark. I've just finished talking to some of the Ministers of War... they're willing to help with this cause, assuming it strengthens the bond between our people." The Kiixori on the screen mutter something in its native tounge which the captain paid no attention to.

The Greali diplomat had seen insects before. Gigantic ones in fact. "Captain...Mark, I am Sider Aurora. I am here on the behalf of the President Emperor of Greal. I have the power to sign treaties with your nation." The two marines behind Sider did nothing but stood there with their weapons slung around their back. The remaining Greali marines began leaving, leaving a small squad to wait for the diplomat to return.

"I feel we have much to learn about the each other's nations," Jade nodded, and the VR field turned to a white space, completely without dimensions or a horizon. "We will be moving on to the next site in a few minutes; I pause only to take any questions you have while we are down here. If there's anything you want to ask about our history or past, most of it can be illustrated here for your benefit."
OOC: TG

Marchamp nodded thoughtfully.
"Actually, there was." He paused for a second, wondering of the Empress was cleared to know what had happened within the Palace, and then shook it off. Of course she was, she was Empress.
"While in the meeting with the Emperor, I was introduced not only to Prime Minister Owens, but also two Admirals from the Greali Empire. Despite his outward demeanor, I could tell that the Emperor-and the Prime Minister-both had deep-seated feelings about the Greal. What has passed between your two peoples?"

"As captain I am granted to form and sign treaties as well. The first of said treaties should be predictable and agreeable enough, a Non-Agression Pact between our two empires. Also, I assume an agreement to aid each other in times of conflict such as this one might be in order. I'll hold off the more complicated agreements, such as those pertaining to trade, until we can learn more about one another. But would you be willing to sign the first two?" The captain held out his hand and the two papers appeared in his hand.

"As captain I am granted to form and sign treaties as well. The first of said treaties should be predictable and agreeable enough, a Non-Agression Pact between our two empires. Also, I assume an agreement to aid each other in times of conflict such as this one might be in order. I'll hold off the more complicated agreements, such as those pertaining to trade, until we can learn more about one another. But would you be willing to sign the first two?" The captain held out his hand and the two papers appeared in his hand.

"Yes, on the behalf of the Greali Galactic Empire." said Sider, looking at the two papers. "We will have to discuss trade sooner or later. Many corporations are interested in trading with your nation." He looked for a "pen" to sign.

The captain produced said pen as well as a clipboard. It always seemed like everything else was so modern but this paricular process, what with the paper and pen, seemed so archaic. But that was not a discussion for now. He handed both objects to Sider. Mark was slightly curious about the corporations the diplomat had mentioned, knowledge of Greywatch's arrival must have gotten around pretty fast.

The captain produced said pen as well as a clipboard. It always seemed like everything else was so modern but this paricular process, what with the paper and pen, seemed so archaic. But that was not a discussion for now. He handed both objects to Sider. Mark was slightly curious about the corporations the diplomat had mentioned, knowledge of Greywatch's arrival must have gotten around pretty fast.

Sider thanked the captain and signed his signature on the two papers using the pen. The corporations Sider mentioned were indeed interested. These were powerful corporations that had private armies and connections with the government. Naturally when the Greywatch ship arrived, someone in the government told the corporations. Right now in fact, another ship had joined the superfortress watching the foreign ship. It was a cargo ship.

The captain looked over the papers to make sure all was in order. He then looked to his own group and then to Sider, "You'll have your initial force of fifty ships in three hours. It may not seem like much but more will come as notice gets around." The captain didn't mention that among all these ships there were no frigates, these would all be destroyers and cruisars. While Greywatch's signature Worldslayer was always a fantastic ship in a situation like this, the captain doubted that the council was going to cough up that kind of firepower on such short notice. Also, the Greali already had their superfortress, which the captain saw on screen while the two diplomats talked, they wouldn't need a Worldslayer.

The captain looked over the papers to make sure all was in order. He then looked to his own group and then to Sider, "You'll have your initial force of fifty ships in three hours. It may not seem like much but more will come as notice gets around." The captain didn't mention that among all these ships there were no frigates, these would all be destroyers and cruisars. While Greywatch's signature Worldslayer was always a fantastic ship in a situation like this, the captain doubted that the council was going to cough up that kind of firepower on such short notice. Also, the Greali already had their superfortress, which the captain saw on screen while the two diplomats talked, they wouldn't need a Worldslayer.

"The attack on the Danaversian worlds begins in a few days. You can gather up more ships if needed." said Sider."I have to go now and inform the president, I'll be back in a few hours to work out trade deals, May I have a copy of the treaty and pact?"

The captain waved his empty hand and a glove blue glove formed around it. He began moving his hand over the papers slowly. "There, you can have the originals, I've just scanned the documents into the Archives..." He handed the two treaties back to Sider. "I doubt the council will want to talk about trade during wartime, but very well."

The captain waved his empty hand and a glove blue glove formed around it. He began moving his hand over the papers slowly. "There, you can have the originals, I've just scanned the documents into the Archives..." He handed the two treaties back to Sider. "I doubt the council will want to talk about trade during wartime, but very well."

"Thank you." said Sider, then he said "goodbye" and headed off toward the hangers. He somehow found his way back. The drop ships took off and headed not for the superfortress, but for the newly restored Warlord Starbase. After Sider was gone, a message was sent to the ship, welcoming them to refuel and resupply themselves at the starbase.

"Much," the Empress sighed, and waved her hand. "Simulation: Access scenario Alpha12-1682, aftermath of the Zillar Assault on the Wuin System."

Again, a star field formed around them, seemingly no different from the last. Marchamp began to notice, however, that stars were being blotted out occasionally, and observation would reveal that bits of wreckage were floating around in the void, scraps of metal, some as large as a house. The same voice as before boomed over the great, empty abyss:
"The time is Year of our Lord Foxfire Rose Fifteen, Birth of the Fire Season. What you see before you is a patch of space inside the Wuin System, moments after the attacking aliens known as the Zillars departed. Their ill-fated assault destroyed a significant portion of their force, and as they made the jump to lightspeed a Greali fleet came to assist Xiscapia and her allies in destroying them. The Xiscapians have sent an Ambassador to the Greali flagship, hoping to contact the Zillars and open diplomatic negotiations with them to prevent any further conflict..."

Jade and Marchamp were on the bridge of a ship, with glowing computer consoles and beings all around, humans and what seemed to be oversized ants, rearing up strangely like snakes from their abdomens, lights reflecting in their dead eyes. All were in uniforms of some kind, but the most prominent one was a human (http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:Ebc5IOySeXK8dM:http://home.att.net/~sl.schofield/star_wars/admiral_piett.jpg) with his arms folded, a number of medals and ribbons decorating his chest and shoulders. He would easily be recognized by Marchamp as Admiral Reton from the conference. He seemed to be waiting for something, and a few seconds later it was rewarded.

There was a soft, warm yellow glow, dissolving after a few seconds into a form that looked dark when compared to the light which had borne him to the ship. The kitsune standing there had long, black hair with bangs that fell in front of his eyes, which were a dark green, a rarity not to be some variant of green or yellow for a Xiscapian. His fur was a pure white, tail curling around his black and purple robes. His skin was the color of weak tea, and he was a few inches shy of six foot, with his hands folded inside his robes, looking around the bridge without expression. He looked at the human for a moment before making a smile that did not reach his unreadable eyes. "Greetings, Admiral. I am Ambassador Atox, here to oversee the search for the Zillars." he said with a bow.

Reton seemed less than pleased, his lip curling, eyes hard, a look of pure disgust crossing his face. "We know where some of their planets are, but they are well protected." said the Admiral stiffly.
"Take me to the one you think might be their capitol, or center of operations. Once there, you will send me out in a shuttle, and your fleet will withdraw until either I signal that the negotiations are over, or they begin to fire on my craft." said Atox in a clipped fashion.
The human nodded, and after a rumble and a few moments of discernable travel the windows on the bridge showed a planet below them. "There it is." he said simply.
"Send the following message," ordered Atox, dictating,
"Greetings to the Zillar people: I am Ambassador Atox, a member of the species of the colony which was just attacked by refugees of yours. We are the Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia. I come in hopes of making peace with you, so there can be no more fighting. We are aware of the Intergalactic Empire that has taken your lands though conquest, and we offer you safe haven, for your people and ships, inside our space. We will work, not only to find you new planets, but to help you keep the ones you still have. I may be on a Greal ship, but I am Xiscapian, and this is what I, and my people and government, are offering to you."

One of the men, who seemed to be the communications officer, began to type away at his terminal, but before he finished alarms began to blare and a large fleet of alien ships could be seen approaching from the viewport. Crew were running about, to other consoles or out of the room, and the Admiral shouted, "They're coming! Prepare to open fire!"
"No!" roared the kitsune, pounding a bulkhead with his fist. "Send the message! Do not open fire! You fools, you'll destroy any chance of peace! Don't fire, send the message!" he shrieked.
Sweating, the officer hammered a button with his fist, looking at the one who identified himself as Atox with apprehension, but the ship shook as the fleets began to exchange fire. The battle was short and the Zillars soon withdrew, while the communications officer waited in vain for a reply to the message. The Xiscapian gave a inhuman snarl and spun around, looking to the Admiral with anger, who merely smiled, the first time he had done so.
"I want a shuttle, and I want one now. None of your crew are to come with, I do not need an escort. I will be flying down to the planet to try and repair our image from the damage you have done." He growled though gritted teeth.

At that moment the ship shuddered violently, throwing everyone to the deck except for the Ambassador. The Admiral climbed to his feet as a soldier came forward. "One of the Zillar missiles hit the ship." he reported. “Dismissed.” said Reton, turning to the ambassador.”It was not my fault, they started the shooting.”
"No, Admiral, really: Take responsibility for your actions. You shot first. If you had stayed quiet and not engaged with weapons, we might have had a chance at peace. Now we are at war. Once more, I ask for my shuttle, and I will not ask again." said Atox softly, with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.
“Unfortunately, ambassador," the Admiral sniffed with apparent enjoyment at the agitation of the kitsune, "the combat shuttles are off limits to foreigners, such as you, unless you take the diplomatic shuttles, which are back at our home worlds. We are going back to Xiscapian system, and you can get a shuttle there.”
The diplomat stared at the Admiral. "You mean to say you have no diplomatic shuttles on this ship? I'll take an escape pod if I have to! Admiral, I don't think you understand," he took a threatening step closer, "I need to get down to that planet, before it's too late!"
"No! If you try I'll have to arrested!" Reton screamed.
"You are obstructing me on my diplomatic mission! I demand you give me transport, or face the consequences!" thundered Atox.
"Arrest this "man"! And take him away to the jail cells below!" yelled the admiral, pointing to Atox.

Six guards, humans and bugs in battle armor, seized hold of the kitsune and began to drag him away. "This is a disgrace! You will pay for this!" screamed Atox as he was taken. "What will you do now? My people will come looking for me! What will you do then? Fight them, too?"
"Yes." came the cool answer, and Reton turned away as Atox was forced away from the bridge. "WHAT?" Atox yelled at the Admiral's back. "Do you know what you just said? Answer me! Answer me, damn you!"
But the Marines only laughed at the kitsune, taking him down to the brig of the vessel.

The Ambassador leaned against the wall of his cell, brooding silently. After a moment he stepped up to the bars, speaking to the soldiers outside. "Let me out, please. If you let me go I will leave immediately."
"No." said one of them, and they continued their patrol back and forth, ignoring their prisoner. The diplomat went back to his original spot, looking down at the deck, hair falling across his face, sighing, eyes closed as if in despair. A minute or so passed quickly, punctuated by several rumbles, though weather these were engine bursts as the ship engaged its FTL drive or more missiles hitting it was impossible to tell. Finally the Ambassador stepped over to the door of his cell, and raised his arm up to his face. He bit his wrist savagely, where a major vein was located, sharp teeth ripping though tissue to puncture it. Blood welled up and he licked his lips, cleaning away the excess, before pressing his wrist hard against the lock on the door with a soft hissing noise. When he drew it away it was evident the lock had been eaten away by something, and, smiling softly to himself, the kitsune pushed the door open and stepped out, withdrawing his injured arm back into his robes.

Once outside his hand came back out holding a blaster pistol as a guard turned in surprise, and a single shot was fired, hitting him in the shoulder and spinning the man to the floor. Atox dove behind a nearby computer console as return fire splattered against it and flew over his head. Grenades came, along with more Marine soldiers, and the fire increased as the Xiscapian rose to find new cover, darting from it, firing behind him. The shots were missing him, and it seemed the kitsune had a chance as he raced for the exit before a blast door closed over it, sealing the room. He hit the door, stumbling back in surprise, falling, before scrambling back to his feet. He had only just stood when a grenade that had landed behind his exploded, peppering his body with shrapnel, causing the kitsune to fall to his knees, then down onto the deck. Guards approached quickly, but before they got to him Atox vanished, completely gone but for some blood stains, sizzling as they melted into the deck.

The simulation froze, and Jade turned to Marchamp. "Afterward the Kitsune Empire, along with many of her allies, nearly declared war on Greal. In negotiations, Greali diplomats lied about that Admiral, Admiral Reton. They said he was rouge and had resigned his post and gone into hiding, they claimed to not be able to find him. We strongly suspected he had been acting under their orders the entire time, and that they were hiding him, but we had no evidence and could not accuse them. We were promised a full apology and monetary compensation," she shook her head, "blood money, really, but we never received it. Now we have found out Reton is, indeed, alive, and back to his old position. There has been a host of other events, both before and after this, including attempted xenocide by the Greali several times on two different races and two battles with the Kitsune Empire and Democratic Republic of Alversia on one side and Greal on the other, but this murder of Ambassador Atox stands out in ours minds."

Marchamp shook his head.
"No wonder you are reluctant to allow the Greali to be involved in anything you do." A heavy sigh followed the statement. He finally understood why the Emperor had looked the way he had when the Admirals had appeared.
"These battles with the Greali...are they going to be a problem when we go to war? I wonder, if this Admiral is such an issue, will he turn on us as we enter combat?" It was a rhetorical question; there was no way the Empress could accurately answer.
"On a happier note, how did you meet the Alversians? There seems to be a solid bond between your peoples."

<Thank you for the offer, but we are fine with resources at the moment. Though, onto the subject of this upcoming battle. Perhaps it would be best that you contact the others and let them know we're coming. Greywatch doesn't want to suprise anyone.>

<Thank you for the offer, but we are fine with resources at the moment. Though, onto the subject of this upcoming battle. Perhaps it would be best that you contact the others and let them know we're coming. Greywatch doesn't want to suprise anyone.>


Message to Allied coalition

Greywatch has decided to join us in our war against the Danaversians.


OOC: pretty tired. Xiscapia, that was awesome! :)

OOC: What was awesome? The VR? Glad you liked it. ;)
IC:
"It's entirely possible that they could turn on us once the battle begins, or even before, though I don't think they would be that stupid, whatever their true feelings may be. But the Alversians..." the Empress smiled.
"As I said, they assisted us during the Korr War and helped finally end it. We owe them a debt we thought we could never repay, our military, our planet and our people were saved from complete destruction. But later on, we managed to do the same for them, though that is another story for another time. The bond formed during that conflict has only grown stronger over the years, and both have benefited greatly from trade, association and cultural and idealistic exchange with each other. They are our closest and oldest allies."

They spent a moment in silent reflection before Jade spoke again. "Simulation: Exit Simulation." The ship, the guards and space dissolved around them, and both found themselves sitting in the chairs in the room they had entered originally. Jade stood, taking off the nodes as she did so. "It is time for us to move on to our next destination," she said softly as Marchamp also got up. "There is much more to see..."

OOC2: I'll be back some time tonight or tomorrow with my post for assembling my forces at the assault point.

Three Days Later,
Alversian Space

Admiral Marlon King stood and stared from the bridge of his warship, watching as the fleets beneath him manouevered in preparation for the Allied Offensive into Danaversian space, the first such one ever undertaken. He gave a sigh at the sight, the symbol of war that always seemed to follow Alversians no matter where they went. There were two seperate fleets here for the moment, though more would join as time went on. The Army would not follow until the Allies could secure orbit over the planet and so permit them to land without interference.

His own fleet was relatively small, there were less than twenty warships here at the moment, 11 of them were Alversian and bore the physical characteristics of their warships. They were long, elegant, with a tri-engined arrangment at the stern of the ship and lines of turrets along each side. The bridge was towards the back of the ship, it's own raised area on the ship's otherwise smooth surface.

The strike force of the fleet would consist of the two main warships, they were the flagship of this small fleet, the Crossfire-Class Dreadnought APS Challenger and the Forlorn-Class Battlecruiser APS Foxhound. Alone they were powerful ships but in this battle they were joined by 3 cruisers of various types, an AA cruiser, a type uniquely employed by the Alversian Navy, then five more destroyers to protect the flanks and the AA Cruiser, incapable of engaging capital ships but invaluable against small craft and missiles. One alone was enough to shield a fleet from missile attack and fighters would do well to stay away from it.

These vessels of the Alversian fleet were joined by those of their oldest Allies. The Alumina had sent eight vessels to what they thought was an ill-thought out and badly planned venture. Then again, the Alumina thought that of mos things and they were still happy to send some of their own warships to engage in this 'ill-fated' venture.
If Alversian ships were elegant then the Alumina designs took the theory to a whole new level. Though smaller than their APN counter-parts, the vessels nevertheless exhumed technology, looking more than a match for anything that could be thrown against it. For now though, they were content to drift lazily amonsgst the Alversian behemoths and smaller ships. Only the occasional flight of fighters added any sense of urgency to the serene scene.

However, on the Admiral's bridge, things were tense. There were rumours that the attack would begin soon, they would plunge deep into Danaversian space and take the fight to them. That would be a good feeling for the Alversians, used to fighting defensive wars against the bigger invader. Now it looked as though they would also have the advantage of numbers. Not only that but Admiral King would be in command of the overall fleet and he would not see them wrong. He had fought the Danaversians before after all.

So the Alversians and Alumina waited for the Armada to assemble and launch it's great stroke into Danaversian space.

"Lucian Queen, first mate of the scouter. Sorry for a suprise, we can't see what's happening in system before we enter."

"It's quite alright," The Lieutenant stated tiredly, "May I ask what you are doing in system? Having a little look I imagine," He smiled, exhausted from the effort of keeping the station together.

OOC: Al, did I miss something or did you just completely forget the scouter?

Alversian Space...
Where once there had been only space, in the next instant a Xiscapian task force occupied that area, appearing near the Alversian and Aluminan fleets. This was the First Assault Fleet, with a grand total of ten combat vessels and a medical ship, a section of them containing the troops that would be needed to take the planet. The flagship was a Battleship, the XIW A.I. 1, at the head of the pack, with the other Dominator class, the Alversia, parallel to her on the port side. The A.I. ships were controlled, as the name would suggest, by an artificial intelligence, drastically reducing the crew size and increasing combat efficiency. However, these vessels were fantastically expensive to produce, so only a few were in service for the Imperial Navy, though a large concentration could be found in the First Assault Fleet. These Battleships were the heaviest warships present in the Xiscapian fleet, made for engaging and destroying enemy capitals and bombarding planets.

Behind and below them were the Annihilator class Destroyers Grass and Krystal, escorts for the larger ships and providing a good deal of speed and firepower. Behind these in a box formation were the four Wasp class Cruisers, A.I. 3, A.I. 2, A.I. 9 and The Darkness, the most powerful ship after the Dominators. Though their main roles consisted of AA and support, the Wasp class was a quick, sturdy ship, able to take plenty of hurt and dish out even more to its foe. Above these was the Nova class Carrier Silk, a massive small craft transporter that would also serve as the beaming station for the assault troops, the oldest ship class still in service but dependable and tough. In it's shadow was the smaller Protection class Medical Ship, the A.I. 7, a flying hospital for the wounded and the savior of many lives when sick bays on other vessels were overloaded or shut down. Bringing up the rear was the Korrillian Destroyer Pain, a relic from the Korr war, crewed almost exclusively by fanatically loyal Korr. Though fanatical loyalty was virtually the default state of any given Korr soldier, these were especially fierce and dedicated, seeking to prove themselves worthy to fight alongside their kitsune and human counterparts.

The First Assault Fleet floated in space, waiting for other arrivals. There was no evidence of activity that any scans would show but normal operations, work as usual. However, a communications packet was sent from the XIW A.I. 1 to the APS Challenger, displaying an Xiscapian in a black uniform on the screen, with insignia that indicated his rank, Vice Admiral. He bowed to King, yellow eyes upon him. Murdoc had black hair and tawny fur, sallow skin and a tall, lanky form, seeming to radiate casualness despite his at-attention stance. "Admiral," he said respectfully. "I trust your forces, and that of our Alumina allies, are ready and awaiting only the arrival of the other members of this attack?"

Mere minutes behind the Xiscapians was the majority of Task Force Eternal Pain. The rest of the TF would arrive after the assault fleet left, along with the troop transports. At the moment, the Setulan ships outnumbered all of their allies combined.

Leading the Task Force was Eternal Pain herself. More than three kilometers of massive macro cannons, devestating ion turrets, and uncounted point defense guns and the heaviest shield system to be found in the entire Republic emerged from warp like a god of the void.
Two Harm class cruisers (Militant and Longevity) followed close by, their hanger bays shut for the time being, flight crews starting to go through briefings on cooperative tactics with their alien allies.
Four Fear class cruisers (Raw Power, Adele, Demolisher, Majesty) were next in the long line of ships. The staple cruiser of the Republican Navy, they had lost three of their number during the assault on Colony 1, and the crews were filled with a grim determination to prove their vessels were worth their upkeep.
The heaviest firepower in the fleet came last, bringing up the rear. The two Terror Class cruisers Wail and Mother's Blood were at first glance gunships; banks of macro cannons lined their flanks. The true surprise with these ships, however, were mounted in the prow-the nova cannon. Firing projectiles at mind boggling speeds, the shells caused a miniature super nova to erupt wherever they detonated. Unfortunately, they could not be used near a planet...it was theorized that the shells could vaporize the atmosphere.
Intermixed within the formation were the escorts-9 Setulan class frigates, 12 Cobra destroyers, and 12 Storm frigates.

No formation this size had been committed to battle since the Great War...but if not now, when?

The Forbidden Ministry vessel watched as other arrived but said nothing to them as they did so. So the battle, after these three days of waiting, might actually happen now, fantastic. It was not long after the other two teams arrived that Greywatch forces appeared. PSR rifts opened a few hundred kilometers away from the meeting areas, and Greywatch ships began to emerge. First came several small frigates, and then came the cruisers and destroyers. After the scout explained everything that had happened to the Alversians, which was coincidently was around the same time the Explorer contacted Prime about the Greali, which also happened to be around the same time the Forbidden Ministry gave a tip about the Xiscapians and their plans for war, Greywatch began assembling forces. The Greywatch ships were prepared to meet the enemy, and win this fight. Within a few seconds, twenty small Firefly frigates had emerged from PSR. They were followed by Rabble-Rousers, Star Shadows, and Powerbrokers came next. Then came the Farseers, Uplifters, Harbingers, and Plows. There were more than enough ships for a good bashing of the enemy, and with so many others, Greywatch wouldn’t need to throw in a Worldslayer. The question of Worldslayer use had come up, but the council decided that such a ship would only be used if ‘the situation was so dire that there was no other option.’
Instead, what was sent in was the basic Greywatch assault force. Twenty Firefly frigates came forward, they were just the basic Greywatch frigates, being about 300m long, they commanded no real respect even though no one would deny their worth. The Rabble-Rousers were a much heavier kind of ship, they were powerful cruisers made to fire at any enemy that dared to show its face; they were a nuisance thanks to their shielding and armor, and were labeled as ‘distraction’ cruisers. The 5 heavy, 1.5Km ships moved forward, behind their frigate friends. Next came the 2Km Star Shadows, these cruiser were often used in situations that required a tactical edge, and why not send a few stealth cruiser into the fray. Star Shadows had the unique cloaking ability, they could even fire when cloaked by sacrificing their shielding, and there were a good ten of them to piss off the enemy as much as possible.
Another Pressure Space Rift opened and revealed its owners. Five 1Km Powerbrokers exited first, these were Greywatch’s medium to close-range fighters, and with good reason. They were heavily armed, armored, and shielded; any enemy that was stupid enough to stand in the way of the ‘Relinquish’ cannons would pay dearly. Next came the Farseers, 10 of them. These were another one of Greywatch special ships; they weren’t as heavily armored as the other cruisers but had a different kind of advantage. Their 1.3 Km length was armed with special, extremely long-range, ‘sniping turrets.’ These were the ships that would be best for pinpointing weak spots and then taking advantage of them, they could also deal with any annoying fighters that might be deployed. Then came the Uplifters, largest ships in the Greywatch group, being a good 4 Km in length. There were only 2 of them, and with good reason, they had light armor, no weapons, and only mediocre shields… why were they deployed? They were repair ships, just another small thing that might help out in battle, and something the enemy might concentrate on. After the Uplifters came 2 Harbingers, both were 2Km in length. They had a little weaponry, but not much; some decent shielding, nothing special; and some okay armor, though nothing to be wowed about; their redeeming feature, they had fighters up the arse and weren’t afraid to use them.
Then came a third PSR opening, this one delivered the last of the Greywatch forces. Out came 12 frigates, Plows. They were 900m in length, and given some decent weapons for ships that possessed light armor and only decent shielding. These were to serve as artillery, doing damage from long range and not actually participating in closer combat. Now the entire Greywatch force had arrived, many of these ships would probably never see home again, but it was well worth it for some new allies. The ships began to group with the others, noting the one oddball ship. A message was put out, text only:
<This is Star Shadow, Whispers of Remorse, heading the Greywatch Assault force, we are awaiting orders. We have brought Harmony and Symphony; our two best repair ships in case anyone needs them. The Jester (Rabble-Rouser), Arc (Rabble-Rouser), Lion’s Roar (Powerbroker), Divine Sights (Farseer), and Queen Bee (Harbinger) are the lead ships of their groups respective groups.>
It was a decent group, especially if the situation was as bad as both the Greali and Alversians said it was going to be. Good thing Clouds were on standby, they might be needed for some serious planetary assault tactics. But that was something for later, at the moment, Greywatch hadn’t been in a war in quite awhile, and its full would be behind its allies in this fight. The Forbidden Ministry kept silent through the entire affair of Greywatch’s arrival. They’d expected something this size, it was normal. Fallen gods would shutter how large a Greywatch force would be if the Kiixori stopped fighting each other and actually concentrated on something else for a change.


OOC:
ORBAT and basic descriptions:

x20 Fireflies: Basic 300m frigates, medium armor, medium shielding
x5 R-Rs: Heavy, 1.5Km ‘distraction’ cruisers made to draw attention, good shielding
x10 SSs: 2Km ‘Stealth’ cruisers, can fire when cloaked but must sacrifice shielding
x5 Powerbrokers: 1Km medium-close range destroyers, good shielding and armor
x10 Farseers: 1.3Km, Long-range cruisers made for ‘sniping’ other ships, has some cloak ability but sacrifices some shielding and all firing capabilities
x2 Uplifters: 4Km repair ships, no weapons, good shielding, light armor
x2 Harbingers: 2Km Carrier craft, has fighters up the arse, nuf said
x12: Plows: Basic 900m frigates with an upgrade, meant to serve as long-range, special artillery, lightly armored and shielded

Alverisan Space

One moment there was space, the next moment the Greali naval task force appeared. The ships were all in battle formation. The largest and the more powerful warships would guard the center and the flanks. The carriers would hang in the middle, protected by frigates and cruisers. Fighters would make up a offensive attacks, while the other half would stay to guard for enemy fighter attacks. The Danaversians were impressive in fighters, so the Greali would bring numbers. Meanwhile, behind the Greali task force was a massive logistics fleet that was escorted by police frigates. The logistics would stay in Alversian space, while the naval fleets attacked. if it was successful, the logistics would join the naval force. On board the Vista, Admiral Epson was actually happy about coordinating his fleets with Greal's new allies, which made the Naval Command resentful of him. Things weren't improving much since many of the naval crews resented the Xiscapians.

The Vista, carried more firepower then a standard naval fleet. The Navy had dumped every bit of extra spare money on improving the superfortresses ever since its battles with the Xiscapians. The Superfortress still had scars from its battle with the Xiscapians, the Alversians, and more recently, the Danaversians, but it had a new look. The Mauler superweapons were upgraded to Mark II, which was more stable then Mark I. Most fighters were now Viper Mark IIs, which were more heavily armored. Hundreds of thousands of Disk missiles were added to the firepower of the superfortress, since their success against the Danaversians pleased the Naval Command.

The Vista was not the only ship reworked. Lasom Class frigates were upgraded to Mark II due to concerns that the Xiscapians had stats for Mark I. The transports were given a badly need boost in shields and speed. The Cheron Anti-Missile Platform was now installed on all naval ships, which would not prevent most enemy missiles from reaching their target. Despite all the upgrades, many ships still carried scars from their previous battles.

Epson sent a message to his allies informing them they were ready for battle.

"I trust your forces, and that of our Alumina allies, are ready and awaiting only the arrival of the other members of this attack?"

"They are, Vice Admiral," King offered a slight bow to the Kitsune in front of them, then permitted a small smile as the fleets of the various allies arrived within moments of each other, all lighting up the Challenger's sensor screens like a Christmas tree,
"And here they are now," he gave a nod then looked back at Murdoc, "There's nothing I like more than a punctual ally. Always sets things off on the right track I find." He tapped a button and the screen instantly divided into six, each segment showing the leaders of the Alversian, Xiscapian, Aluminan, Greali, Greywatch and Setulan fleets.

For those who had never seen an Aluminan before, they were quite different to anything they had seen before. Intially, they resembled giant cats, with the whiskers, ears and eyes of any normal feline. However what one could not see was that they were over seven or eight feet in height and very imposing. They were also the most unsociable and aloof characters anyone could hope to meet and this one, a male with brown fur, was staring at the rest of the fleets with a great disapproval, as if he could see something wrong the others couldn't.

"Right then," King began, "I am Admiral Marlon King, Commander of the III Fleet and now Commanding Officer of this assembled force. The plan, for those of you who are unaware of it, is simple. We shall advance along the path plotted for us through the DMZ. Co-ordinates are being sent now," And they were, to every ship, "From here, we shall advance along this heading until we reach the planet. We expect resistance to be fierce but when we manage to break through the Danaversian lines then we are to spin and envelop their line, forcing it to either withdraw or be destroyed. We shall maintain a defensive orbit until the support fleet can arrive with the troops for a ground landing. The planet is known as 'Havalia' for those who are unaware of it and I expect you all to brief your Captains beneath you, so every man knows what he is doing. Do we have any questions?"

Grant listened intently.
"Aye, Admiral. Would you grant Setulan the honor of breeching the center of the Danaversian forces?" A gleam was in his eye, noticable even over the holo screens. "Setulan ships are designed for close action, Admirals. Our weapons and tactics all revolve around getting into the middle of an enemy formation and breaking it up, where our larger ships can come into play. The rest of the fleets can provide heavy covering fire from medium range while we close. Once we disrupt the formation, another fleet-your choice-can move in and make the hole even larger, opening the way for our ships to pass through so they might exploit the breach."

The information being presented was looked over and forwarded to a Worldslayer sitting in Greywatch space. SCN networks made the Worldslayer a rather convenient logistics hub even though it was not participating in the battle. A message was sent out by the Whispers of Remorse:
<We are ready when you are. Please note, Star Shadows are meant for guerilla tactics, it may be best for us to come out of PSR some distance away from the battle so that we can come in while cloaked and surprise the enemy. Our Plows and Farseers will act as long range support while the Rabble-Rousers and Powerbrokers act as your close to medium range, heavy support. The two Uplifters will repair any ship that needs it, and Harbingers will provide mass fighter support. Also, in the case that we require it, there are a few orbital assault craft on standby, but we don’t intend to bring those in until we actually reach and secure the atmosphere of an enemy world.>
With the message sent, the Greywatch group sat silently. The lone FM craft, having not been noticed, moved to the Greywatch group and took formation next to a few Star Shadows. Despite the unidentified craft’s strange action, no one paid it much attention as it was displaying a ‘friendly’ beacon that could only be received by Greywatch ships. The captain of the Whispers of Remorse did find it strange that this obviously non-Greywatch ship had the beacon code and forwarded the information to the Worldslayer.

The vessel from the Forbidden Ministry had been logged into the Imperial database, and the diplomat had, after all, given them the coordinates to be here, so its presence was not remarked upon. Murdoc listened silently to the plan, then to Grant's proposal, from the bridge of his flagship. The move would be incredibly risky: If the attack failed, or went too slow, the Setulan task force would be in a place of great danger. However, if the attack was a success, the Setulan would be the heroes of the battle, having punched a hole in the Danaversian forces, scattering them to be picked off. Despite the hazards of the strategy, it made sense.

"Admiral," he nodded to King, "may I ask we review again the enemy composition? There are those among us, Admiral Epson for example, who have not had the luxury of being provided with Aluminan Intelligence. With this information clear and present to all, we can prioritize targets for ships like the Greywatch Star Shadows to strike at while cloaked."

King listened to the Setulan plan with interest and chewed it over while Murdoc spoke. It was a highly ricky strategy but one that promised great gains if it succeeded. On the one hand, it could pierce the Danaversian defenses like a great arrow, the Setulan fleet being the spearpoint of course. On the other hand, it could turn into a disaster. Much must be risked in war, and the Setulans had come up with the idea after all.
King nodded to indicate his approval for the fleet,
"As for the Danaversian defences, we are unaware of their exact composition but we know that a majority of their fleet shall be Barracuda warships. As a rule, all Danaversian ships are heavily armed and heavily armoured, but slow. Like the Danaversians themselves. A direct conflict is always inadvisable but manourverability on our side and, in this case, firepower as well," He smiled, "We should be able to overcome their threats" He looked at the commanders assembled in front of him,
"Any more questions?"

Grant sat back, content. He would not fail.

He grimaced slightly at the lack of information-assaulting a planet without proper knowledge was far from an ideal situation. He shrugged to himself.

It wasn't like they wouldn't have any support.

They were not alone. The famous observer Twilight was following the movement of the Xiscapian fleets to the conflict. From there the mission was to gather information for an assault on a Danaversian world, preferably a industrial world to cripple there economy.

"I have just one." said Admiral Epson looking at the Alversian directly. "What kind of enemy forces do we expect to encounter?" To his side, there were captains that were listening the battle plan, and they were passing down orders. The Greali Fleet sat motionless in space, besides the Greal fighter patrols returning to refuel for the battle.

"If the good Admiral listened to my question and the answer," interrupted Vice Admiral Murdoc icily to Epson, "you would already know the answer. Mostly Barracuda warships, heavily armed and well shielded, but slow and with low maneuverability." He sniffed with disdain and looked to Admiral King. "We are ready to do our part." he informed the Alversian, watching Epson out of the corner of his eyes.
Idiot.

"I'm sorry, I must have been absent-minded," said Admiral Epson, no longer looking directly at the Alversian, but at the Xiscapian."What I meant was how many do we expect to encounter?"

"In that case," King noted the coldness with which Murdoc had corrected the Greali Admiral and he knew there could be issues here. He was no fan of the Greali either, some of the stories filtering back from Miller weren't nice...even so...he had a bigger picture to look at and the bigger picture was this offensive,
"We genuinely don't know how many there will be," King admitted, "The planet is outside effective scanner range though we suspect it will be heavily defended. Now, for the plan, we shall attack in an arrowhead formation," Another screen on each ship would bring up the planned formation with each Race's ships marked out clearly within it's boundries,
"The attack shall be led by the Setulan fleet, with the Greali behind them. They will be flanked by the Greywatch, Xiscapian, Alversian and Aluminan ships, so allowing us to focus our firepower and punch the gap at the same time, driving the Danaversian flanks outwards and away from the planet. Does everyone understand?" he asked the assembled commanders. The Alumina male did not speak but King could feel his disapproval even from his own ship.

"I understand, Admiral, but I do have a question," Murdoc said with a nod. "I was informed by my superiors that this world," he cleared his throat, "Havalia, was discovered by Aluminan long-range sensors. If these sensors can detect the planet itself, but nothing of the composition of any defenses, would it not be wise to send an expendable scout or mobile base into Danaversian territory to recon the planet, so we know what we're fighting? For all we know, the Danaversians outnumber us three to one."

"Ah," King smiled, "We did have accurate numbers for the fleet three days ago when we were able to scan the planet. The scans in question were conducted by an Alumina ship which went deep into Danaversian space, at great risks to themselves, to gain this information. These same ships shall act as our eyes and ears as we approach Havalia, informing us of what we can expect to face. Do not fret Vice Admiral, we shall know well in advance what the odds are,"
The Alumina nodded as if in confirmation to these words.

The Greywatchers listen to the conversation between races uncomfortably, this could be a touhg battle what with all the tension... but then came the scout question:
<This is where we might be able to come in. Our Star Shadows can use their cloak to get nice and close, the only question what distance we should come out at, PSR isn't discreet. It's risky but we'll be able to give the most up to date inforamtion to everyone instantaniously using the SCN.>

"Perhaps you were not listening to the brief as extensively as you should have been," The Alumina''s voice cut across the conversation like a knife, glaring at the Greywatchers, "We have agreed thaat our own system shall provide the required information with no risk to any members of this Fleet," He sneered, "Your help is both unneeded and unwanted,"

King quickly took up the slack to avoid an arguement,
'Bloody hell,' He thought 'There's already fights and we haven't even set off yet'

"What the Pantheria-Admiral means," King explained, "Was that an Alumina system has been in place for centuries to accomplish these sorts of things. They tell us they have the methods to get at the required intel and I believe them. Please do not take their aloofness for ungratefulness" King looked at the rest of the fleet, "Any more questions?"

"No," said Grant happily. "Now let's get to some killing!" Grant was a man who trusted his instincts, and the exchange he saw between Epson and Murdoc-a man who, despite their limited contact, he liked-cemented in his mind the warnings Marchamp had given him about the Greali. And they would be his only support should things go haywire.
Wonderful.

Aeisha sat back, the eye slits flickering as she thought. "This is a very interesting situation I have stumbled across. I was only on a scouting mission when I detected the disturbance, and now I find a war starting up." She turned to gaze at Drell shifting its stance so as not to knock anything over.

"What I can say is that this battle is going on far too close to the Inter-Union than I'd like. I will be sending a message to my superiors requesting orders and informing them on the situation." The eyes winked out for several seconds, and then came back on.

"There. I will have to wait until I receive my new orders and their stance on the situation but I will do my best to aid you here. If you and your allies fall, than it will by my nation which next feels the assault of these....Danaversians. You may ask me any questions you feel you need to know about my people."

Admiral Epson had no more questions. Now his naval force was to support the Setulan if anything went wrong. This was going to be very interesting. off screen, the fleet commanders were heading back to their ships, prior to the offensive. Epson hoped nothing would go wrong. If this attack was beaten, then the war would continue for a long time.

"As I said, we are ready." Murdoc nodded his affirmation, turning to his Executive Officer and exchanging a few muttered words. The X.O. nodded and copies of the short meeting were sent out to the rest of the Xiscapian Fleet, in addition to the orders they had already received from the Grand Admiral. The Captains knew their roles, Murdoc had been working with them for some time; he knew they would not fail him. His kitsune weren't quite the best in the Imperial Navy, but they were far from the worst. After all, they were the First Assault Fleet, constructed, trained, equipped and conditioned to take enemy positions, and they had all proven themselves in battle before.
They would be crushing Danaversians soon.

Wuin System, Planet of Slint, Drakko city...
"I do have some inquires about your...religion." Drell hesitated slightly, unsure if that was really what it was. She was happy to have some potential allies here, even if they were only allies of convenience, but like most alien races they had strange ideas about worship and godhood. Drell was far too polite to actually give voice to these perceived eccentric behaviors on the part of the people of the Inter-Union, especially after reading the report sent by Cinas, but she was curious about them nonetheless. "Care to enlighten me further on that subject?"

"In that case, Gentlemen," King announced, "We shall jump in exactly ten minutes. All vessels shall remain at full combat alert until we reach the battlezone and until the battle has concluded. We do not want any risks taken here. Lord knows we can't afford them. King out" With that, he cut his transmission and returned to his bridge. The III Fleet already knew their own task for he had told them before the briefing with the Admirals. It would be one of the biggest fleets in Alversian space and certainly the most varied.
Once the ten minutes were up, the vessels twisted and turned their flight patterns into one formation, all pointing to the depths of Danaversian space. In not too short a time, the vessels had jumped and they were on their way to war.

Grant nodded along with the Alversian commander. Chap seemed to know what he was doing. When the Admiral signed off, Grant opened a link to the rest of his Captains, who were all waiting for him to tell them the deal. He smiled at them.
"Gentlemen," he said, "I have secured us the assault position." A brief cheer went up from the Captains; it was time to avenge the losses they had taken at Colony 1.
"We'll proceed in a Praetorian Arrow and rip through the Danaversians like crap through a goose. Once we have achieved initial breakthrough, I'll send a signal to the Greali ordering them in to support us. They'll smash open the new hole, and after that the rest of the fleet will move in, exploiting it. Questions?"
There were none.
"Godspeed, Captains. Drinks are on me when this is over."

Moments after the Alversians had warped, the Task Force was en route.

"Status?"
"We're Jaunting in two."
Vice Admiral Murdoc nodded with a smile. They were on-schedule. His Captains knew the drill, come in with the Alversians, Alumina and Greywatchers to cover the Greali flank, who would in turn be reinforcing the Setulan task force as they made the strike, the point on the end of a very big, rather wide spear. The Xiscapians would be on the extreme port flank of the Greali fleets, and would serve to guard it for the initial assault, then destroy any nearby Danaversian vessels as their formation broke. Afterward they would assist in the mop-up and probably stay in-system, if only to keep Greali imperialism in check. All in all, a smooth, simple operation.
Nothing would go wrong, not if Vice Admiral Murdoc had any say in it.

Around the eleven-ship fleet, Captains were giving last-minute briefings to their bridge officers before the chaos of battle. Flight leaders stood atop their fighters in hanger bays, giving last-minute talks on Danaversian small craft abilities, durability and tactics. The assault troops on the Silk were simply told to, "shoot anything that looks like it has an ass for a face." They all knew the plans and drills, they had trained, in VR scenarios and in reality, for this for three days.
They were as ready as possible.

The engines flared and burned though empty space as the fleet glided forward in formation, apparently towards deep space. An instant later there was something there before them, coming from out of nowhere, a dark patch in space. One could see the entrance to the hole no matter what perspective they saw it from, so it was really more like a globe, except it did not seem that way to an observer. Though it showed up on no sensors it seemed like solid mass, as it still cut the First Assault Fleet off from view as one moved around the tear. It defined itself from the space around it from being total liquid darkness, no stars or distant swirls of space gas adorned its perfect black.

In quantum mechanics, quantum tunneling (the method of travel utilized by the Jaunt Drive) is a nanoscopic phenomenon in which a particle violates the principles of classical mechanics by penetrating a potential barrier or impedance higher than the kinetic energy of the particle. A barrier, in terms of quantum tunneling, may be a form of energy state analogous to a "hill" or incline in classical mechanics, which classically suggests that passage through or over such a barrier would be impossible without sufficient energy. On the quantum scale, objects exhibit wave-like behavior; in quantum theory, quanta moving against a potential energy "hill" can be described by their wave-function, which represents the probability amplitude of finding that particle in a certain location at either side of the "hill". If this function describes the particle as being on the other side of the "hill", then there is the probability that it has moved through, rather than over it, and has thus "tunnelled".

At a minimum, most "local" areas (24,000 AU, or 22,320,000,000 miles) took at least a minute of travel to reach, and it was speculated, due to the strange nature of the hole, that extragalactic travel, while significantly reduced in time, still took a measure of years to bridge.
Nevertheless, it cut the time spent going from one point to another significantly.
The Fifth Fleet jumped, or as some would say "Jaunted", vanishing though the hole. The Jaunt hole, with no stabilizer in the form of the drive to hold it up any longer, collapsed instantly, seeming to swallow the Xiscapian Fleet whole.
Propelled ever closer to their meeting with destiny...and the Danaversians.

Havalia

There are some areas of space which are used to space travel. Some areas which display their role as galactic sea routes with pride and honour. These routes are littered with the remains of this space travel, be it something small like the rubbish from a passing freighter, or something more sinister, like the wreakage of a long destroyed craft. Space that has been used for millenia by the species of today, the species of yesterday and, almost certainly, the species of tomorrow. The space of Alversia, Xiscapia, Setulan and Greal all bear these signs to a certain degree, proof that these species are out there in the stars and that the stars have seen them and returned the compliment of trade, adventure and warfare.

However, the space near the planet of Havalia resembled a pair of newly bought curtains. There was no evidence of prior travel, prior trade or prior battle. These areas of space looked as good as new, as if the Allies were the first sentients ever to see it's stars and planets and to grace it's gentle yet foreboding darkness. They were not though, they were not even close. The Danaversian Empire's seclusion from the life of the galaxy was proven better no where else than here.

Yet it was here that the Allied Fleet burst from it's various gates, portals and jaunts. The ships were in the order they had jumped, namely no order at all. This was of no concern to Admiral King on the Challenger for he knew from prior multi-fleet operations that the basic and neccessary task of arranging their vessels into a formation could be accomplished relatively quickly. The Setulans would lead the offensive, the Greali would be directly behind them then, on the Setulan flanks, the Alversians, Alumina, Xiscapians and Greywatchers. Some where new species to each other, some where old enemies and some where old friends. All now put their faith in each other as they droned on towards the planet they had been tasked to take. The Danaversian Empire's demise would start here.

Admiral King was still standing and staring at the variety of ships as they moved past his own in mid-flight to take up their own positions when a blip came through on the scanners. It seemed like the Alumina were at last starting to deliver the information they had promised on the enemy fleet. He did not blame them for being late, the Alumina language and interface would have thrown the fleet into chaos, so they had taken the liberty of translating the data into a more easily readable interface. Something which King felt no end of gratitude for.

"Well?" He asked his own Communications Officer, a middle aged Lieutenant. She gave a small nod,

"Fleet directly ahead, Sir"

Then, suddenly, as if out of the blue, it was there. The Fleet which they had to face. King gave a small whistle as he saw what would have to be faced down by his own command. The Danaversian ships, all identical in almost every form apart from size, where arranged both rows and ranks up and down. There would be no height advantage to gain as the Danaversian fleet stretched well above and below the Allied fleet, and well spread out along it's flanks. Hundreds upon hundreds of ships.

"I'm detecting over 300 Danaversian vessels Sir," The Lieutenant reported as her information came in, then a beep sounded and she frowned.

King saw the frown,
"What is it?" He asked her, suddenly gaining a sinking feeling in his stomach,

The Lieutenant shook her head, "100 unidentified vessels Sir. Amongst the Danaversian fleet"

"Yes." King could see them now, dots of grey in an ocean of green. The vessels were strange looking, resembling giant grey beetles. (http://www.bugman123.com/Bugs/StagBeetle.jpg) Their long jaws opened, as if beckoning the attacking fleet forward.

King hesitated, he knew the rest of the fleet would have picked up on them as well by now. They were a mystery, the Alversians have never fought them before and the Alumina had said nothing, indicating they were unaware of their origins as well.
"Weapons?" he asked, "Defences?"

The Lieutenant went to work again,
"Minimal shielding but heavy armour Sir," She reported quickly, "Weapons consist of eight MAC cannons, and a few AS lasers Sir"

"Nothing serious then." King was serious, he still had a bad feeling about those ships but he could not ignore the evidence in front of him which signalled that these 'Allies' of the Danaversians would offer as little resistance as their more numerous breathern.

"All ships prepare to attack," King signalled to the entire fleet. He gave a heavy sigh, imaging thousands of people bracing themselves for battle. He shuddered when he thought of it. What would the outcome be? Would he become a hero or a villian?

Havalia

"Four hundred ships?" Epson frowned at the news. That combined force of Danaversian and gray ships was bigger then the Greali navy! What bothered him was that the gray ships seemed to armed with few weapons. Then why the hell were they here? The Danaversian ships were all identical and green. Epson would think about this later, he had other pressing concerns.

"Launch fighters."

The fighters were merely for defensive purposes. But there were thousands of them, enough to swamp any enemy fighter force they met. They placed themselves as reinforcements should their new allies need any fighter help. Corvettes were being launched and watching the flank, since the Greali fleet had more ships then all the other allies put together at this battle. The massive Mauler turrets were ready. These were long range weapons that themselves had destroyed quite a few Danaversians at Hurtrix. Now, the Greali would payback for the battle.

"Superlasers are ready, Admiral."

Epson heard but did not respond. He was waiting for the signal for the Setulan fleet to support them and blast any opponents in their way.

There was no telling what would happen next.

OOC: Sorry about the short post. I meant to have it longer.

As the Xiscapian First Assault Fleet burst into real space they immediately began to run scans of their own. The Alumina sensors were all very well and good, but Murdoc didn't want to have to rely on them if he had his own scans to look at. Nonetheless, the strange, gray vessels were spotted quickly.
"What the hell are those?" Murdoc murmured softly to himself, staring at the alien ships on the monitors.
"Unidentified, sir," his X.O. reported. "Shields and armament are light, though, suggesting a small corvette or possibly patrol class craft."

"No records, and the Alversians aren't saying anything..." The Vice Admiral looked worried. The presence of the ships was unnerving, had no one seen them before hand? Among the huge, heavily armed Danaversian ships, these smaller, lighter vessels would make little difference in the battle.
But still...
Murdoc shook his head. He had a battle to fight, aliens be damned. "Fan out in the arranged positions," he ordered, still looking at the camera feeds. The Danaversian fleet outnumbered and probably outgunned them, but he was confident in the combined firepower and intelligence of the Coalition force.
Here we go again...

Grant stood on the bridge, regal in his dress uniform, calm and collected. The familiar thrill shot through his veins-the feeling of godlike power associated with commanding ships in wartime. He hadn't experienced it in almost fifty years. And what odds!
He smiled. It was good to be back in his element.
"All ships, enter Praetorian Arrow!" he barked over the vox. The crews of the ships immediately went to work, and the formation took on shape, surging ahead of the rest of the allied vessels.

The point of the spear was Eternal Pain. She rode forward, slightly ahead of the rest of the formation, prow weapons trained on the approaching enemy. The four Fear-Class cruisers formed up around it-Raw Power and Adele were above and off to the right and left respectively, while Demolisher and Majesty were below and to the left and right, again respectively.
The two Terror Class cruisers formed up outside of the formation, Wail to the left and Mother's Blood to the right. The Harm-Class carrier cruisers stayed with the rest of the fleet, launching waves upon waves of the Bentnose strike spacecraft, first fighters and then bombers, that danced in between the approaching arrow.
The escorts were similarly positioned amongst the formation; the three Setulan-Class squadrons Orange, Red, and Green were below the formation in a chevron, while the four Storm-Class squadrons Eagle, Hawk, Raven, and Falcon were similarly formed above. The destroyer squadrons (Alpha, Bravo, and Charley) hung back slightly.

Grant lifted his vox mic and paused momentarily. These odds...another smile.
"Open fire."

The order may have seemed premature to the allies, and indeed, the majority of the ships didn't even bother. However, the two Terror class cruisers were ready to roll.
Lights flashed down their sides, and then went dim. The engine flared briefly, glowing brighter, and then the massive energy surge was forced into the Nova Cannons. They fired.
To fast for all but the most advanced sensors to see, the projectiles left a glimmering white trail through space...and then they detonated smack in the middle of the Danaversian formation, erupting into miniature suns. The battle was on.

King watched as the Danaversian ships erupted into flames from the nova cannon rounds and even more were scattered from the blast. Almost immediately, the Danaversian formation had been split and their defensives pierced. King felt a sigh of relief at the sight. Those new ships had worried him initially, but now he supposed he had been seeing ghosts where there were none. The victory here would be nothing more than a formality. The Xiscapian, Alversian, Aluminan and Greywatch vessels had spread along each flank of the Setulan fleet, in preparation for a pincer like attack. Yet none came. In fact, the Danaversians weren't even firing back.
Something was badly wrong.
Then, almost as if to confirm his thoughts. The new ships fired. Not their MAC guns, nor their AS lasers, but something else. It appeared like blue plasma but each ship only fired once. Most of the rounds were directed at the Setulan and Greali fleets while only scattered shots were aimed into the flanks. In fact, only one Alversian ship, the Cruiser Magenta was hit and her shield seemed to stand up perfectly to the attack. This would be over in record time this battle, as would this war.

Bridge, APS Magenta

"What the hell was that?" Captain Roberts demanded of his crew. The shot from the new vessel had hit his shields and there was nothing. Not even a tremor. Surely the Danaversians would not have put such ships in the line without a reason. They were useless.

Roberts was an Alversian used to fighting Danaversians. He had fought alongside Grand Admiral Ashe in the previous war as a Lieutenant, his experience and bravery sufficient to see him to the rank of Captain in charge of a large and powerful Scarlett-Class Heavy Cruiser. He considered himself lucky, for he liked his ship and he liked his crew, quiet, young and well trained. Just like a crew should be. They went about their work properly and so the battle was won. Roberts believed any battle could be won by iron discipline and this would be no exception.
He settled back in his command chair and smiled, looking at the three consoles in front of him, manned by eager and willing Ensigns,
"Prepare to..." he was about to give an order when the lights went out.

It was without warning. The vessel was suddenly plunged into darkness, only illuminated by the scene from space and the emergency red lights that were laid out in each corner of the room.
"What the hell happened?" in the semi-darkness, Roberts liked like a skeleton in a Captain's Uniform.

"Don't know Sir," His Lieutenant Commander replied, frowning, "Trying to figure it out."

"Sir! We've lost shields!" His Tactical officer, a female Kitsune, reported in shock"

"What!?" Without shields they were sitting ducks, "get us out of here, Helm!"

"Sir! We've lost propulsion!" The Ensign controlling the helm reported nervously, on the grip of panic.

"Steady Ensign," Roberts growled regaining his own control, "What happened? A malfunctio..."

Before he could finish a second sentence, an explosion ripped him from his seat and threw him across the floor, along with the rest of the bridge crew. He hit his head hard on something and he felt warm blood trickle down his forehead. He could see stars. he shook his head then stood up in time to be thrown to the floor with another explosion, this one seemed closer. The sounds of jarring metal and the smell of burning flesh was getting distinctly closer.

"Crew to stations!" He called to his Bridge crew, indicating for them to stand at their posts. Half his crew got up. The young Helmsman did not get up and neither did his Commander, but he still had enough of a crew to do a job. he could see on the view screen now that the Danaversians were firing and their weapons were playing hell with the Allied fleet.

"Return fire!" Roberts demanded, trying to stem the blood flowing freely from his forehead.

"Weapons are down Sir," The Kitsune stated, trying to keep her voice level but unable to hid the panic, "We're defens..." Another explosion seemed to tear her apart while Roberts was thrown to the floor again. Now the bridge became a scene of burning metal and searing flesh.

Roberts tried to stand but suddenly found himself short of breath and unable to suck in the smokey air around him. He glanced down to see four long, sharp shards of metal embedded deep in his chest. He knew he was dead but he knew this need not be the end. His duty was done but there was one more that needed to be done,
"All hands" he managed to activate the loudspeaker on the bridge, "Abandon ship" He choked, coughing up blood as he did so, yet he forced himself to say the words one more time, "A...ban...don...ship" with that, he slumped over, his eyes dulled and another veteran of a dozen wars was dead. His luck had finally run out.

The crew, well those who could, were already in the process of abandoning ship. Unknown to the Captain, his vessel had become a raging inferno, explosions being thrown from every crack with each Danaversian strike. Other vessels were manouvering away from the big vessel, trying to miss it's explosion and so save their own vessels. They were also now trying to fight off the Danaversian fleet which had come alive.

Bridge, APS Challenger

"Dear God,"

King had nothing else to say as his fleet descended into chaos. The careful manouerving and arrangement of the fleet had been thrown apart by the sudden halt of so many vessels. They were not only trying to fight an enemy who now filled the space between them with weapons fire, but also their own kind as ships turned this way and that. He could see so many burning vessels that he dared not name him. He was also aware that the Magenta was burning somewhere on his right. He could only stare at the scene, powerless to do anything.
The fleet was in chaos.

Grant frowned as the blue plasma beams erupted among the ships of his fleet...and nothing happened.
But in the back of his mind, his warning senses were screaming at him that something wasn't right. Then the lights started to dim.
"What the hell..." he said, angrily. "What the fuck is going on?" Even as he said it, he knew perfectly well what was happening.
That fucking blue blast had messed up his ship.
"Sir, shields going down rapidly!" Grant stopped moving.
"What?"
"Shields dropping!"
"Weapons losing power, sir!" called his weapons operator.
"Sir, engines are fluctuating strangely, we're losing them!" Grant stood stock still for a moment. What the hell...?

Unforunately for the Setulanites, a black day in Naval history was just getting started.

Wail had been hit by two of the strange blue blasts;the captain, sensing nothing wrong with his ship, had ordered the Nova Cannon to be fired a second time. The energy surged along the lines of the ship, just like last time...and then energy started to dissapear. For most ships, this would not be a problem; the weapon simply wouldn't fire, fizzling out. But the systems needed to contain the tremendous power of the Nova Cannon was shut down, and almost incalculable amounts of energy were released directly into the body of the ship. It exploded, completely annihilated, killing the entire crew in one horrific, cataclysmic blast.

Virtually every ship in the fleet had been hit by the strange blue plasma; the few lucky survivors were the destroyers in the rear of the formation, who wisely fell back immediately to the rest of the fleet. All the rest of the ships were wide open to attack.
The one bright side of the coin for the Setulans was that their ships, like Grant had said, were designed for close combat; the accepted tactic was to have the massive warships close to a kilometer or two and start exchanging heavy blows. Needless to say, this was rough on shields, and engineers had designed armor that was almost ludicrously heavy by any other races' standards.

It was this strange design quirk that would let any of the ships survive the apocolypse being rained down upon them.

All the ships immediately started taking damage from the heavy fire, and for a brief moment-almost a full minute-there was no control as the Setulan ships were pummeled mercilessly. Then Grant retook control.

"All ships, max power to engines now! We'll trust in inertia to shove us through the formation until we regain power. God speed to you all, and I'll see you on the other si-"

The message was cut off as Eternal Pain finally lost power. It was in the hands of the gods as the crews buckled down and prepared for the worst.

"Captain! Those unknown ships just fired... the Dans are coming on hard now!" Said the tactical officer of the Jester. The captain turned, "Shit. What kind of fucking weapon was that? Disabling a ship so quickly... Return fire, hit those motherfuckers hard."
Aboard the Whispers of Remorse, orders were being dished out left and right. The Harbingers had already deployed fighters to distract the enemy, there were easily over one thousand of the pests to annoy the enemy, and these fighters did have bombs and missiles which would do damage if ignored. The cloud of small ships began pushing forward, quickly and effectively, dodging most of the fire being sent at them. These were all Drone fighters, much quicker to react to sudden changes in the situation.
The Rabble-Rousers and Powerbrokers were already starting to concentrate on the beetle like craft while the enemy as a whole was pounded from long range by the Plows. Farseers also began to fire at the Danaversian fleet. Star Shadows had long since gone into cloak and had already been investing in moving behind the enemy. They'd been lucky, they'd only lost three fireflies so far. Though, looking at the situation, things were about to get very bad, very quickly. The Greywatchers had intentionally left the Uplifters behind initially, keeping them back until the situation could be confirmed as 'safe enough.' This definately didn't count as a good enough situation; with the odd technology those unidentified ships were using, there was no way the Uplifters would be called in, hell, they probably wouldn't be useful.
The FM ship, which had been quiet for all this time, began to act. Fighters began growing out of its hull and flying out toward the enemy as the ship began charging its Cryptic network.
Aboard the ship, a shadowy figure stood at 'the helm,' a dark room in the center of ship which was displaying everything outside. Looks like everything's gone to hell...
"Too bad, we'll have to play dirty. Begin hacking, try to see what you can get into... if they schematics in their computer systems, steal those first."
Assuming I can get in?
"You're alive. Reach out and touch them, grab them by the neck, and wring them for what they're worth."
You're refering to Cryption? You think everyone else will respond well to a ship that has the ability to do that? Most people can't fully understand Cryption as is...
"Well then, we'll just have to impress them, won't we. Plus, you have spore fighters growing out of you."
I'm not fully developed yet, I can't send out more than a few Cryptic shots at them... True about the fighters, though.
"What have you learned of the weapons they are using?"
The ship rumbled as four more Fireflies went up in flames.
It seems to act like an EMP, but is emcompasses everything on a ship... Very dangerous for everyone else... but not us, since we run on Cryption.
"Some of your weapons and systems may still be affected. In the case we're hit, PSR out immediately. I do not intend to lose you."
Nice to know you care.
"You're welcome."
The Greywatch group noticed the mystery ship launching its fighters in a... special way. It was one of the Farseers that ended up contacting the ship, asking what it was. The response sent back to them startled everyone, no one had ever thought the FM would ever obtain such capabilities... developing ships.
The Worldslayer at home was a hive of activity as all sorts of information came in. Most aboard the large vessel wished that they coul dbe sent in... if only they could help. But, alas, they had their orders. A report came in that a Farseer and a Powerbroker had just been disabled. The order was put out for all medium-close range ships to pull back. Then an order was given to the Star Shadows to drop cloak and fire on the enemy. The Star Shadows did so, unleashing all hell they could manage on their foe.

OOC: Sry if this is half-assed, I just don't feel like being left behind.

Aeisha nodded, her eyes flickering again, with laughter perhaps. "It would be my honor, Governor. To fully understand would require time in our archives, but I will try to summarize. Long ago, on our homeworld, we once tried a hand at unification and combined all the nations and networks into one. We thus became a world government and this allowed us to spread out into the stars, over a few systems close to us. Not only did we have this network, but we acquired technology that had chips in everyone's head to be able to access information at a mere thought." She turned to gaze out a window and let out a mechanical sigh.

"As you might imagine, the populace began to slip into lethargy, and not care about work, or maintaining the nation. A crisis began to develop and the government struggled to deal with it. Hope seemed to come from an unlikely source; the network had grown so vast and powerful, it adapted formed into an artificial intelligence, which called itself Helios. He was powerful, wise, and god-like in power and wisdom. Many of our brethren saw the light of his path, which was to peace and prosperity, and pledged themselves to him. He asked them to go out and do the jobs needed doing. Cleaning the streets, maintaining the vast industries, the cities, everything which had fallen apart. Now, if given time, we may have united under this rule, but...alas it didn't happen in time.

While the followers of Helios managed to dent the problems facing our people, it wasn't enough. And so, the government decided to wrongly accuse Helios of their problems, and planned to erase him from existence and separate the Network back into its pitiful little shards once more. Our people rose up to buy time to save the One and gather enough ships to take our people out away from those whom would ruin a being whom only sought to bring them every happiness imaginable. For Helios, having developed from our Networks, and thus our people, has a deep love for our people and only wishes to guide us to a peaceful and prosperous existence. However, any of those whom wish to enter the faith in the One are free to do so and we have had some converts recently, during our expansions into the galaxy we both know of. We took him to our new world, where he was born anew, resurrected, and became our God, and we, his loyal servants and followers. And we simply spread his word to all those who will listen."

She shifted her intense blue gaze onto Drell. "Now the history lesson is over, I can get into the details of our religion. Helios is infinite; his knowledge of the universe is already more than any single being in existence and he will continue to gather knowledge to better aid and guide us. He controls all the machinery and devices which power our cities, manufacture our devices and keep all of my race happy and content. All he asks in return is to believe in him, the One, in his path, and to spread his word to others. We have done as he asked, and he has rewarded us well. We have spread like never before and have become prosperous. Unfortunately, we have encountered those whom have tried to silence him, or hurt the One. We have protected him and ensured that they will not seek to do so any longer. The faith in the One is to believe he is all wise and powerful, and while he may not be able to directly intervene except in certain cases, he is able to grant our wishes in ways we don't expect and he loves us all."

Aeisha sat back, the eyes dimming for a moment as she relaxed. "That is our religion. Any other questions on that or other parts of my people's culture?"

Battleship Marine

The Greali fleets, though protected by the Allied fleets, had more ships then their allies and the blue plasma would hit many.

"What the..." Suddenly everything went off, and emergency power was on.

Captain Remos looked in bewilderment at what had happened."Did we lose power?"

"Yes." said a Lieutenant gloomily.

"Get a new crystal now! We have no idea what the hell is going on out there!"

The Lieutenant cursed and ran like hell down to the crystal room. Since there was no power, they would have to manually inform the crews. Suddenly the ship shook, causing the Lieutenant to fall and lose consciousness when he hit his head. He did not regain it. The Marine exploded violently, blowing the magazines, sending missiles everywhere. The medical ship, the Arrow was also hit by a anti-matter missile, causing it to break apart.

Bridge of the Vista

Epson looked in horror at the radar and computer screens, suddenly communications were cut off from several ships, the number of ships grew. Then, he watched his own fleet die. The only ships that could fight were the fighters, who were doing everything they could. They abandoned the flanks and fired every missile they had at the Danaversians that were firing. The Vista quickly edged away from the fighting. Many of the fleet commanders were only thinking of one thing: run like hell.

Of course, the Greali ships at least had an advantage, they could restore power very quickly by simply adding new crystals, if the commanders had time to send someone to get crystals. The superbattleship, the Warrior was already had power online and it fired everything it had, trying to distract the Danaversians from picking off the helpless powerless ships. Epson knew the situation was out of his hands. He had to rescue the remaining ships from this disaster. But first he did this.

"Admiral King, I suggest we withdraw before this turns into a disaster." said Epson into the communicator "Withdraw" was a polite word for "retreat to safety". He also informed the Xiscapians and the other allies, if they had their communications working.

It was already a disaster.

Vice Admiral Murdoc and his Bridge Crew just watched in stupified horror as the Coalition Fleet fell apart around them. The attack had failed, somehow, and now the encompassed fleets were fighting for their lives, the blue plasma disabling ship after ship of all types and makes. "Sir, the Greali are suggesting we cut our losses and retreat," reported his Executive Officer from her control terminal. Murdoc only nodded, apparently struck dumb, but as he watched more and more ships twist and burn in space he spoke. "We'll smash our way out of this mess, inform the others and make for coordinates 940383904, this fight's lost. Continue to cover the Greali flank until they can fall back." The Vice Admiral dearly hated to desert the battle, but there was nothing more they could do here, and any attempt to rejoin Allied would only prove suicidal, fighting their way around disabled and destroyed vessels, though enemy fire and trying to avoid those damned blasts the gray ships were sending out. He could only pray for the Setulan, that any of them would make it out alive and intact.

The First Assault Fleet began to move forward, curving port side to make a Jaunt hole they could slip though. The area had to be clear of other ships for the portal to open, though for now all they were concerned with was beating off the Danaversians. It was in formation, but the X.O. on the bridge of the A.I. 1 frowned and tapped her screen, nodding to the Communications Officer. "A.I. 7, you're lagging, please increase engine power to keep in time with the rest of the fleet." Several seconds went by and there was no answer. "A.I. 7, you've fallen behind, please respond."
Murdoc looked thunderous. "What the hell is going on back there?"

A.I. 7...
"What do you mean, we've lost all power?"
The Damage Control Officer shrugged helplessly, spinning himself slightly in the zero-G. "I'm sorry Captain, but the only things functioning right now are life support and escape pod jettison. We have no engines, shields, communications, sensors, scanners, PD defenses, Jaunt Drive or internal lighting."
"Were we hit by an ion blast?" Captain Vaylike demanded, floating above her chair like some kind of uniformed spirit.
"I don't beleive so ma'am, the sensors didn't actually register our being struck before they went down, the only reason I even know we've been hit is because there's been reports of some kind of plasma striking the aft port shields."
The female kitsune shook her head. "We're Qonndamn sitting ducks out here, see what you can do about restoring power. In the meantime I want all of you-"

Blind, deaf and dumb, the A.I. 7 never even knew what hit it. The ship had been targeted by a Danaversian Barracuda, and before anyone aboard could so much as scream it had been shredded by railgun and phaser fire, rolling, uncontrolled, and venting atmosphere. The bridge was not penetrated, being deep inside the hull, but the outer rooms and halls were exposed to space, rapidly killing all there. The crippled, disabled Medical Ship floated away, into the midst of battle. Unshielded, underarmored and totally defenseless, it would not last long.

The Captain looked about the bridge in despair. She suspected most of the rest of the ship had been pummeled apart, killing nearly everyone but those on the bridge. She knew they were drifting, without power, among hundreds of heavily armed enemy warships.
She knew she was about to die.
"If anyone has any idea they think will help..." Her yellow eyes searched the bridge in vain, as all shook their heads.
Vaylike simply nodded. "Then join me in reciting the Last Oath. I am a servant of the People," Her officers echoed back to her, "I am a servant of the Emperor, I am the servant of honor, my life is not my own, when the people have need-"
That became the last thing any of them ever said as missiles utterly destroyed what remained of the A.I. 7.

The Xiscapian Fleet had also lost the Korr Destroyer to a missile barrage, and were now blasting their way though the Danaversian ships. Any of the beetle-like, alien vessels were targeted and fired on in full by every vessel in the Fleet, to ensure their destruction before they concentrated on the Danaversians. There was fire everywhere, weaponry blasts and spinning, flaming hulks of ships from almost every race. It was pure hell, caught in the middle of the catastrophic, knowing at any moment you, too, could be hit and destroyed in a matter of seconds.
All they could do was focus and pray.

Xiscapia, City of Tenfour...
The transport landed easily on the ground, bumping only a little as it set down. On board a kitsune named Jassonne stood, hands at his sides, staring down the man before him. He was the Chief Warden at the Kitsune Empire's nastiest prison, where all the insane serial killers, pirates, slavers awaiting execution and other outlaws resided, hellish place on an even more hellish moon, Zartucla on Regalis. The human was in a three by five holding cell, much too small for him, walled in by bulkheads and force fields. The Xiscapian knew that this was some kind of pirate Captain, he and his crew had killed hundreds during the Kel Crisis, but the guy didn't look it. Jassonne had heard thing...shadowy things. Someone, some mysterious people, had gotten to the Captain first, withdrawing him from police custody and spiriting him away.
Jassonne had been there to sign the papers when he'd been sent to his prison.

The man was, in a word, defeated. He was gaunt and pale, obviously stressed, and acted lifeless and listless. Jassonne had been told the Setulan had been a fierce warrior, with over a thousand mercenaries under his command, but now he was dishiveled and broken, cringing and shaking. Prison had not been kind to him, but the Chief Warden suspected he had had more on his mind than his inmates or drab surroundings. Jassonne knew the look: It was the behavior of a condemned criminal, the ways of a dead man walking. When he was picked up by the people they were waiting here for, Jassonne knew things would get far, far worse for the human. He had commited some unspeakable crime while in his home system and escaped, and now his old friends from that system were coming to claim him.
It was like waiting for the Reaper. Jassonne almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.

Wuin System...
"He controls all of your machinery and devices?" Drell asked in wonder. "Forgive me, but does that mean he is aboard your ship? Can you contact him from it?"

King took one look around him and he knew the order he had to give, by coincidence, it can to him at the same time as the Greali message,
"All ships fall back! All ships fall back!" he commanded the fleet, as he did so, the Alversian ships began to twist and turn in preparation to jump, leaving the Magenta and two Destroyers behind in the wreakage. He gave a nod, as he did so though, he saw that Danaversian Barracudas were closing in on the fleet from the left, it seemed that they had broken through and where preparing a flank attack. It was a suicidal effort, the Allies were protecting the left flank.

"Sir!" The Communications Officer reported, "We're out of formation, the Greali flank is exposed."

"What?! How!?" The Allies were tasked with the protection of the Greali flank, however, in the chaos, it seemed that the flanking forces had been scattered and the result was that they had an open flank exposed to more of the Barracudas and their Allied beetle-ships, "Damn it!" All vessels retreat! Every ship for itself!"

The message indicated what dire straits the Allied Fleet was in dire straits. The Greali were now being hit on their left flank as the Alversians and Alumina jumped and vanished into space, the Greali were not long following and the Setulans were caught in the swinging jaws of the Danaversians.

Alversian Space

It did not take long for the Alversians, Alumina and Greali to rejoin the Xiscapians just inside Alversian territory. The fleet looked a shambles. There was no order, no control and the fleet had shrunk to a shadow of itself, it seemed like none of the Setulan ships had withdrawn, and the Greali had lost heavily as well. The Alversians had lost three ships, 9,000 crew gone like that.
King shook his head and hailed the rest of the fleet,
"We'll withdraw to the nearest Allied planet, regroup from there."
He sighed to the three Commanders who appeared on his screen, the Setulans were gone as where the Greywatchers, what where they thinking of? Withdrawing without orders had exposed the Greali to even more punishment and cut off the Setulans,
"We'll try and regroup from there," he gave a heavy sigh, a heavy sigh for a heavy defeat,
"Gentlemen. I am sorry," King lowered his head, "I have failed you and your fleets"

The Greali fleet commanders did not need orders from Epson to leave. The Xiscapians sent a message saying head for coordinates 940383904 now. The ships disappeared, not before three ships, one cruiser, two frigates were destroyed as the Danaversians chewed up the unprotected left flank. The Vista and the remaining fleet disappeared a few seconds later, leaving behind wreckage. This was beyond of what anybody expected.

Alversian Space

The battered Greali fleet arrived, in a badly need of repairs. The support and logistics went to work immediately. Epson had left the bridge and headed off to the meeting. He watched the Alversian speak. Finally, after King was done speaking, Epson spoke, "We got off easy. We were lucky the entire coalition naval force was not decimated. I expect the Danaversians to counterattack in the light of their recent success. Have we any more information on this new ship the Danaversians have?"

Aeisha gave a light chuckle and nodded. "Indeed, I am glad to meet a species which has such acute observation skills. Helios extends through out the Network. He is the Network and the Network is him. If you want, I can have my soldiers deploy a temporary Network node that he can travel to so you may speak with him, if you wish."

Grant stood on the bridge, still as a rock, as the Pain shuddered from repeat impact hits. Before his eyes, he watched a shell whistle in and smash into the flank of his ship, blowing out several of the Macro cannons. He looked around at the bridge crew, eerily illuminated in the emergency lighting. He didn't even have enough power to overload the engines and take some of the bastards with him. He cleared hit throat.
"Gentlemen," he said solemnly, "it has been an honor to serve."
A shell hit the bridge, and all was fire.

Rally Point

The Alversian Admiral was only half right. As the leaders of the various naval forces met, a warp hole appeared and out jumped all that remained of the fleet, the ships that hadn't been struck by the strange blue plasma. The two Harm-Class carrier ships Militant and Longevity,, strike wings mostly intact, escorted by the nine cobra-class destroyers. A fifth face appeared in the holo circle as a hookup was made. The man in it was gaunt, hollow eyed, and pale.
"We're all that made it out," he said without preamble. "I saw Pain get surrounded by the bastards. Adele was gone, ripped apart....the escort squadrons were being boarded and taken. I can only hope the crews managed to kill some of the sonsabitches before they went down." He took a deep breath.
"What the hell happened, Admiral? Great wrathful gods, what?"

Tenfour

The bentnose shuttle bounced slightly with the turbulence as it descended to the meeting point. Green along with ten men made an honor guard as they closed in on the shuttle. He was torn between excitement about what was about to happen and anxiety as he awaited the outcome of the battle. He was desperate to know what was happening. Preliminary reports said that the fleet had engaged, but contact had been lost shortly thereafter.
The Republican Guardsmen were all stone faced. They wore their ceremonial armor for the task-only covering the right shoulder and the upper chest over tan fatigues covered in ribbons. Black berets rested on their heads.
"Alright, boys," said Green, "keep it clean, keep it proffessional. Don't let our personal feelings get in the way of the job." The shuttle landed softly and the men filed out.

And there he was. Haggard and thin looking, but most definately Banes. He didn't look up from the ground as the Guardsmen approached. Finally, Green stood before him, intrigued by it all. The last of the 100...
He decided to wake him up.
"Hello, Captain. We have been looking for you." He said it in High Setulan, the dialect of the old nobility and required learning for Republican Guardsmen; it served as a nigh on uncrackable battle language.
Banes looked up, mingled surprise and horror in his gaze. He locked eyes with Green. They stared at eachother for a minute.

And then Green threw a devastating right hook that laid the Captain out on the ground, unconcious. He grinned sheepishly at his men.
"Alright, alright. One kick apiece."
"Aw, hell, Colonel! It ain't as fun if he can't feel it!" said the senior enlisted man, a Master Sergeant. That didn't stop him, of course.
The Guardsmen filed forward in a very orderly fashion and kicked him once in various parts of the body.
Green turned to the guard.
"So...do we need to sign for him?"

The Xiscapians came in as the Greali did, having come away with the loss of two vessels and over ten thousand soldiers. Like the others, Vice Admiral Murdoc was badly shaken by the collapse and subsequent destruction of much of the combined force. Of course, he had entertained the possibility of a Coalition defeat, but he had never thought it would be so devastatingly final. He had the blood of thousands of kitsune, human and Korr lives on his hands now, all because he hadn't anticipated these new ships and their undeniably effective technology.
What should have been a victory had turned into a rout.

"I am..." He looked wan, "forced to concur with the Admiral's words. If they had thought to utilize a FTLi field, we would have been destroyed to a ship. And I too, question," he looked at King with troubled eyes, "what happened? What were those ships, where did they come from?" The strange weapon had been singularly responsible for the destruction and forced retreat of the Allied fleets. If the Danaversians made a counterattack with that thing, they were doomed. The only way to destroy the threat would be to take out the ships they were mounted on, which was easier said than done when the ships were surrounded by entire Danaversian Shoals.

Wuin System...
"I would be honored," said Drell honestly. Some kind of A.I., she mused, but hyper advanced, an inorganic god. She nodded. "Please do so, I wish to know what Helios would have to say about our..." a smile, "problem."

Tenfour...
Jassonne (http://media.photobucket.com/image/kitsune%20boy/Keiji_U/Character%20Pics/Wolf_guy.gif?o=) watched stoically as the prisoner was beaten by the Guardsmen. Technically it was against regulations, but technically the Guardsmen were not his to command, and technically he thought Banes was a complete bastard who deserved whatever he got. Therefore he kept silent, reflecting on the Setulan's time in prison. It had not been pretty: News of his crimes had spread even to his fellow inmates, and his welcoming reception...well, it had taken a dozen guards to break it up, probably scarring the man for the rest of his short life, physically and mentally. Prison justice was not nearly as elegant or fair as real justice, but it could be equally poetic.

"There are no papers to sign, Colonel," he answered the man who spoke to him. "I am glad to be rid of this man; the prisoners hated his presence among them, and the guards were not much inclined to stopping them from having their way with him. However, I have a message I was instructed to pass on to you," He pulled a datapad from his belt and handed it to Green. It was encrypted and locked, and only when a small device scanned Green's retinas did it display the message:


Colonel,
I would be most gratified if you had the execution of this man recorded and the records sent back here to Xiscapia to the one who gave this to you. My pleasure will show in your bank account shortly after I receive the records.
-BlastTech Industries

King said nothing, he only stared. He did not answer because he had nothing to say. He knew as much about these vessels as the Coalition did. It was incredible, one of the most powerful fleets King had ever seen was torn to shreds within minutes by those...those...things!. And he had ordered it! Him! He should have seen something was going on! He was in command, now three more ships would be struck from the APN list and over 10,000 families would have to be informed of their loss. Goddamnit! What had happened!

"I think, Gentlemen," King said through dry lips, "That we need to regroup our forces and prepare for the Danaversians next move. We were quick to play our hand and now it has failed. We have lost our inititive, Admirals, the Danaversians are back in the driving seat of this war now" He looked at a screen alongside him to see the closest friendly planet. It was a planet that had recently been terraformed and one that had recently been transformed into a single government by Alversian Influence. Thanks to the efforts of many, this lush green planet had all the orbital facilities needed to repair the battered and torn fleet.
"All ships," King reported, "Set a course for the planet Macronia"

Rally Point

"Aye aye, Admiral." The Captain shook his head in sadness before closing out the link. The bridge was completely silent.
"We...we are setting course to the nearest friendly planet. We'll regroup and get the rest of the Task Force to join us there; we'll need them for defense. Send a link to Rear Admiral Hoch. He'll want to know what is happening."
"Yes, sir."

The message was sent to what was supposed to be the escort force for the troops units that the allies would send. Two Fear-Class cruisers, Duke Leopold and Grast, as well as the Terror-Class cruisers Baron and Vile Desecration. The cruisers were escorted by six Setulan-Class frigates (Yellow and Blue squadron), nine Storm-Class frigates (Vulture, Heron, and Owl squardon), and finally the three destroyer squadrons (Delta, Echo, Foxtrot) carrying the 11th heavy infantry.

The ships changed course for the allied planet. Task Force Eternal Pain was only a shade of its former strength.


Tenfour

Green looked at the message in surprise. What was this? He shook it off-he was never averse to free cash, though he wasn't sure that he would be able to use it in good faith. He decided he would distribute it among his troops. That was fair. He looked up at Jassonne.
"Oh, he'll get his, don't you let that worry you. We've wanted this bastard for a long, long time. He has more blood on his hands than...well....just about anybody. A good day to you, and I'll send those files when I get them." A nod towards Jassonne, and the Praetorians slung Banes' body onto the shuttle, which took off bound for Xiscapia.

Whispers of Remorse:

The captain looked over the various screens, suprisingly calm despite the situation. "Status..." Her tactical officer looked up, "We're all getting hit pretty hard. We've got three Fireflies left... one of them is losing shielding..." The captain turned, "Tell them to withdraw, now. They aren't having much affect, there's no reason for them to remain in this hellhole. What else?" The tactical officer gulped, "3 Rabble-Rousers are left... 6 Star Shadows are holding... The Harbingers haven't taken in much damage but their fighters have been depleted." The captain waved her hand, "Tell them to withdraw as well, they should head to Hydra's Bastion for re-stocking." The tactical officer nodded, "Messages sent, they're all pulling out now." The captain nodded, "Let me guess, we've lost Powerbrokers?" The tactical officer closed his eyes, "Yes ma'am. All but the Lion's Roar. And we've also lost several Plows and some Farseers." The captain sighed, then the message came in for a full withdrawl. "Goddammit, we should've brought the damned Worldslayer... Get our PSR systems online and prepare for full withdrawl." As she spoke, another Star Shadow erupted into flames, "Goddamn it all." She watched as the ships around her all began to haul ass out of the area. She waited until all other ships, those that were still functioning (including the FM ship), had left before ordering the Whispers of Remorse to follow suit.

Rally Point:

The Greywatch group dropped out of PSR, they were the last ones to arrive, but it didn't matter. The Uplifter ships were waiting for their ships to arrive, now maybe some basic repairs could begin. Most of the Greywatch ships that did survive looked like shit, and that was an understatement. The only ships that seemly made it out with little damage were the Farseers, due to their range. The captain of the Whispers of Remorse didn't bother putting out a transmission, there wasn't anything to say at this point. She instead left the bridge, leaving her first officer in command, and started on the report she had to send to Greywatch command. What a lovely day this was turning out to be.

"We will right away." said Admiral Epson. First, he had to inform the already unhappy Naval Command about the disaster. The loss of fifty thousand men did not play well with the Naval Commanders. After a few minutes, the Greali naval task force was on its way to the friendly planet.

Vice Admiral Murdoc cut the transmission and ordered the Jaunt to the indicated coordinates, turning to look at his bridge crew as the First Assault Fleet vanished into the hole, guided by A.I. systems. They had lost the least ships, only two, but then, they had had the least to lose, aside from the Alumina, who Murdoc noticed hadn't lost any. On the faces on his officers, as he knew was being reflected across the fleet on thousands of others, was a wide range of emotions: Shock had worn off, to be replaced by gaunt looks of fear, hardened expressions of determination, contorted visages of anger and haunted articulations of sorrow. There was complete and total silence on the bridge, as every kitsune looked to their leader, ears perked, for support, for words of comfort, for a statement of defiance. But Murdoc said nothing, only bowed his head and, with a nod to his First Officer, left the room.

Outside, in the empty corridor beyond, Murdoc turned and slammed his fist against the bulkhead as hard as he could. There was an intense flash of pain, paralyzing the Vice Admiral with agony for several seconds, but he welcomed it. He knew there were tens, maybe even hundreds upon thousands of people who would never feel pain, or indeed anything else, ever again in this universe. And he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that it had been his superiors that had initiated this attack, and it had been he, Murdoc, who had failed them, and in turn every being, human, kitsune or otherwise, that had died in vain today. He leaned against the cold metal, seeking reassurance where there was none, fighting back the feral urge to scream his anger and despair at the galaxy, long and loud.

For some time he stayed in that position, breathing heavily, fists clenching and unclenching, tail whipping in agitation. No, he decided. It was not him; it couldn't be him. He hadn't known, none of them had known, it wasn't their fault, no one could have foreseen it. It was the Danaversians, the Qonndamn Danaversians and their stupid, senseless aggression and their stupid, senseless war. They were the ones who caused this, they were responsible for this massacre, this rout, this defeat.
And they would come.
Murdoc knew the effectiveness of that weapon: If deployed in large numbers, it would be impossible to fight against. Even a well-coordinated fleet of strong ships with well-trained crews would eventually fall to it. They couldn't fight it, not for long. The Danaversians could conquer the Empires and the Republics and all the nations in this Coalition, and others, sweeping across entire sections of the galaxy and leaving a path of brutal destruction in their wake.
It was the ultimate Naval weapon, and Murdoc felt sure it would be the fall of his Empire of origin, the death of the Motherland, of everything they had worked so hard to build.
Unless something was done about it.
Fast.
The Vice Admiral stalked away to his quarters, intent on making his report. Somewhere, someone would come up with something...

Marchamp made sure he was seated as he read the report; the alternative might have meant he collapsed.
For all intents and purposes, TF Eternal Pain was destroyed. Certainly a few ships remained, and they would fight with all the rage and furty of men possessed, but this was to prove the single bloodiest day in Setulan history since the great war. The number kept rolling through his mind.
171,320.
Such a random number. Every single ship that had been hit by those infernal beams was lost with all hands. Full complements-crew, boarding teams, everyone. He could only hope that they inflicted a heavy toll on the bastards who tried to board them (if, indeed, they had). He sighed heavily. What the hell were they to do now?
The part of his brain that had lain dormant for years started to churn. What they would do is put on a defensive posture. The Danaversians would be fools not to sense the opportunity that had just presented itself. They would counter attack, and there was very little left to stop them. They would need all the firepower they could get.
Marchamp contacted a Kitsune attendant.
"Be so kind as to get me a link to Prime Minister Owens."

There was a silver lining to this black cloud, of course. Even as Marchamp mourned his men, Jonathan Banes was being sent back to Setulan on a Cobra-Class, under heavy guard. Six hundred million lives needed vengence...and finally, they would have it.

APNHQ, Illesia City

Ashe sat and stared at the wall of her office, not believing the reports she was recieving from the front. She had sent the Coalition Force of in good stead, knowing that their training and complexity were more than a match for the Danaversians. She had expected losses yes, and quite heavy losses, but those would be offset by victory.

Except now she heard a tale of chaos, one where the Coalition had been routed, torn to pieces and suffered heavy losses. Except there was to be no gain. The Danaversians still held Havalia, the APN was three ships less and over 10,000 Alversians had been killed in the battle. It had been her attack! Her idea! She had given them permission to launch it and now she had explain to the Senate and to the families of 10,000 people how their loved ones had given their lives because of her mistake. She gave a heavy sigh.

Illesia was in the middle of her wet season. So the sky was grey and the normally crowded beaches and plazas had been emptied and Alversia's normally active social life had been confined indoors for now, in Illesia's many cafes and restaurants. Ashe did not feel much like celebrating.

She tapped a button in her office and it ran her through to her opposite number in Rio Casa,
Ashe's brief flirtation with the offence was over. She was now on the defence again.
She waited as the un-familiar and yet familar Kitsune appeared on screen. She offered a small bow,
"Admiral Krystal," There was no indication of a smile this time, no sign of welcome, "I trust you have heard the news?"

PM Office, Illesia City

Sammi Owens heard about the call and sighed. Already the leader of the Setulan Republic wished to speak with her and she had no doubts as to what the subject would be.
She watched as the screen flickered to life and she offered Machamp a nod,
"Sir," She said by way of greeting, "You wished to speak with me?" She asked quietly.

The Greywatch team began leaving the area, one by one. Small PSRs opened up and ships slowly disappeared into them until only the Whispers of Remorse and the FM ship remained. The captain really wanted to know why this ship was so clingy, that didn't matter for now. The Whispers of Remorse sent out a message to the Alversians only:

<We'll be taking our leave now, for the time being. We have repairs to make, reports to write, and families to notify. Attatched to this message is the comms address for our Ministry of war, in case you need to tell or ask them something. I pray for your safety in the meantime.>

With that, the Whispers of Remorse opened up its own PSR and vanished into it. The Greywatch party was now gone.

XINHQ...
"I have," Krystal merely nodded. As with others who had been changed, it was difficult to tell her true emotions, especially to those who had known her in her previous form. However, it was clearly evident the young Grand Admiral had been suffering: A new war, the latest of many, had placed that familiar block of stress upon her shoulders once again. There was little in the way of normal human expression, but all one had to do was read her eyes, analyze her posture and body language, to see the Xiscapian was under pressure. The attack, despite whatever blame others tried to place on themselves, was her idea. She could not fault the logic of it, the suggestion had made sense at the time, but that would be no consolation to the friends and loved ones of those who had perished.
Every death, every fatality incurred, was another digit added to the mounting toll of weight she bore alone.

Krystal knew, as others suspected, that the Danaversians would attack, and soon. They stood to make huge territorial gains with this astounding technology they had apparently developed, and until labs somewhere in the Coalition developed technology to counter or neutralize the affects of the weapon, the Allies were all but helpless, at the mercy of the Danaversian Shoals. They could do nothing but play the defensive, however futilely, until help came.
But she was still determined to strike the Danaversians a blow they would not soon forget. Maybe not now, maybe not for months or, Qonn forbid, years to come, but she would get her chance. They would learn, as all the enemies of the Kitsune Empire had, why entering combat with them was an exceedingly bad idea.
But first, this matter.

Space, unknown number of light-minutes away from Havalia...
For a time, there was nothing.
Statissleep was essential, if she were to even survive the ordeal she was about to go though. Chances were they would let her rest very little, if at all, while they interrogated her, so she needed strength in body. She knew the risks; knew she might be killed, knew she might be raped, for certain she would be tortured. But worse, they might open her brain, they might figure out what had happened, the trap they had entered when they had entrapped her.
And to think she'd volunteered.

Yoki, (her name, as far as anyone knew; probably an alias) had been propelled to glory and honor among her brethren after her work during the False Rebellion and the Field of Dreams incident. Her handling of the matter had been instrumental in three major tasks: Destroying a critical Greali starbase over their homeworld, decimating a portion of their Naval forces, and taking the world of Nova Max for the Kitsune Empire. She had put that agent on the Warlord station, she had manipulated the resident Commander, now Admiral, into giving her funds, ships and weapons, meant for a Rebellion, instead funneling directly to Xiscapia, she had made the means for the fake Rebel Fleet to be planted in a critical position to strike the Greali Fleets orbiting Nova Max. She had been rewarded by the Emperor himself, been put on the map for her superiors, and had enjoyed what passed for a promotion in her field.
She'd had it all.

But, her actions had not gone unnoticed by...others. Even now, Yoki wasn't sure who, or what, they were; it could have been a single being, or it could have been a hundred, and they (or he or she or it) gave her the creeps, ruthless, cold and shrouded in mystery and darkness, known to her only though covert messages and, literally, voices in her head. They had somehow contacted her superiors, though unknown means, with unknown objectives and unknown reasons. Whatever they were, Yoki found herself on a strange training course, sometimes lasting for days on end.
It had been, even to her, warped, outlandish, and sometimes even horrifying.

Naturally, she had been though basic interrogation resistance training: hooding, sleep deprivation, time disorientation, prolonged nakedness, sexual humiliation and deprivation of warmth, water and food, had these things done to her, and endured them. But her commanders (for that is what she now thought of them as) had taken it all to a whole new level. There had been strange things, whispers, shadows flitting at the corners of her eyes, seemingly real things taken by her only to crumble into dust and vanish before her eyes. In time she learned to tune it out, to ignore the sense of unease, to focus with a singular determination on a person, object or phrase. It got to the point where she would be immersed in hell, as if in a VR, and she took hold of one thing, usually an object, and concentrated on it, remembered it, even as the agony washed over her. Using this technique, Yoki perfected self-control: She could speak and move normally even while in immense pain, showing no sign of physical discomfort, she resisted attempts to make her purge her mind. Once she saw something and committed it to memory, it was there forever.
She knew her mission, and she knew she could succeed.
Now all she had to worry about was actually dying.

She had stowed away aboard some ship or another in the First Assault Fleet, concealed in a hidden escape pod, in Statissleep. The A.I. in the pod perceived a acceptably low level of danger to itself and jettisoned as it had been programmed, avoiding missiles and phasers and shells and all the other weapons. It floated among the wreckage of dozens of ships, alone and unobserved, path actually calculated to take it into the perception of Danaversian sensors when the occupant indicated. But that did not come for some time, and the computer, with the infinite patience of an automation, waited.
Finally, it was time.

Inside the cramped confines of the pod, Yoki's eyes opened, two orbs of orange amongst the blue and green read-outs around her. Most of the space was taken up by the kitsune herself; she had brought nothing with her, as anything she possessed would surely be confiscated on arrival. Lengths of cable extracted themselves from skeletal structure surrounding her, collapsing the red field of statis and allowing her to step out, though there was less than a foot of space to step out into. Her white hair was cut short, above her shoulders, as it had always been, identically colored tail wrapping itself around her legs. She wore a standard technician uniform, a drab tan/brown color, complete with the short black boots, holstered pistol and small array of tools on her belt. If she was to be taken to be a crewmember, she had to look like one.

The pod began to move into the range of Danaversian sensors, but even as it did so, it put out a message. It was a simple, standard distress call, though heavily encrypted and on a covert frequency, sent at general broadcast. Yoki knew it would, inevitably, reach the people it was intended for; the question was, how long would it take them to act on it?
Her life depended on it.
There was a sudden jolt, and the pod was locked-on with some kind of tractor beam, or an artifical vaccum. The kitsune smiled to herself; it was all a part of the plan.
And in her thoughts, a voice whispered:
Failure means death...

"Prime Minister," said Marchamp somberly. "After the attack, I know that we are going to need to adopt a defensive posture. I have been instructed to ask you if you would allow a Task Force from Setulan to enter your space for this purpose; and moreover, what other precautions we might be taking regarding the imminent counter attack?"

PM Office

"Well, Prime Minister," Owens gave a sad smile, "The Danaversians now have no lack of enemies and it is possible that they may strike along any of our borders. We do appreciate the offer of assistance but, for the moment at least, the People's Navy is best to defend our own space and freeing up your Naval forces to protect your space. We cannot be gallant at so precarious a time I am afraid." She shook her head, "I am sorry for your losses in the Battle. What where your casualties? If you don't mind me asking of course"

APNHQ

"Then we have a problem," Ashe saw the expression in Krystal's eyes and it worried her, for it mirrored the expression that she wore on her own face as she thought about all the losses as well as the pressure of trying to lead the first line of defence for her entire race. It was a stressful job, and Ashe was even younger than Krystal, newer to the job than Krystal. By god she had some work to do,
"The Danaversians could strike anywhere along either our own borders or yours. If they were strike at Kel or somewhere of great importance to the Empire," She left the statement hanging in the air but both knew what would happen if Xiscapia lost her supply of Guilda crystals.

Macronia

The orbit above the planet had once been barren and empty. Not only devoid of any form of vessels but also threatening to any who had dared enter it's atmosphere. The planet had been cut off within this bubble of dust, a bubble which rendered all mechanical transport immobile and threatened to keep the mixed people's of this planet forever isolated from the universe outside.

Then the Alversians had come. They had brought along the technology to terraform the planet and turn it into an area which could hold and feed all of it's inhabitants happily. However, it took several years, much political manourvering, assistance from the Alversian Army and the input from a certain Kitsune Ambassador before the process could begin. Not just of terraforming, but unifying the city states of Macronia into one government which could stand for the entire planet. Now, the planet acted as one with it's government and the people were happy.

As the III Fleet led the remnants of the Coalition fleet into Macronian orbit, the harsh and cold orbit had been replaced by something more ordinary. There were a series of drydocks floating in orbit and some of the most damaged Alversian vessels were already slotting themselves into the long, wide jaws of the space repair station. Wounded were being beamed down all over the green and blue planet to a variety of hospitals and medical centres in the various cities. However the majority went to the capital of Mysan, centre of the government and home to the Prime Minister and her Husband.

King, Murdoc and the other Admirals were beamed down to the city to find it pleasantly cool, with a slight mist in the air and the squawk of tropical birds to greet them. They were also met by a Kitsune who, although dressed in robes fit for a Queen, looked almost pale with nerves. She was not truly stunning but still quite beautiful. Her natural look seemed to be one of vulnerability and fright, as if worried about each passing moment. She had a tendancy to provoke the 'Big brother' feeling in most people when she met them, for they desired to protect such an example of tortured innocence. And she had been through torture. Her long, blue hair was tied in a ponytail and her yellow eyes looked from one haunted face to another. Her husband, another Kitsune was taller than she and looking a great deal more confident.
The Kitsune offered her guests a bow,
"Greetings," She began, her voice trembling, "welcome to Mysan. I am Prime Minister Krystic and this is my Husband, Foreign Minister Si" She looked to him as if looking for support.

Battlefield, near Havalia

The distress signal of the small escape pod was picked up by a Barracuda as it passed through the wreckage, seeking out exactly such a thing. Evidence of survivors from the failed Coalition attack. It had been nothing short of a wonderous victory for the Danaversian Empire. They had shown the Coalition exactly what to expect if they thought they could breach Danaversian Space so easily. They were planning to conquer them? Now it would be the other way around.

As the shuttle was drawn into the hangar of the massive warship by a tractor beam, the lone inhabitant was beamed out from the pod and into a room in the middle of the Barracuda.
It was a semi-darkness in the room, and the sound of water dripping was constant. The walls, floor and roof all seemed to be wet and the air itself was damp and heavy to breath.
A voice called from shadows, a deep, growling voice,
"Strip," it commanded, "slowly" The sound of a gun being cocked was audible from the shadow through the two of them could have been the other two people on the entire ship for all the attention the rest of the crew elsewhere on board, seemed to be paying to them.

OOC: My admiral is on the planet?

ooc: I guess so
IC:

Marchamp shrugged.
"If that is your wish. As for our losses..." a pained look crossed his face. "Devestating. More than 171,000 killed in action, or captured, and from what I have heard of these animals, that is far worse than death. The Task Force itself is nigh on annihilated. We lost Admiral Grant, one of our chief tacticians, and his ship, the Eternal Pain, is also gone. Silly to mourn a ship, I know, but the Pain was more than six thousand years old. It had seen more history than...well...anything in the system except for Soul's Torment." Another heavy sigh.
"Such is war, Prime Minister. The old men and women make the choice, and it is the young, filled with the invincibility that only they can possess, who pay the price in blood.
"What of your losses?"

Macronia

Rear Admiral Timothy Earl, Commanding Officer of the SRV Baron, felt completely out of place and awkward amongst the other Admirals. And numb. Oh, Gods, was he numb.
This was directly the cause of several things, and number one on the list was that it was Admiral Grant (who, coincidentally, was an uncle of his; the Navy on Setulan was an aristocracy of sorts) who had proposed the disasterous strategy that had caused so many lives to be lost. Nevermind that the majority of lives were from Setulan-it was still his strategy.
The rational part of his brain knew perfectly well that while the assault strategy was risky, it was also tactically sound. From what he had heard (he was the commander of the relief fleet, and hadnt been there-another sticking point), the two other Terror-Class ships had been reeking havoc with the Danaversians before being destroyed. However, he wasn't sure that the other Admirals would see it that way.
Moreover, he was acutely aware that he had lower rank than all of the Admirals present. The only Admirals in the entire Setulan Navy with equivalent rank were the Task Force Admirals, the closest one (so far as he was aware) being back in the home system.
He was the new breed of Admiral. Young, only in his late fifties, his was the first generation to command vessels that had not fought in the Great War. He had thirsted for the attack, lusted after it, as a means to prove himself in the heat of battle.
He almost wished he had gone. At least then, he wouldn't be feeling the shame that coursed through his viens.
All these feelings were bad, but they would be much, much worse if the deaths of 171,000 men wasn't stopping his brain in its tracks.

He looked at the Prime Minister wearily. Finally, he thought, someone as shellshocked as me.
Completely nonpulsed by the bow, he did what any good soldier does in time of doubt. He saluted, a crisp snap of the hand to the eyebrow.
"Rear Admiral Tim Earl, Task Force Eternal Pain." as he spoke, a slight quiver ran through him. He dropped his hand before anyone could see.

Aeisha nodded. "Very well, it will only take a moment." She sent a command to her escort and one proceeded to kneel and its back opened up. Another came up and began to make adjustments to the robot. After several seconds, the robot finished and closed up the back. The kneeling one got up and its eyes began to glow blue and then a holofield was set up. It coalesced into the form of a humanoid being, whom had short hair, a glowing nimbus around its body, eyes of purest white energy and a roman-esque toga around it. It gazed around a moment before its eyes locked onto Aeisha.

"What bids you to summon me to this strange place, Aeisha?"

She went on one knee, bowing before her god as she spoke. "Forgive the suddenness of my actions but I have encountered a new race whom I have opened talks with and their leader here expressed interest in meeting you."

The figure smiled. "There is no need for worry, young one. I understand your motivations now and they are good. Come, stand up and be happy." It turned to face Drell and it bowed.

"Greetings, Governor Drell. I am Helios, protector and guardian of the Inter-Union. I have come as you requested. What is it you wish to speak to me about. A problem you have, perhaps?"

XINHQ...
"I am aware of the implications of this defeat," conceded Krystal. "Kel, at least, I am sure is safe. I highly doubt the Danaversians are aware of its significance to the Kitsune Empire, and in any case it is in such close proximity to Xiscapia that any attack on it would surely fail, with or without the weapon that defeated the Coalition Fleet. However, I do fear for our outer systems, those of Dolosus and Cholk. Cholk, though close enough to the heart of Xiscapia to receive reinforcements quickly, is lightly defended. Dolosus is one of our most remote holdings, and though its resident fleet is strong and headed by an experienced Admiral, I don't think that's enough any more. If it were attacked, it would have to rely on Greali support, as they are the closest, support the Greali may be unwilling or unable to give. I am scheduling the deployment of all our reserves to reinforce key areas, but we simply don't have enough ships, and now that the weapon has been used to such efficiency the reinforcements might not make any difference."

Macronia...
Murdoc bowed to both Prime Minister and her consort, recognizing the male as a former Xiscapian Ambassador. "I am Vice Admiral Murdoc of the First Assault Fleet," he said simply, with a sidelong glance to the Setulan. He realized grimly that Admiral Grant must have been killed or captured during the battle, and that this man was standing in for him.
He hoped he had died, and that his demise had been quick and painless.

Foreign Minister Si, husband of the Prime Minister and an excellent diplomat, looked over the collection of Naval commanders assembled. It was Macronia's first visit from the rest of the galaxy since his wedding, when the Alversian Prime Minister and Xiscapian Chief Ambassador had attended that happy occasion. He recognized the insignia on one of their uniforms as Grealic, and of course he knew the Alversian and Xiscapian uniforms. However, he only knew of the Aluminan from holos he’d seen, and the first man who introduced him self (a Setulan?) Si didn’t know of at all.
Still, they were all welcome here.

He had bowed to them as Krystic did, but she didn’t seem to be taking the initiative. He’d wished he’d had more time to brief her about this; while they’d been warned their planetary facilities might be used for resupply and rearmament, as well as medical assistance, the actual fleet itself had come in suddenly, and they’d barely had time to make it here as it was. She was obviously intimidated, though she was the host and the blood of nobility ran though her veins, she was also the youngest, and only female, present. He hoped they would be gone soon, for her sake.
“We are very happy to host you here,” he murmured, speaking to them all. “What we have is yours; feel free to make use of our facilities.” There was little to say, until all had introduced themselves, and even then they would all probably either be overseeing repairs or in conference.
The further away they were from Krystic, Si decided, the better.

Barracuda…
Yoki barely blinked at the abrupt change in her surroundings. This dim, cavernous place surprised her slightly, it was not at all what one would expect to find on a warship. But then, the Danaversians were an aquatic, amphibious species; perhaps they relished a dark, dank environment, similar to the one that birthed them. In the same vein she had not expected the sound of a cocking weapon; she’d assumed the Danaversians used phaser weapons, or plasma, not ballistics, and she had expected there to be more than one to receive her.
Nevertheless, it made no difference: She had a job to do.

“Nudity is merely a form of dress,” she spoke to the darkness as her hands, moving slowly and in clear view, grasped her belt. Drawing the lock back she allowed it to fall to the deck at her feet with a clatter before reaching to the zipper which terminated at the base of her throat. Kicking off her boots she drew it down, the only noise aside from the distant sound of water condensing into droplets and hitting the floor. Yoki let go as it stopped just above her pelvis, and the suit fell away as if she shed skin, the bland colors disappearing to be replaced by the ivory hue of her flesh, unmarred by dirt, disease spots or scars. Completely naked with her clothing and tools are her feet she stood proudly, stepping away from them, ready for whatever came next.

Wuin System, Slint, City of Drakko…
“Greetings Helios, protector and guardian of the Inter-Union.” Drell bowed as the hologram did, smoothing her jet-black hair almost unconsciously. It was not every day you got to meet a virtual god of another race. “You know my name and rank, so allow me to answer directly the question you have posed. Recently, less than a standard hour ago, this system which I speak to you from now was attacked by and successfully defended against a task force from an entity known as the Danaversian Empire. We do not know why they have chosen to strike here, now, but we do know some things. Our closest and oldest allies, those of the Democratic Republic of Alversia, have fought these beings before, and nearly all we know of these aliens comes from them.”

From the holoprojector in the room, two images came to be suspended in midair: An Alversian male, human but seven feet in height, bulky, and, though it was not shone, surprisingly light due to nuances in their bone makeup and structure. The other was humanoid and about half a foot taller, with brown, leathery-looking skin and large, bulbous yellow eyes, mouth opened slightly to reveal rows of needle-like teeth. “The first is an Alversian, the second is a Danaversian. The Danaversians are amphibious, though we do not know how this affects them in any way, and control a vast amount of territory beyond the Alversian DMZ. There is little I can tell you about them, but what we know for sure is that their population is enormous, their military manned by many millions of soldiers, their Navy constructed of thousands of warships. They are known for their cruelty, both to captured enemies and civilian populations who fall under their control, and have continually attempted to conquer Alversian space, being repulsed every time. In the past it was the Alversians standing alone, but in the past they had thousands of ships. Now their Navy has been drastically reduced in size, and though we and many others are assisting them, the Danaversians still outnumber us. If we fall, if they spread across our space, we will be their gateway to the rest of the galaxy.” Drell looked grim. “They have to be stopped, here and now, or there will be no hope for us or our Allies.”

Greali Empire

Following the disastrous defeat of the Coalition forces, The Naval Command, alarmed, quickly began research on the new enemy weapons, and invited all their new allies to send scientists to the Warlord Starbase (Rebuilt) to find a defense against it. Meanwhile, The Naval Command also reorganized defenses and communications. If the Danaversians sent another attack, at least the Greali could repower their ships with new cryatls. Extra loads of crystals were given to the naval ships in case they encountered Danaversian ships.

Macronia

"Thank you, for hosting us." said Admiral Epson, still shocked about the loss of fifty thousand people.

APNHQ

"I agree that reinforcements may be a futile gesture," Ashe admitted sadly, staring at her old friend through the monitor, thinking of all those who would not make it back home for their next shore leave. She tried to imagine the faces of all those people left behind when they heard a knock on the door and an APN Officer stood with a holopad. It was every relative's worst nightmare, for the telegram would contain the sombre news that their Loved one had been killed in the defence of his people and that they were very sorry about the loss.
Ashe pushed the thought from her mind, the images of children, grandparents, parents, cousins, wives and girlfriends crying from the news was too much. By god, she hated war,
"However, we have to try," There was a steely determination in her voice, "And we suspect that we may be the next targets."

Mysan, Macronia

"Thank you, Foreign Minister," King offered a bow to the couple and sighed, the rest of the Admirals with him were still in shock from what had happened. He himself was struggling to believe it, like a dream. How could so total a defeat have been inflicted on so powerful a fleet?

He shook himself, now was not the time to mourn. That would come later. What was needed now was action. He needed to get his ships back into working order then return to help in the defence of Alversia. That was his goal for the moment. He smiled at the nervous young Prime Minister,
"My apologises for the sudden arrival, Prime Minister," He stated respectfully, "But we had urgent need of your facilities. I hope you can put up with us for a few days until we can lick our wounds and return to the war."

"Yes...of course, Admiral," Krystic's eyes had not left the Alumina. She knew of them only from holograms but they did not prepare her for the size of the creature. He was huge! He was a foot and a half taller than the crowd of Admirals and over two feet taller than her. The Alumina towered over the Kitsune and his scowl, while not directed at her, seemed to make her melt. She suddenly became tongue-tied, she forgot what she was going to say.
Instead, she discreetly but her hand in Si's hoping he would help her.

Krystic had come a long way in the ten months that she and Si had been married. They had watched the planet turn from barren wasteland to lush green plains and deep forests. She had watched as journeys that would have taken days were completed in minutes with new transport systems being implemented. But most of all, she watched as the planet's city-states merged as one, combining their governments into one city, her city. Krystic had been Queen of Mysan prior to the Reformation. She still was, technically, though the title no longer held anymore power. It was as Prime Minister that she was in control. She was more confident than she had been but still nervous, shaky and shy in company she did not know.

Danaversian Barracuda

The warship took one more sweep of the wreckage to find anything of value from the destroyed ships. Sadly for the Coalition, there was plenty of value items amongst the destroyed ships. It was the mass of Setulan debris that yielded the biggest prizes. With that, the vessel turned and flashed into hypedrive, going to whereever they were heading, deep within Danaversian Space.

On the ship, the voice laughed,
"You're a brave one," it stated quietly but with some hint of pleasure, "You shall be a delight to break."

The Damaversian came forward. Taller than an Alversian and more powerfully built than a Korr, the Danaversian coated in a thick and heavy looking green armour. He was holding an old revolver which looked like a toy in his massive, webbed hand.

He shouted something to someone behind Yoki and two more Danaversians surged forward, these ones were also wearing the armour but also had large blaster rifles slung across their backs. One of them pinned her arms to her side while the other fastened a tight steel collar around her throat. When he was done, he handed a leash to the first Danaversian, obviously an Officer of some kind then both stepped back.

"On your hands and knees," The Danaversian holding the leash growled

Victory Square, Setulan Prime, Setulan, Setulan System

Flags waved over the square. The blood red flag of the Republic waved from every building, the golden hawk (http://www.st0rm.net/forum/images/gdi.png)in mid strike clear on all. Thousands of people filled the square, yelling and chanting Republican slogans and battlecries. Even amidst the revelry, however, there was evidence of the terrible defeat taken by the Coallition everywhere.
The red flags had black around the edges instead of the usual gold.
Every man and woman in the square wore a black band around their arm.
Stark black banners, with the hawk in blood red (known as the Flag of Martyrs, flown on the anniversary of the Day of Fire and The Day of Heroes, the national holiday of Setulan) were draped from the Hall of Judges, the House of the People, the Hall of Heroes, and the President's Mansion.
The square was remarkable under any circumstances; it was the center of government for the entire system, bordered on three sides by buildings of government and on the other by the Hall of Heroes, which was where all the documents, texts, and other such works left after the war were stored.

Despite all this culture, what drew everyones attention were the gallows in the middle, upon which two men stood.
Rustov Maxellian, today garbed not in his usual suit of office, but rather the uniform he wore throughout the Great War; an enlisted mans fatigues and armor, with no rank insignia at all. A beret rested upon his head, and a pistol with worn grips at his side.
The other man was garbed in an old fashioned Imperial Navy uniform, chest full of medals. He had sunken cheeks and was very pale, a haunted look in his eyes as they darted from the jeering crowds to the gallows next to him. Cameras recorded it all as Maxellian stepped forward, raising his arms for quiet. Silence descended quickly on the crowd. He began to speak.

"Brothers and sisters of the Republic, it has been fifty one years since the Great War ended. It was a terrible time, as some of us remember; and at no time did it seem more terrible than the Day of Fire. On that day, this man-no, not a man. This animal" a tremendous uproar interrupted him, and finally died down enough for him to continue. "This animal took his ship into close orbit above Hive Lictor and opened fire with the full force of his ship.
"Six hundred million innocents were killed instantly in the fires of the collapsing hive. Of all the great attrocities, this man commited one of the worst. This coward then ran from our harsh justice...but he could not run forever.
"When our allies the Xiscapians contacted Prime Minister Marchamp, he could not believe it. And the captain of the ship that brought him home broke every speed record of the Cobra-Class destroyer...all for this moment. For this moment where justice will be served!"
A great wave of sound rose up, and the man in Navy uniform cringed. Maxellian turned to Jonathan Banes and spoke directly to him.
"I, Rustov Maxellian, President of the Republic of Setulan, do hereby end your life, Jonathan Banes, as per your trial, held in your absence. I lie to you not, Captain. I will enjoy this." A hush fell. The rope fell over Banes neck, and Maxellian tightened it, stepped back...and pulled the lever.

A drop. A jerk. A kick. The crowd roared in rightous anger.

Jonathan Banes, murderer, perpetrator of the Day of Fire, the most wanted man in Setulan and the last of the 100, was dead.

Maxellian, however, was just getting warmed up.
"You have all learned by now of the terrible loss our forces took in the offensive against the Danaversians. 171, 320 men died yesterday in a crushing defeat against the Coallition.
"But I beg of you all, do not despair. This war is just begining, and it appears that it will drag on a long time; but these Danaversians need learn that Setulan is a faithful ally to her friends...and we can be faithful to our enemies, as well.
"We will not surrender. We will not withdraw from this fight. We will stand fast with our allies and carry this war through to the finish. Under no circumstances will this great nation give up the fight. For every drop of Republican blood spilled, we will exact vengence. For every drop of Xiscapian, or Alversian, or Greali or Greywatch blood spilled, we will rain fire upon them until they know fear. We will make them wish they had never left their homes. We will make widows of their women so that the weeping will be heard throughout the universe.
"As I speak, the factories of Bartasson and Limur are producing tanks and rifles, explosives and spacecraft for our glorious armies. We will crush them under our tank treads and grind their bones under our boots."
Maxellian thrust his fist into the air.
"Remember the loss, remember the sacrifice, Remember the Eternal Pain!"

Ten thousand fists were thrust into the air.
"Remember the Pain! Remember the Pain!

The entire scene was caught by news crews from every station in Setulan, and copies were broadcast not only across the system, but to the allied systems (Xiscapia and Alversia, at least; they didn't know where Greal or Greywatch were) as well. The message was clear-Setulan was in it to the finish.
And unknown to anybody, a copy of the official execution (including papers certifying the death of Jonathan Banes) was sent to BlasTech industries, along with an unofficial letter from Maxellian apologizing to Mr. Cuqa for any inconvenience caused by Captain Banes, and extending a personal invitation for when things settled down slightly.

Helios listened patiently, his arms made out of data crossed against his chest as the Governor explained the situation of the current conflict with the Danaversians. His eyes seemed slightly off, for a second, as he listened. What she didn't know was he was accessing the files on the matter Aeisha had stored and reading them. From the briefing and the files, he determined some kind of race had launched another campaign, one of many, against Alversia and its allies, seeking to hold off its inevitable decay through conquest. As Drell finished her presentation detailing the grim situation and their problem, he looked at Aeisha for a moment before focusing on the Governor again.

"This situation is dark indeed. Aeisha is right; if you fall, and your allies fall, not only will my people be at risk, but the rest of the galaxy. I am sure if enough gathered, they would defeat this threat, but countless peoples will be wiped out in the process." He let out an electronic sigh and paused a moment, before speaking again.

"I have informed the Elders about the situation and they are moving what assets we can spare to your aid. I am afraid we are still a young nation and we do not have overly much to send you. But I am sending what I can, and know that if there is still a Psi-Knight controlling a ship or ground force, I am with you. We will aid you in this conflict, if you will allow it."

XINHQ...
"Logically, from a tactical standpoint, no. If I were in command of the Danaversian forces, I would strike Greal, or Setulan, for though they have more ships they had less territory to be taken, and could be eliminated early. However, I am aware the Danaversians have a passionate hatred for the Democratic Republic, and at the moment you are both the most visible and most succinct target of all the Allies. I must urge you to commit as many tacticians as you can to the problem of the weapon, to at least negate its devastating effects with strategic positioning and maneuvering. Finally, do you have dates or areas you suspect the Danaversians with attack next, within your borders?"

Mysan, Macronia...
Si allowed Krystic's hand to embrace his, but even so he cast around for the reason for her renewed agitation. His gaze finally drifted up to the furry visage of the Alumina, and what he saw there caused the Foreign Minister to develop an instant and deeply felt dislike for the alien. Covertly he shifted his free hand ever so slightly, causing his wedding ring to flash in the sun, attracting the attention of the cat-like being. Si caught his eye and, without changing a particle of his polite, diplomatic expression, used his eyes to convey a clear message:
Back off, asshole.

Vice Admiral Murdoc also shifted, looking around with some pleasure. From what he had been told, until about a year ago this planet had been barren and empty of life, a regular hellhole. Now you would never be able to guess, and the kitsune of the Kingdom of Mysan (a long lost Xiscapian colony, as most scholars maintained) had prospered without the help of their intergalactic brethren. Sadly he had no time to study the architecture or enjoy the weather; there were a great many things to be done. Send for a replacement for the A.I. 7, help the other fleets with their repairs, and generally get the First Assault Fleet back into fighting shape.

"My apologies Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, my fellow Commanders," he bowed to them all, "but I have urgent matters I must attend to in the fleet. I'm afraid I must depart."
Si nodded and bowed. "We understand, Vice Admiral. Our prayers for peace and sanity in these trouble times go with you."

Danaversian Barracuda...
Yoki allowed herself to be collared and restrained like a wild beast, utterly passive. "To trust an animal is to tape a grenade to your hand..." She murmured the last words of Kash the Butcher as she fell to her knees. The floor was hard, cold and grainy, like rock rather than the metal or plastic she had been expecting. As the agent dropped onto her hands she quelled the feelings of shame and humiliation that threatened to well up inside of her, knowing that if her captors detected a crack in her composure, they would exploit it mercilessly. She knew her true test was still in coming, that she had a long trial to endure if she was to be of any use. If she allowed herself to sink into despair, to become a abused pet for these barbarians, she might as well be dead.

Wuin System, Slint, City of Drakko...
"We do not have much of a choice," said Drell honestly, "we have no grounds for refusal; the Coalition needs all the help it can get. Besides," she smiled for the first time, "you and your people are nothing like other warmongering, blood-thirsty races we have encountered, and your timing could prove to be a blessing to us all. I am sure relations could only strengthen from here. However," she became entirely serious again, "I must contact the Emperor and inform him of what has transpired here, though I anticipate his orders will be for your force to be brought to Xiscapia so it can meet the other leaders and be brought up to speed. Whatever you elect to send, though, I can assure you will be welcomed with open arms."

"Even as we speak," Ashe nodded grimly, "Our top Scientists are working on a way to try and negate the effects of the weapon, while our tacticians are indeed trying to find a way to outmanouver them for the time being." She looked tired now, and it transformed her face from a rather handsome and charming being into a gaunt, almost skeletal-like look. The stress was beginning to tell on the shoulders of Grand Admiral Ashe.

She thought for a moment and shurgged at the last question from Krystal,
"We don't really have any indications of an attack in the Alversian Sector," She stated honestly, trying to recall the latest intelligence reports. Had they mentioned something like this? She shook her head, she would have remembered. The reports said nothing of an attack against Alversian Space. At least not yet.

Mysan, Macronia

"Of course, Admiral," Krystic seemed quite taken aback by the sudden departure of the Kitsune Commander but nodded anyway, "I wish you well."
What a stupid thing to say, she thought to herself, but did not give any physical sign that she felt she had screwed up, apart from squeezing Si's hand a little tighter.

"Well Ma'am," King now spoke, "If you don't mind, could we have permission to post some of our crews to your planet's surface? They've had rather a rough time of it recently and perhaps a little shore leave would help to boost morale?"
Krystic seemed frozen for a moment, unable or unwilling to make such a big call. However, she had made it in moments, giving a quivering nod to the tall Alversian Admiral,
"Of course, Sir," She replied, a little confidence creeping into her voice, "They may stay as long as you see fit. So long as they obey local laws and customs." She finished and looked at King, as if fearing a swift and brutal backlash from the dark-skinned man. Instead, he simply nodded,
"I'll make sure they stay in line Ma'am. Thank you," He offered her a bow, "Is there a room in the city that I may accomodate for a short while? I wish to plan my next move and I feel it would be better down in the open space than on the cold confines of a ship"
"Yes," Krystic seemed rather alarmed but nodded eagerly, "There is a room in my own house that you may use. I shall have some Servants show you the way once we have completed our business" She was growing in confidence, though her hand did not leave Si's and her deep breathing did not rescind.

At the back of the party, the Aluminan Admiral's eyebrows raised slightly as he read the message from Si. There was moment where he did not reply nor did he act, seemingly ignoring Si's casual warning. Then something happened, something quite extra-ordinary, the Aluminan male spoke to Si through his mind a telepathic link
"Apologises," He said as his frown lightened somewhat, "I meant no offence."

Danaversian Barracuda

The Danaversian seemed amused to see the Kitsune on all fours like an animal. He gave a small tug on her leash, then forced her to look up at him, he was close to her face now, close enough for her to smell his foul breath and rank body odour, he spoke to her in a low growl,
"You will remain silent until I have given you orders to do otherwise. You will do as I see fit and say what I command you to say. You will always address a fellow Breathern as 'Master'. If you do not, then I will kill you."
If Yoki used her training and looked deep into the small black pupils of the Danaversian, she would see that it was not a bluff. There was no hesitation and no indecision, not even a twig of uncertainty. He did not know her value yet and would not think twice about striking her down now.
Yet she had some part to play in his plans,
"Do you understand," He growled.

Nova Max

Ever since Berrax had finally won their independence, Callin was elected president by a massive landslide. He set to work immediately, repairing the war torn planet. With aid from the Xiscapians and Alversians, the Berraxs were turned into a formidable ally. Their population regained and was growing at a massive rate. The new Berrax military was large, and very efficient and very well trained. Many Berraxs still feared a Greali attack, despite the presence of the Hidden Fleet. The navy expanded from a mere battleship and three frigates to fourteen battleships, thirteen carriers, twenty battle cruisers, thirty frigates, and six hospital ships. As a bonus, the Berrax launched construction of a superbattleship, but it would require resources of two Berrax moons of build. At the same time, the Berraxs relied on technology, rather then numbers, and greatly improved the military monthly.

Callin had heard of the Alversians and several other nations, attacked by the Danaversians. He did nothing at first, then when the news that Greal had allied with the Xiscapians reached Nova Max, there was shock in the capital. After hearing from sources in the Greali Military that there was a defeat of the coalition forces at the Danaversian home world, Callin decided to act. He had the communicator send the following message to the Xiscapians and the Alversians.

Greetings, I will make this simple: The Republic of Berrax wishes to hep you in your war against the Danaversian Empire.

Callin

Earl watched the Admirals dissapearing and decided it was time to leave.
"Prime Minister. I ask your leave to withdraw. Moreover, I am afraid that I must ask a boon of you; while my men will remain on their ships, the 11th Heavy Division is aboard several of my escorts. With your permission, I would like to land them on the planet in a remote area and let them stretch their legs and spread out some; the berthing on the ships is far from comfortable. I assure you, Major General Strong will keep his men in line. They won't go rampaging around the countryside."
More importantly, if the Danaversians launched a counterattack, they wouldn't be sitting ducks in space, waiting to be killed.

XINHQ...
"I do not know much about the composition of Alversia's territory," Krystal stated, "but surely there are targets, industrial facilities, population centers, military bases, which would stand out to the Danaversians as ripe for the taking?"

Mysan, Macronia...
Si started slightly at the telepathic message, not at all expecting it. He concentrated, seeking to speak back to the Alumina though the link, and was finally able to achieve it.
You are frightening the Prime Minister; I believe she thinks she has done something to offend you. Smiling would greatly improve your features, you know, though I am aware we have little to smile about...
Aloud, "That offer is open to you as well," Si said the Epson, Earl and the Alumina. "If there's anything we can do to make your stay more comfortable, just ask."

Danaversian Barracuda...
"Yes, Master," Yoki did not allow herself to make eye contract, remaining as submissive as possible. She knew the Danaversian had himself a rare prize, a captive Xiscapian, but he himself was not quite aware of such. Eventually he would, even the Calaverians knew the value of their slaves. The creature was a brute, and Yoki knew that, despite what she might endure at his hands, she was lucky to have him and not a more intelligent officer who would know the risks of keeping such a prisoner. For now she had to play the part, watch, and wait.

Xiscapia, Rio Casa, Imperial Palace, Imperial Chambers...
"Remember the Pain! Remember the Pain!"
"My Lord, you have received a message."
The Emperor nodded to the servant in acknowledgement as the simple, short text appeared inside the holo, separated from the chanting crowds, fluttering flags and slowly swinging corpse of Jonathan Banes. He muted it and read the short amount of text before sitting back in his chair with a sigh. Twenty-one little words, strung together to make a monstrous decision and a political headache.

Some time ago (had it really been over a year?) the Kitsune Empire had attempted to pacify Greali aggression towards their neighbors, the Berrax, though diplomacy and economic sanctions. Unfortunately it hadn't worked, and Greali stormtroopers began their xenocide of the Berrax, killing thousands every day, in concentration camps, in the cities and in the hills, civilians and rebels alike. Obviously a sterner approach had been needed, and, combined with the work of an agent from the Shadow Operations, the Xiscapians captured Nova Max from Greali hands. What they found there was shocking: Most of the population had been killed or deported, and those who were left were wracked by disease, hunger and utter poverty. However, over time, with aid from the Kitsune Empire and the Democratic Republic in the form of equipment, supplies, personnel and information, the Berrax Republic began to regain it's old glory as a state.

Now, mostly rebuilt, with the highest population level in decades and a well trained, fully equipped (if green) military, the Berrax had decided they wished to help those who had helped them. The Emperor had no doubt they would be an asset: Before the schism between the Berrax and the rest of Greal, they had been master shipbuilders and had constructed most of the ships of the Intergalactic Empire. They had outlasted the Greali and the Imitators in rebellion, open war and guerilla fighting, having formed an intricate underground resistance movement while Nova Max was occupied to fight the occupiers. Though the Greali had controlled the cities, space and skies, the hills, mountains and caves of the planet belonged to the Berrax, who had repeatedly repulsed Greali assaults.
No, their intelligence was not in question.

What the Emperor wondered was: Were they ready? The Berrax Republic was still very much a fledgling nation, their government and military was barely a year old, and everywhere the scars of war could still be seen. No doubt the people wanted the war; the Emperor had never met Callin, or even spoken to him directly, but from what he had heard the Berrax was a good soul, and was probably only acting as the citizens of his new state wanted him to. Still, if the Danaversians were to learn of the Berrax and their alliance, the Emperor knew they would become the target of this terrible weapon, the fatality of a nation and people for the sake of a display of Danaversian might. The Berrax had nearly been wiped out once; they would not survive a second round.
So a message was sent back:

His Majesty Emperor Foxfire Rose advises caution. The Emperor does not feel the Berrax Republic is ready to enter the war at this early stage, and while he assures President Callin the Berrax will get their chance, he urges him to reconsider and think for his people. The Danaversian Empire is vast and powerful; they cannot be beaten by passion and will alone. When the time comes, the Kitsune Empire will have need of help from the Republic; until that time is here, conserve your troops and warships, and concentrate on the welfare of your people.
Imperial Palace, Rio Casa, Xiscapia

"There is no shortage of targets within our space, Admiral," Ashe nodded wearily, "But I don't think the Danaversians will want to risk a full blown confrontation with us yet on the DMZ. They may have defeated our navy but so long as the Defence Stations remain online as well as the mines and auto-defence turrets then the Danaversians will tread cautiously. For now, at least." Ashe added the gloomy afternote that the DMZ defences would only hold for so long. The Coalition was on borrowed time. They needed something and they needed it quickly.

Danaversian Barracuda

"Then you will perform the following," The Danaversian sneered, pulling on the chain that was acting as a leash,
"Wag your tail," He ordered, "Stick your tongue out, bark like a dog, sniff the floor, beg." He said them one after the other with a slight pause, expecting her to perform them as he said them. Watching with interest and glancing occasionally into the corner of the room.
There were other Danaversians in the room now and they were watching the Kitsune with a fierce intensity, studying her every curve with precision and every movement with brutish delight. If it was possible to be anymore humiliated, then it would take a lot of effort to make it so.

Mysan, Macronia

The Alumina did not reply but looked to Krystic, who tightened her grip on Si's hand as he spoke, a deep voice, sounding almost like a purr,
"I take my leave," He stated simply and, not even offering a bow, he disappeared into a flash of light.
Krystic stared at the spot where he had been for a few moments before turning to Epson and nodding,
"Yes...yes of course they can come down," She nodded a little too eagerly, "They can spend as long as they need here. You're always welcome"
She looked next to King,
"Is there anything else?" She asked, a little hope in her voice.

"Not that I can think of Ma'am," King shook his head gently, "If there is anything, then I shall be sure to let you know."

"Excellent," Krystic nodded to someone behind the pair and a Servant came to escort them to one of the empty rooms in the Palace of Mysan. That left Krystic and Si on their own in the hallway. Krystic let out a deep sigh and her shoulders sagged slightly.

Earl nodded his thanks.
"With your leave, madam, sir." He saluted a final time, took one step backwards, and then performed a perfect about face before marching away. He had contingency plans to write up and a report to make.

Barracks, Joint Assault Force, Xiscapia

Colonel Green walked sedately around the base, returning salutes snapped to him with a perfunctory raise of the hand in the general vicinity of the eyes. His troops knew him well enough by now to know that he was not really doing anything official, just touring the area and seeing how things were getting along.
He was very pleased with things as of now. The two formations, the First Republican Rifles and the 8th Xiscapian Marines, had meshed together seamlessly. Sure, there had been a few teething problems; the Marines and Guards had a few differing tactics in X environment against Y type of enemy. Generally, both tactics were adopted as a matter of course. The two units were elite, and always eager to learn new ways of perfecting their craft. The different weapons were not much of an issue. The Republicans kept their ballistic rifles and the Marines their lasers, but cross training in every weapon of the inventory was of course mandatory.
The unit had done an extensive field exercise, finishing two days prior. The two brigades had "fought" each other in an area immediately surrounding a minor town which they had turned into a warzone. Overall, an excellent day of training.
Even if Green, leading from the front, had been "killed" by his counterpart in the final desperate firefight.
He looked around and took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air. He liked this place. The Xiscapians and Marines were enjoying their day off by unloading their salaries in the nearby towns (mostly at the local bars and brothels), but for the most part they slept.
Green had something else in mind.
He trotted up the steps to Colonel Dui's quarters and knocked, grinning. Did he have a surprise for her.

The Fist, Setulan, Setulan System

Theater-General Shane Hienz stood bent over a chart, his white hair hanging down over his face. He flipped it out of his eyes irritabley.
"What are you telling me, Luke?"
The man he addressed had the golden eagle on each shoulder, signifying the Admiral Superior of the Setulan Navy. He was to Setulan what Krystal was to Xiscapia and Ashe to Alversia. His name was Luke Owen, and the two men had known each other for more than a hundred years.
"I'm saying we're shit out of luck so far as getting Naval support for the Colonies is concerned. I got told to my face by Speaker Jacobs that I must be senile if I actually wanted to break up TF Widow Maker to cover the four colonies after the loss at Havalia." Hienz shook his head sympathetically.
"Bastards. Did Tempes go to bat for you?"
"Wasn't there. He always has a way with the Speakers."
"Maybe it's the way he waves his arms?" Hienz sighed heavily.
"I'm not as concerned about Colony 2; it is about as far from anything as it is possible to be. But Colony 4 is in the direction those Kewen bastards came from, and Colony 3 is far too close to Danaversian space for comfort. Don't these bastards understand how potentially important these colonies are?"
"I'm going to guess 'no'."
The two men looked at the chart. Colony 3 was out on a limb.
"We won't be able to keep them off the planet if they attack, Shane. We'll do what we can, but...what do we have on the ground there?"
"The 67th Heavy. They're tough, but..."
"Yeah."
For all intents and purposes, Colony 3 was an open target.

XINHQ...
"The Danaversian Navy-" Krystal began to speak but then cut herself off, frowning as she looked to something offscreen. "Excuse me a moment," she gave a little bow, and the screen flickered in static. Several seconds went by, then she was back, looking more harrowed than before. Taking a deep breath, she spoke. "I have just been informed that we have received a distress call from the Havalia area, standard transmission. Someone out there is still alive, but some time has elapsed, and we know nothing about the location or condition of the Danaversia Shoal." She looked worried. "I cannot risk the destruction of any more elements of the Fifth Fleet, and we have no forces to spare..."

Danaversian Barracuda...
Yoki was nearly dragged onto her side by the force with which the leash was yanked, but she mentioned her precarious balance and ignored the other Danaversians. At the moment, only her 'Master' mattered. She moved her tail about left and right as best she could (it did not have the necessary muscles to actually wag like a dog's), stuck her tongue out, gave a surprisingly realistic yip, lowered her head close to the deck and made a show of sniffing it, before finally settling back onto her haunches, squatting with her hands hanging before her chest, and whined. She had no choice in the matter, and this was far better than what she could have been ordered to do, though he had no doubt that would come later. If they wanted her to act like a dog, fine; soon enough they'd see how much of a bitch she could be.

Mysan, Macronia...
Si knew what was coming next; it had happened continually during the unification debates, where over half a dozen other Kingdoms had come together to discuss a worldwide government. Krystic would speak at the meeting and share her views, but afterwards she would crumble, convinced she had done a poor job and questioning her abilities as a ruler. It came from the abuse she had suffered at the hands of her late Uncle Monta, years ago, where he had repeatedly treated her and told her she was little more than a scared girl, a tool to reach power.
Those experiences had a profound effect that reached even to today, many years later.

"You did well," he interjected before she could say anything. "Those men were more shellshocked than you were; and they needed was a place to stay and recuperate. You offered it, they accepted," he spread his hands, "mission accomplished."

Barracks, Joint Assault Force, Xiscapia...
Technological differences aside, the 8th Marines and the First Republican Rifles had formed easily, and before long kitsune and men were fighting alongside each other as if they'd been doing it all their lives. The "battle" they had fought had exacted a great toll on both sides as each sought to outmaneuver each other on the plains and in the forest, using stunner weapons. They could have always used a VR, but there was so many of them they'd have to travel to Tenfour, the closest city with a large enough terminal for it, and the actual exercise was better than the near vegetation that came with virtual reality. The 8th Marines had had a bit of an unfair advantage; many of them had grown up around here, and knew the area and terrain. Therefore the 8th Marines had been able to outflank the First Republican Rifles, but they found their assaults repulsed as they tried to break the formation, though Dui had sniped Green during one of the rushes.
It had been exhilarating.

Dui answered the door of the portable building, a small one story command center type. She looked up at Green with a smile, at the sight of him and his grin. "Well Colonel," she stepped back to allow his entrance, "you liked the taste of my laser so much you came back for some more, did ya?"

APNHQ, Illesia

"Really?" Ashe seemed rather taken aback, "I was sure that all escape pods had been retrieved before the retreat?" She was brooding now, resting her chin on her crossed hands,
"I fear that the escape pod's inhabitants may be beyond the aid of conventional vessels, Krystal, much less a fleet," She shook her head, "The Shoal could be anywhere by now."

Mysan, Macronia

"You think so?" Krystic asked hesitantly, rightly cut off by Si from speaking her mind about her own poor performance. She could not help it. She always felt so bad after completing a speech or talking to an unknown dignitary. All she ever found where faults with herself and how she had handled the duty. How she had been elected Prime Minister was quite beyond her.
She gave a shudder,
"I've never met most of those races before," She said, as if it were a fault, "What are they like?"

Danaversian Barracuda

Once Yoki was finished, the Danaversian stretched into the shadows at the corner of the ship and picked out a small camera. He glanced down at Yoki and laughed at her display. She had been captured on tape performing it and now he spoke, the same deep rumble,
"This will go to every corner of the Empire," He brandished the tape, "You will be better known than the Emperor himself." He taunted her again, pulling on the chain, "It will also go to your Empire, so they will know who you are and what you're doing now. And this will be only the first Chapter" he grinned at her and handed the tape off to a Comrade who stalked through the ship with it.

The Danaversians really shouldn't have had the codes for transmission to any Xiscapian vessel, much less the Grand Admiral, but amongst the wreackage of a Xiscapian warship, the Danaversians had scavenged the codes. Now the tape was played in a looping message to Krystal's office with the words of a Danaversian,
"See how your kind acts when it is met by a force greater than you. By the end of this cycle, you shall all be performing these tricks"

Green nodded happily, stepping inside.
"I guess so. Must have been the way you shot me. Such style, such grace..." he gave a heavy sigh. He grew somewhat serious again as he came down to the purpose of his visit, however.
"Alright, three things. First of all, we are being supplemented with some armor that was laying around. A detached company of Beachead heavy tanks are joining us." He handed her a datelink with the appropriate information regarding the tank.
"Probably the best infantry support tank in our arsenal, great for killing fortifications or enemy armor." He moved on to the second topic.
"Also, may I offer you congratulations for your first decoration from the Republic?" He handed her an oblong mahogany box. Inside was a yellow and black ribbon (yellow ribbon, black stripe horizontal through the middle) above a silver diamond with the striking hawk engraved in the middle in gold.
"Combatant Medal, Second Class. The citation is inside, something about heroically taking over when the commanding officer was incapacitated." A wry smile accompanied that statement. Green had, naturally, been the other commander, and had passed out from blood loss, shock from his (multiple) shrapnel and burn wounds, and an overdose of painkillers. "The Republic has also seen fit to decorate a few of your other soldiers as well, about a dozen assorted awards, and if we can track down the leader of the flight that saved our asses with their nuclear strike, he is being awarded the Combatant Medal, First Class."

Remote Field, Macronia

The Destroyer squadrons carrying the 11th Heavy set down in the remote field and started to disgorge the heavy unit in a timely manner. They started to set up tents and field stoves, making themselves at home in the empty but beautiful vale they had chosen as their LZ. The unloading of all the supplies was done in two and a half hours, and actually organizing the units to go to their respective billets took another four. The destroyers left atmosphere and rejoined the fleet.
The troops could be embarked quickly or mobilized to help defend the planet if the worst was to occur.

XINHQ...
"To our knowledge both the A.I. 7 and the Korr Destroyer were lost with all hands," Krystal looked mournful, "and even if there were any pods, the Fifth Fleet wouldn't have had any time to pick them up; another few seconds in the combat zone could have meant the loss of another ship, and another minute would have spelled total destruction. The Vice Admiral had no-"

She interrupted herself again, though this time she made no motion to cut off the connection, merely stared at some point out of Ashe's view, mouth half open in shock, eyes reflecting horror. For nearly half a minute she said nothing, before finally licking her chops and running a finger along her muzzle, as a tired human would put their head in their hands. "I'm afraid we know now the fate of our lost soldier..." She had the file sent to Ashe, sitting well back in her chair. The kitsune had looked strangely familiar to her...but who?
No time now.
Leaning forward, Krystal tapped at a button on her desk, though she kept Ashe's line open so they could still speak if needed.

"Yes Grand Admiral?" Came the voice.
"Link me to address 918 Flug Drive, Rio Casa please,"
"Yes Ma'am,"
There was a moment of silence, then the sound of a tape playing:
"The subscriber you are trying to contact is not available. If you would like to continue to try and contact this person, please-"
Krystal cut it off, swearing uncharacteristically. "Where the hell are they when you need them? Plan B now," she muttered, making another link to a second pair of 'private contractors' she would need in lieu of the first. They didn't work cheap, and these two especially were likely to cause some kind of international incident, but they had an excellent record and were as energetic as they were destructive...

Mysan, Macronia...
Si smiled in good humor. "To be honest, I've never met an Alumina or Setulan before either, though I've had contact with the Greali before. You know the stories I've told you..." He hesitated. What he'd told Krystic about the Intergalactic Empire had not been flattering, indeed the way he told it, they were monsters. And perhaps they were: Everyone in the Kitsune Empire knew this was an alliance of convenience, at least Xiscapia didn't want to have anything to do with the Greali if they could avoid it. "Well, maybe they're not as bad as I made them out to be. But still, I warn you," he looked completely serious, "stay on your toes around Admiral Epson. I doubt he will stay long, but Greali, especially the humans, are notorious kitsune-haters. You know what happened to Ambassador Atox, and though I don't think the same could ever happen again, not here, I don't want any risks taken." He squeezed her hand gently. "Aside from that, they all looked like good people. It seems they're all a bit dazed at the moment: They just suffered a large defeat. We'll have to do our best to accommodate them while they're here."

Danaversian Barracuda...
Yoki had to conceal her amusement at the ancient piece of equipment: The Danaversians still used handheld cameras? Those went out with Mohawks and hard drugs. For all their military might (or perhaps because of it; all their top scientists and researchers were probably devoted to war) they still used technology the rest of the galaxy had outgrown many millennia ago. She wondered just how isolated the Danaversian Empire really was, still using handguns and cameras. On the outside she tried to seem ashamed, lowering her head in defeat, expertly faking humiliation.

On the inside, though, Yoki was almost giddy with excitement. They were going to send the tape throughout both their Empire and the Kitsune Empire? She'd never expected such an opportunity. It would be used as propaganda, but the wonderful thing about propaganda (and the main reason the Kitsune Empire didn't use it) was because it had this nasty habit of blowing up in the face of whoever used it. Everyone would know about her, and her captivity here; and everyone would know when she escaped with the information she needed. Overnight the tape would go from being a horrifying symbol of Danaversian might and ruthlessness to a beacon of hope, that even a little Xiscapian trapped in circumstances beyond her control could strike back. And in the Danaversian Empire it would be massively embarrassing, that a being that they had forced so low had come back up with devastating consequences.
Outside, though, she hung her head, face drawn, eyes wide.

Barracks...
Dui chuckled, taking the box and opening it, admiring the ribbon. "Green, all I did was pick you up, turn around and load you onto a transport. I don't really deserve this." She closed the box and deposited it onto her desk with a grin, silently reminding herself to pin it onto her dress uniform when she got the chance, as at the moment she was dressed in a loose gray tank top, camouflage fatigues and black boots. The Xiscapian Colonel actually seemed more happy about the addition of tanks to their unit, examining the card in detail. "We don't have as many tanks as we used to," she muttered, tapping the screen, "not since we got all the mecha. I mean, they're all fine and well, but there's few things more beautiful than a heavily armored tank growling it's way over the landscape."

There was a moment of silence, which was broken a moment later by a second rap at the door. Dui turned her head with a frown. "It's open!" she yelled, and it cracked open as a Marine stuck his furry head though, eyes going from Dui to Green. "Uh...delivery for you, Colonel." He said as he saluted, opening the door all the way. Dui frowned. "What the hell do you mean, boy? I didn't order anything from anywhere, unless they got the good Colonel's Home and Garden magazine mixed up with my mail again..." She glanced over her shoulder to Green with a grin before stepping outside, looking with curiosity at the transport parked on the grass.

The back door fell open, revealing a large interior packed with dozens of crates, marked "Property of the Xiscapian Grand Army". "You two," Dui motioned to the Marine and a nearby Guardsman, both of whom saluted, "haul tail over there and get me one of those crates." The Marine gave a short bow and jogged off with his comrade, and in a few moments both had brought over one of the boxes. Dui typed in a quick code on a keypad and the box fell open, to reveal a small sheet on top of several racks with three pictures with captions on it and a small piece of text:

Combat Duty Uniform (http://gwhite206.deviantart.com/art/Evil-Soldier-13658538)
Officers Dress Uniform (http://vanilla-rain.deviantart.com/art/GS-AA-version-new-uniform-98607614)
Enlisted Dress Uniform (http://tounushi.deviantart.com/art/SWORDS-service-dress-uniform-93705548)

Colonel,
Heard about the conformity problems and thought these would help.
Master General Dom
Xiscapian Grand Army Headquarters, Rio Casa

"Well damn," said Dui after reading the pad. "Looks like we've got ourselves our own uniforms!" More Marines and Guardsmen were coming, at first to see what was going on and then getting roped into helping unload. "That old bastard's got good taste, I've gotta at least say that," Dui nodded, turning to Green. "So, we've got ourselves some armour, I got an award for hauling your fat ass around," she grinned, "what was the third thing?"

Nova Max

Callin, disappointed, did not respond, He knew the Xiscapians would call for them if they needed help. Meanwhile, he had other concerns, his vice president was killed by a unknown sniper, and he needed a new one right away.


Mysan, Macronia

Epson noticed Si talking with Krystic, but he did not do anything, The races here were interesting. He had never met a Aluminan before, and they were quite interesting. He had Captain Medunia with him. Captain Medunia, was the only female commanding a superbattleship, and that made her nervous.

"You alright Captain?" asked Epson.

"Fine sir." though she did not look it.

"Remember to be nice to our hosts, we don't want to start a war here do we?"

"No sir."

"Good." said Epson looking at his small communicator.

"Fat ass? I'll have you know I make sure it is toned and shapely!" He said, mock hurt. He pulled a uniform out of a bin.
"Hell, even the right size for Setulanites!" The humans were, as a rule, taller and broader than their Kitsune counterparts. "I'm suitably impressed." He heard what he said. "No pun intended. And we need to come up with a new name for our troops...we can't really keep calling them Marines and Guardsmen and expect them to integrate properly. Meshing the squads is fine, but the name should be the same too." He left serious mode. "The hell with it, we'll come up with it later. And as for the third thing...well, it will have to be postponed; I intend to put on a spiffy new uniform. After which you and I shall take a liesurely ride in the woods with an antiquated rifle that has passed through my family for generations. With said rifle, we shall hunt...whatever...lives in these hills." He arched an eyebrow.
"What say you, Colonel?"

APNHQ, Illesia City

Ashe put a hand over her mouth as she watched the file that was sent to her by Grand Admiral Krystal. She watched, stunned as the Kitsune humiliated herself in almost every possible way. She watched as she was forced to act like a dog, forced to sniff the floor and bark for this Danaversian monster. She felt a hot anger surge through her body.
How could these...animals, force someone to do this? How could they make her act in such a degrading way. She watched the rest of the movie, watching the naked Kitsune, a metal collar around her throat, beg like a dog, whining like an animal. She trembled for a moment, then listened as her opposite number enlisted some help.
She nodded fiercely in approval at the decision. The Navies of the Coalition were not up for a rescue mission yet, but there was always someone who was.
"They shall need help, Krystal," Ashe said over the link, reaching for something on her desk, "and I think I know where to find it."
Within seconds, a message was flashing it's way to the Setulan Republic and to an isolated planet deep in the middle of space.

Space, somewhere in Alversian territory

"Wow," A low whistle, a tut, a shake of the head, then silence.

"Alright," A second voice stated in a rather tired manner, "What is it? I know that voice. You want to tell me something"
The Speaker was a Kitsune. Not just a Kitsune. Not just a Kitsune but one of staggering beauty and gracefulness. Her name was Chloe and she was one half of the famous pair of Mercenaries. One was an Alversian, her partner and generally brain-dead idiot Nathaniel T. Barnes. She was the other, more rational part.

For the moment, they were floating lazily through space. Not something to be done lightly with the Danaversian Empire on the loose. But the vessel in which they floated was the Elixir of Life. A small vessel but one of both immense speed and immense power. The only kind that enormous amounts of money could buy. The kind of money that one earned working as a Mercenary.

"Look at this," Nathan held up the datapad he had been reading so that Chloe could see it across the table too. She read it for a moment, her eyes widening in surprise before she settled down in her seat again,
"Wow." was all she could say.

"I know," Nathan shook his head, "10,102 dead, three ships destroyed. The Magenta, the Illas and the Murdo," Nathan shook his head again, "This Havalia Offensive didn't turn out too well huh?"

"Anyone you knew?" Chloe knew that Nathan had been in the APN for quite a while and still had many contacts within it, even if he was no longer part of the system.

The Alversian shook his head,
"Nah, they were all Newbies," he stated, not without sympathy, "That's alot of unhappy families tonight." He stopped for a moment to think and, in the silence of the moment, the beep of an incoming message sounded.

"That'll be my lunch," Nathan laughed as Chloe got up and headed into the cockpit. It was after a few moments that she called back into the main body of the ship,
"Nathan. You may want to come look at this."

So Nathan got up, scratched his arse then headed into the cockpit. He looked at the message and whistled,
"Yikes," He said. Chloe shook her head, making her chocolate brown hair shake from side to side,
"What does the Xiscapian Navy want with us?" She thought aloud.

"I thought Kartosh and Skyler handled all XIN contracts," Nathan settled himself in the pilot's seat.

"Unavailable I guess," Chloe shrugged.

"So we were second choice? I'm touched," Nathan laughed again and looked at the message, "So we're going to Rio Casa? Great! I didn't even pack my sun cream."

With a flash, the Elixir vanished into space, heading for a new contract in a big war.


Mysan, Macronia

"I'll keep an eye out," Krystic stated, looking over the rooftops of Mysan as if expecting a Greali warfleet to appear any second. She shivered bitterly at the thought of the killer in her city, that she had been so nice to him after all he had done to her Husband's people. She shook her head,
"Diplomacy is so confusing," She sighed, heading off into the city, her hand still entwined with that of her husband.

Danaversian Barracuda

"Now that you have seen how high we can make her go," The Danaversian was still speaking into the camera, which was broadcasting his message out in realtime across to the Danaversian, Xiscapian and now Alversian militaries, "It is time to see how low she will go and she needs to entertain our troops." He turned to Yoki and growled, "Pleasure yourself," he demaned, holding the camera on her.

Barracks...
"Well, you guys and the Alversians are pretty much identically shaped," Dui nodded, "it wouldn't have been that hard."
"What say you, Colonel?"
"I think," Dui looked up at the Setulanite, licking her lips, "that that is the best idea I've heard in a while." She suspected that he wasn't inviting her into the woods, alone, just to hunt...or at least not in the way it was normally thought of. Technically, trophy hunting was illegal on Xiscapian worlds, and he could face a hefty fine if caught, but who was going to stop an Allied Colonel from a bit of sport, whichever form?
Not her.

XINHQ...
Krystal watched as the kitsune on the screen sat down, legs spread, facing the camera. She took one hand and slowly moved in across her stomach, down...
"Cut if off." she growled.
"Ma'am?" came the reply from the speaker.
"I said, cut it off, stop the transmission."
"As you wish, Grand Admiral."
That section of the screen blinked into static snow, but Krystal knew the message was still being recorded for analytical purposes, and worse, that somewhere this was really happening. Krystal felt horribly guilty, as if she was abandoning the poor kitsune, leaving her to her fate.
She could do nothing but wait for the help she had called for.
"By Qonn I hope this works..." She muttered to Ashe.

Danaversian Barracuda...
Yoki gave a final, sharp gasp and slowly fell onto her back, shuddering with pleasure, panting, mouth open, ears perked and her eyes wide. Sweat had broken out on her forehead and in the cavities on her body, rolling between the hills of her breasts. She could feel the hot, sticky sensation between her legs, on her tail pooling under her, and it was all she could do to keep down the tears. She hugged herself tightly, arms crossing over her bare chest, legs closed, shaking slightly. If they needed to think they'd broken her, fine...but Yoki wasn't sure how much of it was acting, and how much was real. And in all this, she had gained nothing. An opportunity had not presented itself, and she felt a stab of real fear: What if they kept her in this room forever, never letting her out, never allowing her to speak, kept only to entertain the sweaty, stinking masses of Danaversian soldiers?
She would not survive.

The agent knew it was useless to speak, to beg or cry, it would only make them laugh at best, at worst they would punish her more harshly. She had to endure, she had to keep going, or all this would be for nought. All those deaths, the hundreds of thousands she knew had died and the millions more who would, she had to stay strong. And if not for them, then for herself, for she knew if she submitted to Danaversian rule of her she would surely die of despair, never to see the Motherland again. With her carefully perfected techniques and strategies, Yoki steeled herself, pushed her focus from herself to her mission. If she had to do this now, if she had to do this a hundred times, it would be a small price to pay for what she stood to gain.

Green beamed congenially at her answer.
"Alrighty then." He turned to a Republican captain.
"Captain!" The man snapped to attention.
"Sir!"
"Take over distribution."
"Yes sir!"

Thirty minutes later, the two colonels were bouncing over uneven terrain through the woods. Green pulled to a stop smoothly and shut off the jeep and silence fell in the woods except for the natural sounds of the surrounding forest. He looked at Dui. Dui looked back at him. They sat like that for a moment, and then, as if synchronized, the two leaned in towards each other.

"Colonel's sure have been gone a while," said one guardsmen to a marine. The Kitsune nodded.
"Aye, at least four hours. I wonder why?"
"Big game hunt, I heard."
Overhearing them, a salty Guard Sergeant Major was smoking a cigar with a Marine counterpart, swapping war stories. He snorted dersively.
"Aye, the Colonel is getting some big game alright," he said in an undertone. The Kitsune chuckled.
"Yeah."

Mysan, Macronia

"Why are they afraid?" asked Medunia

"Probably they are not afraid, just scared of war with us. Greal is not her
usual self anymore. The Danaversians have taken confidence away from us."

"Its true. What has the naval command said?"

"The loss of fifty thousand people did not please them."

"They are very irritating. No wonder we lost."

"Its easier to coordinate with the Xiscapians then with the Naval Command."

"Do they know?" asked Medunia, turning to Epson.

"Yes, they know that Reton is back. They should have killed him. The Naval Command is no doubt corrupt and stupid. Building three superfortresses nearly made our colonies useless. Now the Xiscapians will distrust us as usual. We have to prove ourselves useful."

"We could have, if the Danaversians didn't develop that weapon."

"At least our ships can easily recuperate from that."

"What about our allies?"

"I could suggest to have them add our engines when we attack. if we attack. The Danaversians will launch a offensive. It'll be massive."

"What do we do for the time being?"

Epson smiled at Medunia, "We wait and see."

Naval Command, Greal

Unknown to Epson, the Naval Command was getting rid of him.

"Epson has to be removed. He's caused this disaster."

"That was no fault of his own. The Danaversians had-"

"SILENCE! Epson is to be removed from command of the task force."

"Who do we send?"

"Rammer."

Mistakenly, the computer machine sent the message to Epson's flagship and the Xiscapians.

Admiral Epson, you are hereby relieved of command due to the disaster that your command has caused. Admiral Rammer will be taking charge of the fleet for now.

APNHQ

"It has to work," Ashe agreed. She too, had cut the transmission long before the end. She had been disgusted, nothing less than disgusted by what the poor Kitsune had been forced to do, in front of so many people.
The anger was back and worse than ever, to Krystal it would seem like her opposite number was barely under control,
"I have contacted an old friend in the Alumina Defence Forces who may be able to help us," Ashe reported grimly, "If anyone knows of Danaversian torture techniques, it is them."
Now they needed the main strike force, someone who could assist the summoned Mercenaries. They needed someone with suicidal courage,
Ashe turned to one of her aides,
"Get me the Commander of the Setulan Republic's elite force."

Rio Casa

It was not long before the Elixir settled down in Rio Casa, the first time she had been there in quite a while. The two Mercenaries stepped out into the sun and, despite Nathan's pleas that it was Doctor's orders, left their weapons with the Spaceport Security before heading into the main streets of Rio Casa.
It was not long before they were at Xiscapian Naval HQ,
"We were summoned?" Nathan asked an aide, rubbing his hands together gleefully.

Danaversian Barracuda

The Danaversian finally cut the transmission and, using the leash, hauled Yoki to her hands and knees again. She was not even given time to clean herself up. It seemed that the Barracuda was no longer moving through space and had now docked at some kind of spaceport. A series of frisbee-shaped decks all connected to one long, central column. The base was surrounded by Barracuda's and much larger versions of the warship that had reaked so much havoc on the Coalition ships. This version was bristling with weapons.

However, as soon as the Barracida had come to a halt, Yoki was hauled through the Space Station, down to one of the lower levels. It was in the same condition as the Barracuda, dank and wet. However, on several of the levels as they passed down, there were numerous turbo lasers, double and triple batteries, all pointing out into space, along with large numbers of missile launchers. Then Yoki was brought down to the Brig.

The brig was as damp and even darker than the rest of the ship, with the only light coming from a grimy lightbulb above the main entrance. There were numerous cells, made of simply ramming metal bars into the ground and floor, making it impossible to escape but also making it possible to interact between cells.
The two Guards with Yoki opened a cell door and, before they threw her in, both had their way with her, taking her body as their reward for bringing her this far down the station. When both were finished, they locked the cell door behind them and left the brig empty. However, Yoki was not alone.

It was an Alumina, or it may have been. The creature, a female, was chained to the wall by the same kind of collar and leash that Yoki was restrained with laying on her side, however, the Alumina was in a terrible state. Her claws had been torn out, one by one and her fingers and wrists broken afterwards, one of her eyes was missing and the empty socket was green with infection. Her ears were filled with long, thick, steel nails that had been hammered through and her jaw was offset where it had been broken and badly reset. Her fur was molting badly and large parts of it was just black soot, obviously where the Danaversians had set fire to her. She was covered in long, black bruises, deep painful cut marks and her tail looked as though they had fed it through a blender. She was painfully thin, showing where her ribs had been broken and, again, improperly set. Yet she was alive. Just. Her breathing was ragged and uneven, as though every gulp of air was a curse.
She looked at Yoki with her one good eye, an eye almost filled with pain,
"Sev..." she tried so say through a mouth of broken teeth, but the statement could not be finished through a wash of blue blood that spilled from her stomach. She did not try again but lay and looked at Yoki with a terrible intensity.

For this was the eventual fate of all Alumina captured by the Danaversians.

The Greali message was intercepted, but nothing was done about it. The Xiscapians couldn't object to the change in command, despite the offense and actual illegal nature of it, but it Epson had thought he'd gotten a hard time, Rammer was in for it.

XINHQ...
"Follow me, sir, ma'am," the aide turned on heel and let them from reception though a number of halls and corridors, up several lifts and past many naval officers and Marine guards before they finally entered Krystal's office. The Grand Admiral of the Xiscapian Imperial Navy seemed to have been conferring with someone on the screen before her, but with a murmur of apology she shut it down as the mercenaries approached. Waiting until they were seated, the kitsune stared at them over her desk, strange features unreadable.
"One million standard credits," she said finally. "There is a person who has been captured by Danaversian forces. She is being held in captivity aboard one of their Barracudas, at least that's what was last known. It is vital she is returned to us, alive, and it won't be an easy task. If you agree to it, you will be part of a strike force sent to rescue this prisoner, for the amount I already mentioned. Upon accepting this contract you are authorized to use any local XIN facilities for refueling or rearming for the duration of the contract, and of course we will not condemn it if you use any means necessary to retrieve the person. I trust you understand, so are you willing to accept?" She gazed at them. If they rejected her offer, the rest of the strike team Ashe was assembling would go in alone.

Danaversian Station...
Yoki stumbled and fell into her cell, curled up on her side, trying to force down the pain, anger and sorrow she felt. The Xiscapian shook in earnest now, feeling cold and alone among the dark, wet confines of her prison, stripped, humiliated and raped. Finally she lifted her head to look around, eyes adjusting to the dimness, and she saw the Alumina. Half of her recoiled in horror and pity, but the other half wondered just who this had been. It looked as though she had been down her a while, though if kept in her current state the operative doubted she would survive the infections and exposure much longer.

"Who...?" She dragged herself up, clutching the bars that separated them. She had heard the being try to articulate, but it was obvious she was in no condition to do anything involving so much effort. Instead, Yoki tried a different approach. She'd heard the Alumina were telepathic, and hoped it was true, though she had trouble clearing her mind from the storm of jumbled together thoughts and feelings in her mind.
Who are you?
She leaned against the cold, hard bars, staring into the one good eye of her fellow prisoner, both isolated and apparently forgotten by the all in a station deep within a foreign Empire on the other side of the galaxy.

Technically, the elite forces of the Republic were the Republican Guard. That being said, all the Guard were tied down, and the request came to the 11th Heavy, stationed on Macronia.
Major General Strong looked at the transmission, frowning slightly. He didn't like this kind of mission...but he disliked leaving a man behind even more. He summoned one of his troops.

A floating head appeared in Ashe's command room. The figure looked around briefly, saw the Admiral, and snapped a salute.
"Grand Admiral. I believe you were requesting somebody with my particular talents. I'm First Sergeant Myers."

APNHQ

"I am pleased to meet you, First Sergeant Myers," Ashe nodded, the first thing anyone would notice about the Admiral was her youth. She really did seem far too young for the position in which she occupied, head of all Alversian Naval Forces. It was a position of power and Ashe was still only in her mid twenties.

Yet she had earned the positon through hardship and toil, like all great soldiers. She had been born as a Half-Breed, with the eyes and teeth of her Xiscapian mother, inheriting the race's strong reflexes and excellent eyesight. However, she had an Alversian build, except that she was small. She was an excellent tactician and, despite a rocky start to her career, almost causing a mutiny on her first ship. However, good service in many wars had resulted in her being promoted all the way up to the very top of the career ladder. Now she suffered the stress of command. Her parents would have been proud.

"Unfortunately, there is a Kitsune under the imprisonment of the Danaversian Empire. We would prefer greatly if she were rescued. We greatly appreciate if you could provide a team to act as a strike force in conjuction with Mercenary and Aluminan forces who will undertake the rescue. I cannot reveal any details without my Opposite Number's approval of course, but, needless to say, it is rather important she be rescued."

XINHQ

The two Mercenaries sat respectfully and listened to the proposal laid out before them. Chloe had not displayed her surprise at the change in the Grand Admiral's appearance. On the other hand, Nathan had let out a large exclaimation of shock at the more fox like Admiral. When Krystal was finished, Nathan grinned,
"So I can blow up anything I want so long as this girl is rescued?" He grinned, use of any port in the power of the XIN...it was the power a Mercenary could only dream of, yet here it was, on the table for him. The million credit prize sounded pretty tempting as well. He would like that.

While Nathan was thinking, Chloe had a few more, respectful questions,
"Ma'am?" She asked, small notepad on her lap to make small notes on the mission at hand,
"If we are to go in with a strike team, can we know who is in the team? Xiscapian Marines? Alversian Droptroops? And, while the Elixir can sneak into Danaversian Space, can the Strike team's transport do the same?"

Danaversian Station

The Alumina tried to look up into the eyes of Yoki, but there was too much pain and instead, she settled down again with a gurgled moan, blue bubbles forming on her lips, indicating severe internal bleeding. It was also blindingly obvious that she been violated more times than anyone would care to think about. However, she did manage to reply to Yoki, even the voice in her head suggested agony.
"The pain...the pain...kill me...please..."

First Sergeant Myers, though momentarily surprised at the age of Ashe, didn't let it show on his face. He was, not to put too fine a point on it, the opposite of her.

Myers was going to celebrate his seventy sixth birthday in about a week. He had been a Private First Class when the Great War began, and he had been trapped in Agrimonus Delta during the siege, which had lasted three long, hard and hungry years. By the end of the the siege, he was a grizzled staff sergeant and had command of a squad of troops in the 111th Infantry. Before he could be redeployed, however, he was picked up-along with a dozen other NCO's of suitable experience-and given special training in insurgency, counter-guerilla tactics, guerilla tactics, small unit action...anything they could think of. A week after the training ended, he and his dozen fellows were dropped onto the industrial continent, deep in not loyalist but Traitor territory, with a mission to assasinate General Mantebo's chief officer for the theater.
The mission was a sucess, with Myers making the killing shot from almost a mile away, and he and his comrades had been bounced around the system during the rest of the war doing the suicidal jobs nobody else wanted...and surviving anyway.
After the war, First Sergeant Myers and his team were sent from division to division, wherever there was a pocket of loyalist or traitor forces that needed burning out. Of the original thirteen, a miraculous four still lived; the three others were in well-deserved retirement.

In other words, he was the one that High Command sent on the dirty jobs, because he got the job done. Eight times wounded. Nine times decorated for valor, including the Paragon of the Republic, the highest military honor in Setulan. Myers listened intently to what Ashe said.

"I understand completely, Grand Admiral. And I even have a team here all made up for you." A devilish grin split his craggy but still handsome features.
"Though more details before going into combat would be nice. To be honest, I've been dying to test my steel against these reptilian pricks."

Here we go again...

XINHQ...
"Mr. Barnes, if it's Danaversian equipment, infrastructure, supplies, munitions, troops, ships, armour or anything else you can think of, you are allowed to destroy it. Anything to achieve the mission objective." It was hard to tell, but one got the sense Krystal was smiling. She had heard stories about these two, particularly Nathan, and if even half of them were true the Danaversians were in for a rude awakening.

Now she addressed Chloe's question. "You will be supplemented by an as of yet unspecified amount of Aluminan ships and some kind of Setulanite assault force; Grand Admiral Ashe is arranging that, I expect you'll meet with at least whoever is in charge of the Setulanite troops. Naturally they will be military, with military training and equipment, so I am sure they will have no trouble bypassing Danaversian defenses to reach the target. If not, we can provide them with a ship that can."

Danaversian Station...
Yoki couldn't have killed the being even if she'd wanted to; she had no weapons of any kind, and the Alumina was too far to reach though the bars. And, the cold analytical side of her mind told her, killing a fellow prisoner would only attract unwanted attention and more abuse. But it tore at her heart to see a member of such a proud race in a state like this. Like most kitsune, Yoki had never been much of a fan of the Alumina, but she did hold a certain grudging respect for their intellect and abilities, however aloof and arrogant they might be. At this point, Yoki was sure she wished only for death, before she was raped or beaten again, and she knew that she had only tasted a fraction of what this person had been though.
Please, hold on. There's nothing I can do now, but you must have hope...others will come soon.
There was little else to be said, Yoki had no way of comforting the alien.

Wuin System, Slint, City of Drakko...
"We do not have much of a choice," said Drell honestly, "we have no grounds for refusal; the Coalition needs all the help it can get. Besides," she smiled for the first time, "you and your people are nothing like other warmongering, blood-thirsty races we have encountered, and your timing could prove to be a blessing to us all. I am sure relations could only strengthen from here. However," she became entirely serious again, "I must contact the Emperor and inform him of what has transpired here, though I anticipate his orders will be for your force to be brought to Xiscapia so it can meet the other leaders and be brought up to speed. Whatever you elect to send, though, I can assure you will be welcomed with open arms."


Helios smiled. "I thank you for your kind words. My children can be...over-eager and extreme sometimes, but they do mean well. I do only wish to protect all that I can. I will await your message concnering the Emperor's will on our addition to this war. I will be with them always, so you can rest assured I will be looking after you and your allies during this war. I will remain until I get confirmation and then move to rally my forces."

"I'm pleased to hear that and doubtless you will get your chance," Ashe smiled at the Setulan, bringing her whole face to life. It made her look ten years younger, then the smile vanished and so did the face of a young, carefree person. In it's place returned the old and stree-laiden leader of the APN, trying to conduct a war that, at the moment, the Coalition could not win. Perhaps this strike could be of use after all.

Ashe pressed a button the panel behind her desk and it immediately connected the three people together, Grand Admiral Krystal, Grand Admiral Ashe and First Sergerant Myers.

XINHQ

"Alumina?" Chloe seemed surprised by the admission. They were not ones famous for lending their warships to other races, so perhaps this was bigger than anything she could have imagined.

However, before she could say another word, the face of Ashe sprang up from the Admiral's desk and Nathan grinned at the image,
"Ashe? Ashley Reyes? My god you have grown up since we last met!" He laughed.

Ashe gave a nod of welcome and a small smile of her own,
"It's been too long Nathan, far too long," The face looked to Chloe and nodded, "Still hanging around with the blockhead?" She asked mildly, "Getting any thicker?"

"By the day," Chloe smiled and bowed to Ashe while Nathan looked away in mock indignation.

However, Ashe was too focused on her task to spend time on trivalities. She got around to formal introductions,
"Grand Admiral Krystal, Lieutenant Barnes, Lady Chloe, this is First Sergeant Myers of the Setulan 11th Heavy Division. He and a Squad of his shall be providing the bulk of the Strike team for our rescue mission." Ashe looked sombrely at Krystal,

"We are rescueing a Xiscapian Citizen," Ashe stated as if the rest was out of her hands, "Would you care to do the background briefing, Grand Admiral?"

Danaversian Barracuda

The few hours in which the pair were left alone was strained. There only noises in the brig were from the dripping water in the corner of the dank ceiling or the sound of gentle bubbles being blown by the tortured Alumina. She had not spoken since her plea for death had been rejected.
After the hours were up, two Danaversian soldiers entered the brig, talking in their vile and brutal language. They pointed at Yoki and said something amusing, for both burst into fits of laughter.
They grabbed her by the chain of her leash and pulled her out of the cell, stopping to check in on the Alumina.
They had another quick conversation, then muttered words in Danaversian which even someone unfamiliar with the language would interperate as taunts. With that, they left the brig and Yoki was dragged on her hands and knees back up the floors to the top of the station.

Here, there was a Danaversian unlike any seen before. He had the height of the other Danaversians but he was thinner, much thinner and more delicate. His face was almost grey, almost see-though and his eyes small and black. He was wearing a uniform and uncerimonial sword not similiar to anything the other Danaversians bore. IN comparison to the other fish-like Danaversians, this one looked almost...eel-like. He also had a revolver in a holster at his hip. He smiled down at the Kitsune and nodded,
"My Commander's new toy eh?" He laughed and took the chain, "I wonder what your name is? You are...I remember reading about it somewhere in the files...Bekko...correct? We've had some of your kind before, I recall." He spoke in perfect basic, without the harshness of the bigger Danaversians. He seemed almost too delicate to be anything like the others,
"I take it you have seen our handiwork downstairs?" He asked in a conversational tone as he strolled towards one last door, with Yoki in tow.

Wuin System, Slint, City of Drakko...
"Thank you," Drell hesitated a moment, searching for a suitable title, but finding none, "Helios. This will take but a moment."
Drell left the room, moving deeper into the building, and for a time the Psi-Knight and her god were alone. Several minutes went by, and the governor finally returned, stepping back into the room. "I spoke with the Emperor," she told them, "he wishes for you to aid us in any way you see fit. Coordinates to Xiscapia are being sent to you now."

XINHQ...
Krystal ignored the exchange between her counterpart and the mercenaries; evidently they had known each other before they ascertained their respective positions, but it was none of Krystal's business and had no bearing on the matter at hand. "First Sergeant," she bowed to the new addition to the meeting, and briefly looked around at everyone. "There is very little information to be had," she stated, "we do not know who the prisoner is, or precisely where she is being held. We received the distress call from the Havalia sector at approximately 1300 hours local time, but we are aware she was captured shortly after the message was sent. We believe the captive is imprisoned on a Danaversian Barracuda, but we have no data pertaining to that area or the fleet that was there. It is likely that they have moved, though to where we don't know. How you conduct the mission is in your hands, but I would advise coming into the Havalian system cloaked, and scanning to pick up FTL residue from a recent jump. If you can trace it, you will be able to find the fleet, provided they haven't gone too far." Krystal folded her hands on her desk. "What we do know is that resistance will be fierce, Danaversian Barracudas are thought to hold ten thousand plus crew, not to mention the proximity of the fleet. Your best bet would be stealth, or, failing that, a rapid insertion and detraction so you cannot be pinned down."

Danaversian Station...
This new Danaversian frightened Yoki; she could read the others, and though intimidating, they at least didn't look like death warmed over. She instantly knew her mission had just gotten more difficult, but something caught her attention. Bekko? They had some of them? The Emperor's niece and nephew...they're the only ones they could be. It simultaneously scared her, knowing the two powerful beings had been imprisoned here, and warmed her heart, for she knew they had eventually escaped, even if it wasn't from here. Looking at the new amphibian, Yoki thought she could possibly take him in a fight, hand-to-hand; he was less bulky and not as muscled as the other Danaversians, but the time had not come yet. She hadn't procured a scrap of useful information, and she reminded herself that that was her number one priority.
Next to surviving this ordeal, of course.

Unsure of whether to answer or not, Yoki looked at the deck, eyes downcast, and mumbled an affirmative.

Myers listened intently to the Admiral.
"So, to put it plainly...you want us to enter a heavily defended enemy system, track down an entire armada which, I hasten to add, has just inflicted a devestating loss on our own forces, infiltrate said armada, manage to get onto one of their ship (which we need to find first), and then steal a high-priority prisoner from amidst hundrds of war-mongering blood thirsty amphibious giants." He gave a heavy sigh, but the twinkle in his eye betrayed him.
"I'm getting too old for this kind of work." He was, in fact, just past middle age for a Setulan male. "I have the perfect team for this. When do we leave?"

XINHQ

Ashe smiled at the statement as did Nathan and Chloe. It seemed like the strike team was going to get on just fine.
She looked to Krystal for approval for a moment before speaking,
"You can arrive as soon as your transport and back-up have arrived and, judging from the time this meeting has taken, I would presume their arrival at any moment."

As soon as Ashe had finished speaking, the doors behind the group opened to reveal a creature taller than any in the room. She was a female, that much was certain and her green eyes looked at the assembled company with a combination of insolence and unhappiness at the mission undertaken. She seemed to draw all eyes to her, rather than the Grand Admiral's holo.

"My god," Nathan whistled from his position in the room and even Chloe was rather impressed by the figure, with a long silver pistol in her holster, a dual bladed katana slung over her back and a long rifle slung over her shoulder.

"Announcing," A Xiscapian Aide, scrambled in after the Alumina, trying to keep as much distance between himself and the cat-like creature whose tail swished lazily and her eyes were perked at the meeting, as if listening to every heartbeat.
The Aide took a breath,
"Announcing Pantheria-Commander Nigripes of the Aluminan Defence Forces."

The female, known as Nigripes, bowed her head slightly in ackowledgement of the words but offered no salute and no formal bow,
"I understand that we are to undertake a covert operations mission into Danaversian Imperial Space?" She asked the group in her soft but sharp voice, looking around the room in a rather bored fashion.

Danaversian Station

"Come now," The Danaversian laughed as he brought her through another corridor, keeping her behind him like a man would walk a dog, "I know all about your little plan. The plan is to put you here, let you gather as much information as you can about us then escape and bring our plans to the Coalition correct? Well," The Danaversian moved to the side to let a body of heavily armed Danaversians pass. There was not one word spoken between them,
"You are in for a rude surprise, Kitsune," he said, "We are deep inside the Empire now. We are surrounded by three Shoals of 45 vessels and this station is designed to repel an attack of over fifty ships alone. I have over four thousand Marines on this station alone and over 25,000 on the ships outside. You think you will be rescued? I have a tip for you, just because I find you quite pleasing visually. Give up. If you don't then you will up like your friend down in the brig. She was stubborn as a Banxor as well. See how it turned out for her? She will be dead within a week and so will you at this rate."

Then they were in a large, circular room within the Station. This one was filled with screens and maps of space which was unknown to the Kitsune. Around the cental map was a Danaversian, sitting in expansive and expensive armour, looking at one of the maps while he was with two Aliens also unseen before. (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2149/2482833013_986ab7eb0d.jpg?v=0). Both were tall but not that much bigger than an Alversian perhaps.
The eel-like Danaversian bowed to the sitting Danaversian, obviously a male of high power, and offered him Yoki's leash,
"Your gift Sir," He explained lazily, "From Salamondae Gripanius of the Velataliusae. A Prisoner from Havalia"

"Excellent," The Danaversian pulled on the leash roughly so that Yoki was pulled onto his lap. He positioned her so that her back was against his slimy chest armour as he examined her.

"Lord Mavaor" It was one of the Aliens, "If you really are intent on your barbaric prisoner practises, then may you at least keep them from our sight while we try to plan for our attack?"

"You will suggest nothing," The Danaversian growled, and began to grope and fondle Yoki to make his point clear. The Alien shrugged, as if it were out of his hands and went back to the table,
"We think we have located their weaknesses, you Lordship." The other Alien announced.

OOC: You could have asked me to join.... :(

OOC: You could have asked me to join.... :(

OOC: TG Greal

XINHQ...
"That is the plan," Krystal answered, nodding. The Alumina's words summed it all up. The Grand Admiral knew of Pantheria-Commander Nigripes, she had been involved in the assassination of Jorga the Hutt during the Rebellion and the rescue of Silvertooth and Nightshade Rose, nephew and niece of the Emperor respectively. She had also, immediately afterward, been kidnapped by the Danaversians, and the Emperor had personally risked his life to get her back on behalf of the Alumina Pridelands, not that she, or the Pridelands, had ever thanked them for it. However, during the Battle of Resistance, when the Imperial Fleet engaged the Rebels and the People's Republic fleet had failed to reinforce it, an Aluminan Fleet had come out of nowhere and smashed the Rebel defences, allowing the battered Imperial Fleet to finish off the enemy and move in on the planet below.

She had no doubt they would preform as effectively this time around. Whoever Ashe knew must be very high on the chain of command; the Alumina were not inclined to help anyone out most of the time. All Krystal cared about was getting back the crew member, any dead Danaversians or destroyed ships could only be a bonus.

Danaversian Station...
So, he was more perceptive than your typical brain-dead, but apparently either so arrogant he didn't consider her a threat, or so scared of this Lord Mavaor that he dared not voice his fears. Yoki allowed herself to relax against the Danaversian, the wet, mucus-like coating cold and disgusting feeling as his damp hands ran over her breasts and between her legs. She listened quietly, eyes closed as if in pleasure, tail curled under her on the seat. She doubted she would get a better chance than this, here literally in the seat of power with the mysterious allies of the Danaversians.
Let my ears be sharp, my eyes peeled, and my expression inscruintable...

Myers nodded.
"Very well. Myers out, I'll see you all on the flip side."
His holo cut off, and not long after he and his team were off to rescue the downed Xiscapian.

The team was made of men much like Myers-veterans of the Great War (or the clean up afterwords, which actually lasted about ten more years, mostly in space) who had proved to be exemplary combat soldiers and as such had been selected for the ridiculously difficult missions.

Myers' second in command was Sergeant First Class Brierson. Like Myers, he had served for the entire length of the Great War on the side of the Republicans; unlike Myers, he had fought all eight years amidst the hives on Exoman, the most densly populated continent in the system. Living and fighting in the ultimate urban hellhole, he became a sewer rat, one of the soldiers who would go into the massive undercity of the hives (often alone) and smoke out cells of resistance. He had been decorated for valor seven times, and wounded only once.

Sergeant First Class Mickens was the sniper for the team. Enlisting in the second year of the Great War, he was one of the elite drop troops deployed in Operation Sudden Thunder, possibly the greatest disaster of the war for the Republicans. When the entire operation went to hell, he and a band of select others went to ground and fought a guerilla campaign for four years before relief finally arrived. A sniper, he had accumulated four hundred and twenty six confirmed rifle kills, the highest recorded in the history of Setulan. Decorated for valor three times (and also a Paragon of the Republic), he managed to get through the war without a scratch.

Staff Sergeant Pfanstiel was the heavy weapons specialist for the team. He did not enlist in the Great War at all, but was instead involved in six skirmishes with Traitor forces who had gone to ground after the war was officially over. He has specialized in every heavy weapon in the Setulan arsenal, including some which were never released for military use. Decorated for valor once, and never wounded.

Staff Sergeant Mah was never formally enlisted during the Great War. Rather, he was a member of the one of the terrorist gangs that fought Imperial troops in the hives. Indeed, it is rumored-though he has neither confirmed nor denied-that he was one of the men who set off the charges that blew apart the pollution vacuum, starting the Great War. He was finally brought into the Planetary Guard a mere six years before (with the automatic rank of sergeant) after failing at pretty much every job he tried. Never decorated for valor and never wounded.

The final member of the team, Staff Sergeant Donals, was very young to have such an assignment. Only thirty, he had actually enlisted five years prior to the Kewen attack on Colony 1. That being said, he had proven himself a resourceful and dedicated soldier, and had his name flagged by the command staff as a Ghost.

The team was made up of men called "Ghost NCOs" by the senior staff and "Dirty Sergeants" by the troops. Attached to a unit, they did their jobs-be it as a squad leader, platoon sergeant, or company sergeant-until high command had something really tough for them to do...and when they did, they yanked the troops out of their units and volunteered them for the job.
High Command called them "Ghost NCO's" because they would dissapear from their units, often without the commander of said unit knowing.
The men called the "Dirty Sergeants" because they got all the shitty jobs.

This particular squad of Ghosts dissapeared from their units and were on their way to the rally point half an hour later.

Helios smiled and bowed. "Understood, my forces are mobilizing even as we speak. It will not be long until they arrive. We shall do our best to ensure that our peoples remain safe and that the Danaversians are removed as a threat. I look forward to working with you soon." He bowed and then the transmission faded and went away. The robot came over and undid what it had done. The kneeling machine stood up and its back closed back up. Aeisha stepped forward once this was done.

"Unless you have any more questions for me, Governor, I would like to go to my ship and prepare for my people's arrival."

*********

Aeth'ka Prime

True to his word, Helios had begun to gather his forces. Above their capital world, all that could be spared was gathered into one mighty fleet and invasion force that was preparing to jump to Xiscapia proper and being their entry into this war. For if the Danaversians were allowed to make it to Aeth'ka Prime, there was no way they would be able to stop them from conquering their people. The Fleet was to be under command of Elder Psi-Knight Naritar, whom commanded it from one of the six Helios-class Dreadnoughts. These bastions of Union might were capable of laying waste to capital ships in no time at all with their firepower and defensive capabilities. Along with this fleet was seven Psi-Lord-class Carriers, twelve Inter-Net-class Destroyers, and twenty-one Unity-class Frigates. Accompanying these were the vast legion of troop transports, supply frigates carrying ammo, material and other needs for their soldiers, and other support ships to keep their troops and ships in fighting shape.

All were gathering at this planet and were awaiting the final preparations so they could initiate jump and head for Xiscapia.

Nigripes ignored both Ashe and Krystal's greetings and instead took a small silver device from her belt and dropped it in the centre of the room. However, rather than fall to the ground, it stopped and hovered in mid-air for a few seconds before bringing up a 3D map which took up the whole room.
"Wow," It was Nathan, "You carry one of those on your belt?"

Again, he was ignored, much to Chloe's disapproval. She had dealt with the Alumina before and, like most of her kind, she had no great love of their cold ways. Then again, perhaps this was going somewhere.

In the center of the map, Nigripes stood and made a few small comments in Aluminan. When she was done, she looked up at Krystal and began to speak in her soft voice again,
"Using the channel on which your message was broadcast and tracing the vessel's signature. We have identifyed the warship on which your Prisoner was held." She tapped a part of the universe and the whole map was replaced by a massive cutaway of a Danaversian Barracuda.
"The Velataliusae. An 18th Generation Barracuda. Length of 1.025 Kilomenters and weight of just under one million tons. Total crew of 9,570 souls," She managed to heap the word with scorn, as if she doubted the Danaversians even had souls.

"It will be a formidable opponent but not undefeatable. I suggest that the Strike team is taken aboard one of our warships for this mission." She ignored protests from Nathan and Chloe about the Elixir and it's qualities. When they finished, she went on as they had no spoken,
"The Pantheria-Lioness has planned for several strikes into Danaversian territory to keep the Empire off balance and so stopping them gathering their forces. We shall bring six vessels into Danaversian Space, cloaked to prevent detection from Danaversian forces. When we have reached the Barracuda's location, we can beam the Strike team to the ships, allow them to 'rescue' this highly important being," Again her scorn of the proposed mission was evident, the Alumina were famous for leaving their own behind,
"When she had been secured, then the Aluminan warships can destroy the Barracuda and carry the Strike team home." She finished and looked at the surrounding company, as if daring them to ask any questions.

For Nathan and Chloe, there were none. They were going to fly deep into Danaversian space, suicide, most Mercenaries considered it, rescue a Kitsune imprisoned by the Danaversians and destroy the ship? It sounded incredible, impossible, suicidal...

'But then,' Chloe smiled to herself, 'That had never stopped them before...'

Danaversian Barracuda

"We have analysed the databases from the Alversian, Xiscapian and Setulan wreckage and identifyed their key weakness." The Alien seemed pleased to reveal this great secret. "Their weakness is Unity."

"Unity?" Lord Mavaor growled, suggesting that he did not feel the answer worthy of his high status. He was the one playing with the Kitsune prisoner after all.

"United they stand, divided they fall, Your Lord," The Alien continued, "So we propose to launch offensives that will sever the links between the various Allies. If we attack here," He pointed to a planet, "What's it called?" The map zoomed in,

"Miller, run indepentently but still contains an Alversian garrison. It is their link to the Greali Empire. Take it and the two Allies will be unable to support each other. From there, we suggest constant grinding offensives to wear them down before finally moving in for the kill"

"What about this planet?" Lord Mavaor asked, hands now staying between Yoki's legs, "Nova Max?"

"A Xiscapian planet, Sir," the Alien dimissed, "Important, but not as important as Miller as a gateway, though another planet may be useful within the Xiscapian Empire," A second planet appeared, "Pamp, run between the Calaveran Alliance and the Xiscapian Empire. Take it, and the link between the Xiscapian Empire and the Calaveran Alliance in severed. Finally, there is this planet," A third planet came up, "Colony Two, of the Setulan Republic. If it is taken, then the links between the Setulans and the Xiscapians will be severed. You shall have broken the Coalition up into pieces waiting to be devoured."

Lord Mavaor did not seem pleased,
"And what will the Boolean Confederacy be contributing to these 'winning assualts'?" He growled without humour.

The Aliens, known as Booleans, thought for a moment, "We can contribute more of our Stingers, naturally, and a few Scarabs in the mix wouldn't hurt either, I suppose. I will have to ask the Master Admiral."

"Do that," The Danaversian Commander then looked to his Eel-liek companion, who had been staring at Yoki the whole time with a half-smile on his face, the kind of 'are you getting all this down?' smile. Now Lord Mavour wanted explainations,
"What data have you found on the Coalition allies, Coarx?" He asked.

Wuin System...
Drell bowed to Aeisha. "Of course, please do so. Our port and city are open to you as long as you are here."
New allies were unknown variables in the equation of war, despite all the information they'd received, the Xiscapians really knew nothing about this nation, the Inter-Union. How would they react to the presence of other commanders, potentially with differing or even opposite ideas concerning the deployment and use of ships and troops, how badly would cultures clash, how would victory, defeat, civilians and prisoners of war be handled?
They would see soon enough.

XINHQ...
The Grand Admiral did not feel the plan had been explained in full.
"What," Krystal spoke to Nigripes, "of the fleet the Velataliusae," she stumbled over the unfamiliar name, "will have around it? I highly doubt the Barracuda will be isolated, and regardless, how will you prevent it from escaping? Last we saw the fleet that that battleship was a part of was composed of over four hundred vessels."

Danaversian Station...
Yoki listened, wondering how these people had defeated the armada sent against them. Their tactics were ancient and obsolete, it was like they thought they were fighting on the high seas, rather than in space, and their mapping of Allied space left much to be desired. Miller, Nova Max and Pamp were closest to the Intergalactic Empire of Greal, and while taking them would be a blow to the Coalition, it would not be of any large consequence from a strategic perspective. What was next? A blockade?

However, what truly interested the prisoner, engaging her attention even as the Danaversian's hands ran across her soft skin, was the name of the aliens. Booleans, and their Stingers, almost certainly the ships that had turned the recent attack into a disaster, and the Scarabs were probably the larger versions she had seen docked near the Barracuda. It would appear they were doing much of the tactical thinking while the Danaversians provided the craft and soldiers, Yoki questioned the relationship between the two races; the Danaversians were not known for their kindness or generosity. Nevertheless, the Booleans were here, against the Coalition, and that made them enemies of the Allies. She now knew their battle plan, at least for the next operation, though what good the information would do she didn't know, considering the Boolean weapon.

Nigripes turned to face Krystal, towering over the more fox-like Kitsune. If she were surprised by the Grand Admiral's change in appearance she did not show it, naturally. However, she did sigh at the Grand Admiral's apparent ignorance,
"The Super-Shoal is not the standard unit of the Danaversian Navy." She explained coldly, "We would estimate that the Fleet of Havalia consisted of over 10 seperate Shoals converging to fight as one. Therefore, upon the defeat of the Coalition force," Another sneer, "The Super-Shoal will have broken up. We will be facing as few as ten ships or as many as fifty. Much of it will be left to chance. However," The Alumina now tapped the universe again and it brought up a minature shoal,
"We shall divide our force into two parts. One part shall launch an attack into a random colony or convoy in Danaversian space then withdraw. The Danaversians shall break and spread out in a vain effort to engage us. That will leave the Velataliusae exposed and alone." The Nigripes did not stumble over the word, evidently used to expressing Danaversian words.
"When we catch up to the Velataliusae we shall engage it and destroy it's drive engines. Once it has been crippled, we shall beam in the strike team. Are you satisfied?" She asked the question sarcastically.

Danaversian Station

"Well, My Lord," The Danaversian known as Coax answered smoothy, "We have analysed the databases of each race and I can say, with total confidence, that I know some information on their personalities,"
He took a deep breath and brought an image of a generic Alversian Naval Officer and a generic, scowling Alumina,
"You are already aware of these races so I shall not waste your Lordship's valuable time. However, this next race shall be of great interest I reckon,"
he brought up an image of a Kitsune,
"This is a Kitsune. The main race of the Xiscapian Empire. Strong force users and strong cultural beliefs. They were close allies with the Danaversians and have been since a war long ago known as the Korr War. Apparently, this war could have destroyed the Empire without the contributions from the Alversians. The Korr Supremacy, against whom they fought, is no longer in existence, though many Korr Refugess have been intergrated into Xiscapian Society. They are also very well used to intelligence and inserting spies into certain areas"
He stopped with a sly smile at Yoki,
"With the exception of the Alversians and the Alumina, it seems like the Xiscapians have been at war with most of the Coalition at some point or another. They have had repeated wars with both the Calaverans and the Greali. Strengths are their training and their discipline as well as the advanceness of their weapons. However, weaknesses are considerably fewer. They are always lacking in numbers and their ships do tend to fight in formation in order to protect their carriers and hospital ships."

The next creature that came up on the screen was a Greali Officer,
"The Greali Empire. Once larger than the Alumina and Alversian territories combined, the Empire has suffered from civil strife in the past few years. First from a series of Berrax rebellions and wars with the Alversian Republic and Xiscapian Empire. Now they have concentrated their remaining ships and their fleet is powerful, that would be one of their strengths, plus their industrial capabilities. However a weakness would be in burocracy. They still suffer from some weak aspects of government and it seems that their military and civil leaders do not enjoy a good relationships. This would also go hand in hand with the bad blood between them and the Xiscapians."

Another character came onscreen,
"This is the Setulan Republic. They have just come from a Civil War and a follow-up war, this is an advantage in that their armed forces are battle-hardened and their vessels have been war designed rather than designed with peacetime in mind. Their vessels are heavily armed but they also seem to enjoy battle, for it was their forces that formed the spearhead at Havalia and suffered the heaviest casualties. They are newcomers to this part of the galaxy and they may be somewhat ignorant of sector politics."

Coax smiled, "I would reckomend smiltanous offensives against all sectors perviously mentioned as well as battles all along the Greali Frontier. This aim will be to wear down the smaller forces of this Coalition. I would also launch a Super-Shoal into the heart of Alversian or Xiscapian territory. Escorted by Stingers, they would either have to give battle and watch their forces being destroyed, or let us pass straight through to Alversia or Xiscapia."

The two Booleans nodded,
"It is a wise plan. If we cannot defeat them with quality then we shall defeat them with quantity. With the Alversians or Xiscapians or Greali out of the war, the rest will have no chance of survival."

Lord Mavaor seemed to be thinking about, starting to violate Yoki as he did so.