Utulien, Aduial

[Arizona Nova]

. : ooc : . Corollary post to the action above

Franz Aram stood in the doorway of his condo, looking at the sky above tranquilly. Located in a latitude comfortably situated between the poles and the equator, it was part of a sprawling "nice" neighborhood on the massive metropolitan planet. His face and bearing suggested that it was merely a pleasant summer day, despite the fact that the skys above revealed the torment of the shield as it bore the onslaught of the Departed fleets, and as Skeelzanians and Zerstorendari moved below in units, gunfire and explosions rattled the windowpanes. He was lucky. His condo had been shot only once.

He strode over to his couch and loafed on, turning on his set. Nothing but the evacuation warnings that had been playing all day. You'd think that they'd at least try and make the apocalypse more entertaining.

Aram was an odd soul. Despite living in a massive city of billions, he lived alone. Famous he was, but still overshadowed by the fame of the woman he had served. Whereas other scientists had turned the tools of war to peace, he had done the exact opposite, and created something so terrible that it could blot out a sun.

Thus, the thought of death and the destruction of a whole planet of people, did little to move him to alarm.

Suddenly, the colors in the sky outside changed. He strode back to the door.

"Oh bother. The shield has gone and failed," he said unemotionally, his eyes squinting behind his glasses. Part of the charge he had from the government on the planet was to supervise the mammoth systems - the super-scale engineering, of which he was the original master in Ilë Sornë - and he knew the shields well. "Well the jig is up then."

He turned back inside, and got out a tea set. Preparing a few glasses, he set some aside - for reasons he did not know - and supped on his own.

Franz Aram was a strange man.

[Telros]

OOC: Perfect music in this desperate hour for us. ^^ http://youtube.com/watch?v=-dGzFf_g504


IC:

The battle had quickly gone ill while J'thai had been working to get his fleet formed up and prepared to attack the enemy. As he finalized the escort formations of the lighter ships and tasked the remaining fightercraft to form up around the fleet to provide maximum protection from the nanite missiles and other weaponry, he gazed at the tactical hologram. It was not pretty, the torpedo which had wiped out so many of the Sornei ships had opened a dangerous gap in their line, which the enemy took advantage of. With their weapons seeming to be much stronger than anything than even the Sornei could wield, they broke apart the defense fleet with a special group of their ships and headed for the planet, while the remaining armada closed in all around them. It was now that he was able to fully comprehend the size of the enemy fleet, which was staggering. The center of the enemy line was immense, so much that he couldn't even see the space behind it, it had so many ships. And the flanks were rather large in themselves, enough that it'd require two or three of the fleets here to combine in order to fight them evenly. And that was something they didn't have the numbers for. Gazing at the screen, he sighed. He had no choice; the Sornei were going to have a tough time of it as it was with securing that center line, as he could see the shattered Sornei fleet rushing forward to engage the enemy. So, he knew his course. Standing up, he connected his image that of the entire fleet, both Warfleets, and drew his power sword.

<�All of you know what we came here for, to fight an enemy even the Sornei were struggling to defeat. One that has them on their knees. We did not expect victory, we did not expect enemies that could deal so much damage to us, or be so great in number. However, we all expect that we will fight to the end, standing by our allies in this desperate hour. For we are Kelauan, and we never abandon an ally, no matter the cost!�> He swung the blade forward. <�Now, charge forth and attack the the enemy with all we've got. We have to hold the line, give the Sornei a chance to save for their planet. FIGHT FOR YOUR ALLIES, FIGHT FOR YOUR FRIENDS, AND FIGHT FOR YOUR LIVES. FOR KELAUA!�>

A roar of answering cries roared over the channels, and as one, the fleet's engines ignited and shot forth through space towards the oncoming enemy fleet. Weapons were primed, targets were picked, crew were readied, the battle was now in full swing, and whether they all died here, or they won the day, the Kelauans could not never be seen as ones who backed down in face of impossible odds. However, no matter how heroic their show of courage was, even they could not deny the reality of their foe's strength. As they came into weapons range, great beams of light, similar to their own Antimatter beams, sliced through their fleet. Fightercraft melted under the assault of such beams as they sliced through countless light ships. Four frigates and three light cruisers burned and exploded in space as the beams sliced through their hulls, the explosions giving off tremendous amounts of energy as their annie plants went critical and exploded. Still, the Warfleets of Kelaua came on. The corvette-sized missiles rocketed towards their fleet, and they were answered with heavy graser fire, kinetic shells, missiles, and graser/missile point defense, along with gravitic generators which worked to destroy such things. And many were sliced apart and destroyed, but many more came through their lines and slammed into the escorts of the great capital ships in their fleet. The great missiles were so large, that they would impact a smaller ship, crush it and continue through more as it made its way till it finally exploded, taking many of the escort craft with them, and their blasts wiping out many more. As his Warcruiser shuddered under another beam attack, J'thai looked at his A.I.

<�What are our losses?�>

�I count eighteen frigates, thirteen light cruisers, and 9 destroyers lost so far. Also, the enemy beam weapons appear to be a major cause of this, in tandem with those large missiles, as the beams ignore our shields, and those missiles are tearing through the escort ships. I recommend we have the escort ships guard the flanks and take stabbing maneuvers at the enemy while we take our heavy ships and engage head-on. It's the only way to minimize the losses we are taking.�

Another cruiser was lit up by a beam as it said this. J'thai nodded. <�Do it, and order all heavy ships to put the energy from shields into their weapons. Shields are useless right now, so we better give our weapons extra punch to them. The lighter craft would not have too much difference, and need the protection, so leave them out.�.> The A.I. bowed and sent the orders. The remaining lighter craft veered away from the heavy hitters, the heavy cruisers, the carriers, battleships, and the two Warcruisers, to come to the sides., and the shields went down, in favor of stronger weapons. They finally came into range, bought with the blood of countless thousands, and their answer was not any less potent. Large barrages of antimatter missiles, capable of turning entire asteroid fields to dust, rushed towards the ships in the left center of the main armada, followed by the nuclear-pumped bolts of the heavy grasers, and the hard shells of the kinetic batteries. As they let loose a fury of energy and projectiles, the main anti-capital weapon was unleashed against them, as they aimed for the enemy dreadnaughts and tougher ships. The Antimatter Beam Cannon, a powerful weapon which channeled the dark might of Antimatter and transformed it into a large beam which could lash out across large distances and transfer the explosive power of Antimatter to enemy ships at a distance. The closer the cannon came to the target, the stronger the beam would get from the condensing of the antimatter beam. So it was that beams from frigates on up to the massive Warcruisers activated and rushed out to impact with enemy ships. When one of the enemy died, the weapons targeting them transferred to the damaged ship other weapons had been firing at, replacing them, letting those they replaced move on to more targets. Their point defense continued to fight hard and the fightercraft, diminished as they were, flew hard and fast to protect the fleet from the incoming weapons. Despite all their efforts, the enemy was still too immense, too strong, and as their weapons grasped at them, they claimed more and more of the Kelauan people, more and more of the lighter ships who could not stand up to their firepower, shields or not.

The Warcruiser shuddered as a section of its armor exploded upward from a beam impact and J'thai looked up with a grim smile, his eyes alight. Yes, they would make their end worthy of song before this battle was over.

[Zerstorendar]

Fendal’s mouth dropped as he finally received a full report on the size of the enemy fleet. However, at this distance he could finally see it for himself.

Their numbers were endless. The smallest of those ships was easily the equal of a Sternsieg destroyer, and the larger ones…well, thank Tereza they were busy bombing New Constantinople to pieces.

Fendal opened a general link to his entire fleet. It was a physically impossibility for them to flank an enemy fleet so large, and even with the massive (yet comparably tiny) Sornei fleet on their own flanks, the Zerstorendarian fleet was making an unfavourably strategic move. They could not even flank the enemy flanks, and the Imperiatus main fleet would be perfectly capable of flanking them if Fendal’s ships continued on their current course. There was only one choice: rescind the order. The Skeelzanians were in a better position to ‘surround’ the enemy anyway, the most helpful thing Fendal could do was hold the enemy ships in place.

“All ships, return to scattered holding positions and defend. I repeat, we are no longer executing a flanking strategy. Covering positions will remain unchanged. Tereza be with you all�.

The Skeelzanians would have to attempt to pierce the enemy fleet alone. If the entire Warhammer force threw itself into such a stratagem, however, the Sornei fleet would be surrounded and annihilated.

No, it was their duty to hold the flanks. It may be hopeless, but going on the offensive was only going to hasten their deaths.

“Fleet status�.

“SVD Mantra has evacuated most of its crew and the ship has lost hull integrity. We have also lost four more Corvette-“

An number of enemy beams lanced out toward the Sternsieg fleet. The Oblivion, Darkhand, and Apex survived relatively unharmed, but a massive plume of fire where a number of enemy beams converged signalled the loss of another ship.

“...that was the SVD Chorax. Another frigate requests a tractor beam to the Apex: the captain believes they cannot survive another hit�.
“Captain Ryder’s discretion�.
Fleet commander Gant Fendal inwardly sighed, and outwardly stared resolutely at the massive enemy fleet. Casualties were mounting, but there were only two alternatives to an unlikely victory: cowardice, or a noble death. He knew which one he preferred.

He just wondered if the Skeelzanians understood the difference between a noble death and a stupid death. He suspected their ships were not as resilient as their hubris.
[center]++++[/center]
Genlich Markus Scarus frowned as the shields visibly began to fail. He did not hesitate to give the order:
“All Ravager units fall back to designated bunkers, nothing more can be done for the civilians�.

Many, many people were going to die, and they were going to die hopeless and afraid as the Ravagers abandoned them to their fate. The Raysian ships would also be firing up their shields and leaving any moment now. Scarus did not regret his order. He and his men had done all they could.

But in war, people died. It was a simple truth.

[Arizona Nova]

"Sir," croaked the ensign. "The enemy's starboard and port wings are moving to flank the whole force."

A readout of the lines displayed on the main view.

"Then we are all but done for," said Naronya. "In one fell swoop a quarter of our fleet, our head of state, and her heir are lost."

"No," said Anandil. "There must be something. Even if there is not, the might of our enemy is too great to resist anywhere, with any force. If we must at least fall here, then it shall be a clarion call to our allies which slumber - out of our ruin will come a menace that no one nation can hope to stand against."

Suddenly, on the global channel, rang out the voice of Admiral Corvaril:

"We have closed on the flanks of the enemy!" he shouted triumphantly. "We are beginning our attack now!"

"Sir!" said the ensign, reviving. "Their wings are withdrawing! They're turning to face the Republic Sector Fleet!"

Sure enough, outside the counsels of the Departed were troubled. At the moment of victory these flies, false-elven scum, drew nigh to bite at their backs. It was no matter. The wings would come in like pinchers and crush them out of existence, as the main fleet continued to move inexorably forward.

On the dieing Fist, Anikar watched as New Constantinople loomed larger in the view. Soon the ship would embed itself in the surface - it would make for a mighty and terrible tomb.

I promised you salvation, whispered Kertai into her mind. You and all your crew, and all who yet stand, shall live to see it! Now watch!

The nanites, which had burrowed deep into the ship, had just gotten to the wires and cabling that composed the Fist's mainframe. Now Kertai struck. His will pounced, from lightyears away, through the systems of the battlenet and into the Fist's systems, the old and abandoned nodes. He soon came to the nanites, and for a moment sat in struggle with them. The ancient power of his mind and its majesty, however, were too great for them. Like a flood his will surged over them, and subverted them, and in a moment they went from destroying the Fist to repairing its damage. Kertai turned to the emergency systems, and arrested the descent of the ship. It groaned to a halt, even as cloying gravity beckoned it to drop further.

Now Kertai turned back to the nanites. He traveled along their pathways and connections, and like lightning penetrated for a space that could scarcely be measured by time into their databanks. He found what he needed, and departed once more.

Back into the BattleNet he flowed, and into the Sornei ships, and the allied ships - sans the Skeelzanians and Zerstorendar - playing with protocols and loopholes to ease his passing. He flashed a single message on their screens:

"Kertai is in your systems, but do not fear. Only I can save you, if you will it! Do you accept?"

[Skeelzania]

"We have closed on the flanks of the enemy!" The Sornei admiral’s voice scratched out from an overhead speaker. "We are beginning our attack now!"

“About time the bastards did something other than die.� The deck rocked with a torpedo impact, and Aziz quickly turned his attention to damage reports. “Port hanger’s aflame. FSS are going into action, but we won’t be launching fighters from there anytime soon.�

“It’d be suicide in any case. Anything without cap-ship shielding is simply being torn apart.� Which included escape pods, Durer reflected. Unless a stricken ship could somehow escape into hyperspace, and avoid smashing into a planet, casualties would be total. Speaking of planetary collisions…

“The Sornei super-dread has arrested its descent. They’re moving back into the fight,� reported a sensor officer behind Durer. That was some relief; at least the infantry planetside wouldn’t have to suffer the indignity of having an allied ship crash land onto them.

“We’re being hailed by someone… something. They’re proposing a coordinated attack on the enemy fleet.�
“Who is it?� Durer asked. The lieutenant shrugged.

“Kertai? They seem to have some sort of Sornei connection. They want to link our ships together-“

“Impossible.� Aziz’s eyes were focused on the tactical display, watching as two Nemesis cruisers collided and a third simply disappeared from the map. Reactor explosion, most like. “We don’t leave doors open for people to come in and hijack our own vessels.�

“That doesn’t mean we can’t follow their recommendations. Tell this Kertai that I agree to follow his strategy.� Durer saw Aziz and the Zerstorendarian looking at him, the Ishtar’s commander with unconcealed surprise. Before he could answer though, everything went black.

[center]* * * * *[/center]

The Imperiatus torpedo sped through space, dodging the point-defense beams with agility not at all compatible with its size. The Skeelzanian fleet was well within the forward ranks of the rebel’s left division, almost close enough for missiles to be slung at the enemy by electromagnetic rails alone. Explosions blossomed within the two fleets as ordnance collided and initiated death. The torpedo had no intention of failing in its duty.

Near the top of the Skeelzanian formations were the dreadnoughts, the three Ishtars providing mutual support against the Elven foes. A screen of light cruisers hung close, doing their best to keep the enemy weapons away, but there were simply too many objects in the sky. And the enemy was adapting.

The Isotorpic Coating had kept the enemy attacks at bay, but its shortcomings were coming apparent. Concentrated fire would burn away the nanite sludge, leaving the armor vulnerable to direct fire. The older, smaller, Nemesis cruisers were especially vulnerable to mass attacks. At the front of the screening force, the SKZ Gygies became the target of a dozen enemy vessels. Beam impacts stripped away the superstructure and hull, breaching the fusion reactor core. The reaction instantly went out of control, expanding into a miniature sun as it consumed the unfortunate vessel. A gap now existed in the defensive line, and the torpedo seized the opportunity.

The Ishtar loomed dead ahead, PD lasers frantically stabbing out. A shot struck near the torpedo’s drives, throwing off its aim and carrying it up and over the forward gun battery. Driving down the length of the Skeelzanian dreadnought, the Imperiatus weapon smashed into the bridge, burying itself deep within the superstructure.

A second passed.

The Ishtar disappeared in a flash of light

Cries of dismay erupted across the Skeelzanian channels, and sensors turned frantically towards their stricken flagship, looking for any sign of survival. A decisive voice cut into all channels, using emergency override codes. “This is Captain Desaix of the Turnadot. I am taking command. Prepare to receive orders.�

Zacharie Desaix covered the mouthpiece of the phone and turned to his Comms officer. “The Sornei had some sort of plan, right? Get me in touch with them, tell them to broadcast it to every Skeelzanian ship they can reach. Sensors!�
“Yes sir?�

“What state is the Ishtar in?�

“There’s still too much static to tell… But most of the ship is still there. Yes, they’re coming clear of it now… God’s corpse, that was a close one.�

On board the flagship, Durer pulled himself up off the deck. The bridge was in near darkness, emergency lighting their only source of illumination. Even the tactical display was off, except for a red error symbol pulsing at its center. The groggy voice of Aziz came from somewhere across the table.

“Damages?�

Someone thumped a console. “Sensors are completely dead.�

“Same for communications; I have static on all channels.�

“Dead� was an accurate term. The dreadnought was essentially decapitated, a burning crater marking the location of the bridge. The torpedo, exploding inside of superstructure, had completely consumed that part of the ship. The SenCom node, located directly behind the bridge, was now a burning, irradiated piece of wreckage floating some six hundred meters to stern. The deck three bulkhead had completely failed as the blast continued down into the ship, and it wasn’t until deck five where the carnage was stopped.

Detailed reports were starting to reach the command bridge. In addition to depriving them of long range sensors and communications, the SenCom node had wreaked a traitorous amount of damage. Number 13 turret, the aft-facing gun, had been struck by the flying node and was completely disabled. Number One Drive had also been struck, necessitating a drawdown in power. Most worrisome of all was the fact that there was now an exposed gap in the ship’s defenses, the ten meters of armor above deck five being all that protected them from vertical attack.

“Do we still have semaphore?� If they had lost that, Durer may as well start stuffing notes into disarmed missiles and launching them at other ships.

“Yes, mostly. Enough to be legible.�

“Good. Desaix was next in chain of command; signal our retiring our control to him.�

“If I may, Admiral…� Latenlich Hess was beginning to sport a shiner, made all the darker under emergency lighting.
“Be silent a moment,� Durer snapped. “Desaix can control our fleet, but he can’t command our task force at the same time. I’m conceding that authority to your captain.�

“Which is what I was going to say: Captain Fendal has ordered the Zerstorendarian fleet to hold position.�

“Has he now? Well, I suppose that’s sensible, after seeing the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into.� The tactical display was beginning to come back on line, but its input was limited and sporadic. Ships and squadrons disappeared and reappeared at random, making it useless for determining casualties. “Order Frigate Squadron Number 2 to pull in and provide covering fire for us. Keep flashing them until they respond.�

Ideally the dreadnought would drop back from the fight, but the size of the enemy force made that impossible. Most of their guns were still working, after all. Repairs would have to wait until after the battle.

[The Cerberus Alliance]

Scanners had finally gathered enough information on the surrounding system to project a holographic map of the war zone and all combatants in it. Now that the information was being provided through more effecive means, most of the Admiral's staff were shocked at the sheer mass of the enemy strike force... and their apparent tactics.

The enemy fleet were barely even bothering with the allies. They were heading straight for orbital bombardment locations. Not that this did much to help the situation for the Cerberan fleet. The fleet hadn't been able to even dent the army of these invaders, yet five more frigates had been destroyed before the point defenses hit full enough power to handle the volume incoming missiles, and a few lucky shots had blasted out Odysseus 12's bridge and much of the armor along the top side of the ship, disabling the destroyer.

It's almost as if they never took the fleets seriously to begin with. Kennison thought. They went directly to bombardment. Not even stopping deal with anyone aside from throwing a few weapons of mass destruction.

"Sir?" The comm buzzed at him. One of the engineers had contacted him from the weapons stores. Must be urgent, as the call went directly to him, without stopping through any other station in the ship.

"What is it?"

"When was this ship last docked?"

The admiral paused, then responded "Just before we left to come here. Why?"

"We just found something interesting where our armory full of conventional missiles should be, sir, and we're going to need your help with this."

"Wait.. What happened to the missiles?"

"They've been completely replaced. The only conventionals that we had on board were in the launch tubes. We haven't been able to launch any more from the Achilles since. And I just tracked down the problem. Sir, we're going to need your security codes."

"What? Why?"

"Antimatter, sir. A full inventory of what the specs call 'Antimatter Missiles'. Except I've never seen missiles like these. AND they're completely covered with AotC markings and a top security clearance for the schematics files."

John Kennison let himself grin a little bit at this news. He had no idea that the weapons had been loaded on his ship while he was on leave. Even pre-launch inventory checks hadn't told him about them. The council must have had them put in at the last moment, or had perhaps kept them covered up using agents within his ship's crew. Either way, it was good news for now.

"Any idea what they'll do when we launch them?" The ship shuttered for a moment as a shot punched through the hull in one of the residential sections, blasting out one of the bunk rooms.

"The specs are showing enough maneuverability to dodge point defenses, drone AI control, and a more powerful engine, sir. What do you say, should I link them into the feeds on the missile tubes?"
"Certainly. I'll have the security codes input from up here."

No sooner had he completed security code entry than the ship shuddered once again. A missile battery had been hit hard on one of the Odysseuses, triggering an ammunition explosion that had just ripped the destroyer in half. Whatever good news he had, the battle was doing it's best to nullify any bit of confidence that Kennison had in his fleet's ability to hold out. Especially if that armada decided to start actually trying to attack his ships.

Then the comm officer jumped up from his position with a yell, freaked out by something.

"What? Finally get word of whatever the big plan is?" Kennison had barely heard anything from the comm officer himself so far. Definitely irritating given the situation.

"No, sir. Sir. Something's just hacked our systems and contacted us through them." He nervously moved back to his post to check. "It's... a message, sir. I'll output it through the hologram."

Kertai is in your systems, but do not fear. Only I can save you, if you will it! Do you accept?

"What the hell?" was Kennison's initial response. "Any clue on where this thing came in from?"

"It looks like the ESUS battle net. Do we trust it?"

Now this was a problem. It could very well have been planted there to trap and kill them all with their own ships, but then if it was a hostile, with that level of ability, it could have just as easily sent the ship into a freefall towards the planet. That, and it seemed like Cerberan weapons weren't doing a thing to this fleet. At any rate, if he chose to follow whatever this was, there was a chance that it'd turn on them. However, at the current rate, if they didn't at least try this thing, they were going to end up in a sea of their own scrap nearly guaranteed.

"It's not like we have a choice." Kennison spoke, after a bit of thought. "If we shouldn't have trusted it, we're dead. If we don't trust it, we're almost guaranteed to not make it out of this. At least this way, we have a chance to make it out of this alive and still manage to give something in that mass of ships a bloody nose or two.

"Tell this 'Kertai' thing that we accept."

OOC: Editting for typoes. *facepalm*

[Zerstorendar]

“Watch those missiles! Keep all secondary weapons focused on them, we can’t let him keep hitting our capitals!�

Despite all of their efforts, the Sternsieg fleet was fighting a losing battle. It was apparent that several enemy ships had been destroyed, but Fendal couldn’t afford to lose ships anywhere near the current rate.
Another corvette was torn apart as it detonated an enemy missile too close to its hull, the shields doing little to prevent the massive kinetic forces from annihilating most of the ship. Another two of the massive enemy missiles penetrated the fleet’s defences, one causing further damage to the hull of the Apex and one taking the Darkhand’s sensors offline and causing serious hull damage. Both Captains Ryder and Trilkin reported that damage was mounting, but they were still able to fight effectively.. The Oblivion had so far been effectively protected from the worst of the enemy fire, but at the current rate, it was only a matter of time.

“ESUS motherfleet status?� requested Fendal.

“Fleetwide casualties are mounting, approaching 30%�, replied Chanda quickly. Fendal frowned in between issuing quickfire orders to the remnants of his fleet. There was no time to stop and reflect, he had to do everything that could be done to keep them alive as long as possible, and do as much damage as possible to the enemy.
The latter seemed unlikely, however. The enemy ships were both resilient and numerous enough to be effectively invulnerable to the beleaguered ESUS ships.

“Sir, the Sornei Republic fleet has begun attacking the Vanguard from behind!� Fendal smiled mildly, the news rejuvenating him somewhat, and he supposed it would be good for morale if the fleet heard it too.

“Patch this through to the fleet. And may Tereza help those elves.�

“Yes s-“. Something distracted Comm. Officer Galmerz mid-sentence.

“What?�

“Our communications system is being manipulated by something, I-“
A single message appeared on the viewscreen:

“Kertai is in your systems, but do not fear. Only I can save you, if you will it! Do you accept?� All three deck officers blinked.

“Kertai is a powerful Sornei AI.�, offered Intelligence Officer Chanda.

"Captain, I should inform you that Admiral Durer has recieved this offer, and accepted." stated Von Zemstaldt, the Skeelzanian adjutant.

“Sir, it seems to want a response�, said Galmerz. Fendal hesistated slightly, loathe to give any sort of control of his fleet to a foreign AI. Durer's decisions had no impact on his own, but then again the Sornei were allies, and desperate times…

“Allow it in. By Tereza, that AI better be able to work fucking miracles. Inform the fleet."

[Capsule Corporation]

Ripliancum and Riplakish had just finished their 6th attack run. They had steered clear of the nanites for the majority of the battle, spending most of their time either out of range of fire, or right in the midst of the other ships, completely avoiding the screens, but still they couldn't help but get exposed. Most of the weapons systems were modular, and disconnectable, so when nanites forced themselves into systems, they just shut them down and broke their connection... and in more severe cases, jettisoned and detonated the weapons. Ripliancum's engines were back, but the whole starboard hull was just overrun with the buggers. Weapons systems were disabled across the board, and though RCS was still mostly in tact, the crew had to seal themselves off in bulkheads or evacuate to the port hull. It was still unsafe for fighters, but still many found comfort in sitting in their cockpits, waiting to take off.

The Firebird was in a different kind of situation.. it had involved itself in several attack runs on the target fleet, sustaining plenty of damage, and having now more systems offline than functional. The cruiser began to look like swiss cheese, missing weapons systems left and right, the starboard engine still being offline, nanites flooding in at all pores.

The Archer had to find refuge on the other side of the planet to help the ground effort get more coordinated. "The shield is failing! Obviously, since you can hear us now. Start up the colony ship shields, topside only, and get everyone left inside, then get the hell out of there!" On major cities across the planet, the small yet valiant rescue attempt by the Raysians had come to its emergency phase. A Shield erected itself as a canopy over every extraction point. More and more people were flooding in with the threat of impending destruction or invasion. An announcement had to be broadcast over the PA. "Please, head back to shelter, we have to leave!" The Raysians ordered barricades be erected after the first remaining thousand civillians. "We leave in 5 minutes, our shields can't hold up against bombardment."

A few of the colony ships decided to go ahead and leave immediately, doors still open as they took off, closing as soon as possible in a mad scramble. Another ship captain, more scared than smart, decided to enter fold in the troposphere, before reaching a safe altitude. The popping sound of the fold, crossed with the echoing roar of the engines, sent horrible vibrations to the city below.


On the Riplakish, commander Laykress answered Kertai quickly, "Please, if you can do anything to help us with these nanites, it would be appreciated! We would love to have our weapons back, in case it wasn't obvious!"

[Kanuckistan]

"Seems we got their attention," someone remarked, as two of the enemy bombarding the planet turned their weapons upon the superfortress; at this range, however, behind ECM and dancing an evasive random-walk, the behemoth surprisingly nimble, they were effectively invulnerable to beam fire even without the inversion field - unguided energy weapons simply took too long to reach them.

"Put another deca-salvo into the main body, and focus intermediate on one of the bastards ignoring us!" Ch'cye frowned, forces ears erect and tail still; this wasn't going well, the Union forces were being creamed - if they didn't do something soon...

"Missiles inbound!"

Imperiatus ordinance faced a daunting task, the very heart of their fleet within range of the Target Drone's point-defence, and the thousand guns that could bear immediately prioritising those weapons as soon as the computers realised where they were pointed.

Harassed all the way by increasingly withering fire, those that survived faced confusion and a gauntlet of fire at the drone shell, half-blind torpedoes cut down by unseen attackers or hurtling off into space; those few to reach their target spent uselessly against her inversion field, crashing into themselves in a torrent of atomic fire.

"No damage, ma'am." But that was only their first attempt.

"Pull us back, up another lightsecond, and thicken the drone shells. Arm fighters with anti-ship IAVs and countermeasure pods and send them to support the fleet. And where are my Heavies?!"

"Almost ready, ma'am!"

Pulling back - up - more drones spilled forth, thickening the main shell and forming an inner second, a third outer shell to form once distance increased, while twenty five hundred shielded drone fighters were hastily equipped, forming pickets around their mothership as they launched, waiting for the rest of their kin.


-------------


"Move, Move, Move!" someone shouted above the crowd, men, women, and children running toward the dropships, shuttles, even aircars and fighters, as they were allowed through the cordon, armed guards and KAG gravtanks preventing the mob from swarming the craft.

A shot range out from the refugees, people screamed but were unable to run away amidst the press of the crowd; Semira readied her rifle and took aim, twitched her optics to where her sensitive ears had triangulated, and found a man in a Sornei business suit trying to force his way through, pistol raised - he hadn't actually hurt anyone, but people were already being crushed to death without the added panic. Swallowing, she took up the slack on the firing stud and calmed her breathing, but by then he had already fallen with lethal hits from three other snipers, not two seconds after signing his own death warrent.

Signing, the red panda lass sat back and looked around; their drop zone, others in the distance, even a few smaller freighters had landed, while a pair of their larger cousins hung in the air, and then the city itself - in all of it there was on odd beauty, set against the crimson glow of the burning horizon.

They'd have to pull out soon, she cringed, realising most of the people down there would soon die.


------------


"This is Commander Braceforth to all freelancers!" the intercom sounded as the stars shifted through the hangar air shield, "You are being brought into the New Constantinople System. You are to clear it of all enemy activity; they are easy to spot, they are trying to kill you. Search and destroy!"

"Isn't his name Brinks?" Dave asked, confused, over the comm line as his avatar ran through final preflight, other fighters already taking off.

"Yes, yes it is."


--------------


"KAG's finally started to show up, ma'am."

The Commodore was almost surprised at that, most of the KAG being adverse to risking their expensive ships against odds nearly this long, but as she looked over the plots, she could see a carrier was already launching fighters from behind the cover of the planet, and two cruisers of questionable quality were moving to reinforce the Sornei in the center, firing as they went.

Ouch. Make that one cruiser. But more were trickling in to replace it.

"Ma'am! Heavies charged."

"Target one of the bastards shooting at us and put a pair through him!"


"Aye!"


Drones and fighters still streaming from her hull, anti-ship and point defence hammering an incandescent spectacle, two bloated weapons blisters unlocked, frictionless bearings tracking their receding target, as their gaping maws glowed with hellfire.

A fairly easy shot, building cataclysmic energies were turned loose, a pair of blinding kinetic beans searing sensors as they bored into their target with enough force to rend a planet to the core.

"Ma'am!" an officer piped up, drawing her attention before the attacks results could be seen, "Comm on the Sornei line - they're proposing a coordinated attack of some kind."


"What do they have in mind?"

[Telros]

An explosion flashed off the port bow of the ship as a set of kinetic guns exploded into non-existence, the raking beams of the Departed taking a heavy toll amongst the fleet. Even with the flanking of the lighter ships, their beams still washed through destroyed more and more ships. It wasn't until both Warfleets had been reduced to about half their strength that finally the tide turned for them. J'thai gripped his chair as the ship shuddered once more. <"Report!"> The A.I. fluttered into being, looking grim and haggard; keeping the ship together, fighting the battle and tallying the losses was getting too much for the A.I.

"Our ship has suffered moderate damage. We have lost kinetic batteries 3,4, and 5, and two of our antimatter beam cannons. Our right flank armor near the reactor will not be able to take more damage, or the reactor will be breached. We have come to the end of it, Warlord. It's either a miracle happens, or we get carried away in the flood."

J'thai looked at him, confused. The A.I. waved a hand and revealed the flanking maneuever being used by the Departed, forcing in their weakened flanks. It was over; they had lost. J'thai gazed hard at the screen and sighed. <"Very well, prepare the fleet for-">

<"Sir, the Republic Sector Fleet! It's arrived!"> The Warlord looked in awe as the reinforcements they had thought to be lost had come, slamming into the back of the enemy line. The fire discharges there were fierce and a hot battle was underway. Another front had opened, just when they needed it to do so. However, even with these new reinforcements, they would only be able to hold on for so long. They had to find some way to hurt the enemy, to turn the tide. "Sir...I-I have a problem." He turned around to see the A.I. struggling against something, bent over with the strain. "Something is...infiltrating our systems....unknown classification. It's....immense...beyond measure. I...I..." The A.I. cried out in pain and slumped down, and Kertai, overwhelming the A.I. who was not even ready to deal with incursions on the level of normal Sornei A.I., and sent the message. J'thai read it and his eyes narrowed. He was unsure about this, but his gut instinct, something he always listened to, told him to go with it. The A.I. began to recover just as J'thai looked at him.

"I am sorry, sir. I-"

<"Do not worry about it; you wouldn't be able to handle this thing, if I am recalling the level of Sornei A.I. Now, you know its message?">

"Yes, why?"

<"Do it. Let him do what he wishes. It's our only ticket from a nasty death over a bombed out planet.">

"Y-Yes sir."

The A.I. appeared in the computer core, where Kertai had gone to gain control of the ship. "You may proceed. Whatever you are planning, do it quickly. Our Warfleet cannot sustain these losses at the rate we are losing ships" As if on cue, a carrier finally succumbed, being the weakest of the upper class ships, and tore in half, before being consumed in the massive explosion that was caused by its core going critical. The Kelauan were holding the line, but were facing a terrible cost at doing so...