The Alamiralian Connection (Alamiralians/Invite Only) (RP)

[The United Terran Republics]

Occ. Are we gonna do another time jump? It is going to take a while for Belderous to repopulate and become scary again

OOC: I don't think one would be necessary. Besides, you've got a P-O'd galactic empire on your side. All Ruhigen has is me (though in a limited sense), and I have yet to post... Speaking of which, my newest post is almost finished. Part of it will be inside a spoiler to make it more compact in a sense; that specific part will take place in my universe.

OOC
It's 25 years alter for the UTR, but 10 years later for the Earth nations. (And ten thousand for me...) Time flows at a different rate in every alternate universe!

The 25 year post was sort of an in-between post to show a time shift. My next aforementioned post is sixty years after our collective first contacts, so expect more advanced technology. (Some of which I stole from you.)

[Surrenderordie]

Surrenderordie Responds!!!!!!!!!!! The Empire Strikes back
The Fox's Den
Get Faarqar in here now!
"Yes Sir"


Sir, you asked for me? Sit down, look at this. Tell me what you think. ....... They're bluffing, they might know the name, but if they knew their strength, they wouldn't be threatening us, they'd be sueing for peace. They also can't know where you are, so they are going to blanket wipe the whole area. Bombers are slow, so our fighters could easily shred their force in the air. We should deploy operation Bloody Ocean and ready the destroyer fleet in our coastal areas.

I trust you, but once bloody ocean is deployed, we can't hide it again, they will know what our engineers are capable of.

We can't bet, if we don't deploy, we could die.

Alright, deploy operation Bloody Ocean, reveal our greatest weapon.



Along the coast, a volcano labeled active splits open, 4 Shrike Carriers and 20 Shrike destroyers are inside, equipped with weapons capable of hitting an enemy submarine 20 miles away, and firing atomic missles at aircraft from a ridiculously crazy range. 500,000 people have spent their lives working on this project for 30 years, and the heat signature of the people inside has been assumed to be magma. Long live the Empire! Chauvin whispers

[The United Terran Republics]

Present Day (35 Years After Last Post)

09:53
Presidential Office
New York City,
North American Republic,
UTR

"Sir," buzzes a female secretary over a desk intercom, "Delegate Fowler is here to see you."

"Send him in," says President Lyall as he turns back towards his desk in his chair. (OOC: President Lyall is a distant relative of James Lyall, another character that refers to me.)

President Brandon Lyall has served two terms as president, though both terms had not gone as smoothly as one another possibly could have. The Terran World Assembly, after forty years of stability, has nearly devolved into chaos as members pick each other apart on political issues, with almost none of them pertaining to their constituencies. Most of these issues involve AltTerra, which continues to have troubles far greater than the UTR.

The last sixty years have witnessed ten pass over there, with wars and strife between former allies turning the planet into a quagmire. The Beldarian military has been forced to retreat by the Ruhigenian military after a staggering defeat upon their invasion of the former Horicnirish Socialist Republic, an ally of Ruhigen's before its internal conflicts ripped it to shreds-- the same fate that befell the North American nations that stood before it.

Alamiralia Base has become a full-fledged colony, though nobody seems to mind over there. After all, the United Terran Republics and the Federation before it did help Ruhigen win a many hard victories-- including a certain Battle of Kiev. Though cold and almost unforgiving, its population has witnessed a boom, with housing developments built by Terran construction drones giving it the appearance of a city.

Delegate Fowler steps into the room. He is an old man around seventy, though his lightly-weathered face and strong stature would place him at about fifty. He is almost as towering as President Lyall, who is a giant compared to the average Terran.

"Yes, Mr. Fowler?" asks President Lyall, obviously knowing what Fowler's appointment was going to address.

"The arguing in the Assembly has come to a boil, Mr. President."

"So I've heard."

"With all due respect, this is serious. The Chinese representatives are threatening secession!"

"They barely wanted to join in the beginning. What's got 'em so uppity?"

"The colony in AltTerra. They want us to pull out. They claim that it is "a vestige of Western dominance in our politics.""

"They are the second largest troop contributor to the colony there. This doesn't make sense."

"I've been added to a special committee to deal with this situation."

"And you've come just to tell me this?"

"No. I've come to you to ask you to endorse me. I'm going to push to pull out."

"Excuse me?"

"Half of the planet is against staying in that war-torn quagmire, Mr. President. Almost none of them were involved in its conception, so why should we force them to cling to it? We've lost too many men over there for no gain for us."

"Then what of our space program? I didn't support it, but I still went through with it."

"The space program was for the good of Terra. Since the colonization efforts began, we have seen a massive drop in hunger, and resource shortages have become a thing of the past! The colony in that other world has been about as beneficial as a malignant tumor. Their wars are not ours. Their affairs--"

"Enough, Councilman. We've made allies--"

"Sir!" interrupts a low-ranking officer as he rushes into the room, dropping a couple papers as he moves.

"Yes, Lieutenant? What's going on?" asks President Lyall with a concerned look on his face.

"The colony. It's been attacked, and we don't have any idea who did it."

"Not ours, Councilman?" asks a disgruntled President Lyall, condescendingly looking towards Fowler.

"This is a death warrant, Mr. President."

23:09
Alamiralia Base,
Northern Ruhigen,
AltTerra

"This is Command! Do you copy?"

"Major Patterson, this is Command!"

"I copy!"

Major Patterson had not experienced anything this severe in his life. Around ten seconds ago, all Hell broke loose. Hordes of unidentified fighter planes swarmed the skies over the base, strafing back and forth firing their cannons towards the fortified structures of the frozen base, knocking dust and bits of concrete all over the place. The unsuspecting soldiers and civilians outside were either rushed into shelters or cut down like weeds on a sidewalk. It was a total massacre.

Amidst the chaos, interceptor vertibirds shot from an underground hangar from beneath a snow-covered mountain to mount a counterattack. Several were downed in the hills around the base, though the computer-guided anti-aircraft disruptor cannons below began to loosen the opposition. However, this alone could not save the doomed air squadron, and those few that survived the onslaught were forced to retreat.

In a moment's notice, the fighters stopped firing and ascended to a safer altitude, obviously having established air dominance. All seemed still for a short time.

"Command, I think they've stopped firing!" shouts Patterson into his communications device, having been caught out of his armor.

"Major, haul a** back to the command center. We're about to get hit again, and we need another brain up here."

"On my way."

Patterson begins a full sprint down a road by a row of barracks, minding the ice that had frozen over the roads, and heads towards the command center. An explosion from behind casts him onto the ground as a series of other explosions rock the base.

'Artillery?' thinks Patterson as he quickly gets back to his feet.

An alarm klaxon finally begins to sound as Patterson reaches the steel door of the command center. Opening the door and rushing inside, the door automatically slammed shut behind, and another explosion boomed from the other side. Patterson runs down a long hallway, lit only by the red emergency lights going in a row along the length of the wall. The power was out, so he knew he needed to take the stairs. Patterson rushed past the turbolift to the upper level, it's computer voice stating, "power failure in Facility Oscar Mark Three. Available engineering personnel report to assess."

The stairs were fairly long, going around four flights upward. Patterson began his ascent. As he reached the top of the first flight, a small electrical fire broke out in a breaker box to his right on the wall. Deploying a fire suppression device from his utility belt, Patterson quickly doused the flame and isolated the damaged box before any more harm could be done. He continued up the stairs, this time watching for potential hazards.

As he made it to the top of the stairs, a shockwave from an outside explosion rocked the building, blowing out the windows in the hall at the top. Patterson begins walking through the hall at a brisk pace, minding the broken glass and the bite of the cold Nordic wind.

Oh, God! Medic!" shouts a young man's voice from down the hall, distress clearly evident in his tone.

Patterson leaps into action and heads for the voice. On the floor is a panicking soldier, his abdomen bleeding.

"S***," Patterson mumbles underneath his breath.

He activates his communications device and pulls his wrist to his mouth.

"Command, I need you to spare me a medic! We've got a wounded man just down the hall from you. He's bleeding pretty bad. I'm trying to field dress until he can get some attention. Do you acknowledge?"

"Acknowledged, Major. Our last available medic's on his way. This poor sod got lucky today."

"Don't let me die over here, sir," says the hysterical soldier, whose voice was slowly growing weaker with each passing moment.

"You've got a few good years left in you, Private. They aren't going anywhere today."

Patterson stayed with the young soldier, trying to keep him calm until the medic arrived to deal with the situation, one of which that Patterson wasn't trained to deal with. The medic came at a run down the hall, his medical equipment hanging from his combat armor making him look bulkier than a power-armored soldier.

"I will get it from here, sir," said the medic, his Chinese accent still thick enough to tell his origin.

"Handing it to you, soldier."

Patterson began his run back down the hall the medic had just come from. As he neared the command center, the yelling from both outside and down the hall grew louder, as it was clear that transport aircraft would be here in minutes.

Patterson burst through the door of the main command center.

"Major! Get over here!" shouts a particularly-angry officer.

"Yes, Colonel?," Patterson says with a salute.

"At ease, you f***ing plank! There's no time for this formal bulls***! We've got hundreds of unknown hostiles getting ready to crawl up our collective a**es. To make it worse, I need you to run a spec ops mission right in the middle of it instead of keeping you here to help me think of ways to fight off this horde of mongrels."

"Change of plans, sir?"

"Yes, there's a change of plans, you f***ing dipstick! I need you to pack a** due east to where those rocket artillery barrages keep coming from. We suspect they have an operations outpost over there."

"What needs to be done, sir?"

"Figure out who it is and kill everything that moves."

"If they don't show up here first, sir."

"Did I ask for your input, Major?"

"No, sir."

"I thought as much. Get to the hangar, and ready a couple of stealth verts. Dismissed. Feel free to assemble your old squad. You'll need 'em."

"Sir."

Patterson walks away without saluting, taking heed of what the colonel had said to him before. As he leaves the door, the power comes back on and the normal lights flash on. Patterson walked down the hall, getting passed by the medic and young soldier limping on the medic's shoulder, and instead makes a left towards a turbolift shaft. He approaches it, and its doors hiss open.

"Hangar," he says as he steps in.

The turbolift doors quickly hiss shut, and he is off. An automated alarm sounds outside, it's droning male voice saying,"wall breach in Sector Zulu Mark Nine. Security personnel dispatched. Automated turret defenses are online. Code 66."

From the broken window, hundreds of soldiers can be seen pouring over a hill as more rappel in behind them from large transport helicopters. Below wait half as many power-armored Terran soldiers, sitting fortified to intercept these attackers.

[The God-Emperors Terran Empire]

Cassini Gap
ISS Typhoon

Matthew Ross was anything but happy.
Of his fighter forces, one out of six had been either shot down or put out of action; and more than 600 of his airmen had been killed.
And to make things worse, right before the second wave of attack was to be launched; the fleet’s perimeter patrols had picked up something unusual… Something outright impossible, even.

24 signatures emerged from what was thought to have been an active volcano. However, as the contacts lifted off, the heat signature disappeared from the volcano... And coincided with the objects.

“Son of a…” Ross contacted Admiral Holt on his wrist computer; and soon the Admiral’s image popped out.

“Holt here. What’ve you got for me?”

“Admiral, we’re picking up 24 signal contacts from Surrenderordie. Four large craft, and a score of smaller ones. They’re nowhere near as large as ours, but these readings are conclusive: Surrenderordie has a space navy.”

Assuming that Shrikes are below 4,000 Ft. in length, my ships are longer. And having between 32 and 58 decks, I imagine they’re a lot higher. Also, my length-girth ratio isn’t 1:10, but rather 1:3.5 – so that’s a whole lot of ship!

“WHAT?!” Marcus belched.

“Don’t ask me how they managed; by all rights they shouldn’t have that kind of technology! This came like a bolt from the blue! And what’s worse: it looks like they have FTL capacity…”

“I see. Well, they can’t be that bad; they’re upstarts, for goodness’ sake! It’s only the Iconian Gate’s influence that could’ve made them advance so fast… The rest of their technology is ancient!”

“Even then, they managed to kill hundreds of my planes!” Ross angrily retorted.

“What about Ruhigen?”

“Well, they haven’t responded in any way; so I think we’ve got them scared beyond their wits.”

“Excellent!” Holt hollered. “In that case, we focus ALL our power on Chauvin’s lot! Tell your pilots that secrecy is no longer needed; they must take their weapons range and power limiters offline. No need to get in close when we don’t have to.” The Admiral instructed.

“Emperor Chauvin will be expecting heavy bombers. Slow, ponderous, huge aircraft his fighters can hunt down and kill with ease. What he doesn’t know is that we only carry a single squadron of such bombers. The rest are all fighter/bombers or ground attack fighters; which should be a match for their speed and agility.”

“Very well – in that case, I have a nice surprise for the Desert Fox. We send our bombers, but also… You have 400 Wraith heavy attack drones, correct? Send one-tenth of those to guard the bombers, in fact, send 10% of all drones. Furthermore, I want you to send in every attack drone you have. We’re going to hit their cities full force. As for the enemy ships – some of your vanguard’s Defiants and Akiras should be plenty to deal with them.
Now go, and let’s blow these Proionar bastards out of the sky!”

”Proionar” is the Medieval Greek term for feudal noble soldiers paid in land grants instead of money. In Old Terran, it is used in a degrading manner, with the rough meaning of “filthy mercenary” – thus, despised with a passion by professional soldiers.
Given the context, the word takes on an alternate meaning of “conquistadors”.
By using this term, Admiral Holt seems to think that Surrenderordie is out to invade the Terran Empire.
While actual Proionar are enrolled in the IDF; they are called by their Latinized name “Pronarii”.

CAG-1 & Cag-2
Split between the survivors from the first attack wave

CAG-3 to CAG-7
Equal numbers and compositions of the first assault’s CAGs; each supported by 320 Deathshead Attack Drones and 72 Wraith Heavy Attack Drones.

CAG-8
10 Hellcat Heavy Bombers, escorted by 40 Wraith Heavy Attack Drones

Navy Strike Group
1 Prometheus-class Fast Battle Cruiser
16 Akira-class Heavy Support Ships
22 Defiant-class Fast Attack Frigates

ISS Harbinger
Imaging Room #6 – Military Exercise & (Live) Combat Training Facility Delta (“Holodeck Six”)

The old M2 Abrams barreled forward at 50 Mph, firing its 120mm smoothbore gun at maximum range. The shell hit the hastily dug trench spot-on; instantly killing 7 of its defenders.
The squad’s 4 survivors were now raked by the tank’s heavy machine gun, and broke within seconds. Trying to scatter, none of them made it very far before being scythed down in a spray of blood.
The sergeant present shook his head, and scribbled down another note on his wrist computer.

The tank now focused its attention on another group of defenders atop a fortified hillside. Its main gun fired again, only this time, the shell fell short.
“Fire away, boys!” The sergeant shouted; and 11 lasguns opened up on the enemy armor piece.
All beams overshot.
“No, no, no; the shot goes wherever you point it! No recoil, remember that! Now fire again!”
The squad fired again, each squeezing off 4 or 5 rounds, which punctured the tank and brought it to a standstill.
“A good start for this squad; but nowhere near our level. Still, they have potential.” He spoke into his mouthpiece.

Elsewhere, a third squad had been caught out in the open by a pair of Russian T-72s. Their powerful main guns opened up on their sides, pressing the men into a clump; but not before four of them had fallen.
“Keep your spacing boys!” The sergeant shouted. His troopers quickly reformed, but were now under fire from the tank’s coaxial machine guns. Seeing his men starting to waver; he ordered: “Trust your shields! If you fire now, you’ll survive!”
None of the soldiers believed they could bring down a battle tank with assault rifles from a mile away; leading to the squad breaking after the second volley.
“Hopeless, truly hopeless…” the sergeant mused.

The fourth squad had become the target of no less than five German Leopard II MBT’s.
“You know the drill, lads!” The sergeant said.
His men loosened their formation, got down into firing position, and raked the tanks with lasfire while they were still out of range – 2 guns trained on each tank, with the last man and the Sergeant firing high-powered shots to their sides so that the Leopards couldn’t escape.
All of them exploded in rapid succession; urging the squad to quickly move up and off to the side, before resuming their march forward.
“I’m recommending you for Anti-Armor Specialists with the Shock Troopers. You’ve done great!”

The buzzer went off, and the battlefield faded away into a large, featureless hall.
The newly formed platoon of Belderian natives, which were being drilled to become the elite Steel Legion, formed up into inspection lines; as the Terran drill sergeants exchanged notes with each other.

“Gentlemen, what went wrong here today?” The drill master addressed the men.
When nobody responded, he rushed one of the troopers from Third Squad, making his jump back. The captain (drill master) jerked his lasrifle out of his hands, and held it above his head.
“Say it with me; so-lid-li-ght! Effective range is hypothetically… INFINITE! Only terrain differences can get in the way of the pulse; and your squad was fighting ON FLAT GROUND!”
Huffing, he took off for the observation booth; as the operators above loaded another practice simulation This time, the platoon would be facing down a battery of Paladin howitzers and two platoons of Chinese light infantry from the 2010’s.


Next time…
Colonel Faust organizes the defense of Vectaria
Director Suranov comes up with a theory about the messy time lines
The Imperial Senate debates the invasion of the alternate Messier 98 galaxy.
Prince Feodor discovers an oversight regarding the landing forces.
The establishment of the Pluto base is completed
Emperor Volkoff sends a message to President Fontaine of the UTR
And the assault on Surrenderordie begins!

[The United Terran Republics]

[b]Cassini Gap
[...]
Next time…
Colonel Faust organizes the defense of Vectaria
Director Suranov comes up with a theory about the messy time lines
The Imperial Senate debates the invasion of the alternate Messier 98 galaxy.
Prince Feodor discovers an oversight regarding the landing forces.
The establishment of the Pluto base is completed
Emperor Volkoff sends a message to President Fontaine of the UTR
And the assault on Surrenderordie begins!

OOC: Fontaine died six months before my most recent post. He hasn't been president for fifty years.

[Ruhigen]

23:05 (1 Hour Since Invasion Start),
Alamiralia Base,
UTR Enclave,
Svalbard Islands

The King disembarks his shuttle in a hurry. Immediately he addresses the commander of the base. "What is the situation?"

The Commander clears his throat. "My Lord... I'm... I'm not exactly sure how to tell you this..." He swallows hard. "We're losing the fight bad. Southern Europe is a bloodbath, and we've lost contact with all our troops in the East."

The King is solemn. "And Ruhigstadt?"

"A burning ruin."

The King looks to the stars. "I am sorry father..."

Suddenly an officer comes into the room. "My Lord, the invaders are inbound to our location!"

"Damn it all! I want everything, everything we have fighting! Now!"

"But there's nothing left! It is over!"

The King backhands him to the floor. "It is not over! Not yet..."

He pulls out his comm system. "Admiral, it is time! Begin Operation Donnergott!"

---

23:12,
Arctic Ocean Floor

Admiral Nikolai "Kriegmacher" Bismarck smiles to himself. "With pleasure."

---

The King stand solemnly, staring at the ice fields below. Suddenly the ice begins to crack, and it shatters. A full-size Dreadnought battleship slowly rises from the water, flanked on all sides by countless others. The Kriegmacher salutes the King through the bridge window as he passes. They do not stop rising, and as they leave the water, the jet respulsors underneath are exposed. They are of the same design as the UTR Jumptrooper jetpacks.

The King chuckles to himself. "That jetpack was more useful than even I could have thought."

Once the dreadnoughts are thousands of feet in the air, they hover in waiting as the drone of enemy ships grows louder...

[The United Terran Republics]

OOC: I thought Ruhigen was referring to my base. I even wrote a plot around it... I'll do some editing later. Patterson is going on a scouting mission.

[The God-Emperors Terran Empire]

Cassini Gap
ISS Harbinger

Admiral Holt, sitting behind a CIC console, called up the weapons loadout for the previous raid.
The console displayed the loadout package used on Earth mere hours before. It read:

Loadout package: Planetary Assault; for ground targets - LIGHT PAYLOAD

Las weapons
5 power calls for aviation-grade Lasgun (4)
3 power cells for aviation-grade Lascannon (2)

Projectile weapons
Aviation-grade Antimatter missile (8)

Bombs
Positron bomb, LEVEL II (16)

Chemical and Biological weapons
Sarin nerve gas canister (8)

Super weapons
NONE

The first assault had been little more than a raid; a blitz attack in and out - and as such, the partaking planes had been equipped for such an operation.
This time, the Terran pilots weren't out to cause panic and disorder; but to destroy the planet's capability of making war for a hundred years; thus allowing the landing troops to scour the planet for the Iconian Gate without meeting any meaningful opposition.
After all, every second less the soldiers spent fighting was one second more they could spend searching.

Review panels like these were deliberately kept plain and simple, so that everyone could understand them at a glance. However, the Admiral had something to do; and doing so required an intricate understanding of Terran computer technology...

Happily typing away, inputting his command override codes; the screen now displayed an intricate morass of statistics, ID codes, charts and graphs; interspersed with big blocks of technical jargon and details about the relevant operations.

Marcus had seen millions of such pages before; and had no trouble inputting the string of codes and authorizations to make the necessary changes.

Having finished typing, he put the console back on Review Mode.

The screen now read:

Loadout package: Urban Terror & Popular Decimation - STANDARD PAYLOAD

Las weapons
13 power cells for aviation-grade Lasgun (4)
7 power cells for aviation-grade Lascannon (2)

Projectile weapons
Aviation-grade Antimatter missile (8)
Aviation-grade Proton missile (24)

Bombs
Neutron bomb, LEVEL II ()
Positron bomb, LEVEL II ()

Chemical and Biological weapons
White Phosphorus bomb (18)
Napalm bomb (20)
Sarin nerve gas canister (16)
VX nerve gas canister (12)
Clostridium Perifringens canister (4) PRIMARY EFFECT: GANGRENE
Necrotizing Fasciitis canister (4) CARRIER FOR: ACDIC FLESH EATING BACTERIA - SPECIES AND GENUS CLASSIFIED
Neagleria Fowleri canister (2) PRIMARY EFFECT: CONSUMES BRAINS

Super weapons
NONE

The Admiral grinned. He knew that no matter how hard the enemy fought, a few of his planes were bound to make it to their target. A handful was all it took to wipe out a city's population in mere hours.

Still, he wasn't happy at the very real possibility of 2000+ Terran dead. The first raid had cost his fighter component dearly; and this time ,th massacre would be far worse on both sides...

The Admiral paused to make a quick entry in his personal log: "I caught myself pondering how times have changed. In days past, it was the commanding officers who were awash with a blind, callous disregard for their soldiers' lives; and the officers and troops on the field who kept sanity in check. It seems like the IDF has done a 180, since it is now the lowly frontline soldier who is driven by fanatical bloodlust, and the officers who find themselves trying to keep them from simply rushing in.
Truly, the restructuring of the IDF after the latest Civil War defines the Empire's changed attitude - a reflection of its renewed expansionism, and, I suspect; the direct result of white-hot patriotism.
There are massive disasters to come. I'm sure of it. And I can only hope that... the next generation will be better."

Finding his composure, Marcus moved on to assign the CAGs their targets.
After determining that Ruhigen was on the run; his command staff had decide to focus their full power on the now space-capable Surrenderordie.
Armed with the knowledge that their Emperor Chauvin had his headquarters hidden somewhere in the North African desert, Holt would focus all his power on the major coastal cities to hopefully sever the Fox's Den from its supply lines.

Feeling confident that 39 of his ships would be more than enough to take on the enemy's 24, even though they seemed to have 4 carriers whereas the Terrans would go in unescorted; he directed the second wave to attack the most important port cities.
The scant few heavy bombers and their escorts would be the first to strike, with the rest of the assault force swooping in exactly 105 minutes later - the Admiral hoped that Chauvin would fall for the ruse, and deploy the majority of his air forces to the Arabia and the Middle-East.

TARGETEERING
OPS ASSIGNMENTS
CARRIER AVIATION GROUP(S)

ASSIGNED TARGET AREAS:

CAG-I: Tangiers, Morocco

CAG-II: Tunis, Tunisia

CAG-III: Algiers, Algeria

CAG-IV: Tripoli, Libya

CAG-V: Tubruq, Libya

CAG-VI: Benghazi, Libya

CAG-VII: Alexandria, Egypt

CAG-VIII: Mecca, Saudi-Arabia

Looking over his preparations, the Admiral made one last alteration:

Hellcat Heavy Bomber loadout

-"LIST DISPLAY" MODE-

50 power cells for aviation-grade Heavy Lasguns (8)
20 power cells for aviation-grade Double-Barreled Lascannons (4)
Positron bombs, LEVEL III (80)
Antimatter bombs, LEVEL III (40)
Antimatter bombs, LEVEL IV (20)

At this point; while the orders for rearmament were being dispatched (which would set back the battle plan by two hours), the Thunderhawks had completed the first phase of their second run.
Colonel Faust now had 18,000 Naval Infantry in defense of the city, and another portion of the Belderian population was underway to the fleet.
It would take another 3 runs for the Thunderhawks to complete their mission.

When one of Colonel Ross' aides delivered the news of the massive Ruhigenian ships taking off from a hidden base in the Svalbard Islands, the Admiral cursed under his breath... And took the appropriate measures.
"It seems that Ruhigen still has some fight left in them; and they're not giving up... Let's give them the honor of a dignified defeat."

Breaking formation, the fleet's main element formed its battle lines; and set towards Earth.
The Terran ships raised their cloaks; hoping to take the huge enemy fleet by surprise...

As Holt watched his ships disappear from Harbinger's observation deck, he had a gut feeling that this was to be the last time he'd see most of them in one piece.

[Ruhigen]

OOC: I thought Ruhigen was referring to my base. I even wrote a plot around it... I'll do some editing later. Patterson is going on a scouting mission.

Not to worry, I'll just change mine up a bit.

[The God-Emperors Terran Empire]

ISS Prometheus - Bridge
Colonel Ross' flagship
Entering Earth orbit over Southern Norway

"Ruhigenian fleet is now within visual range!" The Comms officer announced. "Putting them on screen."
The enemy fleet appeared before Prometheus' bridge crew,
"Composition?" Asked William Ross, the officer in charge of the impromptu assault.
"About 500, Sir. All reading as Dreadnoughts. And every one has more than 10 times the mass of one of our Battleships; or 7 Dreadnoughts... Of which we have none." His Chief Tactical stated.
"I know we don't have any dreadnoughts; we're supposed to be a "mobile attack force", remember?" Ross reminded him; before turning to his Science Chief. "Anyway, what do we know about these vessels."
"They're slow in atmospheric flight, but can outrun us in FTL. However, they are ponderous to the point of insanity. Very inmaneuverable. They have an early form of energy shielding; crew complement unknown; armament consists of 8 double-barreled heavy laser turrets, and well over a hundred smaller laser guns. Very primitive, but without our shields they can still harm our armor. They could have fighter bays on board, these ships certainly look the type. The only issue is the hull material: we're reading it as solid Duranium. Torpedo's should crack them just fine, Sir."
"No torpedo's." Ross said; his voice having a definitive ring to it. "No matter how slim the odds of damaging the Gate, our standing orders are not to use anything more powerful than what we've already used. Las weapons only."
"But Sir, if they try to make a break for it, they will escape!" His Navigations officer exclaimed.
"Not if we catch them inside Earth's orbit." The Colonel brought up the FLEETCOM controls on his command station, and opened a Vox channel to all 8,800 ships in the Operations Group.
"All hands, this is Colonel Ross. General quarters. General quarters. All hands, man your battle stations. This in not a drill! I say again, this is not a drill! Navigation teams, arrange the fleet in Duplex Acies Tres Dimensiva; and prepare to fire forward Lascannons at my command! Terra Victor!"

The Terran ships started to move into the ordered formation.
Every unit would look like this:

||||||||||XXXXXXXXX||||||||||XXXXXXXXX||||||||||XXXXXXXXX||||||||||
XXXXXXXXX||||||||||XXXXXXXXX||||||||||XXXXXXXXX||||||||||XXXXXXXXX||||||||||

With 110 of such units accounting for the entire fleet.
100 units would make up the battle formation, with the Admiral and 10 units in reserve behind the fleet's center.
The fleet arranged itself in lines of blocks wide and blocks high; with the vertical lines staggered:

----------
XXXX----------
----------
XXXX----------
----------

Every ship would be spaced 1,000 meters apart, with the vertical lines arrayed 1 km apart from each other as well.
This would allow the fleet to use its firepower to the max, while maintaining enough room to execute evasive maneuvers, and outflank any enemy who would foolishly wander into the fleet.

This fearsome battle formation had proven its worth time and again against the Tyranids: an optimum example of the IDf's newly adopted fluid-yes-cohesive style of fighting.
However, this formation worked best with deep ranks; and it was often utilized by Battefleets of a quarter million ships each. Normally, there would be many more lines, both horizontally and vertically, and they would run 5 ranks deep at that. Finally, the Triplex Acies would have, as its name indicates, a third row kept in reserve, to immediately fill any gap. Lacking this reserve, the formation became the Duplex type.

But with only enough ships to form a single Duplex rank, Colonel Ross was making a risky gamble. If his lines were broken at any point, the enemy would be allowed to escape; as the Terran ships would have to stop firing or be sure to hit each other. He relied on his 800 reserve ships to stem any breakthrough.

"Sir! At this altitude, the power required to run our shields..." A new ensign nervously whispered.
"I've already briefed the fleet on that, Ensign. Tac, drop shields!"
The Tac officer obeyed right away. "Powering down Void Shields... now. Incoming! All hands, brace yourselves!"
Streaks of green light pulsed out from the Ruhigenian fleet's laser batteries; their fire harmlessly scattering on the Terrans' armor. However, if they waited too long, the heat shield would start to flash-vaporize under the continuous impacts; thereby exposing the layers of various kinds of armor that aligned the hull.

"Directly above enemy fleet! Range to target: 300 miles! 280! 260! 240! 220! 200 miles!"
"This is it? This is all they've got? Pathetic!" The Colonel scoffed.
"180 miles to target! 160 miles! 140! We're going to hit! Sir?!"
"Full stop! All ships, pick your targets... And..." Ross released his clenched fist, threw up his right arm, then brought it down in a violent swipe.
All the bridge crew members who'd seen a full battle before knew what the Admiral's order would be.
"[/b]Fire all![/b]"

Within two nanoseconds, the Ruhigenian fleet was struck by a massive wall of solid light.


Vectaria

The Naval Infantry had been busy preparing the defense of Vectaria for the past few days; and the experienced soldiers were making excellent headway - sloppy though it were.
Naval Infantry are heavy hit and run soldiers, not meant for defense, but close-quarters fighting in city streets.
At least they had the terrain advantage. To Castor Faust, this meant his men had an actual chance of holding the city until relieved; or ordered to evacuate.

The latest intelligence report had indicated that the Ruhigenian Army had been annihilated by the air strike; the few survivors since having scattered in all directions.
If the numbers were correct, this meant the death of up to 200,000 enemy soldiers... But intelligence had been anything but reliable as of late.

Come as may, Faust had more important matters to worry about. The latest report warned of an impending attack by Surrenderordie; and Vectaria was still packed with Beldarian refugees.
In fact, there were a hundred times as many as he'd been told.
Another case of bad intel. but this time on the Belderians' side.
Castor couldn't blame them, though; the swiftness and brutality with which the invasion of the Belderian Empire had taken place meant that communication lines were shaky at best; and completely lost in most places.

The Colonel planned a deep defense of the city; forcing the enemy to fight their way through layer upon layer of defensive positions, insurmountable obstacles, and killing pits. He had little hope of holding the city, but he hoped to keep the Surrenderordie forces busy long enough to prevent them from returning to their homelands to assist in the defense against the coming air assault.

He had organized the city's defense into four zones, demarcated by concentric circles of heavy fortifications. These were: the Outer Zone (Mockingly called the "Crumple Zone" by the troops), the Urban Zone, the Inner Zone and the Citadel; centered on the Imperial Palace.

Meshes of razor wire; fragmentation, high explosive, anti-armor, and phosphor grenades were emplaced throughout the city; with cannons and machine guns emplaced in good cover at every choke point they could find.

The Naval Infantry would defend Vectaria as the Red Army had Stalingrad.
Only, the Soviets at the time hadn't had full-automatic solid light-spitting rifles, personal shields, and advanced heavy body armor. The Terrans had all this; and more.
The enemy would bleed for every inch they took. Faust would see to that in person.

27,000 Riflemen
1,350 Heavy Machine Guns
270 20MM Autocannons (Classified as Heavy Machine Guns)
540 "Siege Breaker" Light Mortars
360 40MM Field Guns

DSI Pluto Forward Base

The construction of the Pluto base had gone without a hitch. It was only a small base, and mostly located underground; and it was probably only thanks to the cloaking field that it had not been detected.
Nevertheless, the Terran secret service now had a permanent base on the far side of the universe; no matter how small.
A few barracks, some basic utility buildings; some Las turrets scattered around the perimeter; and the mandatory string of observation posts made up this base - but it would be enough.

In the main hangar, DSI Lightning Squadron was docked; its black markings telling them apart from the yellow-and-red bearing IDF vessels. Another difference was the hull color: nighttime blue instead of dark gray.
Aside from the aesthetic differences; the DSI vessels sported a much more versatile and extensive slew of research and observation stations - at the cost of armaments and defenses. Even then, DSI vessels could hold their own in combat - and Lightning Squadron was made up of dedicated warships which instead were bristling with guns and lances.
In command were Lewis Blackburn in space and Alexei Andropov on the ground.
---

Commodore Blackburn came rushing in with a stack of PADDs, packed with telemetry readings.
"We found it! We located the Gate!" He excitedly exclaimed, only to stop dead in his tracks when he met Senior Colonel Alexei Yurievich Andropov's unnerving, ice cold gaze.
"Good. Where is it?" He simply said.
"Buried somewhere on the island of Jan Mayen. We don't have an exact location" Commodore Blackburn said, handing over the PADDs with some apprehension.
"No matter." Colonel Andropov reassured him; whilst looking over the data. "Jan Mayen is tiny; it won't be long once we have boots on the ground! You've done well, Lewis; especially considering we did all of this remotely..." Alexei beamed inwardly. Operation Gateway One would soon come to fruition...
"Send this to the Prince and the Emperor, at once!" Andropov barked to a random subordinate; who in turn gave the order to an actual Comms officer.
Said Comms officer decided it was too sensitive a message to send via Vox, and thus sent the packet through the QEC.
As it happened, the Emperor received the message right in the middle of a Senate meeting. He was all too happy to share the good news - perhaps it would ease the Senators' nerves stemming from the recent spate of terrorist bombings on New Carthage.

OOC: This is for another, smaller scale RP. I already have the intro written if anyone's interested!



Subsector Severonium
Gateway One main base

Lieutenant-General Tiberius Mason, commander of the Imperial Army 8472 Composite Regiment, was a ruthless man. In fact, he had the reputation of killing off as many of his own man as he killed his designated enemies; but it brought him victory.
An officer who brought the Empire victory made High Command happy; and if you were in the favor of High Command; you got the most prestigious assignments.
But there was another reason why this particular commander had been selected: he was one of the few direct descendants of the founder of the Terran Empire: James I Mason.

It was James Mason (Janos Chtísti) who led the Empire of Trebizond (Trapezos) from the brink of Ottoman extermination in 1476, and subsequently restored the Roman Empire as a great power - taking back the Themata (Provinces) of Anatolia, Syria, Greece, Thrace, Palestina, Jordania, Macedon and Illyria; driving the Turks back to the lifeless steppes from whence they came (And right into Mongol hands!); and remaking the Roman Empire as the Terran Empire after a series of brutal wars with the Catholic West. He would eventually die in battle against the Volkovite Empire of Russia in 1532; sparking the Kievan War - but that all happened so long ago...
It was nothing short of a miracle that his house had any direct descendants left; and the Masons themselves took this as a sing that their line was blessed by God. Nobody contested this idea.

Where James the First had brought the Terran Empire to life; it was only appropriate that Tiberius Mason would be the one to usher in a new age for the, now ancient, Imperium.

Accompanied by the haunting tones of an age-old piece of martial orchestra; the Regiment embarked onto their transports.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzmQz6smZHY
The traditional toast to success, usually reserved for senior officers, was this time done by the highest general to the lowliest private. And before the last ship had passed through the portal, not a drop of white liquor was left undrunk.

15 million soldiers were about to land on a strange world that was hauntingly similar to their own; only much less built up, and nowhere near as marred by the tides of constant war.
To some, it was jarring to know that the Empire's founding city of Kiev had been turned to plate glass.
To most, they were just happy to not be fighting their fellow Terrans.

Aboard one of the transports, in a sealed-off section behind the mess hall; Colonel Vasileios opened a door marked "CHEESY SURPRISE".
He loved cheese; and he loved surprises. Checking to make sure than no-one was around to see him poking around this restricted area, he opened the door.
And then a skeleton popped out.
(http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/and-then- ... popped-out)
In the security room, then guards fell over laughing.

"We're off to a good start..." General Mason said. "The less serious they are before battle, the more disciplined they'll be during. We're a strange lot, Jack."
His pet tiger (!) seemed to nod at this.


OOC: Next post will be long as well; good chunk from the Home Universe it that one.

PS
The formation formatting doesn't take hold...
Imagine this:
http://www.histurion.pl/grafika/rzym/armia4.jpg

EDIT: Added X-es to formation diagram to represent blank spots. It works!

[The United Terran Republics]

OOC: I thought Ruhigen was referring to my base. I even wrote a plot around it... I'll do some editing later. Patterson is going on a scouting mission.

Not to worry, I'll just change mine up a bit.

I already fixed mine. No need to now.

[The God-Emperors Terran Empire]

Mecca

From one moment to the next, the city of Mecca had turned into a sight out of Hell itself.
Dropping in above the Kaaba, a Wraith Heavy Attack Drone shot off two Antimatter missiles; which obliterated the most holy site of the Muslim faith. Its destruction would ensure that there could never be peace between the Terran Empire and the Islamic people of Earth - and it was only just beginning.

This particular Wraith sped out of the city, climbing to a high altitude before slowing down, re-engaging its cloak; and turning for Vatican City.
The drone was not like the others. Instead of the yellow and red markings of the Imperial Defense Forces, this one bore the black of DSI...

If the population of Mecca had thought the violence would end with this single strike; they were sorely mistaken.

The crews of CAG-VIII were surprised to see the structure, and the stadium along with it, blown to pieces. However, the sensor readings were unmistakable: This was the work of Special Intelligence.
As Vox operators relayed this information to their carriers, the Hellcats and Wraiths dropped their own cloaks and prepared to attack.

Every Hellcat was supported by 4 of the heavy drones; the squadron forming a widely spaced oblique line, anchored on the most forward unit on the outer right.
Soon, heavy bombs started tumbling from the Hellcats' bellies at regular intervals; each bomb obliterating an entire city block at a time; while the Wraiths moved to expend their own payloads on the AAA that lined the city.

By the time the bombers had completed their sweep across the Eastern half of the city; the Surrenderordie air force had scrambled a good 150 fighters, which now raced in to engage the Hellcats.

As the Wraiths broke formation to fire their missiles at the enemy fighters, before closing to duel it out with their las weapons; the bombers moved on implacably. The heavy planes wheeled around, and began their run on the city's Western half. All the while, they added their own las fire to the battle in the sky. They had a reasonable chance of driving off the attackers; and even if they would lose, their mission had been accomplished: Emperor Chauvin would soon hear of an air raid on Arabia - and hopefully divert a significant chunk of his air force to the East.
"Strike Leader to all Hellcats! Time to stir things up a bit, boys! Open the #3 bomb bay doors and release your Sarin load!"

As the bombs continued to fall, the battle raged on above the ruins of the blazing city; that formed a ghastly backdrop in the pale light of early dawn.

----

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, a wave of explosions tore St. Peter's Basilica asunder; ensuring the hostility of the Catholics. Seconds later, the DSI drone set off towards its third and final target: Moscow, and the heart of Eastern Orthodoxy.

Under the pretext of religious war, the overwhelmingly intolerant, Baptist Empire was going to ensure that the only way peace would ever return to this planet was with the total extermination of its native population; or under the absolute rule of the Most Glorious Leader of Belderous.
Not that there would be much of a native population left to rule by the time this would be over, anyway.

[Surrenderordie]

Sir, Mecca is being annihilated!
Yes, Yes Greene, I know. you are the 7th person to tell me that
Well, what are we going to do?
Nothing, the city is dead. We would send thousands of soldiers to their death if they tried to salvage.
Any word from the Reich Line concerning their strike?
No, they have been close mouthed. Haven't told us a thing.
Well, that's unfortunate.
However, there is a relatively unguarded fleet of transports at Vecteria, which we have a battalion and a half near right now.
Take them out immediately......

Vecteria
Are you guys ready?
Yes commander, we are in position
They will see the battalion in formation, they won't be expecting another half battalion hidden for them.
Its a good plan sir, although it might be unsuccessful. They have inhuman capabilities.
Yep, and they might bring in those transports as light aerial support. Use the air guns if you see them. We won't have time to deal with them.
That's the third time you've told us that, we are completely ready, begin the attack
Alright, Battalion 1 move in, Armor in front, lets go!

[The God-Emperors Terran Empire]

Moscow

The DSI drone had met with success in both Mecca and the Vatican; but its luck was about to run out.

No sooner had it dropped its cloak over Moscow and started its descent, or it was met by 18 anti-air
missiles fired by 3 large SAM installations.

The city fathers of Moscow had heard about the happenings around the world, and with the memory of the obliteration of Kiev still fresh in their mind; the city had been on constant alert.
This vigilance was now paying off, as the drone suddenly found itself facing attack from 3 directions.

The DSI drone was a remotely operated one; the Service not willing to risk AI, or even VI, as these sentient programs could be subverted by but a pair of skilled hands.
The operator, whose brains were soft-wired into the drone's systems; jerked the drone up in a surprised attempt to evade the missiles. However, this only served to slow down the craft so severely that it stalled within a second.
There was no way the SAM could miss.

Twenty seconds later, a ball of fire plowed into Red Square; killing or injuring exactly zero.

Back at Pluto Base, the operator violently jerked off his body suit. The feedback pulse had hit him like a sledgehammer; and the man would have to remain in the hospital's burn ward for at least a month.

Around the same time, two other DSI drones were shot down over the naval bases at Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. The only fortune DSI had had today was that the devices were too badly damaged to be of any value to the enemy. Of course, they had been designed that way...


Mecca

It was all over. Where a city of millions had stood not half an hour before, now there was naught but piles of rubble, and fires raging out of control.
The inhabitants of the Eastern side were, relatively speaking, the lucky ones. They just endured the bomb blasts, and the shock waves they generated. The residents of the Western half had endured far worse: those people had been blanketed in Sarin nerve gas; and the few who survived wouldn't last long.
Ostensibly, the survivors in the East stood a chance at making it out - if they could find a way through the fire that now consumed the entire city, toxic fumes and thick smoke saturating the ozone-stained air.
The immolated, bloated bodies of men, women, and children alike were everywhere; a horrifying sight to the scant few survivors. Of the handful who survived that dreadful day, none would ever be the same...

Scattering the enemy fighters, CAG-VIII had miraculously made it out unharmed - and almost all their biochemical weapons remained unused.
The Hellcats set a course for Medina; where they would give the city a taste of white phosphorus.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7050/6876 ... 22b4_b.jpg

What had been the beating heart of Islam had been eradicated in mere moments...
It was beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Muslim population would demand revenge. Just as planned. This maneuver would put the Fox's Den under pressure from its own people... This strategy had worked like a charm during the Terran Civil War, and it would work just as well down here. Or so Admiral Holt figured; thereby not accounting for the rise of Chauvinism.


Vectaria
Imperial Palace

Colonel Faust was in a sour mood. He didn't like it when his underlings questioned his decisions; and this particular underling was not even an officer! Only out of fear that his father, who was a Naval Infantry field marshal, would discharge him to please his son; the Colonel listened to the soldier's indignant shouting.

"You're an idiot, Faust! We don't even have the manpower to properly hold the Citadel; and yet, you spread us out all over the city! In tiny pockets, even! And those nifty little fortified lines you've had us throw up? We can't fully man a one of them! This defense is insanity; we'll never hold against a dedicated attack!"
"We won't be able to hold the line, so much is true. But that's the idea! We let them break through, let them flood into the city; and chop them to pieces in street to street fighting! Our positions aren't meant to hold, but for their crews to bleed the enemy and retreat deeper into the city. And before you know it, they'll be surrounded and trapped behind enemy lines. So don't you dare ever give me tactical advice again, private!"
This scorning explanation shut the haughty soldier right up. Giving the Colonel a damning look, he went off to help install an autocannon on the palace roof.

As the sun was about to reach apoapsis, a disturbing report came through the Vox.
"Colonel Faust! Enemy forces spotted, making their way to the city in assault formation!"
"Faust here! Give me the sitrep, if you please!"
"Composition: Main Battle Tanks, Infantry Fighting Vehicles, Armored Personnel Carriers, and heavy infantry. Doesn't look to be any artillery, but they may have mobile artillery among their heavy armor! Numbers unknown, they're kicking up a lot of dust, it's masking both out sensors and our scanners! They're bearing the Surrenderordie flag, Sir. We knew they'd make a move against us eventually... They're focusing all their power in the South Quarter center, Sir!"
"They'll hit us like a storm. They will wash over our defenses like a wave washes over the rocks. But once the wave recedes, the rock will reappear; still standing strong. As it will be in this city.
To arms, men! Sound the alarm!"

As alarms rang out across the city, the Terran troopers rushed to their stations. Although Vectaria had seen better days, it was still a fortress city; and they would put it to good use.
The Battle of Vectaria was about to begin... With a great deal of its population still trapped within its confines.
Faust cursed Chauvin for launching his attack while the Thunderhawks were away.
He sent out a call to retrieve them as soon as possible - he was going to need the close air support these armored transports could offer.
http://images.wikia.com/warhammer40k/im ... unship.jpg


OOC
Attack on North Africa begins tomorrow IRL.

[Ruhigen]

23:09
Miles above the Base

After the laser strike, a two dreadnoughts immediately begin spiraling down to Earth, having been struck by the brunt of the lasers. The rest remain standing, but with weakened shields.

The Admiral is unfazed. "That was only a taste of our power! Let us fire again!"

"Sir? Shouldn't we be using artillery?" The Second-in-Command asks.

"Of course not! We have to wear them down first with lasers. Only after their shields are down can we breach their hulls with shells. All craft, fire lasers at will!"

Now a steady stream of lasers begins to barrage the enemy shields, slowly attempting to wear them down.

Meanwhile, down on the ground...

The King watches the battle anxiously on a screen inside a bunker.

An officer walks over to him. "My lord, I just thought you should know, the Vatican has been destroyed. The Pope is dead."

The King, without looking up, says, "Tell it to someone who gives a damn." and continues watching.

[Ruhigen]

OOC: Also, I thought Belderous already blew up the Kaaba. Unless they rebuilt it or something.

[The God-Emperors Terran Empire]

NOTE: All dialog between Colonel Ross and Chief Tactical. Should be obvious which is which.


"Minimal effect on target! Enemy fire is increasing in intensity, Sir!"
"They're not firing their main batteries yet; we can still hold formation!"
"Outer armor beginning to chafe! They'll burn through it soon!"
"Damn the armor! Hold fast, and FIRE AGAIN!"
The fleet fired another volley of Lascannon pulses; stubbornly weathering the onslaught of return fire. Ross had to admit that the Ruhigenians were putting up a valiant defense, but he knew that it was ultimately futile.
"Colonel! Pydna reports bow armor is stripped of its outer layer; they've taken minor damage."
"Then swap it out with a ship from the reserves. Make sure nothing gets through the gap!"

As the battle cruiser ISS Pydna withdrew from the battle, a small hole opened up in the Terran line. The ships flanking this gap powered up their lateral weapons, and packed a little tighter until the replacement ship would arrive.

As the fleet below kept pouring on fire, tearing a 20 foot gash into the left hull armor of the light cruiser "Hydaspes"; the Terrans stubbornly kept their formation, not even trying to evade the shots.

"I want all units to focus on a single enemy ship. Fire when ready."
"BATTLENET in sync. Firing now!"
Another volley of lasfire ripped through the sky.

"Colonel, if we stay where we are, we're gonna look like Swiss cheese before long!"
"Aye, they'll tear up our armor, alright! But we can take it! Let's see how well they fare in a battle of attrition! FIRE AGAIN!"

The whine of ionizing air gave way to a loud "snap"; repeated almost 20,000 times in an instant: another volley of las fire on its way down.
Around the same time, a lucky shot found its way through the Hydaspes' armor, blowing out a small piece of the outer hull, and sending a shower of sparks through on of the ship's corridors.
"Hydaspes is falling back. Replacement expected in 90 seconds!"
"Understood. Fire again."

[Belderous]

The New Belderian Training Fields were positioned nearby the already hellish mining sector. Only one in every five soldiers survived the brutal training. But that was New Belderous. Weakness was supposed to be lost in the flight of the planet and settlement of the new one. Already urban centers started to spring up. Growing in size to cities, enveloped in the smoke and ciders of industry. The new Belderian soldiers had slightly more advanced equipment, still preferring conventional bullets to hard light, though they still used their newfound weapons. New Belderous is rising with zeal for the emperor and a hatred of those who ran them out of their homes (see killzone 3 helghast for looks)

[The God-Emperors Terran Empire]

Vectaria
The Citadel

As the Surrenderordie forces made their lightning march towards the city's outer defenses, the Terran forces were still in the dark about their numbers and composition.
To their great embarrassment, a simple dust storm had blinded their sensors... But a solution was found in the form of Vectaria's own monitoring systems.
However primitive, the Belderian telemetry gave a good approximation of the enemy numbers; this information was immediately relayed to Colonel Faust.

ESTIMATED ENEMY STRENGTH AND COMPOSITION

Surrenderordie forces moving to attack Vectaria are consistent with an Old Earth infantry division; slightly understrength at 93%.

Enemy forces consist of approx. 20,000 foot soldiers, 250 pieces of heavy armor, 250 heavy transportation vehicles. Enemy armor reportedly has anti-air capabilities. No artillery or air forces sighted.

Given the infantry-heavy composition of this force; it is possible that this is not a division-level formation; but an amalgamation of battalion- and brigade-sized units.

No additional enemy forces have been spotted in the area; but may be present and hidden from sight. Our lack of mobile sensors could become a serious issue - advice to use Thunderhawks for aerial recon.

Watching the returning Thunderhawks through his eye piece, Castor curtly replied: "Solid copy. Make it so."

Having received their new instructions, the Thunderhawks split up into 4 squadrons of 20 craft.

One of the squadrons would split up completely, and cover the area around the city.
Two squadrons would provide air cover to the infantry: the first with close air support, the second with long-range supporting fire.
The final squadron would continue to ferry the remaining civilians - 6 hours from now, the evacuation would be complete.

By this point, the Naval Infantry was prepared for battle. Now, the unbearable wait till initial contact had begun...


Outer Defense Zone
Fortified Perimeter
20 minutes later

"Over there! Enemy armor inbound! 8 Main Battle Tanks, supported by 40 infantry! range: 5,000 meters! Field artillery has firing solutions!" The spotter on this section of the wall shouted out.
"Then by all means, fire! Focus on the tanks!" The commanding corporal ordered.

Only two field guns were available to this part of the defensive perimeter; as was the case throughout the city. But the Terran gunners opened up with gusto, and pumped out shell after shell in a valiant attempt to stem the tide of the Surrenderordie army, which had committed itself to an expertly organized charge on the outer wall.

The first few volleys fell short, followed by one that overshot the tanks and tore into the back lines of infantry. Soon, however, the field guns had found the range; and high explosive shells came crashing into the Surrenderordie armor.
But the small field guns weren't meant to take on heavy armor from the front, and even with their technological edge; it took 4 or 5 rounds to silence a single tank.
Still, the enemy was chafing under the lash of cannon, and their losses began to mount. But within minutes, they had closed to 2,000 meters... And the armor opened up with a devastating volley.
Their powerful main guns unleashed a barrage of armor-piercing rounds, which slammed into the base of the wall; toppling bits and pieces of the hastily erected structure.
The field guns kept up their fire, and were rewarded when a number of tanks exploded due to a shell finding their ammo stores; the 40mm HE simply couldn't stem the tide.
Soon, the tanks had advanced to 1,800 meters; coming into the effective range of the 20mm autocannons. Each section of the wall carried four of these, and they all opened up simultaneously; reaping a bloody toll among the enemy infantry. But casualties were nowhere near as heavy as they could have been; as the Surrenderordie troops kept excellent interspacing, and advanced in a well-ordered loose formation. On top of that, the Terran artillery suffered from a surprising flaw: over-accuracy. The shells would go wherever the barrel pointed; and nowhere but there. Lacking the spread of older guns, the damage done was concentrated only in small areas.

Emperor Chauvin's men kept advancing with a grim determination; fearless, implacable, and to the defenders on the wall: absolutely terrifying.
"Damn, these guys are professionals!" The corporal remarked.
"Any Human army I know of would've routed by now; but they just keep coming!" His spotter replied; a begrudging sense of admiration evident in his voice. "Distance: 1,500 meters!"
"SHIT! Take cover!"
The approaching tanks had now reached optimal range for HESH rounds.
Using HESH canisters turned any armor piece into what could only be described as a massive shotgun.
The first volley of HESH rounds swept the top of the wall; scything down dozens, and silencing almost half the artillery.
"Riflemen, man the 20s! Leave the 40s! Shift fire to the enemy armor!" The corporal ordered.
"What's it like on our right?!" He wanted to know, addressing his spotter.
The corporal never got an answer. His spotter lay dead on the ground, his chest turned to mush.
"Oh my God..." The Corporal whispered; right before the wall shook with the impact of the next HESH volley. This time, the tanks had closed to such a range that the walls towered over them, and they could only cover the most forward parts. Even then, that didn't stop the searing hot shrapnel from taking out scores more of the defenders.
This battle was turning south at an alarming pace. There was no way the offensive-oriented Naval Infantry could hold their position against this onslaught.

The autocannons kept firing, heedless of the danger that lay ahead; and when the enemy had reached 1,200 meters; the riflemen stood up as one, and showered the Surrenderordie infantry with mass-heavy beams of solid light.
The enemy was at a disadvantage, firing at a high angle; but this didn't stop them in the slightest.
Even as they fell by the score and dozen, their return fire cut down one NI trooper after the other; and before long, the situation had become unbearable.

With the tanks just 500 meters away, the order came in from the Citadel to abandon the outer wall, and disperse throughout the Outer Zone.
When the Surrenderordie tanks came crashing through the wall, Colonel Faust realized just how powerful an enemy he was facing. Their defeat in two previous wars hadn't been an indicator of weakness... No, it only seemed like they had hidden their true strength until the last moment.
The Belderian Blitz had been an indication of that; and now Castor's men were paying the price for his superiors' blind reluctance to believe it.
"The South wall is breached. Have the artillery on the Eastern and Western walls pour flanking fire into the bastards, and pull everything from the Northern wall back to the second perimeter!"
The second squadron of Thunderhawks now moved in to add their own firepower to the unfolding battle.

In just the first 10 minutes, the Terran Empire had killed 5,800 of the attackers... at the cost of 4,200 of their own.
This was going to be a long and bloody day.


Nearing Medina

Strike Leader CAG-VIII had decided to press on with their impromptu Crusade. Which had unofficially been called by DSI, but with the loss of 3 invaluable drones in a single day, they had called off the strike on Moscow.
However, with their current fuel allowance; they'd never make it to Russia. And none of the Terrans was particularly ill-willed against their Orthodox "cousins"; but their burning hatred for everything Islamic was stronger than reason.

Despite having completed their assignment; and being under direct orders to come home, nonetheless; the crews agreed to continue their attack; and set a course for Medina: the City of Muhammad.

Cutting across the caves where this man had reportedly had his prophetic visions, which the Hellcats destroyed in a shower of positron bombs; they approached the city from the East instead of the South; which is where their defenses were most likely concentrated.

Sending the Wraiths in first to cover the bombers (and attract fire), the first line of defense was soon smashed under a rolling barrage of missiles and bombs.
Would Medina have to suffer the same fate as Mecca? Only time would tell...



North African coast

Seven great port cities. Each of them marked for destruction. The lives of 15 million people about to be ended by Terran bombs, just to flush out one single man.
Admiral Holt figured that the Surrenderordie forces would cease most resistance after their leader had been captured; but dared not risk killing him. He knew that, without Chauvin to lead them, the armies of Surrenderordie would never stop fighting; and the generals would likely carve the nation up into their personal dictatorships.
Hoping to force the Emperor to the bargaining table, this attack was aimed to starve him out.
However, Chauvin was no fool. He had seen through the Admiral's plan, and had concentrated the full might of his air force around the cities of North Africa.

Even then, they could only have about 15% of their planes in the sky at any given moment. Any more than that, and they could be caught refueling, allowing the attack to come through unmolested - but any fewer, and the airborne pilots would lack the numbers and firepower to hold up a dedicated assault force long enough to allow the other planes time to take off and close the distance.
As it was, the Terran attackers dropped in directly above the cities; only to be met by a wall of AAA and hundreds of enemy fighters.

However, every plan, no matter how ingenious, had its flaws.
Chauvin's mistake had been gravitational thinking. Against an enemy that could ignore gravity, three-dimensional dogfights and horizontal approach routes were a thing of the past.
As it were, most of the fighters were patrolling outside the city; leaving only a small screen to cover the settlement itself; and sicne the AAA would need some time to lock and open fire, the first wave of bombs had already been dropped by the time the enemy was even aware of what was happening.

The situation was the same over all the target cities: Terran planes coming in, dropping their bombs, and running into counter-fire. While the AAA took down dozens of fighters, these static positions were no match for supersonic missiles. But the Surrenderordie fighters were a wholly different story... Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, these pilots put up a heroic struggle; killing at least one Terran plane for every one they lost.

The Terrans were more numerous. The were more heavily armed. More maneuverable. Faster, and more advanced. But the enemy was just better.
Where fighter engagements played only a minor role in Terran warfare, it was a staple of the Old World battlefield - and the Imperial fliers were learning why this was so in the hardest way.
Soon, the rest of the enemy air force would be close enough to join their comrades in battle; but now, the Terrans had regained their composure, and started executing combat maneuvers.
The Air Superiority Fighters moved to engage the enemy at close range with Lasgun, whilst the Fighter/Interceptors covered them with their long-range missiles. As Ground Attack Fighters focused on enemy strong points, the Fighter/Bombers simply flattened every building in their path; regardless of its size or function.
Despite the staggering losses suffered in the initial engagement, the Terran air forces were gaining the upper hand. Already, thousands of bombs had struck the cities below; and every second saw more projectiles adding to the devastation.
Still, a third of the Terran assaulting force had already been shot down. They couldn't keep up this frantic air battle for long... And the full might of Surrenderordie's excellent air force was now brought to bear against the Terrans.
The Battle over North Africa was already proving to be a mixed bag... But if the cities were rendered inoperable, all the death would be worth it. Self-sacrifice for the greater good was something the Terran soldier understood very well - and a lot of sacrifice would be needed on this day.


Skies over Egypt

Once the Surrenderordie navy had come into visual range of the Terran detachment, the CO called up his tactical officer.

"Reporting as requested, Sir! Enemy force consists of 4 carriers, 20 capital ships of unknown class and type. Armament consists of 50 heavy naval guns, and several banks of Triple-A. They're made of standard materials; titanium alloy, carbon weave... We can easily outlast them.
Concerning our armament: every one of our ships has 105 Lascannons, but only 25 on the bow. We do have 30 on each broadside, so if we come alongside we can each bring 46 guns to bear. We outnumber them, Sir, it would be foolish to take them head-on. Especially with the order not to use Plasma Lances or any form of missile or torpedo."
"Well, this is gonna be harder than I thought. Still, I see no reason to deviate from our plan. Commence the attack!"

Unlike the battle with the Ruhigenian navy, this smaller engagement required no fancy formations or subtlety in firing. The Terrans opened up their lascannons on full-automatic, swiveling around the enemy fleet; diving on them, below them, in between them; with such a speed that the enemy gunners hit their own ships as often as they hit their attackers.
Finally, the Terran squadron formed up to the flanks of the enemy ships; and started pounding away. Here, they would hold until either victory, or death.


Ruins of Ruhigstad

Colonel Novgorodskii had managed to keep himself alive for a week on the plane's rations. The Ruhigenian troops had never brought him to battle, as the city had been ordered to evacuate as the assault was nearing its end.
Since then, there had only been silence.
Until today, when a flight of Army landing craft had come in to occupy what was left of the city.
A full battalion of the Imperial Army now occupied the airfield of Ruhigstad, deciding that an occupation of the city itself would only be detrimental.
Nevertheless, several squads had been sent out to search for survivors; and by some miracle, they had recovered over 30 injured pilots... And the old Russian bomber.
Along with the others, he was sent back home to recover. He'd have a lot to explain - taking off on an urban assault without approval was a capital offense. Still, given the results, it was more likely that he'd be lauded rather than executed.

As the infantrymen moved to secure and fortify the airfield; and a single company went around the towns surrounding the former capital of Ruhigen to ensure the remaining populace that they would not be harmed; agents of the Inquisition and Commissariat scoured the archives of Ruhigstad; in search of anything that could be of value to the Empire.

An entire division would soon land at Ruhigstad Airport to take possession of the city; thereby establishing the first foothold on the ground.

[Ruhigen]

"Keep firing, damnit! Keep firing!"

They have only been fighting several minutes and three more dreadnoughts have already gone down. The enemy ships continue their strategy of replacing ships any time they take damage. An especially concentrated blast strikes the flagship, knocking the Admiral off his feet and severely cracking the viewport, sending glass(it isn't actually glass but I'm not sure what else to call it) everywhere. One ensign is pinned screaming to the wall, a three-foot shard piercing his chest.

The Admiral hoists himself to his feet, blood dripping from a gash in his head. He draws his pistol and ends the ensign's suffering with a bullet through the head. He then turns to a nearby officer. "Damage report!"

"Sir, our hull has sustained minor to moderate damage in several places. We also have reports of several casualties. We can't keep taking hits like this, sir! We should retreat while we have the chance!"

"I AM THE ONE TO DECIDE WHEN WE RETREAT DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

"Of-- of course sir."

"Attention all craft, you now have permission to use artillery! As soon as a ship begins retreating to get replaced, shell it out of the sky!"

The whine of laser cannons is now punctuated with the sharp crack of artillery and answering booms in the distance...

[The God-Emperors Terran Empire]

Bombing of Medina

The city's AAA defenses had been cleared out in minutes, and the garrison was being cut apart by the drones. As explosives, incendiaries, and nerve agents continued to rain, Medina's citizenry was put to flight.
These people fared a little better than their counterparts at Mecca, since they had had warning of the impending attack.

Thousands had already taken flight, and as soon as the attack had begun, the city streets had become jam-packed with people running for their lives.
These masses not only made the garrison's job impossible, but also made an inviting target for the drones' las weapons.

Abandoned by its government, Medina died; taking 75% of its population with it into its grave.
The Hellcats' Crusade had ended, if only because they had run out of bombs.
This rogue CAG returned to the Cassini Gap; not having heard the news of the carrier fleet heading to Mars. They'd learn soon enough, as they were hailed by an embedded Inquisitor.
Strike Leader had been right. The Hellcat squadron would be welcomed back as heroes.


DSI Pluto Base

Commodore Blackburn came crashing into the command center, and nearly bumped into Colonel Andropov. Grabbing hold of the Russian's shoulders, Blackburn struggled to catch his breath; before rasping: "Who's in command of that Army Regiment?!"
"Tiberius Mason, why?" Andropov asked, caught off guard by Lewis' entrance.
"And he doesn't answer to Holt, does he?"
"No, he doesn't... Lewis, you wanna tell me what's going on?"
"Look at this!" Blackburn handed Andropov a PADD, containing the deployment orders for the 8472.
Every division had been assigned to a different city; which would leave the Regiment spread out across the entire Old World, and unable to support their own elements.
"This is a deployment only the most raw tacticians would make!" Andropov exclaimed. "There's no way General Mason is responsible for this... He's one of the Old Guard!"
"Which is why this is so surprising. I took the liberty of contacting our friends in Administratorum Militatem; they traced this package to Titus Valk." Blackburn explained.
Titus Valk was Mason's second in command, and infamous for his ambitions to take over the Regiment. Apparently, he was willing to betray his general to fulfill this dream...
"Alert general Mason at once!" Andropov ordered. "I'll redistribute the original deployment orders."

A few minutes later, Titus Valk was floating in space; and the Regiment prepared itself to land at its proper positions.

DEPLYMENT ORDERS
IDF IMPERIAL ARMY - 8472 COMPOSITE REGIMENT

First Division: Ruhigstad, Earth Occupied Zone
Type: Troop Deployment

Second Division: Copenhagen, Denmark
Type: Combat Landing

Third Division: Jan Mayen Island, Norway
Type: Capture & Secure

Fourth Division: Svalbard Islands, Norway
Type: Combat Landing

Fifth Division: Algiers, Morocco
Type: Combat Landing

Sixth Division: Vectaria, Russia
Type: Relief operation

Main Body: Aswan, Egypt
Type: Capture & Secure

While the majority of the Regiment wouldn't arrive until tomorrow, First and Sixth Divisions had been in the van; and would make landfall within minutes...


Ruhigstad Airport
10 minutes later

"Hold steady, hold steady... Touchdown!"
The Thunderhawk hit the ground; and its heavy-laden occupants clambered out. This particular platoon of Heavy Infantry was directed towards one of the hangars, which had been repurposed to serve as barracks until the prefab buildings could be flown in. At the moment, troops and equipment were priority number one; and the flurry of Thunderhawk coming and going had their work cut out for them.

All in all, the 45,000 troops that made up First Division would take hours to arrive; but the battalion already in place had labored continuously to ready the airport for their arrival. Already, checkpoints had been set up, and strongpoints were being constructed. Along the perimeter, much digging was done on fortified trenches; and fields of mines, Czech Hedgehogs, and razor wire were being put in place by the embedded men of the Imperial Corps of Engineers.

Thunderhawks went off and on, unloading the division’s slew of tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, artillery pieces and more. When de division would be on the ground in full, two brigades would stay behind to lock down the airport, while the rest would move to take possession of the city.

These soldiers were not the dedicated assault troops defending Vectaria. These were all-round fighters; and the real staying power of the Imperial Army. Any attack would find itself quickly smashed to bits… If there was anyone left with the courage, or stupidity, to try and retake the ruined city.
This time, the Terran army had come to stay.


Gateway One main base

For weeks, Dimitri Suranov had been searching and searching; running every scan and diagnostic imaginable to find something, anything that could yield the answer to the nagging question: why had the flow of time synchronized with that of the alternate timeline?
The Director was about to turn his research over to one of his subordinates when his eye caught something unusual.
Taking a closer look, he realized that he had found the answer.

The Director rushed to the comm room, where he compiled a report to the Imperial Palace.

I don’t think we’ll ever know why the timelines synchronized, but I have discovered how it happened.
It seems like the portals are to blame. The larger they are, the stronger the effect; and permanent portals mean the effect is permanent as well.
Since we have two very large, permanent portals to the alternate timeline, our respective timelines’ background chroniton wave patterns intersected and merged; thus slowing down the passage of time in our timeline, and speeding it up in theirs.
We’ve picked up large amount of triolic waves being released in the first moments after portal creation – this is the reason why the inherent particle resonation speed (Impervious to the non-physical concept of “time”) hasn’t caused a rapid decay of the space-time constant.
It is well knows that triolic energy is extremely dangerous; yet this form seems to have no ill effects on anything or anyone. Still, I recommend we use portal technology more careful in the future.

Imperial Palace
Imperial Senate


The Senate banks were filled out. All 800 Senators and 100 Legates, as well as all the heads of the Imperial Government were present for this meeting; which was an unusual occurrence.
In a normal meeting, even a quarter of all representatives showing up was unusual; but full occupation was unheard of outside catastrophic times.

However, it seemed that the discovery of the Iconian Gate had sparked an unusual interest in the Senate's ranks, and where there had been monthly meetings, now they convened every week.
Utilizing a QEC imagine device; Feodor and Dimitri were also present.

The Emperor opened this conference by taking the stand, and by raising his left hand, shushed the room. Tapping a button, the screen behind him showed a picture of Messier 89.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Messier 89 Galaxy. Part of the Local Cluster, existing in alternate timelines, and a gold mine for resources. It is lightly populated, with most species not even having developed FTL capabilities. This galaxy is the target for our newest resource raid, but the attack is slated to take pace in an alternate timeline. My son thinks this is a bad idea, so do explain."
"Thank you, father." Feodor began. "Senators, I'm sure you have all read the Science Directorate report on the pros and cons of portal warfare."

I'm going to write a dispatch about this, along with several others.

"Keeping this information in mind, is it not dangerous to tear a hole into an alternate timeline? Who knows what's out there; and by opening a sufficiently large portal we'd be inviting them to come right at us!"

"May I remind you that we're talking about an alternate timeline, and not an alternate universe?" Chairman of the Admiralty Board, Scott Donnelly, stated. "We know exactly what's waiting for us, DSI has been surveying the place for centuries."

"That may be so," the Prince replied, "but you're forgetting that portal rifts like the one the IDF is proposing can draw in creatures from other universes; even from different planes of existence altogether! Remember the Devidians?"

The picture of the galaxy was replaced by one of a group of Devidians fighting a squad of PDF.
Murmurs went about the Senate. The war against the Devidians had indeed been caused by a resource raid like this; and it had taken 30 years of brutal guerilla warfare to end.
Feodor continued: "Besides, why should be raid a galaxy in an alternate timeline, when the exact same galaxy exists in our own?"

This time, it was ISD Director Suranov who took the stand to reply. "Because the alternate Messier 89 is millions of years younger than ours, which means it'll be much richer, and much more ineptly defended. The species of Messier in the alternate timeline will be much more primitive, making it safer for our raiding forces to enter."

When it was clear that the Director was awaiting response, Admiral Ben-Shoshan took the word:
"Director Suranov has a point; but given the amount of time and resources already poured into the preparation of this raid, we cannot recoup our losses should we call it off. Furthermore, the forces slated for this operation are well-led, veterans all, and eager to fight! The Empire needs a good victory, now that morale is sagging from the reports from Gateway One."

The Emperor now took the stand once more; and said: "I am aware of falling morale, and boredom among our assault troops. The raids we conduct are small, and our armies are large. Many troops are stuck without assignment, and the expenses in salary and upkeep are through the roof. We need to use them, lest we risk economic collapse! Also, an easy victory has invaluable propaganda value, especially if it's an entire galaxy we're subduing! Therefore, I propose we invade bot our own and the alternate Messier 89; and accordingly, double our raiding force!"

Five minutes later, the Emperor exited the Senate and headed back for the Palace proper.
His resolution had been accepted by all.


Imperial Palace
Emperor Volkoff's office

Gregor’s head was pounding. He had a lot of information to disseminate: the stack of reports from the Earth campaign; the meeting from earlier today, and the news about the merger of the time flows.
But there was something else on his mind; a matter which he hadn’t concerned himself with for the past 10,000 years; but something he couldn’t put off any longer now that things were coming to a head in the war for the Iconian Gate.

Opening a long-range channel to Raven Rock, he sent a message to President Lyall of the United Terran Republics.

My intelligence service reports the UTR has a base somewhere in Scandinavia. We don’t know its exact location, but I am told it is quite extensive, and smack in the middle of Ruhigenian territory.
As you will undoubtedly know by now, the Terran Empire is engaged in military operations against Ruhigen; and we are about to launch an assault across Scandinavia.
Since I have little interest in a war with a friendly power, I request that you give me its exact position; so that my men know where not to fire.
I will not call of this attack, regardless of your response. There is too much at stake for my Empire to leave Earth before we’ve acquired what we came for.
I’m willing to negotiate a truce with the planetside powers, but as you can see; the IDS has wrought a lot of devastation. This was to make sure nobody got in our way when we started digging… I have won the war. For both our sakes, don’t make me start another. We have nothing to gain by fighting each other. I’m landing 15 million troops tomorrow. If resistance ceases before then, we will sign a white peace with anyone who wants to. No terms, no humiliation, no occupation. But against anyone who still resists, we’ll see this through to its inevitable end. Quia ego locutus sum!

Battle over Sweden

The Ruhigenian fleet had changed tactics, and its effects were clear.
Even the heavy shells pouring forth from the enemy's main batteries were but pinpricks to the Terran vessels; but enough pinpricks could kill even the strongest target.
Within minutes, the Destroyers "Hyperion" and "Memnon" had been disabled; and both ships were now falling out of the sky, its crews scrambling for the escape pods and shuttle craft.
200 would make it. 800 would not.
Seeing the Light Cruiser "Khwarezm" beginning to falter, Colonel Ross knew that a battle of attrition would go his way no longer. He had to change tactics, and fast.
Fortunately, he had already planned for such a necessity: his training would serve him well today.

"All ships, this is commander Ross! Our formation outstretches theirs by far; so we're going to use that against them! All ships: commence maneuver Zama Four!"

This maneuver was executed with the speed and precision of veterans.
The reserve squadrons moved to the fleet's flanks; while the rest of the fleet turned sideways (the right wing to starboard, the left wing to port), thus almost doubling the amount of Lascannon they could bear down on their enemies. Furthermore, the staggered lines straightened out, thus turning the fleet into a solid wall.
While the Ruhigenians kept dealing damage, he Terran ships no longer fell back. There was nothing to fall back to, anyway.

A volley of heavy shells tore through ISS Khwarezm's port side; shattering armor and killing crewmen by the score. Still, this wasn't enough to bring the vessel down; but the enemy had smelled blood, and now had multiple ships focusing fire on her. The Light Cruiser started to flounder, and as casualties began to mount, its captain gave the order to abandon ship; while he set the ship's navigation computer on a reverse course. If the Khwarezm would go down, he was going to make sure it wouldn't land atop one if its comrades.

As the center elements resumed firing, the new wings took their positions on the Ruhigenians' flanks; and while firing their forward Lascannons, began to creep closer to the enemy fleet.
At the same time, the ships in the center fired their lateral thrusters, and began closing in as well.
The Terrans now had the Ruhigenians trapped in a pocket: the Navy on their font, top and flanks; and the planet behind and below them. And the pocket of space between the Terran and Ruhigenian fleets was beginning to shrink...

Aboard the Harbinger, Colonel Ross was breaking his head trying to figure out a less costly resolution to this battle. Already, he could see the Heavy Cruiser "Nymeria" had lost the rear half of its port nacelle to a pair of enemy shells; and a cloud of plasma was beginning to form.
"Contact Admiral Holt! I want to know when he's gonna let us use our heavy weapons!"
"I heard that; I've been listening." Holt chimed in over the QEC. "This just in, you're gonna like this! DSI just sent me a message that they've located the Iconian Gate; it's at Jan Mayen Island! WE don't have to worry about blowing it up anymore... Weapons free."

Ross smirked. Opening the FLEETCOM Vox channel, he gave the order that would seal the fate of the Ruhigenian space fleet: "Attention all ships, this is Colonel Ross. All weapons, fire at will! I repeat: all weapons, fire at will!"

The end had come.
A hundred thousand each of Antimatter and Positron missiles shot out from the fleet's missile tubes; immediately followed by a full barrage of more than 70,000 torpedo's. After this, the fleet switched its Lascannons to full-automatic; so that instead of 15 rounds per minute, every ship now fired 200... per second.
As the giant waves of explosions slammed against each other; creating a literal wall of fire, Ross could imagine the terror the enemy below must have been feeling. He himself had been in similar situations all too often... Which gave him an unusual idea.
"Let's see how they hold up against this!" The Colonel laughed; his confidence restored in full.
"Contact the enemy admiral, I wanna offer him a way out."
Harbinger's Comms officer almost choked on hearing of this untold compassion, but as a good soldier should, he obeyed without question.
"Channel open, Sir."
"Attention, Ruhigenian admiral. This is William Ross of the Imperial Terran Navy. As you can see, this battle is already over. I have yet to use my most powerful conventional weapon: the Plasma Lance. It destroys Dreadnoughts in a single shot, and I have 1,200 ships which carry them. So the way I see it..." He made a gesture, ordering the fleet to cease fire - which it did.
"You have scant few options. One: You keep fighting, and be destroyed. Two: Try to retreat, and be shot in the back and destroyed. Or three: You could surrender, and live to see the end of this war. If you don't reply RIGHT THIS INSTANT, I'll make the choice for you. Don't let your men die in vain; and stop this pointless battle. The choice is yours. Ross out."


Battle of North Africa

What little mercy Ross had had for the Ruhigenians, no such sentiment was felt by the pilot fighting the Surrenderordie air force over the North African coast.
With hundreds of their number dead; the pilots were out for vengeance. They descended upon the cities with vigor; sending bombs and missiles into the buildings below. They didn't care what they hit, as long as they hit something. Which meant that most of the shots went straight into residential neighborhoods...

The enemy pilots gave it all they had, but never again got the chance to close to dogfight range; where they had the advantage. The Terrans furiously broke up every attempt to engage, and in doing so, kept the Air Force in missile range; where the Terrans had a definite edge. This tactic cost the Terrans dearly, but it was bringing them victory; as city block after city block went up in flames, while Surrenderordie fighters were dropped by the score and dozen.

Barely 15 minutes after the first shots had rung out, it was over. North Africa had been laid to waste. Millions of civilians had died in the merciless bombing' whether it be from explosions, fire, or poison gas...
Still, this victory had come at a steep price. Out of the 2,300 manned aircraft, only 800 remained. More than two thirds of the drones had been shot down as well, but that was of no consequence. Drones could be replaced fast, cheap, and easily. Living pilots, on the other hand, took years to train... And with the amount of casualties they'd suffered, the cream of Gateway One's air force had been smashed. This moment of airborne glory would be the last for the duration of the Terran campaign.


Battle over Egypt

The battle against the untested Surrenderordie space navy was going well.
The Terran ships kept circling the enemy vessels like a flock of sparrowhawks; pecking away at the Shrikes with the same ruthless abandon that had been shown time and again.
Even though Chauvin's crews fought with the extraordinary bravery and discipline that defined the Surrenderordie armed forces; the Terrans had every possible advantage in this battle.

The Shrike Carriers were first to fall.
Assessing them the bigger threat, the Terran commander (A nameless nobody) had set his heavier Defiants swirling around them, while the lighter Akiras targeted the Shrike Destroyers.
The enemy carriers never got the chance to launch their fighters. The fleet caught completely by surprise, they were simply cut apart by a torrent of Lasfire.
Unlike the carefully coordinated battle with the Ruhigenian Navy, where the Terran ships fired single volleys at a time; this swirling knife fight saw the Imperial ships blasting away at full-automatic.
Under the lash of solid light, the flotilla of Shrikes began to melt away.

As soon as the news of the battle reached them; the Surrenderordie Navy had rushed to the space ships' aid. Most of their vessels were either too far away to be of assistance, or had been caught in the furious assault on the North African port cities. Nevertheless, the squadrons of Missile Frigates and Destroyers at Damietta, a city which had been spared the fury of the aerial assault, were eager to get back at these alien invaders; and had set towards the site of the battle.
A Surrenderordie Carrier Battle Group of what was left of their Mediterranean Fleet, which sported Missile Cruisers and missile-armed submarines, was also closing the range to partake in the engagement. But even as these ships turned up on the Terran sensors, they didn't relent...

Even with all these advantages, the battle wasn't bloodless for Admiral Holt's men.
The enemy gunners kept up a steady and accurate stream of fire even among the carnage and destruction wrought throughout their fleet; and the Terran crews stationed on the outer sections paid the price. Even though the damage done to the ships was tiny, what few shots pierced the armor and hull fell apart. With this type of fire, called "scatter shot" by the Terrans, this meant a ball of white-hot fire flared wherever the laser had been. Even their Void Shields and Carapace Armor couldn't save the men from these temperatures; and they died in screaming agony.

Nevertheless, these casualties didn't do anything to hamper the ships' important sections; and the battle went on.
At one point, the commander's Prometheus swept in on a particularly resilient Shrike Destroyer; and sent a plasma lance through the back; cutting clear through its length and sundering the ship.
Seeing their flagship using one of its lances; the other ships now started using their own.
This spelled the end for the enemy fleet. Against these dreadful plasma weapons, they simply had no defense. Within minutes; the Terrans had won a total victory.

The victory had been total, but not perfect.
In the final moments of the Shrikes' existence, they had scored two kills: one Akira and one Defiant were bought down. The Akira fell down to the ground, its crew not having the time to reach the escape pods. The impact crushed the ship's lower decks like a harmonica; the impetus killing almost all: only 40-odd surviving out of a 750-headed crew.
Even though the Akira's crew had been decimated, they were the lucky ones. The Defiant, being an extremely compact ship, never stood a chance at survival when a flurry of laser shots exploded in its reactor room.
The Defiant was torn apart in a massive explosion, compounded by the detonating contents of its armories - the hail of white-hot shrapnel temporarily blinding the squadron's sensor banks.

Still, they blinked back to life within two seconds - and showed a wall of missiles rising up to them.
The water-based fleet had come too late to save the space navy, but were not going to let the Terrans have their victory.

The Imperial ships quickly scattered and shot upwards, to where they'd be out of the missiles' range.
The Navy never stood a chance. Against Lasfire, simple wet navy ships were beyond helpless - and the Terrans knew it.
Still, unwilling to execute such valiant men, the commander opened a Vox channel to the fleet below; while the missiles were unceremoniously shot down.
"You will listen carefully! I have you in my sights, and you cannot escape. If you fire on us again, we will destroy you. But if you head back into port, I'll leave you in peace. You have one minute to make your choice. All your lives depend on your answer. End message."
Just to make his point clear; and to take out the fleet's only dangerous asset, the Prometheus shot a lance through the Surrenderordie carrier; which, half melted and blazing, immediately began to sink.
The Imperial ships marked their targets; and awaited their next order. Withdraw... Or fire when ready.


Cassini Gap

Admiral Holt couldn't believe what he was seeing.
His sub-commanders had offered the enemy clemency - in the North, Colonel Ross had offered the Ruhigenian fleet surrender; and in the South, the attack squadron had destroyed its target, but passed on the opportunity to deal a blow to the Surrenderordie navy.

"Admiral's personal log. My commanders have failed me. Don't the fools know that the Army is landing in North Africa tomorrow?! Now Chauvin's navy can fire at us, and Tiberius will have to use his missile artillery against cruisers! I just hope the loss of an aircraft carrier will persuade them to give up... Fortunately, my airmen have lived up to their task, and maintained their Terran honor. If I'm not mistaken, this success should be enough to smoke out the Desert Fox. Surely he can't have many troops left to defend him? His armies in Eurasia have been battered by our earlier air raid, and with the loss of the cream of his army at Vectaria, there's not much he can do to stop the Army.
If Admiral Pyle were here, this would be the moment he'd offer honorable capitulation. But I am not Cassius Scipio. Even though I'm not looking forward to further engagements for control of this useless ball of water, I will not cave in and offer surrender.
Let Chauvin show what kind of man he is. He has my Vox channel frequency; and there is no shame in surrender at this point. After all, his armies have died... I'll look forward to the resolution."

The Admiral ordered his remaining 1,200 ships to abandon their covered position, and take up a new position behind Mars - bypassing Earth by skirting the solar glare. If it would come down to it, his ships could strike Earth from the rear while the rest of his fleet occupied them from the front.
But timing had to be perfect. His plan depended on the rotation of Earth, Mars, and above all, the Sun. He'd only have one chance. A single, half-hour window... Which was due in 17 days.
He hoped the war would be over before then.

[Surrenderordie]

Is it ready? Johnson?
Yes sir, it is all set.
Alright ready on 3-2-1-now
***The Vox Chanel opens up, and the desert fox is seen by all who are watching on the other side***
I am aware that you are here for something. You are a powerful trained army, and you wouldn't lose so many men for no reason. Now my men have told me some interesting reports. Your aircraft have shown some serious interest in an Island chain that I happen to have access to. I am not sure what that interest is, but our monitors have shown that what appears to have been recon sweeps have stopped with your discovery of these islands, and have also opened fire with your heavy weaponry. If you do not pull out of earth, I will blow the entire island chain off of the planet with Nuclear bombs already planted on the island while your aircraft have been busy elsewhere. A large amount of civilians on this planet have also made it underground, and are more then willing to fight for this planet using weapons scavenged from your dead soldiers. It is your call.
**End Message**
If it doesn't work sir? If they aren't interested in the islands after all?
Well, we'll be in a big hole all right. I would have to order the surrender.
Well, SSGT Deviliers says that they discovered how the weapons work, and the troops in China are waiting for your command.
I am going over to India. They have barely looked at it. I might be able to continue the effort over there. Tell Diviliers to bring his troops to meet me.

[General Chauvin]

Crime, in the world, (major crime that is) had become almost extinct. People thought that this had to do with the war distracting everyone and beefing up security. This, is not true. Really what had been going on is this. Daniel Chauvin is a well known criminal from several years ago. He is wanted in 17 different countries, including the US, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, The UK, both Belgium and Holland, Mexico, China, Both North and South Korea, Japan. These places all have very long sentences for major Bank robbery. He has also obtained a death sentence in Andorra, for the robbery of Coca Cola from a local supermarket. He had become the most wanted man in the Universe, until he disappeared. He was not seen for the previous four years, and the world breathed a sigh of relief. (this is not true, three months ago, a scheming hiker in Argentina noticed him, and suspected who he may be. When he went to investigate, he found out that Daniel Chauvin had no criminal record, with the word BWAHAHAHA in the comments section) In reality, he had been biding his time in an obscure location called the Falkland Islands, recruiting all major criminals and starting the formation of a very dangerous army of criminals. He had been capitalizing on the recent wars to steal small amounts of weapons and ammunition from the war zones of various locations. A few high powered guns here, a few small guns there, a couple stores of munitions, and it was all believed to be nationalist raiding parties. Now, he has assembled a massive force of troops, and hosts a state of the art base hidden on a nearby island. The silence was about to end. scheduled at 4:43 pm, an aircraft carrier based in Edinburgh was boarded from above, as several helicopters appeared from nowhere and very quickly landed on the boat. The un suspecting crew surrendered with out a fight, and was stripped naked and thrown overboard into the Atlantic with life vests on them. within 17 minutes, the carrier was heading down south, a long with a sizable amount of air craft. The queen , who was visiting when she heard the news, saw the carrier go out of sight. The General now has an aircraft carrier, and a picture of the Queen flipping off the renegade boat has now gone viral.

[Belderous]

Um, sorry, but pre planted nuke? I think that is against the rules

[Surrenderordie]

OOC; No, it isn't pre planted, I was covering all of his troop movements, because the Terrans miraculously haven't taken out my satellites. It was fairly easy to notice the flurry of activity, and sneak some bombs onto the island.