NationStates

Posted: **Tue Nov 24, 2015 1:54 am**

Endless Sorrow

"Admiral! Our shields cannot withstand this level of firepower for much longer!" Shouted one of the various petty officers on the Mothership's bridge. "If this continues, we will be unable to use our Void Drive!"

"Curse the souls of those traitors!" Growled Vy, slamming his armoured hand down upon the control console. "Open a channel with the enemy, perhaps they will be willing to negotiate despite their lack of honour! And begin the first stage of the self-destruct sequence, I suspect we will require some bargaining power!"

Greetings all hostile forces, this is Admiral Xaph'Vy of Clan Xaphaii. Our fleet cannot withstand your onslaught for much longer, and I have no desire to see anymore of my clanmates slain by your weapons. As such, I am willing to negotiate the surrender and withdraw of our forces in orbit. As you have shown yourselves to be honour-less traitors, I have activated the first stage of the Endless Sorrow's self-destruct sequence, need only press a button to destroy my ship. Rest assured, the blast wave will doubtless cause severe damage to your forces and contaminate the planet below with radioactive fallout. You have ten seconds to cease fire.

Posted: **Tue Nov 24, 2015 2:22 am**

OOC: I have a post at the end of the previous page. Read it if you've not seen it!

Far Side of Chri'irah from Nírnaeth Arnoediad

Nuinon sat in the cockpit of his fighter, as he had since the battle was first joined. The Thoron fighter was one of the most advanced in the universe, and its cockpit module was constructed with a teleport unit built into it, in the event of its destruction, more effective than any ejection mechanism, beyond that it was of course, spacious enough to house a seven foot pilot, if needs be, comfortable for long duration use, and equipped with everything from cupholders to holographic displays that could remotely view other networked vessel’s feeds. His control of the craft's systems came in two forms, in the traditional control yoke for one, but also he wore a circlet that served as a neural interface; he could control the Thoron directly with his mind, and it would perform any maneuver he could imagine.

Outside the cockpit though, the Thoron was a lean and efficient fighting machine, equipped with plasma cannons and missile dispensers that like the cockpit, used teleportation techniques, to give them an all but infinite supply of ammunition. Its gravitic engines allowed it to accelerate in any direction and fire with ease at any target.

Of course, that didn’t warrant the inclusion of a living pilot.

To be a pilot one had to offer something that no machine could, like the Somë drones, with their subsapient savant intelligences that were overall about as smart as a very smart dog, but were nonetheless very, very good at flying combat aerospacecraft, that made up the bulk of the Menelmacari fighter corps. And that was that he, unlike the drones, was able to see things not in the infinitesimal reaction times of machines, but literally before they happened, anticipating the future, meaning that he could react before an event actually occurred.

Centuries of training and millennia of life had made him a perfect killing machine, and yet, for this battle he and his comrades had done nothing but watch the battle that others fought.

Until now.

The Thoron was faster in space than in the air, and so Nuinon stayed above the atmosphere to close on the Apophan fighters' position, then arced his fighter down into the atmosphere, his squadron following, and accompanied by twice their number of Somër, and the sky thundered with their passage. They shimmered and faded, not truly invisible, but using the active optical camouflage laced through the fuselage to fade into the blue background of the Chri'iran sky; the same system would likewise minimize their cross-section to radar and other sensors. Soon he could detect the Hunters easily enough, and frowned, thumbing his comm.

"Fleetmind Actual, we are in pursuit of Apophan fighters, they appear to be... I don't know what they're doing. They're not bombing or anything, I have not seen behavior like this except in hunting birds. They're searching for something."

Nienna's voice came on. "Understood. Hold fire."

"Excuse me?" Nuinon answered.

"The Apophans are offering surrender."

"That's not what it looks like from down here, Fleetmind Actual."

"Noted. Standby, keep an eye on them."

MIV Nírnaeth Arnoediad

Nienna quietly reported Nuinon's findings to the Warmaster, who nodded. "Hold fire -- for now."

"Admiral Xaph'Vy, this is Warmaster Ferinion. So far, the Excidians have thus far operated in far better faith than have you. I understand you still have fighter craft attacking the surface. You will withdraw them immediately, or more of your clanmates will die. Furthermore I do not believe you will destroy your ship. This will simply kill yet more of your clanmates, defeating the entire purpose of this exercise. Now, all of your ships will move one-half-lightsecond from the planet's surface, and they will do this immediately. These are conditions of further negotiation, and are immutable. Further attacks against the surface of any nature will render your offer to surrender null and void, and every last one of your people in this system will die. You have five seconds to comply."

Posted: **Tue Nov 24, 2015 2:37 am**

Elsewhere in the Kiln

The threat of the Kiln Administration aircraft towards the Singaporeans had mostly been toothless. Offworlder air superiority prevented nearly any attempt by the Kaybor and Kendi soldiers to venture so far into the Kiln.

However, Intelligence of Kaybor noted that the fighters assisting the forces advancing on Kaybor Gate had suddenly broken off, flying back towards where the Offworlder Rail lines were being laid.

This was shortly after the sky explosions had started.

Furthermore, Kaybor and Kendi had received the transmissions from space concerning their coming liberation by Menelmacar, and knew that the Offworlders were now at war with the Far-Offworlders.

The Offworlders fighters could be occupied a long time. Long enough to send an attack force into the Kiln.

Seriously short on qualified pilots after their brief air war with the Offworlders, the Guard of the Air for the Royals of Kendi (GARK) have taken to relying on UAVs for air combat.

For this reason, the Cloakmouth UAVTOL was dispatched against the invaders. Two of the unmanned craft, equipped with high explosive missiles and 12.7 mm nose machine guns, were launched and rapidly honed in on the Singaporean portal.

From 1000 meters up, the two craft took turns diving at the PTFS ground forces and climbing back up, to ensure that at least one craft was firing at all times. They started with machine guns to pick off the infantry units, saving the missiles for necessity.

Posted: **Tue Nov 24, 2015 10:25 am**

Supply Base Nipton

Defenses were incomplete when the Excidian's opened fire on the supply depot. Captain Hold'em was killed by the following barrage before he could even shout 'By the fires of the daemon portal!' as well as Lieutenant CC who had been supervising the offloading of the newly arrived supplies. The footsloggers on the ground had not been clued into the change in stance of the space fleet, believing themselves to have been abandoned and awaiting link up with the very forces which had just opened fire upon them.

" Sarge! The shells are coming from the wrong direction!" One of the privates shouted from the bottom of the shallow trench that had protected him and his powered armor from the brunt of the shockwaves, fortunately no one had had a chance to catch some sleep, so the destruction of the pre-fabbed barracks was hardly a loss worth reporting in the chaos that ensued following the bombardment.

"Boys we have been classified as expendible, and for whatever reason, the Excidians do not want to wait for the natives to take care of this little slice of paradise." Major Dysfunction said, emerging from the smoke and flying debris of the attack, his L250 armor sparking as the shields deflected some of the larger shards, his shielding not quite depleted from the shockwaves. " Dropships, you have nose guns, and your engines are still hot, give those rat bastards a little kiss for me, won't ya, Mary, hon? Take a Plodder's Platoon to mix things up a bit, won't ya?" He added, ordering some of the only remaining aircraft at the base to attack the train, well aware that just prior to landing that his fighter cover had been reassigned, for some reason back to orbit.

In the trenches the men fired from cover as the Excidians advanced, saving most of their heavier ordinance for when they got to within 200 meters, when the heavies of each squad would begin bombarding the forward area with their fat man launchers. As the missiles were held in reserve for the threat of air cover.

His HUD pipped an affirmative as the five dropships with 30mm cannons nose mounted lifted off, with five men each from Plodder's Platoon to engage the Train a mere two kilometers off, the sharpshooters had dropped to prone once the shelling had begun, and were steadfastly plunking away with their fat-fifty-cal railgun sniper rifles which drew power from a thick cable attached to their suits. (19 marksmen)

" Just like the Martilian betrayal, eh Major?" His adjuctant quipped, referring to the communist betrayal several years earlier.

" Oh I don't know about that, we'd had months to establish in that, and the lines were far less blurry. And urban combat as opposed to a remote desert outpost. In anycase, broadcast a distress signal, no encryption, as many bands as you can on the Company transmitter. Do remind our warriors to affix bayonets, the way Captain Hold'em would have it, may the God-Saints watch over him."

At 500 meters the nose guns of the five dropships opened up on the train, the GAU-8A3's gave a similar sound to any who were familiar with the popularized weapon of the American A-10, redesigned to travel the void. At the sound of the *brrrt* of the nose guns, the five man squads disembarked from the low flying Dropships, their L150 boots microjets flaring to life in order to offset the acceleration from the drop.

They landed firing, and shouting, some with their .75 cal gauss rifles, others with their semi-automatic .500S&W drum fed long barrel pistols, holding off on their missile launchers for now. Although one enterprising trooper shouldered his Fat Man launcher and clapped a football sized nuke to the rails of the launcher before firing it at the far end from their assault, the nuke's jet booster kicking in as its sensors detected its free flight free of the guide rails.

Their suits loudspeakers broadcasting clearly and proudly their declarations.

" For the Alamo! For Freedom! And for LIBERTY! DEATH TO THE HERETIC!"

Back at the supply depot casualties were still being discovered, nearly all of Catherine's Couriers had been destroyed or disabled, and nearly all eighty support personnel had died or been mortally wounded by the thermobaric weapons, as a result only one survivor remained of the logistics unit that had landed at the base which should have been far from the front lines in any event.

" You know what this means right?" One private asked another.
" What does it mean Jimbo?" He asked, furtively peeking over the sandbags in barely contained envy at those already benefitting from the luck of the draw for a retaliatory strike on the train in the distance.
"It means that the moisture condensers probably bit the dust and we'll have to use the suits water reclamation systems for the duration." Jimbo said, spitting some tobacco onto the alien sands, his visor being raised in order to do so.
" A fifth of our guys just got vaped, and you're worried about having to drink your own water? Dang Jimbo, priorities man, priorities." The other private sighed, shaking his head in disbelief.

Several others were watching the skies all around the base for hostile birds, after all, if it rains, it pours. And there sure as a Chocobo sheds feathers, no one had seen a single weather pony about.

Over thirty MANPADs were still in able hands after the surprise attack.

As almost an after thought, Major Dysfunction put the remaining functional dropships into the sky to strafe threats with their nose guns, all in all seven dropships left the ground leaving two too damaged to lift off and the remaining eleven little more than scrapheaps.

" Godspeed you magnificent pilots in your flying machines." the Major muttered, looking around for something with a bit more kick than his issued weapon.

This is a Hobbiest Republican Distress Signal.
Nipton Supply Depot is under attack by Excidium Planets forces.
Chain of Command is still through Major Dysfunction.
Hostilities Initiated from the direction of the proposed rail line.
Casualties are high.
Requesting air support from any forces opposed to Excidium.
This Message Repeats.

Posted: **Tue Nov 24, 2015 2:23 pm**

Endless Sorrow

The Admiral smiled as he read the reply, it would be easier to deal with these beings than he had originally believed. Whilst he was composing his reply, the Mothership and its escorts activated their sublight engines and begun slowly moving away from the planet, soon reaching the required distance.

Greetings Warmaster, I assume you are the commander of the forces who launched a preemptive assault against the Excidians earlier? Anyway, our fighter craft have yet to fire a single bolt of plasma within Chri-Irah's atmosphere. Of course, they would not hesitate to do so if I gave the order, but for now they are merely flying through the planets airspace. And it would be most unwise of you to doubt the resolve and zealotry of my people, we will gladly take our own lives to exact vengeance upon those who betray our trust, for such beings do not deserve to have ever existed. We will gladly withdraw from this accursed world, for if you are willing to exterminate every last man, woman and child aboard the Endless Sorrow, then I know you to be truly monstrous. We will comply, however to do so we must leave our fightercraft within the planet's atmosphere. Rest assured, they will not fire unless I give the order.

The Far Side of Chri-Irah

The Hunters soared through the skies of Chri-Irah, the omnipresent whining noise of their engines alerting everything nearby to their presence. they were designed for speed, not stealth, and they doubted the Birrin had any defences that would prove effective against their advanced biotechnology. Upon receiving the orders to cease their hunt, they descended upon the ground, slowing their speed until they landed on the surface. Perhaps they could carry out their search more effectively on foot.

Posted: **Tue Nov 24, 2015 3:02 pm**

The guns stopped. All fighting stopped. And no one else died by the C'tani hands; even missiles in flight altered their trajectories to avoid impact. Mines folded like flowers enfolding their petals around their cores once more, and the C'tani fleet continued to sedately drift, only making minor evasive rolls and spirals in its overall motion, but they did do one small thing that was not peaceful.

Along their ventral sides, dozens of small objects broke away, heading for a destination in the Kiln-Kaybor border. They could be taken for large escape pods, at least at first, falling groundward with pulses of thrusters that angled their flat undersides groundward, they were compact, and shrouded in lightning as they began their drop.

From their positions, they were headed for the Kiln-Kaybor border. They were moving as a group, and coordinated, some of them jetting in lightning-wreathed plasma toward their destination, others simply drifted; they would come down as a group.

From their motherships' positions, the orbital period of the planet, so similar to Eärendil which many humans called Venus, was approximately eighty minutes. Therefore, the ships that released these objects were the ones closest to the region involved; naturally they could pour it on to arrive very quickly indeed, or even teleport, the shock impact of a drop-assault was sometimes preferable.

Some people got 'the shakes' when confronted with the prospect of falling hundreds of miles and hitting a planetary surface. Not so the minds in this drop, for the monoliths, not all of which were even sapient, though some were AIs of considerable capacity, were designed for the task, and took to it as fish to water.

Fighters and precision peeled off from the fleet, their attack on the Excedian ships shelved in preference to their preferred theatre of operations, and they raced ahead of the drop entering atmosphere; there were three squadrons ten-strong of the supersonic fighter-landers called Night Scythes, which carried a portal generator, while two others, Doom Scythe ground-attack fighters, which dedicated half their mass and a goodly portion of their space to a meaty node-powered anti-vehicular energy beam that could literally chop tanks in half, or sink ocean going warships.

These barrelled toward the Hobbiest camp, locking onto the structure of the massive war-train, their android pilots, visible to view from their open-cockpited craft, were guided by optics mounted below their cockpits and even those in their own skulls, made of reinforced metals, and mounting many eyes in their bulbous heads, the pilots were machines made of the same material as their craft, thicker in fact. They barely moved, not relying on physical controls to guide their craft, though a number of controls were set before them for manual use on the rare occasions when an organic might pilot the craft, at much reduced function, though many, being uploaded minds from physical bodies, enjoyed the controls and displays set before them even though they had superior sensoria.

Pharia took her doom scythe on a course that twisted and turned through the air on a trajectory that would seem to overshoot the target area until they made contact with the enemy. Her skull sat against a spine of metal that worked its way across the top of the vessel and linked to the primary umbilical in the ship's tail, and it linked her body directly into the craft, extending her mind with advanced processors that made its operation more instinctive to her than flying was to a bird.

She could see in her mind the target, as viewed by the ships in orbit, and her own sensors showed similarly as they hurtled into the air above Kiln.

With the drop craft minutes away, her wing, and its five squadrons, would be the first aid that would come to Nipton base, her target was pre-programmed; silence the Excedian artillery.

"Attention Hobbiest Republican Supply Depot, this is Great Civilization Attack Wing Pharia, we are inbound to suppress the enemy position shelling you, and will be dropping troops to support you."

Meanwhile, a more general transmission was radiated at sublight speed while the C'tani vessels continued to jam calls for help from out-system.

We have suspended operations, pending the completion of surrender by all enemy forces. We will liaise with Warmaster Ferinion. The Menelmacari demands are our demands.

Posted: **Tue Nov 24, 2015 9:43 pm**

With the fighting now quieted, the Allanean ships ceased firing their weapons. Within the heavy vessels, the gunners and commanders remained at their stations, ready at any point to open fire again. The safety protocols on the guns and missile launchers have not been engaged, and the fighter crews remained within their machines, prepared to launch at a moment’s notice. It was a ceasefire - it was not, as such, peace yet.

Baroness Priscilla Conde spoke again, her voice broadcast to Allanean, allied, and enemy forces alike, openly and without restraint.

We, too, shall cease firing our weapons at the moment. However be aware that we are prepared for a renewal of hostilities at any moment, and of course will do so if there is but the slightest whiff of betrayal.

In terms of negotiations, be aware that the Menelmacari have our fullest backing.

Posted: **Wed Nov 25, 2015 1:29 am**

Capital Investment

Mr. Percival weighed his options. It took quite a lot of time to ponder, his mind racing to calculate the odds of his death if he resisted, versus potential losses if he surrendered.

Mr. Percival examined the terms again, playing back the transmission.

At last, he took a small remote, a wire, and a metal box, and slipped them under his shirt. The construction lacked any ferromagnetic components and used compounds that would be undetected by any test for chemical explosives, so it would likely remain unknown to the Menelmacari unless they strip-searched him.

Percival opened a communications to the Bridge. "Yes, Captain, deactivate the laser cannons and lower shields. All belligerents have agreed to cease fire except the Hobbiest traitors. Tell the rest of the fleet to follow suit, and tell all capital ship personnel to abandon ship. We'll be space-walking. Oh, wait, power down the main engines as well, put us on auxiliary power. Tell the warp ships to remain as they are, they are unarmed and unarmored as is."

Percival next was patched through to the Menelmacar.
"I am evacuating Capital Investment and all other larger vessels. Fighters will remain as they are. I'll be drifting through space in a space suit, waiting for you."

All the mining vessels, fuel ships, shuttles, dropships, Wallenstein Cruisers, and the 6 Dragonfly fighters powered down all weapons and switched to auxiliary power. At the same time, the shields were dropped, the engines cut, and the crew of mining vessels, fuel ships, shuttles, and Cruisers all exited the ships via airlock doors. The civilian warp ships were unarmed, unarmored, and carried only 5 crew each, so they did nothing.

The only other thing of note was that Piercing Descent did nothing to comply. It kept all lasers trained on the nearest missiles, and kept its shields up. It also warmed up its warp drive and continued to accelerate towards the planet, on a collision course with Chri-irah's upper atmosphere. This would almost certainly be suicide, as the Crossbow Class carriers are not meant to enter the atmosphere of a planet.

Nipton Supply Base

The nuclear rocket hit the ridge near the center of the train. Its .75 ton (TNT equivalent) warhead was... actually quite pathetic for a nuclear weapon.

The 50 meter kill radius succeeded in killing off a few dozen of the Tachyon troops, including several of the Jackrabbit exosuit pilots, destroying a section of the rail, and mangling four of the flatcars. Aside from that, very little damage was done.

The 20 Tachyon Mobile Cannons swiveled their guns to focus fire on the Hobbiest dropships, clearly the next threat, and fired off several Artillery rounds at the aircraft (4 each).

As the enemy infantry fire began to pick off the Tachyon troopers, they quickly dropped back down the ridge.

This was not a huge problem, as the twenty-odd Aesir suit pilots held a commanding view from roughly a hundred meters up, and laser designated the enemy infantry units as targets. The Tachyon soldiers, firing their rifles blind from behind cover, let the guidance systems on the microrocket ammunition guide the 12mm rounds to their targets.

The food box car and the two empty cars that once held Exosuits and hoverbike were shredded by the gunship fire, as was the the RailTank engine, which survived mostly intact but lost its weapons systems. The front car was destroyed under specific fore from the dropships.

The hoverbikes, taking fire from enemy ballistics, lost a couple of vehicles. The rest continued on their zig zag path to the enemy base, 1 kilometer and closing.

Master Sergeant (Ret.) Nicole Williams was fortunate to have survived a nuclear blast. An ex-special forces operative but unable to reveal that to Tachyon, she had been largely neglected by the Coalition's military organization, and was assigned a lowly Lieutenant position. Williams, however, had little patience for commanding a platoon, and went over to one of the as of yet undestroyed munitions box cars, and pulled out a heavily armored and locked case. She dragged the case back to one of the (clearly marked) hospital cars at the end of the train, barging in and grabbing a bespectacled man by the shirt collar.

"Doctor McHenry, I require your assistance in opening this. We need it."

The 'Doctor' (by degree only, he was no medical man, but a nuclear physicist) looked into Williams' determined face, and resigned himself to comply. "I suppose now is as good a time as any for a field test."

McHenry raised his eye to the lock, and the retina scanner beeped when it was satisfied with the results. For some odd reason, McHenry had set the lock to scan this retina through his glasses, likely so he could simply break his glasses to deny access to the case.

With a click, the case sprang open. Williams hurredly set the case down and pulled the components of an overly large caliber rifle from the case. Fitted for 15mm×100mm caseless ammunition, the rifle assembled into a large sniper weapon. A six-round magazine was pulled from the case and filled with several of the large microrocket projectiles.

"It's time to blow $#@% up." Williams remarked, snapping the magazine into the bottom of the weapon and jumping out of the hospital car. "See you later, Doctor."

Kiln skies

The fighter squadron that had been assisting the assault in Kaybor had been ordered back to assist at Nipton base. The second fighter squadron assigned to Inferno had also been called, but wasn't yet in the skies and hadn't had time to arrive.

The eight supersonic interceptors honed in on the C'tan fighters and landing craft, seeing them as a greater threat to the Coalition forces. Two of the Stormwrathian fighters aimed for the Doom Scythes, firing off their hardlight autocannons and a quartet of air-to-air missiles. The other six targeted the landing craft, using both hardlight autocannons and thermobaric missiles.

Posted: **Wed Nov 25, 2015 2:40 am**

UNKNOWN TIME
STATION LAZIC, THE KILN, CHRI-IRAH
Construction crew

After the completion of portal station no. 1, construction materials and supplies came in, mainly for the building of various supply depots required to sustain troops that would later come in. Some of the other materials were for defence purposes, either for the construction of turrets or for various covering structures in case of a ground assault. No rest time was given to the crew; and of course, they continued the expansion of the station, toiling endlessly. An reinforcement crew of 10 AI, 35 soldiers and 2 Keshik hovertanks also joined the group, them setting up some other equipment such as point defence laser grids and power sources.

The sight of the two aircraft, however, brought the dull scene of endless work to a halt. In no time did the AI figure out they were indeed armed, and any form of aerial hostility could render serious problems for the Singaporeans.

"The motherfuckers."

While they were equipped with quite a lot of armour for infantry as well as additional energy shielding tools for a construction crew in the middle of nowhere, the Singaporeans still ran for cover, trying to continue the work as the hail of machine gun bullets descended upon them, while those who were in reach tried activating the laser interceptors. The main focus however was to communicate the message that the Singaporeans were on the Birrin side, and they were in no way to jeopardize a potential alliance by escalating a misunderstanding. Knowing that an UAV would at least have a supervisory control panel behind it, transmissions in (roughly) Birrin language (without unique features of said language of course), much thanks to Aeiouian help prior to entrance, were sent rapidly to the UAV. The content was simple.

STOP FUCKING SHOOTING US WE ARE ON YOUR SIDE WE CAME TO HELP YOU THIS IS A MISUNDERSTANDING GODDAMIT YES OFFWORLDERS COMING TO HELP IS WEIRD I KNOW BUT WE'LL EXPLAIN THINGS IF YOU STOP SHOOTING US

Risking their lives, a few engineers managed to spread out the lasers, an effective laser interceptor grid halfway complete. The grid components were spread around the portal itself in a hexagonal manner, a power source and a guider-tracker connected as well. Laser grids on the portal station itself were also activated, awaiting for missiles that would demonstrate a paramount fuck-up of the construction crew if they were to ever fly into the grey edifice.

Posted: **Wed Nov 25, 2015 10:19 am**

Orbit

As the ironically-named Piercing Descent continued on its trajectory towards the planet, a bright light could be seen in the atmosphere below it. This was a single Avatar-Class Fighter-Bomber rapidly accelerating to a degree where it caused noticeable atmospheric interference. It was preforming this burn specifically to rapidly set itself on a suborbital trajectory to match the one of the doomed Excidian carrier.

After only a few seconds, a transmission is sent to the craft:

"Attention Carrier Vessel Piercing Descent, you are on an unstable orbit, and this class of vessel is unable to enter planetary atmospheres... We know because we bought one from you a while ago.

By scuttling your vessel in the upper atmospehere, you are technically in violation of the Menmelmacari ceasefire agreement. In addition to risking the lives of your own crew.

This vessel is equipped with devices that can pull you into a stable orbit. Please respond and explain what is going on here within the next fifteen seconds. Otherwise I will assume that you are having mechanical failures with your entire vessel (Including communications arrays), and I will pull you away from your trajectory that collides with the atmosphere."

The Avatar vessel, still cloaked, continues waiting quite a distance behind the Crossbow-Class vessel patiently with its tractor beams at the ready. The strike craft does move a bit after sending its transmission, on the off-chance that the Excidian vessel will begin firing on it for some reason.

Posted: **Wed Nov 25, 2015 10:47 am**

Space over Chri'irah
With a dismissive gesture Snugguluffikos called off the attack on the Apophans, unaware of the activity on the far side of the planet. Despite the assurances of negotiations moving forward, the distress call and following relevant communications were forwarded to Inevitable Contempt, her ears lay flat on her head and her hackles raised.

"Weapon's Lieutenant Gnarg Urzog, have the concussion launcher load a Twilight Harbinger Mega-nuclear warhead and give me solutions on Capital Investment. " she ordered, nearly hissing as she did so.

"Rear Admiral, perhaps we should advise the Menelmacari of this treachery." Quavarth advised, encouraging caution.

"Very well, we will send the Warmaster a message. I can only hope that the Ctani will arrive in time before our men are all dead, or worse."

Message to Menelmacari Fifth Fleet Warmaster Ferinion
If it is indeed true that the Excidian Dogs have surrendered then perhaps they should inform their men on the ground before more... needless bloodshed occurs. I hold my fire here in trust that you will punish violators of this... delicate peace, appropriately. If it is the case that this space fleet commander has no sway over his ground troops, I will feel no need to hold back wiping their presence from the planet, after all as you are well aware, any ship of this size is fully capable of orbital bombardment, we need not even fire any missiles.

-With Livid Sincerity, Rear Admiral Snugguluffikos

Artillery Train Emplacement
The return gunfire aided by the targeting computers of the enemy was briefly forestalled by the shielding of the armor, but the focused fire eventually defeated the kinetic shielding, cutting through the alloyed metal plating and downing several of the soldiers before they moved into at least partial cover. The Fat Man operator lobbed another mini-nuke down further along the train as his compatriots focused on the train

At such close range it was hard for the dropships to effectively dodge the quick attack of the large bore artillery by the time that the shells stopped flying only two were still airborne, one of those hit outright exploding from a direct hit in midair. One of the two which miraculously relatively unscathed powered away from the train. The remaining one with the smoking engine powered forward towards wherever there was still a concentration of Excidian survivors after the second mini-nuclear detonation briefly flaring engines to full life before shifting abruptly and diving nose first at the ground where a cluster of survivors should be.

Nipton Supply Depot
At the reception of the message from Attack wing Pharia a few more optimistic soldiers cheered. Those more absorbed in the work of fending off the encroaching Excidians simply kept firing their short bursts and timed shots. With the promise of air support, the missile launchers were now freed up to see about reducing the mechanized capacity of approaching Excidian vehicles.

" Send them my thanks, and find out who is left living that has any medical training." Major Dysfunction ordered his adjuctant.

Posted: **Wed Nov 25, 2015 7:24 pm**

Piercing Descent

Piercing Descent was not quite ironically named. It was, in fact, named after the word for a group of woodpeckers, following the tradition of naming Carriers after Terran animal group names and adding an adjective. Most usually, this was birds, but Annihilating Swarm was named for insects, Armoured Crash was named for rhinoceri, Majestic Pride for lions, etc.

After receiving the Aeiouian transmission, the Carrier sent a beamed response to ensure only the Aeiouians had access to it.

Carrier Piercing Descent to Aeiouian vessel:

We are preparing to make a warp jump out of the system. Theoretically, the carrier's structure and armor should hold up to the atmospheric drag long enough to make the jump.

However, it is far more likely that the enemy forces will destroy our ship before this. If you have the capability to warp our ship out of here, we humbly request your assistance in our retreat.

Thank you.

Posted: **Thu Nov 26, 2015 10:42 am**

Far Side of Chri'irah

Nuinon frowned in some confusion as he watched what was transpiring before him, and thumbed his comm once again.

"Fleetmind Actual, they're landing. The pilots are disembarking their craft and proceeding afoot."

"Well, then. That is interesting," Nienna answered. "Orders stand. Observe but do not engage."

" Understood."

Nuinon dispatched three of the Somër to be his eyes, one staying low and quiet, the other two in a supporting position above and behind, and then two more to support those. The gravitic drives of course were at no risk of stalling however slowly the drones flew, and at a walking pace the drives would be silent and the camouflage perfect.

Nírnaeth Arnoediad

Nienna again reported the pilots' findings, and armed with this information Ferinion transmitted a response to the Apophans.

"Admiral Xaph'Vy, please accept my apologies. No commander wishes to be put in the position of leaving men behind, and I had no idea your fighters are so lacking in endurance as to be unable to escape a planetary atmosphere and coast half a light-second across open vacuum. You will be pleased to know that mine are not. In the spirit of good faith I will dispatch a pair of dropships immediately to retrieve your men from the surface - they have landed and abandoned their ships, as it happens - and repatriate them to you. When those dropships arrive I would request-" his tone suggested strongly that this was anything but a 'request' "-that you board, and join me here aboard Nírnaeth Arnoediad to discuss surrender terms face to face."

Next on the docket was Percival.

"Confirmed, Capital Investment. Thank you for your prompt compliance. Stand by for recovery. Please be aware that your carrier is refusing. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and presume their conduct is not on your orders, and it will not reflect on the rest of you if I am forced to fire upon them."

Even as he spoke, dropships launched from various Menelmacari ships. Two angled towards the surface to retrieve the Apophan pilots, while the others began to recover the Excidians.

"Nienna," Ferinion mused, "that ring on the carrier isn't rotating, so it isn't a grav section. What is it?"

"I believe it to be their FTL drive, my lord. It is consistent with an Alcubierre engine, though there are variations. Further I can identify no other system on board that could serve as an FTL drive."

"Target the struts affixing it to the hull, then broadcast to the system. When I finish, sever the struts."

"Excidian carrier, this is Warmaster Ferinion. Return to orbit immediately and comply with ceasefire terms agreed to by your commanders. My patience has expired, and I am about to destroy your jump ring. If you do not comply within a further ten seconds, so help me I will carve your engines from your hull and let you fall to join the rest of the wreckage that litters the Kiln."

Nienna fired. The targeting was painfully easy, the range was but a few thousand kilometers now and the target ploddingly slow. The hardest part was lining them up so none of the floating Excidians would be hit. The shots, when they came, were plasma lances from a battleship in the nearest equatorial group, the MIV Turambar. The Menelmacari ship fired from directly astern of the carrier, where they had the cleanest possible shot to sever the drive struts without damaging the rest of the ship. Piercing Descent's momentum would carry her free of the ring.

"My lord, there is something else. Atmospheric disturbances consistent with a cloaked ship on parallel course with the carrier."

Ferinion sighed. "Paint that ship with targeting arrays from every ship we have with line of sight. Then lock lasers and send a beamed message. I want that bastard to know we can see him. And go over all archived data. If there are any more cloaked ships in the system I want to know about it."

"Done, my lord. You're on."

"Attention, cloaked ship escorting Excidian carrier. You are being painted by the bulk of my fleet. Cease thrust, hold position, drop your cloak, and identify yourself and state your purpose here. My patience for deception is running very thin."

He cut the channel, sat down in the command chair and rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. Some said war was hell; for Ferinion nos Cirdan, war was easy. It was all the insufferable talking afterwards that he loathed.

Posted: **Thu Nov 26, 2015 11:24 am**

Orbit

The Avatar responds to the Excidian Carrier through beamed transmissions:

"Look, we do not want to risk endangering the ceasefire agreement. The sooner this conflict ends, the better. Enough blood has been shed in this short-lived battle alread-"

It is at this point that the Menelmacari Plasma Lances strike the carrier's warp drive, and the Avatar-Class vessel pulls away, expecting the warp ring of the Carrier to destabilize and probably be quite volatile afterwards. In this process, the craft seems to decloak and make combat preparations automatically.

After receiving the transmission from Menmelmacar, a second Avatar appears. Or rather, the actual vessel does. The craft that was being painted by the lasers deactivates at this time, revealing itself as a decoy missile. The actual ship that had just decloaked behind it immediately responds with a beamed, private transmission to the vessel that sent the message:

"This vessel is an Avatar-Class Fighter-Bomber of Aeiouian origin. Relax. I am on your side. I was investigating this vessel and why it was not complying with the ceasefire agreement. My drone is equipped with tractor beams, so I was preparing to tow it into a stable orbit, in order to make it comply with the 'No Scuttling' part of the deal.

Now, if it survived your attack without having its Warp Ring destabilized, should I tow it into a stable orbit in order to make it comply with the 'No Scuttling' deal?"

As the craft sends this transmission, the Avatar seems to stand down once again. And the Decoy Missile seems to move back to its parent craft and dock.

Posted: **Thu Nov 26, 2015 12:10 pm**

"They can't be serious," Pharia muttered. There was no sound from her deathmask face, the sound directed internally to her squadron mates, "Sarnath squadron, break and engage the bulk of their formation."

"Understood," Sarnath said, and her night scythe squadrons broke off from the attack on the artillery site to intercept the group going for the monoliths that would soon land. They spiralled away, tumbling to one side to increase their air resistance, broad crescent shapes allowing them to aerobrake to lose speed, flames flickering off the rims of their design, before they gunned their engines in multiple directions. The squadron broke apart seeming to lose all cohesion for a moment before spreading out and decelerating using vectored thrust from their arcane engines to move.

The bulk of the formation split, too, the main section leading in a wide turn to port, while the other slowed. They allowed air resistance to claim a little of their speed too, while their compatriots engaged the enemy, focussing on downing their missiles.

There had been five squadrons of aircraft, fifty in all.

Ten had doubled back to protect the monoliths as they descended, in as much as it was necessary, while the other forty had split by squadrons into two groups. The first group were the ground attack craft called Doom Scythes, with the typical level of subtlety of C'tani craft names.

Therefore the first twenty fighters fired their secondary weapons at the missiles attacking them.

The secondary weapons on the Doom Scythe were the primary weapons of the Night Scythe, energy cannons that let out a blistering torrent of directed energy in the form of pseudo-lightning, directed electrons that glowed like the fabled thunderbolts of the gods as they shot through the air; pseudo lightning because they did not fork or arc randomly, but remained directly on target.

Therefore there were twenty fighters simply aiming to punch past the two enemies. The necrons fired rapidly at the missiles, surges of energy embracing the projectiles, but the hard-light cannons were more dangerous as they could not be intercepted so easily. They each punched holes into one of the necron craft as they made their high speed pass, a meeting speed of dozens of times the speed of sound, and Pharia's head twitched to the side instinctively, connectors and umbilicals forming a mane around her chromed skull as she looked to the left, autonomic systems already taking evasive action before she thought of it, even with her accelerated cognition.

The damage was critical; she would not be able to make orbit again without having time to allow her craft to regenerate. The manipulations of spacetime required to maintain full function would be compromised for sixteen minutes at the current rate of power use, she realized. She could redirect power to regeneration.

She was aware that another of her squadron had been shot down, but she paid that fact no mind; necrons had no fear of death, for it did not hold them, so to her it was merely a statistic of combat performance. She kept the capacitors of her node-driven weapon fully, engaged, and the engines at their previous draw; the target was the priority. She cared rather more about the Hobbiests than she did about her own squadron-mates, or even herself.

With one of the necron ships damaged, and one of them destroyed, the two fighters that engaged them had done well against twenty. But there were still eighteen undamaged doom scythes and one damaged on target.

The Doom Scythes, damaged or not, pressed straight on and opened fire on the ground forces.

The twenty night scythes that had broken to the starboard came in, at a right angle to the first squadron; their weapons were not firing at the missiles, rather, attacking from a favourable angle they were in a position to move in behind the enemy and tail-them, each squadron marked a target from among the two craft, and ten fighters each fired at two of the Excedians.

The other six, targeting the monolith "drop-pods" had an easier target, for the monoliths were armed, but as ground vehicles; when they reached the ground they would deploy their weapons, for now, to protect their armaments from air resistance, they were shuttered behind blast doors, falling like blocks from the sky.

The Excedians had a clear run at these, and they did not alter their trajectory; but engaging the monoliths would mean that they were not engaging the squadron of night scythe fighters headed for their own positions. If the Excedians fired on the fighters, they would break off and begin to re-position themselves to allow their other squadrons to close and englobe the enemy.

OOC:

Fighters break up as follows:

2 Squadrons Doom Scythes – Leader position in a port-side bracketing manoeuvre, they open fire on missiles attacking them, but aim to punch through and continue their attack run on the ground targets. 1 destroyed, 1 damaged significantly.

2 Squadrons Night Scythes – Break into the starboard side bracketing manoeuvre, engage the two stormwrath fighters.

1 Squadron Night Scythes – Losing airspeed, allowing the fighters to engage the monoliths. If the 6 fighters attack the monoliths, they will be in position to engage them while they do so; if the 6 bandit fighters break off and engage the night scythes, they will attempt to "drag" the Stormwrath fighters away from the battle somewhat to allow the other squadrons to close in on them.

Posted: **Thu Nov 26, 2015 12:22 pm**

"Aeiouian vessel, this is Warmaster Ferinion. I have heard enough about your people to know your intentions are generally benevolent and that you prioritize the minimization of loss of life. For that I commend you.

"However, long standing Menelmacari policy requires that any cloaked operations within either Menelmacari territory or Menelmacari operational areas requires both our prior knowledge and permission, lest they be presumed hostile. This policy is not out of a lack of trust but rather in the interests of the safety and security of all parties. My Fleetmind, Nienna, will contact you later to brief you on all appropriate procedures and handshake protocols. In the now, your assistance in returning the Excidian carrier to a stable orbit would be greatly appreciated. Please position her alongside MIV Turambar, our nearest ship and the same that just fired on their jump drive.

Posted: **Thu Nov 26, 2015 10:39 pm**

Chri-Irah - Orbit
The Imperial Fleet finally entered Orbit, with the Vexillarius taking positions in quite low orbits, as the Imperial Fleet moved into protective formations around the fragile craft. With the Troopships in position, the field was set for landing, dropships could be launched at any moment.

On the Bridge of the Ashes of Eternity, the Communications Operator prepared to commence contact with the Birrin. The opening message had been prepared in advance, days prior. It was at this time, while attempting to properly configure the translator, he noticed that no Birrin Languages were indexed.

Deciding it was best to see if the Archailects had managed that yet, he quickly prepared a transmission.

Origin | TCO - Ashes of Eternity - Decurion Falkir Valtise - Communications
Target | Archailect Avatar

The Imperial 37th Legion is unable to deploy until such time as we have ensured the cooperation of the native Birrin Civilizations and National Entities. To this end, we require the ability to translate information from/into Marrov from/into Birrin languages. The Imperium does not, at this time, have access to such an index. We are requesting the access to the relevant Archailect indexes for this operation.

Posted: **Thu Nov 26, 2015 10:41 pm**

Piercing Descent

As the carrier plunges into the atmosphere, ionized air forming a cone around the front of the carrier, 64 of the Bolt-class starfighter-bombers glide through the atmosphere alongside it. Though still cloaked, they are no doubt seen by the Menelmacari forces, as the Excidian stealth tech is less advanced than the Aeiouian tech.

The plasma lance pierces the atmosphere, trailing the carrier and cutting through the plasma shield. However, the plasma weapon is not as effective as the enemy might have expected. As soon as the plasma lance impacted the carrier's plasma shielding, the magnetic shielding that kept the plasma shield in place also kept the helium plasma attack from getting very far: It burst apart and floated around just inside the shield for a moment. The gravitational disturbance that had carried the plasma was mostly harmless by itself, lacking the kinetic energy of the plasma.

As for the shield itself, the impact of the plasma weapon left a large gaping hole in the plasma shielding, leaving the carrier's stern vulnerable to laser weapons.

However, this was of little concern right now: The carrier's main concern was escaping the Avatar's tractor beams. The carrier's acceleration towards the planet continued, and aided by Chri-irah's gravity it might be able to escape. It was now becoming clear that on its current course it would fly partially around the planet and crash somewhere in the nation of Kendi.

Kiln Skies

The six Excidian fighters that had moved to attack the drop pods fired of a pair of missiles each, 1 kiloton nuclear warheads, which honed in on six of the drop pods. As they did this, they executed Immelman turns, spiralling to attack the pursuing Night Scythes with hardlight cannon fire.

The two other Ventus craft continue their assault on the Doom Scythes, undeterred by the loss of their missiles. The Ventus craft prioritize the damaged Doom Scythes, determined to finish the enemy off.

Nipton Base ground

The Tachyon Mobile Artillery take aim at the surviving Hobbiest gunships, only to be fired on from the C'tani fighters. Their magnetic shields are designed specifically to deal with ion-based weaponry like the C'tan synthetic lightning, but the artillery lack the power of Excidian capital ships, and the shields only manage to slightly deflect the attacks. The impact of the directed energy weapons on the ground causes the desert sand to melt and turn to glass, which flies in all directions. Blinded by the blast, damaged, and with temporarily disrupted shields, the Artillery are vulnerable for the time being.

The Hoverbikes however, continued to power towards the enemy base, now 500 meters and closing.

The second enemy nuclear strike hit the second to last car on the train, one of the hospital cars. The hospital car was completely destroyed, and the rear gun car took significant damage, enough to render its main gun and one machine gun inoperable. The second hospital car was blown up and off the tracks, and took damage to the rear but otherwise survived. Williams was blown off her feet as she sprinted away from the train to the ridge, but quickly recovered and sprinted up the slope, sniper rifle in hand.

Then the dropship crashed into the ridge. The fireball from the kamikaze attack broke what remained of the Excidian line. This would have been devastating to the assault force were it not for the fact that the second military rail train was nearing the wreckage.

As the second train pulled to a stop, the security car doors open to allow another two platoons of Tachyon Security troopers to dismount. These troopers had no ridge cover, so quickly ran for the cover of the ridge, several soldiers firing to suppress the enemy soldiers. Unlike the first train of troops, these soldiers were armed with AE Celestia D7 energy rifles, which sent beams of lethal lasers lancing towards the Hobbiest forces. The troops were supported by the railway guns on the front and rear of the train, which fired 105 mm shells at the base and laid down machine gun fire from their 12.7 mm turrets. The Gravesend RailTank pulling the train joined in the fun, firing AA missiles at the retreating dropship.

What remained of the construction crew hurried over to the flatcars of the second train to begin unloading the Xion Defense Mobile AA units. The loaded AAs wasted no time, five of the AA units turning their main gun turrets on the enemy base and unleashing a storm of 32mm guided shells on the Hobbiest Republicans*. Another ten AA units focused instead at firing several guided missiles, a total of 40 projectiles, towards the attacking C'tani fighter craft.

From the rubble of what remained of the ridge, a cybernetic arm emerged. Throwing off a small boulder that kept her buried, Nicole Williams climbed out of a hole in the rubble and took shelter behind a jagged rock. She briefly checked the radio channels to see who was still alive. Only 5 other footsoldiers from the original force survived, but miraculously the Aesir Exosuits were still fine. Williams radioed one of the flying spotters.

"Corporal, get me a laze in one of the enemy marksmen. I need a shot at the base."

"Roger that, Lieutenant." The exosuit pilot responded, using his rifle scope to pick out a target from the enemy base and use a laser targeted to designate it as the intended destination for William's microrocket round.

Williams lifted her sniper rifle over the boulder briefly emerging from behind cover to quickscope** and fire, trusting her helmet to protect her from any lethal projectiles or shrapnel for the second she was vulnerable.

The microrocket was significantly larger than the standard Excidian rifle ammunition. By appearance, it would seem that was merely all it was: a larger version of the standard infantry rifle's projectile. This was no mere guided slug, however. This was one of the several experimental AIMF rounds currently being developed by Perelandran Armaments. The 15×100mm guided rockets contained, (in addition to the standard laser guidance system, spring-out guidance fins and rocket fuel) a miniature Penning trap containing a very minute amount of antimatter, only a microgram. This magnetic trap was configured to release the antiprotons into a chamber containing a mixture of uranium-235 and deuterium, which triggers a nuclear fission reaction in the Uranium that powers a nuclear fusion reaction in the deuterium. The total energy released by the detonation of an Antimatter Initiated Micro Fusion round is approximately 72 tons TNT equivalent, roughly the energy released by a typical fuel-air bomb.

It was to test weapons such as these that Perelandran Armaments got involved in the Birrin war in the first place. Not lured by ideas of wealth or freedom, but by national pride, Chri-irah became the ideal testing ground to revolutionize the Excidian military's planetary forces. And now it was time for the most promising pet project to shine.

The rocket-propelled round hit Mach 1 roughly 10 meters from the barrel and continued to accelerate for a short time, nearing Mach 1.6 as it streaked towards the unsuspecting Hobbiest forces.

OOC:
*I'm not sure if that's actually a thing.
**No, Singapore, my soldiers do not watch your nation's YouTube videos to pick up combat tips. Not even the corporate security guards.

Posted: **Fri Nov 27, 2015 12:06 am**

Chri-Irah - Orbit - TCO - Ashes of Eternity

A blip on the sensors that had, until recently, been ignored, drew quite a bit of attention from both the Tactical Advisers, and the Sensor Operators, seeing as how it had just survived a Naval attack with no appreciable, or at least, detectable, damage. A quickly exchanged message with a Speculatores Frigate confirmed what had been suspected.

"Overseer! Atmospheric Object identified as Excidian Crossbow Carrier! Course projections estimate planetary impact!"

The response was quick;
"Deploy Imperators, disregard recall procedure."

The order was transmitted immediately, and one of the many Vexillarius deployed a full wing* of the volatile Strike Bombers.
The remote-piloted craft rapidly located their target, and burned through the Atmosphere towards it.

Posted: **Fri Nov 27, 2015 11:18 am**

Orbit

A few moments after sending the message to the Menmelmacari forces, the Avatar responds to the Excidian Carrier:

"Look. Piercing Descent, we cannot help you. Doing so would be effectively breaking the ceasefire terms and engaging in an act of war upon Menelmacar. Even if we were to try to assist you, our Void FTL drives take too long to charge, and they are nearly unusable by non-machines. You and your crew would probably die of old age if you were to try to escape the battlefield with this method.

Now, please. You are endangering the lives of your crew, and many others by not abiding by this ceasefire agreement. Menelmacar has already fired upon your vessel for not abiding by the rules. Please, stand down. We need this peace to last.

If you are worried that the Menelmacar surrender terms involve them declaring war on Excidium as a whole or taking your crew as prisoners of war, we will vouch against it on your behalf. But we have doubt that those are their intentions. And for the time being, we must focus on restoring peace.

Again, I ask you to stand down. You are risking starting hostilities again by taking these actions. We will not fire upon your vessel under any circumstances. But we may be forced to try to pull you into a stable orbit if you do not comply with the ceasefire agreement very soon. Your actions defying it are endangering the lives of your comrades on other vessels as we speak."

The Avatar begins preparing its tractor beam, but does not take action just set. Simply loitering about for a few moments. Most likely waiting for a response from the carrier.

A few moments later, another Avatar decloaks, near the Menelmacari forces, sending the following transmission as it does so. It is a beamed message sent at a very close range, ensuring that no one other that the receiving party will pick it up:

"We apologize for our mysteriousness. But please understand that we were conducting undercover operations in an effort to peacefully end the Excidian actions against the Birrin without bloodshed. We had no idea that you were set to arrive, and this might as well be a First Contact event.

Please enlighten us on what these "Handshake Protocols" are. We will comply if we have proper information on them."

At around the same time, a response is sent to the Ashes of Eternity. It is not sent from the Avatar craft. But rather, a cloaked location from a nearby cloaked vessel. As with before, it is a beamed transmission at extremely close range in order to prevent any possible third part detection.

"Our operatives on Sigma Station have put together this basic codex of Birrin communications.

DataROM - Birrin Index v0.1

Please note that it is probably an antiquated language, and may not be complete. But it is all that we have right now. Currently, there is a Fire-Team heading to the surface in order to gain further information."

Aeiouian Land - Chri-Irah

The strange structure that was under construction seems to be completed after a very short period of time. The construct appears to be a strange tower of sorts, equipped with numerous point defenses. A few minutes after being completed, the tower begins to emit a faint glow.

While it is not noticeable at first, the ambient temperature of a massive area around the tower begins to decrease at a steady rate as soon as the Aeiouian building is activated.

The Aeiouian forces around the structure continue their work. Beginning to construct numerous smaller structures. Most of which appear to be either shelters or defenses.

Posted: **Fri Nov 27, 2015 1:02 pm**

It was with a terrifying flash and following static that the The Distress signal was silenced. Aboard the Bridge of Inevitable Contempt the Rear Admiral rested her head on a gauntlet-ed paw. She had not known the Major who'd valiantly led his men in the counter attack after his mission had very much outside of the scope of the mission become a defensive one. Who had for a few brief shining moments embodied the spirit of the Hobbiest Will. She made a personal note to have the on-board necromancers and wizards to the site to see if any essence remained of this soon to be famous Martyr's stand.

"Rear Admiral... If any of the suits were able to keep them alive... we should activate their retrieval beacons." Quavarth said placing a cautionary hand on her shoulder.

There was still a single Company of Marines aboard, led by a Captain Persephone. But Snugguluffikos doubted that she would deploy them. Exposed as they were sure to be. It was doubtful that even with the enhanced protection of their L150 suits that any survived such a direct strike on the small and exposed supply base.

"Very well, if they can receive then they should be able to transmit. Attempt to activate retrieval on any operational suits." She said through gritted teeth.

Her free gauntlet-ed paw flexed in helpless fury as she was sure that the more numerous and therefore senior leaders in the Alliance would get preference to exact vengeance, if there was to be any at all. Two companies of men, and a logistics detachment lost in meaningless bloodshed. If this was how the Excidian's surrendered, she figured that she'd hate to see what domestic life was like for those who claimed to be in 'love'. Perhaps it was time to do a little 'surrendering' of her own. It seemed that the entire galaxy had a different meaning of the word than she'd been raised. After all, from up here in space, it shouldn't be too hard to follow the rails to where those abominable trains were coming from.

A couple 'accidental misfires' and a few thousand- or hundred-thousand casualties wouldn't bring the Major or Nipton back. A supply depot that would've been able to aid either side in the reconstruction, wiped out in a matter of minutes. But it would be something. If they wanted 'honor' she would show them the most honorable way to go about it. Let them face their gods and be judged for their shortcomings.

Addressed to Relevant Advisory AI of Menelmacari Origin
Seeking Planetary GPS Coordinates for Origin Facility(ies) of Armored Trains related to the Nipton Supply Depot hostilities. We may be able to get a general fix, but would like a more surgical touch as there may as of yet be survivors on the ground, seeking to cut off additional Excidium Reinforcement trains from arriving at the battlefield. It is our impression that your much more advanced systems would be capable of an accuracy that would put even our most up to date targeting algorithms to shame, as much as my Rear Admiral would prefer to simply bombard whichever city they came from, I am under the impression that would be counter-productive to the goals of our Allies such as yourselves.
-Sincerely First Officer Quavarth Inevitable Contempt

Ground Zero Nipton Supply Crater
If the missile had been targeted dead center everyone would've been dead, that much had been certain. As it was only a disorganized few, their armor charred and in some places fused together had survived the explosive force, only surviving by dent of their cover, and protective suits, most of which were in a state of overheat, their extra coolant already ejected directly onto the cooling blocks mounted on their shoulders. The immediate area was devoid of motion, the massive 60 meter radius crater where the targeted marksman had been sitting prone and several meters down as well was smoking. None of the prefabs were still standing, the debris was still raining down across the swathe of desert.

There was radio silence, the white noise from the intense radiation of vaporized Mini-nukes and Dropships interfering heavily even if they had desired such. Shock had descended on the few survivors, no additional fire emanated from the half-dug trenches. A quiet sobbing was swiftly cut off the Hobbiest Transmissions. Those who had survived, as they numbly took stock realized that there was little if any point in calling for a medic. They were all probably as good as dead already, their bodies just hadn't realized it yet.

The dropships that had been chasing the hoverbikes had been knocked from the skies, luckily enough to have been away from the core of the explosion, their hulls gouged furrows into the earth as they each gradually ground to a halt, the crash webbing of their pilots seats saving the lives of the flight crew in more than one occasion.

Artillery train emplacement
With the shockwave of the explosion the Hobbiests still standing were thrown forward into the cover they'd been using and those wounded were blown up against the wreckage of the train. Firing had stopped, as involuntary as it was. An unfortunate shard from one of the prefabs over two kilometers away impaled the Fat Man operator spearing him upright and propping the corpse into a slack standing position. The alloy of the armor was better able to dissipate energy weapons than it had the 12mm munitions that had so excellently cut through the shielding. A multitude of alarms were going off in the headsets of the men as their suits registered a cacophony of additional relevant damage alerts. The only surviving leader from the ill-fated counter-attack was a Lance Corporal by the name of Hank Sawdergut was shockingly enough, only affected by some shallow gouges in his armor. He produced a White Phosperous flare gun, hoping that they'd recognize the white flare for what it was, an offer to cease hostilities. With over two thirds of his remaining men moderately to severely injured.

The flare shot up from their position and drifted in a lazy steep arc as it ignited on the apex of its journey.

Posted: **Sat Nov 28, 2015 3:14 am**

Kiln-Kaybor Border, ATFC Staging Area

After a fiery high-speed atmospheric descent to get under the guns of the encroaching naval powers, the ATFC mercenary forces had generally lain quiet, assembling their forces and readying for deployment. The little valley they had selected was now abuzz with activity, the three capital ships of the allied companies hunkered down to provide some measure of cover while they and their subsidiary craft disgorged their cargo. Indeed, Kulik, eager to depart, had already assembled his columns, neatly divvied up between the lighter scout vehicles and the line-of-battle tanks, mostly T-27s of colonial surplus stock, rough, serviceable vehicles designed to operate on just about any environment short of a planet composed entirely of vertical cliff faces, armed primarily with a stocky 76mm linear cannon. Intermixed with these, the company of dragoons generally took on the role and appearance of infantry escorts, although how long that might last once battle joined was rather unclear.

The hundred or so KT-19 cruiser tanks, much smaller and much faster, had immediately been deployed into the surrounding countryside, but were now forming into a screening force for the advance to the front.

Surveying the remainder of their forces, Gordon and Stepan had both taken station on Potop, allowing for some degree of joint command. Below, transport vehicles were in the process of loading up, auxiliaries scrambled and a great deal of shouting seemed to be going on.

The Cossack commander, as was the style for his folk, dressed traditionally. Bright red baggy trousers, a slightly lighter red sash at his waist, and an open vest of some white material, his head shaved except for a single lock of hair sprouting from the top, in order to compliment the nearly foot-long whiskers he sported. Gordon cut a rather stark contrast to the Cossack in his Commonwealth officers uniform, although at least their colors matched well enough.

"The bastard is going to try to sneak more than his fair share of the action, Gordon! Damned Moski...We shouldn't have let him in in the first place!"

"He's got the best ship here, ataman Reznov." Gordon spoke formally, his mild distaste for both of his erstwhile business partners unable to overcome years of schooling in being at least nominally pleasant to everybody regardless of what he actually thought of them, "Anyway, we shall soon be off ourselves. I'm sure your boys will give them quite the show, eh?"

"Damned right. Your lads are looking bright too, ya! Very...er...colorful." Stepan gestured to the staging ground, where Gordon's infantry were hastily boarding their planetside transports.

Gordon nodded. Initially he had considered simply letting people wear whatever uniform they had come with, most of his corps consisting of soldiers who, having served their military term, wanted to get back in on the action in a more profitable way. This had, however, generated some confusion as well as leading to cliques. Gordon's solution had been to gather up all of the uniforms, carve them up, and re-sew them at random. The result was a riot of whites, blues, greens, reds, yellows and all other manner of colors. Some of the men, enjoying the effect, had taken to layering and slashing the uniforms in the same fashion as the ancient Landsknechts. A few years later the practice had spread and, it was generally agreed, Gordon's Brigade was easily the most colorful mercenary force to come out of Sol.

He cleared his throat, "Well, let us see where our dear employer requires them. Ataman." Gordon waved towards the Potop's communications bay, where an arcane array of equipment of multiple-species origin buzzed away in a fashion which gave him a deep concern for the vessel's ability not to catch on fire.

"Eh? Ah! Of course. I was going to just march right at the largest depot or baggage train I could spot, but if you think he might want us somewhere else, then hey...you're the general! Hah!" Stepan waited a moment to see the man's reaction, but receiving none, rolled his eyes, "You're never any fun, Stoneface. You islanders are all like that, ya? All that cold and rain freezes your faces, I think." Still complaining, he led the way to the bay where, after a few thumps, the comms array crackled to life.

Employing encrypted channels as previously agreed upon with their employers, they set about contacting their theoretical commanding officer for the operation.

MESSAGE BEGINS:
This is General Gordon of Gordon's Brigade. ATFC forces are on the ground at previously appointed drop location, ready to move on your command. Provide bearing and we will proceed. Be advised that Kulik's armored forces are presently moving to your rear and will most likely be heading for the largest concentration of nearby enemy units.

Further advise: My own unit is best employed against static objectives. Our Cossack friends are highly mobile and make excellent scouts and raiders, although I would not personally trust them in any line of battle. Kulik is a damned fool but assuming you stay out of his way he'll probably bloody their noses a bit.

At this distance we can be on-site in ten minutes.

We await your orders.

MESSAGE ENDS.

Posted: **Sat Nov 28, 2015 1:07 pm**

Kiln Skies

"The Immelmann turn was very successful because the aggressor quickly regained his height and could attack again and again. But later, when more powerful engines became available, it was a dangerous move, for the lower pilot could climb after the Fokker and attack when it hung almost motionless in the vertical position, not under full control, and presenting an easy shot."
~ Air Vice-Marshal J. E. "Johnnie" Johnson, RAF

The kiloton munitions hit six of the monoliths with ease, six hits, six instantaneous kills, the munitions exploded in thirty meter fireballs that lasted a fraction of a second before decomposing into mushroom clouds among the drop formation of the C'tani craft. The monoliths were dropping in a dispersed formation, but the shockwave was enough to buffet many of them off course; they were not damaged by proximity to the nuclear weapons, of course, they were immensely heavily armoured, and only direct hits or hits in very close proximity could guarantee kills, the others were scattered like the building blocks of a particularly careless child, but they began to correct their trajectory.

Radiation was massive for hundreds of meters around, enough to give third degree burns to organic beings. The night scythe pilots in pursuit did not look away nor flinch, nor did their metallic frames suffer from any electromagnetic effects, hardened as they were, they continued on their course, chasing the enemy pilots into their steep climb.

The night scythes were convinced that the corporate pilots, or perhaps the Ventuses were drones though they looked like they had canopies, had been too used to fighting pilots with far inferior engines at their disposal. The Immelmann turn was not a good way to reposition one's self against planes with equivalent engines.

The six Ventuses were chased into their steep turns by the necron craft; while their engines weren't likely to stall and leave them hanging, neither was it a way to shake the hostile C'tani craft which simply followed them directly into the turn.

A significant part of practical combined arms tactics was the art of giving the opponent two or more choices, both of which left the opponent at a disadvantage. The Ventuses had attacked the Monoliths, and because of the hope of being able to turn on their pursuers, had done so in a more cursory manner than they might otherwise have done, but they were not able to shake the necron craft from their tails by such manoeuvres, the necron vessels were also state of the art vessels capable of interstellar travel.

Sarnath squadron's ten craft therefore remained behind the six ventuses, tracking them and remaining on their tails, locked in and firing continuously.

Nipton Base

With the shield down around the train from the Doom Scythes, the necrontyr forces were able to excecute the next part of their plan, after having dealt with the two Ventuses¹ that remained in the air the two Night Scythe squadrons that had protected the Doom Scythes made another high speed pass.

They were not firing weapons however, where the Doom Scythe mounted a large energy weapon, the Night Scythe held something different; between the two lightning cannons that were identical to the secondary weapons on the Doom Scythes these craft carried a targeting array and portal projector similar to the ones on the other landing craft, though lighter; this device only operated for a fraction of a second at a time, but then, it hardly needed to last a long time.

As the craft passed by, beams of green energy lashed into the vitrified sands and they flew off, steaking up, they left figures in their wake, in tight clustered squads that head out immediately, they were huge, between eight and nine feet in height, and wholly mechanical, androids that carried formidably huge weapons, that fired beams of jade green, condensed magnetic beams that generated a force so confined and strong that it could vapourise metal and flesh alike, they were immortals, the heavy infantry of the Great Civilization, their skeletal frames were worked in bronze and gold and adorned with the glyphs of their people, and their bayonets gleamed with disruption fields as they advanced in the light of overhead fireballs, levelling their weapons with a mechanically implacable gait, firing the sturdy weapons at the tracks and turrets of the AA units, at the weapons on the train and other targets.

The disruption of the shield allowed the night scythes to teleport more than two hundred necrons into the proximity of the armoured train, within as little as a hundred meters and they were determined to press this numerical advantage.

At their head strode the skeletal figure of a taller necron, clothed in robes over its metallic form, its deathmask head adorned with horns of ivory engraved with ancient sigils; these teleport troops closed toward the armoured train, firing a the remaining crew and the machines there. This figure carried a bladed weapon or rod of office that flashed with fire, discharging packets of fullerene enclosed anti-matter that exploded with gigajoules of energy, blasting sizeable craters where it fired. Upon its other hand was a weapon that resembled a gauntlet, blazing with green fire, some manner of highly compact flamethrower; it led the advance from the front, in the manner of ancient cultures where honour was all.

Kiln Skies

If the Industrial Coalitions fighters were having a bad day, then the Xion Defence AA units proved their worth, as no less than eight of the Doom Scythes were caught by the weapons, including Phyria, whose craft, already damaged, was struck by three, exploding in a brilliant fireball that flashed with green lightning as the micro-wormholes held within its frame stuttered out, and its capacitors vented their recharging fury.

The formation began to move off, rather than press its advantage, leaving the ground forces to press the attack rather than providing them with immediate support; moving out to join their comrades in elmininating the remaining ventus fighters.

OOC: ¹ As there's a correction inbound saying those two ventuses are likely to be destoyed I'm assuming they're out of the picture.

250 heavy infantry delivered by teleport to within the 100-400 m zone around the train.
8 Doom Scythe fighters destroyed, others damaged.
All 41 fighters now converging on the 6 surviving Ventuses.
6 Monoliths destroyed, some others (20 or so) blasted off course by the shockwave.

Posted: **Sat Nov 28, 2015 5:05 pm**

Piercing Descent

Unfortunately for Piercing Descent, the gravitational disturbance was not "mostly harmless". The gravitational disruption tore apart the metal supports keeping the warp ring attached to the carrier, and the ring began to slide off as the carrier accerated without it.

Several of the nearby Bolts rushed in, attaching themselves to the warp ring via magnetic clamps on their landing gear. Using their thrusters, the Bolts maintained the warp ring's movement relative to the carrier.

Unfortunately, there was still an unresolved problem: though the Warp Ring, for security measures, had auxiliary power to keep the drive operational in the event the ship lost power (or, as was the case, was cut off from ship power), there were no wireless controls linking the ring to the ship's bridge.

Instead, an airlock opened on the ship, and an armored figure climbed out. Held by a cable and capable mechanical limbs, the figure was not carried off by the force of atmospheric drag. However, the armored suit was not built to withstand reentry: it was only a matter of time before the soldier was fried. In the short time the "sacrifice" climbed towards what was left of the supports, and began the climb to a maintenance hatch on the warp ring.

If that goal could be attained, then the warp ring could be activated internally, allowing a jump.

To: Aeiouian Avatar

Do not utilize your tractor beams on us. We will escape. The vessel cannot fall into the hands of such a ruthless and bloodthirsty enemy.

We will escape, whether by spacetime or by fire.

Kiln Skies

The two Ventus craft pilots attacking the Doom Scythes were so singleminded in their mission to destroy the fighters that they forgot about the escorts. A hail of artificial lightning destroys the craft, which are not armed with Excidian magnetic shields.

The other six Interceptors, trailed by fighters so remarkably fast that they can execute high-speed turns right of the tails of the Ventuses, opt for different tactics.

One Ventus pilot, realizing the pursuing Night Scythes are fast and remarkably close to the Ventus craft, ceases forward movement, using vectored thrust to immediately fly back into the Night Scythes, hoping that the suicidal maneuver will take a few out with her.

Another pilot releases two more missiles, and keeping their acceleration slow enough to fall behind his fighter, detonates the missiles behind her, either to distract the Scythes or to cloud their vision. She pulls into a dive, directing hardlight fire at the newly arrived Necron ground forces.

The other 4 use Split-S maneuvers, the exact opposite of the Immelman turns they just pulled, to return the fighter to their previous positions, firing another round of missiles at the monoliths, this time thermobaric warheads rather than nuclear missiles.

Nipton Ground

The mini-nuclear blast obliterates the Nipton base, but also catches the hoverbikes dead on. The vehicles are blown apart, pilots tossed out, leaving shrapnel and broken necks to kill them.

A spotter reports this to Williams.

"F***!" Williams hisses, having seriously screwed up by underestimating the weapon's power. Nevertheless, some good came of it. The Hobbiest forces send up a white flare, an offer of surrender. All surviving Excidians cease firing at the defeated Hobbiests. "Radio command. Tell them the weapon was a success. Enemy supply depot destroyed, everything within 500 meters damaged, and casualties as far as two kilometers away from the target."

After this, Williams, like any good sniper, relocates to a safer position: underneath one of the flatcars.

The Immortals were unexpected, and quickly neutralize the AA guns that had yet to be unloaded, destroying treads and main gun turrets alike.

However, the five unloaded vehicles are shielded by the train, and roll out from behind their cover to direct 30mm autocannon fire at the enemy infantry.

The second train's guns systems are swiftly eliminated, missile launcher, cannons, and gun turrets going silent.

The Tachyon infantry fall back from the train to the ridge near the first train, bathing in leftover radiation and firing laser beams at the imposing mechanical figures from behind the cover of the first train's wreckage.

Kaybor Plains

Colonel Paquet sat atop a Sandrunner IFV, staring at the ruins of the last Kaybor emplacement as his armored brigade rolled past. Not 50 kilometers north was the Kaybor Gate, and a mere 10 kilometers beyond that, a major Birrin city. From there, a 300 kilometer stretch of sea to the Kaybor capital. It could not be assailed by his armored units, but dropships and fighters could make quick work of it, if the Kaybor government didn't surrender when the Gate was lost.

And he wouldn't even need to take it alone.

To: Gordon's Brigade

As you have indicated superior combat abilities against a static objective, I require your assistance against a Kaybor fortification just 60 kilometers north of your position.

The Kaybor Gate is an 800 meter tall rock wall with a 15 meter wide path hewn through it. Enemy units have put three lines of trenches before it, armed with a mixture of light and heavy Artillery and some two thousand infantry units.

The top of the rock face features an array of missile launchers and CIWS weapons designed to make air approach very difficult.

Inside the rock face is a network of tunnels that extends for several kilometers, and is believed to house another 3000 or so infantry units. The Birrin units typically wear very light armor, merely aa bullet resistant vest and helmet, along with reddish-brown camo. Typical infantry weapon is a rifle which fires 8.24 millimeter cased ammunition at around 400 rounds per minute. Magazine size is always multiples of 8, typically 24 rounds. Maximum range for these rifles is somewhere around 400 meters effectively.

If you require more data, we will provide what we have.

I inquire as to your forces air and naval capabilities. The terrain makes it difficult for land forces to attack most central areas of the nation of Kaybor. Most transport is done by sea or by air, and while this helped in eliminating most of the enemy military forces early in the war, we have eliminated the enemy's ability to attack without much of our own.

Aeiouia's Base Thing

As the air cooled to livable temperatures, a high pressure zone was created. The low pressure in the surrounding desert began a light wind at first as an anticyclone began to form. Though on Terra a typical anticyclone was not very dangerous, the unique situation in the Kiln made the weather more radical. The clear skies above the center of the anticyclone should have contributed to warming the center, and thus eliminating the high pressure area, but the Aeiouian devices continued to keep it cool. And the stark contrast between 80 degree desert and 30 degree base area made the light winds slowly morph into a raging gust of air. Sand was kicked up for kilometers around the base, creating a sandstorm-anti-tornado thing around the serene and cool base.

Posted: **Sun Nov 29, 2015 7:09 pm**

Kaybor Plains, ATFC Staging Area

After a moment's reading, the two commanders stepped back slightly from the screen. Gordon glanced at Reznov, who shrugged, "If they want us to bring the ships in, I'm willing to play along, if they don't mind the fee."

TRANSMISSION BEGINS:

Affirmative. I have dispatched the Brigade northward. Ataman Reznov's cossascks are currently running escort for them until such time as you require them elsewhere.

We possess two cruiser-class vessels which have a modest amount of firepower. Assuming we can contact Kulik, the Grom is a rather more formidable vessel. However, we will require some additional fee in order to take part in naval operations, given that these vessels represent our primary means of mobility.

Gordon out.

"Now then, master Gordon, I'll be taking my leave! Can't have Cossacks going into a fight without their leader around, eh? I'll let you keep an eye on things here, then!" Reznov grinned, slapped Gordon heartily on the back and swaggered out of the room, leaving a mildly irritated Gordon in command of the bridge. Taking a moment to breathe deeply a few times. He turned to the little gaggle of officers, Cossack and of his own unit, that formed the joint command.

"Gentlemen. Let us begin."

---

The primary transportation of Gordon's Brigade was the vehicle known to various Terran military establishments as the ZBT-422, which was more or less an armored box with some seats inside welded to a claudia drive. Its armament consisted of holes in the side of the vehicle through which the occupants could fire out. The ZBT-422A was essentially the same thing, but with the roof taken off to allow for artillery pieces or powered armor to be loaded. The vehicles were, however, quite speedy, and reached their deployment zones quickly. The first section, with the artillery, halted not long after leaving the valley, occupying a piece of raised ground where it promptly began to dig in, establishing some minor earthworks and deploying shield units against the attentions of the enemy's own artillery and missiles.

The second wave made its advance to the five kilometer mark, just past the horizon to avoid allowing direct fire against the deploying soldiers, although Birrin missiles did manage to claim a few units. Here the infantry and cavalry would be dropped, barring a heavy concentration of enemy fire. The columns thereby formed, safely ensconced in their battalion-level shielding, would make their advance from that point on the enemy trench lines. The line infantry, formed in six such battalions, flanked by two battalions of light infantry, with the two overstrength grenadier battalions and a unit of light infantry held in reserve, would form the primary thrust of the attack, or at least, so it was meant to seem. The power-armored cavalry of Gordon's Brigade waited in the wings for now.

Ten thousand of Reznov's Cossacks had formed on the right flank, mostly infantry and a few pieces of line artillery, moving in the classic military formation of 'unruly mob,' they advanced with banners of all sorts, representing clans, families, towns, cities, saints and kings, all in a great yelling mob. Just ahead of this came a detachment of some thousand or so cavalrymen, these being cavalry in a more literal sense than was usual in such designations within the Terran military establishments, for Cossacks had retained their love of horses even when they left Earth behind. The utility of an unimproved horse in a modern battle is, of course, rather limited, so the Cossacks of the Russian Empire had, with the military funding provided to them, taken to providing powered armor for their horses as well. Painted in bright reds and blues, bedecked with looted medals and other such tokens of past victories, they advanced in a shining, glimmering wave, displaying a degree of discipline the infantry lacked in their silence and ability to hold a line. Each man, himself armored in a manner similar to the horse, often with icons of some patron or favored saint engraved into the chestpiece, was armed with a ten foot lance, the tips gleaming and sparking occasionally when two came too close together, the energy field surrounding them discharging into the atmosphere. In addition, as a matter of course, most bore a brace of pistols tethered to themselves and their horses, or some sort of long firearm.

With the advance underway, as soon as the main force crested the horizon, a signal was passed to the rear. The thirty howitzers positioned at the rear began their opening bombardment, each shell bursting over the Kaybor Gate's trenchlines to unleash a horde of micro-missiles, peppering each line with semi-guided projectiles guided towards movement and heat, each quite capable of piercing such limited body armor as the Birrin wore.

NationStates

We Do Not Come in Peace [Closed][IC]