Operation Brimstone [IC/FT/SIGNUPS]

[The New Earth Federation]

98th Drop Battalion, Constantinople, New Carthage
Three minutes after drop


The pod's door flew off as Cpl. Arnold stepped out he pulled out his M34 Hellfire and regroup with his squad that impacted about 20 meters away for him. After he regroup with them they headed to their Captain who landed about several clicks away form a nearby bridge. Troopers had already begun to dig in using portable trench digging robots to create infantry trenches and some tank trenches, machine gun nests had been hastily built out of dirt, rubble and some sandbags. The Captain was walking down the trench and shouting orders as he went along. Some snipers had already taken shelter in the nearby buildings to provide some overwatch and support, they also had a important job of spotting incoming troops. Arnold's squad moved along the five foot wide trench to meet up with the Captain.

"Alpha Company! I want those heavy MGs and mortars ready for any incoming contact" He bellowed pointing to a group of Troopers carrying several Paladin Machine Guns. He then continued "Bravo get that radio equipment up and running I want a link to the Admiral within five." He shout then turned to another platoon "Charlie, your on ammo duty....find out how much ammo we have and distribute it, EVERYONE ELSE you are ordered to hold this position and repel any commies that come here!"

As the Troopers moved out to do their duties a spotter noticed a column of communist troops head toward their location. He quickly radioed it down to the Captain.

"We got enemy forces inbound!" He said as he loaded his M83A7, a surge of Troopers quickly moved toward the firing line and readied themselves they checked their equipment and weapons for the final time before the battle started. Soon a single shot from a Longshot Sniper rifle rang out, soon more followed as they picked off any communist soldiers. The Captain looked around at his Troopers, most of them where veterans.....but this, this was something else. He then looked down his scope and waited until they where in the effective range of the M83A7 once they where he began to fire, soon so was the entire line of Troopers.

[The Interstellar Federation]

The bridge of the William flared as the mothership and it dueled it out. Nobody seemed to be winning as the mothership's regenerating armour and the William's powerful shielding deflected shots from both sides, effectively cancelling each other out. The AI then sprang back to life as he received a new piece of information: "Sir, the CSS Infinity Spear, flagship of the Callistos assault is weakening. Their shielding has almost been dissipated, I suggest we finish them off." "Alright, select new target, CSS Infinity Spear!"

The AI smiled as he assorted over a quintillion simultaneous calculations at once and found a firing solution against the target.

"Sir, I do remind you that there is a significant presence of ships that have assembled to become a make-shift shield around the target."

"Will it be a problem?"

"No, our rounds should effortlessly get through that."

The antimatter accelerators charged up and discharged two more antimatter slugs right towards the Infinity Spear, tearing straight through an unfortunate ship in the way and hitting both the reactor and engine rooms and aft of the bridge section. A huge bright flash enveloped the area of impact as a few ships were blown away from the blast.

"Good hit. Accuracy at 99.25216%." the AI called out as he ran diagnostics.

[New Communist and Socialist Unions]

Another portal seemed to have opened, and out came a massive Zoic-Class carrier, it was covered from top to bottom with meat, and was being followed by a horde of NCSU starfighters. This ship was sent by the zealously loyal NCSU vassal The Rimworld Remnant, and was sent to assist in this proxy war of the NCSU. Looking for a fight, the "eyes" of the AI on the carrier looked hungrily at the William. And immediately orders were sent.

OOC: Check the Factbooks of my puppet. You'll find some good information about this Rimworld Remnant puppet of mine.

[New Roman Empire]

Emperor Tedian
216th

Tedian returned to the bridge, "Captain use the blink drive and drop us right bellow their blockade line, I want to be in a position to start to land ground forces on the planet." Informed Tedian as he waited for the orders to be distributed. "I want all fighter and bombers to launch once we are under their fleet. Hopefully we will be able to push a larger gap and use that to our advantage." Advised Tedian as Javik appeared in front of them.

"I believe that would be to our advantage, all ships and given their ready signals, awaiting your command Captain Daln." Informed Javik as he turned around and looked into the void if space.

"Punch it." Commanded Captain Daln as the fleet disappeared for a second then reappeared under the hostile fleet. Plasma was sent to the underbellies of the ships and fighter and bombers were being launched.

[Black Nebulae]

Mothership

"AAAaargghhh!!!" screamed one of the men inside the Mothership as a torpedo hit its hull rattling the ship as it tore through the armor of Tribunis. Several more torpedoes came forth and destroyed the ships hulls damaging it to the point a small fighter can fit in inside. The tribunis reacted to the damage and started to regenerate its hull slowly bit by bit but the continuous onslaught of fighters and bombers as well as projectiles from other enemy starships were dealing more damage than the regeneration of the Tribunis. It simply cannot keep up with the continuous wave of energy projectiles coming at it, shielding is almost depleted as the reactor is straining itself to the point of it breaking down as it continued to block waves of energy.

"AI Tribunis 399, Damage Report Now!" shouted a commanding officer

"Multiple hull penetrations across the mothership. Shield is almost depleted, Tribunis regenerating slowly. AI-Controlled Drones are falling one by one." The voice said in a monotone.

"Shit! We are getting overwhelmed. There are thousands of these flying nutcracks everywhere! We cannot hold my lord shall we retreat?" a transmission from one of the starships in the defensive formation around the Mothership reported.

"Hmpf, They may have one this battle but not the war. Send a transmission to all troops in this vicinity to fall back and enter into hyperspace. Go into the coordinates of what I'm about to say. Grid 3-5-6-7 Hyperion-II, Codename Callisto also send a transmission beforehand through the interstellar communications vox that we are coming." ordered the commanding officer

"But sir, What about the landing force that we dispatched that has landed safely on the planet?" asked another officer

"Leave them be. They are the shield that protects the Empire, they are the sword that strikes down the foes of the Tribunal. They can manage themselves." said the commanding officer in a monotone voice

The Admiral or the so-called commanding officer opens up his communications vox and directed it to all Callistos allies in the area.

"This is Admiral Hajrudin of the Black Nebulae Empire. Forces of Callistos, We advise you to retreat back to Hyperion-II where we will be planning our attack at New Carthage. The presence of Free Hyperion forces is too much and if we continue to stay any longer we will be outgunned and outnumbered by enemy starships. I repeat, We advise any remaining Callistos allies still fighting on the orbit of New Carthage to fall back to Hyperion-II". he said ending in a metallic voice caused by the voice changing device, a feature on the communications vox.

Orbit of New Carthage

Soon the Mothership began falling back with her escorts. The battle and pounding she just took from all sides were just too much. If they continue to hold they would lose one of the Eupherie-class Battleships that they had just dispatched. Several ships from Free Hyperion forces fired their main batteries and missiles towards the retreating fleet. The mothership shielded the smaller ships and took the brunt of the attack destroying the shield completely and tearing through the hull of the Mothership leaving a destroyed and flaming hull as it retreats. A black rift suddenly appeared and sucked the retreating fleet from the Orbit of New Carthage.

New Carthage

"Great they have just left us to rot in this god forsaken island. But who are we?!?!" Shouted the General

"We are the swords of the Tribunal!" soldiers shouted in response

"What are we?!?"

"We are their wrath and their vengeance!"

"What is our purpose?!"

"To die in battle fighting for the tribunal!"

The General ended his short little speech and gave commands to the legios. They started their wake of death as they leave a trail of destruction on their path. They landed further up northeast where they fought off local forces before finally settling in near a mountain building their stronghold inside it.

[United Human Planets]

Constantinople, First LRAC Brigade, Second Battalion
Patel reached up, and switched on his radio so that it was battalion wide. "Everyone listen up. We march in 5 minutes. The objective is a park at grid sector L-37. Once we make it to the park, we are to hunker down and wait for the SGT's to get here. The enemy will almost certainly try and push us off that piece of real estate, but we will hold." He paused, and looked out over the city. Many buildings were on fire, and it cast a sort of haze over his vision. Below him he could see his Battalion, hunkering down inside of buildings and behind rubble, waiting for his orders. There were still ten of his soldiers out in the city moving to link up, but he now had enough troops together that they could easily complete the objective. Plus, his statement was battalion wide, so they would have heard it to, and would be able to make their way to the new objective. "I want our Scout Platoon in front of the column. And give us a good 300 meter berth. If you get spotted and attacked, we'll come running to help, but otherwise dont even acknowledge our presence. Zaahir I want you and your company coming in next. After that I want Valentin and your troops, me and the Command Element will walk with you. Camille you take up the rear. If anything happens in the front, I want your people in the best position to respond. Understood?"

There was a pause, but Patel heard as each of the three other Company Commanders acknowledged that they understood the plan. Patel stood and looked out the window. The Scout Platoon was already moving past him, jogging to try and speed things up as they got into position. He watched as Zaahir and his men came walking by next, MG's in the front, in a good 5 meter spread. Valentin came next, and Patel pushed himself up and joined them. As they walked, he looked over his shoulder at Camille and the Support Company. They trickled out of the buildings behind them, and joined the group, laden down with MG stands, mortars, sniper rifles, and enough medical supply's to stock a small hospital for a week.

It took them a while, and along the way they picked up 5 of the 10 still missing soldiers. But the Second Battalion made good time, and reached their objective in a half hour. Along the way Patel had been radioing with the Expeditionary Forces command in the fleet, telling them that they had found a good landing zone and that they would radio again when they were ready. When he saw the Park in front of him, Patel turned his radio back over to being battalion wide and said, "Alright Battalion, what are we gonna do?"

The call came back over his radio, 300 voices all yelling out in unison. "Kill!"

"What are we gonna do!"

"Kill!"

"Thats what Im talking about boys and girls!" said Patel. "We are gonna go out there, and we're gonna rake the dogshit our of these people! Now lets get moving, we either die sitting here, or we get up and look damn cool while we do it! I want MG's on every corner of the park. Valentin, I want your company to cover the south and east borders of the park, Zaahir you take the north and west. Camille, you come set up with me. And have your people set up mortars, so we can kick the fuck outta anyone who tries to take this position. We got an hour and a half of waiting people, and if we can hold this position for that long then the SGT's will be here, and any enemy forces in the city are fucking done for."

[Olimpiada]

---

Orbit of New Carthage, Hyperion System

---

A cruiser flew apart as the plasma cut it in half, its shields failing for the last time. Ariadne cursed. She'd never been comfortable with space combat like this. It was too damn sterile. On the ground, you could feel the battle. Up here, you were just an observer who sat inside a metal box while thousands died. Unless you were the Ten Thousand. They'd taken a different approach.

The Ten Thousand moved quickly around the marines, using the light exoskeletons embedded in their combat suits as a way to get the speed advantage, letting stray rounds glance off of their personal shields while they ran up the walls. Humans never did tend to look up, and that was proving quite true here.

The main part of the Ten Thousand's training was knowledge of human psychology. From birth, they were trained by the ECI to understand what humans expected of one another, and how to use that to their advantage. Initially, the expense of bringing in psychologists to train children was seen as wasteful. In reality, it was quite profitable. The use of elite troops had proven to be a strong military advantage, even if these ones did tend to waste equipment. And in the case of the ECI (or any major Olimpiadan corporation for that matter), military advantages meant profit.

They attacked from unexpected angles, occasionally blowing parts of the hull out from the inside with rockets so that they could fling marines out into the void. The screams of men who knew they would die in the cold void did tend to dampen morale, after all. Their tactics were ultimately rooted in humanity, but still completely alien. During a skirmish on Joki with BlueSky Industries, the CEO of BSI was quoted as saying that "We really should get our people in the Archontia to suggest that the legislature ban psycholgists" shortly after the Ten Thousand had used holograms to make it look like they were killing far more BSI troops than actually existed in that area.

Back in the main battle, the mercenary ships were in a holding pattern. Railguns periodically destroyed ships on both sides, air igniting with the heat generated by the rods as it rushed from the entry and exit wounds on the afflicted ships. Nothing was really moving, but at least they knew that soon enough, the Ten Thousand would have either completely won or completely failed at their task.

[Cyborgs and Sentient Machines]

Collective Command Ship Local Network

Primo Enchepera:
Comrades, I'm sure you've all read the PRC's reply, evacuation seems to be a minimal issue, so we are on course for New Carthage, most of us anyway.
However, I still want to protect them, so, 2 fleets will break off. 1 will head back to guard the FOB, with the rest of the non combat ships, and the other will continue the current course to Callistos.
I'll of course lead the rest of us to New Carthage, and if anyone is damaged at the battle and is in need of repairs they can switch out for someone at the FOB.
Everyone that's with me, we, we will be going in there in a funnel formation in order to best serve our new allies.
This briefing is now dismissed, I'll expect you all to briefing your respective subordinates in each of your fleets as I will once we separate.

---

New Carthage

The Collective fleet hurtled in to the fray, firing widely at any ships that fired at the PRC fleet, first firing armour penetrating high explosive torpedoes from the railgun tubes, then once within range, opening up with the High Energy Photon weapons.

The funnel formation was working exactly as planned, enemy ships faced sudden overwhelming firepower and had to make the choice between getting caught in the kill zone inside the funnel or pulling a tactical retreat.
The Collective admiral did not want to scare off his new allies and broadcasted the following message on all channels.

Greetings, I am Primo Enchepera.
All minds loyal to the red banner do not be alarmed, we are here to help, we will attempt to make temporary repairs to your fleet while you stay inside this protective funnel, I would appreciate all comrades to hail me.

Once allied ships entered the funnel, Collective craft exited their ships like bees leaving their nest.
They swarmed allied ships and released jets of black clouds onto them, the clouds enveloped the ships and filled any hole or dent.
The black substance was in fact nano machines, which were capable of a great many things, and in this case, they were capable of plugging holes in ships, however, this is only a temporary measure, good enough to allow any on board engineers to apply a crude fix, and get the ship back into the fight, but not good enough to stand up to substantial punishment.

[Vogega]

C.S.S. Infinity Spear
The droids had split into five squads of 4. While this lowered the overall firepower of the groups, it made it easier to fight in the corridors of the ship. One squad had wandered down a long hallway, that then gave way to a crew quarter. Only four crew were still in there, eating lunch before they had to return to their battlestations. They were quickly cut down. The droids then turned down another hallway where two soldiers were sprinting down the hall. One manages to fire a shot that sparked off of a droid before both were cut down. Then, a squad of clearly better trained soldiers came from behind and destroyed all of the droids before they even fired a shot.
The second squad, had less luck when it came to finding crew, but more when it came to enemies. Only one naval officer was fund, and he received a shot to the head. Then, the standard marines came running around the corner. That squad sustained one death and three hits, but not confirmed kills before the droid squad was cut in half. The other two retreated into a corridor where they were struck down by an officer.
The third squad rounded a corner and immediately lost three fourths of its number. The remaining one hid in a closet, and as soon as the enemies past it, came out and shot two of them in the back. The droid turned and walked off before it found and met up with the fourth squad that was wondering around.
The fifth squad was surrounded by enemies, but they managed to get into an extended firefight which ended with the demise of the four droids, along with two more hits that did not get a confirmed kill. They could have died or they could have lived.
The fourth squad was not found by any of the enemies as it approached the hangar. The door clearly marked 'hanger', was straight ahead with no enemies insight. However, they could be waiting around the corner for the droids.

V.E.S. Traigo Muerto
The main ships of the Vogegan fleet had only taken a few stray shots that were easily absorbed by the shields.
<I need to do something about that Circadian Cyclone. It cannot be allowed to continue to operate.>
Wirelessly, the Vogegan Grand Commander ordered the weakest Frigate among its fleet to micro-jump into the midst of the cyclone. In a flash, the ship jumped into the middle of the cyclone, fired all of its weapons in all directions, then as the return fire came, jumped back out, but ended up among the moving Callistoan fleet. The brief fire it had sustained had damaged the hyperdrive, and the ship was quickly torn apart as it madly fired its weapons into the Callistoan fleet. The frigate burst in flames and exploded, the debris starting to fly around smashing into smaller craft and destroying multiple fighters of all teams. The larger ships managed to simply destroy the fragments so much that they didn't do much damage at all.

To: United Human Planets Ground Commander
From: Vogegan Grand Commander
If you can take and hold a landing zone largely safe from enemy fire, I can then land my ground forces and spearhead the assault to the enemy. Casualties while pushing the enemy back are of little concern to me. Just clear a landing site, and I will land my soldiers and clear a path for yours. Until then, give me the coordinates of the enemy positions and I will bombard and bomb them as much as possible.

[Callistos]

Worker's 215th Expeditionary Force, 101st Shock Regiment
North Banks, Constantinople, New Carthage, April 6th, 2330
1st Battalion

"Alright comrades, we're in the badlands now. Stay frosty..." Diamond Company and Bull Company had taken up formation, and had begun to sweep through the streets of Constantinople, searching for the enemy landing force while the main Callistian line made it's way towards the bridge. Depending on the size of the hostile army, the Callistian Companies of 500 men would likely be unable to push them out of the city, but they would be hell to deal with. It was a mixed bag, the Callistian Expeditionary Force. Some of the soldiers were young, inexperienced but blinded by patriotism and and unstoppable zeal, while others were older veterans of the Revolutionary War, battle tested and experienced behind the sights of a rifle. Either way, they were a nationalistic and uncompromising army, ready to play into the strengths of the Callistian Worker's Armed Forces, ground war.

"Shh!" Someone hissed, halting the advance, "You hear that?" An older trooper raised a fist to signal the men to halt, only for with the sound of a whizzing bullet a hole burrowed through his skull, spraying blood onto the asphalt as the trooper fell.

"Son of a... Contacts!" The formation of Callistian troops broke as they dove for cover, "Multiple hostiles in line formation, assault rifles..."

"Anyone got a bead on that sniper?"

"Negative, maybe on the line... maybe on the roof top, fuck I don't know!"

"Right, you know the drill comrades, show these bastards how the Worker's Army fights!"

"OORAH!" A chorus arose from the men. Two groups broke of from the main line, sprinting off down into the alleyways sounding the road while the first section continued to reply to the hostile guns with a constant spray of fire. RK-29 Assault Rifles and DTR-7 Machine guns rained hell over their opponents as they ducked behind cars, or anything else that could be used as a barrier, while the two other wings of the line moved to enclose the enemy, cutting through alleys.

Meanwhile, across the city, 1st Battalion continued onwards towards Objective Altar, a tall bridge leading across the wide river running through the city. Colonel Aguilar gave the order to halt as the grew closer, scanning the surrounding area. "3rd Platoon, clear the bridge. The armour will role out after you reach the other side. Let's move comrades!"

---

CSS Infinity Spear, Marathon Class-Carrier
Worker's 215th Expeditionary Force
Above New Carthage, April 6th, 2330

"Hull breach on Alpha deck!" Someone shouted on the Infinity Spear's Bridge, as the whole ship rocked from the impact. The lights flickered and warning alarms began to blare incessantly, a cacophony or sirens and the voice of a female in an almost annoyingly calm voice announcing, "Hull Integrity Critical... Hull Integrity Critical..."

"Hull integrity critical..." Admiral Menendez hissed mockingly, "Someone shut that bitch up." Jumping down from his command post, he began to work furiously on a control console, routing back up power towards shielding in a desperate attempt to to reduce the damage from incoming fire. "We're up the river without a damn paddle if we can't get fire support now! Where the hell are our allies!?"

"Looks like Black Nebula craft are retreating, sir. NCSU units are holding their own but..."

"Fuck! We're done here!"

"But sir..."

"We have 1 million men on board, Lieutenant, I am not having them die in orbit!" He reached out for the ships radio, "All assets, this is Admiral Menendez, Protocol April, tactical retreat!" He then spun around to the ships helmsmen, "Take us down, comrade!"

"Yes sir!" As this happened, a blue light began to engulf the Callistian fleet, before in the blink of an eye, the majority of the force jumped, falling back from the battlefield with short range FTL Drives. The Infinity spear and few escorts took the opportunity to slip through, falling straight down towards the planet, "Putting her down near the Mountain Ranges outside Constantinople sir..."

"Excellent."

---

CSS Infinity Spear, Marathon Class-Carrier
Worker's 215th Expeditionary Force, 3rd Marine Battalion
Above New Carthage, April 6th, 2330

The hangar bay of the Infinity Spear was in full evacuation, with logistics personnel clamping down fighters that had not already been so, as well as other vehicles and equipment. As they did, a team of EVA Marines were setting up their own equipment around the main door, machine guns and shielding. "Clear out, we've got a couple guest about to drop in." One of the Marines announced as flight deck personnel began to evacuate the hangar bay, there was no need for them to be in the midst of the upcoming firefight. The plan was simple. A squad of droids would be waiting on the other side of the door, undoubtedly ready to charge through. As soon as they did, the Marines would take action. "You think they know they're walking into a trap?" A young Marine asked.

"Probably. But it doesn't matter. Remeber son. Whether or not they know this is a trap... We are the trap."

"Oorah," The young marine replied, "Comrade Lastimosa, we've taken up position in the hangar, what's your status?"

"We're holding!" Lastimosa responded in the midst of a fire fight. He ducked out from his barricade, only to be met with an explosion as a Ten Thousand Mercenary blew a whole in the hull. Soon, he found himself being sucked out into the space above New Carthage as his ship plummeted past. "Son of a bitch." He growled, watching the body of one of his comrades float past, a hole punched through his helmet from shrapnel. Asides from the shock however, Lastimosa was fine. EVA Marines trained for this, hence the EVA Part of their name. Extravehicular Activity, or EVA kits were designed to keep the wearer alive in open space for several minutes, and grappling hooks made them more maneuverable. Lashing out, Lastimosa hooked the side of the Infinity Spear, pulling himself in so he was clutched along the side with specially designed gloves and boots. Several other of his marines were by his side, "Garcia, how are we?"

"We lost Okamoto and Perez in the blast. I didn't see Romero either..."

"Dammit." Lastimosa growled, planting breaching charges on his own hull, "These fuckers want to play? That's fine, I'll play. Breach and Clear!" With a blast in the hull, the Marines, launched back into the ship, hopefully taking the Ten Thousand by surprise. The Mercenaries would soon find out that Callistian EVA Marines were no putty patrollers, as they fought tooth and nail with some of the best equipment the DPRC had at it's disposal. Exoskeletons improved their strength, and their minds were adaptable. They would not go down so easily.

[Olimpiada]

---

Above New Carthage, Hyperion System

---

The troops in question were knocked about by the blast, but did not hesitate to use it to their advantage. When it was discovered that gravity now existed outside since they'd made atmospheric entry at some point in the fighting, any and all holes became alternate paths of combat. Thermal goggles allowed them to watch the soldiers inside as they scrambled along the outside of the hull, ducking in at odd places to fire on the marines' flanks before ducking out again. The marines were proving to be an issue, but not a major one. The advantage of neural networking that the Ten Thousand had that allowed them to coordinate effectively was quite the bonus, after all. The ECI had spared no expense, after all. What they lacked in weaponry, they more than made up for in their sheer ability to be unconventional.

Stray bodies were routinely used to great effect, both as ways to hide and gain the advantage of surprise when marines came by, and when bullets needed to be blocked en masse. The morale effects weren't great, to say the least. The disadvantage of periodically opening up fire from behind a corpse though, is that he who fires often dies, even though he likely takes others with him.



Meanwhile, in orbit, the fight was shifting. The introduction of a new combat force was a significant one, and as such, demanded rethinking of strategies.

"Justinian, you thinking we should leave? I sure as hell am. Our targets just relocated, and we're picking up signals that a ship just appeared in atmo near Constantinople. Seems to be our quarry," said Ariadne, examining her various fleet statistics in the holographic screens before her.

"Yeah, looks it," responded Justinian quite gruffly. He knew that it wouldn't do to not finish off their enemy here. Sooner they did that, the sooner that they could leave. And giving the enemy a chance to repair was quite foolish. "I'm in. All DMC ships, rotate on a ninety downwards and prepare for a jump."


Shortly after, the remainder of the ECI fleets appeared in the sky, broadsides pointed downwards as they screamed towards the ground on a column of metal and flame, the ships lighting up with the heat of atmospheric entry as they blazed away from above the lower Callistian forces.

Meanwhile, Ariadne's forces were doing something a bit different, and far less reckless. Namely, dropping forces. The pods were released on a trajectory that would land them in Constantinople, just at a low angle that the Callistian ships would be unlikely to be able to pick off before landing. The surviving hundred and seventy thousand infantry rained from the skies, metallic pods lighting up the skies of Constantinople from afar, heralding salvation through aggressive capitalism and corporate greed.

[The New Earth Federation]

98th Drop Regiment

"LIGHT THOSE BASTARDS UP!" Yelled the captain, soon the sound of Hellfire LMGs, Paladin HMGs and other small arms fire erupt, however the enemy out if an even deadly wall of fire. The Captain quickly peaked over and noticed a few helmets head toward the sides of the streets, he turned to two nearby sergeants.

"Sergeants get your squads together and head down our flank to secure it, i have a feeling that they are going to try and flank us....be careful we have no idea what the layout of this city is like."

Then the sounds of engines roared over, with curiosity some of the troopers looked up and noticed that hey where Raptor drop ships, it was a beautiful sight as they majestically flew though the air. However they will not be landing here as the troopers didn't have time to secure a landing zone.

"This is Echo-16 our birds can't land here, it's to small and currently hot....we will be landing in a park that is four clicks east of you, how copy?"

"This is Captain Heim of the 98th Regiment...we copy, good landing" after that he turned to the sergeants and bellowed "MOVE!"

The sergeants nodded and gathered their squads and headed down the alley ways, the captain turned around and proceeded to return fire. The rounds form the NEF machines guns was terrifying as they where 9.80x25mm HEAP incendiary (Hellfire) which burned everything it came into contact with after exploding, thus getting its name "Hellfire" and .60cal HEAP (Paladin) which is quite rare to see in the hands of a Trooper normally this machine gun would be wielded by a Paladin, this is due to the huge amount of recoil that the gun exhibits after being fired. But when it is used by troopers it's usually equipped to first wave invasion forces or relief forces.

Alleyway
Left flank


"Contacts!!" Yelled the sergeant as he raised his rifle and fired at the incoming group of communist soldiers. While the Troopers where possibly outnumbered they did have several advantages in the areas of power armor and experience, it seemed foolish that these soldiers would be running a hail of gunfire like this but it was tactics, their mistakes.

[Black Nebulae]

Orbit of Hyperion-II

"Give me a damage report now!" Admiral Hajrudin ordered into his AI vox. Several blue screens popped out detailing and showing the damaged sections of the Mothership. But a key component hasn't been hit except for the two offline shield generators. There is still a massive hole in the side of the mothership's hulls but the Tribunis has now been able to regenerating it without any disturbances.

Admiral Hajrudin then went into the interstellar communications vox and sent a message to callistos forces particularly when they saw a fellow ship getting battered by enemy forces while attempting to escape via hyperspace.

"All Callistos forces, This is Admiral Hajrudin of the Black Nebulae Empire and we wish for forces on the side of Callistos to rendezvous into Hyperion-II to plan our next counter-offensive." Hajrudin said as he took a sip from his coffee mug.

The Nebuleans were lucky that the Mothership had not sustained huge damage when they dueled it out with the ship called IFS William. Every dark plasma the Mothership shot at the enemy starship absorbed the dark plasma and used it to refuel their own. This raises concern among the higher ups in the force sent to the Hyperion System due to their main plasma batteries not giving enough damage to penetrate through the shield. They would have to come up with a new way of dealing with the said ship or to bring in a weapon strong enough to go through the its powerful energy shield.

New Carthage

The task force continued in their onslaught, ravaging the lands of New Carthage. They met some minor resistance but they retaliated and pushed back or killed the local forces. In one of their march they stopped dead in their tracks as they heard a gunshot firing off from the distance. There was a silence for a few seconds until one of the legio's shouted.

"Contacts sir! Lots of them probably Free Hyperion Forces!" Shouted a legio as he ran towards the general yelling.

"What the hell are you fools spacing out for?! We are under attack! Colonel Zehn, Take the 1st through the 6th regiments through the flanks to secure it, shoot down any free hyperion forces. Major Cyrus, You go and command the 3rd Armored Division, they will be our vanguard in this battle. Communications officers! Call in 2 to 4 Andromeda squadrons to launch off and to support our men from the sky. All of you will be under the command of Brigadier General Heinkruger. Now take us off back into the mountain stronghold. This land is now dangerous." he ordered yelling as he gets into an aircraft and heads back into the newly built stronghold.

With the commands given by the General. The 3rd Armored Division consisting of Magellan-class tanks began advancing forward in a spear formation. They unleashed their plasma cannons at the Free Hyperion forces while the 1st, 3rd and 5th regiment heads into the right flank while the 2nd, 4th and 6th heads into the left.

[The Interstellar Federation]

"Sir, enemy vessels have left the combat area, tracking indicates they have retreated to Hyperion II, Callistos capital." the AI stated as the Free Hyperion Allies regrouped after that enduring space battle.

"Assess the damage."

"Statistics indicate eight of our frigates have been destroyed and one of our cruisers was heavily damaged by that mothership."

"What about enemy losses?"

"Very heavy: the Callistos fleet was hammered, sustaining heavy losses. The Black Nebulae fleet also took some damage, their mothership was half it's length when it jumped to FTL."

"How about our systems?"

"We lost about one third of our fighter and other spacecraft compliment and multiple weapons systems need to be repaired. We've exhausted over ten thousand missiles during that battle and it would take some time to regenerate them with our fabrication processes. Our hull integrity and shielding are holding well, but I suggest we repair as soon as possible to restore our fighting efficiency to 100%."

Captain Jones Kabrachi rumpled his chin as he assessed the situation: the Callistos forces have retreated out of the system, but there was a heavy presence of Callistos ground forces still battling it out on the ground. "Helmsman! Set a course to orbit ten thousand meters above New Carthrage. We're sending out boots on the ground!" he ordered. "Yes sir!"

The antimatter drives pulsated and the William descended upon the atmosphere of Free Hyperion, which was exploding with anti-air fire and aircraft zooming around. The rest of the Interstellar fleet guarded the skies along with the rest of Free Hyperion forces. The William was soon going to perform the role it designed to excel in: assault.

Kabrachi then broadcast a message to all friendly forces: "All friendlies, there are still Callistos forces on the ground and they are pounding the Free Hyperion forces into dust. Send some ground forces over and clear the planet of the enemy!"

The AI then lit up again and advised the Captain: "Sir, the Infinity Spear is over New Carthrage. Looks like we're closing in on them."

"Good, they can't be much better after that battle. We can finish them off. Send some escorts over to us."

A few frigates broke off the fleet and began a formation around the carrier as the hangar crew of the William scurried along to launch fighters and bombers into the air as hundreds of drop pods readied themselves to be launched down towards the burning city. Tanks and more soldiers hurried into dropships that were preparing to launch and begin the offensive against the Callistos forces.

[Cyborgs and Sentient Machines]

Primo Enchepera

It seems the nanites weren't enough, it seems most of the Callistosi fleet suffered too much internal damage and fled to Hyperion II for proper repairs, band aids can't fix bullet holes...
The rest of the PRC fleet have made landfall near a mountain range outside the enemy Capital.

Staying in orbit will only cause unnecessary losses, however, there are still allies in orbit, and abandoning them will cause their loss....

Primo Enchepera to his fleet:
Comrades, we face a difficult situation, most of our allies are too damaged to continue the engagement and have fled to repair, while some are still in orbit, half of us will escort our friends through a Wormhole, you will only enter after our allies have made their escape.
Once our allies are ready, we will mount a counter attack and we will bringing everything we have to defeat the enemy.
Those of you who are withdrawing, on my behalf, I want you to read and then transmit the message attached to these orders to our allies at Hyperion II.

I will stay here and protect our allies that have landed on the surface, also the enemies are taking advantage of this retreat, they using the opportunity to deploy more of their troops to the surface unhindered, but for what I have planned, that is excellent.

[Kyrenaia]

RKS Mutraqa.
The enemy forces, or at least a major part of them, had retreated towards Hyperion II and was setting up shop there, if the long-range sensors were to be trusted.
The Kyrenaian Forces had sustained light damage, if damage at all, mainly due to their attack coming relatively late in the Battle of Free Hyperion - which was one of the reasons why Admiral Bey wouldn't dare himself to claim, that he was responsible for the victory of the Coalition of those supporting Free Hyperion (better name pending).
The arrival of several new forces made him worried, though.
That, and there was still fighting on the ground to be done.
Mostly, this first, initial battle was over.
"Fighter Control, launch a few squadrons for fighterbombers.", he ordered with a frown, "Move all forces, including the troop transports and the train here. I want a perimeter established around the planet, nothing gets closer to it then... two light-minutes without us knowing.
Tell our allies, that we are prepared to supply close air support or however they call it, as well as the services of our hospital- and workshop ships. The replenishment ships shall prepare to bring supplies to the surface in support, as well as to supply any ship needing supplies. Attach a list of the supplies we have on hand, I'm sure, that the'll find something of use to them."
"We are not yet committing?", General bint-Amal asked with a slightly confused expression.
"Not yet.", Bey confirmed, "I would like to have your people on their best, when we invade Callistos."
Bint-Amal grinned as Bey ordered: "Execute."

[Black Nebulae]

Hyperion-II

"Speed up the repairs now! I want those shield generators online and put the origin at maximum power, I want this mothership to be capable of engaging enemy starships. The tribunis must be sped up or else our men on New Carthage is gonna be peppered from orbit. If push comes to shove we will bring in the entire bulk of the Nebulean fleet whether some of our ships are damaged or not." ordered Hajrudin from the communications vox

Nebuleans can be seen running along the corridors of the Mothership trying to repair it's key components and trying to restore its battle efficiency to 100% while other starships launched their repair drones and started to repair their broken hulls from the space of the void. They are working hard and fast trying to reactivate the shield generators to take on enemy starships including the so-called IFS William that gave them so much trouble. The other two Eupherie-class Motherships are on standby in Hyperion-II helping other starships and her sister in repairing the damages.

New Carthage

Fireballs started to fall from the sky. But it was only dropped pods from Free Hyperion forces. Seconds later dropships can be seen going down from orbit and into the surface of New Carthage. The Magellan-class tanks went into artillery mode and started to shoot down the drop pods and ships going down from orbit. A display of blue and purple can be seen flying and exploding into the sky.

"Shit! They are coming down from the sky. 2nd Mechanized Divison, Take them out! Obliterate them from the ground and if they ever made touchdown. Slaughter them all, Gloria Tribuna!" ordered Heinkruger to another commanding officer who held the rank of Major named Krepz.

Just as some of the men were about to retreat a large voice shouted in the battlefield. He wore a uniform that is adorned with black phoenix's and wore a hat with the symbol of the Tribunal at it's center. It was a commissar, men who encourage and command soldiers similar to a commanding officer but encourage the men to not flinch even when all hope is lost.

"Not one step back! These men are nothing more than savages that have turned away from the light of the Tribunal. Kill them all! Turning your back against these heretics means turning your back against the Tribunal themselves!" Shouted an Imperial Commissar as he rallies the some of the retreating soldiers from the battlefield.

Squadron's of Andromeda-class Fighters came and swooped in trying to gain air superiority. The fighters noticed the descending dropships and decided to take them out while supporting the legio's on the ground. They launched their Void Missiles against the drop ships while shooting their plasma cannons into the ranks of the Free Hyperion forces.

[The Interstellar Federation]

The sky above New Carthage exploded in fire as the guns of the IFS William churned thousands of rounds of antimatter at the fighters as hundreds of the William's fighters chased the bogeys. Even the heavy defensive guns of the 500 meter long dropships pounded the sky, their engines roaring as the pilots guided them past the blanket of fire and towards the designated landing sites. The very shadow of the William covered the Nebulaeans in darkness, with the cannons and missiles of the William unforgivingly razing the ground to clear the landing zones.

"Shit I'm hit!" a pilot shouted as the engines of his dropship exploded and sent the huge ship tumbling straight into some of the Nebulaean tanks. The William's frigate escorts also provided support fire to keep the enemies at bay as drop pods zipped straight to the ground, some being taken down by ground fire but most made it through. The drop pods were dispersed all over the place, some behind the flanks of the Nebulaens while others were near the front lines. The soldiers jumped out, assessed their surroundings and moved out. Interstellar soldiers were some of the elitist fighting men and women of the entire Universe: they had exceptional strength and speed compared to other bipedal sapients and had very well developed neural physics powers. As such, the standard Interstellar soldier was a force to be reckoned with. Immediately the first wave of drop pod soldiers engaged in combat with the enemy. The Black Nebulaeans were feisty opponents but they were unprepared for the neural physics of the soldiers. Rubble was thrown around by telekinesis while others blocked enemy fire via energy barriers. Both sides took losses as the frequent sight of flak littering the air kept the pace of fighting like a firm drum tempo. Gunfire erupted everywhere as the IFS William loomed overhead.

"Sir, there is a significant presence of Nebulaen forces that are likely to be counterattacking soon. I suggest immediate action to deter or prevent this," the AI chirped.

"Alright...fire the cleansing beams." the Captain responded.

Three bright lights erupted from the bottom of the William, with the lights turning out to be a glowing orb of energy that was rapidly osciliating. Then without warning, a huge stream of plasma erupted from the bottom of the carrier and descended upon the Black Nebulae forces. As soon as the beam touched the ground, it was vaporised and turned into volcanic glass, with any liquids immediately evaporated by the intense heat equivalent to a star. The beams systematically razed the ground and effortlessly cut through buildings, roads and other structures. The Black Nebulaens were caught directly in the path of all three beams and the sky turned a gloomy red, stained with ash and soot as the local atmosphere of the area became hotter and hotter. It was literally hell on New Carthrage (or at least a district of a city, that is.)

[The New Earth Federation]

South End of Constantinople

The five hundred Raptor Dropships landed in a near by park that was destroyed due to the fighting, soon hundreds of Troopers disambarked along with several heavily armored shock troops called Paladins. In total these drop ships brought 10,000 soldiers (or Division strength) to the surface, more where on their way but they would be coming down in the transport ship, the Major of the division gathered his soldiers around a nearby holographic table.

"Alright listen up, our job has two objectives." He said pulling up a holographic map of the city then two red blips popped up "First we knock out this artillery battery and support the FHF, second we secure a landing zone for the rest of the Legion. Any questions?"

"NO SIR!" Roared the Troopers and Paladins, the Major looked around and smiled as he slipped on his helmet. He then charged his rifle and bellowed.

"That what I fucking thought!" Soon all of the NEF soldiers dispersed and headed towards their IFVs and LRVs, as for the major he headed to the command IFV and boarded it. Once everyone was aboard then headed towards he first objective.

Few Hours later....

"CONTACT!!" Yelled the gunner on the lead LRV as he began to fire the chaingun on the LRV, the convoy stopped and unloaded its deadly cargo, the Athena MBTs moved up and some of them entrenched themselves in nearby rubble. As for the infantry they moved to cover of any sorts, buildings, rubble, etc. once they where set up they began to open fire upon the Black Nebule forces. As they disambarked form their IFVs they had taken some causalities, this was going to be interesting....

[Callistos]

Worker's 215th Expeditionary Force, 101st Shock Regiment
North Banks, Constantinople, New Carthage, April 6th, 2330
1st Battalion

"Everyone get down!" A Callistian Sergeant ordered as the the New Earth Federation soldiers hammered the line with machine gun fire. Bullets ricocheted of the hulls of cars the Callistians were using for cover, kicking dust and debris off the asphalt and surrounding buildings. To make matters worse, the enemies appeared to be using incendiary rounds, any trooper out of cover would get torn to shred and burned up. The troopers shuffled along the ground, moving to cars that were not burning, being sure to keep low to avoid fire. The sergeant, fumbling with he vest, pulled out a long grey cylinder, "Ready comrades?" He flipped the pin of the canister, and several of his unit did the same. A thick yellow smoke began to hiss out, which would not only block the troopers from view, but would hopefully confuse thermal imagery optics as well. They tossed the smoke grenades a few yards ahead of them, creating a wall of cover. They then scrambled into action, firing 40 mm grenades in the direction of hostiles, before moving to the side of the roads, hugging the buildings. MGs then fired in the general direction hostiles.

Meanwhile, the alley ways, the troopers found themselves in a tough situation. Several were caught in the open, and it was too late to save them. So instead, these men were used as meat shields while the men behind them dove out of the way. Using their exoskeletons, they forced upon back access doors, and even in extreme blew open walls. Leaving a few heavy gunners as rear guard, they pushed through the building, moving quickly to try and surround the hostiles, or even draw them into a trap in the building if they decided to follow.

Meanwhile, across the City....

"Bridge is secure sir!" The Infantry Platoon across the bridge called out. Colonel Aguilar nodded, jumping onto the side of a 'Mammoth' Tank, sling his rifle across his back, "Right then, Let's roll out! Column formation!" The Engines of the tanks fired up as their treads began to crawl across the bridge. Callistian forces were no pushing into the north side of the city.

---

CSS Infinity Spear, Marathon Class-Carrier
Worker's 215th Expeditionary Force
New Carthage, April 6th, 2330

"Sir hostiles are giving chase!" A member of the bridge crew announced, just before the Infinity spear lurched upon taking a broadside from the ECI craft. Admiral Menendez Grunted, lurching forward only to catch himself on a forward railing.

"Damn it! I've had enough of this, are the troops ready to deploy?"

"Yes sir, but..."

"Have them insert now, group up in the forests north of the city." He ordered, "We're putting this ship down!" The Infinity Spear then diverted all energy from it's guns to shields in one last desperate gambit. Meanwhile, in the Infantry loading bay, the Callistian Invasion force waited with trepidation. They were quickly falling below suitable altitude for Drop Pod insertion, which would mean going in the conventional way. A jump from the hatch, wing suiting down. They'd cleared the city, and were now above wilderness to the north of the city. Waiting, the troops stood, checking their equipment until a siren blared through the ship. In the loading bay, a green light switched on. Lt. Colonel Hugo Carrasco, stood at the main hatch, as it slowly opened revealing the crisp Carthage Air Outside.

"This is it, go go go!" The Callistian Troopers charged out of the bay and began their decent towards the planet. Not long after, the Infinity Spear, rather ungracefully did the same herself, touching down at the base of a mountain range far from Constantinople, wounded and trapped. Her escorts had no option but to abandon her. There were more important things to deal with than protecting a beached whale.

Onboard the ship itself, Lt. Salazar stumbled as the ship lurched to a halt. The craft still had power, the lights were on and computers were still online, for now. He collected himself, picking up his rifle again, ready for battle. "Ok, I we need to keep these bastards at bay. Can we activate fire suppression systems?"

"Yes sir!" One of Salazar's Marines responded, punching a code into his wrist console, locking down areas were the enemy boarding party had arrived, releasing jets of Carbon Dioxide gas. It could confuse the enemies, or even asphyxiate them depending on their equipment. It also seemed as though the marines were getting reinforcements, a squad of A.D.I.N. droids, marching through the hallways to assist. Carrying Machine Guns, and covered head to toe in thick armour, they were much slower than marines, they were no less deadly.

---

CSS Stalingrad, Tempest Class-Corvette
Infinity Spear's Escort
New Carthage, April 6th, 2330

"All Units this is Guardian 5-0, Baseplate is down, I repeat Baseplate is down!" The Crew of a part of the Infinity Spear's Escort reported as they sailed past, "All teams fall back and regroup at... Wait." The Captain of the Corvette paused, looking at the holomap before him, "Shit... Looks like our Black Nebula Comrades are taking some fire on the ground. Let's see if we can take the heat off, aye?" The Escort fleet took off, racing onwards until they reached the site were the IFS William WAS raining hell on Black Nebula ground troops. Immediately, they opened fire with all they had.

---

CSS Amber Dawn, Marathon-Class Carrier
77th Expeditionary Fleet
Hyperion-II (Callisto), April 6th, 2330

The remnants of the 77th Expeditionary Fleet arrived near Callistos, or Hyperion-II, the gas giant who's moons were home to the people of Callistos. Vice-Admiral John Fujiwara stood aboard one of the remaining Callistian Carriers, the CSS Amber Dawn. "Sir, we lost the Infinity Spear. It's down on Carthage."

"Not a problem..." Fujiwara responded, "We'll be back for them. But now, we need repairs. Find out where we land, comrade..."

[The New Earth Federation]

North Banks, Constantinople, New Carthage
98th Drop Battalion

As the yellow smoke began to flood the area the Captain dropped back in to his trench, the smoke was slightly screwing with thermals however x-ray seemed to be unaffected. He raised his wrist to his mask and bellowed over his comlink.

"Switch to--" he was interrupted when a Callistian soldier jumped into his trench and tried to hit him with his rifle, the captain quickly dodged the first blow and knocked the rifle out of the man's hands. He then quickly pulled out his combat knife, a 30cm vibriocombat knife to be be exact, and stabbed the soldier in the gut and disemboweled him. His internal organs spilled on to the ground along with a small fountain of blood, as he looked up he saw that the whole trench was now in hand to hand combat....the captain smiled underneath his helmet and jumped into the CQC combat.

The NEF machine guns still fired away as they slowly fell back to the secondary trench, this secondary trench was made just in case things got a bit 'hot' on the front line trench. In a way the trench system that e NEF has set up was some what similar to the old WWI trench systems...however different in the terms of technology and location of certain emplacements.

Alleyways...

After gunning down a dozen or so of Callistian soldiers the troopers moved forward and began to frag every door entrance they come across, the Troopers used the standard issue M17 Frag Grenade, it was a interesting little thing as it exploded twice due to the secondary cartridge that was set on a delayed timer. If anything the NEF Troopers where bound to encounter some survivors.....

[Black Nebulae]

New Carthage

The Nebuleans were being surrounded on both sides. IFS forces were currently fighting the nebuleans while the William is overhead providing support from orbit while troopers disembarked from the drop ships of the NEF. They are outnumbered, with 20,000 strong nebuleans including Magellan-class tanks and Andromeda-class fighters. Slowly, the tide of battle is elbowing to the side of Free Hyperion forces.

"Contacts! Overhead! More NEF Drop ships are disembarking troops." shouted a legio as a soldier of the IFS got too close and they went into CQB. It was an intense fight between the two soldiers but the legio's allies shot the IFS trooper.

"Fall back! Retreat deeper into Constantinople. We will make our stand here, and we will never stop until reinforcements arrive that is if they are going to come. If they do not, Fear not soldiers of Black Nebulae. For the Tribunal is with us!" shouted Heinkruger

The Nebulean troops started to fall back deeper into the city of Constantinople. Some soldiers were killed or shot as they fell back in the innermost parts of the city.

Hyperion-II

The repairs were fast, including on the mothership as crew members are hauling their asses off trying to fix patch up holes in their starships. The two offline shield generators of the damaged mothership are now active and online. A blue energy shield started to form around the mothership until they connected and became transparent. The Tribunis, was regenerating quite fast for it's cost. Due to the crew members repairing the broken hull by hand while the origin is at 110% exceeding its limit.

"Sir, We have received a message from the task force we have dispatched in New Carthage. They need reinforcements both on the ground and on orbit." said a crew member.

"And so we shall, The two unharmed motherships shall be the spear in our counter-offensive while the damaged one covers our rear. Signal all our starships to form the Tri-Force formation. The two motherships must already be in BD mode before we launch ourselves into Hyperspace. Move at due haste! Gloria Tribuna!" ordered Hajrudin into his communications vox

Soon, most repair drones that are currently fixing the damaged parts of the mothership and on other starships went back. The Nebulean fleet were getting ready for battle once again as the starships move into the Tri-Force formation. Soon when all of the starships are in position Hajrudin gave the call to enter Hyperspace.

"Sir, The starships are in position, unharmed ones are at the front while the damaged ones are at the back covering our rear including the hull-penetrated mothership."

"Signal all ships to go into hyperspace, and once we are out of the damn rift. I want all our main batteries pointing at Free Hyperion forces." ordered Hajrudin

"All ships we will be entering into Hyperspace in 5....4...3...2...1" said the AI into the communications vox

A massive black rift big enough to swallow the entire bulk of the Nebulean fleet appeared before them in a vortex like manner. It ripped time and space itself as black lightning started to pull the starships into its vortex. Soon, they all got sucked in.

[Imperial Esplanade]

Edge of the Hyperion System
IENS-New Renaissance, Diplomatic Courier


The mission was relatively simple: Lady Theresa and Lady Gianna, sisters of Queen Emmy, are being dispatched to meet with officials of New Carthage in order to establish official diplomatic, and possibly even trading, relations. Their intentions were relatively benign, yet their support of the New Carthaginian government could prove to be potentially hostile Callistians who have suddenly initiated an all-out assault on New Carthage. The New Renaissance drops out of hyperspace at a healthy distance from the Hyperion System, transmitting a message to the Carthaginians, requesting permission to advance further into the system.

Attention, attention. This is the IENS-New Renaissance, we are carrying precious cargo and request permission to advance into Hyperion territory. Once again, this is the IENS-New Renaissance...

A communications lieutenant aboard the ship sends that message out a second, followed by a third, time - awaiting a response. The two royal siblings remain seated, watching the ship's crew attempt to establish some sort of communications with someone, anyone, on the ground. Suddenly, another crew-member stood up and shouted out to the captain of the ship, standing in the center of the command bridge and overseeing the frantic scene as they continue to slow out of hyperspeed.

"Captain! I am receiving reports of conflict breaking out on the surface of New Carthage, including mayday calls and requests for armed support!"
"What the--..."

The captain's voice trails off, turning to look at the two royal maidens with a perplexed look on his face.

"Announce our presence in the system one more time. Hopefully someone will respond and give us more of an idea as to what the heck is going on, but be careful not to show any favoritism. We cannot afford to put our two princesses in any threatening situations."
"Aye, sir."

[The Interstellar Federation]

Orbit over New Carthrage
The bridge of the IFS William flared up as it received a transmission on a diplomatic channel:

Attention, attention. This is the IENS-New Renaissance, we are carrying precious cargo and request permission to advance into Hyperion territory. Once again, this is the IENS-New Renaissance...

"Sir, message from the IENS New Renaissance, which scanners indicate are carrying a diplomatic envoy onboard!"

"That's not good...they're entering an active combat zone."

The Captain then ordered the ship's AI to inform them of the danger that they were in.

Hello, this Just Patience, AI of the Interstellar warship, IFS William. You are entering an active combat zone: Callistos forces have invaded New Carthage. I advise immediate detour as further continuation of your current course will result in an estimated 87.216331% chance of destruction.

Just as the message was sent, the ship shook as the whole escort fleet of the Callistosians attacked the IFS William and it's escorts. "Return fire!" the Captain ordered.

The hundreds of turrets and missile pods of the William returned fire at the fleet, along with fighters performing attack runs on the enemy vessels. The frigates that were escorting the William blanketed the assault carrier and opened up at the enemy with fast firing antimatter accelerators, meaning to whittle down their shields and armour, while the William focused heavy firepower on the fleet. A bright flash streaked across the ground as two out of the three cleansing beams were redirected to fire on the enemy fleet. The beam sliced at enemy ships, going left to right in a zig-zag pattern. The intense glow of the plasma looked like as if it was a very focused ray of sunlight.

North Sector of City, New Carthage

"Move it gents!" a soldier shouted as tanks and troops rolled out into battle. The soft whirring of the repulsors on the Reaper tanks accompanied the resonance of the antimatter loaded rifles the soldiers carried as they ran into battle. The Nebulaen forces were already retreating and the Coalition forces were really laying heavy fire on them. An explosion rocked a nearby building, causing it to collapse. The Nebulaen forces had already began to regroup at the center of the city, where they were likely setting up a last stand. The Coaltion forces had already cleared the North Banks of most Nebulaen forces.

"Contact! Engage!" a soldier shouts as he spots a Nebulaen tank, rolling across a street.

One of the Reaper tanks discharges a slug of antimatter at it, causing a great flash upon impact.

"Shit, we kicked the hornet's nest, take 'em out!" the soldier shouts as they find the dug-in Nebulaen forces. Tanks and soldiers fire relentlessly as some Interstellar soldiers protected others with neural barriers.

"Requesting air support at Grid Charlie-Romeo-Foxtrot-9-2-2-3, over!"

[Black Nebulae]

Orbit of New Carthage

In the vastness of the void surrounding the ensuing battle for New Carthage, that void tore open breaking reality itself as a massive black vortex formed from that tear. The vortex was massive enough to suck an entire fleet by itself. Yet, from that vortex came the bow of a ship. Vast and massive, it had plasma turrets numbering in thousands ready to unleash hell upon its enemies. It was followed by smaller starships possibly battleships, cruisers or frigates and then followed by a damaged starship that have a hole in its hull. It cruised in a Tri-Force formation like a triangle that would pierce through the enemy formation. Nonetheless, It was here for one purpose, for war.

The entire bulk of the Nebulean fleet started to cruise into New Carthage with all of its weapons ready to fire. Just as it was about to enter the combat zone, It's AI (Marathan) detected an incoming transmission from an unknown origin.

"Message Detected! Message Detected! Decrypted Transmission from an Unknown Origin, Relaying the message." said the AI in a robotic monotone voice, Soon blue displays popped up in front of the Admiral's console.

Attention, attention. This is the IENS-New Renaissance, we are carrying precious cargo and request permission to advance into Hyperion territory. Once again, this is the IENS-New Renaissance...

"It seems like we have a new player in the game, this is gonna become more interesting." Hajrudin said in a monotone.

"Send a message to this new faction. Tell them that we Nebuleans wish to know what cargo they are holding. If they do not comply, Send them all to oblivion." Hajrudin said in a serious tone of voice.

He quickly took a deep breath and transmitted their objectives to other Nebulean starships via the communications vox, their objective was simple. Intercept and acquire the cargo of this IENS-New Renaissance through peaceful or forceful means, Take out the Free Hyperion forces and provide orbital support to the Nebuleans down below in New Carthage.

The vanguard of the Nebulean fleet, two Eupherie-class Motherships leading the charge. It quickly entered the combat zone and unleashed a barrage of dark plasma from its main batteries and plasma from its secondary turrets. They quickly deployed dozens of drones and activated their shield generators, sending its energy to the motherships. Amplifying it by the sheer number of drones it has deployed. Smaller starships identified the unknown white ship to be the so called IENS-New Renaissance that carries an important cargo. They quickly ignited their thrusters and broke off from the formation in, shooting their main batteries, missiles and torpedoes to any ships while smaller starships relayed a transmission to the white ship to tell what cargo they are carrying.

New Carthage

The Nebulean task force have dug-in at the center of the city of Constantinople. They took civilians with them as hostages to use for bargain later on. Plasma is being hurled by Magellan-class Tanks while squadrons of Andromeda-class Fighters take the air and support the Legio's on the ground. The assault of the IFS and NEF forces continued on while the dug-in Legio's are making their last stand at the center of the city.

"Men, Let this day be known to this system, the unwavering determination of we Nebuleans! Let us show these heretics what fear really means!" shouted an Imperial Commissar

"What are we?!" shouted another Imperial Commissar

"We are the sons of the Tribunal and sword and shield of the Emperor!"

"What is our purpose?!"

"To die gloriously in battle fighting for the Tribunal and the Emperor!"

"And so we shall! No one shall live from this day on! No one shall know fear from this day onwards! But the enemy will know what death truly is! Purge the heretics! Burn all those that stand against the Nebulean hegemony!" roared a Commissar.

The Legio's started to laugh like lunatics, but they were already lunatics. Born from the depths of the Luvenarian Eupherie clouds. The Nebuleans were unique to the existing races, their traits were similar to human but they knew that they aren't. Nebuleans were strange and a mystery to the species that came before the Nebuleans. Yet, when they first came. They feared and knew that the Nebuleans were dangerous. Only one of their traits aren't human and it is the most noticable on the battlefield. The trait to never waver and become a mindless genocidal race when cornered.