A Change in the Wind [ATTN HERMES; FT; SEMI-OPEN]

[Auman]

'The Overlord is currently busy with other things, gentlemen, so I will be running the briefing today.' Said General Polosh, dressed in full battle-rattle. He was digging through the admin pouch on his tactical rig, looking for a working pen. It'd been years since the men had been ordered to a briefing fully kitted out, not since the last war. Not to say there hadn't been international incidents in those years, just that there hadn't been any of significance. 'New Haven has left the alliance...' Polosh delivered the news matter-of-factly, he knew the others were already well aware. Snatching a functioning pen from the pouch he looked up at the others, cocked an eye at them and said 'You know what to do.'

----

Two men stood on the dusty tarmac of the Skagit River airfield. They talked for awhile, shooting the shit as wingmen do. They were fighter pilots, the best in the Aumanii Air Force. Captain Harrow Kluft and Lt. Zap Yurgo turned and noticed a lone figure walking towards their planes, he held a brief case in each hand. When he finally reached them, he simply handed each of them one of the cases and said 'You'll get your instructions once you're in the air. Do not open these, we'll be able to tell if you do. When you arrive, say nothing, leave the cases and proceed back to your planes.' The man, dressed in a polo shirt and a pair of khakis, walked away with as little fanfare as his arrival.

Kluft glanced at his good buddy, Zap, for a moment and chuckled lightly. 'After you, my friend...' Said Zap, making a wide, flamboyant gesture for Kluft to enter his space capable fighter. 'Nay, ye, m'lady!' Said Kluft, bowing and twirling his arms towards Zap's plane. The two went on like that for a few minutes, trying to top each other.

[Auman]

Kluft had broken into orbit several hours ago and had been waiting in a holding orbit since then. He was listening to the radio to keep himself occupied, it was a zoo out there. Apparently a Havenic freighter's reactor had melted down, the crew was being shipped to a hospital ship that had been scheduled to leave an hour ago, but due to the incident it was forced to remain and decontaminate and treat the foreigners before they could be safely shipped planetside for more extensive treatment. Kluft checked his shoulder and saw Zap on his wing. Lt. Yurgo was playing air drums on his HUD, passing the time by listening to a portable music player. 'Yo, Zap... What are you listening to over there?' Asked Kluft, easing back in his seat, letting his head flop lazily to his shoulder. 'I got some Iron Eagle playing on this thing.' Iron Eagle was a popular act on Platea Sojourn, Kluft thought it was gay... But it was better than nothing. 'Hold that shit up to your mic, I'm bored out here.' Asked Kluft.

OOC:

Place holder until my head stops hurting.

[Auman]

In time the mess was cleared up and the two fighter planes, carrying sensitive information, made their respective jumps to Jannath and Kilrany. Once there, the men were greeted by members of military intelligence or some other equivalent organization, to which they handed off the briefcases. Whilst in Kilrany, Captain Kluft developed a bad case of the flu and vomitted into his face mask on the return trip. Lt. Yurgo missed his return flight after getting into a fist fight with a Shanderan pimp in the streets of medium sized city just outside the capital. He didn't feel the quoted price was worth the delivered product.

[Bryn Shander]

While Lt. Yurgo was fighting with a man in a funny hat, Colonel Wayne Rogers of the Jannarii Army was meeting with King Valos and his assorted ministers.

"I can't believe that the Overlord couldn't just send this to us through the normal channels." said Gerard Kessler as he watched the colonel try to pry the lock open. "Nevermind that his delivery boy forgot to give us the combination..."

"I'm sure that it's very sensitive information that he didn't want to risk getting intercepted, Gerry." replied the Jannarii king. "I've fought against Navarrone with a broken bottle and alongside him against a lake monster with an oar and a bayonet. I know full well that he doesn't fuck around. If he sent it this way, it's important."

"Well, we won't know for sure until we can actually see what's inside." stated Kessler as he pulled out his old Navy service revolver. "Give me that, you army puke!" ordered the gun wielding minister of foreign affairs as he snatched the briefcase from Colonel Rogers.

Two gunshots later and the briefcase was opened. Inside was a stack of papers. Messages that the Dersconi had sent to the Aumanii and another message from the Aumanii themselves. It didn't take King Valos long to read the documents that the Aumanii had expended so much effort to see delivered to him, and when he finished he handed them to Kessler, who handed them to the other ministers.

"So that's what that Havenic piece of shit is planning." said Kessler. "This is much more serious than we thought. I suggest that we send a message to everyone in Hermes and tell them to prepare for all out war."

"You do that. I want the reserves activated and prepared for combat immediately. I want planetary assault divisions assembled and ready to deploy at a moment's notice. If Newman is serious, we're going to have a major fight on our hands and I don't intend to lose." replied the king.


Some time later, a message was broadcast via secure Hermes channels.

Code: Select all

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[Kilrany]

With little having gone the way they’d expected since joining Hermes, least of all the actions by New Haven, the Kilrany were not exactly in a pleasant overall mood. Thus it was that the pilot from Auman was greeted coolly; but not with hostility, and the contents of the message in the briefcase carried relatively quickly through the Damocles barrier by a warship, rather than risk even an encrypted communications signal through wireless relays.

After receiving the message, the Quinquevirate was both surprised and spurned onwards by their natural paranoia to take things one step further with the gate within Midgard by disassembling it, separating its modular components entirely, and once again almost completely isolating Midgard behind the Damocles Network. This action was not however taken upon the gate outside the barrier, which merely continued to sit in a shut down state with a garrison force nearby to keep a close watch on it.

As a result of these actions, there were none; not even within Hermes, who would know of the latest deliberations from the council of five, nor the decision made after the record breaking two hour long session.

-----

With the longest session in the Quinquevirate’s five thousand year history complete, and no further logs to be recorded, the two female members were all to remain in the relatively small, circular room. For a long moment they merely stood behind their usual podium and quietly met the other’s gaze with impassive expressions.

Eventually Volkova was the first to break the silence as a slightly tired expression worked its way upon her face, her tone a perfect match for it, “Please don’t gloat Marakova, it doesn’t become you.”

Marakova released a derisive grunt before a small smile formed and she replied with mild amusement, “Doesn’t become me? How long have you known me Volkova; how long have we been on opposite sides of this council? If you truly thought I would not revel in this moment, then you were deluding yourself. The only thing that could have made this any more enjoyable would have been if they’d agreed to complete and utter extermination, rather then just the destruction of military targets.”

The barest hint of an almost sad undertone worked its way into Volkova’s voice, “This is not what I wanted.”

Marakova barely even waited for Volkova to finish before she snapped back, “But it is what we have.”

Abruptly then, Marakova’s demeanor changed as a softer tone worked its way into her voice, and she took a few steps slowly out around from her podium with her hands held casually behind her back, “My poor naïve little sister, if only you would abandon this fantasy of yours, this would all be easier. I had hoped seeing their politics in action might finally bring you around, but I see even that’s simply not enough.”

Lowering her head slightly, Volkova’s eyes fell to the floor as Marakova took a few more steps towards her and a vaguely annoyed tone worked its way into her voice, “This was supposed to be different; they were supposed to be different.”

Marakova shook her head ever so slightly from side to side, “They are not like our own Volkova; they never will be. They are petty-.”

Volkova snapped her head back up to glare at Marakova, causing her counterpart to stop dead in her tracks as she practically spat out, “Do not speak to me of pettiness Marakova, I know why you always push for such hard actions, and it is far less noble then a simple threat to protect the people from.”

A mask of indifference returned to Marakova’s face as she said almost mockingly, “Do you really now?”

Though Volkova continued to glare at Marakova, her tone calmed slightly as she spoke again, “Yes, I do, and it is for that reason I shall be holding you personally accountable for all those we lose in the coming days.”

This time it was Marakova’s turn to be angry, “How dare you imply I care not for our forces. They have trained for this their entire lives, simulated countless battles with equally innumerable victories and defeats, they are as ready to carry out their purpose, as I am to send them. They are not children Volkova, they know what they are doing; this you should know well.”

Though far more even, Volkova’s tone still held a notable trace of hostility, “I object to the reason they are being sent to war Marakova, not the mere fact that they are. This you too should plainly know.”

Reaching an impasse, the two merely glared at each other, well aware that that decision had already been made and that their well established disagreements would not change anything now.

-----

It was a surprisingly quiet thing, the dispatching of entire fleets of warships from Kilrany space. Moving in prearranged formations, only a small number of these warships ran with their sensors active, acting as beacons to the rest who ran silent, their presence hidden for the moment behind their cloaking systems.

Long isolated from the rest of the universe, they had yet to establish trade with any beyond Hermes, leaving none to now bear witness to the first full scale deployment of the Kilrany military in over five thousand years.

It was still a slow process though to pass through the only current pair of openings in the Damocles network, but after a day, roughly two thirds of the Kilrany navy was free to travel where they will in the vastness of space, with a single, simple message sent back from outside the barrier towards Jannarii space.

Code: Select all

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[Auman]

The wind whipped their bodies relentlessly. Snow had been coming down in sheets since before they landed. The men hobbled along the desolate landscape in snowshoes, carefully holding a taught line for direction, as their black goggles left them little less than blind. Their thick, fur lined, parkhas made them sweat, however, which wasn't exactly the best thing in this kind of environment. If you sweat, you die, though fortunately they hadn't much further to go. They came across cluster of temporary housing units, nestled within a crater that gave the settlement a little comfort from the raging wilderness above the lip. The team of rugged Aumanii adventurers came to a ramp, leading to an underground bunker. They stood at the massive, reinforced doors for a moment as a man punched in an access code to the side. The tallest man drew a revolver from his holster and fiddled with it for a moment, making sure that it functioned properly, loosening up anything that may have frozen in their hike. The doors slid open and they removed their goggles, they rubbed their eyes in discomfort before entering. A lightly dressed gentleman stood before them, hands on his hips.

'Welcome to Antares, Overlord.' He said. The tallest amongst them, the man who anxiously plied his revolver into a working state, walked towards their host with a hand extended. 'A pleasure to meet you again, Dr. Fung. I hope things have been well?' Dr. Fung took the Overlord's hand and shook it tightly. 'We've had some problems with the drills, but other than that, we've been going as smoothly as possible. The soil is hard packed and frozen solid, but we've been going faster and with as little interruption as we thought.' Said Fung with a smile. The CYCLOPS project had been his brainchild and he'd been itching to get a chance to deploy the instrument for some time. If it weren't for public objections earlier on, in the form of the senate, Vascilia would have been riddled with them. 'Shall we commence the tour, Overlord?' Asked Dr. Fung, gesturing towards a large freight elevator a few meters away. 'I don't see why not, Doctor.' Said Overlord, before leading his party onto the platform. Dr. Fung manipulated the controls and with a jolt, the men began their descent. The dark slide into the bowels of Antares was lit by a few sodium lamps, which seared the men's eyes, doing little to help their night vision.

'Dr. Fung, it's a pleasure to meet you.' Said another man, stepping out from the Overlord's team of advisors, shaking the doctor's hand. 'I am Colonel Ji Nyllands. I've been a fan of your work for some time. I've been keeping a close eye on this project in particular.' Said Nyllands, intentionally understated, trying not to sound like a gushing fanboy. 'Really?' Said Fung, he was fully aware that members of the military had been taking his work seriously, otherwise they wouldn't be on Antares, but he played the role of humble man of science instead. 'We all look forward to seeing what the device is capable of doing, Colonel.' Said Fung, clasping his hands behind his back. 'I feel that we may soon get that chance, Doctor.' Said Navarrone, interrupting a conversation he had been having with the rest of his team. 'But we'll discuss this later. In the meantime, I'll hope we keep the specifics to a minimum?' The Overlord was serious, being as he had spent so much time in Special Unit, he understood that total secrecy was entirely impossible. 'Of course, Overlord. Naturally that is the best course of action.' Said Fung, though he was eager to boast about the achievements that he and his scientific team had made in the last several months.

And so, the men continued to descend for many kilometers, making small talk the rest of the way.

[The Island States]

Acclaimed Anchor Allen Woodward of the Imperial News Network was sitting at his desk, discussing happenings in the Imperium and beyond. As a taped segment from a field reporter on the growing risk of liver damage due to increased Aumanii liquor consumption played over the air, the red phone on the main desk began to ring. The phone was for breaking news announcements from outside sources, and not missing a beat, Woodward picked up the phone.

"This is Allen Woodward of INN, you're going to be on the air yourself in a few minutes unless you're brief."

A few minutes passed, and the first thing viewers saw was Woodward at the desk with a red phone receiver pressed against his ear. "Yes, Admiral. I'm on the air now, and I need to let you go. Good hunting," Woodward said as he hung up the phone. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have breaking news from all Imperial star systems. In the last five minutes, reports have come in suggesting that unidentified starships bearing Hermes IFF signatures have emerged from hyperspace in the vicinity of outer solar system mining platforms in all Imperial star systems. The mining stations reporting contacts have gone silent and no further communication has been possible."

Just as Woodward finished speaking what the Admiral on the other end of the phone, a text message scrolled on the teleprompter... a civil emergency alert to be read on air. "Bear with me folks, but we're getting a civil defense message for me to read to you. If you miss the message or need to hear it repeated, tune in to the emergency civil defense shortwave radio stations for further information."

"As of immediately, the entire Imperium is under a Level 1 Civil Defense Emergency Alert. Civilians are to report immediately to their designated shelters and stock up on food, water and other necessary supplies. Military and militia personnel are to report immediately to their bases and outposts for immediate mobilization. An orbital strike emergency is underway for all urban localities on all inhabited star systems. Orbital facilities and civilian vessels need to be on alert for the possible arrival of hostile forces and to avoid combat if necessary."

"Good luck, ladies and gentlemen... and good night." With that, the signal faded to a continuous loop broadcast of the emergency message and Woodward got out of his chair, snuck a shot of vodka from his coat flask, and headed off to his emergency shelter.

[Derscon]

MWCC, Gandvik Srjarnheim

"Hmm. Fascinating." Star Admiral Toshari Djevorav sat with Chancellor Maraidt Enilanuki and a few other members of the General Staff in the command center, looking over all of the recent information about the Hermes conflict. The Chancellor had spoken with Tsar Alexei earlier, and had a feeling he knew what was going to happen. Thankfully, it would be a short meeting. The Chancellor hadn't slept in two days.

"So," the Star Admiral started. "Hermes vessels are moving against New Haven as we speak. We must move immediately if we want to have a say in how these battles go." The Chancellor nodded, motioning his staff aide to give a small briefcase to the Star Admiral.

"How is our prototype fairing?"

"Well, Chancellor, the Naqoyqatsi is being stocked as we speak." HE smiled.

"Good. Attach the Naqoyqatsi and its escorts to First Milky Way and send the first and second to Helios."

"Of course. What about this?" the Star Admiral asked, holding up the briefcase.

"Hand the first batch to Third and Fourth, the second batch to Fifth and Sixth. Only the fleet commanders are to set eyes on them. Secrecy is of prime importance. Dispatch immediately."

[Bryn Shander]

With a dull thud, the dark blue Goshawk slammed onto the Kestrel's landing deck. The attacker's wheels sent a puff of white smoke as they hit the rough surface and started rolling. The tail hook scraped along before grabbing firmly onto one of the arresting wires that were laid out across the deck.

"Nice job, Crud! Snagged number three." came the voice from the radio.

"As always." replied the pilot as he dropped the throttle.

"Lieutenant Weber, clear the deck and report for debriefing." said another voice on the radio.

"Sure thing, Commander." he replied once again as he killed the engines and a small vehicle was attached to the front gear. When he was securely on the elevator, another Goshawk slammed onto the deck. Lt. Carter judging by the gay little rabbit painted on the nose.

A short time later, Lt. Weber and the other pilots in his squadron were in the debriefing room. At the blackboard was their commander, Lieutenant Commander Greg Olson.

"Alright, boys. I understand that you've had time to get to know your new starfighters." he began. "What do you think?"

"They sure beat the shit out of the Talons, that's for sure." replied one of the pilots.

"You bet your ass they do, Lieutenant." replied the Lt. Cmdr before he pulled a map down from the roller bolted to the ceiling. "I just hope that you like them enough to bet your lives on them."

"One hour ago, this ship received a transmission from Jannath. We've got orders to group up with the Vulture, Buzzard, and Condor and then join with the battleships Kathrie, Sanyo, Kworb, and Darrish." he explained.

"What's up, Commander? Has IRON made the first move?" asked Lt. Langley, sitting in the back.

"No. Our orders are to move on Helios." said the Lt. Cmdr rather flatly.

This news shocked the pilots, many of whom had trained with the Havenics in the years since the end of the Halcyon-Haven War. Some even had wives from New Haven that they'd met during the defense of Helios during the Hermes-Auman War.

"Are you serious, sir?" asked Lt. Weber.

"As serious as a heart attack." he replied. "We'll be meeting up with the battlegroup in two hours."

---

Two hours later, the Kestrel and her six destroyers did indeed meet up with the Vulture, Condor, and Buzzard and their escorts, and together the four carriers traveled to the rendezvous point where the battleships and their own escorts were waiting. Also with them were the cruisers Shiloh and New Caney. Altogether, the battlegroup numbered fifty eight ships strong and had enough strike craft to annihilate any Havenic frigates in system. Fortunately, they didn't think that the Havenics would put up much fight. The recent strikes on a number of Havenic mining and research outposts would have ensured that the Havenic fleet was spread thin.

After coordinating the plan with the signal lamps, the ships began moving. In a flash, the Jannarii battlegroup left the staging area. A few minutes later, they arrived in Helios with another flash.

[The Island States]

"Admiral, we have detected FTL signatures approaching from Halcyon!" A young lieutenant assigned to Imperial Fleet Command's Helios System Defensive Command Center (attached to the IFC) reported. "Tachyon phase pattern indicates the inbounds are using a Hermium-derived FTL system."

"Our own ships would have contacted us first if they were coming back," Fleet Admiral Anderson spoke aloud as he began thinking of the plan. "This isn't right at all. Activate the Systemic Narrow FTL Inhibitor Field, hold them back at the edge of the inner solar system."

"Roger. FTLi field coming online. Power distribution to LaGrangian array is nominal."

"All hands, begin emergency undocking procedures! Ensure the Imperator is aboard and prepare to launch!"

===============================================

Imperial Fleet Command was only a large war room aboard what had been termed the "Capitol Ship." It was a vessel created upon an Imperial decree that the Imperium could not be run from a single city on a single planet, and would be better run by a large vessel capable of touring the Imperium for long periods. The 10km vessel was a city in itself, containing a sizeable civilian population, a sizable marine and militia force to protect the civilians and military assets aboard the ship, defensive systems and some sizable weapons systems dating back to the Halcyon-Haven War left over from the mothership project.

Refueling booms broke free from the Capitol Ship as the airlocks retracted into the docking platform. "Engines online, we are away," the helm officer reported.

"Very well then," Captain Evan Newman, adopted nephew of Imperator Newman, noted. "Helm, plot a course to slingshot us away around the inner system. Hyperspace module status?"

"Nominal. We are ready to jump at any time."

"Good. Signal the Imperator we are away."

"Aye, sir."

[Bryn Shander]

"Captain, sensors are picking up a drop in tachyon activity. The Havenics have activated a FTLi." reported the sensors operator.

"They're not the only ones that can play that game." replied Captain Creason as he sat on the bridge of the Shiloh in his armored space suit. "Activate our own FTLi and standby fighters for launch."

Unfortunately for the Imperator, the Jannarii cruisers had four primary roles. The first and most commonly seen role was long range independent patrol. The second was transporting diplomats. The third role was commerce raiding, which necessitated a powerful FTLi on board. The fourth role was the role that the cruisers took when attached to a battlegroup. That role was crowd control. With the cruiser's FTLi coming online, the Havenic Imperator could not escape and would not see any reinforcements any time soon.

On the Kestrel and other carriers, the squadrons had been rearmed and refuled and were ready to go. One by one they lined up on the flight decks, their landing gear secured to the catapults and hardpoints packed with torpedoes and missiles. As soon as the FTLi went up the cruiser New Caney launched a white flare; the signal for stage one. By the dozens the new fighters shot from the decks of the carriers, cruisers, and battleships, and by the dozens they entered attack formations and accelerated toward the binary world that the Havenics called home.

"Battlecat One to Battlecats Two, Three, and Four." said Lt. Weber into his headset, the lasercomms transmitting the message to the three points indicated on his scope. "Do you copy?"

After a resounding chorus of affirmatives, Lt. Weber continued. "Good. If you didn't notice, we're each armed with ten live torpedoes and our guns are hot. This is not a training mission. This is the real thing. The rules of engagement state that we are to return fire if fired upon, but are not to attack unil the red flare is launched." he said. "Copy?"

As Lt. Weber's headset was once again filled with affirmatives, the flight of Goshawks was joined by more Goshawks and Sparrowhawks. Several thousand strong, the battlegroup's combined airwing should be more than a match for the older Talons used by the Havenics and their Hornet class frigates that had very little protection from strike craft. The only issue would be that capitol ship, but then that would be what the battleships were for.

[The Island States]

In the command center of the Capitol Ship, a team of Praetorian Guardsmen in full power armor suits entered through the large airlock in the back, followed by the Imperator wearing a modified suit of armor designed to allow his survival in the vacuum of space while still maintaining combat effectiveness.

"Status?" The Imperator claimed as the metal chains on his armor created a distinct noise as he walked toward the view screen.

"Enemy forces have breached the defensive perimeter and are approaching at maximum speed," the sensors officer reported. "They have engaged their own FTLi field." The Imperator reached into a pocket nestled deep in his armor, retrieving a cigar and preparing to light it.

"Order the systemic FTLi field to be dropped," The Imperator ordered as he lit the cigar with his zippo lighter. The bridge crew looked at him quizzically, as if he had just ordered them to fly into Helios itself. "Did I fucking stutter? Disengage the systemic FTLi and bring us about. Prepare to launch fighters. Find out where the Praetorian Fleet is."

"Aye, Imperator," the comm. officer replied before checking the dispatches on her desk. "Praetorian Fleet reported that they were enroute from the shipyards surrounding New Haven and will arrived in formation shortly."

"Either Velos or Kessler is with this fleet, neither man would leave this in the hands of someone who might screw this up," Newman said as he gripped the handle of his sword and puffed on his cigar. "Prepare to fire everything we've got!"

"Aye, Imperator!"

"Just who the hell do they think I am?!"

[Bryn Shander]

"Captain, I'm reading a sharp drop in FTLi strength. It would appear that the Havenics have dropped their own FTLi." reported the New Caney's sensors operator.

"They must be expecting reinforcements or be hoping that they can escape our field and jump away. Either way, we now know for sure that they don't have the forces to stand and fight." replied Captain Mallery. "Send the message to the fleet to begin preparing the boarding craft."

"Aye sir." replied the communications officer before flashing the message to the rest of the fleet with the signal lamps.

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Meanwhile, the swarm of new Jannarii fighters continued to close on the Havenic capitol ship.

[Auman]

After changing into more suitable working attire, the party was led to a non-descript laboratory. The room was about the size of a football field. The floors themselves were a series of interlocking rubber grates, designed to be replaced easily enough while remaining non-conductive. On one side of the testing area was an elaborate railgun, with a sizeable, customized, power generator keeping it fed with electric current. Opposite that was a three foot thick piece of armor, like that seen on the Hellespontos. Behind that were two shield pilons, between the gun and the armor were yet another set of the powerful protective screens.

'Gentlemen, I don't need to tell you what you see here. I will anyway, though.' Said Dr. Fung as he approached an elaborate looking, yet deceptively simple, control panel. The Doctor inserted a key into the panel and twisted it, activating the power generator on the other side of the thick, shrapnel resistance, glass that seperated them from the test area. 'Would any of you care for a demonstration of what the tax payers have been financing?' Asked Dr. Fung with a grin. No one except the Overlord had any idea what the Doctor was talking about, but they had their guesses. Word was that Antares, thanks to its harsh climate, was turned into a top secret weapons testing facility. All kinds of bizarre and dangerous disciplines of science were being converted to military purposes on this ice ball and the rumor was they had been working on some new armor piercing munition.

Dr. Fung manipulated the controls on the console, activating the shield pilons. The harsh fluorescent lighting in the test area was overwhelmed by the red glow of the energy shields, which bathed them all in an eery light. Navarrone lit a cigarette in preparation for what he expected to be an interesting show. 'The railgun is an AuC-332 rapid fire anti-ship cannon. It's standard issue on all pre-Gorgon designs. It has a highly respectable rate of fire, five-hundred-thirty-two rounds per minute. Badre, would you please distribute the goggles.' Dr. Fung gestured to his assistant in a genial manner. Once all the men had their tinted safety goggles on, Fung spoke into the intercom.

'Test in progress, all personnel exit the testing area immediately.'

'The shield system in there is a scaled back version of the type deployed on a Hellespontos class super dreadnaught. They are rated to stop upto a thousand rounds from an AuC-332.' Dr. Fung depressed a red button and five rounds spat out of the gun in very short order, striking the shields and creating a fireball so bright that everyone held their hands to their eyes. 'As you can see, the shields are effective at stopping some of our most powerful weaponry. A lot of thought was placed in creating armor piercing ordnance, capable of reducing the capability of the shields faster, thus increasing the speed at which they can destroy the enemy. However, I found myself unsatisfied with the results. I am in this business to save lives, Vascilian lives and I will use every resource at my disposal, every mind I can aquire, every piece of technology I can get my hands on to do just that. Gentleman, I present to you the Vector Cannon.'

The spindly little Cyprian doctor turned the key in the opposite direction. An impessively loud, bass filled, thrum began to assault the crowd. It felt as though their organs were being pulverized by the transfer of energy they were witnessing.

He depressed the button once more and a burst of fire belched from the cannon. Another fireball erupted, but from an entirely unexpected location. When they regained their sight, all were in awe of what the great doctor had created.

'It's fucking Sweizs cheese!' spat a lower ranking member of the party, his jaw literally dropping. Navarrone stared at the panel of armor, which was full of holes and actually on fire. He observed molten metal dripping onto the floor, spreading the fire to the rubber grates. 'What you just saw was five rounds completely bypass the first set of shields, striking and penetrating a three foot thick piece of armor.' Dr. Fung said rather clinically.

'And this is our most modest development so far...'

[The Island States]

Lt. Commander Stevens of the Capitol Ship Aerospace Wing was running out to his plane, attired in his pilot's jumpsuit and carrying his helmet, when he was stopped by the flight crew. "Sorry sir, but we have orders from the Imperator himself... you are ordered to help defend the ship from boarding parties. Your power armor is waiting."

"What? I'm the best pilot this tub has! What is the meaning of this?" Stevens yelled out as he saw some rookie pilot hop into his plane and begin the loading process into the launch tubes. "Goddamnit!"

As expert pilots were turned away from their spacecraft all across the Helios System, the Capitol Ship's point defense cannons roared to life, firing flechette spray into the oncoming Shanderan fighters as they approached. Lighter railguns attempted to track the new Shanderan fighters, but found them too fast to track, and thus resorted to firing whenever it was anticipated that a fighter would cross their firing arc.

Rookie pilots began launching into the fray, their inexperience and older fighters costing them dearly in the initial assaults. The heavier, home-built gunships were having better results, but it was only a matter of time before those too would fall to the newer Shanderan fighters.

[Bryn Shander]

"Incoming fire! Evasive maneuvers!" shouted Lt. Weber as the Havenic guns opened up.

"They're launching Talons!" reported one of his wingmen.

"Excellent. Lets see what these things can do." replied Weber.

As the Jannarii squadrons broke formation, the Sparrowhawks moved to intercept the Havenic Talons while the Goshawk squadrons continued towards the Havenic capitol ship at full speed.

[The Island States]

"Alright, we're never going to defeat these guys in head-to-head combat," the interim rookie wing commander of the 21st Capitol Ship sent via laser broadband communications. "Everyone, break into groups of two, lets try the Thach Weave." The fighters broke into pairs, hoping to lure their attackers into a trap. Despite the reduced combat profiles of their Talons, it was still hoped that they could at least down a few enemy fighters, or keep them occupied long enough for the Capitol Ship's point defense to handle the problem.

Meanwhile, power armor troopers across the Capitol Ship were suiting up to do battle with the Shanderan boarding party that would soon come. Civilians and politicians were shuttled into safe rooms in their residences and in secure locations. The Imperial Senate was shuttled into one large saferoom containing a thick metal door and designed to withstand heavy weapons fire coming from the inside of the ship.

[Bryn Shander]

While the Havenic pilots tried to bait the Goshawk pilots into falling into the trap of the thatch weaves, the Goshawks were not going to fall for such an old trick. Instead they continued towards the Havenic capitol ship at ludicrous speed, taking shots at any Talon pilot foolish enough to cross in front of them with their heavy mega-particle cannons.

On the other hand, the Sparrowhawk pilots were more than willing to engage the Havenics. When the red flare shot from the Jannarii flagship, they were good to go.

"Reaver One this is Reaver Three. We have four bandits at ten o'clock. Permission to engage?"

"Reaver Three, you are cleared to engage. All Reavers, you are cleared to engage."

"Roger Reaver One. Reaver Three engaging."

"Reaver Four engaging."

"Reaver Two engaging."

As Reaver team turned to engage the Havenic Talons, they each fired a short range missile at one of the bandits and broke off to avoid any return fire, looping about and doing a barrel roll before their superior power allowed them to pull in behind their Havenic counterparts. Though the Havenics tried to gain an advantage with the thatch weave, the range was too close for missiles and the 30mm cannons on the Talons couldn't do anything more than superficial damage to the new re-entry capable Jannarii fighters. As soon as the first 30mm shells stripped paint from the wing of Reaver Two, Reaver team opened fire, their rapidfire mega-particle cannons punching through the Talons as though they were made of paper. In a cloud of fire and debris, the Talons were gone.

Such was the story throughout the battlefield. The rookie Havenic pilots, though skilled in their own right, were no match for the veteran Jannarii pilots and their new, much more powerful vehicles. Unfortunately, experience and new hardware was not everything, and a number of pilots were killed when they were isolated from their teams and ambushed by entire squadrons. The Havenic gunships were a surprise, as they had been rolled out in the period since the Havenic departure from Hermes. Without any data on the gunships, they managed to catch a surprising number of the less experienced Jannarii pilots off guard and scored some easy kills, but retribution would come and the fallen would be avenged.

[The Island States]

The dogfight quickly degenerated into a turkey shoot as the rookie pilots began to be slaughtered, victims of inferior fighters and old tactics. The heavy turreted megaparticle beams on the gunships were far more effective, but there were not enough gunships to turn the tide against the Jannarii and began to absorb concentrated firepower themselves and began dropping.

"Command, this is gunship Three-Four-Two... we're taking heavy casualties out here," an interim gunship commander reported just before his gunship was struck by missiles and destroyed.

"Holy shit, we're getting our asses kicked! Comm-"

"This is Velite One, I'm hit! Stabilizers are a little funny, but I th-"

"Velite Two to base, its like shooting a tank with a water pistol. My wing is coming in hot into the docking bay, permission or not!"

"Command, this is Gunship Six-Six-Five, my group will cover the fighter jockeys coming in. Make sure the point defense helps us out!"

"Roger that, Six-Six-Five... docking bay is clear for any remaining fighters. Report to the armory for issuance of power armor and weapons upon landing."

"Aye command."

[Bryn Shander]

When the Havenic pilots turned tail and ran, clearly beaten, the Goshawks and Sparrowhawks had free reign to close in and hit the capitol ship. A storm of particle beams with power on par with that of the guns on the Jannarii destroyers started hitting the shields in rapid succession. One of the flight leads launched a red flare, signaling the fleet itself to attack.

As the flare glowed in the distance and slowly burned itself out, the Jannarii fleet opened fire. One by one the guns of the Jannarii ships sent golden beams of mega-particles flying at the capitol ship at relativistic speeds. At the same time, the heavy and medium shuttles packed full of marines launched from the carriers, battleships, and cruisers.

Though the Havenic capitol ship would be able to take the fire for a while, even its shields would fail soon. As if to emphasize this point, the Goshawks began to fire their heavy payloads of 80MT torpedoes at the ship.

[The Island States]

"Captain, we have a problem!" the Chief Engineer's voice bellowed through the intercom. "All this firepower we're absorbing is causing a problem in the hyperspace module!"

"Whats wrong?" Captain Newman replied through the intercom under the watchful eye of his father.

"There was a computer malfunction! Too much energy from the shields was diverted to the Number 4 Hyperspace Module in the module cluster! The module has become unstable and might explode!" An explosion in the reactor room could cripple the ship and leave it vulnerable to boarding or direct assault. Even with the capacitors and modules fully charged from the weapons fire (meaning a shield collapse was imminent regardless), at least they'd still have their drives with an emergency module ejection. "Jettison the module!"

"Aye, sir! Applying 125% thrust to the engines, ejecting the module!" With that order, the #4 module was disconnected from the power system as it continued to destabilize. The railgun-like system used to eject modules propelled the module away from the ship fast enough for the ship to clear the module's theoretical explosion limit... but it was expected to just burst like a capacitor and spread shrapnel through the FTL drive section.

With the ejection of that module, the computers recognized there was no more energy storage space to dump shield power into. An automatic shield shutdown initiated and the Capitol Ship's armor was now exposed to the onslaught of incoming fire, which now tore through the forward front sections with impunity given the severity of the attacks.

[Bryn Shander]

When the shields dropped and the fire ripped through the forward sections of the capitol ship, the same flight lead from before launched another flare, this one yellow. The fleet ceased fire and split up to surround the ship while the fighters, both Sparrowhawk and Goshawk began to target any external weapons and hit them with their guns, the larger guns being hit with more torpedoes from the Goshawks.

Meanwhile, the shuttles began to make their approaches, picking the holes punched by the fleet's guns as dropoff points over the ship's large hangars. The holes would be full of corpses and damage control teams rather than armed troops like the hangars would be, and so there would be much less resistance.

One by one the shuttles landed on the ship's damaged hull and opened their rear doors, the powerful electromagnets in the wheel assemblies holding them to the capitol ship securely even with the constant jolting and shaking from the hits on the external weapons. As soon as the doors opened, platoons of Jannarii marines ran out, their magnetic boots doing the same thing as the magnets in the wheels of the shuttles. Breaking into squads, they entered the Havenic capitol ship via the gaping wounds.

[The Island States]

"Captain, small enemy ships are approaching from the fleet... they appear to be boarding shuttles," the sensors officer reported before the forward LIDAR sensors went down. "Thats it for forward-looking sensors. Gravity sensors remain online."

"Judging by the yellow flare and the fact they are only targeting our guns now suggests they intend to take the ship in one piece," Captain Newman said.

"I'll take things from here," Imperator Newman said as he pulled his sword and brought his unpowered combat suit's life support systems online. "Keep us going forward away from that unstable module. If I find the Shanderan King or Foreign Minister down there, I'm going to engage him in single combat." The Imperator left the bridge, followed by the Praetorian Guardsmen in their power armor. The atmosphere in the uncompromised, but non-safehouse, sections had been pumped into tanks prior to the initial shots being fired, meaning there was nothing standing between the Imperator and his opponents when they made their grand entrance.


Just a few sections away from the breached sections, marines in power armored suits ran down the hallways, hoping to reach the Jannarii breach points before they could make significant headway. The run would have been impossible without the power armor to do most of the work, and the marines were grateful for the advantage it would give them in combat.

One of the forward scouts saw the Jannarii soldiers dispatching a repair crew and opened fire, the minigun on his right arm spraying lead through the walls and toward the soldiers in front of him. His squad caught up, firing pulse rifles, miniguns and rocket launchers at the Jannarii troops.

"This is squad seven, we've engaged the enemy! Forward section 3, gate 23!" Lance Corporal Bowman reported in to the bridge. "No unusual armor variants or personnel spotted.

"Keep an eye out, Corporal. Command out."

[Bryn Shander]

As the Jannarii marines came under fire from the Praetorian Guardsmen, they immediately took cover. Several reacted too slow and went sailing down the passageway, frozen droplets of blood flying from their punctured suits.

"Take cover!" shouted one of the sergeants over the radio as his squad discovered just how resilient the Havenic powered armor was. "This is squad three of charlie platoon! We're pinned down and require armored support!"

"Roger, squad three. We're sending a Wolverine now." replied one of the heavy transports attached to the hull right before the rear doors opened and an LT011A Wolverine drove down the ramp, its tracks also sticking to the hull with the aid of powerful magnets.

The light tank quickly moved through the Havenic ship and reached the area where the marines were pinned. When the Havenic troops fired at it the rounds simply deflected away and down the passage. Immediately, the tank's turret rotated towards the Havenics and opened fire with its 20mm gattling gun. Throughout the ship more and more of the light tanks were sent in to provide support for the marines as they advanced.

[The Island States]

The power armor marines were killed in the blast of Gatling fire from the light tank. As the last marine fell, a flash of light appeared from the end of the corridor, making the corridor rumble as something large traveled at high speed toward the tank. The Havenic AT-65 "Heavy Hitter" anti-tank rocket smashed into the light tank at high speed, exploding with tremendous force and causing the bulkheads and ceiling to collapse onto the deck (which still had artificial gravity).

"That should slow them down," marine sergeant Patterson replied as he ditched the disposable launcher. "Command, we have tanks roaming the corridors. I suggest we start laying down EM-armed mines, tripwires and other assorted traps in the corridors to slow these guys down."

"Roger that, sergeant," the radio crackled. "Your suggestion has been approved by the brass. Assorted traps will now be distributed to the other squads. The mines locations will be forwarded to you via secure transmission as they are put down."

"Roger, command." Patterson looked at his men and began barking out orders. "Fall back, we'll surprise them again at the next junction. Get another anti-tank rocket ready."

"Aye, sergeant."


Meanwhile, throughout the rest of the ship, marines began prying up removeable deck sections and installing electromagnetic field registering mines. The mines did not detonate if an EM field was detected, but would rather detect a change in the local electromagnetic field compared to the baseline state in the first ten seconds it was armed in. It took a large change to trigger the mines, like the EM-enahnced boot of a Jannarii soldier or a tank moving overhead. They were designed after the accounts of the crews captured by the Jannarii following the Halcyon-Haven War, when the not-so-purged brass realized that ship defense could be enhanced with such devices.

The marines dropped the devices under the deckplating, armed them and then cleared away from them to avoid setting the mines to be comfortable around their power armor. The mines now sat beneath the deck, communicating silently with the troopers nearby that it was close and ready for proper operation. "Mines laid successfully, everyone pull back to section 5 via route 12. We'll lay mines along that route too once you're all back."