Saeleacum Obscurum [IC/Signup First]

[Pax Cybertronian]

OOC thread is here.

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The Human Confederacy and the Second Cybertronian Empire have long rivaled one another; ever since Earth was engulfed in the Great War and evolved technologically, tensions between the Cybertronian race as a whole and humanity have surged. The Technoist (technological supremacist) regime led by Megatron has dedicated itself to bringing humanity to its saeleacum obscurum (Latin for dark ages), . To achieve this end, Megatron has decided to try and subjugate one of humanity's most important colonies - and one of its first and most prosperous: New Earth. The Autobot Commonwealth have also arrived on New Earth, though they are divided amongst themselves: Some of them seek to help humanity, while others want to leave them in the dust.

Now, as for the Human Confederacy, they, at the moment, are divided amongst themselves through political schisms: Traditionalists (humans who did not undergo any type of cybernetic enhancement or other such upgrade), Celestials (humans enhanced by technology; cyborgs, Gundams, etc.) and Second-Born Intellects (mechanical lifeforms created by organic lifeforms, some of which are reverse-engineered Cybertronian technology). This will be vital information for some documents. There are supremacists in this system, and Megatron seeks to manipulate the Second-Born Intellects into becoming mechanical supremacists just like him. Traditionalists are treated as second-class citizens by the Celestials and especially by many of the Second-Born Intellects.

Also, the Human Confederacy despises the entire Cybertronian race because of the whole Great War that was waged throughout the entire known Milky Way and ruined many worlds (mainly because of combats and because the Decepticons ransacked and destroyed many worlds, though the more unscrupulous Autobots and neutral parties were also prone to doing this), and forced them into the Allowed Zone and left them there to rot after the Scouring of Old Nebulos (the culmination of the Nebulan War which left). At one point, Galvatron the Mad Tyrant tried to gather together an army to wage war against the Human Confederacy, but they were swiftly defeated and the Human Confederacy sterilized five of the ten planets allowed. Because of this, many Cybertronians, especially Decepticons, have extremely low perceptions on the human race, which has extended to organics as a whole; many of the Autobots perceive the Human Confederacy to be traitors because they were once allies until after the Scouring of Old Nebulos and after they were forced out of human space.

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The year was 2423.

It had been several centuries since the Cybertronians first landed on Earth to continue to wage their war off their dying home-world. Tensions had been high for a while now; it hadn't been long since Megatron sent some Deceptions fleets to the Novus System, and it was but a few months since the Autobots retaliated. As such, the Human Confederacy, wary of all Cybertronians, increased the amount of warships the Confederated Terran Colonial Fleet - the military arm of the Confederacy - located around New Earth. They always seemed to associate the Cybertronians with planet-destroying warfare, and in many times, it indeed resulted in the and subsequent cyberforming of entire inhabitable worlds, mostly on the behalf of the Decepticons.

The Autobot Commonwealth, the Second Cybertronian Empire and the Human Confederacy were all powerhouses in their own right. Undoubtedly, they couldn't rival the likes of the Galactic Council or the Black Box Consortia. But who could without eons of colonization and colonising a newborn galaxy that had just rose out of the sentio metallico that conspired with Primus to create its infancy? The Galactic Council and the Black Box Consortia were undoubtedly the top two galactic powerhouses. Declaring war on them would certainly mean death... Would it? Perhaps not if they all played their cards right, cozied up to the Council while they consolidated their power over the galaxy. All of the three sides had tried to court the Galactic Federation, though most attempts failed, especially with the Second Cybertronian Empire. The Galactic Federation was but a mere nascent offshoot of the Galactic Council; its founding fathers had felt that the Galactic Council had eschewed its so-called democratic origins and had become totalitarian. Its hatred of Cybertronians had, according to them, evolved into a hatred for all technological life . They, of course, were somewhat afraid of the larger Autobots and Decepticons: many of them had considered themselves to be godlike in comparison to the organics. Many tales were spun on how the Cybertronians conquered a planet - was it Jormungandr? Or maybe it was Elonia, or Nebulos? - and soon began to become consumed with greed and power, which eventually led to their downfall.

But they couldn't focus on that. For now, the war for New Earth and Alpha Centauri was of top priority. Alpha Centauri was the closest sun to Earth, and if the Decepticons could claim that system for their own, then it would mean that it would be ripe for conquest, and for the destruction of their powerful foe - humanity. Many Cybertronians considered the humanity to have leeched off of their technology and to have thrust them into the depths of the Inferno when the time was ripe for them, and so many Cybertronians - Autobot, Decepticon, Neutral, Maximal and Predacon alike - sought for their demise. The Second Cybertronian Empire had secretly began to work on a project to combat humanity and to assist in the extermination of all of organic life, something about "Zardak", "Maladroids" and "Commandrons". They were meant to be considered to be the descendants of the Maximals and the Predacons (the Cybertronians no longer needed to conserve energy, though they needed to find a midway point between the Builders and the Protoformers to ensure a stable population), but the project was still in its infancy, and they needed volunteers.

Everyone was anxious to begin the fight. Above New Earth, an increasing amount of warships on all sides appeared, while trigger-fingers were starting to prepare to fire. The Autobots - led by Fortress Maximus and Convoy - prepared their warships and were prepared to fire, especially on the Decepticons. The humans - led by Celestial Grand Admiral - started to have satellites transform into warships and to try and attract the attention of smaller spacefaring empires. Sure, they'd be destroyed in the crossfire, but it'd mean that there would be a higher chance of finally defeating the Cybertronians in combat.

Their forces led by Roadblock and Onslaught, the Decepticons fired their first shot at an Autobot battleship, and thus lasers almost immediately roared through space like screaming cybercast. With a bang, the war for New Earth had begun.

[Arkeyana]

High In orbit above Terra, A massed fleet sat waiting as their flagship approached. The Cybertronians were making a push on the Human Confederacy, but this time, Arkeyana's primary directive was to maintain Damage control and Medical Attention. Some odd looking ships were in the mix, notably corvettes and Carriers with a different paint job and Red Cross. The Solar Guard, Arkeyana's R&S division of the military, was joining in for ground support. The Corvettes would land and act as field hospitals, while the Carriers would ferry forces up and down along with supplies. Finally, The Flagship fell into formation, as Senator Adams was away, the Polaris had no commander, so Senator Rek and his custom designed sword class dreadnought, The AD Dragon's Maw was to be the replacement, with its freshly refit armament of 50,000 Zero Point Leviathan Lasers. Aboard it, Senator Rek looked around at his command crew, best of the best in tactical, engineering, Logistics, all ready to fight tooth and nail for the Federation. However, he knew that one of those carriers harbored something far greater than his ship...

His son.

Rek had tried to talk him out of it, saying that the SOUL program was still imperfect and that he might turn into a bloodthirsty monster like the other test subjects, But Ilk-Kahs stood his ground, and took part in the program. (Calm yourself Rek, your son is also trained and guarded by the two best Demonus Warriors in the federation, but damn does he need a mother) Rek sighed for a bit before saying. "Commence Jump to New Earth". One by one, the Ships entered Quantum Transwarp before emerging at New Earth, The Dragon's Maw was last as it slowly traveled through its QT.

[Orion Posthuman Republic]

High in New Earth Orbit

The feeling of having one's consciousness piped through a bundle of wires into a starship is one generally regarded as indescribable using standard English vocabulary. Yet, for one Elisha Stone of the OPR's Republic Defense Forces, it was simply another part of the job. Loosening the barriers on his consciousness, he let himself flow through the ship's systems, examining its subsystems and weaponry in a fraction of a second. Of course, for him, it felt like a few minutes - one of the quirks of being a human mind digitized into an AI-like form.
Not too shabby, he thought, slewing a few gun turrets about. It's no supercapital, but it'll do.

Once he was satisfied that he was familiar with the Dawn of Liberty's weapon systems, he opened up a camera feed of the exterior, taking in the battle that had just begun.

Well, damn, the party's already started, he thought to himself, stretching his awareness outwards across all six hundred and fifteen unmanned vessels comprising his task group. Thousands of camera feeds, sensor readings, and targeting solutions flowed through his mind as he examined every inch of his fleet. While each ship in his robotic ghost fleet of sorts packed a fraction of the punch of a similar manned warship, he had the benefit of sheer numbers. Peeling off subroutines to govern the lower-level functions of his ships, he pulled them into a tight formation, interlocking the lime-green energy shields of the lead vessels into a phalanx-esque formation aimed at the distant Cybertronian fleet. Behind it, the remainder of his forces, including his carriers, were arranged in a wider formation, with his fighters and bombers swarming off of their parent warships, guided by their own onboard "dumb AI."
With a flick of a virtual switch, Elisha's task force was underway and headed to join the main human/autobot-allied fleet.

[Doom Legions]

Luminos System, Stellarian Sector
Armageddon-Class Warship Blaze of Retribution

Resting at the Luminos Shipyards were the Blaze of Retribution, along with her two sister ships Blade of the Sanctified and Chant of the Valorous. The three ships have been in service for many decades now, and were being refitted with new and improved systems, so that they could be deployed on a new campaign. Indeed, the Cybertronians and Human Confederacy were not subtle in their little conflict, and word of it had inevitably reached Legion space. Legion Command however, had dismissed the conflict as trivial, and put it up for grabs for aspiring commanders, who could use the conflict to prove their mettle and attempt to rise in rank. Three such commanders had laid claim to the conflict, the commanders of these very vessels.

All three of them were ladies of nobility from Stellaria, who enlisted for active military action for the sole purpose of gathering esteem and influence for their houses, as success in military ordeals weighed heaviliy in political affairs for the Legions. In charge of the Blaze of Retribution was Lady Caelestis, devout and knightly, proud but surprisingly compassionate. Lady Lunissa, an esteemed sorceress acted as commander of the Blade of the Sanctified, and Lady Sethiris, a learned scholar and enchanter, commanded the Chant of the Valorous. Accompanying them would be another commander however, Slayer Lord Karth Nethersteel, whose expertise lay with specialists, both allied and hostile.

Besides these three ships and their respective commanders, there were a set of Battlecruisers, a pair of Carriers and a proper flock of Cruisers for support, the only thing the fleet lacked was a Planetcracker, but the scale of the conflict was so minor and since the campaign isn't staged by Legion Command itself, they could not secure access to Planetcracker support for this one.

Lady Caelestis arrived on the bridge of the Blaze of Retribution, and as she entered the room she recieved quick but courteous salutes from her subordinates. As the most experienced of the commanders, she was assigned as the primary commander for the campaign. As such, she would be the shot-caller. She decided when and where to deploy. Slayer Lord Nethersteel was already awaiting her at the tactical display table at the center of the upper command bridge. The massive power armoured man saluted her sternly as she approached, to which is replied with a respectful nod, aknowledging his presence.

"My lady, our fleet ID has been fully uploaded and is registered at your ship A.I. I've also made sure our ground forces are fully accounted for. The fleet is fully refitted and ready to depart at your command." Said Karth, gesturing to large lists of data and numbers being displayed as a hologram.

"Very good, lord." Replied Caelestis in a simple fashion. She regarded the holographic display, then spoke: "Aecha, dear, what can you tell me about our upgraded systems?" She asked, adressing the ship's A.I.

"Our shields have improved energy efficiency, my tactical database has been updated with data relevant to our destination and some new weapons systems were installed, our broadside batteries have been reinforced by kinetic weapons; Heavy Gauss Cannons. These cannons fire shells with high yield nuclear payloads. A single barrage can eliminate any unshielded ground target. These weapons are also highly effective against shielding and internal systems of enemy capitol ships. Warning: these weapons generate lethal nuclear residue, I advice protective gear when entering affected area's. Our point defense systems have also been upgraded, improvements to weapon generators allow for more powerful shots and upgrades to my software have increased my target-fire speeds by approximately 46.387%. Threats from strike craft and missle/torpedo weapons have been exponentiall reduced." Reported the A.I. dutifully. "Do you have any further queries?"

"No, that will be all for now. Instead I want you to relay jump orders to the fleet, I believe we've squandered enough time with these preparations." Said Caelestis. "Oh and send a copy of the files you've recieved on this conflict to my cabin's terminal." She turned to the Slayer Lord. "Lord Nethersteel, the bridge is yours. If you need me, I'll be in my cabin." And with that, Caelestis stepped onto the teleportation pad and disappeared in a flash.

A moment later, the fleet entered a joint jump formation, and with a collection of flashes of brilliant crimson light, the fleet disappeared.

[Arkeyana]

Once all the Ships emerged from Transwarp, the motions were seamless, the fleet of 8 battleships, 16 cruisers and 20 corvettes flew into a swarm formation around the two Solar Guard Carriers Recovery and Salvation, while the 8 Solar Guard Corvettes flew towards New Earth's surface, broadcasting messages in the meantime:

To all Powers aligned with the Human Confederacy, the Federation of Arkeyana means no harm to you, we see the Decepticons as a threat to their galaxy and wish that this will teach them reason.

A similar one played as well:

To all powers aligned with the Cybertronian Empire, You have been misguided into believing that Lord Megatron's rulings to be true, and while we are on a misssion of medical and humanitarian Aid, we will not hesitate to take offensive action if you engage us.

Numerous Dropships were launched from the two carriers as the Dragon's Maw hung back from a distance.

[Higher Japan]

New Earth

The faint sight of electricity crackling could be seen coming from another side of the planet as the general area around it began to shake, before it seemed as if the universe itself had torn, a hole appearing for a massive battle fleet to come through. The fleet consisted of roughly 20 cruisers behind a forward advance of 30 destroyers which were guarding 5 more dreadnoughts and the empress's personal flagship modernized to keep up with the times, an exact copy of space battleship Yamato from the original anime. Further back, 2 carriers began to launch fighters to cover the fleet.

"We've arrived at new earth, all ships reporting in."

"Ships detected on sensors, performing analysis."

"Weapon systems are ready, we'll arrive at our destination in T-Minus 5."

As the various members of the bridge crew reported in, Entity 0 looked out into the void of space and the battle as she slowly combed and straightened her hair with her razor sharp claws. "Find the autobots and assist them. The humans shall be judged throughout the battle." As the command was given, the fleet accelerated forward as the massive cannons of the flagship turned towards the Cybertronian forces, the various missile silos on the ships opening up along with the fleet. "Calculations made, errors corrected. All ships, fire!" She shouted, blue individual shots of anti matter coming in from the horizon along with missiles as they all rushed towards the cybertronian fleet.

[Robosis Corporate State]

SC5-1038-E

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Exiting Warp...

Query: Confirm location? Target: Planet 29C (New Earth)

Response: Location = Planet 29C (Target)

Conclusion: Warp successful, target reached

//Eliminate Human Confederacy and Autobot Commonwealth presence on 29C

Deploying Troops...

Sending Transmission - Cybertronian Flagship

Transmission

Greetings, Cybertronian ship. I am Robosian Astroship Carrier SC5-1038-E, dispatched to this location to aid against Human and Autobot troops in this system. Four hundred BF-Class Astroships and one hundred and fifty HC-Class Astroships are currently being released to aid in ship-to-ship combat. One thousand Robosis Military Androids, one hundred TC-Class Hovercraft, and two hundred EC-Class Tanks have been dispatched to the surface to set up a military base.

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BF-Class Astroship: Blade Fighter. A small fighter ship shaped like a crescent.

HC-Class Astroship: Heavy Cannon. Medium sized ship with a massive laser cannon, good for fighting large ships.

TC-Class Hovercraft: Troop Cutter. Drone-shaped hovercraft with a high power laser on the bottom, can be swiveled around to cut through formations of soldiers.

EC-Class Tank: Eight Cannons. Literally just a tank with eight cannons on the back.

[Arkeyana]

The ships were on alert from the Orion and Higher Japanese fleets, but were back to passive once they proved no threat. Then the Robosis jumped in and started launching ships and landing units, which put the fleet on high alert when it was confirmed they were allied with the 2nd Cybertronian Empire, and turned their weapons to face them.

On the surface, the corvettes had landed in open, flat areas and were setting up shop, so to speak, medics and troops were offloading, along with heavy weapons automatons and Ambulance-like vehicles that walked on six short legs. almost all were armed, but with plasma weaponry so they could fight in atmosphere.

[The Imperial Regions of Commerce]

Raxus's Office, Coruscant

"Supreme Chairman, the Imperial Regions has lied dormant in these past recent wars. Our presence has been dwindling from intergalactic politics and military affairs. Some see the Federation as, weak, which I, seeing with the insurrection gaining a major foothold-"

Raxus was already annoyed at Plum Haarko's nagging voice, and now he was insulting the Federation.

"Enough! If you were common rustic I'd have you shot dead for insulting the Federation!"

The Neimoidian Plum Haarko, one of the lead diplomats of the IROC, was known far and wide for his cowardice and squeamish demeanor. He sat in Raxus's office discussing the war between the Cybertronians, great allies of the Federation, and a human confederacy and the Autobots. Haarko was pushing for war, which greatly surprised Raxus. Another man sat next to Haarko, a sly and financially motivated Muun named Ord Kiltix, began to speak.

"I agree with Haarko, but perhaps we can have a war and get some compensation in it as well."

"Continue," said Raxus, already intrigued.

"The Federation needs to show the power of its Navy and its Droid Army once more. Once the Coalition was informally disbanded and we joined the Imperial Consortium there have been less than but still many wars that we could have participated in, but this distasteful Rebellion has grown to its largest size despite the valiant efforts of the Droid Army and the ISS. Our attention has been mostly diverted to dealing with these traitors, and the thought of participating in other wars has been mostly abandoned. I can see why others would think our nation as weak or vulnerable. But we must demonstrate our military power once more, and show that the Imperial Regions is the rightful inheritor of the Galaxy."

Plum gave a measly clap, but Raxus leaned back in his throne like chair.

"What would you have us do referring to the demonstration of our might, Kiltix?"

"Mr. Chairman, I would have a fleet be selected with a Super Tactical Droid as its commander, and have the fleet consist of many carriers to deploy fighters. Forgive me, I am not a tactician, but I'd have large ships to be rather imposing. But to let our allies have this luxury to fight alongside with, Megatron would have to agree to give us a few planets of this Human Confederacy. Or maybe some monetary compensation."

Raxus sat and listened, and he was impressed. Within the IROC there was a large rebellion causing chaos and he knew the federation was weakening, but this victory would boost morale and give more credibility to his administration. He would give the green light.

"Excellent plan as always, Ord. I will refine the plan myself and then let Kraken figure out the military aspects. This meetings has been a success."

New Earth

Naval ORBAT

1. two Resolute MK II Class Heavy Support Crafts

2. two Subjugator class heavy cruisers

3. one (repurposed) Assertor class Star Dreadnought

4. five Lucrehulk class battleships

After a hyperspace jump, the Commercian Fleet arrived at New Earth. Almost immediately the Carrier's began deploying swarms of droid fighters. Landing Crafts were being prepped for takeoff, and Hyena class Bombers were already out in the fray. The Commander of the fleet was a Super Tactical Droid named Prelate. The Droid's flagship was the Assertor class Star Dreadnought San Hill. The ships began to form up and push forward to the planet.

From: The Imperial Regions of Commerce
To: The Second Cybertronian Empire

Esteemed ally,

The IROC has decided to aid your nation in your conquest of the Human Confederacy and the Autobot faction. Our Fleet will aid your forces in pushing back the enemy fleets and securing the conquered territory. More ships will be sent in they are required. All we ask in return is a few human Colonial worlds, or monetary compensation. This can be discussed once victory is inevitably achieved.

A free state is a Corporate state

[Doom Legions]

The Plane of Doom
Armageddon-Class Warship Blaze of Retribution

The soft humming sound of distant generators filled Caelestis' cabin, a sound she was well familiar with, to the point that she didn't even notice it anymore. She sat on a couch, a terminal in front of her displaying reports of what was known about the factions known to be present in the conflict. There were extensive files on Megatron, the notorious leader of the Decepticons, as well as some on the Autobots, who seemed to be their rivals. Caelestis raised an eyebrow. Never before had she laid eyes upon either a Decepticon or an Autobot, really all she knew is that they were mechanical lifeforms. In all honesty she thought some of them were rather silly, clearly there race wasn't nearly as refined as her own, their technology is crude at best and they don't seem to have any culture to speak of at all! "Too busy backstabbing and murdering one another to think about poetry, art or music, I suppose." She thought to herself.

Then the familiar voice of the ship's A.I. was heard over her comms. "Lady Caelestis, your presence is requested on the bridge. Please make your way there at your earliest convenience."
She sighed, set her terminal to standby and got up, walked over to the end of the room where a teleporter pad waited, and disappeared in a flash of light. She reappeared at the bridge, and was greeted by the same salutes as before as she walked up. Once again, the Slayer Lord greeted her with respect. "My lady." He began. "Our fleet has arrived at the designated coordinates, we can enter realspace at your command."

"Very good, lord. But first of all I want our espionage probes out there. Set up the usual network, knowledge is power afterall." Said Caelestis.

"By your will, my lady." Replied Karth with a nod.

Moments later in real space, a set of tiny rifts opened up for a brief second, from which a number of tiny probes emerged, who all flew off in seperate directions. Back on the ship a few minutes later, the first readings started to come in. Caelestis quickly brought up the fleet data section and observed the positions and numbers of the fleets of the factions that had already arrived. Looking at it all she could see why Legion Command did not authorize the deployment of a Planetcracker, most of what she saw was laughable at best!
One fleet in particular caught her eye, the fleet of the Higher Japanese. More detailed scans showed her that these would be an easy target. One ship stood out to her though, the flagship, which looked like a primitive humanoid nautical battleship, rather than a voidcraft. She frowned and looked towards Karth. "Are you seeing the same thing as I am, or did someone slip something into my tea?" She asked.

Karth took a closer look at the screen, letting out a barely heard 'what'. "I assure you, you are most sober. That is indeed a nautical battleship with an FTL drive attached to it, and comms traffic suggests that it it likely acting as their flagship.." He said.

"This has to be some sort of idiotic cultural tradition of theirs.. one that we're going to mercilessly exploit. Position our fleet, we're going to say 'hello'." Ordered Caelestis. "Plot a rift so that we enter realspace right under them, in their blind spot, ready tractor beams and primary weapons. A ship of that size isn't going to escape that. Set up wings of bombers with Fenrir escort as well, the moment we emerge I want them to deliver their bombs straight into their engines, they can't run without those either. Then have them follow up instantly with a bombing run on their communications array, so they can't send out a distress signal." She laid out her battle plan, and as she commanded the fleet moved into position and readied themselves.

Three wings of 8 Mauler-Class Bombers each, all with 6 Fenrir-Class Interceptors as escort formed up near the ship. Caelestis' vessel itself had also moved into position, and all weapons were ready to fire, as were the ship's six tractor beams. The fleet's Battlecruisers had formed up for a strafing run from behind the enemy, while the Cruisers and Carriers would not yet deploy. They would go on stand by, along with the ships of Lunissa and Sethiris. They would be the back up plan.

---

In realspace, where the fleet of Higher Japan moved, firing at the Cybertronian fleet, massive dark rifts suddenly opened up. From up behind the fleet, emerged six Annihilator-Class Battlecruisers, moving at speed in a strafing formation over the enemy. They instantly opened fire with their Railgun and Plasma batteries.
At the same time, right below the Imperial Flagship, emerged the Blaze of Retribution, whose tractor beams instantly locked on to the enemy vessel to prevent it from moving, and it then opened fire with Ion cannons, Railgun batteries and heavy Plasma cannons while simultaneously from behind emerged the three bomber wings, who flew in at speed, emerging at the perfect position so they could instantly fire their first payload. One wing came in from the left, one from the right and one in the middle. Once the bombs were away they moved into position to drop their second payload onto the Communications Array.

The attack was swift and brutal, showing no attempt at diplomacy. Caelestis was not about to waste time on idle chitchat, especially not with such inferior xenos.

[Arkeyana]

"Sir, the Higher Japanese fleet is under attack!" shouted the Chief Tactical Officer. "Godammit, assessment?" Rek replied. "Far superior to them and us, distraction might be key here, draw the ship out from under them and into a crossfire." The Chief said after a moment of processing. "Order a Battleship and two Corvettes to confront them, and be straight with them about the prospects.". Rek finished, eyeing the fleet on the screen.

Arkeyanan battleship ABS Revenant, Corvette AC Hong Kong, and AC Rebellion

The respective captains read their orders and communicated with each other for a few minutes as to course of action. Until finally the Corvettes dropped to the Revenant's flanks and started to move in formation towards the engagement. Aboard the Revenant's bridge, Captain 5209 Read out a checklist for the AI to check. "Ventral weapons: Check, Hyperscreen stability: Check, Dorsal Weapons: Check, Flank weapons: Check, Stern weapons: Check, Fore Weapons: Check, Life support: Online". The AI finished. "Good", said 5209, "Contact the corvettes and ask of their status.". "I have already done so, systems are online and ready for combat." The AI interrupted. "Ah, OK then" Said the Captain. The ships slowly continued to approach the engagement.

[Higher Japan]

New Earth, flagship Yamato

"Empress, primary communications arrays down, we can't get contact with the engine room, our shields are standing but are quickly depleting. Estimate time before fall is 5 minutes." One of the officers reported, calmly handing the empress the report as she took a look at it before standing up. She sent a message through the ship's emergency announcement system. "All crew, the Yamato is lost. Please leave in an orderly manner." After that, the bridge crew quickly left as she prepared her final message through the bridge's emergency system. It was sent to the remaining ships in the fleet.

"All ships, the Yamato will have it's flag transferred over to the landing support dreadnought Aoi."

She took her seat back on the captain's seat as she sighed, preparing herself for a bodily transfer. Her death didn't really matter, considering how she would just have her consciousness transferred over to a new body. As such, her capture would either by empty or fruitful. As she saw the escape pods leave, she finally stopped resisting as the engines quickly were cut off, the shields going down by her control. If they were to fire on it, it was to go down as fast as possible.

The main fleet was caught off guard, the first wave of destroyers already 10 short as they quickly turned around, returning fire with missiles and plasma while more energy was diverted back to rear shields while they turned, using whatever rear facing guns they had to fire back on the fleet.

[Doom Legions]

New Earth Space
Armageddon-Class Warship Blaze of Retribution

After having completed their bombing runs, the bombers and their escorts returned to the safety of the Armageddon's hangars. The Battlecruisers kept pouring fire onto the enemy ships, their shields flashing occasionally when hit by the enemies' plasma weapons. The missiles that were fired upon them however, were quickly dispatched by the ships' point defense lasers.

"Ma'am, the enemy vessel's shields have been dropped and there are escape pods leaving the vessel!" Shouted an operator aboard the Blaze of Retribution.

"Good, then it's time to finish the kill and haul in the prize. Fire one of our new Heavy Gauss cannons, target their primary generator." Ordered Caelestis.

With the Yamato's shields down, the Armageddon's combat A.I. could perform a rapid and full scan of the vessel, gathering the knowledge of the entire ship's layout, and the location of all its systems, including the generators. It then fired a single shot straight at the primary generator. The nuclear loaded shell would penetrate the ship's outer hull, and detonate inside.

With their target eliminated, the Armageddon's tractor beams now started to lock on on as many escape pods as possible and haul them in. Prisoners of war were excellent sources of intel, afterall.

"My lady, we have three vessels on intercept course with us. Presumed hostile. One battleship with two corvettes for escort. Scans show they are combat ready." Reported the ship A.I.

"Position ourselves for a broadside. Train all heavy weapons on the battleship, ignore the corvettes, they are not a threat. Make sure our bombers and interceptors are ready to deploy as well." Said Caelestis.

The vessel shifted, showing its broadside to the approaching vessels, all weapons trained on the battleship.

Caelestis took one final look at the three ships, then gave the order. "Fire."

The entire side of the ship lit up in a display of light as all weapons fired. Plasma batteries, Railgun batteries, Ion Cannons, the Heavy Gauss cannons and the Heavy Plasma Lances all fired at the battleship. The Blaze of Retribution held little back.

[Higher Japan]

New Earth space

As the escape pods began to get drawn in, some would have various flashes coming from them as the crew all shot themselves dead, most now empty husks while some were hauled in. Precautions were made for this situation, such as having the crew trained only for operations aboard the Yamato, but the empress would of course have to roll the gamble on whether or not they would leak any secrets. To her, leaked secrets were just another motivation for innovation and replacement of the older ships.

"What a shame, i was starting to feel an emotional connection to this ship. Guess i gotta cut back on food expenses this century." The empress muttered to herself, hearing the ship's AI complain about the destroyed generators as the final emergency generators at the front came on. Pressing a few buttons, instead of trying to ensure her survival she prepared for the ship to be detonated as she set up a game of chess with whatever power she had with the ship's AI, making the first move as she waited for them to finally destroy the ship. She continually waited for death to finally greet her, most likely to only leave her be once again as she would have her mind transferred over to another body.

Watching from the forward ships, the crew all began to mutter about the safety of the empress as it could now be seen that various pieces of equipment, including the cannons and radars, began to break off. Instead of focusing fire on the enemy, they changed their target. Changing course, the missiles began to target the Yamato itself as plasma bolts also began to crash into it, in attempts to scuttle it.

[Arkeyana]

The Railguns and Gauss cannons merely bounced off the Ships' Hyperscreens, while the lances, plasma, and Ion cannons had a bit more of a punch on them. "FIRE" Yelled the Revenant's captain. A hail of Quantum Cannon fire would slam into the Blaze or Retribution as slower moving Antimatter was also fired. The Corvettes broke from the flank and prepared to intercept fighters and bombers. "Report", asked 5209. "Shields held up, but the Plasma and Ion weaponry is our biggest problem." Replied the Chief Engineer.

The Surface

The Corvettes had finished setting up, fortifications and medical facilities were completed as personnel rushed to their respective stations.

[Doom Legions]

New Earth Space
Armageddon-Class Warship Blaze of Retribution

The ship lit up in flashes of light as the weapons of the enemy impacted the shields.

"Status report." Demanded Caelestis coolly, not diverting her eyes from the battle.

"Shields are holding, shield strength exceeds 99%. Hull integrity is not compromised." Stated the ship's A.I. "My combat systems also report that our energy-based weapons are more effective against the enemy vessel's shields, while our projectile weapons are less effective."

"Very well then, cease fire with our Railguns and Gauss Cannons, keep firing with just the energy weapons." She commanded. "How long can we hold out against their attacks ourselves?"

"Initial scans reveal that the enemy's ship-to-ship weapons comprise solely of energy weapons. As you likely know, standard energy weapons are ineffective against our shields. The enemy battleship lacks the necessary firepower to drain our shields faster than our generators can sustain it." Stated the A.I.

"So right now we could potentially last indefinetely against them?" Asked Caelestis for confirmation.

"Correct." Chirped the A.I. simply. "However I advice we dispatch these foes with haste, so that we can focus our efforts on more worthwhile engagements."

"We are in agreement there. Hmm.." Caelestis thought for a few seconds. "Hail one of our Battlecruisers, I need one to break off from their attack, its Ion Cannons would likely wipe out the remaining shield strength on our enemy."

"Confirmed, relaying orders now, my lady." Replied the A.I. obediently.

A moment later, the Annihilator-Class Battlecruiser closest to the Blaze of Retribution broke off from the rest of the formation and moved in to attack. As it approached, it charged its prow mounted superweapons. Once locked on, it fired its two massive Annihilator Ion Cannons, designed specifically to drain shields and shut down electronics on unprotected targets, and a fraction of a second later it fired a massive blast of plasma from its Megaplasma Cannon at the Arkeyanan Battleship.

---

Meanwhile..

In the ship's hangar area, the captured escape pods were brought in. Slayer Lord Karth was present to oversee the capture of the enemy personell. However, as the Legionnaires pried open the pods, they were met only with corpses inside.

Or almost only, as was revealed by the shouting of a Legionnaire. "Hey! This one's still alive!" He said, as he hauled a stammering, blood covered person out of one of the pods. The others in his pod had killed themselves, but this one apparently didn't have the guts to pull the trigger. The prisoner was quickly put in chains and a Warlock put a paralyzing curse on them, preventing them from moving their limbs.
Karth approached them, striding up to the prisoner in his power armour, his pitch black cloak softly draping behind him. It would be quite clear to anyone that he was a leader.
"My, what have we here?" He said as he lifted up the prisoner's chin, looking them in the eye. "Oh, it seems all of your friends bit the bullet, but don't worry." He patted the prisoner on the head with cold metal hands. "You'll be meeting lots of new friends here!" He laughed, then gestured for the Legionnaires to haul them away. They obeyed and carried the immoblized prisoner to the prison section of the ship. Once their shock fades, they will be thoroughly interrogated.

[Warastoka]

New Earth
WRS Vasoi
Warastokan Surveilance Vessel
Captain Kolik Caseu

---

Kolik watched as the erie red glow of cryptospace flashed past the windows of the bridge, seeming like massive burning flames flying past the ship. To most she would seem like a fairly large ship, being over seven hundred meters, however by the standards of the republic she was barely the size of a standard destroyer, and she lacked the spinal mounted mass driver cannon that a Warastokan destroyer was fitted with, or rather the two they usually mounted. That space had been replaced with cargo holds and space for the ships large hanger, set up to fit two one hundred twenty five meter long gunboats, the ships escorts, as well as its six shuttles.

The ships AI suddenly spoke up, appearing as a female pilot from the unification wars, slightly transparent and giving a golden glow from her hologram.

"Captain, we are approaching the Centauri system, it's only a matter of minutes until we arrive, I advise we make use of stealth playing, there is currently active combat occurring in the system, and I am not confident the Vasoi is adequately armed to enter into a full fledged slugging match with factions we may know little to nothing about"

He nodded and said "noted, when we arrive bring the plating online and activate long range sensors, and keep the mass drivers on stand by in case someone gets the wrong idea, are the science teams ready?"

She nodded her holographic head, and said "Yes captain, they are awaiting the go ahead to get to their shuttles, I also took the liberty of ensuring the gunboat crews were at their posts and ready in case things get dangerous"

"Very good, keep me posted on how things unfold"

The 'flames' slowly faded as the ship exited Cryptospace, the process appearing as a fiery portal opening very briefly as the ship re entered regular space. The ship faded out of visibility, its stealth plating blending the ship both into the visual spectrum and thermal spectrum, a feature included to allow the unnoticed observation of less advanced civilizations who had not yet developed space travel, as the republic took a very serious stance when it came to not contaminating extraterrestrial cultures, as per the Hutus Accords. The ship began scanning the planets of the system, looking for inhabitable worlds, resources, anything that could be of future use, or that could be a potential threat. It didn't take long to identify the ongoing battle, and the AI displayed a holographic feed of the battle, each ship being given a identification number for reference.

"I've done my best to get what data I could, and it seems that there is a lot of energy weapon Fire, so our shields are more or less useless"

Kolik nodded and said "good thing we're not here to fight"

[Higher Japan]

New Earth Space

"Check." The empress said coldly to the AI, giving it a new point of view to look from as it tried to move around whatever pieces it had left to counter it. After a few moments, a piece was moved as the empress scanned the table once again, sighing as she saw the front of the hull begin to break apart and look as if it was about to tear. Opening a switch at her side, she moved one more piece, taking another of the AI's as she smirked.

"Checkmate."

Within seconds, the entire ship went up in flames as the insides were blown out, the cannons all assisting as it blew the hull forward. The bridge windows would see flames bursting out from it as the added wave energy that was used also destroyed the entire ship's internal core, leaving behind only an empty husk which began to suffer smaller explosions that would rip it apart.

"Intensify forward shields, cut power to the guns!" The admiral shouted, fire stopping immediately upon seeing that it did nothing as they entered a defensive formation, most of the ships now ceasing fire. "This is battle group 9 to high command, the Yamato has been destroyed. We're now on the defensive." He said, casually ignoring one of the ships on his side suffering critical damage as he set the communication link down.

Imperial Military High Command

After receiving the message, high command began to scramble as the reboot system was started and prepared, watching as the screen came to life only showing a single line that would represent the empress speaking for 10 days until her body and mind could be transferred and combined. "Empress, the situation has gotten dire, the fleet is now forced on the defensive. I suggest breaking off a part of the first armada to-"

"Leave them be. Begin scans, and I shall dispatch the ships."

No one had anytime to argue as they quickly scrambled, getting the ships there to try to scan the shields of the enemy as the empress tried to find empty and free fleets to scramble, while hoping that the shields could hold while the empress found the right ships.

[Arkeyana]

The Plasma crashed against the Revenant's Hyperscreens, knocking stability down to 90%, being knocked down to 85% from the Ion Cannons, the subsequent deficiency was quickly filled. "Oof", the Ship's AI said in a sarcastic voice, "I think they believe enough plasma and Ion weaponry will bring down the shields, they are right, but it will take a while, Shall I call backup?" The AI said. "Affirmative, contact the Dragon's Maw and see if anymore forces will be sent our way." 5209 replied, eyeing the battlecruiser with cold, mechanical eyes. Meanwhile, the AI decided to have a little banter, so to speak, with the retribution's AI (Most Arkeyanan AIs can independently interface with each other, so it could do so with a small amount of difficulty) [Hey buster, you piloting a trash can with peashooters or is my sensor array wonky?] It said in the private channel.

[The Hexagon Industries]

As the conflict raged above the atmosphere of Neo-Terra itself, a lone Hexagon Catalyst warped behind the planet's moon, it's violet flash somehow lighting up the dark side of the moon for a short moment. It soon went immobile, and followed the moon as it orbited around the planet. After encircling Neo-Terra for a couple of times, it soon prepared to leave, firing a barrage of rounds on the already crater-filled surface of the moon, before warping off, leaving as quickly as it had arrived.

As the moon continued it's path around Neo-Terra, the embedded shells were left behind, possibly forgotten by those who had fired it. The Hexagon soon went silent. As the ships above Neo-Terra began to increase in numbers, the Hexagon were still inactive. The only mark they had made, were the cannon rounds left on the back of the moon, sitting, waiting for their purpose.

Then, without warning, a second Hexagon ship suddenly appeared near the moon once again, a small transport ship, hopefully small enough to fly to the surface of the moon undetected. The ship slowly made a landing, and touched the ground of the lunar surface. As the side doors slid to the left, it revealed a batch of green, humanoid androids, on their backs were large, black backpacks, carrying fragile equipment.

The green mechanical troopers stood at a height of exactly four and a half feet, their height allowing them to easily leave the ship. As the troopers lined up in a neat formation, another one came out of the ship. A human, wearing a black vacuum suit, grunted as he struggled to leave the small doors. "Why the did I have to ride in an ARM transport?" he spoke, most of his body now out of the ship. As he finally pulled his right foot out, he began to move his left foot, soon realizing that it was stuck on one of the small holes, where the mechanical troopers were hooked up. He grunted, struggling to pull his foot free.

After minutes of pulling, he had finally pulled himself free, unintentionally throwing himself out to the low gravity environment, causing him to glide uncontrollably, flying about more than twenty meters away from the ship, before skipping a few times on the dusty lunar surface. He giggled uncontrollably, before getting interrupted by a tinny voice coming from his suit's radio, "Spencer, get back here!"

The man sighed, before standing up, attempting to brush the dust clinging on his suit, with little success. "Coming, mom," he said, while rolling his eyes. Walking back to the ship, he saw that the last android had already exited the transport craft. The craft itself soon closed it's doors, and slowly elevated.

The last android, standing about six feet tall, easily towering above Spencer, was made in a carbon black metal, covered by glossy white plating. It wore ragged brown clothes, one might see on desert nomads and the like. It also wore a white turban, covering most of it's head, revealing only it's face.

Spencer crossed his arms, and looked at the tall android. "What?"

"You need to stop playing, and start helping us find a place to unpack," the android spoke, communicating using Spencer's radio. "Seriously, Command ordered you to look after us, I'm already starting to think that we were the ones that needed to look after you."

Spencer raised his arms, slowly shaking his head. "Who cares what you think, Primer? You're a robot for fuck's sake. Act like it." The tall android, Primer Directive, ignored the rambling human, and temporarily shut down, contacting the Hexagon High Command. "Y'know, like this-" the human soon locked his arms in an L position, and made 'beeping' noises, while moving around Directive's stiff body. "See, Primer, 's not so hard!"

After a few minutes, Directive soon snapped out from his stupor, and was greeted by Spencer's slightly awkward dance. "Ergh, rii~ght," Directive spoke, pushing Spencer away, before going to the lined up green androids. About to give the command, Directive soon stopped, interrupted by Spencer's robot impersonation, still happening behind the android. "Spencer, stop it. Good Zephos, you're a grown man for Senator's sake. Get in here."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm nearly fucking there," Spencer spoke, jumping far high up, enjoying the minimal gravity.

Primer paused, before looking back to Spencer. "Watch your words." Spencer sighed, and went in line with the other androids as soon as he had landed. "Command gave us the green signal, we start the colonization attempt now-" Primer then looked at Spencer, "-and I've also reported you to your superior."

Spencer was taken aback, almost tripping on a protruding rock behind his left foot. "W-what?!"

After Directive gave it's last commands and orders to the troopers, the green androids soon gave a scripted salute to the white android, before heading out, searching for a suitable flat place to begin building their forward operating base. Looking back at Spencer, Directive ended his report with a flip of the bird, and went to a random direction, contributing to the search.

The human simply stood still, frozen in shock and fear. Not even the loud bang caused by the sudden warp of the transport craft, nor the loud explosions that littered the Neo-Terran skies had cut him off from his almost vegetative state.

He merely stood there, a hundred and one grotesque and bloody flashes of Hexagon punishment and indoctrination methods flooding through his mind.

[Doom Legions]

New Earth Space
Armageddon-Class Warship Blaze of Retribution

After having fired its set of superheavy weapons, the Annihilator-Class Battlecruiser had to recharge them before it could fire them again, so to keep up the added pressure it opened fire with a barrage of Neutron Torpedoes, which upon impacting shields would let out a powerful discharge of energy designed to disable shields. All the while the Blaze of Retribution kept on pouring weapons fire with its powerful weaponry.

When hailed, the ship's A.I. locked down the channel to prevent any dangerous data from entering the ship's systems, while simultaneously responding to the Arkeyanan A.I. with a stream of combat viruses and infected files. The Arkeyanan A.I. would also be able to note a very strong feedback of volatile Arcane energy, revealing that the Blaze of Retribution's A.I. was not something of ordinary make.

While the ship continued battling her foes, the ship A.I. informed Lady Caelestis of new arrivals, which would be the Warastrokans.

"Interesting." Replied the Stellarian. "Do their signatures and emblems match any know faction or organization?"

"Negative, my lady. This is a first encounter scenario. They are attempting to cloak themselves, but our probes have latched on to their energy signatures. So long as their vessel has power, we can see it. Your orders?" Asked the A.I.

"I would have you send them a message. Demand that they reveal their purpose in this system and if they are aligned with any of the present factions. If they are, destroy them. If not, well perhaps they can be of some use to us, willing or not." Said Caelestis.

The A.I. obeyed, and by linking up with an espionage probe close to the location of the Warastrokan vessel relayed a message to them:

From: Armageddon-Class Warship Blaze of Retribution
The Legions of Doom
To: Unidentified xeno voidcraft

Hail.

We are known as the Doom Legions. By divine will we demand you identify yourself and state your purpose in this systems and any current affiliations with present factions.
Failure to comply will result in the immediate termination of your vessel and the lawful capture of any surviving personnel.
You have one hour (local time) to comply.

Kind regards
-Lady Caelestis Solkindle of Stellaris

[Arkeyana]

The Revenant shook from the Neutron torpedoes, but still held. The AI forcefully redirected the Malware to a Contigency Server farm (one of the massive facilities used to contain the contigency's mainframe), where said malware was practically incinerated by firewalls. Meanwhile, the corvettes looped in to fire upon the Blaze of Retribution. "Sir, the AI seems..strange, almost like it was exposed to something similar to the SOUL project." The Revenant's AI said, "Also, the Dragon's Maw itself is coming to support us, don't know why though." It continued. "Well, anyways it will be a good help." 5209 replied. And true to the word, the Dragon's Maw was making its way over, its Tachyon bolt charging up to full power.

[Orion Posthuman Republic]

Scutum-class AI Command Battlecruiser OPRS Dawn of Liberty
High in New Earth Orbit

It was only moments after he had ordered his ships to move in that Elisha realized there might be a better way to do this.
As he watched the Doom Legionnaire fleet in the distance engage and destroy the Yamato in what seemed to be a matter of seconds, he realized that the Navy had seriously underestimated the amount of firepower that would be involved. Hell, half of STRATCOM hadn't even been convinced that this wasn't going to just be a standoff and nothing more. Although his drone fleet packed some serious firepower, it was no match for what these other intruders were bringing along. He'd have to do something clever instead if he was going to last more than a few minutes against them.

As his ships cancelled out their forward momentum in a burst of RCS thruster fire, Elisha mentally pulled up an orbital map of the present situation, watching the little markers representing the fleets in question slowly inch around the planet. A standard setpiece engagement would be plain suicidal without a significant Manned Fleet contingent. Of course, he'd asked for that, but the top brass were still not too comfortable with putting manned vessels under the command of a Warmind.

Wracking his digital brain, he thought back to his orbital dynamics class at the Naval Academy.
As a general principle of space combat, a significant velocity differential between two fleets has the effect of significantly lowering the accuracy of both sides. And then it all clicked into place, and he realized he wouldn't need accuracy for what he was about to do.

If I raise my apoapsis enough on the other side of the planet... Turning his flotilla about and accelerating prograde, he watched the flickering mass of black dots that was the battle over New Earth grow more and more distant, before disappearing over the horizon, accelerating away from the Cybertronian fleet. His current orbit was now taking his fleet on a path that would bring them right above the enemy fleets from behind with around 1000 m/s of relative velocity, on account of the highly elliptical orbit he was now in. At this rate, he would have less than thirty seconds between him coming into range of the enemy fleet and falling out of range. He checked his calculations.

Code: Select all

Closest Approach= T+0:22:39.
Distance to Selected Target at Closest Approach= 0.9 (±1.5 km)

As he thought about what he was doing, he suddenly realized it might be a good idea to give the friendly ships in the area a heads-up, and sent out an encrypted radio message.

All human-allied vessels, be advised, this is Commander Elisha Stone of the Orion Posthuman Republic Navy confirming fire mission on enemy fleet, approaching retrograde at one-zero-three-nine meters per second relative, bearing zero-zero-zero by zero-one-nine relative, danger close. Splash in twenty-two minutes, five seconds.

[The Imperial Regions of Commerce]

New Earth

The roaring fire of the San Hill's batteries shook the ship's bridge. Prelate, the Fleets commanding officer stood on at the deck, and peered out the observation window. He analyzed friendly fleets engaging the enemy formations from afar. The Commercian fleet had not fully engaged the enemy with its capital ships, rather it had deployed its swarms of droid fighters and bombers and stayed in formation. The battleships had been firing their turrets, but were staying back, letting the allied fleets take the brunt of the enemy's firepower. Prelate called out to the bridge crew.

"Prepare the fleet for the main attack. Once at the correct range, turn the Subjugator Cruisers and fire the broadside of Ion Pulse Cannons into the enemy's vicinity. Have the heavy siege cannon penetrate the capital ships. Commence attack."

The ships' engines bellowed as they were activated, and the battle group began moving forward at moderate speed. The Super Star Destroyer was placed in the back while the cruisers and the carriers amassed ahead of it. Once in range, the two Subjugator class heavy cruisers turned sidewise, and fired off their ion pulse cannon straight into the enemy lines. The Resolute MII's heavy siege cannon ripped into smaller ships, and the horde of vulture droids and tri-fighters engaged the fighters of the enemy.

[Eodor]

IESS Amber Vengeance
Amber Class Supership
Condoris System

The Condoris System, located in the Imperial Outer Core, a vast network of shipyards and docking facilities links the planets of this fleet construction hub together. After many years of relative peace, the Imperial Condoris 2nd Fleet was again readying for war.

The vanguard of the fleet would be rather small, an Amber Class supported by three Dagger classes to assess the whether or not the situation would require more ships. The four ships assembled inside the system's Rift Slingshot's metallic ring, the Quantum Flux wiring glowing a bright blue before launching the ships off to New Earth.

New Earth

New Earth was again met with new visitors, a vast yet undamaging explosion in space created by the arrival of the vanguard fleet. Bright flashes of energy illuminated the four vessels before fading to black space.

"Detecting multiple vessels, hostile and friendly. Targeting them on the display now."

"Target the Higher Japanese ships. Let's try not to anger any neutrals. All cannons engage!"

First, the Dagger classes opened up with all their might, Antimatter, Torpedoes, Particle and Turbolaser munitions flew toward the larger cluster of Higher Japanese ships, before each ship launched their respective starfighter complement to protect and harass the enemy fleet.

The Amber Class, however, held off firing most of it's weaponry, instead using only it's forward Pulse Cannons to engage the enemy. If the enemy were to get to close, they would have to experience the full bring of the Amber Class's weapons.