The Jade Empire cracks down on Catholicism [FT, IC, TG]

[Mercatus]

"They will receive no response, and Petrovic has, unknowingly, done his intended job, which he also didn't know about. He is expendable now." said Sargon, talking to his head of the Secret Police. "This is good, should the stealth troop carriers jump in and begin descent?" replied the Secret Police chief. "Yes indeed, comrade. Today will be the day Laptev burns as payment for past atrocities, and our revenge on the Catholics will be fulfilled."

The 5 cloaked transports, each holding around 50 troops and antimatter bombs that would be primed throughout the planet, had just jumped out of the Skavac system and would arrive at Laptev in a few minutes. Two wings of stealth fighters followed them, consisting of 9 per wing.

Petrovic

Petrovic felt a mix of emotions. Rage, hate, betrayal, and a desire to take as many people down with him as possible. He knew that he was considered expendable and even a target because he failed to kill the Pope. "I have to escape and get a weapon, somehow." he muttered to himself. He was free of his binds currently, and in the room there was only the pole he was bound to and a shabby bed. He examined the bed, "The wood seems to be loosened, that could be useful." An idea came to him, and he began banging on the walls and door, acting as if he was trying to inflict self-harm or suicide. "This should draw attention from the guard." he said.

[Great Ingen]

Edge of the Laptev System

The IJN Know My Enemy, a Katana-class destroyer from the 1st Fleet, was first on-scene. The gravity shell that formed the outermost layer of defense of the Laptev System had been warped as several vessels hit it, being dragged out of Faster-Than-Light travel by the gravity lattice and the false shadows it created. With multiple contacts inbound, the hulking warship had leaped to the scene - being inside the shell, it could use its Slipgate generator to jump to the inside of the shell directly in front of the incoming contacts.

Upon emerging through the white-red cascade of the Slipgate, the 7,000 metre long warship cruised gently to the inner edge of the TILT shell. Behind it, more signatures betrayed the arrival of two smaller Tanto class destroyers. The three destroyers began running scans, attempting to detect the ships they knew had hit the FTL field.

---

Petrovic

After a few moments, a slot in the door slid open and a masked face appeared. In brusque, heavily-accented Basic, a male voice demanded to know what Petrovic was doing.

[Mercatus]

Edge of the Laptev System

The IJN Know My Enemy, a Katana-class destroyer from the 1st Fleet, was first on-scene. The gravity shell that formed the outermost layer of defense of the Laptev System had been warped as several vessels hit it, being dragged out of Faster-Than-Light travel by the gravity lattice and the false shadows it created. With multiple contacts inbound, the hulking warship had leaped to the scene - being inside the shell, it could use its Slipgate generator to jump to the inside of the shell directly in front of the incoming contacts.

Upon emerging through the white-red cascade of the Slipgate, the 7,000 metre long warship cruised gently to the inner edge of the TILT shell. Behind it, more signatures betrayed the arrival of two smaller Tanto class destroyers. The three destroyers began running scans, attempting to detect the ships they knew had hit the FTL field.

---

Petrovic

After a few moments, a slot in the door slid open and a masked face appeared. In brusque, heavily-accented Basic, a male voice demanded to know what Petrovic was doing.

"Please, open the door, I need some help with something! Something's torturing me!" The guard had just begun to open the steel door when Petrovic made his move. Petrovic was too quick, he dragged the guard in by his head and slammed it against the floor, yanking a piece of the bed frame that he broke off, hoping to knock out the guard.

Outer Reaches of Laptev Orbit

Comms chatter in an unknown language flowed between the stealth ships, and they engaged nominal sublight engines, still cloaked. The transports would enter the atmosphere and remain on standby to pick up the troops. The stealth fighters would combat any orbital defenses during the mission.

The transports suddenly stopped, and went on a random vector within Laptev's orbit to avoid the recently encountered destroyer. The fighters, equipped with particle weapons, stayed, and rushed to combat the massive vessel before them.

[Great Ingen]

Edge of the Laptev System

Still close to 50 AU away from the system core, the IJN Know My Enemy began launching fighter craft from its belly. A full Wing of attack craft, four squadrons of twelve, spread out to engage the eighteen enemy fighters. Operating in tight trios to benefit from each others' shielding and BDL defenses, each trio went after an individual enemy fighter, assisted by real-time tactical overlays generated by the IdaiTech REG-2 Fire Control Suite aboard the hulking Katana warship to close in and rake the attackers with accurate blaster cannon fire and, if the opportunity presented itself, HESF warhead torpedoes.

As the vast Katana warship moved gracefully through the growing firefight, its scores of Gyaku-Ko BDP lashed out at any enemy fighter that came too close, powerful crystal-blue beams leaping instantly from the weapons muzzle to their target at nearly the speed of light, but they were small fry compared to the five stealth ships that desperately tried to flee, their neutrino signature alone making them easy prey.

Either side of the huge Katana destroyer, two smaller Tanto destroyers also began deploying their squadrons of fighters and moving to corrall the enemy transports. From all three, sheets of emerald green Barrage Laser blasts began pouring at the transports, whilst the 912-LB Railgun turrets oriented themselves and began churning round after round into the void, huge solid-state slugs weighing nearly a tonne. The huge weight of fire, with nearly a hundred Arisaka Centrefire Barrage Lasers and fifty railguns, was devastating. As she watched the display of lights and felt the shudder of the guns under her feet, Captain Windhelm aboard the Know Thy Enemy reflected that she was glad she was not an enemy of the Imperial Jade Navy.

---

Petrovic

The moment Petrovic tried to grab the guard with his bare hands, the guard's Gosuku armour suit flared its shields, delivering a powerful electrical shock to the prisoner. The guard raised his armoured fist and shoved the prisoner back, stepping back out into the hallway and drawing his hikatana as he radioed in that the prisoner was attempting to escape, waiting to see the effect of nearly 20 amps and huge voltage on the unarmed prisoner.

[Mercatus]

Edge of the Laptev System

Still close to 50 AU away from the system core, the IJN Know My Enemy began launching fighter craft from its belly. A full Wing of attack craft, four squadrons of twelve, spread out to engage the eighteen enemy fighters. Operating in tight trios to benefit from each others' shielding and BDL defenses, each trio went after an individual enemy fighter, assisted by real-time tactical overlays generated by the IdaiTech REG-2 Fire Control Suite aboard the hulking Katana warship to close in and rake the attackers with accurate blaster cannon fire and, if the opportunity presented itself, HESF warhead torpedoes.

As the vast Katana warship moved gracefully through the growing firefight, its scores of Gyaku-Ko BDP lashed out at any enemy fighter that came too close, powerful crystal-blue beams leaping instantly from the weapons muzzle to their target at nearly the speed of light, but they were small fry compared to the five stealth ships that desperately tried to flee, their neutrino signature alone making them easy prey.

Either side of the huge Katana destroyer, two smaller Tanto destroyers also began deploying their squadrons of fighters and moving to corrall the enemy transports. From all three, sheets of emerald green Barrage Laser blasts began pouring at the transports, whilst the 912-LB Railgun turrets oriented themselves and began churning round after round into the void, huge solid-state slugs weighing nearly a tonne. The huge weight of fire, with nearly a hundred Arisaka Centrefire Barrage Lasers and fifty railguns, was devastating. As she watched the display of lights and felt the shudder of the guns under her feet, Captain Windhelm aboard the Know Thy Enemy reflected that she was glad she was not an enemy of the Imperial Jade Navy.

---

Petrovic

The moment Petrovic tried to grab the guard with his bare hands, the guard's Gosuku armour suit flared its shields, delivering a powerful electrical shock to the prisoner. The guard raised his armoured fist and shoved the prisoner back, stepping back out into the hallway and drawing his hikatana as he radioed in that the prisoner was attempting to escape, waiting to see the effect of nearly 20 amps and huge voltage on the unarmed prisoner.

Petrovic

He recoiled from the shock, feeling extreme pain, but he didn't care. He pushed past the pain, knowing he needed a different vector. The bed had some rusting metal as well as wood, and it was very loose. He knew that the shields that could shock like that could be affected by conductive materials, if even for just a little bit. He yanked off a rusty piece of metal, preparing to throw it at the guard, and if it hit, the shields would only be down for a second, so he had to follow up with a blow before they recharged. He hurled it at the guard's faceplate, hoping to hit it's mark.

Outer Reaches of Laptev

The transports realized they were being fired upon, and quickly reactivated their cloaks, disappearing from scans and optical view. The fighters also engaged cloaking, firing particle weaponry into the approaching fighters. Heavy fire had already taken out some of the transports, and the radius of the explosion from antimatter bombs on board left radiation that could melt through hull plating.

[Great Ingen]

Edge of the Laptev System

The attacking forces tried to hide under cloaking, but they had no way of masking the neutrinos generated by their reactor cores and the anti-matter bombs they carried and, regardless, they continued firing at the Jade fleet, making them easy to detect. The scattered fighters attempted to return fire against the squadrons of Sai fighters, but with four more squadrons joining the fray their attacks were wasted. If a fighter craft's shields were depleted, the trio simply pulled back and allowed fresher craft to join the battle in their place. The enemy fighters were outnumbered 5 to one, whilst the transports continued their suicidal attempt to penetrate the Laptev System which had stood unbreached since the dawn of time. The Vong, the Merger, the Red Dragon Society, the Systems Commonwealth, the Barlat Concordiat; none had broken the defenses of Laptev.

Captain Windhelm listened intently as one of her deck officers gave a brief report. The Mercatan freighters were carrying highly volatile bombs in their holds, which dissuaded her from showing any mercy and attempting to board them. Instead, she ordered her huge warships to stand off and continue to pummel the freighters with volleys from their guns. To deliver the coup de grace, she ordered her chief gunnery officer to unleash the Arisaka Flame Lance cannon mounted along the superstructure of her ship. Charging its shots, it fired three huge laser blasts in quick succession, each infused with charchon particles so that they flew at the speed of light, flashing through the dark void towards the surviving freighters.

---

Petrovic

Somehow, the man had survived an electrical charge that would have killed an elephant. The samurai, one Kenji Takahashi, a middle-aged man from northern Ingen district, was impressed. The man even struggled through his pain, staggering to the bed and wrenching off a piece of rusty iron that he hurled at Kenji.

The samurai did not flinch. His armour was designed to stop railguns, blaster cannons and high explosives. The piece of junk clattered off his armour with a fizzle of power. He shrugged, and then deactivated the shielding on his armour, but as he did so he activated his hikatana, coruscating green energy flowing along the blade to match his pale green armour. He stepped into the room, staring at Petrovic, holding the glowing blade ready in gedan-no-kamae position, and ordered him to lie down. Behind him, there was a clatter of footsteps in the corridor as other soldiers responded to his call for backup.

[Mercatus]

Petrovic

He said to the guard, "Kill me, and you will have only done what I wanted done." He looked at the melee weapon that the guard had deployed, and where his hands were on the weapon. The shielding protects the armor and the person, but no shielding in the galaxy can encompass the weapon, and the long hilt of a katana-shaped weapon could give me an advantage. he thought. He heard the stomps of approaching reinforcements, and acted quickly. He took a wrestler's shot, which would normally target the knees, but he began to stand up just before he hit the guard's armor, reaching for the exposed hilt of the weapon.

Stealth Fighters

The stealth fighters had realized cloaking wouldn't work, and they diverted more power to armor and shield regeneration. The pilots of the ships were no dummies, and were extremely skilled. They all split up, switching to the dark matter weapons that they had equipped for experimental purposes. The guns could rip apart shielding and deal heavy damage to electronics, as the dark matter pushed and pulled the flowing electrons so entire systems could disable temporarily. Damage to armor would also be sustained, with a unique blast pattern that had a very dense concentration of hull material at the center of the blast, and the armor of the target ship around the dense area was completely removed. These weapons took a lot of power even when using superconductive components, so each ship had only one, and all other weapons besides missiles were deactivated. Meanwhile, the transports had engaged intrasystem sublight engines, and were making an escape.

[Great Ingen]

Petrovic

---

The guard pulled his right hand back and up, out of Petrovic's reach, and simultaneously lunged with his armoured left hand to grab at Petrovic's throat. A trained martial artist, as were most samurai, he braced his feet, ready for the shifting centres of gravity as the man rose from a low rush to reach for his katana hilt.

Either side of them, yelling ashigaru and samurai arrived en masse, the clamour increasing as they spotted the prisoner and Kenji lunging at each other.

---

Petrovic

---

Gold Squadron reported a loss as the dark matter weapons pulsed out into space, but the sudden silence of the enemy's weapons had clued the Imperials in to the fact they were about to fire off something big. The rest of the fighters dove and weaved out of danger, before returning to prey on the now defenseless Mercatan fighters, drilling them with blaster cannons and torpedoes.

Captain Windhelm waved off the pursuit of the two surviving stealth freighters, instead letting them flee chased by a constant volley of Barrage Laser fire. She had no intention of being lured out of position, and these would-be invaders had clearly learned their lesson.

[Mercatus]

Petrovic

---

The guard pulled his right hand back and up, out of Petrovic's reach, and simultaneously lunged with his armoured left hand to grab at Petrovic's throat. A trained martial artist, as were most samurai, he braced his feet, ready for the shifting centres of gravity as the man rose from a low rush to reach for his katana hilt.

Either side of them, yelling ashigaru and samurai arrived en masse, the clamour increasing as they spotted the prisoner and Kenji lunging at each other.

---

Petrovic

---

Gold Squadron reported a loss as the dark matter weapons pulsed out into space, but the sudden silence of the enemy's weapons had clued the Imperials in to the fact they were about to fire off something big. The rest of the fighters dove and weaved out of danger, before returning to prey on the now defenseless Mercatan fighters, drilling them with blaster cannons and torpedoes.

Captain Windhelm waved off the pursuit of the two surviving stealth freighters, instead letting them flee chased by a constant volley of Barrage Laser fire. She had no intention of being lured out of position, and these would-be invaders had clearly learned their lesson.

Petrovic

He laughed as the fist closed around his throat. These were his last moments, and he got what he wanted. His homeland had betrayed him, and he was doomed to execution anyway, even if he somehow went back to Mercatusian space. In his last seconds alive, he reached, and pulled the handle of the hikatana so the blade faced the guard, and he shoved it at the guard, hoping for the best.

Petrovic was dead.

Stealth Fighters

They converged into a Phalanx so they would be guarded by each other's shields, and continued firing. If a ship went low on shields, it moved to the center of the group. They knew they would lose, but they would go out with a bang. They overloaded their antimatter reactors, and the energy of thousands of Megajoules of shield being the initial shockwave would knock any ships's power out within a .5 AU radius. The explosions themselves would destroy or severely damage anything within .3 AU of the ships. They sped towards the spearhead capital ship, and when they were only kilometers away from it, they detonated.

Thus ends Mercatusian involvement in Laptev.

Thus begins planning for a major invasion.

[Great Ingen]

Petrovic

---

Kenji frowned as the man waved wildly for his katana. He was still holding it far out of the prisoner's reach, and he felt the life fade from the man...

"You fool!" barked another samurai nearby, "the Daimyo did not want the prisoner dead. I should chop you right now."

---

Captain Windhelm

---

The surviving enemy fighters began a suicide charge, a seemingly popular tactic among the Mercatans. Hammered by incoming fire from all directions, a few made it close enough to detonate their engines. Thousands of megajoules was nothing to the three powerful IdaiTech 723-MB Compound Shield Generators aboard the Katana class destroyer, as even ancient nuclear bombs like the Tsar Bomba released billions of megajoules worth of power.

Captain Windhelm shook her head at the senseless waste of life. She had thought the Ingenious were fanatics compared to her people, but the Mercatans seemed obsessed with death and ready to die for practically no reason. Their equipment was even designed for suicide attacks, something which she found truly terrifying.

She listened to the chatter as the small flotilla began to go through the after-action motions, sitting down in her chair as she intentionally let herself unwind, letting the tension of combat wash away from her