OOC - considering what we've agreed on, Redchigh, let's undo the destruction of your warships there.

----------------

The Raiek fleet was in tatters, reduced to the Pheonix and the Lazerus' remaining, all of which were considerably damaged. It was obvious that not much more could be taken.

It was then that from Raiek Headquarters a message was sent directly to the Quezacotl, requesting (begging even) that they be allowed to surrender to the Prylak. It was the greed of the Prylak, and their need for slaves, that motivated their reply.

"Hear me, dogs. We will accept your request to surrender, under the following conditions, which I am sure you will agree with. One; all of planets which you pitiful mongrels deem to be yours will be handed back to us, their rightful owners. Two; all your slaves will be handed to our care. Three; all your military vessels will be destroyed. Four..."

The list went on in a dangerous droning voice, and more than one of the "conditions" related to the killing of Raiek. The Raiek Dominion had surrended to the might of the Prylak Empire, but the Prylak fully intended to have every Raiek slaughtered.

Fortunate, then, that things are not always as they seem.

---------------

It was the contamination of Galactica, some might say, that even led the Raiek to consider this line. None of Prylak blood had ever considered surrender, and the Raiek's intentions were thus beyond them. The Prylak were hardly honour bound, but they would in no situations lessen themselves with the darker tactics of combat; the Trojan Horse, the ambush, the betrayal... and sacrifice. From the Raiek kamikaze squadrons, they should have realised that they were facing an enemy who were no longer Prylak in the same sense.

The Quezacotl, secure in it's victory, lowered itself into the lower atmosphere of Raiek Prime, just outside the capital city of the Raiek Dominion's administration. It's landing was hardly soft - but the Quezacotl was so massive that it could simply crush or blast the ground into the shape it desired. It set on the ground of Raiek Prime, and an enormous exit stair opened out.

From it streamed Prylak soldiers, ten astride. Atmospheric raiders launched from the Quezacotl to fly across the city, as the soldiers ran to take the city without question.

Then, the Raiek did something that the Prylak would never in their strangest dreams imagine, and the mighty anvil cracked as it came down on diamond.

And then, Raiek Prime was no more, for across the planet the thoron reactors had overloaded together, and there was such a massive release of power that it tore the planet apart. The leaders of the Raiek of course escaped beforehand, but billions of slaves died.

------------------
-Lyat Esponer Corsair

Esponer, are the battles over? or can we post now?

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"I dont follow the crowd.. I stand and make fun of all the people walking in a straight line." ~A. Rickman
"....This is only what I think. We can't in a million years guess what goes on in the snarling, churning bowels of Red's head."
~ESPilot

Battle of Barad-dűr

The huge battlestation of Barad-dur floated in space, a testimate to the engineering ability of the Confederate Alliance. With the main section of the station surrounded by a huge outer defense ring, Barad-dűr was armed with a total of 1000 trans-phasic turrets, 600 Ionic Disruptor Beam Turrets, 300 trans-phasic missile launchers, and 200 photon torpedo launchers, along with a colossal amount of ammunition. All the weapons had extra armor and auxillary power generators, and were just one part of the powerful battlestation.

It had three separate shield grids, all with huge shield generators, backed up by dozens of auxillary generators, which helped kept the shields up for longer periods of time, but did not aid in regeneration. Instead, several dozen other main and dozens more auxillary power generators did that, capable of dumping huge amounts of energy into the shield grid to quickly replenish any lossed strength. To add to this, there were also several huge power cells near the center of the station which stored up even more energy, and could dump the energy into the shield power matrix instantly. If the shields were not powerful enough, the armor on Barad-dűr was immensely thick, was heavily reinforced, and could be quickly regenerated by trillions upon trillions of tiny nanoprobes that were released and began repairing the armor slowly but surely.

Then came the system defenses; 200 Citadel Defense Drones, 15 Firestorm Defense Drones - armed with huge and powerful sub-space beamers, and twenty large battlestations - each armed with large amounts of weapons, adding to the already powerful armament of Barad-dűr and its defense drones. To add to this, there was a series of 125 specially cloaked unarmed drones. They were equipped with, instead of weapons, powerful shield emitters that could project a shield bubble just about anywhere. Unfortunately, the Confederate Dreadnaught Balrog would be unable to participate in the battle, for although it was rushing to the scene as fast as it could, Carnotaur doubted it would arrive in time.

Now Barad-dűr, along with a fleet of 250 ships, would face its ultimate test.

The massive Prylak Starfortress Loki cruised through hyperspace towards its target. The sub-space emissions caused by its colossal engines could be detected far ahead of time by Barad-dűr, who readied itself for the battle. The Firestorm Defense Drones engaged their sub-space emitters, causing a huge and powerful sub-space distortion directly in the path of the starfortress when it entered the system.

"Now..." said Admiral Firebird, in the command deck on Barad-dűr, "We will avenge our fallen." He clenched his teeth. "Now, I will avenge them for Casene."

The huge Loki entered the system in a flash of blue, and instantly smashed through the sub-space distortion as if it was nothing, and only a small dent was made in its shields as it moved through, its escort of six Dreadnaughts and 22 Battlecruisers following behind it, also hitting the sub-space distortion, though only minorly damaged. Then it ran into several derelict frieghter hulks (loaded with explosives) and asteroids (also loaded with some explosives). Some hit the battlecruisers and dreadnaughts, but most struck the Loki , seeming only to make small dents in its shields. Though it seemed a hopeless effort, Firebird knew that every little bit of damage helped. Then it was forced to plow through a wall of over 800 anti-matter bombs, which created a massive explosion so great it actually enveloped much of the front section of the Starfortress, though sadly, it still only made a scratch on its shields, though a bit enough scratch to actually be of some use.

“Open fire! All weapons!” Firebird ordered. “Order the defense drones to attack.”

As soon as the Loki had entered the system, it was suddenly met by a colossal wave of torpedoes and missiles, which would have caused apocalyptic explosion if it was fired at a planet. As explosions raged across the hull shielding of the starfortress and its escorts, and defense drones (including the incredibly powerful Firestorm drones) began swarming the dreadnaugths and battlecruisers, the Loki began to return fire.

Dozens of ships fell in seconds, and many vessels were ordered to retreat. Barad-dűr continued to pour streams of missiles and torpedoes into the Loki , but with little effect. The Battlestations were also firing off all the weapons they had, and one was actually crushed against and exploded on the shield grid of the massive starfortress, causing a huge explosion, but to little effect.

Two battlestations suddenly exploded under heavy fire, and then a third detonated as well. The defense drones were dropping like flies, despite the aid from the cloaked shield drones. Only the Firestorm Drones were able to stay alive for very long, and were actually able to destroy one enemy battlecruiser with help from the other drones and heavy fire from Barad-dűr and the fleet.

As the battlecruiser exploded, sending debris into the other nearby enemy ships, the Firestorm Drones backed off and generated another sub-space distortion in front of the Loki , which had little effect but slowed it a little. The drones then generated yet another distortion in front of the battlecruisers, damaging several of them.

Renegade Fighters continued to swarm the battlecruisers and dreadnaughts, fast enough to be able to avoid most of the weapons shot at them. Trans-phasic pulses impacted across the hulls of the enemy vessels, proving quite effective against the near-invincible Prylak.

Then came another tactic of the Confederates; suicide frieghters. Escorted by Corsairs and Renegades, over 30 different fighters, loaded with trans-phasic explosives, charged the Prylak battlecruisers. Almost half of them fell before they were actually able to collide with the battlecruisers, severely damaging several enemy battlecruisers. More frieghters were sent in and also collided with the battlecruisers.

Then came a wave of Corsairs and Ravens, which were towing via tractor beams several huge asteroids. Flinging them as fast as they could at the battlecruisers, the huge asteroids (some which had explosives in them) hit the battlecruisers, finally destroying another enemy ship.

Waves of Styx Bombers then began to descend on the enemy vessels, shooting off dozens of trans-phasic bombs. Frieghters released dozens more of the bombs at the enemy ships from a distance, causing even more havoc, but not for the starfortress; it seemed to be totally unaffected by the weapons fire from the Confederates. During the battle, the Confeds numerously used their disintigration webs, which only had a very limited effect on the deadly Hunter-seeker weapons of the Prylak.

The Battle of Barad-dűr had begun.

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Sentinel Defense System - 30 Posts

Mirava Defense Upgrade - Cancelled

Balrog-class Dreadnaught Invincible - 11 Posts

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NOTE: This post is 100% uncleared with Esponer, so hopefully I did it all right.

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If at first you don't succeed...Hit it harder! - Me
--------------
Millennium. Its coming, prepare for it.
Coming to the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiaSW.com/games/ev/chronicles.html")EV Chronicles(/url).

(This message has been edited by Captain Carnotaur (edited 04-20-2002).)

Grenir's frown was deep as the Loki made it's way through the mass of the Confederate defences, by simple, brute, force. It was not like the situation was out of his control - on the contrary, the Confederate forces, although powerful, were no match for the Loki and it's battlegroup at the hands of the most skilled of the Andromedan Prylak generals.

Thus, the possibilitites of outcome made no difference to Grenir, but this sort of attack was very much against his way. He would rather have starved Barad-dür out, or lain an artillery blockade down. Instead, the nature of Barad-dűr's defences, and the time that the Divinity had ordered him to complete his mission in, meant that the military capital had to be assualted head-on, making full use of the Loki's firepower, and not Grenir's tactics.

"Sir, we've taken losses on the battlegroup - the A.S.S Shadow Omen and A.S.S Sage of Sin have both fallen to the Confederates - one to accelerated stellar objects, the other two their automated defences," reported one status officer. "I wiould advise we target their defences immediately."

Grenir growled. "Shoot him," he commanded. He knew that he had that right, but it was not a practice he liked to exercise.

Without question, the officer was shot - repeatedly.

-----------------

The Prylak battlegroup pushed back into the shadow of the Loki, beyond the angle of attack of most of the Confederate's weaponry. Anything that attempted to come around the flank was fired at extensively, and the dreadnoughts and battlecruisers continued to provide support with lethal barrages.

Meanwhile, the Loki made it's deadly path towards Barad-dűr, not stopping to cut through the defences in it's way. It was like a rhinoceros staring down a tower of cards - a rhinoceros that saw no reason to stop as it made it's way along.

------------------
-Lyat Esponer Corsair

"When will they bloody charge up the bloody ultra beam?" Admiral Specter muttered as the battle progressed.

"They'll do it soon enough..." Firebird replied, his voice full of vengeance. "And it's not an ultra beam."

"What is it then?"

"I think it's a temporal disruption beam, but that's only from a report I heard from Galactica. Let's hope my theory was right about it..."

-----------------

The Confederates were now consontrating most of their firepower on the Loki as it plowed towards them. As it got steadily closer to Barad-dűr, the Confederates continued to pour weapons into it, hoping it would get close enough to be within the range of their Ionic Disruptor Beams (which had a pretty long range for a beam weapon). Another battlestation fell, and two more were simply plowed through by the starfortress. There seemed no stopping it.

Bombs were continuing to be flung into it, causing huge explosions all over its hull. Suicide frieghters were useless, and so just flung their bombs at the enemy. Styx bombers also shot off bombs, while the Renegade fighters continued to pester the battlecruisers and dreadnaughts. With two destroyed, there was still a considerable enemy force.

The Confed fleet moved around to the side (while being shielded by the special cloaked satellites) and released another way of torpedoes and missiles into a damaged battlecruiser, and that was followed by another wave of bombs and a few asteroids. The weakened battlecruiser was destroyed in a huge explosion, which furthur damaged the other nearby ships. The Confederates tried this again with more bombs and more rigged asteroids, destroying another enemy battlecruiser, whose explosion (combined with the effects from stray bombs, stray asteroids, and explosions from the other battlecruisers) destroyed yet another enemy battlecruiser. Now there was only 17 of them left with 5 destroyed, but it was far from over.

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Sentinel Defense System - 29 Posts

Balrog-class Dreadnaught Invincible - 10 Posts

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If at first you don't succeed...Hit it harder! - Me
--------------
Millennium. Its coming, prepare for it.
Coming to the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiaSW.com/games/ev/chronicles.html")EV Chronicles(/url).

(This message has been edited by Captain Carnotaur (edited 04-20-2002).)

MOD - Carnotaur, you don't know about the Loki's weaponry at all. Timewise, Galactica haven't even come up against the beam yet - this is at the same time, not afterwards. The Balrog hasn't even reached Sol; it's not "on its way back".

Shade; feel free to remind me where we're up to by posting. The Minerva won't be anywhere near as upfront as the Loki, and will probably engage your fleet conventionally.

----------------

The response of the Prylak was swift. The four dreadnoughts came to a halt, and as the Renegade fighters and Styx bombers moved in to attack the battlecruisers, they struck from behind, trapping them between the two forces as the Starfortress moved on past the engaging ships. The lighter Confederate vessels were massacred, scattered remnants of the wave fleeing in all directions.

The dreadnoughts and battlecruisers formed up into a reef, and moved to flank the Loki on the right, instead of hiding in it's shadow.

Even as they assembled a reef beside the Loki, the Prylak came into the spacial equivalent of point-blank range with Barad-dűr's defences. Barad-dűr's close range weaponry let rip, including the powerful ionic disruptor beams. They seriously weakened one dreadnought, and another battlecruiser was destroyed under the rest of the concentrated fire. Meanwhile, the Loki itself began to take damage.

However, although the Prylak force was beginning to be scratched, at the same time the Loki and it's complement had begun devastating the defences. Anti-spacial beams had wreaked havoc, seriously damaging Barad-dűr's shield network within a short amount of time.

The Loki slowed to one quarter speed, and yet continued moving forward, towards Barad-dűr itself. It seemed to have every intention to damage the station's shields enough to simple burn it's way through.

The Confederate's drones were almost useless now, at such close quarters with the station, and the fleet was left shocked at how the Prylak had completely ignored them, and, defying convention, had struck at Barad-dűr.

Their flank was protected by sixteen battlecruisers, while the dreadnoughts and Starfortress continued to hammer away.

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-Lyat Esponer Corsair

(This message has been edited by SilverDragon (edited 04-19-2002).)

(This message has been edited by SilverDragon (edited 04-19-2002).)

OOC:Espy, things stand as follows: everything is in Haru'El. Almost all my defence fleets have been called in, as well as the DOH. Opposing them are the Minerva and it's fleet; so far, nothing major has been destroyed.

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(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/shades_shipyard")Shade's Shipyard(/url), the source for your ship needs.

Quote

Originally posted by Shade:
**OOC:Espy, things stand as follows: everything is in Haru'El. Almost all my defence fleets have been called in, as well as the DOH. Opposing them are the Minerva and it's fleet; so far, nothing major has been destroyed.

**

Sorry, did I miss "write a post"? I'm staying up late tonight, but I'm not in the mood for writing a big post from nowhere at the moment, so if you've got time, feel free. Otherwise, you'll have to wait for me.

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-Lyat Esponer Corsair

OOC: Whoops. Forgot about the time problem. My bad.

---------------

Battle of Barad-dűr

The drones continued fighting the battlecruisers and dreadnaughts, and in the end most of the Citadel Drones (plus several fighters and a firestorm drone) simply crashed into one of the weakened battlecruisers, punching through its shields long enough to let the remaining three Firestorm Drones to finish off that battlecruiser, obliterating it completely.

The Firestorm Drones then fought the weakened dreadnaught, though they were horribly damaged, and finally ended their usefulness in a ball of flames as they crashed into the Dreadnaughts shield grid. The resulting sub-space explosion did enough damage to weaken the Dreadnaught enough so that the Confed fleet could destroy it. Firing off what little remaining long-range weaponry they had, the dreadnaught strained for a moment, then began to slowly explode. It's main reactor suddenly went off, destroying the huge vessel in a mammoth fireball which sent debris and flames hurtling into the nearby battlecruisers.

The thousands of trans-phasic turrets now consontrated almost completely upon the Loki , with half of its beam turrets also locked on it, firing away with all it had. The auxillary shield generators began to kick in, quickly trying to replenish the lost shields of the battlestation. Following that, the emergency shield reserves were also activated; huge power cells dumped loads of energy into the shield grid, replenishing large amounts of lossed shields.

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Sentinel Defense System - 28 Posts

Balrog-class Dreadnaught Invincible - 9 Posts

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If at first you don't succeed...Hit it harder! - Me
--------------
Millennium. Its coming, prepare for it.
Coming to the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiaSW.com/games/ev/chronicles.html")EV Chronicles(/url).

(This message has been edited by Captain Carnotaur (edited 04-20-2002).)

Magistrate K'Sarragh looked onto the battlefield in amazement. He'd never seen such a huge fleet of ships in his life - there were everything from old Generation I vessels, quickly crumbling under Prylak weapons fire, to the latest Generation II Fireblade Battlecruisers. Arrayed against them were the might of a Prylak Starfortress, the Minerva , and it's escort of hulking Dreadnaughts and Battlecruisers. But in the center of the Skraine fleet was the Defender of Hope ; a vessel of the first race the Prylak had ever been unable to defeat.
Prylak weapons battered against Skraine Hyperlattice Shield Grids, while Skraine Hyperlattice Warheads 'Gated directly through Prylak shields to pound at the armourless hull beneath. What was saving the Prylak was the sheer bulk and massive firepower of their vessels which was formidable indeed.
K'Sarragh watched as the battle progressed, gritting his teeth.
In the background, Councillor for War Tereknor was shouting orders to the fleet; the capital ships of the Skraine amarda concentrated Hyperlattice Warhead fire upon a single Prylak Dreadnaught, battering it hard until the weapons hit something critical and the Dreadnaught blossomed into a rose of expanding plasma.
Yet three Fireblades had fallen to the firepower of the other Prylak vessels; grimly, the Skraine turned, and concetrated fire upon the next Dreadnaught

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(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/shades_shipyard")Shade's Shipyard(/url), the source for your ship needs.

Battle of Barad-dűr
The Loki's charge was finally made clear as in the very centre of the ship a blinding white light began to expand. It could not become brighter, but it begin to obscure the front of the Starfortress, growing and growing, continuously. Before the Confederation fleet could react, the Loki fired it's temporal disruption beam, targetted straight at Barad-dűr.

The temporal shockwave was carried right through the station, causing immense damage and nearly crippling the shields. For a bare moment, the shields fell down, as time in Barad-dűr slowed to a near stop.

And with that, the Loki and the dreadnoughts passed inside Barad-dűr's shield bubble, into the very heart of the massive station. The battlecruisers were too slow to follow.

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-Lyat Esponer Corsair

Minerva
The Prylak were stunned by the ferocity of the Skraine attack, and in particular the new use of the WarGate. Despite their huge technological advancement, they were taking a beating. They did, of course, have the technology for short-ranged temporary wormholes, but they had never thought of using them as such.

One dreadnought had fallen already, and another exploded only moments later. Battlecruisers were being torn to shreds by more 'Gated warheads. Prylak hull armour is absolutely pathetic - a hundredth of it's shield value, or less.

Two dreadnoughts and six battlecruisers lay in wrecks, and the Starfortress began to grow desperate, so soon into the battle. His ship wouldn't last long under the Skraine's weaponry. The Prylak charged forward, at full speed, their weapons charged near to overload.

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-Lyat Esponer Corsair

(This message has been edited by SilverDragon (edited 04-21-2002).)

The Battle of Barad-dűr

"What the heck was that?" Specter yelled as Barad-dűr shook.

"I don't bloody know..." Firebird muttered. "But it's temporal, I know that much."

"What if it fires that weapon again?" Specter asked worridly.

"Then we're screwed. Reposition the shield satellites, and separate outer-ring shield grid from central shield grid," Firebird ordered, knowing that he would probably have to sacrifice much of the outer ring in order to save the main section. Fortunately, there were very few people on the outer ring, and they were quickly evacuated.

"I just had a thought..." Specter said as Barad-dűr shook slightly. "That weapon must have splash damage, and what if we can turn it against the starfortress? If we could catapult an Aurora Battleship into the beam emitter just before it was about to fire, I think we could turn it's destructive power back at the starfortress."

Firebird thought for a moment. "It's worth a try, anyway, and better than just waiting to be wiped off the face of the universe."

----------------

Immediately, the cloaked shield satellites moved their formation to project a shield around the main center section of Barad-dűr. At the same time, the center sections shield generators also shrunk the shield bubble to only encompass the center section. The outer ring had almost no shields left, and the remains was either blasted away or transferred to the center section.

The outer ring was no without any shields, and had to rely on its armor entirely for protection. As both sections of Barad-dűr continued to pummel the Prylak Starfortress with all they had, a little less than half of the outer rings firepower was also consontrated on the flanking battlecruisers and dreadnaughts. For a moment, to make things easier for the fleet, the outer ring consontrated all of its availible firepower on two battlecruisers, causing them to fall under its heavy weapons fire, combined with the attacking from the Confederate fleet. After that, half of the rings firepower was once again consontrated on the starfortress.

Meanwhile, special magnetic seals and locks that connected sections of the outer ring were separating, and several Aurora Battleships and Alliance Flagships moved into position to try and tow it away and essentially throw sections of it into the Prylak Starfortress. As one of the 16 sections disconnected, the battleships and flagships, aided by some huge repulsor beams on Barad-dűr, began towing the huge section towards the Loki.

Accelerating it as fast as they could, the fleet broke off and retreated (though the repulsor beams were still pushing it), and let the huge section float quickly towards the Loki...

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Sentinel Defense System - 27 Posts

Balrog-class Dreadnaught Invincible - 8 Posts

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If at first you don't succeed...Hit it harder! - Me
--------------
Millennium. Its coming, prepare for it.
Coming to the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiaSW.com/games/ev/chronicles.html")EV Chronicles(/url).

(This message has been edited by Captain Carnotaur (edited 04-20-2002).)

Despite the awesome firepower of the Prylak, the Skraine had one advantage against them; their smaller ships could accelerate faster than the Prylak behemoths. The Skraine scattered as the Prylak charged, firing Hyperlattice Warheads as they retreated, then regrouped to face the Prylak again. However five more Fireblades and three Firestorms, too slow to get out of the way fast enough, had been caught by Prylak weapons fire and destroyed.
Still, it was difficult for a ship as large as the Prylak vessels to turn fast, even at top speed; and the Skraine continued to fire, hailing the Prylak with Hyperlattice Warheads. Another Dreadnaught was reduced to superheated plasma under the Skraine barrage, and the Skraine turned to the next ship

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(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/shades_shipyard")Shade's Shipyard(/url), the source for your ship needs.

The Battle of Barad-dűr
The Loki, once inside the bowels of Barad-dűr, targetted the central complex and overwhelmed it with weapon's fire. There, Grenir knew, the command structure of the Confederation lay. Meanwhile, the remaining dreadnoughts targetted weapons systems across the station, destroying them and moving on. The battlecruisers, still behind Barad-dűr's shield network, turned their attention on the Federation fleets, the battlestations, and drones. Three more battlecruisers fell, however.

The massive segment of Barad-dűr was propelled swiftly towards the Loki. When Grenir released that it had not merely been disconnected by the dreadnought's fire, he commanded that the Loki be brought out of range - however, the Loki and dreadnoughts were actually between the central complex and the outer ring of Barad-dűr, and there was little space to move in. Taking a risk, the Loki pushed forward towards the centre, while it's weapons turned the segment into a massive hulk of metal which was still perhaps as deadly.

The floating ring segment smashed into the back of the Loki's engines abruptly, and trans-phasic and matter/anti-matter reactors were set off all across it. The shockwave was so powerful that it cut through the Loki's shielding and tore at it's engines, disabling many of them. The shields quickly flicked back into place afterwards, but the damage had been done.

The Loki sat, motionless and with no hope of having engines back on days, facing the central complex.

Realising the danger of the situation, Grenir quickly commanded that the Starfortress fire it's temporal disruption beam at the core of Barad-dűr. A temporal disturbance would be the only way which would let the Loki's engines be repaired within a few minutes "outside".

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-Lyat Esponer Corsair

Minerva
The battle raged on, with the Prylak dragging down numerous Skraine ships of both generations. They were taking losses, however, and very quickly, and the Defender of Hope was proving to be extremely dangerous on the field, and personally caused the destruction of three battlecruisers. The Minerva's fleet was beginning to fade.

It was then that the Minerva made the choice of striking the gift from the Senn, and make their first ever victory against Senn weaponry.

They discharged the Starfortress' most potent weapon straight into the Defender. The shockwave was enormous, and no less than fifty Skraine ships were incinerated in it, and two battlecruisers were caught in the blast also, and took considerably damage. When the explosion subsided, the Defender was caught within a bubble of time - as the T'akara and Nemesis would be in the Sol system within a day. But the Defender, unlike the T'akara and Nemesis, would not explode or leave the bubble after a certain time. It was trapped within no-time, and the Senn's gift had been made useless.

And then, all attention was turned on the Minerva, which turned as if to flee.

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-Lyat Esponer Corsair

"Hoth V traffic control, this is the Galactica freighter Hoplite. Repeat, traffic control, this is the freighter Hoplite."

"Traffic control reads you, Hoplite. Sorry, we had a bit of trouble raising a transmission. What can I do for you today, Hoplite?"

"We're bringing in a convoy of assembly robot components... I believe we've arranged beforehand for a berth?"

"Yeah, got you right here. Let's see, looks like four ships in your convoy. You can take berths 32 through 35, primary deck. Follow traffic path 32-C, the beam is just off your starboard bow."

"Roger that, Hoth V traffic control. Hoplite out."

The Hoplite, a rather large Galactica freighter, and the other three members of its convoy moved slowly in to the docks they had been allocated. As reverse thrusters fired and docking clamps moved in to secure the ships, an alarm sounded to indicate that the large docking bay was being pressurized and that the ships would soon begin unloading.

None of the stations Skraine workers thought it was anything out of the ordinary when the four freighters began to open the massive cargo doors at their bows. Nobody seemed to be paying attention as the cargo began to discharge, as the general hustle and bustle of the dock manage to cover up fairly well the noise a massive number of combat boots running down the cargo ramps. Only when the deafening noise of the Galactica assault rifles was heard did the hapless dock workers begin to dive for cover and make a mad dash for the exits.

It was all futile, of course. Within seconds the dock workers had been shredded, and several well placed grenades had destroyed the dockmasters office overlooking the docking bay. Soon the Galactica troops were in control of the station, and they were in the process of rounding up and executing any personnel they found. A smaller Galactica force managed to seize and turn off the link between Eta Cassiopea and the Milky Way, effectively eliminating the possibility of any reinforcements being brought in. At around the same time, the Skraine portion of the base in EC-100 had also been seized.

The Dreden system was, in general, very quiet. There was a contingent of Alliance warships, but nothing very large, in positions over the planet and around the Command Station. There were, of course, Galactica warships, in positions to defend the system against any and all Prylak incursions. On this particular day, there was also a large convoy of Galactica bulk freighters, listed on the Dreden traffic controllers roster as a "equipment delivery."

The Galactica freighters, after entering the system, did not head for the Command Station. In stead, their commander ordered them to fire reverse thrusters and assemble into a formation sometimes used by Galactica Missile Frigates initiating a standoff attack. Then, discarding any pretense of being normal freighters, they jettisoned their hull plating.

Beneath the hull plating was a gargantuan arsenal of Galactica's multi-stage Standoff Missiles. With the outer hull gone, the missile freighters were free to open fire on the station unhindered by anything. Soon enough, thousands of Standoff Missiles were crashing into the shields of the Command Station, releasing their powerful EMP warheads.

Just as the freighters had opened fire, the Galactica warships in the system had begun to destroy the small Confederate warship force in the system. They were taking few losses, as they had the element of surprise, and the Confederate fleet was ill prepared for such an attack. By the time the Alliance fleet managed to get organized, they had extremely few ships left. The EMP warheads smashing into the Command Station left it unable to offer much help to the warships, as it was desperately trying to counter the missile attack.

Eventually the station was disabled and the Confederate fleet was destroyed. Galactica troop transports began to dock, and soon the station would be in the hands of the Imperium.

The Hyperspace Carrier G.S.S. Lamprey had been stationed in the Cincal system to help defend Galactica's honored allies, the Skraine. The Lamprey, like most other Hyperspace Carriers, held 30 Shrike fighters, which were usually organized into 5 squadrons of six fighters. Today, the fighters sat idling in the Carrier's launch bay, as a major attack was about to be launched.

Major Kistare, the leader of Squadron D on the Lamprey, walked away from the briefing room with a smirk on his face. Finally, he was going to get to see some action, and from the sound of it, this was a real choice mission. He was content to saunter down the corridors to his Shrike slowly, discussing the mission with the other squadron leaders. However, it became apparent that the Lamprey was a bit off schedule in Galactica's plan, so he quickened his pace to a run as klaxons went off on the carrier, signaling the fighters to scramble.

Kistare scaled the ladder into his Shrike and swung over the side into the chair, and began flicking switches for an accelerated launch sequence. Around him, blast shields were already going off as the first Shrikes punched their afterburners and screamed away from the G.S.S. Lamprey. He settled back into his seat as the canopy hissed shut around him. A green light on the ceiling ahead of his fighter indicated that Major Kistare was cleared for launch, so he rammed the throttle forward and activated the afterburner, propelling his nimble fighter away from the Carrier.

Kistare punched a few buttons on his ships computer to bring up a small display of his squadron. Four of his squadron had launched, with the last one waiting to get launch clearance. Soon all thirty fighters were launched, along with the fighters from several other Hyperspace Carriers in the sytem. A quick glance to his right revealed that the Skraine battlestation in the system was being attacked by a Heavy Beam Cruiser, the armor literally melting off.

Squadron D got into formation and then activated heat shields as they began to descend into the atmosphere of Cincal. As soon as they were through the atmosphere, they deployed the relatively small wings of their Shrikes and began to head towards their objective. A trio of Fighter-Bombers fell in behind them, there to provide missile support and suppressing fire.

The objective was one of the continents of Cincal. The Shrikes were to use their Thoron Beams to completely obliterate any life on the continent of Cin'Arah. After just a few minutes of flying, Shrikes were in position and began to circle above their target. There were hundreds of Shrikes, from all of the Galactica warships in the system.

Then the call to open fire went out from the G.S.S. Thorn, the Warcruiser commanding the attack. The Shrikes began to sear the surface of the continent of Cin'Arah, and some of the available Galactica ships began to drop orbital bombs. Within minutes the damage had been done. Nothing would live on that particular continent for quite a while.

(Message, Sigma-13 encryption)

To: Skraine Interstellar Coalition of Worlds
From: Galactica Regional Headquarters, Ecrosneson

Enclosed is a thorough report and video of what happened on Cincal. We can easily do such things, and worse, to any world you control. As I'm sure you aware, Galactica was able to launch a successful surprise attack on the galaxy of Eta Cassiopea. At this point we will require an unconditional surrender from the Skraine. We are in control of your systems, and each day that you do not surrender, after the first day, will result in the destruction of one of your planets.

You can not expect any help from the Confederate Alliance, as we were able to gain control of their worlds as well. The Imperium is now in complete control of Eta Cassiopea. Communication and travel between Eta Cassiopea and the Milky Way has been cut off. It would be wise to surrender.

(End Message)

Phalynx Defense Missile: Done

Sensor Net Upgrade: 10 posts

Next Dreadnought: 7 posts

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"Look -- the trees!" Galan cries. "They have leaves!"

(This message has been edited by BattleDoctor (edited 04-21-2002).)

Redchigh suddenly has a bad feeling about the Haorn, and on a whim, sends a message to the Sijak.

Message to: Sijak
From: Raiek
(Gamma Bravo Military Encryption)
We welcome you, Rima, to our space for a diplomatic meeting. Guards are welcome but not needed, I assure you we have only the best intent.
Thank you.
End

Message to: Galactica
From: Raiek
(Alpha Encryption)
How did you fare against the Starfortresses? We now know that everyone has been attacked. How did your navy fare in battle?

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"I dont follow the crowd.. I stand and make fun of all the people walking in a straight line." ~A. Rickman
"....This is only what I think. We can't in a million years guess what goes on in the snarling, churning bowels of Red's head."
~ESPilot

(Message, Tau-2 Encryption}

To: Raiek Dominion
From: Galactica Imperium

Our navy fared well in battle, largely due to the presence of Jupiter Base, which was instrumental in destroying the Starfortresses. One has been destroyed, and one is locked in some strange temporal distortion, and it is expected to explode along with the G.S.S. Nemesis once they return to normal time. Congratulations on your victory. The destruction of the Starfortresses will allow us to move on to more important things.

(End Message)

Sensor Net Upgrade: 9 Posts

Next Dreadnought: 6 Posts

Missile Freighters are being worked on.

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"Look -- the trees!" Galan cries. "They have leaves!"

ooc: RED, that would be Kenra. Rima's nonexistent.

Message channel opened
To: Raiek
From: Kenra
We accept your invitation for a diplomatic meeting in your space. We will bring a sizable number of guards to protect. We do not doubt you intent, but no one knows what people may be lurking places in these chaotic times.
end message sequence

The Sijak prepare some ships and some guards for transporting the diplomatic party to Raiek space.

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If your looking at this signature, you need a life.