Esponer can't access the boards right now, and he tells me this post is time-sensitive, so as the co-moderator of this story he's asked me to post it for him. Here goes...
On a night like any other, with the UE and Zidagar forces either docked or making slow patrols around the system now affectionately known as F-25, all hell broke loose as thousands of Galactica warships appeared from nowhere, weapons charged.
Like death descending upon unsuspecting victims, the force made their way forward, and their opposition could do nothing but strive to meet them...
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Paladin was the only United Earth officer present who didn't swear at receiving the message. He was just silent.
The GNN reporter looked at him curiously. "What's happened?" he asked, in such a sickeningly curious way that Paladin wanted to throttle him.
Paladin sighed. "We're dead," he stated bluntly, and swiftly left the room, leaving the GNN reporter and Captain Firebird wondering. Firebird had the intuition to get up and go, as did the rest of the UE officials.
-------
Paladin walked onto the bridge of the Renzokuken only a few minutes later. The Renzokuken was already in the process of lifting off from the Garland by the time he reached the dull, lifeless bridge. All the people were there, but their faces were bland. Paladin was all out of ideas...save one.
As the Renzokuken made it's way up out of the atmosphere of F-25, Paladin could see thousands of ships clawing in the air, laser blasts streaming across the sky. From here, they were like insects. He looked around him, across the surface of F-25, from the great viewscreen. UE and Zidagar ships were struggling to come up in time to meet the threat. Since the main battle with the blockade had been so recent, no-one had thought to prepare advanced scout networks, and any minor scouts had obviously been obliterated before a signal could be sent.
"The time for truth is upon us," Paladin muttered under his breath, and he looked around the bridge. No-one seemed to have any life in them. Paladin thought about trying to cheer them up, and then decided against it. They all knew what would happen...
...and Paladin couldn't lie to them, not like this.
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So many flies, he thought, as the Renzokuken ascended higher, finally leaving the atmosphere. Strange to think that ships that appeared so small could be so impossibly powerful, and many dwarfed the Renzokuken.
"Stat!" Paladin said perhaps too sharply, and one officer, his face greyer than Paladin had thought possible in a human, turned round quickly, glaring. Paladin realised that with the odds on their hands, mutiny was to be expected.
The statistical officer, as he was, remained silent other than muttering to himself quietly.
Paladin nodded to himself, and looked around the bridge. He prayed that every other Dragon wasn't in such a bad state. Every face looked grey, and Paladin could sense on their minds thoughts they wouldn't have considered otherwise.
It was then, as Paladin was wondering whether to call out for stat again, when the door to the bridge opened.
Paladin knew what awaited him from behind, could sense the phase rifles, and his heart beat faster. He had been a brawler as a child - strange that he had grown up this way, he had often wondered - and thus he was perfectly at home with this situation, despite not being in it for nearly thirty years.
A word began to form from behind, but Paladin didn't give the word time to fully ring. He twirled, and within a second he had his own firearm in hand. Two men crowded at the doorway, both with phase rifles in hand, aimed at Paladin. They hadn't expected reactions so fast, though.
Paladin fired, shooting one of them between the eyes. He then dived to his right, for only one reason, that the officer to his right was one he trusted slightly more than the one to his left. Two phase blasts narrowly missed him, and a third took him on the shoulder.
The officer, the one who was on his left, a cocky young man called Saiyon, was standing with a phase rifle in hand, in a suicidal shootout with almost everyone else on the bridge. Half a dozen blasts took him, and he fell. Paladin cursed himself for the years of not really trusting him as he watched Saiyon collapse to the ground, blood spilling out onto the consoles.
In a second Paladin was back up to his feet with his firearm, but it was over. His chief engineer, a woman with black hair streaked with white, named Alysia, was holding a large plasma discharger in hand, and had literally exploded the remaining mutineers.
He glanced at Alysia, who was stained in blood.
Alysia shrugged. "I was shot," she states simply. "That's all for the mutineers, I know for a fact. The other officers are all on vital engineering work, I'm sorry to say. You can take the bridge yourself, sir?"
Paladin nodded. "Yes, I can..."
Alysia turned to go with a formal nod.
"...Alysia?" Paladin asked, his voice shaking.
Alysia turned. "Yes?"
Paladin simply muttering, "thank you."
Alysia just nodded. "Not for you, for everyone else," and left the bridge.
Paladin sighed, and putting his firearm down he took the Renzokuken's controls.
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Ships buzzed across the sky. The UE and Zidagar had the home field advantage, and their ships were more advanced, but that still didn't mean they had much chance. Galactica's vessels were all ready and prepared, but the UE and Zidagar vessels were all battered, many with insufficient energy supplies.
An already damaged Dragon went down from a pair of Galactica Fighters, the explosion blasting one of them apart, and the second was taken in by a squadron of Wyverns. The squadron then moved on to fight with a Galactica Cruiser, winning but taking severe losses, and was pulled down eventually by the joint effort of a Galactica Dreadnought and a Carrier.
The battle didn't go on long before Paladin opened a message to all non-UE allies.
-From the bridge of the Renzokuken-
-To the Zidagar, Mercenary Alliance, GNN-
Escape. Let the UE have their moment of glory. Just remember, Galactica won't be defeaten if we all lose here.
-From the bridge of the Renzokuken-
-Private message to Rima-
I've known you for many years, friend, and I think it's time to say goodbye. I won't ask you to defeat Galactica, lest that not be possible.
Survive, Rima, survive, and prosper.
Paladin out.
-From the bridge of the Renzokuken-
-Private message to Carnotaur-
If you'd let me die, things would be different. Just...let me die this time.
Goodbye, old boy.
Paladin out.
-------
...and thus the UE await the actions of the other forces...
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Invaders of the Stars
On that same night, a vessel swept into a system not far from F-25. The vessel was dark, sleek, and deadly.
The vessel belonged to a race known as the Prylak. Years of work had finally resulted in opening a portal to this galaxy, and now the Prylak would begin the same chaotic reign that they held in their first galaxy, where they had sent the Odine scurrying away.
The vessel was met by a Galactica frigate, which was destroyed within mere seconds.
The vessel glided out of the system, through a wormhole that was only present when the Prylak ships activated it.
The vessel began the journey back to Prylak space, to inform the others that this galaxy was ripe for invasion...
(thus Gwydion can post now)
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Ad Astra Per Aspera - "A rough road leads to the stars"
