OOC: Dang, sorry to see you go, Asriel. Though, if you wouldn't mind.... GET ON AIM!!! I do really need to talk to you about some stuff (not related to RoC3).

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

The Prylak dreadnoughts had already been damaged considerably, and under Galactica's total concentration, they stood no chance. Three titanic explosions occured simultaneously, leaving only the T'akara left in the fray.

At that point, the Confederate's Balrog entered the system, meaning that the T'akara was trapped between two enemy forces - the Balrog and the Nemesis, and Galactica's defences.

At this point, Galactica's missile barrage ended completely, and only the Balrog was left with any artillery power. The Prylak, realising this, made a charge at the Balrog and Nemesis. It's temporal disruption beam was being charged slowly, but wouldn't be warmed up fully for half an hour. Meanwhile, anti-spacial beams began to slash down into the Balrog's shielding, causing extensive damage.

The T'akara left the range of Jupiter Base's remaining weapons, and began to engage it's two smaller opponents.

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Word.

The destruction of the Prylak Starfortress T'akara's last three escorts had allowed Galactica to concentrate all of their firepower on the T'akara. However, they were running very low on long range ammunition, and soon it was spent. The Starfortress began to fall into a retreat, away from the weapons emplacements on the moons, and several Thoron Beam shots went wide as it became clear that Jupiter Base no longer had the capability to engage the Starfortress.

High Admiral Fera, inside Phoenix Command at the core of Jupiter Base, opened a communications link to the Warcruiser G.S.S. Thorn, which was in low orbit just below the outer layers of Jupiter's atmosphere. The Thorn was serving as a command ship for the silos and beam installations in the asteroid belt. "Admiral," said High Admiral Fera to the commander of the Thorn, "do your installations have strike capabilty on the Starfortress?"

The Admiral on the bridge of the Thorn shook his head as he replied, "Negative, sir. They're not in our range and they're moving farther away. Our missile silos are full, as we haven't engaged in combat yet, but there are too many of our own ships around that. Unless we can disengage them, I can't order my silos to open fire without high risk of destruction of too many Imperium ships."

Fera sighed and answered, "All right. If a window opens up, open fire."

"Yes sir."

The G.S.S. Nemesis shuddered and Fleet Admiral Havanna gripped the arms of his chair as a burst of weapons fire from the T'akara was deflected by one of the Nemesis' shield systems. The Nemesis had been firing its AT railguns off since they had run out of missiles, but there was no clear effect on the shields of the Starfortress. The Nemesis' Thoron Beams were being kept in reserve so that incase the T'akara's shields fell, it could be destroyed easily.

A chime went off and an eldery Igadzra in the uniform of a Galactica High Admiral appeared on the screen. Fleet Admiral Havanna saluted to his superior officer and awaited orders.

"Havanna, we obviously need to destroy that thing before it can recharge whatever weapon it was that hit your Dreadnought earlier," said High Admiral Fera. "Obviously, the Fleet is having a minimal effect on its shields... even with the amount of Shrikes we have out there, we don't seem to be going much. If that thing manages to hit Phoenix Command, well... the entire leadership of Galactica would be destroyed. The Imperium would be thrown into chaos, or even cease to exist.

"Havanna, I'm sure you know what I am getting at. We need to destroy that Prylak warship at all costs. At all costs. You know what to do."

With that, High Admiral Fera cut the communications link, and Fleet Admiral Havanna slumped in his chair, letting out a heavy sigh. Indeed, he knew well what High Admiral Fera wanted him to do. "All right, Lieutenant," he said, indicating his weapons officer. "Begin to charge Thoron Beams to full strength."

"Full strength, sir? If we fire it that high, we could blow out the power cores."

"Just do it!" snapped back Havanna. "Tell me when we're charged."

The Nemesis continued to charge its Thoron Beams, while more Galactica ships fought and died to protect Jupiter Base and the Emperor BattleDoctor. Finally, the weapons officer on the bridge of the G.S.S. Nemesis piped up. "Sir? We're charged and ready to fire... I'd also like to mention that we're running slightly low on AT Railgun ammunition."

"Don't worry, Lieutenant. Fire the Beams."

At Fleet Admiral Havanna's order, the G.S.S. Nemesis released the raw energy of its Heavy Thoron Beams onto the Prylak Starfortress T'akara. The T'akara's shields glowed as the Nemesis Dreadnought's beams impacted them. The beam burst lasted for the better part of a minute, before they flickered and cut off.

"Sir," noted the G.S.S. Nemesis' weapons officer. "The Thoron Beam power cores are spent. We're out, Admiral."

"Right then, Lieutenant." Havanna turned to his navigation officer and ordered, "Turn towards the Prylak warship and set engines to full blast. All power to engines and forward shields. Communications, order the Fleet to stand back a bit."

The hulking Nemesis-class Dreadnought slowly turned towards the Starfortress. Its engines flared and the warship began to accelerate towards its enemy, the massive T'akara. The weapons officer of the Nemesis, his face in disbelief, turned towards Fleet Admiral Havanna and said incredulously, "Sir, with all due respect, what the hell are we doing?"

Then, there was a colossal discharge of energy as the Nemesis smashed into the T'akara at full speed and the two shield systems came up against each other. While the explosion was still subsiding, the Nemesis-class Dreadnought G.S.S. Bellaraphon enetered the system...

Phalynx Missile: 1 Post

Sensor Net Upgrade: 11 Posts

Current Dreadnoughts: 1, Next Dreadnought: 8 Posts

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

The Nemesis' effects would have been futile. The T'akara was damaged by that point, quite badly, but it was not at critical levels, with 34% shielding remaining. However, sheer luck saved Galactica that day.

As the shields of the Nemesis collided with that of the T'akara, the Starfortress unleashed it's temporal disruption beam straight into the Nemesis. At that range, the beam was deadly, not only to Galactica's warship, but also to the Starfortress.

By the time the G.S.S. Bellaraphon had entered the system, the battle was over. However, the nature of the temporal disruption beam varies widely - it's damage, efficiency and effect never being the same twice. This time, the beam had sealed time within that area.

And thus, the two ships, the A.S.S. T'akara and the G.S.S. Nemesis, were sealed in Sol, time having stopped before they had exploded.

Weeks, months, maybe years later, that seal would break, and the two ships would complete their destruction. Perhaps far enough away that the crew of the Nemesis could be saved.

Galactica had won against the Prylak, and the Andromedan system of Colonzar was now left without a fleet, and without two leaders.

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Word.

(Deleted)

(This message has been edited by Captain Carnotaur (edited 03-10-2002).)