OOC - okay, fine, Espona. I'm NOT going to let RoC3 die because of you...

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

The Quezacotl appeared in the Raiek system, after having systematically eliminated all ships in it's path before a report could be sent back to the homeworld. It's appearance was not entirely unexpected, as the Raiek knew it was somewhere, but they had not known when it would strike.

With it's fleet left behind in Kicon and Ricon, the Quezacotl was alone, but it's power was hardly diminished, and it was the greatest threat that had ever made it's way to the Raiek's homeworld.

Aboard the Starfortress, it's captain was busy beginning the celebration of his victory.

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

The Raiek knew prylak strategy somewhat.
They knew the biggest threat was their homeworld.
That's why, when the Starfortress came in, it saw nothing..
until they picked up radar signals coming from the asteroid belt and the planet's shadow.
Every lazerus in existance was visible, and even in orbit around raiek prime, the wormhole generator's shields rippled as the powersupply originally set to power the generator was rerouted for shielding power...
there were few small ships in the system.. most had been scrapped for Lazerus construction.
As the Starfortress moved off of it's own momentum, the drones flung their mines in the fortress's general direction, and beams of energy from the lazerus, the wormhole, and defences lit up the whole system as the thoron beams rippled into the colossal ship.
As the Starfortress captain noted the shields, he realized these beams were powerful.. the most powerful he'd noted in this galaxy... Even though the Starfortress's shields as a whole were barely touched, he knew the victory might not be quite as easy as he thought.

OOC: The pheonix will jump in later.

------------------
"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

Espona was not one to take the news of a planet being scorched lightly. Hatred swelled up in him. He yelled into his transmitter. "I want every ship we have into the Ho'Norus system! I mean EVERYONE!"

The captain of the Amun smiled again. He had survived the battle with the Haorn flagship, even a barrage of its Sub-space Emitters. As far as he was concerned, he was unbeatable. The few Battle Stations in the system were mercilessly swatted down. The Amun turned its feral gaze on the planet of Ho'Norus. It took its time drawing into attack range. Energy crackled as its weaponry was being charged up. Then, before it could fire, its attention was diverted by a Haorn battle fleet. The Haorn Rift Generators flew out and ensnared the Prylak shielding. The effect was minimal, but they kept it up. It might help. The Prylak ship, almost nonchalantly, turned on the Haorn. A giant barrage lanced out to the battle group. All 75 ships were destroyed. Then, reinforcemets. Espona's ship and many others came into the system, the Fallen Wraith hot on their heels. Espona patched through a transmission to the Prylak warship.
"You really think you can beat us?" Said the Prylak commander. "Oh, more than that, you scum we'll annihalate every last bit of you!" Spat back Espona. "Brave words for one about to die." Said the Amun's captain, a smirk on his face. "I'm afraid the one about to die is you, CAPTAIN." Said Espona with equal disdain. The Fallen Wraith and its ships moved forward, and let fly with hundreds of Leeches. The Amun countered with its weaponry. Mo quarter was to be given or expected. The Amun's mission: Destruction of the Haron The Haorn's missin: Destruction of the Prylak. The battle had begun.

------------------
"He said no! Now we have to use the damn pigeons!"

Infiltrator:3 posts
Battleship: 5 posts

(This message has been edited by Espona (edited 03-28-2002).)

OOC - ughh...this'll be fun...

Quote

Originally posted by -REDCHIGH-:
**The Raiek knew prylak strategy somewhat.
They knew the biggest threat was their homeworld.
That's why, when the Starfortress came in, it saw nothing..
until they picked up radar signals coming from the asteroid belt and the planet's shadow.
Every lazerus in existance was visible, and even in orbit around raiek prime, the wormhole generator's shields rippled as the powersupply originally set to power the generator was rerouted for shielding power...
there were few small ships in the system.. most had been scrapped for Lazerus construction.
As the Starfortress moved off of it's own momentum, the drones flung their mines in the fortress's general direction, and beams of energy from the lazerus, the wormhole, and defences lit up the whole system as the thoron beams rippled into the colossal ship.
As the Starfortress captain noted the shields, he realized these beams were powerful.. the most powerful he'd noted in this galaxy... Even though the Starfortress's shields as a whole were barely touched, he knew the victory might not be quite as easy as he thought.

OOC: The pheonix will jump in later.
**

MOD - several points. 1) The Raiek have never seen Andromedan strategum before. 2) every Lazerus can't be there if 8 were in Kicon. The Quezacotl moves about eight times faster than a Lazerus in hyperspace. 3) The Quezacotl would not have "missed" your ships. 4) The Starfortress' movements are not yours to control. 5) The realisations of the Starfortress' general are not yours to control.

The Quezacotl came to quick halt at the edge of the system. The general in command knew very well the advantages of a stand-off battle, and the range of hunter modules. Remaining well out of range of any defences several times over, the Quezacotl unleashed a deadly hail of hunter-seekers and hunter-killers upon the Lazerus', and at the same time at the planet and the jumpgate's defences.

The slow Lazerus' were greatly out of range at this point, and if they came much longer the long ice blue streaks of the Starfortress' anti-spacial beams would come into play.

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

Quote

Originally posted by a good writer, but someone who hasn't yet realised that...
**Espona was not one to take the news of a planet being scorched lightly. Hatred swelled up in him. He yelled into his transmitter. "I want every ship we have into the Ho'Norus system! I mean EVERYONE!"

The captain of the Amun smiled again. He had survived the battle with the Haorn flagship, even a barrage of its Sub-space Emitters. As far as he was concerned, he was unbeatable. The few Battle Stations in the system were mercilessly swatted down. The Amun turned its feral gaze on the planet of Ho'Norus. It took its time drawing into attack range. Energy crackled as its weaponry was being charged up. Then, before it could fire, its attention was diverted by a Haorn battle fleet. The Haorn Rift Generators flew out and ensnared the Prylak shielding. The effect was minimal, but they kept it up. It might help. The Prylak ship, almost nonchalantly, turned on the Haorn. A giant barrage lanced out to the battle group. All 75 ships were destroyed. Then, reinforcemets. Espona's ship and many others came into the system, the Fallen Wraith hot on their heels. Espona patched through a transmission to the Prylak warship.
"You really think you can beat us?" Said the Prylak commander. "Oh, more than that, you scum we'll annihalate every last bit of you!" Spat back Espona. "Brave words for one about to die." Said the Amun's captain, a smirk on his face. "I'm afraid the one about to die is you, CAPTAIN." Said Espona with equal disdain. The Fallen Wraith and its ships moved forward, and let fly with hundreds of Leeches. The Amun countered with its weaponry. Mo quarter was to be given or expected. The Amun's mission: Destruction of the Haron The Haorn's missin: Destruction of the Prylak. The battle had begun. **

MOD - you can't do those scenes, Espona! You simply can't control the Prylak general!!

The Amun's general quickly recognised the presence of the Fallen Wraith, a ship that had already once proved to be worthy opponent for him. Not an equal one, but one worthy of being incinerated.

When the Amun and the Haorn force met, the Starfortress discharged a beam of pure anti-time - it's temporal disruption beam. The Fallen Wraith was encased in it, and when the beam had dissipated, the flagship of the Haorn remained, and yet not so. It was battered in ways it shouldn't be, it's shields were wrecks, and it's crew was aged beyond belief. The temporal disruption beam had once again had an incredible effect.

Meanwhile, the Starfortress began picking off lighter targets, while at ten second intervals it's anti-spacial beams all massed to incinerate a mothership.

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

"Well, it looks like we're screwed." Said Espona to himself as another Mothership was incinerated. "There's got to be a way...." He said, again to himself. So many deaths, and no time to honor them, he thought. "Keep at them with the Rift Generator! We can still win this!" He shouted into the fleet P.A. The Haorn now had all their ships fighting. Here is where they would make their stand, here they would fight until they wre completly and uttrly destroyed. The battered hulk of the Fallen Wraith kept fighting too, slashing with its few Sub-Space Beamers an occasionally launchig Leeches. Until, finally, its aged and decrepit generators churned to a halt. The crew desperatly tried to get any systems they could back online. With the Fallen Wraith out of the way, the Prylak now concentrated fully on the Haorn. Nothing could get through the Prylak shielding, nothing it seemed, except the Rift Generators. Slowly, with each few minutes, the shielding of the Prylak would drain, slowly, but surely. The Haorn still had one chance at winning.

Infiltrator: 2 posts
BAttleship: 4 posts

------------------
"He said no! Now we have to use the damn pigeons!"

"Damn we have to get closer... we're getting massacred like this!"
"All fleets! Charge!!!!!"
And with that, the 7 lazerus' in the system, along with the 50 or so dreadnoughts, carriers, and frigates, stormed forward.
The fleet fanned out, to force the Starfortress to spread it's weapons over a wider area. All of the ships closed in as a single wave, and only time would tell how the fortress would respond..

Meanwhile, the Pheonix was waiting for the 8 Lazerus' in Kicon to make it to Raiek Prime...

------------------
"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

Quezacotl
The Raiek fleet found itself being massacred against the seemingly impenetrable wall of the Quezacotl's fire. Only the Lazerus' weren't simply destroyed under that fire, and they charged through the blaze of energy. Into the midst the Quezacotl fired it's temporal disruption beam, erasing a Lazerus, while the rest of it's armoury targetted the other six.

At that time, the Raiek's reinforcements - the bulk of their Lazerus force, and their flagship the Pheonix, hyperspaced into the system straight towards the Starfortress. Within an instant, they too were propelled into the fight.

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

In seconds, the Raiek realized they had the starfortress surrounded. The Raiek fury closed in, and fired hundreds of heavy thoron beams slowly hammering at the mightly prylak shields. On the planet below, Scientists were busy at work... mapping the collosus, simply guessing, based on visible verifications.
The Lazerus' closed into unbelievably close quarters, firing everything they had directly into the shields, draining them as a whole. The Pheonix however, was staying back. In Thoron weapons range, of course, but still keeping it's personal fleet of 3 lazerus' between it and the beacon of evil.

------------------
"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

It seemed the battle was in favor of the Prylak. Haorn were being annihalated left, right, and center. The Haorn then tried something desperate. Espona ordered the bulk of the fleet to move around to the front of the Prylak ship. Then, before the Prylak could open up, he ordered a giant flotilla of Leeches to target important weapons systems, namely the anti-spacial beams. The horde of Leeeches closed in.

Infiltrator: 1 post
Battleship:3 posts

------------------
"He said no! Now we have to use the damn pigeons!"

Quezacotl
As was common in all encounters between the Raiek and anyone, the battle moved on swiftly, as the Raiek lacked the shields for a lengthened battle, and their weaponry was powerful enough to destroy opponents as fast.

In close range, the two sides exchanged heavy fire, and one by one the Lazerus' began to fall as the Quezacotl targetted them one at a time. The damage the Starfortress took would have been enormous to any other ship that the Raiek had ever come up against, but the Starfortress was still standing, and there was no way of knowing how heavily it had been damaged.

Five Lazerus' fell in a matter of minutes, and the Starfortress engaged forward thrust towards the Phoenix, taking what had to be the largest "potshots" in history on it's way.

Amun
However, the Starfortress' shields were still up, and thus, no attack could be made on it's hull or weaponry. However, the Amun made the mistake of tearing away at the fleet in front of it, and as the energy leeches fired, they acted as a sponge. So many of them were they that they even stopped some hunter-seekers and hunter-killers in their flight, and the energy of hundreds of particle beams was sucked into them.

And then, the leeches began to drain the Starfortress' shields under weapon's fire which only helped them more. Individual leeches began to pop under the targetting of anti-spacial weaponry, and as such they exploded violently.

The Prylak never had developed a weapon to counter the energy leech. As the Amun was busy trying to deal with the leeches, which had inflated to ten times their size with the amassed energy, the Haorn had a chance to strike, with precision, at the Amun. If enough rift generators were to target a very small area, it might form a rift, through which leeches - or a ship - could fly, before the rift was repaired.

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

(This message has been edited by SilverDragon (edited 04-02-2002).)

"Now's our chnace! All ships, target the following coordinates!" Said Espona. He had quickly deduced the situation, and had found the weakest point in the Prylak's shield grid. A mass of the surviving Haorn had moved around to the other side of the Amun. The Rift Generators opened fire, concentrating on a tiny point on the massive ship. After a few seconds, a small hole, shimmering around the edges, had appeared. Another strategy had to be formed, and quickly. Espona ordered another fleet of Leeches launched, comprised of Armor Leeches. If enough could be placed into one spot, they could destroy the Prylak from the inside out. Self destructing Corvettes would supplemnt the attack. Yet another humongous flotilla of Leeches headed out, grouped with the evacuated and ready to explode Corvettes. Knowing the destructive power of an exploding Starfotress would be huge, the Haorn backed off, but still provided enough of a target that the Prylak might hit them and not their attackers.

Infiltrator: COMPLETE (production started)
Battleship: 2 posts

------------------
"He said no! Now we have to use the damn pigeons!"

(This message has been edited by Espona (edited 04-11-2002).)

"Damn Our ships are falling left and right! I dont think we've even scratched the fortress!"
"Calm down admiral.. We have no way of knowing how much the Lazerus has left."
"Exactly the point, REDchigh!"
"Now now, you of all people know how strong our beamers are."
The admiral is quiet..
"Now we have to keep fighting. You know it as well as anyone."
The admiral leaves to give some minor reports..
"The starfortress is no different form any other ship we've encountered... the only way to win is to kill it before it kills us.."
A Scientist rushes in. "Sir! Don't let your fleet destroy it! It would be invaluable to us! I'm not even talking about the ship itself.. think of the INFORMATION!"

The Lazerus' storm the lazerus, and even the pheonix moves right up to it and empties all it's weaponry. All of the smaller ships purposely stay in from of the starfortress, firing at the nose.
"There must be weaker shields there because of the primary beam weapon..."
Redchigh mutters...

------------------
"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

(non story related) Anyone mind if I use the name Reign of Chaos for a plug-in? I'm not copying it from you, I thought of it myself as a play on the RotV and RotUE plugs, and haven't been able to think of a better name since I noticed it was taken. I will say in the readme and DL info. that it has nothing to do with this. Thanks.(/non story related)

------------------
"The two major parties differ chiefly over which unconstitutional powers they want the government to usurp. The Democrats generally favor economic usurpation, while the Republicans favor military usurpation."-Joeseph Sobran, (url="http://"http://www.thenewamerican.com/")The New American(/url)
The human psyche has two great sicknesses: the urge to carry vendetta across generations, and the tendency to fasten group labels on people rather than see them as individuals. Abrahamic religion gives strong sanction to both--and mixes explosively with both.-Richard Dawkins

Quote

Originally posted by Bob the Mediocre:
(non story related) Anyone mind if I use the name Reign of Chaos for a plug-in? I'm not copying it from you, I thought of it myself as a play on the RotV and RotUE plugs, and haven't been able to think of a better name since I noticed it was taken. I will say in the readme and DL info. that it has nothing to do with this. Thanks.(/non story related)

Go ahead. I made "Reign of Chaos" up myself too, and I never emailed Blizzard about it.

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

Quezacotl
The Starfortress' shields, however, were equally spread, and not weaker at the front. The Raiek's charge was instantly met with the heavy unrelenting fire of the Starfortress, and it quickly became apparent that the Raiek were outmatched. There was seemingly no chance that any tactic would destroy the Starfortress... save the most extreme one.

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

"We're not scratching them! It's fire is strong as ever!"
"Yes I know that.. order our smaller ships to reroute all power to shields and set autopilot to a place in the shields of the fortress.. Eject before impact if possible. "
"Yes... sir..."

Dreadnoughts frigates and numerous quick vessels stampede into the shields of the prylak warship... even freightors begin to tow the orbital station into a collision course with the prylak ship...

------------------
"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

Quezacotl
The Starfortress was hit hard by the dreadnought's desperate kamikaze charge. However, it's sensors picked up the station quickly, and the faster Starfortress pulled back, and as a result the Lazerus' found themselves being battered by artillery fire until they caught up to engage it again.

There was no way the station could be rammed into the Starfortress while the Quezacotl's captain had his senses about him.

Amun
The massive Amun buckled under the damage which pierced directly into it's soft hull. The light plating was torn apart, and in a final demonstration of the determination of the Haorn, one Corvette captain sent his vessel directly through the breach, crashing into one of the containment tanks for the temporal disruption beamer. The result was spectacular, and the various containment shields of the Starfortress could not hold that shockwave.

In a blink, everything went blindingly bright, and then frighteningly black - the stars themselves blotched out as if by ink. And then, all returned to normality, and the Haorn fleet began to count their losses.

That final explosion, however, had reduced their remaining vessels to battered hulks. Even the mighty Fallen Wraith lay broken, it's energy armour destroyed and it's hull seared and breached in many places. The ship was held together by spectal armour containments, which might only just last to the next port for repairs.

It was over.

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

The Lazerus fire every weapon they have, and as they run out of ammo, lazerus' collide into the shields. Two are simply evaporated by the ship's massive shields.

(Esponer.. IM me before you post again)

------------------
"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

Please excuse the off-topic, but i recently began to take time and reflect on my mistakes and the effects they had on my fellow writers - the foolish disagreements that i engineered. I humbly request the opportunity to express myself in this particular story.

I speak of those disagreements that turned those that i wrote with away from myself and my endeavors so that they could not see that i was trying to better myself - albeit not nearly enough. I would be ignorant to profess that i have changed enough even now, but i can look back on my mistakes with contempt and recognition of their asininity. I have also lightly observed how the webstory community has changed during my absence, and more importantly how the people that are still devoted to it have evolved into writers better than even my past ego could claim to surpass. You may ask why i write this here, but on the other hand, it may be obvious.

Silverdragon and i have been veritable enemies since before i can remember, even when we appeared to be cooperating. This was much to both my fault and dismay. My ego told me i was seeing an obnoxious punk, one of the first real newbies to the webstory community. Of course, that was long ago. What i really saw was an aspiring writer on the path to being one of the leaders of the community. This came to be, and he usurped my position - doubtless with his pleasure...and my continuing outrage. I had no justification for my anger towards him. I come here now after being absent from the community, only partly by my own choosing. I ask for the forgiveness of Silverdragon and of the community. I have no right to yet another chance to reform from my past ways, but i still request it.

Thank you for your time.

------------------
Used Macintosh Sales at (url="http://"http://www.roostermac.net")Cortek Ventures(/url) -- (url="http://"http://www.roostermac.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi")Webstory Developer Commune(/url) -- (url="http://"http://www.roostermac.net/roosterman5.gif")Roosterman 5(/url)
"Some people are so narrow minded they could look through a keyhole with both eyes." -Pikeman

(This message has been edited by roostersw (edited 04-12-2002).)

What can I say, Rooster? You're forgiven.

The funny thing is, this all started when you had an argument with Buba back in the EVEA, and I got involved. Things really have changed a lot since then. If you really want to ask my forgiveness, you have it. I'd also like to note that a webstory of mine will hopefully be starting in a month or so, and it may be the type that you would like to participate in. It's your choice, of course.

On a totally different subject; Redchigh, you're not on AIM, so in six hours I'll make my reply. If it assumes anything it shouldn't, we can edit it later.

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

I'm very glad to hear it, and i'll be sure to check out your new story as soon as there's some information on it.

------------------
Used Macintosh Sales at (url="http://"http://www.roostermac.net")Cortek Ventures(/url) -- (url="http://"http://www.roostermac.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi")Webstory Developer Commune(/url) -- (url="http://"http://www.roostermac.net/roosterman5.gif")Roosterman 5(/url)
"Some people are so narrow minded they could look through a keyhole with both eyes." -Pikeman