Strand League
Titan
Titan was the new capital of the Zidagar culture, and the activity of the system showed that. Miranu freighters were extremely numerous, both importing and exporting goods, or transferring it to larger short-range bulk freighters which would take goods through protected space to other Strand League worlds. The presence of the Zidagar Space Navy was also felt, but in a slightly differently way that would be expected in most patrol fleets.
The two Ziradas made a deadly dance around each other, arcing high and turning back into a U-turn while the other cut around and tried to intercept. Their dance was complex, intricate, and only vaguely resembled a dogfight. Every now and then, one of them would line up their target sights and fire - mostly the second one, as the first effortlessly danced away. The Zirada pilot being chased was definately the superior one, leading the other on as the 'predator' of their little dance.
"Idune, would you care to give me a chance?" the second pilot hailed to the first, his voice, without visual, showing his humour.
"Why commander, if I try any less I'll probably crash into an asteroid," came Idune's voice, dripping with affectionate sarcasm. "In fact, I'm rather surprised that you haven't yet, Teraoph."
"Bite your tongue," he muttered, and launched his fighter's afterburners to catch up, opening fire. Idune, however, proved far too skilled for that, when she dived down under Teraoph's fighter, and rose behind him to open fire on his engines.
Both of the fighters were Duellist equipped, in that instead of shields they had armour plating and their weapons were all light damage, disabling variants. As such, Idune's fire quickly disabled the engine's on Teraoph's ship, leaving the fighter dead in space.
"You should really pay more attention, Teraoph," noted Idune idly.
"You're going to pay for that," Teraoph replied darkly.
"I can't wait."
Cerberus
"Lariat, message for you from Silverbridge," came Dacona's voice. The middle aged figure of Dacona, Igadran and Kayan, stepped to Lariat's side. Lariat, who had been engaged in various writings, quickly looked up.
"Thank you, Dacona," he answered formally. He pushed the writings aside and stood. Lariat was a heavily built, pure Igadzran, and despite his passive manner outside the battlefield, he was one of the greatest Igadzran warriors alive. "How is the training going for our new captains?"
Dacona was a smaller man, with some Kayan blood in him which seemed to balance out his personality into a more cool, collective manner in any situation. He was the subcommander of IGNA where Lariat was the commander, and he was the only warrior who could beat Lariat in space; yet didn't come close physically. "They're getting there. I suggest we reinforce them into Karvok's armada. Karvok is an experienced enough man that he can put our new captains into better tactical shape."
Lariat nodded slightly, and then left, at his own pace, to answer the communication from Silverbridge. The message was, unsurprisingly, an update from the Ministry of Defence. This one, however, was of a slightly different nature.
{From: Ministry of Defence, Silverbridge}
{To: Commander Lariat, Gateway}
We request that you immediately prepare a number of IGNA ships amounting to 3250, in accordance with the standard 1:20:30:49 ratio, for an attack on the Akrahd controlled system of Zellar, after meeting with a similar 3250-strong standard ZSN fleet in the Gamsis system. You are to employ the 5th IGNA Reef strategy, under co-operative plan "W" with the ZSN. This battle will commence in 96 hours. The usual penalties stand for failure to comply.
{end of transmission}
Lariat laughed out loud after listening to the communication, and Dacona appeared at the door. "Anything interesting going on?" Dacona asked dryly.
"MoD have 'ordered' us to make an attack on Zellar within ninety six hours," Lariat replied, still laughing somewhat.
"A raid or invasion?" Dacona asked, his eyes suddenly alight.
"It looks like a continuous wave raid. A very costly tactic, sometimes, but effective. I'm going to be hard pressed to be there in ninety six hours, but... we'll do it."
Gamsis
Two Strand League battlefleets, each numbering somewhat over three thousand, met in the Gamsis system, on the border between Strand League and the Akrahd. Gamsis was a major industrial system, with six inhabited planets, two of which were rich in valuable ores, and a third being a massive kyhdron plantation. To protect Gamsis, numerous silos were now being built, as of several hours ago, and a similar process was taking place in the industrially inferior, domestically superior Afion.
ZSN reached Gamsis before IGNA, but only by a few hours. Lieutenant Trazior of the IGNA battlefleet "Claymore" and marshall Dlamone of the ZSN battlefleet "Lightning Forge" conferred briefly aboard Trazior's personal Igazrada, before their combined force quickly entered sub-space in a flash of sapphire, and made its way swiftly to Zellar.
Zellar
Six and a half thousand Strand League ships left sub-space in the Zellar system, heavily protected by Akrahd forces. Claymore quickly moved into the 5th IGNA reef, with Izars forming a complex flank and Izagras placed to protect the weaker Irada frigates. The thirty two Igazradas in Claymore took positions near the front of the reef, mixed in with Iradas and Izagras. The reef moved into a slow advance, while a large number of Scarab discs were launched at the Akrahd's heaviest vessels - capital warships and the like. They were unable to evade the discs, and their range and firepower made them extremely deadly. Several of the largest warships quickly fell under concentrated fire, while particle railguns focused on the smaller Akrahd ships - deadly accurate snipers picking them off one at a time.
Lightning Forge broke into two groups and came around the far flanks, falling upon the massive Akrahd defence force from the flanks. At lightning speed they threw themselves into the fray as IGNA continued to make its way slowly towards the fleet, battering them as they went. Lightning Forge was fast and precise, and the power of kyhdron beamers combined with duelbeam was far superior to the Akrahd's own weaponry.
However, the Strand League force was outnumbered four to one, and although their ships were superior in logistics and technology, the battle would quickly turn to the Akrahd's side should reinforcements fail to arrive.
103 Aries
In the depths of the Small Megellanic Cloud, Ring Alliance scouts had discovered the fertile Aries Cluster, and the two systems - 103 Aries and 156 Aries - that were the only way in or out of the cluster. From the Ring Alliance headquarters in Kassadar, a communication was quickly held with the Strand League Council of Four, stationed in Persephone, and an agreement was reached.
Two outposts, primarily with military purposes and of mediocre specifications, would be built - one in 103 Aries and its sister in 156 Aries. A fleet of twenty thousand ships would be stationed in each system during the construction and after. Once the key to the Aries Cluster lay in the hands of the Ring Alliance, the fertile lands beyond could be colonised - starting with Aries Primus, a duel-star solar system with seventeen planets, eight of them easily habitable and all of those with an important resource.
Cintrial (OOC: "Outpost 5" on the map)
Cintrial, the Strand League's top secret military weapon research base, was in a height of activity. Cintrial had been where the duelbeam system had been developed, and was also the centre of the Disc Project. It was also in Cintrial that the designs for the Federation, Voinian, Igadzran, Zidagar and Miranu shipyards had come together to develop the highly advanced zero-gravity hangars that now served as the Strand League's rather unconventional shipyards. These hangars were often buried underground to survive possible bombardment, and ships were now constructed in a joint effort between worker drones and nanites in perfect unison.
Now, Cintrial was involved in the next stage of the Disc Project. Two days ago, the Ministry of Defence, authorised by the Council itself, had sent a message to Cintrial's headquarters requesting that the designs of the "Scorpion" disc now be drawn up and prepared.
The Scorpion disc was a modification of the Scarab disc used by all IGNA ships, but to replace the redfire dispersal rocket which was now classed as outdated. They retained the basic features of the disc - armoured exterior, a shape that helped them avoid point defence weaponry, and a large frame. Scorpion discs, however, lacked the basic guiding and turn system of the Scarab, as they were instead more along the lines of the rocket. Scorpion discs were fast moving, long ranged rockets, and their main speciality was to be their blast radius, easily capable of hitting and hopefully destroying between two and ten fighters at a time. Despite this, they would retain a powerful yield, mostly due to the fact that they lacked the extensive guiding system and fuel compartments of the Scarab disc.
A report had already been sent back to the Ministry of Defence headquarters on the Silverbridge that the Scorpion disc would begin development within a matter of hours. The zeal of the scientists of Cintrial was unsurpassed.
Herona
Herona was an early colony in comparison to many of the planets in Large Megellanic Cloud, but the low gravity and availability of massive amounts of precious ore, as well as the proximity of the kyhdron fields in Ebidos, the third greatest in all Strand League, made the planet Herona perfect for the construction of warships. It was also the the headquarters of the publically non-existant Zidagar Elite Navy, led by the equally non-existant Saravonna val Izma. In fact, the existance of ZEN was so secret that only seven people in the Ministry of Defence knew of its existance, the Council of Four, and one other man who went by the name of Corsair, retired subcommander of the ZSN and retired commander of the ZSF.
It was on Herona that an equally secret project had begun, with only a handful of people knowing the "entire picture". The project was the Izirion - a fighter armed for short, raiding combat, extremely fast and well shielded enough to survive for its average engagement time of thirty seconds.
Extensive plans were being written up and evaluated, although the specifics had not yet been assertained.
Strand League
Update
Izirion Light-fighter: 16/16 posts
Scorpion Disc: 12/12 posts
Aries Cluster Outposts: 3/3 posts
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-Lyat Esponer Corsair
