Bahamut Igazrada, Lariat's Flagship
NSI-232
Lariat, dressed now not in the formal uniform of an IGNA officer, but in the cloak of a High Judicator, his newly assigned position. The cloak was a deep indigo in colour, lined and embroidered heavily in golden leaf. Over his left breast was his emblem; a winged lizard in gold and silver on a background blacker than night, its claws dug down and its head held high, defiant unto the very last. The eyes of that lizard shone red - two tiny rubies stood in the place of its eyes. Below Lariat's personal emblem was written in a strange, runic text like blazing fire his rank and order. Over his right breast was the ensignia of the IGNA, a raised fist clutching a star that shone as if trying to break through, unsuccessful.
He stood upon the bridge, still somewhat uncomfortable in the cloak that marked him as belonging to justice for the rest of his life - a servant of the people. Lariat was not used to quite such formality, even as commander of the IGNA. He was, however, nowhere near as uncomfortable in the cloak as the man who stood at his right. He wore a similar cloak, but with a different personal emblem and a different runic inscription. He was also a High Judicator now, no longer second to Kain Lariat as he had been for many years. Lariat was privately pleased to see Dacona now in the position he had always deserved, although Dacona, an aging, grizzly Igadzra, seemed less than pleased.
"Dacona, are you alright?" Lariat asked after a while, not turning to face him as he watched the galactic map on the viewscreen intently, viewing the movement of fleets.
"I'm fine," Dacona replied confidently, but somewhat distantly. His voice belied no worries or concerns, as usual. Dacona had very often been a pillar of reality in situations where Lariat felt he would have lost control. It was for that reason that Lariat had always wished Dacona had assumed his rank, and that he'd been subcommander. "A little on edge, perhaps. An attack like this can either succeed or fail, and failure would not be desirable."
"Failure is not an option," Lariat replied as surely as he could manage, more to convince himself than anyone else. "We will succeed."
"Most likely, yes," Dacona mused, "but at what cost? A navy broken, an unexpected attack... you haven't even sent the message to the rest of the Community yet. How can you expect aid to be there?"
"I will do so within the next hour," Lariat answered his older friend. "It's just... I don't want our plans ruined."
"Yes, I know what you intend. A great victory for the Igadzra, and perhaps not so for the Zidagar also? I know what you want, Lariat, but we must work together. The Igadzra have made their legend - it is now the turn of the Galactic Community. I will not let you reduce the Zidagar to nothing more than a decoy in this," Dacona spoke, his voice lowering as he continued. "Or are you trying to protect someone from harm, Lariat?" Dacona asked softly, but with the disapproval clear in his voice. "You know that she can protect herself - and probably better than you can yourself."
Lariat turned away from Dacona, and was silent for some time. Dacona watched him without a word, not taking his eyes off the back of Lariat's head, knowing that the other man could feel those eyes upon him. After a painful two minutes, Dacona spoke again. "The first fleet has arrived."
The image of the galactic map faded quickly at Dacona's instructions, and was replaced by the standard viewscreen, showing an enormous knot of vessels entering the system. One might have thought there to be a million ships there, there were so many, although in fact only a tenth of that was present. Two armadas, still, both Igadzran, and led by those who had once been commodores and now were proud to display the rank of Judicator. The two armadas moved purposefully towards the forces led by Lariat and Dacona seperately - totalling four armadas, each fifty thousand strong. It was not a particularly large force compared to some of the armies that had been mustered of late - although the fleet's size would be tripled before the final attack was made - but it was highly advanced, utilising some of the most powerful technology in the Large Megallanic Cloud, technology matching that of the Federation and even surpassing in areas. It was a proud fleet that lay there in NSI-232, the site of a battle thirty years old, where another proud fleet had stood victorious against a foe.
"Lariat," Dacona called to him, drawing his attention. "The Izirions will be here within the next few hours. They'll take the agreed route to attrac enemy attention at Outpost Derash, Ki'Ran and Hokemnor. There are other border-systems further east, we believe, but better to cover these completely. Are you ready for this?"
Lariat simply nodded, his face set. "Good. The Igadzra fleet moves through NSI-233, Ven'Track, Zan'Trek, and passes S-2334 about the time our opponents are being distracted. From then we move south, and strike. This area is mostly uncharted, of course. The Zidagar fleet will follow a second path, making a strike upon Ki'Ran when our enemies realise our course. Ki'Ran will fall easily, we can be certain. At which point, the Zidagar fleet also moves deeper, causing as much havoc as possible before our enemy regroups and organises itself. At which point, the Izirions are going to clear out the Derash sector, and the Zidagar and Igadzra fleets will meet, hopefully, somewhere at the very heart of Gamaeran space, perhaps their capital itself. We will not wait for them to counter out attacks. We destroy a defence fleet, we destroy all traces of life, and then we move on, regardless of whether enemies are in hyperspace to that very same system. Of course, we'll change the plan as we go, but we intend to strike as much confusion as possible."
"I know, Dacona. We've been over this," Lariat said.
"I'm just trying to ensure you were paying attention to your own plan," Dacona replied with a faint smile. "And if the opponents aren't reacting to the Izirion ploy right, you take two armadas and strike Outpost Derash, and I'll take two armadas and strike Ki'Ran. The Zidagar fleet can then take our route down the middle while we hold their reinforcements back. And when we make it to their capital, Igadzra take up the reef and grind them into their own homeworld, while the Zidagar teach the pitiful Gamaera the meaning of fighter superiority. If the battle is drawn out, we'll begin sending 90,000-strong Izirion strike forces and 24,000-strong duel battlegroups down upon our enemies to tear apart their worlds while they fight it out at their capital. Gamaera will not survive this attack."
Outpost Derash
The Izirions did, in fact, quickly make it to NSI-232. As they were all fighters, they moved three times as fast in hyperspace as warships, giving them a frightening ability to be seemingly everywhere at once. The 210,000 Izirions broke off into three groups, with only the one moving to Hokemnor not arriving promptly. The first ever test of the Izirion's power was at Outpost Derash, and it was not a disappointing one.
70,000 Izirions broke into Outpost Derash, the Gamaerans only having limited warning with their sensors. With each Izirion armed with three kyhdron beamers, they had unholy close range armanent, and their speed allowed them to close in before ranks could be drawn. They swept through small contingents of patrols that had been moving back and through from Outpost Derash, which had not had a chance to group together to make one organised fleet. They elimininated lone vessels one by one, moving faster than even the fastest Akrahd vessel.
The devastation seemed massive while it lasted, like a pack of wolves stalking, striking, and disappearing. However, it was not a battle, but rather a skirmish. By the time the Gamaerans had organised and begun to resist the strike, the Izirions had turned and disappeared into hyperspace, without even having to slow down. For only thirty or fourty seconds they had been engaged, and a good four thousand Gamaeran ships were nothing but burning hulks in space, and four times that were damaged. Gamaera had no idea what losses they had inflicted, only that they were practically none. The Izirions had appeared from nowhere, with almost no warning, and had struck far too fast, too powerfully. In Ki'Ran, the skirmish was repeated just as efficiently, the Izirions gone in under a minute, and causing similar damage as in Outpost Derash.
And, unbeknownst and unexpected, the Igadzra fleet was prepared to strike between the two systems, now in Ven'Track, with the Zidagar fleet to back it up. Meanwhile, 1500 Igazradas were poised in Var'Chen'Ra, to move to the aid of any failed attack, or if all went well, to strike deeper in a third prong.
Ven'Track
{From: High Judicators Lariat and Dacona}
{To: Galactic Community}
Enclosed is information of our latest move against the Gamaeran Akrahd. We apologise for not being able to disclose this information at a more reasonable date, but we found ourselves caught up with the process of planning the attack, and put off this message to make sure we had everything planned in time.
If the attack fails, and we are both killed, we would hope that you would shield the Igadzra and Zidagar so they have time to recover. However, with the forces we have commited to the field, and our working battle plan, we can assure you that the chances of failure are extremeley minimal.
-High Judicators
{end transmission}
*Technology
Particle Railgun Upgrade / P-Rail: 3/10
Hyper-velocity Rocket: 2/12
6 Aries Colonisation: 2/4
*Naval Stats
ZSN: 268,000
IGNA: 268,000
IXD: 50,000
ZEN: 210,000
(Special: 1500 Igazradas)
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-Lyat Esponer Corsair
(This message has been edited by SilverDragon (edited 07-27-2002).)
). Once I have a little bit of time (hopefully sometime later tonight), I'll edit my above post and fix up some stuff about it to make it more fair.
