South Tip Conclave
Scattered Feathers
The surface above Deep Isle was an apparently natural plateau, albeit it an apparently natural plateau located in the centre of a vast blue-green ocean. Most of the time, this plateau was barren of Kayan or Strandless life, with the occupants and visitors spending their time in the actual complex that stretched out below.
It was one such exception of this. Perched on the edge of the plateau, a steep fall just ahead, a lone figure squatted, watching the light reflected off the ocean glimmer and twinkle, and watching the stars above. The sky was clear. The stars were clear. One star seemed all too clear. A bright star in the northern sky. Of course, what was only now being seen to the inhabitants of Kayia was that star fifteen years ago, but this mattered not to the Strandless that watched it out of the corner of his eye.
You need your sleep, Taikaenor, a light voice came from behind him. The Strandless turned his head slightly, revealing wearied eyes. Strandless may be able to stay awake for three days running with ease, but they practically hybernate for a day after that. And besides... youve been up seven days now.
Taikaenor turned back to the star. It was some time before he spoke, and when he did, his voice was quietened, wearied. I have been unable to sleep as of late.
Liar, the voice replied. Soft footsteps carried the voice to Taikaenors side, where a flame-haired Kayan sat. Do not tell me you could not sleep, for I know that you would not.
What does it matter? Taikaenor replied harshly. I cannot allow this attack to fail. He looked at the star again. So bright...
You have done all that you can do. Being awake for the battle will do you no more good now, my dear.
I cannot sleep now...
You can. And you will, came the reply, firm and insistent. Taikaenor paid it no more heed than the cold. He continued staring off into the sky, his eyes burning, his senses nulled. He hardly noticed when the tranquilising needle sank into his arm, and he drifted off. Its out of your hands now, she murmured.
The Mavs star system was home to one of the largest and most powerful renegade bases in the known galaxy, arguably surpassed only by the fortress of The Rock in DSN-2131, in the North Tip. Histiri Station was defended heavily by a renegade fleet of sixteen Crescent warships, fourty eight Aradas and thirty two Crescent fighters, along with fourty eight naval Crescent fighters. Of those ships, eighteen Crescent fighters, three Crescent warships and six Aradas were patrolling the system on medium alert. In addition, five independant pirate Crescent warships were in the system, moving about on their regular business.
All semblance of regularity, however, was broken by ninety two hyperspacial energy waves, which all ships in the system, and the station, picked up close to instantly. And then, milliseconds later, ninety two sensor dots appeared. Visual scans were drawn, but nothing was seen. Later, a closer inspection from the stations sensors would reveal irregularities in space, the disappearance of stars briefly, and a visible shield bubble outline when damaged was received. It was not a cloak; that much was apparent quickly. Sensors were able to target the ships, but they registered only as shield grids, and nothing else.
There was a moment of confusion, and in the opening of the battle, only a moment was needed. The attackers, comprised of fifty four Crescent fighters and thirty two Aradas, quickly divided up into seperate groups. Nine Crescent fighters - or so they appeared, from their shape - split off, and moved to attack one of the independant pirate warships. They dived, strafed, evaded SAD fire, and weaved intertwining circles around the ship, as if they were in unison with each other. The skills of those pilots was undeniable from the very beginning, and the bewildered ship fell, its weapons not even ready. The hunter-killer group moved on to their next target, a knot of three Aradas, deftly avoiding dispersal rockets.
Meanwhile, the remaining Crescent fighters split off into two groups, and began to engage the vessels in the system en masse, attempting to keep the renegade vessels from being able to group - in which case they would be much more dangerous. Sixteen Aradas hung back, delivering back-up fire for the two more numerous groups of fighters. By the time the system defenders were able to organise themselves, they had taken some considerable losses. The hunter-killer group had eliminated the knot of Aradas, and two more pirate warships. The other two fighter squadrons, between them, had obliterated nine Crescent fighters, three Aradas and two Crescent warships. The Arada group had taken down the third renegade warship in-system and another pirate warship, along with five more Crescent fighters. Four Crescent fighters - none from the hunter-killer group - and an Arada were lost on the attackers side.
It was the fifth division of the attackers, streaks that were shield grids, unidentifiable and unrecognisable, that made the most daring strike. Sixteen Aradas dived straight for Histiri Station upon entering the system. Two of them fell to enemy fire, but they wasted no time in cutting their path. Upon closing in on the station, schematics of the stations outline were loaded into the ships computers, and dispersal rockets were fired towards the star docks. The ships threw themselves at the station, causing as much damage as they could, tearing hangar after hangar to shreds, and eliminating the defenceless renegade ships within them.
One Arada seperated from that group, and its target was quite different.
Azemir, are you sure you know what youre doing? came the concerned comm. link from Nhada, over-lieutenant of the attacking forces.
Positive, the veteran Strandless responded over the link. Just cover my back.
My squadron is cutting a path through to the station. Their in-system defenders are all but dealt with, Nhada said. Ill be there.
Azemir sighed. Dont ruin this mission just to keep me alive , he thought to himself, but he did not speak it. Instead, he closed the comm. link. He didnt intend to survive.
The Arada - the Ascendant Flare - turned away from the others, and made a blind race across the station. Meanwhile, renegade fighters and Aradas began to launch, and Histiri Stations own fixed defences became the next goal of the thirteen remaining Aradas. Two renegade Crescent fighters quickly fixed onto the Ascendant Flare , which boosted its engines with raw hyperspace fuel, moving it further and faster, but slowly, the interceptors began to gain on it.
Histiri Stations command dome came into sight, a heavily armoured and defended sphere near the core of the station. No warships had launched from the station yet: the captains and their crew would be located somewhere in the command dome, yet. Some would already have made the way to the hangars, but hopefully, most would not have.
Phase pulses tore at the shields of the Ascendant Flare , and Azemir was unable to escape the fire. Two more renegade fighters swept before his ship, streaks of light nearly piercing the shields of the ship, forcing him to move in a different direction, hopelessly.
A visual wraith - present on sensors - opened its fury upon one of the enemy fighters, dancing out of the way of enemy fire deftly. Nhadas ship, the Vigilante , and at its flank another Crescent fighter, one of the hunter-killer group, whose pilot was Lysaeun.
And then Azemirs saviours were hurled back into the fighting, and another renegade ship, an Arada, locked onto the Ascendant Flare.
The command dome dominated the view from Azemirs Arada, close ahead, but there was no time now to open fire. The Arada behind launched a dispersal rockets, imploding in close proximity with his ship, reducing his shields to 7% of maximum. If the shields fell, the renegades would be able to scan the Ascendant Flare , and they would know the origin of the attacking fleet. That could not happen.
Drowned in the organised chaos of warfare, what appeared to be the shield grid of an Arada dived into the command dome on Histiri Station, overloading the shield grid half a second too late for any renegade ship to scan it. The dome exploded in a cloud of plasma, taking with it the captain and crew of seven Crescent warships.
Both sides had now commited all their ships to the fight. While the attackers had at first held a decisive advantage over the surprised and outnumbered in-system defenders, the renegade forces now launched, comprised of six Crescent warships (another seven had no crew to pilot them), thirty Aradas and ten Crescent fighters, were proving a formidable opponent for the light attackers. Losses were now roughly equal on both sides.
Azemirs force had been annihilated down to the last ship, thirteen Aradas torn to shreds by the renegade defenders. The squadrons Nhada and Jenra commanded were now unable to pick off lone renegade targets - the remaining defenders had bunched into a three-dimensional phalanx. At that point, the remaining attacking forces - Nhada and Jenras squadrons, Karatis Arada wing, and the hunter-killer group moved together. Nhada, as over-lieutenant of the attack, sent a masked message to the renegade ships as the two fleets stared each other out for a brief moment.
(- Source: Identity Masked, Location 3529:1043:5025 Sector ZA Mavs -)
(- Recipient(s): All Renegade Vessels in-system; Mavs -)
Our attack is in the name of justice and vengeance, renegades. Know that now you shall pay for your crimes against countless life, numerous species. Now, is the time to price the price. There shall be no quarter, there shall be no surrender, and there shall be no escape from us. Prepare to meet your doom.
(- end transmission -)
All ships, Nhada spoke into the comm. link to the Conclave fleet. He paused, his eyes glancing at the sensor map, that told him that the two forces were evenly numbered - sixty four and sixty two - but that the enemy had warships, and more Aradas. But the sensor map told him something else as well. Nowhere in the system was the Ascendant Flare , Azemirs Arada.
Nhada? Jenras voice came over the comm. link. Attack?
Attack, Nhada muttered bitterly. Let us end this tale.
The Vehement Fury , an upgraded Crescent fighter piloted by Lysaeun dMaenir, performed a U-turn, shaking off two renegade fighters at its tail. Another two fighters - Conclave ones - engaged them, eliminating them without slowly down and turning to follow Lysaeuns ship. They were the Warrior Savant , and the Eudaemon , and both upgraded as much as the Vehement Fury.
The three fighters strafed an enemy Crescent warship, the returning phase fire proving too inaccurate and underpowered to stand against those three ships. The Eudaemon barrel rolled off to the side, dancing a deadly short dance with an enemy Arada, out-turning it and tearing its hull to shreds by wildfire bursts of concentrated light. The other two ships made one last strafe against the warship, transcending it and its occupants to the ethereal, majestic world of nothingness, the intense plasmatic nebula that was its own personal Hell.
Nice work, a voice - the Eudaemons pilot - said over the comm. link. Not bad at all.
Easy work, Lysaeun responded. Next target?
That would be... nothing, actually, answered the pilot of the Warrior Savant. We appeared to have a battle-over situation on our hands here...
Lysaeun blinked, and checked his sensor map. Indeed, the battle was all but over. The last few renegade ships were falling, and already hyperspacial anomalies marked the entrance of non-military ships carrying forces to attack and take the station. He quickly scanned the system for one ship he had lost in the fighting; the Vigilante. He found Nhadas ship among the survivors, along with lieutenant Jenra. Azemirs ship was gone, and all that remained of Karatis Relentless was its escape pod. Beyond that, of the ninety two ships that had engaged in the battle, fourty two remained, mostly battered wrecks. Of the nine pilots - including Lysaeun and his two comrades - who had formed the hunter-killer group, Lysaeun was almost surprised to see that all remained, and not in too bad of a state.
Pretty good fight. Close... murmured the pilot of the Eudaemon.
Indeed, Lysaeun said. It could have been closer, but it will be some time before the Conclaves fleets can fight again.
Over the next three days, Histiri Station was captured and repaired to its former status. Its resource stockpiles were put to use, and its shipyards activated as soon as possible to restore the damaged fleets. When news of the victory reached Hrinix, and the Conclave were able to send an official emissary there, the systems government was quick to accept a unification with the Conclave. Decades of war and strife in this region were over. Light years away, on Obutes, the Federal Directorate began to feel the pressure of its own citizens. Now that the war was over, and not by the Directorates ships, the Directorate began to suffer the consequences of its tyranny. Soon, the planet would have to be liberated from its previous dictators.
(- Source: Halls of the Conclave, Alpha Nexus, Vardamaught, Kayia; South Tip Conclave -)
(- Recipient(s): High Council, Mira; Miranu Star League -)
(- Priority: 2 -)
Trademaster Corzun Dah,
The battle is over. The government of Hrinix will shortly be forging with our own, and Histiri Station is under our command. Your ships may now come.
(- end transmission -)
(- Source: Halls of the Cocnlave, Alpha Nexus, Vardamaught, Kayia; South Tip Conclave -)
(- Recipient(s): House of Electives, Tibidat; Strandless Redemption League -)
The renegades of Histiri Station have been annihilated. Once we have had time to recover and address our current situation, we will send an emissary to Tibidat.
Regards,
The Conclave
(- end transmission -)
Conclave Shipyards
4 Crescent fighters constructed, 2 Aradas constructed. (4/12/02 construction)
Histiri Station had a production of one Crescent warship, three Aradas, and two Crescent fighters per day. The shipyards werent directly hit - just the hangars - so they are unaffected. The stations production is restated as shown below:
1 Crescent Warship, 3 Aradas and 2 Crescent Fighter /day becomes -->
2 Laziras, 3 Aradas and 4 Crescent Fighters /day
The Arada count remains the same, while two of the fighters that would have been included in the warship go to the fighter production, and the rest of the resources that would have made the Crescent Warship are used to produce two Laziras.
The shipyards in the Hrinix system will provide 2 Crescent fighters in additional production.
Effective as of tomorrow, my production is: 2 Laziras, 5 Aradas and 10 Crescent fighters.
23 Crescent fighters, 22 Aradas destroyed in Mavs, fighting South Tip Renegades
Fleet Status: 39 Crescent fighters, 14 Aradas in total. 25 Crescent fighters and 7 Aradas in Mavs on patrol, standby or in for repairs. 10 Crescent fighters and 5 Aradas en route to Bakoom. 4 Crescent fighters and 2 Aradas on patrol or standby in Bakoom.
Battle Status: Battle against the South Tip Renegades (Histiri Station, Mavs.) Battle ended in victory for the South Tip Conclave. Histiri Station has been captured, and is now a Conclave base. Hrinix has unified with the Conclave as a result.
Conclave R &D; Department
Photonic Weapons Project; a major upgrade to phase weaponry, primarily enhancing the reactors and making the laser more efficient, and re-packing it in three outfits: Invigilator cannons, Enforcer cannons, and Slayer batteries.
Begun: 3/11/2002
Completed: 10/12/2002
Conclave Production Line
Nachaurrez; an orbital shipyard facility based in Akrayhek, facilitating the construction of one Lazira and an additional Crescent fighter and Arada per realtime day.
Begun: 30/11/2002
Completed: 5/12/2002
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-Esponer
Am I posting in Just Chat or B&B;? If so, I'm probably joking.
