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The Sedran broke from hyperspace, her hyperdrive finally giving in. The stars of the system seemed a welcome sight to the crew of the ship. They had reached the destination of Ragnorak, hidden some distance and beyond sensor range. The massive city-ship lay within range, and four Zacha aradas came to greet their brethen. They towed her into dock, the Sedran's engines giving out before long. The mighty ship had used the last of her manuverabilty and primary power to make the jump to realspace.
As the Sedran was docked with the Ragnorak, Hawk stood in the bay of the Sedran, saying goodbye to the Zephyr. For many years, the ship had seen nearly four dozen major battles and come through winning. Now the ageing ship was beyond repair; all personal things had been offloaded and the arada was in the process of being stripped of all working parts. With one hand rubbing the ship, he said, "Goodbye old friend."
The Kisani hoisted a bag around his shoulder and disembarked the Sedran. He wounded his way up through the decks of the Ragnorak, a city and civilization upon itself. Four miles long and nearly one mile wide with over four hundered fifty decks, it was home to nearly 500000 people, 300000 of whom were civillians, mostly Miranu and Kisani who objected to the rule of Galactica and were exiled. He was home again, amongst people whom he knew and trusted. But his mind couldn't rest; this now self-proclaimed war on Galactica would be deadly in the most. The Zacha would interact when innocents began to be killed, and now was the time. The Kisani reached his office and threw his bag to a side. He reached his desk and opened a drawer for a data crystal.
Hawk walked over to a console, inserted the datacrystal and said, "Ragnorak, I want a secure link with Kayia. Direct signal through the Five World relay. Contact Thunder, cheif reporter and head of the Galactic News Network. Tell him I have something important to say..."
------------------ (url="http://"http://pub51.ezboard.com/fquillzfrm4.showMessage?topicID=10.topic")A Pilot's memory(/url) "Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of congress. But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain
Ever since the Voinian Empire under the administration of BattleDoctor decided to reopen the Isled Outpost, it has served as a major center for military technological advancement. It has always been home to the most secret and most important government projects.
Today, scientists at Isled are working on a project given top priority by Fleet Command that would attempt to counter the UE's advantage over Galactica ships in terms of speed. the finest shipbuilders and weapon specialists have been gathered together to attempt to create a new class of fighterm and a custom weapon system for it.
The concept is simple: a fast, maneuverable, attack craft that will be able to pack a punch. The craft will carry a small load (maybe 5) of medium yield anti-ship bombs, and no conventional weaponry. The idea is that the ship will be fast and small enough to avoid any weapons targeted at it, and then drop its bombs on a UE capital ship. Then it would utilise its superior speed to get back to its Carrier and rearm.
This project will take quite a while, seeing as the bueprints aren't even drawn up yet.
------------------ (url="http://"http://www.lilly.com")Lilly(/url). Answers That Matter.
Paladin had one thing to do before he went down to the Garland to organise the UE's management. Smiling faintly, he opened hail to Captain Firebird.
-From the bridge of the Garland- -To Captain Firebird-
Captain, we would be happy to offer our services, but from what we have heard the blockade has formed again, and we can't break through yet. We are extremely grateful for the resources you have brought, as it will allow us to work on a small project to help us break through the blockade once and for all.
Also, we would appreciate any help you can offer with getting a message to the Azdgari. The Zacha slipped through the blockade, but we did not get a chance to ask them to do this as Hawk...tested our patience. Please, dock at the Garland and we will have a great meeting.
-----
Paladin switched the comm. link off as two officers entered the bridge, saluting.
"Sir! The landing craft is ready!" one officer said, and Paladin merely nodded, and allowed himself to be taken to the Wyvern which would travel down to the Garland.
-------------------------
The Garland itself was beginning to look functional, at least from a headquarters perspective. The tilt on it that had been there before had been repaired, and many parts had been toned up slightly. Paladin walked along the corridors, directed by Major Mengsk, who led him to the GNN reporters.
Paladin nodded to them civilly. "Greetings. I am Paladin of the....Once the UE. I would gladly accept a meeting and interview, but we have other visitors. I am inviting Rima of the Zidagar and a high ranking officer of the Mercenary Alliance here."
------------------------
-From the Garland- -To Rima of the Zidagar-
The GNN want to talk to us. I would greatly appreciate your presence. They stink of vultures - waiting on the edge of carnage for a good story - a human creature I was always frightened of.
To our honour.
MOD: Asriel, I can't reply to emails. Yes, make a post that you saw the battle, that's fine. Also, I am seriously impressed by your BASE ship. I'd expected to have to moderate on those all the time. If this was a purely webstory board and I was a moderator, you'd just have got karma. Nice work.
Everyone else, nice work. The Azdgari are out of action, but AP failed to tell us...I'll take over their command now, and I suggest Galactica takes in all it's enemies, because the Azdgari need to make some action, and they will do.
SilverDragon One extremely proud webstory designer
------------------ That's all very nice, but where are the guns? - SilverDragon
Early warning sensor ships near the Azdgari border have detected that the Azdgari fleet appears to be on the move once again. Galactica Fleet has sent a force of 1000 ships out of Voinia, under the command of Fleet Admiral Voit, an experienced Igadzra. Voit and his ships have orders to destroy any and all Azdgari ships that attempt to enter Galactica space. The commander formerly in charge of forces around Azdgari space, Rear Admiral Gor, is in command of a reserve force several systems behind the lines.
------------------
The slow, deep voice of an aging Voinian rang out over the comm systems of the over 4,000 ships of the Blockade. "This is High Admiral Hars, Commander of the Galactica Space Navy Blockade in DSN-2791 and DSN-2322. I have just recieved orders from Emperor BattleDoctor that we are to advance, and attack the enemy forces in the system of F-25. The 2 forces are to meet in DSN-4689 and then, assembled together, storm the remnants of the United Earth and the Zidagar."
With that, 4,000 ships vanished into hyperspace towards F-25...
(This message has been edited by BattleDoctor (edited 08-21-2001).)
Alt Ma'ose noticed the immense bulk of the Garland below. He went down to observe it in his Spy Fighter with a squadron of Heavy Fighters behind him.
He also saw a GNN Arada heading toward the Garland, and decided to follow it, to see what it was going to do. The rest of the fleet stayed in orbit of F-25.
================
Another wormhole had been found, which came out at the Gadzair system. The fleet of ten Carriers exited the wormhole into this system and charged their Wormhole Generators. Ten minutes later, they fired them and entered the Grooz system. From there, they went through the systems, toward F-25.
They encountered the Zacha in the Sirabor system...(Whitehawk?)
The Nedra was being designed by a team of ship techs, with Mats at the head. He had been assured a significant promotion for completion of this project. The ship would be armed with multiple NPEs and Flak Turrets. There were no problems yet, but there was time...
RESEARCH CONTINUED Title: Nedra BASE ship Time till completion: 11 posts
------------------ "Why should I boast? The bards will do it for me -- and with music." --Ertai, wizard adept
With a blinding flash of light the 2 divisions of the blockade left hyperspace and met in the DSN-4689.
"Sir, should we send a warning to any GNN or civilian ships that might be in the system?" inquired the comm officer.
"Negative, Lieutenant. We can't let anything spoil the element of surprise." ordered High Admiral Hars.
"All ships are assembled, sir, and weapons are armed. Commence jump?"
"Go ahead."
The next instant, the ships were speeding towards F-25
OOC: Shall I do this, SilverDragon, or should you?
The message that Hawk sent was sent through five different relays of five different worlds. As such if anyone did manage to intercept it, it would go on its way and yet still be untraced to the Ragnorak. Such procedures had been used by many space-faring people for centuries, mostly by the Igadzra before Galactica took over.
The message appeared as Thunder cheked his messages. Hawks face appeared on the screen and started talking. Greetings, Mr. Thunder. By the time you recieve this message, I will most likely be gone from Ragnorak. Ever since my declariton, I have not seemed popular, but I ask a favor of you. GNN has resources that the Zacha Council doesnt; you can check through old databases that date back centuries if need be. What I ask of you is something that comes from my past; years before I joined bacame Zachit, I was a renegade. One day I raided a pair of freighters belonging to United Earth civillians; I took their cargo and what fuel I could, and made sure that they were still safe.
Those ships were perfectly fine save for their drives and the ability to manuver and meager weapons; life support, enviromental controls, everything else. No hull breached were formed and the system was devoid of asteroids at that location; I even made sure their sheild grid was working before I left and as I did leave, I sent a distress call to United Earth warships a system out. Three days later, I came by the news that those two frieghters were dound floating dead in space with all one hundered people dead; I used every means I had and found a trail pointing to UE warships having done it. The fact had seemingly been covered up by the government and I wondered why Earth would order the death of one hundered innocent men, women and childeren. As a fact, I need you to find the truth behind this and I implore you to hurry; if Im wrong and you are too late in finding this, then I will have been making a dreadful mistake. Complete with this message is a signal that you can contact me with, but to be used only when you found the data. Also included is 85,000 credits for GNN. Again I ask that you do this and with speed. Hawk Kael out.
Hawk was storming down the corridors, his link on. Hawk to docking bay three. I want a fighter preped for launch, now!
The Kisani wore a white vest over his normal shirt; the vests sleaves were threaded with strands of golden material, most likely cloth itself. It was the uniform of the Zacha leader, meant for matters of importance. At Hawks side was a blast staff, right now in its rod-like form. On his other hip was a whitefire blaster, a rather good weapon in hand-to-hand combat. Hawk was up to something, but none dare to ask him; it wasnt wise to upset the Kisani Zacha while he was in his current mood.
Hawk reached docking bay three and with but a simple motion from one of the hands, reached the requested ship. He entered fighter and closed the hacth, heading to the cockpit. It was smaller than the Zephyr and the controls were manual and consoled, but to the Kisani, it was a capable craft. He innitated the standard procedures for take off and the slanted docking point opened. The fighter zoomed down and out; as it got out far enough it spined in a 360 roll.
Hawk was going back to F-25 to make things right. He had left things to the Council and Captain Gerrad to look after the Ragnorak. The future of the Zacha might change drasticly with the decisive mission that Hawk Kael would be carrying out. The fighter opened a jump point and was gone.
A jump point opened in Emalghia. From it leapt a Zacha Echo Destroyer bearing the marks of peace. The ship was armed to the fullest and had but one mission. A com channel opened to the headquarters of the Mercenary Guild headquarters.
This is the destroyer Aken out of Ragnorak. Weve come on behalf of the Zacha and we bear gifts. Our cargo bays are overflowing with materials; we also have a chip containing 40 million credits for use by the Mercenary Guild. We offer as well the Aken herself, to be put under the command of Captain Carnotaur himself.
"Sir -" a security officer said to Thunder - "we have reports that one of our Aradas has broken through the Galactica blockade and headed for F-25 - in full violation of GNN regulations."
Thunder muttered a Kayan explative under his breath. "Which one?"
"Reporter 5. The captain is Captain Keshane, one of the newer additions to our team."
"We only have fifty aradas in our fleet - he'd better bring this one back in one piece. And he can expect a major reprimand when he gets back."
"We're trying to get a communication to him, but even our communication transmissions are having trouble cutting through the nebula," a technition added. "By the way, we've got a message from a Kisani by the name of Hawk - he says he has something important to say."
"I'll take care of it immediately, Thunder said, heading across the hall to the nearest comm terminal, and opening a secure link to Hawk's reply address.
Message to Hawk, encryption active Greetings, Captain Hawk, and thank you for your message. The GNN is certainly open to broadcasting a statment you could prepare, if that's what you have in mind. I've included my personal comm frequency in this message, contact me and we can speak further. If you'd rather, we already have two of our vessels in the vicinity of the Zacha city-ship Ragnarok, and they could perform any kind of transmission if that will suffice.
-Thunder, GNN head and chief reporter
End Message
------------------ Ad Astra Per Aspera - "A rough road leads to the stars"
Esponer can't access the boards right now, and he tells me this post is time-sensitive, so as the co-moderator of this story he's asked me to post it for him. Here goes...
On a night like any other, with the UE and Zidagar forces either docked or making slow patrols around the system now affectionately known as F-25, all hell broke loose as thousands of Galactica warships appeared from nowhere, weapons charged.
Like death descending upon unsuspecting victims, the force made their way forward, and their opposition could do nothing but strive to meet them...
------- Paladin was the only United Earth officer present who didn't swear at receiving the message. He was just silent.
The GNN reporter looked at him curiously. "What's happened?" he asked, in such a sickeningly curious way that Paladin wanted to throttle him.
Paladin sighed. "We're dead," he stated bluntly, and swiftly left the room, leaving the GNN reporter and Captain Firebird wondering. Firebird had the intuition to get up and go, as did the rest of the UE officials.
-------
Paladin walked onto the bridge of the Renzokuken only a few minutes later. The Renzokuken was already in the process of lifting off from the Garland by the time he reached the dull, lifeless bridge. All the people were there, but their faces were bland. Paladin was all out of ideas...save one.
As the Renzokuken made it's way up out of the atmosphere of F-25, Paladin could see thousands of ships clawing in the air, laser blasts streaming across the sky. From here, they were like insects. He looked around him, across the surface of F-25, from the great viewscreen. UE and Zidagar ships were struggling to come up in time to meet the threat. Since the main battle with the blockade had been so recent, no-one had thought to prepare advanced scout networks, and any minor scouts had obviously been obliterated before a signal could be sent.
"The time for truth is upon us," Paladin muttered under his breath, and he looked around the bridge. No-one seemed to have any life in them. Paladin thought about trying to cheer them up, and then decided against it. They all knew what would happen...
...and Paladin couldn't lie to them, not like this.
So many flies, he thought, as the Renzokuken ascended higher, finally leaving the atmosphere. Strange to think that ships that appeared so small could be so impossibly powerful, and many dwarfed the Renzokuken.
"Stat!" Paladin said perhaps too sharply, and one officer, his face greyer than Paladin had thought possible in a human, turned round quickly, glaring. Paladin realised that with the odds on their hands, mutiny was to be expected.
The statistical officer, as he was, remained silent other than muttering to himself quietly.
Paladin nodded to himself, and looked around the bridge. He prayed that every other Dragon wasn't in such a bad state. Every face looked grey, and Paladin could sense on their minds thoughts they wouldn't have considered otherwise.
It was then, as Paladin was wondering whether to call out for stat again, when the door to the bridge opened.
Paladin knew what awaited him from behind, could sense the phase rifles, and his heart beat faster. He had been a brawler as a child - strange that he had grown up this way, he had often wondered - and thus he was perfectly at home with this situation, despite not being in it for nearly thirty years.
A word began to form from behind, but Paladin didn't give the word time to fully ring. He twirled, and within a second he had his own firearm in hand. Two men crowded at the doorway, both with phase rifles in hand, aimed at Paladin. They hadn't expected reactions so fast, though.
Paladin fired, shooting one of them between the eyes. He then dived to his right, for only one reason, that the officer to his right was one he trusted slightly more than the one to his left. Two phase blasts narrowly missed him, and a third took him on the shoulder.
The officer, the one who was on his left, a cocky young man called Saiyon, was standing with a phase rifle in hand, in a suicidal shootout with almost everyone else on the bridge. Half a dozen blasts took him, and he fell. Paladin cursed himself for the years of not really trusting him as he watched Saiyon collapse to the ground, blood spilling out onto the consoles. In a second Paladin was back up to his feet with his firearm, but it was over. His chief engineer, a woman with black hair streaked with white, named Alysia, was holding a large plasma discharger in hand, and had literally exploded the remaining mutineers.
He glanced at Alysia, who was stained in blood.
Alysia shrugged. "I was shot," she states simply. "That's all for the mutineers, I know for a fact. The other officers are all on vital engineering work, I'm sorry to say. You can take the bridge yourself, sir?"
Paladin nodded. "Yes, I can..."
Alysia turned to go with a formal nod.
"...Alysia?" Paladin asked, his voice shaking.
Alysia turned. "Yes?"
Paladin simply muttering, "thank you."
Alysia just nodded. "Not for you, for everyone else," and left the bridge.
Paladin sighed, and putting his firearm down he took the Renzokuken's controls.
Ships buzzed across the sky. The UE and Zidagar had the home field advantage, and their ships were more advanced, but that still didn't mean they had much chance. Galactica's vessels were all ready and prepared, but the UE and Zidagar vessels were all battered, many with insufficient energy supplies.
An already damaged Dragon went down from a pair of Galactica Fighters, the explosion blasting one of them apart, and the second was taken in by a squadron of Wyverns. The squadron then moved on to fight with a Galactica Cruiser, winning but taking severe losses, and was pulled down eventually by the joint effort of a Galactica Dreadnought and a Carrier.
The battle didn't go on long before Paladin opened a message to all non-UE allies.
-From the bridge of the Renzokuken- -To the Zidagar, Mercenary Alliance, GNN-
Escape. Let the UE have their moment of glory. Just remember, Galactica won't be defeaten if we all lose here.
-From the bridge of the Renzokuken- -Private message to Rima-
I've known you for many years, friend, and I think it's time to say goodbye. I won't ask you to defeat Galactica, lest that not be possible.
Survive, Rima, survive, and prosper.
Paladin out.
-From the bridge of the Renzokuken- -Private message to Carnotaur-
If you'd let me die, things would be different. Just...let me die this time.
Goodbye, old boy.
...and thus the UE await the actions of the other forces...
================================================================= Invaders of the Stars
On that same night, a vessel swept into a system not far from F-25. The vessel was dark, sleek, and deadly.
The vessel belonged to a race known as the Prylak. Years of work had finally resulted in opening a portal to this galaxy, and now the Prylak would begin the same chaotic reign that they held in their first galaxy, where they had sent the Odine scurrying away.
The vessel was met by a Galactica frigate, which was destroyed within mere seconds.
The vessel glided out of the system, through a wormhole that was only present when the Prylak ships activated it.
The vessel began the journey back to Prylak space, to inform the others that this galaxy was ripe for invasion...
(thus Gwydion can post now)
Scorcher, which was in his personal ship the Hidden Dragon, looked on with astonishment at the Zacha's offer. He sent a hail back. "We greatfully accept your offer, and hope that we may continue to be strong allies in the future."
While two Ravens towed the Echo Destroyer into a shipyard to be analyzed, Scorcher reported what had happened to Carnotaur. It was then when he learned of what was happening in F-25 and that Captain Firebird reported that his force would have to escape, and was already on their way out of F-25, along with a UE Dragon that had decided to come along with them, first to just escape destruction, and secondly to honor the agreement that the UE would help the MA to design their Aurora Battleship.
Carnotaur then sighed and spoke to Scorcher again. "I can't just leave him there to die. What if we cut off the jumplinks to F-25?"
"Maybe," Scorcher replied, "but how would we do to get back there when the Galactica are destroyed?"
Carnotaur thought again. "A sub-space inhibitor that can be turned on and off whenever we want. Begin researching the technology at once."
"Sure thing Carno," Scorcher replied.
-------------
RESEARCH PROJECT Title: OmegaCon Project Subject: Aurora Battleship Time Till Completion: 7 Posts (time was slightly reduced due to increased funds provided by the Zacha)
RESEARCH PROJECT INITIATED Title: Sub-Space Inhibitor Time Till Completion: 6 posts
------------------ If at first you don't succeed...Hit it harder! - Me -------------- Millennium. Its coming, prepare for it. Coming to the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiaSW.com/games/ev/chronicles.html")EV Chronicles(/url).
As he watched the incredible battle in from far out in the DSN-6160 system, Admiral Ma'ose knew that there was really nothing to do to help the UE. He had an idea, however. All 100 Phantom Spy Fighters were sent out to go near the battle. This move would hurt both sides, but as Galactica had more ships, it would hurt them more. The Spy Fighters chose positions of mostly Galactica warships.
The Gamma Field Inducers charged, then fired. The Phantoms then retreated. Hundreds of warships suddenly went spinning off course, wondering what had happened...
The Carrier fleet went screaming towards F-25. They were now in the Namer system. Admiral Tasina decided to use the Wormhole Generators again. They were soon in the Dislor system, continuing toward the battle...
RESEARCH CONTINUED Title: Nedra BASE ship Time till completion: 10 posts
High Admiral Hars watched from the bridge of his personal command ship, the G.S.S. Redmeption, as another Dragon was ripped apart by Inferno fire as a squad of frigates rocketed past.
He chuckled to himself and quietly said, to nobody in particular, "We've done it again..." Then he raised his voice aand yelled out, "Fleet status report!"
"Losses are within what tacticians predicted. The UE and Zidagar forces are dropping like flies, give the Fleet a few more hours and the system will be ours. There was a slight problem with some of the fleet's control system, but apparently the UE and Zidagar were hit by whatever caused it as well. Nothing to worry about." reported a crewmember.
"Good, good" replied Hars. "I don't think we truly need to drag this on any longer, open a channel to the opposing fleet."
(Message, no enccryption) To: UE and Zidagar fleets From: High Admiral Hars, Commander-in-chief of the 3rd Galactica Fleet
Surrender immediately to my Fleet or I will be forced to destroy you. The choice is yours.
(End message)
The Galactica fleet was crushing the UE. Ma'ose decided that it was time to leave. The wormhole generators were charged. Minutes later, they were activated, and the fleet passed into the DSN-2322 system, then jumped into the DSN-1412 system, waiting for the Carriers...
============
Using a combination of hyperjumps and wormholes, the Carriers managed to reach the DSN-1412 system, where the warfleet was loaded onto six Carriers. The fleet then re-entered the DSN-6160 system, to find the UE almost defeated...
============ OOC: Sorry if I'm moving too fast, I just had to get my fleets together.
RESEARCH CONTINUED Title: Nedra BASE ship Time till completion: 9 posts
As the battle raged on at F-25, a surprise in the form of several jump points opened. From these points jumped nearly twenty blue aradas and fifteen silver-white ships. When Hawk Kael had ordered a certain Echo destroyer to change course to help the UE and Zidagar forces with supplies, that ship had been the flag ship for Battlegroup Dreden...the most advanced fleet in the Zacha fleets. Hawk may have led the Zacha for a mere decade, but he had seen almost a century of battles and raids. He knew when to wacth allies and enimies; it was fortunate that the Kisani leader hadnt declared war on the UE. With that in mind, to send Battlegroup Dreden was high praise, even from Hawk Kael.
The destroyers themselves were the most advanced of their class, having been specially designed. They each had two alternitive power supports, and as such were armed with seven whitefire arrays instead of three. In addition to this, the destroyers were armed with the latest SAD weaponry...as well as eight shock mines. Sensor cloaks and enhanced shielding and hull armour made it more durable, and enhancements to speed and manuverablity made them espcially devious in battle. The aradas themselves were armed with a bristly array of four whitefire cannons, pursuit missiles, and four shock mines. They had similar enhancements like the destroyers as well. The three Zacha fighters aboard each of the destroyers bore two whitefire cannons, pursuit missiles, and two shock mines, as well as the enhancements in speed, maneuverability, shields, sensor cloaks, and hull armour. No other ship in the Zachit fleets bore anything quite like this, and never would. The cost in resources alone had been staggering.
At the head of the fleet, the flagship Earths Pride, sent a hail to every battling ship. The captain of the vessel, also a fleet commander, was a Earthborn human named John, spoke from his command chair. To all Galactica ships, this is Zachit Fleet Commander John Hunt, commander of Battlegroup Dreden. The Zacha Council does not recognize the legality of the blockade and assault of F-25. Under the laws of the Charter of Mira, signed five years ago, you are ordered to cease all hostile actions and power down weapons and shields. If you fail to do this, then under the same Charter, to which your Emporer BattleDoctor himself signed, I will be forced to open fire on all ships, using any and all means necessary.
When no response came, John sighed and closed the link. He opened another, this time to the Zacha ships, and he ordered them to have at it. The fighters deployed from the destroyers, and twelve of them and ten of the aradas went in, cannons blazing and missiles launching. Granted they couldnt do much damage against literly thousands of ships, but they chose their targets very carefully, and the shock mines were deployed. The mines rushed through and massive amounts of damage was done.
Then the much of the rest came in, weapons blazing...
Fifteen Phantoms exited the Carriers and zoomed towards the Zacha ships. Admiral Ma'ose wanted to get a good look at these. They looked pretty powerful. Close up, the Phantoms could see the whitefire arrays on all of the ships. They looked like no other turrets they had seen before, and were thought to be beam weapons of a sort. These Zacha ships, while spectacularly armed, barely impacted on the battle.
Ma'ose was known to be an excellent tactician, and was not to be questioned in that respect. So when he made the order, it was obeyed, even though some thought it was foolish...
Eight hundred I'ase ships left the docks of the Carriers and flew towards the battle. Only the Admiral, aboard his flagship, the frigate Fireball, knew what exactly they were going to do...
=============
In the I'ase home galaxy, things were not going well. The Qiy were advancing on Tokiy, and the I'ase had only about 1000 ships to defend with. The Council had voted to change the development of the Nedra. Up to 375,000 colonists who wanted to escape their dying homeworld could go on the monster ship and live there. Senator Vaten had cited the Ragnorak once again as a successful example of this.
The ship would be ready in two months, at which time most members of the Council would depart on it, leaving their battered homeworld behind. Any of the I'ase who wanted to stay, for whatever reason, were welcome to do so, with whatever they owned. The Council would also leave a defense warfleet behind, with adequate piloting. But for most I'ase, it was to be the beginning of a new life in a new galaxy...
RESEARCH CONTINUED Title: Nedra BASE ship Time till completion: 8 posts
(This message has been edited by Lord Asriel (edited 08-21-2001).)
An explosion rocked the bridge of the Redemption as a wing of Zacha ships pulled away from the immense flagship, recharging their weapons. High Admiral Hars decided to sit down as he had twisted his ankle recovering from the last explosion.
"What the hell is going on out there?" he demanded
"The Zacha have arrivedm," The communications officer quickly answered, "and they're sending us a transmission."
Silence fell over the bridge as they all read the message, broken finally by High Admiral Hars.
"Bah!" exclaimed Hars as he finished watching the message. "Order us to cease fire because of some law? Ha ha ha... This is hilarious. The Emperor's word is law, and he ordered us to do this. Don't bother to respond, lieutenant. Any word yet on the surrender?"
"Not yet, sir."
"Ok, we'll keep fighting in that case. Oh, and order some Cruisers to form up around the Redemption... I'm getting sick of these explosions."
Ships stormed across the skies, numerous weapons firing. Paladin, alone on the bridge of the Renzokuken, could barely take it all in. Zacha vessels had come to the battle, as had mysterious alien fighters he didn't recognise. None of it appeared to make any sense - ships charged back and forth against other ships.
The only thing that was clear cut were the losses. Only a handful of Dragons remained, and the Wyvern count was steadily decreasing. Paladin sent the message again.
-From the bridge of the Renzokuken- -To ALL non-Galactica ships in the system-
This message goes out to the Zidagar, the Zacha, the mysterious aliens who have come to our aid, as well as the GNN.
Get the hell out of here, this instant. Even with every single one of you we cannot defeat Galactica. I'm preparing my Dragons for an assualt on one particularly guarded Galactica vessel - I can but assume this is the lead ship.
Get out of here - now! Live to fight another day, and let the UE go down with glory.
The Mercenary Alliance had left, with a Dragon Paladin had sent, a few hours ago. Paladin only hoped the other ships would leave soon.
Almost a hundred Dragons massed around the Renzokuken at an order. As battered as they were, it was a great force, fully capable of the job Paladin had assigned.
The fleet charged at the heavily guarded Galactica vessel, which was currently finishing off a number of Zacha fighters. Galactica Cruisers exploded under concentrated fire, and a rain of Starlances came down on the ship known as the Redemption. The ship began to buckle under the sheer power, and within a few seconds the Dragons were in range causing heavy damage.
It went quite unnoticed that the Renzokuken had since exploded, and that Paladin was currently in an escape pod that floated back down to the Garland.
The message came again to all allies, and another message went out to Galactica:
-From Paladin- -To Galactica-
The end may be nigh, but surrender we shall not.
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The message itself was only partially the truth, and already one Dragon had surrendered to Galactica, and sat with it's weapons down behind the battle lines.
If Paladin had known that, he would have sworn. A single Dragon is all it would take to give Galactica the technological edge they needed.
If Paladin had known that, all he could have done would to have sat tight and hoped someone else stopped it in time...
Admiral Ma'ose's temper did not noticeably change as he read Paladin's message. He decided to send one back.
-From the bridge of the Fireball- -Private message to Paladin, leader of the UE-
I will have it known right now that we do not condone the actions of the Galactica Empire. If you want us to escape, so be it, and we will, but we will never ally with Galactica.
-----------------------
Ma'ose sadly ordered the ships back into the Carriers' bays, and exited the system, moving towards Sirabor.
RESEARCH CONTINUED Title: Nedra BASE ship Time till completion 7 posts
The Zacha ships recieved the message from Paladin...and shoved it aside. Fighters rushed in to replace fallen ones, and mines were released. Whitefire beams raged against the massive ships of Galactica and a ceratin Redemption was essentially targeted by an Arada, it dodged through weapons fire, taking some damage but rushing into the eye of the maelstorm. The arada releaed her mines...all four of them that went crashing against the shields and hulls with great speed. The arada veered of but was cut down by weapons fire as it turned about.
As the traitorous Dragon gave the surrender and turned about to help the others, a wounded destroyer that was in great disrepair saw a chance. The captain, an Azdgari whos tactics were insane but successful was given an answer from his senior weapons officer. With battle-lust written on his face, the Azdgari said, Auto-destruct engage, Haltin Beta Eight. Arm all remaining six mines and set for time of destruct to explode. Set the SAD modules for the same as well. Helm, give me ramming speed! The destroyer blazed over the battlefield, whitefire beams giving a last mighty blast to any Galactica ship that got in its way. The ship charged into the Dragon, and with great speed, tore through the tratior ships shields and into the hull. At that moment, the plasma core exploded, the remaining SAD modules, fifteen all, and all six remaining mines blew. It was a glorious explosion, one which nothing couldve survived. If that dragon did, it wouldve been better to have gone up as well. It would be beyond any repair and salvaging any technology would be nigh impossible.
An arada was being chased by two Galactica fighters, and was taking damage. The pilot tried every manuver she knew, which was an extensive list, but couldnt shake them. Just when she though her days were numbered by incoming fire, something happened.
The fighters were suddenly hit by whitefire weaponry and pursuit missile ordinacne. Both fighters never expected such an assault and were either disabled or space dust. When the pilot looked to see who her saviour was, she saw a fresh fighter just come from hyperspace. The fighter rushed on down, spinning with great skill and executing manuvers that would take decades alone to master. The fighter released twin shock mines and kept on avoiding weapons fire; its destination was the planet of F-25. The pilot shrugged and went on targeting. There was no doubt as to who that pilot was. Hawk Kael had come to join the fray.
Hawk had seen the explosion of Paladins dragon and knew most certainly where the famed leader would go if he had escaped. In all his decades of battle and raids, he been through a great deal many fights. To mind he called a great deal many sensor tricks which caused him to avoid the weapons fire. He had but one goal in mind.
Before long he reached the inner atmosphere of the planet, and saw an escape pod land from his sensor readings. That would be his goal. The fighters engines glowed brighter then usual as the after burner was flared to life. The fighter headed on down, using many of his tricks to keep hidden from sensors. The Zachit fighter cut speed and landed not far from the Garland and Paladins postion. Slowly the hacth opened up and Hawk stepped out...
3 battered but still fighting Dragons lined up for another run on the Redemption. Two of them managed to fire their Starlances at the Dreadnought, but the lead ship was incinerated in seconds by the Redemption's Fusion beam. A squadron of Wyverns flew in low over the last of the Redemption's escorts and finished it off with a few short buts of cannon fire from each fighter.
The bridge of the Redemption was in chaos. Red lights were flashing, alarms were going off, and several crew members were dead or seriously injured from the explosions.
"Sir, we've got nothing left but a few Pursuit Missiles!" screamed a scared young crewmember, cowering beneath his console. "We should abandon ship immediately!"
High Admiral Hars was silent silent.
"Sir, if we don't bail out now we're all dead!"
The crew member continued to yell and finally broke down into tears. High Admiral Hars muttered a strong Voinian expletive, then reached down and typed a few letters and numbers into a console near his chair.
Ten dragons were clustered around the hulking G.S.S. Redmeption, fighting off a Carrier group that had arrived to try to save their commander. Suddenly, a bliding flash as bright as the sun lit the area. A shockwave rocked the surrounding ships, disabling their sensors for a few seconds. When sensors came back online, and the light subsided, it became apparent that High Admiral Hars had chosen to destroy his own ship with all hands aboard rather than admit defeat. Several Dragons and a few of the Galactica Carriers had been incinerated by the blast, with many more ships on both sides taking damage.