Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 16:09:59 GMT
Zaingraf was a bumbling blue world inhabited by a species that had yet to unlock the secrets of FTL transit. It was wholly beneath the notice od the galactic community. Just another low tech world in a galaxy teeming with them...
Until it wasn't. For Zaingraf was the source of a mysterious signal. A string of a hundred and seventy four letters and numbers that had been broadcast across the Avarian Frontier on FTL comms frequencies uninterrupted for eight days, fourteen hours twenty six minutes thirty two point two seconds before abruptly stopping.
Naturally this raised eyebrows. And with the source of the signal locates just minutes before it stopped, the powers that be were quick to assemble suitable forces and deploy toward Zaingraf.
It seemed an ordinary system upon arrival. There was a star, eight celestial bodies orbiting it and of course Zaingraf itself... which was the immediate oddity.
A pre FTL world should have practically glowed with lights on its dark side, marking the locations of bustling hubs of commerce and culture to make no mention of the radio traffic one should have been able to pick up...
But Zaingraf was dark. Dark and silent.
A small fleet of four sloops was making their way through space, The badger captain looked like he was about to fall asleap in his chair in the flagship. Why is it always him that is sent out to do the boring shit? The resource hunting parties never find anything in this part of space. His first mate stirred him awake. his blind eye snapped open, with agnarly scar down it. "Ship better be on fucking fire, or there better be something interesting." The first mate nodded "Yes." "And I don't mean that fucking weird transmission, seriously, I rather listen to Justin Beiber fart on a snare drum." "No sir, look at the scanner." Both eyes were open now, his good eye looked toward the scanner. "Holy fuck it's sparkilling like a damn disco ball, what is it?" "Apparently something huge, and crystal." the first mate said calmly. "Allright, lets find these crystal balls and find what they are up to." "Aye!" The small fleet spread their wings from their folded state, to glide toward the strange ships that were the object of Brockhall's curiosity. they would be hard to pick up on scans, due to their more magic means of transport rather the traditional engines.
Despite the distance from the source the Signal from Zaingraf did not go unnoticed as it was considered both odd and yet possibly worth investigating given that the civilization was known to be pre-FTL and yet somehow now was transmitting the message using a FTL carrier wave. Though if it was an emergency it could not have come at a worse time as dominion forces were on their way back from the Crucible and Rubikon raids, forces were tied up making sure the Vestahl’s reparations were delivered and then there was the issue of the Vaanitas front. But the latter of those situations, proved to be the one place from which a small task force could be spared to take a look at the Zaingraf situation without compromising the reconnaissance efforts on the Vaanitas front. It wasn’t precisely the best solution, but it was better than the alternative of ignoring the signal outright. By the sixth day of the signal, a taskforce comprised of fifteen primary vessels had been culled from the Vaanitas front, and assembled under the command of Commodore Oluchi E. Seniin. In the same time frame a discussion with the WRL and some level of coordination was agreed upon, at least three WRL nations would definitely be sending assets, though the lukewarm commitment at least in the eyes of the Commodore meant that the Dominion probably would have to pull the weight if things went sour at Zaingraf. By the seventh day the fifteen warships of newly named ‘Taskforce: Rakshasa’ left for their destination. It would be another day and a half before their arrival. The taskforce emerged out of faster-than-light travel ten lightyears off the edge of the Zaingraf solar system’s furthest planet or planetoid in echelon-redoubt formation this formation put the Camden class frigates in position around the cruisers and the single carrier while the taskforce’s three destroyers were positioned so that their screening abilities overlapped eliminating the threat of being flanked. The first order of business at this range was to use the Ocean class Cruisers enhanced sensor equipment to passively scan for anything they could. Information such as evidence of other FTL capable vessels, radio transmissions, abnormal gravimetric anomalies and so on would be looked for.
The FTL signals from Zangraf were almost immediately picked up at Shimmering Veil's many receiver stations and relay stations. High Command was informed, as well as Survey Command. The available data indicated that Zangraf contained one world with a Level 7 civilization-far from the capability of FTL communications in any form. Fleet and Survey Service officers reported the information to Blessed Laenas.
Government Central in the city of Merel-Nyath was a four-sided crystalline pyramid 900 meters on a side. It glowed in multicolored light, constantly shifting hue and pattern. The four entrances, on per facing, were flanked by fountains spraying water thirty feet high. The fountains were lit by multicolored lights that likewise shifted in color.
In her chambers, Laenas stood before the two officers. Her multichromatic aura shifting in synchronization with the lights of the pyramid, and her blond hair blowing as if in a wind. "Blessed Laenas, I have been in communication with Laeneth-Xelas, he feels that the sudden sending of an FTL signal from a Class 7 civilization is a potential threat." Fleet Leader Merelas said. "Or it could be some sort of distress signal from a crashed vessel." Survey Commander Aren-N'Xelet replied.
Laenas was in thought, her aura took on more of a light blue hue and s(he) spoke. "The Fleet and Survey Service are to form Task Force Ain-3. TF Composition will be relayed to you. Command of the Survey Group will be assigned to Squadron Leader Akheret of SVS Investigator , Command of the Combined Combat/Assault Group and Planetary Subjugation Groups will be assigned to Fleet Leader Naelle of SVS Entropy's Caress , Only the Survey Group is to enter the system initially. Combat and Invasion forces will be held in reserve." The two officers saluted and left to carry out their orders.
Zangraf System
Space seemed to shimmer as SVS Investigator phased into normal space-time in the outer portion of the Zangraf system, accompanied by her two escorting destroyers, SVS Starlight and SVS Mist Wraith . Squadron Leader Akheret began a standard passive multispectral scan of the system. His ComScan officer almost immediately spoke up. "Squadron Leader? We are picking up three separate groups of ships. One seems to be AO, the second is Rissalas Dominion. Reading 15 ships. The third... Sir, the other is a group of 4 ships, configuration unknown, Approximate Class 1-2."
Akheret grimaced. "Send Ident-Beacon signals to the AO and Rissala forces. Get me Intership to the unknowns." "Channel open, Sir." Akheret said "Unknown vessels, this is the survey cruiser SVS Investigator of the Anais Unity of the Singers of the Void. We have come to this system in response to an FTL omni-directional signal. Was that signal a distress call sent by one of your vessels, Over."
At first Divine Davia Empire or more exactly the 19th sector command had decided to ignore the seemingly pointless signal. Of course the Davian known full well there was a primitive alien race in Zangraf system but after some vague long range scanning they concluded that the alien race or the system hold little value to the Empire for the times being and better left alone. When the signal was picked up by the Great Bamboo Wall, the Davian still maintained the same viewpoint; they simply didn't care especially after what happened at Vestalh and the following trial. After all, why should they bothered to mess with someone staying far away from their current holding only to risk getting piss on by literally half of the galaxy. Davia have much more problem to deal with at the times. However when the other WRL's members announced their willingness to investigate the system, the Davian relented and agreed to send some forces reluctantly just to honor the alliance. Still, Kia the sector commander didn't like the idea at all and would only approved the operation after a long debating with his staffs and the guarantee of Green that the investigation would worth it.
== Near Zangraf system ==
A Bach Dang class Battlecruiser, a Thang Long class Carrier, two Chuong Duong destroyers and a support ship emerged from their GATEs. These ships would form the vanguard of the Davian taskforce. Upon arriving the ships would quickly noticed they had emerged not far from the Risallas Dominion group and their other ally the Andraken had already entering the high orbit of the planet, they had also noticed the present of several Singers's ships and a few unidentified ships.
The Davian group immediately sent our several signals and messages to the other fleets, firstly to their allies the RD and AO: "Greeting honored allies; Divine Davia Empire taskforce is here for the join investigation."
A message to the Singer: "Greeting honorable Singers of the Void. Fate had brought us together here. We believe you are also here to investigate the system and the strange signal just like us. If it's true then we sincerely request you to co-operation with us in this investigation. It would be the great honor for us to work alongside you here."
And a message to the unknown ships: "Greeting space traveller. We're the taskforce of Divine Davia Empire, we are here to investigate the strange signals. It's our honor to meet you here. Was that you who sent the message? Or just like us you're here to investigate the signal and the system? And if it's at all possible may we ask for your identification?"
As the messages were being sent out the Davian ships floated toward and formed themselves next to the Dominion fleet. They maintained defensive formation, their shields remain raised yet their weapons remained cold. The support ship began to scan the system for anything worthy.
The Cricaen fleet dropped out of FTL at the planet which had been transmitting the signal across the Avarian Frontier. They had brought a fleet that was battle capable not wanting to take the risks of other people which they had yet to discover and meet turn up with their own fleets and this become a full on full scale war between nations.
Sensors went haywire as the fleet arrive “Captain multiple ships are already in the system” The sensors operator shouted. Captain Nicholas Hook was a young Captain recently promoted for his actions he took in the skirmish against Vaanitas when they arrived to this galaxy. “Give me the sizes of these fleets” He ordered the operator as shields were raised and weapons prepared but not shown.
“Sir the fleets that are around here appear to be various in size but we are currently the largest fleet in this system for the moment” The operator told his Captain. Captain Hook raised an eyebrow “What do you mean for the moment?” He asked. “Well sir, there are no Vaanitas ships in this system” He spoke clearly. He nodded “Well hold ground and await to see what happens, remember do not attack unless attacked first” He order his crew and the other ships.
The Cricaen ships held their position around the edge of the system, launching out scouting drones to go and probe and fighters to protect the ships in-case of attack.
The signal from the world had gone through several stages in it’s consideration by the Vaanitas. Initially it was ignored as just another signal. When it persisted, they took notice though they gleaned nothing of it, other than it’s source. Lastly a task force had been assembled under orders to investigate. Much to the amusement or annoyance of the captains of the task force, shortly before they were set to depart the signal ended.
Captain Narika Salri however had continued with her initial mission and her ‘reconnaissance’ force had departed with the promise of reinforcements to follow should it be necessary.
As one the squadron jumped, arriving just within the system.
Immediately sensors blared warnings. “Multiple contacts captain, several fleets throughout the system.” The sensors operator reported.
“Who do we have here?” Salri spoke, looking at the system map with contacts now being displayed.
“Cricaen fleet, Davian fleet, the AO, a fleet who’s signature is similar to the most recent attack and an as of yet unknown fleet. We’re also picking up faint signatures that could potentially be other vessels though we can’t confirm that.” The ensign reported.
Salri smirked. “Contact the fleet, I want support here, now.” She ordered and the signal was sent. “Target primary energy sources within enemy vessels, engage larger targets and fire at will.” She concluded and stood waiting.
Each of the Vaanitas destroyers plugged in firing solutions on the largest power sources they could detect in the Davian and, unknown to them, Risallas vessels and fired. 12 of the torpedo’s left their tubes and jumped, 3 for each Davian ship, exiting FTL in their reactor rooms and detonating. 3 left FTL too early, instead dropping out just outside the Davian shields.
The remaining 24 jumped straight to the Risallas, again targeting their reactors. 4 had targeted the Carrier, 1 exiting too early just outside the ship. The next 12 were targeting the cruiser’s reactors, 4 per cruiser. In each case, one Torpedo miscalculated, 1 even appearing on the other side of the target. The remaining 8 went for the Risallas destroyers, 2 per vessel finding their mark with the other 2 dropping out too late.
Passive scans of the system revealed, in addition to the new arrivals, dozens of small sattelites in stable orbits around Zaingraf. Most of them were of little significance. Broadcast sattelites at a guess, or communications, GPS, a couple spy sattelites... but any closer investigation of the sattelites revealed most of them hadn't seen use in months.
The active scans of Zaingraf itself were more telling. There was life to be certain, but not in the numbers one would expect of a world like this. There should have been billions of people all crammed together into poorly planned cities...
Instead it seemed there were only a few hundred million, scattered in isolated clusters across the planet. As for the signal itself... there was nothing. No sign of the signal, nor of what had caused it. Any hope of a quick answer was quickly dashed. The signal must have originated from somewhere on the planet, and without a continued broadcast it would be near impossible to locate from orbit.
Commander looked at the largest cluster of life forms and pointed to the coordinates. A single escort must go to these coordinates. Once you have make contact with the native life forms have them contact me. The Commander ordered. A single Escort left formation and slowly traveled through the atmosphere. As it began to reach the surface it stopped and began to silently hover in the air. The bottom of the ship opened up and 4,000 large crystals dropped to the surface. Once they landed the large crystals broke open and Soldiers and Legionnaires formed up into a formation. 10 large Tanks dropped to the surface and formed up behind the infantry. The army began marching in unison, strait towards the life forms.
The first mate said "Looks like crystal ships, all of them." Brockhall joked "wheres Zuri when you need her?" the transmission came over the tin horn at the dash. the First Mate put on the headset, as a brass fifties styled microphone came up from the dash. He decided to take the transmission, badgers are known to be touchy sorts, and the wrong words could bring Brockhall's ire. "Greetings, This is First mate Tymbal of the Ophelia. No, we have not sent the message, We are simply a small group scouting for resources, Hopefully by trade. our home planet is very resource bare. Our curiosity was taken by a large crystal ship seeming to answer the call. As for our identification, we are Vita Shetani. Prithee, if things go sour, and there is a fight, would you mind helping us? We are a small fleet of four sloops, without allies we won't stand a chance. It has been an honor to meet you as well. If the strange planet proves friendly, then perhaps we would have a new ally?" The male's tone was very friendly, relieved to see someone that hailed them. " when he heard an irritated growl from the badger beside him. "Excuse me for a moment." Brockhall snarled "Another fleet, a large one, came within range. Weapons bared." The Vita Shetani responded, they'd likely show up better now on scans since each one of them have their own weapons charging up. Tymbal said into the mic "Just a precaution, I assure you. Are the new arrivals, with their weapons bore, allies or foes?" A good reason why he took the coms, he could see Brockhall seething. a pissed off badger was never a good thing, especially for peaceful negotiations. The vita shetani ships Davinci-esque wings started to spread, they were ready to bolt at any moment.
The FTL attack, despite exceptional range did score hits. The small support ship received full hit by the Vannitas's torpedoes and explored violently, only the main SAI of the ship managed to escape destruction. At the same times the two destroyers were also hit badly as the torpedoes basically denoted within their hull. However the 3 torpedoes aiming toward the Battlecruiser existed FTL too early outside the shield and would only heavily weaken its shield, the Battlecarrier which staying behind the other ships remained fully intact.
"Alert! Alert! Vannitas barbarians open fired unprovoked using FTL missiles. Support ship Zangraf S01 destroyed. Main SAI as solve survival."
"Destroyer Zangraf D01 no longer combat worthy, evacuating the crews, salvage mode initiated."
"Destroyer Zangraf D02 lost main reactor 01 and engine 03, propulsion power downed to 75%, ship power downed to 50%. Destroyer Zangraf D02 retiring. Disposing damaged engine, seal off dangerous areas. Initiating auxiliary systems and damage control systems, initiate auxiliary warp engine. Diverting power from one engine to maintain the ship."
"All ships initiate auxiliary warp drive."
The damaged Davian destroyer began to cut off its damaged engines away from the ships as the multi-level damage control systems began to either sealed off damaged section or attempted to repair the damages. Millennia of wars had taught the Davian that FTL alpha strike should be aware off and attacking engines or reactors could be a favorite tactic of some races. Thus the Davian had designed their ships with external, self-powered engines and each of the Davian ships would be equipped with more than just one main reactor. Meanwhile the other totally crippled destroyer began to evacuate its crews and salvage everything worthy using both nano bots and crews.
"This is an act of war. Full combat protocol initiated. Request reinforcement, return fire." Immediately the Davian vanguards sent back distress call back to the imperial holding.
The 2 undamaged Davian ships began to retract their entire arsenal and in an eye's blink the seeming lightly armed Davian ships turned into full warships blitzing with guns and missile launchers.
"Return fire again enemy fleet. FTL missiles locking on targets. Targeting larger ships." The Davian battlecarrier sprayed out 37 missiles which immediately formed into Missile Group 01.
"Missile Group 01 Jump!" A cold mechanical voice announced as 37 Davian missiles engaged their individual warp drives and warped right on top of the Vannitas fleet. The entire 37 missiles re-materialized within the Vannitas fleet from outside the shields if there are shields, outside the hulls or within the ships themselves and denoted as one, engulfing the Vannitas's fleet in superheat plasma from all direction. 10 Davian missiles would aim directly for the Vannitas's largest ship or the battlecruiser respectively while each of the larger Vannitas ships or the destroyers would have 3 missiles to deal with. While some missiles would re-materialize early their individual NAI systems would immediately change their target and guided them toward nearest targets.
The Davian battlecruiser began to launch missiles using all of its capital grade launchers and threw out 500 missiles followed by 63 more missiles from the battlecarrier, the crippled destroyer however remained silent as it still busying to control the damage. While the missiles were being launch, the Davian ships also raised their interdiction fields.
"Davian Air Force deploys. 1st Air division forming for the attack, 2nd Air brigade defenses the ships. Recycle missile launching matrix, missile group 02 forming behind strikecrafts."
The Davian ships launched all of their available strikecrafts into the void. The Carrier deployed its 10000 strikecrafts which quickly formed into 5 groups of 2000 each in front, left, right, above and below the combined Davian fleet while the remaining 1200 strikecrafts from the other ships cycling around ready to defense the fleet from further attack. At the same times more missiles would be launch from the ships and began to form themselves behind the strikecrafts groups.
Meanwhile the Davian decoy systems flicked to life. Across the ships fake signatures emitters began to send out faked signals of the ships while hundreds of decoy drones and spy drones broke away from their stores. The decoy drones then mimicked and attempted to hide the true ships radar, lidar and thermal signatures away while spy drones began to actively scanning the Vannitas ships.
With all the deployment done the Davian ships began to move at full combat speed toward the Dominion's fleet.
Next several messages would be sent toward difference fleets. Firstly toward the Risallas Dominion and Andraken: "Hail honorable allied. The barbarians from the Vannitas Supremacy had cowardly attacked us unprovoked; they had specifically aimed for our harmless civilian ship first hand and brutally slaughtered them. This is an act of war. Divine Davia Empire now considers Vannitas Supremacy as full enemy. Divine Davia Empire Taskforce sincerely request Risallas Dominion and Andraken to honor the alliance and engage these barbarian. Together we can win this."
Another message would be send to the 3 neutral fleets: "The enemies from the Vannitas Supremacy has attacked us unprovoked and specifically targeted our unarmed civilian ship first hand in order to slaughter them. We came for them in peace before and they greeted us with hostility, now they fired at us unprovoked. This is an act of war and we have full right to defense ourselves. To all neutral parties, we sincerely request you all to stay out of harm way; we would only targeting these barbarians alone, we mean no harm to you. Of course any help would be very welcome and we will repay our debt for your assistance generously within our capacity later. Their hostility is harmfully jeopardizing the investigation and their hostile attitude is a danger for us all."
Meanwhile the Davian holding in the Ancerious galaxy would be put on alert. While the official declaration of war would not be declare yet, the Davian Empire from that moment considered itself at war with the Vannitas Supremacy.
“Brace!” Salri shouted as the FTL signatures were detected. Detonations ripped through several decks of the battlecruiser but she held together. The second they were detected the frigates sprung into action, their sole purpose point defence, their CIWS tearing apart almost any missile caught in their fire. Several detonations went off against the hull, burning across the plating and causing damage to the armour, a hull breach or two opening in weaker areas.
One destroyer reported heavy damage and was running on auxiliary systems. No sooner had the squadron recovered from this attack, 50 more signatures appeared around the Vaanitas fleet as their reserves left FTL. Their tactical systems immediately began locking on to hostile targets as they were given data, the larger fleets targeting power greatly enhanced by more powerful sensors.
“This is Commodore Sakir Kadir, of the Vaanitas Supremacy. You Davians not only violate our territory, insult us with your actions and flee like cowards, but you dare to accuse us of being the aggressors in our conflict. You will rue the day you insulted our nation and tried to paint us as the villains.” He growled as he transmitted this system wide. He opened a new channel “Andrakens, your prowess in battle is most impressive as we have seen it first hand. Join with us in defeating these vile cowards.” He spoke before pausing. “I have been authorised to offer our hard light technology to you as an extension of gratitude if you would aid us against the Davian scum” he spoke.
Salri handed command over to Kadir who immediately retargeted the Davians using the more powerful sensors of his larger fleet and dreadnought.
“Davian’s, I commit you to the Void.” He growled and the fleets combined torpedo arsenal fired.
694 torpedoes left their tubes and jumped together, appearing at the edge of Davian interdiction and proceeding on at .9c towards their targets.
Once the torpedoes we’re away and confirmed to be out of range Kadir raised interdiction in a 0.5 AU radius around his fleet as a further precaution.
The badger, biting at the bit to join in on the fray, stepped back to think. He was missing out on some information here. "Hold your fire, We will attempt to listen in on as many coms as we can to get the full picture of what is going on. Keep at full wing, we may need to FTL the fuck out of here. Full charge shields." hard truth was, there were only four sloops, and they knew that they would be at a tactical advantage. A golden opportunity could turn into iron pyrate, if they side with the wrong side, and Vita Shetani would be left like lambs to the wolves. Yet if they side with the right ones, they would have some very powerful allies. The First mate asked "Brockhall, and if a stray shot hits us?" "Then we have decided our side in the battle. Time to test the new runes." The four ships runes along the side would flash at first as the magicly charged shields covered each with a luminescent, transparent, cocoon.
Akheret listened to the Davian broadcast. "ComScan, open Intership." and then sent to the Davian fleet. "Acknowledged, Davian Commander. We would be willing to assist in this investigation. Be aware there are 3 unknown squadrons in system, Over."
As Akheret finished speaking ComScan announced ""Transposition missile launches detected from unknown fleet bearing Bith-axis 315 degrees, range approximately 5 light minutes. 36 contacts, we are not targeted. 12 missiles headed for the Davian detachment, 24 for the Rissala force." Investigator's ComScan officer stated into his throat mic. "Reality Stabilizer to interdiction mode, immediate activation. Full phase shields on all vessels!" Squadron Leader Akheret shouted. "Combat Systems: Standby on DisCon interceptors and point defense arrays. ComScan, keep me informed of any further hostile action by any and all parties. SenCore, link with ComScan and Combat Systems to coordinate detection and defense response if we are engaged."
Section Leader Nerelas, the Combat Systems officer replied "Squadron Leader, should I arm the neutralino axial or quantum launchers? "Negative, Nerelas. We do not know the motivation of the attackers yet. Be ready to go to full combat state at my command though." "Squadron Leader! Davians launching attack craft! Approximately 10,000 in number. Also have more Transposition missile launches-from the Davian fleet, 37 contacts targeting the unknown aggressors." ComScan reported. "Another 563 missiles orbiting Davian fleet. Likely seekers, Squadron Leader."
"This is getting heavy. Might be time to signal-" Akheret started to say as he was interrupted by "694 Transposition missiles launched by aggressor unknowns at Davian fleet. Also picking up technomantic energy signatures from second unknown force!" Akheret sighed. "ComScan, get me Fleet Leader Naelle on Entropy's Caress ."
The command center holotank lit, displaying the androgynous albino form of Fleet Leader Naelle. The only part of him not ghostly white was the blacklight glow of his eyes, marking him as on a Path of Transcendence. His long hair fell to his waist, masked mostly by his command chair. "What do you have to report, Squadron Leader?" Akheret saluted and replied "Multiple transposition missile launches between a Davian and an unknown fleet. Unknown fleet were the aggressors. A second unknown force is radiating a technomantic energy pattern of some sort. No classification currently available." Naelle's image scowled. "Do you wish us to reinforce you, Squadron Leader?" Akheret thought and then said "Not at this time, Fleet Leader." Naelle nodded. "We will synchronize phase drives to prepare for transition if you call. Interdiction status in system?"
Akheret spoke "ComScan? Interdiction status?" After a few moments ComScan reported back "Multiple interdiction fields coming up from all fleets." Akheret looked at Naelle "We will shift our stabilizers for your arrival if needed, Fleet Leader." Naelle just nodded again. Hallowed are the Anais Twins." He said before dropping the connection. "Now for the moment we enjoy the show." Akheret said with a smile.
Captain Hook looked out as the long range scanners and sensors went crazy as 50 more Vaanitas ships arrived in system. “Jesus Christ that was unexpected” Hook said standing and looking out at the fleet.
“Sir what do we do now” His 1st Lieutenant spoke, looking slightly alarmed at the arrival. “First Deployment?” He asked the Lieutenant. “Aye sir” He replied nervously. “And what were you doing before this deployment?” He asked trying to make him remain calm. “I was out on the trap sir” He said. Nicholas chuckled “We will make it through this and you will get back to her if you were successful” He laughed as the transmissions came through.
Captain Hook let out a low growl, “We will speak to these DDE first” He spoke. The Comms officer set up the link and then gave his Captain the thumbs up that the link was established.
He cleared his throat “To the Davian Divine Empire, this is Captain Nicholas Hook of the Cricaen Kingdom, what you are suggesting is preposterous, you claim that the Vaanitas Supremacy are barbarians but they are in fact brave and honourable warriors, we know this from first-hand experience to claim this is an act of cowardice. Then to offer payment to open fire on them, it makes me sick, we would never break our cease fire that we have with them for payment. So you now have our answer to your plea for help” He spoke before the link was cut.
A link was opened to the Vaanitas Fleet. “Commodore Kadir, this is Captain Nicholas Hook of the Cricaen Kingdom fleet. I know what our Empires have is not an Alliance but only a cease fire, but we trust you enough to believe these claims of cowardice from the DDE, so we have decided to help you” The Cricaen Captain informed the Vaanitas Commodore.
At his words of help to the Commodore the weapons were extended from the hull and the armoured plates retracted to expose the banks of missiles which took a moment for targeting to a acquire the DDE fleet whilst the large main batteries were traversed onto target. “FIRE” Hook shouted and the fleets guns open fired and 1900 missiles left their banks and began screaming towards the DDE fleet
The Dominion taskforce had only just begun to move under sub-light power when sensors detected the other groups of vessels in system. While the taskforce was scanning Zaingaf itself passively the general area outside of the ninety degrees that comprised the area that the planet and its gravity shadow occupied the first of the communications came in. It seemed that the Singers of the Void, Davian Empire, Andrakens and at least two other unknown contacts were present. The first order of business was to send confirmation communications to the Davians and the Andrakens and then a simple galactic standard greeting to the two unknown contacts simply to indicate who the Dominion was and that simply they were not hostile and were investigating the strange signal also. Commodore Oluchi ordered a communications line opened to the Singers of the Void contact, at first text. "Greetings, it's been a while since our people have crossed paths. It may be wise if we share notes on what we find here today as the signal.." The Commodore didn't get to finish the statement as one of the sensor technicians cut him off "Sir I am detecting a detachment of Vaanitas Supremacy vessels...they're firing on us!" In those few split seconds before the salvo of torpedoes arrived Commodore Oluchi was only able to issue one order, "All elements of task force, brace for multiple impacts!"
Just a few seconds later the first of the plasma torpedoes that were off target but close enough to proximity detonate went off in spherical blast radii imparting extreme heat and concussive force and of course blinding light. But this was not all detonations to the side and rear of the formation indicated misses and then, the hits were a differing matter entirely. By some aspect of luck perhaps, only four of the torpedoes found their mark. One such torpedo materialized within a dropship's primary loading bay on the starboard side of one ocean class cruiser. It was common practice to use an auxiliary power unit to over-charge the battery banks of dropships before a launch and as such the energy signature that the torpedo homed in on wasn't the ships reactors. The torpedo exploded taking out the dropship and the one next to it while deforming the launch well on the other side. A second torpedo, drawn to the auxiliary power unit located within the portside shuttle bays materialized right next to the feeder system and detonated with enough force to blow all six bay doors clean out of the ship the staff present were of course vaporized and the craft were effectively lost or smashed and tossed out the side of the ship. The last two torpedoes however, materialized as planned within the Taskforce's carrier. The first materialized in a stern cargo bay two decks above the intended target of the ship's reactors. The detonation of the torpedo was sufficient enough to smash the roof of the cargo pay upwards into the next deck and the floor down into one of the stern reactor rooms effectively destroying a bank of four ambient temperature reactors. The other torpedo materialized slightly off target, arriving in a mess hall in the stern of the vessel. Although the mess hall was largely empty as breakfast had stopped being served two hours ago the blast killed the staff present and anyone unfortunate enough to be in the hall, adjacent rooms and on the decks directly above and below. The target of the attack however was left largely untouched as the torpedo arrived too far to the stern and its detonation missed the reactor room by just twelve meters.
As such, the Three stricken vessels in the Dominion task force staggered their illumination flickering as their propulsion systems stuttered for long enough for the ships to start to veer off course by upwards of eight degrees before regaining balanced sub-light propulsion. The Dominion vessels who were not internally hit had largely superficial damage, as the proximity detonations were not powerful enough to overcome the Altradium composites in the hull plating, though clearly some areas were glowing brightly as heat bled off into space. The stricken vessels managed to get off with light damage, though in the case of the Neosho the loss of four ATR's would hamper normal operations as the captain of the ship would have to be careful about losing more. As soon as the initial and secondary explosions and after effects of the attack cleared, Commodore Oluchi looked at the holographic display regarding his force's status, the Vaanitas had drawn blood but again they had underestimated the resilience of Dominion engineering and seemed to over-estimate the effectiveness of their weapons at range. He looked to the staff at the communications station off to his left.
"Open a channel to all task force assets, tell them to tamp down their damages and get moving." Commodore Oluchi used the holographic display to indicate a rapid change of course without change of formation towards the nearest planet (Pud) which would put the fleet in the gravity and mass shadow of the planet and undoubtedly take the Dominion assets completely off the Vaanitas's sensors. "All vessels are to engage primary interdiction fields, I want all Hudsons launched... it looks like the Davians have been hit too, Send priority message number seven to OpCon.” As the Dominion’s interdiction screens flared to life denying FTL transit in an area approximately 2.2 astronomical units on center relative to the Burlington class vessel. The Burlington turned with the fleet and once it was able to orient itself enough to mask it’s launch of the Hudson class corvettes using sensor shadows and the movement of the fleet at best speed into the shadow of the nearby planet. Even as the twenty-five ships of the task force moved into a ‘covered position’ their point defense was active and would pick off any further stray hostile missiles crossing the distance.
The Commander of the Andraken Frigate heard his allies call for help, and the communique from the Vaanitas. It sent the Vaanitas offer to the higher ups and awaited their answer. Once it got it the Commander followed its orders. The Andraken fleet moved towards the WRL members. It had also received information that the reserve fleet would be moving up to support them.
Rissalas Dominion ships, drop interdiction so we may form up with you. From there we will help you fight the Vaanitas. The Commander sent. All the while shields were raised and weapon systems were brought online. Star Fighters were awoken and awaited their launch.
When the communication came in from the Andrakens, Commodore Oluchi viewed it incredulously as it utterly made no sense. A quick glance at the holographic displays in the CIC indicated that the Andrakens were more than four astronomical units outside of the Dominion’s Interdiction fields. Even the most rudimentary sensors could tell that the Andrakens were not subject to anyone’s interdiction given size of the battle area. Beyond this the request was quite ridiculous, since it was also clear that between the Davians, the Vaanitas and whomever their new ally was a whole lot of faster than light propelled ordinance was being fired. To turn off interdiction now would leave the Dominion’s taskforce open to further attacks in a battle where the odds had clearly shifted towards the Vaanitas’s favor. In of that the Commodore chose quite intentionally to ignore the message from the Andrakens, since it was not relevant to the situation. Seconds after the Dominion taskforce moved into the gravity shadow of the planet (this PUDs for you!) an encrypted message from Fleet command arrived with explicit orders. The recon taskforce was to withdraw immediately as no assets were available for relief and by Staff Admiral Folami’s own words in the message; ‘We can’t get to you and we also cant afford to lose a recon taskforce in a battle near a solar system of no tactical value, withdraw immediately.’ There was no reason to disagree since the the odds were terrible, and with the probability of varied forces arriving to support the existing known combatants, the Dominion reconnaissance group would not be able to remain for very long. With the situation displayed on the holographic displays in the Command Information Center Commodore Oluchi imputed a set of maneuvering orders which retained the interdiction, but maneuvered the fleet in a wide ‘half-eight’ maneuver at the fastest sub-light speed that the slowest of the vessels could maintain. This kept the group in the shadow of the nearby planet and its gravity shadow would play heck with anyone trying to apply FTL weapons or use FTL to get closer to the Dominion assets. Effectively the Dominion force would put most of an astronomical unit worth of distance on the Davians, Ancient Empire and the other belligerents with their maneuvers.
Just as the remaining 2 Davian ships and their entourages reach the shadow of Toculi gas giant. Hundreds of FTL signature suddenly arrived as the rest of the task force 9 in total arrived accompanied by no less than 900 spy and decoy drones and 32400 strike crafts. The Davian drones arrived in extremely wide formation while the ships themselves joined the vanguards behind the giant shadow of the gas giant.
Sinners of Davia. You are already death. The empire was doomed in this merciless galaxy because of your sin. The Empire has never been humiliated like this since the Great Sunder. You were not ordered to fight here, you were ordered to die, by the times it take for you to die, more forces would be assembled. Die a good death or risk being humiliated further by aliens. May the empire preserve your souls."
A message would be sent to both the remaining ships in Zangraf and to the rest of the taskforce. With just 3 ships the taskforce itself has no hope to survive yet survival was not an option here in Zangraf. The entire taskforce was made up of those who survived in Vestalh and Askandar. The events at these places impacted the sector and the empire as a whole extremely hard, the soldiers who fought there were hit most by these and the following events. Thus, to prevent foolish actions or mass suicide among these troops, the sector's command had decided to form them into Doomed Guards units. The first of its kind since the Great Sunder. The Doomed Guards were completely expendable, formed from sinners whose job was to fight brilliantly and die heroically again unbelievable odds. Yet according to the ancient texts the Doomed Guards were in fact pseudo volunteered units, sinners who sentenced to death or those who see themselves as committed unredeemable crimes again the Empire can choose to fight in Doomed Guards to atone themselves upon death or if they survive the battle.
"Order acknowledged. Taskforce request further reinforcement. We will hold the field till the last drop of our blood. Sinners, we are to join our comrades soon. What's the situation?"
"Vannitas and Cricaen missiles incoming."
"Ships won't survive. Full evacuate. Zero in all missiles toward them. We make for the nearest gas giant. Everything but the ships move. Move, move, move." As the missiles and torpedoes began to come near the ship's automated defense systems tried to shoot down as many of them as possible while dumping their entire payload into the space.
The 3 Davian ships evacuated the crews and almost all of them managed to get out before the missiles destroyed all the ships.
"All ships destroyed. All remaining units moving to the gas giant Toculi. All missiles engage enemy."
The Davian strikecrafts followed by load of shutters and drones began to change direction and head for the gas giant Toculi. As the Davian ship died, their interdiction field died out too and with it the entire arsenal of Davian missiles now numbered around 4736 large missiles and load of small missiles engaged their FTL engine
"Missile group 3 jumped. Targeting Vannitas fleet."
The entire Davian missile swarm reappeared outside of the Vannitas's interdiction field and from all directions charged the Vannitas fleet. Yet having learned from the FTL strike the warhead this times were entirely difference. Just as they emerged from FTL half of the missiles engaged their second charge thus vaporized their physical form and turned into white hot plasma bolts which would slam into the enemy ships. The other half also engaged their second charge and each fired a massive plasma beam toward their designed targets. Knowing the attack won't cause much affect again larger ships the Davian missiles instead aimed toward the smallest Vannitas ships or the Frigates precisely, 4 Frigates would be struck by 500 plasmarized bolts and 500 plasma beams, the firth frigate would be struck by the rest of the large firepower and all smaller missiles. Speaking of accuracy none of the missiles failed to materialize and all of them managed to materialize outside of the Vannitas's interdiction field.
Finally the Davian small crafts managed to reach the shadow of Toculi gas giant. There they disperse themselves into smaller groups and moved as close to the planet as possible then…wait for further instruction.
There was a moment of celebration as the enemy fleet was confirmed destroyed but Kadir was preparing for the incoming. “Plasma munitions incoming sir, targeting our frigates.” Sensors reported. “Give orders for the frigates to evade, they have plenty of time.” He replied, and the order was sent.
The frigates began manoeuvring in different directions to avoid the trajectory of the incoming with relative ease from such distance. Once they had done so the fleet finally began moving, advancing at a slow pace into the system, taking up formation so their heavy hitters would take the brunt of most attacks.
“Other fleet is withdrawing Commodore, should we pursue?” Salri and her escorts asked, they being the fastest for a pursuit. “Negative captain, let them run. We still have our initial objective. Be wary, I want active scanning at all times, and keep interdiction up for now.” He ordered fleetwide as they pressed onwards towards Zaingraf, the cause of all this strife.
The damaged destroyer was towed with them and engineers from other ship proceeded across to get her at least mobile again so she could withdraw.
The Cricaen fleet watched as the missiles split and headed towards the Vaanitas fleet, “All hands it appears these Davians are ignoring us, so prepare to fire again on my command” the captain spoke calmly as he watched. The fleet also began moving further into the system to get a more optimal firing arc on the Davian strike craft that were hiding behind the gas giant. Once they were all in position the captain gave the order for high yield flak missiles to be fired at the group of scattering craft and detonate within their numbers. Once again it was the cruisers and heavy cruisers unleashing their missiles with only 50 from each cruiser and 10 from the heavy cruisers, totaling 560 missiles heading towards the strike craft
The situation was clearly deteriorating at a rate that was untenable. Commodore Oluchi recalled his Hudson class corvettes which docked whilst the fleet was making its curving maneuver using a nearby planet (it’s not a dud its PUD!) as cover while the taskforce reoriented, recovered its assets and made a hard burn out of the battle area. The rapid destruction of the Davian assets given their failure to move for adequate cover wasn’t unexpected but it did give the Dominion ample opportunity to scan the nature of the attack and where it came from. This collected data would add to the fine-tuning of the Dominion’s interdiction fields against the weapons being utilized by the Cricaen and Vaanitas forces. At the same time the specified course allowed the Dominion to quietly dispose of any materials or assets that were ejected from launch bays and such during the initial attack leaving nothing for the enemy to recover intelligence-wise. Meanwhile a very short message would be sent to the Andrakens in text only ‘Your suggestion is not advisable, do not approach.” Active scans were pulling in other pertinent data as the Task force made its maneuvers and were now on a course to leave the solar system and move completely out of range of potential enemy weapons fire. Even with the course, speed and direction the Dominion task force retained its interdiction fields and kept its defensive systems powered and ready up until the final moment as the task force’s FTL systems drew power from battery reserves to make a full distance Hyper-field jump.
"The Vaanitas fleet moving toward Zaingraf. Cricaen fleet is attempting to attack our stragglers. Dominion Fleet is withdrawing due to lack of support. The Andraken's allegiance unknown and they appear to be moving toward Dominion's fleet." The Davian drones and crafts, scattered all around the Toculi gas giant remained actively scanning every fleets within the system while trying their best to send back the information back to the holding. Of course, the Vaanitas and Cricaen fleet would be paid particular attention.
"All remaining units scatter as quickly as possible." As the Cricaen barrage approached, all Davian units spread out further to avoid the incoming. As the 560 Cricaen missiles exploded one after another, large number of Davian drones or crafts would be destroyed. However, some survived as they had scattered even further or remained in the blind spot behind Toculi.
"Sensors detect that the Cricaen fleet has no active interdiction field. We can perform a close jump, and make a pointblank counterstrike. This should be a crossing of the T maneuver from behind."
"Our reinforcements have arrived…counterstrike maneuver imminent.”
Without warning in the space right behind the Cricaen warships was torn opened by large number of GATEs. Within them arrived a new fleet, all bearing the signatures of The Imperial Davian Navy Force, 109 ships in total spearheaded by no less than ten thousand of both decoy and spy drones. They arrived at once, and in mere moment, with all weapons braced. The arrival of thousands of signatures would be an unnerving sight for those who could not see through the decoy swarm. The Davian fleet was comprised of 1 Dreadnought, 7 Battleships, 2 Bombard Battleships, 22 Battle Cruisers, 13 Battle Carriers, 24 Destroyers, 20 Close Range Destroyers and 20 Long Range Destroyers.
"Transferring collected data of enemy ships." The sensors on every surviving Davian units began to upload their data back to the newly arrived ship in unison. Streams upon streams of information flooded the Davian's network as the Davian AIs as well as the thought of the organic crews across Zaingraf merged together into a form of unified sentient being.
"Fleet has arrived safety. Engaging Cricaen fleet immediately. Raising shields and interdiction fields; rose with 1.5AU range. Spy Drones jamming device activated. Decoy drones screen the fleet and facing Vaanitas fleet. Cross T from behind maneuver, point blank range, all available weapons open fire on the back of Cricaen fleet with maximum power, double missile barrage, launch all available strike craft and engage immediately. No mercy, no prisoners."
The Davian ships raised their interdiction field which no doubt would also envelope the Cricaen fleet, prevent any possible FTL escape. Meanwhile thousands Davian spy drones activated their jamming equipment to jeopardize any attempts of the Cricaen to communicate with the other or calling for their high command.
While the interdiction field was being raise and electronic warfare engaged in full effect, the entire Davian fleet power open fired as every single missile tubes be it heavy or light tubes unloaded their payload, all aimed at every single Cricaen vessels. In total the Davian unified AI reported: 80,640 heavy missiles and the same number of light missiles were launched again the Cricaen fleet from the rear, the most vulnerable part of the ships as the engines could not be armored. And with literally point-blank range no doubt almost all of these would hit home as there would be no times to dodge or counter.
"Recycling launching matrix, ready to fire again."
As the missiles launched at once, every single available Davian turrets from the large triple turrets, smaller double turrets plasma railgun down to the trans-gamma turrets also lighted up in unison and aimed directly at the rear of every single Cricaen ships. They fired at maximum power and maximum rate of fire none stop to ensure kill.
Yet it was not the end of the onslaught. Strike craft from 109 Davian ships broke free from their motherships en-masse. Having anticipated this would be a pure space battle the Davian had forgoes their general purpose aerospace crafts and replaced them with dedicated strike crafts, the 81 Shiki Sentoki Interceptor and 82 Shiki Bakugeki Ki Bomber respectively, these Shiguran origin sphere like crafts were specially designed for space battle thus giving them maximum performance in space yet wholly useless within atmospheric flight.
The massive swarm of 287,225 Davian strike craft threw themselves en-masse toward the Cricaen fleet and unloaded their entire cargos, 1/3 of them would be the 82 Bombers each equipped with 4 large missiles (torpedo level) each while the rest would be the 81 Interceptors.
Yet the Davian didn't just target the Cricaen fleet. Using cross T from behind maneuver mean the Davian would not be able to utilize their spinal weapons and 1/4 of their turrets mounted weapons again the Cricaen. Thus, these weapons would be used again the nearby Vaanitas fleet.
"All Spinal weapons and 1/4 large turrets aiming toward the Vaanitas largest ship, the remanding turrets aim at their wounded ships. Open fire at once."
While the none stop barrage again the Cricaen fleet continued, all Davian ships, except the carriers, from dreadnought to destroyers activated their spinal cannons and flung 96 enormous plasma beams toward the Vannitas dreadnought. At the same times 1/4 of Davian turrets which could not target the Cricaen also open fired aiming at the same target followed by 1/4 of smaller turrets which aimed toward the damaged destroyer and battlecruiser. At the same times more than 5000 of Davian decoy drones would move ahead of the fleet itself, ready to take on any incoming strike.
"Keep firing at maximum effect. Defensive systems, plasma pulse, nano-bot swarm on standby."
As the fleet threw out their entire long-range firepower the surviving strike craft and shuttles from the first deployment hurried themselves toward the newly arrived fleet and docked into any Davian ships available.
"Survival collected. Fleet awaits further instruction."
The Commander of the Andraken Frigate watched as the Davian fleet was destroyed. Then it observed a larger fleet appeared from behind the Cricean fleet.
“Send the signal to the rest of the fleet. Turn us around and begin preparations for Trans-Dimensional Jump.” it ordered. The Andraken fleet pivoted around, and while they did so the gates of the Trans-Dimensional Drive began to glow a bright purple.
“Jump coordinates set. Trans-Dimensional Drive at full power. Void-Matter Reactor at nominal levels.”
“Jump.” The five Andraken ships vanished for a split second. In this time a wormhole, separate from reality, was opened up. They propelled themselves toward the event horizon, as a mid point to their destination. On the edge of the interdiction field they arrived in near perfect unity, a testament to their accurate and precise jump systems. Once stable from their transit through the time dilated wormhole, they began to target the signatures of the Davian vessels. "Davian ships, stand down or be destroyed."
“FTL signatures detected, Davian reserve fleet has arrived.” The sensor operator warned. “Detecting lock ons, incoming!” he continued. The Davians were still an AU away giving them some time to react.
“All vessels turn and face, point defence engage incoming.” He ordered, fighters preparing to engage incoming munitions. “Sir that’s a lot of plasma coming our way.” He was warned. “They never learn.” He smirked “Take us into a dive, they won’t be able to correct once they’ve fire so lets not just fly into it like fools.” He ordered and the dreadnought adjusted course downward. Still some of the beams hit their upper shields, flaring them greatly and taking down a layer, the impact shaking the whole vessel.
The crippled destroyer stood no chance, torn apart as a sacrificial lamb to shield some of the others from the incoming. The rest of the fleet fared as well as to be expected. With the dreadnought the main focus of attention and allowed them to manoeuvre to avoid some incoming, the rest causing shield flares and drops with some hull damage, though one unfortunate cruiser put itself in harms way to protect the smaller vessels and was lost with all hands as systematic detonations throughout from various impacts turned her into a firework in space. Dozens of strike craft were lost, intercepting munitions intended for their hosts. The damaged battlecruiser lost propulsion and drifted, the left side of its hull torn open before countermeasures sealed it.
“We’re having some comms issues Sir, they’re trying to jam it seems.” Comms reported as they sent out the order to enact the contingency. “Switch channels and try again.” Kadir ordered as he watched the cruiser detonate with anger. “Message sent. Command confirms. Contingency confirmed. Incoming.” He listed off.
To the east of the Davian ambush not one but two Vaanitas fleets exited FTL. The reactionary force had been inbound but the second the Davians escalated the second force on standby had jumped too. At its head was one of the Vaanitas super dreadnoughts flanked by a further two dreadnoughts. In addition, there were 30 battleships, 13 carriers, 50 cruisers and 8 escort squadrons.
Admiral Tavari didn’t waste time introducing himself instead updating their tactical information. They now had the Davians in a triangle of fire and the grizzled veteran just raised a hand and pointed. Interdiction came up, firing solutions were found, lock ons were achieved and both Vaanitas fleets fired.
The combined arsenal of torpedoes alone was terrifying. The combined force from both directions unleashed 2262 torpdoes, opening up their tubes and firing all at once, speeding towards the Davians rear, reciprocating their tactic. Meanwhile the spinal, and heavy spinal guns of the arriving fleet and those already there barked, the vessels humming with energy before firing the colossal rounds towards the Davians. Whilst the rest of the fleet targeted freely, Kadir and the two dreadnoughts, as well as Tavari’s superdreadnought had their own target, the Davian dreadnought. Their combined fire of 6 HSHLCPC and 6 SHLCPC’s raking the Dreadnought from both bow and stern with their powerful guns, as well as their other firepower.
The rest of the fleets spinals were doing much the same, raking the Davian fleet from bow and stern. Still they were not done, as the fleets turrets began raking the Davians too. Gun after gun barked out at their foe as rounds filled the void, chasing after the wave of torpedoes to cause maximum damage in their killzone.
The Cricaen fleet did not have time to react to the Davian fleet that just appeared behind them and was now firing at them. “Shit it’s their reserves” A Captain shouted as the first rounds impacted shields.
The Captains of the cruisers and smaller ships began laughing as they moved and began taking the most of the damage to save the larger ships. “Captain make sure our sacrifice is not in vain, kill these Davian bastards” was one of the final messages that Captain Hook got as he watched his fleet get obliterated. Cruisers moved and put their shields to max to take the huge brunt of impacts for they faltered and the Davian rounds impacted armour and began tearing them apart piece by piece. The frigates did not fair so well, shields go near instantly and then detonating, the Destroyers going out much like the cruisers.
“All Battleships, Battlecruisers and Carriers dive and then full ahead towards the Vaanitas fleet, we may not be allies but it is better to live to fight another day then be killed by cheap tricks” He spoke as his own ship, damaged from the fire dived with the rest. “Captain, the Davians appear to be trying to jam our communications” the communications officer spoke. “Well switch to a different frequency and send the message again” He replied as they kept diving. “Communications away sir” the communications officer spoke once it was sent.
After a while to the North of the new Davian position dropping out of FTL came the first half of the 1st Cricaen War Fleet which had been on standby ready to jump when they got any from of communications from the patrol fleet. Leading the fleet was a Super Dreadnought leading 19 Battleships, 20 Battlecruisers, 15 Heavy Cruisers, 20 Cruisers
Admiral William Edwards looked at the Davian fleet with anger and waited for a moment as his tactical data and map was updated, he looked at how the Davians were now being boxed in by his own fleet and the Vaanitas fleets. He raised his hand and then lowered it quickly, the only words to leave his mouth was “Fire”. Interdiction went up as guns traversed and were aimed, locked on and then all guns barked and fired.
Missiles launched and headed right towards the largest of Davian ships to take out their command first. The large guns from the large Cricaen ships focused on battleships their guns firing non stop as they kept up their relentless barrage on the Davians, revenge for their patrol fleet, the survivors of which were still heading towards the Vaanitas ships to the east.
"Andrakens. You had finally showed your true colors. You are despicable for selling your own allies out in the middle of battle." The Davian fleet, upon noticing the AO's fleet turned hostile, broadcasted the system wide message so that all factions staying within the system would notice the betrayal: "First you told us that 'From there we will help you fight the Vaanitas.' (the Davian fleet broadcasted the same message the AO sent to the Dominion's fleet) then you sided with these barbarians in a pathetic attempt to backstab us. How nice, an alliance of aggressors, barbarians and traitors. Your betrayal would be known by the entire galaxy. On light of this utmost abominate betrayal Divine Davia Empire will cut off all ties with the Andraken, from now on every single Andraken entities found within or trying to enter the Imperial's border would be destroyed immediately."
Yet the message was not broadcast within Zaingraft alone, several messages encrypted with the most difficult to break encryption would also be sent back to the early warning ring of the imperial's holding. From there the news of the battle, the unprovoked and blatant aggressor of the Vannitas and Cricaen as well as the AO's betrayal would be known by the sector command who would no doubt noticed it with every faction in contact with Davia.
"Rissallas Dominion, the Andrakens had sold us out. We are sending all necessary information about this battle to you. Bring the information back honored ally." A stream of message which contained necessary information would also be sent toward the retreating Dominion fleet. Just like those sent toward the holding this message would have the same encrypted level. As close ally the Davian had given the Dominion the method to decrypt these kinds of messages.
"First aggressor units fleeing toward the first barbarian units, new aggressor fleet just jumped in and also approaching from that location which is our North. New barbarian units approaching from our right flank which is our East while the traitors are aiming from behind which our South. Vannitas and Cricaen open fired, weapon lock detected across the fleet and decoy drones, all long-range fire. Enemies units changed communication method. Scanning and simulating new frequency in process."
"All units break formation into small groups and turn West, move at all angles. Do not stop firing. Get the decoy drones take the brunt. Spy drones set in intercept course they are no longer need. Delete all valuable information on all fleet…"
The entire Davian fleet began to accelerate all their available engines as they turned West and broke down into numerous small groups and moved out in all angles and height like a blossoming flower while each of them threw out various kind electronic warfare as well as their own decoys to further blur themselves again the incoming attacks. The thickness and chaotic of the swarm and all kind of electronic warfare made the entire region of the space blur. There were numerous small groups, some would contain several true ships while some groups would have contained only decoy drones. The process was quick as the very loose nature of the Davian fleet so far made the turning easy.
Yet not all the Davian units moved, a few hundreds of decoy drones rushed straight toward the 5 Andraken ships to draw guided munitions from both Cricaen and Vannitas into them. These drones would try to follow and surround their new 'hosts'. Besides, the fact that the Andraken ships stationed themselves right behind the Davian put themselves at risk as every attacks especially those unguided which failed to hit the Davian ships which were accelerating away with all their power would go straight again them. Not to say it would be a difficult task for the Andraken ships to look through the huge Davian swarm with all the jamming and decoys to realize they were on the firing way. Meanwhile another small groups of Davian spy drones rushed toward the wreckages of the destroyed Cricaen's fleet and began to gather any valuable information. Soon several Davian ships would hastily have passed through the wreckage and attempted to pull several objects. Of course, as the Davian was on fast move so the salvaging process would have to be conduct fast and only fractions of object like small objects could be taken.
Since none of the Vannitas, Cricaen or Andraken had managed to separate the signatures of drones and ships, the ten-thousand Davian decoy and spy drones managed to take huge amount of fire or divert the fire away from the fleet paid very well. Obviously, the tolls among the drones were severe as thousands of them would be destroyed.
Still with such a large volume of fire many enemy's attacks particularly guided weapons would still lock on the Davian ships. These should be deal with by other methods.
"All units intercept those munitions. All weapons set in full auto mode. Zero munitions authorized, keep firing. Ready Plasma pulse."
The entire Davian fleet kept firing all their weapons in maximum rate of fire while moving out. The number of torpedoes (another name of heavy missiles) and light missiles threw out by the fleet this time far excessed the previous attacks. Yet none of the fire would be direct as the enemies, they would be used to intercept the attacks.
First the large torpedoes and spinal munitions would be specifically target by hundreds if not thousands of missiles to stop them death on their track from a far.
"Heavy missile, pumped warhead, fire." A single word shouted through the individual NAIs of the remaining large missiles and they open fired all at once. Each of the large missiles which staying at the head of the swarm and didn't trying to intercept the largest munitions initiated their second charge and unleashed dozens of trans-gamma laser beams to all direction except behind. Thus, everything staying behind the missiles would be unscathed while everything in a wide front of them would be bath in a huge storm of beams.
Next to arrive would be the smaller missiles. Then the entire strike craft swarm of more than 287,000 threw themselves again the incoming attacks to either shoot them down or take the fire themselves. Meanwhile all the plasma rail gun and laser turrets would be set in either bolts or bust shot to intercept enemy's fire.
The huge multi-level Davian swarm managed to stop much of the incoming munitions directed again the dispersed ships. Yet hostile fire still managed to get through all that.
"Plasma pulse. All fleet. Plasma pulse engage." Just as the hostile fire going to hit the Davian's shields all Davian ships glowed brightly as they activated their plasma pulse ability. By venting plasma stored in the vessels main reactor and any secondary reactors and using its shield to create a wall of plasma around the vessel for a brief time. This pulse will vaporize any incoming solid projectiles and missiles and may even partially disrupt laser based weapons however not entirely.
"Damage report. Multi destroyers and cruisers took damages, 12 destroyers destroyed, 7 cruisers destroyed, 1 battleship destroyed. Shield failing reported on several more ships. We are evacuating the survivors and dismantling the wreckages."
"Release all available nano bots to assist damage control and dismantling process."
"Dropping mines." As the fleet speeded away they sprayed out large number of mines which were equipped with Davian stealth field generators. And with the Davian fleet now had spread far and wide the minefield would also be large and wide. Should the enemy give chase they would have to move through the stealth minefield. While much of the Davian drones were destroyed several survived drones would still be use to screen the ships or formed into their own groups. To replace the destroyed drones The Davian ships would be surround by their strike craft and missiles swarms.
The task force under the Command of Commodore Oluchi had made enough distance that they could not be interdicted and were out of maximum weapons range of all combatants. When the Andrakens turned hostile the group watched as they waited for their navigation computers to synchronize for a jump to a position only known to the Dominion as ANAT. The spooling of the drives also took time because the lone carrier with it’s internal damage took a bit longer to get it’s FTL drive ready for the trip. This delay was as much due to damage control teams handling the last aspects of field-effective repairs as it was due to power needing to be rerouted through subsystems. Commodore Oluchi watched as the count down to the group’s FTL jump ticked away while the group’s sensors logged everything they could see in regards to the battle going on in the far distance. Fortunately, the group had two ocean class cruisers and a Burlington in their midst so seeing events unfold was not all that difficult. Things got interesting when the Davians sent a message that confirmed what the Commodore was seeing play out on the holographic displays in the command information center. "Rissallas Dominion, the Andrakens had sold us out. We are sending all necessary information about this battle to you. Bring the information back honored ally." The Commodore didn’t need to be asked twice before he ordered a slight stall on the FTL jump for long enough to safely receive the data stream sent by the Davians. The information was isolated and quarantined just incase any foreign power tried to mess with the transmission or add anything to it. The encryption of the data and the method of transmission was of a type used in military communications between the Davians and the RD specifically, so re-transmitting it would not be a problem for the Commodore’s taskforce. The chance of interception was reasonably low also. Once the data was received a short-encrypted confirmation was sent back and then…the Dominion task force dropped interdiction and flickered out as the vessels hyperfield propulsion moved the vessels to a position many parsecs away. In the hours it would take for the group to arrive at ANAT the report regarding the events of Zaingraf and the Andraken’s duplicity would be transmitted both to Dominion high command and to the AGA. Just in case there were no Davian survivors of the encounter at Zaingraf, the information collected by the Dominion and the data transmission sent to the Commodore’s task force by Davian forces would be sent unedited to the Davian military command. It would only be some hours after that someone leaked intercepted transmissions and footage of the Vaanitas’s proposal to the AO and the (Davian) footage and sensor logs of their actions galactic news media.
Off in a separate solar system a large fleet of Andraken ships lay in wait. A single Battleship, 8 destroyers, and 16 frigates sat in formation watching the battle unfold from the optics on the Frigate at Zangraf. The signal from the Frigates came through and ordered for their reinforcements. The fleet activated their Trans-Dimensional Drives and jumped.
Meanwhile the Andraken Commander watched as the Davian fleet began to retreat. “Target their engines, FTL drives, and bridges. Fire.” Numerous tachyon beams lashed out towards the Davian ships. Some hit mines causing them to explode.
“To the commander of the Davian forces. We do not care for how you see us, you are basics and are beneath us. As such we do not care for such concepts as reputation or betrayal, we are above such ideas.” The Andraken Commander sent to the Davians telepathically. The Andraken fleet turned to face the Davians and they slowly began to pursue them.
“Looks like we’ve broken them” Tavari spoke, watching the ships scattering as the Davians began their electronic warfare. “Begin separating out signatures from the false” he ordered before retaking his seat.
“Kadir arc your forces around to the north, rendezvous at Zaingraf. I will sweep in an arc to the south. You may fire at will at any Davian target that presents itself. Before the cowards started to hide their fleet fractured. I dare say we’d do well to pick out pockets and annihilate them a group at a time.” The Admiral ordered before opening communications with the Cricaen’s.
“Your decisions prove more honourable by the day Cricaen, I may be growing fond of your kind.” He spoke with a smirk. “Seeing as you have joined our assault on these cowardly scum, kindly follow Commodore Kadir’s force in an arc to the north. He is under orders to engage anything Davian, I suggest you do the same.” Tavari finished and severed that link also before gesturing for the fleet to mobilise.
The battlefleet turned south and began arcing around the Davian position and interference, scanning and decoding as they went. These cowards always seemed to have a new trick up their sleeve but with a fleets worth of sensors and computational capability he was confident they would locate the enemy, or at least several outliers.
Whilst Kadir had sensors running, he also wasn’t one to wait. “Saturate the area with explosives and CIWS, any hits that register engage with main guns.” He spoke and as his fleet pincered north they filled the area between the two fleets with explosives and flak to identify the Davians amongst their countermeasures. Every time a suspected target was identified the fleet opened up on the area and ships they believed they had located.
Seeing this Tavari rolled his eyes but began to do the same as his fleet pincered southwards. Between the Vaanitas forces, amongst the false signals and ships that were inevitably there, space was turned into an explosives display, ordinance and flak coating the region as the fleets ran parallel in the north and south, lighting up any Davian group they perceived whilst sifting through false signals to understand the Davian countermeasures and actively scanning to identify the Davian ships and anything else amongst the ECM swarm.
Admiral Edwards listened to the transmission form the Vaanitas force commander and was honestly surprised, especially after his last talks with a Vaanitas commander not being so positive. “Alright men you see that Vaanitas battle group all ahead full and follow after and anything Davian you see, erase it from existence” He spoke.
Sensors were put to full power and they began scanning and trying to pick out anything. Eventually they would show themselves. Some of the other ships captains began following the example of the Vaanitas battle group they were following, and they began to saturate that area of space with main gun fire and secondary battery fire.
The surviving Cricaen fleet caught up with the Vaanitas fleet to the south. Captain Hook let out a slight sigh of relief, still not out of the fire though. He had the comms officer put a transmission through to the Vaanitas fleet. “This is Captain Nicholas Hook of the surviving Cricaen fleet, I am putting myself and my ships under your command for now” He spoke.
Upon hearing the response from the Andrakens the retreating Davian units simultaneously broadcasted their response "Such a laughable announcement Andrakens. By claiming us as 'basic' and 'below' you had arrogantly put yourself 'above' not only us but also anyone who see us equal and most of the sentient races in the galaxy. The entire galaxy will know about this and will no doubt not take kindly of your treacherous and arrogant ways. In light of your actions the Divine Davia Empire declares war on the Andrakens. In case you are incapable of understanding the concept of 'war' then it's mean you will be destroyed."
"Vannitas, Cricaen and Andrakens have begun to manoeuvre while firing. Scanning signals detected from both Vannitas and Cricaen trying to overcome our decoys and ECM. Detected that both Vannitas and Cricaen absorbing our signals."
The few Andraken ships that didn't try any forms of scanning or counter electronic warfare and that were only beginning to pursue after the Davian swarms, began to move with maximum sub light power which made their attacks wholly ineffective as they literally fired blindly at very long range at a hugely dispersed swarm of objects and signals. Still the Andrakens barrage did manage to shoot down one or two Davian drones and missiles. The power and impact of their tachyon beams would be record by the Davian units however.
Out of the three pursuers the Vannitas fared better as they actually tried to pierce through the massive Davian swarm of objects and decoys. While the ECM and decoys did their job still several more vessels were destroyed including battle carriers and a battleship as Vaanitas fire ripped through their hulls and shields skewering them as they landed lucky well placed hits. On the other hand the Vannitas taking the much longer routes in their attempt to move around the last concentrated point of the Davian fleet failed to account that the fractured Davian groups were moving at all angles in a dispersed pattern to escape. This meant the 'pincer movement' followed by the Cricaens follow up did little to encapsulate the various smaller groups that sped through gaps in the line, rather than following through one heading. While this allowed for them to escape through the pincer move it now prevented their fleet from focusing their fire or from reforming back up.
"No enemies attempting to detect stealth mines, enemy units moving on collision course with the mine fields. Mine fields engaging."
The mines that the Davian fleet had left behind however now found their chance, with the enemy vessels in pursuit it put them straight into the path of the Davian stealth mine fields.
These stealth mines laid in wait and upon proximity contact with the enemy ships would explode violently one after another. As the Vannitas, Cricaen or Andraken would find out to their dismay, their chasing would likely lead them straight into the minefields, leaving them a choice. Either continue to pursue the Davian fleets and run into the minefields or pull off or go round giving the Davians a bigger distance in their escape. Each mine while small could cripple vessels at close range and with hundreds of them floating in their minefields all controlled by their NAIs for networking they would prove a serious barrier indeed.
While the Davian units retreating and drew all the attention toward them the small group of Davian drones which were tasked to scan and salvage the wreckage of the destroyed Cricaen fleet remained operational. Without any interference the drones managed to scan and recover a lot of basic information from the Cricaen Kingdoms. This valuable information such as hull composition, some of the weapons and basic lifeform data would be sent to the nearest Davian ships to be recovered from the field.
"Cricaen Kingdom confirmed to be a human pretender, at least one more alien life form detected… Attempting to extract more information."
"Missile launchers have stop firing. Zero munitions left, all missile groups awaiting orders. Strikecraft and shuttler successfully disengaged. FTL drives fully charged and ready to jump. Damage report: 22 destroyers, 10 battlecruisers, 2 battleships and 4 battlecarriers lost to enemy fire, extensive damage inflicted on multiple ships, extensive damage for drone fleet and fair damage to missile groups. All salvageable information is destroyed. Enemy units cannot gather any worthy information."
"All ships drop interdiction fields, overload GATE generators. All expendable units engage the enemies at will."
All remaining Davian ships were, by then, at a safe distance. They dropped their interdiction fields, engaged their wormhole generators and jumped out of the system.
Yet the departure of the fleet did not mean the end of the Davian's presence within the system. Before leaving the entire Davian fleet had managed to throw out their entire arsenal of missiles and torpedoes which scattering all over the system. These missiles at that moment began to make the final attack run against any available enemies units and there were thousands coming in, all angles supported by the remaining decoy drones and spy drones which faithfully accompanied the missiles and attempted to ram straight into the enemy ships while still engaging their electronic warfare till the last moment.
As the missile and drone swarms were ordered to destroy as many as possible they would priority target smaller fleets, smaller ships and any damaged ships. These unfortunate targets would be targeted with very high volume of fire to ensure kills. Out of all the hostile fleets the small Andraken fleet would be targeted the most, possessing only a few ships and little in the way of screens.
With the Davian fleet gone the Andraken fleet stopped their pursuit and began to turn around towards Zaingraf. Alarms went off as missile launches were detected from the Davians before they jumped out. With interdiction down the Andrakens were able to calculate trajectories and snipe the missiles with their FTL tachyon beams. As missiles drew closer shards of Star Steel were launched as well. As they struck the missiles they began to feed off the power source until the missiles exploded. Not all the missiles were destroyed however and some struck the shields of the Andraken ships. Though one Escort didn’t make it as holes filled its hull and it floated through space. The reactor was compromised and no power could feed into the ship to repair it.
As the Andraken fleet made it out of the missile barrage they began to charge the Trans-Dimensional Drive.
"FTL signatures detected, they're gone. Multiple incoming." sensors warned. "Tight formation, layer defences. Nothing serious." Tavari spoke calmly. Both north and south fleets tightened formation and layered their CIWS and began swatting incoming out of the sky.
By targeting the smaller vessels specifically the Davians had actually decreased their effectiveness as the Vaanitas frigates only purpose in the fleet was to act as CIWS. Their point defence, augmented by their fellow vessels filled space with defensive fire. Main guns across the fleet began firing flak rounds and counter missiles launched to intercept incoming. Fighters flew about the fleet intercepting anything that got through the main interception screen.
Some of the Davian fire broke through causing damage to armour and the hull. No ship was lost outright though a few would need extensive repairs after this and pair of cruisers were probably easier to scrap than repair.
"We've taken damage sir, nothing crippling but the fleet has suffered damage and fighters have taken medium losses." the first mate spoke, handing Tavari the initial battle report. The Admiral nodded and finally took his seat.
"Commodore, I will be leaving with the damaged assets of the fleet. Continue the operation." He ordered and severed the link. The interdiction dropped and a few minutes later the majority of the fleet jumped, exiting the area of operation.
Kadir was left with his dreadnought, 10 cruisers, 5 battleships and 5 squadrons of escorts. He directed two battleships to launch their fighters and begin scouring for Davian wreckage to capture. The rest of the fleet jumped from their current position to near Zaingraf itself, ready to begin operations.
The badger's claws dug into the woodwork of the dashboard, Slivers curling under his large claws. He growled, wishing he had a larger fleet. "Fuck this. We have opportunities for allies on planet side. Send dropships planetside!" At what would of been the waterline of a sailing vessles, compartments opened and multiple dropships lowered, full of twenty sailors at a time. The first ships to land held unarmed passingers, to make sure that there were no hostilities, and to calm down scared people who may have the wrong ideas about their visitors.
Squadron Leader Akheret looked at his tactical display. "Helm, Bring us in to the L5 point of Zangraf. Keep stabilizers in interdict mode and keep us out of the line of fire of the combatants." "As you Command, Squadron Leader." the helmsman replied as he programmed the course for Zangraf's L-5 point. The three ships moved at a slow speed, moving closer towards the world. Passive sensors kept track of the forces fighting in the outer system, but no missiles or torpedoes came near the squadron.
As the ships got closer to Zangraf, ComScan noted the lack of signals. "Squadron Leader? Something is very odd. Picking up no EM transmissions common to worlds of this Level." Akheret grimaced. "Life readings? Is this another Metropolis?" Checking his displays the officer soon replied. "Life readings are present, Squadron Leader. No sign of biological or chemical contamination, but we are still distant."
"Not another Harvest then, that's good. Dispatch the Pods. Standard survey protocols for a Level 7 world. Extra time should be allocated to scanning for any form of disaster. Something... does not seem quite right here." Akheret spoke.
Three small crystalline pods launched at high speed from SVS Investigator , spreading out on courses to approach Zangraf on vectors 120 degrees apart around the planetary equator. The pods were scanning for chemical, biological, and radiological contamination as well as geological status of the world. As the pod proceeded n their mission, Akheret signaled to ComScan after observing the other ships on the main display around the world. "Get me Intership." At a signal from ComScan he began speaking.
"Greetings from SVS Investigator, Anais Unity of the Singers of the Void. We are here in response to an FTL comms signal originating in this system. Our intentions are non-hostile."
Descending planetside it was obvious that something had happened on Zaingraf though what it was was not immediately apparent. Abandoned cities dotted the landscape like great skeletons of civilizations gone past scanners showing the once great monuments to the native species of Zaingraf to be devoid of life, or at least devoid of any sentient life.
More worrisome was that as the first ships and reconnaisiance drones began landing it became apparent that the sentient life signs emanated from underground, with no surface habitation to speak of... at least none that was still inhabited.
But the air was clear of contaminant, the planets geological state was stable, and there was still no sign of what had produced the FTL signal.
The Singers for their part did detect an anomaly on their scans. Originating from some kind of decrepit factory complex there was a massive energy signature that seemed out of place emanating from somewhere underground. More details were difficult to glean from orbital scans alone.
The Vita Shetani, upon landing, found themselves in a meadow of sorts, several clicks outside one of the decrepit cities. A cursory glance around revealed a concrete ramp, leading to heavy steel doors surrounded by concrete, presumably the entrance to some kind of bunker. Interestingly, the bunker was devoid of external defenses. No gun emplacements, no guards in sandbagged positions, and no watch towers... just searchlights and work lights arranged at a myriad of angles, though at the moment they were off with the sun high in the sky overhead.
The Singer's communication recieved no response from the planet for several long moments. When a response was finally given it came through on a radio frequency of all things, and whoever answered clearly did not speak a dialect even close to galactic standard.
A female fox did a reading on the atmosphere before undoing the clear and brass colored helmet on her head, she started to approach the bunker alone, hoping her friendly tone of voice would suffice enough in case they didn't know galactic common. "Hello? Is anyone in there, We come in peace. IS everything all right?" she askd with concern. "We received a strange message, and we are checking up to see if all is well." Meenwhile, on the Dereliced the badger perked his ears. He seemed bored again, deciding to stay behind on the ship might not of been the best of his plans to keep the boredom away. He picked up the coms. "Greetings, I am Captain Brockhall of the Dereliced, We are also nonhostile and wish to investigate the planet, and in hopes to make friends and allies along the way."
Akheret listened to the broadcast from the Vita Shetani vessel, when it concluded he motioned to ComScan for Intership. "Greetings and salutations from the Anais Unity, Captain Brockhall. We would be willing to collaborate on the investigation of the signal-I trust the signal is not from a ship of yours that crashed or is otherwise in distress?" After a moment he continued. "As we also carry a Consul from our Ministry of State, we can also begin diplomatic proceeding as well if you desire, though our first priority should of course be the signal."
ComScan then relayed the message response from the world, in the unknown language. Investigator's Sentience Core and quantum computers began working on translating the language, all why enacting computer isolation protocols. "Squadron Leader, the multispectral array is picking up a high-energy power source coming from deep under the planetary surface. From dimensional readings I'd say either a singularity or N-Dimensional power source. Does not match up to Singers, Eternal Night, or known Axiom systems."
"Well then, this ups the level of things." Akheret said. "Any other sensor readings?" After a moment the ComScan officer reported back . "The surface seems clear of any high-order life signs, Squadron Leader. There are however signs of high-order life deeper under the surface. Cities and other installations on the surface appear dead, Squadron Leader. No sign of contaminants, geological cataclysm, or psionic disruption."
"Keep the Pods scanning. Deploy them to the surface and prepare a landing team-but hold off on launching until the SC can get a handle on that signal."
A red light came on in the left corner of the steel door, proceedes in short order by a camera swivelling toward the fox. Minutes passed in silence, the only indication that she had been heard or even noticed their arrival that initial movement of the camera and the dull red glow of the camera's light.
Five minutes crept by. Then ten. Finally after fifteen minutes of waiting there was an electric buzz from the door and it swung open.
On the other side was a full platoon of soldiers in woodland camoflage with rifles pointed toward the fox. They were spread out along a long corridor, crouched behind sand bags and at the corridor's end stood a some flavor of heavy machine gun.
The soldiers themselves were primitively equipped. Their armor little better than kevlar and their rifles in all likelihood still using cased ammunition. Gas masks covered their faces and when the apparent leader (or at the very least the one closest to the fox) spoke he was difficult to understand between the mask and a thick accent.
"You come from space? 77th?"
The woman backed up when rifles were pointed at her, hands up to show she was unarmed. She was the only one there at the moment, they were relying on her to be a good diplomat. Luckilly she understood that the natives were likely frightened of her, more afraid than actually menicing, or at least she hoped. "I am sorry, I did not mean to scare you." The fox perked her ears at the leader who spoke for the group. "Yes, I am from space, but unfortunately no, not the 77th. Perhaps we can help you find this group, or if they are an enemy, help you defend yourselves from them?" she tried to sound as friendly as possible, although the poor fox was shaking down to her footclaws, and her heart was racing in her chest.
Control Unit Vav-12 entered the atmosphere of Zangraf, scanning as he descended slowly towards the planetary surface. The two Pods assigned to his control also effected atmospheric entry in the standard 120 degrees apart formation. As Vav-12 approached the surface he started circling the perimeter of an apparently abandoned city. Animal and plant life were the only life signs present. His scanners picked up no obvious cause for the city's emptiness. There were no biological or chemical toxins, no radiation, no signs of psychometric weaponry or lifedraining.
There were however corpses, the city had not died in peace. Signs of combat were present, centering around stadiums, auditoriums, and other gathering places where it looked like the natives had decided to make a stand. The areas were littered with spent cartridges from chemical propelled firearms. Bullet holes in walls were everywhere, as were the corpses which showed signs of ballistic weapon penetration. Upon scanning though, many of the injuries on the bodies-and some of thee damage to the walls, showed impact patterns akin t high-velocity gauss weaponry of some sort. Gauss weapons of this caliber are beyond the capability of a Class 7 civilization to produce... Vav-12 thought.
There were a small number of life readings present a short distance away from the city, Some matched those present on the Vita Shetani ships in orbit. Likely a landing party. Vav-12 thought to himself. The others were different. Activating his quantum communicator he signaled SVS Investigator in orbit. "Initial planetary surface scans and physical investigation confirm no high order native life signs. A city seems to have been
attacked by a non-native force. Have spotted signs of combat including gauss weapon fire. Based on data records I estimate a 99% chance of non-local force involvement. No current identification of the attackers. Also Detecting a likely landing party from the Vita Shetani as well as a potential native life sign. Will continue sending data as it is acquired, Vav-12 out."
Vav-12 moved towards the contacts, flying smoothly on his contragrav drive. As he got to the concrete ramp h sent another signal to Investigator. "Have encountered an entrance to some sort of subteranian work. Am investigating further." Vav-12 slowly moved up to the ramp, and then slowly moved into view, observing the Vita Shetani and the second group from the top of the ramp. He sent another message t the Investigator. "Am making contact with the Vita Shetani and the unknown group." Then with a thought command he activated his vocalizer system.
"Greetings and salutations. I am Control Unit Vav-12. I bring you both greetings from the Anais Unity of the Singers of the Void." The vocalizer then shut down with a soft beep.
The control unit's arrival was met with more alarm from the soldiers. The heavy machine gun chattered off a few shots, aimed over head the pod, obvious warning fire, and it seemed every conceivable mechanical click that could be produced from a firearm was produced in the following seconds.
After a few tense moments the lead soldier spoke again.
"Need not help," He said to the fox. "Deal not with outsiders. Only deal with drifters. Not drifter. Not 77th. No deal."
"If you do not wish for our help, then so be it. We have a right to choose our paths in life, I simply hope that your path won't lead to disaster." she gave a slight bow. They tried their best not to frighten the fearful, hince why only the fox was sent to the doorway and unarmed. The female righted herself, she was afraid as well, but her face showed calm despite the gunshots. She simply turned and walked off. Approaching the visitor. "Hello control unit. My name is Andria. The natives seem fearful of us, best not aggravate them further. They don't wish for help, so they aren't our problem."
Vav-12 simply said to the soldiers "May you survive by your own will then." and then addressed Andria, moving slowly away from the ramp. "Their dedication is admirable in many ways I must admit. Greetings Andria. We should remain on alert however. In my brief exploration of this city I have found evidence of an off-world invasion force. Small caliber gauss weaponry, far beyond the apparent technological capabilities of the natives. I would conclude this was either an all-out invasion and/or a planetary culling, as opposed to just raiding."
After they had all moved a hundred meters from the ramp, Vav-12 "turned" to Andria again. "There is also readings indicating an advanced power generation system somewhere below the surface. Possibly a singularity, possibly a Nth-Dimensional interface system. I wished to keep this away from the haring of the natives. Have you found anything of note in your own investigations? It would best if we pool our research into this situation."
The soldiers were quick to close the door on the bunker with a series of metalic clicks. More commotion could be heard beyond as they moved away from the door and back into the bunker proper. The sun began to sink low in the sky as the pair conversed, the lights around the bunker flickering on as the sun began to dip below the horizon.
“No wonder why they are afraid of us." she said. "They are afraid of whatever happened, happening again. Personally, I don't trust them. they might attack by the cloak of night out of fear of us. I don't think it would be wise to tarry planet side much longer." She nodded "Likely the power generater could be used for the comfort of these subterranean peoples. Such as electricity supply for lightning and whatnot. At least, that's my opinion. Either way, we should go back to our ships where it is much safer. We only brought side arms with us, As for I? I am unarmed. " She was walking toward the pods. "Perhaps we can pool our information and research over coms from the safety of our ships?"
Listening to Andria, Vav-12 considered her words. "We should at least move away from this installation. Indeed the chance that they will launch some sort of attack must be considered as within probability matrix statistics. With respect to the detected power source however... Unless this planet's civilization is severely retrograded that power source is millennia in advance of what this culture should be capable of."
"It is far more likely that it is something that either they found underground, or was brought by those who attacked the world. With regards to withdrawal from the planet, I would first suggest checking civilian government facilities and possibly media service areas to attempt to gather more information about those who attacked this world. That will not be easy to do from orbit. I possess sufficient weaponry and defensive capability to increase our chances greatly against local forces given their state of technology. I also possess the ability to interface with most computer systems."
"I'm not going into those areas without any kind of weapon." She remarked. "Let me at least get my side arm from the landing pod." The fox continued toward the landing pod where a group of canines, otters, badgers, and foxes were. An African wild dog came out of one of the pods, shading his eyes to look around. "Andria, what you find?" "The person behind me, and a bunch of people who don't want us around."
Vav-12 accompanied Andria to hr landing pod. He took in the wide range of species present as he floated 1.5 meters above the ground. "A wide range of biogenetic diversity. Ar you all originating from the same world? In all our travels we have never encountered a mix of phenotypes as your people represent." After a short while Vav-12 spoke again.
"If it is not objectionable, were your species all uplifted? You all bear a superficial resemblance to other species that are generally not known for being fully sapient." Meanwhile, Vav-12 kept his sensor arrays online, and waited for any messages from the other pods.
The sun had sunk completely beneath the horizon now, shrouding the world around them in twilight. There was a silence that came with the night. No sound of insects, nocturnal creatures, or in fact any of the sounds one might expect to find at night.
Just an eerie silence.
The fox reached in to the pod to grab what appeared to be an old timey Tommy rifle and slung it across her back. It wasn't her side arm, but the emergency rifles that was along the side of the pods. "I don't like the silence." the others in the pod came out, also rather jumpy and whoever could grabbed whatever rifle they could from the sides. "We won't hurt you" an otter with a black long braid and a long goatee said to the glowing disk. "The silence makes us jumpy. As for your question about us. We are originally from a place called the Ashrite Empire. I do not reccomed going there. It's a tyranny. They despise magic and if you dare even voice your opinion about the emperor you get labled an enemy of the state. All of us are enemies of the state, so to speek, and was outcasted to the same peinal planet. Five years ago we was able to rebel and take the planet as our own. We named it Vita Shetani. since then we been trying to find resources, since Vita Shetani is practicly one giant desert.. We are lucky that it has water."
"An interesting history. I must congratulate yourselves for having the willpower, determination, and skill to get yourselves out of imprisonment. Those are things we value." Vav-12 noticed the silence of the environment but for the moment said nothing of it. "Magic you say? Have heard of it. Several of the Priests are said to practice it in some way, but I must admit I have no personal knowledge of or proficiency at it. So far as freedom to speak we have such, though one must always be expected to accept the consequences of one's statements."
Vav-12 silently rotated, taking in the surroundings. "The silence is most unusual. It's almost like the world was Harvested-though that can't be the case obviously. There is plant life present, and those survivors. Still, something is keeping any animals silent-and those animals seem to be very few. Normally that is often a response to a threat. We should exercise caution."
The silence dragged for several tense moments before the first signs of danger began to make themselves known. The darkness itself seemed to pulse and move. Vague shapes, and red predatory eyes began to take shape in the darkness and with little in the way of warning the forms charged toward the gathered explorers, swarming over the ship and lashing out with teeth and claws of and teeth of darkness made manifest.
The female reached into her pocket and brought out what appeared to be a brass wand, and began to franticly write out runes in the air! the otter fired off some plasma bolt like blasts at the size of a shotgun shell toward the creatures! "FUCKING SHRIMP FUCKERS!" A cape dog was kneeling down and reloaded his cartridge before joining in on defending the group. The others held back, and provided cover fire for when the front lines needed to reload. When the female was done with the spell, a force field was cast over the group, in an attempt to shield them. She had to stay quiet, and focused on the spell to keep the shield up, practicly a sitting duck, relying on the support of the others in order not to loose concentration, or worse, be killed.
Vav-12 went to full combat status as the dark shapes appeared. His phase shields instantly activated, as did his Night Field-am aura of blacklight flame around him. Do NOT TOUCH that aura! It's pure antilife energy! he telepathically called out to the Vita Shetani.
Though not a Battlecrystal by any means, Vav-12 was nonetheless equipped with smaller-scale versions of the same technology, he reconfigured his weapon systems to FGMP configuration, and began firing fusion bolts at targets out of splatter range of allied forces. He honestly thought considering the nature of the hostile targets that he'd do more damage with the gravitic sheaths of the fusion bolts. For any that got too close to Vita Shetani personnel he switched to a rapid fire charged particle beam, varying it's phase state to try and better affect the attackers. As he fired, his combat sensors scanned the attackers, hoping to find some sort of vulnerability.
Lastly, Vav-12 signaled SVS Investigator to update Squadron Leader Akheret. "Engaging hostile variable phase-state entities. Planet has definitely been attacked by hostile forces. Will send further data as it becomes available."
Neither the particle beams, nor the plasma bolts seemed to do much more than upset the creatures as they closed in. Every time a shot hit them they seemed to morph around it, or it seemed to pass straight through them with very little in the way of damage. The creatures closed in on the party, lashing out with claw, and teeth, devouring anything and everything they could with horrible growling noises.
The shield held, anything that sprung against it would splat as if it just hit a brick wall! The otter took out his own brass rod and began to write runes int he air, Holding the rod up high, looking at it. he cast a cage around the demon animals, in attempts to cage them in with a similar spell to the dome shaped shields, only in reverse! the others reloaded their weapons and scanned the horizon.
Vav-12 increased power to his CG drives, rising to near the top of the wards set up by the Vita Shetani. His weapons systems reconfigured to a small NFD and a gravitic resonator. He fired these in alternating bursts, hoping the gravitic waves and phantom energy would disrupt the energy matrix of the creatures, energy constructs, or whatever they classified as. His multispectral array continued analyzing the creatures/constructs to try and gather more information on them.
Almost as an afterthought, Vav-12 activated his psi screens and personal psionic shields. Considering the use of psychometric weaponry the creatures could actually be mental constructs, and he wanted to take appropriate countermeasures. Would take a lot of energy to power either energy or psychometric constructs... Vav-12 thought to himself. That power source... He activated his trans-dimensional sensor array, keeping note of the power levels being generated as the creatures fought and responded to the wards.
More creatures swarmed toward the party, surrounding them and clawing over one another to push through the shield and to those hiding within. Vav's weapons continued to be of limited effect. The question was very quickly becoming how long could the fox hold the shield?
One of the others realized that the poor caster need some relief and began to write their own runes with the rod. Casting their own shield. For a few seconds the shields fought with each other,t rying to cancle each other out. One of the beings got a lucky slash in within these few precarious seconds. The female fox shouted "Back up to the pod! We'll try to get in it without these creatures causing any more harm to us!" the group began to back up, in hopes to get back into the pod and out of harms way.
Vav-12 moved back with the Vita Shetani, still staying at the top of the ward dome. He shifted his weapons configuration to a sonic resonator with a conical area. Normally used for riot control and similar applications, his observations of how the entities avoided fire made him consider it. In the meantime he signaled Investigator . "Under attack by hostiles. Apparent energy constructs of some sort. All weapons so far ineffective. Mystical forces seem to affect them. Notify the Priests about this. Based on available data there could be a possible Alet-Zan threat level force on planet. Attempting to gather more data points to cnfirm or deny."
Almost as an afterthought, Vav-12 concentrated and sent an electrokinetic bolt at one of the creatures/constructs, If magic can affect them, maybe psionics can as well... he thought to himself.
He called out to the Vita Shetani crew. "Be aware that if they can phase-shift, those pods could become a trap."
The sonic and psionic attacks were the least effective yet, having absolutely no noticeable effect on the creatures. As their prey began to move the creatures appeared to grow frustrated. They merged together, warping their formless shapes into something much larger and imposing.
It vaguely resembled a bipedal creature, and smashed aside the pod like it was nothing before once again pressing against the shield with a renewed fury. That fury was short lived however.
A spotlight abruptly turned on and was pointed at the creature. It let out a pained shriek and broke back into dozens of smaller creatures before scattering into the night.
The light now turned on the party panning over each of them in turn.
"Not the 77th," a feminine voice commented from behind the spot light with only a light accent. "Who are you then?"
When the light was seen as the source of the defeat of these strange shadow creatures, the otter began to rub his head. "of course..." he went to flip on the lights of the pod. four gas lamp appearing lights on it lit up, bating the place in an unearthly blue light. The fox looked to the female. "Vita Shetani, how may we help?" sure she was denied at first, but the person that approached may of been from a different group. "And thankyou, for a moment we didn't know what to do." the otter groaned "Andria, it's about to get worse. Both portside wings are broken. No way we can get off this planet until the ribs are fixed."
Vav-12 lowered his altitude to abut 1.5 meters off the ground and addressed the female native. "Greetings. My name/designation is Vav-12 and I am from the Anais Unity of the Singers of the Void. Wee and the Vita Shetani arrived on your world in answer to a signal sent from this planet. Since arriving I have noticed signs of obvious attack. Weapons fire in the city that does not seem to match local weapons. Now these entities... Do you know if the entities are part of the invasion force, or raiders as the case may be?"
"There is also power source deep underground that at first would not seem to be local in manufacture. We are willing to assist your people but need more information so we can more adequately assist you."
Vav-12 continued scanning the area, extending a small floodlight from his combat chassis just in case.
She raised a hand as the flood light came on, the grey skinned humanoid adjusting a wide brimmed hat to keep her eyes out of the light.
"Never heard of either of you," She said turning off her spotlight and jumping down from thr back of a pick up truck.
"Power source? Are you talking about the rift?" She commented moving to the driver side of the vehicle.
"Communication may be from central I guess. They were overrun a few days back. Labrosse left them an interstellar comms set up before she left with the 77th."
"Please tell us more about the 77th." She was curious about the 77th, while a curse could be heard from a cape dog. the cape dog pulled off her headphones. "Something is jamming our communications, But what?" The otter asked as he tried to help with the various flippers, levers, and brass knobs on what appeared to be a wooden console. "Not even the secondary and emergency beacons getting through?" the cape dog shook her head "No, we are stuck" "Ahh fuck..."
Rift... Vav-12 thought to himself, a theorem forming in his mind. "A spatial/dimensional rift? that would explain a lot of the readings. I referred to it as a power source since we have heard of them being used as such." Vav-12 considered his next words very carefully before continuing.
"Your statements make me curious about something. Did your people come through that rift? Or are you natives of this world. I ask since you mentioned both a Rift and interstellar communications systems, which the natives of this world to available data do not have the technological capability of manufacturing. In any case, regardless of your origin what is the background of the shadow-entities?"
She scowled at the drone's first question and muttered a curse of some persuasion in her native tongue.
"The Khel'Zaan are of this world. We were born of it and we have never left it."
She sounded offended at the accusation and muttered another curse.
"The shadows came from the rift which was formed as a result of a malfunction during a slip space experiment. The 77th was a... hmm... What's the word? Soldiers of the air? That doesn't sound right. The soldiers with the um... the..."
She briefly mimicked a gyro copter noise before shaking her head and continuing.
"They were a battalion strength unit under Claudette Labrosse from one of your interstellar nations. They assisted us with evacuations, and attempted to close the rift but... well..." She trailed off and shook her head.
"Soldeirs of the air, did they fly flying machines?" the fox noticed the scowl on her face, This wasn't good, They couldn't afford to make enemies now to expect to get off this planet alive. "I apologize for any hurtful words that was said. We are new here and know nothing of this planet, or it's history. I am sure our friend's intent wasn't to insult, just a curious mind."
"The Vita Shetani are correct. Insult was not intended. Was merely a question to gather more information. Nothing negative was intended." Vav-12 said to the Khel'Zaan female. "How long ago did the rift malfunction occur? I trust attempts were made to terminate power to the generator powering this rift? Also, did the commanding officer of the 77th say which polity her unit came from?"
"Yes, flying machine like..." Sha paused and shook her head. "Newarhala. I don't know your word for them. Colonel Labrosse and her people were from the Vestahl Commonwealth. The rift opened a few years ago and she and her soldiers showed up to help us evacuate. When removing the power source didn't close the rift she attempted to close it from the other side..."
She shrugged her shoulders.
"It didn't go well," She opened the door to the pick up truck and got in, the engine starting with a roar. "Come, we must go somewhere safer. They'll be back before long with more shadows, and the lights will only dissuade them for so long,"
With the wings out of commission, the pod was pretty much stranded. the vita shetani looked to each other as they got out of the pod. "we might have to hitch a ride with you madam. the pod, it's down for the count." the badger commented. "If we had time, and some wood, we could temporarly fix the ribs. but then she'd still be bound to this atmosphere." made sense, wood would burn in the stratosphere. But it'd still make a cool aeroplane type machine.
Vav-12 did a brief damage analysis scan of the landing pod and concurred with the Vita Shetani appraisal of the situation. "I agree, such field repairs will take an excess of time." The "turning" to the Khel'Zaan he said "Our term for that type of vehicle is a rotary-wing craft. But for now let us go to a more secure location, it is indeed dangerous to remain in the open as we are. Wee can discuss matters more later."
Floating to a position atop the pickup truck, Vav-12 had his systems reconfigure to 4 floodlights, positioned 90 degrees apart. He then waited for the Khel'Zaan and Vita Shetani to board and the vehicle to start moving, intending to fly along with it in formation.
The woman started the vehicle once everyone was loaded up and began driving, slowly at first then faster once she found her way onto a more well worn trail.
"I am guessing that you intend to go visit the rift?" She asked as she drove through the darkened fields and into a darkened pine forest. "It is a dangerous place to go. There are many more of the creatures there. We tried to fight them all with Labrosse but... even together we could only withstand them for so long..."
She paused and sighed.
"You'll need a guide as well,"
"And a plan" Andria commented, the otter leaned back "well since we are trapped here, might as well try with some of our own talents. So we know they are weak to light, what about other weaknesses? See if we can defeat what we can with our own runecraft, and of course, whatever our disk shaped friend can bring with us." A red fox looked up at Vav. "well if I stare at him long enough I'd probably get an acid trip." he joked.
Vav-12 spoke to the Khel'Zaan woman. "I have reconfigurable weapon systems installed. Did your forces or the 77th find that any particular weapons were particularly effective against these entities? Bright light seems to at least temporarily repel them, but would be nice to know if anything can terminate them. Laser field projectors perhaps?"
He adjusted the shift rate of his hue, shifting colors at a more languid pace, for Andria's sake.
"Since removal of the power source did not close the rift... I would say the rift has likely become self-sustaining. This would also be in alignment with the readings we had obtained from our ships. Then again, What happened when the 77th tried to close the rift from the other side? Did they report anything they spotted that could be something maintaining the rift? In any case it is likely that we may need reinforcements, including Nth-Dimensional technicians, to close this.
"I don't know," The woman answered. "Twenty five went through. No one came back,"
She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"My apprentice, Uerina, she went with them. She didn't come back either."
She brought the truck to a stop and shut off the engine, opening the door and stepping out into the surrounding forest. She paused momentarily, quirking her head to the side before motioning the others forward as she left the road.
"The 77th was short on supplies by the time they left. They spared what they could, jury rigged what they could... but they had to go. Trouble back home Colonel Labrosse told me. They left me a blade of phase shifted hardlight and a gun of some kind. Lasers maybe. I don't recognize the word,"
the red fox chuckled "Ahh damn I was enjoying that light show!" Meenwhile Andria said "My sympathies. Perhaps if we can study this blade, we can create something similar with runes carved into swords." she offered. "as well as the gun?"
"And scanning the beam weapon might allow me to program my reconfiguration matrix to project a more effective beam for fighting these entities." After a pause Vav-12 added "Unfortunately my close combat systems are not reconfigurable." Vav-12 followed the Khel'Zaan woman and the Vita Shetani, floating about 1 meter over the group's heads.
Addressing the Khel'Zaan, Vav-12 said "Forgive me for letting battlefield protocols interfere with basic etiquette. Do you have a name you like to be referred to by?"
"I am called Bellineth Malanore," The woman answered, stopping and clearing away leaves and dead fall from a metal door set into the ground. She pulled it open with a grunt and a shriek of rusted metal and motioned for the others to descend a rusted ladder into the darkened depths.
"We'll talk more inside, and come morning we can look toward travelling to the Foundry,"
Slowly the otter went down the ladder first, using his sense of feel for the rusted steps. The going was slow, he did not want to end up breaking a rung and falling down the shaft. the fox introduced herself as well as the otter. "My name is Andria, the otter that just went down the hole, Holta." Holta was making sure that none of the steps were loose or wobbily as he descended. he wanted to make sure the damned thing was safe first!
Vav-12 glided silently down the access tunnel, "Foundry? Is that the gate site or another installation, Industrial I would guess by the name perhaps?" Vav said to Belineth as they got to the bottom of the shaft. Once at the bottom he used his floodlight to illuminate the area they were in.
"And pardon me. Vav-12 is my unit designation. My actual name is Mareneth. I am I suppose what you might call a Cyborg, though I... possess no organic parts, just my Essence."
Bellineth went last, closing the hatch behind her and plunging the shallow shaft into darkness. She more slid than climbed down the ladder, arriving at the bottom in a few short seconds and after some brief fiddling a generator roared to life, illuminating the room around them in harsh fluorescent light.
It was a small room, five meters by five meters, a cot was pushed against a wall in one corner with a chest of drawers next to it and a few chaira scattered throughout the space. It was a decidedly small and rudimentary living space but it served its purpose.
Bellineth headed to the bedside, unwrapping the scarf from around her face and taking off her hat. Her skin was light grey in color and her hair completely white. The scalera of her eyes was jet black and white irises focused on the group when she turned back.
She shrugged off her coat and unclipped a sleek weapon glowing a dull red from a harness along with a small cylinder which she held out to the party.
"The weapons," she said.
Holta studied the handle, impressed by it's craftsmanship. He tried to keen any magics, or anything he could copy with runecraft from the hilt, Extending a brown hand over the weapon, but not close to the sword as not to seem like he was trying to grab it.
Vav-12 scanned the two weapons. First the beam shotgun, then the energy blade. The shotgun seemed most appropriate, so he started working on a template for his reconfiguration systems. The beam sword was interesting, but lacking arms reduced it's utility drastically. Unless... An idea came to him. He thought of the Nova Field of the Xeleneth-Meret class Protocore Battlefortress and got a bit of inspiration. He started work on a second template, though it would take more time.
Looking to Belineth and Andria, he said "Ok, what's our next move tactically? Obviously waiting until daylight would seem appropriate, but what is our objective?"
“You wanted to see the rift, yes?" Bellineth asked, raising one slender eyebrow.
"The Foundry is some distance away. Even in the daytime there is risk from raiders and bandits along the way. Then once inside the foundry the rift itself is far below ground and we will likely be harassed by shadows the whole way, and in great numbers,"
She sighed and sat down with a groan.
"It will take more manpower than currently stands in this room I'm afraid. Claudette Labrosse had a battalion of soldiers at her disposal and struggled to reach the rift... I fear that the handful we have here will be... even more insufficient."
Holta removed his hand from the position "I can't keen anything, it's technological." Andria stepped forward to take alook at the weapon. "Two weapons isn't going to be enough, however, if it is technological, it can be replicated." She looked to Vav "You have any idea?"
"I can reconfigure my specific systems to utilize these weapon modes." Vav-12 said to Holta. "Unfortunately I do not have general fabrication capability. My fabricators are limited to producing spare parts for repairing my combat chassis." He thought for a moment, analyzing the situation. "I would recommend that I contact my base ship, SVS Investigator . "
"Squadron Leader Akheret will be able to inform Fleet Leader Naelle, who has access to both troops and specialized units for dealing with incorporeal and/or multidimensional threat forces. I concur that our currently available force is insufficient for the task."
Bellineth set the two weapons aside and sat down on the bed.
"Additional forces will aid in this endeavour," She said with a nod. "I only hope that you are right and that you can close the rift... otherwise..."
She let the implication hang thick in the air, but said nothing further.
“Not saying that we can" Andria said. "Just saying we will try. and if we can not do it, there is always room for plan B." Holta nodded "Evacuation plan is also possible, Although that is apt to be a last resort"
Vav-12 looked to both Belineth and Andria, rotating slightly. "I feel confident that Fleet Leader Naelle can close this rift. And will do everything in his power and ability to see that it is done without... deleterious side effects." Beep "One moment... Relay established."
A holographic projection came into being above Vav-12's chassis. An androgynous looking Mu male stood before some sort of command dais. His bone-white hair fell to mid-thigh length, matched by his equally white skin. His eyes were solid pools of blacklight energy. He wore the black uniform with amber and dark purple highlighting of a Singers' naval officer.
"I bring you greetings on behalf of the Anais Unity Fleet. I am Fleet Leader Naelle. Vav-12 has informed me of the basic strategic situation and I will d what I can to assist. Can either of you provide further information-tactical or otherwise?
"The foundry is an old industrial complex that was used for research and development as well as high tech arms manufacturing prior to the... incident," Bellineth answered. "Although what we considered high tech at the time and what you consider high tech I imagine are... completely different. The foundry was built close to the coast about two hundred kilometers north west of here. It is surrounded by a marshy swamp, and then agricultural land.
"The Foundry itself is large, containing numerous warehouses and auxiliary buildings in addition to the main... hrm... what's the word... uh... factory? Yes, the main factory. The main factory was also the main research and development facility and extends deep underground. Unless you can restore power to the facility we'll have to take the stairs. Tactical difficulties include that some stairways are blocked, which will force us to navigate through the main levels to find alternate routes, and parts of the facility have been flooded,"
Holta nodded "If the condition of the wiering of the complex is still good, Us Vita shetani, with cooperation, could make a power generator that runs on runic magic easily. Pumps would take a bit more work since that requires moving parts." The fox finally spoke up, "As for pumps, if we can find any water type ships, we could salvage those."
Vav-12 spoke, though Naelle's image still floated there. "Perhaps for pumps it would be easier to repurpose firefighting equipment? As far as restoring power, lighting might help with the entities, though as far as elevators go, I would not rule out their being compromised structurally. We should take that into account in our planning."
Naelle then spoke. "We shall be emerging from phased state soon. We may need to bring in sufficient force to secure the system as well. There has been recent fighting in the outer system involving at last 4 separate factions."
"I wouldn't count on the wiring being any good," Bellineth said with a sigh. "Sections are underwater, other sections have been scavenged for parts by drifters... it would be a long shot..."
She closed her eyes and brought her hands to her temples rubbing them in what could be guessed to be a rudimentary attempt at stress relief.
Naelle's image spoke to Belineth and the Vita Shetani. "Get what rest you can then. My fleet will arrive when the area of the world you currently are at is in it's day cycle. We will deploy additional ground forces with training and equipment to deal with these shadow forms."
As the Fleet Leader's holographic image flickered out, Vav-12 said to all in the room. "I will stand watch. I do not require sleep in the standard sense of the term."
Morning rose on Zaingraf, clear, crisp, and cold. A thin layer of frost clung to the forest floor, hinting at the impending transition from fall into winter proper. But, it was not winter yet, and as the sun began its ascent into the sky, the area began to warm and a light mist began to blanket the forest and its surrounding environments.
~~~~
Bellineth slept little during the night, often rising and pacing around the small shelter before returning to her cot to toss and turn and maybe catch a couple hours of sleep before the process repeated.
She was the first to rise (save Vav of course since he did not need to sleep) and busied herself preparing a small breakfast of military rations. It wasn't much, but it was all she had to offer her guests. Once the food was ready she awoke each of them in turn, handing them their share before sitting down with her own.
"We should leave soon," She told them. "With luck we may reach the Foundry before nightfall,"
The remaining 12 ships of Task Force Ain-3 phased into normal space in formation with the Survey Group, aided by the stabilizer aboard SVS Investigator . Taking up a dispersed formation and activating their own stabilizers in short-range interdiction mode, the fleet moved into geosynchronous orbit over the area of the world where Vav-12 and his companions were positioned.
Onboard SVS Entropy's Caress , Fleet Leader Naelle was in the battlecarrier/harvester's CIC. Observing the main display sphere, he noted the fighting seemed to have stopped with the withdrawal of the Davian fleet units from the Zaingraf system. "Damned Davians, someone should just cull them and bee don with it." Then he continued; "Ok everyone. There are still 2 unknown fleets in system. Keep defensive systemry active but weapons cold. Scanners stay watchful, do not want to get blindsided. ComScan, get me Vav-12."
In the makeshift bunker, Vav-12 beeped as his comms array went active. "Message incoming from Fleet Leader Naelle." And then the holographic projector lit up with Naelle's image.
"Our fleet has arrived in orbit. The combat in space seems to have ended though we remain on defense alert status. We are ready to begin landing operations as soon as the surface at your coordinates is in more light. How shall we proceed Belineth? There are several options I can discuss with you, but this is after all your world."
Kadir’s task force moved into a very high orbit above Zaingraf and readied their guns to bombard if they came under attack. “Beginning scans now Sir. We’re mapping the surface and gathering what data we can.” The sensors operator informed him.
Kadir looked out at the planet below and the locations of the other fleets. “Have our forces begin preparations to land. Once we have identified a suitable landing zone we can begin setting up a base of operations and dispatching reconnaissance teams towards the region the signal originated from.” He ordered and sat back to wait for the fleets sensors to do their job.
The Andraken fleet jumped back to where they once were positioned over Zaingraf. The troops bellow had been still marching steadily since the battle began and were now reaching the location of the life signs. They stopped marching and waited as a shuttle landed before them. From the shuttle, a ‘woman’ walked down. The silver and red body suit she wore accented her lithe figure. The different ‘plates’ that made up the jump suit moved with her body to further add allure to her. Black hair fell down her back and shoulders and accented her pale face and golden eyes. Her face was soft and inviting to those who looked at her. Red crystals of energy floated behind her and helped give off psionic waves that made those around her more relaxed and open to suggestion.
This woman was a Cyon, a race of bio-mechanical organisms that were part of the Andraken Hegemony. This specific Cyon was designed to be a diplomat and had several key abilities to help with diplomacy. She walked up to the door to the bunker and lightly knocked on the door.
“Hello there, my name is Zyana, I would like to speak with you for a few minutes.” Zyana said with a warm and inviting tone. Her crystals began to glow and give off psionic waves to calm down those inside.
The Cricaen ships all reformed as the remained of the 1st fleet arrived. Once they had all formed back up they move into orbit above Zaingraf, with weapons aimed at the planet just incase orbital bombardment was needed. “Begin scanning the area and send in a company of Light Infantry” Admiral Williams ordered. “Yes Sir” the sensors operator replied as he began scanning.
The Light Infantry entered their drop pods and once ready were launched towards Zaingraf, meanwhile sappers and all manners of other infantry along with their support was preparing for the drop in shuttles once a suitable landing site had been located.
Bellineth chuckled at the Naelle's comments as she finished preparing for their excursion.
"I am a simple guide," She answered finally. "I'm not a military mind, nor a political leader. I'm a simple and common woman possessed only of a higher than average ability to survive in places others have deemed unsafe. I wouldn't say I'm the... authority you're looking for... that said,"
She dug through her messenger bag momentarily, smoothing out yellowing and faded road map.
"This is the Foundry here," She said pointing to a triangular space of land that jutted out into the ocean. "The land surrounding it were farmland mostly before they came. Fields are overrun with weeds and the creatures take shelter in the taller crops during the day. An old dirt road comes through here,"
She ran her finger along an area of the map.
"It's overgrown and too uneven for our vehicles to drive down but its clear enough that the creatures won't venture onto it to fight us in the daylight. We'll have to travel on foot once we get there. That will take us to the outer fence of the Foundry. There's probably a hole there already but in case there isn't we can just cut our way past the fence."
She paused momentarily to take a breath.
"Past the fence is marshland. It's boggy and unless you know the way it's easy to get stuck. I know the way so I can lead you through to the railyards here. Once we get there, its a straight shot through some warehouses to the Foundry proper. I don't know how precise your landing capabilities are, but when Colonel Labrosse assaulted the Foundry she sent scouts to mark landing zones before deploying infantry and armor from... what was your word... fixed wing rotary aircraft?"
---
Scanning the planet for the source of the FTL signature proved a much harder task for the Vaanitas and the Cricaens. While they'd fought in the surrounding system time around them had marched ever onward and made the already difficult task of narrowing down the source of the signal much more difficult.
Still there were some clues that could be discovered. The signal could be narrowed to a relatively small area and there were only a few places in that area that made sense for the signal to have originated from. There was an abandoned city, although life signs within it were sporadic at best, two bunkers, one of which was currently the focus of the AO, and a second which was only notable for crashed pod situated nearby, and finally what may have, at one point, been a military installation, although scans for lifesigns revealed there to be none in close proximity to the base.
---
The AO observed no change in the bunker's status. The door remained closed and no sound could be heard from behind it. If the presence of their envoy had had any effect, then it was not one that was easily observable.
Holta rubbed his chin. "if anything needs fetching under water, leave that to me." well duh he was an otter. he looked over the map, following the guide's finger across it. "Or perhaps." the female fix mentioned. "A lift?" she smiled as she looked to the fox in back of the room, taking a drink of whisky from a flask in his pocket. "Red! show them what you can do!" Red asked "In here? really? You like being squished like sardines? Oh allright." he took off his clothes and sat his flask against the wall, The fox began to shift. going to all fours, and body warping, growing, untill it was a large, thoroughbred sized wolf. Looking toward the group with intellegent eeys, sittig, or rather, crouching, in the corner to try to give everyone space. may be handy for any straggelers.
Naelle's image nodded as Belineth described the terrain surrounding the Foundry. "We shall be landing in the former farmland area you described and will rendezvous with you there. May you be successful."
Three dropships each emerged from SVS Gazania Gwandu and SVS Kwarani . As they moved towards atmospheric interface they were joined by 6 Assault Shards launched from the Entropy's Caress. Lastly, the Battlecrystal Alet-12 entered atmosphere. Alet-12 stopped it's descent 2 kilometers above the former farmland Belineth had indicated. The Battlecrystal then shifted to a uniform black glow with traceries of dark purple visible within.
Black and purple beams streaked out from the crystalline hull. Where they touched vegetation the vines, weeds, and other plants withered away, turning to grey dust and exposing any of the shadow entities within to the direct light of the sun. The shards circled the area, their weapons systems configured to a laser with a frequency based on the data relayed by Vav-12. When the area was sanitized, the dropships began landing.
In orbit, Naelle looked at the positions of the Vaanitas, Cricaen, and Andraken fleets. "Keep defenses up, respond to attacks if any come but keep weapons cold for now."
Down in the small bunker, Vav-12 said to Belineth and the Vita Shetani "We should get moving if it is light enough outside."
The points of interest were marked on the tactical map. A woman in full combat gear, her helmet tucked under one arm, walked on to the bridge and saluted the Commodore. "Ah, Major." he spoke, saluting back and turning to the tac map where she joined him.
"We have several points of interest for you to investigate." he spoke, pointing to each of them. "You will set up an FOB half a kilometre from the north side of the city and stage your operations from there. The fleet will remain on standby and keep constant air cover of the area of operation. Any questions?" Kadir concluded and turned to her.
"If I may ask Admiral, why are we even here?" she spoke, her voice failing to hide her disdain for this operation.
"By order of Count Arkus, Major. A little to close to our borders to go without investigation, don't you think?" he replied to which she nodded. "You are dismissed, begin your landings." he spoke and she marched off the bridge, heading down to the hangar bay.
Dropships began launching from the fleets hangar bays, both heavy and standard, ferrying forces and supplies down to the designated location where the base would be established. The second they touched down marines stormed out and began securing the area, setting up in natural cover and providing overwatch whilst the engineers began erecting perimeter walls, both shield and physical.
"This is Commodore Kadir to the Cricaen commander. We are in the process of establishing a base on the planet below. If you seek to continue to aid our cause I suggest yours is established nearby. You fought with honour Cricaen, rare amongst those we encounter." he transmitted before cutting the link.
The fighters of the two battleships began to identify and tow Davian wreckage back to their motherships, having a rather easy time now they didn't have to worry about being shot at.
The Light Infnatry that had already dropped began reforming as their HUD’s were updated with the scanned area from the ships. Once all those that dropped had been accounted for they began to move to an nearby hill that overlooked a city and set up in overwatch and waited for the main force.
Williams listened to the Vaanitas communications and looked at the Marine Captain that was standing by the bulkhead “Follow the Vaanitas shuttles down and establish our FOB nearby” He order “Aye Sir” the marine replied before he headed off quickly to the hanger as shuttles began launching and following the Vannitas shuttles down.
One on the ground the marines cautiously exited the shuttles and set up positions as the heavier shuttles landed behind them unloading supplies and sappers who now began construction of the FOB.
“Should we start scanning the Davian wreckages?” William’s 2ic asked the Admiral. He thought for a moment “Proceed” He replied. At his command a few drones were launched and began going amongst Davian wreckages and scanning, collecting anything that was of value or use.
When the door to the bunker didn’t open, a sour expression crossed Zyana’s face. She walked up to the door and felt the cold metal that made up its surface. She stepped back and waved to the door. An Andraken Warrior moved towards the door and fired a tachyon burst at the door.
Above the Commander of the Andraken Frigate looked over the data from the most current scans of the planet. They showed the groups of indigenous life forms as well as the life forms from the other races. Though of particular interest was the fact that a group of Singer and Indigenous life forms were currently in close proximity with each other.
“Send another.” The Commander ordered. A shuttle soon left with another Diplomat Cyon onboard. The shuttle drifted down through the clouds and landed near the Singer’s position. The Cyon left the shuttle and was followed by two Andraken Warriors.
The Vaanitas and the Cricaens encounted no problems with their landings, or well, no problem that would be considered a-typical to their organizations. There were no attacks, nor was there any sign of the locals as they made planet fall and began setting up their bases of operation.
The city istelf showed little in the way of lifesigns, and what few life signs were detectable clearly had little interest in approaching either of the two factions keeping a wide berth between themselves and the fire base.
~~~~~~~
The tachyon blast blew apart the door in a shower of steel fragments and screeching metal. No sooner had the fragments settled then the defenses on the other side of the door roared to life with a cacophonous thrum. A thirty milimeter rotary canon was the first thing to spring to life, firing out incendiary rounds with a deep and continous brrrrrzzzzt, panning across anything that came within its firing arc.
~~~~~~~
The shadows that hid among the fields were quick to dissipate under the direct light of the sun if they were not quick enough to run for cover deeper in the Foundry. With the local shadows scattered the Singers had no trouble landing unopposed near the Foundry.
~~~~~~~
With everyone in agreement as to the plan Bellineth climbed out of the bunker and, after a quick look around, motioned for the others to follow. It took her a few minutes to get the battered truck started again. She'd spent the better part of ten minutes shouting what could have only been threats and curses in her native tongue at the vehicle before finally managing to get enough charge out of the battery to turn over the engine and get the vehicle running.
With a metallic bang she closed the hood and climbed into the driver seat. Once everyone was secure she began the long drive to the Foundry, leaving the forest and moving on to cracked country roads, occassionaly passing the rusted out remains of other vehicles pushed to the shoulder.
The werewolf let people mount him to avoid ovecrowding the truck. Everyone else, in the truck bed! EThe were was starting off in a gentle lope by the truck, no need to start running yet! His ears was constantly scanning the area for any dangers. He leaped over a few of the rusted shells of vehicles on the sides of the road like a champion jumper horse, and luckilly did not loose anyone on his back from these stunts!
Several AO Warriors and Legionnaires cracked as they were hit by the 30mm cannon. When they fell they shattered into chunks of crystal. Zyana jumped out of the gun's firing arc and glared at the machine. An AO Warrior aimed and fired at the cannon with a single tachyon bolt.
After finding nothing the AO shuttle took off and flew to the next group of natives and a group of unknown aliens. As they flew the sensor map showed that they began moving at a rapid pace. The shuttle shot forward to hypersonic speeds causing a sonic boom.
The FOB set up by Fleet Leader Naelle hummed with activity. Grav CEV's and construction drones were building a 5 meter tall Infracrete wall. Atop the wall Lenari combat engineers were installing phase barriers, photonic fields, and banks of floodlights. Other teams were assembling 15 meter tall towers mounting sensors and more lights.
Alet-12 continued hovering 100 meters overhead, the six shards maintaining their CAP. Naelle's holo image glowed in the CIC's tactical display, as Battalion Leader Imvret made his report.
"Base construction will be complete before nightfall, Fleet Leader. Tactical briefings will begin as soon as Vav-12 and his party arrive. Alet-12 has detected tachyonic weapons fire-80% likely to be AO in nature. No current information available on who they are engaging."
Naelle nodded, his glowing black and purple eyes seemingly looking off in the distance. "Excellent work, Battalion Leader. I can sense the anomaly... a detachment of Combat Priests will be landing with the next shuttles. Keep the facility secure while waiting for Vav-12 and his companions. Also, stay on alert considering the other forces in the area."
Imvret saluted as Naelle's image flickered out.
Dropships went to and fro from the Vaanitas fleet, ferrying men and equipment as the FOB began to take shape. One of the first things to be set up was a deployable reactor, along with a shield to cover the base. Prefab walls were erected rapidly as were watchtowers, as well as buildings within the camp.
Scout groups were deployed to survey the city perimeter and set up a further base of operations in one of the taller structures they could find at the cities limit, being dropped onto the roof by a gunship. Sniper teams used jump packs to deploy onto other advantageous rooftops, and watch over city streets for any sign of movement, every detail being mapped and reported back.
Engineers kept working hard to set up the FOB, walls were erected as a shield generator was brought online. Eventually the army was brought in to man defensive positions as they were constructed.
Marines began setting up a wider perimeter as they were eventually not required to man positions in the FOB. The Light Infantry that was dropped and had already taken up positions around the town watched as they witnessed the Vaanitas soldiers bouncing around the rooftops "This may draw some attention" One chuckled. "Maybe, but if it does, shoot it" The sections corporal said as he observed the city.
As before, the Vaanitas and the Cricaens remained unmolested. Perhaps it was fear, or caution, or just simple apathy, but the natives of Zaingraf clearly weren't interested in approaching their forces or their bases. The city was dead, and devoid of life signs. What few there had been melted away, deeper into the city or out into the surrounding environs.
~~~~~
The same could not be said of the life signs the AO were fighting. With their canon destroyed, the people within were hardly out of options. In place of the rapid firing 30mm canon, the AO now faced a veritable barrage of conventional small arms fire as the soldiers within kept up the fire. Pistols, assault rifles, a pair of heavy machine guns, and an automatic grenade launcher all kept up the fire on their positons. Pushing into and clearing the bunker was certainly doable, but even primitive as they were, the defenders would make the cost of taking it high.
~~~~~
A shortwave radio seated on the dashboard of the rusting pickup abruptly squawked to life, the male on the other end sounded panicked and distraught, rattling off words at lightning speed in the native tongue of this world. Bellineth slammed the breaks on and grabbed hold of the radio, rattling off a question before snapping off a curse at the response.
"One of the bunkers is under attack," She said, tapping the radio's transmitter against her forehead. "Not the shadows. Another like you, from the stars. Some kind of... hmm... what's the word... mineral?"
She shook her head and sighed.
"They want a drifter to call a missile strike,"
The werewolf paced and snarled, not liking the news one bit, and couldn't say anything in any other language than doggo. From his body language he was clearly agitated. Andria looked to Holta, and Holta to their flying disc friend. "Do they sound like anyone your people may be allies with? If so, perhaps contact can be made to tell them to stop attacking." he rolled his eyes. Wondering who shot first. "I got it!" exclaimed Andria looking up from a strange device on her wrist, it was more of a length of a bracer, with typewriter keys across it and a small screen with a scroll. She went to typing on it. throwing aside a dead energy crystal that was cracked. "Thanks Red for letting me use this." The wolf responded in a bark of understanding. She waited for a moment before the small levers began to type out a message on the scroll on it's own, and automatically moved up a centimeter to show what was typed. "I got the message to Brockhall and he said no, the Vita Shetani do not know of any 'mineral people.' outside of Vav-12's people." She looked toward Vav-12 to await any answers or information from said disc
With the main bases construction moving along rapidly, the Vaanitas had established a comfortable foothold. With soldiers now moving throughout the city, a command team were ferried to one of the tallest buildings where a second, significantly smaller FOB was being established. Methods of entry to the top 5 floors were barricaded, and started being portioned off into areas like a CIC and barracks, as well as a medical area should it be needed. Guards watched the entryways and skies whilst the scouts kept hopping around and mapping the city from above. Armoured assets were moved planetside and prepared for deployment if need be, but the current objective was recon more than anything else.
Vav-12 listened carefully to what Andria and Holta had to say about the "mineral people" that had attacked the bunker. "From what I can estimate from available intel, I would say there is a high probability that the force that attacked that bunker were the so-called 'Andrakens' or AO for short."
"They are a constructed species of crystalline nature. As far as we can determine they are a kind of servitor drone created by an Nth-dimensional species to act as their proxies. Their primary goal/programming seems to be the collection and cataloguing of new technology. We have a non-aggression agreement with them so it s possible I could act as a mediator of sorts."
"Be aware that this could involve a level of danger. Their programmed nature may be difficult to overcome and we do not know full specifics of their directives."
The Cricaen sappers worked hard to construct the main structure of the compound giving the Cricaen armed forces the ability to begin more recon operations. A smaller field post was opened for the purpose of large scale mobilisation and evacuation if it was required. The Light Infantry teams were given more units that began doing a sweep of the main city under the cover of the various snipers located on the hills and some buildings. Light tanks were deployed on the ground and sent out in the surrounding areas to gather as much intelligence as possible.
The Pilot of the Andraken shuttle spotted the Vita Shetani group and began to slow down and descend to the group. The crystalline craft hovered before them and four crystalline legs came out of the ship and it landed silently. The hull shifted before a door opened and stairs began to form. A Cyon stepped down first, it was similar in design to Zyana but with silver eyes instead of gold and the suit was silver and blue.
The Warriors and Legionaries formed up into defensive positions. Their shields linking together to deflect some of the fire, but the higher caliber rounds still pierced through. Several shattered into chunks as grenades exploded near them, but the Andrakens did not fall back. They slowly began to push forward firing pinpoint shots to weapons.
The drifter's reaction to the appearance of the crystaline ship was as sudden as it was violent. She practically kicked the door to the old beater open and leapt from the driver's seat, with a weapon in each hand. The laser shotgun hummed to life, glowing a harsh angry red as she pointed it at the new arrival while the hard light blade cracked to life.
"Yershan gursen ye'tal neathanal!" She screamed, the rage obvious in her voice as she advanced forward, the shotgun levelled at the woman's chest. Quite obviously she was not in a talking mood, and if the others had to guess these were likely the 'mineral people' she had mentioned only moments earlier.
----------------
Even as the crystaline entities began to advance the volume of fire carrying forth from the bunker did not slack off. Despite their primitive (by everyone else's standards anyway) weapons they still stood their ground as best they could, continue to fire with all they had. They fell back further into the bunker, leaving the dead and dying where they were as well as no shortage of broken lamps and work lights.
But the natives in the bunker were soon to be the least of the Andraken's problems. Smoke, some from the explosive rounds and munitions as well as from smoke grenades, began to billow around the battlefield, blocking out the sun and shrouding the area in shade.
No longer needing to hide from the harsh light of the sun, the shadows began to pulse and move as the creatures began emerging from their hiding places and turning hungry gazes toward those fighting nearby.
Yes, the AO were soon going to have much bigger problems.
----------
As construction continued in and around the city and the Vaanitas and Cricaens continued to assemble their bases, there seemed to be a sudden influx in activity. Radio signals, which had been sporadic when they landed, were now passing around the area in increasing volumes. Some were wide band broadcasts while others seemed to be more focused point to point communications.
Some of the signals carried rudimentary encryptions but for the most part they were unencrypted, although the language was one unknown to both parties.
Nonetheless it was easy enough to isolate the two main sources of the transmissions, one some kind of bunker just outside the city, and another was out in the ocean. A naval vessel of some kind perhaps?
Vav-12 hovered 3 meters above the ground as he did a quick visual scan, confirming the crystal beings as AO. 'Turning' towards the Cyon he spoke; "I am Control Unit Vav-12, Anais Unity. Why are you engaging the natives of this world?
"This planet is infested with incorporeal entities of an extremely hostile demeanor. Extradimensional in origin, possibly Nth-dimensional in nature. I would seriously suggest you cease all hostilities against the native population and that we combine our efforts against the extradimensional infestation. This will take a great deal of effort to get under control."
A neutralino transmission then came through to Vav-12 from Fleet Leader Naelle, short and to the point it merely said "As per terms of the Non-Aggression Pact with the Andrakens, do not engage. Will be contacting my fleet's Ministry of State representative."
Addressing both Belineth and the Cyon, Vav-12 said "I understand your anger Belineth, we should save our strength for our real enemy, the entities." To the Cyon he simply said "I request your forces attacking the natives stand down immediately. Continuing the attack in the face of the greater threat is tactically a bad decision, and is illogical as well,"
when vita shitani dismounted from the werewolf, he in his huge wolf form guarded the group as they were behind him. he didn't attack but did give a warning snarl. Holta looked to Red and said "Hold back, not yet. let's let Vav handle negotiations." Andria was on guard, fingering her rune carved rod in her hands, flipping it over and over. Ready to cast out runes at a moment notice, as were the rest. "What would I give to have a crystal child around." she whispered. "Or a higher powered witch, coven leader."
"Hello, I am Shira, representative of the Andraken Hegemony." Shira said in a comfortable tone to Vav-12. Shira turned to drifter, the crystals around her began to glow, giving off a psionic wave to calm the woman down.
"As for your question Vav-12 we were going to talk to the natives and they wouldn't respond. So we blew the door open to see if they were alright." Shira began calmly. "The Natives began firing on us, and if my information is correct we haven't injured a single one of them." She finished with a comforting smile. Two Andraken Commons stepped down out of the shuttle and formed up behind Shira. “But I will have them contacted and ordered to back off.”
The Andraken Warriors and Legionnaires began to back off, their fire began to fade as they backed out of the smoke. Zyana placed a hand on her hip and sighed as bullets whizzed past her. “So much for that idea.” They had lost a 1/16th of their original force, mainly from the Auto-cannon that fired on them when they first breached the door.
The FOB began running the language through their translators as they were intercepted. The fleet in orbit took notice of the signal from the ocean and used their scanners and camera’s to gain information on the source. The ground teams focussed on locking down the city and establishing a base.
Operators began listening to the communications and began running decryption programme whilst they ran the language through translators. Orders were given out to some of the recon teams that were currently observing the city that Vaanitas forces were locking down to move return to the FOB and board gunships to head to the transmission out on the ocean, whilst one of the light tank platoons had two IFV’s attached to them one carrying a section of Marines the other had a medical team ready for any wounded as they moved out towards the bunker on the outskirts of the city.
The Andrakens near the bunker were offered only the briefest of reprieves as they backed off and the gunfire died down. The smoke remained, and the shadows rapidly became more active. No sooner had the last shots echoed away than the shadows made their move.
The darkness began to take shape as the shadows launched their attack, coming on the Legionaires in a wave of roiling darkness. As they fell upon the Legionaires they broke into smaller entities, slashing and clawing with animalistic brutality at any of the Legionaires they managed to get close to.
The surprise of the attack was quickly blunted as the Legionaires began to fight back, their superior technology faring better against the shadows than the natives had with bullets and explosives. But for each shadow they took down the smoke grew, and more shadows rose from the darkness to take their place.
A large form closed in on the Legionaires, and with that same animal brutality leapt upon the Legionaire closest it, swallowing the entire entity in the shadow. For a moment, it seemed the crystaline entity would simply shatter, same as all the others... but it was only a moment. No, something more sinister was at work here.
Consumed in the darkness the legionairre was jerked and twisted into impossible shapes and angles before the entire thing was abruptly compressed into a melon sized orb that glowed with a sickly purple light.
The shadows abruptly stopped attacking, holding completely still. If they were fired upon, they simply stood still and died.
The purple faded as the shadow holding the orb grew darker, the shapeless form twisting and morphing into... something else. A better combat form... a more efficient killer.
It formed into a vaguely humanoid shape, the orb moving to its chest area, the light it gave off dimming as it became darker and more solid. All around it the other shadows began to follow suit, darkening and twisting into that humanoid shape.
Then, it spoke. The voice came from everywhere, a deep rumbling baritone that echoed across psionically across the planet. A voice heard by all, in their native tongue no matter where on the world they were.
"This place..." It said, its words slow and deliberate. "Too bright... too bright. Destroy the light. Yes. Destroy the light and all the abominations that walk in it."
The humanoids twisted and morphed again, the shadows forming into what seemed to twisted mockeries of the weapons that had been used on them until this point.
"Cleanse this place,"
The Singers were the first to experience what exactly It had in mind. The ground beneath the Foundry rumbled and shook, the energy readings exponentially grew... and then... the shadows emerged.
By now they all held the same vaguely humanoid shape, and with their newfound weapons in hand they charged forth toward the Singer's positions. The sun no longer seemed to have an effect upon the creatures, as they moved freely in the daylight charging as one toward the Singers, bolts of dark purple lancing forth from their weapons toward the Singers.
-------------------------
The same scene began playing out in the city itself as the shadows began emerging from the shade provided by the broken buildings, and threw themselves upon the Vaanitas and Cricaen positions. There was little in the way of tactic or coordination. Only a relentless charge and the lancing bolts of purple.
But even as they came under attack they had a breakthrough. The encryption was cracked, and the translation began working, finally allowing the two militaries to listen in on the exchange.
"...thousands! And they're changing. We're... where the fuck are the Drifters?!"
"I'm here... I see them,"
Dead air for a few seconds.
"Mogaith's Glory, how copy, over?"
"Five by five, over,"
"They're everywhere out here. I'm calling it, scorched earth. Standby for fire mission, over,"
-----------------------------------------
Bellineth's rage didn't subside. Her weapons stayed active, and the shotgun leveled at the woman.
"Haven't injured anyone!?" She shouted. "There were dozens of casualties! The door guards, civilians in the bunker hit by shrapnel from the weapons you used. Dozens are dead, hundreds wounded!"
Further shouting was abruptly cut off by a distant rumbling from the Foundry the deep voice that cut through the minds of everyone assembled.
"What have you done?" She muttered before advancing on the woman. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"
The Andracken Warriors and Legionnaires formed up into a defensive formation. The Tanks in the back began to take aim. When the shadows opened fire several fell as the bolts pierced the shields. The shields then began to harden and reform, and they began to absorb the blasts. Arms poked out and fired Tachyon bolts into the new foes. All the while they slowly retreated. When the shadows charged into the Andracken lines it broke into fierce close quarters combat. Many fell yet the Andracken still fought. Zyana quickly boarded her shuttle and began to take off.
On the bridge of the Andracken Frigate alarms blared as energy readings of the planet began to rapidly rise. Though most of it was originating in one spot.
”This is unprecedented. Escort 6 return to the fleet, expedition force 1 retreat to a better position.” The Commander sent out, it's voice emotionless. The Commander looked to the area where the energy was the strongest. The city was full of friendly troops, they would not be repeating the mistakes of the Davians. ”All ships, begin to move on this location. Once we have arrived begin dropping troops.” The Commander ordered. The five ships in the fleet began rapidly moving to the city, the sixth Escort quickly gaining to join with them.
The telepathic voice of the Commander told Shira the situation. She sighed and turned to the woman who continued to point the shotgun at her. "Our forces have been attacked by these creatures and appear to have changed their form." Shira began, she then turned to Vav-12 "Our ships are moving towards the city here," Shira's hand became a hologram showing the Foundry and City, "They will begin dropping troops and figuring out what the energy source is."
"IDiots! You come across a bunch of frightened people, holed up in a bunker. Too frightened to answer the door, and what is your response? Blast the door down, start a war, destroy all trust that we have spent time building up with these people to help them find a solution to the problem! Fuck, Now we don't even know what we are fighting due to your tomfoolery." Andria was pissed, she gritted her teath and grunted. Reporting back to the ship via her communicator. waiting for a response from Brockhall. That's when the communicator began to type on the scroll on it's own and inched up. "If the thing copied the strengths of the crystilline people, maybe it copied the weakneses too." in response to Andria reading from the communicator, Holta looked up and rubbed his black goateed chin. The otter responded. "And we have a guinea pig right here." he flipped out his own runestaff. "Unless he's willing to talk on what the weaknesses are."
"The energy source is an extradimensional portal." Vav-12 replied to Shira. "Apparently it was an experiment in the development of FTL drive technology that went catastrophically wrong." Vav-12 thought for a minute. "everyone heard the telepathic transmission? This is a point of evidence for their being an intelligent species."
"Changed their form? In what sense?"
As Andria started shouting at the Andracken emissary, Vav-12 listened. When she was finished Vav-12 seemed to wobble in mid-air as if shaking his had if he had one. "Threatening each other will accomplish nothing. If the entities can adapt to other forms' abilities or worse-technology, then the threat level of this theater has reached level Alet-Zan. If so we cannot afford to divert resources by fighting among ourselves."
The Vaanitas forced had been on alert but were still taken by surprise. A few men fell to the initial ambush before rallying and laying down return fire. Those on the towers laid down sniper fire onto the emerging enemies, and gunships started strafing the streets the creatures were on, carpeting them with munitions. Those at the FOB began laying down fire into the chokepoints they’d established and only stopped to reload.
As the encryption was cracked and this transmission was received the command room became a flurry of transmissions. “Native’s enacting scorched earth. Withdraw from the city immediately!” the order was sent. Gunships broke off from strafing and began to evacuate units from the rooftops they congregated on. Several squads stayed as rearguard actions against the attackers, allowing the rest of their units to withdraw. Once the rest of the units were clear the survivors of these rearguard used their jump packs to try and escape to the city limit, a few lucky enough to be picked up by gunships.
The base, in relatively close proximity to the city, pushed their shields to full and prepared for the expected incoming.
The light infantry forces that hadn’t returned yet were taken by surprise. A large bulk of the men that were at the rear fell before the remaining teams were able to regroup and send back a torrent of fire in the direction of these beings. The Artillery within the FOB began firing High Explosive rounds onto the threats positions. Machines gun nests that had been established opened up sending more rounds down range at the targets.
The operators at the FOB’s eyes widened as they cracked the encryption. It was quickly passed to the commander, he read it quickly but sending out orders, “Put the shields to full power” He ordered. “All troops withdraw to the FOB, Natives are planning a Scorched Earth” was the last order sent out to the fighting units. The Light Infantry began a fighting retreat laying down cover as the first unit withdrew then being covered as they withdrew, rinse and repeat.
The Units that were heading to the carrier carried on their course getting the carrier on visuals now and beginning final approach. The Light tanks and IFV’s that were heading to the bunker nearby the city quickly withdrew back to the FOB.
The surprise of the Shadow's sudden assault was to some extent blunted as the allies began forming proper battle lines and returning fire. However, even though the Shadows were more solid now, they continued to be impressively resilient against solid shot ammunition and explosions. Both munitions were more effective than they had been the night before, but by no means did they fell the creatures quickly.
Worse, they were continuing to evolve and adapt, learning as one from the combat taking place all over the planet. There tactics were shifting rapidly, as they learned to use cover, fire, and maneuver in the same ways the Vaanitas and the Cricaens had. The charges were slowing as the shadows began instead to focus their efforts on capturing key positions from which they could support each other's advances, and all with a hive mind-like coordination.
But that was not the end of the allies worries. The attacks by the Vaanitas gunships had spawned crude mockeries, Shadows beginning to coalesce into larger, airborne entities that zipped around above the battlespace, strafing retreating Kingdom and Supremacy forces with splashing bolts of dark purple.
Only the Singers, with their close proximity to the Foundry, could see the beginnings of the shadows next evolution. Energy surged from below, and above the factory complex the Shadows began to merge and twist into a beheamoth entity perhaps meant to vaguely represent a capital class warship.
The situation was rapidly deterioating, and it was about to get worse. As the Kingdom's gunships reached the apparent source of the transmissions from the sea a vessel breached the surface from below, and with a bright flash a single missile launched from the vessel, arcing into the sky and toward the mainland.
One of the Andracken Commons moved several steps forward and ‘spoke’ to Andria telepathically. “We will not discuss our weaknesses with a Basic such as yourself. And if you were to attempt to harm me in any way it would not end well for you.” The Andracken’s voice was even and calm, despite the implied tone it had.
Shira stepped forward and the Common stepped back respectfully. “I am sorry for what it might have said to you, but the Andracken don’t take threats lightly.” Shira said in a serious tone. “And besides, Vav-12 is correct, we need to work together if we are to combat this new and ever-changing threat.”
Elsewhere the Andracken troops that had first attacked the Shadows began to fall to overwhelming numbers. The Subjugators fell soon after and the forces there were obliterated. The Commander looked to these loses and began calculating strategies for the ground troops. As the fleet neared the city they formed up into a Delta formation with the Frigate at the center. The Commander watched as the Shadow forces formed flying variants that chased the Vaanitas Gunships.
“Launch fighters, have them intercept the flying variants and support friendly troops on the ground.” It ordered. The Commander then turned to a holographic map of the city. Shadow forces appeared as red dots, while friendly appeared as blue dots. With a single crystalline finger the Commander drew a line before the friendly forces. A yellow line appeared and once satisfied, sent it to the other Commanders.
“Drop troops in this formation, we will form a line and provided a wall of defense for our allies.” The Commanders of the other ships agreed and began to prepare their troops for battle. The hulls of the ships opened up and thousands of fighters launched from the seven ships. They swarmed and moved into 5 different groups. Each group contained 672 fighters that swarmed in a formation that resembled a snake.
“Unknown energy source to the North West.” A Common reported. The Commander moved the map to the location. In gold outline the Shadow ship was shown as it built itself.
“Those creatures must not be allowed to leave this planet. All ships, new target, fire.” The Commander ordered. As the FTL beams of Tachyon particles flew from the ships loud cracks similar to thunder sounded.
Alet-12 hovered silently above the Singer's FOB. His analysis banks took in what data could be gathered from the engagements being fought on Zangraf. Gradually a pattern started to form to him.
He noted the appearance of humanoid forms with weaponry after the entities absorbed some of the Andracken. Then the appearance of flying armed ships when the Vaanitas deployed their gunships. Lastly-the "capital ship" rapidly assembling itself over the foundry. Two words came to Alet-12's mindstate. Adaptive Reconfiguration.
Instantly he started searching his threat files. Possessed of the ability himself he knew that Adaptive Reconfiguration could be extremely difficult to deal with. He spotted only a few entries other then his own combat chassis. Arafel, an adaptive intelligent weapon made by the Ne'Threl. It was both limited in scope, comprised of material not energy, and more importantly the Ne'Threl were not in Ancerious. Leliel System... Something he had no desire to ever face. Created by Eternal Night, t was a vast nano-fractal crystal and energy composite cloud with no limits listed in the threat file. It's control essence was rumored to be the soulform of an Aenyrre Argallenn.
Known to be in the Black Nebula, which made Alet-12 feel better.
So. We have an adaptive system or entity/entities of unknown capability and limitations, Alet-12 though as his own adaptive systems reconfigured to prepare and engage the "capital ship". He first sent a signal to Fleer Leader Naelle. "Fleet Leader. Do not engage the ground targets from space. They are capable of adaptive reconfiguration-limits currently not known."
Then he sent a message to the various forces fighting on Zaingraf.
"To all those currently fighting on Zaingraf. Be aware that the shadow-energy entities or constructs have the ability to adapt their forms and capabilities based on weaponry or technology used against them. They seem to have a vulnerability to photon based technology including non-weaponized light. This may change in the future but be very careful in how you fight these enemies-and with what you fight them with. You may find yourself attacked with your own weapons. Alt-12 out.
'i apollogize," Andria said as Holta pocketed the rod. "I was thinking in anger, I wasn't thinking clearly. As for calling us 'basic,' I will talk to you about that later after the threat has been taken care of." Meenwhile the werewolf would likely get a curious look from the Andrackin as he shifted back to his furry fox form, popp;ing his back as he did so. "Some of you need to lay off the twinkies." he joked."Oh the weapons. hey Bellineth! you still got them? Maybe the crystal dude here can replecate them?" that's when Holta began thinking. "Creature of the light....Maybe...a creatre of the dark could help? I might be a daywalker, but I know a few nightwalker vampires. The two that sleep through the day here covered up by a tarp, and helped take nightwatch are. if I disturb them, they are going to be at my necks...litterally."
The Cricaen forces managed to pull back into the shields as they received the message from this thing known as Alet-12. At this new information that they had received they turned spot lights onto the oncoming forces and quickly began to get out small arms photon-based rifles and began issuing them with speed, but they also told the men not to fire waiting to see if the lights would have any affect. “This is Unit 5, a missile has been launched from a submarine and on its current trajectory looks like it heading towards the city, make sure that all forces are within the shield” The squad leader radioed from the Gunship as it did a pass of the vessel.
The Vaanitas forces regrouped at their base, the stragglers fighting rear guard actions to allow others to get away. Hearing Alet-12’s information, they activated flashlights and switched to plasma weapons rather than solid projectiles. Artillery opened up on know enemy positions, raining them with plasma munitions.
With information that most of his forces had cleared the city, the fleet in orbit began bombarding its edge, in an action to prevent their foes pursing the ground forces.
Despite the new information and the influx of reinforcements from the Andracken the situation was continuing to deteriorate rapidly. The spotlights, once the bane of the creatures, no longer had any effect on them, and even plasma seemed less effective than it once had.
Worse, their tactics continued to change and evolve. Gunships strafing Supremacy, Kingdom, and Andracken forces were joined by forms acting as interceptors and air-superiority fighters while blobs near the back of the shadows formations began changing and adapting into artillery and counter artillery. They weren't just copying tactics anymore, they were beginning to develop their own.
And it was only getting worse, the massive form over the Foundry projected out an interdiction field, slowing the tachyon significantly before impact and mitigating much of its damage, before solidifying finally into a massive, jagged form easily the size of a dreadnought... Then it answered launching massive, several concentrated beams of the purple energy back at the Andracken formation, each powerful enough to destroy frigate in a single hit.
The energy surge at the plant doubled, then quadrupled as more shadow was pulled through the rift and more warships, gunships, armored and infantry units began to crash forth from within.
Bellineth, listened silently as the reports continued to flood in from bunkers, drifters, and scavengers unfortunate enough to be caught outside. She looked at those assembled before her. The strange and magical creatures Andria represented, the polite and highly advanced Vav-12, and the murderers... for a moment she considered killing them... but she swallowed her disgust at their presence. Zaingraf and the Khel-Zann may yet find use for them.
She lowered her weapon and turned to Vav-12.
"You need to leave," She said. "There's too many, they'll keep swarming forth from the rift and spreading out across this world, and then across this galaxy. They can't be defeated here, not now, not with the numbers you possess. You must return to your own worlds, rally your forces, and meet them out there. Draw them into traps, lure them to overcommitment, stretch their resources and cull some of their numbers... then return here, when they are weaker and spread thin,"
She turned on her heal, striding back to the vehicle and climbing in, grasping hold of the radio and clearing her throat.
"All channel alert, all channel alert, do not engage, I repeat do not engage. Bunker down, go dark, and pray they don't notice us. This is not a suggestion,"
The call went out across all channels, the Vaanitas and Cricaens recieving the same message through their decryptors and translators.
"Drifter Nine is ordering stand-down, deactivate nuclear weapon and crash dive. We'll be off comms until we get the all clear from Nine,"
"Copy, clearing channels, going dark."
Radio traffic diminished quickly, fading away as various ships, stations, bunkers, and individuals cleared the air, shutting off their devices, going silent and into hiding. Once it was all clear Bellineth spoke once more.
"To all foreigners on Zaingraf... retreat now before they encircle, entrap, and destroy you here. When you return, bring more."
Andria gave a quick nod. She looked to Vav-12. "We need to ask a favor from you, our landing pod was broken from our first encounter with these beings. think we can get a lift back to our ship?" Holta reassured her "we'll be back. we don't have much. But we will be back with whatever we got. If we can't clear these things, we'll set up an evacuation plan for your people."
The situation was changing drastically, and their fleet wasn’t large enough to defeat the current threat. Warnings blared and as the beams traveled towards them. The Commander ordered for all shield energy to be transferred to the bows of the ships. The purple beams seemed to curve around an invisible dome that protected the front of the Frigate. One of the Escorts was too slow and was easily destroyed as the shields flared, then fell. The energy absorbing properties of Andrecite began absorbing the energy for a second, but it was too much. The ship’s hull lit up with purple light and it exploded, sending out a purple ring of energy that struck the Escort next to it. It’s shields fell as the wave slammed into the unprotected side, destroying it. The first Escort slammed into the ground and exploded in a secondary explosion as the Void-Matter in the ships reactor broke containment. The second Escort crashed but didn’t explode like the other one. Another two Escorts were destroyed as well, their crystalline hulls shattering as the crashed into the ground.
The other two Escorts and the Frigate survived the initial onslaught, but the shield matrix’s of the three ships were damaged beyond repair. The Commander of the Frigate ordered an immediate retreat of the remaining ships. They did not recall any dropped soldiers or fighters, as they could easily be replaced once they got back to Stella O Fortuna. Shira was informed of the situation and ordered to return.
“We must leave immediately.” She spoke to Vav-12. “Four of our seven ships have been destroyed and I have been recalled.” She turned to Bellineth.
“We will return, and we will contain this event. You have my word.” She promised. It didn’t matter if the native believed her, and she most likely wouldn’t want to see them here again. Shira turned and boarded the shuttle and the two Andracken Commons followed her. Silently the shuttle rose and shot off to meet with the Frigate.
Any Andracken Warriors, Tanks, and fighters that remained would fight till their eventual death. Hoping that friendlies could hold out and leave before the Andracken left, fell. The three Andracken ships entered space and began prepping their FTL engines. Shira’s shuttle had landed and a final message was sent out.
“We will come back, and we will finish what we started.”
The three ships activated their Trans-Dimensional Drives and seemingly vanished from sight.
Upon receiving the transmissions first from Alet-12 and then from Belineth, Fleer Leader Naelle looked over the main tactical display in the CIC of Entropy's Caress. "Fleer Leader. I have examined all available data and concur with Alet-12's analysis." The voice of the ship's sentience core spoke over the CIC's speakers. "The invading Nth-dimensional force is capable of adaptive reconfiguration that appears to reach Alet-Zan levels. As much as it pains m to say, w must withdraw. The Ship Leader and sentience core of Anais' Flame are in agreement."
"This is Fleet Leader Naelle. All ground units are to withdraw immediately. Ships will move away from the world at maximum acceleration. Reality stabilizers will engage once we are 9 light seconds away from this cursed world, followed by phase drive. ComScan, inform Blessed Laenas and 1st Fleet Leader Laeneth-Xelas of the strategic situation here."
Naelle then noticed a small message flashing on the tactical display, from Vav-12. H was requesting evac for "aligned forces." Naelle just rolled what passed for his eyes and redirected the Combat Priests and their assault shuttle to Vav-12's coordinates.
At the forward operations base, the facilities were dismantled with the same speed as they were assembled. NFD beams then shot our from Alet-12's glowing form as the Infracrete walls were disintegrated-leaving nothing for the invaders to analyze. Grav tanks and shuttles began taking off and heading for orbit, followed by Alet-12 himself. All used evasive action and the curvature of Zaingraf to cover themselves from the hostile capital ship.
Vav-12 spoke to Andria as thy waited. "A Bith-9 series assault shuttle has been dispatched to our location. It will be here shortly." Turning to Belineth h said in a somber voice. "Your people may wish too consider evacuation as well in the light of this threat's magnitude. I fully understand that this is your world, but measures to contain this threat force may include such things as a dimensional implosion device to seal that rift. Unfortunately that would have... serious negative effects on the planet. Nonetheless I respect your choice and will convey your concerns to my superior officers."
A few minutes later, the assault shuttle howled down to a landing, dropping it's assault ramp as floodlights glared on all sides.. A Mu male in the armor and robes of a combat priest emerged, and motioned toward the shuttle." Anyone who wants out board now, only exit after this will be the Void." Vav-12 glided aboard with a soft beep as the priests kept the ramp open for others..
Kadir gritted his teeth as the reports and readings came in. “Orders?” his second asked as they watched live feed of the rear guard. “Get what forces we can aboard. The rest will act as a rear guard at the FOB and destabilise the reactor.” He ordered and everyone on the bridge went silent for a moment before resuming their tasks.
The fleet began moving away from their position in orbit near the city and around the planet to a position out of sight of the dreadnought. At the FOB gunships bearing men from the city were just as quickly lifting off and hugging the earth until they were beyond the horizon, before climbing to dock with the fleet. Heavy dropships began recovering what they could as the rear guard manned the bases defences whilst the others retreated.
“Power up the jump drives, the second the last gunship is aboard we jump” Kadir ordered and the fleet began powering drives as the hangar bays were flooded with incoming craft.
The fleet was flooded with information and requests for orders “Admiral what are your orders” William’s 2ic asked as the ground forces began pulling back. “Tell the men to overload the reactors of the FOB and begin the extraction process as fast of possible we have trained for these types of situations” He spoke. His 2ic nodded and sent out the orders.
The Cricaen fleet followed the Vaanitas fleet around the planet and out of sight of that dreadnought. On the ground troops instantly began boarding transports again and leaving quickly, avoiding as much fire as possible. The engineers and light infantry were some of the last troops to leave the FOB as they had to spend time setting up charges and overloading the reactor and defending the base whilst the overs extracted.
The first of the transports began arriving at the fleet. “All hands prepare to jump, we are leaving as soon as all transports are onboard” Williams commanded.
As the strange shadowy vessels began ascending into low orbit from the surface of Zaingraf 6 FTL signatures tore themselves free of wormholes and quickly entered an attack formation. With the Andrackan having withdrawn and the Cricaen and Vaanitas fleets still bringing the last of their forces from the surface the situation was clearly at an end, whatever had happened here had already come to pass. It only took one scan to know that.
The 6 angular ships dumped power into the exotic drives and drove full speed in an orbital tracjectory aiming to put themselves between the various forces leaving the planet and the shadowy enemies. A volley of fire aimed for the largest of the ships tearing itself free of the atmopshere, Antimatter pumped Phased DEWs spread out, phasing through realspace to target the jagged dreadnought, appearing inside to target the areas with the most energy output and designed to explode in minature suns. Another spread of fire was directed to the surface, signatures revealled the forces trying to evacuate the surface were being surrounded, the Cricaen and Vaanitas FOBs as well as the rather unique signature of Vav-12 and the Singers. All shots were calculated to absolute precision to account for beam scattering as high powered Hyperfrequency lasers were fired to impact in concentric rings around those who were withdrawing, the detonations of such enough to keep back the waves of shadows but not enough to cause friendly fire.
As the fleet continued on at flank speed a message was sent to all of those still in the region.
"I am Elwar from the planet of Askandar and Custodial AI. I am here to cover your withdraw, whatever happened here is clearly advanced too much to be easily countered. I recomend immediate withdrawl, I will hold these dimensional incursions back for you to do so. However I require a full account of what happened here in return, knowledge is power. Now go, speed is of the essence my forces will not let them through" As the message ended the Custodial ships reached the Vaanitas and Cricaen fleets, seemingly able to cancel their momentum as they placed themselves as a shield, the readings on the AI vessels unable to make out much from their form.
Fleet Leader Naelle received Elwar's broadcast as h mad his way to the hangar deck to greet the Vita Shetani that had been evacuated onboard the combat priests' assault shuttle. With a psychometric command he activated intership comms and sent a message back to the Askandarian squadron.
"Greetings Elwar and thank you for the fire support. I wish to inform you of some important tactical data regarding the hostile entities. They are transdimensional in origin and likely by nature. They also are all linked at the quantum or possibly d-brane resonance level-regrettably the last cannot be confirmed as to which case is accurate. But one thing is certain, the entities are confirmed as capable of learning coupled with adaptive reconfiguration. My ship's sentience core will be sending exact tactical and scientific data. I am certain the Ministry of State, High Command, and Blessed Laenas would like to discuss this threat further with you."
As the sentience core of Entropy's Caress relayed the full tactical and scientific analysis of the entities and events on the surface of Zaingraf to Elwar, Naelle entered the battlecarrier/harvester's hangar deck and walked over to the assault shuttle that had just landed. The combat priests, shuttle crew, and Vav-12 all saluted as he walked up. his white hair flowing in the near nonexistent air currents. He turned to Andria and the other Vita Shetani.
"Greetings again, and welcome aboard SVS Entropy's Caress. I regret the 'detour', but the tactical situation insystem was far too unstable t allow for transferring you to your vessels. We have sent navigation data to your vessels so we can rendezvous outside the system and transfer you there."
Elwar's sacrifice provided a valuable opportunity for the assembled parties. The unexpected arrival and subsequent bombardments caught the shadows off guard, and afforded everyone on Zaingraf a narrow window to evacuate.
A very narrow window.
The shadows reorganized quickly and turned their wrath on Elwar. While some of the smaller ships broke apart in the bombardment, dissipating as they lost the cohesion necessary to hold solid forms, the largest vessels returned fire, purple beams lancing out from their hulls toward the Custodial ships.
How long the shadows could be held back was hard to determine, but with more ships forming above the Foundry every minute it was clear it wouldn't take long for them to overwhelm Elwar.
Time was short.
The transports landed and docked, the hangar a flood of activity as deck crew rushed to unload and store the flood of incoming craft. Troops cleared the hangar as quickly as possible and medical teams took wounded away as fast as they could.
On the planet below the rear guard platoon fired upon any foe that survived Elwars onslaught. With no extraction their lieutenant destabilised the bases reactor. Their was a hum that grew stronger and stronger, the ground vibrating around the Vaanitas FOB as the reactor broke its containment the crystals used to keep it stable expanding with it. Within a minute the entire FOB and the immediate area around it had been engulfed in a blue orb, energy crackling across its surface. A few seconds later the crystals shattered and fell into the rift as it collapsed out of existence, leaving an empty crater sizzling where the FOB had once stood.
"You have my thanks Custodian, we will remember your sacrifice" Kadir transmitted before the Vaanitas fleet jumped out in the blink of an eye
The shuttles finally began landing on the ships and troops instantly began getting out and bring those that were wound out as well into the awaiting grasp of the medical crews.
The FOB was now ready to blow as the final crews left on the last shuttle, glad that this support from Elwar came when it did. As soon as the shuttles were a safe enough distance away all the charges on the reactor and anything left behind detonated. There was a blinding white light that engulfed the whole FOB and a small part of the surrounding area, and then shortly after nothing but a scorched crater where the FOB had once been.
“We thank you for this much needed support Elwar” William spoke as he arrived back on the bridge and the last of the shuttles landed, then shortly after the Cricaen fleet jumped out of system.
Elwar did not respond to those who left, processing power of the secondary core was totally geared towards defending itself. The sheer amount of fire being taken by the Custodial ships took shields down and impacted the hull directly damaging the jagged ships of the super sentient AI. Return fire was brief and only where needed, following the information that the Singers had provided Elwar wanted to minimise potential adaptivity using its weapons sparingly and where totally needed.
As the various forces fled the system Elwars ships were already withdrawing and charging their drives, while none of the vessels were destroyed all of them had taken heavy damage from the sheer amount of fire being directed at them. All information was beamed directly back to Askandar for analysis for the entire Pact, as was the information about the conflict with the Davians and the Vaanitas as well as the rather blatant aggression and situational destabilisation of the Andrackan.
With a final barrage all of the Custodial vessels flashed out back to Askandar there to undergo substantial repairs. With them gone all that was left was Zaingraf and the shadows that now controlled it.
Until it wasn't. For Zaingraf was the source of a mysterious signal. A string of a hundred and seventy four letters and numbers that had been broadcast across the Avarian Frontier on FTL comms frequencies uninterrupted for eight days, fourteen hours twenty six minutes thirty two point two seconds before abruptly stopping.
Naturally this raised eyebrows. And with the source of the signal locates just minutes before it stopped, the powers that be were quick to assemble suitable forces and deploy toward Zaingraf.
It seemed an ordinary system upon arrival. There was a star, eight celestial bodies orbiting it and of course Zaingraf itself... which was the immediate oddity.
A pre FTL world should have practically glowed with lights on its dark side, marking the locations of bustling hubs of commerce and culture to make no mention of the radio traffic one should have been able to pick up...
But Zaingraf was dark. Dark and silent.
A small fleet of four sloops was making their way through space, The badger captain looked like he was about to fall asleap in his chair in the flagship. Why is it always him that is sent out to do the boring shit? The resource hunting parties never find anything in this part of space. His first mate stirred him awake. his blind eye snapped open, with agnarly scar down it. "Ship better be on fucking fire, or there better be something interesting." The first mate nodded "Yes." "And I don't mean that fucking weird transmission, seriously, I rather listen to Justin Beiber fart on a snare drum." "No sir, look at the scanner." Both eyes were open now, his good eye looked toward the scanner. "Holy fuck it's sparkilling like a damn disco ball, what is it?" "Apparently something huge, and crystal." the first mate said calmly. "Allright, lets find these crystal balls and find what they are up to." "Aye!" The small fleet spread their wings from their folded state, to glide toward the strange ships that were the object of Brockhall's curiosity. they would be hard to pick up on scans, due to their more magic means of transport rather the traditional engines.
Despite the distance from the source the Signal from Zaingraf did not go unnoticed as it was considered both odd and yet possibly worth investigating given that the civilization was known to be pre-FTL and yet somehow now was transmitting the message using a FTL carrier wave. Though if it was an emergency it could not have come at a worse time as dominion forces were on their way back from the Crucible and Rubikon raids, forces were tied up making sure the Vestahl’s reparations were delivered and then there was the issue of the Vaanitas front. But the latter of those situations, proved to be the one place from which a small task force could be spared to take a look at the Zaingraf situation without compromising the reconnaissance efforts on the Vaanitas front. It wasn’t precisely the best solution, but it was better than the alternative of ignoring the signal outright. By the sixth day of the signal, a taskforce comprised of fifteen primary vessels had been culled from the Vaanitas front, and assembled under the command of Commodore Oluchi E. Seniin. In the same time frame a discussion with the WRL and some level of coordination was agreed upon, at least three WRL nations would definitely be sending assets, though the lukewarm commitment at least in the eyes of the Commodore meant that the Dominion probably would have to pull the weight if things went sour at Zaingraf. By the seventh day the fifteen warships of newly named ‘Taskforce: Rakshasa’ left for their destination. It would be another day and a half before their arrival. The taskforce emerged out of faster-than-light travel ten lightyears off the edge of the Zaingraf solar system’s furthest planet or planetoid in echelon-redoubt formation this formation put the Camden class frigates in position around the cruisers and the single carrier while the taskforce’s three destroyers were positioned so that their screening abilities overlapped eliminating the threat of being flanked. The first order of business at this range was to use the Ocean class Cruisers enhanced sensor equipment to passively scan for anything they could. Information such as evidence of other FTL capable vessels, radio transmissions, abnormal gravimetric anomalies and so on would be looked for.
The FTL signals from Zangraf were almost immediately picked up at Shimmering Veil's many receiver stations and relay stations. High Command was informed, as well as Survey Command. The available data indicated that Zangraf contained one world with a Level 7 civilization-far from the capability of FTL communications in any form. Fleet and Survey Service officers reported the information to Blessed Laenas.
Government Central in the city of Merel-Nyath was a four-sided crystalline pyramid 900 meters on a side. It glowed in multicolored light, constantly shifting hue and pattern. The four entrances, on per facing, were flanked by fountains spraying water thirty feet high. The fountains were lit by multicolored lights that likewise shifted in color.
In her chambers, Laenas stood before the two officers. Her multichromatic aura shifting in synchronization with the lights of the pyramid, and her blond hair blowing as if in a wind. "Blessed Laenas, I have been in communication with Laeneth-Xelas, he feels that the sudden sending of an FTL signal from a Class 7 civilization is a potential threat." Fleet Leader Merelas said. "Or it could be some sort of distress signal from a crashed vessel." Survey Commander Aren-N'Xelet replied.
Laenas was in thought, her aura took on more of a light blue hue and s(he) spoke. "The Fleet and Survey Service are to form Task Force Ain-3. TF Composition will be relayed to you. Command of the Survey Group will be assigned to Squadron Leader Akheret of SVS Investigator , Command of the Combined Combat/Assault Group and Planetary Subjugation Groups will be assigned to Fleet Leader Naelle of SVS Entropy's Caress , Only the Survey Group is to enter the system initially. Combat and Invasion forces will be held in reserve." The two officers saluted and left to carry out their orders.
Zangraf System
Space seemed to shimmer as SVS Investigator phased into normal space-time in the outer portion of the Zangraf system, accompanied by her two escorting destroyers, SVS Starlight and SVS Mist Wraith . Squadron Leader Akheret began a standard passive multispectral scan of the system. His ComScan officer almost immediately spoke up. "Squadron Leader? We are picking up three separate groups of ships. One seems to be AO, the second is Rissalas Dominion. Reading 15 ships. The third... Sir, the other is a group of 4 ships, configuration unknown, Approximate Class 1-2."
Akheret grimaced. "Send Ident-Beacon signals to the AO and Rissala forces. Get me Intership to the unknowns." "Channel open, Sir." Akheret said "Unknown vessels, this is the survey cruiser SVS Investigator of the Anais Unity of the Singers of the Void. We have come to this system in response to an FTL omni-directional signal. Was that signal a distress call sent by one of your vessels, Over."
At first Divine Davia Empire or more exactly the 19th sector command had decided to ignore the seemingly pointless signal. Of course the Davian known full well there was a primitive alien race in Zangraf system but after some vague long range scanning they concluded that the alien race or the system hold little value to the Empire for the times being and better left alone. When the signal was picked up by the Great Bamboo Wall, the Davian still maintained the same viewpoint; they simply didn't care especially after what happened at Vestalh and the following trial. After all, why should they bothered to mess with someone staying far away from their current holding only to risk getting piss on by literally half of the galaxy. Davia have much more problem to deal with at the times. However when the other WRL's members announced their willingness to investigate the system, the Davian relented and agreed to send some forces reluctantly just to honor the alliance. Still, Kia the sector commander didn't like the idea at all and would only approved the operation after a long debating with his staffs and the guarantee of Green that the investigation would worth it.
== Near Zangraf system ==
A Bach Dang class Battlecruiser, a Thang Long class Carrier, two Chuong Duong destroyers and a support ship emerged from their GATEs. These ships would form the vanguard of the Davian taskforce. Upon arriving the ships would quickly noticed they had emerged not far from the Risallas Dominion group and their other ally the Andraken had already entering the high orbit of the planet, they had also noticed the present of several Singers's ships and a few unidentified ships.
The Davian group immediately sent our several signals and messages to the other fleets, firstly to their allies the RD and AO: "Greeting honored allies; Divine Davia Empire taskforce is here for the join investigation."
A message to the Singer: "Greeting honorable Singers of the Void. Fate had brought us together here. We believe you are also here to investigate the system and the strange signal just like us. If it's true then we sincerely request you to co-operation with us in this investigation. It would be the great honor for us to work alongside you here."
And a message to the unknown ships: "Greeting space traveller. We're the taskforce of Divine Davia Empire, we are here to investigate the strange signals. It's our honor to meet you here. Was that you who sent the message? Or just like us you're here to investigate the signal and the system? And if it's at all possible may we ask for your identification?"
As the messages were being sent out the Davian ships floated toward and formed themselves next to the Dominion fleet. They maintained defensive formation, their shields remain raised yet their weapons remained cold. The support ship began to scan the system for anything worthy.
The Cricaen fleet dropped out of FTL at the planet which had been transmitting the signal across the Avarian Frontier. They had brought a fleet that was battle capable not wanting to take the risks of other people which they had yet to discover and meet turn up with their own fleets and this become a full on full scale war between nations.
Sensors went haywire as the fleet arrive “Captain multiple ships are already in the system” The sensors operator shouted. Captain Nicholas Hook was a young Captain recently promoted for his actions he took in the skirmish against Vaanitas when they arrived to this galaxy. “Give me the sizes of these fleets” He ordered the operator as shields were raised and weapons prepared but not shown.
“Sir the fleets that are around here appear to be various in size but we are currently the largest fleet in this system for the moment” The operator told his Captain. Captain Hook raised an eyebrow “What do you mean for the moment?” He asked. “Well sir, there are no Vaanitas ships in this system” He spoke clearly. He nodded “Well hold ground and await to see what happens, remember do not attack unless attacked first” He order his crew and the other ships.
The Cricaen ships held their position around the edge of the system, launching out scouting drones to go and probe and fighters to protect the ships in-case of attack.
The signal from the world had gone through several stages in it’s consideration by the Vaanitas. Initially it was ignored as just another signal. When it persisted, they took notice though they gleaned nothing of it, other than it’s source. Lastly a task force had been assembled under orders to investigate. Much to the amusement or annoyance of the captains of the task force, shortly before they were set to depart the signal ended.
Captain Narika Salri however had continued with her initial mission and her ‘reconnaissance’ force had departed with the promise of reinforcements to follow should it be necessary.
As one the squadron jumped, arriving just within the system.
Immediately sensors blared warnings. “Multiple contacts captain, several fleets throughout the system.” The sensors operator reported.
“Who do we have here?” Salri spoke, looking at the system map with contacts now being displayed.
“Cricaen fleet, Davian fleet, the AO, a fleet who’s signature is similar to the most recent attack and an as of yet unknown fleet. We’re also picking up faint signatures that could potentially be other vessels though we can’t confirm that.” The ensign reported.
Salri smirked. “Contact the fleet, I want support here, now.” She ordered and the signal was sent. “Target primary energy sources within enemy vessels, engage larger targets and fire at will.” She concluded and stood waiting.
Each of the Vaanitas destroyers plugged in firing solutions on the largest power sources they could detect in the Davian and, unknown to them, Risallas vessels and fired. 12 of the torpedo’s left their tubes and jumped, 3 for each Davian ship, exiting FTL in their reactor rooms and detonating. 3 left FTL too early, instead dropping out just outside the Davian shields.
The remaining 24 jumped straight to the Risallas, again targeting their reactors. 4 had targeted the Carrier, 1 exiting too early just outside the ship. The next 12 were targeting the cruiser’s reactors, 4 per cruiser. In each case, one Torpedo miscalculated, 1 even appearing on the other side of the target. The remaining 8 went for the Risallas destroyers, 2 per vessel finding their mark with the other 2 dropping out too late.
Passive scans of the system revealed, in addition to the new arrivals, dozens of small sattelites in stable orbits around Zaingraf. Most of them were of little significance. Broadcast sattelites at a guess, or communications, GPS, a couple spy sattelites... but any closer investigation of the sattelites revealed most of them hadn't seen use in months.
The active scans of Zaingraf itself were more telling. There was life to be certain, but not in the numbers one would expect of a world like this. There should have been billions of people all crammed together into poorly planned cities...
Instead it seemed there were only a few hundred million, scattered in isolated clusters across the planet. As for the signal itself... there was nothing. No sign of the signal, nor of what had caused it. Any hope of a quick answer was quickly dashed. The signal must have originated from somewhere on the planet, and without a continued broadcast it would be near impossible to locate from orbit.
Commander looked at the largest cluster of life forms and pointed to the coordinates. A single escort must go to these coordinates. Once you have make contact with the native life forms have them contact me. The Commander ordered. A single Escort left formation and slowly traveled through the atmosphere. As it began to reach the surface it stopped and began to silently hover in the air. The bottom of the ship opened up and 4,000 large crystals dropped to the surface. Once they landed the large crystals broke open and Soldiers and Legionnaires formed up into a formation. 10 large Tanks dropped to the surface and formed up behind the infantry. The army began marching in unison, strait towards the life forms.
The first mate said "Looks like crystal ships, all of them." Brockhall joked "wheres Zuri when you need her?" the transmission came over the tin horn at the dash. the First Mate put on the headset, as a brass fifties styled microphone came up from the dash. He decided to take the transmission, badgers are known to be touchy sorts, and the wrong words could bring Brockhall's ire. "Greetings, This is First mate Tymbal of the Ophelia. No, we have not sent the message, We are simply a small group scouting for resources, Hopefully by trade. our home planet is very resource bare. Our curiosity was taken by a large crystal ship seeming to answer the call. As for our identification, we are Vita Shetani. Prithee, if things go sour, and there is a fight, would you mind helping us? We are a small fleet of four sloops, without allies we won't stand a chance. It has been an honor to meet you as well. If the strange planet proves friendly, then perhaps we would have a new ally?" The male's tone was very friendly, relieved to see someone that hailed them. " when he heard an irritated growl from the badger beside him. "Excuse me for a moment." Brockhall snarled "Another fleet, a large one, came within range. Weapons bared." The Vita Shetani responded, they'd likely show up better now on scans since each one of them have their own weapons charging up. Tymbal said into the mic "Just a precaution, I assure you. Are the new arrivals, with their weapons bore, allies or foes?" A good reason why he took the coms, he could see Brockhall seething. a pissed off badger was never a good thing, especially for peaceful negotiations. The vita shetani ships Davinci-esque wings started to spread, they were ready to bolt at any moment.
The FTL attack, despite exceptional range did score hits. The small support ship received full hit by the Vannitas's torpedoes and explored violently, only the main SAI of the ship managed to escape destruction. At the same times the two destroyers were also hit badly as the torpedoes basically denoted within their hull. However the 3 torpedoes aiming toward the Battlecruiser existed FTL too early outside the shield and would only heavily weaken its shield, the Battlecarrier which staying behind the other ships remained fully intact.
"Alert! Alert! Vannitas barbarians open fired unprovoked using FTL missiles. Support ship Zangraf S01 destroyed. Main SAI as solve survival."
"Destroyer Zangraf D01 no longer combat worthy, evacuating the crews, salvage mode initiated."
"Destroyer Zangraf D02 lost main reactor 01 and engine 03, propulsion power downed to 75%, ship power downed to 50%. Destroyer Zangraf D02 retiring. Disposing damaged engine, seal off dangerous areas. Initiating auxiliary systems and damage control systems, initiate auxiliary warp engine. Diverting power from one engine to maintain the ship."
"All ships initiate auxiliary warp drive."
The damaged Davian destroyer began to cut off its damaged engines away from the ships as the multi-level damage control systems began to either sealed off damaged section or attempted to repair the damages. Millennia of wars had taught the Davian that FTL alpha strike should be aware off and attacking engines or reactors could be a favorite tactic of some races. Thus the Davian had designed their ships with external, self-powered engines and each of the Davian ships would be equipped with more than just one main reactor. Meanwhile the other totally crippled destroyer began to evacuate its crews and salvage everything worthy using both nano bots and crews.
"This is an act of war. Full combat protocol initiated. Request reinforcement, return fire." Immediately the Davian vanguards sent back distress call back to the imperial holding.
The 2 undamaged Davian ships began to retract their entire arsenal and in an eye's blink the seeming lightly armed Davian ships turned into full warships blitzing with guns and missile launchers.
"Return fire again enemy fleet. FTL missiles locking on targets. Targeting larger ships." The Davian battlecarrier sprayed out 37 missiles which immediately formed into Missile Group 01.
"Missile Group 01 Jump!" A cold mechanical voice announced as 37 Davian missiles engaged their individual warp drives and warped right on top of the Vannitas fleet. The entire 37 missiles re-materialized within the Vannitas fleet from outside the shields if there are shields, outside the hulls or within the ships themselves and denoted as one, engulfing the Vannitas's fleet in superheat plasma from all direction. 10 Davian missiles would aim directly for the Vannitas's largest ship or the battlecruiser respectively while each of the larger Vannitas ships or the destroyers would have 3 missiles to deal with. While some missiles would re-materialize early their individual NAI systems would immediately change their target and guided them toward nearest targets.
The Davian battlecruiser began to launch missiles using all of its capital grade launchers and threw out 500 missiles followed by 63 more missiles from the battlecarrier, the crippled destroyer however remained silent as it still busying to control the damage. While the missiles were being launch, the Davian ships also raised their interdiction fields.
"Davian Air Force deploys. 1st Air division forming for the attack, 2nd Air brigade defenses the ships. Recycle missile launching matrix, missile group 02 forming behind strikecrafts."
The Davian ships launched all of their available strikecrafts into the void. The Carrier deployed its 10000 strikecrafts which quickly formed into 5 groups of 2000 each in front, left, right, above and below the combined Davian fleet while the remaining 1200 strikecrafts from the other ships cycling around ready to defense the fleet from further attack. At the same times more missiles would be launch from the ships and began to form themselves behind the strikecrafts groups.
Meanwhile the Davian decoy systems flicked to life. Across the ships fake signatures emitters began to send out faked signals of the ships while hundreds of decoy drones and spy drones broke away from their stores. The decoy drones then mimicked and attempted to hide the true ships radar, lidar and thermal signatures away while spy drones began to actively scanning the Vannitas ships.
With all the deployment done the Davian ships began to move at full combat speed toward the Dominion's fleet.
Next several messages would be sent toward difference fleets. Firstly toward the Risallas Dominion and Andraken: "Hail honorable allied. The barbarians from the Vannitas Supremacy had cowardly attacked us unprovoked; they had specifically aimed for our harmless civilian ship first hand and brutally slaughtered them. This is an act of war. Divine Davia Empire now considers Vannitas Supremacy as full enemy. Divine Davia Empire Taskforce sincerely request Risallas Dominion and Andraken to honor the alliance and engage these barbarian. Together we can win this."
Another message would be send to the 3 neutral fleets: "The enemies from the Vannitas Supremacy has attacked us unprovoked and specifically targeted our unarmed civilian ship first hand in order to slaughter them. We came for them in peace before and they greeted us with hostility, now they fired at us unprovoked. This is an act of war and we have full right to defense ourselves. To all neutral parties, we sincerely request you all to stay out of harm way; we would only targeting these barbarians alone, we mean no harm to you. Of course any help would be very welcome and we will repay our debt for your assistance generously within our capacity later. Their hostility is harmfully jeopardizing the investigation and their hostile attitude is a danger for us all."
Meanwhile the Davian holding in the Ancerious galaxy would be put on alert. While the official declaration of war would not be declare yet, the Davian Empire from that moment considered itself at war with the Vannitas Supremacy.
“Brace!” Salri shouted as the FTL signatures were detected. Detonations ripped through several decks of the battlecruiser but she held together. The second they were detected the frigates sprung into action, their sole purpose point defence, their CIWS tearing apart almost any missile caught in their fire. Several detonations went off against the hull, burning across the plating and causing damage to the armour, a hull breach or two opening in weaker areas.
One destroyer reported heavy damage and was running on auxiliary systems. No sooner had the squadron recovered from this attack, 50 more signatures appeared around the Vaanitas fleet as their reserves left FTL. Their tactical systems immediately began locking on to hostile targets as they were given data, the larger fleets targeting power greatly enhanced by more powerful sensors.
“This is Commodore Sakir Kadir, of the Vaanitas Supremacy. You Davians not only violate our territory, insult us with your actions and flee like cowards, but you dare to accuse us of being the aggressors in our conflict. You will rue the day you insulted our nation and tried to paint us as the villains.” He growled as he transmitted this system wide. He opened a new channel “Andrakens, your prowess in battle is most impressive as we have seen it first hand. Join with us in defeating these vile cowards.” He spoke before pausing. “I have been authorised to offer our hard light technology to you as an extension of gratitude if you would aid us against the Davian scum” he spoke.
Salri handed command over to Kadir who immediately retargeted the Davians using the more powerful sensors of his larger fleet and dreadnought.
“Davian’s, I commit you to the Void.” He growled and the fleets combined torpedo arsenal fired.
694 torpedoes left their tubes and jumped together, appearing at the edge of Davian interdiction and proceeding on at .9c towards their targets.
Once the torpedoes we’re away and confirmed to be out of range Kadir raised interdiction in a 0.5 AU radius around his fleet as a further precaution.
The badger, biting at the bit to join in on the fray, stepped back to think. He was missing out on some information here. "Hold your fire, We will attempt to listen in on as many coms as we can to get the full picture of what is going on. Keep at full wing, we may need to FTL the fuck out of here. Full charge shields." hard truth was, there were only four sloops, and they knew that they would be at a tactical advantage. A golden opportunity could turn into iron pyrate, if they side with the wrong side, and Vita Shetani would be left like lambs to the wolves. Yet if they side with the right ones, they would have some very powerful allies. The First mate asked "Brockhall, and if a stray shot hits us?" "Then we have decided our side in the battle. Time to test the new runes." The four ships runes along the side would flash at first as the magicly charged shields covered each with a luminescent, transparent, cocoon.
Akheret listened to the Davian broadcast. "ComScan, open Intership." and then sent to the Davian fleet. "Acknowledged, Davian Commander. We would be willing to assist in this investigation. Be aware there are 3 unknown squadrons in system, Over."
As Akheret finished speaking ComScan announced ""Transposition missile launches detected from unknown fleet bearing Bith-axis 315 degrees, range approximately 5 light minutes. 36 contacts, we are not targeted. 12 missiles headed for the Davian detachment, 24 for the Rissala force." Investigator's ComScan officer stated into his throat mic. "Reality Stabilizer to interdiction mode, immediate activation. Full phase shields on all vessels!" Squadron Leader Akheret shouted. "Combat Systems: Standby on DisCon interceptors and point defense arrays. ComScan, keep me informed of any further hostile action by any and all parties. SenCore, link with ComScan and Combat Systems to coordinate detection and defense response if we are engaged."
Section Leader Nerelas, the Combat Systems officer replied "Squadron Leader, should I arm the neutralino axial or quantum launchers? "Negative, Nerelas. We do not know the motivation of the attackers yet. Be ready to go to full combat state at my command though." "Squadron Leader! Davians launching attack craft! Approximately 10,000 in number. Also have more Transposition missile launches-from the Davian fleet, 37 contacts targeting the unknown aggressors." ComScan reported. "Another 563 missiles orbiting Davian fleet. Likely seekers, Squadron Leader."
"This is getting heavy. Might be time to signal-" Akheret started to say as he was interrupted by "694 Transposition missiles launched by aggressor unknowns at Davian fleet. Also picking up technomantic energy signatures from second unknown force!" Akheret sighed. "ComScan, get me Fleet Leader Naelle on Entropy's Caress ."
The command center holotank lit, displaying the androgynous albino form of Fleet Leader Naelle. The only part of him not ghostly white was the blacklight glow of his eyes, marking him as on a Path of Transcendence. His long hair fell to his waist, masked mostly by his command chair. "What do you have to report, Squadron Leader?" Akheret saluted and replied "Multiple transposition missile launches between a Davian and an unknown fleet. Unknown fleet were the aggressors. A second unknown force is radiating a technomantic energy pattern of some sort. No classification currently available." Naelle's image scowled. "Do you wish us to reinforce you, Squadron Leader?" Akheret thought and then said "Not at this time, Fleet Leader." Naelle nodded. "We will synchronize phase drives to prepare for transition if you call. Interdiction status in system?"
Akheret spoke "ComScan? Interdiction status?" After a few moments ComScan reported back "Multiple interdiction fields coming up from all fleets." Akheret looked at Naelle "We will shift our stabilizers for your arrival if needed, Fleet Leader." Naelle just nodded again. Hallowed are the Anais Twins." He said before dropping the connection. "Now for the moment we enjoy the show." Akheret said with a smile.
Captain Hook looked out as the long range scanners and sensors went crazy as 50 more Vaanitas ships arrived in system. “Jesus Christ that was unexpected” Hook said standing and looking out at the fleet.
“Sir what do we do now” His 1st Lieutenant spoke, looking slightly alarmed at the arrival. “First Deployment?” He asked the Lieutenant. “Aye sir” He replied nervously. “And what were you doing before this deployment?” He asked trying to make him remain calm. “I was out on the trap sir” He said. Nicholas chuckled “We will make it through this and you will get back to her if you were successful” He laughed as the transmissions came through.
Captain Hook let out a low growl, “We will speak to these DDE first” He spoke. The Comms officer set up the link and then gave his Captain the thumbs up that the link was established.
He cleared his throat “To the Davian Divine Empire, this is Captain Nicholas Hook of the Cricaen Kingdom, what you are suggesting is preposterous, you claim that the Vaanitas Supremacy are barbarians but they are in fact brave and honourable warriors, we know this from first-hand experience to claim this is an act of cowardice. Then to offer payment to open fire on them, it makes me sick, we would never break our cease fire that we have with them for payment. So you now have our answer to your plea for help” He spoke before the link was cut.
A link was opened to the Vaanitas Fleet. “Commodore Kadir, this is Captain Nicholas Hook of the Cricaen Kingdom fleet. I know what our Empires have is not an Alliance but only a cease fire, but we trust you enough to believe these claims of cowardice from the DDE, so we have decided to help you” The Cricaen Captain informed the Vaanitas Commodore.
At his words of help to the Commodore the weapons were extended from the hull and the armoured plates retracted to expose the banks of missiles which took a moment for targeting to a acquire the DDE fleet whilst the large main batteries were traversed onto target. “FIRE” Hook shouted and the fleets guns open fired and 1900 missiles left their banks and began screaming towards the DDE fleet
The Dominion taskforce had only just begun to move under sub-light power when sensors detected the other groups of vessels in system. While the taskforce was scanning Zaingaf itself passively the general area outside of the ninety degrees that comprised the area that the planet and its gravity shadow occupied the first of the communications came in. It seemed that the Singers of the Void, Davian Empire, Andrakens and at least two other unknown contacts were present. The first order of business was to send confirmation communications to the Davians and the Andrakens and then a simple galactic standard greeting to the two unknown contacts simply to indicate who the Dominion was and that simply they were not hostile and were investigating the strange signal also. Commodore Oluchi ordered a communications line opened to the Singers of the Void contact, at first text. "Greetings, it's been a while since our people have crossed paths. It may be wise if we share notes on what we find here today as the signal.." The Commodore didn't get to finish the statement as one of the sensor technicians cut him off "Sir I am detecting a detachment of Vaanitas Supremacy vessels...they're firing on us!" In those few split seconds before the salvo of torpedoes arrived Commodore Oluchi was only able to issue one order, "All elements of task force, brace for multiple impacts!"
Just a few seconds later the first of the plasma torpedoes that were off target but close enough to proximity detonate went off in spherical blast radii imparting extreme heat and concussive force and of course blinding light. But this was not all detonations to the side and rear of the formation indicated misses and then, the hits were a differing matter entirely. By some aspect of luck perhaps, only four of the torpedoes found their mark. One such torpedo materialized within a dropship's primary loading bay on the starboard side of one ocean class cruiser. It was common practice to use an auxiliary power unit to over-charge the battery banks of dropships before a launch and as such the energy signature that the torpedo homed in on wasn't the ships reactors. The torpedo exploded taking out the dropship and the one next to it while deforming the launch well on the other side. A second torpedo, drawn to the auxiliary power unit located within the portside shuttle bays materialized right next to the feeder system and detonated with enough force to blow all six bay doors clean out of the ship the staff present were of course vaporized and the craft were effectively lost or smashed and tossed out the side of the ship. The last two torpedoes however, materialized as planned within the Taskforce's carrier. The first materialized in a stern cargo bay two decks above the intended target of the ship's reactors. The detonation of the torpedo was sufficient enough to smash the roof of the cargo pay upwards into the next deck and the floor down into one of the stern reactor rooms effectively destroying a bank of four ambient temperature reactors. The other torpedo materialized slightly off target, arriving in a mess hall in the stern of the vessel. Although the mess hall was largely empty as breakfast had stopped being served two hours ago the blast killed the staff present and anyone unfortunate enough to be in the hall, adjacent rooms and on the decks directly above and below. The target of the attack however was left largely untouched as the torpedo arrived too far to the stern and its detonation missed the reactor room by just twelve meters.
As such, the Three stricken vessels in the Dominion task force staggered their illumination flickering as their propulsion systems stuttered for long enough for the ships to start to veer off course by upwards of eight degrees before regaining balanced sub-light propulsion. The Dominion vessels who were not internally hit had largely superficial damage, as the proximity detonations were not powerful enough to overcome the Altradium composites in the hull plating, though clearly some areas were glowing brightly as heat bled off into space. The stricken vessels managed to get off with light damage, though in the case of the Neosho the loss of four ATR's would hamper normal operations as the captain of the ship would have to be careful about losing more. As soon as the initial and secondary explosions and after effects of the attack cleared, Commodore Oluchi looked at the holographic display regarding his force's status, the Vaanitas had drawn blood but again they had underestimated the resilience of Dominion engineering and seemed to over-estimate the effectiveness of their weapons at range. He looked to the staff at the communications station off to his left.
"Open a channel to all task force assets, tell them to tamp down their damages and get moving." Commodore Oluchi used the holographic display to indicate a rapid change of course without change of formation towards the nearest planet (Pud) which would put the fleet in the gravity and mass shadow of the planet and undoubtedly take the Dominion assets completely off the Vaanitas's sensors. "All vessels are to engage primary interdiction fields, I want all Hudsons launched... it looks like the Davians have been hit too, Send priority message number seven to OpCon.” As the Dominion’s interdiction screens flared to life denying FTL transit in an area approximately 2.2 astronomical units on center relative to the Burlington class vessel. The Burlington turned with the fleet and once it was able to orient itself enough to mask it’s launch of the Hudson class corvettes using sensor shadows and the movement of the fleet at best speed into the shadow of the nearby planet. Even as the twenty-five ships of the task force moved into a ‘covered position’ their point defense was active and would pick off any further stray hostile missiles crossing the distance.
The Commander of the Andraken Frigate heard his allies call for help, and the communique from the Vaanitas. It sent the Vaanitas offer to the higher ups and awaited their answer. Once it got it the Commander followed its orders. The Andraken fleet moved towards the WRL members. It had also received information that the reserve fleet would be moving up to support them.
Rissalas Dominion ships, drop interdiction so we may form up with you. From there we will help you fight the Vaanitas. The Commander sent. All the while shields were raised and weapon systems were brought online. Star Fighters were awoken and awaited their launch.
When the communication came in from the Andrakens, Commodore Oluchi viewed it incredulously as it utterly made no sense. A quick glance at the holographic displays in the CIC indicated that the Andrakens were more than four astronomical units outside of the Dominion’s Interdiction fields. Even the most rudimentary sensors could tell that the Andrakens were not subject to anyone’s interdiction given size of the battle area. Beyond this the request was quite ridiculous, since it was also clear that between the Davians, the Vaanitas and whomever their new ally was a whole lot of faster than light propelled ordinance was being fired. To turn off interdiction now would leave the Dominion’s taskforce open to further attacks in a battle where the odds had clearly shifted towards the Vaanitas’s favor. In of that the Commodore chose quite intentionally to ignore the message from the Andrakens, since it was not relevant to the situation. Seconds after the Dominion taskforce moved into the gravity shadow of the planet (this PUDs for you!) an encrypted message from Fleet command arrived with explicit orders. The recon taskforce was to withdraw immediately as no assets were available for relief and by Staff Admiral Folami’s own words in the message; ‘We can’t get to you and we also cant afford to lose a recon taskforce in a battle near a solar system of no tactical value, withdraw immediately.’ There was no reason to disagree since the the odds were terrible, and with the probability of varied forces arriving to support the existing known combatants, the Dominion reconnaissance group would not be able to remain for very long. With the situation displayed on the holographic displays in the Command Information Center Commodore Oluchi imputed a set of maneuvering orders which retained the interdiction, but maneuvered the fleet in a wide ‘half-eight’ maneuver at the fastest sub-light speed that the slowest of the vessels could maintain. This kept the group in the shadow of the nearby planet and its gravity shadow would play heck with anyone trying to apply FTL weapons or use FTL to get closer to the Dominion assets. Effectively the Dominion force would put most of an astronomical unit worth of distance on the Davians, Ancient Empire and the other belligerents with their maneuvers.
Just as the remaining 2 Davian ships and their entourages reach the shadow of Toculi gas giant. Hundreds of FTL signature suddenly arrived as the rest of the task force 9 in total arrived accompanied by no less than 900 spy and decoy drones and 32400 strike crafts. The Davian drones arrived in extremely wide formation while the ships themselves joined the vanguards behind the giant shadow of the gas giant.
Sinners of Davia. You are already death. The empire was doomed in this merciless galaxy because of your sin. The Empire has never been humiliated like this since the Great Sunder. You were not ordered to fight here, you were ordered to die, by the times it take for you to die, more forces would be assembled. Die a good death or risk being humiliated further by aliens. May the empire preserve your souls."
A message would be sent to both the remaining ships in Zangraf and to the rest of the taskforce. With just 3 ships the taskforce itself has no hope to survive yet survival was not an option here in Zangraf. The entire taskforce was made up of those who survived in Vestalh and Askandar. The events at these places impacted the sector and the empire as a whole extremely hard, the soldiers who fought there were hit most by these and the following events. Thus, to prevent foolish actions or mass suicide among these troops, the sector's command had decided to form them into Doomed Guards units. The first of its kind since the Great Sunder. The Doomed Guards were completely expendable, formed from sinners whose job was to fight brilliantly and die heroically again unbelievable odds. Yet according to the ancient texts the Doomed Guards were in fact pseudo volunteered units, sinners who sentenced to death or those who see themselves as committed unredeemable crimes again the Empire can choose to fight in Doomed Guards to atone themselves upon death or if they survive the battle.
"Order acknowledged. Taskforce request further reinforcement. We will hold the field till the last drop of our blood. Sinners, we are to join our comrades soon. What's the situation?"
"Vannitas and Cricaen missiles incoming."
"Ships won't survive. Full evacuate. Zero in all missiles toward them. We make for the nearest gas giant. Everything but the ships move. Move, move, move." As the missiles and torpedoes began to come near the ship's automated defense systems tried to shoot down as many of them as possible while dumping their entire payload into the space.
The 3 Davian ships evacuated the crews and almost all of them managed to get out before the missiles destroyed all the ships.
"All ships destroyed. All remaining units moving to the gas giant Toculi. All missiles engage enemy."
The Davian strikecrafts followed by load of shutters and drones began to change direction and head for the gas giant Toculi. As the Davian ship died, their interdiction field died out too and with it the entire arsenal of Davian missiles now numbered around 4736 large missiles and load of small missiles engaged their FTL engine
"Missile group 3 jumped. Targeting Vannitas fleet."
The entire Davian missile swarm reappeared outside of the Vannitas's interdiction field and from all directions charged the Vannitas fleet. Yet having learned from the FTL strike the warhead this times were entirely difference. Just as they emerged from FTL half of the missiles engaged their second charge thus vaporized their physical form and turned into white hot plasma bolts which would slam into the enemy ships. The other half also engaged their second charge and each fired a massive plasma beam toward their designed targets. Knowing the attack won't cause much affect again larger ships the Davian missiles instead aimed toward the smallest Vannitas ships or the Frigates precisely, 4 Frigates would be struck by 500 plasmarized bolts and 500 plasma beams, the firth frigate would be struck by the rest of the large firepower and all smaller missiles. Speaking of accuracy none of the missiles failed to materialize and all of them managed to materialize outside of the Vannitas's interdiction field.
Finally the Davian small crafts managed to reach the shadow of Toculi gas giant. There they disperse themselves into smaller groups and moved as close to the planet as possible then…wait for further instruction.
There was a moment of celebration as the enemy fleet was confirmed destroyed but Kadir was preparing for the incoming. “Plasma munitions incoming sir, targeting our frigates.” Sensors reported. “Give orders for the frigates to evade, they have plenty of time.” He replied, and the order was sent.
The frigates began manoeuvring in different directions to avoid the trajectory of the incoming with relative ease from such distance. Once they had done so the fleet finally began moving, advancing at a slow pace into the system, taking up formation so their heavy hitters would take the brunt of most attacks.
“Other fleet is withdrawing Commodore, should we pursue?” Salri and her escorts asked, they being the fastest for a pursuit. “Negative captain, let them run. We still have our initial objective. Be wary, I want active scanning at all times, and keep interdiction up for now.” He ordered fleetwide as they pressed onwards towards Zaingraf, the cause of all this strife.
The damaged destroyer was towed with them and engineers from other ship proceeded across to get her at least mobile again so she could withdraw.
The Cricaen fleet watched as the missiles split and headed towards the Vaanitas fleet, “All hands it appears these Davians are ignoring us, so prepare to fire again on my command” the captain spoke calmly as he watched. The fleet also began moving further into the system to get a more optimal firing arc on the Davian strike craft that were hiding behind the gas giant. Once they were all in position the captain gave the order for high yield flak missiles to be fired at the group of scattering craft and detonate within their numbers. Once again it was the cruisers and heavy cruisers unleashing their missiles with only 50 from each cruiser and 10 from the heavy cruisers, totaling 560 missiles heading towards the strike craft
The situation was clearly deteriorating at a rate that was untenable. Commodore Oluchi recalled his Hudson class corvettes which docked whilst the fleet was making its curving maneuver using a nearby planet (it’s not a dud its PUD!) as cover while the taskforce reoriented, recovered its assets and made a hard burn out of the battle area. The rapid destruction of the Davian assets given their failure to move for adequate cover wasn’t unexpected but it did give the Dominion ample opportunity to scan the nature of the attack and where it came from. This collected data would add to the fine-tuning of the Dominion’s interdiction fields against the weapons being utilized by the Cricaen and Vaanitas forces. At the same time the specified course allowed the Dominion to quietly dispose of any materials or assets that were ejected from launch bays and such during the initial attack leaving nothing for the enemy to recover intelligence-wise. Meanwhile a very short message would be sent to the Andrakens in text only ‘Your suggestion is not advisable, do not approach.” Active scans were pulling in other pertinent data as the Task force made its maneuvers and were now on a course to leave the solar system and move completely out of range of potential enemy weapons fire. Even with the course, speed and direction the Dominion task force retained its interdiction fields and kept its defensive systems powered and ready up until the final moment as the task force’s FTL systems drew power from battery reserves to make a full distance Hyper-field jump.
"The Vaanitas fleet moving toward Zaingraf. Cricaen fleet is attempting to attack our stragglers. Dominion Fleet is withdrawing due to lack of support. The Andraken's allegiance unknown and they appear to be moving toward Dominion's fleet." The Davian drones and crafts, scattered all around the Toculi gas giant remained actively scanning every fleets within the system while trying their best to send back the information back to the holding. Of course, the Vaanitas and Cricaen fleet would be paid particular attention.
"All remaining units scatter as quickly as possible." As the Cricaen barrage approached, all Davian units spread out further to avoid the incoming. As the 560 Cricaen missiles exploded one after another, large number of Davian drones or crafts would be destroyed. However, some survived as they had scattered even further or remained in the blind spot behind Toculi.
"Sensors detect that the Cricaen fleet has no active interdiction field. We can perform a close jump, and make a pointblank counterstrike. This should be a crossing of the T maneuver from behind."
"Our reinforcements have arrived…counterstrike maneuver imminent.”
Without warning in the space right behind the Cricaen warships was torn opened by large number of GATEs. Within them arrived a new fleet, all bearing the signatures of The Imperial Davian Navy Force, 109 ships in total spearheaded by no less than ten thousand of both decoy and spy drones. They arrived at once, and in mere moment, with all weapons braced. The arrival of thousands of signatures would be an unnerving sight for those who could not see through the decoy swarm. The Davian fleet was comprised of 1 Dreadnought, 7 Battleships, 2 Bombard Battleships, 22 Battle Cruisers, 13 Battle Carriers, 24 Destroyers, 20 Close Range Destroyers and 20 Long Range Destroyers.
"Transferring collected data of enemy ships." The sensors on every surviving Davian units began to upload their data back to the newly arrived ship in unison. Streams upon streams of information flooded the Davian's network as the Davian AIs as well as the thought of the organic crews across Zaingraf merged together into a form of unified sentient being.
"Fleet has arrived safety. Engaging Cricaen fleet immediately. Raising shields and interdiction fields; rose with 1.5AU range. Spy Drones jamming device activated. Decoy drones screen the fleet and facing Vaanitas fleet. Cross T from behind maneuver, point blank range, all available weapons open fire on the back of Cricaen fleet with maximum power, double missile barrage, launch all available strike craft and engage immediately. No mercy, no prisoners."
The Davian ships raised their interdiction field which no doubt would also envelope the Cricaen fleet, prevent any possible FTL escape. Meanwhile thousands Davian spy drones activated their jamming equipment to jeopardize any attempts of the Cricaen to communicate with the other or calling for their high command.
While the interdiction field was being raise and electronic warfare engaged in full effect, the entire Davian fleet power open fired as every single missile tubes be it heavy or light tubes unloaded their payload, all aimed at every single Cricaen vessels. In total the Davian unified AI reported: 80,640 heavy missiles and the same number of light missiles were launched again the Cricaen fleet from the rear, the most vulnerable part of the ships as the engines could not be armored. And with literally point-blank range no doubt almost all of these would hit home as there would be no times to dodge or counter.
"Recycling launching matrix, ready to fire again."
As the missiles launched at once, every single available Davian turrets from the large triple turrets, smaller double turrets plasma railgun down to the trans-gamma turrets also lighted up in unison and aimed directly at the rear of every single Cricaen ships. They fired at maximum power and maximum rate of fire none stop to ensure kill.
Yet it was not the end of the onslaught. Strike craft from 109 Davian ships broke free from their motherships en-masse. Having anticipated this would be a pure space battle the Davian had forgoes their general purpose aerospace crafts and replaced them with dedicated strike crafts, the 81 Shiki Sentoki Interceptor and 82 Shiki Bakugeki Ki Bomber respectively, these Shiguran origin sphere like crafts were specially designed for space battle thus giving them maximum performance in space yet wholly useless within atmospheric flight.
The massive swarm of 287,225 Davian strike craft threw themselves en-masse toward the Cricaen fleet and unloaded their entire cargos, 1/3 of them would be the 82 Bombers each equipped with 4 large missiles (torpedo level) each while the rest would be the 81 Interceptors.
Yet the Davian didn't just target the Cricaen fleet. Using cross T from behind maneuver mean the Davian would not be able to utilize their spinal weapons and 1/4 of their turrets mounted weapons again the Cricaen. Thus, these weapons would be used again the nearby Vaanitas fleet.
"All Spinal weapons and 1/4 large turrets aiming toward the Vaanitas largest ship, the remanding turrets aim at their wounded ships. Open fire at once."
While the none stop barrage again the Cricaen fleet continued, all Davian ships, except the carriers, from dreadnought to destroyers activated their spinal cannons and flung 96 enormous plasma beams toward the Vannitas dreadnought. At the same times 1/4 of Davian turrets which could not target the Cricaen also open fired aiming at the same target followed by 1/4 of smaller turrets which aimed toward the damaged destroyer and battlecruiser. At the same times more than 5000 of Davian decoy drones would move ahead of the fleet itself, ready to take on any incoming strike.
"Keep firing at maximum effect. Defensive systems, plasma pulse, nano-bot swarm on standby."
As the fleet threw out their entire long-range firepower the surviving strike craft and shuttles from the first deployment hurried themselves toward the newly arrived fleet and docked into any Davian ships available.
"Survival collected. Fleet awaits further instruction."
The Commander of the Andraken Frigate watched as the Davian fleet was destroyed. Then it observed a larger fleet appeared from behind the Cricean fleet.
“Send the signal to the rest of the fleet. Turn us around and begin preparations for Trans-Dimensional Jump.” it ordered. The Andraken fleet pivoted around, and while they did so the gates of the Trans-Dimensional Drive began to glow a bright purple.
“Jump coordinates set. Trans-Dimensional Drive at full power. Void-Matter Reactor at nominal levels.”
“Jump.” The five Andraken ships vanished for a split second. In this time a wormhole, separate from reality, was opened up. They propelled themselves toward the event horizon, as a mid point to their destination. On the edge of the interdiction field they arrived in near perfect unity, a testament to their accurate and precise jump systems. Once stable from their transit through the time dilated wormhole, they began to target the signatures of the Davian vessels. "Davian ships, stand down or be destroyed."
“FTL signatures detected, Davian reserve fleet has arrived.” The sensor operator warned. “Detecting lock ons, incoming!” he continued. The Davians were still an AU away giving them some time to react.
“All vessels turn and face, point defence engage incoming.” He ordered, fighters preparing to engage incoming munitions. “Sir that’s a lot of plasma coming our way.” He was warned. “They never learn.” He smirked “Take us into a dive, they won’t be able to correct once they’ve fire so lets not just fly into it like fools.” He ordered and the dreadnought adjusted course downward. Still some of the beams hit their upper shields, flaring them greatly and taking down a layer, the impact shaking the whole vessel.
The crippled destroyer stood no chance, torn apart as a sacrificial lamb to shield some of the others from the incoming. The rest of the fleet fared as well as to be expected. With the dreadnought the main focus of attention and allowed them to manoeuvre to avoid some incoming, the rest causing shield flares and drops with some hull damage, though one unfortunate cruiser put itself in harms way to protect the smaller vessels and was lost with all hands as systematic detonations throughout from various impacts turned her into a firework in space. Dozens of strike craft were lost, intercepting munitions intended for their hosts. The damaged battlecruiser lost propulsion and drifted, the left side of its hull torn open before countermeasures sealed it.
“We’re having some comms issues Sir, they’re trying to jam it seems.” Comms reported as they sent out the order to enact the contingency. “Switch channels and try again.” Kadir ordered as he watched the cruiser detonate with anger. “Message sent. Command confirms. Contingency confirmed. Incoming.” He listed off.
To the east of the Davian ambush not one but two Vaanitas fleets exited FTL. The reactionary force had been inbound but the second the Davians escalated the second force on standby had jumped too. At its head was one of the Vaanitas super dreadnoughts flanked by a further two dreadnoughts. In addition, there were 30 battleships, 13 carriers, 50 cruisers and 8 escort squadrons.
Admiral Tavari didn’t waste time introducing himself instead updating their tactical information. They now had the Davians in a triangle of fire and the grizzled veteran just raised a hand and pointed. Interdiction came up, firing solutions were found, lock ons were achieved and both Vaanitas fleets fired.
The combined arsenal of torpedoes alone was terrifying. The combined force from both directions unleashed 2262 torpdoes, opening up their tubes and firing all at once, speeding towards the Davians rear, reciprocating their tactic. Meanwhile the spinal, and heavy spinal guns of the arriving fleet and those already there barked, the vessels humming with energy before firing the colossal rounds towards the Davians. Whilst the rest of the fleet targeted freely, Kadir and the two dreadnoughts, as well as Tavari’s superdreadnought had their own target, the Davian dreadnought. Their combined fire of 6 HSHLCPC and 6 SHLCPC’s raking the Dreadnought from both bow and stern with their powerful guns, as well as their other firepower.
The rest of the fleets spinals were doing much the same, raking the Davian fleet from bow and stern. Still they were not done, as the fleets turrets began raking the Davians too. Gun after gun barked out at their foe as rounds filled the void, chasing after the wave of torpedoes to cause maximum damage in their killzone.
The Cricaen fleet did not have time to react to the Davian fleet that just appeared behind them and was now firing at them. “Shit it’s their reserves” A Captain shouted as the first rounds impacted shields.
The Captains of the cruisers and smaller ships began laughing as they moved and began taking the most of the damage to save the larger ships. “Captain make sure our sacrifice is not in vain, kill these Davian bastards” was one of the final messages that Captain Hook got as he watched his fleet get obliterated. Cruisers moved and put their shields to max to take the huge brunt of impacts for they faltered and the Davian rounds impacted armour and began tearing them apart piece by piece. The frigates did not fair so well, shields go near instantly and then detonating, the Destroyers going out much like the cruisers.
“All Battleships, Battlecruisers and Carriers dive and then full ahead towards the Vaanitas fleet, we may not be allies but it is better to live to fight another day then be killed by cheap tricks” He spoke as his own ship, damaged from the fire dived with the rest. “Captain, the Davians appear to be trying to jam our communications” the communications officer spoke. “Well switch to a different frequency and send the message again” He replied as they kept diving. “Communications away sir” the communications officer spoke once it was sent.
After a while to the North of the new Davian position dropping out of FTL came the first half of the 1st Cricaen War Fleet which had been on standby ready to jump when they got any from of communications from the patrol fleet. Leading the fleet was a Super Dreadnought leading 19 Battleships, 20 Battlecruisers, 15 Heavy Cruisers, 20 Cruisers
Admiral William Edwards looked at the Davian fleet with anger and waited for a moment as his tactical data and map was updated, he looked at how the Davians were now being boxed in by his own fleet and the Vaanitas fleets. He raised his hand and then lowered it quickly, the only words to leave his mouth was “Fire”. Interdiction went up as guns traversed and were aimed, locked on and then all guns barked and fired.
Missiles launched and headed right towards the largest of Davian ships to take out their command first. The large guns from the large Cricaen ships focused on battleships their guns firing non stop as they kept up their relentless barrage on the Davians, revenge for their patrol fleet, the survivors of which were still heading towards the Vaanitas ships to the east.
"Andrakens. You had finally showed your true colors. You are despicable for selling your own allies out in the middle of battle." The Davian fleet, upon noticing the AO's fleet turned hostile, broadcasted the system wide message so that all factions staying within the system would notice the betrayal: "First you told us that 'From there we will help you fight the Vaanitas.' (the Davian fleet broadcasted the same message the AO sent to the Dominion's fleet) then you sided with these barbarians in a pathetic attempt to backstab us. How nice, an alliance of aggressors, barbarians and traitors. Your betrayal would be known by the entire galaxy. On light of this utmost abominate betrayal Divine Davia Empire will cut off all ties with the Andraken, from now on every single Andraken entities found within or trying to enter the Imperial's border would be destroyed immediately."
Yet the message was not broadcast within Zaingraft alone, several messages encrypted with the most difficult to break encryption would also be sent back to the early warning ring of the imperial's holding. From there the news of the battle, the unprovoked and blatant aggressor of the Vannitas and Cricaen as well as the AO's betrayal would be known by the sector command who would no doubt noticed it with every faction in contact with Davia.
"Rissallas Dominion, the Andrakens had sold us out. We are sending all necessary information about this battle to you. Bring the information back honored ally." A stream of message which contained necessary information would also be sent toward the retreating Dominion fleet. Just like those sent toward the holding this message would have the same encrypted level. As close ally the Davian had given the Dominion the method to decrypt these kinds of messages.
"First aggressor units fleeing toward the first barbarian units, new aggressor fleet just jumped in and also approaching from that location which is our North. New barbarian units approaching from our right flank which is our East while the traitors are aiming from behind which our South. Vannitas and Cricaen open fired, weapon lock detected across the fleet and decoy drones, all long-range fire. Enemies units changed communication method. Scanning and simulating new frequency in process."
"All units break formation into small groups and turn West, move at all angles. Do not stop firing. Get the decoy drones take the brunt. Spy drones set in intercept course they are no longer need. Delete all valuable information on all fleet…"
The entire Davian fleet began to accelerate all their available engines as they turned West and broke down into numerous small groups and moved out in all angles and height like a blossoming flower while each of them threw out various kind electronic warfare as well as their own decoys to further blur themselves again the incoming attacks. The thickness and chaotic of the swarm and all kind of electronic warfare made the entire region of the space blur. There were numerous small groups, some would contain several true ships while some groups would have contained only decoy drones. The process was quick as the very loose nature of the Davian fleet so far made the turning easy.
Yet not all the Davian units moved, a few hundreds of decoy drones rushed straight toward the 5 Andraken ships to draw guided munitions from both Cricaen and Vannitas into them. These drones would try to follow and surround their new 'hosts'. Besides, the fact that the Andraken ships stationed themselves right behind the Davian put themselves at risk as every attacks especially those unguided which failed to hit the Davian ships which were accelerating away with all their power would go straight again them. Not to say it would be a difficult task for the Andraken ships to look through the huge Davian swarm with all the jamming and decoys to realize they were on the firing way. Meanwhile another small groups of Davian spy drones rushed toward the wreckages of the destroyed Cricaen's fleet and began to gather any valuable information. Soon several Davian ships would hastily have passed through the wreckage and attempted to pull several objects. Of course, as the Davian was on fast move so the salvaging process would have to be conduct fast and only fractions of object like small objects could be taken.
Since none of the Vannitas, Cricaen or Andraken had managed to separate the signatures of drones and ships, the ten-thousand Davian decoy and spy drones managed to take huge amount of fire or divert the fire away from the fleet paid very well. Obviously, the tolls among the drones were severe as thousands of them would be destroyed.
Still with such a large volume of fire many enemy's attacks particularly guided weapons would still lock on the Davian ships. These should be deal with by other methods.
"All units intercept those munitions. All weapons set in full auto mode. Zero munitions authorized, keep firing. Ready Plasma pulse."
The entire Davian fleet kept firing all their weapons in maximum rate of fire while moving out. The number of torpedoes (another name of heavy missiles) and light missiles threw out by the fleet this time far excessed the previous attacks. Yet none of the fire would be direct as the enemies, they would be used to intercept the attacks.
First the large torpedoes and spinal munitions would be specifically target by hundreds if not thousands of missiles to stop them death on their track from a far.
"Heavy missile, pumped warhead, fire." A single word shouted through the individual NAIs of the remaining large missiles and they open fired all at once. Each of the large missiles which staying at the head of the swarm and didn't trying to intercept the largest munitions initiated their second charge and unleashed dozens of trans-gamma laser beams to all direction except behind. Thus, everything staying behind the missiles would be unscathed while everything in a wide front of them would be bath in a huge storm of beams.
Next to arrive would be the smaller missiles. Then the entire strike craft swarm of more than 287,000 threw themselves again the incoming attacks to either shoot them down or take the fire themselves. Meanwhile all the plasma rail gun and laser turrets would be set in either bolts or bust shot to intercept enemy's fire.
The huge multi-level Davian swarm managed to stop much of the incoming munitions directed again the dispersed ships. Yet hostile fire still managed to get through all that.
"Plasma pulse. All fleet. Plasma pulse engage." Just as the hostile fire going to hit the Davian's shields all Davian ships glowed brightly as they activated their plasma pulse ability. By venting plasma stored in the vessels main reactor and any secondary reactors and using its shield to create a wall of plasma around the vessel for a brief time. This pulse will vaporize any incoming solid projectiles and missiles and may even partially disrupt laser based weapons however not entirely.
"Damage report. Multi destroyers and cruisers took damages, 12 destroyers destroyed, 7 cruisers destroyed, 1 battleship destroyed. Shield failing reported on several more ships. We are evacuating the survivors and dismantling the wreckages."
"Release all available nano bots to assist damage control and dismantling process."
"Dropping mines." As the fleet speeded away they sprayed out large number of mines which were equipped with Davian stealth field generators. And with the Davian fleet now had spread far and wide the minefield would also be large and wide. Should the enemy give chase they would have to move through the stealth minefield. While much of the Davian drones were destroyed several survived drones would still be use to screen the ships or formed into their own groups. To replace the destroyed drones The Davian ships would be surround by their strike craft and missiles swarms.
The task force under the Command of Commodore Oluchi had made enough distance that they could not be interdicted and were out of maximum weapons range of all combatants. When the Andrakens turned hostile the group watched as they waited for their navigation computers to synchronize for a jump to a position only known to the Dominion as ANAT. The spooling of the drives also took time because the lone carrier with it’s internal damage took a bit longer to get it’s FTL drive ready for the trip. This delay was as much due to damage control teams handling the last aspects of field-effective repairs as it was due to power needing to be rerouted through subsystems. Commodore Oluchi watched as the count down to the group’s FTL jump ticked away while the group’s sensors logged everything they could see in regards to the battle going on in the far distance. Fortunately, the group had two ocean class cruisers and a Burlington in their midst so seeing events unfold was not all that difficult. Things got interesting when the Davians sent a message that confirmed what the Commodore was seeing play out on the holographic displays in the command information center. "Rissallas Dominion, the Andrakens had sold us out. We are sending all necessary information about this battle to you. Bring the information back honored ally." The Commodore didn’t need to be asked twice before he ordered a slight stall on the FTL jump for long enough to safely receive the data stream sent by the Davians. The information was isolated and quarantined just incase any foreign power tried to mess with the transmission or add anything to it. The encryption of the data and the method of transmission was of a type used in military communications between the Davians and the RD specifically, so re-transmitting it would not be a problem for the Commodore’s taskforce. The chance of interception was reasonably low also. Once the data was received a short-encrypted confirmation was sent back and then…the Dominion task force dropped interdiction and flickered out as the vessels hyperfield propulsion moved the vessels to a position many parsecs away. In the hours it would take for the group to arrive at ANAT the report regarding the events of Zaingraf and the Andraken’s duplicity would be transmitted both to Dominion high command and to the AGA. Just in case there were no Davian survivors of the encounter at Zaingraf, the information collected by the Dominion and the data transmission sent to the Commodore’s task force by Davian forces would be sent unedited to the Davian military command. It would only be some hours after that someone leaked intercepted transmissions and footage of the Vaanitas’s proposal to the AO and the (Davian) footage and sensor logs of their actions galactic news media.
Off in a separate solar system a large fleet of Andraken ships lay in wait. A single Battleship, 8 destroyers, and 16 frigates sat in formation watching the battle unfold from the optics on the Frigate at Zangraf. The signal from the Frigates came through and ordered for their reinforcements. The fleet activated their Trans-Dimensional Drives and jumped.
Meanwhile the Andraken Commander watched as the Davian fleet began to retreat. “Target their engines, FTL drives, and bridges. Fire.” Numerous tachyon beams lashed out towards the Davian ships. Some hit mines causing them to explode.
“To the commander of the Davian forces. We do not care for how you see us, you are basics and are beneath us. As such we do not care for such concepts as reputation or betrayal, we are above such ideas.” The Andraken Commander sent to the Davians telepathically. The Andraken fleet turned to face the Davians and they slowly began to pursue them.
“Looks like we’ve broken them” Tavari spoke, watching the ships scattering as the Davians began their electronic warfare. “Begin separating out signatures from the false” he ordered before retaking his seat.
“Kadir arc your forces around to the north, rendezvous at Zaingraf. I will sweep in an arc to the south. You may fire at will at any Davian target that presents itself. Before the cowards started to hide their fleet fractured. I dare say we’d do well to pick out pockets and annihilate them a group at a time.” The Admiral ordered before opening communications with the Cricaen’s.
“Your decisions prove more honourable by the day Cricaen, I may be growing fond of your kind.” He spoke with a smirk. “Seeing as you have joined our assault on these cowardly scum, kindly follow Commodore Kadir’s force in an arc to the north. He is under orders to engage anything Davian, I suggest you do the same.” Tavari finished and severed that link also before gesturing for the fleet to mobilise.
The battlefleet turned south and began arcing around the Davian position and interference, scanning and decoding as they went. These cowards always seemed to have a new trick up their sleeve but with a fleets worth of sensors and computational capability he was confident they would locate the enemy, or at least several outliers.
Whilst Kadir had sensors running, he also wasn’t one to wait. “Saturate the area with explosives and CIWS, any hits that register engage with main guns.” He spoke and as his fleet pincered north they filled the area between the two fleets with explosives and flak to identify the Davians amongst their countermeasures. Every time a suspected target was identified the fleet opened up on the area and ships they believed they had located.
Seeing this Tavari rolled his eyes but began to do the same as his fleet pincered southwards. Between the Vaanitas forces, amongst the false signals and ships that were inevitably there, space was turned into an explosives display, ordinance and flak coating the region as the fleets ran parallel in the north and south, lighting up any Davian group they perceived whilst sifting through false signals to understand the Davian countermeasures and actively scanning to identify the Davian ships and anything else amongst the ECM swarm.
Admiral Edwards listened to the transmission form the Vaanitas force commander and was honestly surprised, especially after his last talks with a Vaanitas commander not being so positive. “Alright men you see that Vaanitas battle group all ahead full and follow after and anything Davian you see, erase it from existence” He spoke.
Sensors were put to full power and they began scanning and trying to pick out anything. Eventually they would show themselves. Some of the other ships captains began following the example of the Vaanitas battle group they were following, and they began to saturate that area of space with main gun fire and secondary battery fire.
The surviving Cricaen fleet caught up with the Vaanitas fleet to the south. Captain Hook let out a slight sigh of relief, still not out of the fire though. He had the comms officer put a transmission through to the Vaanitas fleet. “This is Captain Nicholas Hook of the surviving Cricaen fleet, I am putting myself and my ships under your command for now” He spoke.
Upon hearing the response from the Andrakens the retreating Davian units simultaneously broadcasted their response "Such a laughable announcement Andrakens. By claiming us as 'basic' and 'below' you had arrogantly put yourself 'above' not only us but also anyone who see us equal and most of the sentient races in the galaxy. The entire galaxy will know about this and will no doubt not take kindly of your treacherous and arrogant ways. In light of your actions the Divine Davia Empire declares war on the Andrakens. In case you are incapable of understanding the concept of 'war' then it's mean you will be destroyed."
"Vannitas, Cricaen and Andrakens have begun to manoeuvre while firing. Scanning signals detected from both Vannitas and Cricaen trying to overcome our decoys and ECM. Detected that both Vannitas and Cricaen absorbing our signals."
The few Andraken ships that didn't try any forms of scanning or counter electronic warfare and that were only beginning to pursue after the Davian swarms, began to move with maximum sub light power which made their attacks wholly ineffective as they literally fired blindly at very long range at a hugely dispersed swarm of objects and signals. Still the Andrakens barrage did manage to shoot down one or two Davian drones and missiles. The power and impact of their tachyon beams would be record by the Davian units however.
Out of the three pursuers the Vannitas fared better as they actually tried to pierce through the massive Davian swarm of objects and decoys. While the ECM and decoys did their job still several more vessels were destroyed including battle carriers and a battleship as Vaanitas fire ripped through their hulls and shields skewering them as they landed lucky well placed hits. On the other hand the Vannitas taking the much longer routes in their attempt to move around the last concentrated point of the Davian fleet failed to account that the fractured Davian groups were moving at all angles in a dispersed pattern to escape. This meant the 'pincer movement' followed by the Cricaens follow up did little to encapsulate the various smaller groups that sped through gaps in the line, rather than following through one heading. While this allowed for them to escape through the pincer move it now prevented their fleet from focusing their fire or from reforming back up.
"No enemies attempting to detect stealth mines, enemy units moving on collision course with the mine fields. Mine fields engaging."
The mines that the Davian fleet had left behind however now found their chance, with the enemy vessels in pursuit it put them straight into the path of the Davian stealth mine fields.
These stealth mines laid in wait and upon proximity contact with the enemy ships would explode violently one after another. As the Vannitas, Cricaen or Andraken would find out to their dismay, their chasing would likely lead them straight into the minefields, leaving them a choice. Either continue to pursue the Davian fleets and run into the minefields or pull off or go round giving the Davians a bigger distance in their escape. Each mine while small could cripple vessels at close range and with hundreds of them floating in their minefields all controlled by their NAIs for networking they would prove a serious barrier indeed.
While the Davian units retreating and drew all the attention toward them the small group of Davian drones which were tasked to scan and salvage the wreckage of the destroyed Cricaen fleet remained operational. Without any interference the drones managed to scan and recover a lot of basic information from the Cricaen Kingdoms. This valuable information such as hull composition, some of the weapons and basic lifeform data would be sent to the nearest Davian ships to be recovered from the field.
"Cricaen Kingdom confirmed to be a human pretender, at least one more alien life form detected… Attempting to extract more information."
"Missile launchers have stop firing. Zero munitions left, all missile groups awaiting orders. Strikecraft and shuttler successfully disengaged. FTL drives fully charged and ready to jump. Damage report: 22 destroyers, 10 battlecruisers, 2 battleships and 4 battlecarriers lost to enemy fire, extensive damage inflicted on multiple ships, extensive damage for drone fleet and fair damage to missile groups. All salvageable information is destroyed. Enemy units cannot gather any worthy information."
"All ships drop interdiction fields, overload GATE generators. All expendable units engage the enemies at will."
All remaining Davian ships were, by then, at a safe distance. They dropped their interdiction fields, engaged their wormhole generators and jumped out of the system.
Yet the departure of the fleet did not mean the end of the Davian's presence within the system. Before leaving the entire Davian fleet had managed to throw out their entire arsenal of missiles and torpedoes which scattering all over the system. These missiles at that moment began to make the final attack run against any available enemies units and there were thousands coming in, all angles supported by the remaining decoy drones and spy drones which faithfully accompanied the missiles and attempted to ram straight into the enemy ships while still engaging their electronic warfare till the last moment.
As the missile and drone swarms were ordered to destroy as many as possible they would priority target smaller fleets, smaller ships and any damaged ships. These unfortunate targets would be targeted with very high volume of fire to ensure kills. Out of all the hostile fleets the small Andraken fleet would be targeted the most, possessing only a few ships and little in the way of screens.
With the Davian fleet gone the Andraken fleet stopped their pursuit and began to turn around towards Zaingraf. Alarms went off as missile launches were detected from the Davians before they jumped out. With interdiction down the Andrakens were able to calculate trajectories and snipe the missiles with their FTL tachyon beams. As missiles drew closer shards of Star Steel were launched as well. As they struck the missiles they began to feed off the power source until the missiles exploded. Not all the missiles were destroyed however and some struck the shields of the Andraken ships. Though one Escort didn’t make it as holes filled its hull and it floated through space. The reactor was compromised and no power could feed into the ship to repair it.
As the Andraken fleet made it out of the missile barrage they began to charge the Trans-Dimensional Drive.
"FTL signatures detected, they're gone. Multiple incoming." sensors warned. "Tight formation, layer defences. Nothing serious." Tavari spoke calmly. Both north and south fleets tightened formation and layered their CIWS and began swatting incoming out of the sky.
By targeting the smaller vessels specifically the Davians had actually decreased their effectiveness as the Vaanitas frigates only purpose in the fleet was to act as CIWS. Their point defence, augmented by their fellow vessels filled space with defensive fire. Main guns across the fleet began firing flak rounds and counter missiles launched to intercept incoming. Fighters flew about the fleet intercepting anything that got through the main interception screen.
Some of the Davian fire broke through causing damage to armour and the hull. No ship was lost outright though a few would need extensive repairs after this and pair of cruisers were probably easier to scrap than repair.
"We've taken damage sir, nothing crippling but the fleet has suffered damage and fighters have taken medium losses." the first mate spoke, handing Tavari the initial battle report. The Admiral nodded and finally took his seat.
"Commodore, I will be leaving with the damaged assets of the fleet. Continue the operation." He ordered and severed the link. The interdiction dropped and a few minutes later the majority of the fleet jumped, exiting the area of operation.
Kadir was left with his dreadnought, 10 cruisers, 5 battleships and 5 squadrons of escorts. He directed two battleships to launch their fighters and begin scouring for Davian wreckage to capture. The rest of the fleet jumped from their current position to near Zaingraf itself, ready to begin operations.
The badger's claws dug into the woodwork of the dashboard, Slivers curling under his large claws. He growled, wishing he had a larger fleet. "Fuck this. We have opportunities for allies on planet side. Send dropships planetside!" At what would of been the waterline of a sailing vessles, compartments opened and multiple dropships lowered, full of twenty sailors at a time. The first ships to land held unarmed passingers, to make sure that there were no hostilities, and to calm down scared people who may have the wrong ideas about their visitors.
Squadron Leader Akheret looked at his tactical display. "Helm, Bring us in to the L5 point of Zangraf. Keep stabilizers in interdict mode and keep us out of the line of fire of the combatants." "As you Command, Squadron Leader." the helmsman replied as he programmed the course for Zangraf's L-5 point. The three ships moved at a slow speed, moving closer towards the world. Passive sensors kept track of the forces fighting in the outer system, but no missiles or torpedoes came near the squadron.
As the ships got closer to Zangraf, ComScan noted the lack of signals. "Squadron Leader? Something is very odd. Picking up no EM transmissions common to worlds of this Level." Akheret grimaced. "Life readings? Is this another Metropolis?" Checking his displays the officer soon replied. "Life readings are present, Squadron Leader. No sign of biological or chemical contamination, but we are still distant."
"Not another Harvest then, that's good. Dispatch the Pods. Standard survey protocols for a Level 7 world. Extra time should be allocated to scanning for any form of disaster. Something... does not seem quite right here." Akheret spoke.
Three small crystalline pods launched at high speed from SVS Investigator , spreading out on courses to approach Zangraf on vectors 120 degrees apart around the planetary equator. The pods were scanning for chemical, biological, and radiological contamination as well as geological status of the world. As the pod proceeded n their mission, Akheret signaled to ComScan after observing the other ships on the main display around the world. "Get me Intership." At a signal from ComScan he began speaking.
"Greetings from SVS Investigator, Anais Unity of the Singers of the Void. We are here in response to an FTL comms signal originating in this system. Our intentions are non-hostile."
Descending planetside it was obvious that something had happened on Zaingraf though what it was was not immediately apparent. Abandoned cities dotted the landscape like great skeletons of civilizations gone past scanners showing the once great monuments to the native species of Zaingraf to be devoid of life, or at least devoid of any sentient life.
More worrisome was that as the first ships and reconnaisiance drones began landing it became apparent that the sentient life signs emanated from underground, with no surface habitation to speak of... at least none that was still inhabited.
But the air was clear of contaminant, the planets geological state was stable, and there was still no sign of what had produced the FTL signal.
The Singers for their part did detect an anomaly on their scans. Originating from some kind of decrepit factory complex there was a massive energy signature that seemed out of place emanating from somewhere underground. More details were difficult to glean from orbital scans alone.
The Vita Shetani, upon landing, found themselves in a meadow of sorts, several clicks outside one of the decrepit cities. A cursory glance around revealed a concrete ramp, leading to heavy steel doors surrounded by concrete, presumably the entrance to some kind of bunker. Interestingly, the bunker was devoid of external defenses. No gun emplacements, no guards in sandbagged positions, and no watch towers... just searchlights and work lights arranged at a myriad of angles, though at the moment they were off with the sun high in the sky overhead.
The Singer's communication recieved no response from the planet for several long moments. When a response was finally given it came through on a radio frequency of all things, and whoever answered clearly did not speak a dialect even close to galactic standard.
A female fox did a reading on the atmosphere before undoing the clear and brass colored helmet on her head, she started to approach the bunker alone, hoping her friendly tone of voice would suffice enough in case they didn't know galactic common. "Hello? Is anyone in there, We come in peace. IS everything all right?" she askd with concern. "We received a strange message, and we are checking up to see if all is well." Meenwhile, on the Dereliced the badger perked his ears. He seemed bored again, deciding to stay behind on the ship might not of been the best of his plans to keep the boredom away. He picked up the coms. "Greetings, I am Captain Brockhall of the Dereliced, We are also nonhostile and wish to investigate the planet, and in hopes to make friends and allies along the way."
Akheret listened to the broadcast from the Vita Shetani vessel, when it concluded he motioned to ComScan for Intership. "Greetings and salutations from the Anais Unity, Captain Brockhall. We would be willing to collaborate on the investigation of the signal-I trust the signal is not from a ship of yours that crashed or is otherwise in distress?" After a moment he continued. "As we also carry a Consul from our Ministry of State, we can also begin diplomatic proceeding as well if you desire, though our first priority should of course be the signal."
ComScan then relayed the message response from the world, in the unknown language. Investigator's Sentience Core and quantum computers began working on translating the language, all why enacting computer isolation protocols. "Squadron Leader, the multispectral array is picking up a high-energy power source coming from deep under the planetary surface. From dimensional readings I'd say either a singularity or N-Dimensional power source. Does not match up to Singers, Eternal Night, or known Axiom systems."
"Well then, this ups the level of things." Akheret said. "Any other sensor readings?" After a moment the ComScan officer reported back . "The surface seems clear of any high-order life signs, Squadron Leader. There are however signs of high-order life deeper under the surface. Cities and other installations on the surface appear dead, Squadron Leader. No sign of contaminants, geological cataclysm, or psionic disruption."
"Keep the Pods scanning. Deploy them to the surface and prepare a landing team-but hold off on launching until the SC can get a handle on that signal."
A red light came on in the left corner of the steel door, proceedes in short order by a camera swivelling toward the fox. Minutes passed in silence, the only indication that she had been heard or even noticed their arrival that initial movement of the camera and the dull red glow of the camera's light.
Five minutes crept by. Then ten. Finally after fifteen minutes of waiting there was an electric buzz from the door and it swung open.
On the other side was a full platoon of soldiers in woodland camoflage with rifles pointed toward the fox. They were spread out along a long corridor, crouched behind sand bags and at the corridor's end stood a some flavor of heavy machine gun.
The soldiers themselves were primitively equipped. Their armor little better than kevlar and their rifles in all likelihood still using cased ammunition. Gas masks covered their faces and when the apparent leader (or at the very least the one closest to the fox) spoke he was difficult to understand between the mask and a thick accent.
"You come from space? 77th?"
The woman backed up when rifles were pointed at her, hands up to show she was unarmed. She was the only one there at the moment, they were relying on her to be a good diplomat. Luckilly she understood that the natives were likely frightened of her, more afraid than actually menicing, or at least she hoped. "I am sorry, I did not mean to scare you." The fox perked her ears at the leader who spoke for the group. "Yes, I am from space, but unfortunately no, not the 77th. Perhaps we can help you find this group, or if they are an enemy, help you defend yourselves from them?" she tried to sound as friendly as possible, although the poor fox was shaking down to her footclaws, and her heart was racing in her chest.
Control Unit Vav-12 entered the atmosphere of Zangraf, scanning as he descended slowly towards the planetary surface. The two Pods assigned to his control also effected atmospheric entry in the standard 120 degrees apart formation. As Vav-12 approached the surface he started circling the perimeter of an apparently abandoned city. Animal and plant life were the only life signs present. His scanners picked up no obvious cause for the city's emptiness. There were no biological or chemical toxins, no radiation, no signs of psychometric weaponry or lifedraining.
There were however corpses, the city had not died in peace. Signs of combat were present, centering around stadiums, auditoriums, and other gathering places where it looked like the natives had decided to make a stand. The areas were littered with spent cartridges from chemical propelled firearms. Bullet holes in walls were everywhere, as were the corpses which showed signs of ballistic weapon penetration. Upon scanning though, many of the injuries on the bodies-and some of thee damage to the walls, showed impact patterns akin t high-velocity gauss weaponry of some sort. Gauss weapons of this caliber are beyond the capability of a Class 7 civilization to produce... Vav-12 thought.
There were a small number of life readings present a short distance away from the city, Some matched those present on the Vita Shetani ships in orbit. Likely a landing party. Vav-12 thought to himself. The others were different. Activating his quantum communicator he signaled SVS Investigator in orbit. "Initial planetary surface scans and physical investigation confirm no high order native life signs. A city seems to have been
attacked by a non-native force. Have spotted signs of combat including gauss weapon fire. Based on data records I estimate a 99% chance of non-local force involvement. No current identification of the attackers. Also Detecting a likely landing party from the Vita Shetani as well as a potential native life sign. Will continue sending data as it is acquired, Vav-12 out."
Vav-12 moved towards the contacts, flying smoothly on his contragrav drive. As he got to the concrete ramp h sent another signal to Investigator. "Have encountered an entrance to some sort of subteranian work. Am investigating further." Vav-12 slowly moved up to the ramp, and then slowly moved into view, observing the Vita Shetani and the second group from the top of the ramp. He sent another message t the Investigator. "Am making contact with the Vita Shetani and the unknown group." Then with a thought command he activated his vocalizer system.
"Greetings and salutations. I am Control Unit Vav-12. I bring you both greetings from the Anais Unity of the Singers of the Void." The vocalizer then shut down with a soft beep.
The control unit's arrival was met with more alarm from the soldiers. The heavy machine gun chattered off a few shots, aimed over head the pod, obvious warning fire, and it seemed every conceivable mechanical click that could be produced from a firearm was produced in the following seconds.
After a few tense moments the lead soldier spoke again.
"Need not help," He said to the fox. "Deal not with outsiders. Only deal with drifters. Not drifter. Not 77th. No deal."
"If you do not wish for our help, then so be it. We have a right to choose our paths in life, I simply hope that your path won't lead to disaster." she gave a slight bow. They tried their best not to frighten the fearful, hince why only the fox was sent to the doorway and unarmed. The female righted herself, she was afraid as well, but her face showed calm despite the gunshots. She simply turned and walked off. Approaching the visitor. "Hello control unit. My name is Andria. The natives seem fearful of us, best not aggravate them further. They don't wish for help, so they aren't our problem."
Vav-12 simply said to the soldiers "May you survive by your own will then." and then addressed Andria, moving slowly away from the ramp. "Their dedication is admirable in many ways I must admit. Greetings Andria. We should remain on alert however. In my brief exploration of this city I have found evidence of an off-world invasion force. Small caliber gauss weaponry, far beyond the apparent technological capabilities of the natives. I would conclude this was either an all-out invasion and/or a planetary culling, as opposed to just raiding."
After they had all moved a hundred meters from the ramp, Vav-12 "turned" to Andria again. "There is also readings indicating an advanced power generation system somewhere below the surface. Possibly a singularity, possibly a Nth-Dimensional interface system. I wished to keep this away from the haring of the natives. Have you found anything of note in your own investigations? It would best if we pool our research into this situation."
The soldiers were quick to close the door on the bunker with a series of metalic clicks. More commotion could be heard beyond as they moved away from the door and back into the bunker proper. The sun began to sink low in the sky as the pair conversed, the lights around the bunker flickering on as the sun began to dip below the horizon.
“No wonder why they are afraid of us." she said. "They are afraid of whatever happened, happening again. Personally, I don't trust them. they might attack by the cloak of night out of fear of us. I don't think it would be wise to tarry planet side much longer." She nodded "Likely the power generater could be used for the comfort of these subterranean peoples. Such as electricity supply for lightning and whatnot. At least, that's my opinion. Either way, we should go back to our ships where it is much safer. We only brought side arms with us, As for I? I am unarmed. " She was walking toward the pods. "Perhaps we can pool our information and research over coms from the safety of our ships?"
Listening to Andria, Vav-12 considered her words. "We should at least move away from this installation. Indeed the chance that they will launch some sort of attack must be considered as within probability matrix statistics. With respect to the detected power source however... Unless this planet's civilization is severely retrograded that power source is millennia in advance of what this culture should be capable of."
"It is far more likely that it is something that either they found underground, or was brought by those who attacked the world. With regards to withdrawal from the planet, I would first suggest checking civilian government facilities and possibly media service areas to attempt to gather more information about those who attacked this world. That will not be easy to do from orbit. I possess sufficient weaponry and defensive capability to increase our chances greatly against local forces given their state of technology. I also possess the ability to interface with most computer systems."
"I'm not going into those areas without any kind of weapon." She remarked. "Let me at least get my side arm from the landing pod." The fox continued toward the landing pod where a group of canines, otters, badgers, and foxes were. An African wild dog came out of one of the pods, shading his eyes to look around. "Andria, what you find?" "The person behind me, and a bunch of people who don't want us around."
Vav-12 accompanied Andria to hr landing pod. He took in the wide range of species present as he floated 1.5 meters above the ground. "A wide range of biogenetic diversity. Ar you all originating from the same world? In all our travels we have never encountered a mix of phenotypes as your people represent." After a short while Vav-12 spoke again.
"If it is not objectionable, were your species all uplifted? You all bear a superficial resemblance to other species that are generally not known for being fully sapient." Meanwhile, Vav-12 kept his sensor arrays online, and waited for any messages from the other pods.
The sun had sunk completely beneath the horizon now, shrouding the world around them in twilight. There was a silence that came with the night. No sound of insects, nocturnal creatures, or in fact any of the sounds one might expect to find at night.
Just an eerie silence.
The fox reached in to the pod to grab what appeared to be an old timey Tommy rifle and slung it across her back. It wasn't her side arm, but the emergency rifles that was along the side of the pods. "I don't like the silence." the others in the pod came out, also rather jumpy and whoever could grabbed whatever rifle they could from the sides. "We won't hurt you" an otter with a black long braid and a long goatee said to the glowing disk. "The silence makes us jumpy. As for your question about us. We are originally from a place called the Ashrite Empire. I do not reccomed going there. It's a tyranny. They despise magic and if you dare even voice your opinion about the emperor you get labled an enemy of the state. All of us are enemies of the state, so to speek, and was outcasted to the same peinal planet. Five years ago we was able to rebel and take the planet as our own. We named it Vita Shetani. since then we been trying to find resources, since Vita Shetani is practicly one giant desert.. We are lucky that it has water."
"An interesting history. I must congratulate yourselves for having the willpower, determination, and skill to get yourselves out of imprisonment. Those are things we value." Vav-12 noticed the silence of the environment but for the moment said nothing of it. "Magic you say? Have heard of it. Several of the Priests are said to practice it in some way, but I must admit I have no personal knowledge of or proficiency at it. So far as freedom to speak we have such, though one must always be expected to accept the consequences of one's statements."
Vav-12 silently rotated, taking in the surroundings. "The silence is most unusual. It's almost like the world was Harvested-though that can't be the case obviously. There is plant life present, and those survivors. Still, something is keeping any animals silent-and those animals seem to be very few. Normally that is often a response to a threat. We should exercise caution."
The silence dragged for several tense moments before the first signs of danger began to make themselves known. The darkness itself seemed to pulse and move. Vague shapes, and red predatory eyes began to take shape in the darkness and with little in the way of warning the forms charged toward the gathered explorers, swarming over the ship and lashing out with teeth and claws of and teeth of darkness made manifest.
The female reached into her pocket and brought out what appeared to be a brass wand, and began to franticly write out runes in the air! the otter fired off some plasma bolt like blasts at the size of a shotgun shell toward the creatures! "FUCKING SHRIMP FUCKERS!" A cape dog was kneeling down and reloaded his cartridge before joining in on defending the group. The others held back, and provided cover fire for when the front lines needed to reload. When the female was done with the spell, a force field was cast over the group, in an attempt to shield them. She had to stay quiet, and focused on the spell to keep the shield up, practicly a sitting duck, relying on the support of the others in order not to loose concentration, or worse, be killed.
Vav-12 went to full combat status as the dark shapes appeared. His phase shields instantly activated, as did his Night Field-am aura of blacklight flame around him. Do NOT TOUCH that aura! It's pure antilife energy! he telepathically called out to the Vita Shetani.
Though not a Battlecrystal by any means, Vav-12 was nonetheless equipped with smaller-scale versions of the same technology, he reconfigured his weapon systems to FGMP configuration, and began firing fusion bolts at targets out of splatter range of allied forces. He honestly thought considering the nature of the hostile targets that he'd do more damage with the gravitic sheaths of the fusion bolts. For any that got too close to Vita Shetani personnel he switched to a rapid fire charged particle beam, varying it's phase state to try and better affect the attackers. As he fired, his combat sensors scanned the attackers, hoping to find some sort of vulnerability.
Lastly, Vav-12 signaled SVS Investigator to update Squadron Leader Akheret. "Engaging hostile variable phase-state entities. Planet has definitely been attacked by hostile forces. Will send further data as it becomes available."
Neither the particle beams, nor the plasma bolts seemed to do much more than upset the creatures as they closed in. Every time a shot hit them they seemed to morph around it, or it seemed to pass straight through them with very little in the way of damage. The creatures closed in on the party, lashing out with claw, and teeth, devouring anything and everything they could with horrible growling noises.
The shield held, anything that sprung against it would splat as if it just hit a brick wall! The otter took out his own brass rod and began to write runes int he air, Holding the rod up high, looking at it. he cast a cage around the demon animals, in attempts to cage them in with a similar spell to the dome shaped shields, only in reverse! the others reloaded their weapons and scanned the horizon.
Vav-12 increased power to his CG drives, rising to near the top of the wards set up by the Vita Shetani. His weapons systems reconfigured to a small NFD and a gravitic resonator. He fired these in alternating bursts, hoping the gravitic waves and phantom energy would disrupt the energy matrix of the creatures, energy constructs, or whatever they classified as. His multispectral array continued analyzing the creatures/constructs to try and gather more information on them.
Almost as an afterthought, Vav-12 activated his psi screens and personal psionic shields. Considering the use of psychometric weaponry the creatures could actually be mental constructs, and he wanted to take appropriate countermeasures. Would take a lot of energy to power either energy or psychometric constructs... Vav-12 thought to himself. That power source... He activated his trans-dimensional sensor array, keeping note of the power levels being generated as the creatures fought and responded to the wards.
More creatures swarmed toward the party, surrounding them and clawing over one another to push through the shield and to those hiding within. Vav's weapons continued to be of limited effect. The question was very quickly becoming how long could the fox hold the shield?
One of the others realized that the poor caster need some relief and began to write their own runes with the rod. Casting their own shield. For a few seconds the shields fought with each other,t rying to cancle each other out. One of the beings got a lucky slash in within these few precarious seconds. The female fox shouted "Back up to the pod! We'll try to get in it without these creatures causing any more harm to us!" the group began to back up, in hopes to get back into the pod and out of harms way.
Vav-12 moved back with the Vita Shetani, still staying at the top of the ward dome. He shifted his weapons configuration to a sonic resonator with a conical area. Normally used for riot control and similar applications, his observations of how the entities avoided fire made him consider it. In the meantime he signaled Investigator . "Under attack by hostiles. Apparent energy constructs of some sort. All weapons so far ineffective. Mystical forces seem to affect them. Notify the Priests about this. Based on available data there could be a possible Alet-Zan threat level force on planet. Attempting to gather more data points to cnfirm or deny."
Almost as an afterthought, Vav-12 concentrated and sent an electrokinetic bolt at one of the creatures/constructs, If magic can affect them, maybe psionics can as well... he thought to himself.
He called out to the Vita Shetani crew. "Be aware that if they can phase-shift, those pods could become a trap."
The sonic and psionic attacks were the least effective yet, having absolutely no noticeable effect on the creatures. As their prey began to move the creatures appeared to grow frustrated. They merged together, warping their formless shapes into something much larger and imposing.
It vaguely resembled a bipedal creature, and smashed aside the pod like it was nothing before once again pressing against the shield with a renewed fury. That fury was short lived however.
A spotlight abruptly turned on and was pointed at the creature. It let out a pained shriek and broke back into dozens of smaller creatures before scattering into the night.
The light now turned on the party panning over each of them in turn.
"Not the 77th," a feminine voice commented from behind the spot light with only a light accent. "Who are you then?"
When the light was seen as the source of the defeat of these strange shadow creatures, the otter began to rub his head. "of course..." he went to flip on the lights of the pod. four gas lamp appearing lights on it lit up, bating the place in an unearthly blue light. The fox looked to the female. "Vita Shetani, how may we help?" sure she was denied at first, but the person that approached may of been from a different group. "And thankyou, for a moment we didn't know what to do." the otter groaned "Andria, it's about to get worse. Both portside wings are broken. No way we can get off this planet until the ribs are fixed."
Vav-12 lowered his altitude to abut 1.5 meters off the ground and addressed the female native. "Greetings. My name/designation is Vav-12 and I am from the Anais Unity of the Singers of the Void. Wee and the Vita Shetani arrived on your world in answer to a signal sent from this planet. Since arriving I have noticed signs of obvious attack. Weapons fire in the city that does not seem to match local weapons. Now these entities... Do you know if the entities are part of the invasion force, or raiders as the case may be?"
"There is also power source deep underground that at first would not seem to be local in manufacture. We are willing to assist your people but need more information so we can more adequately assist you."
Vav-12 continued scanning the area, extending a small floodlight from his combat chassis just in case.
She raised a hand as the flood light came on, the grey skinned humanoid adjusting a wide brimmed hat to keep her eyes out of the light.
"Never heard of either of you," She said turning off her spotlight and jumping down from thr back of a pick up truck.
"Power source? Are you talking about the rift?" She commented moving to the driver side of the vehicle.
"Communication may be from central I guess. They were overrun a few days back. Labrosse left them an interstellar comms set up before she left with the 77th."
"Please tell us more about the 77th." She was curious about the 77th, while a curse could be heard from a cape dog. the cape dog pulled off her headphones. "Something is jamming our communications, But what?" The otter asked as he tried to help with the various flippers, levers, and brass knobs on what appeared to be a wooden console. "Not even the secondary and emergency beacons getting through?" the cape dog shook her head "No, we are stuck" "Ahh fuck..."
Rift... Vav-12 thought to himself, a theorem forming in his mind. "A spatial/dimensional rift? that would explain a lot of the readings. I referred to it as a power source since we have heard of them being used as such." Vav-12 considered his next words very carefully before continuing.
"Your statements make me curious about something. Did your people come through that rift? Or are you natives of this world. I ask since you mentioned both a Rift and interstellar communications systems, which the natives of this world to available data do not have the technological capability of manufacturing. In any case, regardless of your origin what is the background of the shadow-entities?"
She scowled at the drone's first question and muttered a curse of some persuasion in her native tongue.
"The Khel'Zaan are of this world. We were born of it and we have never left it."
She sounded offended at the accusation and muttered another curse.
"The shadows came from the rift which was formed as a result of a malfunction during a slip space experiment. The 77th was a... hmm... What's the word? Soldiers of the air? That doesn't sound right. The soldiers with the um... the..."
She briefly mimicked a gyro copter noise before shaking her head and continuing.
"They were a battalion strength unit under Claudette Labrosse from one of your interstellar nations. They assisted us with evacuations, and attempted to close the rift but... well..." She trailed off and shook her head.
"Soldeirs of the air, did they fly flying machines?" the fox noticed the scowl on her face, This wasn't good, They couldn't afford to make enemies now to expect to get off this planet alive. "I apologize for any hurtful words that was said. We are new here and know nothing of this planet, or it's history. I am sure our friend's intent wasn't to insult, just a curious mind."
"The Vita Shetani are correct. Insult was not intended. Was merely a question to gather more information. Nothing negative was intended." Vav-12 said to the Khel'Zaan female. "How long ago did the rift malfunction occur? I trust attempts were made to terminate power to the generator powering this rift? Also, did the commanding officer of the 77th say which polity her unit came from?"
"Yes, flying machine like..." Sha paused and shook her head. "Newarhala. I don't know your word for them. Colonel Labrosse and her people were from the Vestahl Commonwealth. The rift opened a few years ago and she and her soldiers showed up to help us evacuate. When removing the power source didn't close the rift she attempted to close it from the other side..."
She shrugged her shoulders.
"It didn't go well," She opened the door to the pick up truck and got in, the engine starting with a roar. "Come, we must go somewhere safer. They'll be back before long with more shadows, and the lights will only dissuade them for so long,"
With the wings out of commission, the pod was pretty much stranded. the vita shetani looked to each other as they got out of the pod. "we might have to hitch a ride with you madam. the pod, it's down for the count." the badger commented. "If we had time, and some wood, we could temporarly fix the ribs. but then she'd still be bound to this atmosphere." made sense, wood would burn in the stratosphere. But it'd still make a cool aeroplane type machine.
Vav-12 did a brief damage analysis scan of the landing pod and concurred with the Vita Shetani appraisal of the situation. "I agree, such field repairs will take an excess of time." The "turning" to the Khel'Zaan he said "Our term for that type of vehicle is a rotary-wing craft. But for now let us go to a more secure location, it is indeed dangerous to remain in the open as we are. Wee can discuss matters more later."
Floating to a position atop the pickup truck, Vav-12 had his systems reconfigure to 4 floodlights, positioned 90 degrees apart. He then waited for the Khel'Zaan and Vita Shetani to board and the vehicle to start moving, intending to fly along with it in formation.
The woman started the vehicle once everyone was loaded up and began driving, slowly at first then faster once she found her way onto a more well worn trail.
"I am guessing that you intend to go visit the rift?" She asked as she drove through the darkened fields and into a darkened pine forest. "It is a dangerous place to go. There are many more of the creatures there. We tried to fight them all with Labrosse but... even together we could only withstand them for so long..."
She paused and sighed.
"You'll need a guide as well,"
"And a plan" Andria commented, the otter leaned back "well since we are trapped here, might as well try with some of our own talents. So we know they are weak to light, what about other weaknesses? See if we can defeat what we can with our own runecraft, and of course, whatever our disk shaped friend can bring with us." A red fox looked up at Vav. "well if I stare at him long enough I'd probably get an acid trip." he joked.
Vav-12 spoke to the Khel'Zaan woman. "I have reconfigurable weapon systems installed. Did your forces or the 77th find that any particular weapons were particularly effective against these entities? Bright light seems to at least temporarily repel them, but would be nice to know if anything can terminate them. Laser field projectors perhaps?"
He adjusted the shift rate of his hue, shifting colors at a more languid pace, for Andria's sake.
"Since removal of the power source did not close the rift... I would say the rift has likely become self-sustaining. This would also be in alignment with the readings we had obtained from our ships. Then again, What happened when the 77th tried to close the rift from the other side? Did they report anything they spotted that could be something maintaining the rift? In any case it is likely that we may need reinforcements, including Nth-Dimensional technicians, to close this.
"I don't know," The woman answered. "Twenty five went through. No one came back,"
She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"My apprentice, Uerina, she went with them. She didn't come back either."
She brought the truck to a stop and shut off the engine, opening the door and stepping out into the surrounding forest. She paused momentarily, quirking her head to the side before motioning the others forward as she left the road.
"The 77th was short on supplies by the time they left. They spared what they could, jury rigged what they could... but they had to go. Trouble back home Colonel Labrosse told me. They left me a blade of phase shifted hardlight and a gun of some kind. Lasers maybe. I don't recognize the word,"
the red fox chuckled "Ahh damn I was enjoying that light show!" Meenwhile Andria said "My sympathies. Perhaps if we can study this blade, we can create something similar with runes carved into swords." she offered. "as well as the gun?"
"And scanning the beam weapon might allow me to program my reconfiguration matrix to project a more effective beam for fighting these entities." After a pause Vav-12 added "Unfortunately my close combat systems are not reconfigurable." Vav-12 followed the Khel'Zaan woman and the Vita Shetani, floating about 1 meter over the group's heads.
Addressing the Khel'Zaan, Vav-12 said "Forgive me for letting battlefield protocols interfere with basic etiquette. Do you have a name you like to be referred to by?"
"I am called Bellineth Malanore," The woman answered, stopping and clearing away leaves and dead fall from a metal door set into the ground. She pulled it open with a grunt and a shriek of rusted metal and motioned for the others to descend a rusted ladder into the darkened depths.
"We'll talk more inside, and come morning we can look toward travelling to the Foundry,"
Slowly the otter went down the ladder first, using his sense of feel for the rusted steps. The going was slow, he did not want to end up breaking a rung and falling down the shaft. the fox introduced herself as well as the otter. "My name is Andria, the otter that just went down the hole, Holta." Holta was making sure that none of the steps were loose or wobbily as he descended. he wanted to make sure the damned thing was safe first!
Vav-12 glided silently down the access tunnel, "Foundry? Is that the gate site or another installation, Industrial I would guess by the name perhaps?" Vav said to Belineth as they got to the bottom of the shaft. Once at the bottom he used his floodlight to illuminate the area they were in.
"And pardon me. Vav-12 is my unit designation. My actual name is Mareneth. I am I suppose what you might call a Cyborg, though I... possess no organic parts, just my Essence."
Bellineth went last, closing the hatch behind her and plunging the shallow shaft into darkness. She more slid than climbed down the ladder, arriving at the bottom in a few short seconds and after some brief fiddling a generator roared to life, illuminating the room around them in harsh fluorescent light.
It was a small room, five meters by five meters, a cot was pushed against a wall in one corner with a chest of drawers next to it and a few chaira scattered throughout the space. It was a decidedly small and rudimentary living space but it served its purpose.
Bellineth headed to the bedside, unwrapping the scarf from around her face and taking off her hat. Her skin was light grey in color and her hair completely white. The scalera of her eyes was jet black and white irises focused on the group when she turned back.
She shrugged off her coat and unclipped a sleek weapon glowing a dull red from a harness along with a small cylinder which she held out to the party.
"The weapons," she said.
Holta studied the handle, impressed by it's craftsmanship. He tried to keen any magics, or anything he could copy with runecraft from the hilt, Extending a brown hand over the weapon, but not close to the sword as not to seem like he was trying to grab it.
Vav-12 scanned the two weapons. First the beam shotgun, then the energy blade. The shotgun seemed most appropriate, so he started working on a template for his reconfiguration systems. The beam sword was interesting, but lacking arms reduced it's utility drastically. Unless... An idea came to him. He thought of the Nova Field of the Xeleneth-Meret class Protocore Battlefortress and got a bit of inspiration. He started work on a second template, though it would take more time.
Looking to Belineth and Andria, he said "Ok, what's our next move tactically? Obviously waiting until daylight would seem appropriate, but what is our objective?"
“You wanted to see the rift, yes?" Bellineth asked, raising one slender eyebrow.
"The Foundry is some distance away. Even in the daytime there is risk from raiders and bandits along the way. Then once inside the foundry the rift itself is far below ground and we will likely be harassed by shadows the whole way, and in great numbers,"
She sighed and sat down with a groan.
"It will take more manpower than currently stands in this room I'm afraid. Claudette Labrosse had a battalion of soldiers at her disposal and struggled to reach the rift... I fear that the handful we have here will be... even more insufficient."
Holta removed his hand from the position "I can't keen anything, it's technological." Andria stepped forward to take alook at the weapon. "Two weapons isn't going to be enough, however, if it is technological, it can be replicated." She looked to Vav "You have any idea?"
"I can reconfigure my specific systems to utilize these weapon modes." Vav-12 said to Holta. "Unfortunately I do not have general fabrication capability. My fabricators are limited to producing spare parts for repairing my combat chassis." He thought for a moment, analyzing the situation. "I would recommend that I contact my base ship, SVS Investigator . "
"Squadron Leader Akheret will be able to inform Fleet Leader Naelle, who has access to both troops and specialized units for dealing with incorporeal and/or multidimensional threat forces. I concur that our currently available force is insufficient for the task."
Bellineth set the two weapons aside and sat down on the bed.
"Additional forces will aid in this endeavour," She said with a nod. "I only hope that you are right and that you can close the rift... otherwise..."
She let the implication hang thick in the air, but said nothing further.
“Not saying that we can" Andria said. "Just saying we will try. and if we can not do it, there is always room for plan B." Holta nodded "Evacuation plan is also possible, Although that is apt to be a last resort"
Vav-12 looked to both Belineth and Andria, rotating slightly. "I feel confident that Fleet Leader Naelle can close this rift. And will do everything in his power and ability to see that it is done without... deleterious side effects." Beep "One moment... Relay established."
A holographic projection came into being above Vav-12's chassis. An androgynous looking Mu male stood before some sort of command dais. His bone-white hair fell to mid-thigh length, matched by his equally white skin. His eyes were solid pools of blacklight energy. He wore the black uniform with amber and dark purple highlighting of a Singers' naval officer.
"I bring you greetings on behalf of the Anais Unity Fleet. I am Fleet Leader Naelle. Vav-12 has informed me of the basic strategic situation and I will d what I can to assist. Can either of you provide further information-tactical or otherwise?
"The foundry is an old industrial complex that was used for research and development as well as high tech arms manufacturing prior to the... incident," Bellineth answered. "Although what we considered high tech at the time and what you consider high tech I imagine are... completely different. The foundry was built close to the coast about two hundred kilometers north west of here. It is surrounded by a marshy swamp, and then agricultural land.
"The Foundry itself is large, containing numerous warehouses and auxiliary buildings in addition to the main... hrm... what's the word... uh... factory? Yes, the main factory. The main factory was also the main research and development facility and extends deep underground. Unless you can restore power to the facility we'll have to take the stairs. Tactical difficulties include that some stairways are blocked, which will force us to navigate through the main levels to find alternate routes, and parts of the facility have been flooded,"
Holta nodded "If the condition of the wiering of the complex is still good, Us Vita shetani, with cooperation, could make a power generator that runs on runic magic easily. Pumps would take a bit more work since that requires moving parts." The fox finally spoke up, "As for pumps, if we can find any water type ships, we could salvage those."
Vav-12 spoke, though Naelle's image still floated there. "Perhaps for pumps it would be easier to repurpose firefighting equipment? As far as restoring power, lighting might help with the entities, though as far as elevators go, I would not rule out their being compromised structurally. We should take that into account in our planning."
Naelle then spoke. "We shall be emerging from phased state soon. We may need to bring in sufficient force to secure the system as well. There has been recent fighting in the outer system involving at last 4 separate factions."
"I wouldn't count on the wiring being any good," Bellineth said with a sigh. "Sections are underwater, other sections have been scavenged for parts by drifters... it would be a long shot..."
She closed her eyes and brought her hands to her temples rubbing them in what could be guessed to be a rudimentary attempt at stress relief.
Naelle's image spoke to Belineth and the Vita Shetani. "Get what rest you can then. My fleet will arrive when the area of the world you currently are at is in it's day cycle. We will deploy additional ground forces with training and equipment to deal with these shadow forms."
As the Fleet Leader's holographic image flickered out, Vav-12 said to all in the room. "I will stand watch. I do not require sleep in the standard sense of the term."
Morning rose on Zaingraf, clear, crisp, and cold. A thin layer of frost clung to the forest floor, hinting at the impending transition from fall into winter proper. But, it was not winter yet, and as the sun began its ascent into the sky, the area began to warm and a light mist began to blanket the forest and its surrounding environments.
~~~~
Bellineth slept little during the night, often rising and pacing around the small shelter before returning to her cot to toss and turn and maybe catch a couple hours of sleep before the process repeated.
She was the first to rise (save Vav of course since he did not need to sleep) and busied herself preparing a small breakfast of military rations. It wasn't much, but it was all she had to offer her guests. Once the food was ready she awoke each of them in turn, handing them their share before sitting down with her own.
"We should leave soon," She told them. "With luck we may reach the Foundry before nightfall,"
The remaining 12 ships of Task Force Ain-3 phased into normal space in formation with the Survey Group, aided by the stabilizer aboard SVS Investigator . Taking up a dispersed formation and activating their own stabilizers in short-range interdiction mode, the fleet moved into geosynchronous orbit over the area of the world where Vav-12 and his companions were positioned.
Onboard SVS Entropy's Caress , Fleet Leader Naelle was in the battlecarrier/harvester's CIC. Observing the main display sphere, he noted the fighting seemed to have stopped with the withdrawal of the Davian fleet units from the Zaingraf system. "Damned Davians, someone should just cull them and bee don with it." Then he continued; "Ok everyone. There are still 2 unknown fleets in system. Keep defensive systemry active but weapons cold. Scanners stay watchful, do not want to get blindsided. ComScan, get me Vav-12."
In the makeshift bunker, Vav-12 beeped as his comms array went active. "Message incoming from Fleet Leader Naelle." And then the holographic projector lit up with Naelle's image.
"Our fleet has arrived in orbit. The combat in space seems to have ended though we remain on defense alert status. We are ready to begin landing operations as soon as the surface at your coordinates is in more light. How shall we proceed Belineth? There are several options I can discuss with you, but this is after all your world."
Kadir’s task force moved into a very high orbit above Zaingraf and readied their guns to bombard if they came under attack. “Beginning scans now Sir. We’re mapping the surface and gathering what data we can.” The sensors operator informed him.
Kadir looked out at the planet below and the locations of the other fleets. “Have our forces begin preparations to land. Once we have identified a suitable landing zone we can begin setting up a base of operations and dispatching reconnaissance teams towards the region the signal originated from.” He ordered and sat back to wait for the fleets sensors to do their job.
The Andraken fleet jumped back to where they once were positioned over Zaingraf. The troops bellow had been still marching steadily since the battle began and were now reaching the location of the life signs. They stopped marching and waited as a shuttle landed before them. From the shuttle, a ‘woman’ walked down. The silver and red body suit she wore accented her lithe figure. The different ‘plates’ that made up the jump suit moved with her body to further add allure to her. Black hair fell down her back and shoulders and accented her pale face and golden eyes. Her face was soft and inviting to those who looked at her. Red crystals of energy floated behind her and helped give off psionic waves that made those around her more relaxed and open to suggestion.
This woman was a Cyon, a race of bio-mechanical organisms that were part of the Andraken Hegemony. This specific Cyon was designed to be a diplomat and had several key abilities to help with diplomacy. She walked up to the door to the bunker and lightly knocked on the door.
“Hello there, my name is Zyana, I would like to speak with you for a few minutes.” Zyana said with a warm and inviting tone. Her crystals began to glow and give off psionic waves to calm down those inside.
The Cricaen ships all reformed as the remained of the 1st fleet arrived. Once they had all formed back up they move into orbit above Zaingraf, with weapons aimed at the planet just incase orbital bombardment was needed. “Begin scanning the area and send in a company of Light Infantry” Admiral Williams ordered. “Yes Sir” the sensors operator replied as he began scanning.
The Light Infantry entered their drop pods and once ready were launched towards Zaingraf, meanwhile sappers and all manners of other infantry along with their support was preparing for the drop in shuttles once a suitable landing site had been located.
Bellineth chuckled at the Naelle's comments as she finished preparing for their excursion.
"I am a simple guide," She answered finally. "I'm not a military mind, nor a political leader. I'm a simple and common woman possessed only of a higher than average ability to survive in places others have deemed unsafe. I wouldn't say I'm the... authority you're looking for... that said,"
She dug through her messenger bag momentarily, smoothing out yellowing and faded road map.
"This is the Foundry here," She said pointing to a triangular space of land that jutted out into the ocean. "The land surrounding it were farmland mostly before they came. Fields are overrun with weeds and the creatures take shelter in the taller crops during the day. An old dirt road comes through here,"
She ran her finger along an area of the map.
"It's overgrown and too uneven for our vehicles to drive down but its clear enough that the creatures won't venture onto it to fight us in the daylight. We'll have to travel on foot once we get there. That will take us to the outer fence of the Foundry. There's probably a hole there already but in case there isn't we can just cut our way past the fence."
She paused momentarily to take a breath.
"Past the fence is marshland. It's boggy and unless you know the way it's easy to get stuck. I know the way so I can lead you through to the railyards here. Once we get there, its a straight shot through some warehouses to the Foundry proper. I don't know how precise your landing capabilities are, but when Colonel Labrosse assaulted the Foundry she sent scouts to mark landing zones before deploying infantry and armor from... what was your word... fixed wing rotary aircraft?"
---
Scanning the planet for the source of the FTL signature proved a much harder task for the Vaanitas and the Cricaens. While they'd fought in the surrounding system time around them had marched ever onward and made the already difficult task of narrowing down the source of the signal much more difficult.
Still there were some clues that could be discovered. The signal could be narrowed to a relatively small area and there were only a few places in that area that made sense for the signal to have originated from. There was an abandoned city, although life signs within it were sporadic at best, two bunkers, one of which was currently the focus of the AO, and a second which was only notable for crashed pod situated nearby, and finally what may have, at one point, been a military installation, although scans for lifesigns revealed there to be none in close proximity to the base.
---
The AO observed no change in the bunker's status. The door remained closed and no sound could be heard from behind it. If the presence of their envoy had had any effect, then it was not one that was easily observable.
Holta rubbed his chin. "if anything needs fetching under water, leave that to me." well duh he was an otter. he looked over the map, following the guide's finger across it. "Or perhaps." the female fix mentioned. "A lift?" she smiled as she looked to the fox in back of the room, taking a drink of whisky from a flask in his pocket. "Red! show them what you can do!" Red asked "In here? really? You like being squished like sardines? Oh allright." he took off his clothes and sat his flask against the wall, The fox began to shift. going to all fours, and body warping, growing, untill it was a large, thoroughbred sized wolf. Looking toward the group with intellegent eeys, sittig, or rather, crouching, in the corner to try to give everyone space. may be handy for any straggelers.
Naelle's image nodded as Belineth described the terrain surrounding the Foundry. "We shall be landing in the former farmland area you described and will rendezvous with you there. May you be successful."
Three dropships each emerged from SVS Gazania Gwandu and SVS Kwarani . As they moved towards atmospheric interface they were joined by 6 Assault Shards launched from the Entropy's Caress. Lastly, the Battlecrystal Alet-12 entered atmosphere. Alet-12 stopped it's descent 2 kilometers above the former farmland Belineth had indicated. The Battlecrystal then shifted to a uniform black glow with traceries of dark purple visible within.
Black and purple beams streaked out from the crystalline hull. Where they touched vegetation the vines, weeds, and other plants withered away, turning to grey dust and exposing any of the shadow entities within to the direct light of the sun. The shards circled the area, their weapons systems configured to a laser with a frequency based on the data relayed by Vav-12. When the area was sanitized, the dropships began landing.
In orbit, Naelle looked at the positions of the Vaanitas, Cricaen, and Andraken fleets. "Keep defenses up, respond to attacks if any come but keep weapons cold for now."
Down in the small bunker, Vav-12 said to Belineth and the Vita Shetani "We should get moving if it is light enough outside."
The points of interest were marked on the tactical map. A woman in full combat gear, her helmet tucked under one arm, walked on to the bridge and saluted the Commodore. "Ah, Major." he spoke, saluting back and turning to the tac map where she joined him.
"We have several points of interest for you to investigate." he spoke, pointing to each of them. "You will set up an FOB half a kilometre from the north side of the city and stage your operations from there. The fleet will remain on standby and keep constant air cover of the area of operation. Any questions?" Kadir concluded and turned to her.
"If I may ask Admiral, why are we even here?" she spoke, her voice failing to hide her disdain for this operation.
"By order of Count Arkus, Major. A little to close to our borders to go without investigation, don't you think?" he replied to which she nodded. "You are dismissed, begin your landings." he spoke and she marched off the bridge, heading down to the hangar bay.
Dropships began launching from the fleets hangar bays, both heavy and standard, ferrying forces and supplies down to the designated location where the base would be established. The second they touched down marines stormed out and began securing the area, setting up in natural cover and providing overwatch whilst the engineers began erecting perimeter walls, both shield and physical.
"This is Commodore Kadir to the Cricaen commander. We are in the process of establishing a base on the planet below. If you seek to continue to aid our cause I suggest yours is established nearby. You fought with honour Cricaen, rare amongst those we encounter." he transmitted before cutting the link.
The fighters of the two battleships began to identify and tow Davian wreckage back to their motherships, having a rather easy time now they didn't have to worry about being shot at.
The Light Infnatry that had already dropped began reforming as their HUD’s were updated with the scanned area from the ships. Once all those that dropped had been accounted for they began to move to an nearby hill that overlooked a city and set up in overwatch and waited for the main force.
Williams listened to the Vaanitas communications and looked at the Marine Captain that was standing by the bulkhead “Follow the Vaanitas shuttles down and establish our FOB nearby” He order “Aye Sir” the marine replied before he headed off quickly to the hanger as shuttles began launching and following the Vannitas shuttles down.
One on the ground the marines cautiously exited the shuttles and set up positions as the heavier shuttles landed behind them unloading supplies and sappers who now began construction of the FOB.
“Should we start scanning the Davian wreckages?” William’s 2ic asked the Admiral. He thought for a moment “Proceed” He replied. At his command a few drones were launched and began going amongst Davian wreckages and scanning, collecting anything that was of value or use.
When the door to the bunker didn’t open, a sour expression crossed Zyana’s face. She walked up to the door and felt the cold metal that made up its surface. She stepped back and waved to the door. An Andraken Warrior moved towards the door and fired a tachyon burst at the door.
Above the Commander of the Andraken Frigate looked over the data from the most current scans of the planet. They showed the groups of indigenous life forms as well as the life forms from the other races. Though of particular interest was the fact that a group of Singer and Indigenous life forms were currently in close proximity with each other.
“Send another.” The Commander ordered. A shuttle soon left with another Diplomat Cyon onboard. The shuttle drifted down through the clouds and landed near the Singer’s position. The Cyon left the shuttle and was followed by two Andraken Warriors.
The Vaanitas and the Cricaens encounted no problems with their landings, or well, no problem that would be considered a-typical to their organizations. There were no attacks, nor was there any sign of the locals as they made planet fall and began setting up their bases of operation.
The city istelf showed little in the way of lifesigns, and what few life signs were detectable clearly had little interest in approaching either of the two factions keeping a wide berth between themselves and the fire base.
~~~~~~~
The tachyon blast blew apart the door in a shower of steel fragments and screeching metal. No sooner had the fragments settled then the defenses on the other side of the door roared to life with a cacophonous thrum. A thirty milimeter rotary canon was the first thing to spring to life, firing out incendiary rounds with a deep and continous brrrrrzzzzt, panning across anything that came within its firing arc.
~~~~~~~
The shadows that hid among the fields were quick to dissipate under the direct light of the sun if they were not quick enough to run for cover deeper in the Foundry. With the local shadows scattered the Singers had no trouble landing unopposed near the Foundry.
~~~~~~~
With everyone in agreement as to the plan Bellineth climbed out of the bunker and, after a quick look around, motioned for the others to follow. It took her a few minutes to get the battered truck started again. She'd spent the better part of ten minutes shouting what could have only been threats and curses in her native tongue at the vehicle before finally managing to get enough charge out of the battery to turn over the engine and get the vehicle running.
With a metallic bang she closed the hood and climbed into the driver seat. Once everyone was secure she began the long drive to the Foundry, leaving the forest and moving on to cracked country roads, occassionaly passing the rusted out remains of other vehicles pushed to the shoulder.
The werewolf let people mount him to avoid ovecrowding the truck. Everyone else, in the truck bed! EThe were was starting off in a gentle lope by the truck, no need to start running yet! His ears was constantly scanning the area for any dangers. He leaped over a few of the rusted shells of vehicles on the sides of the road like a champion jumper horse, and luckilly did not loose anyone on his back from these stunts!
Several AO Warriors and Legionnaires cracked as they were hit by the 30mm cannon. When they fell they shattered into chunks of crystal. Zyana jumped out of the gun's firing arc and glared at the machine. An AO Warrior aimed and fired at the cannon with a single tachyon bolt.
After finding nothing the AO shuttle took off and flew to the next group of natives and a group of unknown aliens. As they flew the sensor map showed that they began moving at a rapid pace. The shuttle shot forward to hypersonic speeds causing a sonic boom.
The FOB set up by Fleet Leader Naelle hummed with activity. Grav CEV's and construction drones were building a 5 meter tall Infracrete wall. Atop the wall Lenari combat engineers were installing phase barriers, photonic fields, and banks of floodlights. Other teams were assembling 15 meter tall towers mounting sensors and more lights.
Alet-12 continued hovering 100 meters overhead, the six shards maintaining their CAP. Naelle's holo image glowed in the CIC's tactical display, as Battalion Leader Imvret made his report.
"Base construction will be complete before nightfall, Fleet Leader. Tactical briefings will begin as soon as Vav-12 and his party arrive. Alet-12 has detected tachyonic weapons fire-80% likely to be AO in nature. No current information available on who they are engaging."
Naelle nodded, his glowing black and purple eyes seemingly looking off in the distance. "Excellent work, Battalion Leader. I can sense the anomaly... a detachment of Combat Priests will be landing with the next shuttles. Keep the facility secure while waiting for Vav-12 and his companions. Also, stay on alert considering the other forces in the area."
Imvret saluted as Naelle's image flickered out.
Dropships went to and fro from the Vaanitas fleet, ferrying men and equipment as the FOB began to take shape. One of the first things to be set up was a deployable reactor, along with a shield to cover the base. Prefab walls were erected rapidly as were watchtowers, as well as buildings within the camp.
Scout groups were deployed to survey the city perimeter and set up a further base of operations in one of the taller structures they could find at the cities limit, being dropped onto the roof by a gunship. Sniper teams used jump packs to deploy onto other advantageous rooftops, and watch over city streets for any sign of movement, every detail being mapped and reported back.
Engineers kept working hard to set up the FOB, walls were erected as a shield generator was brought online. Eventually the army was brought in to man defensive positions as they were constructed.
Marines began setting up a wider perimeter as they were eventually not required to man positions in the FOB. The Light Infantry that was dropped and had already taken up positions around the town watched as they witnessed the Vaanitas soldiers bouncing around the rooftops "This may draw some attention" One chuckled. "Maybe, but if it does, shoot it" The sections corporal said as he observed the city.
As before, the Vaanitas and the Cricaens remained unmolested. Perhaps it was fear, or caution, or just simple apathy, but the natives of Zaingraf clearly weren't interested in approaching their forces or their bases. The city was dead, and devoid of life signs. What few there had been melted away, deeper into the city or out into the surrounding environs.
~~~~~
The same could not be said of the life signs the AO were fighting. With their canon destroyed, the people within were hardly out of options. In place of the rapid firing 30mm canon, the AO now faced a veritable barrage of conventional small arms fire as the soldiers within kept up the fire. Pistols, assault rifles, a pair of heavy machine guns, and an automatic grenade launcher all kept up the fire on their positons. Pushing into and clearing the bunker was certainly doable, but even primitive as they were, the defenders would make the cost of taking it high.
~~~~~
A shortwave radio seated on the dashboard of the rusting pickup abruptly squawked to life, the male on the other end sounded panicked and distraught, rattling off words at lightning speed in the native tongue of this world. Bellineth slammed the breaks on and grabbed hold of the radio, rattling off a question before snapping off a curse at the response.
"One of the bunkers is under attack," She said, tapping the radio's transmitter against her forehead. "Not the shadows. Another like you, from the stars. Some kind of... hmm... what's the word... mineral?"
She shook her head and sighed.
"They want a drifter to call a missile strike,"
The werewolf paced and snarled, not liking the news one bit, and couldn't say anything in any other language than doggo. From his body language he was clearly agitated. Andria looked to Holta, and Holta to their flying disc friend. "Do they sound like anyone your people may be allies with? If so, perhaps contact can be made to tell them to stop attacking." he rolled his eyes. Wondering who shot first. "I got it!" exclaimed Andria looking up from a strange device on her wrist, it was more of a length of a bracer, with typewriter keys across it and a small screen with a scroll. She went to typing on it. throwing aside a dead energy crystal that was cracked. "Thanks Red for letting me use this." The wolf responded in a bark of understanding. She waited for a moment before the small levers began to type out a message on the scroll on it's own, and automatically moved up a centimeter to show what was typed. "I got the message to Brockhall and he said no, the Vita Shetani do not know of any 'mineral people.' outside of Vav-12's people." She looked toward Vav-12 to await any answers or information from said disc
With the main bases construction moving along rapidly, the Vaanitas had established a comfortable foothold. With soldiers now moving throughout the city, a command team were ferried to one of the tallest buildings where a second, significantly smaller FOB was being established. Methods of entry to the top 5 floors were barricaded, and started being portioned off into areas like a CIC and barracks, as well as a medical area should it be needed. Guards watched the entryways and skies whilst the scouts kept hopping around and mapping the city from above. Armoured assets were moved planetside and prepared for deployment if need be, but the current objective was recon more than anything else.
Vav-12 listened carefully to what Andria and Holta had to say about the "mineral people" that had attacked the bunker. "From what I can estimate from available intel, I would say there is a high probability that the force that attacked that bunker were the so-called 'Andrakens' or AO for short."
"They are a constructed species of crystalline nature. As far as we can determine they are a kind of servitor drone created by an Nth-dimensional species to act as their proxies. Their primary goal/programming seems to be the collection and cataloguing of new technology. We have a non-aggression agreement with them so it s possible I could act as a mediator of sorts."
"Be aware that this could involve a level of danger. Their programmed nature may be difficult to overcome and we do not know full specifics of their directives."
The Cricaen sappers worked hard to construct the main structure of the compound giving the Cricaen armed forces the ability to begin more recon operations. A smaller field post was opened for the purpose of large scale mobilisation and evacuation if it was required. The Light Infantry teams were given more units that began doing a sweep of the main city under the cover of the various snipers located on the hills and some buildings. Light tanks were deployed on the ground and sent out in the surrounding areas to gather as much intelligence as possible.
The Pilot of the Andraken shuttle spotted the Vita Shetani group and began to slow down and descend to the group. The crystalline craft hovered before them and four crystalline legs came out of the ship and it landed silently. The hull shifted before a door opened and stairs began to form. A Cyon stepped down first, it was similar in design to Zyana but with silver eyes instead of gold and the suit was silver and blue.
The Warriors and Legionaries formed up into defensive positions. Their shields linking together to deflect some of the fire, but the higher caliber rounds still pierced through. Several shattered into chunks as grenades exploded near them, but the Andrakens did not fall back. They slowly began to push forward firing pinpoint shots to weapons.
The drifter's reaction to the appearance of the crystaline ship was as sudden as it was violent. She practically kicked the door to the old beater open and leapt from the driver's seat, with a weapon in each hand. The laser shotgun hummed to life, glowing a harsh angry red as she pointed it at the new arrival while the hard light blade cracked to life.
"Yershan gursen ye'tal neathanal!" She screamed, the rage obvious in her voice as she advanced forward, the shotgun levelled at the woman's chest. Quite obviously she was not in a talking mood, and if the others had to guess these were likely the 'mineral people' she had mentioned only moments earlier.
----------------
Even as the crystaline entities began to advance the volume of fire carrying forth from the bunker did not slack off. Despite their primitive (by everyone else's standards anyway) weapons they still stood their ground as best they could, continue to fire with all they had. They fell back further into the bunker, leaving the dead and dying where they were as well as no shortage of broken lamps and work lights.
But the natives in the bunker were soon to be the least of the Andraken's problems. Smoke, some from the explosive rounds and munitions as well as from smoke grenades, began to billow around the battlefield, blocking out the sun and shrouding the area in shade.
No longer needing to hide from the harsh light of the sun, the shadows began to pulse and move as the creatures began emerging from their hiding places and turning hungry gazes toward those fighting nearby.
Yes, the AO were soon going to have much bigger problems.
----------
As construction continued in and around the city and the Vaanitas and Cricaens continued to assemble their bases, there seemed to be a sudden influx in activity. Radio signals, which had been sporadic when they landed, were now passing around the area in increasing volumes. Some were wide band broadcasts while others seemed to be more focused point to point communications.
Some of the signals carried rudimentary encryptions but for the most part they were unencrypted, although the language was one unknown to both parties.
Nonetheless it was easy enough to isolate the two main sources of the transmissions, one some kind of bunker just outside the city, and another was out in the ocean. A naval vessel of some kind perhaps?
Vav-12 hovered 3 meters above the ground as he did a quick visual scan, confirming the crystal beings as AO. 'Turning' towards the Cyon he spoke; "I am Control Unit Vav-12, Anais Unity. Why are you engaging the natives of this world?
"This planet is infested with incorporeal entities of an extremely hostile demeanor. Extradimensional in origin, possibly Nth-dimensional in nature. I would seriously suggest you cease all hostilities against the native population and that we combine our efforts against the extradimensional infestation. This will take a great deal of effort to get under control."
A neutralino transmission then came through to Vav-12 from Fleet Leader Naelle, short and to the point it merely said "As per terms of the Non-Aggression Pact with the Andrakens, do not engage. Will be contacting my fleet's Ministry of State representative."
Addressing both Belineth and the Cyon, Vav-12 said "I understand your anger Belineth, we should save our strength for our real enemy, the entities." To the Cyon he simply said "I request your forces attacking the natives stand down immediately. Continuing the attack in the face of the greater threat is tactically a bad decision, and is illogical as well,"
when vita shitani dismounted from the werewolf, he in his huge wolf form guarded the group as they were behind him. he didn't attack but did give a warning snarl. Holta looked to Red and said "Hold back, not yet. let's let Vav handle negotiations." Andria was on guard, fingering her rune carved rod in her hands, flipping it over and over. Ready to cast out runes at a moment notice, as were the rest. "What would I give to have a crystal child around." she whispered. "Or a higher powered witch, coven leader."
"Hello, I am Shira, representative of the Andraken Hegemony." Shira said in a comfortable tone to Vav-12. Shira turned to drifter, the crystals around her began to glow, giving off a psionic wave to calm the woman down.
"As for your question Vav-12 we were going to talk to the natives and they wouldn't respond. So we blew the door open to see if they were alright." Shira began calmly. "The Natives began firing on us, and if my information is correct we haven't injured a single one of them." She finished with a comforting smile. Two Andraken Commons stepped down out of the shuttle and formed up behind Shira. “But I will have them contacted and ordered to back off.”
The Andraken Warriors and Legionnaires began to back off, their fire began to fade as they backed out of the smoke. Zyana placed a hand on her hip and sighed as bullets whizzed past her. “So much for that idea.” They had lost a 1/16th of their original force, mainly from the Auto-cannon that fired on them when they first breached the door.
The FOB began running the language through their translators as they were intercepted. The fleet in orbit took notice of the signal from the ocean and used their scanners and camera’s to gain information on the source. The ground teams focussed on locking down the city and establishing a base.
Operators began listening to the communications and began running decryption programme whilst they ran the language through translators. Orders were given out to some of the recon teams that were currently observing the city that Vaanitas forces were locking down to move return to the FOB and board gunships to head to the transmission out on the ocean, whilst one of the light tank platoons had two IFV’s attached to them one carrying a section of Marines the other had a medical team ready for any wounded as they moved out towards the bunker on the outskirts of the city.
The Andrakens near the bunker were offered only the briefest of reprieves as they backed off and the gunfire died down. The smoke remained, and the shadows rapidly became more active. No sooner had the last shots echoed away than the shadows made their move.
The darkness began to take shape as the shadows launched their attack, coming on the Legionaires in a wave of roiling darkness. As they fell upon the Legionaires they broke into smaller entities, slashing and clawing with animalistic brutality at any of the Legionaires they managed to get close to.
The surprise of the attack was quickly blunted as the Legionaires began to fight back, their superior technology faring better against the shadows than the natives had with bullets and explosives. But for each shadow they took down the smoke grew, and more shadows rose from the darkness to take their place.
A large form closed in on the Legionaires, and with that same animal brutality leapt upon the Legionaire closest it, swallowing the entire entity in the shadow. For a moment, it seemed the crystaline entity would simply shatter, same as all the others... but it was only a moment. No, something more sinister was at work here.
Consumed in the darkness the legionairre was jerked and twisted into impossible shapes and angles before the entire thing was abruptly compressed into a melon sized orb that glowed with a sickly purple light.
The shadows abruptly stopped attacking, holding completely still. If they were fired upon, they simply stood still and died.
The purple faded as the shadow holding the orb grew darker, the shapeless form twisting and morphing into... something else. A better combat form... a more efficient killer.
It formed into a vaguely humanoid shape, the orb moving to its chest area, the light it gave off dimming as it became darker and more solid. All around it the other shadows began to follow suit, darkening and twisting into that humanoid shape.
Then, it spoke. The voice came from everywhere, a deep rumbling baritone that echoed across psionically across the planet. A voice heard by all, in their native tongue no matter where on the world they were.
"This place..." It said, its words slow and deliberate. "Too bright... too bright. Destroy the light. Yes. Destroy the light and all the abominations that walk in it."
The humanoids twisted and morphed again, the shadows forming into what seemed to twisted mockeries of the weapons that had been used on them until this point.
"Cleanse this place,"
The Singers were the first to experience what exactly It had in mind. The ground beneath the Foundry rumbled and shook, the energy readings exponentially grew... and then... the shadows emerged.
By now they all held the same vaguely humanoid shape, and with their newfound weapons in hand they charged forth toward the Singer's positions. The sun no longer seemed to have an effect upon the creatures, as they moved freely in the daylight charging as one toward the Singers, bolts of dark purple lancing forth from their weapons toward the Singers.
-------------------------
The same scene began playing out in the city itself as the shadows began emerging from the shade provided by the broken buildings, and threw themselves upon the Vaanitas and Cricaen positions. There was little in the way of tactic or coordination. Only a relentless charge and the lancing bolts of purple.
But even as they came under attack they had a breakthrough. The encryption was cracked, and the translation began working, finally allowing the two militaries to listen in on the exchange.
"...thousands! And they're changing. We're... where the fuck are the Drifters?!"
"I'm here... I see them,"
Dead air for a few seconds.
"Mogaith's Glory, how copy, over?"
"Five by five, over,"
"They're everywhere out here. I'm calling it, scorched earth. Standby for fire mission, over,"
-----------------------------------------
Bellineth's rage didn't subside. Her weapons stayed active, and the shotgun leveled at the woman.
"Haven't injured anyone!?" She shouted. "There were dozens of casualties! The door guards, civilians in the bunker hit by shrapnel from the weapons you used. Dozens are dead, hundreds wounded!"
Further shouting was abruptly cut off by a distant rumbling from the Foundry the deep voice that cut through the minds of everyone assembled.
"What have you done?" She muttered before advancing on the woman. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"
The Andracken Warriors and Legionnaires formed up into a defensive formation. The Tanks in the back began to take aim. When the shadows opened fire several fell as the bolts pierced the shields. The shields then began to harden and reform, and they began to absorb the blasts. Arms poked out and fired Tachyon bolts into the new foes. All the while they slowly retreated. When the shadows charged into the Andracken lines it broke into fierce close quarters combat. Many fell yet the Andracken still fought. Zyana quickly boarded her shuttle and began to take off.
On the bridge of the Andracken Frigate alarms blared as energy readings of the planet began to rapidly rise. Though most of it was originating in one spot.
”This is unprecedented. Escort 6 return to the fleet, expedition force 1 retreat to a better position.” The Commander sent out, it's voice emotionless. The Commander looked to the area where the energy was the strongest. The city was full of friendly troops, they would not be repeating the mistakes of the Davians. ”All ships, begin to move on this location. Once we have arrived begin dropping troops.” The Commander ordered. The five ships in the fleet began rapidly moving to the city, the sixth Escort quickly gaining to join with them.
The telepathic voice of the Commander told Shira the situation. She sighed and turned to the woman who continued to point the shotgun at her. "Our forces have been attacked by these creatures and appear to have changed their form." Shira began, she then turned to Vav-12 "Our ships are moving towards the city here," Shira's hand became a hologram showing the Foundry and City, "They will begin dropping troops and figuring out what the energy source is."
"IDiots! You come across a bunch of frightened people, holed up in a bunker. Too frightened to answer the door, and what is your response? Blast the door down, start a war, destroy all trust that we have spent time building up with these people to help them find a solution to the problem! Fuck, Now we don't even know what we are fighting due to your tomfoolery." Andria was pissed, she gritted her teath and grunted. Reporting back to the ship via her communicator. waiting for a response from Brockhall. That's when the communicator began to type on the scroll on it's own and inched up. "If the thing copied the strengths of the crystilline people, maybe it copied the weakneses too." in response to Andria reading from the communicator, Holta looked up and rubbed his black goateed chin. The otter responded. "And we have a guinea pig right here." he flipped out his own runestaff. "Unless he's willing to talk on what the weaknesses are."
"The energy source is an extradimensional portal." Vav-12 replied to Shira. "Apparently it was an experiment in the development of FTL drive technology that went catastrophically wrong." Vav-12 thought for a minute. "everyone heard the telepathic transmission? This is a point of evidence for their being an intelligent species."
"Changed their form? In what sense?"
As Andria started shouting at the Andracken emissary, Vav-12 listened. When she was finished Vav-12 seemed to wobble in mid-air as if shaking his had if he had one. "Threatening each other will accomplish nothing. If the entities can adapt to other forms' abilities or worse-technology, then the threat level of this theater has reached level Alet-Zan. If so we cannot afford to divert resources by fighting among ourselves."
The Vaanitas forced had been on alert but were still taken by surprise. A few men fell to the initial ambush before rallying and laying down return fire. Those on the towers laid down sniper fire onto the emerging enemies, and gunships started strafing the streets the creatures were on, carpeting them with munitions. Those at the FOB began laying down fire into the chokepoints they’d established and only stopped to reload.
As the encryption was cracked and this transmission was received the command room became a flurry of transmissions. “Native’s enacting scorched earth. Withdraw from the city immediately!” the order was sent. Gunships broke off from strafing and began to evacuate units from the rooftops they congregated on. Several squads stayed as rearguard actions against the attackers, allowing the rest of their units to withdraw. Once the rest of the units were clear the survivors of these rearguard used their jump packs to try and escape to the city limit, a few lucky enough to be picked up by gunships.
The base, in relatively close proximity to the city, pushed their shields to full and prepared for the expected incoming.
The light infantry forces that hadn’t returned yet were taken by surprise. A large bulk of the men that were at the rear fell before the remaining teams were able to regroup and send back a torrent of fire in the direction of these beings. The Artillery within the FOB began firing High Explosive rounds onto the threats positions. Machines gun nests that had been established opened up sending more rounds down range at the targets.
The operators at the FOB’s eyes widened as they cracked the encryption. It was quickly passed to the commander, he read it quickly but sending out orders, “Put the shields to full power” He ordered. “All troops withdraw to the FOB, Natives are planning a Scorched Earth” was the last order sent out to the fighting units. The Light Infantry began a fighting retreat laying down cover as the first unit withdrew then being covered as they withdrew, rinse and repeat.
The Units that were heading to the carrier carried on their course getting the carrier on visuals now and beginning final approach. The Light tanks and IFV’s that were heading to the bunker nearby the city quickly withdrew back to the FOB.
The surprise of the Shadow's sudden assault was to some extent blunted as the allies began forming proper battle lines and returning fire. However, even though the Shadows were more solid now, they continued to be impressively resilient against solid shot ammunition and explosions. Both munitions were more effective than they had been the night before, but by no means did they fell the creatures quickly.
Worse, they were continuing to evolve and adapt, learning as one from the combat taking place all over the planet. There tactics were shifting rapidly, as they learned to use cover, fire, and maneuver in the same ways the Vaanitas and the Cricaens had. The charges were slowing as the shadows began instead to focus their efforts on capturing key positions from which they could support each other's advances, and all with a hive mind-like coordination.
But that was not the end of the allies worries. The attacks by the Vaanitas gunships had spawned crude mockeries, Shadows beginning to coalesce into larger, airborne entities that zipped around above the battlespace, strafing retreating Kingdom and Supremacy forces with splashing bolts of dark purple.
Only the Singers, with their close proximity to the Foundry, could see the beginnings of the shadows next evolution. Energy surged from below, and above the factory complex the Shadows began to merge and twist into a beheamoth entity perhaps meant to vaguely represent a capital class warship.
The situation was rapidly deterioating, and it was about to get worse. As the Kingdom's gunships reached the apparent source of the transmissions from the sea a vessel breached the surface from below, and with a bright flash a single missile launched from the vessel, arcing into the sky and toward the mainland.
One of the Andracken Commons moved several steps forward and ‘spoke’ to Andria telepathically. “We will not discuss our weaknesses with a Basic such as yourself. And if you were to attempt to harm me in any way it would not end well for you.” The Andracken’s voice was even and calm, despite the implied tone it had.
Shira stepped forward and the Common stepped back respectfully. “I am sorry for what it might have said to you, but the Andracken don’t take threats lightly.” Shira said in a serious tone. “And besides, Vav-12 is correct, we need to work together if we are to combat this new and ever-changing threat.”
Elsewhere the Andracken troops that had first attacked the Shadows began to fall to overwhelming numbers. The Subjugators fell soon after and the forces there were obliterated. The Commander looked to these loses and began calculating strategies for the ground troops. As the fleet neared the city they formed up into a Delta formation with the Frigate at the center. The Commander watched as the Shadow forces formed flying variants that chased the Vaanitas Gunships.
“Launch fighters, have them intercept the flying variants and support friendly troops on the ground.” It ordered. The Commander then turned to a holographic map of the city. Shadow forces appeared as red dots, while friendly appeared as blue dots. With a single crystalline finger the Commander drew a line before the friendly forces. A yellow line appeared and once satisfied, sent it to the other Commanders.
“Drop troops in this formation, we will form a line and provided a wall of defense for our allies.” The Commanders of the other ships agreed and began to prepare their troops for battle. The hulls of the ships opened up and thousands of fighters launched from the seven ships. They swarmed and moved into 5 different groups. Each group contained 672 fighters that swarmed in a formation that resembled a snake.
“Unknown energy source to the North West.” A Common reported. The Commander moved the map to the location. In gold outline the Shadow ship was shown as it built itself.
“Those creatures must not be allowed to leave this planet. All ships, new target, fire.” The Commander ordered. As the FTL beams of Tachyon particles flew from the ships loud cracks similar to thunder sounded.
Alet-12 hovered silently above the Singer's FOB. His analysis banks took in what data could be gathered from the engagements being fought on Zangraf. Gradually a pattern started to form to him.
He noted the appearance of humanoid forms with weaponry after the entities absorbed some of the Andracken. Then the appearance of flying armed ships when the Vaanitas deployed their gunships. Lastly-the "capital ship" rapidly assembling itself over the foundry. Two words came to Alet-12's mindstate. Adaptive Reconfiguration.
Instantly he started searching his threat files. Possessed of the ability himself he knew that Adaptive Reconfiguration could be extremely difficult to deal with. He spotted only a few entries other then his own combat chassis. Arafel, an adaptive intelligent weapon made by the Ne'Threl. It was both limited in scope, comprised of material not energy, and more importantly the Ne'Threl were not in Ancerious. Leliel System... Something he had no desire to ever face. Created by Eternal Night, t was a vast nano-fractal crystal and energy composite cloud with no limits listed in the threat file. It's control essence was rumored to be the soulform of an Aenyrre Argallenn.
Known to be in the Black Nebula, which made Alet-12 feel better.
So. We have an adaptive system or entity/entities of unknown capability and limitations, Alet-12 though as his own adaptive systems reconfigured to prepare and engage the "capital ship". He first sent a signal to Fleer Leader Naelle. "Fleet Leader. Do not engage the ground targets from space. They are capable of adaptive reconfiguration-limits currently not known."
Then he sent a message to the various forces fighting on Zaingraf.
"To all those currently fighting on Zaingraf. Be aware that the shadow-energy entities or constructs have the ability to adapt their forms and capabilities based on weaponry or technology used against them. They seem to have a vulnerability to photon based technology including non-weaponized light. This may change in the future but be very careful in how you fight these enemies-and with what you fight them with. You may find yourself attacked with your own weapons. Alt-12 out.
'i apollogize," Andria said as Holta pocketed the rod. "I was thinking in anger, I wasn't thinking clearly. As for calling us 'basic,' I will talk to you about that later after the threat has been taken care of." Meenwhile the werewolf would likely get a curious look from the Andrackin as he shifted back to his furry fox form, popp;ing his back as he did so. "Some of you need to lay off the twinkies." he joked."Oh the weapons. hey Bellineth! you still got them? Maybe the crystal dude here can replecate them?" that's when Holta began thinking. "Creature of the light....Maybe...a creatre of the dark could help? I might be a daywalker, but I know a few nightwalker vampires. The two that sleep through the day here covered up by a tarp, and helped take nightwatch are. if I disturb them, they are going to be at my necks...litterally."
The Cricaen forces managed to pull back into the shields as they received the message from this thing known as Alet-12. At this new information that they had received they turned spot lights onto the oncoming forces and quickly began to get out small arms photon-based rifles and began issuing them with speed, but they also told the men not to fire waiting to see if the lights would have any affect. “This is Unit 5, a missile has been launched from a submarine and on its current trajectory looks like it heading towards the city, make sure that all forces are within the shield” The squad leader radioed from the Gunship as it did a pass of the vessel.
The Vaanitas forces regrouped at their base, the stragglers fighting rear guard actions to allow others to get away. Hearing Alet-12’s information, they activated flashlights and switched to plasma weapons rather than solid projectiles. Artillery opened up on know enemy positions, raining them with plasma munitions.
With information that most of his forces had cleared the city, the fleet in orbit began bombarding its edge, in an action to prevent their foes pursing the ground forces.
Despite the new information and the influx of reinforcements from the Andracken the situation was continuing to deteriorate rapidly. The spotlights, once the bane of the creatures, no longer had any effect on them, and even plasma seemed less effective than it once had.
Worse, their tactics continued to change and evolve. Gunships strafing Supremacy, Kingdom, and Andracken forces were joined by forms acting as interceptors and air-superiority fighters while blobs near the back of the shadows formations began changing and adapting into artillery and counter artillery. They weren't just copying tactics anymore, they were beginning to develop their own.
And it was only getting worse, the massive form over the Foundry projected out an interdiction field, slowing the tachyon significantly before impact and mitigating much of its damage, before solidifying finally into a massive, jagged form easily the size of a dreadnought... Then it answered launching massive, several concentrated beams of the purple energy back at the Andracken formation, each powerful enough to destroy frigate in a single hit.
The energy surge at the plant doubled, then quadrupled as more shadow was pulled through the rift and more warships, gunships, armored and infantry units began to crash forth from within.
Bellineth, listened silently as the reports continued to flood in from bunkers, drifters, and scavengers unfortunate enough to be caught outside. She looked at those assembled before her. The strange and magical creatures Andria represented, the polite and highly advanced Vav-12, and the murderers... for a moment she considered killing them... but she swallowed her disgust at their presence. Zaingraf and the Khel-Zann may yet find use for them.
She lowered her weapon and turned to Vav-12.
"You need to leave," She said. "There's too many, they'll keep swarming forth from the rift and spreading out across this world, and then across this galaxy. They can't be defeated here, not now, not with the numbers you possess. You must return to your own worlds, rally your forces, and meet them out there. Draw them into traps, lure them to overcommitment, stretch their resources and cull some of their numbers... then return here, when they are weaker and spread thin,"
She turned on her heal, striding back to the vehicle and climbing in, grasping hold of the radio and clearing her throat.
"All channel alert, all channel alert, do not engage, I repeat do not engage. Bunker down, go dark, and pray they don't notice us. This is not a suggestion,"
The call went out across all channels, the Vaanitas and Cricaens recieving the same message through their decryptors and translators.
"Drifter Nine is ordering stand-down, deactivate nuclear weapon and crash dive. We'll be off comms until we get the all clear from Nine,"
"Copy, clearing channels, going dark."
Radio traffic diminished quickly, fading away as various ships, stations, bunkers, and individuals cleared the air, shutting off their devices, going silent and into hiding. Once it was all clear Bellineth spoke once more.
"To all foreigners on Zaingraf... retreat now before they encircle, entrap, and destroy you here. When you return, bring more."
Andria gave a quick nod. She looked to Vav-12. "We need to ask a favor from you, our landing pod was broken from our first encounter with these beings. think we can get a lift back to our ship?" Holta reassured her "we'll be back. we don't have much. But we will be back with whatever we got. If we can't clear these things, we'll set up an evacuation plan for your people."
The situation was changing drastically, and their fleet wasn’t large enough to defeat the current threat. Warnings blared and as the beams traveled towards them. The Commander ordered for all shield energy to be transferred to the bows of the ships. The purple beams seemed to curve around an invisible dome that protected the front of the Frigate. One of the Escorts was too slow and was easily destroyed as the shields flared, then fell. The energy absorbing properties of Andrecite began absorbing the energy for a second, but it was too much. The ship’s hull lit up with purple light and it exploded, sending out a purple ring of energy that struck the Escort next to it. It’s shields fell as the wave slammed into the unprotected side, destroying it. The first Escort slammed into the ground and exploded in a secondary explosion as the Void-Matter in the ships reactor broke containment. The second Escort crashed but didn’t explode like the other one. Another two Escorts were destroyed as well, their crystalline hulls shattering as the crashed into the ground.
The other two Escorts and the Frigate survived the initial onslaught, but the shield matrix’s of the three ships were damaged beyond repair. The Commander of the Frigate ordered an immediate retreat of the remaining ships. They did not recall any dropped soldiers or fighters, as they could easily be replaced once they got back to Stella O Fortuna. Shira was informed of the situation and ordered to return.
“We must leave immediately.” She spoke to Vav-12. “Four of our seven ships have been destroyed and I have been recalled.” She turned to Bellineth.
“We will return, and we will contain this event. You have my word.” She promised. It didn’t matter if the native believed her, and she most likely wouldn’t want to see them here again. Shira turned and boarded the shuttle and the two Andracken Commons followed her. Silently the shuttle rose and shot off to meet with the Frigate.
Any Andracken Warriors, Tanks, and fighters that remained would fight till their eventual death. Hoping that friendlies could hold out and leave before the Andracken left, fell. The three Andracken ships entered space and began prepping their FTL engines. Shira’s shuttle had landed and a final message was sent out.
“We will come back, and we will finish what we started.”
The three ships activated their Trans-Dimensional Drives and seemingly vanished from sight.
Upon receiving the transmissions first from Alet-12 and then from Belineth, Fleer Leader Naelle looked over the main tactical display in the CIC of Entropy's Caress. "Fleer Leader. I have examined all available data and concur with Alet-12's analysis." The voice of the ship's sentience core spoke over the CIC's speakers. "The invading Nth-dimensional force is capable of adaptive reconfiguration that appears to reach Alet-Zan levels. As much as it pains m to say, w must withdraw. The Ship Leader and sentience core of Anais' Flame are in agreement."
"This is Fleet Leader Naelle. All ground units are to withdraw immediately. Ships will move away from the world at maximum acceleration. Reality stabilizers will engage once we are 9 light seconds away from this cursed world, followed by phase drive. ComScan, inform Blessed Laenas and 1st Fleet Leader Laeneth-Xelas of the strategic situation here."
Naelle then noticed a small message flashing on the tactical display, from Vav-12. H was requesting evac for "aligned forces." Naelle just rolled what passed for his eyes and redirected the Combat Priests and their assault shuttle to Vav-12's coordinates.
At the forward operations base, the facilities were dismantled with the same speed as they were assembled. NFD beams then shot our from Alet-12's glowing form as the Infracrete walls were disintegrated-leaving nothing for the invaders to analyze. Grav tanks and shuttles began taking off and heading for orbit, followed by Alet-12 himself. All used evasive action and the curvature of Zaingraf to cover themselves from the hostile capital ship.
Vav-12 spoke to Andria as thy waited. "A Bith-9 series assault shuttle has been dispatched to our location. It will be here shortly." Turning to Belineth h said in a somber voice. "Your people may wish too consider evacuation as well in the light of this threat's magnitude. I fully understand that this is your world, but measures to contain this threat force may include such things as a dimensional implosion device to seal that rift. Unfortunately that would have... serious negative effects on the planet. Nonetheless I respect your choice and will convey your concerns to my superior officers."
A few minutes later, the assault shuttle howled down to a landing, dropping it's assault ramp as floodlights glared on all sides.. A Mu male in the armor and robes of a combat priest emerged, and motioned toward the shuttle." Anyone who wants out board now, only exit after this will be the Void." Vav-12 glided aboard with a soft beep as the priests kept the ramp open for others..
Kadir gritted his teeth as the reports and readings came in. “Orders?” his second asked as they watched live feed of the rear guard. “Get what forces we can aboard. The rest will act as a rear guard at the FOB and destabilise the reactor.” He ordered and everyone on the bridge went silent for a moment before resuming their tasks.
The fleet began moving away from their position in orbit near the city and around the planet to a position out of sight of the dreadnought. At the FOB gunships bearing men from the city were just as quickly lifting off and hugging the earth until they were beyond the horizon, before climbing to dock with the fleet. Heavy dropships began recovering what they could as the rear guard manned the bases defences whilst the others retreated.
“Power up the jump drives, the second the last gunship is aboard we jump” Kadir ordered and the fleet began powering drives as the hangar bays were flooded with incoming craft.
The fleet was flooded with information and requests for orders “Admiral what are your orders” William’s 2ic asked as the ground forces began pulling back. “Tell the men to overload the reactors of the FOB and begin the extraction process as fast of possible we have trained for these types of situations” He spoke. His 2ic nodded and sent out the orders.
The Cricaen fleet followed the Vaanitas fleet around the planet and out of sight of that dreadnought. On the ground troops instantly began boarding transports again and leaving quickly, avoiding as much fire as possible. The engineers and light infantry were some of the last troops to leave the FOB as they had to spend time setting up charges and overloading the reactor and defending the base whilst the overs extracted.
The first of the transports began arriving at the fleet. “All hands prepare to jump, we are leaving as soon as all transports are onboard” Williams commanded.
As the strange shadowy vessels began ascending into low orbit from the surface of Zaingraf 6 FTL signatures tore themselves free of wormholes and quickly entered an attack formation. With the Andrackan having withdrawn and the Cricaen and Vaanitas fleets still bringing the last of their forces from the surface the situation was clearly at an end, whatever had happened here had already come to pass. It only took one scan to know that.
The 6 angular ships dumped power into the exotic drives and drove full speed in an orbital tracjectory aiming to put themselves between the various forces leaving the planet and the shadowy enemies. A volley of fire aimed for the largest of the ships tearing itself free of the atmopshere, Antimatter pumped Phased DEWs spread out, phasing through realspace to target the jagged dreadnought, appearing inside to target the areas with the most energy output and designed to explode in minature suns. Another spread of fire was directed to the surface, signatures revealled the forces trying to evacuate the surface were being surrounded, the Cricaen and Vaanitas FOBs as well as the rather unique signature of Vav-12 and the Singers. All shots were calculated to absolute precision to account for beam scattering as high powered Hyperfrequency lasers were fired to impact in concentric rings around those who were withdrawing, the detonations of such enough to keep back the waves of shadows but not enough to cause friendly fire.
As the fleet continued on at flank speed a message was sent to all of those still in the region.
"I am Elwar from the planet of Askandar and Custodial AI. I am here to cover your withdraw, whatever happened here is clearly advanced too much to be easily countered. I recomend immediate withdrawl, I will hold these dimensional incursions back for you to do so. However I require a full account of what happened here in return, knowledge is power. Now go, speed is of the essence my forces will not let them through" As the message ended the Custodial ships reached the Vaanitas and Cricaen fleets, seemingly able to cancel their momentum as they placed themselves as a shield, the readings on the AI vessels unable to make out much from their form.
Fleet Leader Naelle received Elwar's broadcast as h mad his way to the hangar deck to greet the Vita Shetani that had been evacuated onboard the combat priests' assault shuttle. With a psychometric command he activated intership comms and sent a message back to the Askandarian squadron.
"Greetings Elwar and thank you for the fire support. I wish to inform you of some important tactical data regarding the hostile entities. They are transdimensional in origin and likely by nature. They also are all linked at the quantum or possibly d-brane resonance level-regrettably the last cannot be confirmed as to which case is accurate. But one thing is certain, the entities are confirmed as capable of learning coupled with adaptive reconfiguration. My ship's sentience core will be sending exact tactical and scientific data. I am certain the Ministry of State, High Command, and Blessed Laenas would like to discuss this threat further with you."
As the sentience core of Entropy's Caress relayed the full tactical and scientific analysis of the entities and events on the surface of Zaingraf to Elwar, Naelle entered the battlecarrier/harvester's hangar deck and walked over to the assault shuttle that had just landed. The combat priests, shuttle crew, and Vav-12 all saluted as he walked up. his white hair flowing in the near nonexistent air currents. He turned to Andria and the other Vita Shetani.
"Greetings again, and welcome aboard SVS Entropy's Caress. I regret the 'detour', but the tactical situation insystem was far too unstable t allow for transferring you to your vessels. We have sent navigation data to your vessels so we can rendezvous outside the system and transfer you there."
Elwar's sacrifice provided a valuable opportunity for the assembled parties. The unexpected arrival and subsequent bombardments caught the shadows off guard, and afforded everyone on Zaingraf a narrow window to evacuate.
A very narrow window.
The shadows reorganized quickly and turned their wrath on Elwar. While some of the smaller ships broke apart in the bombardment, dissipating as they lost the cohesion necessary to hold solid forms, the largest vessels returned fire, purple beams lancing out from their hulls toward the Custodial ships.
How long the shadows could be held back was hard to determine, but with more ships forming above the Foundry every minute it was clear it wouldn't take long for them to overwhelm Elwar.
Time was short.
The transports landed and docked, the hangar a flood of activity as deck crew rushed to unload and store the flood of incoming craft. Troops cleared the hangar as quickly as possible and medical teams took wounded away as fast as they could.
On the planet below the rear guard platoon fired upon any foe that survived Elwars onslaught. With no extraction their lieutenant destabilised the bases reactor. Their was a hum that grew stronger and stronger, the ground vibrating around the Vaanitas FOB as the reactor broke its containment the crystals used to keep it stable expanding with it. Within a minute the entire FOB and the immediate area around it had been engulfed in a blue orb, energy crackling across its surface. A few seconds later the crystals shattered and fell into the rift as it collapsed out of existence, leaving an empty crater sizzling where the FOB had once stood.
"You have my thanks Custodian, we will remember your sacrifice" Kadir transmitted before the Vaanitas fleet jumped out in the blink of an eye
The shuttles finally began landing on the ships and troops instantly began getting out and bring those that were wound out as well into the awaiting grasp of the medical crews.
The FOB was now ready to blow as the final crews left on the last shuttle, glad that this support from Elwar came when it did. As soon as the shuttles were a safe enough distance away all the charges on the reactor and anything left behind detonated. There was a blinding white light that engulfed the whole FOB and a small part of the surrounding area, and then shortly after nothing but a scorched crater where the FOB had once been.
“We thank you for this much needed support Elwar” William spoke as he arrived back on the bridge and the last of the shuttles landed, then shortly after the Cricaen fleet jumped out of system.
Elwar did not respond to those who left, processing power of the secondary core was totally geared towards defending itself. The sheer amount of fire being taken by the Custodial ships took shields down and impacted the hull directly damaging the jagged ships of the super sentient AI. Return fire was brief and only where needed, following the information that the Singers had provided Elwar wanted to minimise potential adaptivity using its weapons sparingly and where totally needed.
As the various forces fled the system Elwars ships were already withdrawing and charging their drives, while none of the vessels were destroyed all of them had taken heavy damage from the sheer amount of fire being directed at them. All information was beamed directly back to Askandar for analysis for the entire Pact, as was the information about the conflict with the Davians and the Vaanitas as well as the rather blatant aggression and situational destabilisation of the Andrackan.
With a final barrage all of the Custodial vessels flashed out back to Askandar there to undergo substantial repairs. With them gone all that was left was Zaingraf and the shadows that now controlled it.