RP [Open RP] Seizing The Opportunity (Kuvexian War Final Battle/Battle of Glimmergold)

Some time had passed since the "Daughters of Yamatai" had taken the security center. Other friendlies had filtered in by this point and the place was starting to get a bit crowded. Kozakura, happily, had grabbed a seat and was tapped into the security feeds via a special cable running to her Mindy. So it was that she picked it up when the Giretsu declared victory over the remaining Kuvexian forces. Shortly after the signal came down for the assembled fleet to make the jump. So it was that Kozakura removed her connection, letting the cable slide back into a special port in her left arm. "Looks like it's time to hitch a ride home, unless you two want to be stuck waiting around on this rock for who knows how long," she said over wireless communication to Kwabba-an and Sanda.

@hyralt @Cowboy

When her song ended, Kwabba-an spent a quiet moment listening. The sound emanating from her helmet speakers and being broadcast out over her open channel was a particular kind of polytonal hum. Since the fighting had died down, her visual to audio circuit was just broadcasting the hum of the lighting in the room. Another tone came from the electromagentic pickups on her bass guitar, which would normally pick up the vibration of her strings except that said strings had been incinerated by a plasma blast. In their absence, the pickups just acted as weak antennas, receiving the raw carrier signals on some unknown frequency. The ant musician found the sound to be quite peaceful, even as the hum of the lights increased when she pushed the limp Kuvexian power armour off of herself and stood up.

As the friendlies joined them, she simply tried to stay out of the way as much as possible until Kozakura's voice cut in on her speakers.

"Looks like it's time to hitch a ride home, unless you two want to be stuck waiting around on this rock for who knows how long," her dragon sister's familiar voice said.

Kwabba-an tried to transmit a reply, but couldn't get the words out. Instead she started singing another old song from her repertoire, while floating over to her sisters and doing her best to give four thumbs up to Kozakura while carrying two sabre-rifles and a broken bass.

"TAP engines
Take me home
To the place
I belong!"

OOC: To the tune of Country Roads.

@Cowboy

YSS Kaiyo II

Bridge

"Aye Aye, Cap'n." replied Gravity, gently bringing the ship's throttle to combat cruising speed. She began plotting a course for the planet-glassers, and watching the exterior cameras to make sure that the rest of the task force was falling in line. Ever since returning from her leave, she seemed less angry and on edge. "Let's make this quick, yeah? The sooner we get back to Yamatai, the sooner we get margaritas."

YSS Tokyo
Bridge

Yaichiro strode onto the command level of the bridge with purpose, having spent the Scrapyard segment of the battle performing other duties. The lack of officers meant pulling double-duty in various areas, and Yaichiro wasn't beneath performing tasks typically allocated to those of lower rank. He regarded Katsuko and Eri with a brief bow before manning one of the stations, checking on the condition of the vessel after the wormhole jump. Wormholes were flaky business as it was, something he knew from his research into them. Even being in the wrong phase of one's orbit around the galaxy could throw off their formation in the first place. They were that complicated.

He was thankfully satisfied that it had gone off without a hitch. Of course, those thoughts faded when he took note of whole planets being annihilated. Only 14 years of service tempered his initial response to this level of destruction. The presence of the so-called 'Star Army of Uesureya' gave Yaichiro pause as he remembered the meeting between Uesu and Katsuko that had led to his yielding the Imperial throne of Yamatai. The sins of the so-called 'Elysian' Plague were still not things he was pleased with, but he knew that it was the Mishhuvurthyar that had used the knowledge of that sin as a weapon.

Putting aside his own feelings, he monitored the situation closely and listened to the chatter of the bridge...and the engineer in him fought the urge to scan the systems on those old, refitted ships to satisfy his own curiosity.

The sleek, blade-like shapes of the Neshaten Kestrire'alis Reconnaissance Class vessels stuck close to the bulkier, more brick-like shapes of the Nepleslian vessels and likewise they hung back a bit from the main conflict, feeding vast quantities of heavily encrypted sensory data to the Green vessels as accurate bursts of positron energy were fired at any stray vessels who sought to flank or cause confusion.

For the most part they were holding up well with mostly cosmetic damage, as was to be expected from sitting on the outer edges of the main conflict.

It was true they may not have sent as many vessels as some of the other factions involved though the Kingdom had played their cards this way for a purpose, they were not about to leave a considerable part of their territory unprotected even if this whole operation was supposed to be seen as "The Kikyo sector against the Kuvexian forces". Without outright stating this it was rather evident, the small contingent of vessels they had sent stuck close to their Nepleslian allies for a reason beyond being able to hide within their signatures within the Nepleslian's mass-mesher fields.

They had every intention to help finish this war they had no part in however, and as the Nepleslian vessels made their way towards the portals the Kestrire'alis ships made sure the banks of capacitors connected to their Hui'ueshe Assault Cannons were fully charged, prepared to unleash a hail of large-bore kinetic projectiles on the other side.

YSS Kaiyo-II
Wyatt was busy ensuring his armour's attachments were all mounted correctly and securely while simultaneously fine-tuning his hud to filter out some of the noise his IFF was picking up, what with all the friendly elements that were a part of this push. Clicking his helmet closed and signalling that he was ready to go Wyatt opened a direct line of mental communication to his wife, sending a simple yet hopefully reassuring message of "Let's get this done and then go ask Tsubame how her day was afterwards, okay? "

...

Had Wyatt just sent her a smiley face?

While continuing to fire aether weapons of all sizes, the Star Army ships began unleashing enormous quantities of torpedoes. They have secretly brought 20 million from the Virginia Fleet Armory (40% of the total supply) and were distributing them as fast as they could into the Kuvexian fleet. Ginga starbombers were taking off from the flat surfaces of the Star Army ships while fight decks are cargo filled to capacity with fighters and torpedo bombers old and new in design streamed out of the bays fully loaded. They would fly to positions around the Kuvexian fleet and hit them from all sides.

As the Star Army ships closed with the enemy, a thick cloud of millions of Kuvexian starfighters and power armors began to engulf the Star Army ships - there were so many of them that the AA guns were simply overwhelmed and couldn't get them all. The expert Kuvexian pilots began targeting starship turrets, sensor systems, and open power armor and shuttlebays, firing missiles into them as the Star Army was still launching its own fighters after the wormhole jump. It quickly became a bloodbath for both sides as ships were caught in absolute chaos of dogfighting furballs. Ships found themselves defensively firing in all directions and in some cases fighting off boarding parties of Kuvexian strike teams.

A large Kuvexian Navy space station, after launching all of its docked ships, aimed a giant aether gun about the size of a Sharie-class Battleship at the lead machine planet and tore into its main weapon array, leaving a glowing, flickering orange canyon in the machine planet's surface. One of the energy towers that made up part of its main weapon came crashing down into a pile of wreckage.

Meanwhile the third machine planet lanced out with its main weapon and scored a hit on a third banking world, blowing it into pieces like a firecracker.

- - -

YSS Presurgence

Outside the launch bays it became a complete mess as the ship entered the sphere of battle. The ship rocked and explosions echoed through the ship as it began taking hits. A cluster of missiles flew into the bay, striking a row of power armor and violently exploding in a huge fireball that briefly filled the bay with blinding orange and left behind a messy scene of flickering lights, burning debris, and mangled power armor.

Bridge

"Number 1 engine has been hit!" Gabriela said. "Output is fluctuating! Damage control reports moderate damage to the launch bays. I'm reading over 10 million enemy targets."

"Since we don't have any main guns we're going to focus on whittling down those fighters. Remember, all we have to do is hold until the mission is complete and then we can get out of here," Majime said. "Pull us closer to that Sharie there and help provide AA fire support."

"Aye, Captain!" Gabriela said.

"Deploying all weapons pods and targeting enemy starfighters," teal-haired Kalena reported.

YSS Tokyo
First Expeditionary Fleet
Tokyo Expeditionary Battlegroup and Taihō Expeditionary Strike Group

The First Expeditionary Fleet's Flagship found itself in the middle of a fury that burned like no hell Katsuko had ever seen. Escort ships exploded, turned into flaming puzzles of debris that slammed into each other, as well as into KIN ships consequential kamikaze's that were never intended or controlled. "Have Taihō Expeditionary Strike Group stay with that second machine world! We need to control the bleeding and regain our formations!" Katsuko's orders blasted across the bridge as the Tokyo trembled under the pounding fire. It was good the mighty beast was designed to take such a beating. This was worse than any of them ever thought. They couldn't afford to break down now as that everything was riding on it. The YSS Tokyo's form tilted starboard as the ship turned to avoid the impacts from making continuous hits on the same sections of its hull. Their swarms of escorts were intact but had suffered losses.

"We've got problems down here. They blew a Nodachi apart on its way out of Hangar Two. It took out the field emitters we've had to close the doors...I got more launching from the other bays, it is going to take a while to fix it." Namika's voice came over the link to the bridge. The Bay Boss sounded like she was surrounded by a hurricane.

AA guns and missiles poured into the now teaming swarms of KIN targets. It was good KAMI could track so much, the look on Himawari's face was one that was overwhelmed, and yet there was something else, a deity-like trance as the avatar was pushed just as much as it's representing the system. Assisted course corrections, attitude changes, the active tracking of targets everything on the battlefield seemed like a surreal dream that was moving at light speed and yet slowed all at the same time. One of Tokyo's massive Anti-Fortress Turrets was blown right clear off the ship, it tumbled across the deck and into one of the KIN ships that had consequently attempted to ram them which sent it off course into an explosion of aether to be vaporized into a nebula-like cloud. "You don't know what problems are..." Himawari answered Namika back and closed the comm, the rest of her sprites in full action.

The 17th Strategic Bomber Group, along with their remaining fighter comrades pushed through the other side of the cloud, sending their heaviest and most deadly ordinance toward the arrangements of battleships and carriers. It was hard to distinguish between the wreckage of the KIN ships and everything else on the field, so long as the Tokyo was behind them they would have a home to return to, it was just the cloud of nightmares between them. There would be stories about how this battle played out.

The Captains of 1XF ships were thankful for the NLCS updates, the management of damage control was a lot more responsive and less taxing on their crews. It would keep them in the fight longer. The Tokyo's main cannon fired again which tore a massive wedge through the cloud in front of them, hopefully, it would be enough to get their bomber groups back for another reload and re-deployment.

Katsuko looked to Yaichiro when he entered the bridge, it was a brief glance a nod and she pointed towards Himawari, as that it was her he had the best chances of assisting as Tokyo's systems had to maintain operational status so they could keep firing.

YSS Kaiyō II
Power Armor Bay

The bay doors hadn't been facing the two planets as they met their doom, but visuals in the Mindy's HUD had shown as much as Eden needed to see for her to growl out her orders when they were in position.

"Deploy!" Teien Eden called.

Her armor shot out of the power armor bay behind some of her crewmen. She saw some armors in front of her lifting up to avoid the roiling, tumultuous mass of enemy fighters and friendlies speeding towards them. The explosion of the third planet sent splattering of debris into its surrounding area of space in plain sight. The battlefield above and around them was no different as the war soup simmered in every direction. Now was not the time for fighting in formation, so she gave an additional order.

"Destroy enemy targets without prejudice!" Her own forearm cannon had raised to work in tandem with her shoulder cannons. Her back was to her ship, but she kept it on her sensors, hoping for its safety in this unsafe place.

Bridge

The Kaiyo had zoomed in, buddying up with her sister ships. The feeling of being near starships freshly from the Kikyo Sector sent chills down the captain's spine.

"Nerai," Hoshi spoke, "the Shôshô above and her forces are clear to detach. Let them know."

"Enemy vessels all around us, there must be millions of fighters out there," Asuka said from sensors.

"They've got nowhere to go but to die," Hoshi replied tersely, looking to Chlorate, "Weapons, release aether torpedoes on any larger starship targets and target specific fighters with positron cannons and aether turrets. Reserve the quad cannons for anything that gets too close." Looking back to Gravity, "Try to maneuver us away from getting shot and see if you can position the main aether array for a conical affect without hitting friendlies. Let me know if you can't get a clear shot and we'll switch over to beam mode for a more surgical approach."

Nepleslian 2nd Assault Fleet
NSS Episcopus

Violetta, back on the bridge, comm'd in to Irene, "Forces through the wormhole will need the third fleet's support." To her bridge crew, she spoke, "Gunhund formation for the fleet! Plasma turrets at full rate of fire to combat these fighters! Are the Wolverines out?"

In front of her came her reply, "40 Wolverinses launched with the full complement of armor flanking them!"

"Good, hold steady. Keep our broadside to the fight and continue to annihilate targets with the heavy plasma cannons, weps!"

NDC Fleet

The Banshee's beam seemed effective at weakening the gunship's shields, at least from what Enki could tell. Shortly after it was drawn into the range of the NDC fleet, a turret on one of the Duskerian Battlecarriers dispatched it with a single turret sending 3 500mm positron shells slamming into the gunship, which detonated spectacularly, residual antimatter causing the escorting fighters to go up in the explosion. Enki was given a brief call over radio, instructing her and her 'lance' to return to the Valiant for transport.

As Omega Wing transferred back to their bodies aboard the ship, the NDC fleet continued to finish off the Kuvexian fleet that had attempted to break through them, closing their formation behind the Kuvexians and using the main guns of their Battlecarriers to decimate the Kuvexian forces, clearing the way for the Duskerians to advance into the portal.

Noro Starbaron Drawrimnt's flagship

The Kuvexian commander grimaced in anger as he looked down at a status screen. Almost all of his assets lost, only his battleship and a few cruisers left to his name. Surely, if he even made it back to Kuvexia, the military would repossess his estate to pay off the banks and insurance companies. As his tattered squadron reached the edge of the star system, they quickly jumped 'westward', back towards the homefront, though they would not arrive for several months.

NDC Fleet

The Duskerian fleet exited the portal just as the Essai destroyed the third planet. Across the small fleet, bridge crews and captains gasped in shock. They had been briefed, but the full gravity of the situation was only settling now. Vice Admiral Dozier winced as he saw fragments of the planets begin to float outwards, he had sworn an oath to defend the NDC and its people, but he was beginning to wonder just how many burdens and sins he would need to bear in order to do so.

The many mechanics and pilots of the NDC, ferreted away within the hangars of the fleet, were thankfully spared the sight of the slaughter of the planets' populations, and instead busied themselves with rearming, repairing, and launching fighters as quickly as possible. Almost immediately upon entry to the battlespace, point defense turrets across all NDC ships began to open fire, doing their best to clear away the mass of fighters and projectiles, opening a way towards one of the Essai machine planets in a bid to assist in the defense.

Heavy Possessor frames were launched, armed with light anti-ship and heavy anti-fighter weaponry and wide assortments of missiles. These formed a picket around the NDC ships, serving to expand the defensive bubble of the fleet and begin to clear away fighters and bombers, though they did little more than slow the tide.

At the same time, lighter fighters and frames were launched to begin to combat the swarms of fighters attempting to infringe upon the fleet's defensive zone and harass the Possessors. Finally, several fighter squadrons were tasked with leaving the fleet's immediate area to begin intercepting torpedoes that would otherwise pose threats to allied ships or the Essai.

(OOC: NDC players can choose what they want to be doing here, defending the Posssessors from fighters, hunting torpedoes, or hunting bombers)

YSS Presurgence Armor Bay ---> Space

Matsuvo had made it back to the Presurgence with enough time to rearm his missile launchers and SMGs, as well as requisition a new shield for his Kalamari pack. As he launched back out into space, he fell into the familiar rhythm of combat; strip shields, follow up. Beams and missiles for fighters and PA, blades for bombers. Before long, he'd almost fallen into a trance, absorbing combat relevant information semi-consciously and reacting almost without thinking.

He had his choice of targets, and in short order had begun to leave a trail of wrecked starships and half-melted Power Armor behind him as he circled the Presurgence, doing his best to prioritize any major threats such as bombers. He tried to console himself by telling himself that there was no hate involved with what was going on, that both he and the Kuvexian soldiers were in the business of killing, and that he was just better at the job.

A part of him knew he should feel something, a part of him knew that rationalization was wrong.

It didn't matter.

Sakura Fleet Depot Security Center

Kwabba-an continued singing her song about TAP engines taking her home while she gave her sisters a nod, twirled in the air, and floated out the doors they had breached mere minutes ago. Once outside, she kicked on her Turbo Aether Plasma engines, accelerating at the software-limited 10g to its maximum speed of 0.38c. As her sensors scanned the system, she realized that the capital ships had proceeded on to the next phase of the attack. Shifting her vector towards the still open portal, she broke into another song she had been working on.

OOC: To the tune of Down to the River to Pray

As I went on through the portal to fight,
Thinking all about our guiding light
The one Empress of Yamatai
Won't you direct my flight

O sisters, let's fly on
Let's fly on, come fly on
O sisters, let's fly on
On through the portal to fight

As I went on through the portal to fight,
Thinking all about our guiding light
The one Empress of Yamatai
Won't you direct my flight

O brothers, let's fly on
Let's fly on, come fly on
Come on brothers, let's fly on
On through the portal to fight

As I went on through the portal to fight,
Thinking all about our guiding light
The one Empress of Yamatai
Won't you direct my flight

O fathers, let's fly on
Let's fly on, come fly on
O fathers, let's fly on
On through the portal to fight

As I went on through the portal to fight,
Thinking all about our guiding light
The one Empress of Yamatai
Won't you direct my flight

O mothers, let's fly on
Let's fly on, come fly on
O mothers, let's fly on
On through the portal to fight

As I went on through the portal to fight,
Thinking all about our guiding light
The one Empress of Yamatai
Won't you direct my flight

O soldiers, let's fly on
Let's fly on, come fly on
O soldiers, let's fly on
On through the portal to fight

As I went on through the portal to fight,
Thinking all about our guiding light
The one Empress of Yamatai
Won't you direct my flight

Once through, she only had a moment to adjust to the chaos. There were simply too many targets with no IFF signature, so she quickly searched the friendlies and spotted the Presurgence surrounded by more prey than she could count. Her heart sank and she blasted in their direction, but her flight was by no means unimpeded.

Fighters of the kind she had destroyed one of were flying everywhere, some of which were took shots at her when they had the opportunity, but as far as she could tell they seemed to be focusing on the capital ships. At every chance, she zigged and zagged and slashed her one working saber rifle at a fighter as it passed her by, continuing to use her teleportation module to skip ahead of them so their velocity would help her weapon dig in. All the while she carefully counted her jumps to make sure she always had at least one left in case of emergency.

"Sisters," she broadcast to Kozakura and Sanda her first word unhindered by social anxiety and unaided by an accompanying performance, which she quickly followed with a complete sentence. "The Presurgence is being swarmed!"

@Yandere @Cowboy

"Downtime's over!" Stiner was so busy trying to fend off the newest host of fighters swarming around the fleet while trying to maintain some form of damage control over exterior that he barely heard Reinhart, "Damn it all, the starboard turret's still not working!" More flashes as the shots impacted the screen. "Can you try to get it up Steiner?" He'd been about to respond when he saw the beam lash out, sundering the world and fragmenting it. The culprit was what looked like some kind of spherical ship, when a second beam lanced out from another, shattering the next planet. "Holy hell, they're glassing them-good riddance you bastards!"

'It would seem some things never change...' Steiner splashed another fighter-the sudden destruction of the their worlds either drove them to desperation or fury, such was the intensity of their attacks-he didn't know which. He had once had the misfortune of landing on a world in the aftermath of a glassing-though this...this was truly madness...

'No, concentrate on the task at hand; if the peoples of the Kikyo sector is resorting to such drastic measures then things must be truly be desperate.' Trying to rationalize what was happening, to give some reason to what some would see as senseless destruction, he began spraying the nanites into the hole that had been made, hoping he could patch the hole even as the ship fended off the ever-increasing swarms of fighters and power armor. "Alright we're coming up on that second fleet, stay on the out edge so we can help em with out messing up their formation too badly." The Stonewall, with some difficulty, managed to reach the very edge of the large formation, adding the mass drivers to the already considerable amount of firepower being thrown around-he saw what looked a ship getting swarmed, a not uncommon site give the circumstances, in the distance with its weapons firing furiously-but they could do little to aid them as he attempted to repair the ship's guns. He had already lost a number of drones, often losing them faster than he could fabricate them, and his nano-reserves, even with him trying to reclaim whatever wreckage he could, were running dangerously low. The repairs were not helping this matter; his best efforts-his unfamiliarity with the weapon systems was not aiding his task in the least-though it looks like-the weapon suddenly came to life, startling him, just as the dreadnought fired, bringing a temporary peace to the section it had cleared.

"Hey! We can fire, but the gun's stuck forward facing-least we don't have to worry about covering that part of the ship," Reinhart reported, "Guess we got something going for us."

A small blessing-now they just needed to stay alive long enough for the planet killers to finish their dark work...

NSS W.O.N
Irene Barná

Listening to the comms, Irene looked to her crew. Before patching through to her task force."All members of taskforce wolfpack. Move through the gate and assist the second fleet. Pilots prepare for take off once we exit the wormhole. We have reports of enemy fighters in the AO."

With her orders out. The throng of ships all began to enter the massive wormhole. Entering into the already chaotic battle that was beginning to pick up. The massive barrage of torpedoes, missiles and various heavy weapons streaking through the void. The task force lurched into position as the compliment of what could only be described as a wall of firepower. Began to scream into the gilded hulls of the kuvexian ships.

NSS WON
The bridge became a frantic sight, all personnel rushing to their stations, relaying data back and forth. The young grand Admiral stood from her Chair." Sergeant Calloway again to my crew and task force as well as open channels." With the words barely escaping her lips. The comms Sergeant looked back."You are patched through Admiral." The calmness in her voice was betrayed by the excitable grin she wore watching such a massive force clash." All hands. This is your chance. Before us are those damnable Kuvexians. Let's end this war once and for all. To finally give these blue bastards enough of a taste that they suffocate. To all stations the Nepleslian 3rd assault fleet has arrived. And has engaged with enemy targets." With a wave of her hand open comms would close. Resting her fingers around the hilt of her Saber."all stations this is wolfpack actual, commence operation. All fighters and hammerhead squadrons, you have ten minutes. Concentrate on enemy fighters and keep them off of our sister fleet. Watch for friendlies. And make it back to this ship safe."

With her communications finished a flash of Aether skimmed the shield systems rocking the ship."ACE give me a current update of enemy targets. Gunners once that information hits your screen fire into their lines. Keep turrets open for AA and prepare the main guns!" The newly replaced gunners seemed to accept nodding through each system as they replied once finished"understood Admiral!"

Soban said:

YSS Presurgance

"Tactical Control, I'm going to kick some ass in a Mindy!" Cheilith exclaimed, dashing over to a suit of armor and getting into it. The suit fit her perfectly, like a second skin. Once outside the ship, she jammed to Kwabba-an's music as she fought the Kuvexians with what was for a Mindy, a giant sword. As the battle progressed, she made her way back to Kwabba-an having destroyed several Kuvexian fighters with her giant sword. "This is awesome, thanks for the music to jam to Beat-Bug." The young Neko enthused.

@hyralt

YSS Densetsu

The Seventh fleet was a well-oiled machine after fighting the nebular battles for so long, as he watched the battle unfold Fletcher announced his next change. "One pass only, destroy as many Kuvexian ships as we can on that pass. Then reform for the Essai wormhole. We can let the Rikugun finish the details."


YSS Ranger

Black Wolf squad deployed from the Ranger's bay as they passed the satellite that they needed to take. "There are two entrances, Freydis, your team will take the hanger. I'll be with the other team and we'll go in through a maintenance hatch. We only have one pass, so let's secure this quickly and meet in the middle control room of the station. Then we'll jump out to meet back up with the Ranger." Sacre explained and Black Wolf split into two groups.

Sacre's half of Black Wolf landed on the station by the maintenance hatch. There weren't any civilians that they needed to protect on the station. There would be repairs needed anyway. She and her sister plunged glowing aether swords into the hatch and made quick cuts leaving burning metal behind. They yanked the hatch back, leaving the air inside to trickle into space as they entered. There were a couple of Kuvexian engineers, surprised by how the doors had been breached. A couple of shots later, they were both dead.

"We've got a problem. They set the reactor to blow." Estrid announced as they took over the engineering. Sacre considered for a moment, it meant that the dozen or so other Kuvexians were likely rushing for the small hanger and the ship inside.

Sacre put her hand on the control panel, "Aten, get in there and stop whatever they did. Freydis, they set the station to blow, we're defusing it, but they are coming your way." Sacre told the other fireteam leader then she turned to the working Neko. "Estrid, stay here and get it under control. My sister and I are going to assist Freydis."

The two Separa'Shan open the door, and more air flowed out of the station as they flew upward onto a central command deck. Sacre flared her shield as one of the slower Kuvexians took a shot with a rifle at her. It hurt her shield badly, but not as badly as Sacre's shoulder cannon hit the Kuvexian, penetrating armor and killing them instantly. Sacre turned to see that her sister had already taken care of two more Kuvexians. Sacre looked towards the hatch where they had been retreating too just in time to see the last one close the blast doors. Locking two other Kuvexians inside with the Separa'Shan. Quick maneuvers and the sheer power of their Mindy suits made quick work of the two who had been abandoned by their companions.

@CMDR Scotty

Click to expand...

YSS Ranger

Black Wolf Squadron:

Location satellite Hanger platform:

She heard Sacre’s message and broke off with her team toward the hanger door:

“Roger that! Sacre, we are moving in to breach the hanger and will meet you in operations. I have a little surprise for them. Let’s move in team and keep your heads on a swivel.”

Freydis Team split for the hanger coming in hot. The surprise she had mentioned was in her leg pod it came equipped with an SOOW Mini-Missile. Her main goal was to create a wide hanger breach. This was designed so it wouldn’t cause a choke point. It was also intended to cause such confusion and panic in the hanger to make them wonder if they were hit by a ship blast or an entry breach. The missile flew in and impacted the door with a bright flash throwing everyone around inside like rag dolls. Entering the hanger, she began firing Ke-M2-W4200 shoulder-mounted cannon filled with armor shot Tier 3, heavy Anti-personal rounds. She did this based on intel about the Kuvexian ships having twice the armor and wouldn’t be making the mistake their infantry wouldn’t also have double strength armor. Mostly she was surprised by the welcoming committee the Kuvexian had prepared for her team. This was more troops in this area than usual, it was as if the whole station was showing up to shoot at her.

She thought “How could they show up so fast?”

Her radio lit up:

“Freydis, they set the station to blow, we're defusing it, but they are coming your way."

“DAM!” She thought as she ducked for cover firing a grenade round burst from her hand-held rifle at the entry to the room.

“OK team our job is to stop that ship from leaving and to hold the line.” She did a backflip behind a blast shield designed to deal with ships' plasma blast.

“Sacre these Kuvexians are hell-bent on leaving alright, they are trying to reach this ship in the hanger. I fully intend to keep them here and trapped. Might be delayed by this show of force. I intend to take out the cockpit of the ship so they can’t take off.”

She looked back at the ship and next to it was a defense turret to defend the hanger if the door was opened.

“Kurogane, do you see that turret on the left? I want you to scale that embankment and man that turret and light up this hanger.”

He looked over the side of the hanger near the ship and replied, “Yes Ma’am!”

Freydis called out “covering fire!!!”

Kurogane ran up tossing a grenade to clear the nest out before lighting up the hanger to help deliver a balance to this battlefield.

Just then her motion sensor went off and a Kuvexian grenade came flying in behind the blast shield. “Move!” she said pushing another trooper out of the way only to get her foot and ankle caught in a rubber cement-like substance.

“Shit!” she thought as a Kuvexian trooper jumped over the plasma blast shield, she sent him back over with a shot from her Ke-M2-W4200 thinking “I need to get out of this position.” She bent backward and fired her jet rockets to melt the substance so she could move with her team to the new position. Under heavy fire, she took a hit to the shoulder and was bounced backward with a violent jerk as she was basically glued to the floor. It was enough to dislodge her ankle, but it still hurt like hell. Thanks to covering fire from her team she was able to move back to the left side of the bay.

YSS Yukikaze Power Armor Bay upon returning

"Rearm and self-repair what systems you can. We have the time and we don't need anyone dying because their thruster pack was damaged in the firefight." Mikael said as he patted Hiroki on the shoulder as he walked past him. Mikael then had his new KIES AI do a diagnostic of his systems as he reached his armor storage area with weapons pre-selected. He let the robotic arms replace his depleted modules with those with loaded Type 41 mini-missiles of his selected warheads.

Armor 50%, regenerating
Thrusters, green
Ammo, depleted
Computer systems, green

"Armor is working within normal parameters Harris-Chui, recommend replacement of armor plating."

"Don't have the time for complete replacement A-741, just overclock shields for brief periods if you need to. Replace what armor plating that the storage unit can."

"Overclocking is not recommended."

"Just do it!"

"Ignoring safety recommendation has been noted in the logs."

"Uuuuugggggghhhhhh..."

Meanwhile

The YSS Yukikaze blasted off once her Rikugun complement had returned to the vessel. Most of Task Force 501's Gunships and Destroyers were remaining behind in case the Kuvexians decide to change their minds. But accompanying the Yukikaze were traditionally assigned escorts the YSS Kamikaze and the YSS Shimakaze to represent the colors of the Task Force.

When they emerged from the still open, they were immediately greeted with Kuvexian aether weapons that had missed their intended targets. The two Destroyers remained close to the Yukikaze to provide the ship cover and to better coordinate their weapons fire.

YSS Yukikaze Bridge

"Forget about stealth, CFS to maximum defensive power!" Mizuki said as she tried to hide herself biting the side of her lip. She was not one to back down from a fight, but she still couldn't help what the higher-ups were thinking with this insane operation. But she quickly pushed away those thoughts as keeping her crew alive was top priority.

"Tell the Rikugun grunts to forget about land combat. We are going old school here. Issue out the Aether Beam Saber Rifles and get them out there!!" she said, unironically getting reinforced when comm chatter began to increase about the presence of the Useu Battle Group being in the AO.

This battle got even more interesting.

YSS Yukikaze Power Armor Bay

"Heh, looks like you get to use all those hours in the Zero-G simulations some of you were grumbling about." Mikael said, nestled safely in the gut of his Keiko Compact Mecha. There were a couple feigning gasps that the Centurion knew all along of their discontent in his crazy "non-standard" training.

Mikael grabbed an aether beam saber rifle and placed it in the hands of a subordinate that made near-exclusive work of her Automatic Grenade Launchers. He then unholstered his new Coherent Aether Rifle.

"Focus on Point Defense and stay out of the line of fire of the Yukikaze's weapon systems. Once everyone is out, the one with the lowest kill count is buying for the other and carrying our unit colors in the victory parade." Mikael said before again being the first one out of the Power Armor Bay.

Narrowly missing a shot from a Kuvexian Naval Armor, he twisted himself and immediately returned fire. The high power of his weapon cored the poor Kuvexian.

"That's just rude." Mikael said mostly to himself in a mocking way. "HA! I made a funny."

YSS Presurgence Flight Deck
Russ Tycho

Russ had finally been given the clear with his ship finally ready for action. As he taxed into position he could see the hell that awaited him. Though he had survived a trail by fire in the skies of that cursed world this was entirely different. What awaited him outside was hell given form and for once in his life he welcomed the danger. Looking to the deck hand signaling, the pilot saluted before hitting afterburn. Pushed back into his seat his eyes took a moment to focus as the the view changed from the metal and safety of the ship into a firestorm of death.

Right out of the gate he was already dodging debris from wrecks. Backing and skating around each at full speed was reckless but so was losing speed in the open. Pulling his craft up the y-axis north he saw the Presurgence and her anti air batteries lighting up around her, hostile craft all around like angry bees. Smiling and talking to him self "Yup this is going to be different". Joining in behind the enemy formation it was clear they where focused on their target a single Sharie up ahead. Holding his fire while darting in close on their 6 he wanted the element of surprise. Out of habit despite no wing man "Guns, Guns, Guns" opening fire with the twin cannons of his Hayabusa II.

Keeping the pace he was able to score two hits. Given the satisfying explosion of two kills he was already chasing the rest of the formation that had broken off their attack. This was going to be fun the pilot thought as he began the chase of a life time.

YSS Kaiyō II
Main Engineering
Sakura Sjet.

Sakura was not one to love war but she had a duty to her home. Standing near the main console she was already double checking the ships computer security. Having studied the previous battle of Nataria she didn't wish a repeat for her crew. Speaking to the Ai of the ship "Boss please run program Sakura Fort one through ten". Hearing the Ai give a response she smiled. In the time leading up to this she had worked out 10 separate encryption programs that would run. The hope was to frustrate any would be hacker to the Kaiyo while she located and digitally killed the source.

Though she had other worries and almost like a subconscious thought the neko grabbed her side arm. As she felt the reassuring trust and safety it provided she had something encase the enemy attempted to board. Already the ship had been boarded once in her time here and she didn't want to be left unarmed. Also to give her extra comfort she made sure there was four Reprisal systems in place at the door. Oh to see the look on the face of the poor bastard that would walk through the door.

YSS Kaiyō II
Power Armor Bay
Wulf Soban

Wulf smiled at his blessings. Replying first to Kiyo "I look forward to it blue". Then hearing his daughter's voice he couldn't help but chuckle "Of course my dear, looking forward to a big hug when I'm back". As he closed the messages to both, the ranger took a deep breath. This was not the time to think of home, but a time to bring ruin.

Waiting in a launch postion, he waited for the go signal. The final order to unleash death upon the honored foe. Then as the doors were open he heard Eden give the order. For the first time in his life Wulf smiled for what came next, normally calm and not one to give into the heat of it the ranger laughed as he launched. Already thousands of Sons and Daughters of the empire where in the thick of it, no fixed lines of battle and instead of pretty formations it was more like two hurt beasts fighting. It was almost like home to him but he wanted to break away from the main formations to disrupt the battle in any way he could. As soon as he crossed the line out of the power bay he teleported into the thick of it.

KNS Righteous Conquest Defense Line
Fyntita Ke-kr

Ke-kr was holding formation with his squad around the cruiser Righteous Conquest. Charged with being the final defense line for their mothership he couldn't help but look in wonder at the battle unfolding. Sure the banking worlds where being blow up and sure other people were dying untold. That didn't matter to him at all since this was just another gig. The hard-earned cash he had gained over the years was stored safety back home. As long as he didn't have to fight and could stick to the safety of the rear lines he was going home.

Though that false of security would be fleeting as his armor buzzed a sensor contact. Screaming out to comms "Wait what the hell how did one get through??!!". Already frantically to get a visual of the inbound his head was swiveling in all directions. The constant beeping of the sensors showed it was rapidly approaching. Then he got a faint glimpse of missile trails and could only scream in frustration. Pushed back from explosion that tore through his squad, Ke-kr tired frantically to stablish him self. The power armor rebelled against it's pilot as alarms sang. Just as it seemed he was stable that's when the Kuvexian entered a world of pain.

Looking down at his abdomen he saw what was causing it. A silvered short sword in his gut that propelled him back to his ship. He wouldn't have to suffer long though as the next thing he would feel was the pain of hitting the ships deck. His spine crushed by the weight of a mindy and its pilot.

KNS Righteous Conquest Flight Deck
Wulf Soban

Kneeling down on the poor Kuvexian he had just used as a flying door mat the ranger was already pulling back his Xiphos. Looking around at the new shrouding's he was greeted but what he could assume was shocked faces of the enemy. There was a unnatural quietness compared to the battles out in space. As a few seconds went by as they stared each other down this weird cease fire would not last. As if the signaling the start of boxing match a loose tool fell to the ground. As if unison the ships crew raised their respective weapons.

Though the ranger was already moving. Blessing the day some one invented the teleporter unit he used. Already on the bounce he appeared next to a stunned gold plated solider. Driving his short sword between the ribs his armor plate was splattered in purple blood. A life time of drill though forced his fellow through to be jet back with his thrusters with his shield raised. Hearing the ting ting of return fire the battle was going to be pitched. As the ranger ducked behind a pillar he was already making notes. Ten power armored hostiles, five deck hands, 3 fighters still in dock. All of which stood between him and his main goal of the bridge.

Smiling as he broke cover shield raised. Already the enemy was tracking but it was too late. Firing off 4 missiles at the waiting fighters with their ammo storages nearby and exposed. As the enemy gave up firing and instead dove for cover but the fireball that would eclipse them would be too much. As secondary explosions ripped through Wulf was ducting back into cover as not to share his enemies fate. Even with the protection his mindy gave the flash fires heat could be felt through the suit.

Ignoring the discomfort he waited a moment as the explosions ripple subsided. Taking a look back into the bay he was scanning for any threats that might remain. As he visual looked into the remains of the bay it all that remained was torn metal and charred remains of the dead. Not wishing to linger he was already on the move to the nearest door. His goal was to make it to the bridge and with it a chance to cause some true mayhem. One ranger against a full ship of hostiles, this story played out once before but maybe the ending might be different?

YSS Tokyo
Bridge

Yaichiro went over to Himawari at Katsuko's behest and began to assist with keeping the ship from overloading. Cooling systems were diverted to help maintain the ship's functions, regeneration systems were micromanaged to what degree was possible, and shield facings were carefully adjusted as needed.

"Tap into the integrated shipyard to construct components to produce replacement parts and emergency ICFS panels, as well as support equipment for our fighters. I want a small part of the shipyard section to take over for Hangar Bay Two as soon as possible. The rest will be dedicated to grabbing up and securing damaged allied vessels. We have all that space, so we might as well use it. Make sure to allocate a path from there to the nearest medbays as practical for possible wounded. I also recommend heatsinking overheating weapons and other systems into the Hyperspace Fold Drive's cooling system. It's just sitting there unused right now and is meant for far more strain than this." The Sakura II had used the latermost tactic in a battle at Scrapyard before, to notable effect. It really sped up the rate at which the weapons could be used, but they had to balance that with fold readiness. Since there were gravitational sources nearby in the form of planets that hindered the fold system's function at this range anyway, that was not so much a cause for concern.

"If we get in range, use our Graviton Beam Projectors to drag allied Soul Savior Pods aboard. It's not like we can assume that we'll have ready access to the battlefield post-battle." It may have seemed obvious, but such things weren't always so in the heat of battle. They had to do such cleanup while they fought.

YSS "Presurgence"

Kagura had her helmet donned now, having hastily crumpled up the white cap she'd thus far worn and stuffed it through her AMES's belt when the sudden chaos of combat rumbled throughout the ship. She'd made it to the bridge before transit, just as she'd promised Majime, and was surely lucky for her attentively well-scheduled attitude. Still, the fresh first officer felt dread for those crewmen down in the power armor bay who she'd just left behind and tried not to focus on the possibilities of their fates for now. Kagura had a whole ship's crew to worry about, not just the armor support team.

"Howard-chui," she called via wireless, prompting their chief engineer after Gabriela announced the major damage reports coming in. Even as the old Kyoto-class carrier shook from successive Kuvexian hits, and lacking a stationed seat herself, Kagura kept her footing and rode the deck like she would an especially gnarly wave out of Lorrheim. "We're seeing fluctuations in engine number one. Prioritize damage control there to keep us going. Techs already in the power armor bay will have to make do for now. Shunt power from the graviton projectors and sealed-off compartments first if you need more juice."

YSS Musashi
Flagship of the Third Fleet

So much for playing rearguard. Hokusai-taisho hadn't expected anything different based on the operation's portal-based infiltration plan, but conceptualizing the battle was far different from fighting in the midst of it. And although the orange-eyed admiral was the only calm on her command deck's sea of activity, she nonetheless watched the volumetric scene on her big battle table with some measure of agitation even as the grizzly panorama of cracked planets and total war set against the stars lit her bridge from its clear zesuaium viewports.

The arrival of Uesu's ships both comforted and jarred Hokusai. She'd never served with Parasparta-taisho but knew of her, and knew her all the same. All Nekovalkyrja created back then — generally in those days before the Second Mishhu War — were of a different stripe. They were more valkyrie than they were Neko for certain. So while Hokusai knew the fury that these Yamatai-cousins could unleash upon the Kuvexians and appreciated it in full, the part of her that had stayed behind when Uesu left and helped the Star Empire grow and evolve dreaded what they would bring back with them.

"Order our Irim and Ayame into a tighter pattern!" Hokusai demanded, knowing that the crews on those old ships fought with the same fervor as their more modern and well-equipped compatriots. She didn't want those soldiers wasted, though, and had no patience for their heroics in this battle. "Those captains should stay with the Essai machine closest to us in orbit over its critical navigation systems as a last line," she continued, referring to the one that hadn't been damaged thus far. "I want those Super Eikan in an advancing picket with our gunships and escorts. We've got too many Kuvexians poking through. Drill them down!"

YSS Kaiyō II

Gunhand4171 said:

"Nice speech." He said opening a private link to her. "You are starting to sound like quite the leader." He admitted in the calm before the battle. "I'd follow you into hell."

Click to expand...

"It was not a speech, Wil-kun!" Aiko scolded happily as stray shots began zipping into their formation. This time, she made sure he was the only one who could hear her conversation by sending a telepathic voice directly to the ID-SOL's mindware. "Uzume-shôshô has grown too used to her Star Army rank. I would expect such trickery from Rei-sensei," she chuckled, "but never one who makes such a show of her samurai origins and dedication to my clan."

The vast battle before them was close enough to comfort any warrior, now, and Aiko stepped her Kirie aside to dodge a fat orange Kuvexian plasma bolt that sizzled through where she'd been standing. The legionnaires and ships that backed Kaiyō were already returning fire and clashing with enemy power armors fanatical enough to lead a charge. Then, too, Rikugun from the 777th began to surge forward as the brawl was joined between forces from the two rival space nations.

Ametheliana said:

"Deploy!" Teien Eden called.

Click to expand...

"You heard Teien-chusa!" Aiko said to William, again telepathically. She shouldered her big Kirie-sized tetsubo and knelt the armor down in an instant's time, and then pounced off of the Kaiyō's hull and into the fray alongside Eden and the others. "Let us see if that fancy Nepleslian monstrosity of yours can keep up!"

YSS Presurgence
Engineering


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

"Roger that. Moving to restore engine one." Jax replied calmly to Kagura as he picked himself up off the floor after the last big impact. His head was still ringing from hitting the bulkhead, even with the protection of the AMES. Thankfully the adrenaline rush helped dull the pain.

"'I should rejoin the army!'" Jax mocked in a sing-song voice as he began furiously typing away at a console to begin rerouting power to the engine. To compensate for the increased workload on the power conduits, Jax also began rerouting coolant. A sort of "overclocking" procedure that would hopefully hold long enough for whatever engineering staff were aboard to find a permanent solution.

"'Nothing in the army could be worse than a boardroom!', you said!"

In an AMES suit, no one can hear you regret your life choices.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

YSS Kaiyo II
Bridge

Finding a clear shot with the cone setting in this clusterfuck was like trying to find a Nepleslian in an AA meeting!

Nonetheless, Gravity did manage to take a few shots as she tried to keep a sort of "patrol" going around the planet killers.

"Can we try the beam for a minute? This isn't working all that well. Not with this many friendlies flying around." The blue tigress asked her captain.

NSS Southpaw
Bridge

The Grand Admiral of the 1st Assault Fleet sat in his command chair as his ships finished their transition into the AO. "All ships commence operation! Form up in 'Swammer' formation and deploy all Voidcraft. All marines prepare for void combat." He ordered as the holotable updated. The enemy around was massive. The international fleet would have it's work cut out for them. He checked in on the other assault fleet admirals and nodded at their progress.

The 51 carriers all formed up and began to spew NAM Aerotech's newest interceptors and assault bombers. All of the fighters and bombers quickly formed into their wings and began the attack. The assault carriers then began to unleash torrents of fire out into the enemy. Plasma cannons, mass drivers, and missile tubes working on overdrive to attempt at thinning the number of enemy units out in space.

YSS Kaiyo

William nodded and pushed off of the Kaiyo's hull. "This fancy monstrosity is about to eclipse your kill count!" He challenged, rocketing past the princess with his suit's Impulse Magneto-Plasma Drive. Massive nerium claws unsheathed themselves from the Cyclop's forearm as William flew forward.

It was time for him to leave all his anger, hate, resentment, pain, and rage out on the battlefield. It was his chance for some redemption. He angled his suit towards the closest power armor. Using his moment, he slammed his clawed hand right into the unaware suit's chest. Without slowing down, he threw the enemy combatant and smirked. "That's 1 Aiko." He sent privately.

​

Sanda had been resting on the floor with her back against the wall of the security center on the depo. Her right shoulder was beginning to hurt pretty bad where the Kuvexian power armor has pierced her own armor. It was a serious wound, but it stung like the Dickins. Sanda popped up when she heard Kozakura say: "Looks like it's time to hitch a ride home, unless you two want to be stuck waiting around on this rock for who knows how long." "No thank you. I've seen more than enough of this dump." Sanda said as she headed out the door.

Aboard the YSS Presurgence

Sanda had headed straight to the med bay as she returned to the ship. She hadn't even bothered to remove her armor. A tech and a medic removed the damaged shoulder plate. They were about to do more, when the ship suddenly jolted and rocked like a bucking horse. Sanda was just able to grab on to something to prevent being thrown to the floor. "What the Feth was that?" exclaimed Sanda. As if to answer her question a ship wide announcement came on. "Attention all hands. Fire in the Power Armor Bay. Damage reported. Possible intruders. Bay doors damaged. Any available troops, secure Power Bay." Sanda helped the medic to her feet. "Forget the shoulder, just spray something on it to numb the pain. I'll get it patched up later.... Let's Move!"

Five minuets later Sanda was rushing down the corridor to the armory, She stopped there briefly to pick back up her plasma rifle. As she was heading out of the armory she passed the rows of Aether Blade Weapons. From all reports coming in, it sounded like the enemy had such numbers that they were overwhelming the point defenses and hand to hand combat was inevitable. Sanda had seen that first hand and her experience with just her forearm plasma blade had left her wanting something more substantial for a close fight. She grabbed an Aether Short sword that was twice as big as her own Straight Silver, but was still small enough that her knife fighting techniques would still apply and attached it to her thigh. She then grabbed a folding Aether bladed spear. The spear had a 30cm leaf shaped power blade and a 2 foot handle. The handle could extend to 3 times it's size, making the spear a very versatile weapon. This she attached to her right shoulder, handle up for an easy grab and rushed into the hanger bay.

It was pure chaos. Techs were trying to clear the damage and put out fires. A few power armor suits were aiding them, but most were locked in a fight. Several Kuvexian suits had entered the power bay in the confusion. Sanda quickly switched her rifle to her left arm. She tucked it under her shield so it wouldn't be sticking farther out than the shield and get in her way but still be able to fire. Taking the Spear in her right hand she extended it to the max then rushed forward to join engage the enemy.