The Rebel Faction

[size=2]Dameo

[font=Arial][size=1]The trumpets sounded, the soldiers stood their ranks and saluted, as the procession exited from the private chambers of the Emporer's accords, and marched out torwards the balconey, where the excited throng of civilians, military personnel, and diplomats alike awaited. They reached the podium, and the most senior of the officers arose to speak. Some in the crowd gasped in suprise. It was Vincent Harker who took the stand, but instead of wearing his normal uniform, he instead wore a new uniform signifying the rank of a Fleet Admiral. He tapped the microphone twice to call for silence. [/size][/font]
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[font=Arial][size=1]"Citizens and Soldiers alike of Dameo, I have come before you here today to make an announcement of grave importance. This concerns our new neighbors, the Galactic Coalition. Some time ago, after the peace treaty signed by the last war, another treaty was ratified. This one effectivley closed off our borders, with the existance of a neutral zone, leaving us isolated, like we wanted. But instead, unbeknowst to us, this treaty was cast aside by the returning Prime Minister of the Coalition. He then, using the sword of his diplomats, invaded our space, and took several of the planets under our sphere of influence." said the Admiral, with the murmurs and angry voices rising.[/size][/font]
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[font=Arial][size=1]"In addition to this, records from the planet of Tynna had revealed to us that the Coalition has developed a new battlefleet of vessels as well, the Imperials finding to their misfortune that these are very capable vessels. Mind you, such vessels don't stand a chance against the might of Dameo, but these occurances are very troubling to us. New planets within our realm, a new battlefleet, a very aggressive Prime Minister. I tell you, Dameo wants but one thing, peace. But in this case, I fear nothing short of war will bring about this peace. But I do tell you the good news. We will give the Coalition a peaceful chance to withdraw, a seventy two hour ultinatum. Go now, brave warriors, and confront the threat of these vermin entering your household." said Admiral Harker as he stepped down from the podium and exited from the area. [/size][/font]
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[font=Arial][size=1]The grand battlefleet of the Black Dragon Empire, having been assembled by elements from the Farfalen Sector, the Centrality, the Tion Division, and more, cranked up their engines, cast away the moorings from the orbiting space stations and tenders, and began to form up as they moved away from Dameo and torwards the planet that was Teth. The armada was still forming up when the entourage of shuttles bearing the all important officers reached the flagship of the whole operation, the Tion class Star Destroyer Dragon's Fang. The Admiral nodded to his subordinates once they had reached the bridge of the great vessel, at which time the armada had finished forming up. At that time, the fleet entered hyperspace, bound for the destination of Teth. [/size][/font]
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Earlier that day

Captain Panacka had looked down on the world of Teth from his place on the Quadratic with a sigh. Teth was a world that had seen greatness, darkness, glory, shame, and most notably war for a good deal of it's history. It seemed entirely possible it would be seeing some more very soon.

To look at, the captain wasn't much. His features were a little gaunt for his age, his hair was black and tended to stick out from under his officer's hat. He looked all in all like a regular man who' suffered more stress than his age warrented.

Panacka had been called to be one of the representatives of the Eastern Province at Regrad's top-level security meeting in the Unknown regions. His service to the Coalition so far had been exemplary, although Panacka also had a feeling that some of his favour came from sympathy from Regrad, who understood the pain Panacka had to deal with after seeing the effects of the Empire on worlds up-close. It was something hard to deal with, on some days.

It wasn't going to be any easier in those to come.

"So we're all set for the fleet maneavuers to cover our departure?" said Panacka, looking away from the stars to fellow Captain Sheila Clarack - or Clacks. She nodded to him.

She held none of the stress on Panacka on her appearance - it looked like it would take nothing less than a sledge-hammer to break her cold, sculpted features. Her hair was blond, and came out smoothly from her officer's hat, and those who didn't know her well might go so far as to say she was beautiful. Panacka did know her, however, and after a while the unisex uniforms of the Coalition navy wore down any infatuated thoughts.

"Good. You'll be in command until I return. Things have been edgy since that Black Dragon force travelled through the area earlier, so the fleet maneauvers will help let the troops stretch their legs. Did those mines I ordered arrive?"

"Just a few hours ago, sir. They're still packed in the orbital yards, but I think we should be able to get the minelayers out soon enough."

You don't have to call me sir, we're the same rank - is what Panacka thought of saying, but didn't. There was a clearly defined command structure for each region, but it more or less ended at captain - captains reported directly to fleet brass and from them received their commands, including who was in charge. It seemed as though Panacka was leading every effort in the East, so people had taken to calling him sir. Although he felt a little guilty, he secretly enjoyed it.

"I'll be leaving the Quadratic in your hands. We've got mostly Dominators and the S-class fighters around here, so a few faster ships wouldn't go amiss. Be careful with it, okay? The crew is still on edge after it's last tour near the Commonwealth."

Another curt nod. Panacka nodded back. "I'll be leaving in a few hours, so as of now, I defer command of the Eastern Fleet to you. Best of luck."

She finally smiled. "Thank you, Panacka. Enjoy your trip."

With that, he turned smartly on his heel and left the bridge. Clacks looked out the window on to Teth, a rushing feeling of power and responsibility flowing through her. It was as she was grinning to this thought that an attention-grabbing throat-clearing sound announced the presence of someone else on the bridge. She turned.

"Ah." with less enthusiasm "Sergant Cy. I see they haven't promoted you yet."

The woman leaning in the door-frame was much more plain than the officer before her. She had tried to offset this with some ornamentation, but the only thing that went with Marine armour were kill-markers and maybe a playing card on the helmet, which did little to improve her look. To compensate, she fostered a private hatred of women like Clacks.

"I don't think this is a social call, so what are you doing on Panacka's ship?" she said in a cool tone.

"Don't worry, I don't go in for men like Panacka. Just showing up for a little promotion, that's all."

Cy scowled, and said "What are you talking about?"

"Oh? He didn't tell you? Well, you are just a sergant after all. Panacka will be leaving the Quadratic to meet the Prime Minister at some top-level summit. That means I'm in command of the Eastern fleet until his return, so you can start adding the preffix or suffix 'ma'm' to your sentances from now on, is that clear?"

"Yes ma'm." said Cy, whose voice had now dropped a number of degrees down to cold. "Permission to be dismissed?"

"Granted - as in, go away."

Alone again, Clacks chuckled at her small victory over Cy. It probably wasn't nice, but then again, Cy would probably do the same thing in her situation. She turned back to the window.

Present

A few of the officers and crew had turned up to see Panacka off at his shuttle. The atmosphere was light, as bridge crew offered such helpful criticism as "Don't turn your back on the Prime Minister, or he'll forget you're there and step on you!" or "If you can't get drinks in, find the Minister of Ethics - he's always good for a pint." Panacka smiled and was in the middle of giving the last waves good-bye when an alarm began blaring throughout the hangar bay. Red lights spun and klaxons wailed, and instantly Panacka knew there was only one thing it could be.

"Attack!" he bellowed, and leapt off the shuttle. "We're under attack! To stations!" and the officers scrambled.

As he took stairs up and out of the hangar bay three at a time, Panacka fumbled with his comm "Bridge, what's going on?!"

"Black Dragon, sir! Lots of them! They're bearing down right into our fleet maneauvers!"

"What maneauver are we doing?"

"Diamon defence, sir!"

Diamond defence - the new crews of the Dominators were still practicing and repracticing the maneauvers best suited to their new warships, and this one involved the hardy Dominators waiting in a spearhead. At least that was a stroke of luck.

"Launch fighters, then raise shields, arm weapons - the whole lot! Send off a comm to command - " Damn, the meeting, they'd be out " - and anyone in the area that we're under attack! And whatever you do, don't..."

Panacka reached the bridge, and stopped as he set his eyes on the battlefleet before them. "Don't... panic."

"Most are still far out, sir." said a lieutenant on the bridge. "But a quarter of their force are coming this way - right up close."

Panacka bounded over the command chair and landed in it, taking up immeadiet status. He was in a Claymore battlecruiser, and was part of the small detatcment of 'fast' ships in this fleet. Most were of the newer, heavier variety like the Dominator, and he adapted his orders to fit that.

"If they want to meet us this close on, let them." He said firmly. "No parley - fire at will! Send them back to hell, lieutenant."

The order went out.

The Dominator's strength was all-forwards, and it showed it. The first wave of torpedoes, missiles, and batteries launched in a concentrated barrage, blunting the nose of the enemy advance - such was the danger of not commiting your whole force to an advance into your enemy's nose. As civilians scattered and fled orbit, a briliant lightshow took place as the heavies advanced the Diamon formation to a position of strength, shielding the more fragile ships behind it.

Stations armed weapons or were quickly abandoned, but on the surface something different was playing out. Wielding emergency powers, the general on the ground had declared a lockdown and had in turn awoken the weapons of war on Teth that'd laid dormant since their time as an Empire. Huge batteries that dotted the planet awoke, and a massive installation that served as the centerpiece of the military complex powered up, covering the planet in a protective planetary shield.

Panacka felt his grim resolve set in as the two fleets began to clash. They would not take Teth lightly.

Indeed - the Black Dragon observers sat comfortably sure in their technological superiority. The Diamond formation was engulfed in clouds of debries and smoke, invisible in the aftermath of the opening bombardment. Surely nothing could have survived...

"Leiutenant, status report." said Captain Clarack.

"Ion shields holding, madame."

"Excellent - god bless Dondana and his rampant military spendings. Prepare to advance in layered formation - we'll meet them gun for gun, if they want to play so badly."

The Coalition Dominators emerged unscathed from the clouds, their Ion shields flickering and stabalizing as it brushed away the last of the enemy's missiles. The formation had changed, however, and now the Dominators were stacked one over another in an advancing wall two ships tall. Where fire-arcs crossed, the heavy guns reduced everything to ashes.

Panacka's faster ships stayed tightly behind this wall, staying out of the fight for now. Like a stampede the Dominators ground into the vanguard force, doing what they did best. The Dragons had split their forces, and the division before them wasn't nearly large enough to stand up to the barrage. It was soon driven from before the Coalition to regroup with the rest of the Dragon forces bearing down on them.

A few bridge officers cheered, but Clacks quickly silenced them. "This is no time for celebrating - the bulk of the enemy's coming this way. Prepare to lock horns with them, I want all reserve power to shields and all gunnery positions to be reloaded! We'll meet them head-on."

The Coalition wall continued it's press to the Dragon lines, and all the while Panacka kept a reign on his forces behind the wall, waiting for the moment to strike.

"Sir, are you sure we shouldn't advance?" said a lieutenant tentatively. Panacka raised an eyebrow.

"Into that fire? We'd be cut to pieces instantly. We'll hold our position here for now, don't worry - there'll be a hole in their lines soon enough." With that, he turned to his comm and said "Sergant Cy, this is Panacka."

The voice on the other end crackled to life "Awaiting your orders, sir."

"Prepare your troops for launch at any moment, all torpedoes facing dead ahead. Close-combat gear and high-explosives reccomended."

"Will do, sir."

"And Cy?" said Panacka, who paused "Good luck."

She smiled. "Thank you, sir." and flicked her comm off. "All right you lazy body-bags on legs! Double-time to the torpedoe tubes! We're going to get a taste."

The ranks of variable soldiers, in various alien tongues, spoke together in a massive roar of "Hoo-rah" before flowing to the launch areas. Times like this was what mindless bravado sayings and chants were all about.

As the smaller, faster ships made their first thrust into the Coalition lines (this being the attack described by Vincent) Clacks didn't even bother giving an order. Instead, she listened as the gunnery commander shouted coordinates into his comm.

"Such a waste..." she said with a sigh, as the guns all along the dominator locked on to their targets. "Fire."

The Black Dragon Empire had clearly made some strategic errors, thought Clacks, as she watched the entirety of the enemy's pickets, gunships, and battlecruisers be wiped out (utterly) as they tried to move through the swampy morass of gunfire laid down by the dominators and ignoring it. They had just walked into a wall - literally - and were no more.

As a smoking wreck of a picket floated past the bridge, she shook her head "Such a stupid waste. Oh well - prepare to engage their capitol vessels. Without their lighter support, this is Panacka's chance so keep your eyes open for his forces."

The enemy, having made that critical error, was now robbed of it's faster support and of the Tion destroyers. When the two lines of capitol vessels met, therefore, the Coalition was the one laying down the damage. Too confident were the Dragons in the superiority of their technology, and without the cover of pickets and the like their hulls were the playthings of Sabre assault bombers. Explosions rippled acrosst their surfaces and crumpled away as the two formations passed through.

Clacks gripped the rail as her ship shook, but the Dominators were tough - they were meant to be beaten like this, and so no one volley would ever bring them down, especially only from other capitol vessels.

Finally, the two formations passed through each other. The Dragons had, however, made another mistake - or maybe they just hadn't noticed Panacka and his forces behind the wall. Those that had passed through suddenly suffered the beating of a volley of Projector shots, tearing up armor and crushing vital systems.

"All speed ahead full, lieutenant!" shouted Panacka as he leapt up from his seat "Get us the hell out of here!"

He watched with white-knuckled dread as the Quadratic and accompanying ships raced after the Dominators, passing over the Dragon formation which was blessedly unable to fire - why, you ask? Because they were exploding.

After having walked straight through a formation of slugging warships, suffered the full attention of wings of bombers, and then flown right into the great cannonades of Projector shots, the enemy formation was ruined. Ships exploded and imploded all around, there was nothing left.

Panacka felt a sudden stirring of enthusiasm and optimism - he'd done it! They'd done it! How?! They had!

He punched the air as the command crew cheered, almost laughing with relief, when all of a sudden an alert light whirlled into activity.

"Sir!" shouted the sensors officer "More enemy ships! Another wave, inbound!"

"Location!" bellowed Panacka, suddenly filled with a mix of despair and fury "Damn it, where are they?!"

Clacks knew. She was looking them in the face.

"Give me that comm." she snapped, grabbing one from the hands of a lieutenant on the bridge. She quickly adjusted it, and said to the fleet "Hold formation - godsdamn it, hold formation! Fall back to the planet in wall formation, now!"

The wall of Dominators, finding themselves facing a fierce enemy before them, held formation and immeadeitly reversed full speed back towards the planet - doing their best to stay out of firing range. Panacka realized that the Dominators wouldn't be nearly fast enough to escape the enemy forces before they got into firing range, and so gave a few orders of his own.

"Move our forces into the Dominator Wall formation. It looks like we'll have to cover their retreat..."

Why retreat, you ask? And where to? On Teth, weapons have always been a fixture of the landscape since the time of the Iron Fist Empire. Finally powered up, these massive guns were prepared to lend their support to the conflict. If the Dragons could be brought within range of those guns, it could tip the tide.

There was another tide-tipping revelation in the works, however. Unknown to both sides, someone was rushing to the aide of Coalition forces. An old acquaintance of Panacka's wasn't about to see Teth fall.

(Status of battle: -The pickets, gunships, and the like were wiped out when they were sent against the Dominator wall, because they lacked heavy support to protect them.

-The destroyers and the like were wiped out when they locked horns with the Dominators, because without their lighter support they were unprotected from the bombers and other ordnance vessels, and you forgot about Panacka's forces, allowing them to fire at will right into your advance.

-The second wave of your forces is approaching, and the Coalition forces are quickly falling back before them towards the planet, which is arming it's planetary weapons.

-Reinforcements are inbound.)

As the missile whooshed towards the Battlecruisers, Panacka rammed the red button on his command chair. "I hope this works..."

Quite suddenly, his ships were protected by a layer of blue haze. The missile met the field, stuttered, and redirected upwards through empty space. The missile flew farther and farther away until it exploded above both fleets, creating a blinding sphere of fire that for a moment drew all attention upwards. Panacka finally exhaled - he'd once laughed at the concept of the pulse shields on capitol vessels, but no longer. The field had just saved his entire formation from the chop.

With the enemy having expected a kaboom - which they were denied - the enemy ghosts charged into what was still a solid formation. To make matters worse for them, the Graviton sensors were meant to discover stealth ships, and without even the cover that a raging battle or huge explosion would bring, Panacka's cover had the advantage.

"Sir!" said an officer to Panacka's left "Enemy stealth ships coming in - they're going to hit the rear of formation. We're getting a clear signal - they've got some sort of gravity distortion devices, but these just make them stand out."

Panacka nodded "We're within range, time to turn around."

The Dominators and the lighter vessels turned, again forming the wall - only this time with a looser formation. The Ghosts' captains either realized that they had been seen or quickly became the newest addition to Teth's growing scrap-heap.

So Gamma found itself once again facing a Coalition wall - and something else entirely.

Panacka's comm flickered to life. "Panacka? This is General Max, awaiting your orders to fire."

"General? Fire at will."

The guns on the planet roared to life, from mountains to military outposts to flatlands the sky became a lightshow as massive cannons blunted Kyric's pride, both the ship and the man. The sheer volume of fire was too much, and the Black Dragons - which had simply split it's forces far too much - were pushed back and broken. Gamma was overwhelmed.

The comm to Panacka's right crackled "Sir! Requesting permission to pursue!"

"Negative, Clacks. We hold here."

"But sir-"

"That's an order, Captain. You are staying here within firing range of the guns where it's safe."

All Black Dragon forces were moving away. What was there left to do? Panacka suddenly felt a dangerous idea form - but one with great potential. "You're staying here, we're going, however!"

The speedy contingent of Coalition vessels raced after the last ship in the Black Dragon formation - the Pride of Kyric. With their projectors thrumming, the Claymores and Longswords fired off a volley and quickly turned back before enemy pursuit could be mounted. The Pride, still damaged from it's earlier tangle, took the volley right to the thrusters. The ship was soon crippled in space, drifting without control of it's engines.

The Coalition made no further move to attack it or go close to it, but to turn around and assist might provoke them - a difficult choice for the enemy commander.

Panacka began weighing the battle in his head quickly - what had happened?

The enemy had sent their attacks poorly, for they lacked support - for this reason, the first phase of the battle saw almost no Coalition casualties, while the Dragons suffered many. The lesson was that no force stands alone and certainly splitting your forces is deadly.

Then they had attempted a pursuit with stealth ships and a command vessel, but they had never tested their stealth against Coalition technology before, and so once again the Coalition suffered little while the Dragons suffered much.

The only time they'd ever taken a serious beating was between these two times, when the Coalition fell back to the protection of the planet and the Dragons had pursued.

He finally allowed himself to breath normally - he hadn't screwed up, he hadn't made mistakes, his troops had come out alive. Thank the gods. "Hold here, everyone - let's be sure they're retreating."

All enemy forces were leaving the area, heading away from the planet. The only things remaining besides the Coalition forces was the crippled Pride and a handful of Coalition ships disabled during the retreat to the planet. Panacka sighed - almost all of his troops had come out alive.

(Results: -Many of the casualties you were to inflict (the Claymores, most of the fighter losses, and half the Dominators) were deflected by the use of Pulse shielding to counter your super-missile.

-Graviton Detectors robbed your stealth ships of surprise and made them easier to defeat, along with support from ground guns.

-A single vessel, even a command vessel, attacking alone and without fighter support is going to take a beating, so it was either run or blow up.

25% of Dominators lost. Mostly while retreating from advance of 'second wave' back towards planet, since any other time they were simply shooting fish in a barrel.

No Claymores lost, since there were perhaps three and they were never really in a position to be fired upon (go pulse shielding!).

25% of fighters lost. Mostly during the suicidal charge of your pickets and the like right into a destroyer formation.

Casualties were low to reflect the fact that your tactics generally resulted in you sending in your forces piecmeal and unsupported. The only time you got in good hits was when Alpha and Beta teamed up, since they were attacking us when we weren't in formation and managed to pick off a few in the retreat.)