On the planet, on a beautiful cliff that overlooked a vast bay covered in ice and snow the whole year round, the Certified Mystic Markos watched as the first few emerald beams touched down in the city he overlooked. He hobbled quickly over to his pedastle, intent on performing his duty before the majority of fire could descend. He dropped a beautiful jewel onto a round, stone pedastle. As it touched the stone, a ripple passed through the planet, one invisible to the naked eye, but one that touched the minds of every person in it's path. Smiling, the old Tynnian hobbled back to his hut to sit down.
Across the planet, similar shrines felt the ripple, and equally mysterious tenders ceremonially dropped jewels of great magnificance down onto their pedastals. Wether in the heart of cities or on the highest peaks of mountains, the jewels hummed in unison, the ripple bouncing back and growing louder with each passing, singing in the hearts of the bold defenders arrayed about. As the lances of deadly energy flew downwards with terrible efficiency, they were suddenly met with a wave - nay, a great storm - of light, rising off of the cities, the hills, and the valleys. The blessings of Yunos, god of Light on distant Azguard, had been brought to Tynna, and it's mighty Shield of Faith arose, powered by nothing but the heroic spirits of the people.
The light rose, and coalesced. The majority of laser shattered on it's surface, the raw stuff of courage too strong to overwhelm with crude weapons. It seemed to fill the sky, a shimmering sphere that encircled the whole planet, more beautiful then anything the people had ever seen before.
It passed through the clouds, forming a great protective shield about the planet, and reaching all the way to the orbit - a terrifying thing, for that was where the Astrus was bearing down on them. The forces of the Empire found themselves forced to turn, losing their formation as the shield stood to block their path quite suddenly.
With the Imperial formation disrupted by the appearance of a giant wall in their path, spooked somewhat by this sudden shift in battle, the Coalition forces managed to rally and reform behind them. Ion roared his orders in quick succession, the Unmitigated moving to shield those ships earlier caught in a crossfire as well as to chase down the enemy before them - the Coalition formation was poor, but formation was irrelevant at this point, all that mattered was the Empire was in front of them, facing backwards, and losing formation in the face of the courage of Tynna.
As the enemy capitol ships were forced to veer out of the path, so too were the enemy fighters. Suddenly without the strength of the formation to protect them, their lines were pierced by the furious battlecries of Kris fighters - admittedly unheard in the slience of space - and gunships, which thundered through them and tore the enemy's fighter support to negliglble use.
Proudly, Ion observed as his forces pursued that of the enemy, firing off half their Particle Projectors to gut a Heavy Cruiser from end to end, saving the next salvo for the one in front of it. The enemy was surprised, their strategy broken by a sudden and unexpected event - the bravery and defiance of their enemy.
Inside the enemy warships, things progressed as well. The enemy was being too light on the boarding parties, assuming - wrongly - that the Empire's army was some sort of untouchable force, or that fighting inside a ship was just as fighting in ranks for the control of a battlefield. Maxly continued to scorch the ground before his advance, roaring warcries and braving the occasional volleys as his men poured mostly unopposed through a breach in the lines.
The enemy had lost their chance - they had done nothing to close the hole, assuming the Imperial forces in the area adequete on their own. They were wrong. In the lead, this flood of Coalition forces was only slowed by enemy automated defences - and poor ones they were, for the sensitive electronics were suscpetible to fire, and the turrets were susceptible to grenades. It was a timely advance, and the Empire would pay for taking them so lightly.
In the other two ships, battles progressed more as stalemates - A large section of each Star Destroyer was inaccesible, around the center, as Coalition forces would form their own perimeter and trade shots with the enemy.
Finally sick of the stalemate aboard the middle Reign Class, Captain Johg, a Quarran, rallied a unit of heavy-weapons to help him accomplish a deadly objective.
"Fire at will!" he bellowed, as the half-dozen men following him let a salvo of rockets fly down the hall. The startled Imperial defenders - prepared to do no such thing, for fear of damaging their own ship - tried to scatter as the rockets lit up the far end of the hall and tore down a wall.
Johg dashed along the scorched ground between his position and the newly revealed room, only to gulp at the sight of stack upon stack of explosives - an enemy ammo dump.
Johg, being as mad as any boarding-party captain, grinned wickedly and dropped a timed grenade into the lot - caring little if there was enough time to get away. Running back down the corridor full pelt, his men - curious at the sight - followed suite.
After the suitable pause, an Imperial soldier inched back into the room, only to find the grenade. Fumbling to pick it up, he realized only too late it said '0'.
"Oh sh-"
The explosion was visible from outside the ship, nevermind within. The whole room and a great deal of area around it was torn out completely and a huge, flaming hole gaped in the armor of the Reign. It was about time the Empire took the boarders seriously.
On board the Astrus, for example, flame-thrower still in hand, Maxly began to smile as he recognized another intersection.
"Keep moving, lads - eyes sharp. This is where the fun begins."
