The night watch.

His favorite time. Just him and the few bridge crew, sitting back, relaxing, watching the stars through the viewscreens and occasionally chatting it up.

He runs a loose watch when he's manning the command chair, doesn't mind his crew BSing and even playing cards so long as the instruments are properly monitored. Thus far, in this system, there hasn't been much to do in the long hours of the night watch, and he doesn't want his crew getting bored and falling asleep on him.

Not like Captain Nikare, who the crew complains makes them practically have their eyes glued to their consoles. Vasudans...

"Admiral?"

The female voice overlaying the growling Vasudan dialect draws his attention to the sensor station. Probably some sort of spatial anomaly again - this system, it seems, is rife with them, and like a good scientist the junior officer wanted an objective opinion on every one she came across.

Then he sees her face. Over the years he's gotten pretty good with Vasudan facial expressions, and hers looks disturbed and...worried"

Walking over to the station, he feels a slight frown forming on his face. "What is it, Lieutenant Pyhia?"

She gestures to the console. "I think you should look at this, sir."

His eyes meet hers, ready to reprimand her for calling him over to the station without a good reason, until he sees the other emotion in her eyes.

Fear.

Looking down at the console, his own eyes widen as he takes in the readings. Some thirty combatant craft, it looks like, plus support ships...including three that are nearly three times the size of the Perses, if not larger...

Without taking his eyes from the console, he addresses the lieutenant. "How accurate are these readings, Pyhia?"

Her voice is subdued. Everyone knows that tone of voice from the Admiral - it means trouble. "I confirmed them from the Parmenion and the Seti, Admiral." She refers to the two AWACS (Advanced Warning and Control) craft in close orbit around RhyDin with the Perses squadron.

He nods, not looking at her still, watching the console. He knows a battle formation when he sees one. It could be something else, of course - this place isn't like most of the other systems they've been in, after all - but just looking at those ships, particularly the bigger ones, makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

That prickle, from his old days as a lowly grunt, of the approach of trouble...

He straightens from the sensor station, walking back over to the command chair with a long stride and taking his seat. "Ops: Go to Battle Group Condition Yellow."

He taps the console on his chair to send messages to his captains to summon them to the bridge as the alarm begins sounding throughout the ship, a distinctive synthesized tone that tells everyone to get to battle readiness.

~The Perses~

The words are out of the Admiral's mouth before the first salvo reaches the planet.

"Ops, set Battle Group Condition Red. Sound general quarters."

As the klaxons begin blaring throughout the ship, he turns to his own console, consulting his tactical display, now being fed by the sensors of the Odysseus, the Parmenion, and the Seti, all augmenting the Perses' own sensor array, to give him a better view of the field of battle.

This isn't good. Those ships are in perfect position for an orbital bombardment, troop deployment, and blockade - their commander is good, very good. He checks the tally of his own battle group. And with twelve combat-capable craft in this group, we're far outgunned...

"Fighter bay control, I want half our complement spaceside now. Nothing but fighters for the moment. Fire control, charge the plasma beam cannons and get everything hot and ready to rock. Helm control, how long before our subspace drives are charged?"

The helmsman makes a few swift calculations before answering. "About fifteen minutes, Admiral."

He sighs, shaking his head. "We may have to fight for our lives here..." Spoken low, softly, he shakes his head. "Call down to Engineeering and tell Jacent to get his ass moving, see if we can shave some time off of that. In the meantime, let's get this beast moving into a higher orbit."

Turning again, he eyes the communications officer. "Comms, issue a transmission to the Heracles and Amenhotep battle groups to rendezvous with us by the second gas giant out in the system."

Turning back to his tactical display, he starts typing in commands again...

~The Odysseus~

"Captain, receiving transmissions from the Perses. Battle Group Condition Red."

He'd already figured that, of course. Even as the first salvo had been hitting the surface, he'd sounded the alarms and got everyone moving.

"Helm get us into escort position for the Perses. Fighter control, get everything we have into space that isn't a bomber. Fire control, let's get everything we have warmed up and ready."

~Death Viper Lead~

Commander Sheppard had wasted no time, especially when he'd seen the amount of fighters he'd been given to go with. Twenty wings - 140 ships, fully half of the Perses' fighter complement - had been ordered to launch.

Pulling up the tactical display in his Perseus fighter, he'd been shocked at the sheer size of the attacking force. Tapping his comms, he started issuing orders as they came in from the Admiral. "Wings Beta and Gamma, form up on the Democedes. Delta and Omega, form up on the Moschion." The medical frigates were the number one priority - they might be needed later. "Stay with the medical ships until they're able to get into subspace, then rejoin the main escort group. Everyone else, form a fighter screen between the main battle group and the attacking ships. Stay alert, people - they don't appear to have noticed us yet, but don't count on it staying that way."

Klaxon's, she truly hated them. About as much as wearing skirts. With the first strains of that annoying sound she was up and dressed. She slipped into BDU's and a freighter gray tank top with her boots. She grabbed her jacket and was off like a shot for the bridge.

As she moved to the lifts she slapped her comm badge. "Captain Moceanu to the Bridge. What's our status?" As the Klaxon shifted to general quarters, Phyria was giving her the run down of the activity. "Copy that, I'm on my way."

She didn't need to be told that she was needed on the bridge. She was already there. There was a nod as she shrugged into her uniform jacket to the Admiral. She slipped into her command cradle and started running her fingers along the controls she needed.

~The GTVA Perses~

"Admiral, Chief Engineer Moceanu reports subspace drive is charged and ready."

The Admiral nods as the word comes from Ops, a tight smile on his face as he turns to Navigation. Count on the man to shave a third off the expected time in a crisis...have to give that man a commendation.

He's about to give the order to jump to subspace when the officer at the sensor station speaks up. "Admiral, another ship has appeared in the field of engagement...and several fighters...they appear to be engaging the aggresors."

That gives him a moment of pause as he looks down at his panel. The sensor officer wastes no time in relaying the information to the Admiral's station.

Looking over the sensor feeds, his eyes widen and an eyebrow arches. The ship in question is just over a tenth the size of the ship it's targeting - just shy of a fifth the size of the Perses - and - other than the fighters - he can't see any other ships that are with it.

"Tactical, I need the full sensor feed on the lead aggressor ship."

within seconds he's being given the entire readout, looking over the feeds and statistics in moments.

"Son of a b*tch."

He'd thought to be making a quick,expedient exit to meet up with the rest of his fleet and re-organize.

But he can't leave this lone ship - whose commanderis either crazy, foolish, supremely brave, or a combination of the three - to its fate without at least giving them a helping hand.

The decision is reached without much trouble. "Captain Moceanu, relieve the helm. Navigation, I need you to plot a subspace jump from our current position to bring us around to the rear of the lead aggressor, in position for a broadside barrage from the starboard side Mjolnirs. Fire control, coordinate with Engineering to overcharge the beam cannons. Ops, once Navigation has a plot relay the coordinates to all ships in the Perses battle group."

He waits for the chorus of acknowledgements before going on.

"Communications, send orders to the medical ships to jump out to the second gas giant in the system to meet up with the rest of the fleet while we pull this guy's nuts out of the fire he just stuck them into. Tactical: keep one AWACS in close to us, the other in close to the Oddyseus."

He looks over the tactical plot again, thoughtful for a moment.

"Assign one corvette and four crusiers to the Oddyseus' command. The remainder come with us. As soon as they exit subspace, I want them to open fire on the closest smaller ships to our formation. Fighter control, get pilots to six wings of bombers and three wings of fighters, targets to be designated as soon as we exit subspace."

~The GTD Oddyseus~

"Captain Trentini. Incoming coordinates from the Perses."

The Vasudan at the Nav station gets is attention as she speaks, and helooks down at his console as the anv coordinates come across it.

A smile blooms across his lips as he sees them. Just behind the flagship of the invading armada" Looks like the Admiral wants to make a fight of it after all.

"Navigation, confirm these coordinates. Tactical, give me the sensor feeds."

As the feeds scroll across his screens, he raises an eyebrow. "Any ID on this smaller ship?"

The Terran officer at Tactical shakes his head. "Negative, sir. The ship appears to be of a similar type to the aggressors, but it simply appeared out of nowhere."

Interesting. "All right. Navigation, I want us to make our exit point..." he looks over the scans again, "...two point five kilometers below the Perses, nose down attitude to give our Mjolnirs a clear shot. Fire control, as soon as we exit subspace I want both beam cannons targeted at these coordinates on the super-heavy." He taps in the targeting coordinates.

"Fighter control, get pilots to four wings of bombers, armed with Helios torpedoes. As soon as we clear subspace, have them launch and make runs on these ships." He designates the targets. "Communicate with the fighters we already have out to give them some cover."

He looks over the tactical display again, noting that he'd been assigned the Ramose and four of the cruisers - two Mentus and two Aeolus. "Tactical, have the Ramose come out of subspace 500 meters above us and half that to the rear, firing upon the same coordinates I gave to fire control. Two cruisers each to port and starboard on level with our path, firing upon the flanking ships as soon as they exit subspace."

She didn't move from her command cradle, "Aye, Aye, sir." She acknowledged. "Transfer helm controls to my station on my mark."

She earned her wings in just these situations and she was about to demonstrate why.

"Mark."

The controls shifted over to her console with an ease that had become routine. All of her concerns with Bryan still on the surface receded to the back of her mind as her fingers flew over the controls. The lives of the people on these ships depended on her focus.

That was the thing about having a boyfriend that understood duty as much as you did...

....And she wanted that time later.

The Coordinates were set as she moved the ships into position for that short hop.

Once more into the breech...

He blinks as the coordinates come in for a subspace hop, and suddenly grins.

At the same moment the squadron frequency comes alive with war whoops and cheers. Seems he's not the only one that's spoiling for a fight.

Of course, his fighter squadron has had little to do since the fleet's entrance to the system but run drills, and he's been able to feel their restlessness. It's about time they got to relieve some pent-up frustrations.

The links start coming in from the two AWACS ships to the rest of the squadron as he puts his hand on the subspace drive controls and thumbs the comms button on his stick. "All right, Vipers, get ready to jump on my mark. We're gonna have bombers coming out as soon as we get out of subspace, and I'd bet anything we'll have some serious fighter cover to deal with, so let's get our heads on the swivel and watch each other's backs."

He can already feel that familiar rush of heat through his veins, that same old feeling of impending battle and the beast inside just waiting to get loose...

"Have you ever seen what a Star Destroyer can do to the surface of an unshielded planet' Stones run like water and sand turns to glass." ―Carnor Jax to Mirith Sinn.

"Can you imagine what that thing could do to RhyDin?" Alex asked of no one in particular as the scans ran on the Abyss while the Armageddon II passed over the Super Stardestroyer.

Ground troops were reporting the surface condition. The market area was hit hardest of all. Yet stones were not running like water and sand was not turning to glass across the surface of the whole city let alone across the face of the planet. It was clear to him now that Travanix was looking to take over the town.

Ship scans were revealing enemy ship target coordinates and Alex had his crew reacting accordingly"With X-Wing fighters strategically placed, they and the Armageddon II flew past the Abyss while they each targeted weapons and shield capabilities with phaser and photon torpedo fire, along with turbo lasers lined along the Armageddon, primed with Agrocite, a rare crystalline substance used to enhance the power of the lasers. It was a lot of fire power for such a little ship compared to others, not that the star destroyer was that small to begin with. Alex knew the odds of them taking out both shields and weapons on the Abyss was slim, but he hoped to at least take one out, some of it or damage them both enough to give Travanix something to consider.

As all batteries from the Abyss fired, the smaller Exodian ships dodged many of the attacks. Those that they couldn't, the shields of the Armageddon and their X-Wing fighters each deflected and turned back the power of those attacks in the direction they came from " back at the Abyss and back to the TIE and Phantom fighters. In essence, the Abyss was attacking itself the more it attacked the Exodians.

The shields of the Armageddon and their fighters were enhanced and added factors were involved both by technology and magic, causing the over all shield effect to truly deflect and turn back a good portion of the attacks rather then letting all of them pass through and deplete the usual shielding capabilities. It extended the power and life of their shields along with enhancing their strength and endurance.

This wasn't the only surprise about them. While the Armageddon kept a true solid flight, the X-Wings did a maneuver they referred to as Prairie Doggin" dodging by taking short jumps from one location to another along the way whenever an enemy seemed to have one cornered. Just when they thought they had one, the X-Wing would disappear with a jump, sometimes to reappear behind them and fire on them instead. Other times, they used the tactic to lure the enemy along and another x-wing fighter would pick off the unsuspecting enemy, without allowing themselves to be caught.

The pass was being made while fire power was traded on both sides".

"Report!" Alex commanded.

"Shields still in excellent shape. Over all, shields deflected 96% of the attacks. We've only lost 4% of effectiveness. Fighters report similarly, worst case down to 89% effective strength. No craft were lost."

Under normal shields that came with the Star Destroyers and x-wings, the attacks the Abyss alone was returning would've dropped their shields almost in half if not destroyed all thirty fighters. The improvements Alex and others designed into the ships were more then worth their weight. Not one X-wing was lost yet. Alex afforded a small grin. Tests most certainly had been done, and some battle traded before, but this was the first time they'd really been put into action on this level. Alex couldn't help but afford a grin of pride for it. All those years were finally paying off for him.

"Sir, we have a few ships who turned to the fight. They appear to have positioned against the Abyss. Fighters positioned on the Super, " several ships actually. I believe their flagship is the Perses, if I understand correctly." the comm officer inform.

Alex allowed his gaze to drift over the information as it showed up on his console. As crazy as it seemed, Alex was confident he'd get himself and crew out of there in one piece. Still, he would worry for the other ships turning to the fight and hoped enough were out there to join up.

But who was he kidding" He knew there would be losses" big ones. It didn't matter how well planned or thought of the attacks would be, there were going to be losses. He knew the moment he heard Travanix was involved that there would be no real surprises other then the one's done on the spur of the moment, and even then"

Alex was not uninformed about the man. After all, his mother had suspected him of attacking Ravensheart Academy and therefore, knowing his past with slavery, and with his grandfather". all efforts were being made to watch for his involvement in Exodii" or traces of it. Nobody expected this attack on RhyDin, though.

For now, He shielded his mind and hoped his surprise on the Dark Lord would be enough to throw Travanix off, giving the defenders a chance to save RhyDin.

"Hail the Perses" thank them for the aid, but advise them we're not on a suicide mission, and neither should they be. I would not expect them to stay if they feel they can't get out in one piece. Nobody has time for a rescue mission." He grinned even while his gaze took in the severity of their situation. "Otherwise, we'll send some of our X-Wings to their aid. Ask them to please not fire upon them, even accidently. It would be " unavoidably, very bad."

"Aye sir! We're coming to the end of the ship. Orders?"

"Inform all craft Cloaking devices on. Now. Evasive maneuvers. Jump to secondary coordinates, right in the middle of their fleet, real close and personal to them. Send each craft the proper coordinates. Then launch a hundred more fighters in stealth, send them on a jump to lend a hand to our new neighbors. It's time for a little Priarie Doggin with the Phantom and TIE's while the first thirty take another stealth run on the Abyss. We have to get their shields and weapons down. It's like dealing with Orcs. Take out the big guy and the rest will follow. In the mean time, we'll play like a grenade in the middle of their armada".let them fire on us there!"

Alex knew that would certainly put a wrench into their tactics, not to mention take a chunk out of their defense fighters.

His crews were trained well, some with mind shields, others learned to pick their moves on the spur of the moment in order to thwart any mind reading techniques. Still others had magical capabilities to help shield their locations from other means of detections. Combat was something Exodians, especially those from Exodii City, were well versed in. And Alex was a Woodshadow at heart' a strong, powerful family with a long history in the art of infiltration and warfare.

"Aye sir."

And as quickly as the Armageddon and its X-Wing escort came to the end of the huge super star destroyer, they disappeared into the cover of their cloaking device, jumping from this location to another while Admiral Arrowny's orders were being carried out "..

"Your generic TIE grunt is just plain suicidal. And the TIE Defender jockey is bloodthirsty. But the TIE Interceptor pilot, he's suicidal and bloodthirsty. When you see a squad of those maniacs flying your way, you'd better hope your hyperdrive is operational." ~Kyle Katarn

The Admiral oversaw her Lord's orders with a ruthless efficiency. She was monitoring the action from the bridge. When Travanix orders were relayed to her. A reproving look was given to the Captain.

"Navia, You have been given a direct order. Either fulfill it or report to the Lord why you failed to do so."

The order came through for the transports.

"Bridge to Shuttle Bay....Green light has been given for the Walkers. Good Hunting, boys."

The Admiral watched the space battle with interest. Seems the other ships were joining destroyer on a suicide run. She watched the smaller ships form up for an attack. Interesting, aside from the more familiar ship designs of the aggressors, she could make out two distinct design patterns within the newcomer fleet.

"TIE Fighter Squadrons, Concentrate on the bigger ships." She noted the fighter squadron of an unknown configuration hitting the black and maneuvering into position. "Bridge to Control, Release the Interceptors. Have them target the newcomers."

There was a smirk on her lips as communications relayed the hail to her. "Not so fast, boys. What makes you think I want you to leave this party so soon."

She was reviewing the sensor data when the Admiral's voice came over the Comm.

"Commander Menyara, put a focus on the following coordinates. Relay your feeds to Death Viper Lead and have him send a wing to investigate."

The coordinates came across her console and her team was already focusing on those small figures spreading out towards the Vipers. She frowns at the energy readings. Visual confirms what she suspects. Too many missions with the Skulls to not know what those blips are.

"Parmenion to Minotaur, Got a squadron of bogies coming in hot and fast. Attack profile suggests interceptors." She shook her head. "Sensors are registering Ion engines and Energy Weapons. No Ballistics load outs."

She continued the scans on the enemy fleet, shaking her head as the hail came through to her station too. She already knew what the Admiral's response would be.

? He doesn't back down from a firefight.

"Sir, we've lost our bridge deflector shield!" ―An Executor bridge officer, during the Battle of Endor

Two, four, ten, fifty...one hundred x-wing fighters suddenly appeared around the Perses and their associate ships nearby. Care was taken to appear directly in line to intercept attacks from enemy fighters. The enemy attacks were deflected back upon them.

At the same time, the Armageddon appeared in the middle of the whole enemy armada. Several ships turned and began to fire upon them, but the Armageddon's shields deflected most of the attacks right back. The ships continued to try from every angle but it was always the same...right back at them again. And the Star Destroyer returned the fire.

Alex watched as the Abyss began to pull from lower orbit. Keen emerald hues narrowed upon the screen unphased by the jolt of fire power blasting against the shields. He released a low growl.

"Sir, they're launching transports to the surface from the other ...."

Alex frowned and concern laced his deep baritones. "I know. Walkers..."

He knew what that would mean for RhyDin.

"Pull fifty of our fighters from the Perses and have them help target those transports. They can't be allowed to reach the surface. The rest stay around the Perses to aid them. Pull twenty off the Abyss to do the same; take out as many transports as you can! Have the other ten punch through and take out the deflector shields on the Abyss with proton torpedoes. Tell them to aim directly at this particular point. I'll send the schematic." Alex entered in the schematic and coordinates for each tower. Being the exceptional engineer that he was, he knew exactly where to hit to make that structure buckle.

"That should do the trick. Tell them to make their shots count. They only have so many....We need to do some damage here...seriously. If they can take out the com tower, all the better."

He knew they would watch out for the tractor beam projectors. All they needed to do was line up and fall between the blind spots. It's was not much different from the Armageddon, just on a larger scale. But they had all been through that, drilled into each fighter pilot until they could find the blind spot in their sleep.

"Aye sir."

"Then inform the Perses of the transports. It's why we're pulling some of our fighters from them."

"Yes sir!", the Com officer relayed all this encrypting the messages to the fighters.

Twenty x-wings pulled from the attack on the Abyss and went in hot persuit of the transports. The other ten changed to proton torpedos from phaser fire and set course for the deflector shield towers on the top of the Abyss, five fighters on each tower. They came in hot, striaght up between the tractor beam blind spots and firing five proton torpedoes to each tower....

Fifty x-wings disappeared from around the Perses, jumping to closer coordinates on the transports and began firing.

The Armageddon continued to fight with the other ships who surrounded, outnumbered and appeared to outgun them....

"Admiral, begin powering up the super laser. Take out the largest ships. Let them know, we are no longer playing around."

"As you command." She said as the image clicked off. She activated the ship wide comm, "Fire Control, Power up the Super Laser. Target the Largest Ships."

She smiled as she continued issuing orders, "All fighters to your ships. I repeat, all fighters to your ships."

The Admiral stood at her station, clicking off the comm. "Helm, Keep her steady."

Those dark eyes watching the battle play out as the full power of the fleet was mobilized. Soon area around the cruisers was filling with X-wings of all types. All bloodthirsty and ready to fight.

She was monitoring the charge levels on the Super Laser. "Fire Control, Where is my guns?" She growled into the comm.

She listened dispassionately as the tech stammered. "Double time man, this is war, not a Tea party. I want the Super Laser online and ready yesterday."

She watched at the Inceptors moved to Engage the unknown group. She continued to monitor the subspace and smiled as the intel pegged the fighter group.

"Control, Redirect a squad of Phantoms to join the Interceptors. We don't want to disappoint our Guests. Kid gloves are off..."

"My Lord," coming from the communications pit, "Sir, the ship has completed 70% of its firing process and they are requesting orders. They also are passing along that Lord Pol has entered the Battle Mediation."

Travanix smirked to himself. "Relay, all pilots. Inform them to open fire on anything that approaches the transports. I do not want to lose anymore of those than is absolutly possible. Bring us around to mark ten. Open all batteries to that corvette. It will not stand another assult. Have all bombers begin moving on the ship that is trying to position itself infront of the Eclipse. Order them to begin targeting capital class ships. I want a ship destroyed after each recharge is complete."

He turned to the captain. "Order our secondary shields to come up. Launch the rest of the space troopers, have them bording ships." He turned back to the front display windows. "We are too close. Nothing will stop us now."

"Captain, sensors show an increased power output from the lead aggressor. Energy of a type consistent with weapons."

The feeds scroll across his screen, along with tactical information and an enhanced, three-dimensional view of the battlefield, thanks to the Seti's sensor feeds. He watches the overall scheme for a bit, paying attention to the way the ships are positioning themselves, the dance of tactics and strategy.

It doesn't take long for him to realize that the way the enemy is moving is far too coordinated for your everyday troops. In fact, they seem to be eerily reminiscent of Shivans, but for the designing of their ships being plainly human to his eyes - no other species he has ever seen prefers symmetry and sleek design like human beings do.

Some sort of telepathic control...you couldn't get this coordinated even with direct neural interface technology.

It's not the first time he's seen things like this, though he has no basis to prove that is the case. For now, it's just a hunch.

Fortunately, he records the feeds of each battle for later review, but right now, he has to ensure there is a later first.

He is just about to speak again when the officer at the sensor station calls out again. "Captain, we're picking up spatial distortions consistent with gravity wells emanating from the lead ships."

That gives him a moment of pause. This is something new, something he's never run across. Some sort of weapon, maybe?

Whatever it is, maybe it's something they can take advantage of to get out of here with their forces mostly intact.

He touches his console and sends a quick memo to the Admiral.

Finishing that, he turns to the comms station. "Get ready to issue the jump order."

Seventy x-wings continued persuit after the transports, firing along with the blasts being returned. There were many enemy fighters to contend with and like a swarm got in the way of the targets with no regard of their own lives. Even though they were dropping their attackers by the handfuls in any given moment, it was difficult for the x-wings to get a shot in on the transport targets. STill, a few of them went through straight and true.

"Minister Brian Ravenlock, hailing Armageddon II. This is Minister Brian Ravenlock of Rhy'Din, hailing the Armageddon II."

"Good to hear you Minister. I'm Admiral Alex Arrowny. My mother spoke fondly of you. Unfortunately she's no longer with us. She very well could be in the mix with the enemy...as the enemy. You have transports of enemy troops headed to the planet. We're trying to stop them. There's a lot of ships up here and few are on our side. We're being pulverized and it's going to get worse. Super Lasers are being charged and about to be used....I Highly recommend getting the hell out of RhyDin, regroup and go from there. You're welcome to use jumpgates to do so and seek refuge in Exodii. But if the way is blocked for you, use the shuttle I have at my property on the northeast side of town. I'll send you the address. Porthos will be there to help you. He'll fly the shuttle and bring you to Exodii. I don't know if those of us here can defeat them, which means....the planet is lost. It's not looking good. Brian, get what people you can and get out of there. Get out of the main governmental buildings. Now! They aren't safe. Town Hall could very well be next on the super laser list. Travanix planned this attack well. Do you copy' Get yourself to safety!" As he spoke, baritones deepened with intensity as Alex tried to get the point across. RhyDin was going to fall.

"Sir! They're targetting systems came online! They're about to fire!"

"All power to the shields! Now!"

All communications were cut as the Armageddon and the x-wings before the Perses prepared to withstand the fire of a super laser ...........

"Captain Moceanu, you have the conn. As soon as I give the order to depart, you are to jump out to the coordinates of the rest of the Fleet near the second gas giant in the system. No questions, no hesitation."

She didn't need to acknowledge the order. She started the jump sequences on her panel. A flick of her fingers and she was on the fleet wide comm.

"Attention GTVA Battle group, prepare jump sequence to the predetermine coordinates on Admiral Aldritch's Mark."

She was reigning in the storm within her, knowing they would have to leave the Marines on planet for the time being. She knew Bryan was up to his arse in alligators and there was not a damn thing she could do about it. She pushed aside those thoughts as she watched the view port. The alarms had her attention as one of the large enemy ships sliced through the Castor.

"Nikare, Report!" She barked out as she watched the scene in horror.

That mechanical sounding voice confirmed what she already knew, "The Castor has been destroyed. No survivors."

She was frowning, half fearing she was condemning the Marines on the ground to the same fate. She knew that Aldritch was thinking of protecting the bulk of their people. "Continue the jump preparations. We won't survive a direct hit from that canon." Fifteen hundred lives lost and no way to tell their loved ones back home. That was what she hated the most about this mission. "This is the Admiral. All GTVA ships depart for preset coordinates now. Captain Trentini, as soon as all of our ships have arrived but mine, you are weapons free."

"Engage!" She hit her panel, maneuvering the behemoth through the jump sequence. This was her baby, despite what William and Jacent thought and she would be damned if she lost her. She didn't like leaving anyone behind, but it was for the best.

The ships of the 157th made the subspace jumps with no impediment. She waited for the moment they were in real space, near the gas giant.

"Status report, people." She was issuing orders, "We're not out of this yet."

She looked out the view port to the gas giant and could only pray. He was her commanding officer and friend after all was said and done. "(vqw) Godspeed, Scorpion. You better come home in one piece, you crazy sonuvabitch."

Right now she could only sit and wait. She watched the Odysseus come into position at the ready.

The coordinates are downloaded at the same moment to all of the fighters in the fleet, and for a moment, a frown crosses his features. Transmitting on their own private datalinks is one thing, and it doesn't seem like the Admiral to try not to help their newest allies.

Until his sensors blink at him, showing a new fighter emerging from the Perses. The IFF shows it as a Pegasus fighter for a moment, before it gets shut off and the fighter fades from view of his sensors.

And from sight, more or less - the black anti-reflective coating of the fighter makes it all but invisible in the night of space, and the Scorpion in the cockpit makes it all the worse.

"All fighters, prepare to jump out."

And as the order is given, he pulls the lever that opens the subspace tunnel, seeing others doing the same...

...and moments later they emerge near the second gas giant in the planetary system, a violet-banded bloated behemoth of a planet, unringed.

He doesn't spare any time to take in the view, instead sending a signal to all the other remaining fighters to report.

Pulling up his mini console, he watches as the data scrolls across it, his eyes widening.

Two cruisers, both Vasudan, as well as the corvette Castor.

Of over five hundred fighters and bombers to have been deployed from the Perses and the Odysseus, there remain a little over three hundred fifty.

Godspeed to you, Scorpion. I hope you know what you're doing.

The Odysseus is the last ship to arrive at the rendezvous coordinates, and as the ship emerges from subspace, he starts his console timer.

This is a risky maneuver, but he knows the Admiral. The man isn't the kind of person to ask someone else to do something he wouldn't do himself.

And there really hadn't been enough time to brief a pilot on the job at hand.

His thoughts echo the sentiments of every senior officer of the fleet as he watches the timer count down to zero, at the same time sending encoded transmissions to the Heracles and the Amphiaraus.

I sure hope you know what you're doing, Admiral.

32...31...30...

~The GTD Odysseus~

...8...7...6...

If it all went according to plan, with the gravity wells that the bigger ships were projecting, the Admiral's fighter is right under the other ship whose fighters had come and gone like ghosts, even getting past the AWACS sensors.

It's a technology he'd like to give a good, long look over.

As the last seconds tick down, he tries to figure out why the ships were projecting gravity wells of that size. the only thing he can figure is that their method of FTL travel is either powered by gravity or else is blocked by it.

Not so with the way their ships travel - in fact, it enables the ships to slip in and out of subspace faster and more accurately...

4...3...2

He signals to the communications officer, who transmits the order to the two Terran destroyers.

Begin firing sequence.

~The GTD Heracles and GTD Amphiaraus~

As the order comes through, both of the Terran Hecate destroyers begin deploying six oddly-shaped craft.

When the 157th task force had been sent out, each of the largest capital ships had been loaded with twenty Meson warheads, except for the Perses, which had been loaded with four.

Self destruct charges, they had been told.

A way to destabilize intersystem nodes by creating a subspace cataclysm and thus sealing their home systems away from whatever dangers might lie beyond their known territories.

Unspoken was another tactic - that should they find the core of the Shivan people, they do their best to cripple or destroy that species.

No such occurrence ever came about, however. They had, however, found other uses and improvisations for the tremendous, cataclysmically destructive warheads.

What flies out from the fighterbays of the Heracles and Amphiaraus is one of those improvisations.

The Erinyes fighters that had been fused to the back of the steel-gray cage-like structure encasing a brilliant blue orb were the best option for this. Never mind that they were destroyed, and so except for a guidance system, shields and the engines, they had been stripped down to nearly nothing.

Two seconds after each of these is deployed, they enter subspace...

~over Rhy'Din~

...1...0

All around the gargantuan destroyer, ranging from a thousand to two thousand meters from the hull, blossoms of watery blue light, an even dozen of them, appear in a helical pattern with the massive ship as its center. Within each of the subspace bombs, the guidance system comes to life, and in an instant uplink with the closest signal to them. Within moments each orients itself and the engines overload into afterburner, sending them hurtling towards their target.

"This is Scorpion Lead of the GTVA Perses to the ship identifying itself as the Armageddon II. On my mark you will have 20 seconds to get your fighters at least 3500 meters away from the lead aggressor ship."

As the Armegeddon and the others braced with enhanced shielding for the blast, they were pleased to find the blast never came at them. With no blast came no drain on resources that would put them out for more then a few seconds. Communications were the first back in line.

Alex raised a brow with all that was going on. The x-wings that were with the Perses were left behind as the others jumped away. They were able to recover quickly as well and moved swiftly back to the Armageddon II.

"Understood, Scorpion. Let us know if we can assist."

The signal for the mark was noted. He knew it was time to prepare.

"Sir, X-wings from the Perses are lining up for docking."

"Good. Tell the rest to continue to attack the transports for as long as they can. Then jump home. Prepare the crew for jump ourselves."

"Aye Sir. What of the rest on the Abyss?"

He was about to answer that very question when all hell broke loose with them. The fighters swarming around those on the Abyss finally cut them off from each other. Seven were destroyed by the onslaught of suicide runners. There was just no escape and no time to jump out of the way. Gravity wells were not as effective on their technology with jump capability as the Abyss would probably have liked it to be. The last three braved a run at the other shield towers. One made it through with a suicide attack on that last remaining shield tower. The last two were finally able to jump, returning back to the Armageddon as they flew into the landing bays. None of them had ever seen fighter pilots move like they were moving before.

"Armageddon II, this is Scorpion Lead of the GTVA Perses. Requesting permission to dock."

"Granted, Scorpion. And hurry it up! We're about to jump!"

The Scorpion was able to get into the ship just as the Armageddon II cloaked and jumped from their position to another in the Exodii System. They were currently unaware of the locale of the other ally ships.

"Maybe next time, sweetheart."

There was a lone response as that Hunter pulled up and spiraled with a precision that spoke of experience behind the stick. A lone response....purring with a deceptive softness.

"Count on it, Hotshot..."

To her it was not a irritation, but a challenge. She had never been tested fully against an opponent such as the one that demonstrated his abilities against the fleet this day. It was going to be a true challenge to get the better of him.

Bring the Rain...

She took her Hunter into the black to survey the damage. The Dark Lords were protected, but she was far from pleased that their technology was not up to par on these new threats.

"Sandral to Navia....I want all the debris that can be found harvested and analyzed. I want answers fast. We need to learn more about this new element. I don't want any further surprises."

She was navigating back to the Abyss through the debris fields. She was a commander that believed in being on the front lines.

"Sandral to Abyss, on approach vector. Transmitting Authorization codes."

As the codes were accepted, the Sleek Hunter closed up it's S-Foils and glided into the bay to land.

The Lords were going to be greatly displeased.

~ The Perses ~

The waiting had begun. It would only be a matter of time before their position was discovered. She flipped on the fleet-wide comm.

"Attention GTVA Battle group. I want a damage report on all ship, stat. Fleet is in Battle Condition Red until further notice. Parmenion, get me a sensor sweep of the planet. I want to know how our boys are doing."

She was pissed that she had to leave men behind, doubly so since it was Bryan and his people. If anyone could pull off a miracle, it was him. "Seti, I want a sensor sweep of where that jackhole's ship disappeared from. I want to know the instant that the Admiral is back in realspace."

She treated all unknown's as hostile until she had proof otherwise. Kept her ship safer that way.