Hmmm no replies maybe not a good omen
The Long Road to Victory
It had been a month since the offensive against the Earth alliance had begun and thousands on both sides had died in the assault. Praetor Leonidas paced the halls of his palace on Icara and read the flexy pads in his hand with a stressed glint in his eyes, he would be making his speach to the Icaran population in a few moments and he was unsure of how his people would feel, he knew they were loyal to him and would follow his orders to the Last but he was afraid that they would lose hope.
"My Lord Praetor your on, please the camera crews and writers are here." A young woman shrank behind her notepad as Leonidas looked at her, picking up on her fear Leonidas gently smiled at her and in a soft voice thanked her as he walked towards the press room.
As he walked into what was more like a grand hall then a press room Leonidas noticed that there were many aliens in the news teams and remembered reluctantly that these aliens only added billions more citizens that he would have to care for. As he stepped up to the podium and the holo scanner registered his image and projected it all accross the Human portion of Icara the camera crews from the other parts of the Empire focused.....then the hall fell silent and Leonidas cleared his throat softly and began to speak.
"My fellow Icarans one month ago the brave soldiers and spacers led the starting offensive of the first Star Crusade. Unique among the history of Icara was that not only Humans took part in this offensive but an entire regiment of Borbora soldiers was launched with the first fleet....among this advance in culture the first of our Imperial Storm Troopers struck an Earth world with the full might of our glorious empire, they suffered the fewest casualties of any unit involved in the invasion and if this trend continues it may be some day that all Imperial Guard forces have detachments of Storm Troopers, bringing about a new age of military technology and making our Guard regiments even more the bane of those who would appose the will of Icara!" as Leonidas waited for these words to sink in he rubbed his right hand through his grey hair and thought for a moment.
"Our Crusade against the Earth Alliance is not just to bring Icaran rule to the galaxy freeing our people from the constant struggle of war against these alien races and our ancient Earth enemies but it will finally give our people true and undeniable victory over our enemies and bring peace throughout this galaxy. A long War is ahead of us and those brave crusaders that right now fight accross the planets of our enemy to bring YOU MY PEOPLE......OUR SONS OUR DAUGHTERS RIGHT NOW FIGHT not for me, not for my rule, or my sainthood but for you my brave and loyal people! They fight and die for you so I ask you now, join the service, join the workforces of industry and support our soldiers and spacers in their goal to bring you victory, to bring us all out of this long night of strife and death into a new age of peace and prosperity where our worlds are guarded by the largest and most honorable military ever formed!"
The Icarans were a warrior people and no one knew this better then their Praetor, he thought to himself that millions or maybe even billions would die in this horrible war but by sheer force of will he would make sure that it was the Last his people would have to face for generations.
The praetor answered a few questions and then calmly stepped off the podium and towards a squad of his golden armored storm troopers who escorted him to his waiting transport.
The Crusade Continues
In the Xillantha system the 1st fleet continued it's advance against the Earth Alliance, in one month they had lost 2 starships, 50 bombers and 10 storm troopers which made Fleet Admiral Shimizawa more then a little concerned for the stability of his fleet and it's ability to conquer the remaining Earther colonies within the Empire.
Scanning only a single weapons platform he ordered just one base ship named Hotspur foward to remove the weapons platform and allow the 1st Cadian regiment to prove themselves in battle. Although personally he did not fully trust the loyalty of these alien Borbora he would never question an Imperial order passed down from the Praetor himself.
As Shimizawa watched the Hotspur make it's approach he was shocked by the sheer firepower that the single Earth platform put out....however when the Hotspur came in range his shock only increased when he realized that the powerful Wave motion guns of the Hotspur were not enough to destroy the earth weapons platform. When he saw the counter fire from the surface Shimizawa grimmaced, as the beams lanced from the surface of the Earther world they cut massive gashes in the hull of the Hotspur taking down it's weapons and killing 200 crewmen.
"Damnit all, send forward two more base ships NOW! damnit take some fire off of the Hotspur before she's destroyed."
A very angry fleet Captain Michael Chen barked out orders to the captains of two of the fleet's base ships. Although he and Shimizawa had both come from the world of Mandow and was familiar with the reasons for the Admiral's tactics he had previously warned his Admiral that they should advance with at least three warships from the start yet the Admiral's unwillingness to listen cost the lives of 200 spacers...
Watching grimly as the enemy platform opened up on the new threats Admiral Shimizawa ordered the 1st Cadians to advance even though his ships had not yet cleared the platform arrogantly beleiving that his base ships could do anything if given the chance.
Fortunately for the thousands of soldiers aboard the three advancing ships Shimizawa was correct in his bold plan and the platform was destroyed quickly enough by the wave motion guns and the 1st Cadians were able to drop on the surface.
Bravely clearing out the Earth soldiers and leading many bloody charges against the Planetary defenders clearing out nest after nest of the enemy warriors leading to a swift and brutal victory over the Earthers.
But all of the men and women of the fleet knew that this was only the begining and that yet more planetary offensives against the Earthforce soldiers laid ahead and that when they were finished cleansing Icaran space of Earth colonies they would join Grand Admiral Thadius in the main Crusade against the rest of the Earth Empire....many wondered rather hopelessly whether or not they had any chance of survival in a war that seemed so overwhelming in it's scope when the odds seemed so great against them.
The true question was, would Icara win through and bring a new stability to the universe or would they fall before their ancient enemy and hundreds of billions of their people die and their civiliation be forgotten or worse played up to be evil?
________
Another chapter to follow when I can
So far the war goes well but most of their fleet still remains hidden from my view and I am sure that many of my outer colonies will fall which is why I evacuated them of billions of people and created an entire sphereworld just for them.
And by outer colonies I mean worlds that are dozens of jumps away from my empire...these guys were just a bunch of aliens that surrendered to me.
Oh and please tell me what you think okay?
[ February 26, 2004, 04:27: Message edited by: Starhawk ]