From the Begining New Chapter Added (9/12/06)

[Starhawk]

2436.4 The Alliance Fractures:
It was a bright sunny day on Icara when the shuttles carrying the Christiran and ECA ambassadors landed at the space port, a thousand army soldiers and two State Security brigades had been turned out to escort the two men and their entourages to the Imperial Palace.
The two ambassadors were loaded onto separate APCs and placed in the center of an armored brigade as the procession of troops and vehicles proceeded down the miles of streets from the spaceport.

The trip its self took only thirty minutes but once the APCs and their escorts had reached the sprawling palace grounds an armored column under the control of the Praetor’s own regiment took control of the APCs and their passengers and after thorough inspection continued on until they reached the very gates of the Palace.

Praetor Rodrick the second sat calmly at his desk as he watched the holo display on his desk as images of the two Ambassadors as they were led to separate waiting rooms, a moment later a quiet knock on the door pulled Rodrick’s attention away from the display. The young Praetor looked up with a smile as his assistant; Lieutenant Sally Reece walked in with a folder under one arm. She was a few years older then he and was absolutely stunning to the young man, even though he never saw her in anything but the drab green and gray army uniform. She smiled back and handed her Praetor the folder.
“The two ambassadors are here sir, they say they will only speak with you however, these are their files that the Shadow daggers were able to pull, would you like me to summarize highness?” she said sweetly.
“Sure Sally.” He said as he opened the folder and flipped casually through the flexis
“We believe the EAC has become disheartened with the rest of the alliance that we previously thought was dominated by the Andermanians, apparently it’s actually a Mantisoran alliance and though the Mantys have the largest military force of their alliance they have not provided aid for any of their fellow members against us. The ECA has suffered crushing losses against the 2nd fleet and apparently has had enough, they are probably here to try and negotiate a treaty, however the Intelligence service believes we should settle for nothing less then absolute surrender.” Sally smiled again as she saw the smirk on Rodrick’s face, the Shadow Dagger agents that had gotten into the Mantisoran Alliance members had suspected that the Earth Corps wouldn’t last much longer, their economy was collapsing because of the burden placed upon it by the military requirements of the allies.

“Okay so that’s what he’s here for what about the Christiran Republican, we haven’t had much contact with them at all and we know they aren’t members of the Manty alliance.” Rodrick asked as he tossed the ECA fleci aside.
“Sir the Mantisorans have been taking advantage of their war against us to annex territories within Christiran space, the Republic’s own military has been caving in under the pressure, odds are they’re coming here to seek Protectorate status, again the Shadow daggers believe we should force them into a complete absorption into the Empire thus bringing two Star Nations into the Empire without a shot being fired.
Reece briefed the Praetor on each of the ambassadors that was waiting in the palace and exactly what the Empire held over their respective nations, by the end of the day both the ECA and the Christiran Republic were forced to sign “treaties” that amounted to nothing less then absolute assimilation by and surrender to the Icaran Empire. That day over a hundred billion people and over a hundred new starships were added to the Empire.

[rdouglass]

The story is coming along nicely IMO. I like the characters and the development of them so far (although I've kinda' lost track of some of the earlier characters.)

[Starhawk]

"Where are they Now"

Okay Rdouglas here's where the "early" main characters are:

Sandra Fowler (killed in battle along with her entire SD division) I was actually very said to let her go but I promised myself that if a main character's ship is destroyed then I wouldn't always have them survive heroically.

William Jefferson Ross: He's in command of the 3rd fleet which combined with the 1st and 2nd fleets has gone on the offensive against the Andermanian Alliance, His fleet actually will have a chapter about a recent battle, for that matter so will the 1st and 2nd as since i've stepped up the offensives once again I've had quite a few battles.

Yu Lin Pe/Ross: She's currently in command of the home fleet which is tasked with retaking the worlds posessed by other nations within the Icaran Empire's borders, she's also in command of the 3 Stormtrooper regiments assigned to the Home Fleet.

Praetor Leonidas: He's dead, killed in a nova in the Sadalmelek system while on an inspection tour of the conquered provinces. His son Rodrick is now in charge of the Empire.

Tyson Babcoock, still in command of 1st fleet you'll be seeing him again very soon as the 1st fleet had a space battle that i'm going to post up.

[rdouglass]

Thanks for the update.

Praetor Leonidas: He's dead, killed in a nova in the Sadalmelek system while on an inspection tour of the conquered provinces. His son Rodrick is now in charge of the Empire.

Yay! I like Rodrick better. I'm very interested in whether he's gonna' be a good guy or bad guy. At this point he could go either way IMO. I like that; makes for an interesting character IMO. The ol' human emotional conflict and all that stuff.

Thanks for some good reads.

[Starhawk]

2436.9 Bloodshed in Starlight
The orders from the Praetorian palace had arrived just two days ago and Admiral Patrick Raley, commander 2nd fleet hadn’t slept since, the orders were clear, the 1st 2nd and 3rd fleets were to retake the offensive and begin invading even further into Andermanian territory.
The 2nd fleet was currently holding position in Gamma Omicron, where Raley was supposed to rendezvous with the three dozen or so former ECA superdreadnougts that were currently undergoing refit, Raley found it strange that their first station had been in H’Athor system, until the orders came down to leave, which was oddly perfect because less then a week after the 2nd fleet had left the system it’s sun mysteriously went nova and turned the entire system into a nebulae, destroying 86 Andermanian ships and killing over a billion former ECA citizens in the process.
Raley suspected that the “incident’ was a shadowdagger operation of some sort but one did not investigate such matters if one wanted to remain in the light of day, and besides that at least whatever happened his fleet and his people had been spared from it.
An ear piercing shriek jerked Admiral Raley out of his chain of thoughts and caused him to nearly fall flat on his butt as his chair swung out from under him as he jerked to his feet and ran for the com panel.
A worried face appeared on the screen a moment later and Raley’s heart leapt into his throat as he caught a glimpse of the tactical plot behind the young woman on the screen.
“Admiral please come to the bridge, we have an Andermanian battlefleet in system, we count only 15 but we have strong reason to suspect cloaked warships in the mix, either that or they have the biggest balls of any Andermanian fleet I’ve ever seen sir.” The young woman blushed slightly as she realized she had said the latter statement aloud.
“Alright Ensign thank you I’ll be right there, and your damned right that if they don’t have a cloaked contingent with them they’ve got balls the size of New Icara.” Raley grinned as he switched off the com and went to don his vacsuit.

A few minutes later Patrick Raley emerged into the controlled chaos of a Warship’s bridge as it’s crew prepared for battle, Raley noticed with pride that though the bridge was chaotic the disciplined silence of an Imperial Navy crew.
His fleet and the enemy’s were on a constant acceleration towards one another which tended to confirm his suspicions that the enemy had some cloaked warships with them, no commander, not even an Andermanian would charge a fleet that was over five times their own size unless of course they were suicidal or had some vastly superior technology which was unlikely.
The two fleets continued closing in on one another for over six hours before the Andermanians finally tipped their hat.
“I have 24 ships decloaking dead ahead Admiral!” The chief tactical officer sang out as the master plot lit up with 24 new objects, all armed super dreadnoughts….so it was a trap after all, Raley thought to himself as he watched the range marker tick down.
“Estimated time to Weapons range tactical?” Raley said calmly as he returned to his command chair and adjusted his vac suit.
“Three zero seconds sir, but they’re going to be moving slow enough by that point to fire their weapons while we still finish our deceleration maneuvers.” The tactical officer said grimly, in this era of I-Laser weaponry getting the first shot of in a battle could easily mean the difference between life and death, for at least some of his people today was going to be their last and it was going to end before they were even in firing position, somehow Raley felt as if he had failed his entire fleet, because if everyone of those ships had I-Lasers then at least 15 of his ships would be destroyed.
The range quickly dropped and space erupted in a light show as the entire Andermanian task force opened fire at once, HMS Ferret and HMS Reverence were torn apart almost immediately though Reverence got lucky and managed to eject a handful of escape pods from her wrecked hull before what was left of her power plant went critical and turned the once proud starship to nothing but a cloud of debris.
“Admiral Imperius is breaking apart, she’s ejecting life pods, Zander as well.” The com officer’s voice was almost robotic in its professionalism but Raley could also hear the bitter tone as he watched yet another light code wink out, this time it was Grasshopper followed swiftly by Force of Arms and Alora even with this grotesque display unfolding on his screen Patrick Raley could not help but feel his spirits rise as he realized that the majority of the enemy’s warships were equipped with nothing more powerful then old style Anti-proton beams, by their power it looked like it was 12th generation but they were still no where near as deadly as I-Lasers would have proven.
“Admiral we are in firing position all gunnery crews have targets.” The tactical officer sang out.
“All guns, all commands open fire, I repeat open fire!” Raley had to force himself not to scream the order as he could finally bring an end to this intolerable abuse his ships were receiving, unfortunately it was too late for Hispannia II as her hull was burned and torn by anti-proton beams, her sole remaining engine put the last ounce of energy that she had into accelerating the battered ship away from the battle.
The Imperial counter fire was far deadlier for both weight of guns and the fact that the entire Imperial 2nd fleet was I-Laser armed, in short order the Andermanian battle line was turned into expanding spheres of Plasma and wreckage as the I-lasers tore through hull and shield like a wolf through a sheep’s hide. Seven Andermanian combat superdreadnoughts survived long enough to score a second salvo against the Icarans and Katana vanished in a ball of fire as Andermanian I-lasers rent her hull, Enchanter was set adrift as her own hull was shredded by Anti-proton beams, over four thousand of her crew died in the fires and explosions that turned her into little more then a drifting hulk.
The remaining ships scored damaging blows against [/i]California, Hathor,[/i] and Trafalgar as well but nothing as severe as had happened to their comrades.
Raley felt an emotion he had not been aware of before, even as he watched so many of his ships devastated by enemy fire, he felt a swell of absolute hatred, of loathing and contempt for the Andermanian crews and to his shame he felt a near glee as he saw the last Andermanian combat superdreadnought vanish in fire and death. Eight superdreadnoughts remained but they were mere minesweepers and the Icaran guns butchered them like cattle in a matter of moments.
An hour after the engagement that would go down as the First Battle of Gamma Omicron, Patrick Raley knelt silently by his bed and prayed to God for the strength to go on and for God’s forgiveness, Raley had fought in the tale end of the Phong crusades and had seen the bloodshed and devastation wrought by his beloved Empire, and he had known even then that he like all soldiers was a butcher, trained to lead young men and women into battle to kill other young men and women, the Phong were different they were Xenos, not worth tears, but the Andermanians though genetically engineered and considered “Mutants” by the State Church were human and nearly ten billion of them and their allies had died already, yet still they fought on. Raley hoped God would forgive him and mankind for the butchery and slaughter they brought upon one another, and though Raley would never doubt his Empire’s divine right to rule mankind he felt that he would go to his grave with the fear that he had done wrong and that when he met his God he would be branded a murder for eternity.
As the Commander of the 2nd fleet finished his prayer and rose once again to his feet he felt the weight lift from his shoulders ever so slightly, but he also felt his hatred of the Andermanians pass like a cool breeze and found it grudgingly replaced by a pseudo respect, for the Andermanians did what any Icaran would do, they fought tooth and nail, never giving up even when death was the only option, then Raley felt a dread of sorts come over him, Icara found in the Anderman and Mantisorans something they had not encountered in centuries, enemies that would not yield until they’re very nation was broken and dead in front of them, and that meant that this war was just heating up.


First Battle of Gamma Omicron 2nd fleet engages and destroys Andermanian fleet of 31 SDs and 8 Battleships:

Icaran Casualty List:
HMS Ferret (SD) Destroyed (6,100 dead)
HMS Alora (SD) Destroyed (6,100 dead)
HMS Reverence (SD) Destroyed (5,932 dead)
HMS Zander (SD) Destroyed (5,812 dead)
HMS Force of Arms (SD) Destroyed (6,100 dead)
HMS Grasshopper (SD) Destroyed (6,100 dead)
HMS Imperius (SD) Destroyed (5,210 dead)
HMS Katana (SD) Destroyed (6,000 dead)
HMS Trafalgar (SD) 59% damage (1,500 dead)
HMS California (SD) 30% damage (800 dead)
HMS Hathor (SD) 67% damage (2,300 dead)
HMS Hispania II (SD) 89% damage (5,140 dead)
HMS Enchanter (SD) 84% damage (4,560 dead)
Total Casualties: 61,654 dead
Overall Andermanian Crusade Casualties: 197,301 dead

The Remorhaz Front:
Admiral Tyson Babcock and the 1st fleet had begun the invasion of the Cyrilla system and since then they had conquered four worlds, now reduced to three as a Remorhaz squadron bombarded the one from orbit, completely destroying it and in the process killing 26 million of their own citizens.
The Remorhaz People’s Republic had been encountered a few years ago but had proven again and again that they were not worth contact on an official basis, their “Republic” was small and economically bankrupt not to mention technologically backwards as proven by the fleet they had just used to exterminate their own people.
“Sir I count eleven destroyers, three light cruisers, a single super dreadnought and three assault carriers.” The tactical officer reported confidently as she checked her sensor readings once again.
“Excellent Lieutenant then this should prove little more then target practice for our troops.” Babcock folded his hands behind his back and smiled at his crew, the RPR would prove little more then an annoyance to his fleet, and Icara would easily prevail in an engagement with such a two bit nation.

The battle began and ended in a single trade of broadsides, the Remorhaz fleet fired their missiles and broke wide to open the range, the single Super dreadnought in their midst closed in on an Imperial Superdreadnought and used her null space cannons to cripple the Icaran, killing two thousand of her crew in the process, the Remorhazian did not live long enough to celebrate her hit however as the Bear turned it’s wroth upon her.
The Superior destroyed four of the enemy destroyers in a single broadside as did another super dreadnought, the dreadnought Neptune scored her kill on one of the three assault carriers and moments later the last Remorhaz ship had been destroyed, the last traces of their fleet the dozens of escape pods trying to flee the wreckage of the carriers, there were no survivors from the other ships.

Total Andermanian Crusade Losses for Icaran Military: 199,301 dead

The Mantis Front
Admiral William Jefferson Ross watched from the deck of his flagship as Corellian VIII fell to his fleet, his invasion of Mantisoran space had begun with Corellian X and now led to VIII his ground forces had taken the only action of the battles so far as there had not even been a single Mantis warship to engage the 3rd fleet on it’s march to conquest.
Even as Ross acknowledged yet another conquest under his belt in the name o the Icaran Empire he could not help but realized how much he missed his beloved wife, Lin who was even now hundreds of light years away leading the home fleet on a mission of conquest of it’s own against the worlds within the Empire that were held by other nations. It had been nearly a year since he had seen her and he still remembered their last passionate night with a fire in his eye, but for all it’s passion it had still been nearly a year since he had seen Lin in person, held her in his arms and told her he loved her in person. Letters were just not enough and he longed for the day when the wars were all over and he could take Lin back to Icara and start a family with her. His spirits rose as he realized that this conquest brought him one step closer to that goal, and he silently swore that h would not rest until the Andermanian Alliance was crushed beneath Icaran jackboots, he would fight the wars alone if that’s what it took to see his beloved wife again.

[Starhawk]

It's time for another Footnote in Icaran stuff!!

Attached is a file containing the 3 Icaran Navy Duty uniforms, army uniforms are pretty much the same except the tunic is green with black trim and the pants are a kacky color.
Marines wear similar uniforms, except for the trim being black and the pants being a midnight blue instead of black.

[Starhawk]

2437.2 What Duty Requires:
Star Admiral William Ross, commander of one of three “subjugation fleets” currently deployed by the ever expanding Icaran Empire had fast risen to the epic status of “Champion of the People” as his achievements grew, he commanded the first interstellar warship/explorer in Imperial history and had since taken part in dozens of battles and three Crusades against both Xeno and Human as the decades passed, and now the Empire expected him to win for them yet another conquest, this time it was the Corellian system which fell under the control of the powerful Mantis Star Kingdom.
What the people did not generally know about William Ross was that his conquests and epic victories cost him dearly on a personal level, he had seen thousands of men and women under his command or in his fleets die, he had seen the death of his Wife’s father and the serious injury of her brother that put him planet side three years ago. He was a Royal Navy officer, and by his very nature was a warrior, but being a man who commanded hundreds of thousands of soldiers, spacers, and marines had finally given him the chance to really affect the outcome of the Andermanian Crusade which had engulfed practically the entire galaxy and when that war ended his greatest desire was not glory, promotion or power, it was simply to return to Lin and raise children.
At the moment however Ross sat in the command chair of an Imperial superdreadnought named Damocles in command of a subjugation fleet that was even now bearing down on Corellian II, he had seen two other worlds fall before him with little resistance and Ross hoped and prayed that this time would be like the last, though for some reason he could not explain his gut kept cramping.
Ross watched the planet for a long moment before turning to his com officer and nodding for her to bring up the pre-selected channel.
“4th 6th and 7th divisions are to close on target and lay down any suppression fire required, 3rd division is to hold in reserve, all other formations are to join the main battle line and stay outside of weapons range, 1st Kyra regiment will be tasked with taking this planet…..Godspeed and good luck.” Ross had discussed the invasion plans in depth with his division commanders for the last two days and he knew that he could count on each and everyone of them to carry out their duties without the need for the jibber some commanders would have added.

Time seemed to pass agonizingly slowly as the three SD divisions and 1st Kyra regimental transport approached their target, minutes seemed like hours and Ross felt his stomach cramping with a nervous feeling he had never felt before, something just didn’t seem right and no matter how he tried to shake it the feeling of fear remained and after eight minutes of the assault groups approach not even an enemy fighter had been launched which simply increased his nerves for some reason.
“OH MOTHER OF GOD!” someone blurted and Ross jerked back to the present in time to hear the sound of a gloved hand smacking against someone’s face
“Silence!” the officer bellowed and for a moment Ross was baffled until he looked up at the main display screen and saw a stomach turning sight.
Out of seemingly nowhere dozens of massive purple beams lashed out at the strike force and like some beast of legend they touched upon the entire lead division, the 4th with a fury that seemed impossible…..and indeed would have been impossible for any ship mounted weapons…..as the six lead ships of the strike force exploded and shredded under the fire of the massive batteries comprehension swiftly dawned on Ross.
“Planetary weapons platforms!” he blurted, louder then he had intended, and looked around his bridge to see a stunned crew, and one young enlisted man holding the side of his face where a big hand shaped red mark where the chief tactical officer had smacked him.
“Com, order the reserve division forward, main line of battle is to get underway as well, pass on orders for the strike group to fire on planetary targets as necessary, I don’t care if they have to turn that planet to cinders.” Ross turned to the chief tactical officer and glared a moment, showing his displeasure at the officer’s reaction to the young man’s moment of indiscretion, Ross remembered his first real battle and remembered that he blurted some things he would rather not have, and he knew more then anyone that professionalism must remain, but not at the price of humiliating a man who simply spoke aloud what they were all thinking.
“Advanced forces are returning fire on planetary targets Admiral, reserve division and main battle line are closing in as well but I don’t think we’ll make it before the remaining platforms fire again.” Tactical officer Ramirez said quietly as she read off the numbers on her small tactical plot.
The screens showed a relay from the flagship of the 7th division as the strike group’s surviving ships opened fire on the planet’s surface, trying to carve through the massive shield generators guarding the weapons platforms, the camera suddenly shook and the screen went purple as the planetary weapons fired once again, Cain was visible in the camera’s view as she broke in half like a toy ship as the beams cut into her armored hull with incredible ease. Another flash on screen and a shattered gun turret could be seen drifting into the camera’s range followed by other wreckage.
The 3rd division had finally closed the range and added their own firepower to that of the four survivors from the strike group, moments later the entire main battle line opened fire and completely destroyed the planetary defense platforms as well a several Mantis army bases.
Ross sat back in his command chair, the fleet had obeyed its orders to the letter the second the military bases and weapon platforms were destroyed they had ceased fire but as he sat in and watched the now helpless world just hovering there, it had been there since the dawn of time and yet it was so fragile to the weapons man had created, and on his whim Ross could order the surface of that beautiful blue jewel into a wasteland of death and wreckage, for the first time in his life Ross felt tempted to order just that as he saw the massive casualty list coming in from his strike group, the men and women he had sent in to their deaths…..the Star Admiral clenched his hands into fists and turned to his com officer, fighting everything his heart was screaming at him to do “Order the 1st Kyra to drop immediately take out any remaining military units on the planet, and execute all local government officials.” Ross ordered harshly.

The battle of Corellian II had been a success and was broadcast throughout the empire as a dramatic victory in the name of the glorious Icaran Empire, yet to Ross it seemed a bitter failure, as the casualty list confirmed his fears, two and 1/3 superdreadnought divisions had been totally destroyed, and because of the sheer power and shock cased by the planetary weapons batteries there hadn’t been a single survivor from the destroyed ships, 85,400 young men and women died in the fifteen minutes that the “battle” had lasted, the single greatest military loss of life in decades and the single greatest loss of ships since the Phong crusade.
That night Star Admiral William Ross went to his quarters and wept as he wrote the general condolence letters that would be relayed to the thousands of families who had lost children, parents, and spouses this bloody day, the computer would fill in the names of the dead and mail them to the appropriate places and no doubt the fourteen ships lost this day would be added to the Imperial wall of the fallen and there would likely be memorial ceremonies on the lost ship’s christening worlds, but still nothing would make up for the loss the families, friends and lovers of the fallen would feel.

Casualty List:
HMS Sao Paulo (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Perganum (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Cain (SD) (6,100 Dead)
HMS Advanced Carnage (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Belenus (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Gryphon (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Songbird (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Mt Mckinley (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Santa Maria (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Hunter (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Lanokota (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Kilcranke (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Delowese (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Nemesis (SD) (6,100 dead)
Total Casualties: 85,400
Andermanian Crusade Casualties: 282,701

[Starhawk]

Story above

The Imperial wall of the Fallen:
HMS Anasazi
HMS Blackbird
HMS Catherine
HMS Cairo
HMS Hawkwing
HMS Raven
HMS Samson
HMS Sumter
HMS Tyrant
HMS Warden
HMS Lunar
HMS Typhoon
HMS Behemoth
HMS Hades
HMS Justin
HMS Katana
HMS Imperius
HMS Grasshopper
HMS Force of Arms
HMS Zander
HMS Reverence
HMS Alora
HMS Ferret
HMS Nemesis
HMS Sao Paulo
HMS Perganum
HMS Cain
HMS Advanced Carnage
HMS Belenus
HMS Gryphon
HMS Songbird
HMS Mt Mckinley
HMS Santa Maria
HMS Hunter
HMS Lanokota
HMS Kilcranke
HMS Delowese
HMS Halsey
2 SDs who's names have been lost to history

[Starhawk]

2438.0 The Difficult Decisions
Admiral William Ross of the 3rd subjugation fleet sat in disgrace on his bridge, no one could have expected the Mantis navy to mobilize over a hundred ships so quickly to counter his operations in Corellian but they had, and in a matter of a month had destroyed all three of the other worlds that his fleet had fought for and killed over three hundred million of their own citizens in order to deny them to the Empire.
It had been decided by the Imperial command that the 3rd fleet had failed its mission and that there was no point continuing operations in that region of space, no one could blame him for that but still somehow Ross felt the failure like a ton of bricks on his back, not only had he suffered the heaviest casualties in any single engagement in decades but now he had to make even that costly victory nothing more then ash as he ordered his fleet for the warp point into the Risa system where the warp point back to Lacerta would be opened for his fleet to get out, and then it would be closed for decades at least so that the fabric of space in Lacerta would be safe.
“GFG sails set, warp jump in five seconds, system transition in ten….all hands brace for jump.” The ship’s sailing master’s voice echoed throughout the corridors of the Damocles as the swirling blue warp point grew on the screen, of course the warp point was actually invisible in real space but thanks to Icaran technology the ship’s sensors bombarded the warp point with particles that made it visible to the ship’s visual sensors which then translated the data into a simulated image of what a warp point “looked like”.
For a moment time seemed to freeze as the ship’s sails pulled her into the warp point, then the typical blueish green flash that followed initial pull, all of these Ross knew well but then as the ship returned to N-Space something that hadn’t happened to him in years happened……jump shock, pure bred jump shock which rendered several of his bridge crew, most of whom hadn’t even been born when jump shock was still “just a part of the job” into vomiting quivering masses on the deck.
“What the hell happened Sailing master!?” Ross bellowed as the nausea subsided
“I don’t know sir a massive shockwave followed us through the warp point….” The sick looking sailing master whimpered as he clutched his stomach for a moment as it recovered from the initial shock.
“Sir I’m getting hails from all over the fleet, they all are reporting similar cases of jump shock and a massive energy reading that the sensors recorded during warp jump.” The com officer- a young Spartan man- didn’t even look flustered by the jump shock as he listened intently to the messages pouring in from the 3rd fleet’s startled officers.
“Send a probe back through that warp point before we proceed on to Lacerta.” Ross kept his voice calm and level as he watched his crew quickly bounce back into their duties, and others cleaning up the decks with embarrassed looks. Ross hid a sigh, modern warships never bothered giving out the jump shock injections that he had during his days aboard the old destroyer Enterprise because the newest GFGs rendered jump shock a thing of the past, now the most you got was a slight quirk in your stomach as the ship returned to normal space.
“Admiral! Something’s wrong sir, the probe isn’t showing anything in Corellian anymore, no sun, no planets, nothing!” The tactical officer looked up from her console, clearly shocked by the readings the probe was giving back.
Ross felt his heart race for a moment as he suddenly realized what that shockwave must have been “Run a scan for debris, large asteroid fields that weren’t there before and also….run a reading for thorodon particles.”
A moment passed before the tactical officer looked up from her sensors again “Large amounts of asteroids in system, positive readings for thorodon particles.”
“What are thorodon particles Admiral?” Captain Palmer asked from across the bridge as she put aside a flexi that one of her officers had handed her.
“Thorodon particles, captain, are used in the construction of Anderman Nova bombs, our own nova weaponry leaves behind a nebulae because of the materials used, however the Anderman use thorodon particles in order to completely destroy the system and leave behind nothing but asteroids where once large planets had been.” Ross said grimly as he looked around his bridge and saw the stunned looks on his crew’s face, they had escaped a sun going nova by barely a minute and more then that the fact that the Anderman would kill over five billion Mantis citizens, not to mention destroy 75 warships in the process seemed utterly unbelievable, and it’s implications would likely be felt for years to come.

Birth of a Fleet:
The 5th fleet formation ceremony had been a grand and spectacular affair with dozens of nobles and thousands of commoners and naval personnel turned out to watch the spectacle as the fleet’s massive warships did a flyby in formation. The 5th fleet had officially been formed under Admiral Maria White however in truth for the time being her fleet had no infantry regiments and less then 60 warships, the reason they were formed this soon however was simple, the Riots in Zeerzinbroduch had to end and so the 5th fleet would escort a large transport with 2,000 State Security soldiers in system to put down the rioters.
In reality the 5th fleet would not see combat for at least a year as it must wait for the two infantry regiments currently assigned to their flag to finish training. But once they did the 5th subjugation fleet would join the battle against the Anderman and their allies and sweep aside a path to glory for the Icaran Empire!

Return of a Hero
Admiral Lady Yu Lin Ross and her Home Fleet returned to the Norvor system as Heroes of the Empire, they had pacified Torque with minimal losses to both sides and now waited in orbit of Icara for their next assignment, which would come in a matter of months and which they all knew would be the subjugation of the remaining enemy colonies within the Empire, as well as pacifying the Xeno populace that was still rioting and holding “pro-equality” demonstrations.

The Choices of Poltiics:
Praetor Rodrick the second sat alone in his massive bedroom sipping at a glass of brandy and reading over yet another report, his heart wasn’t in it this time however as he had just given the two hardest orders of his life, he had been forced to order the 3rd fleet into what many would consider disgrace by leaving their post and just this morning he had declared the entire former Christirian republic “expendable” along with the estimated 30 billion people who lived on those worlds. The navy had been ordered not to send any reinforcements or evacuation transports and all communications had been ordered restricted to military and government officials to ensure no riots ensued because of the orders….and all because there were simply not enough warships and troops to devote to the Anderman alliance and to protect the remaining worlds of the former republic.
However Rodrick had ordered the construction of Defender class starbases in orbit of whatever worlds could sustain them, so that they’d have at least some defense against the Mantis fleet that had been taking out former republic worlds one by one.

[Hunpecked]

Several points:

(1) The Icaran Navy uniforms remind me of the British Army circa 1880 (at least as depicted in the two "Zulu" movies).

(2) Icaran losses to long-range fire from enemy weapons platforms: I was impressed by the extra range of planet-based weapons in the stock game until I saw them in action against ships with full defense modifiers (ECM, stealth and scattering armor, ship and fleet training, plus cultural modifiers and additional ship experience). Unless the enemy had the Talisman (not obvious from the story) I wouldn't have expected the platforms to be effective at much more than the max range of the ship-based weapons.

(3) Enemy ships firing first: As mentioned in the "Unknown Critic" thread, in the story it can be awkward to follow the game exactly, e.g. with regard to the game's sequential move/fire mechanics. For example, a sequential game battle can be described as a simultaneous exchange of fire, which saves the author from concocting dubious reasons why one fleet is in range and the other is not, when both mount similar weapons.

(4) Letters: Presumably the Icaran term "letters" refers to something like "full sensory 3D holovision programs" or such, but to us in the 21st Century the term conjures archaic images of paper-based text (Paper? What's that?). It might be better to translate the Icaran term into something that sounds more high-tech to Starhawk's primitive audience.

(5) I like the Andermanians even less than the Icarans. I hope they get what's coming to them! Grrrrr!