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

[El_Phil]

But it's the prophet who talks to the fleet. So that doesn't hang together.

So here's a slight re-write: Fleet talks to random old man who isn't the prophet. The prophet doesn't speak to infidel say. Goes as normal. When they finally capture the entire conclave in a hideaway in the mountains you have the prophet breaking down then as he's had nothing to do with it, it's the insane true believers acting in his name who did this.

So he told them to stop and talk, but they took it as "proof that even the godess' chosen one has doubt, but the godess will overcome" or some such rubbish. That might hang together better. Just off the top of my head

[Starhawk]

I think you misread, actually the fleet talks to "Father Ezekiel" not the prophet.... she just knows that the Prophet is actually Von Kepler who was the son of a rich merchant from the Sol coalition.....I may do a rewrite and repost some time however to make it end better....hehe.

[El_Phil]

It still doesn't hang together, although I'll admit I did miss-read abit (whoops ).

I am impressed at people who can do re-writes, I know I can't. I am too much of a 'Write it and never again' type of person. I think it's a habit I picked up at Uni, too many report subjects I never wanted to even look at again.

[Hunpecked]

El_Phil writes:

"The prophet either actually believes or is a conman. If he actually believes he wouldn't of crumbled at the end, if he's a conman he wouldn't of squared up against an entire fleet."

That was my first thought: I would have expected the fanatical Prophet to commit suicide (e.g. Hitler) or refuse to cooperate (e.g. many Al Qaeda prisoners).

On the other hand, some Al Qaeda leaders (presumably they're the most dedicated) have reportedly cooperated, and with much less "persuasion" than Yu Lin used. If the Prophet truly believed his Goddess would annihilate the invaders, his faith must have been completely shattered when he was brought before the very much alive "infidel" leader.

Of course in many scifi stories the futuristic societies have advanced interrogation techniques (e.g. panties on the head, super truth serum, brainwipes, etc.) that make resistance futile. As I recall from one of Starhawk's "side notes" on Icaran culture, criminals are brainwiped and given a law-abiding personality. If the Prophet and his cronies could be reprogrammed in a timely maner, the Icarans' new puppets could order an immediate end to resistance.

[El_Phil]

Not really If those Al Qaeda leaders actually believed they were going to paradise for killing infidels death would hold no fear => no levarage => No talking.

Lots of resistance should have crumbled after seeing what they thought collapsed. Generally religous fanatics are the last to accept the cause is lost. Of course after much sensory depravation/interrogation/torture (delete as appropriate) they will talk. But just a death threat should mean nothing to someone who believes they are going to paradise for doing xxxx's will.

[Starhawk]

Hunpecked is right in the sense that they would have brainwiped him prior to getting the information and then executing him which again would have been added in there if I had not been in a rush.

As far as the "death threat" it wasn't quite a threat as she blew a guys head off right in front of the "Prophet" just for the hell of it by as far as any of those men could tell, they probobly wouldn't realize that she had done it to the man she had spoken too on the com.

Also the resistance would have quickly claimed a the majority of the truely "faithful" and the brainwashed could undergo a minor version of a brainwipe to clear their porgramming and allow them their senses back.
The remaining faithful would probobly have at least tried to commit suicide or have given up when they realized their "conclave" and their "prophet" were all executed aboard the flagship of the so called "Infidel" fleet.

As it comes ot Al Quaeda/Religious Nut Leaders as many have said Bin Laden does not truely have faith in that he is doing God's work he makes a hell of a lot of money out of his terrorism and as far as he is concerned is running a buisness that just happens to have a higher then normal body count.
Some times those who do not truely have faith in a cult they created or a religion they are claiming certainly know how to exploit those people who do truely have faith.

I was trying to get the point that the so called "Prophet" was exploiting an entire world's fears about being alone in the universe after they were totally cut off from their Empire's people without so much as a skiff to go around, and that he was pretty much figuring that the Icarans wouldn't dare attack a world that throw their own children strapped with bombs at your soldiers.
He didn't really take into account the fact that Icarans have that attitude of "You do us wrong and we are going to come in and break your head open." unlike certain US presidents who have the attitude of "Oh no a bomb lets run away from the whole damn country" LOL.

[Hunpecked]

El_Phil writes:

"If those Al Qaeda leaders actually believed they were going to paradise for killing infidels death would hold no fear => no levarage => No talking."

Well, if you define "fanatic" as "one who won't talk under any circumstances", then by definition one who talks...isn't one. However, I submit that, given the diversity of human behavior, it's possible for a "fanatic" to lose his conviction under a severe enough "reality check", e.g. when the strain of imprisonment is NOW, and "Paradise" of some sort is maybe 50 years away.

So if Starhawk's Prophet is the "talking" variety of "fanatic", his capitulation is understandable. When suddenly whacked upside the head by his own mortality, his human instincts might certainly overwhelm his conscious mind, no matter how disciplined.

Starhawk writes:

"As far as the "death threat" it wasn't quite a threat as she blew a guys head off right in front of the "Prophet" just for the hell of it by as far as any of those men could tell..."

With the Icarans' willingness to slaughter women and children in self-defense, I think the threat of his own death was quite obvious to the Prophet, although it was still an abstract concept. So as I see it, Yu Lin wasn't emphasizing the threat, she was just trying to get his attention.

[Starhawk]

With the Icarans' willingness to slaughter women and children in self-defense, I think the threat of his own death was quite obvious to the Prophet, although it was still an abstract concept. So as I see it, Yu Lin wasn't emphasizing the threat, she was just trying to get his attention.

:

It could definately be seen that way I suppose afterall it definately got his attention!

And I wouldn't quite put it as "willingness to slaughter" as much as "indiscriminate fire", I mean when you turn an entire planet to molten slag you can't really single out men and soldiers from women and children.

As far as the "women and children" part goes, well Icarans have never seen women as any different then men, at least not in the past 6,000 years of their history, so marching into a town and shooting down any resistance man or woman isn't considered any different then a "normal" military marching in and shooting all male resistance down.
As far as Children go again they didn't quite "slaughter" the children so much as shoot them down to keep them from killing others since their parents were throwing them towards the soldiers.
And killing their parents didn't seem immoral by their standards because if you throw your kid as a bomb or encourage them to go suicide themselves on others then you really don't deserve any sympathy or mercy.

I hate to make a modern comparison like this but say if Icara had invaded Iraq instead of the United States or England, Icarans would have burned Faluja (sp?) to the ground or flat out bombed it with a few thousand artillery peices.
Anyone seen celebrating terrorist attacks would be executed and if it was a whole town it would pretty much be bombed into non existance.

As i said once before Icarans are brutal where brutality is required and they don't much care about YOUR collataral damage since you were the ones resisting to begin with hehe.



YAY I posted a chapter that is actually having some discussion about it granted it was not my best chapter....but it wasn't my worst lol and if I do eventually do a rewrite it will be a LOT better!

[Starhawk]

A wee tidbit of a chapter because nothing really interesting happened these last few months other then tiny battles that are ONE broadside deals

2438.2 News Report:
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen I’m Lisa Prat for State Channel One news service, Today’s top stories are:
The Janus and Cylla were ambushed on their way to rendezvous with the 5th fleet Janus was destroyed killing all 6,100, Admiral Tanya Bright calls it a tragic loss of life that unfortunately could not have been foreseen by the Navy and mourns the loss of all those lives lost.

Our second story comes from the 4th fleet Admiral Andrew Markowitz led the 4th fleet to victory over 8 Anderman warships destroying them all and capturing twelve hundred Anderman crew who are currently en-route to the military POW camp 107. Adding to this victory a detachment from the 4th fleet engaged and destroyed two more Anderman super dreadnoughts and all with out a single Icaran loss of life

“And now ladies and gentlemen we send you live to the 1st fleet in the Cyrilla system with reporter John LeGuan”
“Hello Lisa I’m here with the 1st fleet which has scored another triumphant victory for the Icaran Empire, the Cyrilla system has fallen and the last resistance is even now being suppressed by Planetary Militia forces, Star Admiral Tyson Babcock informed me earlier this morning that not only did the 1st fleet crush all resistance in this system on a planetary scale but they actually engaged a Remorhaz fleet that had been sent to retake or sterilize all the occupied worlds several months ago. Sadly the 1st fleet did lose a ship in the engagement along with several thousand spacers and marines however the thirty Remorhaz ships that had engaged the 1st fleet were utterly destroyed and enemy casualties are estimated at around twelve thousand.” The young reporter was wearing a modified version of the Navy’s enlisted vac suit which bore the bright blue and white shoulder patches of the civilian news corps, he wasn’t wearing the vac helmet however as the 1st fleet was not heading into any battles.
“John where is the next destination for the 1st fleet, if it is alright for you to say that is.” Lisa smiled into the holocam while she waited for the time delay of the “warper” drones that allowed this form of communication.
Several seconds passed before the reporter on the other end of the line could be heard speaking again.
“Well Lisa, the Caitia system is our next destination as that is where the bulk of the remaining Remorhaz power structure lies, once that system falls the Admiralty believes they can force a surrender on the part of the Remorhaz People’s Republic, however Admiral Babcock has informed me that they are expecting staunch resistance from the remnants of the Remorhaz People’s Navy and says that this particular campaign may take several months.” The reporter paused and looked off screen for a moment nodding in response to someone the camera couldn’t see.
“Um Lisa I’m afraid I’m going to have to end this interview, the “warper” drones aren’t going to have the range to the Caitia system and from now on all FTL probe launches are strictly forbidden unless they are military messenger pods…..I’m sorry.” The reporter paused again as a person wearing a Navy officer’s uniform walked over and whispered something.
“I have to go now Lisa….” The line suddenly went black for several seconds until the view returned to the studio and a baffled looking Lisa.
“Well I suppose that’s all for the major news tonight, stick around for your planet’s local news services to cut in, have a good night…..”

[i](note): A “warper” drone is a civilian modified messenger drone, they create micro-warp points that are totally unstable for periods longer then a few seconds, the drone launches through the warp point, unlike a military messenger the “warper” is designed to both transmit and receive video streams at a faster rate thus allowing a semi-real time conversation to take place.
Military Messenger drones are designed strictly to pass on information and not to enable a “conversation” like a warper drone, making it ten times cheaper and much more expendable by military standards.

[Starhawk]

2438.3 They Died Icaran!:
The 4th fleet was hardly what one could consider a “proper” battle fleet it was a hodgepodge of warships that were scraped off of the other battle fleets, nothing emphasized this fact more then the Horatio its long gleaming white spindle of a hull with the hammerheads at either end obviously singled it out from any other Icaran warship in service, for in it’s past life this proud flagship of the 4th fleet had served the Mantis Starfleet as a “monitor” class warship.
The 4th fleet didn’t even have proper infantry support but instead had nearly 10,000 SS troopers assigned to quelling riots in the frontier worlds that had once belonged to the Corian Commonwealth and the Earth Corps Alliance which was in fact the only reason the 4th fleet had even been created and many naval officials looked down on the 4th fleet a as a mere “police detachment” and refused to mention it as a fleet during their briefings.

Commodore Vincent Moriarty was a young man at only 37 but he had risen to through the ranks with amazing speed as he earned a name for himself during some of the early battles of the Phong crusades, he had been on the flag deck of Saber during the first battle against a Phong warship and had been there on the deck of the Retribution when the original 3rd fleet was ambushed at the third battle of Fornax and now he was out on the frontiers quelling mere riots instead of doing what he should be, fighting on the frontlines of the Anderman crusades. Moriarty had been assigned to the 4th “fleet” as a “promotion” from his position as the 14th SD division commander 1st fleet, but as the months went by and he watched report after report of how the frontline units were doing he began to feel his current assignment more as a punishment than a promotion and often wondered which Admiral had given him the “honor” to begin with. To make matters worse the 4th fleet had been stuck “guarding” the Glakka system for nearly a year, which made Vincent feel as if his entire fleet were told “it’s too dangerous, stay here and guard the car.” So here he was “guarding the car” with 9,100 SS troops and a group of powerful capital ships that could make a difference on the frontlines, and he had no where to go because the system’s beyond Glakka were deemed “too high a risk” for the undermanned formation he commanded.
Vincent felt another surge of anger swell up as he paced his command deck, the Horatio was huge even by Icaran standards, she was only slightly smaller then one of the Artemis raiders yet had much more firepower to match her size her command deck was also a sprawling two tiered area nearly three times the size of any Superdreadnought’s command deck which Vincent was grateful for as it gave him plenty of room to pace without being disturbed “Why the hell did those dicks at command assign me here!?[/i] he thought yet again as he turned to resume his pacing; he came to a sudden halt when a startled voice came from the second tier.
“WARP fluctuation I repeat we have Warp fluctuation there are ships coming through!”
Vincent hurried back to his command chair and took a moment to fume at the fact that the ship didn’t even have a proper main plot.
“Get me an ID on who it is ASAP tactical.” He barked as he brought up his own micro-tactical display to see the fluctuations for himself.
“There are too many of them coming through to be a convoy, and none of our fleets are scheduled to enter this system until the 2nd fleet is finished with their repairs…..CONFIRMED WE HAVE HOSTILES three-one Anderman warships have just made transit!”
The bridge suddenly darkened as the entire ship switched over to battle stations barely a second later the klaxons and GQ alarms howled throughout the ships of the 4th fleet.
“All ships open fire full volley, and tell those transport commanders to get the hell out of here and warn the Admiralty.” Vincent found his own town surprising for it’s calm, he turned to his Captain as she walked up and saw in her eyes the same dread he felt, the simple numbers were all to clear and their enemy wasn’t some Xeno species, this time it was a well trained highly equipped enemy with the same level of technology as he had, all the 4th fleet could hope for was a fighting withdrawal and ensuring he got the transport fleet to safety but even there the odds were against them, the Anderman had acceleration on their side and the Icarans would have to start up cold and gain accel.
“Unless we at least slow those Ander bastards down they’ll outrun the transports easily…” Vincent whispered to Captain Lia Keyes and felt a pang of guilt as he saw the almost imperceptible nod she managed to force, she was even younger then he was and unlike him this would be her first real battle…..and her last. He thought bitterly as he turned back to the displays.

The stars lit up with brilliant and beautiful glory as the 4th fleet turned their desperate broadsides against the oncoming foe while they still recovered from their transit, the first salvo arrived unopposed and proved devastating as the I-lasers sliced through armor, shields, and hulls with the startling ease that modern energy weapons were capable of and with that single salvo nine enemy ships were torn apart creating nine wondrous new stars for barely a split second before they faded back into nothingness.
”At least we got some of them” Vincent thought with a small spark of pride as he saw the Anderman ships turn their own guns upon his fleet and braced himself for the hellish impact as the two fleets traded salvos.
Even as her guns sliced into an Anderman’s shields Danu’s hull was rent and torn as another Anderman ship fired a devastatingly close range and accurate broadside into her, as the energy cut into her the great Icaran ship lurched for a moment as if shouting her defiance before she broke cleanly in half spilling wreckage and bodies into space.
Horatio to lurched with fire as three enemy warships focused their broadsides upon her and Commodore Vincent Moriarty was thrown from his command chair as a beam burned through their shields and impacted just forward of the bridge, the unfortunate souls on the second tier were crushed or thrown to their deaths as wreckage tore through the entire forward portion of the bridge.
“Damage report!” Moriarty shouted as body crumpled to the deck next to him and he recognized the grey green eyes of Captain Keyes staring blankly toward the ceiling her throat sliced open by a piece of shrapnel.
“We’ve only got four guns remaining, life support on decks 20 through 30 is gone, engines are gone, gravitics are gone we are operating on emergency support systems, deck 27 is totally gone sir….” The damage report seemed to go on forever but Vincent barely took notice as he watched the flickering main screen.

The Icaran 4th fleet fought like devils even as the Anderman regained control of their fleet, Yukon who’s shields and weapons were shattered plowed into an Anderman superdreadnought turning both ships into careening pieces of wreckage as the explosions and secondary blasts tore out chunks of once mighty starships.
Despot spat broadsides to the last until one shot finally breached her reactors and she turned into a mini nova though not before she killed two Anderman warships on her own.
The transports continued to flee as they had no guns to turn to the aid of their comrades, meanwhile the rest of the fleet fought to buy the thousands of troops aboard the transports even a slim chance at life.
Horatio turned her four remaining guns on a nearby SD and scored three direct hits, which were enough to tear through the already damaged warship with hellish fury and seconds after the third beam struck her the enemy ship drifted away from the battle, not a single sign of life aboard her.
“Status of the fleet?” Vincent said coldly as he knelt down and closed the dead eyes of his former captain.
“Commodore Suffolk and Europa are undamaged and continuing the fight, Al-Batani is nearly crippled but she remains on station, Justin Alverato is totally crippled, everyone else other then the transports is gone.” The tactical officer’s voice was the mechanical disciplined tone that all “proper” Icaran naval officers used during battle but Vincent heard the despair in that young voice and knew that there was nothing he could say that would make anything any better, the 4th fleet would inflict heavy damage on the enemy before they died but still in the end it would make no difference, none of the warships would escape alive and God’s grace alone would save the transports. It was just then that a brilliant light engulfed the bridge and one split second of pain registered in Vincent’s mind before his life along with the hundreds of survivors aboard Horatio were simply washed away by the broadside of an Anderman Super dreadnought.
Justin was destroyed almost out of hand only a moment later as an Anderman super dreadnought raced past to catch up the fleeing transports, it would never catch up to them however as the almost totally crippled Suffolk rammed into her in a last act of retribution.
Europa’s crew would die much more slowly as their ship was cut away inch by bloody inch by Anderman weapons and as fires burned through her corridors choking the lucky and burning the unlucky alive as they tried to reach escape pods, an unfortunate handful of crew did reach an escape pod only to have a burning piece of hull plate drop into the pod with them as it ejected from the ship.
The shattered Al-Batani suffered a death caused by her own weapons which had been so severely damaged they overloaded on her last attempt to fire tearing her apart from the inside and ensuring that none could have even hoped to survive.

As Commodore Vincent Moriarty had feared the transports were quickly overtaken by the Anderman, and a single super dreadnought destroyed three of the small transports in a single sweep of her forward chase mounts, the other transports too died running as the Anderman overtook them and mercilessly butchered the defenseless ships ending the thousands of lives aboard with what was almost a fleeting swat of the hand for the powerful warships.

So ended the 2nd battle of Glakka, not a single Icaran soldier survived the brutal hour long engagement but for their deaths they had made the Anderman pay dearly in lives and ships with 15 of their warships completely destroyed and two disabled by the valiant Icaran soldiers.
No more would it be said that the 4th fleet was not a “proper fleet” no more would they be called “a hodgepodge of warships” from that day forth the valiant soldiers spacers and state security troopers of the 4th fleet would be recognized as heroes of the Empire who died in a battle against the enemies of Icara and did not feint or flee before their foes but instead did their duty to the last.


4th Fleet Destroyed in Glakka
15 Enemy ships destroyed
Icaran Losses:
HMS Dare (SD) 6,100
HMS Danu (SD) 6,100
HMS Yukon (SD) 6,100
HMS Despot (SD) 6,100
HMS Al-Batani (SD) 6,100
HMS Suffolk (SD) 6,100
HMS Justin Alverato (SD) 6,100
HMS Europa (SD) 6,100
HMS Horatio (MN) 10,400
SS Large Transport 200 crew- 4,000 SS troopers
SS Transport 01 50 crew- 2,000 SS troopers
SS Transport 02 50 crew- 2,000 SS troopers
SS Transport 03 50 crew
SS Transport 04 50 crew- 1,500 SS troopers
Total Casualties: 69,100 dead
Anderman Crusade Casualties: 380,601 (civilian losses number in the billions)