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

[Starhawk]

shamless bump.
(Chapter to follow later tonight)

[Rasorow]

Darn! and I thought there was a new chapter ;-)

Rasorow

[Starhawk]

Yeah sorry about that I ended up busy with other things.

Well here yah go

2412.1 The Battle of Wardo
It had been four Months since the planet buster drones had destroyed four bases in the Fornax system. And two months since HMS Hawkwing arrived and became Admiral Ross’ new flagship and he was still settling in to the sheer size and power of his new heavy cruiser, the only one on the entire Phong line at the time.
It was two in the morning when the detection nets first picked up the energy signatures of an entire Phong task force of some 22 frigates and destroyers headed to destroy the only Icaran world in Phong territory. It was still four hours to intercept range and Ross sat silent in his briefing room with his subordinates, including Captain Bradshaw of the 2nd space fighter wing which had come on-line only two months ago.
“Sir we can’t intercept them at any great range or else we’d risk letting them slip through our defenses and scoring hits on Wardo before we could intercept.” Captain Sarah Pallins steepled her fingers under her chin as she gave the holotank another look over.
‘Yes but at the same time, if we intercept them too close to Wardo colony it would risk them firing straight past our ships.” Commadore Stanley shook his head even as he made his statement, either way intercepting a fleet the size they were facing with as few ships as they had was going to be a hit or miss proposal.

“Alright what we are not taking into account here is that we have the 2nd Space Wing with us.” Ross chimed in, and everyone turned to face their Admiral, as it had been the first time since the briefing began that he had spoken. “Captain Bradshaw do you think your fighters could fill the gaps in our line of battle?”
“Sir, with all respect I think my fighters should be more active in the defense of the planet then taking up gap filling ops in your line of battle.” Bradshaw was always slightly arrogant, Ross had gotten used to that but he was also good at what he did and Ross was somehow still irked by that.
“So what do you recommend Captain?” Fowler’s sneer was obvious as she addressed the man that was for all intents and purposes her junior but the confident Pilot didn’t even flinch as he looked straight back at Ross.
“Well Sir, I’d recommend you let my fighters stay just behind your battle line, no doubt the enemy will envelope your battle line and punch holes in it, my fighters could sweep into them as they tried to reach the planet and take them by surprise. I know you’d feel safer with my fighters intermingled with your own line sir but if those destroyers got even one lucky shot on one of your capital ships they could totally disrupt my fighter formations….uh pardon sir but if my fighters have to evade one of our own exploding starships it would still open up a gap in your lines but worse then that it would totally disrupt my fighters abilities to intercept.” Bradshaw’s voice was totally emotionless as he stated what he considered perfectly acceptable facts but to the navy commanders sitting in the room with him his “facts” were appalling as he described the destruction of a Capital ship as a problem for him.

Ross raised his hand to wave down the other naval commanders before they had a chance to speak. “Alright Bradshaw your fighters will stay just behind my line of battle but I do expect you to get involved in preventing gaps in our lines…understood captain?”
“Understood sir.”
“Alright then, our Naval commanders know where their place in the line is and now we know where our fighters are going to be, so I think that covers it all. Good even Captains, Commodore Stanley.” Ross said politely, he escorted the other officers to his boat bay and saw them off. He then went back to his quarters to grab and hour of sleep.

“Line of battle is formed Admiral, all squadrons assembled, Bradshaw’s fighters are in position behind us.” Captain Palmer spoke on the screen, he was in his command station on the Hawkwing‘s main bridge and Ross was in the Flag bridge just below and 20 meters behind the main bridge, Ross was still not used to not being on “the bridge” as a battle was going on, he had to forcefully hide his frown at the thought as he nodded to Palmer.
“Thank you Captain, my plots down here say we have twelve minutes to intercept range is that correct?”
“Aye Admiral twelve minutes.” Palmer’s voice was remarkably calm-even for a navy man-but Ross thought the Captain had every reason to be, not all that long ago Hawkwing alone had destroyed six of the enemy’s ships while suffering no damage and that would make any captain cocky.

Twelve minuets later the entire line of battle erupted in a chain of broadsides, the light cruisers, cruisers, and heavy cruiser’s beams sliced across space but it was at extreme ranges and only two enemy frigates died under the fire. The destroyers fired their own cannons, but their depleted uranium shells only scored a handful of hits on the enemy fleet and no serious damage was done. A stream of missiles rippled away from the smaller Icaran ships.
The Phong point defenses chewed through the missiles however turning them into a massive cloud of erupting micro-stars but their overall effect on the battle was non existent. The Phong counter fire was hellish as the 14 Phong ships in range opened up on Ross’ battle line.
The heavy cruiser was the main target of the enemy fire and nearly a dozen shells slammed into her shields as the enemy continued pouring on the fire, fire which was broken again as the Icaran line fired it’s broadsides yet again, Hawkwing alone claimed two kills, the light cruisers each scored a kill and the cruisers crippled two ships and killed two more with their own powerful armaments.
The destroyers actually scored some good shots in their second broadside and three Phong ships fell out of formation as their engines burned out.

The heavy cruiser’s shields flared again and again as shells continued to slam into her relentlessly, the shields strained and succeeded in destroying most of the incoming shells but even it’s energy barrier had it’s breaking point.
A loud serious of explosions within the heavy cruiser shook her to her core as four direct hits punched massive holes in her engine core and another hit blew apart three of her cannons tearing them asunder as if they were toys.
“Sir, engine one down, cannons four, five and seven are gone, heavy casualties in those sections…” Ross could hear other damage reports over the com as Palmer’s face appeared on his screen again.
“Admiral, they are enveloping our lines, Hawkwing seems to be their main objective at the moment sir but Trafalgar has also taken some fire, Sir should I order the fighters in now?” Palmer’s voice was still remarkably calm and icy even as the holo display showed more fire from his battle line destroy six more Phong warships and then the dozens of tiny red blips that signaled the Phong counter salvos.
“No Captain we can’t yet, give them four more minutes, then order the intercept.”
“Admiral I….” Palmer’s voice was suddenly cut off as a massive explosion tore the bridge apart, a shell had impacted just behind the bridge its self but the angle of impact sent massive splinters slicing into the bridge, the two marine sentries exploded in clouds of gore and blood as the whole after section of the bridge erupted in splinters and shrapnel, a piece of wreckage decapitated Palmer’s exec and continued on into the helmsman, tearing his back open, a woman’s scream and then a gurgling blood filled cry jerked Palmer around, just in time to see another piece of bulkhead coming straight at him, it was too late to duck of course and the shard slammed into his face destroying it in a spray of blood and rent flesh.
Hawkwing took more hits, somehow her com net stayed on line however and Ross continued issuing orders to his ships, the line of battle had been broken much as he had expected but his fleet’s damage aside from his own flagship was surprisingly light, however the destroyer Trafalgar was in almost as bad shape as his own ship as it moved to cover his port side from fire.
“Bradshaw NOW, get your fighters into it!” Ross shouted over the com as another shell tore yet another piece out of the wounded and atmosphere bleeding heavy cruiser.

100 Wasp fighters screamed at full thrust from three different angles on the Phong ships that had enveloped the 3rd fleet, 10 squadrons of 10 fighters each unleashed hellish amounts of cannon fire as they darted around the much larger enemy ships, dodging what few cannons tried to fire at them. Rapidly eight enemy ships died as eight of the ten squadrons strafed them.
“Alright squadrons 1 and 8 follow me in, we’ve got to take out the bastards that are firing into Hawkwing before they destroy her.” Bradshaw led his squadron straight down the throat of one of the Phong destroyers that had been picking at the badly damaged flagship, as he squeezed the triggers on his controls Bradshaw saw hundreds of cannon shells tearing into the enemy ships hull, as his squad mates opened up those hundreds of shells quickly turned into thousands and then tens of thousands as the continued to strafe along the destroyer’s exposed hull, less then a minute later the destroyer wheeled away out of control and burning, until her reactor overloaded and she disappeared in a brilliant flash of gold.
The other squadron that Bradshaw led in the defense of the flagship also scored a kill and the fighter Captain couldn’t help but smile as he looked at his helm mounted HUD and saw the 3rd fleet firing another concentrated broadside into the enemy, and still more Phong target indicators winking out.
“Alright you scrappers, Squad 1 stay with me, I’m reading another ship going after Hawkwing squadron eight you have free fire, pick your targets and kill them at your discretion”

Ross exhaled deeply as he saw the Phong that were chasing his badly damaged ship destroyed by the 2nd space wing, more then that all along the line he saw his fleet gaining ground as more and more enemy ships died.

“This is Victorious to flagship, sir do you need assistance?” Sarah Pallins sounded more concerned then Ross had ever heard her before but he was too relieved to hear her voice to even see the las few red light codes wink out as the light cruisers Retribution and Pollux opened fire.
“Status is critical Sarah, but I can get her to port, what is the status of the fleet, I’ve lost most of my sensors over here.” Ross was still in the unfeeling professional mode that he donned in battle, but in his gut he felt a terrified knot twisting around his stomach, his fleet had taken a lot more fire then it ever should have and he knew that his own ship-which was the biggest most powerful ship in the fleet- had been beaten to hell so he could only imagine what could have happened to the smaller ships.
“Sir, you and Trafalgar took most of the fire, I’m afraid the destroyer was crippled, her Captain is dead along with about two thirds of her crew, but other then that the rest of the fleet has suffered only minor damage, in fact Admiral, Captain Fowler and I request permission to take our ships out and hunt down those two enemy squadrons that ran their recon for that fleet.” Pallins’ voice was full of heartache and the yearning to make the rest of the Phong fleet pay for the damage the 3rd fleet had suffered and for the lives that had been lost.
“If you are sure you can take them out with minimal damage to your own ships then go for it.” Ross smiled thinly at the grin on Pallins face as she relayed those orders to her helmsman.

Retribution and [/i]Victorious[/i] both intercepted two separate Groups of Phong warships that had run recon for the main fleet which had raided Wardo, both squadrons were completely destroyed by the two Icaran warships.
Fowler had scored two enemy destroyers while Pallins scored another six destroyers killed, on their return to Wardo Fowler and Pallins were congraluated by Ross for their victories.

[Starhawk]

2412.2 Convoy Raid
Admiral Ross was tense as he looked at the holotank in Defender’s bridge, she was a General class Heavy cruiser, identical to the Hawkwing but unlike the other heavy cruiser she did not have a flag bridge and Ross was grateful for it as he was able to participate more directly with the action, even though him being in the flag bridge had saved his life when the Hawkwing’s bridge was decimated by a stray enemy shell, he still could not get used to being away from the bridge during battle.
“Captain, I’ve got 3 colony ships on scanners, their escort appears to be one of those new light cruisers of theirs as well as four old destroyers.” The tactical officer sounded absolutely predatory as he continued to scan his prey.
“Thank you tactical.” Commodore Stanley grinned as well as he looked back at his Admiral “Sir, do we form a line of battle or go for a melee?”
“Form line of battle Stanley, order Retribution to go around our line of battle and hunt down those colony ships.” Ross knew the light cruiser had a speed advantage over his heavier units and with that advantage she could overtake the three unarmored colony ships and decimate them easily.

“Enemy squadron approaching our line sir.” The tac officer’s voice was nearly a chant.
Ross nodded and with a single signal pulse from the Tac station the entire battle line opened up their broadsides and missile volleys.
Immediately two of the enemy destroyers vanished in brilliant flashes of wreckage and superheated plasma, another Phong destroyer was struck by four missiles but she continued on and was raked by two ranged beam shots that opened up more of her wounded hull.
The light cruiser had shields that shrugged off the cannon fire from the destroyers and I moved into range of Mnticore blowing massive chunks out of her hull and crippling her engines.

Captain Sandra Fowler clenched her fists in frustration as she knew she could not take part in the battle raging behind her.
“Captain Fowler, We’re closing range on the first target.” Gunnery officer Kinzie held his hand over the fire button as the gunnery crew’s data signals lit green, signaling their readiness.
“Fire.” Fowler took a deep breath as she watched her ships cannons tore into the unarmed colony ship like a knife tearing through paper, moments later it and millions of Phong ceased to exist. The light cruiser moved on to find her second target.

“Sir that Phong Light cruiser is turning about, I think she’s going after Retribution.”
“Thank you tactical, order Victorious to intercept and kill it. Ross relaxed noticeably as he saw the tactical display, two of the enemy colony ships were destroyed and the only Phong warship left was that badly damaged light cruiser which was about to be… destroyed, it’s signal winked out two minutes after it’s light signal converged with that of the Icaran cruiser.

The third fleet retuned to base for repairs, they had successfully neutralized an entire colonization convoy and ended millions of Phong lives.

[Starhawk]

2412.5 A decisive plan
The Holotank in the Admiralty building’s war room was towering, the second largest such holotank throughout the entire Icaran Empire on it was a display of every system within the Icaran Empire plus those systems that had been scouted and deemed as a potential threat to the Icaran state.
The war room was dimly lit as Grand Admiral Hallice walked over to the gathered lords of the Admiralty, noting that in their midst was Admiral Babcock who seemed to be listening very intently to the SIC Admiral Bright.

Hallice cleared his throat to gather the other admiral’s attention “Ladies and Gentleman it’s three in the morning and though I know Admiral Lady Bright is from Brandenburg where it’s currently zero seven hundred I am rather tired so if we could get down to business.” Hallice had a smile on his face as he took the flexi pad Bright handed him.
“Quite right My Lord…..alright ladies Gentleman the Strategic Insights Committee has been observing the stalemate on the Phong front for the past seven months and after recent engagements we believe it is time to push our advantage before the Phong can recover.” Admiral Bright handed out the various flexi pads and turned her pointer towards the holotank, after pressing the selector stub on her pointer the massive holotank zoomed in on four star systems, two owned by the Phong and two by Icara, multiple red dots speckled each of the star systems with information regarding battles or skirmishes fought.

“Admirals the most recent message from our borders states that the 3rd fleet has suffered nearly 6,000 dead officers and Ratings and has even had to pull some of Wardo’s populace into their ships to keep fully crewed, however the sheer amount of damage they have inflicted upon Phong forces is astonishing, to this date the 3rd fleet has been responsible for nearly one hundred and twenty seven ship to ship kills and that includes the recent destruction of a Phong colonization convoy which they obliterated with minimal casualties sustained. “ Bright paused and allowed the other Admirals to let the information sink in.
“Now we believe if the Admiralty will dispatch the 1st fleet in combination with the 1st Icaran regiment we can bring that stalemate to a decisive and crushing end for the Phong. Lords I believe the third fleet should continue it’s attack Fornax, while the first fleet and escorts the first Icaran regiments ground forces in the capture of Maven Parsis.”
“Lady Bright if I may ask do you honestly think that the 1st Icaran can capture that system alone?” Admiral Fredricks voice was skeptical, the Admiralty had never considered off world invasions before and many doubted it could even succeed but Bright simply shrugged.
“Well Admiral I do believe we could do this, it will take the first fleet around a year to get on scene but once they do I believe this costly stalemate can end once and for all.” Bright smiled confidently as she saw Hallice nodding.
“Well we have a lot to discuss, Opinions?” Hallice sounded like he had already made up his mind yet for an hour the other members of the Admiralty grilled Bright about all that could go wrong and all that it could cost Icara if this mission failed yet to all of them but all of the information she provided was surprisingly convincing and within two hours Admiral Babcock was aboard his flagship readying the 1st fleet to move out.

2412.7 New Daggers in the Night
A new star nation called the Citizen Federation was encountered and currently almost no information is known about them accept the Political Bureau has filed a trade alliance pact with them.

[Fyron]

Would you give permission for your story to be archived in the SpaceEmpires.net Fan Fiction Archive, once it is more or less complete?

[Starhawk]

Absolutely I'm honored your considering my story that fun a read....but it's gonna be good long while for this story to be more o less complete unless something catastrophic happens like what happened with my first story involving Icara lol. (one supernova and a series of small invasions ended the game so abruptly it wasn't even worth a story)

[Starhawk]

Heh dang I made it all the way to the second page of this forum

2413.1 Operation FireFrost
A messenger drone arrived onboard Redoubtable fifteen minutes after Admiral Babcock had begun his flag briefing. A breathless rating came bursting into the briefing room a flexi in his hand. The Captains gathered around the table frowned and more then one were glowering at the young Spacer.
“Admiral sir, messenger drone from 3rd fleet, Rear Admiral Ross sends his compliments and says he engaged a 15 ship Phong fleet. He reports that HMS Manticore has been destroyed.”
“Is there anything else spacer?” Babcock said harshly as he took the flexi out of the spacer’s hand.
“Yes sir message ends with Operation Firefrost is a go.” Babcock tensed momentarily then waved the man out of the room.

“Ladies and gentleman the invasion of Mavin Parsis is a go how long will it take us to reach our first target? Babcock was excited almost to the point of glee, finally it was time to carry out his mission and rid the universe of those damned yellow freak’s grip.

“Admiral, my astrogator informed me this morning that it will take us approximately 5 months to reach our target as we must re-supply in the Tempel system before we proceed.” Captain Yu Lin looked at Babcock with a slight smile, she too had been looking forward to carrying out Firefrost and avenging her father and it was almost time only a few more months now and they would strike the beginning of a death blow for the Phong Federation.

“Alright, so we have Five Months, lets get Colonel Drago involved in our next series of briefings so he can give us the best opinion on how to use his troops during the invasions.” Babcock and began to stand up “Well Ladies and gentlemen until tomorrow.” he finished with a slight nod of the head and his officers began filing out of the room, all except Yu Lin Pe.

As the Last officer filed out Babcock tuned to the young woman still seated and smiled gently “Something I can do for you Captain?” his tone was almost fatherly as he returned to his seat.

“Sir, I am not sure about Firefrost, don’t get me wrong Admiral I think we need to strike a deathblow against the Phong, but why risk the lives of Icaran troops to do it?” Her expression was almost pleading as she looked at the older man, her piercing almond eyes alight with fire and a spark almost of hatred. “Why not just nuke the bastards and end it?” she folded her hands together, pressed her elbows into her chair arms and rested her forhead against her folded hands.

“You haven’t slept in a while have you Yu?” Babcock asked softly and grimaced as she shook her head. “Lin, listen to me I know what the Phong did to your father and the other members of the 3rd fleet at the third battle of Fornax was terrible, and if I were you I’d probably want to nuke the bastards too but look at it from the Admiralty’s perspective.” He paused as she looked up at him with tired eyes and cocked her head in interest. “The Phong under our control would expand our borders far more then our current populace would allow, more then that they would already have an established economy, one that appears to be fairly strong by the industrial output we’ve seen thus far. The Rebel Alliance actually cost us money and resources for the first two years that we controlled their territory, the Phong territories would increase our resource base and allow us to expand still further into other star nations like those Neo Star scum.” He ended his statement in the same neutral tone he had started it.
Yu Lin nodded slowly as she thought about what he had said, the Phong had killed her father and millions of other Icarans but in their subjugation they would pay far more then if the Navy simply went in and glassed their worlds, they would pay in ore and resources, and any of the fools that thought about resistance would pay in blood, if not at the hands of her or the army then at the hands of the Blackshirts of the State Security brigades. A slight smile crossed her face but it soon faded, no matter how much the Phong paid in the end it would never bring the dead Icarans back and more Icarans would die before this ended, she just hoped to God and the saints that it would be worth it.

Babcock patted the young woman’s shoulder and startled her out her thoughts “Lin go get some sleep I’ll need you at full speed when FireFrost goes off and I don’t want you to have to be on stims or neural restoratives.” Babcock’s smile was sincere as he helped the young woman to her feet.

“I think I will go back to Lenin and get some sleep sir, I could probably use it.” She smiled back at him as he escorted her to the hatch.
“Oh yes I’ve been meaning to ask you, how you are liking your new command?”
“I Love it sir, I’m just grateful Grand Admiral Hallice chose me over Patterson.” Her smile changed to a grin as she considered that pompous *** that almost became captain of one of only three Heavy cruisers in the first fleet.
“Good day Lin.”
“Good Day Admiral.”

Once Yu Lin was gone Tyson Babcock returned to his desk, pulled out a sheet of flexi’s and began writing various Messages back to the Admiralty, but he paused and wondered just how heavy the price of this conquest would be to his own people, afterall the third fleet had suffered massive casualties during their first engagement….

The Planning continues

"Colonel Drago it is your conisdered opinion that the 1st Icara could take over both targets within the alloted amount of time correct?" Admiral Babcock's grin showed from across the room, he was begining to like Colonel Wilheilm Drago but the man did have a habit of being overly conifdent in his regiment at times.

"Sir it is my opinion that my Regiment-if supported by the fleet- can neutralize the planetary defenders of those Phong worlds, I would like the ability to call upon your marines if necessary however, just in case my men need a perimiter." Drago smiled wickidly at the Marine Captain who was glowering at him from across the table,(the thougth of Royal Marines being used as nothing more then perimiter guards was enough to make any marine spit plasma) "Of course I don't mean any offense to your Capable Marines Captain, it's just my men have tanks and Last I checked yours didn't." the smile was still there as Drago turned back to the Admiral.

"Captain Yu, Lenin would be assigned to protect the Batton do you think you could provide a sufficent drop zone with your ship's cannons or would you prefer I assign another vessel to reinforce you?" Babcock fixed the young woman in his eyes and waited while she thought.
"Admiral I think I would also like Hornet and Eclipse to reinforce my efforts, I am confident in my gunners of course but Lenin is likely to draw a lot of fire from any planetary defense platforms and I would not wish to risk the destruction of the transport if my own cannons should be knocked out of action." Her tone was matter of fact and the fact that she had just recommended her brother's ship as one of her escorts seemed to just be a matter of buisness to her. Babcock was always proud of her even when she was just his atachee and he knew that her and Chin had been very good in sims when paired together but this was a real invasion, he shook his head for a moment and the flag captains and senior ground force commanders looked on in curiousity.
"Sorry Yu, I'd rather assign Republic to you and keep Eclipse at my side with the main force, if you have no objections?" When an Admiral asked if a Captain had any objections it was only a matter of tradition and respect as no Captain would ever dare object to an Admirals orders during wartime.
Yu Lin's mouth opened for a moment before closing with a click as she shook her head.

"Well I am confident Admiral, Captain that you will choose the ships you see best to escort me, but if I may point out, your ships may have to act as little more then slug catchers for Batton, as the Admiralty and Chief of the Army General Staff have both expressed a desire to take these Phong worlds as intact as possible, and orbital bombardment would no doubt have serious implications." That was yet another reason Tyson Babcock began to like Colonel Drago, he had a knack for breaking up ackward moments without being obvious about it.

"Colonel you are of course correct, however I must also say for the record that if any of my ships begin taking too much damage while guarding you they will open fire until your troops reach planet. Is that understood?" Tyson asked politely and Drago nodded, Lin too nodded before returning her gaze to the holomap o the Mavin Parsis system.

"Now Gentleman and Ladies, our first objective is Mavin Parsis Three, it is lightly defended but is home to an extensive farming facility as well as a large shipyard upon it's capture we will leave the heavy cruiser Rossovelt to stand guard as well as an SS brigade." Babcock paused long enough for the other officers to absorb the information. "Alright, our second objective will be Mavin Parsis two, it has an extensive Rad mining base and would be a great boon to our economy, if and when that is secure Parsis One will be our objective, it's mineral harvesting operations would also greatly improve the Icaran production abilities, after that the Admiralty has been kind enough to grant us independent targeting." Babcock smiled, there were only two inhabited planets left in Mavin Parsis that could be targets so the granting of independant targeting was more a matter of politeness then anything actually useful.

"Alright then, we know Parsis three will be the most heavily defended when it comes to ground forces, Parsis One is likely to be the most fortified with weapons platforms so I think we should begin planning on orbital bombardment patterns as soon as possible." Drago's smile vanished as he considered the possibilities of planetary defense stations and wondered just how many people may die at the barrel of a ground mounted DU cannon.

"I'll take Lenin and Rosevelt in with me, the three heavy cruisers would be the best option for that kind of operation as we have the heaviest shields and weapons, the cruisers can form up behind the Batton and provide any additional bombardment we may require." Babcock looked grim as he looked at the intelligence reports that had been brought in by Warspite when she had run her scouting mission with her squadron mate Hecate, Parsis One would be the hardest orbital target no doubt, it had six weapons platforms with depleted uranium cannons and those damned planetary defense platforms had proved once before how accurate they could be.

"Alright let's take this one step at a time, if you pardon me Admiral, I know I am no naval officer but I am an Army Colonel and I prefer knowing for sure what resources I'll have available to me before I commence planning an invasion, let's assume we'll have all three heavy cruisers when we go in but let us also plan for if one or more of them is somehow removed from the equation." Wilheilm grimaced as the Naval officers present nodded, they all knew that only destruction would remove any of the heavy cruisers "from the equation" and the simple mentioning of the possible loss of a heavy cruiser reinforced the notion of just how heavily fortified these worlds were.

The Admiral of the first fleet nodded solemnly with his officers "Alright ladies and gentlemen the Colonel has a point, let's start making backup plans right now just in case..."

The planning continued for hours as the first fleet entered the Tempel system and began approaching the supply base that would be their final stop before the assault on Mavin Parsis, and the first "space to shore" invasion in history was begun.

[Starhawk]

Note more material has been added to the above post if you have read it before this post was made you may want to reread it for the added material. Thank you

[Starhawk]

2413.6 The beginning of the End
The 1st fleet and it’s ground force the 1st Icara Mobile Army Regiment had entered Mavin Parvis unopposed as the two cruisers of the Warspite squadron had destroyed the Phong warships that had garrisoned the star system.
Two weeks later they had entered orbit of Mavin Parsis III and the ground forces swept through the enemy milita inflicting hundreds of casualties while sustaining none of their own, not a single ship of the fleet was damaged and the heavy cruiser Rosevelt took up station to protect it from any potential raiders that remained. A state security brigade was also in the process of forming it’s headquarters on world to ensure the public stayed in line.

It had been only three days since MP three had fallen and the 1st fleet was now entering attack range of the much more heavily fortified MP two, the heavy cruiser Lenin and two cruisers followed closely by the troopship Batton.
“Captain Yu this is Flag, watch yourselves in there I don’t want you taking too much damage to guard that troopship, if you determine that the situation is to risky to you and the ships under your charge I want you to scorch those planetary defense platforms understood?” The voice of Admiral Babcock came over the com piece in Lin’s ear from his flagship yet she felt as if she could almost see the worry in his face.
“Don’t worry sir, we’ll get this job done and come home to celebrate afterwards.” She tried to sound more confident then she felt but her voice sounded strained even to her own ears. She cut the com to the flagship as her small four ship flotilla came closer to MP two.
“Captain energy spikes on the surface, planetary cannons coming Online, best estimate is one eight cannons I repeat one eight.” Tactical officer Hernandez was just out of basic but his sense of professionalism even in the face of overwhelming firepower made Lin proud he was on her bridge.
“Thank you tactical, Com relay to Republic to stay one-zero-eight kilometers to our starboard, have Hornet pull fifty two klicks off our port side and keep them between Batton and those cannons.”
“Aye ma’am message relayed.”
“Helm, take us straight for that planet, let’s offer them a big enough target that they can’t refuse us.” Captain Yu clenched her hands into fists around the arms of her shock frame chair in anxiety as she watched her ships close ever closer to the red sphere that represented the enemy planet’s maximum effective fire envelope.
“Approaching EFE in two point three niner minutes skipper, our EFE is coming up in four minutes.” Hernandez hid a shudder as he realized that would put their ships under fire from eighteen planetary cannons for no less then a minute before they could return fire.
Yu just grimaced and nodded to herself as she calculated the number of shells that could be lobbed at her in that amount of time, the Phong’s latest cannons showed they could fire three shells a minute and there were nine of the newer cannons on that planet which meant she would have to deal with…40.5 shells from the newer cannons before she even got inter her own firing range, and by then she’d also have to deal with thirty or forty shells from the older cannons . She shuddered in her command chair, if every single shot fired hit her then this would be her ship’s Last mission.

“Enemy EFE in five, four, three, two, one, we have incoming shells.” Hernandez’ calm professional voice showed only the slightest hint of fear as 9 of the most advanced cannons in the Phong arsenal opened up on them.
Lenin‘s shields caught every shell and Yu noted with some bit of dry humor that it wasn’t at all like it was portrayed in the old Holo’s or the old 2d movies of ancient Earth, when a shield grid caught the incoming fire there was no shaking or sparking or explosions out of random positions on the starship, the energy field simply absorbed the fire and the crew onboard didn’t feel a thing-it was when you did feel something that you were in trouble.
“Helm time to drop?”
“Five minutes ma’am”
“Incoming!” Hernandez sounded startled this time and when Yu jerked around to look at her tactical repeaters she saw why, eighty cannon shells headed straight at her.
The shields flashed and flared and took more hits but then….an enormous ear splitting cracking sound rocked the heavy cruiser down to her keel as shell after shell slammed into her.
“Engines one, three, five, gone, cannons one through four gone, crew quarters section two gone, life support backup systems are on-line main Life support destroyed, heavy casualties reported on all decks.” Hernandez chanted out the “essential” damage reports but the systems he wasn’t mentioning were almost ominous in Yu’s ears.
“Damn it incoming!”
“Saints protect us.” a voice in the background said as the next salvo slammed into the heavy cruiser’s battered hull tearing sections of her apart like a darter round hitting a wounded cow in the stomach.
More sections of hull plating tore away under the strain and Lenin limped and twisted as more shells just barely missed her.
The Last shell tore into the bridge section, opening it to space and tearing the com officer apart as she was pulled through a breach in the hull that was too small for her body, the marine sentry on the bridge had his leg sheered off by a splinter of battle-composite hull plating, his skin-suit’s automed unit instantly began treating the screaming man. Hernandez’ left shoulder was torn clear of it’s socket and his shattered arm hung limply at his side as he tried to use his right alone. His vac-suit’s med unit was already administering non-interference painkillers into his bloodstream to keep him functioning.
The sound of other wounded bridge officers screaming made Yu feel sick as she knew there was nothing she could do about it, her bridge was still mostly operational and she had to continue the operation.
“Damage report Hernandez?” Yu heard the voice of Commander Sharp and thanked God her exec hadn’t been killed or wounded.
“Uh, sir.”
“Damage report now mister!”
“Astrogation is down, we have one engine left, two cannons are still operational but the first cannon’s crew is dead, sensors are gone, tracking sensors gone, supply bays are gone, back up life support is damaged but operational, heavy casualties reported sir, power room one is open to space, non of the work crew made it out.” Hernandez suddenly sat straighter in his chair and Lin braced herself for death as she assumed the next words out of his mouth would be incoming.
“Skipper! Redoubtable is moving between us and the planetary defenses!, Hornet is acquiring target lock on planet, firing!” Hernandez’ professionalism was suddenly shattered as he turned around with a brilliant smile on his face.
The flagship took several serious hits but she shrugged them off and continued to protect the badly damaged Lenin while the cruiser Hornet turned five out of six of the weapons platforms into so much shards of wreckage and the glass that was created by her beams.
“Ma’am [i]Batton is moving into drop station.” Captain Yu Lin Pe smiled and relaxed, with the army on the ground her job was pretty much over, now it was up to Colonel Drago.

Troop Bay of HMS Batton
A large column of gray armored figures stood silent as statues in the cavernous troop bay of the Batton, a single figure stood out as it stepped to the front of the column, a red pauldron with the golden eagle of an Imperial Colonel.
Colonel Wilheilm Drago triggered his command net frequency so that all his troops could hear him, he then cleared his throat, removed his helmet and bent on one knee. The entire column of troopers followed his example and rested on bent knee, bowing their heads.
“Today we faithful Icarans kneel before you Oh Lord, we ask that you give us the strength to carry out the task at hand and to grant us victory over our enemies. We ask for you protection and grace as well in the tribulations that are about to befall these brave men and women, may they all return home or die with honor for the glory of Icara.” the Colonel’s strong baritone voice boomed in the flight bay in a grave manner.
“Lord we also ask that you grant us accuracy in our fire, and swiftness in kills so that we can rid this world of those godless heathens.” a slight chuckle went up from the gathered troopers. “Amen”

Within seconds the thousands of troopers were loaded into their dropships, their tanks and APCs already locked into place in the dropship’ holds. The bay doors slid silently open, the planetscape of their target loomed before them, it was an ugly world, green and brown was the color of the atmosphere and the soil was gray and slimy looking, many of the troopers wondered why they had not just glassed the ugly world and moved on.
Drago stood locked in his shock frame, his command squad locked into place around him, he thought humorlessly that the only benefit to this ugly ****ball on the *** end of the galaxy was that it had abundant radioactive materials that could provide the empire with a valuable rad base for centuries to come, but it sure was an ugly *** planet.
Then it came, the thump and hissing noise of the dropship detaching from it’s docking arm and racing towards the planet at speeds that would have killed anyone in a ship that had no inertial compensators, and even with them the personnel of a dropship felt five gees going down.

As the 400 dropships breached the atmosphere the planetary defense forces of the Phong world opened fire with AA guns and SAMs unfortunately for the defenders the Icaran ECM generators were too good and their shields were too strong, the few shots that hid a dropship were absorbed and did no damage.
The first wave of dropships landed less then two minutes after their initial deployment and quickly began unleashing the armored troopers and tanks within their holds.

Colonel Drago and his command unit were among the first wave of troops and as the bay doors slammed open in the troop compartment of his dropship, the shock frames immediately unhooked.
“Alright MOVE!” His voice boomed over the com net as the command squad filed out of the dropship at a run, as he exited the dropship Drago already heard the familiar thumping of the Icaran tanks main cannons, he also heard the whine of AP beams and the screech of the meson bLasters.
The Icaran Army’s assault rifle was an interesting weapon, it was actually two weapons in one, an AP beam and Meson bLaster combination in an under, upper configuration, the AP barrel being beneath the Meson bLaster. The AP beam was more power consuming yet it was also more powerful when taking out a single target, as well as being more accurate then the BLaster. The bLaster on the other hand was a devastating anti-personnel weapon and carried with it “splash damage” which could burn or even kill unarmored targets that were standing near the impact site, the Meson bLaster was also far less power hungry then the AP rifle and so it was the primary fire mode of the Icaran army.

“Sir, Able company reports they’ve got the bastards on the run in their quadrant, no fatalities to their own forces thus far, Charlie company is reporting that they are encountering heavy resistance and require immediate aid.” Major Davis’ frowned as the com trooper, SGT Taggar continued to relay the information she was receiving from the other companies. This world was much more heavily defended then they had expected and all along the front they were encountering heavy fire.
“Alright tell Delta Company to support Charlie, Baker company is coming with us Major we need to take that dome ASAP, so that their perimeter forces have nowhere to fall back to.”
“Yes sir, alright pass it on Taggar.” Davis said crisply as he rallied the other squads of Baker and Gamma companies as well as their 20 tanks and APCs, the LZ had been cleared with surprising swiftness and Phong militia lay dead all around.

Baker and Gamma both closed in on the domed city that made the capital of this particular world, so far neither company had been assailed by the defending Phong and the tension was so thick Drago felt like he could cut it with a force blade. They had been passing through a “forest” path, the “trees” were little more then huge piles of what looked like seaweed, yet slimier and instead of oxygen producing they produced lethal amounts of Carbon Dioxide.
“Incoming baker two watch your flanks!” the voice of some unseen CO snapped as the bang of Phong gauss rifles sent the entire Icaran force ducking for cover trying to find the shooters, a scream was cut off as a second shot tore through a dying trooper, then the firing started in the area where the command squad was. A rocket bore down on one of the tanks and exploded, doing no serious harm to the tank but sending two troopers flying a meter into the ar, their bodies were torn apart in mid air as the unseen gunners lit them up.
“Damn it watch those slime piles, use AP rifles now!” Major Davis said coldly into the command com as he aimed his own rifle and squeezed the firing stud, a purple beam shot from the bottom barrel of his assault rifle with a whine as it cut clean through the middle of a “slime pile” with a single sweep. A phong body dropped from the pile of slime, it’s torso and lower body separated by several centimeters.
AP beams swept through the slime with precision lethality yet the counter fire dropped a trooper right in front of colonel Drago, the man’s torso erupted in a geyser of blood as an armor piercing round tore into him.
Drago leveled his own rifle on the shooter and let fly a burst of mesons turning the slime pile and it’s occupant into burnt sludge, he leveled his rifle a second time and killed another Phong outright burning a hole clean through it.

“They’re CHARGING ON THE FLANKS!” someone shouted as a screaming mass of Phogn militia charged out of the “forest” down upon the ranks of Icaran troopers. Slug throwers wounded or killed a dozen Icarans before they were able to react but by then the Phong were already in their midst using force bayonets to stab at Icaran soldiers..
Drago depressed a stud on his rifle and his own force bayonet snapped into place under the barrels of his rifle and just in time as a Phong warrior wearing their blueish green armor charged him, the Colonel just barely dodged the alien’s thrust and brought his right foot up with an amazing kick to the Phong’s kneecap, a cracking sound let him know he had broken the Phong’s leg, with a quick thrust of his bayonet into the alien’ neck he severed it’s head then whirled around with driving his armored elbow into the faceplate of another Phong trooper with such force that it shattered, exposing the Phong too the toxic atmosphere, Drago moved on leaving the creature to suffocate.
All along the line Icarans and Phong fought hand to hand, force blade to force blade and the screams of the wounded and dying on both sides filled the air.
Major Davis led fifth platoon baker company on a charge that sent the few surviving Phong running, unfortunately for the Phong they ran straight into Gamma company’s armored column and were turned into paste by the treads of the massive armored vehicles, or were cut down by Gamma’s continuous volleys of meson fire.

The battle for Parsis II Lasted another month and Icaran Army dead numbered only 10 surprisingly, with over eight hundred wounded. Unfortunately in space the losses were far heavier, Lenin lost nine hundred of her three thousand crewman and had another seven hundred wounded. The flagship had lost nearly two hundred of her crew and had another three hundred and fifty wounded.

Two of three Icaran heavy cruisers in the 1st fleet were put out of action until repairs could be undertaken by the captured shipyard facilities of Mavin Parsis II, there was already a State Security brigade establishing it’s self on planet and the Phong forced labor camps were efficient enough to repair the two ships in a matter of months, but until then their invasion of Mavin Parsis had hit a roadblock.

Some day the Phong of these worlds would join Icara as full citizens but until then the forced labor camps (which provided adequate food and medical attention) would have to suffice to keep the populace as functioning members of the Icaran Empire.