STGOD 4 Game Thread

[Stormbringer]

[Combined Fleet]

The ridiculously understrengath missle salvo never stood a chance of penetrating the combined defensive umbrella. It had been a desperate act and both sides new it. A few isolated hits struck the vessels but none of them seriously impaired the combat power of the fleet.

The shells from the battlestation were another matter. They were stealthy, but they were also linear objects. It was a trivial matter indeed for them to be intercepted by countermissles. As wedge met slug the rail gun slugs and missles were both obliterated.

* * *

Automatically the targeting computers switched over to the next battlestation. The unfortunate platform, Pigeon-2, was the target of the second salvo.

[Captain tycho]

Krytosian Rendevous
"A detachment of the flag crew is underway to your flagship, to coordinate fleet tactics and to plan our next move."

[Spyder]

Minmatar Minister of Defense - Matar

"It is clear now that we as a people need to make preparations so that Minmatar will have the capacity to honor its promises treaty obligations and its promises. We need new ships, we need better ships and we simply need more of them."

At 1300 hours a substantial funding increase was granted for the expansion of the Minmatar fleet. Anyone trading under the UTO banner would never have to worry about pirate attacks again. At least not successful ones.

[Murazor]

Australis, Pervatia system. Five minutes before the arrival of the 2nd War Cluster.

Ouster kincaid drives did circumvent the Laws of Physics in order to achieve FTL speeds. Transpace approach was slightly different. Why make the effort of bending the laws of a universe when one can travel to another universe with no such laws? That was what transpace drives made possible. They opened portals, rifts in the continuum that could be crossed by whole fleets at once. In transpace, travel between points light years apart was made in a matter of hours.

"We aren't going to make it, are we?" asked Treselax.

"It doesn't seem likely, Admiral. We might do it, but even the smallest problem will delay us several minutes" replied his second in command.

"Order the motherships to stop the operation. We are going to try something different and I don't like it in the slightest."

Within instants, the motherships stopped and started to decouple. The partial link that had been created was severed with an precision graser hit from an escort frigate that didn't cause any serious damage to either the motherships or the shipyards.

Almost inmediately, Treselax ordered the motherships to start following the shipyards on their orbit around the planet below.

"Be ready to open a portal on my mark in the path of the shipyards. Make them big, because it is going to be a tight fit. Follow the shipyards into hyperspace. The rest of the fleet will retreat also in short order."

Preparations were made and calculations drawn over the next two minutes. The damaged Killer of Enslavers was towed and placed in the orbit of one of the shipyards between the shipyard and the mothership.

But the results of the calculations were negative. The portals would open and the shipyards would cross them, but unprepared for transpace travel the shipyards would be destroyed shortly after entering transpace.

There was no point in giving the Ousters knowledge about transpace with no gain for them. Even with that new knowledge, the Ousters would have needed some time to learn to detect transpace travel. Even with all the data provided by the UP, the Confederation had needed nearly two weeks to learn to detect with accuracy Kinkaid drives and to modify its sensor networks. The voidworms would have needed at least a week before learning how to correctly "see" transpace and probably another week to learn how to make scans of it with some degree of accuracy. Of course, they might be able to cut down such times if they managed to get information about transpace travel in the databanks of the Confederation. It was a pity that all data regarding transpace physics had been erased days ago.

"Fleet Admiral to all vessels. Operation Shipyard Rescue has been stopped. The shipyards and battle stations will start evacuation procedures now. We leave in twenty seconds from now. Engage warp and head for the following coordinates, where we will activate portals" said a furious Treselax.

Edit: Well. I modified the thing about the shipyards before leaving. Only for the sake of it, some soldiers will stay in the shipyards in the event of boarders and the shipyards are bobytrapped (sp?).

[Murazor]

Somewhere in transpace.

"The retreat from the Pervatia system has been completed, sir. The Ousters didn't attempt to stop them. The shipyards have been evacuated and the
"Situation of the fleet heading for Home" asked Verolix.

"Six minutes away from the planet"

"Very good. How is the situation at Prextazsa?"

"No enemy movement detected. At least we will have time to remove from the system the shipyards located there."

"Good enough. The fleets there will leave the system if it is clear that they can't stop the Ousters. The information that the Torvaxia has provided changes everything. We will take war to them before they learn to scan transpace. They won't see us coming. Plot course for the Edean system"

Edit. Edited post due to changes in the previous one.

[consequences]

Shi Space
New Okinawa:

Thirty-seven fighters. Even if these were the legendary warriors often exaggerated in action Holo-videos, it would be long odds against an entire fleet. As it was, they were simply there to delay the Etern for as long as they could.

"Lead to Pawn Sacrifice, our targets are two of those gunboats on the outskirts of the formation. If enough of us survive, we may come around and go for a third," Toshi 'Kamikaze' Curtis signaled his meager command as they approached their doom.


__________________________________________________

Shi Space
Approaching Edo

"We're looking at two separate forces, so we're going to have to split our efforts if we're going to save our poor beleaguered Marines' backsides. Battleline to engage one target, carrier force to hit the other, remain in close communication in case they try to gang up on one force, and precede our movement with scout drones to avoid any ambush." Admiral Miaowaro Shiro ordered.

Force Declaration
Carrier Line4 Supercarriers
12 drone carriers
4 missile cruisers
6 light cruisers
6 heavy destroyers
6 light destroyers
10 frigates
20 escorts

Battleline
2 Superdreadnoughts
5 heavy cruisers
2 missile cruisers
6 heavy destroyers
10 frigates
35 escorts

Reserve
1 heavy cruiser
4 light destroyers
6 frigates
6 escorts

[SirNitram]

Shi Space
New Okinawa:

Thirty-seven fighters. Even if these were the legendary warriors often exaggerated in action Holo-videos, it would be long odds against an entire fleet. As it was, they were simply there to delay the Etern for as long as they could.

"Lead to Pawn Sacrifice, our targets are two of those gunboats on the outskirts of the formation. If enough of us survive, we may come around and go for a third," Toshi 'Kamikaze' Curtis signaled his meager command as they approached their doom.

"Inbound fighters. I count thirty-seven of them." Announced one of the Gunboat pilots as his wing flew at the edge of the battlefleet currently trying to disable the planet's surface defenses while minimizing damage. "Not Dragons from the looks of it."

"Assign the cruisers Last Battle and Resurgent Pride to assist the Gunboats in putting them down. Disable if possible."

"Sir? Disable?"

"Affirmative. I don't like it either, brother, but today we fight one armed.... Prepare the landing barges for descent onto the planet."

Shi Space
Approaching Edo

"We're looking at two separate forces, so we're going to have to split our efforts if we're going to save our poor beleaguered Marines' backsides. Battleline to engage one target, carrier force to hit the other, remain in close communication in case they try to gang up on one force, and precede our movement with scout drones to avoid any ambush." Admiral Miaowaro Shiro ordered.

"No Shi forces yet, Sir. Planetary shield is coming apart but will require additional bombardment." The sensor operator reported.

"Damn them.. If no inbounds are detected in the next hour, start setting up a hyper-bouy net. It'll give us just enough warning to re-orient. Remain at Yellow alert."

"Aye sir."

[consequences]

New Okinawa
As the fighters approached effective defensive range, all but the best six evasive pilots switched off their active sensors, relying on targetting information provided by those best equipped to survive being the main target of the enemy's ire. They rapidly plunged towards their chosen two targets as behind them, the one surviving disposable missile platform abandoned stealth, launching all of its missiles within a few seconds.

Formation was a joke in this sort of combat, something to give the enemy a chance to kill everyone with one heavy warhead. Each fighter knew when the close-in attack was to be launched, and they approached in a spread, each craft fluctuating its acceleration madly to throw off incoming fire. Even the best light-speed weapon had a lag before it could fire at a target after the command was processed, and this presented the attacking squadron's only hope of surviving long enough to accomplish something.

Now all that remained was to see who would get to strike one last blow before they went.

[consequences]

Edo

An array of scout probes preceded the fleet that came on rapidly behind it, attempting to localise the Etern fleet to a closer tolerance than had already been done by their own bombardment.

[SirNitram]

New Okinawa
As the fighters approached effective defensive range, all but the best six evasive pilots switched off their active sensors, relying on targetting information provided by those best equipped to survive being the main target of the enemy's ire. They rapidly plunged towards their chosen two targets as behind them, the one surviving disposable missile platform abandoned stealth, launching all of its missiles within a few seconds.

Formation was a joke in this sort of combat, something to give the enemy a chance to kill everyone with one heavy warhead. Each fighter knew when the close-in attack was to be launched, and they approached in a spread, each craft fluctuating its acceleration madly to throw off incoming fire. Even the best light-speed weapon had a lag before it could fire at a target after the command was processed, and this presented the attacking squadron's only hope of surviving long enough to accomplish something.

Now all that remained was to see who would get to strike one last blow before they went.

"Three cruisers, two frigates have lost shielding from that last missile volley. They are retreating to the resupply point. Their barges are already on the way down." Came the report.

"And the gunboats?" Asked the Admiral, watching the chaotic display as weapons turned towards the planet to neutralize targets.. A disturbingly clinical term for 'Put a kinetic round through it and incinerate those nearby'.

"Already some losses. Proximity warheads are having limited use. The Cruisers are firing with maximum cyclic rate."

Outside, the Gunboats spat fire from their twin rotary gauss mounts and dove towards the two assisting capital warships for cover, the huge hulking beasts spewing fire at the fighters.

And far below, the first of the Etern's landing force was preparing to hit the turf. Atmospheric fighters, the only kind the Etern could make properly, kicked in their aerospike engines and began their attack runs on targets too close to civilian regions for orbital support. Landing barges prepared to release the massive tanks they carried.

Edo

An array of scout probes preceded the fleet that came on rapidly behind it, attempting to localise the Etern fleet to a closer tolerance than had already been done by their own bombardment.

"Active pings! Active pings!" The sensor operator yelled. "Looks like sensor probes, could be fighters. Just emerged from jump!"

"Analyze their entry vector and prepare for combat! Expect fighters! Signal Beta Group, they have trouble too once those nail our positions!" The Admiral seated himself heavily. Finally. Fighting planets from here was no warrior's way, nor was the atrocious rules the Unification was ramming down their throat. Now it was the Warrior's Time, the Etern and Shi finally seeing who was the greater.

"Bombardment platforms report they are ready to open fire on capital ships. All crews are ready. Not the most refreshed, but we'll have to make due."

[consequences]

New Okinawa
Planetside
The main military base was a glaring target, with its theater shield on-line(briefly, in all likelihood), and jammers clouding the area. Of course, the facility had been practically abandoned for hours, leaving various decoys in place, and every vehicle incapable of movement sitting with the engine running. Meanwhile, the soldiers stationed to this planet waited under cover, for their opportunity to do the most harm. The decision had been made not to stand in the cities, and while this practically guaranteed the deaths of every defender without reinforcement, the certainty of severe civilian casualties following any other course would cause made this the only path to take.

Spaceward

Already, a dozen fighters were disabled or gone, as the remainder desperately evaded behind the gunboats, trying to use them for cover from the Cruisers' far heavier fire, even risking destruction from their involuntary shields' engine wash to maintain the pursuit. Curtis took all of this in with a glance, and instantly realised that trying to break free would only draw out their deaths to no purpose. "All craft, Lead biggun, both barrels" he barked in the pilots shorthand, even as three more fighters fell to the enemy fire.

The fighters darted in and among the gunboats, firing as they went, dropping every decoy left as they attempted to carve a path to the cruiser that none of them knew bore the ironic name of Last Battle.

[Rogue 9]

[Combined Fleet]

The ridiculously understrengath missle salvo never stood a chance of penetrating the combined defensive umbrella. It had been a desperate act and both sides new it. A few isolated hits struck the vessels but none of them seriously impaired the combat power of the fleet.

The shells from the battlestation were another matter. They were stealthy, but they were also linear objects. It was a trivial matter indeed for them to be intercepted by countermissles. As wedge met slug the rail gun slugs and missles were both obliterated.

* * *

Automatically the targeting computers switched over to the next battlestation. The unfortunate platform, Pigeon-2, was the target of the second salvo.

Torrent One released it's full broadside at the enemy fleet as the missiles came in, then turned its attention to shooting down the missiles flying at it. The Torrent stations had the strongest shields of anything the Republic made, and five meters of armor after that. The missiles that slipped through chewed at the station for perhaps half a minute, the station absorbing more punishment than any dreadnought could, but it finally succumbed, spewing escape pods as the hulk was beaten into a misshapen, nonfunctional mass of metal. Bits of wreckage sparked against the planetary shield.

Planetary surface, Mintar

Army and Marine personnel scrambled around the major population centers, digging in tanks and excavating foxholes and trenches. Civilians filed into shelters as concealed planetary defense batteries were prepared to fire when the time was right. Fighters were prepared to scramble before the shield came down, but would not be launched just yet.

[Stormbringer]

[Combined Fleet]

"Excellent work. Make ready to intercept the enemy fleet when they come out of hyper. Until then maitain the alert."

* * *

"Admiral, we've picked up the Nashtar fleet on long range. Five minutes out."

"Very well, bring the fleet around and get us in the best firing position they can. Target any of the heavies you can."

* * *

Five minutes later the Asgard fleet stood ready. Kincaid missles in the pods and the tubes. The fix wasn't perfect and the time short. But they were in a half way decent position.

As the Nashtar ships translated back to normal space they met a full salvo of Kincaid missles.

[SirNitram]

New Okinawa
Planetside
The main military base was a glaring target, with its theater shield on-line(briefly, in all likelihood), and jammers clouding the area. Of course, the facility had been practically abandoned for hours, leaving various decoys in place, and every vehicle incapable of movement sitting with the engine running. Meanwhile, the soldiers stationed to this planet waited under cover, for their opportunity to do the most harm. The decision had been made not to stand in the cities, and while this practically guaranteed the deaths of every defender without reinforcement, the certainty of severe civilian casualties following any other course would cause made this the only path to take.

"The cities are clean, sir." Came the crackle of a comm to the Admiral. "The Shi are playing clean, looks like."

"Confirmed, General." The Admiral leaned back. Well, it fit the profile on the Shi. Too rare, these days, for people to actually fight military to military. Too easy to fall to the Destroyer and just raze everything. "Move in the police units just to be sure no ruckus starts, and set up base camp at these coordinates. It looks like the largest open plain in your region, you'll be able to see them coming. We'll pull back except for the Gunboats and two Cruisers. Those should be enough to keep you out of trouble and provide early warning."

As the ground forces prepared themselves on the largest uninhabited flatland they could find, the fleet began to reorganize itself.

Spaceward

Already, a dozen fighters were disabled or gone, as the remainder desperately evaded behind the gunboats, trying to use them for cover from the Cruisers' far heavier fire, even risking destruction from their involuntary shields' engine wash to maintain the pursuit. Curtis took all of this in with a glance, and instantly realised that trying to break free would only draw out their deaths to no purpose. "All craft, Lead biggun, both barrels" he barked in the pilots shorthand, even as three more fighters fell to the enemy fire.

The fighters darted in and among the gunboats, firing as they went, dropping every decoy left as they attempted to carve a path to the cruiser that none of them knew bore the ironic name of Last Battle.

Going behind the gunboats proved an unwise move; the tiny craft, more like capital ships than the fighters they now sparred with, mounted rear cannons. Crackling with static discharge, they spat ionizing radiation at the chasing fighters. As the radiation interacted with the atmosphere of the fighter's chambers, an electromagnetic pulse disabled most of their systems. The Etern were moping up as gently as possible.

One fighter, however, refused to be put down. As electrical discharged coursed through the cabin, the pilot apparently managed to eject. Moments later, the Shi fighter had a last coming together with the Etern Gunboat it had been dueling. Both crews escaped, despite their craft now burning wrecks.

'Kamikaze' Curtis had again lived up to his name.

(Hits discussed with Consequences. Objections should be PM'd/AIM'd, and will be changed if necessary.)

[Marcao]

Veithan Empire
Mulaya System, Mulaya III

The moment the Nashtar Ambassador walked in he and his aides had all of the attention of all the Veithans within the room. The head ambassador was well aware of the situation between the Unification and the so called UPA. The Veithan intelligence apparatus was excellent, and there were…other means which were available to the Empire. The Veithan ambassador was certain that the Empire was considering a move, the exact specifics however were pure speculation. The ambassador smiled briefly as the Nashtar representatives approached the table, the Veithan representative and his aides standing in a show of respect and sitting once again only when the Nashtar had done so.

When the Nashtar ambassador spoke the Veithans listened exchanging thoughts occasionally as various points were considered and analyzed. The sad facts of the matter were that the situation was not as clear cut as many believed. The Empire felt that the Unification was in the midst of a power play, it had been made readily apparent when the Veithan “report” had been so easily ignored. It had never been meant to ease hostilities, only delay them. It had taken two weeks for the report to have been made, and that had been a slightly rushed but far more thorough report than the evidence which had been provided by the Ousters. The central problem was easy enough to determine, in a galaxy where several races and beings could change their shape, visual evidence alone was highly suspect.

When the Nashtar ambassador finished, the Veithans waited for a handful of seconds before the chief Veithan negotiator replied. He spoke his words pleasant and practiced. “Please Ambassador; I am honored to be here. The Unification did get involved something which we found particularly distressing all things considered, but your alliance did declare war against the Ousters. It may have been more prudent at the time, to simply reinforce the White Suns with a great deal of alliance ships. But, we gain little by considering what could have been.”

The Ambassador went silent for a moment before he continued. “We do agree that the evidence which the Ousters are using as justification for their assault against the White Sun to be suspect. It is not in the eyes of the Empire, thorough enough to remove reasonable doubt. The actions of the Vampires will be remembered, their claims will be tested. Ultimately, it was the relative ease in which the Ousters disrespected our viewpoint which signaled to us, that they are unconcerned about the evidence. It is enough for them, and they are willing to fight and die for that.” The Veithan shrugged, power had its own means of working. If all the Ousters had needed was an excuse to unify their people behind a goal, the death of six million had certainly done an admirable job of it.

”I do not believe that anyone doubts your eagerness to defend your ally, but at that task you have failed. Our projections indicate that the White Sun will fall without foreign ships, these ships you cannot provide at the moment since the Unification forces threaten your own home worlds.” The Veithan paused for a moment, considering the words of the Nashtar for a second. “I appreciate your candor ambassador, but at this time even if you could provide us with all the data you possess, it may not be enough.” He sighed softly and shook his head. “I am certain that you are aware of this, but there are strong ties between Monacora and the Empire. Information which you provide will be resisted irregardless of how thorough it may be. It will be questioned, what sort of guarantees do we have that it is all the information? What will happen when the Monacoran’s provide evidence to the contrary of your own?” The Veithan paused, watching the eyes of his counter part. “I mean no disrespect. I make no accusations, I can only point out what people will say, and that forces are at work here that supercede my own abilities. Nonetheless, I will do all I can to allow you to present your case.”

”When it comes to aid I can not promise anything. Those decisions are ultimately not my own, although I do believe that should your nation wish for the Accord to act as mediators in search for a settlement it may be possible. Nonetheless, be aware that the Unification and the Ousters do not seem to hold our words in high regard. As such, I would ask you that you and your nation prepare for the worst.” He took a deep breath and glanced to his left, the woman wearing the Veithan intelligence colors nodding and standing before walking towards a side door and disappearing. “is there anything else I may assist you with?”

[Spyder]

The Minmatar would like to discuss terms for renewal of fair and open trade with the Vethian Empire via the Unity Trade Organisation. Membership within the UTO confers many benefits, including total trade neutrality, the Minmatar's protection of all trade convoys, the autonomy to establish UTO protected trade with other nations of your chosing and access to the UTO Marketlink, ensuring the freedom neccessary to trade in any international industry with no political strings attached. In these turbulant times of war and suffering it is crucial to all civilisation that we establish and maintain the building blocks of a civilized and prosperous galactic community so that one day the atrocities of the past will cease and we may all benefit from a new era of international cooperation.

We look forward to further discussion on the matter.

-Minmatar ambassador to Vethia.

[frigidmagi]

United Protectrate Space, -12 hours

"Sir I'm reading something strange on the scanners." Reported the young tac officer.

"Let's see it Willy." The Capt ordered. The readings came up on the screen and the Capt wrinkled his forehead in shock. It looked like a wormhole...

"Let's get closer and give it sweep."

"Aye, aye Sir, coming about." The ship moved closer and reached out with it sensors trying to get a more indepth reading.

"Sir, it's growing, I think we-"

United Protectrate Space -6 hours

"This is Stormhold CentCom we have lost contact with the outer colonies, please comfirm."

"This is Lastport CentCom, we comfirm, sending scouts, go to condaintion Red, this may be a new Unification offense."

United Protectrate Space - 2hours

"What is it?" Asked the Lord Protector.

"I don't know, it's devoured all the colonies from here to Amarr and has us surrondded, this is not natural behavior for... Anything the sciencist are telling me." NID Admiral Donovin reported.

"No ships have reported back after entry. We may be able to get a com message out, however by boasting the CentCom Hypercom to maxium."
Fleet Admiral Andersen suggested.

United Protectrate -30 minutes

"This is Lord Protector Sir Joshua Mattews, some... thing, a aberation of spacetime has engulf our systems one at a time, we have lost all contact, we think this message might get through, but we're burning out our main HyperCom to do it. Do not attempt recuse, I repeat do not attempt recuse."

United Protectrate H-Hour

The massive abberation rushed over Lastport breifly covering the whole of the formor UP, before twisting in on itself and disappearing.

[Spyder]

[img=left]http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/spyda/ ... bol_50.gif[/img] Unity Station

Alex Dekhrynova addressed the delegates.

"Fellow representatives. Some of you may already be aware but for those of you that are not I will try to explain this as best I can. This message was received by one of our survey probes:"

"This is Lord," the transmission was broken with static, "Mattews, some... thing, a aberation of spacetime .... ... ... engulfed ... systems one at a time, ... ... ... ... lost all contact, we think th.. message might get through, ... ... ... burning out our main HyperCom ... ... .... Do not ... ... ..., I ... ...do not attempt re... ..."

"At 1100 hours UST the United Protectorates ceased to exist." A moment of stunned silence fell over the delegation chamber. "Our initial surveys indicate that nothing exists but barren void where the United Protectorates once existed. According to the message we received the United Protectorates had encountered some form of spacial anomaly that somehow engulfed their entire cluster. At present our scientists are still trying to piece together the data. We don't know if this anomaly was naturally occuring or artificial. We don't know if there are more of them or what kind of danger this represents to our hom systems. One thing is for certain, we do not know the fate of the United Protectorates or of anyone travelling in their systems prior to this event.

"We as a galactic community need to put our differences behind us and work together to avert future disaster. The Minmatar reccomend that all governments, including our own, increase spending on astronic research and that we all share our findings openly so that we as a community can better understand the universe we live in so that future tradgedies can be avoided."

[Alyrium Denryle]

Amb. Natrix's Jaw just dropped... his skin tone didnt change his jaw just dropped to the middle of his chest. His best friend just ceased to exist, less than a month after his entire family was killed. This was... to much

"mmmy friends... Perhaps we should put our differences aside. Several hundred billion people just stopped existing, for any more to die... It would be a waste... a horrile waste"

[Darksider]

::::::KSN-Manticoran staging ground, Dead system:::::

"So admiral, as I said, We need to delay the Protectorate fleet long enough for the other Unification forces to.."

Alarms started blaring all over the ship

"What the hell is going on?"

An aide rushed over to admiral conner

"Sir, a huge space-time distortion has been detected across UP space."

"Which part of UP space?"

"All of it"

"What the hell?"

"The UP is gone sir"

"the hell do you mean, Gone?"

"It's not there."

"Contact high command, find out what the hell is going on."

[Thirdfain]

Eketrina

Hope. Humans thrived on it. Elanie reflected on what a useless tool it was- her own people had abandoned it long before for the certainty of unified purpose, the endless press for Diaspora. Still, it had been a powerful tool in the hands of her enemies. They had resisted every step, and continued to resist. She could feel it, at the edge of her perception- eyes hard, fists clenched, howling defiance with their final breath- the Nashtar warriors, the White Suns soldiers, fighting and dying. There was now a hint of desperation. The Protectorate had been the pillar of the Alliance, the steadfast source of power and assurance which had driven the disparate powers of Democracy through fire and ice. Now, that pillar was broken. Unless another took up the standard, the Alliance would soon fall.

Elanie was not sure if she was relieved or remorseful. In all Known Space, only a handful could equal her will. Von Bek, who lead the Asgard like a new-age Bismarck. The Princes, who were two swords forged in the radioactive fires of the Rape. Basil, the Red Handed master who overshadowed her every move, and that presence she had felt, slight, distant, to the Spinwards edge of Known Space. Little more than a name-

Lilandra.

There was one more, one more personality. Elanie knew that personalities were power, they were drive. They were what moved nations, shattered crowns, and burned planets. Yes, there was one more name on that list. President Major.

Victory would require his death. Elanie would not submit, would not cease, until his presence was snuffed. The Asgard could have his worlds- they had fought hard for them- but she would have him.

Now, there was only to turn this lucky accident to her advantage. Elanie sat, and thought. The Protectorates and their mighty fleet were gone. What now could be done?

[Dahak]

Unity Station

Duke Nethington was completely calm, he looked as if someone just told him he lost a pair of unused trousers. "Tragic," he managed to let some sympathy flow into his voice, "but ultimately none of Gladsheim concern. We may consider sharing data, though it is unlikely we will do so. Knowledge, as we all know, is power. We don't like to give that away too easily."

[Darksider]

:::::::KSN-Manticoran staging grounds::::::

"Alright, we've got our new marchin orders."

"The protectorates may be gone, but the war's not over yet."

"We've been ordered to assist in the Unification's assault on mintar."

"How long will it take us to get there?"

"Roughly four or five hours"

"Then we'd best get underway"

The KSN armada formed up and jumped to Mintar

[Bugsby]

The Hephaestus shipyards grew silent, the ever-present hum and clatter of construction died out. The workers stopped, turning away from their tasks to the holovid, where the newscasters were trying to scrape up enough evidence to explain the sudden death of the United Protectorates. Abstract scientific terms like "space-time distortion" were bandied about just as frequently as the more evocative terms of "terrible tragedy" and "incomparably painful." For hours, work and play stopped on the Combine worlds as its citizens reflected on the loss that gripped the galaxy. Then, slowly, everyone turned their head back to their work. Life went on.

[Thirdfain]

Jormungandr

The Cruiser Swarms of the fledgeling 5th War Cluster formed up with the group of military transports. Three million Line Stratiotoi were being shipped, under this prodigious escort, to the Nashtar Republic's front. Along with them were small groups of combat Blackeyes. They would be needed.