[h2][b]Anaria System, Aurolian Fringes[/b][/h2]

Anaria, a small system located at the outskirts of the Aurolian Republic. A fringe world with not even a hundred years of history. Undeveloped and too far for the government to comfortably reach Anaria is considered a dangerous place most attractive to adventurous and poor people. Anaria had their fair share of pirate attacks and once even had a foreign fleet passing nearby. While insignificant compared to the riches of the core worlds the natives all loved this place and kept the peace in their own way. The place had its charm, unlike the usual hellholes you might find at the edges of the Republic. After a while this sorts of reputation turned into one of Anaria's main source of capital, foreign trade. Those who had traveled for the core worlds first had to pass through the wilds of the Fringes and among them Anaria was considered one of the safer places. Space ports, spaceship services, entertainment, you name it. Anaria had you covered. Consequently the travelers who passed through the system also enriched Anaria which the local government wisely spent on further ensuring the safety of their people. The cycle continued and many expected that one day Anaria would become a honorary member of the core worlds with all its benefits.

Those hopes and dreams are about to be crushed under the might of a new foe. Sensors picked up the sign of strange capital ships passing through the asteroid belt at warp speed. Like many star systems Anaria was surrounded by a cloud of asteroids, in this case about 200AU away. Well-prepared the Anarian Defense Fleet (ADF) long planted sensors in the asteroid field yet those should've detected the opponent from nearly a lightyear away, forget 200AU. What was going on? Admiral Deacon immediately ordered high alert, gathering all ships to intercept. Anaria's defenses were formidable, dozens of escorts, several cruisers, two heavy cruisers and even a Victory-class battleship titled [i]ASS Endurance[/i] were all ready to protect their home. Meanwhile the enemy was beelining for Anaria Prima, the only habitable place in the system. A few AU away, near the moon of Anaria Secunda, the hostile fleet ceased warp travel in preparation of the upcoming combat. For some reason though all sensors and communications experienced a strange noise, as if all their equipment were calibrated wrongly. Yet what surprised them the most were the appearance of the ships.
[img]http://moa.omnimulti.com/images/0/0d/VersCastlesInvadeAldnoahZero.jpg[/img]

They were big, about the size of light cruisers. All shaped like thin metal needles. Sensors were a mess so maybe it's just an error but the mass readings of each ship measured above a million tons! What was going on? Encapsulated by these appeared to be a large capital vessel in the excess of 500 meters, most likely their lead ship. Does that make the rest mere escorts? The thought terrified Deacon only to be shaken by an even weirder discovery. Like rose petals the sides of the large red ship opened, revealing a containment space filled with smaller warships. Starships carrying fighters and other smallcraft was a standard sight but a warship which carried other warships? Like bees these smaller vessels spread out, screening for the rest of the fleet. The two fleets were now roughly even in numbers.

[i]" Launch all fighters! "[/i]
Admiral Deacon ordered the two light carriers to empty out their complement of 500 fighters, most of them are the old TSA-5 Talon Strike Fighters. Yet while outdated their munitions are still deadly and combined with just enough bombers they could be a threat to even battleships. Although it would take a while before they reach the battle line. Meanwhile the enemy was about to enter weapons range. Given they have yet to fire a single shot it is plausible the unknown fleet has shorter effective range than them. Capitalizing on this Deacon ordered to fire and suddenly hundreds of particle ripper bursts flew into the other direction... only to veer off their intended course.

Deflector shields? Something else? The fact sensory data got suddenly scrambled suggests near full spectrum coverage. Anyways, the enemy's defense field is troublesome. Most likely it could be only effected from shorter ranges. And given the nature of the engagement the opponent is most likely focusing most of their power on the frontal shields. Focus fire and/or re-routing power to the weapons could be viable counters. Unfortunately their sensors are unreliable right now and re-routing power would leave them too vulnerable. He had a third option, issuing that immediately. Rather than regrouping with the fleet the fighters spread out and prepared for flanking maneuvers. A few minutes later Deacon received reports concerning missile launches. At first Deacon thought it might be intended for the fleet but further reports confirm the missiles were sent against the fighters. Isn't that a bit too early? Even if outdated the Talon fighters are fast enough to evade long range missile fire. Even more mystifying was the fact when the sensor staff told him that all missiles suddenly self-destructed. Was that a diversion or...

[i]" Recall all fighters! Cancel attack! "[/i]
But he was too late. Reports indicate nearly 80% loses. All fighters were hit by hyperdense debris fields. Or were they? Kinetic submunitions warheads on a degree of speed, finesse and density previously unheard of. What little scattered data they had implies kinetic impactors too small for the naked eye to see punching through the hulls at near-relativistic velocities. Meanwhile the enemy flagship's energy levels were spiking. Soon enough a vibrant red beam came forth, hitting one of the heavy cruisers dead-on. As if self-destructing the great ship exploded from the center, leaving nothing but scattered debris. Deacon used to serve in the Aurolian Navy and saw dreadnoughts in combat but never experienced firepower such as this. Correction, in terms of energy levels beam didn't even approach that of the main guns of dreadnoughts. Yet as if by sorcery the beam effortlessly passed through the cruiser's defenses and detonated right in its center. Following that the small ships on the enemy side opened fire, unleashing similar red beams. Unlike before the shield systems were sufficient to weather this sorts of firepower although at the cost of focusing them to one direction. In contrast the large vessels didn't bother to fire. As suspected they concentrate on shield energy in order to cover for the rest of their fleet. Somehow disconcertingly they didn't slow down, either. The enemy flagship fired for the second time, annihilating the other heavy cruiser. Panic spread through the ADF as many people contemplated on their chances of survival. At the same time Deacon began to wonder, the enemy appeared to have accurate sensor data to pinpoint their ship positions. The ADF also struggles with random errors considering their sensory signals. Is it plausible they've missed something? Does the enemy have an infiltrator group close by messing with their sensors while also marking targets? Given strangeness of the enemy's technology it is plausible. If that's so the battle was already lost before it could've started. Then there's only one question, why spare him? Why shoot the heavy cruisers and ignore the lead ship? Why don't just shoo-
[h2][b]*BOOOM*[/b][/h2]A quintuplet of blinding white lights pierced the hull of the ASS Endurance, starting a fatal chain of explosions. It didn't come from the Asterian fleet but another direction much closer by. Under the cover of gravitational waves existed a strange mech, roughly 15m tall. It sported four cannons, two overhead and another two replacing its lower arms. The name was Kriemhild, once the priced heirloom of the Berthold family now in the possession of the Schwarzwulf knightly order in the service of Her Royal Majesty Wilhelmina Adelheim. In spite of being smaller than any warship the mech held incedible power and an appearance which almost made it unearthly. Of course, Kriemhild was something beyond even the science of the Drachenreich, a machine built around a piece of alien technology. The true function of this mighty device is unknown but it allows gravity control beyond the limits of even the Asterians. One of these effects include gravity waves that bend all rays, effectively jamming communications and sensors. The effect relies on distances, the effect grows weaker with proximity between the object and sensor while the jamming effect also being the strongest at the source, making the Kriemhild hard to detect. In addition the gravity control can be harnessed into weaponry, achieving material compression unheard of. The product are the four Neutronium Cannons or N-Cannons that shoot nanometers thick streams of matter compressed close to the density of neutron stars. This effectively make them a superior variant to macro particle cannons. Although at the cost of even shorter effective range.

[i]" Got their flagship. Leaving the cleanup to you. Returning to the Schwarzseele. Good hunting! "[/i]
A subtle laser comm with the above message reached the Asterian fleet. The voice belonged to Siegward Guntram von Kriemhild, exalted ace pilot and the greatest knight in service of Her Majesty. With his wish to defeat the enemy leader by his own hands fulfilled the great knight has nothing else to excite his thirst for battle. Meanwhile the Asterian fleet is pushing closer, only a few minutes away from direct collision. In that moment they disperse a swarm of smallcrafts, Ritterpanzers. The agile mechs and their powerful M-Rifles do a short work of the fleeing ADF and proceed forward to destroy the remainder of the orbital assets. At the same time the ten Degen-class castles begin planetfall, targeting population centers and other places of military importance. [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI7ft8xMYuQ]Like giant meteorites hitting the surface the castles crash down with effects akin to nuclear devices[/url].

Destruction reigned and without waiting for the craters to cool the Order of the Black Wolves began their invasion. Missiles and artillery fire rained down, followed by the massed launch of atmospheric fighters. Soon entire divisions emerged from the castles, ready to take this planet and its resources all for themselves. Meanwhile the castles stood firm, their appearance resembling ominous steel flowers.
[img]http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/anico_bin/imgs/1/e/1e196d38-s.jpg[/img]


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[@Sigma][@Yennefer]

Also a quick primer on Asterian military. Ritterpanzer are our mechs, usually piloted by knights. They are capable of both atmospheric and space flight. They can come down via orbital re-entry albeit their capabilities are somewhat worse in the atmosphere. They are usually slower than fighters but more agile. Other weapons include artillery which can have extreme range though they require spotters. Still, they rarely leave the castles. Various conventional looking vehicles are also present so you have a bit of free right mentioning them. Infantry are present, tend to be rather conventional in looks and uses semi-auto plasma guns most of the time. The main frontline troops are the knights in power armor called Panzerharnish to which the regular infantry mostly adds as recon and fire support. Panzerharnish are a bit like mini mechs in performance. As mentioned fighters are present and I roughly described them in my NS, so check that.

As for numbers I wish to leave that vague for now. We can agree on something on Discord if you want. Probably each castle held a division worth of troops but this can change either upwards or downwards if it's needed.
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