AOTRS Signals Intelligence has a clear line on inter-ship Azura communication, and there is a lot of it. There are elements of at least ten distinct commanders and their personal fleets here. Even with the pre-battle tension boarding pods can be observed launching between various command ships - and soon enough the distinct commanders are down to seven. Due to the lack of primary weapons fire in these conflicts, these are likely honour duels rather than outright assaults. Rapidly emerging as supreme commander is a figure referred to as the Generous Knight. In terms of sheer tonnage the Azura ships have around a 40% weight advantage on the 4th Fleet. In terms of sheer numbers the edge is more dramatic: three hundred ships are present, though the emphasis is heavily on destroyer or corvette sized ships. Despite the weight advantage, projections still marginally favour the Aotrs in this engagement due to the individually lower capabilities of the Azura ships. The line of battle is thus: Corvettes: Weapons platforms. These are fast moving, highly maneuverable, and ridiculously overgunned for their weight, essentially being free-floating gun or torpedo platforms. They have neither engine nor defensive systems, drawing power and propulsion from the Cruisers. Armament is primarily kinetic or explosive, with energy weapons a rarity. Destroyers: Brawlers. These are extremely heavily armoured bulwarks that are placed in the vanguard. No serious armaments are detected but they're designed to take a punch and maybe launch a boarding action. Many of these also act as launch points for fighter and bomber squadrons. Cruisers: Support. These are massive violet fusion reactors and gravity wells that serve to provide power and propulsion to nearby Azura craft. While they are at first glance the weak point in the formation, they trade all offense for additional armour. A small number of cruisers are outfitted instead with massive energy weapons instead of a support field, but these are noticeably older than the majority of the fleet. Battleships: Defensive Fortresses and battlefield control. There are only ten ships in this weight class - one per admiral - huge and bulky things covered in massive emitter dishes, and containing violet fusion reactors. These are expected to have some role in defending vulnerable gun platforms, perhaps being a central shield emitter. It is also expected that these ships could reconfigure their defensive shielding into an extreme range gravitational pulse - an artillery weapon to soften up an enemy fleet outside of normal engagement range. Carriers: The Azura do not seem to have a dedicated large carrier role, with launch functions operating at the Destroyer role. Irregulars: A number of asteroids have been harvested from Tanshin III's rings and outfitted with slapdash gravitational drives. Despite their skeleton crews these rocks seem to have full maneuverability, and have interposed themselves throughout the formation as ablative armour for critical ships. Though unarmed, they do present a ramming threat. Logistics: The Azura logistics swarm is a collection of yellow-painted vessels, in marked contrast to the various shades of blue used amongst the main fleet element. The basic configuration for these ships is 'fast and small', designed for resupplying corvettes under fire. The Azura corvettes use solid projectile weapons and so a large amount of excess ammunition needs to be kept on hand. Troop Transports: These are very similar in size and scope to destroyers - heavily armoured, virtually unarmed - indicating that bombardment does not play a role in Azura planetary assault doctrine. The main difference between a Transport and a destroyer is that their launch bays are optimized for capacity rather than rapid re-arming. The overall impression is that the Azura fleet is oddly undergunned for its size and weight. It is fast, evasive and tough, but its damage output is oddly low. There is a large focus on ordinance - torpedoes, boarding and launch craft - as the primary combat arm, with beam weaponry seemingly considered obsolete. The earlier observation of the Azura ships being like modules of a single large starship that fights in a disassembled state seems accurate at a fleet level. * Boldness processes all this new information voraciously. She's particularly excited by the theological discussion. "Azura is the goddess of [i]all that is[/i]," she said, "Ferno is the goddess of [i]all that is not[/i]. Goltir is the goddess of [i]knowing which is which[/i]. Because you exist outside the light of the Endless Azure Skies you're children of the Crimson Goddess - that's what that means. It means that you are excluded from true power but are unbound by true law." She tells the legend of a great Shah at the height of galactic power. He desired something more grand to commemorate his reign than a tomb, ship, or conquest and so he decided to write his own name into the laws of physics themselves. His gift was Gravity - the universal connector, bound into service and enslaved to the Azura. Civilization reached even greater heights. His successor, naturally, sought to do the same thing. She, too, broke open the heavens and rewrote the laws of reality. This time she encoded her laws: The Azure Code, that the virtuous might always triumph over the wicked. And so the Endless Azure Skies grew so great that they eclipsed the galaxy. "We had computers then, of course. Half a galaxy bound together in a web of data. But our society had become wicked and oppressive, a thing of machines and chains and the slavery of the mind. And so the Saoshyant cracked open the vault of the heavens one final time and wrote into the laws of reality the Curse. And so we were made blind, and fell into a state of peace. Our machines went silent but our civilization prospered and was free." "The Furnace Knight is of the old tyrants. He seeks [redemption] for the Curse - that means, he intends to overthrow the Saoshyant and return the Endless Azure Skies to the heights of power - to its era of expansionism and endless war. And so I, and my three sisters, were sent to kill him." She leaned forwards, eyes shining brilliantly. "You cannot kill him through strength, stratagem or spellwork. The Azure Code will not permit it; as long as one star in our Sky burns so will he. He can only be undone in accordance with the Codes; his immortality is premised on law and through law it must be undone. He must be forsaken by his servants. He must turn his blade against the trusted friend who stood by him to the end. And then he must lose in honourable single combat against one of pure heart. Only then will his power be broken." "So!" she said brightly. "Not nearly undoable. My sisters are specialized for the required roles. But if we do it alone it's a twenty year job with a ten percent success rate, so I'd really appreciate the help."