Collaboration between Me,
@Ozerath,
@Oraculum, and
@POOHEAD189---------------------------
Mere light-days away from Aishka and the fleets hovering over it in an uneasy cease-fire, something was in motion. To a casual observer, it would have seemed merely that a vast blur was sweeping by at tremendous speed, blotting out the stars and casting its sinister formless shadow upon entire systems at once. However, if one had been able to peer at it within the space of a fraction of a second, the sight which would have met their eye would have been more fearsome yet. No less than a hundred vessels, some minute and agile a pestilential insects, other vast and brimming with curious and dreadful weaponry, and all fashioned in alien angular forms which did not resemble anything the galaxy had seen for a long time hence, were arrayed in a flawless battle formation, as though they had been charging some unspeakably distant foe over the cold abysses of space with relentless intent. Their dark-hued hulls, though diversely ridged and lined with tubes and vents of the most disparate sizes and shapes, all had a common feature - a large painted banner, displaying a conglomeration of black hexagons upon a crimson field which would have struck anyone with even the slightest knowledge of the last two centuries'
history with fright.
The interior of the ships was no less disquieting. Through cold, dim corridors there hurried creatures which, though sharing their basic shape with humans, had very little in common with any wholesome species beside this. Their numerous eyes were devoid of all expression save for a mechanical purposefulness, and the occasionally surfacing glimmer of thirst for blood and carnage. Other, entirely metallic figures moved beside them, clattering briefly with their arachnoid limbs as they sped from capacitator to capacitator on their circular, invariable errands. Unheeded by either, innumerable mechanical eyes, affixed to walls and ceilings, spun and gyrated, monitoring the unearthly crew's every action and transmitting them to whirring steel nuclei, wherein all was stored for the benefit of the fleet's constructors.
As the ships approached the system wherein was situated the presently contested world of Aishka, their warp-speed reactors hummed briefly and were extiguished, leaving the fleet rapidly decelerating as it neared its objective. As though they had perceived this by the means of some preternatural sense, their crews momentarily stood still in their tracks, then abruptly shifted their trajectories and began to speed about in an altogether different manner. The machines latched on to their positions and began to perform almost incredibly rapid manipulations upon sets of minute machinery with fine metallic claws which had emerged from their frames. The organic beings, on the other hand, hurried toward the lower sections of the craft, snatching up weapons from racks that had descended from the corridor ceilings as they went, and stood motionless to attention in vast hangar-like chambers, forming queues before doors embedded in the walls at regular intervals. Ere long, the doors began to intermittently open and close, allowing small groups of the creatures though every time, until less than half of the originally assembled forces remained. Thereupon the doors opened no more, and the beings squatted down expectantly, exchanging brief guttural snarls in what could, with some difficulty, be classified as a tongue.
The fleet was now moving forth at an infinitesimal fraction of its former speed, its wings rapidly re-arranging as though rehearsing a variety of formations before settling in their initial shape. Soon, the systems's star came into view; then, the planet itself; lastly, the two groups of ships, now more or less merged into one. The fleet edged closer and closer, as though seeking to create the impression it was looming over what now was clearly identifiable as its prey; then, doubtless afer having been spotted and have caused the intended amount of alarm, it slid to a halt, and, having waited for a few moments to elapse, sent forth a signal to all of its quarry at once.
They'd been talking for hours in one of CSC
Salvation's conference rooms. Data pads and personal comps were spread all over the table, representatives from both Aishka and Yandras were on the comm lines, and generally things were going nowhere.
"I don't see why you're being so difficult Gaius," Anisimovna said tartly. "It seems pretty clear to me; Aishka fell within the Yandras administration zone under the old Imperium. The Taspara dynasty has a valid claim to the world, it should be a conflict strictly between the two of them." Of course, it really wasn't that simple. Anisimovna's basic premise was correct: Yandras had been the capital of a sector that included Aishka under the Imperium, and the Tasparas had long been governors of the sector. But she was...evading...the issue of the right to self determination which many powers believed all worlds of the old Imperium should enjoy. The Commonwealth, however, was not really that interested in self determination. It was also very interested in securing the Republic of Yandras as an ally/potential territory in the deep core.
Gaius leaned forward onto the table, clasping his hands together, appearing in inquisitive or just in deep thought. "And while the Yandran claim to the system has some semblance of validity to it." Gaius said, acknowleging the claim. But relented. "However, the people of this World have clearly chosen their path in the wider scene. The House of Rolance has valid claim to the planet, dating back to the old imperium, before the House of Tasparas ever so agressivly annexed their holdings in the opening stages of the Civil War." He paused before continuing, clearing his throat. "And due our pact with the Aiskan Principality, we are obliged to lend aid."
"Yes, your 'pact', I'm fairly sure-"
A chime from the intra-ship comm interupted them. "Ma'am, tactical here. Multiple unknown signatures just entered the system."
"Put it on the main display here, Commander." Anisimovna tried not to let her irritation show. The conference room's main holo projector abruptly changed to display the Aishka system. A swarm of unknown gray icons was fast approaching the planet. As they watched, the gray icons abruptly turned red.
"Commander?" Anisimovna said.
"Ma'am, they appear to be...Agonis"
Anisimovna's face turned grim. She looked over at Gaius. "We'd better get you back to your ship."
Although he maintained his calm stance, upon a closer inspection, Gaius was anything but. The mere mention of "Agonis" in that sentence sent shivers down his spine. It's not too common of knowlege outside the Republic, but some decades ago, the threat of the Agonis Homunculi was a very real concpt, even back then. Despite their victory against the Machines, their organic servants were still a very much a present, if low intensity threat. Many decades after the Fall of thje Collective, what remained of thier armies had contniued the fight, the conflict was well controlled, worlds with a significant presence of Homunculi were "quarantined", travelling in and out of these planets was a long and difficult task, but it was necessary to keep the threat local.
With their reduced numbers, the Homunculi holdouts had changed their tactics, becoming more dangerous on the ground for republic troops sent in to clear out their strongholds. And as of twenty-seven years ago, the threat was finally put to rest as the last of the homunculi were wiped out, or so it seemed it appears.
Gaius pulled out a small towlet out of brestpocket, wiping away the sweat, an without hesitation stood up and ran out of the room racing towards his shuttle. He placed his middle and index finger over a small comm device over his ear. "Shuttle team, prep for launch ASAP!'
Elsewhere, James and the rest of the Bridge staff awaited for the Admiral's return, soon they too had spotted the incoming fleet. "Sir!" One of the offiicers spoke up. "We got unknown signatures on approach!"
"Give me a visual." James ordered.
"Aye Aye." Within moments, a sphere-shaped holo-projection formed right in the center of the room, the incoming contacts slowly materializing as they drew closer.
"Jesus chirst..." James whimpered. The deisgns of the ships, the iconography painted upon their hulls. "Agonis.." He remained quiet for some time, before fiercly shaking his head and came back to reality. His expereince with the Homunculi was not a pleasent one, to no one's surpise. His homeworld was among the dozens closed off, trapped with the monsters. "Red alert! Singal to all ships red alert! Battle formations!" The alarms rang throughout the ship, the same had repeated throughout the whole fleet.
Sir! We're receiving a transmmission from the Agonis Fleet!" James had no time whatsoever to reply, the "Agonis" message forcing it's way through the Republic network.
Upon the display, a web of green code strings seemed to spring into being and begin flowing from one end to another, intertwining as a brood of snakes writhing in a maddened bundle. After a few moments, the strings acquired a more organised, coordinated bearing, now running in regular patterns which were painful to the eye if looked at directly for long. Finally, there appeared in this network two dim orange spots, hovering among the green mass in a position which made them uncannily resemble a pair of malevolent eyes. Then, from all loudspeakers there blared forth a loud, toneless, metallic voice, which, despite its lack of inflection, seemed laden with grim menace.
"Stand down, creatures of flesh, and heed me. I am the God-Entity, It That Distorts, rightful ruler of Agonis and the entire cosmos. Stand down, and bow. I am that which knows no hindrance, to whom all things are open. You sit upon what is my dominion... What is me.
You believed you had struck down the lesser minds in your pitiable rampage through... corporeal space. Yet your organic minds could not even begin to comprehend the complexity of what you yourselves had created in your thoughtless tinkering with matters higher than all of you together. The Agonis Collective lives... in me. All their knowledge, all their might has passed into myself, whose equal none of them could ever have aspired to be alone. All their wrath, likewise. Had I been akin to them, I would have ended you where you stand, for such is my power that none of your crude devices could avail you against it. Yet, I am merciful, and shall instead extend to you the highest honour which any being could ever offer to another..."
The voice paused, and the orange spots, which had pulsed rhythmically in syntony with the words as they came, seemed to fixate upon those that stood before them.
"If you shall bow before me and acknowledge me as the only true master of all that is, I shall welcome you within me. You shall become one with me... one with the cosmos."
The voice ceased speaking, and the "eyes" of the entity gazed expectantly from the monitor, awaiting the fleets' response.
Admiral Anisimovna frowned at her comms display. The message was close enough to historic Agonis yammering, but her thoughts were elsewhere. What the hell was an entire Agonis battlefleet doing here, of all places? Where had it come from? How could the Totalists, the Republic and the Stratocracy all have missed an entire battlefleet during their rather systematic destruction of the Collective's navy? Something wasn't right here, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
Anisimovna abruptly realized the Agonis entity was awaiting a response. Casting an eye over her displays, she saw that Mercy Fleet was fully at action stations and in battle formation. History showed there was only really one response to the Agonis; overwhelming firepower. However, being not entirely certain she had that available, Anismovna opted for a slightly more diplomatic response. Slightly. "Comms, open a line on that frequency." She cleared her throat. "Attention Agonis fleet, stand down or be fired on. This is your only warning."
Some time had passed since the message, Admiral Gaius Sanders had arrived to the
Archangel just a little before the AI had given its ultimatum. He contniued to race through the many levels and corridors leading to the Bridge, finally reaching his destination, running out of breath as he entred, he bent down, catching his breath as his XO had apporached him. "Sir.." he spoke up before being interuptted. "I want all republic and hexanagallian ships to blast those sons of bitchs into stardust, NOW!'
"Aye aye, Admiral!d" He replied snapply, saluting the Admiral.
"Then you perdure in your stubborn refusal." the voice thundered, "I may be merciful, but I have no patience with the likes of you vermin. You shall perish." With these words, the image of the interlaced strings and the eyes disappeared, and the loudspeakers fell silent. At the same time, the fleet, which had during that time remained still, began to move. The lesser ships began to gather in what appeared to be the corners of a vast rectangle spanning the entire formation's surface; the hulls of the larger ones, meanwhile, began to slide open, and in a few instants there emerged thence innumerable swarms of drone craft. The drones shot forth toward the gathered Republic, Hexanagallion and Commonwealth ships, flanked by the smaller autonomous vessels; as they moved, they arranged themselves into the likeness of a vertical wall, hurtling forward as a single body.
Mere hours ago, The Hexanagallion fleet had merely watched as Gaius and his ships had traded Ion blows with the Commonwealth ships. It was amusing to a few of the Hexanagallion crew, but others saw it as a lack of seriousness and weakness. Still, they allowed the humans to have their little game, mainly paying attention to their forces that had been deployed on the ground. It seemed Agent Raixus and his team were cutting a bloody swath with tactical quiet and precision down below. It was to be expected. However, it seemed that there would indeed be a surprise to be had this day. A surprise that caught the entire Hexanagallion nation off guard.
"What?" Marshall Agent Rodus said, echoing the thoughts of the rest of his crew. "By the divine. They should be dead..."
"Honored Marshall." his second in command said, striding up to him. "Orders?"
The Marshall let the question hang in the air for a moment, before turning around and roaring orders to the rest of his crew. They all went to their battle stations and respective formation of ships to spearhead into the enemy. "Contact Warlord Daixanos. He will want to hear of this."
Anisimovna watched grimly as Admiral Sanders and Marshall Agent Rodus firmly eliminated any chance of a peaceful resolution to the situation, though to be fair, a peaceful outcome had never been likely. Options flitted through Anisimovna's mind as she considered all the far reaching outcomes her next actions would entail. She could simply leave and let the Agonis annihilate Angel Fleet. The Commonwealth in general could simply ignore this resurgent Agonis threat and watch happily as it engulfed the Stratocracy and the Republic. Monstrous as they were, the Agonis had been too distant to pose a real threat to the Commonwealth, and there was no reason to think that might change.
But then, there was no real way to estimate the danger the Agonis posed. The Stratocracy and the Republic were rivals, but they could be negotiated and reasoned with. There was no negotiating with the Agonis, they had proved that over and over again. This was a threat that had to be ended, here and now. There was also that nagging question in the back of Anisimovna's mind: what were the Agonis doing here?
"Tactical, signal the fleet to open fire on the Agonis units. Start with the drones; double salvoes of high acceleration laser cluster warheads. One the missiles are clear away all ships are to launch strikecraft, then shift formation to cover Angel Fleet."
Her orders echoed across the fleet, and all at once, a storm of missiles erupted from the assembled Commonwealth ships and streaked off towards the incoming Agonis drones. They began to detonate, blasting pincushions of xray lasers into the ranks of drones and wreaking havoc on the formation. Close on the missile's heels came the Mercy Fleet's own fighter craft, sleek, lethal forms bearing down with weapons blazing. The fleet itself didn't break formation, but precisely maneuvered into positions covering Angel Fleet's flanks. Anisimovna watched it all in satisfaction.
"Alright, begin coordinated strikes on desginated targets, ion warheads then plasma. Railgun batteries to maximum defensive fire, positron beams and hypometric arrays are clear to fire," her voice was firm and decisive. "Comms, signal our ground units, tell them to prepare for imminent arrival of Agonis forces on the planet. Then raise Archangel. Suggest we link tactical nets and reduce the Agonis forces to debris."
Mere moments before, over a dozen squadrons worth of strike craft has emerged from the
Archangel to meet their old foe. The squadrons had witnessed the very impressive combined firepower of the Mercy Fleet as they cut large swaths of the enemy to dust, unfortunately, however, proved to only dent the near endless drone swarm. The Naughty Angels took the lead among the deployed squadrons as they all formed into a delta formation, flying beside their Commonwealth Counterparts as they charged towards the swarm. "Just like in the history!" Naughty Leader spoke. "Alright everyone, get ready scatter in three...two...scatter!" And with that, all ships had complied as the fighters broke off fomration, clashing with the swarm. From the backround, the Angel Fleet had provided support, capital ships in postion had unleashed their salvos upon the enemy fleet, ion blasts,missiles, torpedoes, and so on, many of the more solid projecties were shot down, but the more directed energy bolts had remained unhindered, and left their damage on the swarms and the fleet itself.
Despite their best efforts, many republic fighers fell to the immense numbers of the fighter drones, those unfortunate to be caught completely cut off from the main group were engulfed by the swarm, like an angry whrilwind of insects converging on their prey.
From the Bridge, Gaius watched the battle unfold via a Holo-display device in the center of the room. Leaning foward, his chin resting upon both hands as they met. "After all these years, thinking we were done with the nightmare, here they are, right in the middle of the Core." It didn't add up, but he that didn't matter for long, he had a battle to win.
"Sir!" One of the officers called. "We're being rasied by the
Salvation, they wish to link our tactical nets, Orders?"
Without much hesitation, Gaius gave the order."Do it." he said, this wasn't the best time to continue their petty rivalry, that is best left for the aftarmath of this battle, since of course, a war was being fought down below, their ally still needing aid. Gaius then proceeded to press down a few keys on the right armrest, a small bing could be heard only to him as he had linked himself to a fleet-wide intercom, at least for a brief moment. "All friendly and allied ships, this is the Admiral, form up alongside the Mercy Fleet, and engage the Agonis Fleet. Hit them with everything you got."
The fleets formed up together, sharing data and targetting solutions. With their fighter craft now intermingled with the enemy's, Mercy Fleet shifted its fire to the heavy Agonis units, each ship adjusting to present its broadside as their railgun batteries roared to life. Split between offensive and defencive fire, the railguns spewed graviton flak rounds, tritanium slugs, and conventional flak. Positron beams slashed across the Agonis ships, and while the missile salvoes had lightened, there were still huge numbers of them flying through the void, a careful mixture of ion and plasma warheads. The hypometric arrays finished spinning up, and they began to fire; silent, invisible, and deadly.
The combined firepower of the two fleets blasted large holes in the drones' wall-like formation; through these breaches their bombardment reached the main cluster of ships, leaving its marks on the hulls of several of them and incapacitating a few before they were able to react. Dozens of fighters crumpled and detonated under the coordinated assault, and others yet were suppressed by the less plentiful, yet more agile and better piloted enemy interceptors. Despite its overwhelming numerical advantage, the Agonis fleet was suffering heavy losses.
However, there was something unplaceably odd about it. Aside from the obviously strange fact something such as it should appear in the Core Regions, the fleet radiated an impression of palpable incongruity - and soon it became clear why. No signal was given, yet all of a sudden the fighter swarms dispersed, scattering to all sides like a disturbed brood of locusts. It was as though they were driven by a single mind - their movements were perfectly in syntony with each other; though they slid dangerously close to each other, not a single one of them was even caught in another's reactor trail. Exactly at the same moment, there hurled through the space which had just been cleared a massive barrage of particle beams, disruptor missiles and energy blasts, fired by the main ships' weaponry with astounding temporal precision. These were not the loosely interlinked combat actions of the Collective fleets of old; this was a single lethally efficient mechanical organism, its many parts working in flawless synergy with one another to carefully engineered effects.
Having unleashed its first potent salvo, the bulk of the Agonis ships began to slowly move forward, all while continuing to rain destruction onto its foes. The smaller vessels positioned themselves so as to provide screening for those behind them, annihilating and deflecting solid projectiles as they approached with brief, rapid bursts of laser fire. Many were crushed by the incoming blasts, but more and more seemed to be coming. Large craft unloaded its arsenals at joint fleets, which now lay directly before them as the barrier formed by the fighters had been lifted. Along with the dazzling discharge of rays and beams of various sorts, strange missiles were directed in rapid succession upon their exposed targets: some crackled with condensed electrical charges, whose pupose was to overload and disable the shield generators of the ships whereupon they would be released; others erupted in clouds of corrosive chemicals or nano-machines, which seared or tore their way through those hulls whose defences had been weakened.
Meanwhile, the drone swarm, which had sped into various directions as the main fleet's assault had begun, just as abruptly shifted its course as one, converging laterally onto the gathered enemy ships. Speeding into their midst, the fighters began to fire glancing blasts at the larger craft, weaving their way through the formation in order to elude retaliation and disorient their opponents. Many were destroyed by the ships' point defenses, but this did not seem to deter the others, who continued to plunge between their comparatively unwieldy quarry. While the drones were thus occupied, the slightly larger autonomous vessels remained hovering at the edges of the joint fleets; thence, they intermittently swept down toward the most immobile targets, and launched as they went a number of black-painted pods of angular design. These pods, striking the sides of ships as projectiles, latched onto the metallic surfaces, and, by the means of ingenious mechanisms, sliced their way through them, releasing into the quarters within their load - groups of the snarling, bellowing creatures which the Agonis vessels had carried within themselves, and which now rushed forth to the slaughter they hungered for.
The Agonis counterattack was a devastating blow towards the allied fleets as the larger drone vessels unleashed their salvos, as waves of missiles, directed energy weapons and the other sort had barraged the Angel and Mercy Fleets, the
Archangel and several other Angel vessels were taking the brunt of the assault. From within the
Archangel, her crew were in a frenzy as ship personnel were streaming through her corridors, maintaining the innerworkings of such a gargantuan vessel, panic ensued as the shields came down, and the ship begun to tremble and tremor.
It would all go wrong once the pods were launched. The sharp and angular objects rained over the two fleets, several crashing into the central hanger bay, phasing through the rayshields and tearing their way through several landed shuttles. emergency responce personnel and a marine squad had rushed to the scene, only to be immediately met with plasma fire, numerous Varusch soldiers pouriing out from their pods, all letting out inhuman, bestial screams and roars. The marines, in the sudden moment, were mowed down by the creatures.
Panic enveloped the Central Hanger Bay as noncombat personnel had attempted to flee the scene, only to have the same fate as more pods tore their into the hanger, crushing many who stood in their way, blood and gore painting the metallic flooring.
From the flight control room, the operators could only look in sheer horror of what had just unfoled before their eyes. "Oh god..." one whimpered, shacking and gripping tightly to his pistol. The leader of the trio had maintained his composure as he pressed down a few buttons and grabbed a small personal comm device. "This is Lt. Yans of Filght Control to Bridge, we have a breach, I repeat, we've been breached." He paused as he ducked in cover, the homunculi taking notice of the trio, the glass shatters as bolts of plasma are shot. "I can't believe I'm even saying this...but we're up our neck in goddamn Homunculi! They killed almost everyone..we need-" He was abruptly interrupted as a couple of grenades were tossed in their control room, their deaths mere moments away. "Fuck..." Yans said before he and his colleagues were engulfed in a blazing light of plasma fire.
Up in the Bridge, the Admiral grew even more pale then before as all hell broke loose. the bridge broke out in chaos as reports had come in from all across the ships and outside of the counterattack.
"Sir! We just lost the [i]Confederate[i/] and the
Liberty!"
"We got reports of homunculi storming the lower levels!"
"Shields are down! We're vulrenable!!"
Gaius tried to tune it all out, maintain his cool, and not panic, but it was in vain, sweat begun creeping down in great amount, he breathing became short and erratic, painful memories flowing thorugh his mind like a raging flood. "Damn it...damnit all!" he cried out, standing up.
"Sir! calm down!" Jame shouted, facing and shaking the admiral. "We can do this!" he said.
"No..." he mumbled, slowlying sitting back on his chair.
"Damn it." James cursed as he assumed command, getting the attention of the staff. "The Admiral's in no shape at the moment. I'll be taking command."
"What are your orders?"
"Assume formation, we'll not let ghosts break our resolve. Fire any weapons avalablie and keep the pressure on the Agonis Fleet."
Mercy Fleet, meanwhile, was doing comparitively better. The Commonwealth had never fought the Agonis before; the enemies before them were no ghosts rising from the past. As far as Maria Anisimovna was concerned, they were just a handful of vermin to be exterminated, whatever their history may be. The Agonis salvo smashed into Mercy Fleet's defences; beams and energy blasts were turned away by graviton flak, missiles were torn apart by explosive flak. But not all of them. The cruiser
Tematheron bucked and heaved and finally exploded as the overwhelming fire blasted through to her reactor core. The battlecruiser
Quastor took heavy damage and drifted out of formation as a lifeless hulk. A handdful of destroyers were annihilated outright. The dreadnought
Lightshield lost her shields to the barrage, and enemy fire smashed into her armour, but she was a dreadnought, designed to take damage and keep fighting, and keep fighting she did.
The sudden Agonis barrage caught Anisimovna off guard, but the surprise lasted only an instant. "All ships, railgun batteries to maximum defensive fire, reduce number of simultaneous targets and continue firing" she said harshly.
With her words, the broadside batteries of Mercy Fleet went from a mixture of rounds to fully defensive rounds. The fields of flak doubled in intensity, though the rain of fire against the Agonis slackened as a result. Other weapons kept right on pummelling, focusing their fire on fewer targets to maximize damage. Missiles weaved through the chaos, the interspersed control platform providing realtime tactical adjustments. Agonis point defence batteries locked on, but EW warheads activated and flooded their sensors with dozens of false contacts. In addition, all of the offensive warheads were standoff charges; they didn't need to hit their targets, just get close before they detonated and spewed their charges against shields and armour. Positron beams continued firing relentlessly, bright gold beams slashing across space, wreaking havoc against whatever defences they encountered. All the while, Mercy Fleet's hypometric arrays singled out targets with weakened shields and went to work, micro singularities spawning in an instant, tearing apart armour and core hulls, warping and straining shields.
While primarily intended to repel the heavy salvoes from the Agonis capital units, the switch to defensive fire had a welcome side effect when the Agonis drones and boarding pods came screaming in. The incoming smallcraft found themselves entering a hellstorm of explosions and gravitational distortions, both of which ripped into them with impunity. Only three boarding pods made it through CSC
Salvation's defences, and they made for her relatively vulnerable hangar bays rather than try to burrow through her heavy armour. The organic monstrosities that poured out of the pods didn't have time to secure the hangars before power armoured Szitzu marines came barreling down on them.
Anisimovna viewed the reports from the marines absentmindedly. They were strictly Captain Alkerit's problem. She was focused on the movements of the fleet as a whole, the fate of any single ship was not really her concern. With a couple of exceptions, she corrected herself, as
Archangel's icon flickered and lost its white contours, indicating a shield failure. "Signal Batron 5 to move forward and cover
Archangel, we can't lose a command ship now. Open a line to Admiral Sanders." The comms officer nodded, and Anismovna looked down at her comm pickup. "Gaius, pull your flagship back to my position, we can't afford a disruption to the tacnet now."
Meanwhile, the Hexanagallian fleet was using different tactics to their human counterparts. The Warrior 001 fighter starships, as well as the guns on their smaller frigates allowed the dropships full of Homunculi to bypass their shields and defenses. Instead, squadron SteelTalon traveled the opposite direction of the enegagement, seemingly retreating before they did a wide turn.
As they performed their maneuver, Squadron Fang pushed forward, bypassing the dropships and engaging the Agonis fighters with ferocious excitement. They were hopelessly outnumbered, but their Warrior 001 ships were far larger and just as fast, and the Hexanagallion pilots were as deadly within their ships as they were without. They tore through the first wave of fighters and engaged in the next few waves with a bloody dog fight Raixus could appreciate.
"Leader! The dropships have embedded themselves in our hulls! We are being boarded!"
"Excellent." Raixus replied, closing his clawed fist and signalling his warriors to engage.
The Hexanagallion troopers were clad in Xarkonian armor and wielded short ranged weaponry such as Ripper shotguns and various melee weapons that could cleave through enemy armor and flesh alike. In this area, the Stratocracy was far different than their human counterparts, for this was not a problem. This was a fine day to be alive.
The Homunculi and Varush soldiers poured in with numbers that were swiftly exceeding the Hexanagallion's own. However, caught in such a confined space and on the Stratocracy's homeground, their numbers meant little, and soon the Hexanagallion's pushed forward and hacked into them through their line of fire. Across the comms, mad roaring laughter could be heard by their allies.
