@Liotrent@Wildman13
Everything seemed to be going according to plan. The enemy ships lined up with the asteroid, ready for departure once the Red Mist and her guns are disabled. The rest of the fleet hanging back, and bombarding the mercenary fighters and their flagship. Insurgents inside the base were killing the guards and staff, and inciting a riot. It was just like the Praetoe has planned. Foolish xenos think that their movements and actions go unnoticed. The Rarians have been peaceful for a lnog time, but ever since they unified their clans, their hidden movements gather more and more support. They want their race to be enslaved no more. The Empire shall help them reach this goal. The Praetor spoke up from his chair.
"Take them to the afterlife captain. Initiate the SDDs. Tell all ships to follow." The captain nod, and began barking out commands on the brdige.
Amidst the mayhem that ensued around Gemini, 5 Destroyers of unknown specs appeared, covered in a matt black paint that made them inidstingushable from their bacgrounds. Their arrival didn't make any signature, and their arrival was instantenious. They bore no markings, and the sensors could not indentify them as any known vessels. If they could identify them at all. The captain started to issue orders on the bridge at lighting speed, clearly a sign of his veterancy.
"Fire up the ECM jammers, make us indistungishable from background radiation. Load both tubes of the axial coilgun. Ready the SDD, we're getting out of here in a hurry." Their presence nothing more than a shadow, they started inching towards the Gemini mining base. 2 of the destroyers stayed back, and powered up their coilguns in case battle would ensue.
The praetor stood up from his chair, and looked outside the window. The beautiful sight of a space battle that ensued around a massive rock. A massive bubble of oxygen, waiting to be popped.
"Captain, are the coilguns ready to fire?" The captain nod and switched teh display to a tactial view, showing structural stress on the ships in front of the ships, from the fighters to the asteroid. The current state of every weapon system was also displayed on the sides of the screen, but most of the data was just gibberish to normal people.
"Captain, fire the first tube at Gemini." A sudden silence befell the bridge, as the weight of the command sank into the minds of the crew members. Was the Praetor really going to blow up the station? The captain turned towards the praetor, but he found himself looking at a face that was hellbent on accomplishing it's task.
"Did I say something weird captain?" There was no answer from the man, just the shaking of floor plates and armor panels as the first coilgun sped up it's massive payload and shot at the mining station.
The first hit made a spectacular impact crater, and made dozens of stres lines that strecthed across the hemisphere of the asteroid. However, the station held together with no signs of immidaiate failure. "Captain, fire the second tube, and get the SDD ready. I want to be out of here as fast as possible. I don't want a single asteroid piece to make even a scuff on the paintjob." With that, Praetor made his way back to his chair, and focused on the show about to ensue. As the second tube emptied the deadly payload, the enemy fleet started to notice their presence. It was a tad too late, as the stress on the Asteroid began rapidly growing, and making a convoluted web of fault lines on the outer layer.
Then with a brillian white explosion, the Gemini station exploded, spweing out massivbe rocks and metal parts at speeds over 2 machs, propelled by the gases that escaped the debris field that was once the asteroid. The ships nearby, including the transports, fighters and the Red Mist stood no chance in the face of the destructive force unleashed by the explosion. Large rocks tore through the armor plates like a knife cutting butter. These rocks would go on and cause trouble for the ships further away, as they carried metal shrapnel with them that they stole from the hulls of the destroyed ships. The 2 destroyers the Praetor left behind have already left, and the two accompanying his ship were all ready to jump. But before he would leave, he broadcasted a message to the pirates.
"Listen to me Xeno scum. You may get a glimpse of hope in the absence of our marines stepping on your throats and our ships bombarding your planet, but if it's war you want, then know this: We have been at war for Millenias longer than you, and we are always ready to triumph over your petty fleets. Your hopes of freedom will be crushed, your pockets of rebellion trampled one-by-one, until your souls and bodies alike will break under the magnificence that is the Emporium of Man." The 3 destroyers fired up their SSDs, and simply disappeared from the sights of the enemy ships. Their presence now public knowledge, Sector 17's xenos had a reason to tremble as they looked up at the night sky, as they ushered the name of Praetor Maximilian Brutus.
Fish of Oblivion,
AndyC,
Smike,
Alby47,
Bartimaeus,
pollo
