Amelia Montrose's Story

The hundred yard zone of destruction caused by the collapse of the vortex wasn't liable to be of any particular immediate threat to anyone given the moon's desolate nature, and the main battles taking place in space - or on the other side of the moon. For the Demiarch ships to even engage the Isirian ships, they would need to leave the moon and would be well beyond any potential interference left behind at the site of the collapsed vortex. The only damages caused by the explosions would be to the Demiarch's own ships that hadn't yet moved far enough away from the Vortex.

---

Isirian Fleet
Kreios System

Given the sheer size and scope of space engagements involving distances between fleets that spanned upwards into the hundreds of thousands of miles, and the sheer size of the ships on the field, many of the weapons that the Demiarch were utilizing would prove about as effective as firing paintballs when it came to the Isirian ships.

The rockets released by the fighter ships would prove particularly ineffective as the Demiarch didn't seem accustomed to combatting larger ships. With even the smallest of the Isirian corvettes on the field possessing 30 meters of armored hulls, the larger ships that the Demiarch where focusing fire on where going to require substantially more staying power than fifteen yard blast radiuses to put a dent in their hulls.

Even the ships that hadn't yet been upgraded with Aschen shielding technology would be capable of shrugging off the rocket impacts, and the radiation wouldn't be able to penetrate their hulls.

Most of the rockets wouldn't ever reach their targets though. The Isirian's Apollo fighters moved into action, intercepting as many of the rockets as they could while the ships at their back opened with a battery of railgun and light railcannon fire to destroy most of the rockets before they could get within blast range. The larger explosives would be met with similar results as they were torn apart trying to make it through the firing solution of the larger Isirian ships.

The plasma mortars and nuclear beams would prove marginally more effective as they wouldn't be cut to pieces by the rain of railcannon fire, but given that most of the Isirian ships weren't shielded with energy based shields the energy draining plasma mortars would be met with the same complication as the rockets before them. Dense hulls. The smaller Isirian ships would be most vulnerable to sustained fire from the mortars, but with the Demiarch focusing fire on the larger vessels damages where minimum.

---

The largest of the Demiarch's ships on the field remained dwarfed by the Isirian capital ships and the Reverences, and gun for gun it would seem that the Isirians had the advantage for the time being.

From the Isirian ships, heavy railcannons returned fire against the Demiarch's fleet with a battery of 25-50m slugs and nuclear warheads, while missiles were prepped to intercept smaller Demiarch ships that might try to approach the Isirian fleet. Further adding to the Demiarch's troubles was that they hadn't moved to engage the Isirian fleet sooner, and their clustering together had left them vulnerable to the singularity canons of the two Reverences.

as written by barney_fife

The pair of Reverence IIs, the Hymn of Purgation, and the Epitaph of the Martyr remained stationary in their position as they squared off against the clustered Demiarchal ships. Their respective Commanders steadfastly held the lines as the Demiarchal ships attempted to attack them.

However unlike the Isirian ships, the Aschen ships possessed considerably more defensive capabilities, as weapons fire surged towards the Reverence IIs, they would be met with a brilliant flash of white light as the Aschen’s shields flared against the impacts from Demiarchal rockets and plasma mortars.

However, despite the incoming fire from the Demiarchal fleet, the pair of Reverence IIs continued to build up energy.

---

AHSC Epitaph of the Martyr
Reverence II
Commander Lionel Pendergast

Pendergast stood in silence as the alarms in the CIC Blared around him. Though his ship was under sustained fire, the CIC was well shielded and thus hardly a sound registered through the ship’s superstructure. Pendergast remained calm however as he turned to his shipboard AI.

“Status.” He ordered, while the AI replied. “We’re under fire from enemy vessels, shields are holding. I’m detecting massive radiological alarms and nuclear weapons fire; they don’t seem to be very effective against our shields, though. Additionally, fire control reports the Singularity cannon is ready to fire.”

Pendergast offered a nod, before he brought up a large hologram of the Demiarchal fleet. “You may fire when ready, target the large center ship.”

The AI hologram offered a brisk nod, before she vanished.

The buildup of energy within the Epitaph of the Martyr culminated into a fever pitch, the entire vessel shuddered at the massive forces being exerted within. With targeting parameters locked, the Aschen would fire the first shot signalling their official entry into this skirmish.

The Epitaph shuddered once more, and in an instant, she loosed her weapon, hurling a hyperdense collapsed slug along her dorsal structure, rapidly gaining momentum and kinetic energy until it reached the muzzle. It first started as a jet of ionized gas, then the projectile itself which was held together by it’s own gravity. What was once a solid sphere of Neutronium the size of a basketball had been collapsed into a pea sized singularity, and then hurled at nearly 45% the speed of light. This meant that the object’s mass would increase, and the equation spun out of control from that point.

The Demiarchals would be met with this weapon likely before they even had time to react. The Singularity would sear towards the massive Demiarchal mothership, carrying enough kinetic energy to punish shields and armor alike, and punch clean through the mothership, and anything in front of or behind it, and still retain the kinetic energy it had when it left the muzzle of the cannon. It wasn’t the projectile itself that was the major threat however, rather the gravity field that would cause the ship’s superstructure to implode on itself, and pull the entire fleet into disarray as it was likely rend asunder by the sudden gravitic shock unleashed by the Singularity cannon.

“Singularity strike complete.” Inviere hailed, assessing the damage before her.

“All ships weapons free!” She called out into the comms. With the order relayed, the rest of the Aschen fleet sprang into action, the Hymn of Purgation disengaged her Singularity cannon, and chose to target the remaining fleet, aiming right towards the nearest HC-BC, and loosing a one-two punch from it’s MAC guns, hurling a 3,000 ton ferric-tungsten slug at 12,000km/s, imparting roughly 56.6 Gigatons of kinetic energy onto it’s target, a direct hit from one of these mammoth guns would doom any smaller ship, and break the backs of larger vessels.

Once the MAC ordinance and the singularity was away, the pair of Reverence IIs came about to expose their starboard side, with the remaining Aschen fleet opening up in a punishing salvo of Turbo-disruptor shots, which imparted 14.2 Megatons of energy per discharge, high-caliber railgun weaponry, and heavy Anti-ship missiles, with carried a fusion warhead that would deliver a 250 Megaton shaped explosion onto any unfortunate target, this was followed up by a formation of Athena Cruisers unleashing a salvo of their Pilum class missiles, each missile was an AI guided Quantum Plasmid warhead engineered from Coalition technology that imparted a staggering 1.2 Gigatons of yield, these warheads culminated as a brilliant dagger of light that split across the Demiarchal fleet, consuming any unsuspecting vessels in what amounted to a small supernova. Anyone that survived the initial Singularity cannon would likely be mopped up by the sheer overwhelming firepower of the Aschen Fleet.

Strike Group Imperial, Spaceborne Force

As the massive form of the capital UDW vessels approached, Devastator and her flanking cohorts, Ravager and Ruin spat fire from thousands of torpedo tubes, a full volley of Jericho-MNs. The weight of fire was monstrous from the three ships, a full 2460 guided, tracking, smart torpedoes boiling away and rapidly accelerating under their own grav-drives. Coming from behind the Aschen and Isirian forces arrayed, the cloud maneuvered to pass the friendly ships easily, vectoring in and evading the primitive rocket fire as they closed to Stage 2 dispersal range.

Still advancing and beginning tracking of the mammoth Abyss cannons over their heavily armored hulls, the bridge crews of the force called over the channels of the Stage 2 event, as over two thousand Jerichos shed the outer shells and deployed internal racks. And from these racks leapt 25 faster, more maneuverable missiles. Where once had been a far more manageable number of incoming threats, there now was a far greater flight of inbound weapons, a total of 61,500 missiles, each tipped with a 5 megaton nuclear warhead. Enough for hundreds to target each individual ship of the enemy, virtual overkill. Without intervention, the space forces that were being engaged were about to be drowned in a massive number of nuclear blasts.

Blackrock, groundside

Though many of the jets succumbed to the anti-air units and missiles, the pod it would seem proved far more difficult to intercept. Missile after missile detonated mid air before they could reach the pod that was plummeting ever closer to the ground towards the legions of fire elementals. The cause of the premature explosions was difficult to ascertain from the ground, but those sensitive to such things might pick up on the fluctuation of telekinetic energy signatures emitting from the pod.

---

Whisper's descent towards the ground was far from smooth as she braced herself against the turbulence that left the pod shaking violently. Her eyes were closed though and her brow furrowed as she turned her head ever so slightly at the onslaught of stimuli that she was picking up from the surface.

Her telekinetic web swept outward as she saw the scene unfolding within her mind's eye. Wreckages of jets and sulfur rained down around her while missiles homed in on her location. It was a simple matter... a slight push of her telekinetics to send them careening into one another, or to simply detonate them mid-air before they could reach her.

At her current path of trajectory, she would land just outside the city among the horde of elementals. They were ghosts on her spectrum of concern though. Merek though... that one drew her attention as she formed within her mind an image of him standing upon the wall of the city. She could see his lips moving...

Her eyes snapped open as he unleashed the demon's blast upon her pod and her pupils dilated as there was an abrupt influx of psionic energy from within the pod.

---

The blast of red hot energy all but exploded as it struck an invisible wall, much as the missiles had before it. The heat and energy were sprayed violently in all directions as the pod plummeted towards the ground unhindered. The impact with the ground left deep furrows plowed into the earth before it came to a stop and a large dust cloud rolled outward from where it had landed in the midst of the elementals.

Steam rose off from the hull of the pod, rippling the air around from the intense heat as it sat motionless. Had its passenger survived the impact?

As the pod fell open a moment later, a wraith of a woman stepped out, her pale eyes shifting to the left, and then to the right as she took in her position.

All around her the very rain that fell from the sky was igniting upon the elementals, resulting in gouts of arcing infernos that cast a fiery glow over the playing field.

As she stood there in the thick of the enemy, the faintest of smiles tugged at the corner of her lips.

"Time to dance."

3 miles away...

“Sir, are you seeing this?” a soldier asked from where he was standing behind a large rock formation and observing the city through a pair of binoculars.

“Yeah, I’m seeing it.”

Strange clouds had formed over the city and the rain that fell from them was igniting in angry bursts of fire as it came into contact with the fire elementals that had taken up position around the city. The open fissure in the ground was shooting up geysers of flame as well.

“What the fuck is that?” the soldier asked.

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like it,” the officer answered before his binoculars caught sight of the drop pod impact. He zoomed in on it with a frown. “Is that one of ours?” he asked.

“It doesn’t look like it... “

As the small white-haired woman stepped out of the pod, they were able to make out the insignia of the Aschen Special Projects Division on her combat suit.

“Well shit,” the officer muttered. “No one told us they were bringing in mutants.”

“What do we do?”

“Nothing. Our orders are to hold our position here.”

as written by barney_fife

It was the Litany of Fury’s time to shine as Commander Montrose watched the battle unfold above on DRADIS. She made a face for a moment before she nodded to the AI.

The AI offered an affirming nod, before the orders were relayed.

The City below, protected by the Hex-Shield would soon find itself coming under a hail of fire, all 750 Ventral Turbo-disruptor batteries loosed down upon the city below, thundering against the Hex-shield with each impact.

Turbo-Disruptors that imparted 14 megatons of energy, and had the capability to liquefy entire city blocks with each shot. But that wasn’t everything; The Reverence II also unleashed it’s Energy Projectors, which were seen as brilliant columns of blue light that surged forth and pounded against the shield with a blinding glare of white light. The Energy Projectors maintained this steady stream of energy for several seconds, stopping only to cool for a moment before unleashing again in tandem with the constant salvo of Turbodisruptor shots. Indeed this Reverence II was beating upon the Hex Shield like a drum, and imparting a punishing amount of firepower upon it. It was likely the shield would fail in minutes, hours at the best unless a drastic measure was taken, or the Reverence II ceased fire or was destroyed. At that time the city would be vulnerable to the same salvo the shield was now being subjected too.

Strike Group Imperial, Dispatched Terran Support

Transmissions had been routed through a network of bogey satellites, whisker beam lasers giving orders. The prowler Fists were only six in number, yet preparations were made, two Steel Wolf teams and four Iron Hound squads set to deploy as the Fists approached the enemy installation. Leading the support elements were the stealth frigates Smoke on the Water and Blindside.

Vectoring into low orbit, they slingshotted around the moon before dipping further into its atmosphere, rolling to present their broadsides to the surface nearly ten miles below. Concealment lost as their hulls trailed walls of fire and heat from the rough atmospheric braking, they called across the wide-band, for while the enemy would hear, they would not understand until it was far too late.

“Danger close, danger close, Broadside Strike, danger very fucking close!”

As they came into line of sight of the colony, Smoke lead the attack run as her three broadside Hellbores screamed with fire. Within the breach, a core of deuterium was struck with a high energy laser, triggering a fusion reaction that was, in essence, a nuclear eruption. Extremely powerful magnets lining the breach and bore contained this massive energy and hurled it downrange at 70% the speed of light, a direct fire weapon delivering 5 kilotons of power into a target area only a meter wide. Aiming from the far side of the colony, the volley of Hellbores tore through the atmosphere like streaks of incandescent light, aiming for the center of the installation. And then she fired again. And again. Each of three shots targeting the same point, maximizing damage on any shields in place.

Blindside’s run was identical, a trio of shots in the same place as her sister vessel had fired into. Each of the six shots was spaced exactly 2.6 seconds apart, the precise cycle time of the broadside Hellbores. As they passed by at high speed, anti-grav drives shifted their axis’ enough for a open-door launch of an internal Owl to be made each, before returning to orbit and following into another slingshot, braking harder to establish orbital support over the sight.

The corvettes of the group had followed the slingshots, but instead of engaging in broadside themselves, descended into the atmosphere in the wake of the frigates, their railcannon clusters ready to unleash storms of metal into anything that dared oppose them. The Owls fell into formation as they hurtled towards the surface, homing on the drop pod to deliver their surface forces for support.

Discord whistled in admiration as the infernos raged beneath him and the rays of raw cosmic energy hammered against the Demiarchals' shield like the wrath of an angry god. He squinted his yellow eyes at the blinding light before donning a pair of shades. The chaos spirit craned his head upward to inspect the upper atmosphere dogfight and his smirk distorted into a manic grin.

"Oh this is the most fun I've had in a thousand years!" Discord squeed. "I honestly didn't expect the rain to take form like that, but what's the fun in predictability? Must be the heavy metal vibes saturating the atmosphere... Anywho, let's see what the neighbors are up to!"

Discord snapped his claws and his cloud zoomed through the air. His shades morphed into goggles while a helmet and scarf materialized in their places. A black steering wheel popped out of the cloud and fell into his grip. The scarf snapped in the wind while he whistled a jolly tune.

The cloud skid to a halt just outside the Demiarchals' shield. Discord dismissed the cloud with a wave of his hand and politely knocked on the outside of the shield. When no one answered, he discretely pulled a small zipper out of nothing and placed it against the shield's surface. He pulled it downward, opening a small hole in the barrier, and stepped through. Discord zipped up the hole and pocketed the zipper behind him.

"Oh Honey, I'm home!" he shouted to no one in particular as he tossed his helmet in a random direction, likely to give a poor cat a concussion.

"Now... Where are you..." Discord tapped his chin as he scanned the base until his gaze fell upon his target. "... Aha!"

He appeared beside Demigrem with a thought. Discord wore an army green helmet with a camouflage strap under his chin. His bear and eagle arms were folded across his chest and a cigar burned in his mouth.

"Ah, I love the smell of chaos in the morning!" the draconequus announced his presence before giving Demigrem a disturbed grin. The army uniform vanished with a snap of his fingers and was replaced by a straw hat, Hawaiian shirt, and purple swimming trunks dotted with crescent moons and solar bursts. An analog camera hung from his neck.

"Oh don't mind me..." he said as he floated in front of Demigrem and snapped a picture. "I'm just a tourist from a few blocks away... Relative to this dimension, that is. Anyway, I couldn't help but notice all the chaos you've been causing in this little corner of space. And might I say... Brav-o~! I haven't had this great of a meal in eons! Did you like my clouds, by the way? Granted, they weren't supposed to turn out like that... but the powers-that-be decided that cotton candy clouds and chocolate rain didn't fit the scenery. What can you do, though? Unfortunately it seems that your little display has got everyone and their grandmother waving their sticks at you..."

"Oh, and where are my manners?!" he extended his furry bear hand towards the demigod with a beaming smile. "Name's Discord. Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, at your service!"

Mae looked through the storm trying to find the source. It was definitely a magical storm, but there was something odd about it. Ships flew menacingly, like hawks honing in on prey. Her eyes caught sight of a strange creature. It appeared to be a mash-up of many different animals. "Jacob! I believe I have found the source of this cursed maelstrom." A very strong magical Aura surrounded the beast, and he wore a very, very strange outfit. She found herself laughing. Jacob said something to a crewman and walked over. She watched him stretch his muscular arms, as he strode over confidently. She watched his grey eyes scan the scenery delicately. How she wished he would just wrap his arms around her and just hold her there. A sigh escaped her lips. Scolding herself, she remembered that he probably had zero feelings towards her. In his eyes, Mae was most likely just a valuable asset in the success of the Demimarch. Nothing more, nothing less.

Demiarch Space Armada: Hades Wrath Chronicle
Isirian Engagement: Pt. 1
Arch-General: Johnathan Dawn

What the Isirian Fleet would soon realize would be devastating, as well as all other ships that combated the D.S.A.’s structure of weaponry. The Isirian fleet of ships would be the first to find out what was only the beginning. Shortly after the plasma weaponry began to stick to the shields of their ships, they would feel the first wave of plasmatic side effects. The more that stuck to the enemy shields, the more energy there would be drained from their shields, weakening the shields on a gradual scale.
As for the smaller beams and explosions, maybe they weren’t delivered this round to cause a destructive blow. The first round of nuclear beams was radiating the special divide that stretched from the D.S.A. to all the surrounding enemy forces. They were poisoning the air for life and tech. The more radiation pumped into the atmosphere, the more enemy weaponry and tech would fry before it even reached the D.S.A.. For smaller fighters, this would prove to be fatal sooner than the larger ships as their armor, as any metalloid, would absorb this radiation, which would eventually over power any insulation. This effect would range widely across the playing field due to the vast differences between size and tech on each ship.

The joint effects of the plasma eating away at the shields and the radiation poisoning the battlefield, would be boasted by the minute as the weaponry continued to fire on the Isirian ships. If the Isirian forces kept to their distance, their fate would be sealed before they even had a chance. With the D.S.A. launching their assault from a good distance, the Isirian Fleet would be forced to engage in close range combat being that the D.S.A. mechs and fighter ships were blasting away any attempts to fire back with their own blasts of beams and explosive rounds of missles.

“This is Hell Cannon 447. We are in formation and ready to drop the first wave of Shut Down Mines. Permission to engage?” A BN - Hell Cannon pilot messaged the Hades Wrath.

“You are clear to engage. Make it quick and return to formation.” The Hades Wrath replied.
With that command, a squadron of an estimated seventy BN – Hell Cannon: S-Edition broke loose from the main gathering. Their engines began to roar, pushing out a crimson light behind them. The light turned to large orb quickly, and in the midst of the battle, a loud boom emitted throughout the Demiarch Fleet as these Hell Cannon’s ripped through the space moving at mach 6.2. This would leave a good stream of exhaust behind them as they outran even their own nuclear exhaust and sounds from their engines, placing a good misunderstanding on their actual position.

As they broke through the Demiarch front lines in the direction of the Isirian forces, they would begin dropping small orbs into the space. At the speed they were moving, it would be hard to even target them before they looped back into the D.S.A. position. The movement of these orbs was determined by the speed and direction of the release from the Hell Cannons. These orbs were not to cause any explosive damage, but the thousands that were dropped, when they found the Isirian forces, they would activate upon contact.

These orbs were E.M.P. based Mines. Nothing exotic or fancy, but when they hit something, they release a high powered E.M.P. that would easily shut down mechs and jets. With enough contact, they could even bring down smaller ships. Any weaponry with tech would be shut down if contacted on their path to the Isirian fleets.

Upon the return of the Hell Cannon’s, a mass message went out to all of the D.S.A., “Begin Movement Class C: Nuclear Osmosis.”
With this command, the ships would begin breaking off into highly powerful squadrons. They would keep their spherical formation, but begin parting apart. These squadrons of ships paired with Battle Cruisers of different sizes. Their movements would make them a harder target and distort the focus of the enemy, now having to focus on a wider array of forces than just one mass. The different squadrons were still capable of defending another squadron if necessary, but far enough apart to fight a separate battle. The D.S.A. was creating an osmosis effect of their special territory with these new formations and groupings all while continuing their assault on forces.

Demiarch Space Armada: Hades Wrath Chronicle
Epitaph of the Martyr
Reverence II

The Aschen ships would find the same flaw as the Isirian ships. The plasma was bonding to the shield, draining it. Energy was energy. To figure into this whole ordeal, the plasma was extremely hot, casting damage to their shields. The more plasma that placed itself upon the Aschen ships, the more energy the plasma could drain from the shields till the shields would give and it would draw on the ships energy to run.

The nuclear weaponry might not cast much damage momentarily to the ships, but it did add to the effects of the plasma. It was bring down smaller fighters and pumping high levels of radiation into the atmosphere. This would prove devastating once the shields were no longer in play on the ships when that time came and any other ships or fighters in the field.

What seemed like nothing was actually turning out to be something. The plasma had begun it’s reign of terror upon the shields and ships with it’s lovely effects. The nuclear weaponry that was doing what damage it could to the opponent, capable of destroying fighter jets and ships in a close range quarter, and poising the space surrounding them. A long term, silent beat down had begun upon the shields and anything else in the path of this combination. They might think they’re okay for a minute, but the radiation was rising as was the plasma content.

A loud voice rang across the deck into the ears of the Arch General, “They have fired their weapon! It’s moving at a fast pace and gaining size!”

The Arch General laughed, “Have faith. We’ve seen worse. Make sure shields are ready for impact in estimated projection. We’ll let the Hades Field handle the rest.”

The Arch General would turn to another Demiarchal, “Get me, Esphiroth.”

Shortly after this command, the ship would quake inside and roar outside. The pulsing energy moving over the ship would be drawn to the ammunition fired at it from the Singularity Strike at a good distance from the ship. The Singularity Strike would have found resistance from the few ships that it passed, being that they contained the same effect as the Hades Wrath if it was in their range that was spreading out. These pulses of energy would stretch like lightning bolts, attempting to atomize the Singularity Strike

Passing through the field, the Singularity Strike had drawn in a B.C.-M.L. and a few mechs that had not made it from it’s range, causing it’s imminent destruction. Then there was the Hades Wrath, who had met this Singularity Strike in it’s path, casting a much more powerful strike upon it. The purple lightning raged and began atomizing the weapon in it’s path once the B.C.-M.C. exploded.

As this atomizing began it’s path of destruction, the Conductor Cannons were taking their effect. One of the five giant ships that floated around the ship would begin conducting this energy. It’s form would shift and extend, changing from an orb to a massive, ring that would fit a B.C.-M.L. through it’s center, using the energy absorbed as it’s key to open. If one looked upon closer, one would realize it was two rings, back to back.

The energy and force that would emit from the contact of the atomization field surrounding the Demiarch Ship, and the energy of the Singularity Strike, would be consumed by the Conductor Cannons. The energy would be drawn from the mass amounts of raw energy being released by this explosive combination between the two; one trying to absorb the energy while one was would pretty much stop the energy and reverse it’s path from the Singularity Strike. The energy released from the explosion created from the attack would stream as if it was being sucked in by a straw into the center of the Conductor Cannon forming an orb shape that kept growing. The absorbing of this energy was preventing the gravitational pull of the energy’s attempt to implode, prying it backwards into the Conductor Cannons. All this energy was being split into two masses, ready to send the blast back where it came from.

“SIR! The Conductor Cannon is reaching it’s limits!! We need to fire!!” A Demiarchal shouted.

“You will fire when I tell you to fire. We need to take as much of this energy as we can. If we don’t, it could be catastrophic!” The Arch General replied.

“Reaching 107% Conductor capabilities. We’re not far from loosing the cannon!” The Demiarch responded back.

“At 122% you will fire the Conductor Cannons!” The Arch Genereal responded.

Within seconds a loud explosion rattled from the outside of the Hades Wrath. The Conductor Cannons released two massive orbs, the size of B.C.-M.L.. As this ball of energy moved through space, it would act as the Singularity Strike in sense, by gathering power and pulling anything within range of it into it’s draft and crush it. The speeds expelled a pulling force, that as the draft energy surrounding the shot came together behind it, it would crush anything with it’s force that was pulled to it. One shot was fired directly back at the Hymn of Purgation and the other was fired at the pair of Reverence II.

“Sir, Conductor Cannons are out of commission. We need to have them repaired immediately.” A Demiarchal spoke.

“Have Esphiroth and a crew of repairmen go out and see what they can do. As long as we can keep it as a whole and in our orbit, we will be okay. Where was that second shot sent?” The Arch-General answered.

An orb shaped figure appeared on a stand next to the Arch General. It was a 3D, animated, red orb with and eye that was a crimson color, “Arch General Johnathan Dawn, I have directed the shot at the Reverence II’s. At our angle, it should rip through both them. If not, it will hit at least one. The Isirian fleet is not much a problem; they are hanging out with the plasma and radiation shots in the distance. But this fleet, deemed as Aschen, they are a problem. We need to force them into the defensive, and quickly. They are much more sustainable to our atmosphere poisoning.”

The Arch General would not argue with this logic, he knew the ‘Core’ of the Hades Wrath had never failed him before. The Core was the final control of the ship, being it’s brain and heart in a sense. It knew when to step in and when to let the Demiarchal’s keep control.

“Also, as a bonus, due to a lack of their cyber defense, we have broke through and set a virus upon the Litany of Fury. Should it work, they’re going to be surprised. It’s going to create weak spots in their shields, making them easier to break. We break their shields, the plasma will begin superheating and layering through their ships body, eating away at it, making holes on it’s body. We’re starting to get outnumbered. I had to step in an engage Core Survival Controls.” The Core responded to the Arch General.

“I know you trust me as much as I trust you. You are Core, and you have never let us down before.” The Arch General responded.

The orb would remain on the stand next to the Arch General as they watched the different shields and through the ships clear stone windows. They knew they had caused a massive backfire on the Aschen fleet. Yes, the D.S.A. lost some mechs, a ship, and the Hades Wrath’s Conductor Cannons, the Aschen ships were the ones having to suffer similar effects cast by the Singularity Strike. This would put a hurting on the Aschen fleet that was attempted on the Demiarch Space Armada, and more importantly, the Hades Wrath.

The would create and opening for the D.S.A., who will begin rushing the Aschen fleet. The Demiarch Space Armada would begin it’s campaign to put a major hurting on the Aschen forces from this point on. The B.C.-H.C.’s would erupt in a gun fire upon the Aschen forces, covering their forces of mechs and fighter ships that would engage the enemy first.

The entire collection of B.C.-H.C.’s facing the Aschen forces would begin releasing three, massive, rings that surged with the same energy surrounding the ships. These rings would engulf whatever they contact, atomizing fighter ships, sending mass surges of energy through shields, shutting down smaller ships that would be so lucky to be in the circles of atomizing energy that had a 289 meter radius. Larger ships that matched the size of the B.C.-H.C.’s would generally be the ones that could take the shots without being destroyed on contact, usually possessing stronger shields. But after a few of these shots, they would fall also.

After the wave of the Disruptor Cannons, the ships would have to charge their cannons back up. Still, they continued on with their blasts of nuclear beams from their turrets and nuclear warheads that would only engage once within range of their target. This wasn’t accounting for the plasmatic rounds and mortars being fired at the Aschen fleet, taking their effect on them. The D.S.A. was acting in a very aggressive motion towards the Aschen fleet at a high speed, being covered by the different forms of Battle Cruisers. They were bringing the battle to them, going for a face to face, dog fight.

The energy that pulsed around the Hades Wrath appeared to have weakened momentarily and the ship had been rocked. The ship was conducting a full scan of itself and battlefield. Damage was kept to a minimal on Demiarch forces due to their recent changes in position as they moved in on their opponents, avoiding the hardest effects of the Singularity Strike and Conductor Cannon.

As for the Hades Wrath, the atomizing field had held back the Singularity Strike, but the power it took to do so had drained a lot of power that would take time to recuperate on the atomizing field. It also drew a small amount of energy from the ship, but nothing it hadn’t already replaced. All while the Conductor Cannon was now placed under repairs.

Demiarch Space Armada: Hades Wrath Chronicle
Strike Group Imperial
Spaceborne Force

In response to the shots fired behind Aschen lines, they would be met by the thousands of reoccurring shots fired by the D.S.A.’s forces. This would neutralize the shots and nuclear rounds fired from the forces hiding behind the Aschens. It would not stop the wave of ships and mechs zoning in on the Aschen forces.

Any attempts made to close in and launch long range shots would find themselves at a disadvantage. They could easily be shot down before they had a chance to rain chaos on the D.S.A. The smaller jet’s and fighters were also targeting any ships or missiles incoming on their positions, blowing them before they could reach their form. Again, the Aschen fleet was finding itself under assault from a wall of D.S.A. weaponry, but this time, it was coming from closer and closer range while the Hades Wrath hung back with the smaller force to handle the Isirian forces.

Demiarch Empire
Blackrock Ground Forces
Isirian Assault: Part I

The Hex Shield was taking a beating, but nothing that nine Hex Shield engines couldn’t defend. To the Demiarch’s benefit, despite attempts to break it with their massive strikes of energy, it would hold, draining 1% every seven to ten minutes. From the looks of it, this would give the shields a few hours to withstand the attack.

In the distance, the Demiarch Forces had blown through the mine fields and was encroaching on the Isirian base, leaving only a matter of seven miles within the two. On one side of the rocky terrain, the Isirian’s would be based. The Demiarch forces had downed a good percentage of any jets or aircraft that reached their GT-Duck Hunters anti-air zone. The forces would come to a sudden halt and a message was cast over the Demiarch Empire’s ground operation’s network.

“Atro Division, Gold Division, and Bazuuth Division, engage GT-Duck Hunter secondary weapons, Protocol: Jehovah.” A voice echoed in the ears of the Deminaughts of the groups involved.

Within second, the GT-Duck Hunters had engaged their Jehovah Protocol. A series of eight missiles were released from thirteen GT-Duck Hunters. When these missiles were launched, they would seek a designated height and distance from the Isirian forces. Upon reaching this designated position, it would break apart and release eighteen smaller missiles that would strike at what is programmed into them as the most desired target without a Demiarch ever having to see the base. When these smaller missiles would strike, they would obviously explode, capable of destroying tanks and smaller buildings. As an added bonus, upon explosion, a shockwave would erupt, capable of ensuring anything in a thirty yard range of the explosion hit the ground or suffered severe damage. That would place a total of 104 total missiles that would be a complete surprise. The damage occurring on the base and surrounding it would be devastating.

After this assault, the Demiarch soldiers would continue marching, attempting to finish closing the distance between them. There was something gaining ground on the Isirian forces, but it was below the ground. The Arch-Hounds would show up within a minute of the Jehovah Missile strike. These beasts would rip from the ground, the multiple extensions extending from the alien wolf like create would releasing blast of purple energy that would continue the assault on the Isirian forces. These creatures were swift, physically powerful, and the explosive rounds of energy released from the Arch-Hounds extensions were brutal on body armor and machinery. If the Jehovah Missiles didn’t do enough damage, the flood of around a hundred or so Arch-Hounds would. What defenses they had were probably not even considering the beasts that moved below the moon’s surface.

Demiarch Empire
Blackrock Ground Forces
Strike-Group Imperial

The ships being sent by the Strike Group Imperial would be attempting to fly in range of the domed base that was heavily fortified. What they seemed to have not realized was GT-Duck Hunters positioning to fire their rounds at the incoming Corvette’s and Owl’s attempting to zone in on their location and drop. To add to the mix of anti-air, there was a few GT-Duck Hunters pre-set on Protocol Jehovah.

The Jehovah Missiles were launched behind the normal anti-air missiles. While the ships would generally focus on the main anti-air missiles zoning in on them, the Jehovah Missiles would sneak in on the target. For every eight Anti-Air Missiles, there was one Jehovah Missile. That would place at least two of these smaller explosives, still capable of downing a plane or ship, with every Anti-Air missile. These shot’s were fired as soon as the ships were within an effective distance, highly disturbing their attempted entrance into the battlefield.

The Demiarch Empire was very well capable of sustaining this battle. Any attempt to drop within range of the colony or within the
mass force that was closing in on the Isirian forces would be met with force. The Demiarch Empire knew that peace was definitely off the table and it was time to bring down anything that they came across at any cost. All while they remained protected by their double layered Hex-Shields that each squadron moved under.

And then there was the addition of damage being cast upon the shield from yet another ship above. The damage being cast was forcing a 1.39% decrease in energy every seven to ten minutes. This would all come to end eventually, but for now, the Demiarch forces would have to ignore the brutal beatdown on their Hex Shield.

Demiarch Empire
Demigrem Demiarch

Demigrem would stand in the center of the base, his arms crossed, and gazing up at the battle in the sky that was raging. The mask covering the lower half of his face was golden and shaped in a toothed bone style. His golden ram horns would glisten in a white energy that would cause effects similar to looking into the sun for too long. His black feathered, angelic wings would tower four feet above his head. His black armor was outlined in gold, and despite it’s black color, it emitted a white energy also. This armor covered his golden skin, showing only parts of his arms and face. His crimson eye’s, dotted with gold, and showed no emotion towards what was happening around him.

And then there was a voice, whimsical in it’s tone, “Oh Honey, I’m Home!”, that Demigrem’s eyes would shift to before gazing back upon the skies. It wasn’t moments later before this creature was introducing itself in an odd manner. Demigrem would keep quiet before responding directly.

“I am Demigrem Demiarch, son of the White Sun. This chaos was not what I wanted at this time, but I do agree, it is very welcoming. We thought this place was abandoned and was going to bring life to it, but as you can see, some people would rather die than make peace.” Demigrem responded before going quiet for another moment, listening to Discord’s last words.

“I don’t know what you can do, but if you think it will benefit us, go for it. If not, there’s tunnels under the ground that should probably be complete. If it get’s dangerous, you’re more than welcome to take shelter there. I’ve got something to deal with up in the sky, a big something.” He said, following it with a smirk.

Crimson lightning began to surge around Demigrem Demiarch. This lightning would begin to form the Star of Luciphaeus on the ground around Demigrem, being about sixteen feet in length and width. Demigrem’s black wings would rise up, reaching a thirty-eight foot wingspan. The crimson lightning stretched from tip to tip.

By this time, Discord would surely have moved back. The ground was forming a bowl around the Star of Luciphaeus, and what solid ground was below the dust, was rising in chunks within the star, surrounding Demigrem in a field of crimson lightning ,and chunks of ground and rock.

Demigrem would lower his left hand down to the ground, placing his right knee on the ground and his left knee and a ninety degree bend. His right hand he would extend outwards, trailing under the tips of his right wings feather tips.

A purple lightning began to emerge on his right shoulder, and run down his forearm, and past his fingertips. In his had, a rather long weapon was emerging. The crimson lightning would begin to merge with the purple lightning, extending eleven feet in length. At the tip, a dual blade was forming out of a stone that had a metallic gold coloring with markings embed down the center. The blade would extend five feet before it would turn into a bar that connected to a four foot handle that was clothed in a crimson colored cloth.

When the weapon was finally formed, a purple miasma would engulf the blade that would surge with the crimson lightning. His power rising very fast, and what he was about to unleash on his target would be devastating. It was time for the orb to take it’s part.

Demiarch Empire
Eye of the White Sun
Spacial Intervention

The orb that resided on the Demiarch base on Blackrock had remained quiet, silently preparing itself for it’s part in the battle. The orb was already pulsing in a bright green energy. The orb would move to the position of Demigrem, but stay above him. It would aim it’s green iris directly at the Lithany of Fury.

The crimson lightning would begin to flow into the black pupil. The green energy would pulse, the energy field growing larger and larger. This energy would definitely show on any energy sensitive sensors. The power that was building was enough to blow through a large ship.

“White Sun, cast your divine power upon me, and give us the strength to conquer our enemies. For the kingdom of Life is yours..” Demigrem prayed to the White Sun.

And with the final words, Demigrem would close his eyes for three seconds. When he opened them, a massive beam of green energy, surging in the crimson lightning, would exit the dome from the inside, holding no effect against the Hex Shield since it was exiting. This beam was aimed directly at the Lithany of Fury, all sixteen feet by sixteen feet that was released from the entire field of the Star of Luciphaeus.

Once this beam was released, the orb was able to sustain the magic beam of destructive energy and lightning. This beam rushed upwards at a high rate of speed, but consistent. Half way through this beam, the crimson lightning seemed to surge a bit stronger. When the beam began to break through the higher atmospheres, black wing tips could be seen extending out of the beam.

When the wings were seen, the lightning shout outwards, and the black wing tips would begin moving faster. The speeds that they accelerated at would put the wing tips three seconds behind the initial blast. This would be a one-two hit within three seconds. Once the initial beam would collide with the ship, what was inside the beam would deliver a second blow with nearly equal power. Even if the shot didn’t break the shields, it would be enough the knock the ship off it’s orbit and cause plenty of chaos.
The beam would cease for one second after a five second burst of energy that would rattle the enemy for five seconds before ceasing. This wouldn’t account for the massive blow that Demigrem had attempted on the ship. Demigrem, within the beam, only fueling it’s power and his, was holding his eleven foot, Luciphaeus Glaive, that definitely blessed well enough for a demi-god to use.

Demigrem would drag this weapon behind him as he surged towards the ship. When he was where he needed to be, he would bring this weapon in a swing that reached outwards and would slam into the ship. When the Luciphaeus Glaive hit the ship, shield or not, it would release a wave of crimson lightning that would surge around the ship and extend from the ship on the opposite side of the ship. This would put a heavy burden on the Lithany of Fury, if not force evacuation or destruction of the ship.
After striking the ship, Demigrem would reverse his movements, barreling down through the sky, down the center of the beam. After three shots of this beam and Demigrem’s strike against the Lithany of Fury, it would cease, and the ground would fall back to the ground within the Star of Luciphaeus. Demigrem would still surge in crimson lightning, and orb would still pulse in this green energy.

“Now…for the problem here..” Demigrem and the orb would turn their sights in the direction of Merek and the being in the distance that was definitely an enemy. Merek would seemed as though he was going to handle the being, but Demigrem would make sure he did not need any help when he got to Merek’s side of the base.

The pod descending among the elementals was an unexpected event but none the less Merek's creations dealt properly from receiving the concussion force. The elementals affected by the blast would burst apart into spraying a napalm like lava outwards creating their own fires in pools that coalesced together forming lines of burning elemental fire. The fissure further from the impact zone gave off a bright light as more elementals pulled themselves from it to replace those that now scattered the ground as a field hazard.

Merek placed the helm back on his head and picked up the shield latching it back on his armor with the straps and mounting hardware. The shield was meant for both offense as it was defense with the shield kiting out the narrow point reaching his knuckles and the wider part of the shield boss covering his forearm and upper arm. He gave his hand and a half sword a twirl rotating the blade in a circle on the side of his body. Merek turned his gaze to the women now that spoke to him now about dancing. To him this certainly was no time for such a thing.

"I don't feel this is the time or the place for a dance, unless you have a waltz planned that will bring me to ruin." Merek retorted with his most taunting tone his vocals still imbued with his magic making him sound louder.

His blade and shield coming up into a defensive posture sword held at a medium guard with the shield out front. The elemental archers behind him prepared their bows arrows of pure fire springing to life on them as they aimed down at the woman. Merek still had his two layers of shielding over him that he placed over himself when he first arrived.

Isirian Fleet
Kreios System

As they were still dealing with a playing field consisting of hundreds of thousands of miles of open space between the fleets, the Demiarch ships would continue to find their rockets and efforts to ‘radiate’ the area woefully inadequate. There was neither air, nor atmosphere to poison since it was outerspace. Furthermore, 15 yard patches of radiation were smaller than a grain of sand on a beach given the vast distances of space they were dealing in. The resulting radiation would disperse into space in such minute concentrations as to be entirely negligible as a threat to even the smallest ships in the Isirian fleet should they decide to try and cross the space between them and the Demiarch ships - which they had no intention of doing at the current point in time. If by some chance the rockets managed to cross the expanse of 250,000 miles of space, as well as make it past the fighter pilots, and through the firing solution of the larger ships to hit one of the Isirian capital ships, they would still have upwards of 650 meters of armor plated hulls to penetrate - even without taking the radiation shielding into account.

The other tactics being employed by the Demiarch ships had the Isirian fleet in an utter state of perplexity.

---

Isirian Cruiser, Arcadia
Fleet Admiral Witkowski

“Sir, they've launched what appear to be some sort of mines at us. By my calculations they’ll be here in… - that doesn't make any sense.”

“What is it? Spit it out,” Admiral Witkowski ordered.

“Well, they’ll be here in approximately 34 hours, Sir.”

“Re-run the calculations.”

“Sir, I did. They’re moving at approximately 2 kilometers per second.”

To one side, one of the air group Captain’s muffled a snorting laugh behind his hand as he tried to keep a straight face, but this only served to leave the Admiral’s scowl deepening.

“Should we fire on them, Sir?” another officer asked.

“No, don’t waste the time. Just keep an eye on them. They’re probably trying to draw our fire away from their fleet. Order the fleet to keep their weapons on the enemy ships.”

It was the only explanation that the Admiral could conceive of. At mach 6.2 speeds, it would take almost a day and a half to reach the Isirian ships. The result of scattering EMP mines towards the Isirian fleet at such speeds would also mean that if the Demiarch ships wished to approach the Isirian fleet at any point in the battle, they would need to either go through their own mines, deviate and go around their own mines, or coast along at mach 6.2 speed and weather attacks from the joint force of the three fleets for the next 34 some hours. If they opted to go around the mines, then the mines wouldn't really factor into the fight anytime soon. As it stood, the speeds at which the mines had been launched rendered them all but useless for this engagement.

Furthermore, the speeds that the Demiarch fleet itself was employing meant that there wouldn't be any dog fighting anytime soon for the Aschen either since it would take well over two days for them to reach the Aschen ships.

Chatter was breaking out among the fighter pilots as well. Mostly idle bullshitting to ease the tension of the situation.

“Are these guys for real?”

“Do you guys see these DRADIS contacts? It looks like they’re moving to intercept the Aschen fleet.”

“Not at that speed they aren’t. They’ll be at it for days. How are their ships even space worthy?”

“Duct tape?” someone asked, drawing a few snickers.

“Shut up you two, and watch out for trouble.”

“Yeah… yeah... “

Silence spanned for several minutes before the comm channel crackled to life once more.

“Hey guys, do you want to cover for me while I go take a coffee break back on the Arcadia?”

Several of the pilots let out choked laughter at that.

“I hope you get a rocket up your ass.”

“The only rocket around here is the one in my pants. These things are a joke. Who even uses rockets in long range fleet engagements?”

“You’re both going to get a rocket up the ass from me if you don’t pay attention.”

With the Demiarch attacks proving such a minimal threat, and the sluggish speeds of their fleet, the Isirians seemed content to continue sitting back while hammering the Demiarch fleet from afar. With the added support of the UDW ships that had joined their ranks… the salvo of attacks would continue to amass in devastating force and quantity.

Unfortunately for the Demiarch ships, this was likely irrelevant given a rather dire mistake on their part. Neutronium can’t be atomized.

AHSC Epitaph of the Martyr
Commander Lionel Pendergast

Pendergast watched in silence as the DRADIS Systems hummed behind him, the Reverence II had sustained massive structural stress from firing the Singularity Cannon.

Given the Aschen Fleet’s distance from the Demiarchal Mothership, which was roughly 165,000 Kilometers, the Singularity, which coursed towards the Demiarchal fleet at 134,906 Kilometers per second would mean that the Singularity would take 1.5 seconds to reach the Demiarchal ship, meaning any reaction time would need to be instantaneous. Even moreso when the daunting realization would cross given the fact that Neutronium was composed entirely of Neutrons, and the Aschen Singularity cannon was essentially a small neutron star catapult.

The implication for this was that the Demiarchal’s defense technology would be unable to atomize the Singularity, as it was impossible to atomize Neutronium, and the Singularity would likely pass unobstructed through the shields, and the Conductor Defenses, the Demiarchal Navy would have a scant fraction of a millisecond to consider alternatives before the projectile hit. If it hits, the Demiarchal Mothership would probably be first punched through by the projectile itself, and then gutted from the inside by the mammoth gravity forces being exerted upon the Hades Wrath. Any vessel within 20,000 Kilometers of this attack that was larger than a few meters would also be at risk of being torn to pieces by the gravitic shock carried by the Neutronium projectile.

The Hades wrath and the Demiarchal fleet would likely be for all intents and purpose completely decimated unless they somehow managed to defend against this attack.

Even if they did possess shield or armor technology capable of stopping a neutron star traveling 45% the speed of light the amount of sheer kinetic energy the projectile was imparted with would potentially vaporize the mothership, and it’s fleet as the local space itself was torn asunder from the sudden spatial shock.

Should the Demiarch fleet somehow manage to muster a backup plan of action in the scant fraction of a millisecond they would have remaining before impact, then they would still be subject to the continued onslaught of attacks from the joint strength of the Isirian, Aschen, and UDW fleets that would be raining in upon either their still intact ships - or the wreckage of their fleet to mop up any remaining vessels.

Strike Group Imperial, Spaceborne Assets

The Singularity Strike was an impressive thing to witness, crossing the distance between the Aschen vessel and the enemy fleet in barely more than a heartbeat. Should the unknown hostiles be in any shape to post the events of the massive attack, of which the calculations of strength estimation were already underway, it would be no easy feat to shoot down the over 60,000 missiles unleashed into their midst. Travelling at only a scant 1% the speed of light, they still only had a total travel time of 83 seconds from the moment of Jericho launch to full missile swarm contact and subsequent detonation. Based on enemy engagement times being almost comically slow by gross comparison, it was highly likely that they would have but fractions of a second to directly target them. Additionally, Jericho missiles smartly detected and made efforts to evade enemy counter-fire, their evasive maneuvers networked and choreographed between the limited AI each possessed, touches of burn from their gravity drives enabling radical course corrections.

Broadcasting over the wide-band, following protocol according to earlier Aschen joint operations, the Devastator and her cohorts announced their own form of heavy fire support, as their Abyss cannon batteries came into play. The flagship alone possessed 108 heavy Abysses, each pumping 100 gigatons/second of directed power at lightspeed downrange with a cycle time of 18 seconds. It’s lighter Abyss complement was 328 guns, only rated for 35 megatons/second of shot with a cycle of 6 seconds.

Her flanking cruisers mounted, by contrast, 46 cannons discharging 25 gigatons/second at cycling rates of 12 seconds, and 222 “lighter” 10 megaton/second guns with a much faster 4 second lag between shots.

This heavy battery fire would cross the 250,000 kilometers between the UDW vessels and their targets in 0.83 seconds, and given a minute of continuous fire, would result in slightly more than 44 teratons of power being discharged into the opposing fleet’s vessels. Combined was the loosing of another volley of Jerichos to follow the first, fired precisely at 41 seconds in the first flight’s launch. A full weight of firepower of 123,000 missiles, a full 615 gigatons of nuclear warheads, and the might of 972 Abysses bellowing at maximum rate of fire.

Observing this, the Councilor nodded. The space match was well in hand, and now attention was to be turned below. Carefully concentrating to constrain himself with his immense psychokinetic potential, he shifted slightly out of time-phase with the rest of the vessel, flowing neatly through the armoring as would a ghost, before sliding back into phase, hurtling for the moon within a sphere of his own telekinetic energy encapsulating enough gases to sustain him for the trip through vacuum. His arrival would yield not even a fireball, as he used his energies to force the atmosphere of the word from his path before entering a psionic aided orbital drop three times human terminal velocity.

AHSC Legatus Stygies
Chairman Gina Inviere

The Legatus Stygies continued it’s wide approach towards the Demiarchal fleet. Inviere kept her hands firmly on the railing as the Demiarchal Plasma dispersed upon the Iconoclast’s shields. Given that Aschen shields had no mass for the plasma to stick too, and simply absorbed the plasma itself, the attacks seemed harmless upon Aschen ships. The same could be said for the rest of the Aschen Fleet, as Demiarchal attacks continued to impact harmlessly upon their shields, with Aschen shields flaring violently with each and every attack.

Inviere made a face as she turned to a Lieutenant.

“Status?” She requested.

“Shields are holding, I’m detecting some minor residual radiation, but it’s nothing our shields can’t keep out. I’m not entirely sure what the situation is, but there is a fairly vast power gap in regards to relative ship strength.” The Lieutenant commented, while a confident female voice chimed in behind her.

“Their cyber attacks are crude, primitive at best.” Commented a silver haired female figure behind Inviere.

“I’ve been combing our Datalink, and these aliens have continued to try and launch cyber attacks, but it’s nothing the shipboard AIs can’t handle. Their viruses are crude and poorly written, and their software is largely incompatible with our computer systems. I estimate by my cursory analysis of their systems, their computer technology is centuries behind our own.” Lunatea commented.

“Never the less, Chairman. Shall I interface with their ships?”

Inviere nodded. “Do what you need to do, Luna.”

The AI offered a brief nod, before she closed her eyes and let her mind expand outwards. She saw the Demiarchal ships as brilliant lights in an entangled web of information.

“Interfacing with enemy vessels… handshake…” Lunatea mumbled as she focused her mind.

The Demiarchals would likely not notice the AI’s subtle intrusion. Attempting to make her way through firewalls and coding back-doors into the Demiarchal systems in real time, Lunatea was preparing her own attack.

“Their ships fail; skittering like skipped stones; meaningless in the absence of time. What never was is never again.”

It would be a matter of minutes before Lunatea attempted to expand her own information network through the Demiarchal computer systems, her advanced AI likely eviscerating firewalls and Demiarchal cyber defenses alike with relative ease.

Blackrock, groundside

"No?" Whisper asked Merek as she tilted her head almost inquisitively. "It looks like a perfect time for a dance to me."

Her mind's eye was zeroing in on Demigrem's location, but she could feel Merek's lust for battle rising in him. As an empath, the frail woman couldn't help but ride that rising tide herself. It drew her like a moth to flame and distracted her from her primary target - Demigrem.

She looked down briefly and eyed her fingers thoughtfully a moment before giving her thumb and middle finger a snap. With the snap of her fingers, the flares of fire around her erupted into a blazing inferno, and her smile widened.

She swept her other arm outwards towards the fire elementals and released a wave of telekinetic force. As the elementals were vulnerable to physical impacts they would meet the same fate as the ones before them and be left to erupt into a napalm like substance.

She twisted her body, and the fire seemed to come alive with a life of its own. It coiled through the air and wound around her form in a fiery inferno that was fueled by the falling sulfur rain. Molten lava joined the growing fire before she unleashed the torrent of flames across the ground with a gesture of her hand.

The inferno moved swiftly, plowing furrows into the earth as it took to the ground. Crevices and deep cracks split through rock and earth as they fissured towards the enemy troops like fiery serpents.

What mines the troops had managed to walk around - or over - would begin to detonate without warning as people and vehicles strayed too close, and bits of liquid rock could be seen spewing upwards from the rapidly spreading cracks. As the flames and lava overtook the soldiers it erupted upwards from beneath their dome shields, and what had been glowing red lines in the earth exploded into geysers of lava and flames that spilled across the ground beneath the troops and their vehicles.

A single wave of Whisper's arm and twist of her body had unleashed a wave of lava and flames for quarter a mile, and Demigrem’s soldiers still had two and three-quarter miles to cross of open land - much of which had been riddled with mines. Her focus largely remained on Merek though, and the attention she had spared the enemy troops had been casually mischievous at best from the coy half-smiled that played at her lips still.

"Shall we?" she asked him.

A thought was nagging at the back of her mind though... as where the Chairman’s words.

"Once you've reached the surface, Neutralize this target."

Again that image of Demigrem appeared with her mind. Her brow furrowed and her head shifted to one side briefly. It was impossible to overlooking the amassing energy signature growing within the nearby dome and it grounded her to her task at hand.

As the beam of green energy and lighting was released, it scarcely cleared twenty yards from the point of origin before a pinpoint of psionic energy manifested within its path and erupted outwards at the point of impact. The air rippled in the shape of a vague inverted dome under the force of the beam striking against Whisper's telekinesis, and the energy of the beam would be distributed outward in all directions rather than upwards in a single column. With Demigrem only three seconds behind the beam’s point of impact and moving at high speeds, it was likely he too would collide with the same barrier even as Whisper's words echoed through his mind.

Where Whisper's spoken words to Merek had been playful, those that brushed against Demigrem's psyche where cold and without emotion.

'Forget them. You fight me.'

The challenge held a resounding note as that wisp of a girl stood her ground on the field of battle, seemingly prepared to engage the both of them.

Strike Group Imperial, Dispatched Terran Forces

The missiles launched at the descending quartet of corvettes and small wing of Owls would be met by tens of thousands of hypervelocity rounds discharged from literally dozens of dozens of multi-gun railgun turrets. AI guided and commanded, the primitive, slow missiles of the entrenched enemy stood not a chance against the aerial point defense of the UDW’s front-line vessels, cut down far short of their marks in strewn wreckage and ruin.

The corvettes established a slow orbit of the base at a range of 4 kilometers distant, holding their altitudes at 1.6 kilometers over the ground below, well placed to continue acting as mobile air-to-air batteries, as well as direct fire support as they brought their lighter Hellbores to bear with staccato bursts of 250 tons/sec direct fire into the Hex Shield, a total of 24 shots every eight seconds pounding into the defenses relentlessly.

The Owls, waggling their thanks to their large escorts, rocketed earthward at Mach 6.9, decelerating sharply as they neared the ground to set down and offload their loads of UDW soldiers. Rising on their anti-grav drives, their own rotary guns tracked slowly, the close support of the transport gunships ready to aid the Wolves and Hounds in their assistance.

Meanwhile, closer to the base itself, the radical, rapid deployment of Ryder completed, his boots touching the earth softly as he looked onward, flexing and focusing his monstrous psionic might as he surveyed that around him. His protective fields, instinctively raised with the ease of decades of practice, warded radiation and stray shrapnel from him, as it seemed his appearance had not yet attracted attention, distant as he was to other friendly forces. Fair skin over hard features, his eyes and mind watched the battlefield with the perspective most spy satellites couldn’t hope to match. With a faint smile, he noted Whisper’s presence, knowing she would feel his own quickly enough.

“Better leave her to concentrate for the moment.”

His gaze travelled to the base itself, a thoughtful smirk coming to play at the edges of his mouth.