Setting
Another damned dragon, already a vox was already sent to the orbiting fleet to be prepared for orbital stikes if neccecary. If they did not work the Space Marines were prepared to strike at a moments notice. Like hell they would haave yet anther damned creatre waltz up inside the city! Not on their watch!
"Sir! We have a civilian next to the creature! We might accidently shoot her if it engages!" Another Guardsman called out. With a small 'tsk' the Officer simply trained his weapon on the dragon. "Damnation...state your business creature and begone. We may die if you engage us but every life you take this day shall be another innocent that does not have to pay the price of your kind..."
"Your Emperor, your threats, this city, and you mean nothing to me. My purpose is to hunt the Dragon who attacked this city and stained it with his Dark Magic." Irral stated calmly. "If you intend to stand in my way, then you will be dealt with as easily as anything else you send my way. I make the Dragon that attacked your city look like a hatchling. I was born to put an end to darkness, and you have been tainted by the very darkness I seek to eradicate." Irral let go of his Lance with his foreward, hand, and pointed off to the side, to a singular Guard.
"You have a choice, child. Either I cleanse your body harmlessly, or I cleanse the whole city in an instant." he spoke, his now free hand moving to the small of his back, where the Dagger of Light lay sheathed on his back. His other arm, still holding the Lance, didn't move in the slightest, nor did the Lance in its grasp. Under the Dragon's feet spread a circle of warm, Golden Light, quickly expanding by the second, filling the air with a sense of serenity and warmth, but also with a singular sense of dread.
"Make your choice.
"Whoever attacks first" ordered the General as she readied her sniper rifle.
He noticed light entering through his eyelids as he slept, and was jolted awake by the sound of Irral's roaring! He grabbed a knife he had laid down nearby and brandished it! Nobody was there, no problem to immediately fight off. Catching his breath, and rendering himself fully awake, tired, but awake nonetheless, he turned to the column of light towering into the sky. Another occurrence he thought, some of Wing City's problems that it can take care of. He then begun to lay back down, and fading back into sleep, looking away so the light wouldn't hit his eyes. As the column faded, Teddy had begun to probe about where it originated. The light looked to have risen from the gardens, he entertains the thought...
...Until he remembered Ebba!
Teddy sprang up once again, what if Ebba was in danger! With a quick shift of his body, he hopped onto his feet and burst out of his hiding place! He had begun to maintain a stride as he raced towards the gardens, thoughts and fears racing in his mind. He saw obstacles in his path, the alleyways of Wing City were just filled with these annoyances. Luckily, parkour was part of his training to move around quickly in his feet, even with that burdensome armor. He vaults over an obstacle and hops and slides over and under others respectively.
He was nearing an entrance to the gardens when he skids to a halt and fades into a hiding spot. He recognized the vehicles and uniforms of the Imperial Guard. This was a nightmare come true for him, he had done a great job at evading the Guard, but it began to look like an encounter was all but inevitable. He checked the gear he was wearing upon his person. His pistol was cleaned and kept in good condition, he had two fully-loaded magazines for it, twenty-two shots in all, and a single fragmentation grenade. He had then planed that if the encounter became prolonged and the battle dragging, then maybe he could steal one of the soldier's laser weapons, lasguns as they called them.
The whole reason Teddy had been so evasive about the guard was that he had become a fugitive among the Imperium... Or so he had been thinking. During his travels, he had encountered one of the Empire's invincible Space Marines, or one of their enemies, the Chaos Space Marines, he genuinely didn't care which was which back then. Many of the things he had tried against that juggernaut he tried had barely fazed it, and he had to keep himself out of line of sight lest his Bolter of his sliced a gaping hole through his body and explode him for good measure. It wasn't until he had reached an RPG launcher and a good collection of grenades had he finally killed that colossus. But since he really could not tell which was which, due to unfamiliarity with the cultures, he thought he had become a wanted criminal of the Imperium for killing such a respected war machine.
In reality, if this was true, then maybe the Imperial Guard would run from him in terror, thinking he was some sort of beast. But he'd rather not take his chances. He begun to lurk in the shadows, looking for some gap to exploit and avoid a firefight, with his lack of ammunition and the Guard's numbers, he'd certainly be overwhelmed in a face-off. After minutes of skulking, he found a gap, protected by only the fence and sees a trashcan just in front. He limbered himself up, getting ready to make a break for it when the guards looked away.
Not yet... not yet... now!
Teddy made a mad dash! He sprinted towards the trashcan, leaps, and uses it as a platform to circumvent the fence and onto the ground past it, rolling as he hit the ground. He made himself scarce as the loud, metallic crash of the trashcan would certainly garner some attention.
At last he had finally come onto the scene just as Irral made his threat. "This is quite the circus sideshow," Teddy said under his breath, joking to himself, he had been a member of the circus once after all. He then begins to assess the situation: Imperial guardsmen, a lot of them at that, and... was that a dragon-born? He had only heard of these creatures in myth across various worlds, but he didn't think to see one this close. His eyes dart about the place, and sees Ebba, across. He knew that if he had to protect her, he was going to probably have to do something either very clever, or very suicidal.
Unfortunately, he did not account for the Terran Liberation Force taking cover somewhere as well...
Just try something you misserable dragon...This cities saftey was in their hands, they would never let anything try...what was that noise? The Inperial Guardsman went into defensive positions as they heard something topple over. "Unknown in the AO! Keep your eyes open and your guard up! Focus of the dragon if it tries anything!" The Imperial Officer ordered as the men resumed aiming their weaponons at the creature.
Damn prideful creatures. Always gloating! Always looking down at them! They faced the powers of Chaos before. The Shadow Legion, dragons and everything that dares threaten humanity was a more simple prospect.
Ebba looked at the situation that was going on. There were plenty of things pointed in their direction, but so far everything was tense. Normally she would be using the bush as a vain hope to hide herself however she looked much more calm in the face of danger. She scanned the area for whoever made the noise. Who could it be?
And with that the voice stops speaking.
"Attention hostile fleet, consider your lives forfeit now. This is Battlefleet Terran of the Imperium Of Man. From this moment onwards you are considered an enemy. May the Emperor have mercy on your souls." The Fleet Admiral voxed the enemy fleet and right after he finished speaking he gave the Word..."All ships fire...leave none alive..."
In an instant the Imperial Navy opens fire with Frontal Lance batteries. A few Cruisers begin to rotate Broadside and began to pound the enemy fleet with Heavy Bombardment Cannons. Other ships began to fire torpedoes at the enemy fleet. A few Space Marine Vessels, Mainly Strike Cruisers began to close the distance on the enemy fleet, using the Fleets massive firepower as a screen for their advance. The Emperors Angels of death, The mighty space marines prepared in the Telliportarium. Armed in mighty power armor, and armed with their mighty Boltgun. These weapons fired 1.00 caliber rocket propelled, uranium tipped rounds.
These heavily armed and armored superhumans were ready to commence boarding action as soon as possible once they got into range. Either from using the Telliportarium to easily access the enemy ships or via tactical insertion by Thunderhawk transports after they blast a hole in the enemy ships.
Of course...that is if the enemy fleet could withstand the brutal assault first...
On the ground of course, Imperial assets on the ground scrambled to defensive location and the Men at the Garden soon recived new orders. "All units report. Terra is under attack! All units scramble to defensive locations. Prepare for any hostile ground action immediantly. Imperial Command out!"
With that, the Guardsman reluctantly began to pull away from surrounding the dragon. "You heard Command! Double time it men! We are under attack!" The Imperial Officer yelled as the Imperial forces began to pull back from the area.
He looked over to Ebba, and then to the guards. He was going to regret this... It was an act of suicide at best and worst, but the threshold of desperation had been crossed...
He then called out to them as he had begun to walk out of his hiding place, hands in the air to signify that he was going peacefully. "Hey!" He called, hoping to get their attention, "I want to help fight against this threat! Like it or not, it will kill us all on the incredible chance that it should wipe us all out!"
He stood out, now in open view of everybody there. "This attacking fleet, will it make us all brothers?" He asked, looking at the guardsmen, Ebba, and the dragon-born.
From all across the city, the heavily fortified position of Imperial Guardsman lit up the skies filling it with ordinance. From Hydra Anti-aircraft fire to Heavy Bolter teams firing from heavy cover. They began to pick off as many drop pods as they came down. Of course they were not the only ones with drop pods...From orbit, drop pods from the Imperium Of Man began to head to the surface of the planet. With enemy forces already deployed fire began to focus on the ground leaving the drop pods in relative safety. Once they began to slam into enemy formations they opened up to reveal them...The Space Marines, cladded in power armor same as the enemy knights. They charged their positions with holy zeal and fervor. Armed with Chainswords and Bolters, these men cladded in yellow Power armor, the symbol of a fist adorned on their cauldrons. These warriors, genetically modified easily rushed these knights and blade or Boltgun, they began to tear into the enemy formations using the confusion of drop pods landing in their mists to their advantage.
Of course, the Space Marines were not taking all the Glory. Brave men of the Imperial Guard opened fire from all corners surrounding the enemy. From the buildings, from the streets. Las-guns fired at the heavily armored enemies. Although far less effective than a Bolter, some would be hoping for any lucky strike, or even mess up their aim. However, they were holding the line as the Imperial Guard was meant for. Miles away from the actin, the ground shook as Basilisk Artillery began to rain down massive shells on the enemy troops. Each easily spotted by Imperial Sharpshooters which began to mark enemy concentrations. And of course...The armored might of the Imperial Guard came rolling in. Lemen Russ Battle Tanks, These heavily armored main battle tank of the Imperial Guard began to roll into position nearby Imperial defenses and began to open fire on the enemy with side mounted heavy bolters, front mounted bolter, and their main battle cannon.
From the Skies, Imperial Thunderbolt Fighters began to strafe enemy positions. They began to tear at the enemy ranks with autocannon fire as they swooped in.
The enemy was already facing fierce resistance as expected from Imperial forces
In Orbit, as the enemy fleet began to retreat like sorry cowards. The Fleet Admiral spoke. "Ready Nova Cannon for fire! All Weapon Platforms and ships armed with a Nova cannon aim for the enemy fleet! We will gun as many of them as we can! We will send them a parting gift from the Emperor men! Those that mess with humanity shall face our full might!"
The Fleet Admiral ordered as ships began to align their weapon at the retreating enemy fleet. Along with the orbiting platforms rotating to aim their most powerful weapon on the enemy. "Weapons armed and ready sir! Firing position is good enough!"
"Fire Nova Cannons!"
The Nova Cannon itself is massive; the barrel is the length of all but the largest Imperial vessels, A few Kilometers in length. These massive weapons embodied the Emperor's own wrath in steel. These weapons soon fired, causing the sips and platform that fired them to be knocked back a fair distance back. However the projectiles they fired have a diameter of at least 50 metres and sailed at close to light speed after being accelerated by gravimetric coils. When the projectile had traveled close enough in the enemy fleet's formation, the warhead implodes with a force equivalent to several plasma bombs. This creates a blast zone the size of a small planet which burn with the ferocity of a small star for a fraction of a second easily causing many of the enemy ships to be caught in the violent Superweapon of the Imperial Navy. Which would have most likely heavily damaged or destroyed most of the enemy fleet.
They would know what war was...and they would know never to mess with the Imperium again.
Then the Dragon looked up, a low rumble escaped his throat, rumbling the ground and trees around him as he growled. He would let the fleets battle it out on their own. Sheathing his Dracoanian Lance, Irral slammed his hands together, and with a flash of light that would blind any who looked at it directly, vanished from the city.
In Orbit above Terra
The Ships of the Grey Battalion shook with the sonic wave, but otherwise remained intact. As the Ships of the Imperium engaged, so did those of the Grey Battalion. All ships battle-stations! Fire on those unidentified cruisers! The Voice of the Clone Commander Kaal rang out on the comms of the Starfleet.
The Hangars of all the ships opened, and from each poured forth their strike craft fifty squads of Shadow-Wing superiority fighters, and well over a hundred squads of Y-Wing Bombers. From the hulls of the Modified Sabre Class Star Destroyers emerged Numerous Super Heavy Turbo-Laser Batteries, forty eight batteries in total per ship, which all began to open fire on the cruisers that had tried to attack Terra. From the Venators came their own fire, along with a majority of the strike-craft that were launched. The Acclamators and the Tartan Patrol Cruisers remained towards the back of the fleet, their guns silent for the moment. The Obsidian Eagle, currently the largest ship in the fleet, lumbered forward, her numerous Turbo Lasers and regular Lasers opening fire, as well as her Torpedo Tubes letting loose multiple Neutron Torpedos, which would both slip past most shields and then explode violently on the hull of anything they hit.
"Focus your fire! Fighters take out those drop pods before they reach the surface! I want that fleet decimated yesterday, people!" Kaal's voice rang out again. Kinara stood towards the back of the bridge, analyzing the situation on her holo-table as the battle played out in real time before her.
"Admiral, would it be possible to send some of my Marine Troops through your Teleportation device onto the enemy ships? My transports are not yet equipped for boarding actions." Kinara opened a secure Holo-Channel to the Fleet Admiral of the Imperium. "My ships have already engaged and my fighters are going after their drop pods. I have Marines standing by to board their transports. They are eager to see some battle."
From the outside, a flurry of Green Turbo Lasers as well as kinetic rounds and glowing blue Torpedos swarmed towards the enemy fleet, as well as small specs representing the Y-Wing Bombers on their attack runs to slip under the enemy shields and attack their hulls directly.
Up in space 2 to carrier ships break off from the fleet and sends a flare, signaling that they surrender. Out of nowhere one ship turns and shots a weopen called sun's light and blows up the 2 traitors, causing them to crash into some of the enemy ships. The Grand knight fleet sounds the horn once more.
He dashes and takes cover alongside an entrenched squad of guardsmen, sliding as he does so. He peeks from his hiding spot briefly, long enough to identify the enemies. With a swift, violent, and controlled movement, he assumed stance to shoot. He catches one of the knight-like troopers in his sights and fires, the beam of red light piercing through to poor soul's neck! He then swivels around, seeing another trooper aiming at him! In quick reflex, he lets loose another shot. He shoots the enemy soldier in the shoulder where he pointed his weapon, the beam fired scorching just inches from Teddy's head, if he hadn't taken his shot first, he would have been killed right there. He fires a shot, another hitting that same trooper's neck.
His aim is still sharp and improbable as he remembered it to be, it also helped that the las-gun was not affected by ballistics like his slug-throwing pistol was. He maintains calm and composure as he fires upon more troopers coming to the front line, placing his shots well enough to kill and incapacitate. His marksmanship, it seemed as though it had been honed to superhuman levels, exploiting spots he could see where the las-gun would do the most damage.
He prayed under his breath for Ebba's safety, though.
It was only when drop-pods began to fall towards his location like rain that the abstract became concrete and he realised the defences from the ground were firing up in an upward hail of death.
Then suddenly...
Crash!
The man suddenly came to terms with where he was, with the proximity of his person to the drop pods that hit the ground, followed by an even larger one that tore apart the earth like a giant bullet. Through the dust, he saw something... Approaching, quickly; he jumped, the door of the horned knight's escape pod flying under him with speed enough to smash into the side of a building. Not a moment later, the man landed on the ground again, the bench that had been behind him now torn in two like nothing.
Though he remained silent, he began to walk through the cloud of debris until it cleared enough for him to see what had landed. Soldiers... Clearly hostile, one much larger with armour covered in bones. Sporadic sniper fire seemed to be hailing down on them, but from his position it didn't look to be nearly enough.
The assassin had been semi-retired for a while now... But destiny does not always favour the desires of the man caught in it. His quiet evening in the gardens had been destroyed and now, it seemed, Godrage would once again be required to kill. He took from his jacket a small box that, when pressed, began to open and unfold far beyond the original surface area. This shape was then directed, changed and morphed by a shimmering blue into the shape of a rifle which fit into his hands as though it was designed to work in tandem with him. He pulled it up to his eye just as a scope formed, the crosshair centred right over the devil-horned helmet of the knight who seemed to inspire fear even in his allies.
As the power source of his weapon activated, Godrage pulled the trigger and sent a blindingly bright beam of super-heated plasma right into the knight's face. There was always a risk that the opponent's armour was strong enough to withstand the shot, but he wouldn't know that until he fired.
Nevertheless the fleet continued to pick off the enemy fleet one by one as they continued to retreat.
On the ground as the enemy forces were dwindling from the efforts of soldiers stationed on the ground, soon what was pressumed to be the enemy commander or at least their champion had arrived. The enemy was clearly outnumbered and severly outgunned. Their champion did very little to dissuade soldiers. In fact if they killed him the enemy would probaly shatter at this point.
They had tanks, aircraft, and artillery ships to easily render their champion into little morenthan paste. However, one Space Marine adorned in pure black power armor, a Templar seal on his paulderon. And he was armed with a power sword and storm shield. The Marshal of the Black Templars, Marshal Renalanus.
"Leave their accursed champion to me!" He aimed his sword at the figure before the Space Marine charged his location over the gunfire that flew everywhere.
For poor Ebba, she carefully made her way past the streets as the war errupted all around her. She was nervious but determined to get to saftey. "I just have to...stay low and find saftey..." She whspered to herself as gunfire wizzed past her as she kept to cover,
On her orders the Solinus sea came to life TLA cruisers rising from the waves to join the fight above.
Soon TLA dropships appeared landing TLA troopers and mages to aid the Imperium's men. The ragtag group firing laser and bullet weapons at the foe.
Meanwhile in space the Two Mauhasinan ships had no choice but to join the fight thier light cannons coming online firing Stormlight and normal Light Beams at the hostile fleet. The Sunburst Class unleashed it's fighter wings the doomgliders ripping though space to harass the foe.
"This is Captain Asher of the Ardent Viper to the Imperium and other Terrans. As this attack brings danger to us and or ambassador we have decided to help and we called in a few friends..."
The Lightbringer Crimson Nova appeared in a flash of light followed by five Daylight class battleships, four Cloud carriers, five each of Day, Sunburst, and Flare class ships, ten Fireblast class ships the fleet of High Priestess Nephthys Bastia. The fleet joined with the attack "Forgive my sudden entrance but I could not stand by while my sister is in danger" Nephthys said over the comm.
From the Back of Kinara's fleet moved a Single Tartan Patrol Cruiser, mixing with the ranks of the Imperium's ships to provide extra Point Defense until the damage done by the chunks of destroyed ship could be repaired. "Shields to double front, protect our allies!" the captain-droid of the point-defense ship called to his subordinates, who all gave a resounding "Roger Roger" in response, doing their tasks accordingly.
On the Ground
"Such Darkness cannot be allowed to flourish on my watch."
Light began to converge upon a single spot, Draconian Magic flourishing and building in one spot before launching in a singular beam towards the Champion of the attacking Army, the Light consuming all in it's path, leaving a trail of pure gold in its wake as it sounded like melodic harps ringing throughout the city. If the beam of light hit, it would likely begin to corrode at the armor of those it struck, turning it first to gold and then disintegrating it before moving onto their bodies, where the burning would begin immediately and therefore so would the agonizing pain of death.
Irral stood with his Lance Drawn, the twelve foot-tall Dragon in human-form gleaming in Glorious Golden Light as he stood ready to attack the Champion brought down from the stars to attack this city. The Dragon let out a battle-cry, a roar resembling a thousand Thunder-Claps before charging towards the invading force, Lance at the ready as he charged forward, Golden Armor gleaming like a star in the dim cloud of Battle.
In orbit a knight galaxy destroyer warps behind the enemy and let's them know by letting rip to the horn, as it is dishonerable not to. The destroyer begins to fire up 'Gods wrath'.
He skids to a halt, evading gunfire along the way, to new cover. He had shot out a few more enemy soldiers, when he drops into cover and seems himself entrenched among the Space Marines that had come to aid. He keeps his calm, and absolutely hopes that they don't recognize him. He was in a den of lions. He tries to act natural, well, as natural as one can be in a war zone. He peeked from his cover and saw a Space Marine dashing at the giant.
He watched this briefly, before looking to the side and shooting a soldier in the shoulder, then neck, that dared to aim his weapon at the Space Marine. "Hey, let's give that brave soul some cover!" Teddy had shouted out in impulse as he took the only grenade he was carrying, sliding his finger into the pin. He wasn't going to pull that thing until he saw an opportunity. He then sees a group of enemy soldiers attempting to entrench themselves.
This was the opportunity he wanted.
"Frag out!" he shouts as he pins the explosive and threw it among the enemy soldiers, it was perfectly placed, that squad of enemies were as good as done...
As the enemy had gained ground and began to use the buildings as defensive positions, unfortanantly for them not only did they have ordinance to blast the buildings sky high, they had other means to dislodge their location. "Detonate explosives! Send those bastards to the warp!" An Imperial Guardsman shouted and with an activated switch the building the enemy began to use suddenly exploded into fire and rubble, which in return raining on the enemy attackers.
Of course as the TLA began to lend their aid, it was well appriciated. They have their differences but at this moment they had the same goal, defend Terra from hostiles.
In orbit, as the ships began to recive Kinara's soldiers. A single enemy ship warped in behind the fleet. Of course it made a lot of noise but even then their systems picked it up. They would have to turn around to fire but at that time whatever it was priming would hit them. "Engage short ranged warp!" The Fleet Admiral called out as the Imperial Fleet suddenly vanished...only to appear around the lone enemy ship with all weapons aimed at it. The enemy ship looked tough, however this would its end.
"Commence boarding action! All ships open fire! Bring down their shields!" With his order all 75 ships began to blast the lone ship with all of their firepower. As soon as their shields would fail for just the briefest second, suddenly teams of both Imperial Stormtroopers, Space Marines and Kinara's clone troopers began to suddenly appear in the enemy ship
and began to eliminate all personal in weapon bays, engine bays, shield bays, hangers, and even the bridge. All the while the ships outside began to continue to pound it. The soldiers inside of course could easily be warped back out before they met the same fate of the crew. Regardless, it was a tactical error to send a single ship no matter how strong it was. An easy target for four different fleets.
"Captain Asher, we are glad to have your assistance. As to you TLA members. Let us finish off the enemy before more collateral damage ensures."
Back in the ground the Grand knight looked at the marshel as if he where stupid "were not barbarians, we just follow the law of our king" The grand knight looks up and laughes " OH LOOK AT THEM NOW! OUR LATEST ANTI-PERSONEL INVENTION! THE TRIPOD! Want to know somthing? They deflect all rockets and have a very stong sheild on them." he laughes and tell his men to step back.
He begun to scan the Tri-Pod, hoping to find some sort of weakness he could exploit. These things had legs, he already gave these invading forces F's in invasion and reconnaissance, and now he gave them another failing grade in weapons design. No military designer gives vehicles legs for very good reason. If he could find a way to destroy just one of the legs on that thing, then it would be crippled. He just needed someway to bring down those shields and find something that made a big enough boom.
He ducks down as the vehicles began firing their weapons. Hot, super-heated beams of plasma, a great anti-infantry weapon, but it would be slow on a vehicle, and dismally poor against aircraft as it was obviously a line of sight weapon.
But he remembered something, these guys called him out by his first name. Did they know him somehow? He looks up and calls out at the giant. "Hey, big ugly," he shouted, "Teddy Ursa is right here!"