-Battle at the 25th Moon of Octal-



The Eon simply deployed flares in the missiles wakes. The Exacliburn was at enough distance that even the few missiles that managed to hit only caused a minor fluctuation in the still 100% un-harmed shields. The nuclear explosions let out more light then damage, anyone who might have been staring out a window would of been blinded by such explosions. The Gunners used electronic screens, so they would of had to pause for a second, to wait for the computer to adjust the light filters. As for the forward facing guns and her crew, they still continued to hammer into the Kissaki carrier. The squadron of fighter busied themselves, destroying the incoming Kissaki craft.

"Commander, multiple shots heading in our direction, our shields are currently still at 87% having been tuned into to the ballistics damage from the nuclear missiles. Our shields should barely hold up against the wave. Estimated put her at 7.6% after impact. "

"Damn, those Amherst bastards. Use the Kissaki carrier as a shield. bank the ship 180 degrees starboard, if the carrier explodes the bottom part of our ship and the shields, should manage. Through the explosion fire the tri-system at the Ronin, along with the forward batteries. Have the aft batteries destroy any rouge pieces of the carrier heading towards us. Have the plasma cannons fire upon the frigates as well."

"Yes sir"

As the Carrier died, the various bombers and fighters flew back into the Mjolner for a quick supply, only a few squadrons of fighters still remained.
Three different actions were inacted by the Exacliburn at that point. The ship turned nearly upside-down all the way, while still heading directly towards the Kissaki carrier. Just before the carrier reached the Excaliburn, the shots from the Amherst fleet ripped through the enemy carriers aft, dealing a deadly blow to the ship's engines which immediately went into the red. One after another the engines exploded, and after a moment, the entire ship split down the middle.Any craft in the vicinity of the explosion was immediately vaporized, even the Mjolner's. The shields on the Excaliburn flared out a bright blue, having sustained a moderate large amount of damage from the explosion. Through the flames came 3 sets of fire.

The plasma cannons on each side of the Excaliburn began firing upon the small frigates, as the Exacliburn got closer, the damage from the cannons increased. And as soon as the frigates came with-in range the aft batteries swiveled towards the puny ships and began firing upon them as well.


The Tri-system immediately targeted the Ronin, near the Valus. Nova knew that it would be protected by the Valus's shields, but it with the fire from the Excaliburn, from her forward guns and tri-system, the shield would be down in no time, and it would only take one shot to destroy the Ronin. Who would be faster? The Valus's boarding party? Or the Excaliburn?

_________________

*WHAT I THOUGHT I'D DO WAS PRETEND I WAS ONE OF THOSE DEAF-MUTES*

-NTC, 15/16th moons-
"Now.... what is that? Science Station, what's your analysis?"

"No idea at the moment, sir. Looks like a modified IP drive of some sort, but too large. We can't tell much more with only the drones scans. But it's definitely unique." His officer at the Primary Science Station informed him.

"Hm... and they're mostly undefended...." Sigmund went over possibilities in his mind. A quick assault could overwhelm defenses, they take the cargo, destroy what they can, get out fast. Is the cargo worth it? He made his choice.

"Crews of the Azure Aegis and Lithium Longspear. We are going to assault this Kissaki position. Our target is the cargo, marking it on targeting computers now. Do not fire within NTC VIC target range of it, repeat, not with VIC range. Focus first on disabling the station and hitting the frigate when/if it attacks. Only use a squad of the fighters, and keep them close to the hull. We begin the run in 30 seconds. Longspear, attempt to distract them with a story. When it fails, begin jamming." His orders given, a quick "Aye aye." was his response for the bridge crew of both ships. They both began powering up all systems, and the engines flared to life.

Quick as they could, both NTC ships came around the dark side of the moon, and advanced on the station. It was doubtful the Longspear's hails would distract them for long, so jamming should come on soon. Both ships and the drones already out there would begin jamming attempts, to keep any messages from getting out. Soon as that happened, the Longspears cannons that could face forward would begin firing on the station, and Sigmund would give the order to activate the Aegis shield system to protect the Aegis' prow.

_________________

-Battle at the 25th Moon of Octal-

The Tenshi was dead in space, a massive wreckage of metal and composite materials as the Ion flux weapon destroyed the last remaining pieces of working technology on-board the battleship. However the three cruisers still were in fighting condition and continued to fight, bright lashes of light danced over them as their shields absorbed the impact from the IWAR weapons while they returned fire. All three cruisers circled around the two IWAR ships and fired swarm missiles while their main guns fired nonstop. Unlike the destroyers, these ships were capable of killing battleships. How they fare against the Ion Flux weapon and the fortress shields is another matter.

<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The Kissaki carrier blew up, sending huge chunks all over the place. Not problem for the EON ships anymore.

However the three Kissaki frigates just maneuvered away from the hostile fire from the EON flagship, using their superior speed to avoid the plasma blasts and cannon fire. One of the frigates maneuvered past the fire and sped toward at the EON frigate which was loitering near the EON carrier. Braving the fire from the carrier and its fighters, the shields of the Kissaki frigates shimmered as they sped towards their targets. One of the frigates managed to get a clear shot of the Demetrios, firing grappling hooks. Only three hooks managed to latch on when the EON frigate protested with its weapons. Using its thrusters and main engines the Kissaki frigate went into a spin, taking the Demetrios with it as well. Detaching the cable the Kissaki frigate speed away as the the Demetrios went tumbling away from the carrier and towards the EON flagship before it righted itself. However a blast of plasma from the Excaliburn caught the tiny frigate in its deadly superheated form, exactly what the Kissaki frigate had intended. The plasma blast washed over the Demetrios's shields draining it dry before a flurry of cannon fire from all three Kissaki ships peppered the top of the radar dish and then a larger projectile punched through the tiny ship, entering from the top of the radar dish and exiting rather explosively through the outermost engine of the left side of the EON frigate.

As the three Kissaki frigates sped away, a projectile from the Excaliburn caught one of the frigates directly, draining its shields and penetrating the hull. The Kissaki frigate lost all power and began to drift, internal explosions ripping it to shreds. The other two frigates sped away without a second thought.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

-Kissaki Orbital Station 15/16th moons-

The minefield protecting the station detonated as soon as the NTC ships entered the vicinity of the station. They were immune to jamming being dumb, magnetic homing types. The Kissaki were apparently very brutal about minefields, choosing the most indiscriminate weapons available for defense. Bathing the two ships in deadly explosions the mines were numerous and homed on the largest magnetic field they could find...which where the two NTC ships were now fitting the category. Mine after mine detonated as they slowly creeped over to the NTC ships. Any visual gunning would be useless since their was balls of fire dancing all over the NTC formation.

However the jamming apparently worked on the gun turrets defending the station as they failed to fire. The Station however began firing its cannons and activated its shields. The cargo was still unprotected, sitting there waiting for someone to tow it away.

_________________
- Join the HUMP LEGION. Leading the Humping and Bumping since time began...*humpa humpa humpa* -

Note to self. Pg541

"Battleship disabled... Warning, Cruisers within Ion flux arc minimal range..." Richarson was shouting loudly over his crew, The three shield operators were working at full tilt "Shields to fifty...returning fire.." The Raganrok's Main weapon fizzled into nothing, the charge being dissipated and spread into the ships own shield systems, Her large Mass driver batteries began focusing on one target "Opening Close combat weapon systems alpha through omega" on the sides of the Raganrok panels slid back, revealing six twin pairs of weapons all in neat rows on ether side of the ship, each pair consisted of a small plasma cannon and a smaller mass driver, much like what the Celestial was using as her main weapon, the Raganork lit up the space around her.. Huge gouts of green plasma and sprays of metal exploding outwards towards the Cruisers around her...

The spy drone began broadcasting again, Detecting the new comer... however her signals were blocked.. but reading the Demierous's advanced tactical and sensor data the NTC ships would come up clear..before they had gone dead anyway... "New targets on screen... ", Hadrox began broadcasting "New ships, This is the IAWR Battleship Ragnarok.. I see you have your eyes on the base too...Under charter regulation beta five i would like to declare a combined practices settlement to any and all technology upon the base, and any resources which may be found thereafter.. this includes all forms of wealth including the following, but not excluding others for with, Ships, advanced technologies, currency and raw minerals. Failure to agree will result in the immediate termination of any and all technology upon the base by use of the experimental Ion flux arc under technology scuttlment regulation one...you have fifteen seconds to reply as thats how long the weapon takes to charge.. and I thought it would be an adequate time.. note however this is longer than the standard ten second warning as per regulation two.. ” he grinned, he really did love reading the charter, “If you comply i will be happy to meet you in a designated point for a meeting, preferably with tea... on a vessel which is neutral to both of us, to discuss the sharing of technology and resources, yours Captain Hadrox Viveria, for the Institute of Advanced weapons research”

The Ragnarok began charging its main weapon, it would be fired upon the fifteenth second using the spy drone as a relay beacon,((next post)) even if it wasn’t transmitting the Ragnarok could get a lock on its own technology. The Celestial began focusing all energy to recharging her shields, going to defence pattern gamma, this pattern was a generic defence shield that ignored missiles, allow them to pass through to be destroyed by the primary antimissile systems.

"Commander Lancet, 6 confirmed hits on the Eon ship. A Kissaki Carrier was hit 4 times when it moved into our firing lane. The other shots either hit the dead Kissaki Battleship or empty space. Eon Batleship returning fire."

"Deactivate all non vital systemas, except engines and shields. Dump all excess energy into the shields. Keep the secondary shield active as long as possible. They can't maneuver to port with that Kissaki battleship in the way, so move us into a position where the IWAR fleet blocks their attack vector. They look a little to busy fire on us themselves."

"Sir, Grace on the ground team channel."

"Captain Grace, what is your status and ETC."

"Commander Lancet, we have everyone that we are going to get. Half of the crazy bastards killed themselves after they were tranqued or stunned. My team was able to take all but one of the bridge crew. We took them by surprise getting to them before the fighting even started. Estimated time to completion is 30 seconds. My team is the last to board."

"Good job, Grace, the bridge crew is who I wanted most. Did any of the infiltration teams see the cargo on board."

"Yes sir, they did, I want to talk to you about that privately."

"As you wish, Captain. We are moving to IP travel in 1 minute, I expect you to be on board and all of our guests secured. I wasn't going to do this but restrain all of them. I don't want them killing themselves."

"They are already restrained, Commander."

"Always a step ahead. Yamada hold position here and prepare the IP drive."

--Eon 1st/near remnants of battle--



Firing upon the now fleeing Amherst fleet was a lost cause. Nova knew that much. Even though he had defeated an entire fleet of Kissaki warships and took down their prized battleship, the Tenchi, Nova couldn't help but feel as if he had "lost". The side of the Exacliburn was structurally damaged, the shield emitters had been moderately damaged in the explosion from the Kissaki carrier, the Demetrios had been moderately damaged by the frigates and the Ronin and her crew had been captured by the Amherst fleet. The mission was definitely forfeit.

"Turn this ship around, bring her into firing position on the cruisers attacking the IWAR fleet."

"Roger that sir, initiating maneuvers."


Even though the battle wasn't over for some, Nova certainly did not felt that way. He was done as far as he could tell. Even as the Exacliburn took a U-turn by the burning remains of what had once been the Kissaki fleet, even as the Tri-system warmed up (he couldn't take the chance of firing the forward batteries and have a shot accidentally hit the IWAR fleet)

"The guns are ready sir."
"Fire"

even as it aimed and shot at the cruisers attacking the IWAR fleet. Even though the Demetrios had been damaged (and was now being repaired by the Mjolner) it had still managed to intercept the radio-chatter between the IWAR ships and the NTC ships. It transmitted the message to Nova, who lazily read it.

"Commander Viveria, seeing as how you are preoccupied, I have helped in any way I could (by firing the MAC gun) if you would like, I can have my fleet drop in on the station in case the NTC ships disagree with your proposition, or help them because if I guess right, your little laser gun had a set range before damage drops off. We are also closer then you are, at the moment, to the station, and you are also currently fighting."


Nova then dropped his formal speaking and shifted into a more rough voice he was used to.

"And kid, just you remember one thing: I gave up my mission to save your ass, so cut me a little slack with the noble mambo jumbo"

_________________

*WHAT I THOUGHT I'D DO WAS PRETEND I WAS ONE OF THOSE DEAF-MUTES*

-NTC, 15/16th moons-
"Oh, these bastards..."

Sigmund began thinking of a plan while the two ships advances through the minefield. "Fire all non-missile weapons. Repeat, turn on auto-tracking and fire all non-missile weapons on any mines you can find." Without hesitation, both ships began unloading their various MA, laser and plasma weaponry, simplying aiming at mines or the space around them. "Longspear, I want two L-FRAG rounds off the prow, in front of the Aegis. Then move in behind us, Shielded formation." After a brief moment two large rounds firing from the Longspear, passing right by the Aegis. They both hit mines far ahead of her, the explosions sending large anti-fighter shrapnel in all directions to detonate more mines. The ship them moved in directly behind the Aegis.

"Alright, we're pushing through. Begin rotation and loosen the magnetic fields of the plasma. We're going to set off everything we can as far as we can so the Longspear can start pummeling that base." Soon enough, the large battleship was spinning, it's massed plasma batteries shooting less solid shots and more akin to walls of searing plasma in an effort to detonate anything closing in. This created a bit of an odd sight, two spirals of rapidly cooling blue plasma. Combined with the azure Aegis' shield system still soaking up explosions in front of them, the reason for the ship's naming was clear. The Longspear's weapons continued firing on anything else left that was moving towards them. A message interrupted Sigmund's concentration.

"... For the love of... deal, deal, we accept your terms to share anything on the Kissaki moon base. If you want a target so much, fire on... this frigate." He sent them data relating to the frigate that had stayed behind when the others left to, he assumed, fight the IWAR and whoever else was over there.

_________________

"I do not wish to fire on your ships captain, as you can probably see i've got enough shooting without having a fight with a previously none hostile corporation..I wouldn't leave your frigate, never know what's lurking waiting for it on its own.."The young captain set up a three way comm's channel, relaying the feeds from the Eon Fleet and the new comer together "Gentlemen, it seems we have come to an agreement, Once you have cleared that nasty minefield i will meet you both near the station.." He then cut the Eon fleet feed, "Here are my terms, since you have been fair and non hostile, You can keep all technology, however i will take scans and have scientists copy and log any anonymous data so that later on we may be able to copy said technology, All mineral contracts and currency will be cut in a sixty five to thirty five ratio, with you have the larger half as a finders fee.. If you have no objections i would like fifty percent of the wrecks in this sector, to be taken and broken up for our newer projects.. i also lay claim to the battleship.. as in fairness she was my kill.."

Both of the IAWR ships began moving under the Cover of the fortress shield, The Celestial sacrificing all her weapons Bar the point defences to keep it stable while on the move, The Raganrok herself carried on at full tilt firing all her weapons into the surrounding ships while keeping the Ion flux arc firmly pointed at the station"Scan the rocket pods.. i want them included into the designs of the Apocalypse" Viveria commanded the computer.

"I am currently moving to your position Capitan, As a sign of good faith i will power down weapons.. when these cruisers have stopped giving me hell.. i hope you will return the favour..And please disable your signal jammer, its playing merry hell with our communications.. i'm having trouble receiving channel fifty eight on my telloscreen.. " he chuckled, "IAWR Captain Hadrox out.."

---Eon 1st Fleet/Still more fighting----



"Hmm, I can agree with those terms Hadrox." Commander Nova said to the screen. He had returned back to his seat even though the battleship was still abuzz with plenty of activity. The Tri-system fired twice more at the Cruisers in the distance, before braking off and turning around.
"Our company never really has been much for research and scanning, we're lucky we have the Demetrios, but then again, when we found out she was better in combat she went over to the army, shows you were our priorities are at, heh heh heh."


"Commander two more confirmed hits on a Kissaki cruisers sir" Her shields are down and one of the rounds ripped a hole straight through her.


"Good, not let's turn this boat around, we're going to provide cover for the NTC ships by firing the TRi-system at the station, it should distract them for a while"


"Aye, sir"

"Commander Viveria, I'll be providing covering fire for our new allies, it's going to take you a little bit to help him, and I'm closer, so I'll provide fire. You can help, but their's no guarantee any help will be left after I'm done."


A communication signal went out to the NTC ship's from the Demetrios (cutting through the jamming) with a little trouble due to the state of the Demetrios.

"Greetings NTC, this is Commander Nova, in charge of the Eon 1st fleet, and our flagship the Excaliburn. Since we are with-in sighting range of the base we will be covering you with our MAC fire. The Ship's main battery will fire upon the frigate getting rid of that head-ache, our Tri-system will fire upon the station. I'll be firing in a straight line, so adjust fleet altitude down past our plane, we don't want to hit you on accident. As we cover you get that crate and get your ass out of there. I don't know how much Hadrox trusts you, but if you even think of running I'll light you up from right here."


For the third time that day the Excaliburn turned herself around. Once in position the Tri-system began firing on the station. Any mines in the way were simply vaporized in the wake of the LRAS lasers and the MAC shell. If the station didn't die, it would be in a very short amount of time, next her forward batteries fired upon the lone Kissaki frigate. Of course, safety being first, the Excaliburn made sure to fire as far away from the NTC ships as possible. Meanwhile the Demetrios was still grounded next to the Mjolner, various sparks lit up her hull as the Mjolner's repair crew made some critical repairs.

_________________

*WHAT I THOUGHT I'D DO WAS PRETEND I WAS ONE OF THOSE DEAF-MUTES*

-NTC, going in-

"Right. Commander out." Making a motion to his Com, the line was cut. He was a man of many words and few. "Move us in over the cover. As soon as we have the cargo, move out." While the Longspear added to the cover and as soon of their guns were jammed, the Aegis made a daring move, moving right beside the station. While it's shield's protected them, it recovered some of the spy probes and it's transports moved the cargo into it's hold. Leaving a wide scorch mark on the stations side, it quickly began moving away. They moved far away from the station, moving at a diagnol that was slightly towards the EON and IWAR fleets, while at the same time away from the planet.

"Open the channel with both fleets... Gentlemen. That station is tougher then it looks. And I would bet all the wreckage here that a new, bigger Kissaki fleet will be here in no time. As such, I wouldn't count on getting much. If you want to stay here, that's your problem. Now, we could have a fair exchange of results from scanning of the Kissaki ships, base, stations and any signals. But make it fast."

They lingered for a bit. If either fleet sent them data, they'd send whatever they had collected. Minus, of course, Shukenja Alpha and the actual contents of the cargo. His computer and science officer made a quick fake of the containers contents, making it look like some prototype drives (Using slightly modified real designs and ones the NTC had tested not long ago but found to be flawed.). Whether or not they did, both ships quickly jumped to home, the Commander of the 3rd Arcis silently patting himself on the back.

_________________

Hadrox opened the Comm's channels, allowing the data transfer to come through he however showed slight annoyance when he saw the transfer of the cargo containers content, he was expecting ammo or some kind of raw resource rather than an experimental ship drive.. thinking to himself he composed a message, its content was sent with a copy of the IWAR charter, underlining the need for personal observation when dealing with field tech.

--Eon 1st/ A huge disappointment--



As Nova saw the NTC fleet jump out, Nova watched.

"Sir we've received the scan information from the NTC ships, relaying them over to the Demetrios for analysis."


"Tell me when they are done, I'd like to see if we got anything interesting."

"They should be don i-" The Aid stopped mid-sentence, a message having come immediately from the Demetrios. A look of confusion crossed the aids face.

"What? Tell me what is it?" Nova demanded.

the aid looked up and shook his head. "Sir, the Demetrios scientists report the scan is. . .is a fake."
A look of disbelief crossed Nova's face, it then quickly turned to anger. they had all been had. Nova yelled out in anger, his fist slamming into the arm's of his chair. NTC would pay for this, Nova could guarantee this much. Amherst would be lucky the next time they'd meet, all of Nova's anger would be concentrated on the stupid little "stealth fleet" NTC.


"Send the data to the IWAR fleet, they deserve to know!" The commander said, slamming his fist into the chair once again. "Roger that sir." the aid answered in a quiet tone. The mission had been a complete failure for Nova, everything had gone wrong. For a second Nova thought they would get soemthing out of this, from someone other then the NHSI's partner company, IWAR. But this, this was the final icing on the cake. Shaking his head in disgust Nova yelled out another order.

"Have the Mjolner collect as much wreckage as possible and then have both her and the Demetrios engage IP drives. We're heading back to base."

"Yes sir."


Before Viveria had even received the message and before Hadrox could send replay to the message Nova had gone into drive and was but a small point of light in the distance leaving the IWAR ship's to mull over this new data.




The message title simply read: "the price for diplomacy"

_________________

*WHAT I THOUGHT I'D DO WAS PRETEND I WAS ONE OF THOSE DEAF-MUTES*

"Opening channel, Nova.." the AI spoke, Hadrox looked up, his already disappointed mood went to being angry "Ok reply.. Nova's, i see your data.. i'm giving them a chance to surrender correct data otherwise command is issuing a blanket kill order.." He tapped his fingers on the edge of his leather seat, "Lets borrow an idea from those bastards.."

The Celestial and the Ragnarok both swung around, bringing their engines to maximum.. both heading for the ruined battleship.. they swung around before passing again, from both ships fired their docking hooks, usually used to pull a ship closer for boarding or to secure a clamp "Battleship secure, Sealing bulkheads.." the two ships in unionson began to fix their docking clamps and began to drag the ship away, steadly releasing more and more power into the engines "Open seals and flush out all the oxygen from the ship.. however keep the bulk heads sealed.. triple lock, with a defence drone posistioned at the doors.." ignoring the Remaining cruisers the Celestial shut down her fortress shield and switched to normal shield generators.. "Switching to fastest possible drive settings.. Half IP maximum.." And with that they launched, The two ships and there stolen wreck blinking away at much over normal combat speed.. "prepair for a long flight.. Have a barge meet us half way and take this pile of crap back for breaking up so we can get home faster.."

(Alcas gets +1 for boarding and rescuing the crew of the Ronin)





-TIMESKIP-

It is two weeks since the incident at Octal. Although no one else outside the firms that participated in the skirmish, tensions have risen to a point that even the ISA have shifted their attention to the mega-corps.

Now a distress signal from a Kissaki Research Station "Shukenja Alpha" have broken the lull and now every corporation near the station is sending their best "rescue" teams to board the station. Located in the outskirts of the asteroid belt, the way in is dangerous, forcing anyone traveling via IP drive to exit just outside the boundaries of the asteroid belt.

_________________
- Join the HUMP LEGION. Leading the Humping and Bumping since time began...*humpa humpa humpa* -

Note to self. Pg541

-NTC, Asteroid Belt-

With the speed and efficiency Novus prided itself on, the 3rd Arcis turned off their IP drives as they entered the vicinity of the distress signal. Having been congratulated for his work at Octal, getting information, a new device and all with barely a scratch, Sigmund was still in high spirits. Silently grinning to himself, he began checking the incoming scans. They asteroids presented a problem for the fleet, but nothing they could not handle. "Alright crew, let's move. We have to get there before any others. We're going to move as close as we can before entering the belt, and then it's up to navigation and targeting to get us through." Both crews began heading forward some, staying just barely beyond most of the chunks of rock. Approaching what both ships Navigation marked as the best point of enter, they stopped and turned towards it.

"And before we go in. Activate the IP Blocker. Let's slow down any who'd interfere." With a press of a holographic buttons, both ships began pouring power into the newly wired devices. After taking the stolen one apart, slightly modified copies had been installed in some of the last bit of spare space that could be found on the ships. Throughly tested of course, they also proved a nice field run for them. Any ships that tried coming in now would be forced to stop beyond the range of the blocker, buying the NTC valuable time. "IP blockers at full power."

"Excellent. Move into the asteroid belt. Have weapons on standby to destroy whatever is impossible to dodge and too big to ignore." As last time, the Aegis traveled first, it's special front shield on and plasma batteries at the ready to clear a path. The Longspear traveled roughly behind it, both having to move around as they made their way through the massive rocks.

_________________

--Eon 1st/ Noah Hex/Base--

Praser sat, drumming his fingers against the captain's chair. It was the start of another mission. Something about investigating, what else, a Kissaki mishap. Nova wondered why HQ was so damn interested in that company. But it was not his place to question his superiors.

the 1st fleet sat a few good clicks away from the NHSI's primary moon base. Nova would of normally gone into IP towards his objective, but he had allies to contend with.

"All fleets, meet on my position."

"Sir, we have a message from HQ. They say the 2nd fleet has come in from a mission and is going to be assigned to our current mission along with the IWAR fleet."

"Hmm? Bwa ha ha ha, it's gonna be great to see Alex again. Patch me through when they get off base."
"Roger that sir"

"Speaking of patching, send my greetings over to Hadrox, and tell him we'll be having extra reinforcements, namely the 2nd fleet. I'll introduce the two when I get the chance, I see were kinda up early, I guess everyone else is still in base."
"Aye sir"

"Till then, let's start a status check," Nova continued, a triumphant smile on is face.
"Mjolner, how are we?"
"We're all set over here sir, all ships and weapons are accounted for."
"Demetrios? You?"
"We're good here sir, all green."
"Right, right. I want everyone to engage their IP drives, as soon as everyone gets situated were heading off to the asteroid belt. Demetrios when you get there, the Mjolner will send out her relay drones. Have the drones rest near or on the floating rocks. We can spread out the search range from there. Seiter will pay for what he did, I'll make sure of that, so keep your eyes out everyone. If we see a rabbit, we'll have to sniff him out of his little hole." A small cheer came up from all three ships, Nova was known for his inspirational speeches, he was a moral booster after all.

_________________

*WHAT I THOUGHT I'D DO WAS PRETEND I WAS ONE OF THOSE DEAF-MUTES*

-[Eon 2nd/Base]-

Alex lounged in his command chair as his fleet slipped up beside Praser's. His belt was hanging from the back of the chair and he had one leg on the arm rest and was holding a matte metal cup. He was excited to work with Praser again, the guy was always good for some laughs and a good time.

"Open a commlink with Praser"

"Right away Lexy"

Alex sighed and tilted his head back to see behind him. It was the new comm's officer, pretty little thing. Alex had welcomed her into the crew appropriately. They were alone in his office just off the bridge. Alex couldn't personally fly these big ships anyhow.

"You're lucky we're alone in here, you cheeky monkey. Just do it"

He popped a small device into his ear so that he could hear and talk hands free. Alex's smooth voice came to life on the deck of the Excaliburn

"Praser baby! How you doin? Ready to go on an easter egg hunt?"

_________________

The Amherst fleet was in the midst of IP travel moving towards it's destination.

"All ships remember discipline, we expect combat as soon as we enter the system. Remember we will have an allied fleet presence from a different corporation in this battle, it will add a new dimension to the fight. All hands let's do this right. All of you are coming home, understand? We have the advantage this time and there is no way we are going to let it slip."

The bridge crew all looked up at Lancet, they had already begun to revere him. He knew that they would trust him with anything and he didn't want to let them down.

"Let's just hope those codes are still active and they are advanced enough for what I need them to do." Lancet had a very nasty surprise for the other corporations.

Hadrox brought his ships into position "RIght.. main deflectors are online, Celestial your on rock clearing duty.." The Shield systems of the Ragnarok had been modified slightly, they had a new setting which put all the emitters forewards to bopunce away solid objects. Without a blink of an eye the cpatian put his fleet into full IP, Appearing close to the Eon Fleet.

---Eon 1st/Noah Hex---to--> Asteroid belt---



Praser clapped his hands together. "Great, everyone's here!" He said out-loud.
"It's nice to see you too Alex my man! Bwa ha ha ha!" Nova said in response to the, what Praser considered, the much wilder version of himself. He patched Hadrox through to his open Com, allowing the two to hear each other.

"Hey Alex, you missed the last mission, boy was it something else. With the help of this guy over here, I managed to kill an entire Kissaki Fleet. Eight destroyers, one battleship, a carrier, and four cruisers. Yeah, speaking of which, you remember that company that established themselves on that little floating can out above Hex? They got done making these weird battleships. Let me introduce you two. Commander Hadrox Viveria, this is Commander Alexei Onesimov. He's in charge of the Ragnarok and the Celestial. They both got some weird technology."



"I guess I'll tell you two gentlemen the plan before we head off. All three of us will enter the asteroid belt normally. But, Alex, I'll launch some relay drones for both the Coyote, and the Demetrios. You see Alex, Commander Viveria made a mistake in his judgment of another company. We wasted good power and fuel to save this rival-ship. We (as in Commander Viveria) had made a deal with the ship to receive a scan of whatever it they found. Needless to say they gave us a fake, and before I could return the favor they went into drive. These ships specialize in stealth technology, they could never hold under our direct fire. Which is what we're going to do exactly. With the help of the relay drone, the Demetrios and the Coyote's search range will increase tenth fold. I'll focus on the mission with the help of Hadrox's fleet. Hadrox this your your turn. While both Alex and I are busy killing that fool Seiter, your mission (besides whatever mission your company assigned to you) will be to protect the Mjolner as she boards the space-station. I want you to go straight in, disregard any ships. Stay just enough to allow for the Mjolner to deposit an ample amount of her assault crew. When she's done, get out of there, no doubt you'll have taken a large amount of hits. If Alex and I aren't done by that time, we'll brake off from the chase and come in for help." Praser stopped for a second, gesturing with his hand to one of his aids that he wanted some water. All this talking had made him thirsty.


"But that's the basic summary of the plan. I'll let you to talk, or you can follow, but I'm heading to the mission. Nova, out." With that the engines on all three of nova's ship's flared out. Their IP drives had been engaged already, it had just been a matter of giving them the green light. Already Nova's ships were naught but a pin-prick of light in the distance.

A short while later Nova's fleet came out of IP. "Heh, we're finally he-hey, wait where's the asteroid belt? Shouldn't it be here?"


"Sir, uhh, it seems as if we came out of IP a few hundred kilometers away. Demetrios reports that some weird signal is being emitted by something in the asteroid belt."


"Hmm? Well just go forth with engines then. It shouldn't take us to long. Have the Mjolner ready the relay drones. Remember: have the drones rest on the rocks, we don't want the drones killed."

"Roger that sir" With that the ships continued on into the darkness, towards the asteroids.

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*WHAT I THOUGHT I'D DO WAS PRETEND I WAS ONE OF THOSE DEAF-MUTES*

"Well it's always nice to have more help" Hardox said over the Comms, turning to his leather chair and sitting down, "Im guessing you can both see that IP blocker.. i think it would be a good idea to triangulate the singal and find out its point of origin.. then go rip apart what ever is there and get that tech.. could be useful.."

He looked over the plan again, which his computer had neatly turned into a diagram "The plan looks good.. i need to get to the distress signal however, I'm transmitting the location, i picked up the data last mission" Over an Encripted channel he broadcast the files to the Eon fleet commanders.

-Asteroid Belt, Near the Kissaki Base-

The Kissaki Research Station was built from a large asteroid chunk. What seemed to be a large, irregular shaped rock now bristled with structures and buildings in both outside and inside. A large, cruiser sized hangar could been seen on the underside. The station itself was guarded by several well placed sentry guns. Each of the sentry guns had firepower to kill a cruiser and badly damage a battleship with shields. They seem to be offline. Also several large ship-like objects seem to be floating near the station. A closer look could identify them.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>

-Outside the asteroid belt-\

The IP blocker did its job, now ships from every firm who responded to the distress call were coming out prematurely. A single ISA cruiser dropped out of IP near the EON/IWAR fleets while the two OSEC destroyers quite a distance away. The SpaceTech destroyer also dropped out of IP drive near the OSEC ships and was promptly fired upon.

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- Join the HUMP LEGION. Leading the Humping and Bumping since time began...*humpa humpa humpa* -

Note to self. Pg541

-NTC does a barrel roll, Asteroid Belt-

"Hm. Looks like a lot of things are offline here. Should make approach easier. Still, best to be careful." Sigmund said to himself, just low enough the crew wouldn't hear him. "Alright. Aegis, set course around there, we're investigating those ship-like objects, and prepare a boarding crew. Bring the combat droids online. Longspear, deploy some fighters are fly around those turrets and the station. Make sure everything really is offline. If anything starts targetting use, maneuver away behind asteroids." Both ships moved forward, fast as ships that size could move without risking dangerous asteroid hits. The Aegis moved closer to the base, shields at full strength as it went towards the base and the unknown objects. The Longspear deftly rolled past a large chunk as it flew on just a slightly different course, hanging back more as it's fighters flew out and made runs past each of the turrets and the base, scanning.

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-[Eon 2nd Fleet --> Asteroid Belt]-

"Sounds like a solid plan, Praser."

Alex replied, rising fluidly from his chair he turned off the earpiece, exiting his office trailing the pretty wisp of a thing behind him.

"Alright, punch the IP drive , exit a couple clicks to the right of the 1st Fleet."

"Roger, sir"

Said a greying tekkie.

The Wolf and Co. appeared five kilometers to the right of the 1st Fleet.

"This doesn't look like a space station…"

Just then the Captain of the Coyote made contact, Alex pressed the earpiece.

"Sir, seems there's something in or beyond the belt sending out a signal, seems to be blocking the IP Drive."

Hmm, interesting

Alex switched lines, he connected to the Excaliburn. He wasn't really worried, so what they had to go a bit farther, the EON ships were pretty quick, he was sure that the Demtrios and Coyote could flush this thing out.

Hey, Praser, are you picking up this signal? Shall I send the Coyote in to flush them out?

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-Asteroid Belt. Near the NTC fleet...-

While the sentry guns were offline, the station still had lights on. Two large landing pads with airlocks next to them were just large enough for a small freighter or large shuttle-craft to dock. Everything else seemed dark.

For the NTC fighters, it did not take long to identify the large artificial structures floating near the base. The ruined hulk of the Kissaki cruiser "Nyuudou" floated past the Aegis, lights off and gaping holes in her superstructure, some which where still glowing red hot from whatever weapon melted through her hull. several more wrecks of cruisers, both frigates and even a battleship were found, drifting, dead, and totaled. Whatever killed these ships must had one hell of a fleet or just got lucky. The battleship was split in two, destroyed by a large explosive weapon then its dis-joined sections ruthlessly pummeled by whoever thought the job was unfinished. Hull fragments drifted pass the NTC ships and fighters, blacked and pockmarked.

One of the wrecked frigates was giving off a very faint and weak SOS signal.

_________________
- Join the HUMP LEGION. Leading the Humping and Bumping since time began...*humpa humpa humpa* -

Note to self. Pg541