Annihilation Across the Stars

[Arsenio Tagge]

Arsenio had lost track of how long he'd been in the bathroom.

He had gone there of his own accord, excusing himself from the negotiations with a polite word and a nod. The Senate Guard had insisted on accompanying him. Standard protocol for a Chancellor-candidate, especially during wartime. He hadn't liked that part, but he had learned long ago that rank came with its own kind of captivity. They had smiled, performed the ritual bows, and then there had been a long corridor and a door that closed behind him with a firm thud.

The lavatory itself was pristine, more observation suite than restroom. The walls shimmered faintly with sterilized polish, the basin gleamed like a mirror of liquid silver, and through a narrow viewport he could see Atrisia's sun caught in the arm of its orbital haze. Beyond the closed door, the hum of the AVS Tython carried on: muted voices, distant footsteps, the steady rhythm of a capital ship at alert. The Senate Guard stood just outside, silent and immovable.

He called out once, careful to keep his tone neutral. "Sergeant. Is everything all right?"

The voice that came back was steady, too formal forcomfort. "All secure, Senator Tagge. Please remain inside until we confirm the corridors are clear."

That phrasing made his skin tighten. "Confirm?" he repeated, but the Guard did not elaborate.

He exhaled slowly and studied his reflection. For a man who'd spent a lifetime studying history, he hated stillness. The Tython was supposed to be hallowed ground, host to delicate negotiations that might help alleviate the pressure on the Alliance as it stared down the Empire. Yet somewhere in his gut he felt the wrongness. The Senate Guard's silence, the way the ship's usual pulse seemed to have skipped. He had lived through enough coups and bombardments to know the texture of anticipation.

A faint tremor rippled through the deck plating. Somewhere far away, a bulkhead slammed shut. He glanced toward the door, expecting the Guard to react, but they didn't. That was worse. Trained calm meant orders; orders meant something was already happening.

He tried again. "Sergeant. You'll tell me if there's danger?"

"Yes, Senator Tagge," the man replied, too quickly. "Please remain where you are."

There was another shudder through the deck. The lights dimmed for half a heartbeat. Someone barked a command in the corridor; it was muffled, indistinct. Once again, the guards did not move.

Tagge folded his hands behind his back and turned away from the door. He hated that he was locked here, hated that history might once again be written without his witness, but he also understood the necessity. They would protect him until there was nothing left to protect.

He looked once more at his reflection and made a decision. "We shall wait," he murmured, "for now."

Koda Fett | Nero Drake | Velis Arden | V1-L8 | Tohu | IG-44 | Razmir Tezhyn | Diarch Reign | Tiber Septimus | Ayra Lowe | Marek Bancroft | Gavin Vel | Ryu Jung | Spirit of Defiance​

 

[Marlon Sularen]

W R A T H_O F_G O D
Objective II : Across the Stars

IMPERIAL CONFEDERATION
ATRISIA, CORE WORLDS

Spoiler: Task Force Zsinj

TASK FORCE ZSINJ
Fleet Composition : INV Sularen’s Revenge[043|097] INV Dominator [000|063] INV Requiem [062|099] INV Relentless Dawn [026|100] INV Sovereign [022|100] INV Crimson Spear [052|100] INV Reclaimer [059|100] INV Tyrant’s Fist [100|097] INV Nightfall [100|096] INV Imperius [100|100] INV Vindicator [100|100] INV Eternal Wrath [100|100] INV Ravager [100|100] INV Iron Sun [100|100] INV Storm [100|100] INV Iron Fury [100|100] INV Silent Oath [100|100] INV Malevolence [100|096] INV Harbinger [100|091] INV Cataclysm [100|100] INV Shadowblade [100|092]
Starfighter Compliment TIE Vultures TIE/dv Devastators TIE/DA Defenders TIE/Stu Stürmers TIE/ja Jägers TIE/sb Strike Bombers

"The Aggressors are under heavy fire from the Mandalorian Fleet!"
"The Dominator's report a total loss of shielding and significant hull damage"
"The ISD-IXs are reporting major interference on their sensors and targeting systems!"
"We're reporting enemy boarding parties trying to sabotage our long-range batteries and sensors!"

Chaos. That was how Sularen would describe the ongoing battle in a single word. While Admiral Zonill and Governor Visconti delivered an early victory by chasing away one of the Galactic Imperial battlegroups, the arrival of enemy reinforcements and their concentrated pincer attack had essentially undone the Confederation's momentum balancing the scales once more and evening the odds for the Galactic Empire. Sularen himself had taken a great risk of reorganizing his fleet's positions to best tackle his current situation which had left his own forces vulnerable to sustained heavy fire from the enemy who unleashed heavy barrages of turbolaser and missiles upon the warships of the Supreme Commander's Task Force.

As explosions rang out across the battlefield, shaking the bridge of the INV Sularen's Revenge in the process, the Supreme Commander maintained his calm demeanor even as the comms were flooded with ongoing developments across the battlefield. They were entering the climax of the battle, the pivotal moment that would determine the outcome of the battle. At this point even the smallest mistake would cost the other side heavily and deliver a victory to their opponent, a victory that could reshape the future of galactic politics.

While his opponents would view this as merely a stepping stone towards the Galactic Empire's ultimate ascension, for Sularen and his subordinates this was a proving ground, an opportunity to undo the defeat at Brosi and assert the Imperial Confederation's status as a strong galactic powercpable of rivaling the Galactic Empire itself. Defeat was unacceptable as such an outcome would only lead the Confederation towards further decay and stagnation at a time where it needed strength and progress at all costs.

Then in the midst of his thoughts the words the Supreme Commander had been waiting for would soon come out of the senior communications officer. "Supreme Commander, sir. We just got a report from all ships. They are now in position and are ready to engage." he the Supreme Commander declared as he cracked his fingers. "Good. It's about time we finally showed these Imperial cosplayers the true might of a proper Imperial Navy." he added with a small smirk. With his ships now in formation once more, they would be able to hit back and the Supreme Commander intended to make sure that they would hit harder then they could ever imagine.

"Deploy the Requiem's remaining starfighter compliments and direct them against the Corvettes launched by the Mandalorians with the same strategy as the last group of fighter wings. TIE Vultures draw out the fire, TIE Devastators move in for the kill." the Supreme Commander began. "ISD-IXs and Aggressors, tighten your defensive perimeter and focus your fire on four of their Battlecruisers. As for the remaining three leave that to Governor Visconti and Admiral Squesha" he finished.

Sularen did have to admit though, this Mandalorian Fleet was somewhat impressive. It was the embodiment of his personal battlecarrier doctrine with the exception of the very fact that they had sacrificed starfighter capacity for corvettes. Replacing Starfighters for Corvettes was an interesting decision, but it wouldn't be enough to save them from the swarm of TIEs sent their way, especially given that they were the perfect counter against the defensive measures put up by those Corvettes.

Setting the Mandalorians aside, now there was the issue of the Unrepentant's Task Force that lay in front of the remaining nine warships that had grouped up around Sularen's Flagship. They had attempted some sort of hyperspace maneuver that had basically thrown off his forces targeting systems buying them time to launch another concentrated attack against the INV Dominator while simultaneously launching Zero-G Stormtroopers against his fleet although only two of them, the INV Dominator and the INV Cataclysm detected successful landfalls while the rest of the nine warships successfully shot down most of them dealing with the survivors the moment they landed on the hulls of their warships even at the cost of minor hull damage.

"Begin advance against the Unrepentant and it's escorts." the Supreme Commander ordered. "Battlecarriers target the Unrepentant, Heavy Carriers and Suppression Cruisers, target their remaining two Despots and their Intercessors." he further added. Fortunately for Sularen his Carriers were capable of throwing punches at the enemy and taking punches in turn ensuring that his foe wouldn't have an easy time dealing with then. He was certain that his opponents Despots and Intercessors could be dispatched in short order before they could even take out the Dominator and from there all he would have to do was simply mop up the remaining ships and sweep around to deal with those Mandalorians.

As for those Zero-G Stormtroopers, waves of Glory-III Dark Troopers would soon arrive to meet them equally as powerful and durable as each individual Zero-G Stormtrooper that had successfully made landfall on the hulls of Sularen's Warships. With each Warship capable of fielding thousands if not tens of thousands of Dark Troopers, it would only be a matter of time before the Unrepentant's Zero-G Stormtroopers would be dealt with in time before they could do too much damage to Sularen's Fleet.

Thus would begin the endgame for the Battle above Atrisia as the events that would transpire throughout the next few minutes could be the very key towards preventing or ensuring the destruction of Atrisia.

Spoiler: TL;DR

• The INV Requiem deploys their remaining starfighter compliment to attack Kote's Corvettes.
  • The TIE Vultures as instructed began swarming around the Corvettes drawing fire from their point-defense systems and engaging the drone sentries
  • The TIE Devastators begin exploiting gaps in the Corvettes defenses to launch concentrated attacks against individual Corvettes with their Heavy Hybrid Beam Cannons
• The Four Aggressor-Class Star Destroyers and Eight Imperial-XI Star Destroyers tighten their defensive formation and return fire against Kote's Fleet
• The Aggressors concentrate their two Psuedosonic Continuous Heavy Beam Cannons and fire their four Long-Range Advanced Ionized Plasma Beam Canons at their designated targets :
  • INV Relentless Dawn -> Gra'tua
  • INV Sovereign -> Verdyc
  • INV Crimson Spear -> Ara'novor
  • INV Reclaimer -> Burenaar Ga'yaim
• The Imperial-Elevens fire their Proton Beam Cannons, Reductor Concussion Cannons, Megamaser Batteries, Turbolaser Batteries and FAE/WH-04-S7 Concussion Missiles at their designated targets :
  • INV Imperius + INV Vindicator -> Gra'tua
  • INV Eternal Wrath + INV Ravager -> Verdyc
  • INV Iron Sun + INV Storm -> Ara'novor
  • INV Iron Fury + INV Silent Oath -> Burenaar Ga'yaim
• The INV Sularen's Revenge supported by the pairs of Heavy Battlecarriers, Heavy Carriers and the four Suppression Cruisers advance against the Unrepentant and it's escorts in a wedged V formation
  
  • The INV Sularen's Revenge, INV Dominator and INV Requiem concentrate fire on the Unrepentant with their heaviest weapons and missiles
  • The INV Tyrant's Fist and INV Nightfall concentrate fire on one of the remainin Despot-Class Star Destroyers each [Korvan & Imperia]
  • The Four Suppression Cruisers [INV Malevolence, INV Harbinger, INV Cataclysm & INV Shadowblade] concentrate fire on the two Intercessor Cruisers [Painkiller & Tigator]
• Thousands of Glory-III Dark Troopers are deployed to combat the Zero-G Spacetroopers in an attempt to stop their sabotage attempts.

Tags [TIC/GA] | Karl Von Strauss | Amalia Visconti | Mira Rhory | Ronhar Tane | Squesha | ADM. Reshmar | Solan Charr
Tags [GE] | Nyles Kote | Domaric Mordane | Odria Kaelthron | Zethran Cott | Aldo Garrick | Remus Adair ​

 

[Squesha]

Objective 2: Across the Stars
​

Squesha grimaced as the two massive battlecruisers focused all their fire on her cruisers, and the corvettes coming under fire in turn from almost equally giant ships.

"All hands, disable their weapons! Attack pattern Epsilon!"

Like the jaws of a great beast, Squeshas small fleet closed on the capital ships Tracyn'buurenaar, Buurenaar b' Surhaai, Gra'tua and Verdyc in two parts, with half the ships coming from above, another half below and her flagship in the middle. The fighters swarmed to point blank range, getting under their shields and strafing their weapons mounts. The corvettes followed, drawing fire away from the capital ship. Under the sheer firepower they couldnt stand up for long, and squesha watched as the first two corvettes exploded.

The cruisers, damaged heavily, moved in danger close as well. Having rigged their limited ai to keep launching missiles, they set them on autopilot to crash into the Gra'tua. Espcape pods filled the space behind them as the crews evacuated. Squesha knew that her missle cruisers were full of ammunition. One well placed hit...

A massive explosion flared into space, followed by a second equally massive explosion as the two cruisers missile storages were detonated at danger close distances to the capital ship. Shockwaves crashed into the vessel, as did fast and hot pieces of shrapnel and other missiles, exploding at random. The perfect distraction.

Zonils fleet formed up, coming in above the enemy ships, staring down like a pack of vultures.

"All fighters, move to the ventral sides of the enemy."

Her fighters complied, flying beneath the ships, leaving their dorsal sides exposed. With the enemies guns either disabled or preoccupied in shooting cruisers and corvettes her star destroyers had the perfect opportunity.

"Fire at will."

The heavy weapons bombarded the enemies capital ships, with particular focus being aimed at the bridge and shield generators. Her battlecruiser joined them, blasting at the bows of their ships, making sure they would receive no reprieve.

Spoiler: Fleet composition

1 Imperator Class Battlecruiser
2 Tyrant IV Cruisers
2 Celox class frigates
2 Celox class frigates
Zonils fleet

Spoiler: TLDR

Frigates and cruisers attack the capital ships of Nyles Kote
Two frigates are destroyed
Two missile cruisers detonate against the Gra'tua at close distance
Fighters attack weapons placements
Reinforcements form up into position (zonils fleet)
fighters go under enemy ships
ships bombard the top of enemy ships, namely bridge and shields
imperator attacks front of enemy ships.

Marlon Sularen Ronhar Tane Karl Von Strauss Nyles Kote Solan Charr ADM. Reshmar Domaric Mordane Zethran Cott Odria Kaelthron Aldo Garrick Remus Adair

 

[Amalia Visconti | Mira Rhory]

Location: Aboard the Gluttoneria
Objective: Across the Stars, no time to fail

Spoiler: Armada Gluttoneria

Armada Gluttoneria
Fleet Composition : AG-INV Gluttoneria [85+|85] AG-INV Avaritia [100|100] AG-INV Superbia [90+|100] AG-INV Luxuria [70+|95] AG-INV Invidia [100|100] AG-INV Acedia [100|100] AG-INV Ira [100|100]
Starfighter Compliment [61 starfighter squadrons| 15 support squadrons] NZ TIE/stu Stürmer 6 squadrons [64|72] Avaritia TIE Vulture 9 squadrons [104|180] Invidia, Acedia, Ira, 16 squadrons [304|320] Luxuria, Superbia TIE/ss Supremacy 30 Squadrons [464|480] Gluttoneria TIE/dv Devastator 12 Squadrons [44|48] Gluttoneria NZ TIE/sb Strike Bomber 3 squadrons [16|36] Invidia, Acedia, Ira + 2 squadrons [22|24] Avaritia, 4 squadrons [42|48] Luxuria, Superbia

Even though things shouldn't be, there was silence and quiet aboard the Gluttoneria, as the assembled fleet under command of the Governor of Corvus and the current CEO of the N&Z Umbrella Corporation was on its way to reinforce the fleet under command of the Supreme Commander of The Imperial Confederacy Marlon Sularen . Where the battle had been before, it had been made clear that admiral Squesha had taken over command of the remaining vessels of admiral Zonill, hastily redirecting their forces to intercept the announced fleet facing the Supreme Commander.

Amalia had however decided that fast and hasty moves for action would not benefit the TIC in the slightest. She had been proven right at least once by now, as Admiral Zonill's Ackbar Slash maneuver had costed their fleet many losses and had nearly taken away the tactical advantage. Not that the admiral was to blame, but boldness did not always equate with victory, just as how being too careful could also cost one the victory. The Governor tried to ride the middle line of that, the streak between ruthless pressuring and considerate caution. While she had still made some mistakes, her gambles had proven to be based on a better judgment and a better understanding of her opponent's tactical capabilities and understanding.

"Governor Visconti, we can't seem to reach the Supreme Commander's fleets through our usual communication lines," The Gluttoneria's communications officer noted, breaking the silence they'd been travelling through for the past few minutes. "I believe there is some interference on the comms."

"Pull up the data we've managed to gather so far," The Governor turned towards the holographic screen, which showed several ships with detailed information on their manufacturers, their armament and affiliations. While the information wasn't complete at all, that which they had managed to compile was enough to at the very least paint a picture for Amalia to formulate a strategy on. "Strill Securities... if we are certain of this, I believe it was smart of us not to rush headlong into this new engagement."

"Governor, the engineers from dock seven have given us a timetable," one of the other officers on the bridge motioned towards the holoscreen, where the timetable the engineers had agreed upon would be displayed.

"Alright, it looks like they'll need at least five more minutes to seal the breach of Coolant tanks one and two for Apollyon B," tapping with her nails onto the edge of the holoscreen's control panel, the Governor showed a bit of impatience, a bit of indecision, yet her eyes seemed to stare blankly to some point in front of her, a focus and determination seldomnly seen is such a strange mix. "Cover all communications on shortwave networks, use encrypment code 4/536A, and patch me through with EC officer Wanton,"

"Lieutenant Wanton speaking?" The image of the Lieutenant popped up from a smaller holoscreen disk attached to the control panel. "Governor...how may I be of service?"

"You have five minutes, no second more," Amalia exclaimed, clearly not having any discussion beyond the order she was giving. "If we even have one apollyon... we have at least half a trump card back in our hand."

Slowly the assembled fleet advanced, with the Avaritia taking point, the Superbia and Luxuria taking the flanks, while the Ira, Acedia and Invidia formed an additional arrowhead above the three star destroyers, the Gluttoneria in the meantime remained at a bit of a distance, as it was slowly refreshing its shields, assessing the damage and doing repairwork where necessary in the shortest amount of time possible.

"We'll be in deployment and firing range within five to ten minutes, all hands stand ready and confirm when ready."

"Captain Lagos, Avaritia...standing ready."

"Captain Velorax, Luxuria...standing ready."

"Captain Fremon, Superbia...standing ready."

"Commodore Valren, Ira...standing ready."

"Commander Alortes, Invidia...standing ready."

"Commander Varsis, Acedia...standing ready."

"Very well, maintain formation," Swiping aside the extra information and the additional details on the Strill Securities' fleet, Amalia concentrated on the overall state of the battle which she could see with both the holographic display and her own eyes now. "Activate the cloaking layers, keep the Gluttoneria hidden again...even if reports may have mentioned our presence, keep the opponent's second guessing this information, buy ourselves as much time to patch up whatever we can."

"Commense operation water wheel when we arrive in range."

From all shortwave lines, the answer was short and simple: "Understood!"

Spoiler: TL'DR

• Fleet regroups itself
• AG-INV Ira, Acedia and Invidia maintain forward arrowhead formation-top layer
• AG-INV Avaritia takes point
• AG-INV Luxuria and Superbia cover the flanks of the AG-INV Avaritia
• The Gluttoneria attempts to use the travelling distance and the time to succeed in reaching the Strill Securities' fleet's left flank to mend and patch some of its issues and replace expended munition.

TAGS ALLY: Karl Von Strauss | Ronhar Tane | Marlon Sularen | Solan Charr | ADM. Reshmar
TAGS ENEMY: Shuklaar Kyrdol | Domaric Mordane | Zethran Cott | Odria Kaelthron | Aldo Garrick | Remus Adair | Squesha