The Infinite War Rages

[Executive Minister]

[b]Eridanus Cluster, Theta Eridani System, IV Anbus High Orbit[/b]


IV Anbus was a gem of a world in the Theta Eridani system. A garden world by all accounts, it was one of the few life bearing worlds in this part of the Eridanus cluster - capable of housing humanity with little change or precaution necessary. It was a cosmic blessing, and it bore countless bounties upon its population - a budding Sheolite world. Many satellite settlements dotted the lush landscape, feeding the thriving Eri metropolis as well as providing much needed provisions for both the Dominion installations planetside as well as the numerous freighters and warships that loomed in orbit.

It was a gem jealously guarded by the Sheolite Dominion, a status that would soon be its undoing.

Like a school of curious fish, several golden objects were detected, silently skirting the edges of IV Anbus' gravity well. Dominion picket defenses were scrambled as the golden monoliths began a slow, but sure approach towards the green and blue marble at the heart of the prickling Dominion vessels. Planet-wide alarms were set in the face of the oncoming Illuminate tide, but would serve little purpose other than rouse the sleepy population into utter terror - the Aeon warships had superior numbers in orbit, and would easily cut off any means of organized escape.

The golden vessels would do nothing but herald the end of IV Anbus, as this particular armada had done to countless other Sheolite worlds. But this did not mean that IV Anbus would be given without a fight.

Abaddon class dreadnoughts, their immense, beautiful hulls adorned with contradictory depictions of joyous Seraphim-Kadeshi contact events as well as crushing victories against Sheolite warships in prior battles, hurtled at paces that appeared deceptively slow, flanked by several Apocalypse class battleships. Breaking off from the steady pace of the larger vessels, scores of smaller cruisers and frigates accelerated at breakneck speeds towards the planet's surface - hounds, eager for prey.


[b]Eridanus Cluster, Theta Eridani System, IV Anbus Low Orbit

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"All vessels, assume a tight formation and prepare to intercept. Yggdrasil do not move, remain behind this ship."

Admiral Vranesic's voice showed no fear, no reservations even as he sat aboard the bridge of the SDV de Ruyter alongside the mustered strength of the Sheolite Dominion's 8th Fleet. The small, hopelessly outmanned and outgunned IV Anbus garrison showed no intent to flee or retreat. Admiral Vranesic's hastily drawn battle plan had the 8th fleet hovering precariously over IV Anbus' atmosphere, the planet, cities and peoples they desperately wished to protect glowing beneath and behind them.

"Valkyrie 1 and Valkyrie 2, deploy countermeasures at once. Activate kinetic attenuation fields, prepare anti-beam depth charges," the Lieutenant aboard ordered over the comm. systems. The Sheolite fleet had little time to prepare their defenses or co-ordinate with the small number of ground batteries on the planet's surface, for every second that passed meant that the golden harbingers of death would be that much closer.

Puffs of particulate matter erupted throughout the host of gun metal grey and mottled, almost rusty colored warships, shooting capsules and unmarked canisters into lingering positions amongst the ships.

"Supply ships, withdraw immediately to the Yggdrasil. All ships, close exterior bay doors and prepare for depressurization."

At once, several vessels amongst the fleet began a strange metamorphosis - armored panels opened to reveal prickling pinpoints of weapons systems. Extraneous infrastructure was retracted into protective berths and immense heat radiators were folded and retracted. Particulate matter amongst the Sheolite warships increased as the vessels simultaneously began venting onboard atmospheres into space, their crews long ago adorning themselves with bulky protective suits designed for exoatmospheric survival.

"We have incoming enemy warships, prepare to engage!"

Already, several of the smaller Aeon vessels had come close enough to pick up on visual scanners. Personnel within Intelligence Operations onboard the de Ruyten quickly brought up several of the golden vessels on several screens, hastily running analysis routines and checking for any upgrades or new features to report to Dominion Fleet intelligence.

"We've got several dozen Type 36, Type 37 frigates, as well as Type 24 cruisers, Sirs," a junior officer reported on deaf ears, "There are several Type 32s and Type 47s several hundred kilometers above us at mark green, indigo fourteen."

Admiral Vranesic gave an appraising nod to the officer, frowning at the knobby shaped objects streaking towards them, taking care to glare at the numerous weapons systems that protruded from their otherwise sleek hulls. Grunting as he shifted position on the bridge chair, the Admiral spoke up into the mic again,

"Their main target will be the Yggdrasil, we must screen the vessel so that it can escape with the rest of the refugees. We'll be coordinating as best we can with IV Anbus command back down on the surface, take all necessary precautions and make sure you do not get hit by fire from the planet's surface."

Several of the golden warships abruptly broke positions, turning upwards and away at jarringly fast speeds, leaving resonance torpedoes in their wake. The ships themselves would continue to dart in and out of the 8th Fleet's line of fire, using their transversal velocities to keep themselves safe, all the while the Aeon's larger guns would be bringing the pain from afar.

Weaving in and out of the lancing arcs of rail gun fire the Dominion vessels fired, the Aeon frigates and cruisers parlayed with one another. Several ships from both sides broke up in orbit, while several more flew past, their weapons firing in silence amongst the void. Accusing fingers of light erupted from the larger Aeon warships in high orbit, smashing themselves against Sheolite kinetic attenuators effortlessly and spawning flame and detritus from the warped hulls they created.

An Illuminate Punisher-class Frigate danced to the side avoiding streaks of hypersonic projectiles from one Sheolite Corvette, only to spiral again to avoid another Corvette's fire as it hurtled past. With its beam laser loci already focused on its rear, it opened up, incinerating the trailing vessel before it could turn about and bring its weapons to bear. An Executioner-class frigate tried haplessly to evade similar circumstances, but was hunted down like a fox being mauled to death by hounds, its flaming hull crashing into the attenuators of a nearby Sheolite destroyer that paid them no heed.

With all of its beam loci being focused to the front, a Omen-class Cruiser fired a devastating beam barrage infront of it, annihilating a score of Sheolite picket vessels and scattering a half dozen more. In the distance, large, pink explosions of anti-beam particulate were detonated between Sheolite capital ships and the Aeon lances of Gigajoule-class lasers.Things were looking bad for the 8th fleet, and it had been less than 10 minutes since the attack began.

Admiral Vranesic grimaced at the sight of several Sheolite and Illuminate warships as they continued to dance amongst the Dominion heavy shipping. Already several wrecks were sent hurtling into space, permanent, ever moving tombstones. More still began perilous descents towards the planet below, with IV Anbus' gravity bidding them to rain death and destruction on the surface below.

The tide was slowly and inevitably turning against the 8th Fleet. Vranesic could only watch as the ratio of railgun fire and iridescent beams of death slowly turned towards the Aeon's favor amidst the pitched fight amongst the smaller vessels. Already several Aeon frigates had taken to slipping beneath the buckling protective layer the Sheolite Frigate and Corvette forces provided, taking potshots at the larger vessels with impunity. Already several of the Sheolite Destroyers began turning against the golden insects, with many a rail gun shell impacting harmlessly against friendly kinetic attenuators.

"Sir, we've got movement from the Aeon warships in High Orbit! Looks like drop carriages!"

"Lieutenant Tarkov!" the Admiral shouted, "I want those carriages destroyed immediately! I will not allow them to drop forces on IV Anbus as long as the 8th Fleet is stil-"

A deafening crash created by the onboard aural simulators aboard the de Ruyten caused him to pause as a Sheolite Battlecruiser burst in a mix of charred cinder and metallic vapours behind them. Infront of them, they could only watch as a Destroyer imploded under the dizzying hail of light lasers that perforated its bridge and engineering sections. A cruiser fought desperately to stay in formation as it veered dangerously close to the de Ruyten, two gaping maws punched through its starboard flank.

"The Doria's been hit, the Leopold is not responding. The Don Jose is gone and the Yggdrasil is under heavy fire!" Lieutenant Tarkov listed the casualties with fear in his voice as the 8th Fleet began reeling from its losses.

"How can that be?!" Vranesic shouted, "We've lost four capital ships only 10 minutes into the battle!"

"Sirs," the Junior officer interrupted again, "The enemy Type 32 and 47 are approaching. We're detecting target designators on the Doria and Leopold!"


[b]Eridanus Cluster, Theta Eridani System, IV Anbus High Orbit
[/b]
High Priest Odoma watched as the two wounded Sheolite warships evaporated under the fire of the Indomitable's heavy guns. Pressing the Aeon warships closer to the faltering enemy fleet below, the Priest had decided to expedite the invasion of IV Anbus by simultaneously destroying the Sheolite fleet in orbit while commencing orbital bombardment and troop deployment in a single fell swoop.

"Well done! Focus fire on the enemy super freighter!" he exclaimed, gazing intently at the large, hulking vision of the Yggdrasil shrouded by the remnants of the Sheolite 8th Fleet. The 42nd Crusade's High Command had given accurate intelligence indeed - the Aeon attack force had caught the Dominion off guard. The forces under Odoma's command were in the prime position to wipe out much of the Dominion's operational capacity in the sector with the destruction of the Yggdrasil.

"My Lord," Fleet Admiral Janelle Cirrus spoke with the authority her high ranking in the crusade provided. She was not intimidated by the representative of the Empress herself, thinking Odoma a brute, not deserving of beloved Sara Burke's trust or guidance, "Might it be more beneficial to the crusade if we captured the vessel? The hulking craft is unarmed, and houses tens of thousands of recruits for the Imperial Ecclesiarchy.

"You are too soft for a Fleet Admiral," Odoma said off-handedly, "If you show the enemy respite, it will only convince him to come to you later on with new weapons at hand and new recruits at his back. We must destroy the Sheolites where they stand admiral."

"Yes my Lord," Cirrus nodded, frowning as she watched her brothers and sisters thrust themselves upon the wretched Sheolite fleet.

[img]http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww106/mofailla/CNSR/fallofyggdrasil.jpg[/img]

Edited August 5, 2012 by Executive Minister

[Executive Minister]

[b]IV Anbus, Eri Metropolis, Outskirts[/b]


Colonel Coontz frowned at the skies above the darkened city. While the 8th Fleet fought for survival in low orbit, the 12th Armored Company readied itself for its own battles soon to come.

When the alert sirens began their hour long blare over the planet, Sheolite colonists and civilians immediately began the long drilled trek towards the city's centralized bombardment shelters. Those located in the much more remote satellite towns feeding Eri simply made do with their own districts' provisions against marauding Xeno threats, while many still took to fleeing towards the relative safety the duracrete maze that Eri provided them. For the citizens who dared leave their dwellings, it was only a matter of reaching the city safely and in one piece. It was the infantry's job to hold the line long enough for the civilians to do so.

Coontz took that sentiment quite personally as he glared at the flaming objects that streaked towards the surface of IV Anbus. The Colonel, as well as the men and women around him could only hope that the Yggdrasil would make it out safely, and that the thousands aboard the 8th Fleet would not have died in vain. The lengthy damage reports that trickled down to brass on the planet's surface were a mixed blessing - they knew the 8th was fortunately still in the fight, but that it was unfortunately paying a heavier and heavier price as the hours wore on.

The planetary defense forces of IV Anbus could only guess at the actual extent of the fighting at this point given that the planetary governor had swiftly ordered a planet-wide communications black out as soon as the golden vessels appeared on long range scanners. It was an attempt at preventing large scale orbital bombardment from pinpointing strongholds and troop concentrations, as well as population centers the twisted Illuminate forces would 'cleanse' in an instant. The only confirmed fact was that multiple drop carriages were spotted being deployed amidst the fighting towards the surface.

The aliens would be touching down, and it was the 12th Armored's duty to give them a warm welcome.

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[b]IV Anbus, Fort Erebus, Office of Battle Assessment and Strategic Defense[/b]


The near destruction of the 8th Fleet as well as the impending doom of the Yggdrasil would be a severe blow to planetary morale, both for the Sheolite citizenry still clinging to hope as well the the innumerable armed forces present on the surface. It played no small part in ordering the communications blackout. A major concern, however, were the several dozen gigajoules of destructive laser energy being brought to bear on the hardened Fort Erebus complex and surrounding country side on a regular basis. While the 8th Fleet's ploy in orbit to act as a (slight) anti-beam screen helped allay a bit of the damage being sent down to the surface, things were getting hot and quickly. The troubling reports of inbound drop carriages did nothing to help either. The Fort's anti-laser screens could only hold out for so long, and provided no protection from enemy troops and vehicles that could simply pass through the protective 'bubbles' unscathed.

"I want our AA complexes online before the first Xeno hits atmo! Turn them into flying coffins before they hit the ground. Once they've landed, arm any mines we've got nearby and send in the cavalry. The xeno-!@#$%^&* will be finished before they even get in sight of Eri!"

"Drop carriages detected," one of the junior officers announced, interrupting General Morrison's bravado-laced orders with an unsettling truth - on the main screen, hundreds of golden objects hurtled towards the surface of IV Anbus, with many extending attitude control surfaces to begin a proper descent, "Majority of their composition matches that of the Type 1 exoatmospheric landing craft, with a number of Type 7s located near the center of the clusters."

"Look at them all!" squawked Lieutenant Wilby as he scanned images from the outlying sensor data. The low-ranking officer stood with other soldiers at banks of instrument panels within the domed administrative building.

"Open up a dialogue with Gunnery, I want those orbital defense weapons firing yesterday!" Morrison bleated over the din of battle chatter. Around him, automated systems hummed with activity. Listening to the raid sirens drone incessantly, the chatter of orders as they filtered down the ranks and the reports they elicited, he drew a slow breath, prioritizing tasks. "We can stop them," he said to himself quietly. "We [i]will[/i] stop them."

Morrison nodded to himself, performing a quick mental note of tasks needed to do in a much-drilled procedure. The Sheolite Dominion always lived under the avarice and sheer profanity of the Aeon Illuminate, and the Anbussian Militia trained regularly for every scenario, as did Dominion detatchments of every Sheolite world. "Activate Hammerdown Protocol for the planet. I want the city's outer rings depopulated of civilians immediately - the damned Xenos will be gunning for the space port at the center. We'll kill them all in our streets if we have to."

Once the enemy faced the brunt of the defenses the Sheolites would bring to bear, had suffered the immense casualties urban combat on a Dominion world would inflcit, they'd calculate their losses to be too heavy and retreat. The Aeon didn't like to take unnecessary risks.

He stared at the projections coming in. But they [i]are[/i] fanatics. And there are so [i]many[/i] of them.

Fort Erebus, along with several other Sheolite installations on the surface of the planet surrounding Eri was a nerve cluster of the Dominion's military might planetside. With many major operations being run from the base, along with the considerable men and material present, it would be a prime target for an attack. Erebus' close proximity to Eri itself meant that it was considerably well staffed while most of the forces garrisoned there had still not mobilized. Its importance was not lost on the Illuminate invasion forces in the slightest. While clusters of surface to air batteries and anti-laser screens had their usages, they had fatal short comings.

General Morrison would be the midst of another daring tirade against the evils of xenophilia even as a trio of chapel-sized carriages diverted their courses to hover precariously over Erebus. The massive, golden objects easily shrugged off the missile and railgun strikes hastily employed against them. Several smaller carriages accompanied the flying tombstones as they crashed into Erebus and several other bases. The hot, metallic scream of agonized atmosphere sounded for miles as the pyramid-shaped, golden monoliths and their escorts fell like bullets from space. The tungsten rain of drop carriages big and small crashed one after another into the ground. With thunderclaps, they smashed into the Administrative building and other structures, leveling city blocks worth of Sheolite infrastructure with explosive kinetic energy.

The impacts proved fatal to Dominion personnel present within the Forts serving Eri. But advanced shock mitigation systems protected the deadly cargoes within the carriages. Soon, Illuminate warmechs and hover tanks spread like a cancer from the still smoking craters. Heavily armed warriors and battle priestesses would flit through the advancing Aeon armor, killing anything still breathing on the surface.

Edited August 19, 2012 by Executive Minister