Week 5 - Welcome to the BattleCity of Hephaestom

Ragman, appearing as a well dressed Earther, steped into the view of the announcer booth's many cameras.

"Welcome viewers! Welcome to the first bout here in the new BattleCity of Hephaestom. I would like to welcome you to today's program. My name is John Doe, representative of the controlling parties here on Hephaestom.
Today's bout will be between the forces of Grand Admiral Layne Yrs of the Karasanthian Frederation and those of Mor'aye'ahn of Fort Lendill.”

In orbit above the planet the TRILAT Planet Despoiler opened its Bay Doors revealing a landing craft. Once launched, it looked like a tiny castle and came screaming through the skies of Hephaestom. It landed on the far side of the BattleCity. Its trajectory so precise that it was obvious to planetary defenses of its final destination, and despite some Leyas tied to it, had no weapons except those carried by its inhabitants.
As it landed it launched fireworks. They were beautiful and drew the attention of all.
Unity Eyespies, Kasanthian Nightmare Recording Devices and standard FTL transmitters were mounted on the castle. The tiny transmitting station began to play!
A crew of Kasanthians stepped out with their little horde of armed Nightmares. At their lead were a pair of huge Plague Vampyrs whose blood had been replaced by nanites and the pulsing silver liquid could bee seen moving under their skin. They were the dreaded Nanoplague Juggernauts fresh from the TRILAT labs. Even their massively muscled forms were dwarfed by the Champion of Admiral Yr. This Champion was eight feet tall nuclear powered mutated Da’uhnb. Out in the crowd, Goots Macbride nearly choked on his popcorn as he recognized this mutated Da’uhnb as none other than Brave Ulysses of the Scorpio Constellation. The missing Da’uhnb hero was now covered in power armor, had a huge reactor and Zero point drive strapped to his back and appeared to be venting fallout. The TRILAT name all over the armor didn’t help.

On the far side of the BattleCity, stood Mor’aye’ahn’s SUARM heroes. There were two Menacing Hive Stingers, hefting heavy sniper rifles. The two Catskinner Pilots had already transformed into their starfighter form and were flying above their own lines.
There was short command mekanoid, a S.U.A.R.M. commander, followed by three of his own SUARM Squad. There was even the K’iou, Francis, a sythleather-clad Fort Lendill Techno fetishist who was tightening the bolts on one of the Hive Stinger’s chassis in an unseemly way. Even this queer sweet little fellow seemed normal compared to the truly twisted silver jester who stood in as their champion.
The Entire crowd hushed when they saw the wanted criminal and known space pirate, Jak’hal of the line of J’kutu. This K’ias Time Shredder stood and stared like a predator about to stalk his prey. In his hands was a living handgun, a gun carved by Jak’hal from his own flesh.
During this hush, Ragman continued with gusto.
“We would like to thank the Iron Republic Board of Directors for allowing us to bring you what should be an amazing fight. We are streaming this fight Live on IRE's pay-per-view system so that we can bring all the action to you live and direct. Remember that there are over 700 live video feeds, so find the angle and view that you like.

The rules are simple.

Both teams are made up of 7 members. Some of these teammates have drones or attack beasts, just so you aren't confused by the numbers.

Teams will enter the zone on opposite sides of the city and proceed to fight. Neither side is allowed to use any weapon that will spread beyond the borders of the zone. Battle will continue till one side is no longer able to fight or the time limit of 24 hours is called. The bout will be judged by our elite panel.

The Judges that have been signed in for this fight are arriving now. Our exceptional panel of judges are:

First: from the Iron Republic: Sector General Palomedes and according to the list i have here also Sector General Deer. We are lucky to have two such fine example of the might and majesty of the Iron Republic take time out of their busy schedules to help with adjudicating this bout.”

Bootes task force 5 will arrive in system with the Mothership Fist of Caligula, flanked by starfighters. They quickly formed a blockade for the safety of all the Judges of the tourney.

Palomedes looked at the defenses sure it could stop anything short of an Armada.
Now he was ready to take up his position as a judge. Yet as he was about to leave he saw an even larger force serving his comrade in arms, and erstwhile neighbor, Sector General Deer of the Polar Expanse.

Deer arrived, leading a pair of IR Motherships and his starfighters finished cordoning off all the planet of Hephaestom. Considering an attack on this planet during this battle could single handedly start warfare between the IR and all of its treaty holders, such a display of power was not shocking.

Especially when facing the dangerous looking Trilat Planet Despoiler which was floating only a continent away, the IR Sector Generals were understandably cautious. Everyone did expect treachery from Admiral Yr and her Kasanthian vehicle of planetary devastation.
Back on the planet, at BattleCity, Ragman raised the mic to announce the second set of judges.
“Second: from the Earth Expeditionary Force: EEF General Adam Giffords has been chosen from the pool of officers sent to observe.” Ragman paused as if listening to a voice in his head and said, “This just in: Captain Mitchel Jeffers and PFC. Leroy Jenkins have been submitted to judge as well by the choice of Mor'aye'ahn.”
Though Ragman was beginning to feel concerned, none of the EEF soldiers sent had reported back since they disappeared into the beer tent near the rear of the BattleCity.
Still he trudged onward, knowing this day could be the first step towards Hephaestom’s new future of prosperity.
“Third: From the forces of Beacon City on the planet Refuge: I was told that General Garim Fe will be making a brief appearance.”
Brief was a relative word, and not one he had used if he had known General Garmin had arrived over ten minutes ago.

Making its way into our own dimension, an Arcturus warship had appeared next to the planet despoiler of Grand Admiral Yr. It was the Beacon City capital ship, the "Flight of Beacon". It began to directly tap into the visual feeds and eye spy networks near the battle zone. Additional eye spies in the form of white and blue shards also began to appear near the battle site. Perhaps they were created using technomancy cast through the hacked eye spies?
Back on the surface of Hephaestom, Ragman was relieved when he heard the report the blue crystals had been traced back to the people of Beacon City. If it had been one of Layne Yr’s traps he would have been far more concerned. Garmin Fe wasn’t the type to kill innocents, and the stands were full of them. Most were from Hephaestom, but a few tourists had shown up as well.

Ragman cleared his throat for the last time that day, “And Lastly but not in the least: we have a member of the celery from the Cult of the Horned Dog, taking some time out of their charity work to stop by and participate. I don't have thier right now but as soon as i get it, I will be passing it on to you.”
Ragman was passed a paper and he did a double take, and said, “Ok we have the name of that venerable Cult of the Horned Dog, Bubba Jones. Yes voting for the Horned Dogs will be Bubba Jones.

And now here is Samantha Rodrigez, to give you a quick virtual tour of the playing field and a brief overview of the contestants. Over to you, Samantha."

Twenty Four hours later the entire crowd went wild. Not for some amazing final attack, but the buzzer that ended what had become a violent stalemate.
Many would later say it was the most intense battle, for entertainment, they had ever seen.
It truly was a groundbreaking event. In fact, Brave Ulysses teleported above a Catskinner and used him to break the sidewalk as deep as the Sewers opening it for attack by the Kasanthian Juggernauts. Their Nanoplague quickly destroyed one of the Hive Stingers, and Francis barely saved its memory cylinder before the Nanoplague consumed the body.
It was only Francis’ EMP crop that that kept him alive. In fact Francis and the S.U.A.R.M. Commander were the only two of Mor’aye’ahn’s heroes to survive the full 24 hours. Jak’hal had taken the Brave Ulysses out of the fight after seeing the Wormhole Weapon shatter the street.
Jak’hal sent three simulacra of himself towards Brave Ulysses as he lifted his Time Shredder, a box with spikes and buttons in its side. Watching the feed, Unity Prime and Layne Yr would have recognized it as the same one used by the Krato General Tharr before his death during the Border Wars.
There were two flashed of Red light. First one as Jak’hal disappeared, then another as he teleported in next to the Da’uhnb war machine. Brave Ulysses turned as Jak’hal grabbed his armor. There was another two flashes of red light and Brave Ulysses and Jak’hal were standing outside the BattleCity. Brave Ulysses raised his arm cannons about to bathe Jak’hal in nuclear fire. Jak’hal motioned to the judges and Brave Ulysses dropped his head in defeat. Of course this attack had also taken Jak’hal out of the fight.

The remaining Cat Skinner had taken out a rooftop full of Nightmares and their Kasanthian using its missile before it was taken out by Kasanthian Acid Spitter rifles. Their organic rifles had glands filled with caustic acids, which it could spray with quite some range with a distinctive alien spitting sound.
The remaining Hive Stinger had gone out as a true champion, and possible mvp of the battle. He took a suicide vested Nightmare’s exploding hug without stopping, as he raised his sniper rifle. The face of the devotee leading those Kasanthians was turned into a smear. The Kasanthian on the next roof over was about to command his own Nightmares to target the Hive Stinger.
The Hive Stinger’s next shot stopped that command in the Kasanthian’s throat. The Hive Stinger tried to shadow walk away, but there were Kasanthians waiting for him. He tried shadow walking again to escape.
Then the Nanoplague Juggernauts hit him from both sides and there was nothing left. Even his memory core had been eaten away by microscopic robots.
Francis emitted a high pitched scream, “Oh my g..g…g.”
The tiny synthleather-clad K’iou charged the pair of Nanoplague Juggernauts, picking up a bandolier of EMP grenades dropped by dead Nightmares and pulled the pin killing both juggernauts. The Techno Fetishist lifted a healing canteen he had gotten as a gift from a sweet Dreadmek named “Doombot 5000”. He poured the healing fluid over the cursed flesh of the plague vampyrs granting them both final death and avenging his dead robotic friend…with benefits.
Francis was then dragged away from the battle and behind cover as RPGs rained down on their last position. The SUARM Commander and Francis led the Kasanthians on a merry little chase, but were never able to take the high ground. They used a demopack on one building, but it only opened the way for the Kasanthian and his Nightmare slaves to shadow walk to another building with a better vantage point.
The RPGs continued to rain down, smashing the SUARM serving the S.U.A.R.M. Commander. Francis quickly popped their memory cores in the moments between attacks.
Francis and the SUARM Commander fired back with Fort Lendill G-Class Lasers.
The chase had begun again, and as day grew to night and back again, many had wondered who would win.
When the battle finally ended, the cameras found Francis trying to rebuild the S.U.A.R.M. Commander using the Fort Lendill Power Converter to recharge the damaged Commander’s body.
On the opposite side of the city, the Kasanthian was hiding from the sun under canvas while his collared Nightmares fired their Acid Spitters trying to bring a hotel building down on Francis’ head. Unluckily Layne Yr had not sent Leyas Generators with her Devotees on this mission. So there was no energy to charge their Shadow Collars. One after another the Nightmares began to burn away under the sunlight.
BEEP was what many homes heard even on PPV entertainment, when the last Kasanthian Devotee realized he had lost his main offense. Still wrapped in canvas he stalked forward, lifting an Acid Spitter, checked the side of the gland, it was full.
He raised his rifle and sighted in to finish off the building. It would still take so many damn shots, he thought.
Then the buzzer had sounded.
.
A shaky Ragman stepped up to the mic, not quite believing it had gone a full 24 hours.
“Well that was quite some match. Im stumped, lets leave it up to our celebrity judges!
Samantha take it away.”

The beautiful Samantha began with the Horned Dog Cultist, “So Bubba Jones, what did you think about that fight?”

Bubba Jones said, “I feel that Mor'aye'ahn approach is better because it is more subtle then the sheer brute force of Admiral LayneYr. Brute force although impressive in a battle against a tactful technician like Mor'aye'ahn brute force will lose every time. The simpler the plan the more likely it will succeed then the more elaborate of plans.”
Samantha was then taken by hoverbike driven by a white suited bald man, to where the Iron Republic Sector Generals were sitting.
She walked over expecting to interview the elder Palomedes first, but Sector General Deer got right up in her face, in a really creepy way and motioned for her mic. He raised it to his lips and said,
"I feel the S.U.A.R.M. hid too much. They might have used their numbers and better weapons. If that wormhole weapon hadn't chosen to restrain himself the SUARM would have never defeated them. They needed to be more aggressive. If they were serving under me I would have flunked them." Deer said to the person interviewing. "Hiding in a sewer really? Are they tunnel rats? No they are Giant robots, how did they not get caught down there?? Bad planning on the part of the SUARMY. I would have gotten lots of smaller SUARM, armed them with area effect weapons and unloaded on the Kasanthian positions. Drop the buildings. As my good friend Palomedes would say 'BAD fORM OLD CHAPS'"

“Excuse me Sir, I hope you are not speaking for me, Deer. You’d be a fool to do so,” said Palomedes angrily.

Behind them, that platinum blond wanna-be starlet, Jenna Steel of IEN yelled, “So how are you going to respond to that attack by the Uloh Hive on Druzi Prime that was revealed tonight?”

“That is a military matter,” said Deer without emotion.

“Wasn’t this attack using trained Manslayers on a civilian defense force at a time of quarantine a gross example of the EEF breaking the Treaty of 2219?” asked Ms. Steel.

“No comment,” growled Deer, knowing the cameras were upon him. Deer’s Brethren Enforcers gently moved the reporter away from the booth.

Realizing she had to get the show on track, Samantha grabbed the mic and said, “So Sector General Palomedes, what did you think about this battle Today at BattleCity?”

She handed the mic to Palomedes who said, “Looking at both impressive sides I am reminded of the battle of Hares Loft, when I was only a lieutenant, where the Space Pirates of Hares Loft had taken the city of Oamdrepapatom. It was a brutal street fight too and when it ended both sides looked worse for wear…”

Samantha sighed, “Sir could we focus on Today’s match?”

Palomedes looked at her with a strange smile and said, “Today I enjoyed watching the fire support of Yrs Nightmares, and the nearly comical deaths of their suicide bombers. Im impressed that Hive Stinger survived a hug from a suicidal bomb vested Nightmare with rabbit ears.
I never thought i would get to see a Kasanthian Juggernaut or a Wormhole Weapon in combat and those monsters are very scary.
Mor'aye'ahn and Layne Yr both commanded with wisdom and their forces were well trained.
They both deserve to win for following the rules, acting honorably, and delivering an entertaining match.
Since I cannot vote for both I abstain. They really did both have such well thought out plans."

“Lame” snickered Deer.

“There is nothing lame about abstaining,” snapped Palomedes. He looked back to Samantha but she had already left, to search for the EEF Judges who were still nowhere to be found.

In the skies above Hephastom, the bay doors of the Arcturus opened and a pod descended to the surface. Revealed for the first time since the battle of Draco Epsilon 7, Garmin Fe gave a personal appearance in order to render his judgement.

His pod landed next to Samantha, who smiled uncomfortably.
“General Garmin Fe, what did you think of todays’ match?”

"I don't know where to begin. I find it odd at all that the Admiral agreed to not break the rules of the engagement. I had honestly expected the tortured Da'uhnb to detonate and eliminate the planet and nearby systems. She must be having an off week, " replied Garmin Fe.

Samantha needed to fill time so she passed the mic to Garmin Fe, and she said, “General Fe can you explain which side you felt one this apparent stalemate and feel free to take your time?

Garmin Fe smiled kindly and said, "My judgement is that the Admiral made the most impressive display of power, while the SUARM made the best display of tactics, intelligence, and versatility. Spite these advantages, power won. The precision sniping and underground warfare utilized by the SUARM early on is a perfect example of what I am talking about. It was proving to be highly effective at first as each nightmare was eliminated and their equipment collected. But then the flying, teleporting, weapon of mass destruction grabbed a Catskinners and used it as a tool to cave in the entire sewers. A tactic of using the environment against the opposition only works when the environment itself is safe from attack. It made the difference as they are still looking for the remains of one of the HiveStingers. I think the resummoned Nightmares even got most of that equipment back, just showing what brute force tactics can accomplish."

Garmin Fe turned and Samantha had returned looking sweaty and confused, “Thank you General,” she said, as Garmin Fe returned to his pod and flew upwards.

“And now we are sad to report we have no clue where the EEF judges have disappeared to,” said Samantha, “So the winner is….!”

Winner- Kasanthians win based on player votes (Garmin Fe + Sector General Deer vs. Bubba Jones)

Rewards

As winner of this honorable combat, Admiral Layne Yr gets a major Moral boost +50% max.


Mor’aye’ahn Gains [italics] the Blood of the K’ias [/italics]
Mor’aye’ahn Gains a new veteran Hero, Francis the K’iou Techno Fetishist


All Judges who voted Gain the Honorific Gavel (Honorific Gavels can be sold to collectors on the black market for 100,000 ghaz, or can be used for promotional events as hired reps for various Independent Corporations, to be negotiated with ICs of choice)

Ragman gains BattleCity is a Go!!
Ragman gains his first year’s pay for battlecity upfront from IRE PPV as long as he keeps shows going paid 2.4 Million Ghaz, loses 200,000 ghaz on each episode that is cancelled due to lack of combatants. First episode done (11 remain)

Lt. Ryuk gains 10% of all bets = 300,000 ghaz on this single episode of BattleCity

Lions of Earth ganks some Factory Gear +15% Industry to Infernus.

Blackheart gains the Evil Doublecrosser Bonus - 5 Million Ghaz from an Unknown Source with bad bad strings attached.
To be clear NEITHER SIDE purchased Blackheart's help