Week 10 - The Starfighters above Ryn Lac

With all the excitement going down on the surface, no one was surprised when an Energy Bridge opened and starfighters began spilling out. It was surprising when they got close enough to be scanned as Quall Interceptors. They were followed by a single Conflagrator Super Capital Ship so like a giant head. And at its side were four Quall Heavy Frigates which were like the hands.
And a school of one million Quall Interceptors floated around the giant form of the Quall vengeance coming down on the planet.

The ship announced,

"We are the Horde of HiveQueen Ardana. This planet is now claimed as her domain. Bow and scrape and maybe we will allow you to be implanted as hosts."

The Capital Ships had obviously once been part of Ar'yays fleet, but were salvaged and rebuilt by the double crossing Queen Ardana.
Now these ships were poised to conquer the Moon of Ryn Lac

Ardanna Hive Queen would learn, as those who came before her, that the Unity does not so easily give up land that has been claimed. The Prophets were in the ground of Ryn Lac, and had been untouched. As their programming directed, they had turned the moon into a wasteland, a fortress...a Unity Extension.

As the fleet approached, there was no supplication in response to the Queen's arrogant hails. Massive black obelisks on an otherwise stark black landscape hummed with power, and from them erupted beams of raw energy towards the offending fleet. Praetorians and Triarius prepared formations, and many manned Lariet defensive cannons which covered the landscape. Massive spider like metal legs erupted from the extension's surface and tore upward towards the unsuspecting ships. These were the first to strike, crushing some of the Quall Interceptors and wrestling with two of the hands of lower two Quall Destroyers while the Conflagrator used its chilling eyes beams to stop the moving metal legs in their tracks by freezing sections of them until they cracked under repeated strikes from the upper two Quall Destroyers.

Garmin Fe's surge platforms were still active on the planet, covering it in a layer of killing cold, prepared to fire at their commander's whim...

Other TRILAT Bases were signalled instantly about the incursion.
Captain Axis saw this a a great time to deploy one of his newest creations, the Shi Buringia Capital Ship. The ship was deployed during the attack on Sentinel Station 3, however, it did not see any action.
The ship moved into space around Ryn Lac emitting a fog like substance that would creat nightmares that would attack the enemies ships. The fog would be so thick and so vast, that the enemies' ships would only see the fog coming at them. Large robotic arms extended from the Shi Buringa capital Ship and began to grab onto ships that got too close, ripping them apart and using there remaines as projectiles and ammo for its shrapnel Cannons.

A few Quall Interceptors fell into this trap, but as Quall N'drone piloted them they were immune to fear and did not make Nightmares. Their other Trilat allies were not so lucky. Suddenly the fields of the battle down on Ryn Lac were flooded with wild Nightmares seeking to kill the closest living things. The Praetorians and Triarius on the ground found themselves being attacked on all sides by Nightmares both small and large. Then the guns of the capital ship fired and the ground was pelted by large cannon balls and then by drop pods. The large cannon balls transformed into skull-faced pseudo-cybernetic shadow driven automatons. They formed a perimeter hacking down into the Nightmare Horde that attempted to overcome the allied defenders. The drop pods opened up and Annihilators leapt into the fray. The grey-scaled aliens began buzzing, making sure their songs never joined, as they ripped entire packs of Nightmares apart.

The Quall Interceptors got within range of the Shi Buringa and fifty of the Intercepters launched their grappleguns onto the side of SB Capital Ship. They began pounding away at the sides of the vessels superheating its surface.
Some sections of its outer hull shed away, letting more Quall Interceptors to swarm inside. In the halls of the capital Ships they faced 12 foot tall shadow-leyas driven automatons who cut them down with wickedly sharp two handed Nodatchi swords. Many of the Automatons were smashed to pieces by Quall pilots, incinerated or decapitated but they kept coming, being manufactured deep inside the vessel.
The Capital Ship was little more than a mobile Nightmare and Automaton creating monster factory.

The skills of Captain Axis certainly drew the attention of the Conflagrator who began striking it with salvos from its dual domebuster which struck deep into a hull already weakened by Quall Interceptors.
Finally by the third dual Domebuster strike the Shi Buringa exploded. While it was impressive against a fleet of smaller ships, the SB Capital Ship needed more starfighter support and was quickly exploited by the Quall Intercepters sheer numbers.

Another stream of blasts from the black monoliths killed more Quall Interceptors but their numbers were still concerning high, and many wondered at the fate of the battle.

Part 1 of ?

Inquisitor Mak'ael West of the 4th Infernus Quall Slayer Paladins of the Church of One had only been offworld a few months and his time serving on the planet Infernus had been eye opening about the real enemies they truly faced in the universe and the difference it was with the faith as he had been taught it in Dunesphere on the planet Refuge.

In his plate mail covered in the skin of defeated Quall Enemies, he stood next to the Lions of Earth Lieutenant that had delivered the orders.

In the middle of the battle their armada of lightly armed freighters shadow jumped into orbit. Their plan was so insane that it had to have been born of blind faith. The ships would charge the Quall capital ships. They would lock onto the sides of the ship and cut their way on board.

Thousands of church of one zealots led by inquisitors in dead quall armor would storm the ships.

Aboard Inquisitor West's starfreighter they had the toughest job. These paladins would seek to capture Hive Queen Ardana or her champion. Logically their target was whomever led this corrupt Quall fleet and took this battle directly into the heart of the enemy formation.

While the other starfreighters docked with Quall Destroyers, their starfreighter had landed just behind the ear. It was supposedly two walls away from the Bridge of the Ship.

The starfreighter docked, its doors opened and their compliment of Paladins and Inquisitors leapt out in a religious fever upon the nearest Quall, a Medic in the captain's private physician's office. They cut him apart and ripped him limb from limb as he tried to simply figure out which band of murdering psychopaths they served.

The Church of One Paladins made their way out on the bridge thinking the Quall N'drone crew would be at all intimidated by their weapons or uniforms. The Captain of the Ship was a Quall that could have been a Hivelord if he should have wanted it, but respected the old ways of loyalty duty and family that was the root of the Hivemind.

The Quall Captain drew four flaming swords and motioned for the Inquisitor and his Paladins to come forward. Inquisitor West knew better than to get into a fist fight with a Quall and drew a chemical grenade and hurled it towards the Captain, and it froze the mighty Quall like an icy statue.
The Inquisitor looked at the Bridge's display and saw an unknown fleet flying towards their position.
The Quall crew had already begun tearing his paladins apart limb by limb.

The Queen Ardana was not here, thought West, Damn these Hiveminds! Does that mean she escaped from the ship down to the planet already?

Then he looked up and saw a ship fly right past the display dropping a strange warhead. The NBomb struck the bridge close enough that it actually pierced the hull and went off inside the bridge and hit much of the rest of the ship. For Inquisitor West, there was a flash of light and then nothing.


Part 2 of ?

Earlier: the Leadup to the bombing

"Dear Hivequeen Ardana, events are taking place on the surface that have everything to do with the Warmonger and his cult. Your conquest of this planet is either a great opportunity to strike a blow against the Warmonger, or an unfortunately timed lust for conquest. Join with us or get out of our way for the moment. I've been told that the Hive are dutifully charged with keeping the Warmonger at bay. Fulfill your charge. Bring honor to the species of Quall and earn the respect of diverse races of this universe. I leave the decision in your hands."

Requested Garmin Fe on a secure channel, he knew if the other Quall Queens learned of her negotiating with him they might consider it a treason.

Of course she cursed at him, demanding his own head if she was to even consider allowing his forces to leave the planet after she conquered it.

Garmin Fe digested the menacing words of the great Hivequeen Ardana. Perhaps he was not the best person to negotiate with a Hivequeen and her words were spoken out of spite and distrust. Perhaps she knew something he did not that would serve the universe better. Or perhaps she was a crazy Quall N'Drone bitch that needed to die. Regardless, she was in the way.

From his position on Draco Epsilon 7, he gave the command for his ships to open fire with weapons free. Garmin tried to avoid further conflict with the Quall, but deep down it sometimes feels like they want to die by his hands.

The forces of Garmin Fe, 9 Armiger Light Capital Ships launched to take on the still mobile Quall Destroyers. Their compliment of 100 Jotun Starfighters bristling with organic Kasanthian Acid Spitter glands which quickly cut through the Quall Interceptors and their pilots.

Six apostles appeared around the Extension, and from them came a cloud of Epistles satellites. Behind them there were 6 Dreadnaughts and 500 Saggitae Starfighters. As the Quall ships closed, beams of light erupted from the Apostles and consumed countless fighters, missiles, and drop pods in an instant.

Soon therafter, all ships in the theatre could feel raw dread. The sound of 6 dissonant drills could be heard on all ships, and 6 massive portals opened in space, surrounding the Quall fleet. Six Extensions ripped their way through space to surround the Quall fleet. From these massive planet-stations were launched enormous black nets made of Zela alloy. They would wrap around Quall capital ships, hopelessly entangling them and trapping the Quall inside. They would be unable to gate out, or use their powers.

What came next would be a sickening slaughter.

Heavily armored and masked Unity kill-squads armed with super-cooled swords, grenades, and traditional weaponry, would swarm the Quall ships through Rip Gates. They would kill Quall in huge numbers, using their causality manipulators to quickly get to targets. They would preserve genetic material, and bring it back to the extensions. New races would be uncovered. The most important target was the Queen, however, she was not there and they were moments from breaching the wall of the Bridge when the NBomb struck.

The Bomb Itself.

They were 33 Machetes a tiny force compared to the huge Quall Fleet. Lt. Palomedes had purchased the small "pirate" fleet for missions like this one.

The LT knew that Ardana Hive Queens attack on Ryn Lac was not IR Authorized. He knew that the Quall Queens would raise hell if an official IR force attacked them. But a small Pirate Force? Not much of a trail there. The Quall could go in circles trying to figure out who attacked them.

32 of the Machetes were flying on his wing, and LT Palomedes was leading the charge. He had practiced this maneuver all week. They would avoid the grasping hands of the four Quall Destroyers , and the weapons of the Starfighters. They would form up on Palomedes wing and do a strafing run of the Super Conflagurator. His Machete had its missiles replaced with a single torpedo. This torpedo had one of Deers NBombs instead of a plasma warhead. He only had one shot on the bridge of the Quall super heavy, but he would give his life to make sure this shell hit that bridge.

He grabs the flight stick, turns towards the super heavy and whispers into his radio, "Tell my dad I love him very much."

The last thing he hears through the static is Sector General Palomedes voice saying, "He knows."

The Machete was a slow ship and it couldn't get out of range before the warhead exploded the vessel was fine and the auto pilot took over when their pilot died in his seat. The ships tried to circle back, trying to rondesvous with the hidden I.R. fleet nearby, but there was a sudden boom in the sky above Ryn Lac.
The boom of a Wormhole Weapon.

As the event horizon of the temporal wormhole spread outward swallowing the ships in orbit around Ryn Lac, the battle did not end.

On the other side they were floating in the center of the heart of the FoF Network on the other dimension. The attacking fleets and the planet of Rynn Lac was now in another dimension, in another timeline, beyond their homes. The Machete Autopilots did not know what to do and just settled to the ground on the surface of Ryn Lac broadcasting united IR Unity peace transmissions and they were allowed to land on an unused airfield far from Unity forces just in case of betrayal.
But there was no betrayal the autopilots of the Machetes simply parked waiting for their dead pilots to wake up.

Above them the Super capital ship of Ardana Hivequeen was full of Warmonger's Dead which were unaffected by the Nbomb unlike the Inquisitors Paladins and their Quall enemies. They turned the ship towards the planet to use the Domebusters to wreak havok and raise the deathtoll even higher.

The Conflagrator Super Capital Ship repositioned itself for the counterattack aligning its vast array of weaponry for the devastating blow to the allied fleet, but then streaking out from space a massive Zela spike struck the Conflagrator. Etched on the side of the spike it read, "Courtesy of General Garmin Fe".

The Conflagrator finally crashed down towards the surface of Ryn Lac. As it passed through the atmosphere the Unity Obelisks' energy beams and Jotun's acid spitters cut the Conflagrator to pieces.

Then the Obelisks suddenly stopped firing, as the Neliff HiveKing was able to reach out, further into the Unity Network.

The hulk of the Conflagrator exploded on the far side of the extension leaving a deep crater.

The Unity network was now only up to the events inside the still glowing co-localized dome of energy and space time time on the Surface of Ryn Lac now in another timeline, and the planet circling Draco Epsilon
in our timeline.

This was a twisting dimension of spacetime, and on it neaby was parked the ships of Lt. Palomedes. The FoF Warframes landed next to his ships and began cutting them apart. They took out the crew from their starship coffins and quickly began inserting FoF augmentations, preparing for them to rise as part of the FoF Connected.

Then the half-way through the procedure, the Warframes were struck by the power of the HiveKing and they stopped moving and its power spread out in this alternate Timeline overcoming the defenses of the FoF here.

The Apostles were engaged in battle against countless Warframes now controlled by the HiveKing.
It seemed impossible even for their connected crew, and only their connection kept them going, working in concert so the Apostles could fight back culling the corrupted Warframes in droves.

Back on our timeline, chaos spread from Ryn Lac.

continued in And Quiet was brought to the Fleet of Fate