Week 7 Space Battle- The Arc of Midas and the Estrain

There are many approaches to Estrain Space by Shadow Jump, the most dangerous is the direct route which passes by a phenomena known as the Arc of Midas, a belt of millions of asteroids known for their high gold content.

The Estrain have used their Galaxy Drives to move one sun behind the middle of the belt and another two stars at either end. Each of the stars is giving off no light.

The cold dark of the asteroid belt is swarming with Manslayers, and Maulers and even more dangerous threats whose nature is currently unknown.

The Arc of Midas must be taken, conquered or cleared to allow a full invasion of the Seven Eyes of the Estrain (planets necessary according to Unity reports for Angel Ds war effort)

Bloom Ships should be expected.



-This mission is open to IR, EEF and TRILAT players.

Post your plan to this mission on either the defenders or attacker's side here on this thread only. First person to post gets a single extra repost later to launch secret attacks, ambushes etc. All other players get one post only. This thread will be locked at 11pm E.S.T. on Friday July 1st.

Only actions listed on this mission thread will count as locked in for player actions.

Please create your own threads in your forums to discuss battle plans.

A modest fighter squadron appears from the uninhabited end of the Arc of Midas. Their approach is overt as they strafe the asteroid belt and target enemy pray. After the initial pass the squad makes it way back to space and disappears. This was obvious, what wasn't so obvious were the many Nano-Fusion Sages that stealthily made their way into the belt with the aid of some temporary light layes effects.

Moments latter streams of recon data flowed from the arc. The data gave a good image of the threat awaiting them on the other side. It was also clear from the data that the threat inside the belt was real and had to be dealt with. The Drak'han Garmin Fe had hoped that it would not have been the case. From the data it was quite clear that, if it hadn't happened already, his men would be found out at any given moment. The general turned to the commander, "I authorize the use of all arsenal. I'll be making my way down their. Fire upon my signal." At which point Garmin stepped into the elevator tube and made for the lower deck of the vessel.

Soon after, dozens of drop pods fired from the Arcturus Warship, "The Warrior's Will", and the Unity Dreadnoughts that held their position not far from the arc now. Revealing themselves from the pods was additional support from the Order of the Recognized. Including the obvious gleam of several golden Nephilim. Three flashes of light shot out from the arc, two white and one gold. The signal was clear, all who were going to make it had managed to reach the rendezvous point. Three objects fired off into the arc and the appearance of an explosion in reverse shocked the bodies of those unprotected and trapped their memories in the Hearts of the Forgotten.

It was at that very instant that the remaining fleet of Garmin Fe shadow jumped into position on the opposing side of the arc, barely within weapons fire of the enemy fleet. Using the recon data, they had already positioned themselves into an ideal defensive sphere of ships. The Sagitea from the initial side of the conflict commenced their support runs once again as the endless capacity of the dreadnoughts delivered more drop pods into the conflict. The thousands of Recognized tried to mobilize with the support of newly crafted Nephilim. Light artifacts were dispensed to power those fortunate enough to craft a Nephilim from the gold veins found inside.

[40 Sagitea will initiate the first attack run to support 60 Nano-Fusion Sages utilizing leyas support abilities to provide cover. All recon data collected by the Sages will be shared with allied forces. 2 Unity Dreadnoughts and 1 Arcturus will remain on the uninhabited end of the belt in order to deploy the Hearts of the Forgotten and troop support. 5 Arcturus Warships, 8 Armegers, 60 Jotun, 100 Sagitea, and 10 Grex fighters will appear on the opposing side once recon has confirmed the ideal position to strike from. The goals of the second fleet is to form a defensive position for allied forces to emerge from, as well as distract enemy forces from the growing force of riders mobilizing from the belt as well as the allied strafing of the threatening suns. The Grex fighters will focus on deflecting lethal attacks they feel they can divert.]

The Builder worlds hummed with excitement. The Zero Metal was understood at last. The will of the metal was a thing unto itself, so strong that even annihilation was turned aside. They had turned the Black Zero metal to the ways of the Builder's assembly, and tons of the dull silver material were loaded on to transports. The Builders sung as their new messengers were flung into the heavens.

An image of Prime was projected on the Bridge of Dreadnaught-5. A Triarius standing before him shouted commands from a mouth filled with razor fangs. "All hands! Prepare for the strike!"

10 Dreadnaughts streaked into the battle outside of the belt, and behind them came four hundred Saggitae organized in wings of 10. From each of the Dreadnaughts streaked huge shards of the Zero metal. The metal was aimed at the suns, and half of the shards were actually engineered with structural weakness. Upon exposure to gravitic turbulence, the shard would shatter into thousands of tiny pieces. Prime had theorized that the metal would convert the Revelation nanoplauge quickly, neutralizing them as a threat.

Behind the Dreadnaughts came a single Apostle. The sun of its core appeared first, but was quickly hidden by layer after layer of black metal that surrounded it. It would protect Saggitae with Epistles as they struck any major threats, and its Harrowing Radiance would tear Manslayers, missiles, and enemy fighters to shreds, even in the tight confines of the asteroid belt. All forces were commanded to stay outside the range of the Red Star and hearts of the forgotten unless there was an emergency.

The attack will be on hold until such time as Garmin Fe and the Iron Republic's fleet actions resolve, or if they need assistance.

As the battle rages, five Void Lords lurked beyond the awareness of the combatants. They act as quiet scouts, pointing out threats to the Unity and their allies. They also search out the E-strain's gravitic generators, such that they could be re-purposed for the Unity. If the Unity gains control of these gravity wells, they will be used to control the battlefield in favor of the Unity. Also, they will be used against the revelation nanoplauge, or against attempts to super-nova the suns.

Captain Roberts stood on the bridge of the Devil's Elation, Uloh's infiltrator ship. Yet again, he and his crew were on a dangerous stealth mission against the Estrain of the demonic AOD.

His orders were specific. He was to take his ship thru to the far sun in the Ark. there his Technician was to attempt to hack the Revelation nanoplague. IF successful, they were contact any Blackheart troops or the forces of SectorGeneral Palomedes and let them know. they were also to use the Revelation to target AOD forces and try to protect their 'allies'.

His list of optional targets included attempts ot hack/capture gravity generators, if unable to capture them, he is to use the Revelation to destroy them. he was also to attempt to acquire a sample of the Revelation and store it in a lead box and then put it in the locker box that President Ragman sent special for just that purpose.

Captain Roberts was just happy that they still had the encrypted microburst IFF transmitter. Hopefully, their 'allies' wouldn't blow them out of the sky. He really didn't want to miss his daughter's birthday next week.

'Well,' he thought, ' no time like the present.' Turning to his bridge crew, he turned on the intercom, "All Hands, prepare for combat conditions. All anti boarding parties to their posts, Technicians prepare for electionic warfare. And now to war. "

At his command, the ship jumped to the Arc of Midas, and proceeded to the far sun to begin thier mission.

At the cue from Garmin Fe signalling the end of the Hearts of the Forgotten bombardment the doors to the IR Mothership Sword of Bootes will open and deploy a single Red Star satellite, defended by a team of 10 IR Raptor Starfighters.

The red star will activate towards the middle of the Arc of Midas. It's wormhole would be placed to suck in the asteroid belt and eject it out in an area in IR territory far from all worlds. There Deers' Ambush will hopefully be waiting.

The actual stars and their revelation Nanoplagues will be targeted by wide burst EMP missiles fired by 10 cloaked IR Missile Ships per star (30 total).

Palomedes might be busy elsewhere but his fleet was here to represent the power of the Bootes Constellation. Once the asteroid belt moved the IR Mothership would withdraw and begin dealing with targets at extreme range, hopefully out of range of the cutting beams of the Revelation.

Jet, Agent of G.A.S.T. paced the hallway of one of the "allied ship", his cover wasn't important. What was important was his small radio that would allow him to chime in on allied conversations. He would observe the battle only talking if it would save the allies from ambushes.


He just hoped G.A.S.T. gave him Intel if an ambush was at hand.

--
Ooc just wanted to be part of the action. No reward necessary. I'm not supposed to be in this mission anyway.

1 team of STRIKE operatives would be deployed with the Uloh infiltrator, they knew that ship and the dangers of its mission just as well as any of the crew at this point.

1 team of STRIKErs would be dispersed in Garmin Fe's forces if he allowed it. They would use their abilities to scout out unit strengths and locations and give the info to the fusion sages to report up.

1 team of STRIKers would be put at Palomedes disposal if targets of opportunity exposed themselves.

10 stilletto fighters would check in with all fleets regularly and act as a deep space screening force. If something came at the fleet from its back they would do a magnus rush and try to disable the enemy forces.

10 Aegis fighters would be on call for close are support should the situation require it. They would be flying close as they could to enemy forces to prevent them from being targeted by the revelation nano-plague.

4 SAVs full of Lion Guard medics would be on board Palomedes fleet to rescue any downed pilots or stranded forces.

800 Chaos and Raptors Starfighters with the finest of Brethren pilots will set up a killzone once the asteroids are brought to a special site by the Red Star Satellite.
A trio of Horn-class Starcruisers will counter any assaults by enemy Bloom Ships.
A trio of cloaked Trident Missile ships will aid the Starfighters against bigger targets.
One IR Mothership is held back to release its compliment of Starfighters to support breaks in the line.

Sector General Deer would smile when he gave the order to have the asteroid belt pulled apart one rock at a time using tractor beams. Then concentrated plasma cannons would cook Manslayers that crawl out.

60 Neo Flayer Starfighters and 2 Quall Light Frigates would jump in and form a read guard for the Iron Republic forces. They Frigates would not engage any enemies coming from the front. If the enemy starts to attack the Ir forces from the front 30 Neo Flayers shall move in to engage then while the remaining 30 stay with the Light Frigates to guard the rear. They will always stay with the IR fleet until the operation ends. Once it does they will silently open an energy bridge and head home.

After the red star satellites move the asteroids I will send in 3 IR heavy frigates at maximum range firing their dome buster cannons at the asteroids. the dome buster rounds will be artificed with greater melt metal with the goal of the asteroids to burst from within with the super heated gold. i want to send in 60 gunpods as escorts.

(It is my hopes that the E-strain will be coded with the gold then within the coldness of space the gold will become hardened and i will collect some nice statues for my palace.)

Ryuk gets a message from Prime "Guard duty he wants!? , for me! LIGHTSWARTH! This kind of inaction for me is irritating!" . The only good for this was that Prime was starting to take action again, instead of relying on this "Diplomacy" , Even if it was only against the E-strain.

"Guard Duty, Ryuk Fumed. . . BAH"

Ryuk sends 10 Dreadnaughts 200 Jogtun Mark 2's, and 50 yrs starfighters to guard whatever Prime wants. They are encourage to join the battle if it becomes advantageous, leaving at minimum 3 dreadnaughts and 50 jogtun marks 2 guarding Primes "Ward".

Also sent are 10,000 Giant Nightmares, and 5 of the sanguine lords, they are instructed to just secure the location for a base after the battle is over. If the battle is taking the turn for the worse, according to the sanguine lords, They are authorized to alert Prime to there presence, if they want.

The only reason the lords are there as that is going to be there new home base, of them for Ryuk (as Prime has offered)

Garmin had started the realize his plan left he and his men in one hell of a cross fire. He wasn't sure if the Iron Republic aim was a bit off or if they really didn't care that his men were inside. Truthfully, he should have expected such. He had his men deploy more flare markers to coordinate the bombardments of the arc. Recon data continued to be issued. Garmin was beginning to value the assistance of the balckheart securities STRIKE force he allowed to tag along.

Though the chances of friendly fire had been diminished and the asteroids belt pulled into a safe position away from the major fleet engagement. Garmin couldn't help but feel like all was not well. Instincts took over and he transformed himself into a clockwork angle, enhancing his technomagi abilities. His men would later say that he abused the hell out of the Polarity Beam leyas ability.

Meanwhile,

The 2 Dreadnoughts had finished deploying the troops and now moved to the important matter of saving allied ships. And just in the nick of time. Their grapple hooks deployed and aimed well at their target. The allied vessels would be pulled away before harm could come to them.