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| - Space ruptures behind the NEF fleet, creating a hyperdrive portal. 50 massive ships along with hundreds of smaller ships jump through as the portal closes. Legend smiles. "Ah, the reinforcements have arrived, what a wonderful sight." "It most certainly is," Jackson replies. Legend goes to fleet communications, "All NEF reinforcements, we are in the middle of a war zone, we are currently on Preparedess Level 10. Hostile forces may attack at any time." He opens holographic communications with the Gatekeeper. A nearly 7 foot tall man appears in the Uberweapon's hologram device. He is wearing state-of-the-art Guardian armor, Commando variant, which is equipped with a personal shield and increases the wearers strength, speed, and agility. "I am willing to forge an alliance with you so that we may provide mutual protection against the RTSE. It seems as if you may need some fresh blood in your fight. My fleet, army, and elite Guardian super soldiers may be what you need to turn the tide of the war." "Very well, Legend. It shall be done. But I must warn you: The RTSE does not show mercy... Nor does the SE..." Meanwhile on the other side of the system, the RTSE fleet commander notices that the Uberweapon is slowly turning to face them, then he notices a massive fleet of Allegiance Star Destroyers appearing beside it, THEN he notices a large fleet of regular Star Destroyers appearing behind them, but all of them, as well as all of the Allegiances, are pitch black. Garda Flak Frigates start flooding the scene, and an unknown type of fighter/bomber hybrid starts deploying from all of the larger ships. He then realizes they are outnumbered over 10/1 A comm channel opens. "RTSE fleet commander, this is the Gatekeeper. Surrender your forces to me or die! You have 5 hours!" *The comm goes dead...* Moments later, Ty294 arrives in the throne room and reports to the Gatekeeper. "Unfortunately, I have learned little of this mysterious attacker. I do know he uses a blade of some sort and that he strikes in an undetected manner. There are no clues as to where he has gone unfortunatly. Perhaps he will come out of hiding again, but in the meantime, perhaps I should get that force infusion you offered earlier. I don't like how this set of affairs in going." ~~ "Admiral, Recon Lead reporting. The RTSE fleet appears to be making combat preparations and is heading in your direction." "So, they decide to take us on. Well, this should be an interesting battle." Fleet communications: "This is Grand Admiral Patten. We have information that the RTSE may be about to attack. Be on your toes, since we do not yet know the power of their weapons. Men, this is where we take our stand, this will be a battle for the ages. Now, all forces, prepare to engage!" He turns to Captain Carter, second-in-command of his personal Guardian squad, "Get our troops to the landing ships, and prepare for launch and boarding." "Yes, sir!" He says, as he runs out of the command center. Legend turns to Jackson, "This is going to be one heck of a battle." "Indeed." Deathstrike stood on the bridge of the Blood Sanctum, waiting for her Master's order. Her Master's voice came through the com, "The lethal force poison I infused is dispersing through the Uberweapon as we speak. Is your fleet in position?" "We have just reverted out of hyperspace, my lord. The NEF fleet has been substantially reinforced, and I am reconfiguring my fleet into an assault formation. Their retreat is cut off, with Admiral Rajko's forces still holding the front, and the pathetic Uberweapon caught in the middle! I am about to engage the enemy, Lord!" "By all means, proceed, Deathstrike! Let them taste your fury! I shall be along in due time, with a very special surprise for our dear 'Gatekeeper'..." "Supreme Admiral Deathstrike to the Prime Fleet: Dreadnoughts, move into encirclement formation around the Blood Sanctum. Attack the center of the NEF fleet! All fighters, deploy! Karas carriers, deploy all bombers! Munja cruisers, move to engage their Havoc and Nova squadrons! Weapons officer, deploy the Fury tetryon disruptor! Let them taste our newly developed technology! A tetryon disruptor pulse shoots from the Blood Sanctum, aimed for the center of the NEF lines. Two Atlantea and four Decimator class battlecruisers are vaporized in a microsecond, dispersed as atoms across the sector. "Deathstrike to Fleet Admiral Rajko - the word is given! Engage at will!" ~~ Rattler looks on in shock as fleets seem to appear out of nowhere, and move to engage each other. "Crap! Where did these guys come from? Knights, fall back to Excalibur! Do not engage unless fired upon!" Pulling back on the stick, Rattler narrowly avoids a blast of unknown energy from the capital ship that had appeared almost on top of him, and vaporizes 6 capital ships. Rattler curses under his breath at the shear destructive power of that weapon. "Rattler, we're not gonna make it back to the carrier in this mess!" Mags called out. Getting an idea, Rattler transmits on an open channel, hoping someone would listen and help them get out of what is obviously not their war. "This is Lt. Commander Christopher Johnson of the Terran Confederation. My squadron is non combatant! I repeat, the Black Knights are non combatant! We're not here to fight anyone, but we will defend ourselves if fired upon!" "Sir, I just got word from the fleet. They are moving in system to try and clear us a path out, but they won't get here for another 20 minutes." Rattler cringes at the estimate. "By then, we'll be space dust. Knights, go evasive. Use the larger ships for cover if they aren't bristling with Anti Fighter turrets. As soon as Excalibur's close enough, hit the afterburners. We're getting out of this furball!" ~~ Grage looks out at the destruction. "Hmm, seems they have imployed the Fury relics quicker them I would have expected. Corporal, send a message to Captain Zerik, I want the Black Dawn brought to our location. I will assume direct command of the vessel upon its arrival." "Yes sir." "Lord Gatekeeper, I must leave now. I promise you, Darkon will regret the day he dared mess with Admiral Alexander Grage!" As Grage leaves the throne room, Ty294 bursts in. "Gatekeeper, it seems Darkon has made his last mistake. Request permission to lead boarding operations targeting his flagship" "Permission granted, Ty. Proceed as you desire." Outside, the battle is in heavy favor of the Shadow Empire. The Uberweapon, with it's hardcoded unique abilities, has sustained no damage. The SE has only lost 1 Allegiance and 4 ISD's as well as a few smaller, less valuable ships not worth reporting. The Blood Sanctum, under the command of Deathstrike, was foolish enough to engage the Uberweapon in direct combat. It has sustained major damage to the engines and is unable to move or enter hyperspace, thus unable to retreat, and rapid fire Autocannons from the Uberweapon are literally tearing the hull apart. The Gatekeeper feels a sharp pain in his neck, and everything goes black, just as he was about to fire the Shadow Laser at the Blood Sanctum... Still 10 minutes away from the battle, Captain Sasha O'Neill decides to try and secure the safe extraction of the Black Knight Squadron from the middle of the battle. Knowing that she might have to get in the fight, she orders the fleet to prepare for battle, and for all pilots to report to the flight deck. Nodding to the communication's officer, she addresses the forces involved in the battle. "This is Captain Sasha O'Neill of the Terran Confederation Expeditionary Fleet. We are not here to take part in your conflict, however, one of our squadrons that was out on recon is trapped inside the combat zone. Any hostile action taken against our squadron or elements of this Expeditionary Fleet, and we will defend ourselves with lethal force if necessary." Rattler evades more weapons fire as the signal from the TCS Excalibur is sent on all channels. "Let's hope someone listens this time..." "Captain O'Neill, this is Admiral Delagon of the SE Navy. I am supervising the battle while the Gatekeeper is away. It would be my pleasure to offer you cover fire while you get your recon team out of harm's way. What is your location?" "We are about eight minutes out from the battle, bearing 224 mark 67 from the battle. I'll have our squadron light up their transponders so that you can identify them." Rattler barrel rolls to evade a fighter that had decided to tail him when the order came from the Excalibur. "You want us to WHAT?" "Squawk your transponders Knight 1. Local forces are willing to cover you, but they need to be able to identify your craft." "You do know that if we do that, we'll light up like a Christmas Tree. And most likely everyone's gonna be gunning for us." "I'm well aware of that Commander, but we don't have a choice. As soon as you're aboard, we're pulling back away from the battle. After the battle we will offer humanitarian aid if needed, but we are not fighting in a war that does not concern us." "Understood Excalibur. Knights, light up your transponders and put the pedal to the metal. Anything takes a pot shot at us, you are cleared to engage, but only if it pursues. We are outta here!" Rattler flicks his transponder to transmit openly, revealing his location to the entire universe, and hits the afterburners while transferring extra power to the shields. The rest of the Black Knights follow their squadron leader as they make their way towards the edge of the raging battle. An SE flak frigate pulls up beside them and starts gunning at and shooting down the enemy fighters pursuing them. Moments later, they are at their transport. "Black Knights, you are cleared to board your transport and proceed with retreating manuevers." The flak frigate rushes back to join the battle. About an hour later, the majority of Darkon's fleet has been wiped out, and the Blood Sanctum, mortally wounded, floats there, all systems disabled. "Since the Gatekeeper is no longer with us, I am supervised to... Well, supervise!" Admiral Delagon declares. "See the Blood Sanctum out there? I want boarding shuttles launched ASAP! You have 45 minutes! Kill everything on board and get back those relics, or we will blow the ship to bits!" "Sir, I can not agree with your assessment. We are under direct orders from the Gatekeeper himself NOT to destroy that ship! He has said that a mercenary is leading a boarding operation to it, but he would not specify!" "Well then, our boarding operations will join theirs! Wait for orders from the mercenary THEN board the ship! Use ion beams to further disable it's systems!" "Yes, Sir!" ~~ "Thanks for the cover!" Rattler transmits to the frigate that covered their tails. The 12 Rapiers from the Black Knight Squadron quickly land on the Bengal Class Strike Carrier TCS Excalibur. Rattler jumps out of his fighter and quickly makes his way from the Flight Deck to the Bridge as the Carrier and the rest of the Expeditionary Fleet pull back from the battle. He approaches a Middle aged, Auburn haired woman, and snaps off a salute, which is returned by Captain O'Neill. "You guys got lucky out there Rattler." "Yes sir. I don't know what's going on out there, but it looks like we jumped Galaxies only to end up in the middle of someones war." "Until we can find a Jump Point back to our Galaxy, and our own war, we may have to pick a side." "Considering the firepower I saw out there, I think it would be better not to get involved. They got guns out there that make our new Phase Transit Cannons look like squirt guns." "I noticed Commander. Still, this 'Gatekeeper' might be able to help us get home." Rattler shakes his head. "Things were so much easier when we only had to deal with the Cats." "If we don't do something here, the Cats may not be Earth's only problem. We have to consider the safety of every Human world in our galaxy." "Understood sir. I'll make sure we're fueled up and ready. If we have to fight, then we'll show them a reason not to mess with Confed." Rattler salutes, and leaves the Bridge. Captain O'Neill turns her attention back to the battle, and watches as one of the larger capital ships is disabled. ~~ "What the heck was that?!" Legend exclaims as the weapon blows away six capitol ships. "Well then, time to hit back! Launch all Havocs and Novas!" Prepare to fire M182 EPB (Enhanced Plasma Beam) weapons. Firestorm-class Heavy Missile Cruisers fire everything you have! Havocs, Novas, plasma torpedoes, disruptor, burst, disintegration missiles, everything you have! All carriers, launch all fighters and bombers and attack! All Decimators, fire heavy MEV (Magnetically Enhanced Velocity) cannons (Heavy MEV's can fire a massive slug of molten metal that disintegrates frigates in a single shot. They cause severe damage to capitol ships) at their capitol ships! All Bastions, move to the front of the line, full power to shields! All Atlanteas, all classes, go for their capitol ships!" The destruction ensuing causes severe damage to remaining RTSE forces. The EMP from all of the nukes disables most of the remaining forces, as well as the heavily damaged Blood Sanctum. The MEV rounds tear through many RTSE vessels "Lieutenant, move the Leviathan to the center of the battle. Fire EPB's at all hostile vessels that come into range!" "Yes, sir!" As the Leviathan moves into battle, EPB's leap out from turrets on the ship. 1 slices a cruiser in half, while another, cutting throught a dreadnaught, finds a reactor, creating a massive fireball. "What a wonderful sight! Soon they will be no more. They should know not to underestimate the NEF anymore." Using his intercom, Patten he hails Captain Carter. "Carter, assist SE boarding operations by deploying Guardian squads on the Blood Sanctum. I will join you aboard once most of the remaining RTSE fleet is destroyed." "Yes sir, and good luck."
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