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Morrigan      The GTVA is going in for the kill.

     With Admiral Cyrus Severanti and his GTD Meridian out of the picture, operational command has fallen to Admiral Chiwetel Steele. A gentleman psychopath by reputation and a master strategist and extremist by his results, Steele isn't one for losing.

     All across the Federation inner system, the GTVA strikes as one. The GTD Atreus, Steele's flagship, jumps into Lunar space - drawing attention so its flotilla can strike out at anything it can hit. The GTD Imperieuse kicked over the battle line at Kansas Station in Earth orbit, finding itself locked in battle with the UED Solaris itself.

     As Admiral Byrne put it himself, 'Earth's darkest hour has finally arrived'.

     Still, most pilots consider themselves glad to not be caught fighting around the Atreus or Imperieuse. Noemi Laporte, her uncle Manuel Brie, and a gaggle of rookie pilots have been sortied to Rheza Station. An important dockyard, subspace scanner and fleet garrison, Rheza Station is one of the most important assets in Earth orbit.

     And Steele is gunning for it, hard.

     The Deimos-class corvette, GTCv Redoubtable is bombarding Rheza Station with concentrated beam fire, occasionally stopping to engage the UEC Vatican, a Sanctus-class cruiser. Meanwhile, fighters swarm around the station - bombers armed with torpedoes and fighters trying to stop them.

     Everywhere someone looks, they can see explosions, some no more than stars that flare brightly for a few moments. Glimpses can be caught of Athens and Malta Stations, in the distance but too far away to be involved directly in this fight, being carved apart by Tev warships.

     The same fate must not befall Rheza.
Alexis Maaka     By sheer dumb luck, Maaka didn't leave the others after training yesterday. She'd gotten herself acquainted with the fellow rooks, as well as pilots like Neomi and Brie, the pros among the UEF so to speak. It pays to hang around with the best, lest you pick a thing up or two from paying attention.

    It won't take long before she's aboard her vessel, an Uhlan-class fighter she'd been assigned just the other day. Scattering the maintenance boys, Maaka gets ready to sortie as she settles into her fighter.

    The ship launches, flying in formation with the other fighters as she begins to search for targets, both by eye and by scanning instruments. "Spectre standing by. Ready when you are." She radios over comms. "Let's give 'em hell."
Zephyr Windstar     Zephyr was touring the stations, and had made it to Rheza before the GTVA slipped in and started wrecking everything. As the station rocks from the assault, the Mage pounds her way down to whatever launch bay it has. Calling the station control for emergency launch clearance.

    Should she get it, she leaps immediately out of the launch doors, and activates her Flight Spell and Barrier Jacket. <READY! BARRIER JACKET. BREEZE MODE. DEVICE SET. WINDSHEAR FORM!>. She's clad in gleaming purple for a moment, before exploding out of it, holding the larger of her two axe-forms in her left hand. She 'wings' over, and surges off to assist the Vatican, spinning up the axe-blades as they open up, gathering energy into the central crystal.

    She radios ahead over UEF frequencies, then locks eyes on the Corvette. <LOCKING ON. COORDINATES ARE SPECIFIC.> "Go for the kill shot. If we don't blow it, we'll spook 'em into retreating, like the Aku---" she winces at that memory, but shakes her head. "BLOW THEM AWAY. TENRAIKAZE!" <YES! MAELSTROM BUSTER! CYCLONE SHIFT!> the beam that lances out is a tightly twisting mass of magical plasma, and it's aimed to slam straight into the Corvette's frame, aiming right for the hottest thing the Device can find, the Reactor core. "I'LL CORE YOU OUT!"
Morrigan      The GTVA is throwing a heavy amount of firepower at the station. Laporte and Brie seem to be in the process of giving the Tev fighters and bombers - Artemis bombers with Myrmidon escorts - as much hell as they can. Maaka can probably recall the motto of anti-bomber support - bombs before bombers, bombers before fighters.

     "Confirmed, Spectre," Laporte comments, "Get on those bombers. Watch the Myrms and, by the Elders, stay out of the Redoubtable's firing solution!"

     The Vatican is burning. The Sanctus-class were never built for this kind of warfare and it shows - Windstar can probably see its mass driver shells barely breaking through the larger corvette's armor. The Tev beams have no such difficulty carving into the Vatican.

     Neither does her lance - the magical plasma cores the Redoubtable, nice and deep, but the Tev corvette remains in the fight, for now at least, as she spins top over bottom to bring fresh armor into the fight.
Alexis Maaka     "Roger that." Maaka says crisply. She begins to fly towards the wing of Artemis bombers, following Brie and Laporte's lead while sighting down bombs. "Guns guns guns." She fires off a short burst to each projectile, only stopping to chase down a bomber once the bogey enters her sights.

    "Spotted a bandit, breaking off to engage. Locking now." She begins to engage the target lock, firing off a heat-seeker upon getting a confirmed lock upon the bomber. Bombs before bombers, bombers before fighters. Easy enough.
Zephyr Windstar     Got you... she thinks... but then the thing rolls to present fresh armour. "Falka... Di'azlak mai'ou." she snarls, the translation effect not even /touching/ those words. She moves in closer, well within flak and anti fighter beam range. She back and forths with the Vatican over radio, then formulates a plan. She gets in /close/ to the Redoubtable, skimming along the hull as close as she can, then angles out, and brings her axe-blade one of the Anti-capital beam emitters, the blades of her axe boiling with purple magic. <MISTRAL CUTTER!>
Morrigan      There's so many of them. Steele is throwing everything he's got at this station.

     But Maaka and Laporte are able to turn bomber and bomber into debris, popping their warheads before they get close enough to harm Rheza. Some get through, but Rheza is big - she can weather a few hits.

     Luckily, however, the GTVA attackers have to jump in at range - without an AWACS on scene, they'd risk colliding with Rheza if they jumped in too close - which gives the defenders plenty of time to intercept and lock them down.

     As if on cue, three Charybdis AWACS vessels jump in. And with them, come more bombers - Boanerges, this time - jumping in close enough to go for immediate target lock.

     Meanwhile, Zephyr slams her axe into one of the forward beam emitters of the Redoubtable, taking it out of play. The Vatican, sitting above the corvette and guided by Zephyr, throws shell after shell into the guts of the corvette.

     The Redoubtable shudders and explosions rip through her flanks. Scratch one Deimos-class corvette. Surely they'll stop sending ships in with losses like that!
Zephyr Windstar      Zephyr has to /move/ to get clear of the exploding Corvette. She's still caught in the blast's outer edge, radiation and concussive force sending her reeling for a moment or two. She then lets out a triumphant whoop as she realizes the cap-ship is down... and then there's AWACS coming in.

    She wings over, purple energy turning white as she rockets off to deal with the incoming Charybdis... she knows that sillhouette well. "These things killed the Akula and the Ranvir... I won't forgive them for that!" She can't take all three out quick enough by herself, and the other mobile fighters are already tied up with the bombers breathing down their necks... so she gets an idea. "Dee, link targetting data with the Vatican.. Lets use what we have available." <YES. MASTER.> A quick back and forth gets the Device locking onto the Charybdis as the Mage approaches, weaving about them as she lights them up for the Vatican's main guns. "LIGHT 'EM UP!"
Alexis Maaka     Maaka breaks off from the bomber assault, signaling for Neomi to follow her while she goes for the AWACS. More bombers accompany them, and so Maaka has her targets for now.

    "Targeting enemy bombers, guns guns guns." Her vulcan begins to let off a burst per bomber, conserving ammunition as she begins to take out incoming bombs. The vulcans let off more fire towards the projectiles, intending to prevent any damage to the ship as she trails upon yet another bomber for a target lock. "Missile away." She confirms, upon firing and heading to the next craft.
Morrigan      It's not a common experience for a Sanctus captain to feel like they're getting to own the battlespace, but Zephyr can probably assume that the Vatican's captain is having that experience right now. Mass driver shells slam out of the Vatican's main guns, catch one of the AWACS amidships, and snap it in two. Another volley, and another AWACS dies. One more, and the third detonates.

     Maaka and Noemi swing into the Boanerges formation, opening up with guns and missiles. The Boanerges had never been a particularly good replacement - a flying coffin. They prove that descriptor reliably here, as they fall one by one. Brie's wing seems to be handling the close in air defence, leaving Laporte and Maaka to long-range interception.

     Steele has a gambit for that, as he always does.

     A wing of bombers jump in, at extreme range. Target locks scream around practically every UEF combatant, and the bombers let loose a string of Trebuchet missiles - fighter-killers. Kill the smaller combatants, kill Maaka, Windstar, Laporte and Brie, and the station will be defenceless.
Alexis Maaka     Maaka swears something less than ladylike over comm as she spies a wing of bombers with fighter-killers. It doesn't take long to figure out what those do for the cyborg, as she begins to make a hard turn before high-tailing it towards cover.

    She pops a heater, something to take out heat-tracer targeting on those missiles. Not one to rest on her laurels, she begins to try and rush the attack, firing a burst upon one of the Trebuchet missiles when it enters her targeting systems. "Guns guns guns, gonna try and blitz their missiles before they hit our guys."
Zephyr Windstar     Zephyr grins a bit as the Charybdis pop one by one. And then...

    <MASTER! MULTIPLE TARGET LOCKS DETECTED! EVADE!>

    Zephyr eyes snap to the distant flashes of jump ins. She turns to face them, slashing her axe down to the side in defiance. "Counter pulse. Full spread. Lock on all targets and maintain barrage until the combat space is clear." she states, as motes of light form around her, first a few dozen, then hundreds... then a thousand. <IMPULSE CASCADE. HURRICANE SHIFT.> chimes the Device, the mage's eyes flicking across the darkness, picking out the faint flickers of the missile engines. As each one is locked, a shot rings out, a high speed bullet of purple light lashing out to intercept it. Soon enough, the entire battlespace is filled with the purple streaks from the mage, though her defense is far from perfect.
Morrigan      Between Maaka and Windstar's efforts, many of the trebuchet missiles don't make it through - some do, but not nearly all of them. A few UEF fighter icons wink out of existence as explosions blink to life. And then, after a few moments, it becomes clear that there's not a single red icon remaining, not anywhere.

     The GTVA attack has been stalled.

     No, it was too much to hope for. Steele doesn't give up. To Rheza's starboard side, a warship rips its way out of subspace. The GTCv Valerie, Diomedes-class strike corvette - the pinnacle of GTVA warship killing corvette design.

     Where the Deimos-class had a certain beauty to it, designed to demonstrate the cultural achievements of the GTVA as much as it was their new technology, the Diomedes is a sleek, utilitarian thing - all grey and angular. She's already spitting fighters and bombers from her hangarbay and there's plasma shine on her broadside beam cannons - she opens up on Rheza before she's even cleared the jump vortex.
Alexis Maaka     Maaka grits her teeth, seeing flatlines among her comrades go out one by one. She remains close to Neomi as they dust up the remainder, but then something else arises. "Oh hell." The Valerie doesn't look remotely friendly, and so Maaka goes wide to evade enemy fire.

    She starts to fly towards the Bomber wing, taking them one ship by ship, bomb by bomb. Vulcans, missiles, anything goes as she starts to intensify her assault. While she may not have Zephyr's fancy tech-magic, she does have a ship she can work with while this skirmish continues.
Zephyr Windstar     Zephyr won't let the station die. Not without a fight. She turns to the Corvette as it jumps in, and grips her Device tightly. "Drive Ignition. Gear Second." she says coldly. <DRIVE IGNITION. MISTRAL FORM. MISTRAL SQUALL SET TO ORBIT MODE. GEAR SECOND. MISTRAL STORM SET TO ORBIT MODE.> chimes the Device, as it transforms and three Bits spall off of it, moving to orbit around the Mage as she turns to surge right on into the Valerie's fire zones... is she crazy? Is she suicidal? Probably.. is she going to make the GTVA regret sending their shiny toy to this place and try to kill people she's started to get to know, in their own home? Definitely.

    <LINK TO VATICAN TARGETTING ARRAY REESTABLISHED. BEGINNING PREPARATION FOR MAELSTROM---> "No. Cyclone Driver... we don't have time for the beam to melt through that armour, we're going to bruteforce it with a kinetic ram at full speed." <ODDS FOR SURVIVING AFTER THE BREACH HAS BEEN MADE ARE--> "Never quote me the odds!"

    The Mage barrels in, rolling around incoming anti fighter shots, skimming past anti-fighter beams, dodging them by mere inches. <CYCLONE DRIVER. STANDBY. MISTRAL STORM SET TO DRIVER MODE STORM RING HAS STARTED REVOLVING. READY TO IMPACT.> "If I die here... I'm going to take you all with me." she growls at the unhearing crew aboard the strike corvette... Her rush speeds up, as she pours everything she has into this attack, a swirling sheath of purple mana forming in front of her, spinning rapidly like a giant mining drill-bit.

    Zephyr SLAMS into the side of the Valerie, forcing every ounce of power into the point of that 'drill' to core out the armour quicker than she could at range. "C'mon... C'MON!"
Morrigan      Bright blue beams blink from the Valerie's broadside emitters and reach out, just tapping Rheza Station for brief seconds - but armor plate boils away, hull melting and congealing into great holes, with only those brief taps.

     Brie, Maaka, Laporte and the damaged survivors from Rheza's own wings meet the GTVA strike head on - not a single bomb gets through but the Valerie is happy to respond with her anti-fighter beams. After a hectic few seconds, Brie gives the order to back off - but the GTVA fighters are all gone.

     Windstar slams into the Valerie, letting her magical plasma rip into the Valerie's advanced active armor plate. Designed to repel Shivan beam fire, the Diomedes-class is one tough nut to crack. It's going to take time to burn through, even as the Vatican opens fire.

     Behind and above the Valerie, another jump vortex bursts into azure life.

     But this ship - the UEFg Indus - wears the red of Mars.
Alexis Maaka     Maaka is about to see the Diomedes hammer through the Vatican, before she notices a jump vortex burst to existence. The Indus provides some much needed backup, but now isn't the time to celebrate.

    She presses the assault directly to the ship this time, firing as she strafes the upper side of the Valerie. Guns and missiles blaze as Maaka makes her firing solution, dodging flak whenever she gets the chance before returning to buzzing the capital ship. "Engaging Valerie directly, guns guns guns!" She updates, going for a second pass as she lets loose with the vulcan once more.
Zephyr Windstar     She's getting through. The Vatican's cannonshots rain down around her, bouncing off the armour she hasn't gotten through yet. She's widening the hole, and, with a sudden surge forward, 'pops' through into the inner compartments, to slam into the inner wall of armour on the other side.

    This might be super advanced armour, but it was /designed/ to keep shots OUT, not IN... so as she powers through, it bulges out, glows white hot, before exploding from the pressure, leaving the Mage streaking out the other side, a large purple 'missile' arcing in an almost lazy fashion... leaving a molten hole in her wake. <MANA PRESSURE CRITICAL. SHUTTING DOWN.> chimes Divine Wind, the conical sheath fading away, before the Device pops open every single port it can, venting a great cloud of mana-infused steam, cooling itself from that crazy gambit.
Morrigan      The Indus hammers the Valerie from range, out of any kind of angle of attack from her opponent. She tries to maneuver to bring her broadside to bear on the Indus, but Zephyr's strike to the reactor finally breaks through and the GTVA corvette can't complete her turn before her thrusters flare out. The Wargods, under Lorna Simms, sweep over the Valerie, ripping through sensor arrays and weapon emplacements.

     Stricken and burning, and almost cut in two from Windstar's strike, the Valerie just kind of pops. One bright flash, brief in duration, and the corvette goes silent.

     So does the battlespace.
Zephyr Windstar     Zephyr comes in to land on the Indus' flight deck, practically collapsing onto the deck after she's gotten clear of the landing tracks... She leans up against a bulkhead, and takes off her void helmet, leaning back and just trying to refocus. Now she's not expending magic power, her Linker Core is restabilizing, and regenerating her stores. Lets hope that jump signature isn't something hostile, cuz she won't be able to punch another hole like she just did.
Alexis Maaka     Maaka doesn't hoot in triumph, nor does she give any other token gesture. ALl she does is sigh, leaning back in her seat as she begins to drift. Closing her eyes, she wills away the thought of how many crewmen had gone up in that ship.

    Then, the pilot begins to land aboard Indus. "This is Spectre to Indus, requesting a refuel and rearm on the double. I feel like this ain't over yet." She radios calmly, pulling up to the deck.
Morrigan      Something huge, like the tip of a massive sword, comes roaring out of subspace. Three-kilometers long, grey, blue and sleek. A great wedge bristling with beam cannons, pulse batteries, and enough fleet warfare systems to lead a battlegroup by itself. Its IFF systems scream its name to anyone who can hear it.

    The GTD Atreus.

    Steele's flagship.

     The man himself has come to kill Rheza and while his ship is out of range, it won't be for long. It hangs over the heads of everyone on Rheza Station, everyone on the Indus, every Wargod and every Fighting Navaja. It hangs over the heads of the two Elites who have caused Steele so much trouble.

     In minutes, it will fall.
Zephyr Windstar     "Can't catch a fucking break..." grumbles Zephyr. She pushes herself up the bulkhead, clutching her chest for a moment before steeling herself. "Indus Tactical. This is Blitz 1. Launching." She steps out into the launch tunnel, and surges down along it, getting back into open space as she puts her helmet back on. She streaks out and pulls up high, approaching the goliath ship that's just knifed out of slipspace.

    Reckless as always, she just heads right in against it... and she starts broadcasting on all frequencies. "STEELE! MY NAME IS ZEPHYR WINDSTAR! I AM THE WINDDANCER OF MARCH AND THIS STATION IS UNDER MY PROTECTION. YOU AND YOUR GTVA ARE NOT WELCOME HERE." She starts to jink and weave, rolling out and dodging incoming fire.

    "LEAVE NOW. OR FACE MY WRATH." She then cuts the broadcast, and draws her Device back, "Impulse mode. Begin charging Maelstrom Breaker... we're going to shove a beam down its throat. Target the emitters for its spinal cannon." <CONFIRMED. IMPULSE FORMATION. MAELSRTOM BREAKER, BEGIN CHARGE. TARGET LOCKED ON. COORDINATES ARE SPECIFIC.>
Alexis Maaka     Maaka grunts. She doesn't take long before after she loads back up. "Indus tactical, loaded, fueled, and launching." She says, the ship taking off with the roar of rocket engines propelling her into empty space.

    She hurdles towards Steele's flagship, rolling to evade incoming fire as she gets locked onto an enemy fire. Steele is utterly ignored, as Maaka begins to strafe his flagship to shoot up turrets along the way.
Morrigan      The Atreus makes a direct line for Rheza. The Indus hammers it, forward batteries catching the front armor of the Atreus with direct hits - she keeps coming, as unimpressed as her Admiral.

     The Atreus' defence grid spits out volleys of pulse fire, unimaginably numerous. Like Rheza said, Steele will keep the fighters from disarming him while he leisurely walks towards Rheza and guts it. Insane, magnificent.

     And that's when two more ships appear above the Atreus, their mass drivers pointing straight down towards the relatively undefended top of the Erebus-class destroyer.

     Much like Mars, the Jovian Third Fleet (in exile) has entered the battle.
Zephyr Windstar     "Change target, vector trace the pulse batteries protecting the forward quarter. Lock on all targets, and shift Maelstrom Breaker to Hurricane." commands Zephyr, as she jinks, rolls and dodges, barely skimming past the incoming fire. Unlike Bombers and Fighters the GTVA are used to.. this annoying insect can fire without having to be faced toward the target, so... once she's got a lock, the beam splits out of the gemstone, fragmenting into innumerable smaller lances that arch out in a hail of counter battery fire, each one aimed to disable or outright destroy the pulse batteries suppressing fighter assault from the front.

    "You had your chance, Steele. Now, I won't accept anything but your vaporized atoms spread across this sector."
Alexis Maaka     "There goes surrender." Maaka quips wryly. "Oh well, guess we'll settle for seeing his flagship burn." She takes Zephyr up on her offer, before she guns the throttle and begins to move towards the spinal cannon. As Zephyr blitzes the pulse guns, Maaka locks onto the spinal cannon, firing all she has with multiple passes, before locking back onto the cannon to fire off a few missiles. Nothing else matters, just eliminating a very dangerous man before he slips away again.
Morrigan      The Atreus advances. It comes within beam range of the Indus, and doesn't fire. The fact that it doesn't even see fit to engage the frigate is a psychological blow in itself. Steele is here for one thing, and no one can stop him until he has it.

     ...or maybe...

     Zephyr's attack slams into the Atreus' forward defensive batteries, popping them like blisters.

     Plasma shine, blinding blue, builds on the Atreus' forward spinal beam.

     Just in time for Maaka's missiles to nail the centre of the emitter. The glow dissipates into nothingness.

     The Atreus hangs there for a few moments, under fire from three warships and numerous fighters.

     It jumps.

     Not today, Steele. Not today.
Zephyr Windstar     Zephyr wings over. Yes, they'd protected this station, given Steele a bloody nose, and all that... but elsewhere, the battle of Earth was far from a victory. She heads back toward the Indus, as the Fleetnet chatters in her ears... "Indus control... requesting landing clearance." she transmits listlessly.