(Hey guys just a quick note, here's the Chimeran ranks and the normal equivalents:
Squad Minor- Private
Squad Leader- Corporal
Pack Master- Sergeant
Junior Commander- Captain
Commander- Colonel
Lord General- General
High Captain- Commodore
Supreme Admiral- Admiral of the fleet
and without further adieu here's chapter 5 :))
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CSFV Amazon, The Bridge, New Babylon orbit
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Eiji was in a state of shock, not quite believing both his ears at what came through the speakers and of the ID signatures on the screen below him. The Ensign, Captain Fisher and the rest of the crew on the Bridge shared his feelings, all dumbfounded by the deep hard voice contacting them from the other side of the battle.
"I repeat, this is High Captain Tuchar'an of Her Majesty's Imperial Navy. How may we be of assistance?"
"Captain, Captain!" Lieutenant Silva shouted from across the display screen, shaking Fisher from his moment of daze.
"Lieutenant can we respond back?"
"Yes sir, our communications array hasn't to have taken hits yet"
"Good establish a link" A few taps on the board and Eiji saw Silva nod for confirmation "This Captain Fisher of the CSF cruiser Amazon, we are taken heavy fire and down to only a handful of ships. Hostile forces have landed on the surface and are swarming Port Alexander. We are in urgent need of assistance in both air and ground support, over"
"Affirmative Captain Fisher, you have our support" Eiji moved back to display table to the now extended holo image of the CSF, Separatist Alliance and now Imperial Chimeran warships. Their allies new support consisted of five Dauntless class corvettes, four Illustrious destroyers and one Subjugation class cruiser, a powerful force that could perhaps tip the scales in their favour.
Returning to the battle at hand the Amazon was still taking heavy fire and the shields strength must of been teetering on the single digits now. The second in command of the battered and bruised cruiser watched in both relief curiosity at half the opposing fleet break off from their attack and turn to meet the Chimera. A blast of yellow from a Particle Beam Cannon raced across the view window and struck into a departing enemy cruiser, shearing off its support beam at the back leaving it floating aimlessly amongst the wreckage of other destroyed ships.
"Engineer is reporting the silo doors have been repaired"
"Captain-san, perhaps it is time to show a wounded animal does not go down without a fight" His steely eyes of determination made Fisher smirk at the suggestion.
"Indeed Lieutenant commander. Launch one nuke at Laden's flagship with a full spread of all remaining missiles and torpedos" His commands met he joined the Captain in the launch of the Amazon's deadly payload.
Silo door 1 lifted from the cruiser's hull and clunked upright, showing a 15 metre hole in diametre in the front section. A mere five seconds later the self guided nuclear missile flew out of the silo, it's imposing 12 metre long bullet shaped, white and yellow coloured body hovered over the ship. It switched its movement down horizontally pointing at it's intended target.
Within a blink of an eye, Eiji watched it race toward the Admiral Laden's cruiser at breathtaking speed. It startled a few crew members on the Bridge at it's velocity, like a firework shooting up at the night sky. With it was the Crossbow missiles and torpedos Fisher had ordered to fire, acting as an escort and cover of such to help prevent it's destruction before detonating.
Red plasma rounds from the lead ship rained down on the highly explosive payload, clipping the nuclear missile's small counterparts but missing the more lethal weapon of mass destruction. An Ensign at weapons control counted down the distance as it edged closer and closer, ignoring the angry red bolts whizzing past it.
It got within a kilometre of the ship when the lead cruiser started banking left in an attempt to avoid it, but it was only in vain. It in fact just gave the nuclear WMD a more precise and bigger target to aim for as it slammed hard into the flagship. Eiji covered his eyes like the rest of the others from the blast that lit up the forever night sky of space like a second sun.
The blinding light from the resulting blast faded, revealing the heat and high end megaton worth of damage on their adversary. A huge section on the port side of the bow was no more, blackened marks surrounded the ship's gaping hole from the intense heat of the nuke having zapped away it's shields. There were a few cheers ringing around the Bridge and Eiji couldn't resist a triumphant smile at battering the enemy cruiser had taken and was with no doubt they had scared the opposing crew shitless.
"Settle down people we still have a fight on our hands" Fisher had warned the premature celebrating crewmen. Eiji knew he was right of course but at least they put Admiral Laden's ship out of action for the time being. Out of the nine ships at the beginning of the battle there were now only four left and all were heavily damaged and still taking a beating from the enemy ships who hadn't broken off from the fight to face the newly arrived Imperial support. The battle between them was already underway, the red and white plasma bolts from both sets of ships flew passed one another in the quickly turned heated exchange.
The more faster corvettes of the Chimera moved ahead of the others laying down heavy fire on the Separatist Alliance frigates. Swarms of their compact, teardrop shaped fighter interceptors clashed with the Separatists' own, out maneuvering and peppering them with their more smaller plasma turrets ripping through squadrons of them. The spinless destroyers targeted the large ships of the intercepting squadron, firing off plasma and pulse lasers.
The immense Imperial cruiser in the middle, almost twice the size of the Amazon, had it's anti ship batteries targeting the enemy ships indiscriminately, supporting it's comrades and turning two frigates into dismembering wrecks. It's trajectory Eiji noted was making a beeline for the two big, bulbous ships they had worked out to be carriers.
One turned around to meet the advancing cruiser and opened fire in attempt to slow its approach, with little success. The Chimeran ship slowed down then went to a complete stop, ignoring all the enemy fire around it. Eiji saw the main gun of the cruiser power up just the like the Amazon and other CSF warships, it's Plasma Beam Cannon lighting up like a whirlwind of azure coloured energy. After a couple seconds of build up it blasted out and hit right into the sphere section of the carrier.
The firepower of the Chimera's main gun for their ships was the stuff of envy amongst the officers and engineers of the CSF and it had just demonstrated right before his eyes why it continued to be. None of the CSF squadron Eiji knew of had fired a single shot at the carriers to have caused any damage but the blue energy cut straight through the carrier shields and armour as if they weren't even there.
The sphere blew apart violently with no clear signs of debris, breaking the pincer like arms cleanly in half. With one carrier down the cruiser switched its attention quickly to other one and fired everything it had at it while evidently waiting for it's main gun t recharge.
"Now the're just showing off"
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Valkyrie 1 dodged another blast of crimson laser that only just missed his starboard wing.
"Jesus!" He cursed at the persistent chase between him and some clawed shaped drone fighter. At the beginning of the engagement his own squadron had consisted of 12 fighters and now it was reduced to only three, himself included. The Reapers pilots had all the advantages except for numbers and he witnessed first hand they went to extreme lengths to take them out, even deliberately ramming into Valkyrie 4 and 8 as well as doing suicide attacks into their home ship the Prague.
He had the unfortunate joy of being game for a flight of these nimble fighters. Out of missiles and low on rounds for his 30mm cannons he used every trick he could to lose them. First he lead them over to the AA guns of a CSF frigate his scanners ID as the Shadow Fist which destroyed one, leaving three to trail him over to a newly created debris field from a wrecked Separatist Alliance ship. Pulling some crazy maneuvers he slipped around the chunks of thick armour and this rendered two more inert as a threat but he still had one more on his tail.
"Valkyrie 1 to Valkyrie Squadron, I could really do with a hand here" He requested keeping his eyes out for the enemy fighter.
"Sorry sir, I have my own stalker to deal with" The ID indicator flashed from Valkyrie 3.
"On my way Valkyrie 1-, oh shit arghh-" Valkyrie 6's ID tag changed to red, yet another pilot under his command snuffed from existence. With a hard pull on the joist stick Valkyrie 1 pulled his fighter into sharp turn, feeling the full G force gripping him as he tried another attempt to lose his pursuer. To his dismay it only copied his movements and carried on blasting out at him.
His radar began picking up another signature behind him but to his amazement it was a Chimeran fighter who had joined in. Remembering his studies over different space fighters types Valkyrie 1 recognised the image as the Imperials more favoured Revenant fighter interceptors, having a different definition to CSF standards of the role an interceptor. The pilot of the Imperial craft was checking his fire, waiting for a good opening without hitting his own starfighter.
Thinking fast he twisted his Reaper vertically for less chance of friendly fire, praying to God the drone hadn't done the same. Luckily the reactions of the Chimeran pilot were lightning quick and shot white streams of plasma at the drone fighter, turning it into floating scrap. The Revenant broke off pursuit and went searching for another target, leaving Valkyrie 1 to silently thank the unknown pilot for saving his skin.
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"Fire!" Captain Fisher commanded their last functional Particle Cannon at Laden's limping flagship. The duel between the cruisers looked to be coming to an end to Eiji's great relief. The Separatist ship clearly hadn't recovered from the nuclear strike and looked to be trying to leave the fight but the Lieutenant commander knew his superior was not going to let the invaders get away so easily.
The yellow beam struck into the retreating cruiser's engines and left it dead in space once both turned into balls of fire. On the other side of the battlefield the Imperial Chimeran ships were sweeping aside the enemy fleet with relative ease, all of whom had unleashed their most powerful weapon at separate ships that drastically reduce their ranks.
"Sir!, enemy ships are breaking off engagement" Even though the last defending ships of the CSF were all in a terrible state and didn't look as if they could last much longer, the attacking ships pulled away letting loose a few stray shots.
"Captain, contacts are leaving the flagship"
"He's abandoning ship?"
"Looks that way Lieutenant commander Moto" Fisher answered, watching the small holographic forms of shuttles leaving the grief stricken shp.
"Sir, Colonel Hall is requesting support. He says they can't hold out much longer"
"Lieutenant hail the Imperials" Eiji saw Silva give the thumbs up almost instantly after the Captain's command "High Captain this Captain Fisher. Forces on the ground are requesting a dire need of help but we are in no fit state to lend support. May I ask you give us a hand?"
"Acknowledged Captain, I will order our troops to deploy immediately. In the meantime let us finish these honourless droids"
"With pleasure High Captain and thank you"
"Droids?"
"You tell me" With no more said of the strange situation for now, he joined the rest of the crew in going about taking out as many of the fleeing ships as possible, to avenge those the retreating fleet had destroyed.
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Assault Dropship, En Route to Human colony of New Babylon
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The dropship troop compartment was full of battle ready warriors of the Empire waiting to go into another world facing invasion, soldiers Vicus Hikar'an had lead liberating the fringe colonies of Jusaria and Kotia. Not only had these machines of dared challenge the Empire and attempted to imprison Imperial citizens but now they attack the humans without provocation.
Like many of his people they first assumed it to be a UEC invasion until he boarded one of their ships and took both the vessel and it's alien commanders. Through his visor he checked over his troops, the proud and respected 8th Regiment that had once been lead by General Kurica herself. Altogether the compartment held 11 besides himself, 10 fellow Chimeran and one Chamaele all waiting with a calm demeanor.
A tiny flash of white flickered in the corner of his visor signalling an incoming message with the identification code tag of High Captain Iros Tuchar'an. Pressing on his wrist CyberTool Vicus loaded up the yellow hologram of the Naval officer.
"Commander, the human Captain has sent me all data on the positions of their forces across the planet. This same data is being transmitted to your combat cyber uplink right this second"
"Thank you sir"
"May the Gods grant you luck my friend" The small holo image of Tuchar'an bowed before terminating the transmission. Seeing the link had finished sending over the relevant data he loaded up the map of the colony's capital of Port Alexander. White dots showed the areas the UEC troops were held up and the black represented the machines positions.
Two areas of the city had a high concentration of human soldiers, one situated near the middle of the city and the other on the outer edges. From his experience with the droids he knew they targeted the large forces first before moving on and it was no different this time round.
Unimaginative pieces of scrap, He thought to himself, resisting the urge to snarl at the pathetic creations. Pressing on the side of his helmet to contact his second in command Junior Commander Hek'ot and Pack Master Kilr'us.
"Yes Commander" They both answered at close timing to each other.
"I've marked the location of your deployment. Hek'ot you are to head south to the fringes of the city. Pack Master you are to land east of the city centre, while I'll come in from the north"
"What do we know of the enemy forces on the ground sir?" The Junior Commander asked through the comm link.
"Estimates are believed to be around twenty to thirty thousand"
"Just like Kotia" Pack Master Kilr'us gruff voice said on the other end.
"Indeed. Only the humans have taking a toll on their numbers"
"Understood, see on the battlefield Commander"
"Acknowledged. May the spirit of Kurica guide you" The link was ended and Vicus returned to dwelling on the upcoming battle.
"ETA eighteen minutes Commander"
"Thank you pilot" Vicus thought on the humans who had pleaded for their aid. His personal opinion on the primates was neutral at best. Their culture were strange to him and his people, they were very chaotic and undisciplined in many areas of life but from the few examples of human history he had read they displayed great feats of courage and self sacrifice.
If they still held the spirit shown in their own war with the Purist scum then the Separatist Alliance were in for a nasty encounter.
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New Babylon, Planetside
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"We need a medic over here!" Ben heard somebody call from the other end of the makeshift barricade around Town Hall. Tables, cars, Cheetahs and a Grizzly APC with a working Hellfire turret blocked the entrance with whatever could be scrounged from within the government building and local area. Four Prowlers were guarding at all four sides of the building firing non stop at the seemingly never ending horde of robots converging on their position.
Down to only two clips left for his Razor, Ben kept on bringing down numerous machines having lost count how many he must of killed ages ago. Before the invasion the total strength of the UECAF forces on the surface was 3,500 and he was sure that number was less than half now. The robots overan, in some cases literally, outposts and defensive positions belonging to the 115th and the Marine detachment.
All he knew from what he was informed by Captain Pires and other troops who had fallen back to Town Hall was there were a few holdouts in the school district and the base. A robot tank was suddenly halted 10 metres from the barricade from a Wildfire missile coming from the top floor balcony, above the storm of bullets coming out of the smashed windows from all types of weapons.
"I wish we had a Talos around about now" Michelle said kneeling behind the laser riddled Cheetah next to him, pulling a Hedgehog grenade off her belt.
"Trust us to get a cruiser not loaded with one of those big fuckers" Dan agreed firing the second to last drum of his Hailstorm on top of a table next to the Cheetah. Ben couldn't help but agree too, knowing the heavy walkers would be a massive help and morale booster to the defending troops.
"Hedgehog!" The Chicagoan warned before lobbing it at a cluster of skinny bots. One robot stopped and picked the barbed ball from the floor. Had it had a face Ben was sure it would of had a look of fear as it rose from it's metal fingers and shot out steel, spines of death, burying into the bodies of half a dozen skinnies and a bulky.
"Nice throw Michelle, I saw that from up here" Natalie complemented through the comm, her L5 Sharpshooter's barrel sticking out of the third floor window. The bubble shield of the Prowler guarding the front entrance faded then completely vanished, leaving it to be hit by multiple rounds from the enemy tanks. It stumbled from the rounds hitting the thicker plating of it's body then crashed to the ground from one red high explosive energy bolt crashing into it's knee joint.
"We need tanks, not walkers" Victor complained firing a single Auger round through the Grizzly.
"Hey you dumb fuck!, shoot that shit somewhere else" The gunner of the APC growled down to him.
"Why?, your up there and I'm shooting it down here so what's the problem?" Ben ignored the rest of the argument and fired a Bullseye tag into a silver droid then hid behind cover again, firing blindly at the machine. After firing what must of been a quarter of the magazine he heard a satisfying bang of metal hitting the ground.
"I finally bring one of those tossers down" He said aloud pleased he brought down one all on his own.
"Not bad Corp, but this is the way to do it" The big Tau Ceti remarked sending a hail of dark green down on a squads worth of the headless robots, sending down to the floor in a hail of sparks. Enemy starfighter still roamed around over their heads trying to take out the Mass drivers who were bombarding the ships hovering over the city with great effect.
"Colonel repeat, I didn't pick up that last part" Pires spoke jogging out from the Town Hall. He fired five bullets from his P17 as he approached over to their position, pulling on the secondary trigger blowing up any target the bullets embedded themselves into "Roger that sir"
"What's going on Captain?" Ben asked him as he took cover behind the table Dan had fixed his Minigun on.
"Reinforcements are on the way guys. We just need to hold this position a little longer" A newfound boost seemed to have ignited the defending soldiers, dismay replaced by hope as everyone kept their fingers on the triggers of the guns. Ammo was running low and the robots were getting closer and closer to the first barricade line.
The advancing machines parted as two brown metal thing rolled passed them and uncoiled into tri legged, thin robots with twin laser guns.
"Crap!" A blue bubble shield deployed around the new machines and the twin guns on each of them blasted away, killing two marines and an Army trooper who couldn't avoid their fire. Ben and Michelle concentrate fire on the closest shielded robot but it didn't seem to have any effect and only ended up having the brown bot turn it's attention over to them.
"I think we made it mad" She said sticking closely behind the Cheetah.
"Vic can't you get the Auger on those things?"
"No, Auger rounds can't penetrate through shields" With a sigh Ben stayed behind cover trying to think up of another way to deal with the tough newcomers.
"Walters we're gonna need a hand down here" He heard Pires speak into his comm link, talking to the soldiers on the balcony. The Wildfire launcher looked set to hopefully blast the shield robots to kingdom come when to the shock of the troops on the ground, the balcony was hit by a explosive energy bolt sending the poor blighters down to their deaths.
"Damn!" Pires cursed sharing the same sentiment to the soldiers and marines beside him. More heavy fire was hitting the front of the barricade managing to cause serious harm to the lightly covered sections and screams of pain emitted from those spots. Ben rose from cover ready to send another burst in the robot's' way when to horror the tanks had overtaken the machines path and took point.
"Shit, everyone fall back inside now!" Pires waved to the everyone behind the barricade. To add fuel to the very roaring fire the next volley of red hit a cracked pillar, causing it to fall down on the doorway and blocking their escape inside. Ben's could feel his blood run cold at being trapped and seemingly enclosing death coming their way now that they were completely surrounded.
"Guys why aren't you moving?" Natalie's worried voice rang in his ears.
"We're a little stuck at the moment Nat" Vic dryly responded back. A laser bolt whizzed past his head, bringing Ben out of his daze and returned fire at the machines. After a dozen or so bullets blasted out the unwelcome click of the empty Razor filled his hearing. Dropping it to the floor he pulled out both his P17 Strikers and fired them simultaneously at the robot sticking out of the cockpit of the tank. If his fate had been sealed he was going to go down fighting.
Standing almost in a perfect line with Dan, Victor, Michelle, Captain Pires and the other soldiers and marines firing the last bullets of their weapons, Ben waited for the inevitable ending of life when the column of tanks and their support robots went up in flames.
"What was that?" They all looked up to the sky at an unexpected sight. A wave of silver and black dropships flew over their heads, unleashing rockets and white coloured plasma bolts down on the robotic horde.
"It's the Chimera!"
"What the hell are they doing here?"
"Who cares they just saved our asses" The round of shocked and relieved voices shouted around him.
"Never thought I'd be happy to see the Uglies" Michelle commented next to him, letting out a nervous sigh. Behind them was another explosion, the wall to the ground floor blow outward to reveal the on rushing soldiers of their fellow 115th comrades and marines joining them outside. Henrik emerged from the crowd throwing a new Razor at him with Natalie joining them, once again completing the squad.
"Come on boys and girls, let's not let the Imperial Cavalry steal the whole show"