Chapter 2: First Blood

63 minuets before the Roman Dealine
127the Emperor Hetto
Home, Tau Ceti

Atvar was standing near the control consoles of the banner ship trying to coordinate the final preparations of the conquest fleet, which is now converted to the fleet that will defend, Oh, so sacred Home from the vile attack of these savages who call themselves as Romans.
Atvar wasnt alone in the command deck, there was his agitant Hsing and the highest ranking shiplord Karel, and the rest of the shiplords were in video conference with the Fleet Lord.

"...Straha,
since you are of the highest ranking shiplord in that area, you will have over all command of the forces that incharged of the defence of sector 13 and most of our killercraft production facilities.
Therefore you control your own forces plus those of the 67th, the 210th, the 101st and the 22nd.
Their respective shiplords will be answerable to you and you will only be answerable to me.
Your orders are simple, you are to maintain control of that area at all costs.
That concludes the assignment of duties. The next agenda is the our estimated assesment of the enemy's strength. Which will be given by shiplord Karel"
After Atvar said that he turn his eyeturrents to his second in command and gave him an affirmative gesture,
to tell him it was Karel's turn to speak.

Then Karel assumed the posture of respect and began to speak
"As we all know these Romans no matter how savage, posses the capability of interstellar travel
-the rest of the shiplorda gave him an affirmative gesture meaning they agree with his point-.
Therefore they would most likely posses industrial capabilities meaning they can produce firearms, create altilery and perhaps they could also posses the ability to create killercrafts and landcruisers of their own, which is presumably inferior to our own. However it is unlikely that they could posses the knowledge to create explosive metal bombs. But we must also be open to that possiblity no matter how unlikely it is. For prudence is the way of the race"

Hearing that statement, several other shiplords began to talk among themselves. A few even hissed in displeasure at the possibiliy of these Roman savages possesing explosive metal bombs. As Karel looked at the other shiplords, he noticed that Straha, his chief rival was just standing in front of his view screen not seemed to be moved by the statement.

Not minding Straha. Karel began to continue "Our detailed analysis of all twenty of thier ships in orbit we have also concluded that they would have no more than a million troops carried by their ships, therefor we out number them more than ten to one. Praise the Emperor
-all of the males cast down thier eye turrents at the mention of their soveriegn-
that they brought so few ships in thier fleet, which would make our defence easier."

Then Karel continued" with those things in consideration we can assume that victory is in our claws. For we have both the numbers and superior technology..."
Before he could finish Straha so rudely interupted him saying" I dunno about you ship lords, but I wouldnt put much faith that we have such an technological edge for they have clearly shown that they are our technological equals or perhaps superiors, when they showed their ability to hack in our systems when they delivered their ultimatum"
After stoping for a breathe Straha added" plus our analysis of their ships show that they are made of an unknown element. Is this both not a show of technological prowess?"

Before Karel could respond Atvar quickly butted in because he was sensing another fight between the two" enough you two! now let us concentreate on finishing the preparations before the deadline is over.

18 mins before expiration
High orbit
Starship Odessey

Legionnairy General Julius Licinius Tiberius was sitting again on the command deck of the Flagship making final preparations for the openning moves of the invasion he quickly called his XO "whats the situation report?"
In a most militarily effecient manner his XO answere" Mightly general, the final repairs to the damage done by the ion storm to the armor of the starships were completed seven minuets ago,
All the tanks are fullymanned, fully armed, and are ready to be deployed,
The scramjets and atmospheric bombers are now fully manned, fully armed and are just wainting launch orders
And all starships are now at geosync chronus orbit with their respective landing locations, they are just awaiting orders ."
Then Tiberuis replied "Very well now connect me to all the commanding officers of all the ships that will land the troops."

His XO saluted then pressed the nessesary buttons on the console to do his orders, then an image of all the other ship commanders appeard.

Seeing that he was connected with the ship commanders he said
"Centurions! You are to move your ships now, to low orbit above the planet
-low enough to be hit by ASAT missles he thought, but such is the risk of landing ground troops-
to commence the final stages of the preparation. God speed to you all"

As one, the Centurions saluted him then replied in perfect unison "Sir, yes sir, For the Roman Senate and the People of Rome, glory to the Roman Star Empire!"

4 mins before exipiration
127the Emperor Hetto
Home, Tau Ceti

"Hsing! I want all killercrafts to be already airborne by now and all ground forces to be already dug in!" Atvar nervously issued the orders for its only a few mins before his first battle and not just any battle on a far away planet like Tosev 3, but a battle to defend Home from invaders, a battle to defend all that is sacred to the empire, a battle to defend all the Race hold dear, a battle to defend the empire itself, Atvar thought.

Atvar's thought was broken when his agitant replied "exhaulted fleet lord! All the killercraft are now airborne and all groundforces are now properly dug in. What now fleet lord?"
"Now we wait Hsing, now we wait" Atvar replied, then his agitant and Karel gave the affirmative gesture signifying they agreed with what the fleet lord said.

Zero hour
Same place
Same planet and system

As the alarm hissed for attention, signifying the expiration of the deadline and the start of the hostilities between Rome and the Race. Atvar quickly jummped into his senses. He quickly made an oreder "Order the launch of twenty explosive metal bomb armed missle to each of the Roman starships in low orbit."

" It shall be done exhaulted fleet lord" Hsing replied then he pressed the buttons on the console to launch the missles.
A second later three hundred eighty missles were launched from the 67th Emperor Josano, whose trail of smoke from their rockets could be seen from the armorwindow of the command deck of the 127th Emperor Hetto for both ships are only 20 km away.

As the missles aproached their targets it would take about five mins for the first to reach the neareast target at the speed of sound. The smoke trail from such a large number of missle launches moving at the speed of sound were just awe inspiring. Making Atvars jaw drop in amusement when he thought of the Romans reaction when seeing such a number of missles targeting them, then bieng the recieving end of such firepower.
As the missles were out of visual range, Atvar looked at the console to keep track of the missles which would take down the enemy ships before they could land. As the missles assigned to the nearest target aprouched less than a kilometer away from their target. The console switched to a camera view of those missles as they neared the Roman starship.
Then Hsing said
"10 seconds to impact of the first missles,
9..
8..
7..
6..
5..
4..
3.."
Before he could finish the count down.

A bright beam of extreamely focused red light suddenly hit the missles, and they hit and destroyed them one after another. Then after a second all that was left was clouds of smoke from the destroyed missles and the Roman ship was still seen floating in the sky with its belley clearly seen from the camera view.

After seeing the demise of the missles. Atvar was awe stuck by the scene for a few seconds.
Finally he came to his senses and said
"By the Emperor!
- all three males cast down their eye turrents at the mention of thier soveriegn-
what just happend to the missles?"
Hsing quickly replied "Exhaulted fleet lord, I just dont have a clue
-then added an imphatic cough-
it seems that these ships have a light based defence system to protect it from missles."
"They're probably skelkwak lights no doubt, but how could they make them produce such fire power" Karel added
Then an eirie silence riegned through out the command deck as the three males made deep thought of what just happend, while watching on the console, missle after missle be destroyed by these skelkwak light defence systems, as the missles neared the Roman ships they were targeting.

3 minuetes later
206th Emperor Yower
Sector 13 Home

As Straha looked at the explosive metal bomb tipped missle that was targeted to the nearest Roman starship to him explode into a million pieces as it was hit by these skelkwak defence systems.
He said to the other ship lords who were under him" I warned them that these Romans were very advanced but that addled Atvar and Karel would not listen. Look at the price of our arrogance."
Then the ship lord of the 101st spoke "what should we do superior shiplord?" then added an interrogative cough.
"Now we wait, after all its still their turn, spirits of emperors past I hope we'd still have something left after their done."
"Truth!" the other ship lords replied.

Sometime later
High Orbit
Odessey

On board the only ship which didnt leave for low orbit, General Tiberuis was looking at the view screen showing the last of the Race's nuclear missles were destroyed by the Laser Point Defence Systems of the Star Empire's starships they were targeting.
Then he gave a wierd smirk in his face which is what tosevites use to show amusement.
After catching a breathe he said to the entire ship and all the centurions who were linked with him through the communications system "Now its our turn and this time we will show these lizards the meaning of shock and awe"
Once again making that wierd smirk tosevites use to show ammusement. He ordered his XO "Now lauch the hypersonic cruisemissles on the predetermined targets and remember use only conventional armament."
Then his XO nodded and pressed the buttons to launch the missles.
The general then gave another order " Now launch the scramjets and also tell everyone to hit only military targets and minimize collateral damage. After all, Rome wants this planet intact."
Then he said to his XO
"Now let us see how they react to real missles, and not those pitiful excuse that they use."
Then both made the anoying barking noises that tostevites use as laughter.

Seconds later
127th Emperor Hetto
Home, Tau Ceti

"Exhaulted fleet lord! Exhaulted fleet lord" Hsing called out to as he looked at the view screen.
What is it Hsing!, Atvar replied and quite a bit anoyed.
Hsing replied" Exhaulted fleed lord missles have been launched from thier flagship and are targeting our forces and they are moving at..."
-taking a second to look at the screen to determine the speed of the incoming missles-
"Impossible! There has to be something wrong with the sensors!"
Hsing added as he saw the regestered speeds of the missles.
Then he added an imphatic cough to show how wrong he thought the sensors were.
"How so?" Karel who was standing biside Atvar asked.
"It says that its moving Fourty times the speed of sound, which would be an impossible speed for missles" Hsing replied.
Before Atvar could say anything they felt the ship shook as a few of those impossible missles hit their nearby targets.
Seeing the sensors near him Karel said" Military units near us were hit"
Then Atvar said "well if it was an error it wouldnt have hit targets near us this quickly, so it has to be true"
Then he thought why did they not hit this ship while they hit nearby military targets for this ship is clearly a more important target than those hit.
Then Atvar realized a more important question,
So he said"Hsing why werent those missles intercepted by our anti missle missles?"
"Exhaulted fleet lord, thier missles were moving to fast that our antimissle missles did not have ample time to intercept them." Hsing replied.
There were so many questions that Karel wanted to ask but he asked the most important one,
"Were any of them tipped with explosive metal bombs?"
"Negative ship lord, all of the missles seem to be conventional in nature. We were right to assume that they do not posses explosive metal bombs. Otherwise some if not all of those impossibly fast missles would have been loaded with explosive metal bombs" Hsing replied.
Then Atvar said "Praise the emperor for that
-all three males cast down thier eyeturrents in respect of their soveriegn-
and with that we may have an advantage against them, but the main problem would be is how to deliver the explosive metal bombs so that they may hit worth while targets."
"Truth!" the two other males replied.
Trailing from that thought Atvar then added "what are the damage reports Hsing?"

6 mins later
High Altitude
Home, Tau Ceti

A formation of two hundred and fourty eight killer crafts were flying towards the nearest Roman ship.
On the centerleft of the formation flightleader Teerts was flying and communicating with his small wing of twelve killercraft. "...those missles of theirs that hit our ground forces are impossibly fast and accurate, makes me nervous to think of what thier killercrafts are li..."
But befor he could end the word a male from the right most part of the formation reported a hit. So Teerts listened to the audio chatter that was going on.
"... I repeat two killercrafts down..." one pilot said
"Negative, I dont detect enemy killercraft must be one of those fast missles that hit them." another pilot replied
"Another hit! four more down! I repeat four more down!..." another pilot said
"There! I saw the Roman killer craft that attacked them and its black and is moving very fast!" another said
"Negative I didnt see it in my Radar" the pilot beside him replied.
"Me too but I saw him with my own eye turrents" the previos pilot replied
"They may have some radar hiding technology" He added.
"Impossible! There is no way to do that"another pilot replied.
Then two more pilots acknowledged thar they also saw the hidden from radar killercraft.
Then the commanding officer of the formation realizing that it was most likely true that there was a radar hidden killercraft said"I will relay this information to HQ"
Then he gave an order" Commence flight formation 21, launch counter measures, perform evasive manuvers and stay on this area. Enage the enemy then immediately notify the other pilots if any of you have a visual on the enemy."
As what he learned from the academy, Teerts began to move towards formation 21. While doing that he can't help but think about not wishing to be the next target of these Roman killercraft.

Same time
Almost the same place, higher atlitude
Same planet

On board his S-117 Pheonix Scamjet, Flightleader Flavuis Brutus was talking with his wing man about the enemy aircraft while running circles and playing with the enemy jets.
He said to his wing man "...well I just think that these pathetic excuse of aircraft move like turtles and they also seem to be ingnorant to the words stealth or scramjets, for they clearly dont even use the simplest forms of either"
Then his wing man replied "right you are sir, and also don't forget that their detection systems have only a fraction of our range and accuracy. Their aircraft are like a century osbsolete and ..." before he could finish the other wing man spoke
"Sir the enemy aircrafts seem to move to a defensive formation to maximize visual detection" the other wingman said.
Then Brutus replied "There not superdumb after all, just plain dumb"
Then he made an anoying bark that tosevites use as laughter
"Ok, the knife fight is over boys. Thats enough playing for one day.
Now switch to ALRAAM's (Advance Long Ranged Anti-Air Missle) and attack them just outside the enemy's maximum range to minimize aircraft losses, in other words so we wont loose a single aircraft." he added as he too switch armaments.
"Yes sir! Switching to ALRAAM",his wing men replied as they pressed the nessesary buttons to put them online.
When flight leader Flavius spotted another wing of four enemy aircraft. Knowing that his outside their visual and sensor range he did'nt even bother to do evasives. He just skweezed his joystick to launch eight ALRAAM's, two for each enemy aircraft.
He then turned around to return to base to reload for he just fired his last missles. And also he wanted switch to a fully ALRAAM ordinance rather a mixed one to fully exploit the enemy weakness.
He radioed his wingmen
"Im going back to base to refuel, reload and stock on pure ALRAAM ordinance, I suggest you do so to after you use up yours"
As he was moving at a cruising speed of eighteen times the speed of sound back to the base.
He followed the missles that he launched on his DRADIS screen.
These AA-86 pillia class ALRAAM's were trully fire and forget missles, for you could just fire them then fly away, he thought
as he saw them on his DRADIS screen, hit and destroyed all four targets and damage a nearby aircraft who was unlucky enough to be hit by the debries.

An Hour Later
High Orbit
Odessey

"Give me a Legion wide broad cast" the Legionnairy General said to his XO
Then his XO pressed a few buttons then nodded meaning he completed the order.
As General Tiberuis saw the gesture, he knew he was already online then he began to speak.
"Roman citezens! Many if you may ask why Rome has ever come to this horrid dust bowl of a planet. But you must not forget that it is Rome's duty to civilize all sentient species of the universe to the Roman way of life, to a better way of life. Even if they may be as ugly as these Lizards. Another reason would be to protect Rome itself, for this planet would give us a total of six extra solar worlds, but what makes this dustbowl unique is that it does not have thousands just like our other conquest, it has billions of sentients which would almost double our population, therefor giving us the edge we need to defeat our enemies. Those who would threaten to destroy Rome.
After this is all over, many including I may lay dead but we lay dead knowing we died for Rome, We died for our families and we died doing what is right.
It was once said by one of our greatest generals,
That the great questions of the day will not be answered by speaches and majority desitions but by blood and iron.
And in this case by Blood and Trinium.
By Roman blood and Roman Trinium in the hands of the Empire's Legions.
So Centurions land your ships and unleash the might of Rome, Fight well Roman citizens, For the Roman Senate and The People of Rome! Glory to the Roman Star Empire! May God be with us all."

Next chapter: Blood and Trinium
The war intensifies, the land campaign has begun and a more inside the characters look on the war.