Between The Darkness And The Light

Burnination may or may not notice. Either way, unless something is requested from them...well, you probably know the policy by now.

On Rhea, ammo sales soar.

There's no distress call from either one.

Two months after that, several smaller independent worlds are attacked. They do, however, make distress calls.

Anyone attempting to link these attacks together would discover that each world were trading partners of the Rutians, and what was targeted were the specific items that were traded.

The Rutians still do not respond. Who knows what they're doing.

(ENCRYPTED)
TO: Shein
FROM: Thorgood

I was going to type the classic, if you need us call us message, but you probably already know the lines.

We're here.

We'll refrain from intervention unless you ask for help.

Sincerely,
Thorgood.

(ENCRYPTED)

To: Thorgood
From: Shein

They know. They're attacking trading partners. They haven't attacked the big ones yet, but you could be on their list. We're working on the problem. The Vorlons have been quite helpful since the Keeper was removed. So far, Sikarra has been left alone, but we're watching.

If you wish to help those who have been attacked, I'm not opposed to that. We're not getting directly involved in this just yet. Things still don't make sense to me.

-Shein

(ENCRYPTED)
TO: Shein
FROM: Thorgood

They'll be in for a few surprises if they try to hit us. We know nothing about the attackers, however, and will not get involved until you do. We don't want to end up in a war against an unknown enemy without powerful allies.

Sincerely,
Thorgood

(OOC: I have not forgotten about this.)

The Defense of Sikarra

Four months after the last attack, just when it looks like things are about to quiet down, alarms start going off near Sikarra. The Rutians shoot off requests for military aid. It's unusual that it would happen now of all times since they didn't seem to care before. Maybe it's because it's Sikarra that's being attacked?

(OOC: And I'll wait to see who responds and shows up before continuing, which will NOT be another few weeks wait.)

No response is made.

(OOC: It's OK Rut. We all have times where real life needs to come first.)

TO: Shein
FROM: Jenova

Our military is mobilized and ready to assist you.

Sincerely,
Jenova

Shortly after this message is sent, the Burninite fleet appears near Sikarra. Out of weapons range, but within scanning range. They're hoping to scan whatever they're up against before coming under fire.

There's no official Selathorni response. This time, they're just waiting and watching.

The Burninite scans can't quite lock on to whatever is there. A faint outline is picked up every so often and if they have the capability to freeze the image, it's one of those black spidery looking ships. The Shadows. There's no sign of the Rutians there. The Rutians have to be monitoring. Right? They'll show up. Right?

Popping into existence near the Burninite fleet is an unidentified ship. It's mottled hull shimmering and shifting between purple, blue, and grey. It's not a Rutian ship. That's for sure. The Rutians like their black ships. They'd never go for something this gaudy. Right?

"This is White Star Seven to Burninite Fleet. I am Lieutenant Jaden Hale of the Rutian White Star Fleet. The Shadows began attacking Sikarra two hours ago. Sikarra's doing fairly well standing up for themselves, but they're failing rather quickly now. We thought it would be a good time to stop the Shadow advance. Or at least slow it somewhat. Ready?"

Woah, wait. This is a Rutian ship after all? What the hell have they been up to.

Anyone who saw the Vorlon ship, might recognise some of the hull mottling as similar in design.

A very small force, a single Star Destroyer with the Alpha-Bat Company, is sent eventually to scout things out.

"Nice to hear a friendly voice," Teresa's voice replies along the channels. "We thought it was just us up here, and that scared the crap out of me."

The Burninite fleet slightly changes formation. Its new orientation seems to give off an aura of deadly readiness.

"Your ship is unknown to us," another voice says. Presumably the captain of the actual flagship. "But we are ready for battle."

A chuckle is heard from the comm system. "And here I thought you wouldn't scare easily, Teresa." Arren. Either Arren and Shein are on that new ship, or Arren's just listening in from somewhere else. The other voice gets a response as well. "Good. We're counting on these ships being unknown to them as well." Still Arren.

Lieutenant Hale seems to be willing to wait for Arren to shut up before cutting back in. "We're going to just pop in and straight to battle. You do it however you deem necessary. These are the only ships we're using, so try not to shoot at us since these ships are also unknown."

Arren breaks back in. "It's escalated further. They're attacking ground targets now. Get in there!"

Hale: "Understood."

The White Star disappears, presumably for Sikarra.

The Shadows are indeed hitting ground targets. They're surrounding the planet and a few of their ships have gone into the atmosphere.

The sudden appearance of the White Stars have the Shadows displaying clear caution. They seem to not want to get too close. When one of the White Stars comes close to engage, the Shadow vessel runs away. They're just as cautious about the Burninite fleet. The Shadows aren't retreating completely, but they're not wanting to get into a direct fight.

"Hell!" Teresa replies. "Anything that can take you guys down has me peeing my pants!"

Well that's exactly how the Burninite fleet fights, if you remember. They also avoid direct engagements, preferring to take down the opponent slowly and by attrition without allowing themselves to be hit.

Basically the whole Burninite fleet Warped in, so their formation is as strong as they can make it.

Being unfamiliar with the Rutian ships, Teresa orders the fleet to generally stay away from them to avoid any incidents of friendly fire.

If the fight progresses for several minutes without any engagements, the Burninite fleet will release its Jumpers in stealth mode in an attempt to fly them right down the throats of the shadow ships without even being detected. Now, if they're detected, they'll fight as any fighter screen would.

The Star Destroyer just hangs there, watching and reporting back.

(OOC: Snow Day!)

The jumpers are detected. Once they get close enough, the Shadows don't fire on them, but they do disappear and reappear further away. They're focused on their ground attack, not stopping that to give these other ships the time of day, but they're not letting them get off any shots on their ships.

The White Stars seem to be irritated with the whole flee response from the Shadows. They target one that's off on its own. They don't notify the Burninites, but it's not close enough to them to cause a problem. Five White Stars box in the ship, then a sixth swoops in above and shoots some kind of energy weapon that looks very similar to the Shadow's own energy weapon. It's a continuous shot. Two other White Stars have to start firing before the Shadow ship is penetrated and crumples up with something spewing from each of the three strike locations. It almost appears as if the ship were alive and went through severe decompression and implosion.

Upon realising what just happened, the other Shadow ships seem hesitant. They're ignoring the Burninites right now and are focused more on the White Stars, watching where they are and keeping them at a distance. The ground assault has stopped for now. This could be a chance for the Burninites to get close and try and take one out.

"No you idiot, the GREEN button! The one that's isn't red!" Thorgood's voice comes in on The Spotlight. Teresa rolls her eyes, but the scientist seems cowed and hits the green button.

"OK, it is definitely running now," The scientist says.

"All the lights are steady green?" Thorgood asks. He must be transmitting from back home.

"Yeah."

"Deploy the jammer then," Teresa says.

The scientist presses a few keys.

At this point, the Burninite ships attempt to get close to the Shadow ones as if to attack. When the Shadow ships try to run away using their specific form of FTL or teleportation, the scientist aboard the Spotlight changes a specific subspace jamming frequency. By trial and error, they will eventually determine the correct frequency that will disable the FTL drives used on the Shadow ships. This could happen within the first few tries, or it could take days.

Teresa's hoping for within a few tries.

Whenever they get the correct frequency, they'll prey on the Shadow ships at will. If they don't get it, they'll continue attempting to strike at one before it can flee.

The Jumpers realize they're being detected and de-cloak. Half return to their carrier ships, and half fly down to the planet to rain fire upon the invaders there.

It'll take a few days. More time than they've got here. Eventually, they will get a shot in on one. The one that they do get a shot on does jerk a little, as if punched. It doesn't look outwardly damaged, but it's not running as fast. More like limping. Two other Shadow ships change course, not to intercept the Burninites, but rather to get to their wounded ship.

One of the Shadow ships near a White Star suddenly stops as if something reached out and grabbed it. There's no explanation. It just jerked to a stop and is trembling in space. The nearby Shadow ships scatter. They all out run. They're leaving that one that's trembling to it's fate. They're now staying further away from the White Stars. Unfortunately, that means the Burninites are about to have Shadow Ships all around them. Fortunately, the White Stars follow where the Shadows go. No more trying to keep from engaging in friendly fire incidents. It's now all in one spot. With the exception of one White Star and one Shadow ship.

From the comm system, a burst of static, then a message from the lone White Star. "Telepaths! They're weak against telepaths!" That will be the last message from the White Star as five Shadow ships shimmer into existance behind the White Star and fire on it. Even though the hull is mottled similarly and the weapon looks similar, the two ships are not similar. One shot from one Shadow ship would have been enough to critically cripple the White Star. Five at the same time? The White Star goes out in a blaze of glory. Well, kinda. It did manage to take one of the Shadow ships with it since it was just too close to the explosion.

(OOC: Burn, when are ya gonna do the February report? )

After watching for a while, the Invidious, the Star Destroyer observing, fires down on the surface at Shadow forces. Several boom tubes open up and the Imperial fleet pops out, led by the Gantrithor. The Eclipse-class ships there open fire on with their planetary crust-shattering turbolasers. There is no kill like overkill.

(OOC: Yes, it's still alive and kicking. Don't really want to go back through all the posts in the old forum to look up the names of all the ships I ever named. The only ones I remember are Susquehanna, Gantrithor, and Kusanagi. Only the latter two are Eclipse class.)

(OOC: YAY! Even more backup! Will wait for Burn's post before making mine.)

(OOC: When I have time. You have no idea how much schoolwork I have.

I'll respond to this ASAP.)

(OOC: Okie. Just asking since it's the 4th already. I know how RL can be.)

"This isn't working," Teresa says, frowning as once again, the Shadow Ship they had been pursuing vanishes despite their attempts to jam it.

"And you have a better idea?" The scientist asks.

"As a matter of fact..." Teresa says.

A few minutes later, an encrypted communique to the Rutian and Panzerian fleets at the scene. It looks like a starmap of their battlezone, with a few fields marked as space minefields. The caption says "Avoid these areas. We have an idea."

The Burninite fleets go after Shadow ships again, this time hoping that they DO teleport or FTL to safety. I think you have the gist of the Burninite plan this time.

(OOC: Will do military report as soon as I am done with this essay I'm writing about Macbeth. Or was writing before I got sidetracked )

They comply with the request not to go in those areas. Many of the Star Destroyers turn their attention to Shadow ground forces, obviously not firing at full power as cracking the planet's crust would not be conducive to good relations with the Rutians.