Not With A Bang, Nor A Whimper

Khaine nods in understanding, and continues to watch the tactical feed. Frowning at the situation on Dreva, "Perhaps you should consider taking us up on that offer for Rangers," he comments.

Shein shakes his head. "Not yet, if I do." He calls up the tactical situation on his monitor. "Once we liberate Rutia enough, I'm going down there. Seeing me in the Jade Palace might be the edge we need. Arren was right on that one."

Arren looks at his own console. "Dreva is going to be the hardest to free. There's a reason it's home to the military. The fact that Dreva sided with us instead of with the Isolationists simply means that the military backs Shein, it's just that the Isolationists are not playing fair. Nor do I expect them to. They need all the help they can get to break away. They just knew that with lack of support, they couldn't do it. They had to go to extreme measures."

Shein doesn't even look over there. "And that will be their downfall."

(OOC: Nothing more to add, aside from sitting back and watching. They've already offered all the help they're going to offer, so all that is left is to watch more events unfold.)

It takes about twelve more hours for Rutia to be in a position where Arren deems it safe enough for Shein to go to the surface. He does so, though Arren only allows him in the capital city and at the Jade Palace.

Shein's first order of business is to send out a signal from Rutia, though bounced off several relays so that it can be heard.

"The planet of Rutia has been liberated from the so-called Republic. It has been brought to my attention, however, that the Republic has been using implants to control the population that they claim. Because of this, no one from this Republic will be punished for fighting against the Imperial Republic, provided they submit to a telepathic scan to determine whether or not they believed the rhetoric spouted by those responsible. Brothers and sisters, Dreva is still suffering from this Republic. I ask that you do whatever you can to assist in our liberation of Dreva."

It's clear he's in the Jade Palace and this is likely to have an instant effect. And it does. The Isolationists actually attempt an orbital bombardment of the Jade Palace, only to have their attempt thwarted by an apparent shield in place around the Palace.

The Isolationist ship is quickly taken out by the Raptor, still in orbit.

The other instant effect is the way that those on Dreva, who did receive the broadcast thanks to Shein's bouncing it all over the place to heighten signal strength, do rise up against the Isolationists. Even those that took refuge due to being in care of small children and/or elderly. Even some of the children seem to be willing to fight.

In a showing of solidarity with the loyalist forces, Burnination's ambassador to Rutianas returns to Rutia with his staff.

More condemning! Also, anyone with missing limbs gets them replaced with mechanical ones. They do fairly similar things the Burninites do, but in smaller numbers corresponding to fewer aid workers sent there.

Three hours after the announcement, the fighting ends on Rutia with the surrender of the remaining isolationists. The implant is quickly removed from all of them and security is heightened around the Jade Palace.

Dreva is still having difficulty and Imperial forces are calling for help. Shein is not deaf to their cries and does send extra ground forces to assist with the liberation of Dreva.

Four hours after the announcement, the two neutral core systems declare themselves loyal to Shein. Upon that proclamation , Shein does direct ships and troops to help the two systems defend themselves from the Isolationists.

Khaine, Jenova, and Thorgood are all prepared for Shein to ask for Rangers to help liberate Dreva. Otherwise, there's nothing more they can do, except continue to provide medical assistance. They won't interfere otherwise without Shein's direction or request to do so.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

(Unencrypted)
TO: Councillor Erik Moell, Rutianas
FROM: Consul Jenova Incinerator, Burnination

You have seen the futility of resisting the forces of Emperor Shein Darson. You have also seen the great loss of life incurred among civilians throughout this very short civil war. Finally, you have witnessed Emperor Darson's grace in offering amnesty to those who could legally have been put to death.

Put the pieces together. Your course of action should be quite clear.

Sincerely,
Consul Jenova Incinerator

Shein receives word about the Rhean's assistance. He does seem a little nervous about that since the Isolationists were experimenting with that. In fact, there's only a few Rutians that even agree to it.

Dreva finally manages to repel the Isolationists. Those that don't surrender retreat and the isolationists attempt to pick them up. Because they don't have teleporters, they have to land transports. The Imperial ships keep them on the ground and manage to take several Isolationist transports.

Shein sends out another message with the news that Dreva has now been liberated. For some reason, he names two possible systems for liberation next. Ordura and Kendor. Who knows why he bothered to do that. Surely he must know that the Isolationists are going to increase military presence there.

They are assured that it will be almost impossible to tell the difference between their new limbs and old just by looking. Synth flesh and all that.

It's probably not helpful to that cause that Burninite specialists can simply make lost limbs re-grow.

If this is a deception, the Burninites aid it again by obviously repositioning sensor equipment to watch the two planets named by Shein.

They're still wary of mechanical limbs. Doesn't matter if it looks the same.

The Imperial forces pop up in the Teshin system around Mittlesind. Looks like Shein's decided to go to the heart of the matter. After all, this is where the ship went to that sent out that signal at Rutia.

Isolationist ships are thin here. They took the bait and the majority of their fleet is at Ordura and Kendor. By the time they can respond, Mittlesind is overrun with Imperial forces. Fighting is fierce, but it appears that the Imperial Republic may have the upper hand.

In orbit, Isolationist ships are being destroyed, with no indication of who's firing on them. There are some Imperial ships, but they're not doing much fighting. They're there to get the ground troops down to the planet. All the volleys are coming from what appears to be empty space. The other unusual thing? These aren't projectile weapons. They're energy weapons.

Sensor Command has redirected its sensors to Mittlesind, and their usual power supply is vastly boosted. They want a good readout on Shein's new toys. They want to know if it's cloaking, or what.

Sensors don't show anything. At least on the Rutian side. The Burninite sensors might pick up a shadow of what appears to be the Raptor each time an energy weapon is fired at the Isolationist ships. The energy used might be plasma based. Whatever it is, it looks to be powerful. It's making mincemeat out of the isolationist ships.

The isolationists pick up on this and stop sending reinforcements. Instead, it looks like they may be attempting to evacuate from Mittlesind now.

If it weren't for the boosted power to the sensors, nothing would have been picked up. And if it weren't for Shein previously admitting to Jenova that the Raptor can cloak, they might have missed it completely. Also given that it was firing weapons though, and that Burnination boosts the most sensitive sensors (according to Thorgood anyway), they were able to figure out that it was the Raptor.

Though, a fleet of ships like that would be devastating.

Otherwise, same story.

Yes, it would be devastating, but Shein also admitted that the Raptor was the only ship that had the cloak. The energy weapon, however, is something he didn't admit to.

The Imperial forces appear to allow the evacuation of people from Mittlesind. Or at least they're not being shot at. Once they disappear, it would seem that Mittlesind is now under Imperial control.

Not really monitoring this carefully, hunts for the Sith and all, the Rheans say nothing.

No change in any Burninite responses.

The evacuated ships are tracked to the Ordura system. The Imperial response is an immediate attack on that system. They're now pressing their advantage. It's stopped, however, when the Isolationists seem to have found a way to track the Raptor, or they're just getting lucky shots in. After a few of those shots, the cloak seems to fail or it's dropped. Either way, the Raptor is now visibly fighting with the rest of the Imperial fleet.

*********************

"We have to find a way around that shielding!"

A very exasperated sigh. "It's similar to the body shields. A slow object can penetrate it."

************************

The Isolationists now seem to have found a way around the shields. Their fighters are getting in past the shields with thrusters before they can be destroyed. Once they're in, it's a free for all fight. The Raptor is damaged and has to withdraw. Once the Raptor leaves, the rest of the ships do as well.

*************************

On the Raptor, after withdrawing from the fight, there's confusion and general bewilderment.

"What just happened?" Shein touches his forehead, wincing as he does so. He lowers his hand and brushes blood off on to his shirt.

Arren picks himself up from the floor. "Obviously, they found out the one weakness of the shield."

Shein closes his eyes briefly. "But how?"

Arren dusts himself off, then grabs a medkit and starts tending to Shein's forehead laceration. "They must have someone who knows."

Shein shakes his head. "No one would have defected to them. No one."

Arren nods. "So if it wasn't that, they made a lucky guess."

Shein looks up at Arren. "They seemed to be able to track us."

Arren nods again. "Which is why I've come to the conclusion that they have someone who knows about this tech."

The two look at each other for a moment before understanding passes between them.

Not much changes, though if the Rheans do find out about the cloak, they'll really start looking into buying some very expensive anti-cloak sensors.

(OOC: Wait, was I right about Kennah too? If I was, I am some sort of prophet or something )

When the Raptor withdraws, Khaine immediately reports his safety to Jenova, then sees Arren tending to Shein. Having been fortunate to stay safe himself, he looks around to see if there are any other casualties on the Raptor that may need aid.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

(ENCRYPTED)
TO: Shein
FROM: Jenova

Damn it, I told you technological advances of this nature never last as long as one would hope. And High Command did suggest pressing your advantage sooner.

I'm sorry, I shouldn't be speaking to you like that when the very same thoughts are probably running through your mind.

Are you all OK? We saw the Raptor take some hits that time.

Sincerely,
Jenova

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

(ENCRYPTED)
TO: Shein
FROM: Thorgood

We'd like to send The Spotlight to follow The Raptor next time you engage. We think we can help keep those fighters off you.

If you take a leap of faith and send me the complete schematics for your shields, I might be able to come up with a quick fix that will stop their fighters from getting through so easily.

Sincerely,
Thorgood

To: Jenova
From: Shein

I'm fine, Arren's fine, but we lost several of the crew. I'm not sure what the hell happened. They shouldn't have been able to track us. Arren thinks they have someone there that knows this new technology. If that's true, then pressing the advantage wouldn't have helped. We'd have gotten our asses kicked sooner.

-Shein

**********************

To: Thorgood
From: Shein

I believe you have some of our personal shielding there already. That's what we went on. We're already trying to adjust it now. We knew about that one problem, but we didn't think they'd figure it out.

-Shein

***************************

With the retreat in the Ordura system, the Isolationists return to Mittlesind and within a full day, retake the planet, pushing the Imperial forces back. With the Raptor out for repairs and the isolationists knowing how to penetrate the shielding, there's very little that the loyalists can throw at them. They do put up a good fight before having to retreat though.

Rutia and Dreva get a defensive boost. The other two core systems loyal to Shein also get a defensive kick, but not to the same extent.

(ENCRYPTED)
TO: Shein
FROM: Jenova

Any idea who? Can you tell me it's not who I fear it is?

Sincerely,
Jenova

(ENCRYPTED)
TO: Shein
FROM: Thorgood

I'd need exact schematics to come up with an exact fix.

From what you've just told me though, see if your techs thought of not actually fixing the glitch with the shield, but instead modifying it so the shield wraps closer to the ship. This way, their same tactic won't work because they can't get inside the shield with fighters.

If your techs have to actually modify the shield output, the fix will inevitably be larger and a longer process.

Sincerely,
Thorgood

To: Jenova
From: Shein

No idea who it is, if there is anyone there.

-Shein

*********************

To: Thorgood
From: Shein

Not a bad idea, actually. I'll have them work on it.

-Shein

************************

Yes, he ignored the bit about sending the schematics.

Shein returned to Rutia while the Raptor was being repaired. Of course, that means that Rutia has more defensive ships than the other systems. Several of the independents sent ships to defend the four core systems that fell in with Shein as well. Even the Pandati sent back up, and they weren't even a part of the Imperial Republic. However, with Shein's heritage, there's no real surprise. The Pandati may not have sent ships, but they did send warriors. Those warriors were adamant about being stationed at the Palace and they got their way after Shein heard about their presence.

The other races of the Imperial Republic, Comideran and Danite both, throw in their allegiance to Shein. Those on isolationist planets attempt to flee to loyalist controlled systems. Many make it. Some are captured.

In orbit around Rutia, a second battle begins for the planet. This time, the loyalists are not going to fall back. They've taken Thorgood's recommendation and wrapped the shield closer to the ship. This does eliminate the weakness the isolationists took advantage of earlier. The fighters can't get through. Seven hours of fighting eventually results in the isolationists falling back, their attempt failed.

He also ignored the part about the Burninites sending The Spotlight along with The Raptor next time it goes into battle. But that's another story.

And it looks like he helped without the schematics just fine.

Without consent to send The Spotlight, the Burninites are again left with no further way to help. Khaine helps out on the Raptor as best he can, and medics help out with the wounded from previous battles, but nothing new.