Stargate, NACR Vendetta, Marathon Class Light Cruiser, 1st Stargate division.

  The Vendetta joined formation alongside the some 100 warships preparing to depart for Arcadia. The strike was to be quick and precise, with no time to spare. Arrive, destroy the fleet in orbit allowing passage for the 8th Assault Division to land their troops. Admiral Jonathan was in charge of leading the assault on the enemy fleet. His steps echoed across the lively bridge as he entered through the armored sliding doors at the rooms rear. "Signal the fleet, all ships prepare to depart. We will be leaving slightly ahead of the Assault division."

  "Yes sir." His XO saluted before turning to the communications officer and relaying the order.

  "Helm, prime the Rift Drive."

  "Of course Admiral." The man wearing the typical grey navy uniform nodded. "We will be ready to depart within the next couple minutes."

  Jonathan sighed, this would be the first military action outside of the Milky Way Galaxy in history. He prayed to not be the one to mess the operation up. His crew had been trained for combat, but the experience of fighting with real weapons at a real target was far harder to do than to fight in a simulation where you could not feel pain.

  "Sir. Admiral Vance is on the line with the other Fleet Admirals." His XO informed.

  Walking to the halo-table his fingers ran across the data-pad before holograms of the Admirals taking part in this operation appeared in front of him. "Admiral Jonathan reporting as ordered."

  "Admiral, thank you this will be quick." The man in charge of this entire operation turned his body to see him. "The details of the attack has been sent to your ship, have you had the chance to see them yet?"

  "Of course. My fleet is ready, the enemy won't stand a chance."

  "Very good admiral, the 8th division will trail behind. I want a path cleared to the surface before we arrive. The 2nd division will take care of any stragglers and cut off enemy escape from the Libertas System." Admiral Vance smiled. "Any questions?"

  After a quick moment of silence the Admiral moved to cut off the transmission. "Very well, Godspeed everyone. See you over Arcadia."

  The connection was cut off.

  Jonathan exhaled sharply, turning to his bridge crew. "Final system checks—make sure we're green across the board. Tactical, update me on our fleet status."

  His tactical officer, a woman with sharp eyes and a steady voice, brought up the fleet readout. "All ships report ready. Shields are online, weapons are primed, and Rift Drives are charging. ETA to departure, one minute."

  Jonathan nodded. "Good. Helm, synchronize with the fleet."

  "Aye, Admiral."

  The bridge hummed with strictly necessary commotion as final checks were confirmed. Outside the Vendetta's reinforced viewports, the vastness of space was broken by the Fusion drives on the rear of warships. The light from the distance star of the solar system reflecting of their hulls. Further beyond, the lumbering carriers of the 8th Assault Division loomed, waiting for the all-clear to advance.

  "Rift Drive charged," the helmsman announced. "Coordinates locked. Ready for transit."

  "Activate."

  Sector 59, "Arcadia", VS Harbinger of Ruin, Admiral Xyrr'Volak.

  It had been nearly a week since the unknown human ambassador had come abord Xyrr's dreadnaught. Things had been quiet aside from the continued human resistance on the surface. The issues plaguing his troops was starting to get on his nerves, he needed to replace Commander Vraal as soon as possible. Struggling to defeat barbarians was an embarrassment to the Varkath name.

  "Sir, the transport from the Imperium has made contact." A officer approached. "They report that they are still 10 hours away due to difficulties prior departure."

  The Imperium had promised a shuttle to get the newly acquired salves off planet. They had significantly delayed their arrival. The fact that the so called NACR hadn't made a move yet also worried him. There had been talk from civilians about how all hell would break loose now that their government had been threatened.

  However there was also that strange signal sent to the surface of the planet that his best communications officers could not decipher. It was after that signal that their enemy on the surface began to fight twice as hard. More rebellions had broken out in the city and without Imperium help that was pledged to arrive he worried that the situation could turn for the worse. These natives were far tougher than any race he had met before. During interrogations the people would not break no matter how hard he pushed.

  "Very well, tell them to make haste." He had a bad feeling about this entire situation. When he had awoken this morning it had felt like all of his sins were crawling on his back.

  Silence fell across the bridge as the admiral watched the planet below as the admiral watched the planet below him. Varkath dropships shuttled between warships and the surface. Carrying mana crystals and food supplies for the troops.

  "Sir! Spatial anomaly detected 60,000 kilometers of our port side bow. I'm detecting nearly 50 of these anomalies!" A officer suddenly shouted earning the attention of the Varkath Admiral who suddenly turned to a projected map of the area around the planet. The map displayed his warships as green spheres and the unknown anomalies as purple question marks. "The readings are getting stronger, energy surge imminent!"

  "What!?"

  "3,2,1-Power surge detected!" The officer shouted as the bridge fell into a frenzy. "New contacts, I'm detecting upwards of 50 warships!"

  "By the Devine they are ugly! Their largest ships measure upwards of 1100 units in length!" Another officer reported. "Weapons detected on the unknowns, unknown type, no magic detected on any of the warships!"

  Although similar in size to his own warship, even slightly smaller. The presence of multiple ships of that size was intimidating to say the least. The enemy warships were as his comrade put so kindly, ugly. Nothing about them spoke of unobtainable wealth and honor. These ships were obviously function driven over all else.

  However despite their menacing appearance he believed in the magic of the galaxy and social hagiarchy that had since dominated. Without magic these barbarians could never stand a chance even when they held a fleet that outnumbered him 2 to 1.

  "Incoming transmission from unknown Flagship!" a member of his crew reported. A small smirk began to take over the shocked expression that had just been dominating his face.

  "Patch it through."

  A holographic projection similar to the one when the strange ambassador had arrived appeared in front of him. It was a human wearing a grey and black navy uniform with golden stars and stripes on his shoulders revealing his rank. "Listen closely, human! I am Admiral Xyrr'Volak, commander of the Varkath fleet above this world! Turn over your ships or face destruction, I will give you this one warning!"

  His fleet of 25 warships formed into a wedge formation. Their turrets now exposed to the unknown likely NACR warships.

  "Now you listen Alien. I don't care who you are, to use you are a beast that has attacked our planet and killed American people. I am here to keep the promise that our ambassador made to you before you kicked him off your ship. Your fleet will be the last thing burning here when I am done with you."

  The connection suddenly cut off. "Vampire! Missiles in bound!" A bridge crew warned.

  "Weapons! Target those missiles! Don't even think about letting them hit this ship!" He quickly ordered. However the missiles were far, far, faster then any similar missiles he had seen in the past. Not only was their speed allowing them to bypass the slower turning turrets of his warships but there were hundreds of these missiles chasing his fleet through space.

  "We are trying sir!" A half minute of antagonizing waiting passed as the warheads continued to grow closer to his fleet.

  "launch countermeasures!"

  From his ships balls of magic launched into the void of space. Designed to emit similar magic frequencies to the warships they were launched from in hopes of drawing enemy missiles away from targets.

  The enemy missiles ignored the countermeasures and streamlined towards the fleet. Explosions in the swarms midst as individual missiles were destroyed. "Brace for impact!" Someone shouted.

  The first of the missiles slammed into the fleet. Admiral Xyrr'Volak was thrown to the floor as several missiles impacted the sides of his ship. Each hit taking massive chunks out of his shields. However despite none of the missile managing to break through the shields on his dreadnaught the impact caused hundreds of internal components to shatter. Gas lines cracking and spewing white smoke throughout the ships interior. Luckily the bridge was mostly safe aside from injuries to the crew. "Damage report!" he shouted over the dreadnaughts internal communication system.

  "Shields at 20 percent! Hull damage in sectors 12-26, we are venting atmosphere!" The damage crew chief reported with panic. "I'm sealing off those sectors before the rest of the ship is compromised!"

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  "Sir, We have lost Nyx Reaper, Wraithclaw, Voidfang, and Iron Maw!" his XO reported. Just what missiles had their enemy used!? they were way to powerful to be conventional. "Talon, Oblivion's Fang, and Doomspire are in critical condition and moving to the rear of the fleet to receive support."

  That made a loss of the fleets 3 destroyers, a super heavy destroyer. The enemy had also put 3 cruisers temporarily out of action. However taking a look at the ships in question he doubted that they would be able to fight again in this battle.

  "More missiles incoming! Range to enemy is 50,000 units!" A crew member reported. Clear shock and a slight sense of fear radiated from his voice.

  "Open fire!" He ordered. "Tell the Talon and Doomspire to move to take the hit for the rest of the fleet!" He commanded. His XO looked at him like he was insane, giving up so many lives. However if he didn't do this the enemy would pick them apart before they ever came close. They needed to get in range. Magic weapons dissipated as they travelled through the void despite strong sequences being cast that would keep the energy together. At a range of over 15,000 kilometers the weapons would never leave a mark.

  "Aye Admiral." His XO grit his teeth.

  The two cruisers formed protectively around the fleet on the side of the incoming missiles. The impact from missiles along their hulls turned the normally colorless void orange. However mere moments later the magic reactors on both cruisers went critical. Blinding the admiral momentarily.

  When the light dies down the two friendly cruisers had been blown into 4 different sections that now aimlessly floated through space. A body of one of the sailors aboard Doomspire floated past the window on his ships bridge causing a feeling of dread to build up within him. However the assault wasn't over yet as his eyes caught the sight of metallic rockets flying towards his ships.

  The ship lurched violently as more missiles detonated against its failing shields. Xyrr'Volak barely caught himself on a rail as his command chair sparked, the stench of burning insulation filling the bridge. The emergency klaxons howled over the frantic voices of his officers."

  His XO looked at him with a worried look. "Sir, we've lost the remaining destroyers. 4 more cruisers are out of commission."

  Xyrr'Volak clenched his fists. What kind of monster were they fighting right now!? His heart told him to retreat, however that would bring him dishonor and he would be executed along with every member of his fleet once they returned home. Their families turned into the slaves they were supposed to bring home.

  "Sir. We have lost contact with the rear of the ship, all sections compromised have been sealed off." His XO continued. "We still have power, but we are no longer able to jump to FTL."

  More missiles impacted the fleet. Effectively bringing them down to their last 5 warships. However there was a moment of pause in the fighting. "Sir! Reinforcements are arriving!"

  Suddenly from behind his fleet nearly a hundred warships of the cruiser and heavy cruiser size appeared. A smirk coming to his face as his crew breathed a sigh of relief, this was the turning point. "Now! Now we break them! Forward, all ships! Crush their lead vessels while they are spread thin!"

  Arcadia, NACR Vendetta, Marathon Class Light Cruiser, 1st Stargate division.

  "Sir the enemy reinforcements have arrived, they now outnumber us 2 to 1." A bridge crew reported calmly.

  "Have our destroyers focus on the first fleet, regroup the rest of the fleet into battle formation Wedge 3." Admiral Jonathan responded from his command chair within the Vendetta. Despite the new arrivals allowing the enemy to outnumber them, he really wasn't that worried. It seemed that the enemies weapons had a far shorter range then their own. Their point defense also didn't seem to be all too affective against large missile swarms, allowing him not to resort to his Particle Cannons. "What is the status of the 3rd division?"

  "Arrival in 20 seconds sir."

  A smirk came to the face of the Admiral to looked at the display screen that highlighted the new enemy arrivals in front of him. "Lillian, create a targeting solution for a fleet wide Particle Beam Salvo. Share the solution with the third division so they can join the attack." He ordered as the shipboard AI appeared behind him on the holo-table.

  "Yes Admiral." The female intelligent AI saluted. Her artificial body fazing out after as she went about her work before re-appearing. "Done."

  "Good, fire as soon as the third division arrives." he ordered.

  "Your just showing off aren't you admiral." The AI smirked. "Alright, heating up the S-PC."

  Sector 59, "Arcadia", VS Harbinger of Ruin, Admiral Xyrr'Volak.

  Something was wrong, the enemy wasn't retreating in the face of his reinforcements. Instead they split a small portion of their fleet to face what remained of his fleet and regrouped the rest of the fleet into a wedge formation that suddenly broke out to reveal the front of each ship to the incoming enemy. It looked like a wall in space comparable to a ancient stacked line formation. The movements of the enemy warships perfectly executed to a degree he had never seen a living creature accomplish.

  "Sir! Spatial Anomalies detected! About 50 more of them!"

  Impossible! The enemy had reinforcements!?

  Flashes of light appeared in a similar formation to the NACR fleet that had just regrouped revealing massive ships that dwarfed his own war vessels. They were clearly NACR, the bold writing on the side of their hulls detailing that much.

  "Sir! Energy readings building on the enemy fleet!" A crew member reported in shock. "I've never seen readings this high before!? Unknown weapon type! It's not magic!"

  "Discharge in-!"

  Beams of white light broke through space at just under light speed from the front of each enemy warship. A point where you would never even know the difference. The beams only lasted a couple seconds before the energy dissipated across the void as tiny sparkly particles. However the result were far more horrifying than anything the Admiral had ever seen before. In the 15 seconds since the enemy reinforcements had arrived. Half of Admiral Xyrr'Volak's reinforcements had been destroyed. If you could even call it that. The 50 ships that had suffered a strike from the weapon were gutted, or split cleanly in half. A devastating weapon.

  "Energy build up on new arrivals. Their going to fire." His bridge crew looked lost. They had given up hope. Just when things had been looking up, the enemy was already 3 steps ahead of them. These humans couldn't be normal, they had to be using magic that wasn't being detected by his sensors! It was a basic unspoken rule, Magic reigned supreme! There was no place in this galaxy for the magicless aside from slaves!

  White and blue energy gathered at the bows of the enemy reinforcements in a similar manner to the fleet that had already fired their weapons. This wasn't even a battle, but a massacre. The enemy would retake the planet, he did not see any other end to this conflict that he had started by killing those civilians in front of what he assumed to be a weak willed human. They had gotten the better of him, he stood no chance.

  His reinforcements were gone. His own fleet now nothing more then a couple heavily damaged warships. "Signal for surrender." He ordered. They wouldn't be monster enough to attack a surrendering ship would they? They would get close then he would open fire, at least saving the little honor he had left.

  "Yes admiral."

  There was a tense pause while nothing happened. The enemy seemed to be considering his request. Some semblance of hope rising in his chest before the enemy finally responded. "They have agreed to our request. However they demand that everyone responsible for the deaths of their civilians on our ship be handed over."

  "Ha as if. Prepare to fire weapons when they come into range! Don't let them suspect anything!" He ordered. His crew looked at him like he was insane. However Volak opened his fist in front of him in a threatening manner a fire ball suddenly appearing as his crew quickly went back to their work. He wasn't going to let himself loose all his honor, the things that would fall upon his family at home if he were to give up without a fight.

  "Yes Admiral." His XO looked away in shame.

  He took one final glance at their enemies newest arrivals. Many of the ships in the new fleet were giants, the fleet of 50 that had originally arrived barely lit a candle against them. The largest ships were positioned at the rear measuring nearly 2000 units in length every enemy warship appeared to be similar in design to the warships of the fleet he was facing. From the fleet the 8 slightly more unique warships peeled away from the main group and headed towards the surface. He had no doubt that their were either carriers or landing ships.

  Minutes passed before the enemy destroyers passed the weapons threshold. "Open fire!"

  A storm of red and gold magic bolts flew at their targets. The balls of magical mana steaming towards their targets at incredible speed. The 5 ships in his fleet managed to fire a impressive shot every 15 seconds per turret. The 5 approaching smaller warships didn't make a effort to avoid, they must not have been expecting Volak to strike when they thought he had been defeated. However his eyes went wide again as bubbles appeared around the enemy vessels. A strange type of shielding he had never seen before that was visible instead of hidden. The bubble was made out of smaller hexagonal shapes. The shields glowed a dim white and never faltered as the enemy continued towards him.

  They weren't bothered by his assault. The enemy ships rolled just slightly allowing a better angle of fire for what he suspected to be secondary weapons. Double barreled turrets and before he knew it a mix of kinetic projectiles and purple purple laser fire flew towards his warships. His ships were rocked as sparks flew across the bridge.

  Where the pulse lasers purely ate away what remained of his shielding that had regenerated and the amour below. The kinetic coil gun projectiles smashed through his armor, knocking the ship back with each hit and causing more damage to areas the projectiles were not hitting from the kinetic energy.

  "May the Devine one curse you all!" he shouted before his vision went white and a explosion gripped the bridge.

  Arcadia, NACR Vendetta, Marathon Class Light Cruiser, 1st Stargate division.

  "Sir the enemy in orbit has been obliterated, the 8th division is moving into position. The dropping of shock troopers will commence momentarily before the carriers break through the atmosphere. All ships are moving into position." The tactical officer sitting behind a digital table with battlefield information on its screens reported.

  Admiral Jonathan sighed. He had accepted the enemies desire to surrender, as was required under the Geneva Convention. However they had used it as a trap, although the trick was unsuccessful it only proved to irritate the fleet admiral more. "Admiral Vance is looking for you sir, he wishes to discuss the next steps after the liberation of Arcadia."

  "Put it through on the holo-table." He ordered, turning around and talking to the table at the rear of the room. The projection of the admiral appearing in front of him. "Sir."

  The 3rd division admiral gave Jonathan a smile. "Well done admiral Jonathan, I doubt that you would have even needed my help during the battle, I look forward to serving alongside you in the future. I have new orders for your fleet fallowing the end of this battle."

  "Thank you sir. I have been wondering what comes next. It obvious that this battle will not be the end of this conflict. Our enemy won't take their defeat with grace."

  The Canadian born admiral nodded. "The 50th division is going to be reassigned as the 1st Arcadian Defense fleet. A new fleet has been dispatched to take over your fleets duties at this end of the Stargate." A momentary pause for Admiral Vance to catch his breath. "You will stay grouped with me for the remainder of this conflict, our fleets will be tasked with working together from here on out."

  "It truly is a honor Admiral Vance, sir. I see good fortune ahead of us." Jonathan smiled. Being tasked with the man projected in front of him really was a true honor, nobody would be dumb enough to turn down the position.

  "So do I, Jonathan." The man looked at his data-pad quickly. "It seems that high command want's us to make contact with this so called Imperium. They also want us to make contact with a unidentified rebelling faction within the galaxy. The Varkath as set to be eliminated from this region of space, but high command does not want a Galactic Incident between the natives and ourselves before we make our presence more known."

  As much as Jonathan wanted to go ahead and wipe the Varkath off the map he understood the politics behind their actions. A war on multiple fronts was never a good idea, history had taught them that.

  "Very well admiral, I also have a report in front on the weapons that were fired against my fleet." The 1st division Admiral looked down at his data-pad as a notification appeared on its screen. "They seem to use a strange type of energy weapon, its fairly effective against shields however are far outclassed by the pulse cannons we use and are more comparable to last generation Coil-Guns."

  The Canadian seemed to think for a moment. "Thank you, Godspeed admiral."