It all began with the Bretonian annexation of the Zoner home world Gran Canaria several months ago. Uncountable numbers of inhabitants desperately fled their homes and sought refuge deep in the Omicrons. Not long after, Bretonia lashed out in Omega-3, this time assaulting Aland Station. The Order Overwatch, unwilling to standby as this wounded animal assaulted yet another innocent group, decided to make a stand and aid in the stations defense. The defenders held out well, but eventually the station fell none the less.
Xander let out a small chuckle thinking back to how fast things had gone since then, even if it had felt like ages. The Order attack wings moved into position, escorting the four reinforced transports into the safety of the asteroid field from where they'd launch their assault on the captured station. "Picking up contacts on scanner, looks like the IMG ships are already in position." A quick glance confirmed the escorts findings, a good sign things were in position.
"Glad to see you Alpha Wing, are the enemies of our enemy in position?" There was a brief moment of silence before the IMG ship confirmed. "Kappa Wing is in position, we'll upload the weak spots to the navigational computers of the transports now." Ah yes, the weak spots. The whole thing that gave this plan a chance of success. As the former owners of Aland Shipyard, IMG was intimately familiar with it's schematics right down to every scratch, bump and vulnerabilities. The transports, loaded with a wide assortment of volatile explosives, were sure to provide impressive fireworks.
"Alright then. Alpha Wing. Beta Wing and Kappa Wing move in, take no transports for the initial wave, they'll come in later after we've softened them up."
The operation had officially begun.
Bretonia had fielded a significant defense force, counting at least three wings including a bomber, all supported by the stations defense turrets.
The blasts shot past the cockpit of Alpha Wings ship, narrowly missing their target thanks to a last moment dodge.
"Alright, careful everyone! Those blasts might be slow as hell but they pack enough of a punch to take on capital vessels!"
A likely redundant warning, but adrenaline could get the best of everyone at these times so why not play it safe?
The battle raged on for over an hour, three transports already having rammed their targets, resulting in large explosions shortly after. The defenders seemed too caught up in fighting off the attacking ships to initially realize the transports approaching, let alone what they were carrying. Now the fourth and final transport was moving in however and the defending bomber saw opportunity to break away and try to take it out before it reached its destination.
The final transport however, carried a different kind of payload than the other transports had. While they had been rigged to explode after impact, this ship was carrying several special cannisters as well as a special squad of Order operatives. Xander grimaced as he saw the bomber approach them, it had been going pretty smoothly up until now, but it seemed that was out of the question now. Without wasting a beat Xander took manual control of the transport, managing to adjust course just in time to avoid an incoming Anti Matter Cannon shot, one of the cannisters knocking over in the process. "Pick that up, are you insane!?" he barked. "If that stuff gets out in here the whole opp is done for!"
The Bretonian bomber turned around for another bombing run, sights squared on the transports. 1000 meters. 900 meters. 800 meters. The station was so close! If they tried to dodge now, they'd have to make a large u turn and try again, time they couldn't afford to lose. "Don't worry bud, I've got you." A familiar voice on the comms before Rockhound showed up behind the other bomber, blasting it with everything he had. It was enough of a threat to cause the bomber to change course, buying enough time for the transport to reach its destination.
An unexpected payload
"Everyone hold on!" Xander shouted mere seconds before they rammed the station near one of the drydocks.
The impact of the crash had been disorienting to say the least, but each member on board knew what to expect, shaking it off shortly after.
This was the moment of truth; time to see if the adjusted warheads the Cleopatra provided held up to what was promised.
Xander kicked open a latch on the front of the transport, and beckoned the commandos to move out immediately.
The alarms were belting out loudly on the station, crew running from place to place to put out fires and make the needed repairs, chaos aplenty to move quickly towards their goal. Once Xander let out a small sigh before shaking his head once he and the commandos were deeper into the station, reaching into his pocket and withdrawing a small remote. "Alright lads, only one way out now." he stated before pressing the button. The station shook as another explosion wracked its hull; the transport they had come in on now destroyed.
With the attention of the crew no doubt focused on the latest explosion, the commandos quickly slipped onboard one of the docked ships; the HMS|Leviathan. The very same carrier ship that the Luxor had scanned shortly after the fall of Aland. The ship was currently in for repairs and was largely unmanned, it quickly became apparent however that what few crew members were stationed here were desperately trying to make it ready to launch and join the assault. It made enough sense; a carrier would turn the tables of the fight immensely.
Now onboard the vessel Xander and the commandos spread out, each heading to several key locations, including life support. The commando at the life support opened up the warhead, retrieving one of the valuable cannisters inside. "You know what they say Bretonians." he mused before hooking it up to the air flow. "What goes around comes around." A split second later the cannister started to empty, pumping its contents into the air flow of the ship.
During the Fall of Aland, the Bretonians and Crayterians had made use of a special kind of gas, knocking out the entire crew of the station in mere moments. In a cruel twist of fate, it was this very kind of gas that the commandos were now using to incapacitate the crew onboard the Leviathan. Protected by their gear, the commandos quickly evacuated the now knocked out crew and took control of the ship. Xander walked up to the captain’s chair and took a seat, his eyes drifting briefly to the built-in tea holder. 'Yup, this is a Bretonian ship alright.' he thought to himself before clearing his throat. "Alright, time to start the engines and start charging that Jump Drive. We'll need to break free from the docking clamps before we initiate the jump. We don't want to take half the station with us."
With great force, the Leviathan broke free from the docking clamps, the fight outside still ongoing deeper in the Wilkes Ice field.
Alpha, Beta and Kappa Wing were taking losses spread over the different assault waves, but there was no denying how tenacious their pilots truly were.
After what felt like ages, the Jump Drive finally finished and the Leviathan seemingly disappeared without a trace.
Armageddon
With a blinding flash of light, the Leviathan arrived in a different system, safely removed from the fight at Aland Shipyard.
"Jump was a success sir, shall we send word to the Overwatch on the successful capture of the Leviathan?"
Xander chuckled and nodded his head as he got up from his chair. "Yes, but make sure you use Wedjat encryption.
And find out where we are first. The last thing we want is for Bretonia to intercept the message and show up while we're isolated like this."
For the briefest moments Xander seemed to ponder, removing his helmet and adding. "And it's not the Leviathan. It's Armageddon."