Chapter 2: Battle for Hanoth: The Void lights up!

2245 hrs (IST = Imperial Standard Time) 247.06 M3

With a discharge of energy reality split and the massive Replicon Fleet emerged from what form of FTL they utilized.

Of the 930 ships that appeared just outside the system, one hundred and thirty were amalgamations of fighters, of the remaining eight hundred ships, no less than three hundred were Jackal class ships while five hundred ships were of the Dirge class. But unknown to the Imperium of Man only about four hundred and twenty Dirges would engage the enemy the other eighty while otherwise looking the same if only a bit bulkier than their 'normal' counterparts were different on the inside carrying surprises for the Imperial forces.
The replicons were a result of the replicators consuming necron technology and adding it to their own though the necron technology soon took control and the Harbinger took control of the newly born replicon forces.

While understandably the focus was on the destruction of the necrodermis and the finding of a C'tan to take control of the necron part of the replicons one aspect that had made the replicators so fearsome had been nearly overlooked and forgotten.

Replicators overwhelmed their enemies with the mass of troops advancing heedless of any losses. This aspect was mirrored in the replicons where they built masses of easy to build ships, instead of relatively few exceedingly tough and deadly units as the original necrons preferred, though this was in part shown in the symbiosis between the replicator cells and the necrodermis making the neo replicons nearly impervious to any kind of fire.

But the most fearsome aspect of the replicators, ironically one with which they mirrored the humans of Terra in many ways, was their ability to adapt, this had been the cause for the near loss of the Asgard to the replicators something which had only been remedied with the building of the Ant-Replicator weapon using Ancient technology.

While the replicator part of the replicons was still susceptible to the fire of the Anti-Replicator weapon the replicons were still able to adapt to other innovations brought upon the battlefield by the Second Imperium of Man.

Imperial victories on several planets on the ground had resulted in the replicons backing off for a few days before striking surgically at several worlds and then withdrawing to analyze the situation, a tactic that had in one case resulted in the capture of an Imperial general. Utilizing their tried and tested method the former human form replicator known as Seventh had plunged her hand into his head extracting his knowledge of Imperial weaponry used on the ground and the tactics it was used with, before a shot with her gauss weapon had stripped the screaming man's flesh from his bones molecular layer for molecular layer until he was nothing but a pile of bones.

What they learned concurred with their observations on the ground. After an initial beginning where the Imperial forces were mostly made up of infantry with only a few artillery pieces and tanks encountered, this had now changed.

The Imperium had now held on long enough so that the production of tanks and artillery was beginning to show as the numbers of both deployed on the battlefield steadily grew.

Already on several occasions a group of Hydra flak tanks with some artillery support had held a small valley, their fire never letting the replicons advance nearer than twenty yards from their lines.

Leman Russ tanks had smashed apart advances in conjuncture with artillery and infantry.
The Imperium was growing ever stronger on the ground, laying down amounts of fire that not even the masses of replicons could make it through successfully.

On the ground the Imperium was growing ever stronger and winning the war until...the replicons played their strength and adapted.

With the information ripped from the Imperial general's mind and from their own observations it was clear that to combat the flood of tanks and artillery appearing on the battlefield heavier units were needed. And so the newest replicon troops were born.

But not only did the replicons learn to adapt to the war fought on the ground but the many fleet engagements with the Second Imperium of Man had taught them to be more tactical versatile than just charging forward into the waiting guns, something that had become especially important as the Harbinger had decided to attack the Imperium on a broad front.

Whilst this had lead to quite a few minor defeats and recently a major one at Hidaga, it did have the added benefit that the Imperium was not able to concentrate it's forces in one overwhelming mass, such as before the Battle of Maroth.

The Battle of Maroth had had extensive repercussions. For one it had forced the Imperium into a strategy of buying time as the strategy of attrition no longer worked, as the replicons had managed to recover the means to create more necrodermis (though even so, the process was long and resource intensive, severely limiting the amount that could be produced). In a second aspect it had brought forward the the creation of the new battleship classes for the Imperium, the Ragnarok and Orilla classes, that had proven to be so effective at Hidaga. Furthermore the Imperium had evolved the I.G.L. into a truly fearsome and effective fighting force, fortifying towns and worlds with the new classes of space stations.
For the replicons the Battle of Maroth meant a change in tactics, instead of an overwhelming attack on a single target, their fleet sent out tendrils of ships to embroil the Imperium on a wide front, attacking many worlds simultaneously. It also meant that necrodermis was not a finite resource anymore, resulting in the creation of more immortals and especially more replicators in the mold of Fifth, Seventh or Ninth creating beings who were capable of independent thought and as such, capable of commanding the fleet 's tendrils in the absence of the Harbinger.

Through the replicator link every replicon shared with each other, tactics the Second Imperium of Man had used against them, were relayed by survivors of said tactics and counters worked out, though one might have to add that even though a replicons body and brain reacted far faster than a humans', intuition and instinct still evaded even the most sophisticated replicon, with perhaps the exception of the Harbinger, making the replicon tactics not as flexible as desired, though the advantage of mass was sure to rectify that particular flaw.

It was such that when reality split and the replicon fleet emerged from their form of FTL, they emerged on the edges of the Hanoth system just as their commander Seventeenth had willed it.

With a mental command the fleet began to split into several parts.

The majority of the fleet, some seven hundred and thirty vessels stayed put with eighty seemingly modified and bulkier Dirges in the middle, protected by a shell of two hundred and twenty Jackals and three hundred and ten Dirges with a hundred fighter amalgamation ships interspersed throughout them . Of the other two hundred vessels that had separated from the main fleet, five groups consisting of four Dirges each broke off, spread out like the fingers of a hand and prepared to jump. The other one hundred and eighty ships took up a crescent shaped formation consisting of clusters of six vessels (two Jackals, three Dirges and one fighter amalgamation) that got thicker towards the middle.

After taking up position they waited for the mental command from Seventeenth to jump.

At 2354 hrs (IST), 267 06 M3 the command to jump was given.

The die had been cast and now the dying could begin.

On board the Raven Feeder Cmdr. Lucretius was observing the replicon battle observations and preparing his own forces.

Ever since the reconnaissance force had showed up, the fleet defending Hanoth had been on alert and they had prayed to the immortal God Emperor that he may speed the reinforcements to arrive before the replicons.
But although the foe had arrived first, the knowledge that reinforcements were not far off and at this very moment racing towards them in great strength gave them comfort and hope and steeled their resolve for the fight to come.

As such Cmdr. Lucretius and every other captain receiving the data from the outlying sensor drone platforms were quite flabbergasted at the actions that the replions took.

Seeing the formation and the separation Lucretius was the first to grasp the concept behind it and he loudly cursed the foul Xenos and their trickery.

Activating the vox unit he opened up an encrypted channel speaking to every ship under his command,

"The enemy has chosen to split his forces in the hope of hitting us with one part, while rebuilding their losses they take from the resources gained from the fifth planet in the system. This cannot be allowed to happen. The Raven Feeder and the Terran Defenders Will of Steel, Winter Rose, Arrow of Retribution and Lord Exactor will accompany me. The other Terran Defenders will split into pairs and prepare themselves to immediately jump into the vicinity of the incoming scouting groups. The Fell Vengeance and Othala's Revenge will position themselves between Halo station Alpha and Halo station Beta.

I you do not manage to completely destroy the scouting forces, then return to assist the Fell Vengeance and the Othala's Revenge. One last thing. Once we jump you all enter hyperspace and stay there until the enemy shows up, then you intercept him. It is supposed to look as if the entire force is responding to the enemy's bait. Yet only those ships I have named are to truly follow me. Once the enemy appears we will fight a stalling action. Do not do anything rash. When the reinforcements arrive, I intend them to be the hammer and us the anvil. Between us we will destroy the foul Xenos! In the Emperor's name!". The last sentences were bellowed throughout the vox by Lucretius and transmitted to the entire fleet, so that a roar of all the thousands serving on the ships of the Imperial fleet could hear their commanders intentions.

And as one they all bellowed back in a voice thousands strong.

"In the Emperor's name!"

As first the scouts and then the baiting fleet received the signal to jump and jumped, in response so seemingly did the entire fleet of the Imperials and Seventeenth on board the bridge of a Jackal class ship smiled as the baiting group appeared over the fifth planet in the System.

The smile immediately vanished as only five ships appeared in front of the baiting fleet. In confusion Seventeenth looked on to see where the bulk of the enemy forces were.

He was soon to find out.

As soon as the Raven Feeder and it's escorts had fallen out of hyperspace directly in front of the thickest concentration of ships within the bating fleet, the Nova Cannon installed on the Raven Feeder fired.

From such a close vicinity and with the enemy packed into dense clusters the first replicon ships stood no chance.

The massive discharge completely vaporised an entire cluster and continued onwards destroying two more Dirges and one Jackal, as well as practically shearing off half of the remaining ships in the cluster.

The Anti-Replicator weapons on the battleship and her escorts had also opened up, the precise appearance right in front of the replicon fleet proving devastatingly effective as the Anti-replicator weapons caught three complete clusters and parts of two more at complete unawares eliminating the fighter amalgamation ships and forcing the necrodermis in the other ships to show itself.

As the necrodermis showed itself the lances on the Imperial ships discharged, wiping cursed Xeno ships from existence.

With nearly a fifth of their force wiped out in the opening salvo and half a dozen ships damaged, the remnants of the attacked clusters fell back to reform themselves, while from the flanks new clusters raced forward to envelope the Imperial ships. Green gauss blasts crossed the void impacting on the void shields of the Imperial ships, the Will of Steel being damaged and falling slightly behind.

In response the Raven Feeder accelerated driving deep into the enemy's formation.

Then with the Raven Feeder neatly surrounded by enemy ships, her escorts were left behind protecting the Will of Steel and covering her back with their weapons, the battleship's mighty broadsides lit up and stayed lit.

From her weapons emplacements Anti- Replicator weapons discharged, exposing necrodermis that her lances, Asgard P.G.G.s and Plasma cannons targeted, while the replicator blocks were targeted by the battleships mighty railguns whose force smashed apart any replicator block they touched

From the Imperial ships poured their fighters engaging the multitude of fighters as the amalgamation ships broke apart into their component fighters.

Explosions blossomed around the Imperial ships signaling the deaths of I-301s, replicon dragon fly fighters and replicon ships.

Blue plasma and bright light crossed the void smashing into the replicon line that came on. In response green lightning was returned from their gauss weapons impacting on the Imperial Void shields.

The Void had lit up in a beautiful yet deadly display of energy and light.

The Arrow of Retribution was hit by several gauss discharges and her shields collapsed.

Several more hits ripped away large weapons emplacements and explosions blossomed along her starboard flank. Another hit disabled her lance and with great holes from which debris and personnel poured into the void she tumbled away rotating on her axis, fires raging throughout the ship.

As electrics sparked, crewmen were charred to a crisp, an explosion in a weapons chamber caused the crystals to shatter and sent thousands of razor-sharp shards flying. A crewman who had turned around as a console exploded and set the woman operating it on fire, was hit by dozens of shards which instantly killed them. Another received a shard through his right eye and into his brain killing him too instantly. Engineer Saul Truford who was working on the crystals was engulfed by the shards and his flesh stripped from his bones.

On deck 7 in corridor E eleven men and women were engulfed by fire and burned alive,

the ammunition for several point defense railguns exploded on deck eleven killing dozens and wounding or maiming over a hundred crew members, fires had broken out by the dozen, while nearly a dozen wounds spilled equipment and men into the void.

On the bridge of the Arrow of Retribution the captain was desperately clinging to his chair as another series of explosions racked the ship.
"Send fire control teams to the most affected areas and send medics out and helmsman bring this ships back on course! Major Arrin? Can we get the void shields back up soon?" The Major a pretty woman with wavy brown hair and a slim figure, who was responsible for quite a few dreams amongst the crew, glumly shook her head.

"I'm sorry sir, but the damage is extensive, it will take an hour or more to get them back online."

Grimacing Colonel Andras, the captain of the ship, his voice betraying his worry, asked ."What about the the hyperdrive can we still utilize that?"

Major Arrin only shook her head. "No sir. Both hyperdrive and sublight engines are offline. We're near dead in space with no control over our ship."

As she delivered the damming report, Colonel Andras visibly sagged. Then he pulled himself upright and asked for the shipwide vox.

"Attention crew, this is the captain speaking. The Arrow of Retribution has been hit hard and is unable to continue the fight. We have lost weapons, shields and engines. Make your peace and prepare to meet the Emperor. The Emperor protect you!"

Seconds later two Dirges that had made it past the deadly defence of the Imperial ships fired their weapons.

The gauss blasts tore into the Arrow of Retribution, reaching her hyperdrive and exploding the energized naquadah, tearing the ship to pieces.

Although with her shields down the transporters of the Will of Steel managed to get some off the ship, the captain, the bridge crew and over eight hundred crew were not so lucky and went down with their ship.

With the Raven Feeder's Nova Cannon once again discharging and eliminating several replicon ships while her broadsides and lances had turned many more replicon ships to dust, indeed already dozens more enemy ships had fallen to the fury of the Imperials, nevertheless the Terran Defenders were falling. With the Arrow of Retribution destroyed, the Will of Steel crippled (but still fighting) both Winter Rose and Lord Exactor were taking damage, even though the enemy was concentrating on the Raven Feeder who too was already showing the first signs of battle. The battle looked hopeless, when most of the remaining enemy ships, fourteen clusters suddenly jumped out, leaving behind barely thirty five ships of which the majority was damaged.

What had happened?

Seconds after the Imperial ships had exited hyperspace and attacked the baiting fleet, the scouting groups appeared over Hanoth.

The all appeared on the near side of the planet, where the planet's two continents were situated.

The five groups were spread out evenly and instantly began to scan the defences, the planet for resources and the general make up of where the cities, mines and especially the stargate were situated.

As they came out of their strange FTL, the westernmost group immediately came under fire by Halo station Beta, whose weapons turned two Dirges into dust straight away while damaging a third and leaving only the fourth intact. The same fate befell the easternmost group, only it was completely wiped out coming under the fire of Halo station Alpha and one Aegis platform.. The next group also suffered damage as did the group immediately to the east of the westernmost station, though the damage they sustained was one Dirge destroyed in each group. The middle group suffered no damage and began recording and sending data back to the main fleet.

Then the paired Terran Defenders emerged from Hyperspace.

Within seconds the damaged Dirge of the easternmost group had been finished off and the remaining Dirge now found itself penned in between the broadsides of both cruisers. If the replicon ship had had a crew it would've been frantically trying to transmit as much data as possible, as such even so the ship recognized it's primary mission and diverted all power to sending the accumulated data so far, before it was destroyed.

The Group next to it fared little better, the damaged ship being destroyed in the initial volley. With the Aegis platform already engaging the group, the two cruisers had the group's remnant in a crossfire from which not a single ship escaped nor did they survive for long. The same went for the now westernmost group, who too died quickly in the Imperial crossfire.

The middle group, which so far had been unmolested had been jumped by two pairs of two Terran Defenders in a pincer movement. The criss-crossing Anti-replicator discharges and beams of energy from the ship's lances quickly forcing the necrodermis to expose itself, which was then duly vaporised and the remnants of the ships then blown apart by the railguns. Still the middle group managed to survive longest and did manage to not only transmit the biggest amount of data, but also managed to damaged the Terran Defender Dread Horseman.

On board of his Jackal, Seventeenth would have screamed in anger and rage, if he'd been a human.
But he was not. So even though anger and rage coursed through him, they never clouded or impaired his "judgement".Instead his mechanical brain received all the information gained from the scouting groups before their destruction and analysed it.

In mere moments his brain had processed the fact that the enemy had countered his bait strategy with an ambushing strategy of his own. It processed the given information that these defensive platforms were well shielded and dangerous, especially the two large ones and that four of the smaller ones were being built. He processed the absence of the two other battleships reported initially and calculated the probability that they'd intervene and emerge in an inopportune spot for the replicons at a pretty certain 99.9 per cent (the point one percent was the allowance that humans and their train of thought always had an unpredictability in them).

With the same percentage it was calculated that the interception group for his baiting fleet would try and disengage and reinforce their brethren, something that considered the devastation this one battleship had wrought could not be allowed, especially in the light that the two larger station possessed even greater firepower considering the amount of lances that had been registered.

Finally though he received the information that the stargate was located within a city on the northern continent. Then the last part of the news was received and if he were human he would have cried for joy!
Naquada and trinium were to be found in great quantities on this world, yet only on the northern continent, where the majority of the population and mines were located, yet even so, even with such great news even greater news was made known to him.

Neutronium!
This planet had the ingredient that was needed to create more of his kind, more immortal warriors to do the Harbinger's bidding and cleanse the galaxy of all life in the great red harvest of the Necron.

It had been mere seconds since he had received the data and processed nearly instantaneously. To take such time was nearly unheard of (at least for a mechanical brain), yet the knowledge that the replicons would have to move fast and smash apart the heavy defences the Imperium had erected with as few losses as possible as it had already been observed that in cases where the world seemed to be important to the Imperium the humans would utilize the stargate and other technologies to call for reinforcements.

The defences the Imperium had erected were of a calibre not yet encountered by the replicons and from what those ships sent to gather information had found out, they were of a terrible potency. As such an assault would have to be both overwhelming and successful, while losing a minimum of ships, as the Imperium had surely sent reinforcements on the way that could arrive at any given moment.

Thus Seventeenth made his decision and after the command had been given the replicon ships deployed and jumped.

The next act was about to begin and death had only received an appetizer so far, now the the table would be set and the preparations were to be made so that death may feast and overindulge himself.

The replicon ships had formed up and had jumped.

Then they appeared in a blinding flash.

The replicon fleet had assumed a very unusual disposition and formation.

As the Imperial sensors on the Cruisers and Space stations swept over them a pattern soon became clear, in fact the replicon plan was clear as day and yet it possessed a frightening potency and power.

If seen from above projected on a two dimensional map, the relicon left flank was strung out in a line, each cluster of the formation acts a post in a picket line. They moved against Halo Beta and Aegis 4, the defensive platform just "east" of it as well as well as the pair of Terran Defenders the Solaris and Lunar Eclipse, in an obvious holding action protecting the vital middle fleet and heavily concentrated right flank with the fourteen clusters that had been withdrawn from the baiting fleet, whose remnants were still engaging the Raven Feeder and her surviving escorts in a holding action not allowing the Imperial ships to disengage.

Ten clusters raced toward the next pair of Terran Defenders providing the link between the left flank and the midst.

The midst of the replicon fleet was made of the eighty bulkier Dirges escorted by ten fighter amalgamation ships as well as fifty fast Dirges and twenty Jackals covering them, with Seventeenth on a Jackal at their helm surrounded by four Dirges, leaving the remaining forty-six to cover the flanks.

At the front were fifteen more fighter amalgamation ships supported by forty jackals and seventy Dirges aiming directly for the group of Terran Defenders that included the damaged Dread Horseman and which subsequently held the vulnerable middle of the Imperial Line.

Ten clusters made up of four Jackals instead of two and with only one Dirge instead of three as well as the customary fighter amalgamation ship, a configuration which decreased their tactical flexibility but increased their offensive potential,branched off to engage Aegis 2, the western platform protecting the orbital factories and shipyards.

These factories and shipyards had been erected in the few months since the findings of the Dread Wolf and the the subsequent declaration of Hanoth being a fortress world of the second Imperium of Man

protecting them were two Aegis platforms, Aegis 2 and 3 as well as the two Terran Defenders who protected the vital gap between Aegis's 1 and 2 which protected the vulnerable back of Halo Alpha, where the empty lances were rotated to, and the orbital factories and shipyards themselves.

The main brunt of the attack though were the fifty clusters which raced for Halo Alpha and Aegis 1 bolstered by the remaining five fighter amalgamation ships to counter the mass of fighters that Halo Alpha held.

The remaining forces, twenty Jackals, formed up into two prongs to outflank the Imperial lines to divert resources from Halo Alpha, such as discharging Lances early and Aegis 3 further splitting the attention of the Imperial fighters to protect the vital orbital factories and shipyards.

Seeing the replicon deployment on his holographic display on board the bridge of the Raven Feeder, Commander Lucretius (Commander as his nominal rank was that of a normal Colonel, though as commanding officer of a task force he held the brevet rank of Brigadier General, so in order to distinguish between those who truly held the rank of Brigadier General and to show that he commanded a task force he was named Commander, a rank which helped when groups of ships converged to form a single fleet, a Brigadier General would command the fleet, while assigning those experienced and tactically sound Colonels, the rank of Commander to command individual task forces or squadrons within the fleet, while still establishing a clear chain of command) asked his XO, Lt.-Col. Aras Bocage, to assume command of the ship and the squadron temporarily while he surveyed the situation and directed the remaining Imperial forces in the battle.

Seeing the situation he had to talk several deep calming breaths so as to clear his head for one and for not exploding in curses at the situation, yet in his mind he cursed the damned Xeno commander, for the situation he now faced himself in was terrifying.

The extended left flank would keep those forces opposing them from doing any good while the heavy deployment on the right flank made it impossible to take the opportunity granted to them by the extended enemy line. Halo Alpha and Aegises 1 through 3 were in dire need of support being under attack by a monster with several tentacles extending to envelop them.

Yet, no matter how powerful the right flank and attack was, Lucretius immediately saw through the tactics employed by his enemy and he cursed.

Although the right flank was no more than a massive distraction, Lucretius nevertheless knew he could not ignore it, as the Halo station and the Aegises protected the vital production facilities, something the Imperium could not afford to lose no matter the danger posed by the enemy centre which would smash through the thin defending line of Terran Defenders, one of which was already damaged, and then descend on the northern continent to consume all of the vital resources the planet held, something that equally could not be allowed.

Inside his mind Lucretius cursed, yet he knew that a decision was required of him and so he made on.

Giving the signal to the twin Orilla battleships still hidden in hyperspace he spoke through the vox to their respective commanding officers.

"The Fell Defender will come out of hyperspace at the junction between Halo Alpha and the tendrils trying to outflank us. She will serve as a bastion to anchor the extreme left of our line and will counter the enemy's main thrust. The Othala's Revenge will take command of the squadron of Terran Defenders that oppose their centre, including the damaged Dread Horseman. I will try and finish these remnants of the baiting fleet off as quickly as possible or disengage to come and help you. The plan is clear. Deny the enemy! Make him bleed! Buy time for the reinforcements to arrive! The Emperor protects!" With that Lucretius disengaged the vox and took command of his immediate battle again, all the while praying silently that the promised reinforcements might arrive soon.

Turning to his attention to the holo-display which depicted the battle he saw that the Orillas had come out exactly where he intended them to.

Already their Anti-replicator weapons had discharged and their lances had destroyed several Xeno ships, damaging even more. He saw the display lighten up as the hundreds of fighters in Halo Alpha as well as from every Imperial ship were launched to combat the suddenly appearing Dragonfly fighters, as the amalgamation ships broke apart as intended.

Chaos now reigned as battle was joined. The blue of Asgard P. was joined by the red of lascannons firing as the Replicons closed the range. All of it was underlit by the bright light of lances discharging, thousands of miniature explosions as bolter and railgun rounds detonated which were ever so often blackened out as the Orillas fired their torpedoes and miniature supernovae blossomed. The Imperials were merciless and fighting like men possessed. In return the beautiful deadly green of Gauss weapons firing, lighting lashing out from Dirges at the Imperial fighters and the beautiful, hypnotizing dull matte silver of the necrodermis showing itself were contributed by the Replicon armada as they returned fire with the coldness of machines.

In quick succession the quite a few jackals and even more Dirges were lost to the furious Imperial barrage. The answering fire lit up the Void shields of the Imperial ships. Yet for all of their ferocity and bravery the Imperium was losing.

Though the Raven Feeder was the uncontested master of her fight, she was unable to disengage from the fight, the nimble replicon ships staying just in range of her weapons while still being able to intercept and disrupt any attempt of Lucretius to open a hyperspace window. In desperation Lucretius ordered both the Lord Exactor and the Winter Rose to leave the Will of Steel to her own devices and to support him. When the orders reached the ships' captains they all knew what that meant. The Will of Steel would probably perish, a sacrifice for the Imperium and the survival of the Imperial citizens living on Hanoth. Realising this the captains steeled their hearts and gave the orders to advance.

The Will of Steel's captain, Lieutenant- Colonel Drusus Terrok activated the vox.

"No matter what happens we will fight to the last! Even if we were to fall, our souls are safe in the Emperor's protection. Ave Humanatas! Ave Imperator!"

Then as the two still largely undamaged Terran Defenders raced forward to help their larger battleship brethren, Terrok surveyed the scene of the battle on the holo-tank before him. The Will of Steel's few remaining I-301s were still desperately trying to shield the damaged ship from Dragonfly pattern fighters but were slowly being destroyed one by one.

With the addition of the Lord Exactor and Winter Rose the Imperium's forces were pushing the replicon forces in this part of the battlefield back, the aggressive move having pierced the shell of replicon ships giving the initiative back to the Imperium.

Piercing the shell of the damaged Dirges and Jackals that had been harassing the Raven Feeder the two Terran Defenders sudden offensive forced several enemy ships out of the way to evade their activating broadsides. Unfortunately for them for quite a few ships the only way away from the lethal Imperial broadsides was towards the Ragnarok- class ship they had been harassing.

Finally seeing her chance the Raven Feeder's broadsides once again lit up, targeting the enemy ships that so thoughtfully positioned themselves into harms way.

Already damaged from the battle and only intended to be a harassing force by Seventeenth, the Dirges and Jackals that now found themselves being targeted by every weapon in range the Ragnarok- class ship possessed, were ruthlessly destroyed.

Now with nearly a dozen enemy ships cleared out of the way, the Raven Feeder was finally abale to rejoin the main battle.

But when Lucretius surveyed the battlefield he was shocked, a massive hole had appeared in the Imperial line and the replicons were exploiting the gap and ruthlessly pouring through.

What had happened?

What nobody had ever thought of, was the fact that the Imperium would one day have to fight a defensive, static battle.

This sort of battle was the worst that could happen to a force of Terran Defenders, as they were simply not designed for such a feat.

Despite their size, with the inclusion of Asgard technology, the Terran Defender was a very fast and agile ship, a fact that complimented its terrifying frontal array of weapons. Modelled after the Space marine Strike Cruisers, the Terran Defenders had been designed to break an enemy's line of battle and then either finish him off with their broadsides or forcefully land ground troops on the enemy planet. This kind of fighting a battle was further accentuated when production had been ramped up, and Segmentum High Command had taken a leaf straight out of Terra's history books and equated the terran Defender with the German U-Boot of WWII. Copying the tactics employed by the German submarines in that war, the Terran Defenders were grouped into "Wolf Packs" during battle, a configuration which was terrifyingly effective and which let them tear huge chunks out of an attacking Replicon fleet.

This tactic was even employed on the defensive, Terran Defenders utilizing their speed and agility to outflank and outmanoeuvre the enemy.

With the development of the Orilla- and Ragnarok-classes of battleships, the Imperium now had a secure way of anchoring their fleets by creating such a deadly kill zone by the armaments of the battleships, that the cruisers were now free to counter-attack, outflank and tear the enemy fleet apart, something which had been demonstrated at Hidaga.

On their own though, holding a line statically, with only their frontal weaponry to bear on the enemy (which was not too great as the Terran Defender had been constructed as a line-breaker and as such was pretty sleek and slim), the Terran Defenders were severely outclassed by the mass of enemy ships bearing down on them.

Although they had the help of the hundreds of I-301s from Halo Alpha which also turned the immediate space surrounding it into a kill zone, no Replicon ship had yet made it through.

Aegis 2 was doing it's best to herd the enemy into a funnel that the Terran Defenders frontal weaponry (especially the lances) were able to cover, while the four Terran Defenders protecting the orbital factories and Halo Alpha's back were blasting away at the enemy with fanatical fervour.

Dozens of replicon ships were destroyed or damaged, being herded into kill zones and unable to mount an effective resistance.

And yet...

Despite the losses the xeno fleet suffered, despite how uncoordinated at first their response was, still arcs of green lighting arced from the enemy ships to smash into the frontal void shields of the Terran Defenders, slowly but surly eroding them.

This was further accentuated as after a while the simple mass of Dragonfly pattern fighters forced the I-301s back.

Now was their chance!

With an effective fighter screen in front of them, this part of the Replicon fleet now formed up into a vast three-dimensional wedge and, keeping out of Halao Alpha's kill zone, they charged the thin line of Terran Defenders which were forced to stand and fight, bereft of their advantages, standing ready to receive the worst the Replicons could throw at them.

They received it.

The charging wedge was met by wave upon wave of Anti-Replicator-Disruptor wavesexposing the necrodermis. Frontal mounted lascannons and railguns added their weight of fire to the vast, bright beams of deadly light that were the lance batteries.

And yet it did not matter.

Lances are not like other energy weapons, but rather need to be "reloaded", thus there existed a time when after a lance had been discharged, it was far safer to approach a Terran Defender frontally.

Which is what the Replicons did.

Sacrificing their frontal ranks to the Imperials fury they nevertheless pressed forward. With the wedge growing wider the longer it got, the death of the ships in the front ranks had only served to bring even more ships to the front, an acceptable exchange in the eyes of Seventeenth. The replicon fleet tendril replied and the mass of green lightning and gauss discharges raced towards the Imperial ships where it struck the frontal void shields.

For a moment it seemed as though the shields might win the battle with the amount of energy pounding upon them and lightening them up.

Then a second volley struck the Imperial ships and in a shower of sparks and an explosion in a multitude of colours the shields collapsed.

A Terran Defenders hull is thick and its prow is armoured even more heavily in the typical Imperial fashion imported from the First Imperium of Man.

Yet even so, the unholy energies arcing along the hull and discharging upon the prow were too much for the Imperial construction.

The Terran Defender Blade Runner was the first to die, it stood in the centre of the formation and was hit by over two dozen gauss blasts and arcs of lightning within less than a minute after her shields had failed. Her front practically disintegrated under the amount of xeno fire, a further blast splitting her open like a gutted fish. The Scorpio was next, her prow was mangled beyond recognition and the lightning arced along her starboard side with such force that the dozens of wounds from which air, equipment and crew spilled let her tumble uncontrollable towards Halo Alpha. The Intrepid ruptured and blew up, glowing like a brief but bright star. Only the St. Lucia survived the onslaught, though was damaged extensively and limped away trying to find safety with the group of Defenders clustered around the Othala's Revenge, dozens of surviving I-301s escorting her behind the Metalicana and beside the equally damaged Dread Horseman.

Through the breach the Dirges and Jackals poured. Aegis 2 turned into a sun mere moments later, and with the Imperial line now broken, the fleet that had achieved this splitting, with one half attacking the now vulnerable back of Halo Alpha and the area with where the empty lances were rotated to, with only the Halo stations other weapons and the still remaining mass of I-301s standing between Halo Alpha and annihilation.

The other half, and this was worse, now spread out, damaging the vital orbital factories but more importantly creating a safe passage for the invasion fleet.

Although Seventeenth had originally planned on smashing the Imperial centre and thus forcing a landing, with the Imperial left broken and a massive hole appearing within, he was nevertheless quick to capitalize on the opportunity which presented itself.

While half attacked Halo Alpha an the remnants of the Imperial left wing, the other half ot the victorious fleet had outflanked the Imperial centre and pinned it against the planet.

Shifting those rather chunky looking Dirges and their escorting Dragonfly pattern fighters to his right, Seventeenth brought the invasion fleet safely past the Imperial guns and as the fleet took up position upon the vital and important northern continent, it broke apart, half a dozen smaller fleets burning through the atmosphere, ready to gorge themselves on the rich resources Hanoth offered.

All this Lucretius had seen.

Leaving the remaining two Terran Defenders behind to deal with the remaining xeno ships (the Will of Steel having finally succumbed to enemy fire and resembling nothing more than a mangled and twisted piece of metal tumbling through space), Lucretius brought the Raven Feeder into the space between Aegis 3 and Halo Alpha. There, although he had failed to prevent an invasion, his Ragnarok- class battleship could nevertheless counter-attack and hope to drive into the enemy fleet linking up with the group around the Othala's Revenge and relieve the pressure and danger to Halo Alpha, allowing it to be more effective.

It was an even more desperate strategy than the one he had devised before, yet Lucretius had no other option, though in his mind he was already praying to the Emperor and all his Saints to speed the relief fleet.

Fleet assembly point, 30 minutes travel from Hanoth 2345 hrs (IST) 247.06 M3

With a flash a hyperspace window opened and disgorged another three Terran Defenders. These three ships were the last of the relief fleet to arrive. On board the Ragnarok-class Valkyrie, which acted as the fleet's flagship, the fleet's commanding officer General Thomas

In the Valkyrie's Strategium General Thomas reviewed the situation over Hanoth relayed to him via the stealth probes orbiting the planet and which sent accurate replications of the battle via subspace to Sector Command and Segmentum Command, in cases such as with Hanoth where a prime world was threatened, the battle's rendition was even sent to the main Strategium loacted on Holy Terra under the SGC.

Being the CO of the relief fleet for the beleaguered planet, general Thomas also had access to the relayed data, so that he may utilize his relief fleet to maximum effect.

What he saw did not endear him. The situation was barely contained and even worse the enemy had managed to break through and force a landing. The space battle had just become far less important.

True, if they won in space they would be able to help the ground troops through orbital bombardement, as well by beaming every single replicon the ground forces missed to a pre-prepared spot where they could be finally annihilated.

Still, even if they won in space, if they lost the battle on the ground Exterminatus would be unavoidable and considering the worth of Hanoth...

Thinking about the problems he now had to deal with, General Thomas peered at the holographic rendition of the battle raging over Hanoth.

As much as it pained him, he had to see where exactly the Replicons landed in order to plan the counter assault, or at least the containment.

As the situation crystallized and the situation on the ground became ever clearer, especially concerning the actual strength of the enemy troops that had deployed at each LZ, Gen. Thomas smiled a grim smile as a plan took form in his mind.

Activating the fleet- wide vox he relayed the plan to the ships captain, instructing them exactly where they would come out of hyperspace and deploy their troops.

It took quite a while and by the time the command to jump had been given the new day had long since begun.

0010 hrs (IST) 248.06 M3 Terran Defender Burning Blade

Norman Reign and his television crew had received flak armour, several grenades (ni-ex and shrapnel both)and a P90 with eight spare magazines just as every other regular member of the I:G:L from the Burning Blade's armoury.

It made him decidedly uncomfortable, yet he knew from experience just how brutal and unforgiving combat was, even more so as the words spoken by Private O'Neill 'They don't care if you live or die!" had been completely true.

While those who hailed from Terra were envied due to their heritage, they were not given any favours in His Imperial Majesty's Imperial Gate Legions. This went doubly for non-combatants who embedded themselves into the army to get good pictures of battle and war.

In fact the experience that Reign had gone through just a few days prior had opened his eyes somewhat to the new reality of the state of the galaxy.

The Battle of Ardesh which he had documented and taken part in a few days aga had been both a terrifying and yet exhilarating experience.

Terrifying because of the dead and their bodies that had been flayed apart, mangled and spiked from embedded relicon blocks utilized as ammunition or jusst simply torn apart by the crab-like appendages of the enemy "troops". Never in all his most horrific dreams had he thought, he'd see so much blood and death and yet...

And yet when he had fired the weapon that had been thrust into his hands by O'Neill into the seething mass of enemies it had felt good. He had felt rage and hate, yet the feeling was good, it was directed at the enemy and he had had the knowledge that what he was doing was worthwile and right, for these enemies deserved no mercy for they would give none.

Then when he had seen O'Neill leading the charge over the ridge secretly his heart had soaed and he knew, this was a true hero of the Imperium. And by god, he swore himself, he Norman Reign would make sure that everybody knew it!

Thus he had latched himself to O'Neill and was now talking to the man who he'd make sure who'd be a hero for the Imperium and those at home when he was finished.

"So Private, you said that a prime world of the Imperium was under attack and that this battle would make the battle fo Ardesh look like a skirmish. Why is this so?"

inwardly cursing his luck, O'Neill nevertheless was under orders to be friendly to the reporter and cooperate and even have an eye on him in the upcoming battle!

So he answered with a reluctant sigh.

"What you don't seem to have realized yet, is that this is a completely different calibre than Ardesh. Ardesh is a small world, not unimportant, but not too important either. Hanoth on the other hand is a prime world. This means that the Imperium will do almost everything to keep it and no amount of losses will matter. You will also for the first time see the full might of Imperial Armour. The battle for Ardesh was fought by infantry, now we have tanks, APCs, self- propelled guns and more on our side and believe me the enemy is also bound to have several new and nasty surprises on their side. Also on Ardesh we faced ONE Neo-Replicon. You can bet your last ha'penny that this time there will be a shitload more of the damn things! Every battle against the replicons is to the death and the bitter end, but this time it will be a true maelstom of battle and believe me, neither you, I or the entire regiment are too precious to be sacrificed. If they have to do so to keep the world, they'll do so in a heartbeat!" towards the end his face and voice had become grim and hard and Reignknew in his gut, that this was going to be a VERY different story than Ardesh.

Suddenly the ship's vox blared and called the men and women of the regiment to attention. In a loud voice it ordered them all to assemble in ranks and prepare for combat as they would enter the Hanoth system soon.

Standing up from the boy he had just occupied O'Neill ran to get into the ranks. Norman reign and his team too pushed their way through the mass of people and stood behind the ranks of the company O'Neill was part of.

Suddenly the ship lurched and once again they had entered real space.

The Imperial fleet came out of hyperspace with loaded lances and immediately fired if the opportunity presented itself.

Yet mostly the Imperial ships were racing at full speed ahead in several smaller groups.

Taken by surprise the Replicon ships milled about in confusion shortly before Seventeenth pulled his ships back. The landing had been a success and hundreds of Dragonfly pattern fighters were already in the atmosphere, where they were now joined by I-301s and Al'kesh bombers ready to wrest supremacy of the shies back into Imperial hands.

Now with a massive and angry Imperial fleet bearing down on them it was wiser to retreat, reform and then counter attack.

The Battle for Hanoth had just entered a new phase!

Finding themselves and the Munitorium vehicles carrying their supplies suddenly on the planet's surface and in the company of other regiments, General Parker looked upon his handheld dataslate where he was and what the battle plan intended them to do.

Communicating with the other commanding officers of the other Imperial regiments in their part of the continent, Parker gave the order to deploy as per order and the 95th Imperial Regiment spread out.

Several companies (four) stayed behind to act as reserves and guard the spare ammunition.

The others spread out in a great wave, the support units dispersing throughout the regular companies, while the light companies raced forward as skirmishers. In a textbook manner the attached armour formed evenly spread supporting spearheads while the artillery took up positions on the rockky hillside they had been deposited on.

Standing upright in his Command Salamander, Parker saw his regiment link up with the 124thon his right and the 211th on his left, with the 19th Light Armoured supporting the left (due to the more uneven ground there) while the 22nd Armoured supported the right flank of the advancing tide of infantry.

At the back and dug in was the 16ht Artillery regiment dug in.

Looking forward he saw them:

The advancing replicon tide that wanted to sweep them away and gorge themselves on the rich naquadah mines they were protecting.

Motinoning to his vox officer Parker, who was in overall command, contacted the Artillery and gave the firing order.

As the first shell screamed overhead and exploded within the replicon ranks in great explosions, throwing up gouts of Earth, parker contacted every single unit under his ommand on the general frequency.

"For the Imperium! For the Emperor! For Mankind! Forwards!"

And the Imperial tide obeyed.