[2nd Battle of Blucher]
Plum evaluated the strengths of the fleets. She figured she had a
slight
advantage. Jerry was cutting it close, closer than she wanted to, but
she was
confident. She split her force into two groups, one to storm the line,
one to
go behind the planet. She felt that if she showed a thin front to the
Imperials she might be able to foll then into attacking, heavily
exposing their
backside to the Oberstein and his portion of the fleet. The Oberstein
with
about one-third of the attack force circled behind the planet.
Meanwhile Eric,Rekishi,Mika, and Mai were all raising hell on the
Lohengramm.
"Solar Spark!" The blast of solar energy blasted through the two
guards.
"scratch scratch scratch scratch" Mika clawed her way thru a guard,
then bit
into another guard, causing him to yell until
"WHAP!" Mai knocked him out cold with her sidekicks handbook.
Rekishi was busy dealing with guards with his staff. Parry,
shoulder,knee,thrust.
Parry, dodge, sweep, poke.
There was one guard left. He stood at the ready, waiting to be
pummeled. Eric
let his guard down.
"You're outnumbered. We can do this the easy way or the hard way."
The guard stared at the 14 broken bodies in the room. The hard way was
not
looking real appealing at the moment.
The guard raised his hands.
Mai then asked Eric, "Can I hug him now?"
Eric sweatdropped. "Later." Mai pouted.
Mika then said "Tell Mika where Emiko is! Tell or face Mika's claws!"
The guard then pointed up. He then whispered out "The only way up from
here is
thru the roof. Otherwise you'll have to fight through the entire ship."
Eric then asked how many floors Emiko was up and if Emiko was on the
ground.
The guard replied, "Four, and no. Can I be hugged now!"
Eric sweatdropped. "Well, we'll have to tie you up forst. Rekishi, do
the
honors."
Rekishi said a few words from his staff. All the guards were stuck by
magical
chains. He nodded to Eric, who then nodded to Mai.
Mai hugged the guard into unconsciousness. "Bye Bye!"
Eric then asked Rekishi what he could do about getting them up there.
Rekishi
cast the spell where Eric powered up.
Eric then let out a mighty yell of "Solar Raise!" , causing his fist to
bust
thru 3 stories. Emiko, clad in her bikini and chained to wall, caught a
glimpse of her rescuer. Eric caught a glimpse of Emiko in her bikini.
"Good grief," he muttered, "how does she get into these things?"
Eric went back down. Rekishi then levitated them up to
Emiko's floor, levitating the rest of the crew with them. A warning
beep was
fed to Eric by their cloaking device- "Warning- cloak will expire in 5
minutes."
Jay then unleashed a telekinetic field that stopped Rekishi while Eric
charged
a Solar Inferno. The Solar Inferno caught Jay by surprise, staggering
him
while the explosions and flame raged throught both their bodies. Jay
let go
off the telekinetic net and went down to one knee. Eric was amazed that
someone was able to withstand one of his mos powerful attacks mostly
unharmed.
Jinx bounced up and around the walls, rolling into Mika. Mika was
confused by
all the movement and energy Jinx had. Mika could feel blows she hadn't
been
able to see with her catlike vision. Then, she managed to counter by
sweeping
JInx with her tail.
Rekishi, once he was released by Jay, summoned up some mystic energy to
be
delivered at Jay. Mai was busy putting Yumi's mark on Emiko and
Feelgood so
they could be teleported back.
[Deep Space]
Space can be an empty place, especially when it looks like your
graveyard.
Many of the pilots were fidgety and less cocky then their usual selves.
Ryan
was reserved as normal while Miko was bouncier than normal!
Miko then pounced on Ryan as the two of them got into their flightsuits.
"Ryan, wanna bet?"
Ryan stared at Miko. Gambling was usually not one's first thought on a
mission where you were unlikely to come back.
Ryan then shrugged.
Miko gave Ryan her best Asuka-esque pose. "Anta baka!" "Whoever gets
the
most kills wins a steak dinner, and if I win, a kiss!"
Ryan then told Miko, "If we both live, I'll kiss you, but I'm adding
this
stipulation- you have to cook the steak yourself, and you have to look
cute
while doing it!" Ryan smiled. Miko was letting him be calmer and
happier
than he had been recently. The flight leader was too busy in his duties
to
look after Miko properly, so the job had fallen to Ryan by default.
Miko was
in many ways a spoiled child. While she was a tremendous asset in
combat, she
was always pouty and arrogant. She also insisted on being called, "the
beautiful star of the squadron, and wore glasses because she said they
made
her look cuter." Ryan often wondered if Jerry was paying him to be a
babysitter or a pilot. Miko, along with the rest of the pilots went out
to
try and stall the Imperial Guard.
Plum started the assault on Jay's fleet. Much to Plum's surprise and
delight,
the Imperial fleet seemed to be in chaos. She could tell immediately
that
they had no plan because the ships were firing at random targets with no
concentration. Plum then muttered, "Very Well then, Anne and Jerry,
aim at
their big ships- let's continue the chaos!"
Anne sent out her shikigamis and Jerry cast his magic into the fights.
The
mantatic engines amplified their magic energies so they could be
effective in
combat. Shotoro was busy eating an Imperial cruiser, and the other
shikigamis
were biting and clawing through the Imperial Line.
Jerry's magic was blowing holes thru the center of the Imperial Line
A shout rang out thru the cosmos.
"ASTRA FATIGUA!"
A giant black cloud eneveloped a spot on the Imperial line, allowing
ships to
head towards the command portion of the fleet. Plum then sent the
signal to
the Oberstein to engage. The Oberstein headed a column of ships to the
Lohengramm.
The remaining ships in the Imperial tried to fire at the column, but due
to
all the chaos and damage caused by plasma bombs, shikigamis, and
necromancy,
they were unable to do much damage as the shipped passed thru the gaping
hole
Jerry left for them.
Jay then saw a large fleet heading straight for the Lohengramm. Having
no
choice, he ordered a retreat back to the planned coordinates of the
Imperial
Guard. He then set his sights on the intruders who had messed up his
battle
plans. Jerry could wait- he could deal with him later. The Genesis gang
might
be more dangerous- so he had to get rid of them fast. He motioned to
Jinx to
come- he might need the help.
Jinx then cracked her knuckles and said "Playtime!"
Meanwhile on the Lohengramm Eric and his party leaped up to Emiko's
Cell. As
they finished off the remaining guards, they saw what had happened to
Emiko
and Feelgood. They were both chained to the well, and both stripped.
Emiko was clad in a bikini, While Feelgood was down to a pair of briefs.
Eric was a embarassment, as was Mai. Rekishi had a slight nosebleed.
They opened the door, and Rekishi zapped the chains loose. Emiko and
Feelgood
collasped on the ground. The entire gang all headed towards Emiko,
leaving
Feelgood unattended. Mai hugged Emiko to death while Eric turned
around from respect. Mika was busying meowing around and just being
happy that
she would be able to eat her tuna soon.
Two figures then entered the room. One was clad in a blue cloak and
armor.
Eric immediately recognized him as Jay, Jerry's brother. There was a
slight
resemblance, but it was clear that Jay got most of the looks. The other
figure was clad in the garb of the Straussian senshi Makendo.
Mai then turned around and saw the two people were were to oppose them.
She
covered Emiko, not wanting anyone to hurt her sensei while she was out.
Eric, Rekishi, and Mika all faced off from their opponents. Jay then
decided
to talk to Eric.
"You've caused me a lot of trouble, elf. I'm going to have to make sure
you
don't cause me any trouble again."
Eric then stared at Jerry, "You chose this trouble, femboy. If you
hadn't
captured Emiko, abducted a senshi, and attacked an ACD ship, we wouldn't
have
bothered with this silly war. Now we could do this the easy way, but I
think
both of us would prefer the hard way."
Jinx then stared at Eric! He was CUTE! Jinx licked her lips.
"Jay-sama, can
I have Eric as my slave once we're done with him?" She then looked at
Mika,
"I want her as a pet as well."
Jay nodded, "If there's anything left." HE sweardropped at the
suggestion.
Jinx could be like a child sometimes, the power was addicting to her.
Mika then stared at Jinx, utter hatred in her eyes. "Mika not a pet!
Mika
going to claw your face up and then scratch your intestines! Mika
mad!!!"
Her tail ws waving back and worth, as frantic as her temper.
Rekishi said nothing, preparing for the assault. The rumors around the
Retreat
said that Jay was the most powerful fighter in Strauss, and would have
broken
Jerry in half had he not pulled out the cheapest trick in the book to
win.
Rekishi had seen that Jerry was a powerful mage, almost as powerful as
he was.
This could be nasty.
Eric looked at his two adversaries. Three on two was hardly fair, but
since
Emiko's life was at stake, notions of fairness could go out the window.
He
charged up and prepared to strike.
Jay sensed the power building in Eric and Rekishi. The cat-girl was not
a
threat. Jinx could handle her easily. The other two were more
dangerous
though, especially Rekishi. He decided to handle Rekishi first, then
worry
about the elf. Magic was more dangerous anyways, he could absorb most
of
Eric's chi-blasts.
[Deep space, near the Imperial Guard]
a swarm of fighters faced the dreaded Imperial guard. Their mission was
so try
and stop them, or at least slow them down. They began firing, the shots
tolled
on several of the Imperial ships. The Imperial ships pressed on. Miko
set
her eyes on a frigate.
"Eat this, guard!" BOOM!
She seriously damaged the guard frigate with a perfectly placed shot.
Ryan
then saw the smoke coming out of the frigate and tried to finsih it off
with
his cannon. The frigate exploded. The guard headed on, firing at
various
fighters.
Tiny explosions filled the dark void. Many deathscreams were in
silence. The
guard was winning, as usual. After a couple of hours of retreating, the
fighters had managed to take out a few of the frigates, but at a heavy
cost.
2/3 of the fighters were destroyed. The Abaddon had enough of this
futile
effort and recalled the fighters. They had done their job somewhat, but
at a
terrible price. The guard lost a few frigates and was going to take a
few
extra hours for repairs, precious hours that Strauss needed for its
freedom,
but there was no celebration, no joy, on the Abaddon.
The Abaddon hurried back to Blucher, ready to regroup and help in the
defense
of Blucher- if Jerry had won. That in itself was not a sure thing,
though
Chris, the captain of the Abaddon, had faith in the Straussian fleet.
While
Jerry was not a brilliant military tactician, his strategy was sound if
not
spectactular. Also he knew his limitations and let others perform the
battle.
This was risky though, this plan forged of desperation. He wasn't sure
if
Jerry could pull it off.
As the Abaddon was limping back to Blucher, he saw another Imperial
fleet
limping back as well. Apparently Jerry had done his job after all, but
judging
by the heavy damage on the Imperial fleet, the Abaddon would be sorely
needed
to fight the Guard on Blucher, and even they might not be enough.
[Blucher]
Plum had finished routing out the rest of the Imperial elements on
Blucher.
She then asked Jerry what to do with the Straussian POWs that had served
with
Jay. Many of them had received personal favors in the past from Jay,
and
served him out of loyalty. Some served out of fear.
He then had them assembled out before him.
"Straussians, you fought against me. My brother would have killed you
right on
the spot, and messily. However, I am not your brother. I am going to
give you
three options. The first option is to be exiles. You can reject your
citizenship and live with the Empire forever, if they accept you.
Your second option is to swear loyalty to the duchy and me personally.
In this
case I will forgive all, but if you ever betray me again, I will
personally
take your heart from your soul. I can be as cruel as my brother if
necessary.
Your third option is to help defend Blucher. I will spread those of you
out
among the crew who choose to do this. However, if any of you betray me,
I will
put all of you who choose to serve me to the sword. I will give you 1
hour to
decide."
Plum then jabbed Jerry. "That was stupid and risky. You know a few of
these
guys will betray you."
Jerry then told Plum, in his most authoritarian voice, that he has to be
generous to not be like his brother. He also told Plum that the
manpower may
be necessary if the guard was coming.
A message then came in from the Gilette. It was Sparrow.
Jerry then told Sparrow about the victory of Blucher, but that the guard
was
coming, and that the next battle will be fierce.
Sparrow then told Jerry about his revolt of Kesserton, and how he
commanded the
Kesserton district's forces. Jerry smiled, and told Sparrow that he
will give
recognition immediately. He then told Sparrow to hold tight, because he
now
figured Durg will be throwing everything he can at us, but if he managed
to
beat the Guard, that he promised to try and fight his way through
Imperial
space to link up the sectors. Sparrow promised to attempt the same.
Jerry then told the news to Plum. Plum hugged Jerry. Jerry felt a
twinge of
sadness in his heart. He wondered how his wife was doing, and wished he
could
be there in six months for the baby. Anne then entered the room.
Jerry then asked Anne what she wanted. Anne had gotten out of her
plugsuit and
was in her usual jeans, shirt, and ballcap. Anne was glad Jerry had no
hang-ups over how she dressed, unlike Washu. Still, she wished Washu
was here-
she would have felt a lot safer. Anne then asked Jerry to teach her
another
spell.
Jerry then turned to Anne, "I'll have to make this quick, but this
speell will
be useful for your shikigamis." He then tried to teach Anne the secret
of
spirit repair for those spirits that can be damaged physically. As he
was
about to demonstrate, the Abaddon contacted Jerry.
"Abaddon reporting. Mission partial success, but heavy casualties. 2/3
of
fighters lost- most pilots recovered. We will arrive in six hours,
Imperial
fleet will arrive in 1 day. We passed the Lohengramm- good job sir, but
I
hope you'll be in shape to fight- it looked like you had a vicious
time."
Jay then gave the orders to Chris to come back here and get ready to
fight the
guard again, and to tell your fleet that the Straussian fleet is intact
and
well.
The Abaddon sped towards Strauss.
[White Shadow]
Yumi's ship shadowed the Lohengramm, undetected by the Imperial tech.
She was
nervous. She had seen the battle auras of the party rising, and saw two
auras,
one incredibly strong, confronting them. She then saw Mai put her
teleport
mark on Emiko and Feelgood.
"gotcha!" Yumi did not want to risk the lives of the party, especially
Eric in
a fight on an enemey ship with two powerful figures, so she teleported
the
emtire crew out, and sped away. Then Yumi noticed 1,2,3,4,5- there's no
6. Rekishi!!!!
Emiko looked REALLY worried. She then asked Yumi if she could teleport
them
all back. Eric agreed to go with her.
Yumi then went into one of her insane laughs, then said, "Little
Brother, of
course I can teleport you back, just as easily as I cast a light
spell!" Eric sweatdropped-
Yumi was being as overconfident as ever
today. "Just wait a few hours, though there will be no stealth next
time,
you'll have to barge your way in, and from the looks of the local news
broadcasts- there's going to be a big battle at the same time, so we'll
have to
blast our way in. OH HO HO HO HO!!!"
Emiko was busying putting some decent clothes on. This time she wanted
to kick
that insane bishonen brother of Jerry's right where it hurts. As she
was
plotting various ways of snipping off Jay's appendages, Mika slinked up
to her.
"Mika?" Emiko asked.
"Mika want her TUNA!!!" Emiko chuckled and released the containment.
Mika ate
the tuna then purred in contentment for the rest of the night.
[Lohengramm]
ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!! Jay began psychically throwing guards
against
the walls, and otherwise causing damage. Jinx ran away, mostly out of
fear of
Jay's rage, also out of disappointment that she didn't get a pet elf ant
catgirl. She really wanted the pet elf. Jay then cast his attention
towards
the approaching Imperial Guard. Plans of attack formed immediately into
his
mind.
"They won't have much time to prepare a defense, and most of my fleet
was able
to salvage itself. I failed, but it won't happen again."
The Guard then hailed Jay and placed themselves under his command.
Jerry was
going to pay and pay dearly, then the orders were to deal with a new
rebellion
around the Kesserton district, led by a Sparrow Adams.
Jay then looked at the ship odds for retaking Blucher. They looked
nice- Jay
had a 5:4 advantage in ships, and a heavy experience advantage. Jay saw
Strauss in his grasp, and prepared to fight for real this time- Genesis
can
come later, Strauss must come first.
Then he visited the dungeon, laced with anti-magic. This was supposed to
be the
place where they executed Jerry, but that could come later. For now, he
would
execute the man who cost him his ticket to Genesis.
Jay then stooped down to see the betan Rekishi, and he squeezed his
telekinetic
net tighter. Usually Jay tried to avoid sadism, but he was in a
particularly
nasty mood right now.
[Imperial Homeworld]
Durg was fuming. NOt only had that pain in the ass brother of Jay
managed to
pull off a credibel defense of Strauss, some upstart had managed to take
over
the entire Kesserton district. Things hadn't looked this bad in the
Empire for
100 years, so action had to be taken quickly. He called forth a Reserve
fleet
to be sent towards Kesserton. Durg figured the reserve fleet should be
sufficient for that, while the guard and Jay's Strauss/Imperial fleet
should be
enough to deal with the Straussian problem. Durg prepared a scaffold
for
Jerry- when they captured him he was going to pay.
[Lurker's Retreat]
Norm and Dev were busy sipping sake.
Norm then asked Mads, "Hmm, what do you think about this whole
Straussian
mess?"
Dev then interjected. "They kicked ass today, those Imperials have it
coming.
Too bad the Guard will probably win tomorrow."
Mads looked at the two patrons, business had declined since the war
began, and
she wanted it over. "I just hope that if the Entire takes over Strauss,
they
pay the government tab in something other than Strolheims- those babies
are going down the roof since everyone thinks they're gonna be taken
over."
Norm and Dev then argued over who they thought was going to win
tomorrow, with
5 sake bottles as the wager.
