FicWad

Meanwhile, in the heavens above, six of the Venator-class Star Destroyers are hammering away at the Confederate frigates, all the while receiving lots of fire from the thirty Dominion vessels in return. At the same time, six Intrepid-class Starfleet vessels are targeting the half dozen Confederate gunships. The remainder of the Star Destroyers, both the Venator and Imperator classes, are engaged in a series of broadsides with the fifteen Confederate carriers, all of whom are designed and built for this kind of battling. Ten more Starfleet vessels of varying types are outnumbered almost four to one by twenty nine Confederate destroyers and ten corvettes, while fighters from both the Star Destroyers and the Confederate ships are chasing and destroying one another all around the larger vessels.

Suddenly, a force of six Star Destroyers, six Hatak-class Motherships and twelve Acclamator-class troopships emerges from hyperspace, with the two opposing fleets and the planet located on either side of them. The largest of the Star Destroyers, a Super-class Star Destroyer, began launching a series of dropships, each containing four All Terrain Assault Transports (AT-ATs) and four All Terrain Scout Transports (AT-STs). From the four smaller Imperator-class Star Destroyers, the dropships contain the smaller, yet just as deadly, All Terrain Tactical Enforcers (AT-TEs). With the AT-ATs able to carry up to forty soldiers, and the AT-TEs able to carry up to twenty soldiers apiece, they proved to be much welcomed reinforcements by the Starfleet personnel, while the endo’s were just satisfied purely on a tactical and strategic level, and lastly the Hulk simply didn’t care, so long as they didn’t attack him, or interfere with him or get in his way at all.

Also, the AT-ATs, AT-TEs and the AT-STs have long since proven themselves to be an effective killer of the larger droids in the Confederate forces, namely the Dwarf Spider Droid, the Hailfire Droid, the Homing Spider Droid and the infamous Tank Droids, all of which have proven themselves to be a grave danger to the infantry, but aren’t particularly well suited to match wits with heavily armoured vehicles, with the sole exception being the Tank Droids.

And while the Star Destroyers, the Hatak’s and the fighters that they brought along with them are keeping the enemy ships from having a clear shot at the Acclamator’s, the troopships are heading for the largest clearing within easy reach of the battle, all the while disgorging more troops and more heavy armour to their exhausted allies on the ground below. Each of the troopships carry sixteen thousand troops each, one hundred and ninety two thousand in total, and the troopships deploy sixteen hundred gunships to ferry the infantry in the support of the allies already on the ground.

Just behind the infantry-carrying gunships are the cargo-carrying gunships, assigned to the task of ferrying the AT-TEs to the front line, far more quickly than what it would have taken the six-legged walkers to have travelled on foot. The LAAT/i’s and the LAAT/c’s perform repeated waves, ferrying fresh troops and supplies to the front lines and exhausted troops back to more and more field medical centres.

With the last of the troops and armour off on the front lines, the Acclamator-class vessels are free, at last, to deploy their most fearsome machines, the SPHA-T. Each SPHA-T is basically a giant turbolaser with a walker built to support it. To large to be carried by anything but an Acclamator, the SPHA-T is required to walk from where the Acclamator’s land to the battleground, where they can be the final curtain call for their enemies, or they call be the ultimate fallback position for overwhelmed allies.

Escorted by fifty two AT-ATs, AT-STs, AT-TEs and Juggernauts, the SPHA-Ts headed for the main battlefield, all the while harried by the Confederate droid forces, both those on the ground and those droid fighters that managed to get past the five Star Destroyers directly above.

Unfortunately for the allied forces, the Confederacy had managed to hide a number of surprises on the planet before the fleet of the Star Destroyers and the Starfleet vessels arrived in their attempt to retake the planet.

Some of these surprises include a number of minefields that are situated in small groups all around the main battlefield, and unfortunately, the path that the SPHA-Ts and their escorts are using to get to the main battle just so happens to lead right over one of these minefields, which was activated when the activation signal was sent to the mines.

When the minefield received the signal, the mines exploded, destroying six of the SPHA-Ts and a dozen of the smaller escorts, and damaging three other SPHA-Ts and six of the other escorts. Then, while the crews of the surviving machines were recovering from the explosion, the droid units that had been positioned in hides along the route that the allied war machine was taking suddenly opened fire upon the gargantuan walkers and their escorts, destroying several of the AT-TEs and the AT-STs, and causing damage to a number of the larger AT-ATs and the even larger SPHA-Ts.

The formerly hidden droid units were then caught unaware by the arrival of reinforcements for the allied forces, nine squadrons of T-47 airspeeders, custom-fitted with a pair of laser cannons that made them highly manoeuvrable craft and, for their size, gave them quite a powerful punch, particularly when combined with the firepower of the larger machines. These craft had been held back at the troopships, just in case an ambush or something similar happened to the SPHA-Ts and their escorts that were headed for the main battle, or to the troopships themselves. The ambushers were also caught unaware by the speed, rapid firing and accuracy from the Juggernauts, which were one of the plans that David downloaded from Skynet’s mainframe along with the Terminators.

Back in orbit, the Hatak’s and Star Destroyers are taking quite a hammering as they attempt to prevent the Confederate and Dominion ships from having a clear shot at the Acclamator’s or at the allied ground forces on the planet below. Suddenly, out of the blue, the Star Destroyers let loose with a barrage of fire, concentrated on three of the enemy ships in particular. Two of the smaller Star Destroyers target one of the Confederate ships, and same with the other two Imperator’s, and the big Super Star Destroyer vents its considerable fury on a third, with the three enemy ships soon disintegrating under the concentrated fire. The six Hatak’s, on the other hand, are focusing their considerable firepower upon the suddenly hapless Dominion ships, with a dozen of the so-called ‘Bug’ or ‘Beetle’ ships disintegrating under the barrage before they refocus their fire onto the larger Dominion Battlecruisers.

Once the ships were considered to be of no risk to the allied forces on the planet below, the dozen ships began the systematic destruction of the enemy ships above them, when suddenly two of the ships retreated and joined up with the other Confederate and Dominion ships that were retreating from their engagements, fleeing into the safety of hyperspace and warp, respectively, upon assuming a workable formation.

Once the allies were sure that the Confederate or Dominion vessels weren’t, in fact, bluffing or on their way back with reinforcements, the Hatak’s and Star Destroyers in close orbit of Antias III began to assume a higher orbit of the planet, allowing the Starfleet vessels with still functioning transporter systems to within maximum transporter range, some forty thousand kilometres. While the Starfleet ships were doing that, the Star Destroyers and the Motherships began to set up a cordon around the planet, to keep a watch for incoming enemy ships and to help coordinate operations on the planet below. And at the same time that the capital ships were doing this, the various fighter squadrons that are equipped with a faster than light drive began a systematic search of the solar system, making sure that there aren’t any hidden enemy ships, or surprises, in some remote part of the system.

Back on the surface, the Hulk has suddenly found some powerful resistance from some of the surprises that had recently revealed themselves. A half dozen droids are blasting away at the Hulk with high powered weaponry, weapons with enough power to punch through the Hulk’s thick hide. While these half dozen foes are keeping there distance from the Hulk, seven more are moving in closer for hand to hand combat with the most persistent foe of the Confederate and Jem’Hadar ground forces.

These eleven droids have been designed to fight super-powered enemies with the Hulk, and therefore are vastly more powerful than the standard droids in the Confederacy arsenal. Apart from increased power, speed and durability, the eleven droids that are currently battling the Hulk have also been programmed with information that the Confederacy has profiled upon all noteworthy super-powered people that are involved in the Federation’s war effort. This, naturally, includes solo heroes, as well as the various super-powered teams like Excalibur, the Defenders, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, X-Factor, the Avengers, the Justice League and such organisations such as the Jedi Order. While the Jedi Order may not be a super-powered organisation like the other teams, per se, the Jedi are capable of doing things that can be matched by mutants and other super-powered beings.

But as this is the first time that the Confederacy has deployed such machines in the field, none of the allies who saw them had any idea of what their purpose was meant to be, until it was far too late.

When a squad of endo’s saw the six machines firing upon the Hulk, the endo’s began to target them, to their cost. The new units soon proved that their new armour can absorb energy blasts and use the absorbed energy to fuel both their internal systems and any weaponry that is plugged into them.

And when the Hulk met with the seven machines that were closing in on him, he found that each of them are almost as strong as he is, and just as durable. The Hulk also discovered that each of the machines are configured to convert kinetic energy from such actions as punches, kicks, head buts and being thrown to the ground into energy to power their systems, which makes them even harder to defeat. Also, these particular machines are also configured to do the same to energy blasts, which was discovered to the cost of several more endo’s and Starfleet personnel.

As a result, the Hulk quickly discovered that he is overpowered, for as soon as he got rid of one of the hand to hand fighting machines, another one replaced it, or he got a barrage of fire from the ones that were hanging back, waiting for a clear shot at him.

Suddenly, a lightsaber came spinning out of the chaos that was the swirl of battle around them and sliced through three of the weapons with ease before returning to the hand that had thrown it. The lightsaber, and the person that wielded it, made short work of the three now weaponless droids and the three droids still carrying weapons, before moving in to take on some of the droids that continued to attack the Hulk.

Three of the droids turned their attention from the Hulk to the lightsaber wielding foe, one of which turned, just in time to see the lightsaber blade headed for its head, decapitating the droid. The other two droids analysed the fighting patterns of the would-be Jedi, and were making it harder for the Jedi to fight them, just as they ended up in a pile of debris. And between them, the Hulk and the Jedi made short work of the remaining four ‘super’ droids.

Now that the two of them are free, they were soon joined by Wolverine, Rouge and Bishop, and the three Excalibur team mates were soon involved in a free for all with both the Hulk and the Jedi, who managed to introduce himself as David Walker to the Hulk, before the fighting became to intense.

But now that the skies belonged to the allied forces, the battle seemed easier, what with the Star Destroyers were now free to send their fighter and bomber squadrons down to destroy several sections of the Confederacy ground forces. This lessened the odds against the allied ground forces by a great percentage, thus allowing them to have slightly more time to coordinate their actions. Even after the battle ended, several hours later, both sides continued to fight for several weeks.

The Confederacy had planned for such an eventuality, creating a series of hidden strongholds, which is suited to both war machines and the Jem’Hadar, from which they could plan and direct guerrilla style actions against the allied war machine.

Unfortunately for the allies, the last enemy stronghold on the planet that they discovered came equipped with heavy missiles, rockets, blasters, laser cannons and a seemingly endless supply of infantry droids of various sorts. Also, what made it so difficult for the allies was the fact that they simply couldn’t destroy the facility, but capture it, for intelligence gathered off-world indicates that there is a very strong possibility that there is important information to be discovered somewhere in the complex, information that they secreted in the facility because no one, at least not in their right minds, would hide critical information in a planet that is a war zone.

As a result, this last stronghold became almost impregnable, for they couldn’t simply blast the facility out of existence, for if the intelligence reports are true, it could mean a major scoop for the allied forces, particularly if it concerns the Confederate military machine.

Because of the potential importance of the information that is supposed to be in this facility, as many people on the ground on Antias believe that it is misinformation on the part of the Confederacy to force the Allies to lose a sizeable portion of their manpower in the Antias system, all for non-existent information. However, those in command of the Antias occupation force, particularly in the Intelligence division, believe that, if the information exists and is the goldmine that is supposed to be, it could very well be worth the risk that those in the know back at Starfleet Command and Starfleet Intelligence believe it to be.

As a result of the potential political and tactical importance of this mission, the overall planning of the mission has been handed over to David Walker, who has been recognised for his out of the box thinking, particularly when it comes to combat plans. David also knew and understood the capabilities of the super-powered beings that are on Antias III much more clearly than Starfleet does, and therefore could take them and their powers into better account that the Starfleet planners could. He also knew the capabilities of endo’s and other elements from the fleet from the Walker Security Division much more clearly than Starfleet, especially when one considers that he helped to design many of them, at least as all but a very few are concerned.

When the time for the attack came, it began on the inside of the Confederate stronghold, not on the outside as most of the people on both sides thought it would. David assigned both the sentient android known as the Vision and the Invisible Woman to infiltrate the enemy facility, knowing full well that the android could render himself intangible, and that the Invisible Woman could literally become invisible, so that they could pass through all of the barricades and security checks to place several explosive devices to the weakest points of the facilities outer wall, but on the inside of them, thereby causing several openings that the allies could exploit in their quest to seize control the last Confederate stronghold on the planet.

Once the sound of the explosives had died away, the Hulk was one of the first allied soldiers to charge the heavily fortified walls of the Confederate facility, reaching one of the gaping holes in its outer wall just as some of the Confederate droid forces had arrived to cover the sudden breach of security. The Hulk easily forced his way inside, with Wolverine; the famed Captain America; the Hulk’s cousin, the She-Hulk; Mister Fantastic; the Thing; the Human Torch; Rouge; Bishop; the Beast and David Walker following close behind. This team of so called super-soldiers were soon joined by the Vision and the Invisible Woman, who had stayed inside the facility so as to lead any security forces away from the explosives that they had planted.

Having extensively scouted the facility, under orders to plant to explosives and to find the information that is supposed to be in the facility, the Vision and the Invisible Woman also had orders to retrieve the information, if it was at all possible. If it wasn’t possible to retrieve the information, they had orders to simply locate it or areas where it might possibly be located, and inform the allied soldiers where these locations are, so as to reduce any chances of eliminating the information, assuming that it is anything more than a pipe dream that Command dreamt up.

The battle raged for hours, but with the outer walls breached and with allied soldiers gaining a number of footholds inside the fortress, the Confederate troops were fighting a losing battle. However, the droids, following their programming to the end, fought for every square centimetre that they lost to the advancing allied war machine. The endo’s are the first into area’s that the super soldiers haven’t yet passed through, and they are followed by Starfleeter’s, the former two assigned to the task of destroying all of the Confederate’s war machines and the latter are assigned to the tasks of analysing the captured enemy machines, computers and droids, for whatever information that they contain, as is standard procedure when Starfleet and the endo’s from Walker Enterprise’s mount a mission together.

The battle ended when the last droideka, aka the destroyer droid, of the Confederate forces was destroyed by the combined firepower of seventeen endo’s. The droideka comes equipped with personnel shielding, powerful enough to withstand fire from all small arms fire, and even from a Jedi’s lightsaber. However, the shielding is tuned to the droideka standing upright, and as a result, if the droid was knocked down onto its back or side, the shields won’t differentiate the floor, ceiling or wall any differently from any other attack, thereby creating a feedback loop that will result in an explosion as the droideka’s power reactor overloads. The shields can also be overloaded by a constant stream of fire, or by heavier weaponry, like ship-grade weapons.

It took several more hours to penetrate the encoding on the captured computers, but it was worth the effort, as the intelligence reports concerning the mystery information was proven to be correct. It turned out that the Confederacy is building a massive super-weapon, one powerful enough to destroy planets with a single shot.

The Confederacy is calling it the Death Star. According to the information that the allies had just wrested from the captured computers, the Death Star is approximately one hundred and twenty kilometers in diameter, the spherical moon sized battle station surface armament includes ten thousand turbolasers and heavy turbolasers, two thousand, five hundred laser cannons and seven hundred and sixty eight tractor beams. This is in addition to the primary weapon that is more than capable of destroying a planet a day. In addition to the planet destroying weapon and the surface defenses, the Death Star is assigned some seven thousand fighters and several hundred support craft in the form of shuttles and troop transports.

The Allies would have believed that this was nothing more than a propaganda ploy by the Confederacy in an attempt to undermine their morale, if it were not for the fact that scouts that the Walker Security fleet had flying through Confederate territory reported seeing a moon sized station that was capable of moving under its own power, in addition to a large crater on what the pilots dubbed the ‘northern’ hemisphere of the station.

However, the general consensus among the various allied fleet commands is that the intelligence is in fact nothing more than a propaganda ploy, until the planet known as Salimus IV was destroyed a large, moon sized station, as described by many of the survivors, as well as all of the sensor scans performed on the station by all of the surviving ships that detected it.

As Salimus IV was a key world in the Federation’s outer defensive perimeter, its destruction sent shockwaves throughout the Federation and its allies. The allies realizes that the Confederacy could very well send the Death Star to any of the key systems of any of the allies, and that as things stand at the present, nothing they can throw at the station can stop it, merely slow it down and scratch the surface without affecting its combat ability in the slightest. As a result, the best people that the allies have were brought together within days of the destruction of Salimus IV, and began to laborious study of the Death Star plans, hoping to find a weakness in the design of the planet destroying station, which the allies could then exploit and destroy the station with.

While the technicians began their study of the station plans, a number of ships and agents have been pulled off of their regular combat assignments and became part of the fleet that is assigned perhaps the most difficult one of all, short of destroying the Death Star itself, and that is to search for it. All of the allies poured as much resources as possible into the search of the Death Star, without the search affecting the rest of the fleet operations.

Fortunately for the allies, the Death Star was soon located by a Star Destroyer force, purely by chance, which then quickly radioed in the report to the nearest fleet command. The force, consisting of one Super-, four Imperator-, six Victory- and ten Venator-class Star Destroyers, is a force to be reckoned with, and they began the task of tailing the mammoth station, waiting for any reinforcements that the fleet command might be able to send its way. While the Super-class Star Destroyer is the most powerful of the ships in the fleet, even the smallest of them, the Victory-class, still packs quite a wallop. Despite measuring nine hundred meters in length, paltry when compared to the Super’s twelve kilometer length, the smallest of the Star Destroyer classes sports eighty missile launchers and a few dozen turbolasers, the large number of missile launchers giving the ship a punch the equal of a vessel several times its size.

However, while it was felt by the various Star Destroyer commanders that they should attack the Death Star head on, fleet command believed that they should wait, for both the reinforcements and for the analysis of the plans to be completed.

Unfortunately, the commander of the Super-class Star Destroyer is a rather impatient man, and he jumped the gun, ordering his fleet to move in and assault the Death Star. Plotting and executing a flawless micro-jump through hyperspace, the fleet of Star Destroyers opened fire upon the massive station, like it was a gigantic target, which it is, after a fashion. The allied fleet also disgorged it fleet of fighters, issuing them orders to keep the Death Star’s fighters off of them, as well as to create areas on the surface of the station where the Death Star would be unable to fire, thus allowing the Star Destroyers a relatively clear area with which to function with.

While the plan was working to begin with, the commander, one Admiral Walter Ozzel, paid for his shortsightedness, when a fleet of three hundred and seventy two Confederate warships dropped out of hyperspace not that far from the battle, which, particularly when combined with that of the Death Star, possessed more than enough firepower to deal with the allied ships. Mere moments later, a fleet of Cardassian and Dominion vessels dropped out of warp, a fleet numbering six hundred and thirty two ships.

The Star Destroyers suffered horrendous damage before their reinforcements arrived, some twenty minutes after the Confederate, Cardassian and Dominion fleets. The ships from all three empires, however, have long proven their worth in situations where several ships team up on enemy vessels, and they can do so again here, as the reinforcements only number some two hundred and seventeen to the nine hundred and fifty Cardassian, Confederate and Dominion vessels still capable of combat.

However, the Axis forces (the Cardassian, Confederacy and the Dominion) forces forgot about the seemingly endless supply of super-powered beings in the allied arsenal. They were abruptly reminded of that fact when a number of them began pouring out of the hanger bays of some of the newly arrived Star Destroyers, which number a round dozen. They include Superman, three separate Green Lanterns, Superboy, Supergirl, Steel, Iron Man, Photon, Quasar, Living Lightning and Jack of Hearts. Dozens of other heroes who don’t have the ability to operate in space have instead volunteered their services in a fighter cockpit or on one of the larger ships in tech support or some other role.

While the Axis powers may outnumber the Allied forces by a sizeable margin, the allied ships more than make up for it in durability and accuracy of their weapons fire, with the Starfleet vessels shooting down the Confederate droid fighters by the dozen. As they do that, the Andalite, the Klingon and Romulan sections of the fleet are engaging the Axis ships with the Star Destroyers bravely taking on the massive Death Star, all the while suffering horrendous damage in the process.

And down on the surface of the Death Star are some of the most powerful super-powered beings in the Federation, and they are tearing through the surface defenses like a laser beam through butter. At the same time that they are weakening the defenses of the station, bit by bit, they are also engaging the Death Star’s own fighters, which have been sent out in force. Helping them somewhat in that regard are several squadrons of fighters from a number of the Star Destroyers, as well as some of the Dome ships, the Andalite’s version of the immensely powerful Star Destroyers from Walker Enterprises.

Unfortunately for the Allies, Ozzel’s error in judgment has been compounded by the fact that nobody has yet worked out where the Death Star’s weakness is, if it even has one. The Allies continued to lose ships at an ever increasing rate when a fleet of six hundred Hatak’s, Dadaleus-class battlecruisers and Star Destroyers of various types dropped out of hyperspace and began firing upon the Death Star and what remains of its protective fleet.

Quickly realizing that they have lost this round, the Axis forces withdrew from the battlefield, leaving behind the Allies to subdue those Axis ships that couldn’t retreat, surrender or self destruct in an attempt to take some of their enemies with them.

In the aftermath of the battle, David discovered that Ozzel has precipitated the entire fiasco by jumping the gun, thereby costing the Allied forces a significant amount of manpower and equipment, not to mention the amount of man-hours needed to repair all of the damaged equipment, as well as to rebuild replacements for everything that was destroyed and to heal all of the injured. Ozzel found himself fearing for his life, all the while languishing in a bleak and very unforgiving cell, what with many of the comments that he has been overhearing have been about what kind of execution that is before Ozzel.

Not long after David banished the former Admiral Ozzel from his mind, one of his spies aboard the Death Star managed to transmit a highly encrypted copy of the plans for the planet destroying battle station, as well as the location, and expected length, of where the Death Star will be undergoing repairs to its battle damage, which is quite severe.

After analyzing the information in every way that he and his technicians could in the amount of time that it took to get from the shipyard where David first met his future daughter, to the Allied High Command in the Terran solar system, David discovered the battle station’s weakness in a small exhaust port in the ‘northern’ hemisphere of the moon-sized station, in a trench near the pole.

When everybody realized that the information is the genuine article, one of the largest fleets ever seen in recorded history gathered in three different staging areas, with orders to meet the other elements at the Death Star’s location.

Unfortunately for the Allies, the Axis powers foiled this plan, however unwittingly, by mounting a surprise attack on the planet Earth in the Terran system, the seat of the Federation. But what caught the allies completely by surprise was the fact the Death Star came along for the ride, although it emerged beyond the orbit of the planet Uranus in the outer solar system, thanks to some still unrepaired damage to the station’s hyperdrive.

Using the extra time that this gave them, Starfleet Command on Earth sent out an Alpha Priority distress call to the other two elements in the Death Star destruction plan, as well as any and all allied ships within easy reach of the Terran system. Starfleet knows that it will take the Death Star approximately thirty three hours to get to Earth orbit at its current velocity, and given the fact that the Mars Defense Perimeter is utterly smashed by the enemy fleet that came out where they were supposed to, the Death Star will get a clear shot at Earth before any Starfleet ship can respond, given by how much that they are out numbered by nearly ten to one odds.

Fortunately for the citizens of Mars, Allied reinforcements arrived several minutes before the Death Star would have entered what would be the maximum range of its planet destroying superlaser of the red planet.

Even with the reinforcements, the Allied forces are still outnumbered by nearly three to one, not including the Death Star, which possesses an entire fleets worth of firepower and is, basically, an entire fleet in and of itself.

Knowing beforehand that the Death Star was within moments of destroying Mars, as well as the orbiting Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, one of the primary ship building facility for the Federation Starfleet, the recently arrived fleet began blasting away at the Death Star and its escorting ships the moment that they re-entered real space, destroying several ships within seconds.

The commanders aboard the Death Star quickly rallied themselves and ordered their gunners to fire the five thousand turbolasers on the planetoids surface at the attacking ships, hoping to avoid being mauled like the last time they encountered the Allied fleet.

Unfortunately for the crew of the Death Star, their hopes were in vain, with the Star Destroyers that were part of the newly arrived fleet releasing thousands of fighters into the space between the two forces, with orders to target the Death Star’s weak spot on the stations northern hemisphere.

In response to such an action, the moon-sized space station released their own fighters, some seven thousand of them, with orders to defend the station until they were destroyed. With many of the fighters being droid fighters from the Confederacy, such an order is irrelevant, as they aren’t so distracted by such things as living beings are.

But with destruction coming from all sides, the death toll among those attacking the Death Star is quickly climbing ever upwards, reaching over three hundred and fifty within minutes of the Death Star releasing their fighters.

Elsewhere in the solar system, there is a heated battle occurring in Earth orbit between the Axis forces and the fixed positions like the Starbases and other stations, and the Allied ships that were sent to reinforce their situation.

Several fighter squadrons and some of the smaller capital ships are dodging in and out of the asteroid belt that is situated between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, playing an even deadlier game of tag than the rest of the combined fleets. In normal situations, the Mars Defense Perimeter would be involved in a battle inside the asteroid belt, except that this is anything but a normal situation. The Defense Perimeter was completely smashed by the Death Star when it passed through it on its way to Mars, as, like the name suggests, it defends the inner solar system from all incursions into it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always have the firepower necessary to defeat all of the interlopers into the inner solar system, as the Death Star has just proven.

Throughout the solar system, the battle continues for many hours, with a sizeable portion of the allied fleet attempting to prevent the Death Star from getting within range of the planet Mars, as well as attempting to destroy it.

Unfortunately for the allies, this is proven to be far more difficult than they had anticipated, what with the commanders of the moon-sized station realizing that their enemies might just try that very tactic at some point, and so they had already identified the weak spot on the Death Star and laid a trap for any one who tried to target the area specifically. The trap consists of several well concealed point defense laser cannons and torpedo launchers, weapons well designed to handle small, fast moving objects like fighters.

However, the Death Star designers and commanders failed to take into account the creativity of their opponents, as the Star Destroyers from Walker Enterprises began to drop their most hardened droids onto the surface of the Death Star itself. The orders given to the droids, of the T-800, T-1000 and Terminatrix (T-X) combat droid varieties were to eliminate as many of the surface emplacements as they possibly can and for all those near the Death Star’s sole weakness, they have added orders to drop an explosive device down the access shaft that leads to the main reactor core.

When the commanders of the Death Star realized that there were droid troops being landed on the surface of the battle station, they sent armoured spacetroopers out to take care of the problem. Once the spacetroopers reported back the seriousness of the situation, the commanders ordered in several flights of droid tri-fighters, one of the deadliest droid fighters in the Confederate armada. Also ordered out from the interior of the planetoid are a swarm of droideka’s, otherwise known as destroyer droids, which move from location to location as a spinning wheel, only to unfold into a tripod, spitting destruction from two twin blasters that serve as their hands.

The three Terminator models all realize the danger posed to them by the spacetroopers, droideka’s and the tri-fighters and they split into three general groups. Group One targets the tri-fighters, causing them to focus on their attackers rather than the other Terminators; Group Two targets both the spacetroopers and the droideka’s and Group Three continues to target the surface emplacements of the Death Star and their momentum towards the access shaft, the sole weakness of the moon-sized station.

David Walker, in command of the Star Destroyer force, has already ordered his fleet to give as much covering fire as possible, in order to distract as much enemy fire from his boarding parties on the Death Star, and has communicated this fact to his allies, so as to prevent them any ‘friendly fire’ incidents to an absolute minimum, if not lower.

Unfortunately, the coordinators of the Death Star ground troops have already anticipated where the Terminators are headed for, and have ordered a sizeable contingent of both droideka’s and spacetroopers to reinforce the surface gun emplacements.