as written by barney_fife
In the skies above Westeria City, a keen eye could make out the outline of an Aschen Reverence II, as it began it's descent into the atmosphere. The brilliance of the ship's shields flared against the friction of the atmosphere as the ship descended over Westeria City.
"Status report." Admiral Grayson ordered, bracing himself as the ship shook with the vibrations of entry.
"Seventeen Kilometrons and falling like a rock." Carrington replied.
"Excellent, AI, initiate deceleration." Grayson ordered, while the flashing green Hologram of the Reverence II appeared over the city.
As the Reverence II continued it's descent, a series of deafening sonic booms followed as the hulking frame of the Aschen ship began it's deceleration. Shockwaves exploded outwards from the ship in all directions as superheated plasma rolled along it's shields.
"Standby Repulsers one, through twenty." Grayson ordered, while the vibrations along the Reverence increased, causing small trinkets such as pencils to begin skittering along the glossy tactical tables, and Helm officers to count the meters to target altitude.
"Altitude, Eleven thousand five hundred eighty two metrons, Target Distance will be reached in ten microns." The AI's voice droned over the cacophony of activity.
The Reverence II continued to drop, the plasma rolling along it's shields engulfing it in a brilliant hemisphere of light that illuminated the entire city below it, the noise was deafening, a combination of the air rushing over shields and the ship's massive engines resulted in a deafening cacophony of rumbling and roaring, like a freight train meeting a tornado, like a jet engine on steroids.
"Target altitude reached, initiating deceleration." The AI reported, and in that moment the Reverence II began to decelerate rapidly, and the blinding ball of yellow plasma gave way to the massive form of the Aschen carrier, which provided near total coverage of the entire city. A moment later and the massive ship came to a complete stop, parked directly over Westeria City at an altitude of 25,000 feet.
There was a long silence, save for the Klaxxoning alarms and the activity of the CIC, the time was upon them all now, no turning back.
"Let's clean house." Grayson ordered, while Carrington nodded.
"Revenant, Acquire all military targets, points of resistance, and airborne vessels, engage them with a Turbodisruptor salvo. You're weapons free."
The shipboard AI worked quickly to scan the area within it's range, which easily encompassed thousands of miles given the broad reach of the Reverence II's weapons.
"Hypothesis, Friendlies may be in custody at targeted installations, I advise consideration before proceeding." The AI protested for one moment. "Consideration noted, proceed with weapons fire, they haven't had enough time to book anyone." Grayson replied, while the Hologram highlighted Police precincts in bright red.
Once the Reverence II had settled in above the city, there would be a brief pause while the Admiral and the AI Considered their options, that pause was short lived however as the ship's weapons batteries came to life, swiveling and garnering their targets.
"Targets Acquired." The AI reported
Grayson nodded a moment, a small handful of airships on the coast, Fort Veritas, Police precincts, and everything else the AI considered were highlighted in red.
"Open fire." Grayson ordered.
The Reverence's next actions were swift, a power spike to it's weapon systems, and then discharge. Turbodisruptor batteries lit up, sending blinding green bolts of light down into the city, targeting Police precincts, the WCPD HQ, and the Government Center. Each Turbodisruptor bolt carried enough power to flatten an entire city block, and a salvo would likely reduce the precincts and their blocks to craters filled with molten slag. There would also be massive plasmic explosions that mushroomed up into the sky once the bolts impacted the ground. Another salvo of Turbodisruptors were levied against all major roadways that led out of the city, to make the roads impassable, bridges, and railroads were likely met with similar attacks from the ship.
Not all the Turbodisruptors were fired down towards the city, a second Salvo had been fired out towards Fort Veritas, roughly ten blasts in total were levied against the Military installation, ten bolts of energy that carried enough power to break the backs of most star-ships and level entire city blocks.
An Additional five were levied against the airships in the distance, the bolts screaming downrange towards the horizon.
Each discharge was met with a deafening crack, like the sound of thunder as the ship rained it's payload down upon the city.
The next stage was ground forces, gravity lifts detached from the bottom of the ship, riding down upon columns of violet light, there were several of these deployment points, with the largest careening down towards Hagan Avenue. These platforms were large and circular in nature, providing what was essentially a prefabricated base that could fit inside an intersection, or upon flattened rubble.
Imperial Marines had huddled along these gravity lifts, strapping themselves in and preparing themselves as the platforms descended from the belly of the ship.
The men checked their weapons, as they watched the other platforms descend over Azure Heights, Hagan Avenue, and New Caprica.
Should the Platforms hit the ground, Imperial Marines would fan out in all directions, weapons bore and readied as equipment and supplies followed down the Gravity lifts towards the platforms.
Following the initial salvo and deployment of ground forces, the Reverence II began to deploy it's Air Groups, Apollo Fighters swarmed out from multiple launch tubes, while Century Bombers, Vindicator Bombers, and Condor Dropships moved out from the Reverence II's multiple hangar bays. Condor Dropships would bank wide, and move towards key points in the city, deploying heavy weapons and Armor, while Century Bombers moved outwards, dropping payloads of Leaflets onto the people of the City demanding surrender. Each leaflet contained propaganda intended to curry a sentiment of passivity, non-resistance.
"The Aschen Empire is not here to harm Valorans, do not resist and you will be spared."
Once the dust had settled, and the Empire began to funnel it's troops into the city. Admiral Grayson surveyed the Tactical map.
"Hard and fast, just the way I like it."
