Honneur, Loyauté, et Trahison

[RNS-Paris]

Burgundy System, in transit, RNS-Paris, September 14th, 818 A.S.


The Paris along with its escorts, Picardy and Provence, set out to join the reconquest of the rebel-held Languedoc system. It was the first step on the road to revenge, well... atleast for the Gallic people. Count Dupont wasn't so sure about the reason behind this war, this... 'old' war, but his duty was to the Crown and thus found himself unable to break free from his responsibilities. Such was the life of a noble, bound to the chains of vassalage.

As the invasion fleet descended upon Languedoc, the Paris and its escorts were assigned to the left flank of the Gallic axis of advance. Here, the Paris dauntingly met its first challenge. A small Council fleet consisting of 1 Redemption class battleship, 2 cruisers, and a handful of supporting small craft happen to be caught by the Paris... It's fleet consisting of 1 Valor and 2 Obstinate class cruisers seemed to be of no match to the opposing Council fleet who had a wing of fighters and bombers.

The Council commandante, following the rules of war, offered the Count a chance to save his men and surrender. The Count could not offer to surrender a mighty Valor to the Rebel Forces, so he instead mockingly returned the offer to them. As it would happen, this angered the opposing commandante and he prepared to attack the Count's fleet.

Luck would be on their side however, as the opposing Council fleet just came off of a small skirmish with Gallic scout wings. For some reason, the shields of the Council capitals were offline. The Council commandante sent out his support wings first to harass the Count's forces. The Picardy, armed with anti-snubcraft weapons, met the support wings, while the Paris and the Provence went ahead to deal with the enemy capitals.

The first salvo was fired by the Paris, using the two ballistic missile launchers located on the bottom. It met with near-perfect precision hitting the Redemption's main cannons, disabling them. Salvo after salvo was fired by the Paris until they came into cannon range. The Redemption tried to flee... and made a tactical error of exposing the huge bottom of the ship. Seeing thism, the Count charged the Warwolf Particle Cannon... then with all power diverted to the Forward Gun... fired. What happened next was a huge ball of fiery hot metal, the sheer impact of the weapon rippled next to the two cruisers... the ears of the Capitaine of these vessels bled and for the moment they were stunned until their senses awoke to a gruesome scene. Meanwhile, the Picardy had successfully fended off the Council fighters and bombers and had arrived at the horrible scene.

What was once a Council battleship, was now two separate pieces of hull. Still melting pieces of debris scatter for miles around, a component of a cannon battery here and a torn radar tower there... There were of course... bodies... of crewmen. These poor souls did not managed to escape the torn ship. Some were torn in half as well, the blast depressurized the hull. It was one of the horrors of war.

Inside the Paris, the power core was recharging. The enormous quantity of energy that the Warwolf consumed took a beating on the ship's core. They were helpless for a minute but the Council Capitaines could not capitalize on this weakness as they were caught in the blast. The Count, then seeing the situation, offered the same conditions to the Council forces. In an act of kindness, the Provence offered medical attention to those wounded in the blast. Without much choice, the Council Capitaines surrendered. The Count, knowing the consequences for rebelling against the Crown, offered a quick death to those who asked for it. The Captaines knew the cruel torture methods that the Royal Navy used, for they were in the Navy before; thus, they chose to accept the Count's offer.

The other rebels, however, did not share the similar chance. They were to be imprisoned in the vicious Fleury-Mérogis Prison. It is rumored to be the largest prison in all of Sirius, where most Gallic rebels are held. Here some higher-ranking rebels are tortured to reveal enemy locations, spies, and other valuable information, while the other non-important ones are summarily executed.

The Count and its escorts returned to link up with the main fleet... now nearing Montpellier Station. The former Guard Station was now in the hands of the Council Rebels... but the massive fleet that King Charles IX mobilized would soon changed that...

The ships defending the Guard Station were quite less than the ones that assaulted it before... Clearly the rebels were buying time for the main bulk of the Council fleet to escape. Resistance was futile as mighty fleet of the King marched forward. After a few minutes... the fleet surrounding the station was annihilated. A bloody battle ensued inside the Station, the Council defenders bravely held off a few Gallic boarding parties but then perished as the Gallic forces decided to depressurize the station. The Count thought of it as a coward move... but he agreed that it saved a lot more lives than it would take to take over the station by force.

For a moment, the Gallic war machine stopped there... clearly exhausted from the valiant efforts of the Council rearguard. But this would just be the beginning.... the beginning of an end.

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