-=+ +=- [COMPLETED] The Second Universe -=+ +=-

Part 10: Operation Payday and Universal War One

Strike Group // Naval Fleet Thuia-Alpha

Dust Cloud 'Effluvium'

Thuian Star System, Galaxy 'Intrepid'

A massive strike group, called Thuia-Alpha -- meaning it is the first strike group sent to Thuia -- prepares to activate their engines and deliver an initial opening strike to the enemy after the massacre in their capital that was Operation Payday, done so the New World Union could truly reveal itself. A large concentration of CROS naval vessels, a little bit larger than Strike Group Thuia-Alpha, was actively being tracked at that location as the ships now had their engines ready.

Their engines quietly and dimly flashed, and within a few seconds, they found themselves a solar system away from the CROS fleet, known as the 9th Fleet. Detection radars fired up as the CROS had detected the fleet, though it was already too late to mount a response. Numerous models of cruise missile rocketed through space and towards the CROS naval vessels in massive salvoes.

Of the several thousand battleships, carriers, dreadnoughts, and other vessels present, immediately, half of them were rendered inoperable, precision missile strikes slamming into them where their engines, powerplants, and magazines were located, also leaving millions of crew desperately jetpacking and flying around in the void of space, often climbing for the debris of other destroyed installations. 

While the vast majority of Thuia-Alpha stays back to fire their guns and missiles at range, several thousand aircraft swoop in to clean out any survivors and strafe targets with vast arrays of weaponry. Among these crafts are HSF-39s, the now designated BF/A-01s, HSF-14s, along with strategic frigates deployed to assist. The two simulataneous attacks are indeed devastating, though this does not mean the New World Union is not suffering losses.

In their first open military loss in the past three thousand years, a battleship is hit by a heavy CROS railgun-esque system, which, though heavily damaged by both the energy shield and APS to the point where it looks like a broken mess, rips into the ship's plain and full nanometal interior, and as drones move in to repair the hole and delete the shell, it explodes. The violent explosion rips the ship in two, as it hovers. Calm yet loud New World Union comms are audible across their channels. "BATTLESHIP DRACO HAS BEEN DESTROYED! PINGING GUN EMPLACEMENTS! TAKE 'EM OUT!"

"Copy." A telepathic response is sent, as jets move to fire on the gun emplacements positioned on the dreadnought that blew up the battleship. As missile barrages are fired and blanket space, another gun emplacement had the right amount of luck to successfully fire on an escort carrier. The shell ripped into the escort carrier, though was stopped early and only ripped off a large chunk of the exterior, and gun emplacements were damaged heavily. "ESCORT CARRIER TSUNAMI HEAVILY DAMAGED! DISP[ATCH] MORE AIRCRAFT! HALF OF THUIA-ALPHA DEPLOYED AIRWING, ATTACK PINGED AND GET MORE CRAFTS OUT!"

As this was ordered, millions of missiles now fly towards pinged targets like they were being fired from machine guns. A now rebuilt Battleship Draco also flew in along with a decently large escort, flying past the system's star and flying straight into the massive enemy formation from under. The ship, now also fitted with the Bismarck Upgrade Package, now possesses much increased size, power, and attributes.

Its biological-based gun turrets rip into unfortunate CROS vessels, including fleet-mates (if that's a word) of the dreadnought that had first destroyed the ship. It was clear its controller was having fun performing maneuvers, as a Seething-upgraded dreadcarrier pulled up alongside with its own escort. The unfortunate CROS fleet now had to divide their attention between the dreadcarrier and battleship within their formation and the other vessels on the other side of the solar system.

Some embarrassing levels of corruption had resulted in some of the ships being without guns, which was now apparent as their heavily armed peers were being destroyed and ripped apart by automatic gun and missile fire from New World Union aircraft. Bombs were also being dropped on unfortunate CROS vessels as they attempted to juggle their guns' targeting systems against different aircraft, and the unpredictable teleporting nature of New World Union aircraft made them hard to hit.