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

Part 11: War Begins

The clouds above seemed to disappear, and anti-aircraft and anti-ship emplacements immediately seem to lock onto and start firing at the sky. CROS vessels, likely hoping to reclaim Thuia for their own interests. The Union, however, knew that this would likely damage OFR interests, and force them to get involved, endangering innocent lives in the process.

A massing of CROS ships began to form. This indicated a preparation for orbital bombardment, causing the Peacekeepers to desperately dig for cover. "WEAPONS FREE!" The Peacekeepers' vehicles, including refractor and dedicated accelerator vehicles, fire at the CROS vessels. Some infantry also whipped out TEAAML launchers loaded with anti-ship warheads, spamfiring into the massing enemy fleet.

A lot of enemy naval vessels were straight up decimated, but the massing did not seem to stop. Heavy gun, missile, and gun and missile emplacements the size of skyscrapers lit up the massing vessels, inflicting far more casualties than the TEAAML shoulder-fired man portable air defense system had. In particular, newly enhanced and upgraded Spitfire systems seemed to be the main damage contributor.

Instead of their typical blue-greenish lasers, they were replaced by colorful rainbow-ish lasers enhanced by thaumaturgical carvings and other system integrations. The Thaumaturginite crystal recovered by the 'Enigma Corps' fireteam at that CROS airport seemed to be getting good use. The Peacekeepers here continued firing into the sky with other precision guided munitions, taking out more ships.

A few minutes later, the massing force for orbital bombardment was only a small fraction of what it was meant to be. Balingian civilians also retreated fully into deep bunker structures specifically designed for this sort of situation. However, the CROS ships had now fully massed and began to charge their weapon systems.

Missiles, guns, and other thaumaturgical systems proceeded to UNLOAD onto the New Portsford, and, later, a Balingian civilian who survived the attack would say "So I was in the bunker, right, and I looked at a screen showing the outside. Then, I saw the massing ships in the sky, and I was like, 'OH NO ROUND 2?!'". A few ships, however, were hit, and got ammoracked, causing them to explode.

The CROS ships continued unloading on the city, though finding their bombardment's potency unsatisfactory, as the city was shielded by their own reverse-engineered and enhanced technology. The massive amount of vessels continued attempting to fire over and over, constantly failing each time. Some ships even had their own turrets blow up, thanks to rampant and unfortunate mechanical (read: skill) issues.

A New World Union naval strike group, Delta-Thuia, had now swept in, and repelled the  CROS attack with overwhelming force. Massive gun emplacements mounted on the vessels ripped apart unfortunate CROS vessels caught in their lines of fire, and now, possibly billions of casualties were inflicted on the fleet and on the nation.

The CROS bombardment, however, still managed to inflict some casualties on Peacekeepers caught outside of cover and attempting to crudely line up better shots with their launchers and other weapon systems, alongside rather unlucky accelerator and refractor armored vehicles, as well as several shield tanks and civilian vehicles. It was damaging, but nothing catastrophic or too extreme.

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"Second Contact?"

December 15, 35794 - 00:30:19

The Emperor of the New World Union

Omega Citadel

Astera, New World Union

The emperor, who had opted not to sleep for this night, indeed stayed up, watching the war effort and the affair as a whole very closely. After a few minutes of managing funding and signing documents concerning things like enlistment, he got an urgent notification. The message was encrypted. An automatic algorithm immediately set to work, and as soon as the emperor found it titled 'Official Diplomatic Contact', he immediately opened it.