...scouting fleets have found out there´s a weak spot at one of the new AA borders, only being lightly secured, the Jovian Pulsar and Xa Empires decide to send a fleet to the place, to break through the borders...
The scouting reports were apparently true, only a few Cult ships were patrolling the borders...
...the Hunters ships were quite powerful, but the Alliance did not forget what they did to the scouts and the Hunters were severly outnumbered...onboard of the Xa Dreadnought the Captain decided it would be time to strike back, the fleet started moving forward while the Dreadnought stood back, lending assistance as soon as it´s needed...
...the Hunters ships reacted quickly...maybe too quickly? Despite that the Alliance fleet moved forward, the fast Xa ships closing the distance quickly...
...the Cultists fought back but the sheer numbers of the Alliance fleet were overwhelming, they started surrounding the bigger Hunter ships and atatcked them from all sides...
...meanwhile in the distance a small dot appeared on the sensors...and then disappeared again...
...on board of the Xa Dreadnought...
???1: Sir something just detected us and then disappeared!
Captain: A Cult scout? But... quickly, call reinforcements, we have to move forward and end this battle quickly!
???2: Yes, Sir!
...the battle went rather smooth considering they fought the Cult, there were losses but the numbers of the Cultist were slowly dwindling...
...at that moment, three large ships appeared on the sensors...
...as soon as the first of their bullets hit them they knew what the real threat was...was it all a trap?
...on board of the Xa Dreadnought...
???1: Captain, confirmed 3 large crafts on the Sensors, Desecrators, lost contact to one of the Jovian ships!
Captain: God damnit! Move in the Dreadnought we have to take care of this personally!
???1: Sir, our allies are taking heavy fire, these Cult ships are more advanced than the ones we met before!
Captain: Tell the damaged ships to retreat at an instant! Where are these reinforcements we´ve called?!
???2: Sir? Retreat...is impossible, there´s too much interferences and debris on the battlefield...what should we do now?
Captain: ...
???1: Captain?
Captain: Fight, until the reinforcements arrive, this is our chance to break through the borders, we HAVE to make it!
...the faster Xa ships charged forward, attempting to dodge the fire of the heavy Cult weaponry, but their shields couldn´t resist the damages...
...as the battle went on more and more of the Alliances ships were destroyed...
Captain(on the speakers): For the Emperor!
Crew: FOR THE EMPEROR!
...a battle cry could be heard across the ship, if they would go down, they would go down in fire...
...while most of the fleet and the ships that formerly patrolled the border were gone the Desecrators and the Xa Dreadnought were still battling...
???1: Sir! Heavy damages in the front section of the ship, fires on several decks, left wings severly damaged!
Captain: We just need to... hold out till the reinforcements come... ( he was breathing heavily)
...then suddenly the sensors were going crazy...
???2: Sir, confirmed several hundred Cult signatures on the way here!
...the Captains eyes widened...
Captain: ...if the reinforcements run into this force they will...!
???1: ...
???2: ...
Captain: ...call back the reinforcements, high priority message, contact the crew...this will be our last battle, everyone should be allowed to send his last words off to his home, but keep firing all weapons!
...the Desecrators were damaged from the Battle with the Dreadnought and the rest of the fleet but their heavy armor shielded them from severe damages and their cannons ate through the Dreadnought...
...explosions and damage reports could be heard across the whole dreadnought, on the bridge some of the officers were lying on the ground knocked out by some of the shockwaves, but the Captain was still standing...
Captain: What is the status on the reinforcements...?
???1: Reinforcements have been warned and cancelled. Reporting heavy Cult activity along the borders.
Captain: Good.
...he stared out of the window of the bridge...
???1: Sir, it was an honor serving the Empire with you!
...the captain had a grim smile on his face...
Captain: Likewise...it was an honor serving with you...
...one of the bullets slipped through to the already severly damaged core of the ship and finished it off...
...after the battle long range sensors catched heavy Cult activity along all borders of the AA, but the reinforcements had been warned and didn´t run into them. Another fleet of ships was lost in battle, it´s crews taken by the Cult...
...meanwhile at a far off place...
Melchior: What are the reports, scouts?
Scout1: Alliance attack has been repelled by the Cult, the attacking fleet was completely destroyed.
Melchior: Mwahaha...! Serves these imbeciles right! Too, bad they didn´t run into our trap...
Scout2: There is another report oh great Melchior.
Melchior: ...what is this about? Severe damages...fleet...borders... ...he began charging his weapons...
Scout2: ...an entire fleet was lost to an unkown assailant, at the outer borders of our old territory...
Melchior: WHAT?! ...he blew away both of the scouts in a single burst of rage...
He scanned the report once more, there was just a single attacker, an entire star system was being ridden of the AA´s presence without leaving any clues behind who the attacker could be...
...Melchior directed his sensors far off into the direction of the attack, not even he could register anything at this distance, but he had a bad feeling about this...
Melchior: This...could it be? No...it cannot...it mustn´t! ...he stood there for a while in silence, then he returned to planning the further expansion of the borders...
