109: Riposte

Riposte

ERA PRIME SYSTEM 1

Four corvettes, bearing the Eclipse guild's emblem, exited hyperspace over Planet Era.

Once a beautiful Gaia-type planet with rich flora and fauna, the arrival of the Eternals had resulted in Era being completely devastated by nuclear strikes.

In fact, after the first conflicts between the Eternals and the Federation, the planet was reduced to a radioactive desert. Nevertheless, it wasn't a terrible environment for space-faring humans. After the extinction of the Tyotting people, a new economy rose based on hunting radioactive animals and services of all kinds relating to the new environment.

On top of all that, the local workforce became grim and determined. They were ready to do anything to find success, even if it killed them!

The Eclipse fleet hung over this planet and found themselves facing six corvettes and a destroyer. These loomed in stationary positions above the planet, part of the Coalition fleet that kept watch over Era.

Despite Eclipse's numerical inferiority, Lotus ordered an immediate assault on the destroyer before the Coalition fleet could react and prepare for a fight!

The Coalition fleet was caught off guard. They hadn't expected such a quick strike and weren't even in combat positions, which allowed the first Eclipse torpedoes to penetrate the destroyer's armor in violent succession, quickly incapacitating the enormous ship.

The other Coalition corvettes tried to prepare a counterattack, but they reacted too slowly and with no organization.

Meanwhile, the four Eclipse ships acted like true fighters, neutralizing the Coalition corvettes one after the other!

Eventually, there were only five Coalition ships left, which fled before the tenacity of their enemy!

***

On the planet's surface, chaos reigned. Federation forces were cornered and entrenched.

The liberated areas were a battleground for the guilds who fought viciously to expand their planetary territory. At the same time, the Coalition was entrenched in the ruins of Tyo, which had become the new hub of trade on the planet.

The players knew that the Federation was in the middle of a war with the Orc Empire and wouldn't be able to restore order right away, so they took advantage of the Coalition's attack to plunder the planet's resources!

The Coalition's hundreds of high-level players encouraged this, even protecting them from Federation soldiers!

Apophis had Lotus with the mission of taking back control of the planet in the name of Eclipse, but this would, of course, be tricky with only forty players. Fortunately, Apophis had given Lotus a small gift to help her—the access codes to the Federation army!

Lotus used her ship's computer to connect to the Federation army's secure network, which was normally reserved for senior officers.

Upon connecting, she broadcast a radio signal. "This is Deputy Colonel Apophis, military governor of Planet Era! I call upon all the planet's garrison forces to place themselves immediately under my command! A mission to restore order is underway!"

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