[color=Sienna][h2]Invasion Fleet 3a-HS[/h2][/color]
[color=Peru]
"Sir, the [i]Iron Harpy[/i] just left the formation! It... seemed to have been sucked into a spatial vortex, and transferred into Hyperspace... or something, sir!" The officer's tone was perplexed- as it should be, since a ship had literally just disappeared into an anomaly. Another officer spoke up, saying, "Hostiles closing through the gap left by the [i]Iron Harpy[/i]! Shields are down to sixty-two percent and falling, sir!" At the same moment, another officer called, "Cruiser [i]War's Vengeance,[/i] Transports [i]Steeled Voyage[/i] and [i]Infinite Fire[/i] have fallen!" Moments later, another of the bridge officers reported, "Sublight antimatter missiles away, sixty out of three hundred made contact with enemy warships."

The lights flickered; the ship shuddered. The Major War Lord Hele'Streth growled in anger- Minor War Lord Vari'Tel's fleet was gaining the advantage against his own. The four transports that he meant to invade his planet with now only numbered as one- two destroyed, one disappearing to... Goddess knows where.

They were in high orbit- and the odds were against the Major War Lord. Because of the Draconian hyperspace drive, a ship could only jump to interplanetary space- jumping into or out of orbit, or too close to another ship, will result in the ships involved being torn apart and scattered among a lightyear or more. A ship couldn't ever hit a planet at lightspeed- if at a angle to the gravity well, the hyperspace bubble containing the ship will simply bounce lightly off of it. If directly at it, with no chance to just bounce off, then the ship will be turned to dust and fragments that'll burn up a moment later as it enters atmo. 

The hostiles had known they were coming, that was for sure. A small fleet and risen up from the system's most populated planet, clearly intending to contest the Major War Lord's right to take the system, but didn't reach high orbit. Foolishly, he had gone down to deal with the fleet and then send the transports to the surface- but a larger fleet had exited hyperspace above them, and they were smashed between two hammers. 

"Honor comes for them this day. Continue on- we must reach the surface of the planet, and take it! The Forerunners would not approve of our defeat. Surround the remaining transport with all our drones and fighters- let none take its life." The various officers called an affirmative as messages were sent out, and the ships began rearranging themselves. The weaker, but more heavily armed droneships, moved to the fore of the fleet, spearheading into the enemy fleet. Three of the sixteen droneships went up in flames as antimatter missiles darted through weakened shields, and the ships collapsed into tiny suns, leaving glowing gases and a few great blackened, cracked pieces behind. The droneships' compatriots fired off a full salvo of missiles each- the thirty enemy warships, half of them droenships, lit up as small suns appeared all across their shields. Moments later, shields within the glowing explosion began to flicker, and follow-up missiles darted through and detonated against the hulls of ships.

The enemy Battleship took a direct hit from a particle cannon, followed by half a dozen antimatter missiles- great ravines were torn into the hull of the hulking ship, one of the few real space warships, and the antimatter missile detonated within. The ship was torn in half, almost painfully so to any watching, as the backbone of the ship, a strip that connected the entire ship to the primary power supply, with the thickest armor and a separate energy shield, slowly tore itself out of the smallest half of the ship. Moments later, as the majority of major and minor systems were annihilated, the self-destructs enabled, and the ship disappeared in another sun, a few blackened husks remaining behind, surrounded by a cloud of luminescent gas. 

The thirty hostile ships quickly degraded to four, as their commander had fallen and disorder began, leaving the ships ill at hand. Major War Lord Hele'Streth smiled, a gruesome sight on his scarred face, and silently gave honor to Vari'Tel, the strong Minor who had managed to defeat half his fleet. 

The larger fleet coming to flank them on his rear sent a message shortly- they were now under Hele'Streth's command, due to Vari'Tel's fall. This was a victory indeed- had Vari'Tel been dishonorable and hid in a bunker on-planet, he would be forced to take the colony by force, and hunt him down. By taking Vari'Tel's life, he had been able to effectively end the battles to come by Right of Rule. 

Not only did Hele'Streth defeat his rival and keep the system firmly under his control, but he also managed to take the majority of ships under his rival's command, and take the planet without even getting in low orbit. This was a good day, indeed.
[/color]

[color=Sienna][h2]Exploration fleet 03a-HS, [b]Several Hours Later[/b][/h2][/color]
[color=Peru]Hele'Streth was three systems away from his home system, about sixteen lightyears away from the planet he had invaded and taken without even landing. He had his fleet replenished- his own battleship, three warcruisers, two dozen droneships and six transports- and was heading out to find a system with rich planets to claim before anyone else. He had already used three of his six transports, leaving four droneships in orbit of each planet that he had set to colonize. His fleet was much less powerful than what he set out with, but he was still confident of being easily more powerful than most other exploration fleets. 

The only troubling thing was the loss of his Minor War Lord, his second-in-command, a Forerunner-in-waiting, Vala'Keer. He could find him later- now, he needed to find more territory and expand. He knew the other territories were expanding- Forerunners' orders, actually. They sensed something wrong, and so they ordered rapid expansion. 

As their stomachs lurched and they exited hyperspace into realspace, the ships flickered and then came fully back online. A minute later, data started coming back in from sensors, and seconds after that, "Major Warlord! We have a situation. Unknown entities further into the system! Orders, sir?"

Hele'Streth smiled coldly, and ordered, "Pull farther into the system. Scan the most distant planets- if these aliens have something I want, we'll take it from them. Don't hail them, though, they may not have noticed us."[/color]