[X] He prioritises securing the shipyards before moving on the planet.
As desirable as it would be to just smash the enemy fleet aside in an overwhelming surprise attack, those shipyards are just too tempting to pass up. They represent decades of heavy investment and it would take the Federation of Bladus the majority century or even longer to build comparable shipyards. Once brought up to the standards of the Federal Navy, their output would allow for rapid expansion of the Federation's naval forces and therefore the expansion of the Federation itself.
And from what Farseer Ulthran has warned you about, the Federation will need that expansion and the sooner it gets started on it, the better.
Your Eldar counterpart, Autarch Oraranel of Craftworld Iyanden, is bringing a single battleship, half a dozen cruisers and an even dozen escorts to the table. Your planning session with the man went well enough as while the alien looked down upon the primitive monkey, he had enough competence to recognise and respect your skills as a fellow admiral. As for the agreed upon strategy, you both settled for the Federal Navy taking the brunt of the fighting while the Eldar skirmish with the Dominion Navy.
Autarch Oraranel wanted to avoid the deaths of his people even if it was for a good cause and so wished to stay away from the thickest of the fighting or drawing the enemy's attention. For your part, you were okay with that as you had initially planned to go in without the Eldar aid. If the aliens wanted to help you, you were okay with the aid being limited as limited aid was still a step up from none at all.
For the invasion itself, it went off to a poor beginning as your fleet came out of the warp scattered and disorganised. Thankfully, the Dominion Navy turned out to be almost as unprepared for the attack and you reacted much faster than your counterpart amongst the defenders. Autarch Oraranel did best of all as his warships got to work harrying and harassing the Dominion forces as soon as the Eldar fleet came out of their web way.
The Dominion had stationed some warships at the shipyards, but they had stationed the vast majority of their remaining fleet at Chronus. To their detriment, it seems that they expected you to prioritise the planet and now you are going to make them regret that. While the Eldar pick off the few escorts, your warships smash the handful of cruisers with your nova cannons. With that, it is just a matter of picking off the meddlesome orbital defences and seizing the shipyards themselves.
The shipyards are massive with four separate megastructures, each one capable of building multiple vessels equal in size to a small city at once. Each shipyard can match a small continent in size and it could take months if not years to secure each one. Or it would if you didn't have a bunch of seers to identify the weak points and priority targets. Federal Marines and Aspect Warriors fell upon key points of the shipyards and the megastructures that would have held out for months fell within hours.
Best of all, the assault force suffered minimal casualties whilst the shipyards themselves took a minimal amount of damage as the majority of their space was taken without fighting.
Of course, the Dominion Navy swiftly responded to the sudden loss of their shipyards and you were happy to meet them head on. The fighting was heaviest at the beginning as the two intact fleets clashed, but after a burst of brutal fighting with heavy losses, the battle began to taper off . The Dominion Navy was swiftly losing its effectiveness as losses rapidly amounted and its crews seem to be losing their stomach for a fight.
You had proven that a
Gloriana-class Battleship was a fleet killer many times in the past and today you showed the Chronus Dominion just how deadly two
Gloriana working together with a supporting fleet can be. Especially when they have a small fleet of Eldar warships aiding them from the side.
The Dominion Navy suffers heavy losses before the survivors begin to make emergency warp jumps. Both of the
Emperor-class Battleships are reduced to drifting hulks while around half of their cruisers are lost alongside more than half of their escorts. Alas, both
Apocalypse-class Battleships successfully escape into the warp alongside seventeen cruisers and twenty-one escorts, including the
Tiamat-class Destroyer that the Dominion captured from you so long ago. On the bright side, you successfully reclaim the
Galahad after the Dominion stole the cruiser from the Federal Navy during one of your earliest battles, though the cruiser is outdated compared to the
Prometheans used by the modern Federal Navy.
For side, losses have been fairly light as while all of your capital ships have sustained some meaningful degree of damage, only one of the
Promethean-class Cruisers is truly destroyed after suffering a plasma drive overload. You also have half of your escorts remaining as of the nineteen
Tiamat-class Destroyers, you only lost nine in the battle against the Dominion. Meanwhile, the cautious and noncommittal tactics of Autarch Oraranel have resulted in the Eldar losing no ships on this day.
A very decisive victory for you and one that you swiftly follow up upon by blasting the orbital defences with nova cannon fire. While defensive stations have their usages against lesser forces, the superior range of the nova cannon combined with the stations' lack of mobility means that even the greatest of them are helpless before the wrath of the Federal Navy.
Unfortunately, the Chronus Dominion still has one last trick to play because you are still clearing their orbital defences, warp energies ripple over the planet as a successful warp ritual engulfs Chronus.
***
"It is quite typical of She Who Thirsts," says Autarch Oraranel disdainfully, "I strongly recommend that we deal with it swiftly and decisively."
"We are not going to kill a planet full of innocent people," replies Yasmin as she glares at him, radiating anger.
"It is the only sensible choice, mon-keigh," retorts the Eldar and he looks like he wants to say more before catching your eye.
You have no doubt that Autarch Oraranel wishes to simply dismiss the protests of your wife, but he is smart enough to know that her opinion does hold sway here. The Eldar fleet might be more untouched, but Autarch Oraranel has seen you fight first hand and as battered as the Federal Navy is right now, with you at its helm, it is very capable of defeating the Eldar warships.
"What is the nature of the ritual?" you inquire, "I can tell it is something to do with lust, pleasure and the Tempter, but little beyond that. My knowledge of the Four is more based around slaying them."
"It is a ritual based around lust, a synergy of creating lust and being empowered by it," answers Belinda, "The initial ritual has created an aura of lust that has engulfed the planet. The weak-willed are driven to act upon their new passion, but the stronger-willed are capable of resisting."
"For a time," says Autarch Oraranel, "Their animalistic depravities will only strengthen the Dark Prince's touch until none can resist it."
"No, it is not quite that," says Yasmin, "The generated sensation and pleasure is going to something else, but the lust aura is continuous and cumulative, not singular. It doesn't just add a single burst of lust to the individuals as it maintains a lesser, but passively continuous increase. It also-"
"When this ritual has generated enough…lust, what will it do?" you interrupt, deciding to skip ahead to the point part rather than try to wrap your head around what is going on.
"We don't know," answer your wives at the same time.
"But what it is," starts Bel.
"It won't be good," finishes Yas.
"On the bright side, we can expect to face far less resistance as the garrison will also be affected by it," says Bel.
"The price of your own warriors being incapacitated by the ritual, mon-keigh," points Autarch Oraranel, "Once again, Admiral Artorious, the only sensible choice is to swiftly and decisively deal with this threat.
The Chronus Dominion has unleashed an unknown Slaaneshi ritual upon the planet. How do the invaders respond to the threat?
[] Orbital Bombardment. Autarch Oraranel advocates for a swift and decisive end to the threat by bombarding all ritual locations. Unfortunately those locations are all in major cities and the imprecise nature of orbital firesupport combined with lacking accurate coordinates means you are looking at excessive collateral damage.
[] Strike Teams. Bel and Yas both wish to send strike teams to the ritual locations to eliminate it at the source and deal with the ritual without extreme loss of innocent life. However, doing so is riskier and potentially more dangerous than a quick end to the ritual.
***
The naval battle went well thanks to your high bonuses, but the Dominion was able to pull off a ritual. As a Slaaneshi ritual, it is built around lust and whatnot as the power source, but its end goal is unknown to you and don't ask me for the details on it. All you need to know is that Chronus currently has an aura that makes people horny so they will screw each other to power the ritual to achieve an unknown goal.
Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to.
