Talk:Zumwalt's Skirmish Room/@comment-27404954-20160913235826/@comment-27404954-20160914005513

The Aneph fleet hovers above the planet of Helios, silhouetted against deep space. As one, thirty massive Macharian-class supercarriers tipped downwards and dove almost vertically through the atmosphere. Following them are ten Orcus-class battleships and twenty Inward Light-class medium battleships. Up in orbit, the Aneph fleet activates its heavy weapons systems, and the night -- both that of deep space, and that on the planet -- shakes with the concussion of railgun volleys. Assisted by the planet's gravity, they slam down into Protoss positions, vaporizing them with each hit. Earth and pulverized rock fountain into the air as the flying ships level out in the atmosphere.

From the Macharians, 12,600 planes are deployed, a mixture of Chrysaor bombers and Griffon fighters. The orbital bombardment abruptly ceases, and from the battleship escorts and the fleet in orbit, the sky fills with steel. Drop pods scream down through the atmosphere, traceries of fire lining their path, and hit down both among Protoss positions and behind them, inside the city itself. The city -- New Antioch -- was the first target and beachhead of the Aneph assault. Inside the city, massive walker tanks unfold from their drop pods and unleash swarms of target-seeking missiles, while Chrysaor bombers overhead vaporize Protoss flak positions, moving too fast to be locked onto.

In the sky, the commander of the Aneph 155th Elite "Chekhov's Gun" Squadron -- Lt. Cmdr. Mikhail Chekhov -- touches one finger to his comlink. In response to a quiet order, Mikhail nods. "Roger that." Him, followed by his squadron of Griffon-Cs, pull in a sharp bank over the city, peeling away from clouds of enemy flak. "Enemy airfield, gents," Mikhail says over the com to the 155th. "Strap in. This one's equipped with the Z-101s." One of the wing members on the left -- Lt. Albrecht Braun -- snorted derisively, but made no comment otherwise. The 155th moved off to the east, towards the Protoss airfield -- whose fighters were already scrambling to get into the air.

Meanwhile, inside the Protoss defense line, elite Aneph urban combat units move through the city, steadily securing more and more land. Linking up with the forces outside, the 201st Armored Corps -- equipped with WT-1 Recluse walker tanks -- punched through the Protoss defense cordon around the city. At the other end of the city, the 167th Armored Corps and the 180th and 182nd Heavy Infantry Corps met up around the Protoss flying ship LZ -- which had no flying ships on it -- intending to capture it for Aneph ships to land.

Meanwhile, across New Antioch, more and more drop pods screamed down. These carried Project Kappa genetically-engineered monstrosities, whose laser and bullet-proof hides were the undoing of many unknowing Protoss soldiers -- along with their claws, capable of tearing through heavy power armor. The "ka-chnk" of bolter rifles echoed off of the city, and with each shot from the elite 100th Reconissance Corps, another Protoss machine-gunner or tank commander fell, a foot-square hole punched through some lethal part of their anatomy.

However, as the Aneph troops pushed farther into the city, a pocket of Protoss remained at the edges of New Antioch, dug in in the ruins of the Protoss defense cordon -- destroyed by the orbital bombardment and the systematic bombing runs of Chrysaor bombers. Rocket launchers are moved up from the improvised LZ inside the city, and the sky alights with the flame trails of O2F2 rockets as Recluse and Rat-D tanks drive towards the Protoss pockets in a massive armored push, infantry jogging behind.