Talk:Zumwalt's Skirmish Room/@comment-27404954-20160913235826/@comment-10905876-20160914052124

The AIF fleet now arrives at the assault, with three battle clusters forming up in a standard spherical formation with heavy warships in the center. Two Pantheon class carriers disgorges fighters, strike craft, and Condor drop ships as they drop down through the atmosphere, while the main lasers perform precision strikes on surviving air defenses in the area.

The Condor drop ships perform steep descents towards the Aneph secured landing zone, leveling out at the last moment. They set down momentarily, remaining in place just long enough to allow whatever troops they have aboard to disembark. The first drop ships deliver infantry, and a few armored vehicles, while the later arrivals from the carriers bring armored vehicles such as the T5-B and T6-B hover tanks, A5-B self propelled guns, and various support vehicles based on light hover tank hulls including rocket and SPAA units.

The Imperial forces move up to support their Aneph allies. Heavily armored hover tanks rush up to forward lines, with a few of the more, flamboyant tank commanders deciding to, as pilots would call it, "hot dog" their tanks. An Aneph tank commanders looks with either amusement or annoyance as a T6-B heavy tank slides by his own, rotating as it goes and firing bursts from its pusher engines as they line up with its direction of travel.

The AIF forces however focus on their tasks once they reach the front lines. Aboard the tank that was previously seen spinning its way through already claimed Protoss streets, lieutenant Nigel Collins peered intently at a small electronic display. He uses a set of controls, aiming a remote camera on the roof of his T6-B Gargantuan. He spots a group of Protoss tanks, and radios them to the other four Gargantuans in his platoon. He then selects one, highlighting it with the various sensor equipment and feeding the data to the main battery gunner.

Collins: "Fielding, we got a greenie tank at one four seven, locking sensors."

The gunner, Dan Fielding, grins a wry grin as he brings the main gun to bear.

Fielding: "'E won't know what hit 'im sir!"

Fielding presses the firing key, and tank's 200mm high velocity railgun lobs an armor piercing shell at the Protoss tank. The armor of the Protoss vehicle tries valiantly to resist, however still does not quite hold the raw thickness needed to stop the imperial round. As the shell passes through, a delay fuze activates, detonating a plasma charge as it reaches the interior and incinerating everything inside. Alongside, the other Gargantuans fire their own guns, sending both Railgun rounds and bursts of laser energy into the hostile formation.

Behind the Imperial tanks, AIF infantry also move up in support of Aneph forces. Their 10mm assault rifles, while not as powerful as the Aneph handheld railguns, still prove quite lethal to the Protoss troops. Snipers set up at places of opportunity, their large, but very powerful rifles providing lethally accurate fire on unsuspecting Protoss troops.

In the air above, pilot James Johnson searches for Protoss aircraft with the rest of the Imperial aircraft. While his craft did not boast the same technological goodies that his fellow Aneph pilots enjoyed, he was still confident in the abilities of his Marshall-Lewis built P-114. He looks around, searching for air targets...