Talk:AIF/@comment-32153776-20160606022309/@comment-10905876-20160708001331

The defending troops however manage to take down a considerable number of clones as they withdraw back further. The tide soon shifts however, with the arrival of some special reinforcements. In some bunkers, fire squads of heavily armed Jaguar Warriors in full Mjolnir armor storm in, their tough armor impervious to most small arms. Heavy weapons like the Fe-56, along with other high power weapons lay waste to all in their path. With the support of other marines, they slowly begin to push back the Protoss onslaught.

Other bunkers however, have more, unique, defenders. Also sporting either Mjolnir armor, or lighter Freelancer armor, a few members of the Knights of Paladin lead contingents of marines to retake the bunkers. They use a mixture of weapons, choosing to use M1A1 rifles at a distance, but also wielding their immensely powerful lightsabers in close quarters. The knights rip through the droids, shorting out many with bursts of force lightning, and ripping weapons from the hands of clone troopers.

Several wakers collapse, their legs bucking under them causing them to plummet straight down. Others, with only one or two legs damaged, discard them and continue on only five or four legs, though at reduced speed. Shells that hit the bridges do cause casualties among the crew, but others quickly fill their stations to keep the platform in action. Strike craft continue to hit the artillery from above, inundating them with bombs. The retreating tanks continue to return fire, downing several more Protoss in return.

-Orbit-

"More bogies at three o'clock high!"

"Scratch one!"

"Meteor Flight, group of greenies coming after ya!"

"They're going for those gunships, after em!"

"Lock S-Foils, tally ho!"

"My bird is done for, bailing out."

The P-300s prove themselves to be just as effective in battle as the Z-40s, 50s and 93s, going toe to toe with all of them. Furious dogfights take place, with fighters exploding everywhere as the lasers and guns of the various fighters find their marks. Meanwhile, a few fighters move to protect plummeting escape pods from the destroyed gunboats, which are seen entering the atmosphere on a trajectory towards the ISBA territories.

-Bridge of Hodston's ship-

Engineer: "Cap'n, we've got damage to the main thruster block. She's down to 40% thrust."

Captain: "Keep things in one piece, we need to get Admiral Hodston to the Enterprise."

Engineer: "Aye sir, but she won't be much good in this fight for very long!"

Hodston: "Captain, do not bother docking your ship. My staff and I will take an escape pod, you need only get us close. Then, get your ship to Telos for repairs."

The Swiftsurf class ship moves in close to the Enterprise, ejecting a lone escape pod before warping away. Tractor beams on the larger battleship pull it aboard. Soon, the admiral is on the bridge, deep below the armored dome of the ship's superstructure.

Hodston: "Report."

Flag Lieutenant: "Several enemy capital ships have withdrawn. The enemy just used artillery vessels to disable more of our ships, mostly ones coming back up from a previous salvo. The rest of the enemy fleet has blinked behind Admiral Arents' Colonial Fleet."

Hodston: "Swing the fleet around, bring them back in our most effective firing position. Contact ground based ion control and have them concentrate fire on those artillery ships."

Flag Lieutenant: "Yes admiral. Commodore Riley reports his squadron is commencing another assault."

The Colonial fleet begins to rotate around, while their guns swing around to fire astern. Most of the ships hit by the ion barrage were already mostly down from the previous ion barrage, disabling them again but not being as devastating as previous hits. Frigates, many already at the rear of the formation either reloading or stationed to cover the fleet's rear, quickly come about and begin intercepting incoming missiles with point defense lasers. Meanwhile, ground based heavy ion cannons ramp up their rate of fire, focusing down and disabling most of the Harbingers.

As the Colonial and Home Fleets regroup to deal with the warped Protoss fleets, the force of cruisers under Commodore Riley that has been harassing the Protoss arrives once again. Their first targets are the Harbingers, which are already reeling from ground based ion fire. They drive in from blind spots in the ships' fire arcs, blasting them in half with concentrated laser fire and gutting them with missiles. They quickly pass the artillery ships, many of which are disabled or destroyed, and charge the rear of the Protoss at high accumulated speed. They pinpoint weak spots such as engines, sensors, and turrets, delivering precision strikes as they weave between the Protoss. The cruisers continue to rocket through the Protoss fleet, traversing it in under half a minute. (note: these cruisers are at full impulse, and so are accelerating quite rapidly, meaning they are gaining considerable relative speed over the relatively stationary Protoss and AIF fleets.) The cruisers also quickly pass through the AIF fleet, rotating horizontally and using their engines to decelerate eventually stopping amongst the stationary ships of the Home Fleet...