((   starting the Invasion of Paradise. ))

    The Fleet   grew  closer now. Paradise  was a  Blue-Yellow-green Basket ball  as they  neared   it.. shining, gleaming   'dashes  were seen ahead of them,  Angel  Fleet ships.

   AP-Lo came on  the  COMs, with no picture  being permitted by  Beth.

  Do you really   think you can do this   Admiral Hack? We  sent  your people  away years ago, when they  thought they were ready for the Knowledge of the gods!

 Hack  answered, I was one of the few, who realized  That Eden wasn't ever, on Earth. And the Promises  of   earthlings   reaching paradise  , was just a control mechanism. Well, AP-Lo... we are here. We are Not the demons, who will make deals ,  You can, of course, surrender you vessels to us, and   we will, indeed  land on paradise. Your only choice is? how much devastation you want us to inflict . Paradise  is going to get slapped  around AP-LO... its  time that  all Angels learned , what its like to be...'just another  Race, in The Black'

 Then Come to us, Admiral  Hack, and we will show  The Whole of  The Black, who is the mightiest...

 Oh?  We're comign alright. and just to qualifiy  that last  statement . You surrednered to  The Empire... you can only be, under, all thier races.

 AP-LO  cut off the feed.

 LC, Take yourn people out...

Already  done... to  the  aircraft...Fighters  First.... My Flight... Frans  flight, then  each by the numbers.... Shuttles  Last, followed  by the Morningstar  I will hover  and watch as you form up on the spine...

When it was her turn, Madison flew out of the Hangar in formation. This spine maneuver was new, but not difficult. All she had to do is stick with Flores and land in positions. What was bugging her was the communication between Admiral Hack and AP-LO. The Angels were in space a long time, and they surely had at least some hidden might. But if they were so powerful, why were there so many appeals to desist, especially after they had joined the Empire. Why didn't they wipe out the fleet as soon as it arrived. A purely defensive posture meant that they respected the force coming at them. Maybe they weren't as powerful as they pretended to be. But they could have just been trying to avoid the mess of war being fought on their lawn. This was why Candy was so antsy, and Madison was feeling that also.

    Angel ships ... thier 'real' Cap  ships , were  half again as  Long, perhaps a1/4   more  wide  and tall.

  Thier hanger   Dec  flickered  with static  fields.. 6  bays  along   the port sides that faces them

  double rows  of   Ship's guns..perhaps  20  total, one assumes on each side. The Angels had ships  scattered  higher  , lower..some  Miles behind others.. Perhaps  10,000 miles of   occupied  space to get through

  Beth looked at Sims...how  did  DI-ME  get close  enough  to send two heavy  rounds   into thier  surface.

  Hack smiled...we  shared alot of   things  with the Angesl...but we never shared   Morrow bouys, or   Your Transponders... Those ships out there... we are comign in from thier Sun.... they won['t see us  until we   fire  our  first salvos...then... Hell will come to Paradise  space.

When Fitz-Simmons began moving out the hangar the rest of his flight began following him then forming into formation.  Nikki had no doubt this fight was going to tough.

Slowpoke launched and fell in formation along the spine. As the new guy he assumed his position would be the last in the wing, so he fell in on the left side and quickly glances over to see who his direct wingmate was.

------>>>>>>> From Hanger Dec

 Lizzy launched first and waited for Nikki and Stavros, once they were all out Lizzy took lead and then followed Fitz and headed for the spine. " Ok Nikki, Stavros on me lets follow Fitz to the spin and get ready to fight our Gods."

  The shuttles  and   fighters  nestled on the  spine of the  Hermes.

  Steele   COMed on al COMs.....Hey , LC how long  do we  got to sit her, I  feel like a baby Possum

  everyone  stays  on the spine,  until  The Admiral  tells us, to go kill things....... They can't see us..we can't  tip them off...

 If they can't see  us. why are the tough talk...

 Because  2 hours  behind us,  are 200  merchant ships and  cruise  ships, that  don't have  Morrow  transponders... AP-LO  thinks he's talking to them...

 so what does  that mean for us?

 You ever  been in an alley fight, Steele

 Couple bar  fights.. so?  No?

 You lure  the guy into the alley, thay you think, may be too tough...  and as they walk in the   dark, a    2by 4 hits them  across the face, or  a brick hits  the back of thier head...

 dammit, LC? You fought   dirty?

 where i grew up,  you didn't fight  any one for  fun...it was all about winning. losers  went to the Hospital. or the Morgue

 Flores   chirped ,So? Instead.. the Guy is already in the Alley ..and we're gonna hit him with that 2 by  4.

 sorta... we're gonna shoot him in the back of the head. Don't get cocky... we'll  Bloddy their Nose, and  scared them..., when   we launch, target those  bay doors.. kil some of them coing off the Dec.. any luck. stray rounds  wil tear up the  Hanger dec folks and cause panic...

...................

 In the shuttles.. the  people  sta.. largs seemed to be  asleep

 Andruss   seemed to me asleep in his mech

..

 The  Young Guns  were chattering away. with  Liri just shaking her  head as they  talked

...

 Shade   had  his  SMG  ready, hr  hand  to Mag lets   crossd his  chest

After the shuttles made their way out, Karl throttled up enough to clear the deck, and eased out through the field...

"Rear guard, for now, Ed.  Focus sensors on the back door."  He didn't actually expect anyone to come sneaking up on them.  The fact that they'd gotten ships close enough to land plasma rounds on Paradise meant that the Morrow buoys and modified transponders were doing their job, so the Angels had no way of finding them, outside of the old Mark I eyeball, and after centuries of sitting tight at home, he was pretty sure their eyeballs were well out of practice.

But it didn't hurt to get a little insurance on the matter.  The sensor screens lit up with a lidar view of space around and behind the Hermes, with some distant blips indicating other ships in the fleet moving in echelon.  The view gave him some grim satisfaction...it was going to be a bloody day, but the Angels were going to get a first-hand lesson in the cost of betrayal.

"Too bad we haven't had time to get those ion shells operational yet," he mused aloud.  They were still somewhere in the Limbo between the basic concept he'd presented and the finished engineering that had to be completed before fabrication began.  But damned if this wouldn't have been a spectacular time to test them out...

Roy's face was inscrutable, the fixed neutral visage that experienced troopers would recognize as his 'game face'.  It showed neither excitement for the upcoming engagement, nor fear for the results, and gave an almost eerie stillness to his exterior, even as his mind ran through plans, contingencies, and contingencies for those contingencies.  He'd learned, long ago, that there were only so many plans to be made in advance, especially against an unfamiliar enemy...you had to start out with a basic plan, and improvise and adapt from there, as you gained more intel on the operations and capabilities of the foe.

As his mind worked through all of it, he let his eyes play across the shuttle crew, assessing their mindset, their readiness, and whether or not there needed to be any sort of pep talk before they went into action.  While he understood the need for getting the shuttles clear of the hangar and ready to operate faster once the shooting started, the enforced inaction was sometimes hard on troops who'd mentally braced themselves for the shooting to start right away...

——> Hangar Dec

Too large to use the seats the armoured infantry would stand silently within the aisle, held in place by their magboots and the air seals on their suits meaning that no one could hear what was going on inside the suits. Case in point Tarja was currently singing along to an Avatar track, but unless you were to look through her faceplate and see her lips moving you would be none the wiser, with her using the loud music to distract herself.

 NA-CE took her place in the shuttle she wasnt nervous about fighting Angels she was just nervous that this was her first combat mission with the Hermes and as she was told she had big shoes to fill with their last combat medic.

 She then began singing a beautiful Moon Angel song about honor, and giving all of yourself to a great cause, she had a wonderful singing voice.

---->>>>>> From Hanger Dec

 Meari had gotten the SI squad into their shuttle, and they were all standing waiting to see where they were going on this part of the mission. Meari was all business with her combat face on. She was ready for combat and to show the APF, ESN and the Hermes what these suits could do, Meari was wondering exactly how good they were as well, they would find out soon.

 Meari knew they would put on a good showing if the team worked together, followed orders and did what they were best at, killing Empire scum, and Paradise Angels in Meari's eyes were the worst kind of scum.

  They waited, they listened to the Cross talk.. the    ESN   ships  were  now  cruised at  a 45  degree  Angle to the   nearest of the staggers    defensive wall.

   Under the Ange;ls   cruses  1/3  of the fleets  Cap ships... above  it  another  third... while the remaining  third  was  The Hermes and her  companions,...

  Captain Si  gavce her   order..  The Hermes  shook , those who were is inclined  could watch the screens  as torpedoes and Hard   Ammo   zipped  across the Miles of   space..

  Shadow watched.. he  hit the Timer on his  wrist...All weapons running   strong..out of sight... contact in 3  Minutes ...... 2:30.......2:00....

 frans    breathed slowly in her  cockpit. These were the Angels? She never thought she would attack..THE...Angels. Sure? some EDT , or pirates...but this was  the whole damn system!

 1:00.....:50....:40...

 Every ship  in the fleet listened...the over and Under  waves  were moving, purely on impetus,so their hear sigs wouldn't  show  too soon.

 The  'dummy fleet' that was still 2 hours  away, registered on the Angels   screens... and thiose screens  wouldn't pick up the   hard  ammo  and  telephone pole  sized  torpedoes... those would have to been seen by sight...

:30.....:15...

  Flores   said...they didn't pick them up!... They won't be able to do a damn thing!

  5.....4.....3....2.....1....contact...