Moral of the story: Update your AARs!   Again, priorities.

Frankly I don't care. Most religions breed extremist groups that thrive on intolerance and hatred. Today it is the Muslims extremists turn to take center stage in the Intolerance and hatred game. But not so long ago the Christians were the worst and so on and so forth. But most religions also have good people as well.
Now back to my "I don't care" part. If the Muslim extremist angle fits the story then do it. (That would be better than making up some false religion) but if it doesn't then don't add it plan and simple.

The Korxian fighters swarmed around the Barbados like angry hornets, taking potshots any chance they got, jinking frantically to avoid the deadly turret fire coming from the massive ship, desparately trying to do any sort of significant damage.
But thier heoric efforts were in vain. One by one, they exploded into fireballs, some destroying thier wingman with the shockwaves of thier own fighters' explosions. no pilots made any attempt to eject, until there was only one reamaing, trailing smoke and fire as it spun out of control, until the pilot somehow regained control long enough to rock his wings in salute, and then he ejected, the fusalage of his ship separating from the podular cockpit just as the former exploded. A collective sigh of relief ran through the bridge. Evans was ordering shuttle craft to retrive the pilot, no-one heard him, they were still dizzied from thier first battle. Someone was even rapidly reading from their Bible. Regardless of how shaken they were, everyone heard what Evans said next. "Barbados to Glorious Advance, the skies are clear, repeat, the skies are clear. Begin Operation Firesky." "This is Centuion Osiris of Glorious Advance . We are moving in," the Assryian commander replied over the radio "and don't worry, this shoudn't take long." Then, right on scedual, three Assryian transports kicked out of hyperspace. They were beautiful ships, resembling orange and white manta rays, marred only by thier bulky engines on the bow and large mass-drivers on both sides. Osiris appeard on the veiwscreen. He was clad in a scarlet hooded tunic and his yellow eyes seemed to glow in its shadow. "You have done well, Human. Now, we will begin our invasion." He gave the traditional Assryian salute, making his right hand into a fist, tapping it against his heart, and holding his arm out straight. Osiris whispered, "Long live the Empress." And closed transmission. Then, the mass drivers on the transports glowed an eery blue as they powered up. Evans gulped as the first salvo screamed towards the planet, and he fliched as they impacted, sending towering mushroom clouds rising from the surface. For hours, the transports bombarded the planet, throwing the deadly shells where the artillery was heavily concentrated, and sometimes at cities, causing much of the planet to be eveloped in darkness. Then the bombardent stopped. Appearing on the viewscreen, Osiris informed Evans that the invasion was commencing. Pods disgourged from the transports, followed shortly by dropships of all sizes, carrying vehicles and soldiers down to the planet. Evans found himself wondering how many would die beofre the war was over, and then he remembered those famous words: War is Hell.

Author's notes

1: I'm sure you're wondering about the lack of images in the story. My explanation id that I wrote this BEFORE I knew how to take screenies and post them, and I started writing after I finished.  

2: If you don't have a good picture of what the Assryians look like, here's your answer: "/>

Also, the above image is what the female Assryians look like, for the males, just imagine a bipedial tiger, something along the lines of a Kajjit from the The Elder Scrolls series or the Kizni.

I've always had difficulties maintaining a friendly relationship with the Korx, or even a neutral one That is why I chose them to be the ancient antagonist in the history of The Coalition.  There's some insider information for ya

Oooo, this sounds exciting

* It always seemed dumb that you could fit 1 billion people on a single ship, and when I hear the phrase "planetary invasion", I imagine hundreds of ships dispatching troops. So there's the explanation for the smaller number.

The small fleet of ships streaked out of hyperspace, with the Barbados and another ship, EFS Juno out in front, protecting the six transports that trailed close behind. They were a good distance from the planet, but still within visual range, because moving unarmed transports close to a defended enemy planet was suicidal.

Evans called for the Juno to be hailed. The computer beeped, and the face of a woman appeared on the view screen. She was young for a starship captain, in her early thirties, but her rigid posture communicated the experience she had in commanding her ship. "Captain...Radison, is it?" Evans asked.

Pushing her black hair out of her eyes, she replied, "Yes, Admiral, Cassandra Radison. What is it?"

"I have a bad feeling about this," Evans replied. "I need you to move closer to the planet and scan for ships. Be careful, though, I think we're going to have quite a fight on our hands."

"But Admiral Evans," Cassandra replied, annoyed, "if I break formation, the trans ports will be vulnerable. I'm sorry, but I won't endanger three million soldiers just because you have a hunch." Just as she finished speaking, navigator spoke up.

"Admiral, I'm reading a ship coming from behind the ssstar...it looks like...my god, it's a capital ship!"

Evans couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What the hell? Put it up on-screen."
Cassandra's image shrank to a smaller size at the corner of the screen, and a close-up image of the mysterious ship took a prominent position. As it slowly emerged from behind the star, Evans could see its design: a teardrop-shaped bridge, connected to a long hull that looked like the carapice of an insect. Korxian ships don't look like that,Evans thought, Thalan ships do...but it's painted with korxian colors.
As the ship finally passed by the huge green star, it slowly turned and began to advance toword the Barbados. "Hail them," Evans said to his comm officer.

"No response," he said grimly.

"Again, increase priority." Evans replied, sweat trickling down his back.

"Still no response," the comm officer said.

Cassandra spoke next. "Admiral, we've scanned thier ship. It's crewed by Korx...and they're charging thier weapons."

"It's too dangerous here, Cassandra. Escort the transports as far away as you can, then jump to hyperspace."

"With all due respect, Admiral, this is your first time taking on a capital ship. you need all the help..."

Evans cut her off. "With all due respect CAPTAIN, I outrank you, and deliberatly disobeying a higher-ranking officer is a court-marshal offence. You can take your chances with a military court, but remember, I'll be filing the report."

Cassandra was silent for a moment, then gave a heavy sigh. "Understood, I'll escort the transports out of here." She looked at Evans her eyes quizical and sad. Saluting, she said "Good luck," and closed transmission. The Juno turned around and flew towords the transports, which also about-faced and followed it.

Evans turned to Herenedes, the gunnery officer. "Go to tactical alert, I need our cannons ready to fire yesterday, and target that ship." Saluting, Hernendes followed the orders. "We have to keep them away from the transports. Approach them head-on at maximum speed. We're gonna play a little game of Chicken." The Barbados turned and knifed towards the enemy ship as it weapond charged. Suddenly, the three huge cannons on the Korxian ship flashed green and spat out a cloud of glowing projectiles, each the size of a small car.

Someone shouted, "Mass drivers closing, ten seconds!"

"Increase power to forward hull-plating, and target thier bridge!" Evans shouted, as the cloud of glowing metal slammed into his ship. Ther was an enormous crash like a giant hammer slamming against a shield, and the ship shook as if it were in an earthquake. Sparks poured from some computers, and some cremembers were were thrown from thier seats.

"Breaches on Decks B through E, they're reporting casualties, and we're venting atmosphere," said Hernendes.

"Seal emergency bulkheads, and dispatch medical teams." Evans replied.

"Sir, the plasma cannons are online!" Hernendes shouted.

"FIRE, maximum yeild, and target their bridge!" Evans screamed.

There was a flash, and two glowing streams of purple light streamed out of the cannons toword the Korxian ship, striking it and cutting a long swath as the Barbados passed over it. "Turn around and target ther engines!" Evans shouted, already drenched in sweat. The Barbados wheeled around and saw that the enemy ship was making an ascending right turn, leaving a faint white ion trail in its wake. Again, the plasma cannons fired, striking one of the ship's eninges. There was a small explosion, and the debris scattered everywhere, som scratching the hull of the ship it used to be attached to. The enemy ship, still in its turn, fired annother barrage of mass drivers. They slammed into the Barbados, and a muffled explosion could be heard.
"They've taken out our starboard engine, port is at eighty percent." Methesisus, the navigator said.

"Increase power to aft hull plating, and target their weapons!" Evans said, worried. Again, chasing its prey, the Barbados fired its plasma cannons, and they struck one of the mass drivers located at the aft of the ship, which exploded in a brilliant fireball. When the explosion faded, there was a huge hole in the hull of the enemy ship. Air was leaking out of it, as well as smoke.

"Admiral, that last blast took out a lot of theur hull plating, I think I can target thier reactor." Hernendes said, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Exelent, do it, and as soon as you do, fire so we can finally kill the bastards." Evans said as he gripped his chair's armrests. The enemy ship was no longer in an ascending turn, it was diving away from the Barbados, trailing smoke and debris.
"I've got a lock on thier reactor!" Hernendes shouted.

"FIRE NOW!!" Evans shouted and once more, the two purple streams of energy shot towards the enemy ship. Time seemed to slow as they struck the reactor, igniting a huge explosion in the aft of the ship, which sent the remainder spinning out of control, burning violontly in the vacuum of space. Escape pods shot away from the twisted hulk as it was consumed by small explosions and it tumbled uncontrollably. Finally, the wereckage exploded in an enormous fireball, spewing debris in all directions. A sigh of relief ran through the bridge. Shuddering, Evans turned to Hernendes and said, "Damage report."

"Bow hull plating at ninety percent; stern hull plating at...seventy percent. Starbord engine is beyond repair, port engine at eighty percent; breaches on decks B through E, and..." Hernendes grimaced. "Twenty crewmembers and one Marine dead, sir."

The entire bridge was already quiet, but now it was almost unnaturally silent.

Evans was quiet for a moment. "What about those Korx escape pods?"

"Several were destroyed in the explosion, but I'm getting some life-signs," Hernendes responed.

"Save as many as you can, and have all medical bays standing by and move a detachment of Marines into the launch bay," Evans replied.
Evans looked out into space at the debris of the ruined Korxian ship. How did the Korx get a Thalan ship? he thought. And more important, how did the Thalans develop a capital ship in the first place?

Great...if only making movies was quite as easy as typing story...keep it up man...

Well written...that really brought out the intensity of the battle!

Looking forward to more...

Well i am glad that i revisited this story. Very nice work.

Colonel Aleksandr Kososlov shuddered in his olive uniform as two shuttlecraft towing a Korx escape craft neared the hangar. Why didn't I die back there, he thought. The image of Johnson slamming into the wall with a sickening crunch as the Barbados was hit came to mind. The damn Korx killed him like he was nothing.
A desire to kill the Korx, to torture them, to smash their faces in with the butt of his rifle came over him. They're injured. It would be so easy... suddenly, Aleksandr remembered a hunting trip he went on with Johnson in his childhood. He remembered Johnson, thirteen years old, standing over the body of a deer he had shot, striking a jaunty pose as Aleksandr took his picture , and then swatting at a small group of wasps, which quickly became a swarm. The deer had fallen on a wasps' nest. He remembered them running out of the woods and emerging covered in wasp-bites and aching all over, and Johnson's words as they got into the truck:

"Note to self: bring a fly swatter to our next hunting trip."

Okay, Johnson, you win. I won't kill them.

The shuttlecraft slowly landed, and the escape pod they were carrying touched down with a soft thud. Aleksandr motioned for the other Marines to near it, with the medical teams following close behind. A technician punched a code on the door, which opened with a soft hiss-whoosh. There was a split-second pause, and a Korx, his uniform tattered and his body covered in burns and gashes, fell out onto the floor, shuddering as a pool of black blood slowly formed under him. A medical team was surrounding him in an instant, sealing any wounds they could there, and loading him onto a stretcher as he spoke between shallow breaths.

"Surrender...mercy...don't kill..." They carried him off, and more Korx began to emerge from the pod, in all states of injury. Some limped out, hands raised. Some were carried by their comrades. One was missing an arm, another was unmistakably already dead. One of the doctors was leaning into the pod, looking for any more dead. Her head craned around and then froze. Aleksandr could see the color disappear from her face as she backed away, shuddering. Cautiously, Aleksandr walked to the pod and stuck his head inside.

He could hear his own heartbeat when looked at the floor.

There was a Korx, relatively uninjured and younger than the others, kneeling next to a body and draping a cloth over the eyes. Looking up at him, the Korx sat motionless, as if waiting for some cue from Aleksandr. But Aleksandr wasn't looking at the Korx, he was looking at the corpse the latter was still kneeling over. The body was ravaged and obscured in shadow, but the face was clearly visible.

And very, very human.

Nice to hear from you mate...Keep it up!