Just beyond Masoperderm's orbit the small order fleet was trying to control the massive invasion force as best as they could until reinforcing fleets could relieve it. in the mean time Admiral Brokta, having experienced a devastating lost just weeks earlier, was determined to minimize the damage to his remaining fleet which was still battered from the first engagement. however, he knew that would be easier said than done as masoperderm was a highly valued target which if it fell to the grays would open up more of the inner territories to Gray invasion. and thus over time possibly could jeopardize Libertaria.
Admiral Brokta would perform somewhat well in stalling the invasion as it was a miracle to say the very least. Despite overwhelming numbers, Brokta managed to buy time for the planet with skeleton fleet, with the planetary orbital canons to be loaded and primed, giving the planet the ability to fire onto gray ships that would enter it's orbit. as Masoperderm was a war fortress world, it was known for it's war culture and considered one of the best trained soldiers of the order. Masoperderm, unlike many other order planets, was not under the control of a planetary governor but rather a planetary war master and thus the culture there was more prepared for brutal warfare than most. Planetary General Hernado Adonai over saw its preperations.
After three weeks of intense stalling, Brokta's defensive line would inevitably faulter as was expected. Gray ships would begin to bombard the planet side indiscriminately but found itself surprised as several of the few gray fleet ships that entered orbit began to sustain significant damage from the order's planetary cannons. one of the gray ships was cleaved in half with a lucky shot as its crew was incinerated from the initial breech in it's armor. after the first engagement, the grays were not expecting the order to have any highly powerful energy or plasma weapons. due to this unforeseen mistake, the Gray commander knew orbital bombardment was out of the picture due to his fleet possibly sustaining heavy damage, and knowing the likelihood of the order possibly calling for reinforcements would ultimately spell disaster on this front. Thus he gave the order for a land invasion. Gray transports would shoot out as the gray ships that were beginning to leave the orbit of masoperderm were bombarding still as a form of suppressive fire.
on the planet side soldiers of all ranks and walks of life were begining to run for their positions and the planetary capital command bunker (or known as the Castle by the regular soldiers) had a radar team trying to detect gray movement to alert the local forces to engage them as soon as possible. the Masoperdermian campaign had begun.
