Star Wars: The Day After [FT][IC][TELEGRAM FOR ENTRY]

[Ormata]

Malastare System
ISD Opulent
Imperial 42nd Fleet

“Contact the rest of the fleet. Inform them that they are required,” came the order, as emergency lighting came on. Comm systems were still operational, and the turbolaser batteries came online quickly. Ion cannon attacks, while annoying, could be countered by swift responses. They began to return fire, concentrating their abilities against the enemy’s capital ship, the Pride of Corellia.

The Triton, Famine, Verdant, Sarga, and Chalice came into the system. Not only that, they skimmed across the atmosphere of the planet itself, warping into Malastare and launching bombers immediately. The Ion Cannons would be disabled; that was their order. One of the benefits of the Ton-Falks were how easily they disgorged fighters. Another benefit was how quickly they recharged the Hyperdrive. The mini-jump they had performed left the vessels with significant power. In but twenty seconds they could make a jump.

AAA fire from ground installations began to open up, though slowly. The gunners on the ground knew the enemy was near, but this near? That had been unthinkable. They hadn’t even been manning their cannons. Yet the Rebels were well-motivated, and ran to their positions. Light fire came first, not even scratching the shields, yet then the larger guns opened-up.

The Famine began to be hit, in her aft sections, shields already down as fire erupted on one of her sublight engines. Structural integrity wasn’t compromised, though. That would come later. Her captain retained control, however; no evacuations would be made. They were too close to the surface anyways, for an escape pod to not crush whoever was inside. Soon they would exit, as quickly as they entered.

An enemy Lucrehulk had jumped into the system, opening fire with her forward batteries. It fired on the unengaged Victory, the Phalanx, hitting the vessel’s aft sections, weakening her shields. Captain Nassau was no fool, however; he fired missiles. The Concussion Missile of a Victory-I was not something you swatted aside. It was the product of a long line of Anti-Ship weapons, designed to destroy capital ships with supreme ease. Eighty of them were being fired at the Lucrehulk, and streams of exhaust came from the missiles, a cloud of smoke obscuring the vessel momentarily and the cloud becoming a fireworks display of light.

The Lucrehulk would not be safe. The ISD Valient, ISD Pantheon, and the Defiant, Merciless, Sordid, Abrupt, and Simms jumped-in, in formation, near the aft of the Imperial formation and off the port of the Lucrehulk. Missiles from the Valient came, too, and they were headed for the Rebel formation. The Pantheon’s fighters and bombers were launched, as well, moving against the Lucrehulk’s swarms and supported by fire from the Tartans, ripping into the CIS fighters and transports.

As all this happened, the original formation of the 42nd Fleet began to turn, moving away from the enemy with engines lighting-up like little blue suns. The fighters launched from that formation maneuvered, engaging X-Wings and A-Wings as groups, five on one and using their maneuvering to keep from the enemy laserfire. The TIE Bombers from the formation launched, boosting downwards by the explosive decompression from the hangars of the Ardent Fury and Phalanx and quickly launched torpedos against the Pythar.

All the while, Admiral Gallou watched from the bridge, seeing the battle move.

[Orostan]

Malastare

The battle raging in orbit continued. The focusing of the enemy ships fire on the Alliance flagship served as reprieve for the other ships, and they began to redouble their efforts to destroy the Imperial ships. Meanwhile the Flagship was charging its hyperspace drive while its triple layered shields took on damage, one layer falling. The Alliance fighters Completly cut their engines for less than a second with the help of their Astromech droids. They fell behind the Imperial pilots, and began firing. The A wings, without Astromech droids, simply rotated their guns around and fired backwards, all the while doing evasive maneuvers. The shots were immaculate, but still could get the TIEs off their tails. Some fighters did not survive this, and exploded, their debris now not under acceleration falling back and striking TIEs that could not manuver away. The shields on the Rebel fighters saved many of them, allowing them to fight another day. The Imperial ships turning mean that they'd loose firepower, almost all of it. The Rebels took advantage of this, turning to get behind the ISDs and raising their altitude as to be on the same elevation as the Imperial engines. The Lucrehulk meanwhile launched flares and chaff at the missiles, and turned slightly, the missiles striking its heavily armored outer hull instead of its core. The ships Sheilds got up just in time, and Imperial blaster fire penetrated the aft shields for a moment, knocking out one of the 3 large engines, and another 2 of the small engines. The Vulture droids kept on moving in, Hyena bombers in their midst launching missiles and Proton torpedoes at the Victory class. The Lucrehulk, with one of its 'arms' docking bay crippled, attempted to plot a Hyperspace micro jump to escape the Imperial fire. The Rebel Command ship was rotating, spreading the damage of the blaster fire around its shields, while the 50 Civillian transports were launching flares and chaff before they were hit, about 15 of them exploding outright, and 25 suffering shield damage, and the rest protected by the layers of ships in front of them. They swiftly followed the group of Frigates, that were now on an attack run to the ISDs comparatively weak back sections, launching concussion missiles all the way, being projectiles, energy shields couldn't stop them.

[Whalestron]

Nathan
Malastare's Orbit

Nathan waited eagerly as the man responded, with a nod, he said,

"Understood, dispatching my fighters now."

And with that, his image disappeared. They were now out of hyperspace, approaching the battle from the rebel's side, although still far enough to avoid major fire. Nathan called into the fighter pilot's headsets, ordering them to begin clearing a path for them towards one of the obviously disabled, or very near disabled, ships. The result was the X-Wings flying out towards the battle ahead, chasing after any TIE in their way. The path was very clear, and Nathan set a course towards the ship closest to them. The X-Wings flew into formation back towards the other rebel ships, awaiting orders.

Once they closed in on it, the pilots began to dock onto it, allowing the troops access inside once the doors were spliced. Nathan ran down to one of the two access ports they'd begun splicing into, rallying his men along the way. By the time they made it down there, he'd amassed seventy two infantry fighters, eight commandos, two elite commandos, and five infiltrators. The infiltrators would use their cloaking devices to try to take the bridge, whereas Nathan and the rest would all prepare to crowd into the hallways to fight.

[United Democratic Christian States]

Malastare

Admiral Hendricks fleet was now in range of enemy vessels. "All Battery's fire at the Imperials anti-fighter ships! Admiral Kalani wants no survivors! Once those ships are destroyed dispatch all fighters!"

"Rodger, Rodger"

The Admiral was pleased, but wanted to press on, then Nathan came out of hyperspace.

"Sir another ship just came out of hyperspace, it has the markings of Nathan's vessel."

"Good we need all the firepower we can get."......

[Spindle]

CIC
Alacrity
Troiken Outer Orbit

With a flicker of pseudomotion ten ships arrived out of hyperspace and began spearing directly into the system, systems flickering into life as Zillelli considered the system projected into the holotank set up before her command throne. Imperial presence was typically light - nothing more than a pair of Strike-class Cruisers. Both of them were falling back to the planet's single orbital defence platform, its few weapons and meagre shields coming online as the threat registered. Zillelli could imagine that there would be panic and paralysis amongst the Imperials for a while: as far as backwater systems went, this was about as backwater as it got and that meant that she had a little time.

Glancing at the chronometer, Zillelli didn't need to do the maths to see that she wasn't going to be capable of engaging their HoloNet transceiver in time.

"We dropped out too far away." Aalar noted, "Way too far out."

"I'll take it." Zillelli shrugged, "It's a better trade-off than being shredded the moment we arrived."

Aalar snorted contemptuously.

"Those couldn't shred silk." He commented, before a semblance of professionalism slipped over his features, "All snubfighters launched, Ma'am."

"Thank you." Zillelli nodded, "I was planning to keep this as a surprise, but I'd rather we tested this here than in the middle of a fair fight. Thereseere, signal the Devastator to take a bearing of...thirty-two by minus seventeen from its current velocity, with the Ardent and the Mynock Bait as trailing escorts. Grav-cones two and four activating on bearing...minus fifty-eight by thirty-four - no, thirty-seven - on my mark and get the rest of the Battlegroup up to combat velocity. Aalar, have Sunshine and Rainbow Squadrons ready take a course at minus twenty-eight by nil on their parent crafts' vectors."

"On it." Aalar nodded while Thereseere simply turned to speak in a muted tone into his headset.

Glancing into the tactical holo, Zillelli pursed her lips. She didn't like the idea of doing this: it left the Devastator far too open to enemy attack and that ship was the only irreplaceable one in her Battlegroup. But she didn't have the luxury of choice here, and she knew it. With a sigh, she glanced up at the holo again. Her portion of the Battlegroup was steadily closing with the two Strikes which were, in turn, closing with the orbital defence platform. Veering away at an angle from the main force, the smaller sub-force was pulling to one side of the battlespace, outside of effective weapons range. Not, however, outside of the range of the Immobiliser's grav-cones.

"Thereseere, signal the Devastator." Zillelli said, "That's far enough. Bring the grav-cones online. Have Sunshine and Rainbow Squadrons commit thirty seconds from reception."

Once again, Thereseere hunched over and spoke into his headset and, in the holo, Zillelli could see the Cruiser slow to a stop relative to the planet ahead of them, two of its grav-cones activating and barring hyperspace entry for the Strikes, leading them such that their engines brushed up against the edge of the hyperspace boundary. Zillelli rolled her eyes lightly at that: they were slightly off of the bearing she'd ordered them to take. It was typical of the Devastator: her crew had been trying to redeem the ship from the perceived flaw which was its Imperial origin. She was going to have to deal with that myth once they'd had their baptism of fire, but until then she was willing to take the over-enthusiasm of its crew as a positive.

"Sunshine and Rainbow Squadron confirm orders." Thereseere informed her, "Delta-three in...twenty seconds."

"Thank you." Zillelli nodded, "Have the Inward Fire and Sword of Justice commit in unison with the snubs. I don't want those Strikes having the time to link up with that station and we've got the hyperspace boundary in place anyway."

Tense moments passed as Thereseere relayed the orders and the confirmation of the orders and the last few seconds drained away before everything happened at once.

Two Squadrons of X-wings and a pair of Liberator-class Cruisers flashed across the Battlespace in the blink of an eye, all four reappearing as their navicomputers detected the planetary-level gravity well the Devastator was projecting and forcibly shunted them back into realspace with a flicker of psuedomotion. The two X-wing Squadrons had arrived ahead of the two Strikes, spaced apart on either side of the orbital defence platform, hitting the gravity well at an angle. S-foils were still locked as they shot past the monolithic defence station, the barest minimum of laser fire following them, startled gunners snapping off brief shots before the snubfighters were gone and the orbital defence station had an unobstructed view of the two Strikes.

The Liberators had been approaching the gravity well from the opposite side and a far more perpendicular angle, and had arrived within weapon range of the two Strikes, the Inward Fire only a little behind its opposite number and the Sword of Justice almost entirely within its rear arc. For a moment there was a stunned nothingness as sensors locked onto new targets and shields snapped into existence before lines of fire sprang up as ion cannon and turbolasers spat back and forth, slamming into shields as punctuating the space between the four combatants with flickering bolts which speared towards their target before vanishing into one of the dozens of ripples spreading across the visible shields of the cruisers.

"Well then." Zillelli nodded to herself, before turning to Thereseere, "Have the Devastator continue to project gravity wells two and four: prepare three and one in case. Sunshine and Rainbow Squadrons are weapons free: primary target's the HoloNet transceiver. Keep the Ardent's screen close in to keep her group safe. Have the Droch and Killik Squadrons move to make an attack run on the defence station - but have them break off before they reach the range of the enemy's point defence. Kerel?"

"Yes?" The Human asked, glancing up from his work coordinating the chaotic efforts of the CIC.

"Have the Dauntless fire a salvo of proton torpedoes." Zillelli ordered, "Aim them into the wake of the X-wings."

"Aye aye." Kerel grinned and Zillelli knew that he understood.

All across the battlespace, flurries of motion could be seen as the Imperials moved to regain the initiative and the Alliance fleet moved to deny it to them. A Squadron of Ties was already screaming after the X-wings but they were already far too late, S-foils opening up and a flurry of proton torpedoes reducing the transceiver into so much expanding gas and shrapnel in a single, swift run. The TIEs continued to pursue them for a moment more before peeling away and returning to the orbital defence platform, taking up screening positions even as the second Squadron moved to prepare for an interception of the next group of X-wings. Without waiting, Zillelli's eyes shifted to the next brawl.

The two Strikes were trying to make the most of their situation by rotating and attempting to force the Liberators into their forward lines of fire. One had partially managed to do so, but the other's engine had been the target of a particularly nasty flurry of turbolaser fire which had left it spinning aimlessly through space, incapable of bringing more than a few weapons to bear against the two Alliance Cruisers. With one of the ships currently out of the fight, the two Liberators had torn into the second Strike with a vigour that had only been blunted by the enemy Captain's initiative. Zillelli's eyebrow cocked a little as she saw the Cruiser spinning madly along its axis, ensuring that no every portion of its shield was taxed more than the rest: forcing the two Liberators to break the shield entirely before they could damage the ship itself. Nodding to herself, Zillelli mentally stowed the idea away for later use: it had potential.

A portion of the holo lit up with red as the Droch and Killik Squadrons broke away from the Squadron of TIEs which had been scrambled to intercept them, the proton torpedoes they had been hiding in their exhaust wake tearing through the Imperial fighters and forcing them to scatter as the X-wings locked their S-foils and shot back towards the Battlegroup proper, a volley of their own proton torpedoes slamming into the steadily-weakening shields of the dervish of a Strike. It managed to absorb the additional punishment as it attempted to return fire, but the disadvantage of the tactic was becoming readily apparent as the shots arced off into the star-speckled night around the X-wings as they shot back towards them main fleet.

Explosions blossomed against the platform's shields and atmosphere vented into space, a section of the structure caving inwards before pressure sent it flying back out again, metal and ceramics mingling with blood as it floated into the void, boiling and freezing as it sprayed with serene grace from gashes and severed limbs. Zillelli's eyes took it all in, unblinking, as the ping in the holo heralded the first transmission was registered from the Imperials since her Battlegroup had arrived in-system with their Alliance IFFs blazing. If she'd had time, Zillelli knew she had the contacts and resources to make her fleet appear like nothing more than a convoy to the Imperials. She could have avoided this if she'd had the time.

She didn't have the time.

She knew that, deep down. The Imperials were going to figure out her history before long: they were going to take retribution to cow others into submission. It was their modus operandi and she doubted that it was going to change now, just because she was here. It wasn't going to change unless the Imperials had something to take up their attention. And while her compatriots were going around creating a war of attrition, she was perfectly willing to use the distraction to unleash her own kind of warfare upon the Imperials. If that meant that the people here needed to die, she was just going to have to facilitate their deaths better than anyone else would.

"Ma'am?" Thereseere rumbled, "The Imperial commander wishes to offer his unconditional surrender."

"Unconditionally?" Zillelli asked, fingers twitching in surprise, "We must have hit close to his office. Or perhaps he just can't deal with the combat getting so close."

After a moment, she nodded.

"Inform him that we accept his offer." She ordered finally, "Instruct him to remove all personnel from the engines of his Strikes and stand their shields down."

Thereseere nodded and echoed Zillelli into his headset. For moment he was still, then his head tilted and his nostrils flared with a whicker of amusement.

"They will comply, but wish to know why you want that first one." He relayed, "What should I tell them?"

Glancing into the holo, Zillelli confirmed that the shields on the Cruisers were down. The dervish still bristled with aggression, but the other Strike seemed limp and defeated.

"Inform them that we'll be shooting out their Cruisers' engines, give them thirty seconds to relay that information, and then open fire." She said with the slightest smirk. Watching in the holo, Zillelli could see the sudden flare of power surge through the dervish before its Captain was apparently called off by whoever was in charge. Twelve seconds later, a swift barrage of turbolasers reduced the rear ends of both Cruisers into so much molten slag and venting atmosphere. Nodding to herself in satisfaction, Zillelli glanced back to the dervish before her eyes flitted to Thereseere.

"Oh, and one more thing." She told the Thakwaash, "Have whoever's in charge transmit their personnel files. I think I've got a bit of reading to do."

"Is this really a time for reading?" Aalar asked, "I mean, we've just won our first victory as a Battlegroup! Shouldn't there be-"

"No." Zillelli cut him off, "This wasn't a battle: they never had a chance. That's why I could afford to experiment here. Now we need to prepare for real battles."

"Aye aye." Aalar muttered glumly after several seconds.

"But I will need you to head over to the Devastator and congratulate the crew." She continued, "Head around the other ships from there: we can do the Alacrity when we're jumping to hyperspace."

"Aye aye." Aalar replied, a hint more life in his fishy eyes as they swivelled from her knees to her face, "Permission to begin?"

"Go." Zillelli nodded, "We leave in an hour. I'll need you back at least fifteen minutes before that."

"Of course." Aalar nodded before turning and beelining for the turbolift. Zillelli also turned, her eyes settling onto the holo flickering in front of her. With a single, smooth motion, she brought her hand trailing through the image of the system and replaced it with a line of starships. Tapping the first one, the thin, elongated spike of a Recusant expanded to blot out the others, with tabs beginning to branch off of it and displaying streams of data as Zillelli leaned forwards, lines of blue glimmering in her crimson eyes as she began to absorb everything she could find about the Corporate Sector Authority's fleet.

[Greater Persian State]

Anthem of the Confederacy of Independent Systems

Above Raxus, Onboard The Restoration

---

The victories for the Confederacy went on and on. But the fact is, Kalani's fleet was too small to do any significant damage. However, many Separatist ships still drifted across the galaxy. Kalani knew of a great Clone Wars battle that must have left some ships floating. Bothawui. A strategic world that saw a great space battle above it. Kalani planned to send over a ship to see what he could salvage in the asteroid field nearby the planet. One of the frigates jumped to lightspeed, Kalani hoped for new ships. He would stay and guard Raxus for the time being.

12 Hours Later.....

Kalani had just come back from recharging when the frigate returned. Attached to it via tow cable was a Rescusant-class light destroyer. Kalani instructed for necessary repairs to be made and for the shipped to be staffed. It would serve Kalani well.

[Orostan]

Malastare

Admiral Hendricks fleet was now in range of enemy vessels. "All Battery's fire at the Imperials anti-fighter ships! Admiral Kalani wants no survivors! Once those ships are destroyed dispatch all fighters!"

OOC: I hate to say it, but killing those Corvettes was gmod. The Imperial Player left, an I will control his ships now.

[b]Malastare

The Imperial ships began flipping end over end, turning upside down and maneuvering to face the rebel fleet. The newest arrivals into the system came in too close to the atmosphere, the few molecules of air at that height liquifying parts of the ships, the lucky ones only had their hangers literally melted off, turbolaser components melted as the friction from the miscalculated Hyperpspace jump tore the ships apart. Two ships, theSarga and the Verdant survived, the latter ship shielded from much of the damage by its ill fated brethren, was still missing large parts of its superstructure, and the Sarga was plummeting down to Malastare, the burning ships testament to the dangers of Hyperspace.
Meanwhile the Lucrehulk had made a slight miscalculation. It skimmed a Victory class, loosing its arm down to the Core ship linkage, and anihilating the Victory class, the 'arm' of the Lucrehulk drifting away, unrecognizable except for a large CIS emblem that somehow survived, with what used to be the Victory class floating in fragments, the biggest the size of a small airspeeder. An X Wing Squadron and five times the number of TIEs (those Attacking the squadron) we wiped off the Galaxy. The Rebel flagship excecuted a mini jump, exiting dangerously close to a Dreadnought cruiser. The battle continued, the Alliamce ships outmaneuvering Imperial ships as much as they could. An Imperial CR90 was attacked by a Nebulon B, both suffering damage but the CR90 exploding in a shower of debris. Meanwhile on the planet, Shuttles and bombers launched by the attacking Empire had to deal with formidable anti air defenses. The Bombers took out several Turbolaser towers before ground launched fighters entered the fight, and escorting TIE fighters discovered their large Solar Pannel wings were at a disadvantage in atmosphere, X wings fighting them as Y wings left the planet. Eventually the Rebels began to prevail, with an ISD exploding. That was, until the Secutor began to launch fighters. Vulture droids swarmed over the Imperial ships, some even striking the hull of them due to the temporary disruption of the Lucrehulk jumping. Eventually the drawbacks of the Vulture droids began to become apparent. The TIEs were more maneuverable. Vulture Droids meanwhile used superior numbers to their advantage, switching targets to the Secutor class, the droids heavy armor and heavy weapons allowing them to essentialy bore a hole through Imperial formations, then allowing their Hyena bombers to hit the Secutor with Concussion missles, ripping through Imperial armour and systems, taking many of the light armament of the Secutors offline. 2 MC80s died, struck by TIE bombers. Imperial ships began focusing fire on one ship at a time, taking out another MC80. The Alliance ships began to spread out, Some fighter squadrons staying close to protect them. The Pythar's shields holding up to the barrage from Imperial weapons, with one generator failing and needing repair. The Alliance flagship had several engines damaged, and damage to its hull clearly visible. The ships continued to exchange fire, Vulture droids from the Lucrehulk overwhelming Imperial TIEs with sheer numbers. The Hyena bombers missiles, devastating at close range despite their age. Some CIS bombers targeted missile launchers on the Victory Classes, secondary explosions tearing up the older ships. By the end of the fight, the losses were large for both sides. Onboard the ISD above the Pythar, Nathan's team had managed to breach the Imperial fighter screen, landing in the main cargo bay, and disgorging boarders. The ISD was too damaged to save, but could be broken up for its weapons and materials. The greatest error of the Imperial forces was the jump miscalculation of the jump for the Ton Falk Carriers, destroying over 300 TIEs and their pilots due to human error. The rebels won, but only because of the Lucrehulk and the Imperial tactical errors.

IMP LOSSES:
-3 Victory Classes
-4 CR90s
-5 Carriers
-3 ISDs
-16 TIE Fighter squadrons
-15 TIE bomber squadrons
-One Secutor
-One damaged Victory class

REBEL LOSSES:
-4 MC80s
-2 Dreadnought Cruisers
-6 A Wing Squadrons
-4 X Wing Squadrons
-5 Y Wing Squadrons
-2 MC40s
-2 B Wing Squadrons
-Heavily damaged MC90
-2 CR90 Corvettes
-32 Civillian transports

CIS LOSSES
-674 Vulture Droids
-Half of a Lucrehulk

[Parcia]

Tera Cyrus
Tython[/i]

She had raised the rifle with the intent on nailing a droid, only to see them cut down. Upon the feeling of being watched she spun and fired, a green blaster bolt sailing past the figure as it escaped.

Sighing she slung the rifle and drew the pistol. "Look, I don't know why your here, but I am searching for a box of datacrons, small, triangular red ones that were left here. Now knowing what I know, red means Bad, which means Ziam left them here for his descendents to find. That's all I'm looking for, your welcome to anything else we find." She looked at him in the low light of the tunnel before pumping a shot in to the main capacitor of each of the droids for good measure.

"And yes while I get the general idea of swish swish, stab stab, I don't feel that I'm ready to use this yet." She patted the curved hilt of Ziam's dueling saber before pressing on.


[b]Eiradu

Flint looked over the fleets roster. Being Tera's SIC and co CEO of the company had its benefits. The middle aged ex storm trooper counted off the 14 ships they had.
3 Venators that had been ex imperial mothballs. 4 aquientes destroyers, picked up from the mothball fleets over Kuat. The 4 vigil frigates and the pelta made up the original fleet. Add the two CR90s and that made 14.

Their fighters were still lack luster. Most of the old ARC-170s had been switched out for BTL fighter bombers (Y wings) save for one squadron. Though only a third of their Z-95s, the 95 on the Jade Fury, were switched out for X-wings. He had been notified of the battle over Malaster, but chose to not route there, on orders from Tera to stay put.

[Whalestron]

Lana Flynnt
Tython

Lana decided she'd give up on searching for the holocron so she could observe the Jedi. They were quite peculiar, not the decorated ones she'd been trained to hate. She made her way to the top of the roof of her current building, looking around for them. And there they were, just now exiting the temple the droids had come from. Her presence could easily be sensed, she gripped her rifle firmly, then slung it, exchanging it for her lightsaber.

She slid down the side of the building, sneaking to a better vantage point so she could attack if necessary. By now she was about six meters behind them.

[Parcia]

Tera Cyrus
Tython


Something kept nagging at ger mind, as if she were being watched. She kept looking around yet saw nothing. She gripped the DL-18. Her mind dazed back to the first datacron . It had lasted an hour to read through it and it was a detailed process of meditating. She had only done it twice yet its benefits already showed. She was more alert of her self.

She turned to her rear and raised the gun...but still saw no one.

[Orostan]

Eriadu

Much of the damaged ships of the Rebel fleet had retreated here to repair at formerly Imperial facilities in Orbit. The Pythar had stayed behind, able to repair at the limited facilities in orbit of Malastare. Salvage ships operated by the Rebellion clustered around the floating debris of the Imperial ships, taking off Turbolaser batteries and Armour to mount on the Alliance ships. Two new MC80, one MC80A and one MC80 Liberty class, had been called in to bolster the Alliance fleet. The Pride of Corellia had been sent back to Mon Cal for repairs, and several Providence class Dreadnoughts had been ordered from the Rendili Shipyards in orbit of Eriadu. Caleb moved his command over to the Alderaan, the other MC90 in the group. Former Imperial turbolasers were being fitted into rebel MC80s and 90s, incrrasing their firepower greatly. A Rendili shipyard was being constructed over Malastare, and the Pythar was completing its final tests, preparing to join the main Rebel fleet.

[Spindle]

CIC
Alacrity
Bandomeer Outer System

Once more, the blue swirling of hyperspace faded into the flicker of pseudomotion and blue starlines faded into the faint speckling of real stars. Zillelli looked up from the holo, the image of a Victory-I being supplemented by the new systemnal data which the Battlegroup was picking up as her lips twitched into a small smile. So. No mass mines along the way. Perhaps the Hapans and the CSA weren't as close as she'd been anticipating. That would make things a little easier, but also a little more unpredictable. Turning back to the holo, Zillelli allowed herself a moment's exhultation.

They were less than a minute out from the system's asteroid belt.

Taking control of herself once more, Zillelli's gaze shifted to the fleet in the system: it was large. A number of Golan platforms - only I and IIs, but still capable stations - were supplementing easily half a dozen Victory-Is and a brace of Rucsants, a swarm of Marauders and even an Invincible-class Heavy Cruiser. More-or-less what Zillelli had been anticipating, but dismaying odds nevertheless. However, it would be a few minutes before they saw her Battlegroup's arrival: it would be several minutes more before they could engage her...if they were willing to move full-tilt to engage.

Zillelli doubted that they would. The Picket Fleet was an anti-piracy force, one without knowledge or experience when it came to fighting conventional enemies. They were either going to protect Bandomeer itself and sacrifice the system overall or else bring far too much force to engage the Alliance ships here. Either way, they were going to make mistakes and Zillelli was ready to take advantage of that. One way or another, her objectives here were going to be completed: the only question was whether or not she was going to lose any ships to it.

"Contact from the CSA Picket Fleet." Thereseere noted calmly, "They're demanding that we stand down and submit to boarding."

"Inform them that we cannot." Zillelli responded, "Convey my apologies for that."

"Of course." Thereseere nodded, "The Battlegroup is reporting that they are going ahead with tactical plan Damocles, and all necessary fighters are in position."

"Thank you." Zillelli acknowledged as the Devastator's gravity wells activated, "And now we get to see just how well the Picket Fleet is conditioned to fight against strike-and-fade enemies."

In the holo, Zillelli could see the two gravity wells covering the immediate approaches while the other two focused down, clusters of asteroids and other objects being drawn in towards them. Moments later, the Liberators and the Alacrity's tractor beams activated, spreading out to grab different asteroids and launch them towards the planet further in-system. As the first spread of asteroids began to tear towards the planet the Devastator's two focused gravity wells swung in a one hundred and eighty-degree arc before flickering off, the clusters of debris arcing out with the asteroids still being shot steadily towards Bandomeer. Even as they did so, Zillelli could see the occasional, periodic flicker of proton torpedo launches as a further surprise was lightly seeded into the string of rocks being propelled downnrange.

A further three more clusters of asteroids were scraped up and flung towards Bandomeer before a light flashed up in the holo, indicating that her end of the operation had been completed. Already, the Battlegroup was preparing to jump to lightspeed and Zillelli suspected that the CSA fleet would be preparing to do likewise. In fact, unless she had misjudged them entirely, they had already predicted roughly where her retreat location was. They would leave the Invincible and a number of Victories to deflect the asteroids - almost of them should be moving about fast enough to enter orbit, which would keep them busy for a little longer - and would have to deal with the asteroidal shrapnel. The rest of their ships - and, importantly, their Marauders - were going to be spreading through the systems she could reach with the mass shadow of the asteroids to her back.

It was time to make that bit of guesswork a little easier.

With a flash of blue and a flicker of pseudomotion, the Alacrity jumped to hyperspace and three countdowns appeared in the holo. The first was the time until they dropped out of hyperspace, almost precisely halfway between Bandomeer and Etti Iv. The second was the time to their arrival at the rendezvous point. The third countdown was the time until their mission was complete and they could begin to head down to Lianna. And, as she glanced into the frozen holo of the system as it was when she'd left, Zillelli realised she was feeling tense. Normally she would be able to see the engagement through herself, with her plans ready and waiting. But now? Now it was up to her fighter pilots. She couldn't do anything to help.

The harsh blue tunnel of hyperspace suddenly seemed a lot less welcoming than it usually did.

[Theyra]

Tython
Yei Sukdenz

"You can sense the person too? "I can sense the person and who do every it is, is letting us sense them". Quietly told Tera. Yei's lighsaber was still on and he was wearing his normal bounty hunter armor. "I could probably track her and we should stick together here". "This the most I have seen anyone on this planet and the sudden surge of guests is worrying me". "How about you Tera, got a idea of how to find this person? He pointed to the building that was in front of them. I can get a better view point from on top of that and I could help you get up there too". "Any thought, cause I got one right now?

[Whalestron]

Lana Flynnt

Lana decided she would reveal herself now, figuring they wouldn't find her otherwise. She waited until the girl was facing the other way, then leapt down from the roof she was on. Upon landing, she slid her lightsaber into her hand.

"Drop your weapons," she ordered, although she didn't expect either of them to obey.

"And this will be painless for all of us."

Nathan Tess

"This is Captain Tess, my troops and I are awaiting your orders. We've successfully taken the Imps' ship."

Nathan stood aboard the enemy's bridge, after having ordered his men to patrol the ship in search for survivors. The fight was clean, and they definitely had the advantage of surprise, although some of his troopers were hit. In the end, they took the bridge and transmitted a message to the nearest rebel ship. This one wouldn't fly well without heavy repairs, but the material would be more valuable than the ship itself being salvaged.

[Greater Persian State]

Anthem of the Confederacy of Independent Systems

Above Geonosis, Onboard The Restoration

---

Kalani had left behind the repaired and newly fitted Recusant-class light destroyer, a Munificent-class frigate, and 10,000 Battle Droids on the surface of Raxus. The droids would activate remaining foundries on the planet to better defend the planet. Kalani now was at Geonosis. He had stopped by Malastare to congratulate the Rebels on a swift victory, refuel his fleet, and pick up what remained of the Lucrehulk-class battleship he had left with them. Now he was at Geonosis, observing the construction of Gunships, Tri-fighters, and Vulture Droids on the dockyards above the planet. Soon, much of these dockyards would be dedicated to the construction of a new frigate. Kalani was just awaiting for supplies from Mustafar to do so. The next step was too consolidate. Grow the army and navy, and extend control of the systems already controlled. Already, Geonosis had produced over 20,000 B1 battle droids. 10,000 B2 battle droids, 1,000 Destroyer Droids, and 500 Dwarf Spider Droids. Hypori had slightly less but similar numbers. The army was growing at a good rate, but the fleet. That would have to grow. More frigates, more destroyers, more cruisers. Then Kalani could initiate the next stage of his master plan. He watched as the machines on the dockyards put together another Gunship, whose eyes lit up and flew into the hangar of the dreadnought. Kalani remembered on Onderon, he deployed gunships to fight the rebels. He remembered speaking to the hologram of Count Dooku, and ordering thousands upon thousands of battle droids to fight the enemy. He so wanted the day he could march on Coruscant, and at last see the Republic/Empire come crashing down. For now though, Kalani was patient as he waited to grow his armada. As for the next target, Christophsis to connect Mustafar and the other worlds controlled by the Separatists. That would be a good fight.

[Orostan]

The Alderaan

Caleb responded to the newly captured Imperial Star Destroyer;

"Great job Captain! I have a mission for you. Take the captured Star Destroyer to Pax, it's sunlight engines are out, but if you come out of Hyperspace at the right place, you can ram it into the space dock at Pax, hopefully destroying the 12 Victory classes docked there. Escape on your transport, and good luck."

Courouscant (Imperial Center)

Admiral Gallou stood in front of the Emporer as he made his report, suddenly interrupted by Palpatine.

"You LOST A SECUTOR! YOUR INCOMPETENCE IS INEXCUSABLE! However, I am a patient man. Go to Pax, and take command of the Victory classes there. I expect you to attack Sullust. You will not fail me again, Admiral."

Gallou left the room, Vader eying him as he left to a waiting shuttle. The Emporer wanted an offensive to rid the rebels from the Galactic South, and he wanted it now.

Christophis

The planet was ringed with the ruins of old ships, both Republic and Separatist. A trio of Rebel Freighters dropped out of hyperspace, heading into the Debris field, escorted by A Wings. A Gozanti class orbiting detected them, and launched a group of TIE interceptors. The A wings moved to protect the transports, the interceptor pilots, although outnumbered, fought well. By the end of it 4 A wings fell to Imperial blaster fire and the 3 Interceptors were destroyed. The Gozanti class came in, launching missiles from a turret on its top, countermeasure systems from the Rebel transports firing off. One transport fell to the missile fire, but the Gozanti class was destroyed when an A wing fired its weapons directly into the cockpit, killing the crew. The now pair of salvage ships sped to an old Providence class dreadnought, landing in old hanger bays and disgorging repair teams, over the course of 2 hours fixing the broken hyperdrive of the ship and the damaged power grid, portable air scrubbers cleaning the stale air. Then, with a flash of light the Providence class disappeared, bound for Eriadu.

[Whalestron]

Nathan Tess

"Over and out," Nathan replied as the message ceased. He keyed in the intercom system, ordering his troops currently on board to get back to the transport. He approached the navacomputer, typing in the proper coordinates of the space station. "Now comes the hard part.." He muttered to himself. To make this work, he would need to make it to his transport and detach just as they exited hyperspace. It was easy enough in someone's head, but the feedback could possibly tear the ship apart. It was a risk he was definitely willing to take.

The ship blasted off into hyperspace, charted towards Pax. He rushed down the corridors, pounding down to his transport. The star destroyer was huge, and he'd likely just make it to the transport as they exited hyperspace. He made it to his own bridge with roughly a minute to spare, ordering them to detach on his mark. Seconds passed and then..

"Now!"

Their ship detached just in time, the much larger star destroyer hurtling passed them towards the space station harboring the Victory cruisers. The transport's power was cut for a few moments as the feedback hit them, it sent a few people falling to the ground. Everyone on the bridge watched eagerly as the star destroyer flew ever closer to the station.

[Theyra]

Tython
Yei Sukdenz

"I do not drop my weapons for any one, definitely for someone that I do not know". He spoke back to the unknown human woman. His lightsaber was still on and he held it in a defensive stance. "Who and what are you doing here? "I am guessing that you are not a imperial since you could have attack us while we were in the temple". "So how about you not light up that saber and I will turn mine off?

[Whalestron]

Lana Flynnt

Lana glared at him. He was definitely a Jedi, there was no doubt about it. But the girl next to him, what was her story? Lana absent mindedly twirled her lightsaber. She could sense their tension, and she wanted to toy with them a bit before she'd fight them. Lightsabers were, after all, quite expensive.

"I'll take those lightsabers now," she said calmly. "After all, we don't want either of you getting hurt."

By now her dark side aura was radiating off of her. She was prepared to attack at any time.

"I doubt that either of you know how to use one."

[Theyra]

Tython
Yei Sukdenz

Yei could sense the dark side aura from the human female and it was not like Tera's. "Sith or someone that was trained by one or maybe a merc like he is". "It would make more sense sinceshe may just wany their lightsaber and this would be the first real fight he had with other force user. He spoke to Tera while looking at the unknown human. "Tera leave this to me and stay back". "So I what should I call you, thief or just merc? He raised his lightsaber in a defensive stance and waited for her to attack. He would be ready for a strike against him.

[Whalestron]

Lana Flynnt

"I'll give you one last chance, surrender or die." Lana said this with a sharp edge to her tone, and for dramatic effect, she ignited her red lightsaber, brandishing it slightly. She'd given them ample time to decide to give up, and knew they wouldn't. It was, however, common courtesy to ask for a surrender. She didn't know this man or woman's skills, therefore thought she'd toy with them a little to figure them out.

"I'll let your companion live if she surrenders her weapons to me now. Wouldn't that be lovely?" The Sith cackled, approaching them slowly. She was ready for any attack by this point.

[Theyra]

Tython
Yei Sukdenz

"We can avoid this fight if you just give up on this fight of just leave". "No one has to die here and I will defend myself". Yei said calmly and still held his stance. He was ready to fight and wondered just who this woman is. She most likely will not walk away and he will be force to fight. Maybe she wants they weapons so she could just kill them or something. Yri thought what ever to attack first or not and decided on attacking first. He used force speed to narrow the gap between the two are launched several attacks on the unknown woman.

[Parcia]

Tera Cyrus

She didn't like her, right off the bat. She leveled the DL-18 on the women and spoke. "I wonder if the Cyrus name still carries weight in your world. None the less." She reached down and grip the saber with other hand. Finding the button she ignited the saber, producing a violet blade. Twirling it she held it blade down. She hadn't ever used it in combat, but had some training with vibroswords in her teens.

She felt...energized. Holding it low as a guard she kept the blaster ready. "I came here for something, and I'm not leaving with out it."

[Whalestron]

Lana Flynnt

Lana easily deflected the attacks from the alien Jedi, sending a force push his way as she used a guided leap away from him. She smiled at the girl as she ignited her saber, and could tell right away she'd never actually fought with it. "Normally I would just kill you and leave, but you two are.. Well, the last thing I'd expect from the Jedi," she laughed.

[Parcia]

Lana Flynnt

Lana easily deflected the attacks from the alien Jedi, sending a force push his way as she used a guided leap away from him. She smiled at the girl as she ignited her saber, and could tell right away she'd never actually fought with it. "Normally I would just kill you and leave, but you two are.. Well, the last thing I'd expect from the Jedi," she laughed.

Tera

" Who said I was a Jedi?" She smiled and flicked the pistol to stun and fired a shot at the women. She stepped back and turned, and full on sprinted back towards the temple, firing a few lethal blaster bolts in her direction. Her job wasn't to fight this Sith, she just wanted to get her shite and go.

As she ran she switched the saber off and clipped it to her belt.