Star Wars STAR WARS: INTERVENTION (A story-telling style OT starfighter game)---Always taking new players!

IC: Jensen Visak piloting the Vigilant
Location: Whendyll System

Jensen's ship rocked hard as the TIE managed to get a shot on him desite his best efforts to evade it. He checked his shields and grimaced. Cant take many more hits like that. Hope somebody heard my message.

Just then he heard the most wonderful sound he had ever heard in his life, his comm crackling to life. “Jeth here. So, what sort of help are you looking for? Cos if you've comm'ed me off the set of Who Wants To Be A Trillionaire as one of your 'phone a friend' options, I am sorry to say, you have probably just wasted a lifeline." Smiling at the joke he replied, "Well I already used my 50/50 to narrow it to two choices. A-One of you shoot the TIE following me or C-One of you distracts it so I can shoot it. Honestly I cant make up my mind between the two."

Green laser blasts flashed past his cockpit at the TIE tried to get another bead on him. He yelled at Rex, who was still manning the rear turret. "Rex, lets try to hit him this time, not just shoot around him." Rex replied with a curt, and if it had emotions Jensen would say mad series of beeps. "I know youre trying, just saying try harder."

“I’m not sure who Kersland is, Nugget, but we do have a Sherland, but she’s alittle busy right now.” "Well, I would appreciate any help you could give me!" He looked to his sensors to see the ship that had just comm'ed him and one other start to break off to head in his direction when the other ship suddenly exploded right next to it. Seeing the TIE that had killed the mystery pilots wingmate, he started heading in that direction, intending to perform a swap, when he saw a missle launch out. Man that guys good. I'll have to take some pointers from him. If I can make it that long. "You have an extra missle in there for this guy behind me? This guy is pretty good, I just need a second to get him off my six."

Tag: CPL_Macja Sith-I-5 any others in area.

 

IC: Fress Colias alias Kasha Sherland
Whendyll System

Fress dropped in behind a TIE unleashing three blasts. As three pierced the cockpit blowing the TIE apart. Four down. She pushed the fighter around noticing her shields were holding at eighty-nine percent. Being Force sensitive had it's advantages during a dog fight.

"This is Jensen Visak, Im looking for Squadron Leader Kersland or Captain Havah Jeth or anyone who doesnt want to shoot me, actually. I could really use a little help here if anyone is out there. Drinks are on me if it helps."

“I’m not sure who Kersland is, Nugget, but we do have a Sherland, but she’s alittle busy right now.”

Fress smiled tightly wondering if this Jensen character had a bad memory or not. She noticed a TIE behind Mac and his rear shields were no longer showing. She pushed her X-wing forward as Mac lost the TIE behind him and unleashed a missile towards the TIE taking out the TIE. “Nice job Mac, I'm going to help the greenie out, you guys can take it from here and take out the rest of the TIEs."

Fress pushed her fighter down as she sensed someone dropping in on her tail as Saber gave a warning beep. "I know Saber. I can sense him back there," she muttered under her breath as she swung her fighter to the side and pushing it up into a loop that would allow her to come up behind the TIE. The TIE quickly followed suit causing her to curse under her breath. She finished the loop as the TIE dropped behind her again.

Fress put the X-wing into another loop but this time she planned to do a double loop. She pulled the X-wing out of the first loop and pushed it into another loop before the TIE had a chance to realize what she was planning. She neatly dropped in behind the TIE and shot it to pieces as it finally realized where she had gone. It paid to have a black painted bottom on the fighter.

"You have an extra missile in there for this guy behind me? This guy is pretty good, I just need a second to get him off my six."

Fress dropped in behind the TIE and unleashed a volley of lasers aiming at the cockpit. The TIE turned into a fireball as she pushed her fighter up beside the ARC-170. "Nugget this is Firecracker, you want a spot in my squadron? Show me what you have to offer."

Tag SWBob, CPL_Macja

IC: Seira Trasks
Whendyll system

Seira blasts another TIE noting her shielding was down to 67 percent and holding. She needed a more powerful fighter like the one Fress was flying. She wondered if there was a chance she could get one or not? Or she would have to do some upgrades to this one to handle the heat better. Seira dropped in behind another TIE as she spotted Fress's X-wing coming up beside the new comer. She shook her head at the transmission, on the other hand she had a feeling Fress needed to know the others could take the heat and be able to take care of themselves during battle. Even a Jedi could do so much.

Seira pulled up behind a TIE and aimed her lasers, this just chalks up to one of her crazier days.

tag no one

IC: Ron Darkins
Whendyll system

Ron watched as the Vimal attacked the Delicate Delinquent causing him to roll his eyes. Now who is being rash, he thought to himself. If Jenkins cared to do a scan and assessed the situation first, he would've realized the DD was under Merc control. "While the April Dancer is distracted, bring the Snap Dragon to her port and aim for the gravity wells," on the other hand the Dawn Treader and Vimal did serve as a good distraction for the April Dancer, as far as he could tell they hadn't been spotted yet.

"Yes sir," Thompkins replied as he brought the ship around. "Captain, Gold leader is reporting his squadron is ready for launch."

"Gold squadron will launch on my mark," Ron said with a frown. The last thing that needed to happen was losing his squadron while they tried to take the April Dancer out. "Major, as soon as we're in firing range tell them to fire."

"Yes sir, in firing position now."

"Fire."

Sith-I-5, Bravo, Bardan_Jusik if needed

 

IC: Salmakk Neot
Shuttle Cockpit, Port Haven

Salmakk’s barbels twitched slightly at the impressive display of strength. It was an unconscious reaction, born more of surprise than fear. Definitely not human.

“Next time, get the codes to do with landing safely, as well.”

Were Salmakk younger he would have taken offense to this and responded with a retort, but the Mon Cal, in his more advanced years, felt no offense and even found her little rant amusing. He offered an old saying.

“At least we’re sailing in calmer waters, dear,” he said pausing for a minute, standing up with a grunt turning to meet Mary’s gaze. “And now we can prepare for the next storm. Also, did you say next time? I must be growing on you,” he said mimicking a human smile.

The Mon Cal paid no attention to the pilot wedged under the seat as he made his way out of the cockpit, grabbing his backpack on the way. “If you’ll excuse me, I have an armory to raid.”

As he entered the vehicle bay, he noticed it was a mess after his landing with stuff strewn everywhere, including the chair Mary had tossed in there. After looking around he found what a locked door in a logical corner for the armory, as it was near the exit. Salmakk entered the code and the door unlocked and opened with a hiss.

He stepped in and placed his backpack on the small table that occupied the middle of the room and opened it ready to put some stuff in. He saw a rack of E-11s and grabbed one, then grabbed a belt full of blaster packs for it and donned it as a bandolier. Then he took the strap on the E-11 and put it on the opposite shoulder with the strap across his chest, letting the E-11 dangle off of his right hip. Then he found the explosives.

There was a fairly limited selection waiting for him. Thermal detonators and concussion grenades. Pretty standard stuff. He took a few of each and placed them in his backpack, and put a thermal det in the empty grenade slot on his belt. As he was putting his backpack back on, he spotted a PLX-2M missile launcher in the corner, but decided it would be far too heavy to bring with them if they had to leave the shuttle. That did not stop him from emerging from the armory with it and placing it in the vehicle bay for easy access. He stood in the vehicle bay looking around thinking of their next move.

“Any ideas Mary?”

Tag: Sith-I-5

--------------------------------

IC: Cain Varss
Whendyll System

As Cain was about to dive into the new mixture of eight TIEs, noticed something on his sensors. Two fighters were behind him at April Dancer’s aft. Cain decided to pull around and see what his sensors were saying. A single TIE fighter was shooting at, from what Cain could see, nothing, but there was a craft there according to his sensors. Cain looked closer. A silver wedge with black behind was cutting through space. Cain figured it must have been a friendly from the DD. How else would they be in this conflict.

Cain decided to angle in on the TIE as a target of opportunity. His comm was lighting up with all kinds of distractions, but mentally blocked it all out. Something about a new presence on the field and Mac handling it or something. He didn’t really care. The only thing that really matters in a dog fight is surviving and killing those endangering the survival of yourself and your allies. For that reason Cain’s black and gold Z-95 angled in on the TIE pursuing what he could now see was an N-1. He watched his targeting computer. The perfect shot would mean he would need to pull up into the engine wash which would mess up his targeting computer temporarily. That’s probably why the TIE had made the move. Not only did it keep him in an advantageous position against the N-1 fighter, it meant that he knew Cain’s sensors would be disrupted. As a former TIE pilot himself however, Cain had learned long ago not to rely on sensors. With a TIE fighter’s lack of shielding, sensor disruption was not an uncommon occurrence.

He pulled up into the engine wash and pulled the nose down into a firing position on the TIE chasing the N-1 and sent three pairs of crimson, six shots in total, against the fighter. He hadn’t bothered to look at the targeting computer knowing it would be off, but he thought it was at least close. He had aimed using only nose of his Headhunter many times before.

One of the first pair lanced through the top of the port solar panel. The second pair missed completely, though only by centimeters each. The third pair hit home as one bolt sheared off the port solar panel and the other bolt hit the cockpit dead on creating a nice explosion.

Cain keyed his comm, not entirely sure who he was talking to as he made his way out of the engine wash just after his shields dipped below eighty-five percent. “Cochise to N-1 Starfighter, you’re all clear.”

Tag: Sith-I-5, others in the battle

 

IC: Atin Taab
Crusader, Battle of Whendyll System

Atin could contain the smile that was now plastered across his young face. He had never been engaged in anything like the striil (strill) fight he now found himself in. The throttle was push up against the stops and the chattering of both quad cannons could be felt through the control yoke as the mandalorian pushed the old converted freighter into the battle. He had been in combat before, but that was surface side, rarely had he been afforded the opportunity to really push the Crusader to her limits in open battle. He loved it.

If he took a moment to think about it, he knew that the Crusader was never designed for this kind of combat. In hadn't been designed for combat at all, and even with the modifications done to her over the last decades she still wasn't as well suited to it as even the old ARC-170s that were being launched from the Jod Destroyers. But she could still do her part.

A shape flashed before the cockpit, some sort of assault or boarding craft headed in the direction of the friendly Interdictor, the Delicate Delinquent. Atin yanked back hard on the yoke, trying to pull the Crusader after the shuttle, but the angles were wrong. A stream of fire from the top quad guns arced "high" over the enemy vessel, missing it badly. Well at least the droid was trying.

"Delinquent, Scorch" he commed the large vessel hoping they would at least know he was on their side. "You have company inbound." He continued pull the Crusader around, hoping to re-engage the assault shuttle but was instead greeted by the sight old DuneLizard launching a pair of missile at the offending shuttle. He chuckled lightly for a moment. His buir (father) had often said the DuneLizard
(and her assorted cousin spaceframes) was the one MandalMotors product he wouldn't be caught dead in. Apparently the Merc now to his front didn't share that assessment.

Atin began to pull off but noted an explosion as the dunelizard's wingman was vaped. Another ARC-170 as well as an X-wing moved in quickly to offer him support. Listening in to their radio chatter Atin quickly determined that the T-65 was Fress, and the ARC was another new pilot. The Crusader was still on her own, but with her turrets she didn't need a wingcraft to watch her back as much as the fighters did. It was one of a very few advantages in the unfolding battle. Another was her improved sensor suite.

A beeping from the tactical display caught his eye. He was sure the friendly capital ships would have seen it too, but they might be too busy to respond right now. So he called out. "Mercs, Scorch. Incoming fighters. By my count at least two dozen." He rolled the light freighter over now and surged towards the new threat.

---

IC: Warren Kefler (EC-87-5) (NPC)
TIE cockpit, Battle of the Whendyll System

The orders came in quickly as the fight in the outer system continued to develop. "Beta squadron, control. Intercept and destroy vessel currently engaged with Frigate Hard Eight. Break. Delta flight ride shotgun and assist where necessary. The remainder of your squadron will clear the way."

Kefler looked to his sensor display, there was a lot of clutter out there, but he could see the target as described. It was one of the unknown capital ships, and it had become isolated by an assault from the Lancer Frigate along with two Nebulon Bs. The proton torpedoes carried by Beta squadron would be just the thing to help finish her off. If they could get there.

"As ordered," he replied and pushed the TIE's throttle forward, followed quickly by his flightmates. Out in front of him the 12 TIE Bombers of Beta Squadron accelerated towards their target. Farther out in front of them, array in a rough arc were the remainder of Keffler's squadron, those 8 TIE fighters would clear the way for the bombers behind them, while Keffler's Delta flight took care of any Rebel (or whoever they were) fighters that managed to break through and threaten the bombers.

---

IC: Captain Reep I Cheep (NPC)
Kingdom's Navy Vessel Dawn Treader, Battle of the Whendyll System.

The massive ship shuddered again and again under the barrage of fire from behind them. "Fighters are away sir." Cheep glanced to the flight officer before nodding curtly. Hopefully the 12 ARC-170s the Dawn Treader carried would be enough to keep the frigates on their tail off them for a few moments. It did leave them with no forward fighter screen, but Cheep thought of that as a good gamble. The frigate in front of them, what his intel officer had now identified as a Lancer type, was an anti space fighter vessel. It would have made short work of the ARC-170s, just as Cheep planned to make short work of it now. "Maintain course and speed. Continue firing on the Lancer."

TAG: Sith-I-5, CPL_Macja, JediFalcon, kommando104, SWBob, anyone else I may have missed in the battle.

OOC Note: The 24 incoming fighters Atin mentions are the 12 fighters and 12 bombers described in the Keffler (NPC) portion of my post. These won't arrive in the battle area until my next post. Partially because I want to give Sith a chance to post Sard's reaction to the Dawn Treader's actions and also to see which fighters peel off to engage Kefler's TIEs and which stay closer to the DD/AD portion of the battlefield.

 

OOG: Please see my Rocketjock post regarding redoing my last Lasso post.


IC: Jason Lasso
Pirate Base, Port Haven (planet, Third Planet in system)






So far, so good. It seemed that Imperial forces had, so far, been more occupied in securing the larger pieces of land. But even so, the Empire would be inquiring of their missing Amphibion sooner or later, last spotted patrolling river East of Port Haven after being air dropped by a Sentinel-class Landing Craft into the river But, with the recent destruction of Task Force Kingfisher, let alone the fact that Totter had a blaster pointed to the back of the head of the lone surviving boat pilot to report in on schedule "all clear" communications to Imperial command, Lasso felt like they had some time on their side.

As the Amphibion approached the island---Briggs driving and one of Hallomar's men taking co-pilot and another one of the Port Haven guards on the anti-personnel turret, while the last guard took the starboard side of the boat---Lasso was on the Port side of the boat, looking at a holo map of the island from a aerial view:





He then switched it to another view, that looked more like a entrance to a secret base:




"Around to the other side of the island!" Lasso yelled over the roar of the engine and the rocking of the ocean's waves.

"Aye Captain!" Briggs replied, adding, "I be knowing where we be going Captain. No need to worry about me navigation skills!"

When they had arrived at the secret dock entrance, Lasso kept his full set of gear on including his jacket. He stepped off of the boat and onto the concrete landing dock; the plan was to keep the lone surviving Imperial in the boat tied up with one of Hallomar's guards to prod the prisoner for regular check-in's, while the rest of them moved inside the base to secure the Seacropper Submersible that hopefully still worked.

Lasso made it up the dock and to a wall; he looked back to Briggs, "Well?"

"Aye, we may had build a dock as a dead give-away to a base, but finding the way in would be much harder to find," the old pirate said and pulled on a random rock against the side of the wall. Suddenly a door covered with rock slid open slowly.

Lasso pointed his A280 blaster rifle down the dark corridor ahead, a flashlight from one of the discarded Imperial weapons shinning down the dark tunnel.

"Okay Briggs, mysterious islands, hidden doors, and dark corridors. You first."

"Aye, no respect for a pirate!"

"You know this place better then us. You'll know the traps."

"Aye. But a decade later and many beers and me memory not be so good."

TBC
OOG: Part One done. Part Two coming next.

 

IC: Captain Sard, Chief Engineer Tim Williams, Captain Yavscout, the Hard Eight Lancer-class frigate, the Delicate Delinquent Immobiliser 418 cruiser, the Tunare N-1 starfighter
Location: Whendyll System outskirts


Sard’s eyes widened at the sheer intensity of the energy blasts hitting his ship’s front screens, and could only be thankful that her power output put his ship into capital-ship class, as that meant her shield strength was tough enough to withstand the initial onslaught.

“Evasive action!” Sard barked, “Thirty degrees down, and takes us under the Cash!”

The view out the forward window slit showed the Jod warship mostly disappear overhead as they nosed down, giving their own forward shields a rest while the enemy gunners no doubt tried to re-acquire them.

The Hard Eight raked at the Dawn Treader’s underside with several of its AG-2G quad-lasers, but since the enemy warship was shrugging off turbolaser and ion fire from two escort frigates, with no reaction whatsoever, it was doubtful they were having much effect.

The Lancer banked between the Nebulon-B escort frigate’s front module, and her rear one, allowing the larger craft to take the fire for her.

“Shield strength?”

“Fifty-seven percent, sir. And we have multiple hull breaches along the dorsal hull. Losing atmosphere on deck four. Oh hell, we've got an overload spiral in progress.”

The captain paled. Defense shields shunted excess power to the reactors, which prolonged their life, but if too much went to the reactors, there was danger of a thermonuclear detonation. “Feth! Shut it down! Shut it all down.”

Lights all over the frigate went dark and her sublight engines dimmed, the frigate continuing on her course, on momentum.

* * * *
Delicate Delinquent bridge

Williams was back in the chair while their floating medical droid, the flat-headed Gary, attended to Wa Yay.

"Delinquent. Scorch. You have company inbound!" blurted from the speakers. Sounded like a young voice.

The view outside had brightened with the wide explosion from Mac’s torps that had engulfed the approaching Gamma-class assault shuttle, but when the conflagration dissipated, the bus-shaped Imperial craft was still there.

“It’s still coming!” Williams noted aloud.

Flavin was unsympathetic. “Of course. We fought one of them when we captured the DD. They’re hard bastiches. We should probably get Samantha some help down there.”

“Sir?” Philippa piped up, “Enemy interdictor taking fire from Kingdom of Jod destroyers, House of Vimal and Snap Dragon.”

Tim rubbed his hands together. “Sweet.” He was no fan of Imperials.

The Go Team member looked over her console at the back of the command chair. “No sir, you don’t understand. She’s losing shield power at a rapid rate; if she blows, we got a lot of fighters near her.”

“Frag.” The Chief looked at his tactical holo. She was right. “Firecracker from Delinquent, withdraw your forces from the enemy interdictor, that ship could explode any second. Yav-”

“I’m a little busy.” The elf certainly sounded distracted. For a start, he was using contractions. Luckily, on the tactical display, Williams could see that Yavscout had some help on the way.

* * * *
Tunare N-1 starfighter

Yavscout wondered, if he got out of this, if Taller’s offer of an X-Wing was still open, because it was becoming increasingly clear that the TIE pilot pummelling his shields, was in a vastly superior craft to his old N-1.

The Naboo craft could still run rings around pirate groups, but the credits that the Imperial military had to burn, the craft chasing his choob was matching him turn for turn, loop for loop, and consistently getting free shots in.

It was time to swallow his pride. “Delinquent. Safety. I’m having a bit of a problem here.”

“You’ve got more than problems, Mate. That thing’s gonna blow.”

Lines of bright green laser fire flashed past the canopy, above and to the right of Yav’s head, bright enough to be seen through the polarised transparisteel.

A trio of crimson energy blasts came past, then his holographic display showed the icon for the pursuing TIE blinking and dissipating.

“Didn’t hit it that hard;” Yav muttered, aware that he hadn’t hit it at all. “must have had some kind of self-destruct mechanism.”

“Cochise to N-1 Starfighter, you’re all clear.”

The elf breathed a deep sigh of relief. He had been fairly certain this was not going to end well. “Thanks, Cold Cheese. I owe you one.” Yav checked his instruments to determine where the April Dancer was, and steered after her. “Now don’t go anywhere. We have to get the Mako to safety.”

Even as the Merc aimed his ship at the back of the interdictor, space lit up to silhouette the AD’s command tower against a geyser of fire as one of her ventral gravity well domes ruptured under the Snap Dragon and House of Vimal’s combined barrage.

Tag: Cain Varss, Bardan, Mac, Firecracker / Snap Dragon

 

IC: Fress Colias
whendyll system

“Firecracker from Delinquent, withdraw your forces from the enemy interdictor, that ship could explode any second. Yav-”

Fress glanced at the interdictor and knew they had seconds. "Copy DD, Firecracker to all fighters Jod and Mercs, disengage and get some distance from the Dancer now, she's gonna blow," she ordered as she pulled her X-wing around. "Saber, redirect all power to the engines," she commanded as he beeped in acknowledgement as she pushed the X-wing away from the Dancer as she noticed others making a run for it.


Fress felt a sudden spurt of speed as she raced away from the suddenly flaming Dancer as flames shot from the top of the bridge.

IC: Ron Darkins
Whendyll system

Ron noted the readings as he looked out the window. "Major, abort the mission she's going to blow. Dawn Treader and Vimal pull back immediately, we don't want to get swept up in her debris," he ordered.

"Aborting now," Thompkins answered as they turned away from the Dancer they just finished bombarding.

"Shields up, full speed ahead."

"Yes sir."

Sith-I-5, Bardan_Jusik, CPL_Macja, kommando104, SWBob,

 

IC: Cain Varss
Whendyll System

“Now don’t go anywhere. We have to get the Mako to safety.”

After Cain went back through the comm chatter in his head, he discerned that the callsign of the pilot was probably Safety. Probably. It was a guess, but not a wholly uneducated one.

"Copy DD, Firecracker to all fighters Jod and Mercs, disengage and get some distance from the Dancer now, she's gonna blow,"


Cain heard the order just as he pulled onto Safety’s wing. His black and gold Z-95 coming in on the right of the black and silver N-1 Starfighter. Those are still in service? “Cochise to Safety?” he said more as a question than a statement. “First, it’s CO...CHISE, all one word. Cochise,” he said emphasizing the pronunciation of his callsign. “Second, on your wing, but it sounds like we better hurry. Also, what is a Mako?”

TAG: Sith-I-5, others in battle peripherally

 

IC: Sal Brooks and Don (NPCs)
Cockpit, Snow White, Whendyll System

"Arm the turrets first and foremost so we have something to shoot back with," Sal said; the Ryn jumped into the conversation immediately afterward.

"And get involved in that growing starfighter battle. We'll need to stay to the out-skirts of it and take shots of opportunity to blow enemy targets off of friendlies. Our lower maneuverability would doom us in a straight up dogfight."

"To the turrets, Cap?" Sal asked as to press the matter that they were about to enter into the very thick of things.


TAG Sith-I-5

 

IC: Mon Cal Captain Pavel, Mon Cal Engineer Luten, Captain Yavscout, the Mako Bantha-II-class assault transport
Location: parked on the back of the April Dancer's command tower


Pavel continued to desperately grip the armrests of his bleached white command chair, overwhelmed by their current situation.

Sensors washed out by the interdictor's ion engines, licks of orange and yellow flame springing up past them like they were sitting on a volcanic plane, rather than the back of an Imperial warship, and the cruiser shuddering underfoot.

This was supposed to be a blue milk run, venturing out from the Secret Galactic Intelligence Service base ship for the first time, not frakking space battle!

"Ships coming in." Luten reported from his chair on the right side of the bridge.

"T-TIEs again?" Pavel stammered his query. He was going to be a nervous wreck after this.

"Sensors too shot to see. Switching to visual scanning." Luten dialled a knob to fine-tune the visuals. "Coming up now...okay, an Incom Z-95 and a Theed Palace N-1 starfighter. No sign of the TIE."

Pavel cheered up. "Maybe they chased it off."

"Mako from Tunare, you are all clear. We will escort you to the Delinquent."

"How do we know we can trust you?"

"Listen, Pal, the cruiser you are attached to, is on fire, and about to go kablooey. Besides, this is Yav."

"Age-" Pavel stopped himself in time and glanced guiltily at his engineer, who silently gestured back critically. "Okay, we are releasing our landing claws in ten. Nine. Eight. Seven."

"Three-two-one! C'mon-c'mon-c'mon."

* * * *
Tunare cockpit

Yav floated his starfighter about two klicks aft of the huge Imperial cruiser, wishing he was further away; watching the SGIS vessel as it finally powere her own engines to power across space towards him.

"Cochise to Safety?"

"Safety, copy."

"First, it’s CO...CHISE, all one word. Cochise,"

Yav frowned at the new Merc's emphasis on the pronounciation of the callsign or surname, or whatever it was. "Seriously, now?"

"Second, on your wing, but it sounds like we better hurry. Also, what is a Mako?"

"The Mako? She is about to pass us." Yav reversed his fighter out of the Mako's path like a driver reversing into a parking space, then turned to follow her to the DD. "Alright, Gentlebeings, stabilise your rear deflector screens, and let's get the frag out of dodge."

Yav fed power to the twin Nubian 221's, and accelerated alongside the SGIS' craft.

Tag: Cochise

 

IC: Jason Lasso
Pirate Base, Port Haven (planet, Third Planet in system)


The pounding on the old metal door resounded throughout the old deserted base, echoing through the long deserted corridors. Finally, with a loud snapping pop, the rusted metal door burst open and a crowd of Mercs stumbled through, having used their full body weight to force the door open. Lasso walked in calmly, throwing the crow bar down on the ground, sweat dripping from his face. He smiled; before them was the operating center of this old pirate base. Already they had discovered the treasure room earlier, the armory, and the vehicle bay with their water craft still intact.

"Okay," Jason said, pulling the sling of his blaster rifle over his head, putting the blaster on a console, and taking off his jacket and draping it over a nearby chair, "Briggs, take one of Hallomar's men and get to that sub. We need it up and running ASAP. Totter, take another of Hallomar's men and check out that treasure room again. See what we can take and get it back to the sub room. I'm going to stay here and see if this stuff works anymore."


**************

Sometime later


The pirates had indeed been gone for a while. There was no power left in the power cells and if not for a reserve emergency generator, Jason wouldn't of got the lights working. While the emergency power system was barely enough to get anything running, it also rebooted the solar energy system, which started to recharge itself. As power started to be stored back up, Lasso went over the computer systems. The base had a basic sensor array, nothing to brag about, but still illegal to civilian standards. Lasso was able to find out, with the sensor array's limited range, was the Imperial blockade looked like, at least on a digital scale. While there were some major activity on the sensor array's furthest reaching edge, he couldn't tell much of what was going on. But with sensor pings running in and out of sensor range rather quickly, he assumed a starfighter patrol of some kind.

Lasso also discovered that the communications equipment was working, but using the sensor array so soon, had drained what energy he had build us using the emergency backup generators and the solar recharge reserve. So communications with the outside world would have to wait. But, he still had enough power to run lights and run a base scan---he found out that the base was equipped with 4 Bp.5 anti-aircraft turrets; the turrets were automated, had their own power source, and while their placement scattered around the island's edges provided poor cover fire across the island, they nonetheless provided some defense to incoming threats. After finding the corresponding console board, he brought the sleeping turrets to life and inputted defense ranges for any Imperial craft, unless overrode.

Seeing that time was passing quickly now and that Taab and his team were most likely done with their mission---or died in the process---Lasso collected a portable comm backpack that one of Hallomar's guards brought in from the stolen Imperial boat. He linked the comm gear to connect with the base's comm signal to boost the signal once power was restored. Closing the door behind him, Lasso made his way towards the vehicle bay where the sub was at---and that's when everything went to hell.


*******************


IC: Captain Zed Stormwalker
Troop Compartment, IDT Razor, approaching last known location of Imperial Amphibion Longsword via communication tracking


Zed took one last look at the floating hologram in the air of the unidentified island that now---as the Captain closed down the palm sized device and looked ahead out of the side view of the IDT---was a dark shadow on the horizon up ahead, slowly being silhouetted against the rising sun across the ocean waters. One hour ago, Imperial command had determined that the Amphibion Longsword, with a full complement of Imperial Army Troopers, was not responding correctly and had failed to report in person to a ground based patrol, despite communication with the boat's lead pilot to the contrary. With the recent destruction of Task Force Kingfisher, Imperial command was mobilizing much quicker then first planned. This was no longer considered a "cake walk" mission against smugglers and pirates, but rather against a foe that knew what they were doing and being good at it. Despite the rapid mobilization of foot patrols, armor, and other Imperial assets (most of which had been slowed in advance by dangerous flesh eating plants and other monster-like animals in the thick jungles around the Shadowport), the furthest out-reach of Imperial forces from Port Haven still remained to be the now destroyed Task Force Kingfisher and about a half dozen Amphibions that patrolled the coast lines and rivers.

With the main ground units, despite many more units now being deployed around the world in various places, being slowed by the world's own flesh eating plants and other monster animals in the jungles, special operation units such as Captain Stormwalker's Imperial Army Commandos. When the remains of the Longsword's crew and troops were found, Imperial Command had decided to attach 36 extra Imperial Army Troopers to Stormwalker's 16 member unit, now giving the Imperials a combined strength of 52 soldiers.

As the light of the day invaded the night, the nearby sun striking its rays across the waters of Port Haven, the 3 IDT's dropped closer to the ocean as they approached. Imperial orbital ships had got recent energy spikes from the island, including what appeared to be several anti-aircraft batteries. Life sign scans had shown only 7 signatures, one of those believed to possibly to be a friendly POW, the boat pilot in question of sending the communications.

The plan was simple: hammer the defenses and any outside enemies with mass-driver launcher missiles from the IDT's, let blasters and laser cannons mop up the left-overs, deploy 18 troopers at the center of the island as a deep insertion patrol force to track any hidden entrances or exits into the base, deploy the other 18 troopers at the dock as a reserve force, and deploy Stormwalker's force for interior attack.


************************

IC: Hallomar Guard at Amphibion
Dock, "Pirate Island," Port Haven


In the distance, the guard saw approaching aircraft. The report of sudden anti-aircraft fire from somewhere above him on the island in the treeline behind him told him it was most likely Imperials. The tiny fiery bursts from the three aircraft that, as they approached, could be made out as rockets, told the guard furthermore that it was most likely Imperials, especially went the rockets hit too close to home for himself, hitting against the rock cliff behind him and in the ocean in front of him.

Knowing that the Imperial pilot was dead weight if he was caught by the Imps---and that his one way into the base with his comrades was now blocked because of the rockets that collapsed the rock cliff wall in front of it---the Port Haven guard shot the Imperial dead, then jumped into the anti-personnel turret on the boat. He knew he was dead...he minus well go out with making a statement of freedom. Hearing the turret warm up, he swung it towards the approaching aircraft and started to unleash angry blaster bolts towards the Imperials.


**************************

IC: Jason Lasso
Hidden naval dock, "Pirate Base," Port Haven


Lasso ran into the bay where the submarine was docked---sounds of explosions outside and rock and dirt falling all around them---running up the ramp connecting the dock to the Seacropper Submersible; he dropped the comm pack to his arm from his back and tossed it to Totter. "Report!"

"IDTs!" Totter replied, "Three of them!"

"Briggs!" Lasso yelled out, the old pirate dog and one of Hallomar's guards popping out from a engineering compartment on the rear of the sub. "Status?"

"She'll run Cap', but I'm going to need more time."

"You have three minutes, Briggs!"

"We'll be swimming, Cap!"

"Its either swimming or being shot dead by Imperials. Make a choice Briggs!"

Lasso heard a hatch pop open and looked to see the last of Hallomar's guard appear from inside the sub, a grin on his face.

"We be rich, Captain," Totter answered for his grinning comrade from the treasure room.

"Good Totter, but we first need to give Biggs some time. The Imps won't know about our underwater getaway, so we have that in our advantage. But the Imps will overrun this base in a matter of minutes. We need to give Biggs time."

"Ideas?"

"A few," Lasso said, looking over to Hallomar's guard, "Any weapons in there?"

"Oh yea," the guard replied, "Lots."

"Grab anything you two need, plus all the explosives we can carry."


TBC
OOG: Part 3 coming next. Part 3 will conclude Lasso and company's pirate base experience and hook us up with Taab's group.

 

IC: Jensen Visak pilot of Vigilant
Location: Whendyll System

Jensen rocked his ship back and forth, trying to shake the pursuer that was behind him. His hands gripped the pilots yoke hard as he alternated directions, always keeping as random as possible so the enemy pilot couldnt easily predict which way he was going to juke. He saw in the rear camera a couple of the turret blasts come close to hitting, but the other pilot was doing a good job of keeping out of Rex's blasts. Come on Rex, you can get him.

He then saw a series of red blolts pierce the cockpit of the persistant craft behind him. He let out a whoop of joy as the craft that helped him asked him to form up with his squadron. "Stang Firecracker, I'd marry you if I was the marrying kind. I've got no problem giving you a show. In or out of the cockpit." He smiled at his joke. I know I'm gonna pay for that later on. It isnt the first time my mouth will get me in trouble and it wont be the last.

Just as he turned his craft towards the skirmish, he heard the comm crackle with the announcement that the interdictor was about to explode. In he years he hadnt seen much action involving capital ships. Most of his experience had been against pirate groups and backwater police craft running him off of whatever podunk planet he was on at the time. Thinking back to his time at the academy simulators, he recalled the distances that debris could fly when one of the big suckers exploded. Looking down to the rangefinder on his sensors, he cursed realizing that he was still within range of the cloud that would be coming. "Rex, full power to engines! Give me everything we got. Take it from weapons, shields, life support. What ever you need." Shields wont do me much good if I get hit by a 10 kiloton chunk of durasteel. As he turned his ship away from the interdictor to follow Firecracker and the rest of the pilots, he saw a giant geyser of flame erupted out of one of the gravity wells the cruisers were pouring thier combined fire into. He felt the burst of speed as Rex redirected the power. "When we're clear, give me back shields and life support. Then you can give back the power to secondary systems."

Tag: Sith-I-5 JediFalcon

 

IC: Cain Varss
Whendyll System, escorting Mako

Cain felt slightly embarrassed. He felt his little "this is me" outburst was less than warranted, especially after he complained to himself about the comm chatter earlier. He knew what it was. Pride. He was trying to make a name for himself. Cain's résumé may have spoken for itself, but that is all type and little substance. How else would the squadron leader know he was as competent as his files showed.

Despite his internal monologue, he didn't hesitate while it ran through his mind. "Cochise to Safety, Apologies for the chatter," he said noticing the Mako for the first time. It was a type of starship Cain was unfamiliar with. Safety changed in direction to escort the craft. Cain followed suit half a second behind the N-1 Starfighter.

"Alright, Gentlebeings, stabilise your rear deflector screens, and let's get the frag out of dodge."

Cain had already done so. He had no intentions of being a casualty of the explosion of April Dancer. He kept his shields on maintenance levels, but pushed all the shields to his aft. He braced himself knowing the explosion was probably imminent.

Tag: Sith-I-5, others in the space battle

 

IC: Josch Decinchi alias Zieleb-Xan ‘Mac’ Macja
Whendyll System

The Arrow’s missiles caught up with their targets. The two against the transport did not even slow it down. The one against his assailant did its job, sending the TIE and its pilot straight to the Underworld.

“Nice job Mac, I’m going to help the greenie out, you guys can take it from here and take out the rest of the TIEs.”

Josch looked at his tactical display and realized that the only fighter left to take care of was the one that Kasha had her sights on, “We would if you had left any for the rest of us.”

“Mercs, Scorch. Incoming fighters. By my count at least two dozen.”

Josch chuckled lightly to himself, “Well I guess that problem is solved.” As he reached down to switch over to the rest of the group he watched as Kasha tore through one of the last TIEs from the first to waves.

“Stang Firecracker, I’d marry you if I was the marrying kind. I’ve got no problem giving you a show. In or out of the cockpit.”

It was the newcomer and, even though he had not shared more than a few words in person with Kasha, this made his blood boil. “Keep it in your pants, Nugget, or you’ll have to deal with me.” It was at that moment that he realized he was on a squad wide frequency, “Frak me.”

“Firecracker from Delinquent, withdraw your forces from the enemy interdictor, that ship could explode any second. Yav-” Josch took assessment of his current position, he was about halfway between the two capital ships.

“Copy DD, Firecracker to all fighters Jod and Mercs, disengage and get some distance from the Dancer now, she’s gonna blow.” He watched as the majority of his companions moved away from not only the Dancer, but also the Delinquent. That didn’t sit right with him. Yes the major threat to their home away from the Johnny Boy was gone, but there was still the pesky issue of a troop transport heading right for her.

“Copy that Firecracker. Take the squad and whip the floor with the Imperial scumbags that are inbound. I have some unfinished business to attend to.” Josch noted that his shields had reached back to half strength so he shifted 75% of the ship’s power to her engines. He pushed the throttle up to full and headed for the DD’s topside, skimming the surface so closely that it felt like the gunners in her turrets could just reach up and brush his underbelly.

He switched his comms over to a secure frequency with the bridge, “Bridge this is Mac. I am going to pop over the top here and try to draw the attention of the Gamma creeping up on us. Over?” Josch’s plan was that once he reached the far side of the Delinquent he would switch his shields full front, loop around to the underside, and let loose his remaining three missiles. He would then turn towards the rear of the interdictor, reversing the direction of his shields to aft, and burn starlines back to the bulk of the squadron.

Now he still did not know exactly how much damage his first attack had done, nor whether this second attack would do anything as well. But at least it was worth a shot and maybe, just maybe, it would cause enough of a distraction that whatever resistance was mounting would be able to finish her off. As he moved across the bow of the Immobilizer he concentrated on the Force, calling upon it for calm and insight. He then reached out and tried to find a weakness in the transport’s shields or hull, hoping to exploit anything at this point.

As he quickly approached the opposite side of his home he took a deep breath, and as he exhaled he said, “Well here goes nothing.”

TAG: Bravo Sith-I-5 JediFalcon Bardan_Jusik kommando104 SWBob

 

IC: Atin Taab
Crusader, Battle of the Whendyll System

"Firecracker to all fighters Jod and Mercs, disengage and get some distance from the Dancer now, she's gonna blow." Atin took note of the order, but he was already beyond the point to where it applied to him. The Crusader was on an intercept course with the two dozen incoming targets, half pinged as TIE fighters, the other half as bombers.

"Uh... this is Scorch, we could use a little help out here." He managed to get out before another message came through the comm system, this time from the Dune Lizard.

“Copy that Firecracker. Take the squad and whip the floor with the Imperial scumbags that are inbound. I have some unfinished business to attend to."

Atin didn't know what that business was, but from the sudden glow behind him he doubted it was with the disabled Dancer, which was clearly now on fire and ready to explode. In any case, he was glad for the help with the incoming fighters. Turning his attention to them he saw they were still out of range, but closing fast. The Crusader wouldn't last long against them all, especially if they concentrated their fire on him.

He smiled as he was reminded of something his buir (father) had taught him. "Don't allow your enemy to what they want. Disrupt them, force them to take some action, any action, and they lose the initiative. Battles are won by action, not reaction." It was time to make the TIEs react.

Setting the upper quad mount to long range dispersal fire he started to comm down to Jeth, but he was already unleashing his own barrage at the incoming formation. "Way ahead of ya kiddo," he replied to Atin's as yet unsaid order.

Angry red bolts spat out towards the incoming TIEs now. They were too distant for aimed point shooting, but their formation offered a large enough target for effective area shooting. As they incoming vessels closed the range return fire began to strike the Crusader. The ship bucked as the forward shields we eaten away at by the bright green bolts. But now some of the Crusader's shots also began to strike home.

One TIE exploded under the upper quad mounts fire, while another was grazed and peeled off from the formation, clearly damaged. Jeth took no time in putting the craft quickly out of it misery. The opposing TIE fighter screen veered away now, not willing to take on concentrated fire from the pair of quad mounts. Atin ignored them as he continued on towards the bombers beyond, which were still just out of range. Jeth tracked his turret aft and managed to clip another fighter, damaging it but it continued on in the fight.

Beyond the fighter screen now, Atin could see it start to reform behind him, two groups were split into pairs, while the two remaining fighters (one of them damaged by Jeth) were off on their own in single ships formations. Still somewhat separated from each other, they quickly oriented towards the incoming Merc fighter threat. They were leaving the Crusader to the close in escorts which Atin saw accelerating towards him now.

The nearest bomber was just now coming into range of the Crusader's missiles. Atin loosed a pair towards the lead bomber as soon as they achieved a lock and watched as they streaked away towards their target. He hoped friendly fighters caught up soon.

---

IC: Captain Reep I Cheep (NPC)
Kingdom's Navy Vessel Dawn Treader, Battle of the Whendyll System.

Cheep watched with appreciation as the Lancer tried to get out of the Dawn Treader's firing solution. The small frigate was a powerful anti-fighter platform, but her guns didn't have the power to do much damage to the Light class destroyer's powerful shields. The pair of Nebulon B frigates to her stern however, did. The ship continued to rock under their barrage, "Aft shields beginning to buckle, they're at 20%," came from one of his officers. Not good, even with auxiliary power reinforcing the aft shields they wouldn't last long. The ship rocked again.

"Engine's now sustaining damage, we can only do 87% output." Damn! The Light class Destroyer relied on her shields and speed to survive in combat. She had little in the way of armor. If both the engines and shields were knocked any farther back then their destruction was inevitable. The ship just couldn't afford to maintain a two front battle any longer.

Here The Dawn Treader was fortunate as the Lancer continued her own maneuver and came down below the destroyer, firing all the way, before emerging to her rear, now protected by by one of her comrades. Cheep took advantage of the opportunity to place all his enemies on one threat axis. "Bring us about, status of forward shields," he ordered and the nimble ship began to turn towards her attackers.

"Forward shields holding at 67%" the defensive systems officer replied before adding on his own. "Aft shields have failed". 67%? It would have to do. That Lancer may not have had the most powerful of guns, but she did have a damn lot of them. With his forward section soon to be towards the enemy, the situation of his aft shields mattered little, at least for now. His tactical officer shouted out an update. "Sir, the Lancer seems to have lost power, she's adrift."

Cheep nodded now, smiling. "Good, good. Shift fire to the nearest of the frigates." He would have loved to have destroyed the Lancer outright, but in this battle, with his vessel outnumbered, he would take the mission kill and move on to other prey.

As the Dawn Treader came about Cheep took stock of the rest of the battle around him. The April Dancer was succumbing to the combined fire of his sister ships. Most excellent, while he had soaked up most of the escort's attention, they had done their work to the primary target. Hopefully they would soon be riding to his rescue, he doubted the Dawn Treader could maintain this for long. Farther away from his immediate vicinity he saw a group of fighters breaking in towards the battle area, but they were not his immediate concern and they were forgotten as another report came in.

"Sir, Rapier squadron is launching torpedoes on the Tango." Cheep glanced again at the plot. Rapier Squadron, the 12 ARC-170s the Dawn Treader had launched at the outset of battle were finally engaged in their primary task of taking some heat off of their beleaguered mother ship. Only 10 were still on mission, one had been destroyed outright by defensive fire from the frigates, and another was limping away from the battle area, trailing plasma and debris. Cheep made a note to recover Rapier 7 as soon as the battle had ended.

In the meantime torpedo tracks started to converge on the Imperial frigate Tango, the April Dancer was about to be destroyed and the small Lancer was also out of the battle. With any luck this shouldn't last much longer. Captain Cheep didn't know how right he was, for behind the Dawn Treader, almost unnoticed and completely forgotten about by her Captain, a force of TIE bombers streaked in towards her unshielded aft section.

---

IC: Warren Kefler (EC-87-5) (NPC)
TIE cockpit, Battle of the Whendyll System

As the TIEs of Delta flight continued on their own support mission the rest of his squadron began to engage an old YT-1300 light freighter that seemed hell bent on a suicide run towards them. Kefler was impressed as the battered old freighter used her guns at long range in order to disrupt the outer screen long enough to break through. Sadly one of the casualties was their squadron commander. Technically the squadron XO was in command now, but he was out with Dagger flight and no longer had a wingman, Kefler had a much better idea of the big picture and so he commed out.

"Dagger flight, Dillow flight, Delta lead here. Leave him to us, maintain outer security." A strained "roger that." was all he got in reply as the remnants of the squadron attempted to form up and screen out the now incoming rag tag group of fighters.

Kefler switched to his Delta flight's frequency now. "OK Delta's, let's get some. Target the freighter and keep him off the bombers." Acknowledgements streamed in from his three wingmates as they accelerated out towards the freighter, intent on protecting the precious bombers, at least until they launched on their own target.

TAG: Sith-I-5. CPL_MacjaJediFalcon, kommando104, SWBob Anyone I might have missed.

OOC note: The surviving fighters from the TIE fighter screen are in range and are fair game for you all now. There are two pairs and two singles. One of the fighters on its lonesome is damaged. All six fighters are moving to intercept the Mercs, but are somewhat disorganized. You could ignore them and attack the bombers if you so choose. The bombers (and Delta flight) are still out of range of laser fire, but you can lock onto and fire missiles at your discretion. If there are any missile attacks I'll determine any hits on the TIE bombers/Delta flight TIE Fighters in my next post (when I deal with Atin's launched missiles as well) which I will make as soon as everyone else has made their next move.

 

OOG: Several familiar faces in familiar roles. I will assign credit to them below.

Just setting things up for departure of the Allegiance.



IC: Captain Timothy Stakes
Passenger Compartment, Aka'jor-class shuttle Justice One, Northern Stretch


The Justice One, the commanding officer of the Sword of Justice's personal / primary transport craft, swung out from the belly of the Sword of Justice. Despite the old King I-class Battleship's reduce weaponry, she was still a impressive ship in Stakes' eyes and one that, if used correctly, was extremely deadly, especially with the speed, armor, communications, and sensors the vessel had.

Standing in between both the passenger compartment and cockpit, Stakes looked over the pilots' shoulders as the armored underbelly of the SOJ disappeared, giving way to the star speckled background the nearby hulk of Actualize Station with hundreds of craft of various sizes around it---the most notable was a Light-class Destroyer doing a patrol over the hulk of the station. With all the ships docked around her, one ship caught Stakes' attention as it put on dock speed and separated itself from the station, its bow presenting a forceful sight. The double bridged, 1,600 meter long King II-class Battleship, armed to the teeth with an impressive 142 weapon emplacements, and well-balanced for both ship-to-ship offensive encounters and anti-starfighter defense, was an imposing sight to behold. Stakes listened to the comm chatter between pilots as the shuttle and King II neared each other.

"Shuttle Justice One, this is the King Battleship Allegiance. We have you on our sensors on an approach vector with our path of travel. State your business immediately."

"Allegiance, this is the shuttle Justice One. We are inbound from the King-class Battleship Sword of Justice. We have VIP cargo, authorization code Actual One-dash-echo-red-dash-delta. How you copy?"

"Authorization code accepted, Justice One. Escort inbound immediately. Please stay on your current course. Allegiance clear."

Stakes---and he assumed the shuttle pilots as well---watched as two T-65 X-Wings dropped from the belly of the massive King II and came streaking their way. They had a red and white color scheme and as they neared the shuttle nearly head-on, they each banked off and swung back around, dropping into a aft port and starboard escort position. A short distance later between both capital ships through the star speckled blackness of space and the armored underbelly of the Allegiance dominated the cockpit view of Stakes' shuttle. The ship captain whistled as he looked at the under structure close up, seeing the viewports, hull layout, and the weapon emplacements. Soon, the shuttle slowed---the X-Wing's continuing on a bit more before slowing and being taken up by the aft (and larger) hanger bay---and rotated around, being tractor beamed into the forward and smaller hanger bay.

Stakes watched as a honor guard---which caught his attention with new uniforms and weapons---was being formed below as the shuttle came to a gentle landing. Stakes, the Chief Medical Officer, Chief Gunnery Officer, and Chief Engineer from the Sword of Justice formed up at the back of the shuttle to depart (the rest of the command staff and selected crew members would be following in the next two shuttles over). Timothy's one misgiving was the replacement of his Chief Army Officer, in his case his infantry Colonel, which he had been with for the last year. He had trusted the colonel; and while he knew the difference of a thousand soldiers on a King I and 10,000 on a King II, required a different rank and skill set, Stakes still wished he could have taken the colonel with him. Of all the command officers on a warship, Stakes had always found it most difficult to get to know and trust the infantry commander.

As the ramp lowered, an impressive honor guard of over two hundred infantry soldiers, 100 Naval Guard, and 50 crew members from various departments formed up evenly on either side of the ramp in two rows. Everyone's uniforms were crisp and the new soldiers'---who Stakes had assumed to be the new Strategic Command Army Troopers he kept hearing about---armor was so polished that it reflected the light from the hanger lights above.

In between the two rows of soldiers, Naval Guard, and crew members, roughly in the middle, stood a female officer with red hair and a Naval Guard, to her left, with his hat tucked neatly between his left arm and torso; a Strategic Command Army Trooper without a blaster rifle and his helmet off stood off to her right.

Stakes came to a halt, in full dress uniform, and all three command-level officers in front of him snapped to attention with salutes.

"Lieutenant Commander Volkov," the red haired woman said, adding, "Welcome to the Allegiance, Captain Stakes."


"Babylon 5"

"Thank you, Lieutenant Commander," Stakes replied with a smile, nodding behind her.

"Yes, sir," the woman said, blushing a bit at her slight misstep, "This is Chief of Security Cingolani."

"Captain," the man said, "Its a pleasure to have you."


"Babylon 5"

"Likewise Chief," Stakes said, turning to the soldier.

"This is Major General Scott," Volkov said, "Senior Army Officer aboard the Allegiance."

"Captain, good to have you, sir," Major General Scott said deeply.

"Avatar" (2009)

"Thank you, General," Stakes said, adding, "May I ask a question, Major General?"

"Yes, sir," the man said, nodding sternly,.

"Strategic Command Army Troopers I believe, yes? Almost all but rumors until now."

"Not a rumor anymore, sir."

"What's their specifications, General? What can they do?"

"Captain, I cannot dissolve that information in our current company, sir. In a less public arena, sir, I will answer all your questions."

"Fair enough, General---" a gentlemen-looking being trotted up behind the Lieutenant Commander and her group, saluting sharply.

"Chief Medical Officer Brett Jones," the man answered, "Most people just call me 'Doctor'. Sorry for being late...we had another case of sickness with the clones."


"Star Trek Voyager"

Stakes smiled, even though the Lieutenant Commander and her comrades showed frustration. It was nice to have someone in the command group that wasn't so "military". "No worries, Doctor. Patients come first."

Another man came walking up from behind the Lieutenant Commander, this one wearing a starfighter pilot's suit and his helmet tucked in between his elbow and body. He stopped short of the Captain and just off to the side and behind the Lieutenant Commander, "Wing Commander Joshua Timins," he said, saluting, "I escorted your shuttle in with one of the X-Wings, sir."


"Babylon 5"

Stakes saluted back, "Thank you, Wing Commander, for the escort."

"And don't forget, Captain," a voice boomed from behind them all, causing the command officers on both sides of the meet and greet to turn that way, "The Shepard."


"Serenity"

"A Shepard?" Stakes asked with a slight smile, "On a warship destined for an emergency mission?"

"A Shepard, yes I am," the man said, adding as he came to a stop in front of everyone, "And not here for any particular mission. Rather, here for you, the crew, and the ship."

"No offense Shepard, but a Man of God attached to a warship...JMF Command must be getting desperate for manpower."

There were slight smiles and blushes from the command staff, but all quickly went away as the Shepard locked eyes with them all.

"Desperate times, Captain, draw men closer to God. And you'll need God more then you can possibly imagine in the coming time. Echoes in Eternity will come from you."

With that, the Shepard turned around and left.


**********************************


Bridge, Allegiance


"Captain?" Spoke the female communications technician.

Stakes turned in her direction, "Yes, Comm?"

"Captain, Commander Hilton is inbound with three shuttles worth of command personnel and crew. ETA three minutes."

"Thank you," Stakes said, turning back around to the expanse of space before him, the Northern Stretch beyond that. He exhaled with a sigh. There was so much to learn about this ship and so little time. He had his Chief Gunnery Officer and Chief Engineer; while his old Chief Medical Officer would be working under this ship's new Chief Medical Officer, Stakes felt at least a little bit at ease with familiar faces from his old command of the SOJ. With Commander Hilton and the rest of the senior department heads and crew who were selected by Royal Intelligence with him, Stakes at least felt that he would have people he knew how they would react in a battle situation.


TAG Sith-I-5

 

IC: Maria Van Helsing (MVH-1001), Biker Scout, Eastern Jungle
Location: Port Haven

The two Imperial soldiers stepped out of the colourful, claustrophobic confines of the jungle, through the thinning leaves, out onto the dirt road, leading, they could see to their left, a primitive-looking coastal village, with a heavy pall of smoke over it.

Maria’s stormtrooper armour was stained in mud and the green of leaves, while her semi-armoured counterpart had thick encrustments of yellow sap drying on his armour plates.

The scout looked to his right, and nudged Maria in the arm. She followed his gaze, spying the skinned and filleted Army Major laying half on the grass next to a an equally violated subordinate’s corpse.

They were not too far from the first of two downed Scout Walkers. Several troops lay dead. Scattered about.

“I hear their’s good eating on those,” the biker quipped, keeping his tone light as he gripped his holdout blaster.

Maria pulled her E-11, and turned, scanning the jungle. She bit back the taste of acid in her mouth, and swallowed the reflux. “Shut up. I do not want to hear it.”

Tag: no-one

 

IC: Private Philippa, Chief Engineer Tim Williams, Technician Flavin, Delicate Delinquent bridge
Location: Whendyll System outskirts

The fountain of flame streaming up from the April Dancer's ruptured gravity well dome brightened the inside of her bridge, but there was no-one inside to see it.

The command crew had seen the writing on the wall, as it were, and had already issued ABANDON SHIP orders.

* * * *
Delicate Delinquent bridge

“That freighter is engaging the oncoming TIEs, and many of our fighters are moving to disengage.” Philippa reported from her console behind Williams.

“Understood. That interdictor hasn't gone up yet, I notice.”

“Give it time, Sir. Readings I'm getting, that ship is never reaching dry dock.”

“Bridge this is Mac. I am going to pop over the top here and try to draw the attention of the Gamma creeping up on us. Over?”

“Copy that Mac.” Williams confirmed.

“Dawn Treader's rear shields have failed.”

Williams re-checked his tactical holo. “She's a sitting duck for those TIE Bombers if they get past Firecracker.”

There was a discreet flare on the holo as the red icon for the AD blinked out, signalling its destruction, then seconds later, a new sizable-looking icon appeared on the battlefield for the first time.

“Okay, who is this choob'hole?” Williams pondered

“Vigil-class corvette, Urgency has just jumped in!”

Tim nodded, as if he expected this. “I think we can assume that we have hyperdrive back?” He glanced back to Flavin. “Thin you can find us an Alpha Site to jump to?”

“On it.”

“Delinquent from Safety.”

“Still alive then.”

“Cochise and I are inbound with the SGIS vessel. You know you have an Imperial craft heading for you, right? It cannot be allowed to dock.”

“Mac and your neice are going to try to stop it in its tracks.”

“Okay, we'll try to take it from behind. Suggest the DD hypers out of there, so it loses its target.”

“Copy that. Flavin, you have somewhere?”

“Still compiling.”

“Alright, forget about it, Flavin. Take the helm and take us over to cover the Dawn Treader. Give our gunners something to shoot at.”

“Are you sure that's a good idea, Chief?” Flavin queried, Philippa looking up from her readings to glance across at him. “Yav doesn't want the DD engaging in combat.”

“If Yav wants to control what happens to his ship, he needs to stay onboard.” Tim had not meant this to be an object lesson to the elf, but if the opportunity presented itself, to teach Yav that he was now beyond seeking personal glory.

Tag: Stin / TIEs, Mac, kommando104, SWBob

 

OOG: For sake of speed, I'm shortening this post and will be moving along.

Argh! My writing sucks right now!



IC: Jason Lasso
Hidden naval dock, "Pirate Base," Port Haven


The blast bolts threw back and forth as Lasso crouched behind the series of creates in the corridor leading into the pirate base from the docking pad outside; an acid smoke smell filled the confined tunnel as the blaster rifles on both sides were pushed to their limits. The Imperials had been brave to say the least, blowing right through the fallen rock and through the primary door---a direct interior assault. Only the bravest and most sure soldiers did such bold tactics. At the moment, it seemed that whoever these brave soldiers were, they were using the common cannon fodder Imperial Army Trooper to push the assault. Their causalities were mounting in the confined tunnel.

Lasso ducked back under the crates---Totter was to his left, Hallomar's guard to his right. Lasso thumped for a frag grenade---nodding to his comrades---and tossed it over the crates without looking. The circular device clanked against the concrete floor---one of the Imperial soldiers yelling grenade!---then a thunderous BANG! in the confined corridor. "GO! GO!" Lasso ordered, the three of them getting up behind their coverage and unloading blaster fire into the suddenly smoking corridor, and then darted for safety around the corner.

"Totter, do it!" Lasso said as they headed for the mess hall; the former Imperial thumped a little device on his person and thunderous explosion filled the area behind them and the crumbling of the tunnel could be heard. The three Mercs were just before the mess hall when the dust and dirt storm almost overtook them. The three Mercs all cleared a barely visible red line that they knew was there and slid behind tables, tossing them over and using them as cover.

"Count?" Lasso asked, almost out of breathe as he changed out his energy clip.

"I counted at least nine Imperials down before be blew it," Hallomar's guard said.

"IDTs carry 18," Totter said, "11 more, assuming none got caught in the explosion. We had 3 IDTs come in...so..."

"Yea," Lasso said.

"Here they come!" Hallomar's guard shouted as the debris were blasted away and those elite Imperial Army troopers started down their way. The blast bolts started flying again...



*********************************


Rendezvous, jungle river


For some reason, when Lasso saw Taab sitting in the command mount of the Imperial tank, he couldn't help but think of that holodrama with a character known as Oddball. But Lasso couldn't judge; his team and him looked like hell. They lost two of Hallomar's guards and only one remained. If it wasn't for the explosives on the sub, Lasso knew they couldn't have collapsed most of the base on the Imperials (except for the comm center) and live. They were lucky and Lasso knew it.

Walking down the plank that connected the sub to the jungle shore, Lasso looked up at Taab, lifting up a comm gear backpack, "Comm gear. We rigged it to the pirate base comm system. Should have enough juice left for one long range shot. Base sensors caught what I thought looked like a battle at the edge of the system, but most of whatever was going on was outside of sensor range. We ran into three IDTs down at the Pirate Base. Two IDTs of regular Imp infantry and one IDT of Imperial Commandos. From a few prisoners we took from the regular infantry, sounds like most of the Imperial advanced throughout the planet is being slowed by the animals and plants in the jungle. Imperial Commandos and Amphibions are acting as advanced recon forces until the armored and primary infantry units can catch up to secure the planet."

Lasso saw one of the guards grinning on the tank, "Ah, Taab, what type of Imperial tank did you capture?"



TAG Bardan_Jusik

 

IC: Mara Jade Skywalker
Canyon

The sun was coming up; Mara cursed under her breathe. Whoever was deploying forces ground side was taking their bloody time! While the Emperor's Hand knew she didn't have forces to control the planet and in truth her ground forces were not adequate in strength to do much of anything on a large scale, she was looking for some drive from the Imperial Commander to take the opportunity. So far, the Imperial Commander was conducting a large scale sweep and clear with minimal forces.

Idiot! Just "pirate" base she had heard time and time again. So much for trying to not involve the Imperial Stormtrooper Corps...she may have to take the rag-tag group of weary Stormtroopers and use them like an army to do what the Army Commander couldn't do.

Just then she heard a noise up ahead. A humming noise. She hid herself behind a rock and reached out with the Force. She could feel several military presences and---

What was a Saber Guard doing here? As far as she knew, she was the only agent the Emperor had sent out. Was it another rogue Dark Sider...feeling too big for their role and wanting to eliminate her for favor in the Emperor's eyes? Darth Vader didn't like her---if she could survive Vader's games, she could survive anyone's games. What bugged her about Saber Guards were their clone minds...they were so cold...

Yet, so loyal as well. Question was, was this one loyal or a rogue? She couldn't risk any more probing of the approaching Imperials...she would risk being exposed. Right now, until she knew the Saber Guard's allegiance, she couldn't risk that. So she stayed hidden and waited, tightening her grip around the hilt of her unlit lightsaber.

The hovercraft approached into view now...Mara waited...waited...waited...


TAG Sith-I-5


****************************


IC: Major General Hatcher (Imperial Army Senior Officer)
Port Haven


Finally! Hatcher thought, as he walked onto the ground of Port Haven from the IF-120 Landing Craft. The problem with Vindicator-class heavy cruisers was their lack of shuttle transport. While certainly the cruisers could have been adopted for such a role, the need for ground forces overrode transportation concerns. While the original plan was to land one of the heavy cruisers at a time planet side to deploy forces more rapidly, the need to stop escaping pirates---in the effort to capture a one Jason Lasso---overrode Plan A and Plan B was started: prevent enemy escape and utilize the Escort Carriers' shuttles and transports to ferry troops and armor from the heavy cruisers planet-side. While on a operational scale, his deployment was as rotten as they came, Hatcher would challenge his naysayers to do what he did with the next to little notice to assemble his ground forces before leaving Coruscant with a Emperor's Hand and deploy a ground operation with his limited transportation resources.

A squad of Imperial Army Special Missions Troopers provided escort to the Major General and his staff as they headed off of the landing craft. In the growing morning light, Imperial ground forces---both from the sky and via the seashore---were rushing into the Port.

Two AT-STs and a rag-tag group of Stormtroopers were collecting themselves into the middle of the town roughly as the Imperial Army slowly took over. A group of Port Haven prisoners were tied up and on their knees by one of the "feet" of the AT-STs.

The Stormtrooper Lieutenant came up to Hatcher, his armor a bit beat up with the after-action build-to-building clearing; some of the smugglers, seeing the usefulness of escaping through the blockade or when fighting outright saw its end in large numbers, had decided to lock themselves into the buildings as a last effort of rebellion to Imperial law and fight it out to the bitter end. The limited number of Stormtroopers had to go building to building clearing them out, including the LT. While no losses on the side of the Imperials, the fighting had been intense and close quarters nonetheless.

"TL-6321; Lieutenant, sir," The Lieutenant said, "Port Haven is secure."

"Good," Hatcher said; for a moment, the general showed concern, "Your unit, Lieutenant?"

"Tired, sir. Nearly out of ammo and in need of supplies. But ready for orders."

"I'm sure your ready, Lieutenant. But for now, rest. Your men deserved it. Have you had any contact with the Imperial agent?"

"Yes, sir. I have several troopers and a Saber Guard heading that direction now."

"A Saber Guard? Under who's orders is he here?"

The Stormtrooper seemed to pause for a long moment, "Unknown sir. He passed all the codes though."

"Interesting, Lieutenant. I was told the Emperor's Hand would be the only commander here. We now seem to have two. Oh well, Imperial Center must of approved it. Lieutenant, get supplies and rest. We'll take the prisoners from here."

"Yes, sir."

As one of the General's staff officers got on the comm and soon thereafter several squads of Imperial Army Troopers showed up to handle the POWs, the General turned to a Major on his staff, "Major Willis, lets get these units deployed. I want a full command post up in thirty minutes, a set guard and defenses, and units deployed. We move as one, Major, several large units with armor clearing the jungle, the rest held to reserve, recon, and foot patrols on the paths. Send a Special Missions Platoon with armor and infantry support to discover the fate of Task Force Kingfisher. I want that village leveled, POWs collected for intelligence, and the rest killed off."

"Yes, General."


No Tag (Tag if needed for Bardan_Jusik)

 

IC: Queen Christina "The Great"
Actualize Station, Northern Stretch



The Queen's reflection was upon the transparisteel as she glanced down at the private hanger bay below. A escort of Queen's Guardsmen walked silently along the hover-bound casket of her murdered husband, King Alex "The Just". Finally, he had been removed from the Sword of Justice. A single tear rolled down her cheeks as she looked on, as the casket and bodyguard disappeared from the shadow of the shuttle that had carried them this far and from her move. Behind the Queen, a gathering of military advisers and Royal Court advisers stood in intense conversation around a floating hologram of a Outer Galaxy world known as Port Haven, where a Imperial blockade prevented the "Heroes of Prophecy" from escaping; several Jod Light-class Destroyers were in a desperate struggle against the Imperial blockade.

The blast doors opened to the observation deck of the private hanger the Queen saw Lord Alic Tarfa walk in. When the blast doors had closed, the Queen spoke without turning around, "How was your trip from home world?"

"Cramped. Several marine ship captains still loyal to the crown got me as far as they dared, then I was ejected via a escape pod. The Light Destroyer Coming Dawn intercepted me and I am here."

"Did you give your last respects to my husband?"

"Yes My Queen..." Alic paused for a long time, reflecting on his friendship with the Royal Family and how close he was with them, "...And I will miss him. But My Lady, what are your orders?"

The Queen's tone remained grave and she still hadn't turned around, "I dispatched the Allegiance to Port Haven to rescue the Mercs. They're outgunned and out manned."

"I know," Alic reported, adding, "And Royal Intelligence has briefed me on what they know so far."

"And your advise?" The Queen asked, turning around from the window, "Director of Intelligence?"

Alic had to push his stomach down from climbing up his throat. The Queen only used his official title when she was not in a good mood, "The reports from agents on Imperial Center suggest a Emperor's Hand is with the Imperial forces around and on Port Haven. If that is the case, then we have a very good chance of stopping the Empire."

"Explain," the Queen said flatly.

"If Jedi Kasumi's plan works, then Project Zero is handled. Either way, we don't have the forces to mount the attack we need. And if her plan is successful, any such attack would be suicide. If we can draw the majority of Imperial forces away from Project Zero and to Port Haven, I can slip a small counter-attack special operations force to Project Zero. A classic bait and switch. We'll need sizable forces to hold the Imperials here; we can use the Delicate Delinquent and Port Haven's own gravity to accomplish trapping the Imperial fleet. But we'll need help. I am going to assume most of the fleet will depart with the Emperor back to Coruscant when Kasumi's plan ruins the Imperials plan. We collect the Red Rock Processing Unit at the depleted Project Zero's defenses. But...we'll need help."

"I will arrange the help, Alic," the Queen said.

"Thank you, My Queen. But we'll need more help. The Dark Eye."

"No!" the Queen replied in terror, "Never! Their Beasts!"

"But my Queen, my intelligence reports suggest that they are---"

"NO!" The Queen replied in anger.

"Then we have no chance at all," Alic said, "We need to be open to the possibility, My Queen. Or we will have no chance at all. The Allegiance won't last against that Imperial task force all alone, especially if the Emperor's Hand calls in reinforcements."


TBC

 

IC: Beskaryc Taab
Rendezvous point, jungle river, Port Haven.

The journey from the old fishing village to the rendezvous point went smoothly and without further incident. Yes, Hallomar wasn't too happy about leaving behind the bodies of his men behind, but he was taking it in stride. The Pho Ph'eanian, Ghevar, had at first taken an interest in Taab's work on the radio but his attention soon was drawn to his muddy matted fur. He washed it off with a portable tank of water he had been carrying and primped and preened his blue fur until he was at least satisfied. Taab had then relinquished the radio station to the four armed being. He had said he was a tech, let him prove it Taab thought to himself.

Taab had then poked his armored head out of the command hatch, following the vehicle's progress from there as he received updates from the vehicle's new crew. They didn't want to risk a transmission to the Captain or the Luck's Gamble just yet. Once the Empire found out the tank was gone, they would have no trouble finding it. Driving it through the brush and along whatever trails they could find Taab and his men had left a trail even a blind snake could follow. There was no point in giving them a head start. Hopefully by the time the Empire got its act together they would be far away from here.

Approaching the RV point Taab could see that the Captain and his group had already arrived aboard their sub. Grinning, Taab removed his helmet and yelled out as the Captain walked down the gangplank to shore. "It followed me home Skipper. Can I keep it?" as he gestured to the vehicle. He knew there was no way they could take it with them, and they would probably blow it in place once they abandoned it, but he just couldn't resist.

Taab pulled himself up and out of the vehicle, clipping his buy'ce to his belt and cradling his flechette launcher in his left arm. He was soon followed by the others as Lasso briefed them on what had happened. "Ah, Taab, what type of Imperial tank did you capture?"

Taab smiled again. "According to the Imperial Field manual left on board, it's a 1-M command vehicle, with all the latest goodies. The most important being a ship to shore radio receiver/transmitter. The previous owner gave us all the intel on how to use it..." Al'kesh mouthed a silent "Don't ask" to Lasso at this point, along with a slight shake of his head. "...and bypass Imperial SIGINT (signals intelligence). We haven't used it yet. Even with that intel, my guess is that the Imperials will shut us down pretty quick. So we wanted to get the gang back together before we made a move."

Taab pointed to the Pho Ph'eanian now. "Ghevar here is a tech we rescued at the village. Helped us take out the reinforced platoon there, so I told him he can come with us, pending your approval of course." Ghevar bowed dramatically to the Captain, "He's pretty good at what he does, and he got the tank's radio working in short order. Even tapped into some of the Imperial ship to ship stuff. There is something going on up there. No word on who the Imps are opposing though."

Now Taab gestured to his jetpack, obviously missing the warhead he had used in the battle. "I just hope that whoever it is the Crusader isn't far behind. I need to resupply." He unclipped his helmet now and placed it back on his head, his voice echoed out from underneath it. "Looks like we have everything we need though. We should act fast Skipper, once the Imperials figure out we have their tank they are probably going to want it back."

TAG: Bravo.

 

IC: Fress Colias
Whendyll system

Fress glanced behind her as the Dancer turned into a fireball. She felt a little relief but they weren't out of this yet. At least they had their hyperdrives back. Saber beeped at her causing her to look down.

//Half of the channels are unblocked and there are several objects headed towards us.// Saber reported.

“Copy that Firecracker. Take the squad and whip the floor with the Imperial scumbags that are inbound. I have some unfinished business to attend to."

"Copy Mac," Fress acknowledged with a slight smile. She wondered how Mac would feel about being her deuce. "I show TIE bombers incoming. We can't let them get near our Light Cruisers. We have to push past this mesh and intercept their course."

"Stang Firecracker, I'd marry you if I was the marrying kind. I've got no problem giving you a show. In or out of the cockpit."

“Keep it in your pants, Nugget, or you’ll have to deal with me." "Frack me."

"No Mac, he'll have me to deal with," Fress said over the comm. "How good are you at hand to hand combat, greenie? Saber, route me an intercept course for those bombers."


Saber beeped causing her to look down with a frown. "All right, this is our best shot. All squadrons follow me," she pushed her fighter forward heading towards the bombers.

SWBob, CPL_Macja,Bardan_Jusik, Bravo, kommando104, anyone else I missed.

 

IC: Jensen Visak pilot of Vigilant
Location: Whendyll System

Jensen saw the explosion of the April Dancer in his rear facing camera, the fireball expanding out from the center of the ship sending pieces of the ship flying out in all dicrections. But he had made it far enough away from the blast that he didnt have to worry about being engulfed.

Pulling up next to Firecracker, Jensen checked his readouts. Rex had switched the power distribution back to normal once they had cleared the blast zone. His shields showed full and his weapons were charged to full. He was ready for battle.

“Keep it in your pants, Nugget, or you’ll have to deal with me."

"No Mac, he'll have me to deal with," Fress said over the comm. "How good are you at hand to hand combat, greenie?"

He chuckled to himself then keyed the comm. "Alright, alright! I surrender, no harm meant, just havin' a little fun."

He saw Firecracker make an intercept course with the bombers and fell in behind and slightly to the right of her. "All right, this is our best shot. All squadrons follow me," Jensen punched the accelerator to follow Firecracker.

Tag: Jedi_Falcon anyone else

 

IC: Cain Varss
Whendyll System outskirts

"All right, this is our best shot. All squadrons follow me."

Cain mulled over the possible options in his mind. Stay with Mako or engage the incoming TIEs. Two squadrons from the looks of his sensors, half being bombers, but apparently the Mako was in some serious need of escorting. Cain, not having any real understanding of the chain of command and where this Safety was on that chain of command, decided to defer to the pilot that had told him to stay with the Mako.

"Cochise to Safety, been ordered elsewhere. Continue on mission or should I move to engage the new targets?" Part of Cain thought he should have deferred to his Squadron Leader before this new person, but he didn't know exactly where this Safety landed on the chain of command.

Tag: Sith-I-5, JediFalcon, potentially others listening in