Star Wars OPEN War of the Galaxies: Fist of Fire - an Episode XII Story

OOC: The Moff was Krenniced by the combined efforts of @Sinrebirth and myself
IC: Kan Mandeen
Ord Trasi

Ord Trasi was conscious of the ties between Adumar and the Empire, even now. The respondents petitioned for a meeting between their representative and the Arch-Duke Vost, who intimated he knew where the Moff was. As much as the shipyard workers appreciated his treasure trove of technical data, undoubtedly there would be a time where the pros no longer outweighed the cons of keeping the man.

Kan sent a response that he technically didn't represent the Adumari, he just had a contract to take the Moff to the Adumari. However, for a small fee, he could recommend a third path where ideally where Ord Trasi could remain neutral while building ships and making money off the Adumari and re-emergent Fel Empire.

Vost demurred and then opened a comm channel.

A corpulent man, it was immediately obvious who stood beside him.

Moff Quillan.

Kan sent another piece of information on the Moff, receiving the noise of money in his accounts as the image popped up, "Arch Duke!" he paused seeing the Moff, "Is Quillan in your custody or your care?"

The Arch Duke showed the Moff, who had a spritzer in hand. "An honoured guest, of course. Offering me technological secrets to give me an advantage in the days to come."

Kan brought up an image of the bounty on Moff Quillan's head, "Though I also assume that you know he is one of the most wanted people in this galaxy."

"I do, and I can pay you off if you'd prefer," the Arch Duke chuckled drily.

Kan chuckled, "You can't afford that. It's also a path that leads to potential invasion."

He paused, "Or you can hand him over, and make a lot of money...especially if you decide to listen to me."

Quillan snorted, and the Arch Duke smiled. "You appear to be acting as if the Fel Empire is the law, my friend. We have no alliance, nor will probably do so."

"I'm not sure the Fel Empire cares about you at the moment, but the Adumari do. They place the blame of the loss of their homeworld at Moff Quillan's feet. Would you like to ask Moff Gherilid about what happens to someone when they mess with Adumari interests?" Kan knew he was negotiating on the Adumari's behalf, but his reading was that he was putting it mildly based on their reaction to whoever staged the attack on Vhetin.

And they already knew that Quillan was here on Ord Trasi, and they now knew that he was being protected here.

"Gherlid ran into Lexrullian ingenuity and died in a hyperspace jump," Quillan sniffed. "Nobody cares."

"Let's make abundantly clear, bounty hunter," the Arch Duke said. "At present Moff Quillan here is an honoured guest and key resource for technological parity with your Empire's and Sun Guards. We have no interest in membership, and are instead using his knowledge as the key to the next Hegemony in the north." A sniff. "Any effort by you or the Adumari will be considered a declaration of war."

Kan muted and blanked his screen as he didn't have time for this. Orders went out to agents on Ord Trasi to mine Moff Quillan's data for anything useful particularly ship plans.

Kan was thinking of his next approach when there was a massive spike of information got his attention, partial decryption of the information showing that it was about Moff Quillan. There was a second message in the clear stating that any planet that harbors people like Moff Quillan to be in a de facto state of war against the Adumari Union.

Kan was about to reopen the message with Ord Trasi when he received a message with Adumari Navy Crest, answering he saw an Admiral.

"You are the paid agent."

Kan paused, "Yes..."

"Your services are no longer needed."

"I have people on the ground slicing data."

"We have their location and that of the Moff. You won't receive the full contract but you receive most of it."

Kan typed in Maxima and sent it to the Admiral.

They looked down at the display, "If your people pull that off, full payment with a very large bonus."

Kan smiled, "Thank you, I'm already late for an appointment." He left when the full might of Hammer Two jumped in along with additional interdictor ships and troop transports. The last thing he heard before jumping was that of the Admiral, "Ord Trasi, your leader is harboring a war criminal of the highest order, hand him over or face the consequences. You have five minutes."

The Arch Duke sighed. “So the face of the Fel Empire is revealed. Just as bad as the Sith, but with different rulers.”

“Think carefully about what your masters are about to do. They attack my planet, they’re radicalise entire systems against them.” The Arch Duke was being very sanctimonious for a former and voluntary member of the Imperial Remnant. “You’re not the galactic government; we’re not members.” A huff. “Maybe we’ll call Snoke down on you.”

The Admiral offered a bitter smile, "Snoke? We're already at war with Snoke if you aren't paying attention. Besides, we have your location." The Admiral looked at the Chief Gunnery Officer, "You may fire at will."

The bombardment was quick, and efficient; it took down defences, shattered barricades, decimated the government complex. The Arch Duke’s personal location, torn down with precision fire, and on the channel the building came down. It was broadcast, clearly, but so too was the Adumari justification.

Eventually the channel cut.

Ord Trasi burned.

Any ground based shipyards were hit, but the space-based ones, which were most them, were unharmed. Civilian positions weren’t targeted, but inevitably there were civilian losses. They were kept up a minimum, but they gave no quarter for the political apparatus opposing them.

The Admiral nodded with grim satisfaction, "Alright, lets send the troop transports down for humanitarian aid. We are not the monsters, just that their government held on to one in the name of supposed neutrality."

The government district was gone.

But subsequent data queries showed Quillan had been hanging onto information; parsing out technical details to the Arch Duke. So they found two things; one, he’d already handed over the details of the Maxima-class star cruiser to Ord Trasi. Two, his body had on it an encrypted but seemingly undamaged datapad. Could this have the rest of his precious information?

Intercepted communiques confirmed many natives were preparing to join a resistance, plotting guerrilla actions and appealing to off-world intervention. The shipyard workers were not yet a part of this, but it would come unless they found a solution. Condemnations had already been issued by neighbouring worlds, though some quieter enquiries had been received from the Corporate Sector…

This requires the PR person...

The Adumari Admiral was looking through reports, "Alright, send some troopers down to guard the aid workers. Also, we need to explain in as much detail as necessary, why we took this course of action." This required the never released report on the arms deal to the Empire of the Hand, stressing its secrecy, the interference of First Order agents, including Quillan, and finally the smuggling of the information to sources within the Galactic Alliance starting the Second Galactic Civil War. It also required the release of all the information that the Adumari had found on Moff Quillan, which was extensive. Along with the growing file on Sienar-Jaemus Fleet Systems, with an explanation to the New Mining Guild that they can not have people or companies like that who are directly aiding an enemy of Adumar and not expect a reaction. They also included a brief communique from the Tof Empire about the fate of Warlord Gherlid, who had tormented these worlds, and offered the comment that his fate was an acceptable alternative to Adumari intervention.

All of this needed to go out, but they also sent word back requesting some help, perhaps even from Jagged Fel himself.

TAG: @Sinrebirth, @Mitth_Fisto, @darthbernael, @Kev-Mas_Colcha

 

OOC: Double post approved by GM as he wants to cause more chaos. In my defense, @Sinrebirth helped with this one.
IC: Adam Lyons, Jagged Fel, Briana Odan
Zakuul

Adam left Medb's mansion within a pocket dimension, it was a place to get away, though he had the feeling that unusual woman stared at him as he meditated.

There were Intelligence reports by the new head, Iella Wessiri, that Moff Quillan was being pursued, it wasn't clear by whom at all. It wasn't Adumari, someone wanted them. Some speculation that the Moff was walking into a trap, again not knowing who it was. Someone else had information that even the Adumari didn't have, which concerned Iella.

It concerned Adam as well; he was still meditating on it when he felt Jag needed him, there must be some news. He walked over to Jag, "I hope your conversation with your father went well?"

Jagged nodded. "He is speaking to the Chiss Houses."

His eyes narrowed, tapping the Throne. "But much ties to our chances of connecting with this."

The spirit of Lana Beniko, and AI hologram of Theron Shan, they stood beside the throne. "No more Nova droids will come hunting, as they know we can't use the throne," Lana explained.

"But the Eternal Fleet didn't hang around either way," Theron confirmed. "We'll have to recall them when we can."

Jagged nodded slowly. "We're building up the fleets and playing diplomat but we're going to have to win an engagement soon, somewhere, to show we're serious. Our message is lost in the sea of messages drifting across the galaxy, offering everything and nothing and something. We need to make a stand somewhere."

He looked to Adam. "I expect you to name that target."

Adam nodded, "I can offer options, and I know there are some agreements requiring piercing the Mid Rim barrier. Jakku would free resources needing supply, while the signal that we interrupted came from Arkania. Koensayr would provide us bombers, and there are another half dozen other potential targets if we want more shipyards." He shrugged, "This is the Core."

Jagged Fel shook his head. "Can we win if we attack the Mid Rim?"

"What of the Outer Rim? I can't see a large victory against the Snoke Empire which will make any difference to the Rim."

Adam shrugged, "Depends on what we find. If it's just mines and TIEs, then it's not a problem. If it's Mortis... I say we would need the Eternal Fleet first." He grinned at Jag, "The Corellian in me wants to make you seem more unstoppable than Snoke."

Adam considered his thoughts for a moment, "Maybe...maybe if you can take steps diplomatically while looking for these Outlanders, maybe you will appear as the best option beyond just with force."

Jagged mused. "What are the chances of the others coming to parley? We can approach everything diplomatically, but I've seen the numbers. Unless the New Separatist Union, Bakurans, Senex Lords and Centrality join us, we're going to not be diametrically stronger than any one faction."

Adam considered, "We may have an in with the Bakurans, one of their leaders is related to Adalia, wherever she is. Some others, I do not know."

Jagged Fel nodded. "So find me that in. We can't just play defensively."

He regarded the data-feed and updates.

It was a report from Kwenn, but also other sources too.

Eyes narrowed.

"What did we do at Vhetin?"

Adam looked somewhat startled, "Vhetin?" He quickly brought up official Adumari deployments, switched it to map view, and placed a ping on Vhetin, "Nothing... wait there's an Intelligence assessment of that attack, which they put the word attack in quotes."

Adam sent the report to Jag, mentioning points of interest to Adam at least, "Poor deployment, doctrine based on GalCiv 2... wrong naming conventions for the ships used, ships performed as if they were stock, not with our upgrades, paint jobs were awful..."

He glanced at Jag, "This was Iella compiled but both Military Intelligence and High Command must have seen the footage. They're quite unhappy to put it mildly."

"Looks like they're investigating who staged it, and what sort of response there should be." He looked at Jag, "We might need your help to control these people. They're already angry knowing where Moff Quillan is, and they want to place all blame at his feet."

"Controlling Iella?" Jagged looked incredulous. "I can do that?"

Adam grinned, "It's a bit like trying to control Jaina. Or any of our spouses, it’s practically impossible." He glanced at Briana, noting that he could have added friends to that statement, as both Briana and Iella met that description. "No word of Vhetin had just arrived and Adumari Intelligence services were in an uproar. We needed someone who is known as being meticulously thorough. Besides, Perator Nadia is a big fan of hers."

"Who benefited the most from burning down a Mandalorian and Nagai colony," Jagged said, bluntly. "The Tofs or the Sun Guard, presumably." He was flicking through reports. "Though the Tofs are mid-reform, the Sun Guard seems to have withdrawn to Mon Calamari and they've not even sent any diplomats out."

He tapped a note. "The Grysk are believed to have divided the Hutts, too? I thought they were in Ssi-Ruuvi space and near Saijo."

Adam considered, "Maybe it isn't who benefited most on bombarding the planet, it was who would benefit the most for making us look bad." Looking at his notes, "If the Grysk are in Hutt Space, then it bears investigating, we just don't have the forces right now..." He was interrupted by a ping, it was a joint message from Nadia and Iella, the list of charges that the Adumari were levelling against Moff Quillan.

He sent the message with the attachment, "You...absolutely want to see this. They've thrown the Death Star of books at Quillan."

"We're not at war with any of those three powers," he said, drily. "So you're blaming Snoke? Seems a bit out-of-character for him."

Jagged looked at the message, grinned fiercely. "And at Gherlid, too. So, we're attacking Ord Trasi?"

Adam nodded, "Something like that, we found at Jaemus links to the Final Order and proof that they supplied the First Order. Secondly transcripts of the conversation the leader of Ord Trasi has referred to the Moff as an honored guest."

He gestured at the document of charges on Quillan, "I wouldn't call a mole of 20 years an honored guest, and I certainly wouldn't have companies supplying one side while pretending to be neutral."

“Get his knowledge, however you can,”

Jagged said. He paused, thinking of his memories of the Moff. “We need to make an example of war criminals. If Ord Trasi won’t listen…” Jagged grew hard about it. “We need to make an example of Ord Trasi too.”

It had to be done. Ord Trasi had been a member of the Imperial Remnant. It knew better.


Adam checking his reports, "They're working on it, if we can bring back the T-85, we can bring back the Maxima."

Adam did his best to check his smile when Jagged talked about the Moff and Ord Trasi, he failed, "That is also the plan, speaking as the Adumari, we can't get Snoke, or Ben Solo, but we can get Quillan. I'd like to take him alive just to use the Celestial signal to display his trial to the galaxy to send the message that we won't tolerate the war crimes of the First or Final Order anymore."

"Both Jaemus and Ord Trasi supposedly are members of the New Mining Guild, but both planets had ties to Snoke and the First Order. They may need to be checked, and if necessary, taken out."

Jagged paused. “Perhaps we should send a missive to the Guild that our war is against Ord Trasi, not the wider organisation, otherwise we’ll polarise the situation. But don’t let it stop us doing what we need to do.”

He nodded. “That trial will bring be the start of the line between us and the Sith parts of the Empire.”

Adam considered, "I suspect your word would have more weight than ours right now. That said, the bombardment is complete, Ord Trasi's leaders are dead, and I suspect the Moff is as well. That said, we are double checking the data and humanitarian aid has begun."


"We have a request, from the Admiral of Hammer Two for help. They are sending out the information we have, but perhaps personal intervention is necessary." Adam handed the files over to Jagged for his opinions.

Jagged pulled a face. “We’ve said our piece; done our bit. If you think we can reasonably hold on to Ord Trasi, do it. If not, pull back to traditional Remnant space and get Piggy on that datapad. The sooner we get the Maxima up and running, the sooner we get a new carrier to play with.”

“We’re stretching ourselves and if my father can’t deliver the Chiss, we’ll be outflanked. We’ve enough to get started, and we’ve identified a set of enemies and have Intel to pool over.” He already had updates from Nadia to check over, and Face was trying to find that Grysk in Ssi-Ruuvi space.

Adam nodded, it made sense, "I'm sending out a request that if any place is attacked, everything will pull out and that aid can go to Taris and Halmad through covert means."

He smiled the mention of his third mentor, "He is, we are reaching out to Yaga Minor in order to see if they can offer some help to speed the process up. You need a fleet that isn't currently blockaded."

He glanced at a holo of Nadia at the Sluis Van negotiations, "I... have never seen her that angry before. She almost looks like Daala of years ago." He turned to Jag, "If you don't mind, I want to bring her children here, all of them. I think she could use the distraction. We could also message Trec to go over the events so far to see if he has any thoughts to add." He smiled, "Besides, I think you should meet their children, they're really something."

All of that planning finally brought Adam back around to the Bakura problem. His first 'in' was Adalia. The problem was he did not know where she was at all. He looked around the room and his eyes settled in on Briana. It took him a moment to realize who Bakura's leaders were.

When he did, he exclaimed, "I got it!" He clapped his hands, hopefully not startling Jag, and smiled, "HQ, I need you to get in touch with your dad and ask him to go to Bakura."

Briana looked at him exasperated, "Do you know how many decades mom has tried to get him to settle down?"

Adam grinned as he'd met both of Briana's parents and he had the opinion that they kind of enjoyed it. "Would there be any problems if she went also?"

Briana paused as they were watching her kids, too public to say anything especially since they don't know. "There are always problems, but I suppose it's our best shot to get Bakura on the side."

"They at least need to know that there are rumblings that the Ssi-ruuv are up to no good."


Briana nodded, great, "That too." Sending both my parents AND kids into danger.

Adam sensed something, but now wasn't the time, "What all did you want to discuss with Bakura?" He looked to Jag questions on his mind.

“Bakura can build Star Destroyers, and it’s a good way to cross the gap between the Known and Unknowns,” Jagged said simply. “An Empire running from Bakura to Bastion. That’s the starting point.”

Analysts suggested they wouldn’t have time to get assets to Bakura right now, but recalling Nadia herself - and her children - would be a start. Face Loran was due to report in from his undercover role at Batuu, and Piggy was already at Monte Cristo to complete the handover of the so-called Quillan Datapad. But Scut was missing, suggesting he was potentially among the Domain Lah rebels.

Jagged took a moment to breathe. “Alright, we need to regroup. Sluis Van, Sullust and Eriadu, that’s a loss, and we need to adjust. We need to give Piggy time to get into that datacard, and Nadia a chance to get back here before she blows a fuse. I’m going to take a few hours’ rest, and then we’ll meet again.”

Jagged look at each of them, and was ready to call today over. They’d done as much as they could, but he suspected it would come down to whether the Chiss Ascendancy at last committed.

Adam nodded, “We do our best decryption breaking at Monte Cristo, he’s been helping Iella adjust to her new role, so he’s already in the perfect position.” Now it was time to rest and prepare for tomorrow's challenges.

TAG: @Sinrebirth, (mention for @Adalia-Durron )

 

IC: Sun Guard Fleet

On Mon Calamari, the shipyards having been freed up from the repair of the Avarice being finished, they were put into construction mode, and began construction on several more ships:

1 Crimson Dagger-class Star Dreadnought
2 Duellator-class Star Destroyers
1 Twisuns-class Battle Carrier
1 ShaShore-class Heavy Frigate
2 Alastor-class Space Superiority Starfighter Squadrons
2 Crix-class Assault Shuttle Squadrons

—

Maccabree
FireFist

To think how much the Tof Empire had changed since the fleet set out for Rothana. It had taken them time to limp back, what with severely damaged ships making up half the survivors.

But in that time…

Maccabree had been seized, and voluntarily returned to the Empire, their brief experience with freedom chaotic and terrifying. Indeed, they’d opted for tyranny but on their terms, embracing not shackles but an alliance. It was a step.

So too had a motley array of aquatic nonhumans joined the Tof Empire. The acts of General Tovah were across the feeds, in slaying the Warlord Gherlid and committing his warships to the cause. Ten Imperial Star Destroyers was a truly wondrous force.

The information from these propaganda feeds was a treasure trove for any spy, let alone the one arriving in-system with the battered ships. But it was also a concern.

The moment the ship arrived, Tof gunboats and launches accosted the various ships, isolating the damaged from the functional, and security checks were led by Maccabree in massive armour suits, as much to check damage as the crews and whether malcontent had formed among the wounded.

Soon enough, this wall of investigation would come to the ship a certain shapeshifter was…

Thychani Commander Vid Romen was unconcerned when the inspections came his way. He had flawlessly replaced his Tof victim, and disposed of him properly. After all this time spent quietly observing, using a mind trick here or there to evade suspicion, he was able to study the databanks and his victim's belonging sufficiently enough to avoid suspicion from even the supplanted officer's closest colleagues by acting skill alone. And indeed, as a former holodrama star, Vid indeed was a talented actor.

The Maccabree didn't care for that.

They were not Tof, they were merely allies, and they had ample experience being suspicious of infiltrators. More than once the Tof had dressed up a Nagai in the old wars, and traitors were a thing. The Maccabree had turned to the Tofs out of expediency; they'd been defeated, after all. But even then, the Nagai should have been there to help, and they hadn't.

The recent news that Nagai ships were en route to Faruun only deepened their frustrations.

They cared for the Faruun warfleets, but not the Maccabree battle armour.

Perhaps it was merely a misunderstanding, but a lumbering Maccabree named Zul hated everyone at this point in his life, not expecting his grandfather to have died fighting the Tofs only for the Nagai to abandon them. He was the Maccabree who came to Vid Romen.

"Name."

"Thune," replied Vid, standing firm and alert with hands clasped behind his back, "Cletus Thune."

As Vid spoke, he discretely channeled the Force into a minor mind trick, his hands motioning behind his back, meant purely to put Zul's mind at ease and soothe away any suspicion he may have.

Zul was an alien mind; the infiltrator will never have encountered a Maccabree - they didn't leave their home system unless forced - and so the Force action did very little. If anything, it antagonised Zul. Handling an unfamiliar mind was a very quick way to agitate it. Zul held out his hand, gruff. "ID Pass."

Vid gulped, swallowing hard as he tensed up slightly, alarmed at his mind trick backfiring, forcing him to let go of Zul's mind.

He very quickly responded to his request for ID, and with a deft hand reached into a pocket in his stolen uniform coat, procured an id pass, also stolen, and handed it to Zul without a word.

Zul accepted it, studied it, held it up to the spy. That was the only weakness in the Tof security checks.

A Maccabree looked at a Tof and saw a Tof.

But the real test was the spikes in stress factors, in Tofs, they were known and detectable.

So Zul looked for those with his suits sensors.

And he didn't find them.

He found a lot of things irregular, but he didn't know if they were irregular.

He also didn't have an inclination to look into it.

The battle suit filed away the data and sent it to HQ.

"Your next check-in is in four hours. All check-in's are required on military vessels for an updated security pass. Please keep in mind that the next test will inevitably change, I've gone through five programs in the days since the Tof's started this. They are updated with biomarkers from the current tests, so the next one will be even more precise." He was reading from the script, mostly, kinda, but Zul was Zul, and Zul did Zul.

But he had basically telegraphed that Vid had at most four hours until someone looked at his particular scans, compared them, presumably, to the man he'd stolen the life of, noticed that there were some incongruities, because they would, he could hardly account for internal organ placement and particularities like that, and they would find him.

It was amusing, really - had the Tofs not chosen right now to reform themselves, to embrace not just the Maccabree but a half dozen other aquatic species from Skyriver, these protocols would have been lackluster at best. But instead Zul had managed to move between at most two massive bulk cruisers, and that was not a lot. But he'd gotten a good look at the Maccabree shipyards, seen the various propaganda vids, and would know about the fate of Warlord Gherlid, the neutrality of the Faruuni, who were even now about to arm both the Nagai and Tofs against the Sun Guard, and that there were minimal opportunities in the Firefist Galaxy.

But he wasn't dead.

Yet.

He could push it, of course, these ships were due to be deployed when repaired, but it was a risk.

A huge one.

Vid wouldn't push it however. With the amount of information he had gathered, he did not want to risk losing it all from another scare like this one. The way he saw it, he got lucky, and wouldn't get lucky again. So instead of using his talents to push further in, he would use them to make his escape and quietly slip back to Sun Guard space instead.

Of course, the information that Faruun was arming two enemies of the Sun Guard may be concerning, but Zul had moved on; he had other people to interrogate with his suit doohicky.

Needless to say, if Vid manages to make it back to Sun Guard space, the intel he brings back will dictate what Mascon decides to do next.

IC: Twisuns Praetor Khei F'jajh
Rodia

As the seemingly now formerly exiled Shaper set down her Coralskipper inside the larger organic vessel, she grinned.

Warmaster Lah had already proven himself to be much more cooperative than she had anticipated. Indeed she had went into this expecting to have to resort to Mascon's backup plan, which was quite the heretical one, but now that it seemed like she'd leave here today with new allies rather than slaves it didn't seem likely that it would be needed, much to her pleasure.

She climbed out of the kyber encrusted coralskipper and stretched, revealing a set of vonduun crab armor that was equally as unique as her ship: it glistened with a sparkling, iridescent black tint overlaid on top of it, much glossier and refractive than the typical hue of the vonduun crab shell. The reason for this was simple: by combining Yuuzhan Vong shaping, Force and Echani cortosis weaving techniques, Khei coated the armor with an added cortosis shell, both thick and tough like durasteel in some places, and then as flexible as cloth in others.

Zat Lah bared warriors teeth.

"You meet me as kin, not just Shaper. Good, I see adaption."

He made a fist of his hand.

"The Yuuzhan Vong Empire learned to adapt too late. By the time we had, the infidels found Zonama Sekot and undid us. Had we been more loyal to the Gods, rather than slavish the bureaucracy imposed by the Priesthood and their Supreme Overlord lackey, we would have won."

He lowered his hand.

"I adapt. I proffer an alliance between the Sith of the Sun Guard and the True Way. We will bring forth destruction to the infidels who oppose you, and reform ourselves into our fuller self."

He tilted his chin.

"Do you accept our mutual peez?"

Khei smiled slightly as the Warmaster praised her differences. His predecessor banished her for those differences. Adaption indeed.

"It seems we understand each other. Agreed. Lord Mascon will be pleased to hear of your enthusiasm in this matter."

Zat Lah smiled, with his teeth, human-style.

"Then let us drink to our dalliance, Khei, and might I say, that your eye sacs are particularly pleasant to regard; your Lord knows our ways well, and knows how to send an envoy that will be a pleasure to discuss with."

It was flattery.

Khei grinned wide in reply. "The pleasure is mine."

Zat Lah grinned back.

"Then I shall make the announcement. I have the ozzgil ready. Do you wish to stand besides me as I announce our glorious Empire?"

He produced and unfurled a lightsaber hilt, of all things.

"This belonged to the infidel Leia Organa Solo. Tsavong Lah brandished it to the galaxy when he took Duro. I find it poetic to do so again."

Khei then pulled out an amphistaff, which then produced an azure Lightsaber Blade from one end, and she brandished it in unison with Lah.

"I shall stand beside you. Our blades symbolic of our union."

IC: Kev-Mas Colcha II
Rothana

The former clone crawled out of a crashed Tof escape pod on the frigid world, hoping to find his way off world.

He is a former clone because he was now inhabited by the spirit of his template thanks to Thychani Commander Romen deciding not to bleed his purple lightdagger, and then deciding to hand said lightdagger to one of the Kev-Mas clone Sun Guard under his command.

No longer was he just a cheap copy of the half blood champion with a fraction of his power. He was now for all intents and purposes the Crimson Dagger reborn, on a mission to put an end to the reign of Darth Mascon. His son had gone astray, and needed to be put down.

To that end, he would attempt to find passage to Eshan, to seek the aid of the Shadow Vanguard as well as Echani Command. Whether he found a ship to fly on his own or a ship to charter, it didn't matter. All he knew was that right now he needed to get from one cold planet to another.

The rogue clone of Kev-Mas Colcha had crashed in the middle of the crater caused by the brief Tof bombardment.

There was government finery on the edges, bodies half survived, and also not at all.

This had been a bunker, seemingly, protected from orbit by the miles down it was.

Nonetheless, it was clear that a great deal of the Rothanan calculus had been killed.

But deep in the depths, there was movement, though it did not have an attached Force signature.

Whoever it was, they were clearly in such shock, or such pain, that they were blank to the senses of Colcha.

Or perhaps the horror of what had happened had numbed him to so much.

The immediate edges of the crater were littered with wounded, crying, individuals, screaming into the Force their agony.

A Bunker might possibly have a hangar bay possessing a way off of this world. So Kev-Mas decided to investigate. However, as he ventured into the depths, he encountered a rather curious disturbance in the Force. Though Kev-Mas retained none of the abilities of his former self that required muscle memory, anything mentally oriented, such as knowledge, telepathy or telekinesis still remained.

Which means he still possessed the same ability to sense and touch minds, and if he couldn't sense them, then there was at least two possible explanations, neither of which bode well.

There were others he could sense however, and the repentant soul inside the clone body would be compelled to act, and would attempt to aid them in any way he could.

He would approach one of the agonized presences carefully, using stealth in order to get a good look at them before they see him, so he knows what he's dealing with.

There was movement under the rubble.

It was the leader of Rothana.

Cuf.

He was relatively unharmed, it seemed, but his eyes were wide, and the pain lapping the area, the torment, the chaos, it made it impossible for the Force User to read him with his senses.

"The Tofs, they're gone?"

The rogue clone, sans helmet, held out an armored hand to help.

"Yeah... seems that way. The bombardment has stopped at least."

Cuf sat up, held out his hand to be helped up.

"You are my savior, kind sir. Whatever you ask of me, I shall deliver if I can."

He looked up, for elegant Nagai ships.

"I have to ensure Rothana is placed to avenge itself; against the Sun Guard, against the Tofs."

Kev-Mas lifted Cuf to his feet, taking heed of his offer,
"Can you arrange for passage off world? I need to get to some allies of mine on Eshan."

Tag: @Sinrebirth @Mitth_Fisto @darthbernael @adaml83

 

IC: Tof Rear Admiral Wazzul
Base Alpha

Getting up from his chair Rear Admiral Wazzul stepped forward to the holotank displaying the image for the sensor readings of local space. Luckily it appeared there was no hostile fleet presence which means they were properly enroute to claim this abandoned mine for the Tof League.

"Excellent. Looks we be set to claim this for the glory of the Tof Em-. Hmmm. Tof League." he corrected with a sigh before nodding at the crew. "Tell the construction and mining crews to prepare for landfall. Survey crews should drop as soon as we see a sensor sweep clear to verify nothing is hiding nearby. Stay on high alert for those quiet Nagai." he commanded with a more barking lead of what they should be doing.

"Sir! Lights on the land!" an ensign cried out.

Tapping controls on the holotank the Rear Admiral Wazzul let loose a few choice epitaphs about Nagai parentage before shuddered banging on the side of the tank. "Comms! Sensors! Answers!" he bellowed as pings and sensor sweeps intensified at the locations of signs of activity on what should of been an abandoned location.

"Mining craft, sir! Tugs!" The particularly green-skinned Tof panicked, briefly. "New contacts! Six, eight, no twelve starfighters. Imperial TIE Fighters!" Suddenly he sagged in his chair, calmed. "Relics, sir, clearly just to keep off the mynocks."

"I have Foreman Elric on the line!"



"I'd like to hear your reasons for intruding on our quiet corner, strangers."

Rear Admiral Wazzul walked over to the comm desk and flicked on his own image. Compared to their latest allies this was rather a tame face to sniff at as he ran his fingers through his scraggly beard. "I'm Rear Admiral Wazzul of the Tof League. Our notes have this as an abandoned location we were coming to claim and revive mining operations." He squinted in a kind of glare, choking back the question he wanted to ask of what in the deep black were these fish doing here!

"Revive?" Elric snorted. "We've been stockpiling supplies for months, and our buyer vanished! We were going well until this Snoke turned up and ruined everything. I didn't mind the Empire, not even the First Order, but this war, it's bad for business!"

"Yes." Wazzul dryly stated with a raised eyebrow. Business? Business?!? His finger literally felt like an itch to simply give the command to clear these things out and make this place their own. Sadly he doubted the King or his Eminence of the Green Spot would like that. As for Pirate Queen Naberie he didn't give a flying fishes gill flap!

Still. His King and his Leader, Head and Heart of State would be against it. That alone stayed his hand as he heavily sighed. "How would you like to join the Tof League? We have facilities that would welcome - untaxed trade for your supplies. Here and abroad. We even would ship your goods for nominal fees to either galaxy, and instead of establishing a mine we could use our supplies to fortify your position against aggressors."

The Herglic heard untaxed and didn't hear anything else. "Consider Alpha Base a willing member of the Tof League!"

He was the kind of sentient who would have emphatically pumped the hand of the man had they been in the same room, perhaps popping a socket out of a joint in his enthusiasm. "We are completely agreeable to such a proposal!"

A little bubble blew from his forehead blowhole, perhaps a Herglic expression of excitement, Elric grinning very human-like in that not-human-like-at-all face. "So, where do I sign?" He turned off-screen. "Hal, get those TIEs back. We don't need 'em! These Tofs, whatdayaknow, they're civilised!"

Wazzul couldn't help it, his head reared and his nose crinkled, saving grace of a full scraggly beard was it covered his grimace. He would have to see if he could get a sleep aid to not dream after this. "Yes. Well." he tried, needing to take a moment to regather himself. "Let's call it provisional for now, we'll get an ambassador out here to formalize everything. If it's alright we would like to start fortifying - galaxies aren't full of civilized people after all."

"Fortify away, my friend," Elric looked back, waved them down. "I'd love to meet the Tof who saved us from economic ruin and disaster. Let alone the inevitable riots when we ran out of food and the purges." He shuddered. "Hate when that happens. Seen it many a time on these isolated rigs."

The TIEs turned back, and the Tof crew seemed to rumble among themselves that they were no threat; two of the fighters had, it was now apparent, been towed to orbit. They were violently low on fuel and so forth.

Elric went on. "Please, do whatever you need to. Happy to be patched through to your ambassadorial staff, and all that pretty fanciness."

Wazzul nodded with a wary expression on his face. He was sure he was not doing this right, but honestly his mission had not much to offer on adding these people into their ranks. "We'll be down forthwith. Ambassadors will have to wait until tomorrow most likely. We have to build a direct secure comm node, try and keep this place more a secret especially until we have - proper security measures to protect the mine and the crews. I'll dispatch a ship to let the Homeworld know and send a diplomat forthwith." Wazzul stated with a wave to his helmsman to bring the fleet in close so they could begin preparing the supplies accordingly.

A blastboat pair would be sent back to the homeworld to get the proper supplies and ambassadors sent here. "I'll come down with the first batch of construction crews and food supplies to get things properly arranged."

"Excellent. We shall empty our stores to host you." Elric cut the line.

It actually went tremendously well.

All of it, in-fact.

The miners were about half a day from killing Elric, and very happy to spill their guts over mead. The Tofs found kindred spirits, in-fact, among the Defel that mined the asteroid, happy to be exploring the dark of the asteroids rather than the dark of the stars, but just as philosophically astute. Hal turned out to be a very unhappy looking human, but it was fairly clear he was about to lead that aforementioned coup.

But, the issue dissipated on the promises of what was to come, and the riches pending.

The fleet was not interfered with, and general feedback was that the mine would be a substantial boon.

They'd taken the place, though it was hardly in the Tof manner!

Rear Admiral Wazzul hated it. This place was theirs now, and he hated it. The fact that off ship they were allowed to drink was the only thing that was helping matters. He might of let slip after a few strapped on to those complaining miners that the Tof would be more than happy to help them get new management instead these poor options. Not to mention that the present one did nothing for them except accept whatever Wazzul said. After all, diplomats weren't here yet. Anything that happened before they came? Mining accidents do happen after all. They do happen. Especially with safety measures so, ah, not up to snuff.

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

*Double post GM approved*

IC: Barbosa - Answering the Call
A combo with Sinrebirth
Private Quarters

Tovah, well he had been assigned a rather personal request. The half fleet would be acting as his rear guard as he went to answer the Grysk call for a meeting. They would stay a short hyperspace hop away during the meeting while Barbosa's ship went in alone. He had plenty of tales of the Grysk and felt a show of force was not the best way to win them over.

The infiltrator that had slipped through was alarming and thorough ID scans were ordered for all members of the crews as well as bone implant tags after verification to speed up future ID scans and make a baseline automatic fail in the future so that no one would be able to sneak through again. Barbosa rubbed his sternum ruefully at that, feeling the twinge of pain, as he thought on the fact that the Tof had been infiltrated. Not one of the adopted races into the League but the Tof. He had foolishly thought them above such a thing.

Nodding to the helmsman he awaited for their arrival and to see how the Grysk would welcome him.


There was forty capital ships in orbit.

Ssi-Ruuvi ovoids, yes, but also Iskalloni spheroids and Coyn preybirds, and twenty Grysk WarMasters.

It was a truly astonishing force.

Lwhekk was patrolled by droid starfighters, yes, but also Ssi-Ruuvi V'Sett fighters, only deployed to consecrated worlds like Lwhekk and Bakura.

Enough ships to cause anyone to pause.

A single light cruiser detached from the horde, and the grinning Hextus was resolved on the comms.

"Barbosa, is it?" Hextus showed his knowledge of internal Tof affairs. "I am pleased to greet the League representative. Indeed, I am placed to regale you with a tremendous feast, and a request for membership in the Tof League."

Barbosa gave a nod of curtesy to the Grysk representative Hextus. "In that case I feel awkward for the feast I was having prepared to host you. I have to admit I had my eye on Lwhekk, as well as Hutt space. My commendations for your skill, and my condolences for the apparent Nagai treachery at Vhetin." with a hand to his chest he tapped it there twice in a showed sharing of sympathy. "Where were you hoping to host this feast?" he asked in an wane smile.

"I am glad to see the base vileness of the Nagai is becoming well know," Hextus grumbled. "Though you of course had centuries of this to contend with." A slight slash of a grin. "I invited you, but being as I offered to parley with the Nagai and ambushed them - a terrible breach of protocol I confess - then I appreciate that I should come to you."

He bopped his head for a moment; a short nod. "I do contest that such treachery against the Nagai at a negotiation was only valid for their own at Vhetin before, but I do accept that inviting you aboard my ship would be concerning to an emissary of such an inclusive League."

"Might I bring five total in my party. A pilot, a guard, myself, and two Ssi-Ruuvi?"

“Of course! Come as soon as able. The dining hall is well prepared and feel free to keep a live channel open if you wish so your peoples can observe if you wish.” With a shallow nod Barbosa let his curls dangle and bob, “We appreciate the caution we all must take in such radical changes to survive this present crisis.”

Reaching aside he pulled over a tablet and tapped in the guest list before sending it on. “I honestly just survived a three way negotiation with the Nagai myself. So believe me I understand. It’ll be myself, a Maccabree representative, a half fleet representative, and guards of course. I look forward to this Hextus.” He finished with a wide smile as he leaned back.

Hextus arrived with a murderous looking Coynite guard, a cyborg Iskalloni pilot, and two striking Ssi-Ruuvi specimens. "May I present the Shreeftut of the Ssi-Ruuvi Imperium, Ipvikkis, Admiral and veteran of the battles of Bakura, and General E'thinaa, who has been by the Admiral's side since the death of the last Shreeftut at Bakuran hands."

The two hissed somewhat at that, but the large lizards regarded the arriving Tof with intrigue. "I was led to believe the League had taken in seven more species recently, was I mistaken?" Hextus's tongue was as forked as the Ssi-Ruuvi, it seemed.

Smiling Barbosa greeted them with his Maccabree General at his side. A couple other Maccabree and a couple Tof also were in attendance. A representative from Tovah should be there, but there had been something about last minute preparations for the worst or something before coming. "A pleasure." he intoned with a bow.

"I am Barbosa, of the Green Spot, religious leader of the Tof and in charge diplomatically. General Sylbas. Aids and guards respectively. Sadly the representative for the new races is behind schedule, but should be joining us soon." he clasped his hands in appreciation of the moment. "My condolences on the last Shreeftut, if I am to understand the ceremonies to guide souls was completed before his passing?"

The representative of the ten Imperial Star Destroyers was a Quarren named Kral Nevil, a former Rogue Squadron pilot and captain under Jacen Solo and later Cha Niathal.

He was an old hand at war, and indeed the continuation of it had convinced the Quarren to throw in with other aquatic species’ under Warlord Gherlid. But that had proven to be madness, and now here he was. General Tovah remained with the fleet ready to react, but Nevil would give them eyes on the situation.

“Apologies for my tardiness,” the Quarren said lightly, as he stepped into the room.

“We only just arrived, sir,” Hextus said, pleasantly. They were seated and halfway through the first course - some kind of bread, inoffensive to most species - when Hextus leaned forward over his uneaten food. “So, to the matter at hand. The Grysk Hegemony has declared war upon the Nagai Alliance, Fel Empire and the Sun Guard. I understand you are at war with at least two of those parties and you’re recovering from a bruising at the Battle of Rothana. We recently shattered Nagai military strength at the Battle of Lwhekk, and would quite like to capitalise on that in anticipation of a campaign against the Fel Empire…”

He sipped from a drink he had brought with him. “But as you are not directly at war with the Fel Empire, I presume it comes down to your views of the Empire and its predilection towards tyranny, rather than what the Grysk would offer you in the absence of any Imperial attempt to parley with the Tof League?”

Nevil didn’t react to that, but being as his homework had only six months ago been savaged by the Empire he was not overly inclined to put himself back in a situation where he was serving someone allied with any Imperials.

Swirling his glass of juice Barbosa slowly dabbed his mouth clean from the crumbs of buttered bread that rested barely upon his lips. Taking a sip before replying he nodded, "That is something I would rather consult our members on, but off the cuff. I am reserved." Sitting back he took another sip. "They on face value seem like a safe ally choice and offer much, our diplomats few direct confrontations with them they seemed amicable and able to be worked and reasoned with. Except the reports of their track record. Not holding a false flag against them they still reacted disproportionately at Ord Trasi, and in other situations. Which makes me feel they take slights too easily and react too strongly."

Grabbing a fresh piece of bread he began buttering it heavily. "I have no issue with making an enemy of them sooner rather than later. Although I would prefer to put that off until the Nagai are dealt with and we have a firm position in the South and East to act from. Their durasteel Law and Blaster approach I doubt would last long with the Tof, or to not speak out of turn the Maccabree as well."

Hextus wondered about that, trying not to be distracted by the sheer amount of butter on the bread. The Ssi-Ruuvi were picking at some kind of insect paste that was added to theirs, but they were reptilian so no surprises. Creating a smorgasbord for so many species was something Tof chefs were guessing at.

"So should we perhaps agree a mutual-aid treaty during Nagai operations only?" He sipped another of his beverage. "Though I would be remiss if the Empire struck at us and you watched us burn." A thoughtful tone. "What if we suspended operations against the Fel Empire and offered to negotiate with them until the Nagai are crushed?"

"As you say, their heavy handedness at Ord Trasi and dictatorial missives about First Order war criminals is rather indicative of their murderous ways."

Barbosa grinned as he took a bite of the butter with bread. Chewing slowly as he listened and pondered. “I would say negotiating with them would be short, The signs don’t lend them to being long at the tables.” Another sip of juice. “But alas mutual aid would be short sighted of us. If we merely did that we would foster our next rivals in you while we defeated the Nagai. In the South we may let you reign, peace could be conceivable, but our interests in the East already are poised to conflict with each other.”

Setting down his glass he smiled, “Unless of course we tried for something more than mutual aid? Something a bit more complicated and permanent such as your joining the Tof League. Then your interests become ours and ours become yours. Only snag there, we don’t know you except your fine taste in enemies.”

The Grysk chuckled. "I represent four species, you, seven. Our interests in the East can be resolved, no doubt. The enemy of my enemy may be my friend, as the Coyn say." The man, consuming gruel at a horrendous pace, looked up, muttered something in the guttural tongue, and went back to his chosen food. Hextus snorted. "I would rather leave this meeting with an understanding, if not a treaty. Mutual trust takes time, and the Nagai weakness is temporary." He placed a clawed finger into the butter, scooped a dollop free, sniffed it slightly.

"Might you be agreeable to a subterfuge? The Grysk and Tofs keep the Fel Empire in a state of negotiation while we dismantle the Nagai?"

A frown. "Interests in the East? You mean at Space Station Kwenn?"

A soft sigh escaped him as he saw the chefs come out with the second course. Various meat options with questions of how cooked they would want their portion, size, and samples of seasoning to choose between. “I would be open to subterfuge. As for interest, Kwenn station is not an interest but an investment, and hopefully a member someday. The interest I referred to was Hutt space. I was hoping if the Nagai campaign went well to secure them as a show of action to possibly win the surrounding worlds to join by showing how we can be a stabilizing influence that values what concerns our members.”

The Grysk paused. "Our division of the kadijics was merely to keep the Hutts from being a bother," he said lightly. No point pretending otherwise. "Would you wish for us to cede you Hutt Space, as well as the Firefist?"

He inclined himself to wonder. "In-exchange for the southern quadrant - the Bakurans, the Senex Lords, the Separatist worlds?"

"What of the Rishi Maze? Might one trade that for the Unknown Regions upon the Galactic disc?"

Drumming his fingers on the tablecloth Barbosa heaved a mighty sigh. “There be the crux of it all. We are dancing on the edge of joining but still you want lines of separation between our zones of control. Somewhat makes sense, but fosters an uneasy relationship.” Waving his bread plate to be taken away he settled in on the table with his elbows. “If we stayed separate nations. Yes. Those lines would be most likely agreeable, I know of no reason they wouldn’t be. Has the benefit of a continuous swath of the deep for both parties.”

Steepling fingers spread out as he emphasized his next words. “What would membership mean for our communities to be equals and have shared ventures? Whose militaries move to aid each other’s interests, each other’s battles, and share ports for repairs. What would that strong of a treaty, of a relationship, look like to you?” Barbosa looked on with serious eyes trying to feel the impressions of the room so to speak.

Hextus placed the glob of butter in his mouth. “Hm. Salty.” He picked at one of the utensils and began to scoop at it.

Nevil smothered a snort, as did, curiously, E’thinaa, but not Ipvikkis, who tilted his head to his General. Hextus ignored them all. “A mutual aid and support treaty, encouraging our forces to cooperate in a more substantive manner. With a view to full integration and freedom of movement of people and goods in the future?” Hextus nodded to himself, and Ipvikkis, the unnamed Coyn, and the unnamed Iskalloni, looked to him. E'thinaa kept his gaze on Barbosa. “I could see that in the near future, actually. But likely after the Nagai, Bakurans, Senex and the Separatists are crushed. We will then have mutual borders, and thus the cross pollination can occur more naturally. At present we’re islands to each other and separation is going to be harder to overcome. An initial wave of mutual support and alliance, with a view to a second summit to encourage greater integration once those four have fallen or surrendered?”

He held out a claw, while he spooned butter into his maw. A handshake, a universal gesture, though the way Hextus saw butter was another thing altogether. Something seemed to glitter in the Grysks’ mind. “Oh, and we split what we take equally? Equal partners should get the same booty after all.”

For once, he was speaking the Tof language.

Hmmm. With a nod he lowered his hands reaching out to grab the offered one. “Equal share of knowledge gained as there need be no splitting there, aye? As for the rest? We can abide the split of the goods earned by these agreements.” With that he held his hand stretched to hang next to the Grysk hand but not clasping.

Giving Hextus the chance to refute or amend that clarification before they clasped hands and sealed the deal. It also gave his group a chance to stop him if they felt differently.

Kral Nevil tensed, parsing the words and actions. He’d seen Sith in action; he could see between the lines. But whereas Darth Caedus spoke with implied violence - an implication that was never, ever a bluff - this Hextus just made Kral feel slimy. But being as he’d only been a member of the Tof League for a handful of days, he knew that words would only be proven by actions. Any treaty needed to be given a chance.

You just don’t put your whole arm in until you’re sure. Kral Nevil’s tentacles writhed in a grin. He was merely a representative, ditto Barbosa. If it went wrong, they were, lamentably, expendable. But it was the nature of politics to threaten; mutual destruction was the founding reason for most accords, and actions would speak louder than words inevitably. He settled; his concerns were quieted, notwithstanding what Hextus said next.

But what he said next was relevant.

“Of course, knowledge is the Grysk definition of booty.” Hextus grinned, and went for the grasp.

Large hand and meaty claw would meet as the first step to a proper alliance was begun in a corner of the galaxy where plans had been dreamed. Although they had never looked like this. Such is the variances of life.

“Good to know. We will have to see about keeping a steady flow into your chests then.” Barbosa replied with a jovial air and raised eyebrows over a solemn smile. Such would the start of the next step. For all of them.

"Call in your crews, and we shall share a delightful meal," Hextus said, warmly.

Kral didn't see much warmth in it, but politics was falsetto. Or was it? Tovah seemed positively ecstatic with his Eminence of the Tof, and the League was doing well for its inclusive policy. But the Grysk... they felt like they were using the Coyn, and Iskalloni, perhaps even the Ssi-Ruuvi.

He shook his head of such notions and enjoyed his kale. The Tof chef was sublime, as befitted a galley.

An officer ran in - a Tof. "Sire, we have reversions from hyperspace coming from galactic north!"

Hextus was already chittering into his comms in an unfamiliar tongue. The Coyn and Iskalloni stood to attention, and Ipvikkis spat hisses into a comlink in his own language.

The Tof was aghast, staring at the scanner. "Ten, fifteen, twenty, no, thirty, capital ships! More incoming!"

General E'thinaar regarded the group warily, wanting to see what way everyone would jump. He didn't even interpose himself between Ipvikkis and the others like one would potentially have expected.

Kral's comlink was already active; it was Tovah. "I'm bringing my forces in to protect the ambassador -"

He looked to Barbosa, reading the data. "They're from the Fel Empire, sir."

“Hold Tovah! My boats not that frail and we might need you elsewhere.” Barbosa barked loudly as he rose to his feet. Looking to Hextus he gave a short nod as he he tugged his red great coat into a better position and tossed his large cloth napkin onto the table.

“Plans of octopi and men? Looks like the Empire won’t wait. Would you care to come to the bridge with us and we can see what we’re dealing with? They might give us time for strategy if we raise the flag of diplomacy.” Barbosa quickly rattled off with a raised gesture who knowsbefore grabbing a comm off one of the guards as he left for the bridge. “Captain! Send emergency comms! This is a diplomatic summit. Please hold. Identify intention!” Not that he believed that they would. Still it would be good for the record.

TAG: @Sinrebirth ; @adaml83

 

OOC: Plotting with @Sinrebirth
IC: Nadia ke Mattino, Terek Rogriss
Bulwark-class Battlecruiser Mk III Audacious

Nadia was looking over the updates around the galaxy. War criminal denounced, which she now suspected that they were angrier that the Adumari caught them in the act…twice in the matter of days.

Speaking of angry, Nadia was not as angry as she was earlier, but the cold-hearted focus still was running. She still believed that Eriadu deserved some sort of Galactic karma, however she knew she had to back Bakura. If she didn't, she would lose Adam, among others. It also made sense logistically to secure their lines.

Task Groups One and Three are to report to a system near Lwhekk and then jump in together.

Nadia heard rumors that the paid agent had left Ord Trasi with a calculated jump route to Zakuul. She hoped he had the clue, apparently blood, to activate the Eternal Fleet.

She also heard orders for a new fleet under construction, though only smaller ships from Adumari shipyards. Her instincts were that Adam was coming up with contingency plans. She wanted to talk to him once she made it to Zakuul.

Orders

1. Deploy 5 Assault Frigates and 8 Liberator class Cruisers to Kamino
   
2. Prepare resources for a higher tempo of operations. This may require a fifth task group.
   
3. Prepare to remove Task Group Two and place it under the direct command of Emperor Fel.

Nadia also noticed some rumblings out of Rishi that Kamino caught. She sent a representative there in one of the Adumari StealthXs.

The two task groups made their way to territory just outside the Ssi-Ruuvi Star Cluster, an empty system devoid of life or reason to monitor, in theory. They were careful anyway, Admiral Rogriss expertly scouting the planetary alignment and choosing mass shadows that would obscure their view from Lwhekk.

An ETA for Zakuul for their agent was given, a Zabrak with a family tree of smuggling going back to the days when Zakuul had an Empire, and they acknowledged orders for Kamino and so forth. Face Loran himself volunteered to fly to Rishi. He needed StealthX practice, and he wanted to look into Yuuzhan Vong progress in the region. Nadia need only sign-off on it, and he'd head out.

Nadia smiled at the mention of Face. He was a veteran of that war. She trusted he would be honest about the situation there. She approved that request.

Nadia also approved Admiral Rogriss's plan with a request that they shared it with the Admiral of Group Three. It would not be an easy fight, but an important one.

Face signed off, and he went into hyperspace as swiftly as he could.

Near Lwhekk, they were shortly going to be in position.

The two fleets needed a short re-provision and redistribution of supplies to balance out the extended deployment of Rogriss' group (shortened as it was), and they expected to be ready imminently. Terek was of the view they could have just advanced on Lwhekk from two directions and done the rebalancing mid-battle, but Nadia was more cautious than he, even when angry.

"Ma'am, what are my operational limits? Four nations are we looking to eliminate all targets, prioritise any, take Lwhekk, burn Lwhekk?" They carried the signal via courier, a chain of starfighters strung between the two worlds, making it impossible to intercept and detect, and rather necessary when the HoloNet was theoretical in the Unknown Regions.

Nadia was getting close to Zakuul. She considered her options; it was a distinct possibility that the Coynites were mercenaries. The Iskalonians were typically isolationists, which added to her calculations.

"Admiral, you are at the location, so you and your fellow Admiral of Group Three will have final say.”

“However, my read is that the Coynites and the Iskalonians need a chance, I presume you have a wy of convincing them, to escape and return to neutrality. The Ssi-ruuv had forgotten a lesson, do what you need to make them remember it. The Grysk are responsible for problems across the galaxy. Burn them if you must to the last one."

The Admiral saluted. “The Grysk are known for their deviousness with their allies. What would you have me do if other nations and peoples are present and committed?”

It was a fair question. Their claws had been in the Coynites and Iksalloni and Ssi-Ruuvi before anyone realised. What if the Bakuran and Senex attempts to parley were merely lures?

Terek was more concerned that he might arrive with the best part of two fleets and reinforcements from those neighbouring nations pounced on him. Time was passing though, and he knew Nadia would be shortly too busy with the Zakuul meeting - that and the longer he tarried, the more likely the Grysk would scatter or at very least launch an offensive somewhere.

Their re-provision hadn’t taken long. They were ready to go when Nadia ordered. Further discussion would be a matter for her.

"If either Bakura or Senex are there, then it means we were too slow. They will get the same chance as Coynites, but then you'll have to talk to some people later about Bakura, some good friends of their leaders. So go as soon as you're ready."

Terek saluted. "Going in, ma'am."

A smile. "Enjoy the summit."

At that, he cut the line and launched.

Nadia looked in the hanger, picking what she wanted to take down, though she had a desire to fly right now. She grabbed a RZ-4 to take it down for the meeting. Nadia also checked a message. Briana was meeting someone who called themself a locksmith. She keyed her code and headed to land in that direction.

TAG: @Sinrebirth, @Mitth_Fisto

 

IC: Pirate Queen Naberie - Tof Fleet Admiral
Maccabree

Studying the maps and reports she silently was doing her best to keep her emotions and thoughts from bleeding into the mental bonds with her family. Amora had already shared that the baby seemed to have a strong instinctual ability to mentally connect with her, and if her cousins baby could do that she hoped it wasn't developed enough to listen in on the family network. Some things a child should not be privy to.

So with a large mug of pink milk she reflexively regretted the lack of grog she could get now. Mental shields took focus until a kiddo learned better, so resigned to her sober years being upon her she tapped one of the five pads arrayed before her. Filtering between them to try and get a picture of the galaxy and the clearing progress. The problem was they didn't have time to only focus on the infiltrators. Security and Medical were looking for anything and everything, which had led to her own very in-depth exam that included genetic sampling and sternal bone chip implanting to insure that no one could simply pose as her if they had one of those Vong or whatevers from the galaxy attempting to infiltrate. Passwords were made so that wrong inputs would lead to an immediate visit by security and medical for a forced exam, and more stringent required logins and non-sharing of system logins. It was a major headache and some people already showed signs of being chronically bad at remembering these things and would be getting regular exams.

Refocusing on what was infront of her she knew they couldn't wait for the screenings. The fleets had work to do. Still they had to minimize risk somehow. Her flagship would meet up with the raiding fleet out of Tof enroute to Rothana. They would have their payback and see if they could steal plenty of supplies and maybe some Nagai ships to take to study the stealth tech. The fleet out of Maccabree meanwhile would not be idle, they would advance on Vhetin on a mission of conquest. It was time to make strides against the Nagai and secure her cousins home. A little bit of revenge was also a nice petty thing to indulge in. Sending her recommendations to Tof she was surprised to hear them approved relatively quickly. Apparently the Tof were tired of the defensive and a bit of old fashioned pirating also appealed to them. Not that they would be taking any survivors.

The plans were simple. Rothana especially, jump in close to where the new shipyard construction should be and test out those new boarding vessels on anything at hand while the rest of the fleet pounded the local forces into submission and began stealing everything not nailed down. Once holds were full or resistance was deemed too high they would fire at what they couldn't take and jump away.

Nice, old fashioned, simple pirate raid tactics like back in the good old days against the Empire. Ah, she was looking forward to it.

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

OOC: Would you like to see a meeting go pear shaped? Find out how with @Sinrebirth and myself!
IC: Adam Lyons, Briana Odan, Jagged Fel, Soontir Fel, Sev'eere'nuruodo, Nas Choka, Danni Quee, Nadia ke Mattino, Kan Mandeen, Medb Ra-oon
Zakuul

Adam was looking through his reports, particularly the order for a massive fleet, with the capital ships totaling somewhere between the total of a Sector Fleet, and the Final Order fleet at Exegol. Adam was looking at the reports as Briana walked up, "Whatcha doin Mr. Sneaky."

Adam smirked, "Contingency plans, I need backups for my backups. Hopefully, this can take Snoke down."

Briana elbowed him fairly hard, "That's for sending my parents into a war zone."

Adam rubbed his ribs, "Hopefully it won't be a war zone for very long." He looked around to see what Jag was doing.

Jagged was paying attention to the arriving ships.

They'd secured the City, though most of the droid opposition had just accepted their new neighbours and withdrawn into the swamps. Not a significant result, but until he secured the Eternal Throne proper, no surprises. But he was Emperor, Snoke had not replied, and that was sufficient for now.

The ships dropped Sev'eere'nuruodo and Soontir Fel; Nas Choka and Danni Quee. One ship of metal, another of yorik coral.

In true Emperor fashion, he was leaving the day-to-day of the war to his subordinates and focusing upon the greater diplomatic game.

The Unknown Regions colonies were disparate and had spent decades under First Order boot-foot, not quite exhausted but they weren't as productive as they would have been half a century ago. Their first aggressive posturing had been successful, though attacking the Yuuzhan Vong at Rodia would now require considerably more assets than not, what with their alliance with the Sun Guard.

He may have to direct Adam to take Mon Calamari, but that would be a siege, and a costly one which would give the Nagai and Tofs breathing space. The Nagai were especially potent rather than actual threats, whereas the Tofs seemed to be relatively civilised in their approach - a marked change from hunting sentient species' for sport.

He refocused, stiffening slightly as Chiss and Yuuzhan Vong guards settled to protect their leaders before they stepped from their shuttles, and looked to Adam. "We're up."

Briana stayed by Adam's side, "So Stealth, on that unknown force, what sort of starfighters are you planning on using?"

Adam grinned, knowing that, as always, she was stirring up trouble, "Keeping it simple, K-wings, current spec, and Clawcraft, a new spec based on the Emperor's fighter." Adam hoped that Jag would remember the Clawcraft on the flagship, now on Zakuul, and hopefully remember the paint job. Rachel kept asking, and Briana knew it.

Adam kept with Jag, "What line should we be following?"

"The Chiss Ascendancy will be the better ally long term, but I don't Sekot to turn on us," Fel said, softly. "We can't win a war with a living Death Star. So we need to find out what the Chiss need from the Yuuzhan Vong to join the Empire, and we need to find out what the Magister and Warmaster will do about the Yuuzhan Vong who want to sign up to Lah's terrorists."

Adam nodded, "I imagine the Warmaster would like the chance to reassert control over Domain Lah, but really if they will leave the wider galaxy alone, I'd be happy to help them. I also think we need to emphasize that other events have nothing to do with them, and what we want to do to say, the Grysk, differs completely from the Vong, we are happy that they are content on Sekot."

“Go for it,” Jagged said, softly, and sat back in the throne. “The Empire would hear what the representatives have to say.”

“War,” said Choka abruptly. “Many of my people wish to take the war back to the infidels who reduced them so.”

“Many,” Danni amended, giving Choka a glare, “but not all. A minority.”

“The minority that holds ten capital ships,” sniped the Warmaster. “I could command them to strike at Zakuul right now.”

The Syndic narrowed her eyes and looked to Fel. Soontir refused to look at his son. It wasn’t his place.

Jagged simply looked at Adam.

Kan Mandeen had just entered Zakuul space, when asked why he was there he answered, "I'm the locksmith." He received his landing space and headed there to land.

Briana caught the signal and left to greet whoever this was leaving Adam.

Adam merely fixed the Warmaster with a stare, "If you were just planning on declaring war, then why are you here in the first place?"

Nadia was listening to the conversation from orbit, she sent a request to Tiboulen for ships from the Reserve, sixty capital ships, and as many escorts that were available, ideally over 100 escort ships.

"Because I have no desire to betray my word," Nas Choka said, baring his teeth. "Nor do I have a desire to betray my people."

Jagged understood. He didn't want to cause the deaths of fellow Yuuzhan Vong, but they were traitors to the Sekot Accords. Choka was here to find a solution. But he said nothing, he merely watched Adam.

"Then what do you need to do both? From my perspective the Voxyn is leading the handler at the moment." He implied he meant more about handling policy. He had read instances of that happening before where common soldiers, to even low-level officers committing entire worlds to plans that eventually led to disaster.

“What if your fellow warriors were given a warning,” the Syndic said abruptly. “An opportunity to stand down, or be annihilated. We Chiss would gladly do the deed.”

“Sekot would find it difficult to watch a slaughter,” Danni said, drily. “It would intervene.”

“And if those matalok’s depart, you will have issues keeping track without more input from myself, which I will not grant,” Choka said, firmly.

Baron Fel looked to Jagged at last, but Jagged was neutral for the moment. He wanted them to present him with solutions, unless they couldn’t. He would agree or veto, and they would do it again. He didn’t intend to be tyrannical in his rule, merely to impose morality.

Adam didn't feel that it addressed his question, so he stayed silent.

Meanwhile Briana, Kan, and Medb were staring at the throne trying to figure out just what they needed to do in order to unlock it.

Nadia meanwhile sent a note, meant for enemies of enemies, letting them know they didn't expect their partner to honor the deal, so they would offer some ships to help defend the station. She let the administrator pick models from their reserves.

Another message went out,

You were right about the Tof, perhaps we are best judged by our enemies. I am sorry, but now you can strike the Tof.

She now left to see what was going on in the throne room.

Adam kept thinking before looking at the Warmaster, "I still think my last guess may be correct, absolutely no disrespect to you. It has happened to us before throughout history. You have a half fleet of what I guess are young warriors spoiling for a fight, while relatively speaking you want to maintain the status quo, is that correct?" If all they wanted was a fight, there were plenty out there, and some could reassert the status quo if played correctly.

Adam was waiting for a response when his datapad vibrated, he glanced at it. It was a deployment, four fleets of capital ships, with escorts, a lot of escorts from the Reserves? He looked over at Nadia who gave him a sad affirmative which brought out an uncontrollable shudder. Adam hesitated to guess exactly was going through her mind, but it frightened him. Adam glanced at Jag, first he needed to back Nadia, and not retroactively. Second, he needed to talk to her, if anyone would understand, it was Jag.

Nas Choka tapped his chin. “You wish to ease their youthful endeavours by sending them against your enemies?” A bark of laughter. “Fiendish. I would approve, but the crews are fundamentally those marred by the losses of the old war. Were they causing issue in isolation, I would agree even more so, but Domain Lah gives them what they truly want; the destruction of all infidels.”

Danni spoke up. “Zonama Sekot has no interest in fighting this war nor watching it in her home.”

Baron Fel rolled his eyes. “Can’t it just leave?”

Danni paused. “What?”

“Move Sekot, and we’ll deal with the rest. Plausible deniability,” Fel said to Nas. “They get what they want, to fight us, you get to protect your people.”

“Just… leave them?!” This from the Chiss Syndic. “Does offending the Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster play into your designs?”

“Not at all,” Jagged said, firmly. “Zat Lah is making the issue the problem of the Warmaster. He’s making us decide. Instead, we’ll signal Domain Lah that we relinquish command of the Yuuzhan Vong that wish to commit to their cause.”

“And then?” The Syndic replied, not quite polite enough for decorum but it was the Emperor’s first official meeting.

“Then whatever happens is the province of Domain Lah,” the Warmaster finished. “If they die, then they die on Zat Lah’s watch, not mine.”

The Syndic looked to Jagged Fel. “The Empire guarantees this?”

There was an interplay between Adam, Nadia and the comms; presumably the Second Battle of Lwhekk was not going well. Jagged Fel looked to his Supreme Commander for confirmation that they could still commit enough to destroy ten Yuuzhan Vong capital ships.

Adam was listening, but was looking around. With help of the Force Ghost Lana Beniko, they found the right part to pour the blood in. He did not know when it would start up and Jag would have control, but Adam already wanted to send it to Lwhekk. Lwhekk... Adam looked over at Nadia long enough to get one image, that of Nadia standing at the edge of a cliff staring down to unending darkness, the image zoomed out to reveal millions, if not billions of people standing there with Nadia. Before the image cuts out, they all jump.

He flashed back to the throne room on Zakuul; he rubbed his eyes as he immediately knew the last bit was the Force telling him something. Adam looked at Jag, "No, we have one force at your command who might fight them, but I remind you that our ratio was three to one, loss to kill ratio." He looked to both the Syndic and the Baron, "So unless you have the forces available to defeat them without help or the Eternal Fleet is at your command..." Adam looked to the throne and then out the window to see if there was any sign, "disappointing... my answer is no."

Adam looked at Nadia before looking back at Jag, "Because presently, the Adumari, after a year of conflict have lost 100 million people. Those are just estimates because we don't know the true number right now." Adam leaned down, whispering the image that he felt from Nadia's head. He kept his voice very low, "You need to talk to her." He stood up to address them all starting with the Warmaster, "I was prepared to offer you Lwhekk, I'm still prepared to offer you the Rishi Maze if you put Domain Lah back under control. Firefist isn't all that far away either." He looked at both the Syndic and Soontir, before pointing at Nadia, "That is the look of someone staring at the end, and you think that there's more to commit beyond everything we're already battling? We have eight fleets committed to Lwhekk. Our Intelligence found this place intending to put Jag in command of it. We moved everything we could out here to Unknown Regions hoping to rebuild after losing Adumar." He pointed at Jag, "We saved his life! So instead of asking more of us, my question to you is what are you prepared to do?" Adam didn't wait for an answer, he walked over to comfort Nadia.

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

IC: Hextus, General Tovah, Barbosa, Kral Nevil, E’thinaa, Natayla ke Morrel, Terek Rogriss, Nadia ke Mattino, Briana Odan, Kan Mandeen - A COMBO PART 1
Lwhekk

Hextus regarded their contingent.

Seven Shree-class battle cruisers; two Sh’ner-class planetary assault carriers; one Lwhekk-class manufacturing warship. Interspersed among them were some two dozen Wurrif-class light cruisers, and hundreds of Fw'Sen-class picket craft. Five thousand droid starfighters aboard the ovoid Ssi-Ruuvi cruisers, and rising from Lwhekk a thousand V’Sett fighters.

Five Iskalloni sphere cruisers and five Coyn Preybird cruisers, launching fifteen squadrons of T-wings and fifteen Preybird fighters, escorted by a hundred outdated Sienar pickets, CR90s and even Guardian-class light corvettes. Piracy level warships,

The Grysk contingent was ten WarMaster capital ships, supported by some two hundred Prism-class battlechiefs.

The Tofs had General Tovah’s fleet; ten Imperial II-class Star Destroyers, sprouting some seven hundred and twenty TIE fighters.

But he eyed Barbosa to respond. He found the E’thinaa doing the same already. Ipvikkis was following Hextus, as were the other two. Again, Kral Nevil watched the interplay, as he found he was Barbosa’s liaison with Tovah rather than commanding a Star Destroyer.

The Adumari Task Groups coordinated their movements, focusing mainly on the buildup of Grysk and Ssi-ruuvi forces. Whether someone in either of those groups would answer, or would be forwarded to the Perator was up to debate.

—

Venator Mk V -class Star Destroyer Audacity

The Admiral had finished her series of orders gettin Group Three deployed in a manner to deliver damage on the Ssi-ruuvi group while Admiral Rogriss handled the Grysk. Though they were mutually supporting each other, they also had to guard against these interlopers, and one wanted to talk.

She sent a brief encrypted message to Rogriss, Talk and improve our position? We do have our orders regarding these two.



Barbosa’s flagship Hallelujah a Star Destroyer equivalency ship. Three squadrons of BlastBoats, one Bomber squadron, and under docked Captains skiff that qualifies as a medium freighter, the bombers are slightly bulkier than the blastboat and all heavily armored.

Terek Rogriss was loath to make decisions that involved politics. That was a Tof battleship.

He opened a channel to Zakuul, urgently requesting Nadia join the line, and then opened one to the diplomats line.

He was in two minds about whether to launch a full blown offensive here and now, but the numbers weren't tremendously different, even if he would pick Adumari over Ssi-Ruuvi quality any-day. The enemy deployments were holding, launching fighters and holding formations.

"I am Admiral Terek Rogriss and this is Admiral Natalya ke Morrel. I would engage with the Tof warship present while we deploy against the Ssi-Ruuvi and Grysk forces." There would be minutes between the two forces meeting, so he had an opportunity. The Grysk and Ssi-Ruuvi deployments were lesser than the respective Adumari ones, but the Coyn and Iskalloni could reinforce either to roughly equal, quantity-wise.

But he was conscious he had a bias towards his forces and so he wouldn't overcommit.

Of course, the bridge hologram showed a set of Tofs, two Ssi-Ruuvi, a Coynite, a Iskalloni, a Quarren of all things and a Grysk.

He swallowed, and was momentarily speechless. Natalya would have to take the lead until Nadia joined.

But it was in Barbosa's hands for the moment.

Hextus was letting him speak. The balance of power in this engagement belonged to the Tofs.

Barbosa’s hands danced on the controls as he let the Blessed Breeze guide him. “Captain! Insert us by the Ssi-Ruuk heavy, orient our keel to their vessels keel.”

“Aye sir! Back to back we face hell lads!” The Captain cried as the ship began to move.

“Kral! Can we bring five in along the lines? Bolster and defend but prepare a long range salvo? Carriers or Capitals when they jump in. And I was thinking this when it starts?” At this be pressed enter on the tank display and fleets moved to a prediction of change, showing those five coming and then the other five…those spread with one to each cluster of enemy positions. “Two where whoever responds from? Chum deploy, turn and jump to our line using the planetary shadow if needed. Or jump out and jump back to our line?” Chum of course was the Tof and Maccabree special forces they had brought onboard those Star Destroyers. “What do you think? If good I’ll give a pronouncement as soon as diplomatic stall fails.”

The call came and the comm lit. Flicking the switch to unmute the channel Barbosa nodded as it focused only on the deligation representatives. “For obvious reasons to come to your line Admiral’s would be breaking the Good Faith of a diplomatic peace summit that we were invited to and are now hosting. Abducting heads of State and Diplomats? There would be no peace. If you would like to join the summit, please recall your fighters and back down. As a matter of fact the Adumari were just being discussed as needing to be entered into peace talks by both our governments anyway.” Barbosa rested his hands on the comm counter a brow raised in query.

Terek watched the Tof bulk cruiser turn towards the Ssi-Ruuvi ovoid warships.

At 1800m in length, the Tof vessel was larger than two-three ovoids, and plenty of mass and a devastating broadside. Terek remembered the holos of the bulk cruiser at Zeltros, and the other at Saijo as it engaged the Emancipator. Had the Rebels not captured the Crown Prince, the Tofs would certainly have won the Battle of Saijo, but no equivalent target had been discovered so far; the Tofs had learned, and the Fel Empire was not at war with the Tofs anyway.

He swiftly examined Tof fighters.



Reminiscent of the A-9 Vigilance, they were similar in performance with two engines and two weapon mounts. Speedy, faster than most fighters but not a K-wing SLAM system. He didn't have chance to review the new Skipray's they were using when Barbosa commed.

Him screening the Ssi-Ruuvi was an issue.

Him not screening the Grysk didn't make a lot of sense to Terek, as it was the Grysk Hegemony, but Terek Rogriss wasn't a politician.

He bit his tongue. He needed Nadia.

Natalya was about as inclined as Terek in engaging in politics, so she opened a private line to him, Send the fighters we can away with exact coordinates to ambush both the Grysk and Ssi-ruuvi? That is assuming these negotiations fail, though word is these Tofs will make deals with anybody, deals that they cannot hope to maintain if they negotiate with everyone.

—
Zakuul

Nadia noticed the call immediately and rolled her eyes that made Briana proud.

"Nice."

"Is he available?"

Briana grinned, "No, one of the other dozens of people have him corralled right now?"

Nadia kept her voice low, "I need his network! Especially for this!"

Briana chuckled, "Right, contacting Rachel for Adam's password...got it. Logging in, what is it you need?" she then looked over at the muted display of who Nadia had to talk to and recoiled a bit, "Pass on all of them..."

Nadia laughed hard, while she was composing herself Kan looked over at the data, "Not bad, mine's better, but pretty good."

"Then we combine it, the dork would say use the best source, so I guess we have to do that." she rolled her eyes a little annoyed that she remembered Adam's rule on that database. "Do you have an ear piece?"

Nadia nodded, "Got it." as she then looked at Kan, then at his ships, then back at Kan, "You are the paid Agent, are you also a locksmith?"

Kan held up a bag of blood, "Of sorts..."

Nadia recoiled a bit, "Oh, get that taken care of, and let Adam know that we need Jagged to sit on the throne soon."

Nadia found a space to deal with this that was private and secure, she looked at the image, replayed the messages from the Tofs, and cleared her throat. Something does not add up, and I think I know what it is. Terek, Natalya, Operation Gas Mask...

All of this gave her time to absorb information from both databases, she unmuted the call, and unblanked the screen from her end, "I am the Perator of the Adumari Union a member of the Fel Empire," the full title sounded weird to her and absently hoped Jag would remember her request, "You say this is a peace summit, but evidence shows that this is a council of war. However, if you really want peace and prosperity then you will listen to our demands. First, Lwhekk will be handed over to the P'w'ecks or whoever the Ssi-ruuvi are enslaving these days and as this is their third attempt on Bakura, the Ssi-ruuvi will have to leave this Galaxy and its satellites never to return again."

Nadia smiled internally knowing that these were absurd, "Second, both the Coynites, and the Iskalloni are allowed to remove themselves from Grysk influence. We believe that this situation is somewhat painful for the traditionally isolationist Iskalloni, and we wish that they are allowed to return to those ways with no interference from any of the Unknown Regions powers. The Coynites, however, we have an offer for them. We will pay for their mercenaries handsomely, not to mention the benefits their world with our trade would be immense."

Nadia addressed the Grysk, "We can go over your record, but that would take decades, however as the only species that other Unknown Regions powers would join in with the Chiss Ascendency to fight you speaks enough volumes that our demand is that the Grysk leave via Vector Prime, never to return to this galaxy again."

She finally addressed Barbosa, "We have a deal, between the Adumari and the Tof over the defense of Kwenn Space Station. Do you not intend to fufill your part of the obligation? Should I bring in Administrator Briggs to inform him that you have no intention to defend his station?"

—
Lwhekk

Barbosa looked confused by much of what she was saying but gave a firm nod at the end of it. With a turn he looked to the others pausing long on the two Ssi-Ruuk before turning back to the display. Prepared now with a tremble to his words to give an albeit brief sermon on the matter, it was to be impassioned. “We’re upholding our promise to the station. This feeds into that. As for your…demands? You just proposed that a varied species commit communal spiritual suicide just because you don’t like their history, as well as insulted a race for finally having the courage to leave isolation to tell them just ‘go back in it’, and then you insulted a mercenary culture by telling them to break their contracts because you’re sure you’ll be better while holding a blaster to their head! As for the Grysk as far as I know their long long history pales in comparison to the short lived Empire you serve. Forgive me Perator! But these demands and these acts are words of war and spiritual genocide. By the maritime laws of peaceful negotiation, or Parlay, being hosted on my boat. Wherewithal a threat and declaration of war upon those under my care has been presented I cannot leave and I cannot do nothing. By the articles I hereby shall defend the delegates with everything immediately at my disposal. Good day Perator. May the Deep accept!” With that he ended the transmission. Time to see how this worked.

Hextus had let Barbosa do the talking, but the Adumari did it for him. Cultural and social suicide… delightful. His eyes blazed with glee; the Empire being it’s natural self was far worse than anything he had ever done.

Terek winced somewhat, because clearly Nadia was furious. But the Tofs had invaded the galaxy hunting sentient species’ for sport fifty years ago; the Grysk and Ssi-Ruuvi may have been worse more recently, but there were no good guys here. Regardless of the Tof rebranding, too. The Coynites and Iskalloni were victims perhaps but they needed to help themselves.

Terek Rogriss firmed his mental position. “Order all fighters to move out, preparing for micro-jumps on cue.” He transmitted a message to Nadia. Keep him talking.

Kral, for his part, was paying attention to the Adumari forces, heading towards the Ssi-Ruuvi and Grysk at half-speed at Terek’s order, but still moving. The Tof bulk cruiser was among the Ssi-Ruuvi forces, and he was making sure General Tovah was updated. Kral had already held up a datapad for Barbosa to see off-screen even before the line was cut. Ssi-Ruuvi or Grysk? Or split? Rear of Ssi-Ruuvi, Grysk or Adumari formation?

Ten Imperial II Star Destroyers were their reserve. Their surprise. Whether it won them the battle or forced a tie, that depended on Barbosa and Nadia.

Hextus didn’t take the initiative yet. He had a deployment in mind, but it wasn’t relevant yet. The Ssi-Ruuvi General was glowering at Hextus, and Ipvikkis was an admiral ready to issue orders. The Coynites and Iskalloni were simply ready to obey the Grysk. They didn’t even seem phased by Nadia’s speech.

Barbosa turned and read the tablet before turning to the Grysk and then to the Admiral present. “Ask them. Where would you like five Star Destroyers to reinforce your defenses? Admiral, this is Ssi-Ruuvi space you know best your local defenses?”

Nadia shrugged and kept her link for the two Admirals, "Sorry, but given the circumstances involved it was what I thought would cause a lasting peace." she sighed, "It seems the galaxy as a whole wants war and I am not completely innocent in this. However, the Grysk, Ssi-ruuv, and the Tof are known aggressors, and have been known to keep slaves previously." The last part, she looked almost exclusively at Terek Rogriss, she knew Teren had civilized worlds in the Outer Rim, and ending slavery on several. A stalwart Imperial to the end.

She looked at the both of them, "Also we must fight here in order to protect Bakura. If we allow it to fall without this fight, it will be the end of the Adumari Union as we know it. That is why we must fight, and why we must win. Good luck, good hunting, and may the Force be with you." She signed off and went off to find Briana. She also needed to send some information somewhere...a couple of bits actually.

----

Natalya nodded, "We weren't here to talk anyway, people." It drew a small chuckle, "Alright, concentrate on anything isolated, set your tractor beams to repel, and stay out of their entechment range. If we get anything indicating a true slave revolt mark the ship as friendly. The Tof seem to be protecting them as well, so they are also targets. We will give the Coynites and Iskalloni a chance to stay out, and perhaps one to retreat. Interdictors, start up your gravity well generators targeting the Ssi-ruuvi defenses, and CAG, send your starfighters on the attack."

The delay had allowed the ships to unload their fighters, and conceal their numbers. Now they spread out attacking starfighters, smaller Ssi-ruuvi ships on up hopefully to open the way for the K-wings. The DP-20s also started opening up on starfighters while the larger ships moved in on the attack.

Ipvikkis confirmed he wanted five Star Destroyers to reinforce his position. He also confirmed he would withdrew Lwhekk's orbiting forces into the gravity well more so the planetary defenses could be relevant. Reservists had been activated, and more V'Sett fighters would be launched shortly. He wasn't sure of numbers quite yet, Lwhekk had taken a bruising during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion and subsequent civil war had only just recovered enough to reconsider expansion.

The musical words of the Ssi-Ruuvi played over Nevil, and he issued instructions to Tovah's forces. He intended to remain with the other five Star Destroyers for the moment.

Hextus looked to the Coynite and Iskalloni. "Let's scatter your forces and have them reform to the rear of the enemy forces. Then General Tovah can jump in with them?" He eyed Barbosa. These were his ships after all.

Thousands of droid starfighters were already advancing forward, their impressive shields meaning a glancing bolt at maximum range from a DP-20 didn't phase them. The swarm was spread out too, but a thousand-fighter core was the primary deployment. It was on.

A single Ssi-Ruuvi cruiser was out of formation, escorted by a Coynite Preybird and Iskalloni Sphere, making its way around the rear of the engagement. The Grysk position was holding, its hundreds of Battlechief's positioned to screen the WarMasters. They were moving conservatively for the moment, advancing on their opposing number glacially, staying clear of the planetary gravity well.

This was the relative calm before the storm.

TAG: @Sinrebirth , @adaml83

 

OOC: A continuation of the combo between @Mitth_Fisto, @Sinrebirth and myself. It's just beginning.
IC: Hextus, General Tovah, Barbosa, Kral Nevil, E’thinaa, Natayla ke Morrel, Terek Rogriss, Nadia ke Mattino, Briana Odan, Kan Mandeen
Lwhekk

"Bloah," Terek said over Adumari comms.

Five Imperial II-class Star Destroyers had just reinforced the Tof Bulk Cruiser, arriving just before the gravity well generators would make any difference.

The Ssi-Ruuvi forces were already withdrawing into the gravity well, meaning the CC frigates couldn't create artificial jump points. Ipvikkis, who had been identified from the comm chitchat, was a veteran, he'd fought and lost two wars and knew how to fight Thrawn's people, clearly.

But this meant there were nine Ssi-Ruuvi cruisers, one Tof bulk cruiser, and five Imperial II-class Star Destroyers in-front of him, and then hundreds of Ssi-Ruuvi pickets strung out, and then five thousand droid starfighters between Natalya and them.

This could get messy.

The Grysk were positioned to advance on Terek's fleet if he committed to the Ssi-Ruuvi engagement, but his forces were more varied than the Grysk ones so he could likely force a quick win there and turn to assist Natalya if need be. "Advance, full speed, keep the bombers covered until they have a clear shot. No heroics, we'll boulder them, and make sure we have gravity projectors full forward to prevent surprises."

The Coynites and Iskalloni were recalling their fighters, so he took that as a sign that they were leaving. "I want to know the moment those ships move. Keep on the sensors for any suggestion the P'w'eck are rising up." Slavers. They were all slavers, and he would save the slaves.

This was where the Fel Empire went above the politics of war and just showed that it meant business when it came to the rule of law and rights of sentients everywhere.

Natalya watched the deployments with curiosity, "Hmm, I don't like that." indicating the ships flying at the rear of their formation. She typed a question meant for Terek Rogriss, Ships at our rear, what is our response, starfighters, escorts, capital ships or all of the above?

She looked around at displays and realized one of the agreed upon instructions hadn't started yet, "Group Three, full spectrum jamming please. Targeting the droid fighters and the Ssi-ruuvi forces as a whole." She indicated to try to move towards the gap though she was cautious about overcommitting.

She summoned a couple members of her staff, "We may have to pivot and hit the Grysk if the Ssi-ruuvi pull back too far. Plan for that."

Barbosa stepped around the tank humming a jaunty tune as he looked at the display. The others were nearly in position. “Tovah. When you believe best. Remember fly by Chumming and try to take out their antistarfighter strengths during the passes.” One Star Destroyer on each Adumari battle group. Two on the one that seemed to include the Admiral.

Soon they would disgorge their cargo. Each vessel having had their land bases and vehicles removed to make room as four levels of platforms were installed to give room so all of the Chum possible could fit. Maybe they would go with the other acronym later, but this would do for now. Soon a long plume of silver would fall, not in the hundreds, but the thousands. What a beautiful sight it would be. The only true limitation had been production, but a world had been working for turns on this.

Turning from the notion he called to the Captain. “Tractor beams ready?”

“Aye sir! Wide beam and charged. First wave gets through we’ll try to nudge off their marks. Starfighters and Bombers holding defensive stations. Ready for a clean shot sir.” The Captain bellowed back from his place on the command deck weaving between operations consoles.

Hextus was intrigued. He issued orders to his warships. He directed the Grysk fleet to move itself, so it would be further away from the Ssi-Ruuvi and Tof deployments, to put them at ninety degrees to each other and attempt to put the Adumari forces in a crossfire.

However, an Imperial Star Destroyer could carry 8,000 troops and dozens of walkers and associated paraphernalia; transports, garrisons, and so on. Take those out and you could probably squeeze in another 2,000. Couldn’t get them to the surface, of course, but the Tofs really, really liked their new allies and toys.

Their pinpoint tractor beams would snatch up ships; hammer them with a wide reverse-polarity tractor, the Tof had pirate-blood through and through and they were good at pinning people in place and taking everything including the silverware. They would grab at starfighters, bombers, support ships, whatever they could.

But even better, soaring out like the Mandalorian armies of ancient times; ten thousand armoured Tofs in battle-suits from a Star Destroyer. They roared into the fray, with giant jetpacks, a variety of oversized weapons and missile launchers, five armies that had been preparing to take down Nagai soaring into battle.

Terek Rogriss watched the bomber formation fully disrupted and all manner of fighters suddenly grappling with approaches armoured men. Missiles could be dodged by soldiers, and bigger guns would struggle to hit them, while a glancing shot it could tank. It was a novel strategy and Terek was froze for a blunt and unpleasant moment.

He went back to Natalya. Those five strays? They’re to the rear of the Ssi-Ruuvi formation for now. Will keep an eye on them. The Coynite and Iskalloni ships then buried into hyperspace, four of each.

The Ssi-Ruuvi droid network was more powerful than the Trade Federation equivalent. Ordinarily it would blanket the entire area, but the Ssi-Ruuvi had more direct communiques in place, and plenty of transponders aboard the cruisers and of course the planet itself.

The two fleets were reaching heavy weapon range, but to describe the space between as a surprisingly messy furball, but that thousand ship core of droid starfighters had maintained its formation and were cutting through the morass. Hundreds of droid starfighters and dozens of Adumari fighters were gone.

The thousand V’Sett fighters held among the picket line, and another two, three hundred more were coming up the well. Terek Rogriss pulled a face. “Order our K-wings to move above the plane and prepare to dive down. All non-Bombers to keep the droid starfighters busy. I don’t want to lose a single capital ship to Tof’s playing Mandalorian. Make sure Liberator’s keep close to the cruiser-carriers and threaded among our main ships.” Terek eyed the largest swarm of droid starfighters, the thousand fighters keeping formation. “I don’t want to engage the Grysk until we’re sure about the Tof and Ssi-Ruuvi.” He paused, trying to keep an eye on priorities. “Make sure we push our CC frigates as far as possible from us without exposing them, and project gravity wells to block the Grysk from slipping out. Turn our capital ships to face them too and spool for a microjump if need be.” He needed to let Natalya fight her part of the battle but the Tofs were using surprises and he didn’t like it.

Tovah’s other quarter-fleet hadn’t jumped in yet, waiting, and Kral spoke up. “Hextus, where are the Coynites and Iskalloni? They should be back by now.” Hextus wasn’t grinning. Had they genuinely fled?




Heavy Weapon Toting Space Tof’s of the Calamity celestial Heavy Universal Matey (CcHUM) units were filling the gaps and as they watched the reaction of the enemy to go high Barbosa nodded at the Captain.

“Get our Keel partners ready! Roll tide! All hands roll tide!” The Captain barked. The plan was simple for this. The egg ship and the Tof vessel would corkscrew and swap places. The eggs had powerful forward facing weapons, but the Tof had a tiered ship deck plan. Their keel was nearly bereft of weapons placements as they were clustered on top, primed to primarily fire to the sides, but also could be raised to aim up. “Prepare to make the rain boys!” The Captain bellowed as forward weapon fire tapered off to prepare charges for rapid fire.

Barbosa meanwhile looked at the missing ships and those yet to arrive with a faint grin. “Tovah has this. This be where we as leaders call the big strokes, but trust the men putting their lives on it to make the right calls.”

Natalya, noticed the beginning of Rogriss's maneuver, she nodded and sent instructions to Group Three to head down and towards the rear of the enemy formation. Doing so would ideally avoid the mass of fighters, droid and otherwise, the troopers which appeared to be...ship boarders.

"Issue Adumar Two directive to the fleet!" Adumar Two was a contingency plan where when facing forces that liked to take ships from enemy forces that when being actively boarded, that you simultaneously issue three orders; 1. Full AI control to the ship, 2. Abandon ship, and 3. Quiet self-destruction of the ship, no notification other than one brief appearance on screens on nearby workstations. Recommend Adumar Two on Group One was the message sent to Rogriss.

A new notification appeared on her screen, reinforcements effectively doubling the capital ships committed here. This did not include the numbers of escorts which nearly tripled her escorts potentially. This was both amazing and terrible guessing where these ships were coming from, and knowing that this was the sort of commitment that the Perator was making.

"We need more space, starfighters that are not a part of a strike plan, form a screen with the DP-20s. Gunships remove your restrictions." She immediately noticed the gunships start firing almost continually along with starfighters firing proximity fused torpedoes ideally with the chance of taking multiple targets at once. Now the larger ships added more space to the current pathway, and a couple of probes launched from one of the flagships to created a deployment area for the incoming forces.

Rogriss had decided enough was enough. “Full stop. Pull us back out of turbolaser range, put all DP-20s at the front of all formations and redirect our fighters to get the bombers out of the way. They’re surprising us and we were supposed to be surprising them. So far they’d lost no more than a few hundred starfighters - equal losses with the Ssi-Ruuvi - and that army of spacetroopers or whatever the heavens it was had caught them flat-footed. “Long range weapons, clear a channel between the other group and engagement.” Turbolasers fired across the path go Natalya’s forces, creating space for her, but exposing Rogriss to long-range harassment fire.

It didn’t last long, but Rogriss was sure to keep firing avenues free for any pursuing Tof, Ssi-Ruuvi or Grysk forces -

With twenty Grysk WarMasters, ten Ssi-Ruuvi cruisers and carriers, let alone five Tof Imperial II Star Destroyers and that big Bulk Cruiser, their position wasn’t nearly as clear-cut as he wanted when attacking into the guns of an enemy with surprises for them. The Second Battle of Lwhekk was going to turn into a costly slog and Rogriss wasn’t committing to it without more ships and permission to do so.

Hextus for his part was chittering into his comms. “The Coynite and Iskalloni are… not immediately present.”

Kral Nevil was already on the comms. “General Tovah, hold. Don’t jump in yet, sir, we’re seeing an enemy retrograde movement and you’ll be caught in it.” General Tovah had their other two space armies, they couldn’t just roll the dice with their deployment.

The first army hung at the edge of the starfighter furball, some ten thousand fighters doing all manner of harm to each other. The Shreeftut-Admiral whistled orders, and they began to disengage and regroup. The number of V’Sett fighters from the surface topped a thousand, and save for a few hundred lost droids and expended fuel, all was well.

But the enemy wasn’t leaving. Hextus glanced to Barbosa. “Are you committing more, or am I?”

Rogriss for his part opened a channel to Natalya. “North to you, east to me. Confirm.”

Barbosa grinned as he tapped his fingers to a jaunty tune on the edges of the holotank as they watched the fur ball slowly pull itself apart on screen. The enemy was slowly pulling out of the effective weapons ranges, not to mention the CHUM ranges. Kral was relaying commands and directives and Hextus was nervous. It was good to feel such a thing, he was learning these new allies slowly but surely.

"Hmmm?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "Sorry, I was reminded of a tune by the whistling. If you have more to commit I would recommend you coordinate with Kral for insertion or we can give you the comm lines and vectors for our reinforcements. This is either going to be a slog if we are stingy or resounding crush that will see the Adumari stay out of our affairs for a while." With a smile he winked at Hextus and resumed humming a jaunty tune as he slowly manipulated the holotank. Highlighting the probes that were being launched like harbor buoys. "Captain? Echo signals? Here?" he called out in a non-hurried manner.

The Captain responded with a crisp "Aye!" as they launched signal buoys that would lock on and echo whatever signal those probes were sending. Only launched forward of the enemy fleet position. If something was coming in on the same vector and those were harbor lines they would have to deal with ghost signals telling them to exit hyper through their own fleet. It was a gamble with nearly no cost and no concern one way or another. The Sea would provide as always.

The probes knew that something wasn't right, they detected an echo of signals, their signals, but without the proper coding. They sent a signal back to Group Three noting that something was wrong. Natalya, among the ones to notice, saw the deployment of two squadrons to take care of the probes' problem.

Natalya hearing Rogriss's plan, "Confirm, beware of echo pings we've noticed a couple." She switched to her crew, "We need to provide a distraction for those two squadrons, first lasers cannons go into the furball, so do turbolaser if there isn't a clear view of enemy ships. If you are clear, fire on the larger ships." She issued instructions for the flagships to release their satellites that give additional range which were based on Celestial signal, not something easily copied. "Starfighters, now you have greater range with your torpedoes. Once we're organized, the bombers and their escorts will go in."

TAG: @Mitth_Fisto, @Sinrebirth

 

OOC: Your wait is over, here are my combos and singles.

IC: Cuf
Rothana

The announcement of his survival made, his polity invigorated, Cuf turned to speak to his saviour in the privacy of a hotel dining room, which had been commandeered by the government. He hadn't even reached out to the Nagai Alliance yet, but he knew when he was drawn into galactic politics it would go without end.

So.

Here he was with a clone of man.

Kev-Mas paced while Cuf stood. It was pretty clear that he had a lot of anxious energy that he was struggling to keep restrained.

"Well?" he said, urging the politician to spit out whatever was on the tip off his tongue, "I sense you've still got more to say."

“I doubt you sense that,” Cuf said almost cheerily. Kev-Mas would find the politician almost unreadable, in-fact. Nonetheless, the man pressed on. “Let’s cut to the chase. The Mid Rim border set up by Snoke. My intel says it’s porous, sure, but breaches get responded to pretty swiftly. So if you’re going that-a-way, you’ll need to do so from a different origin point than Rothana, and not in one of our designs.”

The orbital yards were in a mess, operating at 20% capacity, but with the construction method behind the Republic-class cruiser, they could construct the equivalent of 40% of their capability. Even with the technicalities of smelting beskar. When they were back to 100% capacity, they’d be able to construct at 200% of their ordinary ability thanks to the utility of the design. The technical crew and Mandalorian oremasters were aboard the orbiting pair of new cruisers, with a variety of small but hyperdrive equipped tugs holding the beskar itself. In the yards themselves the skeletons of another two Republic-class cruisers were nearing completion, and the superstructure of another 20% of the yards was nearing completion.

It was, by and large, a swift recovery.

Cuf wanted to be the most important person to the Separatist Alliance. The appointees that the Nagai had put in place were drawn from Rothana, so they accepted Cuf’s return with magnanimity but he was sure to promote them all anyway. They’d done the state a service, but he was the state, elected to the role, and they’d not had time to do new elections before his recovery.

“So what now? I can refuel you, compensate you monetarily, but you don’t strike me as the kind of man who would want any of that.”

"Well," said Kev-Mas, thinking about what was said, "If I can't get to the mid rim directly, I'll need to find a spacer who can get me past that border."

He thought for a moment more, and then raised his head and continued.

"Maybe you could get me passage to say... somewhere like Nar Shaddaa, where I can find the sort of person who can get me to Eshan."

Cuf pursed his lips. Nar Shaddaa. Current hosts of the rogue Kadijics rebelling against Borga the Hutt. With a slight nod, he could only agree. “I owe you, my friend. You can take whatever you want, scrubbed as it may be.” He held out a hand to shake.

“May the Rothanan sun shine on you.” He likes that. Very natural. Maybe he’d trademark it. Earning for a saying would be the ultimate irony.

The moment was broken by sirens. Cuf jolted, grabbed his comlink and looked dismayed. “The Tofs are back.”

Indeed they were. Over a dozen capital ships, all eighteen hundred meter bulk cruisers. They arrived as close to the gravity well as possible, but angled so they would not lose all their speed. A full broadside erupted, enough firepower to glass most planets if they were given time. Cuf could almost feel the ground-shakes that were about to erupt, wincing even though he knew they were many miles away from ground zero.

Worse, the Tof already began to launch boarding craft, modern conveyances that were impressive enough fifty years ago. The paired Republic-class Star Cruisers opened fire, dappling bulk cruiser shields. It took only a moment for the Nagai crewers to adapt to Tof tactics and fire at the nearest bulk cruiser, hammering it and attempting to flood the path of the Tof fleet with debris. The Tof counter-fire slammed into shields that held for the moment. The Mandalorian tugs wavered, clearly wanting to fight as was their nature but aware of their valuable beskar cargo.

The Tof were ready for that too, and tractor beams snatched up a full two-thirds of the tugs. The rest vanished into hyperspace. Landing craft were already approaching at speed, and the tugs were promptly engaged in boarding actions.

The second Tof bombardment was more focused. It reduced the fledging planetary defence systems to rubble, blew apart yards that were mid-repair. The shields of the Republic-class Star Cruisers held, and in the exchange a Tof Bulk Cruiser erupted into debris. The Nagai shields fell, and the ships resisted the Tof fire; and adapted; the Nagai turned their cannons on the swarming landers, transforming hundreds of boarders into space-dust. An amount of the Tof had already embraced their new battle armour and launched from the void for the shieldless Star Cruiser -

The two Republic-class Star Cruisers in the dock became the next Tof targets, still moving at a decent speed and constantly looking for targets of opportunity. Their tractor beams were also now free, and they promptly reached for the Star Cruisers, yanking them from the yards. They didn’t need them to be spaceworthy, merely intact enough to survive a jump towed into hyperspace. The techs and crews aboard were vented to the atmosphere, and any Mandalorians aboard promptly made their suits vacuum tight.

The Tof switched to ion fire and promptly began smothering the Republic-class Star Cruisers. Nagai screamers overwhelmed Tof starfighters, but they couldn’t account for the complement of over a dozen ships and cut down the landing craft. A quarter of the total Tof boarders made it to the Star Cruisers, fighting a brutal battle with Nagai and Mandalorians.

In a staccato of detonations the tugs began to explode, their Mandalorian crews choosing to take as many Tof with them as possible. The success wasn’t universal; a quarter of the tugs fell. A third had escaped, and the rest had been blown apart. Probably half of the overall Tof boarding parties had been lost; but they were having helluva fun.

The Tof crewers fired physical tethers at the stolen Star Cruisers, fired a resounding barrage that finished off the Rothanan shipyards, and used the planet as a backdrop for their spare fire. A second Tof Cruiser was savaged but it held together, while the Nagai-Mandalorian resistance was effectively over. Resorting to fighting across the ships’ hallways, the Tof Cruisers tractored and tethered those too, content to fight over the ships in transit.

The Mandalorians and Nagai did their job and exploded an intact Star Cruiser, destroying the sole damaged Tof Cruiser. The other fell silent, and the surviving Nagai Screamers could only harass the Tof, who promptly screened their prizes.

The entire assault had taken less than ten minutes, and it was a mere five minutes later the Tof force secured their charges and vanished into hyperspace. While some Mandalorians would argue that no Tof could use beskar properly, nonetheless they had been deprived of it.

It was a blow.

Cuf, powerless, could only watch. He wouldn’t even notice his friend leaving, if he had. There was nothing they could do.

Kev-Mas looked on in horror as he watched the Tof invasion force suddenly swarm the planet once more.

"I cannot in good conscience leave you here," he said, turning to Cuf, "I am a soldier. Allow me to fight for you. Otherwise your rescue is incomplete."

The Tof forces buried into hyperspace, the attack was a raid, not an occupation. The League hadn’t intended to do much else but take and go. Pedric Cuf wringed his hands, and shook his head. “There is nothing to fight. Unless you want to track down what has been stolen, we have very little to do but lament and recover.” An exaggerated sigh. “I release you; go, pursue your quest.”

---

IC: Darth Mascon
Avarice

The helmeted visage of Darth Mascon presented itself to Zat Lah by use of a modified ozzgill, prepared specially by Twisuns Praetor F'jajh.

"Warmaster Lah. I am Darth Mascon, Dark Lord of the Sith. It pleases me to hear of our newfound alliance, and to that end, I have called to formalize that union, and begin to light the fires that will consume the Galaxy in our unquenchable rage."

Zat Lah was affable. “The Sith Lord,” he muttered, deeply impressed. “Your reputation precedes you.” A slam of his arm to his chest in salute. “I have a Koros-Strohna and ten capital ships ready for the great campaign. Infiltrators have been placed within the positions in many of the major factions, two very highly. Command me, oh True Lord, and we shall commit to war.”

“Upon the Fel fools at Kamino? The Nagai Alliance’s positions at Rothana? The Hutt worlds that lay between us?” He was known as an astute strategist, after all. “Or a target farther afield? We are eager to bloody the infidels who do not see the True Way.”

Mascon had his own dreadnought and the equivalent of twenty capital ships, which was plenty to start. The Grysk had a similar number of capital ships by all counts, the Nagai had barely twenty five total, the Tof had nearly thirty, the Fel Empire closer to sixty than was ideal.

But Zat Lah knew that the Fel Empire had the Yuuzhan Vong in its sights; their war was a given. Indeed, he knew that followers of the True Way had thoroughly infiltrated the ten capital ships that defended Sekot, and merely waited for Nas Choka’s order to obey… but the warmaster was engaged with the infidels at Zakuul.

He conveyed this information to Darth Mascon. “It disheartens me that Warmaster Nas Choka has not immediately come to our aid, even spoke out against a resumption of the Great War, but he is a hero. He saved us from genocide.” A squeeze of his fists. “But he is wrong to abide by this peace.”

Mascon listened intently to the Warmaster, letting him finish every word uninterrupted, and then gave a comprehensive reply.

"I have new ships under construction as we speak, that will be added to my fleet to be used in our joint offensive. One Crimson Dagger-class Star Dreadnought, a Duellator-class Star Destroyer and Twisuns-class Battle Carrier, which will be added to an assortment of existing vessels currently in reserve."

"We will attack hutt space. Those slimy gangsters have been a cause of chaos and disorder in the Galaxy for too long, infesting it with crime and grime. They shall be cleaned first, and their territory made to serve our needs."

"Surely, after witnessing our conquest of the Hutts, many more of your people will come to our aid, and see your way, the True Way, as their way.”

Zat Lah grinned. He had always hated the Hutts, and it would be a brilliant victory. Their cruisers were hardy, with weak shields but strong hulls - much like the Tof - but they were not warriors. And with a Civil War on-going they were easy pickings.

“My Intel told me you had more ships, Dark Lord,” Zat said conversationally. “Where are the rest?”

"I do. But I also have other engagements. Resources to protect. A wise strategist knows not to put all his ships in the same fleet."

Zat Lah grinned. “I appreciate that so. The Hutts have half a fleet of hardy cruisers, but with surprise on our side, and the Hutt division, we will triumph.” He had five Matalok’s and five Miid Ro’ik; the Yuuzhan Vong analogs for the Mon Calamari Star Cruiser and Imperial Star Destroyers. “I shall commit half my capital ships and our new worldship Domain Lah.”

A sizable deployment, even if the rogue Kadijic’s picked sides. Not that Zat Lah intended to give them time.

"The Hutts aren't expecting to come under fire from anyone but themselves, no less an allied fleet composed of an unprecedented combination of Yuuzhan Vong and Sun Guard vessels. I look forward to making those slimy sleazebags squeal."

IC: Twisuns Praetor Sajazhi Vazra
Durame-class Star Destroyer Beta, Faruun

A sizable Sun Guard fleet leapt forth from Hyperspace over Faruun, lead by the former Nightsister Sajazhi Vazra. As the fleet came into view, a comm was broadcast with a warning.

“Attention, people of Faruun. For the crime of aiding and abetting enemies of the Sun Guard Protectorate, you have forfeited your right to sovereignty. Stand down and prepare to be conquered. Any resistance will be met with destruction of planetary resources and loss of life.”

The fleet sent to Faruun comprises of:

3 Durame-class Star Destroyers

• 9 Serpentarius-class Electronic Warfare Vessels (3 per Durame)

6 Sun Guard refit Interdictor-class Cruisers

• 6 Serpentarius-class Electronic Warfare Vessels (1 per Interdictor)
• 12 Reverie-class Assault Dropships (2 per Interdictor)

6 Wraith-class Corvettes

• 6 Solar Dragon-class Interceptor Squadrons (one per Wraith)

8 Serpentarius-class Electronic Warfare Vessels
3 Solar Dragon-class Interceptor Squadrons
3 Spec Ops Solar Dragon-class Interceptor Squadrons
3 Petramar-class Assault Bomber Squadrons

IC: Twisuns Praetor Vonrac Yunvott
Durame-class Star Destroyer 5PD-W6N, Mokijv

As a small Sun Guard fleet exits hyperspace over the relatively undefended world of Mokijv, the voice of the Fleet’s commander, the Thyrsian/Tusken Sun Guard known as Vonrac Yunvott could be heard over comms.

“In light of recent news of Cortosis deposits being discovered on this world, in order to ensure the continued security and stability of the Galaxy, the Sun Guard hereby lay claim to this system and all territories within. Resist at your own peril.”

The fleet sent to Mokijv comprises of:

1 Durame-class Star Destroyer

• 3 Serpentarius-class Electronic Warfare Vessels (3 per Durame)

1 Solar Dragon-class Interceptor Squadron
1 Spec-Ops Solar Dragon-class Interceptor Squadron
1 Petramar-class Assault Bomber Squadron

Tag: @Sinrebirth @adaml83 @darthbernael @Mitth_Fisto

OOC:

This leaves the following at Mon Calamari:

1 Sovereign-class Star Dreadnought
1 Crimson Dagger-class Star Dreadnought (under construction)
2 Duellator-class Star Destroyers (under construction)
1 Twisuns-class Battle Carrier (under construction)
1 ShaShore-class Heavy Frigate (under construction)
2 Solar Dragon-class Interceptor Squadrons
2 Spec-Ops Solar Dragon-class Interceptor Squadrons
2 Petramar-class Assault Bomber Squadrons
2 Alastor-class Space Superiority Fighter Squadrons (under construction)
2 Crix-class Assault Shuttle Squadrons (under construction)
2 Sun Guard refit Interdictor-class Cruisers
6 Wraith-class Corvettes
16 Serpentarius-class Electronic Warfare Vessels
Full fighter complement on all ships