Star Wars War of the Galaxies: The Six Sisters

A Prelude to War-A Joint-Post with @Sinrebirth
Inner/Middle Rim Blockade
Grid N8
CSS Lost Sunrise

A 1.4 kilometer long blade slipped out of hyperspace a few kilometers away from the blockade line, and immediately began accelerating. Twelve missiles shot out from the underside of its hull, setting off dozens of radiological alarms. They spread out away from the ship running parallel to the minefield before splitting off into sub munitions. As the ship entered the minefield, explosions hitting its shields as the mines began to track it, but it did not change its course. Then the submunitions began entering the minefield, setting of fusion warheads and starting chain-reaction detonations along dozens of kilometers of the minefield.

This complete disregard of Snoke's minefield went on for the better part of an hour, as a single Echani vessel proceeded to treat the obstacle as a pleasure cruise rather than a galaxy spanning threat. Once it had cleared a huge swath that would make it easy for even a Dreadnought to pass into or out of the blockade it parked itself in the center of the hole. Its orders were simple, if anything short of a dreadnought showed up, it was to make an example of it, and if a Dreadnought did show up, it would bait a trap.
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A Maxima-class Star Cruiser, all 1.2km of it, inevitably was sent to attend to the threat. The ship, the Prosecutor, winked into existence and immediately began to launch fighters - TIE Whispers. As it did, shields were raised, and comms engaged. "You are intruding upon First Order space. Surrender or be destroyed."

The response was simple, and succinct. The ship pitched so that it's bow faced the Prosecutor and its weapon ports opened. It was however not turbolaser fire, or missiles that came forth. Two massive furious red bolts barked forth from large gun-ports in the ships bow, the unmistakable signs of one of the First Order's own most devastating weapons. Orbital Autocannons. Mounted by them on massive dreadnaughts to scour planets, here in a much more compact form it was being used against them, as an anti-ship weapon.

The Maxima-class took the hits on the shields, for a brief second, before those shields gave way and the ship detonated. The only consolation is that the TIE Whispers had shields, and they roared forward -

The Prosecutor had at very least managed to launch most of its fighter complement.

The Lost Sunrise began a slow, lethargic turn, which given its earlier nimble dance through the minefield showed how little the ship's commander cared about the incoming fighters. It did however open fire, a series of coil guns along the ships hull firing flak shells that filled the void between itself and the Whispers with violent particulate. It also launched its own fighters, a full wing of Dagger-class fighters, modern mass production versions of Vincent Mikaru's own Ivory Dagger from the Eternal Fleet crisis. They fell into escort as the Heavy Cruiser continued its lazy retreat, all but begging the TIE fighters to follow.

Eighteen squadrons of modern TIE Whispers were themselves not a small threat, and they may as well avenge their mothership. They split by squadron, six taking one flank, six taking another, three raising above the elliptic and three below -

The Lost Sunrise responded to the split by launching from its twenty four missile tubes a series of MIRVs, as the flak fire lightened for their passing the warheads split off into sub munitions, each targeting a fighter. They were however not concussion munitions, but MagPulse warheads. Once outside the flak curtain the barrage picked back up, continuing to put a wall between the Sunrise its escort and the approaching Whispers. If the Whispers were piloted, rather than automated, their commanders might realize they were being tested, rather than attacked.

Missiles detonated against flak, and the Whispers promptly dropped the attack for fear of the shrapnel ripping them asunder - The Whispers scattered, setting up shielding trios so as to take hits on their combined defenses - But their formation bled speed, and they had a storm to get through. Fighters winked out in twos and threes, and a good third simply abandoned their position and shot up and below, intending to get out of the field of fire, regroup, and loop back. They weren't bad pilots, clearly.

As the formations broke the flak broke shortly after, and the 72 Dagger-class fighters broke past the barrier before it turned back up. The Lost Sunrise continued its lazy retreat. Though outnumbered the Daggers also broke off into groups of three, and began splitting off to go after packs. They were heavy interceptors, and this was their wheel house, and clearly the Echani had built their ships to force Fighters away from their capital ships and into the killing fields of their fighters.

The result was obvious. Half the TIE Whispers were downed, and the rest regrouped swiftly and attempted to pounce -

It was as the Whispers moved to regroup that the Daggers pivoted towards Echani space and shot off into hyperspace. The Sunrise had ended its flak fire, and launched another series of missiles. Not from its normal launchers however, but the ones it had fired when it first arrived at the mine field. Radiological alarms would blare in the cockpits of the TIEs if they had such things. A dozen active strategic weapons were now barreling towards the fighters and it was now clear why the Echani fighters had removed themselves from the arena. The area was about to be saturated in thermo-nuclear fire, leaving the TIEs with the same options as the Daggers. Flee, or be consumed.

The detonation wiped them all out.

It was a finale. It was also the beginning.

Snoke authorized the deployment of a Tho Yor to Eshan.

And as Snoke raged and ordered the deployment of an ancient weapon to Eshan the Lost Sunrise finished its lazy turn, dropping a nav beacon just before entering hyperspace. A hole in the Blockade had been burned through, and while Echani space remained closed, the blockade itself was far enough away that now forces inside, and out, could cause chaos for the would be Sith Lord. But more than that, a trap had been set. For despite the appearance, the Echani were not ones to act with the same self assured arrogance as those of Snoke's ilk. Not, unless they had a plan, or were fully assured of their success.

No, bait had been laid. And Snoke would be advised of the folly of his coming actions, and that advice would be ignored, for who in their right mind would dare stand against such a great and powerful Lord of the Sith? A trap was set, that snatched onto ego, and rage, and indeed the self-same arrogance the Echani had performed. And Snoke was going to rush so head long, he wouldn't see the snare. But he, and the rest of the Galaxy would recognize the truth soon enough.

The Echani were no longer biding their time.
And the Echani are War.

Tag: Sinre/Nobody at this time

 

[A Joint post with @Sinrebirth ]
Echani Space
Homeworld Defense Command

The Tho Yor exited hyperspace, exactly where the reports said it would. It was an ancient, majestic thing, and the Commander in charge of the current defense shift felt a sense of melancholy knowing that they were about to destroy something ancient. Regal. There had been talk of capturing the vessel, but the means of Snoke's control was unknown tot hem, and as it was in a way alive, more so than even a sentient droid DOMINION would have no effect.

"Hyperspace decant complete," a crewman notified from a work-pit, and the commander nodded. On the central screen various dots began to light up, indicating that defenses were coming online. Eshan, over the past few decades had become a fortress. Some had been online when the First Order assaulted the world, the aftermath lead to an increase in production. Now, dozens upon dozens of interspersed defense platforms were targeting the Tho Yor, but they would not fire. They wouldn't need to. The hundreds of mass gravity mines surrounding its exit point would do that.

The Tho Yor released an electrical current, triggering the mines nearest and then promptly began ponderously rotating, spreading damage out among its faces and advancing.

From a face not directly facing Eshan a portal irised and from it emerged a storm of TIE Daggers, curving outwards and the moment they broke the gravitic field of the Tho Yor micro-jumping towards Eshan -

From a face a concentrated bolt of energy emerged and plowed deeply into the minefield, and further forward, a gravitic beam that hurled anything in its path away like a miniature shot from Centerpoint -

Dot's flickered out of existence, and more took their place. Thousands of mines, began charging towards the Tho Yor, grabbing on to the celestial constructs own gravitational field and hurling themselves at it at increasing speeds. But they didn't explode on impact, nor did they fizzle out. Reinforced hulls allowed those that made it through to survive, and their gravity field kept increasing. They'd pull on the Tho Yor, they'd pull on their relatives on opposing sides. Those hit by the gravitic wave's outer edge itself seemed to suddenly cascade rapidly towards it, as though filling a void where the wave's gravity had once been. It was clear these were not normal mass shadow generators, but gravitic weapons in their own, if different right. And with each one the Tho Yor became more and more heavy, its own mass pulling inward.

And then there were the fighters. To say that Eshan was a fortress world was to give Eshan an insult. If a fighter exited hyperspace in far orbit, it was targeted by many of thousands of orbital defense satellites. If it exited in near orbit, it'd find itself stuck between one of Eshan's many shield layers, and the low orbital defense stations. Stations that not only had weapons pointed away from the planet, but towards it. And should they push past the gravity well and find themselves in atmosphere proper it seemed the Warriors of the Echani had fortified every grid of landmass with anti orbital and anti-fighter weaponry.

But what was most perplexing, if any intelligence was behind any of the fighters, or if indeed Snoke had any vision from the Tho Yor, was that the fleet in orbit, took no action. No action except for clearing a line of fire from the planet itself, and the Tho Yor. Snoke, in his ego and rage would take this as a challenge. Maybe, just maybe someone would tell him of the massive power build up being generated all across the orbital defense grid. But as with any advice given to the would-be Sith. It was likely to be ignored. Because there was something else, sitting high in orbit of Eshan that the Sith could not ignore. Something, that had been his.

As the defense stations began a pivot, he probably wouldn't notice. As the Force shuddered in a familiar means, as it had some fifty years ago above Alderaan, above Jedha, above Scarif. Snoke wouldn't see, because the Echani were once again baiting the man, and every First Order ship getting any sort of reading from Eshan would pick up an IFF signal. It would flicker to one name, friendly, then shift suddenly to another, decidedly not so. Something Echani.

̶S̶U̶P̶R̶E̶M̶A̶C̶Y̶
REGICIDE

The Tho Yor flailed, assaulted in ways it did not expect.

The fighters were being picked off, and the Tho Yor diverted.

It adapted, ruthlessly, but a pause went through its biocircuits; the shock that Snoke had himself felt transmitted across the Celestial Network.

The Supremacy?!

A thrust of orders and the Tho Yor committed to it's next tried and true tactic; mytosis.

A diamond shaped capital ship emerged from a flank and began firing frantically at targets, attempting to distract in its own way -



Meanwhile the Tho Yor itself attempted to steer away from Echan towards one of the other planets in-system, it couldn't manage a micro-jump whatsoever, but it could at least divert the focus of the assault -

Snoke hoped so, anyway.

He had not expected such resistance to his will.

The Echani had achieved their goal. They had sent their message, a simple one to a simple man. Anything you can do, we can do better. But that 'anything' wasn't simply Snoke, it was the Empire. And that, was exemplified in what happened next. Targeting solutions, thousands of targeting solutions. The Tho Yor and its sudden off-spring were suddenly being targeted from everywhere, from all sides. The entire star system, sprang to life, revealing thousands of defense relays, fighters that had been offline, orbital defense stations in orbit of every planet and moon. Even the star. All receiving targeting relay data and targeting the ships, even if they weren't in range.

They couldn't be in range...

And then they fired. The ships in orbit, the defense stations, the smaller relays. Orbital Particle Autocannons, Turbolasers, Coilguns, missiles, torpedoes, prismatic particle beams. All lanced from every direction at both the vessels now despoiling Echani space. The Echani hadn't simply prepared to march to war, they'd turned their whole system, perhaps sector into a killing field. Nothing that entered would leave unscathed, if it left at all. And now, with the revelation of the Regicide and the inevitable death of a ancient super weapon, the question should be raised.

What else had the Echani prepared?

The Tho Yor and its child took hits.

Many, many hits.

It was being worn down, its resource stock - other worlds and materials it had absorbed - being worn down.

The smaller Tho Yor didn't last nearly as long as expected.

It was fundamentally chewed down and detonated.

The larger one knew it had minimal time to make an impact; it pivoted, focused its reserves on powering its thrust and layering inner levels, as if there were multiple Tho Yor inside, a kind of Atrisian Doll in dreadnought form.

It rushed the sun.

It's speed was such that it was, at range, avoiding some attacks but not many, but it used Celestial technology to create a powerful jamming and interdiction field to disrupt the system. Missiles and torpedoes would lose their targeting locks, but the heavy laser weapons would chip away. One layer, two, three, the Tho Yor shrinking each time -

The Regicide had the self-same long range turbolasers that the Megador had, and so the heavy cannons, the equivalent of five Imperial-class II Star Destroyers alone hammered the Tho Yor as it moved with purpose towards the systems' primary -

And then, an impact. The Echani had remembered Hosnian, the Echani had remembered Starkiller base, they remembered the Suncrusher.. They hadn't simply placed defense instillations around their star, they'd placed reactive shielding. The resulting damage of the impact wouldn't be enough to destroy the Tho Yor, but what came next was to be a death knell. Within the command and control room the Echani Commander gave a nod to a valiant foe that had fought harder than it needed to. Given it was an unwilling combatant. Each member of the staff muttering a small prayer to the Echani deity of War that the world Thyrsus was named, and then the command was given.

The defense stations in orbit finished their rotations, changed after the Tho Yor's maneuvers, and the shimmering in the Force reached a fever pitch. And then, for a brief moment, the Force screamed. A dozen station fired out ghostly blue beams. These beams reached an apex and combined and sparked a bright flash before unleashing a larger beam that shot across the distance between Eshan and the Tho Yor in a matter if moments.

The beam impacted one, its power and range having been perfectly calculated to end just after impact. And thus the true folly of attacking Eshan was shown, and Snoke would know that even when presented with an ancient weapon capable of devouring worlds. The Echani, had toyed with him.

A kyber weapon.

Scattered amongst battlestations rather than a spherical battle station.

The hit bolt hammered the Tho Yor, which took the hit and was suddenly mostly hole. The Tho Yor had already been reduced in size by attrition, its TIE Daggers having vanished in the crossfire, and it simply...

Listed.

It was dead in the water.

Part of the fleet, along with the Regicide moved in unison, lumbering towards the hulk as it drifted from the star. The Echani were not about to simply leave the Remains floating. As it was, the defense stations were already picking of the smaller bits of debris. But the largest chunk would get a proper send off, it deserved it. Once the Echani had made sure the remains weren't going to explode on them, or cause other issues, a series of tender ships would work to push the vessel into hyperspace, to a nearby dwarf star of no strategic value, and let the remains drift into the depths and become one with the Galaxy once more. But now that they had fully revealed themselves to Snoke, it was time to do so to the rest of the Galaxy.

For a better tomorrow.

The remains did explode; but in that star, eliminating the star system, but not the Echani.

The Second Battle of Eshan was won.

Over.

But the war was only beginning. And the Echani had broadcasted it all.
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Tag: Nobody, and anybody.