Hex L-49 \\ FIV Concordia
Faction: First Order \\ Enemy: Galactic Alliance | [member="Aryn Teth"] \\ Status: Firing at Incandescent Truth
In Vicinity: [member="Samka Derith"] | [member="Jaius Sovv"]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kqf0CwugxK0
"Engines ahead full," called the captain of the
Concordia. Decks away from the genially cutthroat chess match going on between [member="Jaius Sovv"] and Natasi Fortan, Captain Jaksin Carrak studied his command display calmly.
Cue the barely-controlled panic of Senior Commander Vollan in three, two, one -- "Sir! Ordnance fired from the --"
"I see it," said Carrak calmly, lifting his coffee cup to his lips and sounding for all the world that the massive amount of ordnance fired by [member="Cathul Thuku"] was of much less concern to him in the moment than the fact that his coffee seemed to have three sweeteners and two creamers rather than vice versa, as he had ordered it. Still, never mind, people were dying outside the bridge, it wouldn't do to complain. "May I suggest that you take a breath, Commander, and wait."
"Yes, sir," said Vollan. He was the Executive Officer but relatively green. His high test scores and winning personality had gotten him through the interview process for the plum position aboard the
Concordia. He had not seen warfare on quite this scale before, Carrak knew. It would be good to teach him an object lesson. Vollan pressed on: "Ought we to alert the Grand Moff?"
"
Excuse me?" Carrak demanded. "We don't disturb the Grand Moff every time a pressure seal cracks, we just get on with it. Although I do confess it would be a good hazing, sending you down there full of warnings about
Therapy Command," he said, suppressing an indulgent chuckle. "In any other circumstances, perhaps. We only
alert the Grand Moff if it's something worth alerting her for." Carrak finished his coffee and tossed the empty paper cup in a nearby garbage receptacle, then withdrew a gold cigarette case, offering it to the younger man first who -- bless him -- refused. He took one for himself, tapped it against the display table -- careful to avoid hitting any buttons -- and then placed it between his lips and snapped the case shut. "Now," said Carrak. "You are, I assume, concerned about the fact that the ANS
Excubitor has just launched an
extraordinary amount of ordnance in our direction -- is that right?"
"I don't know that I'd say -- well, yes, sir." He swallowed anxiously, watching the orange blob of ordnance streaking across the display table. "Concerned is about right."
"The commanding officer of the
Excubitor is a classic example of someone believing their own press," Carrak sniffed disdainfully. "Therefore, she -- a rather eccentric Twi'lek named
[member="Cathul Thuku"], if the security bureau briefings are correct -- has somehow become so self-deluded that she believes herself a tactical genius.
How she has managed to do so, when her record of engagements is rather dismal, I couldn't say -- incidentally, is there an inverse of the term undefeated? Whatever it is,
that's Thuku." He took a long drag from his cigarette and tapped some ash into the nearby ashtray, then gestured at the display table, causing a waft of smoke to form in the wake of his hand. "Do you see her mistakes yet? Do what those hideous head-tails seem to prevent: take a long view."
Vollan stepped closer to the display table, his eyebrows furrowing as he dedicated his attention to the battle. The orange mass representing the ordnance on its way to
Concordia was getting closer, and yet -- "She's fired at where we
were," Vollan exclaimed. "We'll be in a different location by the time that ordnance reaches the target!" The tone of Vollan's voice was half bewilderment, half triumphant, and Carrak had to confess to sharing at least the bewilderment part. "She ought, perhaps, to stick to psychological warfare," Vollan murmured confidentially to Carrak, his voice tinged with smugness.
"Engage countermeasures," called Carrak, before turning back to his protege. "Some of her ordnance will track -- it's not the dark ages, after all -- but her firing solutions are off and our point defenses will clear out a lot of that mess. What else did she do wrong?" Carrak asked, raising an eyebrow at Vollan, whose smirk disappeared. After a moment, Vollan shrugged apologetically. "Firing everything in a great blob like that -- particularly physical projectiles -- has a nasty habit of causing havoc if something were to go wrong. Like, for instance, if I did something like... this." He turned towards the Tractor Beam control coordinator. "Track those MIRVs and tractor them; they're certainly large enough. Starfighter command, deploy squadrons to destroy those MIRVs." He looked to the starfighter coordinator, who nodded. "Observe." A few squadrons of TIE fighters, ringed in blue on the display, appeared on the field and and opened fire on the MIRVs, held in tractor beam fields, aided by the Battle Meditation provided by [member="Samka Derith"] and amplified by the Sith Meditation Sphere within the ship's bowels.
"The debris field should clear out a significant portion of the projectiles, and the more collide with the debris field, the more debris there will be..." He inclined his head on the junior officer, a triumphant gleam in his eyes. The proximity made them an easy targets, and as the fighters huddled behind the cloud of missiles, the orange triangles denoting the ordnance soon began to thin. "It's not all sunshine and rainbows. She'll hit us -- she's not without a few brain cells, although --
tactical genius -- I ask you. But if she imagines the Grand Moff's flagship is going to be anything more than harassed by this foolish display, she's much less intelligent than I would have wagered. And now -- "
"Now she's wasted at least a significant portion of her remaining ordnance reserve for -- well, for not a lot," Vollan finished.
Carrak stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray as his ADC appeared with a fresh cup of caff. "Precisely. She thought she could distract us from our quarry, the
Incandescent Truth. A foolish gambit, and
Therapist Actual has been paid out for her folly. Oh, and Commander -- don't be alarmed, you may wish to brace for impact." He lifted his coffee cup. When he had finished his sip and set the cup down again on the side of the command table, the great flourish of Cathul Thuku had arrived, and barely anyone on
Concordia could tell beyond a slight tremor across the ship as the shields and hull absorbed the blow. Across the ship, turbolaser fire battered the shields and, in a few places the shields gave way, allowing the turbolaser fire to rupture the hull. As if by clockwork, the ship's automated defenses and safeguards sealed the ruptured areas, and fleets of efficient repair droids soon regulated the shields and began fire suppression and reinforcement of the superstructure.
"Their overconfidence in their technology will be their undoing," Carrak observed to Vollan before turning to the rest of the bridge crew. "What are you
waiting for? Get those buzz droids scraped off my ship!" The point defenses set to work, and soldiers in hardsuits emerged to dispatch the droids before anything but superficial damage could be done to the ship's weapons systems.
FIV
Concordia Status:
Shields 80% | Hull 85% | Firing all batteries at ANS
Incandescent Truth ([member="Aryn Teth"])
