Do You Even Ship? [Naval Training]

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Prellon Adras"], [member="Maira Varan"], [member="Knight"]

You wake up to the sound of alarms ringing loudly. The entire room shudders and the lights flicker as the unmistakable sounds of feet stampede outside your quarters. Upon opening the door, you see dozens upon dozens of people running past. Many look terrified. They're the easiest to spot in their civilian clothes and lab coats. Others run with a purpose. They're the ones running in black uniforms with gold accents, weapons in hand. Above you, the station's intercom comes to life.

"All hands to battle stations. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. Sith forces have broken through the outer system perimeter. Sith fighters are attacking the station. Their main fleet is five minutes out. I repeat, we are under attack. Get to your posts." You're one of dozens of recent transfers, and you haven't officially been assigned to any position yet. On a whim, you decide to head up to the station's bridge to talk with the commander and get your orders from him.

The hallways are cramped, but you manage to shoulder your way through. Panicked though they are, most of the civilians know well enough to get out of your way as you come charging through. View ports all over the station, designed to give a spectacular view of Corellia below, show a world in flames. The famous Gold Beaches, visible from orbit, were mere accents to the battles that ravaged the capital

Once you make it to the station's bridge, you come out of the lifts as explosions rock the station once more. Briefly you make out the retreating forms of a dozen droid TIE fighters as they scream past from their attack run. In the center of it all, still as stone, stood an instantly recognizable man. With his broad rim hat, long duster jacket, and signature cigar in hand, Ayden looked every bit the serious fleet commander he had come to be known as.

Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, Ayden turned and gave a small smirk. "I was wondering when you'd get here. Thought I was gonna lose the betting pool on whether or not you'd sleep through the attack." Any traces of humor left his face as he turned to the holographic table beside him. Displayed in flashes of blue and red were the ships in orbit around Corellia. "The Sith vanguard showed up unannounced twenty minutes ago. They knocked out damn near everything in the opening attack; planetary shields, long range communications, power generators. So we're basically all that stands between Corellia and a fiery subjugation."

He brought the cigar to his lips and took a deep draw before continuing. "We've got fighters and bombers making passes at the station and the orbital shipyards. Most of our fleet is locked in an engagement with the bulk of the Sith forces at the edges of the system, but it's not looking good. They're outnumbered nearly four to one. We're already getting reports of Sith capital ships breaking off from the fight and making straight for Corellia.

Now we have some capital ships still in orbit. A lot of them were in drydock undergoing repairs when the attack came. Most of them are still unusable in a fight. The bigger ones that were usable have already been claimed by the other transfers." Looking over, Ayden gave a half apologetic shrug as if to say 'Be on time next time' but said nothing else. "We've got a Warden-class Heavy Cruiser that's still missing a captain, as well as an Incus-class Escort Carrier and an Excubitor-class Cruiser if you want to keep pace with things.

"We have the resources, I'll give you six Blockade Runners, three Nebulon B7s, and a Telum Mk II frigate for support. Remember; more Sith are coming so we need to clear these fighters out as quickly as we can and secure the space above Corellia. They'll likely get their reinforcements here before we do, but that's just the name of the game this time. Pick your command ship and get to work. Dismissed."

 

[Nameless Knight]

Knight moved and still held herself at a ready stance as the captain spoke to her and she thought about the ships she had to use in this situation. No where near as enjoyable as her ships from Thyferra or whatever personal defense force she was allowed to bring into a fight as needed. No now it was the basics and the petite shi'ido spoke letting her bubblegum colored hair flicker a little back since she hadn't been able to straighten it out. Rubbing at her eyes for a moment she spoke. "I will take the Warden class and work as fast as possible sir." With a look Knight turned on her heel and shifted a little fixing her appearance on the way to get to the ship. The thoughts going through her head about what they could do didn't help so many issues and problems coming but the ships in dry dock could be used. She was old enough to know a hunk of armor in space could prove useful and Knight spoke. "Captain how many inoperable ships do we have? We could use them for trojans and plant fighters, bombers inside masking them for derelicts. Or a gravity well."

 

[Prellon Adras]

Even though Prellon was used to situations in which he had to wake up in the middle of his sleep to do Navy work, he was still quite tired. Only about two standard hours before the attack had he gone to sleep and now he had to wake up and perform a very, very important defense mission which could potentially decide the fate of the entire planet Corellia. While Ayden Cater, the Omega Protectorates Lord Protector, was explaining the situation, many thoughts ran through Prellon's head, but none that were important enough to bring up. After Ayden's short sit-rep, Prellon waited until the pink haired woman next to him to finish her sentence before talking himself ''I'm going to take command of the Excubitor.'' He said. He hadn't had much experience with this vessel, but he had even less with the other one that was still up for grabs. Prellon had read about the Excubitor during his time as a Republic commander.

Making his way towards the Excubitor, he was quite excited. Not necessarily in a good way, since the fate of an entire world and fleet would depend on how he and his compatriots would fair against the Sith Fleet today, but nevertheless he was excited. During this run, he thought about how to use the ships under his command efficiently. He come up with a couple tactics, but he would have to see what he could do once he got to the bridge of the ship. The pink haired woman's voice was audible again. She was making a proposition on how to use the ships in the dry docks. ''If we decide to use the ships that way, we should make sure that the ships are either almost in-reparable or as a last resort. We might be able to get some of those ships back on track before our whole fleet is shot out of the sky.''

[member="Knight"] [member="Ayden Cater"] [member="Maira Varan"]

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Knight"] , [member="Prellon Adras"]

Ayden peered at the holographic table and stroked his beard. "I hadn't even considered that... Suppose they're not much use just sitting there, and if we lose the system it's not like we'll be around to finish them." He turned to one of the com officers and pointed to him. "You. Get every one of those ships with a completed engine out into open space. Tow the ones that can't get out on their own." Turning back to the table, Ayden looked between the two people and nodded. "This is it. Our last stand. The Republic is gone. The Mandalorians are gone. Every Jedi in the galaxy, hunted... There's no running from this. No great escape to leave and fight another die. We win... or we die."

The station shook once more and Ayden's face set in stone. "Get to your ships. I'll launch the last of the station's fighters. They'll make sure your shuttles get to your ships. After that, I'll update you on the progress of the Sith. Most of the station's weapons are off-line. We're working to get them back up, but don't count too much on our fire support. It's up to you two now." With that, Ayden shifted his focus to getting sitreps from the other ships in the raggedy remains of the Protectorate fleet. Outside of the station, dozens of Sith corvettes approached the station. As long as everyone moved fast, the ships wouldn't get in range of the station before the last two parts of the fleet moved into position.

 

[Nameless Knight]

[member="Ayden Cater"] [member="Prellon Adras"]

Knight gave a nod of her head and was moving while she went into the shuttle and stood there looking out at the viewport. Her finger tapping her side but more importantly it was what the Lord Protector had said about everything. It had her making sure the tonfa's were secure as it arrived and Knight let out a breath going to the bridge. Speaking quickly and clearly to the men to get ready but stopping on the bridge as she spoke looking at them and at her ships. "Open a channel to all ships in our battle group." The man went along while it started to speak standing on the bridge. "All hands prepare this may well be our final fight and a last stand but we will not sacrifice the last of the Protectorate. We have lost to much already, the sith have invaded our space and we fell back. They wiped out the Republic and we fell back, crushed the mandalorians and we fell back. The line must be drawn here, this far and no further. We will make them pay and make them remmeber why they should fear. Now to battle stations and have all fighters. I want the escape pods to be rigged and the engineers to work on blocking sensors. Make them see no lifesigns while as many bombs we can spare are loaded. We'll send into their tractor beams explosives and let them have a taste."

 

[Prellon Adras]

Having received the orders from the Lord Protector himself, Prellon boarded the shuttle that would bring him to his flagship. Once he arrived on the shuttle he tried to think of a speech he would give to his crew once he would arrive at his ship, but he couldn't think of one. Not because of the pressure of the situation, more because he wasn't the type to give inspiring speeches. His old crew knew that if they did their jobs well and correctly, they'd get rewarded and would be able to survive a couple days longer, if they didn't, they and the rest of their crew would die. That was the mutual understanding on his previous ship, though now it was a different environment. He would have to adapt to it, or else he would fail. Especially now, where the fate of an entire world would rest on the shoulders of him and the rest of the men, women and others serving the Omega Protectorate. Once he arrived on the ship, he made his way to the bridge. There he opened a comm channel to the other ships under his command as well as to all sections of his ship. ''All of you know what you have to do. The men and women on that planet depend on us. Do your best and maybe we'll survive to see the Sith get kicked in their behinds!''

[member="Knight"] [member="Ayden Cater"]

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Knight"] , [member="Prellon Adras"]

The shuttles were escorted out by fighters that had certainly seen better days. Some of them still had holes and scorch marks on their hulls from the fighting they had seen. Damage that had not even been repaired before they were being thrust out into combat once more. The pilots looked just as haggard and grim. They all had the same expression, that of resigned death. But they would take as many Sith down as they could before they'd let themselves be killed.

Before the shuttles even cleared the hanger, they came under fire. A pair of Taral-class Sith fighters screamed past, lancing at the shuttles with volleys of red fire. Immediately a pair of Guardians broke off and pursued them while the others took up a defensive formation around the shuttles. A Voyeur-class corvette spotted the formation and made a beeline for it. Most of the escort fighters broke off to distract it while the shuttles arrived at their respective targets. By the time the two fleets were ready, the rest of the assembled Protectorate battle groups were engaged with the first wave of Sith ships. More Sith corvettes were headed straight for the station while a handful of frigates were coming in from the opposite direction.

 

[Nameless Knight]

[member="Ayden Cater"] [member="Prellon Adras"]

Knight looked at the screen and the view port as the battle came and she thought about what to do. They had to last and take as many as they could as she brought up a holomap for tactical to watch. Her eyes went about as she spoke. "Move our people into positions and target enemy engines and life support. Lets give incoming ships something to block the path when they get here." Knight had her ships move into position as they opened fire aiming for the engines with all ions cannons and the hull to cause the most damage. "HAve fighters and flak cannons target their fighters and make a screen." Her finger traced along to find the flak cannons and direct them to enemy hangers with a nod. "And move of of the Nebulons forward with all power directed to shields. Posiiton it as a screen on its side and direct everything to the bottom hull. Then move the blockade runners to buzz fighters as they go past it and create a kllzone."

 

[Prellon Adras]

As Prellon analysed the tactical situation he came up with a couple of ways. He could for one target the enemy vessel's shields and engines, like the other commander did, or he could try disabling their power source and then destroying their weapons, to minimize the damage output of the vessels. For a second he thought about it but then thought about picking the weapons as his primary targets while also having some of the weapons destroy the shields so they don't get to run away and reactivate them and thus make it harder to destroy them later on again. That procedure seemed better to him, since the ships would get taken out of the battle pretty quickly and would either have to run away, or float around aimlessly while getting picked off by other ships. He could also send the Starfighters in after the weapons were destroyed to pick off the engines and make the ships less manoeuvrable. But for that he'd have to eliminate the fighters around the ships, so that the bombers would get a clear shot without having to worry about interceptors and other Starfighters that could pick them off easily. ''Send out the Blockade runners to deal with the Starfighters and launch our own as well. I want to have those fighters out of the way before launching our main attack on the enemy's ships and target the enemy's turbo laser banks and shields, I want them to deal as little damage to our ships as possible, this will be a long fight and we'll need every ship we can get!''

[member="Knight"] [member="Ayden Cater"]