First Encounter With The Enemy From The Deep [Metal Lords PVE]

[WD-334]

WD-334's boarding transport successfully landed into the hangar of [member="Fleet Admiral Harris"]. With the large war droid it had brought it's personal guard and a detachment of R-99 Vanguards. "Admiral Harris...Admiral Harris, this unit have boarded and is moving toward the bridge." Outside of the bridge through the hangar's forcefield, the Obsidian Fist could be seen firing all weapons upon the Deep Ones ships, trying to shoot the ship attempting to draw in Harris's vessel. The Tartan-class rested along the Star Destroyer, focusing fire against the vessel as well as it tried to weaken it's shielding of the Deep Ones ships.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kurenai Yumi"], [member="Sol Damerin"],

"It is alright, starships and stones may try to break my bones but your words will never hurt me!"

The machine would call out in response to Yumi, although that probably barely made sense, before peeking out from the belly of the combat shuttle he was in, motioning for them to hurry up,

"You can talk aboard the dropship, come on! I do not want to be known as the Metal Lord Who Arrives To Battle Last!"

He would wave them closer to his transport so that they may take off and run the gauntlet of chaos that was their area of space, filled with various explosion of flak guns and flashing brightly with the deadly illumination from rapid-firing anti-starship point defenses. The dropship HK was in already churned and hummed with its powerful engines, continuously powering up as it strained and groaned with metal, kept in place by its magnetic anchors. Its hull was stable, but it was definitely older, with signs of previous battles and burned in scars from energy based weapons dotting its armored plating. It still had old Omega Protectorate markings here and there, denoting it as one of the vessels of Abregado Defense Fleet, but many of them were replaced with the new insignia of Metal Lords, a steel-colored cog in golden trim with two red photoreceptors.

 

[Xardas]

[member="Fleet Admiral Harris"], [member="AD-8"], @Ra'a'mah, [member="Lord Mettallum"],

The battle between the two forces raged in its earnest, with brilliant flashes exploding out in the darkness of space as WD's the Obsidian Fist battled against the grotesque vessels of the Deep Ones along with coalition of other Metal Lords. Turbolaser shots sprayed out against the large armored tentacles which were wrapping around Harris' flagship, trying to strangle and draw the vessel in. The energy shots triggered explosion on the thick armored plating, covering it in burned marks and soot as the outer layer of alien metal being scorched as the tentacle shuddered and metallic groan of its structure was heard echoing through the vessel within its grasp. It would twitch and creak but it did not relent just yet, keeping Harris' ship in its tight grasp.

From time to time a blue energy barrier would appear around the Kraken-class Cruiser when a shot strayed too close to its bloated body, another layer of protection covering the strange vessel. It would be possible to shut it off, but someone would have to either sneak through the vessel to do it, or pin point and focus the outside structure of the shield generator.

Seeing the threat the Obsidian Fist posed to them, a squadron of cuttlefish-like starfighters raced through the void between the ships, moving into formation as they tailed WD's ship. Chasing their enemy the squid fighters would unleash a volley of proton torpedoes as one engaged its overdrives, gaining on speed exponentially, slithering faster and faster until it tried to outmaneuver and ram the Obsidian Fist into its cockpit, attempting to wrap the smaller tentacle-like grabbers to seal itself to its command bridge equivalent.


[member="WD-334"],

WD's forces would quickly come into fire, one of the Deep Ones' battalions of enslaved soldiers noticing their arrivals. As WD and his droids disembarked a rain of red blaster bolts would already be spraying over them as the enemy soldiers, clad in mismatched suits of scavenged and stolen armor, were using archaic and captured weaponry to fire upon them. Most of it were various blasters, some managed to get their hands on a fletchette gun or some sort of a slugthrower, maybe a stray shattergun, but nothing too deadly. What made them a danger, however, were their numbers, far larger than the group of R-99s lead by WD, firing upon them from behind makeshift covers of various durasteel bins and boxes they managed to find, some were stacked into quick barricades, most just took cover behind whatever was nearest.

The soldiers were organics, mostly human, but there was something off about them. Even at distance their eyes would seem glazed over and distant, not fully focused at their targets. Instead, they would seem to fire based on their instincts, as if there was some greater, more omniscient power that was guiding them.

In between the fire and noise of combat WD or one of his droids would be able to see a more grotesque and strange figure among the enemy soldiers. Levitating slightly above the ground with its long sickly tentacles trailing over the metal floor, there was one of the Deep Ones. The being was clad in organic looking chitinous armor, colored in various shades of bronze and gold, one of his hands was clutching a heavy warhammer, which weight would seem as if it would rip his sickly thin skeletal limbs thin off just from lifting it up, the other hand had a strange organic looking rifle. It looked like a mass of metal and flesh twisted and twined together with their very fibers to form this weapon.

The Deep One made no sound, its face tentacles writhing and shaking furiously from an opening in its elongated helmet as it hovered to the side smoothly, moving to take cover behind the edge of a blast door doorway as he raised his weapon and took aim towards WD, unleashing a prolonged beam of blue ionic weaponry.

 

[Riamah]

At her request for information, it was forwarded to her and she watched the looped footage. This would be her first space engagement and Ra was actually slightly nervous. Once in a while it happened, even to the secret Sith Lord. That fact was still unknown and she kept it that way. If anybody felt her through the Force it would appear that she was of a neutral alignment with very little training. However, one thing the woman couldn't hide was her confidence. Right now, her small fleet was not close enough for her to felt by anybody, but that might change when they reached where the confrontation was happening.

After the expect hour, Ra brought her fleet out of hyperspace and they engulfed in the battle almost instantly.

"Make sure to keep our shields up and prepare to deploy half of our fighters."

Now came the​ tricky part for her. Which ships to help first, which ones to fire on. Seeing some fighters following after the Obsidian Fist, she ordered the fighters to engage them.

 

[WD-334]

WD-334 raised it's shield as some rounds reflected off it's body. A couple of the war droids forces fell to the ground, sparks flying from the holes in their armor where plasma met metal. The others raised their shields. The hangar was filled with plasma fire. WD did not care as much for casualties, on either side, as long as the mission was complete. So when it began to fire volleys upon the former crew of [member="Fleet Admiral Harris"], not a thought of sympathy went through it's datacore. All it did was fire from behind it's large shield, it's own forces under heavy fire. "This unit requires reinforcements in hangar" it transmitted to the other Metal Lords. At this rate, it would not be able to push onward.

Outside in space, the Obsidian Fist was trying to hold it's own. It's shields were taking heavy hits, and it's drone fighters were taking losses. The Tartan cruiser Obsidian pulled back, focusing fire on fighters as the Obsidian Fist began to move forward, readying it's SPHA cannon. If it could just fire that, the blast would be able to cause plenty of damage against the Deep Ones ship that was firing upon the Star Destroyer.

@Ra'a'mah [member="Xardas"] [member="HK-36"] [member="Lord Mettallum"]

 

[AD-8]

AD-8 watched the battle from the bridge of the fortress class cruiser. Hypnotised by the arcs of light flying from ship to ship. He was awakened from his slumber by the message from [member="WD-334"].
"Send half of the troops to assist WD-334's forces in the hanger of Harris's ship," He relayed down to the hanger bay where his forces had gathered. A few moments later his transport ships came into view, making a beeline for their target. A squadron of fighters formed up and protected them from hostile ships.

AD shifted his gaze to the enemy ships, slowly advancing towards the metal lords ships.
"Concentrate fire on the escort frigates and corvettes, they're cutting our fighters to pieces." As he spoke another friendly fighter spiralled past the viewport, flames flying from its tail leaving a light streak across the void of space.

[member="Ra'a'mah"] [member="Xardas"] [member="HK-36"]

 

[null3]

Harris rose from the floor, struggling to his feet. He grabbed his blaster pistol and strapped on his chest piece. Now he was mad.

The alien force fired down the hallways in the direction of the room where Harris was now situated. He looked around and thanked the men who carried him out of the gunfight.

"Men, if we don't push these things back, this ship, our home, can be destroyed. I will not let that happen."

Harris opened the door to the halls and lead a charge of LT Wills and his stormtroopers against The alien menace.

 

[Xardas]

@Ra'a'mah,


The decision about which enemy ships to fire upon first would have been a fairly easy one for Ra as the arrival of her fleet brought a new stir of activity and excitement out of the Deep One's fleet. To deal with this new threat a task force of several oblong corvettes with muscular stubby tentacles trailing behind them made its way towards Ra's ships, spinning as they soared like bullets, pushed by hefty engines nestled in between their tentacles. As soon as they entered firing range from ridges covering the oblong ships laser fire would spew out, flying through the void between stars towards Ra's ships.

The enemy corvettes would be armed mostly with quad-linked laser turret equivalents, these fast firing weapons were not exactly dangerous against bigger capital ships, however they were quite a dangerous tool when used against starfighters. The corvettes were sent out against Ra and her ships to act as an obstacle, forcing her to chase or deal with them first if she would not want her starfighters to fall an easy prey to these warships.


[member="AD-8"], [member="Kurenai Yumi"], [member="Sol Damerin"],

Fortunately, with Ra and her new compliment of fighters being the center of attention, she took the brunt of anti-starfighter pressure as good portion of the support corvettes trailed off from the main host to focus on counter-acting the arrival of her new, fresh reinforcements. This would have been the window AD-8 and other transports needed, an opening through which they could push through towards the main enemy flagships, although they still had to worry about the presence of enemy starfighters, nothing the droid pilots couldn't handle most likely. Not to mention, with the Squid ships becoming split off in the chaos of battle, AD's own vessels would have an easier time of picking out more vulnerable targets to focus down first.

The enemy frigates still remained in position however, although few begun to shudder and groan under the onslaught of Metal Lord vessels, one particularly had its deflectors flicker off and quickly become skewered by numerous bright lances of turbolaser bolts, its core igniting up in brilliant flames as one of AD's ships managed to explode and annihilate the enemy frigate in a spectacle of beauty and destruction. Following its explosion a field of debris extended out, streaking across the void to attack friends and foes alike, creating a zone of shrapnel and obstacles for Metal Lord starfighters and transports to get through.


[member="WD-334"],


The wet sound of tentacles writhing and slapping against each other came from the Deep One in command of the boarding parties, broken apart by the loud sharp sounds of its organic-looking ion rifle firing off shot after shot. Few initial blasts of ionic energy aimed at WD would meet the droid's shield, splashing against it in blue arcs, before the Deep One took aim at the droid's shoulder and head, trying to pick off points where he could sneak in ionic attacks to get past WD's defenses.

Meanwhile in between shots the Deep One raised his writhing hand and motioned towards one side of the hangar. The thralls fighting alongside him, corpses brought back to life as warrior slaves through the Deep Ones' dark practices, did not acknowledge his gesture but seemed to know what it meant as some of them shuffled towards the direction motioned by the Squid-Man, leaving the cover of their makeshift crate barricades as they begun firing wildly at WD's forces.

Under the Deep One's command a squad of thralls begun to push along one side to fold in WD's line as the rest of the Deep Ones boarding forces in that area pushed up harder and some started to leave their covered firing positons, moving up to decrease the distance between them and WD's forces, hoping to use their superior numbers to flank the droids and begin forcing them down, deeper into their ships to start gaining ground or wipe them out once and for all.

For now it seemed that WD was left without reinforcements, although the fact that through nearby screens they would be able to witness one of the nearby Deep One's frigates losing its shields and explode under attack from the vessels belonging to Metal Lord AD, they could probably tell that if they just held out a bit longer, the reinforcements would come.


Outside in space the Deep One fighters kept up their combat against the Obsidian Fist, trying to conduct strafing and bombing runs to deplete the vessels shields and open them up to further attacks so that the droid vessel would be sunk. It seemed that the Squids took notice of WD's ship charging up its SPHA cannon as more of them targeted the vessel and open fire. The Kraken-class cruiser slightly shifted in its position of still trying to strangle the life out of Harris' vessel as its weapons systems powered up, launching a barrage of anti-capital ship turbolaser bolts aimed towards the Obsidian Fist, along side with shots from nearby more heavily armored frigates, seemingly bent now on sicking or deactivating the vessel before it could fire its dangerous SPHA cannon.



[member="Fleet Admiral Harris"],

Finally,

By now Harris would receive transmission that the Metal Lords came through for him and one party was already fighting off the Deep Ones in one section of his ship, with more on their way now, soaring through the void of space as their vessels opened fire, and some of the Squid ships, a frigate especially, went up in flames.

Meanwhile, aboard, Harris would came face-to-face with their foe as he charged the Squid forces down alongside his stormtroopers. The Deep Ones fielded a host that was an amalgam of various beings and species from different cultures and eras of time. The soldiers he would come to charge, taking positions behind makeshift crate barricade, were various spacers, stormtroopers, and even a couple of clonetroopers could be seen among them. All of them seemed very pale and sunk in, more like a corpse than a man, with cold dull eyes that looked ahead blindly, unmoving even as they fired back towards Harris' forces. These soldiers, these thralls, seemed to be under some sort of trance, or seemed more like walking corpses than actual living beings.

Charging them Harris would see one of the beings in command of the assault as moving in from behind one of the pillars was a rather large figure covered in golden ornate armor, made out from sort of chitin twined together with durasteel from the looks of it. From his semi-open helmet long muscular tentacles would cascade out, leaving wet trails over his chestplate, as the being clutched what looked to be a large axe. The tall Deep One, its limbs and amalgam of very tone, very sinuous muscles that did not seem to have any issues carrying along his weapon and the weight of his armor, strode directly towards Harris, quickly charging and pushing through to avoid the man's soldiers as the Deep One tried to cut down the distance and grab the Admiral by his chest, to lift him up right in front of the Deep One.

As the Deep One came closer, Harris would be able to feel a cold and crushing presence trying to assault his mind, sending in images of defeat, murder, and gore, along with corpses floating face down in what seemed to be a large crimson basin filled with what seemed to be black writhing ichor, as if filled to the brim with dark maggots.

"Surrender."

The voice spoke out in Harris' mind, or at least tried to speak out, sending images of surrender to try and plant the thought within him.

 

[AD-8]

AD-8 watched out of the viewports on the bridge at the onslaught of ships heading towards ra glad that they weren't coming towards him. With most of the corvettes branching off there was a large gap in the enemy defences.

"All fighters, clear a path to their flagship for the rest of our transports, all capital ships fire on the remaining corvettes, let's go." He broadcast across his fleet, hoping to exploit the gaps in their defence.

The batteries of turbolasers spat out ars of light towards the enemy, hoping to hit home.

ooc- sorry tags weren't working

 

[WD-334]

WD-334 held it's shield against the fire, and the ionic blasts flashed against it's shielding. It attempted to block fire, and one ionic blast hit a weak point in the now low energy shield, the shoulder joint holding it's weapon. The arm was momentarily disabled, along with the weapon. They were getting pushed back, quickly. But the war droid would not let some turned crew members and tentacled foes stop that. They had to move forward, and WD would not have any honor left if they were forced into retreat.

"Push forward!" the war droid ordered. More of it's droids fell, attempting to push against the defending forces. They had to secure the hangar for reinforcements, before they had to be forced back and be unable to take back the ship. "This ship shall be taken!" Some may not have found it a wise move, but WD was all about brutality.

@AD-8 @Xardas @Fleet Admiral Harris @Ra'a'mah @Lord Metallum

 

[null3]

Harris was beginning to feel lifeless as the alien held him by his neck above the combat, the images of defeat, death, destruction, they were powerful, but so was harris' will, his arms dangling at his side, Harris rolled his eyes up to meet the aliens.

"The only defeat," the grip grew harder and harris struggled more, "is your's."

Harris grabbed the small vibro-blade on his leg, and quickly pulled it up and cut the aliens neck with it in a single swing. Blood splattered across harris' face and helmet. He dropped to the ground, and the alien''s head fell off its shoulders hitting the ground with a thud.

"God damn," he was out of breath, he crawled to the aliens corpse and pulled the sword from its wretched grasp. He stood. "Commander Wills, Push forword! MEN ATTACK!!"

The stormtroopers began pushing forward with harris leading the charge. He quickly cut through an alien on the left and shot one on his right, a blaster in one hand, sword in the other. He was firing and knocked down several more. And alien stood and charged him, he disengaged his new sword and shoved the blasters, barrel end into its chest, bayoneting it and then delivering a critical shock.

"Grenade!" Harris turned and seen it hut the ground next to him. "HOLD ON TO SOMETHING!" He screamed as he dived away. The explosion rattled the hallways and blew a hole in the weakened armor of the ship.

The last of the aliens were pulled from their feet, including one who had advanced slightly. Harris held onto a grate in the floor.

"CLOSE THE ATMOSPHERIC SHIELD ON ALL LEVELS IF THE 13TH LEVEL!"

The alien that had advanced finally lost his footing and was sucker out, htting harris and mocking him off the grate. The alien in front of him barreling out of the hole, Harris right behind, he closed his eyes as Commander Wills dived from cover and grabbed harris' leg, the shield closed and Wills held on, the presume reset, Harris was dangling on the edge of the hole.

He scrambled to his feet and smiled.

"Thank you captain." He looked down at a picture of all the breaches in the ship. "This area is clear, but I need you and your men to regroup and assist the others in fending off against the hostiles onboard. Be prepared, in case I initiate Epsilon Protocol."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that sir."

Harris nodded, "let's," he then began to run down the halls, looking at all the damage. He turned a corner and kept running, all the ways to the elevators. He found them, stepped in and pushed the button to the right bridge.

The elevator sped upwards at a fast speed towards the bridge. Harris waited for the dong, then stepped out. He steeped into the bridge and the officers looked at him in shock. Lieutenant Jackson looked at him and walked to words him, he looked at him, head to toe.

"Sir, did you have a good time?"

Harris' armor was dented, his helmet mis-shapen, his face covered in a black residue from the explosion, with blood whipped just underneath. He had several blaster bolt impacts on his armor and a cut near his ankle where he was grazed with an alien sword. His uniform underneath was ripped, and burnt heavily.

"Yes, LT. I had a blast, now please, it's time that we activate project blackout."

"Blackout? Are you sure?"

Harris stepped toward the front of the bridge, he looked out at the battlescape in awe. He watched the alien ships desimating his fleet. He noticed something, a ship, he watched it focused on it.

"Oh no, CLEAR THE LEFT BRIDGE!"

Harris barked out the orders, the communications to the other bridge were fried, he watched as the ship, flew though the shields and smacked into the second bridge. The bridge was blown up and an explosion rattled it off the frame that it was held to, the bridge floated off into space, slowly, sparking and drifting.

Harris watched.

"Lt. Get that project in full swing, right now!"

Harris walked up to the command consoles on the left and pushed a button that enabled comms to the intact parts of the the ship.

"Attention men, as of this moment, the ship''s incapable of making a jump to hyperspace, so effective now, I am initiating Epsilon Protocol."

 

[Xardas]

[member="AD-8"],


Shots from AD's fleet soared through the abyss of space like lances made out of pure crimson fire, splashing out against the masses of enemy ships with brilliant display of turbolaser exploding against the shimmering surface of deflector shields. They would strike upon the invisible barrier over and over again, ramming upon it in savage display as their transports made the mad dash towards the enemy, cutting the distance closer and closer in their breakneck approach as some of the shields finally begun to collapse under the pressure of droid shots. The corvettes and frigates, bloated oblong vessels with mechanized tendrils coming off of them shaped in the wicked resemblance of their Deep One masters, writhing and screeching with the sound of tearing metal exploded around the frigates, crashing into each other, reactors and weapon decks igniting against the bleak background of space.

However, even as transports would push on through in between all the carnage, capitalizing on the break in the enemy lines the impressive array of firepower AD brought on with him, their enemy would try to hinder their passage still. Corvettes and frigates pushed on from one of their flanks, trying to pierce through the barrages coming from AD's fleet in order to rain upon them quick rain of point defense shots, rapid fire of quad-laser turrets mounted on these squid-like vessels, trying to ram what they could not shoot down as they charged towards the transports, tentacles writhing behind them, some turning around to whip the transports with them, attempting to crush or capture any droid ships they could before they reached their target with the two capital ships still interlocked with each other.

It wasn't a death sentence, not just yet, as there was still time for the transports and their support vessels to react, but it would be a test to how quickly and how well AD could organize his vessels, big and small, and how trained their crew were when it came to exploding quickly moving enemy ships.



[member="WD-334"],

Hopefully AD would manage to push through in the end and bring the much needed aid to WD as inside Harris' craft the fighting would grow more and more desperate, already being fairly brutal even before WD decide to fight the Squids in melee.

Seeing that the large war droid's weapon was disabled from a barrage of ion bolts the Deep One soldier in command of the unit they were fighting made a gesture with his tentacles, guiding the various thralls he assembled to push back on upon the droids. Many of their shambling enemy troopers would start to peak out and move from behind cover quite daringly as with their squid overlord's command they would fire upon the remaining units more aggressively, without taking time to get behind cover.

Some of the soldiers focused upon WD especially, the Deep One Warrior being among them, jumping out to the side from behind a barrel it was using for cover, holding on to his ion blaster as he pulled the trigger, sending out a couple of prolonged blue bolts like lances of electricity aimed at WD's torso and legs, hoping to disable the machine fully, if he would be able to get behind the War Droid's shield that is. Either way, it seemed that the squid man had a similar tactical ideas as WD, moving in closer and closer the Squid forces would pick up on their pace, charging WD and his forces right back to meet them in open combat, with the tall somewhat muscular Deep One Warrior leading the charge, reaching to grab his hammer in one hand as he held his ion blaster in the other.



[member="Fleet Admiral Harris"],


The grenade blew open a hole within the ship's hull and almost immediately there was that terrible tug of pressure as air was sucked out, jettisoned into cold space, forcing Harris's soldiers to stabilize themselves by holding on for dear life as the nearby Deep Ones and their shambling soldiers, not expecting the sudden hazard were slammed against the walls, clawing at the metal panels and surfaces, trying to grab what they could by their tentacles, but all would be pulled out from the ship and purged into the cold abyss, the many corpses of the squid-men and their undead servants Harris managed to slay included, leaving him with his troops, and his new prize.

The sword Harris would manage to hang onto was old, very old, from Old Republic Era, but still usable. It was however reforged few times, evidently from the strange appearance of its metal, it lacked the rough, straight, precise edges Republic weapons usually had, or weapons forged by machines, it was much more sleeker, its counters flowing into each other and molding seamlessly, almost organically so as if it was more of an edged prolonged stinger rather than anything else. Safe to say it would serve Harris well.

Harris' plan was a huge step, considering how the Metal Lords seemed to be more willing to fight for the ship and defend it rather than sacrifice it as Harris wanted to, however that was probably because larger ship like his came rarely for the droids, so if they could preserve it and keep using it, they would. However something beneficial would came from their stubbornness to Harris' plan, for by then he would probably receive reports of WD being engaged in a brutal fight against the Deep Ones within one of his ship's hangars, refusing to give ground to the Squids while AD was coming in hot through the Deep One lines with more machine reinforcements. If the two of them would manage to hold the hangars, or perhaps even push through to meet with Harris, he would have an evacuation route along with his crew, not to mention ability to relay on dropships to get him off of the doomed ship rather than escape pods alone.

Of course he would have to inform them first of his plan and what exactly the Epsilon Protocol was.

 

[WD-334]

WD-334 pt it's metallic shield in front, more centered this time. It moved the shield around to block anymore oncoming ionic blasts, but with it's weapon disabled, there was not much more it could do to return fire. An idea came to mind, but it was not the best as it's forces were thinning. "Join shields!" All of the R-99's joined shields, and in one motion they moved forward in a long line to move into a melee. As soon as WD got close enough, it swept it's shield out in an arc in front, aiming to throw aside all in front. It stomped to stumble some of the forces. "Force them back!" It ordered, as the transport was their only way off. And the war droid would not back down. And that is when it saw [member="AD-8"]'s transports coming in. This may have been the chance they were waiting for.

Elsewhere, the Obsidian Fist, alongside began Phase Two of WD's plan. While WD-334 was engaging in the hangar, another force had prepared to board via the docking tube. Three squads of R-99's, with a group of Ashen guard stormed through the opening once it was cut open. And then they split in half, one half headed for the bridge and the other toward the hangar to support the boarding distraction force in the hangar. Their only enemy now was time.

@Xardas @Fleet Admiral Harris @Ra'a'mah @HK-36

 

[Nuuc Lapt]

[member="Fleet Admiral Harris"] [member="Xardas"] @AD-8 @HK-36

The Salvation sped through hyperspace, nearing the origin point of the distress call their comms had picked up while stopped to refuel. Unzul Jelt, her captain, paced across the bridge as his subordinates prepared for what they expected to be a rough drop. Metal Lords made for good allies, and friends would be good to have.

"We're nearly there, Captain," said the chief navigator, Mon Stibb, in his native Sullustan.

"Good." Unzul replied, stopping and turning to the chief engineer and communications officer. "Bree, prepare to drop out of hyperspace. Hugo, get our comms ready to connect with the Metal Lord command ship."

The drop found them a short distance away from the main scrum, and what a sight it was to behold. Friend was easy to distinguish from foe as they picked out the lead Star Destroyer below, its hull under heavy attack from ships of a kind none on the bridge of the Salvation had seen before. Ships whose smaller forms darted about the field, assaulting the Metal Lord ship as well as a fleet of cruisers led by a much larger Fortress-class cruiser. The lead enemy ship, at the far end of the field of open space below, seemed to be under attack as well, a field of debris and turbolaser fire between it and the capital ship opposing making for a particularly deadly stretch of space.

Zhayyvri, the wookiee officer in charge of their weapons and shields, made his growls and vocalizations to inform him that the shields and weapons were hot and asking where to target them.

He pointed to the Fortress-class ship. "Get us over there. We'll be cut to pieces down below, and on our own we'll be too easy of a target for fighters. We'll provide close defense for those larger ships."

"Communications are patched through, sir."

"This is Captain Unzum Jelt of the Frontier-class corvette Salvation to all friendly ships in the area. We're here to provide assistance. There isn't much we can do against those capital ships but we can provide fighter defense."

 

[null3]

Harris and his men men bulleted down the hallways of the throne, the hallway was filled with smoke from leaking gas lines, there were blinking emergency lights and a voice over the intercoms yelling for all men to abandon ship immediately.

Harris slowed, stopped, the turned to his men, " Okay, this is as far as I go. You and your men are to go immediately to the Raider class Corvette and situate yourself, it'll be crowded but I need you ready for evacuation. I'm going to the hangers while we still have time to attempt to increase morale for the men and a assist them with fending off against the Deep ones. I will meet back up when the time is right, I will enter the Raider and we will extract."

Commander Wills nodded, then him and WD began running, along with their Troopers, to the Raider class Corvette.

Harris look back at them for a moment, then he turned back and entered a room from the hallway. He walked in, it was dead silent. He shouted out into the room.


"Hello, it's me!"

From the corner of the room light started to bend, contort, and wrap around an organic shape, all of a sudden a light appeared followed by the silhouette of a man followed by the view of a man in Black stormtrooper armor with a heavy backpack, all within an instant.

"Lieutenant, project blackout is in full swing, you and your men are to board your private Fighters as soon as the rest of the men start evacuation, but as for right now you are defending against the Deep ones and stay hidden from the men they are not to know of your existence."

There is a heavy breathing sound coming from the helmet followed by a click of a radio, An almost mechanical voice came out.

" understood sir, my men and I will do as much as possible to fend off against the deep ones. How do you suppose we stay hidden from all the men for so long, wouldn't they notice Blaster Fire coming from the opposite direction? And when they eventually want to know who save in their skin?"

" just remember your training and get out there, understood?"

"Yes Sir."

Harris walked out of the room and turn towards the hanger and begin running down the hallway he came around the corner and blast doors opened immediately after the doors opened he spotted a deep one Squadron firing on men inside the hanger, he pulled out his sword.

"Hey you dumb bastards, you want some of me?"

Harris taunted the Deep ones for a moment, they turned to face him and upon noticing him begin firing. They were screened in charge them with his sword, he jumped in cut one in the face and it fell to the ground through satisfying thud, he quickly pulled his Blaster and shot several bolts into the into the chest of the other, and finally a charged and stabbed through the chest of the commanding officer. Harris landed on the ground and put the sword back at his waist.

"Sir?"

Hairs turned to see an entire battalion of Stormtroopers standing there in the hanger. The one crewman who just witnessed was horrific event was in shock. Harris smirked and just casually dust it off his shoulder.

" well I did promise I'd come back for you."

Harris stood in the hanger with the men and waited. Suddenly there was an explosion across the hanger, a storm of blaster bolts flew into hole. Suddenly, at Old deep one stepped out of the hole, and we can cutting down Stormtroopers. Harris did the only thing he could think and that was to begin pushing his way through the crowd and charged the Deep one. He ran up, jumped, and plunged his sword into the chest armor.

The deep one laughed. "You dare stab me human?"

Harris pulled the sword from his chest and pulled it down to a defensive position as he hit the ground, the tall deep one swung his sword to meet Harris's, and Harris almost fell under the force of the swing. The Deep one swung yet again trying to disarm Harris but failed. Harris now moved to the offense. He began rapidly swinging at the leg armor, and cut the leg of the deep one clean and deep. The Deep ones fell to the ground screaming agonizing pain. He looked up at Harris.

"This is for killing my men!"

Harris swung and cut the deep one''s head clean off. The men stared in shock for a moment, then began to cheer and whoop as they just witness their commanding officer behead this beast that had just killed their friends.

"Okay men, your transports are here, it is time for you to begin extraction."

He turned into the crowd and began making his way to the Raider as the first drops hip landed in the hanger. The topside of the hanger lit up as pilots began entering their fighters.

As Harris entered the raider, Commander wills greeted him and showed him to the bridge. Harris''s clothes were torn and burnt, his armor was falling off and he had blood on him. He was beat up awefully. Upon reaching the bridge, he turned to the commander. I need New clothes and to clean myself.

Commander wills showed the Admiral to his quarters. Harris stepped into the room and approached a container on the floor by his bed. Inside he found a new, grey and black uniform that smelt of new fabric and soap. There was also a black cloak and a belt.

He went to his lavatory and stepped out soon after, clean, saved, and in his new uniform.

He walked to the birdge, squeezing through the ever-more claustrophobic hallways. Upon reaching the bridge he thanked wills. He stepped to the front of the bridge and clicked the emergency beacon. There he waited.

 

[Haon Hafey]

"We should been there now! Come on Alarm go faster!"

Haon Hafey had recieved the distress beacon and had been getting some updates yet it has been a slow procedure. He had been warned people will need to be lifted out from certain ships and there was not much they can pick from to help out and one new message got him worried. The Harris's Throne was about to be destroyed, it was falling apart. He has had very little data on the Deep Ones other than they could reanimate dead corpses and have powers to demoralize men which hopefully, would not occur here today to bad. The timer was counting down now as they were getting closer as Haon gripped onto the side of his chair as he had some odd instinct.

"DROP NOW!"

The Type-K Assault Corvette lurched out of hyperspace as it was right in front of one of the large tendril ships as the crew merely stared at it, even Haon got up as he felt a bit of overwelming power from just looking at it. He then realized he had a small advantage as he looked like just an ordinary freighter...it had not tried to wack the Alarm with its tendrils as it slowly moved in as people tried to talk, Haon shushing them as he was waiting for the perfect moment. When the arms started to slowly go around, he finally screamed as he noticed some smaller things coming out of the things mouth, like fighters.

"FIRE EVERYTHING!"

What came next was a barrage of turbolaser fire, eight bolts fired at once at a time with a twenty quad laser cannons erupting in fire also at the mouth of the Deep One as they started to explode violently as the frigate they fought with reacted violently to their firepower, trying to still enclose the ship as Haon barked orders as the fighters were destroyed, the quad lasers focusing on the tendrils as they were being destroyed right at the source, as if being neutered until finally, four concussion missiles were launched as the turbolasers kept focusing fire on the front as it punched a hole through, right where the missiles could fit. Within a minute of the firefight, a small explosion erupted in front of the ship as it was becoming brighter, the tendrils slowly becoming lifeless as the one that tried to attach itself to the ship slowly slid off.

"Back up the Alarm and keep firing at the hanger bay, nothing escapes!"

Right at those words, the entire vessel in front of them violently exploded as the Alarm lurched back slightly with the whine of the shields being at fifty percent and the ionic shields kicking in as backup as reports flooded in to recharge the shield generators. Haon had slowly gotten up as he looked in front of his ship, seeing the other Deep Ones having taken notice of the new comers destructive firepower as two frigates started to make their approach.

"Launch the Delta DX-9s! Get them to the Harris's Throne and hyperspace them out to the designated coordinates to the Awaken! Under no orders are they to return to this ship!"

Four DX-9s would soon be launched, carrier ships able to carry thirty people at a time as they went towards the Harris's Throne at top speed as the frigates were ignoring them, letting the fighters approach yet due to the proximity of Alarm, it swatted them out of the sky like flies as the quad cannons tore them apart. Haon Hafey had hopefully gotten the Deep Ones attention for now though for how long is anyones guess as Haon Hafey opened up a broad band communications channel.


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

[member="Fleet Admiral Harris"] [member="HK-57"][member="Ad-8"]

"This is Haon Hafey of the Alarm, we have come to assist in evacuating the Harris's Throne and possibly take a few frigates down with us. Awaken is staying behind to assist in the evacuation. Tell us what we need to do and we will do it...I think I already aggravated them already. Hafey out."

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


Turning off the communications, he felt a wave of energy hit himself in the forehead as he gripped it, shaking his head as he bit his bottom lip as he muttered about these telepathic eaters as he noted to take many of them down before he let any of them take his brain.

 

[Deadeye]

Deadeye sat in his fighter. He drifted in the Astroid field along with the rocks, bumping lightly off them every so often. His ship creaked and there was a soft humming of the oxygen scrubbers refreshing the gas with new, breathable air. Deadeye layed back in his seat sleeping. Suddenlink Communications device lit up with red as the distress Beacon blaring of speakers. Deadeye shot up to the noise. He looked at his computer with the flashing alert and listened in.

Quickly he stood and walked back I'm his cockpit a bit. He pulled out a golden card with the name "William Harris" engraved on it.

"I've finally got you, and I'm gonna be rich."

Deadeye jogged back to his seat, punched in the coordinates and jumped to hyperspace.

 

[null3]

Harris at on the bridge of the Raider class Corvette, it was strange for him just a week for so long. Usually be on some Adventure, or fighting off against horde alien soldiers, or directing the men from the bridge of is impenetrable ship, but all he was doing now is waiting for his escort to tell him he could leave. It was strange, but Harris did everything he could to stay busy in the Bridge, after all he only had 15 minutes left before his beloved ship was destroyed.

" Captain Wills, I need an open Communications line with all the other captains please, we need to tell them that it's time for them to leave. Also have all fighters scramble to protection of this Corvette and our dropships."

" you want them to leave sir? That's a bold but I'll let them know. I'll have open lines with them in just a few moments, won't be too long."

Suddenly, an image of one of the captains appeared on the screen across from Harris's command seat, followed by another and another and another, at last all the captains were in full communication for the first time in a while."

" captains, the throne is sinking, it's going down. We have all available transport's coming in and I need you guys to leave right now, we will rendezvous with you in the colomus system, there you we'll see our new flagship. It's a lot bigger, and all you need are the access codes to get close I'll transfer them to you now. So long, godspeed gentleman Godspeed."

Harris pushed a button on his command console, and the coordinates to his new ship were transfered. He sat back and checked his clock, they had 10 minutes before they had to leave, and 14 before the ship blew.

 

[TK-7475 (Storm Sentinal)]

"Look alive men! Here comes another transport!"

Maybe this one was it, maybe this was TK-7475''s ticket out, maybe this was his lifeboat. He looked to his officer, he shook his head. The men shifted, there were about 300 men left in the hanger, about 1,200 had been evacuated so far, about another 100 killed, and that made his situation strange. The hanger was emptying quickly. He could stretch his legs.

"Green light!"

An officer yelled from the back of a transport, the ships engines heated, it rumbled and air rushed loudly through the intakes, then it slowly lifted, turned, then darted out of the hanger.

"Hey, you there. When am I gonna get out of here?"

A man looked at him, he looked angrily at him, "You'll wait your turn like everybody else!"

The clock ticked, TK-7475 knew there were only about 13 minutes left until the protocol fired and the ship blew. He shifted uncomftorably.

"Another transport, make way!"

Abut 60 men piled jnto the transport and then, with a pound on the sign, it lifted and left. At this rate he would be out in no time. Suddenly TK had an idea, he could attempt to make it to the raider, there was some space for him, he could guarantee that he'd make it off the throne alive. He just had to get there.

Someone shouted, "Make way for another transport!"

Quickly, TK moved through the lines, and exited the hanger. He had 9 minute's to get to the raider and leave the throne. He was gonna have to run. He entered into the thick atmosphere of the hallways, he turned and began jogging with his blaster in hand. His suit scrubbers had a hard time filtering the air to breathbe levels.

Off in the distance he heard something talking, he was getting close to the raider. He rounded a corner and his heart stopped. There were four of those "Deep Ones" as the officers called them, standing in the hallway. TK was a sentinel, special forces, he could handle them. He aimed and squeezed the trigger. The bolt left the chamber and flew down the hallway, it one of the soldiers in the head and he dropped to the ground. Quickly the other two charged TK, he promptly shot both to the ground.

"I gotta move."

 

[Kyle Raymus]

The prototype, now known as the Overseer, emerged from hyperspace, along with them two Ardan class frigates. They were answering a distress call, stating that a ship was being assaulted by hostile forces. What they saw however, was a tad worse. The once magnificent ship, the Harris' throne, was covered in flames, It's second bridge shredded. The damage was widespread and uncontrollable. It's weapon systems were disabled, it was not firing back at the 20 or so tentacle ships, bloated and nasty, that were firing at every non-alien ship in the area. The heavy cruiser projecting the interdiction field was hidden away behind lines of frigates and corvettes. Now, the aliens seemed to turn their attention to the new comers. The small Shrouded force.

The Hangar bay of the Overseer opened, and out streaked 60 ships. A full Shrouded attack wing, comprised of 12 RZB-12 Heavy Bombers (2 squadrons), 36 TIE Reapers, and a single squadron of RZ-110 Elite Starfighters, piloted by the elite pilots of Reaper Squadron. The ships looped around to get some distance before assuming attack formation. They were making a break for the enemy cruiser. But first, a path needed clearing. The Ardan-I class frigates simultaneously opened fire with their massive quad railgun turrets, firing at the anti-starfighter corvettes. The Overseer opened up with it's long range turbolasers, aiming to shred the enemy shields. Meanwhile, it also launched it's complement of six miniaturized Sattelite Force Field projectors, which streaked immediately towards the Harris' Throne's hangars, to shield the evacuation from fire. However, if they were to escape, the interdiciton cruiser needed to go.

By now, 5 tentacle corvettes were heavily damaged, enough that the flak field lessened, and was now passable, albeit with difficulty. However, they did not have time, as the crew of the Harris' Throne was getting more and more desperate. Kyle's RZ-110 barrel rolled into lead position as the 11th Fighter Wing began it's attack run.

[member="Fleet Admiral Harris"] |[member="Xardas"]