Ghost Ship (Galactic Alliance Dominion of Widek Hex)

[lgmmrm]

"5, Pull up my rear, Lock S-Foils in attack position. We pursue, if any TIEs get on our rear, we go at each other head-on, knock out the pursuer. Can't get any locks in the Nebula, switching missiles to L.O.S."

Jarck trimmed the A-wing stabilizers to their loosest setting without being almost completely uncontrollable. This was a risky move at times, but it would allow him almost absolute control over the A-Wing in combat, giving one hell of a leg up on the TIE Fighters. He started on an attack run, getting a bead on one of the TIEs and pursuing him until he could get a clear shot. These cloaked ties were going to be damn hard to destroy without strong tactics and careful use of maneuvering. Luckily he was just the A-wing pilot for the job.

A loud beeping sound rang out through the cockpit. "Dammit, I've got a lock on me. How are these guys locking through the cloud? 5, pull behind me, wait until he launches and fire on that position."

"Red Five Engaging."

As the Missile fired towards the A-wing, the X-wing engaged the TIE, the cloak being dropped by the incoming fire and the A-wing pull a tight, high-g turn to engage the former pursuer, the turn causing the missiles to fly off into the nebula.

"That kind of flying's going to get you killed one day, hotshot. Don't class D yourself on this one."

"This kind of flying is what you're going to have to get used to if you ever want to fly an RZ.

Red Ten to Hereafter CAG (Commander, Air Group), anything we can do about these cloaks?"

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Aryn Teth"] [member="Aanaria Vox"] [member="Deacon"]

"Coming up on their last position."

At that call Trextan pushed through to the front of the group. Comms were breaking up. They had a tenuous link with the Alliance fleet. Broken excepts of voice were possible but they could get plain text through.

The only direct link they had to the other groups was the sound of blaster fire that reached them. Command had told them to continue along their route.

The ship's lights couldn't be teased back to life in this sector. Instead they relief on torchlight that never quite seemed to chase away all of the shadows.

"Blast marks," Trextan said, highlighting several fresh streaks down the walls.

"But no team?"

 

[Cathul Thuku]

Location: Widek
Objective: Patrolling
Allies: GA @Zark @Gir Quee
Enemies: Pirates

- BATTLE MEDITATION ACTIVATED -​

The six TIE squadrons began to make their approach towards the Hereafter just below the Ocean Tide, the seven LAAT/i squadrons were making their approach, under heavy point-defense fire So facing down seven squadrons and any reinforcements being so far away, the enemy LAAT pilots began to feel the Force-heat and began to waver. But with the guidance systems being mostly inoperable until the warheads were within point-blank range of their targets, only a fraction of the 375 warheads actually found their mark, some of them hitting LAATs, causing the seven squadrons to be whittled down to roughly four squadrons, while others were instead hitting the Carracks or even the Acclamator. Nevertheless, the majority of the missiles didn't hit anything before going dead-stick. Hopefully the remaining missiles won't detonate if they end up hitting anything, she thought, while the erratic enemy heavy turbolaser fire from the Carracks was hitting both the Bulldozer and the Skor as they get within turbolaser range of each other.

"The enemy shall get a nasty surprise: heavy batteries, open fire on the enemy Acclamator, all other capital batteries, fire on the Carracks!"

"Roger, roger"

Now vengeance began to look sweeter for every step from those heavy missile batteries from both the Bulldozer and the heavy HVC onboard the Skor: with 50 concussion missiles fired on each of the two Carracks, and the remaining 55 MIRVs being fired on the Acclamator, and the broadsides of ion fire being fired at the Carracks, the enemy frigates already began to suffer some system failures, to the point where a handful of additional hits will cause problems to the enemy. Meanwhile, the enemy Acclamator already reported some hull breaches on the topside where most of the swarm of projectiles have hit, especially given its sheer size and lumbering presence. She could feel that, while the nebula was making them feel uncomfortable, she was about to fight one of the more uncomfortable battles in a nebula. Hopefully the point-defense shall be able to take out a few more of those unwieldy LAAT/is, where machinegun fire was being felt throughout the enemy LAAT formations.

Spoiler

Capital ships:

ANS Bulldozer (Felucia-class missile cruiser) moderate shield damage
ANS Skor (Skor-class artillery frigate) light shield damage
ANS Frivolous Lawsuit (Hardcell-X-class anti-starfighter frigate)
ANS Due Process (Hardcell-X-class anti-starfighter frigate)

Attack craft:

10 T-70 X-Wings
9 Chiloon-II fast bombers

 

[Duke Dyson]

Jax pushed forward on the throttle, his S-foils now in attack position as he went for his run. His sensors were on the fritz, alarms sounding off a warning in his cockpit indicating that he was getting a target lock. But from where? PHANTOM TIES. The rookie hadn't officially had a run in with them yet, the pilot had seen his fare share of warfare but this was something else entirely. That feeling of dread swept over once more but it was quickly brushed off by a continuous stroke of determination.

"Gah!" Laser bolts fired from his right, a fury of green now visible searing through the blackness of space. Jax banked his ship in a corkscrew to avoid the incoming fire as he caught a glimpse through the canopy of his starfighter. The comms were all crackling through all the commotion but he could hear Red Squadron in full pursuit with the engaging TIES, his old Squadron could use the assistance.

Jerking the stick, Jax's X-Wing made a dive towards the ongoing battle ahead. The target brackets lit up over the head up display on his targeting computer almost too quickly which made him act right on instinct, pulling the trigger crimson laser blasts launched themselves towards the unlucky TIE that had gotten in his way. The hit set the the enemy fighter into a ball of flame and durasteel all too soon, spinning his own fighter through the blast Jax let out a huge whoop of triumph not at all minding his latest kill. "That's one down!"

 

[Craig Bowler]

Craig sat puzzled. A day ago he was in the same position as he is now. Tython was a terrible experience. He completed his objective, but he had lost his best friend. After leaving Tython and the operation there, Craig was dispatched to assist in the patrolling of the Widek hex. He thought it would not be as bad as Tython. He closed his eyes and let his mind travel while he sat.

A forest appears.
"Come on Craig!"
His best friend called for him.
Craig ran, but could not keep up.
"Craig! Come on let's go!"
Craig continued to run...
He stopped.

He opened his eyes and stared off into the blue tunnel of hyperspace.

A tear went down his face.

 

[Zark San Tekka]

The Security S-5 thrummed in his hand as Agent Deacon's sidearm hurled non-lethal paralysis beams down a decrepit corridor of the star destroyer's amidships. It was not an uncommon choice for Guardsmen, who valued the heavy blaster's utility, but as his Cal Bright cover was still relatively new it was taking him time to adjust. Lethal rounds streaked down the corridor past him in response, and he was nevertheless grateful he had taken it along. His Czerka Adjudicator did not have a stun setting, and given the fevered resistance these mysterious crewmen were putting up to their presence he wouldn't have had enough ammunition either.

Deacon's team had been set upon so quickly that the combat had quickly descended into a brawl, extreme close quarters range almost from initial enemy contact. Even so, from his position behind cover the SIS agent had dispatched several targets before he first caught sight of the unnatural. Another Guardsman's stun round struck the ragged Imperial he had been aiming for, and as his target's body began to convulse in paralytic shock their jaw opened so wide it seemed almost unhinged and a cloud of black smoke was forcefully expelled from their mouth. The body of the Valencia crewman crumpled to the floor immediately after, as the effects of the stun round took hold at last.

But the strange was not over, for instead of dissipating the black smoke moved down the corridor of its own accord at an alarming speed, peeling off into a side chamber where other members of Deacon's team had taken cover. He could hear the scream over his comms, and the stunned reports of friendly fire afterward. They had to deal not only with the frantic Imperials trying to kill them, but every so often one of them would contain more black smoke capable of turning their own friends and allies into hostile killing machines.

All sense of battle lines evaporated, and from corridor to corridor Guardsman Bright and the other members of team one found themselves surrounded by friend and foe alike, and no longer able to determine easily which was which.

[member="Aryn Teth"] [member="Trextan Voidstalker"] [member="Aanaria Vox"]​

 

[Zark San Tekka]

Phantom TIEs curled around each of the Hereafter's three primary towers on attack runs, reckless enough to engage Alliance interceptors under the shadow of the star carrier's point defense systems. The vice admiral's command ship was uniquely suited to fend off exactly this type of assault, and despite issues their gunners and pilots had been having in tracking a phasing enemy, the task force had inflicted damage of their own. But still more ghost fighters ushered forth from the Valencia's hangar bays, a truly impossible number.

"Tightbeam connection established with the Ocean Tide, sir," Commander Bashir reported, "Admiral [member="Gir Quee"] is moving into support position on our flank, and spooling up frequency jammers."

"Tie them into our sensor net and battlecomms," Zark ordered, eyes still riveted on the holodisplay before them as he waged the next three steps of this sudden engagement in his mind, "I have no idea what the Directorate is doing this far west, but I'm sure glad they're here."

The Citadel-class served as a command a logistics platform, but under siege as they were what little reserve power available had been rerouted to shields and defensive emplacements, limiting their capacity to wage electronic warfare. Still, he had commanded his bridge crew to focus what little they could spare on calling targets for friendly fighter squadrons through the use of the capital ship's more sophisticated sensors. Their scans punched through the nebula's interference, and predictive algorithms ran in an effort to determine when the TIEs would phase back into a vulnerable state.

At his direction, the data had been relayed first to the Hereafter's CAG and then to the rest of the fighters in the nebula.

"Status on the Ocean Tide's analysis of the enemy communication network?"

"There is definitely some sort of signal coming from each TIE," Bashir summarized a report he had just received via datapad from a junior officer, "But they're not talking to each other. They're all talking to one location, somewhere on the Valencia. Or something in board is talking to them, unclear. The effects of jammers are uncertain."

"Its not like we can comm for help anyway," the Jedi Knight reasoned, pausing for a moment as he continued to scrutinize the holodisplay. Even Admiral Thuku felt like lightyears away from his perspective, "Inform Admiral Gir Quee I'm advising that he proceed."

[member="Cathul Thuku"] [member="Jarck Rabsch"] [member="Jax Rhane"] [member="Craig Bowler"]​

 

[Gir Quee]

Union-class C/A Carrier Ocean Tide, somewhere
in the Farlax Sector

Nepo cleared his gravelly throat, "Admiral Zark is stating that we should proceed."

Gir nodded, "Begin selective jamming of the frequencies used by the enemy."

Nepo nodded and went to work. Gir trusted the mon calamari to coordinate with his Galactic Alliance counterpart to make sure that they understood what frequencies were in use by their allies. After all, it wouldn't help if they jammed friendly communications by being indiscriminate with their own use of the jammer. Gir turned his eyes back to Eris, his flight controller.

"Eris, you may release our fighters."

He briefly paused as he weighed the possibility of several potential scenarios.

"Shields," stated Gir, "standby to use the auxiliary mode to protect our fighters. Engine Room, coordinate with Shields. Standby to divert power from our sublight drives to the micropoles."

Pairs of starfighters began to emerge from hangars across the Ocean Tide before quickly veering off to enter the dogfight all around them. As they did so, local shield projectors encapsulated the friendly craft in the Tide's own shielding, making them unusually durable for any sort of fighter. But that also assumed that the Directorate starfighters didn't leave the immediate vicinity of the Tide, or the nothing physical got inbetween them. Neither of those were a guarantee; at least not as the engagement continued. Gir found himself stroking his chin. Thankful that at least in the midst of things, the Valencia itself hadn't opened fire. Gir turned to look around the amphitheater-like bridge, finally settling on a duros officer located on the mid-level.

"Mister Ervix, get me a detailed scan on our ghost ship. I want to know anything unusual about it. Any sensor spikes or unusual modifications made to the vessel itself..."

"Aye sir."

[member="Zark"] | [member="Cathul Thuku"]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Aryn Teth"] [member="Aanaria Vox"] [member="Deacon"]

It wasn't just the technical sensors they had brought that were struggling. Usually Trextan could very clearly sense a lifeform through the Force. All life was connected and a Jedi could follow those links. But the Dark Side could obscure the truth. It didn't require the most willing servants of the darkness: the sith either.

That's what he sensed here: there work of a dark a malevolent power. What he couldn't sense was the forward team. There were signs of a fight, but no bodies left.

Then the dim emergency lighting flickered and failed. The squad took up defensive positions, looking to each possible ingress point to the room. Torchlights cut through the Kirk and struggled to bring light to the recesses. Trextan caught something moving on the edge of his awareness. Several beams of light turned to follow the object as it moved.

"What the..."

The black cloud moved at a lethargic pace around them and no one knew what to do about it.

 

[Cathul Thuku]

Location: Widek
Objective: Patrolling
Allies: @Zark @Gir Quee
Enemies: Pirates

- BATTLE MEDITATION ACTIVATED -​

"The pirates are down for the count"

"Finish off those pirates: they shall no longer trouble the ghost ship once their ships are shot down" the captain of the Bulldozer blared.

A third volley, made of hundreds of missiles, was fired at the three pirate ships, sending them to their doom as their point-defense was severely weakened and unable to deal with those explosive threats under the form of warheads. The first Carrack was also the first to explode, sending debris that hit the surviving ships, as well as those cumbersome LAAT/is, while the second Carrack exploded, too, once the missiles hit sensitive areas. In both cases, they left black boxes behind. The captain didn't have to wait long until the Acclamator explodes, in a glorious display of flames and brimstone, and that the ship's black box would then become available for them to salvage, and hoped to actually gain new information. Potential new attack targets, allegiances, anything of interest to the GADF or to the SIS. Meanwhile, ghost TIEs began to harass their neighbors, which were huddled on top of each other, probably for firing arc reasons.

"Now we can start thinking about recovering the black boxes from the ships we just killed"

"Captain, I'm not sure about this. What would we learn about those pirates with the black boxes?" the communications officer asked.

"Just do what you can to recover the black boxes"

Spoiler

Capital ships:

ANS Bulldozer (Felucia-class missile cruiser) heavy shield damage
ANS Skor (Skor-class artillery frigate) light shield damage
ANS Frivolous Lawsuit (Hardcell-X-class anti-starfighter frigate) light shield damage
ANS Due Process (Hardcell-X-class anti-starfighter frigate) light shield damage

Attack craft:

10 T-70 X-Wings
9 Chiloon-II fast bombers

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

Location: The Planet Widek [Core Worlds]
Objective: Be Diplomatic

This was a wholly different situation than he'd anticipated coming here.

For one, he hadn't taken seriously the idea that a ghost ship was any sort of real threat. There were literally hundreds of legends, rumors, urban myths, folk tales, tall tales, and ol' wives tales about ghost ships in the greater cosmos. Some of them more convincing than the stories circulating about the Valencia. So the idea that the GADF were engaging an actual ghost ship was not anything the dossiers had prepared him for.

He was just supposed to look cute and assure the Widek people that the Alliance supported them. And GADF had proposed doing so by positioning a fleet of large transports in the system. A show of support that would fly the flag of the Alliance around the star system. No one had really thought that such would be necessary. In fact, Shoma wasn't even certain that there were enough ships in the fleet to actually pull off evacuating the planet.

Except it seemed there actually was a ghost ship out there. And now Shoma actually needed to do something for Widek.

But the First Minister had completely gone nerf chit when he'd heard about the Alliance transport fleet, so that seemed like it was a complete non-starter. "Cao yao," the young Atrisian swore quietly, leaning on a windowsill as he looked out over the picturesque valley beyond the walls of the parliamentary palace where the Alliance delegation had been invited to mingle with the Widek ministers and observe a meeting of their cabinet.

"Lord Shoma!"

When the droids were hunting you down, it was never good news. So, if the boy looked less than happy to see the familiar pairing of a GG-series hospitality droid and a floating DR-series protocol droid, it was well earned.

Case in point? No sooner had GeeGee bowed, than the droid spouted off, "Lord Shoma, we have another problem!"

Strange, how one's culture dictated so much in terms of language. If he were Corellian, his reply might well have been go to hell. A Commenori would probably have said something like, I don't do problems, but I'm happy to hear any solutions you might have.

...was that very Commenori? That might actually have been more Alderaan... wait, what were people from Alderaan even called? Alderaani?

Instead, being Atrisian, the boy returned the bow with the obligatory, "Hai. Dozo gozaimasu."

"We just received a message from Xiaolang Palace," GeeGee supplied succinctly. That, in itself, was remarkably unremarkable. What followed next, however... "It appears that some people from Revma Village have decided to hold a local celebration in honor of Empire Day."

Ever have one of those days where you hear something that you completely understand, and totally don't comprehend?

Yeah, this was one of those moments.

Blinking, the boy was positive he hadn't heard that correctly. "Empire..?" he began, as the color drained from out of his face while realization started to sink in.

Oh, if the Alliance found out about this.

Meanwhile, he still had a planet to try and prepare for evacuation. The same planet whose minister didn't even want to be in the same room with him. Blinking a second time, the boy just blurted out the only thing he could think of to sum up the situation. "...ta ma de."

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

[Double post. Apologies.]

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

[Triple post. Apologies]

 

[Zark San Tekka]

Deacon struggled against his enemy as Guardsman Lok strained through their grapple to press to tip of his combat vibroknife even closer towards his former ally's racing heart. Despite the lies he had told this man in order to maintain his cover in the Guard, the SIS agent considered this man to be something of a friend, or as much of one as someone in his line of business could have. But when Cal Bright stared up into the pitch black eyes of whatever was wearing Lok's skin, he knew his comrade was gone, at least beyond his ability to bring back before he got killed.

His grip on the possessed man's straining arms was beginning to weaken, so in an act of desperation Deacon lifted himself up to headbutt the other man, allowing his chest to be punctured slightly in the process. The wound was not fatal, but it hurt like hell, and the unexpected tactic had stunned Lok enough for Bright to wrestle the other Guardsman off of him. He leaped for his dropped Security S-5 at the same moment his enemy lunged, and those ebon colored eyes were in his face alongside a slashing vibroblade by the time Cal managed to twist his frame around and fire off another stun round.

The blast gave Deacon the moment he needed to dodge aside, and the next few point black shots put Lok down for good. Glancing around wildly, Deacon noticed that the sounds of fighting were lessened and more distant now. In the chaos, both Guardsmen seemed to have been left behind, and the agent had no way of knowing if he was behind enemy lines or if such a thing as friendly territory even existed anywhere on this starship.

One thing he had noticed was that there had been no more black smoke, which meant whatever had taken Lok was probably still inside him. Slapping the force-cuffs across the unconscious Guardsman's wrists, Bright began to unceremoniously haul the limp body as quietly as he could down the corridor to see if he could find somewhere hopefully a little more secure to have a private conversation with his 'friend'. The Galactic Alliance Guard had means of containing Darkside phenomena, and Deacon was willing to bet he could contain this thing long enough to get a few answers out of it.

It was a long shot, but at this point any intel he could gain about what was really going on here would be worth the risk of being devoured by Sithspawn.

[member="Aryn Teth"] [member="Trextan Voidstalker"] [member="Aanaria Vox"]​

 

[lgmmrm]

With the Rogue-marked X-wing entering the fray, It seemed like it was a good time to go on the full offensive. He figured he'd act a little sarcastic on the comms to rile up the Rogue. Buncha glory hounds if you asked Red 10. 'Course Jarck did always admit he liked a bit'of glory himself.

"Five, you see that? Our Glorious Saviors in Rogue are here! Let's play a little hide'n'seek, show them."

"Not the Slash."

"The Slash."

The A-wing slowed up and let the X-wing pass it, flying it's nose into literal spitting distance of the X-wing's drive exhaust. This technique had been developed centuries ago by the rebellion to deal with convoys, but for those situations where visual contact by the enemy was difficult, Jarck and Jhuagar adapted it for their own use. For the next five or ten minutes, the A-wing mimicked almost perfectly the movements of the X-wing, keeping just within its slipstream and hidden from most enemies' sensors. Jarck counted the seconds between the Hearafter's data packets and the cloaks dropping.

Three. Two.

"Break! Break!"

Red Five's X-wing jerked away from it's flight path, revealing the A-wing to the two TIEs that had engaged an "easy target" head on. As the lock tone sounded, Jarck instinctively fired a concussion missile at the tailing TIE before unleashing a hail of laser fire at the lead TIE, combined with the quad fire of the re-engaging X-wing. One flash and a chirp on his IFF told Jarck that at least one of his targets was gone.

This is almost too easy.

Suddenly a pair of green streaks went over his bow, one hitting the shields leaving a light scorch mark on one of the stabilizers. Setting his shields to Double-Rear, Jarck begin to spin his A-wing before nearly pulling a 90-degree angle to avoid the fire of the fighter behind him. As He swung around to engage he saw his wingman make a strafing pass to take it out.

"That's two you owe me, Jarck."

"One, I already paid you back for the time out in the Rim."

 

[Cathul Thuku]

Location: Widek
Objective: Patrolling
Allies: @Zark @Gir Quee
Enemies: Pirates

"I'm a little low on Force-energy, so I hope the rest will be alright without battle meditation"

So the tractor beams recovered those ships' black boxes. At the same time, Cathul was a little low on Force-energy, and also her brain was heating up. However, the black boxes were stored somewhere else on the ship, in the hangars to which the fighters would return, after a successful hunt for those pirates. Also, the black boxes themselves aren't actually black: they're painted orange so as to stand out in a field of ship debris. To the extent it is possible: encased in duranium, the black box is often coming with its own shield generator, and so it is a highly complicated piece of technology, capable of withstanding all but the most dangerous hazards of the battlefield. So, while they were waiting on the black boxes to be properly cleaned up and decontaminated, she realized that the others in-system didn't call for help. By now it becomes all too clear that there is something fishy happening in-system, and perhaps she would understand, if they could actually access the black boxes, what did the pirates hope to achieve from attacking the Valencia.

"How long until the black boxes are cleaned?"

"About two minutes, admiral"

Spoiler

Capital ships:

ANS Bulldozer (Felucia-class missile cruiser) heavy shield damage
ANS Skor (Skor-class artillery frigate) light shield damage
ANS Frivolous Lawsuit (Hardcell-X-class anti-starfighter frigate) light shield damage
ANS Due Process (Hardcell-X-class anti-starfighter frigate) light shield damage

Attack craft:

10 T-70 X-Wings
9 Chiloon-II fast bombers

 

[Lyra Sunfell]

The ANS Firebird reverted from hyperspace in orbit above Widek. Lyra sat in the bridge, studying the scans from the system. The diplomatic team had already arrived and was engaging in their business on the planet. Twilight Company was here as a symbolic show of force, that the Alliance was willing to commit military resources to their protection. There was already a task force in the system, chasing a ghost ship or something. Her debriefs had not been clear on the details, but that was fine by her. She doubted there would be much for her to have to do with that.

"Comms officer," she said after a moment, "Put me in contact with the diplomatic team."

"Aye, ma'am," the reply came. There was some chatter on the line. "We've made contact. You're going to want to speak to the ambassador yourself.

"Very well, put me through." Lyra activated her comms, linking them with the ship to ensure that she would be able to get through. "This is Captain Sunfell with the GADF. Can you report on the situation? Things seem..." The woman frowned as she tried to piece together what other chatter that might be in the system. "More disturbed than expected."


[member="Shoma Ike"]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Deacon"]

"Stay still," Trextan advised. He had absolutely no idea if it was good advice. Whatever the cloud was it slowly circled the room. Trextan pulled free his saber and cautiously walked into its path.

"Just don't shoot me," he pleaded. There was absolute silence on the squad channel as he took another step towards the cloud. It came to an abrupt halt.

Trextan was close enough now to see it clearly. It didn't being any remarkable revelations, or insight into what it was. He was about to step away when it moved.

It came faster than he could react. He saber snapped into life but the cloud neatly wrapped around the blade and encircled his head. He could feel it now. A physical pressure against the helm, but also the darkness it exuded. Half a second of stumbling away and it was gone. Two blaster bolts lanced into the wall after it to no effect.

"Turn the comms up to full power," Trextan called. "Is anyone else on the ship receiving us at all?"

 

[Zark San Tekka]

Chaos raged just a few thousand meters outside the star carrier's viewports, and yet an outside perspective would hardly be able to tell there was a combat situation going on from the Hereafter bridge crew. They were alert, attentive to their duties, almost supernaturally quick to react to incoming battle data, but reserved throughout. Dimly, Zark could feel the growing strain it was placing on his psyche to maintain their resolve. Ocean blue eyes scanned the tactical holodisplay in front of the vice admiral like daggers, assimilating information and calculating their response three steps ahead.

Admiral [member="Gir Quee"] and his Ocean Tide had had some sort of effect on the TIEs that now swarmed all around them by attempting to jam their frequencies. They were still aggressive, but significantly less coordinated. Over the past several minutes both Commandir Bashir and the Mon Cal's Jedi Master superior had witnessed several TIE on TIE collisions or instances of friendly fire on the part of their enemy. Even more importantly, what they had in the way of long range sensors had detected the wing of TIEs on a course towards Admiral Thuku and Widek's surface had seemingly lost all power and begun to drift. The unidentified star destroyer's range of control over its phantom starfighter armada was now limited to the nebula.

"Communication is the key," he murmured to himself, studying the valiant efforts of his starfighter wings to push back endless waves of enemy fighters.

The Directorate admiral had had the right idea, his ship simply didn't have enough power to cut the enemy off from its control source completely. It was a design flaw in the Citadel-class that under sustained fire power needed to be rerouted from systems like electronic warfare to defenses like the carrier's shields and point defense emplacements. But if this kept up for much longer, routing power away from their shields was a risk Zark was thinking more and more about taking. He could only hope Admiral [member="Cathul Thuku"] was faring better near Widek, for a dim awareness of his fellow flag officer through the Force across vast cosmic distance via battle meditation let him know Therapy Command was at least still in the fight.

By now the Hereafter had not heard from any of the first contact teams in some time. Zark could not reestablish comms, nor could he reinforce them, and their sensors were still unable to penetrate the destroyer's outer hull. At least, they had been until now. As if a kind of greater intelligence was reacting either to the Ocean Tide's e-war or some internal threat, the star carrier could detect life signs aboard the drifting hulk for the first time. Scattered and inconclusive bordering on incoherent, they weren't particularly useful, but it was more than they had known before.

Reaching out with the Force, the admiral could have sworn he had felt the presence of [member="Trextan Voidstalker"] briefly. Perhaps it was wishful thinking, but the experience convinced Zark to hold out just a little longer. It was for the sake of Alliance survivors he had avoided giving the order to unleash a broadside of their heavy guns upon the Valencia, but if the star destroyer drifted too close to Widek he would be forced to take drastic action for the sake of the greater good.

[member="Jarck Rabsch"] [member="Jax Rhane"] [member="Craig Bowler"]​

 

[Gir Quee]

Union-class C/A Carrier Ocean Tide, somewhere
in the Farlax Sector

Gir watched their stratagem unfold with an almost clinical fascination. While the jamming hadn't completely solved the problem for them, it had seemed to blunt their enemy's edge. Yet its introduction to the battlefield had only given him more questions, and Gir began to wonder if perhaps they were connected through some other means, like the dark side of the force. He had heard that the late Emperor Palpatine had once produced cyborg starfighters that had somehow been imbued and connected with the dark side. Had they stumbled on another similar such project, once long lost? Not exactly something the galaxy needs to experience again...especially given the destruction its already wrought. Gir turned his head to face the ship's helmsman.

"Take us behind the Valencia's stern," decided Gir.

"Aye sir."

"You're thinking of raking her from the rear?" questioned Hopkins.

"If it comes down to it," muttered Gir, "I'd rather have it stuck in once place than have it continue to pass through the galaxy leaving charred hulls and spaced bodies..."

[member="Zark"] | [member="Cathul Thuku"]