Light the Fires (The Reformation)

[Kamon Vondiranach]

SOURCE​

​

Surron
3 Days Ago

They came in droves.

Each ship more piecemeal than its predecessor. In likelihood they had been drifting in space for quite some time. Most presented little to no power capabilities, and those that did flew erratically at best. Still, they were numerous and gave the Surronians pause. Many of them did actually pause. The species utilized hive minds for functionality, and when the defensive ships in orbit recognized the ships approaching, they initially stared in amazement, and flagged them as debris. When the guns proved still functional, they flagged them as dangerous, but too late to be of any use.

What little defensive force the Surronians had paled in comparison to what it could have been. Much of their protection prior had come at the hands of the Galactic Republic. With her fall, they'd been left in a vacuum, forgotten and unsure of how exactly to move forward. They hadn't officially been part of the Republic, but their close proximity, and presence within the sphere of their influence, had protected them. Now they had only themselves.

The ships collapsed down upon the planet, ramming into it. Smaller ships burnt up upon entering the atmosphere, but the larger ones survived, crashing into the surface of the world. Many Surronians perished in the collapse of the ships and the resounding earthquakes that were caused by their landing. Curiosity got the better of the Hive's, and after the aftershocks settled, they approached the ships to see what was going on. In doing so, they poked and prodded around, and unwittingly released a storm of hungry beings upon themselves.

The ships had been damaged by the storms of Mimban. Their crews infected by those who had ventured to its surface. And now they had come to Surron to feed. The Surronians were horrified and sent a distress signal into space, not knowing who would hear it or if anyone would come. They could only hope that someone would heed their call.

Surron
Present Day

Space was a litter of debris. Even in the most remote of locations a ship could expect to have fragments of rock smack into its particle shielding. If it didn't have particle shielding it would have to hope it didn't run into anything with enough force to puncture the hull, but particles shields had become standard over the years. For this, Leos was thankful. Dealing with little bits of rock floating through space was one thing, but what they were now dealing with over Surron was something else entirely. He was very grateful for shields in this instance.

"Status report?"

"No functional vessels in orbit from what we can tell, but it's such a mess out there that it's messing with our scanners, and hails have proven unsuccessful."

The newly constructed prototype ship Arklight cruised at one quarter speed through the debris field, using tractor beams to push the larger pieces away, and slowing whenever it became necessary to do so. Considering how much debris there was, they weren't making a lot of progress in reaching the planets orbit. Unfortunate, but that was the reality of the situation.

The Ashla Reformation was not a known galactic entity of yet, but the one thousand meter ship that was pushing its way towards Surron would certainly make a statement of anyone else arrived to check on the distress signal. Without a world to call their home, they'd been moving in the deep dark of space in order to peruse the galaxy for a possible location to centralize their government. When they'd received the distress call, however, they could not force themselves to ignore it, and so they had chosen to come to the aid of the insectoid species that called Surron home.

"Deploy a squadron of fighters and two of the loaded RAL's to the planet so we can find out what we're dealing with. Make sure everyone knows they're going into a potential hostile situation and that they are to exercise extreme caution and judicial restraint. We're here to help, not cause a galactic incident."

If only they knew what they were up against...

[member="Solan Charr"], [member="Teynara Jeralyr"], [member="Haytham Kaze"], [member="Niysha"], [member="Z'Zharen"], [member="Faith Highwind"], [member="Gunther Creed"]

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Ignus"]

Solan's hands gripped his command chair tight. He unlike others, was unaffiliated beforehand, officially at the least. The others had been Sith and Jedi tired of that endless struggle of theirs. He had always shown distaste for their conflict, even if he fed it with weapons of war. One would question why, why he would sell weapons to those he fought against, and to him it was simply business and not to be his concern who bought from him, he had his own path and his customers did not determine that.

This was why he worked with a Sith now. Why he worked with Jedi and Sith in a group that was asking for Balance.

He was desperate to find something, something that would be true and against the actions that had found their way into the minds of Jedi too. It might have been an isolated incident, and he believed that it was. He had even sat with Connor Harrison and tried to help him stay focused on the Jedi's mission, he had met with a Padawan to keep that padawan on the right path. And yet he felt this worry, he was worried someone might upset that path of the Jedi's once more. Their duty was to protect people, but their mission would always corrupt their duty.

The Jedi were an order, devoted to the destruction of the Sith. The Sith one devoted to the removal of the Jedi.

He was tired of that struggle and it made him tired as his eyes fell. He would not be trapped in his mind for long, though, the voice of Ignus coming over the comms and Nida Vaal nudging him back from his stupor, his eyes looking up at the Captain who in turn looked at him with a tinge of worry. His captain was one who served faithfully, and when he suffered or was tired, she remained concerned.

"Sir, he the Sith is launching fighters, shall we hang back behind him while he continues to clear the debris?"

That was a problem for the Skyborn, an Infernus class cruiser. It did not contain tractor beams, or rather enough to be used in the same way that Ignus was using those of the ship in front of Solan's own. He had been forced to come along and fall in behind the man having decided on arriving with Kesh's flagship. They had not known what happened, but Solan fear the worst after the events of Melinda and the asteroid that had struck that planet... could the same have happened here?

"Inform Ignus I will be sending out a detachment of my own fighters to aid his, I need to review the scans collected by our radar team."

Nida would nod and leave to give the orders and get him those scans. What happened here?

 

[Garza]

I hated recon missions that sprouted from distress signals. Back in my standard military days, We had a distress signal to a way out portion of Makrosia, and apparently it was a farmer dealing with a large unknown animal who was tearing through his crops. After days of following it's tracks, we come to find out, it was a group of men stealing the crops to sell them for credits, and used fake animal prints on their shoes to hide the fact they were people, and not animals.

I felt like this was the same situation. Getting a distress signal from a planet that had ships galore around its orbit, only to hide the true reason of what was causing something wrong. I prepared for the worst. Not a full battle, but whatever might come. A Tir blaster on my left thigh, my lightsaber on my right, and the small of my back, with my prized sword over my right shoulder while I carried a rifle in my hands. Decked out in my military gear, I rotated my left arm.

The alchemized limb moved just as easily as any other limb any other person could have. Metal that could fold and bend like skin, yet retain its hardness, and even heal from wounds. Quite the trick for me I could say. Thalia sat beside me in her little smuggler-esk get up. However, adorned her own lightsaber. She looked over to me with questioning eyes as she was putting her hair in a small ponytail. She too wore a mask to cover her nose and mouth should we have to encounter any breathing problems, and as we were meeting new people, I didn't trust everyone here. As well, My species could be easily identified as you could between a Zeltron and a human. Hence the mask.

Either way, I knew we were getting into something different. Having traveled around the galaxy various times, you tend to get a Sixth sense about things like this. Where you can tell something is just going to go wrong, or you just have a feeling its not all sunshine and rainbows. Thalia understood that as I looked at her. Nodding her head, she turned from me, and began to twiddle her lightsaber in her hands. Flipping it end over end, and even using the force to slow the descent of the weapon from the air back into her hand.

"Remember, My word is law."
"Yes Sir."

Muttering our words under our breaths, we had to keep that to ourselves. If things got bad, and we had to back out, it was us against everyone. Sometimes, you had to watch your own back before someone elses. Live to fight another day, and to fight someone else. Breathing in, I pulled my Tir blaster from its holster and loaded a charge into the weapon with a few snaps and slaps. Twirling it on my shooting finger before sliding it back into the holster in one motion.

"You need to show me how to do that."
"Later, when we get you one."

[member="Solan Charr"], [member="Darth Ignus"],

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

"Sir. Charr's ship is remaining at our aft. Should we divert shields to strengthen the rear?"

Leos lofted a brow at the Captain's comment. With the man hooked into the command throne, it felt rather strange to be on the bridge. The ship had quite the minimal crew as a result of that component, and the bridge was such that it didn't have viewports. There were a myriad of holoscreens, but that was it. The Captain himself didn't need them since he was getting fed data from everywhere throughout the ship and controlling it as necessary. More or less he'd made an extension of himself as the ship. He was its mind. In some ways it was kind of intriguing. In others it made Leos feel a bit odd.

"Do you not trust him, Captain?"

"Well-" the man began, his voice projected throughout the chamber. "Mostly it's that he's a relative unknown."

"So is everyone involved in this endeavor. You have to be willing to trust, Captain. Please focus on the task at hand. He won't shoot us in the back."

"Yes, sir."

He and the captain of the Arklight had never worked together before. He almost wished he could have stolen the captain of the Mirial Accord for this ship, but that wasn't possible. That particular man was a part of the Sith Order's forces, and would probably end up leaking back to them what he was doing with the Reformation. Too many unknown variables for him to take that risk. So he'd settled for plucking someone out of the crew of Ignus Black's fleet and putting them in charge of the ship instead. Risky, since they largely were untested, but at least they had military training and no ties to any other government.

The ship continued to move forward in the direction of the planet, pushing the larger debris out of the way and allowing smaller debris to be eaten up by the forward shields. Medium size debris that might have made it through was picked clean by the point defense weaponry. Normally reserved for taking down fighter craft, it would do for taking down large chunks of debris in a veritable minefield of it. Sometimes things had uses other than their typical.

"Scans show that most of the debris is of local variety. A few of the ships appeared to be relics and show signs of electrical energy scarring. There's a wide variety of bodies littered around those, like it was overloaded."

"Curious. Get me more detailed scans on those bodies. Send a couple fighters to look if you have to. But don't bring them aboard."

"Yes, sir."

He had a bad feeling about this.

[member="Solan Charr"], [member="Teynara Jeralyr"], [member="Haytham Kaze"], [member="Niysha"], [member="Z'Zharen"], [member="Faith Highwind"], [member="Gunther Creed"], [member="Atheus"]

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

By now the landing craft should have arrived on the surface of Surron. The world was markedly quiet, to the point he had a really bad feeling about all of this. If he'd only had the ability to see what the future held. That would certainly ease any misgivings that he had. Something was off, though. Hopefully the people on the ground would be able to confirm. In the meantime, he drummed his fingers against the arms of the chair he sat within. All around him were people working busily. Thus, he stood from the seat and walked to a side door off of the bridge and entered the SOC, which was currently unoccupied. He turned on the systems map and walked to the center.

"Sir, our fighters have arrived to investigate the bodies and debris as you requested."

The voice rang over the comms connection between the bridge and the SOC.

"Go ahead, Captain. What's the report?"

"Well, it's a little confusing, sir. They're saying that the bodies are moving. Not drifting, but moving. They describe it as reaching out towards the ships."

Leos paused in his examination of the system, and then quickly zoomed the map out to see the region of the galaxy they were in. A tap on nearby planets revealed names. He proceeded to do this until he found what he was afraid he would find. Their proximity to Mimban wasn't as great as some other systems, but the probability of ships drifting through space from Mimban to Surron was definitely there. He ran a hand through his hair and nodded.

"Captain, tell them to vacate the area immediately. Whatever they do they are not to make any contact with them."

"Sir? Surely they're just misunderstanding what they're seeing."

"No, Captain. I think it's worse than that."

"Worse, sir?"

"We're close to Mimban."

There was a decided pause in the communications as Leos zoomed back in on the system at hand. It was obvious now, judging by the debris field, that the ships had drifted from Mimban to Surron. Probably they had been some sort of relief effort that had landed on the world, and then left in a hurry, but carrying the infection within. They'd all died eventually, creating plague ships. The passage through Mimban's atmosphere accounted for the energy scoring on some of the hulls. This explained the damages and explained why everything was quiet on Surron. If any of the locals were alive, they were probably fighting for their lives.

"Captain, inform everyone of the situation and encourage them to be extra cautious."

[member="Solan Charr"], [member="Teynara Jeralyr"], [member="Haytham Kaze"], [member="Niysha"], @Z'Zharen, [member="Faith Highwind"], [member="Gunther Creed"], [member="Atheus"]

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

"Sir, we've entered the planets orbit but the debris field is strong here. Smaller debris is proving difficult to maneuver away with the tractor beams."

Leos studies the maps of the area still, perusing their neighboring systems to take in the potential issues that they might come to face in the not so distant future. That was, of course, assuming that they could clear the planet below of the nastiness that was a zombie infestation. It was a tall order considering their lack of severe muscle, but if any of the local populace had held out they might be able to arm them well enough to take on the threat. Surron wasn't too far from Harrin. Now that he knew the threat they faced, he had an idea that might make things a lot easier with dealing with the threat on the planet. For now, though, he had work to do.

Stepping out of the SOC, he moved back to the command chair and took a seat. As he was told, they were now in orbit above the planet, which meant that they could effectively provide support to the forces below. With a little help from a friend of theirs of course.

"The shields should hold off the debris, but even if it doesn't the armor won't give to little bits of shrapnel like that. It's barely moving. I think it's safe to say that it is, for the most part, harmless to us. What we need to keep an eye on, are the bodies floating about. I don't want any moving ones getting on the ship."

"Yes, that would be bad," the captain said. "I can deploy an EVA team inside the shield perimeter."

"Not a bad idea. In the meantime, deploy a SNAP into the atmosphere and lets get some readings. Our troops should be on the ground soon. We might need to provide them with artillery support."

"Yes, sir."

One of the two tractor beams would cease its activity as a crew prepared for the deployment of a SNAP. These were best launched with a tractor beam for proper precision. The probes didn't have jets to fly them around; they could only keep themselves in place inside of the atmosphere. Once the SNAP was ready, the tractor crew removed it from the ship and guided it down into the atmosphere of the planet they orbited. Once it was in position, it was released. Telemetry and atmospheric data began to broadcast to the ship, and the Captain gave him a nod that things were going smoothly. The EVA team was deployed, as well.

"Notify Mr. Charr of these developments. He should also be kept in the loop."

[member="Solan Charr"], [member="Atheus"], [member="Teynara Jeralyr"]

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

"Ground forces are reporting heavy enemy presence. We have started receiving requests for orbital fire."

The captain stood before his chair, relaying the information in person. The deployment of the SNAP had been well timed. Given their discovery of what was going on, Leos had been sure that it would be needed for the advancement of this campaign. If the local population was going to survive, then defeating every single zombie on the planet, and burning away that which created them, was going to be necessary.

"Authorize the strikes using the guidance of the SNAP. Do we have any confirmation on whether any locals are alive?"

"None yet, but we haven't had much opportunity to look for them. I've deployed a couple of fighters to scout out the planets surface."

Leos nodded his understanding. Under the circumstances he figured it would take some time for them to find anyone that might still be alive. The soldiers were going to have to put down the monsters before they could look. Starfighters were only going to see what was on the surface of the planet, not what was beneath it. He didn't harbor a lot of hope that they would find anyone alive.

The Arklight shuddered as its guns began firing down upon the planet, raining energized and projectile weapon death down upon the zombified masses below. Under the circumstances it might seem a waste of using the SNAP, but mass drivers from space could be as powerful as a nuclear warhead. Those had to be fired with absolute precision in order to avoid mass planetary destruction.

The soldiers on the ground, using whatever cover they could find, watched as the strikes rained down on the zombie horde, using each blast as cover for their own attacking. The strikes couldn't be too close to them, which meant a lot of fighting until thinner numbers reached them. They were hard pressed and losing men rapidly. It was going to be a tough battle even with orbital help.

[member="The Librarian"], @Athens, [member="Teynara Jeralyr"]

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

"Multiple contacts have just entered the system, bearing mark 2. Frigate-class vessels of decent size, unknown make, unknown registration."

New ships? Well, a distress call had been sent out from the planet so it seemed likely that others would be coming to help, or coming to take advantage of the situation. Either was a possibility, as he saw it. Regardless, they now had a situation on their hands. At least the Arklight had a good crew. Or, rather, a good crew system. Considering it was equipped with the technology to allow one person to take the place of hundreds, it didn't need a huge crew. He maintained a proper bridge crew in addition to the captain of the vessel in order to lessen the load on the Captain, but also because the system itself was new to him and he wanted to ensure that the tests went well.

"Continue firing on the planet. Hail the newcomers and ask them to identify."

"Yes, sir."

The crew of the bridge was still minimal compared to normal. He could count them on two hands. A single officer manned the communications station, and he was now in the process of trying to hail the newcomer vessels. The ship rocked back and forth with each volley of precision fire launched down on the planet below them. Shells from the rail guns and laser blasts from the bigger cannons fired down on the planet still. The newcomers were probably getting an eyeful of this and coming to assumptive conclusions about their presence. He knew this was going to get messy.

"No answers, sir. They're not responding to our hails."

"Strengthen the starboard side shields and charge main guns. Prepare for combat operations."

"Yes, sir," the captain responded from within the controls interface.

Leos and Kaela had gone to meet the creators of the interface. Well, mostly Kaela had while Leos remained on the ship for security reasons. It had been a good acquisition which he'd called for due to his own reasons, though Kaela didn't know that it was him that had commissioned the request. The less she knew, the less she could be used against him. To her, he was just an eccentric billionaire who didn't like meeting with the public, and who may be a Sith or might not be, she was never sure. Not that it mattered now, considering Kaela wasn't anywhere around. They just had her efforts to thank for equipping this prototype vessel with the acquired technology. It was about to be put to good use.

"Let them come to us. If they open fire, return it. We'll show them the might of this dreadnought."

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

"The vessels continue at full steam. They've encountered the debris field and are ignoring it."

Not surprising. Leos was certain that these people meant to do them harm. They could have been old One Sith holdouts, lurking somewhere in the outer core in these old ships. They'd likely heard the distress signal and come running. Finding the Reformation vessels there, they would then see a target of opportunity. Chiefly the target was the other ship with them, as their readings would no doubt indicate that the vessel was not armed. He still found that entirely too trusting on Solan's part, but there wasn't anything in particular he could do about it. The ship was already built. Barring retrofit, it was stuck as it was.

"Contacts hitting across their shields."

"Still no response to hails?"

"None."

Well, they'd been given the chance to identify themselves. They continued to bear down on the Reformation vessels. It was only fair that they be taught the error of their ways. Leos had no patience for people who didn't understand what common courtesy was. He drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair, staring out the viewport. He could launch fighters at them, but in the debris field, with the floating undead about, he didn't particularly feel like wasting ships or lives. They were better off just duking it out with this foe. Given that they had a lot of firepower aboard their prototype ship, it didn't seem likely to be a problem.

"You may open fire when they're in range. They had their chance to stop this."

"Yes, sir."

As soon as they were in range of one of the guns, those guns fired. First was the projectiles. Their effective range was greater than the turbolaser batteries. The giant slugs of metal lanced through space leaving no trail. In the debris field it took precise shooting, but it also masked their presence, making them harder to defend against. They served to further hurt the enemies particle shielding. Eventually it would fail and the debris and the projectiles would rip their ship apart. When the turbolasers started firing, so did the enemy. The ship bucked as energy danced across the shields, but she would hold.

"Steady as she goes, Captain."

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

"Enemy fighters inbound. Shall we intercept with ours?"

"Negative," Leos replied. "Give the new PDL's a test."

"Yes, sir."

The PDL's were far more advanced than ones previously deployed on such a vessel. In fact, with this new mobile design, less of them were now required to cover the same amount of space. Taking that into account with the shield redesign meant that the ship was far more efficient when it came to power. Adding in that the PDL's did not have to be controlled by the person sitting in the Command Throne and it made it even more effectual. Now, as the enemy fighters flew through the debris field at them, the PDL's activated, sending salvo's of blaster fire to slam into enemy shields, depleting them rapidly, and destroying fighters that strayed too close to the shields. The shields, meanwhile, picked up incoming fire, overlapping joints protecting the dreadnought from harm.

The ship continued to fire on both fronts. With the assistance of the SNAP, they were pinpointing targets on the ground in support of their ground forces while also laying into the two enemy vessels that had drawn within range. Though they were outnumbered, the two enemy vessels were not as heavily armed or armored as the Reformation-class and it was starting to show as their shields buckled in several locations and they started to take traumatic hull damage as a result of the heavy fire of the H.A.R.P.E.R.'s and the other weapons adorning the battlecruiser. Meanwhile, the Reformation-class had taken minimal damage in a few areas thanks to their shield design and the advanced armor that lay beneath it.

"Status?"

"Enemy fighter craft are disengaging and fleeing. Shall we intercept?"

"Yes. Launch fighters to intercept. Tell them to leave no survivors."

"Enemy ships have both nearly lost all shields. Each has hull breaches. I'm switching fire to their command bridge locations and then their shields. We can at least turn them into salvage."

"An effectual plan. Continue."

And so they did.

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

It wasn't overly long before the ships were turned into veritable derelicts. Each had numerous hull breaches, and had vented both atmosphere and bodies into the void of space. The ships, though strong enough to battle most ships were no match for the power of the Reformation-class vessel. It wasn't a surprise, really. Few ships could handle the might of something so readily advanced. Strictly speaking, he was aware that in reality it was because they hadn't ever seen the ship before and didn't know how to combat it. Every ship could be bested in combat. It was just a matter of how.

With the ships now floating above the planet mixed in with the rest of the space debris, the ship focused the full of its fire back on the ground to support the troops there. To further the issue, he knew that they needed to secure the enemy vessels in order to keep them from reactivating their weapons systems and starting the engagement again.

"Captain, please send our reserve forces to secure the two enemy vessels."

"The soldiers and pilots have been notified to proceed as you have directed, sir. Shall I launch fighters to escort them?"

"Not necessary at the moment. Please focus your attention primarily on the ground."

"Yes, sir."

Leos looked out the viewport screen to take in the sight of the dropships racing across the void towards the derelict vessels. With her shields down and the numerous hull breaches, there were plenty of entry points for the soldiers. He had no doubt that they would make short work of securing the vessel. If he had thought to bring them along, his guard would have been excellent for this particular situation. Alas, he had not. The soldiers would be fine, however. Once they were boarded, he turned his attention back to the planet below. The fighting down there was getting intense.

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

"Preliminary report from the boarding parties: Minimal resistance. Mixed alien species. No clear motive for their actions."

"Tell them to continue securing the vessels and to retain any officers for questioning."

This was all risky business. Between being attacked by unknown foes and facing the hordes of zombies down on the planet they certainly had their hands full. The debris around the planet was going to take quite some time to clean up as it was. Add in dealing with interrogating the officers of the two ships and it grew more complicated. The most complicated matter was that of the one that was causing the ship to still buck and distribute fire down to the ground below. The zombie horde was a bit of a nightmare.

He reached out through the Force to feel what was going on below and it was not going well. This was going to call for more drastic measures and he had an idea as to what that should be, but it was going to be difficult.

"Captain please give the evacuation order for the troops below. Send one squad of men to delve into the caverns and find any of the local populace which is still alive. Notify us of their position so we can evacuate them."

"Yes, sir."

This was going to be risky for the men he sent deeper, but it was necessary. They needed some of the locals to be alive if they were going to legitimize their station there. If they were going to remain alive, he was going to have to get them off of the planet. Cleansing the place of zombies was going to require that they bombard much of the planet with great force and indiscrimination. They would then have to likely follow up with more boots on the ground to indiscriminately kill any potential source of the pathogen that created the zombies. Brutal and messy, but necessary.

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

The ground forces were retreating, using the fire from the Dreadnought in orbit as cover. The large vessel provided superior firepower down on the ground, and the RAL's were swift enough to draw the enemy out and away, while lifting the ground forces to swift sanctuary. It was a mess and he was certain that they had lost quite a few troops on the ground, but that was the nature of the beast when it came to fighting things such as zombies. Mindless beasts were the worst thing to fight. They'd keep coming no matter what. This was exactly why he'd withdrawn most of the troops and sent the others to find survivors. It was going to be a messy maneuver but it was the only plausible one.

A couple of RAL's were returning from the enemy combatant ships, as he noted when he looked out the viewport in their direction. They docked and he didn't see them for a while so he figured that they were offloading people, same as the ones coming back from the ground. They shouldn't have finished securing the enemy ships as of yet, however. They were large enough that he had no doubt it would take some time to thoroughly cleanse them of enemy combatants.

"Captain, the two RAL's that returned from the enemy ships. What's their status?"

"They've captured a few officers and brought them over after doing scans on them. It seems that the infection has spread on their ship and the bridge crew was more or less lost. Or, that's what I gather from the conversation I can overhear."

Leos groaned. They'd brought potentially inflected individuals onto the ship. How lovely.

"Drop the mag shield on the hangar. Jettison them all."

"But sir, we'll lost several soldiers who haven't exi-"

"Do it. Now."

There was a pause and then he could feel lives being snuffed out. A hand rose to rub at his temples. Had he not explained that infected individuals tended to spread their infection to whomever they came into contact with? Did that not mean that bringing them over to their uninfected ship was a bad idea? That did raise another point of interest, however. Something was going to have to be done about the returning soldiers and the civilians that they might bring up from the planet below. They were going to have to be quarantined. Perhaps he should send them over to the other, larger ship. It would have more space for that.

"Divert all returning forces to Solan's ship. They can hold more. Inform him to quarantine them all and weed out anyone showing signs of infection. Any soldiers that have returned to this ship should be quarantined immediately. Under force."

"Yes, sir. You fear a spread."

"Fear is a strong term. I like to be cautious. Call it a precaution so we don't lose everyone on this ship. That would be a waste."

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

He knew that the troops were likely confused, and that numerous good souls had just perished because of his flushing of the hangar, but that honestly didn't weigh on him much. The decision had been practical and necessary. If he'd allowed the disease to get aboard his ship and gain a foothold it would have decimated the few forces he'd managed to draw together for the Reformation. In essence, years of work would have been out the window because of a few brash moments. While he was aware that he was thrusting that same potential upon Solan and his crew, he also believed that his compatriot had greater medical capacities than the dreadnought had. It was practical.

"Sir, we've reports from the ground team of survivors finally located. There aren't many, but they are more than what we can carry."

"How deep beneath the ground are they?"

There was a pause while the man relayed the question to the ground and awaited a response. Leos turned his eyes towards the distant derelict hulks. He wondered if he should not be cautious and just destroy the ships by pushing them into the distant star. More than likely it would be safer and wouldn't leave unnecessary debris to be dealt with in the system. Yes, that did seem to make more sense to him.

"Sir they report they are several fathoms deep in some sort of shelter."

"That'll work. Tell the soldiers to hole up with them and withdraw all air forces. Leave the SNAP in position."

"Yes, sir."

He couldn't help but wonder if this was going to be a mistake or not. The locals may not be happy with him when he finished, even though he knew it was necessary. Still, even though he honestly cared little for the local populace, he had a responsibility to do things right and make them legitimate so that some opposing force could not come into Surron and claim that the Reformation had enslaved the local populace. That possibility had to be so off the wall remote as to be preposterous for this to work. It was all a game of showmanship and appearances, but appearances were everything. Let people think him heretical and dismiss him. It would only be better for him.

"Prepare all guns for firing, Captain. We're going to annihilate the horde."

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

"Troops report clear. They've deployed several small probe droids to keep the interest of the horde. They remain out of their reach, but not likely for long."

Of course they wouldn't keep their attention for long. A machine would provide them with nothing but annoyance, especially a probe droid. Even probe droids were smart enough to remain out of the reach of individuals on the ground. Lest the the zombies learn to use blaster weaponry, they wouldn't likely find a way to knock them down. Incidentally, as the dead piled up and others climbed atop them, it did make it plausible for the zombies to reach the machines, albeit unlikely. Either way, it mattered little. Without their troops on the ground, and the surface theoretically only inhabited by zombies, there was a need for a certain methodology.

"Captain, begin firing on the horde. Spare no expense. Wipe the surface clean of them."

"Sir? The record?"

"Let the record show that the surface was attempted to be saved through conventional means but that failed. Additionally, all known friendly forces are situated safely beneath ground with an armed guard. This is the only way to save the planet."

"Yes, sir."

Leos would never give an order to commit genocide against a species, but the things down on the surface of Surron were not of one species, and they weren't really even alive. They were all dead, killed by a virus that he didn't know of a cure for. The only way to save the planet was to rid it of the threat that it face, which in this case meant blasting away. As he thought as much, the ship began to spew forth energy and projectiles down at the planet, utilizing the telemetry provided by the SNAP to ensure that it all landed on the horde, and that most rounds were not wasted by firing on things that didn't need to be blown up. It was precise and it was efficient. That was much more than he could say about the boots on the ground, not that they hadn't done their best. They were just outnumbered too greatly.

In the end he was confident that he would be on the right side of Surron's history, even though he wouldn't allow them to record who was in charge of this mission. All they need know was that the Reformation had saved them, and were subsequently setting up a base on their world to ensure their future safety. He doubted they'd have a problem with that, all things considered.

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

The surface of the planet was on fire. Not the whole thing, of course, but enough of it to be seen from space. Glassing the planet wasn't going to be necessary. They just needed to destroy as much of it as was occupied by the horde. That was a rather large portion of the planet, but it could certainly have been worse. The ships weapons systems worked rather well for such an endeavor, and he didn't feel much at all bothered by it. The gentle rocking of the ship was almost rhythmic enough to put him to sleep, but he didn't need any rest as of yet. Most of his rest came from meditation, and he didn't have the time for that at the moment.

The RAL's had stopped coming in some time prior, heading over to Solan's ship instead. At this point, all were accounted for and the large hulks of the warships that had attacked them were smoldering ruins adrift in a sea of blackness. Gradually, the dreadnought's guns began to slow, until they ceased firing altogether. He stared at the molten cragland below them with some disdain. Having to reduce a world in such a way was more than a little annoying, but his people didn't have the facilities to do the kind of research necessary to create the cure for such a disease as afflicted the undead on the world below, or the ones still on their source world. Unfortunate, really.

"The horde has been reduced to nothingness, sir. The SNAP is reporting no remaining targets and the probe droids have moved back in to confirm."

"Very good. Retrieve the SNAP. Any soldiers that have been cleared on the other ship are to go down to the surface. Use the weapons on the RAL's to catch stragglers in the hot zone, but deploy the troops near the survivors location and have them coordinate with the team inside to determine condition. Make sure they're aware there may be straggler zombies below ground."

"Yes, sir."

Thoroughness sometimes came at a price. He was certain that he was going to lose more troops out of this, but it was necessary. They still had to get the hulks floating in space around the planet out of there as well. He had a plan for that, but they were going to need some salvage ships brought in later for the smaller debris. But that was best left for when they had the ground secured.

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

With the troops moving back to the ground, that left one loose end still to tie up. Or, rather, two loose ends.

"Move the ship out of orbit, Captain. Approach the two derelicts from behind."

"Yes, sir."

The engines of the dreadnought kicked into gear subtly, propelling the cruiser out of its high orbit and into the space around the planet. Once again debris began to ping off the shields with great haste and rapidity. The guns had to be used to obliterate some larger pieces as they forged a new path out the way they'd come in, though this time they weren't going all the way out. The captain moved the ship in behind the two derelict vessels that had come to attack the superior ship, where he cut the engines and waited for further orders from Leos. After all, he didn't have the ability to read the Sith's mind, did he?

"Orders, sir?"

"Use the ships tractor beams to push the derelicts forward. We're going to propel them out of the debris field and directly towards the systems star."

"They may be too large for that, sir."

Leos tapped his fingers against the armrest of his chair as he considered that fact. It was accurate. They only had two tractor beams to use, after all. Add in the weight of the derelict vessels, even in space, and it was unlikely they were going to be pushing the enemy ship without crashing into it.

"Agreed. Use the forward guns to cut the ships into smaller pieces. Then proceed one piece at a time."

"Yes, sir."

As the guns fired, he waited. Messy business, this had turned out to be, but such was life sometimes.

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

It took a short time for the guns to shred through the unprotected hull of the first enemy derelict. The projectile guns remained silent in this assault, the firepower of the turbolasers doing the majority of the damage instead. Once they were carved apart, the Captain began the arduous task of pushing pieces through the debris field, accelerating their speed on a trajectory that would launch the debris into the distant star. It should be enough to end the viral threat the ships posed to the system. Nothing could survive inside that kind of inferno as far as he was aware. So long as nothing intervened in the ship pieces getting there.

The first piece was released from the tractors, sailing on its course. The Captain began turning the ship and Leos became aware that this was going to become a multi-hour venture so he pulled up his datapad and began sending a few messages out. The first one was to Kaela, telling her to send some tugs and salvage ships to the Surron system. It would take them a while to arrive, but they weren't needed immediately. Most of the debris wasn't going anywhere, and what was would burn up upon entering the atmosphere. Not a big loss in either form.

"Ground crews report minimal contact with remaining undead. Medical teams are currently securing the survivors for study."

"Very good. Continue, Captain. Keep me apprised of major developments, but as this process is likely to take a while, I'll leave you be."

"Yes, sir."

The medical teams would scour those within for illness or symptoms. Any that exhibited them would be quarantined from the rest, and those they had contact with would be quarantined separately. Efficient, but tumultuous. No matter. He went back to sending missives, including a new directive for Ignus Black to begin developing a drone fighter compatible with the pods so that they could outfit the Reformation-class ships with fighters that didn't require an on-board pilot. Overall it wouldn't be a huge advantage, but given that he didn't have access to an unlimited supply of pilots, it would certainly make life easier in that he wouldn't have to find more and train them.

Small benefits.

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

They spent hours pushing the large pieces of the derelict ships onto a trajectory that would get them to fall into the systems star. It was a tedious process, but necessary. This place needed to be free and clear of these creatures for multiple reasons. They needed the local populace to like them so they could set up a base on the world from which to convey operations. Not likely to be a long term base considering their proximity to the core, but still, part of their network of operations facilities. The main thing that was going to be situated in the system was Ignus Industries new shipyards. Here was where they were actually going to complete the build out of the Reformation-class Dreadnoughts. That was key.

With the larger ships taken care of, there was a lot of small debris that still needed to be dealt with. That was why he'd sent a message to Kaela. When the fleet of tugs and salvage ships arrived that she'd whip up, they'd begin cleaning up the rest of the debris in the system. He made sure to tell her what they were up against here, so that crews weren't trying to collect the salvage to turn around and sell it. The fact that they were getting paid to dispose of the stuff was going to have to be enough for them.

"Good work, Captain. Take us back to orbit around the planet."

"Yes, sir. I've received further information from the ground forces. It seems that those who were hidden below ground managed to avoid the virus. They're in the clear."

"Good. I advise them to stay there until we get fortifications set up on the surface. It's likely there will still be zombies on the surface in some capacity."

"Yes, sir."

"And call in the corvettes to head down to the surface and begin construction."

The corvettes were position outside of the system, waiting for orders to enter. Considering they hadn't been sure what exactly they were up against, he'd opted to leave the weaker ships where they wouldn't face any danger. Those ships were also carrying the components and supplies necessary to construct bases on the world. They hadn't originally been destined for Surron, but given the results of their encounter there, it only made sense that they take advantage of what they were given.

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

The ship moved back into high orbit above the planet, and it was at that point that he got confirmation from Kaela that a crew of salvagers and tugs was on its way. She didn't have a timetable because they'd be arriving from a bunch of different locations, but that was fine. What bits of debris were going to move were likely to just get sucked into the planets atmosphere and ultimately burn up, so they needn't worry about it. In the meantime, there was other work to be done. Chimes indicated that other ships had reverted into the system, but he was positive that they were just the corvettes making their arrival.

"Captain I'll be in the Orrery if you need me."

"Understood."

Leos stood and walked to the door that led to the large map chamber. Once again he turned on the system and waited for the maps to appear. When they did, he centered them on the planet Surron. It would take a few minutes, at least, for the corvettes to maneuver through the debris field, so he had time to assess the surface of the world. With slow steps he passed around the large globe, his eyes perusing each location, both for tactical advantage and for suitability. There were a few plateau's that might have worked, but he didn't like how exposed the base would be located in such a place. No, it made more sense to locate it between mountains.

The most suitable location was a selection in the northern hemisphere, outside of the cool zone at the figurative top of the planet. Selecting the location, he called up a two dimensional map which he then sent to the captains of the corvettes so they would know where it was he wanted them to set up their command center.

"Captains, let's make this quick," he said, activating communications to the other ships. "Disembark your equipment and necessary crew and then withdraw back to orbit. Only one ships going to be getting in there at a time, so line up and be efficient. Time is critical."

So very true.