Someone…or something…has been biding its time – The Republic Dominion of Cyrillia

[Corvus Raaf]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXa9tXcMhXQ

It had changed hands a few times over the years. The Cyrillians – two metre tall sentient reptiles – had seen their planet know many rulers. From the fanatical religious cult the Pius Dea, to the Republic, the Hutts, the Empire, the New Republic to the Yuuzhan Vong and then back to the Galactic Republic.

Famed for its droid manufacturing capability, the planet was located in the Expansionist Region and was home to approximately 5 billion Cyrillians.

But with the recent upheaval, the planet’s failing Government called out to the Republic for help. And, as ever, the Republic agreed, sending troops and ships to ensure that the recent period of lawlessness would be ended and peace and justice restored to the planet once more.

Objectives

1. Investigate the resurgence of the Pius Dea and if fears are proven to founded, bring the ringleaders in for questioning (there may be hostile resistance). Assure the current Government that the Republic will ensure their continued political control of the planet.

Additionally check for any Sith sympathisers on the planet and bring them in for questioning.

2. Investigate rumours of sabotage in the Serv-O-Droid factories – specifically looking for bombs or the theft of sensitive data (expect hostile resistance).

3. Prevent starship currently orbiting the planet from leaving, board it and investigate rumours it is a Hutt controlled vessel, smuggling stolen droids out of the planet. (expect hostile resistance)

Additionally check out the rumour that a Sith sympathetic naval base has been set up in a large asteroid and 'deal' with the threat.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Objective 3

Jacen didn't really know a great deal about being a Jedi. Arrogant and stupid, he'd failed the training in his youth and had only been back in training a few months. One thing he did know was that Padawans were expected to follow more experienced mentors out into the Galaxy. And so he sat patiently near the boarding vessels as soldiers checked gear and revisited internal layouts of the ship they were to board.

However, Jacen did know soldiering. Boarding suspicious vessels had been bread and butter for his mercenary company. Firefights down long narrow corridors got messy quickly; there was lots of noise and smoke and it was easy to get lost. Lines of battle were hard to distinguish, and in the metal bulkheads it was nearly impossible to keep comms without slicing the enemy’s network. He had a compact scatter blaster across his lap; it was a good weapon in such conditions. He watched the soldiers as they planned and joked. It was a camaraderie he missed. As a Jedi Padawan nearly ten years senior to most others, he felt much more isolated than he ever had. The feeling of being removed from the nearby men was becoming familiar to him. He'd had a few dark days recently. That feeling had started to creep back in, that numb feeling that stifled all positive emotions and left him lethargic.

He turned his thoughts away from that, mentally reciting a passage from an instructional Jedi prose in his mind. Better to keep focus and cleanse all emotions he imagined. Hell, would he even be allowed to carry a battered old scatter blaster about as a Jedi Padawan? He wasn't about to do any good with his saber anyway.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

From his J-1 Interceptor, Haytham's wrist started to beep. He pressed a button on the side of it to stop the beeping, and he started the pre-flight check for the Interceptor. His only reasoning for already being in the Interceptor was so that he could be deployed to the planet so much faster, and when the shields over the hangar bay were dropped, there was a moment of elevation and then he was out into the abyss that was Space.

Sleek ship flying down to the planet below, Haytham knew that in at most ten minutes he'd be down on the planet, in it's underground world looking for the supposed Ringleaders that were involved with the apparent Pius Dea resurgence. Pulling his DataPad from the console off to the side, he opened it up on whatever information on the Pius Dea that the Jedi and the Republic Libraries and Archives had on them. It'd be best to know everything on those who would most likely be hostile towards you, right?

 

[Mariya Pyne]

The Caledonia dropped out of hyperspace orbiting Cyrillia behind a large heav cruiser with an unknown magnetic signature and no defining allegiance markings to identify the vessel as friend or foe.

In tow were two carrier corvettes, carrying various gunships and transports in their hangars, with 48 readily available starfighters. Under the command of the fleet were three Valiance destroyers, two heavy Unity cruisers. and three Taboon corvettes.

Kayleigh observed the vessel from the rear, unable to get an absolute sight on the vessel. "Attempt contact with the unknown ship. Broadcast on all open stations and alert the fleet to remain radio silence while we hail them." The communications officer nodded and proceeded as instructed, turning back to his consoles and opening up the radio frequency to full bandwidth. "This is the Galactic Republic Navy broadcasting from the Caledonia. Unmarked vessel identify yourself immediately or face fire and boarding. I repeat, identify immediately or face fire and boarding measures."

The admiral would give them two minutes before ordering the fleet to cripple the vessel's engines and send out the boarding parties. Though she would take no chances today, and ordered the carriers to flank the rear of the ship while the destroyers pulled up along the port and starboard flanks. The corvettes would hold back for now in defensive positioning in the event of any surprises.

 

[Orick T'ane]

He shifted out of hyperspace and into the system space of Cyrillia. He Spotted the Republic fleet on the port side of The Ranger and chuckled to himself, The Caledonia again, man that girl does get around. He changed his course and sent a transmission to the fleet, " Caledonia, this is the Aimless Ranger, Admiral [member="Kayleigh Tyven"] what special missions do you need me to run for you this time?" He said, being just professional enough. He was sure someone listening was frowning at how casual he was being with a fleet admiral, but he didn't care. He was here to help, and they both knew he would do whatever she needed him to do, no matter how insane the request.

He noticed the fleet moving to cut off a rather interesting ship that was orbiting the planet. It was a familiar design, one he had seen a lot in his travels. It was a pretty well known vessel used by smugglers and thieves. It was even worse to fly than his ship, but it had a lot more cargo space and it's design allowed for many hide hole smuggler caches.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

The J-1 Interceptor broke the atmosphere and descended down to the planet below. He was moving fast. The faster that they handled this situation here, the faster they'd be able to move onto the next planet and aid with any relief efforts there. Even though there were hundreds of Jedi and many more Galactic Republic soldiers, Haytham traveled ceaselessly across the Galaxy with the Republic Forces and multiple other Jedi to help the Galaxy. He didn't have an actual reason as to why, but he did it.

Once landing at the nearest Starport to the planet's underground, Haytham started his search for a speeder. He had a little bit of information as to where to start, but he'd have to get into the underground of the planet, and from there, he had some ideas as to where they'd be hiding. In his ear, was the leader of a Republic Military Squad that had information and were giving him friendly contacts to meet up with the Underworld.

Soon enough there was a speeder coming towards him.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

The shuttle rocked to the side with a jolt large enough to even be felt through the inertial dampeners. It was experience that kept his fear in check, not the Force or his limited Jedi training. He'd done this several times before and come out of it in one piece, no point worrying about it. The death would be pretty damn quick if a point defence laser pierced their shields.

He looked up at the private across from him. The lad couldn't have been twenty. He kept his gaze steady and firm, but his little finger was rhythmically tapping against his thigh. A dreadful truth of warfare was that so many youths were sent to their deaths whilst more experienced men stayed back from the front lines.

"Bet they drop weapons as soon as they see us," Jacen offered with a smile.

"Bet they drop more than that in their trousers!" added the Sergeant sat next to the lad before thumping him on the arm.

"Yeah... Yeah," replied the kid, the faintest semblance of a smile threatening to break out.

"You stick to the Jedi there Jackson, wouldn't want him getting lost!" the Sergeant added, before exchanging a knowing glance. The man at least knew he'd held a commission before.

"Yes Sergeant," the boy replied nodding assertively.

Jacen checked his scatterblaster was set to stun, the safety catch down, before he unclipped it and placed a hand on his harness release. He felt a little better about himself right now at least.

 

[Gir Quee]

Stormfire-class Assault Frigate Audacious, outskirts of the Cyrillia System

"...Five, four, three, two, one..."

The flowing lines of superluminial travel converged to the pin pricks of distant starlight. Commodore Quee stood at the bridge viewport, turning his gaze from the distant stars to the local sun and then to the world of Cyrillia itself. Even from their distance outside of the world's gravity well, Gir could make out several larger vessels in orbit around the world, including what appeared to be a Republic battle fleet. Taking a deep breathe of the almost stale air, he spun about on his heel to pace back to his command chair but the hazel eyes of Lieutenant Herson caught his own. He stopped.

"Yes lieutenant? Do you have any news to report?"

"Yes and no. The situation has not changed since we arrived at the outskirts of the system."

Gir nodded in acknowledgement and continued on his way. Commodore Quee had made it a practice to make multiple micro-jumps whenever he took his ships into solar systems in order that they could receive updates gradually rather than jumping straight into a situation and receiving all of the information at once. That way, the man could better prepare his men and equipment for the situation as it changed. He collapsed into his seat and began rapidly typing commands into the chair's console. The miniaturized holo-projector in front of him began to hum incessantly before booting up to reveal a number of flickering displays. The man from Hast tapped a button on his headset comlink.

"Captain Merritt, go ahead and take the Brazen to heading 24.56.92 and prepare for possible interdiction duty."

A disembodied voice distorted by static flowed back into his right ear, "Yes sir. Any word yet if we will need to be providing support to Cyrillia's surface?"

Gir shook his head out of habit, despite the inability for the captain to see him, "Not yet. If I receive any updates on that subject, I'll have Herson notify you immediately."

"On it."

Gir switched frequencies several more times, issuing movement orders to the other warships of 1st Beta Line. The squadron began to disperse, forming a net with which to ensnare the suspicious vessel if it tried to escape. He glanced at another screen, checking the flight status of the tennant units attached to his capital vessels: a variety of starfighters, transports, and other sub-capital ships were coming online as being ready to deploy. Marines and troopers on his ships were coming to condition one, grabbing their weapons, armor, and other gear in case they were needed. He flipped through several screens before returning his attention back to Cyrillia. It's their move now...

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Dating back to the days of the Old Republic, Serv-O-Droid were renowned for manufacturing cheap and extremely reliable utility droids.

Although Serv-O-Droid never reached the level of Cybot Galactica or Industrial Automaton, the company established itself firmly in the galaxy for thousands of years, until it eventually bankrupted with the establishment of the Corporate Sector. It seems they chose to make some bad decisions to ally itself with the Republic bureaucracy.

While this led to many favourable deals, the bribes, kickbacks, and political favours eventually dragged the company down. It attempted to expand its offerings, but eventually went bankrupt. Many of its designs and manufacturing was sold to the Droid ReServe, a droid remainder reseller located on Elshandruu Pica. They continued to sell and service Serv-O-Droid models for many years.

But recently the name had been bought and a new company formed to fill the gap for cheap droids. So it was never going to be the exciting or the sexy objective, but Corvus was here to seve and the Ordr and Republic needed her to help out in the factories – so that’s exactly what she did.

 

[Axo Mend]

Objective 1

Axo looked down at the planet, if indeed the Pius Dea had returned, his presence on the planet could attract their attention. It wasn't the smartest of plans, nor was it the wisest, but he was sure that he could gain their attention just by stepping on the planet. Their 'human first' philosophy was clear in their actions and words. Axo smiled as he walked from the observation room to the one of the Caledonia's many docking bays, looking for the first ship going planetside. He had been preparing for these moments his whole life. He was ready to make a difference.

 

[Aithne Charr]

Objective 1

Solan leaned back in the chair as he smiled at the person behind him and leaned over before whispering to him. "Hey, im looking to join a certain... group on the planet. Do you happen to know where i can share my skills to this group. I can make it worth your while if you tell me, i must join them." He smiled and let a pouch of credits accidentally fall into the drunkard's lap as he waited for the response. It was hilarious how stupid some men could be if promised money or power and then the drunkard looked at me with a smile and made this whole give me more look which irritated Solan so he dropped another few credits into the man's hand as he leaned over and whispered to solan. "Thank you... and good night." Be fore the man could react Solan hit him in the back of the head with his old saber which fell from his sleeve and then was returned. Taking his credits back and shaking his head before leaving for the location he was told.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Objective 3

Electrical arcs lashed out from the hull of the freighter, as ion energy pulsed up and down its length. The point defences full silent and the small flotilla of shuttles carried on their path unabated. The co-pilot swivelled about in his chair to face the men behind.

"Well, looks like a smooth ride from here, sorry about the bumps!" he called, clearly amused with how shaken the soldiers looked. Someone muttered something about pilots needing a stint on the front line. "Patching us in to the clear lines now," he added.

There was a crackle on the tannoy as the co-pilot searched for the frequency. "...repeat, have all crew lay down arms and prepare for a search of your vessel. You have been disabled, submit to our search or we will take your whole ship into custody."

The message was cut off as the shuttle turned a slow arc to approach the main bay. As the passed through the field on the threshold a pair of blaster bolts slammed into the underside of the shuttle. The pilot returned fire with the shuttle's weapons.

"Guess that's a 'no' then!" Jacen shouted.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

"Ranger, We will be boarding that unidentified vessel momentarily. Should you wish to join our party, please dock at hangar 6 and board one of the transport vessels."

The admiral turned to Captain Rovins and shurgged. "Their time is up, Captain. Give the order to fire on the ship. Target their engines and only their engines. If they release fighters or bombers, ensure those become priority one. Relay orders to the rest of the fleet that the ship is not to be destroyed. We may have smugglers, or we may have slavers. Either way, I intend on finding out what is aboard that ship. Prep the transports. Once the engines have been crippled, we move to board."

Rovins nodded, relaying the instructions as ordered. "All guns, focus fire on enemy engines. Intent here is disable, not elimination. Boarding parties prepare for departure."

[member="Orick T'ane"] | [member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

Stormfire-class Assault Frigate Audacious, outskirts of Cyrillia's orbital zone

"It would look like Admiral Tyven's people are moving to board that large starship," noted Herson dryly.

Gir glanced up from his console and the myriad of bright dots that represented the system's traffic. This could be interesting...The man from Hast rapidly punched in a few commands into his console, bringing in a zoomed image of the unknown vessel from the Audacious's EPRs. Bright weapon's fire lashed out at the stern of the vessel. That should force their hand. If Admiral Tyven's attack is successful, it'll free up some of my ships for other duties. Gir cleared his throat and swiveled around in his chair to face the being man wearing battle armor on the bridge.

"Well captain, how are your people feeling?"

The husky gotal laughed, "You actually have something for us to do besides pull security?"

"Admiral Tyven is about to board an unknown vessel, potentially," mused the Commodore, "I think we should organize a reserve force just in case they encounter hard resistance."

"And if they don't?"

"When you and your people get there," decided the Commodore, "we'll see. They may need you groundside."

"To pull security."

"Or to secure an asset from hostiles," said Gir, "one never knows for sure what will happen on the battle field."

[member="Kayleigh Tyven"] | [member="Orick T'ane"]

 

[Orick T'ane]

He heard [member="Kayleigh Tyven"]'s responce and smiled. She loves getting me into knife fighting range doesn't she. He thought as he approached the Caledonia. There were several fighters and drop ships moving around it. The scene resembled a hive-mind wit hall of it's drones moving in perfect order. the Ranger was nothing but chaos coated in durasteel. He wove his way through the perfect rows of ships and he once again found himself in docking bay 6. I wonder if I can get a permanent landing pad reserved here, as much as she calls me to her ship.

The shutdown sequence consisted of about three standard minutes of banging on the control panel to get the circuits to connect properly. Standing he opened his small locker, pulling out his combat harness and frowned. it was still slightly stained blue and stunk like a dead gundark. Kriffing thing, I guess I'm throwing this away next time i'm in a port. He shrugged it on and snapped the two buckles closed on the front, adjusting his knife so it sat perfectly. The hanger bay was flooded with bodies. Several small transport ships were being loaded with crates and troops. There were several techs making last minute adjustments to the ships, tweaking an engine here, adjusting sensors there.

" Mister T'ane. I'm Chief Rawnuka. I hear you'll be joining us today." Orick looked over and saw the large Weequay walking up to him. The combat armor was well worn and looked like it needed a new coat of paint, but he was a survivor, and his armor proved it.

" That's right, Chief. The admiral asked me to join you on this wonderful trip into the unknown. I'll stay out of the way and behind your men, I can handle myself in a fight and I carry my own gear. Point me to the ship I'm in and we are good." He grinned and rolled his shoulders.

" I'll hold you to that, fly-boy, you're on shuttle 3 over on the end. Get your scrawny butt over there pronto, we're about to start the fun. " Hhe large Chief chuckled as he pointed to the ship at the end of the line.

Orick shook his head as he walked towards the ship, Republic marines were scattered around the ship, strapping various parts of armor on, checking weapons and adjusting their coms. He smiled as he tried to remember how many times he had done these things. More than I want to remember. He glanced around and ducked his head as he entered the shuttle, two rows of seats lined the walls of the shuttle. He took one in the middle of the row and checked both of his pistols.

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus wasn’t sure what she should expect to see as she entered the droid factory – but whatever it was – it wasn’t this.

Firstly it was dirty and dark. In her mind she’d envisaged a clean and bright area with immaculate floors and no waste. What she saw was surely technologically-advanced but looked to date back centuries. The majority of the production facilities were actually foundries – highly automated, requiring minimal sentient oversight and a steady flow of raw materials but little else.

Despite appearing slow and antiquated, the facility boasted hundreds of conveyor belts and robot assembly arms, capable of creating thousands of droids per day from scratch. Glancing around, she suspected that due to its low-profile, remote location and low profit margins, the foundries kept a low standard on work safety.

So she watched where she walked and headed for the main control room to see where she could best help.

 

[Kian Karr]

Kian came into the droid factory, moving along the upper rafters of the building. He had drawn his force signature in and was sticking to the shadows to keep himself hidden as he moved. Below he saw the droids arms and the conveyor belts and more importantly he saw Grandmaster [member="Corvus Raaf"] moving through the factory. Kian considered reaching out with the force and letting her know he was there, but decided against it. He would follow and see what she was up to.....and if the time arose that she might need help, he'd jump in.

It was good practice, moving in stealth and trying to hide from Master Raaf. She appeared to be moving through the factory toward the central command center. Kian dropped down several feet, landing on a platform and leaped down to the ground, silently rolling to take up the impact. Peering around the corner, he followed several meters behind Master Raaf. The report he'd received about the factory indicated that they suspected tampering would be an issue so that was likely why the Grandmaster had come here. Regardless, Kian would attempt to make himself of use.....even if Master Raaf didn't know it.

 

[Uri Aureleos]

Uri stayed a pace behind Master Corvus simply trying to stay quiet and not bother her. She seemed to have a lot on her mind. He played the part of back up although he doubted how much support he would actually be able to give her. Someone is better than no one he supposed.

He followed her into the droid factory stopping at the door and taking in the eerie view. He didn't like it there. There was too much going on. Conveyor belts and assembly arms set up every few feet and to make matters worse it was so dusty and dusky dark. Anyone could easily sneak up on them. Master Corvus Raaf was grand master so that gave her reason enough to be targeted. Uri felt a chill go up his spine. He wasn't sure why. He blamed it on the ominous place.

Uri began to walk forward when he noticed Master Corvus had a bit of a lead on him. He didn't hurry to catch up to her. He already found it hard enough to remain completely quiet. He nearly jumped out of his skin when a figure dropped down in front him. It didn't make a sound but he still caught it in his sight. Assassin! His young mind plugged the word into the situation. He pulled the light sai from his belt tossing it forward at the figure but forgetting to hit the ignition button. He watched as it bounced off the wall above the figure with a loud clang that echoed though the factory. Uri then noticed who exactly the figure was.

"Master Karr?"

[member="Kian Karr"] [member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Ordo]

[member="Corvus Raaf"] [member="Haytham Kaze"] [member="Kayleigh Tyven"] [member="Orick T'ane"] [member="Jacen Voidstalker"] [member="Gir Quee"] [member="Solan Charr"] [member="Kian Karr"] [member="Uri Aureleos"]

The black form of the Kandosii-type dreadnought dropped from hyperspace and released a small one man fighter. The small wedge shaped ship streaked through the void and sent a breif message to the republic fleet on their own frequency.

"This is Field Marshal Ordo of the first Mandalorian expansionary defense fleet to the republic force." His deep voice came over the comms, "Where can I be of use?"

His black armor reflected the stars as he flew toward the world and orbiting fleet As he anxiously awaited their reply.

 

[Gir Quee]

Stormfire-class Assault Frigate Audacious, Cyrillia System

"New contact dropping out of hyperspace," noted Herson, "it's a Mandalorian design."

Gir rapidly flipped through his screen, after dispatching troops and their gunships to link up with [member="Orick T'ane"]'s group to board the criminal vessel. His screen finally settled on a distant EPR shot of the massive vessel, though it's massive hulk was soon eclipsed by that of a smaller snubfighter broadcasting to the Republic fleet. Gir listened to the field marshal's broadcast with interest, though he wouldn't be the one to respond. There were other higher-ranking officers present that would likely deal with the diplomatic niceties and battle direction. Gir guessed that the Supreme Commander, Admiral [member="Kayleigh Tyven"], would coordinate with the Mandalorian expeditionary group.

"Looks like they're friendlies," noted Gir dryly, "we have more important things to work on. Let's begin by establishing a defensive web around the system. As soon as we have people on that ship, we're going to move our a formation a bit more. Come over here Herson, and let's get some plotting practice down."