Location: Leading the Boarding Assault on the Lead Interdictor
Objective:
Fleet Objectives - Move to engage the Lead Interdictor and its escorts.
Boarding Party - [1] Kill all encountered Sith-Imperial Legionnaires and take the Hangar bay
[2] Begin clearing a path to the Bridge if possible and/or eliminate all encountered hostiles along the way.
Direct Enemy: Darth Trellux
Theme: VICTORY
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The response given to the Zord Relief Fleet was characteristically such a Sith thing to do. Jinnosha was left with a feeling of disgust in his mouth upon seeing a Cruiser full of refugees being reduced to nothing but floating debris and drifting corpses and viscera.
"Wakamancha Kung!" The Hutt exclaimed, a fist hammering down onto his command chair. His anger was redirected into determination once the bridge's communication officer informing him of reinforcements dropping into the system from all corners of the blockade. Allied, or at the very least non-hostile fighters were moving in to engage the fleet from multiple bearings. Jinnosha sent his own orders down the line, no longer biding his time now that the fight was in full swing with the enemy.
The Indomitable Hutt advanced forwards at the head of the fleet, flanked by the pair of Light Cruisers on either side. X-wings moved ahead of the fleet to engage the Sith
Dominance-class Fighters, and from behind the vanguard the order was received to prepare the squadrons of Fang Superiority Fighters for imminent deployment. The Entire Fleet moved forwards in a wedge formation at full speed, their intent on getting well within weapons-range of the Sith Fleet's Lead Interdictor and its surrounding escorts.
Meanwhile back in the Hangar, Lucien had the unfortunate opportunity to witness the horror of hundreds, if not thousands of refugees losing their lives in an instant. The forward-facing hangar bay of the Liberator-cruiser gave him a front-seat to the carnage that was second only to the bridge. He felt the echoes of those lives that were lost. Countless souls -- men, women, children, elderly -- were not even given the cruelest mercy of shackles beneath the Empire in the end. In what was a response to Jinnosha from what he could tell, the Sith instead chose to kill the innocent, delivering a message that their fleet received loud and clear. The Entire fleet soon shifted to full speed, prompting Luc to leap off his starfighter's wing and peer off into the combat-filled void ahead of him. Numerous groups had arrived to fight back the blockade of the Sith, showing the importance of removing such a threat from lanes that affected not just the Silver Jedi themselves. It was tempting to jump into Midnight and join the fray, but those same whispers that called to him to stave off his thirst to fight were prompting him to follow another path entirely.
He knew what he had to do, even if it might've seemed a foolish choice at first thought. Opening up his comms, Luc established an encrypted line between him and the Hutt up in the bridge.
"Jinnosha- I'm heading for Jackal Pod 07. If you're movin' the fleet to engage who I think you are, then I'm pretty sure these boarding pods are going to be seeing some use, and I want in on the action." The Hutt's previous focus shifting into amusement at the surprise response from the young Jedi down in the hangar.
"I don't need to tell you how foolish that is, young Luc. The droids can be replaced, but not your life." He replied to Luc, who by that time was busy prying out one of the S1 Battle Droids from its brace.
"Yeah, yeah, trust me I know. Do me a favor and get me close to the hangar, yeah? And try not to get me killed- great, thanks." He immediately shut off his comms following that response. Strapping himself into the harness a moment later, the boarding pod sealed itself closed as the systems within began coming to life.
Fang Superiority Fighters exited the Argonaut-class Carrier from the rear, each squadron moving ahead of the fleet to engage in the battle that their X-wings were previously handling themselves. The more advanced fighters being sent into the fray were a closer match to
Dominance and
Tuk'ata craft in use by the Sith. Losses were to be expected, but the primary goal would be achieved once the Fang's entered the fray and evened out the playing field. Together with the X-wings, the fleet's complement of starfighters would provide the perfect distraction for the five squadrons of
Jackal Pods preparing to launch from the Cruiser at the lead. Squadron after Squadron exiting the hangar, taking off towards the Lead Interdictor while their allies suppressed the Sith fighter escorts through round-for-round dogfights.
Luc had strapped himself into the seventh pod of the first squadron, and a hint of regret came across his mind as the pod was delivered through a combat zone at top speed, the droid-brain piloting the thing performing the tightest maneuvers possible to avoid collisions and tracking, much to his dismay. Even with the harness strapping himself in, he could still feel every sharp turn being made, and occasionally what felt like an explosion coming from either side. He could only assume that some of the pods around him met a fiery end, but such was to be expected. Though filled to the brim with advanced technologies to prevent them from being easily detected, there was nothing preventing the fighters around them from locking onto them visually.
Luckily that wasn't an issue for him-- yet, at least, but he put his trust into the force on this one. What felt like minutes had passed before the first wave of pods had reached the Interdictor's shield bubble, and avoided them entirely thanks to the field disruptor installed in each one. His pod connected with a loud
thud, metal impacting metal and rocking the small craft before it locked itself in place and stabilized its position on top of the hull. Several more followed, and then some more, and before he knew it Luc had lost count after feeling the residual from other pods slamming themselves into place along the ship's hull. Buzz Droids detached from the boarding pods, each small unit coalescing into a swarm of autonomous droids that minced at the hull along the length of the hull where the boarding pods had impacted.
It was followed by molecular lasers activating from their respective pod, clearing a pressurized gap for each connecting pod to release their complement of B2 and S1 Battle Droids right into the heart of the Sith vessel. The droids immediately got to work in their primary objective, flooding the corridors in their initial assault under the sheer weight in numbers that the many boarding pods had delivered en masse. The momentum would begin in their favor, and considering the assault group consisted entirely of droids -- minus the lone organic leading the assault -- there was no hit to their momentum, their goal straightforwards and clear. It was simple enough; Kill the Sith-Imperials as much as they could, secure the hangar, and fight a path straight for the bridge if at all possible.
And it wasn't as if Luc was about to let the Droids have all the fun either. Brandishing the black-hilt of his weapon, an aqua-blue blade shimmered to life as he exited the pod and joined the fight within the corridors alongside his droid entourage. Dashing ahead of the blaster fire, adept footwork and an ample use of the force carried him across to his first Imperial, the blade of his lightsaber emerging from the man's back and ending him where he stood. The blade deactivated a moment later, a pivot to the left followed by the reemergence of the blade as he carried it straight through the side of the next soldier's abdomen. A third moved in to engage the lone sentient that was cutting through his comrades. A rifle's butt edged by his head, narrowly dodged by Luc thanks to a sidestep that allowed him to skirt to the man's flank. The lightsaber deactivated once more, his free hand extended behind the man's back as the hilt was tossed into the hand, gripping and reactivating it with a single motion. The blade's end emerged out of his torso, dropping the soldier to his knees as the life exited his body. The troopers were defending their ship with the spirit he'd expect from the Legionnaires of the Empire, but the numerical superiority of the initial wave of boarders carried them to victory in that early stage of the battle.
The last of the Imperial troopers fell as the combination of wrist-mounted blasters, rifles and wrist-mounted rockets made quick work of the first wave of defenders in their section. With their beachhead established, Luc gathered the boarders in his corridor and led the charge towards the hangar. If he had any chance of getting off the ship alive once this was all said and done, they needed to make sure the blast doors remained opened and under their control, otherwise it truly was a suicide mission indeed.
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