Skirmish [WSR/TIC] Shipping Error

[Felix Yorwell]

Objective: I
Allies: TIC | Ronhar Tane
Enemies: WSR | Zoro Igala | also Kjartan Hammer-Hand

So far, so good.
​

While few of the missiles fired by the NCE-100s had hit their intended targets thanks to jamming software installed on the Y-wings, it had forced their pilots to take their focus away from attacking the station, giving its defenders temporary breathing room. Better yet, reinforcements had finally arrived in the form of a Maphoreem fleet, whose large complement of TIE Vultures gave Felix’s smaller but higher quality starfighter complement the cover they urgently needed.

Soon after the arrival of Imperial reinforcements, the rebel Y-wings broke ranks and fled into hyperspace, removing the most immediate threat to the orbital shipyards from the equation. Shortly afterwards, the signatures of the unidentified bomber types also vanished into hyperspace.

It was their withdrawal that gave Felix pause. While the Y-wings had likely fled to avoid Imperial bombardment, the other bomber type had been comparatively unmolested. Consequently, it would be illogical for them to retreat with the Y-wings. Unless...

Before Felix could finish his thought, an enormous signature appeared on the Triumph’s radar.

“Mandalorian battlecruiser signature.” called out the radar officer, his eyes wide in panic. “Right behind us."

Felix froze in shock, his teacup halfway to his mouth. What exactly were the Mandalorians doing here?

“Are w-we at war with the Mandalorians?” nervously asked one of the signals officers.

“No.” responded Felix at last. “But they could be unaffiliated. Turn to face the ship! Fire on my command!"

No sooner had the Triumph begun to turn to face the Mandalorian warship did it open fire upon Felix’s fleet. A dizzying array of turbolasers, missiles, hypermatter cannons, and mass drivers emerged from the vast warship’s bowels, colliding with the Imperial fleet with overwhelming force. The Triumph rattled with the force of heavy impacts, its shielding pushed to its limits to keep the hull protected.

“All ships, open fire!” shouted Felix. “Get the Laimars out of the firing line while they’re still stealthed, then launch all bombers! Deploy all fighters to cover them!"

The commodore scrambled to salvage the situation, recognizing that his fleet was now in grave danger far beyond any threat the rebel starfighters could pose. Ahead of and flanking the Triumph, the smaller Extollers lurched into a sharp turn, their top-mounted triple main guns struggling to angle themselves to face the Mandalorian warship. All the while, their shields were battered down by firepower far above anything they had been designed to handle.

The closest two Extollers to the Mandalorian warship, the Furious and the Rancor, were hit the hardest, their shields entirely collapsing under the weight of continuous turbolaser and missile bombardment. Explosions now tore through their decks as their crews struggled to contain fires in damaged portions of the frigates.

After around a minute, Felix’s fleet had at last fully turned to face the vast Mandalorian warship. Triumph was the first to return fire, its turbolasers and small ion cannon complement shelling the much larger capital ship with undaunted determination. It was followed shortly by the Extollers, all of which boasted the most powerful main guns in Felix’s fleet. At relatively close range against such a large capital ship, their automatic rangefinding took a matter of seconds.

On each Extoller, all three triple heavy turbolaser batteries fired at once in a manner reminiscent of ancient seaborne battleships. There was around a four second cooldown between shots, just short enough for the Extoller flotilla to lay down a sustained bombardment of heavy turbolaser fire in defiance of the overwhelming odds leveled against them.

At the same time, the partially stealthed Laimar-class carriers had so far gone undetected. Banking sharply to the left, the pair accelerated away from the rest of Felix’s fleet, putting several more kilometers between the main force before opening their hangars, temporarily reversing their radar stealth features. Out of their hulls emerged four squadrons of TIE/sb strike bombers, all armed with proton torpedoes and on a collision course with the Mandalorian warship. They were soon joined by the TIE complements of the Triumph and the Extollers, forming a dense escort to the main bomber strike force.

Meanwhile, nearly forgotten in the chaos, the NCE-100s had drawn the attention of the B-wings. Taking a page out of Felix’s own playbook, they engaged the Imperial starfighters from afar with a barrage of missiles. Fortunately for their pilots, the air wings had already scattered, making it difficult for a single missile’s explosion radius to impact more than two fighters at a time. Most of the NCE-100s were able to engage their own countermeasures long before the torpedoes drew close, chaff and flares causing most of them to burst prematurely. A few of the starfighters closer to the NCE-100s did however suffer indirect hits, their electronics almost instantly frying. Left adrift in space, the pilots awaited tractor beams from the shipyard ring to carry their craft to safety.

The majority of the NCE-100s redirected their attention towards their long-distance attackers. The leaders of each air wing led their wings into regrouping around them, forming an irregular formation that steadily accelerated towards the offending B-wings. Recognizing that they too likely carried countermeasure systems that would render the remaining Imperial missiles useless at long range, the air wings chose a different approach. About fifteen kilometers away from the B-wings, the massed NCE-100s split into two distinct groups, one banking left and one banking right. They each moved to press the far larger and bulkier B-wings on their flanks, allowing them to more safely close the distance to effectively fire both their missiles and their nose-mounted laser cannons.

Back with the main fleet, Felix watched the unfolding battle with growing concern. Even as the commodore witnessed the Triumph’s turbolaser batteries return fire, green lasers clashing with green lasers, and its TIE complement soar out of their hangars, he knew that the current situation was not sustainable. Panic was spreading through his flagship’s bridge as its shielding whittled down to half strength under intense bombardment. If allowed to continue, the atmosphere of fear would undermine the Triumph’s operations and prevent even a long shot chance of his fleet recovering.

“Gentlemen!” cried Felix. “We absolutely can not give into fear! If we stay focused now, only some of us will perish today. If we assume the worst, then we are all dead men."

“Stand fast and man your stations until the end. The fate of the entire fleet depends on it."

“If it helps ease your concerns,” concluded Felix. “I have already sent a distress beacon for reinforcements, and they are fast approaching. There is a general on this station who owes me a favor from many years ago."

Spoiler: Fleet Composition

Reinforcements in deep space:

• Cato - Cato-class fleet carrier | Arriving in 2 turns
• ??????????? - ???????????-class frigate | Arriving in 4 turns

In Battlefield:

• Flag: Triumph of Will - Pyre-class cruiser, Configuration I | Shields moderately damaged, hull lightly damaged
  
  • 2 squads TIE/ss
• 5x Extoller-class Frigate Killers
  
  • Extoller | Shields moderately damaged
    
    • 1 squad TIE/ss
  • Furious | Shields destroyed, hull lightly damaged
    
    • 1 squad TIE/ss
  • Rancor | Shields destroyed, hull moderately damaged
    
    • 1 squad TIE/ss
  • Lancer | Shields heavily damaged, hull lightly damaged
    
    • 1 squad TIE/ss
• Bulwark | Shields moderately damaged, hull lightly damaged
  
  • 1 squad TIE/ss

In Battlefield, Reserve:

• 2x Laimar-class stealth carriers
  
  • Persuader | Unstealthed
    
    • 3x NCE-100a squads
    • 2x TIE/sb strike bomber squads
  • Monarch | Unstealthed
    
    • 3x NCE-100a squads
    • 2x TIE/sb strike bomber squads

Spoiler: Summary of Orders

• Triumph and all Extollers turn to face and concentrate fire on the Vod'gam
• Persuader and Monarch deploy all four TIE/sb squads to engage the Vod’gam
• Triumph and all Extollers deploy their TIE squads to escort the bombers
• NCE-100s engage countermeasures to disable most missiles fired by the B-wings
• NCE-100a squads merge and split into two groups of three squads to flank B-wings
• An old favor is called in, and reinforcements are acquired

​

 

[Daro Roz’yrn]

Wild Space Rebellion

Objective Two: Checkpoint Charlie
​

Equipment and weapons:

Spoiler: Daro's gear

Neural Implant Skinsuit Under-Armour Battle Armour Droid Companion Ship

• 
  
  Holy Communion Neural Implant
  

  
  • Set to level 5
  • bonded to the Nephilim Marine Armour
  • Status:
    • Optimal
    • Equipped
• 
  
  Nomadic Under-Uniform Skinsuit:​
  
  
  
  • Status:
    • Optimal
    • Equipped
• 
  
  Nephilim Marine Armour:
  

  
  • Status:
    • Optimal
    • Unequipped: On board the Battle wagon
  • Spinal hard-point:
    • Nomad Marine Jetpack
      • LPD-66 Flashfire Blaster Rifle magnetic "holster" on jetpack's hard-point
      • Computerized Interface Scope added to Rifle
  • Thigh hard-points:
    • SV-5 "Phanes" class survival kit
    • A custom-made double holster for holding Haon Hafey's Twin Heavy Mandalorian Blasters(acquired here)
      • Computerized Interface Scopes are added
      • Mk XIII Smartgunner Chips have been re-keyed to Daro's space armour AI.
  • Forearm hard-points:
    • x2 Fallen Angel Energy Shield(one per forearm)
  • Waist hard-points:
    • x1 EMP Grenade
    • x1 pouch with x10 concentrated vials of Stim Tea and x10 concentrated vials of Root Tea
    • x1 Fusioncutter
    • x2 pouches with spare blaster gas magazines for the rifle, 6 magazines per pouch
    • x1 pouch with spare blaster gas magazines for sidearm, 6 magazines in pouch.
• 
  
  Modified Garmr Battle Dog companion named Hal:
  

  
  • Status:
    • Optimal
    • Not accompanying Daro: On Board the Battle Wagon
  • Linked to the Operating System in the Nephilim Marine Armour
  • Now wears a fancy leather smuglger's hat that Daro recovered from the corpse of Haon Hafey
• 
  
  Updated Dornean Gunship named Battle Wagon
  

  
  • Status:
    • Optimal
    • Daro not on board: Docked to the station as a potential getaway vessel.
  • Dornean Software Systems Installed
    • T.E.C.M.I.S
    • P.A.F.I.E.S
    • O.S.I.V.P
  • All energy weapons have been upgraded with Dornean Plasma
  • Missiles upgraded with G.O.U.P.
  • X2 Dornean Starfighters docked to the underbelly

"Theeeeeey flew the see-are-ninety up to foooorty thousand klicks,
They jumped from sky to planeside and laaaanded in the sticks!
Everyone calls EV jumpers suuuuuicidal hicks
AND THEY AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE!

"(And the Moff said)

"Glory, Glory, what a feth of a way to die!
With plasma up your rear, and a missile in your eye!
Glory, Glory, what a feth of a way to die,
When your balls hang lower than your magnet spacer boots!"

Daro sang his jaunty little marching tune as he toiled away, working on yet another sensor bank on the station. Officially, he had been contracted by the Mon Calamari to install OSIVP software on all the sensors for the past couple months or so.

Little did they know that Daro was not even remotely qualified to install that specific military grade software.

But he had managed to segue his way carefully into this role. At first, he had posed as an auditing observer, bringing his gunship to orbit the periphery of the joint exercise between the Diarchy and Confederacy a few months ago. This had given Daro two opportunities: 1) to gather tactical intel on behalf of the Wildspace Rebellion on how the Diarchy and Confederacy fight. And 2) create and opening to make connections with Mon Calamari brass to make some phoney sales pitches.

With luck, the Mon Calamari had actually taken the bait, accepting rather blindly that Daro was representing his own people as a service provider. It had been a total lie, but with help from the Wildspace rebellion techs, his credentials had gotten him far enough.

Now, he was clandestinely installing malicious software that would help prevent more diligent officers from discerning too much information from the superfreighters when they finally got here.

Suddenly, a soft explosion gently shook the deck beneath his feet.

Ah. Jonyna Si is a little early!

He looked at his chono and cringed hard. No. Jonyna Si was not early. Daro had lost track of time. He had planned on being in his combat armor and space walking by now to set the final stages on the detonators he had planted. But his gear was all back on board his ship, the Battle Wagon.

He quickly unplugged his portable wall-jack, threw it into his bag, and ran for a water transport tube. Being an aquatic mammal, he had no troubles holding his breath while the high-current tubes would launch him through the station. The Mon Calamari were famous for installing such transit systems on their ships and stations, and Dorneans were highly compatible with them. He opened the hatch, lowered himself into the surging flow of water and closed the hatch. He let go of a handle on the door and let the current take him half way around the ring. He hoped the transit system wouldn't rupture from the space battle around the station.

Tags: totally open.

 

[Demveath Okamsiu]

Objective II

Location: Shipyard 5, Dac orbital shipyards not far from docking bays 3-8.
Tags:
Allies: FN-999 (restored) |
Enemies: Jonyna Si | Yuri Maji | Kjartan Hammer-Hand |

It was a wonder what the people of Dac had accomplished. The Quarren aligning themselves with the new Imperial powers that be, much like ancient times. With her eyes closed the memories visually play back of the ancient Sith Empire and its multitude of species serving in its ranks.

Slowly exhaling the world came back into the present.

The Quarren female with a data pad in her clawed hand kept talking "So as you can see Shipyard number five can accommodate constructions that fit within 1,500m wide, and by extending the arms along with the various other construction tethers up to 3,000m in length. Any questions so far?" Her eyes meeting Demveath's for a moment.

Glancing around and at the five Rasnuhl's marines keeping guard. She let out a sigh "Just one, is this yard secure from prying eyes? I will be using ancient building techniques that I do not want copied. The dimensions are quite sufficient for the time being."

The Quarren female moved to speak as an alarm blared interrupting her.

[WARNING, HOSTILE STARFIGHTERS DETECTED IN THE SOUTHERN SECTOR. EVACUATION OF NON-COMBAT PERSONNEL ADVISED.]

Demveath closed her eyes and felt into the force to feel what is going on. Finding a fight quite a ways away.

The Quarren female finally spoke "Oh that seems quite bad. So we should go right?" Her body hesitating to move as she looked to Demveath.

Demveath simply showed her lightsaber hilt "Whatever is going down isn't over here, and I can handle it... If trouble comes this way. Back to my question."

A look of concern and safety washed over the Quarren "I trust in your confidence. Back to business, Yes it is. We pride ourselves on keeping client corporations happy. No prying eyes are around vetted corporations like yours."

Demveath Smiled This will be a great additional production site while I track down the ancestral yards.
Finally speaking to the Quarren female "I think I will rent this yard out. Where do we start filling out the paperwork?"

A look of relief washes over the Quarren, her job most likely secured for a while thanks to getting a new client in. "This way please. It's the offices not too far away from the command quadrant."

The duo and the few Marines start casually walking.

 

[Yuri Maji]

MON CALA | CHECKPOINT CHARLIE
ALLIES: WSR | Saram Kote | Jonyna Si
ENEMIES: TIC | FN-999 (restored) | Demveath Okamsiu | Vahliri Kresten
ENGAGING: Open
GEAR: In bio

THEME​

Quiet, clean and calm was the name of the game for the moment. The Hound tried to cover as many avenues as he could, but if he didn’t have to use any of it, he would sleep a little easier. The target was the station, not the senseless slaughter. Hell, a few engineers and high-ranking officers for ransom would go a long way to get some extra credits as well.

He kept a low profile, sticking to the shadows and sparse hallways until he managed to find a terminal. With no code cylinder, slicing into the terminal was going to alert someone somewhere, but all he needed was a floorplan of the station. Over the comms, Saram let him know that the diversion was underway, and from the other channels the battle on the other side of the planetary ring was quickly brewing in intensity.

The terminal was taking a while longer than he would have liked, but eventually a plan was extracted and the Hound disappeared into a maintenance hall for the heat to calm down. There was nothing to be done about the cameras, disabling them would compromise his position even more than the terminal.

No action was sometimes better than any action.

With one final scan of his surroundings, the Hound pushed on and sent the map to Jonyna and Saram in case they needed it. He still had a distance to go for his own target. And with a host of marines and personnel crawling all over the station, it could take a while.

Outside the station, His Basilisk continued to drift along the length of the planetary ring, in a completely random and opposite direction from all the action. The Basilisk’s only movement came when the piece of debris drifted close enough to the station for it to release and clamp to the space station’s hull. Slow movements, minimal signature.

The rest of the crew was making a scene and drawing all the heat. Yuri and the infiltrators had to keep their signatures low.

 

[Wilhelm Vonreg]

S H I P P I N G_E R R O R
Objective I : Southern Strike

IMPERIAL CONFEDERATION
MON CALA, OUTER RIM TERRITORIES

​

As the Rebels pressed their attack against the Imperial defenders, a single TIE Destroyer Mk.II emerged from hyperspace followed by a trio of TIE Meteors, marking the arrival Titan Squadron's Flight One led by none other then Wilhlem Vonreg, Veteran TIE Ace and the Commanding Officer of Titan Squadron. They had arrived from Minntooine, fresh from the recent defeat at Brosi where they had faced Force Storms, Sithspawn and Sith Battle Meditation. It was a bitter defeat for the pilots of the Confederation but one that only strengthened their conviction and increased their determination to see the Confederation succeed.

So when they learned of the Rebel attack at Mon Calamari they did not hesitate to set out to confront the Rebels ahead of Imperial reinforcements, determined to see the Rebel attack broken to deliver a victory for the Confederation regardless of how small it might be compared to the defeat at Brosi. "Looks like these Rebels are getting stronger and bolder." Titan Three remarked. "It doesn't matter." Vonreg replied. "The outcome remains the same. Complete annihilation at the hands of the Confederation." he proclaimed. "Now let's deal with this rabble." he added before accelerating his TIE Destroyer as he and his escorting TIEs rushed to join their fellow comrades on the battlefield.

Vonreg and his escorts did not waste their time as they immediately moved in to engage the enemy crashing into the Rebel X-Wings as they engaged Admiral Zonill's TIE Vultures and wrecking havoc by leveraging their speed and maneuverability to wreak havoc, taking out scores of X-Wings that tried to pin down the TIE Vultures through their beam defense maneuvers. With the absence of Force Storms, Sithspawn and Sith Battle Meditation, this was going to be an easy battle for the brave pilots of Titan Squadron

Tags [Friendlies] | Priesse Namada | Hypheer Vhyrn | Bido Roz’lyn | Ronhar Tane
Tags [Hostiles] | Anthony Gray Sun | Zoro Igala ​

 

[FN-999 (restored)]

Objective: II
Allies: TIC | All PCs on the station
Enemies: WSR | Yaeger Sularen | Jonyna Si | Saram Kote | Yuri Maji
Mon Calamari Shipyards, Northern Sector

Down at the receiving hangars, a pair of freighters were being attended to.
​

Initial scans and inspections had revealed nothing out of the ordinary from the routine grain shipment. There had been no cause for suspicion. However, that had changed when rebel forces began their attack on the southern sector of the shipyards. Now the timing of the freighters seemed suspect to the customs officials, but without any clearly unidentified signatures to note down, they had nothing to work with but their suspicions.

Nonetheless, security in the northern sector of the shipyards had been amplified in response to the rebel attack. The entire shipyard ring was in a state of lockdown, all its hangars and receiving gates closed to traffic inbound or outbound. Several stormtrooper squads from the Seventh Army patrolled the hangars, including one in the hangar the two frigates had docked in.

Two stormtroopers now stood in front of one of the freighters, speaking with the man who appeared to be its pilot.

"Look, tell your officers to see me personally. I'll go over the paperwork with them. I've already gotten paid. I just need permission to leave."

“No can do.” replied the stormtrooper on the left, tall and skinny. “We’re on lockdown until the rebel attack is over."

“That’s right.” continued the stormtrooper on the right, a shorter and stouter fellow. “No one goes in or out until customs says so."

“Now, remind me again.” asked the tall one. “You said you’re delivering grain? I would like to see that report again. Customs thinks something suspicious is going on down here."

“If you ask me, I’d say they’re exaggerating.” responded the short one with a shrug. “But good soldiers follow orders, all of that, you know? Wouldn’t want to upset the big guys."

“Exactly.” remarked the tall one. “Don’t forget, those rebs are a crafty bunch. They like to hide in plain sight. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if the grain guy here is a rebel in disguise."

“He’s kidding, don’t worry.” reassured the small one. “No rebel would be this obvious. Now let’s get that paperwork done with so customs can decide what exactly to do with all this wheat."

Deeper inside the station, FN-999 was seated at his desk when a new transmission arrived.
​

[General, we’ve got a problem. Mandalorian special forces are inside the station. They’ve breached one of the outer airlocks, my squad is on their tail but I don’t think we can take them alone.]

As the general had feared, hostile forces had successfully broken into the shipyards. Whatever their objective, it was absolutely imperative that it be stopped.

[Understood. Lay low, reinforcements are on their way. Engage once they arrive.]

FN-999 called on another three squads from nearby segments of the shipyard to reinforce the squad shadowing the Mandalorians. Despite the fact that most cameras in the area around which the intruders had been sighted were intact, their feeds had trouble picking up the Mandalorians as little more than grey blurs. Instead, the stormtroopers relied on individual Blastromech droids to scout ahead of them, with each squad utilizing a single droid. Though their light armament and armor was not expected to hold up for even a second against Mandalorian warriors, their sacrifice would allow stormtroopers to take cover and aim their weapons before the intruders arrived.

Hopefully, there was a heaven for Blastomech droids.
​

 

[Kjartan Hammer-Hand]

KJARTAN HAMMER-HAND
OBJECTIVE 1: SOUTHERN STRIKE | ABOARD THE VOD’GAM
TAG: Yuri Maji | Saram Kote | Jonyna Si | Felix Yorwell | Ronhar Tane

​

WHO DROPPED THE HAMMER?​

​

"Send a secure message to the mandalorian vessel. We're out of system, so any messages they have will need to be relayed through our fighters."

"Aye sir. We've already had several flight commanders hailed by the ship."

Zoro nodded, looking to the comms officer. "Sort through them and tell the flights to keep at it. The mission is at hand."

The Rebel Fleet’s message was met and acknowledged, but otherwise the Mandalorian crew was locked into the battle that was unfolding. The bridge was awash in dim red light as battle was joined, starkly framing the red armor of the tactical officer against the durasteel interior paneling of the ship. Her blonde hair was tied into a tight bun, yet a stray hair had somehow broken loose from its binding and draped over the front of her face. Her ice-blue eyes skimmed the readouts scrolling across her station. The Vod’gam’s turbolaser batteries continued their assault, raking across the battered hulls and shields of the heavy frigates as they pivoted to face the Mandalorian Star Destroyer. The hypermatter cannons continued their assault against the cruiser as well, designed to melt enemy shield systems with each subsequent volley.

After around a minute, Felix’s fleet had at last fully turned to face the vast Mandalorian warship. Triumph was the first to return fire, its turbolasers and small ion cannon complement shelling the much larger capital ship with undaunted determination. It was followed shortly by the Extollers, all of which boasted the most powerful main guns in Felix’s fleet. At relatively close range against such a large capital ship, their automatic rangefinding took a matter of seconds.

On each Extoller, all three triple heavy turbolaser batteries fired at once in a manner reminiscent of ancient seaborne battleships. There was around a four second cooldown between shots, just short enough for the Extoller flotilla to lay down a sustained bombardment of heavy turbolaser fire in defiance of the overwhelming odds leveled against them.

At the same time, the partially stealthed Laimar-class carriers had so far gone undetected. Banking sharply to the left, the pair accelerated away from the rest of Felix’s fleet, putting several more kilometers between the main force before opening their hangars, temporarily reversing their radar stealth features. Out of their hulls emerged four squadrons of TIE/sb strike bombers, all armed with proton torpedoes and on a collision course with the Mandalorian warship. They were soon joined by the TIE complements of the Triumph and the Extollers, forming a dense escort to the main bomber strike force.

...the mass drivers on the other hand, took a moment to reload, but the advanced reloader system quickly set about the task, flashing a READY signal across her station. She knew her chieftain well enough to know that when he gave the order, he expected her to continue unleashing unless ordered otherwise. So the mass drivers unleashed yet another volley on the cruiser, but not before the Imperial fleet returned fire; albeit with a considerably smaller volley pinging against the Vod’gam’s deflector shields.

The ion cannon from the cruiser caused enough disruption for a few waves of turbolaser fire to bleed through, which in turn caused the forward bulkhead to directly tank some of the fire. All in all however, unless the battlespace changed, this was going to be a very one-sided affair. As the volley was fired, the enemy’s carriers spilled out the balance of their fighter squadrons, with the strike group making a bee-line to the Mandalorian craft.

Kjartan was not the type of commander to sit idly by. “Tactical, engage our flak and point defense batteries - area denial pattern. And scramble our fighter crews.” He paused but a moment, then nodded. “Helm, adjust course 45-degrees starboard, ahead full.”

“AYE!” came the lusty response. The hulking capital ship swung to the right, toward the station. The Vod’gam’s engines fired brightly, as it would seem the Mandalorians were intent on cutting off the Imperial flotilla from the station they were tasked with defending.

As the enemy starfighters raced to close the distance, they would be met with a sudden storm of proximity detonation bursts from the Vod’gam’s myriad of flak cannons - so much so that a cloud would appear in front, to the side, and amidst the strike force’s current course. As the distance would close, the cloud would follow its leading and trailing pattern, and the point defense batteries would begin a hailstorm of withering fire to shred those who attempted to bank out of formation and avoid the storm. This wasn’t simply an anti-aircraft barrage...

It was a killing field.

The Vod’gam’s measure of Beviin-class superiority fighters surged forth from its hangar bay, with 5 full squadrons arraying themselves in attack position - focused on the exit vectors from the cloud of flak fire so as to intercept the Imperial swarm.

As the rapidly developing chaos outside continued to churn, the Mandalorian chieftain’s voice echoed through the bridge with one more order, precluded by a revelrous chuckle: “Strap yourselves in ad’ika.”

Spoiler: Ship Status

Vod’gam

• Shields - Lightly-Moderately Damaged
• Armor - Lightly Damaged
• Superstructure - UNDAMAGED

Spoiler: Summary of Actions

• The Vod’gam continues its battering assault of Felix Yorwell ‘s fleet, as noted again below
• Heavy guns are targeting the cruiser, with the turbolasers and missile batteries spread across the frigates.
• The Vod’gam swings to its starboard side at full speed, heading toward the Imperial station.
• The Vod’gam unleashes its considerable point defense array in an ‘area denial’ pattern.
  • Proximity burst flak rounds are forming a cloud leading, flanking, and amidst the Imperial fighter swarm.
  • Point defense turrets are ready and begin firing in withering screen patterns in anticipation of enemy fighters breaking formation to evade the cloud of flak.
  • (5) full squadrons of Beviin-class superiority fighters have launched and are on an intercept course, ready to maneuver against the remnants of the Imperial swarm who survive the point defense screen.

​

 

[Darion of Myrkr]

When Yuri had told him it was better to send the aruetiise to die for them, Darion had listened but did not understand. It was not right to let outsiders take the honor of combat that belonged to Mandalorians. A warrior's honor was not something to be handed off like an old, discarded rifle.

Then Yuri had spoken of how they would go in: quiet, disguised, clinging to shadows like rats in the walls. Darion had felt his mouth go dry at that. He had not been raised to fight in the dark like vermin. No, he would not shed his beskar'gam for the flesh of a rat. Steel must meet steel in the open, where a man could see the eyes of the one who meant to kill him.

Somehow, too, Yuri's golden tongue had brought in Hammer-Hand and his Harangir Destroyer for the rebels and their Jetii overlord. And yet Darion stood on the bridge of the Vod'gam, as well, watching the battle through the viewport. Light flaring in the blackness and ships burning without sound. The stars were cold behind it all. He knew why he was here. There were ships to be taken. A fleet to be built from the bones of the enemy. You did not refuse such an opportunity, even if it smelled of rat-work.

He had come begrudgingly, but he had come.

At least he would not crawl through ducts and corridors like some cornered animal. He would stand in the furnace of it. In fire and iron. In the clean violence of battle. There, he felt the blood move rightly in him. There, a warrior knew himself.

"Hammer-Hand," Darion said at last. He did not look away from the flashes that broke against the dark. "Give me a squadron of basilisks. Tell me what you want done and I'll bring you victory."

He spoke without boasting.

It was simply the truth as he knew it.

Kjartan Hammer-Hand Yuri Maji Saram Kote Jonyna Si Felix Yorwell Ronhar Tane

 

[Ronhar Tane]

FLEET ADMIRAL VORIN ZONILL
MON CALAMARI SHIPYARDS
MON CALAMARI

"Enemy starfighters dead ahead, bearing 12 o'clock!"

The technical readouts came streaming onto the deck of the MIN Gundark as Captain Tennnor and Fleet Admiral Vorin Zonill made their approach toward the enemy forces. All things considered, it wasn't a terribly large raiding force that was attacking the Mon Calamari Shipyards, and even with the small fleet that Captain Tennnor was commanding, Zonill couldn't imagine that the rebels would cause them too much trouble, especially after a portion of their fleet fled off into hyperspace, leaving the enemy with just a few starfighter squadrons to work with.

As was predictable, the TIE Vultures were faring rather poorly, though their sheer numbers were more than making up for their rather lackluster performance. Even if the other portion of the rebel fighters returned to the battlefield, the 4 CR125U Corvettes and their AX-Wings, combined with the Gundark and the TIE Vultures, should prove to be more than sufficient to drive off the rebel attack once and for all.

Still, something wasn't right. There was no way that a rebel force so small would continue to fight after being detected. Something else was clearly going on here...

"Star Chaser, you are free to break formation and begin hunting for hidden rebel assets. The moment you find something, I want to know about it. All other forces, maintain formation and release starfighters, I want these rebels destroyed within the next 10 minutes", Captain Tennnor declared as the remaining AX-Wings, STX-TIEs and Lambda-class YT-1760 Annihilators joined the fray. At this rate, this whole operation would be wrapped up shortly.

Then, Kjartan Hammer-Hand arrived and threw a wrench into the Imperial's battle plan!

It was a massive vessel, estimated to be around 2,000 meters in length, and the moment it arrived it began to engage the forces of Felix Yorwell , firing all manners of heavy turbolasers, mass-driver cannons and even hypermatter cannons. An Imperial Star Destroyer would struggle to weather the storm of fire that it might receive from that type of ship, to say nothing of the vessels under the command of Felix. Tennnor's only consolation was that the enemy ship might have some trouble hitting relatively small targets from distance, though they wouldn't last long regardless.

Zonill gave a low whistle at the sight of the enemy ship.

"Well isn't that impressive", he muttered dryly. "Wonder how many credits the rebels spent hiring it. What's your plan, Captain?"

"Sir", Tennnor responded, "it's clear that we should engage that enemy vessel while its focus is turned away from us. If we cripple its engines or comparably important systems, we might stand a chance against it, especially if we combine firing vectors from both the front and the rear. I'll have the CR125U Corvettes fire an Assault Concussion Missile volley while the Gundark moves forward to intercept incoming fire. Given the specifications of this vessel, it should be able to survive a fair bit of punishment, even from an enemy as large and powerful as that".

"I agree, Captain. Make it so, and make it snappy!"

With that, the four CR125U Corvettes launched a volley of Assault Concussion Missiles at the Vod'gam, missiles that were usually fired from Battlecruiser sized vessels and larger. Assuming they survived the trip, they would be able to cause some serious damage toward anything they hit, even if that was a vessel as tough as the Vod'gam. Hopefully, the G.O.U.P Upgraded ordinance would prove sufficient in avoiding being prematurely detonated. As for the Gundark, it began to move forward, in front of the corvettes, activating its onboard Nyalsan II Planetary Shield while taking potshots with its V-150 Planet Defender. The Star Chaser, meanwhile, blasted away from the main fighting at high speed, looking for cloaked or hidden ships that may be trying to take advantage of the chaos, as the Vilifier-class Star Destroyer tried to engage the enemy with its heavy turbolasers, though the distance and angle which it was currently sitting at was making doing so nearly impossible.

As all this happened, Zonill opened a channel to Commodore Felix Yorwell , asking him what assistance he needed....
​

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Spoiler: Fleet Composition

• MIN Gundark​
  • 1 squadron of STX-TIEs
  • 1 squadron of Lambda-class YT-1760 Annihilators
• 4 CR125U Corvettes​
  • 4 squadrons of AX-Wings
• 1 Vilifier-class Star Destroyer (Engines disabled, unable to move)​
  • 7 squadrons of TIE Vultures
• 1 CR90-EE Corvette​

Spoiler: Summary

• Tennnor orders all starfighters to engage the enemy
• The CR125U Corvettes launch an Assault Concussion Missile volley at the Vod'gam
• The MIN Gundark moves to intercept incoming fire, activating its Nyalsan II Planetary Shield as it fires its V-150 Planet Defender at the Vod'gam
• The CR90-EE Corvette begins hunting for cloaked or hidden enemy assets

Spoiler: Casualties

• 20 TIE Vultures

TAGS:
Zoro Igala
Bido Roz’lyn
Priesse Namada
Felix Yorwell
Kjartan Hammer-Hand
Saram Kote
OPEN

 

[Bido Roz’lyn]

Location: Outer Perimeter, Shipyards of Mon Cala, Mon Cala High Orbit - Mon Calamari System
Objective: Checkpoint Charlie & Southern strike, as needed
Tag: Anthony Gray Sun Zoro Igala Priesse Namada Hypheer Vhyrn Ronhar Tane Felix Yorwell Yuri Maji Kjartan Hammer-Hand Wilhelm Vonreg

"Titan Eleven is locked and loaded," Hypheer called out as she stated flipping the instruments to be ready to engage. As she prepared to veer towards the super freighters that Priesse had targeted as the threats, it seemed something else was going on. It was then that Titan 9 called for them to form up on him. Hypheer hated being the follower, but that's what was demanded of her for now.

"Titan 11 in formation, still ready to engage when ordered. I'll follow your lead 9."

"Forming on you, Titan Nine. All systems are green on my end." Priesse said as she vectored her Sprite towards the DS-47's starboard wing. "I have a track on something that came through here recently,"

As Titan 12 included his own ready in the background, Bido redirected her attention to Priesse Namada 's report. She steered her flight towards the battle at the southern quadrant autonomously while using her "Ear Clickers" to navigate her sensors' UI. Thankfully, Bido Titan 10 and 11 all had O.S.I.V.P software installed, so they could seamlessly sync sensor readings and enhance each other's situational awareness. Combining the power of her own sensors with Priesse's, she zeroed in on the anomaly, straining her sonar senses to "see" the object more clearly through her "Clickers".

"I see what you're saying, Ten." Bido replied hesitantly, "It looks like some kind of monster, or… wait." A memory of an old battle with some Mandalorians prickled the deep recesses of her aging memory, "Is that a kriffing Basi…"

"Nine, hard starboard break, now!"

And he dove, corkscrewing downwards while using the Force to plan his attack vector. The twin turbolasers hummed to life, as he came right down on Bido Roz’lyn Bido Roz’lyn 's fighter. He didn't bother with sensors, he knew the imperials would be jamming them anyways. No, he let the Force guide him. With the click of his trigger, the two turbolasers lit up, aimed right at the top of Bido's fighter. Ion bolts, heavy enough to disable an unshielded corvette.

Priesse Namada 's warning shocked Bido's reflexes into automatic twitch reaction. She threw her yoke hard to the right-and-back while standing hard on her starboard rudder. No proximity alerts rang out as a massive, capital-ship grade ION bolt barely glanced off her port-side shields. If not for Ten's warning, Bido would have been caught square-on by the bolt and taken maximum damage. However, it did hit her shields at a deflecting angle with and fried a significant amount of her shield strength.

Through her ear clickers, she saw Ten break hard port, causing her to criss-cross with Bido in front of Hypheer Vhyrn and Titan 12.

If she would have had time to think, she would have chastised herself for becoming complacent. She had seen this sort of thing before. Some pilots were good enough to fire accurately without targeting computers as a way to avoid triggering target-lock warnings. Bido even considered herself to be such a marksman. There were also other scenarios to consider as well, such as Force user pilots and advanced fire control technologies that undermined early warning systems. She had seen them all over the years. If she would have been more focused on her peripheral scopes, she would have seen this coming.

For now, she only had time to act. She knew that Priesse Namada had phenomenal instincts and she had broken to port for a reason do doubt. Hypheer Vhyrn and twelve were also going in their own direction, which would force the pilot in the Bokken to make a decision between three possible objectives.

Which will you follow? Bido thought to herself. Bido's ship packed the most threatening firepower, but lacked speed. Leaving her alone would leave the Bokken vulnerable to her weapons. Priesse was best suited to nimble dogfighting. Once she got on his tail, she'd be next to impossible to shake off. Hypheer and Titan 12 were still bunched together for a potential chain-kill, but going after those two would expose him to Bido and Priesse.

She only had a moment to dole out orders. Orders that would force Anthony Gray Sun to make his decision, "Eleven, take Twelve and intercept that anomaly at the northern quadrant of the station! I think it may be a Basilisk! Ten, you and I are gonna take care of our little friend!"

Through her Clickers she could perfectly see the Bokken. She was ready to react to anything he tried. She wouldn't be so easily surprised this time…

Personal Loadout:

• Ship — DS-47
  • Shields: 42%
  • SLAB and AIMS disabled
• Sidearm
• Personal energy shield
• Ear clickers

Titan 12 (was waiting for the rest of our flight to report in before I started loading out NPCs for spare slots)

• X3-A Striker
• Human

 

[James 'Slinger' Antilles]

Objective I: Southern Strike
TAG: Anthony Gray Sun Zoro Igala Priesse Namada Hypheer Vhyrn Ronhar Tane Felix Yorwell Yuri Maji Kjartan Hammer-Hand Wilhelm Vonreg Bido Roz’lyn​

James escorted the Y Wings off the battlefield for re-armament. So far it had been fairly light almost boring flying, it was tempting to go haring off to fly for kills, engage in dogfights, or even do a bombing run himself on a target, he had enough warheads for one or two passes after all.

Problem was James wasn't flying for himself, he was flying a mission. Everyone had to do their part, and while his ship was more heavily armed then the standard freighter, it was still a freighter not a starfighter. With the right pilot at the controls that hardly mattered, but it was still something to keep in mind.

"Thanks for the escort Captain, I speak for the entire formation with that. Half the time we're left out there by ourselves, while the flyboys chase down kills." The Squadron Commander spoke to James through the comms.

"Anytime Commander. Get yourselves rearmed, I'm heading back into the fray." James responded feeling a little guilty at the frustrations he had just been stewing on.

"Good luck Slinger"

"You too Commander" James responded then turned his ship around to head back into the fray.

"Captain Slinger of the Liberty, Freedom and Independence. Coming back in. Where am I needed?"

James sent the call out on the WSR comms.

Spoiler: Loadout

Custom XYZ Freighter
Custom Y And Z Shuttles
Holster
Shades
Outfit
Boots
Two Blaster Pistols-Sling and Sting
Assault/Sniper Rifle-Priscilla
Vibro Combat Knife- Stick It
Comm Arm Band
Six Thermal Detonators

 

[Felix Yorwell]

Objective: I
Allies: TIC | Ronhar Tane
Enemies: WSR | Kjartan Hammer-Hand | Zoro Igala

Just where were Felix’s reinforcements?
​

He had no reason to believe the general had went back on his word, but it still frustrated him to not have the backup he so desperately needed in his dire moment. As if to accentuate the urgency of the situation, a large explosion appeared ahead of the Triumph, its bright light temporarily blinding him. Once Felix recovered, he realized that one of his Extollers, the Furious, had finally given way to the Mandalorian battleship’s bombardment. Where before the beleaguered frigate had joined its cousins in harassing the far larger Mandalorian vessel even as turbolaser bolts smashed through its own hull, now only twisted wreckage filled its place.

Yet Felix had no time to mourn the loss of his frigate and its crew. Every other ship in his small fleet, including his own flagship, remained in grave danger. Turbolaser bolts slammed mercilessly into shields and hulls alike, clouds of metal and shrapnel rising up into the void wherever they struck the latter. Point-defense cannons struggled to handle the volume of missiles hurled their way, multiple piercing the screen of defensive fire to rip large holes in the hull beneath.

Felix’s only reassurance while he awaited fresh reinforcements was that the Maphoreem Imperial task force had recovered enough to consider his plight. Some tension left his body as he heard the transmission come in from the commanding officer of their fleet.

As all this happened, Zonill opened a channel to Commodore Felix Yorwell , asking him what assistance he needed....

[Thank the stars!] exclaimed Felix. [I have the Mandalorian battleship distracted with my frigates and a frontal bombing run, that’s about it. I urge you to use whatever ships you have available to strike at its flanks before its captain realizes you’re joining the fight!]

Just as Felix prepared to continue speaking, he witnessed the bright green pulse of a turbolaser bolt pierce straight through the #2 main gun on the Rancor. He had barely enough time to brace himself before an explosion even larger than the one that had signaled the Furious’ demise tore through the Rancor, its shockwave powerful enough to violently shake the Triumph several kilometers away.

[As you probably just saw, I’m losing ships fast and can’t keep them busy much longer. I have other reinforcements on the way, but they’re behind schedule. If you’re going to strike, it’s now or never. I’m half a thought away from retreating with what ships I still have.]

For now, the Triumph’s shields were still holding up admirably. But with every hypervelocity round that smashed against the cruiser, it grew increasingly close to collapse.

Meanwhile, the bomber strike group was encountering their own difficulties. No sooner had a TIE escort formed around the bomber core did a veritable thundercloud of flak close in around them, several TIE/ss fighters going down instantly as their light hulls failed them. Even the somewhat sturdier TIE/sb bombers began to be picked off, their countermeasures suite useless against unthinking clouds of flak.

As Imperial air wings broke off to evade the cloud of flak threatening to fully envelop them, they found themselves faced with an even more dangerous threat. Mandalorian starfighters emerged from within the belly of the warship, raining a devastating hail of laser cannon fire on the TIEs. Since Felix had deployed the higher quality NCE-100s to counter the rebel starfighter wings, the defense of the bombers was left to the woefully inadequate TIE/ss.

Recognizing the folly of continuing to advance, the leaders of the surviving bomber wings made the order to release their ordinance early. Nonetheless, it was at least visually a formidable sight to behold as nearly four hundred proton torpedoes streaked towards the Mandalorian warship’s bow. Hopefully, their sheer quantity would be enough to saturate the battleship’s defenses, enabling the remaining Imperial bombers and starfighters to retreat to the safety of the shipyards.

Back in the center of Felix’s fleet, the commodore recognized that his forces had at last reached their breaking point.

“All vessels, retreat if you can!” ordered Felix. “If you cannot, abandon ship. We are lucky to be close by to a large friendly shipyard."

The captains of the battered Extollers needed no further convincing. Pouring the remaining power of their vessels into their hyperdrives, they made a hasty retreat, their guns falling silent a moment before they jumped. The hulls of the Extoller and Bulwark seemed to warp, their forms stretching for a fraction of a second before they vanished into hyperspace. Only the Lancer and the Triumph remained - the former because its hyperdrive was too damaged to use, and the latter because its hyperdrive sequence took longer than that of the speedier frigates. Already, Felix could see dozens of escape pods shooting out from the Lancer as its guns too ceased to fire.

He could only hope that his Triumph followed the fate of the Extoller instead of the Lancer.

Spoiler: Fleet Composition

Reinforcements in deep space:

• Cato - Cato-class fleet carrier | Arriving next post
• ??????????? - ???????????-class frigate | Arriving in 3 turns

In Battlefield:

• Flag: Triumph of Will - Pyre-class cruiser, Configuration I | Shields heavily damaged, hull lightly damaged
  
  • 2 1 squad TIE/ss
• 5x Extoller-class Frigate Killers
  
  • Extoller | Escaped
    
    • 1 squad TIE/ss
  • Furious | Destroyed
    
    • 1 squad TIE/ss
  • Rancor | Destroyed
    
    • 1 squad TIE/ss
  • Lancer | Shields destroyed, hull heavily damaged, evacuation in progress
    
    • 1 squad TIE/ss
• Bulwark | Escaped
  
  • 1 squad TIE/ss

In Battlefield, Reserve:

• 2x Laimar-class stealth carriers
  
  • Persuader | Stealthed (low radar detection)
    
    • 3x NCE-100a squads
    • 2 1x TIE/sb strike bomber squad
  • Monarch | Stealthed (low radar detection)
    
    • 3x NCE-100a squads
    • 2x TIE/sb strike bomber squads

Spoiler: Summary of Orders

• Order to retreat is given - surviving Extollers excluding the heavily damaged Lancer jump into hyperspace
• Lancer initiates evacuation procedure, crew abandon ship
• Triumph of Will prepares to jump to hyperspace
• All surviving TIE/sb bombers fire their proton torpedo ordinance and retreat

​

 

[Kjartan Hammer-Hand]

KJARTAN HAMMER-HAND
OBJECTIVE 1: SOUTHERN STRIKE | ABOARD THE VOD’GAM
TAG: Yuri Maji | Saram Kote | Jonyna Si | Felix Yorwell | Ronhar Tane | Darion of Myrkr

​

WHO DROPPED THE HAMMER?​

​

While Vod’gam made its way closer to the station, its shields diverted focus to the front-port side of the vessel as it bore down upon the beleaguered Imperial Flotilla under the command of Commodore Yorwell. Several ships began to erupt into gouts of fire against the backdrop of space beyond them. While this spelled the onset of victory for the Mandalorian and his temporary allies in the Wild Space Rebels, the pirate couldn’t help but feel a mild sobriety. He was a pirate in another life before turning privateer, and later joining the fold of the Iron Covenant’s nascent naval force; so destroying Imperial warships was nothing he wasn’t used to, and there was honor in battle - even in space.

But contrary to what many would believe about the Hammer-hand, it was not lost on him that even amidst the honor of battle, worthy foes lost their lives in the process. While he carried no feelings of shame over the deaths of those labeled his enemies, he still honored their sacrifices silently as they fell. After all, sovereignty and flag notwithstanding - spacers were all the same, for the currents of the galaxy’s hyperlanes stood as cruel mistresses to all men who dared traverse them. ‘Die well, Imperials.’ He thought to himself as he observed the continuation of the engagement.

His silent vigil war soon cut short.

The technical readouts came streaming onto the deck of the MIN Gundark as Captain Tennnor and Fleet Admiral Vorin Zonill made their approach toward the enemy forces. All things considered, it wasn't a terribly large raiding force that was attacking the Mon Calamari Shipyards, and even with the small fleet that Captain Tennnor was commanding, Zonill couldn't imagine that the rebels would cause them too much trouble, especially after a portion of their fleet fled off into hyperspace, leaving the enemy with just a few starfighter squadrons to work with.

As was predictable, the TIE Vultures were faring rather poorly, though their sheer numbers were more than making up for their rather lackluster performance. Even if the other portion of the rebel fighters returned to the battlefield, the 4 CR125U Corvettes and their AX-Wings, combined with the Gundark and the TIE Vultures, should prove to be more than sufficient to drive off the rebel attack once and for all.

Still, something wasn't right. There was no way that a rebel force so small would continue to fight after being detected. Something else was clearly going on here...

"Star Chaser, you are free to break formation and begin hunting for hidden rebel assets. The moment you find something, I want to know about it. All other forces, maintain formation and release starfighters, I want these rebels destroyed within the next 10 minutes", Captain Tennnor declared as the remaining AX-Wings, STX-TIEs and Lambda-class YT-1760 Annihilators joined the fray. At this rate, this whole operation would be wrapped up shortly.

Then, Kjartan Hammer-Hand Kjartan Hammer-Hand arrived and threw a wrench into the Imperial's battle plan!

“Alor!, Imperial reinforcements have arrived. Our sensors are picking up a Cruiser along with four corvette-class vessels entering the engagement zone. They-” The tactical officer’s report was quickly interrupted by a junior officer at her section.

“Vor’alor - we are detecting missile launches from the... corvettes?”

With that, the four CR125U Corvettes launched a volley of Assault Concussion Missiles at the Vod'gam, missiles that were usually fired from Battlecruiser sized vessels and larger. Assuming they survived the trip, they would be able to cause some serious damage toward anything they hit, even if that was a vessel as tough as the Vod'gam. Hopefully, the G.O.U.P Upgraded ordinance would prove sufficient in avoiding being prematurely detonated.

As for the Gundark, it began to move forward, in front of the corvettes, activating its onboard Nyalsan II Planetary Shield while taking potshots with its V-150 Planet Defender.

As the report was made, the Vod’gam rocked as massive Ion charges slammed into the port-shields. Some of the shots went wide, and the Vod’gam’s Eir Defense System’s neutron positive field had already attenuated to the sporadic Ion fire of the Triumph which severely reduced the effect of the Ion fire. But even while the shields remained intact (verses shutting down completely), the Star Destroyer rocked noticeably from the force of the impact. The lights shuttered slightly, but quickly self corrected.

The tactical officer wasted little time in taking charge of the situation. “Engage countermeasures! Fire the Saladin system and engage the M3 ordnance jammer!”

Almost immediately after the words were uttered, missile ports burst open along the central dorsal and ventral spine of the Vod’gam as warheads rocketed out on an intercept course with the massive concussion missiles. The G.O.U.P enhancements would baffle many of the defense warheads, yet several still hit their targets - causing two to erupt prematurely. The M3 ordnance jammer would disrupt the targeting sequence from the host ships even moreso, enhanced by the distance between the target and sources. The shroud caused 2 more missiles to believe, in their own pre-programmed computers, that the Vod’gam had somehow lurched to the side - causing them to explode several hundreds of meters removed from the ship’s hull.

The countermeasures were unable to totally eliminate the threat however, as one remaining missile crashed into the ventral-port side bulkhead of the starship. The shield systems shone brightly in protest, but held admirably even so. But a greater test was at hand at the fore-section of the ship.

Meanwhile, the bomber strike group was encountering their own difficulties. No sooner had a TIE escort formed around the bomber core did a veritable thundercloud of flak close in around them, several TIE/ss fighters going down instantly as their light hulls failed them. Even the somewhat sturdier TIE/sb bombers began to be picked off, their countermeasures suite useless against unthinking clouds of flak.

As Imperial air wings broke off to evade the cloud of flak threatening to fully envelop them, they found themselves faced with an even more dangerous threat. Mandalorian starfighters emerged from within the belly of the warship, raining a devastating hail of laser cannon fire on the TIEs. Since Felix had deployed the higher quality NCE-100s to counter the rebel starfighter wings, the defense of the bombers was left to the woefully inadequate TIE/ss.

Recognizing the folly of continuing to advance, the leaders of the surviving bomber wings made the order to release their ordinance early. Nonetheless, it was at least visually a formidable sight to behold as nearly four hundred proton torpedoes streaked towards the Mandalorian warship’s bow. Hopefully, their sheer quantity would be enough to saturate the battleship’s defenses, enabling the remaining Imperial bombers and starfighters to retreat to the safety of the shipyards.

While the picketing screen had done much to disrupt the enemy formation, a large number of the bombers had managed to make it over the fore-section of the Vod’gam. The Navigation Vor’alor quickly pressed a button at his station, engaging the emergency maneuvering thrusters along the side of the ship. The Vod’gam was far from being a nimble vessel, even on the best of days. But the thrusters were enough to shift the craft a few hundred meters in either direction in a pinch. It was a provision used sparingly, as it required a lot of power otherwise used by the main thrusters of the vessel; but the decision proved wise. Hundreds of proton torpedoes dropped past the starboard-side of the warship - harmlessly drifting through the void of space. But dozens more crashed into the ventral-fore section of the ship, causing a vicious rumble to rattle through the bow.

The bridge shook violently, nearly knocking those still on their feet to the ground. Kjartan cursed loudly. “WHAT THE F*CK ARE THE REBELS DOING?! FLYING ON A DAY CRUISE???” Anger laced his voice. It would seem that the Mandalorian warship had become the focal point of the Imperial defense. He couldn’t blame them, but even still - the Hammer-hand was not going to die for some cause he cared nothing about. What had that devil dog Yuri Maji pulled him into? The chieftain sent a quick message to the Shistevanan. “HURRY THE F*CK UP!”

As if on cue, a voice spoke up.

"Hammer-Hand," Darion said at last. He did not look away from the flashes that broke against the dark. "Give me a squadron of basilisks. Tell me what you want done and I'll bring you victory."

Kjartan gave the warrior - this Darion of Myrkr, a firm nod in acknowledgement. “You shall have it, Darion of Myrkr. Show those rebel ninnies how it’s done.” The chieftain pointed at the flagship of the newly arrived reinforcement fleet Ronhar Tane . He met the warrior’s gaze until he left to do as he was bidden. Thereafter, Kjartan issued new orders - an air of command swirling about him as though he were a warrior of old within a song of moment.

“HELM! Prepare an emergency stop, then an immediate pivot 90-degrees to port. Engage on my mark.” He turned to tactical, then continued: “Get me a firing solution on those corvettes and that damned heavy cruiser. Wait on firing until my order.”

He clicked on the ship-wide PA system and made an announcement for all to hear. “ALL HANDS, this is the bridge. BRACE FOR EMERGENCY STOP.”

He paused for several beats to allow for his crew to comply. The Vod’gam’s weapons ceased their assault on the limping vessels of Yorwell; half out of respect for them already being beaten, and the other half out of necessity for the maneuver that was about to unfold. Then, with a loud voice, he turned to the helm. “FULL STOP!”

The main engines immediately cut off, and the forward-facing emergency thrusters surged to life. The massive Mandalorian ship groaned in protest as its inertial dampers fought to compensate for the immediate shift in mass. Anyone who wasn’t strapped in or holding onto something would be thrown off their feet by the sheer force plied upon them. Kjartan for his part lurched forward and to the side as the craft pivoted, held only by the shoulder straps he had managed to slide into place before giving the order. The whole ship listed to starboard as it turned to port, with additional jets engaging as it tried to right itself.

She was a big girl, but in a manner of speaking - came about with a sudden spin that would make even the most lithe of frigates green with envy. The fore-section of the warship would snap to the new fleet, effectively hiding away its engines from any potential targeting. Kjartan had planned this maneuver in anticipation of Commodore Yorwell’s potential overcorrection, but instead it would serve in this new engagement. “Increase thrust to half speed.” Kjartan ordered, far calmer than he had previously. The Vod’gam would then crawl forward, in no hurry to close the distance with the Imperial fleet given her advantage in long ranged weaponry.

The warlord turned his tactical officer. “Do we have a firing solution...?”

She looked at her chieftain with an incredulous look, but then glanced down at her station. A moment later, she responded. “Aye Alor, firing solutions have been acquired.”

He stared at the enemy before him now, fire in his eyes and steel in his voice.

“OPEN FIRE!”

With a loud, rhythmic thrum, the mass drivers and hypervelocity cannons unleashed upon the heavy cruiser flagship, with missile batteries and turbolaser fire belching forth toward the corvettes.

They clearly poked the bear, so now... they were about to get the claws.

Spoiler: Ship Status

Vod’gam

• Shields - Moderate Damage
• Armor - Light-Moderate Damage
• Superstructure - UNDAMAGED

Spoiler: Summary of Actions

• The Vod’gam engages her countermeasures, destroying (presumably) 4 out of 5 concussion missiles, but suffers one against her shields.
• “several dozen” proton torpedoes hit their target against the Vod’gam, doing considerable damage to its shields and hull.
• The Vod’gam executes an emergency maneuver to shift 90-degrees to port - facing the new enemy while the Flotilla of Commodore Yorwell limps away.
• In retaliation, the Vod’gam unleashes a torrent of fire at the new enemy fleet.
  • The Mass Drivers and Hypervelocity Cannons target the heavy cruiser
  • The turbolasers and missiles target the corvettes in the rear.

​

 

[Darion of Myrkr]

Darion took with him two dozen of Kjartan's men.

Two dozen Mandalorian warriors to ride the famed basilisk war droids into the teeth of the battle.

The void greeted them with fire: green lances from laser cannons piercing the darkness, and red turbolasers burning in long arterial lines across the dark, and missiles writhing on plumes of flame and droid fighters shrieking and vanishing in blossoms of white heat.

They rode into the killing light as if into weather.

And through all this chaos, Darion saw it. It was not large, but it was hard to miss. A cruiser only, squat and narrow compared to the great Harangir. but it flared his HUD bright with strong energy readings cascading across his visor.

"Darion, you see that?" a voice asked over the comm.

He felt it in his chest first. A tightening. And behind it, the old, familiar edge of apprehension that comes before a worthy fight. He breathed once, slow inside his helmet.

"I see it."

A planetary shield generator shackled obscenely to the vessel's spine. Its energy envelope encompassed the vessel, flat, pale, and complete. Such contrivance bespoke a diseased grandeur of mind. It was madness. It was waste.

It was formidable.

He studied the shield's readouts, and then the readings changed. The smooth plane of energy drew inward, and the shield dimmed along one arc and gathered itself into a single, violent spike. Ion energy built and built into a single furious point until it tore free in a blinding lance that shot past the Mandalorians and speared toward the Vod'gam. The blast crackled blue-white, leaving a wake of trembling light.

Darion smiled inside his helm. "Full thrust ahead, he drove his basilisk forward at maximum burn. The war droid leapt like a hound unchained. Behind him the rest followed.

"We'll fly in when it fires again next. No hesitation."

They answered him in clicks and curt affirmations and drove their war droids on.

Again the energy swelled. The shield thinned to a frail crescent, a mere rent in the firmament.

"Now."

The ion cannon spoke and the wound opened.

Darion passed through that narrow aperture with death close upon his heels. Others followed in his wake, twelve in number, engines flaring bright as comets.

Then the shield returned.

It closed with a brilliance terrible to behold. Those yet without struck it in their fury. For an instant they were figures writ in white fire, riders bent low over iron necks, striving against the immutable. Then the light took them entire. Armor and flesh were made one with the blaze and were no more.

Inside the envelope, the surviving basilisk war droids leveled out, engines throttling back. Twelve had made it through. Twelve had not. Darion did not look back again. The challenge was before him now, and the cruiser's massive ion cannon rose to meet them.

Culling tags to: Ronhar Tane Kjartan Hammer-Hand

 

[Felix Yorwell]

Objective: I
Allies: TIC | Ronhar Tane
Enemies: WSR | Kjartan Hammer-Hand | Zoro Igala

The frigates were the first to appear.
​

Felix stared as the pair of Imperial vessels emerged from realspace ahead of the Triumph, immediately recognizing them as Celox-class escort frigates. While on their own the Celox-class was significantly weaker in combat than the Extoller-class, the commodore quickly understood that they would not be fighting alone. After all, the Celox-class was an escort frigate. The only question left was what type of vessel they were escorting.

Felix got his answer seconds later as an enormous shadow descended upon the Triumph.

For a moment, he could only stare in utter awe and disbelief. Officers onboard the beleaguered cruiser’s command deck rushed to its windows, their gazes transfixed what had just emerged above them. Only as murmuring began to spread across the deck and the relentless bombardment of the Triumph’s shields ceased did Felix walk forward, stopping only at the very front of the bridge before staring up with his officers.

What he saw was the underbelly of a large wedge-shaped warship unlike any Star Destroyer he had ever seen in his three decades of Imperial naval service. Felix had assumed alongside most of his peers that the Cato project had been scrapped when the Dark Empire had conquered Borosk, its lofty proposal for a modern Imperial fleet carrier doomed to failure. Yet here above him was a warship that resembled the prototype he had only seen once in an incomplete stage nearly fifteen years earlier as a junior naval attache.

It easily dwarfed the battered Triumph, larger than the standard Star Destroyers in service with the Confederation and even rivaling the Mandalorian battleship in size, bristling with turbolaser and ion cannon emplacements. Its wedge split open near its vast bow, revealing at least two dozen hangars, the largest of which was nearly the size of an Extoller-class frigate killer.

Felix probably would have continued to stare at his savior for a thirty seconds if not for the voice behind him.

“Commodore Yorwell.” spoke a familiar female voice.

“Admiral Savatti.” murmured the commodore, turning back to face at the Triumph’s holoprojector.

Projected at its center was a middle-aged, blond-haired woman in an impeccable Imperial uniform, her arms folded behind her back. As Felix stepped closer to the projector, the admiral gave him a slight, comforting smile.

“Remember the Cato project? Those Dark Imperial bastards never scrapped it. We never gave them the chance to."

“How?” exclaimed Felix, utterly perplexed. “How di-"

“That is a story for another day.” interrupted Admiral Savatti. “What matters now is that our Baron told me to come with the Cato to repay an old debt. It seems as if you were wise to call it in when you did."

Felix’s composure and gentlemanly image began to fold as utter relief and gratitude took over. He had expected the general, to send in a heavy cruiser or perhaps a Star Destroyer. Instead he had granted Felix aid from the Cato itself with Borosk’s most senior commander at its helm.

The commodore felt the last of his composure fall to the wayside, replaced by overwhelming appreciation for the man who to him would always be the rightful Baron of Borosk. Hope rushed through his body like a tidal surge, passion taking over despair had reigned over minutes ago.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, Admiral. I know I don’t have much in terms of forces right now. What I do have is intel. The Mandalorian battleship is the main threat right now, but the Wild Space rebels are regrouping somewhere. Expect reinforcements soon."

“Thank you, Commodore Yorwell.” concluded the admiral. “Tend to your ship and your crew. Update me on any rebel movements. I will handle it from here."

The transmission ended, Admiral Joanne Savatti’s slender form descending back into the holoprojector.

Exhausted, Felix fell to his knees and watched the spectacle unfold.

ADMIRAL JOANNE SAVATTI
3RD CARRIER STRIKE GROUP “CATO’S HAMMER"

Less than three seconds after Cato emerged from hyperspace, it opened fire.
​

The carrier’s first shots were from its heavy ion cannons, all eight of them targeting the Mandalorian battleship’s engines, exposed now that its captain had turned its attention towards the Maphoreem fleet. They were soon followed by a barrage of turbolaser and heavy laser cannon fire more potent than all five of Felix’s Extollers combined, subjecting the Mandalorian warship’s flanks to a concentrated stream of Imperial vengeance.

Atop the large carrier’s primary bridge, Admiral Savatti stood vigil, staring out into space and the Mandalorian warship directly ahead of her. Felix’s fleet had performed admirably, but now it was his superior and friend’s turn to strike.

“Deploy all air wings at once.” ordered the admiral. “Radar scans suggest there are several heavy emplacements on the ship. Disable them. If the bridge can be located, disable it too."

Far below the fleet carrier’s bridge, all twenty-four of its hangars large and small opened up, revealing an impressive complement within, all manned and equipped while in hyperspace. First to emerge from the hangar was the fighter wing, consisting of four wings of FAE/SF-01s, three wings of TIE Meteors, and two wings of TIE/da Defenders. Behind them were five fresh squadrons of TIE/sb strike bombers, each bomber equipped with sixteen homing concussion missiles.

The immense swarm of Imperial craft split into two, halfway between Cato and the Mandalorian warship, one group of evenly distributed bombers and escorts targeting its port weapon emplacements while the other group targeted the starboard. The fresh air wings from Cato reinforced the beleaguered fighters from Felix’s fleet, ensuring the successful withdrawal of Felix’s spent bombers.

In the meantime, Cato’s own bombers planned out angles of attack, focusing their targeting systems on the large hypermatter cannons scattered across the Mandalorian warship. Those that survived the flak cloud launched a pair of missiles from a distance of around 300 meters from the cannons before breaking off to find a new target.

Defending the bombers from the Mandalorian warship’s own fighter complement were some of the Imperial Confederation’s most powerful production-line fighters in the hands of skilled pilots. FAE/SF-01s with their incredible agility darted through the ranks of the heavier Mandalorian fighters, flanking them before raking them with laser cannon fire. The TIE Meteors, essentially a long-overdue upgrade of the ancient TIE Interceptor, strafed with blinding speed both Mandalorian starfighters and occasionally the point-defense weapons of the capital ship itself with their heavy ordinance. Finally, the TIE/da Defenders were well-protected jacks of all trades filling in the holes wherever a Meteor or SF-01 was not present.

Between Felix’s considerable efforts, the Maphoreem fleet’s backup, and Cato itself, Savatti was confident that the Mandalorian intruders would soon be beaten back.

Spoiler: Fleet Composition

Reinforcements in deep space:

• ??????????? - ???????????-class frigate | Arriving in 2 turns

In Battlefield:

• Flag: Cato - Cato-class fleet carrier, Fleet Combat configuration
  • 4 squads FAE/SF-01
  • 3 squads TIE/ME
  • 2 squads TIE/da
  • 5 squads TIE/sb
• Triumph of Will - Pyre-class cruiser, Configuration I | Shields heavily damaged, hull lightly damaged
  
  • 2 1 squad TIE/ss
• 1x Extoller-class Frigate Killer
  
  • Lancer | Shields destroyed, hull heavily damaged, evacuation in progress
    • 1 squad TIE/ss
• 2x Celox-class escort frigate
  • Baurus
    • 2 squads TIE/ss
  • Lydia
    • 2 squads TIE/ss
• Starfighter Leftovers
  
  • 1 squad TIE/ss

In Battlefield, Reserve:

• 2x Laimar-class stealth carriers
  
  • Persuader | Stealthed (low radar detection)
    
    • 3x NCE-100a squads
    • 2 1x TIE/sb strike bomber squad
  • Monarch | Stealthed (low radar detection)
    
    • 3x NCE-100a squads
    • 2x TIE/sb strike bomber squads

Spoiler: Summary of Orders

• Admiral Joanne Savatti assumes command from Commodore Felix Yorwell
• Cato fires ion cannons on Vod’gam’s exposed engines, followed by turbolasers and heavy laser cannons
• Cato unloads its entire starfighter complement, with bombers targeting Vod’gam’s Angband hypermatter cannons
• Remaining TIE/sb wings from Persuader and Monarch successfully flee the battlefield

​

 

[Zoro Igala]

Wild Space Rebellion Fleet, The Dawn of Hope
Tag: Kjartan Hammer-Hand Darion of Myrkr
Ronhar Tane Felix Yorwell
OBJECTIVE I:
Operation Thunderbolt​

Fleet Comp:

Spoiler

• In Deep Space Out of Play ATM:
  • Blazing Freedom ~ Rebellion III Class Star Liberator
  • x2 Ambush Class Stealth Interdictors
    • Star Wolf
    • Grand Finale
• In Battlefield:
  • x3 Hurricane Tactical Bomber Squadrons
  • x5 Predator Heavy B-wing Squadrons
  • x10 LionX Squadrons
  • x7 Thunderstorm Y-wing Squadrons

Zoro watched as his pilots returned to the battlefield, one by one. They'd be jumping first to an unrelated point, drawing any enemy sensors data towards that point. Then, they struck.

The Hurricane Bombers jumped right on top of the Vilifer Class Star Destroyer, dropping a mixture of Thunderbolt armed bombs, and proton bombs to widdle down the ship's shields.

All the while, coming in at a downward angle, the Y-wings returned to aim right at the Cato Class Fleet Carrier, using the fact that the ship's entire compliment was now focused on the Mandalorian Battlecruiser to use that opening to barrage it with Thunderbolt Munitions, as a way to crash it's shields all at once.

The B-Wings watched from afar as the N-100s flanked them, their pilots flicking their ions cannons to full power and firing on flight leaders, as they prepped for the attack. Shunting their power to shields, the captain of the B-wing Wings of Liberty shifted his focus.

"Shunt power from the Hammer to the Tractor Beams!"

The single squadron to the left, suddenly activated their tractor beams, grabbing one of the NC-100s out of the sky, and slamming it into one of their own squadrons. Hopefully, enough to allow the four fighters enough chaos to break left, and away.

All the while, Zoro knew they were outnumbered. Over discrete comms, he called in his own reinforcements.

The Liberation would come...

 

[Anthony Gray Sun]

Tags: Bido Roz’lyn Priesse Namada​

Anthony watched as his shots screamed past his target. Shot and a miss.

His opponent was trickier than he had expected.

But he screamed past them too. Straight down. Anthony knew they'd chase him. They had to. They were imperials, and good imperials followed orders.

But he needed to ensure it.

Letting his ship blitz downwards towards the planet, his focus moved elsewhere. He reached out through the Force and...

Activated the detonation sequence on one of Bido Roz’lyn missiles within it's launch bay.

 

[Yaeger Sularen]

LOCATION⠀|	Mon Cala Shipyards
OBJECTIVE⠀|	Being hassled by Bucketheads

"Look man, if I was with the rebellion, I wouldn't be doing grain shipments. I'd be out there trying to be Han Farking Solo, ya know? But I don't got time to be a hero. Being a hero doesn't pay well enough, man."

Yaeger looked exhausted. He handed over the datapad, showing all of his paperwork. Everything signed in perfect holo-writing, with all of his signatures. Everything stamped by customs, everything with exactly the right codes and names on the page. Yaeger was one thing above all.

Legit about his paperwork.

"Look, I'm just trying to get outta here so I can pick up my next shipment over in Chandaar. This ain't even my regular ship. I got swarmed by some Acklays back in Black Sun territory who messed up my old girl good, now I'm forced to drive some company owned vics, ya know? This is just a final pick-me-up before I head back to get her fixed over on Home Dirt. Cut me some slack, ya know?"

FN-999 (restored)

|⠀TAGS

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAGS: Daro Roz’yrn​

Sneaking through a shipyard was like old muscle memory for Jonyna. Her old rebel bones knew how to slip past Stormtroopers unnoticed. Throw a voice that wasn't there, hit a box that draws their eye. Occasionally stab one in the back. It wasn't honorable, it wasn't by any means Jedi, but it was her own wisdom.

It was her own path.

Slipping into a back corner, she watched as a shape flew past her in a water tube.

She knew that shape.

Opening a hatch to the tube, she pulled Daro out.

"Hey!"

It was all she could say before she let him get his bearings. She knew their target was nearby. One of the connection points to keep the shipyard together. "You got the explosives ready?"

 

[Priesse Namada]

Location: Northern Sector Perimeter, Shipyards of Mon Cala, Mon Cala High Orbit - Mon Calamari System
Objective: Southern Strike and Checkpoint Charlie
Tag: Bido Roz’lyn Hypheer Vhyrn Anthony Gray Sun

​

Priesse’s lips pursed at Bido’s order, a faint crease of disappointment shifting her brow. The Seseli had wanted to fly directly alongside the Rocket Queen, especially given how formidable an opponent the ex-pirate ace had proven herself to be during the engagement along the Perlemian. In doing so, she had hoped to absorb a few of Hypheer’s tricks, so that she might apply them to her own flying. Although Priesse was an Imperial, she was certainly not above taking lessons from unconventional sources. After all, she was quite an unconventional Imperial herself!

Nevertheless, silently resolving that learning Hypheer’s tricks would have to come later, Priesse made a mental note to ask her for the data feeds from her TIE to review after the sortie, before re-opening her comm with Bido. Given the Dornean's century of flying experience, the Seseli knew that she could learn just as much from flying with her as she would have with Hypheer.

“Copy that Nine. I’m with you!” Priesse transmitted. All the while, the Seseli continued her break to port, before transitioning the maneuver into a descending slice turn and straightening out once she was on the tail of the diving Jedi starfighter. However, it was then that her corona thrummed again, in a manner just as urgent and resonating as the last.

She glanced back, and processed a precognitive shimmer-vision pulsing red-hot from the DS-47’s port side cluster missile launcher.

“Nine, dump port side missiles and clear, NOW!” Priesse called out, the warning tearing from her lips as she snapped her attention back to the Jedi starfighter ahead. There was no time for anything more. Her TIE’s twin disruptor cannons spat vengeance as a trio of violet-hued nonharmonic electro-plasma bolts arced out at luminal velocity in rapid succession, each snap-aimed without a target lock to strike the bandit in its engines from just over two kilometers away!

“Fox four, engaging!”

Spoiler: Loadout

Craft: TIE Sprite TN-29-6

• Status
  
  • Shields: 100%
  • Hull: 100%
  • Structure: 100%
• Armament
  
  • FAE/SW-15 Light Transcendent Disruptor Cannon (2)
• Pilot Equipment
  
  • FAE/A-09 Anti-G Suit
  • BG-D 6 “Outlaw”
    
    • Attachments
      
      • 1-5x FAE/S-08 Electro-Sight
    • Ammunition
      
      • Metallic Slug Magazine (4)
      • Battery