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To Yuri’s absolute surprise, everything was going as planned… for the most part. The space battle was going to be chaotic anyway, but no strange reports or distress came over the comms as the Hound slinked through the space station. Even his Basilisk was doing good, only a small alert with the proximity.
But no problems. At least, not yet.
:: Kjartan, think you can send someone to cover my droid? Just to distract any patrols. :: He sent to Kjartan Hammer-Hand
over his comms, a small insurance to make sure everything went according to plan. It couldn’t fall apart now, not when they were so close. :: And if Darion’s with you, please tell him to make some noise as well. Just… don’t get too invested. This is still the easy part. :: He continued,
Security was getting more and more problematic, patrols moved around and checked the hallways, but they didn’t seem to be looking for him precisely, at least not yet. They were converging on another part of the section, if the movements were any indication. Most likely Jonyna or Saram’s unit. A shadow of a smile began to form behind the Mandalorian’s visor as he hid in another maintenance corridor.
He was close.
The Hound pushed on, taking the corridor and sparsely populated areas to avoid as many of the security personnel as he could. No kills, it would alert the whole station if a trooper lost radio signal.
Yuri finally reached a point he felt comfortable with and began to set up his plan. His Basilisk was also getting close, but still had a decent way to go. He took off his backpack and nestled it in a nest of pipes and wires, a converging point from the look of it, before fiddling with the seismic charge within. Once it synchronized with his vambrace, he turned to leave… but a concern drew him to a pause.
A thermal detonator was set up as well, behind and below the backpack. If it moved, it would blow. With a satisfied nod, Yuri turned to navigate his way back to the hangar. Outside the space station, his Basilisk had to draw to a halt as a few fighters seemed to idle around his position. They seemed to have made visual contact, but nothing could be confirmed as they scattered from a powerful ion blast.
Yuri fiddled with his comms once more, this time reaching out to Jonyna and Saram. :: How’s things movin’ over there? I got, like, three backup plans goin’ right now. :: He commented with a hushed voice, even though his vocoder was disabled on his helmet. He wasn’t taking any chances.
<Guys, Guys! My detonator just got set! I'm gonna explode!> boasted submunition 3 from inside the portside missile of Bido's DS-47.
<OH, COMMON!!!> protested submunition 4 over his shared connection with his fellow missile siblings, <how come 3 gets to explode and I don't? We're supposed to be a family! This is total Sithspit!>
<Hey, 4. Jealous much?> Teased Sub 1, exuding his usual air of superiority. Amongst his siblings, he seemed to think that being designated XM-15-DS47-P-2-1 made him the oldest. This, to the usual irritation of his fellow missile siblings.
<Why can't we all just be happy for Sub 3?> Chimed in Sub 8, ever the peacekeeper. She, being labeled the defacto "youngest", always seemed to be the humblest of the XM-15 missile brains.
<Yeah> agreed Sub 7, ever agreeable, <We'll all get our turn to explode someday! Let's just try to be supportive of Sub 3, guys.>
Submunition 2 did a digital version of "clearing his throat" through their binary network, <I hate to break it to you guys, but if Sub 3 explodes right next to us in the next two seconds, we'll all get wiped out before we get our chance.>
<Yep. Typical Sub 3.> fumed 4, <always thinking of himself. He always does this.>
<I wanna make funny shaped mushroom cloud when I explode,> interrupted Sub 5 vacantly, as weird as ever.
A long awkward silence that lasted an excruciating 0.5 nanoseconds lingered between the siblings, before Sub 3 finally broke the silence, <well, it's not like it was my choice, 4. It sort of just… happened?>
<What does it feel like?> asked Sub 8, hoping to help change the tone of the conversation into something more healthy.
<Um…> said 3 thoughtfully. He noticed that all of his siblings were paying attention now, which made him kind of nervous, <it kinda hurts, actually. I didn't exactly do it myself, like I thought it would. Like it was forced to happen?>
<that's not right> said 2, <my buddy, XM-15-BZC-S-14-2 says whenever he's set his detonator, he's done it himself. That shouldn't be happening.>
Sub 4 huffed, <There is no way XM-15-BZC-S-14-2 has ever exploded, 2. He's a total liar. I talked to his sister XM-15-BZC-S-14-3 and she said he's always making things up.>
<He hasn't exploded yet! He just said he's set his detonator a few times!>
<That's the same thing!>
<Mom!> Cried out Sub 6, speaking for the first time in this whole quarter-of-a-second, <how come can 3 set his detonator, and we can't?>
The booming voice of their parent missile, the main carrier, cut angrily into their shared link, <Mommy's busy working, kids! How many times have I told you guys to keep it down!?>
<But three activated his detonator, and we didn't get to!> wined Sub 6.
<I didn't do it on purpose, 6!> argued 3.
<I wonder what mushrooms taste like> commented 5, completely off topic.
The mother XM-15 missile brain ignored the distraction of Sub 5 as she seemed bothered by what 3 just said, <that's not right. You shouldn't be able to set your detonator without my prompt. Were…> she seemed a little mortified by a thought she just had, <were you playing with yourself again?>
<MOM!!!> the entire congregation of missile siblings protested.
<It's perfectly normal to be curious…>
<EW, GOD! NO! PLEASE JUST STOP!> Sub 3 begged, dying of embarrassment. He could sense the sniggers from his fellow siblings.
<ok, ok.> the mother soothed vainly. She sighed, <alright, if you didn't do it, and I didn't do it, then I better check with the pilot and make sure she didn't activate the detonator. I don't think she would want you to explode when we haven't even left the missile tube yet.>
"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.
Just then, a prompt appeared inside her ear clicker HUD saying:
are you sure you wish to detonate submunition xm-15-ds47-p-2-3?Y/N
Bido rolled her eyes and selected "NO". And then when prompted, she initiated a diagnostic on the whole missile cluster, which would take a couple minutes, rendering the port missile system useless for a while.
"It's fine, Ten. Just stay focused." Bido had plenty of experience flying with and against Force User fighter pilots. One constant that came with flying around them was that weird things always seemed to happen with one's ship's systems. She had flown against many-a-force-user in her time with the Dornean navy and had learned to keep a close eye on her diagnostics a long time ago. Humbly, she had been shot down enough times to know what worked and what didn't.
Since then, she had flown with Danger Squadron in the Foundation, and had learned so more about Force Users…
One good thing that came out of this, though, was that now Bido knew for sure what she was up against. The unassisted aiming, combined with the mysterious setting of her munition detonator pretty much confirmed her suspicions.
"Watch out, Ten. This guy is some kind of Jedi or something! Look out for unconventional tactics! Anything can happen with this guy!"
She then dropped her nose and dove after Priesse Namada
and Anthony Gray Sun
. Both of the other fighters were a fair bit faster than Bido's DS-47. With both of them in her weapons envelope, she couldn't risk accidentally targeting Titan 10.
While Priesse Namada
nipped away at Anthony Gray Sun
's heels with lethal canon fire, Bido took the liberty of piggybacking off Ten's targeting and sensor data. Indulgently plugging Ten's telemetry into her own firing computer via OSIVP, Bido keyed up her starboard cluster missile—not quite ready to trust the port-side missile at this time. Once she had tone, she thumbed the trigger on her yoke and unleashed the parent munition immediately. At this range, the extended range of the parent munition was rendered irrelevant and it ruptured almost instantly the moment it left the launch tube. 8 sub-missiles blossomed out from the scattered fairings and spread far-and-wide before converging on the little Bokken fighter from all directions.
Hopefully, between Roz'lyn's brilliant missile swarm, and Nemada's lethal gunfire, they could keep this enemy on the run long enough for Hypheer Vhyrn
to check out that Basilisk War Droid…
The speed at which the Vod'gam managed to turn itself around to face Captain Tennnor's fleet had surprised everyone on board, especially Fleet Admiral Vorin Zonill. Then again, he supposed nothing could really surprise him these days, given all that he had seen over the last couple of months. What was not at all surprising in the least was the flurry of mass-driver, turbolaser and missile fire that the Vod'gam unleashed upon the Gundark and the CR125U Corvettes, with one of the corvettes being destroyed nearly instantaneously and the other receiving heavy damage as the planetary shield surrounding the Gundark flickered and flared with each subsequent hit that it received. Even worse was the fact that the Gundark'sV-150 Planet Defender and the corvette's Assault Concussion Missile Launchers had done negligible damage to the enemy's ship, rendering their attack on it rather ineffective. If it weren't for Commodore Felix Yorwell
's reinforcements, Tennnor and Zonill might have been in some serious trouble.
But the Commodore had been reinforced, meaning that Tennnor's small fleet might yet still have a chance. The Captain considered her options: her first idea being to pull a Squesha
Maneuver, having the three remaining CR125U Corvettes jump into hyperspace, only to be pulled out mid jump behind the Vod'gam thanks to a well timed Gravity Well Projector shot from the Gundark. She abandoned this idea almost immediately, since the enemy ship could apparently turn itself around in mere seconds, making such a maneuver exceptionally risky. Instead, she decided to go with her second idea.
"All remaining CR125U Corvettes, form up on me! I want a single file column directly behind my ship! No one is to break formation until I give the go ahead!"
With this, Captain Tennnor was hoping to use the bulk of the much larger Gundark to physically shield the corvettes from incoming fire, taking the brunt of the enemy's attack itself. Between its planetary shields, standard shields and heavy armor plating, the Gundark would hopefully be able to whether the storm until it got into close range with the Vod'gam, after which the three remaining CR125U Corvettes would break formation to travel underneath the enemy's ship, raking its undercarriage with Assault Laser Cannon fire. As for the Gundark, Captain Tennnor was intending to do something certifiably insane: she was going to deliberately RAM her ship into the enemy's, banking on its incredible defenses and its NZ Breacher Type-1/A hull structure to survive the impact. The Gundark began rerouting all available power to engines, and using its NZ SLAB-01 SubLight AfterBurners, began charging forward toward the Vod'gam as quickly as it could. Of course, her strategy would be all for naught if the Vod'gam simply jumped away, which was why Tennnor ordered the Gravity Well Projector to fire at the Mandalorian ship, which it did successfully, hopefully trapping them in real space. Though the rebel attack on the shipyards was continuing unabated, the Mandalorian ship was both a far more threatening target and bigger prize to capture, which was why Tennnor was determined to prevent it from leaving.
Still, that left Tennnor with one additional problem: the fact that the Mandalorains has sent a number of war droids to directly attack her ship, which they were doing impeded, though the ship's 12 AFT-PIC.445 Quad Plasma Cannon Turrets were doing their best to get rid of the attackers. Tennnor though about dropping the planetary shield for a moment, to let the incoming fire from the Vod'gam impact the enemy borders, but ultimately decided against it, since the damage that her ship would receive would not be worth getting rid of the enemy ships. She would just have to hope the plasma cannon turrets would be sufficient. Still, as the Gundark made way and the planetary ion cannon began retreating back into its armored hold, a small opening presented itself to anyone bold enough to fly inside of it.
Further away from the battle, the lone Vilifier-class Star Destroyer continued to take a heavy being, unable to properly orient itself against the way of fighters striking it. Though the Imperial Remnant had already written it off as a loss, it was at least distracting the enemy fleet to a degree, and once it was fully destroyed, the Mon Calamari Shipyards would be next to receive the rebel's full wrath.
Damn it! Where the hell were Zonill's reinforcements?!?!?
Saram glanced up at the cameras along the upper portions of the hallway as they moved. They were at regular intervals; standard security setup. There was no point in jamming them, that gave whoever was monitoring the feeds a clear idea of where they were. Even though their personal cloaking devices that were strained with the pace they were moving almost to the point of failure, and that gave them some idea it was better than essentially drawing them a map.
Saram was only just registering what it was that their recon droids were picking up when they apparently ran into whatever it was. "Lenedat," came the call over the squad comms just as the contact itself came into 'view'. Jaing's flechette launcher had already spat its silent death sentence before she could call gevar trac'yar. That was when she looked what was left of the droid. she could see that droid was admittedly especially heavily armed for something of its size. Even for Strill's elite mechanized 'regular' troops, twin blaster cannons was nothing to laugh at.
"Was that a shabla astromech?" she rhetorically wondered aloud as Davaab persisted in their hastened pace. Another rounded the corner. Jaing, who was taking point, quite easily put this one down as well with an almost insulting casual dismissiveness. She would be lying if she ever claimed that the company didn't arm its support droids, but this had the same aroma as a dead Shatual left out for a few days in the heat of summer. Did the Imps not have the resources for purpose-built recon droids?
"Does it matter now?" asked Jaing as he put another down. "Its in pieces." Their own recon droids that they had deployed on arrival had detected the Stormtroopers that had taken up positions. The few seconds those droids must have bought them were indispensible, and to their credit, they had used them well. Their droids pulled back as they started taking fire, being completely unarmed themselves. They had done their job however, the Stormtroopers' positions had been marked on the battlenet generated map.
"He makes a good point," conceded Ran. "Seems like the Imps are onto us. Feed showed prepared positions up ahead and sensors show we've picked up a tail." Saram could see it too. A squad-sized formation, keeping their distance looked like. She let out a sigh in the privacy of her own buy'ce. It seemed the Imperials were hoping to hit them from two directions. Unfortunately for them, she had a few ideas up her sleeve.
"Pursuit denial mines," she ordered immediately. Russana, who was holding the rear of their loose formation quickly drew one from her pouch, armed and tossed it in one smooth practiced motion. The mine errected itself and sent a 'ready' signal barely moments later. Its sensor and optic feed immediately appeared on the battlenet.
The first four members of Davaab stacked up on the hallway that branched off to their left, apparently heading toward the security center. The only issue was the squad of Stormtroopers between them and their objective. Jaing's nanocam feed showed all of them with their weapons pointed in their direction, maintaining as decent a defensive posture as was possible in a hallway with almost no concealment, let alone cover. Not a position she envied.
The Baradium Grenade left her hand impacted and detonated scant fractions of a second before she and Jaing were on them. Four Stormtroopers had been unfortunate enough to survive the blast. Her BR-6B and Jaing's flechette launcher snapped up and coughed near-silently four times. Saram doubted this would be the last patrol. Without needing to be prompted, Davaab picked the pace back up and moved further onward. Though she got the distinct impression that things wouldn't be as easy.
It was precisely then that Yuri's message filtered in through her buy'ce. Saram glanced at her HUD. Hostiles were everywhere. The Security Center was not exactly far off now. "En route. We seem to have some of their attention. About to ruin their day some more." As she answered Yuri's transmission, Saram realized there was another Stormtrooper garrison position ahead of them on glancing at the map the networked 'Manda' modules had generated. Were she any younger she might have felt a pang of regret for what followed, but at this point, she had come to accept it as a reality of the life they led. The only option was to be better than those trying to kill you, and unfortunately for them, they just weren't.
Explosions continued to rock the Mon Calamari Shipyards as Ronhar and his men made their way toward the shuttles that had docked apparently carrying "grain shipments", though Ronhar sincerely doubted that that was what they had aboard. After all, the timing was just too convenient: a pair of shuttles carrying an easily acquirable item just so happen to come aboard the station right before a major rebel attack? It was way to fishy to be a coincidence, and Ronhar was determined to get to the bottom of things one way or another!
Yet as he rounded the corner, he nearly ran headfirst into a being he had never seen before: Yuri Maji
, who had, unbeknownst to him, been setting up explosive charges all over the space station. Still, he couldn't have been more suspicious if he tried, though he technically hadn't done anything subversive or illegal as far as Ronhar could tell. In fact, a place like the Mon Calamari Shipyards would certainly be likely to employ alien laborers of all types, though the way that he was dressed didn't inspire much confidence in Ronhar.
Ronhar leveled his AAF-8 Scattergun directly at Yuri Maji
, pumping it loudly in an effort to intimidate the unknown alien entity. Granted, he didn't really need to do so since he wasn't planning on firing any Micro-grenades at the moment, but he had been told that such a sound was generally unnerving to most organics. The rest of his men raised their weapons as well, ready to open fire at the slightest provocation or reason. They, and everyone aboard the station, were especially on edge, considering the fighting going on outside. Accidents were bound to happen one way or another, and what was one more dead alien under Imperial purview?
Still, that was still the slightest chance that he might be legitimate, and Ronhar wasn't really in the habit of killing innocents or civilians without good reason. Slowly stepping forward, Ronhar began to address the unknown alien, keeping his weapon pointed at him and his finger on the trigger at all times.
"STOP! Hands on your head! I order you to turn around and kneel on the floor! This will be your first and final warning, any attempts to ignore my commands will be met with immediate lethal force!"
Hopefully, the alien spoke Galactic Basic. If not...well, at least Ronhar had tried to warn him!
At the same time, one of Ronhar's men began to radio General FN-999 (restored)
over comms, informing him that they were detaining a suspicious alien aboard the station, giving him the exact coordinates as to where they currently were...
“Alor! Three additional ships have emerged at our flank! One fleet carrier and two escort frigates by the look of things. They’re about to discharge--”
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.
The barrage was, in a word - wild. Most of the shots veered wide given the rush to open fire within the first three seconds of emerging from lightspeed, instead bypassing the ship entirely and barrelling toward the station on the other side. Not all of the shots missed however, as several Ion shots pinged against the Vod’gam’s aft shields, followed by raking turbolaser fire. The vessel rocked from the unexpected barrage, yet stood firm as Kjartan’s toothy smirk returned.
Did the Imperials really just deploy... a fleet carrier against him?
Against a Star Destroyer?
Oh how the tactical genius of the old Empire had fallen - though not entirely.
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.
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.
Waves of fighter and bomber craft spilled out from the carrier’s hangar bay; as if an angry cloud of insects rushing toward a wounded predator. Yet their advance would not be so easy as one might think. Thankfully, rebel fighters broke away from their assault and lent support to the Mandalorian warship, engaging the carrier and a portion of the fighters who would otherwise have focused on the Star Destroyer.
For the warship’s part, In the span of time from the initial volley and the emergence of the fighter swarms - the Vod’gam’s point defense countermeasures moved into place. Not only did the typical flak-pattern erupt, but it would seem the fighter and bomber craft ignored the considerable point defense batteries this juggernaut had at its disposal.
144 RMAF-M2 Point-Defense Cannons unleashed upon the fighters as they either scattered away from the flak clouds or attempted to weather the storm. But that was not all, as 60 point defense octet missile batteries unleashed chieftain & sheridan missiles to intercept those who remained - specifically the special fighters that attempted to dart through the flak and turbolaser crossfire. The Beviin superiority fighters hung back, chasing the stragglers from the massive bombardment that would have undoubtedly culled the previously formidable fighter wave. While the Imperial fighters were impressive, their pilots would have a considerable challenge with the Mandalorian fighters who stood on par with them.
Even still, despite the considerable countermeasures the Vod’gam had at her disposal, there was no way to fully blunt the fighter attack. Dozens upon dozens of missiles impacted against the shield system, which combined with the Cato’s successful though partial barrage, caused the shield system to shudder in exertion, and for the ship’s hull to pockmark with gouts of flame as the weight of the Imperial assault began to find purchase.
The ship's forgemaster; the de-facto chief engineer of the vessel, spoke up. “Alor - her hull is holding, but there are several breaches being reported along the lower decks. Repair teams are containing the situation now, but our shields won’t hold forever under this assault.”
Beads of sweat began to roll down the warlord’s face as the battle began to wear on him. His hands flexed, hungering for the hafts of his hammers. It was one thing to take the enemy by surprise and storm the bowels of their vessel, caving in the eggshell helmets of their stormtroopers with the unforgiving head of his chosen weapons. It was in these moments, when Kjartan had to restrain his bloodlust in favor of command and a level head, that he felt the strain. But his years of experience had made it easier to do. “Divert the excess power from our thrusters to the shields. We’re at half speed now anyway, and we’re not leaving yet. We need to stay in the fight.”
The forgemaster acted with the chieftains words, the shields flashing with the desperately needed energy surge - yet that did not minimize the damage wrought upon the storied-vessel’s hull, nor did it stop the forgemaster’s sardonic reply. “You’re right lord, we aren’t going anywhere.” There was a brief pause, but then he continued: “I’m reading fluctuations in our hyperdrive system. Sensors are picking up a gravity well projector from the cruiser in front of us.”
"All remaining CR125U Corvettes, form up on me! I want a single file column directly behind my ship! No one is to break formation until I give the go ahead!"
With this, Captain Tennnor was hoping to use the bulk of the much larger Gundark to physically shield the corvettes from incoming fire, taking the brunt of the enemy's attack itself. Between its planetary shields, standard shields and heavy armor plating, the Gundark would hopefully be able to whether the storm until it got into close range with the Vod'gam, after which the three remaining CR125U Corvettes would break formation to travel underneath the enemy's ship, raking its undercarriage with Assault Laser Cannon fire. As for the Gundark, Captain Tennnor was intending to do something certifiably insane: she was going to deliberately RAM her ship into the enemy's, banking on its incredible defenses and its NZ Breacher Type-1/A hull structure to survive the impact. The Gundark began rerouting all available power to engines, and using its NZ SLAB-01 SubLight AfterBurners, began charging forward toward the Vod'gam as quickly as it could. Of course, her strategy would be all for naught if the Vod'gam simply jumped away, which was why Tennnor ordered the Gravity Well Projector to fire at the Mandalorian ship, which it did successfully, hopefully trapping them in real space. Though the rebel attack on the shipyards was continuing unabated, the Mandalorian ship was both a far more threatening target and bigger prize to capture, which was why Tennnor was determined to prevent it from leaving.
Kjartan smiled again. Did they think they had him cornered? How cute. The problem was temporary at best, and Kjartan had a plan for getting out of here when that time came. But that was not now. “Are they... advancing?”
It was odd that the chieftain was asking a question. It took a moment for someone to speak up, that someone being the tactical officer. “...aye Alor, it is. The corvettes are maneuvering behind the cruiser in what appears to be... a ramming pattern?”
The warlord laughed. “Engage the statis webifier.” Realization flashed across the brow of both the forgemaster and tactical officer, who both grinned in kind and engaged the unconventional weapon.
Utilizing technology similar to tractor beam technology, but rather than drawing a ship towards the warship - the webifier was designed to reduce a target’s velocity to zero. Under normal circumstances, Kjartan would use this webifier to stop a ship trying to flee so that he could board them. There was always the risk a ship could engage their afterburners and crawl just far enough away to draw out of range and flee.
But in this case, the cruiser was advancing toward the Vod’gam at flank speed, using its afterburners to press its advantage - well within range of the webifier. The pirate nearly gaffawed at the effect the cruiser would have on the corvettes as it stopped suddenly, while the corvettes would have continued forward.
As the webifier was engaged, Kjartan issued further orders: “Direct all mass drivers and hypervelocity cannons at the fleet carrier.” he was still in disbelief that they sent a back of the line ship to face him. But they would learn their lesson as his main armaments tore through the ship like an ale can. “Track the corvettes and disperse all turbolaser fire and missile batteries on them. Leave that cruiser to sit in a puddle for a few minutes while we mop up its friends...”
:: Kjartan, think you can send someone to cover my droid? Just to distract any patrols. :: He sent to Kjartan Hammer-HandKjartan Hammer-Hand
over his comms, a small insurance to make sure everything went according to plan. It couldn’t fall apart now, not when they were so close. :: And if Darion’s with you, please tell him to make some noise as well. Just… don’t get too invested. This is still the easy part. :: He continued,
“This f*ckin guy.” Kjartan could only shake his head and sigh. He wasn’t going to die for the mutt, but he also wasn’t at that point yet. He ignored the message, since clearly his own was ignored. Instead, he focused on the assault in front of him.
The webifier engaged in the hopes of interrupting their advance, and the targeting solution already acquired on the corvettes continued to track them. If the plan worked as intended, turbolaser fire and missile launches would surge toward the remaining corvettes, with the obvious intention of popping them well before they advanced to their planned trajectory.
The mass drivers and hypervelocity cannons lashed out at the Fleet Carrier once the Mandalorians locked the vessel, which wasn’t hard given its energy output and size; intent on capitalizing on the tactical misstep of the Imperial commanders. Kjartan glanced at his own display, checking on the status of Darion of Myrkr
and his assault team...
The Vod’gam suffers considerable damage from the onslaught from the fleet carrier contingent (minor hull breaches, armor damage, shield strain)
The full might of the Vod’gams point defenses focus on eliminating a considerable amount of the fighter and bomber craft advancing against them.
The Vod’gam launches its webifier technology to stop the Gundark in its tracks, and pick apart the corvettes before they can advance beneath her using its turbolasers and missile batteries.
The heavier armaments of the Vod’gam (mass drivers and hypervelocity cannons) lash out at the fleet carrier.
As Flight 3 was preparing its defense of the shipyards Titan 10 called out to Titan 9. Hypheer eased back out of caution and managed to avoid all the excitement as she gingerly maneuvered her ship into open space to avoid any type of collision with her wingmates. Hypheer wondered what 9 and 10 were discussing before the new threat showed itself. The discussion came back as the flight leader gave out commands.
Hypheer was supposed to take 12 to chase some anomaly. Hypheer didn't like the sound of that. The follow up statement that Bido thought the anomaly was a fancy wardroid that Hypheer had never faced did not add any encouragement to the Mirialan pilot.
"You heard 9. 12 you are on my wing. We're going hunting," Hypheer remarked half-heartedly. She looked over her sensors and found the anomaly in the north quadrant. She adjusted her heading and pressed her Pixie into action.
"Affirmative 11. I've got your wing," came the response from Hypheer's wingman. Hypheer looked over her shoulder to confirm she remembered what fighter 12 was flying.
"Sounds super Imperial," Hypheer mumbled to herself. The Pixie was a good fit for her if she had to have a stock Imperial fighter, but she missed RX. She missed Rocket Squadron and her old Z-95. But there wasn't much time to dwell on such things. There were worse things than being an Imperial TIE pilot. She could be dead. Though 12 was flying a Mahporeem X3-A Striker, Hypheer suspected that he was one of those Imperials who got to Titan squad by being the strong and steady type. With herself, Priesse and Bido talented pilots with unproven loyalty and, especially in Hypheer's case, uncertain ability to toe the line, it made sense that some stability was brought in to fill out the ranks.
Hypheer supposed she could do the heavy lifting as long as 12 kept her six clean. She kicked in the acceleration and closed on the unknown bogie she was assigned to. As she got closer she trusted her eyes more than her sensors. Whatever she was hunting down it certainly wasn't a standard everyday fighter. "Target sighted Titan 9. Moving to engage," Hypheer remembered to give status comm to her commander. "12 if you're following my lead make sure you don't hit our assets too hard. I know they've got shields, but no telling what that thing has been out here doing." With that bit of wisdom put out into the battle, Hypheer made a last jerk of her control yoke and found her target in the center of her sights. She pressed the trigger on the yoke and fired a volley from her Light Beam Connons at the Basilisk Droid.
As was typical for jobs that went so gloriously good, the last stretch always went south in some stupid or unexpected way. It happened with Coruscant, it happened with Denon, Lothal, Nal Hutta, Nar Shaddaa.
And naturally it had to happen on the damned orbital ring.
An audible sigh of annoyance rolled through the Hound’s helmet as a squad of troopers rounded a corner, guns ready and a firm order to get on the ground. Yuri’s hands shot up immediately, outstretched and open to show no ill intent… at least, for the moment.
His armour could take a hit, but so many guns this close was playing a bet he wasn’t too keen on. No sudden movements, no reasons for them to open fire. Any movements to activate something on his suit would take too long and, more importantly, wouldn’t do anything to get the guns off him. It left him with one very risky plan that put everyone in danger.
”Yeah…” He grumbled, going down to one knee to put them at ease. But one tap of a button on his vambrace would throw any kind of reassurance out the window. Not even a second after the button was pressed, all sound disappeared in a brief period of deafening silence, likely stretching far enough for Jonyna and Saram’s teams to experience it. As quickly as the silence enveloped everything, it was blown away by a devastatingly loud boom.
The shockwave of the seismic charge split through the station’s width at a nearly perfect vertical line, severing pipes, wires, hallways and seals in the blink of an eye. The station lurched beneath their feet, the tear venting all pressure and artificial atmosphere in an instant. Yuri let the sudden loss yank him backwards and into the void of space. In the same motion, he could finally attack the stormtroopers and fired a dozen Whistling Birds at them to strike between their armour plates.
:: Change of plan, we gotta hurry. Prepare for pickup. :: He sent to all of the Rebellion and Mandalorian channels as he activated his rocket boots. With elegance he drifted back to the station, firing with his pistols at whatever troopers came with him into the void. Once close enough, he magnetized against the station’s hull and made his way to a nearby window for a quick entry.
While all of that chaos raged, Yuri’s Basilisk finally reached its destination and began to drill into the hull of the station on the other end of the quarter. Locked down and defenseless in the moment, the Basilisk could only rely on its armour to buy it time as the fighters shot at it. One silver lining remained in the moment.
It didn’t need to dig deep or hard, it only needed to make an incision small enough to deposit another seismic charge. The light beam cannons tore into its hull, various warnings and alarms screamed in the vacant cockpit, but the Basilisk had a job to do. Barely minutes after the first charge blew through the station, the Basilisk would deposit a second seismic charge to do the same on the other end before blowing up.
Another second of silence, followed by another equally devastating blast to finally sheer a quarter of the orbital ring away.
The easy part was finished. Now the race to attach and pull began, before the section of station could be pulled into the atmosphere…
ADMIRAL JOANNE SAVATTI
3RD CARRIER STRIKE GROUP “CATO’S HAMMER"
Cato was tougher than it looked.
To appease the critics of such a costly design back in the days when Borosk was an independent state, the designers of the Cato-class line had agreed to give it armor and shielding roughly equivalent to a standard Imperial-I class Star Destroyer, allowing it to withstand assault on its own or with only small escorts in situations where Borosk’s precious capital ship reserve was stretched.
So when the first hypervelocity rounds struck the Cato, its hull shuddered, but its shields held.
Nonetheless, Admiral Savatti understood that Cato alone was outmatched against the Mandalorian warship, especially at such close range. Based on its displayed capabilities, it was evidently inspired by the model of the one-ship fleet, equipped with immense onboard firepower and resilient defenses on top of a starfighter complement sizable enough that the introduction of Cato’s air wings only slightly shifted the starfighter balance in favor of the Imperials. Nothing short of a full fleet of her own would bring down the Mandalorian battleship.
It was fortunate then that Admiral Savatti was not fighting alone.
On the other side of the battleship, a small fleet of vessels looking like they were forged out of spare parts in a scrapyard were nonetheless holding up against the overwhelming odds pitted against them. At the moment, the Maphoreem forces and Savatti’s fleet functioned as two separate forces, but if they could be more closely coordinated, perhaps a weak point in the enemy battleship could be exploited.
Admiral Savatti was interrupted however by a warning from her bridge staff.
“The Y-wings have returned to the sector!” warned an officer to our right. "They’re diving on us from above!"
“Turn hard port and engage both countermeasures and laser cannons.” ordered the admiral. “Deliver the same order to the screen."
The entire carrier lurched to the left as thrust was rerouted from its right engines. At the same time, sixteen of Cato’s thirty-two triple barrel laser cannons swung upwards, opening fire on the advancing Y-wings. The two Celox-class frigates pitched in as well, their flak cannons creating an explosive obstacle course for the rebel bombers. Onboard countermeasures on Cato automatically disrupted a significant minority of the munitions they fired, causing them to explode harmlessly far out of range. The carrier’s emergency maneuvers also caused many missiles to fall short, largely saving Cato from the return of the rebel bombers.
The few missiles that struck true however created pulses that rippled through large portions of Cato’s shielding, inflicting unexpectedly high damage for munitions of their size.
Nonetheless, the immediate rebel threat was gone, and Admiral Savatti could focus herself fully on coordinating with the Maphoreem fleet against the Mandalorian battleship.
[Fleet Admiral Zonill.] she began, speaking through the ship’s comms. [This is Admiral Joanne Savatti. If there is anything I can provide to assist your efforts, let me know.]
Meanwhile, Cato had finished repositioning itself. Where it had previously only been able to broadside the Mandalorian warship, by turning to port it was now fully facing its adversary and could open fire with its entire forward armament. The carrier’s turbolaser and ion cannon barrage became both more numerous and more accurate as its targeting systems attained a secure lock on the Mandalorian warship. However, this repositioning meant that the carrier’s starboard flank was now exposed to any additional hostile craft that might arrive...
THE OTHER GUYS
Everything was going smoothly until the B-wings activated their tractor beams.
Suddenly, NCE-100s were being thrown around like grav-balls, their pilots helpless as their fighters were slammed into those of their comrades. Forced to improvise on the spot, the wing leaders of each flanking formation agreed on a clever plan. Starfighters caught in the tractor beams of the B-wings would fire all their remaining missiles directly into the path of the tractor beam, which would then further accelerate the missiles until they slammed directly into the tractor beam emitter, disabling it and hopefully causing significant damage in the process.
Reinforcements in deep space:
??????????? - ???????????-class frigate | Arriving next post
Daro hummed to himself calmly as the travel tubes carried him throughout the northern quadrant to where his ship was waiting. Though the glass, he watch the stars dance and burst as ships jumped in and out of hyperspace, struggling to gain the upper hand.
His keen Dornean eyes could see well enough from here, even as the hydro tubes brought his body further and further away. The rebels had opened up with what came off as a lightning strike with starfighters alone. Then, the Imperials had answered with a measured response, driving off the fighters. Just when the imperials had thought the assault was broken, a heavy Mandalorian Star Destroyer blindsided the exposed imperial defenders with overwhelming force. Localized reinforcements had come in to relieve the resident imperial defenders, but seemed to lack the weight they needed to steal the initiative with a corvette missile strike. The imperial reinforcements did, however, provide enough relief for the resident defenders to retreat and regroup. The Mando Destroyer then turned on the reinforcements and began exchanging fire in earnest, committing to the destruction of the smaller imperial cruiser and its Corvette escorts. As the tubes carried him further, it got harder to see smaller ships. The shimmering wash Rebel fighter squadrons engines doubled back and began to reinforce the mandalorian attack on the Imperial fleet in their own helpful way.
Then, just when Daro had been led to believe that this would be a showdown between the Mando destroyer and the imperial cruiser flotilla, a proper imperial carrier dropped right out of hyperspace, and began hammering the Mando ship. Daro amused himself with the thought that at the rate reinforcements kept jumping into the system, they'd have a gravimetric catastrophe before the end of the day…
As the tubes brought him further away from the battle, the ships began to eclipse behind the horizon of the planet. With the battle out of sight, Daro briefly began to reminisce about his old commanding officer, Grand Admiral Burtch. Burtch's command style had always favoured range and mobility, using the environment and careful positioning to maintain control of the engagement. In contrast, General Antio Way'lurr had always lacked the patience to use such strategies, and preferred more aggressive methods. He wondered how this battle would unfold of either of them were commanding either side…
As Jonyna Si
yanked him out by his cybernetic arm, his head made direct impact with the threshold of the hatch. Daro's head hurt mildly, but the steel rim of the hatchway dented noticeably. Daro guessed that the hatch would not properly close again. "You're one strong Kitty…"
As the stars in his peripheral vision began to fade he lied, "Yeah, boss,"
He pressed on quickly, trying to spin his lacking progress as a good thing, "all of the interior charges are set with proper detonators. All I got left are the two exterior charges. I was literally on my way to my ship just now to get my spacesuit and hop right on that!"
He did his best to hide his inner cringe with a confident facade. Then, a thought occurred to him. He began to talk fast.
"Actually. Now that you're here, we can probably get this done twice as fast, and it gives us another option, if you're willing to help.
"I have a spare suit on my ship. You can head out with me for a walk and we can divide and conquer the whole job manually before we get out of the blast area.
"Or… just hear me out," he held up his hands calmly, "my ship also has two prototype starfighters docked under it with heavy missiles loaded. Don't ask how I got them, but let's just say, the rebellion is somewhat popular among… some of my people. If you're not keen on space walking, we can each take a fighter and blow the supports directly at the same time when all the other charges are remote detonated."
Just when Daro was about to try and sell his attempt to save face further with a confident grin, a small, ugly little astromech droid trundled into the hallway with a swivelling gun for a head.
"Oh… kriff. That's probably not good."
Behind the droid, scores of stormtroopers swarmed around the corner. Daro seriously wished he would have at least brought a blaster with him…
At the same time, one of Ronhar's men began to radio General FN-999 (restored)
over comms, informing him that they were detaining a suspicious alien aboard the station, giving him the exact coordinates as to where they currently were...
[Coordinates received.] responded FN-999 over the radio. [If compliance cannot be secured, engage immediately.]
That was about as much as the general could do from afar. As much as his instincts urged him to rush out and join his troopers in combat, he knew he was needed in his office to coordinate security across the station. He needed to trust his subordinates to carry out their missions without his nagging.
Another transmission came in, this time from the same squad leader who had contacted him earlier.
[God, god! They’re all dead! They know we’re here!]
[Calm down, sergeant. Is they your squad or the Mandalorians? What happened?]
[It-it was some sort of mine. One moment we were still tailing them, the next half the squad is ash and the other half wishes they were ash.]
[Is it safe to send a medical team? Can you recover?]
[I’m sorry, gen. I don’t think I’m getting out of this one.]
[Sergeant? Sergeant?!?]
FN-999 could only assume the worst. Evidently, ordinary stormtrooper squads would not be enough.
[Station Security, this is FN-999. Requesting shocktroopers and bomb squads for Sector North.]
No sooner had his message been sent did another come in, the former Fleet Admiral of Borosk sounding positively irked.
[FN-999, you really should have given me clearer instructions as to where to jump! You didn’t tell me there was a hostile battleship inside the station perimeter! If Maphoreem ships weren’t here too, you could have just lost your precious Cato in a fight it was not intended for!!]
[I’m sorry, I thought Commodore Yorwell would have given you intel on transit.]
[Do you even understand how hyperspace works? It’s hard to deliver transmissions between hyperspace and realspace on a good day! He was only able to give me intel once Cato was already being engaged.]
FN-999 was flabbergasted. His whole life he had been an army man, so perhaps it was easy for him to fall for myths and misconceptions related to naval operations.
[I sincerely apologize, Admiral Savatti. I was asked to call in a favor, and I wanted it sent in as hastily as possible.]
[I understand you owe some sort of debt to Felix, but you can’t suddenly summon entire fleets in the same way that you can with armies. There’s a lot more prep work that goes into organizing moving weapons platforms hundreds of meters in dimensions than even your largest walkers. Once this battle is over, I am going to personally lecture you on how this should have been handled.]
Despite his nominal seniority over the admiral given their history, FN-999 was never too prideful to admit his shortcomings.
[I look forward to it. Now, I believe we both must return to our stations.]
[We will talk soon.]
As soon as the transmission cut out, the general let out a deep sigh. Every time he thought he had gained knowledge or expertise, it turned out that there was still so much more to learn. All the combat manuals and history books in the galaxy would not help FN-999 if he could not figure out how to apply their principles on practice.
The general was interrupted by his self-reflection by the rumbling of an earthquake.
It took him a second to remember that he was not on a planet, but rather an enormous orbital ring. And orbital rings did not have earthquakes.
FN-999’s worst fears were confirmed seconds later as the alarms in his office and the halls outside blared with renewed urgency, a new message being delivered through hidden loudspeakers.
[WARNING: CATASTROPHIC STRUCTURAL DAMAGE IN SECTOR NORTH.]
[Station Security.] radioed FN-999. [Just what is going on here!]
The wait on the other end of the radio was long, but eventually a ruffled voice got back to him.
[Someone just blasted huge holes in either end of the north sector. The whole sector’s free floating now.]
All at once, realization hit the general. The starfighter attack outside the orbital shipyard ring was only a diversion from the real aim of the rebel attackers. Their goal was not to destroy Mon Calamari’s shipyards, but to steal them and all the ships inside for their own use. More likely than not, the rebels were about to be reinforced by a capital ship large enough to jump out of the system with the northern sector of Mon Calamari's shipyards in tow.
FN-999 had already asked for enough from Admiral Savatti. There would be no miracle work today.
[That’s exactly what they want to do.] responded the general. [Scuttle every ship in the region.]
An incredulous voice shot back at him.
[Are you crazy?!?!?!]
[You’re the crazy one if you think we’re going to be able to salvage this situation. Best case scenario, the station is going to fall into the atmosphere and be a total loss. Worst case scenario, the rebels have access to everything here. We might not be able to save the station, but we can at least deny our enemies the use of our ships.]
There was a sigh on the other side of the line.
[Fine, you make a good point. I’ll give you the coordinates of several points where we have hypermatter reserves stored. Light it up and it’s as good of an explosive as the ones the rebels just used. In the meantime, I’ll be making my escape. Godspeed.]
FN-999 knew he had to escape soon as well if he did not want to be a prisoner of anti-Imperial rebels. He just had one final order to make.
[All Imperials aboard Region North, we are scuttling everything in our side of the station. I am transmitting coordinates to nearby hypermatter reserves that can be used as improvised explosives. If those do not work, overload the reactors of ships in the shipyards until they are inoperable. Under no circumstances can we allow the rebels to steal our warships.]
Across the station, stormtrooper squads were rerouted towards storage rooms, loading up repulsorlift carts with thick durasteel boxes full of volatile hypermatter. Their destinations were the shipyards themselves, aiming to detonate the hypermatter containers inside partially complete hulls to render them inoperable to the rebellion.
As for FN-999, he began to make his way towards the nearest hangar.
"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?"
”Maybe we should just let the man go.” commented the tall trooper. “It seems like he has everything in order."
“Better safe than sorry.” rebuked the shorter one. “Let’s just read over the documents one more time, and then we can let the grain guy go free. Sounds fair?"
The pair of stormtroopers never heard Yeager’s response. The resounding boom of a distant but powerful explosion smothered all other noise, its shockwave causing the two to reel backwards.
“On second thought,” concluded the short trooper. “You’re free to go. We’ve got bigger problems now."
The pair of stormtroopers turned around and ran off, leaving Yaeger alone in the hangar.
I wasn't more than ten meters before one of her Marines handed her a comms. One who bore blue paint stripes denoting his rank. "Ma'am, there is chatter of something going down on the station comms. Perhaps you should talk to whomever is in charge. If its rebels there might be a duel to have." as his hand moves down to the Phrik electro short sword, giving a nod.
Demveath takes the comm gingerly "Thank you for keeping up on what's going around us." Slowly feeling into the force she opens the comms FN-999 (restored)"Hello station security command. This is Demveath Okamsiu Ancient Sith Pureblood & sorceress. Do you require my help?"
The offer was twofold, first getting more information, and secondly seeing if she needed to pull more personnel from her personal Raider class ship.
Her Marine divison from Lord Rasnuhl
were all trained in combat vs force users, making them more valuable that regular troops.
Her probing the force brought back maybe something here or there but nothing concrete. Instead pivoting to scrying into the future for answers those around her could her her chant ancient Sith.
The process didn't take long to the seasoned Sorceress, but left disappointment none the less. For the images that swirled to her mind were of random explosions, fights, and unknown lightsabers cutting down storm troopers.
Hmmm... where will I need to be? Where do these events happen? The force will guide my hand.
Jonyna smirked at Daro as she listened to him, only to feel the pulse of Yuri Maji
's seismic charges.
The plan was going off without a hitch.
"Right, you get your explosives and fighters prepped. We'll get out of here either way. My backup should be arriving soon."
As the stormtroopers arrived, Jonyna looked with a snarl. She knew they'd pick up on them soon enough. "I'll deal with this! You deal with getting us an escape plan!"
Jonyna jumped out into the fray, drawing her lightsaber and Liz. Delfecting blaster bolts was practically instinct at this point, but lighting up the entire room with a slash from Liz, spreading Electric Judgement through the halls.
The whole room shook, and shifted. She could keep her balance, but she knew the place was gonna be moving a lot faster soon.
But he knew how to deal with a damaged fighter. While he could dodge for so long, all it took was one clean hit. He deployed chaff, which got those missiles off his back. He spun, and flipped his fighter in ways that would rip the thing apart if it hadn't specifically been modified to handle these kinds of Gs.
But one clean shot from Priesse Namada
clipped him. His shields took it, but it threw him off balance.
And yet, he kept diving. He needed to keep them following. He knew his shields would fail next time he got hit.
And yet, the planet's oceans were down below. He could see them approaching...
AS he entered the atmosphere, his ship turned into a fireball, if only for a moment. And then, he turned up, letting the wind of the planet take the bottom of his ship. And yet, he kept diving. Only when they got to the surface of the ocean did he correct his course.
And with that, Yaeger was left to himself. Poking at his data pad, he smirked.
Of course he was a rebel. He just was smarter than the average rancor. He knew how to do rebel shit, and look legit. The answer? Be legit. Get your paperwork in order. And have a shotgun under your captain's chair.
A poke on the data pad, and...
The other cruiser sized freighter went up in a bang. A huge bang. Enough to properly separate the northern section of the ring, just enough for Yaeger to poke at his data pad again.
The call had been sent.
Only then, after a moment of silence, did he transmit to the rest of the station. In another life, he was an actor.
"What the fark is going on out there?! My sensors are going haywire and my buddy just went kablewie! It's the damned rebels, isn't it! Permission to flee the station! Someone answer me!!!"
As the Y-wings broke away, they were lit up by several countermeasures that probably would've killed lesser starships. Thankfully, the Thunderstorm II model of Y-wing was built to withstand a beating without dying.
But as they turned, Ronhar Tane
's activation of interdiction tech stalled their plans to flee once more. It did however, have a result that the imperials probably didn't intend.
It pulled the rebel reinforcement out of hyperspace faster, and right on top of the imperial fleet.
The NC-1000s that had been prepped to kill the B-wings were instead disintegrated as two Astrocats jumped out of hyperspace right on top of them, guns already turned towards Ronhar Tane
's corvettes, massive turbolasers designed to fight off Sith Star Destroyers now aimed at the four ships, firing with reckless abandon.
The B-wings broke off, even if they were forced to take quite a bit of damage from those missiles. They wouldn't be using those tractor beams anytime soon.
And right on the starboard, right where the Y-wings had turned, three Solo Class Frigates appeared, opening up with a mixture of ion and that same superheavy turbolaser fire.
The enemy would find no quarter. As soon as the Solo Classes arrived, they were already launching their squadrons, and retrieving the Y-wings. Eight more Y-wing Squadrons poured out of them, replacing the ones that had come before. Alongside them, two squadrons of unfamiliar bombers flew out, racing towards Felix's escort frigates.
Priesse cocked her head, her lashes fluttering in confusion as the Jedi starfighter breached through the initial layers of the atmosphere. One of her disruptor shots had struck the enemy craft, causing its shields to flare under the stress of the impact. Even so, the Seseli saw no hint of debris or damage through her scopes. They were not combat-ineffective or disabled. And yet...
By all accounts, it seemed that the Jedi starfighter was retreating. And by extension, Priesse knew that she risked dereliction of duty by following them.
“I think we should break off, Nine! This guy is either retreating or trying to lead us on a glory chase!” Priesse transmitted. It was then that the Seseli’s halo-shaped horn thrummed in warning, drawing her gaze back toward the shipyards looming behind. In the seconds that followed, her eyes went wide as a section of the orbital facility was severed from the main body in a massive radial shockwave.
[All Imperials aboard Region North, we are scuttling everything in our side of the station. I am transmitting coordinates to nearby hypermatter reserves that can be used as improvised explosives. If those do not work, overload the reactors of ships in the shipyards until they are inoperable. Under no circumstances can we allow the rebels to steal our warships.]
The comms cracked with urgency. The mission had changed from one of defense to denial of everything in the northern sector. There were bigger priorities now than a single Jedi starfighter.
“Right. Ten, break off and head back to the shipyards! Support the scuttling efforts however you see fit. May the Force be with you!” Bido's voice cut through the chatter.
“I’ll make a run through the shipyards and detonate the hypermatter reserves with my cannons, The rebels won’t have anything left to salvage!” Priesse called back. All the while, the Seseli’s brows rose with surprise and some parts curiosity at Bido’s last comment. “May the Force be with you” was certainly not a phrase that Imperials used often, but Bido was a centenarian Dornean who seemed to value the life of every pilot under her command. Not to mention, with their formation including an ex-pirate in Hypheer, a Sithspawn seer in Priesse, and Bido herself, Titan Squadron was hardly conventional. In this context where all of them were grouped in a single flight, perhaps it was not wholly unexpected.
Priesse paused. Then, she spoke, her tone laced with a touch of awkward sincerity. “Oh and...may the Force be with you as well!”
Thus, the Seseli stood on the rudder and drove her Sprite back around in a tight arc just before she would have breached through the edge of the exosphere, leaving the Jedi starfighter to blaze towards the planet below. From there, she goosed the throttle and activated the Subdrive. Space blurred around her canopy in a blue-white haze for a split-second. Then, the haze faded, snapping back to the clarity of realspace as the shipyards loomed only a few kilometers ahead.
Priesse didn’t hesitate. She quickly opened her comm, and responded to FN-999’s transmission ( FN-999 (restored)
).
“This is Titan Ten to North Sector command! General, can you transmit coordinates for the hypermatter reserves? I can make a trench run through the shipyards in order to reach them, before setting them off with my cannons!”
Ion fire painted the void in sharp blue flashes as Hypheer rolled the Pixie hard to port, solar vanes catching the distant starlight like a blade turning in a grip. The Basilisk droid was fast. Not fast enough.
"Titan 11, tally on Basilisk. Moving to intercept." The war droid cut across the debris field on repulsors, spitting plasma in disciplined bursts. Hypheer didn't chase it straight—she never chased straight. Instead, she dipped beneath a drifting cargo container, skimmed so close the Pixie's sensors screamed proximity warnings, then snapped vertical in a vicious corkscrew climb.
The Basilisk adjusted. But it was too late. Her thumb depressed the firing stud. The Pixie's ultralight frame shuddered as paired laser cannons stitched across the droid's flank. She overshot deliberately, kicked lateral thrusters, and carved a tight loop that would have torn apart heavier craft.
"Come on… turn for me…" The Basilisk pivoted to reacquire. That was the mistake. Hypheer dropped throttle, letting inertia carry her just enough to drift across its blind arc, then surged power back in with a burst that rammed her squarely into its rear quarter. Targeting reticle flashed amber—then red. She didn't hesitate.
A focused volley punched through weakened plating, detonating something volatile deep in the chassis. The Basilisk erupted in a brief, violent blossom of fire and shrapnel, fragments scattering harmlessly into the black. ""Scratch one oversized relic," she breathed, rolling clear of the expanding debris cloud. No gloating. Just satisfaction.
Her scopes flicked back to the larger picture—Imperial ships maneuvering to scuttle the derelict. Controlled demolition patterns forming. Timelines tightening. ""Titan 9, Titan 10—Titan 11 and 12 are clear and mobile," she transmitted, voice steady, bright edge tempered into professionalism. "Regrouping on your vector for scuttle support."
She vectored in clean, tightening formation spacing with practiced ease. The Pixie purred beneath her hands, eager for another violent sprint if required. ""Call targets or cover lanes. I'll screen your flanks."
Once, she would've peeled off to chase something more exciting. Now? She held formation. Titan 11 settled in beside 9 and 10, engines humming in quiet readiness as the operation shifted toward controlled destruction. Pirate instincts still whispered at the edge of her thoughts. But today, she flew Imperial.
The attack on Mon Cali had been swift, wholly unexpected and completely blindsided not just the navy, but the entirety of the Imperial Confederation and its associates. Mon Cala, which was a partially owned cooperative between the N&Z and the Confederation under the auspices of the current Exarch Karl Von Strauss
, was now a staging ground for some of the best fighterpilots and members of the military the confederation had to offer, all trying their best to stop a rebellious faction of rogues from plundering and even extracting parts of the shipyards.
The fact the communications were cut off and the fighting caused quite the chaos on every secure line, had lead to delays in reponses from both the confederation and the N&Z. The majority of the Crow fleet was still scrambling at Cholganna, the Gluttoneria was stationed in Diarchy territory at Bescane for repairs after the failed second invasion of Brosi and the dissappointing sortie over Florrum. Still, as she marched through the halls of the Grandeur-station located near Karkaris, Governor Visconti fumed as she looked at her datapad, detailing the destruction and the loss of life at the hands of the rogues. "Why are those who think themselves the hero in their own pathetic delusions always the ones causing the most death and destruction...it's as if all these guys have had a peak into Saw Gerrera's playbook."
Tapping frantically at the screen of her datapad, the governor tried to see whether or not the station had one of the local sector fleet's ships docked and ready. To her surprise, the INV Revolution was being supplied at gate C, a claymore class, heavy carrier. With a smile, Amalia issued an order through the backchannels of the N&Z and managed to get a hold of Admiral Corien, overseer of the naval assets in the sector. A few quick lines on her datapad confirmed her decision to take the Revolution. the authority of command was passed over to her, the ship was made ready for departure forthwith. With this in mind, she attempted to send a secure message to Admiral Zonill, who no doubt was dealing with the mess at mon cala already.
"Stand fast, I will be bringing reinforcements."
Saram Kote
|
Jonyna Si
FN-999 (restored)
|
Demveath Okamsiu
|
Vahliri Kresten
Kjartan Hammer-Hand
over his comms, a small insurance to make sure everything went according to plan. It couldn’t fall apart now, not when they were so close. :: And if Darion’s with you, please tell him to make some noise as well. Just… don’t get too invested. This is still the easy part. :: He continued, 
