Pre ANH Roleplay: The Start!!!

[Stellar_Magic]

Commander Kirk Baumer sat sprawled out on his cot. The cell he was in now was just as plain as the others he'd seen, but something seemed different. There was no longer a guard hovering beside the door, maybe the rebels finally trusted him. Kirk felt his gut contract, but do I want them to trust me?

 

Beside his cot Lara Jules sighed, she hugged her legs as she slowly rocked against the wall, "I wonder whats happening out there?"

 

Kirk nodded slowly, "Yeah, but what can we do about it? They don't trust us, and I'm not sure we deserve their trust either."

 

Lara sat bolt straight at those words, "What are you thinking Kirk?"

 

"Maybe the rebellion is right, maybe the empire needs changing," Kirk spoke quietly. He glanced at her, "What should we do?"

 

Lara smiled slightly, "I think you know Kirk."

 

The door slowly clanked open and Merick stepped inside, "Commander, a word."

[Mad78]

Merick led Baumer to his cabin. They enter and the door locked. Merick activated a device which would stop anybody spying on them.

"What you are about to be briefed about is secret. If I hear of a leak I shall personnal kill you."

"I understand." said Baumer. He looked absolutely delighted to be let out of his cell.

Merick showed him Ackbar's message and how the defence of Sluis Van had been organised.

"The only reason I have shown you this." started Merick "is because i wish you and you major to fly with the fighters which will defend the shipyards. You wil be under General Rechtmann's orders. I have also decided to allow you to circulate freely aroud the base. But if anything happens you have been warned. Is this well understood?"

[Stellar_Magic]

"Yes General, I understand," Kirk nodded slowly, "So Thrawn has targeted Sluis Van." He sighed, "I've seen Thrawn, there is no way you'll be able to match him force on force, even if you had twice the number of ships that he does, he's a genius general."

 

Merick sighed, "I 'll keep that in mind Commander, we're trying to pull together a plan that will ensure a victory for our forces." He glanced into the corner of his office, slowly an aged man stepped into the light, "General Dodonna, are the prototypes ready?"

 

He smiled slightly, "The A-wings will be ready for the engagement, hopefully if my old friend takes a stand we can snatch a victory from this Impeiral mastermind."

[BadSamaritan]

OOC - Hold on, this is supposed to be Pre-ANH, what are A-wings doing here?

[Stellar_Magic]

OOC: Jan Dodonna designed the A-wing, considering that he was captured just days after Yavin, there would have been a few squadrons deployed shortly before Yavin. This is the first squadron, flying prototypes.

[BadSamaritan]

OOC - Ah, ok. Carry on.

[Mad78]

" And you must understand Commander that if the Imperials arrive transports will evacuate as much as possible. But if we are lucky these prototypes could mean a victory for us." Merick got up and contacted Evan.

"General. Could you please meet me in hangar 29C."

After confirming Evan cut the communication.

"Follow me Commander. I want to know what you and Rechtmann think of the new fighter."

[Stellar_Magic]

Kirk followed the General to a turbolift and they descended to the Hanger bay in silence. The doors slid open and Kirk was greeted by twelve red and white angular starfighters. Crewman and maintanance personel scrambled across the craft doing last minute welds and modifications.

 

Kirk found his mouth hanging open at the appearance of the craft, their wedge shape and tiny size would make them difficult to hit. His mind raced back to the V-38 prototype he'd seen. Then as Kirk wandered around one ofthe craft he saw the engineers hoisting an engine into the rear of the craft. a spherical dish was affixed to the end and Kirk remembered the tie's vectoring system, this craft's engine had one identical to the V-38s.

 

One of the engineers cursed at the engine's thrust vectoring nozzel, "Sir, I know the Event Horizon Engine specs have this, but it'll be a pain to maintain, why not just use a pair of vectoring paddles, it'll make these things ready for action sooner."

 

Kirk felt his eyes widen, "Thats what the imperial V-38 had!"

 

General Merick smiled, "Dodonna incorperated the stolen engine plans into the design, go ahead lieutenant we need these things operational."

 

The Lieutenant in charge of mounting the engines nodded, "Alright get that nozzel off, we'll go with the old vectoring paddels, do you have any spares from a Y-wing?" One of the engineers nodded, "Use them." The mechanics removed the spherical cover over the engine's rear and replaced it with a thrust vectoring set sliced off of a Y-wing's maintance kit. They hastily hooked up the controls and slid the engine into position and locked it in place, "Sir this one is ready."

 

"Good job lieutenant, well Commander, think you could handle one of these?"

 

"Sir, if a bathtub had wings I could fly it."

[ADarkJedi44]

Evan sat in his officer, thinking intensly. This would not be just another engagement, Evan knew it. He knew what was coming. More Rebels ships arrived by the day, doubtlessly the Imperials would have a huge fleet to match the Rebels. Doubtlessly both sides would have tricks up their sleeves.

As for fighters, the news was all good. Commander Baumer was to lead a squadron of the experimental A-wings. Evan still didn't completly trust him and would certainly keep an eye on him. Other than that, there were hundreds of Rebel fighters prepared to defend Sluis Van to the death. Evan was proud to be the leader of them all.

The stage was set for the greatest battle thus far of the Galactic Civil War. Evan knew that many of the brave pilots would die, and he himself might not live through the battle, but death did not scare him. He had faced it every mission, and although he never had thought he would die, any mission could have been a trap that ended his life. Any mission could have ended his life.

Many heros of the Alliance had come to defend Sluis Van. Admiral Helos in the Valiant. Ackbar in the Liberty. Merick in the Chronicle. Doubtlessly the Imperials would bring their own share of heros. Evan was counting on Noreto and Thrawn.

There was a knock on Evan's door.

"Come in...."

[Mad78]

Merick entrered the General's room. He saluted and sat down.

"Are your pilots ready?" he asked

"As ready as can be. Has intelligence comfirmed the Imperials target?"

Merick stayed silent a moment before answering.

"A large Imperial task force has just left Corellia... They had set a course for these shipyards."

Evan stared at Merick for a moment as if considering how to answer. Finally he got up, poured himself a glass of the strong corellian brandy he got fom one of the smugglers and emptied his glass in one straight.

"Well I guess this is it. How long till they get here?"

"3 hours at the most." answered Merick

"Well I had better go and prepare my squadrons." as Evan was leaving Merick called out

"General! I just wanted to say that if we didn't survive, it wasd an honor to fight by your side."

Evan looked at Merick for a moment, smilled, saluted and left to go and protect Sluis Van. Merick switched on his Comlink.

"This is Ioor I need a shuttle to bring me to my ship." before he left Merick did as the General and emptied a glass of Brandy. He then left for the hangar.

[ADarkJedi44]

OOC: I'm going to be gone for a week so.......

[kaja]

OOC: Is there any way we can put the RPG on hold? Becuse BadSamaritan And ADarkjedi44 are gone for awhile.

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

OOC: We can continue the preparations for the final battle, but hold the event off until thier return. Remember, you characters don't have to die in the battle, and you don't have to loose all of your ships. Plus, if the Empire takes Sluis Van, there can be a post ANH battle after we finish the other RPGs going on, where the Rebels take it back, maybe a post-ESB setting? That way they have the shipyards to build up thier fleet for Endor.

[Mad78]

Nice i dea. I was also thinking of setting an rpg in the KOTOR era.

[Trejiuvanat]

OOC: Of all places did you have to write that here? There's a RPG Discussion thread somewhere else.

 

IC: I'll write something up later, to get the pre-battle started...

[Tan]

OOC: does anyone know whats happening with the reb pilots in this story? is dj back yet?

[kaja]

"oh Boy, So this is what i'm flying?" Ray said as he looked at the X-wing.

 

"Hope its fast!" Ray said as he inspected the crafts Engines.

 

"BEBOPBOOWO" R-7 Asked

 

"Don't worry I won't them put another Astromech in my craft!" Ray Replied

 

"your flying with me!" Ray said a little louder.

 

" *Sigh* boy oh boy, how did I ever get myself into this mess"

 

 

 

OOC: I'll finish this later, gotta Sleep, Ya know!

[BadSamaritan]

OOC: Ok, Im back, and ready to go.

[ADarkJedi44]

OOC: Sorry, I probably should post this somewhere else but I'm back.

[BadSamaritan]

Dally sat in the cockpit of his ship, and looked at his sensor readouts carefully, and shook his head at what he was seeing. It seemed like the entire shipyard was preparing for the fight. Ships were leaving docks half repaired and either setting up battle positions or leaving system, fighters were swarming the area trying top find the best spots to sit and wait, and capitol ships by the dozens were waiting silently, their crews undoubtedly getting getting ansy, waiting for the fight. By the looks of it, even some repair ships had been armed for the fight. It seemed the rebels were getting ready for a showdown of massive proportions. And here he was, stuck in the middle of it, leading a group of ragtag smugglers and pirates who were all in it for a blaze of glory, some personal vendatta, or the promises of cold hard cash. And he still had no idea why he was sticking around.

 

As he sat there, wondering when the battle would start, his comm unit beeped, and he glanced over at it. He picked up his headset, and hit a button on his console. "Dally here." he said, the lack of sleep in the past few days showing in his voice.

 

"Junk leader, this is central command. A group of mercenary ships has just entered the system, and is requestion orders. Were are moving them to your position. We will be handing command of them over to you for the fight." the voice said. Dally cehcked his sensors,. and noticed a group of starfighters anf freightors heading towards him throught he shipyards. Dally sighed, and counted his numbers. He already had command of several freightors, which was mroe than enough for him. He didnt want any more responsibility in this fight.

 

"And also, command has given you an as of yet unofficial spot in the command structure. It will help all everyone in issuing orders. Congradualtions commander." the voice said, the the communication was cut off. Dally took his head set, and threw it across his cockpit. He never wanted to be a rebel. He was just going where the money went. But now, here he was leading a good sized force of space bums and pirates against the might of the empire. This was not how he saw his life going, at any point in time. All he wanted to do was get out of the reach of that blasted admiral. He sighed, and leaned back in his chair. There was nothing he could do about it now though. He had agreed to help in this fight, so now he was honor bound to stick with it.

 

He looked out his viewport in time to see the newest part of his command arriving. By the looks of it, it was made up mostly of olf Z-95 headhunters and corellian freightors. But there was at least a squad of Y-wings in the mix. He growled, and picked up his headset again. he switched it over his groups channel, and spoke to the newest arrivals.

 

"Welcome to Junk group gentlemen. Just take up positions wherever you see fit, and get ready for a wait. There is no telling when this is all going to start, so I hope you have something to do." he said, and a chuckle came over the comm system, along with some groans. He smiled, and laughed to himself.

 

"Junk lead, this is Captain Moryuj of the Dentarik mercenaries. It will be a pleasure working with you. Just remember to wake me up when the fun starts" a voice said over the comm, and Dally just shook his head. he didnt think any of them had a clue as to what they were getting themselves into, but it wasnt his place to tell them to leave while they still could. They came here of their own free will, and they could leave anytime they wanted to.

 

Dally sighed again, and looked back to his sensor console, and watched the activity in the shipyard again. He knew what was going through his mind, but he didnt even want to know what was going through the mind of the higher ups in the rebel command, having all this firepower at their disposal, and yet not knowing entierly what was coming to wipe them all out. All Dally knew, was that when the fighting started, things were going to get very interesting, very quickly.

 

OOC - ok people, lets get this all underway!!!

[Trejiuvanat]

The Imperial flotilla sat in the depths of space. A dozen dagger vessels waited for the single command that would send them to the Sluis Van system, six Destroyers lead by the Vengeance and the other six vessels lead by the Chimaera. Two dozen of other smaller vessels surrounded them. A fleet of annihilation, one that only could meet victory.

 

One would have expected the crews of the ships to be anxious and nervous, longing for the battle to be over, instead Imperial Officers performed calmly.

 

Thrawn's glacial calm and Noreto's strict discipline had so far assure a highly-efficient Imperial performace. Analysis teams had been working with the scarce data gathered to come up with a provisional status of Rebel Forces in the Sluis Van system.

 

The tactical brilliance of Thrawn had provided the Imperial Task Force with a precise Battle Strategy that Noreto had agreed to.

 

"Sir, we have an incoming transmission?"

 

"From Orath?" Noreto asked, he had not forgotten that the smuggler was due to a report.

 

"No, sir from... Sluis Van? Though it's using the code assigned to that smuggler sir." Pellaeon informed.

 

"Put it through," Noreto ordered, a knot forming in his stomach.

 

A small holographic image of Dally materialized.

 

"Hey, Imperial sucker!" the holograph said pointing ahead. "I've got tired of your little stupid games. I'm here right next door to you, COME AND GET ME!"

 

The transmission ended, a perplexed Pellaeon stared at his Admiral, who raised an eyebrow.

 

"Report on supply convoys?" Noreto asked, and Captain Deran stepped forward.

 

"The Vengeance Group is still receiving additional starfighters, the last supply convoys for our group have left."

 

"Good, transmit signal to Vengeance to prepare for hyperspace as soon as the convoys leave."

 

Minutes later, the deadly white fleet entered hyperspace.

 

A single spear-head materialized in the Sluis Van system, then another, then another, then another. A few Rebel soldiers watched the seemingly endless arrival of the dozen of Imperial Star Destroyers, and their support craft, a motley assortment of Nebulon Frigates, Strike Cruiser, Carrack Cruisers, and old Corellian Cruisers. Even a few Acclamator Destroyers and Victories had entered the battle.

 

The Core of the Imperial Fleet threatened them.

 

The Battle had begun.

 

OOC: Battle time.

[ADarkJedi44]

The boy of fourteen years sat peacefully in the fields. It was another peaceful day on the beautiful planet of Naritus. The Empire was a powerful menance, but why would they waste their time with such a small backwater planet? There were rumors of Rebel supports on the planet, but with so many more important planets, why would the Empire waste their time? The planet was clearly no threat.

The boy had heard about the Empire and was quite certain they were no threat to his life on Naritus. They were power hungry and the small planet had nothing to offer. Or so he thought, for he was very wrong. The Empire had heard the rumors and had decided to investigate them. The Imperials wanted to make an example that no planet was beyond their reach.

The boy raised his electrobinoculars to the sky and saw numerous ships. Among them was an odd looking triangle ship. The ship looked familiar, but he had never seen it in the sky's of Naritus...

Then he realized what it was, a cold chill coming up his spine. It was a star destroyer, property of the Empire. The arrival of Imperial forces could not mean anything good, but what would they want at such a small planet? His family would need to know about it.

But he was far from his house, and he was certain his family would have already seen it. He didn't immediatly move...

***

Evan heard the alarms and immediatly ran for his fighter. All around him other pilots did the same. The hundreds of pilots under his command were all up on their feet and running for their ships. It wasn't long before Evan reached his fighter and launched. All around him dozens of Rebel fighters joined him. It was a huge swarm, ready to swallow up the Imperials.

Once out in space, Evan saw the Imperial force was quite a large armada indeed. The Rebels looked as if they might be in deep trouble, but the Rebels were confident. The capitol ships were forming together and sticking by the golan platforms for cover. The fighters were moving to greet the TIEs and hopefully attack the Imperial capitol ships.

X-wings, Y-wings, T-wings, Z-95s and fighters of many other kinds all formed together. The pilots had all known what was coming, they were prepared to die if need be. They knew that losing this battle could destroy the Rebellion and winning it would greatly further the Rebel cause. Evan himself knew he could die, for he was certain the battle would be the decisive battle of the Galactic Civil War.

Evan's three squadrons were the most ready of all the pilots. Evan had been putting them through endless simulator runs and training excercises. He had thrown them into impossible situation where victory was hopless. They knew what to do, there was no retreat, no surrender. There would only be death.

The first TIE came within range...

[BadSamaritan]

Dally was snoozing soundly, when suddenly, the warning klaxons in his ship began to blare horribly. He starteld to full alertness, and swore at what he saw. The Imperials had arrived, and in force. And what a force they had brought. A quick glance at his scanners showed Rebel fighters already launching from ships and platforms, and the rebel fleet was already moving into position to defend. he quickly donned his headset, and flicked it over to the channel he had designated for his group.

 

"Junk group, wake up! Power up your sheilds and engines! Get the guns ready! We are going in fast, hot, and blazing!" he bellowed into his mic. In respoce, he heard a series of whoops, bellows, and at least one belch. He smiled, and flicked on his sheilds, and brought his engines up to full power. He watched as some of the ships in his group shout out in front of him, charging towards the imperials. He cursed, and rocketed after them. As they flew along, the imperail fighters soon became visible on sensors, and soon thereafter, became visible to the eye. Within momenst, the ships in his group began firing laser cannons enmasse, and imperail fighters began to explode in rapid succession.

 

Dally laughed aloud as an Imperial fighter exploded under the concentrated fire of his cannons, and then looked to his sensors. It looked like his group was one of the first to engage the imperials. Then he saw it. The Chimaera was close to his formation. He swerved to avoid a near collision with a pait of TIEs, and went into a tight spiral to come down on top of a pair of bombers which were trying to make a run into the heart of the shipyards. He lasers raked into one of them, sending it spinning off into space, and the other bomber fell to a missle launched from a freightor in his group.

 

Dally considered for a moment of taking his entire group after the Admirals ship, but decided against it. That would be suicide for his entire group. Dally just looked around for his next pair of targets, and quickly found them. He flew after them at full speed, wondering what was going through the admirals mind right now.

Edited August 25, 2004 by BadSamaritan

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

The rebels were quick to respond to the Imperial's arrival, fighters accelerating to engage the oncomming fighters, the few picket ships and cruisers forming a haphazard defencive line between the Imperial fleet and the shipyards.

Admiral Noreto's battlegroup had started to break away from the Vengeance and her charge, preparing to execute his part of the plan. Thrawn's three Victory II Star Destroyers were in the front of the group, thier smaller weapons easily picking off the few rebel fighters that came too close, while the three Imperial Star Destroyers held pace behind, holding thier fire.

Ahead the rebel defence fleet grew closer, their commander having overcome his surprise and now moving towards the attacking ships. All was proceeding as planned.

"Captain Chiraneau, begin a countdown starting at ten minutes. Signal to all ships that our opponent has been roused, and their reenforcements will arive in that amount of time."

"Aye, sir. Should I also transmit to the Admiral?"

"No, he has his own tasks to attend to."

The battle was becoming more fierce around the Vengeance as more rebel fighters launched, a few breaking through the line and attacking the ISDs, only to be quickly vaporized.

A bright red flash errupted on the bridge shielding, an enemy laser bolt hitting home, but being absorbed by the heavy shields. The battle true battle was under way.

[Mad78]

Merick watched the Imperial ship who were approching through the bridge. Around fighter battles were blazing creating a deadly fireworks display.

The Chronicle's heavy cannons opened fire in the hope of hitting stray ties and protecting the Strike Cruiser form suicide runs by heavily damaged ties.

"How long till the equtorial fleets join us?"

"5 minutes sir and 10 for the northern one."

This wasn't very long but it left 5 minutes where Sluis Van would only be protected by a sixth of the fleet.

"And how about reinforcements coming from other sector fleets?" Merick asked.

"Sullust has dispatched a large Taskforce but they need 30 minutes to arrive."

They would be to late. Merick turned and decided to face death proudly and also take as many Imperials as him as possible.

"Shields up full power. Concetrate on the Vengeance's Task force"