Rapora War (Introductory RPG)

Mad78 · November 20, 2004

Gairk finished the glass of Guri juice he help in his hand. Evahe and him were sitting in one of the rare bars of Kur'Mantell which was not closed.

The owner, an Ithorian, had told the evacuation forces that he had already been told to leave his home once and did not intend to be told to leave it a second time. Garik understood the feeling.

"Any news of interest to tell me Garik?" asked Evahe

"I got a message from Gorath, they are sending twenty interception fregates to help reinforce the planet. They should arrive in a day or two." answered Garik in an encouraging tone.

Evahe glugged down his drink and turned towards the General

"Ah Garik... I sometimes dream the Chronicle and your Uncle were here."

"I too Admiral, I too... Who is to lead the Ground forces?"

"I don't know Thrawn will surely tell us at the meeting."

****

Tuvax sat in front of Fury. The two Siths meditating on how to take on Mantell.

"I hear they are going to receive reinforcements. Ships keep on arriving at a steady rate." said Tuvax "We must blockade the planet!"

"The Forces they have are strong anought to break any blockade we attempt."

As Fury finished the Door of the cabin slid open and a Vaagari soldier entered. He was sweating alot. No wonder the several Aklasp warriors on board were anought to keep the temperature high and technicians hadn't had time to solve the problem.

"My Lords, Darth Avarice announces a success in her mission."

The two rapora smilled. News was good.

OOC When the attach comes I want to lead the Rapora ground forces.

ADarkJedi44 · November 20, 2004

OOC: It's getting all confusing, but whatever.

Evahe sat in his makeshift office on Ord Mantell. The recent attack on the Hapan battle dragon was quite disturbing, the ship that had carried it out was mysterious and terrifying. It had fired a superlaser and it wasn't as big as most ships carrying that sort of weaponry were. On a better note, the Gorathian frigates had arrived. Thus he had signaled the commander of Gorath. As he watched, the holographic image appeared.

"Your frigates arrived today."

"Excellant, they are specifically modified to protect against the Raporan fighters. They are equipped with multiple concussion missle launched, perfect for destroying the slow plasma bombs. They should perform well.

"Only time will tell. Speaking of Rapo-"

The commander smiled, "Ah yes, of course. The Star Destroyer has been modified and equipped with the prototypes of our little project. It should arrive in time for the battle."

"We'll see about that," Evahe said grimly while ending the transmission. It was time for another of the endless meetings.

Stellar_Magic · November 21, 2004

Thrawn sighed as he stopped at the door to the conference room on Ord Mantell. Athien glanced at her father and smiled slightly, "What is it?"

"I just got the report on our reconisance pass over Adumar," Thrawn shook his head slowly, "They show four Raporan Replicators in orbit over the world."

Athien felt her eyes widen, "Four, how can they be building them so quickly?"

"I don't know Athien, I just don't know." Thrawn nodded to Hirotek as he stepped to the door, "I heard that you were planing to begin hitting Raporan troop convoys once they started up."

Hirotek smiled slightly, "Yes sir."

"Good Luck, now if we'll try and make it so that this world may hold." Thrawn answered slowly as the rest of the assembly stepped through the doors. Taking a deep breath he stepped through the door into the conference room and slid into a seat at the table's head.

Admiral Evahe nodded to the Chiss Grand Admiral, "So now that you called us all together, you said you have information for us."

"Yes, I'm afraid we've underestimated the amount of ships the Rapora had available to deploy," Thrawn tapped the holoprojector controls which suddenly made the rotating image of the galaxy switch to the planet of Adumar.

There was a gasp of surprise from many of the officers in room. Tenel Ka glanced around the table, unfamiliar with the Rapora she had no idea what ahd forced the fear into those before her. Admiral Evahe was the first to speak, his voice barely a whisper, "Four replicators."

Admiral Hirotek leaned forward and folded his hands before him, "I certainly hope you've got a plan to deal with this turn fo events."

"Yes, we all know that those Replicators could easily rip apart our fleet. We do have two super laser equipped capitla ships, fortunately." Thrawn leaned forward, "Admiral Oreton, Admiral Evahe, I suggest you redeploy the Eclipse and Sovereign to a position well above the system's ecliptic." He glanced around at the rest of the group, "Everyone else scatter your forces into task forces centered around an interdictor type ship, we'll have to string the Replicators out so that we can use the Eclipse and Sovereign to ambush and destroy them."

Trejiuvanat · November 21, 2004

Oreton nodded and locked his gaze with Evahe, simultaneously the two left the room. Ioor and Eressa joined them.

Oreton pulled out a comlink from one of his pocket.

"Imperious."

"Imperious here, Grand Admiral. Four replicators over two hundred other craft. What are you orders?"

"Maneuver Imperious above the world's ecliptic. Have the superlaser standing by, launch all fighter wings. All other ships will form up around Dominator Interdictors Warrior's Bane and Red Death. They are not to engage the Rapora."

Oreton took a left turn towards the hangar.

On his left Evahe was relaying similar orders to the fleets under his command.

Each of the four officers boarded his respective shuttles without as much as a comment to another.

"Pilot, all speed towards the Imperious."

"Yes, sir." The Imperial pilot nodded and with a sudden acceleration the shuttle began moving towards space.

"An escort has been assigned to us," the pilot confirmed.

"A fighter escort from Imperious?" Oreton asked.

"No, from the planet. Fighter profile matches Kashyyyk Motors Stargliders T- 57."

"Wookiees?" Oreton asked himself and confirmed his escort when he saw the starfighters around him. "Wookiees."

He knew that Ord Mantell was home to a Wookiee minority, but he did not know that they possessed a paramilitary squadron. Much less four of them, as the pilot confirmed that every of the shuttles had been joined by Wookiees.

"Pilot, put me through with the leader of the squadron."

"Yes sir."

"Wroooar?" The Wookiee asked.

"Ah," Oreton started. He did not speak enough Wookieese to understand his counterpart. But his speech was interrupted by a mechanical voice.

"Commander Bashuccar, greets you."

"Commander, I thank you for you escort. I was simply wondering what you were doing here."

Another booming reply, and the electric translation.

"The commander regrets to have confused you. He is the leader of a Wookiee squadron that has decided to aid in this battle. His squadron is at your command."

"Thank you, Commander Bashuccar. May the Force be with all of us." Oreton answered, still not understanding what the Wookiees were doing there, and chose to make that one reason for him to survive: Find the answer to their presence.

"Pilot, how powerful are those Wookiee ships?"

"Pretty tough, they seem more agile than a trip and seem as tough as a Deltaboat."

"Interesting."

In another few minutes under the watchful escort of the Wookiee the shuttle made it safely on the Imperious. From the bay Oreton took a one-man speeder towards the lift that lead up to the bridge.

Once in the bridge he asked for an update and oversaw the regrouping of the fleet.

"Status on the Rapora?"

"They have had plenty of time to regroup, they have a pretective screen around every of their replicators. A shot of our superlaser would not come through to the replicator." Onolovav said.

"And if we fire, they'lll take the chance and fire back at us. And a fried Imperious would help nobody. Open a line to the ground, to Admiral Thrawn. Have some of the X-Lancers hang back above our engines, I do not want to be hit there. And assign Commander Bushaccar's Wookiee squadron to a TIE Defender group, they'll operate in pairs and they'll pick the smaller Raporan ships."

"Yes, sir."

Stellar_Magic · November 22, 2004

Commodore Eressa walked along the walkway of the crew pit listening to the reports. At the bridge's center was an enormous holo of the Ord Mantell system, all of its planets, rings, moons, comets, and asteroids visible. As were the two hundred Raporan Vessels clustered at the system's edge. Sighing she glanced at the sensor readouts for the immediate area.

"Sir, we've got a contact on passive sensors, wait tis firming up, we've got a Raporan starfighter on our scopes, it looks like it's been refitted with a sensor attachment instead of a torpedo."

"All ships this is Commodore Eressa battle alert!" Eressa stepped quickly to the command chair and strapped herself in.

* * *

The Timeless One glanced at the recon report from the lone Rapora starfighter, "Very good, the enemy has scattered, we can engage them peacemeal." He glanced at the holo of Darth Avarice, "Avarice engage and destroy that task force."

"By your will my lord," The sith woman answered coldly.

* * *

"Sensor contacts, a whole Raporan fleet just dropped out of hyperspace, one replicator and supporting vessels," The sensor operator called out, fear entering his voice, "Range twenty thousand kilometers."

"All interdiction craft, power up your gravity well projectors, bring us to an attack course on the force." Eressa said plainly knowing that if everything went according to plan the move would be far from full hearty.

"An attack course?" Eressa's XO asked from behind her, "Sir."

"We have our orders, launch all fighters, send all bombers to attack that Vareme class Cruiser, we'll need to knock it out of the fight." Commodore Eressa said simply.

A legion of bombers, everything imaginable in the GFFA and UDA arsenal shot toward the enemy. Older B-wings were flanked by Clawtype missile boats and Scimitar Tie Bombers. The Raporan support craft began to respond, their formation moving forward to block the attack leaving the rear of the Raporan Replicator vulnerable.

"Navigator, plot a hyperspace coordinate for dead aft of the Replicator, then transmitt it, make sure it intersects our gravity well."

"Yes sir."

The bombers were on the verge of engaging when Eressa called out another order, "Pull back the bombers! Ready our antistarfighter weapons!"

Then dead aft of the Raporan Replicator the Imperius was pulled out of it's microjump. Beside it was the Eclipse class star destroyer along with it's supporting forces.

OOC: After you guys blow the Replicator, disengage and hyperspace out of the combat zone.

ADarkJedi44 · November 22, 2004

OOC: So we just have an easy kill here? Ok, Strike and run...No need for the superlaser.

Hundreds of turbolasers fired at the massive battlestation. A few other Raporan ships made a dash to help it, but it was useless. The Replicator was doomed. Now, it's shields began to collapse. The Guardian and three Ravager Star Destroyers fired at it from its bottom.

Evahe smiled ats pieces broke off. He took satisfaction in knowing hundreds of Rapora were dieing, helpless. They were unable to save themselves. At the Replicator neared its final explosion, the GFFA ships backed off. It exploded as the last Rapora died. Onboard the bridge, there was cheering despite the fact the odds were still against them. Evahe knew the grim truth.

"Have our task force disengage and jump to hyperspace immediately."

"Sir, we're going to abandon Ord Mantell after all our careful preperations" said an obviously confused officer.

"You heard my orders. Get us out of here."

***

Darth Fury was also puzzled. The clever tactics had cost the Rapora a Replicator. That was three destroyed in two battles, and the battle was just begining. The Rapora could continue to build them, but not forever.

Then the force left the combat zone. Surely they do not plan to abandon Ord Mantell? They have obviously prepared for the battle very instensly. It must be a trick of some sort....

"Move to engage the nearest of the task forces. We will inflict terrible casulties, they cannot all run. Is our Replicator ready to fire?"

Stellar_Magic · November 22, 2004

Tenel Ka smiled as she read the detailed instructions that had come from Thrawn. He was the sort of man to think of everything she thought to herself. Then glancing up through the viewports of her command ship she saw an enormous force of Rapora drop out of hyperspace, just as Thrawn had said would happen. Driving at the head of the column was an enormous Raporan Replicator, its massive plasma generators flaring from built up charge. Tenel Stood and walked to the viewport, "Order the interdictor cruiser Jutland's Call to reverse polarity on their gravity well generators."

"Yes my liege, we've got Raporan fighters launching from their ships."

"Launch all fighters, but keep them close," Tenel Ka said quietly. Then the Replicator fired.

The plasma was directed by massive gravitational projectors, but like many cases involving engineers of any species, the situation in which the weapon system found itself was not within the design paramaters. The gravity generators fought with those of the interdictor, slowing the plasma stream until it burnt through the directing vanes and shot unaimed at a right direction into a Kar Lur cruiser, seeing the loss of one of their own, the Replicator gunners cut power to the plasma generators astounded.

* * *

Darth Fury felt his knuckles turn white at the loss of the Kar Lur, "What happened?"

The nearest Rapora Warrior shook its head, "The interdictor reversed its gravity generator's polarity, our Replicator's plasma stream was slowed enough by the repelling effect to damage the generators and other directing mechanisms. The interdictor is adrift, apparently the gravity generators overloaded from the strain."

"Bring us in to engage, order the Replicator to fall back."

* * *

"Is everything ready?" Tenel asked the communications officer.

"Yes, our position is being broadcast on all frequencies." Outside the viewport another task force of dropped out of hyperspace directly behind the Rapora fleet. Now the Raporan force was fighting against an enemy equal to it in strength.

* * *

The Timeless One watched the battle in seething anger as one of the Rapora glanced to him, "My lord shouldn't we move to assist?"

"No, not with those two superheavies loose, navigator jump us directly to Ord Mantell, inform all ground commanders to lauch as soon as we come out of hyperspace."

* * *

Thrawn smiled as he watched the sensor board, "Order the Imperius and Eclipse to move into the moon's shadow and hold there."

"Yes sir," The communications officer answered smiling.

"All ground forces are to stand ready for battle, planetary defense guns are to fire the moment any ship appears in orbit for now." Thrawn took a sip of the cool drink beside hima nd felt a slight smile creep across his face, he so enjoyed this part of the job outwitting another professional.

BadSamaritan · November 22, 2004

Seryk walked along the halls of the cities headquarters building, wondering what the high commander wanted to talk to him about. he knew it had to have been important. She had been exceptionally busy dealing with the massive funeral preperations. Seryk had an idea that Fett knew what was going on, but he had decided not to ask. He knew all would reveal itself in good time.

They came to a door to a turbolift, and the door opened, to reveal the High commander standign there. She smiled as she saw them both, and Motioned them inot the turbolift.

"Well, Seryk, its seems that your freind Karyn has caused quite a stir in my poeple. Many want to see her dead, but they must abide by my judgment. So some have decided to look elsewhere for revenge." she said, and Seryk began to worry. he had been the one to talk the high commander out of executing her. He didnt think the High commander would allow her people to kill him instead, but he hads no way of being completely sure.

"How far along are the preperations?" Fett asked, and the High commander thought for a moment.

"They are moving along slowly, but steadily. We may have been practicing this for many years, but we havent had to actually execute the order in more than thirty years." the high commander said, and Seryk looked at them both in confusion. he had no idea what5 they were talking about now, but he supposed that he would find out soon enough. The turbolift slowed suddenly, and Seryk realized how fast they had actually been moving. The door opened, and Seryk stepped out. He looked around, and realize he was in a hanger bay, this one much larger than the one he had arrived in. He could see dozens of Gladiator-cla starfighters in hanger bay, but there were toher starfighteres also, ranging from elderly Z-95s, to lumbersome Y-wings, to brand new looking X-wings.

"Seryk, what you see here is but one of many hangers spread throughout these mountains. We can feild enough starfighters to fend off a small task force long enough to either evacuate, or bring in more firepower." the high commander said bluntly, and Seryk wondered what she meant by 'more firepower'. But he decided not to ask. The three of them began to walk down a ramp onto the main floor of the hanger, and Seryk noiced that the hanger extended mush farther than he had originally thought. he calculated it out quickly, and figured there had to be almost a full wing of starfighters in this hanger alone. And the high commander had stated they had multiple hangers like this one. Seryk knew that he shouldnt have been surprised by this fact, but he had though a people trying to hide, wouldnt have been out collecting starfighters on such a massive scale.

When they reached the main floor, an elderly man in a mechanics outfit walked over to them, and bowed slightly to the high commander, and then nodded to Fett. he looked to Seryk, and scowled slightly, before turning his attention back to the high commander.

"The squadron of ships you asked us to prepare is ready to go. Along with ten of our best pilots." he said, and the high commander smiled.

"Excellent. have them ready to launch within the hour." she said, and the mechanic nodded, and turned to walk back towards the starfighters. the high commander turned to Seryk and Fett, and smiled.

"Seryk, your arrival, not to mention the attack by the two sith has made me realise something. Our time of hiding is over. It is time to reveal ourselves to the galaxy. You may tell the commanders of your people, that the warriors of this city are ready to fight." she said, and Seryk sighed in relief. This was going to be welcome news to a lot of people in the GFFA. But then somethign she said caught his attention.

"Wait, this city? What about the rest of the cities?" he asked, and the high commander shrugged.

"I will be contacting them, and ordering a meeting of all the high commanders. I will do my best to onvince them of the same thing that I have realised." she said, and Fett nodded.

"Thank you. How many troops will we be bringing with us?" he asked, and the High commander thought for a moment.

"You will have two squadrons of fighters, and three troop ships. That accounts for the majority of our ready ground troops. It will take time to ready the rest." she said, and Seryk raised his eyebrows. He had thought that it would have taken a long time to rally any troops to their cause, but here he was with a small landing force ready to go. THis was looking better by the minute.

"What about karyn?" Seryk asked, and the high commander nodded.

"She will stay here, to continue her training. it will be a while before we have your ships ready, so if I were you, I would go say goodbye to her." the high commander said. Seryk nodded, and turned to walk back up the ramp. The high commander watched Seryk go, and then turned to Fett.

"I do hope, Boba, that we are right about this. because if we are wrong, we will have spent all these years hiding and preparing for nothing." she said, and Boba nodded.

"One way or the other, only time will tell. And that may be the one thign we are running out of." he said, and the high commander nodded.

"What is the status of the fleet?" Fett asked, and the high commander sighed.

"Only a msall portion is even close to being running. We have kept all the weapon and sheild up to date, but we have never had to actually bring the fleet online. Hopefully, it can be done quickly. If not, it will be quit some time until we can be of any significant help in the war." she said, and Fett nodded. he knew that they had a sizeable force of warships, even though he had never seen any of them himself. Their location had been kept a tightly gaurded secret, even from him.

"Well, lets just hope we can get them running soon. I have a feeling the GFFA and the UDA will need all the help they can get their hands on." Fett said, and the High commander nodded in agreement.

"I am aware of this Fett. And preperations have already begun. Trust me, our ships will be ready soon." she said, and she turned to follow Seryk up the ramp. Fett looked back across the hanger, and though to himself, wondering how the arrival of the mandalorains would be taken. Zhe knewq that in a time of desperation, they would be welcomed with open arms. But if the war was won, then the true test would begin. Only then would they see if the centuries old scar had healed, of if it would be re-opened.

BadSamaritan · November 22, 2004

Hirotek watched the battle over the world, and smiled. SO far, they had managed to destrpy one replicator, and cause serious damage to another. With minimal losses to their own forces. That was something to be proud of. But as he watched the sensors, he knew that soon the Repora would soon be ready to begin landing ground troops. Which meant that he needed to get moving. He had to head to Kuat, to see if they had any ships for him. Then, it would be back to Dresnak, to begin his operations against the Reporan re-inforcements. he turned to walk out of the battle center, and saw Athien standing there behind him. By the look on her face, she realised the same thing.

"Well, it seems the battle is now underway. Which means it is time to get going. I dont feel like running a massive blockade in an assualt shuttle. And we have some troop movements to interupt." he said, and Athien nodded.

"Yes, it is time to go. My father left us a shuttle to use. It is fast, and well armed. It should be able to get us through the blockade. " she said, but Hirotek could tell that somethign else was on her mind. And he knew what it was. She didnt want to leave.

"You would rather be here, wouldnt you?" he said, as they both began to walk towards the turbolift. Athien was silent for a moment, and then nodded.

"Yes. I feel that we would both be more usefull here, at least for now. They will need all the best military minds here to help with the battle." she said, and Hirotek silently agreed. He too wanted to stay, but without ships of his own to command, all he could do was offer advice. And with Eveha, Ioor, Oreton, and Thrawn all in command of the defences, he had no thoughts that his advice would really be needed here.

"While I do agree with you, we have other things to attend to. We have to prevent Reporan re-inforcements from leaving the unknown regions. And we cant do that from here." he said, and Athien sighed.

"Yes, I know. But still, I feel like I am abandoning our allies in a time of need." she said, and Hirotek winced. He knew the pain of that, having been forced to do it during the war against the vong.

"Trust me Athien, our forces in orbit are led by some of the best in the galaxy. And they know why we must go. And if we dont leave now, there is no garauntee that we will be able to get off the planet at all." he said, and they both enetered the turbolift. Athien thought about it for a moment, and then sighed. Hirtek was right, and she knew it. They had to leave. So now it was time to discuss strategy.

"So have you had any new thoughts on how we will be doing this? We dont have much in the way of firepower. That, and finding the Reporan convoys will nto be easy." she said, and Hirotek nodded. he had thought about that already, and had been running several ideas through his head. Sadl;y, he had been forced to decide on a rather by the book plan.

"Unfortunetly, our lack of available resources is going to make finding those convoys difficult at best. We will need recon units to be running almost constantly, mostly near Adumar. But i dont want to try ambushing ships to close to Adumar, the chances of re-enforcements arriving are to great. Luckily, we still have some Reporan mines to use, whcih will make things a little easier." he said, and Athien nodded.

"We also still have sabre squadron. I think they would make effective scout vessels. Their lack of pilots will make them hard for the repora to find using the force." she said, and Hrotek nodded. he had htought about theta already, but had decided an a different use for those ships.

"Yes, but I have other plans for Sabre squadron. I have a squadron of recon fighters that we can modify to be flown by astromechs. Hopefully, they will be just as effective." he said, and Athien looked over at him.

"What are you going to do with them? Keep them for combat? The repora have already proven that they cannot be used for that to much. The droid brains arent capable of keeping up with live pilots." Athine said, and HIrotek smiled.

"I know. But hopefully, I will be fixing that situation soon. But that will have to wait until after Ord Mantell has either fallen, or the battle here is won." he said, and the turbolift finally came to a halt. The doors opened, and they both exited. They walked down thehall quickly, hurrying to the hanger bays.

"How so? Placing live pilots in the ships will make it easier for the Repora to defeat them, not harder. And better droid brains will only go so far." she said, and Hirotek nodded.

"I know. But live pilots are really our only option to make them truelly combat capable fighters." he sai,d and Athien nodded.

"Do you plan on asking the Jedi to pilot them? I know they havesome very capable pilots." she asked, and Hirotek shook his head.

"No, having jedi in the cockpits will only make the Repora gun for the fighters even more. That, and the jedi will be more usefull in ground battles." he said, and Athien nodded. He was right on both accounts, but she still didnt see how he was going to make the fighters more dangerous in combat. She was missing somethign important in his plans. And she had a feelign that once she figured it out, it would make her want to hit herself.

"You will find out soon enough. But for now, lets got off this planet." he said, and they stepped into the hanger bay where thier shuttle was located. The began to walk across the hanger bay, and a ensign ran up to them.

"Admiral Hirotek, Commodore Athien. Your shuttle is ready for launch, but we have to wait for clearence to be given by Supreme Commander Thrawn. He apperntly has a distraction ready to help you get out of the system." he said, and they both nodded. They walked over to their shuttle, and boarded it. Once inside, Athien closed the hatch, and Hirotek walked up to the cockpit. Athien followed closely behind him, and they began to pre-flight check.

"Well, all we can do now is wait." Athien said, and Hirotek nodded. He just hoped that they could get off the planet, and out of the system inone piece. If not, he had a feeling that it was going to ba a long time before they could make it back to Dresnak.

Mad78 · November 23, 2004

Garik watched the Genesis jump away from the battlefield. He knew she was in good hands but he had commanded her for so long...

"Are we to follow them sir?"

The question of the young tactical officer pulled Garik out of his day dreaming.

"No. Evahe can look after himself i am sure... Set an interception course for that second Rapora Taskforce. Standard Tactic, one ship at a time and effective cover from enemny fighters by our own and our anti-fighter weaponary. Relay the orders to the other ships, the capitol ships shall serlect the target and the support crafts shall follow. Full speed ahead."

The Guardian followed by its Taskforce charged towards the Rapora fleet.

Hardly were they in range that they opened fire. The lasers only hitting chosen targets and ripping apart anything who got in their way.

***

"Return fire, Concentrate on the larger vessels. Fighters shall make bombing runs on the smaller ones. And get us along side that Ship called Guardian." ordered Tuvax.

The attack was unexpected but not overwhelming.

The Rapora ships opened fire damaging and destroying smaller ship but the larger ship were protected by their shields... For the moment.

"Deploy landing shuttles and assign two squadrons of Kar Asps to devfend them. Can we fire the replicator?"

"Negative Sir" answered a vaagari "The enemy ships are too close to risk. We could wipe out half our ships if we fired."

The GFFA forces were at equal with Tuvax's. It was now time to see who was the best tactician.

BadSamaritan · November 27, 2004

OOC: Bored, feel like posting. Also will introduce the Mandalorian cruiser. Cant draw it, so Ill just describe it.

IC: Not far from the battles that raged around Ord Mantell, a lone ship hung in space. Its dark hull seemed to aborb all the light that hit it, making it virtually invisble to the naked eye. Only its hull blocking out the stars made it visible. Not that the master of this vessel was worried about being found. Not only was the ship hard to see, any sensor sweep of this ship would return nothing. Its special sensor jamming systems didnt distrupt the sensors, but simply deceived them. It was a recent development in thier technology, and one that was more than welcome in the scarce naval forces this ship was a part of. The ability to remain hidden was a major part of their lives.

Aboard the bridge of the ship, dark red lights cast a crimson hue to to the bridge. The faces of all the men and woman at their stations were ones of severe concentration. They had never been this far away from thier home base of operations. They were deep in GFFA territory now, and very close to a critical battle in the growing war. Which was why they were here. They were here to study their new enemy. They needed to understand their tactics, their firepower. And the best way to do that, was up close.

In the command chair of the ship, an elderly man sat. His face was wrinkled with age, and his white hair was cut short on his balding head. Like the rest of his crew, he didnt wear a standard naval uniform. Instead, he was clad in the battle armor of a mandalorian. Unlike the rest of his crew, his armor had an ensignia on the breastplate. The ensignia consisted of two ancient swords, crossed over a black star. It was the mark of the mandalorian fleetmaster. He was the highest ranking person in the mandalorian fleet. He had spent years in the New Republic navy, learning the tactics of massive space combat. But once the empire ha surrendered, he had returned home, to take command of the mandalorian space forces. He slowly stood, and walked to the forward viewports of the bridge.

He looked out at the hull of the vessel, which expanded for nearly a kilometer into space. The ships sharp lines were dark, and hard to see, but he knew what the ship looked like. He could see the split spear shape of the primary hull in his mind. he could seen the well hidden hanger bay doors on the top of this ship. He could see the hidden weapon banks. he glanced to the side of the ship, and notices a sall pair of blinking lights, and frowned. Those lights were at the end of the two short figurative wings of the vessel, which ended as one of the ships three masive engines. he had ordered all lights on the outside of the vessel to be turned off. And someone had disobeyed that order. He turned, and walked over to a small station.

He tapped a few buttons on the console, and brought up the ships current crew logs. he brought up the name of the current cammand officer of that part of the ship, and made a note of the name. He would have to see to that that person was punished. then, that person would make sure that the poeple under thier command learned to follow orders. He walked back to his command chair, and sat down.

"Sensors, are we still receiving from the probes?" he asked, and his sensor officer tunred to look at him.

"Yes Fleetmaster. We are receiving visual, thermal, and varius other forms of reading from all four probes. We are also receiving a large amount of comm chatter from both forces. We have already broken the GFFA and UDA encryptions, and we are working on the Reporan encrytion." the sensor oficer reported, and the Fleetmaster nodded. he had ordered the probes into the system nearly a week ago, to make sure they would record everything that occured in the battle.

"Excellent. Is there anything of note so far? Names of fleet commanders? Possible ship movements?" he asked, and the communications officer looked over to him.

"So far, we have caught the names of several of the GFFA fleet leaders. General Ioor, Admiral Eveha, and Grand Admiral Oreton are leading the GFFA forces." he said, and the fleetmaster nodded. He had expected all of them to be here. They were the prominent minds of the GFFA fleet.

"Excellent. Were there any other people of note? Ground commanders perhaps? And have we found out who is leading the UDA froces?" he asked. They had just recently found out about the UDA from a captured trasmission. His Superiors had been hounding him to discover who their leader was, so they could find out who they might end up dealign with.

"A few other names have been mentioned. Admiral Hirotek is here, apparently to help with the planning of the battle." the comm officer said, and the fleetmaster sighed. He knew of Hiroteks history. He had never imagined that a disgraced mandalorain would ever make it so high in any naval force, let alone the rank of Admiral. But he imagined that Hirotek had earned that rank, so he wasnt going to guess how.

"But one transmission is confusing. According to it, the person who is leading the UDA forces, has been dead for nearl twnety years." the officcer said, and the fleetmaster frowned.

"Who is leading them?" he asked, and the comm officer sighed.

"According to the transmissions we have gathered so far, Grand Admiral Thrawn is leading them." the comm officer said, and the fleetmasters' eyebrows raised. Every being in the galaxy knew of Thrawn, just like they knew of his death at Bilbringi many years ago. To hear that the legendary Grand Admiral had somehow returned from the dead would be shocking news to hic superiors. The fleetmaster stood slowly, and then nodded.

"Alright then. Prepare a transmission to our home base. Relay all information we have so far. They will want an update soon anyways." he said, and the comm officer nodded. The Fleetmaster walked over to the comm station, and watched the the information was encryted, and re-encryted with another system of encrytions. This made their communications difficult to crack. Even more so due to the fact that the encrytion changed on a day to day basis, and the encrytion sequences were pre-determined by the home bases computers, and then stored in the ships databanks. It made cracking the transmission difficult at best, futile in the long run. The effort put into crackign one encryption, would be useless in less than a day. And since every ship used a diferent system when out on patrol, made it that much worse for anyone trying to listen in.

But the fleetmaster knew that no one would be. Their ships only left there berths in deep space once a year, and onyl a few ships at a time. this kept the chance of their discovery at an extreme minimum. And on the rare occasion that they are sighted, they are normally written off as some secret military project of some governmant, or as some protottype vessel of a shipping company. And once sighted, the ships were equipped with a special leap drive, which could jump them away at a moments notice. It could send the ship across a solar system in a matter of seconds, where the ship would then enter hyperspace. The Fleetmaster had never had to use that system though, and he hoped that he never would have to use it.

After the communique was sent, the fleetmaster went backl to his seat,and sat back down. His bridge crew went back to work, watching either the space battle in system, or watching space around them, looking for any sign that they had been discovered. They all knew that they would be hear for some time longer. Until the battle was won by one fleet or the other. And no one on the bridge had any clue how long that would be.

Stellar_Magic · November 28, 2004

OOC: I'm feeling a little better, BS you're going to hate me for it but I'm going to draw the Mandalorians kicking and screaming into the conflict. I'm also going to remove the Eclipse class cruiser from the table... Thrawn just got outguessed.

The Timeless One watched the battle on through the viewports as a holographic rendition of the Aklasp commander shimmered into existance, "Timeless One, we await your command."

"There is a ship observing the battle at these coordinates, utilize your force sensitivity to find it and destroy it, we cannont have it idly watching our engagement."

"Yes my lord, what of the superheavies?"

"I will deal with them," The Timeless One answered smiling coldly as the hologram disappeared. Glancing at the crew he smiled, "Full axial rotation bring us to face away from the planet, even out shields."

The rapora looked at each other perplexed as the enormous craft swung around and the gibbous cresent of Ord Mantell's moon rose into sight.

* * *

The two superheavy star destroyers orbited at stunning distance to the moon, the prow of the eclipse and sovereign class ships clearing the surface of the moon by just a few hundred meters and the ships continued to pick up speed. Admiral Oreton nodded at the detailed battle plan Thrawn had sent him, the plan had been astonishingly simple. Remove the Raporan Replicators one by one or two by two through ambushing them and trapping them between either a gravity well or a GFFA Task Force. In the case of the Ord Mantell gravity well the Eclipse and Sovereing would use gravity assist to shoot at astounding speed into range of the Raporan forces and destroy them.

Still Oreton knew that the effective range of a superlaser was great enough that he could target the Replicators as soon as he was clear of the moon and both the Imperius and the GFFA ship beside him had their weapons fully charged and ready.

* * *

The Timeless One smiled as he nodded to the communications officer, "Inform the Revival that she amy fire when ready."

* * *

Deep int he communications center on Ord Mantell Thrawn felt his gut clench as he watched the two remaining replicators settle into position facing away from the planet. He glanced at the holographic image of Athien that looked perplexed, "Do you think he's guessed our strategy?"

The sensor operator spu toward her console, "Replicator two is powering weapons, energy spike, energy spike! She's firing!"

Thrawn felt his eyes widen, "By the force."

* * *

The brilliant plasma blast ripped throught he moon ripping apart the vast celestial object into its componet pieces. Molten boulders flashed as they hit the shield of the Imperius, "Damage report!"

"Port shields at fifty percent, ventral shields at ten percent."

"Sir, second replicator is preparing to fire!"

"Weapons, fire the superlaser, one quarter power!"

The brilliant green flash shot through space and impacted the replicator that had fired first ripping through it's hull and setting it into a gentle spinning motion.

Then the second replicator fired, a brilliant beam of golden plasma that sliced through space and hit the Eclipse class Cruiser. The shields of the vessel held for a moment then crumbled as the beam continued to eat into it. The ship's prow began to melt and a chain of explosions along the vessel's weapons trenches revealed a mortal wound as the golden beam cut off.

Oreton spun as the communications officer yeeled, "They report they're abandoning ship, their whole hull has taken a beating. The ship is starting to break up."

"Weapons, hit that replicator before it fires again!"

Another brilliant green blast shot from the Imperius's bow and hit the replicator's plasma emitters dead centers, but the ship's shields managed to deflect most of the blow before the hull. Still the replicators primary weapon system was offline.

* * *

The Mandalorian cruiser hung there watching when suddenly two evilly dark vessels dropped out fo hyperspace above and behind it. The ships broke in formation toward the darkened ship then a red laser arched from the ship's bow and swept the vessel.

On the Mandalorian Cruiser's bridge the tactical officer spun to the fleetmaster, "Sir, we're being scanned, its some sort of red laser optical / particle scanner, very old style technology."

"Have we been detected?"

The officer actually swallowed involuntarily, "Yes sir, the sensors weren't designed to counter such a scan, in fact because of nature, I've never heard of an effective counter. It's really like firing a volley of underpowered turbolasers to find something, they've certainlly..."

The deck rocked and the lights on the bridge flickered as a brilliant blue white bolt slammed into the front of the vessel. With a flash the shields of the cruiser buckled. Alarms began to whine in the command deck, "Evasive action, status report, engineering, disengage sensor jamming we've been spotted, reroute all power to shields."

"Primary and secondary shields are comning to full power dorsal outer shield is at fifty percent. Fleetmaster, the concussion has forced us to reroute power for dorsal battery group four," The woman which served as the ship's engineer answered. She gripped the console as another bolt slammed into the dorsal outser shield, "Outer Dorsal shield is down secondary shield at ninety five percent!"

"Full axial rotation, all hands fire at will weapons target those ships. Tactical analysis."

A brilliant volley of red turbolaser blasts shot at the two attacking ships. As the shots hit some which were hitting at a shallow angle were deflected harmlessly into space. Most detonated on the shield and a brilliant green aurora of plasma formed around the target vessel. Then a pair of ship length bolts from super heavy turbolasers shot toward the the target. The bolts hit squarely but instead of detonating they were absorbed into the shield which recoiled inward and bounced back. As it bounced back a bright green bolt only slightly less powerful then the superturbolaser blast that had been fired flashed back into the mandalorian vessel.

The bridge rocked, "Tactical, what is this thing!"

"I don't know Fleetmaster, its not on any of the databases, unknown configuration, weapons, the works."

The Fleetmaster stroked his gray hair in frustration, "Helm get us out fo here!"

ADarkJedi44 · November 29, 2004

OOC: *Chants* Gorath, Gorath, Gorath.

Reluctantly, Evahe boarded the shuttle. The massive Eclipse was gone. It was a true tragedy. With all four of the Replicators out of the battle, perhaps Ord Mantell would hold. Perhaps.

It wasn't relevant. His massive flagship was destroyed, obliterated. Gorath was planning to build another Eclipse, but it would be a long while before it was completed. However, that wasn't all Gorath was working on.

He flew the shuttle alone. He knew where he was going. He entered the cordinates in and pulled the lever back. It was a short trip. When he came out of hyperspace again, there was a massive Imperial II Star Destroyer in front of him.

Evahe transmitted the code and landed in the ship's docking bay in silence. It was a mighty ship, clean and orderly. Not quite worthy of flagship statue, but it would have to do. A figure waited for him.

"Grand Admiral Evahe! It is great to see you, I am commander Bivensteen. We weren't expecting you so soon," The man said enthusiastically.

"I'm glad you're in good spirits. The Genesis had been destroyed. Your ship had been equipped with the fighters as I have asked?" Evahe said grimly.

Bivensteen gestured, "They are ready for combat."

Evahe glanced at the Raporan fighters. The discovery at Ossus had proven quite useful to Gorath, "Let us head to Ord Mantell then."

***

Darth Fury wasn't sure how to react. The massive black ship was destoryed, but all four Replicators were disabled. The other superheavy was still unchecked. It could prove to be quite a nuisance. He needed orders now...

BadSamaritan · December 4, 2004

Hirotek cursed as he watched the Replicators fire their weapons, destroying the moon forst, then dealing a death blow to the massive Genesis. But he alos saw that one of the two remaining replicators was damaged, and spinning slowly. And he knew that the other one had taken a direct hit from the Imperious, so more than likely it was out of the fight now as well. But the loss of the the Eclispe-class would hurt them in the battle severely.

"Athien, we have to leave, now. Power up the engines." Hirotek said, and Athien looked over to him.

"Thrawn hasn't said we can leave yet. He said he had a plan for us to get out of here safely." Athien snapped, and Hirotek shook his head.

"Considering what just happened, I think your father will have bigger concerns then us. Like how he is going to deal with the rest of the Reporan forces now that the Genesis is gone." he said, and Athien stared down at the control panels for the shuttle. She hated to admit it, but he was right.

"Alright, powering up the engines. But on the record, I still think this is a bad idea." she said, and Hirotek smiled.

"Well, if it is, you can tel me after we are dead." he said, and Athien looked back over at him, a perplexed look on her face. The mandalorian in him was starting to show now. Perhaps his caution was turning to recklessness. If so, Hirotek may be more unstable than she had thought. And if that was so, she would have to find a way to real him in before he got them both killed.

************************************

Fleetmaster Orglidek gripped the armrests of his chair tightly as the ship rocked from yet another blast from teh strange ships. he looked down at one of the small display in his command chair, and frowned. The sheilds werent going to be able to take much more of this pounding. So now it was time for desperate measures.

"Helm, prepare the leap drive. Get us out of here!" he ordered, and the an at the helm nodded. The officer hit a short series of switches, and then wtahced a sa series of lights on his bord turned green.

"The drive in online, and ready Fleetmaster." he said, and the fleetmaster nodded. The helmsman hit a button on his console, and the ship accellerated at an emourmous rate. Within moments, they had left the strange vessels behind. A few seconds later, the ship slowed to a much mor managable speed.

"Excellent work helm. Now, plot us a course out of here. I dont care where to, I dont feel like taking on those ships again. Not until we can fight them." the fleetmaster ordered. The halmsman nodded, and went to wrok at plotting a course to the outer rim.

The fleetmaster sat back, and sighed. His first engagement in this war, and he had been forced to fle like a scared child. If these were the foes they were to face, he knew that the mandalorain warfleet was going to be needed a lto sooner than previously thought. And hopefully, it would be ready in time to make a difference.

ADarkJedi44 · December 4, 2004

"Alright Bivensteen. Let's see how well these prototypes work." Evahe said.

The ISD Reborn came out of hyperspace in the Ord Mantell system. It was pure chaos. Without the Replicators, the forces were even. At least that's what Evahe hoped...

"Bring us to attack the nearest Raporan task force, the one engaging the GFFA forces. Get me General Ioor."

No one questioned his authority. They had all been rather surprised to see such a figure of high power on their ship. The Reborn was powerful, but Evahe wasn't comfortable on it. Especially considering the fighters were experimental and Raporan in design.

In a moment, a shocked Garik appeared in front of him.

"Alright, Garik there's no time to talk. I can explain later. Send me a task force of reinforcements and we'll cut right through this Raporan task force." Evahe said quickly.

Garik nodded and saluted. He was about to speak, but Evahe had the transmission ended. There was no time to waste. The ISD was already engaging a Vagaari Cruiser. The Vagaari ship was no match, but it was just the begining. As Evahe watched, seventy-two Raporan fighters formed up in front of the Reborn.

Their target was a Vareme. They went past the hulk of the Vagaari cruiser was ease and destroyed the few fighters that had been hastily scrambled to intercept them. A Kar Lur got in between them and their target. Evahe smiled as a few plasma bombs sent the Raporan cruiser crippled, likely doomed.

Then they fired at the Vareme. After every fighter had launched its plasma bombs, they returned back the ISD. The casulties were minimal, but a second run would be tricky. Vagaari and Raporan ships were coming at the Reborn from all sides.

Garik kept his promise. A GFFA task force, led by a Ravager, had now joined Evahe's lone ship.

***

Tuvax watched in horror. The Vareme Conquest had been destroyed, by Raporan fighters. What was going on? How did the GFFA acquire the technology?

OOC: I'll post as Fury later, in case I need to, to keep the RPG alive...

Stellar_Magic · December 5, 2004

OOC: No fair, unfortunately Raporan technology has a little quirk that you're about to discover.

IC:

The Timeless One's head snapped to the communications officer as the report came in, "We are being engaged by Raporan Fighters launched by a Star Destroyer."

The Timeless One stood his hands clenched at his side, "They must have discovered one of the abandoned facilities." He smiled, "The fools just reinforced us." He closed his eyes and reached otu through the force.

* * *

Captain Johnathan Wessel hissed between his teeth as he manuevered the Rapora fighter past two of its brothers. He rolled back onto his target and switched to plasma bombs, then he felt his stick stiffen in his hands, "What the?"

"Lead, I've lost control, my craft is changing course!"

"This is six, me to!"

"We've all lost control!"

Johnathan felt his fists tighten around the controls as he tried to break the lockout, "Reborn This is Echo Lead, we've been locked out of flight control, the fighters are acting independently."

* * *

The flight controller stood on the bridge of the Reborn and glanced to Garik Ioor, "Sir, all our fighters just were locked out of their flight controls!"

Garik spun, his jaw ajar, "What?"

"All Raporan fighters are no longer responding to their pilots!" the flight controller pronounced.

Garik felt his fist tighten on the command board, "How is that possible?"

* * *

Johnathan Wessel felt his blood begin to rush toward his head as the inertial compensator shut down. He saw through the transparisteel viewport his fighter break toward a Ravager class star destroyer. Suddenly his weapons board lit up and Johnathan gave one desperate plea, "By the force no!"

* * *

"Sir, the Ravager Class Star Destroyer Invaliable Will is reporting multiple target warning locks from our fighters."

Garik Ioor stared at his hands for a moment, their experiment had failed and would now make him sacrifice many a experienced pilot, "Tell the Will that she is free..."

He spoke to late, outside the viewports the Ravager class Destroyer detonated from the volley of plasma bombs.

* * *

The Timeless One smiled, the GFFA had no idea what he knew of Raporan technology, how every nanite to cruiser was imprinted upon his will through the organic components of its construction, it could not be turned, nor could it be used by the enemy. It was, and always would be, his.

BadSamaritan · December 5, 2004

OOC:Time to check in on teh smugglers!

IC: Burt sat in the simulator, his hands flying frantically over the controls. he had been training for what seemed like weeks now, with close to a dozen other pilots that Karrde had brought in. In the scren in front of him, a raging battle ensued. Burt had no idea what world they were over, just that there were Imperial ships, GFFA ships, chiss ships, and Reporan vessels all entagled in a roiling battle, with a massive replicator hanging in the backround.

Suddenly, the viewscreen in front of him began to twirl as the simulated fighter took a broaside hit form a Reporan fighter. A few seconds later, the screen went blank. He had been destroyed. Burt sighed, and opened up the canopy to the simulator. He stretched his arms, and looked around to see that he was one of the last pilots to die in this run. By the looks of it, only one other pilot was still going. Burt stood up, and hopped out of the simulator. He walked over to one of the other pilots, and smiled.

"Man, these sim runs are getting any easier. You would think that after all this time, we would be improving somewhat. But every run we seem to get wiped before we can accomplish anything." he said, and the other pilot nodded.

"Yah, but these Repora are some tough nuts to crack. My fighter took one hit from their weapons this run, and I was gone. I didnt even get one shot off. Yourself?" he asked, taking a bite off of a small nutrient bar in his hand. Burt shook his head, and chuckled.

"Not much better. I think I may have gotten one with a torp, and a winged a few others, but other than that, I was just target practice. I never knew that sims could be this hard." he said, and the other pilot nodded in agreement.

"Yah, these sims seem to be able to second guess every move we try to make. Its almost like they are more alive then us." the pilot said, and they heard a sharp laugh from behind them both. They both turned to see an elderly man standing there, a smile on his face. Standing next to him was Karrde, an evil smile on his face.

"That because you aren't flying against computers. You are flying against some of the best pilots in the galaxy." he said, and Karrde nodded.

"Hobbie, you guys were the greatest in the galaxy when the empire was still a threat. I think Gavin and his Rogues have surpassed the lot of you old timers." Karrde said, and Hobbie looked back at him, a frown on his face.

"Karrde, Im willing to bet that we could still teach all of Gavins pilots a thing or two, if the nevy didnt think we were to old to fly in combat. Which is why we are all here." he said, and Karrde nodded.

"Becuase you think Im going to let you fly my starfighters? No, i think you are all here because one, I offered you all a lot of money to be here, and two, becuase you dont want to see green pilots get wiped by these repora." Karrde said, and Hobbie nodded.

"Yes, and the fact that we will steal your starfighters to fly some combat if needed. And you wont stop us." he said, and Karrde chuckled as he nodded.

"Yes, I will let you and your people fly. I even got some nice brand new T-65 XJs for all of you. But for now, pilot reviews. How is this batch doing?" Karrde asked, and Hobbie smiled.

"This group wont take on a super star destroyer and win any time soon, but they are getting better. They work well together, and they trust each other. The makings of a good squadron." he said, and Karrde nodded.

"Um, sir, how can you say that we are getting better? We get wiped every run, and we barely manage to get any kills before we die. I think Ive only managed to kill two fighters so far in all of these runs." Burt said, and Hobbie nodded.

"There is a reason for that. We have slowly been increasing the spped and manuverability of the reporan starfighters, along with thier firepower, to make them more and more difficult for you. In the next run, we will reset them to their original perameters, and see how well you all fare." Hobbie said, and Burt groaned. He should have realized what was going on, but he had been so tired as of lae that he hadnt realized it.

"So your telling me, that you have set these sims up so that we would get wiped out? Whats the point in that? We cant learn if we never last longer thana few minutes." Burt said, and Hobbie shook his head.

"Actually, You guys have been doing better and better each run. You are scoring kills against starfighters that are now set up to be practically indestructable. With vetern pilots flying them all to boot. If you ask me, thats proof that you will be quite an addition to the smugglers alliance." Hobbie said, and Burt slowly nodded. He then turned, and walked back to his simulator.

"Well then, reset the reporan fighters, then lets see who the real elites are." Burt said, and Karrde nodded. He and hobbie watched as Burt and his fellow pilots all hopped back into the sims, and prepared for yet another simulator run.

"Hobbie, reset the Reporan fighters. let see what these kids are really made of." Karrde said, and Hobbie nodded. Karrde watched as Hobbie walked back through the door they had entered, and thought for a moment on how well this project was going. If all went according to plan, he would have three full squadrons ready within a few more weeks. And if it went well, they would be more than ready to deal with the Reporan starfighters.

ADarkJedi44 · December 6, 2004

It was the same old scenario. His squadron of X-wings against an equal amount of Raporan fighters. Burt was confident as the two squadrons neared each other. Then his squadron broke apart and picked their targets. It was one on one.

Burt picked out a suitable and pursued it. It began evasive manuvers, but he second guessed them. The Raporan fire was hit numerous times. It began spinning out of control before exploding with a brilliant flash. Looking around, he noticed his pilots were doing pretty well. They were going to win this time.

Burt saw one of pilots in trouble and fired upon the Raporan fighter. The Raporan fighter broke off pursuit and surprised Burt with his manuvers. He was sure he was doomed but one of the other X-wings came out of nowhere and blasted the Raporan fighter to bits. Another Raporan fighter came up behind Burt's savior and Burt himself returned the favor. Another Raporan fighter was destroyed.

Then it was over. His squadron had won. He felt rather smug as he hopped out of the simulator...

***

Everyone was silent on the bridge of the Reborn. Bivensteen looked too ashamed to speak. Evahe broke the silence.

"There's no time to weep now. We still have a large task force left and an exposed target. Let's get a move on."

The force of Raporan starfighters had been destroyed by the swarm of GFFA fighters that had been launched from the task force. The Gorathian interception frigates had also been a help. The Raporan force was engaged with Garik's main force with almost no ships left to counter the threat to their rear. They were being overwhelmed on both sides. Evahe knew victory was within his grasp....

***

Darth Fury's task force had moved to engage the Hapans. However, the Imperial force was currently unengaged and likely to attack Fury. Avarice was busy with the UDA force, Tuvax was seemingly losing to the GFFA task forces and the Timeless One was moving towards the planet.

"Continue to move towards the Hapans. If the Imperials decide to engage us, we'll move all our force towards them. They can't possibly hold out for long without their superheavy..."

But where was the superheavy going to strike?

Stellar_Magic · December 9, 2004

OOC: I'm back, for the moment, busy still though.

IC:

Thrawn nodded slowly at the display, "Alright, tell admiral Oreton to pull back to opposite side of Ord Mantell. Commodore Eressa pull your force back to protect Oreton. Tenel Ka, I request that you attempt to disengage and pull back to the edge of the system. Admiral Ioor, cover her withdrawal." Thrawn turned in his chair to face the last to holos, "Athien, Hirotek, your way is clear, good luck."

* * *

Luke sighed as he leaned against the side of the Jade Scimitar. He sighed as Mara walked out of the ship her hands gripping a datapad tightly. Slowly, she handed it to Luke, "GFFA and Raporan forces have engaged at Ord Mantell. We just got this from the holonet."

Luke glanced down at the datapad just long enough to read the opening lines, "Well, lets go talk to Han, he's going to love this."

"What am I going to love," Han's half muffled voice asked from the top hatch of the Millenium Falcon as he flipped up the shield on his welding helmet.

Mara muttered under her breath before shouting over to him, "Come down here so we can tell you Nerfherder!"

Luke glanced over to his wife, "A little tense are we?" Mara glanced over at him trying to deliver a glare which failed. He smiled slightly, "Don't worry about it."

Han dropped down from the Falcon with a clatter and strode over to the two of them, "So what is this about?"

"We just got this on the Holonet, it seems there really desperate at Ord Mantell." Luke handed Han the datapad.

It took him two minutes to read it when he was finished he glanced at the two of them, "Son of the sith!"

"Someday they'll build a statue," Mara suggested wryly.

Han sighed, "I was out for good, you know I never was a real, 'general' a real 'officer."

Luke sighed, he'd expected this, "You know if Ord Mantell falls the Hydian way could be cut, and from there..."

"They have a clear avenue in all directions." Han said quietly glancing back at the datapad. He shook his head, "And Cal Omas himself put his name on the request."

"The GFFA is really hurting when it comes to experienced ground combat personnel," Mara said flatly as she folded her arms over her chest, "You're one of the few people with that sort of experience."

Han shook his head, "I'm getting too old for this sort of thing."

"Who's going to lead the ground forces on Ord Mantell? Me, I'm a Jedi not a strategist. Jacen, he's working with GFFA Intelligence. Jaina, she's a fighter jock. Lando, he's not been reachable and is farther from the front. Han you're the only one who could pull this off," Luke said harshly.

"I know... I'll do it."

* * *

The Timeless One slowly walked along the bridge of his command ship as he watched the Sovereign run toward the dark side of the planet. Smiling he turned to his commanders, "Launch all landing craft, let the ground battle begin."

BadSamaritan · December 11, 2004

"Athien, we have clearence. Get us out of here!" Hirotek barked, and Athien pushed forward on the throttle. Their modified shuttle shot forward out of the hanger bay, and rocketed up into the sky. Hirotek glanced at his scanners, and noticed a group of ships entering the atmosphere not far from their exit vector.

"Athien, what are those ships? The dont register as freindlies." he asked, and Athien looked to the scanners, and cursed.

"Thats because they aren't. Those are Reporan landing craft!" she said, and Hirotek jerked the controls of the shuttle, sending them away from teh now-oncoming craft. He chose a new course to space, and hoped that he wouldnt fly into any more surprises. Fortunetly, their shuttle was exceptionally fast, and they were abkle to outrun a pair of Reporan fighters that were trailing them.

"We have mroe landing craft, bearing six-zero-zero-nine." Athien called out, and Hirotek bounced the shuttle into yet another exit course. he glanced at the sensors, and was astounded by what he saw. It looked like the Repora had decided to launch a full scale invasion, even with the combined forces alliad against their fleets still in orbit. It was a move that took a lot of guts.

"Athien, Begin plotting us a course through hyperspace. As soon as we are out of the gravity well, i want to be gone from here." he said, and Athien nodded.

"Do you think they will be alright?" she asked, and Hirotek shrugged.

"I dont know. But with Thrawn in command, the odds are about even." he said, and he looked over to the navicomp.

"No, not Dresnak. Our first stop will be Kuat." he said, and Athien looked over to him, confused.

"Kuat? Why Kuat? We need to get back to Dresnak as soon as possible." Athien said, and Hirtek nodded.

"I know, but there is someone at Kuat that I need to speak to. No tto mention I might be able to get us a few ships." he said, and Athien nodded. She knew that all combat-capable ships had been moved here already, and that Kuat was only left with a defensicve force. What ships he planned on getting form Kuat she couldnt fathom. But she knew better than to question him.

"Alright, course plotted. All that we need to do know, is get out of the gravity well of the planet." she said, and Hirotek nodded. he glanced at the sensors, and noted the large amoutn of enemy forces arrayed in front of them. That was going to be very very tricky, to say the least.

**********************************

Burt hopped out of the simulator, and saw that a lot of his squadronmates were already standing around, talking about their latest run. he also saw karrde standing there, smiling.

"Well, you guys did much better this time. You still suffered 50 percent casualties, but you did manage a victory. Which is a re-markable imporvement." he said, and Burt smiled as his squadronmates cheered. He watched as Hobbie walked back into the room, and whicpered something into karrdes' ear. Karrde nodded, and looked back to the squadron.

"Alright you slackers, back in the sims. Hobbie isnt happy enough with your preformance, so neither am I. So we have a lot fo work to do." he said, and Burt sighed. He was hoping that he and his squadronamtes would get some well deserved rest for their victory. But obviously, that was not to be.

**************************************

Seryk walked along the halls, and wondered how he was going to say goodbye. He knew it wouldnt be easy, butt had to be done. He eventually came to karns' small room. He had been surprised to find out that she had been given a room, instead of a holding cell. But when the door whisked open, he saw that it wasnt much better. The only furniture she had was a simple bad with no padding, and what looked like a rock-hard pillow. He saw Karyn standing next to the rooms sole window, staring out at the city.

"You are leaving." she said without looking at him, and Seryk stood there a moment before answering.

"Yes. Fett and I are going to ake some Mandalorian warriors to begin helping with the war. I dont knw when we will be back." he said, and Karyn nodded.

"You dont know if you will be back, do you?" she asked, and Seryk sighed. That thought had crossed his mind, but he had been trying no tto htink about it.

"No, I dont. More than likely, we will be put to use almost immediatly. And if thats the case, it is likely that we wont be back for a long time, if ever." he said, and karyn nodded again.

"Well, good luck to you and your men then." she said, and she turned around. Seryk was astounded to see a sly smile on her face. it was the smile of a hunter.

"I think we will need more than luck. You of all people should know that." he said, and Karyn nodded.

"Yes, you will. You will need the force to win. And frankly, I dont know if it is on our side at the moment. Killing Darth Malice was a step in teh right direction, but he was one of the most foolhardy of the sith lords. There are others who will make him look like a novice." karyn said, and Seryk nodded.

"Yes, I know. But we will have to cross those hurdles when they arrive." he said, and Karyn nodded. She turned back to the window, and sighed.

"Seryk, dont expect the Mandalorians to turn the war in our favor. They will be a great asset, but they wont win the war for us." she said, and Seryk nodded.

"I know, but allies are allies, and we need all the help we can get." he said. Karyn nodded, and stood there silently. Seryk watched her for a moment, and then turned to walk out of the room. it was obvious that the conversation was over. He walked out of the room, and turned to see Fett walking towards him.

"Seryk, we have to leave, now. Ord Mantell is under attack." he said, and Seryk nodded.

"Alright, but we dont have that many ships. I dont see hwo we will be that much help there." he said, and Fett shook his head.

"In space, we wont be. But the Repora have launched invasion forces. We wuill be acting as ground troops." Fett saif, and he then turned and walked away. Seryk stood there for a moment, and then sighed. It looked like he was going to be facing the Repora much sooner than he had anticipated. He moved quickly to catch up with Fett, and together, they headed towards the hanger bay.

Trejiuvanat · December 15, 2004

Oreton moved from one console to the other, navigating through the crew pits attending questions and giving out new orders. Imperious had been badly hit, one of the pieces of the Genesis had impacted on the hull of the Sovereign destroyer as it had fired on the second replicator. The impact had destroyed several decks and some few hangars. Fortunately it had been the only chunk that had made it through. The gunners had cleared dangerous debris, tractorbeams and the phasing cloak had done the rest, albeit they drained Imperious's energy.

It had taken him this long to maneuver outside of the debris field that had been once a moon. The cargo bays had begun to recollect the few escape pods that had blasted away from the Eclipse.

Most of the damage dealt to Imperious had been to its officers morale. They had blindly expect that with Thrawn behind everything they could not be halted, nor foiled. Even Baros Oreton had shown a moment of panic as he realized that Thrawn had been outsmarted. Quickly recovering he had given lots of orders to keep his crewers focused.

Oroton frowned as the sensor officer called him.

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

"The Raporan fleet has launched numerous vehicles from their hangars."

"More fighters?"

"Impossible to determine, we are still resenting the power outage for the sensors."

"No, it'd be stupid to launch more starfighters, they are definitely the landing craft."

Onolovav called him from the communications console. "A transmission from the planet, its barely audible, but I think we are ordered to move to the opposite side of the planet. Commodore Veran and her force are moving to protect."

"Comply, captain. Recall our starfighters. The space battle is over, and it was over for us sooner than we ever dreamt of. Launch probes and some Shadow Scouts, I will want to know every single fleet movement the Rapora do."

There was truly nothing else to do. Nothing but wait, wait and study.

***

"Han?" Luke started again. The tone was unmistakable, the kid was asking for a favor. It probably wasn't to babysit Ben, not with Han going to Ord Mantell.

"What is it?" Han asked and rolled his eyes.

"We've got an 'ally' for you." Mara said.

Babysitting. Han thought. And grimly looked at Luke, at Mara and back at Luke.

"Who?"

"Master Skywalker is referring to me, Captain Solo." A grave voice from behind Solo said. For a moment Han believed the creature to be a Noghri, because of the sound of his voice, as he turned Han simply rose an eyebrow.

"I did not know you guys were allowed to leave your Oh-so-wonderful-homeworld."

"Few can," Luke interceded. After years of peace, Luke feared that Han had never forgiven the Yuuzhan Vong for the death of Anakin and Chewie. Han the diplomat's husband had, but not Han the smuggler, not the father. "Ulan here, is one of my Jedi students."

"A Jedi. What do you know?" The smuggler murmured for himself. "Guess I have no choice, and those two meters of yours might come in handy. Go and get into the Falcon."

Ulan noted the tension and chose not to intervene, but to go into the ship.

"Han, if you don't want him, I can take him with me. He did want to speak to his elders on Sekot, but thought it over and decided to go to Ord Mantell."

"It's fine, Luke." The tone, of course suggested it was not. Han had never been one to spend much time around old enemies, after peace with the Empire he had been reluctant to go into Imperial space, and after peace with the Vong he had never spent a single second alone with one of them.

Luke knew that Han was not comfortable with the Jedi he had to work with, but Luke knew Han well enough that he would turn down the offer of having a good warrior on his side.

"So it's good. Your wife's gonna kill me, when she learns that I put you back on the active officer roster," Luke laughed.

"And your sister's gonna kill me, for letting you do it."

"I might kill you both." Leia said from the same door behind Han, where Ulan had appeared earlier. "I'm going with you, Han."

"Listen sweetheart. I wouldn't want it any other way, but."

"But?" Leia asked, eyeing Han closely.

"But we would like you to come with us," Mara said.

"Where?" The Princess's focus shifted from Han to her brother and wife.

"To Sekot first, and then to Ossus and Denon."

Leia subdued, as she began to think what Luke wanted of her. Han came and took her in his arms and gave her a kiss. "For luck", he said.

"I think I'll get going, Cal seemed pretty urgent in his note, and my passenger will probably be bored of sitting there alone. Luke, if you run into Corran, Lowie or Kyp, send them along to Ord. I'm having some ideas as to how use Jedi on this."

"It seems Cal was right, Han is really a General." Mara said as he held Luke's arm.

"Shut up," Han laughed and turned towards the ship.

Leia looked wondered at the mention of the passenger and looked at her brother questioningly, who replied a short answer. "Ulan." Leia opened her mouth to say something but just smiled as she cried at her husband. "Flyboy, be careful with the pile of junk."

"That pile of junk has been our home for the past ten years," Han snapped back as he walked up the ramp.

Ulan sat in the main compartment glancing at the figures of the Dejarik board. "You gonna stay there? All Jedi I know can't wait to get into the cockpit."

"Yes, Captain Solo."

Han stared at him. "Just Han, no titles and run the pre-flight checklist. What was your name again?" Han noted that the Jedi sat confortably in the oversized chair, that had belonged to Chewbacca.

"Ulan Domain Shai," the Jedi answered. "Everything is set Han."

"Good," he said as he looked out of the cockpit at the three human figures that moved towards the Jade Scimitar on the end of the hangar. "Strap yourself, Ulan."

Already in the hyperspace the human turned to his copilot with an mock-stern look. "So, after all this years, I'll get an answer. What the hell do Yuuzhan Vong eat?"

Ulan laughed and it was quickly joined by Han's.

Stellar_Magic · December 19, 2004

OOC: Finals are over...Free at last!!!

IC: Thrawn slowly stroked his chin as he watched the tactical display, "Ready all ground forces, enemy troops are being deployed." Smiling he glanced at the communications officer, "Order all the fleet to fall back to the opposite side of Ord Mantell and place Task Force Scimitar on alert."

"Yes sir," The Vagaari technician answered as he tapped the console and opened the channels.

Thrawn glanced back at the display as Garik Ioor's Task Force was on the verge of being surrounded by his Raporan foes, "Order Garik Ioor to pull back, now!" Garik's pride was creating problems, Thrawn thought sourly, fighting a pitched battle against an enemy as good as the Rapora was difficult even without such personalities coming into the mix.

The Hapans began pulling back in good order delivering a wall of glowing red laser fire as they wheeled on their axis and engaged their drives. Thrawn felt himself smile, Tenel Ka was proving to be a compitent commander. As Oreton's ship headed away from the debris field he joined up with the Hapans.

The battle was going almost as Thrawn had predicted it, but the destruction of one of the Superheavies was a bitter blow, and the second ship had taken a beating. Soon it would no longer be a primarily space campaign but a ground one.

* * *

Leia sighed as the Millenium Falcon disappeared from the sensor board, "So what exactly am I going to do?"

"We need someone to rally the GFFA and Jedi and..." Luke sighed slowly, "We also need someone to liason with whats left of the Chiss Ascendancy and Empire of the Hand."

* * *

Anakin slowly woke in his cockpit and smiled, beyond was the enormous black world of Maldur, a world devoid of life to all appearances. Anakin knew better, Maldur was a world with a secret. A secret that would change the galaxy forever.

ADarkJedi44 · December 19, 2004

As Tuvax's fleet attempted to surround Garik, they stretched thin. The Vagaari ships sent after Evahe's small force was merely a distraction. The ISDs managed to annihilate the ships with stunning ease. Garik was in true danger, but he knew what he was doing. He had to distract Tuvax's fleet long enough so that Evahe could join him.

As it was, Tuvax's fleet wasn't in the best of conditions. It had lost a Vareme and been pounded in general. They could surround Garik, but finishing the job...

"Alright, you know what to do. This shouldn't be too hard, just cut right through their lines." Evahe was a bit nervous. On a small ISD such as the Reborn[/i} he was in danger, even if there was no immediate threat.

Then a few of Garik's ships surged foward. Caught between two groups of ships, a Kar Lur and a pair or Salvas met their doom. The Rapora had already begun moving their ships back into a solid mass, in order to prevent further casulties. It was just what Garik wanted. The GFFA forces united and followed Thrawn's orders. They began to retreat.

OOC: Feh. We await your command.

BadSamaritan · December 20, 2004

OOC: Im just going to assume that in the chaos, Hirotek and Athen managed to jump to hyperspace. I dont feel like keepuing that at Ord Mantell any longer. But first, our freindly neighborhood mandalorians...

IC: Seryk kept pace with Fett as best he could, but the elder mandalorian was moving quickly. They practically ran into the hanger bay, and Seryk smiled at what he saw. In front on him sat two full squadrons of Gladiator-class starfighters, the tech crews just now pulling the fueling lines off of the hulls. He and Fett slowed to a steady march, and moved up to the nearest squadron.

"Are these starfighters the main choice in your forces? Or are these just the preferred fighters?" Seryk asked, and Fett smiled.

"They are the primary starfighters of our forces, and the preferred. it just so happens that we designed them. How do you think we manage to keep up with the rest of the galaxy tech-wise?" fett said with a sly grin, and Seryk nodded in appreciation. He doubted that anyone in the galaxy even suspected the mandalorians had a hand in modern starfighter design. But in all reality, it made sence.

"Well then, I take it thi is what we will be flying to mantell then?" he asked, and Fett nodded. He then motioned to the three large, heavily armed transports sitting not far behind the fighter squadrons. Seryk looked to them, and could see people loading supplies into them at a rapid pace. Some of the supplies looked like peices of armor.

"And those will be what we are escorting. Each transport will be carrying a hundred warriors for the ground battle, and all the equipment they will require. Needless to say, the lives of those warriors will be far more important than ours. Fett said, and Seryk nodded. He didnt like to have his life reduced like that, but he could understand it. Ground troops were going to be needed badly at Ord mantell. And since he had already fought sReproan ground troops, he was fairly certain that the GFFA ground forces were going to be overwhelemed without some serious help.

"When do we leave?" Seryk asked, and Fett walked over to one of the starfighters. Fett climbed into the cockpit, and donned the helmet that was in the pilots seat. Seryk watched him for a moment, and then understood. They were leaving now. Seryk looked around, and saw a fighter with his name engraved on teh side of it. He walked over to it, and climbed inside. He put non the helmet that sat on top of the seat, and began to familiarize himself with the controls of the starfighter. After a moment, he found the comm system, and activated it. He immediatly heard the other pilots in the squadrons talking about their pre-flights. He listedn carefully, and followed their lead.

Soon, he sat back in his cockpit, and lowered the canopy, ready to take off. He wondered how long it would take to arrive at Ord Mantell. he knew that if it took to long, they could just as well turn right around and go back home. But if they arrived to soon, the defenders of Ord Mantell might become over-confident, and that would lose them the battle. They had to arrive at just the right time to be most effective.

"Seryk, get ready for launch." Fett suddenly said over the intercomm, and Seryk snapped to attention. he grasped the controls of the fighter, and when the order was given, he brought his ship off th alanding bay floor, and followed Fett into the launch tubes. As he did so, only a single thought ran through the back of his mind. Wether or not he was ready to face the Repora again.

*****************************************

Hirotek sat back in his chair, and watched the lines of hyperspace swirl around the shuttle. They had amanaged to scrape past an attempt at a Reporan blackade, and were now on their way back to Dresnak, by way of Kuat. He just hoped that Kuat would have what he was looking for. If they didnt, he would have to scrap one of the plans he had come up with for his fight to bring the Vagaari to their side.

"Tell me Ilos, why exactly are we going to Kuat? All the ships that are battle ready are at Ord Mantell right now, except for the Kuati defences. And the ships that are being repaired there are of no use to us." Athien said suddenly, and Hirotek smiled. He knew she would be wondering why he wanted to go there.

"What I am hoping to find there, isnt a battel ready vessel. Its a heavily damaged ship, and a certain fleet commander." Hirotek said with a smile, and Athien frowned. She didnt like being left in the dark about his plans, especially ones that involved a high-priority, questionable mission that had been set before them. She preferred to know all the angles before continuing on.

"Well, what ship, and what ommander then. If we are going ot try and drive a wedge in between teh Vagaari, and the Repora, then I would like to know all of your plans, Ilos." she said, a minor hint of annoyance in her voice. Ilos thought aboput it for a moment, and then sighed. If he had learned ont hing so far, it was that Athien was very stubborn when she set her mind on something. He reached into his pocket, and drew out a msall datapad. He turned it on, and handed it over to Athien. Athien took the datapad, and began to look at its contents. After a few moments, she looked back at Ilos, a stupified look on her face.

"You have got to be kidding. This is a joke, right?" she asked, and Hirotek simply shook his head. Athien looked back to the datapad, and then shook her head.

"Ilos, I understand that you like to think outside of the box. But this is taking it to far. Even for you." she said, and she handed the datapad back to Hirotek. hirotek simply shrugged, and placed the datapad back into his pocket.

"Possibly. But, this plan requires the ship, and the person to both be at Kuat. If they arent, than it will just be a quick pitstop on he way back to Dresnak." Hirotek said, and Athien nodded. She leaned back in her chair, and thought about his new plan for a moment. it was crazy, bound to fail, not to mention ill-conceived. And the more she thought about it, the more she though it could work.

"We will have to clear this plan with my father." she said, and Hirotek smiled.

"I am aware of that. But, I am sure that he will like it. trickery was one of his tactics of choice during the civil war." Hirtoek stated, and Athien nodded. He was correct on that point. She sighed, adn shook her head.

"I am still against the plan. Just so you know." she said bluntly, and Hirotek chuckled.

"Noted. But think of it this way, if this works, it will have been the largest hoax ever in a time of war." Hirotek said, and Athien smiled. He was correct on that assumtion. She just hoped that it wouldnt be one large waste of time and effort in the long run.

Stellar_Magic · December 23, 2004

OOC: Chaos is a very accurate description.

IC: Then with a flash of motion a pair of small dark blue vessels appeared on the flank of Garik Evahe's fleet. The two fast moving ships darted forward their weapons powering up giving points on the hull a shimmering blue white glow. Then they opened fire with a brilliant blue laser which shot through space and sliced into the shields of one of the Star Destroyers ripping through its hull then the ship flashed past the star destroyer rolling and firing a volley of blue white torpedoes from its flanks. The torpedoes flashed into two of the interception frigates and detonated ripping the ships appart.

Onboard the Reborn Garik winced as a blue white torpedo flashed through the shields and impacted the ridgeline as the second craft flashed past. Alarms began to wail on the bridge as red turbolaser blasts flashed toward the swift ship. Most of the shots went wide but a few scored hit reflecting or being absorbed by the ship's shimmering green shields. Garik whiped a hand over his brow and felt it come away bloody, "Report!"

"Forward and dorsal shields are down, we've got a hullbreach on multiple decks," The ship engineer hissed.

A shimmering hologram of Grand Admiral Thrawn appeared, "I ordered you to fall back, retreat before those ships finish you off!"

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