Rapora War (Introductory RPG)

[Stellar_Magic]

Admiral Parck sighed as he watched the sensor displays, "General Fel launch all your fighters, everyone else, execute Redoubt, I repeat execute Redoubt!"

 

"Sir, shields are up to full all weapons charged," Stent said glancing at one of the consoles.

 

Admiral Parck stood, "What little that will do, slave them to droid brains, at the least it will delay them, Skywalkers, if you have any suggestions?"

 

"We'd be better off in our ship," Mara answered briskly.

 

Parck shook his head, "We've moved your ship underground along with the rest of our evacuation vessels, non combat personnel are loading now."

 

"Some one else is driving my ship now listen..."

 

"No Jade, they're just loading, I trust you and your ship we be the typical last one out of here," The floor shook and the lights flickered, "We have to leave the fortress now!"

 

Luke nodded, "Stent, take Ben to our ship, Admiral Parck, what do you want us to do?"

 

"Several of our security detatchments are suiting up now, equipped with ysalamiri, but we don't have enough ysalamiri to go around, I want you to lead team twelve, they don't have any ysalamiri, I trust you know that the Rapora are force sensitive."

 

"Yes," Luke and Mara answered together. Mara glanced at a pair of chiss troopers as they spun around the corner, "I doubt Ysalamiri will be of that great a help."

 

Admiral Parck shrugged, "Every little bit helps."

 

* * *

 

Darth Malice smiled as the last of the starships flashed away into hyperspace, "Good, have the Vagaari cruisers Bishoth and Verack deploy there troops to the north west of the fortress, and inform the Death is Life that they may begin deploying there troops at any time, have them deploy to the north east of the Fortress."

 

Verosh, the Vagaari, glanced at his sensor board, "We have starfighters launching from the fortress, around a full wing of six squadrons."

 

Darth Malice nodded, "As expected, deploy your starfighters to escort the cruisers in, our fighters will escort our dropships that seems fair, doesn't it."

 

The Vagaari just growled under his breath.

 

One of the Rapora spun to face Darth Malice, "Our shipsss report that they are in posssition."

 

Darth Malice smiled, "Tell them, they may fire when ready."

 

* * *

 

General Fel eased back on the stick as his Clawcraft raced upward, he clicked on his comm, "Alright, 181st, 190th, 178th, and 165th will concentrate on the Raporan dropships, the rest of you engage those Vagaari cruisers."

 

The Vagaari cruisers descended through the atmosphere their green grey hull flashing in the light as they banked toward their objective. A full screen of fighters matched their manuever when fromthe ground below, hidden in caves a volley of twenty missiles raced up toward them, targeted on the fighters. One full squadron of fighters disappeared from

the sensor display seconds later. The Vagaari shocked by the sudden attack broke ranks flying in all directions as two squadrons of Clawcraft raced in to engage them.

 

One squadron of Clawcraft blazed after the disorganized force of fighters while the other strafed the lead Vagaari cruiser, their blasts scortching through the ship's shields and smashing against its hull. By the luck or the force several of the shots hit one of the repulsor lifts, knocking it out of commission. The enourmous vessel canted sideways, smoke trailing from its sides and past the pair of arm like structures which thrust forward and down along its main hull. It's repulsorlifts off line the craft dropped lower and lower until it hammered into the ground below sending up red dust and spark for a moment before it detonated against a wall of stone.

 

General Fel smiled at the sight, "Good shooting, but we've still got to get the Rapora and the other cruiser."

 

* * *

 

Mara and Luke raced out of the Fortress their Chariot careening across the desert. A squad of chiss and humans sat behidn them checking their weapons, every one of them looked grim, even terrified at what they were about to face.

 

Mara opened her mouth to make a sarcastic comment when looking over her shoulder she saw six gigantic towers of golden light stab down into the fortress. Two fo the shots were disappated by the shields byt four more kept going vaporizing one of the towers completely. Green turbolaser flashs and chiss weapons fire filled the sky as the Vagaari Cruiser soared overhead, its own weapons pumping fire in all directions to keep the Chiss clawcraft at bay. A brown block shaped vessel soared above them and came to a sudden halt, it began to descend as a pair fo Raporan fighters flashed past it their weapons blazing.

 

Mara threw the speeder to a complete stop, "Everyone out!" The team members didn't need to be told twice, they rushed out of the craft as Mara and Luke ran toward the nearest cover, their lightsabers out as a golden bolt flashed into the craft destroying it. Luke threw himself to the ground, dragging Mara down with him as debris and shrapnel burned through the air. Luke felt a tiny pin prick at his shoulder but nothing more.

 

The first Raporan dropship had landed, its rear doors hissed open and a pair of Raporan droids rolled down the ramp and unfolded into attack position.

 

Mara turned to one of the team members, a woman, carrying a PLX-2M missile launcher, "Nail em!"

 

She fired twice, both times the missile scored a direct hit turning the droids into piles of debris. Then like monsters from a nightmare a trio of Rapora descended the ramp, covered from head to ankle in red brown body armor, and holding a set of weapons identical to the one Mara had recovered. They turned toward them and raised their weapons as Mara turned to the team members, "Take cover, fire at will!"

 

Luke ignited his lightsaber and Mara leapt to his side. The Rapora saw them and dropped their weapons and pulled their own lightsabers from their belts. The chorus of curved blades which snapped into exhistance before them made Luke wince, "Mara."

 

"Yeah."

 

"What do we do?" Luek asked slowly.

 

Mara starred at the approaching Rapora, "I have no idea."

[Mad78]

The nearly entirely destroyed GFFA ship arrived above Coruscant.

"Sir the Mon Mothma is hailling us." said the communication officer. He was sitting at one of the last active terminals and was covered in dirt and sweat.

"On screen" ordered Garik, his voice slightly droozy because of the Painkiller a medic had injected him after a piece of schrapnel had ripped his leg.

The image of the officer which was replacing Garik had the head of the Coruscant defence appeared, a flash panic passed through his eye as he saw the injured figure of Garik.

"From what i see your mission has failed."

Garik smilled faintly at the remark.

"More than you image Admiral. More than you imagine."

[Stellar_Magic]

OOC: After a war with my server, I'm back!!!

 

The Rapora advanced their blades weaving in front of them. Their brown armor matching the dusty color of the soil beneath them as they rushed forward. The first one struck at Mara, its blade twirling in the air above it.

 

Mara rolled under the strike when it slashed down into the ground burning the stone away. She rolled further away and stood her sleeve blaster griped in her left hand. The warrior lunged forward and locked its blade against hers, she found herself starring at the helmets black eyes as her left hand slipped past its second blade, a snort came through the helmet then the creature spun its blade. With a hiss of burnt electronics the blaster pistol's barrel fell to the ground, seperate from the body of the weapon. Mara bit back a curse as she blocked the series of blows which followed.

 

Luke was holding his own against a pair of the creatures his green blade a blur. With a flash a PLX Missile flashed between his lightsaber movements and Luke flipped away. The Rapora jumped as the missile struck the rock on which they'd stood. Their armor blackened from the explosion as they were tossed to the ground. One rose up immediately and snarled. The other clambered to his feet and blood splattered on the ground as it rose.

 

Mara leapt away from her foe and reached out her free hand ripping a blaster free from one of the troops. It flew to her hand as she blocked another flurry of strikes from her foe. With a flick of her thumb she switched it to full autofire as the creature flipped. She saw a blurr of a claw and jerked back just before a slash of pain flashed across her face. She fell bakc to the ground and felt her breath leave her as she hit, desperately she leveled the blaster and squeezed the creature as it raised its weapon for the kill. The blasts burned throught he creature's defenses and it tumbled back, its chest blackened from the weapons fire.

 

Out of the corner of her eye Mara saw Luke slash at the two Rapora he was facing. One of the strike's slipped through its defenses and glanced into the red armor then with a flicker of green the blade disappeared. His eyes wide Luke swung again thumbing his blade on midswing this time the blade shased across the enemies's throat and the black material evaporated under the blade's touch. The creature tumbled away its head severed.

 

The third Rapora backed away its helmeted face glancing to its dead comrades.

 

* * *

 

General Fel broke off his attack run on one of the Raporan ships as his shields were ripped away, keying his comm he called to the defenders, "This is Fel we can't hold them any longer, we're making a run for hyperspace."

 

Admiral Parck's voice answered, clear and pained, "Understood, good luck General."

 

* * *

 

Parck turned back to the last few transports, "Everyone pull back, signal all our forces, pull back!"

 

"The Skywalkers report they're falling back. They also say the enemy is equipped with cortosis armor, making kills against them difficult at best," Stent said from communications stand. He glanced back at the General, "Sir the Vagaari are directly in their retreat path."

 

Parck smiled, "Like the Vagaari could slow to Jedi?"

 

* * *

 

Luke ducked down as three wolvkils shot toward them, their wolf like bodies gunning to immolate him. With a quick flash of his lightsaber they fell with a sickening thump to the ground as the Vagaari troops rushed after them their armor less then optimal against the modern blasters of the defenders.

 

Suddenly with a scream of sound a trio of Tie Defenders swooped down on the Vagaari, they waggled their wings as they rose then banked away in search of more targets.

 

Mara stopped to watch, "I didn't think Fel had Tie Defenders."

 

"He doesn't" Luke replied as he looked over the battlefield, "I just saw Clawcraft."

 

"Then who is that?"

[Trejiuvanat]

OOC: Rapora Wars Episode 1.5: The Server Strikes Back...

 

IC:

 

Admiral Baros Oreton could not help the feeling of impotence that took hold of him. Sitting at the edge of the system, safely behind the invisible shield, while allies were in danger troubled him deeply.

 

Had he come to Nirauan to cower away and hide?

 

"Anything from the probes?" The Admiral asked, the communications center was his only window to the space around them.

 

"Nothing new, the Vagaari and Rapora vessel have moved to a lower orbit, the Rapora vessel have stopped the bombardment, and have launched landing crafts. The probes' data suggest that at least a wing of Clawcraft have launched and engaged."

 

Oreton nodded. It was as he had expected it to be. The Rapora were formidable enemies, with a good grasp on tactics. As much as he desired to, sending the Right to Rule back to the planet and engage the forces around the planet would not help Parck.

 

His thoughts raced, hypothesis and theories came to life within his minds only to wither away at the thought of combat against the Rapora. How lend much needed assistance to the Empire of the Hand without risking his ship in the process? How to attack the Rapora successfully? Questions without answers continued to emerge in his thoughts.

 

From his experience with the Yuuzhan Vong, Oreton knew a handful of tricks to deal with a much stronger rival. But the Rapora were little like the Yuuzhan Vong, they replaced the blind fierceness of the Vong warrior with a cold, but inexorable aggressive stance. Their tactics at Nirauan had shown a strong discipline in their moves, attacking the targets most likely to drive fear and panic in to their enemies. Ruthlessly efficient.

 

Should Oreton wage everything on an offensive strike? No, the Rapora a culture so closely bound to conflict were, undoubtedly, experts in aggressive warfare. Subterfuge against a race schooled in the art of drive fear in the hearts of their enemies, fear that strengthened their position?

 

He analyzed the situation of the world. With dangerous trenches scarring the surface of the world, Nirauan was much of a maze. The Chiss having been there for a lots of years most know at least some of the very secret pathways across the landscape.

 

Oreton then realized a single tactic to attempt rescue.

 

"Captain," he breathed. "Prepare a course that will take us to the dark side of Nirauan, where the enemy fleet should not detect us, as soon as we reemerge from lightspeed we will engage the cloaking shield. Have TIE Defender Squadron Alpha, Beta and Delta and TIE Scout group Zero ready for launch."

 

In matter of minutes they maneuver across another distant point at the edge of the system, outside the focus of Rapora interest. From there they hypered to the nightside of Nirauan, in the single second they had before the cloaking shield went online he received a report that no Rapora activity was sighted on this side of the world.

 

The TIEs launched. The Scouts would remain close to the Star Destroyer relaying to them everything that was happening outside the cloaking shield.

 

The three squadrons of Tie Defenders had already started their descent, to aid Parck and his group and to lead them to Oreton's hidden Star Destroyer.

 

A few minutes later the first reports from the TIE Scouts had come in. The TIE Defenders had encountered enemy fighters and engaged them, a trio of them had begun to escort one of the Escape convoys to the Star Destroyer. Another had sighted the clawcraft as they left the engagement, their numbers greatly reduced, now Oreton had to wait.

[Stellar_Magic]

Darth Malic smiled as he watched the battle on the tactical displays, slowly the smile faded, "Imperial ships have entered the fray, Alert Blood Claw squadron, tell them to break of and reform at lower orbits, they will then turn and engage the Star Destroyer."

 

Verosh turned to Darth Malice, "My troops our encountering heavy resistance from the Jeedai, surely you can dispatch some of the Rapora to eliminate them."

 

Darth Malice hissed with exaction, "The Jedi are immaterial, our objective is the elimination of the information stored in the library which is the Hand of Thrawn. All other concerns are secondary."

 

One of the Rapora stepped forward and bowed quickly before speaking, "Our forces could easily spare two platoons of war droids and their leaders to hunt down the Jedi."

 

Darth Malice glanced at the Rapora his voice quiet but menacing, "Very well, see to it that they succeed, and if we fail to eliminate the information in the library I will kill you myself."

 

* * *

 

Luke raced down the ravine with Mara by his side. Ahead of them were the other fighters their weapons flicking through the dark canyon, looking for any foes.

 

Witha whine a drop ship skimmed over the canyon's surface blowing dust throught he air it swerved and slowly lowered into the canyon, along its sides a series of cylindrical ports hissed open and twelve Droideka's dropped to the ground and bounced along the ravine's floor.

 

Mara turned as the first droid rocketed off a pair of concussion missiles, "Take cover!"

 

The unit of troops dropped to cover, some of them prone as the missiles skimmed past one of their number and curved up into a canyon wall.

 

Mara glanced back at the drop ship in time to see a trio of Raporan warriors leap out of the dropship and to ground their weapons ready. She pulled out her com link and thumbed it on, "Admiral Parck were pinned down in a ravine just north fo the fortress, we need assistance!"

 

* * *

 

Admiral Parck leapt up from his command chair, "Sithspawn, contact Admiral Oreton, tell him the situation, move it Stent."

 

The chiss hurried to a terminal and relayed the order then stood a predatory smile flicking across his face, "I never thought that they could be pinned down."

 

"Never underestimate an enemy and never overestimate an ally Stent," Admiral Parck answered coldly.[/i]

[Trejiuvanat]

"TIE Scouts indicate that a group of Vagaari Vessel are orbiting the planet to intercept us. A squadron of Raporan fighters have joined them," the Captain informed with precise words.

 

"Decloak, prepare to launch fighters and Assault Transports." Oreton commanded glacially calm.

 

"Transmission from the Hand," the communications officer reported eagerly.

 

Oreton rushed up to the console where a blue-skinned humanoid appeared on the monitor.

 

"Admiral, Jedis Skywalker and Jedi are pinned down in a ravine. They require assistance, that we cannot provide, I will transmit the coordinates." The Chiss disappeared and a string of coordinates was handed over to the Admiral.

 

"Launch Assault Shuttles to the surface, send our the Elites." Oreton commanded. The Elites were a group of stormtroopers that had excelled during the war against the Vong. Once known as the 303rd Batallion, they had simply become the Elites.

 

They had driven off an army of Yuuzhan Vong warriors on Morishim, thanks to the combined use of valuable tactics, shear strength and intelligence. On Bastion and Yaga Minor they had seen similar combat situations.

 

They could be easily told apart from the the standard stormtrooper because of their black body armor and the lack of the typical stormtrooper helmet. Instead a shorter helm protected their upper craneum and a transparisteel visor covered their face down their nose. A few people called them a modern revision of the old cloned ARC Troopers, other just referred them as Force-less Jedi. If anyone would get the Skywalkers out of their situation it was them.

 

In the holographic display he could see his remaining TIE Defender and Interceptor squadrons form up before the Right to Rule, and the Assault Transports form a perimeter. In the reviews of Raporan tactics he had seen their efficient use of warheads against capital ships, the bombs were much more powerful than heavy Proto Torpedoes, but lacked their speed. The ion and laser armed Assault Transports should be in a position to intercept most of them, or at least relay the telemetry data to the Gunners who'd try to kill them with the Right to Rule's Missile Launchers.

 

"Assault Shuttle has sighted the Jedi and is moving to rescue." The communications officer reported.

 

"Vagaari ships in range, opening fire; first salvo of Raporan Bombs intercepted their fighters have broken formation. TIE Defenders Gamma and Omicron in pursuit, TIE Interceptors have moved towards the Vagaari vessels."

 

The Right to Rule hung in space exchanging fire with the Vagaari vessels. A few explosions spread through some of the smaller enemy frigates. Oreton quietly thanked Pellaeon for equipping Right to Rule with some of the Hapan designed Turbolaser grid, that outperformed standard Imperial equipment at a rate of twenty percent.

 

Oreton continued to observe the maneuvers of the Vagaari ships, and the rotation of his own frienly perimeter vessels, and the veritiginous chase between the Rapora and his TIE Defenders.

[Stellar_Magic]

The Raporan fighter formation flashed open liek a deadly flower. The Tie Defenders pursued them hotly firing in their wake, then as on the flower curled inward and a venetrable wall of plasma fire lanced through the center. Plumes of gas marked the death of three of the Tie Defenders. The Vagaari fighters were having much more trouble. Their numbers were cut in half by the tie defenders but another wave of Raporan fighters broke toward the fight, three squadrons of craft raced toward the engagement hoping to take park.

 

Darth Malic watched the manuevers and smiled at the combatants as they engaged, "Excellent, order the Death is Life to move around the world at a top down orbit, we have them."

 

* * *

 

Mara winced as the scream of an assault transport echoed across them. It flashed over the ravine and spun down at a point just behind them. A squad of black clad troops leapt out and opened fire delivering a pattern of covering fire as Mara waved to the rest of their force, "Get inside, go!"

 

The Raporan war droids rolled from cover to cover unfolding only to cover the next one's movement. One of them targeted the new arrivals and opened fire with its repeating blasters.

 

Six squad members went down from the volley, their armor vaporizing from the huge amount fo power behind each bolt. Luke grabbed one of the owunded and pulled him aboard as Mara backed toward the hatch reflecting the bolts that came close away from her. As the hatch slid shut behind her she pulled out the commlink, "Admiral Parck!"

 

* * *

 

"Parck here," The Admiral answered lifted his comm to his mouth.

 

"Did you search the records for any more information on the Rapora?" Mara hissed through the comm, "Surely Thrawn left something."

 

"I'm sorry we don't have the time," Parck answered. He glanced around, "We hadn't even begun a search and parts of the library are locked out to us."

 

"Sithspawn," Mara answered tiredly.

 

* * *

 

She glanced at Luke her eyes tired as they felt the craft lift off the ground, "They didn't even start a search."

 

"There has to be something, something they're afraid is in the library, thats why they attacked here," Luke answered slowly. He suddenly brightened, "We could get Artoo to plug in." Immediately Luke pulled a comm from his belt, "Ben, I need you to get Artoo to a dataterminal and have him download as much as he can."

 

* * *

 

Ben glanced back at the comm link, "Okay, I'll get him." He clambered down the deck and tapped on Artoo's metal dome. The droid's top spun around and beeped a question, "Dad has a job for us."

 

* * *

 

"Raporan Fighter in pursuit!" The pilot shouted and Luek felt himself being pressed against the side of the craft. A brilliant orange flash echoed out the viewport as a plasma round flashed past. Suddenly there was a bang and Luke felt the craft begin to slid, a fire crackled to life beside Mara as the Pilot yelled, "We're hit, Sith we're going in!"

 

Mara gritted her teeth as the ground rose up in the viewport, "Just our luck!"

 

With a thumb and crash the Assault shuttle skipped across the ground it began to roll ripping and twisting the fuselage apart. Inside the solid cabin compartment none were hurt as the craft slid to a stop, still few were aware of themselves or what had just happened as a brilliant red lightsaber blade sliced open the roof and the brown and red head of a Raporan droid peeked into the craft. With a hiss Luke's lightsbaer sliced the droid's head off and it fell with a clunk into the craft. Tiredly he whipped his face and felt blood trickling from his forehead. Mara straightened and winced as a flash of pain shot through her back. She stood glanced up at Luke's concerned eyes, "I'm alright." Luke glanced up to where the pilot was and saw him leaning forward his helmet shattered, obviously dead at the controls.

 

A moment later Luke clambered out of the craft and raised his hand to shield the light, "Well, there's what’s left of the Fortress, we're almost back at the underground hanger."

 

"Good, because I think its time to get out of here," Mara answered as she pulled herself out of the twisted wreck.

 

"No argument here," Luke said as they started across toward the blackened cave entrance. Soldiers fell in behind them, including some of the Imperial Elites. Then ahead Luke saw the distinctive blue glow of shields in the cave entrance.

 

* * *

 

Ben led Artoo through the tunnel cave and to a computer port. As the droid jacked in a trio of chiss warriors ran past their charrics out and ready. Ben bent down beside the droid, “Hurry Artoo.â€

[Trejiuvanat]

"Partial shield loss in the engines section," Captain Ogurai reported. "The Assault Transports report that they cannot intercept all the Raporan torpedoes."

 

"TIE Defenders report losses, but confirm the withdrawal of Vagaari fighters. Raporan fighters picked fights with Defender Squadron Gamma."

 

"Scouts report that one of the Raporan Cruisers has started to turn around the planet, it'll be here in about ten minutes."

 

Noreto nodded. "Reports from the surface?"

 

"Nothing from our Elites, sensors confirm that there's a battle down there, now in the immediate vicinity of the Fortress."

 

"Signal TIEs to fall back to escort positions around Right to Rule, captain plot an exit vector, for our escape. And," pointed at the communications officer," open a channel to the fortress."

 

The officer nodded. "Open."

 

"Noreto here, one of the Raporan Cruisers is moving around the planet, it will be here within ten minutes, you have that much time to escape to Right to Rule."

 

"Understood, Parck out."

 

"Launch Omega Squadron. Instruct them to launch warheads at the Raporan fighters." Oreton ordered, with a heavy sigh. The captain relayed the order and another starfighter squadron entered the battle. But it was not an usual squadron, it was not even a TIE Design, nor was it composed of Preybirds.

 

Oreton considered it fitting that this squadron should participate in a battle against Thrawn's enemies. One of the Empire's few and absolutely secret Missileboat squadron, started their run against the Raporan fighters.

 

For the selected elite that knew of the Missileboat, it had been the ultimate starfighter. During Palpatine's reign, it had not been incorporated because it's design was not Imperial, it was an adaptation of the Cygnus Gunboat with a slight touch of Chiss aesthetics. Oreton allowed himself a smile. Fitting.

 

"Signal all the remaining Defenders to regroup around the Omegas, they will shield them."

 

Dozens of advanced concussion missiles streaked towards the Raporan Fighters that were surprised by the speed and the armament of the Missileboat. Oreton spotted a handful of explosions in the distance.

 

"Seven Raporan Fighters destroyed," the alleviated captain said and there was a murmur of hope in the bridge.

 

"Instruct Missileboats to fall back, they are not to get too far from the Star Destroyer, nor get within the hypermass shadow of the planet." Oreton ordered.

 

Looking at the officer sitting at the sensors station that observed the ground, the Admiral grimly decided that now he only had to wait.

[Stellar_Magic]

Ben huddled next to Artoo, his hand gripping a datapad in his hand as a translation of his beeps and twirps scrolled across the screen, "Okay, Artoo, just try and get as much on those...rapora things as you can, and copy the encrypted files, they may be in there."

 

A flash of blaster fire light up the red rock cavern as a pair of chiss troopers retreated firing into the area before them. A pair of orange blasts lanced out and the troopers fell with gaping burning across their chests. Ben leaned out as a Rapora warrior in full red brown armor stepped into the room, his plasma rifle scanning the room with a light hanging beneath the barrel. Ben ducked back as he heard the creature speak in its own tongue across the com link.

 

A pair of droideka'kar battle droids rolled up beside the Rapora and slowly began to unfold. With a flash of blue light one of them fell cut in half from a lightsaber. The other droid spun as a lightsaber flashed across its neck. The warrior grabbed for his belt and stepped toward the fallen droids. Drawing a lightsaber it slipped into a corridor. With a snap hiss blue and green blade flashed into exhistance from both sides. Unable to block both strikes the Rapora Warriro fell its head severed and Luke and Mara slid into the corridor, side by side.

 

Luke stopped beside the droid, "Artoo, hurry up!"

 

"We should have upgraded his data retrieval port," Mara hissed beside him.

 

The droid gave an electronic rasberry followed by a series of beeps and twrips. Ben glanced at the screen, "Um he's almost done." Luke glanced at his son with a raised eyebrow. "I don't want to repeat what he said," Ben said blankly as the droid disconnected, "Lets go."

 

* * *

 

Darth Malice leaned back against the command chair of his flagship, "Have you apprehended the Jedi?"

 

One of the Rapora knelt before him, lowering itself to its knees and bowing its head, "No lord Malice, they have alluded us."

 

Malice glanced at the captain of the vessel and pointed to the Rapora. The captain with only the slightest hesitation slashed the warrior with her lightsaber and pushed it away. Malice nodded at the corpse, "You underestimated the Jedi, now others will not make the same mistake."

 

The Vagaari General Verosh slowly turned away from the viewport and sighed, "My forces have been battered, the Imperials remain in a blocking position over the fortress, we cannot reinforce the troops we have deployed."

 

"No matter, our troops have already overwelhmed the defenses, within minutes the Fortress will fall," Darth Malice said blankly. He shrugged, "Still let us hasten their defeat, Captain take us into the fight." Witha rumble the Raporan cruiser turned toward the Imperial Star Destroyer below it. Both cruisers the Rapora would commited would enter optimal firing range within minutes, the Imperials were running out of time.

 

* * *

 

A reinforcing squadron of Raporan fighters broke and moved to engage the missile boats. Their formation spread out and their plasma cannons opened fire at maximum range. The Missile boats already engaged in fights of their own, could do little to avoid the twelve raporan craft flashing toward them. All at once twelve missiles roared out from beneath the Raporan fighters' wings. These weapons were designed for use against starfighters, they moved quickly and one kilometer from the target broke up into eight smaller missiles each one targeted on the same enemy. For even the best pilots dodging such a strike would be all but impossible. Seconds later eight of the missile boats were dead, the Empire's greatest fighter had met its match.

 

OOC: Fortunately a Raporan fighter can only carry two of such missiles and only if they weren't carrying the anti-capital ship plasma bombs.

IC: Admiral Parck glanced around the chaos as troops scrambled to transports loading gear and equipment. Stent helped a pair of technicians drag one of the fortresses precious computer cores onto the the escape craft.

 

Suddenly the Skywalkers rushed in and Mara yelled at the top of her lungs across the chaotic hanger, "We're out of time!"

 

Admiral Parck nodded slowly to himself as he drew his commlink, "Everyone you have thirty secodns to board the last evacuation ships, this battle is lost, now it is time to preserve our lives for the battles to come."

 

Luke and Mara ushered Artoo and Ben into the Jade Shadow and waved to some of the defenders to board the craft. Admiral Parck turned away from them and slowly stepped into the Lambda shuttle that would take him to safety, or so he hoped. Within moments they were off the ground, heading toward space.

 

OOC: Just a reminder I'm planning on all but destroying the Jade Shadow during the escape. In addition I'm going to kill Admiral Parck, one last post of mine and this battle will be done...your turn.

[Trejiuvanat]

OOC:Long battle, and an overly frustrating one...

 

IC: "Confirmed eight Missileboat losses," Captain Ogurai muttered under its breath.

 

"The greatest starfighter of the Empire met its match, finally." Oreton uttered. "Pellaeon will kill me for this," he told himself, or he will thank the Rapora for doing it.

 

The four surviving Missileboats, fortunately among them their commander, had started to withdraw from the furball. Using their SLAM overthruster they left the Raporan fighters behind, as the TIE Defenders had done so earlier, keeping closer to the Right to Rule hoping their gunners would score a hit against them.

 

The Vagaari group was hesitant to engage Right to Rule, after a few of their cruisers had perished. But they were not important, not now. Not with the Raporan Cruisers closing on them.

 

"Four minutes until their first cruiser is in range. Five for their second one."

 

"Start moving us out of the hypermass of Nirauan, vectoring towards or hyperjump point. Anything from the surface?"

 

"We've reading multiple evacuation vehicles lifting from the Fortress. Profiles suggest it's mostly Delta Transports, Lambdas, other Chiss Designs and an unidentified vessel."

 

"The unidentified vessel bear GFFA markings." The Captain complemented.

 

"The Jedi." Oreton decided. "Send the Missileboats to shoot down any potential threat to the convoy. ETA for the convoy?"

 

"Three minutes." An officer informed.

 

"How many Raporan volleys can we take?" Captain Ugarai asked, reading the Admiral's mind.

 

"One will cause almost total system failure, two and we'll be atoms in space." The officer informed.

 

"Sir?" The Captain turned at the Admiral.

 

"We hold, and hope that one blast won't hurt us as badly as I fear." Oreton dictated.

[Stellar_Magic]

OOC: Yeah...long is something of an understatement, of course I think the next large scale engagement for us will be over Csilla, the Chiss homeworld.

 

IC:"We're not going to make it are we," Mara asked flatly as she keyed up the weapons console. Outside the viewport they could see the rest of the evacuation ships climbing toward space. Ahead the Star destroyer Right to Rule could be seen crawling out of the gravity well. A Raporan Cruiser moving to pursue.

 

A brilliant red warning light lit up on the console beside Luke, "I guess not enemy fighters, coming in at mark two!"

 

"Alright, weapons active, lets show them how Jedi do in space," She keyed the proton torpedo launcher as the first of the enemy fighters flashed passed the viewport. A brilliant blue missile careened after it and impacted destroying the starfighter.

 

The Jade Shadow rocked as a pair of plasma bolts slapped against her shields, "He's on us, going evasive!" Luke threw the craft nose down and thrust the throttle forward. Seconds later two Raporan craft barrel rolled past the viewport. Using the laser cannons Mara nailed the rear fighter and it spun off into space trailing flames.

 

Then a familiar voice came across the comm, "Skywalkers drop back to the center of our formation, from there you may do the rest of us some good."

 

"On it Admiral," Luke answered as he rolled into the center of the convoy. As he did he saw an old stormtrooper transport's cargo compartment burn away and a series of bodies drifted off into space. Raporan fighters slashed through the formation cutting those slower craft to pieces.

 

Then a pair of brilliant concussion missiles slammed across one of the Raporan fighters. It detonated in a flash of brilliant white sparks and debris as the missile boat that killed it flashed by. Seconds later the comm crackled, "This is Omega lead to Jade Shadow, there's two many fighters to stop em all, what we miss you'll have to pick up."

 

"Roger Omega, we'll do what we can."

 

Suddenly a panicked call flashed across the comm, "This is the Lambda shuttle Knowledge is Power, we've picked up a number of Rapora on our tale, Admiral Parck is aboard we need immediate assistance!"

 

Luke glanced to the rear sensor and felt his jaw drop. Suddenly a missile lanced toward the shuttle then there were eight of them lancing for the tri wing craft as it lumbered into an evasive maneuver. They hit in sequence blowing into the shields then tearing apart the hull as the comm cut off in a scream. The two movable wings spun free trailing sparks and plasma in the darkness, "By the force."

 

"Sith, Raporan cruiser ten kilometers and closing he's right ontop of us!" Mara ducked as the terrifying dull brown shape of the vessel careened by mere meters overhead. Suddenly as they watched in awe a quad antistarfighter battery nestled between the engines swung to bear and a volley of brilliant red blasts slammed against the shields. Flashes of sparks and debris lit up the cockpit as the Jade Shadow shuddered from the onslaught.

 

Then as an alarm wailed signaling shield failure Luke, Mara, and Ben saw a turret with a glowing orange barrel slowly spin toward their battered ship. With a flash of orange plasma a blast ripped into the ship's hull. Mara in panic threw all power to the thrusters redlining them and not noting the damage done to the power generator.

 

Suddenly they were out of the gravity well and with an audible sigh of relief Luke pulled down on the hyperspace levers. Behind him the four remaining transports lunged for the Star Destroyer's hanger. All of them made it just as the ventral and aft shields of the ship failed. The heavy turbolasers along both sides of the vessel were vaporized from plasma fire and the port shield generator had been destroyed. A gapping hole in the side of the star destroyer was clearly visible as it leapt to hyperspace. The hole was the size of a corellian gunship.

 

Just four light years away from Nirauan the Jade Shadow fell out of hyperspace. Mara and Luke both strained their eyes fearing a trap, only when Mara glanced down at her displays did the truth set in.

 

Their ship was failing, its power generator nearing critical, its hyperdrive damaged, and they were in an unknown system. Pulling what little power they could risk Luke sent a distress call across the holonet to Booster Terrik and Talon Karrde along with their location. Then every one of them squeezed into an escape pod as the Shadow's orbit around the closest planet with a breathable atmosphere deteriated. As the pod fell toward the world Mara and Luke watched in silence as the Jade Shadow detonated above them sending parts of it in all directions to reign down for hundreds of years hence. The Shadow, a vessel which had in truth been the Skywalkers’ home for the last several years, was gone.

[Trejiuvanat]

OOC: Very long but it's cool to read... Can't wait for Csilla, though I'll need to patch up Right to Rule.. I'll assume Stent's alive so I have someone to talk to.

 

IC: The impact had been massive, the entire ship had shuddered as the orange salvo had impacted on the Star Destroyer. A gunship-sized crater marked the place.

 

"Confirmed, last transport in." Ugorai reported. "Second Raporan Cruiser in range."

 

"Hyperspace now." For a single heartbeat everything seemed to slow down, every member of the bridge crew held their breath and then exhaled as the stars merged into the diffuse shapes of hyperspace: They were alive.

 

Admiral Oreton looked at his captain. Ogurai was smiling, it was the wan smile of a man that had just dodged death.

 

"Status report?"

 

"A destroyed shield generator, the loss of our sensor domes, and seventy-five of our eighty turbolaser batteries, total ion cannon loss. Four Missileboats and thirteen TIE Defenders survived, we lost all our assault transports and the Elite's Assault Shuttle."

 

"The evacuation convoy?"

 

"We recovered most of the personnel, our only confirmed loss is Admiral Parck's shuttle." Ugorai finished and Oreton closed his eyes.

 

"How long before we reach Imperial Space?"

 

"About sixteen hours to the Taskforce, another twentyfour for Morishim."

 

"Give the bridge crew twelve hours of rest, technicians and engineers will start making repair, I'll want at least half our batteries functional when we reemerge from hyperspace. Find me the highest-ranking Chiss and send him to my command center."

 

***

 

In the solitude of his command room, we watched the battle over and over again. He looked at it expecting an answer to an unasked question. All those deaths, all those brave men and women who died. Admiral Parck among them.

 

A short sound indicated that a man was at the entrance of his command room.

 

"Enter," Oreton pressed a knob on his command chair to unlock the door, and a Chiss entered.

 

"You are the one called Stent?"

 

"Yes." The Chiss said and moved before the Admiral.

 

"I am sorry for Admiral Parck's loss," Oreton said.

 

"He served Syndic Mitth'raw'nuruodo's Phalanx, he knew he would meet his death serving him, as all of us will."

 

Oreton knew of their loyalty to Thrawn, they refused to believe in Thrawn's death. And if all the stories of the Grand Admiral were true, then Oreton, too, would have believed that he lived. Pellaeon, Oreton knew, believed in some extent.

 

"How much of the Nirauan Databanks were saved?"

 

Stent's face remained frozen. "Less than sixty percent, fortunately most of the Special Files survived. Unfortunately only Thrawn has access to those files."

 

"I understand. Have you battled the Raporan before? What can you tell me of their arsenal? Was this a task force of considerable strength or just a small one?" Oreton asked changing the subject. The Special Files were the only important at the moment.

 

Stent told him all he knew of the Raporan, which was not much. A few complementary comments on their technology and some vague hints of their social structure, and the confirmation of their Force-Awareness.

 

OOC: Debriefing is left for next time...

[Stellar_Magic]

Admiral Kre'fey sighed as he keyed the holocom reciever, "Supreme Commander Kre'fey."

 

"Sir, Supreme Commander of the Outer Rim Fleet just transmitted a report of the recon task force to the unknown regions."

 

"Alright, send it up here," Kre'Fey replied slowly. Then the report appeared on the console and Kre'fey felt his eyes widen, all but two of the capital ships dispatched had been destroyed. The sensor frigate and command cruiser were all that had returned from the mission.

 

His furred hand trembling Kre'Fey touched the comm, "Call an emergency meeting fo the Advisory Council, we have a situation brewing in the unknown regions. Get the Supreme Commander of the Outer Rim Fleet and the Task Force Commander, we'll want to speak with them personally."

 

Two days later, without Luke Skywalker the Advisory council met in closed session, the results of the meeting would reverbiate through history.

OOC: Darkie, Mad, you're up!

[ADarkJedi44]

Evahe sat in his office wondering. He had heard what had happened to General Ioor's force and for a second, in the silence, a wave of fear came upon him. What if this no thread was more serious than the the Yuuzhan Vong? What if the GFFA couldn't defend itself? Was another war costing billions of lives about to begin? Or would they stay in the Unknown Reigions?

He was scheduled to meet with Ioor soon. Only then could he learn how serious the situation was. In the mean time he had put all of the GFFA fleets on alert and shipyards were soon to be put at maximum production. He was going to take no chances. Hopefully the politicians would agree, and it wouldn't be like the last war. They needed to listen to Evahe.

He looked out his viewport and saw a battered ship come out of hyperspace. The sight of it inspiried fear in Evahe. The threat was indeed real. It would not be long before he knew all. He waited nervously.

It was not long before his commlink beeped. Or so he thought, in the silence he could not tell how fast or slow time passed.

"Sir, General Ioor is here."

 

"Good send him to my office"

 

Soon the door opened. From the look on the man's face he could tell the news was not good.

 

OOC: Sorry, I felt I should meet with Mad before we start the meeting

[Stellar_Magic]

OOC: Waiting, oh waiting for Mad...Alright lets sow the seeds for the battle of Csilla.

 

IC:Jaina Solo tugged at the stiff dark green of her dress uniform, its hard pressed edges digging at her and she felt stiff inside its coarse fabric. She bit her lip as she glanced in the mirror. She hated dress uniforms for the same reason as every other pilot in the GFFA forces would testify to, they were stiff, uncomfortable, and, worst of all, a formality.

 

Pulling her thick brown hair back into a braid she sighed as she felt that the formality of her attire was complete. Behind her Jag felt himself smile, "You look fine, now that we're stiff enough that physical aggression would be immpossible I think the Chiss may be willing to speak with us."

 

Jaina smiled slightly, it was Jag's stab at a joke, and his sense of humor was as bland as his charisma, but she understood it all the same.

 

Both of them stepped to the door out of their quarters. As it slid open a pair of Chiss Guards appeared, their charrics unholstered. The first one raised his hand in a gesture of warning, "Guests, go back to your quarters, the families will be unable to see you now."

 

Jagged glanced around the hall and saw other guards raping on doors for other guests, "Why?"

 

The Chiss seemed to bristle, "An act of treachery has occured." He stopped glancing at the lightsaber hanging from Jaina's hip, "The meeting chamber has been bombed."

[Mad78]

OOC: After a long absence I am back

 

IC: In the shuttle Garik had resused the entire battle in his head. Desperatly searching for a way to convince himself that the death of thousands of men was not his fault. That his Uncle wuldmhave done the same and left the battlefield bringing with him crucial information. But no matter in which way he thought of it. The ghjost of this battle wo0uld haunt his dreams for ever.

A few minutes later Garik was waiting in front of the Supreme Commander's office. The doors slid open silently and Garik stepped in. A light music was coming out of the office's loudspeakers. Garik reconnised it. It was Naritian music. The music accompagnied the holographic images generated by holoprojector in the middle of the room. Pictures of this long forgotten world seemed to help the Supreme Commander concetrate and be overcome by stress.

Evahe was trhere sitting at his desk waiting for Garik.

Garik saluted.

"At ease General... From what I see of your ship it would appear that your mission was not succesful."

"That would be a rather possitive way of looking at things Commander. We lost just about all the Taskforce and survivors sustained heavy damage."

"General what was your mission?"

Garik was astonished by the question.

"To collect information about a possible foe and contact them."

"Was the fregate supposed to collect informnation destroyed."

"No sir but..."

Evahe looked on Garik like if he was looking at a child who haden't learn't his lessons.

 

OOC: Your turn to continue the converstion DJ:

[ADarkJedi44]

Evahe shook his head. What a disaster. How will I explain this to the Advisory Council? He looked at Garik for a moment. Can I really blame him? He was confront an unknown foe with no information... For a few moments they sat there in silence. At last Evahe spoke.

 

"General you have failed terribly. What will happen to you because of this will be dealt with later. For now we have to deal with the Advisory Council. If it is there wish to remove you of command, then so be it."

"Sir, but..."

"I understand, you had no information, you were going in blind. Nevertheless you could have done better. This is a disaster. The

Advisory Council will not be pleased."

Once again Evahe was silent. What was going to happen? Was the galaxy about to break out into another huge war? Or would it be restricted to the Unknown Reigions? Evahe knew better than to hope for that. He had to be ready, perhaps even make the first strike.

"Come Garik, our meeting with the Advisory Council is soon."

With that he stood up and moved towards the bridge. It was time to go.

 

Moments later, the massive ship entered hyperspace.

 

OOC: We'll let the politicians deal with you

[BadSamaritan]

OOC: Sithspit, i cant seem to find a way to jump into the story. But, Ill give it a shot. Here goes nothing.

 

IC: Talon Karrde sat on the bridge of his ship, looking over all the reportshe had been recieving in the past few days. It seemed like there was trouble brewing out in the unknown territories, but all the reports he was receiving were sketchy, at best. He did have one confirmed report of a GFFA taskforce heading there to investigate something, but he hadnt heard any news of it yet, one way or the other. He hated being out of the loop like this. But at the same time, he was getting on in years. He knew that prety soon, it would be time for him to retire. He was getting way to old for all of this. Galavanting around the galaxy, holding together the smugglers alliance, and occasionally saving everyone was something that the young people should be doing. Not the elderly.

 

As he sat there pondering all of this, one of his newer crewmembers walked up behind him, and stopped, as if wondering how to approach him. Karrde had heard him walk up, and he smiled. He still remembered what it was like being so young, and in the presence of someone like himself. He slowly turned his seat around, and looked at the young man. He was his newest crew member, picked up at one of his last stops. The kid had been left without a family after the vong invasion, and had been living as a petty thief on the streets. Karrde had taken pity on him, and had taken him in as a crew member. He still hadnt found out where to put him as permanent crew memnber, the kid was only good at pickpocketing, but was also an ace shot in a gun turret as Karrde had found out. Karrde was thinking of putting him in one of the gunnery positions permanently, but didnt think he was ready for that quite yet. Karrde continued to look at him, and the young man just stood there, as if wondering what he should say. Karrde smiled, and looked at his hands. He reached out, and plucked the datapad out of the young mans hands. As he did this, the young man finally spoke up.

 

"We recieved this transmission a few minutes ago sir, on an emergency frequency. After we decoded it, we brought it right here." the young man said, and Karrde quickly scanned over what the transmission was. He frowned, and put the datapad down. So there was something going on in the unknown regions. And it was something big. He looked up to the young man, and thought for a moment. He couldnt take the Wild Karrde there, it would raise to many alarms. That, and his ship was far to large for an emergency rescue mission. He looked up to the young man, who was still standing there, and thought for a moment.

 

"Tell me, what ships do we all have available at the moment? I need something small, fast, and well armed for this." he asked, the the young man reached into his breast pocket and brought ut a msall datapad. After hitting a few buttons, he shook his head.

 

"All we have right now sir is the Bad Samaritan, fresh in from an overhaul at Corellia. She is fairly well armed however, but the captain says he needs a gunner for his new quad turret." the young man said. Karrde nodded at this, and though about it for a moment. He had just recently picked up Seryk as a new recruite, but he had proven himself at the helm of another of vessel in the fleet. He was a fast thinker, and just reckless enough to be willing to take the mission.

 

"Alright, bring this information to Catian Seryk immediatly, and tell hiim that you are to accompany him on the journey. It will give you some time to learn the ins and outs of running a small ship." karrde said, and he could see the worry in the young mans eyes. He knew that the kid was afraid of screwing up, and here Karrde was puttin ghim on a dangerous mission. But the kid simply nodded, took the datapad back, and turned briskly. As he walked away, Karrde turned, and looked out the viewport of his ship. The vong invasion was fresh in everybodies minds still, and now something else was rearing its ugly head. karrde was beginning to wonder if this galaxy would ever be at peace.

 

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

 

Seryk sat at the controls of his ship, looking through all the old music filed his grandfather had loaded into the ships computers. There was a large amount of older music in there, along with an even larger amount of music that not even Seryk had heard of. He always knew his grandfather had been a rather large lover of music, but it was lookin more and more like an obsession than a love. As he sat there, he heard someone walk up the boarding ramp of his ship. he tunred and looked down the hallway just in time to see a man even younger than himself walking towards him. The young man was wearing the uniform of of one of Karrdes' people, so Seryk just nodded his head. Karrde must have a new load for him. As the young man approached, Seryk nodded to him, and the young man handed the datapad to him. Seryk reached out and took the datatpad. After reading the message on it, Seryk whistled, and leaned back in his chair. He looked up at the young man, and raised one of his eyebrows.

 

"So karrde wants me to go get them?" he asked, disbelief in his voice. he had just been picked up by Karrde, and now he was being picked for mission like this? Either Karrde had a lot of trust in him, of Karrde was desperate.

 

"Apparently, yes. And also, I am to accompany you, to learn ins and outs of running a small ship" the young man said. Seryk nodded. And threw the datapad on the chir next to him. He stood up, and stretched his arms and legs. He had been sitting for far to long now, and he needed to walk around a bit.

 

"Alright, fisrt things first. Dont call me captain, I hate that. Call me Seryk. And secondly, what is your name. I dont want to be forced to say 'hey you' every time i want to get yu attention." he said. the young man looked to him for a moment, then spoke.

 

"My name? Its Burt." he said. Seryk nodded, and then sat down in the copilots seat. he motioned for Burt to sit down in the piltos seat, and watched with amusement as Burt slowly lowered himself into the seat.

 

"Well then, Burt. First things first. Lets get you started on learning how to fly." hje said. Burt simply nodded, and began to absorb all the information Seryk was telling him. After a while, the Bad Samaritan was off, Burt at the helm. The ship wobbled slightly as it flew to out into space, but quickly straightened itself out. Not much longer, the ship launched itself into hyperspace, to save to of the bigeest heroes the galaxy knew.

 

OOC: Sorry it took so long to post, I was having a hard time figuring out how to work myself into the story. So I decided to belly flop my way into it. I hope I didnt mess with anybodies plans!

Edited September 4, 2004 by BadSamaritan

[Stellar_Magic]

Cal Omas took his seat at the head of the darkened circular table. Two armed guards stood beside the double doors of the chamber, their arms folded over their chests.

 

The other members of the Advisory Council took their seats, some expressed nervousness, others curiousity, but only a few, like Admiral Kre'Fey, showed dismay.

 

Slowly an aide stepped in and bent down to whisper to Kre'Fey, "Admiral, they've arrived, their shuttle is docking now."

 

"Good," Admiral Kre'Fey replied.

 

One of the councilors, a sullustant leaned back in his seat, his eyes focused on an empty chair, "Where is Jedi Skywalker?"

 

Cal grimaced, the news hadn't yet reached him of the Jedi's fate, but the assault on Nirauan had left a glimmering distrust of any hope for his survival, "I'm afraid we don't know. We've recieved word from Talon Karrde that he's alive, but Karrde has been rather quiet as to his whereabouts."

 

"Unfortunately the known status of our own fleet is of primary concern," Admiral Kre'Fey said flatly.

 

Kenth Hamner stepped fromt he shadows of the room and Cal Omas nodded to him, "Kenth Hamner will brief you on the Task Force, under the command of General Garik. His mission and what information we have on the race that all but destroyed our force."

 

Kenth began his briefing, his tone quiet but steady, "This began with the discovery made by Jacen Solo of a massacre in the unknown regions followed by a number fo attacks on Jedi on Denon and other locations, these included..."

 

Cal Omas leaned back, he'd heard this all before, but to many of those in the room it was new to them. Quietly an aide stepped beside him and handed him a datapad. Slowly he bent down to read it.

 

Jaina Solo, reporting to the High Council, the Debate Chamber of the Ruling Families on Csilla has been bombed by unknown persons. Rumors of treachery and sabotage among the Nuruodo family run ramped along with rumors of a planned attack on the world. Unspecified reports given to Jagged Fel indicate that the Hand of Thrawn Complex has been destroyed and that Admiral Parck. Jedi Jaina Solo requesting confirmation and instructions.

 

Kenth finished as Cal starred blankly at the datapad. He blinked as the silence registered in the room. Quietly an aide stepped inside, "Councilors General Garik and Supreme Commander Evahe have arrived."

 

Cal stood and felt himself fight to keep his voice stead as the chill from the report in his hand remained, "Send them in."

 

Slowly the double doors opened and the officers stepped inside.

 

OOC: Oops...sorry badsamaritan

[BadSamaritan]

OOC: Not a problem Stellar, you didnt mess with my post. Hopefully, I didnt mess with anyone elses plans, however.

[Stellar_Magic]

The hatch of the escape pod popped open with a hiss of steam and Mara pulled herself out through the hatch, her blaster in her hand and a pair of electrobinoculars dangling from her neck. Seeing that the area was clear she turned and pulled Ben from the pod, his eyes flickered across the dull green grass of the clearing in which they found themselves.

 

Luke clambered out pulling Artoo behind him and they huddled beside the escape pod as Mara pulled open the survival backpack that was within it. She knelt beside the kit as Ben brought over a number of small sticks and kindling to start a fire as Artoo and Luke kept watch. As the fire crackled to life Artoo screamed in the dim light. Luke turned and watched in horror as a star resolved itself into a twin winged craft, a Raporan fighter. It blazed toward them and its dual plasma cannons lanced out. Their bolts burning brilliantly hot against the ground they impacted.

 

Mara kicked out the fire as the craft whine overhead, "Don't they give up?"

 

Luke grabbed Ben by the hand and watched the fighter curve up for another pass, "Come on lets find cover!"

[Stellar_Magic]

OOC: Ah Mad, Darky really need to post pretty soon...come on guys.

[ADarkJedi44]

The large doors opened, revealing a large circular table. Around it sat the members of the Advisory Council. Evahe looked calm, but inside he was a bit nervous. He had never liked dealing with politicians. Hopefully they would not repeat the mistakes made during the last war.

He walked into the room with Garik right behind him. Garik was also nervous, and it showed. Evahe hoped the Advisory Council would choose not to remove him of command. He had made a few mistakes, but he had been dealing with an unknown foe. He could not be blamed for what had happened, and Evahe still trusted him.

The Advisory Council could not possibly feel the same way. Cal Omas stood.

"Welcome, Supreme Commander Litok and General Ioor."

Evahe noded and moved to take his seat. Garik did that same.

"I understood there was an, incident in the unknown reigions."

For a moment no one spoke. Evahe glanced at Garik.

"Well?"

General Ioor nodded and stood. Nervously he began to speak....

[Mad78]

Garik's heart had never beaten so fast. With Evahe on his side he entered the Meeting room. The different representants were there.

Admiral Kre'Fey was leading the assembly. On his side was Sien Sovv and a Jedi Garik had never seen. Other representants of the senat and other divisions of the army were also present. Kre'Fey was the first to talk.

"General Garik Ioor." Garik saluted "Were you officially designated to lead a fleet on a exploration mission?"

"Yes Sir" said Garik, trying to hide his nervousness.

"Was this mission a succes?"

"Only partially Sir."

"Partially seems a ratrher small word General." the Bothan typed on his Console and a holoprojector projected a report.

"It says here you fleet was literally anihilated."

"Yes Sir. But the exploration fregate returned safely."

"Yes General. But it is unfortunated it was the only ship who did. It says here your ship only barly made it."

Garik shivered at the thought of all the injured being evacuated from his Admiral ship.

"Yes Sir."

"Now lets turn to you Admiral Evahe."

 

OOC: Darky or SM's turn.

[Stellar_Magic]

Admiral Kre'Fey leaned back in his chair, his subordinates needed a grilling, and he needed to know what they were up against, "Could you please state the current status of the force you dispatched to the unknown regions."

 

Admiral Evahe blinked, "We lost all ships assigned tot he force witht he exception of the modified Star Destroyer Mon Mothma and the modified Assault Frigate Rights of Justice, the modified Assault Frigate, fortunately was acting as a sensor frigate and recorded the entirety of the engagement, from first contact to our withdraw."

 

Admiral Kre'Fey glanced around the table, "Total casualties?"

 

"Over two hundred thousand personel," Admiral Evahe said blankly.

 

Silence greeted his words and Cal let the silence build, "General, can you think of anything you should have done differently?"

 

"No sir."

 

"Did you fire first?" Cal asked and the General looked at the floor, "General, did your forces fire first?"

 

"Yes, according to standard procedures cloaked contacts are to be considered hostile unless proven otherwise."

 

The Sullustant rose from his seat, "Did the Jedi provide you with all the materials they had gathered before the engagement?"

 

Cal shook his head, "I would remind you of the series of events, the Jedi did not acquire this material until after the force departed, even then it is unlikely that it would have done any good." Cal sighed, "Now Admiral, what exactly did your precious sensor frigate record?"