Zoot Wars II

[Krytos]

Crap! I didn't read this thread. I'm down for this.

[Mitth_raw_nuruodo]

OOC:

@Tex: I don't know if you still frequent these forums anymore. If you do, and you read this, let me know if/what you have in the way of finishing my training.

 

@Krytos: You still around?

[Mitth_raw_nuruodo]

OOC: *Dons mask and goggles, pulls out air compressor and proceeds to empty 50 gallon tank blowing dust off thread.*

 

OOC: Gentlemen, I have two posts to submit tonight, for your reading pleasure. One is mine, and is actually only half of what I have written. The other comes to you from our dear friend Grand Moff Paul Conway, may he rest in peace. If this isn't sufficient to restart this story at least it will assuage the guilt I feel at not getting Paul's final addition added.

 

IC:

As Mitth entered the bridge he heard someone announce, “Admiral on the bridge!” Most of his bridge officers knew better than to come to attention just because he was around but some of them hadn’t quite broken the habit of announcing his presence.

 

“General JH, what’s the status of my fleet?”

 

“Home Two is fully operational. All starfighter squadrons report combat ready. Sunfire and her squadrons also report ready for combat. Yavin reports 98% efficiency overall; her fighter compliments report…” JH consulted his datapad, “’Ready and rearing’, Mitth. All ship commanders know their orders. In short, your fleet is ready for action.”

 

“Thank you, General. Is my flagship ready, Captain?”

 

“Home Two is fully at your command, Admiral. Let’s kick some ass, Mitth.”

 

“Excellent. Com, open a channel to the fleet.” When the com officer acknowledged the channel was open Mitth announced, “Q Fleet, today we strike back at Zoot’s forces. That cat has seen its last days as a living breathing creature. His reign of tyranny, manipulation and subjugation is at an end. In a few minutes our fleet will make a microjump which will place us just inside Jupiter’s orbit. There we will await a signal from an unexpected ally. When that signal is received we will jump to Io and Zoot’s base. We will arrive amidst chaos and confusion, and we will capitalize on it! You all know your orders, and I know you will all perform them to the absolute limits of your ability. Zoot left us alive. Now we will show him what a grievous mistake that was! Q Branch! Prepare for hyperspace.” Mitth signaled the com officer to cut the channel. “Navigation, do we have a jump plotted?”

 

“Aye, sir. I’ve sent it to Helm as well.”

 

“Very good. Send it to the fleet. Let me know when the fleet is ready.”

 

“Understood, Admiral.” The reports rolled in. When all the fleet reported ready the com officer nodded at Mitth. “That’s everyone, sir.”

 

With a nod of acknowledgment Mitth pulled out his comlink. “Conway, begin your operation.” When the double-click came back he announced, “Q Fleet, commence hyperspace jump.” Sunfire jumped before Mitth had finished the thought. Yavin’s captain waited for the full order. The rest of the fleet followed quickly behind the other Q Fleet capital ships. When Home Two was alone she jumped as well. Seconds later she reverted to realspace. “And so we wait,” Mitth complained under his breath.

 

After what seemed a month long wait, Conway’s voice issued from Mitth’s comlink. “This is Grand Moff Conway to Grand Admiral Thrawn. Now we are even Thrawn. You may have the base and remaining ships. I have claimed the remains of the Blitzkrieg as per our agreement.”

 

“Com, open the channel.” The com officer nodded to acknowledge the order. When the channel was open he pointed to Mitth. “Q Fleet to battle stations! This is it!” Mitth motioned to the com officer and the channel was closed. “General. I have a change to make to the battle plan. When I can I’m taking my shuttle down to Zoot’s base. You’ll be in charge of the fleet while I’m away. If possible, capture his ships; I desperately want Zoot’s destroyers. I want his whole fleet if you can manage it.” As Mitth was giving the final instructions to JediHunter the fleet had prepared for and made the jump to lightspeed. Mitth finished just as the fleet reverted to realspace in view of Io. “Launch fighters. Assault craft, prep for launch. Q-YVH Squad 2739 report to my shuttle and prep it for launch.” Mitth was watching the tactical screen. “DarthTex, we’ve got a threat forming, and I need your group to take care of it.” As Mitth was addressing his teacher he isolated the enemy formation on his tactical screen. “I’m transmitting their location now. Happy hunting.” On an impulse, Mitth added the rest of Q Branch’s Force users to the conversation.

 

“Roger, Mitth. May the Force be with you.”

 

“Don’t rely on too heavily on it. Some of my technicians have been working on a modification to Home Two which should eliminate any opposition from the Zootlings. When I give the signal, make sure you all enter the ysalamir bubbles on your ships.” Mitth continued to monitor the battle. By tapping the Force he was able to see where enemy spear points were about to form. He would then direct his forces to break them up before they solidified. After a dozen such engagements Mitth noticed what he’d been looking for. The Zootlings were beginning to rush for Home Two en masse.

 

He stretched out to the Force to notify his fellow Q Branch Force users that it was time. When he sensed they had all protected themselves he pressed the button on his command chair, bringing the bridge ysalamiri into range of where he was sitting. While the ysalamiri was in motion Mitth began the start up sequence for the new weapon. All systems other than weapons, shields and propulsion aboard Home Two flickered as the ship’s computer began redirecting power.

 

Mitth had found a Force Harvester. The best part was that he was able to find a way to modify it. He could now strip Force users of their ability to manipulate the Force permanently. He could also set it to kill the Force user or use it for its intended purpose, to destroy life on a large scale. Mitth had tested the device on the clones of Jedi. He found that ysalamir were able to protect the clones within their bubble. That was why Mitth had ordered every Force user to have at least one ysalamiri nearby during any engagement Home Two was present for.

 

As the Harvester powered up it locked on to every Force user not within a Force-neutral bubble in local space. Five seconds before it reached operating power it issued a confirmation query. Mitth had the next five seconds to stop the process. He wouldn’t. For the sake of his fleet and the people under his command he couldn’t. At the end of the five seconds the Harvester reached full capacity and activated. The pale blue wave spread through Io’s space quickly, engulfing Q Fleet’s warships and tenders before continuing on to do the same to Zoot’s fleet. Mitth watched the monitor attached to the Harvester. The results were less than stellar. It would seem the naval based Zootlings had access to ysalamiri as well. Mitth could only assume that when Q’s Force users began disappearing half the naval Zootlings sought safety as well. The good news was that the ground based Zootlings didn’t seem to have fared as well. Nearly 90% had been Harvested. Only a dozen Zootlings and Sith in Zoot’s Io Base remained alive. The dead Force users’ abilities and strength were now Mitth’s to use. He set the Harvester to idle, to maintain a lock on all Force users, and activated his comm. “This is Mitth calling all Q Branch Force users. You may resume all Force activity. May the Force be with you!” Mitth closed the channel. He wouldn’t be able to use the Harvester again this battle. He doubted he’d be able to use it this way ever again. Maybe if I can find a way to further modify it, but not as it is. Mitth sent the ysalamir back to its’ alcove then opened himself to the Battle Meld he knew should be reforming. After spending a few moments with the Meld and his tactical screen he knew it was time to turn things over to General JH, and take a more active role in the battle.

 

“Captain Harsh, the ship is yours. Take care of her. JediHunter, I trust you can manage my fleet?” A pair of acknowledgments followed Mitth from the command deck as Mitth walked to the lift at the back of the bridge.

 

When the lift arrived at the Officer’s Docking Bay below and behind the bridge Mitth jogged over to his shuttle. He’d moved it from the main bay after completing repairs the day before. His YVH squad had preflight all but done by the time he got there.

 

Mitth ducked into his store room before visiting the cockpit. The droids could handle the rest of preflight, not to mention the launch if he took too long. Mitth hung his bridge uniform in the closet and pulled on his combat suit. The suit consisted of shirt, vest, pants and combat boots, all of them heavily modified. The shirt looked like any piece of Under Armour. The vest screamed SWAT. The pants and boots were cut and styled after US military BDUs. Appearance was as close as any of Mitth’s gear came to being ordinary. He had added strips of hardened duraplast everywhere until he could go ten rounds with a world class kick boxer and not feel sore the next day. He had also added a cortosis weave, just in case he slipped up. On top of everything else, he had designed and added a way to negate the effects of energy weapons. He could stand in front of a pair of E-Webs and not even singe his hair. Over his combat suit he wore a leather trench coat. This coat had all the same protective qualities as the rest of the gear he wore into combat, but it did more as well. Mitth’s coat would seal itself against a vacuum. It had taken him a year to perfect it, and that was after a couple years spent getting it from the drawing board and into prototype.

 

When he was dressed he armed himself. His personal arsenal rivaled that of Boba Fett. He carried two double-bladed sabers and three single-bladed ones. In addition to the lightsabers he had two blastswords, eight vibroblades with blade lengths ranging from three to 18 inches, a scoped blaster long-rifle, a heavy repeating blaster, two blaster assault rifles, three carbines and five pistols. He carried two spare power cells for each of the lightsabers and enough spare power packs to supply 30 men. On top of this he had the combat capabilities built into his prosthetics, and a stockpile of thermal detonators and various types of grenades sufficient to level New York City.

 

While he was getting dressed and arming himself he activated the monitors all around the store room. He watched as preflight was finalized and Captain Harsh rolled Home Two to mask the shuttle’s launch. He also kept watch on the tactical screen to know when to launch and what path to take to the surface. He grabbed his helmet off its stand, plugged it into the power supply in the coat and put it on as he started towards the cockpit. As he entered he activated his comm system. As this was an internal broadcast he wasn’t worried about it being intercepted. “Harsh, we good?” Mitth sat down and grabbed the controls, as the bay doors started to open.

 

“In three, two, one. Happy Hunting,” came the reply.

 

Mitth was through the magcon before Harsh was done speaking. He shot out from the ship, reoriented towards the moon, and fired his engines at gull power until he was a quarter second from being out of Home Two’s sensor shadow. He took that quarter second to cut power, with the help of the YVH squad, so the shuttle would plow into the base unnoticed. That was the plan anyway. Mitth’s shuttle would serve as an airlock of sorts. The battle had been going long enough, and the Force Harvester had penetrated deep enough, to give Mitth’s forces enough information to know where to plow through the outer wall. Mitth had already damped his presence to hide from whatever Force users were in the area. He looked around and saw the droids had limited their power consumption already. That was just one less thing he had to worry about in the mean time.

 

Mitth had worked with Tex on keeping his presence hidden while manipulating the Force. Using that, Mitth made minor course corrections as he got closer and closer to Io’s surface. A second before impact Mitth powered up the engines and pushed them to the limits, while simultaneously activating his ramming device. A dozen lightsabers snapped to life at strategic points across the front of the shuttle so as to minimize damage to the wall that would be left behind. The less damage to the wall, the quicker they could start flooding the base with assault troops.

 

Upon impact the droids powered up and set about sealing the hole Mitth had just created. While they were doing that Mitth started sealing off parts of his ship. He wouldn’t be able to stick around to guard it, and he didn’t’ want it damaged, stolen or gutted. When he had sealed off everywhere but the cockpit he returned there and activated the homing beacon, active and passive sensors, automated gun systems, and his personally modified IFF system. Mitth’s shuttle had a master link to Home Two’s tactical system. The modifications were hidden behind several dozen layers of useless code. These layers of code weren’t even in the dame directory as the IFF system. Home Two’s computers could over ride the shuttle, but only with authorization from the ship’s captain or the fleet commander. All Mitth had it set up to do this time out was increase the threat level of ships that either got too close or fired on the shuttle or the moon around it.

 

When he was done in the cockpit he sealed it and went to leave the ship. Before he had taken two steps he heard the aft port side airlock begin to cycle. When he reached out with the Force he felt nothing. Good. The ysalamiri teams are here already. Unless… Mitth activated his helmet’s link to the ship’s computer. When he activated the port aft airlock camera he saw a most unnerving sight. A squad of Tex’s YVH droids was cycling through onto his shuttle. As the squad point-droid rounded the corner it paused for a thousandth of a second as its recognition software ran through its files. “Grand Admiral Mitth_raw_nuruodo, T-YVH Squad 3160 is reporting for duty. DarthTex sent us saying he saw you would need help. He will be delayed for some as yet unknown reason. He sends his apologies.”

 

“Okay. Thank you. Report to 2739-6. He’ll give you your orders.” Mitth sent a ripple of gratitude to Tex. He hoped it was just enough to get the point across without becoming a distraction. Mitth activated the newly installed magcons on the shuttle’s fore airlocks, then proceeded to open them. He activated the magcons incase someone decided to vent the atmosphere in that section of the base. Next he activated the holoprojectors to notify anyone on the ship if there was air in the hall he had crashed into. His YVH squad was monitoring the results of his actions, and started off at this stage.

 

Mitth’s mission was more covert. The droids’ mission was to create a diversion, as well as finish the map the Force Harvester had created while they were at it. Mitth had taken it upon himself to neutralize the remaining Force users on the base. Finding them wouldn’t be a problem. Between his own Force senses and the idling Harvester he could find anyone in a quarter-light-year area that was even remotely Force-sensitive.

 

Mitth began cloaking himself in the Force. When the hypersensitive bio-monitors on his shuttle could no longer detect him Mitth exited the shuttle and set off to find the closest Zootling.

[Mitth_raw_nuruodo]

OOC: And now for GMC's:

The Sentinel-class shuttle hummed as it moved through Io’s space headed for Zoot’s base and the docking bay therein. Grand Moff Conway turned to his Zootlings, “As soon as we land be ready for trouble. The ysalamiri will take away Zoot’s Force powers as well as your own, but he will have Jamie with him and that could pose a serious problem to capturing him.” The lead Zootling said, “We will protect our Lady, my Master. Do not worry.” Conway turned to the officer in charge, “Harvard, make sure the Stormtroopers deploy quickly and keep your eyes open all of you. He has Zootling clones as well as troopers, though the troopers will side with us with his force powers taken away.”

 

The shuttle glided through the docking bay doors along with its two companions. As it settled down the troopers were in motion. As Conway moved down the ramp of the shuttle his troops were spreading out. Surprisingly Zoot was there with Jamie, who was alive and seemingly healthy, but he was definitely angry. “So you wish to betray me Grand Moff,” hissed Zoot, “Try nothing foolish or I break this female’s neck.” Conway did not like risking Jamie’s life, but realized he could clone her if necessary. He saw Zootling clones coming forward to protect their master and motioned to his Zootlings. As they moved forward he spoke to Zoot, “I am here to save you Zoot. Rebel forces are moving to crush your base. I prefer you come with me rather than be captured by the rebel scum.” “You lie,” said Zoot. Paul’s Zootlings spoke up, “Our Master speaks the truth evil one.” Zoot held his hand up stopping his clone Zootlings from coming forward. Surprisingly he let go of Jamie who rushed into Conway’s waiting arms. “I do not need a hostage to defeat you,” said Zoot. “I wish to check my scanners. If you are telling the truth I will leave with you.” Conway nodded and added “A squad of my troopers and Colonel Harvard will go with you, in case you change your mind.” Zoot waived his paw and the whole bunch of them moved off.

 

Jamie burst into tears as Paul hugged her and they embraced for the first time in ages. “I missed you so very much.” said Jamie “As I missed you,” said Conway. He waved to his Zootlings and they spread out among the two platoons of Stormtroopers. Even without their Force powers his Zootlings were trained assassins capable of protecting him and Dorja. So far things were going well, but he did not trust Zoot. “Did Zoot mistreat you?” asked Conway. “He put me in stasis until yesterday,” said Dorja. Paul had figured as much from Zoot’s earlier messages. He motioned to his Zootling leader who quickly came over. “Take Miss Dorja to my shuttle please.” said Conway. Jamie protested but Conway wanted her safe if anything went wrong. The Zootling led Dorja away.

 

At Zoot’s control room Zoot stared in surprise at his sensor screens as a Rebel fleet massed just outside of Io’s orbit. “It seems your master is telling me the truth,” Zoot said to Colonel Harvard. “I need a few things from my quarters,” said Zoot. Harvard nodded, “Lead the way, sir,” he said. Zoot led the way to his suite of rooms. Harvard and six troopers followed inside as Zoot gathered a few bags of personal items and plans for his secret devices. He looked around and nodded, “I am ready to depart,” he said.

 

Conway was pleasantly surprised when Harvard led the way back to the docking bay with Zoot and some clone Zootlings in tow. “I will go with you for now Grand Moff Conway,” said Zoot. “However I will remember your deception and use of ysalamiri against me.” Conway spoke up, “I was protecting myself against your Force powers Zoot. Surely you would have fried me with Sith lightning before I could explain my reasons had my troops not carried the ysalamiri.” Zoot ordered his clone Zootlings to stay and defend his base, which angered Conway. Conway did not like wasting expensive clones. After that Colonel Harvard led Zoot to one of the shuttles. Conway boarded his shuttle and sat next to Jamie Dorja. Jamie put her head on his shoulder as he stroked her hair. He pulled a comlink from his tunic pocket. As the shuttles headed to his ship he sent the bridge self destruct sequence to Thrawn. Less than two minutes later the bridge of the Kaiser SSD Blitzkrieg exploded into flames of destruction. Then his comlink chirped. When he switched it on he heard an anonymous voice say, “Empire Rising,” which meant the SSD was again his. The huge ship moved to join his fleet as the Rebels jumped in system. Zoot’s remaining ships started to attack the Rebel fleet. “This is Grand Moff Conway to Grand Admiral Thrawn,” said Conway to the Rebels private frequency. “Now we are even Thrawn. You may have the base and remaining ships. I have claimed the remains of the Blitzkrieg as per our agreement.”

 

Within moments the three shuttles were docked aboard the Tarkin and the Imperial fleet headed out of Io’s orbit. As soon as the fleet was away from the gravity well they entered hyperspace. After seeing Zoot to quarters with ysalamiri surrounding the walls from outside for safety, Conway and Jamie Dorja went to their personal suite of rooms. All in all the plan had gone well, thought Conway. He had his SSD back, he had Zoot, and more important to him personally he had Jamie back.

 

Three weeks later the reinforcements from the Empire arrived. Conway and Dorja transferred to the SSD Imperious, taking Zoot with them. The meetings between Conway and Zoot were going well. Zoot was as ambitious as Conway and both wanted to crush the Rebels. Zoot was also pleased with the new Zootlings that were being produced. They looked like Bengal Tigers and their force powers rivaled the Original Zootlings. Unlike the old Empire Conway employed females, believing they were as capable as men. His old friend Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin had demonstrated that to him with his use of Admiral Daala, Paul had recruited Jamie soon after Tarkin recruited Daala, and had started an affair with her just as Tarkin had had one with Daala. His new head of Intelligence was a female officer named Heather Krieger who had been instructed and worked for Ysanne Isard. A few days after the transfer to the SSD Imperious Krieger came to him and informed him that they were being tracked, but that they were unable to find the tracking device. Conway was furious and was sure that Thrawn's clone had arranged it. "Search for it and find it." ordered Conway.

 

Conway went to Zoot's quarters and told him of the problem. "Have the Zootlings use their force powers to find it," suggested Zoot. "Do you think it will work?" asked Conway. "Do not underestimate the Force, Grand Moff. Look at what Palpatine accomplished." said Zoot. "It's worth a try. I will put some of the new Zootling clones under Krieger's command," said Conway. Only time would tell, thought Conway. He left Zoot and headed for his quarters to have lunch with Jamie, and see what she had come up with about strategies to conquer Earth. Things were moving along.

 

OOC: view count for personal purposes: 12377