[Tales of] The New Sith Order (Redux)

[Defender_16]

The original 'thesis' post that the NSO was based on from one of the many, many Empire vs Vong threads.

 

 

Wow, where to begin. Chronological order would be best I'm guessing.

 

The Empire wins the Battle of Endor. However this battle turns out atleast some rebels are going to escape, (not many but some.) Maybe say 5 of them in starfighters. (A-Wings)

 

The Rebellion, though defeated, would simply go underground and essentially become the equivilant of one of the many pirate bands throught the galaxy. (I'm reminded of the pirate groups in I,Jedi.) I have no comment on what would happen to Luke, Leia, Han and the rest for now.

 

There is no garuntee that the Empire would have gained the Entrenchment technology from defeating the Ssi-Ruuvi. Most of the damage done to the Ssi-Ruuvi Imperium was by the Chiss E.D.F. when their borders (most likely) came under attack. The Empire may have continued on into Ssi-Ruuvi space and conquered them but they would have probably tried to destroy their technology lest their enemy use it on them.

 

Like most exotic technologies some or most of it would have ended up at the Mount Tantiss storehouse. Even with some of it recovered, I don't think this tech would have become very widespread, as the Emperor might want to keep it for himself in ways to prolong his life. (Or the lives of choice followers.)

 

I also agree that Palpatine would begin constructing a New Sith Order much along the lines of what was said above [ie. original discussion this was taken from.] by others. He would certainly have many people to choose from. Mara Jade would essentially remain the puppet she was and Kam would keep his old job. Dathomir would continue to be a source to draw dark side adepts from with the large population of Witches there.

 

The Rebellion would continue in the outer rim territories and some remote locations but I don't think the Empire would (need to) resort to totaly erasing any more species. Even durring the Krytos Virus outbreak Isard had been planning to contain select populations of certain species that had proven useful in labour such as Wookies and Sullustans. The Bothans on the otherhand I doubt would be as lucky as Isard considered them a primary target for extermination.

 

I can easily see an area about the size of the Imperial Remnant becoming a Rebel stronghold arround Mon Cal. Of course that entire area would have been crushed by the Imperials several times. Everyone would just scatter and stay hidden except for raiding.

 

I feel confident that Vader would have been able to deal with the Mount Tantiss incident with Jorus C'boath (sp?) unless perhaps Palpatine had him created on purpouse? Who knows, but most of the more serious incidents through the galaxy that plagued the NR would have been taken care of by the Empire easily.

 

Droid fighters would be introduced on a massive scale but these would be more suplemental, similar to how they were used by Zinj. One human pilot and a Droid wingmate which would shadow and cover them. Certain Elite Units would be upgraded with TIE Defenders and Avengers. Gun and missile boats would undergo a resurgance in the support role and Skipray blastboats would also be numerous. The Empire's missile production would remain mostly focused on Concussion missiles rather than Torpedos much as it has always been.

 

At this point infiltration of the galaxy begins. Vong Infiltrators would have an easy time infiltrating the Rebel factions, Hutt Syndicates or Black Sun and even the Empire. Unless they were to come into close contact with a Dark Jedi there isn't much that would give them away. In the event a Vong was ever seen without an Oooglith Masquer it would look like "Just another Alien" to most imperials. In a worst case secnario the infiltrator would kill themselves before any information could be wrought out of them.

 

When the invasion finally began, all the Vong would need to do is close off the nearby sectors quickily enough to stop communications from getting out.

 

Nom Anor's sucess in the anti-Jedi Peace Brigade [and other group's before it] could be just as effective when used against the populations of the Empire.

 

EDIT:

 

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/Defender_16/TieGauntlet-Missile.gif

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/Defender_16/TieGauntlet-Laser.gif

Edited March 24, 2007 by Defender_16

[Paul]

Cool Defender, now When are you reposting your story? I need fiction and Badman is laid up with a broken leg at his parents. -Grand Moff Conway

[Defender_16]

And so begins the tale of the New Sith Order...

 

*THX sound*

http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/09/-thx.jpg

 

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away...

 

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/b/b8/250px-Star_Wars_Logo.svg.png

++++The New Sith Order

 

++++Encounter at Bastion

 

It is a time of relative peace as the Empire ruled by Palpatine

controls most of the known Galaxy... blah, blah, blah.

Lets get this show on the road!

 

"All Pilots to ready stations!" Blared the voice of the ship's flight controller over the intra-ship com system.

 

Admiral Dorja stood looking through the forward viewports of the Star Destroyer Ardent as hyperspace swirled past. Behind and below him the bridge officers and crew went through system checks and prepared command and control systems.

 

Out beyond the swirling lights were the six other destroyers that made up his taskforce. Two mark two Imperial class destroyers and four upgraded Victory II Destroyers. He had desperately wanted to wait an extra day for the droid fighter equipped escort carriers to arrive and join his fleet but that delay for this mission was too great.

 

Bastion, a well populated and loyal system in the outer rim territories had sent a general distress signal stating that the system had come under attack by an alien force of unknown origin. That was the only information that had reached a nearby patrol frigate before the signal cut off. The Frigate had dispatched it's two hyperspace capable Gunboats to jump to Bastion and determine the nature of the emergency further while the Frigate jumped core ward to report. Neither gunboats reported in at the assigned time.

 

Over the past month pirate and insurgent groups had been attacking hypercom communication platforms through the outer rim and even into the colonies. Contact with several key positions was starting to become spotty at best. It had been more than two weeks now since the last report from Yaga Minor. Fearing that enough rebel cells had massed to attack the shipyard and had cut off communications, he had begun to assemble a group to perform a recon in force when the distress signal arrived.

 

The Twenty six squadrons of starfighters his fleet carried would be more than a match for any rebel force they encountered. Still, it paid to be cautious and he hadn't stayed alive this long by recklessly jumping into situations he wasn’t prepared for. Dorja wondered who or what the alien attackers could be. Surely the Chiss would have sent some warning if there was something coming in from the unknown regions. If it was the Chiss themselves attacking then the Emperor would already have been screaming for the heads of every one of the blue skinned humanoids.

 

+++

 

They emerged at the edge of the system and began scans directed toward the systems inhabited planet.

"Status report please. How many rebels are we dealing with?"

 

Commander Wintle looked up from the crew pit. "Sir it's odd. We've found debris in orbit with enough mass to match Bastion's defence forces but no active Ion signatures."

"Hmm... let me see a magnified view."

A small view screen built into the wall activated showing a grainy image of Bastion. Small flecks of debris could be seen where they passed across the face of the planet.

"You're sure there's no sign of rebel ships in the system? There must be an Ion wake or some remains from a fleet large enough to do this."

 

"Nothing sir. Only a few asteroids in a high orbit."

 

"I want a full load out on our TIE Gauntlets. Equip as many as possible with shield pods and arm all of them with missiles. The Gunboats and Skiprays will escort us as we make the jump in system. Same orders to all ships."

 

+++

 

The fleet reverted with the ISD's in a wide delta formation and two Victory's above, the remaining two below.

 

"Sensors, find me something useful."

 

"Main population centers appear to have suffered orbital bombardment. Pattern is inconsistent with any in the databanks."

 

"Blast." Muttered Dorja to himself.

 

"Is it possible they suffered a directed asteroid bombardment?" Asked Wintle, directing his attention both to the Admiral and the sensors operator. "We did detect asteroids in orbit after all."

 

"Movement from the asteroid and debris field sir."

 

Wintle spun on his heel. "Weapons can you get a lock?"

 

"Negative sir no definitive contacts."

 

Dorja held up hand towards the Commander. "We'll hold our fire until we can get a good look at the intruders. Same order to all ships."

 

"Aye sir! Permission to have Interceptors form up into independent strike units."

 

"Very well, but include the strike units as part of our fighter screen for the moment, deploy our squadrons in a defensive formation. Only launch the strikes units if they try to run for it."

 

The Destroyers continued in closer to the gravity well for five minutes. "Sensors tell me you have a contact sorted out from those rocks." Whispered the Commander.

 

"I'm sorry sir but whenever I positively identify an object that appears to be moving under power, it just turns out to be an asteroid fragment. I've logged nearly two hundred of them."

 

"Admiral, it's no good. The asteroid fragments are interfering with sensor locks. It's like they're moving under their own power."

 

"Lieutenant, put some of the images of the asteroid fragments up on the main screen. Scroll through them, perhaps we'll find a thruster unit staring back at us."

 

Images began to blink up on the screen, one replacing another in rapid succession. Dorja began to frown. There was something wrong here, something he'd overlooked. The smaller asteroid fragments all looked very similar. All had the same basic shape, almost as if-

 

"Hyperspace reversions detected aft! Multiple contacts!"

 

001

Edited November 23, 2007 by Defender_16

[Paul]

Thank you for some good reading Defender. Its been long enough that I barely remember it all, but I do know whats next. Still want to read it of course my friend. This is the only Vong work I can put up with lol. - Grand Moff Conway

[Defender_16]

"Shields to full, get an image on the screen."

 

Turning toward them were six large rounded asteroid like shapes, just like the ones now visible through the forward viewports. Two larger ones the size of an Imperator and four smaller ones closer in size to a Mon Cal star cruiser. The ships, for they were certainly space faring vessels, all had what appeared to be large coral like growths coming out of them. Then the branch like growths started dropping small specks into space.

 

"Magnify one of the objects they're dropping."

An image just like that of one of the small asteroid fragments popped up on screen.

 

The asteroid ships in orbit of Bastion went active then, two more analogous to Mon Cal Cruisers and several around the size of frigates or Carrack cruisers.

 

"They could just ram us and we'd never stand a chance." Dorja cursed "Helm. Plot a jump to the edge of the system. Prepare to recover fighters."

 

The Helmsman had started into the necessary calculations for a jump when a red light went off on his console. "Artificial gravity well detected sir."

 

"Son of the Sith. Tell our Fighters to engage at will."

"This should be interesting." commented Wintle. "Ideas Admiral?"

"Run like hell first and foremost. Victory Destroyers come about and engage the ships in our aft. ISD's are to reverse engines put down a screen of fire towards the ships coming up from orbit."

 

+ + +

 

"We're ordered to engage at will." Said the Wing leader. "Major Fel, take your two Gauntlet squadrons and help screen the Destroyers. Interceptors with me."

 

Several squadrons of Interceptors broke ranks and charged ahead toward the oncoming lumps of rock.

"Gauntlet Squadrons 241 and 242 with me." Commanded Jag Fel. "We'll stay with the Gunboats and Skiprays covering this flank."

 

As Jag watched, the four Victory Destroyers came about, running their sublight dives to maximum. It took him a moment to realise they were not accelerating as quickly as they should have been. Then sensors showed active tractor beams between the ships. The Victory's were towing the ISD's backwards out of orbit. The larger Destroyers diverting engine power to tractor beams and weapons.

 

Turbolaser were now filling space with bright green bolts of destructive energy. Jag watched for detonations or other tell tale signs of weapons impacts but none appeared. The Turbolaser bolts simply vanished before they reached the rocky surface of the oncoming ships. The rocks the size of large frigates were fast closing with the fleeing Destroyer group.

 

Meanwhile the TIE Interceptors had engaged the first line of asteroid fighters. Though maneuverable, the unshielded fighters were fast taking damage from some kind of plasma weaponry. Com chatter showed that the TIE sensors were having trouble locking onto the rocky targets.

"Major Fel to Wing leader, recommend fighters switch to ground attack sensors. It may help with target locks."

"Good thinking Major. You heard him, get to it."

 

+ + +

 

"Fighters are now fully engaged. There's too many enemy ships for them to hold them back."

 

"Pull the Interceptors back to the main screen. Send the Gauntlets out to help them if you have to. And see if you can penetrate those defences."

 

"Sir! Cavalcade reports something is striping their forward shields."

 

"Gravity readings are all over the board sir, not just the interdictor."

 

The ship shook slightly for a moment and the forward shields disappeared. "Begin a restart on the forward shields. Try extending the inertial compensators to include the shields. Tell the shielded fighters and other destroyers to do the same."

 

Orange gold plasma poured out from the Frigate analogs and fighters, hitting the unshielded bow of Cavalcade. Secondary explosions tore through the starboard gundecks leaving a trail of debris. A second volley struck near the ship's command platform and heavy Turbolasers. Then two formations of fighters fought their way through the defensive screen and poured fire into the bridge.

 

"Shields back up sir." Called the operations officer. The board showing shield strength was illuminated in orange.

"Cavalcade is still responding sir, there were crew in the secondary bridge to take over."

 

"Target the nearest Frigate analog. Both ships hit it with everything."

 

002

Edited March 25, 2007 by Defender_16

[Paul]

Dude keep it coming as you get time. As I said when you first posted this story arc, its damn good. Thank you. - Grand Moff Paul Conway

[DarthTex]

Def, thank you for re-posting your stories (with a little constant nagging from me Sorry about that ). I vaguely remember these early parts, and they are just as exciting as reading them for the first time . Keep the installments coming!!

[Defender_16]

+ + +

 

Jag Fel was flying for his life. The information on extending the range of the inertial compensator field had come too late for nearly half of the Tie Gauntlet fighters. Luckily the blastboats had held back far enough that they received the information in time. The fighter screen was fast becoming useless as evidenced by the fires burning aboard Cavalcade.

 

Jag, a squadron member, and a blastboat they had been shadowing were using their combined fire to batter past the tiny black singularities the enemy asteroid fighters used for shields. They were killing fighters one at a time but not nearly fast enough.

 

Cavalcade and Ardent both concentrated their Turbolaser fire on a nearby frigate, overwhelming it's defences and boiling away hull material into space. When Turbolaser bolts finally exploded forth from the opposite side of the ship, the Frigate began to break up.

 

The Victory Destroyers were faring poorly though. Their fighter squadrons were being decimated and shields were fast slipping away under plasma hits. Ardent and Cavalcade's fighter squadrons were now being driven away from their mother ships by walls of fighters.

 

+ + +

 

Things were turning grim.

"We're not getting out of this one in one piece Commander."

"Aye sir."

 

"Sensors have you located the interdictors?"

 

"Yes sir! They're the four Cruiser Analogs aft of us."

"And the two other ships?"

"The larger ones appear to be acting as carriers. They're literally throwing fighter analogs and similar sized missiles into the Victory destroyers."

 

Dorja looked at the status readouts on the Vic's. The shields were down to thirty percent on three of the ships and failing on the fourth.

 

"Helm... set a collision course for one of the interdictors, tell Cavalcade and the Victory destroyers to do the same."

 

"This is going to be messy sir."

"It's already messy Wintle. I'm trying to see that someone gets out of here alive."

 

The ISD's spun about, taking and giving more fire on their flanks as they turned.

 

"Tell the less damaged Vic's to hold back a bit and to ignore the carriers. If a Destroyer loses shields they're to make best speed into the nearest interdictor."

 

The first Victory Destroyer, it's hull flaming and badly deformed, struck it's target before exploding spectacularly. The Interdictor was cracked in two with bodies and debris streaming away in every direction. A second Vic, still being hit by the carriers struck it's target. The third destroyer had lost engines and was being picked apart.

"Tell Bier to fall back and cover us. And tell Cavalcade to get any shuttles off while they can."

 

Cavalcade flew past the broken Victory destroyer using it's now expanding debris cloud for cover. All remaining cannon and batteries fired wildly. The last of her starboard batteries disappeared under fire from the cruiser analog and a trailing frigate, but the port shields held long enough for her to put two devastating broadsides into one carrier.

One last transmission came from the ship on an open frequency; 'For the Empire.'

Then her bow hit her target. The starboard supports buckled more quickly than the port and the Destroyer crumpled in on it's side as the bow stabbed into the heart of the enemy ship. The Sublight drives sputtered out and failed to explode.

 

"Hit that last interdictor with everything we have left!"

 

Ardent and Bier were being hit from all sides by fighters. Two assault shuttles dropped from the main bay, headed straight for the interdictor. About halfway to the ship, space troopers launched from the shuttles, firing torpedoes and E-webs.

 

"What are those shuttles doing?"

 

"They're carrying Nergon-14 charges!" Shouted Wintle over increasing damage alarms.

 

A void opened in front of the assault shuttles but the quick thinking crews detonated their explosives before the ships could be dragged in. Two large fireballs expanded, then were sucked into the defensive void.

 

"Gravity well intensity has dropped by half sir." Reported sensors. "Their interdiction field may be tied to their defences."

 

"Gunnery concentrate on their bow."

 

Gaps were starting to appear in the Ardent`s shields. Plasma flames from fighters were burning holes in the topside hull. Turbo laser bolts still poured forth from both remaining Destroyers as they closed with the last interdictor. The interdictor started taking hits with increasing frequency, it's voids tiring under the stress.

 

"Interdictor is retreating sir, their Grav-well is down."

 

"Helm give us a course roughly sixty degrees up from our current axis and prepare a hyperspace jump. We need to get out of range of the Carriers. Any Hyperspace capable fighters are to get out now."

 

The two ships pulled away, the Carriers raking their undersides with fire while the Frigate analogs continued to pound the aft shields. The Victory Destroyer's aft shields finally fell, allowing direct hits to the engines.

 

"The Bier has lost it's port engine. They're turning to hold our back."

 

The smaller Destroyer had just completed it's turn when it was hit by the combined fire of six ships. The port side exploded open like it had been made out of paper.

 

"Helm, jump us out at your earliest available moment." The wreckage of the Bier wouldn't give them much cover for long, they needed to jump and now.

 

"Hyperspace jump in ten seconds."

"The fighters sir?" Asked the Commander.

"We have thirty thousand people on this ship." Was Dorja's only reply.

The other man nodded in understanding.

"Three... Two... one..."

 

The stars elongated for the second or so hyperspace jump that dropped them at the edge of the system.

 

003

Keep commeting on it and I'll keep posting them.

Note: I won't be exceeding 1 post per day addition to this thread no matter how much nagging there is. I am hoping to resume work on the later pieces that were never finished.

Edited March 25, 2007 by Defender_16

[Paul]

Defender you know I like your work. One post at a time works for me my friend. Thanks dude.-Grand Moff Conway

[DarthTex]

Keep commeting on it and I'll keep posting them.

Note: I won't be exceeding 1 post per day addition to this thread no matter how much nagging there is. I am hoping to resume work on the later pieces that were never finished.

No problem there Def. Thanks for the post; quite invigorating!

[Defender_16]

+ + +

 

"Hyperspace capable fighters are to jump out-system immediately." Came the Flight controller's voice.

Jag knew what that meant right away. They're going to leave the other fighters.

"Remaining Gauntlets, try to get to the nearest blastboats! Use the underside docking mount to hitch a ride if you can."

 

Jag and his wing mate blasted through another fighter that had been moving in to harass the Skipray they had been covering. "Dev, I want you to dock with that Skipray, I'll cover."

 

"Negative sir, I've been hulled by debris. No atmosphere in the cockpit."

With no atmosphere in the TIE cockpit a pilot wouldn't be able to withstand the cold of space for very long, even with their flight suit intact.

 

"Get going sir, before the Skipray jumps."

With out any choice Jag goosed the thrusters swinging his Tie in below the Skipray then thrusting up just enough to connect with the docking connector.

 

Dev's Tie turned and headed straight for a group of six incoming fighters. Three sensor blips blinked out before the Skipray entered hyperspace.

 

+ + +

 

"Shields are back up to ten percent and the bridge tower shields are mostly intact. There are thirty medium sized hull breaches and fifty small hull ruptures, the largest of which are clustered near the main reactors. Half of the weapons are operational, none of the quadlasers survived. Hypercom can't connect to any of the main relays and sensors have taken damage as well.

Lastly, several of our blastboats and fighters have emerged from hyperspace relatively close by sir. Some of the blastboats are carrying Tie's on their docking connectors."

 

Dorja rubbed his temples as he listened to the Commander's report.

"Get the Ties onboard. What's that status of our hyperdrives?"

 

"Operational. The hyperdrives did suffer damage but the engineering crews are still determining how much."

 

"We'll have to risk another jump. I'm amazed we haven't been pursued already."

 

"Cavalcade didn't explode sir. It's possible they could be combing the wreckage for survivors."

 

"There's nothing we could do for them if anyone survived. Plot a series of jumps to take us back to the Battle Group rendezvous point. Jump as soon as the Tie's are aboard... and have the highest ranking pilot still alive report to my office."

 

With that Dorja turned and strode from the command platform back to his ready room.

 

+ + +

 

Six Tie series craft entered the main bay of the once mighty Imperial Two Star Destroyer Ardent. One scarred Tie Interceptor and five almost equally battered Tie Gauntlets were all that remained.

 

Jag had seen the rips in the Destroyer's hull and other damage on approach. Most ships he had seen in this condition had been used as gunnery target practice for the Super Star Destroyer crews. The main bay had taken little damage but it still had a haunting sensation to it. Never in his career had he seen a Star Destroyer's bay so empty of fighters.

 

As he popped the hatch upon landing, twice the usual number of techs scrambled over to inspect the fighter. He barely had time to climb down to the deck before a voice ushered from the overhead speakers.

"All hands stand by for hyperspace entry. Will the ranking pilot please report to the bridge. Ranking pilot report to the bridge."

 

Jag glanced between the other pilots that had made it. Two were flight officers and the others Lieutenants. He pointed to a senior Lieutenant from one of the other ships. "You, find out how many reserve or replacement pilots there are on Ardent and ask the techs about spare fighters. I'm needed on the bridge." With that Jag moved off towards one of the turbolifts as fast as protocol would allow.

 

004

Edited March 25, 2007 by Defender_16

[Rolladogg]

Glad to see this back.

[DarthTofu]

Yes! Yes! It's back! We all know what this means, I hope:

 

Tex will finally shut up about it!

 

 

Good stuff, D. Now that I've finally finished the NJO I should be able appreciate this stuff much more. Though I must say, John Walter Williams kinda screwed the Imps over when he wrote Destiny's Way. ("Any imperfect flowers will feel the pinch of my finger!" Ugh! )

 

*Prepares to actually read this time around*

[tacoJoemeru]

yes! More great stories! Tofu that picture scares the crud outta me...

[Defender_16]

+ + +

 

The soft but fast clicks of boots on the deck plates heralded Jag's approach.

"Major." Saluted Commander Wintle. "The Admiral is waiting for you in his ready room." He gestured to a door off the starboard aft portion of the bridge.

"You can go right in."

 

Jag had barely walked through the door and was just beginning another salute when the Admiral spoke.

 

"Have a seat Major."

 

Once he was seated Dorja slid a small crystal shot glass across the desk toward him then raised his own.

"I'm promoting you to Colonel and placing you in command of our starfighter forces Mr. Fel. Normally I'd say congratulations but these arn't the best circumstances." The Admiral downed his glass then continued.

"I want your insight on these new enemies."

 

Jag paused long enough to compose himself before starting in. "They are not invincible, which should help morale in the long run."

"Yes. We did prove that much. Four enemy ships destroyed but at the cost of five Destroyers."

 

"I believe our starfighter squadrons could match them if properly trained to counter their tactics, but we would need a numerical superiority of three to one."

 

"The new Tie Gauntlets seemed to fare well. If we were to face them with a majority of advanced fighters?"

"The odds would be closer to two to one then. The shield stripping tactics of theirs will eventually break the inertial compensators of a fighter. Missiles seem to be quite useless against their defences, only massed fire seemed to work for us. Firing too many shots for their voids to intercept all of them."

 

"Did you see any evidence that their defenses might be linked to their propulsion?"

 

"Hard to say sir. Most of us were maneuvering at lower speeds or pacing the blastboats."

 

"When we stared scoring heavier hits on the last interdictor the gravity well began to decrease in intensity. If we could find a way to use this against them..."

 

"We could request a Dominator from the nearest over sector fleet. That would be one way to prove the hypothesis."

 

Dorja threw his head back and laughed. "Major..." The Admiral closed his eyes for a second. "Colonel, I'll be lucky if I lose just my command for this debacle. I've been a cautious Commander my entire career and the only reason I've made it this far is because I get results. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer but I never lose ships."

He stood, straightened his uniform, then looked at a display screen on the wall.

"Today I was overconfident in the abilities of my fleet... and it got them killed."

 

"Permission to speak freely sir?" Asked Jag.

"Go ahead."

"You did what you could to save as many Imperial lives as possible. It's possible none of us would have escaped. More than thirty thousand people survived today because of you. Thirty thousand people who have an idea how to fight this enemy."

 

005

Holy cow, I've been retreiving all of the old material and saving each post individually and I'm starting to realise there's a lot. I didn't think I'd written so many.

Edited March 25, 2007 by Defender_16

[DarthTex]

Tofu that picture scares the crud outta me...

 

Tofu, you change your avatar almost as many times as a woman changes her mind ... almost. But by far, that is the most horrendous avatar you have ever used!

 

All children, decent people and those who are still sane beware!!

 

http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/8208/smugshotxs7.th.jpg

 

 

Keep up the good work Def!!

[Krytos]

Tofu that picture scares the crud outta me...

 

Tofu, you change your avatar almost as many times as a woman changes her mind ... almost. But by far, that is the most horrendous avatar you have ever used!

 

So true Tex! Maybe Tofu IS a woman in disguise! ... ah ... nah, that picture is way to ugly for a woman

 

 

.oh, nice work Def

[Defender_16]

"Hyperspace signature detected aft."

"They followed us through another jump." Commented Wintle, before the bridge shook from the impact of plasma weapons hitting the shields.

"Ranged shot, superficial shield damage."

 

They had performed more than a dozen jumps over the past two days. Most of the bridge crew besides the navigator and helmsman had lost track of where they were.

 

"What are we looking at this time."

"This system seems to have a series of very dense debris belts in the middle to inner system."

 

"It'll do. Helm plot a course to take us through the densest sections of the belts then a slingshot trajectory around the star."

"Aye."

 

"We have incoming Shards. Four squadrons." The few pilots remaining had taken to calling the enemy fighters 'shards' since they had so easily and repeatedly been mistaken for asteroid fragments at Bastion. Techs had been working non-stop, upgrading target recognition programs to pick out the similar yet slightly variable shapes of the fighters.

 

"Tell Colonel Fel to hold his launch until they get within one thousand kilometres. Status of the Capital ships?"

If possible the Capital ships varied between each other even more than the fighters. Some of the same basic type might have what looked to be a large well healed scar while another might have a bulge in the hull filled with plasma emitters. Then there were the coral like outgrowths which not only had more weapons most of the time, but acted as a docking array for more fighters.

"One Carrier, three Cruiser analogs and two Frigate analogs. The same ones from Bastion again sir. Wait, correction. I'm now detecting what appear to be corvette analogs. Two of them."

Sithspit.

"Time to intercept?"

"The Corvettes and the damaged cruiser analog will reach us just after we enter the belt. The others are matching our speed."

 

+ + +

 

Eight Tie craft launched from the main bay of Ardent, six Gauntlets and two Interceptors. The tech crews had been able to fabricate two more starfighters using spare parts and other materials kept aboard to replace losses.

"All fighters stay in formation until we reach the belt. Use your speed and maneuverability to your advantage. If you take damage then return to the ship, we cant afford vehicle losses this time."

 

The ties held back with the Ardent until the incoming fighters reached weapons range. The Destroyer's few aft batteries opened up to support the ties, then the two lines of fighters were swarming toward and around each other. The two Interceptors each stayed near a shielded Gauntlet pair, using the other ships for cover if needed.

 

Instead of missile pods the Gauntlets had been fitted with an additional tie solar array wing and laser cannon bumping the total cannon up to six. Using single fire the outfitted ties were bound to score a hit on the enemy fighters eventually just through sheer total fire. Despite the obviously incredible flying talent these remaining pilots had it didn't take long before they started to take damage.

 

+ + +

 

"Entering the belt." Reported the Commander. "We are now within weapons range of the Cruiser analog but the enemy fighters harassing us may prevent them from firing."

 

"Good, we needed a break." Dorja marched up to the forward viewports to get a better view. "Use the tractor beams to try and redirect some of the asteroids that we pass. Try and drop them into the cruiser's flight path."

After a moment studying the floating rocks and debris ahead he spoke again. "Tell our people to mind the asteroids and not to fall behind."

 

The bridge began to shake continuously under hits from enemy fighters.

"We cant keep taking hits like this sir." Whispered Wintle to Dorja.

 

"I know that Commander but we need to find the perfect... there!"

The Admiral, stabbed a finger at a particular group of asteroids on the scanner displays.

 

"Helm! Swing us close to those larger asteroids twenty degrees to port, then put our engine wash over them."

 

"Another plan?"

"Something I saw a smuggler do once. Prepare to direct all shields aft and put available power to engines."

 

+ + +

 

Four Ties still looped and fought with four times their number of shards. The others had withdrawn to the Ardent after taking damage. Most of the pilots concentration now was on keeping fighters away from the Main landing bay. One shard had already entered the bay while an Interceptor was landing. The interceptor pilot had spotted the shard in time to shoot it down but debris had blown a hole in the top of the bay.

 

"Ardent to Fel. Colonel, keep your fighters away from the aft end of the ship. We're expecting heavy incoming fire."

 

"Understood." Replied Fel as he dodged around a large rock and back toward the bay.

 

+ + +

 

"Changing course forty one mark twenty seven. Bringing sublight drives to one hundred and five percent." Reported the helmsman.

"Directing weapons power to engines and shields. Doubling aft shields." Said the operations officer seconds later.

 

The deck vibrated under the strain of the engines.

 

Dorja looked over to Wintle "Here's where the fun begins Commander. Hang on to something."

 

"Incoming fire from the cruiser."

"Brace!"

The bridge shook heavily as the plasma struck the reinforced shields.

Behind them the ship's engine wash began heating the cluster of asteroids.

 

"The fighters have withdrawn to a safe distance."

"More good news. Sensors status on the asteroids."

 

"The... the asteroids are deforming, they're... They're exploding sir! Debris is hitting the Cruiser and corvette analogs."

 

"That'll do then." Said Dorja sounding wearied. "Bring the fighters back aboard and get us out of here."

"Permission to throttle down to safe levels sir?"

 

"No, continue to pour on the speed until we're in mid slingshot around this system's star. Once we're out of sensor contact with the enemy change course and enter hyperspace on a different heading."

 

Wintle caught on right away. "If they follow the course set by our slingshot they'll end up jumping to a totally different system."

 

"Exactly. But only if it works. Despite that last trick these people don't seem like fools."

 

"Cruiser analog has broken up sir. Fighters are retreating to the carrier."

 

006

Edited March 25, 2007 by Defender_16

[Paul]

Defender,

Great stuff. Keep it coming. If I dont respond after a post its because I havent been here. My computer got hit by a damned virus and is in shop. It may be a while before I get it back(using a friends at the moment). Talk with you people later. - Grand Moff Conway

[nordwindranger]

excellent stuff Def. a sight better than most of the SW books for that matter

[Jahled]

That's actually an excellent read D-fella , and what nordwindranger said, I shall now catch up...

[DarthTofu]

Tofu that picture scares the crud outta me...

 

Tofu, you change your avatar almost as many times as a woman changes her mind ... almost. But by far, that is the most horrendous avatar you have ever used!

 

So true Tex! Maybe Tofu IS a woman in disguise! ... ah ... nah, that picture is way to ugly for a woman

 

I resent all of the above comments. I don't deny any of them, but I do resent them! Ace work, Def!

[Defender_16]

+ + +

 

"From what we have been able to determine, the alien fleet is no longer perusing us."

 

"Now all we need to do is get back to the fleet, Commander."

Dorja paced behind his desk, something he never would have allowed himself to do on the bridge. "A good three weeks in a repair dock and a wing of starfighters are all we need before getting back into the action. If I'm able to retain my command that is."

 

"You have a loyal Imperial crew Admiral. Everyone I've spoke to believes you'll get us back to the fleet."

 

"Thank you Commander. Now, we need to find a way station of some kind with more supplies. There are only so many hyperlanes from Bastion and it's surrounding sectors back to our rendevous point. There is a good bet that those lanes could be watched and we wouldn't stand a chance in a straight up fight. How close are we to Yaga Minor?"

 

Wintle leaned forward and sorted through several hardcopy star charts then compared them to his datapad. "We can get there in two jumps. Say eighteen hours if we don’t lose any more hyperdrive efficiency."

 

"Equip two of the Gauntlets with hyperdrives, one of them with a recon package. We'll drop out between systems, say twelve light hours out. Then the recon fighters go in."

 

+ + +

 

Jag Fel's fighter dropped out of hyperspace followed shortly after by his wing mate Tarth Elsin. Jag's fighter had been fitted with two high power sensor pods on it's hard points. External belly tanks had been fitted to increase the range of the fighters. Since the hyperdrive module used the same port that the shield module normally did Jag's fighter had reduced defences.

 

Tarth's fighter had one of the prototype combined shield/missile pods equipped but the shields were only half the normal power. The other mount had a wing laser, giving the fighter an off balance look. If they were attacked Jag would have to rely on his wing mate for support.

To add insult to injury the Tie's lasers had to the powered down while the sensors were in use as their emissions caused interference.

 

They had entered the system at the orbital distance of the system's largest gas giant. The planet was on the far side of the system at this point of it's orbit.

 

"Anything on the sensors yet sir?" asked Tarth who had wisely switched to burst transmission.

"Not at the moment, they're taking a bit to warm up. Loop out to thirty kilometres to be sure you're not interfering with my scans."

"Aye sir."

 

After a minute of silence the sensors finished coming up to full power. Jag focused the sensors in on Yaga Minor hoping to find signs the shipyard was still intact. At this range even the high powered sensors could distinguish little. The planet itself was covered in thick clouds obscuring the view of the planet below. He keyed his com.

 

"Tarth, do you know what kind of weather is normal for Yaga Minor?"

 

"Not really sir, I'm from Tynna. The only other worlds I know much about are in the core."

 

"I can't find any signs of the shipyard from here, but I'm betting it's already been taken out. I can't even find any navigational beacons."

 

"We arn't in any gravity wells here. We could try to raise someone on the com and if any trouble shows up we jump to hyperspace."

 

"You plot a jump for us while I try communications." The whole situation struck Jag as odd. If Yaga Minor had been attacked then they should have been able to raise the small base at Garqi. That should have sent word back to a dozen worlds and brought a much faster response even with the holonet transceivers being ravaged. Despite all of this Bastion had been able to get off a distress signal that reached a fleet group. It was still odd.

 

He set the gain on the communications systems to maximum and keyed it on. "This is Colonel Jag Fel to any Imperial forces in the Yaga Minor system, please respond. Any Imperial vehicles or vessels respond please."

 

The com remained silent except for background radiation.

 

"Sir..." came Tarth's voice "I've got the jump plotted."

 

"We'll wait a minute." Jag responded before switching back to the high gain signal. "This is Colonel Jag Fel off of the Star Destroyer Ardent. Any Imperial survivors please respond..."

 

A light crackle issued through the com unit for a moment then subsided. Seconds later the crackle reappeared, again disappearing seconds later. The third time the crackling sounded very much like Imperial encryption code but was still so garbled that that the computer could make no sense out of it.

Then the sensors pinged with an IFF contact.

"I've got something coming up out of the gas giant's atmosphere. The IFF looks Imperial but it might be a trap, get ready to jump."

 

"Th-- i- L---t--an-- C--and-- Dav-- of--he V---icat-- C--ise-- Se--na--"

 

"I don't think it's a trap sir."

"Keep your hand on the hyperdrive lever either way."

 

"T--s is Lieutenant C----ander Davis of t--- ----dicator Cruiser Sev---r to Impe--al resc-- party plea-- respon-. I repeat, this is L-eutenant Comm-nder Davis of t-e Vindicator Cruiser Sevana-. Imperial rescue party please respond."

 

Jag directed the com toward the gas giant. There was no point in having the entire system listening in if he needed to give co-ordinates.

 

"This is Colonel Fel. It's good to hear you Commander."

"It's good to be heard Colonel. Some of us were starting the wonder if the fleet would ever come for us. Two weeks can feel like a long time."

 

So can five days, thought Jag. "Commander, can you tell us how you were hit?"

 

"It was odd, we had some kind of weird Mynock infestation. They started chewing on the communications arrays, then there was an asteroid bombardment."

 

"Asteroid bombardment?"

 

"Yeah. The ships in orbit tried to force them off with tractor beams and then lasers but they just kept accelerating. Once the orbital platforms and the shields had been hit these weird ships made of processed rock showed up. Before we knew it the big Destroyers all lost their shields. The carriers were all hit before they could prep droid fighters."

 

"Why didn't you jump to Garqi to warn the fleet?"

 

"We were on the wrong side of the system and more gravity wells were appearing every minute. We wouldn't have survived a jump."

 

"Fine. Commander when you get out of the gas giant's gravity well jump your ship roughly towards Bastion for a distance of twelve light hours. Understood?"

 

"Acknowledged."

 

007

 

Btw: I'm starting to add pictures into the thread again. I threw the Gauntlet in on the 1st page incase you're not yet sick of looking at it.

[Defender_16]

+ + +

 

"Hyperspace signatures detected at one hundred thousand kilometres." Reported the sensors officer.

 

"Helm, are we ready to jump?" Asked Wintle.

"Aye sir. We can jump to hyperspace with ten seconds notice."

 

The doors to the Admiral's ready room hissed open and Dorja strode out onto the bridge. "What do we have Commander? Is it the recon flight?"

Wintle turned his attention back to the sensors officer.

"Sensors, what have we got?"

 

"Something cruiser sized coming in. I've got our recon fighters..." The officer paused to double check the board then continued. "And a Vindicator class cruiser. IFF shows her as the Sevanar, part of Yaga Minor's patrol fleet."

 

"Any more contacts?" Questioned the Admiral.

"No sir."

"We are being hailed sir."

 

"I'll take it at the aft bridge station." Replied Dorja turning towards the back of the bridge. "Patch Colonel Fel in while you're at it."

He reached the terminal in a handful of strides and activated the holopad.

"This is Admiral Dorja, to whom do I have the pleasure of addresing?

 

"Lieutenant Commander Mynar Davis sir."

 

"What's the status of Yaga Minor and your ship Commander?"

"The Sevanar is fully operational, our complete starfighter compliment is still intact. As for Yaga Minor we don't fully know what state it's in."

"If I may sir?" broke in Jag.

 

"Go ahead Colonel."

 

"The entire fleet and the shipyards except for the Sevanar must have been destroyed sir. There were no contacts remaining in orbit nor were there any navigational becons left. The planet is shrouded in heavy cloud cover and I wasn't about to go any closer to the planet after what happened at Bastion."

 

"Understood. Any orbital debris whatsoever?"

 

"No sir. It must have been pushed into the atmosphere."

 

"...Commander Davis, Colonel Fel, I want you both aboard the Ardent within the hour. I'm calling a planning briefing. Commander, transfer a squadron of Interceptors to the Ardent when you come aboard. Have the head of your fighter wing at the briefing. Dorja out."

 

+ + +

 

The Sevanar came along side Ardent, taking up position to port of the larger ship. Several things about the ship were confusing Davis. The larger Destroyer didn't maintain a CAP of hyperdrive equipped fighters like most did. It was also odd that there were no support cruisers for a ship with an Admiral aboard.

 

Everything started to become clear when his shuttle approached Ardent's landing bay. Holes the size of blastboats peppered the hull, and one great tear in the hull was nearly the size of his ship's command tower. There was a starfighter sized crater in the ceiling of the main landing bay. Besides all of that, the main bay was very nearly empty. The shuttle set down just as the squadron of Interceptors entered the bay, headed for the landing racks.

 

When he reached the bottom of the shuttle's landing ramp there was a junior Imperial Army officer and four storm troopers standing at attention. The army officer waited until the Sevanar's starfighter commander joined Davis at the bottom of the ramp before speaking.

 

"Welcome aboard the Ardent sirs. I'll direct you to the briefing room where the Admiral is waiting."

 

"Lead on." Replied Davis, returning the salute.

 

+ + +

 

Dorja sat at the head of a large table with Wintle on his left and Jag on his right. The stormtrooper commander entered, taking a seat next to Jag, then a minute later Commander Davis and his CAG enterd. Dorja waited until they were all seated then began.

 

"Gentlemen we are facing an enemy quite unlike anything the Empire has encountered before. They use strange technology and tactics almost unheard of. Yaga Minor has been cut off for close to three standard weeks. In that time no communications reached the fleet groups of other nearby sectors. Pirates and insurgents have crippled the holonet where they could in co-ordinated strikes.

Commander Davis when exactally did the battle at Yaga Minor occur?"

 

"Approximately eighteen days ago."

 

"The last registered communications out of Garqi were twenty days ago. Our engagement at Bastion took place five days ago now. How long after Bastion was first hit did we arrive there?"

 

Wintle scrolled through his datapad then looked up. "We estimate three or four days previous to our arrival, but those could be off by as much as a day."

 

"So we have a large fleet hitting the shipyard and the surrounding systems then relocating to Bastion. It's possible they have hit the inhabited systems between those two worlds and those with hyperlanes leading out of the area. Commander Davis, did you bring your sensor reconds of the battle?"

 

"Yes Admiral. Because of our position they are not the most accurate though."

 

Davis plugged his datapad into the holopad that made up the center of the table. A slightly grainy image appeared showing the rocky ovoid shapes that the Ardent's crew had become familiar with.

 

"Once the asteroid bombardment was finished we were able to pick out the ships from the rocks. There were two big ones both larger than an Imperator, and four the size of Mon Cal cruisers."

 

"Sounds like the Carrier group that tried to interdict us as Bastion." said Wintle.

 

"There were more ships through the system." Continued Davis. "Interdictors. We picked them up when we tried to plot a jump to Garqi. A whole string of them across the other side of the system."

 

"Were you able to get visual confirmation on any of the other interdictors Commander?"

 

"No Sir. We had watched the opening phase of the battle through video feeds from the shipyards. When the Destroyers all went down in the first volley I decided it wasn't worth losing the ship by jumping into a one sided a battle like that. When we couldn't jump out I ordered us into the gas giant's atmosphere. It's not designed for it but a Vindicator can stay alive in the atmosphere for quite some time. I figured that given enough time either an Imperial response force would come or they would move their interdictors."

 

Dorja thought for a moment, staring at the images on the holo projector. Davis might have been charged with cowardice in the face of the enemy by other Commanders or Admirals. He'd seen men executed for less in the Imperial Navy. But the young man had essentially made the same choice he had at Bastion and now the Empire had information on how two fleet actions had taken place.

 

"Commander I think you did the right thing. Judging by the gravity well readings you might have been facing as many as six Cruiser Analogs if you had jumped. On top of that you had no idea how the enemy systems worked. You surely would have been destroyed."

 

"Thank you sir."

 

"Now, how do these enemy systems work? We have some basic defenses that let us stay alive long enough to run. We need more."

 

Wintle cleared his throat. "I've had a group of junior officers working on analysing everything that happened at Bastion. Some of the spare relief pilots helped as well. Everything points to a powerful combined gravity control system. It can be used for propulsion, for defence by forming microscopic singularities, for offence by striping a target ship of it's shields, and lastly for interdiction. We can use inertial compensators to prevent shields striping but it puts a great deal of strain on the system.

One of the pilots suggested using laser cannon shots to spread out the void defenses for the heavier turbolaser shots."

 

The stormtrooper commander spoke up. "Sir's I watched the sensor feeds when the assault shuttles made their run. For all we know the ship might be one giant projector, there could be no limit to the number of voids they put up."

 

It was Jag's turn this time. "The fact that mass fire tactics have worked at all suggest that they might only be able to block so many shots at a time. If we were to equip fighters with additional lower power cannon it might allow the heavier bolts through more often."

 

"Talk to the flight techs about it after the meeting Colonel." Suggested Dorja. "If you feel it's worth the risk to try, go ahead. Now, their plasma weaponry."

 

Wintle resumed. "It looks to be rock superheated to a plasma state. Shields can handle it as if it were normal turbolaser shots, but they become very dangerous if we lose shields. Once it impacts the hull it can continue melting it's way through until it cools enough. The only real defence we have is keeping the shields up."

 

"Fine. What about those carriers. We saw them launching larger objects before."

 

"We believe those were unmanned fighters or some kind of directed cruise missiles." Wintle keyed the holoprojector to the appropriate scene. "As you can see here this Carrier is literaly throwing starfighter or similar sized chunks into a Destroyer. We took a half dozen hits from these as well. A correctly placed salvo of these might be able to take down a destroyer's wepons on one side."

 

"Anything we can do about them?"

 

"Push them away with tractor beams and have fighters shoot them down. As these large missiles are also propelled by the same kind of gravitic system as the other ships, they have the same singularity defenses."

 

Groans of frustration issued from both starfighter pilots present.

 

008

 

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/Defender_16/ArdentandSevenar.jpg

 

Anyone who wants to take a crack at making up images that match the events of the story are welcome.

[Paul]

As always a good read dude. Keep it coming. - Grand Moff Conway