[Tales of] The New Sith Order (Redux)

[Defender_16]

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

 

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The Rebel Destroyer group jumped into the Tantra System minutes behind the escaped Imperial fleet.

“Sensors? Status report.â€

Edited December 12, 2007 by Defender_16

[Paul]

Good post Defender. - Grand Moff Conway

[Defender_16]

+++

 

 

Byuran ke Shia snap rolled his Tie Interceptor out of the way of a laser burst from a Rebel Ugly.

The roll brought him across the path of another Imperial fighter spoiling their shot.

 

In the past day or so Byuran had seen more heavy combat than most people or pilots from Adumar saw over years of duels. The initial battle back on the Rimma Trade route had been nearly a straight turn fight. Few on either side were able to score killing hits, so busy were they at trying to avoid their own pursuit.

 

This fight was different. They'd launched without having time to form up like the Imperial instructors had taught and he didn’t appear to be the only one caught out of position. With less Rebel fighters present it should have been easy to kill them off but now there was the problem with other Imperial craft back-stopping any missed shots.

 

Byuran knew he was fortunate enough to be flying one of the few Interceptors present upgraded with shields. Most of the nobility back on Adumar had quickly learned the usefulness of the added defences for use in duels and those that flew with the Empire often paid out of their own pockets to have even a basic shield thrown on. Ship board requisition officers and flight techs were never happy with the arrangement however due to the added strain on the Ion engine's reactor and the parts to maintain them.

 

After a handful of tight turns and loops to avoid both enemy and friendly fire he formed up off the wing of a Tie Bomber that was making a run towards the Rebel capital ships. Before they reached range however the Bomber fired a torpedo and then pulled hard. A pair of concussion missiles streaked in and hit the underside of the bomber, the second penetrating shields and hull before exploding. A Razor fighter streaked through the wreckage firing it's lasers on another bomber farther back.

 

Byuran hauled back on the pilot's yolk, and despite having to dodge more fire was soon on the Rebel fighter's tail. As it closed in on the next bomber the Rebel fired it's chin mounted Ion cannon dropping the Tie's shields. Byuran fired, his paired laser blasts slamming the aft shields of the Razor forcing it to change course and getting off only one shot at the unshielded bomber. As they both sped by, the Adumari pilot realised that the Bomber's torpedo launcher had been destroyed by the hit it had take. The Bomber turned back and headed for it's carrier.

 

The Razor that Byuran pursued however wouldn’t give up. The pilot rolled and turned in seemingly random directions all the while snapping off shots at other distant Tie fighters. The Interceptor's lasers hammered through the tough shields burning a hole through one wing and then the Rebel was suddenly accelerating. At first he thought that it was jumping to hyperspace but soon it's brightly flaring sublight drive dimmed measurably back to normal levels and it turned in behind another Imperial craft.

 

"Lieutenant ke Shia to Squadron leader. One of the Rebel fighters just put on a huge burst of acceleration to avoid my fire. I've never seen the likes of it before."

 

The Major responded after a minute, breathing heavily as he always did after coming out of a high G maneuver "The Rebels must have equipped some of their fighters with SLAM's. 'SubLight Acceleration Motors.' It usually drains power from the weapons."

 

As Byuran looked he noticed that the Razor that had escaped him wasn’t firing it's Ion cannons like before. "Sir, they're drawing power from their Ion cannons to bower the booster."

"Thanks for the update." replied his commanding officer.

 

With a flick of a switch the Adumari pilot redirected shield power to engines. He still had about a minute before the shields faded away completely and the slight speed boost might let him catch his enemy. "You're mine Rebel." Byuran growled out as he closed in. The Razor in his sights was trying to get behind another Tie Bomber that wasn’t co-operating, rolling and dodging in much the same manner the rebel himself had been.

 

He set lasers for quad fire and watched the distance scroll down below a kilometre on his HUD. The first quad shot knocked down the still weakened aft shields and the second blew off the fighter's tail fin. Before the Lasers could cycle for a third shot however a pair of Ion bolts struck his now unshielded Interceptor from below. Blue lightning crawled over everything and most of the displays blew out.

 

When the lightning faded after a few seconds everything inside the cockpit was pitch black. No sound or vibration carried through the fighter from the engines or reactor. Stars drifted past outside the transparisteel canopy as the fighter slowly turned. When at last the battle came into view again through the viewport Byuran noticed that things had changed dramatically.

 

The Three Rebel Star Destroyers had caught up.

 

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

 

"Target that lancer!" Demanded Iblis as the ship shook from Turbolaser hits.

The entire Imperial force was now coming about, changing targets to the Destroyers that had showed up nearly point blank off their aft.

 

Blacken opened fire on most of the smaller Imperial ships including the Lancer class Frigate while the other Two Destroyers attempted to separate the Dominator from her escorts. Blacken's gunners hit the Lancer's sublight drives repeatedly and soon the pounding dropped it's aft shields and damaged her engines, leaving it drifting in space. Coercion and Death's Shadow both hit Craven Net with full broadsides, nearly dropping the Interdictor's shields in one blow, but her Captain found enough emergency power to keep the forward shield up.

 

Around all of the Captial ships the fighters tore into each other. Pash Cracken's A-wings sped through the fighting leaving burned out fighters and general destruction in their wake. Most of the Imperial Tie bombers were caught out on the far side of the engagement attempting to Torpedo Smuggler's Folly. When the rest of the Rebel fleet had arrived the two Corvettes and converted Bulk Cruiser changed course, charging out into the clouds of Tie craft.

 

The Rebel Tie bomber force fired what Torpedoes and missiles they had left into the Vindicator Cruisers and then began strafing runs with lasers and Ion cannon. When one of the cruisers lost shields from missile hits both Blacken and Coercion struck it with a combined broadside. Most of ship's portside batteries were blown open to space and the bridge complex exploded. When the shields on Craven Net at long last fell, some three squadrons of fighters and the Destroyers began pounding her with Ion cannon fire.

 

Iblis looked carefully over the situation. The Vindicators could still cause a lot of damage on their own, but they didn’t stand a chance at catching Smuggler's Folly and taking down her Gravity well if they hoped to escape. He turned to the com officer who asked; "Transmit surrender requests sir?"

 

"You guessed it." He said. "Have any of the damaged ships indicated they want to surrender yet?"

 

"No sir, but the damaged Vindicator has ceased fire."

 

At that same moment the last lights on Craven Net died out.

 

"Sir, the other ships are now transmitting surrender protocols."

 

"It's about time. Find some spare crew to put aboard those ships. We'll need some combat teams and a skeleton crew to move them into orbit of Coyn. If Captain Iillor's reports about the local populace are accurate I'm sure the locals will be more than happy to give the Imperials a fair fight with these ships."

 

 

 

086

Edited December 12, 2007 by Defender_16

[Paul]

Damn rebels. Still good post my friend. - Grand Moff Conway

[Defender_16]

+++

 

 

 

Ardent and her fleet reverted to real space for the first time in days without the assistance of an artificial Gravity Well. For the moment not fighter launched from the bays of any of the Imperial Capital ships.

 

"How far out are we?" asked Admiral Dorja.

 

The Nav officer seemed fairly certain for a change when he reported; "We're still just outside the edges of Aparo Sector sir. Right on target."

 

Thank the Emperor, Dorja whispered to himself silently. He'd feared that the fleet would have been thrown off course after being yanked out of hyperspace so many times by the Vong Gravity Mines. The strain put on the hyperdrives was bound to have soon added up if they'd continued like that much longer.

 

Commander Wintle looked down into the crew pit. "Com, have you established contact with the Corporate Sector holonet?"

 

"Having difficulty sir. We're getting something but there's not enough bandwidth this far out. We'll have to wait until we're closer."

 

Dorja shook his head. "By the time we're closer we'd be further ahead to just use subspace radio. Let's not bother." He put a hand to his chin and thought. "Send out four of our Escort Shuttles on scouting runs, each with two Assault Gunboats for protection. They're to rendezvous with us at Bonadan."

 

"We're not going straight to the Sector Capital?" questioned Wintle.

 

"Bonadan sits at the end of the Hydian Way. There's sure to be a CSA fleet parked there with what's going on. We should be able to tell how things are going in the sector by how many ships are present."

 

Escort Shuttles dropped from Ardent's Main Bay and then linked up with some of the Gunboats before jumping into Hyperspace on different vectors.

 

"Set course for Bonadan."

 

+++

 

 

Uwlla Iillor looked out from the bridge viewports of the Destroyer Blacken. She hadn't been aboard a Star Destroyer in years, back when she'd been serving the Empire... and being repeatedly passed over for promotion.

 

"The General will see you know Captain." called out a junior officer from the back of the bridge.

 

Soon she was sitting down in the Captain's ready room which the General had taken over at the moment. Iblis checked that the door was locked then slid out a blocky carrying case and pit it on the desk in front of Iillor. "Captain, in this box is our new secure means of communications. It doesn't require hypercom. Everything you need to know about it is on a data pad that's with it. The information on it is eyes only and must be destroy once you're finished reading it. If your ship is captured or boarded that device is on your list of things to destroy. Don't leave any trace of it for the empire to find. I took the liberty of enclosing a small thermal detonator along with it for you."

 

"Thank you sir."

 

"Don't thank me yet Captain. You have more experience with Interdictor type ships than anyone else in the Rebel fleet, I cant think of anyone else better for the job. I'm giving you command of Craven Net, please rename it as you see fit. We're also going to start renaming the rest of our Destroyers soon."

 

"I suppose I'll go with Rebel Net sir."

 

"As good as any." Iblis stopped talking when he realised his comlink was going off. "I've got the storage units with my secure com's rigged with motion sensors. Feel free to watch."

 

The Corellian picked up a box much like the one he'd given to Iillor but this one had a blinking red light on the front of it along with the name 'Iella' printed next to it. Iblis pulled out an ovoid shape from inside and held it up facing him in one hand. Iillor could see that the side of it the General was looking at had morphed into a face.

 

"Garm here, what have you heard."

 

Iella Wessiri's voice emanated from the device. "The Mercenary base in the Sluis sector has been destroyed. I don’t have any way to tell right now if any of them escaped but I do know they were attacked by a Sovreign the Heresiarch."

 

"Have they thrown a Sovreign at Kre'fey's position yet?"

 

"No. Heresiarch was supposed to be part of the same group that already attacked Bothan space but was broken off to form a new force when an uprising started in the Sluis Sector."

 

"How much time to we have?"

 

"Not long. I'll get back to you on how much but you should have a week minimum before she get's underway."

 

"You're right. That isn't a lot of time." Before he could ponder that however Iella continued.

 

"'Paradise Lost' has already started her run up the Rimma. She should be in the Minos Sector by now. Tycho is almost finished mopping up. If you want I can get him to send Gavin up to the Elrood Sector early."

 

Iblis shook his head. "Tell them to secure the Sector first unless the local Imp forces start trying to drag it out. We may need the X-wings though. Have them ready to head out."

 

"I'll let them know. Wessiri out."

 

 

After putting the box and the com creature away Iblis turned back toe the Starship Captain sitting across from him.

 

"There are a lot of Imperial personnel that still have to be shipped off of Rebel Net before she becomes operational. If you can, try and convince some of the crew they're on the wrong side. We need the extra people."

 

"Aye sir."

 

 

087

[DarthTex]

Good post Def

[Defender_16]

Life goes on...

 

+++

 

Ardent's Destroyer group jumped into the Bonadan System in tight formation and moving at close to flank speed. Two Squadrons of Tie Bombers launched from the other Destroyers and formed up in defensive positions. As they sped farther into the system 6 of the remaining 8 Escort shuttles launched and joined the defensive screen.

 

"Com and Sensors, keep your eyes and ears open." Instructed the Admiral.

 

"Why haven't we tried hailing the locals yet sir?" asked Wintle, again acting the part of the concerned officer.

 

"The Corporate Sector has always done things a little differently from The Empire. They care about absolute profit no matter what, even if it means breaking The Empire's laws. If we come in fast and hard like this it will look to them like we're moving in for bombardment. A little reminder about what happens to the disloyal."

 

"I see sir."

 

"Also, I'm hoping to draw out any ships they have present so we can give them the combat data directly."

 

"Detecting Civilian contacts through the inner system sir." reported sensors.

 

"How many are we talking about?" asked Dorja.

 

"Somewhere close to one hundred sir. Most of them are transports of various makes or shuttles. We also have some larger Luxury Liners in orbit above Roonadan."

 

Once the sensor officer had finished the com officer spoke up. "Sir we have an incoming Transmission. Audio only."

 

"On speaker."

 

An older stern sounding woman's voice issued from the speakers. "Bonadan Traffic control to inbound Imperial Battlegroup, welcome to the Corporate Sector. Please state your business in system for documentation purposes."

 

The Admiral went to the forward station to look out the forward viewports then lifted his com. "This is Admiral Dorja in command of The Imperial Battlegroup Ardent. We're here as part of a larger investigation into the Hypercom blackout plaguing this part of the galaxy. We'll be entering low orbit of Bonadan as soon as possible at the orders of the expedition Commander."

 

"Thank you Admiral, but as per CSA emergency guidelines recently put into place we'll require an extended flight plan for the duration of your stay inside the Sector."

 

Well played Dorja thought to himself. The CSA government was attempting restrict any and all flow of information to the rest of the sector with the exception of what they allowed. It was a good idea if one wanted to keep the civil population in line or simply to prevent a panic.

 

He regarded his upheld com for a second then replied to the Traffic controller. "Our flight plan in the Corporate Sector is classified under section eight of the Imperial Fleet Deployment Restricted Information Act. No further flight plan information will be forthcoming. Ardent out."

 

Wintle regarded the Admiral. "Was that entirely wise sir?"

 

Dorja nodded. "It will give us the response we want. Helm, maintain flank speed."

 

The Imperial Battlegroup continued it's drive into the inner system and soon they were closing in on the world of Bonadan itself.

 

"We will be entering Bonadan's Gravity well in less than five minutes." reported sensors.

 

"Helm, reduce speed and angle the ship as though for planetary bombardment. Same orders to the rest of the fleet. Com, switch to the latest encryption scheme."

 

A chorus of "Aye sir" echoed across the bridge.

 

If Dorja had been waiting for a response from the CSA fleets they didn’t have to wait long. Not ten seconds after they entered the Gravity well the sensor officer called out that hyperspace reversions had been detected. Two groups, each consisting of an old Vic and Two Marauder Corvettes reverted at the edge of the Well.

 

"Not so unprepared after all. How many fighters have they got?"

 

"Sixteen total sir." replied the sensor officer before a noise from his console drew his attention back. "Additional CSA forces coming around from the far side of the planet"

 

"Numbers?"

 

"Three Vic's, four Marauders, four Etti light cruisers and three full squadrons of IRD's"

 

"Looks like they have their defences in order after all." said the Admiral

Wintle shook his head. "I'd hardly consider IRD's and old Vic's a match for the Vong sir."

 

"Leading Victory Destroyer is hailing us sir. Again, audio only."

"On speaker."

 

"This is CSA Taskforce One Oh Three to Imperial Battlegroup Ardent. We request that you change course immediately and enter a high orbit."

 

"About time. Do as he says helm. Com, start transmitting the Vong data package."

 

088

[DarthTex]

Nice Def

[Rolladogg]

Oh man, great stuff. Haven't read any since October.

[Defender_16]

+++

 

Admiral Dorja scanned through a stack of classified documents in his quarters, the door locked and troopers posted outside. In the center of the room he'd placed three cases all of which held special transmitters needed for entrance to various secure Imperial compounds throughout the galaxy. What he needed now was to figure out which combination of classified codes would fit with one of the transmitters to get him where he wanted to go.

 

Ardent and the rest of the Imperial Battlegroup remained in orbit above Bonadan, under escort by the local CSA fleet. The locals had provided them with a 'secure' subspace communications band to contact the Corporate Sector ExO on the sector capital world of Etti IV. Though the ExO was officially the head of the CSA government he had refused to do anything other than promise to look over the Vong data. With power roughly equivalent to an Imperial Grand Moff there wasn't much else that Dorja could say to the man.

 

That didn't mean there was nothing he could do about it. The Imperial Advisor to the CSA, the one responsible for representing the wishes of the Empire, or even the Emperor himself, had the powers to call a meeting of the Direx Board. After the completion of a huge Palace for Palpatine's use in the Sector some time after Endor, the Imperial advisor had traditionally taken up residence there.

 

Before construction had been completed however the security of the site was increased considerably. After the Rebels had thrown away their entire fleet at Endor trying to kill Palpatine the threat of assassination attempts remained high. These days even knowledge of what system the Palace was located in was considered grounds for arrest in the CSA.

 

At length the Admiral assembled the data cards and pass-codes needed along with which transmitter. Once he'd secured the rather small transmitter in a new case (one not rigged with explosives) he headed for the bridge.

 

+++

 

"Dorja to Wintle, Commander please report to my ready room."

 

As he waited the few seconds for the Commander to arrive Dorja looked at the holo image projected onto the one wall of his office showing the planet below. Bonadan's ugly near uniform shade of yellow was streaked through with blots of rust. It was hard to tell which of the two colours were supposed to be clouds. The world was a barren wasteland and how so many people continued to live down there amazed him.

 

The office door hissed open and Commander Wintle snapped off a salute as he entered.

 

"Status report Commander."

 

Wintle went through the list of readyness reports and the status of the CSA forces still in the system.

"Finally, the CSA fleet is still insistent on restricting our movement inside the sector."

 

"That's no surprise." Muttered Dorja, as he wiped at his forehead with the palm of one hand.

 

"Oh, also sir a Hallis Saper the Head of Corporate Sector Media Distribution is requesting an interview with you."

 

"What?" Came Dorja's surprised reply. "A Civilian? Must be from one of those gossip tabloid columnists. Why doesn’t she interview some of the CSA people?"

 

"The Espos sir? "

 

"Right, right, what was I thinking. Request denied. We don’t need the local government accusing us about inciting civilian uprisings."

 

"Absolutely sir."

 

Dorja closed down the terminal he'd previously been looking over during the conversation.

"So to prevent anything like that from happening, and to make sure we aren’t just sitting here for the better part of a month, I'm taking a trip."

 

"Sir?" asked the younger man arching an eyebrow.

 

"I want you to have one of the escort Shuttles moved to the forward landing bay. Once you've done that contact Colonel Fel and Commander Taulen, have them meet me there. I'll want that bay closed off from the rest of the ship with all security and recording for the bay turned off."

 

"I'll need authorization clearance for that sir. There are procedures against that because of the threat of officers occasionally going rogue."

 

"I'm aware of the regulations Commander. While it never happened to me personally, some of the fleet group's I've been assigned to have had incidents like that happen. Years ago of course."

He punched a series of commands into the terminal then ejected a datacard which he handed to Wintle.

 

"I can't tell you where we're going or for how long but if we're any longer than two weeks assume the worst. You're in command of the group until I return. If you need the opinion of one of the other ship Captains ask. They have a few years experience on you still. Use it."

 

"Aye sir."

 

With that the Admiral was up and head out the door and Wintle scrambled to carry out his orders.

 

+++

 

When Dorja arrived in the forward landing bay the last of the shuttles pilots were just leaving. A lone escort shuttle sat near the bay entrance with it's signature wings folded and landing ramp down. When the Admiral made straight for the shuttle, both Colonel Fel and the Stormtrooper Commander headed to join him.

 

"Colonel Fel, do you have piloting and servicing experience with one of these vehicles?" Asked the older man.

 

Fel threw a salute as he fell into step. "Some sir, we were all cross trained on Escort Shuttles at the Academy. The controls are simple enough and the maintinence tends to be more simple than on the newer Tie craft."

 

"Good." Dorja held out a case to Fel. "You'll need to remove Primary access panel 6B and replace the standard transmitter with the one in that case. Bring the old one aboard in the case when you're done. Commander, you'll be manning the aft Turret. You're the only officer aboard with gunnery training that has high enough security clearance."

 

"I understand sir. Are there any special weapons you think might be appropriate for where we're going?"

 

"Commander if we need to use any weapons on this run we're dead already."

 

 

089

 

Just *barely* in time for Christmass.

[Defender_16]

+++

 

The lone Escort shuttle Carrying Admiral Dorja, Colonel Fel and Commander Taulen aboard reverted to Hyperspace in a seemingly random system.

"Colonel, set course for the second planet in the system. Sensors should show it as uninhabited."

 

"I've got it on sensors sir." replied the Colonel.

 

"Good. Put us on a straight line for the system's Star until we cross the orbit of the third planet."

 

Without another word Jag sent the shuttle heading deeper into the system. Some time passed before he spoke again. "Crossing orbit of the third planet, changing course to close on second planet."

 

Once the Shuttle had swung about on it's new direction the Admiral unbuckled his restraints and stood up. "Colonel please adjust our com system so it is broadcasting on a tight band, dead ahead. After that if could you please go aft and spend some time with the Commander."

 

Jag punched in the commands on the flight console, engaged the Autopilot then saluted to the Admiral as he went aft. Once the hatch to the aft turret was sealed Dorja pulled out a datacard and inserted it into the communications suit.

"Pass code; Dorja Ay Are, Green, One Three Three Seven One Two Zero Seven Four One, Charlatan. Enable."

 

Lights flashed and blinked across the com suite for a few seconds then two words popped up.

 

'VERIFIED... TRANSMITTING/'

 

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/Defender_16/EscortShuttlescan-1.jpg

 

Dorja picked up his com. "Colonel you can come back up here now."

Then he set the com unit for continuous transmission and strapped himself back in.

 

The rest of the flight remained uneventful until they reached high orbit of the second world.

 

"Sir, we're going to pass dangerously close to the second planet's small moon."

 

"How close?"

 

"Roughly a kilometre, though the moon is only ten Kilometre's long."

 

Dorja seemed to think about it for a moment then nodded knowingly.

"Don't change course, keep us headed straight into the atmosphere."

 

Jag did just that, though he reduced speed enough so that they wouldn't burn up on contact with the atmosphere. The tell-tale vibration ran through the ship as they passed through thicker air.

 

"Taulen here, I've got something weird happening aft."

 

"Elaborate please commander." requested Dorja.

 

"Sorry sir. We've got two points a few hundred metres behind us where some of the atmosphere is swirling away. It's not from us."

 

"Keep close watch on them." instructed the Admiral. "Whatever you do, don't fire on them."

 

When the shuttle reached lower altitudes they encountered some of the thick clouds that seemed to shroud the equatorial regions of the planet.

 

"I can make out some shapes now because of the clouds." reported Taulen "Three wings, pointed like Interceptor arrays but larger. I can't make out any other features, the whole thing is a uniform black like there's no light reflecting off of it."

 

After another minute of slow but steady descent they passed through the thickest of the cloud layer into the more open air below.

 

"Whoa, became visible sir. They're accelerating."

 

The two craft, both of them the distinctively large modified V-38's known as Tie Phantom's, passed by on either side of the shuttle. Once they were far enough ahead, both of them reduced speed to match that of the shuttle. Both flashed their running lights in sequence then began a slow turn off to starboard. Taking the hint, Jag turned to follow in their wake.

 

The two craft guided them steadily downward and then across rough terrain on the planet's surface. At length they dipped down into a canyon system and the rocky walls steadily rise up on either side of them. More than once Jag thought that the Tie craft leading them were about to collide with the canyon walls, only to find out that chunks of the rock had been strategically cut from the sides of the canyon allowing the two to fly side by side. The three ships passed though a dizzying number of turns, following the seemingly random branching off of the connecting canyons.

 

After one turn they passed under a distinctive outcropping of rock that reached clear across the top of the canyon forming a natural bridge. When Jag glanced back down less than a second later, both Tie craft had disappeared and they were now headed straight at a wall of rock. The proximity sensors and collision alarms hadn't gone off as they should have but Jag cranked back the throttle sharply just to be certain. Before the shuttle even began to lose speed they had passed through the fake canyon wall and could see the holo projectors creating the illusion.

 

Jag exhaled and returned the throttle to a more normal setting, continuing to follow the Tie Phantoms. Above their heads was now a solid roof made up of durasteel and, increasingly, of rock. Along the walls and floor of the slowly descending corridor were gun emplacements of varying sizes. Small Turbolaser turrets, Quadlasers, Ion cannon and even E-web positions tracked their progress into the base. A large armoured blast door parted to allow entrance to the approaching Ties and closed just behind the shuttle.

 

A short distance in after the doors was large underground landing bay was laid out between and around huge supports that held up the ceiling. Below the large platform that made up the lowest areas of the hanger was a lake that had formed from water seeping in along the tunnel. A square section of that platform lit up with landing lights and the Phantoms split off and headed for the large Tie racks in the highest parts of the bay.

 

Jag was careful to bring the Shuttle in slow so that the repulsors wouldn't kick up any wind and possibly annoy the group of officers and troopers forming beside the designated pad. The wings retracted smoothly and landing gear touched down on the pad without any jarring. Jag set the shuttle's ramp to begin descending and started the craft into an automated shutdown. Dorja meanwhile made his way back to the landing ramp where Taulen was already waiting, a Carbine holstered at either hip. When the ramp at last touched down the Admiral, at his insistence, lead the way.

 

The moment Dorja's boot hit the landing pad forty Stormtroopers and two Officers snapped to attention. Both he and the Commander returned the gesture and waited at the bottom of the ramp a moment longer for Jag to appear and also salute. A man wearing the uniform of an Army General stepped up before them.

 

"Admiral Dorja, welcome to the Emperor's Corporate Sector Palace. I'm General Ganmey Solange. It's my job to see to any unexpected arrivals here and carry out the appropriate actions. First though, while you're on base we'll have to confiscate any weapons you may be carrying."

 

Dorja and Fel both turned over their side arms while Taulen handed over both Carbines along with a boot knife and a holdout blaster that he'd hidden inside his uniform. Dorja glanced sideways at his Stormtrooper Commander. "How long have you had that holdout Commander? I never noticed it before."

The side of Taulen's mouth twitched as if he had almost cracked a smile. "Three years sir."

 

"Hmm..."

 

General Ganmey spoke up. "Gentlemen, if you will please follow me?" Then he turned and headed for a Turbolift along with the other officer and a pair of troopers.

 

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/Defender_16/TIEPhantomRack-RA2.jpg

 

090

[DarthTex]

Great posts Def!

[Defender_16]

+++

 

 

General Ganmey continued to speak to the Admiral as the group rode a turbolift to one of the higher levels in the facility.

"This area we're in now and the launch bay are both part of one of the outer sites. You're going to find security here to be heavy, obviously so since the Emperor occasionally spends time here."

 

"Is it quite alright for you to be telling us all of this?" Asked Dorja at the Turbolift began to slow.

 

The General didn't seem to be bothered by the question. "Oh of course! I'm certain that all of your security checks will come back positive, otherwise you'll just be executed later on today."

 

The lift stopped and the doors hissed open. The General was out the door headed down another corridor before any of the three visitors could even respond to his last comment.

 

"We're heading for a viewing platform used by security. You'll be able to see the main Palace from there while we wait to hear back on what time you'll be meeting with the Inquisitor."

 

They had to wait through another turbolift ride before arriving in a large sprawling security office. Only a handful of officers were present in a room that seemed to be intended for upwards of forty. The outside wall was made up of a segmented transparisteel viewport that curved back to either side where they eventually met the sloped armoured wall that made up this side of the building they were in. A few paces in from the windows were a row of seats which helped divide the work areas of the office from the better viewing areas.

 

The General waved over an officer and talked to him momentarily before turning back to the group.

"If you all would be so kind as to wait here, I'll should be back within the hour." With that he headed back to the turbolift at a good clip. Two of the Stormtroopers took up guard positions at the boundary between the office area and the seating.

 

Jag sat and looked out through the nearest viewport at a large plain with distant mountains, and spotted a rather unremarkable com tower. To it's credit it was far enough away that it had to have been more than thirty stories tall. He glanced to either side through the other viewports and failed to spot any other structures above the surface.

"Is that the Emperor's resort Palace?" asked Jag somewhat sceptically, pointing to the tower.

 

The officer that had remained behind was nearby and heard the comment. "That?" he asked pointing to the tower Jag had indicated. "That's just a Com tower. Try getting closer to the viewport."

Jag looked over to the Admiral who was patiently waiting for the pilot to do as suggested.

 

He stood up and looked straight out, standing right in front of the viewport. This time his he noticed something out of place. The distant mountain range that he thought he'd seen before was in actuality one large mountain with a sharp top and sides steeper than any normal formation. A Tie Phantom streaking past in front of the huge man made structure snapped Jag out of his near dazed state.

 

"That must be nearly the size of the Imperial Palace in the Core Regions."

 

The other officer nodded. "It's roughly the same height, though it's hard to tell without all of the surrounding towers like on Coruscant, er, Imperial Center." None of the three visiting officers took note of the slip however as they took in the sight of the angular tower.

 

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/Defender_16/Emperorspalace2.gif

+++

 

 

In the rooms filling the top most sections of the tower the three guests looked upon resided the Imperial Inquisitor. Adalric Cessius Brandl sat in meditation in one of the side chambers built for that purpose. A few days ago the Emperor had sent a powerful summons through the force to all of the Inquisitors, a warning to prepare if they had not already done so. A great calamity appeared to have befallen the Empire and now it's enemies were scrambling to gut the great beast that had for so long trampled them. The Troops and the Fleet under the Inquisitor's control -such as it was- had been made ready though the Corporate Sector as a whole was far from that state.

 

What preoccupied him now in his meditations however was alerting his son to the danger. Jaalib Brandl was one of the half dozen or so Sith studying the ancient artifacts on Yavin left over by Exar Kun and his Massassi slaves. Despite being the site of one of the more important battles of the early Rebellion the entire region was still poorly defended.

 

The nearly imperceptible sound of the high speed turbolift coming to a halt at this level snapped Brandl out of his trance. The local staff officers were under orders to never disturb him at this hour of the day. He let Force lightning momentarily arc between his fingers in annoyance before quieting his mind and moving back towards the main chamber. Sitting down in the chair at the head of the audience chamber the Inquisitor pressed a button on the arm of the chair to signal that he has ready to the Imperial Guards outside.

 

One of the lower ranking officers, a Lieutenant Commander, had made the trip up to see him this time. When the doors slid open the man walked quickly to the normal spot in front of the room's 'throne' and bowed down on one knee.

"Rise." Commanded the Inquisitor.

 

"My Lord, an Admiral Dorja and two of his senior officers have just arrived. They've come from outside the sector. Our Intel database places the Admiral's fleet as usually patrolling the areas just this side of Yaga Minor."

 

"With no Hypercom it was inevitable that an Imperial fleet would be sent out at some point to update us. I find it odd that the fleet would send an Admiral from those areas and not something closer."

When the Inquisitor stopped thinking out loud the officer continued on.

 

"My Lord, General Ganmey reported that the Admiral was wearing rank insignia equivalent to High Admiral, not what was in our databank."

 

"They must have promoted him before sending him out here then. Perhaps some of the higher ranking flag officers were killed in whatever disaster the Emperor has warned about. In either case you were correct to disturb me with this news, but see that it doesn't happen in the future."

 

Almost as an afterthought the Inquisitor added. "Commander, please have the Admiral up to see me when he's available."

 

"Yes my Lord, immediately!" The officer bowed then fast walked back to the turbolift.

 

 

091

 

 

 

Gawd! I got writers blocked on this piece no less than four times, I was just about to start slamming my head into my desk I was getting so annoyed. Then there were character names! Oh boy I get to look up whats-his-name from whatever-that-short-story-was for the who knows how many'th time. *Copy] "Uhl Eharl Khoehng " [/paste* Who's going to remember that off the top of their head? Honestly?

 

EDIT: Wait... what? First NSO story post of 2008?!?!

[Rolladogg]

Awesome post.

[Defender_16]

+++

 

Grand Admiral Burgan finished up reading the report that had been sent from Toprawa via the ships fleeing that area. " 'Multiple fleets sighted crossing the Hydian Way. Possible flanking Maneuver. -Dorja.' Well that tears it." He muttered putting the datapad back into it's connector port on the side of his command chair. "I'm beginning to think this entire front of a feint."

 

General Richardson as usual was close by to comment. "But what about the local fleet sightings? We have seen a fleet staging for an attack on Orb Biniir."

 

"The threat that fleet poses is still real but their primary reason for being here is to keep us pinned. Though if they can destroy us I'm sure they’d be happy to do so."

 

"What do we do about this?"

 

"Nothing at the moment. One third of our reinforcements have already been redirected to the Tion. Hopefully they can hold things together long enough for us to finish up here. How go the preparations?" Asked the Admiral, changing the direction of the conversation slightly.

 

"We've fortified the planet with several divisions along with some local starfighter squadrons and Turbolaser emplacements. I'd to have two of our older Frigates sit in orbit over each pole in case we need them to act as relays for the ground forces. Some Tie Bombers would also be handy."

 

"We can spare the Frigates you want but I think we'll need all of the Bombers in orbit. I'm glad you found some local starfighters to augment your troops Jerej, we just cant spare any even with Lancer Frigate support."

 

The General gave his friend a concerned look. "How many did we lose in that engagement last week?"

 

"Three full squadrons. Mostly Interceptors but some Elites as well. Dulgan Wren is dead."

 

"The Imperial Guard Captain? How did that happen?"

 

Burgan sighed. "He felt that if he was going to be acting as a body guard for high ranking officers like myself he needed to know what the Vong were like to fight against."

 

Neither spoke for a minute, instead just concentrating on the various displays around the command chair.

 

"Well, hopefully you won't need to abandon ship anytime soon." Jerej said at last.

 

 

+++

 

The Strike Cruiser Termagant reverted to realspace on the edges of the Saffalore system.

"Here we are Major." said the ship's Captain, Groms Moreland, an officer grey with age who kept his scraggly beard just barely within Imperial regulations.

"Where do you want us now? It's your show Major, we're just along for the ride."

 

Radaf Netbers wasted little time in directing the crew to put this ship in a high orbit above the planet Saffalore.

 

"Com, put out a tight beam transmission to com satellite OVBX-031."

 

"We have a positive handshake signal Major." reported the junior officer.

 

"Good." He walked over to the console. "This is Termagant hailing Binring Biomedical Product. We need to reach Doctor Edda Gast immediately. Respond."

 

 

+++

 

"Doctor!" shouted the voice through the open com. "A Strike Cruiser just entered orbit. They're demanding to talk to you immediately."

 

Edda Gast ignored the open com line for a moment as she used a laser scalpel to finish a cut then cauterized it. "There."

 

She stepped out of the experimentation room and removed the safety goggles before responding.

 

"Drufey, put them through to my main station."

 

"On it Doctor... you're green."

 

The Doctor punched the corresponding button on her consol. "This is Doctor Edda Gast, to whom am I speaking?"

 

"This is Major Netbers onboard the Strike Cruiser Termagant. Your Primary operations are being relocated core ward immediately. We can no longer guarantee that this location will remain secure. We'll need a secure landing zone to load project components. You are expected to relocate to the Core as well."

 

"What about the other projects that I'm head of? Most of them have already shown quite promising."

 

"If we can find additional room we'll consider taking equipment of your choice aboard. Now, we need landing co-ordinates ASAP."

 

"Understood, stay on this channel Major we should be able to give you a rough landing zone location in five minutes."

 

"We'll be waiting."

 

Dr.Gast hit the mute button then pulled her personal secure comlink out. "Drufey! We are Code Thirty Seven, bring in everyone with clearance you can find and get me a groundside landing dock that can handle a Strike Cruiser."

 

"A secure one? We'll need to use one of the CSA held dock-pits."

 

"Do what you have to. I don’t care. If we need to drop troops from orbit or something just let me know."

 

 

092

 

Not so long but oh well.

[Defender_16]

+++

 

The Command class Destroyer Superior hung in space above Ord Biniir surrounded by the rest of the Grand Admiral’s fleet, waiting. The enemy attack had to come here Burgan knew. Regardless of weather it was a feint or a full scale assault Ord Biniir had to fall if the Vong were to threaten this region of the Imperial defensive line. Nearby Garqi was still the more lightly defended but was more accessible from Imperial supply lines.

 

+++

 

Dozens of light years away one of several probe droids deployed by the Imperial fleet continued scanning space with it's passive sensors. This same probe had first found the Yuuzhan Vong fleet as it first arrived in the area and was now staging for an attack on Ord Biniir. Under close observation by the Imperials ever since, additional probes had been sent in to take a better look. Most of those were new destroyed, their movement or mass picked up by whatever far ranging sensors the Vong used.

 

After days of waiting the probe finally spotted the sort of movement it had been intended to warn about. It's small and expensive onboard holocom system transmitted a short data burst back to the Destroyer that had launched it, halfway back to the Imperial lines. That Destroyer instantly passed the data on to Superior.

 

The command ship's com officer under orders to do so called over to the Grand Admiral. "Receiving transmission from the probe droid support ships... Vong fleet is en route!"

 

"Battle stations! Com send a message to long range sensor contact 03597 to stand ready for combat. Now, how long until the Vong fleet arrives?"

 

"The probe was four light hours away from the enemy fleet position, travel time from that location is estimated at five hours."

 

The door to the nearest ready room hissed open and General Richardson fast walked onto the bridge buttoning up his uniform. "Are they here already?"

 

"Not yet. I'm guessing at anywhere from forty five minutes to an hour and a half."

 

"Are we going to sit at alert status that whole time?"

 

The Admiral nodded. "Yes. I don’t want to risk standing down for a few minutes just for our enemies to jump right into an unprepared fleet. We wait."

 

"Then with your permission sir I'm going to put the ground forces on alert."

 

The two men saluted and Richardson went back to one of the open consoles at the back of the bridge.

 

"All ships reporting ready sir." relayed Superior‘s Captain.

 

"Very well, Activate gravity well projectors, use the pre-planned settings as called for in plan three."

 

"Aye sir."

 

"Active well." reported sensors a moment later and a slight tremor ran through the ship.

 

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the minutes ticked by. More than an hour passed with the fleet at full alert. Ready to either charge into battle or deploy to a new location to strike at enemy targets. Before true boredom could set in an alarm went off warning that the interdictors had picked up something.

 

"Reversion!" shouted the sensors officer.

 

A sizeable Yuuzhan Vong taskforce reverted inside the bowl shaped grav-well the fleet's interdictors had formed. Not wanting to waste a moment in the trap every Imperial starship in range opened fire. Emerald green lances filled space wiping away some smaller Vong ships entirely and crippling a handful of larger craft.

 

The bridge of Superior was instantly alive with battle chatter and incoming reports. One report that stood out for the Grand Admiral was; "Tie fighters are going in!"

 

Vong shard fighters were beginning to crowd space around their fleer, using their defences to soak off some of the capital ship fire. Right on que the Imperial fighter squadrons screamed in along their designated clear fire lanes and struck at the enemy fighters. Tie Bombers protected by their heavy shields fired on the Vong fighters with lasers and concussion missiles. The weapons officer onboard each Bomber trained Torpedoes or proton bombs on the enemy capital ships hiding behind the fighter screen.

 

Fire from both sides filled space.

 

 

+++

 

The turbolift slowed to a stop in the highest reaches of the Imperial Palace in the Corporate sector. No noise issued forth as the door silently slid open, something unusual in Imperial construction. General Ganmey motioned for Admiral Dorja to step out into the dimly lit room. He was barely three steps into the room before the turbolift door closed behind him cutting off the additional light source. It took a few minutes for the older man's eyes to adjust to the dim light but at last he made out what looked to be throne on an elevated platform at the other end of the room.

 

"Welcome Admiral Dorja." came a voice that seemed to emanate from every part of the room.

 

"Greetings Inquisitor." Responded Dorja, who, lacking a location to direct the statement focused on the throne.

 

"You'll have to excuse my concealment. I believe there may be a Rebel on the loose somewhere nearby that has evaded security."

 

Instantly on alert, Dorja thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye in the darkness to the left. Slowing, he bent down as if to kneel before the hidden Inquisitor but in reality he palmed the small service blaster that had been returned to him. There was a sudden movement and Dorja rolled to the right onto his back firing the whole time. After the fifth shot he stopped firing realising he hadn't hit anything. Laying prone on his back he tried his best to look around the room.

 

The sound of one man slowly clapping his hands came forth from the direction of the throne. Rising the Admiral squinted to try to make out anyone that could be standing there. A man in a dark robe seemed to fade into view.

 

"Congratulations Admiral you passed my test, or at least met satisfactory results. I wished to see how your mind responded, to check for any signs of disloyalty you see. Your two other officers should arrive here shortly."

 

 

 

093

 

EDIT: Fixed some of the Inquisitors test so that it didn't seem totally lame.

Edited April 2, 2008 by Defender_16

[Defender_16]

+++

 

Superior's bridge shook from incoming fire as a group of Corvette analogs attempted to strafe the bridge tower. A cloud of concussion missiles launched from several points on the surface of the huge Star Destroyer swarmed in on the small group of ships. Dozens of ball explosions ripped through the corvettes and turned them into a scattered debris field. Despite that threat being removed the Command ship continued to shake from Alien plasma fire.

 

"All ships are now engaged!" shouted the sensor officer over the dim of damage reports and alarms.

 

The Grand Admiral considered the situation his fleet was now in. Despite successfully ambushing the Yuuzhan Vong fleet the aliens were starting to turn the tide of the battle with their strange but effective fleet co-ordination. The damage readouts for the ships in the fleet were starting to take on a general reddish hue. The Starfighters were holding their own for the most part this time but casualties were still mounting.

 

Using the display and sensor feeds built into his command chair Burgan zoomed in on a Cruiser analog. Turbolasers bolts were being swallowed by singularity voids at an astonishing rate. Looking closer he saw that the ship was slowly rotating, bringing new areas of the ship into view. If the Vong tech was supposed to be organic... perhaps whatever they used to project singularity got tired, he reasoned to himself. Calling up more data Burgan saw that all of the singularities used seemed to be roughly the same size.

 

"Weapons! Direct Turbolaser batteries ten through twenty to reduce power per shot and increase rate of fire."

 

"Aye sir!"

 

He watched as the more numerous lower power shots were each dragged in by singularities of the same size and intensity used for normal shots.

 

"Weapons, send new power settings to all guns. All even numbered guns are to use standard settings, odd numbered guns to switch over to low power-rapid fire."

 

The beleaguered weapons officer set about issuing the new orders and soon Superior was throwing out a far greater quantity of fire. Some of the Vong cruisers even started to back off giving the Destroyer more room.

 

"New weapons settings appear to be having an effect sir!"

 

"I'll certainly say so." Agreed the Admiral. "Com, transmit new weapons settings to all ships. There's nothing we co do to outfit the fighters right now."

 

Slowly but steadily, with the Yuuzhan Vong defences were beginning to tire. The numerical superiority of the Imperial fleet was starting to weigh in. Even so, the Vong fleet were far from retreating, even renewing attacks on sections of the Imperial line where they were weakest.

 

Jerej made his way over to the Command chair from the aft stations and grabbed a handhold on the back of the chair. "I've got some refurbished Tie squadrons ready at the groundside bases if you need them. They don’t seem to be showing any signs of deploying landing craft."

 

Burgan was about to dismiss the idea out of hand but changed his mind at the last moment.

"Can you bring them into low orbit? Wherever they'll be needed it won't take as long to deploy from there."

 

"Gotcha." acknowledged Richardson, then he moved off back to the aft stations.

 

No matter what the Imperial fleet did the Vong's eerie fleet coordination seemed to be countering it in record speeds. Despite what The Emperor's Hand had said about not sensing anything the Grand Admiral had to believe that this control was somehow telepathic.

 

A Cruiser toward the back of the Vong formation at last caught his eye. It was being protected more than most of the other heavy ships and seemed to be staying out of the worst of the action. The only other sensor contacts that were behaving in a similar fashion were damaged ships. Looking Through friendly sensor contacts he found two Tie bomber squadrons that were close enough to make an attack run on the ship.

 

"Flight control, I want Tie Bomber Squadrons five and seven to attack the nearest enemy cruiser that's towards the back of the formation."

 

"Sir there there's a great deal of enemy fighter cover in that area."

 

"Bring in Interceptor support if you need to, I want that ship."

 

Out in the fighting the two Bomber squadrons expended the last of their concussion missiles attempting to punch a hole through the enemy fighter screen. An Interceptor squadron was making their way to support the bombers but it would likely arrive too late to be of much use. Shard fighters looped and dodged away from the slow moving bombers but were surprised on several occasions by the turning speed of the large craft. A Dozen Torpedoes streaked in toward the target cruiser on blue tails. Half of the missile detonated early unleashing their energy into singularity defences but a handful struck the hull.

 

Before that group of bombers could get off a second volley a flight of Shard fighters accelerated straight into the path of their group and collided head on with them. The two remaining bombers from that squadron attempted to flee but were hit from behind by the remains of the Cruisers fighter screen. Of the second squadron only two Bombers were able to break through the fighting with the Shard fighters. Instead of torpedoes though these craft dropped unguided proton bombs. Fairly small in space terms and with no torpedo trail to give them away the explosives fell straight towards the hole in the Cruisers hull.

 

Five high yield Proton bombs detonated inside the hull of the Vong Cruiser analog. The bright flash of the explosion preceded the cruiser breaking up into four distinct pieces which drifted away from each other. Plasma swirled and burned off into space from some of the debris while bodies and small chunks drifted away from others. Immediately the entire Yuuzhan Vong fleet was thrown into chaos. What before had been the equivalent of a school of fish or a flock of birds moving together degenerated into something closer to a tavern brawl.

 

"What just happened?!" asked Jerej as he ran forward from his station. "It's like they took a headshot and are just in their death twitches." The General observed, eyes wide.

 

With coordination gone nearly half of the Vong starfighters were either ramming themselves into enemy capital ships or falling prey to the far more organised Tie squadrons.

 

"We've found it Jerej, we've found the weakness we were looking for."

 

The forward viewport dimmed as an explosion lit the battle. "We've just lost Demeritor!" yelled the sensor officer. Looking back at the displays Burgan saw that a large number of ships were taking heavy damage from the suicide runs.

 

"Or perhaps not quite the weakness that we were hoping for but it's something."

 

"Reversion detected. Two large contacts." Called out the sensor officer again, not having to yell as much at damage alarms dropped off.

 

"Put the new arrivals up."

 

"Large contacts. One is the equivalent of an Allegiance Destroyer the other... It's bigger than a type four Torpedo Sphere sir.

 

The images on the display screens resolved into the mountain like enemy command ship the fleet had encountered near Yaga Minor. Behind it though was an even bigger monstrosity with branches that seemed to make the whole thing look like a spiral Galaxy.

 

"Enemy Fleet has regained coordination. They are conducting a fighting withdrawal towards the new arrivals."

 

 

 

094

*Waves hand* Comment... commentcommentcommentcommentcommentcommentcomment

 

EDIT: What I need is some way to make pictures for these but Warlords only has that OMFG huge SSD.

[Defender_16]

+++

 

Every officer on the bridge of Superior not fully occupied with their duties watched the two huge Alien starships on the display screens.

 

"We're picking up forces deploying from both of the newly arrived ships. Frigate, Corvette and what appear to be landing barge Analogs."

 

"They're going to try to take the planet even after all of that. Jerej, are the ground forces ready?"

 

"As ready as they're going to be."

 

The fleeing Yuuzhan Vong fleet only backed away from the Imperial forces enough to reorganise their line and allow new fighters to arrive from the giant mobile base. Burgan scrolled through sensor screens and took note of the gap between the enemy fleet and the new arrivals.

 

"Com, signal the interdictors to extend their gravity wells out to roughly half of the distance to the enemy command ship. Once you've done that contact long range sensor contact 03597. Tell them to jump to our location then target the largest ship on their sensors."

 

As the fleets on both sides formed up into fighting units once again a new triangular shape appeared. Flashing out of hyperspace the new ship resolved itself into the fifteen kilometre long Sovereign class Super Star Destroyer Despot. Once the great ship had fully completed it's reversion she began a hard turn to bring it's Axial Super Laser to bear. More than a dozen squadrons of advanced Tie's swarmed from the ship's launch bays.

 

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/Defender_16/sovereign_super_star_destroyer.gif

 

+++

 

Shedao Shai, a Supreme Commander of the Yuuzhan Vong, looked out upon the battle just beyond high orbit of a planet called Ord Biniir by the galaxy's inhabitants. In the short moments after the arrival of Domain Shai and the great warship Legacy of Torment the Commander could see that his forces had taken significant losses. Such was the price of listening to his foolish second in command Deign Lian on this one occasion.

 

Shai ran his heavily scarred and tattooed hand over the living crystal making up this viewing port sharpening the view. The hulls of more than one of his irreplaceable Mataloks were nothing but shattered remains now. Beyond were the white Triangular ships of the enemy. The straight lines and even the unnatural colour of their weapons showed them to truly be infidels beyond redemption in the many eyes of the Yuuzhan Vong Gods. But Yun-Yammka could still bestow upon the infidels one of Yun-Yuuzhan's greatest gifts; pain.

 

In the many dark hemispherical depressions that lined various recesses around Domain Shai's command room, clouds of blaze bugs stirred to life. The clouds of bugs wove together an image of the battle as seen from closer to the battling cruisers. The bugs continued to swarm however, making all of the ships in the image appear smaller and smaller as another enemy ship was placed between his forces and Domain Shai. Looking back through the viewing portal Shedao Shai spotted the new arrival, the largest infidel ship he had yet seen.

 

"Summon Deign Lian here immediately." Shai directed to his nearest aid.

 

The Blaze bugs continued to swirl and swarm in ever changing patterns representing newly arrived Infidel starfighters engaging his Coralskipper forces. All the while the great metal triangular aberration turned to point it's bow in the direction of Legacy of Torment and Domain Shai.

 

Deign Lian entered the command center and bowed to Shedao Shai slightly while slamming his fists into opposite sides oh his chest in salute. "You called for me?"

 

"Look." Said Shai calmly, gesturing to the viewing crystal. As Lian moved to comply his commander continued speaking. "Look what your reckless counsel has brought to our fleet. Near and utter ruin!"

 

Deign Lian tensed, half expecting his powerful superior to strike him down where he stood.

 

"I would sacrifice you to the Gods this instant but for the knowledge the Intendant Caste has shown fit to bestow upon you. Perhaps they foresaw that you would yet need to remain alive to redeem yourself in the eyes of the Slayer."

 

Lian dropped down to his knees and offered his Coufee to Shedao Shai in the belated hopes that his failure would not dishonour both him and his Domain.

 

"Stand! I said I would not kill you at this time. Now tell me what you know of the monstrous infidel ship. Now!"

 

Deign Lian looked more closely at the ship and some of it's features remembering the various briefings agents from the Intendant Caste had given him. Agents who received their information from the highly skilled and devious Nom Anor. His eyes went wide when he realised what sort of ship was before them.

 

"This is a Sovereign! The Intendant Caste suggested that no attempt be made to fight these ships with Cruisers. Instead we are to harry them with many, many, smaller ships."

 

Shai frowned. "Why is this?"

 

"They are armed with a Superlaser. A weapon many times more powerful than their normal weapons, capable of even destroying a Worldship it is said."

 

Realisation rapidly dawned on Shedao Shai and he turned to the others in the command center. "Direct all defensive voids forward! Legacy of Torment is to place itself between the large infidel ship and Domain Shai and protect us from a powerful attack!"

 

+++

 

"Enemy Allegiance Analog is maneuvering sir." Reported Superior's sensor officer. "They're moving to protect the mobile base."

 

Burgan stood from his command chair. "Com! Tell Despot that they have to fire!"

 

Before the message could go through however the great ship's axial Superlaser fired. The beam was more than a hundred meters wide and crossed the distance to the large Vong cruiser in the blink of an eye. The laser washed over a dozen small singularities that had been put up in defence, those parts of the beam not pulled in bent around the event horizon of each void and struck the hull. The diffused beam struck the corral hull of Legacy of Torment instantly burning through the forward half of the ship. As the Dovin basals in the forward half of the ship ceased to exist the remainder of the beam ploughed through the expanding ball of destruction that was once a ship.

 

The weakened beam continued straight on toward Domain Shai until it again encountered singularity defences. This time the beam warped and bent around the much more numerous defences before slamming into one of the spiral arms of the Worldship. Debris and bodies flowed away from the break in the Worldships corral hull and soon holes leading into the interior were sealing themselves off, saving the rest of the thousands aboard. Of the Legacy of Torment however there would be little left.

 

 

095

[DarthTex]

Excellent post Def. I love it: PAYBACK!

 

"Revenge is a dish best served cold. And it's very cold in space"

 

[Krytos]

Very nice Def I even tenced up a bit to see if the Vong got what was coming to them

[Defender_16]

Thanks for the comments guys.

 

+++

 

Shedao Shai hauled himself back onto his feet and coughed once to expel the dust that had fallen from the Yorrik Corral walls during the impact. Looking back through the viewing crystal the Yuuzhan Vong commander saw the remains of Legacy of Torment expanding and blocking out much of the view of the infidel fleet. So would their view of Domain Shai be obscured.

 

Deign Lian came to his feet coughing and hacking from the dust.

"How many such ships do the enemy posses?" Demanded Shai of his subordinate.

 

"Less than a dozen it is said, though they have even greater weapons the size of the largest Worldship."

 

"When you awaken find out how many of these ships may yet be able to endanger us."

"Awaken?" Lian began to ask just before the spiked back of Shedao Shai's fist took the inept commander in the side of the head. He then motioned to a pair of Reptoid slaves kept near the command center for clearing bodies.

"Place him in the nearest Embrace of Pain." As the Reptoids removed Deign Lian's unconscious form Shai turned back to the immediate problem at hand.

 

"Can we withdraw?" he asked of his Yammosk handler. The other, a lower ranking male of the same domain as he shook his head. "No great one. The infidels are using their own gravity well technology. To pull back from the planet will greatly weaken our Dovin basal defences."

 

"Then we shall attack. Deploy all forces we have and then remove Domain Shai to the edges of the system. We shall assault the planet with Yorik-trema and Coralskippers, then when the way is clear we shall drop our Fleet through the enemy forces and into the planets atmosphere itself."

 

+++

 

 

"Despot reports that they'll need forty minutes to recharge their Superlaser for another shot."

 

"We did destroy one huge warship with that one shot and we might have crippled their mobile base too." commented Jerej.

 

"We'll have to get confirmation." Replied Burgan. "I want half of Despot's fighters to assist our fleet and the other half to cover them as they head out and inspect that Mobile Base Analog."

 

"Yes sir!"

 

Burgan turned back to Richardson. "The extra fighters and gunships the Vong threw into the mix before Despot jumped in are going to make things hard."

 

The bright flare of Despot's huge sublight drives was easily visible as the Sovereign began to accelerate away from the main battle and towards the thinning debris cloud. Two full wings of Shard fighters, survivors from the huge Vong warship came in on the Destroyers flanks, engaging similar numbers of Imperial fighters. One thousand Turbolaser Cannons and Batteries opened fire on the few alien starfighters that passed through the Imperial fighter screen unhindered. Five minutes later under sluggish acceleration Despot passed through the remains of the debris cloud.

 

Rear Admiral Tycho Reese, Despot's commanding officer looked out through the forward viewports expecting the find a crippled mobile base. Instead what he saw was the Yuuzhan Vong Worldship in quick retreat.

"Sensors report!"

 

"It's moving away at nearly twice our maximum acceleration sir. It was already moved beyond effective Turbolaser range. They'll be out of our gravity well range in a matter of minutes."

 

"Damn them." Reese cursed under his breath. "Where are the rest of the support ships that we saw them launch? The ones that didn't enter the battle."

 

"They're at... two seventy mark three hundred. Headed around the edges of the battle by the looks of it."

 

"Com inform Superior that the Mobile Base has fled and give them those support ship

coordinates. We wont be able to recharge our main gun before they jump."

 

+++

 

"Fled?" repeated Burgan incredulously. "They've still got the rest of their fleet in system!"

 

"Perhaps they're leaving the fleet behind to buy their base time to escape?" Suggested the General.

 

"Sir, Despot also wanted us to know that they've detected a large force of Vong Landing craft analogs on a parabolic course toward the planet. We're picking up an escort force consisting of the more recently arrived Shards. Corvette and Frigate analogs have broken off from the rear section of their fleet to join them."

 

"Jerej!" The Grand Admiral called out.

 

"I see it." answered the larger man as he started typing on one of the aft consoles. He shook his head then marched back to Burgan's side. "My Tie forces in orbit won't be able to hold against that. I'll have to hit them on the ground when they land."

 

Burgan stared at his friend for a moment before saying. "Assault Shuttles."

 

"Right. Full load out plus some heavy troopers."

 

"Take what you need but no Tie bombers. Go."

 

General Richardson rushed from the bridge at a speed normally considered unbecoming of an officer.

 

 

096

[tacoJoemeru]

Keep 'em coming Def.

 

Nice to see superlasers being put to good use.

[Defender_16]

+++

 

 

The massive Worldship known as Domain Shai reverted to realspace at the edges of the Ord Biniir system. Undisturbed by the reversion Shedao Shai glanced back and forth, intently watching the patterns the blazebugs formed showing the continuing battle. A battle with little time remaining in it he knew.

 

"Inform Domain Esh and Domain Cha that we are fully engulfed by the enemy. They will be unable to break away in this region for some time."

 

One of the Villip handlers bowed and went to one of the nearby Villip choirs to relay the information. Another of the subordinate officers, next in line after the incompetent Deign Lian approached with a respectful poise.

"Supreme one, should we not evacuate the Worldship farther from the system? The enemy infidel sensing technologies may yet be able to detect us at this distance."

 

"No. We can move no farther from the system without severing the fleets connection to our Yammosk." Shedao Shai reached up into the blazebug swarm and pointed to one area.

"There. This section of the enemy fleet is on the verge of crumbling. When that happens they must either throw themselves upon us or the survivors will have to pull back to their main force. There should be a momentary lapse in their coordination in either event. When that happens all forces will drive for the planet."

 

"Supreme one, at that range even the Mataloks will not last long against the remaining triangle ships."

 

"Better for them to die in that way than to simply wait for death to arrive from behind them." Shai responded then looked around before pointing to the huge swarm of blazebugs representing the largest infidel ship. "That one ship will devastate our fleet in but a few heartbeats should it get close enough and have enough time for their main weapon to rest. Now, tell all ships to prepare what Grutchins they yet have. They will launch them when they renew their assault."

 

 

+++

 

 

"ISD Disruptor is rolling hard, Frigate analogs are maneuvering to continue fire on her unshielded sections."

 

"Weapons, fire when you have a clear shot." ordered Burgan.

 

Seconds later sixty of Superior's starboard Turbolasers launched a flurry of shots that burned through the hull of one of the Vong ships. A second Frigate turned and put Disruptor's bulk between herself and the Super Star Destroyer.

 

"Why haven't they concentrated fire one of the larger ships like Despot or Superior yet?" wondered the Admiral aloud. True the Imperial fleet was taking extreme levels of damage but without either of the largest ships badly damaged there would soon be little the Vong could do in space. Planet side however things were about to get bad. On the sensor screens Yuuzhan Vong troop transports and escorts were just reaching the surface.

 

+++

 

Imperial troops were dug in across Ord Biniir's surface expecting a heavy assault. In the locations where the Yuuzhan Vong landed they received it. Shards and Blastboat analogs used the planet's gravity to speed their descent, raining plasma fire down on the shielded Imperial positions. Ground based Turbolasers, mostly made up of mobile emplacements opened fire from under the protection of the localised deflector shields. With shields falling fast it wasn't long before requests for support from Imperial troops began to pour in.

 

"This is fortified Position AC-532 we've got Vong Transports dropping right on top of us."

 

General Richardson hit a button on his Assault shuttle's Command console opening a responding channel. "Defend your position, reinforcements are on route."

 

The flight engineer looked over to the General. "Their main landing force is coming down right on top of the old Ordinance facility. They've got Frigate Analogs following into the atmosphere but most of them look like they won't actually land there."

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"They're angling more to the North East, the Ord building will still be hit hard but it looks like..." The Lieutenant pressed a few more buttons to triangulate sensors. "Like they're headed for more of our heavy groundside guns."

 

"The Upgunned Ion Cannons?"

 

"Aye sir."

 

"Why haven't those guns opened up on the Frigates?"

 

After a few more key stabs the officer replied; "They were in line with our main fleet, any shot that missed would have struck our own ships so they held fire. The Frigates are too low in the atmosphere now, the horizon is shielding them."

 

"Damn. Nothing we can do about that now, we don't have anything that can crack Frigates effectively. Pilot! Bring us in toward the Ordinance Building. We'll blast a hole through the rest of their landing forces and secure that location. Tie forces will follow us in."

 

Two dozen Imperial Assault Shuttles and Assault Transports dropped from medium altitude in delta formations, speeding in towards groups of Yuuzhan Vong landing craft. The Light Turbolasers on each shuttle opened fire, rapidly pouring out their surprisingly powerful beams. A small Vong transport caught by surprise exploded like a flimsiplast crate with a grenade inside. The formation drive into the ranks of Yuuzhan Vong ships sowing momentary confusion and scattering the Shard fighters.

 

The Shuttles swung around the old Ord building in a wide arc, being careful to stay clear of the heavier guns still in place on top of the old structure. The refurbished Tie fighters went in closer clearing away a few Shards that were still attacking the depot.

 

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

 

"Frigate Analogs are dropping ground forces North East, South East and Due West of the Ord building. Eighty kilometres out in each direction. Additional Corvette Analogs are forming a screening line to the North East along the general direction their main force is moving."

 

Jerej acknowledged the report and keyed the com. "Shuttle group, we're going to defend this position. We won't be able to get to the Ion Cannon bases without taking extreme casualties and wouldn't do them any good even if we got there."

The General looked to the shuttle's pilot. "Captain, deploy your shuttles to best protect the Ord building. We're not going anywhere for awhile."

 

 

097

[tacoJoemeru]

Ouch, those Grutchins will tear up the imperials.

[Defender_16]

+++

 

Superior's bridge shook from yet another impact and a rain of fiery debris was clearly visible through the forward viewport.

"Frigate Pride of Contruum has been destroyed." Called out the sensors officer. "We've lost our Command Tower defense group."

 

"Increase rate of fire for all guns surrounding the bridge!" ordered the Grand Admiral.

 

A flurry a green beams flashed outside the viewports and more burning debris struck the ventral shields. Over the shaking the admiral barely heard his personal comlink chirp.

 

"Richardson to Burgan, come in!"

Whipping out the small communicator the Admiral thumbed it on. "Burgan here, go."

 

"Groundside Ops are all turning sour. They're targeting the heavy guns we put in."

 

"Can you hold?"

 

"Yeah but we'll need a Vic to crack those Frigates they've got floating around. All we can do is sit on defense, the Ion cannon posts are on their own."

 

Burgan covered the com pickup. "Com, see if you can find any Carrack Cruisers that are unengaged. Send two of them groundside."

 

"Aye sir!"

 

"Jerej I'm sending a couple of Carrack Cruisers down. Things are getting borderline up here so be ready to pull out."

 

"Understood." And with that the two officers went back to their respective jobs.

 

Looking more closely at the fleet readouts Burgan began to realise there were serious problems brewing. If he didn’t play things right the whole fleet might yet crumble.

"Pull Contrition back to rally point Delta, they're losing shields and we need her Turbolasers."

 

Even as that Star Destroyer started to pull back and attempt to disengage from the fighting other things went wrong.

 

"Sir! Destroyer Blunted Razor is losing power. They've suffered a Primary Drive failure."

 

"What?" Burgan resisted the urge to stand up out of his command chair to look out the viewports. "She's all that's holding up the rest of group four."

 

In that same group one of the Victory class Destroyers exploded, a series of internal fireballs ripping her apart from stem to stern. The diagnostics display that had represented that ship blinked with a red X before going dark.

 

"Blunted Razor, how long do they have?"

"Five minutes of power remaining."

"Tell them to abandon ship and pull all of the other ships from Group Four back to Group Three. Solidify the line there."

 

The Imperial line which had started as more of a concave shape was now fast deforming as more ships pulled back to Superior at her center. The formation as a whole was now considerably close to the planet. When the Imperial line stabilized however the Yuuzhan Vong forces that had been in pursuit failed to halt their advance. Instead they began to close even more rapidly.

Then the sensor readouts on the Vong capital ships began to blur.

 

"Sensors what is happening with the Vong fleet."

 

"Sir, the Vong ships are shedding debris, possibly some form of countermeasure."

 

"Sensors I want a picture of some of it, magnified. If it is something to help deflect lasers i want to see it in action."

 

A magnified image appeared on his viewer showing a shape that seemed familiar but at the same time out of place.

 

"Where is it that I’ve seen this before..." he wondered out loud. It wasn't long before Burgan become annoyed that he couldn't remember where he'd seen it, if only Jerej was here to bounce an idea off of. Suddenly the context of that thought brought forth images of a report from a month earlier at Garqi. Images of bugs that had flown up from the surface and torn into many of the starfighters that had been flying in the atmosphere.

 

 

"They're launching swarms of attack bugs! Weapons retarget to the swarms of smaller contacts! Don't let them reach the hulls of our ships!."

 

"We're increasing rate of Turbolaser fire, but there's thousands of them sir, we won't get them all in time."

 

"All capital ships now reporting similar contacts with more of the bug swarms." called out the com officer.

 

All across the battle Imperial ships turned their weapons on the swarming bugs, burning through hundreds of them but thousands still remained. As the Grutchins came into contact with energy shields their bodies began to resonate at the same frequencies as the defensive barriers allowing them to pass through unscathed.

 

"The attack bugs are penetrating our shields some how!"

 

"Find some way to stop them. Captain, prepare to repel boarders. Stormtroopers to check out any hull breach we suffer."

 

The operations officer in charge of maintaining the shields of the mighty command ship began adjusting the shield frequencies. For a moment he believed he'd found a frequency that repelled the bugs when some of them were thrown back, but soon more began to seep through the defenses.

"Sir, remodulating shield frequencies seems to be having only minimal effect but it is slowing them."

 

"That's something anyways." Burgan muttered, louder he said; "You get to keep your job."

 

While the bug attack continued Yuuzhan Vong ships were now passing through the Imperial fleet and accelerating. A Cruiser Analog fired broadside into Superior's Starboard shields knowing few of the Destroyers Turbolasers could be spared to return fire.

 

"Sir Despot reports that their Superlaser has finished recharge. They have a targeting solution fo the nearest Cruiser Analog."

 

"Tell them to hold their fire!" Burgan all but screamed. More quietly to himself he whispered "Emperor help me Reese, if you fire that superlaser at my command ship I'll have your head."

 

Damage report diagnostics for Superior started to light up showing the minor hull breaches caused by the Vong attack bugs. Some of the damage reports however showed Turbolasers and cannon that were taking damage from the attacks. Before he could begin to direct additional Stormtroopers to help protect the guns however there was a strange thump from forward.

 

One of the attack bugs had landed on the external plane of Transparisteel making up the forward viewport. It's acid secreting mandibles started burning through the thick armoured viewport at an alarming rate.

 

"Stormtroopers to the bridge! Transfer command to the secondary bridge!" Yelled Burgan as he leapt up, unholstering his service blaster.

The ship's captain at the same time called out. "Close emergency blast doors Zero zero."

Druasteel plate dropped down in front of the inner transparisteel planes.

 

A Stormtrooper security team entered the space between the two layers of viewports from a side access door and deployed a tripod mounted E-web. When the Grutchin's head at last came through the viewport, venting the compartment's atmosphere, some twenty Stormtroopers opened fire before the rest of it's body could come through. Once the bugs remains had been burned away the Troopers waited, unbothered by the lack of atmosphere in their vacuum sealed armour. Three more Grutchins landed on different parts of the viewports and started burning new, larger holes.

 

+++

 

Dexen Thegas, Superior's Captain waited at the back of the bridge as the last of crew abandoned the command center. Admiral Burgan stopped on his way out. "Captain let's get to the secondary bridge."

 

"Admiral, with your permission I'd like to suit up for vacuum and remain here with the Stormtroopers just in case."

 

"I suppose that's your prerogative, but we need all of these controls locked out in case of suicide attack."

 

"Understood sir.

 

The two men saluted and went their seperate ways. Burgan was just stepping into the turbolift when a huge explosion that rocked the ship lifting him a foot into the air. The turbolift door shuddered closed before the car started it's descent.

"Burgan to secondary bridge, report. What was that last hit?"

 

"Attack bugs sir, they chewed their way into the Bridge deflector arrays. The Topside domes have both exploded taking out the bridge shields."

 

"Tell Despot to close as fast as they can, try and target the Vong ships with their Turbolasers."

 

"Sir the Vong fleet is dropping into the atmosphere."

 

"What do you mean into the atmosphere?"

 

 

098