[Tales of] The New Sith Order (Redux)

[tacoJoemeru]

Damn, I was starting to like Rowan.

[PsychoInfiltrator]

I wasn't.

 

Btw, small point of grammar (coming from a future English major). Consider the following sentence:

 

"Doesn't matter now." Said Vance "Let's drop a beacon and clear out before this place is hit from orbit."

 

Now, consider the grammatically correct version:

 

"Doesn't matter now," said Vance. "Let's drop a beacon and clear out before this place is hit from orbit."

 

You may now return to your normal reading and writing.

[Paul]

Great post Defender. I can't wait for more dude. - Grand Moff Conway

[Defender_16]

Thanks Psycho, I could never tell weather that was supposed to be capitalized or not. We wern't taught that sort of thing in English class and I never did especially well in school.

(I'm serious, I had terrible marks in English class even though I held on enough to stay in Advanced.)

 

It seems I'm brilliant at times just not in a classroom environment.

[PsychoInfiltrator]

You're quite welcome. I specialize in grammar and style, so while I appreciate your style, that partiuclar grammar note was breaking the flow of your posts and annoying me in that particular way only specialists can be annoyed.

 

On a less serious note, [a spelling mistake this time ] I prefer the short form of my username to be spelt 'Psych'.

 

Anyway, keep up the [excellent] writing!

[Defender_16]

On a less serious note, [a spelling mistake this time ] I prefer the short form of my username to be spelt 'Psych'.

Yes but '

' (Repeat x3) [3DIT: Link Fixed]

 

Moving on. The two models of the Modular Star Hauler I was using to draw up the Venture are too diffrient. One was from Warlords Mod and the other was from XWAUP. So in the end I'm going to use the one from the X-wing Alliance Upgrade because it better fits the original drawings I made up of Boooster's ship. So the picture I was hoping to post of it will be delayed.

 

Lastly, these posts might have to start getting a bit shorter if I'm going to keep posting 1 per day. (Sorry.)

EDIT: These posts seem lots longer when they're in Word.

 

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/Defender_16/Musteringthefleet2.jpg

EDIT2: Dammit, forgot to erase the HUD.

 

+++

 

The three shuttles streaked into orbit bound for an older Imperial Destroyer that had been assigned for use in the planet's Quarantine. Additional Medical and triage facilities had been setup aboard while all of her troops were on the planet.

Jag glanced out the forward viewport from one of the jumpseats. For a moment he though he saw the distinctive engine flare of an A-wing Starfighter. Then the white hull of the nearest Destroyer eclipsed that area blocking the view.

 

+++

 

Anni Capstan rolled her A-wing through a soft turn making sure the Interceptors escorting her stayed nearby. The space around the Destroyer fleet was crawling with Tie fighters, and a lone A-wing even one with an Imperial IFF tag wouldn't be left alone for long. The datapad that the Imperial Officer had dropped into her cockpit had contained the deactivation codes for the explosives planted in her fighter as well as instructions that the Imp officer were to have followed. The last instruction on the list had been to leave her the datapad.

 

She'd already input the code and the A-wing hadn't exploded yet so they must have been real. After that were rudimentary hyperspace navigational co-ordinates. It was enough to get her back to Gravlex Med just before her life support ran out. She'd played along with the Imperials just long enough for them to get outside of the Fleet's main body.

 

It had been time enough. With a flick she adjusted the swivel angle of her fighters lasers until they were pointed almost directly aft, then sent power into charging them.

The voice of the Tie pilot flying the other A-wing came over her headset.

"Rebel, I'm giving you five seconds to stop charging your lasers before I shoot out your cockpit."

 

Anni put the A-wing into a barrel roll and fired lasers. Red beams shot backwards toward the escorting Interceptors, one burst nicking a wing pylon and another blowing out the cockpit. She hauled up out of the roll as the less damaged Tie fired then dodged again as the Imperial A-wing came about and fired at her. All of the shots went wide by barely a meter or two.

 

The other A-wing pilot's voice came over the Com. "Second Flight to Ardent. Remote destruct device has failed to respond to my commands, please transmit destruct codes."

 

Pointing her little red speed machine toward the nearest edges of the fleet Anni put full power to engines. Noticing she wasn't accelerating as fast as normal she scrolled through the command screens then rolled her eyes at the results.

"The Imps turned down the maximum burn on the engines because it was too close to redline." More specifically it had been too far into the red but that was a distinction few Rebel pilots cared about. She reset the engines without regard for safety considerations.

"This is Ardent, we've transmitted the destruct codes but nothing's happening. We're tagging her as an unfriendly. Anyone in range take her out."

 

As soon as her IFF identifier turned red on the Imperial status displays, somewhere between twenty and thirty starfighters turned towards her position. She was only seconds from the edge of the gravity well but seconds were all that the Imperial fighters would need.

 

+++

 

Commander Wintle watched the sensor screens from the bridge of the Ardent.

When the call from the main bay had come up asking to take the Rebel pilot out for flight testing it hadn't surprised him. Both the Admiral and Colonel Fel had already approved of the idea, the pilot that the Colonel had left in charge of the Ardent's Tie Squadrons when he went down to the surface must have decided to take matters up himself. Now things had taken a turn for the worse. Someone had to have disabled the explosives on the A-wing and unlocked it's command pathways.

 

The Rebel piloted A-wing was in a race against the roughly two dozen fighters trying to cut it off before it could jump away. Tie Defenders were slightly faster and could overtake it but Interceptors could only hope to get into the way in time. The other A-wing, the one still bearing an Imperial IFF designation, was also starting to slowly fall behind. Before the Rebel could get out of weapons range the Imperial A-wing fired concussion missiles. The Rebel fired her aft facing lasers while rolling sending a spray of bolts back along her flight path. One missile detonated and just before the second could close the distance and impact she spun the fighter out of the way letting the missile streak past, it's path now changing to an arc as it tried to come back on target.

 

Defenders opened fire with lasers, careful not to accidentally bracket any friendlies. The Rebel stopped firing lasers and the fighter seemed to leap ahead even more, laser bolts just grazed the trailing edges of stabilizer fins. The missile finally caught up again only to be hit by the storm of Laser bolts from the Defenders. The ball explosion momentarily obscured several of the fighters from sensors and by the time it had cleared one of the A-wings wasn't there.

 

Wintle whirled in place and looked down to the control pits. "Sensors, did you detect a hyperspace entry?"

"Hard to be one hundred percent certain sir. We detected a partial entry."

 

The com officer spoke up. "Sir, we have a priority line coming in from Superior for you. It's Admiral Dorja."

 

"I'll take it at the aft station. Meanwhile contact security and find out how this happened."

 

049

Edited November 1, 2007 by Defender_16

[Paul]

As usual a great post, but how is Kerrick getting away? - Grand Moff Conway

[Defender_16]

+++

 

Jag read over the report that had been sent over from Ardent. The Rebel pilot had escaped in an A-wing supposedly with the aid of Lt.Commander Kirrek. Apparently the Commander had been found after in his quarters unconscious, both of the Stormtroopers assigned to guard his quarters had been stunned and tied up. The Commander apparently had no recollection of any of the events that were attributed to him. Sure sign of being a sleeper agent. Now the crew needed to find out who his controller was.

 

Jag sighed and set down the data pad. The strike team had been confined to the ISD Raptor for two days now. Medics had checked everyone over and separated those that had been held prisoner by the Vong. Somewhere aboard the ship were the samples the team had obtained and a handful of the altered civilians that had been captured.

 

Casualties had been pouring in since their arrival. The ground forces had assaulted the university campus the day before and now the areas previously used to store AT-AT's aboard had been filled with stretchers and bacta tanks. Medics were everywhere.

The Troopers had fought hundreds of the local inhabitants that had been infected or changed by the Vong. Due to the toughness of the coral like growths most troopers had quickly expended their powerpacks forcing some of the fighting into hand to hand until AT-ST's could be freed up. Reports of the ferociousness of the Alien commanders rivalled that which the commando team had seen in person. One such story told of a single Vong Warrior falling upon a column of Stormtroopers and killing nearly twenty of them with an amphistaff and dagger. Someone had eventually resorted to using a thermal detonator.

 

The Alien version of hydroponic gardens had been found through the campus and samples of everything were being brought up to the Destroyer to be packed for transport back to research facilities in the core regions. No chances were being taken. All containers were intended to prevent breach of quarantine.

 

Jag's comlink activated. "Colonel Fel please report to forward launch bay, your shuttle will be arriving shortly."

 

Just earlier today the Medics had begun allowing those that had been properly screened off of the ship. Shanna Vance had already left some hours ago and General Richardson was scheduled to be coming up from the planet later today to go through screening. Major combat operations on the planet were officially over and the High Admiral wanted the leader of his ground forces available if needed. It wasn't exactly mission accomplished but the occupation force was being brought in could secure the remainder of the planet. Raptor and two Victory Destroyer Upgrade models were to remain behind while the fleet pulled out.

 

Jag walked up the ramp of the Lambda shuttle after it had set down and contemplated where they would be headed next. The Ardent was in serious need of repairs as were other ships in the fleet. Only half of the Tie squadrons assigned to the force still remained, and scout craft were still having trouble staying alive long enough to report which systems the Vong had taken.

 

The face of Quan Rowan came to mind again as it had been when the Vong amphistaff stabbed through him from behind.

He leaned back in the passenger seat and sighed.

"I'm glad I'm a pilot and won't have to see that sort of thing more often in this war."

 

+++

 

 

The Luxury Yacht 3000 formerly known as Lady Luck came out of hyperspace deep in the outer rim. The closest well known planet in this part of the galaxy was Gamorr and it was more than a day or two's travel coreward from here. This was nearly as far as ships could go before they encountered the hyperspace disturbance at the edge of the galaxy. Hidden in a nebula nearby was the Rebel starfleet.

 

"Home sweet home." muttered Octa under her breath as she re-aligned the com system to broadcast the clearance code. Danni stood at the back of the cockpit looking out at the edge of the galaxy.

"This would have made a good spot for an Ex-gal facility."

 

Kyp glanced back at her. "It's hard enough as it is to keep this place hidden from Imperial patrols. Having a semi-civilian organisation setting up a sensor array nearby would have been enough to get any Ex-Gal teams killed."

 

"Hypercom signal sent." said Octa. "Now we just sit back and wait."

 

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

 

The wait wasn't a long one. Within five minutes a modified Victory class Star Destroyer reverted to realspace near their position and locked tractor beams on them. The Yacht was dragged into the main hanger bay and once it was secure the Destroyer jumped back into hyperspace. Once they had reverted again the com went active.

 

"Private Yacht you have been cleared for flight to the Ralroost. If you approach any other capital ship on station you will be fired upon."

With that the com cut off and the tractor beams came back on, moving the Lady Luck back out of the bay and into space.

 

Kyp brought the ship around to port and headed deeper into the nebula. The misty reddish clouds obscured vision and made sensor reading difficult. After clearing a cloud bank they could start to make out dark shapes ahead. Most were spread out quite far apart but some nearer ones had the familiar shapes of various ship classes. The large ovoid shape of what could only be a Mon Cal cruiser passed far to Starboard still heavily shrouded by the clouds.

 

Dead ahead was a boxy triangular shaped ship of a type that Danni didn't recognise. They swept around toward one of the launch bays and entered without hesitation. Kyp set the ship down in an area that had been cleared near the bay entrance. The two Jedi started the ship's Auto shutdown then headed for the landing ramp.

 

When they reached the bottom of the ramp Kyp suddenly started paying attention to what was in the bay. A full fireteam complete with a partially shielded CSA E-web stood in a semi-circle, weapons levelled at them.

"Durron, didn't expect you to be here."

 

Kyp glanced to the side and saw Corran Horn standing in the shadows under the ship, lightsaber in hand. The older man was shielding his presence in the force to make detection difficult.

 

"Horn. I could say the same about you. Did your father-in-law let you off your leash?"

The skin around Corran's eyes tightened slightly but otherwise he didn't respond to the taunt.

"Kre'fey called me in for a mission. I suppose you lost your fighters again somehow and came begging for more."

 

"Listen Horn, I could sit here and toss insults at you all day but we've got some important information for the fuzball that's in charge."

 

"Whose the new jedi candidate?" asked Corran, tilting his head in Danni’s direction.

 

"Jedi candidate?!" asked Danni with a start.

 

"She's more important for the information she knows about our newest problem. Now if you'll excuse us."

With that, Kyp elbowed his way past the guards and headed for a turbolift, Danni and Octa in tow. Octa turned back to Horn and offered him a shrug.

 

Corran shook his head and turned to one of the guards. "Escort them to make sure the guest doesn't wander off into restricted parts of the ship."

 

050

Edited November 1, 2007 by Defender_16

[Paul]

Good deal Defender, keep it coming. - Grand Moff Conway

[DarthTex]

Excellent post Def. It seems you have a couple of good plot lines running

[Defender_16]

+++

 

Two days had passed since Kyp, Octa and Danni had arrived at the Rebel fleet. Kre'fey had been off of his command ship at the time allowing him time to look over the data the three had brought before an actual meeting could take place.

Most importantly it prevented Durron from simply blustering his way past the Bothan Admiral's guards and interrupting him while working.

The door to the Admiral’s office opened and Kre'fay saw Durron enter out of the corner of one eye.

"Greetings Mr. Durron." He said, turning to look at the Human Jedi. "I'm sorry for the delay but sections of the Ralroost needed to be shored up before we go into combat."

"I'll be fine with it as long as you tell me you read our report."

 

The Bothan tossed a small datapad onto his desk. "I did indeed. It's an interesting read. If it were fiction I think I should have enjoyed it much more."

Kyp nodded in agreement.

"What are we going to do about these Yuuzhan Vong?"

 

"Do? Mr. Durron there is nothing we can do about them. Oh we can help evacuate civilians loyal to our cause certainly but other than that we leave the Empire to deal with it."

 

"But you said you were preparing the Ralroost for combat."

 

"Yes. We're getting ready to launch a full blown offensive against the Empire while they're dealing with the Holonet problems and this new Alien threat. According to Booster, Iblis has already gone on the offensive and has taken the Kathol sector. He'll be pushing up along the Rimma before long. I intend to retake Bothan space where we can rally support."

 

Kyp sat in silence while he gathered his thoughts. "Calrisian is going to lose his entire operation again. The Vong were already starting to send raids against it when we left."

 

"That's unfortunate, but we need to strike now while we can. I know from the report that your fighters were too badly beat up to bring them here so I'll offer you a trade. Do a couple of missions for me and I'll give you and Octa a pair of our new XJ X-wings."

 

"Have these fighters been combat tested?" asked Kyp.

 

"Not strictly, no, but you'll get to see them in action first. I want you to join an infiltration team sent in to target a starfighter base. You and the team will escape in the best fighters you can find on base while Horn hits the place with the new fighters."

 

"And after this mission?"

 

"You can go wherever you like with the new fighters, though I hope you'll stay long enough to help us in the assault on Bothan Space. There's bound to be a big Imperial fleet presence."

 

Kyp thought it over and then agreed. "What infiltration team will it be?"

 

"Wraith Squadron. Lorran is a veteran and can handle these things. The team will be restricted to Humans only for the mission for obvious reasons. This does leave them a few members short however. We've filled one spot using a starship thief that Booster recommended but we need one more at the very least. We considered Horn but his face is on too many wanted posters."

 

"And if he screwed up one mind trick everything would be over."

 

"Yes."

 

"How long until this mission goes off?"

 

Kre'fey glanced at a chronometer. "Face's team leaves today, and the strike happens five days from now. They're in the forward Landing bay, look for the Lambda shuttle."

 

+++

 

Admiral Dorja and High Admiral Burgan strode across the command walkway aboard the Super Star Destroyer Superior.

 

"I'm surrounded by children and young people," said Dorja. "Lately I haven't been seeing officers half my age. Oh they're good people but it used to

be that it would take decades to get to the command walkway of a Star Destroyer."

"I know what you mean." Agreed Burgan. "I haven't even turned fifty yet and was hoping to reach Command of a Star Destroyer at this age when I was in the academy."

 

Dorja nodded. "I've followed some of your career and you've earned the rank you have. The first officer of my command ship is under thirty five and I'm about to

make him captain."

 

"From what you've said your first officer seems to have a solid grasp of Destroyer tactics."

 

"He'll be fine, I'm just worried that the new officers are too young, they may not have enough experience. Of course this is coming from me. I'm the oldest serving officer still in the fleet."

 

Burgan smiled. "I'll let you in on something Admiral. One of the first things I did when I reached flag officer was read through your mission reports."

 

The older man turned slightly more white. "Emperors black bones those were all classified."

 

"They still are. You went through some things people would never even dream

of. Fighting Rebels, exploring the Unknown regions, encountering mind numbing new terrors. Few officers are going to match you for experience no matter their age."

 

The older man glanced over. "I'm getting the feeling that you would like my 'experience' for some sort of upcoming mission."

 

"Quite right. A recon in force out to the Corporate sector. We're still getting some intermittent Holocom communications with them but it's starting to become less frequent."

 

Dorja frowned. "The Corporate Sector Authority has never much been one for letting outsiders pry into their business. Even the Empire."

 

"We don't know what they might pull without the fleet watching. They may even try to annex some surrounding sectors. I want you to build up a small Destroyer force with Interdictor support and push down the Hydian Way. Establish checkpoints and hypercom buoys along that lane and we'll get additional support out tot hem eventually. Also, do what you can to speed civilian evacuations."

 

"I'd like to check the Dal Porath mining colony at some point. I left some assets there that could be of use."

 

"Do what you feel is appropriate. I'll maintain the fleet at Agamar as our main line. Once you get back from the Corporate Sector I'll have a new Super Star Destroyer ready for you."

 

"Sir?"

 

"It's not official yet but I'm promoting you to High Admiral to fill my vacancy. I'm to be made a Grand Admiral in command of a new Oversector. The Oversector is to stretch from Ord Canfre to Junction."

 

"What about Dathomir?"

 

"I'll see if I can get Zsinj out of retirement to shore up that flank."

 

051

 

What's that Paul? *Cough/Tie Raptors/Cough*

Edited November 1, 2007 by Defender_16

[tacoJoemeru]

Zsinj!

[Paul]

Yes Defender my friend YAY Tie Raptors and Zsinj should be grand. -Grand Moff Conway

[Defender_16]

The aging pilot Corran Horn watched the timer on the starfighter's console count down. He sat in the pilots seat of one of the most advanced starfighters ever designed by the Rebel Alliance; The XJA1 X-wing. He would have preferred to be sitting in the old T-65 that he'd stolen from CorSec when he left Corellia decades ago but Kre'fey was adamant that they get combat data on the new fighters.

 

According to Intel the base they were supposed to be hitting was used by the Empire as a Tie Craft re-supply base. Destroyers that had lost too many starfighters and would be at risk for a return trip to the more civilised areas often stopped here. One ship that had stopped here had unknowingly been carrying a sensor probe attached to it's outer hull. Twenty four hours before their attack an Intel team was supposed to have gone into the base to help clear the way. As it was the numbers of fighters known to be present were sketchy.

 

The Rebel force came out of hyperspace still in formation. Peshk Vri'syk and his squadron were off to the right while Asyr Sei'lar had a squadron to the left. Taldira a Twi'lek warrior still fierce looking despite his age lead a fourth squadron slightly behind Corran's, ready to pounce on any stragglers that made it past the other three squads.

 

Behind the mixed fighter screen of new XJ's and older upgraded vehicles came the Fastblast, an old pirate ship which was already launching Tie Clutch craft. Most of the Fastblast's fighters were Clutch Mk.II's, closer in speed to the Tie Interceptor than it predecessor.

 

They cruised in toward the flat disc of asteroids that made up the topography of the system. Now it was time to just wait. Within minutes they would be within sensor range of the Imperial base. There was nothing to obscure sensors and no point in jamming. They just had to face down the Imps as they came out.

 

+++

 

 

Unknown to the insertion team before their arrival there wasn’t just one base in the target system. Three bases were built inside the asteroids that filled the system, and all of them were hooked up to a system wide sensor net. Within seconds of their arrival the Rebel force had been detected.

 

Alarms blared over the base com systems. "All pilots to your stations!" Shouted the watch officer. "Repeat, all pilots to your stations! Inbound Rebel force detected. Strength at four squadrons and climbing."

 

That was all that the insertion team needed to hear. Already clad in Tie pilot's flight suits the team captain waved to the other members in the launch bay.

"Do it."

Around the hanger stun grenades went off, knocking out the scrambling deck crews and taking down the wave of pilots rushing out from the lounge. Not all of the hanger techs were unconscious though. A grizzled looking man that had to have come from a high gravity world reached a control bank and threw a switch while another pulled out a comlink and started yelling for Stormtroopers. A flurry of blaster bolts struck both men, hurling them into adjacent walls to rebound to the floor.

 

The Captain turned to the nearest Tie Craft, a Defender, one of several they had planned to steal, then swore. The tech had activated locking clamps securing all of the fighters. It was a safe bet that nothing short of an override command from the station's control center was going to get them out. Garik 'Face' Loran pulled his helmet off. "Kell! Castin! They've locked down the fighters. Find a way to get us out of here while the rest of us cover you."

 

The tall explosives expert and the slicer from Coruscant both took off in opposite directions, one to a console the other to the fighters. Other member of the team tossed pilot helmets toward the fighters and unslung whatever weapons they carried before moving to cover the doors.

 

Myn Donnos the sniper climbed up on top of a starfighter near the entrance to the bay, attaching sections to a weapon that was disguised as an E-11. Alek 'Def' Valen, the starship thief, snapped two attachments onto his own custom weapon turning the carbine look-alike into a small repeater rifle. Lastly, Kyp Durron pulled out a lightsaber that had been disguised to look like an Imperial rank cylinder. The Jedi had been convinced by Kre'fey to take part in the mission in exchange for a new XJ starfighter. Face shook his head at the insanity of that as he took cover.

 

With a force push Kyp cleared the hallway of the downed Imperial pilots, not wanting to give incoming troopers any cover. The base Stormtroopers wasted little time in getting to the bay. A trooper skidded around the corner firing on automatic. Myn's shot took him in the neck while the shots Kyp's deflected sprayed back down the corridor to strike two more troopers that charged in.

 

Some troopers took up firing stances at the corner while others threw fragmentation grenades. A quick force push hurled the grenades back down the hallway to explode just short of the Imperial foot soldiers. Sparks of thermite began to illuminate one of the doors that the slicer had locked while another spot appeared in the ceiling.

 

"Fall back!" Shouted Face over the noise as he moved behind some diagnostics consoles. Def fell back and jumped over a cargo crate just as the second door was blown open. Kyp's lightsaber was a blur, deflecting fire from one group of troopers into the other. Everyone tried their best to put as much fire towards the Imperials as they could to help out the now struggling Jedi.

 

The sound of explosive bolts echoed through the hanger as the docking clamps let go of the Tie's. Before Castin could yell to the others that the fighters were clear, more troopers blew a hole through the ceiling and began fast roping to the floor. Everyone ran for the cover of the fighters, Kyp continuing to dodge back and forth while drawing fire. Myn's sniper bolts burned bright and Def’s weapon never stopped it's automatic fire.

 

Kell had been working on trying to release the clamps manually when the computers had released them. Not bothering to check on the others he hauled himself up wing pylon and into the cockpit. The ship security slicer program on his datapad had the fighter online in seconds. Throwing on the black helmet, he lifted the Defender on repulsors and turned the guns towards the increasing number of Stormies in the hanger.

 

"Bye, bye little Stormies." Kell walked single fire laser cannon shots across the back of the bay then fired the Ion cannons into the hole in the ceiling. A handful of Stormtroopers fell from the hole grasping at rope as their rappelling equipment shorted out. The others reached their fighters while Kyp continued to cover the scattered fire coming from the hallways.

 

Without a second thought Kell lowered his fighter down in front of the door blocking the laser fire with his shields. With a force assisted leap the Jedi was on top of, and then climbing into, the last fighter they had prepared.

 

The Missile warning indicator on his Kell's HUD went off as a Stormtrooper with a shoulder fired Concussion missile launcher appeared. He yanked the controls up and away forcing the trooper to fire before he had a full lock. The missile overshot and streaked out of the bay.

 

"Kell, let's move!"

 

"Gotcha Wraith One." He answered, kicking the throttle to full and streaking out of the bay before any more soldiers could arrive.

 

052

Edited November 1, 2007 by Defender_16

[PsychoInfiltrator]

Drat.

[Paul]

Damn rebel scum. I don't think they could have done that so easily Defender. Good post anyway though. - Grand Moff Conway

[Defender_16]

I considered writing an additional piece showing the infiltration phase but if I'd chosen to do that you guys wouldn't have gotten a post today.

 

PS: Think a few Wraith Squadron members would have been dead without Kyp to soak off all that blaster fire?

 

PPS: Look closely at the Starship thief's name.

[PsychoInfiltrator]

Why, Def?

[Defender_16]

Hey, the Empire doesn't exactly pay well for Starship thieves.

 

Imperial Officer: We have a warrant for your arrest! Return to the platform or be fired upon!

[nordwindranger]

a traitor in our midst!!! good read anyways. still waiting for the imps to start kicking butt!

[Paul]

I always knew you were favoring the rebel scum Defender- and yes I caught the name earlier. - Grand Moff Conway

[Defender_16]

Slight delay due to Shadow of the Colossus.

 

 

Yes there are Rebels. They are opperating in the Shadow of the Empire.

 

+ + +

 

Corran watched his sensor display as groups of Imperial starfighters launched from not one, but two bases. One was closer to their position by several minutes which might give them time to deal with one wave but not both. The closer formation had several Assault Gunboats as well as Tie Avengers and even some Tie Lancers. Half the numbers of both groups were made up of Tie Interceptors.

 

The insertion team was supposed to steal or take out of action any Tie Defenders present. So far none of the dangerous craft had shown up but that could change. Already, more advanced Imperial craft were showing themselves. Two Missile Boats and an escort of some newer Tie craft were starting to out pace the slower Interceptors from the farther group.

 

"Heads up everyone. We're going to punch through the slower group and try to force them to turn in our wake. After that the elites will hit the Missile boats and new Tie craft, everyone else pound those squints to clear us a path back out of here. If the team uses the confusion to escape so much the better."

 

"This is the Fastblast. We'll cover your escape vector, we just had some Quadlasers installed."

Back toward the converted freighter the squadron of Tie Clutch craft broke off escort of thier carrier and headed after the rebel fighter wing.

 

The Imperials and Rebels closed to weapons range, the Tie Interceptors hanging back behind the shielded Gunboats and Avengers. Twenty years of fighting off dedicated groups like the rebellion had taught the Empire how wastefull sending unshielded fighters into a head-to-head fight was. Most interception tactics used shielded fighters that could keep pace with the Tie Interceptors speed advantage. Perhaps the insertion team had disabled the Defenders at the very least.

 

"Concussion Missiles for the first group, save torps for the heavy fighters and base."

The warning tone of a missile lock attempt filled Corran's cockpit. He jinked the new X-wing arround spoiling the lock and then switched to Concussion missiles. Corran's R2 unit Whistler bade a beeping noise that went solid as the lock-on brackets went red. Pulling the trigger, a single missile went streaking out towards one of the Gunboats. Most of the other X-wings had fired concussion missiles as well and some thirty of them converged on the two leading squadrons of Imperial craft.

 

Shields failed on fighters from both sides and most of the Tie Avengers winked out along with a couple of older X-wings that had been upgraded. The newer XJ's that had been targeted had used the new forward firing anti-missile flares. It was an expensive and still experimental system but it needed combat data as much as the new fighters did.

 

The two starfighter groups entered laser range then crashed through each other. Corran triggered a quad burst into a gunboat that had lost shields and watched the cockpit explode back out into space. Switching to dual fire he held down the trigger firing into groups of Interceptors at they passed. As planned none of the X-wings turned to dogfight with the Interceptors forcing the Imperials to split their attention. Just seconds behind the X-wings came Taldira'd Deathseeds and the Tie clutch squadron that was catching up.

 

Three Tie squadrons continued on toward the remaining Rebels while the remainder turned in persuit.

Corran keyed the com. "What kind of Tie craft are we looking at guarding those missile boats?"

 

Sei'lar responded first. "Looks like something based off the Avenger, it's... They're Tri-Avengers!"

 

Corran shook his head. "They're not supposed to be deployed for another year. And even if they were, they should have been in the same base as the Tie Defenders."

Out ahead the two missile boats accelerated for a few seconds using their booster and then fired their heavy missile packs. Four groups of smaller missiles came streaking out.

 

"Cluster Missiles! Shoot down as many as you can with lasers and hold off using the flares until the last second." A cloud of red laser fire filled the space ahead of the Rebels and the ball explosions associated with concussion missiles appeared when the laser fire burned through the missile armour coating. The Missile boats fired another spread of missiles as the last of the first wave were shot down, then they dropped back to cover the Tri-Avengers.

The tie craft added their own missile fire to the volley.

 

This time the Rebels went straight to using flares on the incoming missiles. Three X-wings instantly exploded, all hit by multiple missiles. As they reached laser range the new Ties all changed course and accelerated in diffrient directions.

"Break by pairs. First and second flight hit those Missile Boats."

 

The Imperials were trying to seperate the Rebels, reducing their strength and buying time for support to arrive. As his flight closed on one of the fast moving Missile Boats he glanced at the sensors. They had less than five minutes until the ties from the scond base arrived and seconds until the survivors of the first wave caught up. Knowing they didn't have time now Corran switched over to his Torpedo launcher. It took slightly longer to get a lock than with the newer concussion missiles but the reticle still turned red.

 

The blue tailed projectile shot out as the other fighters in his flight opened fire with lasers. The shots struck at the same time droping the shields of one fighter. A quad burst burned through it's wing before the pilot could activate the heavy engine booster. Then the heavily pockmarked fighter accelerated away from the fight. The other missile boat dropped in behind first flight and fired Cluster missiles again.

"BreakBreak!"

All eight of Corran's remaing aft flares fired as he and the others of his flight rolled out, ball explosions appearing just tens of meters behind his fighter. The Missile Boat stayed with him attempting a torpedo lock next. Just as with his own weapons the torpedoes took longer to lock giving him enough time to swing arround for a head to head with Two Flight. Opening himself fully to the force, something he didn't like to do in combat, he waited for the tell-tale signs that the Boat pilot was going to fire.

 

His hand jinked the controls causing a pair of torpedoes to go shooting past him rather than into the tail of his fighter. Four quad linked shots took the Imperial fighter in the bow at the same time, overpowering the shields and burning out it's cockpit. The Torps which had started to loop arround to re-aquire their target, exploded, hit by laser fire from One flight.

 

The Interceptors and a few Tie Avengers from the first wave started to arrive at the dogfight between the X-wings and Tri-Avengers.

"Let's get those ties before the Second wave get's here."

 

053

Edited November 1, 2007 by Defender_16

[nordwindranger]

good read.

xjs have concussion missles and proton torps and flares? next it will be a bank of turbolasers..

 

good stuff. its amazing how fast you can pound this out

[tacoJoemeru]

Hmmm, Tri-Avengers, and TIE Lancers? How aboot some specs on these new Imp Fighters. If you don't mind that is...

[DarthTex]

I would like to see the rebels bite off more than they can chew. Maybe this could be that time? Hopefully the extra Ties coming in can whittle down the rebel fighters en mass. OK, so maybe the Wraiths escape (or most of them). But if they lost more than they took, that would make me happy I just hate the way it's starting to look (GGMW: good guys must win ). Good post Def!