Stellar_Magic

Okay resurrecting the thread... Cain unfortunately I didn't send you cards, I sent you the images I'm using in the cards... I'll start to work on some stories tomorrow...

The starlines faded into stars and Stellar sighed as the space which greeted him was empty fo sesnor contacts. Slowly he turned to his comm unit and keyed up the holocomm, "This is Stellar reporting, raid into shelter successful, one craft lost,...awaiting orders." "Very well Stellar, return to the Hydian way and resume piratic activity, command out." Stellar let out a slow hiss, reduced to pirate raids again? It would be better just to make a run on Mon Calamari and destroy some shipyards, still he had his orders. Perhaps another raporan fighter squadron was going to hit Mon Calamari, yes that makes sense, they would send another unit to keep the attacks unpredictable.

OOC: Considering that TIE pilots next to never fly the same starfighter twice... Who am I kidding, just try and blast me! IC: "Break by wingpairs!" Kirk ordered as the starfighter streamed toward them. He gritted his teeth as an X-wing screamed toward him firing. Sending the craft into a wild corkscrew Kirk flashed past the fighter his own lasers flashing harmlessly against the shields. Kicking into a break turn Kirk dropped behind the fighter and triggered a burst of laser fire. One of the bolts flashed through the shield and caught the upper stabilizer, causing slight damage. A volley of red laser blasts flashed past his canopy and Kirk broke hard away from his quarry as a green trimmed x-wing flashed past him, apparently his wingman. The craft decellerated to 1/3 of its maximum speed and twisted to pursue him. "Lead break right!" Kirk complied as another volley of red blasts flashed passed his canopy. Suddenly there was a flash and Kirk felt himself buck from a shock wave as Lara's voice came through the comm, "Got him!" "Thanks! Three, Four, break right," Kirk orderd as he saw the two fighters being pursued by a pair of x-wings. It was to late, the first tie detonated and the second one caught a linked burst that shreaded the port solar array and destroyed the stardboard pylon. The craft spun for a moment before the canopy flared from an ejection attempt. The canopy hatch didn't come open, breaking the pilots neck and killing him instantly. Kirk swore as he saw the two x-wings curve away, "Two, stay on my wing!" He broke after them and settled in behind one of them firing desperately with his lasers. One pair of bolts flashed through the shield and caught the x-wings power generator. The craft detonated instantly. A second explosion flashed by his canopy as a panicked voice roared in his ears, "Two's gone Lead, I've picked one up!" Kirk broke hard and saw a Z-95 with orange trim matching every manuever of one of his piltos, his sensor display provided her identity, Gamma Nine. Kirk bracketed the Headhunter and pulled the trigger slicing through the crafts shields he caught its S-foil connector and the two port engines ripped free from their housing. The Z-95 detonated seconds later. A quad burst flashed passed his canopy and Kirk threw the craft into acorkscrew as Nine's voice roared onto the comm, "Eight and Six are down! Lead you're being bounce, I'm coming!" Glancing at his rear sensor display Kirk saw two x-wings pursuing him, one with a damaged stabilizer. Nine dopped behind on of them and opened fire blasting through its shields, the x-wing detonated as it tried to break off pursuit. Even so there was still a lone x-wng with a damaged stabilizer, and Kirk saw the target lock warning light on his display lit up.

Kirk took a slow sip on the mug of ale and sighed as Lara dropped in beside him, "How's Seven?" Lara shook her head, "He's dead, the shuttle didn't pick him up in time." "Sith's pawn," Kirk replied as he took another long pull on the drink. Lara slapped a hand on his shoulder, "Don't drink to much of that, we want you sharp Major." Kirk snorted, "I'm sorry I'm still wound up from that last little, firefight." He glanced at the displays which showed the status of the Star Destroyer, "We're in hyperspace where to?" "The Mistrel VII Platform, command thinks there's been rebel activity in the area. We're suppose to meet up with some of those new Nebulon B Frigates there." Kirk felt the hair at the back of his neck stand on end, "You mean those things they came up with to defend against starfighters, convoy escorts." "Yeah, we'll arrive in a few hours, there are three Nebulons there already, the Ajax, Prinicpal of War, and Death's Head," Lara replied she took a small glass of ale from the shelf and took a sip, "We're suppose to beef up defense of the Platform, command is afraid the Rebels will try and steal some of them. That platform has enough commercial traffic that sneaking in would be relatively easy." * * * The Imperial Star Destroyer came on station, its massive bulk blocking out the sun. Ahead was the XQ3 standard platform surrounded by freighters and a shroud of storage containers. Suddenly one fothe freighters detonated and a swarm fo x-wings flashed across the platform their weapon's blazing. Following quickly behind through hyperspace another legion of rebel fighters leapt into the area. Immediately one of the Nebulon B Frigates broke formation, it fired. Red bolts flashing across the platform and blasting into the other nebulons. A swarm of tie's shot from its hanger and curved and began to make strafing runs against the platform. The Tie's were trying to cover their mother's hsips escape as it made a runt o escape the gravity well of a nearby planet. Throughout the Imperial Star Destroyer alarms blared, "All hands man your stations, get the crews to the fighters." OOC: Oopss...It seems you posted before I did... BUT YOU CAN GET A NEBULON B out of this!

OOC: I saw run to hyperspace, not jump to hyperspace...oh well. (You can't enter hyperspace in the middle fo an asteroid field can you.) IC: The X-wing's rear detonated in a shower of sparks and molten metal. Suddenly the remaining starfighter's cuved away, running toward the edge of the asteroid field. In the distance Kirk saw one of the freighters detonate, when the rest flashed away into hyperspace. As the rebels fled the ties scored a few kills on the retreating craft, but most made it clear to hyperspace. Kirk leaned back in his seat and put the craft into a slow turn, "Gammas return to base. Check in by number." "Two, no kills." Kirk glanced at his squadron monitor, "Three is KIA." "Four, one damaged." "Five, I've got damage to my port engine, no kills." "Six, Solar Panel damage, two damaged." Kirk sighed, "Seven is EV." "Eight, life support is fluxuating, port ione engine is at fifty percent capacity, no kills." "Nine, two kills for sure maybe three, a x-wing and a y-wing." "Conformation?" Kirk asked slowly as the squadron formed in behind him. The Controllers voice keyed on, "Gamma Nine, three kills, that Z-95 is confirmed." Kirk sighed as a smile crossed his face, "Good job Nine, Ten is KIA." "Eleven, no kills, no damage." "Twelve, same here lead, just a graze to the port solar panel." Kirk sighed, "Gama Lead, control how many did you pick up?" "Four kills lead, welcome to acehood, the onboard cantina is waiting for you." "Gamma Squadron reporting in, three losses, seven kills," Kirk answered as he pulled the craft toward the Star Destroyer's cavernous hanger bay. To himself he added, "Most of the kills came from just two of us though."

Major Baumer smiled slightly as he saw the asteroid which had once been the rebel base blosom into a blaze of fire under the withering barrage from the imperial cruisers. The rebel starfighters formed a final defensive screen around the freighters as they made their run to hyperspace. "Gamma, Kilo, and Alpha squadrons, punch a hole in that screen their putting up." "Gammas, form on me, maximum acceleration, targets at mark one, punch through toran boral maneuver." Kirk threw the TIE's throttle wide open and watched as the flight of rebel starfighters turned to engage. Throwing the craft into a corkscrew he bounced away from the oncoming blaze of red laser fire as he returned the fire in kind. He saw some of his shots track across the cockpit of a cloakshape fighter, which blossomed as the atmosphere inside it became plasma. With a flash of light the cloakshape detonated as the imperial squadron flashed through the rebel forces. A flash occured behind him as another of his squad mates disappeared from the sensor board. The squadron of ties broke formation and pulled aroudn in a series of random vectors that were nearly impossible to follow. Kirk settled in behind a blue trimmed starfighter and squeezed the trigger as three squadrons of ties flashed through the hole he'd torn in the rebel lines. They were breaking toward the freighters and already the green flash of their lasers lit up space. Slowly Kirk pulled the trigger.

At the end of Survivor's Quest its pretty clear Thrawn is back... Thrawn got kicked out of the Chiss Ascendancy for conducting preemptive strikes on some of their enemies. What I've always wondered is why did Thrawn destroy Outbound Flight? That still hasn't been explained.

Personally I agree with Mad that Pelleaon is my favorite imp. Though thats mostly because I don't think of Thrawn as an Imperial. The books Survivor's Quest and Vision of the Future paint a very different picture of Thrawn, everything he does seems to be gearing for an invasion by some unknown force...maybe the vong, maybe something else.

I'll release the mod once I'm finished with it, I still have to replace soem fothe troops and ground facilities. Not to mention replace more of the minor characters.

OOC: Trej just entered the battle... I was kinda hoping DJ44 would post Green Squadron is there. IC: "Nine to lead, is that what I think it is coming out of the asteroid belt?" Major Baumer glanced down at his sesnor displays, "A KDY aerospite, sithspawn, there's a jedi in the battle." The Jedi Starfighter was closing on his position, its laser's activated and in attack position, "Gammas break left forty degrees." The Squadron broke on his command and suddenly the ties flashed passed the ISD's bow. Behind them other squadrons were begining to engage the newcomer. The pilot twisted around and fired scoring a hit on one of the ties which detonated. A furball instantly formed behind them as the squadron tried to engage the jedi starfighter. "Gamma squadron, Y-wings are forming up for an attack run, engage them before they can get off a volley." "Roger control, Gammas break by flights, diamond formation, come right ten degrees maximum acceleration," Major Baumer ordered coldly. Ahead he cold see the bulky shapes of the squadron of y-wings forming up. Around them flights of ties and cloakshape fighters danced in a seperate duel. Major Baumer twisted the control column of the Tie into a barrel roll as he bore down on the y-wings, "Flights target the y-wings, two stay on my wing, break and engage." Baumer twisted his craft as only a tie design could fly and settled behind one of the y-wings. His craft spat laser fire and saw it evaporate against the ship's shields. Gritting his teeth Baumer increased power to the laser cannons, "Come on." He fired another burst and saw it blast through the shields and shatter the left pylon of the y-wing, the craft suddenly tumbled its remaining engine still at full throttle and with a shower of transparistel and flash frozen water vapor the pilot ejected. "Lead you're being bounced, two x-wings mark two." Major Baumer corckscrewed hsi craft away as a pair of blue trimmed x-wings flashed by, their lasers blazing. He heard a scream as one of the Ties in its path vaporized. "Who was that?" "Ten," Lara's icy voice answered. "Did he get out," Kirk asked as he settled in on the back of one of the Y-wings. "Negative," Through the speaker there was a loud bang and Lara's voice returned to normal, "Scratch one Y-wing." "This is three, I've got one on my tail, I can't..." The vocie ended as a brilliant flash of fire lit up Kirk's viewport. An X-wing flashed passed his canopy, its trim colored green, and Krik fired a passing shot. The bolt flashed through the rear deflector and struck one of the engines. The x-wing rolled and shot toward the relative safety of the asteroid field. "Four, come left twenty degrees we'll cover you." "I can't shake him six, he's too..." The voice ended in a scream as another blue trimmed x-wing found its mark. Kirk swore and turned hsi craft toward a green trimmed x-wing as it sped toward a tie fighter. Through the sensors Kirk Baumer recognized the craft, "So you'll try and hit nine, just try." The dot that represented Gamma nine twisted across the screen as the green x-wing decellerated to 1/3 thrust for its turn Kirk settled in behind it and fired. The volley of green blasts tracked across the shields flashing green light across the craft. Suddenly aware of the danger the X-wing broke away just as the fire began to penetrate the shields. His last shot hit squarely in the rear of the craft, taking out the s-foil actuators, locking them in attack position until it could be repaired. "I owe you a drink lead," Nine's vocie came back panting. Kirk smiled to himself, "I'll take you up on that if we both survive." Kirk punched up the next closest target and vectored toward it, settling his sights on the Z-95 he opened fire. The green shots flashed through the shields and vaporized the ship's left engines. With a brilliant orange and yellow flash it detonated and Kirk smiled, "Another kill." All around him space flashed and lasers burned as the battle continued. Already he could see a pair of Medium Transports loading personnel and equipment up from the Asteroid. Furballs formed everywhere and the imperial fighters without shields were taking losses, but there were more of them then the rebels and the numbers were taking their toll.

Pelleaon was a pragmatist, first and foremost. He saw the reality fo the situation and knew when to run away, which is one of the reasons why he actually lived so long. He also doesn't have the irrational dislike of non humans. The fact that he was humble kept him likeable, especially when he didn't participate in any atrocities against prisoners, or aliens. Of course Pelleaon brings up a question I've been having, in the NJO do they ever talk about the Empire of the Hand, its like the authors thought of the Empire of the Hand and the Chiss Ascendency as the same nation. Could someone explain that all to me?

UPDATE: Okay so the Empire has an enormous amount of heavy and even superheavy starships. But the New Republic / GFFA forces have about half that number of forces, but three times the worlds. They have control of the Core and soon the New Republic will launch an attempt to take the world of Coruscant, soon. Sad news for the Solos. In a mission to Carida, Jacen Solo was killed by the Rapora Lord Draken... Well, at least Jaina escaped the world. Currently Luke and Mara just single handedly liberated Obroa Skai from imperial occupation, as a team they're nearly unbeatable. Thrawn is on the Alliance side and has taken command of a force of Imperial II star destroyers that are ripping apart imperial worlds throughout the outer rim. The tide seems to have turned toward the side of the Alliance. Unfortunately the Empire has developed a new type of fighter, the Raporan interceptor and have used it to great effect against alliance starfighters. Fortuantely for the alliance the expense of building the Raporan fighter has made it impracticable for large scale depolyment. I'd estimate the empire has only deployed fifty of those craft. There haven't been many fleet to fleet battles of note. An imperial blockade of Corsin is most likely to be the next setting for a major battle, once I've moved enough forces into the region to destroy a sovereign class super star destroyed.

OOC: And my squadron continues to encounter rebels and pirates of course. IC: Major Baumer sat back in the plush seats of the pilots briefing room. Captain Gordon Verlin cleared his throat, "Good morning." There were murmurs of an answering good morning from the pilots. The Captain smiled faintly, "As some of you may know pirate activity in the Marlin V star system ahs been on the rise. Recently an imperial patrol found the base of local pirate activity, our goal is its destruction." Baumer straightened as he raised his hand, "A question." "Go ahead Major," The captain replied simply. "Are they pirates or rebels?" Major Baumer knew that often times rebel hijackers and strikes were mistaken for pirate activity. "A good question," In the middle fo the room a holographic projector lit up, its lasers projecting the image of an asteroid cluster. A pair of starfighters appeared in the center of the view. One was a z-95 a classic craft and father of the imfamous X-wing. The other was the bent wing profile of a Cloakshape starfighter, "The enemy has been seen using these two craft in sufficient numbers to warrant the equivalent of two squadrons of fighters. Also the enemy has been spotted using this." The captain punched the console and the fighters faded to be replaced with a capital ship. Kirk heard some of his pilots murmur in surprise, "A Rendili Star Drive Bulk Cruiser." The Captain glanced at his pilots, "This is a rare occurance for a pirate gang to aquire such a craft, still. The enemy seems exceptionally well equipped for normal pilots. It could be an alliance operation. That is why the Victory Star Destroyer Serpent's Smile, Escort Carrier Hydra, and the Frigates Regal Eye and War of Wills will join us for this mission." * * * Baumer shot fromt eh Tie rack as he was lowered into space. Ahead he could see the asteroid field which supposedly housed the pirate base. Kirk clicked on hsi commlink as he cleared the Star Destroyer, "Gamma Lead clear, Gammas form up on me." As he clicked the link off Kirk shook his head, he never would understand why the controller rotated call signs throughout all the squadrons involved. "Lead, Nine, another asteroid field, just great." Kirk shook his head, he let nine get away with this behavior because of her flying skills, "Roger that, I'm sick of them too." Lara's vocie came back on just seconds later, "Sir, I'm picking up contacts in the asteroid field, I've got them one Rendili Star Bulk Cruiser, and a whole load of fighters." Suddenly on the other side fo the asteroid field a force of capital ships leapt from hyperspace. Kirk glanced down as the list of contacts scrolled by his display, A Quasar Fire class carrier, two corellian corvettes, and a large number of freighters and medium transports. Still it was an insignificant threat to Imperial force with one ISD, one VSD, one Escort Carrier, and a pair of Nebulon B Frigates. As he watched through his display he saw the Quasar Fire launch fighters. One squadron had green stripes along their fuselage and s-foils. Kirk stiffened as he knew what was happening, the Rebels were attempting to hold them long enough to evacuate their base, already he could see freighters and transports jettisoning their cargo and running toward the asteroid hanger to pick up their fighters. Kirk gritted his teeth as he pulled back and headed back toward the destroyer, "Control requesting reinforcements." Glancing in his rear sensor monitor he could see that the green trimmed X-wings were forming into an assault wall formation, "Control?" "This is Captain Vermil to all ships, launch all fighters, we have found a rats nest, lets see wif we can clear em out before they all run for cover." Gamma squadron flashed through the newly launched ties and Kirk let out a breath as he rolled up past the Star Destroyers and back toward the fight, he didn't want to engage all eight rebel fighter squadrons alone. Of course eight against eighteen wasn't all that fair. But now his pilots stood a fighting chance. Slowly Kirk targeted the rearmost of the green trimmed X-wings and called otu to hsi squadron, All wings engage stick to your wing like glue and watch your six." Kirk paused as the kilometers scrolled down, "We're going in."

Yes. I understand the problem with violence and comes down to one rather simple thing. Violence for the sake of violence is bad, violence for a reason is good in films. There is a reason that Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's list, and Apocolypse now are violent. Its trying to show reality and reality isn't always very clean or acceptable. At the same time violence in films like Starship Troopers was really just for the sake of it being violent, thats why the film is so bad. Of course then there's star wars, but do you really see all that much really gory or bloody violence in that? No. (With the exception of the NJO, coufees and amphistaffs don't cauterize the wounds they make.) Romance, well for the older groups of readers Rowling will undoubtably add more romance, but its still a kids book so don't expect sex to play a part.

Another update, its day 770 and the Empire has developed Sovereign class star destroyers. They've built six of them. Current Estimates for Imperial fleet strength: 40-60 VSDs 12 SSDs 30-40 ISDs 6 Sovereign Star Destroyers 30 Nebulon B Frigates I think you get the picture.

OOC: But the Skywalkers destroyed one of my craft, not quite bloodless for the Rapora.

(Begging) Please don't, if you do that I won't be able to publish it, thousands of dollars or more up in smoke, don't do it! Didn't you see the copyright symbols all over it? Furthermore, since its my material, it would be illegal Cain.

OOC: A Strike Cruiser vs. 2 Carracks and a Deadnaught, 44 time to send in green squad or Mad is toast.

OOC: Now your sensor operators will yell in disbelief, as I really make you angry... Don't mess witht he Rapora IC:Stellar saw the fleet of GFFA warships, and knew that it was time to make their retreat. He turned his craft toward one of the Maw exits, even though half of his squadron still had Plasma bombs latched to their hulls. He glanced at his sensor monitor to see his second flight of fighters wasn't retreating, "Second flight return to formation." "Negative, we'll show these Allaince scum," The comm transmission clicked off as the flight leader cut his transmission. Stellar gave a resigned sigh as he looked up at the fleet and felt the force flow through him as a new desiogn entered his mind, "First Flight form up, second flight form up on me, you'll have one last shot at them." "Thank you lead," Second flight fell in behind him now as Stellar broke toward the nearest wall of blackholes, "Force meld, form a line astern." Using the force Stellar plotted a course for his ship that skimmed the event horizon of the black holes. The New Republic fighters paced them keeping their distance from the event horizon afraid of being drawn to their doom. The gravitational pull of the blackholes increased the Rapora ship's speed unt it nearly reached that of the speed of light. Suddenly he broke formation and charged straight toward the closest capital ship, his squadron instantly falling in behind him. He glanced down at his targeting computer triggered the plasma bombs. Behind him the rest of the squadron launched what bombs they had remaining. The Imperial II Star Destroyer Freedom Reign was suddenly awash with fire as the Rapora starfighters passed it. The entire front quarter of the Star Destroyer was blown away from the blast. A gaping hole blazed in the front of the command tower as the ship slowly tumbled firing its red bolts of destruction at the passing Rapora. Suddenly Stellar heard an explosion and turned to see a freighter drop in behind them. Already one of his craft was burning and in a moment detonated with a flash. Stellar cursed as he recognized the craft, the Jade Shadow. With a bark of command he signaled the other Rapora and reached for the hyperspace levers. Their path clear the maw disappeared into starlines and tunnel fo blue light.

OOC: I will now rebuke him in a suitably pompous manner... IC: With a shudder Alpha lead felt his craft lift upward toward the star destroyer's hanger. After a moment in the tractor beam the space tight doors closed uner him and Major Kirk Baumer pulled off his helmet and took a deep breath fothe relatively fresh air of the hanger bay. He popped the top hatch of the Tie and clambered out to a volley of applause from his fellow pilots. Already Alpha Nine stood next to her Tie fighter in her jumpsuit, beaming at him. An Imperial mechanic smiled as he saw him and handed him a case, inside was the tiny silhoutte of a x-wing, "Congratualations sir." "Thank you Sargeant," Kirk answered as Lara stepped next to him and offered him her hand. "Good shooting sir," Kirk took her hand. "Thank you," Kirk answered and for the first time noticed that Lara's red hair was wet with sweat. He smiled slightly, "You did well, loose anyone?" Lara grimaced, "Not in my flight, Seven is in for exposure and Eight's ship will be in for repairs." "Not bad for replacements," Kirk observed. He sighed, it would only be a matter of time before they had casualties once again.

Mara? Which one? Personally I like Mara Nellprin more then Mara Jade, but they are very similar Unfortunately I won't be posting any of those stories very soon. To those of you going huh? Inside joke.

OOC: But I still got to put a silhoutte on my cockpit. Actually if it was a real battle your respose to the Toran Boral manuever would have cost you some fighters...oh well. Breaking up your forces is exactly the worse thing to do against that manuever. Will someone else please join in?

OOC: Where did you retreat to...I'll make an assumption considering these are rebels. IC: "They're heading into the asteroid field..." Alpha Nine yelled her voice tense. "Two flight hang back by Seven, Control we need a shuttle," Alpha lead called as he hauled the ship back to where the rebel fighters had begun to retreat to. n the rear sesnor monitor the Star Destroyer unleashed a broadside of turbolaser fire against the corvette. The shots impacted against the craft's shields which held for a moment. Then as the first shots began to slip through the shield the Corvette flashed away into hyperspace. Ahead the Tie flights began to break formationa s they entered the outer edge of the asteroid belt. Through the viewports he could see the contrails of the four X-wings manuevering through the cloud of rocks. But their less manueverable craft forced them to reduce speed to continue their navigation of the asteroids. Every moment his fighters were getting closer. Kirk tightened down on the controls as he flashed past a planetoid sized piece of debris. Suddenly an x-wing jittered in his sights. Kirk stabbed down on the triggers for the cannons and saw his shots flash across the ship's shields as it broke off formation and dived further intot eh asteroids. Snaping the tie onto its solar panels Kirk dived after the starfighter goosing more power into the ion drive. He juked as a rock nearly smashed into his craft. Suddenly the X-wing was in his sights again, he fired and saw sparks flash off the craft's starboard engine. Flames shot from it as the craft spun toward a field of space dust. It's shield's superheated the dust forming a curtain of flaming sparks behind it as Kirk felt his craft bounce from the turbulence in the space dust. He fired again as saw his shots slice through the port s-foil. The craft spun wildly, out of control and exploded as it entered the next layer fothe asteroid belt. "Congrats lead, thats a confirmed kill," Nine said as her flight continued the chase. Kirk Baumer continued in pursuit his body dripping with sweat from the dodging asteroids as the x-wings continued their flight.

OOC: Well we gave him a chance to jump in... IC:"Alphas here we go, this is for real, wings stick to your leaders, help eachother and you might not loose your head." "Nine to Lead, the Jedi Starfighter is making a run for it." Kirk Baumer shook his head, he was certain that his green squadron couldn't handle a Jedi for an opponent, "Let em go, our business is with the rebels." "Roger," Nine answered. Kirk gritted hsi teeth and threw full power to his ion engines. Ahead through the transparisteel viewport he could see the Corellain corvette open fire with its two turbolaser batteries. The bolts flashed wide of his craft but still he saw in the rear sensors some fothe rookies juke our of formation, "Tighten up formation." The X-wings had formed up in a classic finger four formation, their lead starfighter almost within range. Kirk knew that the next few seconds were critical, head to head his rookies wouldn't stand a chance, "Break formation, Toran Boral maneuver!" Suddenly the Tie starfighters broke into their four flights each heading a different direction. As they moved the fighters rotated to give them their smallest silhoutte, it was a text book maneuver that every member of the imperial academy new. Kirk also knew that if he knew it so did his opposition.

OOC: And the attack on Shelter commences... IC:Stellar smiled as his fighter jolted through the final turn into the Maw. Ahead he could see several kuat transports and corellian corvettes scattered in the gaseous space. In the center fo it all was the ugly conglomerate of structures which was Shelter. Kicking the twin ion drives into high gear he keyed his comm, "Attack pattern Sith Hammer." The flights of fast moving Raporan ships broke up into three seperate groups. They formed a small diamond of craft. As the first flight neared the closest vessel they suddenly opened like a flower. From just under hook shaped nose ofthe craft a missile was released from its housing. It blaved toward the oblivious corvette and hit. The impact burned through the ship's shields and gouged an enormous hole through the vessel near its center. The damage was far enough back to destabilize the main reactor which went critical and detonated in the space fo two seconds taking out the corvette with all hands. Stellar smiled as his comm board lit up, Shelter transmitting a distress call in the open, "This is Shelter to all GFFA forces in the area, we're under attack...I repeat." Ahead the first flight of Raporan ships dipped below the corvette's shattered and blackened hulk. They opened fire with their plasma cannosn tracking explosions along the medium transport that was next in line. A transmission crackled across the comm board, once again in the clear, "This is Task Force Guardian of Fleet two, responding to your distress call." Stellar snarled as he keyed his comm, "Flights form up, we've got to strafe shelter yet."