On the bridge of the Akira, the response to the sight of the Endeavor ramming the Malcontent shocks the crew, but they all know with one look at the Endeavor as she slowly pulls around to face the ravaged form of the Malcontent, that she will not survive the trip back to their own lines and immediately Captain (Provisional) Glorvan Liton began to issue orders.
"Hail the CO of the Endeavor, inform them that we will be escorting them back to our lines, and that we are proud to be here today with such a brave crew."

Immediately the Akira moves to the Endeavor, taking up station under the damaged ship, and extending her shields around her wounded comrade.

Moving together toward the VE lines, the two ships stayed as close together as they possibly could, in order to get the most strength out of the shields of the Akira. Leaving behind the drifting hulk of the Malcontent for the salvage ships that will come later.

On the bridge of the Akira Captain (Provisional) Glorvan Liton looks back at the drifting hulk of the Malcontent and muses to herself.

Not much left of that ship now, not even worth attempting to capture it. It would probably take more time to fix this ship than it would take to construct an entirely new one, oh well, it is not my fault.

Turning back to her helmsman she begins to give orders. “Coordinate with the helmsman on board the Endeavor and find out what is the best speed which they can achieve at this point, I want us to get out of here as fast as possible. Also inform them that they can transfer whatever fighters they have to our flight decks to be repaired and rearmed. Also have Slicer squadron launch and provide some cover for us, I don't want anyone getting lucky and managing to penetrate our shields and attacking us.”

Or the Endeavor, if they are hit and their reactor goes we're so close together that we will stand no chance of managing to get out of there alive.

As the two ships, one whole, and one terribly damaged fly together through the battlefield, the whole protecting the damaged one from fire, at the same time returning fire against any ships that engage them. While a swarm of TIE fighters flies cover for the two ships, some of them bearing the emblem of the Vast Empire Navy, others bearing the emblem of the Dominion Navy, and yet they fly together, covering each other, and they serve to show the other ships present, that all it takes is a choice to stop fighting, and they can work together, there are many other enemies in the galaxy that they could be fighting. At this sight the Black Heart, which had been making an attack run on the Akira suddenly changed course, pulling into position beside the Akira the Carrack Cruiser hails them and says that they are done fighting, and that they are surrendering to the Commanding Officer of the the Akira. When asked their reasons for surrendering their response is simple:

“We were told that you were the treacherous ones, and that it is the VE that we needed to eliminate, some of the rest of the men may not understand or care, but I and a good part of my crew was present at the Battle of Endor, we recognize that the way this battle is going we can either be destroyed fighting fellow Imperials, or we can surrender and hopefully be given a fair hearing. That is what made our decision, we were lied to, and it is obvious from the time it took for your response to take place that you had knowledge that our leader was going to stab you in the back. Something that I was not wise enough to see through, as such I am surrendering to the only true Empire left, with that knowledge, I can surrender with Honor.”

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Points tallied up to this post

Jax closed his eyes as the Dream Crusher slowly pitched upwards. His heart was racing, his palms were sweaty, his knees weak. He hadn’t felt this nervous since his first day of flight training. Silently he ran through scenarios, contemplating just how easy it would be for the Dream Crusher and her crew to lose this upcoming engagement. For all Jax’s training, he had absolutely no combat experience at the helm of a capital ship. It was a daunting task.

Never one to let his own feelings bother him, Jax opened his eyes, pushing the grim thoughts away. Now wasn’t the time to focus on how easy it would be to fail; now was the time to focus on how easy it would be to succeed. The Dream Crusher was, by no means, a weak ship. It was slow, and old, but it boasted heavy shields and armor and an impressive array of weaponry. Sure, the crews were young, but they were quick learners.

Slowly a feeling of confidence grew in Jax. As it did a light filled his eyes. He sat up straighter, his breathing evened out, and the subtle shaking of his hands ceased. As these changes, both physical and mental, came over the Skipper of the Dream Crusher, they slowly spread throughout the bridge crew. Officers who had been just as nervous as their commander fed off his new-found calm, and soon were calm and collected themselves. Enlisted men, the newest members of the Dream Crusher, slowly found a new hope rising in their hearts. Despite the challenges they faced, the crew, the ship, and its commander, were ready.

And just in time.

There was a cry from the sensor stations. “Two enemy Carrack-class warships incoming, vector 312, Commander,” one of the tactical officers cried out.

Jax nodded, checking his own displays. Sure enough the two Carracks were cutting through space, heading right for the Dream Crusher. They were moving in tandem, obviously intent on taking out the ‘weaker’ Dreadnaught. Jax wasn’t about to go down so easy.

“Helmsman, bring us about starboard twenty two degrees. Split the angle of attack,” he ordered.

While the helmsman made the adjustments to the ship’s course, he responded, “Aye, aye Sir.”

“Warm up the starboard batteries. Prepare for broadside,” Jax said after a minute. The Lt. Commander could hear a quiet aye-aye, but he couldn’t tell where it came from. It didn’t matter. As long as the crew followed their orders he didn’t need to know the specifics. Most of his orders were common sense moves anyways. Jax didn’t see the point in pushing such orthodox measures on his crew when they served on such an unorthodox ship.

As he watched the two Carracks approach, Jax had a sudden thought. “Navigation, give me distances on the Carracks,” he said.

The navigations officer responded promptly. “The first Carrack is eight kilometers and closing off our starboard side, second Carrack is thirty degrees below it and nine kilometers and closing.”

“Right, hold steady then. Let them come to us,” Jax said.

After that it was a waiting game. The Carracks angle of attack and been split; they had been planning on catching the Dream Crusher on either side, delivering devastating broadside attacks simultaneously. It was an extremely effective strategy, but difficult to execute and easy to avoid. Now that Jax had moved his ship out of the way the Carracks had no choice but come at him. Due to their own formation, the Carracks now had to come at him one right after another. It would be nearly as effective as double broadsides, but only just. At least now the Dream Crusher had a chance.

It seemed to take ages for the first Carrack to close within firing distance. In reality Jax knew it was only a few minutes, but that didn’t help his nerves at all. The sense of calm that had come over him only a few moments before was now replaced by a rising tide of panic. He had the horrible feeling he had forgotten something vitally important, something that, if lacking, would get him and his crew killed. It was a nagging feeling, and a horrible one, and suddenly Jax felt ill to his stomach.

There was nothing for it. The first Carrack was upon them, and Jax had no choice but to order all batteries to open fire. The results were devastating. Even as the Dream Crusher opened up a broadside on the Carrack, the Carrack opened up with a broadside on the Dream Crusher. Green turbolasers lanced back and forth, splashing blue against shields. Jax watched his shield strength deplete on one of his monitors. After only one broadside from the first Carrack his shields were down to seventy-eight percent. Things were not going well.

Then the second Carrack was upon them. “All batteries, fire!” Jax nearly screamed. To his satisfaction the space between his Dreadnaught and the Carrack once again lit up, green lasers lancing first from his own ship and then from the enemy Carrack. Once again the Carrack passed them by, leaving Jax’s shields drained and his guns empty.

It didn’t take long for the Carracks to come back around to finish the Dreadnaught off. Even after full-on broadsides the Carrack’s shields were stable at approximately seventy percent. The Dream Crusher’s shields, on the other hand, were hovering right around fifty four percent. If they were hit again on the starboard side it would be the end for Jax and his crew.

Frustrated, Jax looked for a way out. Try as he might, he couldn’t find one. Sighing, he did the only thing he could do. “Hard to starboard,” he told the helmsman. “Present the port side. Shields up on that side, all guns: prepare to fire.”

***


Sometimes coincidence plays a huge role in a battle. It was coincidence that Captain Levinn just happened to glance down at his display, and it was coincidence that he just happened to notice three blips, two red and one blue, moving only a few kilometers from his ship, the Imperial-Class Star Destroyer Immortal. Currently his ship wasn’t engaged. They had just failed to prevent the destruction of the Eagle, and Levinn, along with his crew, were looking for vengeance.

They found the perfect opportunity in the form of two Carracks harassing a lone Dreadnaught.

“Helmsmen, hard port. Bring the nose down twenty degrees. I see something to shoot,” he said.

“Aye, aye Sir,” came the simultaneous reply of the two helmsmen. In unison the two young men manipulated the controls that gradually altered the course of the huge Star Destroyer. After only a few seconds, much to Levinn’s satisfaction, the Immortal was moving towards her new targets.

Nodding to his gunnery officer, Levinn tapped a button on his display, opening a comlink to the port-side battery commander. “Major, prepare your guns. I want a direct Ion-cannon blast followed by a hard turbolaser bombardment on the first thing to cross into your firing lanes.”

Even from where he was standing on the bridge, Levinn could imagine the Major’s smile. “Willco, Captain,” the younger main said. Levinn ended the communications link and sat back to watch.

While Carracks were quick, nimble, well armed, and tough, they were no ship-of-the-line, and they couldn’t hope to stand up to an ISD. A ‘wolfpack’ of Carracks could take down a ship like the Immortal, but only working in tandem and utilizing their ships (and their crews) to their fullest extent. So it was that Captain Levinn felt fairly comfortable about taking on the two smaller Dominion capital ships, even without fighter support.

As the Immortal neared the battle Levinn saw just how desperate the situation was becoming. While the Dreadnaught had put up a good fight, the Carracks were just too fast, too knew, for it to handle. Levinn planned on changing that. He watched as the ISD slid up next to one of the Carracks, which was now less than two kilometers away, and opened fire with a full-on broadside.

The effect was devastating. The Carrack might have been tough, but it was nothing compared to the ISD. The two ships were built with different roles in mind. The Immortal was designed to crush tough ships like the Carrack, and it did its job very well. After only a few seconds there was nothing left of the first Carrack but a floating glob of slag, venting atmosphere into the black abyss of space. With a satisfied grin, Levinn ordered his crew to move on to the next Carrack.

They didn’t move fast enough.


***


Jax never even saw the ISD that blasted the first Carrack out of the sky. He was to busy paying attention to the other Carrack, the one that was about to blow a giant hole in the side of his ship. Things had looked so good in the beginning, and now they had suddenly taken a turn for the worse. The Carrack was lined up on Dream Crusher’s port side and was unleashing volley after volley of turbolaser fire into her shields. The Dreadnaught was returning the fire in kind, but her shields were failing. The combined attacks of the Carrack cruisers had cost the older Dreadnaught, forcing it to divert power to both its port and starboard shields. The result was shielding on each side that couldn’t withstand much fire.

And now the shields were failing. The ISD (Jax now identified it as the Immortal) was slowly changing course, trying to get a firing angle on the smaller Carrack, but they would never make it in time. With a frustrated sigh, Jax made a decision. One more volley would tear gaping wholes in the Dream Crusher and possibly cause the death of her entire crew. Jax wouldn’t have that. He might have failed in his duty to protect his ship, but he would succeed in his mandate to keep his crew alive. Reaching for a mic, he keyed in to the ship’s standard frequency. As he spoke, Jax’s voice was projected throughout the ship’s intercom system and every personal comlink. It was a staggering effect.

“This is Lt. Commander Arston Jax. As of right now there is a standing order to abandon ship. I repeat, all hands abandon ship.”

Even as he spoke the next volley from the Carrack ripped into the port side armor of the Dreadnaught. What little protection the armor offered wasn’t enough. The ship shook violently, then began to list. Holes in its side vented atmosphere into the black of space until the self-sealing bulkheads slammed shut, preventing the entire ship from losing its life support.

It didn’t stop the bodies from being sucked out into space.

Jax saw them, the men and women under his command who had put their trust in him not to get them killed. He saw them, floating, dead and dying, starved of oxygen and literally boiling from the inside out due to the vacuum. They were frozen, unable to move in the absolute-zero temperatures of space. It was a horrible way to die.

Turning his gaze from the gruesome scene Jax began to order his men off the bridge. If they were lucking the majority of the crew could get off the Dream Crusher, now dead-in-the-water. After everyone was off the bridge Jax took a moment to look around, taking in the sights of the now-dim command room, the nerve center of the ship. Shaking his head, Jax followed his men to the escape pods.

Deep down, he knew that his career was over.


***


Levinn saw the broadside rip into the Dreadnaught’s hull, and he had a sinking feeling. They hadn’t moved fast enough, and now another ship would die, and with it the crew. Slamming a fist down on his display, Levinn let out a feral growl. Turning to his gunnery officer, Levinn only had one thing to say.

“Blow that son of a bitch out of my sky,” he said, his voice hard as steel with tightly controlled fury.

The gunnery officer gave a curt nod, and then turned away, sending the appropriate orders to the different battery commanders. Before long the Immortal was moving into position, and the guns were warming up.

The carrack hadn’t been sitting idle. After crippling the Dreadnaught it had gunned its engines, quickly accelerating away from the scene of the battle. While the carrack didn’t necessarily move faster than the ISD, it did move faster sooner. So it was that by the time the ISD was ready to open fire the Carrack was already at the maximum range for the turbolasers. Then, in a blink of an eye, it was gone.

Levinn could only blink, staring at the spot where the Carrack had been. Then he turned to his tactical officer. “What the hell just happened?” he asked, some of the anger in his voice replaced by genuine puzzlement.

There was a subtle pause. “Micro-jump, sir,” the tactical officer responded carefully.

Nodding absently, Levinn thought this over. His prior fury was now dissipating, replaced by a cold thirst for vengeance. The Carrack might have escaped, but the Immortal had bigger fish to fry. “Alright. We’ll get those buggers later. What’s the status on the Dream Crusher?”

Somewhere on the command bridge a voice rang out, supplying the Captain with the information he wanted. “She’s dead, sir, for all intents and purposes. The volley pierced the hull. Port shields are gone, and she’s leaking reactor fluid at a pretty bad rate. Looks like the main shield generator was taken out too, so those won’t be coming back anytime soon.”

Levinn nodded, his face tight and grim. He had been expecting as much. “Survivors?” he enquired, hoping for the best, expecting the worst.

“Aye sir,” came the response, much to his surprise.

Turning to the young lieutenant that had spoken, Levinn’s face lit up. “Well, what are you waiting for? Reel them in!”

The young man tried to hide his grin, but failed miserably. “Aye, aye Sir,” he said, turning away to issue the appropriate commands.


***


Jax sat in the small escapepod with five other people. Two were officers, one was a warrant officer, and the other two were enlisted men, marines stationed on board the ship for security and boarding operations.

There wasn’t much to say. All of the men (and women, for the warrant officer was most definitely female) were feeling the shock of losing what had been their home for the majority of their time in the Navy. They would all get over it, but it would take time, and time was something of a luxury at the moment. The air in the escapepod wouldn’t last forever, and Jax hoped that the ISD would notice them before it was too late.

Not that being picked up by the Immortal would be the end of Jax’s problems. After he got on board he would have to report to the Captain of the ISD, a man who Jax knew only by reputation, on the destruction of his ship. Knowing that the crippling of the Dream Crusher and the death of some of her crew was entirely his fault, Jax expected a court martial to be filed by this time tomorrow.

He wouldn’t, nor couldn’t blame them if they did.

Jax was one hundred percent certain that what had happened to the Dream Crusher was his fault. He had gone looking for a fight, but a fight had come to him, and it had turned out that Jax and his ship wasn’t up for it. They had held their own for all of ten seconds, and Jax felt sure that this was a reflection on his poor leadership. His crew, while young and inexperienced, was skilled. Jax felt that if they had had a proper leader they would have come through the battle victorious and unharmed.

Of course, none of this was true, but the guilt of lost lives hangs heavily on good men, and Jax was a good man. As the Lt. Commander closed his eyes, he felt the familiar jerk of a tractor beam. They had been found.
The escape pod was hauled into a spare hangar, one of dozens from the Dream Crusher. In reality only a few hundred of its thousands of crew died. While the numbers weren’t insignificant, they were small, and could have been a lot worse. Still, Jax refused to believe that he had done the right thing. He still felt that all this was his fault, and he was ready to pay the price.

As a enlisted man helped him out of the escape pod, Jax enquired into the location of the Captain. The enlisted man pointed him in the direction of the bridge and Jax immediately set off in that direction, intent on meeting his fate head-on.

The trip was long and uneventful. He finally came to the high-security lift that would take him to the bridge. Saluting the security detail of four marines stationed at the small guard post just in front of the elevator, Jax’s heart began to race.

The marines had him sign his name in a log book, then looked over his ID very closely. Finally he was cleared to go up to the bridge. As he stepped into the lift Jax had to wonder if it would be the last decision he would make as a free man. His thoughts grim and depressed, Jax waited as the elevator climbed.

After a long ride Jax reached the top. There was a ding, and the doors slid open. The marine stationed on guard duty snapped to attention, intoning the familiar “Officer on Deck!” phrase used to announce his presence. Jax had to smile and wondered if it would be the last time he would every hear that said when he arrived.

He didn’t have long to think. Immediately a man standing in the center of the room (Jax had no doubt he was the Captain of the Immortal) turned to face him. “Ah, Commander,” he said pleasantly. “I’m happy to see that you and the majority of your crew survived.”

Jax stood at attention, not speaking. The Captain seemed a little too pleasant, and Jax wasn’t getting his hopes up. After a long silence, the Captain spoke again. “Ah, I see,” he said softly, studying Jax. “You blame yourself.”

Startled, Jax’s eyes shifted towards the senior officer, then back again. Still, his breathing quickened. What was going to happen to him?”

“It is, of course, understandable,” the Captain continued. “You feel you could have done a better job, and that the destruction and loss of life, small as it was, is your fault. As I said: understandable.”

Jax tensed, waiting for the explosion. It never came.

Instead, the Captain said, “Understandable, but misplaced. No, you did the best you could in adverse conditions. Those old Dreadnaughts are terrible ships to command with a new crew, especially by a new commander. Carracks are quick, powerful, and they pack a punch. You did well, under the circumstances, and made the right decision in abandoning ship.”

Jax blinked, unable to believe what he was hearing. Could it be that the Captain was right, that none of this was his fault? Jax refused to believe that, not entirely, but he felt some of the guilt lift off his shoulders. His eyes lightened, and his voice, although strained, sounded like a man who had been redeemed. “As you say, Sir,” he responded roughly.

The Captain nodded, and smiled again. “Now, if you wish to remain on the bridge and observe, you can. Feel free to take up a role anywhere you wish.”

Jax smiled, the first time since the Carracks had showed up on his screen. “Aye, aye, Sir,” he said.

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Captain Zamtrev gave a slight tap on his communicator letting his engineering chief know that time was being bought and for him to hurry. Holstering his side arm Captain Zamtrev stepped up to the captain and spoke in a voice loud enough for his entire crew to hear him “I am Captain Akardi Zamtrev captain of the Imperial Corillian corvette the Raven.” The deformed and injured Zabrak captain stepped over to Captain Zamtrev and sneered and spoke in his trade mark slavic voice “I will make sure that your death is slow and full of pain and agony as possible.” The Zabrak glared at the Ravens more dignified captain as Captain Zamtrev replied “Okay so what about my crew?” The Zabrac tilted his head and a bit of a confused look crossed his charred face and he asked . “What about your crew?” Captain Zamtrev replied with an answer “Well they were just following my orders and are not responsible for their actions when we lead that Carrack cruiser through that wild goose chase which inevitably resulted in it crashing in a beautiful fire ball which resulted in drastically crippling your star destroyer.” Captain was baiting the Zabrak but it was what needed to be done to make sure his engineering crew had enough time to repair the engines and ready the Ravens eventual escape from the crippled Imperial star destroyer Cavalier.

Rage flashed across the Zabraks face and he clenched his left hand in to a fist so tightly that if there was a lump of coal in his tattooed palm it would have been compressed in to a diamond. “Your corvette will be destroyed and all your crew will either burn or die in the vacuum of space for what you have don to me!” the Zabrak yelled at his much calmer opponent. Captain Zamtrevs body remained relaxed as his sphincter mentally tightened but he again spoke calmly continuing to bait the enraged, boastful and  vicious Zabrak captain. “So my tattooed adversary if you wish for our demise to be long and painful might I suggest you fire upon us until our reactor cracks like an egg and we die a slow death of radiation poisoning you know like seventy five percent of your crew including your self?” The Zabrak slammed his handless armed arm in to the wall in a fit of unrelenting fury and rage “My crew!! my crew!! because of you thousands of my crew will die and you have effectively destroyed my life I will see to it that each of your crew members die personally by my hand. I will cut them irradiate them choke them they will all die before you.” The Zabrak began to pace and brood as he continued to list off all the oldest war crimes in the newest fashions. His eyes flashed with anger dancing on the line between anger and border line blind rage. He wiped the radioactive pus from his face with his good left hand. Captain Zamtrev had to chuckle a bit which nearly set off the angry Zabrak but before he could attack the Ravens captain he was interrupted. “Wouldn't it be more satisfying to hunt us down on the surface of the planet below us? You know savor our fear elate in the unbridled blood lust?” The Zabrak flung his arms out like he was calling safe in a base ball game “No! I will kill you when I wish to now be quiet and let me do so!”  Captain Zamtrev laughed out loud “You want me to shut up and let you kill me and my crew in a slow and pain full way? Ha! What kind of offer is that?” The captain continued “A better offer would be to let us go back to our ship and kill us in ship to ship combat give us atleast a sporting death.” Captain Zamtrev was wondering how much longer it would take his engineering team to get the ship ready to run again. The Zabrak paced again gritting his teeth in barley tangible thoughts “Why why why why why should I give you a sporting chance when you have doomed us to a slow death I want revenge I want to see you suffer like I am!!”

Captain Zamtrev changed tactics and became the aggressor “I want I want I want! That all you have been saying since we have met what about your crew why don't you see what your crew wants you selfish vengeful bastard?!” Captain Zamtrev circled the Zabrak  keeping just to his side doing every thing he could to keep his opponents mind occupied on taking about revenge pain and blood lust rather than acting on it. The  Zabrak began to follow Captain Zamtrev in the slow methodical circle focusing his anger and rage on the captain that has doomed him to a pain filled death. The Zabrak was at the moment at a loss for words so he simply asked “Are you prepared to die Captain Akardi Zamtrev of the Imperial Corillian corvette Raven?” Just than Captain Zamtrev's communicator chirped, putting up his hand in a stop sign he told the Zabrak “Hold on wait a second” the Zabrak paused in confusion and Captain Zamtrev answered his communicator with a sly smirk on his face “Yes go ahead.” On the other end was the engineering chief “Sir the repairs are done on the engines just let me know when you are ready to go to full power and get the hell out of here.”  Captain Zamtrev replied “Now would be good full power and all gunners open fire on the tractor beam projector.” Turning back to the Zabrak Captain Zamtrev said “You know what on second thought I do not want to die today!”

That last statement set the Zabrak off he powered up his vibrogauntlet and swung at Captain Zamtrev cutting a large gash down his chest and in to his stomach. Jumping back Captain Zamtrev pulled his side arm and fired it in to the Zabrak's chest. The Zabrak's concealed body armor saved him both captains began retreating to their respective ships as the Raven began to rock back and forth breaking the air lock seal. The Ravens compartment was like a wind tunnel as the sounds of he blasted fire echoed in the Imperial star destroyers docking bay. The Zabrak disappeared  back in to the scared burnt and irradiated imperial star destroyer. Captain Zamtrev scrambled under the swiftly closing air lock rolling under it at the last moment clenching his stomach. A few crewman hurried to their captains side, one of them said “Hurry lets get him to the medical bay to a bacta tank!” 

Captain Zamtrev shook his head and waved off his crewmen “No get me to the bridge and patch me up there temporarily.” Wrapping his arms around his fellow crewmen he was practically carried to the bridge once he entered the bridge he ordered “Mr. Cidman initiate the getting us the hell out of here maneuver.” Mr Cidman chuckled and replied resoundingly “Aye Sir initiating the getting us the hell of here maneuver!” Manipulating the controls of the Raven it began to shake loose pushing full power to the engines. The back wash of the engines filled the docking bay of the Imperial star destroyer Cavalier melting and destroying the bays docking clamps holding the Raven in place and many Tie fighters and Tie bomebrs followed by a volley of blaster fire from her broadsides. The equipment holding the Raven in place broke and she pitched down in to a steep dive away from the Cavaliers weapons and disabled tractor beams. Flopping back in the captains chair Captain Zamtrev allowed him self to finally be worked while there was a moment of a reprieve.

Looking back at the Cavalier Captain Zamtrev saw many more secondary explosions and fires erupting all over the Imperial star destroyer but to no avail there were no explosions in critical area's.  Some how some way the Cavalier was still pursuing the Raven again but with out the aid of its fighters. “Damn that Zabrak for being so resilient and not dieing, Mr. Cidman do not let that ship catch us again!” He yelled while the hospital core men worked on putting his entrails back in to his stomach. Mr Cidman replied “Aye sir they wont catch us this time.” The Raven began a slow roll pulling away of the Cavalier as its blaster fire missed its elusive prey.

“Not as accurate as last time are they Mr. Cidman?” The captain asked as the medical droid finished stitching him up. “No sir must have been something she ate recently” Mr Cidman replied as he deftly pulled the corvette in to a hard banking port side turn pulling farther and farther away from the Cavalier which was leaving a trail of pieces and parts behind her. If the situation was not so urgent the site of the once grand Imperial star destroyer falling apart piece by piece. But as it stood the Raven had one semi battle ready ship with a very resilient and angry captain behind them bent on revenge at all costs. The Zabrak had nothing to lose.

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1541 words

Palpatine's Ghost
Command Spire, Level 7

“Ok, so you all know the plan?”

Sergeant Wilson had found a mechanics bay in order to hold his conferences. Due to the general nature of the work that went on here, I.e. fixing things, there was a lot of coms interference emanating from the room – no one would be able to listen in on them.

It had been an hour since the troopers had boarded the Palpatine's Ghost, and they only just locked down the level. It had cost them some good troopers, but it was worth it. Now the crew couldn't get passed this level, either to flee the spire, or rescue it's commander trapped on the bridge.

“Yes sir!” his squad leaders chorused.

Wilson would take two platoons straight up to the bridge, and take it over in order to give the rest of the raiders a fighting chance. Meanwhile, two platoons would stay on level 7 and maintain the 'plug' as it was now know, whilst the last platoon would make their up the spire level by level, in order to try and clear them out of any hostiles. He had already received word that the second wave had landed, and they were bust with their own objectives securing the engines, the secondary bridge, and what was left of the hangars.

“Ok, let's move out!”

As Wilson and the others left the mechanics bay, the two platoons he was taking with him lined up by the elevator, arms held that the ready. Wilson briefly smirked unseen to himself, before:

“Does it look like we're on parade? Into the elevator maggots! Double time! We've got a bridge to secure”

Whilst the Elevator was larger then average – seeing as in it also doubled as a service lift, there still wasn't enough room to fit in two whole platoons. As his troopers moved into the elevator, he turned to the Sergeant in charge of Tango.

“We'll send the lift down as soon as we can Jones, just make sure you join us in time for the party.”

Wilson had known him long enough to know that the younger man was smirking behind his helmet.

“Will do sarge.”

As the elevator doors shut, Wilson caught a glimpse of the other platoons taking position along the stair well.

----------------------------------------

Bridge of the Palpatine's Ghost

Captain Veagris was sitting in his command chair, fingers furiously rubbing his temples.

How could this have happened!?

He was one of Drakan's most valued captains. He'd kicked, clawed and back stabbed his way into the captain's seat and then on his first mission, his god damn first mission in charge of the Ghost, he gets outsmarted by a frakking Dreadnought, and then he gets boarded.

He could see his aid standing nervously in front of him, datapad in hand.

“What is it Evans!? Spit it out you damned cretin!”

“S-sir... the enemy troopers have taken over level 7, and are now making their way upwards.”

He knew that would be their next move. The central hub of the entire ship was pretty much the bridge.

“Well don't just stand their man, call up the guard! Protect Me!”

“B-but s-sir...”

Veagris threw his own datapad at the Ensign, catching him on the forehead. He reeled back and tumbled over as blood poured from the gash on his skull.

“No buts! Do as I say!”

He noticed that everyone was staring at him. He was certain that even the Guard watch, whose faces were hidden behind their helmets, were secretly giving him the eye.

“Well don't just stand their you fools! Keep working! We have a battle to win.”

As the bridge suddenly sprang back to life, Veagris sat back down and watched idly as his ensign picked himself up, mumbled his apologies, and scuttled off to organise a defence. He quietly sat brooding for a few minutes, as several more hits from that accursed Dreadnought.

Think they can take my ship from me do they?

He quietly accessed his command console, going a list of commands before finding the one he was looking for.

If I can't have her, then no one can...

-----------------------------------------

Corvette Zar'Rok

Captain Riley breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the Shuttle bearing goodness knows what floated lazily into on of the Atrus' many hanger bays. That would make the brass slightly happier then they tended to be.

“Ok people, good job. Helm, bring us about and have the Thunder follow suite, we're heading back in.”

His ensign sidled up to him once more, carefully leaning down to speak into his ear.

“Sir, best estimates put us over an hour away from the engagement zone.”

Riley frowned, that would take too much time. The battle could be well over by then.

“That's too slow, anything we can do?”

“Well sir, there is performing a micro jump.”

“Hmmm...risky, but doable...”

He thought about it for a few minutes.

“Ah screw it, if the Hagan can do it, so can we. Get some calculations together, and have someone talk to fleet command for some help.”

“Yes sir,but I'd advise caution, once simple miscalculation..”

“Yeah yeah I know don't worry, see to it ensign.”

---------------------------------------

Palpatine's Ghost

Wilson was quietly surprised to be exiting the elevator onto an empty corridor, but empty it was.

Some thing's not right here.

He checked the serial numbers on the roofs.

Well, we're on the right floor all right...

He motioned the rest of the platoon to fan out.

“Gip, take the elevator town and fetch Jones, we'll hold position here until he arrives.”

He took a moment to collect his thoughts as Gip re-entered the elevator and went back down to level 7. No sooner had the doors closed that a ship wide alarm blared through out the corridor.

“Warning, Self-Destruct Sequence Activated. All personnel abandon ship.”

“Warning Self-Destruct Sequence Activated. T Minus 15 minutes until core detonation.”

He silently cursed. Or not...

“Tyrone, stay here and have Jones catch up to us, everyone else, double time it to the bridge, we've got to stop this bomb from going off.”

--------------------------------

Emperor's Wrath

Faus watched the tactical screen as the Dreadnought did another drive by on the Emperor's ghost. So far, so good. The Star Destroy seemed to be having trouble beating off it's internal attackers, whilst trying to kill the dreadnought as well. Still, they were taking more damage then he'd like.

“Ok helm, take us back to the Suspense, I don't think we can last much longer against the Ghost. We'll return once the bridge in is in our hands. Tactical, make sure you stay in contact with the Raiders.”

“Aye sir.”

He leaned back in his seat, taking a moment to relax as the view port changed to show the Suspense  hanging dead in space. Still no word as to whether Shoden had taken care of those dammed Droids.

“Sir? You may want to look at this.”

The watchmen's tone was serious. Faus sighed to himself.

I knew it was too good...

He walked over to the console.

“What is it Petty Officer?”

“It's the Ghost sir, some of the batteries have gone offline all of a sudden, and they're launching escape pod.”

Faus felt a glimmer of hope.

“Is it Wilson!? Have they taken the bridge already!?”

The Watchman's face was serious.

“I don't think so sir. We're picking up radiation readings from the engines. I think the Ghost's going to blow.”

Faus stared at the display in horror.

We were so damn close!

OOC:

1261 words

OOC:

Points tallied up to this post

During a break in the fighting, Liriel angled her star fighter towards where she’d seen the fireball.  The star destroyer’s engines were completely gone.  There was no trace of the Serenity or any escape pods, aside from the ones that had been released before the Serenity rammed the Intrepid.  The gun turrets were still going, but much more sporadically and Liriel was easily able to evade the few shots that came her way.

“Scimitar Five, what are you doing?”  The voice over the communications console belonged to her squadron leader, Evie Hammond, a human woman from the Coruscanti upper class.

“I was checking out the damage.  From the looks of it, Serenity hit something vital when she rammed Intrepid.  The engines are completely gone.  Intrepid won’t be going anywhere.  Those guns are going to be a problem still, though.  What do you say we take them out?”  Liriel struggled to keep her voice calm, betraying no hint of emotion.  She carefully did not mention the Serenity at all.

“Sounds good.  Form up on me, and we’ll make a few passes.  Hopefully the Dementor was able to get out of range of those guns.”  Evie kept her voice calm as well.  Whether she noticed Liriel’s omission or not was impossible to tell.

“Are you girls going to chat all day or are we going to get killing?”  The second voice over the com channel belonged to Rube Sofer, middle-aged human male.

“I second that.  Let’s go kill things.”  The next voice belonged to Dax Zargo, a twi’lek male and Rube’s wingmate.

“Ok cut the chatter.  Form up on me.”  Evie headed off any further comments.  Liriel took one last look at the gaping hole where the Intrepid’s engines had been and headed for her position.  She hoped they could make the remaining crewmembers on the star destroyer suffer before they died.





OOC:  310 words

Captain Pelle Steers stepped across the newly blasted threshold of the Defiance.  Her Marines had put that new hatch there only a few minutes before, and the unlucky inhabitants of this particular crew bunker lay strewn about her.  She wasn’t sure if it was the explosives or the rapid decompression that had killed them, but they were nonetheless dead.  She stepped over the remains and into the corridor beyond.  Her squad had cleared out the few defenders that had bothered to form a resistance.

  “Gunny, do we have a quick path to the bridge?”

  Gunnery Sgt. Davis Ringa turned to her and acknowledged her question, “Yes Ma’am.  We’re six decks below.  I’ve got two fire teams headed to the main officers living quarters, and two teams headed towards the sickbays and the mess halls each.  The turbo lifts are shutdown and in our control.”

  Steers nodded, and turned in the direction the largest of the Marine contingents had headed.  They laid waste to every feeble attempt to stop them.  The carnage was swift and brutal.  Steers had her sidearm ready, just in case.  She dropped a few misguided ‘heroes’ and continued her ascent to the bridge. 

  “Captain?” came an unknown voice.

  “Yes?”

  “We’ve captured the XO in the Main Sickbay.  He won’t be XO for long.  It seems the Captain is still on the bridge.”

  “Acknowledged, Steers out.”

  Reports filtered in from across the Defiance as the Marines did their jobs with deadly efficiency.  Sickbay, Engineering, the main Launch Bays…they all fell to Steer’s Devildogs.  By the time she stepped out of the turbo on the Main Bridge’s deck, the majority of vital systems were under her control, save one.

  “Open this thing.”

  The engineers moved in with slicing equipment and started in on the locks.  As they tore the panels away the doors suddenly opened.  The two dozen Marines waiting outside leveled their weapons at the now open portal.  Pelle motioned for a Fire Team to enter.  The leathernecks methodically spilled into the Bridge.  They fanned out and covered the remaining Bridge staff  and general officers before signaling the all clear. 

  Captain Steers stepped onto the bridge of the Defiance.  Her pulse raced as she looked around.

  “Not one thing has changed in three years.” She muttered to herself. 

  She saw the ship’s captain sitting in what amounted to a command chair bolted to the center of the upper bridge catwalks.  She’d waited for this moment for a long time, three years to be exact. Three long, agonizing, second-guessed years.  The two Marines guarding the captain came to attention as she approached, all the while never taking their weapons off the still seated officer.

  Pelle nodded, “Commodore, good to see you again.”

  The officer rose and straitened his tunic, “Good to see you as well Lieutenant.”

  “It’s Captain, sir.  The promotion went in nearly two years ago.”

  The Commodore nodded slightly, paused and said, “Well, to business.  I suppose you are here to deliver terms.”

  “No sir.”

  “What’s that?” he said, slightly confused.

  Steers continued, “No terms sir, just decisions.  You are being offered a commission in the Vast Empire Navy, same rank, and continued command of the Defiance if you accept.”

  “And if I refuse?” he cautioned.

  “Then you become my prisoner, and this ship becomes a prize – and my command.” the last portion of her sentence was delivered with a wry smile that Pelle could not suppress.

  “You seem to have me over a barrel Captain, how could I refuse your generous offer.” He chuckled.

  “Thank you, sir.  I told Commodore Elletra you would appreciate the gesture.  She wasn’t sure you’d take my suggestion, but she will be glad that you did.  She’d also like you to join her for dinner aboard the Dominance once the battle has ended.”

  The Commodore nodded, “Yes, yes, plenty of time to catch up.  I have crew to see to. Do I have permission to pass through the lines and begin repairs?”

  “Yes sir, my marines will stay aboard to ensure your ‘compliance’.”
 
  The Commodore stiffened, “Don’t you trust the word of an Imperial Officer Captain?”

  “Yes sir, however my father taught me to trust words, and verify actions. “

  “Good girl, “he chuckled as he turned back to his command chair, “just like your mother…never give me one hairsbreadth of leeway.”

  “No sir, if I did she’d skin my hide.” She smiled

  Captain Pelle Steers snapped a perfect salute.  It was returned by Commodore Orris Steers who then sat back and proudly watched his youngest daughter take command of his bridge.

  “Commodore Elletra, this is Defiance.  We have come home.  Open the door.”

  “Defiance this is Elletra, the door is unlocked.  Welcome home.”

OOC:

777 words

A sudden beep caused Vance to glance down at his radar. What he saw made his blood run cold. “Incomming!” he screamed over the open frequency, ensuring that both Venom and Sol squadrons heard the warning. He then broke hard, his Oppressor spiraling downward. The rest of the Vast Empire pilots did the same. Most were in time. Some were not.

Vance saw one of the Venom Interceptors get blown out of the sky by a multitude of green lasers that were issued from the hoard of enemy fighters. The enemy ships looked like Interceptors, but they didn’t fly like them. They were incredibly fast and nimble, and Vance had a hard time just keeping track of them on his radar. They flitted in and out, diving and twisting in between the two Vast Empire squadrons, nearly invulnerable in their speed and maneuverability.

But they weren’t perfect. Although the Oppressors weren’t fast enough to keep up in a dogfight, they had the shields and armor to withstand any single attack from one of the modified interceptors for an indefinite amount of time. It was only when the enemy ships ganged up on the Sol pilots that the real trouble began.

Venom squadron didn’t have the luxury of extremely tough shielding and armor, but they were flying Interceptors. They managed to land a few hits on the enemy ships. What should have been glancing blows easily tore off wings and knocked the fighters off course. It seemed they lacked any sort of shielding or armor. With that fact in mind, Vance began to devise a very dangerous (and very destructive) plan.

The enemy TIEs didn’t pack much of a punch, and they had almost no armor. While they were too nimble to destroy with the Oppressor’s lasers or missiles, they had a bad habit of flitting in and out, strafing the Sol pilots with quick turns and jabs. Vance waited until one of the enemy pilots tried this tactic, and then he turned into the enemy Interceptor’s dive.

The results were just as Vance had expected. His shields failed to repel the enemy ship, but it really didn’t matter. The thick plating on the Oppressor plowed right through the lighter and unarmored Interceptor, literally obliterating it.

“Hells ya!” Vance shouted over the radio. It had been a rough trip through the enemy Interceptor, but the Oppressor had come through it without any major damage. A few dents and scratches, but nothing that would impair its use. Quickly Vance told the rest of Sol squadron about this tactic, and several enemy Interceptors were blown up before they realized the collisions weren’t accidents. Then things REALLY took a turn for the worse.

The next few minutes went by in a blur. Vance took several hits on his shields, nearly depleting them. The rest of Sol squadron didn’t fare much better, and before he knew it Vance had lost two pilots to the enemy ships. Venom squadron wasn’t faring any better, and was down a couple pilots as well. Eventually things got so bad that Vance began to wince at the screams and curses flowing over the chat channels. It was just too much. Making a decision, Vance gave an order he had never had to give before.

“This is Vance to all Sol pilots: pull back to the Immortal. I repeat: withdraw to the Immortal. Venom Squadron, I suggest you do the same. Sol is out.”

With that all the Oppressors broke for a nearby friendly Lancer-class Frigate. Venom squadron followed close behind, and once the Vast Empire fighters were behind the powerful anti-fighter frigate they broke for their command ship.

As he flew, Vance felt a depressed feeling settle in on him. He had lost more pilots today than he had in a long, long time, and he had never been forced to retreat from a battle. On a very real level, Vance felt that he had failed in his duty as an officer.

He wasn’t the only one.

OOC:

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“Forward batteries to full power!” Commodore Taurus screamed through his bridge. Lieutenant Commander Pasco (who had just walked into the bridge, coming from the hangar bay) saluted and re-spoke the order into his headset.

“Forward batteries to full power!” The Lieutenant Commander screamed again, Lieutenant Commander Pasco looked up at the Commodore from the middle of the bridge. He raised an eyebrow and spoke: “Sir, enemy Star Destroyer, Imperial-Class, Akira has lost its backup engine. I suggest we send the four platoons that are stationed in the hangar to the Akira and board it.”

“Do it,” Commodore Taurus replied wittily back. He then looked back at the Lieutenant Commander again. “Is there any weak spots for a ship hatch? Anything that the Leveler can board the ship with?”

“Lieutenant?” Lieutenant Commander Pasco looked at a young Lieutenant in front of him. The Lieutenant turned back and nodded, A second later Lieutenant Commander Pasco’s datapad beeped. He looked at it and a second later spoke. “There is two spots that are weak enough for a ship-to-ship contact. Should I inform the Leveler?”

“Do it, and send eight platoons into the Akira, and one battalion of Space Marines, send First Lieutenant Gregory into the midst to command the escape routes as well. You and Lieutenant Commander Copepods, from Engineering will also go with the platoons. You two will assume command of the ship, on the bridge of course if we make it that far. Also, before you leave - inform the Leveler to empty all of it’s Space Marines and other troops. Everything except needed security personnel.”

“Yes sir, patch me through to the hangar, Lieutenant. Inform them to hold the transports from leaving.” And with that the Lieutenant Commander walked out of the bridge. Commodore Taurus turned back around and looked outside at the battle.

“Inform all available squadrons to provide cover support. I want the Nemesis to be head on head with the Akira.” Commodore Taurus then turned back around and looked around at his bridge crew. They were all extremely competent men. To competent, they were almost droids on Taurus’ standards. He liked it.



Hitting the accelerator Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) flew his fighter upward. Four Blizzard Squadron members flew past Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)'s TIE, their Ion Engines were lit blue as they headed towards the Nemesis. Chief Warrant Officer Gregory Silcan, the best pilot Aegis had flew in front of Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third), while Rath and Kani flew in another pair next to Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) and GREGORY SILCAN. Xandibur Eldur, Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)'s close friend had been removed from the battle-that might cost them. Strangely enoguh was the fact that the hostile forces that were present in the Yetton System earlier had left, but their exiting the system marked the arrival of four CR90 Corvettes, and 45 TIE Fighters. Doing the odds in his head. Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) though, and he didn't like the results.

"... Crskk ... Crskk ... It is about the become a mess out here, Twenty TIE Fighters inbound, we will be attacking them. Watch for Blizzard Squadron, do not hit friendly craft. That is all, head out!” GREGORY SILCAN's automated voice came through Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)'s COM. And in response Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) tilted his fighter with C-3. Kane and Ratchet moved their fighters in the same way GREGORY SILCAN and Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) had done, fifteen automated starfighters headed for the four pilots of Aegis. Green laserfire began to exchange between the groups, the four pilots broke up as the droid starfighters came so close that a collision was inevitable, luckily they had avoided that. All the pilots scattered, the droids followed suit. Hitting 100% speed Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) was being pursued by two Droids, they were moving faster than him-he would be dead soon if he didn't gain more speed. Moving his five fingers over panels that said On and Off, hitting Light Shields Off. Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) could feel as the shields drained, unfortunately the droids found him as a target just then. And laserfire began to litter the space around Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)'s TIE. But he hit faster speeds now, 130% speed kicked in.

"This is Aegis 2, I have two TIE Fighters on my back!" Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)'s voice probably echoed through Aegis, Blizzard, and the other support ships COMS. "Help!"

One well placed shot from the TIE Fighter hit Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)'s wing. Flames now covered a eight of Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)'s solar wings, he was in deep shit this time. He though "Here this goes", without even looked Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) flipped the panels Speed Lower/Off and Shields On. Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)'s TIE stopped mid-combat, shields full power and speed off. He gently flicked Speed Gain/On and hit it to 100%. Two droid starfighters were in his sights, and now this was in his hands to finish the bastards. Heading straight towards the fighters the Nemesis was behind them, either let them get killed by him, or the Nemesis. He chose both. Tibanna Gas left by the dozen from his chin mounted guns, the Nemesis's gunners caught site of this and began to barrage the TIE/D Starfighters as well. One of Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)'s shots knicked a Droid Starfighter and made the fighter go haywire, and let it crash into the Nemesis.

"Comin' on your tail!" One of Blizzard Squadron's members voice came into Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)'s ear, and a TIE formed up to the left of Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third). The second Droid Starfighter began to do maneuvers, this was followed by shots from the two pilots. Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)'s current de facto wingmate from Blizzard Squadron let out two more laser blasts, hitting the Droid Starfighter in the center-destroying it instantly. "Heh, simple."

"Good shot-" Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) checked his console. This was Blizzard 6. "-Blizzard 6!" Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) followed the Blizzard member towards a large dogfight, Aegis members and Blizzard members were involved against numerous Droid Starfighters.

Six TIE (Fighter) Starfighters found the pair of Vast Empire Navy Pilots. Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) followed Blizzard 2's lead, and six droid starfighters came towards the two. Followed by two Aegis pilots-Joker and Slian-suddenly the droids let out six shots. Missing Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third), but killing his de facto wingmate, Blizzard 6.



"This is Blizzard One, all Vast Empire Naval Pilots under the callsigns of Aegis, Blizzard, or Sol that are currently available. Form on me, move into Attack Pattern Delta, when we reach our targets move into Attack Pattern Vectra. I don't want to get hit by any crossfire when we split for Attack Pattern Vectra, so split into three groups and spread out!" Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)’s  heard the message in his COM, and he was outside the battle. He moved closer to Blizzard One's TIE Fighter, Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)’s 's Ion Engines pushed him through deep space quicker than anything. And in no time whatsoever Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)’s  was located behind Blizzard One's TIE Fighter. Blizzard two through twelve was there, they had taken no hits so far into the battle. All remaining Blizzard members formed as well, along with Aegis 9-Malta Gregorhy-the eight Blizzard Pilots merged with the two Aegis Pilots. Causing two lines-one of twelve TIE Fighters, the other of 10 TIE Fighters-to move towards the enemy Carracks.

"Amalthea, this is Blizzard Leader. We are going to need covering fire when we move into the enemy formation." Chief Warrant Officer Deilling's voice rang through Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)’s 's, and every other Vast Empire Naval Pilot that was battling above Roku Tan’s moon COMs.

"... Crskk ... Copy that Blizzard Leader, Corellian Corvette Amalthea and Sallisto move in with us. Dreadnought Leveler cover us from afar." The Zabrak Captain of the Amalthea replied back to Blizzard Leader's message. "We will escort you in."

"Copy, all Aegis, Blizzard, and Blizzard Pilots currently under Attack Pattern Delta break Pattern. Form up in Attack Pattern Delta 71 percent speed outside the Amalthea, Sallisto, and Amalthea's formation. Once we all get a shot at the nearest CR90-" Blizzard leader paused, they were still extremely far away from the enemy CR90s. "-the Akira is what my console reads. Anyway when we all get a shot off at the Akira I want all of you to move into Attack Pattern Vectra, move into four groups and then begin to reek hell."

Attack Pattern Delta would put all of the Vast Empire Naval Pilots in line for one or two shot, then when they put a shot out at the Akira. Then when they moved into Attack Pattern Vectra they would move around in little groups, hitting key spots on the CR90s. Forming up with the three allied CR90s, Blizzard, Blizzard, and Aegis members moved into the two lines they had been earlier. Dropping their speed to 71 percent the ships flew along with the CR90s, and now they were closer to the enemy formation. Laserfire already streaked inside the Enemy Formation-Aegis Members-and Lancer Frigates were reaking hell.

"Attack Pattern Delta." Blizzard Leader spoke into his COM, "Go now!" Twenty-two standard model TIE Fighters flew towards the enemy formation. Leaving the three CR90s alone, but they responded to this by barraging the enemy with red laserfire. "Moving in... brace!" The Akira came into full view. And it began to fire, all the ships broke formation and then moved through the bullets-dodging every single one. "Blizzard One firing." Blizzard Leader Fired at the bridge, followed by Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)’s  and Max. Shots rang everywhere and all the ships of Blizzard and Blizzard, along with the two members of Aegis had fired. The Akira revolved its rear turret as Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)’s  moved under the belly of the ship. Letting two shots ring Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)’s  hit the turret twice, but the Turret also swiveled and fired to. Missing Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)’s , the fighter on his back-Blizzard 12-was hit. Debris flew everywhere, and Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)’s  moved along like nothing had happened. Blizzard 2 and 3 swooped forward towards the under-turret and fired, sparks began to move around as the pair of Blizzard Pilots dodged all of the Akira's shots. Fire began to broil on the hull of the Akira and more shots streaked onto her hull.



“Lets move!” Sergeant First Class Aki Ki, a Space Marine (who was in command of his own squad) repeated over his com. He flew out of his shuttle (which was parked in the Akira’s hangar, which also had a fair amount of gun fire going through it). His assault rifle which fired metal rounds was raised at two enemy stormtroopers that were unsuspecting and scared, Sergeant First Class Aki Ki fired, hitting both the men, they both died instantly.

He then raised his arm to his squad (Joker Squad), the seven marines followed him through the hangar doors. They all moved past the dead guards that the three squadrons before him and his squad (Marine Squad Leader Sergeant First Class Aki Ki, Marine Assistant Squad Leader Jamery Ger, Marine Trooper Corporal Gaz, Marine Trooper Corporal Gred, Marine Trooper Sergeant Jackson, and a few other new marines that he did not feel like acknowledging). They all moved with their weapons raised, they did not expect what was coming as they slid through the door. The door to the biological radioactive unit of the Akira, they would die a slow, and painful death.

They all raised their assault rifles (which they had lowered a second earlier) at the fourteen scientists, all wearing gas masks and radioactive protecting suits. Sergeant First Class Aki Ki put his hand into a fist. All the scientists hit the ground, dead. None of them looked up as Aki Ki looked around the room. As Aki Ki looked around the room at his death. He eventually stumbled on a vial marked “radioactive”. He dropped it instantly as four stromtrooper squads entered the room from all sides. Metal rounds hit the stormtroopers, while half the marine squad died gloriously. As the vial was going to the ground in a slow, and steady pace. Aki Ki was hit with a shot, the vial hit the ground. And it exploded.

All the doors around the stormtroopers closed automatically at the radioactive scent, smell, etc. All the stormtrooopers began to pound the door, while the marines bleed to death.



As Lieutenant Commander Pasco walked off the Lamba-Class Shuttle Gregorvich. Everything inside the hangar (on the enemy side) was dead. He looked around the hangar briskly. He then moved through the two doors, fourteen marines were putting out fires that were there. They were then re-directed to a stairwell. Gun shots were heard echoing through the stairs.

He held his pistol in his left arm, in his right he held his datapad. He was ready for anything. But a second later, two bullets ricketed his chest. He was dead.


Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) watched as the enemy formation was tightened, and laserfire began to batter them even harder. All ships part of Taskforce: Iron Sweep pushed their engines to full power, blue and red ion engines pushed towards the Leveler and the Serenity. The Interceptor and Sting began to pull themselves out of the now enemy formation in fear of being trapped. A few members of Sol and Blizzard Squadron accompanied them, it was four versus two.

"... Crskk ... Crskk ... Crskk ..." That was the sound Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) heard through his COM, Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) checked his COM and saw that the static was coming from the Leveler. "... Crskk ... this is the Leveler. We are in direct need of starfighter support, we are losing more men by the minute! Please send out your TIE Interceptor squadron immediately!"

"Dreadnought Leveler this is the Nemesis, we are sending out our TIE Interceptor squadron. They will be in the battle soon!" Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) guided his fighter along with the other members of Aegis and Blizzard Squadrons towards the enemy formation, crossfire grazed the TIEs as they crossed the gap that was located in-between the Enemy, and the Vast Empire. The retreating CR90s Interceptor and Sting were located in the middle of this gap, they were attempting to retreat to the Leveler and the Taskforce Formation. Flights 1 and 3 had to re-stock on missiles, and they were coming back from the Leveler to aid Flight 2.

"Attack Pattern Delta!" GREGORY SILCAN's voice rang through Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)'s COM. Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)'s TIE Fighter was located directly behind his, and the Senior Crewman flew in the same path as GREGORY SILCAN. A grin came onto Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)'s face as the enemy formation came closer, red blasts were visible along the Battlefield, and they disappeared a second later.

"Go now!" Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) responded to his wingmate, the Akira's hammerhead-shaped bridge was right in Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)'s sights. Two shots from GREGORY SILCAN hit the bridge, and GREGORY SILCAN then swerved right. Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) shot twice as well, the turrets on the CR90 didn't know what target to focus on as Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) swerved left. Now Saadia shot twice, he then aimed his fighter upwards and flew up. Malta Gregorhy's flight then shot, Malta went first and swirved in another direction. Then Sovern and Krius. The turrets were confused and were moving in different directions-Aegis had gotten them. Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) moved his fighter over another Carrack, then he swerved his fighter down to the bottom of another CR90. Taking shots both those times Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) turned around and noticed that a TIE Interceptor squadron had came into the battle, and Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)'s Console picked them up as Steel Squadron. Perfect, Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) thought. They needed quicker ships.

"Steel Squadron, good to see you here!" Sol Leader said, his male voice was filled with delight, just a second later he screamed in pain. "AH!" Sol Leader blew out of space, debris from his fighter littered a small space above the Akira. Soon enough he would be honored with victory.

"Eh... Glad to be in the party to boys. Steel Squadron form up, lets hit the Akira, hit em' hard!" Steel Leader's Corellian Accent filled all the COMs, and 12 TIE Interceptors glided into the battle. They went strait for the Akira's last remaining turret, the Akira's turret couldn't hit such a fast moving target. "Watch yourself Steel 3."

"Pressure Steady..." Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) muttered to himself, flying over the Akira's bridge and letting loose a missile. The missile impacted on the bridge, now flames began to erupt on the hull-the Akira would soon be finished. Now the Awareness and Bastion, the two CR90s that hadn't been retreating joined the battle from the back. The Bastion pushed down and into the enemy formation, streaks of red laserfire came from its turrets as the Akira was butchered into space dust. Steel Squadron then went strait for the Bridge, and now they were done. Debris scattered through Space as the Akira exploded into a million pieces, and escape pods left the Akira.

"Good job Squadrons!" The Leveler's Captain spoke through his COM, "Escape pods are jumping from the Akira, pick them up!" Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) aimed his TIE fighter down towards the six escape pods that were leaving the now destroyed CR90. One of them was moving slower than most, Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) found it as his first victim. Firing twice they streaked the escape pod and sent it haywire, sent it haywire straight into the Awareness' turret's targeting range. The Escape Pod flew into separate pieces, and bodies began to flush out. Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) then went to check for survivors, there was none.

"Gah!" Blizzard 4 spat into his COM, his TIE, or what was left of it, flew through space in a giant fireball. The fireball then changed course to a CR90, somehow Blizzard 4 pulled that off. He sent it straight into an enemy CR90's engines. The TIE exploded, that explosion marked the peek of the battle. The two Lancer Frigates that the Vast Empire Taskforce: Iron Sweep had drifted towards the CR90s. Along with the rest of the formation, laserfire exchanged more feverishly than ever. Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) moved his fighter up in par with an enemy CR90, and fired twice. Soon enough one Lancer Frigate was on the enemy's tail. Close range laserfire began to heat up, and now the TIE Fighters and Interceptors were nothing but mere fodder.

Malta Gregorhy and Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) were now lined up for a perfect shot at the enemy CR90 Adjacent, and they let loose hell. Once they reached the Adjacent they stopped firing and took their separate paths, making way for the Bastion to butter up the Adjacent. Steel Squadron came past Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third)'s fighter, firing faster than ever. Now a "... beep ... beep ... beep ... beep ..." sounded, and Petty Officer First Class (Reciever of the Merit Cross, twice) James Alec Trelevyan (the third) watched as one of the Carracks shot at a TIE Interceptor, blasting it into oblivion.



The Drakan Admiral that stood on the Akira’s bridge as it went down. He stood there as two Space Marine bullets racketed his back, chest, and face. He tood there as four more bullets flew into his command deck. He kneeled again as the space marines shot again, the ship was already going down, nothing they could lose. They were all putting more holes into his advisors now that they thought he was dead, they raised their assault rifles one more time to shoot seven more troopers.

Some form of miscommunication had made the Leveler leave the Akira. The Space Marines, shuttles, everyone was left to die. And now that the squadrons were blazing the hell out of them, they had nothing to lose whatsoever. They were going to win, either way. No matter if it took their lives or not.

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4014

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All points tallied up to this post (And holy crap to Blue and Stix on their posts)

Above the gun deck, along the spine of the Raven, the engineering chief, Mack, and his assistant were busy rebuilding one of the main engine feeds going from the power plants to the sub light engines. The engineering chief's assistant, Bo, was a bit green in the face. Burping up one of those gurgling belches
that reminded Bo of what he had for breakfast the last week before he spoke, “My, that Cidman, he is going to make me yack all over the deck plating if he goes for one of his fancy smancy maneuvers.”

A shudder went down Bo's spine just thinking about the maneuvering, he jumped up, ran to the nearest disposal receptacle and threw up.  It took a good minute for Bo to finish throwing up before he got back to work.

Mack helped Bo back up to his feet and asked, “Are you all right kid?”

Wiping some trails of vomit and saliva from his chin Bo nodded, “Yeah I am pretty sure i will be okay, just as soon as the ship stops spinning.”

Bo staggered and tripped on the deck plating but shook it off, catching Bo once again, Mack said, “You will be okay you just need to get used to it. But trust me, this ain't as bad when we do maneuvers in a planets atmosphere, you know when the artificial gravity and the planets gravity compete with one another.”

Bo clenched his eyes, shook his head and said, “Don't tell me about that right now.”

Mack had a cruel sense of humor and pressed on “Oh yeah when the ship goes in to a barrel roll and you look out of a port and you see space than the sky than space the sky over and over again.” 

Bo didn't stand a chance, once again he rushed to the disposal receptacle and threw up again, grabbing both sides of it to brace himself against his momentum and nearly banged his head against the wall. Once he finished again, he rested his head against the cool steel of the disposal receptacle and said tiredly, “Oh come on dude thats not even fair!”

Patting Bo on the back Mack replied, “It might not be fair but it sure can be funny.”

Clambering back to his feet Bo stated, “I will remember this and I will have my revenge.” The threat was in jest of course and the pair both chuckled and started back to work.

A couple minutes later Bo stated, “I am getting wicked hungry now.”

Mack gave a resounding, “Ha!” before he stated, “I would imagine after the mess you made over there.”

He indicated the disposal receptacle.

Bo had to chuckle and replied, “Yeah thats true, so what do we have to eat?”

Mack looked over to his tool box and listed off some thing, “Well the galley is closed for the remainder of the battle, but I have a pretty good Dagwood sandwich some tea and a couple of pieces of fruit.”

Bo nodded and said, “Sounds good, I'm seeing saltines and soda water in my future with my stomach the way it is.”

Bo nodded and said, “Sounds like a good idea why don't you go get some right now I can cover for you.” Bo didn't argue he got up and headed for the nearest gee dunk.

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559 words nice job on your last post Blue

The mood in the poorly lighted room was decisively grim. Men and women scurried around, checking their monitors and technical readouts with an efficiency born of desperation. They were tired, hungry, sore, and most of all, defeated. They had been doing their jobs for nearly six hours straight and it simply wasn’t enough to keep their ship in the air.

And now they were about to die.

The gunnery stations onboard a Lancer-class Frigate were both complex and simple. The quad laser batteries were controlled from a central Tactics and Gunnery Operation Center, which was located in the heart of the ship. Here thirty-two men and women, enlisted men and officers, worked their hardest to track and destroy the multitude of threats that assailed a capital ship in a battle this size. It was a tough job, and one that the crew wasn’t handling very well.

One of the computer technicians, who just happened to control the port side quad laser batteries, was a woman by the name of Emile Fuchs, Senior Chief Petty Officer. She had been on this ship since her first days in the Navy, and she had come to love it dearly. In her years here she had come to know the ship inside and out, and it had been her home for the duration. The ship, in turn, and seen Fuchs’ romances, her loves, her fears, her trials, her pain, and had accepted all she had to give, comforting her in her times of need and motivating her when she needed a little push. In more ways than one, the Lancer-class Frigate was more home and family than anything else she had ever known.

And now it was dying, and Emile could do nothing to stop it. The thought angered her, caused her to beat her fists against her thighs. Caused here to hunt down any enemy within her range and destroy it with extreme prejudice. Still, no matter what she did, she couldn’t save her ship, and that fact pissed her off more than anything else she had ever encountered.

The ship rocked as another turbolaser blast from a Carrack rocked its shields. The blast was followed by a violent shudder, then all was still. “What the hell was that!?” someone asked, the fear and panic evident in his voice.

A quiet tech in the corner answered, his face pale. “That was our shields being torn away.” With that announcement the whole room was silent. Everyone knew what it meant to be shieldless in a capital ship battle. It meant you had no protection, and that the enemy ships could tear right through the hull, killing, maiming, destroying…

Emile felt sick to her stomach. Never had she expected to lose her ship like this. It wasn’t supposed to happen. They were supposed to waste enemy starfighter squadrons and then carry on like nothing was wrong. They were the proverbial sharks that fed on the fish, the starfighters. And somehow they had ended up against a Carrack, whose purpose was completely different and entirely more effective.

No!, Emile thought, No, no, no, NO!. It was no use. No matter how angry she got, no matter how scared, no matter what promises she made, what she said, or even what she did, it had no effect on the battle raging outside. She was completely, utterly, and almost inconceivably helpless. And she was about to die.

That particular thought, the thought of death, had lain in the back of her mind ever since the battle began, as it did most sane sailors aboard a capital ship. Now, however, it was dredged to the forefront of her thoughts by the very real possibility that this particular battle could and probably would be her last.

As Emile finally accepted her death was inevitable, a sudden calm fell about her. She turned back to her gunnery station and began to methodically and efficiently open fire on the nearest target she could find, which just happened to be a flight of TIE Fighters. The quad laser cannons opened up, spitting an impressive array of fire at the fighters. It caught them off guard, and soon three of the four fighters were demolished. The fourth had managed to avoid the brunt of the laser fire and had merely had its shields stripped away. With a satisfied grin, Emile sat back from her station and waited. There was nothing more she could do. This was her home, and if it died, she would die.

Several people tried to get her up and to the escapepods, but she shrugged them off. It didn’t matter anymore. One way or another she would die, and she chose to die here, with the ship that had been more than her home for the last three years. She chose death over a life of painful memories. Right or wrong, she chose, grinning the entire time.

She was still grinning as the next volley struck the Lancer, nearly tearing it in two. She was still smiling as fire raged throughout the decks. Still smiling as the stress of the two halves of the Lancer tore each other apart, separating right in the middle of the ship – right through the Tactics and Gunnery Operation Center. Still smiling as she was sucked into the black void of space. Still smiling as she floated away and watched the carnage below, which she decided didn’t look so bad from the outside. Still smiling as her lungs ran out of oxygen. Still smiling as her brain slowly died, the nitrogen in her blood began to boil in the vacuum. Still smiling as she faced the last great adventure.

No one noticed the single body floating away, dressed in a dark gray VEN enlisted uniform. No one noticed the smile she wore. No one noticed.

Some kilometers away a tactical officer aboard the mSSD Atrus took note when the small blip that had been the Lancer was extinguished. He felt a twinge of regret, but he had more important matters to attend to. Absently he sent an order to nearby friendly ships to dispatch rescue boats, but he knew there was little hope of finding anyone alive. Turning back to his screen, the officer refocused, trying to assess the multitude of threats that were coming the Atrus’ way.

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Words: 1,053

:::Hurricane Squadron:::


“Keln!! get this guy off my back!” Garen heard the newest member yell out over the com. He and his Wing mate, Jac, were busy engaging what was left of the second flight of Alpha Squadron.


Garen smiled as the lackadaisical voice of Keln answer to Aaren, “I'm on him Rook.” Keln was smooth and controlled and, believe it or not, mellow of all things inside and out of the cockpit. It was why Garen had paired him with Aaren. The high strung, gotta get into the thick of it pilot. The girl had aspirations for sure, but she would do even better as a pilot if learned a bit from Keln's cool head. Moments later Garen caught the brief flash of another Dominion Tie Fighter going up in flames before the vacuum of space swallowed it up. His wing mate, Jac, chased the last pilot of Alpha's Second right into his line of fire. He could feel the drain of the battle already beating out from the inside of his head, but he forced it out. With sweaty hands he slightly altered his line of fire to lead the fighter a just enough then let loose a volley and watched as the Tie exploded in twain.


“Thanks Keln, I owe ya one.” Aaren said with a relieved tone.


“More like three.” Keln replied back, drawing out a few shallow laughs from rest of the squadron. But the laughs were only half given.


They had already lost some of their numbers almost directly after launch, and the sense of loss was still too deep to even truly enjoy the light hearted comments from Keln. Garen wondered what exactly was going on beneath the surface of Keln's cool demeanor. Was there remorse for the loss of his fellow pilots? Did he feel anything at all? Or had he seen and lived through enough deaths in his time as a pilot that his emotions were immune those feelings? If so he envied him...and felt sorry for him at the same time. His wing mate, Jac, chased the last pilot of Alpha's Second right into his line of fire. He could feel the drain of the battle already beating out from the inside of his head, but he forced it out. With sweaty hands he slightly altered his line of fire to lead the fighter a just enough then let loose a volley and watched as the Tie exploded in twain.


“Alright gents lets buckle down and take out the rest of these bantha fodder pilots. Keln, Aaren- you start focusing on the Cruisers cannons. We'll join in as soon as Alpha is no more...we got your backs”


“We're on it.” Keln said followed shortly by a near indecipherable “...oh frak” from Aaren.


Alpha still had it's full first, and half of the third, flight while they a full two. Putting Keln and Aaren onto the Cruiser would put them even pilot to pilot but Alpha would also be trying to protect the Desolation. So they still held the higher ground over the escort Tie's. Stray fire from the Desolation Flashed a ways off in front of him and Garen knew that they sooner they saw the Cruiser a defenseless boat in space the better. Hurricane had lost all of their third while protecting the Defense. Now they had been given the orders to disable and eliminate the Carrack Cruiser Desolation. They had immediately been confronted by the fighters flying escort as soon as they made a very brief first pass by the Cruiser and had since then drawn a safe distance away from the effect firing range of the Desolations cannons to engage the fighters.


“Dart and Firkean, you take Alpha 9 and 10. Horan...Jako, Alpha 3 and 4 are all yours.” Garen said quickly but with authority. He saw the two elements break in formation together. He knew that the four of them would be more than capable of taking out their targets. They had trained and been together long enough as a squadron that Garen would be comfortable to bet his life on it. Of course, he could have said the same about each of his pilots in the third.


Qwiup...Hooke...Feirh...Lanor


“Leaders again.” Jac said, it wasn't a question. Garen broke out of his thoughts knowing that there would be a time to mourn for the four deaths and it wasn't now. He forced himself to focus on the fight as they hooked around for a head on confrontation with the leaders of the soon to be decimated squadron. In Garen's mind they would be nothing less than that.


“It always is.” he said to himself gritting his teeth, ready for action...


:::Keln and Aaren:::


Keln pretended that he didn't hear Aaren's response. He already knew that his wet-behind-the-ears wing mate wouldn't enjoy the thought of going up against the Desolation AND have to worry about still having fighters at their backs. He wasn't. Garen was a bit loose headed outside the cockpit, but inside- he was completely different. Having gone up against the SC in a few training sessions he knew that he was an above average pilot. Much higher than average.


“Not so tight on the form, Rook” he said over the com to Aaren, using the call-sign that he had given the academy fresh pilot, “We don't want to give them a clustered pair to shoot at.”

They came up on the cruiser from behind and strafed along the top both letting out fire to weaken the shields along up onto the point of the cannons. All of their shots were swallowed up by the shields and they had barely taken them down five percent. It was about as much as Keln expected. And he was sure the ships captain was smiling to himself at their efforts.


“Just keep smiling” He said to himself then open coms to Aaren, “Alright for this second pass we head straight for the sublights. You are going to break as soon as I tell you, got it.”


“Do I have a choice?” She asked rhetorically, but he answered anyway.


“Nope.” he said smiling.


As they made their turn around to come at the cruiser from behind, the cruiser continued to adjust it's course. Agile as it was for a light cruiser, it would be able to hide it's engine's for long. Keln key in his self made program for the next missile he would fire. Or sling shot out really. He smiled just as he was sure the Desolation's captain still was. The only difference was that he knew what was coming, and the captain didn't


The white sound of the twin ion engines muffled through his helmet, as he sent the green spears of laser cannon fire only to watch them be eaten up along with Aaren's by the shields. His breathing was still smooth despite what he was going to do. He had seen the maneuver once before in the training session of another pilot and he had spent the next two days perfecting the move against nearly all the light and medium starships. The move still required every attention to detail, but the more he had performed it correctly, and incorrectly for that matter, he didn't have to think- but rather let his instincts guide him. Reading the ships speed, knowing the distance of the energy shield from the ship itself and the speed needed to give the rocket the momentum it would need to break the inertia of just laying in the launcher bay. 


“Break now.” he said clearly over the com. There was no need for urgency- he knew she would do it.


He continued on his flight path increasing his speed as he dumped energy from his lasers to his engines. Wringing his hands around his controls getting ready to fire the reverse thrusters at full then the moment was there. First to come was the slight tremor as he brushed inside the energy shield hit the reverse thruster and fired the missile at nearly the same moment.


The object of his intent was rocketed out of the bottom of his ship by the sudden stop in motion, and the non-propelled missile lodged, he hoped, into the hull of cruiser. Next came the part that he had never gotten used to. It was one of those moments in life where things seemed to all go in slow motion, then was brought out of it and kicked back into his seat as he pulled back on his controls and hit simultaneously going to full throttle sending his ship into a crazy-eyed spin on it's axis. He shook his head smiling all the while. The cruiser managed to try and get some pot shots off at him, but he was soon joined up again with Aaren.


“What in the frak was that? Are you brain dead? Why did you have to go and perform a stunt like that..I thought you wer...” Aaren practically screamed at him as he reached over to activate the remote detonation.


“Wait for it...” He said, interrupting her rant. There was the three second delay, then came the blast. Fortunately for him it happened right where he hoped it would. The engines took on a whole new glow for a few moments then went to a dead dull color. Slowly the Desolation slid through space until it lost all momentum.


Keln could almost hear the silent 'oh' that he was sure she was doing and let a laugh roll out of him as the sped towards the now dead in space Cruiser. It would make disabling the Cruiser's cannon's all them more easy, not to mention make it an easier target for boarding if High Command wished it.


He updated Garen of their progress then was all back to getting ready for their next attack run. The cannons would be easier targets, but that didn't mean that they wouldn't be able to fire back. Carelessness was never something a pilot could afford. It's why he had spent hour upon hour perfecting the maneuver he had just done before actually putting it to use.


“You could have at least told me what you had planned.” He was sure, but her tone sounded almost as if she was hurt from being left out.


Better to be left out, than try something she wasn't ready for and have it end her career, he mused to himself.


“What? And ruin the surprise for you?” He asked grinning, knowing she would get over it, “Come on Rook, let's finish off those cannons.”


She didn't answer back and he got the distinct feeling that he would get an earful when this was all over...

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1784 words

The repairs were going smoothly on the Raven after about two hours of work it was time for a shift change. Mr. Cidman gave Captain Zamtrev a gentle nudge trying to wake him up “Captain...Captain Zamtrev wake up.” Captain Zamtrev replied to the gentle nudge and attempt to wake him up with a resounding “ZZZ!! ZZZZ!! ZZZZZZZZ!!” A bit of frustration crossed Mr. Cidmans face followed by mischief Mr. Cidman silently rose from his pilots chair walked behind the captains pilots chair, quietly grabbed  the head rest and spoke “Good morning Captain Zamtrev this is  your wake up call.” Gripping the head rest even tighter he began shaking the chair vigorously and yelling “Attack Captain!! attack!! get to your battle stations get to your battle stations!!” The captains eyes went wide awake when this happened, standing straight up out of his seat he began scrambling for evasive maneuvers. Finally realizing what just happened he went from being very surprised to being a bit angry to finally laughing it of he than asked “So was a snoring?” Mr. Cidman laughed with his captain and answered “Like a wookiee sir.” Nodding a stern captainy nod he replied “Rightly so I have earned it. So I take it its your turn to get some rest.” Mr. Cidman nodded back to his good natured captain and began giving him a run down of what was happening with the repairs “Yes sir but before I do rest heres the run down of whats happening. Repairs are going well with our engines and power plants though I think the engineering compartment will need a major clean up thanks to Bo's motion sickness. The gunners mates have a bit of a pool going on who can shoot down the most tie fighters, tie bombers and the like, that has resulted in their targeting computers being calibrated to up to and beyond one hundred ten percent above standardized calibrations. All other repairs are going as well as can be expected with out us being in a dry dock. With that I am off to dream land.” Yawning Mr. Cidman reclined his pilots chair back  and shut his eyes letting the beeps, boops and other noises of the bridge lull him to sleep.

As Mr. Cidman drifted off to sleep Captain Zamtrev decided to stretch his legs. Standing up he stuffed his hands in to his pockets and stepped out of the bridge. Walking down the corridor he picked a direction that lead him down to an eventual meeting with the gunners mates. Entering the gun deck Captain Zamtrev spoke loudly “So I hear you have an illegal pool going!!” The entire gun deck went silent with a bit of uncomfortable “umm's and uuhhh's” The Captain smiled and asked “So how much to get in?” The gun deck relaxed and they set out the rules “Well its one hundred imperial credits per difference between the highest and lowest scoring gunners and who ever gets the closest with going over wins the pot.” The captain nodded and said “Great! Put me down for two hundred imperial credits on” he thought a moment and picked a number “eight tie fighters difference.” The captain handed over the imperial credits to The Giant who was also writing down who had what number. After some more words of encouragement the captain left the gun deck and made his way to the  engineering compartment to see about the motion sick Bo.

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577 words

Moving slowly down the corridors of the Titan Sergeant Major (Provisional) Didolo “No-name” Fogram, Vast Empire Navy Marines, led his platoon of boarders further into the enemy ship. Their goal was to get to Main Gunnery Control and disable the guns of this ship before she has the opportunity to do any further damage to the Black Heart. Motioning for Corporal (Provisional) Ernest Figrando. Vast Empire Navy Marines, to take point, the platoon fans out into a standard patrol formation. With Corporal (Provisional) Figrando. Vast Empire Navy Marines, forward of the rest of the unit, followed by first squad commanded by First Sergeant (Provisional) Elintas Snard. Vast Empire Navy Marines, their position forward making them the forward combat squad, second squad under Staff Sergeant (Provisional) Frontma Dralg. Vast Empire Navy Marines, positioned in the center as the reaction force, able to respond either to attacks from the front, or from the rear. And third squad under Sergeant (Provisional) Slirna Brags. Vast Empire Navy Marines, positioned farthest back in the formation as a rear guard. From his position near the center of the formation Sergeant Major (Provisional) Fogram. Vast Empire Navy Marines, was able to both see what was going on in front of him and behind him, and he could move around his men to respond to any situation which might present itself to the boarding party.

Similarly to Sergeant Major (Provisional) Didolo Fogram's Slam Platoon, three other platoons (Fang, Death, and Errant) under Second Lieutenant (Provisional) Grambolda “Bold” Triston, Vast Empire Navy Marines, Second Lieutenant (Provisional) Slirvant “'Nade” Grand, Vast Empire Navy Marines, and Captain (Provisional) Grandlo “Gramps” Storn, Vast Empire Navy Marines. These four platoons made up Charlie Company, 3rd “Groundbiter” Battalion, 7th “Deathstick” Brigade, of the 502nd “Death's Head” Legion, Vast Empire Navy Marines. Which was provisionally attached to the Vast Empire Navy 2nd  Fleet Carrack Cruiser Black Heart (Provisional).

While Slam Platoon was assigned to take control of Main Gunnery Control, Fang Platoon was assigned to secure the main and secondary launch bays, Death Platoon was assigned to secure the Auxiliary Control Center, and Errant Platoon was to provide reinforcements for any of the other platoons should they run into trouble reaching their assigned objectives. Alpha and Bravo Companies of the of the 3rd “Groundbiter” Battalion, 7th “Deathstick” Brigade, 502nd “Death's Head” Legion, Vast Empire Navy Marines, were also on board the Titan heading for various other objectives. With Delta Company holding a beachhead on board the Titan and Echo Company ready to go and reinforce any of the other companies should they run into trouble.

====Slam Platoon, Charlie Company, 3rd of the 7th of the 502nd ====

Moving carefully down the corridor, Corporal (Provisional) Figrando, Vast Empire Navy Marines, comes to a T-intersection in the corridor and checking his heads-up display in his helmet sees that the platoon needs to take a right here in order to reach their destination. Motioning to the rest of the platoon to halt, Figrando informs Sergeant Major (Provisional) Fogram, Vast Empire Navy Marines, that the platoon needs to stay in place while he checks around the corner. Motioning to Corporal (Provisional) Figrando, Vast Empire Navy Marines, to move out, Sergeant Major (Provisional) Fogram, Vast Empire Navy Marines, has 3rd Squad secure their rear, while 1st and 2nd Squads check the condition of their equipment and prepare to move out as soon as Figrando returns.

Moving around the corner and moving quietly down the corridor Corporal (Provisional) Figrando, Vast Empire Navy Marines, locates the next intersection which they need to get to, but at the same time he also locates a security center/cell block, which they cannot bypass, and which is manned at the time by a squad in the control center, and another posted in various elements along the cell corridor, presumably guarding those cells which are occupied. Moving slowly back down the corridor, Corporal (Provisional) Figrando, Vast Empire Navy Marines, returns to the rest of Slam Platoon and makes his report to Sergeant Major (Provisional) Fogram, Vast Empire Navy Marines,
“The corridor is clear, but it leads to a security center/cell block which is manned by 2 squads, one in the control center, and one posted individually at various points along the cell block, I assume guarding the occupied cells.”

“Is their any other way around it Corporal (Provisional)?”

“No Sergeant Major (Provisional), the only route to gunnery control is through that security control center, there is no way for us to bypass it.”

Turning back to the rest of the platoon the Sergeant Major (Provisional) motions to his Squad Leaders to join them, and then he outlines his plan.

“Well we will have to go through them, 2nd Squad will open fire on the control room from positions in the corridor, and keep the personnel inside pinned down. 1st and 3rd squads will move past them and will be responsible for securing the control room and the cell block respectively, once 1st squad has entered the control room and is engaged 2nd squad will also move into the control room and will be responsible for taking out any cameras or similar observation equipment which may be located in the Security Center. Once we have secured the cell block we will continue to move toward the objective, I want 1st Squad forward, 3rd Squad center, and 2nd Squad bringing up the rear. Understood?”

Receiving several confirming nods from his Squad Leaders he motions for them to return to their squads then motioning forward says, “Let's move out”

Moving into the corridor 2nd squad opens fire on the control room, surprising the men inside and forcing them to dive for cover. Immediately 1st and 3rd squads rush past 2nd Squad into the control room and begin securing the area, although the initial instinct of the men manning the center was to resist, when their leader made a move to open fire on the squads storming through the center he fell instantly, having been struck by no less than 6 shots from members of the two squads. It was immediately clear to the Titan crewmembers in the center that while they may be professionals, this platoon that was attacking them dealt with combat in a more than professional manner, it was obvious that they were an elite unit much beyond their experience. The ways in which these men responded to this realization varied, 4 of the men gave up, 5 retreated, and 2 attempted to fight their way out. The outcomes of these responses also varied. The 4 who surrendered were taken prisoner, 3 of the 5 who attempted to retreat were shot as they retreated, the other 2 managed to escape, and the 2 who had attempted to fight their way out were both killed. Slam Platoons casualties were minimal 2 wounded, neither serious, both from 1st squad. After securing their prisoners in the cell block, the platoon moves out. Moving quickly away from the site of their battle in case other forces were sent to investigate, the platoon moves quickly, and arriving just outside of Main Gunnery Control, the platoon begins to deploy for their attack. After a brief reconnaissance they learned that there were 3 different entrances into Main Gunnery Control, which worked out well for them because it meant that they would be able to make a 3 pronged attack against the enemies occupying the control center.

====Fang Platoon, Charlie Company, 3rd of the 7th of the 502nd ====

Looking around at his platoon prior to moving out Second Lieutenant (Provisional) Grambolda “Bold” Triston, Vast Empire Navy Marines, began to give orders to the different squad leaders for his platoons. First turning to Staff Sergeant (Provisional) Quarlo Linto, Vast Empire Navy Marines, of 1st Squad he ordered him to have his squad take point as they move toward the launch bays, he orders the 2nd and 3rd squads to follow up, with 3rd squad, under Sergeant (Provisional) Nitol Brawn, Vast Empire Navy Marines, ordered to break off and head toward the secondary launch bay once they are closer to their objective. Moving quickly but quietly down the corridor the platoon quickly nears the launch bays, and split up, with 1st and 2nd squads preparing to enter the primary launch bay, 3rd squad ready to attack the secondary launch bay.

====Primary Launch Bay, Titan====

Looking down onto the flight deck, Commander Willard Bronx of the Imperial Dominion Navy observes a TIE fighter that made crash landing when very damaged is still on the flight deck, turning to one of the officers responsible for moving fighters through the bays, Commander Bronx begins yelling:

“ENSIGN! WHY THE HELL IS THAT FIGHTER STILL ON MY FLIGHT DECK?!?!? WERE YOU NOT ORDERED TO MOVE IT OFF THE DECK?”

“But sir, it is heavily damaged and we have been unable to remove the pilot as of yet, if we were attempt to move the fighter at this point in time we might injure the pilot and the fighter might also catch fire.”

Becoming even further enraged at this petty attempt at an excuse Commander Bronx draws his blaster and pointing it at the Ensign continues to yell, “DO I LOOK LIKE I GIVE A ---- ABOUT THE CONDITION OF THE FIGHTER OR THE PILOT INSIDE? THIS IS MY FLIGHT DECK AND I ORDERED YOU TO REMOVE THAT FIGHTER! EITHER REMOVE IT NOW OR I WILL SHOOT YOU FOR INSUB- grllkkk”

Ensign Erinko Granmo is relieved for just a second when his superior stops yelling at him. That second is the time it takes for his mind to process the report of a blaster-rifle and the sight of a gaping wound appearing in the middle of the Commander's chest. Whirling Ensign Granmo sees a number of enemy soldiers storming onto the Flight deck, and knowing instantly that it is up to him to head them off he yells as loud as he can to be heard above the sounds of blaster fire which was coming from the direction of the enemy forces he says “TO ARMS TITANS, PREPARE TO REPEL BOARDERS!!!!!!!!!”

====Secondary Launch Bay, Titan====

While the fight to take the Primary Launch Bay was just beginning, the fight for the Secondary Launch Bay was a joke, it was over in seconds, without any of the Titan's crew even being able to draw their weapons. They had committed their final mistake when they all moved to investigate what had happened when a blaster bolt slammed into one of their men and he fell, once the rest had congregated around his body, a quick grenade took care of them, and the Secondary Launch Bay was under the control of Sergeant (Provisional) Brawn, Vast Empire Navy Marines, and his 3rd Squad.

====Death Platoon, Charlie Company, 3rd of the 7th of the 502nd ====

Looking around the corner at the hastily erected enemy defensive position outside the Titan's Auxiliary Control Room, Second Lieutenant (Provisional) Slirvant “Nade” Grand, Vast Empire Navy Marines, knew that this particular operation was not going to be an easy one. Moving quickly back around the corridor into the room that his platoon had secured as their temporary HQ he began to speak with his Squad leaders.

“They have placed a hastily erected, but still rather formidable defensive emplacement in the corridor leading to the entrance to the Auxiliary Command Center.”

“How many men?” Asks Sergeant First Class (Provisional) Andrem Bronlo, Vast Empire Navy Marines, 2nd Squad's leader.

“It looks like they have a platoon or more in positions. With possibly more in the Control Room itself.”

“Then we will need to precede our attack with some fire to soften up their defenses and keep their heads down, and then smoke grenades when we make the actual assault.” recommends Sergeant (Provisional) Ermlo Griol, Vast Empire Navy Marines, 3rd Squad's leader.

“Ok so we will precede our attack with a barrage of fire, and employ smoke grenades just prior to our assault, we move out in 3 minutes men, get your squads ready”

====Auxiliary Control Room Defensive Emplacements, Titan====

With a swiftness which startled them the defenders surrounding the Auxiliary Control Room found themselves under a barrage of fire, several of them, including the platoon leader, falling in the initial barrage, the rest of them hunker down behind their emplacements, waiting for the barrage of fire to lessen. All of a sudden they hear the sound of grenades clattering along the deck, and the distinct hiss of a smoke grenade going off, followed by the pounding of feet, knowing that they are about to be attacked directly, the highest ranking surviving Non Commissioned Officer of the Platoon defending the Auxiliary Control Center gives the order for his men to open fire, and to fire at anything that moves.

Immediately every man along the defensive line opens fire, the sharp reports of their blaster rifles accompanied by screams of agony as several of them are instantly cut down. However they aren't the only ones taking losses, as several of their attackers fall to the ground as their shots hit their marks. Under the withering fire of the defenders the attacking platoon breaks, dragging their wounded with them, and leaving several unmoving bodies on the deck as the smoke clears.

====Death Platoon, Charlie Company, 3rd of the 7th of the 502nd ====

Back in the room which they were using as their HQ the battered remains of Death Platoon begin to pull themselves together and take stock of the situation. Sergeant First Class (Provisional) Andrem Bronlo, Vast Empire Navy Marines, now in command after the death of Second Lieutenant (Provisional) Slirvant “Nade” Grand, Vast Empire Navy Marines, looks over the status report for his platoon. 8 men still Combat ready out of 19, 4 severely wounded, 7 dead. Based on these losses, and the fact that while the enemy had taken about the same number of casualties, they were behind defensive emplacements, which gave them the advantage. Quickly making his decision, Sergeant First Class (Provisional) Bronlo, Vast Empire Navy Marines, pulls out his comlink and contacts Errant Platoon to get some reinforcements.
====Main Gunnery Control Titan====

Inside the control room, Commander Grantom Fergin, Imperial Dominion Navy, was busy giving orders to his crew. Looking over the status display for the ships guns, he observes that the port side secondary Quad-Laser battery is no longer reporting an he assumes that they must have been knocked out. Turning to his assistant he tells him to have half of the port side forward secondary Quad-Laser battery adjust their zones of responsibility to include the area which had been previously covered by the destroyed battery. Moving to the Display which shows the surrounding space he begins giving orders for the various batteries under his command. He is turning to order one of the Quad-Laser batteries on the starboard side of the ship to engage a flight of incoming enemy fighters when without warning all three of the entrances to the room explode inward and the room begins to fill with smoke. Pulling out his blaster as he hears the report of blaster-rifles he yells to his men. “Arm yourselves, prepare to repel boarders!” Taking careful aim at one of the stormtroopers entering Main Gunnery Control, he squeezes off a shot that drills straight through the faceplate of the troopers helmet, killing him instantly.

====Slam Platoon, Charlie Company, 3rd of the 7th of the 502nd , Attacking Main Gunnery Control====

Lance Corporal (Provisional) Erinal Throan, Vast Empire Navy Marines, sees the blasterbolt drill through the faceplate of Corporal (Provisional) Figrando, Vast Empire Navy Marines, and seeing his longtime friend fall the young Lance Corporal (Provisional) returns fire, hitting the officer who had killed Figrando, and killing him. Continuing to move into the room he exchanges fire with several more members of the Titan's crew, killing 2 of them and injuring a third before the console next to him explodes due to the impact of a blasterbolt. As he falls he is caught by one of his fellow squad members who kills the man who had fired the bolt, at the same time yelling “MEDIC!”

Hearing the yell from behind him, Senior Corpsman (Provisional) Lirnad Logram, Vast Empire Navy Marines, one of the platoons two medics, quickly runs over and begins caring for the injured man, first administering some painkillers to the young Lance Corporal (Provisional), Senior Corpsman (Provisional) Logram, Vast Empire Navy Marines, begins to treat the burns and other injuries caused by the explosion as the battle rages around them.

-----Five Minutes Later-----
Sergeant Major (Provisional) Forgram, Vast Empire Navy Marines, watches the rest of his platoon securing the exits to the Main Gunnery Control Center, walking over to where the medics are working on the three wounded men he begins to take stock of the situation. 1st Squad, 1 dead 2 wounded, Corporal (Provisional) Figrando, Vast Empire Navy Marines, being the casualty from that unit. 2nd Squad, 1 dead 1 wounded, Private First Class (Provisional) Ernestal Vram, Vast Empire Navy Marines, was the casualty from this squad, he had not been as lucky as Lance Corporal (Provisional) Throan, Vast Empire Navy Marines, being killed by the explosion of the console he was using as cover. 3rd Squad, 1 dead, no wounded. Sergeant (Provisional) Brags, Vast Empire Navy Marines, was this Squad's casualty, he had been killed during the initial charge, when one of the Titan's crewman had hurled a grenade at the men entering the Main Gunnery Control Center.

====1st and 2nd Squads, Fang Platoon, Charlie Company, 3rd of the 7th of the 502nd Attacking Primary Launch Bay====
Quickly taking cover as the Titan's Flight Deck crew begins to return fire, members of the 1st and 2nd Squads use whatever they can find as cover. As the firefight begins to heat up it quickly becomes clear to those men who are fighting for control of the flight deck that they have little chance if they allow the attackers to take up positions within the Launch Bay. As they realize that if they do not attack they will be overrun the Titan's Flight Deck crew surges forward against their attackers, although a number of them fall before they even reach the boarding party. With a last second barrage of blaster fire from each side they slam together and begin fighting hand to hand. The Flight Deck Crew, armed with the various tools of their trade, initially get the upper hand, but they are soon driven back by the coordinated efforts of the 1st and 2nd Squads. Within 5 minutes it was all over and the Primary Launch Bay was under the Control of Fang Platoon.

====Forward Combat HQ, 3rd of the 7th of the 502nd , Titan Bridgehead====
Lieutenant Colonel (Provisional) Proll “Dagger” Klint, Vast Empire Navy Marines, looks over the situation map projected onto the portable map table inside of the room which had been secured as the “Planning Room” for the Forward HQ. Watching as it is constantly updated by a team of technicians whose sole responsibility is to keep that system up to date with the latest information from the various units currently struggling to take control of the Titan. Observing the fact that the information on Death Platoon, Charlie Company had not been updated in about 20 minutes. Since they had received the message requesting the dispatch of Errant Platoon, Charlie Company to reinforce them the platoon had been eerily quiet, which did not sit well with the Lieutenant Colonel (Provisional). Turning to one of his radiomen he tells him to attempt to raise Death Platoon. But after multiple attempts to contact them there still was no response from any member of the platoon, and Lieutenant Colonel (Provisional) Klint, Vast Empire Navy Marines, was beginning to worry that he had lost a platoon, turning to his radioman he orders,

“Put me through to Errant Platoon Leader.”

“Aye sir,” speaking into his radio the Lance Corporal (Provisional) sends a call to Captain (Provisional) Grandlo “Gramps” Storn, Vast Empire Navy Marines, the leader of Errant Platoon, and also CO of Charlie Company, 3rd  “Groundbiter” Battalion, 7th “Deathstick” Brigade, 502nd “Death's Head” Legion, Vast Empire Navy Marines,

“3rd Battalion HQ to Errant Platoon, Charlie Company”

“This is Errant Platoon, go ahead HQ” responds the voice of one of Errant Platoon's radiomen.

“Lieutenant Colonel (Provisional) Klint, Vast Empire Navy Marines, wishes to speak with Captain (Provisional) Storn, Vast Empire Navy Marines.”

“Just a moment,”

====Errant Platoon, Charlie Company, 3rd of the 7th of the 502nd ====

Looking around Lance Corporal (Provisional) Yrang Liom, Vast Empire Navy Marines, sees his CO, Captain (Provisional) Grandlo “Gramps” Storn, Vast Empire Navy Marines, and motions to him to come over, walking quickly over to Lance Corporal (Provisional) Liom, Vast Empire Navy Marines, the Captain (Provisional) asks what is going on.

“3rd Battalion HQ on the line for you sir.”

“Ok, thanks,” picking up the transmission unit Captain (Provisional) Storn, Vast Empire Navy Marines, speaks into it. “This is Captain (Provisional) Storn, Vast Empire Navy Marines,”

“Gramps this is Dagger.” Comes the voice of Lieutenant Colonel (Provisional) Klint, Vast Empire Navy Marines, “I need you to double time your platoon over to the location of Death Platoon, they have dropped off the Battalion communications network, and they were pretty badly mauled earlier, I need to know what is going on with them as soon as possible.”

“Yes sir, I will get my platoon there as soon as... Wait a second, my radioman responsible for Death Platoon is signaling to me that he is getting a message,” Quickly moving over to the second radioman Captain (Provisional) Grandlo “Gramps” Storn, Vast Empire Navy Marines, is about to ask what is going on when he hears a voice yelling loudly from the transmitter saying the same thing over and over.”

“BROKEN FIST, I REPEAT DEATH PLATOON, 3rd OF THE 7th OF THE 502nd IS DECLARING A BROKEN FIST, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK BY ENEMIES IN NUMBERS BEYOND COMPANY SIZE, ABOUT TO BE OVERRUN!”

Turning quickly to his radioman Captain (Provisional) Grandlo “Gramps” Storn, Vast Empire Navy Marines, sees that he is already relaying the message to the HQ and instead turns to the rest of his platoon and yells. “YOU HEARD THAT ERRANT, DEATH IS ABOUT TO BE OVERRUN, WE ARE THEIR ONLY REINFORCEMENTS FOR A WHILE, MOVE OUT!”

====Forward Combat HQ, 3rd of the 7th of the 502nd , Titan Bridgehead====

Lieutenant Colonel (Provisional) Klint, Vast Empire Navy Marines, hears the report by Errant Platoon stating that Death Platoon had declared a Broken Fist, under attack by enemies in more than company size, and he quickly turns to the situation map to see what he can do to help that unit. Luckily along with that emergency message came a information dump stating the current location, number of combat capable men, and casualty list from Death Platoon. According to the map they are holed up within a small room off of a corridor just short of Auxiliary Control, which was their objective. Pulling up their combat status he sees that they currently have 7 combat effective men, with 11 dead and 2 severely wounded, which means that they have barely a third of their men still able to fight, and that as a platoon they have ceased to exist, and are now fighting for their very lives. Looking quickly at the rest of the situation he begins to issue orders.

“Lance Corporal (Provisional), get Echo Company ready to move, they are going to reinforce Captain “Provisional” Storn, Vast Empire Navy Marines, and Errant Platoon, Charlie Company, and attempt to break through the enemy defenses around the Auxiliary Control Center, their objectives are 2, 1. get to and provide security for Death Platoon, and 2. Get to and secure the Auxiliary Control Center.”

“Aye sir,”

Turning back to the situation map Lieutenant Colonel (Provisional) Klint, Vast Empire Navy Marines, studies the situation as a whole examining the movements of Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie companies as they move to their various objectives throughout the Titan.

Examining first Alpha Company, under the command of Captain (Provisional) Erlond Vral, Vast Empire Navy Marines, Lieutenant Colonel (Provisional) Klint, Vast Empire Navy Marines, observes that they are doing well in all their objectives, their 1st Platoon has successfully secured the Titan's Medical Center, with minimal casualties. 2nd and 3rd Platoons were still fighting to secure the TIE Fighter repair bays, and 4th Platoon was currently in route to reinforce the two platoons fighting for the Titan's TIE Fighter repair bays. Lieutenant Colonel (Provisional) Klint, Vast Empire Navy Marines, decides to send a platoon from Delta Company, which was currently providing security for the Battalion HQ to assist the platoons of Alpha Company as they fought to secure the TIE Fighter bays.

Looking next at the information regarding Bravo Company, Lieutenant Colonel (Provisional) Klint, Vast Empire Navy Marines, sees essentially the same thing taking place with them. Their assigned objective had been engineering and other surrounding important systems. 1st and 2nd Platoons, Bravo Company were currently fighting in engineering, which was about eighty percent secure, and they had suffered about 6 casualties. 3rd Platoon had successfully secured the Environmental Control Center, which he would make use of once they had managed to get through to Death Platoon.
4th Platoon had originally been held in reserve, but the Platoon Leader had decided to send them to deactivate the generators used to power the Titan's weapons, in order to prevent them from doing serious damage to any other ships.

Turning back once again to the situation for Charlie Company, Lieutenant Colonel (Provisional) Klint, Vast Empire Navy Marines, sees that Errant Platoon has managed to break through and link up with the remnants of Death Platoon, and that Echo Company is about to enter the fight with an attack against the enemy's flank.

====Death and Errant Platoons, Charlie Company, 3rd of the 7th, of the 502nd ====

Within the room that Death Platoon was holed up in, Errant Platoon members relieved them from their firing positions near the entrance to the room, allowing the surviving members of Death Platoon, all of them wounded in some way, to take a break and reload and clean their weapons, and also to get their injuries seen to by the medics. Taking command of the remains of Death Platoon, Captain (Provisional) Grandlo “Gramps” Storn, Vast Empire Navy Marines, began to plan what their next step would be once they were able to move again.

====Echo Company, 3rd of the 7th, of the 502nd ====

Slamming into the flank of the Titan defenders who were keeping Death and Errant Platoons pinned down, the 80 men of Echo Company quickly began to role up the Titan Defenders, pushing them back away from the room where Death and Errant were holed up, and back past the Auxiliary Control Center defensive emplacements. Although they fought to the death, the Titan Defenders were no match for a fresh, full strength combat unit from the Elite 502nd within 15 minutes they had eliminated all of the defenders and Echo Company, with Death and Errant Platoons, Charlie Company, secured the Auxiliary Control Center, and reported back to the Forward Combat HQ, 3rd of the 7th of the 502nd , that they had done so.

====Forward Combat HQ, 3rd of the 7th of the 502nd , Titan Bridgehead====
Within the Situation room within the Forward Combat HQ, 3rd of the 7th of the 502nd, the mood was joyful, they had managed to secure the majority of their objectives (Engineering was not fully secure yet, but 90% of it was under Vast Empire Navy Marine control) and all that remained was the final push to reach the bridge of the Titan. However there would be no fighting required for this, they controlled all the essential areas and they had already made their plans on how to reach the Bridge of the Titan. Turning to his radioman Lieutenant Colonel (Provisional) Klint, Vast Empire Navy Marines, ordered Bravo Company to begin. As soon as the message was passed along every section between those occupied by the boarding party, and the bridge itself, turned from green to red, indicating that all the air within those spaces had been vented outside of the ship. At the same time, Echo Company, having put on their vacuum sealed combat armor, moved up through the decks separating them from the bridge like ghosts, stepping out of the lifts onto the bridge, they quickly take the entire crew prisoner, and after reporting this back to the HQ, they began to power down all of the non-essential systems on the ship. While this is happening Lieutenant Colonel (Provisional) Klint, Vast Empire Navy Marines, shakes hands with his staff before hailing the Black Heart and informing her CO that the Titan was now in the hands of the Vast Empire Navy Marines, and that they would take the ship out of the combat zone and back to their lines.

====Space, Titan====
Her engines starting up again, the Titan moves out of the center of the battlefield, setting course for the Vast Empire's lines, and her new home. A new prize to be added to the roles of the Imperial Vast Empire, and another successful boarding action to be added to the combat history of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Brigade, 502nd Legion, Vast Empire Navy Marines (Provisional). Turning to his Executive Officer, Lieutenant Colonel (Provisional) Klint comments, “you know, I think this is one of the best we have ever pulled off.”

OOC:

5018 word post, my best yet I think, about half of what I had thought I would do, but it pretty much brought itself to a close.

Captain Zamtrev walked down the corridor of the Corellian Corvette Raven, passing by a few people here and there, preforming damage control and repairs on several pieces of equipment. As he passed, he made small conversation and gave words of encouragement. Patting one crewman on the back, he spoke, “How are you doing crewman?”

  The crewman looked up, wiped the grease and sweat from his face and replied, “I am doing okay, just waiting on my relief, you know how that goes sir.”

Giving another pat on the crewman's back, the captain closed with, “Well I am sure your relief will be here soon, just don't give up and keep up the good work, we are almost out of this.”

Breathing a heavy sigh, the crewman thanked the captain and went back to work, “Thank you sir I hope you're right.”  Captain Zamtrev gave the crewman a fare well and went on down the coridor.

Reaching the end of the corridor, he noticed that the lift doors had a sign posted on it that read “Lift secured.”  Captain Zamtrev shrugged to himself and took a few more steps and opened the adjacent door which lead to the ships ladder well. Entering the ladder well, the captain went down the first six steps, rounded the corner, went down the last six steps and entered the engineering deck.  It didn't take very long for Captain Zamtrev to find the engineering chief and his assistant following the sounds of Bo's throwing up and retching. Stopping short of the pair of engineer's, the captain opened up a first aid kit and retrieved some electrolyte tablets and  something a kin to Dramamine for the motion sick engineer. “Here you go Mr. Bo” spoke Captain Zamtrev as he offered the tablets and Dramamine to him.

Wiping the motion sickness sweat from his brow, and drool and vomit from his chin he replied, “Thank you sir I appreciate it.” 

The captain smiled at the motion sick engineer and replied, “You are part of my crew, if you ain't up to snuff how can my ship be? Look, this is a small ship with a small crew so each member of it is really and truly valuable, now I need you to feel better so you can fix my ship, and you are doing a good job at it.”

The engineering chief's assistant smiled tiredly and replied, “Thank you sir I try my best.”

The Captain Zamtrev replied, “Thats all I ask of you,” He gave a sly smile and finished with a bit more enthusiasm, “now get back to work Mr. Bo!”

Bo stood up straight and replied with a resounding, “Aye sir,” took the electrolyte tablets and Dramamine, and set him self back to work.

Now that Captain Zamtrev had stretched his legs out well enough and got a good feel of what his crew was doing and how they were holding up, it was time for him to get back to his place on the bridge of the Raven. Using the ladder wells to meander his way back up through the ship and to the bridge, he made sure tp pass by every deck to check on the rest of the crew. Moving through the forward end of the munitions deck, the captain passed by a crewman working on patching a oxygen line.

“Doing a good job crewman,” stated the captain as he passed by the hard working maintenance technician.

The maintenance technician looked up and said, “Thank you sir” before heading back to work. A small hiss sound started to come from the bulk head behind the captain and crewman. The crewman looked at the bulkhead behind him gathered some tools and proceeded to investigate the hissing sound. As soon as the maintenance technician put his tools down the entire bulk head erupted slamming the crewman against the opposite bulkhead followed by the damaged bulkhead hit, sandwiching him between the two pieces.

Alarms rang out through out the ship as a secondary explosion roared through the next deck severely damaging the primary medical bay. The Raven rocked back and forth heavily for a long minute before most of the noise subsided. Klaxon's stopped ringing but emergency strobe lights still flashed in the now dark corridor. The captain was luckily enough to not be injured in the explosion, activating his communicator the captain reported, “Explosion on the munitions deck! I repeat, explosion on the munitions deck! We have a crewman injured down here we need a medical team her now!” 

The captain then rushed to the injured crewman pulled the piece of bulkhead that crushed him off of him. Checking the crewman for a pulse, he breathed a sigh of relief when he found a faint one and heard raspy breathing.

Some moments later, a medical team arrived on scene with a trauma kit with them and the corridor once again filled with noise, the noise of medics talking in rapid succession. “I need five cc's of petrizine in him,” followed by, “Let's start chest compressions, dose him with adrenaline: one, two, three.”  The medical team worked frantically trying to stabilize the crewman.

A core man looked to the surgeon and said, “Sir I think he has crush syndrome!” A medical condition where the organs of a victim are crushed destroying the circulatory system inside the organs, essentially bleeding the poor soul from the inside out.  The surgeon looked to the core man and said swiftly, “We will worry about it when we get him to the medical bay.  Lets get him on a stretcher ready?” The core man gave a nod to the surgeon and grabbed the crewman, the surgeon grabbed the other side of the crewman and started counting “One, two, three, lift” The pair of medics lifted the crewman on to the stretcher with a heavy “umph.” Once the crewman was on the stretcher, the medics began strapping him down, setting up a blood and saline solution drip. Once the crewman was prepared, the surgeon looked to the captain and said, “Sir, we could use your help getting the crewman to our secondary bay.

The captain replied and asked, “Alright lets move, by the way whats wrong with the primary bay?”

The core man answered, “Its destroyed sir. Bacta tanks and all.”

The captain simply stated, “Lets get him to where he needs to be then.” The medical team and captain lugged the severely injured crewman to the secondary medical bay.

OOC:

1079 words and I have asked Stormz to proof read my posts to help me improve my writing and others to understand it better

OOC:

Points tallied up to this post.

The Fire Demon had, until now, remained mostly anonymous in the battle that raged around it. This was in part due to the fact that it had spent most of the time providing cover fire for the others, and had not dealt any death blows, and partly to the indecisiveness of it’s own captain. Peter Renault was Captain of the Fire Demon, a man who’d paid his dues to the Vast Empire when he had been captured the previous year by New Republic forces and been forced to suffer through days of torture.

The experience had left him bitter towards the Vast Empire, but he had returned under the impression that he’d be given a hero’s welcome for withholding the information he knew, and that with that welcome would come a promotion to bigger and better things. Not so. He was demoted due to the circumstances that caused his capture, the loss of the Carrack Invincible and the death or imprisonment of its entire crew. He was one of the three survivors rescued by Vast Empire forces during an assault on the base where they were being kept, and was the only one of the three who didn’t receive any sort of recognition for holding out against his captors.

He had been placed in charge of the Fire Demon within months of his return, and although he was still a captain, he felt insulted that he had been assigned to a lesser ship such as a Corvette, and had yet to accept the position. He captained the ship as if it were ten times its size, and although this had proven to provide him with a few surprising victories, most of the time it left him licking his wounds and explaining costly repairs to his superiors. They were threatening to start taking the bill out of his pay; a simple way of saying that if it happened again his job would be gone.

“Captain, the Sovereign is turning to show its broadside to the Dominance. I’ve alerted the captain, but they’re currently occupied with the Defiance. Orders?” Captain Renault was asked as his junior communications officer looked up at him. He took a few steps over to a large island in the center of the bridge and stared at the holographic display of the battle. He could see the triangular shape of the Sovereign turning to point away from the Dominance, revealing the most dangerous side of a Star Destroyer. Presenting another ship with the broadest side of your own ship allowed for all of your cannons on one side to concentrate their fire on the enemy, while leaving the other side free to defend against attacks. This left the front and rear relatively undefended, and was the second best offensive position for a Star Destroyer to be in.

“We won’t even be able to make a dent in that SD’s shields. I mean, maybe we can distract it, but that’d be suicidal too. We’re fast but not fast enough to out-run their cannons. On the other hand.. How close can you get us to their engines?” Renault asked as he turned to look at one of his pilots. Doing a quick calculation and glancing across the space to where the gigantic mass of the Sovereign was rotating slowly, he shrugged.

“I imagine I can get us right up close to its shields, but without those being down, we’d suffer our own problems by trying to get closer. I mean, it’d likely be enough to fry our shield generator, not to mention take down a section of their shields. Hell, we might even lose power to weapons if the charge is great enough. We’d be making a huge gamble if we were to get any closer than standard close-attack range.” Lieutenant Paisley explained quickly, almost running his words together due to the speed at which he was speaking. With a nod of his head, Captain Renault acknowledged the advice as if it was an order.

“Do it then. Bring us within attack range and keep us moving towards their rear end.” He barked, his calm demeanor from before evaporating. He sharply pressed his thumb down on the comm. control to Weapon Control and began issuing orders there.

“I want all topside cannons to prepare for a vertical broadside attack. Your targets are the shields around the engines of the ISD Sovereign. I want them shorted out as soon as possible, and then you should know what to do.” Renault ordered, a small grin coming to his face as his Weapons Officer replied with a gleeful ‘Yes Sir!’. “Oh, I forgot. You’ll be getting a nice power increase on the guns. I just hope you can work in the dark.”

With that, Renault shut down the comm. to Weapons, and instead turned his attention to Power Control. This station didn’t require being commed, as the power levels of various systems could be controlled from the bridge, a modification that Renault had specifically asked for when he was given command of the Fire Demon. An old hand at power distribution from his days as a fighter jock he ran through the terminals various commands, cutting off lighting to the entire ship; save emergency lightning and the lights in the medical wing. Following this, all empty compartments were sealed and life support was cut off to them. With the amount of crewmen out of their quarters, this took a relatively large strain off the life support system.

Just as he was finishing the adjustments, Renault’s personal comm. unit beeped and he quickly thumbed the receive button. “Sir, I just thought I’d let you know that we’re running the guns at almost two hundred percent capacity. You realize we’re likely to fry something if we keep up a steady firing rate, right?” Petty Officer Timmly, the weapons officer, pointed out.

“I understand completely, but what you don’t understand, Mr. Timmly, is that this ship can put over two hundred and fifty percent power into the weapons without them overloading thanks to a special coolant system. I’ll blow this misunderstanding off to your freshness with the systems you’re working with. Have fun.” Renault said cheerily and sarcastically, throwing his comm. back onto his desk. Despite being so bitter about his capture, Renault was usually a very calm and laid-back individual. This only changed when he was placed into a combat situation, and all his normal attributes evaporated, save humour.

“Sir, we’re approaching the Sovereign.. Also, incoming transmission from the Dominance. Just so you’re aware.” Lieutenant Paisley called, turning his head over his shoulder in Renault’s direction as he did so. Renault nodded and sat down in his Captain’s chair, one of the few times he would do so for the rest of the battle. Pressing a small button inlaid into the arm, a small blue image of Commodore Elletra formed in front of him. Both ship commanders quickly saluted each other, Renault holding his until the Commodore dropped hers.

“I noticed you’ve entered our battle space, Captain. Care to explain to me quickly what you’re planning to do?” Elletra asked quickly, her mind obviously on the larger problems of Sovereign and Defiance.

“I hope that’s not a reprimand, ma’am. We’re simply going to be a bit of a sand fly to the bantha that is Sovereign. Hopefully enough to keep them distracted and out of your hair long enough for you to finish up with Defiance.” Renault explained, and noticed that the tiny figure of Commodore Elletra was frowning. It was hard to tell because of the poor detail of the hologram, but he was fairly sure that’s what she was doing.

“Ok, well, it’ll probably take us a while to wrap up here. Wouldn’t you be better suited to wrapping up the Defiance while we worked over the Sovereign?” Elletra asked, quickly barking a command to someone on deck and being handed a sheet of paper by someone whose arm only appeared in the transmission for a brief moment.

“If that’s an order, we’ll focus on the Defiance instead. Personally I think your own ship is better suited to that, while we play pest to the Sovereign.” Renault started, but before he could explain further, the Commodore stepped out of the transmission and it was cut off. “Hey, someone get them back online!” Renault roared, but quieted down when a comm. officer stumbled up the darkened stairs to his seat and handed him a dimly lit data pad before hustling back to his communications pit.

Do as you want, Captain. There’s no time to be arguing about duties right now, I’ve got too much on your hands. If you’re playing distraction, just make sure to do a damned good job.

The note hadn’t included a signature of any type, but Renault knew that it was from the Commodore. He was just given what he liked best, free reign over his ship to do as he pleased, how he pleased, when he pleased.

“Ok people, we’ve got a pest to make of ourselves. Stingers are already set to their sharpest points. How about our wings?” Renault asked, referring to the engines. One of the officers in contact with the engineering department spun away from his glowing terminal, one of the many beacons of light in the room, and addressed the captain. “Wings.. I mean, engines are top notch, sir. No failures or problems reported. In fact, the cooling system is working so efficiently that we could be running thirty-four point six percent more power through them, if we could afford it.”

“Won’t be necessary.” Lieutenant Paisley chimed in, pointing out the bridge windows. “We’re in position and about to begin the pitch to vertical. If you’ll give us a few moments, you can suck another forty percent of the power out of the engines, we only need enough to keep us in place behind the Sovereign. Weapon control can have their two hundred and forty percent.” Paisley beamed, high-fiving his co-pilot and beginning to adjust the controls to put them “vertical”, as compared to the Sovereign. The topside broadside was the best possible offensive position, in Renault’s mind, and had proven to be successful for him in other incapacitation attempts. The only downside was the limited protection to the belly of the beast, as well as the poor visibility from the bridge of the target.

“Great!” Renault grinned as he jumped out of his chair and over to the power control terminal. Although some of his crew figured he would be better off to assign the terminal to a crewman, Renault had a secret guilty pleasure in being able to control the power levels of his ship. It brought him directly back to his fighter pilot days, and the memories and feelings sometimes became overwhelming, enough to bring him back into the laid-back mood he normally felt. This was how he was feeling today. The chance to test his ships modifications as well as take free control over the various systems? He was in heaven.

As he adjusted the controls, his personal comm. unit beeped once more. Again thumbing the button, he listened intently as Petty Officer Timmly explained the situation in the Weapons Control.

“Sir, we’re overpowered to almost two hundred and forty percent. We really can’t handle any more power; we’re already having slight cooling issues. That might go away once we start discharging, it’s hard to say. I’ll keep you updated on the situation down here, don’t worry. Just give me the command to start targeting and I’ll have my men open fire.” Timmly said, his voice merged between nervousness and excitement. Some called the tone one of anticipation, but Renault felt there was a difference between the feelings. Anticipation is what you got when something was going to happen where you almost knew the outcome. Nervousness and excitement came from not knowing at all what was going to happen. He loved it.

“Open fire when you will, we’re all lined up and ready to go.” Renault said back into the comm. and turned back to face the room of techs, officers and crewmen, all who were concentrating greatly on the screens in front of them. If there was one thing that Renault was proud of when it came to his service history, the one thing he was constantly acknowledged for, it was the fact that his crew worked more like a finely crafted watch than a ship in the middle of a war. Every part worked perfectly, each turning the other pieces and aligning properly with them, keeping the ship operating smoothly. No one stepped out of line during a combat situation, and all circumstances were expected and prepared for. But even the best of plans can be shattered by the overlooking of a small detail.

As soon as Timmly gave the order to fire, the space between the Fire Demon and Sovereign was filled with hundred of red lances, the tracers for the energy bolts that were slamming into the shields just off the engines of the ISD. He watched his control panel carefully, keeping a close eye on the temperature gauges for the various guns. Everything seemed to be fine and the weapons were heating at a controllable rate, so he felt he had little to worry about.

Deep below him in the far reaches of the ships piping, a small valve on one of the coolant lines had rusted over. As the coolant in the guns began to heat up and the pressure in the system built, a small crack formed across the surface of the valve. It was just enough to allow a thin stream of the coolant to spray out of the line, vaporizing instantly as it left its pressurized system.

Meanwhile, Renault was gazing intently at the view screen ahead of him. Thanks to the cameras mounted on the topside of the Fire Demon, he was given a clear view of the pummeling that the Sovereign’s shields were taking. It would still be a while yet before they decided to wink out, and he was relieved to see that very few of the turrets aboard the ISD could target them.

“Sir! It appears that the Sovereign is rotating towards us. We’ve still got a few minutes to move, but give her more than five and they’ll be broadside to us. We’re a small target, but that’s an awfully big flyswatter.” Paisley hollered, keeping up the verbal joke of the Fire Demon being a pest.

“Can you keep us in line with her engines as she rotates? Maybe we can keep her spinning in circles for a while.” Renault suggested, taking a few steps over to the large holo-display table and watching the image of the Sovereign begin a long, slow twist towards them. Paisley merely nodded as he deftly adjusted the controls to the point where the Fire Demon would be slowly following the engines of the ISD. Renault knew that it wouldn’t work for long and it’d just by them a few minutes, but a few minutes might be all the time that the Dominance needed to finish off Defiance.

Four decks below him, Weapons Control hadn’t noticed that the temperature gauges for the left bank of guns were rising at a rapid rate. As the coolant was purged from the system, the guns would begin to overheat and finally explode if allowed to reach dangerous levels. It would still be a few more minutes before they reached that critical of a level, but with Timmly running back and forth helping the gunners out, there was little chance that the climbing gauges would be noticed.

*** ISD Sovereign ***

Commodore Jennings was beginning to wish that the designers had focused a little more on the defense of the engine area of the ship. Sure there were a few cannons that were able to offer protection to the engines, but the majority of the armament of the behemoth was focused on the front and sides, meant specifically for offensive tactics and defense against other capital ships.

“Don’t we have any fighter groups we could spare to hold off this corvette? It’s not doing a lot to us, but if left unattended it could be a problem.” The Commodore asked his XO, who quickly glanced down at a terminal screen and checked where their squadrons were.

“From the looks of things, we don’t. Storm Squadron is busy with some other fighter squadron and losing poorly, and everyone else is either destroyed, missing, or defected. We ran this risk bringing so many rookie pilots into the battle, we should have been smarter then to have Storm as the only veteran squadron.” Tennessee Williams said, sighing quietly to himself. The tall man was brawny and blonde, and his eyes danced with a defiance that had allowed him to rise in rank faster than almost anyone aboard the Sovereign. He had quickly moved beyond the fighter squadron and into a desk jockey job, and from there he found himself being bounced around from various terminals until he wound up as the XO. The whole process has taken him a mere five years.

“Damn. That just gives us more problems. Do we have anything we can dispatch to distract them?” Jennings asked, running through his notes and glancing at his portable terminal every few seconds.

“No sir, but we might have just gotten a break.” Williams chirped rather happily, turning to his commanding officer. “The entire left side of the corvette has stopped firing. We’ve got reports that there was a massive explosion. This severely lessens the risk to us.”

“Indeed. Have us turn our side to the Dominance once more and open heavy fire. I want that ship decimated.” Jennings ordered, and then leaned back in his seat, rather content with himself.

*** Aboard Fire Demon ***

Renault was knocked from his feet by the explosion, and many terminals in the control room shut down. As their operators began to frantically reboot them and resume their duties, Renault called from the floor. “What happened, what hit us? That wasn’t anything small, that felt like another ship slammed into us.”

“Negative!” Paisley called out from the gloom, his face lit up by the incredibly dim light of his screen. “I’m not sure what hit us, all I know is that the damage reports are showing a huge hit to the left side, it took the entire left bank of guns offline. I’m getting casualty reports now from Timmly, but things are looking pretty grim.” Paisley continued, and Renault was able to see a list building on the terminal screen. He clambered across the deck and read over Paisley’s shoulder, his eyes going down the list of dead crew and destroyed property.

“That’s got to be over half the Weapons staff. Find out what hit us, I want to know where it came from.” Renault ordered, and began his way back to his Captain’s chair. As he sat down the comm. on the table ahead of him beeped and he accepted the call.

“Sir, this is Timmly. I’m not sure what happened, the guns, they just started exploding. It was as if they overheated. The cooling system on the right side is fine, but the final readings from the left are off the charts. I think we must have had a coolant leak or something.” Timmly explained frantically, the obvious sound of pain filling his voice. “I’m injured sir, and doubt that I’m going to make it, even with medical assistance. I’m handing command over to my second, Petty Officer Case. It’s been a pleasure serving with you, sir.”

Renault closed his eyes tightly as Timmly’s voice was exchanged for another, one that he recognized slightly but not completely. Timmly had been a good man and a good friend, but Renault knew he had died the way he would have wanted, in battle. The fact that he was killed by his own mistake was an irony that was lost on both Timmly and Renault.

“We’ve got the right bank firing at only seventy-five percent capacity until you can get us a little less power in the guns. It’s no good to have them overheat and explode again. If you get some repair droids down here, we might be able to get some of the left bank wired in to the right bank’s cooling system and get them back online, some of the guns are salvageable.” Case explained, his rapid-fire talk and take-charge attitude annoying and pleasing the Captain.

“I’ll have the power adjusted momentarily, and the droids are on their way. Get us back to full capacity as soon as you can.” Renault said, waving a hand to one of the crewmen on the bridge as an order to send the droids down. He killed the comm. and turned his focus once again to the battle at hand. The Sovereign had turned her attention to the Dominance once more, and Renault could see that he was fighting a losing battle.

In the Weapons Control area, Case was beginning to wish he’d asked for a cleanup crew too. Bodies littered the ground in various states of wholeness. Timmly himself had been sliced almost in half, and had pulled himself to the comm. using only his arms. The fact that he could keep his voice so calm and his thoughts so collected with his intestines spilling out and his body losing blood fast was impressive to Case, even though Case had already emptied his stomach once at the sight. The right bank of guns was still firing hard, even though they were firing twenty-five percent less then before. He heard a chirp from the comm. unit again a moment later and reached across Timmly’s corpse to answer it.

“Timmly, I mean, Case. It’s Renault. The shields protecting the Sovereign’s engines just dropped and we’ve got a clear shot at the engines. Your guns are now only at two hundred percent overload, open up and have fun. Let’s shut them down.” Renault ordered over the speaker and Case acknowledged with an ‘Aye Captain.’ He turned away from the bleeding corpse of Timmly and addressed the gunners on the right bank.

“We’ve lost a lot of good men today, and we’ve lost a lot of friends. Lets turn this around on them, let’s give them hell!” He ordered, quickly taking up a gun of his own and opening fire on the engines of the ISD Sovereign.

*** Aboard the Sovereign ***

“Sir, they broke through the shields for the engines. I don’t know what to tell you, we’re unable to re-route power because the Dominance has started firing on us now. If we weaken the side shields, that’ll open us up to the much more problematic fire from another ISD.” Williams explained to Jennings, who couldn’t help but put his hand to his forehead.

“Ok, if that’s how it is, that’s how it is. We don’t need our engines to beat the hell out of that ISD. Re-route the power from the engines into the shields and guns. Prepare the torpedoes, and begin firing those as soon as they are ready.” Jennings ordered, lighting a cigar pulled freshly from a small humidor on his desk. A pre-emptive victory celebration. he thought.

*** Fire Demon ***

“Sir, they’re shutting down their engines by their own power. Should we continue to fire upon them?” Paisley asked. Although officially Renault didn’t have an XO by his own choice, it was fairly obvious to most of the crew that Paisley was the second in command. If there was a problem, they were to go to him if they couldn’t go to Renault himself. Paisley gave most of the orders during battle, but these were merely orders relayed through him from Renault.

“Yes, keep up the firing. I want those engines to explode; it should give us a bit of a morale boast, to blow up something that big. Plus it’ll send along a message. I’ve got a plan for this one.” Renault explained to Paisley, then went and stood once more by the holographic display of the battlefield. All over, small blue dots were swirling, representing the TIE fighters on both sides. Occasionally they would disappear from the hologram, signifying their deaths. Renault liked the board for this reason; it made him feel like less of a killer if all that disappeared were small blue projections. It made it like a game for him.

Five minutes later, Renault got a call from the Weapons Control center, again from Case. “Sir, we’ve got the droids down here and they’ve got a few of the left bank turrets back online. We’re making a bit of a dent in those engines, dunno if you’ve noticed, but three of them are already burning pretty good. Just a few more of the little ones and they’ll be crippled.”

“I’m impressed.” Renault replied, truly surprised at the efficiency of the new Weapons Officer. “You must be targeting something that Timmly didn’t know about, because you’ve sure been making short work of those engines down there.”

“Yes sir, I’ve studied the schematics on ISDs extensively. I’m having the gunners aim for the cooling centers. You saw what the lack of them did to our weapons, and it’ll do the same to their engines.” Case explained. “Better get back to work on these things though, they need constant attention now. Good luck up there, we’ll keep the pressure up down here.” He said before cutting the comm.

*** Sovereign ***

Jennings and Williams were both rocked from their feet by a sudden explosion behind the bridge. “What the hell was that?” Jennings yelled as the power in the room flickered and the lights winked off. Williams was to his feet in seconds and scanning a nearby terminal that he had hijacked from a tech.

“Damage reports indicate that one of the primary engines just went, and it went big. We’re missing a minor chunk of hull, and one turret is down. The engines are completely gone sir, and because of that we’ve lost the power that was re-routed to the shields and weapons. Shields are currently sitting at seventy-three percent while the rest of the ship seems fine. I’m closing off the section of the hull that was breached.” Williams explained as he pressed various commands on the terminal, and a moment later the lights turned back on. Jennings squinted his eyes closed as he glanced about the bridge. Techs all over were still climbing from the floor, and most were moving. Only two that he could see were unable to move, having suffered head injuries from being tossed into the sharp corners of their desks.

“I figured that might happen, but I didn’t expect the corvette to be able to do that. Hail their captain, maybe we can convince them to surrender.” Jennings said, slowly opening his eyes as they got used to the intense light.

“Sir?”

“I figure that if we offer them the chance to defect, they might just take it. They’re wounded, as are we. But we’re bigger and can offer them defense that their own side doesn’t seem to be offering them. You never know, they might accept the call.” Jennings explained, and Williams sighed. He knew it’d never work, but he couldn’t object to an order from his commanding officer. With a grudging attitude, he began to open a comm. channel to the Fire Demon.

“This is the XO of the Dominion ISD Sovereign. I’d like a private channel to the commanding officer of the VE Corvette Fire Demon.” Williams said into the microphone, and then stood back to wait for a reply.

“This is Captain Peter Renault of the VEN Corvette Fire Demon. I’m in my private quarters and am prepared for a holographic exchange. Are you contacting me to arrange the surrender of your ship?” Renault said, his voice dripping with sarcasm and cockiness.

“Hah, you’re a funny man, Captain. No, as a matter of fact, we’re contacting you for quite the opposite reasons. Commodore Jennings has offered to place you under the protection of Dominion forces in exchange for your loyalty. All you have to do is have your crew fire upon the VE ISD Dominance and turn your back on the Vast Empire. I do not know you, so I cannot question your loyalty, but I can say that the offer has other, very lucrative, conditions.” Williams explained, his speech being dictated by Jennings through hand-written notes.

“So what’re you saying? Turn my back on the Vast Empire, as in, defect?” Renault asked, playing dumb. He knew exactly what Williams had offered him, and likely the ‘lucrative conditions’ included promises of his own ship and a new crew, as well as a high salary and possibilities to move up the ladder very quickly.

“Precisely. Defect and join the Dominion. Your skill as a Captain would be greatly valued here.” Williams continued, deviating slightly from the speech of Jennings. While Jennings may not have admired the tactics used by Renault, Williams did, and truly felt himself beginning to think that Renault would be a good addition to the Dominion forces, if they were to escape from this hellish battle.

“Let’s discuss these ‘conditions’, sir.” Renault explained, cuing the holo-projecter. A small version of Williams formed on the floor in front of him, and Renault was projected onto the floor of the Sovereign’s bridge, just in front of both Williams and Jennings.

*** Aboard the Fire Demon, five minutes later ***

Renault barged from his quarters and back onto the bridge, fury in his eyes. He took a few deep breaths to try to calm himself down but couldn’t find it to work. He planted a swift kick to the base of a nearby terminal, causing the tech working at it to jump, and stormed over to Paisley.

“Lieutenant, get us back on course to fire on the Sovereign, we’re going to place a full-on attack on their bridge.” Renault ordered, but before Paisley could make an objection, a small explosion rocked the ship once more. This time warning began to flash all across the bridge, as the explosion had breached the hull and was sucking their much-needed air into the void. “Lock down those doors, shut off that section of the ship! Where’d that hit come from, it felt like a missile!”

“It was a missile. Indicators say it came from.. The Dominion.. How could that be? I’ll get you in contact with Commo-“ Paisley began to press various controls, but was cut off from speech as the form of Commodore Elletra formed on the floor in front of Renault.

“We’re terribly sorry for the missile, Captain. One of our rookie targeting officers made an error and targeted your ship. It was a complete misunderstanding.” The Commodore explained, holding her hands out in an apologetic gesture.

“An accident?! I’m missing a chunk of my ship right now! I’ve got people dead because of that little accident! I’ve got systems on critical because of that accident! I highly doubt it was an accident, ma’am. The Navy has been trying to rid herself of me since my return from captivity.” Renault roared, spittle spraying from his lips. His crew had stopped with their tasks, all of them turning to him and staring. They’d never seen their calm and collected commander acting like this. They’d seen minor fits of rage, but nothing quite to this extent.

“Calm yourself, Captain. I can send repair crews to get your systems back online, and everything will be green again.” Commodore Elletra demanded, her voice growing tense. Without a reply, Captain Renault closed down the link between the two ships and stormed to his quarters once again. When he slammed the door behind him, he quickly got on the comm. to the Weapon Control Center.

After a quick conversation with Case, Renault hailed the Sovereign. He quickly got back on the line with Williams. “I’ve changed my mind about your offer. You may or may not have noticed that I was just fired upon by one of my own, and this has changed my mind. I’d like to accept your terms of defection. But I’d like to throw in one of my own, and that is that I get to meet who I’m working for now. I’ll bring my own shuttle across to your ship and dock, where I’ll be met by yourself, Commodore Jennings, and as many of your command staff as possible.” Renault demanded. He was in no place to be demanding such things, but something is his voice seemed to sway Williams.

“I will arrange a party to great you when you land. I can assure you that all of our top men will be there to meet you, as many as can be spared from their stations, anyhow. This is a most abnormal request in the middle of battle conditions, Captain, but we’ll meet it because we’ve got little time to argue over conditions.” Williams explained, clearly showing he was impatient to the Captain, but not disrespectful.

“Great. I’ll be there in an hour, expecting open arms. In the mean time, I will continue to fire upon you, but my weapon power will be turned down to only five percent. I don’t want my defection to be known until after we’ve met.” Renault explained, and merely got a nod from Williams. “I feel it best that I be able to maneuver my ship into a more defended position from Dominance, lest they destroy me upon the announcement.”

“Sounds fair to us, Captain. Move your ship slowly towards our far side, which should offer you immediate protection. I will tell my gunners to cease firing upon your ship.” Williams said, and with that he cut the communication. Renault grinned to himself and went about his cabin, changing from his duty uniform to a much more dressy version, complete with ivory buttons and medals pinned to it. Might as well make an impression..

*** An Hour Later ***

Renault stepped into his private shuttle, alone, and closed the ramp behind him. He took a cautious look at his payload, ten metallic cases, and then entered the cockpit. He slid behind the controls and a small feeling of nostalgia filled him. He hadn’t been a shuttle pilot, rather he had piloted TIEs, but the thought of being behind the controls once again gave him chills. With a skilled hand he disembarked from Fire Demon and began his slow travel between his ship and the Sovereign. He had informed his crew that he was going to travel there to arrange the surrender papers for the Sovereign, but had given a somewhat different story to Paisley, who had assumed the command of the Fire Demon in his absence.

As he neared the Sovereign he was greeted by a voice over the comm. system requesting that he identified himself. “I am Captain Renault, and am here to negotiate with Commodore Jennings and his second-in-command Williams. Clearance code 1320.”

There was a moment of silence as the officer verified the clearance code before he returned to the airwaves. “Clearance granted. Please land in the main hanger, anywhere. The greeting party will be on its way. Welcome aboard, Captain Renault.”

Renault thanked the officer quickly and began to pilot his shuttle cleanly into the bay. AS he neared the entrance, the magna-lock field was deactivated and he punched a few commands into the ships computer, initiating the automatic landing sequence. The wings folded up to the sides of the ship and it propelled itself so a gentle landing using repulsors along the bottom of the ship. There was a small metallic clang as the landing gear touched down on the deck, and a moment later the landing ramp slid to a gentle rest at the feet of two men dressed in uniform. One wore the rank of Commodore, while the other wore the rank of Line Captain. The door to the shuttle glided open with a hiss and Renault stepped out, grinning broadly to the two men.

Before he was allowed to greet the two commanders though, he was subjected to a quick search by a storm trooper wearing light blue armour. When his search turned up clean, he was permitted to approach the two leaders.

“Commodore Jennings, Line Captain Williams, it’s good to meet you both in person, finally.” Renault stated, holding his hand out and shaking both men’s hands firmly. He noticed that behind them were a large number of men who seemed to be questioning why they were there, rather obviously the other people in charge of the various systems on the ISD. He could see badges showing the various titles for people of Fire Control, Navigation, Communication, and various other departments.

“Likewise. I’m glad you decided to make this decision. The battle rages on out there though, so I implore that we make this brief. I must ask though, how did being fired upon make you change your mind, if they claimed it so strongly to be an accident.” Jennings asked as he released Renault’s hand.

“I’ve been through hardships for the Vast Empire that were never repaid. I was kept imprisoned by New Republic forces for a long while. I was treated terribly when I returned, and I’m afraid to say that I’ve never been able to let that go. They don’t want me anymore, and I think that was made clear when they fired upon me.” Renault said, the obvious distrust in his voice. “I made the clear choice, I’d be much more appreciated here.”

“You’re absolutely right, and believe me, we’re glad you made this decision. Denouncing your loyalty to the Vast Empire was one of the greatest choices you could make, I foresee you becoming a hero in the future of the Dominion.” Jennings said, his aged face wrinkling as he grinned.

“Oh, but Commodore. I didn’t denounce my loyalty to the Vast Empire. Oh, no, no, no. I’m about to prove it now, and rather than become a future hero to the Dominion, I plan to become a hero to the Vast Empire, right now. They’ll always remember me as a hero in this battle, and they’ll educate the young and up and coming commanders of my tactics and heroics.” Renault said, his voice seeming to change slightly, taking on a tone it didn’t have a moment before.

“What? Explain yourself now, Captain.” Williams demanded, pulling a pistol from his hip holster and holding it towards Renault. Renault didn’t flinch or shift out of the way; he merely reached up to one of the buttons on his overcoat and began to absent-mindedly fiddle with it.

“You see, there was more then just me aboard that shuttle. Sadly, you’re not going to have any time to figure out what was aboard it. Only the Vast Empire will know, and they’ll praise me for it long after I’m gone.” Renault added, a slightly twisted grin coming to the face of a man gone mad. Before Williams could pull the trigger, Renault pressed down hard on the button and the center of it shifted inward, triggering the charge planted among the metal boxes aboard his shuttle. This in turn set off the ten nuclear plasma phase charges in the boxes, and a moment later the hanger that had been full of troopers, fighters, and three commanders was gone.

*** An Hour Ago, Aboard The Fire Demon ***

“Case, I need you to gather up ten of our missiles. No, not the regular ones either. I need ten of the ones with the nuclear plasma phase charges. And I want them disassembled and the warheads placed in my private shuttle.” Renault demanded, understanding how crazy he sounded.

“Sir?”

“Yeah, you heard me. Wire the warheads up to a charge that can be set off from my personal detonator. I’m going to make a bit of a delivery to the Sovereign. But first I need to set a few other things in motion. You’ve got an hour, be quick about it.” Renault ordered, and closed the comm. link before Case could even reply.

As soon as he finished this conversation, he called Paisley into his quarters.

“Yes sir?”

“Paisley, I’m finished here. My career in the Vast Empire is over. I’m leaving you in charge; consider this your field promotion to Captain. You’re my second in command, and now you are in command. I will be delivering my final gift from the Vast Empire to the Sovereign, and then I’ll be finished. Remember that when this battle is over, you’re supposed to report the happenings of this meeting to the highest person you can get a hold of.” Renault explained to disbelieving Paisley.

“But sir, why? How do you even plan to get aboard the Sovereign?” Paisley asked, dumbfounded.

“I’ve been invited to defect. Part of the conditions of this defection will be an immediate meeting with the command staff of the Sovereign. I plan to use this as my chance to take them down and ease the fight. Hopefully it’ll teach the Vast Empire to treat their senior officers with a little respect. If not, I should go down as a hero.” Renault said, his mind made up. He stood up and embraced Paisley, a move that was unexpected by the somewhat younger crewman. “Good luck. You’re a good man Paisley, you’ll do well here.”

“Yes sir, good luck to you as well. It’s been a pleasure serving with you.” Paisley said.

“Absolutely. Now, don’t tell the crew where I’m going. Hell, if anyone but Case is talking to you about it, tell them that I’ve gone aboard the Sovereign under the pretense to arrange their surrender to the Vast Empire. I want know one to hear of this conversation until after the deed has been done. Understood?” Renault said, enforcing the words strongly to the new commander of Fire Demon.

“Sir, yes sir. Good luck.”

*** Present, Aboard The Fire Demon ***

Paisley watched as the hanger of the Sovereign was decimated, as well as a large section of her underside superstructure. The Imperial Star Destroyer would no longer be a match for Dominance, nor anything else out there. Its critical components destroyed, its commanders dead, and its halls beginning to fill with radiation, hope was slim for the behemoth.

Paisley and the rest of the staff aboard the Fire Demon saluted the explosion and the loss of their former commander. Paisley had given the news as soon as the Captain had left the ship, as he felt it was only right to do so. He quickly walked to the captain’s chair, turning away from his control terminal, and activated the comm. channel to the Dominance.

“Commodore Elletra, this is Field Captain Paisley, new commander of the Fire Demon. The explosion you just witnessed aboard the Sovereign was caused by none other than Captain Renault. Before he left on his suicide mission, he appointed me temporary commander of this ship, and gave me a field promotion, which should explain my rank.” Paisley explained, the nervousness in his voice evident. He’d never had to deal with anyone higher than the rank of Captain before, and speaking to a Commodore made him nervous.

“That was Renault? That fool, what did he do that for?” Elletra demanded, fury crossing her face.

“He wanted to fall as a hero to the Empire, and I believe that at this point in the battle there’d be no saying he’s anything but. He destroyed an Imperial Star Destroyer single handedly, and turned the odds in our favor.” Paisley explained. “It was a heroic move, that was undeniable.”

“But he used ten of our experimental warheads. It’s obvious that they worked remarkably, but at the same time he should have thought before doing that. The repercussions will be great. Why is he not sending this call himself, Mr. Paisley?” Elletra demanded, the volume of her voice increasing with every word.

“Maybe you don’t understand, Commodore. He flew the bombs in there himself, in his private shuttle. Under the guise of a defector, he landed himself in the hanger of that beast and set off the bombs. Presumably he killed both commanding officers of the ship as well as who knows how many other officers.” Paisley retaliated.

“Then his heroism will be decided after the battle is through. We’ve still got plenty to worry about, and from the looks of things the weapons systems of the Sovereign are still under at least fifty percent power. What are your systems looking like?” Commodore Elletra asked, and Paisley took a quick look down at the monitor in front of him.

“We seem to almost be under full power again, ma’am. The last few turrets on the left bank are being repaired as we speak, and inexperienced, if not fervent, crewmen are occupying them. There’s little more we can do from where we are though, aside from take out the bridge of the Sovereign. She’s no longer under her own power for movement though, so it should be relatively easy for something to take her on. It’d be an honor to be one of the few corvettes to have taken down an ISD with little to no help.” Paisley said, his enthusiasm for the new task obvious.

“Request denied, although you would be rather useful in destroying the bridge, or better yet, if you could somehow land a docking party aboard the Sovereign, that’d be wonderful. It’s damaged beyond belief in the lower sections, but that doesn’t mean it’s not salvageable.” Elletra explained, and Paisley nodded.

“I shall lead the charge aboard myself, ma’am. We’ll capture the bridge and deactivate the life control systems to the rest of the ship. That should clear it out nicely, although you’ll have to supply some of your own crew to help us out in taking complete control once we get ourselves aboard and eliminate the competition. Will you be able to do that?” Paisley asked, knowing that it’d be impossible for him to crew an ISD with a mere thirty people, assuming everyone would make it to the bridge.

“That I can do for you. Assemble your team and move out, Captain. We await hearing from you from the bridge of that ISD. Perhaps this field promotion will work out to an actual promotion, if you survive.” Elletra said, her face softening into a small smile.”

“Yes Ma’am!” Paisley exclaimed, and the comm. was ended. He turned and looked about his crew, then left the bridge. He was lucky, as the Fire Demon was equipped with a single boarding crew, filled with specialists and combat hardened fighters. If he were to join them it’d make an even thirty-one men, enough to make an attempt on the bridge. He got to their barracks and hit the access button, then took a few steps into the room and cleared his throat to get their attention.

“Get your stuff together boys, we’re going to be making a raid on the Sovereign. Hope you’re set for combat.” Paisley stated, walking over to one of the armour lockers himself and beginning to put on a set of boarding trooper armour.

“Who gave that order?” One of the men, Captain Bell, asked. Paisley placed a finger against his own chest and stared at the boarding team captain.

“I did, as Renault gave me command of this ship before he sacrificed himself. We’re going to go over there and capture that ship in his name, and the name of the Vast Empire, and bring it home.” Paisley said, then mentioned as a side note: “Oh, and Commodore Elletra made this suggestion, so it’s my guess that we’ve been ordered to do it. I’ll be leading, although you’ll have as much command power when we get down there as I do.” Paisley continued. He could tell by the look in the commando’s eyes that this may have not been the best thing to say, but ignored it. They both had the same goal, and there’d be no reason for them to change that.

It was going to be a power struggle until the end.

OOC:

WC 8030. Double check it for me if you want. *Please Note: The majority of the post takes place before the Defiance decided to defect. Due to the course of events in the post and to make them match with Driver's post, they defection would presumably have happened during the hour between Renault defecting and Renault blowing up the hanger of the Sovereign If that doesn't work, let me know.