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Thread: The Rothana Ambush

  1. #1
    Lion El' Jonson
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    The Rothana Ambush

    Set at the edge of Wild Space, Rothana seemed to be an unlikely location for one of the galaxy's formerly largest military suppliers. Despite its remoteness, however, Rothana had supplied the Galactic Republic with millions of vehicles, mostly due to its proximity to the cloners of Kamino. The planet Rothana itself was heavily polluted, from centuries of heavy industry, but it retained an impressive amount of economic clout. The Empire maintained nominal contact with the planet, but its location afforded it a degree of autonomy unheard-of in planets closer to the Core.

    As history has shown, however, autonomy often led to unrest, and unrest led to Rebellion. The Alliance had maintained a significant presence in the Rothana system for several years now, maintaining impressively large bases in the neighboring asteroid fields that had been strip-mined decades ago. The inhabitants of Rothana were happy to supply the Rebels with food and fuel (for a price), provided that both parties kept their mouths shut. This relationship had allowed to Alliance to maintain permanent forces close to the Outer Rim, while Rothana was well positioned to profit in the unlikely event that the Rebellion somehow toppled the Empire.

    Because of their "relationship" with Rothana, the Alliance got another wonderful benefit: exceptional intelligence. The Rothanans didn't think twice about selling out the military movements of their Imperial "allies". Using this intel, the Alliance regularly jumped Imperial convoys moving through the system, and it was through one of their usual contacts in the Rothanan self-defense forces that the Alliance learned of the impending arrival of an Imperial taskforce, sent to investigate "Unusual Rebel Activity". An Imperial taskforce would turn over every stone in an attempt to find the Alliance presence. It was too great a threat, and it needed to be eliminated. Now.

    With precise information on the taskforce's composition, the Rebels set about putting together a force capable of countering a VicStar and several gunships. Luckily, with the Debaani Campaign coming to a close, many vessels had been freed from their engagements on the front lines and had subsequently been diverted to Rothana.

    So now, the Alliance fleet floated in the blackness of space, surrounding Rothana's L1 Lagrange Point, where the Imperial taskforce was scheduled to arrive. Their shields were up, their guns were charged, and their crews were ready. After the stalemate at Endor, and the resurgence of an Imperial offensive, the Alliance needed victories wherever it could get them. This was one such opportunity.

    On the bridge of the MC-40a Light Cruiser Mon Oshtra, Rear Admiral Toka sat in his command chair, gazing out of the impressively large viewport. Toka had been Captain of a Nebulon-B frigate at Endor, and his efforts to rescue Home One had earned him a promotion. Admiral El' Jonson had informed him of his mission 24 hours ago, and he was determined not to let Alliance HighCom down.

    "Communications, ask the fleet to check in." he gargled. His headset crackled, and the taskforce identified itself.

    "Sir, Delegate is prepared for combat." came a reply.
    "Tranquility is ready, sir." came another.
    "Gunship squadron Shade will give 'em hell, sir."
    "Corvette squadron Saber remaining at full alert, Admiral."

    Toka pulled his lips apart, in a MonCal approximation of a smile. "Excellent. This will be a great day for the Alliance, I think."
    -------------------------------
    (OOC:
    Alliance Taskforce Oshtra Composition:
    -MC-40a Mon Oshtra, Light Cruiser (Flagship) <---Lion
    --X-Wing Squadron Thranta
    -Nebulon-B Delegate
    --X-Wing Squadron Red
    --A-Wing Squadron Green
    -Nebulon-B Tranquility
    --X-Wing Squadron Aiwha
    --Y-Wing Squadron Yellow
    -Gunship squadron Shade (3 Corellian Gunships) <---Reshmar
    -Corvette Squadron Saber (2 Corellian Corvettes, 1 Modified Corvette <---Seren, Arthur)

  2. #2
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    Telan Desaria's Avatar
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    Set twelve days after the Battle of Endor...


    Unusual Rebel activity. The phrase washed around the mind of Captain-Prince Maximillian Uktohmski like the cognac he so carelessly swirled about. The report he had been delivered by an unsavory Intelligence agent was vague at best and he could admit he had reservations; he had told as much to the black-clad drone. In reply he had gotten some rather worthless propoganda spat back at him instead of any concrete information on Rebel warship activities. Since the same vague misnomer had been attached to the formation near Sullust only two weeks ago, he could put little stock in anything coming from the Office of the Director.


    Captain Uktohmski had a career dealing with Intelligence of every kind since his youth as a cadet of the Royal Navy on Sibreria through his transfer into the Imperial Fleet so the brevity and complete lack of information was not new. He had adapted it and accepted it as part of life in command. What he could not abide was the six vessels that were in formation with his as they careened fast than light towards Rothana. Naares-class Gunships they had been christened and on paper they were fierce enough: heavily armed and fast though very, very thin-skinned. They had not, however, been tested in battle. The first batch of six- the six, in fact, that were around him - had undergone intensive trials and the crews were well-drilled. But, no amount of training could amount to experience and they were, with the exception of some veteran Chief Petty Officers, green.


    Finishing off his cognac, Uktohmski placed his M43 cap back upon his head and strode onto the command-deck proper. The men of his ship, the Victory II-class Star Destroyer Truculent, had been through the fires of Hell and back. For a year they had campaigned against pirates along the Braxant Sector then moved into the center of the action at Senex-Juvex, even bearing the flag of Grand Admiral Il-Raz while his flagship underwent repairs. They were a veteran crew and knew their duties. Looking to the officers and crewmen he had worked with for so long, Uktohmski mounted the command-chair with ease. The burden of uncertainty gnawed at his confidence, but he refused to let it show.


    " Captain, reversion to real-space in three minutes."


    Uktohmski nodded an acknowledgement and accepted a final ship-readiness report from the yeoman. He then heard the "Your Highness" which announced the arrival of his executive officer. Of all the twenty-some thousand Star Destroyers in the Empire, he had been given command of one that had another native from his homeworld, an unusual event. Given the remoteness and rather inhospitable reputation of the Hoth-like planet of Sibreria, the occurance was even more outstanding. He had taken the young officer aside many times and even ordered his XO to refer to him as Captain instead of referencing his place as heir to the throne. Such an event was alien to the peasant-born but capable Commander Vladmir Kamarov and he had refused to obey - the only order he had not complied with unwaveringly.


    " The ship reports ready, Highness. I spoke with Lieutenant Vizzicz in Engineering who has some familiarity with this system. He suggests we refrain from taking the ship in-atmosphere. Rains here are acidic due to pollution levels and could compromise portions of the hull-armor."


    " Very good. When we revert we will launch TIEs. Shields up immediately, commence full system scan. Maintain formation with the gunships - -three fore, three aft." Uktohmski pictured Captain Walloon, the fighter commander, with a look of glee on his face, getting to fly one of the four TIE Vipers the Truculent had been provided with. The ship's captain was not pleased with having to sacrifice all but one of his shuttles due to space concerns, the Vipers incompatible with the Interceptor racks in the launch bay. Such are the demands of war.


    " Reversion commence, Captain," called the navigator, interrupting the Prince's thoughts.


    " Battlestations. Let us see what suprises are in store for us here..."

  3. #3
    Lion El' Jonson
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    As far as Lagrange Points went, Rothana L1 was fairly common. Free of any stellar interference, and situated between Rothana itself and one of its larger moons, the gravitational fields of both bodies cancelled one-another out, making it exceedingly simple for starships to enter, exit, and plot hyperspace courses.

    Ten seconds ago, Rothana L1 had been surrounded on all sides by nearly 10 Alliance starships. Now, space was a little bit more crowded.

    As the Imperial taskforce jumped in-system, it was immediately met with a barrage of turbolaser and ion-cannon fire from the Mon Oshtra, followed shortly by a flurry of red bolts from both Nebulon-B Frigates. To Rear Admiral Toka's dismay (although not surprise), the shots had surprisingly little effect. With no specific target picked out, the Alliance had put up a "wall of fire" in an attempt to catch the enemy off-guard. Unfortunately, it appeared that the Empire had sent along a commander with at least two neurons in his brain; the turbolasers failed to penetrate the hull of the Star Destroyer, though it appeared that one or two of the gunships had failed to get their shields online, and a handful of shots raked their hulls.

    Toka swore. "Sithspawn! Alright, looks like we're doing this the hard way. Ccommunications, open a channel to the enemy's Star Destroyer."

    The Communications officer paused, then nodded. "Go ahead, sir."

    Toka straightened up and began speaking. "Attention, Imperial taskforce. I am Rear Admiral Toka of Mon Calamari, commanding Special Rebellion Taskforce Delta-Six. We have been sent to destroy you. I suggest you surrender immediately, before this gets unnecessarily messy."

    The bridge was silent, even as it rocked slightly under a token bombardment from the enemy; it appeared they were counterattacking.

    Toka sighed. "No response, then. Tactical, give me an update. What are we facing?"

    The officers at Tactical gazed at their sensor boards. "One enemy VicStar Deuce, designated Truculent. Six small vessels are flanking it; we think they're either corvettes or gunships. No transponder ID, so they may be new...Truculent is deploying fighters."

    Toka nodded. "Transmit our information on the gunships to that Spook commanding our Corvette squadron. He's here for one of those prototypes. Our job is to blow the rest of them to Endor and back. Instruct all vessels to deploy fighters. X-Wing squadrons Red and Thranta are assigned to starfighter superiority. X-Wing squadron Aiwha and A-Wing squadron Green will cover Y-Wing squadron Yellow as they make runs with Heavy Rockets."

    The officer seated at Ops nodded and began issuing orders to Starfighter Command.

    "Boost reactor output to 95%, and roll us 90 degrees port. Dive and line us up for a broadside at the belly of that VicStar Deuce. Instruct the Tranquility to follow us in; Delegate will engage those gunships, but tell her not to stray far from the Truculent." The ship rocked again. "Accelerate to 2/3rd ahead. Everybody else is on their own."

    "Aye, sir." The starfield spun momentarily as the Mon Oshtra rolled and dived, alligning her starboard guns to open up on the vulnerable underbelly of the Truculent. If they could disable the VicStar Deuce's exposed reactor, this battle was theirs.

  4. #4
    Seren Irreantum
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    Second Lieutenant Iris Redhawk, senior Intelligence officer present and joint commander of the Corvette squadron, eyed the vista revealed by the Sabre's bridge viewport with a critical eye. The other Rebel vessels were following through with the orders that had been issued over the comm moments before. By contrast, the Corvettes had not yet moved from their position dead aft of the Star Destroyer, or at least as close to dead aft as safety and an imperfect knowledge of the Imperials' jump vector could grant them. Redhawk had deliberately played it safe; in the end, they had been about twenty degrees below the actual vector.

    "Captain," she said crisply, glancing from the viewport to the datapad in her hand and back again. "Approach the port rear gunship. All guns, fire on her as you bear. Tredus and Pantheon, flank us and match our fire." If the sensor data was correct, these things didn't have much in the way of shielding. They'd obviously been designed for pursuit, and while the standard Alliance craft couldn't shoot back with any degree of effectiveness (the standard Alliance craft being a freighter), the six-gun Sabre and its two accompanying Corvettes, each of whom had a pair of double-turrets and four single-turrets, could bring to bear a total of fifteen turbolasers from their current angle. Approach would eventually cut that down, and they were firing from a decent distance, but it should hopefully be enough to reduce the target gunship's shielding enough for a series of disabling shots. That, at least, was the plan.

    "Keep the warhead launcher ready, Captain. If they don't use the other two gunships to head off the Oshtra, we may have to go head-to-head."

  5. #5
    Arthur Phellan
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    Master Sergeant Alexei Ivanov leaned up against a bulkhead at the rear of the modified Corvette's bridge. He didn't have to be on the bridge, as not only was he not a member of the ships complement, but he was not even a member of the Alliance Navy. He was in fact a member of the Alliance Army, and more precisely a member of the Alliance's Special Operations Command.

    Alexei's current assignment had him attached to this hastily assembled task force, with the emphasis on hastily assembled. It was due to the fact that it had been put together so quickly that he was the senior special operations commando on the mission. It was not unheard of for senior NCO's to be put into command of small unit's such as SpecOps teams, but when they were being attached to an Alliance Intelligence officer it was more typical to get a junior officer at the very least.

    "Military Intelligence", Alexei thought to himself, "What a joke."

    He had been around enough to have been burned more then once by incorrect intelligence that had led to the deaths of men in his unit. No he was definitely not the biggest fan of military intelligence, but orders were orders, and in this particular case it really wasn't like they could give him the wrong information. The truth was, Alexei and the other 4 members of his team were onboard the modified Corvette to get a hold of one of those ships for the spooks to take a part.

    For the moment all Alexei could do was to stay out of the way and wait while the Navy did it's job, his part would come soon enough.

  6. #6
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    There seems to be a shortage of intelligence at Intelligence.


    The animosity between regular military officers and the blackshirts as they were not-respectfully referred to had become legendary. They had a habit of focusing on good officers and men rather than giving those very soldiers the information required to fight their battles. It was said soldiers that paid the price – like now.


    From every side of the Truculent and its half-dozen escorts came a barrage of fire that was untargeted and meant more for disorienting the arrivals than doing actual damage. The Destroyer’s shields absorbed all of the hits but one of the gunships, Klaxon, had been too slow in raising its shields and was now battling a hull breech rather than the enemy.


    “ Bring Klaxon into the shield-perimeter and stage it just above the dorsal-starboard hull. The Captain has five minutes to either erect emergency force-fields or evacuate that deck.”


    The small gunships were heavily armed and boasted more shields than most of their comparable craft in other navies, but little hull armor – that is to say, firing small arms at it in-atmosphere would not have hurt, but a point-blank burst of an E-web blaster might very well have chewed through.


    “ Highness – the enemy frigate is moving under our ventral plane of battle. My guess is they’re making a run on the reactor housing.”


    “ Interesting.” Captain-Prince Uktohmski mentally saluted his new adversary in completing a text-book Phynn maneuver – a fact that showed the Imperials the being had some sort of formal military training and would not be a push over. The Captain, however, was just as well training. The reactor housing on a VSD II was heavily armored and heavily shielded but still vulnerable to concentrated and prolonged salvoes.


    “ Roll us to port, ninety-degrees. Make it fast so when he tries to rake the hull he is met by gun-decks. All batteries fire as she bears, concentrate on that Mon-Cal ship. All other gunships break into sections and engage the other ships. Aft detachment – eliminate those corvettes.”


    Two gunships remained forward of the Truculent. Together they dove on the flanking Nebulon-B frigate, a flurry of six concussion missiles leading the charge. They accelerated to attack speed as the missiles exploded, releasing gigajules of energy onto the ship’s deflector shields. For a moment they were overloaded and in that brief span the Naares-class ships fired a quick volley with their dual turbolasers. Hull plating was torn apart and the tactical sensors of the Destroyer registered at least one explosion although minor before the shields cycled and return to strength. Moving through the field, the gunships sped along faster than any vessel in their class – Captain Uktohmski himself was envious for a second since he was on one of the two more stationary battle-engines on the field of battle.


    Aft of the battleship the second detachment split in different directions like the talons of a hawk’s claw. That claw centered on the corvettes that were holding position behind the Imperial entry-vector. Space erupted with laser fire and a few missiles – here the true maneuverability of pursuit ships would tell. Save for their heavier weaponry, the Imperial ships were comparable to the fourteen-engined corvettes.


    Let us see who wins – Imperial power or Alliance fear. They know that none of them survive, they will fight like lions with their backs to the wall. We will fight like the just saviors of order. Glory to the Victor, regardless.

  7. #7
    Lion El' Jonson
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    MC-40 Light Cruiser
    Mon Oshtra, Taskforce Flagship
    Rear Admiral Toka, Commanding


    The Mon Oshtra rocked slightly, and Toka looked up in alarm.

    "Tactical, report. What the hell was that?"

    "Two of those gunships made a run on the Delegate, sir. Took out two of her forward heavy lasers and made a mess of the spinal docking collar. She's reporting 84% shields, but Captain Nai erected an emergency forcefield over the breach. She's still quite combat-capable."

    Toka nodded, relieved. "Let's give them something back. All Starboard guns, open fire!"

    The Mon Oshtra's heavy turbolaser and ion cannon batteries began opening up on the VicStar Deuce's vulnerable underside, pouring gigajoules of energy into her shields. Toka relaxed a little, satisfied.

    "Truculent is rolling, sir. She's bringing her port guns to bear." Toka sat back up in alarm.

    "Damnit!" he yelled. "Sound the alarm. Instruct crew to brace for impact!"

    Just as the warning alarm began sounding throughout the Mon Oshtra, the Truculent opened fire, now trading shots with the Mon Calamari Light Cruiser. The shields were holding, but there was no way that an MC-40 could go toe-to-toe with a VicStar Deuce.

    "Delegate, give us a hand here! Break from flanking formation and execute an "Adar Claw" maneuver to the right. Bring all weapons to bear on the Truculent's port turbolaser batteries, but stay out of her starboard weapons' arcs! Keep your spine covered."

    Even as the Mon Oshtra rocked under heavy bombardment, the Nebulon-B Frigate Delegate complied, accelerating and swinging out to right, while simultaneously rolling to the left and pointing her nose directly at Truculent's port batteries, which were even now pouring energy into the MC-40. She closed quickly and opened up with her turbolasers, slamming shot after shot into the Truculent's shields.

    Aboard the Mon Oshtra, there was now chaos. Her starboard shields were rapidly weakening, and several shots had gotten through to score her hull. The vessel rocked as a lucky blast smashed into a secondary sensor array, vaporizing it.

    Toka stood. "Starfighter Command, instruct Yellow Squadron to begin their run on the bridge." Lieutenant Omair nodded and began issuing the order.


    Simultaneously...

    Y-Wing, Heavy Weapons Variant
    Yellow Leader, Yellow Squadron
    Wing Commander Dalton


    "Yellow Squadron, you are clear to begin your run at the Truculent's bridge and weapons batteries. Good luck." The voice of Lieutenant Omair crackled through Commander Dalton's headset.

    "Acknowledged." He replied. He switched to the inter/intra-squadron frequency. "Hear that, Yellow? We're going in to take out that eyesore of a VicStar Deuce." Armed with 4 Heavy Rockets a piece, the 12 Y-Wing-(HW) variants of Yellow Squadron could cripple a capital ship...if they could get close enough. That was going to be the tricky part. With their heavy armaments, heavy shielding, and relatively ancient engines, the Y-Wing was the equivalent of a bus in space combat.

    "Green Squadron," he said, addressing the A-Wings, "Go in ahead of us, and shut down whatever you can find in that area with your jammers. Aiwha Squadron," he now spoke to the X-Wings, "clean up whatever starfighters you can find."

    The three squadrons of starfighters formed together, and then drove in towards the Truculent's bow, braving the fire leaping up at them.

    Nebulon-B Frigate
    Tranquility
    Captain Comair, Commanding


    The Tranquility sat several klicks from the flurry of fire now being exchanged between the Mon Oshtraand the Delegate, and the Truculent, but she was by no means docile. On the contrary, she was now trying to combat a pair of those gunships.

    "What in the name of the Sith is going on here?!" yelled Captain Comair.

    "Those gunships are quick, sir, and they have heavy shields...and missiles."

    "Then we'll just have to be smarter, won't we?" snarled Comair. "Roll us 180 degrees, and set a course for the nearest moon. Transfer energy from the turbolasers to the heavy lasers and shields; we're not going to exchange fire yet. Tell guns to focus on shooting down those concussion missiles...and have Thranta Squadron meet us on the far side of that moon."

  8. #8
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    “ Give them a salvo and be done with it – we need them back here," Uktohmski ordered as he watched his two leading gunships get farther and farther from his ship.


    Commander Kamarov stood in the port crew pit and ignored his Captain’s edict – it was not meant for him. Instead the fleet-operations technicians in the starboard pit, arrayed around a plot table projecting the unfolding action in a three-dimensional holo, listened intently and ordered off the gunships Siren and Aster. The executive officer concentrated on rapidly assigning his battery commanders targets so the Rebel cruiser would not survive the day.


    Prince Uktohmski weighed his options as light from a turbolaser cannonade washed over the bridge. Mon Calamari cruisers of any size were notorious for having redundant shields and the one under the Truculent’s guns was no different. Even under a withering barrage her backups and reserves were proving most stout. He watched in the holographic projection as fighters began runs on the port quarter.


    Outside the grey steelen walls of the titanic battleship, eleven pairs of TIE Interceptors made a thin gauntlet in protection of their carrier. They met the onslaught of their Rebel counterparts with every fibre of their beings but it was a sad truth that craft for craft, the Alliance outmatched the Empire. Their fighters ran with more weapons and with the benefit of light shielding allowing their pilots to learn their mistakes – TIE pilots made only lethal mistakes. Try as they might the Interceptors could not hold and one by one the enemy superiority took a heavy toll. In minutes as the battleship lay waste to its opponent the Rebel decimated the ranks of the Truculent’s fighters.


    There came from the rear launch bay of the large ship a quartet of TIEs in the same general model of the Interceptors whose explosions dotted the starscape. They were not Interceptors, however. Wordlessly they increased to attack speed and cut into the attack Rebel fighters. They fired with care, placing shots where they were needed with admirable grouping and Imperial discipline. They then broke into pairs and gave chase to the enemy who had been confused by the resurgent episode. An X-wing fell in behind one of the unseen-before variants and spit off a duet of linked laser blasts that dissipated on deflector shields. The shattered morale of the TIE Interceptor pilots received a needed bolstering and they counter attacked fiercely: a dogfight grew.


    Simultaneously


    The gunships had fallen on the corvettes with lightning speed and were past them in the same breath they had drawn clear targets. Attacking with such speed the shots fired affected little for the Alliance craft spent too little time in the scopes. Stunned but not beaten, the corvettes gave chase and laid waste to the hopes of the Imperial detachment’s commander of giving off a quick missile salvo. Instead the ship with the most powerful remaining shields led on the fastest corvette while another fell in behind and poured turbolaser fire into its engines. The third occupied its partner to preclude interference.


    Captain Uktohmski looked out of the viewport and saw the Mon Calamari frigate, giving up quite a fight. He knew in his heart, however, that it was doomed. A Victory II-class Star Destroyer carried a hundred proton torpedo launchers, forty of which could be brought to bear. With a grin on his face he ordered them trained on the Calamari vessel and with the closing of his eyes he bade the gunnery officer fire…

  9. #9
    Lion El' Jonson
    Guest
    MC-40 Light Cruiser
    Mon Oshtra, Taskforce Flagship
    Rear Admiral Toka, Commanding


    The Mon Oshtra was in terrible shape by now, the enemy bombardment having sheared off armor plates, sensors, and turbolaser batteries all over the vessel. The torpedoes had pierced the shields of the Mon Oshtra and slammed into several sections of the ship, shearing away more than 1/3rd of her mass. Though they had done some significant damage to the VicStar Deuce, the Oshtra didn't have a chance. Rear Admiral Toka knew that his ship, and his career, were over. A shield on the port side gave out, rocking the ship hard, and several turbolaser blasts penetrated deep into the vessel, damaging the reactor-containment vessels. Toka knew what he had to do.

    He picked up his comlink and spoke into it.

    "Attention, crew, I am issuing order Alpha-Osiris-Harpago Four. All crewmen, abandon ship. You have five minutes to get to the nearest escape pod and clear the Mon Oshtra's blast radius. That is all." Toka turned to the officer at Ops. "Sound the alarm, Lieutenant."

    A blaring klaxon went off, while the vessel's corridors flashed red lights on and off. Toka's second in command, a Mon Calamari, looked at him, sadly. "Nobody will forget this, sir." Toka nodded, and the other Mon Calamari left the bridge. The ship continued to rock, but Toka was no longer concerned with any part of the ship but the bridge. Five minutes were up. He hit a button to jettison any remaining escape pods, got up, and took his seat at the helm controls.

    With barely trembling hands, Toka input a ramming course aimed directly at the Truculent. VicStar Deuces had few glaring disadvantages, but they retained one of their predecessors most dangerous weaknesses: a relatively slow sublight speed. If this course was just right, he had a chance of ramming the Truculent and then detonating the reactor. Toka set his speed to all-ahead full, and then ran to the Ops section, disabling the reactor safety interlocks and saturating the cores with their remaining supply of Deuterium and Tritium. Toka was determined to go out fighting, and he prayed that the Mon Oshtra would hold together long enough to allow him to live out that desire. The vessel shook violently, as she began to come apart from the inside-out, bulkheads weakened by the torpedo bombardment coming loose. Even as the Mon Oshtra proceeded directly at the Truculent, she left a trail of debris behind her.

    Simultaneously...

    A-Wing, Space Superiority Variant
    Green Leader, Green Squadron
    Wing Commander Kollah


    The Y-Wings had been diverted from their attack run by the sudden arrival of several enemy TIEs, and though it appeared that the Alliance had the upper hand, his squadron needed to hit the Truculent if the Alliance was to have any hope of success. He'd lost two Y-Wings already, although they had mostly stayed on the outskirts of the fight, allowing the X-Wings to dance with the Interceptors, while the A-Wings had engaged that quartet of strange craft. Two X-Wings had been destroyed by the Interceptors, while another one was limping back towards the Delegate with severe engine damage, but it was the A-Wings who were having the fight of their lives. The strange craft had shields, but were also highly maneuverable, and they had downed three A-Wings in the initial stages of the fight.

    "Green Leader, we need a window right now!" yelled Dalton, targetting his ion-cannon turret on one of those strange TIEs and missing completely.

    "I know, Yellow Leader. Give me a second. They might have shields, but I doubt they can take a concussion missile."

    The A-Wings broke into wingpairs and drew off the prototype TIEs, using their phenomenal acceleration and speed to loop out of the combat and then double back, achieving locks and launching off several concussion missiles.

  10. #10
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    The Truculent had been hammered by two Nebulon-B frigates and a Mon Calamari light cruiser but given as good as she'd gotten. One of the frigates had limped out of range and was providing long-range fire support when its shields collapsed. The light cruiser on the other hand had received no less than three full broadsides and been pounded to dust. Chunks of metal tore themselves free of the hull one after another while gooish fluid from ruptured fuel lines bled into space. For a moment, Captain-Prince Uktohmski sighed relief.


    " Captain, the cruiser is launching escape pods. We are registering total shield collapse from them."


    " Excellent. Let us turn our attention to those corvettes."


    Glancing down to his left, the Captain watched the display eagerly. The Naares-class gunships had shown obvious flaws over the course of the engagement, foremost among them gunners too poorly trained to fire accurately given the ships tremendous speed. They had, however, done well, accounting for six Rebel fighters and two Corellian gunships.


    " Highness - the cruiser!!!"


    Uktohmski looked from the holographic projection to his first officer who sounded considerably excited. " Report, Commander?"


    " She's turning directly for us - they've set a collision course!"


    The smile that had found its way to the Prince's lips faded rather quickly. " All weapons - -fire! Target its engines."


    Every weapon along the port side opened up creating a furious cresendo of energy that gnawed away at the unprotected cruiser's bow. Torpedoes slammed into the hull and broke off sensor towers and immolated weapon emplacements. One battery concentrated its fire and vaporized the bridge and all that surrounded it. Most trained their guns on their engines and let shot after shot pound into the armor.


    " There is no power signature from the reactor - inertia is pushing her now."


    Uktohmski watched his life flash before his eyes when he heard his executive officer order all hands to brace for impact. The last thing he remembered was being thrown from the command chair...


    Naares-class Gunship Reetak


    Energy streamed into the weakened aft shields leaving only one possible action available to the young Lieutenant who served as the ship's captain.


    " Increase to flank - bring us back towards the Truculent. Set course one-one-five mark seventeen."


    " Captain, that brings us in-line to collide with - "


    Lieutenant Perris cut off his helmsman with a glare and he quickly complied. The gunship sped away bringing its counterpart along in hot pursuit. Two designs, Kuati and Corellian, were playing a deadly game of nerf-and-rancor. So far, the Corellian design was winning.


    " Range - -one hundred kilometers!"


    " Break hard to starboard at two kilometers!"


    The range-finder scaled down and then, with a flick of the helsman's wrist, the ship broke right and even the full-powered inertial dampners could not stop everyone from feeling the turn. Aside from a few bruises, everyone was alive. Except, that is, the Rebel gunship. The Reetak blocking her sensors with its mass allowed it to plow right into the wreck of the Klaxon, destroyed several minutes prior.


    Peeris looked at his HUD and could see that the engagement was not going as planned. Four Imperial gunships were still fighting as well as two of the TIE Vipers and a dozen Interceptors but the Truculent had been heavily damaged. Initial reports from the auxilliary bridge told the hard truth -she would survive but would be vulnerable for the duration, if it survived at all. Her shields had lessened the impact but even then the entire port side had been severely damaged. Both sides now shared a common fate that an energy overload had decimated the Destroyer's control tower - both Imperial and Rebel were leaderless.

  11. #11
    Arthur Phellan
    Guest
    Alexei watched with the rest of the crew on the bride of the Saber as the battle slowly turned into something that could be described as nothing more then a giant version of a demolition derby.

    The alliance flagship had just plowed itself into it's Imperial counterpart. The other alliance frigates weren't fairing much better, though they were both still operational. As for their objective, in Alexei's opinion intel should have been able to gauge the performance abilities of the Imperials new gunships without actually obtaining one. For all of the fuss that had been made of them in the breifing, they sure hadn't lived up to their billing.

    Sure they were fast, but the alliance Corellian gunships had kept up easily enough. For Alexei the fact of the matter was that he would have been wasting his time taking one of them as a prize for the tech geeks at intel. However the situation in front of them had seemingly just offered the possibility of a prize worth his time.

    Stepping away from the bulkhead he had been leaning against he stepped up behind and to the left of the command chair that Intelligence Lieutenant Redhawk sat in.

    "Lieutenant, while not to sound disrespectful to Alliance Intelligence, but I think we can both see that those gunships are not the threat they might have been thought to be. However our time here may not be a complete waste of time. That VicStar probably isn't salvagable, but I'm willing to bet not all the intel on board is gone. Put me and my team on board and let us see if we can come away from this with something."

    Alexei stood at ease behind the Lieutenant waiting for an answer.

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