<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> In hyperspace...<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->
<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ...Approaching The Caprician sytem...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->



*...As The "Oni" hurtled through Hyperspace, Achinta checked and tested his equipment, he wasn't sure whether he'd need it or not...*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ...Better to have it and not need it, than the opposite...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*..a small light alerted Achinta to the Navicomp, sitting down, he looked up at the view screen expectedly...*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ..now..<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*..with a small lurch the ship emerged into Realspace....

..and into the middle of a battle...

..With a sharp intake of breath Achinta pulled up on his controls, and the ship jerked upward, just barely missing a projectile of what appeared to be a ball of energy...
Powering up his shields Achinta, switched on the Comms scanner, and it was jammed, on all frequencies, but not by an enemy, but by the sheer volume of bandwidth traffic. The usual slight hum of static had been replaced by an array of, distress calls, battle orders, data-transfers..etc..
Patching himself through to C4, Achinta wanted to check The Bounty Hunter had emerged unscathed...*

"..C4!, STATUS!?.."

*As he awaited a response , Achinta's eyes scanned the carnage going on in front of him, and at the sheer scale of it.
Glancing down at the Navicomp, he checked their location, his fingers typing at inhuman speed...*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ...Minos?...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*...Achinta looked back up at the screen, the enemy ships, fitted the description, given by Richter...*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ...The Invaders!....<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*..but there was something else, some of these ships were huge...and they appeared to be concentrating their fire on something....
...Achinta's eyes narrowed, in a nanosecond he had magnified part of the battlefield on the HUD... to reveal an SSD, virtually covered in enemy ships...

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ...There...Imperials!<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*..it was under heavy fire, but was fighting back...Achinta Patched himself through to their frequency, and C4...*

"..This is Achinta Vega of The Vinda Corporation, I am to assume that you are in need of assistance..."

*..Gripping his controls tightly, Achinta banked heavily to the left, and The Oni Narrowly avoided another energy ball....
... he wasn't exactly sure what he and C4 could do, he would have to get the word out to Vinda....
Achinta, thought about what he had just said to them, Humanoids can be very emotional, especially in times of crisis...*


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ...lets hope they don't consider that as carcasm...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

The droid came out of his information digesting trance just before he was to come out of hyperspace. As a bounty hunter you can never be too care ful. Entering realspace in 5-4-3-2-1.

The stars came back to their common form of pinpricks of light or at least that is what he should have seen.

A meteor flew at C4 trying to shot down the new comers. But a quick shot turned the corral skipper into rubble venting gas and energy.

The Shadow hunter had come out to a site that was remeniscent of holos of the battle of endor. But made with a classic ships versus a Astroid fields. His sensors and visual data brought that up immediatly but refuected it as he saw them fly under there owwn power and fire some sort of energy weapon at ships.

"C4 STATUS!" came in over the comm from Vega in a direct signal beam. The systems comms channels were jammed on every channel by shere volume of signals. He sorted out several. Many SOS signals pleas for help and defense strategy For protecting a SSD.

He responds "Systems nominal. Threat indicates vong ships. Swarming over a SSD." Achinta did not seem that surprise he seemed to have come to the same conclusion.

Vega then sent out a answer to help. " Very well then let us form up on each other. We only stand a chance by working in sync in this fight. Most of the heavy fighting is going on in against the SSD."

The agressers's foils extend with the two tractor beams at the end of each arm of the two foils.

"Main goal is to survive and take information back." C4 jukes hard left makeing a barrel roll that would have liquified a organic being blasting and a Corral skipper that had been tailing him. Only one shot of 5 that should have connected got through. The rest were swallowed by small dark spots alog the ship. " Suggest that we infiltrate the most derelct and damaged ship in the attacking fleet."

This was all new data to the droid and he was enjoying ever new data bit that he collected to analyze.

*...Achinta Winced slightly, as a plasma blast rocked the ship..*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ..that was too close..<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*...As C4, transmitted his status, Achinta looked closely at the ships whizzing past, these ships were definately Vong vessels. Achinta had only seen one, and that belonged to Mattimus, but they were unmistakable...*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ...Mattimus...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*..He had been a bit of an enigma to Achinta, he knew next to nothing about his origins, or what his species, were exactly. Although he never questioned Mattimus's loyalty to Vinda Corp, as he had always been there when they had needed him, it was still indeed a matter of great concern....*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ...but why attack the Capricians?, it doesn't make any sense...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*..Achinta disregarded that question for the time being, it was obviously something that could not be answered at this moment in time....
C4's mettalic sounding voice came thru amid the noise of the heavily used bandwidth...*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ...Land on one of their vessels!?...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*... Achinta's eyes squinted, as he heard C4, had one of his logic chips gone awry?
He knew C4's model had a thirst for data input, but this was ludicrous, entering an enemies vessel in the middle of a huge battle, didn't seem the best COA ,
he replied to C4 ...*

"...Thats a negative C4, I propose we head for the command ship, and try to learn what we can from there, they have already repelled Boarders once, I feel we can benefit them mor....."

*..Achinta paused, before he finished...*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ...still, we could indeed learn a great deal...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

"...Actually, C4, gaining that data could work to our advantage, I suggest an alternative, you head for the Agressors ship, and I will cover you there. I will then make my way to the Command ship, and we can keep in contact using my secure frequency...."

*...Still veering to avoid the various projectiles hurtling towards his direction, Achinta manouvered his craft into the rearguard position, what they were about to do was a very risky stunt, and he had to give the droid credit, as Achinta processed the odds, they weren't good.
Achinta tapped the co-ordinates in to the Navicomp, setting up for an attack vector...*

"...on your mark.."

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> last known position of destroyed VC ships...<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->
<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> The Outmarches...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->



*..Onboard , Vinda was restless, pacing up and down the command bridge, this was the part he hated the most, the waiting...despite being a patient man this was not the time, he could feel the urgency...he could taste it in the air...

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ...still no word from Achinta, whats taking him so long, dammit!?...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*..Vinda looked up, as Captain Omar gestured for attention, Vinda stopped, to see what he wanted...*

OMAR:<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> "..We should be coming out of hyperspace very soon, sir..."<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*..Vinda, simply nodded, took his seat, and as he glanced up at the view screen, he dug into his hand into his pocket and retrieved his Cigarra Pouch, carefully took one out, and lit it...*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Thats better...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*..blowing out the smoke slowly, seemed to instantly relax him, his fingers absently toyed with the small chrome lighter, gently tapping it on the armrest...*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Much better...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*...Vinda's eyes glanced up, as he sure he heard what sounded like creaking......he turned his chair to face Omar*

"..Captain what was..."

*Before Vinda could finish that sentence, The whole ship seemed to lunge forward, flinging Vinda out of his seat and onto the floor, the whole bridge seemed to have been flung off of their feet...
..Struggling to get up onto the chair, Vinda swung around to look back at Omar, who was shouting orders into the comms, the Sirens seemed to drown out his voice....*

"...What in the Frell! is going on!??..."

*Vinda shouted at Omar...*

OMAR:<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> "Something has pulled us out of Hyperspace, we are assessing the situation now Sir!..."<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*Omars voice had suddenly lost the calmness it once had, and was replaced with a voice of somebody who was struggling to keep their head above water...

..Regaining his composure, Vinda steadied himself in his chair, and chewed on the end of his Cigarra...*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ...an interdiction field?...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

"..Onscreen!..."

*he barked to Omar, and Omar obliged, just barely able to hear him over the various status reports flooding in over the Comms...

...Vinda's face, seemed drop suddenly, and his Cigarra fell un-noticed out of his mouth and into his lap....
Outside the ship, was an attack fleet of Vong, who appeared to be moving into formation...headed straight for them...
Vinda's eye's stared almost in disbelief at the strange looking vessels... but the burning sensation in his lap seemed to sober him up quickly....
launching himself, out of his chair, Vinda seemed to dance as he tried to brush the hot ash off himself, shouting at the same time...*

"..Its a TRAP!.."

*...deeply incensed by the impending attack and the burns on his new suit, Vinda, roared back at Omar...*

"...Shields up!, prepare to engage!..."

*Omar, turned to face the rest of the bridge, issuing his orders to the rest of the fleet, they were going to have a tough fight on their hands....

...Vinda, still fuming, flicked open the comms unit attached to his armrest....*

"...Patch me through to Mattimus!, Now!..."

Achinta seemed nervious about the action to infiltrate a enemy craft. He must be misjudgeing the odds. He plans to land in an already damaged ship and inter via the vacum of space. He well take them completely by surprise that way. He located a single ship that was drifting and set the flight path that he would take there.

"Affimative, Ready sytems on my mark. ...............Mark."
The shadow hunter blasted forward recklessly fast in order to avoid fire from vong pasma bolts. The droid just hoped that Achinta could keep up with his reflexes. The shadow hunter swerved and ducked among the astroid like ships. He was using his tractor beams anchor him to the larger ships in order to achieve the sharpest of turns to avoid fire. One corral skipper that was tailing him was not able to turn fast enough as C4 made one of these tractor aided turns and collided right into one of it's compatriots. Explodeing in a ball of fire.

"Still with me Vega." he asked as he dogded ever more ships.

*...Still tailing IG2000, Achinta veered hard right, missing the collision, smiling as he heard C4's reply over the comms...*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ..He's a good pilot...inventive...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

"...still here..."

*...(Achinta retorted).
The droid had a certain cockyness that Achinta found amusing.
He glanced at the HUD in front of him, there were several ships in critical condition....*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ...this must be virtually their entire invasion fleet...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*..Achinta analysed the data regarding the large Vong Cruiser , it appeared so badly damaged, it couldn't move, life signs were indeterminable though, the scanners seemed to be useless,
...Achinta punched the data across to C4...*

" ...what do you think?..."

*Still waiting for C4 to respond, Achinta clocked three Coral Skippers coming head-on in an intercept vector, gaining fast.
C4 , veered upwards, avoiding them, and Achinta accelerated, and banked left, and the three ships flew straight past, still firing...
Bringing himself back into position, behind C4, Achinta waited for them to regroup, and manouver behind him, he was in a direct line of fire now...*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ...they're fast...for rocks....<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*...Achinta, dodged from side to side, managing to avoid their fire, he waited for them to gain...*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ..Not yet....<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*...another plasma blast shook the ship...*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ..now!....<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*...Cutting the main engines, and simultaneously braking hard on the ships forward brakes, Achinta acclerated hard on the hidden thrusters on the Front-underside of "Oni" all in one swift, deft, movement.
The force of which sent the craft spinning upwards and over itself, and also over the rapidly moving Coral skippers. The manouver would have killed a normal pilot, as Achinta had de-activated Oni's inertial-dampners.
Not until the crucial point, Achinta kicked in Oni's Cygnus Turbo-generator, propelling the craft to a speed that could match an A-wing, and cancelling out the self-induced spin..
Achinta locked onto the three enemy vessels using Oni's Advanced Targetting & Laser sighting system....and launched a flurry of Heavy laser fire , and proton torpedos at the Coral skippers....

The shots fired seemed to initially dissipate across the surface of the vessels, but the barrage of heavy fire forced the ships into one-another and they collapsed under the impact, obliterating into flames and carbon particles....*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ...fascinating vessels...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

*..Achinta, still slightly perturbed at the fact that his high-powered weapons didn't seem to have any effect on the vong vessels.cut out the Turbo generator, and re-aligned himself , behind C4.
Looking out into the Battle he observed the whole situation, both sides were fighting ferociously, it was too close to call...Sticking close to C4, Achinta followed his lead...*

Achinta's ship was equally impressive as organics ships go. Pulling off impressive manuvers of its own in order to stay with Him.

Data flowed in to the ship data processors. Reguarding the Damaged cruiser that He was rapidly aproaching. the information indicated a entry point in the cruiser That a large fighter could enter.

"Affirmative" He answered vega on the comm channel.

"Once there Head away from me to reach the command ship on this vector." He up loaded it mentally. While Locking tractors on to a corral skipper to try and lock onto it for a trick. The dark holes seem to eat up the power but after eating all of the tractor beam energy they just shut down allowing his shots to blow right through it.

The ship took a shock.

---Rear shields down to 40 percent efficiency. Bosting power to shields--- A screen read.

"That should take you through some lighter fighting where there are hulks of damaged imperial craft you can manuver to the command ship from there." The ship rocked again.

*...Achinta analysed the data C4 had given him...*

"...Agreed..."

*...Achinta armed his proton launcher with an S-thread tracker / Homing beacon Dummy torpedo, and targetted it onto IG2000...*

"..Don't be alarmed!, this is a Homing Beacon, which also enables me to track you through hyperspace, if we lose radio contact, and become split up I can trace you with this....
.....If you don't want it, you can always take it off.."

*...Smiling slightly at his last comment, Achinta launched the homing beacon onto the rear of C4's rapidly moving vessel...
...Achinta backed off slightly as the two craft veered to the left of the vast Vong ship, reminiscent of an attack run, the turn was sharp....
Looking at the side of the vessel it was huge, and dwarfed the two craft, it appeared to be almost jet black...*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ...Curious construction...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Mattimus always enjoyed these rides through hyperspace. He sat back in the "cockpit" of the coralskipper and waited to enter back into real space. Just as he was about to fall asleep, the coral skipper was ripped from hyperspace. By the way his ship reacted, he knew there must be other dovin bassals around. How long had it been since he had seen another Vong, it was before he came to Vinda.

As he looked out he quickly recognized exactly what was happening. It was a trap set by Vong, however the formation seemed to inicate that the had been expecting commercial ships, not war vessals. He could clearly see they were trying to reposition themselves in a better, stronger formation. Fools, all they were or would ever be were mindless drones for the amusement of the warmasters. Mattimus had been to strong for its psychic control, which resulted in him being seen as a threat and dishonorably shipped out. Suddenly, Vinda's voice came over the intercom...

"Uh, Mattimus would you like to explain to me what we should do about this current situation."

Mattimus could just see the business man panicking, "Do get your undies in a not there Vinda just settle down. What they are trying to do is to divide the larger ships from the smaller more vulnerable ships. Vinda, I suggest have of the fighters led by me attack the large ships. The other half should try to take out the fighters however i don't know how successful that will be. The larger ships should surround the smaller ones. You should make 3 of these kind of groups. Set them up in a triangle with the point away from the invasion force. That point will be safest so have the weakest ships form there. Then, acting as one, charge the fighters. This formation should scare of the fighters if not finish. Then rotate one of the groups back so the point of the triangle is facing the main fleet. Then, charge at full speed being careful not to get too close. The fighters and should have knocked out the ship i am targeting and you should have very few problems."

Mattimus sillently waited to see if Vinda would accept his plan.

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Minos Orbit...<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->


Vuas watched with little interest at the points of light that flashed and dissipated several hundred kilometers away.


She noted that the large infidel ship...almost as large as one of the two "guardian ships" of Tslah Vhess.

However, the guardians would not be in their current position for long.

The infidels were banking away...the large craft trying to make a difference but it was outnumbered..and outmatched.

A small scar deeped on her forhead as the songs of the coralskippers died.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ..and yet, that is what Tallien wanted...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Even the right had of the warmaster's, Tslah Vhess, eyes lit up with anticipation when the Master Shaper informed him of what he wanted.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Will there be any infidels left?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


The bulk of her cruisers were stationed at a location the infidels termed, "Outmarches.."

Several attack groups situated at key places to shut down the five major commercial routes.

She walked down a damp hall, her leathery companions wrapped around her body becoming wet and moist. Her hand absently carressed on creature's head near her shoulder.

A small creature came crawling to meet her and upon reaching her location immediately settled down, it's body becoming bioluminescent to an extreme degree.

But Vuas eyes adjusted quickly, and a shape formed in the aura.. A commander of one of her attack groups.

//My lady. The infidels strike in force//

She pondered a moment at the information.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> The heretical machines of the wretched creatures who dwell in this galaxy have not intruded lately.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

She smiled.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> So they can be taught.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Looking at the figure, //Disengage the traps and alert the other four attack groups to converge on your location. Eliminate them all//

The figure smiled briefly and she gazed wistfully at his bored out eyesocket.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Such glory!<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

//It shall be done, my lady//

And with that, the figure vanished and the villip dimmed.


Vuas Huung continued her trek to her inner chambers.