Deep Space, between Bespin and Commenor.

Commander Farn smiled as his ship reverted from hyperspace.

"Launch the B-wing fighters. Shields up, power up gravity well generators. Jam all outgoing transmittions. Order Peace to launch the XJ X-wing Starfighters."

"Yes sir."

The fleet was ready, and waiting. Immobilizer, the Interdicter Cruiser had it's gravity well generators powered up. Love, a Nebulon-B2 Frigate was moving forward, to where the convoy would be coming out of hyperspace. The 24 B-wing Fighters and 24 XJ X-wings were flying along side it. The convoy incoming from Bespin to Commenor would simply disappear, without a trace. Suddenly, the convoy was reverted from hyperspace. The B-wings and XJ X-wings roared in on it, each on launch proton torpedoes and firing laser and ion cannons. The ships had no warning, no chance at all. Their shields were down, and the convoy was literaly ripped to pieces. Once every one was destroyed, the gravity well generators came down. The wreckage was brought onboard the ships, and the fleet left. They had been there for exactly five minutes. They hadn't left directly for their base, instead they went to another point in deep space, ejected the remains of the convoy, and then jumped to their base. No one would search for the convoy here, outside of their flight path, and the convoy would just disappear...With no clues left behind.

(I believe I have a chance to defend myself...?)

When the convoy reverted to realspace before the countdown timer had reached the halfway point, Commander Etherway knew something was wrong.

Ahead of his small fleet were two warships, none baring and codes or markings, but already firing at the convoy ships.

"Shields up!" He screamed at once. Evidently someone had already thought of it - it was not often that ships emerged from hyperspace so unexpectadly, and it was more often than not a trap.

Hostile starfighters were buzzing around outside, dancing away from fire spat by the escorts in their direction. The convoy ships began to shrink back towards the much bigger shape of their fifth escort.

OOC: LFX Manifest

2 Warrior Class Gunships

Captain Astartas fiery red hair had not dulled with age as she walked idly across the bridge of the Song of War. In the background the hyperspace navigation techs were idly taking readouts, their constant drone still registering in the captains able mind. She bent down, her hand grasping a fruit from a small tree that sat beside the captains post. The tree was from Selab and was said to give knowledge to those who ate it, provided they were of older age. She picked up the fruit be bit into it quickly, the soft pulp warming her mouth and throat sweetly.

Suddenly, one of the techs readouts caught her attention, her focus now away from the sweet fruit.

"Technician? What was that last rea..."

Suddenly red sirens flashed warning forced reversion from hyperspace. Astarta grunted, her hatred of pirates typical of her Hapan heritage, hauling herself up and sounding the general alarm. The convoy had reverted before them, but as the massive Matriarch Class Battlecruiser appeared the convoy seemed to rush towards it, seeking shelter. The LFX escorts closed in also, looking to support the massive ship.

Astartas grunt turned into a grin as she realised the pirates craft could have been defeated without the presence of the Hapan craft. The ship itself was piggybacking the route with the convoy to Besbin from Commenors blockade and then on to the Cluster.

A comm tech immediately reported, galvanising the Captain into action.

"All transmissions are being Jammed."

"Raise shields, and launch our first line of fighters. Prep our reserves for launch!"

More crew were already running in to man their stations and on her command readout turbolaser banks were turning green, indicating readiness. Pilots were scrambling to their fighters, launching as quickly as possible. The bulk of the 3000m ship began to turn towards the threat.

"Turbolaser batteries should focus on that Neb B. Deactivate forward shields and turbolaser batteries. Strike fighters move to engage those B Wings, countermeasures on full to watch for missiles. And get those @#%$ Reserves out quickly!"

(OOC: Convoy Manifest

Matriarch Class Battlecruiser- Song of War
8 Squadrons of Storm Fighters
2 Squadrons of Modified Miy'Til Fighter Bombers
5 Squadrons of Standard Miy'Til Fighters (RESERVES)
12 Hetrinar Fighter Bombers

OOC:I didn't think, that since it's just a convoy, no actual ships being lost, that it mattered, but ohwell.

"Sir, the convoy has a huge escort. More then enough to defeat us."

"They're consentrating fired on the Nebulon-B2 Frigate."

"Pull out. All craft retreat. Bring down the gravity well generators, jump towards Jump Point Alpha Omega Zero."

The Interdictor Cruiser dropped the gravity well generator and commenced the run towards hyperspace, since there were no mass shadow's to stop it. The Nebulon-B2 Frigate did likewise.

"Sir, they are launching fighters."

"Release a salvo cover fire for out fighters."

Turbolaser fired, ion cannon fired and laser cannon fire jumped from the Nebulon-B2 Frigate and the Interdictor Cruiser. They did not aim for an enemy, they just placed fire inbetween the B-wings, X-wings and the enemy fighters. The XJ X-wings and B-wings let off a couple shots, before completely turning around and fleeing towards hyperspace. Now, the question was, would they make it???

OOC:Btw, I'm gone from the 14th-the 19th, so please, don't use the 72 rule to destroy have my fleet. If you post tonight, or soon, I should be able to get to you tomorrow.

(OOC: 2 more posts escaping should be fair, don't you agree?

Also, i assumed you had 2 squadrons of each type of fighter.)

The matriarch charged on oblivious of the minimal tirade of enemy fire that was visited upon them. The two advancing ships began to turn as if to withdrawn, but were still extremely close to the gravity wells of the surrounding planets to make the original jump. As the Nebulon B frigate began its slow yawing turn in space, it lingered in the eyes of the Hapan behemoths gunners.

"Intensify forward firepower. Target all our octets on that escaping cruiser, advanced torps. Have our Miy'Tils hit the Bs, Storms taking the X Wings. We're faster and pack more of a punch, herd them away from the missiles flight paths."

Astarta watched as targeting indicators sweeped across the 'space horizon' tracking the slowly turning Interdictor. Its white hull gleamed in space, providing the gunners a perfect target. Suddenly the veiwport could see missiles in banks of eights firing out. The octets launched in standard barrage pattern, the first 25 banks firing, followed by a crushing second volley by the remaining 25 banks. The second bank pulsed out, another 200 missiles ejected in a startling display of firepower. Each 8 missiles from each bank could be easily distinguished by the fact that they clustered together.

Meanwhile the scrambling Storms and Miy'Tils lept on the raiders fighters just as they launched their desultory missile volley. The fighters ignored it, knowing that the flettchette launchers would destroy the majority. Instantly they broke up the raiders formation, the Hapans maintaining a massive superiority in both numbers and overall craft design. The slower B Wings were mauled by the Miy'Tils, their heavy armor barely able to withstand the initial hail of laser fire. Against the more advanced Storms, the X Wings faired no better, breaking off into a standard 2 pair dogfight formation that was no match for the swarming storms.

As the fighters engaged, the Matriarch Class' turbolasers were pounding the Nebulon, the fleeing craft having surrendered most of its attack power in its attempt to flee, and the ship was duly punished.

The constant pulse of turbolaser and ion cannon fire initially broke the main shields at the crafts bow, the backups kicking in. As the craft remained turning, it continued to receive pounding, backup shields buckling and causing intense ripples of flame to lick the ships hull. Engineering sections were hit, damaging the ships hull integrity and shutting down power to engines. The ship simply began to drift as more accurate rounds of laserfire began to target the few turbolaser batteries that maintained power.

The pounding continued, Ion cannons now only, causing the ship to rapidly lose power. It was dead in the water.

Captain Astarta felt proud inside, continuing the traditions of her ancestors in the destruction of piracy. Pausing in thought, she quickly spoke up.

"Launch an assault crew of Marines and Cyborgs. Lets recover some info on that derelict ship."

And yes, it is two squads of each

OOC:Fine, one more after this, but note the above OOC comment, in my last post. Thanks. And as for the Nebulon-B2, if your expecting to find any info about where Haven is, only the commanding officer, navigator and computer knows where it is. Everybody knows that we are part of the New Rebellion though. People are recruited when they go to minor bases spread across the galaxy, and are then jumped in. Also, there wouldn't be any nearby planets, this is deep space, meaning no planets of mass shadows, but ohwell.

IC:

Onboard the Nebulon-B2 Frigate, the lights had dimmed, and the only reason that there was still light and life support was because of the backup generators. Captain Wawa was rushing about, so he could finish his duty here.

"I want twenty armed troopers, along with five demolition experts down to the main computer core, and the backup computer core. Blow them both to pieces. The enemy will not find out where Haven is. I want the Navigational Officer to follow me, we have a special mission. All other troops, you are to go down to the docking bay and the hallways near it. I want E-web 15 heavy repeating blasters set up. Every crewman that doesn't have a weapon, go to the weapon storage areas, or try to borrow an extra weapon of one of our troops. That is all."

Wawa and the navigational officer, Dan, walked out of the bridge and to the Captain's quarters. Wawa quickly grabbed a couple thermal detenators.

"You know your duty, right?"

"Yes. We are to die before revealing the location of Haven."

"Good man. Then, you won't mind..."

Wawa continued talking, to keep the man calm. Then he quickly stunned him with a blaster shot.

"Sorry, just doing my job."

Wawa set up the first thermal detenator on a five minute timer, then stretched out beside the man. The first thermal detenator was set at his feet, and the second at his head, set for a five minute timer as well. He stunned himself, not being able to take the wait.

Five minutes later, both thermal detenators went off, and both men were immediatly vaporized. Now, if the troops did their job...

Outside, the other ships raced for safety, when the enemy fighters reached them. The XJ X-wings quickly broke off, and turned, staying in pairs, and fired, each fighter concentrating on one target. The Storms, being faster, had taken most of the damage from the Interdictor and Nebulon-B2 Frigates. Though not much firepower had been shot, this was enough to bring a little shield power of the enemy fighters. The B-wings, being attacked by faster enemy fighters, were in a very bad shape, but they managed to turn around, though suffering some minor losses of two fighters, and some mediumly high shield losses. Each B-wing concentrated all their weapons on one target, causing severe shield damage, since they had so much firepower to dish out. They weren't badly outnumbered at the moment, since the enemy had their fighters stranglying out(your reserves would take longer, I assume). They were quickly causing damage to the enemy. The Interdictor Cruiser, unmolested, and farther out, since it hadn't intended to enter any battle that might emerge, was ready to jump in a few seconds.

Suggested damage:

NR:
2 B-wings
Medium shield loss to all B-wings
1 X-wing, heavy shield loss to all X-wings
Nebulon-B2 Frigate-disabled

Hapan Consortium
Medium Shield Loss to the two squads of modified fighters(Ones engaging B-wings)
Limited shield loss to all Storms

(OOC: @#%$ @#%$ @#%$!!! lol

I just lost my entire post by accidently clicking back.

GODDAMNIT! Ok, so this post is going to be @#%$, but i'll just lay down what i'm Doing.

Anyway, yeah its fine that you're going away.)

The 400 missiles shunted the fleeing interdictor, destroying its sheilds in the first barrage, the second utterly obliterating the cruisers engines. It too was disabled.

Another pair of assault transports were launched and two others were prepared with combat engineers, although they were not immediately launched.

As the missiles impacted, the matriarch forged ahead, a few of its ION cannons remaining focused on the Neb to ensure that it remained drifting as the the transports zoomed in. As the big ship increased speed the enemy fighters came into range of the big quad laser emplacements on the ships hull. They instantly fired, ripping up the remenants of the ships sheilds allowing the attacking fighters to become potential capture targets. Instantly the Storms and Miy'Tils activated their triple pulse ion cannons, a few volleys being all it took to disable the slower and more damaged craft. Within moments all enemy craft in the sector were disabled by the combined firepower of the matriarch and the fighters.

Astarta activated her comms, calling for a open frequincy to the other ships.

"Pirates, surrender your craft now and you will all be repatriated to your home planets as soon as possible. You cannot possibly escape, and you are do not have enough escape pods to flee. Any attempt at combat or escape will be met with lethal force, does anyone read me?"

OOC:Thanks for waiting and stuff, but I'm wondering about the Interdictor Cruiser's damage. It was fleeing as fast as possible. Also, as I understand it, I have to have a chance to try and shoot down some of the missiles. I am willing to say that the Interdictor Cruiser has all shields gone, slight damage to the hull/engines, but that it isn't disabled/crippled, and that I will have to spend a two or three days in an SY repairing it. We lose some days in an SY, your advantage, we lose a Nebulon-B2, but our Interdictor escapes. Also, you capture a lot of fighters

IC:
The fighters were hit hard. Already another four B-wings had been destroyed, and two XJ X-wings. Luckily, the fighters had managed to destroy two modified fighters, and one Storm fighter. Unforutunately, the Matriarch had entered the fighter battle, and all the fighters had been disabled. Astarta's broadcast was not heard, due to the fact that the fighters were disabled, but since they were disabled, they couldn't fight or flee anyway. Onboard the Nebulon-B2, the transports had landed, and the troops were involved in heavy fighting. The Interdictor Cruiser was almost into hyperspace when missiles came flying at it. The first salvo nocked out the shields and cause some damage to the engines, but they managed to jump to hyperspace before the second salvo could hit.

Total Losses:
1 Neb-2 disabled
6 B-wings destroyed
3 XJ X-wings destroyed
Interdictor Cruiser-minor engine damage, escaped

You:
2 Modified My'til fighters
1 Storm Fighter

(OOC: No problems. About the damage, I would, but honestly, 400 missiles. And the entire purpose of my craft engaging your fighters was to distract them away from missiles. The chance you had to destroy the missiles was in your post after i launched them. You didn't. You can't try to engage them once they've impacted.

The interdictor itself could have stopped it, but the Imperial Daggar design of Imperial ships precludes, for the most part, the ability for fire backwards, which you obviously would have had to do since you were escaping. Hence, theres really no you escaping that damage.

Next time you'll know, theres always room to grow at least!

And yes, we also did capture alot of fighters! :D :p

Perhaps next time we might meet under better terms?)

As the the Cruiser advanced upon the stricken Interdictor it lashed out with its massive bulk of Ion Cannons, the torrent of firepower lashing the ship, sending blue bolts of energy coursing through its hull. Underneith the laser stream the assault transports advanced, quickly clamping onto the ships hull. The marines landed in the main engineering section, the Cyborgs assaulting the bridge. The bulk of the crew in the engineering sector threw all they could at the marines, but the few weapons they could use were not enough to stop the advance of the marines, whose precission training was the reason they were aboard the Hapan Flagship.

Meanwhile, on the bridge, there was no resistance. As soon as the assault troops had broken through the ships hull, the Cyborgs weapons activated, cutting down the crew instantly. Shot with the mighty Gun of Command, the crew simply stood there. One of the Cyborgs advanced, his dark black armour trimmed slightly in a ripple of gold, contrasting deeply with the gunmetal colour of the Cyborgs many inner workings. He reached the Captain, who stood stock still, a zombified look on his face.

"Captain. Order your crew to surrender and evacuate ship." Then the cyborg shouted. "But the rest of the bridge crew must remain."

The entire group nodded, the Captain reaching for his command console and sending out the boatwide siren for evacuate ship. Immediately the rest of the crew stopped what they were doing and made for the banks of escape pods that were prepared on each level of the ship. The cyborg waited for a few minutes while the last escape pod fired. As the last pod was launched, he ordered the crew to stand in the dead ground surrounded by the rest of the troops.

As the moved, he walked stiffly back towards the hull break that lead to the Assault Transport. Approaching a null cable node on the ships enterance, the Cyborg quickly attached himself, knowing he could only communicate with the Song of War through the assault transport, and not the disabled cruiser. Humming for a second, the cyborg activated its encrypted send codes before sending a message.



//
//Open holonet connection; 203.230.54.34.234 324
//.......................................
//Connection accepted

//Login: CM2389470
//Pass: ********
//......................................
// Login accepted, welcome CM2389470

//Begin encryption databreak Hex 2314AH9023W
//Encryption accepted

//Begin transmission

Astarta,

We have secured the craft to your liking. The ship has been voided of life and bridge crew have been captured. We can shackle them in any way and have full access to the ships computer systems.

Moving to capture contingency alpha, standard ship security. We require 2 more transports, one to recover the prisoners, the others with engineers to get the ship up and running. I suggest you send out a recovery signal and inform the Fleet of what has happened.

//Message Summary

-Ship fully secured
-Requesting exfil for prisoners
-Requesting reinforcements
-Requesting engineers

//Message saved; database HMS Orion
//Encryption coding recorded
//Saving
//..............................................
//Saved

//Message sent
//..............................................
//Message sent

//Logging off
//..............................................
//Logged off

//Goodbye CM2389470
//Connection terminated 23.54.654.324.543.12\\


Astarta recieved the message as soon as it was sent, immediately ordering reinforcements to both ships totalling 2 crew ships to be used as penal ships once its troops were landed and 2 Engineering ships to allow the craft to be repaired.

"Begin recovering those fighters.

We've got to get our aquisitions back to Hapes..."