"Admiral, admiral, wait I, I have the reports you wanted." said the mid-shipmen officer carrying the manila envelope as he tried to catch up to the man jogging around the track in a wetsuit. The man finally came to a stop, breathing hard, and turned around to confront the sailor.

"Hmmm. This is from Commander Genda?" asked the Admiral. He took the manila envelope and looked it over, but there were no identifying marks on it, save for a top secret badge sealing it.

"Correct sir. He sends his regards." said the midshipmen with a smile.

"Very well then. You are dismissed to your regularly assigned duties." said the Admiral, walking over to the bench and picking up the sweat towel lying there, with which he began to douse his face free of. The midshipmen took one last glance at the admiral, then proceeded to his previous duties, which was, ironically, running messages back and forth between two certain senior command officials while repair and upgrade mantinence was being performed on the local holonet and holocommunications service.

The admiral called for his personal hoverlimo to come pick him up at the track. Ten minutes later, he was enroute to his mansion. Secure in the backseat of his limo, he pulled out his knife, normally reserved for self-defense should someone decide to try to end his successful career illegally, he dug into the seal and opened the folder. He pulled from it several flimsiplasts of photos and papers. These were intelligence papers, direct from the local COMPNOR branch. Some were pictures of warships and stations, others were papers of intercepts, and guessed movements. All of this went against want the admiral wanted them to be, but secretly he already knew what was happening. Arriving at his estate, he summoned his personal aide.

"Yes, governer?" asked the aide upon arriving.

"I want a full meeting of the war staff, code C, at 1800 hours tonight. Summon all of those avilable, and prepare post meeting breifing papers for those who can't make it. Tell them it's urgent." said Admiral Kraken.

"Yes sir." replied the aide as he moved into the limo, to head for the communications station in the headquarters building. Word would be sent from there. Sighing, knowing he had another crisis on his hands, the Admiral moved to his dressing room, preparing himself to tell his fellow officers what he knew, and what they were going to do about it.

Staff meeting, war room of HQ, 1800 hours that night...

"Gentleman. Welcome. I wish we had more time to more properly assemble everyone, but the situation is urgent." said the Admiral, as he glanced around the room. Assembled around the table was Commodore Brand, three of his top line capitans, and two dozen other officers, some associated with the navy, others with the army and fighter corps.

"Well Admiral, what is the urgent situation?" asked Commodore Brand, a slight look of worry on his face.

"As of yesterday, Borosk has come under attack by a rogue fleet of pirate ships. Right now the world is holding due to the ground based weaponry left over from the planet's days as a fortress world. But they will not last long. Although their anti-ship weaponry is good, their army is still new, and needs more time to train up. We think the pirates will try a insertion point to destroy the ground weaponry, then take the planet by siege from space." said the Admiral.

"So? Borosk has not been vital for us in the past, except for against the Yuuzhan Vong. Why should we care about what happens to it now. Let Admiral Drayson take care of it." said one of the line capitans.

"It is our concern because that is one of the last few free planets serving as an unofficial borderline between our capital and that of the ever expanding presence of the Galatic Coaltion's Onyxian Commonwealth. Think about it, why would the pirates assault the world? The answer is clear, because they are being paid by the Coalition to do so. These greedy men are blinded by money and the rewards they will be able to reap. The pirates capture and ransack the planet, and then the Coalition comes in, annihilates the pirates, and claims the planet under their protection. Officially, they have saved the planet from a pirate raid and are now helping to rebuild the ravaged planet. Unofficially, they are one step closer to our borders and will have captured an excellent staging point." explained the Admiral.

"Now, we will move to the aid of the world as soon as possible. We do not have much in the way of ships to spare at the moment, but we do have a good supply as ground troops as always. Our mission of relief will be clear. We will land our special forces and stormtroopers to protect the ground based weaponry. And then the weaponry and our fleet will combine and together shall defeat the pirate's space armada. With the planet free of the pirate's grasp, we will move in and rebuild the planet from the ground up, shaping in once again into the fortress world. It then will become our staging point, not theirs. For now you all are dismissed. We will meet again one brief time before the fleet departs to discuss strategy and what our probe missions tell us. Good luck." said the Admiral as he bid his leave.

0800 hours the following day

Admiral Kraken stood at the bridge of his flag vessel for the upcoming operation, the Carrack class Cruiser Harrier. He felt a slight moment of embarrasement of having to flag upon such a small vessel, but quickly hid that away. He had chosen this vessel not because it was the largest, but it was the most newest vessel that had a seasoned crew. In addition to the Carrack cruiser in formation, were two Fire light frigates, and a Pa'al class light cruiser. The four ship task force was small in comparison to most other ones assembled, but it was the best the governer could do inside an envelop of twelve hours. The carrack cruiser had been borrowed from the sector fleet along with the light frigates. It was originally going to be just those three ships, but the light cruiser Kremorial had been nabbed returning from fitting out excersises and hurriedly resupplied and re-armed in an excellent overnight job by the docking engineers. Troop complement consisted of one battalion of SpecNav special forces.

Their immediate goal was simple. Eliminate the enemy pirate fleet, whatever it consists of, and then proceed to land the SpecNav troops to temporarily disable ground weaponry. After that, enter negotiations with the leaders of Borosk and ask them to join the Empire. If they refuse, then wait until reinforcements arrive and then annex the planetery system. Right now the Venator class Star Destroyers Riurik, and Annaj were enroute from troop ferrying missions near Tynna to embarked the second and third Imperial divisions at Rachuk, from which they would head to Borosk, but all told it would take a good three days for them to get there. Kraken hoped to have the planet secure and negotiations underway within one day.

On the bridge, Kraken nodded to the cheif navigator. The countdown clock was initiated. Upon it's expiration, the fleet entered hyperspace, bound for Borosk, and for certain battle.

Borosk, thirty minutes before the imminent arrival of the Imperial fleet

The Khe Sahn Pirate Empire was preparing for it's final assault against the fortress world. Their goals weren't for actual long term occupation, but they hoped to hold the planet and steal and plunder their resources and income for the next three months or so, after which they would smash the world's ability to defend it's self and demand tribute payments from then on out with threats that would be enforced to make reprisal raids, usually in the role of a bombardement mission, to help enforce those tributes and their arrival. The pirates were actually operating out a hidden world in the Unknown region, and were known to operate also from several nearby asteriod fields in the Sector, and also were known to hit several new colonies in the area. They had been providing trouble recently for this sector of space and also may of been the reason for recent Coalition military buildups in the Oynixian Commonwealth region although reports from there are sketchy as to the pirate's activity.

The Pirate fleet in orbit of the planet consisted of four capital ships, one Kaloth class Battlecruiser, one Imperial Escort Frigate, and a pair of old CEC Gunships, along with about eleven picket class ships. The assault fleet had initially consisted of six capital class ships and twelve pickets, but the pirates had not expected to run into the kind of planet based weaponry as had been shown before, and so as a result they lost a Bulk Cruiser modified to become a starfighter carrier, along with twelve Uglies that had been embarked at the time, and a Corellian Corvette that was refitted as a picket killing type vessel. The uglies had been retired from the theatre of operations since their main source of operations had been eliminated, and so the Pirates were down to a squadron of TIE Fighters, a half squadron of X-wings, and one and a half squadron of Y-wings. Their pickets consisted of five Jompers class patrol vessels, four Guardian class pickets, and two Corsair class large starfighter ships.

Earlier in the day, a small fleet of ten Raptor and four Sentinel shuttles had arrived in the one blindspot so far spotted in Borosk's net where her planetery weaponry didn't cover up so well, and made an insertion assault on one of her larger cities. In the ground battle lasting half a day, the well seasoned Pirate army defeated the outnumbered and green soldiers defending the city. A strong defense was then built around a captured military base which will serve as a main base for Pirate operations on the planet to defeat the ground based weaponry around the planet. Another convoy was due to arrive in about an hour, this one consisting of another ten Raptors and twenty Sentinel Shuttles. But enough troops were already on the planet to go after four of the major weapon sites, their speeder bikes and Chariot troop speeders making impressive looking convoys as they sped above the surface of the planet heading to their destinations.

Their fleet assembled and awaiting for word of their ground troop's successes so that they could begin further operations, they were somewhat suprised, when an Imperial Taskforce dropped out of hyperspace within the gravity sphere of Borosk. The pirate's re-assesed their situation and decided to give battle, outnumbering the Imperial fleet, which was identified as having four small capital ships and about one hundred starfighters. The pirate fleet began assembling into a broad delta formation spaced two ranks deep, their pickets out front and their capital ships bringing up the rear.

On the bridge of the Harrier, Admiral Kraken smiled as their opponent's prepared for battle. He issued orders to his own ships for individual attack options and placed his trust in the individual captian's of his own ships that they would make the right decisions that would win the day. And with that, he ordered General attack, and watched as his own ships beared down upon that of the enemies's ships.

Over Borosk

On the orders of her commander, the Admiral Park Kraken, the Carrack class Cruiser Harrier plunged into battle. Using her superior speed not normal for that of a ship her size, the sleek blocky shaped cruiser slipped in between the pair of CEC Gunships headed for the Admiral's complement of starfighters. The carrack cruiser unleashed her full complement of weapons on both cruisers, with a total of five heavy turbolasers and ten ion cannons firing on both enemy ships. The enemies initially responded with their own volleys but their weaponry was rapidly disabled by the ion cannons. The gunships began to turn away but found their small cylinder bodies rapidly penetrated by the power of the heavy turbolasers. One of the gunships detonated, splitting in half with it's concussion missile magazine being touched off by a turbolaser bolt, and the other gunship lost power and drifted, crippled and helpless. Escape pods fired off from this ship.

In the meantime, the enemy Kaloth Battlecruiser and the Kremorial squared off. The light cruiser dived in, her turbolasers opening fire on the enemy cruiser as soon as she was within range. The two cruisers were going at full speed, and so soon would pass one another. The enemy battlecruiser, by stark contrast, was pouring steady streams of turbolaser and laser cannon fire into the light cruiser, although by no means in such a concentrated enough manner to breach the shields of the cruiser. Even though the Kremorial had a green crew, the capitan was a good commander who served on his last boat for ten years before it was decomissioned and scrapped. Right when the two ships were about to meet, the Pa'al class cruiser unleashed her gravity bombs. The Kaloth class cruiser had no chance of avoiding them when they detonated, ripping apart the battlecruiser in a giant series of explosions.

The former-Imperial Escort Frigate just aft of the battlecruiser pursued the Pa'al as she pulled away. The light cruiser responded with a salvo of missiles from her four ten-tube launchers that demolished the frigate's shields. Coming into the fray fresh off of the kill of the two gunships, the Harrier dived in, her heavy turbolasers breaking the back of the escort frigate, leaving the two halves to float end for end. More escape pods fired off from this ship.

In the meantime, the two Fire light frigates and the complement of starfighters from the fleet crashed headlong into the starfighters of the enemy fleet along with their picket ships. The pirates fired indiscriminatley and recklessley at the Imperial formation with proton torpedoes and heavy rockets. The Imperials responded with a firestorm of laser and ion cannon fire. The battle, or as best described, the slaughter, was over in ten minutes, the fire light frigates coming away having lost some shield power, and about a squadron's worth of Imperial fighters destroyed. A corsair and two X-wings that were disabled were captured, with the rest of the enemy fighters and pickets destroyed.

With the enemy pirate fleet wasted the Imperial fleet settled into a holding position of the planet while awating for the troop reinforcements to arrive. In the meantime, the Admiral would have to communicate with the governer of the world to ensure that he will be willing to have Imperial help on the ground.

Over Borosk

Imperial TIE Fighter number#1198, assigned to Dark Sanctuary Squadron, based on the Fire Light Frigate Core Nexus, recieved some comm chatter coming in from over his comm gear. It sounded like pilot chatter. He shared his message with the squadron leader, flying three ranks down from him.

"DS leader, DS leader, this is DS three, I am picking up some communications chatter coming from the other side of the planet. Based on telementry of the planet and the sound of the voices, I believe this chatter is coming from space, not ground." said DS three into his mike.

He then waited while DS leader confirmed with the Nexus to anaylze the voices and see what was going on. Moments later he got his answer.

"Dark Sanctuary Squadron, this is DS Leader. We have just recieved word than an enemy convoy is approaching the planet, filled up with enemy troop reinforcements. The convoy is composed of Sentinel Landing Craft and Lambda Shuttles, and has a number of Z-95 Headhunters escorting it, according to radar data hacked into from Borosk's radar net. We are to proceed across the planet and engage the convoy before it reaches planetery atmosphere. Form into Delta formation, and set for cruise." DS leader ordered.

The TIE Fighter squadron proceeded to reform into a Delta wing from it's previous column patrol formation, and headed around the planet, accompanied by two other TIE Fighter squadrons. DS three consulted his radar and it showed him that the other two squadrons were Naruto and Jomkimp Squadrons, fighters flown by Diamal pilots, who willingly joined the Empire after their planet was freed from the grasps of the old Ishori goverment and their occupation forces. His scanner began beeping as they finished their transition of the planet and came within radar range of the enemy convoy. Out ahead he could make out the shapes of eight Sentinel Shuttles and three Lambda shuttles, along with a sizeable escort of Z-95 Headhunters. Twelve headhunters came from the Sentinel shuttles, and another six from escorting the Lambdas. That meant that they were outnumbered two to one. DS Three, Marek Tehran, would put those odds to the best use. He signaled his comm and switched to flight channel.

"DS flight two, this is Marek. Break into pairs when engaging the Z-95s. Watch each others back. And may the force be with you." he said into his comm.

He settled his sights on one of the Z-95s, waiting for the range to close before opening fire. Then, the time came. He depressed his firing stud and sent out twin pairs of laser bolts at the enemy fighter. His fire was joined by that of his wingman's, and together their fire penetrated the reinforced forward shields and scored the fighter dead center, causing it to explode. He then pulled up hard and tight on his joystick, swinging around to get on the tail of another Z-95. Explosions occured all around the his own craft and the fighter engagement as a whole. He settled onto the tail of another Z-95, and fired his laser cannons. This pilot must not have been as quick to re-settle his shield energy from all forward to evenly spaced, as his lasers encountered no invisible sphere of energy as they pummeled the rear of the craft. One of the cannon shots detonated the left engine, sending the headhunter spiraling out of control. The cockpit window fired off, and the pilot ejected moments before his ship detonated. With that target eliminated, Marek pulled out of the battle zone, his wingmate still in tight with him. There were a number of debris clouds indicating destroyed Z-95s, and a few ones indicating destroyed TIEs as well. A beeping at his comm distracted him for a moment.

"Dark Sanctuary Squadron, this is DS Two, we are to proceed with an attack on the Lambda Shuttles. The other two squadrons will mop up the remaining Z-95s." said the female voice. Marek ventured a guess in his mind that one of the TIE debris fields out there contained the remains of his squadron's leader. Pulling around on the joystick, he and his wingmate formed up with the seven other remaining fighters of DS squadron and headed out away from the engagement zone torwards the Lambda shuttles, which were running full tilt torwards the planet.

"DS Squadron, split up into three flights of three fighters apiece. Target and eliminate one Lambda shuttle apiece. DS Two out." ordered the new leader of DS Squadron. Marek formed up with his wingmate and a third pilot, DS two herself, and together they targered the rear of the forward most shuttle. When the range decreased to optimal firing range, all three of them opened fire at the same time on the shuttle's aft. To their suprise the shuttle responded by firing it's own rear mounted laser cannon. All three fighters pulled up and around, and then closed in on the shuttle from top, bottom right, and bottom left. The shuttle juked and jive, throwing off the rear laser cannon's accuracy, not that it's arcs of fire were anything speical. Again the three streams of laser cannon fire poured in, and this time the shuttle's shields were penetrated. Moment's later, the shuttle was a smoking and burned out hulk drifting torwards the planet. The other two shuttles soon succumbed as well, DS squadron losing another pilot, DS eight, to one of the rear mounted laser cannons.

With the shuttles eliminated, they were free to move onto the Sentinel shuttles. But a message coming over the general frequency warned them off of the shuttles, saying they were too heavily armed. Instead, with the Z-95s eliminated, the Carrack Cruiser Harrier sliced into the fray, the sleek and fast cruiser opening up with her heavy turbolaser cannons and ion cannons. The shuttles responded by assault the cruiser in force with their quad laser cannon arrays and mini-torpedo launchers. One, two, then three shuttles were disabled by the ion cannons, while the remaining five were blown out of space by the heavy turbolaser cannons. The remaining three were taken aboard the carrack cruiser for interrogation of their crews and ground troops. Aboard the cruiser, stun gas was being prepared to pump into the shuttles. With their jobs done, Dark Sanctuary Squadron was ordered home into the Fire Light Frigate for a de-briefing and then a much needed rest.

"Good mission today huh?" said Marek to the newly promoted Dark Sanctuary squadron leader, the former DS two, Jillian Deran. He innocently let his eyes play over her lithe and beautiful figure while she removed her helmet, explosing the long coils of blone hair she has.

"I suppose so, discounting our losses. I rather liked the rookie Gendar." she replied, referring to DS eight, vaped by the shuttle's rear laser cannon.

They filed into the de-briefing chamber, where the frigate's captian met the surviving squadron members.

"First off, I will keep this short. I know some of you are very tired." said the captian. Marek looked around the chamber and noted some Diamal squadron members that were almost leaning over.

"Second, I am pleased to announce that based on the fact that you all have survived ten combat engagements, that you have all be promoted to second class of your ranks, and you will now be flying TIE Interceptors instead of TIE Fighters. Which brings me to number Three." said the captian to the pleased ears of the pilots in attendance.

"Three, the Venators that we have been promised have arrived. With them are the new TIE Interceptors that you will be flying. Eight hours from now, we will be making our assault against the enemy pirate's ground stronghold. You will be flying cover for them. Due to the losses of some pilots, you will be re-organized into two fighter squadrons. But that can wait for later. For now, you have little less than eight hours of sleep ahead for you. I will see you all again at 0800." said the capitan as he exited the briefing chamerb.

Borosk, 0800 hours, TD Day

Marine Corporal Jonathin Lewis checked his field gear one more time before strapping the forty pound pack to his back and slinging his blaster rifle up and over his shoulder. He looked himself over from the mirror in the refresher. His dark green armour appeared to be ok, and so he was in good order. And not a moment too soon either, as the call came over the comm for the platoon to assemble in meeting area sixteen. Marching out of the refresher, he met the other three comrades with whom he shared a room. They proceeded down the corridor of the deck, and into the meeting room. There already present and accounted for were the other thirty six members of his platoon team. Also present was the other platoon that made up Blue company for the 55th Battalion, 2nd Infantry division. They sat down, and then it was time for the meeting. The lights dimmed, and in the hologram projector in the center, the image of a general and a planet appeared.

Present in the hologram was General Nefreyes, leader of the 2nd Infantry division. He would personally be leading the assault on the pirates on the surface of Borosk. He began to speak as he pointed to various points on the planet.

"Here are you assignments. We've briefed you on your mission and your enemies's capabilites, and now we will tell you where you are headed. Here is the main pirate base, located outside of the capital city, which is currently under siege. The Imperial 55th and 58th Battalion will be tasked with capturing the pirate base with as many of the high officers intact as possible, and with eliminating the enemy forces currently involved in the siege efforts. In addition..." the general's voice trailed off as Lewis turned his undivided attention to the map, studying it closely. Minutes later, the breifing ended, punctuated by the call to board the pods.

Filing out of the room in squads of twelve each, the men of Blue company marched down the corridor and into the spacious hangar bay that was dominated by the large drop pods that would be used to deploy them into the hot zone of combat on the planet below. He walked up the gang plank and into the pod. Moving from deck to deck, he arrived at the fifth one from the top and entered a narrow room that held four couches. Seating himself into one of them, and securing the crash webbing, he was ready to go. Another ten minutes, and the Battalion was secured aboard the pod. It wasn't soon before they were given the green light.

The ride down to the planet below was a little bumpy but not enough to cause anyone serious sickness. Then the repulsors on the bottom of the pod fired off, and everyone was given a one minute warning period. Then, the pod hit ground. Lewis unbuckled his crash webbing and proceeded torwards the outside of the pod. Four large doors with attaching stairways and balconies deployed down to the ground, and as troops emerged from the top portions of the ship, speeder bikes, chariots, and AT-PTs emerged from the lower portions. As they were debarking, blaster fire and a few grenade launchers spat out words of welcome, which were quickly returned.

Lewis unslung his rifle and moved down into the woods, away from the distinctive shape and bulk of the dropship. He got in behind a tree and donned his multipule sight goggles and unslung his rifle, setting it to kill, and attaching the vibro bayonet to the end of it. He then looked out from behind the tree, and sighted along his rifle up the hill they were supposed to capture as phase one of the assault. A motion caught his eye, and he fired his rifle. A dead pirate fell away from the tree where he was hiding. A storm of blaster fire from a group of dense foilage sprayed into the tree where he was hiding. A chachunk and then a *poof* sound of escaping air caught his attention. He looked up, to see an AT-PT launched grenade land into the foilage. The bodies of two pirates were seen flying into the air, and bodyparts that could have been attached to four more. The fire from the foilage stopped.

Later, after what seemed like an endless battle, they had possession of the ridge. The main target, the four artillery cannons laying siege to a part of the capital city, were in their possession. His company alone had killed or captured five hundred fifty pirates, and in all, the two thousand five hundred pirates thought to be manning this area were all killed or captured or driven off. Lewis looked to the left from his patrol lane that he shared with three buddies and sighted a procession of ten guards and thirty captured pirates being lead off to an awaiting team of chariots. Later that night, they recieved a message over the communications relay that gave great cheer to all. Borosk was theirs.