What has gone on before..





Nearly 10 years ago...Battle of Dantooine



“The calculations do not lie, Marlena.” Commander Vespian commented, showing the woman seated opposite him his calculator. “The figures here represent both your admiration and care for me..” He bit back a grin as one of the woman’s eyebrows raised in an ironic expression, “.. resulting in an almost incalculable expression of affection.”

“Somehow, I think you’ve managed to bring it into calculable ranges.” She answered dryly.

He ignored her remark, his words set into his mind, “Adding to that my infinite love for you, the effects of us remaining separate would break down any formula derived. Marlena, our fractions must merge before the equation can exponentially and logically grow.”

He looked into her eyes. “I want it to grow.”

Amusement shined in her features. “Either I was proposed too or that was a nice thesis on the human equation. How long did it take you to come up with that?”

His grin broke. “The better part of the morning.”

“Our equation huh?”

His grin widened further, “Well our fractions have already been merging…so.”

The woman laughed, leaned forward and kissed him. “Who am I to say ‘no’ to such unassailable logic?”

“When does your ship leave?” he asked relieved, looking for small talk to pass the time as his mind raced with the details of the future nuptial.

“0800 hours. The Katana is scheduled to rendezvous with the Jenova’s task force. Yours?”


“0900.”


“Oh? Why the special treatment?” Marlena teased.


“Faster Vicstar.” Trajan commented matter-of-factly. So much so that Marlena hit him on the shoulder. “Orders.” He amended at the persuasion. “We are holding back to retrieve the latest intel that NR operatives can bring. I mean, this is the Empire we are talking about.”


“We outnumber them and we shall have both Admirals Hexyra and Jiren with us.”


“Don’t get over-confident.” Trajan warned. “The Empire has it’s own share of brilliance. Grand Admiral Hyfe and General Ming are not people to sneer at.”


“What happened to Grand Admiral .. what was his name? Zell?”


Trajan shrugged. “No one knows but that is not uncommon. Perhaps the Empire executed him for something or other. But what concerns me is this.” He pulled out a recently unclassified photo of a Reign Class Star Destroyer.


“The technology this machine boasts of is incredible.”


“The Vlyx is a better design.”


“I agree.. but this thing looks like it can take a beating.” Trajan pointed to the photo.


Marlena smiled. “Don’t worry. It will..” and Trajan laughed.


“That’s my shuttle.” She said as an announcement came from an intercom. The woman leaned over to kiss Trajan as she stood up. “See you after the operation.”


“Post victory party?”


She laughed, “Every sailor’s dream..”







The enemy was giving as good as it got as incoming firing from the defending vessels but, again, it was nothing the Fleet couldn’t handle.

“The Jenova needs to be brought into range.. Look! Jedi Master Jiren is clearing the way!”

Advance Vlyx cruisers were moving to bring the Imperial yards within range.


And that was when all hell broke loose.


“Enemy units reverting!” The scanning officer shouted, surprised at what his board was telling him


“Postion!” snapped the Captain.


“Z plus … several hundred kilometers… above us!”


“What?”


The bows of the incoming enemy fleet were pointed down at the Jenova’s formation.

*

The Reign Class Star Destroyer had unleashed it’s fury upon the Jenova and the ships supporting it nearby.


‘Imperial fighters incoming!”


“More enemy divisions reverting!”


It looked like a logistics nightmare and while men raced to respond with a fury of their own, space suddenly looked a bit crowded, lights of death lancing everywhere.


The mission held.


The combined will’s of Jiren and Hexyra wouldn’t let it fail.


“Katana is taking hits!”


“Prepare to come about! Give the Jenova some room! Lay down some fire… give them time!”


Captain Laskin grunted. “We will redeploy and answer. The enemy division doesn’t seem to be that strong..”


And then Trajan’s world fell apart.


The underside of the Iron Mantis shuddered as incoming fire suddenly came from an unexpected source.


Massassi ships were suddenly firing on them.


“Exel betrayed us!”

And a pit formed in Trajan’s stomach. There would be no support for the ships outmaneuvered above.


“Sir, the Katana..” but the man needed no more words for the sensors showed all.


Another volley from the Reign’s Fleet from above ripped into the Victory Star Destroyer’s shields and struck it’s hull bursting the durasteel apart as if it were paper.


The ship held position for a second until it began to list, totally out of control as debris scattered from it’s wounds.


“Survivors?” Captain Laskin shouted above the commotion. Trajan had been too shocked to utter a sound.


“Lower levels only show life signs..”

The Captain slapped Trajan out of his shock. “Focus Mister! I need you here and now!”


And like a machine, Trajan moved to complete a mission that had torn apart his future in one swift blow.



The battle was a resounding success, an Imperial shipyard having been destroyed, many ships set adrift. The Imperial fleet had also inflicted it’s own damage and the Katana was taken in tow by the Jenova when it left the system of Dantooine.





5 Years ago...Battle of Bastion



Trajan looked at Captain Laskin. “What happens if the New Empire falls, the Republic falls, but the Galactic Empire remains?”


The Captain put his hand over Trajans and motioned for the younger man to put away his calculator.


“Sometimes the estimates do not take this into consideration.” He said, patting Trajan’s heart as he stood. “Come, we have a ship to ready.”

*

“Where is she?” demanded Trajan quietly. Captain Laskin turned to his Commander.


“The Galactus?”


“Yes dammit. Where is Kaine?”


“Maybe he is dead.” Laskin offered making sure the Iron Mantis was in formation.


“No.. Not him.. Not yet…” Trajan’s frustration was boiling. The nondescript man who should have died at Dantooine, his vessel killed from under him.


The man who killed Marlena.


The man, who’s efforts turned out maniacs like this Tilaric Brel.


No!



*


An enormous barrage of laser fire struck the Iron Mantis, panels exploding across the bridge, suppor struts falling from the ceiling killing many.

Like a rudderless sailing ship, the Mantis buckled under the gravitational stresses, shockwaves spinning it slowly out of formation.


Trajan spit blood out of his mouth as he gingerly lifted himself up from the floor. Smoke, broken electrical boards and debris were littered everywhere.


Small fires burning here and where red washed with the screams of the injured.


Captain Laskin was pinned under a support strut, grasping at the air. Trajan limped over to him and found that the Captain was blind, his hands finding a firm hold on Trajan’s shoulder.


“T… Take the ship. Crew… ..safety..”


“Sir… I don’t know if I can do it!” his voice fought to stay calm, his eyes seeing the flickering tactical scanner of thousands of ships locked in combat.

“Forget the formula!” the Captain, in a moment of coherence snapped. “Feel, Commander. Have faith that things will turn out alright. That good will triumph in the end..”


The words sounded hollow but something inside him was touched.


Trajan grasped the man’s hand. “I will keep them safe, Captain.”


Laskin’s features clouded over in pain but then he nodded.


“Thank you… Cap…”


And his face held no more emotion.





1 Year ago...


The older man who had once been a Rebel General looked at Trajan and his eyes seemed to convey that he knew what the starship commander felt.

"Nothing happens without a beginning, Commander."


Han Solo's voice penetrated and he looked up and felt the older man's sense of purpose. "And with us, General? What of us?"


Will I soon join Marlena?


Solo stood and walked over to Trajan and his men. "You men have overcome incredible obstacles that I won't even pretend to know anythjng about. I would put you in for medals if we had a government but in reality, what you represent is something of far greater value than mere medals.

You men represent freedom's undying hope."


He stared at the others, noted their lack of reaction and grinned a roguish grin.


"It sounds hollow, I know... and merely words of rote. But there is power behind them and I intend to show each and every one of you..


What of you, Commander Vespian?


Well, nothing happens without a beginning so let me first mark it by shaking all of you hands... and then, Commander, I will tell you what the future has in store for you..."




And he did.







Now...



Captain Trajan Vespian made his daily rounds aboard the Victory Star Destroyer Iron Mantis the same as he always had. Their adventure on Anoth* had been something of a nightmare at first. A lesson in diversity needed to be explored and as a result, his old crew and new (alien) crew were finally coming together. Now things seemed to be running rather smoothly as different ideas, different cultures worked together for the common good.


It was an odd feeling not having in the back of his mind the so familiar dispair that had plagued all of them.

To leap across the dark void of depression and keep the faith, no matter what.

Old Captain Laskin's words coming back with the force of prophecy, “Feel, Commander. Have faith that things will turn out alright. That good will triumph in the end..”


And really, that is what it amounted too.


Faith.

The Coalition was a work in progress but at least they grew and learned from their mistakes. And while the leaders in the Council Halls or Coalition High Command grew fearful, he could see the people of many backgrounds working proudly for the common good of all.


He read the same reports of the Galactic Empire once more forcing another planet into their fold, of propaganda pieces designed to draw the Coalition into a premature conflict.


Goading..


He remembered something Luke Skywalker had told him, after his chance meeting with Han Solo on Sanctuary.


"The Dark Side will prod, will goad, will confuse, and will tempt... but it will never make you do anything. You alone have the power of choice."


A simple statement. And yet a profound one for it sheds light on the reality of the Empire's situation.


Without the prodding, without the goading, without the confusion and temptations, would the people choose the Empire?


The fact that the New Republic was once a reality proved to Trajan that the people had already decided.


And while the Empire sharpens it's tools of lies, coercion, and intimidation to keep the masses confused, prodded and goaded, it was only a matter of time until the truth came out.

Maybe not now.

Maybe not this year..


But it will..


Those of the Old Republic before had suffered the Empire for decades before overthrowing it. And Trajan felt he could wait a while now.


The quick path to victory, a military defeat over the Empire was very tempting. Perhaps too tempting.

And as Skywalker also said, 'Temptation had it's roots in the Dark Side.'


Broad and spacious is the Dark Path and many are the ones taking it, but narrow, cramped, full of obstacles is the path to the Light.

And old recording (one of the few that survived) of the Jedi Grand Master Yoda's teachings.



And so, Trajan knew he would stay the course, for no matter how bleak the past had been, or how bleak the present felt, the reality was that good would triumph in the end.


He walked into the ship's mess seeing many of his off-duty personnel engaged in conversations, debates, and just plain ol' fashioned fun.


In the middle were three Azguard stowaways that the crew seemed to adopt almost instantly. His inquiry to the Azguard civil authorities had not yet been answered and so here they remained. Tweek, Squeek and Beeker were their names and they had an infectuous loyalty to the Prime Minister Regrad that seemed to defy everything, even all forms of media.

At first he wondered if it was simply a cultural trait of the Azguard species but after chatting with them a little, it seems that these alien children were wards of the state. And yet, they had created a separate reality for themselves. A reality that gave them purpose and hope even if unconsciously.

High Lord Regrad represented everything good to them and it was that anchor that they fixed their lives upon.

Upon seeing one chatting endlessly, another drawing and the other eating he smiled to himself.


The line between happiness and despair is perception.


And it was these Azguard 'children' that had taught that to him and his men.





*



"Fak!" Screamed Sellis Sur as the unseen warship yet again fired it's hidden blasters hoping to anticipate the Azguardian pilot.

Still, there was something in the back of Sellis' mind that helped him anticipate the anticipators anticipating him.

But would they anticipate that he could anticipate them as they first anticipated him?

His ship shook and he abandoned that thought.

"Fak! Fak!"


His tiny fighter craft spun, banked and maneuvered it's way around the lances of killing light but it was a matter of time.


It was odd that the invisible pursuing craft was firing with greater intensity but he could not split his mind's thought processes to go down that road of meditation. All of his focus was on staying alive and if it was not accomplished, then he would have lots of time later to contemplate.


Suddenly, his long range sensors picked up an IFF signal.


A ship?


The momentary distraction almost cost him his life as his ship banked sharply to avoid yet another turbolaser.


"Fak! Fak! Fak!"


He flipped on his emergency channel.


"WhiteKnight CIB Emergency Signa--FAK!"


He banked a missle nearly striking his craft. And he realized he was being jammed.



The IFF registry listed the craft as the Iron Mantis. The lack of governmental code gave Sellis a slight pause but he couldn't pause for long as the missle was coming back.

He rotated his ship as the missle flew past him once more and struck the invisible ship following.

The Iron Mantis, as the dot began to grow from the horizon (turning to meet him), began to look alot like an Imperial craft.


"Fak! Fak! Fak! Fak!"


Sellis briefly wondered if he could make another jump to hyperspace. His hyperdrive was pushed beyond exhaustion but options were limited.


And then, quite suddenly the Iron Mantis was no longer on the horizon.



But right on top of him!




"Fak! Fak! Fak! Fak! Fak!" he panicked and rotated his ship flying upside down across the ventral half of the ship.



He was dead.



Or so he thought but a second later, he realized that the ship was not shooting at him but at the invisible craft chasing him.

As he spun around, trying to get calm as feeling returned to his scared scale-less hands, he saw that the Iron Mantis was tracking the invisible ship through a coolant leak, probably when the missile had missed him before.


A few seconds later, an explosion occurred and the invisible ship was no more.




Sellis Sur's adrenaline level suddenly dropped and the soreness of his hours-long fighting and running caught up locking his muscles.

His ship went into standby mode and he instantly was asleep.

A tractor beam caught the fighter craft and gently hauled it into the hanger as medics and technicians were running over.




*Refers to the incomplete roleplay, The Return.

Chief Vallorum looked at the fighter craft in obvious envy. "God, I'd love to get my paws on this baby's insides!" he exclaimed as Trajan walked to the corner of main hanger.

"Is this..?" the Captain asked pointing to the sleek looking vessel that seemed like it had just come from a space battle, which in fact it had.

"Light Glider? Aye, Captain. That it is. I heard about them but this is the first time I've seen one."


"White Knight craft, isn't it?" Trajan ran his hand appreciatively along the under-carriage. "Looks damned fast."

The Light Glider was the first craft specifically designed without humans in mind. The smaller creatures making up the coalition cultures had petitioned for a craft to be designed around their needs rather than retro-fitting a human-standard design. The result was a far more expensive craft but one with a great deal of performance improvement among the non-human pilots of the GC.

"Blister under-carriage pilot loading!" the Chief exclaimed and Trajan scratched his head.

"I am not sure I understand.."

"Rather than climbing up a ladder hanging from cockpit above as we 'ol humans are used too, these little buggers have the seat cockpit drop from the front here." Vallorum punched in a code and stepped away as a light began to spin indicating an unlocking procedure and suddenly, from the underside of the fighter craft, a seat descended. A seat occupied by a sleeping alien.

"White Knight, if I got my uniforms right," Vallorum said, motioning some technicians to come up and they gently lifted the pilot out of his seat and several nurses came in with a stretcher to transport him to the medical ward.

Trajan was content to wait a bit and allow the pilot some rest and after he motioned the nurses onward was about to head back to the bridge when the Chief called him to the aft of the Light Glider.

"What is it, Val?" Trajan walked to the back of the glider and saw that Chief Vallorum was pointing to a buildup of slag along the main thruster assembly.

"This ship is not going to fly soon." he said. "That slag indicates overblown sublight components. I need to run a diagnostic but I wouldn't be surprised if this bugger has a burnt out hyperdrive motivator."

Trajan frowned. "That was a quite a chase our good pilot put up." He and the Chief looked at each other with curious expressions. "I believe our pilot has quite a story to tell."

He patted the Engineer on his shoulder. "Let me know what else you find, Val. I'll be on the bridge."

"Aye, Captain."

Sellis Sur heard voices as consciousness returned. His eyes opened a crack taking in the surroundings and found that he was on a medical bed. Something beeped and he moved his head to see a medical droid off to the side. The droid was monitoring his condition.

"Well, well. Our fearless pilot has awakened." came a voice from beyond and an officer approached wearing recognizable medical insignia.

"You speak Basic!" Sellis nearly shouted. "Quick, I need to get in touch with the Coalition Militar..."

"Calm down, young man. You're aboard the Coalition Vicstar Iron Mantis."

"Then let me speak to your Captain! Now! We haven't a moment to lose! Lives are at stake!"

The doctor, trying to calm down the alien pilot hit an internal comm unit.

"Bridge."

"Captain, I have an excited pilot who needs to speak with you immediately."

"On my way."

Sellis hoped they were not too late.

Trajan Vespian, Captain of the Iron Mantis, really had no idea what to expect but as the alien's story unfolded, his light manner turned to confusion first, then to anger and ending in rage.

Sellis Sur was not trying to infiltrate the Empire so much as merely map an obscure trading route that he had run across in the deep stretches, the no-man's land, of space between star systems. Such duty was not dangerous and one could actually penetrate pretty far if they only stayed in those stretches. It was when they approached actual systems that their chances for getting caught were increased and, depending on the system, whether they increased greatly or only slightly.


Still, Sellis was using his time to test his new glider when he came across a drifting asteriod, about the size of a small moon.


What was confusing was that there was a hyperspacial beacon stationed. A beacon he did not recognize at first because the there was no signal. In fact, he would never have figured it out as a beacon if not for the bulky transport that exited hyperspace a few klicks from the asteroid.

The beacon, Sellis concluded, was operating on a frequency that he could not detect which mean't something secretive in his alien mind.

But what?

It was not like the vessel that had exited hyperspace was a military vessel or transport. In fact, it had no identity marks at all.

But the fact that it did exit at the asteriod indicated that whoever placed the beacon and whoever ran the transport were in cahoots (a technical Azguardian term).

The ship was not looking for company and so did not detect Sellis' presence. They probably had thought no one would ever come across the location let alone witness their jump and so were not worried.

So Sellis maneuvered his tiny glider towards the transport allowing the asteriod's presence to mask his approach. He used his magetic grapplers to attach to the underside of the ship just before it jumped to locations unknown.





What they ended up jumping too was another asteriod in the middle of nowhere. But this asteroid was larger, had several beacons, a large orbiting facility and a large facility built on top of and inside of it.


At first glance, the orbiting facility looked like a refueling and resupply station for his sensor squeeked in it's passive mode at the passing Imperial Star Destroyers on station. Two of them!


Both were moving away to resume patrol duties while the transport moved towards the asteriod.

The closer it got, the more Sellis could see and he noted that the facility on the asteroid had a small starport of it's own.

It was with an ugly realization that the facility was a deep space prison. A prison of the types that did not register on maps or even letterhead.

Using his glider's ROV, he found and cut into a conduit panel allowing the ROV to tap into the ship's internal sensors and computer system. The fact that he was not expected to be there in the first place allowed him to identify that the transports were moving prisoners from one location to this other. Apparently, the other prison facility was being rennovated into something else and the inmates needed to be transferred.

And as Sellis, through the camera network on the transport, looked at the prisoners he began to feel an erie feeling in the pit of his second stomach. These were no ordinary prisoners but prisoners of war!

Some were wearing some sort of uniform though it took Sellis a while to figure out what kind.


New Republic!


Men, women, and aliens alike.


These were prisoners considered officially dead. There was no more New Republic government to return these prisoners too. The New Republic had fallen and these prisoners were forgotten.


Suddenly his duty was very clear.


But how to get help? For once he jumped out of the area, he would be unable to lock onto the asteroid's location and would lose it's position. With no beacon, there was nothing the computer could lock onto.


A plan formed in his mind and disconnected the ROV from the transport's sensors and prepared to use it for something else.


"I detached from the transport and upon passing the outermost beacon, I dropped the ROV onto it. It was programmed to locate a signal relay center and use the carrier energy to bounce it's own signal at a certain frequency. A Coalition scambler frequency."


Trajan could not help but admire the pilot's quick thinking.


"As I continued, my first thoughts were to get into a position to calculate a jump and get the fak out of there."

"But the Imperials had one of their invisible attack craft there and they spotted you." Trajan commented softly.

"Correct, Captain. And so it was a running fight. I had to stay one step ahead of a craft I could not see and calculate a jump to anywhere."

"The invisible ship would have tried to keep your course changing which would have altered the trajectory and hyperspacial coordinate figures making it take longer for your nav computer to come up with a course plot."


"And so here I am." Sellis concluded.


Trajan narrowed his eyes. "Your ROV must not have much power.." he started.


Sellis agreed. "It has roughly 8 hours of power left and after that, the signal will die and we lose the asteroid forever because trying to look for it in a hundred lightyears let alone a thousand lightyears would be next to impossible."


Trajan's rage made his mind think quickly, "Eight hours is not enough time to muddle through the Coalition beauracracy and enact a response. Not nearly enough time! Then, there is the political fallout. What would the Empire do if they found out the Coalition engineered a prison break? I don't think the Coalition can take that chance."


"Then they are lost.." Sellis said approaching despair.


A gleam appeared in Trajan's eye as he shook his head. "Chief Vallorum to Medical." he ordered over the ship's internal comms.


"They are not lost! Not by a long shot!" the Captian declared with conviction to the tiny alien pilot.


And Sellis sat up staring at the Captain wondering if he were mad.


For what could a Victory Star Destroyer do?

"You want to what?" Vallorum looked at his Captain quickly narrowing his eyes.

"When we formally joined our ship was assigned a particular IFF recognition code. We still have the old one aboard?"

Vallorum nodded absently, "The Republic one, yes. But I don't see..."


Trajan connected their conversation with the various bridge station department heads and quickly and in little time, Trajan brought his engineer as crew up to speed. Vallorum's eyes hardened to match his Captain's.

"I can have the switch done within the hour." he said firmly.

"Then our next task is to bring something to the party that will keep us alive long enough to rescue those prisoners." Trajan continued, his mind racing.

"It's IMPOSSIBLE!" Sellis nearly shouted, reverting to his native language. Such a response was an indicator as to just how distressed the alien was.

"What did he say?" Vallorum chucked a thumb back at Sellis.

"He doesn't think we can take on two ISDs and whatever else the Empire has on station!"

"He's got a point," the Chief nodded back to Sellis and the little alien seemed to relax a bit upon knowing his concern was noted.

"But they are not guarding the base as much as they are patrolling the area. That's got to count for something?"


"Sir?" came a voice over the speaker, "Sorry to interrupt but if I follow this correctly, the prison facility is an asteroid correct?"

"That's an affirmative Mr. Boway." Trajan said recognizing the voice of his head Navigation Officer.

"Well, Sir. An asteriod puts out next to no gravitic mass shadow."

"So?" Vallorum asked.

Trajan snapped his fingers. "We could pop out right on top of them."

"Exactly, Sir!" Mr. Boway agreed excitedly. "But even more, we could exit just inside their detection grid! It would be so fast, we could begin jamming the area before their detection computers even realize we jumped in."

"If they ever do." Vallorum chimed in. "By the way Mr. Sur describes those beasties it may be targeted to project unidirectional rather than omnidirectional. That's good for planetary detection grids but for asteriod bases? There's no mass shadow to drop the ship in front of the detection satellites."

As he was listening, Sellis began to sense the determination of the crew of the Iron Mantis and also understood that these were veteran soldiers. They knew their business. They were probably the best chance the prisoners had and so his began to lean in taking on the conspiratorial tone the conversation was having.

"I would recommend sending a fighter squadron to your next port of call. Have one send out your Coalition IFF transponder so you at least keep up the pretense and are not missed within the GC defense network."

Vallorum cast an appreciative glance at the White Knight. "I'll be damned. The White Knight actually is earning his pay.."

"Actually, this falls into hazard pay." Sellis replied deadpan.

Trajan grinned a shark's grin. "Sur, we'll need to see your scans of the prison."


"You've got a plan." Vallorum accused knowingly.


"We jump beyond their detection grid.." Trajan started.

"..without hitting the asteriod." Vallorum interjected.

"That would be preferrable." Trajan nodded. "We immediately jam the communications so that the ISD's patrolling will only meet static. They'll know something is up but not from where."

"And when they scan our direction?" a bridge officer asked over the intercom.

"We pray that the asteriod conceals our readings because we will be docking manually with it. From Sur's scans, we will identify an appropriate access dock and just push the Mantis right up to the bloody prison!"

"Then?" asked Vallorum, knowing this was the not so well planned part.

"We hold off the ISD's while our teams inside rescue as many prisoners as possible."

"Oh, is that all?" Vallorum griped. "And how do we do that?"

Trajan's grin widened. "I only come up with the rushing into certain death plans. You," he pointed at Vallorum, "give me the means to cheat death and come out looking good."


"I knew I shoulda been a freighter engineer." Vallorum spat out insincerely.

"And miss this?" Trajan waved his hands about as he walked out knowing that his people were ready to do their duty. "Chief, we launch as soon as the IFF switch has been made."

"I'm on it, Captain" and the large Engineer left leaving the White Knight suddenly alone.

Sellis was about to hop off his medical bed when a droid blocked his path. "You are not cleared for departure." the droid stated with a hint of dryness.

Or was that his imagination?

"The problem with jumping towards a moving asteriod..!" Old Benjay, the semi-retired reserve Navigator and part of the Iron Mantis' original crew, shouted above the loud humming, "..is that the variables are always changing! Coordinates! Approach vectors! These 'floating' equations make for a hell of a ride and the astromechs pop a chip or two! With floating variables, a hyperroute free of cosmic trash and doodads can never be guaranteed!"


The aging Benjay patted the current Navigator on duty on the head, "So Asono here has to keep his concentration up and be ready to pull us from hyperspace if anomolies appear on our scopes! At these speeds.." the ship shuddered, "..Asono won't have much time!"


Old Benjay was allowed to retain a reserve status thus keeping him with the ship though, according to him, he had two feet into retirement soon enough. He was an eccentric old fellow who took the oddest times to train the younger generation about the fine arts of flying starships across lightyears at unprecidented speeds.


Right now, his hoarse old voice was something familiar to the uncommon whines and strain of the Iron Mantis as it travelled along it's unorthodox hyperroute.


"Bridge! This is the Armory! Keep it calm! I am working with live energy canisters here!"


"Lars, what the hell are you doing that for?" Trajan shouted back into the comm system and over the strain of the ship.


"Val, told me I had to if I wanted to save our collective behinds!"


"You blow the ship up and you'll be letting down some soon to be free prisoners!"


"Don't get serious on me, Captain! These baby's are going to take care of your Star Destroyer problem! Armory out!"



The ship shook again and Trajan turned to see that the approaching Chief Vallorum was almost catapulted off the bridge catwalk. "That's it! I am installing railings!" he cursed out getting back to his feet.


Trajan waved away his concern, "What's up Chief?"


The Engineer got closer to the Captain and then crawled down into a pit and started punching in codes to the environmental control system. "Speed is going to be a factor and going over the scans our White Knight took of the prison I found an optimal area to connect too. But to do it quickly, we need our airlock depressurized with a grapple team at the ready!"


"Why depressurized?" the Captain asked over the vibrating ship.


"Our inertia will still be great even if we cut engine thrust off after hyperspacial terminus! We are going to hit that baby so I'd rather have it already in a vacuum so our people don't get blown into space. Once our grappler teams secure the connection, we apply durafoam of the connection and it should temporarily seal the lock."


"We'll have to watch our drift then or we'll.." Trajan started.


"You'll rip the foam and connection apart throwing everybody into space. We cannot move, Captain. Our helm and thrust boys will have to be at their best to keep in concert with the asteriod movement and rotation. We'll have to figure out where we are going to put the prisoners!"


"I'm putting them in the hanger. With the fighters gone, we've got the room and it will be easier to organize!"


"There!" Vallorum called out and began to scramble back up to the catwalk. "What are you boarding with?"


"Heavy stun.. modified crowd busters."


"Stun?"


"Val, this operation is going to be messy. I don't want us hitting our own prisoners and I certainly don't want an explosion to breech the prison walls!"


"We'd be buggered if that happened... Sir!"


Trajan started to laugh nervously when a thought brought him back to the present. "What about tractoring the prison! Or the asteriod!"


Chief Vallorum threw his hands in the air, "Sure! And why don't you ask for a Battalion of New Republic Commandos, The Bounty Hunter's Guild, Luke Skywalker and Gash Jiren while your at it!"


"They wouldn't happen to be aboard would they?" The Captain asked with a face as innocent as snow.


Before the Chief could retort another shout entered the commotion. "ROV signal detected!"

Trajan shouted back, "Prepare to exit hyperspace and prepare for the final jump! Set astromech calculations to zero once we cross the terminus!"

The Captain of the Iron Mantis pulled out a calculator and began entering figures.


"May all your calculations be right, Captain!" Vallorum shouted as he was leaving the bridge.

"I used to be an Engineer, Val!" Trajan shouted back.

The Chief smiled as he entered the lift, "That's what scares me!" and the doors closed.


Trajan returned to his numbers content to let the Chief have the last word.


The final jump!

One of the last things Trajan remembered Gash Jiren once saying was, “What is to become of the galaxy if our presence is nowhere near the battle that will decide it’s fate?”

It was later stated on a more personal level, the same quote, still attributed to a man wiser than he, "What is to become of our people, if our presence is nowhere near the battles that will decide their fate?"


And the more Trajan experienced life, the more he realized those words were true. You only achieve results if you act.


Intent without action is pointless.


It was said that Gash Jiren never considered himself a particularly wise man. A man that would buy you a drink for it's own sake. A man who could walk into any bar from the Core to the Rim and have a drink bought for him.

Hated. Feared. Loved.


Say what one might about the man, it was clear that he had lived a greater life than Trajan.

He could not help the thrill of the hunt, the excitement of being the architect and mover of events. The fact that he could call on several hundred men and they would back him up with their lives was heady stuff.


He was executing a plan that was so full of holes and relied on that thing called luck for any chance of success. .but as veterans would tell you, sometimes you just had to roll the dice.


Trajan was such a veteran.


He glanced at his pocket watch and at the figure on his calculator.
"Premature hyperspacial terminus on my mark!" he shouted to the Hyperdrive Control Station.

He cringed that they would be unable to raise the shields as they would interfere with the grappling teams to make a quick connection and seal with the prison.

"3"


"2"


"1"



"MARK!"


And the movement of light coalescing into physical form happened so fast that the scanning array was not able to register anything more than a slight glitch. The asteriod was exactly where the ROV's beacon and Sellis said it would be and as the exit was being carried out the asteriod began to leap closer and closer until the threshold was crossed.

And then the warning alarms began to break out over the ship.

"Begin Jamming Communications!" Trajan shouted as the Helm Stations adjusted the incoming trajectory of the Victory Class Star Destroyer.

The speed of inertia was tremendous as counter thrust was being applied.

"Collision alarm!" came a shout and the alarm sound changed.

The asteriod was before their bridge view and all of a sudden, as the approach vector changed with the Mantis activating it's thrusters, the prison station came into view.

The approach was very close to the asteriod as the prison facility was built on and inside the cosmic rock.

"Increase Counter Thrust NOW!" he shouted and the Mantis struck.

If the ship was going too fast and the counter thrust not applied in time, they'd sheer off the docking port ring of the prison which would make their jobs a hell of a lot harder.

The vessel hit portions of the asteriod as well as support pylons before striking the actual docking ring. It was like skipping the side of the Vicstar's arrowed bow along the asteriod and station before striking the ring.

The ring buckled slightly and Trajan felt his plans crumbling before him when the counter thrust put the forward momentum at zero. The ship came to rest, it's own docking port smashed into the docking ring of the prison.

Already the grappler teams were moving, manually cutting through the damaged section to open the docking door and attaching cables from the ship to the ring. Some military units drifted over to the ring and began to cut into the hull while the durafoam was being applied around the hull breach and connecting make-shift walk being erected between the ship and the prison ring.

"Starboard ion cannons fire!" he ordered the Fire Control Stations and a few minor weapons opened up into specific locations trying to sow as much internal confusion as he could manage.

The bridge monitoring of the teams working on the junction as well as those teams eager to enter to begin the liberation caught Trajan's attention.

"DuraSeal formed!"

"Bridge-head pressurizing!"

"Pressurized!"

"Fire in the Hole!" and the hull of the docking ring of the prison was blown outward leaving a gaping hole that allowed their first looks inside the prison.


"Go! Go! Go!" came the Marine leaders and the monitors noted lines of black armored boarders in NR colors moving across the screen entering the blackness of the prison.


Heavy stun sounds were coming over the comm channels when Trajan turned to the Sensor Stations. "Starboard sensors sweep the prison. Let's begin sending their team leaders as much intel as wel can. Port sensors begin your sweep and see if you can find those damned ISD's. The jamming won't confuse them for long. Feed your sensor readings to the Port Fire Control Tactical. And have the anti-fighter batteries at the ready!"


The Captain shifted uncomfortably. He did not like staying behind letting his men go into uncertain danger. Not one bit.

"Prisoners!" came a shout over the monitors and Trajan's eyes snapped back up to the events unfolding.

A few dirty people dressed in rags suddenly appeared in the docking ring looking confused. The soldiers securing their link called out and the prisoners began to move towards them.

"Have the med teams meet them in the Hanger Bay," Trajan ordered seeing the prisoners being helped into the temporary bridge between the Mantis and the prison facility. "The first of the prisoners is about to arrive."


"Contact! Bearing..."

Trajan turned as the coordinates were being rattled off and stared at the Tactical Display noting the arrival of the first Star Destroyer. It was doing a sweep of the outer area looking for possible prey.

Little did they know that the Iron Mantis had snuck past the detection grids and was now a predator in a bird house.

But, however much he might try to deny it, it was a situation that would not last.

The attack had thrown the guards into confusion and the fact that they could not call for help from their support craft due to the jamming field blanketing the area.


Forsia Venna was shaking as he walked into the outmoded command center of the prison. The months of failing maintenance schedules and outside supplies running behind schedule suddenly felt very real as a force of unknown numbers were invading his sanctuary.


"Sir, the invaders have taken Sections B thu D. We are holding A and E." a stormtrooper entered snapping off a report pulling another recharging blaster off the small arms locker.

"Whatever slammed into us on the docking ring severed us from the barracks. And the bloody armory!" Forsia complained. "Where the hell are the Star Destroyers?!"

"Sir, we cannot break the jamming!"

Forsia turned to the comm officer throwing a deadly glare his way, "You have ten minutes to break the jamming or you'll be shot!"

*

"Merciful God!" muttered one of the marines as they opened two doors, D-3 and D-4, into the new section they 'liberated'.

"Can the chatter Marine!" a harsh command into their earpieces sounded out. "Focus and get these people out! The quicker they're aboard the quicker we can help!"




"Resistance increasing into Level A. Progress halted. Recommend lethal settings!"

"Belay that!" came a Major moving up to the front. "Bring up the concussion grenades! Expend the whole damn string if you have too but puch through!"

He slapped the shoulder of the squad leader.

"Get those Crowd-Busters over here!"




Aboard the Iron Mantis...


"ISD Belarius! It's turning this way!"

Trajan pointed to the Shield Station, "Can we raise the shields?"

The Station Head looked very nervous and very young but resolutely gave his information, "No sir! The Durafoam seal would collapse. We've two more sections to secure!"

Trajan turned to glance out the viewport and at the small point of light he knew to be his enemy. "We're in trouble.." he mumbled, dread suddenly wellign up inside of him.






Battery Section, Port Side, Iron Mantis...


"Sir! Sensors showing the ISD is turning. It's detected us!"


Major Lars stepped up to the person who had dispensed the information. He would walk the entire line of the Vicstar to ensure that his crews manning the guns were ready.


"Tell the Sensor Stations on the bridge to throw everything at the ISD!" the Major ordered. "UPDATE YOUR VECTOR INFORMATION NOW!" he shouted into the comm system that allowed him to order the entire line to task.


Major Lars tapped his boot on the polished Mantis' floor waiting for the critical piece of observational data to come.

They would only get one chance at this if the ISD captain kept to standard Imperial protocol which directed the enemy close on it's target to effect a maximum amount of damage. There were appropriate ranges for each class of ship and Lars knew the one for the ISD. He'd fought the damned things at the Battle of Dantooine after all.


ISD's did not turn on a credit and that poor thrust ratio played into his hands today. At least it would if the Belarius...

"Thrust rate slowing!"

Lar's heart quickened. "START FIRING CLOCK!" he shouted and the display overhead began to count.

"Slowing..."


"Slowing.."


"RANGE THE GUNS AND REMOVE RESTRICTORS!"


"Turn Complete!!" the shout was a frightened for now an Imperial Line Vessel was aimed straight at them just out of standard weapons range but with the Mantis without shields, the Imperials would not need a lucky shot to disable the Mantis for any hit would be crippling.


"+1 !"


"FIRE ALL CANISTERS!"


"THE ISD IS GONE!!"


And the Iron Mantis actually shuddered at the propelling motion of the entire battery line aboard the vessel. Lars wiped the side of his face a stunned thought going through his head...The ISD Captain was a man of protocol...

Combat Tactics.


Sometimes the difference between sheer brilliance and utter stupidity was the simple timing of circumstance.


The Iron Mantis had to remain in a fixed position to keep the durafoam seals on it's docking tubes running from the ship to the prison ring intact. The Thruster Control Stations were working overtime to keep the ship's position relative with motion of the floating asteriod.

The fortunate part of the circumstance was that the asteriod, while in a constant state of motion, was not moving very quickly.

Even then, the Mantis could not raise it's shields while attached to the prison ring thus making it a very vulnerable target to the Imperial Star Destroyer.

And thus, the ISD faced (albeit just outside maximum range of the heavy guns) the port side of the Iron Mantis.

Imperial battle doctrine was typically designed around the concept of maximizing a vessels firepower with concentration.

There was no reason to expect different from this situation.

However, if the Imperials merely charged at their highest sublight speeds content to start off with a long range bombardment, throwing everything it's forward guns could muster, the result would have been a onesided slugfest with the Imperials being victorious. The ISD would have operable shields set against the Mantis' lack of protection and with all forward weapons of the ISD facing even all the port-side weapons of the Vicstar, the Mantis would be outmatched in firepower.

Since it was a given that in such a contest the Mantis would lose, Major Lars threw that senario out of his response book and prepared the actions of the batteries hinging on the only maneuver that would give them an edge.

He banked on the Imperial being so confident in their superiority that they would discard the approach at sublight and try to pop out of a small hyperjump amidship and ravage their unprotected armor breaking the Mantis.

The problem would be figuring out just where along the trajectory the ISD would come out of hyperspace.

The Iron Mantis' weapons were loaded with the energy-filled shells where once fired, the empty shells would be discarded allowing for another reload.

But in this case, Lars ordered those restrictors that kept the shell back removed so that the entire casing was "launched". Such a maneuver reduced the range of the guns. But the range wasn't important especially if the ISD was microjumping towards them.

And why not?

The asteriod did not give off a large mass shadow which allowed for the Iron Mantis to jump in such close proximity of the prison.


So, when the ISD finished it's turn, the Mantis gunners now had the approach vector and so fired their bullet shaped shells, each shell to cross the approach vector at different points. The ISD microjumped..


The astromechs and computers could plot a microjump free of natural obstacles. But such calculations did not take into account obstacles that the Mantis would throw in along the way.


And so, at lightspeed, the ISD struck one such shell!


A ship moving at lightspeed striking even the smallest object would cost the vessel much. But to make that object a live shell was simply too much for the ISD to take.


The vessel was thrown out of hyperspace a large chunk of hull torn out of the side of the enemy vessel. And since shields cannot operate in hyperspace, the Star Destroyer had no protection against the ensuing explosion.


At the end, the ISD was pointing down instead of at the Iron Mantis and was not under any type of helm control.


A cheer ran up the Battery Section as they continued firing, now with a stationary object to hit. An object that was not shooting back.


"Pour it on!" Lars shouted knowing that the same trick would not work for the second ISD.

He punched the comm to contact the bridge. "First ISD down! Have not located the second but recommend we begin preparations to pull out of here!"







Captain Drall cursed wildly as damage control teams were working on the damages caused by the extensive explosion that had thrown them out of hyperspace.

The ISD shook as the New Republic warship's batteries were zeroing in on their position.

"We'll get minimal navigation in a few seconds, Captain!" a bleeding technician shouted above the sparks and commotion that rang out over the bridge.

Captain Drall felt the rage building as he turned to the pits and shouted, "EMERGENCY POWER!!"

Amazingly, several thrusters activated.

"Uh oh.." came a murmur and Trajan tore his gaze from the damaged Star Destroyer to the source of the sound and the Scanning Officer looked up from his pit. "We have a problem.." he started when an alarm overrode his voice.

"CONTAINMENT FAILURE! THE DURAFOAM IS LOSING COHESION!"

The Captain of the Iron Mantis felt the blood drain from his face as he snapped out orders.

"Increase port thrust! Draw us closer to the prison ring!"

The alarm suddenly cut out as metal began to crunch in on itself.

"That whole level is going to be depressurized if we pull away." The Chief's voice crackled overhead on the internal communication system. "You smashed the durafoam into itself sealing back up."

"Thank the Jedi it's flexible. But it will not hold!" Trajan answered back in a rush, "We need to get our people out now!"


He had another location punched into the comm. "GET EVERYONE OUT OF THE CORRIDORS NOW! GET THEM TO THE HANGER! THE SEAL IS GOING TO COLLAPSE!"





Sellis Sur, White Knight for the Galactic Coalition, heard the alarm and as some of the former Imperial prisoners were being brought to the Medical Ward for evaluation and knew he had to act. He saw a distraught nurse looking for space to put a badly injured prisoner and he jumped at the chance to offer his bunk.

Seeing that he was better the nurse readily agreed and as she focussed on getting the prisoner onto the bed, Sellis made good his escape from the Medical Ward grabbing his gear in the process.

The sprite little alien scampered to the starboard docking port moving in and out of the sea of prisoners, injured marines and crewmen until he turned and darted into the connecting tunnel.

He could sense the weakened structure and wondered just how little time they had left?

The prison was dark, damp and smokey. It was pretty quiet as he passed through the opening going into the facility. He barely acknowleged the foothold guards as he ran past and into the facility itself. A guard called out that the action was in Section A.

He made his way through the stench wondering how the stormtroopers stood it when he realized they probably had filtration systems in their masks.

The sounds of stun basts and baster fire were being echoed off the empty hall he ran through when he came up to a group of Marines crouched down trying to avoid being hit by the prison defenders.


"Watch out there, little fella!" a Marine shouted as he tossed a stun grenade into the defender's camp.






"Sweet Jumping Jedi.." the Executive Officer mouthed as Trajan stopped his discussion with the Hanger Deck Officer of the Watch.

"What is... it...?" Trajan's question caught as his eyes followed the gaze outside at the disabled Star Destroyer that was floating impotently.

Or maybe not so impotently for he could see the thrusters firing and the position of the Imperial vessel changing ever so slightly to once again face them.


"Why aren't we firing?" He asked.


"Overload to the battery system, Sir. The output could not take the strain of launching the entire bombardment cannisters towards the enemy."


Trajan punched the comm and projected intent into his voice," LAAARRRSSS!"