Imperial Ubiqtorate Base,
Yaga Minor

"Captain, I want you to hold your position. Do not engage the enemy, allow them to engage you. The Verpine will yet join the Empire willingly."

Grand Moff Bhindi Drayson cut the communications link to Trinity, her mind racing. So the Coalition presumed it could impose itself on Roche, in spite of the Empire's directives? Such disobedience was not unexpected, but by no means could it go unpunished.

The Galactic Coalition, it seemed, had not learned from their defeat during the last war, that the Empire was best tamed by obedience. Failure to do so inevitably resulted in death and destruction, along with a good dose of humiliation, for the other side.

Which may be, the Grand Moff reflected, exactly what the medical droid ordered for this particular situation. Seating herself behind her great desk, she lapsed into thought. An attack on the Coalition was in order, a raid that would set straight the views of who was in the position of authority in that region of space.

The question was, how?

Grand Admiral Dessaria had recently returned from Tynna, his forces in disarray, the result of new weapons and tactics apparently pioneered by the Coalition. Drayson did not doubt that she could have turned the battle around had she been there, but even so Telan was a talented commander, and for him to suffer such grevious losses spoke to the skill or luck of the Coalition commander there.

And with that thouhgt, the answer became apparent: why not fight fire with fire? If the Coalition thouht it polite to introduce new weapons to the battlefield, why should the Empire not do likewise?

Smiling thinly, she called up a communications line to Yuri...


Two days later,
Somewhere on the edge of the Bimmisaari system

The bulbous shape of the Corelliaclass Star Defender resolved itself somewhere at the edge of the Bimmisaari planetary system, her shapely lines seemingly pushing space aside as she slid into position amongst the gathered Imperial fleet.

The great ship was in stark contrast to the half dozen Star Destroyers that made up the rest of the fleet: a pair of angular, brand new Astrus class vessels, and four of her smaller but invariably lethal Imperator class cousins. Present as well were a number of Thorne Dreadnaughts and Fire class Frigates, rounding out the Imperial force at nearly three dozen. Also present was the intimidating mass of a Messiah class Advanced Combat Support Ship. Her gravity well generators hummed to life as soon as the larger Corellia SD arrived, effectively neutralizing the chances of other vessels happening upon the fleet.

Joining them too were three ships previously unheard of: smaller than the Star Destroyers and shaped almost as a great bird of prey, their wing pylons housing dozens of small fighters.

The remainder of the fleet too had launched fighters, TIE Interceptors and Defenders, as well as a large number of experimental Empire SF vessels.

For this was to be the first operational test of the Empire's latest, and perhaps her most potent, weapon. Overseeing the operation was General Vladimeer, his great command ship the Requiem having just made hyperspace reversion.

"Shroud control reports targetting data locked, receiving now." The watch officer offered, reading the feed from the spy ships. "Transmitting to Empire SOa Alpha."

The three ships were indistinguishable, only their sensor shadows giving up who they were, and even then they were called simply by their dock callsigns.

"Target laid in, General. Starfighter control reports launch of bomber sqaudrons."

The cloak-equipped Empire AF fighters would be invisible even to the Imperial forces once deployed, but their orders were laid in, and they moved out along with their swifter SF class sisters.

"Very good." The General said, rising from his command post and coming to the viewports. "Increase forward magnification, 100x."

It was done, and the viewport was replaced with a digitally enhanced image of a warship, a good five hundred meters in length, hovering unshielded above the world. Little would its crew suspect a strike against it, not without warning.

"Fire at will."

There was a few moments in which nothing happened. Every officer present on the bridge was silent, then propellent trails exploded against the starscape, and a second later explosions ripped through the ship, blowing it apart. The superstructure collapsed in on itself, fires exhausting themselves in the vacuum of space as oxygen was consumed. When the fireballs had cleared, only debris remained.

"Prepare for a second volley." The General ordered, a smile creeping to his face.

...Except, that's exactly what didn't happen.

As the Shroud inched forwards, like a rat crawling through the gutter, the Coalition vessels above Bimmisaari had lain in wait. An 'ally of the Coalition' had left an anonymous tip-off about the attack, and on a hunch, Ruuvan had followed it. Coalition forces in the area had rallied under Ruuvan to keep their eyes peeled. It had payed off.

The Empire was perhaps unaware of the Graviton Detector, but it's more respectable feature was it's ability to detect anything with mass. This feature invariably came in handy when over-confident and under-educated Imperial commanders saw fit to attack with roughly as much planning as goes into binge-drinking. It was such thoughts that passed through the mind of Knight Ruuvan as he patiently waited for the Shroud to get within range.

"Our own forces?" He said, his voice practically a whisper.

"Deployed as you requested, sir. The Stealth-Intruder outriders you wanted to guard the perimeter detected the Imperial fleet on reentry. They're staying out of sensor range, so we moved the signal-ship outside of theirs. Our other forces are also in position, at your discretion, sir. The Planet will raise it's shield as soon as you declare the attack, and the signal ship will summon reinforcements likewise."

Ruuvan nodded. The Empire had balls, he had to admit. Attacking the Coalition like this dripped of arrogance, did they still think it was a rag-tag rebellion of scruff nerf-herders? Did they actually believe what INS told them? Still, they lacked brains. An assault should generally have some measure of planning beforehand, 'Know thyself, but know not thine enemy, recieve victory and defeat in equal measure.' Ruuvan had a plan, however, to give them more then an equal measure of defeat.

"Come on..." he murmured, watching the sensor image of the Shroud move towards it's target. It was a spotter, a scout, that much was obvious. What it didn't know, though, was the turning speed of a Longsword.

Engaging it's side thruster quite suddenly, the frigate whipped around and launched a Particle Projector shot - startling the Shroud and reducing it to a fine paste in the same instance, as the giant ball of magnetic, energy-enhanced matter crashed into it and tore it apart.

Ruuvan came close to leaping from his seat, his eyes alight with unusual ferocity as he gave the order to attack!

From below and side-to-side, Coalition ships on the edge of the Imperial's sensor ranges suddenly sprung forth! The Stealth Intruders that had provided the vital spotting information quickly vacated their position, their role complete, as the thunderous charge began.

A brilliant ploy, if he did say so himself. The Empire had seen fit to deploy a long-range bombardment strategy, forcing the Coalition to weather a terrible storm of fire before even reaching firing range. This plan faltered, however, for Coalition vigilance, Ruuvan's grasp of military tactics and Imperial doctrine, and a few blunders on the enemy's part meant that the forces of good had been granted a grace of time with which to set up an ambush, exploiting the enemy's confidence and self-surity that they were here to administer punishment and would be free to do so at their whim.

As the Imperial forces reeled from the loss of their eye on Bimmisaari, they realized that the Coalition had been ready for them. Ruuvan sincerely hoped that the Imperial commander was regretting not having taken a more careful hand in his attack, but admitted it was more likely they were coming up with a counter-tactic. Though passion threatened to take hold, he was still a warrior of reason, and he instead focused on the moment.

The enemy, shields down and possessed nothing but the substandard Interceptors and Defenders as fighters, although Graviton detectors were relaying something disturbing about some new fighter, and the data was quickly transmitted to Kris wings. The Coalition's Claymores, Longswords, and Enforcers descended on the flanks and underbelly of the fleet, their own shields crackling with anticipation as opposed to those of the Empire, whose ships were so crammed together that when the Projectors and batteries fired, it was devastating.

Huge fists of matter battered the Empire's pride like cannon-balls, clanging and crushing, tearing and rending. The poised guns of the Empire's newest weapon felt what wrath they had been only moments from dishing out themselves. Though the Imperial fleet was large, the bombardment was devastating, with no shielding to deflect it nor room to maneauver away from it.

As Ruuvan called for the ships to break off their attack runs and pull back to their ambush points, reminding the Kris fighters to attentively fend off those who might think to pursue, he could not help but allow a beam of exhiliration to pierce his usual shield of stoic calm. He could only hope that volley would be a lesson to never underestimate the Coalition - wether or not it was a strong enough show to pierce Imperial arrogance had yet to be seen, but failing that he could always just hit them again, as he ordered the projectors reloaded.

"Regroup the battlegroups, stay loose and prepare to strike again!"

The Empire would learn yet.

Dauntless-class Command Cruiser Pathfinder - in transit.





"I'm getting bored of this." Joren Logan remarked mildly as he read the report from Bimmisaari.

Coalition spies in black Dragon space had spotted the Imperial armada when it had accidentally - and stupidly - suddenly appeared over the planet Tholatin.

The spies had transmitted their report to all sectors of the Coalition, including the Onyxian Commonwealth. Logan himself had been on his way back from a formal gala on the nearby world of Sneeve when he had been alerted about a possible Imperial attack, now confirmed to be at Bimmisaari.

His second in command, Captain Foster, smiled grimly, "Me too."


"How long until we are there?" Logan asked.

"ETA... seven minutes."

Logan nodded, glacning out the window casually, watching the lights of hyperspace whirl by, "Have our fleet be ready to engage Imperial forces."

As the Imperial Forces' formation shuddered and shook, Ruuvan ordered his ship to turn around "We're making another attack run, reload the Projectors!"

The Coalition fell upon the Imperial formation like plains predators attacking a herd - as the enemy's tight formation turned and buckled from trying to face their foes, the faster Coalition ships darted forth to fire and back away, fire and back away. The enemy was falling into the classic pattern of a fleet surrounded by a more nimble foe, in that they refused to break formation and scatter their enemies in order to maintain their concentrated fire-arcs, not realizing that these fire-arcs were useless against an enemy too spread-out to be effectively caught in a cross-fire.

One of the new Imperial warships, mounting strange, large weapons suddenly fired one in an attempt to lessen the pressure of attacks tearing into it's flanks. Ruuvan blinked at the flash of light as an arc of deadly energy passed far too close to his bridge.

"New orders, redirect our fire - bring down those new ships! I want all focus going into those large guns of theirs."

Another shot grazed the hull, their aim was improving. Suddenly, a lieutenant began screaming, and said "Sir! Sir! Breach on hull level 6 - it's venting O2."

Ruuvan gripped a rail. This was it. This was what brought him back down from the heady rush of battle - the order that could end people's lives. Ruuvan blinked, as if awakening from a deep sleep. What was he doing here, commanding a warfleet and thousands of lives in battle? When did he go from just a pilot to... this?

"Sir? The venting's getting worse..."

Ruuvan gripped the rail tighter. Regrad had warned against this. What had he said? Unbidden, through the depths of memory, the wise old Azguard's voice returned. Belief is the greatest weapon in a warrior's arsenal. He had to believe, and others had to believe in him. Now was not the time for indecisivness.

"Divert rear shield energy over the breach area and redirect our particle shield to reduce oxygen leak until the deck's evacuated. Emergency rebreathers on hand. Compensate 2/11 parts for pressure on that side, and prepare the next volley." Said Ruuvan. If they were hit without their particle shield up it'd turn the tinfoil armor of a Claymore into so much wreckage, but he had to risk it - they had to believe he was going to get them all through.

His Claymore spun round in space, finally righting itself upside down but still facing their targeted Imperial warship. The targeting reticule for the projector slowly swung round, until it came to rest over the big guns. Ruuvan licked dry lips.

"Fire."

The two projector shots streaked like little comets, crashing through shields and knocking the guns at the base of their connection. There was a creak and a crackling as the metal tore, and quite suddenly ignited - the surface of the warship was alight as the massive gun overloaded and tore the ship in two. The Imperial formation began to break up - not as a concerted effort to drive their enemies before them, but to avoid the concussive wave and shrapnel that scythed through space from the smoking ruins of the Imperial Destroyer.

"Sir, normal pressure restored on-ship!" said the lieutenant, relieved.

Ruuvan let out a gasp of air, which thankfully went unnoticed as several nearby bridge-officers cheered in congradulation. "Excellent work, men. Let's see them turn this one around. New orders - I want the fighters to begin harrying runs near the enemy's rear. Keep their fighters busy and out of our way. A portion of the fleet is to redirect out of the immeadiet battle behind the enemy fleet as our reserve and back-up incase of an Imperial trap. I want them on alert, though, there's still two more of those heavy guns. The rest of us, regroup in the Imperial formation and prepare to force them out! All power to shields, prepare to attack!"

The loss of the Shroud has startled the Imperial fleet enough that the first wave of attack came without warning, and before it had fully registered the Empire SOa Alpha was on fire, her majestic bulk giving off showers of red and yellow that lit up the bleak emptiness of outer space.

THAT action, though, rallied the Imperial fleet into renewed action. The Coalition force that had ridden out to meet the Empire was small, a handful of ships none larger than the fleet's Imperator staples, and most smaller even than that. The Imperial fleet, meanwhile, was led by one each of the simply massive Corellia class Star Defenders and the smaller but quite lethal Messiah ACSS. And while might was not neccessarily an indicator of who would emerge victorious, the sheer size of the Empire's forces in system meant that even if they remained at idle like this and swallowed the fire of the Coalition ships endlessly, it would take quite some time for them to destroy the last of the fleet.

And, naturally, the Imperials had no intention of allowing that to happen.

Foolishly, the Coalition forces had decided to target the Empire ships - given that they were fragile and not designed for frontline duty, they had been placed near the rear of the Imperial formation. As such, the Coalition ships were required to pass through the gauntlet of Imperial fire not once, but four times in order to complete the two runs made against the Empire SOa Alpha.

The Coalition ships were fast, but the laws of physics remained, and they could not avoid all the fire directed towards them. Given the sheer number of guns mounted by the gathered Imperial fleet, this meant a great deal of fire found its way home, and the effect on the GC ships was devestating. Their thin armour was not up to the task of stopping the Empire's most powerful warships, and no fewer than two of the smaller warships fell in the first run against the Fleet.

What was more, the GC commander had not taken into account the virtues of his enemy: as his ships roared past the front line, the Thorne class Dreadnaughts pounded them with turbolasers, and as they passed the Dreadnaughts pivoted, tracking and continuing to fire. As the GC vessels came and went twice more, they were again subjected to the same fire, and again the damage was evident: lightly shielded and armoured, the ships were scarecely able to repel the attacks.

As they retreated the field and left the burning Empire SOa Alpha in their wake, the Empire's lighter ships gave chase: the Thorne and Fire class vessels easily keeping pace with their enemies and pouring laser fire into them.

The Empire was down a ship, but there was no doubt that they still held the field. The lines had scarcely moved - the Coalition for all their bravery had no lines, they had simply a mass of ships running in all directions. And with the gravity well generators running, it was simply a matter of who could cause the most damage first. Given the number of Imperial guns in the field, the result seemed inevitable.

(Note: The following post takes into account misunderstandings made by Trinity about the positioning of Coalition forces. Images and summaries will be used at the end for full clarification.)

Ruuvan sat comforatbly in his command chairs, spitting out sudden orders to change directions or engage thrust to keep their distance from the Imperial block.

The Empire still refused to break lines - had their commander no grasp of strategy? The faster Coalition ships circled the mighty Imperial formation, too far for either side to shoot accurately, but the Coalition couldn't miss an enemy so tightly grouped, wheras the Imperials were trying to hit fast-moving blips on the edge of range. The enemy's huge Star Defenders were an impressive sight, but surely they must have realized that they were useless unless their enemy was held still long enough to land a few blows.

And, naturally, Ruuvan had no intention of allowing that to happen.

The graceful Coalition warships fired only in the general area of the enemy, unafraid to call off a shot to remain hard to hit when an Imperial inched closer. The sheer tonnage of Imperial guns was impressive, but simple weight of fire was not to be enough at this point.

What didn't help matters for the Empire was that the explosion of the Empire SOa was now going critical, a lcuky gamble from Ruuvan to move into close range and eliminate an enemy vessel. His forces continued to spit Projector shots and fall back, knocking the enemy fleet around and denting their armor.

Finally, the Imperial lighter vessles - the Thorne and Fire vessels - broke away to try and shake up the Coalition forces.

Seeing this, Ruuvan said "It's time to call off our hit-and-run tactics for a moment - keep our distance from the heavy ships, I want our fleet to engage the enemy's lighter vessels on the double."

"Yes, sir." said a lieutenant eagerly, and then punched in the commands to change their target location. The Claymore roared to top speed, skirting the edge of the firing range and picking up other Claymores and Longswords on it's way. A slice of the fleet moved to flank the Fire and Thorne vessels catching up to the Coalition's guerilla line, unloading a playload into their side. This battle had drawn the Empire's fast ships away from their hefty Destroyer cover, while a third of the Coalition vessels remained to one flank, harrying and distracting the enemy.

Now the battle was really taking shape, thought Ruuvan, as the flank of a Thorne grew ever larger in the central viewscreen. "Logistics? I want a firing plan for the center of this ship on the double!"

A flurry of commands were issued, and the two Projectors fired along with a volley of Turbolasers, piercing the center of the target vessel. As it cracked and shook, straining to bring missile clusters to bear, the Claymore passed underneath and rocketed off to engage other vessels in combat.

On the planet, however, news of the battle was filtering down to the recruits of the White Knight academy. They spoke in hushed tones - some worried, others confident.

"Ruuvan leads the knights!" boasted one "He's got the biggest rep of any of us - if anyone can take these Imperials, it's him."

"Yeah..." said another, uneasily "but where is lady Dolora? I thought she was back from her last mission, why isn't she leading our defence?"

This prompted more discussion amongst the recruits, but none would have guessed just where she was right now.

The Coalition had a number of Stealth Intruders - they were modern-day submraines - but rarely employed them in combat because of how lightly armored and fragile they were. Knights, however, did make use of them, as their stealth enabled the missions of these justices of the peace rather well. One in space right now wasn't part of Ruuvan's battleplans at all, it was helmed by a woman merely three feet tall. A Bimm, Dolora, and one of the most reputable Knights in the galaxy. Her expertise was stealth, subtelfuge, and ingenious solutions to sticky problems. Right now, she was contemplating the hardest one yet.

"Lady, we are waiting on the edge of the battlefield." said the captain of the vessel, somewhat cautiously. "Your orders?"

"Bring us in, Captain - slowly. Naturally, I have a plan."

(Quick summary of the action - with pictures!

[img]http://www.therebelfaction.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=747&stc=1[/img]

Red dots represent the spread of Coalition vessels, black dots represent spread of Imperial forces (not to scale nor equal to number of ships). Grey area is direction of planet. This represents where the fleets were up until the beginning of this post (Thus, none of this 'flying all the way in and all the way back, getting hit four times' stuff). From here, Trinity's order to have the smaller dots (fire and thorne ships) causes them to head towards one of the three sides. Ruuvan responds by circling over around the edge of the battlefield and bringing a flank in his wake to flank the faster ships.

So far, the Empire and the Coalition have suffered little in the way of casualties, but the size difference in fleets has been recouped by Coalition forces thanks to an improved firing position over the Empire.)

Ruuvan shook and stumbled as the bombardment of enemy fire began to reach the ship. He struggled to remain on his feet in the chaos, and bellowed "What was all that?"

"Sir! The enemy fleet is heading out of system. It appears we're... in the way."

Ruuvan didn't need to be a grand-master strategist to know that the fleet bearing down on them wasn't about to be stopped by a line of lighter skirmishers. They'd roll over Ruuvan's forces if he didn't act soon. No normal tactic would get them out of the way fast enough, the enemy had caught on and pinned him in place. Time for something brave... or suicidal.

"All forces, immediate disengage! Follow us!" With that, Ruuvan dashed to his chair and - inputing a quick code - he took manual control of the ship.

The Claymore drove forwards, rocketing through the enemy's startled formation. It would be a temporary effect, the shock of a whole fleet darting swiftly through the advance of so large an enemy came mostly from disbelief at what seemed like a surely suicidal endeavour. Even Ruuvan began to feel the bottom fall out of his stomache. They'd need a miracle...

Suddenly, all over, explosions tore up space. Ruuvan ripped his eyes from the shocking turn of events to a comm-station that read a detatchment of new Coalition signals in the heart of the battle. His heart leapt - the Stealth Intruders! They had a chance.

The comm rippled to life as Dolora spoke. "I could see you needed a little help! The Empire was so busy being gobsmacked at your ridiculous charge that they didn't notice little old me and a dozen of our stealth intruders coming at them from the other side. We'll cover your escape!"

It was as this was happening that Ruuvan had to suddenly jerk the controls and spin the Claymore battlecruiser, least it collide with the bridge of the massive Imperial flagship. As they past within razor meters of a deadly crash, Ruuvan happened to look up and lock eyes with the enemy commander - he wasn't sure, but he thought that maybe he smirked at the Imperial as he flew overhead.

Flashing in and out of visibility, raining explosives all around and turning space into a flashing, sputtering cloud, the Stealth Intruders danced about the Coalition fleet as it raced through the gaundlet of fire. Emerging out the other end, some Imperial ships broke off from the retreat to harry them - only to find that the third of the Coalition fleet that had not joined Ruuvan in the rear attack had regrouped and was covering the Coalition's withdrawl.

Particle Projector shots whizzed around Ruuvan's head, causing him to cringe, as a Thorn vessel that had been pursuing him became flattened to scrap. In relief, he brought the ship and his forces in tow into a safe area outside of the Empire's reach. They turned, and watched as the Imperial fleet begrudgingly departed.

Ruuvan started breathing again.

Cheers rose up from the bridge as officers threw their arms in the air and proudly slapped Ruuvan's back. He smiled - nay, grinned, and returned their hearty handshakes. Over the comm, all that could be heard were the congradulations of officers, crew, and pilots mixed in with unrestrained roars of victory.

"This is Dolora here, any words from our heroic commander?"

Ruuvan managed to calm them down with a restrained, respectful nod. His bridge quieted down, and he picked up the comm. "Good job."