The High Admiral could already taste the sweet breath of victory. It empowered him... fueled him. He craved these moments more than anything else in life. That brief time of silence before the forces at his command were hurtled forth to triumph.

The bitter smell of sweat lingered in the air, and the crews tension that was common before an operation of great importance polluted the enormous bridge. Weary eyes danced from one task to another, carrying out their duties quickly and efficiently... such efficiency that could only be achieved by the ranks of a long line of Imperial personnel.

The New Order, since it's earliest days of creation, in all its years, had never been unsuccessful in an operation. They knew not the sour words of defeat... loss... failure...

Millions upon millions that make up the warriors, politicians, servants, laborers, civilians of the Empire knew beyond all doubt that the New Order was destined to reign supreme.

And perhaps more than any other, High Admiral Hyfe knew this as well.



The black, star-studded canvas of Imperial space glistened in the eyes of Daemon Hyfe, a serene look fixed on his face as he stared outward. But for not the imminent action of battle awaiting his forces, he could have remained to contemplate the miracle of the universe for hours.

Odd it was that when great peril awaits it is possible for one's mind to slip into deep pondering. Wonderment. Curiosity.

Though he knew it to be impossible, the High Admiral was sure for a moment that he could recognize Imperial space when he was in it. That he could identify at the blink of an eye when he was in the heart of the Empire. Of course, the stars and constellations were hugely different across the expanses of Imperial planets. But somehow...

Hyfe ground his teeth together gently, turning from the masterpiece of deep space.

Captain Essian awaited the order.

As soon as the High Admiral provided it, with a curt nod, the Captain punched a key, and the count down began.

Hyfe knew that the rest of the ships in the TNO attack force would be locking on to that signal now... counting down as one, for the fateful leap to hyperspace.

Seconds passed. Hyfe could sense the erratic rhythm of heartbeats, the heavy intakes of air. Yet concentration was sustained.

3.... 2.... 1... 0

And the massive ship gave a lurch, and the pinpricks of stars blurred into blue streaking lines, and a heartbeat later, into the swirling mottled form of hyperspace. The call of a helmsman announced their successful entrance and speed.

The High Admiral acknowledged, looking to the small countdown display now counting up from zero.

Reversion time was just over 4 minutes.

The Admiral let out a heavy sigh, stepping to his command chair. He drooped into the large seat, and pulled holographic display consoles, BAC displays, tactical readouts, ship overview panels, and such around him.

The New Order fleet was primed, at maximum fighting capacity. Fighters were manned, and all hands were at battle stations.

Hyfe knew that by now several assaults would have already been launched. Since thus was the case, it was impossible for Intelligence to inform them of what resistance they would be facing. But the High Admiral was quite confident.

Silence took the massive bridge in its grasp.

The chrono continued to count.

Hyfe sat up straight in his chair, and stared intently out the forward viewport at the sea of swirling colors.

"Reversion mark!" an officer shouted at last, breaking the silence "... in 10!"

Those ten seconds took more than an eternity in the High Admiral's mind.

But with that eternity passed, the Fleet suddenly leapt from hyperspace exactly on mark, and Daemon Hyfe knew that the actions of this day would echo another eternity...

An eternity in which the Empire would gain control of the galaxy, and restore peace and order at last.

High Admiral Hyfe smiled at the thought.


Obroa-Skai lingered before them.



OOC:
Sentinel Fleet Division One:
(1 ESD, 4 ISDs, 3 ACSs, 4 VSDs, 3 CCs, 6 FCLCs, 6 IPs – 27 ships)

Eclipse-Class Super Star Destroyer – Ebony Vigilance
Imperial-Class Star Destroyer – Dark Nova
Imperial-Class Star Destroyer – Torrent
Imperial-Class Star Destroyer – Jarroth
Imperial-Class Star Destroyer - Kidjal
Attack-Class Carrier Sphere – Distant Void
Attack-Class Carrier Sphere – Deft Indulgence
Attack-Class Carrier Sphere - Ixar
Victory-Class Star Destroyer – Intrepid
Victory Class Star Destroyer – Vision
Victory Class Star Destroyer – Baragorn
Victory-Class Star Destroyer - Fremen
Carrack-Class Cruiser
Carrack-Class Cruiser
Carrack-Class Cruiser
Fire-Class Light Cruiser
Fire-Class Light Cruiser
Fire-Class Light Cruiser
Fire-Class Light Cruiser
Fire-Class Light Cruiser
Fire-Class Light Cruiser
Constrainer-Class Interdiction Picket
Constrainer-Class Interdiction Picket
Constrainer-Class Interdiction Picket
Constrainer-Class Interdiction Picket
Constrainer-Class Interdiction Picket
Constrainer-Class Interdiction Picket

All craft equipped with full fighter compliments.

High Admiral Hyfe stared silently out the forward viewport at the planet of Obroa-Skai, lingering in the tapestry of space before him. For about half a second, at least...

"Jam comms!" Hyfe shouted at once. This was often the downfall of many planetary assaults. Attacking forces failed to jam communications quick enough, and reinforcments were allowed to be brought in.

"Done, sir," the voice of Captain Essian assured him about 2 seconds later.

The BAC display showed blue dots beginning to litter the screen, representing friendly craft. Soon after, as passive scanners took readings of Obroa-Skai space, the red blips of enemy ships would begin popping up as well, if there were any at hand.

The Admiral examined various readouts on his tactical command console, massaging the area of his jaw in contemplation.

Captain Essian looked to him inquisitively, and Hyfe sensed the eyes upon him.

"Picket ships form up. Groups of two. Power up grav wells," the Admiral began. "Order the ISDs to launch first wave of fighters. Close range patrol."

He paused for a moment, glancing to a holographic projection housed above a small panel on his command console, then continued:

"Attack Spheres, move ahead .5 klicks to the fore. Have the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Distant Void<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> launch all 55 squadrons of TIE Devils. Support craft: begin forming up around the VSDs. I want a cloud-V attack formation surrounding us."

"Yes sir," came Captain Essians reply.

A comms officer spoke up: "Admiral, IPs report gravity well generators activated."

"Excellent," Hyfe replied. "All Imperial-Class Star Destroyers: deploy Scimitar Assault Bomber squadrons."

The Captain made sure Hyfe saw his nod as he carried out the orders.


The TNO fleet was still a good distance from the planet, Obroa-Skai, but they continued to drive towards high orbit, a thick wave of fighters swarming ahead.

The High Admiral bit at his upper lip as he stared at the planet and its orbiting shipyards closing in.

"ETA?" The Admiral questioned.

"... 2 minutes, 20 seconds, sir." Essian responded shortly.

Hyfe nodded.

"Charge the superlaser..." he ordered at long last.

"Yes sir."


OOC: Failure to respond will be taken as a sign that you have no ships here to defend against my ships. If this is the case, I will proceed to carry out my pre-planned actions as if there was no resistance. If this is not the case, please post immediately with your defenses so that the RP may continue. If you have not responded within 72 hours of the original post, I will proceed to carry out my actions as I see fit.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> It was not going good. TNA was being hit on all fronts. They didn't have the ships to spare but the Obroans deserved it. They'd helped TNA before. It wasn't a big fleet.Only a couple Star Destroyers and a Intredictor. They purposely came out on the far side of the planet from the TNO forces. The Intredictor immeaditly powered p Gravity well generators.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

ooc:fleet manifest
2 Imperial Star Destroyers
1 Intredictor cruiser

On the bridge of an Interdictor in hyperspace, Phantom leader stood, reflecting on thier mission. An employer had contacted the Phantoms, paying very well in order for them to perform this operation. The job itself was odd, in fact the Phantoms were even using the employer's own ships, with their IFF signals, names, everything linking them to thier owner changed. But, odd as the job was, the money was definately good, and the Phantoms were being paid well for the job.

Seconds later, the small force exited hyperspace. It was made up of three interdictors, and sat in space near the planet, ready for manuvers and defense. As soon as the ships had stopped, thier gravity wells started powering up. With four Interdictors in system, nothing was effectively leaving.

High above the planet of Obroa-skaii, two small forces hung in space. The two small goups of ships sat there facing off in silence for quite a while, in the shadow of the huge force that had simply sat there since thier arrival. Reluctantly, the Gand decided to go the diplomatic route, though he hated politics with a passion he had a knack for dealing with people.

The Gand had only planned on talking the Obroans down, and getting everyone out of there safe, but while he prepared his thoughts, he decided to take a chance. If things didn't go as he wished, he'd call in his trump cards. So the mercenary leader walked to the bridge of one of his borrowed Interdictor and ordered a channel opened up to the Obroan ships.

"Attention Obroan forces. This is Phantom Leader aboard the Interdictors you see before you. I'd like to negotiate a way out of this current situation. If your willing, I'd like to meet with your commander, aboard one your own ship if you like."

The holofeed infront of the Gand showed a young human male who was sweating profusely, obviously nervous and afraid. The leader of the Phantoms however was calm. His life had been in danger more times than he could ever count, and the rush of enzymes danger sent through his body had become natural, not fazing him in the least. His counterpart among the Obroans stammered as he responded. "Y..yes, a single shuttle will be allowed to dock, provided it's weapons and shields are powered down and the party coming aboard carries no weapons. I..I'll let the Govenor know planetside."

The Gand, whose name was Jander Sunstar and had long ago earned the right among his people to use first person pronouns, smiled a little. While the young commander was nervous, he did his job well. He'd set up about the best situation possible for his side, bringing unarmed negotiators on a defensless ship over. The only downside to the tactic is that a possible enemy was allowed to board your ship, but it was still better than most other options.

Sunstar would go on his own, unarmed except for the traditional weapons of his people, the Baak'tar knives in forearm sheaths. The sheaths were fashioned from his own carapace, molded from chemical treatments during Jander's findsman training years before. He wouldn't need the weapons, in a pinch he could handle himself through most any circumstance. Silently, the Gand nodded just before cutting the transmission and walking from the bridge. He made his way to the hanger, picking a shuttle at random and boarding it. Moments later the ship was slipping out the magcon field of the bay, and inbound for the Star Destroyer.

Within a few minutes, Sunstar was aboard the ship, and having been scanned for weapons was lead to a conference room where he met with a host of officers, including the young one from the holo before, and the appropriate leaders of the planetary government. He declined a seat and began speaking. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm not going to sugarcoat this at all, as you can tell, the situation is grave. Obroa-skaii simply cannot even hope to fight off the New Order, and your "New Alliance" has made no effort to help you. Only the Phantom's and our employer have made any efforts to assist you. So here are what I see your choices as..."

"One, you continue to support TNO's enemy, the New Alliance, and your planet will no doubt begin to look more like Nkllon. The Empire is full of some nasty people, and I have no doubt they'd vape your planet in a second. I don't know why they haven't taken us out already, but I certainly think you shouldn't keep giving them more reason to. That brings me to your second option. Declare neutrality in this war, stop supporting the enemies of your attackers here. That at least gives your people a chance. And for Ara's sake, don't threaten them, you'll just get yourselves and your families on the planet killed."

"So here's my offer. In taking this job, the Phantom's were to be paid with any ships captured here in addition to a sizable monetary payment. So along those lines, I'll be bringing these ships with me when I leave." At this several officers glared at the alien. He quickly retook control of the situation. "Now look people. I have a whole lot of people that I support, and I have to take care of them. In addition, this will keep you alive for the moment, and won't hurt your people in the long run. I mean, come on, you run one of the foremost shipyards in the galaxy, three ships shouldn't dent your pocket books."

Jander could see the officers thinking it over already, the nervous leader bug-eyed at what the Gand was saying. "I want this offer given to all crewmen. Anyone who would like to leave and join the Phantoms, or simply would like transport elsewhere is welcome, and will be brought back should they change thier minds once we've left. Anyone who doesn't will be transported down to the planet before we leave. So, what do you think people?"

To a one, the Obroan's were shocked by the situation. Never in thier lives had they expected something like this to occur. Also, many of them had never left the planet, and had long wished for a different life. With extreme hesitance, they talked it over and finally came to a decision. The ships would be surrendered and all crew who wished to go given thier leave. A final decision as to what the citizens of Obroa-skaii would do had to wait until a vote could be held.

The decision made, Sunstar activated his comm back to his ship. "Let the New Order know that the Obroan's will be offloading personnel here and we'll be loading a crew as well before leaving. I don't want us getting shot over nothing." About twenty minutes later, the announcement went over the ships intercom, and crewmen were left with half an hour to decide. Those that were leaving packed up thier belongings and headed to the loading areas given in the announcement. Those that were staying reported in and gave the status of their station so that new personnel could be moved to assist when needed. In all, it took only a little over three hours to make the transfers, and then the ships readied for hyperspace.

Sunstar made his way to the Destroyer's bridge. It certainly wasn't his first time aboard this class of ship, and it was far from the last. At his side was the ships captain, the youth he'd originally talked to. The human had decided to join up with the Phantoms, and was going with them. He was young and inexperienced, but Jander thought he could be trained to be a heck of an officer. Once they'd arrived, Sunstar took control of two different control panels, the ships was running on the absolute minimum skeleton crew. On the other ships, other Phantoms were doing the same thing.

Fortunately they were just making a short jump to meet up with other Phantom ships, and then could run with a larger crew. Clearing the planet, the six ships leapt away...

...to exit hyperspace only a few minutes later. Nearby was the Galofree Medium Transport "Patient Fury", the Dreadnaught "Barovian Mist", and the newest addition to the Phantoms, a Nebulon-B Frigate commanded by an old friend of Sunstar's, a KelDor named Qel Koon. As soon as the ships had stopped Koon opened a communications channel to the Star Destroyer Phantom Leader was aboard. The first thing the KelDor did was laugh. "A successful mission I guess there bossman?"

The Gand smiled from his place on the bridge and replied. "A squeaker, but yes it was old friend. A surprising number of Obroans have joined us, but we're all running on pretty low crews. I want the Fury to land in the hanger bay here, and the Mist to reinforce the Interdictor. You'll be helping crew the other ISD. So shall we?"

Qel quickly responded. "You got it boss, we're on it." Immediately the hanger bay doors on all three ships were opened. The "Patient Fury" flew expertly into the hanger bay of the formerly Obroan Star Destroyer. At the same time, transports launched from both the Dreadnaught and Nebulon-B, headed to thier assigned ships. After another two hours, the crew level between the ships was at a more respectable level. With things finally done, they made the jump to hyperspace and relative safety.
OOC: It's been well beyond 72 hours since anyone here has responded, so I believe my actions go unopposed.

OOC: I request that this roleplay be placed on hold, as I am not capable of responding due to my time limitations. The reason I had not replied to your earlier post is because I do not have access to a computer at all over the weekends, and only 15 minutes of access on week days. I'm now taking a break from all RPing, and will not be replying to this thread for approximately 1 month. I ask that the thread be placed on hold until my time restraints are removed and I have the time to reply appropraitely. My apologies.

OOC: Doesn't make a difference to me, Hyfe. I just wanted to end the situation, at least my involvement, peacefully. As far as the Phantoms are concerned, the RP is over for us, and TNA never really seemed to care/could do anything about it. Good luck with your IRL life, and getting your grades up. It's a constant struggle isn't it:)

The call had come in just when the superlaser was finished charging, had targeted a shipyard, and was ready to fire.

A message from High Command. Something drastic had happened.

Another vile act by the confounded New Republic.

The Ebony Vigilance was being called back until further notice. It would be necessary to keep the ship defended during the down time until it was needed most.

And so the 1st Division of Sentinel Fleet was ordered to pull out of Obroa-Skai.

They had no time to waste.



“Bring us about, then," High Admiral Hyfe ordered. "And begin plotting for a jump to hyperspace.”

“Destination, sir?” Captain Essian inquired.

“Muunilist.”



And so the Eclipse-Class Star Destroyer turned slowly about, its mighty engines powering it around, all the ships of the 1st Sentinel Fleet taking up positions to both the fore and aft of the grand ship.



Several minutes later, the Eclipse and the rest of Sentinel Fleet Division One made the jump to hyperspace.