Independent Planetary System of Dubrillion


Fodder, pure fodder.


The General passed from one embrasure to another, listening as soldiers came to attention and their officers saluted. Guns of massive calibre had been polished to a high shine, generators for repeating blasters hummed with life: on the surface, the short General had no reason to complain. Gazing at the immaculately-turned out weapons, Teth'al saw beneath the shine and newly oiled carriages. Having made a profession of war, the Trandoshan moved along as quickly as he could and felt nothing but pity.


Look at them, the dark-skinned officer said to the only confidant he had on the miserable little world of Dubrillion. Passek Ind. guns. They are large but that is their only grace - most of these pieces will explode after five shots and no Imperial weapon will even fire in their direction!


Were it not for the translator built into his cyberneticlly enhanced audity receptors, Colonel Marx would have never understood his superior. Marx could not help but think how a debilitating wound had made him the mercenary-general's most valued aide. It had, however, and there they were, lording over an army of citizen-soldiers with no battle experience and weapons produced on Dubrillion by a firm that had never produced so much as a blaster-cannon two years before. " President Aleric thinks highly of them."


Aleric is a fool! He and his congressional lackeys think because it is made here it is best - bah. I know better - Passek Industries made repulsor-lift engines!!! These poor fools will be sent to die. I have tried to train them but I am given a miniscule budget and the worst weapons. I cannot make an army with what they give me. A division perhaps of reliable troops, but with a million! His bulbous eyes fell on the fortress's garrison commander, a very pudgy Brigadier General who saluted with a large grin on his face. Teth'al stormed past and into his waiting repulsor-car.


" General, we have five thousand men through the capital city. We have defenses in the air, in orbit, and on land. I doubt the Empire is sending a full-fledged occupation force. We can beat them off for a little while."


The Trandoshan flashed a mouthful of teeth. Aleric has whipped the people into a frenzy - they actually think they can beat the Empire. They lack weapons training and munitions but they have excellent morale.


The hovercraft moved along the streets of the small capital city until it reached the subterranean command complex that housed both military command and the civilian government. The Colonel moved past while General Teh'al took a moment to stare up and beyond the three orbiting moons. This world has no hope when the Empire comes, and they will die defending a fantasy.


Nine Hours Later...


The Imperial Fleet arrived.

Lucius was dressed to kill that faithful day. The standard officer uniforms of the New Order made him seem more like a gentlemen of the navy then ever before. He stood aboard the bridge, in a perfect stance; overlaping one hand over the other around his back, back straight, chest out, feet shoulder width apart. It strengthened his sense of superiority over those barbarians that raced into battle, blasters blazing. Unlike them, Lucius always maintained his cool in even the worst conditions. Now was the time, more then ever, as a collaboration of naval officials had been ordered to record and monitor his every move. He paid them no mind, as if they were wisps onboard his vessel.

The task to be carried out had one prime objective, and several small subordinate ones. First and foremost, the empire had to have complete control over Dubrillion before Lucius' time in the Braxant sector was over, by any means neccesary. A task which would force the officer to utilize his "negotiation" skills as much as his superior naval tactics. Though it had not been his first mission in his majesty's grand navy, Lucius treated his captains with the highest respect and even would seek meetings with them afterwards, on his homeworld of Coruscant.

One Imperial star destroyer, and several smaller vessels such as frigates and warships roared out of hyperspace. Lucius was stunned by the planet's majestic, beauty, never attaining the privelage of visiting it first hand. A primitive world with little hands-on war expirience, for the Braxant sector posed more of a threat as a whole, then Dubrillion's planetary defenses. The odd's were in their favor never the less; the element of surprise lead the captain to believe the scales of war were tipped in the empire's favor. Only time shall tell.

It took no less then a few minute's to deploy the starfighters and reactivate the shields, just as Lucius ordered. Sending ships out in the midst of battle would be a lethal mistake. The task force split up into squadrons and one command group. The first engagements were set to any rogue patrol ships and possible threats, and led by the warships and starfighters. Cruisers were to reinforce their fellow squadrons, and attack in a 3 point triangular formation. For the time being, it was the command squadron who would fortify around one another, and be ready should reinforcements show up.

"Make sure our defenders (tie) stuck close to the hull's of our capitol ships. If they dare retalliate with starfighters of their own, in which case they probally will, they will have to venture in close enough to attack..scrap metal for our frigate's to erradicate...", there was a short pause, before a squadron of starfighters soared over the bridge, "And don't forget to confirm the locations of the enemy's relay stations. I want them pin pointed to the finest degree. "

A few minutes passed, and the orders were already being worked out.

Hearing footsteps approach him from the side, Lucius could see the figure of a young, imperial bridge officer come into view. He remained stationary, without a word peaking from his lips for long moments. Lucius immediatly could tell this boy had not been with the service long. Not only is he hesitating to report, but he stood by glass, stricken with awe at the sight of the imperial task force in all its glory.

"I take it you have something to tell me?", piviting his feet till he was looking down at the boy. A slight grin slid across his face as memmories of his own first mission starting coming back to him. It was a call for reinforcements, and Lucius was quickly dispatched to the Imperial star destroyer, Tarsonis, a capitol ship to the veteran, Admiral Realon. The ships arrived no less then 2 hours later in the space surounding Vandelhelm, in what became a huge upset for the opposing forces. He absorbed all the information he could about the attack, especially from a veteran who would soon retire. Never before was Lucius able to expierience a battle on such a tremendous scale before, and too was first stricken by the scene before their star destroyer.

Alas, the officer had relized he was delaying the orders. "Yes, sorry sir..scanners have detected very few locations of the relay stations you have asked for, but not all are accounted. With the number of stations, surely they have more elsewhere waiting to be discovered. We must wait for our scanners to complete the search."

Lucius took up the datapad handed to him by the boy and analyzed it with the highest attention. A crushing blow to their long distance communications would put the planet in a critical state without reinforcements. They would have to be fast and decise to take out these key points. Only then would a strike on the planet be in their favor. But, as all imperial tacticians know, the empire purges their enemies through fear and threats. Lucius knew if there was a way to eliminate the possible chance of loosing imperial star ships, that path had to be taken. Why cause massive casualties to the land or even resorting to a planetary bombardment, when, on the other hand, the Dubrillion goverment would relize surrendering is in their best interest.

"Have these orders carried out, immedaitly, and report back to me."

"Right away, sir." The officer took the datapad into this company and rushed to deliver the orders.

On it described 3 starfighter squadrons and half a dozen cruisers deployed to travel to the waypoints listed, and anihalate the relay stations and their beacons. With being so few stations, they will have no problem moving on and pressing on with the assault on their military bases. The command squadron, composing of the imperial star destroyer and various frigates are to remain at the foothold from whence they arrived until the bulkhead of the enemie's communications and bases are eliminated. Secondly, the remaining cruisers were stated as having no problem securing enemy refueling stations as per star bases scattered about. Starfighters will assist in this task and stay close to the cruisers drawing their pilots close enough to be blasted by the cruiser's anti starfighter weaponry. Lastly, this phase deals with having one squadron of warships escort the cruisers on their task, and the second half to remain with the command squadron, as will the left over starfighters join the ISD wing of fighters. It was much to early to deploy ground forces until the airspace is first secured and essential enemy military bases are destroyed.

"One last thing, establish a connection with their goverment. Inform them we will bring their people and their planet no harm should they agree to our terms and conditions of surrender...We will see just how smart these people trulely are."

The time was now to engulf Dubrillion's skies with the might of the empire. Lucius' gave the last order of the phase with the first of the squadrons began to break throught the planet's atmosphere.

The sound of klaxons and the apprehensive shouts of ill-trained technicians went ignored by General Teth'al as his eyes fixed themselves on the great panorama of displays that had lined all five walls of the command chamber. Even as he watched the Imperial ships close in range and he could hear the repeated reply of President Aleric to the offer of surrender:" You will not take Dubrillion as long as I live. Do your worst."


A snort found its way from the Trandoshan's nostrils, eliciting a stern look from Colonel Marx in the direction of curious officers nearby. The Empire needed no invitation to raise cities to the ground. Indeed, defiant worlds often served as target practise for the battleship-gunners above. That the force sent to conquer Dubrillion was seemingly small did not suprise Teth'al as their Intelligence had doubtless left an unflattering opinion of the planet. He knew they could not win, but they could hurt them.


" General, fighter command is requesting permission to engage."


Have them fire a volley of missiles and withdraw out of range. Continue until they've been drawn into the Panther-line.


" Sir, our fighters-"


Teth'al did not look at the corpulent Major who owed his position not to military skill but a patronage of the reigning President. Instead, Marx shot him down. " You have been given an order - obey it!"


The delay meant one group of old Headhunters, ancestor of the itself-old X-wing, wandered too close to the Destroyer and were cut down by the picketting TIE Defenders whose assault did not take either time or effort to complete. The forty or so strong assortment of superiority fighters withdrew in a hap-hazard manner but did as they were told. The micro-missiles fired were only a nuisance to the Imperials but did anger them greatly. Their ships in a centralized delta formation advanced without care and came within range of a sizeable platform they had doubtless thought a fuel-processing center.


A processing center it was, but had long sinced lost the contracts that kept it alive. Its wells and pumps dry, only gun crews wandered her halls. The guns were bulky pieces that were, like most others, produced on Dubrillion and of dubious quality, but fired when ordered to. The guns let loose a fire of turbolaser energy into the advancing Imperial frigate that struck her shields violently. Orange blasts dissipated across the shields, bathing the hull in an odd amber glow.


Move in the gunboats, Teth'al ordered, almost totally removed from the action taking place. Marx noticed the resignation with concern - it had never been present before. He did not remark, but instead ordered to attack the nine small armed freightors that the composed inaccurately-named Dubrillion Navy.


Marx thought for a moment and realized Teth'al's reason with alarm. In the previous battles, indeed every power or government or ruler that hired he and his men had a cause, a reason, and some hope of victory. Here, he was presiding of the slaughter of men without reason and felt quite unsure of either himself or the survival of the planet he had called home for an entire half-decade. The same malaise overcame the Colonel and he watched the nine freightors make a run straight at the largest ship in the Imperial formation.

(OOC: Have no fears, I will be sticking to my very specifically discussed role.)

One week previous, Coalition Command Tower

Every day, without fail, the Prime Minister of the New Coalition recieved a handful of sheets from the CIB's chief of staff, detailing all the largest events going on in the galaxy. If a thousand miners died in a tunnel collapse, working for the Coalition, on a Coalition world that Regrad himself was on at the time, that might just be worth putting in the report - where most people considered a crossword puzzle with their daily newspaper, the Prime Minister considered the galaxy.

The confirmation of rumours about the Empire's intent to annex Dubrillion, as well as Dubrillion's intent to resist, was just worthy enough to denote a brief explination three pages in. It caused the Prime Minister pause, enough time to sigh and muse on what was practically a daily occurance - more forceful conquests made by a power he had no hope of challenging.

There was something about it, though, that stuck in his mind, and even as he set into the day-to-day work of running the Coalition, his thoughts kept coming back to it. Finally, he put in a call to Ferguson for more information.

He reviewed it calmly during his lunch break, and slowly, his train of thought began to move.

So these people intend to resist... He thought Despite the obvious futility of such a gesture, they've made every effort to do so. This was surprising. Certainly, many people had had no choice but to fight the Empire, and many a foolish organization had tried - including his own, he added guiltily - but it was rare when a planet so clearly outmatched chose to resist, barely gave a thought as to how doomed they were. They would be nothing but cannon fodder, lambs to the slaughter, and yet they resisted where his own government stood paralyzed to respond. That struck a chord with Regrad.

Finally, a plan formulated in his mind, and he put out the necessary calls. One to Howard, President of Fwillsving. Another to Viryn Quell, the Minister of Ethics. A third to one of the best soldiers he could have put in charge of a situation like this. Between them, the order was given, and Dubrillion leapt from page three of a daily report to the forefront of an expedition.



Present Day, Dubrillion system.

Jay, White Knight, Coalition Expeditionary Commander, and mighty Firrerro warrior. He stood on the bridge of the Longsword-class frigate Fatalist, the largest ship of the expeditionary force he was expected to lead. With him, Howard's most trusted confident had been selected as their war-time refugee expert, the grisly spacer Yukatan. All around, in hyperspace, dozens of sleek transport ships and smaller escort gunships flew in formation.

Jay had been shocked when the order was given - if they were going to muster this many men and ships, why not simply send warships and destroy the Imperial fleet? Still, he remembered his training, and his brief time spent with the wisdom of Regrad, and decided instead to trust in his commander. Still, he paced uneasily, despising the thought of being so close to battle and yet denied the chance to strike.

"When we arrive" said Yukatan "we play it smart. No hails of any kind. Don't answer any calls, don't fire any shots, and stay the hell away from any ships. The defenders will be so busy fighting their enemies they won't have any time to stop us landing. Once we're on the ground, that's when you can put in the evacuation call to their government, load up, and haul ass. You've got a lot more ships then I usually ride with, which may be a good or bad thing - sure you can pick a bigger fight, but it's going to slow you down and make you a bigger target. You're the boss though."

Jay simply grunted, and continued to pace the bridge, waiting for reality to stream back towards him.

It was sudden when it came - as always. The brilliant and mezmerizing lights of hyperspace vanished into the blackness of space. The Empire had already begun attacking Dubrillion, luckily far, far, away from where the refugee-rescue forces had appeared.

Jay gave orders quickly and concisely "Get the entire fleet towards the planet immeadietly - but keep our escort forces in orbit! Their defences are minimal, so just cut through the atmosphere and wait for permission to land. Don't send any hails until you're through, I don't want the Empire to know what we're up to, yet."

The Coalition fleet moved as one, a wave of small ships swooping towards the planet itself. Jay could only help the Empire wouldn't get to him fast enough.

Aboard the ISD flag ship, Advocate

Lucius continued the assault without mercy for the Dubrillion government and its people. It was beginning to come clear that this was no ordinary planet to be confiscated by the empire. Somehow, Lucius was failed to be alerted of the beacons had been nonoperational for many years now. In addition, they were fighting no army, or no military guard, but rather a planetary militia. Despite little to no combat experience, Dubrillion was not giving up their planet without a fight.

"They push us, and we push back stronger."

It had been quite some time since the captain was met with a formidable foe. Surely, the ones sent to record Lucius' engagement was in for a show. Now the captain could not help but continue to give that mischievous smirk as he gathered his thoughts. Reports swarmed in regarding imperial squadrons taking some gun fire from the hostiles below. And yet, he was not intimidated.

"Have our cruisers intercept those ships, on the double. Let's see how long those freighters last in Imperial territory."

What kind of government would jeopardize their only chance of survival. How ridiculous and irrational.

"Hah, even their fighters are as primitive as they are."
Lucius started a slow pace back and forth, keeping his eyes on the scene before him. Over his shoulder, he had finally realized the officer he had called for earlier was standing there.

"You need to speak up next time-"

"Lieutenant Renegan, sir. You called for me, I believe."

There was a long pause. It was then, a thought swept through the captain's mind. How could one win a fight, when the foe has no fear and not a care in the world of what happens to them. The answer was quite simple. It chilled him to his spine, but knew this was the only course of action that had to be taken.

"There's a famous quote I once heard under the command of Admiral Realon, one death is but a tragedy. A million...a statistic. This is how their government views the lives of the people of this planet. For this, I order a line of star fighters to lay siege to the nearby cities. Leave not a building standing."

To much regret, Lucius commenced with the order. Unfortunately for him, there was another issue that had to be dealt with. An unanticipated Coalition fleet was discovered entering Dubrillion space not too long ago. It had to be a coincidence he kept reminding himself. No matter. It was the imperial way to make examples of those who meddle in their affairs.

"Lieutenant, set new course..I want this entire command squadron to flank those coalition scum."

"But captain, scanners indicate the coalition fleet to be composed of mostly escort and transportation ships."

It was not wise for one to contradict the fleet captain. Lucius saw this act as a sign of weakness. Instead, he reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew a implement of some sort. He paid no mind to the officer as he rolled up one sleeve and injected the nicotine directly into his blood. It was clear and vivid the captain had a unhealthy addiction.

"A few escort ships or a thousand MC90 cruisers. The fact is they have tread into this battle blind and deaf. Their efforts will be futile in this particular endeavor. Commence with the attack."

" How dare they - - hit them! Hit them!!!"


President Aleric moved about the terminals and consoles of the chamber with great haste and alarm, doing more to instill panic with his exhortations to action than imbue any bravado or sense. He was as most politicians were who dabbled in the military affairs of which they were ignorant: a nuisance.


The cavern as a whole shook with the impact of a dozen proton-bombs. TIE Scimitar Assault Bombers strafed back and forth over the capital city, though not one twisting expanse of the chamber collapsed. While they could not make weapons worth the steel their casings were stamped from, the natives of Dubrillion were expert miners.


" General, we have re-established contact with orbital control. Only one ship remains - the Imps have bypassed it since it's heavily damaged. All fighters are listed as missing in action. Orbital batteries have been knocked out."


Teth'al expected as much and was quite enjoying thinking of the chastizing the Imperial commander would receive - it had taken them a good while longer than anticipated in disabling the space-borne defenses. The toll had been high but they had rendered one of the escorting frigates useless and forced one cruiser from the action. Time to even the odds a little. I refuse to die here and let me reputation fall with it. The General nodded to Colonel Marx who moved from the Dubrillion console he was manning and removed his personal comlink.


Above


The Imperial ships had changed course and let the debris of what had been a valiant but futile defense scatter amid their ion trails. Engines presented themselves to the world below while deployed fighters carved a broad swath of destruction like locusts over the capital city and its environing villages. Their sensors had been fooled by an expensive masking system paid for in a dozen wars. To the dismay of every technician watching his station, a warship truly worthy of the name moved from the shadow of the middle-orbiting moon.


A thousand meters from stem to stern she was recognizeable as an Invincible-class Cruiser, but only barely so. Modifications such as maneuvering vanes and gunnery sponsons dotted the hull and two wings spread gracefully out along the centerline. The cylindrical ships had been phased out almost a century ago with the last vestiges of the Republic but were powerful vessels in their own right. Strongly built, they today presented the perfect chassis for any mercenary force - such as that which Teth'al commanded.


Moving with deliberation, the lone warship followed behind the now-occupied Imperials. The ship bore no markings - certainly not that of Dubrillion under whose pay its crew fell. She listed to starboard and brought her guns online - and fired.


- and fired again. The entire Imperial formation suffered from a fiercesome cannonade from behind where its shields and armor were weakest. A frigate's deflectors collapsed and flame consumed the paltry vessel. A light cruiser only kilometers from the flagship lost attitude control and dropped from formation. The guns continued to track the smaller vessels which aptly turned - but they fell just the same. They were buying time - time the battleship would need to face its newest enemy. It was the only enemy that could delay the landing of the ground troops that would seal Dubrillion's fate.

Jay watched the battle play out from before his eyes, a fascinating thing. Mercenaries, and it looks like they didn't come cheaply either. He mused. Whoever they were, they were grossly outmatched. A single ship, strong though it may be, was facing an Imperial fleet. Though he yearned to, Jay knew he couldn't join them in battle. He had a mission. He had orders.

The enemy fighters broke from the fight, to attack the cities. Jay was repulsed by such a cowardly tactic, unable to restrain himself any longer, and immeadietly turned to his Tac-Ops officer.

"Have our fighters break formation! After those Bombers - bring them down!"

"Are you nuts?" said Yukatan, as the fighters began to swoop away. "You'll draw attention to yourself, not to mention probably terrify the defenders."

"Well then we'll just have to take that risk!" exclaimed Jay "I'm not going to stand by and watch this slaughter."

"The slaughter'll be a damn sight worse if you keep this up..." he muttered, but Jay wasn't listening.

"While we're at it, move our escorts and other defensive ships tightly between the transports and the Empire. They should buy us some time, but once the Mercenaries are dealt with the Empire is sure to keep chasing us. Looks like we have no time for fancy maneauvers or diplomatic tricks, just start moving our refugee ships straight into the cities and get as many as you can out of harm's way."

It would be some time yet before the transports would reach ground level through the atmosphere, but already the fighters were cutting towards the city. Jay could only hope they'd be in time...



Kris fighters were narrow, sleek, and fast. Shrieking through the atmosphere ahead of the escort fleet, they descended to do battle with he bombers below. In the lead, another Knight was flying proudly.

"This is Isip, I want all fighters to stick in pairs - cover each other out there! They've sent mostly bombers and don't appear to be expecting a fighter attack, but our surprise attack has been blown so watch out for enemy fire. And for God's sake, make sure your friend-or-foe indicators are set to the Dubrillion's. Don't shoot them! Concise shots only."

The squardons seemed to shatter into a cloud as they reached the first bombers, diving and whirling, using their speed and maneauverability to stay ahead. The enemy had sent bombers, and even fighters, but this was a planetary assault force, not an aerial dog-fighting one. Outnumbered as they were, the Kris fighters still knew they had the advantage since the Bombers were committed to bombing runs and couldn't turn out of them easily, making them either useless or sitting ducks.

Isip neatly blasted a bomber, which exploded into glowing shards, and swerved out of the way of an avenging Tie Defender. "This is Knight Isip of the Coalition relief force." he said, communicating now to the Defenders "We are here to ferry civilians out of the combat zone. Our forces cannot win you this battle, but we will hold them at bay for as long as we can!"

Swooping under a city walkway, he managed to pull off a loop and come around behind the surprised Defender, shooting off it's wing and sending it crashing into a park. The first wave of attackers were being driven off, but it would not be long until the enemy committed a greater, more prepared attack force - this one, not laden with bombers to defend or enemy numbers to overcome. Isip could only hope the transports would begin landing soon.

As time went on, Lucius could begin to see two separate maneuvers come alive. He watched from one direction as the Advocate and it's warships made way for the heart of the Coalition fleet. On the other hand, a mysterious cruiser of some sort began trailing shortly behind the command squadron. He found this quite humorous and took the time to inform his star fighter squadrons to pull back from the cities. They would then be redeployed as Lucius saw fit.

"How pathetic..how dare a fleet show up to a arena and not expect to join in."

For the time being, it appeared the Coalition was more concerned on protecting the cities and its people. Lucius would allow them to roam like a pack of wounded animals, while the true enemy is dealt with accordingly. The merciless captain ordered one squadron of warships take to the cruiser, and the second to assist in the assault on the Coalition escort ships. They must be able to break through their barricade of ships, as Lucius had no intention of backing down now.

"We're loosing one too many ships."

He turned as if expecting a reply from a lieutenant or officer. Instead, the only sound he heard was the hymn of his heavy breathing.

"Damn it, am I not the only one seeing this?"

If they were to deal with these presumed "mercs", the imperial force would need to attack together and coordinated. He continued barking orders. It was his command the remaining freighters to flank the cruiser coming up away from the planet, while the remaining frigates worked to get alongside the cruiser. If all possible they were ordered to board and confiscate the craft for their own, but only as a secondary objective.

"I will not stand here and watch as they ruin our plans."

In a heavy, tactical assault the captain deemed it the proper time to commence the ground occupation of the capitol city. The ISD, as it held orbit, would deploy its ground forces as would other nearby craft. But they would not proceed unarmed. In fact, he saw to it they had full protection of over half the Tie Defenders in the fleet and three frigates as escorts. Now as the nicotine began setting in, lieutenant Renegan noticed his captain's nerves were a bit uneasy.

"I wanted them on the ground a half an hour ago. Arrest the politicians, kill the rest. I want to see their president's face when we execute his own people before his eyes. Oh sweet, Dubrillion. How we ache for you now."

The chamber rocked again as a sole squadron of TIE Scimitars pounded into oblivion what had once been the Palace d'Admin. President Aleric moved about shouting and wailing as his planet fell apart. Ignoring the raving politician, General Teth'al studied the actions of the two entrants to battle. His own warship had disabled two warships but was now trading shots with its much larger counterpart and the strain was starting to show. Also entering atmosphere was a rather motley collection of transport ships and freightors who, according to their protestations, were trying to save as many as they could.


Being the 'enlightened' ruler he waas, Aleric fired off angrily a reply to be dictated and transmitted. " We have no need of Coalition aide - Dubrillion can stand up to a thousand Empires and crush a thousand more! Be gone and bask in the glory of our victory..."


The cavern rocked again as proton bombs flattened the structures above, now only moving rubble from one pile into another. Teth'al had heard enough - he was a soldier, not a butcher. Again the chamber vibrated violently and the Trandoshan rose. Quickly he closed to the President and with a quick grasp of his claw around the man's throat slammed his head against a monitor. Dead or alive, he went immediately silent. All the technicians and native officers were too busy saving their world to see the actions of their hired commander, but they did listen intently when he decalred Aleric's death.


To all Coalition ships - this area is under heavy assault - your fighters will buy us a little time. Land in the Trest Valley - people from the capital and Vemiicon are gathering there. Save as many as you can. I will distract them. There are almost fifty million people on this world - you cannot save them all, but are grateful for the attempt.


The message was sent and hopefully received. All decryption circuits were down so the message was sent in the open. The Empire would hear it as would its intended recipient, but no one had time to care. Teth'al motioned to Colonel Marx. The signal was given and those that could received an order to evacuate. The planetary militia was on its own.


Many kilometers above, the Invic pounded the Star Destroyer but was itself pounded in kind. Both volleyed and thundered and both bled. When the remaining frigates and cruisers added their weight to the onslaught, escape began to snake their way from the lengthy vessel. Shuttles picked up as many as they could with extended hooks and hard-steel recovery lines, then disappeared into hyperspace. The ship was stricken but refused to die alone. The second heaviest ship in the Imperial formation was a Curiassier-class Cruiser, eight hundred meters of death for the people below. Engines were engaged to full power and the two ships collided. A total of four Imperial warships had been disabled and the lives of almost five thousand mercenary soldiers sold dearly on Eternal Market. The Coalition and the defenders below had been granted their final respite.


All they could do was wait for the Empire to send its troops against the forts and revetments that protected the populated area around the Mitaar Lakes.

It had taken every ounce of concentration Jay had not to charge after the Invic as it had began to fall apart - he was a warrior, born and bred, and to sit back and watch as others fought the good fight was agonizing. He clutched the rail until it seemed to creak under his grip. No, we have a mission.

The Imperial fleet was huge, and still heading this way. Hurrying over to the Tac-Ops screen to check on the status of his forces, Jay took in the battle at a glace - the transports were heading for the valley, the fighters were giving them cover, and the enemy fleet had split to destroy him and land troops. Luckily, the division in the large Imperial fleet would make it more manageable - only half their soldiers would be able to land in the first wave, buying them time.

"Sir... enemy cruisers closing fast." said the scanners operator, biting his lip. "They'll be in firing range in no time..."

"It is time to teach them the folly of dividing your forces." said Jay "Not to mention the folly it is to send your soldiers one way and your flyers another - no defence against troop assault. Load the Boarding Torpedoes."

The Coalition fleet had one Longsword-Class frigate, their biggest ship and it only measured five hundred meters. To make up for that, though, it's side sported four tubes each, loaded with a special kind of ordnance. These torpedoes burrowed into enemy ships and delivered a payload of troopers. Still vastly outnumbered and outclassed, it was a maneauver that just might work.

"Before we move, quickly, tell me where Yukatan is now." said Jay, relishing his chance to strike.

"It appears Yukatan has directed the transports to the valley, and is organizing the relief efforts there."

"Good." he said, adding mentally One less thing to worry about. Someone was handling it, he could focus on battle.

The Longsword may have been the largest, but it was the fastest of the fleet - a new vessel the Empire had never faced before. Leaving Enforcer and Corellian Gunships in it's wake, it led the charge, firing off rounds from it's heavier Mass Projector Cannons. The shots shattered shields of the enemy frigates, whose armour was racked by volleys from the smaller, faster ships. The enemy tried to bring their numbers to bear, tried to overwhelm the enemy, but so long as they kept moving quickly and nipping at their foes, it was hard to trap them in one place long enough to bring Turbolaser batteries to bear.

Finally, the Longsword began firing it's boarding torpedoes, burrowing into the larger Imperial Cruisers. The Coalition ships then took it as the cue to scatter, flying off in all directions before regrouping and outpacing the Imperial fleet, back over the site of the transports they were defending. The captain onboard the Longsword turned to his bridge crew. "Did the Torpedoes make it?"

"Yes sir, our Knightly Commander is intact."

The captain nodded. "Excellent, he should keep them busy long enough for our transports to load up. Prepare for another running assault, though - I want shield recovered and weapons repaired."

The captain turned to look at the battle again. They were still obviously outmatched - there were simply too many Imperial ships - but the enemy had yet to committ their whole force to their destruction. Tactics, hit-and-run, and a little luck might be enough to hold them off for now. Failing that, a heavily armed Firrerro loose on your ship will usually keep someone busy.