"A bumpy ride..." Admiral Telius Keyan commented as the Allegiance - Class Star Destroyer Ghost Stalker experienced yet another shudder, one that ran deep into the ship, as the ship cruised through hyperspace.

Keyan turned to his Battle Coordinator for this particular mission, Captain Cage, who was responsible for delegating his orders to the fleet.

"Status?"

"The fleet is in position, and is ready to strike." Cage reported.

"Helm, what is our ETA to the Bespin System?"

"Two minutes." The helm lieutenant said, looking over the shoulder of the team of techs actually driving the huge ship.

Keyan nodded, and began issuing orders to Cage, who would relay them to the rest of the fleet, "The Birds of Prey are to form in a triangular formation in front of us, and the rest of the shps are to stay behind them, untill the Imperial lines are broken." He said.

A minute late, he stood, in his black and red uniform as the Outer-Rim Sovereignty fleet came out of hyperspace. The gas-planet Bespin awaited.

"Form up, and carry out the planned orders. Lets do this."


The ORS fleet approached Bespin...

ORS Fleet Manifest

1 Allegiance - Class Star Destroyer
3 Imperial mk II Star Destroyers
2 Victory Mk. I Star Destroyers
2 Republic - Class Star Destroyers
5 Interdictor Cruisers
4 Nebulon B2-Frigates
4 Lancer-class Frigates
4 Aegis Mark II Star Cruisers
5 Corellian Corvettes
6 Silencer-Class Cruisers
36 Sovereignty Birds-of-Prey

100 Tie Defenders
27 TIE Bombers
8 Skipray Blastboats
25 TIE Interceptors
2 TIE Phantoms
70 XM-1 Missile Boats

*cough*

OOC: This is getting pathetic. Reply or I will RP the planet surrendering.

OOC: Maybe I'll RP Jan and Dolash surrendering, you little @#%$.

Bastion

<p align=right><table width=90%><hr>“Ensure that INS continues to do their job, as well. I believe you have a certain affinity for controlling them.”
-Simon Kaine<hr></table></p>

Indeed, Theren Gevel did have a special affinity for controlling the ebb and flow of information on the Imperial News Service. After the Coalition newscast which, roughly, announced their intention to strike, the Empire had been put on war footing – and nothing had been more essential in this process than INS.

On Imperial worlds across the galaxy, militias had been formed, bunkers built, houses reinforced, and citizens armed. The propaganda of Simon Kaine – featuring one particular commercial of brilliant design, but also a number of others – had been disseminated, along with dire warnings of what was to come, backed up of course with direct (and threatening) quotes from ‘Coalition’ officials.

“What about the Alsakan Academy?” Tornel asked, busily taking notes on a datapad and relaying them to a number of the proper authorities.

“Make sure some of the more gifted students are leading the militias,” Theren said, “most of those militiamen probably couldn’t get the blaster pointed in the right fucking direction without help.”

Tornel grunted and nodded. “And –”

Interrupting Theren’s aide was a knock on the door of the Commodore’s office. The door opened before either man could respond, and in swept a red-armored, black shoulder-pauldroned Stormtrooper. The soldier’s helmet had an oddly elongated faceplate, and walked with a smooth, elegant stride.

The Conclave Executor bowed deeply to his sovereign, and Theren nodded in return. “What’s going on?”

The Executorial Legion numbered exactly one-hundred elite operatives, specially-trained and genetically altered for their varying mission objectives. Each one was referred to only by their number within that order, and the number was based on the order in which they were created. In the event of the death or exposure of one, another was created and each one moved up in the chain. Though, of course, none had been killed or discovered in months of operation.

“Two greets you, Governor,” the Executor said in its metallic, synthesized voice.

“Ah,” Theren said. There was no way of telling them apart, but once he knew the number of the Executor before him, he recalled the mission it had been sent on. “You were on mission on Bespin?”

“Yes, Governor,” it replied. “I come bearing a message from Dej Kilnar; all is in place. He wishes to convey to you that this message is too important to be transmitted over any line, encrypted or otherwise. One is also currently on Bastion, but we thought it impertinent to travel in pairs to your office.”

Theren nodded. “Damn good work. Return to Bespin, Two, and relay my order that One go back to Taloraan.”

“Yes, my liege.”

Theren winced at the title. The imprinting of Theren as the lone authority figure for all Executors by the Kaminoans had been effective – almost too much so. Though most Executors restricted themselves to referring to Theren as “Governor”, Two seemed to be adept at inventing new titles for his master.

“That’ll be all, Two.” The Executor nodded curtly, sweeping from the room. Before he could reach the door, however, Theren added, “And good luck, Two.”

Two turned around briefly, his eyeless gaze meeting Theren’s. “Luck is a human invention, my lord. I will not fail, luck or no.”

Theren nodded, and Two left.



Skipray Blastboat,
En Route to Bespin

The in-helmet communication system which linked all Executors only worked in real-time over short ranges, though of course messages could be relayed from anywhere in the galaxy. All Executors operated in pairs; One and Two, Three and Four, and so on. Over time, they became increasingly reliant on one another – almost symbiotic.

Though the Executors were created for unquestioning obedience, there were occasional, peculiar differences between the alien beings. Two was conscious of this, though he couldn’t be sure if One was. Two’s loyalty had always lain fully with Theren Gevel; he admired the man personally, based on his have risen from low beginnings to a position of power and prestige. Obviously, both had been shown extensive holovids of Gevel’s life since birth, and both knew him like the back of their gloved hands; but Two had always been especially fascinated by his commanded. One, Two had always felt, considered it duty to serve Gevel; Two considered it a pleasure.

“Do you believe the plan will succeed?” Two asked.

“Gevel’s plans have seldom failed,” One replied.

“True.” Two thought for a moment. “You know the specifics?”

“I am the leader of the Legion. Of course I know.” There was no pretension in One’s voice; there was no emotion of any sort among Executors, Two knew.

“It involves in the Imperial News Service?”

One seemed to stew over this. “Yes,” he finally says. “You know I can say little more.”

“I do know.”

“You will discover all on Bespin. Kilnar, as you have observed, is a member of the INS, and knows a great deal.”

Tenets of secrecy were important in the Legion. “I observed an order regarding explosives,” Two began.

“That is enough.”



Cloud City

Dej Kilnar was a smirking, thin man, not wholly unlike the more somber Theren Gevel. He was a high-ranking member of the INS, despite his young age, and greeted Two with an exuberance he knew the soldier could not return. “Hey, there!” Dej called, as Two stepped down from the craft.

In a way, Two almost liked Dej; as much as he could form an opinion on any living being. He nodded curtly to the man, following his lead. “Charges are laid, cameras are in place,” Dej said, chuckling slightly.

Two blocked out the sound. Somewhat.

Cloud City,
Bespin

Two glanced at the assembly of vessels, now above the planet, displayed in a small hologram to his left. His eyes, hidden by the opaque black lenses of his mask, focused, one by one, on the vessels. Not that it mattered. He’d been sent for a mission, and he knew what that was.

Dej, standing beside him, continued to rock back on his heels, smirking and dragging occasionally on a cigarra. “Well, they’ve come in full force, haven’t they?” He said eagerly, glancing back at the Administrator of Cloud City, a plump, gray-haired man who was now sweating profusely.

“Tibanna is valuable,” Two replied. “Send the message.”

Dej, nodding quickly, tapped a button on the console of the situation room of Cloud City. He gestured to the Administrator, who stepped nervously forward. “This is the Administrator of Cloud City,” the man said, in a voice strangely devoid of the fear his perspiration suggested. “Your war vessels have been identified as non-Imperial in nature. You are hereby ordered to leave the system.”

Dej nodded again, let the button go and gave one of his grins to Two. “Well, that’s that.”

“Order the citizen militias into position. All buildings are to be fortified.”

“Yep,” Dej said, glancing at the Administrator, who nodded and, sweating yet more, waddled out of the room. Dej looked back to Two. “Everything’s ready.”

“I am sure.”

The size and dimensions of the explosives needed to combust a set of thermal reactors roughly resembled those of very average, normal power generation equipment. Ingenious, Two reflected...

CN-1653 - Clone Soldier Training Facility

Stomp, stomp, stomp...



The rythm was repetitive... annoyingly so it seemed.

President Griff, gray gloved hands clasped behind his back, stood from th east towar of the quad-tower training center, watching the Sovereignty war machine move.

Thousands upon thousands of red and black soldiers moved into huge transport ships, just beyond the training facility. But these were not normal soldiers, these were specially made clone soldiers created on CN-1653. Unlike other regimes, ORS created the soldiers themselves, relying on no member worlds.

Commandant Ilem stood next to him. The command structure of the Sovereignty was complicated, with each world governed by several individuals - the govenors. One controlled the local political factions of the planet, one controlled the local militia, and another controlled the alloted Sovereignty forces, that protected the planet. The Governors answered to one individual, called the Planetary Commandant, who in turn, answers to the sector commandant.

Commandant Ilem was the Planetary Commandant in charge of CN-1653, and also ran the ORS' cloning program.

"Sir," Ilem said, "My soldiers are top notch, they have been flawlessly trained, some by me personally."

"I'm sure."

"Sir, might I ask where they are going?" Ilem asked, hesitantly.

"Why would that be of any concern, Commandant?" Griff asked, not taking his eyes off the red-and-black masses.

"They have been trained extensively, but it might help if I were to tell the men where they are going."

Griff nodded, "They will be going to reinforce some of our holdings, war has come to the Sovereignty."

Ilem nodded, "What kind of war will this be?"

Griff looked grim, "It will consume the entire Sovereignty. No world will be safe from the wrath of our enemies."

"May I ask why this is even happening?" Ilem asked. Griff finally turned to look at him.

"There comes a time when preemptive is not such a bad word."

"I see... but I don't you think this task is daunting? at all?"

"Oh yes I do. Let me put it this way: a great empire is like a rock. It can be big, and great...perhaps invincible...but like all great empires, rocks will fall when thrown into the air."

"Ah."





“This is the Administrator of Cloud City. “Your war vessels have been identified as non-Imperial in nature. You are hereby ordered to leave the system.”

Keyan almost smiled.

"What are the fleet's orders, sir?" Captain Cage, the battle coordinator, asked.

"Hold for now, scan for Imperial ships, and look for any spacial...disturbances." Keyan said.

Cage frowned, "Spacial disturbances...sir?"

"The Black Hand informs me that the Empire has a new ship that is invisible to sensors."

"Yes sir." Cage said, still skeptical.

"Formations sir?"

"Keep it in random pattern beta." Keyan said.

Cage nodded, and issued the orders. The ORS fleet didn't seem to change, it was still in post-hyperspace reversion formations. Now it seemed to move only minutely, almost like a shift. The pattern seemed random, but it did still serve a purpose. From that unassuming formation, the ORS fleet could spread out in any tactical formation in very little time.

"Keep the ships out of Bespin's mass shadow, I want to be able to run, if needed. Also, prepare the landers and troops for battle. I beleive the Black Hand has an agent on Cloud City, his last report stated Tibinnaopolis as a good staging point. Also, raise all sheilds, charge all weapons, and load all missile and torpedo bays."

Cage nodded.

The ORS fleet hung back from Baspin, scanning continuously and keeping watch for any type of disturbance. The ORS fleet still hung in that cluttered-looking position, but the fleet was actually quite ready to shift into a standard battle formation.

"Open a channel."

"Bespin Administrator. My name is unimportant, as is my home faction. I will give you one chance to surrdender the planet before I take it from you. You have ten seconds to comply."

Keyan began to count down, "One...... two..... three...."

Cloud City

Agent 971 was assigned to the Bespin System. While his jurdistiction included the whole Bespin System he rarelly left Cloud City. On a gas planet there wasn't exactly too many other places to go. Except there was. Forgotten by the current citizens as well as the Imperial government was the abandoned floating city of Tibannaopolis. While it had been uninhabited for almost a decade. There was still a small maintenance team there maintaining the repulsorlift system that kept it in the air. 971 had visited the city once when he was disguised as a Defel and had scouted it out. Know as the preparations for war raged around him with militias setting up and bunkers at every major intersection he sent a message to the Outer-Rim Sovereignty Fleet. Tibannaopolis would make an excellent staging area as well as a base for follow up reinforcements entering the system. In the meantime the Sovereignty Clone Troopers would be landing on Cloud City and would end up facing stiff resistance from the local militias. A few explosions would do wonders in sowing fear within the ranks of these out-of-practice civilians.

Cloud City,
Bespin

Two glanced sidelong at Dej, who rocked confidently back on his heels. “Well, it looks like it’s time to bring everything up online… really, these Coalitionists have no class, do they?”

Two shrugged, approaching the orbital sensors. “These vessels are of a foreign design…” He said, staring at them. His acute, alien mind flicked quickly through an endless repertoire of intelligence Holovids. “Birds of Prey. Outer Rim Sovereignty.”

“Quick,” Dej said, smirking.

“Democracy allows an excessive amount of freedom of press. Acquiring holograms of the craft was not difficult.” Two glanced at the city Administrator. “Order all autocannons situated around the landing pads online, and manned.”

The fat man nodded quickly.

Dej chuckled, and approached the microphone. Clearing his throat, and beginning to speak in an uncanny impersonation of a somewhat distressed civilian, said, “This is Orion Seth of the Bespin Civilian Defense Force. On behalf of the BCDF, I warn you, incursion on Cloud City will not be tolerated! We will… we will fight you to the last!”

He winked at Two, and released the transmission button.

Cloud City

Agent 971 had detected the transmission towards the oncoming Sovereignty Fleet but he'd dismissed it as being unimportant. Whoever was in command of the fleet would likely be able to deal with it. Silently he came closer and closer to one of the Landing Pads that had been marked by Black Hand as an excellent place for a primary beachhead. The Imperials had no doubt thought so too and defended it so it was 971's job to soften it up. As he neared the landind pad he quickly changed into a moon moth a pest as common on Cloud City as on any other world in the galaxy, so as to better see the layout of the defences. As he soared over the pad he took note of the 4 autocannons at opposite corners of the pad. Between two of the cannons there was a bunker with one stormtrooper and 3 reservists. The stormtrooper would be the biggest threat, they would be the most alert, the most prepared. The reservists were just civilians and he wanted to leave them alive but incapitated if at all possible.

971 landed right beside one of the auto cannons, instantly he changed into a Crystal Glass Snake from Yavin 4. Slowly undetectably he inched his way forwards untill he was right beside the reservists then, waiting for the right moment he struck. The reservist beside him was the first to go, 971 struck him with his fangs and instantly pumped potent sleeping poison into him. With a cry the reservist fell back. 971 then struck again to his right and straight ahead. Both of the other reservists fell immeaditly but the stormtrooper was already moving and he'd drawn his blaster. His armour also made him impervious to 971's earlier tactic forcing him to change shape again this time into a yevethat. 971 had long studied the Yevethat at the Black Hand academy on CN-1344 and he knew exactly what to do. As the stormtrooper took a step back in surprise 971's claws burst out of the wrist sheaths. The left claw slashed at the stormtrooper's right hand incapitating his gun hand while his right claw slashed the stormtroopers neck. With sickly thunk the head popped off the stormtrooper and flew into the air.

Quickly 971 grabbed the standard detonation charges that all stormtroopers carried. Then slapping one on each auto cannon and keying them for a 20 second countdown he transformed into a moon moth and began to fly away as fast as his wings could take him.

Suddenly 4 explosions sounded behind him. With satisfaction in him he headed off for his next target.

OOC: Just to state something Marth left out, Agent 971 is a Shi'ido - a shapeshifting species.

IC:


"Receiving a coded transmission from Cloud City. It is so heavily encrypted..." The comm officer - Ensign Dugan - said, almost in awe.

"What is the code?" Keyan asked, stepping up behind the young officer.

"874886." Dugan said.

"That is a Black Hand frequency. It looks like Nine-Seventy-One has something to report. Tranfer it to my screen." Keyan said, heading back to his position and bringing his computer screen to life. Coded text was already scrolling down the screen.

He input his own special code, one that was known only tro him and changed on a weekly basis. The computer asked him for voice verification.

"Admiral Telius Keyan. Four-Eight-Beta-Tango." He said to the screen. The computer accepted his voice pattern and decoded the text.

Admiral -

Launch pad cannons destroyed. Pad zero eight.

Code verification: 0-76437307-476854-3- A971.

He smiled and turned to the SOO,(Ship Operations Officer}, Commander Trengal, are the ground forces ready?"

"Yes sir." Trengal said.

"Good. Have Major Jackson report in before he is leaves. And he has go for launch." Keyan said.

"Yes sir."





"Major!"

Major Grant Jackson looked up from his datapad, where several statistics were scrolling down the screen. A Sovereignty Shocker, short for Sovereignty Shock Troops (Standard ORS Ground Battle Force), jogged up to him. The soldier offered a perfect salute. Jackson returned the salute.

"What can I do for you?"

"Sir. All Samurai's and other vehicles are loaded and ready. Shocker groups one through fifty are also ready and loaded."

Jackson nodded as his comlink bleeped. He answered the call.

"Jackson."

"This is Commander Trangal. Report."

"All units are ready, Commander. Awaiting final clearence."

"You have it. Godspeed."

"Thank you sir. For the Sovereignty."

"Yes, Major. For the Sovereignty."

He closed the comlink and turned to the assembled transports.



"Transports away." Trangal said.

"Excellent. Scan for Imperial ships." Admiral Keyan said, casting a suspicious glance at the gas planet Bespin.

"There are none." The sensor operator said.

"Cage, have the Birds report to point A-A-23."

Cage knew exactly what that meant, and immidiately turned to his comm unit.


Five minutes later, the ORS Birds of Prey, hovering in formation with the rest of the fleet turned, and headed toward their designated hyperspace entry points.





Sovereignty Shockers were nothing like Stormtroopers. The Shockers operated in a caste system. The Shockers were divided into hundreds of different 'castes'. To name a few, there were the Infantry, Special Forces, Space Forces, Jungle Infantry, Extra-Vehicular Infantry. Each caste was distinguished by a colored stripe down the center of the helmet/mask.

Sitting in the transports, headed for Cloud City, were the Special Forces. Cloned on a highly scretive world within the Sovereignty, these were no ordinary soldiers. They received trainig that far surpassed normal. They were drilled extinsively from the moment they could walk, and they were kept in a constant state of readiness by their commanders.

The Special Forces usually were put through Standard Shocker training, and then sent out in a live battle exercise. The best of these soldiers were selected for even more extensive training, and then even fewer were selected for the elite Special Forces.

During the months of preparation for the assault on Bespin, the Special Forces assigned to Admiral Keyan's group drilled and trained in countless battle exercises in a mock-Cloud City. New hologram technology developed by ORS scientists allowed the soldiers to train in a VR Cloud City enviroment.

They knew what to do.

There were ten transport craft, and nine hovered near the landing pad while the other landed and began disembarking troops. The transports literally dropped the landing 'ramps, and dozens of Elite Special Forces charged out.


Actions

Fleet Sends Down Transports.
Birds of Prey (24) Head to pre-hyperspace entry points, in preparation to enter hyperspace.