Space, Outside the Metalorn System

"Final diagnostics check out. All systems are operational, Sir."

The Commodore nodded, not turning away from the viewport ahead of him.

"Very well. Time?"

"Thirteen minutes to expected contact, Sir."

Everything, then, was going exactly to the plan. That was good.

The plan was a simple one. The small fleet of Imperial warships - backed up by a generous loan from Yaga Minor - was to intercept an expected shipment of foodstuffs en route to Metalorn.

They were far enough from both worlds that they would not be seen, and it was expected that the destruction of the convoy would be both quick and orderly.

Of course, in battle, things rarely were either quick or orderly.

With five minutes to contact, the Commodore ordered the Interdictor to half power. That would yank the Coalition convoy from hyperspace. Mentally, the Commodore went over the composition of his small fleet in his mind: three of the brand new Cayman class Cruisers, one of which was serving as his flag. Twice as many Tiburon class Frigates, flanking their larger siblings. These three groups were arrayed in an inverse V, the better to surround the convoy once it was yanked out of hyperspace.

The Interdictor and its escorts, one of the mysterious EMPIRE ships, screened by a pair of Curiassier Heavy Cruisers.

Any ship present that fielded fighters had launched them, and gaps were filled with buzzing TIE-2s, Defenders, Interceptors, and EMPIRE Superiority fighters. Tucked away at the back of the formation was the Dictator, one of only a handful of Fleet Communications Vessels, designed to jam the enemy's radio signals.

"Commodore! Contact!" The sensor officer called out. Indeed, the enemy fleet was emerging from hyperspace, right in the midst of the Imperial force.

As planned.

"Right. Shields up. Commence jamming. Bring the Interdictor to full.

Open fire."

Flagship Pegasus, en route to Metalorn

“All’s quiet. Up for some caf Com?”

Corise shook his head, instead bringing up the various displays on his console. He sighed, rubbed his eyes, and looked up at Commander Fyre.

“No,” stated the senior officer, “I shouldn’t.”

“But you just woke up.”

The younger Lucerne nodded. “True. Get me some tea when you are down at the mess then.”

“Right-o.”

Slouching in the command chair, the Commodore lazily viewed the blue lines of hyperspace go by like the average man watching the holo-news as he got up. He glanced at his chrono. Not too far away from Metalorn.

“Sir,” shouted the navigation officer, “We’re detecting a gravity-well and pulling us out of hyperspace as a safety measure.”

But there’s no gravity wells around here unless-

The Pegasus flashed to realspace followed by other elements of Task Force Pegasus. As her silver wedge knifed through the sable space, that of her sister ship, the Audacieuse, followed suit, but to the aft and starboard of the Confederation flagship. Behind and around the star destroyers, the other elements of the fleet followed; the Coalition fleet formed a wedge, with the Pegasus and her sister ship leading, coming perpendicular to the center of TNO formation.

“My Maker,” stammered Commander Fyre, referring to the Imperial fleet, “they’re attacking the convoy.”

Corise growled. “It’s one of the smallest ones, and not too important, but that’s low, even for TNO, to be striking a civilian target. I want the holo-feeds recorded for this; the galaxy should know that TNO does not care about the common working man; that they are willing to starve them to death just to get the chance for target practice. The holo-stations were have fun with this one.”

“If we survive to tell the tale.”

“If,” agreed the Commodore, “Launch all starfighters, then raise shields. Commence long-range bombardment from all ships. Target those interdictor-like ships first. Engage Magnetorian Sweeps to target their communication’s ship, the one where the jamming is coming from.”

“Yes sir. All starfighters launched. Shields are up.”

And at twice the range of the standard heavy turbolaser, the Confederation ships slowed to a near halt and began to fire, and not with turbolasers. For the Confederation did not rely on turbolasers as its weapon of choice. Many other weapons could be utilized instead that had a longer range. The Tachyon Cannons of the escorting Juaire-class Gunships fired, sending out a five continuous volley of golden pulses at the enemy communication ship, whose particle damage would severely damage the enemy’s particle shields and perhaps the hull itself. The same gunships unleashed their gravitational field disruptors on the Imperial crews of the ship, which would kill them through intense pressure changes. Given sufficient time, the Juaire’s wouldn’t even leave a crew to man the ship.

But the corvettes weren’t the only long-range assaulters, the lesser dintinguished Cavalier-class Medium Destroyers were present, their hawk-like forms gliding behind the Confederation Star Destroyers. The destroyers did not bear Tachyon cannons or gravitational field disruptors. Instead, they carried the massive, KDI III-7 Railguns; each one fully 70 meters long, capable of rapidly sending out 5 meter slugs at a 3 km/s velocity; a velocity at which no particle shields were capable of repelling. The fast destroyers immediately acquired their target, the Dictator and fired, sending out their shells, of the SAC variety, at break-neck speeds.

Albeit the exotic weapons on the above ships could be intimidating and procured a certain advantage for their user, nearly every Kashan ship was capable of immediate retaliation through the commonplace Starflare warhead. The entire fleet launched a electrite crystal warhead saturation volley, totaling a 124 missiles into the heart of the Imperial formations, most of them began the quick micro-jump, only to be pulled out by the Interdictor’s gravity-well. Their maneuver abruptly curtailed, they engaged their jammers and exploded in the midst of the Imperial starfighter formation, forming spheres of total incineration within the Imperial ranks. To complicate the matters further for the Imperials, the Magnetorian sweeps began to wreak havoc on the Dictator and Interdictor’s subsystems, causing malfunctions throughout those ships’ systems.

While the capital ships of the Kashan fleet thunderously drew the attention of most of the battlefield’s crews, the many stealth starfighters of the Contegorian fleet, mainly S9s and A3s, silently glided forward in advance of the Coalition’s capital ship, ready to waylay the Imperial starfighters that dared to pursue the fleeing freighters.

And as the forces of both superpowers began their engagement, the surviving freighters fled between the no-man's space between the two fleets, heading towards the Coalition formation, taking care to stay out of the firing vectors and arcs of both fleets. It wasn't a large convoy, and was made up mostly of a small group of light transports, mainly YT-1300s and Muurian Transports; several of which were already destroyed. While the remaining survivors of the ambush had taken some damage and casualities, that did not stop them for fighting their way through and passing through the unseen ranks of Kashan starfighters.

Task Force Pegasus Order of Battle
2 Pegasus-class SDs: Pegasus, Audacieuse
1 Redemption-class Assault Transport: Redemption
3 Seraph Mk III-class Cruisers: Steadfast, Seraph, Resolute
3 Cavalier-class Medium Destroyers: Cavalier, Champion, Crusader
5 Juaire-class Heavy Gunships
1 Heroic-class Support Vessel
1 Sinew-class Support Cruiser

The appearance of a significantly sized enemy fleet on another vector was something of a nasty shock of the Imperial Commodore. But years at the academy - and many more serving on the front lines of combat - had taught him that the first seconds of any such encounter were critical.

The Dictator was exceptionally well shielded, and for the moment in little real danger from the enemy assault. Nonetheless, his first order was for that ship to begin to retreat, making for the Imperial Exploratory Fleet stationed nearby.

Then he began directing his more potent pieces. The Cayman group had come about to face the enemy directly, and now they aquired their targetting data. With the enemy fleet at a near stop, there was little trouble in doing so, and within moments blasts had been discharged from the heavy guns of those ships, each with a different target in mind.

A single SH-F canon would destroy a moderately sized freigter or severely damage a small capital ship. Packed together, they were devestating, as the enemy's smaller gunships soon found out. Waves of energy washed over the bows of those vessels, engulfing shields and overloading them.

The missiles, launched by the enemy fleet into hyerspace, fared far worse. Even a capital ship of significant size, if engaging its hyperdrive within a gravity well, would suffer the rigors of extreme gravitational force.

The warheads were torn to shreds even as they launched.

And the Imperial fleet was moving. The Cayman' sprayed space ahead of them with mines, designed to mimic the effects of the Interdictor cruiser behind. Meanwhile, that cruiser dropped its gravity wells, allowing both itself and the Dictator to vanish into hyperspace.

Curiously, as the remaining freighters fled through the "no-man's land" between the two fleets, they swung erratically through space. The Commodore had seen vids of the Millenium Falcon fighting its way through the asteroid field near Hoth, and the manouvers were eerily similar.

Yet there was no asteroid field between the two fleets. With nothing to lose, he ordered the fleet to lay down covering fire in the supposedly empty space.

The explosions that began to light up the area as his ships began to fire confirmed his suspicions: stealth ships.

"Sensors," he asked, "do we have anything on them?"

The Cayman class of ships was designed to intercept smugglers. And smugglers, as the Empire knew, favoured technology to fool their sensors. It might come in useful here, in a military use, too.

"We've got some faint signals, Sir. Electromagnetic signals, faint ion efflux above average levels in that area of space."

"Anything that can give you a definite target lock?"

"Not at this range, Commodore. I'll calibrate my unit and see if I can focus in on their specific characteristics, though."

The Commodore made a mental note to raise that officer's pay, and nodded.

"I want to know as soon as we can see them." The Empire's own stealth fighters, of the EMPIRE class, had come forward now, and were soon engaging the nearly invisible enemy fighters. The opposing ships were given away by their lasers, and between their apparent slow speed and the lightning-quick reflexes of the EMPIRE ships, many met their doom.

But they still couldn't see the damn things!

"Enemy fleet is in firing range, Sir."

The report came. The Coalition force had crossed the gap, and now faced the Imperial line arrayed against it.

"Launch first volley."

At once the first wave of missiles came, screeching across the distance and slamming home against the enemy's medium sized cruisers. One volley from each Cayman, for each of the enemy's cruisers.

"Right where they don't want to be." And at that moment, the EMPIRE capital ship vanished into hyperspace...

Pegasus CIC, Confederation Flagship

“The interdictor ships have made the jump,” noted Commander Fyre, leaning over the plot table, “but we’re still detecting smaller gravity-well signatures.”

Corise nodded, “Mines I bet; similar in nature to our pulse-mass weapons that guard the hyperspace routes to our own planets. They don’t appear to be hidden or stealthed in any manner. Take them down with flak fire.”

“Right away sir.”

Before the fleets were within firing range of each other, the two Pegasus-class Star Destroyers began their bombardment of the mines with their own long-range heavy turbolasers and quad ion cannons. Thunderous bolts and bursts of emerald and sapphire suffused the area, creating brilliant explosions as they connected with the mines. On the sensor consoles of the Confederation ships, the small mass-shadows blinked out of existence.

“Has the communication’s jamming stopped?”

“Yes sir.”

“Time to initiate our own then; the Sinew is cleared to jam.”

In the rear of the Confederation formation, flanked by the Assault Transport and the Heroic-class Support vessel, the communication’s ship activated its massive jamming system, flooding the surrounding area with Coalition broadcasts. Coordination is key, and if the Imperials are unable to coordinate their attacks or movements between their ships, and we are, we shall have a significant advantage; if we can keep it. The younger Lucerne pointed to the trio of ships located behind the star destroyers.

“I want our Heroic-class to shield the Communication’s ship.”

“Aye sir.”

In the meantime, both fleets had entered long-range firing range; the Caymans had pivoted about and fired their own long-range weaponry on the Juaire-class Gunships, who were already turning about to fire on their new attackers with the withdrawal of the Interdictor-like ships. The Coalition shields burned red to white, before becoming overloaded and allowing some of the Imperial energy to hit the gunship’s hull. Emerald energy slammed into the Juaire-class ships, shaking them briefly, but violently. While powerful weapons in their own right, capable of lying waste to most opponents, the super heavy turbolasers of the Imperial fleet were energy weapons. And energy weapons were something that Confederation ships were highly protected against with two layers of Ultrachrome armor and another insulator layer in between. The superconducting armor absorbed most of the Imperial attack and promptly shunted back the energy into the Confederation vessel’s energy supply. But even Ultrachrome armor had its limitations, and several nonvital areas of the ship had been punctured. A quick readout on the Pegasus' bridge showed that the two primary weapons systems on three of the gunships had been put out of commission. Corise sighed. Damage control sirens sounded in those non-vital areas of the said ships, prompting the Confederation marines and the repair droids to begin immediate damage control efforts. Given enough time, they might be able to get some of them working. Maybe. He glanced at his chrono. I suppose it depends on how long that will take. At least the gunships aren't completely helpless.

And the back-up shields of the Juaire-class ships activated, bringing the shield strength of the ships back to normal. Away of the existence of such powerful weapons, the heavy corvettes promptly began their evasive maneuvers, side-slipping out of the current Imperial firing arcs and retaliating against the Caymans with their own combination of Tachyon cannons, gravitational field disruptors, and heavy long-range turbolasers.

But the other warships of the Confederation fleet were just as active; the Pegasus-class Star Destroyers each matched up against one of the twin Imperial heavy cruisers present. Long-range volleys of Confederation heavy turbolasers battered away at the durable Curiassier –class Heavy Cruisers. Simultenously, the quad ion cannons of the star destroyers send a steady hail of bolts at the Caymans, disrupting and disabling electronics on the said vessel.

“Redirect ion cannon,” ordered the youner Lucerne, “to where the Caymans are projecting their shields.”

“But the generators could be sunken sir, like our own.”

“So they could, and I wouldn’t doubt it. But after a while, that concentrated ionic energy is bound to make it’s way through the system and temporary knock out their shields in a few sections.”

“Which would allow the Juaires to hit an unshielded hull.”

“Exactly.”

As the star destroyers redirected their fire, the Caymans had launched their volley of warheads against the Seraph Mk IIIs; possibly the best-defended cruisers in terms of missile protection. Noting the incoming missiles, the converging trio of cruisers coordinated a massive flak barrage with their fast-tracking turbolasers and quad ion cannons; sending shot-gun like bursts of energy into the waves of torpedoes coming for their later-launched banks. The first torpedoes, passed through the Confederation heavy fire vectors and homed in on the cruisers. Several of the fast-tracking point defence cannons fired, taking down only a few of the first-wave of missiles; the same weapons had better luck on the later waves of torpedoes that managed to pass through their opponents flak barrage. And the torpedos slammed into the cruiser’s particle shielding or were somewhat prematurely detonated by the Electric Reactive armor common to all Confederation ships. While the damage was fairly minimal in terms of physical effects, the shear number of missiles both disconcerted and infuriated the cruiser’s captains; they launched two rapid volleys of the Starflare Mk IIB missiles, the first wave equipped with ion warheads, the second with electrite crystal warheads, right at the Cayman’s missile banks. The shadowy darts emerged and soared forward, their jammers engaged.

The remaining Coalition craft, composed of the starfighters and the Cavaliers, were equally busy. While the lighter S9 Mk IIs and S10s fought their hit-and-run attacks against TNO starfighters, the seven squadrons of formidable A3s had silently disappeared from the dogfight to make perhaps their most important run: the engine spine of one of the Curiassier-class Cruisers. Experience was always an important teacher; and the Confederation pilots had learned from theirs. SAS systems engaged, the A3s silently hurtled forth at the TNO ship’s spine in a giant column. As the bombers passed over the said engine spine, each starfighter launched a staggered pair of space bombs into the spine, totaling 168 space bombs. Explosions blossomed behind the bombers as they completed their pass; from their experience against a the Curiassier, the Confederation starfighters had learned that a concentrated volley of explosives to the ship’s engine spine would snap it.

And albeit it had never been tried before, the fast Cavaliers were making a similar pass on the other the Curiassier cruiser from the opposite direction. Instead of space bombs, the destroyers employed their charged up rail guns fitted with ionic and electrite crystal slugs, as well as their similarly fitted Starflare Mk II missiles, which surged forth with their jammers engaged. Because it had not been tried before, the Cavalier’s captains had coordinated their strikes to not only occur simultenously, but also to hit the same areas to maximize their ability to overwhelm the shields and split the ship asunder. Both groups of ships completed their pass, with a brilliant light show appearing around the Cavaliers; although Corise could not tell if the emerald bolts were coming from the destroyer to the Curiassier, vice-versa, or both. Each attack group continued their fast arc that would take them around the Coalition formation, giving them time to recoordinate their attack, and for some ships, to let their shields recharge.

She was a magnificent ship by any measure, no one could deny her than. Her hundreds of turbolasers could decimate even the largest ships in the galaxy, and nothing less than an Executor could penetrate her mighty shields. Her crew was well drilled, precise, and punctual, and her command crew veterans of many campaigns.

It was a shame they had to leave her behind, even if only for a little while, along with another squadron of ships. But what was left was still enough to waste most worlds. Five Astrus-class Star Destroyers, two Broadsword-class Fleet Monitors, six Empire "SOb"-class Attack Ships, six Eternal-class Advanced Star Destroyers, four Swift-class Fast Response Carriers, six Raptor-class Assault Cruisers, four Deliverance-class Ground Support Vessels, six Belarus-class Medium Cruisers, six Fire-class Light Frigates, eight Carrack-class Light Cruisers, four Shroud-class attack cruisers, and two Surveyor-class Scout Cruisers ought to be enough for this.

He could see all the ships now, arrayed out beside his flagship, the Astrus-class Star Destroyer, Administrator. Formations of fighters weaved between them, their Ion Engines screaming and pilots waving their Radiator panels in a salute to him as they passed.

Standing at attention, he saluted them back, his posture straight and his expression neutral.

Somewhere he had heard a saying, "To be a good soldier, you must love the navy, but to be a good officer, you must be ready to kill the thing you love."

It made him sad to think that many of the brave, patriotic men and women under his command wouldn't survive the battle now before them.

But it made him happy that every one of them, including himself, was willing to die for the Empire, it's values, and the great Emperor Hyfe. A shame that many of them would have to, though.

But their losses would be nothing, mere droplets of water in an ocean, compared to the slaughter they were capable of unleashing on an enemy.

That though made him smile.

A few months ago the force had been deployed along the Hydian way in an exercise. As it happened, they stumbled upon a pirate group's hiding place.

Massacre was an understatement for what had happened there.



Time: 1421

Identity: Admiral Tobias Gilford, eighth fleet

ID Sequence: 7852-Beta45/Omega

-Identity Confirmed-

Report: As the Command Staff undoubtly knows, the Eighth Fleet, responsible for patrolling parts of the Hydian Way and the Perlemian trade route, was conducting exercises and war games this past week. During the games, the 101st and 51st battlegroups, operating in tandem, stumbled upon a pirate outpost located at the coordinates 101.72.36.4.7.1, hidden in an asteroid field. In the following engagement, the battlegroups destroyed a fleet that had become a major problem over the last few months. Confirmed destroyed vessels include a Nebulon-B, a Loronar Strike Cruiser, a dozen gunboat, a dozen Corsair Starfighters and Skipray Blastboats, a single MC40 cruiser, and Two Carrack Light Cruisers, as well as over ninty assorted fighters. Imperial losses were 46 personnel, 11 fighters, and a single Scimitar Assault Bomber.

In addition, a figure of 2,100 of the Pirates were captured. Because an Interdictor was on site, only a few Pirate shuttles got away. Several assorted gunships and fighters were captured by the flotilla, but most chose to fight to the death.

No leader has been accounted for in either the prisoners or pirate casulties.



He was brought back to reality from his endless treasure-trove of memories by a Junior-grade lieutenant. His uniform was sharp, his speech and movements were precise, and his salute sincere. A model Imperial, and unfortunately, also a green one, since he was a replacement for one of the few casualties received during the pirate engagement.

"Sir, we are recieving reports about the nearby diversionary engagement. A fairly strong force has been stopped, including two Star Destroyers in the same class as our Eternals."

"Print out a copy of the report, I'll read it during our jump to the target planet."

The Leutinant didn't move.

"In addition, Sir, all ships have cleared themselves for combat. All that remains are the orders for the final go. Scheduled countdown has the jump to hyperspace taking place in exactly two minutes."

For a moment he thought, his cold blue eyes looking through the transparisteel walls and out into space. The area between the ships was empty, the fighters that had occupied it were now filing back into their carrier vessels.

He let out a breath, then gave the go.

"Take us to Metalorn."

And so it began.

~---~

"We've got bogeys in... sector 12-Omega!"

"Port turbo laser 53 overheating, twenty second delay activating now..."

"Port shields operating at 73% efficiency..."

Gilford loved the sounds of battle, the feel of immersion in it, the accompanying Adrenalin rush, and the sense of power one gets when they realize they're in control of it all.

For a little bit, even if only a few minutes, he knew how it felt to be Dameun Hyfe.

Pegasus-class Star Destroyer Liberty, Metalorn Defence Fleet

Above the gray planet, the silver ships of the Contegorian Defence Fleet hovered. It had been two months since the planets induction into the Coalition and the Confederation. The CDF at Metalorn had witnessed the exodus of half of Metalorn’s population to populate Genon, the countless food convoys going in and out of the planet, the mass introduction of Paladin II droids numbering in the thousands onto the planet. And still the silver hulls of the Pegasi and Seraphs plied the space around the industrial planet in eternal vigilance. And today, it had paid off.

“Captain’s on the deck!”

“At ease gentlemen,” saluted Captain Max Tywe, approaching the helm of her flagship, one of the several Pegasus-class Star Destroyers stationed around Metalorn.

“Captain, our passive sensor networks have indicated a group of unknown large ships entering the area; I’ve engaged the Pulse-mass mines to fire on that vector. They may be missing a few parts when they appear, nevermind the other minefields.”

It was a well-known fact that Confederation space was heavily mined. Mines were often called the cheap man’s weapon, because they had a tendency to be highly effective for their cost. And Kashan had adopted it from the start with the fear of BDE. Over the years, KDI eventually developed a pulse-mass weapon that had an odd tendency to remove parts from enemy ships in hyperspace. The Wraith mine had first been deployed at Kashan, then the Gestalt Colonies, and consequently every Confederation planet since. But pulse-mass were not the only ones used; the stealthy Merr-Sonn Defender Mine and the KDI developed Shadowwrath. And in keeping with Confederation policy, the mines were kept marked off zones on the most likely routes of invasion, deactivated until the need should arise. The need had come, the mines enabled.

“Get me the Prime Minister.”

“Yes sir. Go ahead sir.”

“Prime Minister, it would appear that there is an invasion force inbound. Recommend evacuation of all civilians to their emergency stations and the calling up of all Defence units. All starfighters should be launched, even those fresh off the factory floor.”

“It will be done.”

Aside from producing vehicle upgrades and warheads, Metalorn was also known as the hub of the Confederation’s starfighter production. It was no surprise that it fielded an incredible amount of starfighters. And dozens of squadrons of S9 Mk II Deathsabers and A3 Nemesis lifted off; some piloted by combat-hardened pilots of the Confederation fleet, some by civilian volunteer pilots, the Metalorn militia, and a few by patriotic, and somewhat unskilled, factory workers. The starfighters swarmed out of the planet to the fleet like wasps from a hive. And as the naval forces of the Contegorian fleet arrayed for battle, the Metalorn Droid Legions activated and marched out to their defensive positions around the planet. The mainstream Confederation army also moved to defend, activating the complex system of planetary shields and bringing up the planetary turbolaser batteries located all around the planet. The bulk of the entire Confederation fleet poised for the attack.

“Here they come,” dryly stated the XO.

TNO fleet emerged amidst the minefield, and the members of the Confederation fleet were taken aback. For even the large numbers of the Confederation fleet present, it was not enough to hold the stem of TNO force itself.

“My maker.”

“This,” noted Audacian-born Twre, “is going to hurt.”

Various mines started to go off within the Imperial formation. The massed Confederation fleet fired several long-ranged barrages before making the advance…out of Metalorn’s solar system; the entire fleet, aside from its multitude stealth starfighters, jumped just out of the solar system and beyond the sensor ranges of both fleets. And just outside the solar system, the Confederation ships turned about and launched the first of a new style of retaliation: out-of-system missile barrage. Several volleys of Starflare Mk IIs, each one composed over a hundred Starflares, lept into hyperspace and reverted among the Imperial fleet to slam into the Surveyor-class Scout Cruisers. In the meantime, the Confederation starfighters scattered and vanished in the surrounding space, taking care to avoid the enemy fleet and its starfighters.

Bridge of the Regent class Destroyer Sultan

"Commodore, we face reversion in a matter of minutes. Do you have any last minute orders for us?" asked the captain of the Imperial battleship on which Brand had staked his flag. The Imperial commander looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook his head.

"No, the plan will remain the same. We arrive in system, set up our interdiction nets, then wait for the arrival of enemy reinforcements. Long range vessels will stand off with the interdictors and engage the enemy from afar, while medium range vessels will form up in attack formation." replied the Commodore.

"Very well then sir, we await merely hyperspace reversion then." commented the captain.

Commodore Brand looked out the viewport of his flagship and at the extended starlines of hyperspace, and wondered about the plan that had been put together on short notice. Forces of the Yaga Minor Protectorate were already stationed within the transit corridors, hopefully interdicting an enemy food convoy, while various forces assembled together would be assaulting the planet Metalorn it's self. The Commodore spared a glance over torwards the special guest aboard his flagship, the Metalorn exile by the name of Garret Luckey. If the evidence presented by him and others was not made up, if the Confederation had in fact engineered the disaster that had occured on Metalorn in order to offer up the perfect excuse for them to come in and take the planet, then they would have a lot of explaining to do.

"Commodore, imminent reversion from hyperspace." said the captain.

"Very well, sound general quarters, and let's be prepared for anything men." indicated the Commodore as alert silens began blaying throughout the vessel. Moments later the starlines reverted to their normal point perspective, and they were back in realspace.

As soon as they reverted, multi-pule alarms began blaring throughout the vessel. A pair of explosions lit up the surronding area, and the Commodore had to shield his eyes. When the explosions faded, he saw what used to be one of the vessels in his fleet, a Dasher class corvette, the Prancer, reduced to a smoking ruin.

"Multipule mine detonations confirmed. No survivors jettisoned from the corvette. No more nearby mines detected." reported the captain. The commodore swore softley to himself. This operation had barely begun and already the fleet had suffered casualites.

"Sir, mutlipule hostile warship contacts within the system. I read several large destroyers and mutlipule smaller contacts. Sensors indicate the enemy just launched a missile volley...into hyperspace?" wondered the confused sensors operator.

"Inter-planetery weapons, they must be." stammered the captain.

"Alright, it appears we are a bit late to the show, but no matter. Raise all shields except for dorsal, and only until all starfighters are away. All ships, launch starfighter squadrons, and have them form into screening positions. Interdictors and long range firepower support vessels to the rear. Get the guardians out front, and have them erect their shield barriers. All remaining ships, form into a line abreast attack formation, but cruise at flank speed only." ordered the Commodore.

As the pround Imperial commander watched, a few hundred starfighters roared out of their hangar bays and formed into protective squadrons around their mother ships. The Star Destroyers and dreadnoughts formed into an attack formation, with gunships forming up on their flanks, the capital ships forming a line abreast wall. Out ahead of them, the Guardians powered up their systems and project a large shield barrier, protecting the fleet from long range weaponry. And to add insult to injury, the interdictors behind the fleet powered up their gravity well projectors. Now nothing would be leaving the area of battle anytime soon.

The Commodore watched with interest as the enemy capital ships shifted their fire, giving the Imperial fleet a brief reprieve, to the mines that had been launched only a moment ago.

Evidently, being trapped was high on the enemy commander's list of dislikes.

But that was hardly the purpose of the mines, and even now the dark shape of the EMPIRE SOb reappeared, hovering off the stern of the Pegasus. Even before the enemy sensors had registered her presence (as, indeed, they would have some trouble doing, the EMPIRE being protected under rudimentary cloak), she was firing, her heavy guns biting with relish into the shields of the enemy capital ship.

"Sir! We're getting strange data from the EMPIRE... the enemy's hull does not appear to be taking damage."

Indeed, the few stray shots that had penetrated the enemy shields had scorched and blackened the hull of the mock Star Destroyer, but had not blasted through it, as was expected.

"Keep up the bombardment." The Commodore ordered, not daring to wonder too much about this peculiarity at the moment.

The Imperial fleet had a distinct advantadge now: formed in a line, they could concentrate a good deal of shield power against the vector the enemy was firing upon. But the Pegasus, caught between the fleet and the EMPIRE, was forced to shift shield power between fore and aft. And as the long range exchange intensified, that was beginning to take its toll.

"Jamming." The communications officer reported easily. Nothing out of the ordinary, nor honestly of terrible greivance to the Empire. Their training was second to none, and they had their orders.

The next report came from sensors, noting hyperspace terminus of projectiles: more of the hyperspace missiles. There was no need to relay to gunnery to take them down: the Phalanx guns began to spit fire, destroying missiles in midflight. By virtue of their stealth design some of the warheads made it through, impacting against the heavy shields of the CPECs.

There was no way for the Commodore to know with the jamming that the Centurion had lost launching for her port side missile cluster, but it hardly mattered - that vessel's Captain was compitent, and knew his role well.

"Sir! Bombers!" Indeed, difficult to detect and forgotten in the heat of the battle, a number of enemy ships had managed to slip past the Imperial line and bear down on the Curiassier class Heavy Cruiser Bismark. The fallacy of the enemy manouver was obvious, however: they flew at the ship in line, strung out for some distance.

The Bismark's antistarfighter guns began to fire, and the enemy fighters had two choices: break, and lose their chance at attack, or shoot and die.

They chose the latter, and though a number of the fighters were shot to pieces on their approach, a significant ammount survived to launch their missiles. These impacted against the shields of the Bismark, overwhelming them and allowing ever more of the bombs to strike against her reinforced engine spar.

That it did not seperate might be called a miracle, but only just: fire streaming from her side, the vessel's Captain struggled to bring her under control. One after another, the engines flamed out, shut down lest they rip themselves free. And through this, in a testament to the training of the Imperial Fleet, the guns did not cease firing.

The enemy bombers had had to continue on over the top of the Bismark, and in doing so subjected themselves to the veangeful fire from the Cruiser's other canons. That the enemy bombers were nearly as agile as Lambda shuttles did not help them, and nearly offset the fact they were almost invisible. Many more fell to the fire of the Bismark as they fled.

The Commodore, watching the events unfold, crossed himself (an unusual motion, as anyone who knew him even in passing would tell you).

"Take a note," he said, his voice low, "if Captain Ballard survives this engagement, he is to be nominated for a Hero of the Empire medal."

Indeed, even now as the Bismark struggled to retain her place in the Imperial line, she continued to fire, her turbolasers targetting the smaller enemy destroyers now assaulting her sistership, the Hood.

These ships, less than half the size of the Hood, found themselves subject to fire from nearly all directions: nearly every gun in the fleet that could rotate to fire opened up, covering them from a half dozen angles.

Even the ultrachrome protective armour of the ships could not protect from the onslaught, and one of the smaller ships trailed fire as it fled back towards its own lines.

But they did not leave the Hood unscathed: fire blossomed from her hull, the engine spar again taking the brunt of the attack. This time the heavily reinforced spar held, and as the enemy ship's passed the Cruiser's location a missile volley lanced out from two of the Imperial frigates, towards the rear of the enemy ships.

The bridge crew of the CPEC breathed a sigh of relief as the two lines crossed, and once again the battle was back to relative normal: the two lines fired at each other from range, licking their wounds.

Normal, save for the EMPIRE SOb, still hammering away at the enemy shields. Her regular lasers had weakened them, and now a pair of blasts from her Super Turbolasers were dispatched, the first crashing like a tidal wave into the weakened shields, so powerful that those shields turned pink before faltering, if only for a second.

Long enough for the second blast to strike home at full power. Too much power even for ultrachrome to compensate for.

The lead CPEC at the same time fired its main guns again, this time picking on the second enemy Star Destroyer. The other two CPECs followed suite shortly thereafter, the combined effect of the group's heaviest cannons having a similar effect to that of the EMPIRE's STLs.

"I wonder," the Commodore mused, "if they know yet, about Metalorn?"

And he smiled.

Greywind 8, Convoy Defence

“For frak’s sake stay out of their fire vectors,” demanded the somewhat garbled voice.

“Lead, I think they get the point,” replied Flight Officer Masaque, whipping his fighter’s yoke, sending his fighter in abrupt turn to get a lock on a TIE-2.

The bombers making their run on the Curaisseur opened ranks as their targets opened fire on them with massive bursts of emerald from the turbolasers and the smaller but more rapid fire of the defence banks. But the first bombers did not react so quickly, as a few fireballs within the Confederation formation showed. A few were instantly destroyed with several more taking unrepairable damage from near misses. Those that were critically hit, but not destroyed, jockeyed forward, their SAS engaged. The Cavaliers soared pass the mortally wounded bombers, who then impacted on the Hood. Not only did the kinetic energy from the bombers, with reinforce frames, slam into the heavy cruiser’s hull, but their entire store of munitions went off, creating a massive fireball that enveloped the already damaged spar, breaking the spar. With the Hood’s engines forcefully detached and the Bismarck’s flamed out, the cruisers were immobile, and not in most of their weapon’s range to engage the Confederation fleet.

The rest of the bombers not engaged on the attack let forth a flurry of stealthed missiles against the Imperial starfighters, which were outnumbered from the start. Explosions blossomed as Imperial fighters destroyed some missiles or were hit by the rest. With that, the S9s and A3s disengaged from the dogfight to form ranks to make a run a final, converging attack to destroy the Bismarck’s spar. That by no means ended the dogfight, as the fifty Stormfires launched from the Cavaliers kept the Imperial survivors occupied. Stormfires were unique in that they were equipped with high-powered railguns, a powerful and stealthy weapon only offsetted by its low rate of fire and limited ammunition. But their pilots were experienced and canny, continually taking down fighters with their slugs and stealthed laser bolts; keeping the enemy in the dark about their numbers and positions.
----------------------
Pegasus CIC

The sheer ruckus of the command crew dominated the CIC. Black-uniformed officers swiveling on chairs, hollering across the room, despite the omnipresent comlink headset that every officer wore. When we are threatened, when we panic or fight for survival, we go back to natural instinct. Thought and logic are unnatural in those states. Only the highly disciplined or highly experienced officers think coldly and calculating in battle. The Pegasus slightly shuddered under an impact of missiles and STLs.

“Status report!” bellowed the Commodore, grasping the rails around the central holo-projector.

“We have hull venting on the port side-”

“Activating Back-up shields-”

“-sent damage control teams to mend it up as best as they can.”

Corise nodded. “Make the jump. A minute?”

“Affirmative sir.”

The Pegasus did not jump. Instead, it swiftly rotated to present its undamaged and pristine starboard batteries to the SOb. A flurry of emerald and sapphire bolts from the destroyer lanced forth to impact on the strangely shaped vessel. Already, the Audacieuse, which had retained its aft and starboard position in relation to the Pegasus, had swiftly swung about so that her dagger-like bow menacingly pointed itself at the SOb. It had already been firing at the SOb, and with the nature of its hull shape, was utilizing all of its firepower against the SOb. In addition, the Magnetorian Sweep had been activated. While it could not stop the SOb’s weapons from hitting the Pegasus, it did prevent them from effectively targeting the weaker points of the Pegasus’ shields. Corise spared a glance at the SOb, which seemed to have changed little in shield or hull strength despite the Confederation onslaught, but a quick glance at the holo-projector showed another story as bits of blue lightning leapt across the hull.

For every Confederation officer knew that the dependence on one type of technology for a need would be its downfall. For technologies can become outdated or obsolete with the invention of other technologies or occurrence of other events. The Confederation had taken that into account, hence the many varied weapons found on the warships of its fleet. And by far the most widespread type of weapon supplementing the powerful and venerable turbolaser was the ion cannon. Or in the Kashan designed ships’ case, rapid-fire Quad Ion Cannons, equivalent in effect to a normal turbolaser. With over fifty of the weapons being brought to bear on the SOb, the Imperial ship would likely be suffering some serious electrical damage through short-circuiting, especially since the vessel relied intensely on automation. For where ships that had human crews could repair them within a couple of minutes because of the adaptability and versatility of the human species, hard-wired brains, whether artificial or organic, could not. Indeed, as circuits overloaded with the bluish energy, the same energy surged through the organic brains, disrupting and damaging them in the process, if the now lack of power available to run them did not. The most affected systems were those on the outside of the vessel, especially those that were only partially protected by hull plating or rose from it: the weapons and their sensors. Weapons began to short-circuit, sensors began to suffer fried circuits and both systems faced power failure due to damaged power systems of the craft.

Simultaneously, the Nemesis Bombers and Cavalier Destroyers returned from their incursion against the New Order heavy cruisers in their respective arcs. And directly in their path lay the SOb. In a classic flanking maneuver, the two groups hurtled forward at their opponent, with the Cavaliers discharging rounds of ionic slugs and similarly equipped Starflares as the now widely dispersed A3s launched several volleys of their stealth missiles. In effect, the SOb was faced four sources of reasonably heavy firepower with an assortment of Kashan weaponry. But the biggest problem the SOb faced was not its destruction by overwhelming firepower.

“The Redemption has made the jump sir.”

It was the jump. The Redemption, formerly situated behind the attacking SOb, made its own micro-jump, placing the transport directly on top of the embattled Imperial ship. Tractor beams from all across the Confederation Fleet, including the Redemption, locked onto the SOb, holding it in place. The various point-defence systems of the fleet sent down streams of various fire down the invisible beams, ensuring that anything that tried to break the strong grasp of the fleet would be promptly destroyed. The two ventral plasma beam drills of the transport flamed to life, slowly beginning to cut their way through the metal. The process was somewhat hindered in two ways. The first being that molecularly bonded armor was not as easily cut as normal armor, and the second being the Audacieuse’s Magnetorian sweep was slowing down the tracking abilities of the transport as well. But still, the bright blue plasma beams indomitably drilled into the armor, slowly but surely making their mark. In the meantime, the Heroic had also made her own jump between the two star destroyers and had projected her shields to encompass both of the ships.
---------------------
Seraph, Task Force Pegasus Vanguard

“We got one sir.”

“Excellent. Focus and fire,” stated the captain.

The three Seraphs were in the process of engaging the CPECs, who oddly enough seemed to be moving to focus on the Audieceuse. The captain could only question the sensibility of the Imperial commodore’s move, whose own ship was suffering ionic damage taken by several barrages of the star destroyers quad ion cannons before the SOb had showed up. The Seraphs had kept up the barrage, sending a flurry of long-range ionic bolts into the Caymans, continuing to target the shield generators. Several had been short-circuited and disabled, and the Confederation took the opportunity given by the failure to batter down the unshielded hulls with their turbolasers. Caymans were heavily armored, even more so than the Seraphs, but without shields, typical hull plating gave way under barrages of turbolaser bolts. And so was it now. The three Caymans fired on the Audacieuse, who was partially protected by the Heroic’s shields. The shielding from the Heroid failed under that destructive power, allowing some of the energy to pass and then impact on the star destroyer’s shields. The bolts slammed into the shielding, which turned light red as the already weakened bolts dissipiated against it; the shields held and firmed back up.

The same could not be said of the Cayman that had recently attracted the attention of the Seraphs. The fast-tracking turrets of the cruisers quickly and efficiently spotted the area of the downed shields and fired. A steady stream of emerald bore into the craft as the sapphire bolts of the cruisers suppressed the other TNO ships in the area.
------------------------
Liberty, MDF Flagship

“Not now,” spouted Captain Tywe, his hands on his hips, “volley, and sound the retreat. Divert turbolaser energy to engines, bring those up to full power. We’ll keep the other weapons powered up.”

“Aye sir.”

A volley of the Starflare Type Bs, jammers engaged, surged forward towards the Imperial fleet. The missiles had been fired somewhat haphazardly, and as such, were widely dispersed throughout the space between the two fleets. Not that it mattered, as the idea was for a saturation effect and possibly to delay TNO’s advance.

Max turned to the helmsmen. “Bring us about.”

“Yes sir.”

The Liberty swung about quickly with an agility that matched the Second Wave ships. As it was, most Confederation vessels were already faster and more maneuverable than their Imperial counterparts, and Tywe believed that it would be to their best advantage if they utilized that strength now. With extra energy being bled from the turbolasers into the engines, the Coalition fleet would be all the more faster.

“That was a pretty quick decision to withdraw,” piped the Liberty’s XO.

Tywe shook his head and smiled. “It’s not. We’re just advancing in a different direction.”

He turned to the communication’s officer and the helmsmen.

“Once we’re out of the gravity-well, prepare to make a jump.”

Meanwhile, on Metalorn...

They had made it through the minefield alright... the weak imitation Abolisher mines were certainly powerful, but weren't deployed in large enough numbers to completely rip the numbers apart like TNO Abolisher cruisers had done at the Battle of Teth. But none the less, they had taken damage. Small bits and pieces of ship's hulls went missing, along with occassional pieces of equiptment. Fortunitly, the space they had to pass through was very small, and so other than some wear and tear and a crippled Corvette, they had made it through alright and began to engage the enemy defensive fleet.

Except that, now they were gone.

They had emerged from hyperspace to find the enemy defenses arrayed out in front of them- three of the mid-sized Star Destroyers that the Commodore was engaging just a few tenths of a light year away, and half a dozen heavy cruisers, along with a smattering of smaller ships. The Imperial Flotilla had immediately opened fire upon them, and the enemy returned it. For several momemnts they traded volleys, and then the Metalorn defense fleet jumped, the gutted hulks of several Corvettes and Light Cruisers and several wings of cloaked Starfighters on the surveyor’s CGT (not dead, mind you, as Jan though they were due to a wording error) marking the space where they'd just occupied.

Where had they jumped to? No one save God himself and the enemy commander knew. But Gilford was a seasoned fleet officer and his gut instinct told him they hadn't gone far, and that they would likely be back for more.

Meanwhile, however, their primary target, the industrial world of Metalorn, was left wide open and almost defenseless. Nothing but an outmodeled planetary shield defense system, one of Corusants old ones replaced after the Clone War and recycled, and a few surface Turbo lasers and Ion Cannons, also recycled but not quite as old. The Empire had always relied on it’s massive fleet (which contained 30,000 Star Destroyers at it’s height) and not unreliable planetary defenses for the protection of worlds. Metalorn, a primary industrial world on the level of Mechis III, had been protected by 24 of the mighty ships while under the Empire’s control.

From what the Surveyor’s advanced sensors were telling him, the planet’s defenses hadn’t received a significant upgrade since the Empire installed him.

But down to business, Gilford supposed. To deal with the fighters, he had a third of the flotilla's fighter complement- nearly all TIE Defenders- dispatched. While slightly outnumbered (at least, he figured they were: the damn Gravity Well prevented them from getting a precise reading), the detected fighters had been combatted only a few months earlier by Grand Admiral Desaria, and their capabilities and performance were known to a limited degree. The more maneuverable Imperial fighters, piloted by more experienced and better trained pilots (factory workers? Volunteers? Ha! Call them mincemeat) would have no problem quickly and ruthlessly dealing with them.

At the same time, the six Raptor's gravity wells all came online, protecting them from any sort of microjumping tricks such as those Thrawn himself or the Yevithia had employed. However, these also had a beneficial side effect to go along with that- the volleys of Starflare-IIs launched by the Kashan flotilla were ripped to pieces as they contacted gravity well, since the Starflare's hyper drive had no safety cut outs or other fancy things to raise it's price or size. (The attack was, interestingly enough, detected by another Surveyor working further out in the system with a squadron of minesweepers to cut gaps in the minefield for the unlikely event of a retreat).

"Put a priority flag on that section of the sensor records," Gilford ordered a junior officer in charge of the sensor section, "They might try that little trick again, and even if not, I'm sure the boys at R&D will be interested in it."

As the S9s and S10s fled from them or were swept aside by the TIE Defender formation- their superior maneuverability and speed combined with forewarning of the Kashan fighters trailing them gave them a heavy advantage- the Imperial flotilla crawled forwards, the valuable Surveyors positioned in the center of the formation where the larger ships could protect them. Already information was coming in from the scout vessel's vast array of sensors, and target lists were readied for the planetary bombardment.

"Sir, the Surveyors have located a planetary shield projectors on this hemisphere, as well as a few old surface Turbolasers and Ion Cannons and several dozen power generators. Should I give the order for the operation to proceed?"

"Yes," Gilford replied, "But be careful to hit defensive targets only. We want to damage as little of the planet's infrastructure as possible. And make sure to stay out of the enemy surface weaponry's range. They can't hit us right now- thank deus they haven't upgraded the origional defensive weaponry- but if we get much closer they can.

"Give them hell."