Pegasus, Confederation flagship

In the cyan suffused room that was the CIC of the Pegasus, flagship of the Confederation fleet, the arrival of Commodore Brand’s ships did not go unnoticed. The ship rocked under the impact of the Imperial assault; which few of the Confederation officers paid attention too, aside from grasping the handrails; not out of arrogance, but because of trust within the decades of Kashan shipbuilding and defence expertise. If there was a salient trait of Confederation shipbuilding, it was durability and resilience. With nearly every Kashan ship layered in a thick hide of exceptionally dense ultrachrome and increasing common Quadranium Carbide, another highly heat resistant material. And for the first time within the battle, the Confederation vessels began to use their superconducting armor to partially absorb the energy of the Imperial attacks (fromThorne Dreadnaughts) and reroute it into their shield systems. The blonde-haired Commodore coldly viewed the holograph of the battle, calculating maneuvers and drawing up schemes. He hesitated; the Pegasus rocked.

Outside, emerald and sapphire flak bursts satuturated the volley of warheads launched by the Imperial ships, taking out clusters of the missiles at a time. Among them, the endless streams of the Pegasus’s point-defence network began to cut a emerald swath into the volleys of Imperial missiles. While not very powerful and severely lacking in range, the point-defence laser cannons did have an exceptionally high rate of fire and excellent tracking capabilities: perfect for destroying standard missiles and torpedoes. And the Pegasus’ guns weren’t the only active in actively destroying the missiles, the other anti-missile systems of the Confederation fleet ripped them apart; not laser cannons, but rather the dual defence railguns, which while they lacked the rate of fire of the defence cannons, packed a significantly long range; a hail of durasteel slugs ripped into the volleys of Imperial missiles, starting a wave of blossoming explosions. And from the bow of the Pegasus, the Magnetorian sweep’s waves disrupted the targeting computers of the warheads, sending many completely off target and past the star destroyer, complementing the communication’s jamming from the Sinew, which rocketed away towards the edge of the battlefield under the guardianship of the three Cavaliers. Some missiles invariably made it through the intense barrage of the Coalition fleet to slam into the star destroyer. And those that did found the other aspect of the Confederation’s anti-missile defence: Electric Reactive armor. As the warheads pricked the armor, the electricity stored up within the hull surged into the warhead, detonating the missile outside the hull, the blasts of the missiles buffeting the silver wedge of the star destroyer. Small pricks of fire penetrated the star destroyer’s hull, inflicting damage into the deck immediately below the heavy plating of the destroyer, which proved more to be a logistical hazard in terms of internal transportation rather than any crippling system damage.

In the meantime, the Thornes had began their assault on the three Seraphs of the original fleet. How the Thornes had even managed to coordinate any attack against the Confederation fleet with the jamming was beyond the younger Lucerne’s understanding. Nor were the seasoned crew of those Confederation ships arrogant or ignorant in the least. Rather than continuing to pound the inactive, husks of the disabled and partially chewed up ships of the Imperial raiding party, the cruisers struck back at the aggressors. Waves of turbolaser and ion cannon fire erupted from the Confederation fleet against the Imperial dreadnaughts, who continued to pound their opposition with their heavy turbolaser batteries. Emerald bolts from the Imperial ships slammed into the shields of the Coalition vessels, slowly wearing them down until the equally powerful back-up generators aboard the cruisers kicked in, stemming the Imperial onslaught. Backed with powerful defences, a Seraph Mk III was fit to survive warships of significantly larger size and armament, at the cost of speed, and to a lesser extent, weapons. The same could not be said of the Thorne, whose exceptionally powerful offence, like many other TNO vessels, could allow it to destroy larger ships than itself. It would have been an impasse; a ship with exceptionally strong offence pitted against a ship with equally strong defences, except for the rest of the design philosophies. Thornes, while offensively powerful sported inversely proportional defences, as it had speed and maneuverability instead. Seraphs on the other hand, while slow, still sported a decent enough armament to best the substandard shields of the Thorne. And this would be a problem for the Imperial commander, as the battlefield was quickly becoming a slugging match, well-suited for the philosophy of the various marks of the Seraph-class, but not the lightly defended Thorne, which would have performed admirably in pursuit with its high speed.

Corise studied the struggle between the two ships with pained fascination, with the Seraph’s staying philosophy slowly beginning to take its toll on the Imperial vessels. The Imperial attacks seemed to be directed at taking out the location of generally where a ship’s reactor was. The Commodore smiled, somewhat amused: like all newer Kashan ships, the Seraph Mk III didn’t have a single, massive reactor at all. What it did have was a redundant multi-core power system, using a spread out network of small generators, whose destruction wouldn’t destroy a ship, albeit that would lessen the power output of the stricken vessel.

Elsewhere, the starfighters clashed, with the hordes of TIE-2s pitted against the stealth fighters of the Confederation. The sheer numbers of the Imperial craft would have stricken fear into the hearts of their enemys and wreaked heavy damage and havoc as well. But how did a fighter squadron effectively fight when it couldn’t communicate? How did a starfighter fight what it could not see or find? Problems that plagued the Imperial fighters from the outset. In their typical fashion, the Confederation starfighters initiated quick hit-and-fade strikes before vanishing into the darkness. Moreover, with coordinated actions, the Coalition pilots held a tactical and moral advantage. The TIE-2s could attack capital ships: they were certainly easier targets than their nearly invisible counterparts, but they faced another problem: the dual defence cannons of the Seraphs and the Redemption or the older laser cannons on the other ships. While a laser cannon took at the very least several consecutive shots to breach most starfighter’s shields, a railgun did not: a lesson that some Imperial pilots operating near those ships were finding out the hard way.

Corise looked, “I think the time has come. Make it so. Beta protocol is in effect.”

“Aye sir,” nodded a junior officer, who paced away to the communication’s protocol.

The Beta protocol. A protocol that could be made so lethal and potentially inhumane, that few within the Confederation military believed it would ever be used. A protocol that could revolutionize warfare. A protocol Corise shunned, as it turned the battle between warriors into a battle of life verses artificial intelligence. On the fringes of the battlefield, the three Cavaliers, arranged into a wedge faced the clashing fleets, occasionally sending a charged up slug at the distant Imperial ships, particularly the Sultan. Behind them was the Sinew, manned by the more mainstream Coalition. While all of those ships had played an important role in the battle, a new role for them would be revealed and implemented.

The Confederation Commodore licked his lips, continuing to watch the unfolding battle with fascination. And rather suddenly, the TNO ships began to go haywire. Environmental controls were reversed, injuring Imperial sailors through high pressure or putting the life controls in reverse, venting massive amounts of carbon dioxide instead of oxygen. It was relatively rare; a sign of things to potentially come. Significantly more widespread, on every Imperial ship present, was the subversion of the Multi-XMAP; the computer system found on Imperial warships. While not a deathblow to the Imperial fleet, their battle performance advantages gained from it were inevitably lost: the victim of the Apollo Shadows. Other computer systems were beginning to suffer severe problems, as the Apollo Shadows slowed, corrupted, and purged software of all sorts, from life-support to targeting sensors and shield systems. Perhaps the most diabolical virus was strain XC-235, developed by the Cavalier’s Apollo system, which would rewrite the main computer system of all Imperial ships present, and eventually, could turn the warships against their crews. But for all of the advantages of the programs developed by the Apollo Shadows, it would take time to develop; pre-programmed virus’s continued to be rerouted from the ships carrying the Apollo system through the Sinew, which blanketed the subspace communication waves with the viruses, which equipped with Identify Friend or Foe software, bore into the Imperial ships. Entry points into the Imperial vessels were numerous, from the starship’s communication’s area through personal computers, datapads, and comlinks.

“Any chance we can catch them back?” questioned the Commodore.

The comm. officer shook his head. “Not a chance, because of the IFF codes and the fact that we control the comm. waves, I can’t think of any conceivable ways for them to get a virus to us, especially with the Apollo system in place and spreaded via the Integrated Battle Computer. But with the jamming, we can control the viruses or receive information back from.”

Corise nodded. “Something of a double-edged sword.”

More ships flashed into realspace: the Metalorn Defence Fleet. Gray rods plowed forward and silver wedges cut through to meet the newer group of Imperial forces. Confederation star destroyers and the more numerous Seraphs formed ranks and began their blistering long-range barrage of the Imperial vessels, striking them with turbolaser and ion fire. Juaire-class Gunships fired their golden Tachyon beams at their distant opponents while the gravitational disruptors began to strike the enemy bridges and control centers, injuring and killing Imperial command crews. The tides turn.

Corise turned to his navigation officer. “Prepare to make the jump to staging area Alpha-Red-Three.”

“Aye sir.”

(under revision for tech issues: Hang tight)

Commodore Brand felt the deck vibrate beneath his feet, and inquired to one his aides for a damage report. The aide hurried across the various panels and crew bridge officers before reporting back to his commander.

"Sir, enemy offensive weaponry has pierced our shields in a number of places, and three decks have been closed down to prevent loss of life from vaccuum suction. Reserve energy has already filled the gap in the shields caused by the enemy onslaught." reported the aide. Then the Commodore inquired as to the damage being sustained by the rest of the fleet.

"Difficult to tell Commodore, due to enemy jamming. But from what messages do manage to get through, it appears the enemy is targeting mainly our Thorne class dreadnoughts. The Revenge appears to be dead in space, venting hull and debris, although a few of her weapon batteries are still firing away." reported the communications officer. With the enemy trying to jam the in fleet radio communications, line of sight flash signals were the preferred mode of communications now between Imperial vessels. Although the enemy could see the signals, they would have no idea what they meant. The only codebooks avilable were on the Imperial vessels.

At that moment however, signs of a computer virus began to show up in their systems. However, due to the jamming that both the Imperial and Confederacy vessels were using against one another, the virus soon disappeared, with the Imperial's anti-virus software eliminating the last vestiages of the computer virus. Foolish of the enemy to try such a manuever with such difficulty in maintaing even simple and basic communications ongoing in the pitched fleet battle.

Having taken stock of the damage his fleet had sustained, Brand looked for answers as to what the enemy had lost. Many of their ships, already having shown signs of damage from the earlier ongoing engagement against the detachment under the command of captain Trinity, were now showing signs of serious damage. Their countermeasures had proven tougher than anticipated, but even the best and most foolhardy systems can be overwhelmed with sheer firepower. After a series of blinker signals was sent out, the death sentence of the enemy flagship was handed down, and the verdict was, death by firing squad. The Curaissier class cruisers, believed defeated by the enemy Seraphs, fired their turbolaser volleys into the engine cores of the enemy Pegasus class star destroyer.

Already having sustained volleys previously in the engagement, the drive engines gave way under the concentration of the energy assault. With their engines crippled, the Pegasus began to drift, out of control. With her a sitting and helpess target, the destroyers and remaining dreadnoughts made their assault next. Targeting the areas of hull where the enemy armour had been breached by warheads or sustained turbolaser volleys, the line captial ships poured thousands of kilojoules of turbolaser and ion cannon energy into these exposed areas, destroying deck after deck, leaving deep and gouged holes that lead from the outside of the ship into her vitals.

First one explosion, and then several came, a massive surge of energy that sent explosions ripping across the surface of the Pegasus. Hundreds of bodies and debris came flying out of the tunneled holes that led into the exterior of the ship, followed by the detonations of muntions and power cells. Power sputtered once, twice on the ship, then went dead. With the enemy flagship defeated by the all out assault by the Imperial ships, their attention could be shifted to the smaller Seraphs.

In the meantime, the enemy stealth fighters, while having the advantage of being invisible while flying around, were not entirely invisible when firing on an Imperial starfighter. While one may not be able to see the starfighter it's self, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where to shoot when lasers started appearing out of a certain area of space. The gunners on the Rapier-II class gunships and the pilots of the TIE-2s took every advantage they could when an enemy starfighter made an assault, firing a barrage of laser and ion cannons into the enemies vicinity. Sometimes the enemy starfighter made a clean break. Other times, an explosion would be followed by suddenly visible debris. So went the battle.

<b>Present
Onboard the Justice II</b>

Captain Kit Galden looked around his bridge. A certain air of excitement and anxiousness filled the bridge, in fact it filled the whole ship. The <i>Justice II</i> was going to war, and his crew was looking forward to it. Now you would think that they wouldn&#8217;t be looking forward to going to war against BDE. BDE was full of religious fanatics and had very advanced, and strange, technology that had proved to be very effective in the past. But there was no other way to describe it, the crew was excited and anxious about going to war. This despite that as far as the crew knew, they were on a simple patrol mission and then the reinforcement of Coalition planets near BDE. They were to travel along the edge of the BDE border from where the BDE border met the border with TNO and then patrol over to the GC/BDE border, where they would patrol. Some ships would be left at planets along. As far as the crew knew, no actual battles were planned. However the was no simple, small, standard patrol fleet of a couple light cruisers and some gunships. The patrol would be considered a good-sized assault fleet, minus the troop transports that would have been curiously absent, under any other circumstances. This fact had got some of the crew speculating that their mission was not the simple patrol it had been made out to be. These speculations were treated like rumours by the officers in the fleet.

The fleet was under the command of Admiral Sarn, an Admiral from the Onyxian Commonwealth who had fought against the New Order at Bilbringi and Ando. As well he fought against an unknown Imperial Star Destroyer when it attacked a convoy in Coalition space. Admiral Sarn was acting as not only the fleet commander, but also the commander for the heavy assault group of the fleet, made up of the ships designed to enter into slugfests with the enemy, such as, but not limited to, the Dominator &#8211; class Heavy Battlecruisers, MC-90 Star Cruisers and Bakura Star Destroyers. The fleet&#8217;s second in command was Admiral Acbar, a Mon Calamari who had moved to Ando years before, back around the time of the Coalition and Sovereignty war against the New Order. Prior to being assigned to Ando he had been the Admiral in charge of the Mon Calamari Republic fleet which had liberated the Farquak System. He was onboard a Claymore Battleship, and commanded the &#8220;cavalry&#8221; of the fleet, the Second Wave ships. Finally, Captain Kit Galden was the third in command of the fleet. He commanded the &#8220;irregulars&#8221; of the fleet, as well as the ships dedicated to defending them. In his fleet he had his flagship, the Haven Light Cruiser <i>Justice II</i>, and various other escort type ships, to protect the irregulars, and then the irregulars themselves. In the irregulars there were Intimidator Cruisers, Heroic Support Vessels, an old, refitted, Interdictor Cruiser and a Sinew. Then there was General Gordon Fren in command of the Fighter Group, made up of Stryker Carriers and Escort Carriers, carrying Swift Space Superiority Fighters (SSSFs), Kris Fighters and Saber Assault Bombers (SABs). The SSSF squadrons contained the General&#8217;s elite Slasher Squadron and Colonel Kristen Bartle&#8217;s Golden Eagles, who were the test pilots of the SSSF. Under General Gordon Fren&#8217;s command there was Commander John Durling and his Nova Squadron, who had tested the SAB. Commander Durling was in command of the SABs for this mission. There were plenty of experienced commanders in the fleet, all of whom were ready for whatever came there way, no matter if danger presented itself from BDE, TNO, pirates or even the strange unknown alien force that had devastated the Coalition relief effort at Kiyar.


<b>Past</b>
<b>Onboard the Justice II</b>

&#8220;You want me to what?&#8221; The words came out of Captain Kit Galden&#8217;s mouth before he could stop them. &#8220;I mean, pardon me sir, but I&#8217;ve never commanded a taskforce that size.&#8221;

Jan looked at the Captain before replying.

&#8220;You&#8217;ve done escort duty before.&#8221;

&#8220;Begging the Minister&#8217;s pardon, but this is more than mere escort duty. You&#8217;re talking about putting me in command of a force of irregular, specialized ships.&#8221;

&#8220;You wouldn&#8217;t be commanding them as much as escorting and protecting them. They will receive their orders from Admiral Sarn, and their captains are all quite capable of looking after their own ships. You just need to keep the enemy off of them and allow them to do their jobs. Plus, it will allow you to get more experience with a larger fleet.&#8221;

&#8220;This is still a larger escort than I&#8217;ve ever commanded.&#8221;

&#8220;True, but the ships are far more valuable than any you&#8217;ve ever protected before.&#8221;

&#8220;When do I ship out?&#8221;

&#8220;You should prepare to leave as soon as I&#8217;m off the ship and be out of the system in an hour. You will take your current command, plus the 6 Escort Carriers, to Ando. There you will meet Admiral Acbar. By the time you are there he will have the fleet coming from the shipyards around Ando assembled. These ships are brand new, their crews have just finished training with them. Then you will proceed to a system near the planet of Tirahnn, where you will meet up with the rest of the fleet, coming from the Onyxian Commonwealth and Admiral Sarn. You&#8217;ll end up with not only your squadron of irregulars, but also a heavy assault squadron and a cavalry squadron. Plus the fighter group, this will be under the command of General Gordon Fren, but you will probably be assigned to defend the carriers.&#8221;

&#8220;That&#8217;s quite a big patrol fleet. I mean a standard patrol fleet would have my current and maybe a larger ship if they were lucky. For this patrol fleet I&#8217;ll have multiple times that, plus all of the irregular vessels. And that doesn&#8217;t count that my fleet is largely designed to protect the irregulars, while the majority of the patrol fleet&#8217;s actually conventional hitting power is in the heavy assault and cavalry squadrons. This patrol fleet would be considered an invasion fleet if it simply had some troop transports. And even without troop transports this fleet would be similar in size to an Imperial invasion fleet.&#8221;

&#8220;These are dangerous times. What used to have been a war fleet is now simply considered a patrol fleet by High Command. We can&#8217;t risk BDE laying traps for small patrol fleets. Plus you are not patrolling during a time of peace, we are at war with BDE and this patrol could very well come in contact with a BDE invasion force, or the vanguard for an invasion force. Plus you will be the first reinforcements in any battle should BDE attack a GC controlled planet.&#8221;

&#8220;All right, well I best be getting ready, I don&#8217;t want to be late for Admiral Acbar, I hear he is a stickler for timeliness.&#8221;

&#8220;That he is. Good luck Captain.&#8221;

&#8220;Thanks, but this is just a patrol mission, I shouldn&#8217;t need any luck,&#8221; observed Kit.

&#8220;You&#8217;re right, but you never know, strange things can happen,&#8221; replied Jan. Kit saw something in his facial expression that made him think something more than just a mere patrol mission was going on, but he knew that Jan would not reveal what it was. If he was going to do that he would have done it already. He wondered what it could be, but held his tongue. He would find out in due time.


<b>Present</b>
<b>Onboard Justice II</b>

&#8220;Sir, we will be coming out of hyperspace momentarily.&#8221;

Captain Kit Galden acknowledged the Lieutenant&#8217;s announcement, then looked back out the viewport in front of him, as the lines that hyperspace made of stars reverted into actual dots. In front of his group and to the right he saw the heavy assault squadron, while to the left there was the cavalry squadron. Captain Galden glanced at the sensor screen and saw that his irregular group was all present, accounted for and in position. Behind them sat General Fren&#8217;s fighter group. The fleet just sat there for a few moments, while they waited for orders from their commanding officers. As the moments stretched to a minute a few of the crew members looked around, at each other and at Captain Galden. Why were they just sitting here? Why were they sitting here, in the middle of nowhere, in an uninhabited system just moments away from Metalorn? Slowly many began to just stare questioningly at their Captain, who sat there and awaited for the information to come in from Admiral Sarn, as had been planned by the fleet&#8217;s commanders. The reason why so many of the captains and officers in the fleet had managed to be so convincing in persuading the crew that this was just a simply patrol mission was that only 4 officers in the fleet knew the truth. Those officers being the commanding four officers, Admiral Sarn, Admiral Acbar, Captain Kit Galden and General Gordon Fren. Captain Kit Galden thought back to the meeting onboard the flagship of the fleet near, but not in the same system as, Tirahnn when Admiral Sarn had given them the real mission of the fleet.

<b>Past
Uninhabited system near the Galactic Coalition planet of Tirahnn</b>

A fleet from across the Coalition had gathered here, near Tirahnn, allegedly to go on a patrol mission along the BDE and GC border. A fleet that just happened to contain ships produced across the Coalition, crewed by citizens from across the Coalition and which would take part in a patrol mission concerning a war that was in a different section of the Coalition. This &#8220;patrol mission&#8221; was a symbol. A symbol that the peoples from across the Coalition could come together and fight, regardless of what gender or species they were, or from what quadrant of the galaxy. And it was a symbol that the war with the Black Dragon Empire was not primarily the concern of the planets near Black Dragon Empire space, it was the concern of the entire Coalition. Now High Command was staging a mission to show that to the galaxy.

Admiral Sarn stood in front of the assembled commanders.

&#8220;Gentlebeings, as you know, we are currently at war with the Black Dragon Empire. As you are also probably aware, the war effort has largely been carried out by the forces of the Eastern Province area and the White Knights. There has been some aid from the Western Province and Onyxian Commonwealth at the start, but overall the war has thus far been fought by the Eastern Province. We are here to put a stop to that. Our force, made up of beings from across the Coalition and with ships built from across the Coalition, will be engaged in anti-interdiction activities. We are to actively search and destroy any and all interdiction devices that the Black Dragon Empire has set up around their borders, especially those near our border with them. Any and all support vessels with the interdictors will be destroyed. We will not allow the enemy ships to escape our wrath and flee.

As well we will actively engage in numerous fake attacks on the Dragons, destroying the interdictors leading to a certain planet, making them believe that we will be assaulting that planet, and then moving off in another direction entirely. The goal of the mission is to not only show that the entire Coalition is part of this war with BDE, but also to destroy forces that have been shown to be relatively weak and thereby allowing us to hurt their military without going up against a strong BDE fleet.

Also, as you all know, Joren Logan has been missing since he went on a mission into Dragon territory. We are to attempt to find him and his fleet while on our mission. Any rumours of him or his fleet are to be immediately sent to me and we will track down each and every one of them. Fleets sent out to track down these leads will vary in size, from a light cruiser and some gunships to the entire fleet, depending on the circumstances.

In this task we are getting aid from the Contegorian Confederation. We are to go to an uninhabited system outside of Metalorn and a fleet, commanded by Commodore Lucerne, will meet us. From there we will move onto BDE space.&#8221;

The briefing continued for much longer, before the commanders went back to their assigned vessels and prepared for the upcoming mission. But none of them expected what would happen when they sat in an uninhabited system outside of Metalorn, waiting for Admiral Sarn to deliver the news to the fleet.

<b>Present
Uninhabited system near the Galactic Coalition planet of Metalorn
Onboard the Unity, flagship of the fleet</b>

Admiral Sarn smiled as the fleet reverted from hyperspace, everything normal. Or close to normal. The fleet under Corise Lucerne was missing. Possibly just running late, but still not present.

&#8220;Comm, open a channel to Commodore Lucerne&#8217;s fleet.&#8221;

&#8220;I can&#8217;t sir.&#8221;

&#8220;Is our com working properly?&#8221;

&#8220;Yes. Then he must being jammed. Contact Metalorn.&#8221;

&#8220;Yes sir&#8230;Sir, they report that contact with both a convoy and Commodore Lucerne&#8217;s fleet was cut off not too long ago in approximately the same area of space.&#8221;

&#8220;Helm, plot us a course to that point. Communications, keep on trying to raise Commodore Lucerne. And open a channel to Admiral Acbar, Captain Galden and General Fren.&#8221;

&#8220;Yes sir.&#8221;

&#8220;Gentleman, change of plans. We&#8217;ve lost contact with Commodore Lucerne. We have a rough estimate. I want everyone on battlestations. Admiral Acbar, you&#8217;re cavalry squadron will lead the assault and act as recon &#8211; hold on a second.&#8221;

Admiral Sarn turned to his aide to get the latest information that was rushed over from Communications.

&#8220;Contact has been re-established with Commodore Lucerne. It appears he is fighting an Imperial force that interdicted a civilian food convoy and happened to pull him out of hyperspace. Metalorn has also come under attack. One of the Imperial forces has jumped to the battle with Commodore Lucerne and the Metalorn Defence Fleet has also gone to that battle. We will unite up with Commodore Lucerne&#8217;s fleet and destroy the Imperial force at that battle. Metalorn can hold, hiding behind their planetary shields, until our combined fleets can go to their aid. Have you all received the co-ordinates?&#8221;

When the commanders acknowledged they had the co-ordinates, the fleet made a short jump into the battle arena. The reverted from hyperspace to the right (&#8220;south&#8221; on the picture Kraken made) of Commodore Brand&#8217;s Imperial fleet. Immediately shields were brought up on all vessels. Admiral Sarn looked out the viewport of his Dauntless &#8211; class Command Cruiser, the <i>Unity</i>.

&#8220;Admiral Acbar, take your squadron forward, and nail those Thornes. Captain Galden, form up with the Contegorian Sinew. General Fren, launch fighters and bombers, go for those enemy CEPC&#8217;s and CEPFs. Heavy Assault squadron, advance on the main enemy force. Interdictor, activate your grav-well generators.&#8221;

With those orders passed out to the fleet, Admiral Acbar&#8217;s Second Wave ships, made up of many Claymore Cruisers and Longsword Frigates, rocketed forward, firing their particle projectors and super particle cannons on the Thorne Dreadnaughts.

Captain Kit Galden&#8217;s Irregulars, a couple Haven Light Cruisers, a couple Defender Gunships, several Birds of Prey Mark III, an Interdictor and numerous Intimidator Cruisers and Heroic Support Vessels moved to form up with the Sinew Cruiser, which was at the near fringe of the battle, away from where the enemy would be shooting. The carriers of General Fren followed the Irregulars of Captain Galden.

From the more normal carriers came wave upon wave of SSSFs, SABs, Kris Fighters, which formed up and headed for the enemy CEPC&#8217;s and CEPF&#8217;s. From the Stryker Carriers came E-78&#8217;s, which swarmed around the &#8220;conventional&#8221; fighters, concentrating on defending them from missiles and taking hits from the enemy vessels for them. If any enemy starfighters came near the Swarm, an appropriate number of Kris Fighters, SSSFs and/or E-78s would break off to defend the rest of the group, then form back up when that dogfight was over.

The Heavy Assault Squadron, flagshipped by the Dauntless Command Cruiser <i>Unity</i>, pondered at flank speed forward, into firing range of the enemy fleet and began to pound away on them. Adding to the firepower of the Dauntless Command Cruiser were Dominator Heavy Cruisers, Bakura Star Destroyers, Haven Light Cruisers, Defender Gunships, even a group of four MC-90 Star Cruisers were found in the group.

Admiral Sarn watched as this all unfolded, smiling. It had been awhile since he&#8217;d last been in a battle with the Imperials, but it was good to be back in action. He opened a com channel with the Contegorian flagship, Pegasus.

&#8220;Commodore Lucerne, help has arrived.&#8221;

OOC: Any questions, comments, complaints, etc, PM me. Or AIM. Or MSN/email. Not OOC Forum, we don't want anyone in trouble. AIM: Myn Winger MSN: seany_2@hotmail.com

Captain Wesley Vos was stoked. That was about the only word to describe it. He sat on the bridge of the largest vessel he had ever commanded, a Venerator-class Command Destroyer. He had recently been recalled from Bothuwai and had left most of his personal fleet behind. Only the Articus-carriers and his personal ISF squadrons had accompanied him. They had formed behind the main fleet, as their purpose was not battle, but to transport his men.

Wes, though, was incredibly excited. He'd been given command of a large fleet, larger even than Kach Thorton's or Trinity's, and told to coordinate communications with the attacking fleets as well as to provide a rearguard should they be defeated.

The rest of his fleet spread out on either side. Not much in the way of communications had come through yet. Both fleets were being jammed, and the few messages that came through spoke of either success or at least an even matchup. The word from Metalorn was especially good. For some time, though, he had not received word from either Commadore Brand or Trinity. He was beginning to suspect something was wrong.

"Lieutenant," he said to one of the bridge officers, "Plot a course to Commadore Brand's last known position, but wait to jump. Also, send messages to the rest of the fleet. Have most of them of them remain here in case Thorton gets into trouble. Better yet, open a link with all commanders."

Wes gave his orders, detailing out a small portion of his fleet to plot a jump and wait. The remainder reordered itself into a defensive position. As they were doing so, a short transmission arrived from Commodore Brand. Large Coalition force has arrived. Fighting heavy. The transmission ended, cut off. Making a split-second decision, Wes gave the order for the first portion of the fleet to jump to Brand's rescue.

As TIEs and Kashan stealth fighters danced their deadly dance throughout the heavens, the Imperial battlegroup readied itself. The planet had to be taken, and though they might not be able to shoot through the planetary shields and bombard the planet, there were other ways, loopholes, if you will.

Almost literally. Of the five dozen ships forming his battlegroup, four of them were the rare but deadly Swift-class Response Carriers. With Ionic Sheaths that allowed them to pass through planetary shields unscathed and land troops, and blinding speed and maneuverability comparable to a ship in the Corvette class, it was nearly untouchable to enemy surface defenses.

Gilford had four. One would be held in reserve in case it's services were needed elsewhere. The other three would land and use their troops to launch an attack upon the Metalorn planetary shield projectors.

And it was time to go.


"Squadron four is cleared for launch. Squadron five is cleared for launch. Squadron six is cleared for launch. All remaining squadrons are to remain on standby."

Gordon Thule heard the orders, but they were already moments out of date. Ahead of his fighter, he could see TIE Defenders, one by one, being ejected from the Astrus-class Star Destroyer, Emperor's Hammer.

It slid up in the line towards the magnetic lock, the launch tractor beams grabbed ahold of it, and then it was gone.

First the fighter three ahead.

Then the fighter two ahead.

Then the next fighter in line.

Then it was his turn.

Deep breath! And instantly he was thrown out of the craft by an invisible fist.

And there was nobody to fight. The sensor screens, other than a few damaged Kashan fighters who's stealth abilities had been compromised, no enemy fighters were on his screen. But he'd heard the Comm update as his squadron sat idle waiting for launch. They were there.

In fact, they were everywhere.

He was now moving at nearly a hundred-ten MGLT and just rounding one of the point defense Fire-Frigates (who were still intact thanks to a quickly developed tactic- more on this later) when they struck. From behind, seemingly out of nothing, came a blaze of laser fury.

Kicking his left rudder hard and shoving his yolk to the left, Thule yanked the nimble fighter out of the way of the Deathsabers, his shields drained halfway and one piece of armored plate scorched.

One-point six kilometers away, on the Fire-class Frigate Resolute, his sensor data was fed into the ships powerful multi-XMAP computer core. Microseconds later, a firing solution was spit out, including a trajectory cone for the ship that had fired on him, and the information was fed to one of it's defensive banks. Five of the turrets lashed out, and the rapid-fire lasers quickly filled the cone with laser fire.

One bolt found it's mark.

It's point of dissipation marked, the above steps were repeated and a new, much more accurate targeting solution with a much narrower trajectory cone was spit out, and this time ten guns fired, the second five's previous target having been blasted. More hits were recorded, and the above process was repeated. The vessel was flying in a straight line. The defensive bank opened up, and the startled pilot was quickly finished.

The whole process had taken less than two seconds, too fast for a human to act under such circumstances.

The fleet vs. fighter battle was turning now, with the Imperials gaining the upper hand. Stealth, while valuable, did not make a fighter invincible. In many cases, pilots were overconfident, and this made them cocky and careless. New tactics, such as the one above, were also quickly developed. This one and others such as the Phantom snag (which had a ship's tractor beams all activated and sweeping space. When an unfortunate enemy fighter flew through the beam and was picked up, it's location could be traced and turrets or TIEs dispatched to blast the helpless, captured ship) made stealth more of an inconvenience than anything else.

Enemy fighters, outwitted, fell in droves.

But this is not to say Imperial squadrons did not have gaps in their rank as well. While more maneuverable and faster, which allowed them to outrun or outmaneuver attackers before their shields fell, concentrated numbers of Kashan ships took their toll. For every enemy ship destroyed, a TIE met her doom as well.

It was a battle of numbers, but a battle the Imperials could win.



Pilot Lance Davis had no idea whom ordered him and the rest of the transport corps out in the middle of this, but whoever it was, he wanted to strangle him.

Why order out the transports in battle to pick up space debris of enemy fighters!

He just didn't understand brass.



The four Broadsword Siege Monitors led the charge. Exceptionally shielded for their size, the ships were designed to bombard planets and take a beating. Though slow, they could absorb far more punishment than some command ships, and that made them useful for the task at hand. They led the force nearly half the distance from their almost abandoned former orbit (most of the cruisers remained behind, and the large ships were being used for the charge) before turning back, exposing their fresh rear shields to let them survive their return to safe orbits.

Behind them came the six Empire SoBs. Designed with a similar philosophy in mind- to take and give vast quantities of damage, though in ship to ship combat, not a bombardment- they led the way for nearly ten thousand kilometers before turning back.

All this time Confederation fighters were nipping their flanks, but escorting TIEs supporting the battleships and heavy cruiser escorts (and the Fire frigates, which had came along) were holding them at bay, even if barely.

And then came the big guns- The Empire's Astrus-class Star Destroyer's. Each was shielded as well as a Broadsword, but better armed and faster.

They would lead the final assault. And at top speed, shields have drained to maximize engine power and the rest nearly depleted form the charge, they arrived, then turned back to orbit with the accompanying Raptors.

Behind them, waiting, were the Swifts.

The captains didn't even bother turning on their shields beyond 400 SBD, enough to stop a single hit from a surface Turbolaser. The vast speed and maneuverability of the Swifts, far out of proportion for their size and approaching that of a sluggish fighter, was far more important.

You couldn't blast what you couldn't hit, could you?

90kms above Metalorn's surface- dozens of troop transports and shuttles stuffed in her bay, battle Droids and infantry crammed into her narrow corridors, and assault walkers and hovertanks packed into her cavernous storage areas- they charged towards the surface ground.

(OOC: Corise, remember the agreement we reached when writing your post)

One week later, on the Astrus-class Star Destroyer Administrator...

It had been good to get out and stretch his legs, to do something other than all the bureaucratic necessities that a man of his rank was required to do. But he was still disappointed that he had to leave when so close to victory.

He was so near- he could almost smell it (turned out that that odor was something in the galley gone pleasantly amiss)- but, after reviewing the situation and the reason's for leaving, he had to confess that it was the right choice, even if his gut didn't agree.

After the word had came in, the three charging Swifts had been forced to turn around and return to their high parking orbit. In the process, one had been hit by a planetary battery, though thankfully not critically damaged or destroyed, giving her medical bay a hundred twenty casualties.

Sensing something was amiss, the enemy fighters had pulled back between them and the planet. And indeed something was. The entire fleet, assembled, jumped out to assist Commodores Trinity and Brand. There, with their overwhelming firepower, they had forced the enemy fleet back, allowing them all to jump back to the assembly point over Metalorn.

Four cruisers, however, were slightly delayed. They had been dispatched to spread stealthed probes throughout the system to keep an eye on things. Some of the Intel they had provided was extremely valuable, worth the entire mission to get, other tidbits were interesting but not critical, for example, the name of the enemy commander, which had been recovered from an unencrypted news broadcast.

It would take them a while to discover and destroy them all, as they were meant to stay undetected as long as possible. In that time, they would receive bountiful intelligence, and the enemy wouldn't even know it thanks to the probe's tight beam transmitters, which reduced stray signals to almost nil.

Meanwhile, The Imperial News service was having a field day with the media the Imperial fleet had provided, especially the captures of the enemy fleet firing upon a convoy of unarmed transports carrying people hoping to move to the world, and the cries of a family of Duro refugees relocating to the planet as their YT-1300 was attacked by enemy fighters* (these clips, and many like them, displayed the Coalitions policy toward aliens).

The cost of the victory, however, was large. Over a thousand comrades had been lost during the battle, most of them on the damaged Curiassiers. Several billion credits worth of damage had been inflicted upon the Imperials fleet, and two wings of fighters had been lost.

But all in all, even if just for the intelligence gathered, it had been worth it.

* some footage may have been edited to reflect the needs of the Imperial Propaganda Department.

Two weeks later...

Brandenburg, Genon

The Confederation had no political capital, nor would it ever likely have one given the advancement of galactic communications. But on some cases, it became necessary for the officials and officers of the Contegorian state to address their constituents. Most made their addresses from their home planets and had them broadcasted to the rest of the Confederation. But Commodore Lucerne did not represent Kashan any more with the formation of the Confederation, relinquishing his political duties as he took the mantle of Supreme Commanding Officer for Confederation forces. That was who he represented. With the multi-planetary forces that had participated in the defence of Metalorn, the younger Lucerne felt best speaking from the heart of the Confederation: Genon. Genon, a symbol of Confederation industry and hardiness. And Brandenburg, heart of the socialite society of the Confederation as a whole.

The stage was set, the actors ready.

Holo-reporters had taken their positions and sat ready to record. A chattering crowd of Confederation citizens had gathered in the square set off by two wings of Genon's capitol building. A reporter glanced at his chrono, which turned to 12:00 hours Coruscant time. He glanced up at the white balconey and its dark doorway. A pair of Confederation shock troopers flanked either side of the doorway, standing at attention. Behind them, the banners of the nine planets that formed the Confederation fluttered against the wall by a light breeze. A black uniformed man with a silver armband strode through the marble arch and onto the balconey. The noise from the crowd hushed into whispers.

“Citizens of the Confederation, as many of you full well know, the New Order recently raided our civilian merchant marine and assaulted Metalorn. They were repelled at the cost of the lives of our servicemen and the intervention by mainstream Coalition forces. Frankly, it is my belief that we were fairly lucky, or the Empire was not prepared for the valiant resistance of our forces. This is but one foray into our territory. It is neither the first, or nor will it be the last.

Audacia remembers the Vong. Almas, the Sith and Jedi. Kashan, pirates. Forces conquer and are vanquished. Thus the tides of war shall ever ebb. But if we wish to retain our freedom for at least our generation, and hopefully for our children, from these tides, we must be prepared. We must make the tidebreaker wall. We must have our watchkeepers watching our shorelines. We must have the personnel ready to deal with this catastrophe. For the galaxy is the ocean, and the tides are nothing more than the unprovoked attacks of our enemies, whether they be the Vong or the Empire or even less reputable elements. For this we must be ready. For this is what we fight.

Conventional wisdom says that we must build up equally strong forces to counteract this menace, which we are in the process doing. But I say, that it is as equally important to use them intelligently and come up with unique methods in which to frustrate and stem the advance by those who would raze our homes, plunder our goods, and enslave our people. In lieu of this, the warships of the Confederation Navy will now be escorting the vast bulk of our civilian ships in larger convoys whilst starfighters will be regularly patrolling not only inner space, but will be keeping a careful eye on our borders as well. As you all are well-aware, pulsemass minefields are now being placed at all known hyperspace routes into our space and to our planets, to be activated when they detect approaching enemies of the state; many of those they will send into our territory will not return. This is my solemn pledge.”

Corise swept his arms to encompass the entire gathering.

“Lastly, I would encourage all of you to attend and vote on your individual planet’s bills regarding our great Confederation’s stalwart defences. Those who would seek the oppression of our great peoples will tell that it will make no difference in the end. But they are wrong; never underestimate the contribution of an individual. For it is the individual that can accomplish much not only for themselves, but others. I bid you all a fair night with regards from the Confederation Forces. Thank you.”

Applause slowly swept the crowd as the Commodore exited the stage and into the corridors of the hall. He rounded a corner to find Pro-Consul Thorn and a pair of Kashan Shock Troopers.

“Pro-Consul,” bowed the Commodore.

“Knock it off Corise,” chided the woman, “you know how I hate formalities between friends.”

“We’re friends now?” questioned the officer.

She ruefully shook her head. “I have to say, I’m a little surprised that’s all you mentioned.”

They continued walking. Corise shrugged. “I didn’t want to bore them. Besides, we are not the only ones listening to our broadcasts. I like having tricks up our sleeves.”

“The altered commerce routes and the Deathsabers that are now flooding Metalorn space for inspection duty?”

“Yes. I would rather not deal with another ambush, so if they ever appear there again, they will be sorely disappointed. Something I hope to keep safe with the patrolling Deathsabers.”

“The presence of one Imperial probe means little. It could have been their before the attack.”

Corise hissed. “When there is one probe, there are others, and we have the perfect tools for hunting them. As the Deathsabers and Shadowcasters both have advanced sensor systems and are scouring the area, I don’t think any additional probes will be able to last more than a few weeks at maximum.”

“True, you know, you could have capitalized on the Styria-class; providing safe shipping for all. And what bureaucrats like more: they pay for themselves since they’ll be carrying some carefully inspected private freight as well.”

“No thanks, I’ll leave that up to a dedicated politician. Besides, who ever said we’re only going to use them to ship cargo?”