"Sir. Sensors indicate life forms moving in our direction." The cold, mechanical voice of the Dark Trooper alerted Ton to the threat, and he nodded.

That anyone on the ship was left alive was a mircale, but these would not be soldiers. The Coalition had sent its soldiers enmass to land on the planet; they were not here.

"Right." He drew his blaster and glanced around. The blast doors were inoperable, the Dark Troopers having smashed them down to acess this portion of the ship.

"If there's anyone left," Ton said, "they're going to be weak. Our nerve gas had already been released through their life support." He smiled thinly.

"Watch out."

Even as he said it, the Dark Trooper who had spoken raised his heavy blaster arm and let loose with a salvo of laser fire that exploded at one point in the ceiling.

A small, silvery object fell, followed by the smoking corpse of an alien.

Ton picked it up, and smirked. A Thermal Detonator, not yet primed. The aliens were stupider than he had been told.

He followed his Dark Troopers out from the room and came face to face with the rest of the aliens; all of whom were nearly as tall as the Droids and terribly ugly.

The droids took no time to cut them down, laser fire cutting the corpses apart and scattering their pieces in the cooridor. Ton looked for a moment at the smoking pieces of flesh, disgusted, then returned to the control centre.

"Right. The enemy is dead. What have we got?"

The chief engineer present looked up from the concolse he was working at.

"We've shut down all major systems aboard this ship. Internal sesnor readings indicate that all crewers are either dead our have abandoned ship."

Ton nodded.

"Very good. What about combat-readiness. Damage assesment?"

Here, the engineer allowed himself a small grin.

"There's some cosmetic damage on all front, but nothing we can't handle. We've working on getting the shields back online, other than that, assuming we could get a fighting crew aboard, this ship could go back into combat tomorrow."

"Very good. Continue working, I'll contact Admiral Chandler and inform of the news."

The engineer, though, had already turned back to his work.

A great day for the New Order, indeed.

<font size=1>Viscount Star Defender CAPTURED</font>

Silus smiled cruelly. His hands dropping to his sides, he retrieved his two lightsabers, igniting their black blades. He watched as the Azguards foolishly poured in, vaporizing half their numbers.

"Time to play."

He rushed forward, delivering a quick jab with his blades to an azguards throat. He slashed to his left with his other saber, slicing the head off another. He used the momentum to spin around and stab his blades into the guts of two others. Holding one saber in his left hand, he let the other stay in the azguard as his comrade fell to the floor. He delivered a rabbit punch to the face of one behind him, and then pulling the lightsaber out of the azguards stomach, he pulled it back to easily block a lightsaber. With a quick slash, he cut the alien in half.

The sith finished off another by hitting him in the face with the hilts of his lightsabers, knocking him back into the lightsabers of the others. The rest were easily dispatched, their body fluids covering the floor. Silus gave a smile as they went on their way.

Captain Janus watched the destruction of the Ravager with mute interest. It was the first Imperial loss of the day, and while the absence of the ship would hurt the Empire, the Coalition was to far gone for the single ship to make any difference.

Then he saw the enemy fleet accelerate, and he realized that in death, the Ravager may be even deadlier than it had been. Only, though, with the enemy command displaying an unprecendented ammount of idiocy.

"They're accelerating..." One of the officers said, ignoring his console and watching the enemy craft speed up, charging into the wreckage of the former Reign Class Star Destroyer.

It was little more than a fool's errand. The leading enemy vessels, the smaller and more swift frigates, were met by massive chunks of starship hull that smashed into their shields at a speed of several hundred meters per second. There was no sound in space, of course, but all on the bridge of the Shroud could imagine the grinding and tearing as the piece of metal tore into the ship's hull.

"It's almost like they want to die." The Captain said, keying his console and turning to the weapons officer. "Perhaps we can speed their departure along. Arm warheads, full volley."

The next round of blasts shot out from the invisible warships (which immediatly changed their positions, though the enemy had no chances of hitting them with their aft weapons anyway) and impacted the rear shields -- or what was left of them -- on the enemy's Star Destroyers.

This time, though, a handful of the warheads penetrated and slammed repeatedly into the ships' hulls, mainly their engine banks. Explosions far larger than any missile could produce were detected as the massive ion engines began to blow apart.

The damage ripped the back of the Star Destroyers apart, exposing their reactor cores to the cold vacuum of space. That was bad enough in itself, but the missiles and turbolasers now targetting the vital component were a far more dangerous threat.

Captain Janus smiled thinly, and prepared to give the order.

<blockquote style="padding-left:0.5em; margin-left:0; margin-right:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; border-left:solid 2"><font size=1>Damages | TGC[/i]
3 Imperator Class Star Destroyers -- Heavy Damage
1 Imperator Class Star Destroyer -- Crippled
Shield/Hull Damage to all GC ships that accelerated</font></blockquote>

“Continue acceleration forward,” Theren ordered. The Coalition fleet had shot out from within their grasp, but not before substantial damage had been done. Tornel glanced at his commander curiously as the order was issued, but bit his tongue. “Something wrong?” Theren asked.

“Wouldn’t it be better to decelerate and try to flank them again?” Tornel asked.

“Why waste momentum? Gravity is pulling us inward anyway.” Indeed, as the two battle groups crossed over one another, one flawlessly taking the high road while the other took the low road, the presence of gravity could be sensed in their increased acceleration. “Bank, and make a turn,” Theren said. The two forces had, in essence, switched positions, and now bore down on the Coalition once more.

Yet, before their eyes, and even as the Imperial craft assaulted them from all directions the Coalition fleet accelerated directly into the destruction of the Ravager, and the Imperial vessels around them began to tear them apart. In particular, the four remaining Imperial Star Destroyers took substantial damage, and as the other Coalition vessels continued to accelerate forward, the four craft slowed down, losing more atmosphere and crew as the moments passed. One of the Star Destroyers stopped operating altogether, venting atmosphere, falling out of formation, and floating listlessly in space.

“Smaller concentration,” Theren muttered. “Captain Patton, close in on the vessel closest to us of the remaining operational Star Destroyers. Move the Corona-class Frigates forward – cut off the enemy ship, and then move away. Have them shoot whatever the hell they can on the pass, but concentrate on speed.”

The Corona-class Star Frigates were quick, maneuverable, and well armed. As they – three from one Battle Group, two from the other – bore down on the already damaged Coalition vessel, they began to open fire, accelerating to speeds other craft could not hope to match. Even the tracking systems of the Star Destroyer’s weaponry had a difficult time targeting them.

The maneuver was risky, even excessively daring. But as the ships passed in front of the bow of the enemy Star Destroyer, the more lumbering, less-easily turned craft decelerated even more, and brought it into range far more easily.

As the small vessels made their way back to return to the Imperial fleet, one of the Corona-class Frigates caught a turbolaser blast from the Coalition Star Destroyer in an aft portion that had lost shielding. An explosion rocked the vessel, and as reactor fuel leaked from its rear, it crystallized in space. As the craft listed to the left, the ion trail caught one of the crystallized masses of fuel, igniting it.

With a massive explosion, half of the craft was gone.

Theren, unlike other commanders, had always felt a certain sense of responsibility towards his men. Each one lost stung bitterly, and he couldn’t help watching the Corona Frigate drift lifelessly away with a feeling of bereavement, even as his own vessels bore down on the damaged Star Destroyer (which was now frantically trying to reaccelerate away from the Imperial ships), and tore it apart.

As its aft shields fully fell, a bevy of turbolaser fire struck the ship’s ionization reactor, causing a massive explosion that ripped a good portion of the back end from the kilometer and a half vessel, almost tearing it completely in half.

“Continue forward,” Theren ordered. “Cautionary pace.”

OOC:

TNO Losses:
-One Corona-class Star Frigate (Permanently destroyed.)

GC Losses:
-One Imperial Star Destroyer (Permanently destroyed.)
(Which brings the total number of disabled Star Destroyers to three.)

Undisclosed Location


"There, that's the last of it.." the woman at Azrael Zell's side as she drew the greenish bio fluid from the body of the Azguard lying on the table in front of them.

The woman was licking her lips in concentration as her hand held steady while removing the rather long needle.

"Hmm..." she murmured noticing strange markings on the skin. "Caste identifier's perhaps?"

She turned to the Moff and he simply shrugged, quiet in his impatience.

The syringe went into a the last of many containers housing Azguard biomaterial.

"The Imperial Sciences will be getting some of this, won't they Moff Zell?" the woman asked as she stripped off her operating gloves.

"Of course, my dear." Zell instantly replied running the quantities off in his head allocating some to the biogenetics facilities that Arliss controlled, some to xenoweapons developement, some to each protectorate to research any way their leaders felt necessary...

"There will be enough."


"What do we do with the rest of the prisoners?" a soldier asked.

"We are moving to Phase III, which requires.. well.. a better environment than this." the Moff gestured.

And then suddenly the lights dimmed.

"What the @#%$ was that?" the Moff nearly shouted in anger.

"Signal! Coming in strong!" Zell was already out the door and into the comm room.

"A communications signal?" he barked out entering briskly.

"Not sure sir! I don't think so... the computers are not able to put together any coherent mesage.." the comm officer turned and Zell took a look.

"That's not a comm signal. I don't know what the @#%$ that is. Origin?"

"Extrapolating. The power descent rate is being calculated as its strength."

"Do we know the general @#%$ direction it came from, at least?" the retired Moff asked, incredulously.

"Yes sir. There!" pointing to an unexplored area on the galactic map.


Zell's eyes narrowed and a small feral grin appeared. "Very interesting. Ask the monitors if they have noticed anything different in any of the..."


And that is when the alarm sounded, lockdown being implimented.

"Moff Zell", a Stormtrooper entered drawing Azrael's attention. "We have a situation."

"Care to elaborate?"

"A prisoner has escaped."

Zell's eyes lit up with anticipation. "Has the little @#%$ tried to strike at the scientists?"

"No sir. He seems to be heading in one direction destroying cameras."

"Can we confirm?"

"No sir."

"Get me a thermal scan of the building. That'll tell us. Seal off the rest of the lab from that entire wing and have the scientist effect a quarantine.

Statis all the prisoners."


As the trooper relayed Zell's orders and blastdoors were heard lowering, the woman came running in. "An alien woke up?"

"After we identified a signal alien in nature..."

"External control?"

"Perhaps. If so, then this does open up possibilities for controlling their entire race."


"That's my girl." Zell chuckled appreciatively.

"The entire wing is sealed, all vents closed. It's going to get mighty uncomfortable in there soon enough. Do we know if anyone has been.."


"Two troopers confirmed dead."


"So we assume the little @#%$ is armed."



The woman saw the thermal scanning systems being set up and remarked, "Perhaps you could direct the readings to another location so we can see can gauge how he reacts."

"You mean whether his little wanker will extend if we ring a bell?" Zell commented offhandedly.

The woman pursed her lips. "Crude but essentially correct. While we can measure their brain sizes we have no real gauge for the intelligence of the species."

"They are attacking the Empire. It can't be that high.." quipped Zell.


Another xenobiologist came into the room. "What about the other bodies on tables in the cell?" he asked.

"They are trapped and we cannot get to them since the wing is sealed off. The alien may try to use the bodies as food to survive."


"They already believe in killing themselves in the face of overwhelming odds, so the fact that this one is trying to escape.."


"Makes him a retarded person in their little macabre society?"

"I don't know but who knows what he'd use the bodies for.."

"Can we get a visual on the bodies strapped down?"

"Yes, the camera in the cell is active... only the cameras in the halls have been damaged."

"Playback and let's see the little @#%$. I also want the serial number to the trooper assigned to be watching the monitor." The Moff's voice shot out harshly.


They watched as the body twitched on the screen, the time index on the camera matching that of the signal. They saw the creature attack the troopers with it's claws.


"Classic territorial responses." a Xenobiologist exclaimed. Another pointed, "I don't see how you might classify this as a reptile, Doctor. It's classic .."

"Bullshit." Zell started. "Initiate viral quarantine in that room, now!"


And small openings appeared on the walls.


Flames of fire roared out and soon the room was engulfed, burning eveything.

"If that beastie is carrying a disease, we may need the Imperial Animal Control to come in and.."

"It is able to fly a ship.." the woman said incredulously.

"It is able to push buttons that happens to fly a ship," Zell corrected. He grinned, "Until we know more about them, I plan on keeping my mind open."


"Sir! We've triangulated an origin of the signal!"

Zell's smile got wider. "Now we send an encrypted databurst to Muunillist."

"What about the alien?"

"Throw in a Mon Calamari prisoner and let's see what happens."

"Which one?"

"One of the special ones.."

And a blastdoor opened as soldiers with blasters at the ready pointed down a bare hall intent on shooting anything that moved.

They pushed an emaciated Mon Calamari prisoner into the hall and closed the blastdoor sealing it.

The scientists, xenobiologists and company watched the thermal scanners with interest.


*



Corellia


"Sir.. Ravager's escape pods launching!" Admiral Chandler watched as the pods let go of their dying mothership, silently congratulating the Corellian Anvil ship for holding out as long as it did.

Chandler's Fleet was positioned several km's above the Centerpoint task force, having leveled out.

"Very well.. begin.."

"Sir!" another ensign shouted, through the viewports, they witnessed the mighty Reign Class Star Destroyer break apart, explosions claiming it's structure.

"Admiral.. the enemy warships have been captured.." the Sith on the bridge suddenly announced.

Ibren simply nodded and glanced at one of them, the one Ton Karlos had liberated.

They will be sorely undermanned... unless..


Turning to the Sith, "Tell our Tie Devils that remained with the enemy Viscounts and the Command ship to cover the Ravager's escape pods.

Let's see how many of Admiral Pitta's men we can transfer to the enemy ships."

"As you command.. Admiral.." and the Sith began relaying orders.

And the scene of battle changed.

Coalition Forces regrouped, even while under heavy fire, and flew straight up...

"Sir, Conclave ships are.. ..holy @#%$! Their commander is crazy!"

"You're relieved!" Chandler ordered coldly as a replacement was drawn up on the secondary scanning station.

Irritation soon left Ibren's shoulders as he watched Theren Gevel's fleet rip the enemy ISDs to ribbons.

The Coalition maneuver to go straight up through the gap the debris of the Ravager left put the remnants of the GC First Fleet at a 90° perpendicular angle once more, leaving the bows of Chandler's fleet pointing straight at the underbellies and the uppersides of their ships respectively.

"Their shields are gone.." the replacement mentioned and Chandler nodded in acknowlegement.

"Fire."

And the enemy hulls collapsed under the hail of fire..


The Corellian night was alive with flashes and burst of light..




Damages:

1 ISD destroyed
Remaining ISD's heavy damage
3 Vicstars remaining heavy damage
3 MC-90s destroyed
5 Light Cruisers light damage
5 Light Cruisers heavy damage

edit: spelling

Things were going bad. By all sense the second fleet should have been there, Regrad knew that, but for reasons beyond their understanding they were not. He made SURE they WERE in HYPERSPACE, and once SATISFIED THAT THEY WERE INDEED ON THE WAY, IN HYPERSPACE, TOWARDS THE BATTLE AT LAST, sat back down and watched sensors, where images of the battle took place. First fleet was lost, that much was clear. But he refused to retreat. Dammit, he and every one of his men wanted to fight, and wether they won or not was second to wether they had served. Even at the cost of the battle, even at the cost of the Coalition.

His men were Azguards, and by Gawd they were all going to die before they so much as thought of running.

_____________________________________________________________________

Back at the battle, the rest of the 1st fleet rallied in a mostly-vain attempt to fight their way out. It then occured to them, as their ships were burning and their fleet battered beyond repair, that they were doomed. This was their final battle. With this shocking realization came an overwhelming wave of anger and hatred. It sent ripples through the force that could be sensed on far off Naboo, by the Emperor in his palace, by the Gods themselves.

By some miraculous strength, the fleet pushed their last power together and fought a courageous last stand against the cold, unfeeling hoards of the Empire. Concentrated volleys, with much of the 'till now mostly unused ordnance, directed perhaps by some higher strength beat upon the surprised Imperial ranks. shields were sliced away by it, hulls puncutred, fighters torn to shreds. For a time the Imperials were repulsed, as if some dying beast had lashed out once more from the foot of death.

The Corellian Anvil, the force which the Coalition First had broken upon, was suddenly shattered by the terrifying act of defiance that was the First. An unfortunate Victory, caught in the open took the first volley with horrifying results. The shields flickered away and the hull ran red with molten slag. Inside the ship, unlucky crew members screamed in horror, as the walls themselves melted and folded inwards, squeezing the men in its' embrace, crushing them and burning them at the same time until nothing remained but their horrbly twisted ashes floating freely in space. Two Corellian gunships which had been providing fire-support for the Victory were also caught by the volley, and they two suffered the gruesome deaths of their comrades, as the seeking, burning death scraped away the walls and laid them bare to the ravages of space.

Also, many mindless fighters were absorbed by the massive waves of red lasers, cutting into them with surgical precision, their tiny droid brains incapable of understanding their own destruction. Many more were inhaled by the explosion of the Victory and the two gunships. Indeed, the skys of Corellia were filled with flashes of light, so much that people turned out on the streets to witness it.

The fleet's sudden rage-fueled spasms created a ring around them. Within it were the crippled vessels, fighting on to the last, the massive frames of the two still-functioning Viscounts who HAD NO BOARDERS, and the masses of damaged and beaten smaller vessels. Without were the droving hoards of the empire. They seeked to find entry, but any attempt of approach resulted in a nose-full of laser fire. A single Dreadnought from Centerpoint became the unfortunate target for a fresh volley, and the slow vessel was torn brutally into pieces.

There was no concievable way of getting close to the First, they were raging constantly like a storm. They hated the empire so much, yet for all their work, for all their tireless efforts they were still outmatched. This would depress a lesser fleet, but this was the Coalition First, it could not be silenced by simplistic tacitcal ideas like "Surround the enemy and keep hitting him". Their anger was too great for such foolishness.

The Coalition First would fight on till the last man died.

_______________________________________________________________

Such was the same case with the Azguards on the Yunos-Class Command ship of the First Fleet. The Sith pressed in, but for every Azguard they slew another would take his place. And with their physical strength and numbers, it was inevitable that the Sith would be overwhelmed before they would make it to any escap pod. Already Yuri could hear the sound of the great ship buckling inwards. The inner walls were not designed to withstand the pressures of space, and the ship would soon close in, killing them all, along with the hated sith.

Four azguards were able to corner one sith (an NPC[you did bring NPC sith, I'm assuming]), and as two tackled him to the ground the other two stuck their long, horrifying claws through his head, blood squirted in a massive gout, and the mans' screams echoed through the small room. They were choked out by his blood, which gurgled out in a steam. Eventually he stopped struggling and fell back, black blood oozing across the floor.

Elsewhere, the greatest of the sith was at a standoff with eight of the Azguards. He was immeadietly recognized as the infamous pirate/Sith Luprecus. He was the first experience the Azguards had with the Sith, and as such was highly hated by all. He would swing this way and that, using his force powers to hurl the Azguards away, but he was never capable of focusing on his attacks long enough to do any damage, because the Azguards were always readly to leap upon him and tear him to pieces.

The other more powerful-looking sith (Silus) had been driven into a corner by a thermal detonator. As he raised his blade in front of his face, and Azguard leapt upon him, and another, and another. The three wrestled with him, clawing with their massive fangs at his face. The weight alone of the massive, three-meter tall aliens was near enough to crush him.

_____________________________________________________________________

Corellia would be remembered. It was not yet clear how, perhaps for the massive scale of the battle, perhaps for the destruction of the Coalition, or the Empire, or both, perhaps for the horrors to be later told of the carnage and pointless waste of life that went on, but most likely for the pride and hate of the fighters, for each side's strong dedication to death or glory or both.

(OOC summary: We killed a Dreadnought from Centerpoint, a Victory and two gunships from Anvil, and eight-hundred tie-devils/star furys, divided as you wish. SECOND IS FINALLY AND UNDENIABLY ON IT'S WAY TO CORELLIA, BY HYPERSPACE, NOT BY IMPULSE. AND IT LEFT THIS POST BY HYPERSPACE. IT WILL ARRIVE NEXT POST AND WILL THEN HAVE TO IMPULSE INTO COMBAT, TAKING YET ANOTHER POST, THUS GIVING YOU FREE REIGN AND PLENTY OF TIME TO DESTROY THE FIRST, ARE WE AGREEED? First is doing a noble last stand against evil, blasting a killing field in a circle around it, Ton and his Dark Troopers are still floating in space, the Sith are being overwhelemed by the hateful azguards, and that is what is going on. ok?

And as a personal note. You will probably note how often I mention we haye you. That is because, we really, really do, beyond the hate any race should ever have. We're not the sissy New Republic Individual Rights thing, we've got proper Lords who hate you and entire races who have come to loath you. We are fully qualified to hold an eternal grudge until the empire is destroyed and every sentient who ever followed it and their spawn to the umpteenth generation is wiped from the universe.

We really, really, really hate you, and for good reason.)

Xill looked at the weak prisoner. It was clear they knew he was free. A quick pattern of thought occured in his mind. Ifthey knew he was awake, why didn't they kill him? Did they want to study him? Did they want to see what he would do? Like some sort of trained beast? Well, he would give them some surprises.

He moved slowly, ever so slowly, towards the prisoner. He remained concealed. Finally he said "Xill, military engineer no 11023. Western point division."

He slowly pointed the rifle at the Mon Calamarian. "State your name and rank. Also, query 19, azguard field handbook: Prisoners, states that I must ask you the following questions: Do you understand me?"

The Mon Calamarian nodded.

"If you are diseased or wounded, or you think you may be, please move around this corridor. I intend to move this way."

Slowly, wide-eyed, the Mon Calamarian moved away. Azguards were sort of mythical in the Coalition Society. They were rarely encountered, and if they were it was only in military situations. Some even theorised they were built for war by the Mon Calamarian Command.

Once he was well away, the Azguardian moved towards the door. There were probably hidden camers or something, so he spoke:

"I am Xill, military engineer no 11023. Western point division, formerly posted at Kamino. I request official rights and privelidges as a captured military prisoner. I am a sentient being and as such deserve to be treated with respect. Perhaps you were not aware of that with my comrades, but if you are indeed the Empire then I assume it made little difference. I am unaware of why you sent the Mon Calamarian prisoner in, perhaps as bait, or to spread disease upon me, but I warn you that I am watching him, and any such adanve will be met with force. Any attempt at attack will result in me being forced to terminate as many of you as possible, which I assure you I can do easily. If you have questions pertaining to Azguards, I may be able to answer them for you..."

C4 sith hunter

C4 continues to flit around the hull of the Yonos to confuse sensor readings. He had gotten to the Yonos by changing his sensor beacon to appear to look like an imperial vessel's but he did not want to take any chances.

He continues to analyze data as he flies. He found it interesting that the imperial computers had a fail safe virus program just incase of such a system intrusion. The Cascade virus was good, he gave its designers credit, this virus would have halted any hackers system download efforts. Any hacker except for an imperial designed positronic droid. He was designed for just such hacking missions as the one that this virus posed to him.

Most hackers could get around data and make some semblances of change to affect a given system. Unlike a positronic droid they could not rewrite data at will and subvert the very systems that they were trying to merely circumvent. It was child’s play for the droid to see the virus in the data stream. Immediately he went to work as the virus was downloaded he surgically cut it from the imperial data files. He had worked up in his free time an algorithm that would trick a virus into thinking that it was, in fact doing it’s job of corrupting data. IN reality though the virus was merely redirected into a file, one protected by a system of firewalls and completely autonomous from the data that he was downloading. There it went about it’s business thinking that it was working it’s ‘magic’.

When he finished downloading the intact and complete system files from the shroud. He was fully aware of the ships functions that he was manipulating at will.

System response:

Cascade program activated.

Virus upload complete.

In possession of all of the imperial data he simply took the virus apart algorithm by algorithm Studying the design before he made it totally harmless and deleted it.

He called on the files for strategy analysis. He determined the flight patterns of the tie fighters that flew above him. Giving him just enough leniency to avoid their sensor detection as he flitted over the hull of the Yonos cruiser.

Data files on the Yonos indicated security hatches that could be used to inter the ship. But he fould that that information was unceccessary. A large number of escape pods had been jettisoned from the ship. One was drifting away aimlessly. Not many of these pods would make it to safty. Although it was not his problem though. He located on of the pod intrances that was near the main engine room. He set his ship above the pods exit point and sets down magnetic landing gear sticking to the hull. At the same time it diverts power to a sensor mask. Any scans would now find no sensor trace of the modified trilon aggressor.

The droid opens the hatch that is just above the pod exit point. Moving silently through space he reaches the hatch. The pod is gone but it's left behind it's access port that connect it to the ships systems. Pulling out his data prong he makes his connection. Using his command codes he opens the hatch from the out side. There is a rush of air as air escapes the ship. The droid pulls him self in to the ship. Three of his DT droids follow suit two of them carrying large packs on their shoulders.

They seal the hatch behind them.

The ship was dead quiet. A scan of the air indicated why. The ship, or at least this section was full of nerve gas. Not a problem for droid that do not breath, but a major one for biologicals.

Finding another computer port near by he scans the computer systems. He needs not hack this system. He has clearance to scan most of the command systems at will. He found that a foriegn ship had been detected entering the hanger bay. He scans all of the recorded visual data from the hanger in just a few seconds. He saw them fast forward from entrance to exit. Leaving a team behind. The boarders were dropped off only a minute or so ago. He made some estimates of the time that it would take for them to reach the ships vital systems.

It would take them a forth of the time to reach them by foot then it well take him from his current possition.

He had mission data now indicating that the sith were called to follow out mission profiles just like this one. He considered the posiblity that there were still sith on the ship. Making another search of the hanger visual data he located only two sith as they were exiting in what he identified as a shroud and as they were returning to said ship with a large contingent of forces. One, Lupercus of TNSO, he had a large file of data on him, the other unknown. Possbly apprentice from interaction with Lupercus.

An MSE-6 droid appeared at his feet making an annoying whirring noise. He immediately had an idea. Picking the droid up he pulls out a data prong and connects the droid. Completely reprogramming the droids simple control matrix with orders to do the same to others that it met. The he sends the DT 3 droid with the MSE-6 in tow. He needed more personel, seeing as he was short handed even droids would do. The MSE-6 found one of its fellows immediately stopping it and using it’s data prong to reprogram it as it was reprogrammed the second droid follows the first. They should have enough for his purposes by continuing exponentially reprogram each other.

With one droid off on a mission he sent off a second carrying one of the packs. It's mission was to lay traps in the immediate and surrounding area in case they were needed later. The last one was to stay with him they take off enroute to the main computer core.

All of his droids would reach their areas with out meeting any of the boarding party. There were only a couple of squads it would take them time to secure systems. Time that C4 had more of now then they did seeing as he was ahead of them in this race against time.

This ship was to be a prize. Right now the enemy thinks that they have secured it now. He intended to bring the competitors back to the prize in order to make certain that their goal was secured. Then he would have his fun.

Shroud K9

Chikami had delayed long enough. It was time to move on the final Viscount Star Defender.

The newly promoted Sith Lord took a final look through his long studied tome on Sith Sorcery left to him by his Master Malice Draclau. Closing the tome Chikami had ingrained the spell in his mind 'Scrambling of the Electric'.

It had taken many long nights for him to be able to use the spell effectively. He had yet to use it to the scale that he would today, but had no doubts that everything would go as planned. He closed the tome.

Walking calmly to the hangar of the shroud Chikami checked to make sure he had all that he would need. Lightsaber, null gas canisters, respirator, and dagger all were accounted for. "It is time."

Chikami opened a comm link to the bridge of Shroud K9.

"Pilot it is time."

"I copy Sir." was all he said. The plan had been discussed in detail when Chikami had first boarded the shroud.

Shroud K9 - 10 minutes ago

Chikami slammed his metal hand down causing a resounding clang. Instantly the pilot closed his mouth.

"Listen I don't need your tactical advise just do as your told or this ship of yours is toast."

Chikami waited for the pilot to nod before continuing.

"When I give the order I want you to fly this ship right up into the hangar of our target Viscount Star Defender.

Hover there long enough for me to bail out, then pull back about 1000 meters. Hold there until I contact you to pick me up."

Again Chikami waited for the pilot to nod comprehension.

"If we are clear then I have a few things left to do."

Chikami walked to the back of the shroud to take a quick final look over his tome.

Shroud K9 - Present

The shroud moved quickly and deftly to the last remaining VSD. The pilot handled the flight magnificently and the shroud began hovering just inside the hangar of the VSD.

"Sir we have reached the hangar."

Chikami hit the buttom opening the hangar doors on the shroud.

"Pilot pull back now."

"Rodger."

Chikami lept out of the shroud and into the hangar of the Viscount Star Defender.

He heard the door behind him snap close as the shroud dropped back out of the VSD and began moving to its appointed 'safe distance'.

His face was a mask of complete determination. This ship was going to be his.

The 1st Imperial Destroyer Squadron had done its part in the Battle of Corellia, accounting for no less than a hundred of the enemy’s fighter losses and one of its Destroyer-class vessels. Many other craft had fallen victim to its guns, though none worth note. There was now another task at hand, this to deal with the arrival of Coalition reinforcements. Orders were passed from the formation’s commander to its component ships: set intercept course and engage.


Though ships of a Destroyer-designation were never intended to handle like a fighter, the precision with which the crews of the Empire’s premier battleship detachment executed their turns was astounding. At the drop of a deci-cred, six ships-of-the-line realigned themselves with the plane of battle and yawed towards the planet of Corellia itself. Still under the remains of barely-operable enemy ships, the Imperial warships continued to fire. Streaks of neon energy targeted damaged cruisers, dispatching them with massed volleys by battery. One light cruiser of unknown design, its shield carved away, cracked open like a varr egg. Another larger ship though still termed a light cruiser, was set on by a battery of quad-turbolasers and had its central spine split. Slowly, the parts fell away from one another spewing debris and flesh into the night.


“ Execute Pattern Alpha – Line Abreast. Modification 2.”


When Admiral of the Fleet Baron Telan Desaria assumed command of the squadron before its pacification of Ylesia, he had sent tactical deployment scenarios to all of his captains. They were to commit them to memory. In maneuvers, they had performed well, but improvement was always welcome. Modification 2 of Line Abreast set the flagship at the center, flanked by two Imperial Star Destroyers, two more Victory-class Destroyers on the formation’s extreme ends. Directly behind the flagship was the remaining Reign, Solarium.


Until the range counters fell beyond the maximum effective distance the squadron’s guns could fire, shots continued to pour into the dwindling Coalition formation. Two more cruisers disintegrated into clouds of debris before their torment ceased.


“ Reboot shield strengths and continue modulation. Retrain guns and designate targets. Deploy all fighter squadrons – keep half in picket and defense positions; remaining ships are ready in attack formations. Launch as well as assault shuttles and blastboats. Prepare to fire when ready.”


Positioning – Imperial 1st Destroyer Squadron turning to meet TGC reinforcements.

Losses to TGC Corellia Fleet
- 4 Light Cruisers (previously damaged) DESTROYED