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Undisclosed Location



The alien was chattering with chirps, squeaks and whistles and Azrael Zell frowned.

“What the bloody @#%$ is the little nip trying to say?! We don’t have a translation program here..?”

A technician looked mortified at the Moff’s outrage. “Not in the monitoring rooms.”

“Of course not. The bloody little nip may not have anything useful to say after all…” Zell commented sarcastically. “Nothing like working with the best and the brightest..”

The soldier reddened and motioned for several nearby technicians to go to work uploading the translating patterns from the interrogation software into the monitoring computers.

“It will take a few minutes, Sir.” The soldier offered lamely.

“Do you at least have his location?” Zell demanded mercilessly.

“Heat signature coming through now..”

“Of course. The location of an escaped alien prisoner is probably not a top notch priority for this facility.” Zell barked back bitingly and the soldier began to visibly tremble.


“Let me know when you have the information.” The old man’s voice suddenly had a soft unsettling quality to it and the Moff left the monitoring room to an adjacent room, sitting down at a rather plain gray conference table, his mind in thought. He pushed a button on the table, “Mara? You’d better get up here. I have a mission for you that you’ll be absolutely thrilled at.”

“Moff Zell, it had better be something special. The data that is being sent down here is ..is absolutely fascinating.” Came an answering voice of a woman who sounded really young.

“Just pack it up and get over here. Better bring the xeno-suit as well.”

“Really?” the young woman squealed in delight. “On my way!”

Dominic entered the room as Zell clicked off the comm..

“Even you cannot discount that the alien was talking to us. Even if we couldn’t understand what it was saying, it points to a rudimentary at the very least form of sentience.” She started without preamble, interrupting the old man’s thoughts.


“Of course the little @#%$ is sentient.” Zell grumbled, irritated at his thoughts being interrupted.


The woman exhaled sharply and sat down next to the old man. “Then why the act? Why the façade about this alien species?”

Zell frowned. “It isn’t an ‘act’, Dominic. What do we know…really know.. about this species? You’re a physiological doctor. You’ve seen the anatomy of these creatures, you’ve seen the differences. What species comes close to what we’ve seen on those tables?”

“None come to mind.” Dominic answered. “But you dismiss them as if they were…something less than they appear to be.”

Zell’s eyes narrowed. “Dominic, what we’ve seen of their physiological differences is next to astounding, wouldn’t you agree?”

When the older woman nodded, Zell looked over her shoulder at someone who had just ran several levels to get to where he was.

“Mara? Do you want to explain to the good doctor the x-factor?”

A young woman with light brown hair shook her pony-tail as she slipped on a helmet. The gray suit (which looked like some body armor) was the latest in xeno technological advancements. Going into an alien environment or coming into contact with an unknown alien quantity, the suit was a must.

Her voice spoke through the suit’s microphones as she did a check. Looking down at Moff Zell she answered, “The x-factor is their psychological make-up.”

“Exactly.” Zell commented. “What do we know about them psychologically, Dominic? What do we really know about them?”

Mara interrupted: “When we took Kamino away from the Coalition there were scores of these aliens living there. Were they an occupying army? Were they slaves of the Mon Calamari? What was their status within the Coalition hierarchy? They are one of three planets that banded together to form this “coalition” but does that make them the stronger link? The weaker?”

“When we captured them,” Zell continued, “they started committing suicide.”

“It is indicative of a lack of respect for life, especially their own.” Mara picked up.

“Tell me, Dominic? If an enemy does not respect their own life, will they respect yours?”

The older woman’s eyes moved from the young xenopyschologist to the Moff. “I see where you are going with this.”

Moff Zell asked. “Are they intelligent? Yes. Can they operate starships? Yes. Do they have at least a rudimentary culture? Yes. Are they sentient? Yes.”

Mara again interrupted, her excitement at the prospect of meeting this alien species bubbling over, “But how do we deal with them? Their anatomy gives them a schizophrenic bearing. That alone, by our standards, puts them as clinically insane or at the very least, mentally deficient.”

Zell concluded, “So we have an alien species that violently took part in or approved of the Coalition’s conquest of Kamino. These creatures have already declared war on us (for whatever reason) and have attacked enmassi. Then, they kill themselves when captured almost automatically. They are schizophrenic while all the time nourishing this hatred for the Empire. Tell me Dominic, does this sound like any enlightened species you would want to co-exist with?”

Dominic weakly responded, “But they are sentient.”

“So is a serial killer, Ma’am.” Mara chimed in. “Also, serial killers can be frightfully intelligent, cultured and well mannered.”

“Does that mean I want to live on the same block as one?” Zell asked rhetorically.

“So you need to establish..?”

“Something other than sentience. Something other than culture. Something other than intelligence.”

“Such as..?”

“The ability to reason objectively.” Mara finished. “Which, I suppose, is why I am here?”

“You were always a smart girl, Mara.”

“When do I go?”

“Let’s find out shall we..?”

Zell stood up and returned to the monitoring station. “Do you have that translation for me soldier.”

“Just came in sir.”

“Let’s see it.”

“I am Xill, military engineer no 11023. Western point division, formerly posted at Kamino. I request official rights and privileges 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 advance 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..."

A slow smile spread across Moff Zell’s face. “So the little nip’s can be reasonable.” He turned to the suited up Mara and she winked at him through her helmet.

“It’s always better than killing yourself.” She quipped.

“Agreed.” Zell said, turning his back to her to glance at the thermal scans that showed where the alien was hiding.

“Mara, we’ll have to change our plans in light of this new information.”

“No phase three?”

“Let’s say Phase Three will be revised.”

Mara opened her mouth but Zell cut her off. “I don’t know yet. Depends on the ramifications of what you can do.”

Mara’s eyes smiled. “You don’t like losing opportunities.”

“Not if I can help it. I have no idea where this will go but if the bugger is talking then perhaps we can find out why they are bent on killing us.”

Mara’s helmet nodded and as she turned to follow a group of stormtroopers Zell placed a hand on her shoulder. “Be careful in there Mara. We don’t know how this alien will react. He may just go berserk..”

“Or laugh insanely while trying to take my heart..” Mara concluded. “I’m a xeno-specialist Moff. I know the risks.” The the girl grinned. “However, his attitude toward the Mon Calamari is very.. interesting.”

Zell smiled. “Caught that too did you.”

“You’re in my element now, Moff.”

“Shall I wish you the Emperor’s luck?” he asked.

“Good heavens why? He died.” And she was off.

Standing in front of the sealed blastdoors, two whole companies of stormtroopers leveled their weapons as the magnetic locks were uncoupled and the seal broken.

The door opened a crack and Mara slipped in, feeling the vibration of the door closing behind her and hearing the magnetic locks snapping in place.

She was a slender girl, about 5’ 6”, her gray form fitting xeno-suit, made little noise as the moved down a dark corridor. Made of a thick plastic-like material, it shined in the beam of light shining from her hand held flashlight.

So far she saw no sign of the alien or the Mon Calamari.

She clicked her comm several times to check it’s operation and once satisfied began to dictate her advance.

She noted a line of cameras shot up in the hall.

“Definitely armed.” She commented.

She herself was not armed and if the alien still retained the strength to carve up stormtroopers with it’s bare hands she really did not think that Moff Zell’s soldiers could get to her in time.

“Why do I get myself into situations like this?” she mumbled to herself, the excitement in her eyes calling her words lies.

With the aircirculators down and the ventilation shafts in lockdown in the entire wing, she noted her scanner readings without much surprise.

“Temperature is cooler. Oxygen content is normal, probably due to the lack of personnel in the area..

She needed to take another base reading just to make sure there were no bacteria floating around from the alien. Something that would be normal for them but harmful for humans.

She didn’t think so but it was always good to be sure.


“Hello?” she called out, switching her microphone to the suit’s externals.




Corellia


Admiral Chandler impassively looked at the rate of fire from the broken remnants of the enemy fleet begin to pick up.

The fools are dooming themselves..

With a slight course adjustment their position kept them at a 90° perpendicular angle as the enemy ships tried to escape the encirclement for a bit. The rain of fire tore chunks of durasteel and debris from the enemy ships, stripping them of their protective barrier from the vacuum.

“Admiral Pitta’s men have made the transfer successfully, Admiral.”

Chandler nodded. “Order their escorts back to their original positions. They are currenly shieldless so keep their screening maneuvers active.”

“Aye Sir.”

The Admiral turned to his BAC display noting the Attack Spheres sinking down the side of the planet away from the battle, their TIE Devils, having maneuvered themselves towards the South Pole of the planet in a defensive holding pattern.

The analysis from the computers noted the bodies torn from the enemy ships of the fleet proper as belonging to Mon Calamari, with the occasional alien (nominally thought of as the Azguard, though Chandler admitted to himself he’d never seen one. For all he knew they were Mon Calamari slaves).

Sensors confirm that 90% of the crew is Mon Calamari!

Which was only fitting seeing that they were the ones pressing for war with the Empire.


“Adjust targeting solutions of the fleet batteries to these points.”

“Aye sir.”

The Executive Officer turned to the Admiral in confusion. “Sir, those targets will hardly finish the ships off.”

“Yes they will. Watch and learn.”

With the enemy’s first fleet without shields, the weapons fire from Chandler’s fleet was unencumbered.

The rate of fire from the enemy was increasing though it seemed they were firing blindly at any nearby enemy.

Unfortunately, for the enemy, Admiral Chandler’s position was one that was farther away than the Anvil, Centerpoint, and Bastion (thought not by much) and one that seldom was defended against.

Chandler’s fleet struck all points amid the alien light show.

massive waves of red lasers

But the damages done to the first fleet was just too much to take and the aliens..

overwhelming wave of anger and hatred…

..being too overwhelmed to notice..

their ships were burning and their fleet battered beyond repair..

The enemy fleet suddenly had spent all it could spend, as explosions rippled across multiple ships, their power conduits, over-taxed, over-worked, and under repaired finally giving in.

Their barrage could not be sustained and their weaker guns turned into slag as systems gave out.


The shots targeted by Chandler not only were designed to maximize this but also to “crack” the hulls of their ships. The damage itself was not in any way made to “blow the ship up” but rather to weaken certain sections of the hull.

“Scanners show success!”

Chandler nodded as the temperatures on the alien ships began to drop. With the internal and external damages the enemy was sustaining, most power were being directed to key systems like weapons…. But also.. to the environment controls.

Chandler’s fleet targeted those control locations and knocked them out.

The Mon Calamari needed a very specialized artificial atmosphere to survive outside their liquid habitats and Chandler deprived them of that.

The lowering temperatures on the ships soon caused the crew to lapse into coma as they fell from their stations not realizing their hatred and revenge had ultimately killed them.



Inside C4

The droid was good. There was no denying that fact. Unfortunately, the droid was inexperienced and could only build on his experience from similar circumstances faced in the past.

AI could only “project” so much for a droid’s “intuition” (if there was such a thing) before such projections passed a point of diminishing returns causing the whole analysis to collapse making the projection useless.

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 amusement algorithm of the droid was noted.

The Cascade virus was good,

The very nature of a “cascade” is its multiplicity. Its nature built upon series after series of activations of multiple applications, one building upon another…advancing one after another.

One such series was a simple hacker program..

he gave its designers credit,

And as well he should, for the Imperials were the master of the “feint” no matter the battlefield.

This particular hacker virus was very easy to spot…it’s function relatively quick to determine.

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’.

In fact, the necessary nanoseconds it took for the droid to assign details to it’s various positronic pathways to deal with this “hacker” thread, was a virtual century in the realm of cyberspace. But the “slow” speed of the droid’s processing matrix was all the cascade had to work with so it made due. A virus was, afterall, only as fast as the processor it latched onto.

The droid, while having many advanced featured and augmentations, still was a system built upon a system built upon a system that was entirely antiquated. It’s own logic processors proved to be the darkness to the blinder the hacker program provided.

When he finished downloading the intact and complete system files from the shroud.

..though quite useless. Aside from the temporary command codes, a nominal ship's map, the Imperial Handbook of Procedures as found on any refueling depot for $5.00 Imperial credits, the encryption keys to access said temporary command codes to Shroud K402, a rundown of a standard battle plan as taught to entry level academy students there was essentially a great big "nothing". The hacker program did not need to corrupt data such data. Any attempt to access something that was essentially not there would get a great big data dump of the entire genus of the pica worm in all 193 million languages across the galaxy.

He was fully aware of the ships functions that he was manipulating at will.

But as any programmer will tell you, even those basic-level: awareness was subjective.

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.

And thus ended the life of the multiplex program 001001111000.0011.

The logic pathways of the droid’s positronic mind at once satisfied compelled it to once more proceed on its merry way.





OOC Damages:

All damaged coalition vessels lose environmental containment control
Multiple weapons overloading on most ships (especially more damaged)
Crews lapsing into coma.

Theren Gevel nodded to the hologram, and Malkar Carriel disappeared. “Who was that?” Tornel asked, glancing away from the increasingly bright battle outside the viewports of the Zenith.

“Captain Carriel,” Theren replied, standing and returning to the viewport himself.

“Oh? What did he want?”

“Help. One Coalition ally or another has launched a small attack on Dantooine.”

Tornel almost laughed. “Malkar Carriel, calling for advice? Did he seem…ah, sane?”

“As sane as he ever seems.” Theren nodded towards the battle at hand, where the volume of fire the Imperial vessels were receiving in return from the Coalition vessels seemed to have lessened. “Care to update me?”

“Yeah,” Tornel replied, grabbing a datapad from one of his uniform’s pockets. “We’re reading a marked decrease in return fire, and most of what we’re getting seems inaccurate. Admiral Chandler’s fleet is still holding its own, as are our other vessels.”

The lowering temperatures on the ships soon caused the crew to lapse into coma as they fell from their stations not realizing their hatred and revenge had ultimately killed them.

Theren nodded, looking closer at the combat at hand. The turbolaser blasts from the Coalition vessels did seem to be inaccurate… one column of fire to the right of the Zenith missed them entirely, its angle increasing upwards, away from the Reign-Class Star Destroyer. The arc was in a completely straight line, almost as if…

…it had been targeted by a computer. “Run an internal scan on the Coalition’s ships,” Theren ordered.

Moments later, the results were returned. “There seems to be a decrease in __ activity onboard.”

“Life signs?”

“Still the same, sir,” the officer replied. “It’s like the entire crew just fell asleep.”

“Or slipped into a coma, the dumb shits,” Theren commented. “Those lasers are computer-targeted. If we can shut the fucking things down, they’re finished. Target all vessels with ion cannon fire, and aim for weapon systems and engine reactors.”

Blue bolts leapt from the Zenith fleet, striking a number of Coalition ships, sending multicolored electricity sparkling across them.

OOC: Damages:

An undetermined number of ships affected by ion cannon damage; engines and weapons shut down.

Colonel Janus looked out from the bridge of the Shroud, his thin face glowing as the Imperial fleet moved forward.

Admiral Chandler's ships had attacked across their topsides, and even now the fire from the alien vessels was decreasing. The attack on the Imperial fleet had come nearly to a standstill.

And Gevel, Dessaria, and Tractcha are still out there! The Colonel thought, watching the sensor displays that showed the enemy was indeed halting their advance.

Ion fire was being poured into them now, mainly from Gevel's group of ships, and one by one the batteries of the enemy cruisers went silent.

But there was something in their posture that worried Janus greatly. The enemy ships were almost taking this new punishment, as if it didn't matter.

Almost as if they were a sacrafice.

Sacrafice.

"All Shrouds, full speed." Janus ordered. "Corellian yards."

The Stealthships were useful to their own extent, but they relied on a compliment of missiles to keep them useful. And the Divison was nearly spent, in that regard.

"Let's reload, people."

He cast an eye to the sensor display. Dessaria's ships were turning, arranging themselves to meet any newcomers head-on. The rest of the Imperial fleet was still engaging the shattered First, but the majority of Tractha's force was still clear, and neither Gevel nor Chandler had allowed themselves to be caught in the midst of the Coalition fleet.

Only Pitta's vessels, those belonging to Corellia itself and serving under the destroyed Ravager on the same level (so to speak) as the GC ships... and they were delivering a mighty pounding indeed to the enemy ships.

The Shroud docked swiftly against the shipyard, and more than a dozen others did likewise in their own respective positions. The reaming would be quick by neccessity -- a new enemy was arriving.

Colonel Janus frowned.

These aliens. They just don't learn.

(Hope you don't mind if I respond to the thing about the military engineer now, do you? Simon'sw lab thingy, you know.)

Xill was on the ceiling. Hnaging from a pipe with his claws. The Mon Calamari was no where to be found and he hoped it stayed away. Mon Calamarians are not the best creatures for stealth. He began cutting specific wires imbedded in the wall, and counted under his breath. As the woman in the suit approached he swung down to a level position.

As he did so the lights went out. He watched her from the shadows, she showed little concern as the lighting lowered, merely interest. There was just enough to see by, and Xill slipped carefully behind her. For a moment he considered killing her, but that would get him nowhere.

"Halt" He cried. He leveld his blaster and took careful aim. His eyes remained effective in the dark. "I want one answer right now: What kind of sick empire dissects their dead civilian prisoners? Have you no respect? If not for the fact you were a woman I would be disposed to shoot you now."

Undisclosed Location



He speaks Basic!


Mara watched with eyes fascinated at the elongated claws the Azguard alien possessed. The multiversitile uses for the claws that were displayed interested the xenospecialist to no end which is why she had to catch herself as she moved closer to the alien without thinking just to inspect the natural biological defense mechanism of the creature.

The fact that the alien held an Imperial-issued blaster from a recently dead stormtrooper almost did not enter her mind at all.

Almost.

She caught herself at the last minute and drew herself back as the alien asked its question of her.

What kind of sick empire dissects …??

The question seemed rather odd to Mara for, in her opinion, the idea of dissecting dead bodies for the betterment of science and knowledge was rather obvious to her. Every civilization who's medical technology had advanced higher than that of stone knives and bearskins took part in autopsies and schools trained in dissecting cadavers.


Where does he think doctor's get their knowledge about the body? Thin air?

She nearly grinned which would have seemed unseemly at this point.

The human wing might freak him out.., and the thought of the alien walking amid tables of human cadavers nearly caused the smile to break loose anyway.


But she knew she shouldn’t judge the creature the way he had already judged her.

By calling the empire “sick” he had already issued his opinion before she even could level an answer.

But a xenospecialist does not look at things or view things from "her" perspective, but rather that of the alien’s.

As she stared at the alien, she noted he (he?) was rather thin…due to the lack of proper nutrition (not that the Imperials really knew what defined a balanced diet with these Azguardians. For all I know, they consider rancor kidneys a delicacy.), and that the alien also seemed to exhibit signs of exhaustion.

But the fact that alien had yet to kill himself quickly as others had gave Mara hope.

Maybe he was not insane, no matter his schizophrenic physiology? But was the alien the norm or the exception?

That was the question.


But I cannot provoke him.


But how?


She knew that Moff Zell was good at what he did and what he excelled at was protecting the Empire.


If there was just no talking to these aliens, then there would be no solution but a military solution.

That an alien species would be so bent on destruction and death was…well.. alien.


But why?


To see things as the alien might was not as easy as it sounded. It was not enough to mimic actions but to truly see another side, one must “think” like the other. To understand the “why’s” of action.

The alien holding the blaster to her right now was twitching with impatience. He wanted an answer and quick.

But the answer was not that easy.

Or was it?

She did the only non-threatening move she could think of. A move that would not… should not alarm the Azguard.

She plopped down on her rear end, the suit providing a much needed cushion on the hard durasteel floor. She put her flashlight down next to her and tilted her helmeted head up to look at ..

What was his name?

“The kind of empire with advanced medical technology and top notch doctors, you goof!”, she thought with a sudden burst of affection as the alien’s eyes reflected something she perceived as confusion at her mannerisms.


Try a neutral topic.


“What’s your name?”

He held his rifle level, the sights aimed dead at the head of the human. He had known humans, mostly refugees from imperial worlds that made up the New Rebellion, one of the founding members of the Coalition. The human mind was unusual, so multi-faceted. The Azguard mind was simple: One half enjoyed itself and the other watched over it, that way every Azguard could enjoy life and be vigilant for danger at the same time.

Humans, every last one of them were different. They tried to fit way too much into their one personality. They tried to be vigilant yet carefree, happy yet guarded, it was such an unusual mix that to Azguards they seemed completely... Alien.

"I already said, I am Xill. It descended from an ancient saint, who fought the Xiloxian, a terrible beast who roamed the depths of the mountains."

In an effort to prove his point, he poited the rifle again.

"And about our science, it is one thing to dissect someone who has given their body over to science before death, it is quite another to imprison captured enemy civilians and dissect them as they kill themselves!"

He noted the human showed surprise. Why? He thought, suicide had been the only logical conclusion in their situation. If they had not there was a risk the Imperials would drag out of them the location of their homeworld, or worse. There had been no chance of escape. The only reason he had not done so was that the Gods had told him to do otherwise.

He decided he should inform the human, to avoid judgement over their behavior. "We kill ourselves, because it works towards a greater good. Alive but captured and beyond rescue, we are a great risk, perhaps as a bargening chip in negotiations, or perhaps used to reveal the location of our homeworld, or Gods know what else."

He frowned grimly. "Now, if you want information from me I will provide all you want, except the location of my home. But I also wish to stay here, because your Imperial colleagues may have some sort of unusual surprise waiting for me should I leave. Call me paranoid, but I do not completely trust you, what with being your prisoner and our nations being at war and all of that."

Aboard the K11.

Lupercus and Silus watched with an increasing sense of ecstasy the state of the battle. Almost all of the terrorist fleet had been scattered, only two large battleships remaining. They were fighting hard, but with no shields, ion bolts having reduced their systems status to 75% and no fighter support, they had already conceded defeat. As the shroud maneuvered from the Yunos, now being secured both by security details, engineers and men from the downed Ravager, Lupercus’ eyes sparkled. Without a word, he directed the Shroud to a small area of a Viscount where its weapon banks still fired.

Almost high off the hate that steamed from the enemy fleet, Lupercus cackled as the shroud launched an Occult yield of heavy rockets, silencing the bank of turbolasers forever.

Combination Ions and Magpulses, immediately.

The rest of the fleet was quick to respond, having already sensed their commanders intent. Onboard a captured Viscount, Danetta Pitta could been seen smiling…

Aboard the Yunos.

Major Rannor knew that his ship was entirely secured, but his brief was specific.

“Lay out defensive positions around all mission objectives and their approaches with Venerator style anti-intrusion systems.”

The words rang through his mind like a clarion call, and as such he was compelled to obey. Minutes later he received reports that stations had been secured on all defined areas of the ship, and that there approaches were secured. Meanwhile, on other captured ships, something similar was being instituted.

Smiling as he watched some crew from the Ravager land, Major Rannor had finally found himself at peace…

Bridge of the VSD Carlisle.

The crew were acting with a life of their own, and Captain Kilm was more than happy to simply sit back and enjoy the ride. From the front of his Destroyer he saw a massive wave of purple streak out towards the Viscounts, the true fury of the Victory Class evident in the light coloured pulses that streaked around the Viscounts hulls as the entire Anvil opened up similarly. There was no way it could have been stopped. And that made Kilm giddy like a schoolgirl.

The magpulse was truly a wonderful weapon and, although stocks were, for now, limited, they would prove to more than ruin any GC counter attack, adding their numbers to ours.

The two massive Viscounts were dead in the water, all indicators showing their systems status reduced, irreparably so without major dry-dock time, to nil.

Aboard the K11.

“Move in towards one of those downed Viscounts, lets see if we can’t take out some of their escape pods.”

It was brutal, yes, but the stupidity of his enemies forced Lupercus to unleash the true fury of Darwinism upon them. They had lost, and now everyone one of them was going to die, one way or another…

There was nothing left of the first fleet, the last few vessels being purged in the face of the Empire's viciously effective laser fire. Some turned to flee but were trapped and murdered one by one, deck by deck, as each crew-man was bloodily crushed or burned alive. The main vessels of the first fleet were either disabled or captured. In the fiery demise, all coalition forces seemed dead or captured, indeed in one swift and low-casualty swoop the Empire had swept away the fool's dream that was the Coalition. Doubtlessly on the Imperial ships there was much huzzaing, as they had once again showed the Aliens of the Galaxy that man was meant to dominate.

Therefore, it was with probably @#%$-sure attitudes that their sensors spotted the oncoming Second fleet. More prey, they would think to themselves, and a greater victory!

The Second fleet finally arrived out of hyperspace. Unforntunately they were well out of range. Regrad also noted that for some reason, his missile tubes had been left unloaded. He ordered them loaded again. He openend comunications, even though the Empire was blocking they were probably listening in just in case they could catch anything.

"Imperials, I congradulate you on your most recent stratiegic victory, and I ask for a truce, to perhaps discuss a cease-fire agreement, or perhaps even a Peace Treaty, or at the very least recover our dead."

He sighed, this was not good.

"Cease communications. I would like the gunners to begin picking their targets and the Imperial Channels cleared so that they can contact us." His officers rose to complain, but he said "I know what you are going to say, but I want to hear them. We are still quite out of range, but if we get there and they have still refused to answer, fire all guns and re-block communications."

Unbeknownst to the two forces, some mildly damaged Stealth Intruders began their journey anew towards the Imperial Shipyards, having stopped to observe the battle.

C4 sith hunter

--Major Rannor knew that his ship was entirely secured, but his brief was specific.

“Lay out defensive positions around all mission objectives and their approaches with Venerator style anti-intrusion systems.”—

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.

The race begain between the imperials and the droid boarders. C4 had the advantage landing right near his objectives on the ship, not having to bother with vacuum issues, and an ability to travel via repulsors. The droid determined that he would arrive at all of his goals in ¾’s of the time that it would take the small squads to travel through the 5000 meter ship from the hanger bays.

C4 spent his time in his head going over the files that he obtained from the Shroud.


Binary droid time enroute-


He had included a file of information that he copied from the download to satisfy the program.

“..though quite useless. Aside from the temporary command codes, a nominal ship's map, the Imperial Handbook of Procedures as found on any refueling depot for $5.00 Imperial credits, the encryption keys to access said temporary command codes to Shroud K402, a rundown of a standard battle plan as taught to entry level academy students there was essentially a great big "nothing". The hacker program did not need to corrupt data such data. Any attempt to access something that was essentially not there would get a great big data dump of the entire genus of the pica worm in all 193 million languages across the galaxy.”

He was surprised when before he deleted the program that it had not deleted any of the files. The formation that he allowed it was copied from the first initial download so none of it would be lost when he deleted the program itself along with the information in the protected file.

There were several useful files, along with classified documents in other copied files.

Along with a curious download of a pica worm. He deleted that information because it was just taking up space.

"Nominal Ship's map (A schematic singular)..."

Command codes, Ship schematics (PLural), procedures, Encryption Keys, and most importantly a rundown of the battle plan.

There were detailed ships schematics from the engineering files on the shroud. He used the information from those files to determine where all of the explosives on the shroud would go for his given purposes of distraction and destruction. Using the ships map plans to place directional charges and the engine schematics to unbalance the volatile material in the engines for a rather large explosion.

The ship was impressive in it’s design and this would all be useful later.

Ship schematics down-loaded and no being reviewed:

=Dreamweaver engines engine system giving him information on speed and power out-put.


The map noted some system areas but no details on the system the selves.

=hyperdrive system type Hull general design

= Weapons by name only

-> 1 Occult Swarm Missile Launchers (Unguided ~ 20 missiles), 2 Occult Swarm Missile Launchers (Guided ~ 10), 2 Heavy Occult Turbolaser v2’s, Phalanx Anti-Missile Gatling Laser Network (9 cannons), 4 Dual Occult Turbolaser v2’s

= Ships systems by name only

->Stealth Package, Shield Compensator, Power Compensator, Guild-class Bridge, Carbon Fibre Armor, Optical Communication Unit, Subspace/Real space Communication Inhibitor, Plasma Lace Module (Shields/Weapons), Crystal Cooling, Metabolizing Self Destruct, Quantum Physics Processors, Optical Information Transfer Backbone, Techyon Detection Grid, Veneration Architecture, Ion Shielding)

Next was the imperial procedures.

In it every thing from the mundane to the classified was described that involved or could involve the shroud or the shroud crew.

The classified information was filled with files on how the shroud flew in fleet combat situations. The patterns. The distance from a given craft and maneuvers to avoid enemy laser fire.

There was information on all of the imperial fleets flight data as would be taught in the curriculem of an imperial flight academy. Information on fighter flight patterns and speeds acceptable in given situations like patrolling a vessel, terrain, ect. Info on how to avoid friendly fire from capitol ships that would not be able to see them when cloaked.

There were encryption keys. Detailed as they were they would have taken even his processors some time to figure out without the key of how to decode them.

Encryption keys that show details of the Imperials Friendly IFF coding on imperial ships to show that they are not ships to be fired upon. Were among the data. He had already used this to change his IFF code to show a friendly signal to get to the Yonos. IFF codes had a particular portion of the code that assigned them as friendly. That part is highly encoded and without prodedure a person would not even know what part of the code was important to register as a friendly. But the droid had the procedures and managed to use them as such.

He had many such up to date temporary encryption codes for communication relays short range, long range, hyperspace, holo-net, laser, ect. These were only good for a month at most but they were helpful in his immediate situation.

There was

“a rundown of a (Not specific) standard battle plan as taught to entry level academy students.”

Something for purposes of educating younger officers he supposed.

Along with it in other system files under that heading came more details on the missions of the shrouds mission in the battle that he had been drawing upon.

and most importantly a rundown of the (The being the shrouds) battle plan.

The mission briefing was made for the event that they came against enemy ships. He knew that they were set to board them. He had information of what personel were included in the plan and how it was to be carried out. How they were linking the fleet in a sith mind meld. The number of boarding crew that the shroud could carry as well as securment procedures for boarding parties.

He knew how fast the boarding crew were traveling, what personel they had in their party, the training of their team members. Where they would be heading on the ship. Because of being such a small force they had to prioritize. So he knew where they were heading. Based on their equipment and training he even knew how long it would take them to get information on the ship to know how to get to the most important locations and then in turn how long it would take them to tramp through the damaged ship to get to their destinations. It would be a chore to make their way. Considering that there were many areas that were sealed off due to vacuum exposure and other areas where the hull just simply callapsed. He even had they defensive measure that would be placed in the event that any one tried to take the ship back.

-He had mission data now indicating that the sith were called to follow out mission profiles just like this one.-

-From the computer he had the last known locations of each of the boarding craft.-

All of this was classified data that no one would suspect could fall into the wrong hands. Because of this he had another advantage over imperials now.





Real time


C4 had arrived at his location. 3 forths of the time that he determined that it would take the imperials to arrive at their given locations from the hanger that they landed in.

(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 was now at the main engine core. By necessity it had been sealed off for what he found was two reasons when he quried the computer. First of all the core was protected by a security door that was sealed in the event that a ship went off line to protect it from boarding parties. He enters his command codes that are immediately accepted seeing as he is the highest ranking officer and of a captains level of command status for this battle.

The second was evident as the doors opened and the air in the room was sucked violently out of the room. The core was filled with vacuum. The hull breached this far some how. The gravity still worked as C4 and his droid entered. Sealing the security door behind them again. Being droids they were not bothered by the lack of atmosphere at all.

He had a schematic from the ships computer system. While C4 went to work he found the access port that contained the main connections to bridge he enters his command codes again to open several hatches. The droid was collecting supplies for them. After C4 opened the consuls the DT droid placed interruption cables at two points for interruption of the circuit to the computer. C4 took the connecters and links them to a main positronic hub that was one of the contents of the droids pack. C4 takes out his data prong and connects himself to the hub.

He first entered the linkages that were reserved for the bridge functions.

He was quiried as too his identity. He gave his command codes to the ship. It registered his command status as acting captain in the event that the rest of the command staff were dead. As they were.

This was not any sort of hacking at all. The ship recognizes him as the acting captain so he has full authorization to make changes at will with lightening fast speeds that allow him to institute his changes immediately.

He instituted a deeper encryption code on all ship systems. Placing an encryption that he had worked on for months on the programs. It was a 1475 lined code with several billion possible combinations. Along with an algorithm reconition program that was set to only recognize an incryption answer that was processed at a given processor speed. Such as that of a positronic droid. No one else head that sort of a processor to access.

C4 went still as he begain to take command of ships functions.



Elsewhere

The droid that C4 had sent off on its own mission had arrived at its destination.

The mouse droids that followed him now numbered tweety-five. They had been reprogramming each other on the way to their location.

Their program was simplistic. It involved an enemy reconition program, a mission profile program including basics on explosives and locations that they need to go to, an algorithm that passes the program to another droid, basic evasion strategy, and a program that subverted the program that said that a droid cannot kill.

At the armory the Dark trooper droid was laying out the armaments. The lockers that he found had been left open by a dead officer that was now face down on the floor. In side was a treasure trove of explosives that were left on the ship.

7-PrGt shis was Merr-Sonn's proton grenade, G-20 Glop Grenade manufactured by Merr-Sonn, Detonite Tape and Firecracker Mines, and small thermal detonators All of the explosives were smaller yields that was why there were left. But they were perfect for the small droids to carry in their compartments and manipulate with their droid arms.

He laid these out into piles and the droids armed them selves with what was avalible. The droid put down small bags that the droids could carry on their own. The little droids continued to do so even as the DT droid finished putting the armaments on the ground. All of the droids were sent of in different directions with different assigned locations. As they went they reprogram other mouse droids to add to their number.

They had a program in them that told them not to act until a signal was given they were to avoid any living organics until then..

The explosives were cleared out. And the DT droid moves on to it’s next objective.

The boarding party numbered only a couple of squads. They would be hard pressed to come into contact with any of the small droids until they were ordered to at the locations assigned to them.

The party would be arriving at their given locations soon. The droid moves on.


Around the Shadow hunter



The droid charged with placing defenses around the vicinity of the ship was hard at work. Setting mines at periodic intervals making sure to hide them among rubble and underneath of bodies to hide them. Several were cloak type of mines that hide in plain sight.

All of the mines were set to recognize only living biosignatures. So no droids could set them off. The mines were additionally placed so that those that had yields would not destroy other mines. There were a combination of lethal and none lethal among the batch.



At the computer Core

All of C4’s measure were inplace now. In order for any bridge or command level quries to get to the main computer they first had to go through C4. His droid was at the positronic processor hub now it was programmed to scan incoming data before any of it reached C4’s processors and scan for any virus programs. The hub had it’s own processor program separate from C4. Not as complex as a positronic droid but good enough to recognize any threats, the computer scanned all data before it went through to C4 and then to the main computer. In the event that a viral program was introduced C4 could use his command link to his droids from a hunter trainer droid to see the visual information on a holo screen and determine a course of action from there.

Otherwise safe quries would have to go through C4 as before they reached the main computer. C4 can then manipulate the information that is sent out. He already erased any data that showed his usage of command code entries. He was working on gaining total grasp of the system. He already command of the computer as acting captain but this was a large ship and C4 needed to learn what was functional and what options he had. But in the mean time he would allow the imperials to act where he allows them to act. Anything involving repairs he was allowing. But otherwise the computer was locked out from any commands but his and those that he allows.

--the words rang through his mind like a clarion call, and as such he was compelled to obey. Minutes later he received reports that stations had been secured on all defined areas of the ship, and that there approaches were secured. Meanwhile, on other captured ships, something similar was being instituted.--

C4 allowed the stations in quesetion to appear standerd. And he listened to their encrypted transmissions as they communicated to each other. It had taken the Boarding party 6 times as long as the droid to find, reach, and secure their positions as stated in the mission brief. Structural damage impeded them the whole way accounting for their losing time. In the mean time C4 had accomplished all phases of his own plan ahead of the imperials.

The imperials make system inquiries and C4 allows the system to respond in kind finding no viruses in this first quirie. The Imperials had the impression that they were secured now. The illusion would serve the droid well.

C4 did want to avoid any additional boarding problems. He instituted a command that registered as a malfunction to close the blast doors that were the only access to the hanger bay. The bay read as depressurized even though it was not. For good measure he closes several more blast doors registering them as more breach malfuntions. It was still navigatable to get to most places only now it would take twice the time that it took the first boarding party to get to a given location. It would take some time for any other boarders to get around those.

--Smiling as he watched some crew from the Ravager land, Major Rannor had finally found himself at peace…--

The imperials have the ship supposedly succured and C4 continues to finish laying out his plan with the control of the Yonos command systems in his hands. He made hidden quiries to his droids confirming that phase two was to begin once he had completed his run down of damages to systems how he would use them once the fleet arrived. Several of the mouse droids were confirmed, confirmations in the form of a quick quirie to the computer at a hidden data port in the form of what appeared to be a system malfuntion that was really a confirmation signal. All of them were slightly different to hide any patterns obvious patterns. To have arrived in several of the locations that the imperials had congregated to. They arrived ahead of them because of their hold up getting their locations.

There were no sensors in the computer core that were active. C4 had one holo disguiser set up anyway. Connected to the ships power supply it supplied a holographic image of blank space where the two droids were set up just incase he needed it. Though no one was going to get into the computer core for some time now.