Trandosha: Hyossk’s Private Chambers

“The convoy has been destroyed as ordered Speaker of All.” The Admiral of the Trandoshan fleet said.

Hyossk nodded in approval. That convoy was of unknown origins and allegiance. There had been reports of a lot of unauthorized entry and reentry into Trandosha as of late and the convoys appearance in Trandoshan space made the aging Trandoshan suspect it was transporting rebels. Not wanting to take any chances, he had it destroyed.

“Very good Admiral.” Hyossk said. “I trust you didn’t tell the fleet the exact reason that convoy was targeted?”

“With loyalties as uncertain as they are Speaker, I informed the fleet they were pirates and worthy of destruction. I will assure you know….that my loyalties will always lie with you.” The Admiral made a sweeping bow. It was overdramatic and Hyossk suspected something was wrong.

“You have bad news…” Hyossk sneered, a statement more then a question.

The Admiral, a normally very calm and cool individual, looked very nervous. “Two of my ships, Destroyers Fanggore and Redclaw have gone AWOL…sir…”

Hyossk groaned, having a good guess as to what that meant. The captains of those two ships, Ossik and Rista respectively, were partners in everything they did and shared many views. It wasn’t surprising that if one went traitor…the other did as well. “Any idea on where they went?”

“No sir. All I know was that they were in the group that was to attack that convoy, only they apparently didn’t hyperspace jump to the location of the convoy with the rest of them. All communication attempts were left unanswered.”

“I trust you are taking steps to ensure no more ships turn traitor…” Hyossk said, growling lowly.

“Of course sir. As we speak, I am having spies installed on the other ships, with orders to eliminate the Captain if he or she shows signs of dissent.”

“Excellent. I would also like for you to keep in tabs with air control Admiral. Any ship that enters or leaves Trandosha with out proper clearance is to be shot down. Understood?”

“As you command, Speaker of All.”

Just then, Besk burst in, looking a bit more worse then wear with a large bandages across his chest and a couple more on his left arm.

“I take it you found the Bloodfang?” Hyossk asked, smirking slightly at Besk’s obvious agitation.

“Yes I did Hyossk…” Besk said, grumbling. “Not in a very pleasant way either.”

“Obviously. Near Tissuss I presume?”

“Yes…but not alone.”

This drew a worried look from the Councilor. “Explain.”

“I had just entered Tissuss space when I spotted Hunters Way on my scanners.”

“Varcanna’s ship.” Hyossk said, growing interested. “I trust you blew her out of space…”

Besk scowled. “I almost had her…just one more shot, would have for sure sent her to her ancestors. Then out of no where came the Bloodfang and several Aegis Class ships.”

“Aegis Class…” Hyossk echoed, now more worried. “Wookiee owned?”

“No idea…I just know they all started firing at me. I barely made it back here in one piece and my ship will be in for repairs for weeks as a result.”

“So you’ll be grounded for awhile then.” Hyossk said with a nod. “But at least we know for sure where the Bloodfang currently resides. Admiral, what is your take on this?”

Admiral looked thoughtful for a moment. “Those ships could be Wookiee owned or…they could be part of the fleet that convoy was from.”

“And we know for sure that convoy wasn’t Wookiee.” Hyossk said, rubbing his chin.

“So you went and attacked a convoy whose alliance is unknown?” Besk said bitterly. “Let me guess…you suspected rebels were onboard eh? Fool…how do you know they were helping Naosha at all!?”

“Why else would they be in our airspace?” Hyossk growled. “And watch your tongue Besk…”

“At least I don’t go jumping into a pit without checking it’s depth first.” Besk growled back, then turned around abruptly and left.

“Such show of insubordination…” The Admiral spat. “If he was under my command he wouldn’t be speaking to you as such.”

“What do you expect from a mercenary? But at least he is loyal.” Hyossk grumbled, then got a sly grin on his face. “Admiral, I want you to…’borrow’ Besk’s ship and have your tech’s go through it’s scanner database. I want to confirm what Besk saw there and anything else he might have failed to take visual notice of.”

“With pleasure sir. “The Admiral said with a grin.

Tissuss: Imperial Outpost

Silliss was discovering that the Outpost had a vast underground tunnel network and that at the end of one of those tunnels was a vast laboratory. One of the rooms was filled with tanks, some of them had various specimens within: and some of those looked very familiar to Silliss.

“Well…” He said tapping the glass of one of the tanks. “We know where those mutts came from…”

“But why would the Imperials do something like this?” One of his warriors asked.

“To use as instruments of terror…what else?” Silliss said. “Only this time, it seems their creations turned against them. And I don’t feel an ounce of pity for them.”

“Klad to kear kat.” A badly synthesized voice said. The group turned around as one, weapons at ready, only to see the monster they were hunting right before them. It was ten feet tall, it’s left arm and legs mechanical with a metal tail attached. What was flesh was green scaled and what had to have once been a normal Trandoshan body was altered to look even more primitive, likely through gene therapy. It bore numerous wounds from it’s fight with the mutts, but seemed to show no pain and most of it’s wounds were already closed. It wasn’t showing any signs of aggression, though it had a suspicious look in it’s red eyes. “Kut I still don’t know ky you are kere.” It continued, it’s red eyes narrowing. “State your kusiness kere, quickly…and ky you are kere wik kumans.”

“Man, this is mass murder”, said 1st squad leader

The commander aboard the Luminadie agreed

~ 1st squad, 2nd squad and 3rd squad commence a survey of the area, try to find some pods.. anything! ~, said the commander

“Yes sir”, the 1st squad leader said over comm.’s the fighter squad flew through space and weaved in and out of the wreckage left behind by the freighters destructions. “God, to many deaths”, the leader said

~ Aye sir, I’ve found some pods but getting no comm. response from anyone inside, looks like there all dead ~, said blue three

The squad leader banged his fist against the hard metal of his console, “Come on people, there has to be someone out there”, he said while dodging the wreckage left behind by the convoy’s escort

~ I got something…~, said blue two

“What is blue two?”, the squad leader said

~ Found a pod, pinged it and got a response, looks like it’s full of children ~, said blue two

“Roger that”, the squad leader said and opened a comm.’s with the rescue transport. The transport’s captain received and understood and pointed his transport and soon tractord in the pod

~ Pod received.. Good job 1st squad ~, said the captain of the freighter

The squad leader nodded in agreement, but his blood still boiled. He wanted revenge for these deaths, “Commander please, find something that my group and I can destroy, these deaths where completely uncalled for”, he said

~ I understand you’re anger squad leader but don’t let it cloud you’re judgement, don’t forget we are currently low on supplies so before we do any fleet destroying or planetary bombardments we would have to return to base first ~, the commander of the Luminadie said

“Understood sir”, the squad leader said. His head hung low, in fact so low he failed to notice a ship coming out of hyperspace in front of him

~ Captain look out! ~, yelled blue three over the coms

“Huh?”, the squad leader said and noticed the large trandoshan destroyer in front of him, he banked hard to the left and narrowly avoided the shield pods on the top of the ship’s bridge. He armed his weapons and proton torpedo’s and waited

***

Lavality walked onto the bridge of False Hope, she looked around and saw her 2nd in command. “At ease”, she said and everyone returned to there stations

“Ma’am will they be able to leave?”, her 2nd in command asked

Lavality shook her head. “It will be at least 2 or 3 days of hard work to get that ship ready, as for the outpost. Both squads are already descending toward the outpost. Once down they should be able to get everything back online. Anywho any new’s?”, she said

Her 2nd in command looked away, and didn’t say a word

“Something’s happened huh?”, she said

He nodded. “One of our convoy’s carrying medical supplies along with colonists and refugee’s was attacked by a Trandoshan fleet”, he said. “Comm.’s report only 198 survivors… about 3/4th of are children. The other ¼ are adults”

She looked at him for a second. Then at comm.’s then back at him, “I see…”, she said and walked over to the window that allowed them to see out. “There’s nothing we can do … except return to base and rearm, after that we’ll go hunting. Our target will be the ships that aided in the destruction of the fleet… also prepare a letter to the familys of the loved ones who died”, she said and soon walked off the bridge

***

Lumier and Merendez glared at the screens then left the bridge and went to the hanger bay. They walked into the control tower and checked to make sure everything was ok, of course there where systems down and such

“This’ll take sometime to repair”, Merendez said

“Yea I know”, Lumier replied and looked up some other systems

***

Luminadie’s commander stared at the screen and at the new contact. It was a trandoshan destroyer

At first he thought this might be a ship like the other Trandoshan ship they encountered near the moon, but when the destroyer opened fire on 1st squad’s squad leader. That sent the message that it wasn’t there for fun

“All ships, open fire!”, The commander yelled

4 Aegis MK 2 ships and several other cap ships turned and pointed at the new contact, and opened fire.

The destroyers shields flicked and faded under the enormous amount of firepower being pored into it. The shields vanished and the hull of the ship erupted and took damage.

The battle didn’t last no more than 45 seconds, the destroyer listed to port and fire and smoke littered the broken hull. Its reactor’s went critical and escape pod’s ejected from the ship, a second later the ship itself exploded. Its twisted, wreaked hull floated aimlessly through space.

“Good job everyone”, the commander said

“Sir”, the sensor officer said. “I have something on sensors, looks like a Trandoshan outpost of sorts, its on the Trandoshan moon Sakkh ”

“Alright.. good”, the commander said. “1st, 2nd and 3rd squads jump out to the following cords. 4th assault squad join them”, he yelled

1st, 2nd and 3rd squads jumped out of the system along with 4 Aegis MK 2 destroyers

Tissuss: Imperial Outpost Secret Lab

It took a moment for Silliss to regester what the thing said and safely assumed by 'humans' it was thinking they were Imperials. He gestured for the group to lower their weapons and stepped toward the creature.

"We did not mean to intrude on your terratory, the ship we are on crash landed here." Silliss explained, his arms spread to show he meant know harm. "The humans are our allies for the time being during our time of need and they only wanted to salvage parts from the outpost so they can repair the ship."

"'Time of need'" It echoed. "Since ken did our keople need ke assistance of kumans?"

"It's...kind of a long story..."

"Ken tell it."

Silliss frowned faintly, not so much that he didn't want to tell the story but rather the fact he didn't know where this creatures alligance truly stood. If it did not agree with Naosha's cause...he expected a fight. But he had little choice: the thing was standing in the doorway of the only exit from this room.

"Let the rest of my group return to the surface, I will remain to tell you the story." He said finally, not wanting to sacrifice all his warriors.

The creature thought this over a moment. "Very well, kut on one condiction: kat no one comes kack down kere and key not speak of kat key kave seen kere."

Silliss nodded and turned to his warriors. "Return to the surface and guard the entrance to the tunnels: no one is to come down here, got it?"

"Of course Silliss.." One of the warriors said. "But what about you?"

Silliss sighed. "If I do not emerge by midday...you know my fate. Remember not to tell of what we found here."

The warrior nodded solemnly. "Are there any other entrances to these tunnels?"

"Couple of kuildings, kangers actually, some five miles from ke outpost. Deep in ke forest." The creature answered. "Tunnels only clear pak kere now."

"With those mutts in there no one is likely to find it anytime soon..." Silliss said, rubbing his chin. "But still, send some warriors there to guard that location as well: we need to do everything we can to keep our word."

The warrior nodded and the rest of the group headed for the door. The creature stepped out the way and let them pass. Now Silliss was alone in the room with the thing and he felt his stomach tie itself into knots from anxity. Even if he wasn't still recovering from his fight with that mutt earlier...he doubted he could best this thing in combat if it came to blows...

"Now.." The creature said, blocking the door again. "Tell ke story...and pray I'm satisfied wik it..."

Silliss sat down indian style on the floor, laying his lance across his lap.

This was going to be a long night...

Tissuss Orbit: Bloodfang

Varcanna groaned softly as she regained conscisiousness, recents happenings a blurr in her mind. Sitting up, she felt her head and felt a stab of pain when she touched where she banged her head on the console.

"I suggest you take it easy for a while Miss Varcanna." A female voice said, likely a nurse. "That was a nasty bump you got."

"Where am I?" Varcanna asked, looking over at the female Trandoshan that had spoken.

"Aboard the Bloodfang madam."

"Remind me to tell the Captain to cut it a bit closer next time..." She grumbled.

"You just did." Another voice, a male's this time, said with a faint chuckle. Varcanna turned around to see a male Trandoshan in a Captains uniform. "Captain Tiosk at your service Miss Varcanna and it's a pleasure to have you on board my ship." As he said this he crosses his wrists in front of his chest and bowed his head: the Clan welcoming gesture.

"And it is a pleasure to meet you Captain Tiosk." Varcanna replied, returning the gesture. "It was brave of you to turn against our peoples fleet."

"It was the right thing to do Miss Varcanna." Tiosk said.

"Please Captain...just Varca."

"As you wish."

There was a moments silence, then Varcanna asked hesitantly. "What's the state of my ship?"

"It's in bad shape, though it can be repaired in my opinion. I had decided to let you be the judge of that though my dear."

Varcanna nodded, understanding his decisions: Trandoshans can be a bit partical to their ships and for someone else to decide such a thing could be considered an insult. "What about Besk...did you blow him away?"

"Unfortunately Miss Varca...he got away, but not before getting badly damaged. He likely won't be flying his ship for a while. Sprayrays were designed to take punishment from Capital ships after all..."

Varcanna scowled, wishing she had heard the last of that Trandoshan, but his likely grounding was better then nothing. She got out of the bed, not wanting to remain in sick bay. A brief dizzy spell washed through her and she nearly fell over, but Tiosk caught her.

"Easy now, you really should rest a bit longer." He said.

"I'll be fine." Varcanna insisted, twisting out of the Captains grip once the dizzy spell had passed. She then remembered something else and mentally kicked herself for not asking about it first. "Do you know what happened to the Triton? And if my mother is alright?"

Tiosk smiled. "The Triton was badly damaged and was forced to land on Tissuss. Your mother is fine, I just spoke with her recently."

Varcanna breathed a sigh of relief. "I would like to join her as soon as possible."

"Of course. If you like I'll have my engineers start on repairs to your ship."

"Yes please." Varcanna said. "If I see her in her present state I'll likely freak..."

Tiosk chuckled and was about to make a comment when his remote comm unit chirped.

"What is it?" He said into the mike.

~Sir we have two hyperspace signitures, ETA 2 minutes. Currently unknown who they are.~ Came the reply.

"Alright, ready battlestations. I'll be there in a moment."

~Aye sire~

"I am needed on the bridge." Tiosk said, putting the unit away. "Would you like to join me?"

Varcanna smiled and nodded. "I would like get out of sick bay."

"Spoken like a member of the K'Satikur." He said with a chuckle as he led her to the bridge.

***

The bridge was a bussle of activity as everyone got ready for a possible fight. All paused in what they were doing to regard and give respect to their Captain and to Varcanna, who wasn't used to such attention and felt a bit uncomfortable.

"What's the ETA on those two signitures?" Tiosk asked as he took his position at the front of the bridge, Varcanna right next to him.

"Should be arriving at any moment sir." The comm officer said. "There they are."

In the view port, space warp and twisted as two Trandoshan Destroyers appeared. Tensions immedately became high as officers scrabbled to confirm threat status.

"It's the Destroyers Fanggore and RedClaw." The comm officer said. "Status: weapons are unarmed."

Tiosk nodded. "Stand down battlestations and open a comm line to them."

"Aye sir. Comm line is open."

"Fanggore and RedClaw, this is Captain Tiosk of the Bloodfang. Here to join us for our little rebellion I presume?"

Trandosha: Hyossk's Private Chambers

For some reason, Besk felt very happy to report this to Hyossk.

"Sir it grieves me to inform you that our outpost on the moon Sakkh is under attack." He said, fighting hard to keep a grin off his face.

"WHAT!?" Hyossk lept out of his chair. "By who!?"

"Not by Wookiee...and not by any of our ships that went traitor." Besk said with a helpless shrug. "Perhaps...by the fleet that convoy you foolishly had destroyed was owned by..."

Hyossk went pale. "I trust our fleet is on the way to save it?"

"It is...from what I heard...but whether or not they will get there in time is in question..."

Hyossk feel back into his chair. "What else can go wrong..."

Just then, the chair broke and he fell to the floor in a heep of limbs and chair pieces.

It took all of Besk's will power not to burst out laughing...

Sakkh: on the ground, Above the outpost

1st Squad leader, or commonly known as among his peers as Sabratooth, pulled his x-wing far up to avoid a proton torpedo that was launched from the outposts defensive missile turrets

“2nd and 3rd squads concentrate on the communications dish they mustn’t be allowed to send out any information regarding our ships”, Sabratooth said as he opened his X Foils and zoomed low over the infrastructure of the outpost. He then opened fire and blow several holes into the outpost’s hull before pulling up, again narrowly avoiding a piece of the outpost

~ Gold Wing, we have incoming hyperspace signatures, looks like the outpost managed to call for assistance, but that’s all we are currently jamming all com lines. Prepare for space to space combat~

Sabratooth cursed. “Alright men, we failed in preventing them from calling for reinforcements, however that still doesn’t mean we’ve totally failed.. TAKE OUT THAT COM DISH!”, he yelled over the com line

He watched as one of there Y-wings zoomed over several parts of the defense grid, the turbo laser batteries trying desperately to take it out. The Y-wing came within range of the com dish and unloaded both Ion Shots and bombs into it… successfully disabling and destroying the dish. The dish itself came to pieces and fell toward the ground below ripping into the outpost itself

“Good job red five”, Sabratooth said and then checked his sensor, “Head’s up lady’s and gent’s we have company. 2nd and 3rd squad’s continue pressing the assault. 1st squad take up attack formation, lets get rid of these party crashers”

***
Sakkh: Orbit above the outpost

Space folded and twisted as 4 Trandoshan destroyers appeared, they where bigger than the Aegis MK 2 cruisers but the cruisers did have experience on there side.

The 4 destroyers launched there fighter wings and slowly turned to bear on the 4 Aegis MK 2’s.

The 4 cruisers opened fire on one destroyer, and successfully ripped through its shield’s and destroyed the shield domes.

Another hyperspace signature appeared and a carrier appeared, an Aegis Star Carrier, the carrier launched its full wing of bombers which began concentrating on one destroyer.

Meanwhile, the Aegis cruisers where still dealing with one destroyer. The laser batteries successfully destroyed the bridge of one destroyer which in turn backed hard to the left and slammed into another destroyer. 2 destroyers where now out of action, however one Aegis cruiser was taking a pounding of its own

Prior to the creation of the Sarendevis Fleet, if a ship is in danger of boarding or being disabled then that ship is to self destruct. That is exactly what the cruiser did, a second passed before the cruiser exploded and nothing remained.

***
Moon Surface, above outpost

Sabratooth noticed the Aegis explosion and cursed. “Lady’s looks like this is getting hot”, he said over the comm.’s

~ Sir, the outpost is mostly in ruins. We’ve captured some trandoshans ~, came a message from one of the boarding teams

He nodded, “Mission Accomplished people, take those prisoners back to base”, Sabratooth said and pitched his craft up into the atmosphere, the rest of his squad followed soon after.

As they flew into space they saw that the battle in space had been a rough one, 2 of there Aegis MK 2 Cruisers had taken serious damage another one was venting plasma, while the last one was no where insight. The 4 Trandoshan destroyers where all destroyed and caught in the moons gravitational pull

“Alright Gold Wing lets head back to home”, Sabratooth said. The 3 Aegis cruisers and gold wing along with 2 prison freighters soon jumped out. Leaving an outpost in ruin’s

***
Tissuss: Near the Triton

Lumier and Merendez had been guiding the cargo ships down. They carried enough men and supplies to get the outpost here back in working order, the outpost was to be used as a resupply stop for ships. It was also going to be used as a training outpost for new fighter pilots since the terrain in the area would be good for just that.

“Ok men, we havn’t heard back from Silliss so I’m guessing somethings wrong. Lock and load but do not fire, we’ll be approaching the outpost soon.

“Ma’am, what if we can’t repair the outpost, and what if that ‘thing’ that the imperials where working on is still alive”, A scared engineer said

Lumier smiled briefly, “According to you’re captain, you are to fire IF fired upon. As long as that thing doesn’t attack you, you should be ok… now those mutts are a different story”, she said

The engineer looked away, and at the forest. “This is such a peaceful place, I wonder why the imperials decided to use this place as a research outpost”

“Probably”, a marine replied, “since the area is so ‘peaceful’ looking no one would decide to look here”

“That’s my thought”, Lumier said

She looked up and saw Beta Wing fly over, “I guess you’re pilots have orders to stay here?”, she asked

The marine captain looked at her, then smiled. “There the outpost’s fighter wing. Until we get the places defense shields up they’ll be providing close air support”

“Excellent”, she said impressed. “Anything else I should know?”

“No”, he said and looked away

***

Trandosha: Orbit around the planet

A stealth fighter loomed over the planet, collecting and consolidating data that it was retrieving from a spy on the planet surface

“Good good, this’ll due”, the pilot said and slowly banked his craft to pull out of the orbit of the planet. He saw a Trandoshan destroyer pass by him, apparently he had remained undetected and watched as the ship jumped into hyperspace. He sighed

“Now to return to base with this data.. hopefully the Vice Admiral will be able to use it for something”, he said and soon jumped into hyperspace. Closely being followed by two other stealth fighters which where his escorts

***

Asteroid field: somewhere near Trandoshan and Wookiee space

Gold Wing and its 3 lone Aegis MK 2 cruisers came out of hyperspace and near the Asteroid field, a large squad of civilian fighters approached the group and soon stopped

~ Identify yourself ~, the leader said

Sabratooth sighed, “I hate going through this routine”, he said and transmitted the codes

Tissuss Orbit: Bloodfang

~Well met Captain Tiosk of the Bloodfang.~ Came a response. ~I am Captain Ossik of the Fanggore. Captain Rista is Captain of the RedClaw.~

~Well met Captain Tiosk.~ Another voice, a females, said. ~Indeed we are here to join you and Councilor Naosha in your cause.~

“What made you decide join us?” Tiosk asked, curious. “Dissent is no light matter with our people.”

~Recent actions by the Speaker Above All has been…distasteful…at the very least. Even for us T’doshouk.~ Ossik said.

~More like disgusting.~ Rista added, growling. ~The order that made us finally decide upon this course was the order to attack and destroy a convoy that was passing through Trandosha space.~

~We were told they were pirates, but our guts told us otherwise. We decided to not go through with it.~

~Not long after, during some investigating of our own, we found out that convoy was full of innocent women and children and was transporting nothing but medical supplies.~ There was a faint crack in Rista’s voice.

Varcanna, who was listening to all this, gasped in horror and felt nauseous at the thought of all those innocent children being killed. Being incapable of having children of her own, she valued the lives of all children. Looking up at Tiosk, she saw he had a look of disgust: Trandoshans may be a bloodthirsty and war like race, but it took a completely heartless Trandoshan to take the life of a child.

“Did Hyossk even know the true nature of that convoy?” Tiosk asked.

~We don’t know.~ Ossik replied. ~It’s possible he thought the convoy was transporting some of Naosha’s supporters, though we are almost positive that is not the case.~

~Not long before we exited hyperspace to your location, we received a distress call from the moon Sakkh.~ Rista said. ~Apparently the Outpost we have there is under attack, likely by the owners of that convoy.~

~The fleet is in bad shape right now as well. Including us, the fleet has lost 35% of it’s ships in recent battles. The shipyard on the moon (need a name) is frantically making more ships but…~

“Manpower is not so quickly replaced.” Tiosk finished for him, understanding the problem the fleet was facing. Putting an inexperienced crew on a Destroyer is about as good as suicide.

“Too many lives are being needlessly lost Tiosk.” Varcanna commented. “Taking all these lives defeats the purpose of our rebellion.”

“I know Miss Varca.” Tiosk said with a sigh. “But there is little we can do right now. All we can do is hope your Uncle finds a way to make Hyossk listen to reason.”

“I doubt there is just little we can do Tiosk.” Varcanna said. “I suggest we hold a meeting with my mother on the moon’s surface.”

~We agree.~ Came the reply from the two other destroyers in unison.

“Very well then.” Tiosk said. “I’ll contact Naosha and find out when she wants to hold this meeting. Perhaps we can invite the Captain of that Interdictor as well.”

Tissuss: Hidden Hanger

With a loud protesting creak the trap door opened and a Trandoshan head poked out, what light there was reflecting off the back of his eyes in a red glow. The air was stale and a bit musky smelling, but otherwise breathable.

“See any thing?” Came a voice from below him.

“No heat signatures I can see.” The warrior replied. “Which means no mutts made their home here.”

“Good. Now get out of my way so I can come up: I’m tired of looking at your ass.”

“What…don’t like what you see?” The warrior teased.

There was snarl. “If you don’t move it you’ll find the end of my K’Zuta going up it!”

The warrior winced and quickly climbed out to allow the other four Trandoshans that were with him to climb up. It was doubtful the other warrior would have been able to follow on with this threat, a K’Zuta was a difficult weapon to weld in wide open spaces let a lone a closed in space like the ladder chute, but the thought of being at the receiving end of that weapon was enough to get just about ‘anyone’ moving.

Once everyone was inside they spread out to find a light switch, hoping the place still had power to it. When a switch was found they were all momentarily blinded by the sudden light, but when their eyes adjusted they found that the hanger was bigger then they thought it was.

Inside there were three Sprayrays, a Lambda, a couple other types of transport ships, and a various other fighters, including a couple TIE fighters.

“Man Miss Varcanna would have a field day if she saw all this…” One warrior commented with a low whistle.

“Hell, Lumier and company would have a field day…” Another warrior said. “How the heck could this not be detected…this place is massive.”

“Here’s your answer.” One of the two K’Satikur warriors in the group said, pointing out a window. Outside the new day was starting to finally come, the sun appearing from behind the gas giant that the moon orbited around. When they looked downward, they could see that the ground was a good three hundred feet below them: the hanger was at the edge of the cliff. “I wouldn’t be surprised if some sort of cloaking technology was employed to disguise those hanger doors…”

“This also explains why we had to climb up of freaking fifteen foot ladder chute.” One of the warriors grumbled. “Do you think those ships still work?”

“I’m a warrior…not an engineer…”

Outpost

Many of the warriors were sleeping when Lumier and her marines showed up, having had no sleep in a while, but most of them woke to regard her.

“So this is where you guys are hiding.” Lumier said, looking them over. “Where’s Silliss?” She asked when she didn’t see the warrior among them.

“Down below, talking with the creature.” One of the warriors replied, gesturing to the trap door behind them.

“I did not notice that before.” Lumier said, her curiosity piqued. “What’s down there?” She moved toward the door but the warriors jumped into her path, blocking her way.

“You cannot go down there.” The warrior that had spoken before said.

“Why not?”

“Because if you do…Silliss’ life is forfeit.”

“It’s part of the agreement we made with the thing.” Another warrior added. “We ensure no one else goes down there while Silliss explains our reasons for being here and for being allied with you. Silliss told us to wait until midday for him to return.”

“And if he doesn’t return?”

There was a moment of silence as the warriors weren’t told exactly what to do if Silliss didn’t come back. “We leave the secrets below…a secret.” One of them finally replied, the others nodding in agreement.

Trandosha: Basement of some house

Rissonik sat pondering recent events on and around Trandosha, several members of his Clan and other supporters sitting idly by. Currently they were in the basement of one of their sympathizers, gathering information and keeping an eye out for trouble.

“You know…” Rissonik looked up at the speaker, an male who looked to be almost the same age as he was. “Most rebel groups would be staging terror attacks and whatnot. Instead we are just sitting around spreading propaganda and moving whenever we think the authorities are getting close to find our hide out.”

There were a few mummers of agreement among the rest of the group, but Rissonik remained unmoved, having expected such a statement to come forth eventually.

“To cause needless bloodshed would defeat the purpose of why we are rebelling.” He said. “Yes we have taken a few lives, but only when left no other choice.”

“Councilor Hyossk seems to be taking lives a plenty for us anyway.” One of his K’Satikur warriors said with a chuckle.

“Indeed, with his recent blunders it’s a wonder the rest of the Council hasn’t voted him off.” One of the supporters said.

Rissonik chuckled. “Isn’t it obvious my friends? Our people are starting to see that Naosha was right. If Hyossk was to lose his set now the Council will be forced to replace him with someone of another bloodline and considering the support we have now the chances of a replacement being a supporter of ours is a good one: something the Council doesn’t want.”

“What about just killing the bastard?” One warrior said.

“If he is slain his son would by right take his position.” Rissonik said. “However, we do not know where Russis stands when it comes to us: he could end up being a bigger threat to us then his father.”

“Then we should try to find out Sha’tor.” The warrior said. “If he supports us then we would have a powerful ally at our side.”

“Yes we would, but remember that assassination with our people is not only common…but expected. If he doesn’t thread carefully he could wind up with a knife in his back soon after he takes his fathers position, if not before then.
“Finding out where he stands would be useful information to discover.”

Rissonik looked over at one of the younger members of possie, who was a Keshir in the Clan and one of his spies. He only needed to give the youth a nod and the young Trandoshan understood what was required of him and ran off.

“Now we have to wait more…wonderful.” The older Trandoshan that had spoken first grumbled.

Tissuss: outpost

Lumier nodded and looked over at the marines. “Get some rest, once Silliss comes up we’ll discuss with him about what to do”

“Sorry ma’am, but our orders are clear, we are to get this base back into operational order before morning”, The marine said

She nodded and pulled out her pistol and aimed it at the marine, the marine took a step back. “Last I checked you’re commander isn’t here, and last I checked I’m the highest ranking officer here, so you’ll follow MY orders … got it?”

The marine nodded worryingly, then sat down and looked away

Tissuss: Orbit above the moon

Lavality stared at the sensor screen

“Ma’am, hyperspace signature appourching”, the sensor officer said and glanced over at the young vice admiral

Lavality stared at the screen and noticed that the hyperspace signatures where approaching from the other side of the two trandoshan destroyers. She nodded in agreement

3 stealth fighters came out of hyperspace and flew through space, one of the fighters flew over the destroyer the other 2 flew under the destroyer, all three where headed toward False Hope

“Base this is Black Wing, requesting permission to land”, the squad leader said

Lavality looked at the flight officer

“Shall we grant them permission ma’am?”, he asked

She nodded, “Tell them report directly to the briefing room, I am not to be disturbed unless it is important”, Lavality said and walked off the bridge

“Something’s got her pissed”, the sensor officer said

The flight officer chuckled. “She’s a vice admiral, she’s got a lot on her mind”

Lavality made her way toward the briefing room, there she waited and checked the battle reports and sighed. “Our fleet is getting into more and more battles with each passing day, its getting harder to keep out identity a secret”, she said

“I agree”, Replied a pilot who stepped into the briefing room, “Lieutenant Johnson reporting as ordered ma’am”, Johnson said while saluting

The vice admiral nodded, “What have you to report?”, she asked

“A lot, and some of it is not pleasant”, he said

“First off, what about on that captain Tzhali”, Lavality asked

“His wife and kid’s are exiled from Kashyyyk”, the LT said. “Whats worse… is that apparently there are more people who are interested in his life than just the Wookiee’s and Trandoshans”

Lavality nodded. “Problem is, we can’t protect him and we have to continue keeping our fleet a secret”

“There implies a problem, each month our fleet grows by about 10 capital ships and over a hundred fighters.. the bigger we get the harder it is to hide from the enemy”, Johnson said and walked over to the data screen, “We have another problem, like always. The Luminadie, is in dire need of maintenance and the only place I know that has the right materials is a place that will take us awhile to get to”

“For the time being, the Sovereign will be able to stay the way it is. Don’t forget we hardly ever show it in battle that’s why hardly anyone know’s of its existence”, Lavality said. “Tell me.. what did you find out about the separatist movement?”

“Nothing”, Johnson said. “There really keeping it a secret, I couldn’t find out a thing, the only information I found was that its causing hell with the council”

Lavality chuckled. “After the assault on the outpost I wouldn’t doubt it… by the way how did it go?”

“Like clock work, the outpost was left in ruins and nearly 100 personnel captured and will be interrogated at our prison base”, Johnson tapped a key on the data screen. “We also uncovered more design plans, some of which the rebels nor imperials ever used”

“Interesting”, Lavality said and crossed her arms over her chest. “Anything else?”

Johnson nodded, “Our sensors picked up a large flight of fighters while we where in hyperspace. They weren’t heading this way but it’s best to be aware of that”

Lavality nodded. “Good job Johnson, you’re dismissed”, she said and turned in her chair. She listened to the door’s as they closed, then opened a com’s with Merendez

“Status report on the Triton?”, she said

~ “Engineering reports that they’ll have difficulty getting the engines back online”, Merendez said. “Weapon reactor’s one and two are online, hull integrity is back up to 70%, however according to the engineering officer it’ll be tough getting this ship back into the air” ~

“I see”, Lavality nodded. “You’ve done a good job, keep up the good work”

Merendez saluted and the transmission ceased. Lavality then opened up a com’s with her 2nd in command. “If I’m needed let me know, I’ll be staying in the briefing room looking over some data”, she said

~ Yes Ma’am ~

Tissuss: Inside the Triton

Merendez sighed and looked at the status screen. “Let shop we can get this ship repaired before it starts”, she said

“You know Tzhali will find out sooner or later”, A young ensign said from behind her

She nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ll explain it to him in due time”

Tissuss: Outpost

Midmorning was approaching, the sun nearly completely up in the sky and the warriors were starting to get antsy and nervous, worried about Silliss' fate. When the trap door started to open, everyone jumped, weapons at the ready. Everyone relaxed when a familiar head poked out: it was Silliss, however he looked a bit disturbed.

"Glad to see you are still with us." Lumier said as Silliss climbed out. "Mind telling us what this was all about?"

Silliss smiled weakly and motioned for them to wait a moment. Then suddenly a much larger form climbed up: it was the creature. The marines that came with Lumier backed up, weapons drawn.

"It's alright." Silliss said, holding up a hand. "He's on our side now." When everyone was relaxed again he explained. "This is Tiskus. He was once a member of our Clan but on a return trip back home his ship malfunctioned and crashed here. The Imperials captured him and...turned him into this. They also made those mutts."

"Damn Imps..." Lumier growled.

"I kave decided to kelp you wik katever you need during your time kere." Tiskus said. " Kowever...kere is one condiction..."

"What is that?" Lumier asked, having barely made out what he had said.

Tiskus pointed at the trapdoor. "Kat ke labratory and all evidence of ke Imperials crimes ke destroyed."

Tissuss Orbit: Bloodfang

~I'm glad to here more support has come.~ Naosha said over the comm line. ~And I agree, a meeting would be a good idea between myself and all the Captains.~

"Should we invite the Captain of the Interdictor that has helped us?" Tiosk asked.

~Yes. At the very least so she can find out just what is going on with our people. I would like to hold the meeting later today...before sunset.~

"Of course Naosha, I will make the arrangements immedately."

Once the comm link with Naosha went dead, he turned to his comm officer. "Open a line to the Interdictor and tell them I wish to speak with their commanding offical."

"Aye sir."

(ooc: sorry, couldn't think of much else at the moment)

False Hopes's comm. officer was monitering the comm. line when another single came through

"Sir, comm. request from the Trandoshan ship", she said.

"For who?", The 2nd in command said

"Our commanding officer, Lavality", The comm. officer said

The 2nd in command looked away and walked toward the bridge door, then looked over his shoulder. "Pipe it to the briefing room and inform the vice admiral that she has a call"

False Hope: Briefing room

Lavality continued to study the data that came from Lt. Johnson

~ Ma'am ~

"Go ahead comm. officer", she said. Not mensioning the officers name due to being to much into her work

~ The captain of that Trandoshan Vessel would like to speak to you ~

Lavality stopped what she was doing and stared at nothing, then looked at the screen. "Is the comm. line secure?"

~ Yes Ma'am ~

"Just to be sure, deploy red wing and blue wing and have them perform a close patrol near both ships... just to make sure we have no stealth fighters near by", Lavality said

~ No offfense ma'am... but isn't that a bit.... 'paranoid'? ~

"Better to be paranoid than risk our enemy knowing what where saying", Lavality said while grinning even though the comm. officer wouldn't see the grin

~ Yes Ma'am, right away. Patching the signal into the briefing room's comm. system ~

Lavality turned in her seat and a wall panal turned and a screen appeared displaying a cross refrence of different comm. signals in the area. She then isolated the comm. signal that was coming from the Trandoshan ship

"This is Vice Admiral Lavality, captain of the Interdictor False Hope", Lavality said

Tissuss Orbit: Bloodfang

"Well met Vice Admiral." Tiosk replied. "I am Captain Tiosk, captain of the Bloodfang. No doubt you have been wondering just what has been going on with our people as of late. Since you have helped us greatly as of late, Councilor Naosha has seen it prudent to invite you to a meeting we will be holding later today. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss what we can do to further our cause and to inform you of our rebellions purpose should you decide to attend."

~I will attend. Who else will be there?~ Came the reply.

"Myself, Captain Ossik of the Fanggore, Captain Rista of the Redclaw, Councilor Naosha herself and likely Captain Tzhali and..." He paused briefly and looked over at Varcanna, who nodded. "Naosha's daughter, Varcanna."

~Very well. Let me know where and when Captain Tiosk.~

"I will Madam, as soon as possible."

Tissuss: Outpost

"If you desired to destroy it...why didn't you do so yourself?" Lumier asked Tiskus, looking him over. "You look like you could take down the whole outpost if you wanted to."

"Ke Imperials implanted a device kat prevents me from purposely damaging keir equipment." Tiskus explained, a look of regret on his face. "I was always too strong willed for kem to control completely, so if key hadn't I wouldn've destroyed the place ages ago and let myself ke torn to pieces ky ke creatures key created."

"So instead...you sought to prevent the Imperials from coming back to continue what they started...."

"I kill as many of kose creatures as I can as well...kut..." He spread his hands with a helpless look. "key kreed faster ken I can kill kem..."

"They've probably eaten every single native animal by now as well..." Lumier said with a sigh.

"Not all...those that are active during the day still exist." One warrior pointed out. "Otherwise we wouldn't have been able to supply fresh meat for everyone."

"Just ke lab is to ke destroyed." Tiskus said. "You can do kat you will wik kats in ke kanger."

Tissuss: Outpost, secret hanger

“We’ll destroy that lab, and as a precaution, I’ll have every entrance sealed up so that no one can get in there”, Lumier said

“Ma’am that isn’t part of our orders”, A marine said while putting down a crate. It was the same marine that had disagreed with her several minutes before hand

Lumier didn’t bother to look at the marine instead she walked away and didn’t say a word

“Ya know”, another marine replied from across the hanger. “The Vice Admiral would have a field day with this”

“She would, however”, Lumier said. “This might just be the stuff that Naosha needs”

The marine stared at her. “Why would you ever help that Trandoshan?”, the marine asked

Lumier suddenly stopped in her tracks, for a second she did nothing, then reached for her blaster and spun 180 degree’s and fired. The blaster shot flew through the air and came within 2 inchs of hitting the marine in the head, in fact it was so close that the marine also drew his own rifle but wasn’t able to fire

“Why would I help that Trandoshan?”, Lumier repeated the marines question. “You will never understand”, she said

***

Tissuss: Triton

Merendez continued to check the status report on the ship, she looked over some more reports before getting an incoming comm.

~ Ma’am, we just did a complete search of the ship. No signs of any of those mutts ~

“Good, continue searching just to be safe”, she said with a smile and looked away

~ Ma’am, we just checked the Captains room and ….. He’s not there! ~

Merendez nearly fell out of her chair when she heard that. “What do you mean, ‘he’s not there’?”

~ That’s just what we said… his room is empty, in fact the blaster rifle that was on the desk along with the pistol is also missing ~

“Great, where could he have-“, she said. Suddenly the ground shook, she turned on a display and watched as a Lambda shuttle took off from the hanger by, it flew out of the bay and into the air. “Track that shuttle!”, she yelled

~ Shuttle is reaching orbit ~, the sensor officer said. Shuttle has transited to hyperspace, we lost it…

“Damn it…”, Merendez said and slammed her fist on the control console

***

Orbit around Tissuss:False Hope

Lavality had finished with her data collecting when she had been told that a Lambda shuttle had left the Triton and then gone into hyperspace

“I see”, She said while walking down the corridor leading to the hanger bay. “So he wants to try and rescue his family without our aid… bravado perhaps, but then again I guess we can’t blame him”, she said

~ You want us to send some fighters? ~

“No need, besides they would just get in the way. Keep the ship on 24 hour alert, and contact me if anything happens. I’ll be planetside”, Lavality said

~ Yes Ma’am ~

She walked into the hanger bay, it was a bustle of activity. Fighter pilots getting ready, refueling crews refueling the fighters, and a lot of other activity

“Ma’am”, the flight officer said. “You’re fighter is ready for launch”

“Good”, Lavality said and put her helmet on. She climbed into the cockpit of a B-wing and strapped in. She started up the craft and slowly hovered over of the ground and pointed out of the hanger bay, she then launched the B-wing and flew toward the planet below