(OOC: It's called god moding Dolash, welcome to the wonderful world of it.

TNO is pretty bad at it, but they're such good RPers no one complains.)

Dolash: Make a thread in the OOC forum. Your complaints are valid.

Chau will answer the TNO side once he sees this (he does live on the other side of the world). If an adjustment needs to be made, he will do it.


Chadd: That was pretty low. Even for you. Keep out of thread since it does not concern you.

The OOC posts will be deleted and thread cleaned as soon as discussion is happening in OOC forum.

Placement. That was what it all came down to.

Ming sat in his command chair, watching the Carrack and Fire Frigates assault the shipyard. The sleek, agile Frigates moved deftly around the yard, spinning around each other in perfect precision and scoring multiple hits on the target. The slightly bulkier Carrack Cruiser took a simpler approach to the attack, assaulting at point-blank range and performing simpler manoeuvres that were nevertheless as effective.

The Invincible sat at the hub of the assault, firing its own missiles and lasers broadside into the shipyard. Due to the extreme length of the yard Ming was focusing on one end, strafing back and forth over a short stretch until it was suitably pacified, taking care to avoid destruction of the near-complete ships held within.

The Invincible lurched and began rolling, to bring the port laser banks to bear and allow the starboard side to cool down. The many screeches of laser fire coming at Ming from one side of the ship slowly subsided, as the batteries on the other side began firing wildly.

“General.” Ming looked up at Captain Essian, the other standing a short but respectable distance away, holding a datapad in his outstretched hand.

“Captain.”

“Sir, we have gamma group incoming.” Essian handed him the datapad, and Ming looked down at the scrolling lines of text. “There’s nothing else out there hiding. If there was, they would have found it by now. Your orders?”

Ming looked up from the datapad, assessing the battlefront on his TAC... and then the Crimson fleets arrived.

“Ah, perfect.” Ming quickly surveyed the holographic ship listing at the side of the display, then handed the datapad back to Essian. “Gamma will split into its sub-groups now, I think. Eta will join us, beta and delta are to begin assaulting the secondary shipyard.” Ming highlighted the desired target on his display, and then Essian made it so.

Seconds later six Shrouds broke off their course, and aimed instead for another shipyard. The battle in space still raged, and the planet below still burned. It was all really just about placement.



OOC Suggested Damage Report:

- Light damage to approx. 10km of one shipyard
- Medium damage to Gencore generator

Suddenly, the entire Crimson Fleet broke off. They were suddenly outbound.

The Dark Lord's anger flared.

"WHERE ARE WE GOING?!?"

He recieved no response.. none at all.

His anger was worn upon the bridge crew, the ships, however, were preparing for light speed.

"WHAT IS THIS?!?"

Suddenly, upon seeing the departure of the Crimson fleet, The combined Lightside fleet turned to rush the New Order fleet behind them.

The planetary shield went down, and the warfleet turned towards them. The guns were levelled at the TNO command ship.

A communiations was sent.

"So, New Order warriors. Your friends have left. Are you sure you still wish to fight, without your insane numeretical superiority? We offer you one opportunity, right now, to cease fire and leave, before we smash your fleet to oblivion.

Sorry, this was voided.

“Zebra One, making my run. Squad One on me.” The squadron commander’s voice crackled over the airwaves, shooting through the earphones of Lt Chynder’s flight helmet.

“Acknowledged, One,” Chynder said, clicking his transmitter. He skimmed his fighter over the watery surface of Mon Calimari, nosing it up gently to come into formation with his squad. When they were formed up Zebra One began accelerating, and Chynder followed suit.

Ahead, the Gencore shield generator glittered in the sunlight. It was already flaming in places, and Chynder suspected the structure wouldn’t be able to hold up to any more of the barrage it was receiving. Even as he watched, Squad Two made their run, gouging flame and destruction along the northern side.

Chynder gripped the control stick, and primed his lasers. As one, the squad swooped past the Gencore, firing in a controlled fury at the metal that was quickly turning to scrap. When they were past, Chynder risked a look back. There was an explosion, and then nothing.


- - -


Onboard the Invincible, two things happened at once.

“General, the Gencore has been destroyed, and...” The tactical officer’s voice trailed off, as his face suddenly turned sour. He looked up, alarmed. “Sir, the Crimson Fleet is leaving!”

“What?” Ming startled. He looked quickly to the holographic display, instantly confirming the fact. “Open a line to Maim, now!” he barked, jumping out of his seat and marching briskly over to the communications terminal.

“No response, sir,” the man said, tapping buttons and switches in an earnest attempt to find the best signal.

“Keep trying.” Ming turned, and moved back to his command chair. What was happening? One moment they vastly outnumbered the enemy, and victory was assured. The next, Maim decided to leave.

Ming looked apprehensively at the tactical display, noting the sudden drop in ally signatures. The Rebel fleets slowly began turning to face what little they could see of his force. If it was true...

The Invincible was nearing the end of its run. Ming called out to the helmsman; “Don’t turn, keep going straight.”

The man nodded, and the mighty ship continued its course. Ming turned back to the display. There was still a chance to survive this, if only the enemy commander...

“General, incoming transmission.”

“Maim?” Ming asked, but already he knew that it wouldn’t be.

“No, sir. It’s the rebel commander.”

He sighed, easing himself into the command chair, and steepled his hands in front of his face. Wait... Ming knew well now what would happen. One of two things, anyway. Either he would stay here, engage his enemy head-on, and be almost certainly destroyed. Granted, he was likely to take many of the rebels down with him, and he may even be able to limp out of the system with a few ships intact.

But it would still be a loss, and no victory would stem from it. There was also a strong chance that he would be completely destroyed. And Ming hadn’t lived this long by making stupid decisions.

So it came down to this; he could stay here and be destroyed...

Or... Or, he could do the smart thing. The proper thing.

The audio message finished, and Ming sighed. Wait. Just a little longer.

Again.

He looked up, and caught the communication officer’s eye.

“Signal the Picketts,” he said, “to stand down their gravity wells, and make ready to exit the system.

“Give me audio to the rebel.”

Silence hung over the bridge. People were still working, going about their duties. But now everyone was listening, too; there was no idle conversation.

“Commander, thank you for giving me this... opportunity to escape.” Ming got up, and began walking around the holographic display. Placement... just wait.

“I am, of course, quite outnumbered.”

The rebel ships finished turning, and began their slow crawl toward Ming’s force.

“And, although you have superior firepower on your side, I’m sure we could have put up one hell of a fight.”

The Invincible neared the far point of the shipyard, the other three ships bunched up around it in tight formation.

“But I’m sure that if we were to continue this battle, too many would die.”

The rebels noticed the Picketts powering down.

“And death is something I’m sure neither of us want.”

The rebel ships, still unsure of whether Ming was surrendering, continued on their intercept course.

“It is therefore, with great reluctance, that I accept your surrender.”

The shipyard exploded.

Shrouds, invisible and deadly, swarmed away from their devastated target, buffeting slightly in the wake of the explosion. For a brief moment they were visible, outlined against the expanding fireball, and then again they were gone.

The rebel ships were not so lucky. Following the Imperials, they had caught the brunt of the explosion. From battle damage earlier sustained from Maim’s fleet, several of them were instantly destroyed. The exploding shrapnel blasted out into space and ripped through their shieldless hulls, causing internal explosions and devastation. Most others had their shields weakened.

The shipyard had been severely weakened by the destruction that Ming’s fleet had been reining upon it while Maim was engaging the rebels. When the Shrouds arrived, they needed only to add to that damage with their extremely efficient gunners, and the rest was a chain reaction.

“Cut the transmission,” Ming yelled, as the Invincible was thrown forward by the exploding shipyard. “Damage report!”

“Damage to aft shields on all ships.”

“And the rebels?”

“Much more significant, but for the most part they’ve survived.”

“Damn... load missiles on all ships.” Ming looked again at the holo-display. “Take us to that next shipyard, full speed.”

“Aye, sir.”

Ming sat back in his chair, and further surveyed the damage. It really was all about placement.



Damage Report:

Severe damage to all TNO ships’ aft shields

3 Rebel ships destroyed (1 ImpStar, 2 others)
Damage to most ships' shields
Gencore generator destroyed
1 shipyard destroyed

(OOC: This post is written with the assumption that you have agreed with the OOC posting, and have blown up a shipyard but destroyed nothing in the process besides the aforementioned Shipyards.)

"Thats' it, they've murdered their last soul. All ships, everyone, OPEN FIRE!" Regrad slammed his fist onto a command button, and his men repplied.

A furious barrage from the fleet, each shot expressing their fiery hatred of those with such evil as to commit such an act of murder. There was not a drop of mercy or remorse as the warships steamrollerd into ship-to-ship against the Reign-class. They were on the edge of Kamikazie fury as their vessels flung themselves into battle.

With their rage being vented, vessels flew at dangerously close ranges to it just to get off afew shots against the Reign, who's shields shuddered against the bombardment.

(OOC: Suggested damage, shields of Reign, mild damage across the boad on both your and mine ships)

Amendment


“Cut the transmission,” Ming yelled, as the Invincible was thrown forward by the exploding shipyard. “Damage report!”

“Damage to aft shields on all ships.”

“And the rebels?”

“Unless you count the shipyard, nothing sir. They weren’t in range of the explosion.

“Damn... load missiles on all ships.” Ming looked again at the holo-display. “Take us to that next shipyard, full speed.”

“Aye, sir.”

Ming sat back in his chair, and further surveyed the damage. It really was all about placement.



The Present


“Rebel ships, coming in fast!”

“Primary Shroud locations?”

“Close; not close enough.”

Ming sat in thought, looking at the TAC. The rebel ships were indeed coming fast, using Mon Calimari’s gravitational pull to aid their pursuit. Ming’s force had angled up after running the length of the shipyard, and were forced to fight the gravity to escape, while the rebels had come in from the other side, and were using Mon Cal to slingshot out at Ming with extraordinary speed.

They wouldn’t be able to keep it up, though. Either they would apply breaking pressure themselves to slow down, or they would shoot right past the Imperials.

And this was where Ming would again gain the advantage, using his constant speed to outrun the negative acceleration of the rebels. But this strategy would come at a price, and that was defending against the barrages of assault the rebels launched while they still had the upper hand.

The Invincible rocked as enemy fire petered into existence, slowly building in magnitude and then remaining at a constant. The mighty Reign’s turrets and lasers had already begun firing back, launching white-hot beams of energy into space to connect with rebel shields; sizzling and boiling against the metallic hulls.

The Carrack and Fire Frigates were vehemently pouring fire into the attackers, but the rebel ships seemed only interested in the Invincible. Ming guessed that the rebel commander was now mad with blood-lust, and had issued orders to destroy the command ship at all costs. Ming kept his support ships close, though, and the rebels had to manoeuvre perilously close to the Reign in able to get off a clear shot. This often placed them in a position directly between the Reign and one of the support ships; when all guns would open fire on the rebel, bombarding it from all directions. With the mighty Reign, and it’s almost ludicrous weapons compliment, this was no small matter.

The Imperials, however, were facing much the same treatment. Sheer force of numbers pinned the Reign from all sides, but the massive bulk of the heavy cruiser and the flexibility required of the attacking formations allowed the Imperials to control direction and speed. This would seem of little use, though, as the Reign was hit over and over with blasts from the opposition.

But now they were pulling free of the planet’s gravitational pull, and the speed of the Imperials was beginning to pick up. In good health, a Reign is over half as fast as an Imperial-class Star Destroyer. Despite the pounding that the Invincible was taking, it was still in good enough health to outstrip the older, more sluggish specimen of Imperial glory.

There were still other attacking ships, but the heavier guns of the Star Destroyer were now being left behind.

Ming looked again at the TAC, then walked to a terminal.

“Navigation, plot us a course out of the system. I want it ready as soon as possible, and along these possible exit vectors.” Ming reached out, and indicated a set of points and trajectories in quick succession; most of them far removed form the Imperial’s current position.

The man at the station knew better than to question his commander’s motives. He began calculating the exit points, and feeding possible routs into the hyperdrive’s nav computer.

The ship rocked again as Ming walked back to his chair. Blue laser splashed over the main viewport, absorbed quickly by the ships strained shielding.

They were travelling towards the next shipyard, which conveniently put them on a straight vector out of the system. The Shrouds were incoming, close now, as the Invincible was slowly being torn apart. The rebel fleet suffered losses, which became as significant as the Imperials’. Surveying the battle from the comfort of his bridge, Ming gave himself a 50% chance.

"Sir, they're pulling away!"

Damn

No... wait...

"All ships cut speed by one quarter!"

Perplexed, they followed.

The imperial fleet, suddenly confident as their enemie seemed to fall further and further behind...

As the last shots were fired before they became out of range, Regrad turned on his comm.

"All Mon Cal Vessels, full speed! Make a surprise assault up the tailpipe!"

The Mon Calamari Vessels, which were extreemly fast for a capital class, Roared from the pack of 'Rebel' ships. Their guns tore at the Reign's exposed rear, tearing hunks out of the thrusters and maybe digging deeper...

(OOC: Maybe moderate damage to the thrusters and minor damage to the engine?)