Onslaught of the Empire

[Nelowulf]

Lieutenant Warren McJump
Location: Minos Cluster
Personal Location: Bridge of the Indefatigable
Accompanying ships: 2 Wayfarers.

Warren watched as the ships that he had attacked now had taken notice of him; large, ungainly battlecruisers with low maneuverability, that was for sure. With the given vantage point, the Indefatigable was barely pumping any of it's firepower out. The wayfarers didn't have much, but enough to simply make the feint seem pathetic. The Hammer-class frigate moved forward, flanked by it's sisters, which aligned themselves off the starboard bow, concentrating their firepower on one transport, while the hammer split it's fire between two; it appeared silly, unable to take down a single ship at a time, but Warren wasn't exactly doing this at random. It would take several minutes for the fighter screens to pull off their objectives and return. In that time, Warren guessed he'd pretty much have taken down these two light picket ships.

"Turbolaser batteries concentrate on your targets, maintain fire. Ion cannon batteries... open fire," Warren said. Batteries wasn't exactly the "correct" term for the cannons, but it did seem to fit quite a role. The loud ionized sounds echoed through the ships corridors as red fire now laced with blue bolts hit the shields of the two Gage-class ships. Impacts were felt across the shields, obvious from the rippling effects against the shielded transports. The first of the transports had finally gotten into a rare edge firing arc, beginning to return fire. From what Warren had seen, they'd rather pick a fight with the Hammer; as was expected.

"Divert energy to the forward shields," he announced, the weak fire making only a small dent into the power draws. He watched as they closed in further. "Torpedo crews ready on mark.... Launch a salvo," Warren ordered. Torpedos streaked out from the front of the ship, four per cruiser, headed straight for the exposed generators atop the bridge. Warren seemed unphased by the strike's particular location, as the ion cannons and turbolasers continued to fire. He watched the impacts land, giving a smile. The Hammer which had started with only three guns now had nearly tripled it's fire output.

"Accelerate to full speed. Start preparations for a microjump, delta style. Prepare charging the heat lance..."  

[ElladanKenet]

Captain Phaelan didn't have time for this. "Lieutenant, have the Colonel speak to the Governor. i'm busy fighting a battle and can't talk at the moment." Cutting off the comm officer, he looked back at his monitors. "Red Rodian's been hit pretty back, but she can hold. Damage assessment?"

"The Rodian's holding. Crew reports loss of Generator One, and superficial damage to the top of the ship. They're pulling back and sealing all fires."

Phaelan could see the ship listing slightly, but she quickly corrected herself. She'd need repairs. "Get a tractor lock on one of the smaller ships. Now!"

In space, the two squadrons of Talons had almost been decimated, while only a few interceptrors were lost. The Hammerhead had been picked off, and was trying to retreat, but the Furies had caught up to it, and were tearing the ship apart. It wouldn't last for much longer. Turning back to the battle, he saw the three ships starting to fleet the battle, making a be-line for the edge of the gravity field. He narrowed his eyes, watching as his vessel redirected fire at the ships, volleying turbolaserfire and tractor beams in their direction, trying to snag a victim.

~

Not left with much to do in the space battle, Colonel Theron was on hand to receive the call from the Governor. Stepping into the recorder's viewer, he peered at Doros, appearing every but as imposing as possible. "Governor Doros, I cam Colonel Theron. You offer surrender in return for the safety of Travnin. Why should we treat with you, when the planet is at our mercy?"

The comm signal was being tracked back, but it was taking some time to lock onto the fugitive. Luckily for him, he'd be able to escape before the Sith would have a chance to catch him.

Task Force Twilight
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harrower-class Battlecruiser Twilight
Terminus-Class Destroyer Dusk
Terminus-Class Destroyer Midnight
Gage-class Transport Bantha Fodder
Gage-class Transport Red Rodian
Gage-class Transport Precipice

~

Meanwhile, across the Minos Cluster, other invasions began. On schedule, imperial warships appeared over the planets of Karideph, Adarlon, and Javis 12. The Imperial fleet was quick to capitalize on unsuspecting locals, descending on the planets and seizing them by force. The amount of power being arrayed was overwhelming, and there wasn't a thing the Republic could do about it.  

[Sayla-girl]

NPC
Governor Galban Doros

"You misunderstand, Colonel." Doros said. "Already you've destroyed equipment you could utilize. The Satellite systems you will have to replace yourselves, and already you will have to leave a garrison to hold this moon. How much more do you plan to destroy before you've conquered nothing but a useless ball of rock? I would have thought the Sith Empire's soldiers would be more situationally aware."
"Now, I have no quarrel with the Empire, and I wish to keep it that way. So I propose ordering Planetary forces to stand down in return for my guarenteed safety. As an added bonus, I happen to have the daughter of a Republic Senator held under guard at the Governor's mansion. Consider that hostage a gift from me to the Empire."  

[Nelowulf]

Lieutenant Warren McJump
Location: Minos Cluster
Personal Location: Bridge of the Indefatigable
Accompanying ships: 2 Wayfarers.

Warren pressed his edge, as the ship closed in. Too slow to react, the Rodian was left to be decimated and dead in the water. The turbolasers on board the Indefatigable began to tear into the hull, as another pair of missles ripped through the steel as the Hammer came down upon the ship, the edge of the ship ducking down as turbolaser fire from the Twilight now began to bathe the weakened Gage apart. Warren nodded his head to the right, as the bow of the ship glowed an eerie red. Pushing through, the frigate rammed into the side of the small transport, the heat lance cutting it's way across the top and through vital sections of the bridge as it pushed through to open space.

"We'll be clear in ten, nine, eight-" began the countdown of the crew. Warren gave a smile. He gave the order to redistribute the shields towards the aft of the ship, as the Wayfarers set off a final volley of fire, before the microjump away. He kind of wished he could have seen the commanding officer's face as this little anti-pirate fleet just ruined two full ships in less than... 4 minutes of combat? 6? the mission clock hadn't started since the surprise arrival, so Warren couldn't fully tell for sure.

"-three, two, one... clear. Jumping in five, four, three, two, one..." Warren watched himself as they cleared the space of the transport behind him, and followed along the vector path that would lead to the rest of the unit under his command. Not a bad day's work if he said so himself. Leaving those transports in a state of near devastation, fire and smoke from their hulls, the familiar blue warp of the ship in hyperspace suddenly appeared and disappeared seconds later, as the ships began to regroup.

"Restock all silos, recharge batteries. Prepare microjump two in one minute, mark. Send a burst transmission to sector fleet that Travnin's lost it's meager defenses," Warren announced. He paused for a moment. "And who's up for round two?"  

[Cale Darksun]

Darth Cinn stood before the entrance to the ancient academy, his soldiers dispersing to secure the area. The Sith advanced towards the ruin with a purposeful stride, intent on pursuing this Jedi Filth that dare profane sith territory with their presence.

His advance was halted by a relived looking acolyte who came staggering out of the entrance towards the Sith and his soldiers.

"Lord Cinn! The Jedi is here, and he-ACK!" The Acolyte grasped at his throat, clawing at the invisible hand that was choking him.

"You let yourself be beaten by a pacifist and a scholar." Cinn said darkly as he continued to force choke the Acolyte. "There are no warriors among the Jedi. Only weaklings and fools. And if you, one who wished to become sith, can not best one such weakling, then you are useless."

Cinn, arm outstretched towards the Acolyte, gestured towards the speeders, and act that sent the choaking man flying into one of the repulsorcraft. He struck it hard enough to dent the side of the vehicle and crumpled to the ground as Cinn resumed his march into the Academy.
"Commander, recover what remains of the Acolytes." the red garbed Warrior declared. "I will deal with this Jedi myself."
 

[ElladanKenet]

Captain Phaelan watched with sickened eyes as the frigate plowed through the Rodian. He could hear the screams of personelle on one of the comms, before they were cut off. The ship shuddered, and he could see the ship list baddly. The emergency systems it had were probably already containing the damage, but it was done. She was unflyable.

The Bantha Fodder was in rough condition as well, but still flyable. They were reporting a lot of damage along the topside.

And the reincforcements. Phaelan watched the ships speed away from the battle, not even stopping to return a volley, before they sped away. Literally, they had been here five minutes, according to the ship chrono. This wouldn't be a nice report to submit. "Damage assessment!" he called out.

"Twilight's unharmed," the damage control officer called. "Red Rodian's lost her bridge and is dead in the water. She's launching escape craft and jetisonning valuables. Bantha Fodder has hull damage and loss of shields in some sections. We can't take another attack like that."

Phaelan was certain another attack wouldn't come back. That frigate wouldn't return, with the loss of the element of surprise. The planet was in their hands, and reinforcements wouldn't be able to reach them for about half an hour more, give or take a few minutes, at the earliest. "Have all ships begin retrieving evacuees and what equipment we can. We'll rendez-vous with the fleet in twenty."

And with that, the First Battle of Travnin wrapped up. Rescue boats and escort shuttles were sent out, guiding escape pods to the remaining ships. Losses were worse than they could've been: Two flights of fighters, noone on Twilight or the Terminuses, twenty on Bantha Fodder, about 200 on Red Rodian, and five on the Precipice. Virtually all of the troopers got out, along with about half of the cargo of the Rodian being retrieved.

The big question left was the Red Rodian herself. She was unflyable, and untowable in her condition and due to her size. While she might be able to stay in orbit for several days, there was no way to salvage her in the time they had left, even if they stayed for another day. As much as Phaelan disliked the idea of abandoning her, there was little choice. The best they could hope for is getting to the fleet and securing the resources necesary to return to the system and salvage as much as they could from the ship as possible.

~

The Colonel shook his head as he considered the Governor's words. "You're right, we did destroy a lot. You're welcome to surrender the system to the Empire, and keep the Republic entourage under arrest."

Stepping away from the holo, he approached the Captain. "Governor wants to surrender the planet. Says he has a Republic representative too. We can't get a lock on the transmission due to atmospheric interference."

The Captain looked over and Theron and shook his head. "Can't risk it. We're a ship down and one's in need of repairs. The Furies might be able to go after him, but I don't want to risk being caught with my pants down. Let him go."

Returning to the holodeck, Theron eyes the Governor. "We will consider your offer." And with that he cut the man off.

Not long after, once the last of the fighters and furies were picked up and the remaining ships were as full as they could be, they headed for the rear of the system, and engaged the hyperdrive to the designated rendez-vous point in the back of the cluster.

Task Force Twilight
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harrower-class Battlecruiser Twilight
Terminus-Class Destroyer Dusk
Terminus-Class Destroyer Midnight
Gage-class Transport Bantha Fodder
Gage-class Transport Red Rodian
Gage-class Transport Precipice  

[ElladanKenet]

The Falcon's Nest had managed to load up most of the loose supplies and half of the troops when they took off, heading to the other side of the planet. Luckily for them, the Imperials never bothered to come down to the planet, which struck everyone as slightly odd. Even still, the Imperials dominated the skies. The Hammerhead was lost, all three squadrons of fighters were lost, and they were damn lucky nothing else was lost.

The saving grace was the arrival of a local escort fleet. They had distracted the Imperials, and apparantly managed to severely damage one, before leaving the system. The Imperials stayed long enough to retrieve evacuees, and leave.

Once they were gone, and no Imperials remained in the system, the Falcon's Nest returned to the site of the camp, doing a once over of the city. Travnin seemed to be unharmed, save the loss of it's defense fleet. The Governor, however, was missing. The commanding officer, Captain Hawkins, therefore immediately made a call to a retreating passenger shuttle, demanding to speak to the Governor. Why the Governor was in a shuttle and flying across the planet was noone's surprise: he was fleeing. It took a long while, but they finally got a lock on the signal. "Governor Doros, this is Captain Hawkins of the Falcon's Nest. The Imperials have left the system. Do you need an escort back to the city?"  

[Sayla-girl]

NPC
Governor Galban Doros

"Sir, the Sith have left the system."
The Governor looked at the co-pilot of the skyhopper shuttle with dispbelief and shook his head.
"Apparently the Sith are idiots. They forced my hand. Best to escape while I still have my head."
"Republic forces are trying to contact you, sir." The Co-pilot said as the aircraft landed at a secret hangar.
"Ignore them." the Governor said. "My ship is already prepped for launch."
The Co-pilot nodded and ignored the signal as the Governor and his staff left the shuttle and headed for a modified XS light freighter in the hangar bay.
 

[Sayla-girl]

The Ambassador's group had just broken out of the Governor's mansion and were taking a procured speeder to the Starport when Captain Mai received a call from the Starship.
"Mai here. Go ahead."
"Captain?" The Pilot of the ship, an Iridonian, said. "Is the Ambassador with you? Is she safe?"
"I'm right here, Lieutenant." Thessa replied to the hologram from the front passenger's seat of the speeder. "What is the situation at the Hangar."
"We're fine here. We've been trying to contact you since the Sith attack started. Looks like you managed to get out of the signal blockage. The God news is that the Sith retreated. The bad news is that they shot up our forces pretty bad."
"Did the Sith take anything?" Mai asked.
"No sir. They just showed up, blew up our fighters and left. They made no effort to seize anything or do any other significant damage."
Mai and Thessa exchanged a glance, then Mai spoke again to the hologram.
"Ready our ship for departure. We're taking the ambassador to Coruscant."
"Aye sir." The Lieutenant snapped a salute and the comlink was closed.
"Yes. Coruscant will want to hear of this." Thessa mused. "And without adequate local support or defenses, this world is no longer safe to stay on."
"I'm just thinking ahead, Ambassador." Mai told her. "We'll be in space within the Hour."
 

[ElladanKenet]

"Sir, they're not responding."

Captain Hawkins cursed out loud. The man was running for it. The sith were gone, and he was getting out while he could. Damn coward. Now they had bigger issues at hand, like defense of the system, since they were the only remaining force of significance. "What about the ambassador? Is she still around?"

Falcon Company had been keeping tabs on Ambassador Thessa since she arrived. As a Republic representative, her concern was a priority, especially with the Sith poking around. "Contact her transport. Give them the authorization codes, and request a meeting. I want to know her next move, and how we can help."

At the same time, Hawkins also needed to know what the Republic and the sector defenses planned on doing. While his communication officer was carrying out orders, Hawkins went ahead and continued. "And they probably already know, but go ahead and send a transmission to Sector Defense. tell them Travnin's been hit, and is in dire need of aid. Also tell them the Governor up and left."

And of course, he had to have further orders with his own superiors. Falcon Company's mission here had been to find the Sith. They did. Now they had to report. "And when you're done with that, send out the call to the RRF HQ, and give them an update. I'll have my own report ready when able."

With a sigh, the captain rubbed his head, sitting back in his command chair while he waited for responses.  

[Des Voh]

Caisar would have shrugged, but his demeanor was much more refined than that, and only nodded."I apologize for this. Hopefully if you're so willing to get into action, you'll agree to my proposal when I have time to properly explain it without interruption." He said sympathetically, though with an expectation of positivity to the response. He then turned to the marine and nodded, and they departed into the halls of the refitted mobile base.

Caisar had felt the presence nearly as soon as the other had entered the system, though curious as to the intent, the council had only sent him this way as far as he knew. He was relieved to be able to find out soon, though it could also possibly be a ploy by the Empire and the Sith, though he much doubted so though one couldn't tell outside of closer proximity, still his arms retreated into the voluminous sleeves of his closed robe and rested on his belt, near his lightsaber...

~~~~~~
Meanwhile in the hanger of Minos Home...

A Marine standing beside a bothan in burnt orange and grey approached the Jedi as the soldiers were being debriefed of their arrival to such an outlying base. The Marine hung back at attention as the bothan stepped up to look Kyber over, then frowned."Another one, fantastic. I don't even want to know why you're in that..." The bothan said sharply as he indicated the imperial shuttle with his index finger."But you're lucky we have another representative of your Order on-board who can check out your claim. Follow me." He stated rudely, then turned and walked on deeper into the ship expecting to be followed as the Marine stared at Kyber and waited and three more approached.  

[Nelowulf]

Lieutenant Warren McJump
Location: Minos Cluster
Personal Location: Bridge of the Indefatigable
Accompanying ships: 2 Wayfarers.

Before the small anti-pirate fleet could swing back around and make a second attack run on the fleet, it had just picked up and left. Having made a second microjump to the other side of the sector, the ship's long range scanners picked up a small shuttle leaving on a strange vector; the only reason it was strange was from prior experience.

"Ignore it," Warren said, dismissing the freighter for larger concerns. "Prep the boarding parties. Tell The Gundark that it's his time to act." The bridge shifted uneasily. The concept of revisiting the battlefield so soon with such an armored complement did not appease many, though at the present time, nobody could doubt the lagomorph's relative success. A small microjump later led them to the dying ship. Scans indicated few life forms aboard, with the escape pods already jettisoned. Warren shook his head with a slight disgust.

"Send a boarding team down and check the computers. Whatever we can scrounge will be fine. Then destroy it. Maybe in the chaos they forgot to wipe the memory banks...." he said with a sigh. Highly unlikely, though the possibility was worth it. If nothing else, it'd be something for the sector forces to browse over and figure out where they came from. Where was the planetary defenses anyway? Police ships? the capital of the sector and they don't even have a decent defense against raiders without military hardware, much less what they just encountered. Something smelled off.

"I want us packed up and ready to head to the next waypoint in four orbits."  

[lady_skuld]

Sythica pushed past the shack and forward to the edge of the building. She waved the sith to follow her. The private's mind raced with ideas for an apprentice. If she was a soldier inside what would she do? Flank? Snipers worked alone though.

But this didn't seem to be a sniper. He was operating with a lot of other troops, picking off any target of opportunity. There had to be more inside. They might try to flank the group.

"You, use that saber on your belt and cut into this building. I'll sweep around the side and we'll flank them on each side. Got it?"


Squad objectives:
- Secure an LZ.
- Shut down comm transmitters
- Destroy air defenses
- Remove the main communication tower.
- Secure spaceport  

[ElladanKenet]

Once all the transmissions were sent out, and they were awaiting word back, Captain Hawkins decided to make a slight detour, before landing on the planet. "Flight Officer, take us into orbit. I want to investigate the battle."

"Yes sir."

Being in the atmosphere already, the Falcon's Nest tipped up to head for the upper atmosphere. It was only a few short minutes before she breached. Once out of the cloud cover, Hawkins had an impressive view of a ruined ship sitting in orbit. It was triangular, with a long nose. The bridge seemed to be ruined, a scar on the topside of the ship, and there were laser potmarks everywhere. "That's not a Republic vessel..."

"No sir," one of his officers called from a console. "Logic suggests Imperial vessel. It's of similar design to other ships we've seen at Ruuria, but with a reinforced hull. Design harkens back to the Civil War." He was referring to the Jedi Civil War. "Judging from scans, the ship was serving as either a frigate, or cargo transport."

Why on earth would they bring a cargo transport into battle? Knowing the Sith, it sounded almost as if the kind of vessel one saw in an invasion force, and yet there had not been an invasion. The ship had been used as an escort, and judging from it's condition, not a very good one. "Any life signs?"

"Negative. Scans show no life whatsoever. The ship appears to have been evacuated. It's likely something took out their bridge, rendering the ship useless. The structural damage added to the problems. Whoever wasn't killed, and I can't be sure on that number, likely evacuated.

The Captain nodded, turning to the area around the ship. He could see some scraps ofmetal, but nothing else. All of his fighters were gone, as well as probably a few Sith fighters. No remains. "Anything worth salvaging?"

The officer shrugged. "The hull maybe. Depending on how they evacuated, there might be some equipment inside. Preliminary scans can't access the ship's computer, mainly because there's no power, but also there's likely encryptions.

"Well, it's worth checking out. We have a shuttle we can spare. Send a security team and a slicer to that thing to investigate. Get as much data as possible. Maybe we can find a way to salvage her. I'm sure the Republic will be very interested."

Nodding, the bridge crew commenced to carry out his orders, a team already prepped and hopping into a shuttle to investigate the ship. of course, it was at that time that they detected the Indefatigable and her escort. Establishing contact, the comm officer hailed the ship. It was a republic vessel alright, likely sector defense. A quick scan of sector records and comm signal ids revealed it to be the Indefatigable, a Hammer-class frigate; a seldom seen ship, and larger than he expected in the hands of a local Anti-Piracy fleet. While his team prepared to head over, late to the investigation, Hawkins contacted the ship, hoping for a response. "Indefatigable, this is Republic Reactionary Force vessel Falcon's Nest, Captain Hawkins in command. We were in the system during the attack. Did your forces drive off the Sith?" It seemed to be that, at least. Some ships had shown up during the attack, and not long after, the Sith left. Since this ship was left ruined, reason served that it had been taken out, and this ship, while small, was small enough to have done some of the job.  

[Skyeborne]

Khyber gave the Bothan a closer look as he approached, noting his height (a few inches shy of the Bothan average), the slight limp which spoke of a previous injury, the decorative band on his upper arm awarded for valorous conduct in the Abyssin Rebellions, and suggested that campaign as the source of his injury. He also had a cold intelligence in his eyes, and obviously knew enough about Jedi to be able to spot Khyber as one while he was in civilian garb.

Khyber followed as instructed, tempted to remark on the Bothan's tone but eventually dispensing with the notion considering the strange circumstances of his arrival...