May The Invisible Hand Be With You - (Star Wars CK2-Style Quest)
- Thread starter Dr. Snark
- Start date
- Sci-Fi
-
- Tags
- star wars canon what canon tsundere dice ck2 quest actions have consequences all the credits all work and no play makes ciaran a dull girl best sister capitalism ho! despairing qm teetotaller society member gotta catch 'em all insanity looting off the rails sage dice approaching spicy sheev tsundere asajj
[X] Asajj. There aren't any better pilots in the Watchers, but that also means she wouldn't be able to participate in the opening stages of the battle.
Grievous does get a good one back at the end there. :lol
Small Nerd
Meganekko
- Location
- Out There
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Are you sure she's not the imouto? I don't remember which sister is older.
I'm of the opinion that Ciaran is the older one... though Asajj is definitely more mature and acts like as elder sibling to reign in Ciaran's impulses.
- Location
- Qc, Canada
- Pronouns
- She/Her
According to their character sheets, Ciaran is older by an indetermined number of years, being 31, while Asajj is in her 20s.
Dr. Snark
Exactly As Planned...Probably
- Location
- Right where I want to be
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
You know, out of all the sentences I expected to see when I first took over this quest, I can absolutely guarantee that this one was definitely not one of them. I'm equally as...something...that it makes perfect sense in context but still.
...That is going to be my legacy, isn't it?
I think I came up with the idea of Ciaran using her DNA in the genemod for Asajj, just because that would be something she would do as the Galaxy's Greatest Troll. That it turned from a joke into something legitimate is both heartwarming and hilarious.
So no, that's my legacy. Your legacy Dr. Snark is being able to embrace the off-the-rails quest and turn it into something undeniably awesome.
- Location
- Leeds
For anyone on the internet, all you can hope for is to leave a meme behind to be remembered by.
Barondoctor
The things I chase come to me.
- Location
- The other side of the mirror
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
Considering we're probably going to have to put together a new government...
@Publicola as the resident civics-type-teacher might have a stronger idea of whether that seems reasonable and viable, but it seems pretty good.
@Publicola as the resident civics-type-teacher might have a stronger idea of whether that seems reasonable and viable, but it seems pretty good.
- Location
- Down Under
The scale of galaxy wide governments means that factionalism is always going to be a major problem and the limits of any organisation is going to be dictated by communication speed and response time.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Communications canonically aren't the stumbling block they might be IRL; consider that instantaneous communication is possible between places as far-flung as Naboo and Coruscant, whereas we puny Earthlings have a delay of several minutes for the planets closest to our own in-system.
Unless you're insisting on direct feeds through which every galactic government has a direct line to their ambassadors all day every day there is a level of separation no matter how fast communications are. Like, delegates could refer back to their home government on every decision, but that's entirely impractical.
To add to that no matter what you do, a different culture is going to develop in a galactic capital. That's going to impact how diplomats conduct themselves. Even newly elected are going to be impacted on some level.
- Location
- Leeds
Sounds like you're going to need to write in an AbyssWalker.
The easiest way to add to our selection of techniques.
- Location
- Queensland, Australia
I'm pretty sure that this is exactly what the Holo-net does offer to the Senators on Coruscant and their homeworlds. Still doesn't help with the Outer and Middle Rim being screwed for representation, but constant live communication for at least high level government communications is not a problem and hasn't been for a while.
The Battle of Kalee Pt. 3 - Opening Act
Dr. Snark
Exactly As Planned...Probably
- Location
- Right where I want to be
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
The Oracle, Ciaran's Office
"Asajj. Much as I'd like to have her around for the opening of the battle she's probably the best candidate for the sabotage mission."
"I concur," Thrawn said. "If there is nothing else...?"
"Nothing that would keep you here," Ciaran replied as she began typing out orders on her computer. "Besides, I'm going to be down on Kalee's surface soon enough anyway..." she said, trailing off as something came to her before she began typing out a new set of orders.
"Something the matter?"
"Not at all. I just realized something - it's not that important, don't worry," she said as she idly waved her hand towards Thrawn. "Go. I'm paying you to be a strategic genius, not stare at me working at my computer all day."
"Duly noted," Thrawn said with a faint hint of amusement as he turned on his heel and left the room.
Ausez, Kalee
Ciaran idly looked out the window of her shuttle as it made its way towards one of Ausez's military landing ports, taking in the sight of the newly built city nestled among the steppes, a mixture of prefabricated buildings and Kaleesh-designed dwellings scattered throughout with more being constructed on its outskirts. As the shuttle lowered she noticed a large building towering over the rest of the city, and while it seemed to be made of metal it was designed to resemble the Shrupak temple not to far away from where she was landing.
Once the shuttle touched down she opened the door to see Grievous and a large contingent of Kaleesh standing at attention, ceremonial spears in hand. As she hopped out Greivous began to bark orders.
<"Warriors! At attention!"> he shouted in Kaleesh.
<"We obey!"> the rest of the Kaleesh around him shouted in reply, slamming the ends of their spears to the ground in unison.
<"Speak!">
<"We honor your arrival, savior!"> and as they finished shouting the Kaleesh dropped to a knee bowed their heads in respect towards Ciaran.
<"Stand, and ready yourselves for the coming battle!"> Grievous ordered, and as the Kaleesh stood up and turned to leave Ciaran looked at him with curiosity.
<"A reminder, I take it?"> she replied in Kaleesh.
<"To them. They will rally around you when the time comes,"> Grievous responded as he turned and started to walk in to Ausez, Ciaran matching pace with him. "We have done what we can to prepare aerial defenses, have set up a number of shield generators throughout the city, and have been fortifying Shrupak itself for the inevitable assault," he explained, switching back to Basic.
"Are you going to be on the Karrabac?"
"No. I have left it in the command of one of my Izvoshra, Bentilais san Sk'ar. He fully respects Thrawn and I trust my ship to his care for this battle; I on the other hand am needed here."
"I suppose-"
Ciaran stopped in place as she felt the wind start to noticeably pick up. "General, I think-"
Before she could finish her sentence sirens started going off around the city, though as far as Ciaran could tell there weren't any enemy forces here yet. "What's happening!?"
Grievous activated his comlink and spoke over it in hushed tones before deactivating it and turning back to Ciaran, his eyes lighting up slightly. "It would seem that the gods have decided to aid us in our darkest hour. A storm has been detected off of the coast and is moving into the city, and should arrive within the next few hours. If we are fortunate it will provide us cover."
"That would be nice," Ciaran muttered as she activated her own comlink. "Xruk, are the defenses ready?"
"Yes ma'am. Shield generators are primed, all turrets are ready to open fire, and the base itself is on high alert."
"Good. Don't disappoint me and try not to get too many of our own men killed because they were more afraid of you than the enemy."
"I make no promises on the latter point," Xruk flatly replied before signing off.
"Right then...now Grievous, if you don't mind I need a favor or more accurately a reminder," Ciaran said to him as he looked at her with curiosity. As she explained what she was talking about his eyes visibly lit up in excitement...
-----------
Deep Space (Near Kalee)
As a Separatist fleet hovered menacingly in the distance a small ship jumped into the system well away from them, watching over it as its crew began preparing for what could only be described as a suicide mission.
On board the Scimitar, Asajj's sabotage team nervously readied themselves, starting to hook up the engines that would blast them towards the Separatist fleet to their spacesuits, making sure that the explosives on them were both disarmed and tightly strapped to their suits, and going through final checks to make sure they would have enough oxygen to hopefully survive the trip there and back. As everyone went through their final preparations Asajj came down from the ship's bridge and looked over her team.
"This is as close as we can get without alerting Trench to our position, so prepare yourselves. Remember that our first priority is to sabotage the Lucrehulk carrying the majority of the Huk troops, followed by any targets of opportunity you can get to before the fleet jumps. Afterwards activate your beacons and you'll be picked up. Above all else do not risk detection no matter what happens, understood!?"
"Yes ma'am!"
"We launch in five minutes."
The time passed for what seemed like an eternity for Asajj's team and an instant for Asajj, and once it was time Asajj called up her pilot on the comms. "We're ready."
"Understood, Sister," Saato replied. "Good hunting and come back alive."
With that the Scimitar's landing ramp began to open up, and alarms began to blare loudly before the air rushed out, cutting the sound entirely. With a slight jump Asajj pushed herself away, then after a few seconds once she cleared the ship Asajj activated her boosters and felt herself get slammed back into her suit as the rockets flared to life, rapidly propelling her towards her target. Once she reached the highest speed she dared risk she cut them off, and only heard the sound of her breathing as she hurtled towards one of the fleet's three Lucrehulks. Checking the rudimentary sensor she had on hand she saw that the rest of the team had followed suit, though they were moving noticeably slower than she was.
For a few long moments Asajj was in near silence as the Lucrehulk grew larger and larger in her vision, and as she closed the distance she could tell that she would hopefully be landing on its port wing, close to the engine block as she intended. She waited a few seconds before briefly kicking on her corrective thrusters and slowing herself down - even so she hit the surface of the massive battleship hard and skidded across its surface before she was able to right herself and magnetize her boots to the exterior. Once she centered herself she turned back to face the rest of her team, and reached out with the Force to telekinetically guide them to her position. After a few seconds they landed, and with a nod and a few gestures Asajj began leading the team on a slow and precarious walk towards the Lucrehulk's engines while a pair split off to plant charges on the ship's communications masts.
As they reached the engines the team could feel their hum reverberate through their suits and feel the charges stored in them rattling slightly. With another few gestures they scattered among the engine block, placing and arming charges at marked locations and signaling their success with waves of their hand. As Asajj armed the final charge she felt the rumbling intensify as the Lucrehulk started to move - not quickly, but it was readjusting its position and moving closer to Trench's flagship.
Looking around Asajj nodded to herself, the directed her team to split apart, some being sent to target the spans of Recusants or supply ships within range while the rest went with her to hit the other Lucrehulk within range. After taking off and landing much more comfortably this time around the smaller team split apart and placed charges on on it like before, only this time placing fewer on the engines and targeting the shield generator instead of the comms array. While Asajj still had one charge on hand after she finished placing her set, she looked around and used a few gestures to confirm that everyone else had indeed used up all of their charges. With that Asajj signaled for them to leave the area and they began jumping off and boosting into deep space one by one-
As Asajj prepared to jump herself she felt the Lucrehulk beneath her lurch forwards as it began to move, and as she looked around she could see the rest of the fleet come to life and begin to accelerate. She quickly debated jumping off anyway but came to a different conclusion after an instant of thought, and she moved as fast as she could to one of the ship's exterior hatches, prying it open with the Force and closing it behind her just as the ship launched into hyperspace with the rest of the fleet...
------------
Kalee Orbit
As his fleet came out of hyperspace and initial scans of the Kalee system came in, Trench smirked at the sight. All that was in orbit was a handful of Golan 1 platforms, scattered corvettes, and most prominently the Kaleesh "flagship" Karrabac. Reducing it to smithereens would be a great blow to the Kaleesh before he moved in to burn the rest of their world.
"Incoming transmission," his tactical droid reported as the holoimage of a massive Kaleesh appeared in front of him.
"I am Bentilais san Sk'ar, acting captain of the Karrabac. You have five minutes to leave our space - I suggest you leave before I tear you apart."
Trench laughed at Sk'ar's declaration. "You seem to have no grasp of reality, Sk'ar. My fleet massively outnumbers your pathetic forces, and it will only take me five minutes to destroy you all before I turn your homeworld to ash."
Sk'ar gave off a feral grin. "Is that so?"
Before Trench could retort he saw explosions beginning to blossom across his fleet, destroying many of his Recusants and supply ships and causing one of his Lucrehulks to begin to list as its engines burned. Growling with rage he whirled on his tactical droid.
"Alert. Lucrehulk carrying most of our Huk auxiliaries is not present on battlefield. Presumed sabotage has occurred in transit."
Trench clenched his fists. "Send out the order to-"
"Incoming vessel from the rear," his tactical droid reported as Sk'ar's holoimage faded and was replaced with a ship that Trench didn't recognize; while it resembled a Star Destroyer he hadn't seen the four globes at its prow before. His thoughts were cut off as the holoimage faded to accommodate another incoming transmission...
"This is Steela Gerrera, acting captain of the Tarkin's Folly. I am giving you a chance to leave this space without any further violence."
Trench snarled at her. "Even with your sabotage, I will never relent! Kalee will burn!"
"Figured you would say that...but I had to at least give you the option of walking away. Now this is self-defense."
"Alert," Trench's tactical droid reported. "Enemy vessel has activated gravity well generators."
"It is of no-"
"Alert. Multiple vessels coming out of hyperspace."
Trench's eyes widened as an entire fleet jumped in at an almost perfect formation around the Tarkin's Folly, and he didn't have to wait for long before he saw the unmistakable sight of the Oracle jump into view and take up the front of the fleet. As he focused back on the forces around Kalee he realized that they had formed up far more rapidly than they should have given that this was supposed to be a surprise attack...
"This changes nothing!" Trench declared before opening a channel to his forces. "Form a screen at the rear to keep their reinforcements at bay, the rest of you are to full burn towards Kalee!"
As Trench's fleet began to shift into combat formation the Oracle's fleet began to press forward, and within seconds fighters on both sides had launched. Dozens upon dozens of Headhunters and Y-Wings faced off against what seemed like an equally massive force of Vulture droids and Hyena Bombers.
Another few seconds passed and ships began exchanging fire, with the Oracle firing at any small vessel unfortunate enough to get too close to its turbolaser batteries and receiving the brunt of the fire from Trench's forces. However the Oracle shrugged off the attacks and continued to relentlessly charge forwards as dogfighting erupted around it and the rest of the ships following closely behind it.
Meanwhile on the damaged Lucrehulk, Asajj had been making her way through the ship's ventilation systems, using the chaos of the sabotage and the battle around the ship to get closer to its bridge. As she reached the end of the shaft closest to it she pulled back as she saw a group of B1s rush by before she ignited one of her lightsabers and quickly cut through the grate in front of her. Looking into the distance she could see that the bridge's door remained shut - but that was what her final charge was now for. She rushed over to it, planted the charge, set it for a ten-second timer, darted behind a wall-
She didn't even wait for the smoke to clear as she ignited her lightsabers, charged into the bridge and began slicing apart anything that moved, panicked blaster fire ringing out around her as she tore through the surprised organic crew and the relatively light droid presence. Within a few seconds she had cleared out the bridge, and quickly used one of the ship's consoles to call up Thrawn.
"Ventress, I'm surprised-"
"No time. I'm setting up a connection to the Oracle and slaving as many systems as I can to it, then I'm going to set a self-destruct sequence that will go off in five minutes before I escape in a pod. Use that time well."
"Understood."
As Asajj finished her work she sliced apart the console in front of her, then let loose a shockwave of Force energy to damage the electronics in the rest of the room. With that accomplished she looked out to see the ship's guns firing on its allies, destroying some that clearly weren't expecting fire to come from the subverted Lucrehulk. Her work done, Asajj began to sprint towards the nearest escape pod, and it wasn't long before she found herself under fire from droid security forces trying to stop her. She continued to run while occasionally blocking more accurate shots with her lightsabers, eventually managing to reach her destination and slamming into the back of the pod. Quickly punching out a course that would hopefully keep her away from enemy fire, she launched her pod into the chaos of the battle over Kalee, only for a pair of Vulture droids to home in on her pod - though before they could get shots off they were quickly blasted away, and as Asajj looked out she saw the Slave I rocket by, opening fire on more targets in range.
Inside the Firespray's cockpit a part of Jango couldn't help but wonder how things had gotten so messy in recent days as he blasted a pair of Hyena bombers trying to target an advancing corvette. This type of battle wasn't exactly his usual scene, but here he was in a full-scale brawl over Kalee. Shaking off the thoughts he looked at his ships sensors and noticed that a Providence had broken away from Trench's advancing forces and was beginning to turn towards a group of corvettes that would get ripped to shreds by the massive ship. Thinking fast, he opened up a channel to anyone he could reach within range.
"Slave I requesting support to help deal with the Providence coming about, anyone alive who can give me a hand?"
The comms went dead for a few seconds before he got a reply.
"Nym here. I've got a pack of Revenants that wanna blow something up," and as Jango looked around he saw a flight of irregular fighters and converted personal ships forming up around him led by what could only be the Havoc - a fighter Jango recognized from one of his past contracts.
"Alright, listen up. I need you to split your men into two groups; one that's going to come in with me on its port side, and one on its aft. Both teams are going to make sure that the hangar shields are down while I make my run to kill that ship."
"You think you can kill a Providence in one run? Now this I gotta see. Form up and get ready to help kill that ship, Revenants!"
With that the group surged forwards into an incoming fighter screen, though before any shots could be exchanged the Havoc fired off a volley of missiles that blasted away the majority of them, and the rest of the flight wasted no time in blasting their way through before making their way to Jango's position. As planned the Revenant forces broke off from Jango and charged at the Providence, which began firing at the incoming fighter squadron. While a couple of ships were hit by the turbolaser fire the rest broke through and destroyed the field emitters for the hangar.
As Jango diverted as much of his power to his engines as he could and boosted towards the hangar bay he could see the blast doors beginning to shut - but Jango could tell they wouldn't shut fast enough, and as he got closer he pressed a button on his console, arming one of the seismic charges stored on the Slave I. His timing would have to be precise enough for this to work, and Jango held his finger on the release switch as he made it into the hangar bay-
Just before he exited he pushed the switch, and the charge ejected itself and slammed to the ground as the Slave I managed to make it out of the hangar. It beeped for a few seconds before it triggered-
And for a brief instant everything went silent as energy gathered at the charge's center. Then-
BWOOOOOOOOOOOM
The shockwave let off by the charge tore through the interior of the Providence, ripping through bulkheads and annihilating anything it touched. As it hit turbolaser batteries and generators it would cause them to go up in a chain reaction, adding to the destruction. From the outside the shockwave ripped apart the hangar's blast doors and launched out from it in a wave before explosions rippled across the ship, its lights flickering before dying out entirely, and a few seconds later the now hulked ship began to list without any power to keep it flying.
"Hahaha! Now that's what I like to see!" Nym crowed over the comms as Jango threw himself back into the battle.
"Glad you liked it, because I don't think Trench is going to let that trick work again," Jango replied as he noticed the Havoc boost ahead of him towards a nearby supply ship.
"Well unlike you I don't need any tricks to tear these ships apart!" Nym shouted over the comms as Jango saw the Havoc launched visibly unstable plasma bombs towards its prey, and as they impacted the supply ship's central span it went up in a massive explosion that nearly tore the ship in half - and a pair of cruise missiles from the Havoc finished the job, sending the two sections sailing apart.
"Impressive," Jango coolly replied as he threw himself back into the fight, chasing down a pair of Vultures that were hounding a friendly Y-Wing. As he shot down the twp droid fighters he felt the shockwaves of a massive explosion buffet his ship, and his sensors confirmed that the Lucrehulk Asajj had infiltrated had finally self-destructed. The battle seemed to be going well - though as he checked his sensors again two worrying details made themselves apparent:
First, Trench's forces had arrived at the Karrabac and Golan platform's position, and while they were doing their best to hold out it was clear that they were going to get overwhelmed unless the Oracle could break through and provide fire support.
Second, a large wing of Hyena bombers had managed to break through and were on course to hit the Folly, and it didn't seem like there was anything that could stop them before they could get at least one volley off.
On the bridge of the Folly, Steela took notice of the incoming bombers and glanced at one of her officers. "Can we invert our gravity well projectors somehow? Have them push the missiles as they come towards us?"
He looked over his console. "I think that could work, but it'd still leave us pinned in place."
"Acceptable, do it!"
Getting a nod Steela looked out to see that the Hyenas had fired a torpedo volley at her ship, and she clenched her teeth as they came closer, closer...
"Brace for-" Steela started to say before she saw the missiles suddenly divert their course and fly off into empty space before detonating harmlessly. As she looked over the space in front of her she saw the Hyenas zoom past her ship before a flight of Headhunters quickly followed them and began shooting them down.
"Reset the projectors," Steela ordered as she looked over the rest of the battlefield and saw that the Oracle had managed to push deep into Trench's lines, though it was currently being held up in an engagement with a rival Lucrehulk.
On board the Oracle's bridge Thrawn calmly gave out orders as he looked over the defensive lines. As he predicted, Trench had already managed to push some ships through and was beginning to deploy forces to the ground, though he was more concerned about the Karrabac facing off with Trench's flagship - an engagement that did not favor the cruiser in the slightest. Looking over his tactical map, Thrawn sent out an order: "Any fighters capable of responding, we require assistance in eliminating the enemy Lucrehulk pinning us down."
"This is Phantom Leader, I don't know about everyone else but my flight's going up against too many Vultures to give you assistance."
"Understood, however-"
"Admiral! Vessel incoming from hyperspace!"
"Is it the Malevolence!?"
"No sir, it's...a Venator!?"
Suddenly the ship in question came out of hyperspace into the midst of the battle and Thrawn's tactical display lit up, displaying the IFF of the Resolute.
"This is Admiral Yularen of the Republic Navy responding to your distress signals. While we are only one ship we will do what we can to support you and stop this brazen assault," the ship broadcasted over an open transmission before Thrawn was notified of an incoming transmission to the Oracle specifically.
"Before you ask, you should thank Commander Tano for our arrival," Yularen explained to Thrawn. "She managed to predict that Trench would strike here specifically, and it's good to see that she was correct."
"Indeed," Thrawn replied with a slight smirk before he refocused. "Send your fighters to help us deal with this Lucrehulk so that we can catch up to Trench."
"Understood." With that the Resolute opened up and began launching swarms of ARC fighters lead by a pair of red-and-white Eta-2 interceptors, all of which began converging on their target.
In the cockpit of her Eta Ahsoka tightly gripped the control sticks as she shot down any fighter that dared to get too close to her fighter squadron. As they closed to firing range on the Lucrehulk she targeted one of the ship's turbolaser batteries and set it in her sights.
"Shadow Squadron, focus fire on their shield generators, then once those are down hit the core with everything you have!" Obi-Wan ordered over the comms, and with that Ahsoka opened fire and destroyed the battery pointed at her before boosting forwards, drawing the fire of the ship's turrets as the ARCs behind her began launching torpedoes at its shield generator, and it didn't take long before an explosion ruptured the hull, destroying the critical component. With its shields down the Oracle began to maul its opponent, blasting apart turrets and ripping holes in the hull as the rest of the ARCs sent volleys of torpedoes into the ship's core. After a few moments of pummeling the ship finally began to break apart, and with its path clear the Oracle began to move forwards, chasing after Trench's flagship.
"Now that the immediate threat has been dealt with, Trench has managed to get forces down to ground," Thrawn explained over the comms of the Resolute's forces. "We were prepared for this eventuality, but any help you can give would certainly not go amiss."
"I'll take some fighters with me and escort our forces to the surface," Obi-Wan replied, breaking off with a handful of ARCs as the Resolute turned towards Kalee. "Ahsoka, I'm leaving our fighters in your care."
"Understood!" she replied. "Everyone else form up on me, we need to help the forces at the platforms!"
"Roger that, Commander!"
And as the battle over Kalee raged on, the battle on the surface was just beginning...
AN: Stuff happened, this took a while, etc, but hopefully the wait was worth it with all of the action here. We finally have a proper Star Wars space battle! Yaaay!
Of course this is also but a taste of what the ground battle is going to bring to the table...
"Asajj. Much as I'd like to have her around for the opening of the battle she's probably the best candidate for the sabotage mission."
"I concur," Thrawn said. "If there is nothing else...?"
"Nothing that would keep you here," Ciaran replied as she began typing out orders on her computer. "Besides, I'm going to be down on Kalee's surface soon enough anyway..." she said, trailing off as something came to her before she began typing out a new set of orders.
"Something the matter?"
"Not at all. I just realized something - it's not that important, don't worry," she said as she idly waved her hand towards Thrawn. "Go. I'm paying you to be a strategic genius, not stare at me working at my computer all day."
"Duly noted," Thrawn said with a faint hint of amusement as he turned on his heel and left the room.
Ausez, Kalee
Ciaran idly looked out the window of her shuttle as it made its way towards one of Ausez's military landing ports, taking in the sight of the newly built city nestled among the steppes, a mixture of prefabricated buildings and Kaleesh-designed dwellings scattered throughout with more being constructed on its outskirts. As the shuttle lowered she noticed a large building towering over the rest of the city, and while it seemed to be made of metal it was designed to resemble the Shrupak temple not to far away from where she was landing.
Once the shuttle touched down she opened the door to see Grievous and a large contingent of Kaleesh standing at attention, ceremonial spears in hand. As she hopped out Greivous began to bark orders.
<"Warriors! At attention!"> he shouted in Kaleesh.
<"We obey!"> the rest of the Kaleesh around him shouted in reply, slamming the ends of their spears to the ground in unison.
<"Speak!">
<"We honor your arrival, savior!"> and as they finished shouting the Kaleesh dropped to a knee bowed their heads in respect towards Ciaran.
<"Stand, and ready yourselves for the coming battle!"> Grievous ordered, and as the Kaleesh stood up and turned to leave Ciaran looked at him with curiosity.
<"A reminder, I take it?"> she replied in Kaleesh.
<"To them. They will rally around you when the time comes,"> Grievous responded as he turned and started to walk in to Ausez, Ciaran matching pace with him. "We have done what we can to prepare aerial defenses, have set up a number of shield generators throughout the city, and have been fortifying Shrupak itself for the inevitable assault," he explained, switching back to Basic.
"Are you going to be on the Karrabac?"
"No. I have left it in the command of one of my Izvoshra, Bentilais san Sk'ar. He fully respects Thrawn and I trust my ship to his care for this battle; I on the other hand am needed here."
"I suppose-"
Ciaran stopped in place as she felt the wind start to noticeably pick up. "General, I think-"
Before she could finish her sentence sirens started going off around the city, though as far as Ciaran could tell there weren't any enemy forces here yet. "What's happening!?"
Grievous activated his comlink and spoke over it in hushed tones before deactivating it and turning back to Ciaran, his eyes lighting up slightly. "It would seem that the gods have decided to aid us in our darkest hour. A storm has been detected off of the coast and is moving into the city, and should arrive within the next few hours. If we are fortunate it will provide us cover."
"That would be nice," Ciaran muttered as she activated her own comlink. "Xruk, are the defenses ready?"
"Yes ma'am. Shield generators are primed, all turrets are ready to open fire, and the base itself is on high alert."
"Good. Don't disappoint me and try not to get too many of our own men killed because they were more afraid of you than the enemy."
"I make no promises on the latter point," Xruk flatly replied before signing off.
"Right then...now Grievous, if you don't mind I need a favor or more accurately a reminder," Ciaran said to him as he looked at her with curiosity. As she explained what she was talking about his eyes visibly lit up in excitement...
-----------
Deep Space (Near Kalee)
As a Separatist fleet hovered menacingly in the distance a small ship jumped into the system well away from them, watching over it as its crew began preparing for what could only be described as a suicide mission.
On board the Scimitar, Asajj's sabotage team nervously readied themselves, starting to hook up the engines that would blast them towards the Separatist fleet to their spacesuits, making sure that the explosives on them were both disarmed and tightly strapped to their suits, and going through final checks to make sure they would have enough oxygen to hopefully survive the trip there and back. As everyone went through their final preparations Asajj came down from the ship's bridge and looked over her team.
"This is as close as we can get without alerting Trench to our position, so prepare yourselves. Remember that our first priority is to sabotage the Lucrehulk carrying the majority of the Huk troops, followed by any targets of opportunity you can get to before the fleet jumps. Afterwards activate your beacons and you'll be picked up. Above all else do not risk detection no matter what happens, understood!?"
"Yes ma'am!"
"We launch in five minutes."
The time passed for what seemed like an eternity for Asajj's team and an instant for Asajj, and once it was time Asajj called up her pilot on the comms. "We're ready."
"Understood, Sister," Saato replied. "Good hunting and come back alive."
With that the Scimitar's landing ramp began to open up, and alarms began to blare loudly before the air rushed out, cutting the sound entirely. With a slight jump Asajj pushed herself away, then after a few seconds once she cleared the ship Asajj activated her boosters and felt herself get slammed back into her suit as the rockets flared to life, rapidly propelling her towards her target. Once she reached the highest speed she dared risk she cut them off, and only heard the sound of her breathing as she hurtled towards one of the fleet's three Lucrehulks. Checking the rudimentary sensor she had on hand she saw that the rest of the team had followed suit, though they were moving noticeably slower than she was.
For a few long moments Asajj was in near silence as the Lucrehulk grew larger and larger in her vision, and as she closed the distance she could tell that she would hopefully be landing on its port wing, close to the engine block as she intended. She waited a few seconds before briefly kicking on her corrective thrusters and slowing herself down - even so she hit the surface of the massive battleship hard and skidded across its surface before she was able to right herself and magnetize her boots to the exterior. Once she centered herself she turned back to face the rest of her team, and reached out with the Force to telekinetically guide them to her position. After a few seconds they landed, and with a nod and a few gestures Asajj began leading the team on a slow and precarious walk towards the Lucrehulk's engines while a pair split off to plant charges on the ship's communications masts.
As they reached the engines the team could feel their hum reverberate through their suits and feel the charges stored in them rattling slightly. With another few gestures they scattered among the engine block, placing and arming charges at marked locations and signaling their success with waves of their hand. As Asajj armed the final charge she felt the rumbling intensify as the Lucrehulk started to move - not quickly, but it was readjusting its position and moving closer to Trench's flagship.
Looking around Asajj nodded to herself, the directed her team to split apart, some being sent to target the spans of Recusants or supply ships within range while the rest went with her to hit the other Lucrehulk within range. After taking off and landing much more comfortably this time around the smaller team split apart and placed charges on on it like before, only this time placing fewer on the engines and targeting the shield generator instead of the comms array. While Asajj still had one charge on hand after she finished placing her set, she looked around and used a few gestures to confirm that everyone else had indeed used up all of their charges. With that Asajj signaled for them to leave the area and they began jumping off and boosting into deep space one by one-
As Asajj prepared to jump herself she felt the Lucrehulk beneath her lurch forwards as it began to move, and as she looked around she could see the rest of the fleet come to life and begin to accelerate. She quickly debated jumping off anyway but came to a different conclusion after an instant of thought, and she moved as fast as she could to one of the ship's exterior hatches, prying it open with the Force and closing it behind her just as the ship launched into hyperspace with the rest of the fleet...
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Kalee Orbit
As his fleet came out of hyperspace and initial scans of the Kalee system came in, Trench smirked at the sight. All that was in orbit was a handful of Golan 1 platforms, scattered corvettes, and most prominently the Kaleesh "flagship" Karrabac. Reducing it to smithereens would be a great blow to the Kaleesh before he moved in to burn the rest of their world.
"Incoming transmission," his tactical droid reported as the holoimage of a massive Kaleesh appeared in front of him.
"I am Bentilais san Sk'ar, acting captain of the Karrabac. You have five minutes to leave our space - I suggest you leave before I tear you apart."
Trench laughed at Sk'ar's declaration. "You seem to have no grasp of reality, Sk'ar. My fleet massively outnumbers your pathetic forces, and it will only take me five minutes to destroy you all before I turn your homeworld to ash."
Sk'ar gave off a feral grin. "Is that so?"
Before Trench could retort he saw explosions beginning to blossom across his fleet, destroying many of his Recusants and supply ships and causing one of his Lucrehulks to begin to list as its engines burned. Growling with rage he whirled on his tactical droid.
"Alert. Lucrehulk carrying most of our Huk auxiliaries is not present on battlefield. Presumed sabotage has occurred in transit."
Trench clenched his fists. "Send out the order to-"
"Incoming vessel from the rear," his tactical droid reported as Sk'ar's holoimage faded and was replaced with a ship that Trench didn't recognize; while it resembled a Star Destroyer he hadn't seen the four globes at its prow before. His thoughts were cut off as the holoimage faded to accommodate another incoming transmission...
"This is Steela Gerrera, acting captain of the Tarkin's Folly. I am giving you a chance to leave this space without any further violence."
Trench snarled at her. "Even with your sabotage, I will never relent! Kalee will burn!"
"Figured you would say that...but I had to at least give you the option of walking away. Now this is self-defense."
"Alert," Trench's tactical droid reported. "Enemy vessel has activated gravity well generators."
"It is of no-"
"Alert. Multiple vessels coming out of hyperspace."
Trench's eyes widened as an entire fleet jumped in at an almost perfect formation around the Tarkin's Folly, and he didn't have to wait for long before he saw the unmistakable sight of the Oracle jump into view and take up the front of the fleet. As he focused back on the forces around Kalee he realized that they had formed up far more rapidly than they should have given that this was supposed to be a surprise attack...
"This changes nothing!" Trench declared before opening a channel to his forces. "Form a screen at the rear to keep their reinforcements at bay, the rest of you are to full burn towards Kalee!"
As Trench's fleet began to shift into combat formation the Oracle's fleet began to press forward, and within seconds fighters on both sides had launched. Dozens upon dozens of Headhunters and Y-Wings faced off against what seemed like an equally massive force of Vulture droids and Hyena Bombers.
Another few seconds passed and ships began exchanging fire, with the Oracle firing at any small vessel unfortunate enough to get too close to its turbolaser batteries and receiving the brunt of the fire from Trench's forces. However the Oracle shrugged off the attacks and continued to relentlessly charge forwards as dogfighting erupted around it and the rest of the ships following closely behind it.
Meanwhile on the damaged Lucrehulk, Asajj had been making her way through the ship's ventilation systems, using the chaos of the sabotage and the battle around the ship to get closer to its bridge. As she reached the end of the shaft closest to it she pulled back as she saw a group of B1s rush by before she ignited one of her lightsabers and quickly cut through the grate in front of her. Looking into the distance she could see that the bridge's door remained shut - but that was what her final charge was now for. She rushed over to it, planted the charge, set it for a ten-second timer, darted behind a wall-
She didn't even wait for the smoke to clear as she ignited her lightsabers, charged into the bridge and began slicing apart anything that moved, panicked blaster fire ringing out around her as she tore through the surprised organic crew and the relatively light droid presence. Within a few seconds she had cleared out the bridge, and quickly used one of the ship's consoles to call up Thrawn.
"Ventress, I'm surprised-"
"No time. I'm setting up a connection to the Oracle and slaving as many systems as I can to it, then I'm going to set a self-destruct sequence that will go off in five minutes before I escape in a pod. Use that time well."
"Understood."
As Asajj finished her work she sliced apart the console in front of her, then let loose a shockwave of Force energy to damage the electronics in the rest of the room. With that accomplished she looked out to see the ship's guns firing on its allies, destroying some that clearly weren't expecting fire to come from the subverted Lucrehulk. Her work done, Asajj began to sprint towards the nearest escape pod, and it wasn't long before she found herself under fire from droid security forces trying to stop her. She continued to run while occasionally blocking more accurate shots with her lightsabers, eventually managing to reach her destination and slamming into the back of the pod. Quickly punching out a course that would hopefully keep her away from enemy fire, she launched her pod into the chaos of the battle over Kalee, only for a pair of Vulture droids to home in on her pod - though before they could get shots off they were quickly blasted away, and as Asajj looked out she saw the Slave I rocket by, opening fire on more targets in range.
Inside the Firespray's cockpit a part of Jango couldn't help but wonder how things had gotten so messy in recent days as he blasted a pair of Hyena bombers trying to target an advancing corvette. This type of battle wasn't exactly his usual scene, but here he was in a full-scale brawl over Kalee. Shaking off the thoughts he looked at his ships sensors and noticed that a Providence had broken away from Trench's advancing forces and was beginning to turn towards a group of corvettes that would get ripped to shreds by the massive ship. Thinking fast, he opened up a channel to anyone he could reach within range.
"Slave I requesting support to help deal with the Providence coming about, anyone alive who can give me a hand?"
The comms went dead for a few seconds before he got a reply.
"Nym here. I've got a pack of Revenants that wanna blow something up," and as Jango looked around he saw a flight of irregular fighters and converted personal ships forming up around him led by what could only be the Havoc - a fighter Jango recognized from one of his past contracts.
"Alright, listen up. I need you to split your men into two groups; one that's going to come in with me on its port side, and one on its aft. Both teams are going to make sure that the hangar shields are down while I make my run to kill that ship."
"You think you can kill a Providence in one run? Now this I gotta see. Form up and get ready to help kill that ship, Revenants!"
With that the group surged forwards into an incoming fighter screen, though before any shots could be exchanged the Havoc fired off a volley of missiles that blasted away the majority of them, and the rest of the flight wasted no time in blasting their way through before making their way to Jango's position. As planned the Revenant forces broke off from Jango and charged at the Providence, which began firing at the incoming fighter squadron. While a couple of ships were hit by the turbolaser fire the rest broke through and destroyed the field emitters for the hangar.
As Jango diverted as much of his power to his engines as he could and boosted towards the hangar bay he could see the blast doors beginning to shut - but Jango could tell they wouldn't shut fast enough, and as he got closer he pressed a button on his console, arming one of the seismic charges stored on the Slave I. His timing would have to be precise enough for this to work, and Jango held his finger on the release switch as he made it into the hangar bay-
Just before he exited he pushed the switch, and the charge ejected itself and slammed to the ground as the Slave I managed to make it out of the hangar. It beeped for a few seconds before it triggered-
And for a brief instant everything went silent as energy gathered at the charge's center. Then-
BWOOOOOOOOOOOM
The shockwave let off by the charge tore through the interior of the Providence, ripping through bulkheads and annihilating anything it touched. As it hit turbolaser batteries and generators it would cause them to go up in a chain reaction, adding to the destruction. From the outside the shockwave ripped apart the hangar's blast doors and launched out from it in a wave before explosions rippled across the ship, its lights flickering before dying out entirely, and a few seconds later the now hulked ship began to list without any power to keep it flying.
"Hahaha! Now that's what I like to see!" Nym crowed over the comms as Jango threw himself back into the battle.
"Glad you liked it, because I don't think Trench is going to let that trick work again," Jango replied as he noticed the Havoc boost ahead of him towards a nearby supply ship.
"Well unlike you I don't need any tricks to tear these ships apart!" Nym shouted over the comms as Jango saw the Havoc launched visibly unstable plasma bombs towards its prey, and as they impacted the supply ship's central span it went up in a massive explosion that nearly tore the ship in half - and a pair of cruise missiles from the Havoc finished the job, sending the two sections sailing apart.
"Impressive," Jango coolly replied as he threw himself back into the fight, chasing down a pair of Vultures that were hounding a friendly Y-Wing. As he shot down the twp droid fighters he felt the shockwaves of a massive explosion buffet his ship, and his sensors confirmed that the Lucrehulk Asajj had infiltrated had finally self-destructed. The battle seemed to be going well - though as he checked his sensors again two worrying details made themselves apparent:
First, Trench's forces had arrived at the Karrabac and Golan platform's position, and while they were doing their best to hold out it was clear that they were going to get overwhelmed unless the Oracle could break through and provide fire support.
Second, a large wing of Hyena bombers had managed to break through and were on course to hit the Folly, and it didn't seem like there was anything that could stop them before they could get at least one volley off.
On the bridge of the Folly, Steela took notice of the incoming bombers and glanced at one of her officers. "Can we invert our gravity well projectors somehow? Have them push the missiles as they come towards us?"
He looked over his console. "I think that could work, but it'd still leave us pinned in place."
"Acceptable, do it!"
Getting a nod Steela looked out to see that the Hyenas had fired a torpedo volley at her ship, and she clenched her teeth as they came closer, closer...
"Brace for-" Steela started to say before she saw the missiles suddenly divert their course and fly off into empty space before detonating harmlessly. As she looked over the space in front of her she saw the Hyenas zoom past her ship before a flight of Headhunters quickly followed them and began shooting them down.
"Reset the projectors," Steela ordered as she looked over the rest of the battlefield and saw that the Oracle had managed to push deep into Trench's lines, though it was currently being held up in an engagement with a rival Lucrehulk.
On board the Oracle's bridge Thrawn calmly gave out orders as he looked over the defensive lines. As he predicted, Trench had already managed to push some ships through and was beginning to deploy forces to the ground, though he was more concerned about the Karrabac facing off with Trench's flagship - an engagement that did not favor the cruiser in the slightest. Looking over his tactical map, Thrawn sent out an order: "Any fighters capable of responding, we require assistance in eliminating the enemy Lucrehulk pinning us down."
"This is Phantom Leader, I don't know about everyone else but my flight's going up against too many Vultures to give you assistance."
"Understood, however-"
"Admiral! Vessel incoming from hyperspace!"
"Is it the Malevolence!?"
"No sir, it's...a Venator!?"
Suddenly the ship in question came out of hyperspace into the midst of the battle and Thrawn's tactical display lit up, displaying the IFF of the Resolute.
"This is Admiral Yularen of the Republic Navy responding to your distress signals. While we are only one ship we will do what we can to support you and stop this brazen assault," the ship broadcasted over an open transmission before Thrawn was notified of an incoming transmission to the Oracle specifically.
"Before you ask, you should thank Commander Tano for our arrival," Yularen explained to Thrawn. "She managed to predict that Trench would strike here specifically, and it's good to see that she was correct."
"Indeed," Thrawn replied with a slight smirk before he refocused. "Send your fighters to help us deal with this Lucrehulk so that we can catch up to Trench."
"Understood." With that the Resolute opened up and began launching swarms of ARC fighters lead by a pair of red-and-white Eta-2 interceptors, all of which began converging on their target.
In the cockpit of her Eta Ahsoka tightly gripped the control sticks as she shot down any fighter that dared to get too close to her fighter squadron. As they closed to firing range on the Lucrehulk she targeted one of the ship's turbolaser batteries and set it in her sights.
"Shadow Squadron, focus fire on their shield generators, then once those are down hit the core with everything you have!" Obi-Wan ordered over the comms, and with that Ahsoka opened fire and destroyed the battery pointed at her before boosting forwards, drawing the fire of the ship's turrets as the ARCs behind her began launching torpedoes at its shield generator, and it didn't take long before an explosion ruptured the hull, destroying the critical component. With its shields down the Oracle began to maul its opponent, blasting apart turrets and ripping holes in the hull as the rest of the ARCs sent volleys of torpedoes into the ship's core. After a few moments of pummeling the ship finally began to break apart, and with its path clear the Oracle began to move forwards, chasing after Trench's flagship.
"Now that the immediate threat has been dealt with, Trench has managed to get forces down to ground," Thrawn explained over the comms of the Resolute's forces. "We were prepared for this eventuality, but any help you can give would certainly not go amiss."
"I'll take some fighters with me and escort our forces to the surface," Obi-Wan replied, breaking off with a handful of ARCs as the Resolute turned towards Kalee. "Ahsoka, I'm leaving our fighters in your care."
"Understood!" she replied. "Everyone else form up on me, we need to help the forces at the platforms!"
"Roger that, Commander!"
And as the battle over Kalee raged on, the battle on the surface was just beginning...
AN: Stuff happened, this took a while, etc, but hopefully the wait was worth it with all of the action here. We finally have a proper Star Wars space battle! Yaaay!
Of course this is also but a taste of what the ground battle is going to bring to the table...
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- Location
- Florida
Really feels like a lot of things are coming together, and it feels great. But it also doesn't feel like a complete curbstomp if that makes any sense. It just puts me further on the edge of my seat while filled with excitement.
- Location
- alphen aan den rijn
you mean having a fool lead an army into a trap any having most of his army killed and then maybe being killed by said army so the rest of them can live?
Jack_Trade
Chasing the Green Fairy
- Location
- Scotland
I feel slightly disappointed in Trench, thought he would have broken off as soon as he realized that he walked into a trap. Must be quite confident or have an ace up one of his sleeves.
- Location
- United States, CA
I feel like Jango was just showing off with that charge there.
We all heard the same noise didn't we?
We all heard the same noise didn't we?
- Location
- Florida
I always loved those energy bombs from Episode II. Loved the sound and visual effect.
gatewaewanderer
Wandering Fool
- Location
- East Coast, USA
The main danger imo is Trench possibly being bait / a smokescreen for whatever Palpatine's real move is, more than likely an assault somewhere away from where Ciaran is now. An attack on one of her neutral faction's planets maybe?
Also the Malevolence isnt here yet.