Breaking the Unions (ACA Invasion of Rebel Geonosis)

[Darth Osano]

Objective: B
Location: Geonosis landing area
Allies: Bourgeois
Enemies: Proletariat

[member="Raziel"] | [member="Prime"] | [member="Besh Prime"] | [member="Hion the Herglic"] | [member="Triam Akovin"] | [member="Patricia Susan Garter"]

An artillery shell exploded in front of TD-18's convoy. It was then and only then that he realized he was in for a bad time.

"Cease advance. Take cover."

The convoy, predictably, scattered. TD-18 had not been afforded enough equipment to be willing to lose any of it. Evidently whatever spotteres the Rebellion had weren't very good, as they had completely missed him. They would likely continue to do so. Regardless of their abysmal aim considering the sheer amount of distance between the canyon and Garter's position (most shells would probably fall short of the canyon), TD-18 was unwilling to quicken his advance. Something needed to either re-prioritize that artillery's targeting solution or disable it before TD-18 could get where he was going. Losing any fraction of his force would make his movements ineffectual.

The tactical droid got back on his commlink. "This is TD-18 reporting in. Cannot advance due to artillery fire. Requesting assistance."

A rebel drone fell from the sky, and TD-18 barely had time to analyze it before it was destroyed by another ill-aimed artillery shell. What happened when ill-disciplined, untrained rebels teamed up with ill-disciplined, untrained criminals? This sort of abysmal behavior, clearly. TD-18 would enjoy dumping them into mass graves.

 

[Raziel]

Objective: B
Location: heading to front line
Enemies: [member="Khloe Sparrow"]
Raziel mounted the STAP, getting his feel for its balance. "Keep me informed of the situation," he said grimly. In the distance he could see the Hunter-killers launch several salvos of ground to air missiles.

"A rebel counter attack is threatening to break through our main advance," an officer said in his ear. "C Company is being pinned by artillery."

"Give me the coordinates," Raziel replied simply, gunning the STAP into gear and shooting away, leaving a faint trail of swirling dust in his wake. "Tell [member="TD-18"] that the canyon gets deeper further up, reducing the risk. We've sent Hunter-killers to engage their artillery. We need that Force to crack their flank. Defer control of any Reserve units they need to fulfill their mission."

His augmented reality HUD immediately started to lay out a route through him, taking out of sight routes as much as possible. All armour systems reported functional. He was using a command terminal, a Templar shield, a bothan cloak and a mine dispenser.

The assassin reached the front lines shortly, pausing to assess the situation. His command terminal brought up a small holo-display of nearby units, and he requisitioned a nearby vehicle for aid.

Raziel allowed his senses to stretch out through the Force, taking in his surroundings, feeling every eddie. The rebels were full of emotion, all anger and single-mindedness, instead of training. Closing his eyes he followed the tendrils of emotional connection back. Manipulating their minds, all twenty at once, he started to push fear in from the recesses of their minds. They were new to the field after all, why risk one's life fighting a real military on a dusty rock anyway...

Sparrow. Raziel sensed that mental rallying point common to this group of rebels. He had a target.




An anarchist lifted one leg and placed it down on the chest of a broken droid triumphantly, raising a red flag in victory. He heard the high pitched whine too late. Saw the man in black and heard the crackling buzz. He watched his dismembered arm, still clutching the red flag fall to the dust.

Raziel shot by on his STAP, deactivating the saber blade. His eyes narrowed as he saw his target, racing around the rebel lines on a speeder bike. Squeezing the triggers he fired a few warning blasts and gave chase.


OOC/ Bike fight! BIKE FIIIGHT!

 

[Prime]

Objective: Bravo
Location: Foundry
Enemies: Rebel Runtimes
Allies: ACA Runtimes

Prime was continuing the fight. [member="Besh Prime"] was making its move towards the Foundry gate and [member="TD-18"] was being pinned down in the valley. Prime was calculating the issues and dividing up the team. Moving in the trenches, the three-meter tall unit accessed twelve units and over-wrote their programming. They were going for the artillery. Besh Prime was a capable unit, even if its programming was not as wild as its own. Ordering the remaining sixty three units to keep up the pressure, take the damage they could and focus on destroy the E-Webs, splitting the team into three equal twenty-one unit pieces, two would focus on an E-Web location at a time and the third would provide cover and do its best to scatter the ion cannon using Rebels.

Of course, programming was superior to organics, which were craven cur.

Contacting Easy Company, Prime began to speak. “Easy Company. Location of Artillery is required. Transmit.” No please, not thank you. Hopefully the sniper that was hired, the one known as [member="Triam Akovin"] worked with machines well. Prime was going to destroy the artillery. Perhaps. Program on expected response was still running. Droids were falling to the artillery strikes. Prime was cold. Prime was made of metals. Prime did not care. Prime didn't comprehend caring. If the droid programs were too slow to react to artillery fire, it was faulty programming and they did not belong in the consensus.

[member="Raziel"], or whoever was officer of the watch at the main HQ would be receiving request for air strikes and to drop in Barons on [member="Besh Prime"]’s position.

The enemy runtime known as [member="Patricia Susan Garter"] was starting to be calculated as an anomaly and needed to be disrupted. Standing up from the trench, still in the smoke, Prime switched to heat vision and targeted several Rebel soldiers. The droid began firing at the units in the hopes of beginning to even the odds.

And maybe make some dead, so it could make a vest of their body parts.

7 Clankers fall to E-Web
5 fall to Ion cannons
6 more fall to artillery strikes as program is adapting to strikes.

Count: 75 down to 57

 

[Thane Drexel]

Location: Solo Carrier
Obj A
Allies: [member="Wan Min Brightsky"] [member="Krasnaya Xue"]
Enemies: [member="Ayden Cater"] [member="Irys Arist'lar"]

Assuming Control of Small Craft - Approved by FleetComm
60 X-Wings
60 Matchbox Bombers
84 Corvus Interceptors
24 Arcadia Fighters
12 Nevermore
12 Gunships

Thane looked over the scene. The admiral had ordered the launching of EMP missiles into the fighter screen. He looked at what the Rebels had in the screen currently and ordered the pull back of all X-wings and gunships. The Corvus and Arcadias would need to last a moment longer until the EMP's hit the screen.

At that time, Thane ordered all Matchbox to launch. On an low arching trajectory towards [member="Irys Arist'lar"] using the EMP as a distraction. Some of the EMPs had also been fired into the enemy fleet. Hopefully that would cause them to reel back or split in response. It would single the enemy vessels out and allow for the Matchbox to make a decent approach with limited enemy fire. Then he ordered the Nevermore to launch towards [member="Ayden Cater"]'s Captial ship. Planning the trajectory to come from up above. The stealth capabilities of the Nevermore should allow them to get close enough that the enemy wouldn't see them until they were upon them. Plus they were faster than any Bomber in play at the moment.

"Once the EMP has struck, send the X-Wings and Gunships back into the screen on mop up and move the Corvus and Arcadia in on the EMP'd vessels. I want those down ships turned to slag ASAP."

The drunk captain then told the longe rane turrets to fire on Ayden's ship.


Actions:
X-wings and Gunships pull back for the EMP strike
Launching all Bombers
Matchbox to Irys Captial ships
Nevermore to Ayden capital ships
Sending Crovus and Arcadia at enemy EMP'd ships
Firing Long range canons at Ayden

 

[H3xle]

Objective: Besh
Location: Foundry
Allies: ACA, [member="prime"], [member="raziel"]
Enemies: Rebels


Nine more Clanker droids went down between the fire of rebel forces under [member="Patricia Susan Garter"] and the oncoming onslaught of [member="preliat mantis"]. Besh and his eleven remaining Super Clankers went into cover as the artillery pieces cut them off from the Clanker droids and the trenches. Remaining in cover, Besh accessed the video feeds of the thirty-nine Clankers still in the trenches. He saw that they were outnumbered and outgunned, but the rebel forces were ragtag and ill disciplined. At a rough count it was taking the combined fire from six rebels to take down one of the droids, pitiful discipline. Besh had the droids in the trenches, down to thirty-three due to continued casualties, arm half of their thermal detonators and drop them in the trenches as they climbed the walls of the trench. When they reached the top of the trench they armed the rest of their thermal detonators and tossed them down into the next line of trenches as well. At this point the thirty-three droids were down to twenty-eight from climbing up the walls and being atop the trenches in open view of gun emplacements that hadn't been taken out yet. As those emplacements would be further away, their fire wasn't as accurate as they would be up close. Another two droids fell to that fire before they dropped to prone and returned fire, also at extreme range.

During this, Besh sent orders to his reserve force of thirty-two clanker droids to retrieve their energy shields from the half power MTAT and move forward. With the curtain of artillery fire between the reserve troops and the rebel forces, they were able to quickly reach Besh's position. Those thirty-two, along with Besh and the Super Clankers, waited for their chance to join the fray in the trenches. He also sent a request to ACA command for armor backup, if the tanks are sent to support him he would remand the half power MTAT into their custody to add to their firepower.

(Droid Count: Clankers: 26(Trenches)/32(With Besh), Super Clankers: 11)
(Writer Post Count: 10)

 

[Alena Reckar]

Location: Rebel Front Lines
Objective: B
Allies: Rebel alliance. Patricia Susan Garter
Enemies: Hion the Herglic Prime Raziel Besh Prime

Alena was terrified, and without any clue how the battle was going, be it for good or ill. Her stomach felt twisted and her heart was pounding, though they'd managed to stay out of much direct contact for the most part. As the Red Dress doled out her orders, Alena felt her stomach harden, and her terror only deepened. She looked to Agent Sparrow and found herself wishing she'd had a repulsor-bike for herself to weave through enemy fire upon the back of. Alena dropped the rifle at her side and reached for the grenade launcher, flipping the safety to "Fire." She turned off the targeting laser in favor for the optic it sported, knowing the laser sight could give away her position. She watched the other Rebel soldiers funnel out of the foundry and into the trenches, dust and smoke swirling about the battlefield in some sort of elaborate and endless dance of death.
Alena wanted to run, she did. She wanted to follow her comrades into the fight, she wanted to run into combat at their sides, supporting them, fighting with them, dying with them. Dying...I'm not ready for that. Alena thought, her feet frozen to the metal of the foundry floor. As the rest of the rebels rushed out and into the trenches, Alena shrank back, disappearing fearfully into the interior of the complex. What are you doing!? Her father screamed from the eddies and pools of her memory. She could hear his voice, feel his breath on her neck, smell the liquor seeping from his pores and mouth and nose with every word. She could feel his hands on her, squeezing, tearing, punching, slapping, pulling.
Alena realised she was sitting on the floor, facing the outer wall of the foundry. Her breathing was desperate and ragged and her heart was racing. I'm having a panic attack. She realised as her body began shaking, the grenade launcher in her lap rattling against her thighs. Alena squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip so hard it bled. There's no saving you, you little queen. You're going to die, and good kriffing riddance too. If only you'd went when your mother left, or hell, I ought to have killed you myself. Maybe I'll kill you now.
Alena screamed as an explosion rocked the wall some twenty meters in front of her. Chunks of rock and mortar and dust flew all around her, peppering the wall behind her like a shotgun blast. She felt specs of rock cut her soft, bluish skin, and she covered her face with her hands as she screamed in terror. When the dust began to settle, Alena saw droids coming in through the hole in the wall they'd made by blowing out the doors. Her screaming stopped immediately and Alena's hands lifted the grenade launcher in her lap. She immediately took aim, just the way she'd been trained, and fired. THWUMP, THWUMP, THWUMP.
The ion grenades blew through the air between Alena and the invading droids, striking the floor at their feet and exploded brilliantly. Electrified energy crackled through the air and branched out everywhere, infecting the area with a droid-deadly radius of destructive power. Alena, eyes wide open and frozen for the moment in shock at herself, pushed herself desperately to her feet and ran toward the front of the foundry, ducking between pieces of machinery, through office rooms and outside the building to the front lines. As she ran, hearing the remaining droids behind her, Alena reached out to Agent Sparrow and the Red Dress via her wristcomp. ::Red Dress, [member=Khloe Sparrow]!:: Ali shouted into the commlink. ::We've got droids inside the foundry, they broke in through the side walls!::

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Objective: B
Location: Geonosis Landing Area
Allies: Aela Talith, [member="TD-18"]
Enemy: Whoever Gets In The Way

Soliael and Aela walked through the desert, they moved quickly, dashing from rock to rock.

As they came closer and closer to the Foundry in the distance artillery fire began to rain down upon them. Massive shells seemingly fired at random, striking odd positions and landing with loud thuds and explosions. Aela screamed, Soliael covered her from rock and debris.

It was in this way that they moved.

The force pushed them both, though at times Soliael grasped his daughter and carried her. She was small enough yet to move easily, and when an artillery shell was baring down upon you it didn't take for a little girl to be trying to dodge it herself. Though Aela was fast, she was not yet that fast.

It was in this way, dodging seemingly random artillery fire that Soliael happened upon a pack of droids hiding in a canyon.

“Aela.” Soliael said touching his finger to his lips. The little girl nodded, understanding. She ducked down, following on the heels of her father as he circled around and came up behind the large pack of droids. It was within twenty meters of them that the first lot turned to face him. They were concealed behind rocks. Soliael sighed, raising his hands, his fingers snapped, and suddenly the droids stood still.

“You.” he motioned towards one of the droids as a nearby artillery shell exploded. “Retrieve your master.”

Whoever was leading this company of droids, Soliael would need to speak with them. The droid that he had commanded stared at the former Sith Lord for a moment, then began to move. Aela came up behind Soliael, standing half hidden.

 

[Darth Osano]

Objective: B
Location: Geonosis landing area
Allies: Bourgeois [[member="Soliael Talith"]]
Enemies: Proletariat

Dodging the erratic artillery blasts, the droid eventually led Soliael to the command MTAT. As mentioned before, the convoy had broken up and scattered to avoid the worst of the blasting. The MTAT, like the other vehicle and artillery piece present (the fact that those were not plural, but singular, angered TD-18 greatly), were as close to the canyon walls as they could be. TD-18 happened to glance out the window and see Soliael approaching. This was strange on its own, but what alarmed TD-18 was that he was being led over by one of the droids supposedly under his command. To make matters worse, the human was holding a smaller infant human. Had the droid a traditional face, it would have scowled. This was no place for small humans.

Had he the time, he should have continued on deeper into the canyon. But the artillery hadn't let up yet. The tactical droid opened the hatch on the MTAT and popped half of himself out of the roof, scanning over Soliael. Probably one of those magicians. No one else would be so ballsy as to run through artillery fire while carrying their spawn.

"Identify yourself." TD-18 demanded.

 

[Ayden Cater]

Objective: A
Location: Orbit over Geonosis
Allies: ACA, [member="Irys Arist'lar"]
Enemies: Rebels, [member="Krasnaya Xue"], @Wan Min Brightsky, [member="Thane Drexel"]

It was a creeping feeling that would start to spread. An innocuous thing, just the thought that something felt off. It was a fight, a battle to the death. Nerves were perfectly understandable, expected even. The fear of dying was common. No sane sentient being yearned for death. Self-preservation was the most basic attribute common to all life, a force that was near impossible to suppress once triggered. Those nerves, that quiet fear that rested within all beings, then began to grow. Fear was like a wildfire; it spread rampantly and unpredictably. No scream need utterance, no words of doubt be spoken for the scent of fear to carry through a group.

After all, why shouldn't they fear? The enemy now had at least as much fire power as found within the Rebel fleet. And if the other ships had arrived after the first, who could say if more weren't coming? How many would arrive next? Six? Twenty? A hundred? Paranoia began to blossom in those hearts filled with fear. How could this happen? Who let it be known that the Rebels were on Geonosis? Was there a traitor in their midst? Who could it be? Did the enemy know of their plans?

There, on the darkened bridge of his ship, Ayden smiled wickedly as he reached out with his hands and with his mind and laid heavy the full force of his will. Few alive could contend with his mastery of Battle Meditation. It was a skill he had honed through years of effort, dozens of battles. He could still remember Roche, when his mind had rocked wildly in the presence of titans. Spencer Jacobs and Je'gan Olra'en... He doubted that even now, after his continued training and efforts, could he match their strength and skill unaided. Of course... That smile turned into a crooked grin as he let his malevolence wash over the Rebel fleet.

Of course they weren't in the system to oppose him.

The Corellian Master let his touch spread across the Rebel fleet like a disease. He normally only used the art to bolster his own forces, to strengthen their resolve and ward off attempts by the enemy to hinder them. But he was in a mood. The breaking of Corellia had done something to him, broken something deep inside. It was hate, a hatred every bit as deep and dark as the hate he held for the men who had killed his daughter, for the Jedi who stood by and watched as his wife died in his arms. Now, this was his release. For the offense of opposing him, Ayden unleashed the cruelty and anger that had festered in him for so long. None within his group felt that dark touch, nor did any within the Corporate fleet. Even those on the planet were spared. Each and every sentient being within the Rebel was seen within his mind's eye and he spoke fear and paranoia into their hearts.

At the same time, the Ghost battle group continued their engagement. Dropships came streaming out of the ships and joined the fighters in a defensive screen. The GCS Nine Hells made no move to try and move to directly engage the approaching Rebel ships (Skywalker and Mothma). It did fire thrusters to better orient itself to fire as the two ships passed, rolling onto one side to give its weapons the best firing angle. The quad ion cannons rotated and opened fire on the two approaching ships evenly (Skywalker and Mothma) while it kept the heavy turbolasers volleying and trading blows with the distant Rebel ship (Solo). Several missile pods unfurled their bay doors, reveal rows of concussion missiles that streaked out to kiss the underbelly of the approaching Rebel ships (Skywalker and Mothma). The point defense turrets tracked the incoming salvos and picked out priority targets to fire on; namely, the approaching magnapulse warhead and heavy warheads. Its strong energy signature made it stick out against the conventional heavy warheads and inert hypervelocity shells, allowing the Antilles class to pluck it out of the air.

While the Antilles-class made did not directly engage the targets, the same could not be said for the GCS Say My Name. The heavy cruiser fired thrusters and lowered its aft section while raising its bow. This gave it the perfect angle to fire into the approaching Rebel Star Destroyer (Skywalker). While its main cannons had not yet recharged, the smaller mini-Javelins were primed and volleyed upward point-blank just after it opened fire with its own ion cannon turrets. While ion cannons were well-known to disable craft when used en masse, that was not their only benefit. They also greatly weakened and disrupted shields. This same maneuver was mirrored in reverse with the GCS Eminent Domain, which targeted the second approaching Rebel ship (Mothma) with a similar barrage. Energy torpedoes lanced out against the approaching ships along with batteries of octuple turbolasers and more cluster missiles.

There was another reason the Ghost battle group had not yet taken the initiative to take the fight to the enemy. The bombers and gunships around the Antilles had stayed put within the safety of the ship's anti-starfighter screens, rather than run the risk of slashing out at the enemy in the open. Now that the enemy had come to them, they merrily streaked upwards and joined in the frenzy of tearing into the enemy (Skywalker). The mass of dropships, bellies devoid of any passengers, streaked downward to engage the other ship (Mothma).

Any approaching enemy fighters would be pounded with flak cannon and quad laser fire. Any that made it through would be set up by squadrons of Guardians that wasted no time in firing concussion missiles. A single squadron of Paladins remained at the aft end of the GCS Nine Hells, not engaging any targets. By chance or not, the single bomber squadron from above was detected and had two squadrons of interceptors engage them on approach.

Shields flared under the assault of turbolasers. Brilliant explosions of energy washed upward as the enemy's hypervelocity rounds struck the Ghost battle group. On the bridge of the Nine Hells, the senior officers shuddered as the ship's intertial dampers struggled to compensate for the brief and violent shocks of enemy fire. One round broke through the shields as several blasts of long range ion fire struck nearby. The ship's reorienting made it a glancing blow, but it was felt all the same. Bulkheads were shorn away and explosions tore into those sections that now found themselves exposed to vaccum. The crew stood fast and continued in their duties while automated bulkheads sealed the sections.

Fleet

Spoiler

1x Antilles-class Star Defender
GCS Nine Hells

2x Noble-class Star Defenders
GCS Say My Name
GCS Eminent Domain

1x ???

Total Length: < 4,000 meters

• Thirty-Six OS-G1 Guardians
• Twelve OS-G3 Paladins
• Twenty-Four OS-I1 Rangers
• Five OS-B1 Avengers
• Twelve Inimica-class Gunships
• Forty-Eight M47 Illria-class Dropships

 

[Armand Temi]

Location: Rebel Front Lines
Objective: B
Allies: Rebel alliance, [member="Patricia Susan Garter"]
Enemies: Directly engaging [member="Raziel"]

Khloe was taking on too much fire again so she rode away from the battle and up a side street. Thinking she was in the clear, she slowed for a couple of seconds but BAM, was immediately hit in the back by a blaster bolt. She was far away enough and her armor tough enough that it didn't cause any serious damage but it almost knocked her straight off of the bike. For a split second she turned around to see her enemy - an ACA officer riding a STAP. Her ion blaster would do nothing with the organic matter riding the machine but it would disable the STAP. With adrenaline flowing through her veins she sped off, taking her swoop bike to its maximum speed. Darting up and down side streets what she wanted to do was to find was a way to circle back on her adversary and disable the STAP. But even if she did that and he fell off, the damage would be minimal and he could still knock her off her own bike or worse shoot her dead.

"Agent Sparrow to the anarchists. I'm heading back to the battlefield with target immediately behind on a STAP. Five of you go back to the foundry, arm yourself with E-webs and meet me near the front lines in five minutes." She hoped she could keep him off of her back for a little bit longer and buy some time so that once they both zipped near the front-lines the STAP and rider would be picked off by the Rebel anarchists.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Objective: B
Location: Geonosis Landing Area
Allies: Aela Talith, [member="TD-18"]
Enemy: Whoever Gets In The Way

The command droid popped out of hits hatch, Soliael looked at it for a single moment, gauging it for what it was.

Aela at his side shifted slightly, uncomfortable. Though the little girl was the daughter of one of the most proficient Mechu-Deru users in the galaxy, she had never much liked droids. Aela much preferred the company of living creatures, Skreev, Nexu, her Chalarax. Soliael had never questioned it, the girl did after all take after Quietus more than himself. Now however it seemed relevant.

The droid spoke, and Soliael ignored it.

Instead he lifted his hand, snapping his finger again. A pressure would form for half a second, a swimming of circuits and a slight spark. The application of the force would cause a shift within the droids personality, and suddenly it would find itself much more agreeable with Soliael and his cause. “Whats the situation?”

Aela looked at her father questioningly, though said nothing.

Soliael himself knew what he was doing, what he had to do. The Foundry would contain ships, whoever this small army belonged to wanted the Foundry, that meant for now their goals were in line.

 

[Krasnaya Xue]

Objective: A for Armada
Location: Skywalker
Allies: [member="Wan Min Brightsky"], [member="Thane Drexel"], [member="BB-4001A"]
Enemies: [member="Ayden Cater"], [member="Irys Arist'lar"]

Krasnaya's melody began to catch on with the bridge crew, and some even began to sing the lyrics. Baritones droned the powerful, punctuated foundation of the anthem; tenors proclaimed the might of the unity; altos--such as Krasnaya--delivered the spirit. It was this human element that made them so much more resolute than any machine. They were unified by their hearts--something technology could never sever.

It was difficult to believe that the same could be said of their war criminal opponent. Whatever had happened to Corellia during the event had been preceded by a heinous act of utter stupidity and arrogance: the obliteration of Corellian civilization.

Spoiler

There was nothing left for the One Sith but ruins and a ghost planet.

Over the fleet comms, the sounds of liberation were broadcast, and the spirits of the Red Fleet crews were uplifted! They had always been underdogs, so fear was hardly new to them. They had been wrought into iron by courage through the tongs of fear! Where fear exists, courage abounds! The Red Fleet is the strongest, they sang!

Spoiler: Anthem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgKazTrhXmI

Boldly they rode and well!

Into the mouth of Hell the Mothma accelerated--or perhaps it was hell to the mercenary fleet. The heavy cruisers indeed opened fire and a horde of fighters were dispatched as Nine Hells rotated to bring its broadside to Mothma's top deck. But it was too little, too late. While the Rebel vessel sustained damage to its hull and saw its shields drop under fifty percent, there was not much the Protectorate vessels could do to prevent what it had come to do. With only about two kilometers separating the two enemy destroyers, Mothma's quad static ion field dischargers were activated, dispersing an ionic charge across a 6.6-kilometer radius in all three planes of space, deactivating the systems of starships within its range.

Losses for the Mothma crew would certainly not be insignificant, but it had made its pass and was now keeling about to bring its starboard facing the rear of ACA admiral's receding fleet.

Apparently physical casualties would not be the only obstacle to face the Rebels. There was a feeling of dread that enveloped the majority of the crew, something they were incapable of simply shaking off in one stir. Krasnaya herself was thrust into a brief daze of shock through a single man's sheer implausible mental processing power that allowed him to differentiate between friend or foe and invade the minds of a thousand men. Perhaps the Admiral was slipping into a dream, or perhaps this game had just become much darker. Some officers' eyes were bloodshot; wide, and focused on the stars ahead. Would they make it?

It was the moment of truth. Skywalker had come to bear, the ex-Protector sadly mistaken that he was attacking the refit Venator-class' underbelly.

Spoiler: Previously

As soon as Mothma got its seven-klick start, Skywalker rolled and began its approach well above the dorsal bow of Nine Hells.

Broadside-to-broadside combat was initiated as Skywalker came in to clean up. Any opposing fighter craft that had not already been deactivated by Mothma's electromagnetic storm would be swept up by the Shield-class medical frigates and their flak armaments, or perhaps the six squadrons of fighters that were subsequently launched from the frigates and the destroyer. Battering rounds were felt by the Skywalker crew as the accompanying cruisers stalled out to throw some miniature hypervelocity projectiles at the Rebel destroyer, smacking into the deck with a terrifying flash and tearing off layers of carbonite and riddling the hull with scorch marks--one section near the bow punched through where a turbolaser mounting had been before. But the bruised Skywalker would go on despite its wounds, as its namesake valiantly would. It was with defiance that many men were still able to carry on.

While the three hypervelocity turrets towards the fore of Skywalker had been utilized in the prior bombardment and were still being reloaded, the two emplacements to the stern had not yet seen any action in this battle whatsoever. Thus, they were quite ready and prepared in advance for this flyby. Passing Nine Hell's aft, the pair of monstrous turreted projectile cannons opened fire on Cater's flagship's engines from behind to utterly cripple its propulsion.

Fire and brimstone had been loosed onto the 'Ghosts of Corellia'. The Red Fleet had just passed judgment.

"Welcome to Hell!" Admiral Xue cried, her fist raised but quivering from the weight of the stars. The others on the command deck raised theirs in union, but the jubilation was not quite evident in their heavy tones.

The cinematic music had peaked.

Spoiler: Fleet

x1 Avenger-class Star Defender - Indefatigable
x1 Skywalker-class Star Destroyer - Skywalker
x1 Mothma-class Star Destroyer - Mothma
x1 Solo-class Carrier - Solo
x5 Dorin-class Assault Corvette
x4 CR90 Corellian Corvette
x4 CR92a Assassin-class Corvette
x3 Vinnath-class Pocket Carrier
x5 Shield-class Medical Frigate - Redemption + 4
x3 Raider-class Corvette

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

Objective B
Enemies: [member="Vulpesen"]? | [member="Khloe Sparrow"] | [member="Alena"]
Allies: [member="Prime"] | [member="TD-18"] | [member="Besh Prime"]

There was a lull in the fight after Orcus' laughter. The Herglic stood up from behind his shield, clacked his teeth, then turned and head toward the foundry, gesturing at his bodyguards as he went.

"To me."

Then he loosed another blast of air from his lungs, bellowing straight down at the ground. The rush of air kicked up a massive cloud of dust that obscured the vision of the rebels. In the confusion, Orcus and his bodyguards continued to trudge toward the foundry. The Sith Lord took out his com link.

"This is Lord Orcus, I am heading toward the foundry. Notify me if any company requires assistance."

 

[Wan Min Brightsky]

Objective: A for Armada
Location: Bridge of the IAV Indefategable
Allies: Thane Drexel, BB-4001A [member="Krasnaya Xue"]
Enemies: Ayden Cater, Irys Arist'lar

Admiral Brightsky watched in awe as the Skywalker, the Mothma and their escorts carried out the crushing attack against the mercenary fleet. The Red Fleet, her fleet, had come together. The lyrics of the Red Fleet Anthem echoed in her mind as she watched the tactical read out: Mothma's Ion Storm, Skywalker's crushing attack against the mercenary's capitol ship. For one moment, as the rear facing Hypervelocity Cannons of the Skywalker roared to life and exacted vengeance against the Nine Hells, the bridge fell silent. All movement ceased. She watched as Lieutenants, Ensigns, and enlisted alike stood, mouths agape, as their fleet-mates carried out the attack. It was devastating. She saw the helmsman stand up at the front and raise his fist.

"URAA! Uraa Comrade Admiral Xue! Ura!"

She saw the rest of them raise their fists as well and begin to chant, "Ura! Ura Comrade Admiral Xue! Ura"

At that moment, Wan Min couldn't have been more proud. Her fleet, her brainchild, her baby had done more than devastate an enemy: They had done what many would have called the impossible.

"Let's save the celebrations for after the battle everyone. We still have work to do. Helmsman, bring us about, heading Niner-One degrees, take us directly into the middle of the mercenary's formation. Comm, contact the Enterprise and have them and their formation follow us in as well. Tell Admiral Drexel to follow us in as well in a rear guard with a strong CAP over his carrier."

"We have done the impossible. That makes us mighty. Now let's finish the job!"

With that, the bridge came back to life again as ship and crew became one unit. Not wanting to be outdone by Admiral Xue, she started to silently sing an old Outer Rim song she heard on her grandfather's knee when she was a child.

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wchc0xKhJNI

"Qilai, Buyuan zuo nuli de renmin, Ba women de xuerou, zhucheng women xin de Chang Chang, Minzu dao liao zui weixian de shihou...Qilai, Qilai, Qilai!"

The March of the Volunteers, an old Yuuzhan Vong War song that her grandfather sang to her to get her to sleep when she was a child: Arise, those of you who refuse to be slaves! With our flesh let us build up a Great Wall! The people are at their most critical time, Everyone must roar defiantly. Stand up! Stand up! Stand up!

Her eyes focused ahead on the enemy fleet ahead of them as she sang. Min stole a glance to the side and saw one of her tactical officers singing along. A few others were singing too, although the song itself was not as well known. It was martial. It was defiant. For her, it was truly the embodiment of the Rebel Alliance. After the battle, she thought to herself, she'd ask Armand Temi and the Reform Senate about making it their national anthem.

The kilometers shrank down to knife range.

"Gunnery officers, give me as much as you can. I want Hypervelocity Cannons targeted on the Nine Hells, along with Heavy Warhead Launchers and Heavy Turbolasers. When we're in range, give them everything we've got. I want our priority target to be the communications tower and bridge. Keep us away from his Hypervelocity Cannons, I don't want any surprises. Bring us along the port side. Cripple the capital ship. End this."

The officers on the bridge went to work, fingers dancing over keyboards and input devices. A cacophony of sounds filled her ears as the telltale sounds of heavy fire echoed throughout the ship. Fighters, bombers, and all other assortment of ships swarmed on the tactical readout. There was no escaping it. After this, they'd move onto the ACA fleet proper. Without their allies, they were back down to manageable size. Manageable she could do.

 

[Micah tol Powl]

Objective: A - Defeat the ACA Fleet
Location: RAV-101 Redemption, Shield-class Medical Frigate
Allies: [member="Thane Drexel"], [member="Wan Min Brightsky"], [member="Krasnaya Xue"]
Enemies: [member="Ayden Cater"], [member="Irys Arist'lar"]

---

The droid watched the battle unfold, almost as though watching a galactic game of chess being played upon a widowing field of stars.

Space was a cruel and unforgiving environment for the wounded. His ambulances would be recovering more bodies than wounded from this battlefield, as the vacuum and extremes of temperature rendered life impossible beyond stable, pressurized hulls. As the afro-headed medical droid maintained vigilance on the battlefield, his first mate could be heard behind him.

"Maintain formation."

The droid's brown eyes examined the current outlay of forces. Mothma, Skywalker, and Indefatigable were engaged in the fight, spreading out from the tight battle organization as the chaos of the interplay of ships and turbolasers began to take hold.

"Skywalker's taken damage," Hobis reported from behind where the small automaton stood. "She's still in the fight, but she's listing."

Nodding, the dark skinned medical droid completed his analysis and answered with his orders. "There's an opening forming in our formation," the boy noted, gesturing to a display for the division opening in the formation. "Move us up to fill the gap, but tell the turbolaser crews to fire on command only. We'll shoot if shot at."

"Yes, sir," the former Imperial answered.

Turning his attention to the Bothan at the communications terminal, the boy peered down and said, "Signal Admiral Xue. Ambulances are standing by to assist with wounded."

There would doubtless be no shortage of work for the doctors and nurses when this spectacle of war was finished. A soldier's job was easy. Terminating life was a very simple thing. Life terminated itself if left to its own devices just fine. Keeping people alive... that was a job for which there was no respite, and even fewer rewards.

 

[Cassus Akovin]

Objective: B
Location: E Support Company - Sniper Platoon; one km from Foundry
Allies: ACA Employers, Alpha/Bravo/Charlie Company (Prime, Besh Prime, etc.)
Enemies: Rebel Targets (Location of Artillery/[member="Patricia Susan Garter"], Kloe, Vulpesen)
?!?!?!: [member="Preliat Mantis"]

She finally removed the excess of her desolated prosthetic, leaving nothing but a smooth metallic stump with some wires and such hanging out. Satisfied with her handiness, she grunted, as she got into a kneeling position, stretching out her arms in over exaggeration to drop her busted repulsor pack on the ground, freeing her of some weight on her injured back muscles. It was at this point that two droid snipers tumbled down into the ditch hastily. Had they been organic, she would have imagined them out of breathe. The droids crawled over to her like they were programmed to do, and as Triam resumed her control of her remotes, she requested a status report.

"Enemy sniper platoons have been activated." The spotter said. Triam continued the operation of her drones, trying to make sense of the carnage that a giant whale was making, whilst one of the brightly colored droids charged after some rebels and...

"Kark dammit Preliat!" Why does he have to make everything so difficult?!

"Sir?" The droid questioned her.

"Forget it. Tell the sniper platoons to hunker down and stay out of sight. I'll have their orders in a minute. In the mean time, you have something I need to borrow." She set the remotes on autopilot as she disconnected the transmitter in order to see out of her helmet. Preliat was not allowed to be on her mind right now... he wasn't the enemy, but he was a danger to her paycheck. It was probably for the best if she just stopped there and focused on her mission now. It wasn't ideal, but it was for the best.

If they both survived through this... it was time for another talk.

Still sort of groaning, she turned around to face the spotter droid. "Give me your arm." The droid willingly extended its arm to her command, and Triam took her plasma torch to it. She made sure however, only to cut through the metal, so she could get to the wires. The good thing about designing your own prosthetic, or having dissembled it enough, you know pretty innately what your wires did. Being such a technical engineer, Triam was pretty confident that she could gain some basic control over a droids arm with her prosthetic wires given enough rigging. Mostly though, she just need an arm that could hold her sniper rifle, being able to use its joints or digits was just a plus if she could manage it.

Carefully removing the arm she told the spotter droid to hold its former arm in place at her stump, so she could connect a few of the wires, before finally welding the thing in place. Once it was, she tried to command the joint to move, and it twitched with a spark. Then the fingers, and the twitched weakly, though without the sparks. Of course, she couldn't feel anything, but that wasn't the objective of this prosthetic. This was a band-aid to her performance, not a long term strategy.

"Thanks man." She patted the droid on its head with her good arm. That was when [member="Prime"], ordered the location of the artillery fire. Easy enough. She was Easy company after all. It wasn't likely her remotes could sneak past enemy lines to take a peak, but it wasn't out of the realm of possibility for her to take a peak with her rifle directly. She would need to find a higher position, either that or have one of her droid teams do it. It wasn't like they were firing at the thing, they were only being surveillance cameras.

"Roger roger." She said back at the droid, this time in a little more enthusiastic impression of a stupid droid. It wasn't difficult, with all the firing they were doing at C company. She had no idea that Raziel was already en route to destroy the artillery, but apparently so was Prime, so he need the information to plot out his route. Sure enough, it was found, and she reported back to the droid wordlessly.

Now there was the problem of the enemy snipers.

Triam probably needed to move, given her sniper friend had last saw her here (although it likely appeared that she died), and snipers had probably been watching the new team enter the ditch. This was the main problem, given that if they tried to move, it was likely a sniper team was going take a few shots at them. Of course, none of the sniper teams had much of an idea of where the enemy was, but at least the enemy had little ideas on where they were. For most of them at least. They had at least three uncompromised positions.

There was also the trouble of numbers, Triam wasn't sure what she was up against here, and that was difficult to deal with in her head.

Instead, she decided to start drawing out their fire, by firing on some targets. She commanded a sniper team (the same one from before) to fire another red sniper blast at [member="Khloe Sparrow"] as she entered her speeder bike duel with raz, and ordered another compromised team to fire at [member="Vulpesen"] as Orcus left their duel.

Hopefully, these two teams would receive some counter sniper fire, so Triam could pinpoint where abouts they were.

 

[Juwiela Melec]

Objective: B
Location: Skies above the battlefield
Allies: [member="Verd Skirata"], [member="Sannika Brynn"], [member="Braha Saca"], [member="Roth Tillian"], [member="Jake Cabur Tor"], [member="Shorwarr"], [member="Tomas Raynor"], [member="Mark Sage"]
Enemies: ACA, [member="Triam Akovin"], [member="Hion the Herglic"], [member="TD-18"], [member="Besh Prime"], [member="Raziel"], [member="Cryax Bane"]

The damage had been done, that much was obvious. But it hadn't come without a cost on their part. Just as swiftly as the Rogues had let loose their artillery they were met with retaliation that came in the form of drones on their tails and anti-aircraft guns firing on the whole of the squadron. The latter was avoided by simply pulling out of range, their work done for them on that plane. The challenge came with avoiding the former of their inorganic pursuers. But the Nevermores were built fast for a reason, something their adversaries were about to learn the hard way. "Okay, follow my lead. It's time to kick things into overdrive." It would be difficult for anyone or anything to keep a mark on them once they utilized the full speed of this craft.

"Cut your engines and activate your airfan. I'll be doing the same. We don't have to worry about their AA guns after that, but we'll still have our tagalongs. The fun with them comes later." As she spoke she flicked a few switches and adjusted the necessary mechanics, entering the coordinates for the jump that would take place shortly. Thumbing the button that would kill the engines, she activated the V/STOL system as well. This would allow those in the bombers to hover below range of the flak guns, effectively avoiding them. That was one of the major issues resolved and out of the way, at least for the moment.

Sometimes being fast wasn't enough, and she muttered a curse as her world was quite literally rocked by a brush from one of the flak guns. Even that was enough to nearly set their ships off course, but she wrested for control and kept a steady enough grip on the control yoke, gritting her teeth as she listened to rather than read the damage report. Unsurprisingly her shields were depleted, and it seemed as if one of the wings was clipped as well, though not badly enough that she couldn't keep flying at least for the duration of this battle. But it did teach her a thing or two about being wary, and definitely brought things back into perspective. "Everybody okay?"

Next came the arguably more fun part. "Punch your afterburners. Let's leave our extra friends in the dust. Loose your chaffs for good measure." The bombers might not have been the most maneuverable vessels in the galaxy, and that was certainly the truth, but they more than made up for it in speed. In the next second she followed the orders she'd given, unable to stop a triumphant grin from spreading across her face at the feeling of her stomach from pressing back into the seat. This was the element they all thrived in, strapped into the pilot's chair and fighting for everything and everyone they believed in. It was where they, Rogue Squadron, belonged.

 

[OriginsoftheJedi]

Objective 2
Location:The skies of Geonosis
Allies: Rebel Alliance
Enemies: ACA

Mark flew his Eta 2 Actis Class Light interceptor into the area above the battlefield. This was it: the time to show what he was made of.
"Sorry I'm a bit late to the party everyone." He said over his com. "This is Raptor standing by."

 

[Silas Mantis]

Objective: WE ARE SPACE NATIVE AMERICANS
Allies: Rebel Forces at Bravo and Preliat Mantis
Enemies: General Mayhem

Silas gave a nod and turned to the pale faced foe, snapped up his rifle, and opened fire. His brother had always put things simply, be it to not piss off mom, clean up that mess, kill that guy, the works. He was more than willing to turn the Mayhem individual to dust if given the chance.

Quickly he dropped another group of droids with several short bursts to the chest as he continued the steady advance towards the droid commander. Again and again the basic droids attacked him with unchanging tactics, as such basic AI were not all that capable, but Mayhem could adapt he was fairly sure. He wondered how'd she adapt to going toe-to-toe with him? Either way the ACA forces had quite a dellimma on their hands at Bravo, first they had to only fight the wolf himself, which was a challenge most certainly.

Now they had to fight the pack.

 

[Thane Drexel]

Location: Solo Carrier
Obj A
Allies: [member="Wan Min Brightsky"] [member="Krasnaya Xue"]
Enemies: [member="Ayden Cater"] [member="Irys Arist'lar"]

Assuming Control of Small Craft - Approved by FleetComm
60 X-Wings
60 Matchbox Bombers
84 Corvus Interceptors
24 Arcadia Fighters
12 Nevermore
12 Gunships

Thane felt the cold chill of fear run down his spine, as did the crew. But what is fear but a tool to be used in battle to show that you had the courage to do what it took to win. With strength of heart and mind, it was not difficult to get past the feelings that approached immeasurably difficult standards of consentration to accomplish. Whomever it was that had projected sad thoughts must've had to take their eye off the battle at hand. With that realization, Thane drumed up an idea, he thumbed the comms to all starfighters and crew members.

"It appears that we are facing an enemy who can impress upon us the feelings of doubt in our probability of success, they believe themselves superior because they have the aid of micro-organisms that can manipulate the minds eye. But I say to that, fear is but a weapon. Paranoia is but a warning. To feel fear is to be alive, to have paranoia is to be sane. Use your fear as a fire to surge through and win the day to come home. Keep hold of the paranoia, it will keep you from getting cocky and comfy. Never become complacent in battle, as soon as that happens, you're dead. Without fear, you are reckless, use the fear to think, calculate and react. If the enemy is employing the Force, it takes a weak mind to succomb to that will. We are not weak, we are Rebels, we are strong and we will win this day! Go forth, take apart these invading scum and send them home knowing they messed with the wrong Alliance today!!!!"

Then he relayed information to his comm officers to transmit to the fighters.

"All Nevermore, engage the CEC Capital ship in your trajectory, torps first, then rockets. Bring all X-wings in on the downed cruisers. Silence them forever. Gunships, mop up remaining fighters, and aid the Arcadians. Corvus, cover the Mothma. Matchbox, pull off target and move to assist SKywalker. Move the Solo into firing range of enemy fleet at 70 degrees dorsal line of enemy."

The carrier moved forwards, slowly bringing itself above the enemy fleet, and tilting its nose down proportionally to minimize the profile of the carrier from potential enemy fire.


All fighters moved in on the EMP'd cruisers and unleashed all of the canons upon the shieldless vessels. Pockets of fire would begin to sprout in the dark background. The Corvus moved in to cover the Mothma, while the Matchbox covered the Skywalker.

Arcadians moved in on Aydens, apparent, elf eyed interceptors and gunships worked on clearing out the last of the drained fighters. While the Nevermores sped in and delivered their first payloads.

"For the Alliance!!" Echoed from every pilot in the fleet. In unison, the collective strength of the Rebel Alliance, a bunch of Dogs, overpowering a pack of wolves.