The Captain of one of the Two Arquitens Cruisers, a Fett Clone named Abraham, was thrown out of his command seat as relentless fire from both the raiders of
Zachariel Steelblood
as well as the ships of
Tu'teggacha
fired on the Cruiser known as
The Blood of Lakonia. His ship had lost half it's weapons and it's armor and shields had taken a pretty severe beating. They were just two light warships against a fleet. No matter how good they were, one of these ships would strike a fatal blow eventually.
"Status Report!" He called out to a Model 1 in the Piloting Seat.
"We've lost one engine. Shields are down to twenty percent. Armor integrity down to thirty percent." The Model 1 answered. "Multiple fires on all decks. My guess, the only reason they haven't destroyed us yet is because they want to board us. Take us as prizes."
"Their greed shall be their downfall..." Abraham answered back, standing up. There were fires on the bridge now by this point.
"What about the other cruiser?"
"The Blood of Sarka is doing slightly better. Armor integrity and shields are at sixty. They were farther away then we were. But those next few are gathering on us both, armed with Ion cannons."
The Captain was quiet a moment.
"Take our ship closer to the destroyer whose tractor beam got taken out."
"Sir--!"
"We're sitting ducks right now. If no one makes a major sacrifice, no one escapes. Fly us in as close as possible. If those Samaels want to hit us, they'll have to risk hitting their own ships also."
"That thing will shred us..." The Model 1 warned.
"We'll last longer against them than we will against that Verminoth." Captain Abraham replied grimly. "And we
might just take a few of them with us."
"I'll ping the Blood of Sarka." The Model 1 confirmed, knowing the stakes had become insanely high.
But the forces of Xiphos, even if they lost, had, if nothing else, gained a reputation for boldness and viciousness that had quite a different flavor in comparison to other armed forces. It had allowed them to route the NIO and the Ashlan's at the Bastille on Ziost. It had contributed to the massive loss of life both the Galactic Alliance and the NIO had thrown away to end the Sith Empire--also a pyrrhic victory, given the present situation. But Xiphos had known it might come to this.
"Alert all fighters still defending our craft to target and harass the Verminoth however it can. Then lay in a course for the damaged Star Destroyer's lower belly. And once we are on course, we fire every remaining weapon we have. Get every Model 2 to the Bay with a jet pack. Get mag clamps. Cutting Torches. Blast charges. Grab all the thermal Detonators."
"What are we gonna do?"
"You'll know when it happens."
The Robot nodded, and transmitted a single message to the other craft, a simple signal of three beeps worked out beforehand. Xiphos knew they might lose both cruisers in this. She was prepared to sacrifice at least one. No destroyers yet for her beyond what she successfully salvaged or built, and she hadn't managed to salvage or build any yet. The infrastructure had yet to be fully set up for that. The two cruisers had barely been declared combat capable and spaceworthy, and already both were very battered and on the verge of defeat, kept alive only by the fact the captains of both cruisers had been smart enough to conduct what basically amounted to a fighting retreat for the most part, using Manueverability of the Arquitens Cruisers, clever application of starfighter defense, and careful, precise bursts of murderous aggression. Even badly outnumbered and outgunned, they had inflicted wounds. The enemy would bleed heavily just to kill
one cruiser. They would make certain of it.
The second cruiser,
The Blood of Sarka, knew what it meant. The TIE hunters piloted by Nuetralizer Model 1 units, had valiantly defended it with outdated designs, giving blow for blow against the Maw Pilots, the Hunters often flying in swarms to confuse and overwhelm enemies, but the Maw was quickly adjusting, and the Hunter's were slowly but steadily being killed off, though they destroyed 2 for every Hunter lost. Their prowess in war, a gift from Xiphos, proving itself repeatedly as they shot down not just starfighter, but missiles launched by fighters. Organic-like hatred coursed through their electronic brains, giving Maw Pilots among the most vicious, drawn out dogfights they had ever been in.
Upon receiving the signal, the Blood of Sarka made a break for the planet, sending half it's own remaining starfighters to help harrass the Samael Ships in a desperate attempt to buy as much time as it could for The Blood of Lakonia. The Fighters piloted by the Maw were relentless, pursuing the Blood of Sarka into the atmosphere, even as it's laser cannons and remaining starfighters, now heavily outnumbered, managed to shoot more of their pursuers down.
The Blood of Lakonia, however, knew only glory in it's coming death throes as it sped towards the damaged Star Destroyer at full speed, getting absolutely hammered by turbolasers, shredding through its shields quickly, biting into it's armor, leaving terrible holes in it's space frame now as it fired every remaining weapon at it. The bridge got blasted open, sucking a calm Abraham out into space. The Model 1 pilot managed to stay on course, even as his joints began to freeze.
One engine was destroyed, then two. It was at a relatively snail's pace as it finally reached the underbelly of the destroyers, still firing it's weapons, venting it's hangar and releasing it's last bloody surprise, in the form of adrift Model 2's burning through jetpack fuel to reach the damaged hull, some getting taken out by debris but others managing to reach part of the hull.
The Blood of Lakonia, however, now listed, its own remaining engine now heavily damaged as it drifted.
One Model 2 saw this, and reluctantly pulled out a trigger for a number of thermal Detonators he had attached to the core.
May you enter the great Droid Boogie in the sky, shiny and chrome. He thought of the valiant crew that had sacrificed everything to buy time for the innocents of Oyokai.
The powerplant was consumed in a great burst, shattering the remains of the ship just underneath the destroyer, which would hopefully damage the hull given the relatively close range with shrapnel from the vessel.
Meanwhile the Model 2's began to plant charges on the hull to try and blast their way in. The Blood of Lakonia's starfighters, having already lost a quarter of their remaining fighters, rushed to engage the Summa-Verminoth, the fighters weaving through its tentacles to fire at its eyes, which seemed to be the one logical weakness the droids could think of. Maybe pain would enraged it into making a mistake. It got some of them already with a swipe, but there were still many remaining, and they all desperately fired at anything that looked squishy on the nigh unkillable Hell Beast.
Meanwhile.
Both Corvettes had arrived under heavy fire, most of their own Starfighter escort gone, and quite damaged themselves.
Half the Model 1's had been destroyed or self destructed strategically at the last moment. The remaining ones had taken a defensive position at the outskirts, defending whatever fleeing Civilians had managed to make it to them. There were dozens. The Maw Forces and their undead amassed relentlessly on them, but the Model 1's, achieving infamy ever since Sarka, had faced worse odds than this. And they had the powerful Witch Arianna to help, who was whispering down lightning bolts or conjuring water tornadoes to hold back the foes an extra seconds. Arianna grew more aggressive and vicious to hold back the enemy, her red staff cutting apart the undead even as water tentacles crushed the living. She was missing half her face due to an explosion, leaking glowing white blood and muscle, side gouged. The Corvettes could not have come at a better time when they landed, firing their remaining weapons to give breathing room. The crew of Model 1's aboard begin ushering people in. They had already singled out and shot various infiltrators but they were paranoid. It was decided no chances could be taken.
As soon as the Chiss were aboard, the Model 1's informed everyone it would be necessary to hit them with stun blasts to pre-empt
any attempt at seizure or sabotage. That was the price of a ticket off this rock. They had followed it up by stun blasting everyone who came aboard. Even the children were hit with stun blasts. Arianna and Xiphos put
nothing past the Maw Brotherhood after Csilla.
Arianna cackled as she threw herself into the thick of battle, gleefully slicing apart those she viewed as naturally inferior to her own sensibilities...
A
Adara Awaud
Jaedec Ren
Dakrul
Eliz Krayt
The Mongrel
Arianna Belasko
