Location: Bridge,
HIMS Venality, within the Debris Shoal Zone (DSZ)
Objective: I - Battle of the Shipwrecks
Kit: Skystas Rieve iv Tave Daboti Dvasi |
Sith-Imperial Military Uniform
Assets:
Thaelius
| TSE
Liabilities:
Marlon Sularen
|
Hiram Voss
|
Mordred B'Haran
|
Maynard Treicolt
|
Loske Treicolt
| NIO
Post: VI
31st Blockade Group
Departing the Debris Shoal Zone
Fusillade Line Aurek
Returning to the 31st Blockade Group
Consignment Section One
Fleeing toward Braxant Run hyperlane
Reassigned to Superiority Force Chimera
|
Reports came in that Fusillade Line Aurek had succeeded in both inflicting considerable damage of the flagship of Commodore
Marlon Sularen
and drawing more than 120 fighters away from the attack on Superiority Force Chimera. Navarch Princeps
Thaelius
would now have more room to breath, though the corvette force led by Captain
Hiram Voss
did not look to be letting up.
While he had not wholly crippled the
Predator, Tithe found himself proud of the maneourver. A bureaucrat, unskilled entirely in the art of war, had struck a significant blow against a more experienced enemy.
By comparison, he had spent the
Invasion of Kintan cowered inside an armoured tank, and his attempts to be a military commander during the
Battle of Mygeeto had failed miserably.
Things had gone much better on
PL-40112-CE-021105 - he’d successfully negotiated a lucrative contract for the Sith-Empire, and his capture by a bounty hunter had only occurred when he left the safety of the compound. Tthe
Defence of Mandelore had started well enough, and only turned for the worst when he left the propaganda studio from which he had been working.
In all of these situations, Tithe had found success when he stuck to being a bureaucrat. His attempts to be a military officer always ended in disaster. While things had started poorly here at Durbillion, when he stopped and considered the situation around him as an economics problem rather than a military battle, he had gained an insightful clarity. The error of his ways was starting to reveal himself - no longer would pretend to be something he was not.
“Recall the Fusillade Line,” he said to Trierarch Komo.
“No point over-investing in a drying-up market.”
The Moff opened a tactical channel to the
Chimera.
“I ah, I’ve done what I can Navarch Princeps,” he explained.
“May your exquisite tactical prowess carry you to victory.”
The Fusillade Line had taken a beating, including the destruction of all Missile Boats and their escorting cruiser. Yet for all the loss, they had succeeded in putting the enemy on the back foot.
“The, ah, the treasury ship,” Tithe asked in a low voice.
“Did it receive… any patrons?” The blue-skinned naval officer shook her head.
“Shall I signal it to return to Bastion?” The bureaucrat nodded in agreement. A pity - he had hoped to go down in history as the first person to bribe someone during a space battle. Still, the treasures of Durbillion would go some way to keeping the economy of the Sith Empire afloat even if the world was lost.
The tactical holo updates to show a new enemy fleet entering the Debris Shoal Zone. Brigadier
Mordred B'Haran
and his Combined Task Force Bridge Arrow had begun to carve a path through the DSZ which would cut off Tithe from Superiority Force Chimera.
“I take it if they…”
“Yes,” replied Komo.
“…then we’ll be...”
“Yes”.
Another economics problem. The enemy, seeing the competitive advantage held by the Sith, had chosen to shrink the market. Cut off from each other the two Sith fleets would be denied the scale of economy that was currently allowing them to thrive. He needed to divest his stocks before the market came crashing down around him.
“Reorganise the ships. We’re pulling back.”
The enemy X-Wings were not about to let them go without a fight. The nimble craft, armed with their ion bombs, hit the
Pavise from it’s weakened rear and disabled the shield carrier. Without its powerful shields, pushing their way back out of the DSZ would be a much more difficult undertaking.
“And can we do something about these vexatious fighters?” The two
Vigil II-class corvettes turned their attention to
Maynard Treicolt
and
Loske Treicolt
and opened fire on them with their anti-starfighter weapons.
“Tighten up, more fire on the starboard flank,” Komo yelled to the bridge officers as she orchestrated their retreat through the DSZ to the safety afforded by the far side of Dubrillion. The abject fear which the Moff had experienced on their way into the DSZ was gone. He watched the debris as it drifted across their path, using his natural talent for spotting patterns to identify objects which would have the highest likelihood of striking them.
“That one, no no, the round one. Yes, very good.”
They were almost to safety when Komo was summoned to a nearby comm station. After a short conference, she returned to the tactical holo with a look of mild confusion on her face.
“Sir, message from the Admirallis. She... sends her regards for the strike on Predator and is... recalling us back to Bastion for new orders. Sub-Fleet Nern is sending the Third Fortification Group as an escort.”
Tithe nodded and allowed himself a proper smile, something he had never before done during combat. While the bureaucrat much preferred the boardroom, today had shown him that with the right attitude, he wasn’t entirely out of place on the battlefield.