Let Slip the Dogs of War [Protectorate Invasion of Druckenwell]

[Soell Alberio]

Aboard the bridge of Ashira's Justice
Allies: Protectorate forces and friends Friedrich Stahlmann Siobhan Kerrigan Ayden Cater
Enemies: Confederates and friends [member="Disciple"]


Hecate would have continued speaking with Siobhan if she hadn't been alerted to a speeding freighter way off the path and heading toward near their section of the fleet. It looked like one of the kind that had been ferrying civilians off the planet for a while not, and now it was suddenly carreening towards the Omega Protectorate's forces? Was someone a maniac? "Lock tractor beams on it now! Request Admiral Stahlmann do the same! Mistress Siobhan if you could also provide support should something arise out of place I would be very indebted."

Gritting her teeth, the Echani wondered why at this stage someone would pull a stunt like this. She wondered if there were any civilians on board that weren't even aware of being used. Honestly, with such a generous timeframe to get civilians out and with them using it so far she wondered whose bright idea was to wreck it now. Regardless, it was a pitiful attempt, trying to get a single freighter past so many captial ships with military grade tractor beams. The white haired woman watched as several of her frigates and some of Stahlmann's own ships latched onto the vessel and froze it in place post haste. "Someone get ahold of the man in charge of this operation and ask him what he wants us to do with this freighter on our hand?"

 

[Kyrana Gould]

SPACE....
Allies: [member="Ayden Cater"], [member="Hecate"], [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Enemies: [member="Disciple"], [member="Kal Strife"]

"Admiral, an evac freighter has diverted!" the bridge officer on the Justicar called.
Stahlmann walked over and examined the scanner screen. Indeed, one freighter had turned towards them. "Hail them, Lieutenant. Order them to return to formation."
Before they could though, the message "Make your choice." came through.
At the same moment a message from Hecate, leading another squadron came though.
"Admiral, they're requesting that we help them with the tractor beam."
Stahlmann nodded. Nothing good could come from a freighter getting amongst their lines, especially with the message from it.
"Engage all available tractors, stop that ship in space until we can examine it more closely. I want a full sensor scan on it. Alert the Protector about what we should do with it. The war, gentlemen, has not reached its appointed time yet, so we must wait to begin firing."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Aboard the Ashira's Justice
Allies: Protectorate forces and friends, [member="Friedrich Stahlmann"], [member="Hecate"], [member="HK-36"], [member="Ayden Cater"]
Enemies: Confederates and friends, [member="Disciple"]

Siobhan watched the display, not particularly impressed by it. It was a freighter so the explosion would not cause much damage to the fleet, which was about 100, 000 my by her estimate. As for civilians being on board, Butcher Kerrigan did not particularly care about collateral damage. Otherwise she would not butchered drug-addled, brainwashed civilians the Bando Gora threw against her on Bespin and Gehenna. War was hell and people died. To be frank, she would not have lost that much sleep over simply shooting it down...though that would have been bad for public relations.

But it seemed the Firemane ships were already latching on to the vessel via tractor beams. She thought for a moment, then decided to act as she sunk into the Force and drew upon its awesome power. Concentrated was etched across her features as she exerted her telekinetic will to manifest a gigantic telekinetic hand that, as she curled her very real and physical fingers, wrapped around the freighter that was already being targeted by the tractor beams. Telekinetic energy would compress around it, sufficient power to prevent the ship from moving as it should find itself immobilised by the power of an apex telekinesis master.

A few beads of sweat were dripping down her forehead but she persisted. After all, once she had stopped a space station from falling. Stopping a freighter from moving by drawing upon ridiculously powerful telekinesis was par for the course. With enough concentration she could throw ships of this seize. As the tractor beams from Stahlmann's ships locked on to the vessel, her iron, unyielding grip would have likewise seized the freighter. Not enough to be crushing, since she was controlling her power and that would take more concentration, but more than sufficient for the task. Should something go amiss she would...simply tighten her grip.

 

[Disciple]

Evac Freighter of Dubious Intent
Allies: CIS
Enemies: OP, [member="Ayden Cater"], [member="Hecate"], [member="Friedrich Stahlmann"]

The ants go marching three by three, hurrah... hurrah.

The girl was, by now, settled into his arm, realizing she wasn't going anywhere. There was a noticeable drop in momentum as tractor beams locked on. It was at that moment that he completely cloaked himself with the Force in every way he could.

Hopefully, if they scanned the ship, they'd only find a bunch of people milling about in confusion. He'd used the time from convoy to battleground to get back amid the crowd and wait.

They still had about five minutes on the self destruct.

Sensor scans couldn't tell self destruct, so far as he'd knew, and he'd made sure the tech hadn't engaged any alarms. So he sat amid the confused crowds of evacuees, waiting and waiting. Any attempt to communicate with the freighter would, of course, be met with utter confusion. The pilots had no clue how they'd gotten there. Comm lines were open though, for anyone wishing to speak.

Whistling quietly, he waited.

 

[Eyrecae Alzari]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], [member="Hecate"], [member="Ayden Cater"], [member="Disciple"]
Aboard the Ashira's Justice
Allies: Protectorate forces and friends
Enemies: Confederates and friends


Roused from her second breakfast by the commotion on the bridge, Eyrecae wandered out to join Siobhan. She was wearing her ridiculously imposing and impractical armour, helmet in her hand, warhammer attached to her back. She was munching on an apple, or whatever space fruit replaces it.
She dragooned a random crewer to explain what was going on. After that she looked at the freighter.
"Why not destroy it? It's about time this war got going anyway. I'm bored with all this waiting. Let's get to killing!" The crew gave her odd looks, but she didn't care.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Aboard the Ashira's Justice
Allies: Protectorate and friends
Enemies: Confederate and friends
[member="Eyrecae Alzari"], [member="Hecate"]

"I was asking myself the same question," Siobhan muttered more to herself as her fellow sister in battle entered...who apparently likewise enjoyed causing carnage a bit too much, but then it was good that she had found someone who could keep up with her and liked honouring their victories.

On the other hand...dark side points would mean veiny skin and yellow eyes. That was a major turn-off. "Aren't you supposed to be the Neutral Good one?" she wondered aloud, temporarily breaking the 4th wall. "It would be...bad for public relations. As much as I wouldn't mind blasting it and the Sith on it as well. Anyway, glad you could finally rouse yourself from breakfast. There'll be the chance to cause carnage soon enough. Lots of Confed forcers, Sith, all waiting planetside. Once this battle...actually starts!"

 

[Soell Alberio]

Aboard the bridge of Ashira's Justice
Allies: Protectorate forces and friends Friedrich Stahlmann Siobhan Kerrigan Ayden Cater [member="Eyrecae Alzari"]
Enemies: Confederates and friends Disciple

The white haired woman breathed a sigh of exasperation and relief since the freighter was no safely locked in place at a distance. The only thing to do now was wait for a decision to be made regarding what would happen to it now. At least out there it couldn't do anything to anyone for the time being. "Let Admiral Stahlmann know he has my thanks. As do you Mistress." Turning to Siobhan as she spoke, Hecate grinned mischievously as she thanked her teacher and boss. Although that grin shifted into a slight frown as another person entered the bridge complaining about getting started already. Honestly the Echani wasn't certain who the woman really was after only briefly meeting her before, but she seemed a bit. . . odd. She gave off an intimidating presence of strength and a bit savage even. Certainly not like the other Eldorai she had seen thus far.

In a way she agreed though, this war was definitely taking long to start. However, there was at least a decent enough reason to sway the Echani. She felt inclined to explain a little. "We can't. It came from out of system to evac civilians. The Omega Protectorate wants them out of the way before fighting starts and we technically follow their orders right now. Besides, it is nice to know there won't be any non-combatants messing with the equation. Not to mention if that was your planet you'd want your people off it too. And yeah, like Mistress Siobhan said, its bad for the PR which is likely the OP's objective here. You two will get to have plenty of fun planetside though. A little jealous I'm not at a confidant enough level to join that side of the fray just yet. I'll just busy myself with breaking toys up there though."

The last was of course sad with a wicked smirk on her face.

 

[Garza]

Taking a good inhale of my Cigar, I allowed the Kolto act in my body dulling the senses slightly. Might help me in battle later on if I get hurt. But, regardless, I took a swig of the cheap beer and waited for the attack.

 

[Corey's OOC]

He as watching the evacuation freighters. This was his job and he was starting to feel an overwhelming calm of it. Things were going well and he was hoping to get the freighters out as loaded as possible before the countdown reached zero. Watching the ships, he clicked the screen.

Asking himself what was going on? Tapping the screen to get a direct line, he was hoping to raise the pilot.

"Freighter Dubious Intent. You are off course. Correct course immediately and proceed to rendezvous."

Looking over his commands. He was pulling fighters from escort of the ship. He didn't want anything to accidentally fire upon the Protectorate forces. Not when there were cargo ships in the area.

Starting the war was the military's job. Not his. How much longer on the countdown? How much longer until Danger's people were out?

[member="Disciple"]
[member="Danger Arceneau"]

 

[Eyrecae Alzari]

[member="Hecate"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

"Pfft, don't give me that tripe. Of course I'd want my people off...but I'd be the defender, not the attacker in that case! We don't give the enemy time to make things better for themselves, we should go in and smash them!"
"PR is going to be irrelevant in a few hours. You know what's better for PR than this? Winning the war, then it doesn't matter if people complain because you're the one with the biggest fleet and the most guns!"
Clearly Eyrecae did not indulge in much of a utopian view of the galaxy.

"Now if only people would get over themselves and start shooting, I can start smashing things...."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Aboard the Ashira's Justice
[member="Eyrecae Alzari"], [member="Hecate"]

"War's not about who's right but about who's left. History is written by the victors..for as long they don't get upstaged.. If the Protectorate's successful they can spin grand tales about having liberated a world from tyrants and blame any collateral damage on the enemy. Assuming they don't face invasion shortly thereafter, from say, their big neighbour to the west who'd like a pretext to do so anyway. But that, along with the whole decision to wait and give the enemy a reprieve for no reason, is out of our hands. So we...wait till something happens and go destroy things," Siobhan said and with a casual mental gesture she pulled Eyrecae's apple out of her grasp and into her own, for she was hungry. Then she had a bite.

This does not count as an auto-hit at all! She better not steal all my renegade interrupts when we're planetside, the telekinetic juggernaut thought.

 

[Not Ordo]

LOCATION: DIRTSIDE DRUNKINDAWELL
OBJECTIVE: JOIN BROTHERS ON STATION
Allies: Dread Guard[member="Galaar Tal'Verda"] [member="CC-953 Oddball"]
Enemies: Omega Protectorate and Dat girl who gonna set me on fiya

Oryuken couldn't believe his ears but he knrw Galaar's voice clear as day. He grabbed his gear and ran to the turbo lift and headed up to the escape transport that was in place for him.

He rushed out the door and tosed his gear in the waiting dropship and jerked a thumb upward to the pilot. He was joining his vode and that was that. He stowed his sniper rifle as the ship took off and grabbed his kit for anti boarding operations. His heavy repeater, sonic grenades, scatter gun, Bes'kad and his verpine shatter pistol.

He stood by the exit and waited as they broke atmosphere. It wasn't far to the station and within minutes they had arrive.

"Oya Ner Vod, Oryuken reporting." He said over the buy'ce comm.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

The response from Anesia put his mind at ease and he had to wonder what she was looking at. In his minds eye he saw a formation of giants, ships brimming with barely contained anticipation. Just one spark, one wrong move or loss of nerve would full the vast darkness of space with a light show the likes of which few would ever witness.

"Don't let the bastards breath, you hear me?" He spoke quietly, a trace of something that he wasn't willing to admit tinging his tone. "Do what you do best Anesia, be a monster. " He listened then, as her half finished sentence trailed off. He didn't know what to say, didn't know how best to respond without revealing too much or being unnecessarily cruel. "Hold the line..." Was all he said, when he considered who had a place within his heart only one name came to mind, and her hair was blue. He cut the line and then felt...something, it could have the excitement kicking in but a taste in his mouth, a scent in the air, reminded him of the very woman he had just spoken too for some very odd reason.

"Soldier," He barked, feeling a spring in his step, the misgivings and second guessing that plagued him seeming to lessen with every second that ticked past.

"Yes sir!" The man too, who had moments ago looked frazzled and on the very cusp of breaking now seemed to have a steely determination about him.

"Get [member="Marek Starchaser"] for me." He asked, he had to know how the evacuations were going but more than that, without an update from [member="Kal Strife"] he had little idea what was transpiring above them and not knowing made him ill at ease.

 

[Corey's OOC]

Still waiting on the answer from the freighter, Marek was shaking his head. Time to start the log. Backtracking the data, he was making it shown that it wasn't their call. Something happened with this ship and he didn't know what.

That was when another message came on. Hoping it was the freighter, he took it quickly. That was when he saw the Lord Commander. "Yes, Commander? I am seeing that freighter if that is what this is."

[member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Idiian Sayali]

Location: Aboard the Twilight Omen
Objective: Defend the Station
Allies: [member="Marek Starchaser"], CIS
Enemies: Omega Protectorate

"Yeah, I'm still on the station... Er, well, in the hangar, anyways," Idiian responded, opening the armory door aboard the Twilight Omen. Unfriendly visitors, huh? Well, she hadn't had a good reason to break out the PLX-1 in a while, so she might as well take it with her on her way to play welcome wagon. Hell, besides the Golan FC-1, the rest of her armory was small arms and flashbangs, anyways; With the two heavy weapons slung over her shoulders, she could carry everything else she had in a single bag... Which was exactly what she planned to do.

"I think I should be able to back up our forces, yeah," Idiian started shoveling her blasters into a bag as she kept speaking over the comm, making sure to leave room for the flashbangs as she packed. "If any 'unfriendlies' show up anywhere near the hangar before I find our forces, I'll make sure they find their sorry hides becoming one with the Force."

Once she finished packing her bag- which took a bit longer than she had expected it to, Idiian slung the big guns over her shoulders, the PLX-1 onver her left shoulder and the FC-1 over her right. As she went to pick the bag full of blasters and flashbangs up, one last thought ran across her mind, one that she figured she should probably ask now while the Comm was still open. "Say, we're evacuating the station, right? They need anyone to help get evacuees outta here?"

 

[Salem Norongachi]

"Freighter?" He began as something grabbed him by the guts and twisted. "What...freighter..." Clearly, Salem Norongachi had no idea what [member="Marek Starchaser"] was on about. However, as the optimistic soul he was, he immediately assumed that some god, somewhere, had whipped down his celestial trousers and was just about to send another turd his way. It was truly a good day to be him.

 

[Corey's OOC]

What was it with his comlink going crazy right now? Did he really have that many people in need of him? He was transporting and tech developing. The whole reason he was here was to inspect the world while the Lord Commander covered the Knights Obsidian group as well. Still, he shook his head.

Where was Idiian? “Where are you, Idiian? Can you get to the labs, and check on the Techno Union employees? Get them to safety?” That was important, that and cargo. And those civilians, he supposed. Looking back to the screen, he had yet another message.

He needed a vacation after this.

“Yeah… uhh… Dubious Intent, she’s out of the evacuation path, heading towards the Protectorate ships. I haven’t yet been able to raise her.” Looking at the screen and the path of the ship, then back to Salem, he shrugged. “Whats your call on that one?”

[member="Danger Arceneau"]
[member="Disciple"]
[member="Salem Norongachi"]
[member="Idiian Sayali"]

 

[Salem Norongachi]

"Highjacked? Sabotage? Has there been any word from the Lord Protector?" A hundred possibilities came to mind, most of them put the blame squarely on the Omega Protectorate. It wouldn't be the first time a government had shown mercy to the people of its enemy only to cut them down like cattle there afterwards. What didn't make sense, was that it was heading toward the Protectorate fleet. If they wanted to destroy the ship, perhaps tag the Confederacy with the blame to strengthen their position, why not just do it? No, something was off here.

"How many souls aboard?" Norongachi asked [member="Marek Starchaser"] before turning to a com's officer. "Get me a line to the Protectorate Fleet, quickly."

 

[Corey's OOC]

Looking from the commlink to the screen again. "Sir, its... we really don't count? We're filling to capacity and then some. The... I don't want to guess." Really, who knew? He wasn't on the ground. If it was cargo, he could give volume, but souls? He had no idea. "And I'm not that good with the Force, I can't pinpoint the number." Running a hand into his hair. "Its going to be your call, but that's a hefty fee to pay, for the destruction of that vessel." Because Danger was going to kill him.

"I'm recording the entire instance, this whole evacuation. I don't know what happened, it just started going off course."
[member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

[member="Ayden Cater"]
Aboard the Leviathan

Sarge looked down at the chip holding the Queen and shrugged, slotting the chip into his armor. She had access to his HUD and E-war suite, but that was it. Fading from sight as the armorweave activated, he stood and waited for the time limit to expire.