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[Sanya Val Lerium]

The woman stood watch as the new fabrications got loaded onto the Libita along with the new technology she was to test during her journey. With the loss of two facilities in a short space of time she was in desperate need to fill the void. She had purchased several properties and land on different worlds but all required machinery for manufacturing. The credits to afford the much needed expansion had come from her own savings and what little income she was getting spare from the profits, and what was after wage and the running costs. Everything was almost ready and she had enough on board to make three factories operational soon as possible.

There was a set route planned that would take her to the three closest. Elysian, Jelucan And Kinooine. There was a benefit of her choices of location. The cost of fuel would be less to transport all the products to warehouses ready for purchase. As the last of the machines and fabrications had been loaded Sanya made her way through the ship. Many corridors had been blocked off with the floors ripped up. The top floors had already been installed with the wireless droid charging cables. It would make it easy to monitor the astromechs been used to test the new feature. When the feline woman finally reached the command deck she'd grant permission for lift off while she checked through systems.

Everything was running normally. In fact it was running better since it was seeing more activity. Now everything could be handled by crew Sanya ran through messages. She'd noticed the notification earlier but needed to ensure everything was running on time. After reading the message though briefly she began her reply.

To: Admiral Diean
Subject: Fleet Assistance

Dear Diean

I will forward your request for more ships but it may be two or three weeks before we have any available to dispatch. I will be able to reach the coordinates in three days as the libita is already prepared to take off.

If the raiders are aware the ship is local they will retreat hopeful long enough.

Sinscearly,
Sanya Val Swift

 

[Sanya Val Lerium]

Sanya knew that the presence of the raiders has been slowly increasing since the defeat of their fleet. It has presented many problems since they have been actively attacking the transports. It has slowed the growth of the people who call Ancora home. Finding the base of operations has been tasking although from the reports everyone was sure they were getting closer.

The Libita undocked from the ring and drifted away from it's structure for a moment. As the engines fired up the vessel began to move forward. “I've updated the route malady. We will reach the coordinates in a roughly two days.” The ensign said with a loud voice. “Thank you. Have the wireless network powered up yet?” She asked openly. “A few floors have yes. The others will be activated one by one. We are watching the power consumption in case the cables have been set up wrong.” Said a different person. The woman was aware that there could be problems as this was the first test of the wireless droid charging network.

“Okay keep me updated. I need to know when problems appear. For now let's activate some droids.” “I will pass the word on.” There was a fair amount of chatter between the people on the bridge. Not much of it about work but rather general conversation. Sanya enjoyed listening to them. Even though the past while had been stressful and depressing for many their lives was getting back on track and the same for their families. “Yeah my kid just turned eight last week. Glad I got the time off to be with her, but yeah she does make me laugh. Bella has a new catchphrase, Of course. The way she says it though you can't help but laugh hard. Her mom asked her to take some of her gifts upstairs and all you hear is Of course.. No. All of us were about crying.” The person the woman was talking to would chuckle and so did Sanya a little.

 

[Sanya Val Lerium]

A day had passed quickly but the constant checking of information and watching screens had began to really tire Sanya out. Even though the ship was massive and had a good quality air filtration system she began to feel the need of walking in natural sunlight and breath normal clean air. “Take over for me. I'm going for a break.” She said while she stood up stretching. She had sat in the seat for almost fifteen hours straight with the only time she moved was to go to the bathroom. Meals had been brought to her.

She wanted to monitor the droids lower levels closely. To see if battery power remained at full. Nine droids have already been removed from the test due to faulty batteries. That left forty nine still operating and going about simple tasks. After dealing with the stop she'd begin to assigns them all to more tasking jobs. As she walked her tail would flick behind the woman that was deep in thought. She thought about her wife and wondered if the news had tracked to her about sekalus. It had been a while but obligations kept them away. Sanya missed her deeply and wanted to see her wife again.

There was many people in the cantina getting their meals. Many was dressed in uniform other in exercising clothes. It was a requirements that everyone aboard did an hour of activities to keep fitness up. For Sanya she practice saber techniques and improving her own techniques. There had been arguments that how she exercises wasn't to the stranded the military had set even as ruler she also had to stick to rules, but she proved that her practice sessions was a full workout. Although she could see concerns since she could use the force to make everything easier. Not like she would anyway.

 

[Sanya Val Lerium]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Sanya sat alone in the high ranked area of the cantina. Her datapad was propped up with a holo movie playing. It was one of those animated action romance videos. It wasn't widely popular amongst the outer galaxy due to the heavy croa influence but Sanya herself enjoyed it. It wasn't too long till her meal had been brought to her with an ice cold beverage. She'd eat slowly as her focus was on the movie. Every now and again she would giggle at a funny moment. After she had finished her main meal a dessert came on a small plate. It looked sweet and probably sickly if it was any bigger. Still she managed to eat some of it before feeling full. The taste was strange but it was nice at the same time.

If something was added to it the spongy dessert would probably taste a lot better, but she couldn't complain. Stopping the movie about mid way she'd stand and left the cantina. Along her way she saw some of the droids and stopped them to do a personal check. One of the units seemed to move slower than the others. Although she found the route of the problem. Someone had set it to a power saver mode. The droid would dweet a beep at her as she messed about with it's hardware. While she hasn't made any astromechs she was familiar with it's layout. She took note of it's number so she could put it down for different data.

As the woman he headed up to the bridge once again she'd not take a seat but go straight into the captain's quarters to freshen up and have a few hours sleep. There was a subtle light knock in her door. She didn't hear it the first few times but once she did she'd climb out of the bed finger combing her hair. The woman moved to the door and opened it. “Malady sorry to disturb you but we are close to the destination. We thought you should know now so you can wake up a little.” The girl said with a quiet voice. Sanya cleared her throat. “Thank you I will be out soon.”

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Sanya Val Swift"]

As a member world of the Outer Rim Coalition, Ancora deserved the best security that Wild Space could offer. Frankly, that wasn't saying much. Long supply lines spanned indefensible routes through sparsely charted territory. Ancora’s remoteness was its strength, sure - but not all the time. Out here, lines got blurred between pirates and locals just taking preemptive defense measures. To them, any unknown (read: Ancoran) ship could signal an invasive expansion. Some listened to reason; some only listened to strength.

A Coalition waystation orbited a red dwarf at a hyperspace choke point on the long route from Ancora to Zonju. The Wretched Hive fit neatly into the waystation's largest docking bay. While Dingo Darr and Shenna'vala plied the Hive’s trade - repairing the station and the local ships - Jorus found himself drafted for recon. An old Silk interceptor set off through uncontrolled space in search of problems.

 

[Sanya Val Lerium]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

The woman had taken a brief moment to get to work once more. She had pulled longer hours than anyone onboard. Many of the new crew were new and joined the navy since the Sekalien disaster. The heels of her boots tapped the shining white floor as she walked to her seat. "Malady we should be dropping out of hyperspace soon." The lady said carrying a professional tone to her voice. "Okay, I'd like a sensor reading when we drop. Map out all possible routes and bring up a list of Allie and unknown vessels in a three parsec radius." Many would listen and take in the orders.

Everyone on the bridge was used to how she operated. For the most part Sanya was simply and advisor and observer. Not before long the ship had left hyperspance and scanned the area. More that a dozen ships showed up in the local area and three stations close by. One registered as outer rim coalition. She was surprised she wasn't aware if it's existence. A few questions sprang to mind. Some she could assume and answer too. "Begin heading to the rendezvous point and check if we can get in contact with the orc station. They should be aware something this big dropped out."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Sanya Val Swift"]

The Libita ranked among the nastiest ships in Wild Space. Years ago, he'd found that worrisome if not outright threatening. Nowadays, the Ancoran flagship was a welcome sight on long-range scan. It popped up on his screens a few minutes after the waystation alerted him that the dreadnought was nearby. Soon enough, he'd bounced a signal through one of the old Clan Rekali/Underground telesponder sats.

"Libita, this is Sundance." Sanya would recognize his callsign; they'd flown together and against each other often enough. "I'm on patrol, coordinates attached. What you doing out this far, Sanya? How's the new home treating ya?"

 

[Sanya Val Lerium]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

The comms officer swivled in the chair and looked at The feline woman. "Mam, we have intercepted a hail. Its coming from a ship called the Sundance." Sanya looked intreagued to why this ship was out so far. It seemd to much of a coincidence for them to keep running into eachother lately. In a way it felt like she was been watched. Sanya knew the trust wasnt there yet and both sides were been cautious. After all before Ancora there was no larger comunity that held real claim on the world. Not even the black rose had the large numbers to truely add it to their territory.

Now... Now everything was diffrent. Change had begun and a new start for many people, even Sanya had changed. Less reckless and well grown up. "Open it up." She said with little hesitation then listened to that familiar voice. "Pirates have been raiding transports on the supply line. Seems they are angry at us for decimating that fleet a few months back. With that dilema the navy had been using the remaining war ships to try clear the route. But no luck. So we are here to back them up. It was along the way and other ships woud have taken to long to retro fit." She said telling him about the current situation.

"Planet side the people are building fast and have begun to explore the diffrent regions setting up new colonies as they move. So all in all its going good for now. With the supply lines been effected progress is slowing in many places." A few other in the bridge had also recognized the voice. Jorus would probably remember them in some way after the months theyd all spent together.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Sanya Val Swift"]

"Your folks are moving fast. I'm impressed." A wire sparked in the dashboard. Jorus winced and started poking at it. "That's serious industry, setting up offworld sites this soon. Makes sense, though. Broader selection of raw materials, more overwatch stations, more local trade connections.

"Redshift Station pinged me your coordinates, Libita. My sector looks quiet - no fresh wrecks, no nothing - so I'm gonna head over and rendezvous with you. I'm in a scout fighter that looks to need a bit of a tune-up. Where you headed? I can meet you wherever."

 

[Sanya Val Lerium]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Sanya took note of his compliment although in some ways the croa were an efficient people. "We don't waste time Mr Merrill. I think over time the people have come to rely on each other more. The bonds I see in the faces seems to get stronger, and it makes me proud. I feel like I'm making them proud too." She said feeling happy to a sense.

"Also that is one of my goals in the upcoming weeks. Testing a new potentially revolutionary system and well getting some new factory's set up. After all I only have the docs and one factory at the moment. Production has slowed down it's hurting the buissness."

The scans had come in just as jorus said he was going rendezvous at the ships location. Sanya wasn't going to object to the help. After all Ancoran space may belong to her people but now they openly shared it with the coalition. In some ways this was a potential problem for the coalition too. The pirates was going after Ancora because it was a small, but the supplies could mean they are planning to hit orc. They did help her people.

"Copy that. My people are looking over the sensor readings. Did a wide scan of the area so it will take a few minutes to completely go through them all. You still have access to the ship if you would like to land and take a few moments. Get something to eat. Give chance for the rest of my people in this area to gather up."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Sanya Val Swift"]

In fairly short order, maybe a little shorter than the scout fighter's hyperdrive could really explain, Jorus brought the little ship into the Libita's hangar. Once he'd squared away the glitch and the food situation simultaneously, and wiped mustard off his reactor couplings, he went looking for Sanya.

"How you doing, Your Majesty? Folks?" He met eyes around the Libita's bridge, where he'd spent a few months as one of them. "Thanks for the docking rights. Needed the kind of tuneup you can really only pull off in a full-grav environment."

Stang, but it still felt weird to be on friendly terms with this ship, this crew, and this queen. Not as weird as it had, though - just out of step with older memories.

"So this anti-pirate op of yours. What's the status? Need a hand? You know you can call the Judges for backup on this, yeah?"

 

[Sanya Val Lerium]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

The confirmation came that the man had landed a board the ship. To many here jorus was one of them. Those who had met the man and spoken had a bond no matter how small. It wasn't long till three udernik assault frigates had joined the libita in this area of space. "Admiral Otton, nice of you to join us. We are compiling the data right now to locate any of the cells of the pirates. Any logs of your run ins would be useful to work out their tactics and how to counter them." "Yes commander swift, we'll get right on it." The hologram would shut off just as a woman approached Sanya.

"Mam. We think we have something. There is a group of unlisted ships two parsecs away." She said as she brought up a map. Jorus soon walked onto the bridge. The mans privileges had been left untampered meaning he had access to the entire ship. Although Sanya didn't acknowledge his words straight away. "Thank you, we will get to planning in a moment." Sanya said as she then looked at Jorus. "We are getting there, and if your in the area your always welcome here. These people know you."

The woman had to take a second to think about the next part. Really she didn't know as much as the admiral in the next ship. "Yeah I know I can call on them, but right now we need to figure things out for ourselves but I will gladly take you up on your offer. From what I know these are the same pirates that we faced right after the sekallien disaster. So they are after revenge. We've had two fleets patrol the routes but since there is no dedicated lane yet they are hitting transports with an interdictor."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Sanya Val Swift"]

"Yeah, I was hearing about them a bit, mostly secondhand. That's one reason I'm out here. My scout fighter doesn't have much in the way of guns, but I'll do what I can. If you need an extra pilot in one of your small craft, I can lend a hand with that too. I can get why your people need to carry their own weight, but feel free to take advantage of having me around."

The Libita's bridge wasn't as expansive as a Star Destroyer's - didn't waste nearly as much space - but he still found a spot to lean against a bulkhead and look out the window.

"Two parsecs, y'say. Multiple ships. Probably at least one interdictor, something hefty to tank for it, and some lighter attack ships, if they know what they're doing. Your axial mount should handle the tank well enough. There's not a lot out here that can stand up to the Libita. The tough call, though, is whether to take a swing at the interdictor first - interdictors are pretty rare out here, and we can't interdict'em if they cut and run. What you thinking?"

 

[Sanya Val Lerium]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Really she didn't know what she was thinking. There was no plan as of yet. Ideally the interdictor is priority. Even if the libita was able to match a vast majority of ships in this sector it has it's vulnerabilitys. "Well I think first we should identify their basic attack patterns. With that intordictor mind the other ships wouldn't be our priority here." The woman would stand up and walk to the tactical holo table. Scouring through the files sent to them by the admiral of the three vessels she brought up the most recent. "While these encounters are from smaller assaults we can evaluate the methods of attack." The battle would play at a faster pace that what the actual battle did. Just from looking they preferred a straight attack at the start.

When encountering retaliation the movements become more coordinated but lacks the know how to pull of a strategy that works against a trained mind. "Just watching this all we'd have to do is lure the ship used to take damage into a trap. The admirals ships would take lead. The pirate fleet from the scans should outnumber them. Assuming they can close the gap in five minutes it would give us enough time to drop in and take them by surprise."

"If we can take out the lead vessel my other ships can handle the rest. The tricky part is the interdictor still. I would like to get in close and send two strike teams to comendeer it. If I'm right it may be the same ship that escaped us. If word got out that they lost the interdictor, the moral they had would diminish." She'd look to jorus. "I trust you are good with ships and since this operation won't begin for a few hours I still have our project in the hanger. Made some adjustments but I'm sure you had some idea what to do to it too. After all the B-zero still needs a test flight."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Sanya Val Swift"]

"The B-zero's good to go? Beautiful. I'd love a chance to fly it. And yeah, baiting and snaring the tank ship makes the most sense to me too, based on how I've heard these folks operate. You're probably right about focusing on the interdictor first. Any hulk can tank; not everything can run a grav well." Another reminder, if he needed it, that for all her quirks Sanya knew her business and her ship. "Thanks for the hospitality. I'll head right down to the hangar and get to it."

The B-zero was unusually symmetrical for an Ugly - a ship, normally a starfighter, built of other ships. When the Wretched Hive consulted on the project, Dingo Darr had advocated for asymmetry on general principle, but function had won out. Take two B-wings, rip off the cockpit from one, graft the hull to the remaining cockpit opposite the other hull to put the pilot right in the middle of a long thin ship. Not an easy thing to fit in a hangar, not by a long shot.

Knowing that finding and trapping the pirates could happen in a couple of hours or a couple of days, he settled in to work. He knew a good few of the mechanics here, and had his pick of tools that weren't in use. His focus rested on the high-stress junction between the expanded, realigned cockpit module and the additional hull.

 

[Sanya Val Lerium]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

With the whole planning the woman had almost forgot about the droids. She thought it was time to check up on the readings. After all once the battle commences every droid will work on maximum power. Something that would definitely put the system through it's paces. It wasn't only the power levels of the droids but also the consumption of power it was taking from the ships systems. Running at it's current power it was barely anything since the machines where running in low power dealing with mundane tasks.

Sanya would sit in her seat and brought up the list of droids running in the system. There was a hope it would go well especially when out through it's paces. Right now there was nothing in the market that offered such systems so once made public there would be a fast grab to who get these first. The core systems would be where she'd bank most credits. Potentially charging more due to the vast wealth. The outer rim however she'd hold off a month before releasing it to them. That way she could charge much less and have a steady flow of profit.

The woman spent near half an hour looking through everything. By now Jorus would be near the hanger. It was a large ship and took time to walk around. The small transit lines that ran across the ship was often packed with crew moving to and from their duties. "Jorus. I'm going to issue a few astromechs to help out too. Please keep an eye on them and tell me if any appear slow or different." She said over a personal com.

Once more she'd walk to the table and begun the briefing of the plan. Jorus already knew having speaking about in not long ago. The other ships however needed to know what the orders where. The talks took a while and the admiral of the fleet didn't entirely like the idea of been used as bait. They'd be against a foe who could over power them and on the battlefield five minutes would feel like five lifetimes.

They all knew what was at stake if they backed down and let these overly equipped pirates run over them. They'd gather more ships in time and hit Ancora while it's vulnerable that or they're target world's with nothing to defend themselves with. It was a critical mission. Lights dimmed across the ship as yellow lights light up. The ship wide intercom would become active as Sanya stood with a stight back and her arms folded behind her back. "Attention crew. Report to your stations and prepare for briefing by your station officers. Operation Zero Grav will commence in one hour and five minutes."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Sanya Val Swift"]

Having lived through the Contingency incursion and the rise of Omni, most adults these days had good reason to keep an extra eye on droids. In recent years, major droid manufacturers had gone out of business due to weak demand. Jorus acknowledged Sanya's request and thanked her, then settled back down to work with the astromechs. They did their job competently and without anomaly, same as any good droid 99.99% of the time. Still, he couldn't feel entirely comfortable around most droids.

The job got done regardless, and Sanya's announcement found Jorus fine-tuning details in the cockpit of the B-Zero. The modded ship appeared good to go. Fuel and ammunition crews loaded it up with the rest of the hangar's small craft. Jorus hit the 'fresher and the nearest snack dispensary, sealed up his flight suit, and buckled in as the counter ticked down.

 

[Sanya Val Lerium]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

The hour passed by quickly. During that time she had taken the liberty informing the main sections of the plan. Upon exit the libita would get up close to the interdictor. At that point assault pods will breach it's hull, herself and gurad will be leading the main team. After the libita will pull back and disable or destroy the support ships. The admirals fleet will be aiming to keep the attention on them. As for the starfighters they would suppress the enemy fighters or leading bombing runs. For a plan it had it's risks but the outcome would be good if ever went right.

"Attention crew countdown is twenty minutes. Please make sure you are at your designated areas." The yellow lights soon turned red to signify battle was imminent. Pirates like these was to be taken seriously. Although she began to think if they had someone funding them. It was something to find out. She patched into a privet com with jorus. "So your in the loop, my goal is going to be the capture of the interdictor. So I hope orc has enough cells for those who surrender. We don't have a prison yet. Although there hasn't been any need for one." She said to jorus while looking at the next in command. "Anyway I'll be one of the raiding teams pushing for the bridge, you know the pilots so take your pick to follow you and watch your back out there. Gotta run, will see you on the other side cowboy." Her voice picked up to been an energetic one by the end, and especially putting emphasis on cowboy as a way to playfully tease the man.

"Take the reins, follow the plan. If you need to improvise do so. Just don't crash my ship." The woman left the bridge and kept a fast pace up. The lifts would be occupied for the transportation of troops so she took the stairs. There was no wasting time as she jumped over the banisters like one would to when free running. Her tail would move lots helping keep balanced on her feet. She'd keep a fast pace to the armoury where she suited up into her armor. By the time Sanya and her guard was done gearing up the ship had made it's jump.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Sanya Val Swift"]

Jorus grinned despite himself as he tweaked the attack plan in the truck computer and guided the B-Zero out of the hangar. "Way ahead of you, boss lady. Heading out. The B-Zero reads solid green."

The Libita jumped away, and the fighter followed, riding inside the command ship's hyperspace bubble. The trip ended almost at once, and the cobbled-together fighter roared ahead. Croa starfighters surged alongside.

"Libita, this is Sundance. I'm reading two tank cruisers, six fast corvettes, one interdictor. Intel pegged it a little low. Moving on the corvettes to clear the picket screen."

 

[Sanya Val Lerium]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

It was a meagre few moments the ship was doing it's jump before bursting into the already ongoing brawl. The two udarnik's had managed to grab the attention of them all but shields had begun to take heavy damage. "Deploy fighters, bombers focus on the Corvettes first. Let's get the damage output down." Squadron by squadron a screen of fighters bailed out from the mouth of the ship straight into engagement. "Load up the mass drivers. Fire all capital guns in sight of the interdictor, all others focus on the nearest enemy ship." The woman loomed over the table in the middle of the room as each ship was showing up in it's real time position. "Sundance, we are updating your display now. Please focus on those who remain targeting the Udarnik's." Another woman said that was working on keeping contact with multiple squadron leaders

Sanya rushed to one of the assault pods knowing there was little time. She was accompanied by her guard and a single astromech. It was a good opportunity to test it's power consumption after been on constant recharge. Her plan didn't include the droid. Well not the one in her head. At most it would be handy for shortcuts and possibly hindering enemy movements. Although she didn't let on that once she took the bridge she'd cut the air supply to the ship and vent as much out as possible. Those succumb to the vacume of space wouldn't feel a thing. It would be instantaneous death. Not that she cared how they died or got disposed of. She had no love for these people. For those to really come to know the woman they'd learn that she had a bad side, a side not to trifle with.

The woman climbed into the pod standing against the board. Her arms reached up pulling down the harness over her chest till it locked in place. The Libita remained pushing the lines as volleys of shots flew from every gun with sight of something. "Duel mass loaded." "Bring us twenty degrees to port and ram them slugs down the dictor's throat." "yes Captain." The collosal ship began to turn facing head on at the Interdictor. An alert went out to all allied ships to stay clear of the front of the ship till the shots had bee fired. Both slugs Accelerated down the massive barrels with a fast speed that shuddered the ship. Neither shot was aimed to destroy the ship but to clash with just the shield. if they were to pass through them the slugs would graze the tops layers causing minor damage. As they both impacted the shield it caused enough strain to make them deactivate. "Pod launch in sixty seconds." The automated voice announced. "Okay everyone, once we are in our first priority is to locate a control station. From there the droid will hook up Birdy, your group will cover our rear. Mon'mirr your group will stay center, you are to cover group one and three making sure we don't get cut off. Judie our group will push the advance. Our objective is hostile take over. Lets show these cunt's they messes with the wrong queen." She said with a plan in her head. Even if there was no direct stratagie she didn't know the exact layout and would have to wait for the droid to slice a map for them. "Roger that Sanya." Judie answered as Sanya fitted her mask on