Private Shepherding the Lion’s Herd

[Grand Shepherd Burtch]

Burtch didn’t mind office work. Too much of it, he could start to feel stale and stiff, but he liked to be organized. He worked on his computer, going over reports and requests that had filtered through his aid to him. Nothing spectacular going on aside from some basic run of the mill activities. Many things also needed to be completed on the bureaucratic side of things before his new Battlegroup could be properly commissioned, and his staff was working hard to see it happen soon.

His desk comm chimed and he hit a button to answer the call. His aid’s voice came over the speaker, “Sir, Captain @Thaliias’s shuttle has landed in the hangar bay.”

“Very good, ensign,” Burtch answered, “Have her sent up to my office immediately,”

He went back so reviewing some files, making sure not to commit too much to anything until the new officer arrived.

 

[Thaliias]

POLITICAL REGION: Elysium Empire’s Fleet
LOCATION: HMS Shi Cho, Commodore Burtch (Rhob’urt’chistagh)’s office
Objective: Thaliias (Mith’Alii’Astov) meets her Commanding Officer.
TAGS: [ @FCDR Burtch ]

Thaliias was not nervous; Chiss did not get nervous. She’d met many, many Commanding Officers in her time, so the ceremony and courtesy involved were well enough known to eliminate any concern of errors or embarrassment. Likewise, she’d spent some time studying the local ship builds, and reading up on the Empire’s formations. By any objective standards, she was well prepared for this meeting.

Yet a tension remained.

This was not the brother so often held up as the Chiss ideal; one who by all accounts might divine her secrets at a glance. No, this was the career naval officer; by all accounts fair, brave and loyal. So why the faint tremor, as she exited her shuttle and greeted the deck officer. Aware he would COMM his boss a soon as she was gone, she kept her greeting crisp and courteous. He politely assisted a Petty Officer to escort her, though she knew the way, of course.

Of course.

No matter how Thaliias studied the matter, she could not account for a strange weight in her stomach, or the way it took effort to put one foot in front of the other. The Petty Officer showed her immediately into Commander’s office, where an aide leapt to their feet, saluted, and then opened the door to the inner office for her.

It made a small smile appear; the Elysium Empire had clung to many old, formal traditions for its navy, Thaliias treasured each one. As she stepped through the portal, she came to a perfect attention, and gave a formal military courtesy to the new Commodore. Her uniform was as flawless as she was, the only slight deviation from military norm the long, flawlessly coifed hair that swept down her back. Allowed, because she had small micro droids to secure her hair within her helmet should there be a decompression event. A simple solution to maintaining her Chiss aristocratic heritage and military prudence. Should he object, of course, she would resort to the classical bun. Less elegant, but bearable.

“Sir,” A soft, pleasing alto that held the languid tones of someone confident any order they gave would be obeyed. “Line-Captain Thaliias, Mith’Alii’Astov, reporting for duty, Sir.” It was only as her true name rippled off of her tongue that Thaliias realized why there had been tension.

He was Chiss.

 

[Grand Shepherd Burtch]

Commodore Burtch stood from his chair and returned the salute. He hid his irritation at how Line-Captain @Thaliias’s hair was out of regulation. The rest of her uniform was up to perfect spec, but the uniforms were very new and not everyone in the navy had them yet. If she was to wear the new uniforms, she should be setting a flawless example, and even cultural deviations should be set aside until the example set in with the common officers. He would address this later, however.

On the other hand, he was also pleased to see a fellow Chiss in the Navy as one of his senior officers. With the destruction of Csilla, many refugees were struggling to find homes. The Elysium Empire, traditionally built by refugees, had taken Chiss in by the droves and had begun to build a Chiss subculture. Many had gravitated to the military out of a desire for revenge. Burtch was no exception and was happy to help his people.

“Thank you, Captain” he replied, abbreviating her rank, as was his privilege as a senior officer, “at ease, and please be seated. We have a lot to discuss.” Then he added in the Chiss language, “and may we be avenged after the loss of Csilla.”

He keyed up a small built in holoprojector in his desk with a file he had already prepared and switched back to his lightly accented Basic, “The main bulk of our Battlegroup, your personal ship included, is still undergoing preparations to be properly deployed as a unit. Mostly needing logistical things like software updates and command structure, but a small part of this unit is ready for action and I’m placing you in temporary command of that division until your own ship has finished preparations. You see here,” he gestured to the holo display, “are five ships. Three Val-Khaar Corvettes, one Makashi class light cruiser, and a Rectifier Class Heavy Cruiser. These are your command for the time being.” He keyed the holographic projector and the image changed to a map, covering a small area of their sector in the galaxy. “As you see, there is a cluster of asteroids just left of the Degobah system, half a parsec away. We suspect there is a band of pirates hiding in there and they have been disrupting our shipments. They need to be neutralized”

Thaliias

 

[Thaliias]

POLITICAL REGION: Elysium Empire’s Fleet
LOCATION: HMS Shi Cho, Commodore Burtch (Rhob’urt’chistagh)’s office
Objective: Thaliias (Mith’Alii’Astov) meets her Commanding Officer.
TAGS: [ Grand Shepherd Burtch ]

Thaliias didn’t stare … one did not stare at one’s military superior. But she stole quick glances of the pale, odd Chiss before her. Something in his stance spoke to her of both great burdens and a lack of the confidence endemic to their people. Had those pressures bleached his skin so? Had he been ill? Or was it the admittedly profound burden of struggling with a [ Keatoch ] young brother who was near perfect? Even Thaliias felt some concern upon that score, and she’d yet to meet the prodigy. Her own baby sister had suffered some of the same displacement, until Thaliias had smuggled her to safety.

Whatever unnatural, personal humility the Commodore may suffer from, his confidence in his own command skills. As was his purpose.

“Vengeance, Sir.” She averred, in the same ancient tongue.

Thaliias looked eagerly at the division entrusted to her, and she found the slight accent with which he spoke comforting. That, too, gave her much to consider. He was a man of both hidden depths and contradictions.

As was her division.

“They look solid, Sir. Well up to pirate hunting. Did you wish any alive? And is securing their supplies/ships part of the mission objective, or merely an option if the tactical situation presents itself?”

Spoiler

Ships in her division.
Val-Khaar Corvettes
* The Umbral Flame - Umbral Squad, 1 squadron of ST-Class Multirole Fighter (4 ships)
* The Burning Brand - 1 Freestar Transport , The Charred hope.
* The Blazing Wind - Lightening Squad, 1 squadron of ST-Class Multirole Fighter (4 ships)

Makashi class light cruiser
* The Storm Wind
* Marines: 110 (100 troops, 10 officers) - the 204th, “storm chasers”
* Starfighters: 3 squadrons of X-Class Elysium Fighter with 12 fighters each with fighter hangar modules
*Hammer Squad (senior)
*Skull Squad (veteran)
*Arrow Squad (recruits)
* Support Craft: 1 Squadron support swapped out for tanks, the Anvil Squadrn

Rectifier Class Heavy Cruiser.
Marines: 2200 (2000 enlisted, 200 officers)
* Viper Battalion
* Cobra Battalion
* 1 Squadron Support (4 ships)

 

[Grand Shepherd Burtch]

Commodore Burtch was pleased to see that Captain Thaliias was asking questions. A lot of his “senior” officers were actually quite new as the military was rapidly growing. Often this caused new “rising star” officers to avoid asking questions for fear of creating doubt in them. Also, her questions weren't “over the top” either to “show how smart” she was, but to clarify what she needed to know. That being said, not many Chiss were big on unnecessary questions anyways and Burtch was reminded of how happy he was to see more and more of his people in the navy.

He also noted her flitting eyes and he contained his frown. Suddenly he was reminded of why he didn’t like having other Chiss in the navy. Most other races simply saw him as a Chiss officer and the particulars usually stopped there. But when it came to others of his own species, it was not uncommon for people to notice his rather sickly pale blue skin and lack-lustre appearance. It was something that only Chiss, and most irritably, Pantorans caught about him. He hated that.

He brushed it off and pressed on, “Yes, they are good ships. And your command will be the first unit to utilize the Synergy combat formula in its completion. We have played with certain Synergy assets before, but we have had to improvise for the missing pieces prior to now. I trust you have studied up on the Synergy Tactical Formula?” He took the memory card out of his computer and sat it on the desk in front of Thaliias.

He then proceeded to answer her questions, “The mission will adhere to the following priorities: First priority is neutralization. They threaten our supplies and risk starvation to the fleet. Secondary is potential hostage lives. This is secondary to neutralization because we cannot afford starvation in our nomadic fleet. Our economy is growing, but our supplies are easily disrupted. If they have hostages, that cannot hold you back from eliminating the threat. Tertiary is intel. We don’t know much about them and what we do know comes from survivors of the convoys they raid. We were lucky to get their location. We know that they have composite starfighters and some old clone wars vintage gunship corvettes, but analysis of tactics suggests they may have more combatants in reserve. You will need to be careful, but swift. Letting them escape will be problematic. Completion of all three of these objectives will consider this mission a total success. Anything else would simply be an added bonus.”

 

[Thaliias]

POLITICAL REGION: Elysium Empire’s Fleet
LOCATION: HMS Shi Cho, Commodore Burtch (Rhob’urt’chistagh)’s office
Objective: Thaliias (Mith’Alii’Astov) meets her Commanding Officer.
Primary: Destroy enemy fleet. Secondary: Hostage rescue. Tertiary: Supplies.
TAGS: [ @FCDR Burtch ]
Forces: Thaliias’ Division

Thaliias’ luminous eyes were sharp, focused as Commodore explained that she was free to use their new tactical doctrine. She’d have preferred time to drill and work with her Captains before deploying, given the nature of the Synergy Combat Formula, but the bad guys weren’t going to cooperate.

“I have indeed been studying the new doctrine, Sir.” She’d have to run simulations starting the moment she left here, to be certain her captains had studied them, as well. The nature of her orders were difficult; given an option scum like this would run rather than accept defeat in detail. Eyes narrowed in thought, her hand traced an imaginary scenario on the curve of her thigh.

“Hmm. May I requisition false transponder codes of freighters, for my larger two ships? Maybe a real freighter, as well? Empty, we could pilot it through remotes. Then we have something they might well risk themselves for.” Unspoken, was that if her secondary or tertiary objectives could be achieved, she’d have transport on hand. Implicit in the request was the assumption that she would bring him total victory.

It was the Chiss way.

“Now, to draw them to us? Could our intelligence assets slip a ‘rumor’ of another supply run Commenor or Mandalore coming in into routine traffic?”

 

[Grand Shepherd Burtch]

Burtch listened to Line-Captain Thaliias as she quickly deduced an appropriate strategy to accommodate her own snap-analysis of the situation. It was good that she could think quickly, but he was concerned for her timing. In a briefing, he would have expected more questions from her regarding the situation, but he also knew of commanders that benefitted from a hasty response. Her speedy conclusions and responses were better suited to a battlefield reaction, which revealed her actual level of combat experience, which must be high. He would have to acclimatize himself to Thaliias's methods, and get her to accommodate his own. It all came down to command style, and he needed to get used to how his new subordinate officers thought and acted. He decided that he would take mental note of how well she conducted herself and perhaps cross reference that information with his brother's own analysis of her. His brother was always able to figure out things that he himself always missed.

For now, he would let her handle things her way and see what she was capable of, "I will whistle up the tech division and have them send you whatever you need. You will have your files beamed to your flagship of choice before you embark. That being said, we don't have the time or capacity to modify drive signatures, so you won't be able to hide what class of ships you are flying. Whatever you do, you'll have to work around that.

"Our 'intelligence', however, is hardly what you would call professional, unfortunately. That division is in bad need of development and the Admiralty has been focusing too much on interdictor ships and troops to put proper funds into a proper 'snoop' branch. I can talk to my Chief Quartermaster and see what she can whip for you as far as an intelligence leak goes. She's a pain, but she's damn good at what she does. She'll correspond with you and assure you that what she's doing is worth having confidence in. She's never let me down, trust me."

 

[Thaliias]

POLITICAL REGION: Elysium Empire’s Fleet
LOCATION: HMS Shi Cho, Commodore Burtch (Rhob’urt’chistagh)’s office
Objective: Thaliias (Mith’Alii’Astov) meets her Commanding Officer.
Primary: Destroy enemy fleet. Secondary: Hostage rescue. Tertiary: Information.
TAGS: [ @FCDR Burtch ]
Forces: Thaliias’ Division

Rhob’urt’chistagh, Commodore Urt, House Rhob, ranked as a Chitagh, watched her. He was, perhaps, better at hiding it than Thaliias was. Or perhaps it was instinct, that told her he measured every breath she took. How could he not? Such a task, he set into hands wholly unknown to him. Running her mind over anything else she might need to requisition as soon as possible, nothing yet came to mind. A covert glance at this walking contradiction made her think that perhaps a few questions would be answered.

Perhaps not?

He summarized which of her requests could be granted, and which could not. A tiny hesitation, a brief widening of the eyes revealed a mild and pleased shock that no artificial barriers had been raised. Whatever else might be true, the rumors that he was more dedicated to his duty and his professional calling than either personal advancement or vendettas appeared to be true.

The reveal that their Office of Military Intelligence was a bit behind was met only with a brief moment of stillness. She was too experienced a commander not to both deeply appreciate his warning and to feel the first stirrings of fear. “We’ll make do, sir.” It was the only possible response, after all.

A sharp, satisfied nod followed his recommendation of the his Quartermaster, though Thaliias glanced up, at his trust me, cool crimson eyes assessing him deeply for that one instant.

“Have you sensor data or force estimates on what we are up against, Sir? Did any of their victims survive to tell us of them?” It was not unusual for Pirates to be fatally thorough in eradicating evidence. A faint, flicker of unease. “The hostages … are they negotiating for payment? Or keeping them as prisoners and slaves?” It was a dirty, dreadful topic, but would give her some insight into the enemy commander’s mindset.

And insight into her commander, as well.

 

[Grand Shepherd Burtch]

Again, Burtch found himself wishing he had the same ability as his brother to dissect people and their behaviours into personality traits, strengths and weaknesses. He noticed that she had jumped to the assumption that there were hostages. Perhaps he had misspoken? Or perhaps she misheard him? It was good she had brought that up in a question so that he could straighten that out, but he was trying to get a read on her. Maybe he was trying too hard to be like his brother and glean an entire profile off of nothing?

He blinked hard to center his focus once more. Since his brother had come back into his life, Burtch was discovering that he was settling into old childhood habits of trying to be like Keatoch . He needed to remind himself that he did well enough for himself for over a decade when he had believed that Keatoch was dead.

He responded before his reverie turned into an awkward pause, “I feel I should clarify, sorry. I didn’t say that there were hostages. I meant to imply that if there were, they were secondary to neutralization. It’s not unreasonable to expect the pirates to take hostages. Pirates do so quite often. But if they have them and use them, that cannot stop you from eliminating them.” He didn’t bother pointing out that they had no intel on how this particular group would use hostages if they had them.

He moved on, “we have weak intel on their force composition. What we have is in the datacard I just gave you, but here is a basic overview;

“We know that they use two old Clone Wars Gunship Corvettes at any given time for their raids. The corvettes have matching drive signatures, which means they actively hide their numbers during their raids. They could anywhere from four to a dozen of those from our analysis of their cost-to-profits margins. You can thank my Chief Quartermaster for that little bit of info.

“They also have surprisingly well-built composite Starfighters. We can’t get a whole lot as far as specifics, but we do know that they have old TIE Interceptor wings, attached to an old B-wing rotating collar, which is wrapped around the aft of an old Z-95 Headhunter fuselage. Traditionally, Composite fighters, or ‘uglies’ if you will, are inferior to stock military models due to component compatibility alone. These, however,” he keyed up an image on his holoprojector, while simultaneously gesturing to Thaliias’s datacard as if to say this is on there too, “show no such weaknesses. Sensor data analysis with the aid of my Flag Captain tells us that the TIE interceptor wings are ingeniously integrated with the Headhunter fuselage through the B-wing rotating collar. Power shunting systems are un-hindered without sacrificing structural integrity and there is power to spare because they have both the reactor of the Headhunter and the solar panels of the TIE Interceptor to feed their systems. They actually outpace our X-class Elysium Starfighters according to data. However, they haven’t bothered to mask their drive signatures so we’ve determined that they have at least four dozen of them from previous footage and sensor data.

“Lastly, our tactical analysis, courtesy of Admiral Keatoch , suggests that they attack our shipments with a reserve force of something much larger within microjump range. Therefore, one can conclude that this pirate group is very professional and very efficient. They also must have something much bigger in reserve in case of emergencies.”

 

[Thaliias]

POLITICAL REGION: Elysium Empire’s Fleet
LOCATION: HMS Shi Cho, Commodore Burtch (Rhob’urt’chistagh)’s office
Objective: Thaliias (Mith’Alii’Astov) meets her Commanding Officer.
Primary: Destroy enemy fleet. Secondary: Hostage rescue. Tertiary: Information.
TAGS: [ @FCDR Burtch ]
Forces: Thaliias’ Division

Luminous, scarlet eyes turned back to the data before Thaliias, in the contemplative moment that Commodore Burtch permitted. What he was thinking, just then, she could not say. But there was something, something which made him seem more real, more vivid to her senses than most. He gave her an excuse to watch him again, explaining that while he did not know of any hostages, he still did not expect their existence to impact her mission.

A cold man, then. But had he been anticipating weakness upon her part, or carefully giving orders that covered her necessary decisions? The latter, she rather thought.

Listening intently, absorbing every detail, Thaliias was … impressed.

He knew ships, knew tech, and he knew precisely how difficult her task would be. A sharp nod, as she noted again how clever his quartermaster was. He’d loose her to ONI, if he wasn’t careful. But he’d know that.

Four to a dozen Clone Wars Gunship Corvettes. Clear strategic planning, an unknown reserve force, and at least 48 experimental, well-built composite Starfighters. Who could out run, likely out shoot and maybe out maneuver her own fighters.

“They don’t strike me as typical pirates, sir. This kind of coordination suggests a military remnant, a political interest group, or someone looking to settle down.” There were so many refugee fleets out there, abandoned as their political masters fled, that Thaliias could not even begin to guess who might be out here. That they turned on each other instead of uniting she could only deplore; but the step from naval officer pirates made them her targets, today.

“What strategic reserve or reinforcement is available on our side, Sir?”

 

[Grand Shepherd Burtch]

Burtch almost smirked as Line-Captain Thaliias made her observations on the pirates. She, having worked in Chiss space for many years, seemed to have narrowed her view of the strategic nature of the rest of the galaxy. Most beings with any military sense knew to stay away from anything Chiss related, so typically, only stupid pirates went after Chiss, historically speaking. But the rest of the galaxy was something else, “Contrary to what you must’ve experienced as an officer of the Chiss Ascendancy, most pirates nowadays are ex-military. With all the galactic nations rising and falling daily, many peoples don’t know any other way to make a living once their own faction falls. The only thing they lack is funds, typically, but they are often well trained, even if they are motley and from a melting pot of different backgrounds.”

He listened to her question regarding their own reserves and he actually felt a little ashamed. He hadn’t arranged for reserves of their own yet, but he should have. He was new as a commodore, and he should know better. But he had an idea. He subconsciously scratched the nape of his neck as he spoke, “We recently just commissioned a brand new Unity Star Destroyer called the Venom. Unfortunately most of our other ships are tied up in patrols or undergoing reconfigurations for the new synergy protocols. But much like your division, Venom and a couple Lancer-2 frigates were built with the new protocols upon launch and will be on standby for this mission” after I talk to Keatoch he added to himself. He had no doubts that Keatoch would approve.

“Otherwise,” he decided it was time to wrap things up, “unless you have more questions, you should get moving” he keyed off his holoprojector and almost forgot to add, “oh and about your hair. These uniforms are new, so I’d like you to set a flawless example of our officers until everyone has them. Don’t fix it now. It wouldn’t do well for one of my officers to be seen having her hair fixed after walking into my office. You can wait until you are on your shuttle to your new flagship. But otherwise, you present yourself fairly well.” Then he raised an eyebrow meaningfully, “let’s see how you do on your first mission as a Line-Captain.”

 

[Thaliias]

​

POLITICAL REGION: Elysium Empire’s Fleet
LOCATION: HMS Shi Cho, Commodore Burtch (Rhob’urt’chistagh)’s office
Objective: Thaliias (Mith’Alii’Astov) meets her Commanding Officer.
Primary: Destroy enemy fleet. Secondary: Hostage rescue. Tertiary: Information.
TAGS: [ @FCDR Burtch ]
Forces: Thaliias’ Division

The Commodore smirked; it was a good expression on him, revealing a hint of the personality he so firmly hid. Thaliias listened as he outlined the type of pirates the Elysium Empire typically dealt with. They sounded very much like warlords-in-waiting, making her extremely grateful for the reserves he had assigned her.

Collecting the data pads into a neat stack at his obvious dismissal, Thaliias’ luminous eyes widened as the Commodore dared to comment upon her hair. Anger stirred, contained to no more than flicker over the Commodore’s person as he further ordered her to not fix her hair now. The implications were not lost upon her … and she knew a moment’s satisfaction that her appearance was sufficient for him to anticipate troublesome implications.

The follow up insult, you present yourself fairly well, was calculated to let her know he did not agree with the common assessment, she suspected. Or to provoke her into a challenge. But the only outward sign of her annoyance was a flare to her nostris. Thaliias did nothing fairly well.

She was always excellent.

Her cool, aristocratic voice was utterly without inflection as she saluted and bid him farewell - but she did make sure perfect, flawless fall of her hair was fully insight as she exited his office.

The trip to her own command was spent studying and preparing, though the problem of how to … compromise … on her hair lurked.

 

[Grand Shepherd Burtch]

A Planetoid Just East Of Degobah

“Karking Hag to Bork-Off Squadron and Stang-it Squadron. We are starting comms jamming. Move ahead to the enemy convoy and disable enemy hyperdrives as quickly as possible. You know the drill” Captain Salvi muttered into the comm station on his Consular Corvette. His other corvette in the pirate group, the Giving A Kriff was tucked in right beside his own ship. The two vessels moved forward as their two squadrons of fighters advanced as ordered.

They had recieved word of this shipment from their usual sources and it had been good intel as usual. But the position of the convoy was precarious and a little tense. They had ordered extra backup on this one and they hoped they wouldn’t need it. The target convoy was attempting to pass through a gravity shadow to save fuel and time and was unable to jump. But this simultaneously left them exposed as they would also have to escape the gravity shadow in order to escape if things got too hairy.

But this shipment would be some good stuff this time. Doonium. It wasn’t their major goal in the grand scheme of things, but the nature of their raids lately would surely lead them to the big haul someday soon. They just needed to keep antagonizing the Empire while making smaller hauls to keep the hired hands happy. And this would be a good supplementary raid to keep them all happy until the big loot came around. And they boys were getting a little awnry as their takes weren’t measuring up to what was advertised. This would go a long way toward satiating them for now.

Captain Salvi, a Mon Calamari man in his fifties, looked out the window and observed the scenery. They were next to a rogue planetoid that orbited between two distant stars over many light years. The gravity shadow that held the convoy reached out far around them all. This put their little pirate group a long way away from the convoy, as close as their hyperdrives would allow. They had to cross the rest of the distance using sub light engines and catch the convoy before they could escape. Even now, beside the planetoid, all Salvi could see of the convoy were tiny dots drifting along the stars. Scans showed them being 150 kilometres away. Turbolazers could travel that far in a vacuum but targeting was never that effective for Consular Corvettes. Especially ones as old as his.

 

[Thaliias]

​

POLITICAL REGION: Elysium Empire’s Fleet
LOCATION: Planetoid Just East of Degobah
Objective: 1. Destroy enemy fleet. 2. Hostage rescue. 3. Information.
TAGS: [ Grand Shepherd Burtch ]
Forces: Thaliias’ Division

Line-Captain Thaliias studied the elegant top knot carefully. The sleek, black turtleneck that fit under her uniform jacket was flawless, the top knot well over the specified ‘two inches off of the collar’ in the regulations, and technically within the overall size requirements - Togruta and Twi’lek had to be accommodated, after all.

Sliding into her uniform jacket, appearance Flawless, she glided onto her command deck. This was the most dangerous watch, with her small ‘convoy’ of merchant vessels too far within the gravity well of the large asteroid to Hyper out. The enemy would have initiative, position, and velocity on her.

The Striking Serpent division had surprise, their new tactical doctrine … and Thaliias.

Force Commander Valla was not yet sure of her, but too professional to show that to his crew. That, he, too, had chosen to stand the night watch in order to be on hand was in indication of his competence. And his courage; He could have avoided this watch, and thus all responsibility for the coming action. A good man, then; loyal.

The HMS Bloodbath bumbled along in the sensor shadow of the large, empty merchant ship that had been coaxed or compelled into aiding her. The placement was the best way to help hide the warship’s drive signature whilst she pretended to be a merchant, too. Lagging a bit, as if from a distracted helmsman, came her three Val-Khaar Class Corvettes. The apparent bad positioning actually opened up firing arcs, as well as bringing the line slowly above the ecliptic, allowing the HMS Stormwind to achieve a better firing arc when the time came. The problem was, the Makashi class excelled at long range gunnery. But Thaliias could not risk a long range engagement. She had to draw the enemy as deeply into the gravity well as she could, to prevent them from breaking off and running once they knew what they were up against.

Due to time constraints, her fighters had already been launched for this passage, hiding behind her ships. When the enemy closed … they would not have to wait to launch her fighters in staggered waves, but could engage with sudden, overwhelming force.

Now she just had to see if they showed up.

Time crept by, one painful moment at a time, whilst she and the Captain made a show of small talk and calm unconcern. He might worth playing Pazaak with, given how well he could bluff. She felt it; a tickle, a tingle. A pathway opening.

With clam unconcern, she allowed her metal lined tea cup to snap into it’s magnetic holder, and turned her attention to the tactical board. Seconds later, threat signatures lit up across the board, burning through the sensor noise.

“Tactical, get my a read on those signatures. I need to know what we are facing. Communications, keep them confused as long as possible. We need them fully committed.” He met Thaliias’ gaze and she nodded approval of his orders. All according to plan, so far.

Her gaze turned to the single, glowing green arc upon the tactical map. Once the enemy corvettes crossed that invisible line in space, those ships could not break free without allowing her to bring all of her forces to bear.

The jamming hit momentarily, but her lager ships had laser comms as well as global. They had war gamed this scenario several times on their way here, and Thaliias could only hope that drill would pay off now that squadron command must devolve to the local level.

“Force Commander, use laser beams to sound Battle Stations through ought out our Division.” Running her gaze over the bridge crew Thaliias spoke again. “Our orders are to destroy their actual ships. To achieve this, we must accept some fire before turning on them.”

 

[Grand Shepherd Burtch]

(OOC note: the Consular Corvettes have ION torpedo racks where the giant forward escape pod used to be. Forgot to add that in my setup post earlier.)

The two squadrons raced forward towards the convoy as the two corvettes approached much more slowly. The fighters were getting close enough for effective medium range anti-fighter gunnery and the two Consular Corvettes were just now approaching their own effective turbolazer range. Captain Salvi watched his tactical screen as they closed in on the enemy with total comm silence. Then, the comm station lit up with the sound of the squad commander’s voice, with the distinctive ting of a tightbeam transmission, “Bork-Off lead to Karking Hag. Sir, we’re not seeing any ‘Lazy Pads’ and we should be under fire by now if the convoy transports had any turbolazers. I don’t like this. Could it be an ambush?”

Captain Salvi frowned at the use of slang over combat channels, but didn’t bother calling it out. “Lazy Pads” were a slang they had made up for the Val-Khaar Corvettes the Elysium Empire used. “Lazy” was sort of short for “Elysium”, and “Pad” was short for “Datapad” which is what the little Corvettes looked like to most people at a glance. It was normal for pirate culture to be a little lax with comm procedures, so even he indulged in the slangs over the comms, despite himself.

He considered the words of his fighter squadrons’ leader carefully. They had tangled with the odd Val-Khaar or Lancer-2 frigate before. They had never taken one down before, but they had on a couple of occasions managed to divert their attention while another unit nabbed a couple shipments. But the freighters they typically raided almost always had at least one or two ships with some defensive weapons mounted for deterrence. By now, in this particular setting at least, they should be firing on Salvi’s fighter squadrons to whatever effect possible.

But if this was an ambush, it might be a good thing…

“Understood, Commander, and it could be.” Salvi replied, “Are there any ‘Fat Ladies’ in there?”

“Not that I can see sir” the pilot replied right away, a little annoyance bleeding into his tone, “if there are any, we can’t see past the transports. What do you want us to do, sir?”

“Try to get a view around the sensor shadows.” Salvi responded quickly and confidently, “Split your two squadrons into six fights of four and break 90 degrees into different vectors, 60 degrees apart. Keep separating your ships until you can get a solid view behind the transports and nothing substantial can hide behind them. If they don’t have any escorts, this will be easy, but if they have any ‘Fat Ladies’, we’re in for a real treat!” He narrowed his eyes into a Mon Calamari smile. He didn’t have any “magic powers” but he had a good feeling about this. “If it’s anything else, we’ll just break off and head back to base.”

His two corvettes surged onward, already well within their own effective firing range. He decided to wait and see what his own fighters turned up before he would start shooting. He turned to his helmsman, “Stay on course. If this is an ambush, our fighters will need close gunship support.”

He wasn’t particularly compassionate towards his fellow pirates, but he knew it was bad business to mindlessly sacrifice hired hands, or to leave them hanging on a whim. They never had trouble finding skilled personnel to staff their ships before and there was a reason for that.

 

[Thaliias]

​

POLITICAL REGION: Elysium Empire’s Fleet
LOCATION: Planetoid Just East of Degobah
Objective: 1. Destroy enemy fleet. 2. Hostage rescue. 3. Information.
TAGS: [ Grand Shepherd Burtch ]
Forces: Thaliias’ Division

The new composite fighters streaked towards her formation, a threat in their own right. But classically, merchants didn’t have the targeting and tracking capacity of her own, military grade vessels. The moment she lit the up with fire control, they’d know she had military vessels. So she waited with polished calm, concealing the anguish of knowing her decisions were sending her own people to their deaths.

The fighters entered medium range; their lock up on her ships would be good, even when she stared squealing ECM to distort their sensors. She watched the two Consular Corvettes slip pass that green arc on her plot. Almost as they did so, the incoming fighters broke into six 4-ship squads, designated FA1 through FA6 on her plot. Sweeping out in 60 degree arcs, on wildly divergent vectors, a tactic around her own sensor shadow. A fierce, delay smile flared.

It was time.

COMM to All: ⌁ Enemy Consular Class Vehicles. This is Elysium Empire Task Force AP-001, Line Captain Thaliias Commanding. You are all condemned as pirates, and sentenced to death by intergalactic law. If you immediately cut power to all systems, you will be boarded, arrested and offered a fair, impartial trial. You have 10 seconds to comply. ⌁

It would take that long to go from passive to active sensors, anyway; the time limit itself a promise of her intent to destroy them utterly. They had no time to debate; each captain, from starfighter to Consular would need to make a choice.

“Light ‘em up, Fire Control. Tactical, signal full Shields for all ships. Captain, have all Fighter Squadrons take bogies FA1-FA3 using a V-formation. Support with short range fire from this ship. The Val Khaar ships are weapons free; target FA4-FA6, then help clean up whoever’s left. I want overwhelming force on those composite fighters.”

“Bloodbath and Stormwind, commence battle plan ‘the bigger they are.’”

It was up to her Captains now. Down to gunnery crews and Tactical Officers, technological superiority and subtle psychological warfare. With light-speed weapons in play mere Human reactions could to little more than set the stage.

Thaliias settled back into her chair, waiting for the death she’d unleashed to come to fruition.

Spoiler

All ships roll and lock up targets. Begin broadcasting ECM to impede enemy fire control, and do our best to block coms with no dedicated Jamming equipment.

Hammer, Skull and Arrow fighters begin entrapment maneuver to trap FA1-FA3 against the heavy 12 Heavy Short Range Double Barbette CompositeTurbolazer Turrets of the HMS Blooodbath. the remaining fighter screen (8 more) close off their retreat.

3 Val Khaar-class ships open fire on FA4 - FA6, maneuvering as needed to eliminate them.

HMS Stormwind locks up the Bork-Off, firing at their engines. She accelerates hard ‘north’ and ‘east’ of the bogies, seeking to cut off their closet escape to Hyperspace.

HMS Blooodbath fires remaining batteries at Karking Hag, again targeting engines, accelerating ‘south’ and ‘west’ to bracket the enemy.

The maneuver is not designed to separate the two larger ships beyond their ability to coordinate and support each other.