Shoring up the Border | Galactic Alliance

[Trextan Voidstalker]

​

[SIZE=10.5pt]With the ongoing war between the First Order and the Galactic Alliance spurring skirmishes all along the border, the Galactic Alliance has decreed a new measure to advance and enhance the defenses of all border worlds. Those classified as Cresh level will be reevaluated to be increased one, two, or even up to four levels of defenses. It is a highly expensive endeavor, one that they were including several Alliance friendly corporations to aid with.[/SIZE]

​

[SIZE=10.5pt]Implementations involved adding additional GADF Task Forces, installation of planetary shields, the towing in of orbital defense stations, and a mass array network of early warning hyperspace probes and stealth scouting fleets set on cluing in any movement from the First Order.[/SIZE]

​

[SIZE=10.5pt]This involved heightened custom protocols and border checks, as well as the installations of several SIS and highly specialized Spec Op Marine and first response bases along the Corellian Trade Spine Lothal, Kro Var, Manpha, Terminus, Saijo, Polis Massa, Subterrel, Skor, Askaj, Porchello, Javin, Belsavis, Kriselist, Bomis Koori, Tar Modea, Noc'ha'on, Copperline, Pendari, Kinyen, Mooja, Mechis, Kiffex, and along down the Rimma Trade Route, and back down the Hydian Way. [/SIZE]

​

[SIZE=10.5pt]The ultimate goal, to situate these into Besh, Aurek, Double Aurek, and even a few Triple Aurek worlds for the ongoing battle against the First Order. [/SIZE]

​

​

GADF Security Protocols

1. Adding additional GADF Task Forces, installation of planetary shields, the towing in of orbital defense stations.
2. The addition of expanding the mass array network of early warning hyperspace probes and stealth scouting fleets.
3. The addition of SIS and GADF special missions for infiltrating nearby planets Anoth and Faldos.

Company Contracts and Sponsorships available

1. Neutral to light side companies may aid in providing resources to the Alliance through services and manufacturing. Contract starts at the completion of a full story with minimum five posts and sponsorships with a minimum of 15 posts.

Merchant Fleets and Smuggling Runs

1. The hiring of blockade runners and merchant fleets along the border of the First Order and Alliance space have made for privateer 'Letter of Marque' against First Order ships and known establishments.

 

[Kaiden Rohn]

Under Violet Skies
Objective 1, Post 1

He brought his knuckle back, and brought it across the mark's face. Again. And again. He wasn't doing it because he wasn't talking- he was doing it because he wanted to. The knuckle dusters went to work on his face. He was beating him in an alley. He already got what he wanted out of the man. He was a small-time dealer. Didn't need a bullet for this guy. A beating would give him the message. He slapped him hard enough to knock him out- and when he woke up, maybe he'd have a different viewpoint on life. Street dealers had suppliers. Suppliers had connections. Connections knew a distributors. Distributors knew transporters. Transporters and up- they were in contact with the boss. A Hutt. A Hutt was tough to kill. That's what the slugthrower was for.

Hutts bled just as easy as everyone else.

And he was going to make them bleed.

Clad in lowly, non-marked attire, Kaiden began to trot where the dealer had told him to go. A local warehouse that was owned by a shell company. Classic move. There, he was going to play his part. Another war. Another lone wolf type deal. No team. No backup. No voice in his ear. No armor- no Republic. No friends. No lovers. Just him and the gun.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Anoth
BYOO: Establish an Aurora facility to study the planet's unique gravitational situation

Anoth had such a curious history, one that had interested Taeli enough to green light an expedition to the planet. The strange gravitational situation that was Anoth, with the three chunks of the planet being closely kept together, was of interest to her and her research teams. Understanding it might help develop new technologies, ranging from terraforming to mining to any other number of things.

Lorson Frast had been assigned the mission to establish a research station on the habitable part of Anoth, and it was a mission he was extremely grateful in accepting. As the transport approached the site designated for the facility, he was letting his excitement show. He had always been fascinated with gravity, and to get a chance to study such a phenomenon was such a treat. He had plans for some designs, after studying other events such as the anomaly at Asmeru, but he wanted more research before presenting those designs to Miss Raaf and Jaxson.

"Touch down in five."

 

[Aver Brand]

1
Location: Faldos > Sith Station
[member="Tai Fa"]

She had two major business these days, if one could call them that. A death dealer, in all respects of the word: she sold efficient murder with experienced hands, and she sold drugs, and arms, and everything else that sentient species were so proficient at abusing with intent to hurt one another, or, indeed, themselves.

Today, she was here for both those reasons. As said: efficient.

One, this feathery dude had reached out through [member="Maleagant"]. Funny guy, looked like, but his proposal seemed reasonable. Aver had been eyeballing this region of space for some time; not so much because she wanted to move in on the territory, but because the local cartels were moving into hers. It was better to nip any potential threats in the bud, the merc firmly believed.

So she’d accepted the job, looked easy as could be. Shoot a couple smugglers in the noggin, enough to put the fear o’ Nadir in them. Good stuff. On the side, she’d take care of her own interests, put their network of shadowlanes to good use in distribution of her own product.

Did I say efficient?

 

[Cathul Thuku]

OOC: Since I will be telling the story from the viewpoint of a NPC accompanying Cathul proper, I will be using it for laminanium.

Location: Faldos
Objective: Navy
Allies: GA and friends
Enemies: Pirates
Post: 1/25

- BATTLE MEDITATION ACTIVATED -​

These past few weeks were rough on Cathul: the enemy has been chasing Therapy Command all over the place: first medvac on Polis Massa and then a fleet engagement on Asmeru. Naval intelligence indicated that there was a Rogue Imperial squadron raiding Faldos, so she hastily took what ships she had, her temporary flagship being brought in from Barkesh. However, with Julie gone, Cathul will have to use battle meditation herself, and let someone else take command. That someone was to be Tanith Helium: while on Kaeshana, Tanith was on the bridge of the Excubitor, she missed out on the Tython campaign because she was assigned as backup on Coruscant. This was to be her first sortie as a flag officer - and also the Trial of Skill since Tanith was still a padawan: Commodore Helium was now nested in the Legendary's CIC while Cathul was nested in the nearby ready room. Both Tanith and Cathul remembered the lesson Julie told them about battle meditation as applied to fleeting, despite Tanith not being powerful enough to even contemplate learning it: battle meditation has three rings, and using it while the enemy is in the middle ring is less efficient than the inner and outer rings. Tanith knew that Cathul was a lot more powerful than Julie, but Julie was the one with battle meditation experience.

"If our intelligence is correct, Rogue Imperial forces are laying in wait here" the sensor technician told Tanith.

"Activate the interdictor field: we will engage them from long-range and Cathul is there to provide us with both Force-EWAR and Force-ELINT" Tanith told the sensor technician.

"What do you mean, the admiral is providing Force-EWAR and Force-ELINT? I'm not a space wizard" the gunnery chief asked Tanith.

"Force-sight is the Force-power she uses for Force-ELINT: she is vastly better at that than I am, battle meditation is our Force-EWAR because it makes the enemy more confused"

Therapy Command:

Spoiler

Capital ships:

ANS Legendary (Stalwart-class heavy cruiser)
ANS Lothal (Lothal-class artillery cruiser)
ANS Aleen (Lothal-class artillery cruiser)

Attack craft:

48 B/E-3 B-Wings
30 D-Wings

Rogue Imperial forces:

Spoiler

Capital ships:

Occupation (Victory-II heavy cruiser)
Brutality (Victory-II heavy cruiser)
Sacking (Victory-II heavy cruiser)

Attack craft:

72 TIE/LN fighters

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Location: Faldos
Allies: [member="Aver Brand"]

In truth Lord Fa was not an immense fan of mercenaries.

Usually they were undisciplined rabble at best and a liability at worst, but [member="Maleagant"] had been quite positive about his recommendation and if there was one person Tai trusted for their judgement, it would be the Shi'ido. Humbarine was growing by the day, but in the last few weeks the Thirriken had been made aware of a troubling development. Some of the workers had started to come in late or not at all, which meant that the shipyards was being delayed.

After some investigations his people found out that a new smuggler element was active within the sector. Using the new-found activity and flow of trade in and out of the Humbarine Sector, they were smuggling in drugs and peddling them to the workers.

This was unacceptable, of course.

Which is why Tai had managed to track them down to Faldos. Where, with the assistance of Aver, he was committed to ending their threat to his business.

 

[Aver Brand]

2
Location: Faldos > Sith Station
[member="Tai Fa"]

Boots on the table, brush in her grip. Disassembled gun parts beside her, the steady sweep of hard bristles along the metal. Weapon maintenance was important. Didn’t matter jack shet if you were a good shot when your blaster jammed. But regular cleaning required discipline, which of course most mercenaries lacked.

That was because most mercs used to be soldiers in a standing army, then left exactly because of the rules. Aver had never minded the rules so much as the man giving them. That, and she’d capped out. Nothing left to do but shank the man in charge, and she’d never seen the point of doing that if there weren’t massive gains involved.

Instead, she’d torched a planet, planted a corpse, and got on with her life.

She was freer these days, in so much as a killer could be free. Many Jedi would expect her to spend sleepless nights mulling on her weighed conscience, but sadly they would be surprised to learn that she slept just fine. Especially recently, after clearing a minor – and regretful – hurdle.

“You,” she said, raising her voice, “how do you know Mal?”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Location: Faldos
Allies: [member="Aver Brand"]

While Aver was busy cleaning out her equipment Tai Fa was busy with more... artful things.

A brush was making sweeping gestures on a small flimsiplast and dark ink was left in its wake. The creation wasn't a sweeping landscape or a portrait, instead it were simple geometrical shapes that twisted into each other over and over again. It was a technique to calm nerves and sharpen the focus, especially before a battle.

A ritual so to speak.

"My friend Maleagant? ​

He once tried to steal from me.​

It did not go well."​

​

"We came to good terms."​

In truth Tai did not care much about making conversation with this one.

Pain radiated from her in high volumes, echoes and screams, agony, red tears streaking past. This was one who reveled in debauchery and had little control - or rather, did not care enough to keep control.

"How about you then?" He inquired politely.​

 

[Aver Brand]

3
Location: Faldos > Sith Station
[member="Tai Fa"]

The merc quirked a brow, and her mouth followed – flipsided grin, flipside apocalypse. “I had something he wanted,” she shrugged. “Sold it to him at a fair price.”

Aver smiled. Credits were nice, but she’d never wanted for those. Money wasn’t hard to come by in her business, not when you were that high up. Favors, equipment, information… all much more valuable than a frakking credit chit.

Even here, today, her real payment wasn’t going to be creds. It was going to be the connections, the network, the people. Sure, she was going to have to kill plenty of people to convince them it was better for their health and profit to stand with her rather than against her. Sure she was going to bite and yell and nurse a blaster burn or two. Maybe a broken rib if the fight got real fun.

But if you don’t bleed for it, it’s never worth it.

“ETA?”

 

[Cathul Thuku]

Location: Faldos
Objective: Navy
Allies: GA and friends
Enemies: Pirates
Post: 2/25

- BATTLE MEDITATION ACTIVATED -​

The artificial gravity well of the Legendary was activated, forcing the rogue imperial squadron to drop out of hyperspace and cut short its attempt to off-system, well outside standard turbolaser range but still, somehow, within long-range turbolaser range. Tanith knows that Cathul is feeding her information about the ships (and not simply because they both fought VD-Xs on Kaeshana), while the enemy fighter screen is being deployed. Also because they feel the Legendary is the main obstacle for their escape off-system, the Rogue Imperials understandably fired all their long-range firepower at them. But, at that range, the enemy firepower fell pretty sharply: that was the disadvantage of not consolidating more turbolaser tubes, and Tanith knew it. Also with little point-defense, the enemy will be taking hits. Ouch, that was not going to be pretty: Tanith is not fazed by this attack. But she knew that the enemy will want to aim for the gravity well projectors.

"Here's the trick: the enemy is at long range, the only missile fire that will work is the MIRVs we have. All units, aim for the command tower and the engines of the nearest enemy ship"

"The enemy is deploying fighter screens"

"Something's not right... they appear to be using the protocol and hardware of our enemies, but what could cause them to go rogue from that particular enemy? Deploy all fighter squadrons"

Therapy Command:

Spoiler

Capital ships:

ANS Legendary (Stalwart-class heavy cruiser) medium shield damage
ANS Lothal (Lothal-class artillery cruiser)
ANS Aleen (Lothal-class artillery cruiser)

Attack craft:

48 B/E-3 B-Wings
30 D-Wings

Rogue Imperial forces:

Spoiler

Capital ships:

Occupation (Victory-II heavy cruiser) heavy shield damage
Brutality (Victory-II heavy cruiser)
Sacking (Victory-II heavy cruiser)

Attack craft:

72 TIE/LN fighters

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Location: Faldos
Allies: [member="Aver Brand"]

The deal was pretty clear-cut and straightforward.

Aver would assist him with rooting out this den and in exchange she could do with the remnants as she wished. Tai assumed that she was going to integrate it into her organization. This was acceptable to him, as long as the dirt was kept out of Humbarine. At least for the moment.

What happened to it later?

That wasn't a concern of Tai. He wasn't a babysitter and didn't practically mind what adults were doing to themselves, as long as the job they had been hired to do would get done.

Once it was finished? It was finished.

"Five more minutes, yes." Tai responded after consulting his chronometer.​

​

The shuttle shuddered as it broke through the atmosphere and the pilot started to navigate it to its direction. It was a localized compound in the mountains, if his intel was correct.

 

[Cathul Thuku]

Location: Faldos
Objective: Navy
Allies: GA and friends
Enemies: Pirates
Post: 3/25

- BATTLE MEDITATION ACTIVATED -​

"Lower the gravity well projector shields! I have a plan"

With the enemy closing in, and the shields around the gravity well projectors, that is, the aft shields, being lowered, the enemy decided to deploy all their fighters in an attempt to destroy the gravity well projector shields. If it worked according to Tanith's plan, the enemy would seize that opportunity and send their fighters at it, knowing that turbolasers at that range are too imprecise to hit gravity well projectors while avoiding fighters, especially not with Cathul still somehow holding steady while using battle meditation, doing it because Julie's contract was over. Meanwhile, the Lothal fired its own dumb-fired long-range weapons at the Brutality while the Occupation is taking fire from everyone else, as the Alliance squadron enters range of what Cathul called the middle ring of battle meditation. But the enemy not having reached point-defense range, it was mostly a question of the fighter screen moving in to engage the enemy fighter formation. In the distance, however, the Occupation lost some hull pieces, hitting the other ships next to them.

Therapy Command:

Spoiler

Capital ships:

ANS Legendary (Stalwart-class heavy cruiser) heavy shield damage
ANS Lothal (Lothal-class artillery cruiser) light shield damage
ANS Aleen (Lothal-class artillery cruiser)

Attack craft:

44 B/E-3 B-Wings
28 D-Wings

Rogue Imperial forces:

Spoiler

Capital ships:

Occupation (Victory-II heavy cruiser) light hull damage
Brutality (Victory-II heavy cruiser) moderate shield damage
Sacking (Victory-II heavy cruiser) light shield damage

Attack craft:

61 TIE/LN fighters

 

[Aver Brand]

4
Location: Faldos > Sith Station
[member="Tai Fa"]

“Good.”

She was sitting, and then she was up – no organic transition, just a switch from 0 to 1. Dexterous fingers assembled the parts into a fully working blaster well under any record held by practiced marksmen. For her size and bulk, her opponents assumed that she would be slow in turn.

Without fail, they paid for the mistake with their lives.

Checking, double checking. Every piece of gear was in order, every weapon firmly in its place. “Ready,” she said, eyeing the stoic bird. He looked even slimier than his ratattaki associate, which was an impressive achievement in and of itself. When you worked in the underworld long enough, you began to recognize that stink of corruption.

No matter what kind of pretty polish you slapped onto it, the stuff beneath was still rotten.

“So, tell me,” she spoke again as she strolled over to the airlock. “How’s a clean businessman like you work with a snake like Mal?”

Already she could see the peaks in the distance, emerging from the gray veil of clouds as they lost height. Looked like a good spot to hide, if you happened to be a smuggler of illicit substances.

 

[Cathul Thuku]

Location: Faldos
Objective: Navy
Allies: GA and friends
Enemies: Rogue Imperials
Post: 4/25

- BATTLE MEDITATION ACTIVATED -​

"The Occupation is faltering: however, our shields are down" the sensor techician reported.

"Fire all missiles at the Occupation: all other units, split your fire between the remaining two cruisers!"

"We are taking hull damage, near the gravity well projectors" the chief engineer reported.

Now that the enemy was within assault concussion missile range, and not simply because the Alliance ships were faster than the Rogue Imperials, the Occupation is in for a world of hurt. The Rogue Imperials get shot down like it's nobody's business: clearly they must have recruited their fighter pilots from some equivalent facility to the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy (in terms of piloting, probably Sith-operated, known to be substandard for years, including but not limited to, Midvinter) to Cathul's eyes. Cathul's Force-energy began to drain, and she knew it: nevertheless even in the middle ring, battle meditation still amounts to something. By now they have their vulnerabilities, they still have the limited point-defense, so Tanith would be willing to use and deploy the bombers to do just that: exploit the weakness of the enemy point-defense and rain poodoo under the form of proton rockets. Oh, of course, the volume of enemy return fire has decreased somewhat because the Occupation has taken heavy damage...

"Commence bombing run! Each group of D-Wings will be assigned one squadron of B-Wings, while the remaining fighters will come at the enemy TIE fighters from behind"

"Must we attempt to capture the enemy destroyer?" the chief security officer asked Tanith.

Therapy Command:

Spoiler

Capital ships:

ANS Legendary (Stalwart-class heavy cruiser) light hull damage
ANS Lothal (Lothal-class artillery cruiser) medium shield damage
ANS Aleen (Lothal-class artillery cruiser) medium shield damage

Attack craft:

39 B/E-3 B-Wings
25 D-Wings

Rogue Imperial forces:

Spoiler

Capital ships:

Occupation (Victory-II heavy cruiser) heavy hull damage
Brutality (Victory-II heavy cruiser) light hull damage
Sacking (Victory-II heavy cruiser) heavy shield damage

Attack craft:

61 TIE/LN fighters

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Location: Faldos
Allies: [member="Aver Brand"]

For a moment the Thirriken did not respond to her.

Instead he watched over the peaks towards their eventual destination. It was difficult sometimes, to rationalize his association with some of his associates... most of which was Thengil, really. But regardless of what Maleagant wasn't, he was trustworthy in all the respects that were important.

Stable, unassuming and intelligent, what more did Tai really need from an associate?

"Maleagant, a snake?​

I wouldn't say that at all.​

Staunch and stalwart? Yes."​

​

Of course, the Thirriken did not have any illusions about Maleagant's cowardice. Which was a shame - but nobody could be truly perfect. What mattered most was that he was reliable... even in his unreliability, which was something that Tai Fa could work with at the end of the day.

 

[Aver Brand]

5
Location: Faldos > Sith Station
[member="Tai Fa"]

snort

“The day that guy is staunch and stalwart— that’s the day you’ll see me heading up the frakking Jedi Council.” She shook her head. “Stalwart my ass, frak.”

The ship gave a small shudder, flying low enough to dip and bob on the waves of turbulence. Aver maintained her footing with ease and cheating. Praised be magboots. She glanced over at the businessman… well, she glanced down.

“And shet, are you short or what. Wait— do you even fight?” She gave him a critical once-over. He was probably fast, yeah, but those feathers… the mercenary frowned. Then she leaned over Tai Fa, grinning a grin with far too many teeth.

“Couldn't hit above the belt even if you wanted to, could you?”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Aver Brand"]

With amusement Tai looked on as Aver went into a fit about his choice of words.

It was a shame that she wasn't aware of Maleagant's more redeeming qualities, but neither did the Thirriken truly care enough to make a point out of it. Perhaps if it had been Thengil, but at the end of the day he wasn't sure what the working relationship was between this mercenary and Mal. Maybe they were friends to a degree. If so then Mal would probably not be pleased with him, if Tai caused this one to eat the durasteel they were standing on. Instead there was simply silence in return as his attention shifted back towards the view port and the closing mountains.

At least until Aver brought his height up.

An eyebrow rose just a fraction, before the slightest of shrugs of little shoulders happened.

"Oh dear, my Miss Brand.​

Is this an offer perhaps?​

Perch on your shoulder?"​

​

"I accept of course."​

​

Tai never considered his height an issue and considering he wrestled rancors on a monthly basis, just to keep his training up in terms of strength enhancement? There wasn't much there to compensate for, in fact he usually used his stature and size as a weapon of its own kind. Sentients truly loved to try and underestimate him because of it.

And Lord Fa loved taking advantage of that underestimation.

 

[Aver Brand]

6
Location: Faldos > Sith Station
[member="Tai Fa"]

She laughed out loud this time, shrugging.

“If you want to, be my guest. Stick to the left one though.” Her right arm needed to be entirely free of any bird-shaped burdens, lest she wield her lightsaber with sub-par skill. And that’d be a shame, because heads did fly something fierce when Aver put her heart into it.

The size difference really was ridiculous though. With her combat boots and armor on, the merc was just about two meters tall – twice the size of the ball of feathers squawking at her side.

“Where do you hide a blaster in that?” she asked as the ship descended, clearly heading for a short stretch of even ground in the middle of the rocky slopes. The craggy surface was dusted white, like a particularly dark chocolate cake with a touch of powdered sugar.

Feth. She was hungry.

Aver bit back an annoyed groan and readied the environmental seals for the inhospitable weather outside. Sensors were reading strong bursts of wind, and as soon as the ramp opened, the merc could hear it too. It was frakking howling.

“Well, Fa, I got bad news,” she said as she stepped outside, voice flat. Her boots crunched in the virgin snow, reaching halfway up to her knee.

“Looks like your feathers are getting ruffled.”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Aver Brand"]

"Oh?" There was renewed strength in that squawk of his now. Diplomacy and refinement had their use, but at the very end of the day there was one thing that was universally respected across the board: power. It could be something as subtle as being able to crash a planet's economy with the flick of a pen or something as rough as breaking the spine of a Krayt Dragon with the twist of a wingspan. Both approaches had their merits, but both approaches were also vastly dependent on the situation at hand. In this particular one...

Tai Fa chose power.

Together with Ashin Varanin he had braved the acidic waters of Recopia... simply wading through that liquid without having his feathers burn off. What was a little wind in the face of that?

Already his presence in the Force rolled out - it was not a secret that Tai Fa was force sensitive, after all his PR machine had been running in full force after the events on Ryloth - but there was strength and there was power. His inner focus expanded into the external and a blue hue shone slightly when light cascaded on it, a barrier that only pushed out half a centimeter from the ends of his clothes.

He stood there next to her as wind buffeted against them, but his clothes and feathers and mannerisms were unaffected by it or the wind.

"I think I will be fine." Tai retorted, before pushing himself lightly off the snow and with a twist of his body assumed his perching position on her left shoulder. "We may proceed."

 

[Aver Brand]

7
Location: Faldos > Sith Station
[member="Tai Fa"]

Could feel it radiating off him, the Force. Didn’t quip about it though, because Aver Brand was, for all intents and purposes, a simple merc. Strong and fast and sometimes competent to a frightening degree – but still merely human.

The gale screamed around them as she marched forward. Mostly it seemed to be screaming in vain, because neither of the unlikely pair were slowing down. With the myriad sensors, overlays, and visual modes stuffed into her helmet, Aver had little trouble picking out the only trace of warmth in the otherwise desolate mountain range. The not-so-abandoned station lay up ahead, only a short climb from the platform where they landed.

One small problem though – automatic turrets hidden in the nooks of the rock. Soon as they came into range, those things would start spewing hails of laser fire. Provided they were still operational, of course.

Not the best situation to rely on chance.

The merc stopped and poked the bird in his bony little leg. ˝Turrets. Two and ten o’clock, in those outcroppings. Ideas?”