Public &nbsp; The old croc (RTL)

Aeshi Tillian

The Buzzard had been returned largely intact save for a few dings and minor damages to the exterior.

Nothing it had to be torn apart to repair from her flight with RTL to root out pirates. The whole incident making her wonder if she should take the debt and upgrade the Skiptown while it was at the foundry.

The thought far from her mind as she picked over wiring harness in the nose section once more to see if anything had been crosswired during the repair.

"Skid. I think it's good." Her hand reaching down and prodding the place she thought the oil rag had been to wipe her hands on. "Enable power, I'll see if there's-"

A sharp and worried trill from the droid making her jump and smack her head against an exposed support beam.

"What's what!? What are you-!?" Words cut short as she slid out from beneath the Buzzard's nose and squinted against the sudden light.

Behind that light, even at a distance lumbered the large and triangular shape that nearly everyone in the galaxy instinctively knew.

"Ahh feth." Resignation heavy in her tone as she lifted the nose plate back into place and fumbled more times than she cared to admit trying to secure it back into place.

"Skid! Hop in! Guess it's a field test." The plate back into place as she secured the straps of her flight suit and opened the cockpit.

The little droid locked into place after what felt like eons as the ship powered up. Systems green across the board as switches were engaged, the repulsor systems making an awful mess inside the ill prepared garage for a sudden move.

"Oh I hope that's friendly." A silly thing to hope for as she spied little dots around it. Another vessel cast its shadow across the planet however, something she'd gotten a bit more familiar with through the scopes of the Buzzard as a League Friendly warship.

Bloodscrawl had brought it. A name she was still getting accustomed to hearing around League spots but seemed he was sticking around. And thankfully the vessel he'd brought was in place to meet the new faces.

The starfighter was slow to amble safely outside the rolling doors, repulsors feeling sluggish at first before a jolt sent her farther ahead than intended.

Correcting her course, she visually checked the area for others.

A plus finding a place others had turned their nose up at so far from the bigger city was less restrictions on airspace she supposed. Patching into the local comms turned into a nightmare quickly as voices scrambled back and forth to confirm what was happening.

A sigh escaped her before the Buzzard slowly rose enough to engage the engines, pitching the nose up in a lazy arc before streaking towards space.

Corbin Vasher · May 4, 2023

STARSHIP: Tra'tena SPEEDER: Burbr ARMOR: Burbr'Katya Mk II
WEAPONS: Ravenfire - Burbr'sacitr - Burbr'sacitayr - Nuhaatyc'bedtr - Gaan'sacitadr - Dueling Blades

"So, what do you think?" Corbin asked Rufus and Faolan, the President and CEO of his company Force-Tech, respectively. He was showing them a large holo scale he had painstakingly designed of a large factory ship.

"It's... Big. Will take a while to build. We'll have to build pieces to reassemble later. This will be a humongous endeavor, if we decide to go through with it. This is even crazier than that prototype droid you built only to end up giving away," Rufus replied.

"The Force called to him to it, I can't argue with that. A kriffing Shard appears out of nowhere after all this time? Besides, I built it myself and paid for all the materials myself. That was a personal expense, so your say doesn't matter."

"Regardless," Faolan responded. "I do think this is a good idea in the long run. It would really boost our output and cost effectiveness, but can we afford this right now? We have to make sure this doesn't bankrupt the company."

"No need to worry. I can provide some of the material myself and get others at good prices, thanks to some connections and bulk purchases. like Rufus said, we build in sections, focusing on one section every quarter, every two if we need to. Honestly, we could probably afford to build the things in one go if I chipped in out of pocket. But no need to strain our workers like that."

They both nodded. "All right, let's see to it."

"I'll see to the machine conversion. Shouldn't take long. Two weeks at most, then we can get production started."

"And I'll take care of the orders and make sure they're here in that time." They shook hands as the meeting concluded.

Corbin was headed out the door when his comm pinged. "Talk to me."

"Vasher, Sir, there seems to be a problem..."

"Well, I'm listening, spit it out."

"A fleet of what appears to be First Order ships has appeared in orbit, Sir."

"Wait, what!? First Order!?"

"Yes, Sir. I was told to notify you. Need to have all... your people to be on stand by in case. Nathan Bloodscrawl is commanding the Long-Cold-Dark and has hailed them to find out what their intentions are."

Bloodscrawl commanding a ship? He hadn't been much paying attention to ranks and what people were doing lately, having been engrossed in his designing and creating, but that was a shocker. Cosmic Force, this is above me... he thought. "Very well. I'll let my workers know. We'll be prepared for defense if you need us."

TAGS: Open

Django Parata

Fred Gred · May 5, 2023

Ships: 2x Valiant-class Arms Freighters, 2x Neebray-class Cargo Frigates, 1x Neebray-class Cargo Frigate Carrier modification (Hindsight), 1x Arcon-class Utility Ship Repair type (Vambrace), 2x CST Toscan 8-R squadrons.

Fred sat aboard the Hindsight, slowly working on the design on a new dropship for CST. Exactly why he was riding with a "heavy" convoy was mainly just to see who was getting the weapons shipment here for Aries. Either way it gave him some extra time to work. He checked his arm a bit, getting a message in from the clan's absolute, undoubtably favorite repair crew.... Vambrace. Wonderful. Just wonderful! He was sure they'd have some amazing claim of Sith warships. He just figured the ships captain would.... Wait now it was the captain.

"I'm a bit bu...."

"You're not gonna frakking believe this! They got it right for once!" What. The. Kark!?

"Who!?"

"Don't make me say it and get up here," the young captain said as she was clearly stressing out. Fred sighed. This would be great.

"No. Pali got hurt so I'm heading down to the hanger. Just keep me patched." Fred would get up and run down to the hander of the small ship while the cargo haulers began to turn off and try to make some space, the Valiants taking a more defensive position. The captain, an Ardennian who quickly patched in to the Long-Cold-Dark's comms.

"Long-Cold-Dark this is Clan Gred escort carrier Hindsight actual. We can't provide much, but I have two squadrons that can assist if needed... karking...." She muted her end, rerouting her mic to an offending ship. "Vambrace get you're shebs out of combat formation and with the convoy!"

Vera Tillian · May 5, 2023

Fred Gred Karissa Saitel

RRS Endurance

"RESCOM, please repeat-" Vera turned her head in surprise as the communications officer's voice rose sharply. "Endurance confirms receipt of message." The Dowutin turned to look at Vera with a concerned look. "RESCOM reports a First Order battlecruiser arrived at the far edge of the system with a small support fleet."

"A First Order fleet?" Vera frowned. "What are they saying?"

"Nothing yet, captain," the Dowutin responded, frowning at the encrypted signals flashing through the comms channels. "They just reverted from hyperspace in the proper egress point and are advancing within safely designated speeds towards the freighter lane."

"Any orders from RESCOM?" Vera said down in her chair, pinging the ship intercom to contact Karissa Saitel. If anyone knew about a rogue First Order battlecruiser roaming around the League, it would be the ex-Imperial intelligence officer.

"Move to intercept-" the comms officer responded. "Apply standard traffic protocols and safety. Nathan and one of the old battlecruisers we've salvaged from Kirdo III, supported by a few others are there to intercept, but nothing hostile yet."

Vera scrunched her nose and pinched her nose. "Helm, set course: three-quarters speed to intercept as per standard traffic duty regulations."

She had no idea what else to do in a circumstance like this. She ran a corvette and patrol craft. "Suarbi Republic naval forces in-system?"

"Affirmative, including two Remittances, but they're much further out to catch hostile forces aft."

Even with their increased speed, getting into range would take them several hours. "Patch us through to Nathan. See if we can figure out what in the Force's name is going on."

Quauhtli Sacul · May 5, 2023

Quauhatli's office could be mistaken for a library, bookcases covered two walls. Organised by date his commission enabled him to amass quiet the collection.

Sadly, time was scant. Even while not commanding the Morbius fleet directly, manifests and reports landed on his desk by the hour.

He was just about finished with the last batch, maybe he would finally finish a chapter?

Just as he picked up the book, a knock at his door.

Bastards.

Quauhatli tapped a key on his desk, a cadet entered and saluted. "Admiral Quauhatli."

"Yes?" He asked, his voice betraying the frustration of the cadets interruption. The cadet cautiously placed a report on his desk, he took the slate into his hand studying the record.

"Thank you." He was more prepared this time, hiding his concern and frustration behind a slight smile. He placed the book down, straightened himself and invited the cadet to follow him.

"I trust contact has been made with the fleet?"

"Of course sir, but many of the essential crew remain planet side."

Not unexpected. After what happened, he could hardly have denied them a opportunity of shore leave for now, he would have to observe from the Anchorage.

Nathan Bloodscrawl · May 7, 2023

"Sir?" The Comms Officer called out. "Clan Gred vessel Hindsight signaling, along with Endurance. Hindsight is offering fighter support. Endurance is asking for a sit rep."

Nathan teleported to the Officer, and the Officer gulped, unsettled by his unnatural stillness and frozen grim expression, the eyes that narrowed to pinpoints as they stared at the officer. He didn't even seem to really be breathing.

"Tell Hindsight, assistance is appreciated but to wait until enemy Vessel responds to my query. And tell Endurance that their guess is as good as mine. It's an old school vessel. I'm not sure if their intentions are hostile, because if it were a genuine attack, even with a resurgent class, this would be a suicide mission. It also doesn't makes sense for First Order to attack us..."

Nathan was only guessing that last part, but given his time being alive made him realize the FO wasn't a thing in this era. At least not any longer.

"Don't shoot unless they shoot first." he said as a final relay, which the officer transmitted on friendly, encrypted channels.

Nathan waited for the Jaw to respond, on edge due to simply not knowing.

Vera Tillian

Lossa Aureus

Fred Gred

Eve Throndsen · May 7, 2023

Well, they were definitely drawing attention now. Maybe a little more than she expected. Eve watched on the monitors as several vessels began to adjust for an intercept course. The most pressing concerns would be the number of large battleships that were responding to their arrival. Not that she anticipated a fight, or wanted one. She needed to show that they weren't a threat.

"Helmsman, bring us to full stop. Comms officer, relay a message to the fleet. Hold your position and do not fire unless fired upon. In the off chance that this does get messy, have all ships retreat to the backup rendezvous point." A chorus of 'Yes mams' and 'ayes' sounded off. Moments later she could feel a soft shudder as the vessels engine's slowed to a stop. A soft chime reached her ears, an incoming message. She gave a nod to her comms officer, who then patched the message through. "Long-Cold-Dark, this is Eve Throndsen of the Crocodile's Jaw. We are a merchant convoy delivering a shipment of raw ore. We mean no harm."

Eve knew it probably sounded absurd. An old First Order destroyer arriving with a fleet, claiming to be a merchant vessel. Especially since the ship itself was still in fighting condition, from the weapons, to the tie-fighters and stormtroopers.

Vera Tillian

Lossa Aureus

Fred Gred

Corbin Vasher

Nathan Bloodscrawl · May 8, 2023

Nathan had to think a moment about all of this.

On the one hand, she could be lying but he didn't sense deception. But that meant nothing in this insane age he had come back to life in.

But a shooting battle put not just the ships on his side at risk, but Civilian traffic near Susevfi.

Nathan tried to think diplomatically but he was sort of rusty at it. So he gave it a shot in the dark.

"A merchant vessel. You're rather armed for a merchant vessel. This is unusual. Irregular."

Nathan thought a moment.

"I have a proposal for you to consider. Allow me to transport aboard, unarmed, so that I can verify the truth of your claims."

His bridge crew looked at Nathan like he was insane. Nathan ignored it. If they were telling the truth, a simple inspection wouldn't hurt. He'd come aboard with scanners to verify what was there, and maybe get a better read on the commander of the vessel...

Vera Tillian

Fred Gred

Lossa Aureus

Karissa Saitel · May 8, 2023

Tag:

Vera Tillian

Location: Aboard the RRS Endurance

The small disc of brylark wood turned idly in between her fingers. The wooden medallion had been etched with the emblem of Lorrd University, given to all students upon graduation. It was the only tangible evidence of her past life, the one before the First Order and the Empire. It had been secured away in spite of the regulation of both of those organizations in regards to intelligence operatives. The RTL was not so stringent.

Her thoughts had drifted back to those university days as she sat in the galley of the Endurance, a cup half-consumed cafe before her. Karissa had been called an intellectual back then, but one who asked too many questions about the application of knowledge to realize social change. A few charismatic fellow students had played upon Karissa's inquisitiveness, and politicized her. Order was the solution to the social problems, and the champion of that order was the First Order. The FO, the Empire, she had bought into them, and allowed herself to become a small tool in the vast utility belt of those oppressive entities.

Only after the fall of both did Karissa see the delusion of dictated order. She fled to find the polar opposite of what had been her philosophical bend. The RTL offered order with balance, structure with freedom. It was not an organization who thrived through conquest, but by gathering and opportunity. They had taken her in and allowed her to utilize her skills. But there was much to learn about the League. Part of her orientation was a tour aboard a Rimward Rescue Service ship, a tour which was coming to a close.

The ORION agent's musing were interrupted by the ding of the ship's comm, and the request by Captain Tillian that she report to the bridge. Moving through the corridor's of the ship, the buzz was already spreading through the crew. A First Order fleet off of Susevfi. The words gave her belly a flutter. There was never a doubt that a remnant remained somewhere, history proved that tyrannical powers never fully vanished, but lingered or transformed. But for the FO to suddenly appear now, in RTL space was as stunning to Karissa as it was to everyone else. The sensation was sort of like hearing an abusive ex-boyfriend was knocking on the door of the flat you now share with your current beau. but in an existential depth.

Agent Saitel entered the bridge and halted by the captain's chair, officially reporting with a single word. " Captain."

Django Parata · May 8, 2023

Amors:

Weapons:

Django Parata listened with interest at what was transpiring aboard the Long-Cold-Dark. He was only here to make sure things ran smoothly and help fill out the crew, as light as it was at the moment. He hadn't really had much to do, so he'd volunteered. But now it seemed something interesting was going on. Obviously First Order ships claiming to be merchants? It was possible. There were probably plenty of old First Order ships that had been "recommissioned" after the Order fell apart. But that didn't mean there weren't still some active out there. Perhaps this so-called merchant should have called ahead. Then again, maybe they were new to the whole merchant thing. Might as well give them the benefit of the doubt and a chance to prove they're telling the truth.

Nathan Bloodscrawl said:
"I have a proposal for you to consider. Allow me to transport aboard, unarmed, so that I can verify the truth of your claims."

"I'll come with you, Captain. No weapons, of course. But if things go sour, I'll can at least make sure you're extracted safely." Django had no idea what the capabilities of this impromptu captain were, so he figured he'd at least offer. Besides, he was curious to see for himself. True, part of him wanted there to be a fight, but he kept that part of himself in check.

Fred Gred · May 8, 2023

Ships: 2x Valiant-class Arms Freighters, 2x Neebray-class Cargo Frigates, 1x Neebray-class Cargo Frigate Carrier modification (Hindsight), 1x Arcon-class Utility Ship Repair type (Vambrace), 2x CST Toscan 8-R squadrons.

"Understood Dark. We'll hold until needed." The captain closed out her side of the transmission, rubbing her temples with one pair of hands and swapping to the hanger crews and pilots with the other. "Alright. We're holding until we get an answer, go ahead a start up though. Be ready to go on signal." The sides of Hindsight began to open to reveal the internal storage area turned hanger.

Fred meanwhile was doing final checks on the Toscan he'd be flying if things went south, with his micromech AI-9 "Eya" being pulled up into the ships astromech slot. As he sat there, he'd extend the data spike from his arm, plugging into the fighter.

"This should be fun Eya. Ready?" He heard some Binary trills behind him. "Good."

Eve Throndsen Karissa Saitel

Lossa Aureus · May 8, 2023

Location: Susevfi, Holding Pattern Around the Long-Cold-Dark
Objective: Meet the New Arrival
Equipment: Skinsuit, Flight-suit, Jacket, Left Bracer, Plastoid Shingaurds, Mix and Match Harness, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear
Weapons: Fusioncutter, Lossa's Lightsaber, Concealed Blaster, Nasty-Stabby
Ship: Flying The Buzzard with V-2 Minimech 'Skid' Aboard
Tags:

Vera Tillian Karissa Saitel

Django Parata

Fred Gred

Her vessel glowed bright in the flames that whipped across the hull as it broke into space. A flaming pinball compared to what lumbered above the planet in a stalemate of some variety as the Buzzard slowly rounded out its flight path and cut a line towards the gathered fleets.

"Oh this is a dumb idea." Clicking her tongue as she came into the rear of the assembled friendly fleets. Skid informing her of the myriad of dumb ideas she had proceeded with in chronological order. "You don't have to make such a vivid point."

She huffed, entering a pattern around the waiting vessels and tying into the local friendly comms.

<"This is starfighter Buzzard of the RTL, holding around the Dark."> Her eyes darting to the large vessel that had come to a halt outside the shipping lane with a wary gaze.

Vera Tillian · May 9, 2023

Quauhtli Sacul

Vera stared out of the viewports as the bustling traffic of the Suarbi system slipped past their ship as it hurtled through the traffic lanes. She frowned thoughtfully and tapped a finger on the arm of her chair, until she heard a familiar voice. Vera glanced back and smile.

"Welcome to the bridge, Karissa," Vera said, stepping up from the chair and pacing behind it on the bridge deck. "I hear your time with us may be coming to an end? We will miss you, certainly. You have done excellent work here aboard the Endurance." She looked up with a twinkle in her eye. "We might even make a proper Service officer out of you if we can snatch you away from the other branches."

But her words grew serious as the other information rolled in. "But for now, we are in need of your expertise." She gestured to the displays on the screen. "Resurgent class battlecruiser, old First Order markings, and identifiers. No hostile action- claiming to be hauling ore. What's your assessment?"

Quauhtli Sacul · May 10, 2023

Vera Tillian |

Lossa Aureus |

Eve Throndsen |

Fred Gred |

Django Parata |

Nathan Bloodscrawl

Quauhatli wasn't too pleased; how the fleet evaded detection until it was upon them troubled him to no end. Early warning systems had failed, and while initial reports feeding into the Citadel suggested the Resurgent Battlecruiser was non-hostile - it was a poor excuse for negligence. His faithful droid, Couatl had already filed a request for a thorough report from the duty officer.

If it was a technical problem, they needed to know. The last thing he wanted was a Sith Order fleet exploiting a blindspot to drop an entire fleet in range of a major supply base for their Flagship. "Admiral the Endurance has made contact with the Sith Order fleet." The cadet reported.

Quauhatli relaxed slightly at the news, the Endurance wasn't a match for a Resurgent Class, let alone a fleet but he knew Captain Tillian and her crew were amongst the most experienced and unlikely to escalate the situation. He recalled Avali naval policy would have had a kill team launched and deployed to board and disable the cruiser. Thankfully, Rimward was far less xenophobic.

"Good. Forward any reports to my office." He entered the turbo-lift and stared suspiciously at the cadet who stood outside. "Cadet?"

"Respectfully, Sir, the Citadel is reserved for officers and their staff."

Quauhatli frowned, "You need not remind me of my directives. I want you to join me. Would you have me stand here and explain myself to you?"

There was a look of dread as the cadet quickly entered the turbo-lift going completely silent as they continued to monitor the data slate. "Do you have a name?" Quauhatli asked looking up at the human.

"Karta Vauclas sir." He said after a brief moment of hesitation.

Quauhatli's tail twitched, the name Vauclas etched into his recent memory. Tulela Vauclas, until recently had been an atmospheric engineer aboard the Reliant. She died when the entity trapped them in Hyperspace, no official report had yet been published but Tulela was given full honours after the investigation revealed the actions of her team had prevented a plasma leak from contaminating the air scrubbers. In a sense, her team saved the entire ship.

Quauhatli often wondered what became of the husband, wives, and children who lost people under his command. Did they blame him? He certainly would. "It's an honour to meet you Karta Vauclas." Quauhatli said more sombre. Once all was said and done, he made a mental note to at least speak with Karta.

The doors hissed open, and Quauhatli led Karta into the room. The XO announced his arrival, "At ease." He replied, "Dillian your report?"

"A First Order Resurgent battlecruiser entered Susefvi space four minutes ago, accompanied by a small support fleet. Endurance has moved to intercept and is currently engaged in communications. The Reliant is still undergoing repairs, but I have a skeleton crew ready if necessary."

"Very good. With any luck, we won't be deploying cadets on a combat mission. Kerina, establish a secure comms link with the Endurance. Cadet Vauclas will assist you with cryptography. Advise Captain Tillian to report on her status. Commander Tren report to the Reliant and do what you can to prepare for launch and await further instruction."

There was a distinct nervousness from Karta, but he carried out his orders without complaint. "Q.AI"

A console flashed red, displaying a spherical symbol on the screen. "Admiral Quauhatli."

"Accounting for the First Order Fleet and its capabilities against active ships in the sector, run war game scenarios and assess our best firing solutions."

"Nodes 6 ~ 24 have been assigned to running war game scenarios. However, Corvus would note that this unit lacks intelligence on the composition and tactics of First Order ships. Nodes 6 ~ 24 will, therefore, assume standard naval tactics and standard configurations for First Order ships. It is estimated that calculations will take 17 minutes with the set parameters.

This could be accelerated if remote access was granted to Endurance Sensor Arrays."

"Denied." Quauhatli snapped, prompting the AI to respond, "Very well. I will report possible scenarios to your office in 17 minutes."

Eve Throndsen · May 10, 2023

A visit to check her ship and see if she was telling the truth? Well, if that's what it took to keep people from firing at them, then so be it. "I accept your offer to validate our claims. Coordinates to an available hangar space will be sent to you. Throndsen out."

Eve let out a slow breathe. So far things had been...interesting. plus side was that no one had fired a shot on either side. However her ship, and fleet, were about to undergo inspection. A battle of a different sort so to speak. Excusing herself from the bridge, Eve entered the turbo lift and rode it down to the hangar level. As the doors closed, she caught a good look at herself. She no longer wore the uniform of the First Order. Instead she wore black combat boots, dark brown cargo pants, a black thermal shirt (sleeves rolled up) and a matching t-shirt. The only thing left from her old uniform was her hat, but even that had the First Order symbols removed from it.

The hangar doors slid open as she stepped inside the large room. Tie-fighters sat in their moorings while transport ships sat upon the hangar floor, all while various maintenance crews gave them a once over. There was a game of sabacc going on between several troopers and pilots, with a small crowd of personal watching the game unfold. Such activities were forbidden in the First Order. But now, now they were common place amongst other things that had steadily become the norm around here. Eve stood by a troop transport and watched the game unfold as she waited for...whoever to arrive from the Long-Cold-Dark.