01.05 : The Light Begins to Dim

[22 BBY]

[Fordon System, Savareen Sector, Outer Rim]

"Shining Breeze and her group has arrived Captain" Yulan informed me as I came back unto the bridge and watched the holographic display showing the five ships enter the system. It seemed best to gather our forces out of immediate public view as the appearances of small fleets of armed vessels tended to upset people when they were organised at short notice. So we'd come in dribs and drabs, us from the Core, a few of the escorts finishing a trade caravan contract, and of course our other 'proper' warship summon from home in Solem the former Consular-cruiser Shining Breeze.

"Good, signal them to join the formation, I want the Tigerclaw and Mercy's Lament together in..." I answered sitting down and giving general instructions. Tigerclaw and Mercy's Lament wouldn't be much use in direct combat they were poor armed and lacked armour, but they were our 'escort carriers' of sorts and we'd need the star-fighters and control links both brought to the table. We'd managed to gather two small mercenary bands, Ryuken's Raiders and Yurd's Courier Defenders to our numbers; both groups largely using long range star-fighter/bombers and courier group of various designs and shapes beyond one YT series by Yurd's lot.

Jurdan Ironhill would be our senior captain come the battle, a Commodore of sorts, as I took charge of the organisation of forces at the moment; and then the fighters and ground troops come the battle. We'd already sent off 'sniffer' probes towards the Lok in the Karthakk system, and with the Shining Breeze now here we'd have access to her improved sensor packages. Damned thing had cost a small fortune, but Consular 'cruisers' were the Republic's standard 'peacekeeping' vessel and we'd gotten her with the systems intact; all we'd need to do was arm her up to our requirements. Which, basically, was everything and anything we could get our hands on and manage to fit on the frigate that didn't carry star-fighters like Bright Eagle did.

'The major issue to start with is going to be those Anti-Capital Ship Turrets' I mused going over the tactical data supplied by a Captain Nym of the Lok Revenants. Supposedly the Feeorin pirate had a plan to deal with them, but one couldn't always trust in pirates one found and it didn't hurt to have a backup plan should the pirates chicken out, or fail in the attempt. Star-fighters and bombers would be the only way to do it, not without needlessly risking our ships....it really depended on how well defended by mobile forces they were I noted resting back in my chair. After all it was a highly illegal base for proxy forces raiding into the trade lanes, so it could go either way really....

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[Two days later]

[Hyperspace Emergence, Karthakk System, Savareen Sector]

'Great, just great, Force be with us looks like' I internally noted as the first things that got reported to me as we punched out of Hyperspace into the systems was that;

a) The Mere Cruiser Tritus hadn't arrived....because it had broken down on-route

b) Only a half of the Lok Revenants had jumped correctly to where they were supposed to be...

...and most importantly c) – that lunatic Feeorin pirate was still pressing the attack as the Mere Tug's under a Captain Juno of the Mere Resistance came in alongside them. Already they were accelerating towards Lok's moon Khons with intention of installing their own canon system....while the star-fighters and bombers eliminated the enemy ones upon the moon. It was a daft plan, but they were committed to it and I was perfectly fine with the destroying the enemy anti-ship positions anyway; so I released the cables to the Tug ahead of me and 'dropped' my TIE downwards and accelerated.

Sure we could have jumped in system, but that was both expensive and not exactly the best plan with the TIE's less than stellar NaviComputer if we needed to rapidly escape the fight. That and it ensured the bloody 'resistance fighters' actually turned up to the fight when we did since it appeared their cruiser was now a no-show on the battlefield.

Still, I didn't let the irritation and anger get to me as I pushed forward on the throttles and my two squadrons of TIE's formed up along me and the members of Yurd's squadron broke off on their own approach vectors.

Twenty-four TIE's screamed towards the immediate enemy defence in lunar orbit: about a dozen Vulture droid-fighters. They weren't the real danger, that being reserved for the Trade Federation four missile frigates currently parked on the refuelling station on the moon itself; and the enemy CAP died in a matter of seconds as a wall of weapons fire tore them apart.

"Canons are online, taking fire" I stated spinning hard to the left and then burning upwards as a bright beam of energy spear through the space to my right. A swing and a miss basically as the Mere Tugs and troop transports remained just out their effect range, and I and my fellow squadron mates spun and danced through the inky blackness of space and raced towards the base containing enemy droid-fighters that we'd been assigned to suppress. Ryuken's Raiders emerged from behind us as Yurd's heavier fighter-bombers began firing their loads at the docked missile frigates as energy readings on sensors warned of them going active.

My finger pressed down on the trigger; energy bolts screaming silently into the darkness of space as the nearest droid defensive emplacement on the moons that made beautiful explosion I found in the brief seconds I could see it anyway. Hit hard, hit fast, be merciless; that was the way to win, as it was an orc once, as it was as a Solemite now. We'd caught the enemy napping and when that happened you brutalised them so they didn't manage to get up and take a swing at you in retaliation. Again I demanded speed from my TIE, and again it answered as I and my wingman came in to strafe the more primitive Scarab's attempting to take off nearby the powerful but slow anti-ship guns.

"Down! All emplacements are down! Signal your ships!" came across the TacNet from the Feeorin, the Mere Tugs not waiting and accelerating hard for the moon as on the planet blow droid-fighters were showing on my displays. Checking a moment to confirm this was true I pressed down, my fingers dancing over the confirmation code and sending to the Fleet as the missile frigates erupted below in a corona of destruction. Things were going better than we'd sim'd; but I didn't let that feeling emerge as I summoned my TIE's and allowed the fighter/bombers to hunt down any potential enemy ground forces along with

{Hyperspace Emergence Detected} beeped out of my star-fighter's computer as the warships and support vessels of our little fleet transitioned into real-space not too far distant. Turning my TIE in that direction I signalled the others to do likewise as the other ships of our naval force began to disgorge or release the TIE's and Vulture droid-fighters they possessed. Overwhelming numbers compared to what the defenders were throwing up from Lok, and our ships moved to stay sheltered with the moon between them and the planetary cannons.

Now we took time, moments, to form up as our formation reasserted itself in greater numbers...and then went full burn towards the enemy droid fighters. Inferior models, and outnumbered; it wasn't even a fight as we tore them apart with only one loss on our side, a Vulture droid, and one of the Ryuken Raiders interceptors. Droid-bombers and droid-fighters depended on that numbers advantage, and with some targeted ECM thrown in with being outnumbered...I refused to allow any retreat. Destroying them here and now would make going after the planetary canons much easier, as with any with should reinforcements arrive.

"Saber, Hammer, Eagle, and Harpy squadrons on me; we're taking out the planetary canons and supporting the ground assault..." I ordered after the last of the enemy Scarab's had been reduced to wreckage and our 'allies' star-fighters and bombers had managed to reform as well. Two of my Gozanti's had moved into orbit of the lunar assault forces and were providing orbit fire support as the rest of the fleet remained formed up and ready for whatever surprises the enemy had in store "...all assault landers and gunships to follow us in. We're going in hot gentle beings, try not to die"

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[Two hours later]

[In orbit Planet Lok, Karthakk System, Savareen Sector]

'And things were going so well' I thought as my computer and Tac Display notified me of the rather giant problem that arrived to burst my bubble of an easy victory...

{Hyperspace Emergence Detected}

...as there was a capital ship, a destroyer called the Reaver according to the data from Shining Breeze, along with three escorting frigates in a roughly triangular formation ahead of, and flanking, the destroyer. Behind them what looked like droid-bombers and...maybe freighters?

"I see them Captain, we combat ready?" I answered the signal from Jurdan aboard the Bright Eagle before he could even speak. Best to speed thing up, there wouldn't be much time here as my TIE noted the sensor scans, and then the energy spikes from the enemy ships.

"Bright Eagle Actual here Saber One: Aye Captain-General, we've currently got the moon between them and us, our allies ACS canons are almost up and running. ETA fifteen minutes to full charge and fire readiness"

'Well, isn't that great' I thought, then pushing it away to focus as old Jurdan continued "We're going to let them come to us, delays their advance, but we'll have to engage those star-fighters their launching and sending our way first"

"Copy Bright Eagle, will engage enemy fighter cover when they move to slingshot the moon Khons" I answered the triggering the command circuits to all squadrons, ours and allied "Saber-01 all units; combat posture, multiple enemy warships in-systems. ESS units formation Beta-02, all allied units form up star-fighters wings One-Three-Zero of our formation, all bombers pull back up Six-Delta-Nine of combat vessels. Bright Eagle is Primary"

Then it was a game of hurry up and wait as our formation came together at speed, watching as the enemy launched their own star-fighters and these accelerated towards us. Manned ones this time; with the distinctive design of the Sabaoth star-fighter on my display of the two down and forward sloping wings with cockpit at the rear. We had an advantage in fighters, and technically in ship numbers, but they had three frigates to our two, an actual destroyer in the low capital ship range to our seven Gozanti-cruiser class combat freighters. Now all of them were fighting ships in their own right, and my own Stormcrow and the Shady Saia had the extra combat ability at the loss of cargo space, but this was going to be a tough damned fight...

"Da'fuq?" I muttered as the advancing fighters suddenly spun around and moved to leave moments after –another- frigate jumped into the system behind the enemy formation.

"Unknown Saber One; multiple transmissions between enemy vessels....they're....Force they're recalling their fighters looks like on sensors"

"Do we press attack?" queried Shesagora, and I let our senior captain on the Bright Eagle answer in the negative as we held formation despite demands and confusion from the pirates and resistance fighters we had allied. For the moment all I could do was watch as the enemy ships turned away from the planet, recovering their star-fighters and the accelerating hard. In the space of fifteen minutes, the idiots on the planet noting their cannons were now online, a sudden appearance had turned from confusion, to attack, to hurried withdrawal as the powerful enemy fighting force disappeared out of system as quickly as it appeared,

{Hyperspace Emergence Detected}

'Oh what now?' was all I could think as the enemy ships vanished and minutes later another hyperspace to real-space emergence was detected. Sensor feed from the Shining Breeze identified two....

'Ah...fuck'

...Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptors on its scopes. Jedi starfighters...and they were communicating with our idiot pirate allies...

"Captain-General..." Jurdan's face reappeared on the holo-imager on my TIE, a bad sign since it wasn't standard combat protocol "...we might have an issue"

"Explain"

"I've a member of the Jedi High Council on the line, and our allies...well their planning on jumping out to Geonosis to chase down Sabbaoth's lot"

'I hate the Force, because it clearly hates me' my mind grinded out to me as I kept calm, or at least held the appearance of calm due to my face being hidden by helmet "Okay, then we're going with mission accomplished, we're getting paid if that's the case.....sigh....put me through to the Jedi"

"Aye-Aye Captain General" Jurdan replied, the image flickering then then Adi Gallia, from the High Council, image replaced his from her clearly seated position within one of those bloody fighters...