Operation: Daybreak - The Battleteams Unite!

Kal

04-05-2014 13:31:46

Marauder-Class Corvette The Diligence
Low Orbit, Kalfu Moon, New Tython
Yhi System
Zero Hour


“I wish the boss would leave,” the officer of the watch thought to himself as he watched his commander, Thett Omega, pacing around the bridge. The Diligence had been parked behind this moon for days, lying in wait for the Jedi to return. The officer had never seen Thett this obsessed before, though none of Alpha’s Omega’s targets had managed to escape before, much less with a corvette. This wasn’t business any more, this was personal. A mercenary group lived and died by their reputation and Alpha’s Omega desperately needed to redeem themselves after their humiliating defeat at Purity Rock.

Thett approached the watch officer. “Any unusual system traffic in the past few hours?”

It took every ounce of self control the watch officer had to keep from rolling his eyes at the commander. “No sir, all is quiet, just some supply ships for the Monarchy.” The commander’s obsession was beyond tiresome at this point. Countless hours at battle stations investigating routine system traffic had taken its toll on the crew. The Jedi were gone and were not coming back. They broke their comrades out, freed the natives and fled the system. The Jedi couldn’t stand against Alpha’s Omega and Thuron’s army.

Thett glared at the watch officer. “Keep me posted.” The commander had just turned to walk off the bridge when the comms officer interjected.

“Tython control is reporting a massive hyperspace contact inbound.”

Thett’s curiosity was peaked. “Do they have an ETA?”

“30 seconds.”

The bridge became a flurry of activity as the crew members rushed to align the sensors along the calculated exit vector of the hyperspace contact. All eyes were glued to the viewscreen as the final seconds ticked by. When the countdown reached zero the screen the previously empty screen erupted with a multitude of tiny white flashes followed by one large flash as a flotilla of ships exited hyperspace. The operations officer began reading out loud from his monitor:

“Multiple contacts, three squadrons of fighters, two Assassin class Corvettes … and a Nebula Class Star Destroyer.” The op officer continued to study the readouts for a moment before continuing. “Sir, one of the corvettes...it’s the Omega’s Cutlass.”

The flurry of activity came to a screeching halt as the entire bridge crew froze waiting for the commander to speak. Thett Omega stood tall in the center of the bridge, thoroughly vindicated. “Signal the rest of our forces to engage the Jedi; it’s time to get my ship back.”

Assassin-Class Corvette Proxia Mustirion
Zero-Hour
Strike Team Ooroo Deployment - Top Secret


The Proxia Mustirion broke through the Tythonian morning fog. The crisp moist air blew through the
corridors and seemed to wipe away the foul odor of the mercenaries. Each member of Strike-Team
Ooroo had his or her own method of dealing with the stress of battle. They used this time to calm their
minds.

Summoned to the Bridge they gathered around a large holotable waiting for their Quaestor to send
them the coordinates of their next target. Suddenly the almost godlike image of Liam Torun appeared
before them.

“Greeting Jedi, I will make this short, as time is something we are lacking…”

The image of Liam disappeared and one of the space station Sanctuary, took his place.

“This was our space station. It was seized by Thuron forces and has been the main vehicle for his air
force. We don’t have the manpower to re-take it but we can disable vital systems. This is about crippling
the station. I want high-damage moves. We want them to leave, and if they ever come back, we want
the station useless to them. Use whatever tactics you must…”

Liam’s image returned.

“This will be another large blow to the strength of his armies. I have uploaded a layout of the station as
well as diagrams of crucial systems. Good luck and May the Force be with you.”

The image faded.

The Jedi studied the plans picking out every little detail from main engine and shield systems to
something as minor as a thermal exhaust port. The station was dissected and a plan was created. They
had very little time to execute a mission of this size so it was decided that they go in hard and fast and
strike at every crucial system in the station. Telghar, Rangel and Seridan would go after the shield and
security systems leaving the station vulnerable to attack. Krandon, Rhiann and Gon would take out the
station’s power core. This would almost completely cripple the station. Lastly Mar, Sang and Kaayn would
disable the secondary power core and minor systems leaving Sanctuary dead in space.

Assassin-Class Corvette Pride of Owyhyee
High Orbit, New Tython
Yhi System
Zero Hour


The white lines of hyperspace on the Pride of Owyhyee’s view screen gave way to a view of New Tython as the ship exited hyperspace with the rest of the Odanite flotilla. The bridge crew of the Pride could have spent several moments just admiring the breathtaking view of the emerald planet and its two moons. Most of the crew had not seen their home planet since they had to flee in disgrace during its fall. Many had grudgingly left friends and family on the surface.

Turel had never called New Tython home but he felt the exact same way as the rest of the crew. This day had been a long time coming, for the suffering of the Harakoan and Tythonian peoples would come to an end, the crimes of the Thuron regime would be answered and the ghosts of Purity Rock would have justice. Turel also thought about Vorsa and the Disciples of Baas on the planet’s surface striving to comfort and protect the most vulnerable of New Tython’s citizens. “We’re here Master Vorsa; the Knights have returned.” Turel thought to himself as he shifted his attention from the view of the planet to the task at hand.

The Knights of Allusis had been tasked with leading the space battle to break the blockade. The Knights with flight training would take to the skies and personally lead each of the fighter squadrons. The rest either manned gunner positions on the corvettes or led platoons of ground forces for boarding parties.

As the newly appointed Knight-Commander Turel was the acting Commander Air Group (CAG) for the flotilla. “All squadrons report in.”

Daniel Stephens led the X-wing squadron, “Paladin Squadron standing by.”
Putra led the A-wing squadron, “Nobilis Squadron all accounted for.”
Edgar Drachen, reluctantly, led the Y-wing squadron, “Call of Freedom Squadron standing by and ready to wreck some stuff!”

Turel smiled. “How about you Mirus? Are you and Sa comfy down there?”

Mirus and Sa Ool were loaded into an LAAT/i gunship docked inside the Pride’s tiny hanger with a platoon of assault troopers from the Tanduran and Dac Unified Commandos (aka ‘The Ducks’). The Jedi and assault troopers had an on-order mission to conduct boarding operations if the opportunity presented itself. Mirus keyed up his communicator, “We’re ready to go down here, but it would be nice to have some room to spread out. Just find a ship to point us at and we’ll do the rest.”

“Good to hear. All squadrons stay close to the Fey'lya's Last Stand and await further orders.” Turel switched to the command channel. “Jedi Command this is the Pride, all squadrons deployed and standing by.”

Liam’s voice came over the bridge’s comm speakers, “Very good Knights, commence Operation Daybreak. May the Force be with us.”

“May the Force be with us.” Turel switched back to the internal channel, “All squadrons, commence Operation Daybreak, maintain formation and prepare for incoming enemy contact.”

"Sir!" A voice called over the comms, "It's Sanctuary - she's on fire!"

Sanctuary Station
Interior


Explosions rocked the station. Other than the light from arching wires the entire station was black.
Disabled life support systems meant that the temperature was dropping rapidly causing ice to form on
the walls and floor. Mercenary techs ran frantically trying to repair the disabled systems. Many solders ran
into each other and stripped over one another while trying to reach the escape pods. Thuron’s forces
were in complete chaos.

They made their way to the hangar were the Proxia was waiting. Once all the
Jedi were on board, Revak blasted the ship out into space. Gathering at a port window, the Jedi looked
at the Sanctuary. There it sat, dark and lifeless.

Mar placed his hand on the window and turned to the Jedi “Next time we see her, she’ll be ours again.”

Revak nodded, before turning to the crew. "Well? We've got a space battle to win!"

Marauder-Class Corvette The Diligence
High Orbit, New Tython
Yhi System
H+1


“What do you mean we’ve been boarded?!” Thett Omega roared at his operations officer. The poor operations officer stammered to reply to his commander’s question, legitimately terrified of his commander’s rage.

“Um. Sir it was the Omega’s Cutlass. When the Y-wings disabled our shields the Cutlass approached the ventral side of the ship and launched an LAAT gunship into our hangar bay. I’m receiving reports of a mixed group of Jedi and heavy troopers moving through the ship.”

Thett regained bit of his composure, “Any indication of where they are headed?”

“They appear to have split into two groups, one headed for the engineering deck and the other for the bridge.”

Thett stroked his beard thoughtfully, “Engineering, damage report.”

“Shields still down, hyper drive inoperable, and twelve of sixteen turbolaser batteries destroyed. Basically, we’re dead in the water.”

The Anzat commander pondered the unfolding situation. The Jedi couldn’t possibly hope to seize the ship with a platoon and two Jedi. The Diligence had a company’s worth of troops on board plus the crew compliment. “Ops, give me an update on the larger battle. Are any friendly capital ships close enough to assist?”

“Negative sir. We’ve lost two corvettes and a third is adrift. The Thuron frigates are heavily damaged and recalling their fighters. They are withdrawing.”

“Cowards! It’s just one Star Destroyers and some fighters. The Thuron fighters alone outnumbered the Jedi three to one.” Thett was beyond frustrated at his worthless allies. What should have been an easy victory over the Jedi was now a rout due to poor tactics. That’s what happens when you put amateurs and political hacks in command. None of that mattered now, he wasn’t about to let the Jedi seize another of his ships. “Give the order via secure comms to execute contingency plan epsilon. Signal Lieutenant Sallis to have the surface forces ready to recover drop pods.” The comms officer acknowledged the order and began relaying the commander’s instructions.

-20 Minutes Later-

“Sir, engineering reports that the sabotage was complete before the Jedi strike team seized the engine room. It will take the Jedi weeks to get the ship running again if at all. The data core has been purged and ejected and the troops not engaged with the Jedi or in a defensive position have made their way to the escape pods.”

Thett appeared eerily calm, given the situation. “Is the Cutlass within tractor beam range?”

“Yes sir, though we won’t be able to hold them long.”

“We don’t need long. Engineering, can you initiate a hyper drive overload from here?”

The engineering officer paused for a moment in shock at what the commander was getting at. Surely he didn’t plan to blow up The Diligence in order to take some Jedi with it. “I should be able to, but we won’t have much time to get off the ship. And there’s a still a chance the Jedi in the engineering deck can shut down the drive before it goes critical.”

“That’s a chance I’m willing to take. Start the overload sequence. All non-essential personnel to the escape pods. Set the tractor beam to lock onto the Cutlass as soon as the overload sequence begins. Pull her in as close as possible. We may lose the ship, but the Jedi will go down with it.” Blowing up two of your own ships just to take out some Jedi ran contrary to good business for a mercenary group. This wasn’t about what was profitable at the moment, this was about sending a message. Thett would sacrifice his entire fleet to send the message that not even the Jedi can mess with Alpha’s Omega.

Thett’s thought process was interrupted by the sound of blaster fire outside the bridge door. The intercom came to life with the defensive position protecting the bridge. “Sir, the strike team is here. It’s the Titan!”

“The Titan? Who’s that?”

The doors to the bridge flew open with a violent burst of Force energy as mercenary troopers flew helplessly into the bridge with the blast. Thett was momentarily stunned, but he spotted the unmistakable teal glow of a light saber through the smoke. “Cursed Jedi” he thought to himself as he took aim at the source of the glow hoping to score a blind hit. His shot was effortlessly deflect by the wielder of the lightsaber.

The smoke cleared to reveal a hulking mountain of a man wearing heavily armored black robes with teal accents matching his saber. Mirus Hi’ija, the Titan of New Tython, stood before the Anzat mercenary and all of Alpha’s Omega would feel the Titan’s wrath. The bridge crew cowered behind their stations as the two warriors faced off.

Thett didn’t like his odds. Clearly his blaster was useless against a senior Jedi warrior. His best chance was to surrender and wait for his X.O. to bust him out. The Jedi were weak, they would never kill or torture a prisoner. Thett threw his pistol aside. “I surrender.”

Mirus charged Omega with his saber draw as if to strike him down. It would have been too easy and it’s not like Omega didn’t deserve to die for all the suffering he had caused. Especially for torturing his fellow Knights. This wasn’t vengeance this was justice. Sa’s voice over the comm snapped Mirus out of his spiral of hate as he was about to land the killing blow.

“Mirus come in.”

Mirus turned off his light saber and kicked Thett to the ground. Killing an unarmed prisoner was dishonorable and not the Jedi way. Besides, he’d be more useful alive. “I’m here Sa, I’ve taken the bridge.”

“Apparently they set the hyperdrive to go critical. Luckily one of the engineers we captured told us about it and stopped it.”

“How’d you get him to do that?”

“Being handcuffed to a bulkhead helps. He didn’t want to die in the explosion. Did you take any prisoners up there?”

“Oh yeah, I think you’re going to want to interrogate this prisoner yourself.”

New Tython
Hunonum Mountain Foothills - North of Desert
Harakoan Tribesman Base Camp
Five Weeks before Dac Compound Assault


The cool mountain air shuffled in circles as Nathan concentrated on the Force around him. With focus, he could shape a ball of Force energy and even throw it, though his accuracy was shockingly terrible. He propelled this new ball of energy, striking a tree off to his side. It didn't shake much - power was another aspect this lacked. Still, it had kept him interested during the down time.

His eyes scanned the clearing, the stumps of trees evident all around; KUDF soldiers sparred with and flipped tribesmen, their traditional combat styles being supplemented with martial arts from around the Galaxy. Lines of Harakoans donned armor of various makes, models, and configurations; some of it was unmarked, purchased from the black market or taken from pirates and criminals. Other pieces bore various insignia, marks of the Houses and Clans of the Brotherhood. Groups of Harakoans ran over impromptu obstacles, took aim and fired with a mix-and-match assortment of blaster and energy weapons, and ran onward. Tents held soldiers, as rough fences sheltered animal mounts, many hastily armored by their riders.

Part of him was sad; the Harakoans had refused technology for years. Part of him was gleeful; after this, no one would ever enslave them again.

A familiar beep emitted from his datapad. He picked it up carefully, trying not to disturb the alignment of a makeshift solar power generator he had put together to recharge the device. More messages from the Jedi. Since being liberated from Purity Rock, the Harakoans, Mon Calamari and human settlers of New Tython had been ferried to the mountains on the north-western edge of the desert. Here, close to the sea and sheltered from outside influences, they had the opportunity to heal and regroup.

Vorsa and Kaira fluttered around the camp, tending to the injured and the sick with their considerable Force talents. Vorsa had become a voice of reason to temper the more hot-headed survivors, and since the arrival of the newly-commissioned Strike Team - the Disciples of Baas - they had all spent some time training the Harakoans in the use of the technology Odan-Urr had liberated from the Dark Jedi Brotherhood. Nathan had modified a crate of rifles to fire at stunning strength, providing safe weapons for practise, and so far Kah, Sanarai, Adeodatus and VanWyck had done well in helping the Harakoans adapt to sophisticated weapons and armor.

Kaira's knowledge of the Harakoans, garnered over her years as a diplomat on New Tython, was tremendously helpful now. With her at his side, he had been negotiating a war pact with the Harakoans, and the complexities of politics were somewhat lost on the boy. Kaira, however, artfully wove their concerns together and overall, the meetings had gone well. The boy rose from the rocks he had been sitting on and headed back towards the respite camp, his saberstaff bouncing against his thigh as he jogged.

As he ran, he saw a line of Harakoans raise their rifles and cheer at him; he waved back, smiling, hiding the fear within. They were doing everything they could to prepare for the upcoming war. Nathan hoped it would be enough.