The Rebel Faction

"Replay that," said Johnny Hollander, a sub-minion at one of Clakor's communications routing stations. The message was started from the beginning.

"...Attention Bith infidels, this is the Outter-Rim Sovereignty. Surrender unconditionally, and your fates will not be like those of Cloud City or Abregado-rae, you scum..."

Johnny started, and gaped slightly. His mind scrambled to think of what he should do next. Twelve years of education in applied communication sciences belly-flopped like a bloated pig with the hives.

"Ah... ah... Signal ..." he stammered. "Signal ... the m-m-military, we have a code red emergency. The p-p-plant i-i-s under a-a-a-attack!"

Luckily for him, his own minions were a little more level headed, and routed the message to the proper authorities.




Millitary Command

"Two cruisers, and a VSD?" asked General Hollander, incredulously. "Two cruisers and a VSD, and they make demands?"

"Could be a probe," replied Ted Gadsden, the planet's ground force coordinator.

"More than likely it is a probe," replied Hollander, recovering his dignity quickly. "Defences online?"

"They were notified immediately, like normal."

"Good. How's Erik dealing with it?"

He was, of course, referring to Erik Bertone, the man in charge of Clakor defenses.

"He's dealing. Preparing a response, most likely.


Planetary Defense Command

Erik Bertone stood next to the communications terminal, waiting for a connection to be established.

"Ready, Sir," said the com officer, her voice firm.

"Sovereignty craft, what are your intentions?"

The question was one that he was required to begin with.

By this time Erik had gotten a video feed of the aggressor. The figure before him was wearing a military uniform of some sort, and he had a very dark expression on his face.

Erik turned to one of his partners and asked, "Is this some sort of joke?" No one seemed to know.

"Do a re-query of their IFF codes," he ordered, as he turned back to the coms consol. "Open the channel."

"Sovereignty craft, you are advised to cease your threats, and leave this system. Aggressive actions will result in your ships being fired upon."


Hypervelocity Gun 13 Command Centre

"What is this, a drill? They always say it's not a drill, you never know when it's the real deal.."

"Some nut is preparing to attack. It's not a drill, I saw them on the targeting computer."

"You're kidding me. How large of a fleet."

"Three ships."

"Three? How big?"

"Small, medium.. Two cruisers and a VSD."

"Stop with your joking."

"I'm serious."

"Hey you two! Get that thing loaded, stop screwing around."

"FREK!" yelped one of the officers at a sensor consol. "Enemy flotilla has just opened fire. They targeted a town close to the equator.."

"Looks like a direct hit, multiple turbolasers," picked up his partner.

"Tell the HG's to fire at the enemy VSD, now!" barked Erik. These people didn't beat about the bush when they said they would be attacking.

"Have the KDY target the smaller cruisers, and open fire, alternating with the HG."


Hypervelocity Gun 13 Command Centre

"Target acquired, firing in five ... four ... three ... two ... one ..."

The word 'one' had barley begun to echo through the HG command center when a noise so loud it rang the ears erupted. The Hypervelocity gun had fired. The recoil sent the barrel of the weapon deep underground, where it was immediately winched up and prepped to fire again.

Exactly one five-hundredths of a second later a projectile traveling over two hundred thousand kilometers per second connected with the bow of the enemy VSD. Shields failed, hull plates buckled, and atmosphere began venting out as the slug burrowed its way deep into the ship. Shards of hull armor exploded of the hull of the craft, and a bend lengthwise in the craft appeared from the point of impact. As it flew in, the slug fragmented from the friction between it and the internals of the craft. Burning shards of shrapnel ripped through walls, people, droids, and everything else in its path.

"Whooie!" shouted one of the reloading men back on the planet, as he and his comrade went through the reloading process. "Get some!"

"Hit confirmation," said Erik's sensor officer. "The craft has ceased fire. Other craft are continuing to fire, I'm reading direct hits at ... " he continued on to list the cities which were receiving devastating fire from the orbiting craft.

"Order HG station 14 and all KDY batteries to fire as well, now!" ordered Erik. He gripped the command consol before him, and stared at the tactical readout. Why would anyone do such a thing? he asked himself.

"Sir, shields are ready to power up at your command."

"Power them up! By Vader's eyes, power them up!" cried Erik in frustration.


Hypervelocity Gun 14 Command Centre

With an explosive sound a second slug exited atmosphere, and connected with its intended target. The Belarus cruiser was not nearly as heavily armed as the Victory, and the effects of the slug were far more devastating. The particle shields failed completely on he bottom of the craft, and a neat hole appeared in the hull plating. The slug made its way though the belly of the craft once again penetrating deeply before fracturing from the friction and impact forces.

KDY Turbolaser Command Centre

A more high tech -if war could raise itself above the primal urges- weapon fired in synchronization with its HG counterpart. A bolt of enormously destructive energy snaked up from the planet to strike the second Belarus cruiser. Bow shields weakened, nearly failing from the impact.

"Signal a hold fire against these two," said Erik, pointing at the VCD and Belarus, both of which had been struck by slugs. "Divert HG station 13 against the second Belarus." He could see the enemy craft clearly now on the holo-display. Two of the craft were listing badly, while the third continued its now futile bombardment. With the shields initialized it would take a lot more than a single Belarus to get through.

"Call the defense fleet, in a few moments they can come in and clean up," he continued. The defense fleet had unfortunately been on the other side of the planet when the Sovereignty craft arrived, a problem that Erik would bring up at the next meeting. Fortunately the enemy forces had not been significant. "Tell them we could receive additional friends at any moment," continued Erik. He wasn't going to take any chances.


Hypervelocity Gun 13 Command Centre

"Three... two... one..."

A third projectile traveled its millisecond journey. Once again the journey terminated with a sudden and violent impact. Particle shields failed completely on the Belarus cruiser, and a hole suddenly appeared in the hull. This slug connected near the back of the craft and rapidly began to penetrate toward the power generator. It fragmented rapidly, and only shrapnel was left for the by the generator's emergency shield to deflect.

<font size="1">OOC Fleet Manifest:
2 ISD IIs
10 Vigils
4 Strikes
10 Guild Gunships
200 TiE Phantoms
200 XG-1 Gunboats</font>