The shields of the VSD mark I finally openned up just as the first missiles made contact and started boring into the hull destroying deck after deck. It wouldn't be long before she started to drift or split in half or something. Then as if on que the VSD mark I started to drift and pods started ejecting. Siather looked at the positioning of the Harpago it seemed to be moving safely out of the way.
With the ISD mk II the Death Hand had destroyed and the VSD mk I drifting, Siather still had a lot of work ahead of him those fighters were still out there. Alpha and Beta squadrons had taken a lot of losses they wouldn’t last much longer the transports were still relatively intact only two of them had been destroyed. Iota squadron was hovering around the bow of the Gold Dragon.
“Have Iota squadron hold onto any missiles they have left and keep them in case we need them against that other VSD. They should go in and attempt to engage the enemy fighters. Have the Transports and Alpha and Beta squadron continue to engage the fighters and inform them that we will help them when we get the chance.”
Siather looked at damage reports for the Gold Dragon. She was hurting those missiles and that ISD mk II had done a lot of damage. He looked over reports from the Harpago as well. The only damage she had sustained was to her shields and she had no energy in her weapons because Siather had ordered it all used for the shields so it would be useless for now. Siather suddenly remember the Death Hand was in system and he had a comm channel opened between the two ships.
“Sir is the Death Hand’s super-laser charged?”
“Yes Commodore it is charged and ready to fire we just need the Gold Dragon to move so we can get a clear shot on that last VSD.”
“I will move her right away sir.”
Siather ordered the helmsman to take them closer to the fur-ball of fighters.
“Have all fighters and transports withdraw from the fray and have all gunners open fire on the enemy fighters.”
Siather watched as his orders were followed and the enemy fighters reacted by swarming the Gold Dragon. Just as the first of the enemy fighters fired on the Gold Dragon Siather saw the blip that had once been the enemy VSD disappear. The enemy fighters were far to fast and were dodging all the turbo-laser fire. If any of them vaporized it was because the gunners got lucky. Siather looked at the new reports flowing in. Shields were failing again and one of the shield generators for the bridge had been destroyed, Alpha squadron was gone nothing left of the 12 Tie fighters, Beta squadron only had two fighters left, Iota squad was better off but not by much only 5 Bombers remained. The only good news was that the transport losses were still minimal. If Siather didn’t think of something fast the Gold Dragon was going to completely destroyed, he considered his options for a few seconds.
“Tell Beta and Iota squads and the transports to get out of the fur-ball. Take all remaining power from our weapons and put it to shields and prepare to take us into hyper-space.”
“Sir the Harpago’s gravity wells are charged we won’t go far.”
“Don’t you think I know that. Set any course into the navi-computer and prepare to engage the hyperdrive engines on my mark. Inform the crew that they should find a place to brace themselves this is going to be a little bumpy.”
This is going to require precise timing Siather thought to himself, he brought up a sensor display on his console as he sat down and waited patiently. He watched the fighters swarm around the Gold Dragon and waited for the greatest number of them to be at the bow or right in their Ion wash.
“Engage hyper-drive engines now.”
The Gold Dragon suddenly surged forward. The forward shields collapsed as predicted and some impacts were made against the outer hull likely some of the fighters that were in front of them. The Gand winced slightly at the thought of the damage. The fighters that had been directly behind the Gold Dragon when she started her nano-jump would have completely vaporized from the power extra ionized energy that propelled them forward. It was only a matter of a few seconds before the hyper-drive engines completely shut down from the strain. Siather glanced down at the sensor scan. Beta, Iota, the transports, and the 98 TIE fighters/interceptors the Death Hand were sweeping in on the remaining fighters, which were quite few.
“Even out the shields and bring us about 160 degrees. Take us back to the drifting VSD mk I. Connect me to the comm frequency that the enemy TIE defenders are using.”
“Ready sir.”
“Remaining enemy fighters surrender now or you will be destroyed.”
“Get me some reports on our status. Have the transports dock with us and receive troops.”
Siather sat back into his command chair a bit going over the battle in his head savoring the smart decisions as the bridge officers scuttled around getting him the information he wanted. It didn’t take the proficient bridge crew to get him a status report. He read it over: 7 turbo-laser batteries destroyed, 2 damaged within repairable limits 4 double turbo-laser batteries destroyed, 5 damaged within repairable limits, 2 Ion cannon batteries damaged within repairable limits, a damaged hyper-drive now only capable of limping at half the regular operating speed, 1 bridge shield generator destroyed, shields down to 23% on all sides except on the bridge which was at 19%, 2 TIE Fighters remaining from the original 24, 5 TIE bombers remaining from the original 12, 734 minor injuries reported aboard the Gold Dragon, 224 broken limbs, 47 fatalities.
Siather looked over at the sensor panel and noticed that the Gold Dragon had closed the gap between the VSD mk I to a negligible distance while he was reading the status report.
“Get repair teams to the hyper-drive and put all power generated from this point forward to the shields and the tractor beams. Give me a comm channel to that VSD.”
“Ready sir.”
“To the commander of the drifting TCF VSD surrender now. If you resist we will board and use all necessary force.” Siather didn’t bother waiting for a reply.
“Send the transports in.”
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Boarding Troops
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Major Greg Reynolds briefed his men. They were all anxious for some combat. The gunners of the Gold Dragon had had their fun now it was their turn.
“Resistance is expected to be light but don’t let your guard down. You are to have your blasters on stun. If any personnel surrender stun them and bring them back to the docking bay to be guarded. You will be travelling in groups of 24 and you all know who what group you are with. Group Alpha under the command of Captain Razrol will take control of the main bridge. Group Beta and Group Cappa you will be under my command and will be responsible for securing the docking bay and guarding any prisoners brought back by any of the other squads. Group Delta you will be responsible for the auxiliary bridge. All other groups will be responsible for the deck by deck clearing of all enemy personnel that have remained onboard after the engine room has been taken and repair crews set to work on the hyper-drive and sub-light drives.” Reynolds looked into the crowd of men all with their white stormtrooper armor on.
“Any questions.” Reynolds listened to a few seconds of silence. “Ok move out.”
The troopers flowed onto the transports in an orderly fashion. When the troops were aboard the Major followed them and the transports launched.
--------------------
Minutes later
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The shuttles docked in the docking bay of the TCF VSD. Beta and Cappa groups were first out of their transports firing stun bolts at any enemy personnel that resisted. All the other groups poured out 30 seconds after the initial combat had broken out. The Major and the men under his command quickly neutralized the personnel in the docking bay and began putting them in binders as the other groups headed out on their assigned missions.
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Alpha Group
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Captain Razrol and Alpha group made their way toward the bridge. They encountered light unorganized resistance at first but the enemy troops were catching on and were starting to set up traps and defenses against the boarding party. Alpha group met the strongest resistance when they were within 100 meters of the bridge the enemy had set up a e-web heavy blaster and were firing on anything that came around the corner. Razrol reported back to Major Reynolds.
“Sir we are encountering heavy enemy resistance 100 meters from the bridge. We need at least another 24 men to get in there.”
“I’ll divert one of the groups that is clearing that deck to assist you.” Major Reynolds replied.
4 minutes later another group showed up ready and eager.
“Ok we need to rush that e-web everyone set blasters to kill we get rid of this block in our path.” Captain Razrol changed his own blaster to kill. “Ready?” He got some assenting nods. “Now. Go, go, go!”
The stormtroopers rushed the gunner firing all the way before they all ducked into some open doors and started firing from their new cover. The e-web gunner died first but another enemy took the gun and resumed firing. Razrol took a stun grenade and indicated to a couple other troopers that they should do the same. He counted from 3 to zero then activated his and threw it. The other troopers followed suit. One got shot and dropped his and before Razrol could do anything the grenades went off stunning the defenders and 5 friendly troopers. Razrol had the 12 men take the stunned enemy troopers to the docking bay along with the stunned friendly troopers.
“Weapons back to stun. Lets take the bridge.”
Alpha group stormed into the bridge and shot the few troopers guarding the door.
“Ok people lets get the command functions working.” Razrol looked back at the open door of the bridge and ordered 15 of the troopers to set up cover for themselves and to dismantle the e-web in the hall for their own use if someone got the bright idea to storm the bridge. “Seal that blast door behind us.”
Razrol tapped his comm on. “Sir we have taken the bridge.”
“Excellent work report back again when you have full control of the main bridge’s command functions.”
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Meanwhile
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Delta group didn’t encounter as many problems as Alpha group. They took the auxiliary bridge with little resistance and minor losses. Delta’s commander reported back to the Major after they secured it.
The other squads took the engine rooms running into major resistance but they were the largest of the boarding groups. It took them a little longer but they eventually gained control. 48 troopers were left behind when the engineering team arrived to restore the hyperdrive and sublight drives if possible. All the other groups were dispatched throughout the ship to do a deck by deck sweep for any remaining personnel.
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Docking Bay
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Major Reynolds got reports from all boarding teams and then reported back to the Gold Dragon.
“Commodore Det’aan we have taken control of the control areas of the ship. We are doing a deck by deck sweep for any remaining enemy personnel as we speak.”
“Excellent Major. When do you project you will have complete control of the ship?”
“I’d give it another hour to be completely sure.”
“Good. What is the condition of the hyperdrive and the sublight drive.”
“Seems to be minor damage but power is low here so we have to hook up some generators to the ship moving again. We should be able to move within the next 2 hours.”
“Ok Major. Good work. We will tractor you closer to the Death Hand in case we have more problems.”
“Very Good sir.”
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Back on the Gold Dragon
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“Take us in and use the tractor beams to drag that VSD closer to the Death Hand. It’s troops will be in a better position to assist if there are any further problems over there. Captain you have the bridge”
Siather stood and made his way to the corridor to make an inspection tour around the ship to assess some of the damage for himself he just hoped that the Emperor was an understanding man.
OOC:
TCF losses
2 VSD mk I's
75% of the fighters
TRE losses
22 TIE fighters
7 TIE Bombers
3 Transports
