Imminent yet Erratic (TNO) - The Battlegrounds - Forums (Page 2)

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11 5:51am 09/12/01

"And what exactly is wrong with the name Thumper?"

“Garqi?”

Falynn started at hearing the voice of General Ming, approaching him from behind. He turned to address the General, and saw that he was already walking past airily to the communications officer, blatantly ignoring Falynn for the time being.

“Comm, are you sure the transmission came directly from TNO High Command when, and during the time you routed it through to Commander Daine’s comlink?” Scepticism filled Ming’s voice as the half question, half order was dished out.

“Yessir, positive,” a nervous glance crossed the officer’s face, “is there something wrong, would you like me to check again?”

“No, that won’t be necessary. Just a little pre-operation paranoia, go about your duties...” Ming then turned to Falynn, and asked the question Falynn had wanted to: “Do you know what’s going on?”

“As of yet, none sir,” Falynn then shot off a question of his own. “I was not informed of your arrival, General. When did you come aboard?”

“Roughly thirty minutes ago, whilst you were engaged in your quarters. I’ve just got back from assignment on Dantooine. There were some problems with the treaty signed by me and governor Dalfulga, but the might of the Imperial army was able to iron out the creases. I only just got back in time to board before the fleet left, and in the chaos it seemed unnecessary to bother you with details of my arrival.”

“Understood, sir,” Falynn responded, “so you weren’t informed of the jump until now?”

“No, but I’m assuming it’s something big, to require the use of the entire Division, and the Second Battlegroup, which seems to have jumped with us” Ming chanced a glance at the tactician’s screen a small distance away. “But we will obviously receive further orders upon arriving at Garqi.”

 And now we wait...

Adalric Cronus

12 12:48am 10/12/01

adulterous street bum

"Hmm.... sir? Production is hailing us, an open communications frequency."

Adalric's chair pivoted on its symmetrical arch, as the gruff features emasculated on his face set off varied tones relaxation about the atmosphere.

Indeed, things were running quite smoothly, and quite efficiently, over the past few weeks.  No recalls... no mobilization... no threats...

He sighed in his composure. Khurgee was similar in his own mannerism, but of course, the commander was as well very used to the stench of battle, the ozone of heated blaster, yes, he to, was in a state of contempt. Contempt for this... this... peace!  Peace be damned!

He strolled casually and quite lazily up the catwalks of the bridge of the massive destroyer, the  Blaze of Glory. In his hand was data pad, another production notice most likely, or so Adalric assumed.

His other hand tucked into the khaki pockets, he smiled grimly at the Cronus, handing him the data pad. Cronus glanced at it, then casually threw in disgust towards the gleaming deck.

He wanted to spit.

"Another damn production report! Our destroyers?"

Khurgee nodded in harmony with his composure.

"Indeed Adalric."

He sighed as he rested an elbow on the head of Adalric's chair, his eyes peering out the deck glass plates, the void of space captivating his eyes.

"It seems that the Galaxy has presided into this state..."

He threw his hands up into the air, his eyes glancing around the objects about him, a metaphor, to say the least.

"... peace."

Cronus smiled, of humor and good will, one experience that he had not had the comfort of knowing well in quite the Charr.

"Now now Khurgee, do cheer up!"

The officer arose from his throne and too glanced about the objects surrounding his essence. He placed a had nonchalantly on Khurgee's shoulder.

"There's bound to be some pitfall of hell somewhere around here."

Khurgee chuckled.

"If only, sir, if only."

Cronus dropped his smile to a stern frown.

"Khurgee, I'm surprised at you! What would your mother think if she heard you talking such nonsense?"

Khurgee looked at him in disbelief, then threw his head back in laughter.

"She'd probably tell me to go pick a fight with a gundark."

Both officers broke into hushed laughter. That broke some of the combat fatigue, the dreaded isolation from humanity, but it did feel invigorating to feel like a normal human being for once. Simply to enjoy the company of one's peers was becoming more and less a luxury than ever. Cronus sighed hoarsely. One of these days, he would have to treat himself to some considerably needed time off from duty.

He was quite certain that Khurgee could handle operations aboard the  Blaze, and even if another competent commander was decidedly required, Tenloss could arrange for the newly instated Adrian Arteides to handle things. An eyebrow dropped in curiosity. He had reminded himself to check on the data profiles for the brisk young officer, and he had recalled over hearing a rumor of this Adrian character having past relations with Tenloss, which said little of his most likely devious psyche.

He would do so before heading in for the night. At the moment, his organic systems urged him to seek sustenance. An officer from Relay department had beckoned for the lieutenant's attention, which left Cronus alone for dinner. The privacy would do him well, he supposed.

Walking towards the catwalks, his chin lowered to the floor, eyes scanning his path ahead, he abruptly turned to Khurgee's beckoned wave, approached a Relay console. The look on Khurgee's face was not becoming to Cronus, and he groaned inwardly.  So much for sleep. The young officer looked anxious and preceding for a threat.

"Adalric, we've justed intercepted a cryptic transmission from Simon Kaine."

Cronus looked at him in thought, trying to recollect an image from his weary data banks.

"Kaine... Kaine..."

He stroked his chin.

"Simon Kaine from Sentinel Fleet? That brash bastard from 2nd Division?"

Khurgee nodded in confirmation.

"Aye sir, Intelligence is decrypting the message now."

Both officers in unison peered upon the Relay console as an audio image erupted from a burst of static over the secure frequency. The Relay technician alerted them that the message was being patched through from Intelligence Department to Relay Department.

"En Taro Exceron! The New Order bids welcome to it's allies, and petitions for their comfort."

Cronus frowned.  But...

"Intelligence operatives from our quadrant located in the vicinity of interstellar space have uncovered vital evidence that the New Republic forces are massing together to launch a major assault against our sovereignty. Their vector and coordinates of plausible locations to strike are not yet calculated, although our War Commission is currently undergoing procedures to ensure that we shall not be taken by surprise, at all costs. I am hereby unfortunately ordering Imperial Syndicate to mobilize its forces, and run security programs to standby alert. My authorization comes directly from the Regent. Kaine out."

The audio faded to deaf mute, and the two men simply stood, encompassing the enormous threat that this presented to the Empire. Khurgee finally broke the silence with a bit of witty sarcastic humor.

"So much for our not being recalled."

He rolled his eyes mockingly.

"You know, you are the Braxant Sector Moff. Shouldn't you be in some plush office, signing eviction notices and kissing babies heads?"

Cronus looked at him, a bit perturbed.

"You mean kissing my higher up's assess?"

Khurgee chuckled. Cronus shrugged, and smiled warmly.

"I need adventure and excitement in my life Khurgee. It was bred into me."

"A bit of fine breeding sir. You've turned out to be a hell of a combatant, and a fine politician."

Adalric's features expressed annoyance.

"I'll choose to receive that as a compliment."

Adalric turned, his eyes probing the thoughts of his crew, the thoughts of his friend Khurgee, the thoughts of his enemies, awaiting in the vast ovoid nebulas of space, awaiting to ambush the fine workers of the Empire. He got nothing. He would not allow it to pass. With due certainty, he locked his expression in a final gesture of grim commitment and content.

"Alright Khurgee, sound off the orders to the rest of the ships, and have Helm Department bring us about to preparations for hyperspace."

Phalanx Allger

13 4:59am 10/12/01

adulterous street bum

"Am I reading this right?" Phalanx inverted his datapad. The jumbled words were even more vague upside down. "What am I looking at?" Phalanx admitted defeat at not comprehending the code language after examining the datapad for another minute and a half.

"Well, Commander, we think it has something to do with mobilization. But as to where, when and why your guess is as a good as ours. We were lucky to decode this much as is." Rowan, Phalanx's executive officer, briefed both Phalanx and the other five Commanding Officers and the other five Executive Officers of the wing Stone Temple (Wake, Rock, Helix, Jaket, Humvee and Munker squardons).

Phalanx let out a sigh. As one wing commander of the Imperial Navy, Phalanx was rather low on the CHIT. Information rarely made its way to Phalanx unless the data was already green-lighted for all access database. Instead, the 287th Division Commander relied on a few friends in intelligence and Munker Squadron, a Wraith like squadron in charge of wing recon, subterfuge, and other shady operations.

This recent data encryption came from a helpful intelligence captain Munker's XO had beaten quite often in Sabbac. "Maybe we'll be seeing some action," remarked Helix squadron's commanding officer, Will Arnaine.

"For the sake of the opposition, I hope not," replied Jaket Squadron's commander. Jaket Squadron was the wing's most showy and arrogant squadron.

Phalanx propped his elbow up on the arm of his chair. Leaning in a relaxed posture, Phalanx placed his hand on his cheek. "Alex, send this data package to all pilots of the wing. We'll see if any of them have a better time than us at cracking this encryption. Also, with the package I want you to include run-downs of the top percentile of likely places to be mobilized. Our pilots will be the most prepared on this bulk of metal."

Phalanx looked around the small briefing room. "You are all dismissed. Make sure your pilots read the packets."

Soon thereafter

Lieing in his spacious Star Destroyer quarters alone, Phalanx scrolled through the data package Munker Squadron had assembled. Like always, they had included little news snipets--unauthorized snippets from extraneous news sources, that is. A snippet from the liberal New Republic Holo Net caught the ace's eye.

...Brutally attacked by likely New Order demolitions experts, New Republic agent Xylon [last name disclosed at Alpha Blue's discretion) is recovering admiss intense bacta treatments at one of the top Military hospitals this side of the galaxy. As to who will be brought to justice, noone is certain though their certainly is whispering of revenge agains the New Order. With recent New Republic Protocol Mandates, likely offensive campaigns are bound to take place on probing intelligence arrays and possibly deep into Imperial space...

Phalanx continued scanning through the article. So far, it appeared by this opinionated article that noone had been arrested yet. His reading was interrupted as the hyperspace alarm went off, signaling a course selection and ten minute countdown until hyperspace entry.

Simon Kaine

14 9:59am 10/12/01

TNO's Finest

Wayland System.... Hydian Way

The Imperial Star Destroyer  Victory was on high alert. General Kaine stood on the command deck watching the wary transports push by the gargantuan TNO war vessel.

 Not exactly inconspicuous.

"Time till rendezvous?"

"2 minutes."

Captain Chandler watched his TIE fighter squadrons circle the star destroyer. He had started out his imperial service as a TIE fighter pilot, rising in the ranks to command a combat wing attached to the 256th, then under the command of an inept Colonel. He had watched his pilots succumb to the Colonel's bad decisions.

And then Simon Kaine was offered control of the 256th. At first, Chandler doubted new Colonel's ability to effectively use his men. However, the almost serious looking Colonel had more than proven himself to his men with each battle on Sotel.

He and his men followed Kaine when they went searching for the remnant of the Empire....shocked that the rebellion had sowed so much destruction among even the Imperial strongholds.

Colonel Kaine had soon become General Kaine, and Chandler watched the 256th grow in size and responsibility.

But oh, how he yearned for the seat of a fighter, interceptor, or even a defender.

In that he held envy toward those aspiring "hot shot jocks" of the high profile squadrons of Jaket, Helix, Rock or Wake.

 When did I become the old guy?

"Contact established.." came the tracking officer.

Captain Chandler could see the General turn slightly at the announcement and a small single man craft had broken from a passing transport heading straight for the  Victory.

 Ciscero!

Imperial Intelligence must have assigned him briefly to see what was going on within the New Republic.

Chandler waited almost impatiently for the Imperial Intelligence officer's craft to rest securely in the star destroyer's hanger.

There was talk of war with the New Republic going on all throughout the vessel as they made their way from "Zell's Backyard" to Wayland.

Kaine had sent an encrypted message to Falynn to move Division 2 to Garqui, TNO's latest planet aquisition to bring order to an area of space upset by Rogue Empire aggression.

Then Kaine had sent another message to Adalric Cronus, Moff of the Braxant Sector, under tight encryption, by way of Muunilist.

He remembered Kaine smiling faintly (which is rare) at the use of Adalric's latest culture interest in his note. Apparently the Moff had become engrossed in some dead, outer region culture to the point of even learning the antiquated language.

Simon had learned a few lines and amused himself by wondering just what the Moff would make of his introduction.

All the General would whisper was "En Taro"... whatever the hell that meant.

 But what was going on in the New Republic?

That was the question of the day and Chandler watched as the intelligence officer known simply as Ciscero strode onto the bridge like he owned it, flanked by two armed escorts.

He went straight for the General as the Captain also moved to converge.

Ciscero's eyes were grim.

"General, Captain (nodding to both men), we need to talk."

Simon gestured toward the strategic planning table, positioned in the rear of the command deck and Chandler instructed the helm before complying, "Set course to take us out of the system. Once fighters are secured, take us to Location Arridia."

Chau Ming

15 12:08am 11/12/01

"And what exactly is wrong with the name Thumper?"

Star lines could be seen lancing through the space outside the  Lorric’s bridge. They had just replaced the blue wormhole of hyperspace, and were soon after replaced themselves by the bright specs of real stars, dotting the horizon in every perceivable direction. In the centre of the viewport, there lay a single planet, standing out vividly amongst the other orbs in the far distance.

“Sir, we have arrived at Garqi,” a small-voiced Lieutenant informed the General from behind.

“Good,” he replied, “Comm. Keep all channels open. I’m assuming that we’re going to be contacted soon with further details as to what to do.”

“Aye, sir...Sir! Incoming transmission. It’s encrypted, for the eyes of Falynn Daine and Chau Ming only.”

“Decrypt it, then.”

“Yessir.,” and the Lieutenant left at a run for the Intel department.

The General turned to Falynn.
“How long do you reckon it’ll take them?”

“The Intel department on this ship is fairly efficient, it should be done reasonably soon,” he said, matter of factly.

Ming turned back to the viewport, and found that he didn’t have long to wait before the messenger arrived, bringing an eyes-only report of the situation. Ming scanned it through once, noting the Insigna at the top of the message, indicating orders coming directly from TNO High Command. After he finished the document, he looked up, gazing out the viewport, and then handed the datapad to Falynn. He waited for Daine to finish reading, before taking the pad back and tucking it into his uniform as discreetly as possible.

“General,” Falynn nodded to Ming, a sign of recognition of orders.

“And to you,” with that, Ming turned on his heel and quick marched from the bridge, leaving Falynn to carry out his orders whilst he took care of his own. When he exited the bridge, he made directly for the hangar, where, if Falynn ha taken the hint correctly, would be waiting a Lambda shuttle in pre-flight warm-up. Upon reaching the hangar, he found just that, and an escort of two TIE Defenders to boot. He was almost upon the shuttle, when a proximity alarm went off in the high reaches of the hangar. It was silenced quickly, though, and he paid it no heed anyway, knowing to what it pertained already.

He reached the shuttle soon after the alarm was silenced, and felt it lift off before he had even reached the seating compartment. It had passed smartly through the ion shield by the time he found the cockpit, and was well on the way to it’s destination ship in no time. Ming looked through the small viewport out at space, and saw floating still and motionless before him the outline of a Victory Star Destroy. The  Enmity, from Division One of TNO’s Sentinel Fleet. The shuttle accelerated noticeably, and the Star Destroyer’s massive bulk was soon a lot bigger in contrast to how it had looked from a distance earlier. The pilot, sitting in front of Ming, hastily exchanged codes with the  Enmity, and quickly set down in the relatively small hangar, compared to the  Lorric.

No sooner had the shuttle set down inside the  Enmity than the large ship lurched suddenly, and entered hyperspace, the final destination only known to Ming and the  Enmity’s Captain.

When Ming had cleared through the minimal security checks he was needlessly required to pass, he made his was to the bridge. The Captain called an “Attention” upon Ming’s entry, and after Ming had “At eased” the bridge, made his way swiftly over to the General.

“Sir, allow me to bring you up to speed,” the Captain addressed Ming. “Captain Tulok is in temporary command of Division One of Sentinel Fleet, acting from the Super Star Destroyer  Pandemonium. He and the rest of the Division have recently departed Bastion, headed for Carida, which is where we shall rendezvous with him and you will take command of the Division.”

Ming knew that this was a lot of information to be entrusted to a Captain of a Victory Star Destroyer, so something big must be happening. Just what, he would have top wait until he reached Carida.

----------

Some time later, Ming was afforded the same view of hyperspace turning to real space that he had seen earlier on board the  Lorric. Although now the viewport was sizeably smaller, as was the ship, and instead of coming out  with a fleet, they were coming out  into one.

The backdrop of stars looked much the same to the untrained eye, but the planet in the viewport was definitely different, with the Sentinel Fleet’s First Division orbiting it.

“Sir,” the captain informed Ming, “your shuttle is waiting to take you to the  Pandemonium.”

“Excellent. Inform Captain Tulok that I will be joining him shortly.

Hexadragon

16 2:28am 11/12/01

"And what exactly is wrong with the name Thumper?"

OOC; Calm down with the reponse barage. Unfortunately direct tactical movement can't entirely occur before the opposition flinches a brow.

Ciscero

17 8:42am 11/12/01

Imperial Intelligence

OOC: Talk about a runnaway thread eh?

Enroute..

"...with recent New Republic Protocol Mandates, likely offensive campaigns are bound to take place on probing intelligence arrays and possibly deep into Imperial space..."

 The blasted NR free press would be the death of them..., Ciscero thought as a communication's officer in charge of monitoring the civilian frequencies, switched to another band cutting off the rest of the report.

Not that there was anything new to report.

 Explosion....dead....fires... few survivors... prayers ..and nightside candlight vigilance.

Lightsiders were so predictable at times it sickened Imperial Intelligence...especially Director Isard.

Being ushered to a rear corner of the command deck, far enough away from the inconspicuous eavesdropper yet close enough to know what was going on.

He looked toward the  Victory's Captain, who, in turn, stole a glance at General Kaine.

Ciscero had to remind himself that "General" Kaine had once been "Colonel" Kaine. Otherwise, he be taken aback by the General's rather youthful, if rugged, appearance.

..and yet appearances can be deceiving.

The General had the penetrating eyes of an older man.

"The incident..." the Intelligence Officer started to report.

"Was it an Intelligence operation?" the General bluntly asked.

Ciscero smiled grimly. "Intelligence doesn't answer to the military, General. However, I can assure you that if it was an Intelligence operation, I was unaware of it."

"Not an exactly unheard of situation in your line of work, though.." the General murmured slightly, thinking.

"I refuse to believe the Empire would resort to the actions of lessor factions. The Empire does not terrorize," Captain Chandler said with near contempt, "The Empire conquers."

Before the Captain could go one, Ciscero waved a dismissing hand in response. "Pretty words, Captain. Meanwhile, back in the real world, the Empire will resort to whatever means to win.. and we will win."

Kaine watched the Intel officer for a bit, his mind drawing extrapolations from possible senarios.

"So the old Jedi made it eh?" he finally whispered.

Ciscero grimmaced slightly, and began downloading his information gathering data from Gormul Hyfe's toys into the  Victory's secured mainframe.

"That's the shame of it all, General. The old bastard has more lives that a hutt has fat."

"Do you agree with the Captain's assessment of the situation?"

Ciscero looked at Chandler before sighing. "I do," he relented. "As it stands now, the Empire could crush the New Republic now...without resorting to the large expenditure of time, energy and resources in putting together an operation like that. It just wouldn't make sense."

"So you think someone is out to ..discredit the Empire?" Chandler offered.

Ciscero frowned. "Not exactly discredit. TNO answers to no faction. However, if TNO were locked in a war with the New Republic, our focus  would be divided."

Kaine finished the postulation. "So, either a third party wants to invade the New Republic and wanted it's fleet leader out of the way..."

"Which would mean, "Ciscero interjected, "that the said third party put together a sizeable fleet  and has remained outside our Intelligence networks. Not an easy thing to pulll off."

"..or," Kaine continued, "the third party attacks the Empire, while duping the New Republic into an attempt to weaken us."

The General turned from Ciscero to Chandler. "Of course, this is only speculation." He punched in some commands and a holographic image of the New Republic's planets blinked into existence.

"Now, on a purely tactical level, the Empire would be dealing with only two planets.."

He turned to Ciscero. "Correct?"

The Intel Officer narrowed his eyes in thought and brought up some data of his own.

"Coruscant is iffy. I was there a few weeks back and they don't seem to know which way is up. The Skywalker Council is well...." (some data came up) "Make of that what you will.

The New Alliance is working closely with Mon Calamari, or so the data suggests. They are extremely aggressive, even for so called Jedi. But if you want to know if they could all be working together?"

Ciscero sighed.

"Anything is possible I suppose."

"It would be the Intelligence Coup of the century." the Captain said.

"One thing at a time gentlemen." Simon Kaine spoke up, "Captain Falynn should have the 256th at Garqi conducting drills. Moff Cronus will have put the rest of the fleet on alert but not War Status."

The General shrugged. "Nothing's happened. I feel confident that Admiral's Hyfe and Zell, and General Ming will be able to support the Moff should things turn ugly. So the Empire is in good shape."

The hologram changed and the free news broadcast of the explosion site, with med teams and damage control teams milling around. The sound was muted.

"THIS is what concerns me." the General said, pointing to the destruction.

"Someone is pulling the strings..." Ciscero murmured.

"..and I want to know who." Kaine confirmed. "Tell me, Ciscero. Of the New Republic High Command, which one is the weak link?"

The Intelligence officer thought for a moment, and a face appeared on his datapad.

"I wasn't there long but I believe, this one."

..and he proceeded to tell them why.

When Ciscero was finished, and the three of them had deliberated a coarse of action, Simon smiled.

"A strategy is in place should I decide I need one."

Simon Kaine turned to Chandler, "Captain, I think that it may soon be time to put those flyboys in the 287th to the test, don't you?"

Daemon Hyfe

18 3:42pm 11/12/01

The Emperor<br> Almighty Bastard

"Intel reports decryption complete, Admiral Hyfe," the duty officer announced.

Daemon Hyfe nodded with pursed lips as he turned from his observation of the star-studded backdrop of deep space.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," the Admiral acknowledged. "Captain?"

"Coming through now, Admiral," Captain Essian replied, sliding a standard Imperial data card from his terminal.

The Captain proceeded to approach Admiral Hyfe, handing him the data pad with black-gloved hands.

The Admiral nodded in thanks, taking the data pad and thumbing it on immediately.

The shimmering blue Imperial logo flashed briefly, and then the encrypted communication, picked up several minutes ago, scrolled across the small readout screen, followed by the neon-green colored decrypted version, respectively.

There appeared to be a tugging at the corners of High Admiral Daemon Hyfe’s pink-lipped mouth as he read through the message, his deep gray eyes lolling over the readout. Mixed emotions, of which would be completely incomprehensible to an onlooker, played across the man’s rugged face.

When he finished, he read over the message again.

And then once more for good measure.

A heavy nod befell the man as he dropped his right hand, clasping the data pad, to his side.

"Mobilize the Fleet, Captain."

"Sir," Essian acknowledged.

"Bring in the scout ships, and begin prepping for a hyperspace jump," the Admiral continued.

Admiral Hyfe turned nonchalantly, and strode to his command seat aboard the bridge of the Imperial-Class Star Destroyer  Earl Jaw. He dropped the data card to his armrest, and lowered himself into his seat, as if a king seating himself at his throne.

His face was surely unreadable to most, but perhaps the most skilled could ascertain the childish glee glowing within his deep gray orbs.

One standard hour and a half later, the Sentinel Fleet’s 3rd Division jumped to hyperspace.

High Admiral Hyfe now resided in his personal quarters, leaving Captain Essian with command of the bridge.

The Captain had never questioned the Admiral as to what the communication had read.

He had never snuck a glance at the message still displayed on the pad at the Admirals command chair.

The Captain had seen Admiral Hyfe"s face.

He knew with certainly what the only meaning of the classified transmission could be.

A shudder ran over his body at the thought of the fate of The New Order's enemies.

Lara Taser

19 11:51pm 11/12/01

The Emperor<br> Almighty Bastard

OOC: Going to have to play both chars in one post

 Leia Organa Solo, Corellia

Leia was silent for a moment as she considered the options.

"You would best serve the Republic with the Echos right now. I believe you would be happier there as well, so you'd better get packing Flight Officer, or you'll miss the briefing"

Leia grinned, and seated herself to draw up the outbound message to what fleet was orbiting over Coruscant.

 Lara Taser, in orbit above Corellia

Lara jinked through a pair of higher structures of which were not in abundance on the surface of the large and fluid Mon Cal cruiser and dove down for the bridge, dodging the angry red bolts of low powered turbolaser bolts that tried to shoot her out of the sky. She pumped two computerized torps into the bridge, watched her computer readout tally a hit, and then she was hit broadside by a flurry of laser bolts. Her systems shut down, and her stick went dead.

"Sithspit. Looks like I'm out of the game"

Lara reset her readouts and powered up her sublights. Then her message indicator light lit up, and she switched to an outside channel separate from the assigned ones being used for the fleet exercise.

"Taser"

"Echo 6, recall your squadron back to your base ship and meet in your ready room, we've recieved impending dispatch orders from Corellia"

"I copy, Taser out"

Dispatch orders? Why was the fleet being activated when they had just come back in from a cruise? So much for some onplanet time.

"Echos, something has come up, sign out of your assigned positions and head back for the ship"

 15 minutes later...

Lara stood in her flight gear watching the rest of her squadron land their X-Wings and climb out. As soon as she had met with the Intel representative who was acting as the message bearer, one phrase stuck in her mind.

Possible war.

Tiberian Fire

20 1:52am 12/12/01

The Emperor<br> Almighty Bastard

Wade Vox hopped out of his X-Wing leaving his blue and orange astromech droid,R2-M4,or Rocky as Wade nicknamed him behind.
He walked up briskly to Taser and saluted.

"Echo ten reporting as ordered"

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