The Rebel Faction

The Shrouds Guild-class bridge was continually alight with a dull hum of sounds.

The complexity of this craft was unfathomable… sometimes even to its commander.

The dreamweaver ion assault engines propelled the craft silently through the vastness of space, its additional cooling/dispersal attachment removing all traces of the craft’s engines from the heat spectrum and anything that can detect exhaust.

The vessels stealth package was more advanced than any other craft in the history of the galaxy.

The crafts cloak skin, obviously the most notable feature of stealth package, makes the craft complete invisible to the naked eye. The hull is energized with static-electricity and a new sensor dampening field, using complex electrical signals, is projected in front of the armor. The armor also has nano-grooves, which scatter and absorb any sensors that manage to penetrate. To remove audio tracking, white noise generators are located between the double hull, as well as sound foam. To hide the ship’s gravity from sensors, the armor is lined with negative matter deposits, evening it out with the surrounding space.

Active-scanner nodes, placed all over the hull, use an electro-magnetic stabilizer to lace the signal’s area that touches the cloaking protection, enabling the sensors to penetrate. The nodes are covered in all forms of active-scanners. Passive scanners are placed at the fore and mid of the ship, using sound sweepers (sonar), heat sensors, alternate spectrum analyzers, emission detectors, etc to detect opponents.

And then… the craft had innumerable other technological advances that made if far superior to any stealth craft that may have proceeded it… and likely any ship to come in the future for some time.


And so it was that no one in the Tava Yagen system knew of the crafts presence… nor of its 5 companions…


Upon receiving the initial distress signal of the Trade Federation, the New Order had immediately deployed a probe group if Shrouds to scout the situation.

The Empire, wishing to remain largely covert in the past several weeks, had offered no response to the signal. There was no indication that the message had even reached Imperial Forces.

But the presences of the six shrouds contended that possibility.

As did the fleet of warships deployed and lying in wait a microjump out of the system.


And so the Shrouds had observed the happenings in the system… had reported information back to the Imperial Fleet.


They witnessed the presence of meager Trade Federation and Defense Initiative Fleets.


They witnessed petty arguments and threats issued by each faction.


They witnessed the arrival of a moderately-sized Jutraalian Fleet.


They witnessed the arrival of an even larger Defense Initiative Fleet.


And the Captain of Shroud SSS-94 smiled.


The Galactic Defense Initiative was bold. To hostilely engage a chief ally of the New Order when they were themselves under attack of the New Order on multiple fronts. Bold? Or stupid?


A sole abolisher shot its deadly web… a mine field of certain destruction for any incoming craft.


But the single abolisher was no threat to the Imperial fleet were they to come into the system at the predesignated exit vector.

Regardless, imperial protocol called for the complete destruction of any abolisher crafts before the signal for Imperial aid.


And so the Shrouds sprung into action.




***



“A-6, return to exit vector and proceed out of system until you have surpassed the reach of out of system com jams. Wait for our signal to call in the fleet.”

The direct line of sight laser communication system crackled for but a moment, and the reply of “Aye, sir,” came over the comm.

Captain Jiren cut the connection and turned to the vessels chief tactical officer.

“Order A-3, A-4, and A-5 to continue long-range passive scanning. A-1 and A-2 are going in. Target the abolisher.”

“Yes, sir,” came Lieutenant Nimerov’s reply.”

“Power up weapons. Bring shield compensator and DOS systems online.”

“Aye, Captain.”

“Are we are battle ready status, Lieutenant?” the Captain inquired.

“Locked and loaded, sir. All occult weapons systems online.”

“Excellent. Engage the enemy when within range.”

“Aye, sir.”




Shroud A-1 and A-2 swung around the GDI fleet undetected at approximately 40 MGLT, A-1 swooping up and coming down at a 90 degree angle from above the unsuspected GDI fleet, A-2 doing the same from below.

The 125-meter stealth crafts zeroed in on the small Abolisher cruiser from both sized, preparing to unleash hell.

The dreamweaver engines advanced vectoring technology, enabling superior maneuverability, with the powerhouse being modified to have higher output, hurled them towards their target. The engines were equipped with higher-output boosters which produce more thrust per unit of energy than the Quasar or any other engine. This unit is extremely small for its power output and handles energy at the most efficient level, using micro-processors to control miniature manipulations all over the engine.

The occult weaponry leapt to life. The occult v1 weapons are hidden within the ships armor and jut out, movement guided and controlled by high-powered magnets and hydraulics, the weapons move out of the armor and fire, moving back in the armor while the weapon recharges, then proceeds to jump out and fire again. The occult v2 have more powerful hydraulics linked to gravity generators that push and pull the weapon at a faster speed, the linkage of the computers is designed into a fire system allowing complete control from the main computer or firing computer via a optical information linkage set aside from the main backbone. It has backup targeting for slow connection times or disconnects. A secondary link runs from gun-to-gun and can act as backup while main is being restored.

Each Shroud-class attack cruiser unleashed swarm missiles from their 2 guided launchers, 4 dual turbolaser v2’s, and 2 super-heavy occult turbolasers, reserving their ion weapons for a more suitable situation. The crafts crystal cooling system kept the crafts from overheating, and as the first barrage of 4 total missiles impacted the Abolishers meager shields, the turbolasers continued to fire away with extreme power and precision.



At the outskirts of the system, Shroud A-6, also still undetected, awaited the signal to call in the Imperial legion.

The powerful warheads impacted the Abolishers shields with a flourish, doing considerable damage to the meagerly shielded craft, the initial salvo of projectile and laser fire alone dropping the shields by several hundred SBD.

And then a huge reign of laser fire lashed out from the GDI command ship, slicing through space like bolts of colored lightning, some of the lasers pummeling the Shrouds shields with great destructive power.


“What the hell!?” Captain Jiren shouted in alarm.

“How did they - ” the Lieutenant began to inquire, before he was cut off by the Captain.

“Cease laser barrage immediately! Keep moving, full speed!” the Captain ordered hastily.

“Yes sir, Captain!”

The vessels cling-class shields, which provide an elaborate ray and particle shield emissions, held their ground in repelling the initial laser blasts. Once the shrouds had ceased their hail of laser fire upon the Abolisher, the damage being taken from the enemy craft was greatly reduced, due to the fact that they could no longer be located by point-of-origin weapon fire tracking.

The cling-class shields of the shroud cruisers cling to the ship's hull, sparing the extra energy needed to mushroom shields around a ship and putting that energy towards a more extravagant shield array. The shield emitters, arrayed in groups of four, each contribute to the overall shield.

The shield emitters feed off of two shield generators, one for fore one for aft, each shield generator is connected to a power generator, either to the same one or individual. The Power Compensator can select the source, if multiple, for best usage and power output or allotment.

The craft’s shield compensators were alive and active, working to the best of their abilities. The shield compensators are AI imbedded in a ship’s deflector shield generator that links to a ship’s sensors, enabling it to automatically angle the shields to oncoming fire or allot shield coverage to areas in need.


The incredible hail of laser fire directed towards the two shrouds that had been strafing the Abolisher from different directions at 40 MGLT was mostly useless as it shot past the Shrouds indefinitely, but even some that didn’t hit the shrouds slammed into the shielding of the Abolisher, dropping its shields yet even more.


Captain Jiren, seeing the laser fire impacting the Abolisher, and noting the extreme briefness of which they suffered damage from the enemy ships, smiled, his spirits lifted.


“Continue erratic flight patterns at full speed. I want strong bursts from all weapons at random intervals firing at that Abolisher. Give her everything we’ve got all at once for just a second, and then change course. With our constant movement and random fire origins, it will be impossible for the enemy to track us. We and A-2 will take turns, keeping the fire up to one salvo every 10 seconds, making it 1 salvo every five seconds with us combined.”

“Aye, sir. Orders given, sir.”


And so the two shrouds, each having suffered roughly half shield loss from the initial barrage of laser fire, continued to pulverize the enemy abolishers shields, effectively remaining undetectable by the enemy defenders. Their shield strength began to slowly come back.

Each salvo, coming once every 5 seconds from one ship or the other, originated from a different location in space for but a moment, and then the location of the shroud-class attack cruiser was again completely indecipherable. Each salvo consisted of 2 unguided occult swarm missiles, 2 guided occult swarm missiles, 6 occult defiant ion torpedos, 2 super-heavy occult turbolaser v2’s, and 4 dual occult turbolaser v2’s.


Within another 40 seconds, the Abolishers 2,200 SBD shields had been dropped entirely by the two Shrouds.

(OOC:Posting for Dak)

Dakkon watched with a sense of glee as flames and arcs of laserlight errupted from the GDI lines, radarmen reporting it came from unknown warships, who had been designated non-hostile under the premise that 'the enemy of the enemy is my friend'. The abolisher was indicated as the target of the attacks, as it was of the TJE fighters whose stealth charge was running low. TIE Shadows were only able to maintain full cloak for a short while before reverting back to skipper mode, but that cloak time would be all that was needed. By the time the Jutraalian fleet reached combat range o fthe GDI fleet, the abolisher would be destroyed, and reinforcement was possible if not necessary in his eyes.

Reaching out with the Force he felt anger in the mind of the GDI commander. She felt stupid for letting her guard down momentarily, just enough to let her chance for victory and isolating the emeny fall from her grasp. He sent her more Anger, fueling her current mood, making her dwell on the past rather than the presence. It would lead to mistakes.

The TIE Shadows moved with haste, all power to cloak and thrusters, their warheads armed with heavy rockets. They closed to well within the accuracy range necessary before firing. In unison as all power as diverted back to shields and weapons, lock was gained on the abolisher cruiser. Astonishing the GDI commander as 244 heavy fighters appeared behind her picket line, then 488 heavy rockets appeared on their scopes as each craft fired a double volley of rockets.

Overkill perhaps, but it gets the job done...

From minimum range the rockets streaked in, the TIEs pulling away rapidly to avoid recompanse fire, however small it would be as the skipper cloak activated, missle lock becoming impossible, as did any kind of accurate track. And the GDI commander just watched, her mind frozen by Dakkons Anger fuelled confusion as the missles impacted the Abolisher. The craft, already weakened on its sheilds by the unknown attackers assault, was destroyed, its explosion being linked to a term Dakkon used.

It was atomised...

<font color=red>...a light in dark places...