The Rebel Faction

Unfortunately for the Sovereignity forces, they miscalculated the positions of their fleet. The Interdictors, not taking the time to lower their gravity wells, moved at a much slower pace than the rest of the fleet. The action was roughly akin to trying to manouver a large moon, and the Interdictors lagged.

As it was, the Hood and its group were past the other enemy craft before they reverted to realspace - only a few kilometres off the bow of the enemy Interdictors.

Exactly as the plan had called for.

"Targetting locks aquired!" The shout came from the sensor console.

"All systems reading ready." Another officer said. "Shields up on all craft."

Smiling thinly, Captain Mazzer nodded.

"Desginate targets Alpha through Delta. Open fire."

The first shots of the day came from the trio of Victory Star Destroyers, lancing through the darkness to detonate against the bows of the enemy Interdictors. At the close range, only a handful were intercepted before they struck.

And, as had been proven many times in the past, Interdictor cruisers did not deal well with missile attacks.

"Looks like shield failure on three of the enemy ships." The sensor officer reported evenly.

Even as he spoke, the fleet's turbolasers opened fire, spraying green blasts against the now-unshielded hulls of the three enemy vessels.

"Target their gravity well generators and bridge facilities." Mazzer ordered, smiling thinly.

"Captain! Sensor contacts directly ahead. The rest of the fleet, Sir."

Mazzer nodded.

The party had only just begun.


<font size=1>OOC : Damages
(3) Interdictors without shields and with hull damage
(1) Interdictor moderate shield loss

"The enemy has miscalculated..." Captain Mazzer said calmly, watching the approach of the enemy vessels on his sensor display.

The Interdictors were dead, the fire from the Imperial fleet having already downed their artificial gravity wells.

"Enemy vessels moving in at Mark Seven." Came the confirmation from the sensor station. And indeed, the Birds of Prey were moving forward at an incredible pace, their weapons lancing out against the Victory Star Destroyers.

"Divison Two to counter." Mazzer responded calmly. The smaller Fire Class Light Frigates had directed some of their fire towards the cruisers, but they had been waiting for the arrival of the enemy reinforcements (such as they were).

With the three Star Destroyers in a staggered line formation, the Hood slightly ahead of the other two, the FCLFs were spread in a holding pattern ahead of them.

That meant that as the Birds approached, they were forced to run the gauntlet of fire from the Imperial vessels. And while the Fire Frigates were designed primarily as anti-starfighter platforms, they were no less able than the Birds themselves to inflict damage upon enemy capital ships.

With the ORS ships targetting the larger Imperial vessels, the fire from the others quickly took its toll. Each directing its full compliment of laser cannons against the BoPs, the Fire Class Frigates scored only minor damages.

But with the added weight of six turbolasers and six ion cannons each, the small ships were more than capable of pounding the enemy vessels.

"Enemy Interdictors moving ahead." Another report came from the sensor operator.

Captain Mazzer nodded.

"Reverse thrust on my mark. Bring the fleet down."

He smiled, watching the damaged enemy vessels come towards them.

"Mark."

The fleet, in a pinnacle of Imperial planning and execution, moved. The Victory Star Destroyers dove beneath the plane of the damaged enemy cruisers, turbolaser blasts still scoring their undersides as they went.

The Birds of Prey, true to their targets, changed course to pursue... and the FCLFs were instantly on their tail, laser and ion fire lancing out into the rears of the only slightly larger craft.

"Prime missile tubes." Mazzer ordered, observing the enemy fleet. "And keep up our fire."

The rest of the fleet would be doing likewise, he knew.

"Captain! Sensor echoes at Mark Twelve-3!" Another call from the sensor officer. "Imperial Task Force Two! Reading full shields and combat readiness!"

Right on time.

And, as per the plan, the VSDs and FCLFs were on a direct course for them. The Torpedo Spheres themselves were set a small distance behind the two new Star Destroyers, far out of the range of the enemy capital ships main weapons.

"Commodore Orison reports that his fleet is at the ready, missile tubes primed and ready." The communications officer called out, his voice conveying the excitement they all felt.

Mazzer nodded, and started to speak. He was, though, interupted by a call from the sensor operator.

"Contact, Sir! Enemy Interdictor Alpha registering severe reactor failure." He paused, breathless, then, "She's going so!"

"Are we out of her blast radius?" Mazzer barked in response.

"Aye, Captain! But the other ships-"

At that moment, the ship exploded. The blast tinted the viewports black, even with the Hood pointed away from the blast.

"Sweet mother of Jesus..." One of the crewers said, ignoring his station as he looked at the holodisplay that showed the video feed from the rear of the ship.

The blast had taken another of the Interdictors with it, both ships reduced to mere fragments drifting now through space. The third was in flames, the damage evident even from this distance. The entire side of the vessel was twisted and broken.

The last one... "Reading as entirely out of the conflict, Captain. Looks like the ship put out a rather strong EMP blast when it went... took down the entire thing's systems."

"Status?"

"The fleet was out of range of the blast. FCLF11 is showing some residual effects of the blast, but other than that..."

Mazzer nodded. All in all, not bad.

"Right. Form us up with the fleet."

The Star Destroyers came about, the FCLF following, taking their respective positions in the midst of the Imperial fleet. The entire group was hovering, now, just outside the planet's gravity well.

And the ORS fleet was waiting.

Standoff.


<font size=1>OOC : Damages

ORS

2 Interdictors Destroyed
2 Interdictors Crippled
2 Birds of Prey (1 & 2) Hull Damage
3 Birds of Prey Ion Damage
7 Birds of Prey Shield Damage

TNO

VSD shields at 80% (I sincerly doubt 4 BoPs can bring their shields down by a quarter in one post)

Commodore Osion watched the second portion of his fleet as they alligned themselves with the two massive Torpedo Spheres, turning to once more face the enemy.

Above, two of the hull Interdictors were drifting slowly downward, no friction present in space to stop or even slow their descent.

Typing a command into his tacometer, the Commodore smiled slightly and gestured to his sensor officer.

"The enemy ships?" He asked.

"Their missile ports are open, Sir. Estimate firing in about a minute."

Osion nodded, mentally calculating the difference.

"Put a barrage out towards the crippled Interdictor." He said, and contained a smile as the orders were relayed. It was the FCLFs that fired first, their cannons blazing out to strike the crippled ship along its top portion.

The kinetic energy of the blast quickened its pace, and without engines to straighten it changed its course ever so slightly.

"Firing!" The sensor officer called out suddenly. Outside, the propellent streams were already visible.

It was close...

About half of the warheads slammed dead on into the Interdictor that had floated into their path. Perhaps three quarters of what was left were intercepted by the virtual wall of laser fire put out by the Fire Frigates, their anti-starfighter batteries spewing green shots to eliminate the threat.

The remainder -- half a dozen, at best -- erupted uselessly against the forward shields of the Hood.

"Captain Mazzer reports a 3% loss in forward shield integrity." The com officer reported, hiding a smirk.

Osion nodded his approval.

"Right. Do we have targetting locks?"

"Aye, sir."

"Fire at will." The Commodore ordered. "Let's show them how it's done in the Empire."

The Torpedo Sphere shuddered only slightly as the warheads lanced out, their internal guidance systems kicking in immediatly.

The Torpedo Sphere had one of the most advanced sensor grids in the Imperial Fleet, and the effects proved it had not gone to waste.

None of the warheads struck the dead Interdictor, and only a handful were intercepted before striking home.

"Damage reports coming in now, Sir." The sensor officer reported. "Transferring to your station."

"All right. Mantain position, reload missile tubes and prepare to engage."

"Captain! Enemy vessels in quadrant one! They'll be in range in five minutes, six tops, Sir!"

"Very well. Prepare for combat." He stopped, frowning. "Launch all fighters, and ensure shields are returned to full once they're clear."

The battle had turned rather quickly. But war, it seemed, was always unpredictible.


<font size=1>OOC : Damages

ORS

2 Bakura Class Star Destroyers Rendered Inoperable
2 Majestic Heavy Cruisers Destroyed
2 Majestic Heavy Cruisers Damaged
1 Interdictor Destroyed

TNO

2 VSDs @ 77% Shields