The Rebel Faction

"...frigates."

"Frigates?" questioned the Rear-Admiral, "we aren't missing any frigates. You are well aware of the tight security on Confederation warships, and the tracking measures installed in all of them in case they do become...misplaced."

"They're Star Galleons, registered to a Lant Mining Corporation under our flag."

"So they're civilian," stated the younger Lucerne.

"Yes."

"I see. In which case, they should be returned to their original owners shortly."

"Already on it," replied Valeska, "I've asked for some of our ships to tow them back."

Lucerne leaned back, "We don't have any support ships available to tow them all they way through. They'll have to be manned with temporary crews to get back to Confederation space.'

"Ah, sir, that's going to be sort of hard for one of them."

"Oh?" questioned the Kashan man.

"One ship had their bridge destroyed," reported the dark-haired woman.

The Rear-Admiral nodded. "Very well, I'll dispatch the Defender to tow her back. Although that means we'll be short a star destroyer, which is unfortunate for the upcoming mission."

"Sir?" questioned the former instructor.

Corise flashed a rare smile, "A turbolaser attack registers rather easily on our DERs. So we scrambled a pair of Deathsabers to track them down, and now we have a location of their base. I'm preparing our forces to make the strike to eliminate them, permanently. I suggest you inform the Grand Admiral. We'll be moving out shortly, within the hour, so if she wishes to participate with us, tell her to contact me shortly."

"Very good sir."

The blonde-haired man nodded. The terminal's screen blinked out as the communication's officer onboard the Revanche cut the communication's link. Valeska shrugged.

"I guess I'd better inform Lavality."

Revanche-class Star Defender Revanche, Kasshyk System

The Mon Calamari styled warship drifted lazily across the celestial starscape. Around the flagship floated the Interdictor Mk II Constellation and the Nebula Star Destroyers Trojan, Defender, and Visionary. It was a sizeable force, more than enough to overrun some planets in the outer rim. And it was all being staged to strike a single pirate base. To some, it appeared as an inefficient deployment of forces that would result in an overkill.

But to Confederate High Command, it was pure caution: they were operating in a relatively unknown area of space against a scarcely known foe. As such, Confederation forces onboard were being quickly marshalled to their combat stations in ordered discipline. On the bridge of the battleship, Confederate staff officers finished updating the final assault based on intelligence from the recon flights. A voice rang out from the crew pit.

"Sir, we're recieving a transmission from Serendivius, something analogous to our High Command I believe, it's Grand Admiral Lavality."

The blonde man nodded. "Patch her through to my console."

Corise stared the holo of the alien. She's floating? They don't use standard gravity technology? Interesting. I suppose it takes up less power, and if you do lose power or the artificial gravity systems, you'll be use to it. He shook the thought away and genially smiled.

"This is Reard-Admiral Lucerne. Grand Admiral Lavality, I presume? Pleased to meet you. We are preparing for our assault on the pirate base. Based on the markings our recon flights spotted on several of their starfighters, we believe we are going up against the Iensis. I'll send a data transfer on what we have on them thus far. Just a second...there. You should have it. It would appear to be a rear-echoleon asteriod base used for repairs and supply. The belt affords it good concealability and some natural defences, as I'm sure you'll understand, so we will need to be fairly coordinated about this. I myself plan on utilizing a starfighter assault while my ships of line blow a path through the belt to take the base. Does this sound prudent to you, Grand Admiral?"

The Rear-Admiral shook his head. "Nothing that isn't covered in the data I've transmitted to you. Ten minutes will work out nicely. I will for my navigator to transmit our astrogation route to you soon. If it's possible, I would like to synchronize the jump of our two fleets such that they arrive simultenously within the system, that way, we'll be able to immediately back each other up and not have to deal with possible collisions when our fleets emerge from hyperspace. Yes? Excellent. See you then. Lucerne out."

The holo-projector cut out, darkening the complexion of the Kashan man. Corise squinted out of the viewports, eying two wedge starships directly ahead of him; the Trojan and Constellation. Thousands of men and women are aboard those ships. And I'm putting them at the risk of death in order to eliminate a pirate base in foreign territory. His lip twitched. Which begs the question: when do we risk the livilihood of our people for the betterment of the galaxy? When is the limit? Is there a limit? Lucerne shook the thoughts away, beckoning the officer of the watch over.

"We'll be leaving in less than ten minutes Lieutenant, please inform the appropiate departments about departure time. That is all. Thank you."

Less than ten minutes later, the Confederation warships and their Serendivius allies jumped into the realm of hyperspace. Warships surged through the swirling corridors, bathed in celestial light. The starships shot into realspace, leaving the bright corridors for the star studded expanse of realspace. Directly in front of the amassed allied forces lay a ponderous, dusk coloured asteriod belt. The Flight Controller turned to Lucerne, who nodded back.

"You may begin the assault, Commander," stated the Rear-Admiral gravely.

Revanche-class Star Defender Revanche

Confederation starfighters streamed across the battleship, forming a shadowy spear to drive through the belt and pierce through the pirate's heart. The massive guns of the battleship began to ring out in a devastating prelude to the starfighter attack. Turbolaser pulses pulverized asteriods in a bright emerald glow. Gravitational disruptors concentrated their efforts on the distant base, playing havoc with depot's artificial gravity and internal structural support. Fifty railguns pounded shells at the asteroids, occasionally even passing through the asteroid wall to hit the Iensis base, much to Lucerne's displeasure. The Rear-Admiral bellowed over the din of the crew pit.

"Redirect Railgun fire to short-range targets only," demanded the Kashan man.

A voice struggled over the noise to acknowledge, "Aye sir."

"Constellation's gravity generators are now online and focused on the enemy base."

"Sir," shouted out a voice, "the Serendivius command ship is informing us that they've spotted several corvettes, roughly four squadrons of starfighters, and a wing of bombers."

The younger Lucerne nodded. Reconnaissance flights off the Trojan and the Revanche's own sensor suite had already told him as much, but it further validated the information's veracity. Fireballs began to flare up in the distance as the Confederate and piratical fighters clashed in a vicious dogfight. He glanced at his console's tactical input. The Iensis took it worse than we did...no surprise...it's a little hard to kill what you can't see. Let's see, their starbombers appear to be Subpro Starhammers...good for groundwork and maybe even space stations, but too slow for typical space combat. They won't be a problem. An assortment of headhunters, cloakshapes, and T-wings shouldn't be much grief either. The corvettes could be nasty; Corellian gunships generally are. He wiped a bead of sweat from his brow.

"Communications, issue the following orders to the fleet: disable and capture enemy capital ships and base if at all possible. I want prisoners, not depressurized bodies."

"Aye sir."

The Confederate officer leaned back in his command chair. Many junior officers, and especially unenlisted men, within the Confederation Navy tended to prefer destroying enemy vessels in flashy explosions rather than simply subduing and capturing an enemy. It certainly was easier to do so, but capturing an enemy was significantly better. Enemy warships gave two things when they captured rather than destroyed: hardware and information. And if he was forced to go on a campaign against the Iensis, he'd prefer to have as much information on the Iensis as feasilby possible.