The Rebel Faction

Lumier glanced over at Silliss, "if they fire, return fire, if they don't fire... leave them alone", she said in a harsh tone and walked away

Her marines looked at her, "Something’s not right", one of them said

"Never in my 10 years of service have I seen her act like such a witch", another marine said, a blaster shot flew past his head and impacted on the landing strut of the Lambda shuttle

The girl’s marines took up their weapons

"Hold you're fire", the girl said over a small com device

Her marines didn't fire, but they kept their weapons trained on Lumier

Lumier glared at the marine in question, she started walking back toward the ship. Her marines just stared at her in disbelief, wondering just what was wrong. They then looked away and returned to there current objective

~Lumier! Incoming enemy shuttle, South Southwest of us! ~

Lumier quickened her pace and pulled out her rifle, her marines then followed.

The girl stood there, and looked around. “Geez, talk about hostile”, she said under her breath. Her marines walked casually down the ramp. “Ma’am, shuttle sensors are picking up several unknowns in the forest. Wookiee shuttles slipped through their sensors”

Her marines stood there awaiting orders, “Ma’am, orders?”

She sighed, “I can’t reveal my abilities here… doing so will put these people at to great a risk”, she said

Her marines nodded, and understood

“First squad join me in the forest, 2nd squad help in the defense from different angles”, One of her marines said

Her marines nodded and soon vanished in the forest, melting away from any form of sensors or infrared.

She smiled and walked into the forest, she to soon vanished in the forest.

***

Lambda shuttle ’Lin’ descended toward the ground below, their wookiee assault teams in its cargo hold

The shuttle landed and the ramp descended toward the ground, the wookiees rushed off the ramp and into the forest

No sooner had they departed from the shuttle where they dead. The wookiee pilots stared at the screen in confusion; they then activated the shuttles launch system and ascended into the air

In the forest, a couple feet away from the shuttles landing location stood several marines. “Is the tracking device attached”, one of them said

“Its on sir, the Luminadie will be able to track them”, another marine said

“Good”, responded the commanding officer, “Now, we have other enemies to deal with”

***

Meanwhile, the interdictor was having its own problem

“Breach in the starboard side!”, yelled an officer

“We’re leaking plasma!”, an officer yelled while running to another station

“Engines offline!”, Yelled that same officer as he ran by the 2nd in command and handed him a data pad

“If this continues, we won’t be alive to receive the captain when she returns”, the sensor officer said

“Come about starboard side, ready batteries 1 through 4”, he said. “FIRE!”

The interdictors laser batteries opened fired and shredded several pirate x-wings and tie wings to pieces. The pirates star destroyers turned about and fired their weapons.

“Hmm there not making any effort to ’guide’ there shots”, the 2nd in command said. “Lets do what that Trandoshan ship did,” he said

The sensor and Helmsmen looked at the 2nd in command. “Trust me”, he said

The helmsman stared at him for a second then plotted the course change, the interdictor moved and came about and headed toward the two star destroyers.

“Shields to max”, the commanding officer said. “Prepare laser batteries”, he said

The interdictor came between the two star destroyers, the star destroyers opened fire but the interdictor moved so fast that by the time the star destroyers knew what had happened they where already ripping each other to pieces with there own weapons, the command decks exploded the two SD’s listed and where then dead in space

“That went well”, the commanding officer said

“Fire’s on decks 3 and 5!”, yelled another officer. “Correction. Now 2 and 8”

The commanding officer looked around. “Looks like we’ll be here awhile”, he said and took his seat in the command chair

***

Lumier and her marines had cleared several drop zones where both pirates and wookiee’s had landed and started toward the downed Triton.

Her marines continued to clear area after area, orders from Tzhali told them not to kill the wookiees but to kill anyone else who fired on them. It was hard to NOT kill the wookiee since the wookies DID fire on them, the best they could do was wound them to a point where they would retreat. Which took a lot of time to accomplish.

“Sector A and B, clear”. Said a marine over the com line

“Landing zones D and E are also clear, pirate drop ships disabled”, Came another voice.

“Alright boys and girls lets return to the Triton and rearm, this is only the beginning”, she said

“No, now that they know where here the pirates won’t risk sending any more marines”, Came a voice from within the forest

Lumier turned and saw that same girl she had seen earlier, “Why’s that?”

“Scan the databanks of those drop ships and you’ll find out why”, she said then gestured for her escorts to continue their patrol

“Ma’am perhaps we should stay with you”, one of her marines began to protest.

The girl stared at the marine, “I’ll be alright. You know that”, she said

The marine looked away, then glanced at his squad of 5 men and gestured for them to follow. They ran back into the forest and, like before, vanished

“You have nothing to worry about”, the girl said. She then walked away

“Wait!”, she yelled

The girl turned, “Hmmm?”, she said

“How is it that they are taking orders… from a child?”, Lumier said

“Child? I guess you’re right. However”, she said and grinned. “They don’t seem to mind taking orders from a 15 year old girl”; she said and then walked back into the forest.

Lumier moaned then looked at her marines. “Return to the ship anyway”, she said and watched as her own marines made there way to the Triton

***

Meanwhile, somewhere in hyperspace

“We’ll be arriving at the moon Tissuss in 2 minutes”, the helmsman said

“Good, lets just get there before all hell breaks lose”, Came a voice from the bridge door

The sensor officer glanced over his shoulder, “Already to late, we got a communiqué from the Interdictor False Hope, crude has already hit the fan and beyond. They’re engaging a large number of enemy vessels”

“Order all ships to ready for lunch, we have several star destroyers and Nebula Class starships docked with this ship in the hanger bays, order them to launch the moment we come out of hyperspace”, The man said

“Yes Sir”, Came the reply from various people on the bridge

~Delta ready to go, as soon where out of Hyperspace~

~Bravo ready to go as well, same with Alpha and Beta~

The commanding officer nodded, “Alright people, where about to hit the fray. Everyone get ready”

A large hyperspace sig appeared on the False Hopes sensor package, suddenly the sig changed into multiple sigs

“Sir! Fleet ID Confirmed!”, The sensor officer said and spun around.

Space twisted and folded, several star destroyers and nebula class starships appeared, followed by a large number Aegis 2 and assault frigate class vessels

“Serendevis Fleet”, The commanding officer said with a grin.

He looked around the sensor display. “You know for a fact that both of those other fleets know that its impossible for our fleet to get here without another ship”, the commanding officer said

“The pride and joy of Serendevis”, The sensor officer said

Another hyperspace sig appeared on the sensor display, it was a very large sig by the looks of it. “ETA of flagship, one minute”, the sensor officer said

“We have fleet command and control”, Said the communications officer

“Good, order Aegis 2 Cruisers, Kathryns Purity, Nomad, Imp, and Falsehood, to guard that Trandoshan Ship”, he said and moved over to another screen, “Order the rest to get the pirates with everything they got”, he then looked away. “Order the rest of our ships to target the wookiee fleet and disable them”

He saw them all nod and get to work, he sat back down in the chair and look at the sensor display. “Squadrons Delta, Beta, Gamma, and Alpha. Launch and head straight for the Moon, protect the Triton and all its assets, don’t allow either wookiee or pirate vessels to intervene”, he said

~Roger sir, squadrons launching now~

“Good luck!”, He said over the com line. He watched as all four squads launched, Comprised of both Tie Fighters, bomber and X-wing and Y-wings. He leaned back and smiled, “The shipyards we have do use good”, he said

“It was luck of use to find a shipyard that held the blueprints for both imperial and rebel ships, in fact you could say it was scary”, the helmsman said

The commanding officer nodded. “What where they doing with both sets of blueprints, let alone the rebel blueprints”, he said. “Its odd really, but we’ll think about that later, right now we have a battle to win and a crew to rescue”, he said

All four squadrons moved through space in a loose formation, avoiding turbo laser fire like it was nothing. The fighters spiraled through space and strafed every ship that came at them

“Squad, looks like that Pirate Loronor strike cruiser wants to tango”, said the squad leader. “Hit it people”

The four squads spun about and headed toward the ship on a gliding angle which prevented the enemy from firing. The squads got in close and started hitting the ship with there weapons. The tie bombers did there job of taking out the shield generators and engine’s. Which crippled the ship

“Good job men, lets continue with our mission”. The squad leader said and pointed his X-wing toward the moon

***

The girls and her marines continued through the forest, they had succeeded in neutralizing several pirate assault teams along with at least 2 other wookiee teams.

“Ma’am, our cargo ships can’t land. There’s a group of strange…”, the com line then went silent, “animals, I think, that are in the LZ”, said a marine

“Animals?”, The girl said and stopped, she checked her bearings and ordered for the marines accompanying her to head for the LZ, she joined them

***

Lumier and her own marine squad made it back to the Triton, Merendez had succeeded in ‘piggybacking’ the ion cannon’s firing controls to the Tritons own weapons and sensor system, making it possible for them to fire the weapons from the ship instead of heading back to the outpost

“How’s the defense going?”, Tzhali said walking through the door on the bridge, Lumier looked at him and noticed his arm, it wasn’t the same as before

“So far every things going ok”, Lumier said. “How are you doing sir?”

Tzhali moved his arm, it responded perfectly. “I don’t like metal arms, I would rather have my original arm”, he said

“Well, at least you know Skywalker felt”, Lumier said

Tzhali glared at her. Then walked over to the sensor screen, it was flickering on and off. “I see power is still a problem”, he said

***

The commander watched the sensor screen, his ship opened fire on a pirate star destroyer that had already lost both its shield generators, without its shields it didn’t last long against the interdictors own quad laser batteries

“One down”, The commander said

“More to go”, said the sensors officer. She moved over to another station

“85% of the pirate fleet is contained sir”, The communications officer said. “Along with about 45% of the wookiee fleet”

The commander nodded approvingly, he looked at the sensor officer. Who in return gestured toward the screen.

Space folded and twisted, a ship appeared larger than the interdictor… very large

“The pride of our fleet, The Soveriegn Class Vessel ‘Luminadie”, The commander said

Several pirate star destroyers turned to engage the new threat, there’s engines aglow and their weapons hot they fired. But there weapons did little against the Luminadies sheilds

***

“Are they crazy”, said the captain of the Luminadie

“Apperently”, said the sensor officer who looked over at the gunnery officer. He nodded

***

The Luminadie’s laser batteries opened fire and made short work of the pirate star destroyers

~ This is the Fleet Serendevis Flagship, ‘Luminadie’ to all enemy vessels. Surrender now and you will be spared ~

As expected, the wookiee fleet stood down and turned about, the ships not disabled hypered out of the region, those that where disabled where tractored into hyperspace by there companions.

The pirates, however, didn’t stand down. They turned about and engaged the Soveriegn, which was a futile attempt since the Soveriegn’s own weapons where more powerful than even the most powerful pirate ship in the region.

Several pirate ships turned on the moon itself and began bombarding the planet, it would take 3 minutes before there weapon’s batteries would hit the Triton

***

The girl looked up and saw several pirate vessel’s in orbit, bombarding an area about 25 miles from them, “Come on people! MOVE MOVE MOVE!”, she yelled over the com. Her marines nodded and fled toward the Triton, the cargo ships that where going to land decided it was best to flee the area and head toward the Triton as well

“Send a message to the fleet, tell them to take those god damn pirates out!”, The girl yelled as she ran toward the Triton, one of her marines nodded and got on the radio set, which in turn was linked to there Lambda shuttle near the Triton

The commander stared at the screen, and smiled.

“Pirate vessels destroyed sir, the moon is safe”, the sensor officer said

“Good. Do we have communications with the captain?”, he said

“Yes sir”, The sensor officer said

“Good, open com’s”, he said

***

The girl and her marines had noticed that the bombardment had stopped, she also noticed that they where being chased by those dogs her marines had seen earlier, they hid behind the tree’s and fired on the new threat. But there new enemy’s reflex’s where slightly better than theirs

The ‘dog’ moved amoung the tree’s and cut down 2 of the 10 marines that where trying to kill it. It then moved up to the girl, it lunged at her, she threw her blaster to the side and took out her vibrolance and made a deep gash in the beast, but not before suffering a gash of her own to her side. She placed her hand near her side, blood glowed from the wound.

“Markess, Voo”, she yelled. She heard something and dived for the ground, two rockets soared through the air and connected with the beast, killing it instantly and showering the area with body parts and other organs from the creature

The girl got up, and wiped the blood from her face. “Good job”, she said.

One of her marines ran over to her and placed his arm under her. “You really shouldn’t be so wreakless, you’re mother and father would disapprove of this-“

“I know that!”, she yelled. “But its better than being killed by it”, she said and looked up. The cargo ships took up landing positions and soon landed on the ground. Ramp’s and other cargo doors opened up and deployed trucks and other vehicles which rolled toward the Triton

The girl smiled. And hitched a ride on one of the trucks, her marines jogged to the sides as the trucks moved slowly toward the ship. Not wanting to cause any panic or confusion

***

“Sir, getting comm.’s from one of our squads”, the communications officer about the Luminadie said

“Patch it through”, the commander said

~ Engaged pirate home base, taken some casualties. Pirate flagship has jumped into hyperspace and is heading toward you’re location. The ship took heavy damage before jumping, we are in the process of boarding the enemy HQ ~

The commander nodded. “Lemme know when that ship arrives”

“Its here sir! Incoming hyperspace signature!”, The sensor officer yelled

Outside the Luminadie, in front. Space folded and twisted, a ship appeared with fire bresing all over it. Hull breeches and other abnormalities where apparent it was also larger than the Sovereign

“That explains everything, I had heard that the pirates got a hold of some powerful ship. But I never thought I’d believe it”, the commander said

“Believe it sir, its here and turning about”, the sensor officer said. She then narrowed her eyes and ran a quick scan. “Sir, we can take that ship out without using any of our laser batteries”, she said

“How?”, The commander asked

“Where the ship is located is right in the line of sight of our Axial Super laser”, she said

The commander nodded, understanding. “Do it”, he said

The gunnery officer nodded and routed power to the Laser generators. The laser started building up a charge

“Prepare to fire in 20 seconds”, the gunnery officer said

The enemy executor turned about, front to front. What weapons it had lashed out and fired on the Sovereign. Shields flared all over the ship as it took laser fire

“15 seconds”

The front end of the Sovereign’s super laser lit up, small lances of light appeared and started collecting. The executor, seeing this, began turning away

“10 seconds”

The weapons on the Sovereign started tracking the enemy executor, the executor started launching fighter wings in hope’s that it might confuse the targeting computer, but the Sovereigns laser batteries lashed out across space and destroyed many of the fighters

“5 seconds”

Sensing that they wouldn’t make it out alive, the executors crew began abandoning their ship. Escape pod’s fired from both the top and bottom’s of the ship. Lambda shuttles blasted out of the hanger in every direction

“0 seconds, firing”

The Axial super laser and ripped through executor like it was butter. The ship listed to port before the laser finally found the ship’s reactors. The reactor’s overloaded and blossomed in a series of explosions that chained across the executor, suddenly the reactor went critical and exploded. The executor was ripped apart by the reactor’s explosion

The commander smiled, but also shielded his eyes. “The super laser is not suppose to be used that way”, he said. “But some times you just gotta improvise” he said with a smiled

His communications officer opened a comm. to all friendly ships. “Secure this region and provide support for both the Triton, and the unknown Trandoshan vessel. We have at least an hour before we have to depart. We have remained a secret this long lets not blow it”, he said

***


Lumier and Merendez where surprised to see several trucks come out of the forest carrying supplies for the Triton

Tzhali watched in amazement and nodded to Lumier, who escorted him down off the bridge and off the ship

“You must be the one we have to thank for all this”, Tzhali said

The girl looked over her shoulder, then turned. “You must be Tzhali Pridejaguar”, she said

Tzhali winced, “How do you know my last name? Let alone my first”, he said

“Everyone knows you…. You’re the most wanted person in wookiee and trandoshan society", she said

Tzhali shook his head when he heard Naosha

“Its not you’re fault”. He said, “I chose to help you it was only natural that my own kin would not understand”. He flexed his arm. Then looked at the girl, “What’s you’re name?”

The girl stared at him. “My names Vice Admiral Lavality of the Serendevis Fleet”, she said taking a bow

“Lavality? Lumiers little sister..”, Tzhali said and looked at Lumier

Lumier looked away and didn’t speak. She then gestured at her marines and they walked with her as she started toward the Triton

Lavality sighed. “She still can’t forgive me”, she said

“For what?”, Tzhali said

“5 Years ago I vanished and was rumored to be dead, the transport I was on was attacked by pirates and destroyed, or so many thought”, Lavality looked up at the sky. “I thought I would die, but after a couple hours a small fleet hypered into the region and boarded the ship, I was rescued along with several other people. When we where brought back up to good health they asked if I would join them”, she smiled and looked at her marines. “The marines you see here are all from the ship, they have stayed by side for 5 years. I will not let them down, nor will they let me down”

Tzhali stared at her for a second then smiled. “I see, loyalty goes a long way, but you’re only 15. How is it that you’re a Vice Admiral”, he asked

Lavality giggled then smiled and looked at Tzhali. “I’m Vice Admiral because the person who rescued me was a Vice Admiral, she passed on her knowledge to me and over time I was granted certain positions… it wasn’t until 4 weeks ago was when I was given the rank”, she said. One of her marines tapped her on the shoulder and shook his head. “Very well”, she said and walked away

The marine looked at her, “Sorry Tzhali to cut you’re conversation short. She is considered a child among the fleet, she is the only female child we have. That’s why we try to keep her secrets, secret. Please don’t it personal”, he said then gestured for his marines to follow him

Tzhali nodded and looked at Naosha. “Naosha, you might be able to ask them for help. I know nothing about this fleet, in fact until today I never knew of there exsistence. Try to seek an audience with the Vice Admiral”, he said and walked away

Lumier stared at Tzhali with awe, “Now that’s a first”

“What?”, Merendez said

“I’ve been by Tzhali’s side and have never seen him act with such calm and sincerity in his voice”, Lumeir said. She then looked away, “There’s a problem. If its wanted by both societys then that means that Tzhali’s family in danger”, she said.

“There’s nothing we can do though”, Merendez said. “Until we get the Triton repaired and space ready there’s nothing we can do”

***

The commander stared at the screen.

~ Sir! All enemy ships are under our control. We will take them to the shipyards now and refit them, good luck!~

He nodded. “Good good, at least we have a few more ships to add to the fleet”, he said and walked across the way to the sensor officer. “Anything?”, he asked

“Nothing. I thought I picked up a sensor contact but I guess it was nothing”, she said

“Nothing? Check it out, if you have to reroute power to the sensor array”, The commander said

“Yes sir”

The fleet was scattered across the region, most of the ships where located in orbit around the Moon. Marines had been shuttled to and from the moon, cargo ships where launched to the moon and sent back to the Sovereign for resupply and refuel. They only have 10 minutes left before they would be forced to abandone the Triton. The commander hoped that they would effect enough repairs to allow the ship to take off.

His main interest though, was in the imperial base, in fact he had so much of an interest that he had sent a team of engineers down to the moon’s surface to check and see if the ion cannons could be moved. To his disappointment they couldn’t without damaging the cooling coils and power supply, which was modified.

There was also another problem, the team had also run into animals that had been roaming the base. It would only take them an hour to liberate the base. He was in charge of the system and decided that if they couldn’t take the guns, then why not take over the Imperial base itself.

“Once they get done down there, let me know. I want that base up and operational by the end of the week”, he said over the com line to a Cargo Ship’s captain

~ Will do sir, we’ll have that base up in 3 days ~

The commander nodded and watched as the Cargo Ships left the hanger by for the moon

“I wonder who was financing those pirates”, the commander said to no one in particular

The communications officer turned. “Could it be… that the Trandoshan Government might be involved?”

“Not possible. The trandoshans are a society of pride, they would never hire pirates to there work for them”, the commander said

“Unless the politics there have changed”, the communications officer said

The sensor officer looked about her screen. “I got something… damn it”, she said

The commander looked at her. “What’s wrong?”

“Sir, I picked it up again but it keeps vanishing”, she said. She saw it appear again and managed to look the array on it. “Gotcha”, she said

Information scrolled across the screen. “No no, this can’t be right”, she said


Classification: TIE/st V38 Phantom

Combat Classification: Medium Range Stealth Fighter

Weapon Status: Not active

Recommended Action: Nothing


The commander smiled. “The pirates got a hold of the plans for this, smart.” He said

“The stealth fighter is under us right now look’s like its scanning our underside, apparently they have no clue that we spotted them”, she said

“Gunnery officer, you have target. Do you’re thing”, The commander said

“Yes sir”

***

The underside of the Sovereign came to life with Turbo Laser Battery fire, the stealth fighter moved with such grace and ability that it managed to avoid the lasers… but not the ship’s fighter escort.

The x-wings moved in behind the fighter and lined up there, they opened the fire but missed. At first they thought it was only one fighter working here, but after a quick glance about they saw two more stealth fighters. The x-wings broke off and evaded the new contacts

“This is gold leader to Delta, we need help out here”. The squad leader said over the comm..’s

Delta, Beta, Alpha and Gamma that had headed toward the planet now headed back to base for repair’s and refuel, when they got the message of Gold Wing being in the trouble they broke off to assist

“1st Squad, protect Gold Wing and eradicate those stealth fighters.. DO NOT allow them to jump!”, Alpha Leader said

~ Don’t worry about them jumping, Gravity Drives are active, they won’t be able to jump for about 10 minutes ~, came the voice of the commander

Alpha leader nodded and checked his weapons. He armed his laser’s and moved behind one of the stealth fighters, who in turn was tailing one of his wing mates. He lined up his shot and fired and smiled with satisfaction as the enemy stealth fighter exploded.

He looked to his side and saw another stealth fighter explode. The last one however made a bee-line for the Sovereigns hanger bay. The turbo lasers in and around the hanger bay turned and tracked the incoming fighter, the batteries then opened fire and turned the fighter into debris

“1st squad, commence landing procedures”, Alpha squad leader said and smiled

***

The commander smiled. “Continue monitoring sensor’s… there might be more”, he said and walked off

The commander listened in on the com line

A faint smile appeared. “Naosha doesn’t trust us? I guess its only natural”, he said

“I guess so”, the communications officer said while yawning.

“Get some sleep son, you’ve had a hard day”, the commander said

The comm. officer nodded and left

“You have all done good, however lets keep our eyes and ears focused just in case”, the commander said and took his seat

***

Tzhali and his crew where using the parts that they where given to repair there ship

“Tzhali, My fleet and I need to leave, once you’re done please hyper to these coordinates, don’t worry about security when you arrive several ships will take up escort”, Lavality said over the comm. line to Tzhali

Tzhali nodded and closed the line. He watched as the Lambda shuttle rose into the air and Ascended into the atmosphere. He then opened a line with Merendez, “Use all the crew you need to repair this ship”, he said then walked off the bridge and toward his quarters to get some rest

***

The commander of the Luminadie laid his head back

“SIR! INCOMING SOS!”, yelled another officer

“Patch it through”, the commander said

~ This is the Serendevis Fleet convoy Sierra D to Fleet Command ~

“This is fleet command”, The commander said

~ We are being engaged by a fleet of Trand------- ships, request immediate assistance! We have lost --- freighters already and only have 2 left, our escort ------- is currently engaging the enemy fleet but they’ve ----------------- @#%$ we just lost another freighter. Command we need reinforcement no------------ ~

The commander stared at the screen, the comm. array soon listed the signal as ----lost---- . He hit his fist on the control panel and opened a comm. with all ships in the region

~ All ships, take up escort position with the Luminadie and link up you’re hyperspace computers with ours ~. He said. He watched as several of there own ships took up escort positions around them. He then noticed that 1st Squad was still flying and relayed a message to them

~ 1st Squad, jump out to the following cords and provide assistance ~, he said. 1st squad leader acknowledged the orders and his squad jumped out.

***

The freighter moved out of the firing arc of the trandoshan star destroyer

“Freighter One, we can’t hold them off forever”, came the reply from the escort

“Roger escort just a little bi-“, came the reply from the freighter

Suddenly the escort’s ship exploded and debris flew in all directions

“Damn it”, the freighter captain said and moved his freighter toward the near by planet. But he didn’t move fast enough, the Trandoshan Destroyer beared down on them and destroyed the freighter, then jumped out

Several second after the Tran Destroyer had jumped out, 1st squad jumped in. Along with the Sovereign and the rest of its escorts