The Rebel Faction

The Shoto class Battlecruiser Brummer drifted through the blackness of space, surronded by distant stars, and planets. Their location was the Vegresso system, a short distance away from their targets, and objective. The taskforce consisted of a number of ships, mainly six of the powerful Shoto class Battlecruisers, twenty cutter class gunships, and thirty kessel class pickets. In addition to these powerful warships, the fleet also had several of their modified 418 Interdictor cruisers with them. Their target was the Vergresso Asteriod Field, and Vergresso Base, a small planetoid that is the largest asteriod in the field. In the height of the Galatic Civil War Ororo Transportation had called it home, and had a small shipyard within the asteriod it's self. Ororo manufactured many starfighters for the Rebellion, mainly X-wings, and Y-wings for the Alliance, in addition to refitting older types, and performing mantinenence, and repair on the starfighters. To say the least, Ororo was doing good buisness with the Rebel Alliance. But Ororo made the mistake of siding with the Tenloss Syndicate in the war of spice smuggling, and Black Sun, ever eager to defeat the Tenloss Syndicate, and score points with the Empire, furnished the location of the Ororo Transportation Base to the Empire as a nest of Rebel smugglers. Darth Vader himself had personally been dispatched along with his Death Squadron, consisting of the Super Star Destroyer Executor, several other Imperial class Star Destroyers, and hundreds of Imperial starfighters. At the time when they showed up, the Alliance had two escort frigates, a corvette, and five hundred starfighters stationed at the base, with some of the starfighters undergoing mantinence or repairs, and others having been freshly built and were being picked up by the new rookie pilots that would fly them. They put up a brave fight, but the Alliance forces were utterly crushed, and few lived to escape. With that done the Executor, in conjuction with several squadrons of TIE bombers, attacked Vergresso Base, destroying the shipyards within the asteriod.

That had been then, and this was now. Several groups of slicers, and independent companies with ties to Ororo Transportation has kept track of it's movements ever since the disaster, just in case the company made a comeback, but they never did. They rebuilt their base on the asteriod, since the asteriod it's self was hardly touched, and went about building up a sizeable fleet to defend it's self with in case the Empire should ever return. Several groups of well known mercenaries are known to have joined in with them, some formerly known to work for Black Sun, and others known to have worked for Admiral Tavira. Some were Naval Mercenaries, with Battleships, and Fighters, and others were ground mercenaries, with troops, and commandoes. While the fleet would take out any naval assets the enemy had, the ground fight would have to come to the armies of Farfalen, and BDE. The infantry of the BDE were prepared for the fight, and had their rifles, machine guns, and grenades all primed and ready to go.

At that moment, on the bridge of the Brummer walked Admiral Vincent Harker, a tall regal man, six foot three, with broad shoulders atop rested a red cape, matching his grey and magneta uniform perfectly. Harker strode straight to a number of chairs near the viewport, and turned around, facing the way he had come. Once again, he would serve with a man with quite a reputation on the battlefield. A General in the Black Dragon Empire, he was something many feared. "Show him in", ordered Admiral Harker.

"General Grevious, how nice to once again meet with you. It has been a few weeks since the operations against the world of Lowick. Come in, take a seat, would you like something to drink? Waiter, come get the General whatever he wants to drink. I'll take Whyren's Reserve, red, chilled, dry myself. Before we begin the negotiations General, may I inquire as to you current state aboard the Battleship Brummer? Also, I would ask whether or not you are used to fighting in zero gravity, as may be the case when you attack the enemies's main base. If not, we have some simulation facilities that our troops are currently using where you could use them to your advantage. This battle will be fierce, by all means. We are fully expecting the enemy to vent the atmosphere of the asteriods. Since this fleet doesn't have much in the way of ion cannon weaponry, we can't adequatly disabled the electonics needed to disable the vents from opening, so unless you have a plan to prevent them from venting the atmosphere, it is very likely that you will be fighting in zero-G gravity, and our troops will also be equipped with the latest in enviro suits for this operation as well." said Admiral Vincent Harker as the waiter took their orders, then went off to prepare the drinks.

The Admiral paused for a moment, studying the General as he listened in. Then, he continued, outlining his plan in great depth in detail. "Phase one of the operation is to eliminate any enemy forces found in the area. Unfortunatley, this is the most trickiest part of the operation, as peace negotiations are currently undergoing between the goverment of the BDE, and that of the Galatic Colation, and Outer Rim Sovereignty. Right now, if we encounter any Coalition, or ORS freighters in system, we will not destroy them, but will inspect them to see if they are smuggling in or out any illegal contraband. If you want, you can play a part of these boarding actions, if there are any freighters to be found. We will also engage and eliminate any enemy warships and starfighters found, and according to the latest intell reports, there are quite a few to be found, for Ororo Transportation does not want a repeat of what happened to them several years ago to happen again, which is why it will take this large a squadron to successfully complete this operation. Targets of Opportunity include numerous freighters working for the Ororo Transportation, or other criminal syndicates working for or with, or hiring the services of, Ororo Transportation. Once this has been done, Phase one will have been brought to an end."

The Admiral paused once again to regather his thoughts, as the waiter arrived with their drinks. Eager to wet this throat, the Admiral accepted his wine, and took a small sip before setting the amber colored liquid down, and continuing on his way with the outline of the operation. "Phase two consists of the infantry assault on the asteriod. I have acquired, through great expense, several MSE-6 Utility droids. Released onto the surface of the asteriods by pods launched by a cruiser at a safe distance, these modified droids with treads will roll into the barrels of any enemy weaponry on the surface of the asteriod, and detonate, ruining the weapons. With it's secondary defenses disabled, the asteriod will be left open to invasion. Being covered by a squadron of Cutter Gunships, and Kessel Pickets, the Shotos will launch the twenty shuttles and dropships needed to bring the two Battlations of one thousand men apiece to the asteriod, where in the main hangar bay the battle will begin, and probably where the most brutal losses will occur, but who knows, maybe they will try their venting manuever in there, and keep their troops in the corridors leading from the bay to the yards or quaters, or command facilities. The disabling of the second layer of defenses, and successfully establishing a beachead in the Asteriod wraps up phase 2 of the operation." said Vincent Harker as he took another sip of his red wine, and smacked his lips as the liquid ran down his throat.

"Finally, Phase 4 of the operation. Simply the capture of the asteriod, the execution of all enemy personnel, and the securing and any necessary repairing of the facilities on the asteriod. I don't know whether or not we will use the yard operationally, but we will use the asteriod as an outpost, for hyperspace lanes meet here that eventually lead into the Tion Cluster, thus the reason for taking it, and explaining how pirates were able to launch raids so easily into the cluster, and Perlemian Trade route. Also, this base will serve as a fleet base, possibly for this flotilla right here pending approval from Fleet Command. Total BDE/Farfalen assets for the operation currently stands at Twelve Shoto class Battlecruisers, twenty Cutter class Gunships, and twelve Kessel class Picket Ships, along with thirty shuttles and warlord type dropships, and two thousand, five hundred standard Farfalen combat General Infantry troops. Now, any questions about the operation?" Harker asked as he finished off the glass of wine, and threw the glass to the floor, shattering it and causing another MSE-6 Mantinence droid to come out from under the bed, and being cleaning up the slight mess.

With the meeting concluded, Admiral Harker strode out of the small conference room, and headed to the bridge of the vessel. He glanced at his chromometer. It was five minutes before they were scheduled to come out of hyperspace in the Vergresso Asteriod Belt. The Battleship Brummer was but one of twelve impressive warships in the mighty Farfalen fleet, consisting all together of over fifty captial warships, and picket ships. At that moment, the Admiral strode onto the bridge. The captian came up to greet him, as well as the Farfalen general that would be working with General Grevious on this assault, and would be the base's permanent ground corps commander after the base was seized, and a permanent joint Farfalen/BDE contigent was stationed there to protect the shipyards. Harker dispatched the General to help Grevious get prepared for the assault on the shipyard. Then Harker ordered all his ships via hypercomm to prepare for an almost certain interception as soon as they came out of hyperspace.

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Moments later, the ship exited hyperspace. All around them, the other ships of the fleet left hyperspace, and together as a whole body they powered up shields, and weapons. Missiles and torpedoes, some of the most vital weapons on the Farfalen vessels, and usually what inflicted the greatest long range damage in any fleet engagement, were rammed into their tubes, and locked, prepared to fire against the enemy fleet. Speaking of the enemy fleet, when he glanced out of the viewport ahead of him, Admiral Harker felt his eyes widen considerably. Out ahead, their size and profile unmistakable, in orbit around the shipyard sat three Mon Calamari Star Cruisers, of the powerful MC-90a type. Riding with them were a pair of Escort Frigates, and several smaller warships. Freighters of all sizes could be seen, some with Galatic Coalition tags, others with Outer Rim Soveriengty tags, and some with the criminal organization tags of the Union attached to them. All in all, some ripe targets for the taking, err, inspecting Admiral Harker corrected himself.

Then, the whole thing went straight to hell. For a message came over in the comm unit, the voice of General Grevious requesting the cover that he needed to get to the shipyard. Out ahead, the unit's shuttles blazed ahead at full speed. The Mon Calamari cruisers were swift to respond, deploying hundreds of starfighters, and coming about to engage the Farfalen fleet. "@#%$" muttered Admiral Harker, before he issued the orders that he needed in order to protect the over anxious General's shuttles, and get him safely to the shipyard. "Order the thirty Kessel A class Pickets to form up on the General's shuttles, and see him safely to the shipyard at any costs. Bring the rest of the fleet about, and ahead at full speed. All missiles, prepare to fire on the lead Mon Calamari cruiser. Wyvren cannons and quad laser cannons will tear into the enemy starfighter formations. All ships, good luck."

The shotos all shuddered as they came about, and at the same time deployed and fired their proton torpedoes, a total of some almost two thousand proton torpedoes firing off as the fleet came about. They swept across the battlefield and impacting against the shields of the Mon Calamari cruiser in the lead, blowing them away, and savaging the hull. The cruiser began to drift off course, and lose her way, heavily damaged. Then, a follow up strike from the Cutter class Gunships, some twenty total, consisitng of eight concussion missiles, hit home, utterly destroying the cruiser. Then the other two cruisers opened fire on the approaching Farfalen fleet. But the Farfalen vessels ignored them, and fired instead on the starfighters now coming to attack the shuttles that contained General Grevious, and his men.

The enemy starfighter formation consisted somewhere near two hundred and fifty fighters, mostly older models in the hands of common pirates and smuggler fleets, Z-95 Headhunters, CloakShape Fighters, but some newer, although obselete models, such as the I-7 Howlrunner, the A-9 Vigilance Interceptor, and the Hornet. Explosions dotted the space between the asteriods and the approaching shuttle fleet as many of the shots found their marks on the enemy starfighters. Then it was the turn of the shuttles themselves and their escorts to fend for themselves. The Kessel class pickets opened fire first with their wyvren cannons, and then their other weapons as the enemy fighter group came into range.

More explosions dotted the space ahead of the shuttle fleet, and then, suddenly, the surviving eighty or so enemy fighters were among the shuttle formation, firing, manuevering, and dying, explosions littering the space around the shuttle formation, and within it. Suddenly, an escort frigate cut out from the enemy fleet, and across the path of the shuttle formation, it's turbolaser and laser cannons firing on the oncoming shuttles. Two shuttles detonated as the Shotos came forwards to assist them. Two Shotos, the Twilight, and Kirishima, broke off from the main formation of Shotos, and opened fire with their full complement of weapons on the backs of the enemy escort frigate. This was where the shields were at their weakest, and after a few salvos, it was all over, the enemy frigate having been snapped in half, then exploded, leaving it's wreckage to join that of the asteriod field spinning around them.

A bright explosion caused Admiral Harker to avert his eyes from the battle scene. When the light cleared, a cutter class gunship in the main formation had fallen prey to a swarm of missiles from the smaller enemy escort ships. Admiral Harker silently cursed his misfortune, and hoped that the remaining shuttles would be able to make it to the shipyard okay. Four of the thirty Kessel A pickets had been immobilized by the enemy starfighters, which were now down to fifty in number, but luckily no more shuttles had been hit. They were now approaching the dropoff point for the insertion into the shipyard.

Admiral Harker thought for a moment, then issued one last set of orders. "Order Assets and Tracking to get the identities of those ships. It's obvious that they don't belong to the Coalition, or Outer-Rim Soveriegnty. And prepare a second wave of troops, and shuttles. With the losing of two shuttles, and the possibility that those warships were carrying full loads of troops, General Grevious may need reinforcements. Now let's move out." ordered Admiral Harker as the battle continued to rage around them..........

"Sir, the assault shuttles are running into trouble. As if the enemy fighters are not bad enough, they are also having to contend with the asteriods. At least one additional shuttle has been disabled by an meteroite impact." reported the sensors and communications officers.

"Dammit. Ready the second wave. And dispatch the Kirishima, assign her to rock bashing duty. Order her to clear a way in for the shuttles using all weapons at her disposal. Bring up the Valorous, Soyuz, and Conderitti to engage and hold the remaining Mon Cal Cruiser on the starboard side. It may go for the shuttles any minute now. As for the rest of the fleet, bring it about at flank speed, target any remaining starfighters, and small picket ships. Let's mop up the small shrimp now." ordered Admiral Harker.

One shoto cruiser, already detached from the main fleet, headed off in high speed towards the shuttles weaving in torwards the shipyards. It fired proton torpedoes in groups of ten and twelve in order to use their combined explosiveness to deflect larger asteriods drifting in torwards the general paths of the shuttles. However, this tatic was abandonded shortly afterwards when the shuttles began asteriod hopping using the bigger ones to stay clear of the small ones. The Cutters with the shuttles had been ordered at all costs to protect the shuttles, so with some showing hull damage from asteriod impacts, they drove all the way in hard, their turbolaser, and wyvern cannons pumping energy into the enemy starfighter ranks. It was now a game of attrition in that area of the theatre.

Elsewhere, three more Shotos moved to engage the third Mon Cal Cruiser in line. A five hundred torpedo salvo blasted away it's shields, and left it's hull vulnerable. It tried to fight back, but was outgunned, and soon succumbed to their better armed opponents, it's wreckage left to drift freely in the asteriod belt, becoming one with it, as it's hull was battered apart by the rocks.

Admiral Harker continued to watch the screens as the assault shuttles drew close to their destination.........

"Sir, the Kirishima is reporting that she has caught up with the lead Cutter class Gunship, but it is apparently motionless. She has recieved a tight beam transmission about something having to do with a Trojan Horse, sir." said the communications officer.

"All right then, I think I know what that devious little General is up to. Let's make sure nothing interferes with him. Have the Kirishima target all her weapons on all weapon batteries on the surface of the main asteriod, and bring up two Kessel Pickets to clear any asteriods between the path of that enemy Corvette and the main base. And form the rest of the fleet into a line of battle, with our ship in the lead. Put us on a course between the main base asteriod, and the remaining enemy ships. Have our port weapons, and missile launchers prepare to fire on the remaining enemy ships. And launch the second wave now. Errr, no wait, belay that last. Transfer all shuttles of second wave to the Shoto Cumberland, and the Cutter Gunships Haruna, and Bombay. Have those ships speed towards the main base, using their weapons to chew through the asteriods and any remaining enemy fighter units, and don't launch the shuttles until they are close enough to the main base to launch them without threat of interference with asteriod. Now let's move out people." ordered Admiral Harker.

The Shoto Kirishima cut out in front of the lead Cutter, using her turbolaser, wyvern cannons, and torpedo octects as well as her ion cannons to fire on the main base, targeting suspected weapons emplacements. Almost all of the obvious enemy weapons were eliminated immediatly, but there were hidden emplacements that opened up to fire back at the Shoto. Turbolaser bolts, and Diamond Boron Missiles shot out of hidden emplacements to strike at the already damaged shields of the Shoto, collapsing them at some places, and striking the hull. But the Shoto was a powerful warship, and within five minutes, the last enemy weapon batteries fell silent, allowing the Corvette to slip quietly into the hangar bay. Following it into the hangar bay were the two Kessel Pickets, using their smaller weapons to help kill off any enemy troops not near any vital systems. Of a recieving force of 500 enemy men dressed in scavenged Republic and Imperial trooper armour, one hundred ten were killed. The remaining brought up their blaster cannons, rifles, and portable rocket launchers, and took aim at the Kessels, for the moment perhaps fatally ignoring the derelict and adrift Corvette.......

In the meantime, one shoto class cruiser, and two more cutter class gunships collected the several assault shuttles that made up the second wave, and made their way into the asteriod belt, mowing down whatever asteriods were leftover from the passage of the first wave, and the single or paired units of remaining enemy fighters trying to come together for one final counterattack, and heading at a brisk pace for the main base, stopping by to pick up surviving troops of three assault shuttles that were knocked out by asteriods........

Finally, the other ten shoto cruisers, along with the remaining cutter class gunships, and kessel class pickets formed into a single deadly line, cutting across the enemy's path to the main base. And speaking of counter-attacks, the enemy was launching his latest one, soon to be his last one. The final remaining Mon Calamari cruiser, along with three escort frigates, and ten IPV series system patrol craft, were advancing on the main base. The first five Shotos in line focused all their firepower on the Mon Calamari cruiser, massive amounts of proton torpedoes tearing apart it's shields, allowing the turbolasers, wyvern cannons, and ion cannons mounted on the ships to tear apart the Mon Cal cruiser's hull, and vital organs/systems. The cruiser came about, and attempted to flee the system, but a sudden overload in one of it's reactor cores caused the cruiser to explode, and break apart, leaving it to join it's two earlier comrades in the heart of the belt. The next three Shotos concentrated on the three escort frigates, their turbolasers, and wyverns softening them up in preparation for a small concentrated torpedo salvo that broke their backs, and snapped them in half, secondary explosions finishing off their fatal damage by killing their remaining crews. The IPVs, though, pressed on instead of fleeing. Before they died, the Mon Cal Cruiser, and Escort frigates had managed to get off some good shots at the smaller craft, and the IPVs sought to finish this damage at least in a suicide attack. Fire on from the remaining two Shotos, and remaining cutters and pickets, they all succumbed fairly quickly, but not before they destroyed two cutters, and one picket ship. With the enemy guardian fleet eliminated, Admiral Harker could turn his full attention to helping General Grevious with his assault.