From the Pinnacle to the Pit

[Darth Inheris]

Theme​

Her status among the Imperial Republica left Saorise with many duties in line with the throne. It also left her with more than a few benefits.

This was one of them.

Standing at the helm of a Nefarious-Class Frigate, Saorise looked out over the vast expanse of rocky outcroppings that pushed out of the swamps below at this desperate and despicable Hutts palace. Perched in one of the few dry locations in the region, it occupied prime sightlines and spectacle among the populace and off world visitors.

Today's visitors would not be ones to be charmed.

Everyday it seemed reports flooded through to Saorise of yet more threats on the Empires horizon, even as tensions with the Old Empire bubbled, the question of occupation and an official joining looming ever present. But here was one request she could not deny.

A chance for Saorise Kallig to take a step into command. Perhaps of a ship that one day might be called her own.

As the Frigate thundered across the sky, she opened a channel to the wings that flew with her

"And we're approaching. All ships, ready yourselve for attack run. Bombers, to the palace, fighters, keeps the enemy of their backs. We'll by firing down beside you"

The violence would soon begin.

@Nefieslab

 

[Valar Dohaeris]

Valar wasn't as highly positioned as Saorise was but that didn't mean that he was going to just be ignored or be useless during this space mission. Oh no no! Just because he couldn't take a frigate into battle, didn't mean that he was going to be some helpless little scrub. He was flying in a Reflex-Class Starfighter and despite not having the sway of a Crusader like Saorise?

He was still well regarded enough that he was far from alone.

"This is Red Leader; confirming orders to keep the fighters off of the bombers." he reported over the coms to Saorise before switching to a local band, "This is Red Leader; sound off Red Wing."

He was not alone because he still had enough clout to be the leader of a squadron of Reflex-Class Starfighters. He was no alone because he had twelve fighters at his back and sides, flying in formation with him in front and as the leader as they approached their targets.

Behind them were the bombers, who would need them to keep the Pirate and criminal fighters and the like off of them. It was going to be a hard fought battle he was sure but he wasn't about to back out of it now. It was time for them to raze a Hutt Palace to the ground to show them what happened to traitors.

@Nightfall

 

[Darth Inheris]

“You’re a go red leader” Saorise took a moment before looking out at the palace as it clawed into view above the jagged peaks. Soon it would fall into the swamp, like the rest of the Hutt legacy,

“Give them hell” and with that she switched off transmitting and swiveled her head to the right, her eyes looking over the ships crew, all more than ready it seemed to give it their all for the empire. Each at their posts, as soon as the palace swept into view firing solutions were being calculated and targets lined up,

“Fighters will keep the bombers safe, lets look after them. Let’s get eyes on enemy anti air, I want them down before they can even get a shot” her final orders before the engagement began.

Between the crews training and their surprise attack, as soon as the cannons came into range of the frigates guns they fired, bolts rumbling through the air as barrages smacked and tore into the Hutt defenders. They would be no match for the Imperial Republica. Not now. Not ever.
By the time the dust settles there wasn’t a cannon left in sight. Palace was damn near defenceless to the air.

Now, the fighters.

@nefiesflab

 

[Valar Dohaeris]

Receiving the go ahead from Saorise, Valar began to highlight some of the fighters that they enemy was sending up. They were, naturally, less than focused on Valar and his own fighters. They were focusing on the bombers, the ones who would actually do the damage to the palace in question.

Made sense to him.

Too bad for them that Valar was aware of that. Gritting his teeth, Valar wanted to smile but, since Corellia, smiling hurt so he tried to cut back on it. He squeezed the grips within the ship tighter with his hands, seething internally as the burns and scars on his left arm cracked and broke on the surface. Small amounts of blood and puss leaked from the burns that were persistently getting infected.

They told him it would be better to amputate the arm. Less painful.

He'd told them to go to hell and they had managed to stitch and staple his arm back together with some added minor cybernetics but it was still his arm. Still his arm and not a replacement. It just served as an ever painful, ever unpleasant and hated reminder of Raz Solus.

But despite the damage she had cause him? He would grow and he would grow until he could crush her skull in this disgusting hand she had given him.

"On it."

Valar brought his fighters in at an angle to the Hutt fighters, blasting away as he did so. The pain gave him focus, gave him clarity. He was able to use that clarity to blast two of the unsuspecting fighters apart and his squadron was equally as effective. In almost no time at all, they destroyed the squadron of enemy fighters.

@Nightfall

 

[Darth Inheris]

As the battelines met, Saorise couldn't stifle a smirk as she watched from the bridge, the Republica's fighters cutting across the enemy lines, trading blows and blaster bolts between eachother as they dutifully came out on top. As was expected of them. The Imperial Academies certainly drilled their troops to the edge, but it made for some of the finest soldiers the galaxy had ever seen. Another of the reasons the Sit Empire had lasted so long in the galaxy. Upstarts like the Hutts, these rebels, even the fearsome Mandalorians that had wreaked havoc across her homeworld, the discipline of the Imperial war machine could not be matched.

It would not be matched. She intended to make sure of that. Today was just one step along the way.

Spying a view between the ships, she gazed across at the palace, watching as more fighters seemed to press their way out of a central hangar,

"Let's assist our boys outside. Hangar located on the palaces flank" she turned sharply back toward her crew "Officers. See what you can do about it" Without fail the men shot to positions, finding a firing solution between their own ships as they prepared to fire. Too bad they couldn't account for every variable.

A fighter below, its wings shot through by one of her own men, had lost control, deciding to damage the frigate in any way it could before it blew out of existence. That meant suicide, and an explosive death straight into the frigates ventral cannons. With a crack and rumble felt through the ship that threw more than a few soldiers, including Saorise, to their knees, the ventral cannons were toast, falling to the earth below to rot in the swamps,

"Red Leader" she tried to remain composed even as frustration began to emerge beneath the surface "Red Leader ventral cannons are offline, we can't support you until we've re-positioned, do you copy?" it had done far more damage like that than any of its allies had with traditional methods.

A first, and hopefully only, setback.

@Nefieslab

 

[Valar Dohaeris]

Valar was just finishing up with the dogfighting skirmish when Saorise spoke to him over the com channels. She wasn't speaking to the squadron though - just him. So he assumed that whatever she was going to say was something that the rest of the squadron were not supposed to hear.

And he was right.

Somehow the ventral cannons were all offline... which was pretty damn impressive for a fighter committing suicide he had to admit. He sighed a little bit, without the com line being open so she couldn't hear him, before responding.

"Copy that."

Nothing more to be said really.

More fighters from the hangar were moving to intercept the bomber squadrons and Valar pulled his own men in to fight them off. It was a lot closer than the last time - for the twelve fighters that the Hutts lost, Valar lost four of his own squadron. On numbers alone that was a fair trade off but numbers were not everything in battle.

It would have been worth the deaths had the bomber squadron's first attack run done a lot of damage - but it did not. Instead they dropped their first bombers and missed their targets rather badly. The most the palace suffered was enough to require them to need to get some gardeners out.

"Kark."

@Nightfall

 

[Darth Inheris]

The frigate lumbered in its turn, the great duranium behemoth shifting over to its portside as power was rerouted to its side shields and weapons spun up hot, ready to restart the attack, do the damage to the damn palace that it had meant to before. For all their firepower, the unpredictable came to every plan, especially major operations like these. There was no reason to clamor or lash out, what was needed was cool heads and competence. From chatter across the comms it seemed Red Squadron was doing all they could, holding their own as the Hutts threw everything they had to hold off the assault.

But, the bombers had missed, limited damage on a first run.

She couldn't blink at it though, there would be no use in channeling anything but command now,

"Bombers, pull round for a second run, we'll keep you covered, I want you to take your time on those drop coordinates" they all needed to focus now, get this done and keep themselves alive.

While the cannon fire erupted from the frigates port, it managed to tear into fighters in the sky and clear out some heavy weapon emplacements still mounted on the palace. But not enough it seemed. A pair of bombers at the rear took shots to their underbellies, and as the formation swept across the bombers struck home, explosions tearing up roofs and buildings, the attack finally doing the damage it needed to even as a few bombers were torn from the sky alongside it all.

One more pass and the frigates own fire, and that place would be history. So long as nothing else went wrong.

@Nefieslab

 

[Valar Dohaeris]

Alright, looked like the bombers had actually managed to drop the payload this time and Valar was glad of it - the damned things had best earn their gods damned pay, otherwise what was even the point in them existing? Tutting a little bit, he spotted that they had done some damage.

Some.

What was the point in sitting behind the controls of one of the most destructive types of weapons in the non-capital ship categories and then not actually managing to get any gods damn damage done? Were they stupid or just unlucky? Come to think of it, he didn't much care it had to be said. Rather than deal with them however, he now had to deal with a small group of freighters that were approaching. Annoyingly enough they could take more of a beating than the fighters that had been sent out before but they could still be dealt with.

Thank the Force for missiles eh?

Screaming forwards, his fighter squadron followed his lead and launched missiles at the slower moving freighters en masse. The result was that the freighters ceased to exist - along with another two of his squadron. He was down to half strength with his squadron now and he was beginning to get annoyed.

Again the bombers made their attack run and again they did a decent amount of damage - but some of the defenses on the palace itself shot two of the bombers out of the skies, causing them to crash harmlessly in the gardens. Still - the palace was getting to be damaged.

"Saorise." he commed her on her private channel, "Fire directly onto the palace with the frigate - we will provide cover to you instead of the bombers. With your firepower you should be able to bombard it better anyway."

@Nightfall

 

[Darth Inheris]

If you wanted something done right, or so the saying goes. The crew needed battle practice, and well they were going to get it. Stationary target, a fighter screen from red squadron, what could be easier?

Apparently many things.

The deck came alive as the crew manned their weapons and began targeting, cutting shots through the mayhem before them to rain down destruction on the hutt palace. And do they did, cannons whirring up and sending blaster bolts into the building, exploding on impact leaving craters across the walls. It still stood, though only just, another bombardment from somewhere would do it. But after their strong start it seems that this lightning raid was turning into an extended one all too fast, meaning focus and enthusiasm were dropping fast, even for trained troops having suspected an easy success.

More bolts connected with the frigates shield, splintering off, but they still held for now. Saorise wanted this whole thing finished sooner rather than later, with fighters dropping far faster than she’d hoped,

“Valar were doing damage but the thing is holding, recommend one more pass, do you think you can hold us?” Saorise called over the comm,

“Otherwise I’m open to any bright ideas”

@Nefieslab

 

[Valar Dohaeris]

Cover them while they did more damage? He supposed he should be able to do that.

"Copy that - I'll do my best to provide cover for you."

And that was, of course, where things went drastically wrong.

Valar and his squadron squared up against another brace of fighters incoming but before they could get in close to begin dogfighting, disaster struck. From below, another half squadron of fighters came in to attack the Sith forces. Cursing, Valar pulled away before he could get in close.

But his squadron was not so lucky.

They gave a decent accounting, allowing only two fighters through to bother the bombers. The downside was that they paid for this with their lives and even though Valar was fighting valiantly himself, it was soon clear that his squadron was done for. He scowled as he gunned down another hutt fighter.

"If you're going to do it, do it now!" he barked over the coms, "My squadron is dead!"

@Nightfall

 

[Darth Inheris]

“Then get yourself back in here before you are too Red Leader” Saorise shot back over comms to Valar. Screwing up her face in frustration with how this operation was ending, she breathed in deep before opening her eyes again. She wasn’t being responsible for losing a whole damn squadron on her operation, especially not without finishing the objective,

“Crew, targetting, one more time” a last gasp as the bombers were making their way back over the palace, without fighter cover they couldn’t stay much longer out in the open. And without bombers it meant only one thing,

“Broadside, now!” Saorise cried once more as the guns on the frigate lit up, raining down blasts upon the palace. And this time they did what she wanted. More, in fact.

As the rubble tore away from the walls, exposed gas and fuel lines came into the open and into the firing line. The explosive power of the frigates cannon tore through them, lighting up the materials inside and running down the lines, explosions and flame rippling under the palaces defensive walls and tearing them apart. If one watched carefully you could follow the fuel light up back to the palaces central holdings before they all lit up, sending it all up in a final blast.

Mission accomplished.

But only just

“Bombers, Red Leader, good work. Let’s spin up our hyperdrives and leave this place” she needed a damn caf. Or something stronger,

“Valar” she buzzed him over the comm. Not their first mission together and was now more than clearly one she could trust on them,

“Drink?”

@Nefieslab

 

[Valar Dohaeris]

Thank the Force for that.

Valar watched as the Hutt palace collapsed under the fire heaped onto it and that was all he needed to see. The remaining Hutt ships began scrambling to leave - none of them wanted to stick around and fight now that their employer was dead and they wouldn't get paid for it. They left and Valar was glad of it because he honestly wasn't entirely sure what he would have done otherwise. Groaning a little bit, he pulled his ship in to dock with the frigate's hanger.

Jumping out of the cockpit, he tossed his helmet to one of the engineers.

"Saorise." he greeted her over the coms as he began marching back towards the room that had been assigned to him, "I've got a bottle of whiskey in my footlocker. The good stuff from your planet."

He didn't hesitate as he began stripping out of his flight suit even in the hallways.

"I may be naked by then." he warned her bluntly, "It's been a long day..."

@Nightfall

 

[Darth Inheris]

Saorise rolled her eyes at Valar's response as she passed through the frigates halls, letting the bridge crew set the jump to hyperspace and plot their route home. A victory, albeit ever so slightly pyrrhic, was in their hands. And while not everything had gone to plan it was better for now to let the soldiers drink in their win. They'd have time as they shot back to Imperial territory anyhow. Not quite shore leave, but not a one of them would be getting anything like that for quite some time, she was sure of that. Between Imperial Hutta, the Old Empire encroaching, and the Jedi/Mandalorian mess, too many things required the Empires particular brand of attention,

"I'm sure it's nothing I've not seen before Valar" she teased back, striding rather confidently down toward the flight deck.

No it wouldn't be shore leave. But it would be a damn nice break.

/EndThread