Ask Secure the Skies

[Levik Karn]

MISSION #3 - SECURE THE SKIES
Pirates have become entrenched in an asteroid field between Nam Chorios and Belderone. They are hampering Imperial efforts in the area. The asteroid field is preventing Imperial Forces from bringing their larger ships to bear against the space station. The station is heavily guarded by station defenses and their own fighters.
_______________________________________

"Commander Karn for Lieutenant Ramage, come in-" Levik held the microphone of his headseat closer to his mouth as he said it. It had been almost a decade since he had served on a bridge in the Eriadu Navy, but he knew just enough of anti-piracy tactics for him to get assigned this particular mission. In all earnest, he had needed to get out of his office on Taris, too. Assuming the lieutenant answered his call, the peacekeeper commander gave the pilot of the Kaba-class shuttle the go ahead to start the engines. Behind them forty Imperial Peacekeepers were armed and armored, standing upright and expecting a bumpy ride and a rough blasterfight on the pirate-held space station itself.

"Imperial Shuttle Daring is ready for left off," and that lieutenant better be capable enough to protect them as they navigated the asteroid field and pirate fighter pilots. They took a big personal risk in order to board the station and fight their way up to the station's command center, but it was better than causing a mass explosion in the middle of an asteroid field that could potentially rain down on the planets of Nam Chorios and Belderone.

@Olwin

 

[Caduceus Ramage]

The jump point was far enough away from the asteroid belt so that they would not be in sensor range of the station immidiently, which was news to Ramage's ears. The pair of Wayfarers split their connection from the Invigilator and formed a wide V formation, with the duraclad being behind of the other two while the Wayfarers still flanked the more heavily armed craft. The E-Wings flew beside the Wayfarers, each one on the outer tip of of the V, while the Starwings stayed behind the larger transports. The Harch sat in the command chair and reached one of his hands up to scratch his lower jaws and mandibles. He had few resources at his disposal, with his greatest weapon being an ancient duraclad. Yet even with this he was glad to have what he could muster. Because it would be enough to ensure Karn and his marines boarded and executed the plan. For now he just had to make a distraction for them.

"My dear Commander Karn," his voice was stable and clear through the microphone, full of confidence and intellect even with his track record, "Lieutenant Ramage speaking. We have eyes on the target. Hold back, let my forces distract them first." The bay doors of the Wayfarers were closed tight, but inside Ramage knew he had a trap card. Each cargo pod carried two Imperus Interceptors, one stacked over the other, ready to strike at the opposing fighters.

The Invigilator's turbolaser turret would turn to lock on to one of the closest turrets, while the ordinance tubes would be loaded and prepped for firing. The Wayfarers would slow down and allow the duraclad to be slightly ahead of them, with the Starwings moving to flank the Wayfarers and the E-Wings move towards the front of the formation. The structure went from a V to a triangle, ready to pierce the enemy.

Spoiler: Ships and Compliment

1x Invigilator-class Duraclad
2x E-Wings
2x XG-1 Starwings
2x Wayfarer-class Medium Transports
- 4x Impetus Interceptors

@Eccles

 

[Levik Karn]

The Kaba-class Shuttle waited while Lieutenant Ramage lead his naval detachment through the asteroid field. Commander Karn watched how the Imperial forces held formation despite navigating the moving asteroids and was honestly quite impressed. Back when he was a mere cadet and then lieutenant in the Eriadu Navy, before the Empire was founded, he had done many anti-piracy engagements and boarding actions. This was a tricky operation due to the field and the heavily guarded pirate station, but Lieutenant Ramage seemed to be in complete control of the situation.

"Start the maneuver. Try to stay behind asteroids for cover,-" he told the pilot as he send him a possible flight-route base on the vectors and trajectories of the asteroids. "-this should not take us too far from Ramage's position." They needed the Harch for protection, after all.

The Kaba-class Shuttle increased its speed and the lights in the passenger area switched to red to signal to the forty peacekeepers inside that they should fasten their seatbelts and hold on. This would no-doubt be a bumpy ride, but if Ramage did his job right then they should get to breach the station before the shuttle's shields failed.

@Olwin

 

[Caduceus Ramage]

What finally announced the oncoming flotilla's advance was the ringing of heavy turbolaser fire on the stations defence turrets along with a mix of ion and proton torpedos. The ion torpedos were allowed to nail the station itself to try and shut it down, but the proton torpedos were locked onto the defense turrets. Those that were not absolutely shattered on the initial bombardment quickly sprung to life and turned to fire at the duraclad. They began to spit fire across the station, as the duraclad was slowly picking off the turrets on the hemisphere aiming at it.

"Flotilla, great work manuvering the asteroid field." He spoke confidently into the microphone, his voice echoing to the flight crews of each craft as they recieved their orders, "Now prepare phase two. Slight modification, Wayfarers, stay by my flanks. And watch those arcs of fire, we do not want to be overwhelmed. Now give them a show they won't ignore."

Even before the fighters were scrambled the Wayfarers swung their cargo container doors wide open and four Impetus Interceptors blasted right out. The Starwings moved towards the space station, torpedo racks loaded for a devastating bombing run, with an E-Wing armed with concussion missiles practically right beside each. The E-Wings are would be there to deal with oncoming fighters but unlike the Interceptors, who went out on their own to seek out pirate fighters, they would stick close by the Starwings.

The Wayfarers tightened up on the duraclad as their turrets, combined with the duraclads own medium lasers, would protect them from fighters rather well. They would slowly advance on the station, stopping a way out so the heavy turbolaser would be rather accurate but the station's own turrets would have a hard time finding their mark. After a while of causing chaos, and strategically removing all turrets that could target the hangar bay, Ramage sent out the all clear for the troops to land. Happy hunting, it said.

@Eccles

 

[Levik Karn]

Sliding out from under a large asteroid's cover, the Kaba-class shuttle went for the space station at full speed. "Don't flinch," Levik reminded the pilot as the shuttle came under full fire of the station's protectors while Ramage's forces were mostly focused on the station itself. Shield intergrity fell to 30% before the interceptors relieved them from the pirate starfighters, engaging them in a dogfight that made sure they couldn't barrage the shuttle any further. The pilot seemed visibly relieved, but the hardest part of his work was still coming as they rocketed towards the hangar bay.

Ramage's missile were underway, but the shuttle's shields suddenly dropped to 10% as a missile impacted its hull. It shook, peacekeepers fell over, desperately trying to keep each other in a safe position for collission. "Three," Levik's voice rung over the intercom as the shuttle passed through the inner limit of the turrets, "Two," the pilot yanked throttle and turned the joystick with a fierce pull, "Brace!" the commander cried as the shuttle crashed into the hangar, sliding across the durasteel door and colliding with a parked starfighter that it took with it in its slide. The hangar's environmental shield regained power, pirates scrambled their way to small arms or ran for cover in the hallways leading away from the hangar itself. They knew what was coming next and it wasn't going to be pretty.

The shuttle collided with the interior wall and that forced it to a sudden standstill. The red lights inside were flickering, power was nearly out and as Levik looked to his side he saw the pilot gushing blood. A piece of shrapnel had perforated his throat as it collided with the starfighter and apparently crashed through the cockpit window. Levik, unfortunately, had no time to bend over and close his eyes and after unstrapping himself moved straight back towards his men. "Everyone alright?" he asked and to his relief noticed that the hull in the rest of the shuttle had remained intact. Some would have bruised ribs of limbs, but nothing that would stop them from taking over the station right now.

"On me," the commander ordered as he pulled the level that opened the side ramp of the shuttle with a loud hiss. "To the bridge, For the Empire"

@Olwin

 

[Caduceus Ramage]

The duraclad's primary armament began to quiet down as the defensive turrets in the hemisphere pointed towards the flotilla were either crippled destroyed. But that was most likely the best news that the flotilla had. All of the vessels were taking a serious beating, with one Interceptor being blown apart while one of the massive Wayfarers was torn to shreds. The rest of the craft were not doing too good either, with the Invigilator even loosing one of its laser cannon turrets. The larger clump of ships was getting swarmed by fighters, who in turn were being peppered and whittled down by those craft they were attacking.

"Turn down the power to the turbolaser, rotate the energy between various hemispheres of shields." The arachnid was gripping the command chairs arms tight with a pair of his arms, with the other full pair gliding over the console ahead of him. "Wayfarer, hold tight. Two Interpectors should be getting those boogies off of you. Lasers only Interceptors, no missiles. Starwings, drop your ion torpedos on the station and rip the more well off fighters out with your other torpedos. E-Wings, your time has come. Break off, go hunt." The E-Wings, as soon as their orders were given, began to split off from the Starwings. While the heavier starfighters dropped their torpedos before heading back to the action, the E-Wings went to maul enemy fighters.

The troops inside the station were already shaken up by all of the shots from the heavy turbolaser as well as all of the torpedos. The power inside were flickering, power generators struggling to keep up, and the entire station was obviously jolted when the shuttle slammed into the hangar bay. The guards inside were not entirley ready before then, but the impact made them rush to the hangar bay with arms ready. They did not flow in all at once, it was more two or three rushing in at a time. A mishmash of blaster pistols and rifles were fired off towards the door of the shuttle, their aim less trained than the Imperials'. But what the pirates had were numbers, though not at first soon they would have that advantage.

Spoiler: Ships and Compliments

1x Invigilator-class Duraclad (Damaged)
2x E-Wings (1x Damaged, 1x Lightly Damaged)
2x XG-1 Starwings (2x Damaged)
1x Wayfarer-class Medium Transport (1x Destroyed)
- 3x Impetus Interceptors (1x Damaged, 1x Destroyed, 2x Lightly Damaged)

@Eccles

 

[Levik Karn]

A blasterfight was expected and as luck would have it, the armor of Imperial peacekeepers was generally better than that of pirates. Especially when Levik and most of his men engaged their cloaking devices. Because of this they moved much slower, but with every new pirate rounding a corner they would have the drop on them. The Imperial warmachine was never to be underestimated and despite being outnumbered they made steady progress towards the station's bridge annex control room.

"Karn to Ramage," the Commander opened the commline he shared with the lieutenant, "Stop targeting the station. We're moving to the bridge now."

It wasn't an entirely flawless execution, though, for every one on five pirates seemed to wear heavy armor and as they smashed into a cloaked peacekeeper the latter's jig was up. Vibroknives pierced flesh and serrated organs before the pirates could be taken out and of the initial forty peacekeepers only twenty-eight remained by the time they got the bridge in sight. Taking it would be relatively easy now that no one on the station knew where the cloaked imperials were, but holding it was a different matter altogether.

@Olwin

 

[Caduceus Ramage]

"Request acknowledged Commander," Ramage spoke emotionless into the communicator, obviously fixed on something else yet still precieving the orders and passing them along. The heavy turbolaser turret was even about ready to fire but, prior to the shot no less, the system had to reabsorb all of that power. The huge weapon powered down and cooled off. With that order, the torpedos were swapped from ion to proton and they found a new target.

The power was redistributed from the turbolasers to the shields and medium laser turrets, the given power seemingly rotating so they would not burn out. The dogfight was obviously in favor of the Imperial flotilla, but it still was not set in stone just yet. The majority of the pirate forces had been decimated with only a half dozen actually still capable of fighting. The E-Wings easily outmatched the opposing fighters, the Impetus Interceptors were fast but somewhat lightly armed for them while their missiles were all spent, and the Starwings were slower than the fighters but still could deal damage to them. This advantage was further pushed by the larger craft, with the medium lasers and the quad laser cannon filling the void with laser bolts to ensure the psudeo capital ships were kept safe.

The last vestiges of the guards inside the portion of the station preformed a steady tactical retreat as the Imperial war machine ground their numbers down, with many whom were left to fight being injured in some way or form. Only about a dozen outside of the auxillary bridge were left fighting, with said bridge being filled with no more than six left with pistols or carbines. The fighting was fierce from the defenders, but many knew the jig was up. As they kept fighting, a man or two was almost always brought down with every salvo launched by the Imperials. Once there was only eight guards left, plus bridge crew, the vast majority of those guards threw down their arms and raised their hands high. They had given up. The Imperials had the auxillary bridge.

The rest of the station was gearing up for the assault. The reserve guard units were activated and mobilized, many of which wore heavy armor or carried repeaters or blaster rifles. Along with them came Captain Knemou, a particularly vicious Quarren who was leading this operation. In one hand he held a bryar pistol and in the other was a vibro-saber. His heavy boots stomped down the corridors as took charge of his men from the front. The Imperials had no more than three to five minutes before the heavily armed defenders were at their flanks.

"Yer trespassing on mah claimed peoperty," the pirate captain spoke, his thick accent clearly showing he was a spacer long before this current post, "but I'll be gracious to ya. Ya chaps have given us ah good foight, and ya have gotten farther than anyone else. So yah can take the plunder from the room, take one of our shuttles, and make yur way outta here. I promise we won't gun yah down." It was almost entirley sure he was lying, he was a pirate after all, but it was still his best shot at lowering their guard. Knemou spoke from behind a support pillar built into the wall, his pistol raised and head turned to the door awaiting a fire fight.

@Eccles

 

[Levik Karn]

Taking the bridge had been even easier than expected, but Commander Karn knew that there was no time and he didn't have the men to play guard to prisoners of war. "No prisoners," Levik ordered as he and the other Imperials swiftly killed the surrendering guards and the bridge crew. Immediately the commander approached the security console and disabled the station's external defenses before opening a direct line from the station to Lieutenant Ramage,

"Pirate station's defenses disabled. Clear for approach."

Now the only thing they'd have to do was hold out long enough so the pirates wouldn't be able to reactivate defenses and shoot the reinforcements to rubble before they could complete their boarding actions. Easy as cake, right? At least that was the idea until a voice cut through the station's intercom like a serrated knife did through the flesh of an eight-year-old Twi'lek.

Captain Knemou. A Quarren pirate not unlike the notorious Rav Haskeen. Levik didn't waste time to act until the Quarren finished speaking and signalled for his twenty-eight men to reengage their cloaking devices while he turned the captain's chair towards the door and... sat down.

One moment he was taking off his helmet letting it fall to the floor and the next he was opening the station wide intercom, "This is Commander Levik Karn and I claim this station-" he thought it was pretty clever of himself how he had now claimed what the pirate captain has previously claimed as his property, "-for the Empire."

His men, cloaked as they were lined up along the edges of the corridor and bridge in an attempt to lure the pirates into a trap. The image of the Imperial commander sitting on the captain's chair of his beloved space station would no doubt inflame passions and anger, which would hopefully also make them more reckless.

@Olwin

 

[Caduceus Ramage]

The pirate captain smirked for a moment as he heard the voice crackle over the intercom... before his face dropped into a sneer at the mention of his property being claimed. How had this Imperial dog steal what he properly stole? That's not fair! Knemou had set this operation and was making a killing off of it. At least that was until the Empire decided to rear their ugly heads. How was a pirate like him meant to make am honest living with the government in the way? He wouldn't, thats how. So he needed to get this boarding party out asap. Maybe he could even capture this commander and hold him ransom. It would be difficult to retrack this station after all, as it would be orbiting along with the belt itself.

"The commander is mine, but the rest are worthless. Kill them all!" Knemou shouted as the last defenders of the station ran towards the bridge, the heavily armed defenders making quite a ruckus as they moved. Several were shooting well before they traveled down the hallway, with even two repeaters blaring down into the room as they did so. The bolts were like a wall of energy and plasma flying through the air. After a few moments the air even began to grow hot from the amount of bolts, the constant sound of shots not dimming even when some of the defenders already were reloading. Seeing the commander in his command chair made the pirate scream to his crew to attack.

Ramage saw the last of the enemy fighters crumble around his sight, with none of the remaining craft he had were any the worse of wear. The Wayfarer approached the station and began to initiate docking procedures. The shuttle was absolutely smashed so they needed a new ride out. And this would have to do.

@Eccles

 

[Levik Karn]

The pirates fired their blasters as if they were rabid wolves and that wasn't something that Levik had factored in. The imperial ruse banked on the peacekeepers staying cloaked long enough for them to surpise the pirates, but as the latter group fired erratically they accidently hit one of the peacekeepers standing along the sides of the corridor. From that point forward, the jig was up.

The pirates and peacekeepers were forced into close combat and while the superior training of the Imperials caused them to have the upper hand, Captain Knemou managed to advance straight up to the Commander. "Get out of my chair," he cried as he aimed his blaster at Levik, "and beg for mercy."

Commander Karn smiled and quickly swiveled in the Captain's chair to use it as a shield for the pirate's blaster, before pulling out his own pistol. "Could've turned privateer," Levik said with an overconfidence befitting the Empire and fired thrice to give himself some cover as he slid over to the nearest pirate corpse and took a vibro-knife from. "But you can choose," he continued as he kept firing, pinning the pirate captain down behind the chair, "Death now, or-" he moved to the chair's side, removing cover from them both and putting them in melee combat, "-after Imperial torture!" he slashed the knife towards the pirate and tried to level his pistol with Captain Knemou's face before it happened..

His pistol overheated and burned in his hand, forcing Levik to drop it to the floor just as the Captain planted the butt of his own pistol on the Commander head and then slashed his saber down. A dazed Levik could only attempt to parry it with the knife, but the sword cut deep into his left arm and he fell to the ground.

There he lay, at the Captain's feet, dazed and bloodied. "Pathetic," Knemou chuckled and he aimed his pistol to shoot Levik unceremoniously in the face, before one of the peacekeepers distracted him by opening fire. The Captain was forced to take cover as it seemed the peacekeepers in the corridor were finally gaining a definitive upper hand. Their own numbers had been decimated in the process, but their training did seem to have not been for nothing. They were physically more durable, their stamina was greater and their equipment of better overall quality.

[OOC: Fight result NPCs: barely a success. Fight result Levik/Knemou: failure]



@Olwin

 

[The Storyteller]

The captain stood there, his crew getting slaughtered behind him as they made a desperate last bid to save their station. A few members were already routing as they went to go hide away from the violence that had already wiped them out to nearly the man. Several fist sized holes were punched through both their armor as well as the pirates themselves. Weapons and bodies dropped to the ground and littered the smoke filled hallway as the fighting began to die down.

The few defenders left went back to try and find cover behind the piles of bodies as well as behind structural supports lining the sides of the hallway. After the smoke began to fade, so the combatants could actually see eachother outside of knife fight range, a few shots here and there were flung across the hall to see if they could pick off the Imperials.

The former Captain Knemou knew this would be his end, so he decided to make a move to at least make him go down in legend. He fired a few shots from his pistol into the backs of those soldiers facing away from him, dashing across the room back to the commander. He would preform a simple thrust to the officer, aimed right at his center of mass.

"If I'm going down," the pirate spoke with a voice filled with venom and hatred, "then I'm takin' ya with me!" After his thrust, if that would fail, he would swing his blade to rake the Imperial's face. The vibro blade would hum with murderous anger as it cut through the air with the occasional wobble or waver as the Quarren felt bolts of energy pass him as near misses. The Imperials were drawing a bead on him as the bolts drew tighter and tighter. One bolt even clipped right across his back, slightly jolting him forward.

Spoiler: Roll to Hit

Pirates: Roll 1d20 = 9
Knemou: Roll 1d20 = 10
Imperials: Roll 1d20 = 15

@Eccles

 

[Levik Karn]

Finally the peacekeepers were joined by reinforcements from the Imperial navy and the pirates were surrendering en masse. Some were unlucky enough to stand near to the Quarren pirate captain and received -rather unceremoniously- blaster shots in the back. The Captain was clearly unable to accept his defeat and as he grew tired he also grew madder. He was surrounded by Imperials now and yet his only thought was that of a legend that no one would ever hear about. "Give up, we control the station now," one peacekeeper tried, but the Captain stood vibro-saber raised and no one dared to attack him as the blooded commander lay too close to the Quarren for comfort.

"If I'm going down," he said through maddening rage as he turned towards the wounded Levik, who was clutching his arm trying to avoid more blood loss from the deep cut, and thrust his vibro-blade down. "then I'm takin' ya with me!" Levik made a choice and parried the vibro-blade with his wounded left arm and while it seared through flesh, cut off tendons and scoffed the bone, the commander drove his vibro-knife into the Quarren's knee.

Distracted, forced in place, the pirate didn't manage to dodge the new incoming wave of blaster fire. He caught half a dozen bolts against his chest, back and neck. His tendrils dropped into a lifeless hanging position first before the Quarren himself fell backwards onto the durasteel floor of the space station's bridge. Captain Knemou was no more and no one would ever sing his praise.

It took a second for the imperials to register how badly wounded their commander was, but Levik didn't allow them the luxury of being slow to process; "Get me a medic now!" he cried, pulling the vibro-blade from his arm. They might have to replace the entire arm if the medic didn't come quickly. Luckily the fight was over, the space station was theirs and the mission had been a success.. despite the casualties.

[OOC: Fight result NPCs: success. Fight result Levik/Knemou: barely a success]

/end thread
@Olwin