Ask Event A Joining of Minds

[Alexandria Voran]

Alex found herself grinning at Carrick's voice. She had not spoken to him in years but he was a good man. A man to be trusted. "We saved all we could, Carrick...but...you'll have to see for yourself. We lost too many on all sides." The sorrow in her voice was true and genuine. The gunship weaving through space at breakneck speed. "We'll see you soon." The battle was over. There was no sense of victory. They were barely escaping with their lives. The gunship bobbed and weaved until it came in at speed into the hangar. The pilot, Alex, and the entire ship heaved a sigh of relief. She assumed the ship would jump at any moment.

OOC: Exit Attempt.

@Nefieslab

 

[Sylphrena]

"Son of a...," Syl cursed at realizing that even the little Amaran had jumped into the escape pod with Dusty. She hovered overhead, trying to follow their trajectory, praying that they hadn't just flown to their deaths. But, there wasn't really much she could do.

Shaking her head, she waited for as long as she could, hovering overhead till the duo finally shot off in another ship. Not wasting any more time, she gave chase after the escaping ISC shuttles. Doing her best to avoid unwanted attention, and realizing there wasn't much else she could do here, she too would jump out of system the moment she was clear.

@Nefieslab

Spoiler: Summary

Exit attempt, tries to jump out of system.

 

[The Gatekeeper]

--SPACE--​

The battle in the void seemed to shift and change as the destruction of the Interdictor, and what it meant for the battle, seemed to sink in for those involved. Joined ships seemed to become more focused, their motions sharper, as the Allied fleets began to desperately let their delegates onboard before launching into hyperspace jumps.

They were largely unopposed.

With the delegates out of their grasp, the Joined and Killik fleets turned their attention from the fleeing Allied Fleets to the planet of Ruusan itself. Dozens of stragglers were ruthlessly gunned down as they attempted to flee the planet as the Joined fleet began to retake positions they had held before. The positions they took up would be clear to all who were able to see the mass of capital ships - optimal bombardment positioning.

As they moved into position to begin this next phase of the battle, dartships began to enter the atmosphere and close-orbit, coming in hot to swarm positions of non-joined and other forms of resistance alike. Trini would find herself becoming the target of half a dozen dartships, which broke away from the swarm to target her specifically for her attack against the Tanker Killik. The reason they broke off to attack her was that very same attack because it was successful.

The missile impacted hard and the explosives within were enough to finish the job of shattering the chitin of the Tanker Killer, leaving it exposed to those who still insisted on firing their blasters at it. Only now that the chitin was destroyed, those same blaster bolts were blasting apart chunks of muscles and organs.

It began to wail as it died, ironically being whittled away with bug-bites.

Dusty and Null would find that the Killiks and the Joined seemed to retreat, pulling back from the landing pad and the immediate area seemingly with warning. Of course, this didn't last. Over open com channels across the planet, a message was repeated as the fleets positioned themselves above the planet.

"Joining is optional - destruction is the other option. Those wishing to Join have two minutes to surrender themselves."

/ Hutt, FWA, Sith and ISC Escape attempts successful. Syl escape attempt successful.
Dusty exit attempt is unsuccessful due to double post, second post has been ignored.

Spoiler: Allied Fleets - Survivors

ISC

• 1x TL-2 Battlecruiser, Rose of Tatooine (Medium Damage)
• 1x TE-2 Carrier/Destroyer, Masquerade (Medium Damage)
• 2x CR-90 Corvette, Dexterity (Medium Damage), Fluke (Light Damage)
• 156x TE-34 Wing Fighter

Hutt

• 1x Cal Class Battleship - The Despoiler (Medium Damage)
• 1x Strike Class Cruisier - The Bountious Reaping (Medium Damage)
• 1x Interceptor Class Bulk Cruisers - Jabba (Light Damage)
• 6x Z-95 Headhunter Starfighters

FWA

• 1x VCX-820 Escort Freighters Commando (Light Damage))
• 1x Blastfin-class Blastboats (Big Trouble (Medium Damage))
• 2x Tau-7 "Arrowhead" Starfighters
• 3x SS-54 Light Assault Ships
• 1x HKD-600 "Assailant" Dropships
• 6x Z-95 Headhunters

Sith

• 1x 'Liberty' Class Star Cruiser, Eternal's Wrath (Light Damage)
• 3x Yuso Class Corvettes (6 Yuso Corvettes lost, 4 Remaining)
• 5x Nesuto Class Combat Carrier ( 5 Combat Carriers lost, 5 Remaining)
• 5x Pugio Class Frigates (7 Pugio Frigate lost, 5 Remaining
• 302x Fighters (248 Fighters lost, 302 Remaining)

Spoiler: Allied Fleet Casualties

ISC

• 1x TL-2 Battlecruiser
• 3x TE-2 Carrier/Destroyers
• 8x CR-90 Corvettes
• 371x TE-34 Wing Fighters
• Total ISC Casualties;
  • 38,761 Naval Casualties

Hutts

• 2x Praetorian-Class Frigates
• 3x Interceptor-Class Bulk Cruisers
• 49x Z-95 Headhunters
• Total Hutt Casualties;
  • 1,637 Naval Casualties

Sith

• 6x Yuso-Class Corvettes
• 5x Nesuto-Class Combat Carriers
• 7x Pugio-Class Frigates
• 248x First Order TIE Starfighters
• Total Sith Casualties;
  • 6,368 Naval Casualties

FWA

• 2x Quasar
• 2x Vigil Frigates
• 2x VCX-820
• 4x GAT-12
• 2x Blastin-class
• 1x ILH-KK Citadel-class Civilain Cruiser
• 8x Preybird-class Starfighters
• 8x Cloakshape Starfighters
• 12x Razor-class Starfighters
• 10x Tau-7 "Arrowhead" Starfighters
• 13x SS-54 Light Assault Ships
• 16x AA-110 "Warpig" Gunships
• 23x HKD-600 "Assailant" Dropships
• 30x Z-95 Headhunters
• Total FWA Casualties;
  • 1,112 Naval Casualties

Total Allied Casualties;

• 47,878 Naval Casualties

Spoiler: Killik Fleets - Casualties and Important Updates in Red

Joined Fleet

• 2x Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer
• 3x Victory-Class Star Destroyer
• 5x Raider-Class Corvette
• 315x TIE Starfighter

Killik Fleet

• 6x Killik Shardship
• 1,547x Killik Dartships

Spoiler: Killik Fleet Casualties

Joined Fleet

• 1x Interdictor
• 6x Imperial Class-II Star Destroyer
• 12x Victory-Class Star Destroyer
• 26x Raider-Class Corvette
• 685x TIE Starfighters
• 104x TIE Interceptor
• Total Joined Fleet Casaulties;
  • 309,371 Naval Casualties

Killik Fleet

• 1,452x Dartships
• Total Killik Fleet Casualties;
  • 1,547 Naval Casualties

Total Killik Casualties;

• 310,918 Naval Casualties

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[Null]

The young man continued pulling himself along with excruciating difficulty. His body slumped against the corner of the building he'd finally made it down from. He tried to remain as silent as he could as he peeked his gaze around it to the clearing ahead. The Tanker's corpse brought a beam of hope, along with the sight of the Kiliks who were peeling away from the area. There were still friendlies - or what he hoped were friendlies - on the ground and in the air. But further above something much worse loomed. The repositioning of the ships sent a chill down his spine. He had to get away from this planet as soon as possible.

He took in a deep breath, tried to steel his resolve, and pressed on. Each step was a struggle. He continued making small attempts to pull the Force into his body with each difficult step, attempting to reinforce and bind fractured bones and frayed muscles as best he could. The drain was taxing and the effect dipped in and out, but is was worth it to keep himself moving. Even if he did have to aggravate the broken foot and use its heel to shamble along a tiny bit faster. A trail of blood followed as he cautiously tried to take the most direct path he could find on his way to the landing pad, without walking into the open if he could help it.

Once he finally drew closer to the pad his dim blues darted from one ship to the next, scanning for anything that was still functional and swift enough to give him a decent chance of escaping the planet. Then he heard the curious beeping of what he could barely recognize as Droidspeak. Hope shot through his heart as he turned his head to find an R6-series astromech droid sitting in the socket of a Tau-7 "Arrowhead" Starfighter that was already powered up and ready to go. "Arsix unit...!" The young man painfully shouted. It responded with a cheerful tone, but he couldn't quite make out what it was saying. "Plot a.. course-" he shook his head, unable to think of where he wanted to go as he felt his conscious begin to slip again. "...guh..."

He stumbled to the side and nearly caught the edge of the Arrowhead with his face. With a disgruntled grunt he slumped along the hull and moved alongside it like a drunken patron after a rough night. "Wherever you're from.. I guess-" The urge to cough hit him harder, and the crimson ichor that came up with it made him realize he didn't have much more time. His vibroblade dropped and clattered to the ground as the young man collapsed against the rail of the boarding stairs that led up to the sleek starfighter's cockpit. He noticed the emblem, but could only recognize it as something not belonging to the FWA - even though it was just a hazy image in his mind.

It took everything he had to pull himself up over the side, rolling over the edge and crashing down into the seat with a loud cry of pain. The droid asked him something about his name, and he was pretty sure it introduced itself to him, but right now his mind was just filled with the overwhelming pain that had been wracking his body. "I-" His response was nearly cutoff as he struggled to straighten himself in the pilot seat. "I'm..." Distant voices called out to him from his scrambled memories as he clicked the safety harness tight around him and looked out at the horror that had befallen the planet. One word stood out more than all the others as he took in the gruesome sight before him. "Kyo.." It was all he had, but it was something. Not that Kyo was able to say it without coughing up more blood. Then everything would begin to fade to black...

Arsix would then chirp cheerfully, lift the Arrowhead into the air, and aim the bow of the ship towards as clear a spot as he could before he'd activate the hyperdrive and attempt to jump the ship into hyperspace.

Spoiler: Sum

Null/Kyo shambles to the landing pad, then drops his vibroblade and leaves it behind as he climbs into the Tau-7. The R6 droid inside then attempts to jump them to hyperspace.

/Exit attempt

@Nefieslab @AutoFox @Fantasy Liver

 

[Dusty Daytonus]

This was Dusty's fault. Why hadn't he taken off in the Stalwart. Well, it was a simple answer - he had been daydreaming. Daydreaming of a heroic flight docking against the Commando and jumping to hyperspace. But a dream was only a dream and so Dusty shook himself out of it and flew up towards the atmosphere, doing his best to fly past enemy craft, and fled into hyperspace.

@Nefieslab

 

[Trini Halrixien]

Trini was mildly impressed by the SX-18 as she clawed for altitude; either the previous owner had made some modifications to it's drive systems, or the type had sharper acceleration than she had been led to believe. Nevertheless, at a noise of terror from her passenger, she cast a look over her shoulder and swore.

At first, the Amaran took the slender, cone-shaped objects for missiles; she had never seen a sentient-rated craft that small outside recreations of her own species' first crude suborbital vehicles. The way they moved also gave her the impression of a machine intelligence; they flew in a tight formation, all maneuvering in synchrony. Nevertheless, something about them - a tickle against the Amaran's mind - told her that it was no a photoreceptor that lurked behind the small window on each craft's apparent canopy...

She went into evasives just as the swarm opened fire. Yellow laser bolts streaked past where she had been, and Trini quickly powered on the shields. Her opponents weren't as fast as missiles, she realized, but they were probably faster than she was.

I hope Zeezee knew what he was talking about when he taught me this move!

The Amaran adjusted her ship's flaps and air brakes, decelerating rapidly and dropping behind her opponents through a gap in their formation. As she did, she let two more missiles fall from her magazine, the targeting computer automatically sending them on their way toward the most likely nearby target. She sent a burst of her own laser fire after them toward the Dartships, then angled upward in another steep climb, hoping her fire would distract them from seeing where she went.

Spotting Dusty's appropriated ship, she fell in beside it, keying her navicomputer to begin hyperspace calculations as both ships burned up toward open space.

"I think that's enough excitement for one day!"

TL;DR

Trini fires two missiles and a few wild shots at the Dartships, then resumes course for orbit and, eventually, hyperspace.

@Fantasy Liver

 

[Chahsonh]

Chahsonh could not longer detect the scent of his master, and, having heard the unmistakeable sound of ships darting off, looked skyward.

They’d left him behind.

At least the master was safe, the pea-brained monster thought to itself. He had done what he had been told to do, and now the master was safe. He turned back to the hordes of alien bugs that approached, undulating numbers beyond counting, and lowered his claws into a charging stance, before taking a deep rattling breath.

He roared, maybe for the last time, and did the only thing he really knew how to do.

He charged.

Spoiler: TLDR

Rancor looks sad because he’s been left behind.
Decides to return to default setting, and charge into the massive sea of Killiks.

 

[The Gatekeeper]

"Joining is optional - destruction is the other option. Those wishing to Join have two minutes to surrender themselves."

The final warning was given - and it was largely unheeded.

Dartships seemed to block out the sky as they flew in tandem with TIEs, soaring through the area in formations so large that they would be threats to even large capital ships even unsupported. As one the largest of the formations broke apart as they began to seek and destroy those trying to escape the planet. Trini was right in that they flew almost like droids, in patterns and formations that were both too perfect and not perfect enough to be as effective as possible. They decided that they best route that they could possibly take was one that allowed them to open fire on both Trini and Dusty's vessels at the same time.

Even as several dozen bared down on Dusty's attempt to escape, and her own, it was Trini's missiles that disrupted the attack long enough for the Governor to escape. Dozens of the ships were destroyed or rendered unable to fly - leaving them to fall to the ground like the manned torpedoes some said they were. While missile attacks against grouped starfighters were nothing new, and just as devastating as they had always been, the Killik's mindset worked against them and in favour of the creative flying of the Amaran. The dartships and the TIEs were, to the Killiks at large, expendable and were not piloted by creatures capable of creativity and instinct on an individual level.

This would allow Trini to score several confirmed kills and let both herself and Dusty break through in time to make their escape to hyperspace.

With Trini and Dusty having escaped, the Killiks turned their attention toward the pacification of the planet. Numbers of people volunteering to Join with the Killik Colony were limited - it was disappointing but not unexpected. Instead, thousands of Killiks began to disembark on the planet Ruusan and they swept across areas of non-compliance like a plague with insectoid proportions.

Chahsonh's charge was the only reason that Null was able to fully make it to the ship he was going to use to escape - as the Killiks began to systematically comb over the areas of interest, the immediate surroundings of the landing pad were of great intrigue to the Killiks. However before they could spot the injured man attempting his escape, they would be forced to confront Chahsonh as the distressed and resolute Rancor charge forward. Killiks died by the dozen as they climbed and attempted to force the stubborn Rancor to drink their Joining concoctions, in an attempt to turn one of their largest foes into an asset as was their way.

But the Rancor was too powerful, too large and altogether too angry to be pinned down even by dozens of the Killiks and as Null and his stolen droid were able to take flight, the decision was reached by the Killiks in the local area that the landing pad area of the city was Non-Compliant and it could not be made Compliant.

Null's ship slipped past as one of the remaining Imperial Star Destroyers took position above the landing pad, its shadow blocking out the sun for the Rancor as its rampage came to an end, suddenly no more Killiks in its immediate area. As Chahsonh began to realize what this meant, what the sun going away meant, the sky above it would be lit up again - this time not by a single sun but by many dozen burning red lights that grew closer and closer.

As the landing pad area, and the Rancor known as Chahsonh, was saturated with turbolaser fire from one of the Star Destroyers - across the planet other ships began to take up similar positions. Non-Compliance was common and the Killiks answered with Turbolaser fire wherever they found it. For hours, the subverted fleet and the fleet of Killik battlecruisers acted as hubs for the recently Joined to be assimilated into the ranks of the Killik colony - and for hours the only sounds upon the surface of Ruusan were screams and the thunderous, burning, blasts of near continuous turbolaser fire.

By the time night fell on Ruusan, the Killiks were gone.

With them they had taken over thirty percent of the population, those who had Joined willingly, those who had to be forced by seeing what Non-Compliance would earn them and those who were forced through the procedure kicking and screaming until they understood the Truth.

What they left behind was Ruusan, a site of peace talks and demilitarisation - now a blasted series of craters to serve as the gravesite of millions who had not Joined.

/End Thread

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