Engineering a Takeover [Mando/Hutt vs KES]

[Ral]

OOC Thread

Hyperspace
Outer Rim Territories
0500 Hours Shipboard Time
​

As the blue vortex of hyperspace twirled before him as Ral stood on the bow of the Shukala-class Corvette Prudii Galaar. The Mandalorian's heart was beating rapidly in his chest, if it weren't for his armor he was sure those around him would be able to see the muscle nearly beat out of his chest. Taking a deep breath, the aliit'alor looked around the forward observation room, the cold durasteel cast in a ghostly blue light from the outside as he ran a hand through his short brown hair. Each follicle brushing against the skin of his finger and distracting him a little of the battle to come. As he moved his arm, he was reminded rather naggingly about the missing IFF implant that had once been there but had very recently been removed. Around him were a cadre of his best warriors, some of his most trusted friends, and those who he knew he could count on for the coming struggle. There were no words that needed to be said to these verde, these were professionals. Of course, Ral would say something to the fleet when the time came, but the warriors who were accompanying him personally didn't need such platitudes. Walking up the rows of assembled commandos, Ral looked each one in the eye as he passed, and in each one he could see the resolution, the eagerness, the desire to prove that they were worthy to keep the name Mandalorian alive. Standing in front of a redhead with short hair, he gave Deunan a nod before turning around to face his First Commando Bardan Kex; the man looking as stoic and implacable as ever. Turning to face the assembled commandos he inhaled for a moment, looking at all those present. While they needed no words, he felt as their leader he should say something, though he doubted it was needed.

"Remember, don't get complacent today, don't underestimate your enemies. Kill or capture them as ruthlessly as possible; use whatever means you have at your disposal. As for those so-called Mandalorians in service to our enemies today... they are no vod of mine. Do with these Dar'manda as you will." Ral said heartlessly as he looked into the eyes of all the Mandalorians there, and they just as heartlessly stared back into his. These were stone killers, every one of them. Men and women who had seen lots of battle, who had fought for years and developed that diamond hard killer edge. Who had experienced loss, and had hardened themselves to it in the heat of battle. Then with one final nod he would say. "Good hunting out there today. Oya!"

And with that, Ral placed his helmet on his head with a click and barely audible hiss. Walking out of the forward observation room, Ral closed the shutters on the windows and made his way to where the ship's Combat Information Center was, buzzing with activity as was expected before a battle. As he walked on deck there was a call and every Mandalorian snapped to attention. Ral waved his hand putting them at ease; while he could appreciate their nervousness he didn't like all the formality and wouldn't deal with it in the middle of a fight when there were more important things to do. Taking a position in the middle of the CIC near where the main holo display was, Ral's eyes scanned the countdown timer. There was less than five minutes on the clock, his heart fluttered and his stomach nearly wanted to wrench and heave everything out of it. Nearby, his best Mandalorians stood by ready to respond to a boarding action or deploy for ground combat just like every other warrior in the battle group the Mandalorians had assembled. Boarding actions were a very real possibility he had prepared for, but hoped wouldn't come to pass, but if it did, Ral would be happy to have such capable warriors next to him. Leaning against the holo display, Ral took a deep breath as he looked at the warm blue light eminating from the console.

"Sixty seconds now, alor," A young Arkanian announced from one of the stations nearby. Ral simply nodded his head in response, acknowledging what the young male humanoid had reported. This is it, the voice in his mind spoke just as anxiously as he felt at that moment. Standing up again, Ral looked around at the men and women present. Grabbing the phone off of the hook, Ral punched in the code to link the system to his helmet, clearing his throat for a moment he waited as the clock timed out.

"Verde, today we are launching an attack against those who are weaker than us, against those who have what we need to make us strong once again. Remember your training, remember who you are, do your duty, and we'll all come through this alive. Ship captains will give further orders once we engage. Good luck, and may Manda, and the Force, be with us today," Ral stated over the comms. It was short but hopefully sweet.

"Shields and weapons to full power," Ral remarked loudly and clearly just to make sure it had been done. As the clock reached 00:00:00.00 Ral's ship, along with the other 3 Shukala-class Corvettes, the assembled fighter contingent of the forces present, and two Vhe'viin gunships donated by Clan Ordo ermerged out of Hyperspace within a kilometer of defense fleet of their target. Not too far behind, perhaps only a kilometer or two farther back, a combined force of Underground and Confederacy Corvettes: 5 Shukala, and one Crusader class ships. Some distance behind them the lead elements of the Cartel Forces moved in, like great sharks looking for prey, 2 Corona-K-class Fast Frigates, and a Mainstay-class Light Cruiser with 5 Haranov-class gunships waiting not too far behind them. At the rear of this attack force would be a Star Trench with the accompanying Mandalorian and Hutt transports and mining craft. Before them a blue and green world rotated on its axis, its inhabitants and those who occupied its space above very probably not expecting what firestorm was about to be unleashed on them.

With the assembled fleet now present Ral activated his comlink to the fleet. "For Manda, for Glory, and for the Bounty!" The Mandalorian declared. "All ships open fire!" Then as the batteries of all ships within weapons range fired, and as the fighters present began swarming the enemy corvettes in coordination with the capital ships that had dropped in close, Ral switched the frequency to an open channel and hailed all ships within the range and with a voice as cold and hard as ice, he spoke. "Order of the Keywork, the Hutt Cartel sends its regards."

The battle had now begun. Using the information clan Renelo had gained during its tenure as the ally of KES, Ral had formulated a plan of attack with the other heads of the Mandalorian groups and clans he had come to ally with. Using their IFF codes Renelo would lead the Vanguard of the Task Force right up to their doorstep hoping to surprise and trick the defenders into thinking they were friendly. This would allow them to get within "knife-fight" range where the surprised defenders would be blasted by the fully armed and prepared Mandalorian fleet which would start to zoom into their lines. The second line of Mandalorian ships would also do the same, hoping the staggered attack would give them a strong tactical advantage and would be led by Tala Outlander and Inga Kelborn. To the rear, the Mandalorian reserve force of five Haranovs would begin torpedo runs of the larger KES vessels with the Cartel heavy hitters. For now this would have to do, Ral had also sent messages to Arya, and Lutomi asking them to join in the fight, but he knew it was a long shot. They'd have to make due with the assembled warriors.

"Alright everyone, remember we want to take as much of their assets as a prize as possible. So, once their shields go down focus fire your ion cannons and disable them. Keep moving and blast them with everything they've got, and for the love of Manda make sure our fighters stay away from those flak cannons." Ral's voice rang out through his ship and all of the other ships assembled there as lasers, turbolasers, and ion cannons boomed and discharged sending their colored energy bursts into the KES ships present.

The first battle of the coalition of Mandalorians and their allies in the Hutt Cartel had begun.

@Outlander, @Crim, @Zapp Frankigan, @Commissar Brett

 

[Outlander]

Tala stood in the CIC aboard the Shukala-class Gunship Resol'nare. The name seemed oddly fitting for the events that where about to transpire. Both in that they might be fighting against traitorous Mandalorians, and that they would be somewhat following the Resol'nare in their endeavors. Ral wasn't Mandalore. Apparently he was very paranoid about the title. But, he was the Leader of the Confederacy, and she guessed that was about the same spot in the hierarchy. The starlight streamed outside the ships, mesmerizing in both it's chaos and serenity. Chaos and Serenity. That actually fit them pretty well. She turned around, viewing the command room in it's entirety. Most board where support staff. She had made sure all Mandalorians and combatants where in their transports, mixed in with the others. They would be safe in the last wave until they made Landfall. The ship buzzed with activity, each and every one of them trained for the moment.

"Sixty seconds, Commander." The helmsmen said, turning to Tala. She nodded vaguely, focusing in on the large holoprojector in the center of the room. Here, she could coordinate her forces accordingly. Her own Shukalas where present on screen, as well as the Vanguard. They would need to be quick and decisive to ensure a clean cut victory. She pulled the phone off the hook and synched it to her helmet. "Listen up. We're about to be facing a bloodbath, knife range. We do good in this battle, and we'll prove ourselves as a force to be reckoned with. Remember your training, remember your pride, and we will see it through. Ready with shields and weapons." She finished, turning back to the board. A timer near the top counted down the remaining seconds.

5...4...3...2...1...0

Her ships dropped out of hyperspace right behind the Vanguard. She immediately began issuing orders to the ships in the second wave. "Kov'nyn, lock on to incoming missiles. Link up with the existing Wave Two missile screen and begin Point-Defense measures. All Shukalas, fire at will."

The entirety of wave two began pouring fire into the enemy corvettes, their smaller guns immediate searching for enemy fighters. The Crusader fell back into the formation, it's laser systems linking in with the Shukalas to create an effective counter-missile screen.

 

[Grim]

Kenshin watched the monitor from the command chair of the Haranov Gunship Bes'bev, quiet as he watched the numbers tick down. He wanted to give a speech but enough was already said before they left. Orar was born in the star's and this is where they felt most at home. He had given them a quick speech before they left and they were ready. They had only one major target, and Orar had donated a stock of weapons that would help them take care of it.

"Sir, first wave should be dropping in now sir. Wave two on the chrono." The weapons officer confirmed as the next timer ticked down to zero if a few moments time. "Next wave, our timer is running." The anticipation on the bridge was tense, it had been a very long time since they had worked in such a large group. That however was no worry as they were ready for the fight before them. "As soon as we drop out link computers and connect us into the battlenet, once we get our target make sure all ships have a lock and fire the first salvo, next salvo as soon as we are ready then we will fire at will." Kenshin got his affirmatives and braced as they exited hyperspace. He could see out to either side of him as the rest of them exited with him. He seen the various ships link up and the weapons officer highlight and get lock on of their target. Their target was the Siren-Class Frigate Gravity’s Union.

Kenshin heard the tone that they had lock and ordered them to fire, . "Mark!", all five Haranov's opened up each one sending twelve(12) T-33 Plasma torpedo's streaking towards their target while the ventral missile bays let loose with a salvo of Intruder Missiles. As he watched the torpedoes and heavy missiles make their way to their targets he could see the first salvos of turbolaser fire lancing towards the enemy fleet as the battle started in all its ferocious glory.

 

[Galavant]

HCV Kill'em All, Mainstay-Class Light Cruiser

It was time to pull the thorn in the side of the Cartel out once and for all.

Damia Seles had been involved with the Cartel's dealings with the organization since the second meeting where they'd utterly failed to renegotiate a good deal, and in fact had done just about everything imaginable to piss the Hutts off. She'd been there when a representative of theirs had tried again, and only succeeded in angers the Hutts further, getting himself captured, and lost half the money the Cartel had actually paid them. She'd been there when that particular fool had been executed, and she'd done the grunt work of putting together a plan to steal a space station from the Keywork, and gone about gathering information on them. And from all her interactions with them, all her intelligence gathering, seeing their little public broadcast where they rebranded themselves, she could only come to one conclusion.

This was a group that wasn't particularly bright.

They seemed to have gone out of their way to piss the Cartel off, and if they thought that wasn't going to come back on them one day, they were wrong. The Cartel had leveled half a city just to kick the Waste Ranger losers out of Sathad'ra on Zonju V. The Keywork should have counted themselves lucky the Mandalorians had shown up with a plan when they did, Addipos' had had half a mind to let Mjolla show up with the Scylla instead. As it were, Damia was here for one thing, and one thing only.

The space station.

KES owned, the Cartel was taking it, and the Mandalorians would run it. What would the Cartel get out of it? Aside from bringing a competitor down, cementing an alliance with the greatest bunch of warriors (and idiots in Damia's opinion, but hers wasn't the one that mattered) in the galaxy, and adding to the industrial base near Cartel space...well they got to tell people they'd stolen a kriffing space station. Wasn't every day you got to tell someone that.

Standing on the bridge, dressed to the nine in Rivet armor with every bit of weaponry and equipment she owned, Damia was bored out of her mind waiting for the ship to transition to real space. Who the kriff wanted to inhabit places out this far? It was like living beyond the boonies, and with considerably more boredom added in by the cautious pace they were taking approaching the system.

When they finally did, she waited whilst the Mandalorians did their thing, and gave a nice speech.

Then it was her turn.

Activating the comm she only had one thing to say.

"Attention Keywork, you're dead. Everyone else; get in our way, you're dead. Stay out of our way, and we will not bother you."

And that was all. The Cartel ships were doing nothing to disguise the fact that they were Cartel ships. In fact, they were basically screaming HERE WE ARE for all the world to see. Thus if the local planetary government thought about doing anything funny, it'd know it was doing something funny against a bunch of gangsters with Star Destroyers. If they interfered in any way with this operation the next time Cartel ships showed up screaming HERE WE ARE, they were going to make sure there wasn't anyone left to listen.

As soon as the Cartel forces had returned to normal space, the Angels' Share deployed her fighter compliment, which started to form up. Two Squadrons of Rho's took up station near the Angels' Share, along with the mining vessels which were behind the massive bulk of the forward end of the platform. The other three squadrons each formed up on one of the other Cartel vessels; 1 by the Mainstay, 1 by a Corona-K, and another by the last Corona-K. The squadron of Clawcats also formed up with the Mainstay, but the shuttles and gunships remained aboard the Angels' Share. They'd deploy once the local space had been cleared to support the Mandalorians on the ground.

But for now it was all about fighting in space. The light cruiser, and two frigates stayed close together, and moved fast. Priority target was any capital ship in the area, more specifically the frigates in the Keywork's inventory. The Cartel had purchased a few of the Sirens before the deal had gone sour, and so it knew what the expect from them. The three vessels would move quick, and concentrate their firepower on the one that the Mandalorian haranov's were currently launching ordinance at. The three ships all had the same operation procedure basically; they'd open fire with their forward facing ion cannons, and proton torpedo launchers, and them move in to broadside a ship while it was crippled. With three different vessels, there wasn't much of a chance of something the size of a frigate magically getting out of the way. The bombers on the the hand didn't move in close to engage, but hung with the Mainstay, waiting for any lighter vessels belonging to the Keywork to make an appearance. With 4 cluster bombs apiece, they were well equipped to handle any fighters or freighters that decided to join the party. The starfighters covering each of the ships would break to attack any fighters coming their way, putting priority on anything that looked like a bomber, and then go after fighters, but making sure to stay out of the small range of the slugthrowers on Keywork's capital ships.

 

[Prudence]

Admiral Vestar Trane stood aboard the bridge of the Gravity's Union, his heart heavy. He watched as the forces poured into the system one by one, enough to wipe them from the face of the galaxy. This had been a crystal clear betrayal by someone he was looking forward to working with. He turned to his first officer "Have they set up any interdiction wells Lieutenant?"

"No sir." The man, Jasko Velaz, replied.

"Good." Trane responded.

The man turned around and slowly walked to his command chair. The past was catching up with the admiral, but this would not be his reckoning. Not here, not with all these men. The fleet had been on patrols and training exercies already, preparing for the pending action they were hoping to take against the Hutts and the Sith.

"Fuck this shit." Trane said shaking his head, "Get me on a channel to all KES forces."

"Yes sir!" Velaz responded.

"Attention KES Forces, we have been betrayed. Clan Renelo has come to claim their bounty with the Hutts, but we will not let these cowards have our lives. I am enacting Cole Protocol." he stopped, his chest heavy with grief. He withdrew the rank insignia he wore on his uniform and plugged it into a dataterminal. After tapping it for a moment he looked back up "All planetside drives are currently being wiped, all forces on the ground retreat immediately. The Exigent Peace and Thunder's Course will be on their way to the planetside to evacuate you. Do not panic. The Gravity's Union will remain here until you are gone."

He ended the transmission, "Jasko, send out a warning to all forces, stay away from Sirius Primaris. Boost power to shields and have the fighters run a smoke screen if we can. If we reach the point where our shields are risking failure, jump. No matter of the situation planetside."

Trane paused for a moment "Are Kyramud and Zyra back from recruiting their Key Entity?"

"Yes sir!" The lieutenant said.

"Have them come to the bridge. Immediately."

"Yes sir."

A moment passed before the doors to the Gravity's Union bridge parted, allowing Mia Zyra and Prudii Kyramud to enter. Trane beckoned Prudii over to him. When the Mandalorian reached him he didn't speak, he simply stood there waiting.

"We were betrayed by clan Renelo. Ral Aran is leading a joint Renelo-Hutt Coalition from what we can tell by their IFF tags."

"I'm listening."

"It has come to my understanding you have a history with clan Renelo."

"Still listening."

"Take your ship and lead a fighter screen for us while we evacuate. Then, kill Ral Aran."

"With pleasure." Prudii said as he nodded and turned around walking away from Trane.

He turned to the first officer "Tell that station they have fifteen minutes to evacuate."

Shuttles began to burst out of the station flying towards Gravity's Union like flies to a fresh piece of meat. Alarms all throughout the station began to blare and the crew onboard began to evacuate. Luckily it was a ship building station, which meant there were hangers all over the God damned thing.

Jasko spoke into the fleet comm line "Attention all fighter units, we are currently evacuating Prometheus. All fighters form into Fighter Screen formation. Navigation crew, put us in the line of fire for fleeing forces."

Most of the fighters began pursuing the incoming enemy forces. The rest formed a net of sorts around Prometheus Station and Gravity's Union to intercept any threats that got past the rest of the fighters.

The Devastator screamed out of the primary hangar of the Gravity's Union to join the battle, Prudii opening a link to the attack wing "Attention all KES Forces on the offensive, form up on me. We protect the Gravity's Union and those shuttles at all costs."

Affirmatives began to roll in as fighters formed up on him.

 

[Crim]

Click
The stock clicked into place as Inga firmly attached it to her rifle. She aimed down the gun and closed one eye before looking at the gun again. She scratched her cheek absently, accidentally wiping gun oil on her face. She looked at the blue of hyperspace travel past the window. They had less than five minutes left on the clock before they dropped out of hyperspace. Before the Mandalorians showed their teeth. Her helmet rested on the table next to her. Her heart pounded in her rib cage, hammering against her throat. People had different ways to prepare for battle. Some people sparred to put their adrenaline to use. Some people drank to put their minds at rest. Some people meditated to be comfortable with taking lives. Some people screwed to, well, get it all out of their system. And others still just... waited. Waited for the shots to fire and the blood to rain.

Inga assembled guns and armor to put her mind at ease. Better a gun misfire now than during a battle. Better she find that a buckle is broken now than during an ambush. A half-eaten energy bar rested on the table next to her. She hadn't eaten it in about a day. She hadn't eaten anything in a day. She never did. Mid-battle is one of the worst possible places to pinch one off. And Force forbid she got a concussion or needed to vomit. The last place she wanted to vomit was in her helmet.

Click
The power pack slid in with a hard strike of the palm. When she had first loaded a rifle like that, her palm hurt. Now, she did it without a second thought. She looked at the clock. Three minutes to realspace. She grabbed a cloth and wiped the oil off of her hands. Tossing it to the side, she grabbed her helmet and gloves. The rest of her armor was already on. The grav-suit protecting against low temperatures. It didn't protect against the zero-g of space. It didn't need to; heat loss doesn't work like that. It protected against radiation, heat, and other elemental exposures. And, sure, if she ended up somewhere cold, it protected against that too. Her durasteel armor scratched and dented from plenty of use. She'd fought sea monsters, pirates, Death Watch, slavers, other Mandalorians, and homicidal battle droids. She could handle a few jumpy, upstart "entrepreneurs."

She slid the gauntlets on. They contained ropes, darts, even a small canister of napalm. The Mandalorian equivalent of Batman's utility belt. She brushed hair out of her eyes and put the helmet on as the MUNIN helmet package initiated. The doors slid open as Inga walked out of the machine shop. She walked through a few corridors, arriving at the bridge just in time for the Dral Gra'tua dropped out of Hyperspace. Prometheus Station glimmered in the distance. She could almost smell the credits. All hands on the bridge saluted as Inga signaled the 'at ease.' She looked at navigator Rollisdottir. "Mister Rollisdottir, are you ready for this?" Inga asked. The petite, blonde-haired helmsman looked back and smiled. "Ready as I'll ever be, sir," she said. Inga knocked on a panel next to her. "Mister Thirsbin, comm status," she said. "We're reading all Mandalorian ships have arrived. Tala Outlander's sending the 'fire at will order.' Shall we follow, sir?"

"Yes. Mister Halberdsen, launch the PDCs and open fire on the nearest frigate. Target the engines and the main guns. Mister Rollisdottir, make sure we're aligned with the frigate at all times. Keep us above their ship when we get in close. Stay in formation with the other corvettes for now." She nodded. "Aye aye, sir."
"Halberdsen, keep those PDCs trained on missiles and fighters. Thirsbin, keep the comm open."
"Aye, sir."
Halberdsen turned and said, "Sir, it looks like their frigates are turning back to the planet."
"Fire on them until they enter the planet's atmosphere. I don't want to lose that ship."
"Aye, sir."

 

[The Ghost]

Ghost was on the station giving the final tweaks to his new armor. It was nothing fancy, just a basic power armor with theaddition of his holographic stealth system. That and the innards of the suit was sound proofed so that none of the motors or other moving parts produced sounds that would give him away. Ironically enough, he had finished with the action of equipping the five refurbished commando droids he had slaved to his own processor with similar armor.

Alarms and sirens were going off as lights flashed off and on. As everyone was trying to escape, he and his five droids were marching towards one area. The main control room. He sped up the pace as he worked out the final points of his very risky plan. The six figures stomping their way to the main control room in a matter of moments.

Once there, that was when the real work would begin. Once at the console, Ghost's fingers would become a blur as he was linking all of the processing capabilities of the station together. The droids, armed with SC Blaster Rifles and reproduced Ripper Jack technology scavanged from Ghost's efforts in the battles on Naboo, were stationed in a perimeter around Ghost while he continued.

He put a portion of the battles on viewscreen, matching the broadcast positions of IFF transmissions with the information the screen gave him, to better understand the situation. After that was done he'd link the processing of the entire station to his own processor, akin to the cyborg that helped run the entirety of Cloud City.

That was when the real work began. The easy stuff was done and over, but while he directed the defenses of the station to concentrate on certain areas of the battle, he temporarily shut down power to nonessential systems to boost power output for weapons and shields. Any weapon he wasn't using to attack with, temporarily had itspower shut down to further boost efficiency of shielding as whole, and what weapons were being used. He was targeting Hutt Cartel ships, switching out which areas he had the station attack from to aid in confusing the enemy. Not allowing them to know just where he was going to attack, or which set of weapons he was going to attack from.

Even then, all of that was a setup to his true plan. While diverting energy and coordinating attacks, he was also creating a virus that would link the effected ship's systems to that of the station. The virus was designed to piggyback on asimple communication signal. To which Ghost planned to use on the second largest, Mandalorian looking ship. Tracking it through the IFF broadcast before opening a comm channel.

C>"This is Ghost. A member of the KES personnel. And if you Mandalorian scum have any sense of honor left, I cchallenge your leader to personal combat. Unless you're content to cower in your ship. I will even give you a handicap. You, and two of your subordinates against me. And only me."

And that was the end of his transmission. Any Mandalorian worth calling themselves such, would more than want to accept the challenge, which was what Ghost was aiming for. No leader would want to prove himself weak by denying such a direct challenge. o

 

[Ral]

As the battle commenced Ral stood in the center of the Shukala's CIC surrounded by several other Mandalorians manning different stations and ensuring the ship operated smoothly in battle. Everyone on the "bridge" was armed, though not half so heavily armed as Kex, Deunan, and the other dozen commandos that were acting as marines and a QRF to intruders. It would be incredibly hard to make it to him in there, and that was the point. Though, Ral seriously doubted any boarders would get even remotely close as the rest of the ship was fully operational with a nearly full compliment of Mandalorians onboard who could all defend the ship if necessary.

---Three Days Earlier---​

Ral stood before a field of Mandalorians in armor. They were standing at the ready more or less as Ral wasn't much of one for ceremony, but at the very least they were all paying attention to him. Clearing his throat, the Mandalorian looked about the field, at all of the Mandalorian warriors standing before him, then he spoke.

"Brothers, sisters, vode," He started somewhat quietly as he scanned the faces and helmets before him, trying to find the right words to say to those present. "There is a mission coming up, a battle. As many of you know, we have allied ourselves with the Manufacturing Company known as KES. Many of you also probably know, that the Cartel has put a bounty out for the heads of all those who are a part of KES. After much deliberation, the Confederacy Council has decided to join the Cartel and crush KES, taking their resources for our own so we may grow and become strong again, just like how the Crusaders of old used to do it. I realize that some of you may not like that we are betraying an ally, and for that reason this battle will be a volunteer only mission. If you do not wish to participate, I will not hold it against you, but if you wish us to regain our former glory, I implore you all to join us in taking this group's assets for our own. The time for honour is over, the time for survival and ruthless pragmatism has come.

"If you wish to join us in this battle and take part in the glory and the spoils that will come of it, you need only to take a single step forward."
Ral stated firmly, his voice finally strongly calling out over the assembled group. And just like that rank upon rank, file up on file of Mandalorian took one big step forward as a group. A grin spread across the leader's lips as he looked to Kex, Inga, Deunan, and Echoylir. "Good. We leave in the morning. Prepare yourselves!"

---Present---​

Before him, an irrefutable light show of energy flashed on the viewscreens and holoemitters. It seems that their plan had worked, they had caught KES completely off-guard and largely ill-prepared for their attack. In fact the most of a response they had received was an attempt to turn and run by the corvettes which were now receiving a deadly and blistering hail of turbolaser and ion cannon fire, and the Siren-class frigate attempting to turn about as it launched its fighters. Good, more bantha for the slaughter, Ral thought with an amused and sadistic glee as the Cartel bombers launched some of their cluster bombs into the launching swarm of lightly shielded Keywork craft just as Tala's corvettes opened up with their batteries of laser cannons just as they had prepared to do when they arrived.

The ensuing death would likely be quick as the the Keywork fighters attempted to pursue the Mandalorian craft into the proverbial killing field. It was sad to see so many pilots fly straight to their death as the attempted to close with the Vanguard as they easily bashed aside the shields of the Destiny Corvettes while they fled. Just as the impacts from turbolasers and arcing currents of electricity from ion cannons coursed over the hulls of the corvettes, plums of fire and debris would appear behind near the Shukalas of the Vanguard as their dual laser cannons targeted the fighters with their fast-tracking computers, placing them within the killing zones of the Vanguard, the Second Wave, the Mandalorian and Cartel fighters and bombers. In all likelihood over half of all of the KES fighters would be destroyed before the pursuit wing was able to break off and save themselves from the very obvious suicide by Mandalorian guns.

For their part, the corvettes proved to be a minor distraction as they were left largely disabled or useless after the Vanguard opened up a barrage against them of all their guns in the initial stages. As they tried to run, the Vanguard pursued and blasted at their engines, their shields flaring and failing as they took almost no evasive maneuvers beyond turning towards the planet to run. The barrage from four Shukalas' dual turbolaser turrets easily overcoming their token defensive shields before pounding their hulls with destructive energy and debilitating ion pulses. With the corvettes largely dealt with and the supposed fighter screen blasted to pieces from the focused fire of several groups, Ral shifted his attention to the Frigate Gravity's Union.

"All ships, focus fire on the frigate. Vanguard block its path, Wave Two, move behind and knock out its engines," Ral ordered. Between the focused weapons fire of many of the ships; the shieldbuster torpedos, the laser and turbolaser fire, the ion barrages and proton torpedo runs from the Cartel ships there was little to no chance the command ship would be able to move under its own power, much less fire. That is, if it hadn't already been vaporized into a trillion microscopic pieces already. Once it was absolutely crippled, power to all systems, including hyperdrive and life support, Ral would have his forces move off of it. "Haranovs, move on to disabling the station with the Cartel frigates. All fighter groups and Shukala, mop up and wipe out the remaining fighters."

The Mandalorian's eyes spotted a lone deviation amidst the fighter craft of the Keywork, a single modified Pursuer-class ship. Prudii. Ral thought. Both Ral and Kex had found him to be a displeasing bloke, so it was without a second thought Ral gave his next order. "Strike my last, continue focusing on the fighters, but especially focus your fire on the Pursuer-class called the Devastator if you have the shot. It has one of KES' key individuals aboard it most likely. Bring it down with all of our coordinated fire. Once the fighters have been destroyed, capture or destroy all of the shuttles leaving the station now."

In the space above Sirius Primarus the Mandalorian fighters began swarming amidst the remains of the Keywork ships as the corvettes turned almost all of their guns on the single ships filling the remaining space with a firestorm to rival larger battles between Dreadnoughts. As Kex stood scanning the comm frequencies for chatter with his helmet's comm package he started chuckling.

"What is it?"

"Some di'kut is going on to the frequencies issuing a challenge to the leader. Apparently, he's even going to let three of us face him, he just wants us to respond." Kex commented, and Ral could almost see the hysterical look on his face as he began cackling, several other Mandos on the bridge joining him in chuckling.

"Order all our ships to ignore that challenge, I'm not going to stop a battle just to fight one man. Any fool who does deserves to be spaced!" Ral shouted. Kex nodded and tapped the comms officer on the shoulder as he issued the order to the other's in the group which frequency to ignore and block. "Besides, who needs honour when we can achieve the glory of crushing this enemy so utterly and completely that this will be remembered in song as a massacre. A Mandalorian's honour isn't measured in single combat anyways, it's measured in the people he keeps close and trusts in, and who trusts him in return. If a Mandalorian sticks to his convictions, what he believes is right, than he has his honour, and no one can take it away. Single combats get people killed, they're foolish, and I won't permit our forces to do such a thing when we are so few and each one of our lives are so precious. Continue firing."

 

[Outlander]

Tala silently nodded, acknowledging the order to herself. The whole attack was more like a massacre, their resistance little and ineffective. The Corvettes sat as beaten hulks, floating in space. The turrets on her ships continued firing into the remaining fighters, hitting them with rapid hails of laser fire as they moved through space. She wondered what would compel the pilots to move into their line of fire like they did, but she didn't argue when things where going better than they could have hoped.

She had ordered her group around towards the station, firing her way through the enemy fighters. The Gravity's Union was an easy target, attempting to block the barrage while her group began hammering at it's engines, it's shields already disabled. Tala briefly noted that several small defensive lasers on the station began firing at them. But it was a support station, and they wouldn't do much of anything in the fight. Even so, she notified the fighters to stay clear of them until later. She redirected fire from the ships in her group, targeting most of their rapid laser fire to the Devastator, as per Ral's orders. She'd met him once. She was happy to blow him out of the sky.

 

[Grim]

Kenshin waited for the destruction his torpedoes were going to be responsible for causing, directly and indirectly. He seen it as all of the warheads detonated as they were supposed to, it could see the shield ripple and fail as the T-33's and Intruder's hit their marks and followed by the secondary effects of the missiles. Kenshin let himself have a small smile as he watches the shield generators, all of them, on the Gravity's Union exploded from within the ship, destroying any hope of them fixing the shields before this battle was done. With the shields now out of the way, it let the cartel's vicious barrage of cannons and Proton Torpedoes smash into the now defenseless ship. The Arcs of Ion spreading over the ship as all of its systems were shut down by the effect of it as the rest of the ordnance rained on the ships exterior.

Kenshin finally placed his helm upon his head and heard the armor hiss shut as the vacuum seal formed, he turned to XO of the ships noticing the small blips of ships that had made it out of the inital slaughter of this surprise assault. He then heard Ral's report of the group he could now see forming around a ship that was tagged as a pursuer-class ship, he turned his attention to his own ships as they made ready for his next attack, "XO, make sure all ships have their shields up and have them ready to dodge any incoming fire, have our main gun's target any fighter that made it through the gaps." The Female bridge officer nodded and made sure to pass that along and Kenshin gave out his next order as all the ships reported including his own that shields were at full power.

"Ships 1, 3, 5 Ion Pulse Torpedoes in the tubes, keep the intruders ready. 2, 4, T-33's and Intruder's make target the station. Fire on my Mark, then all ships arm Ion Pulse and Fire at will." Kenshin waited for all the status to report targeted and ready. Seeing the blips mark as good he was about to call it as he heard the the man try to challenge them for single combat and laughed to him self and judging by the way the shoulders moved on most of his crew they were as well. This was not the time nor place for such trivialities, "Block on communications on the frequency and block any that come from there until further orders. pass it along, " That little bit handled he turned towards his job again, "Mark." Again, the space filled with streaks of torpedoes and missiles staged some to allow the T-33's and missiles to drop the shields first and allow the Ion's to wreak havoc on their defenseless systems.

 

[Galavant]

The fire coming from the station was paltry at best. It was a production facility after all, and it was unlikely to have anything more than whatever was necessary to clear debris or asteroids, and station keeping purposes. And the Cartel ships present were well shielded, well armored, and fast. It was why they'd been brought along, and why the Star Trench had hung back with the rest of the flotilla. The ships that couldn't take the beat were hanging back with starfighters for escort, while the ones that could moved in. The fighter force brought along was doing its work, shredding the opposing Keywork fighters. Given that at least in Cartel's case, their fighters were almost universally faster and better armed, there was little chance of the Keywork doing much. Hell the bombers they'd brought along were on par with the speed of their fighters, this was child's play. And the fighter force belonging to the Keywork had made a critical error in allowing itself to be distracted by the starfighters escorting the larger Cartel vessels, as it allowed them to move in. Not that it mattered, nothing the Keywork possessed had the firepower to so much as make the Cartel's capital ships blink. The starfighters would tango with the starfighters, and if those belonging to the Keywork tried to break off and attack any capital ship, they'd find themselves with far more maneuverable craft on their tails, ripping them to shreds. The bombers meanwhile would fire volleys of cluster bombs at any concentrated formation, ripping them to shreds unless they dispersed, in turn leaving them easy pickings for the rest of the Mandalorian/Cartel armada.

The bomber's primary target at the moment was the formation that had appeared between the frigate and the station. If they didn't move, and really fast, they'd find twelve cluster bombs coming in on them. Those bombs would cause widespread destruction in the gulf between the two, and if the fighter's insisted on staying organized in the area, the gulf would seen be filled with their wreckage, along with that of any evac shuttle in range. Once their work was done, the Light Cruiser would get started.

"Move us in for the kill," Damia ordered. A vague order, but she wasn't really a space expert, and left the details to the men and women who manned the ship. The Keywork's frigate was dead. And that was assuming the massive amounts of ion cannon fire, torpedoes, and laser fire hadn't already completely destroyed it. The best case scenario for the ship was that it was dead in the water, and the Mainstay was going to move in for the kill. Heading at full speed, the Light Cruiser plotted a course that would put her between the frigate, and the station. The setup was almost too perfect for a ship of her design. Shutters opened on both sides of the ship, revealing her primary armament. Six dual heavy turbolaser cannons on either side, and the Keywork couldn't have lined themselves up better for the ship to make use of them. In combination with her impressive laser cannon, and point defense armament, when the Mainstay came into range to use her guns, she was going to thoroughly wreck pretty much everything.

The frigate didn't have a chance in church of surviving. She was already crippled by the earlier fire, and there was zero chance of her magically moving under her own power to get out of the way. The turbolaser cannons were going to rip her to very small pieces, very soon, and there wasn't anything any on board was going to be able to do about except look out a viewport in terror as the bolts of green death hurtled towards them. Meanwhile the fire on the other side of the ship would certainly give any evac shuttles something to think about. They stood a much better chance of getting out of the way, but of course disrupting the evac shuttles would make it hell for any Keywork starfighter, or fire coming from the station, as they'd now have a humanitarian crisis right off their side. Meanwhile any fire didn't hit them was going to hit the station, and was going to do damage. At the very least the shielding was going to be taking it on the chin. Anything that got directly in her way was going to get run over if it didn't move fast, the Mainstay was very sprightly for a ship of her size. Any fire that might come at her was going to get laughed at, given that her shields hadn't been touched all that much, and anyone attempted something as bone headed as a boarding maneuver would fry themselves on the ray shields, and wouldn't get very far considering the ship didn't have a hangar. Once her run was complete, the Mainstay would continue to head in the same direction away from the station for a while, hoping to draw off fighters that would make everyone else's jobs easier. If successful, her own squadron of fighters would join up with her, and shatter any hopes Keywork pilots might have of taking her down.

Meanwhile the two Corona-K's started to get to work. They were pirate vessels, and their tactics were in line with what a pirate might do. The main threat had been dealt with, so the next step was isolation. This was made easier by the Keywork's ships fleeing the station, and the idiot comms transmission, as both pointed out very clearly where the things they needed to hit to isolate the station were.

One of the frigates would hang back, and pour heavy ion cannon fire onto the communications array that had been activated, and then once that was disabled, it would move on to any surface detail that looked like a comm system. The other would circle the station, getting in close, and making short work of any hangar facility with her medium ion cannons as she went around the station. No escape, no calling for help. The station's shields, and weapon systems would slow them down, but not much, as neither represented significant threats. Both frigate's would launch trickster decoys, to further nullify any fire that might be coming at them. If they were left alone to complete their task, they'd move on from the comms and hangars, and on to the sensors and weapons. If they detected any buildup of energy that might indicate that the Keywork was attempted something as foolish as trying to blow the station, they'd open fire on the general area, and ionize the area so heavily that the source would simply be disabled.

Meanwhile a squadron of fighters that had hung back with the reserve would move in to join the fray, shooting at pretty much any Keywork fighter that might be left. The rest of the ships centered around the Star Trench would start to move slowly towards the fray (not that they could move quickly if they were staying in formation with the massive platform), and start preparing to seize the station proper. If the Keywork thought they were going to do anything as foolish as boarding the station, they were going to be in for a massive surprise.

This wasn't a fight the Keywork could win, and if any of them wanted to live, they'd start running.

And running fast.

 

[Commissar Brett]

On-board Prometheus Station, 4 minutes after enemy craft drop out of hyperspace

​

"Inferno, you're bloody insane..." Ryan Jacen had recover from his injuries sustained during the Battle of Naboo. The station rocked and shuddered as the battle outside raged.

"You know me better'n that!" Inferno proclaimed with amusement as he jogged down the hallway. His jocularity was short-lived he glanced to his side out the transparisteel window and watched the massacre outside. How could the Mandos call this honourable? There is no honour is slaying those you've caught basically defenseless! I guess the Imperium really broke them... Inferno reflected as he watched shuttles ferry the crew off of Prometheus. Past him ran engineers and personnel making their way to one of the hangars to evacuate.

"Shouldn't we be going with them? How are we gonna get off this tub once we rig the reactor?" Jacen remained skeptical even as they rounded the corner. The turbolift stood open and they keyed the button for the reactor level. "And for God's Sake, why'd you have me bring along 2 of my best men?!"

"Look, I still have Heartshot Kid Disaster on remote standby. We set these charges on the antimatter reactor, and we set the timer. Then we run for the nearest hangar and fukking jump before they can touch us. Second-Stage Turbine-Blades are faster than anything they have, and we have a rendezvous point." Inferno explained as the turbolift finished its journey. He whistled at the two engineers still watching the reactor and snapped his fingers, pointing his thumb at the elevator behind him. "You boys deactivate the failsafes?" Inferno asked as they turned around and started past him. The engineers nodded in acknowledgement, having already received the green-light to maintain the reactor and deactivate the stability failsafes until specialists arrived. "Dempsey, Riener, set these charges."

Inferno pulled out from his bag 4 large bricks of high-yield plastique explosives. The men went to their work as they placed the explosives in place. Each brick was slaved to a hard-timer detonator, and the electronic components were shielded against most EMP weaponry like any normal detonators would be. Most attempts to disable them with Ion or EMP would be useless. Once the explosives went off they would disable the power sources that fed to the stasis field, the antimatter would destabilize and the stasis field would shut down, exposing the volatile substance to real-matter. This would cause a reaction similar to a supernova, although on a much smaller scale. It would be, however, enough to tear the entirety of the engineering decks asunder, rendering the lower back quarter of the main ring to molten slag as the reactor room gutted itself with a large amount of collateral damage. Life support, shield generators, general power of any kind, and the main station AI core would be obliterated or rendered entirely unsalvageable once it went off, as well as any stored databases of information. The detonation would be instantaneous, and any attempt to prematurely deactivate it would risk damaging the core. Ionization would deactivate and compromise the containment field, causing the reaction to go off prematurely; it would only make it worse once the explosives went off, the charged electron ions reacting violently and tremendously with the antimatter positrons.

In short, this was one train that couldn't be derailed, only sidestepped. And Inferno certainly did not intend to tell the Hutts or the honourless Mandalorians...

"How're the ground teams planetside coming along?" Inferno asked as the charges were finished being set. He had set the timer for 7 minutes and 30 seconds. It would take them about 5 minutes to reach his ship while they welded shut every other bulkhead on their way. The best thing about the reactor is that it was in the very bowels of the station, a dimly lit space with only one way in or out. Reiner, the comms officer, replied absentmindedly as he finished setting the timer of his brick and slaving it to the trigger. The operation was simple; plant the adhesive face of the brick on the power coupling and make sure the trigger was synced to the detonator. The explosives were all but foolproof to use, and they took less than a minute to set.

"Zhey are just finishing up." The strangely accented native to Sirius Primaris spoke. He fiddled with the electronics of the trigger when the deck shuddered, causing Reiner to drop his pliers. "Scheiss!" He cursed the tool clattered to the floor. He picked it up and bent the wiring back into place on the trigger, his earpiece buzzing with chatter. "Teams 2 and 3 have boarded zheir exfil craft, zhey are proceeding to zee rendezvous point at Sirius Diatius." The comms specialist suddenly flinched away from the earpiece, which in actuality did nothing, as the comm channel suddenly exploded. A shockwave was felt that rocked the station, the small team of mean stumbling as the deck tilted. Reiner put his finger back to the earpiece to figure out what had just happened. "Zhey have just destroyed zee Destiny-Class corvettes! Vee are evacuating via freighter craft. All remaining ships are to divert to the original rendezvous point before jumping to zee predetermined vector. SXS-117 Bulk Freighters vill be zee main transports." The man gave them all a look of dread. "Zee Gravity's Union, vee're losing her. Zhey are calling to abandon ship."

"Well the explosives are set, get us out of here!" To that, Inferno keyed the switch and the countdown started.

The team sped up the turbolift and stepped out the second it slid open. Dempsey and Jacen both pulled out handheld fusion cutters and sealed the door in less than 5 seconds. Inferno drew one of his Foe-Hammer Revolvers and put a slug into the control panel, sparing maybe another second and a half. They bolted down the corridor and sealed the next bulkhead, welding it shut and destroying the control panel to it as well. They repeated this for every bulkhead (about 5) until the clock ticked past 4 and a half minutes.

"Move your asses! We're running out of time!" Inferno yelled as they sprinted down the hallway. The clock ticked as the station continued to shudder.

4:23, 4:22, 4:21, 4:20...


[OOC: Due to the fluidity of the timeline and posting order (since it's the combined KES turn), my post is assumed to take place in the same timeframe as the other KES members after me.]

 

[Prudence]

Vestar's eyes widened as he watched the blue umbrella that had been the ship's shield slowly retract from around them. "Fucking hell." He said as he realized what had just hit them.

The bridge was silent for a moment before the shield spec turned around "I'm sorry sir! I didn't identify those torpedos.... I... I thought the shields would hold."

The ship suddenly rocked as the shield generators detonated.

The Admiral pinched the bridge of his nose as the spec continued "Sir... reports are rolling in that our shield generators have withstood significant damage..." and then it all went dark "It would appear we have been hit by an Ion Cannon!" The specialist reported.

The bridge was silent and dark as an eerie quiet set in. Well... quiet besides the rhythmic THUMP... THUMP.... THUMP..... of rounds impacting their hull.

Trane remained seated, it was not his first time losing power due to Ion Cannons, "You don't say? What gave it away? How long until auxiliary power can kick in?"

"ETA One Minute sir!" A female voice from the engineering station called out. It was a long minute as they sat there, waiting to see the extent of the damage. The ship fluttered and kicked as auxiliary power brought dim emergency lights online. "Status report!" Vestar shouted as he left his seat and began pacing.

"We have serious structural damage to the hull and engines sir!! And more rounds inbound... we're barely able to get out of our own way running on auxiliary power!"

"Shit..." Vestar said. "Status report of my fleet!" He demanded.

"Sir the Destiny's are inbound to the surface but they're under heavy fire...."

Across the bridge he the frantic voice of one of the male officers in the systems division could be heard talking on the comms line "It's going to be okay honey it's going to be okay!" The response couldn't be heard but the officer gripped his chair "Aren't there countermeasures?!" He stopped for a moment and pressed a finger to his ear "Hello? Honey? Are you there? Plea-"

"Admiral." the communications officer interrupted him "We've lost contact with Exigent Peace and Thunder's Course...."

A violent sobbing could be heard from the systems officer as he slammed his headset against the terminal. The crew sat there for another moment in silence before Vestar shook his head "Is there any hope of getting primary power back online?"

"No sir!" The engineering spec said.

Trane shook his head "Understood.... Hail all KES forces, immediate evacuation and jump to the predesignated jump site set in Cole Protocol."

"Yes sir!" The young girl said.

The bridge crew began quickly filing out of the bridge, headed for the nearest hangar.

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Meanwhile aboard Thunder's Course

Alana Freddiks sat aboard the bridge of the Destiny-Class Corvette as it was battered by turbolasers. She shook her head, tears pouring down her cheeks as she knew what the outcome would be. There was no escape for this, they were simply outgunned.

"Honey the countermeasures aren't effective.. not against these.. I'm sorry I lo-"

The ship broke apart under the stress of the turbolasers and was rapidly vented, releasing bodies torn and twisted into space. Due to the speed of the corvettes they had already reached the upper atmosphere and the inertia of the ship didn't stop just because her life did. The hulking masses of what had been the Exigent Peace and the Thunder's Course continued to barrel at full speed towards the surface of the planet. As they picked up speed they began to break apart and send pieces flying in each direction, some of them impacting evacuating shuttles, bringing the hopeless vessels with them.

When the ships reached the surface it was like a meteorite impacting the soft planet. Dirt and rock along with flames were kicked up in every direction as the hulk of the ships spewed out wreckage and flame, and eventually settled into a soft smulder.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prudii swung his ship around and fired upon a fighter, tearing it apart. As his ship flew on he felt several thuds resound through his hull and sensors began to blare around him.

"WARNING. ENEMY CRAFT INCOMING.... WARNING TARGETING LOCK INDICATED!"

"Kark!" Prudii shouted "Phenom, take the controls."

The droid nodded an affirmative as he began to control the ship with his manipulator arm already interfacing with the ship's systems. The ship began to make rapid jukes and turns as it evaded fire.

"EVACUATE! ALL KES PERSONNEL JUMP IMMEDIATELY TO COORDINATES INDICATED IN COLE PROTOCOL!" came over the comms.

"You heard her." Prudii said, "Phenom did you calculate the coordinates when Cole Protocol was issued?"

"Affirmative sir." the droid replied.

"Good. Let's jump."

The Devastator shuddered and disappeared into hyperspace.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As they were evacuating the bridge Trane grabbed the arm of one of the younger security troopers, "Venez isn't it?"

"Yes sir!" The man replied.

"You're equipped with basic thermals, yes?"

"Of course sir!"

"Rig this fucker to blow as soon as you can get clear. We don't want them having anything that's on the bridge. Take as many men as you need."

"Yes sir!" Venez said.

The security officer moved quickly away from the convoy exciting the bridge and began to jog towards a turbo lift. "Security team 4 meet me in the reactor room with your thermals. We're rigging this ship."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Admiral and Mia's shuttle was the first one to launch, clearing the Gravity's Union quickly, navigating the wreckage outside. "Pilot! Get us clear of this mess and jump!" Vestar ordered.

"Will do!"

The ship glided through space and towards the backside of the station which seemed to be teeming with less cartel forces. After a moment of flying they were clear of the station and the jump had been calculated. Pulling down the lever the ship shuddered into hyperspace.