Unfortunately for the Sovereignity forces, they miscalculated the positions of their fleet. The Interdictors, not taking the time to lower their gravity wells, moved at a much slower pace than the rest of the fleet. The action was roughly akin to trying to manouver a large moon, and the Interdictors lagged.

As it was, the Hood and its group were past the other enemy craft before they reverted to realspace - only a few kilometres off the bow of the enemy Interdictors.

Exactly as the plan had called for.

"Targetting locks aquired!" The shout came from the sensor console.

"All systems reading ready." Another officer said. "Shields up on all craft."

Smiling thinly, Captain Mazzer nodded.

"Desginate targets Alpha through Delta. Open fire."

The first shots of the day came from the trio of Victory Star Destroyers, lancing through the darkness to detonate against the bows of the enemy Interdictors. At the close range, only a handful were intercepted before they struck.

And, as had been proven many times in the past, Interdictor cruisers did not deal well with missile attacks.

"Looks like shield failure on three of the enemy ships." The sensor officer reported evenly.

Even as he spoke, the fleet's turbolasers opened fire, spraying green blasts against the now-unshielded hulls of the three enemy vessels.

"Target their gravity well generators and bridge facilities." Mazzer ordered, smiling thinly.

"Captain! Sensor contacts directly ahead. The rest of the fleet, Sir."

Mazzer nodded.

The party had only just begun.


<font size=1>OOC : Damages
(3) Interdictors without shields and with hull damage
(1) Interdictor moderate shield loss

"Are all our shields up?" Logan asked.

"Yes sir."

Logan watched calmly as the Imperial forces attacked the Immobilizer Division, ripping into their shields, and downing them.

"Sir.. Immobilizer Twelve, Eleven, and Ten have suffered shield loss. And Immobilizer Nine is losing shields rapidly." Braxton reported, stating the plainly obvious.

"It is fine." Logan replied, looking intently at the battle. The Victory Class Star Destroyers had formed up in a line formation, side by side, in order to attack all four Interdictors, which were also in a line formation. That placed the Interdictors directly between the Sovereignty and Imperial forces, with the Interdictors facing the Imperial forces.

Order Immobilizer Ten to make a run at grid alpha-nine. Immobilizer Nine to grid alpha-ten." Logan ordered.

Two of the beseiged Interdictor-class Cruisers leaped forward into the Imperial formation, both of them flanking the middle Victory on both sides, as well as the outer Victorys on one side.

"Immobilizer Eleven to run on grid alpha-eleven and Immobilizer Twelve to run on alpha-twelve. " Logan ordered, the the last two Interdictor-class Cruisers pushed their engines to maximum power and moved to flank both Interdictors on their other sides. So each of the three Victorys were facing an ORS vessel on both sides.

"Attack." Logan ordered and the rest of the Sovereignty forces roared in, with the Birds of Prey in front. The Imperial forces had focused all of their weapons on the Interdictor cruisers alone, as they still were. Almost all of their guns were still firing at the Interdictor class cruisers as the wave of Sovereignty forces moved in, still in their line formation.

The core of the Sovereignty forces were the Birds of Prey, who moved forward, with the Majestic-class cruisers and the Bakura-class cruisers on the outer sides. As the Birds of Prey moved in and fired (four Birds per Vic), the Majestics and Bakuras primed all of their missile tubes and lanced out with their own turbolasers, but the Majestics and the Bakura's were hanging back, not out of range of weapons, but they did not fire.



Damages

Hood shields at 75%
Repulse shields at 75%
Far Thunder shields at 75%

"The enemy has miscalculated..." Captain Mazzer said calmly, watching the approach of the enemy vessels on his sensor display.

The Interdictors were dead, the fire from the Imperial fleet having already downed their artificial gravity wells.

"Enemy vessels moving in at Mark Seven." Came the confirmation from the sensor station. And indeed, the Birds of Prey were moving forward at an incredible pace, their weapons lancing out against the Victory Star Destroyers.

"Divison Two to counter." Mazzer responded calmly. The smaller Fire Class Light Frigates had directed some of their fire towards the cruisers, but they had been waiting for the arrival of the enemy reinforcements (such as they were).

With the three Star Destroyers in a staggered line formation, the Hood slightly ahead of the other two, the FCLFs were spread in a holding pattern ahead of them.

That meant that as the Birds approached, they were forced to run the gauntlet of fire from the Imperial vessels. And while the Fire Frigates were designed primarily as anti-starfighter platforms, they were no less able than the Birds themselves to inflict damage upon enemy capital ships.

With the ORS ships targetting the larger Imperial vessels, the fire from the others quickly took its toll. Each directing its full compliment of laser cannons against the BoPs, the Fire Class Frigates scored only minor damages.

But with the added weight of six turbolasers and six ion cannons each, the small ships were more than capable of pounding the enemy vessels.

"Enemy Interdictors moving ahead." Another report came from the sensor operator.

Captain Mazzer nodded.

"Reverse thrust on my mark. Bring the fleet down."

He smiled, watching the damaged enemy vessels come towards them.

"Mark."

The fleet, in a pinnacle of Imperial planning and execution, moved. The Victory Star Destroyers dove beneath the plane of the damaged enemy cruisers, turbolaser blasts still scoring their undersides as they went.

The Birds of Prey, true to their targets, changed course to pursue... and the FCLFs were instantly on their tail, laser and ion fire lancing out into the rears of the only slightly larger craft.

"Prime missile tubes." Mazzer ordered, observing the enemy fleet. "And keep up our fire."

The rest of the fleet would be doing likewise, he knew.

"Captain! Sensor echoes at Mark Twelve-3!" Another call from the sensor officer. "Imperial Task Force Two! Reading full shields and combat readiness!"

Right on time.

And, as per the plan, the VSDs and FCLFs were on a direct course for them. The Torpedo Spheres themselves were set a small distance behind the two new Star Destroyers, far out of the range of the enemy capital ships main weapons.

"Commodore Orison reports that his fleet is at the ready, missile tubes primed and ready." The communications officer called out, his voice conveying the excitement they all felt.

Mazzer nodded, and started to speak. He was, though, interupted by a call from the sensor operator.

"Contact, Sir! Enemy Interdictor Alpha registering severe reactor failure." He paused, breathless, then, "She's going so!"

"Are we out of her blast radius?" Mazzer barked in response.

"Aye, Captain! But the other ships-"

At that moment, the ship exploded. The blast tinted the viewports black, even with the Hood pointed away from the blast.

"Sweet mother of Jesus..." One of the crewers said, ignoring his station as he looked at the holodisplay that showed the video feed from the rear of the ship.

The blast had taken another of the Interdictors with it, both ships reduced to mere fragments drifting now through space. The third was in flames, the damage evident even from this distance. The entire side of the vessel was twisted and broken.

The last one... "Reading as entirely out of the conflict, Captain. Looks like the ship put out a rather strong EMP blast when it went... took down the entire thing's systems."

"Status?"

"The fleet was out of range of the blast. FCLF11 is showing some residual effects of the blast, but other than that..."

Mazzer nodded. All in all, not bad.

"Right. Form us up with the fleet."

The Star Destroyers came about, the FCLF following, taking their respective positions in the midst of the Imperial fleet. The entire group was hovering, now, just outside the planet's gravity well.

And the ORS fleet was waiting.

Standoff.


<font size=1>OOC : Damages

ORS

2 Interdictors Destroyed
2 Interdictors Crippled
2 Birds of Prey (1 & 2) Hull Damage
3 Birds of Prey Ion Damage
7 Birds of Prey Shield Damage

TNO

VSD shields at 80% (I sincerly doubt 4 BoPs can bring their shields down by a quarter in one post)

"The Imperial fleet is regrouping. Two of our Interdictors have been destroyed." Braxton said, stepping over to Logan.

"Sir, I think that what we are doing is crazy. Why are we just sitting here?" Braxton asked.

"Because we have a plan. And we must stick to the plan." Logan said flatly.

Braxton was incredulous, "Sir, with all due respect, what plan?!" The captain almost shouted.

Logan smiled up at the younger man, "You know, you remind me of me at your age. I have respect for you because of that, but please don't do that again." Logan said. He would tolerate some insubordination, considering this wasn't his fleet, but he needed the loyalty of the captain and his officers to protect Khomm.

The Sovereignty forces regrouped as well, and waited, just sitting there just out of range of the Imperial ship's weapons. Braxton took a seat in the executive officer's chair, the normal occupant of which was absent. Logan sat back, steepling his fingers as he watched the idle Imperial fleet in the forward viewport.

"Status of missiles?" Logan asked.

"Loaded and ready." Was Braxton's reply.

"On my command, let them fly. All ships." He said.

A tense silence settled on the bridge of the Tomed. And, Logan imagined, on the bridges of the other ORS ships. Suddenly, the silence was broken, by Braxton's voice, "Sir Dauntless Divison Two has entered the system... they are right on top of the Imperial fleet!"

Logan smiled, "They are to raise sheilds and engage the Imperial forces. They are also to load their missile tubes."

The five Majestic-class Cruisers that entered realspace behind the Imperial forces raised their shields and instantly engaged the enemy. Turbolasers lanced out, striking the rears of the Victory-class Star Destroyers and the Fire-Class Light Frigates.


"Now." Logan said, and the rest of the Sovereignty fleet fired their missile and torpedo complements. While they could not utilize their turbolasers yet, their missiles were well within range and slammed into the shields of the Victorys.

"Shall we engage, sir?" Braxton asked.

"Not yet. Hold here and load the missile tubes again. But I want Dauntless Division Two to continue firing." Logan replied.


Damages -

Hood Shields at 20%
Repulse shields at 20%
Fire Class Light Frigate Shields at 75%
Fire Class Light Frigate Shields at 75%

Commodore Osion watched the second portion of his fleet as they alligned themselves with the two massive Torpedo Spheres, turning to once more face the enemy.

Above, two of the hull Interdictors were drifting slowly downward, no friction present in space to stop or even slow their descent.

Typing a command into his tacometer, the Commodore smiled slightly and gestured to his sensor officer.

"The enemy ships?" He asked.

"Their missile ports are open, Sir. Estimate firing in about a minute."

Osion nodded, mentally calculating the difference.

"Put a barrage out towards the crippled Interdictor." He said, and contained a smile as the orders were relayed. It was the FCLFs that fired first, their cannons blazing out to strike the crippled ship along its top portion.

The kinetic energy of the blast quickened its pace, and without engines to straighten it changed its course ever so slightly.

"Firing!" The sensor officer called out suddenly. Outside, the propellent streams were already visible.

It was close...

About half of the warheads slammed dead on into the Interdictor that had floated into their path. Perhaps three quarters of what was left were intercepted by the virtual wall of laser fire put out by the Fire Frigates, their anti-starfighter batteries spewing green shots to eliminate the threat.

The remainder -- half a dozen, at best -- erupted uselessly against the forward shields of the Hood.

"Captain Mazzer reports a 3% loss in forward shield integrity." The com officer reported, hiding a smirk.

Osion nodded his approval.

"Right. Do we have targetting locks?"

"Aye, sir."

"Fire at will." The Commodore ordered. "Let's show them how it's done in the Empire."

The Torpedo Sphere shuddered only slightly as the warheads lanced out, their internal guidance systems kicking in immediatly.

The Torpedo Sphere had one of the most advanced sensor grids in the Imperial Fleet, and the effects proved it had not gone to waste.

None of the warheads struck the dead Interdictor, and only a handful were intercepted before striking home.

"Damage reports coming in now, Sir." The sensor officer reported. "Transferring to your station."

"All right. Mantain position, reload missile tubes and prepare to engage."

"Captain! Enemy vessels in quadrant one! They'll be in range in five minutes, six tops, Sir!"

"Very well. Prepare for combat." He stopped, frowning. "Launch all fighters, and ensure shields are returned to full once they're clear."

The battle had turned rather quickly. But war, it seemed, was always unpredictible.


<font size=1>OOC : Damages[/u]

ORS

2 Bakura Class Star Destroyers Rendered Inoperable
2 Majestic Heavy Cruisers Destroyed
2 Majestic Heavy Cruisers Damaged
1 Interdictor Destroyed

TNO

2 VSDs @ 77% Shields

The Hood

Captain Mazzer watched the missiles streak out from the gathered Imperial fleet, the warheads surrounding and smashing relentless into the fronts and flanks of the enemy vessels.

On the sensor display in front of him, the representations of the enemy vessels grew quickly from green, to yellow, and then to red. On two of the smaller enemy ships, entire sections even began to go black.

"Orders?" He barked, already itching to do something further. The enemy had not yet responded to their missile barrage - perhaps the suddenness and lethalness of the move had caught them off guard?

"Recieving now, Sir!" The answer came back from the sensor officer. The man was excited - the battle had turned almost instantly in favour of the Empire. Even the enemy vessels closing rapidly from the rear were dismissed (for the moment).

"Commodore Osiron orders 'all ships ahead'." The officer said. "The Frigates and fighters are moving to screen us."

And indeed, the entire line was beginning to move forward through space. The Victory Star Destroyers and their smaller companions, the Fire Frigates, cutting across the distance and into effective turbolaser range.

"Open fire. All guns." The Captain ordered with a thin smile. The range was almost perfect. "Cease forward momentum." He said smoothly. "Hold the fleet here and reinforce our shields with engine power as neccessary."

The fleet was firing now, turbolasers flashing out as the Empire's ships tore into the remaining ORS vessels. Only one of the smaller cruisers remained undamaged, and it was instantly set upon by three of the larger Star Destroyers.

The other two engaged the shieldless vessels, turbolasers striking their bridge and other strategic locations.

The TIE Defenders, missile tubes still hot and ready, sweapt in from two directions, attaining their targetting locks and firing as one unit. Split between the two damaged enemy cruisers, the effects were still devestating.

"Continue firing." Mazzer ordered calmly, watching as the Fire Frigates turned their own guns against the Birds of Prey. Even as he watched, one of them was wreathed in flames, and as the fireball died away a hulled enemy ship was to be seen, flying with no direction deep into space.

Today was a good day for the Empire.



The Crucifiction

Standing on the bridge of the massive Torpedo Sphere, Commodore Osiron watched the smaller Star Destroyers strike home with devestating accuracy. The enemy vessels were caught off guard, and the manouver had cost them nearly their entire present fleet.

It was, from this distance, nothing short of a massacare.

What the missile volley had failed to do, the Star Destroyers accomplished. Turbolasers tore gashes from enemy hulls, presenting their crew to the dark reccesses of space. Turbolaser emplacements were skillfully blasted away, and with each renewed salvo fewer and fewer enemy guns responded.

"Status of our missile tubes?" The Commodore asked calmly, glancing at the sensor board. The second group of enemy ships would be in range shortly.

If the fleet stayed in their present configuration, that was.

"Nearly there, Sir." It took a long while for the crew of the ship to reload 500 proton torpedo launchers. But the results were worth the wait, by anyone's standards.

"Very well. Bring the Spheres up into a holding pattern above the battle, and present our guns to Second."

It was quickly done, the massive ships turning to face the enemy and retreating ever so slightly up and towards the Northen Pole of Khomm.

The enemy Second could move out of their field of fire, and lose themselves minutes of valuable fighting time, or they could brave the gauntlet and emerged damaged, but perhaps in time.

Commodore Osiron smiled grimly.

"Give or take." He said to no one but himself.

"Give or take."


<font size=1>OOC : Damages

ORS

2 Majestic Heavy Cruisers Destroyed
1 Majestic Heavy Cruiser Damaged
1 Bird of Prey Destroyed
4 Birds of Prey Damaged

TNO

2 Victory Star Destroyers 85% Shields
3 Victory Star Destroyers 96% Shields
2 Fire Frigates 80% Shields