"Lead, I've got lock," said Colonel Helx, his calm and serene voice coming as a type of assurance to the other pilots of the squadron - as if they needed any kind of assurances.

The Clawcraft stayed in a perfect line formation, moving only slightly to dodge the incoming green blasts from the Interdictor's defensive measures.

Helx narrowed his glowing eyes, he had to make this one perfect, he would not get another shot at this. If we miss, those Demosthesian fighters will break off and attack...then we have to deal with dogfighting and assaulting that Interdictor.

"Two, I've got lock."

"Three, I've got lock."

It went on a percession of confirmations of their missile locks. Twelve clawcraft, twelve missile locks.

"Lead, fire!" he exclaimed, squeezing down hard on the yokestick's trigger buttons.

His clawcraft's panels opened and let loose a pair of blue proton torpedos, as did the other clawcraft in unison, letting loose a volley of twenty four.

Come on....come on he demanded mentally as they moved ever so closely, ripping past the empty space and clearing the distance between the Clawcraft and the Interdictor.

The anti-fighter lasers managed to down three of the missiles, but as a whole they impacted, tearing apart the craft into oblivion.

It started with a series of chain explosions, that began tearing apart the hull as a whole. The gravity wells began to cave in on themselves, the bridge began to crumble and then, as the clawcraft turned and began speeding as quickly as it could.

"Fal back and prepare a fighter screen," Helx ordered, as - without even being told - the fighters began to move into a wedge formation.







"What is that?" Vicrene commented as he saw the gunship suddenly turn from hyperspace. "Open fire on-,"

"Captain!" someone yelled suddenly, and Vicrene turned to see what it was about.

"What is it?"

"Several missiles inbound, countless of them sir," one of the radarmen yelled.

Vicrene felt himself go pale.

"How did they..."

"Must be a cloaked cruiser sir."

"Jettison the escape pods," he ordered suddenly, "aim them toward the missiles, use tractor beams to try and slow them and fire on as many as you can."

Vicrene's XO sighed from his side as he peered directly ahead at the incoming warheads.

There were far too many of them.

"Sir, that won't be enough."

Vicrene turned an angry stare on him. "Of course it won't, but try to hold off as many as we can!"

The escape pods were shot out by the hundreds, with the assistance of the tractor beams they managed to detonate several of the missiles prematurely, the tractor beams slowed others so that they could be pin pointed and shot, but it simply wasn't enough.

Twenty missiles collided in various spots across the Spirit's surface.

"My god," Vicrene said suddenly. "What is damage?"

"Shields dropped to 25%."

"Reroute it from engines and fire control."

"Yes sir."

"Total shields?"

"Sixty-five over all sir, our left flank is heavily damagd."

"Allocate shield energy to our port, get our shield recharge up."

"Yes sir."





The TIE Phantoms found another target. The cloaked craft removed their shields one more time and unleashed another flurry of blasts, this time raking across the next interdictor in very similar tactics.

Then...they were gone.


Actions

<li>Torpedos destroyed one (1) Interdictor from Clawcraft
<li>Clawcraft withdrew toward Spirit of Fearsons
<li>Spirit of Fearsons tried to destroy as many missiles as possible, took severe damage to shields.
<li>Box Formation surrounding the Tholatin and LFX fleets is complete
<li>TIE Phantoms attacked the next Interdictor, finishing off the miniscule shields they had left.

(Chadd, it takes three posts to destroy a ship. Unless you're ship is twice the size. Which it isn't.)

The Starry Ice twisted through space, presenting the oncoming fighters with her undamaged shields. Missile attacks on Interdictors were common, their goal more often than not to force the Captain to turn, thus loosing their prey.

But there was a second Interdictor here, for just that reason. And as the Starry Ice finished her turn, the missiles hit. A minute few, however.

The TIE Defenders that had come from the main fleet had pounced on the distracted enemy fighters, proton torpedoes lancing out and into their formation.

The Clawcraft may have been superior fighters, but the TIEs outnumbered them by more than 2:1, and the Imperial pilots were vastly superior to those of the Jutraalian Empire.

The TIE Phantoms that had assaulted the cruiser earlier, and now made runs towards the second Interdictor, were slightly more lucky.

The pilots of the Empire knew they would be there, but they had no idea where, or how many, there would be. A slight few were shot down, but a half a dozen missiles impacted onto the shields of the Interdictor and exploded.

<hr>

Silencer XP-21

Another salvo of missiles lanced out from the racks of the six Twilight Gunships. The enemy Star Destroyer was left without another means to stop these missiles, and they detonated across the upper hull, exploding against shields mere meters from the bridge viewports before one finally found a mark and slammed into the tower's base.

For the Jutraalian's credit, they tried to return fire. But the cloaked warships were gone before they gunners had a chance.

And the Star Destroyer was slowly dying.

So far the Spirit of Fearsons was clutching desperately to life, trying hard to regain itself after that last devastating volley from the LFX craft. They were pummeling them with missiles, it was quite literally devastating the first ship of the Jutraalian Empire.

But Vicene would not give up that easily.

This ship bears the name of his majesty...it has to survive.

"Are the damaged parts in the hull locked down?" he demanded, turning to face his XO, who was busy yelling orders to another, lesser personnel. He looked up.

"Yes sir, all locked down."

"Alright move the Carracks into a defensive position in front of the Spirit, we'll head them off."

"Yes sir."

"Sir!" another radarman called out, his voice even more frantic than the one prior to him. "Sir more missiles inbound."

"Sithspit!" Vicene called out. "Time to impact?"

"Two minutes."

"Okay..." he looked down at his quivering hands, thinking desperately on something - anything - that could keep the ship alive. Then he had an idea. "Alright," he cried out, practically leaping off the catawalk of which he stood so that he was near the drive control officer, "I am going to give you very precise instructions, follow them closely and exactly do you understand?"

"Y-Yes sir," he responded hesitantly.

"No! Have confidence, we're going to survive this lieutenant!" he ordered.

"Yes sir," he reiterated.

"Good, okay rotated the yaw fifteen degrees port," he ordered, and without even considering the order the drive officer began punching in the orders, "okay at the same time begin moving the pitch, fourteen no....twenty six degrees."

"Negative or positive sir?"

"Positive invert."

"Yes sir."

The orders were punched in and the thrusters fought dilligently to lift the craft's nose upward as the missiles edged ever closer.

"Okay roll, negative nine degrees, try and expose a bit of the underbelly."

Vicene grabbed down onto whatever was nearest so that he would not be thrown from his feet and continued to watch the monitor where the drive officer was placing in the coordinates.

"Alright, I want all working weapons to fire, especially top weapons."

"Yes sir."

The Spirit of Fearsons fought intensley, as though it were unwilling to succumb to LFX's attempt. The missiles raced ever closer, Vicene chewed down on his already sore lip, and he felt as though his stomach were going to cave in on itself.

Green turbo lasers and blue ion cannons blasted back as fast and accurately as they could, as the tractor beams began trying to force as many of them off course as they could.

"Brace for impact!" Vicene demanded and only nanoseconds later the entire ship rocked as two of the missiles hit, the rest sped straight off, drifting past the Spirit and exploding later intro free space.

"Damage reading!"

"Minor shield damage, one percent lost."

"Hull damage?"

"None."

Vicene let out a deep sigh. They had just barely escaped death that time. And fortunately the Carracks had just moved directly in front of the mighty warcraft.






The Clawcraft manuevered deftly, the Chiss pilots capable of overcoming the less experienced TIE Defender pilots.

However Helx could not deny their considerable training. One specific one had stuck on his tail and would not get off - a difficult manuever, especially against one who had seen so many battles.

He juked and swerved, bringing his Clawcraft in manuevers that would dizzy a normal pilot.

This guy must be no normal pilot.

"Lead, drop!" he heard Four yell, and he did without question, and Four let loose a volley of laser fire at the TIE Defender ahead of him.

(Uhh... no, Chadd. The stealthships are arrayed around the spirit, and the missiles take roughly... 30 seconds to arrive. Nice try, though.)

The Star Destroyer began a manouver as the missle raced towards it, its bow rising up in a move that would bring stronger shields to bare against the missiles.

It didn't matter. It was to late for that.

This wave of warheads smashed headlong into the upper sections, crushing what few shields the ship had left and leaving her venting atmosphere from a dozen or more gashes in her hull.

A few of the missiles detonated against the underside hull and exploded harmlessly against the shields there.

But the Spirit of Fearsons was aflame now, fires burning where oxygen leaked out into space, her powerful, smooth body torn by gashes that, were this a true living monster, blood would have been pouring out from the wounds.

The ship was like a dying animal, as the engines pushed it forward it shuddered, its damaged hull feeling the terrible strain of motion. To much, and it would crack.

Coming within range of the invisible ships now were the Carrack Cruisers, advancing on their tails. They could not see the Gunships... but if they stayed here, a collision was not improbable.

The Silencer Sqaudron, arming their last salvo, fired at once and dropped their cloaks, engaging their full-speed engines at the same time and advancing in the wake of the missiles, turbolasers pounding out for an instant, and then they were past, and heading back towards the Imperial fleet.

The final missile launch of the Silencers was twice as big as the previous ones, the last of their warheads, and nearly 200 missiles ploughed into the burning top quarter of the Spirit of Fearsons.

<HR>

Of the TIE Defenders fighting the Chiss Clawcraft above the damaged interdictor, one had managed to stay behind the enemy leader. That was Drakiss, Major of the Arca Sqaudron, one of the most experianced pilots in the Empire.

Laser blasts collided against the enemy ship's shields, doing little to impede its progress. But that was fine, for now.

The enemy ship dove, and of course there was someone shooting already, tracking Darkiss' fighter as he dove as well... and unaware of the second Defender that drilled a proton torpedoe into that Clawcraft's forward shields...

<HR>

Losses Thus Far

The Jutraalian Empire

Defender Class Star Destroyer Spirit of Fearsons (Crippled)
9 Clawcraft

The Holy Demosthesian Empire

Immobilizer 418 Cruiser Starry Ice (Crippled)
5 TIE Defenders

His feet bore a long trench into the ground as he shuddered to a halt just hundreds of feet from his target. The force-aided running had been interrupted by the feeling he would not be alone if he continued on. There were Jedi in the palace, as well as more and more troops inside. Perhaps he'd underestimated the tholatin's readyness for an attack at this time. Perhaps . . .perhaps even those Jutraalian types had bore the idea that the entire galaxy was hell bent on terrorism so far into thier heads they had become paranoid.

If he continued on, there would be no doubt he could overcome the feeble force users as well as whatever troops stood in his path, and it was fairly obvious that by blowing up the Royal tholatin palace he would attract his share of attention. However, if the Jedi were lost in that attack, a Jedi Inquirey would most likely be sent out . . .and Xion neither wished or wanted that to happen.


Darting off at high speed in the opposite direction, Xion quickly shrouded his force presence to all prying eyes and disappeared onto the horizon line, towards the more heavily populated, suburban areas of the city. If the explosives on his back couldn't be utilized on the palace, then they would do sufficiant damage to any one of the multitude of high rize skyscrapers that dotted the glowing skyline.

The serene Justice was crippled but not destroyed. The weapons continued to fire as the ship moved in reverse towards the TJE forces. Not exactly moving fast now, it was still making good speed.

The two Interdictors reversed direction and formed up with the Star Destroyer as they began to withdraw. They were too damaged to fight and taking losses was pointless.

They made it to the TJE forces and broadcast a plea message to them. Skai sent it himself.

"TJE forces, if you could please hold them off until we are out of range of their grav wells it would be appreciated. We are of no use to you here. We're leaving for Tholatin because we believe it is under attack. Enclosed is a holonet broadcast and a decoding program, do read it please."

The three ships passed through and began to head away from the battle.

The two Jedi disembarked from their shuttle, stepping onto the polished hangar bay floor. A small escort awaited then, a few troopers and an officer.

“Welcome aboard the Clak’dor Master Jedi, we are honored by your presence.” The man bowed slightly, making a formal leg.

The two Jedi returned his bow, and the taller one replied congenially. “We are glad to be aboard Captain. I trust you have been briefed on what happens from this point on?”

“Yes” replied the officer. “The Monarch sent a private holo to me explaining. I would like to say that my crew will do their utmost to assist you in your mission.”

“Merely trusting them would be a mistake Captain” said the shorter Jedi. “For our mission is your mission for as long as we have need of you.”

The man blinked at that statement, but quickly recovered. “Yes, yes of course. My apologies. It is as you say.” A few awkward moments passed before the captain seemed to remember himself. “If you will, this way.”

The troopers took a position behind the captain, and the two Jedi and the small party made its way toward a lift.

Master, the Clak’dor is magnificent. Do you know what its escort is?

Magnificent? Truly, it is very well built. I should assume the escort would consist of a few smaller ships, not much more. The Monarch was reluctant to give us much.

The shorter Jedi smiled to himself. What was their escort? Deciding that he might as well find out now, rather than later, he asked the captain as the group boarded a lift.

“Our escort consists of two Corillian Gunships and two Strike-class cruisers Sir Jedi. The Clak’dor has her full compliment of fighters and shuttles as well. By the time we reach the scene of the battle, our force shall be the largest. And, I would not be surprised if we were the largest even if we arrived while the battle was taking place.”

The two Jedi shared a slightly knowing glance with each other. Were that it were so…

“How soon until we are ready to disembark Captain?”

The man cleared his throat, and thought for a few seconds before answering. “Ten, twenty minutes at the most. Ninety percent of our crew is onboard, the rest are being transported up as we speak. The escort will not have to wait for their men to come aboard, as they have been out on patrol. We will rendezvous with them around twenty thousand clicks out from Clak’dor VII. I’m sure you’re wondering how long until we reach our destination too … that will be harder to determine. The navacomputer has been working on hyperspace routes ever since our orders were received. By the time we are ready to jump she’ll have shaved off every minute possible.”

The Jedi nodded, and allowed the party to lapse into silence. That they would be late was inevitable. However, perhaps help could be rendered for those to those who remained…

Silencer XP-21

"Captain, Tholatin warships are entering our space." Ensign Dareel reported, seeing the enemy Star Destroyer limping across space in their direction. The Star Destroyer had been crippled by the pounding she recieved from the Black Fleet's Star Destroyers, and now as she tried to flee outside the gravity wells generated by the Interdictors she was making no more than four MGLT. Captain Edwards was surprised she hadn't blown herself to pieces with the strain yet, and would be even more shocked if she didn't explode trying to make the jump to hyperspace.

"Do we have any missiles?" He asked evenly, regarding the ship as it closed with his ship and the others like it nearby.

"None on the racks, sir. We've got a full load in the topside launcher, though." He nodded, sighing slightly. The Twilights carried laser weapons, twin turbolasers and laser cannons, but they had to drop their cloaks to use them.

He checked the sensor display for the Defender Class Star Destroyer, saw that it was dead in space, its sensors certainly unable to penetrate this far.

"Transmit to the rest of the group. On my mark, drop cloaks and open fire on the engine compartment of that Star Destroyer. Do you have firing solutions?"

"Aye, Captain. Weapons locked on and prepared to fire. All batteries deployed."

He breathed deeply, watching as the enemy vessel closed within range, and gave a small nod.

"Mark. Fire at will."

The result was instantanious. Missile fire streaked out first, a dozen proton torpedoes hurling against the enemy shields - no, there were no shields - against the enemy ship's hull, and exploding magnifently, breaking the plating apart and setting a dozen or more new fires on the ship's underside.

Turbolaser and laser cannon fire followed, green bolts slamming into the peeled open underside, tearing through delicate machinery and shutting down systems across the enemy Star Destroyer.

As the pounding of the weapons batteries died away, Edwards looked from the tactical display to the ship, and smiled grimly. Fire was bursting plating from the hull, volcanoes of flame shooting up from the insides of the mighty vessel and into space.

The craft shuddered visibly for a moment, then a great gridning tear broke through the coms and the Star Destroyer exploded. The sound was horrific, the screach of metal on metal and the crackling of flames.

The shock wave slammed into the Gunships, washing across them. Debris from the ship crackled against the shields, taking them down notch by notch as the smaller ships turned and engaged their engines, speeding away from the scene of the destruction.

<hr>

Losses (This Post)

The Tholatin Republic
Imperator Class Star Destroyer Serene Justice
(Destroyed)

Standing Damage
<li>Carrack Cruiser One - Was impacted by One Wave of the Missiles, 25% shield damage left
<li>Defender Star Destroyer - 15% shield damage left, 2% weapons offline, 5% comms offline, Speed at 90%, Hyperdrive at 98%, Hull at 96%
<li>7 Chiss Clawcraft Downed, 3 ejections
<li>4 TIE Defenders Downed



Vicrene felt himself fall from his feet, smashing against the cold durasteel floor with a loud bang, as had several others amongst the bridge. It was cold, and dark. Blackness began to envelop him, and for just a moment he allowed himself to think he was dying. But wit hthe sounds of warning lights on all sides, it seemed he remained in the mortal world, at least for a short time.

Every bone in the commodore's body ached, to the point that he was almost ready to request his own bacta dip.

I'm not in that much pain. He remembered well the foul taste that bacta left in the mouth, and the grogginess it left in the eyes.

So far as a whole hew knew the Spirit was taking far too much damage, any more volleys like that one and he'd have to give the evacuation signal. But they can't possibly have any more missiles.

He shook the last few moments of pain from his body, allowing himself to think a bit more clearly. The commodore's right shoulder was the most sore, it was most likely broken or at least fractured.

The sensor officer before him was already back in his seat, attempting to shake off the last bits of weariness that assaulted him. His eyes were still trying to adjust, his head must have been spinning.

The impact had thrown most people in the bridge from their seats, he was almost certain that dozens were now dead down below.

I'm running out of tricks against these missiles.

"Get me a read on the battle," Vicrene demanded suddenly, resting his pained arm against the sensor console.

"Seven Clawcraft wiped out in that last run, but the enemy lost four Defenders, and their interdictor is about to fall."

"Are its gravity wells still online?"

"Negative."

"And those Carracks that have not screened us are how far from firing range of the second one?"

"Twenty seconds."

Vicrene looked back at his XO, who sported a ripped uniform - a great gash ripped across the chest which looked more like he had been struck with a blade - and a bloodied forehead. He stood with great difficulty, and looked as though he were on the verge of collapse. "Do you recognize those things shooting at us?" Vicrene demanded.

"Profile..." he began, as though it were greatly difficult just to speak, "suggests a Twilight-Class Gunship...the kind we captured over Jutraal."

"My god..."

The XO nodded. "My sentiments exactly sir."

The bridge suddenly ignited with lumineous lights, as though it were a deadly lightshow, reminding him of the kind he used to watch on Averam.

What the hell is that?

He turned suddenly to see what was going on, seeing green-gold blasts blazing across the open space. There were a few series of explosions, and for a moment Vicrene thought the whole Spirit of Fearsons was on fire.

"What is that?"

"The Carracks have spotted the Twilights sir," the XO commented as he too stared out the aft of the craft. "They are trying to hit us with turbolasers."

"Well fire back!"

"Trying sir, they are behind us."

The Spirit's heavy weapons managed to get a few blasts off as, on sheer reflex, it began to rotate, unleashing a fury of turbo as well as regular laser fire onto the Twilights. One combusted and simply exploded without question, the fore detaching from the center and it suddenly went up in smoke.

"Try to tractor beam in any survivors."

The Carracks moved on all sides of the Gunships as well, their gold-green blasts slamming painfully against the smaller craft's shields.





Colonel Helx managed to open his eyes momentarily as he drifted through the blackness of space. He saw the Tholatin Republic's Star Destroyer go up in smoke, he saw the Carrack Cruisers decimating the Interdictor at point blank range, as his squadron unleashed hell's fury worth of missiles.

He blinked several times before blacking out, and managed to see the Lancers moving in and releasing volley after volley of laser fire on TIE Defenders, who were forced to juke and move to avoid being hit by the anti-fighter frigates.

Good...we're going to make it out of this one...or at least they are.

Then he noticed something else...the Spirit of Fearsons and its escorts were leaving...and were entering hyperspace.

So he would be left behind...but so be it...better the rest survive and he be taken prisoner.


Losses

TJE

<li>2% Engine Contol on Spirit of Fearsons
<li>1 Chiss Clawcraft
<li>1 TIE Phantom
<li>2 TIE Defenders


HDE

<li>1 Twilight Gunship (the DSD is ten times its size)
<li>1 TIE Defenders
<li>Interdictor Cruiser is at 75% shields (at least)



These are only proposed, none of these are official except the Jutraalian damages.

The Twilight may very well still be alive pending on Isstal's response.


Actions

<li>DSD and three Carracks enter hyperspace
<li>Reasoning: Seti skipped a post for me so I just posted what would have been done in two. How did I escape the interdictor field?

I didn't, I was never in it.

(Note: The Twilights were attacking the Tholatin Star Destroyer, wll out of range of any Jutraalian warships. Oh, and you can't simply skip rules when you don't like them. I edited my post accordingly. Not to mention that with her damage, the DSD would break up attempting to jump.)

Meanwhile, Main Battle

Bhindi Drayson glanced at the sensor displays, seeing the Tholatin Star Destroyer beating a hasty retreat. The antidetection wizardy aboard the Twilight Gunships was as effective against Imperial ships as it was against their enemies, but they had the small advantdage of being able to communicate with their crews.

If she knew Captain Edwards, his ships were where they were supposed to be. And that was right in the path of the Tholatin warship.

She smiled grimly, then turned her attention to her own fleet. The gravity wells were powering down as the cruisers prepared to move, and the Korolev was coming into firing range of the Jutraalian warships. Her forward batteries began to fire even as she saw this, and smiled grimly. The enemy capital ship was a shade bigger than her own flagship, but the Korolev was more heavily armed, more powerful. And, more importantly, of Imperial design. The Republic certainly did not have the skill to create a true piece of work, like the Star Destroyer.

The enemy ship was already crippled from the invisible Twilight assault, and now as the fleet began to move into range the enemy craft shuddered violently. Little attention, other than shots from the flanking batteries was paid to the enemy light cruisers as the Black Fleet sweapt past them, the enemy ships seemingly unwilling to brave the torrent of fire thrown into all sides of the enemy craft as the Holy Imperial capitals passed over, and under, it.

The pair of Imperator Star Destroyers unleashed a constant torrent of laser energy into the enemy flagship now, beams smashing into the hull plating and setting portions of the ship ablaze. Acrid black smoke drifted from the enemy craft as fire ate away at her interior, even as energy ate away at the outside.

The hull of the enemy ship was melting now, the torrent of laserfire pouding her durasteel hull into oblivion. Cracks had appeared already, and systems failure shipwide had begun in earnest.

The Carrack Cruisers had succeeded in grouping themselves and hammering at the shields of the Tyrant. The Star Destroyer ignored had responded with a flurry of ion cannon bolts from her twenty emplacements, and blue light flickered across the hulls of the small enemy craft even as the Starfighters swarmed in, achieving targeting locks before warheads flashed out and detonated against the hulls of their opponents.

The other Jutraalian fightercraft were kept at bay by the laser cannons of the Star Destroyers and Aegis Carriers, pot shots taking out craft here and there even as they tried to chase the Demosthesian craft.

Bhindi smiled thinly as she watched the sensor profile of the enemy Star Destroyer drop steadily from yellow, to red, and then portions began to go black, indicating total systems failure, along with fire and hull breach. There was no return from a black readout.

One by one, the last portions of the Spirit of Csilla went black on the readout. Even a Defender Class Star Destroyer could not withstand the continued bombardment of the two Star Destroyers, even without the earlier destruction wrought by the Gunships.

The enemy craft had not detonated, but capital craft rarely did. It simply sat, lifeless, destroyed.
"Commander," she said, smiling thinly. "Finish it off."

More proton torpedoes lanced out from the Korolev, smashing into the fractured hull and breaking the ship wide open. Laser fire poured in, cracking deck after deck until the entire ship was seperated.

On the sensor readouts, two entirely black Spirit of Fearsons showed. The fleet did not look back, but made the jump to hyperspace, each ship vanishing.

Left behind was the wreckage of the Tholatin fleet, the hulled Spirit of Csilla, and whatever Jutraalian survivours were left out in the cold of deep space.