Unknown Region Campaign Pt. 1: Op. Claw (Vyrnaliq)
  • Posted On: Apr 6 2002 5:21am
<font size="3">Official RJO Documentation</font><font size="2">Official Order Decree
[Classified]</font>


Operation Claw
Rogue Jedi Order exploration and expansion

Background:
After the splintering of the Chiss Empire around the issue of Csilla's ice age, many worlds were fled to by Chiss. None more so than Vyrnaliq; those documents shared with the New Republic and Rogue Jedi Order by the New Csillan Council describe it as the second most urban world in the Old Chiss Empire, next to Csilla itself. One of the first worlds- besides the others in the Csilla system- to be settled by Chiss explorers, Vyrnaliq advanced into an urban metropolis in the vein of Coruscant as soon as technology allowed. Many refugees fleeing the inaction of the Chiss Senate (caused by infighting and a passive nature).

But with the said splintering of the Chiss Empire into fractured regions of space, several pirate factions siezed the chance to unite and bombard the space surrounding Vyrnaliq, while the more powerful (and peaceful) factions concentrated their efforts on Csilla. The majority of these pirates had been outcast for similar regions to those of Grand Admiral Thrawn; an aggressive, first-strike nature.

Thus, we will eliminate Vyrnaliq's pirate defenders, and bring the city world back into the fold of Chiss society, and so, the New Republic and Rogue Jedi Order.

Objectives:
1) Pride Flotilla will move into position in the Socccory system, eliminating all pirates therein. Expect heavy enemy resistance.
2) Tachyon Fleet will cut off the Yishil trade route at the Emik system. This will drain the pirates of resources.
3) RJO army forces will board the Emikary space station orbitting the third gas giant in the Emik system, taking control of it. All vessels in the station will be commandeered.
4) Tachyon Fleet will proceed to the Socccory system, completing a renez-vous with the Pride Flotilla and eliminating any further pirate forces.
5) The captured ships at the Emikary space station will proceed to the Vyrnaliq system, and will land on planet, masquerading as Pirate traders. Military forces will unload near the Presidential Tower, and will capture it.
6) Tachyon Fleet and Pride Flotilla will enter the system and disable all enemy craft.

Conclusion:
This action will secure us the primary Vyrnaliq trade route and capture the planet groundside with less resistance than would be met if a traditional planetary siege would have taken place. With the Super Star Destroyer Tachyon and the Rogue Jedi Order fleet, the pirates should be little or no trouble.
  • Posted On: Apr 6 2002 6:12pm
It’d had taken some doing, but she was on the planet. To reach this point, however, she had been smuggled in on a ship – in the cargo bay – and dropped off with the trash in the lower levels of the city. As of current, she was packed in with the garbage in a storage area on one of the subterranean walkways, off of the main ‘street’, if you could call it that, which cut straight down the center of this sub level. With a bit of trouble, she managed to remove her saber hilt from her belt and upon pushing through over to the side of the crate, ignited the beam and scythed it down through the side. Luckily for Arriana, whoever made these holding cases skimped on the materials used so the blade was able to cut through in seconds. A quick few swipes and she was back out into the fresh air once more.

Why did she always seem to be crawling through vents or stowing away in tiny boxes?

“Ugh … disgusting.”

Arriana brushed her clothes down and disengaged her saber, quickly pulling her hood over her head as she slipped out of the area onto one of the paths. There weren’t many people around down here, maybe one or two fishing for junk or thinks people had dropped from up above. This was a gem to find, as everyone else on the planet was Chiss and a fair face like hers would stand out like a sore thumb - as if the large backpack and dark robes weren’t enough to draw attention to her.

“Right,” she spoke in a hushed tone to herself, checking that all the equipment she had was still intact in her hold all.

The Presidential Tower was the location she was meant to be finding, exactly what or where that was – she had no idea. She’d seen no maps or data files of the planet Vyrnaliq, but she expected that with a little Force aided questioning she would be able to get some information out of some of the locals. Toeing along the walkway, she sighed to herself; she could have shot across the thing at Force Speed if it wasn’t for her need to stay inconspicuous. Truth be told, she was at all looking forward to this mission, but in the end it was for the good of the Order and the Republic, and she had to place both of them over her own interests.

Sadly.
  • Posted On: Apr 6 2002 6:40pm
The Tachyon jumped effortlessly into the system, it's massive looming figure casting a vaguely demeaning shadow upon the pirate forces within the Emik system. The centerpoint of the Yishil trade route- a hyperspace path now owned by aggressive Chiss renegades- the Emik system was home to no inhabitable worlds, but instead, eleven gas giant worlds and one small rocky world so close to the system's red sun that it's surface became plastic and molten during the day. Thus, the third gas giant from the system's sun, a planet with no moons, was built an artificial satellite to make up for it's lack of natural ones. The Emikary space station, following the splintering of the Chiss Empire, was quickly taken over by the pirates residing at the end of the Yishil trade route- Vyrnaliq.

Ahead lay fightercraft and freighters of all kind, swarming as gnats around the nest that was the Emikary station. Their activities increased tenfold as the imposing force that was the Tachyon Fleet lumbered towards them. The massive force comprised of ships ranging from the huge Super Star Destroyer to the relatively minute Corellian Corvettes and Marauder Corvettes recovered from the Corporate Sector war took no hurry; they moved slowly, at about fifty percent throttle, towards the pirate forces, allowing their presence to spook off as many of them as possible.

Gash stood on the bridge statuesquely, as the task force came within range. Turbolaser shots lanced out from the massive force, thousands of them, towards the fighters and freighters, careful to avoid the station. Many of the modified Chiss craft were simply far too fast to be struck by the blasts; the enemy force was comprised mostly of overhauled Clawcraft. Some did, however, hit home, causing crimson blazes of fire and sewing chaos.


"Lay the abolisher fields," Gash said, calmly. "We'll want no interruption for Si Buu and his men."

'Aye.'

Imperceptably, the massive wells of anti-gravity spun out through space, generated in a wide radius by the two Abolisher cruisers. A modification of the Interdictor technology, the horrific powers of the Abolishers did not pull ships from hyperspace- they tore them from existence.

'Enemy forces have 20% casualties.'

"Good. Captain Tellien, Deploy the Skipray Patrols."

'Yes, sir.' The young captain nodded, speaking into a commlink quietly.

Almost instantly, the patrols or, as the pilots had taken to calling them, "quad-squads", of twenty-five meter Skipray Blastboats streaked from the landing bays of the various Tachyon craft. With speed faster than their size would betray to the untrained eye, the vessels burst into the firefight, their turrets blasting enemy fighters unabatedly. Immediately, numerous fighters winked out on the tactical display shown on the forefront of the Tachyon's bridge.

The Tachyon came within 5 klicks of the enemy craft, and Gash stepped swiftly towards the front of the bridge, glancing down at the men in the command trenches.


"Have all torpedo gunners target those Claw Freighters. Fire on my mark."

'Yes, sir...... gunners report lock.'

"Mark."

Blue trailed projectiles streaked out from the Super Star Destroyer Tachyon, immediately working their way into the fray and striking several of the freighters. Most were immediately torn apart by the force of the missiles ripping through their shields and detonating into their hulls. Those not destroyed were crippled beyond use to the enemy, spiraling slowly out of the battle

"Captain Tellien, surround the Emikary station. Prepare for Si Buu's boarding."
* * * * *

A few light years away, in the Socccory system, the Rogue Jedi Order Pride Flotilla leapt into the system and met immediate and brutal resistance. Fighting against the savage pirate forces' capital vessels, they dug in and prepared for a long battle, awaiting the occupied Tachyon Fleet.

Fighters deployed and turbolasers blazing on the Fangships, Clawcraft and Sabre Transports, the battle began under Admiral Cairo Solo's command. In the back of every warrior's mind was why Gash had assigned an inferior force to a job clearly requiring a surperior one...
  • Posted On: Apr 6 2002 7:24pm
<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> As the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Scoundrel's Way<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> bucked back and forth from the pirates' hits to its hull, Admiral Solo was wondering the same thing...<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->

"Buff up those counter-shots. Send in the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Legacy<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->...tell the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Black Velvet<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> to get thier butts in gear! This <!--EZCODE BOLD START--> is not<!--EZCODE BOLD END--> a practice fights, boys."

The two ISD's shot into action, returning fire and disabling the pirates. It wasn't long before the Admiral ordered her two VSDs, the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Godsend<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> and <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Emerald Jade<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, into battle.

The pirates came on strong, showing that they were not about to give up without a bloody battle...then the holo-vid came up. An officer turned to Cairo, "Admiral...one of the pirate captians wishes to speak with you."

"Throw him on the main vid screen." The officer nodded and did so, immedatly showing the rough, weathered face of a rather aggervated man. Sheer hated and scorn seethed from him, makeing the jedi on board the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Scoundrel's Way<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> cringe.

The Admiral and the Pirate Captian stared each other down for a momemt, sizeing each other up. However, Cairo knew her enemies...and pirates like theses did not believe women superior enough to be officers or commanders or admirals...therefore he already thought less of her and expected her "female wiles" to make her mess up. A classic, cocky Solo grin played on her lips as the thought of "He should have done his homework on this 'female'." came to mind...

"A woman? Pah! I should have known that a foolhardy female would do this to me and my brothers! Begone wench...and tread here nomore." The pirate spoke harshly and with great gruffness.

"I am only following orders, Sir. You have a problem? Take it up with my superior." Cairo stated with witty tact.

"A sarcastic wench?! Indeed." Just then the pirate's image jostled about as sirens went off like crazy aboard his ship. "What is going on?! We've been hit?....Y-y..you wench! You will pay for this, woman!"

"My pleasure, Sir." Cairo closed transmission and bellowed to deploy the corvettes...and immedatly she saw the Pride Flotilla's three Corellian Corvettes scream into battle...
The <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Talon II<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Corellia's Pride<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, and the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Corellia's Dream<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> tore into the pirate's ships. Accompied by the 2 ISDs and VSDs, they were holding thier ground...but Cairo still hoped the Tachyon Fleet wasnt too far off....
  • Posted On: Apr 7 2002 10:41pm
<FONT COLOR="Orange">Part 1:

A trio of Sentinel-class landing shuttles, in the common New Republic triangular formation, inched closer to the Emikary space station. The metallic grey command shuttle's, positioned as the uppermost point of the triangular formation, crew chattered anxiously at their objective at hand. The fifty New Republic infantry units the Rogue Jedi Order had acquired; for this single objective, clustered in the half a dozen rooms and corridors of the small troop transport shuttle. Sinear Fleet Systems and Cygnus Spaceworks; the two mass-producing starcraft industries who worked jointly together on the production, had derived the Imperial landing craft from the Lambda-class shuttle; which had played a vital role in the destruction of the second Death Star in the battle of Endor. Its design was similar to the standard Lambda design, both ships featured a stationary top wing with two folding lower wings and both measured in distance of around twenty meters as well. Though, the Sentinel-class shuttle had a larger cargo area, and was more heavily armed and armored to enter combat; which was gravely needed in the transport of the troops and entrance into the Emikary space station.

Towards the rear of the command shuttle was the fifteen by fifteen foot room of the Commander aboard the shuttle, the one by six inch plastic nameplate attached onto the entrance door designated this; in bold black letters it read "Commander Si Buu Qudri".

The Quermian Jedi was taciturnity, as his two hazel orbs peered intently at the layouts folded out in front of him. The layouts were the basic blueprints of the Emikary space station; the base of the Chiss Pirates, and had been retrieved by special New Republic and Chiss agents. Si Buu moved three small cubes of wood towards the eastern side of the blueprints, the three small cubes representing his Sentinel-class shuttles, they would destroy the station's energy containment shield like planned before progressing into the landing bay of the station. There the transports and freighters he was told to commandeer should be present, the space station was way to exiguous to have both a landing bay and hangar leaving the only possible location to place the starcrafts in; the landing bay.

Bi Suu wiped the beads of perspiration off of his tired face, as he released a mellow sigh. This would be his first operation within the Rogue Jedi Order; if he would show signs of failure or unskillfulness the chances among the officials in the New Republic and the more experienced Jedi to be clement with him in future operations would be scant. If his men and more importantly him were to botch this mission it would possibly cost them Operation: Claw.

"Commander Qudri, we are in visual range of Emikary," came the mechanical voice of the pilot from the intercom placed above the doorway.

"Good. I will be there in one minute." Si Buu said harshly to the pilot over the intercom; one thing he had learned in his current reign as Commander of the units was do not be to lenient or kind to the soliders, they were put there to teach discipline and the ways of military life to the privates and they is what he would do. With a side-step to the left he began neatly folding the blueprints to the space station, "You will come in handy sooner or later."

<><><>

With an electronical buzz the door behind him closed. He inhaled a good amount of oxygen, exhaling it rather slowly as he looked around the cockpit. Si Buu was happy it was not as crowded as the long corridor from his private chambers to the cockpit had been. Moving past that many soldiers someone would think that it was interminable, and he could not believe how hot it had been in their. He shook his head as the jumbled thoughts dispersed.

"What is our range from the station, Officer?" the Cerean Jedi said looking at the Emikary space station through the enhanced reinforced glass. The Emikary was like any other space station operated by solo factions, such as; the pirates they were dealing with now, but they also were often used by Republic and Imperial groups as bases, sometimes used as plant and metal observation centers for planets. He had seen it all, this place Emikary was no different.

"We are at 401.69 feet distance from the station, at 250.0 feet our laser cannons accuracy will rise to 75-80%, now at 327.62 feet distance, sir." the co-pilot/sensory officer said proudly to the Cerean, while turning to face him in his swiveling chair.

"This ship I believe has had the Cryoncorp. Bioscanner installed into correct?" Si Buu questioned the sensory officer, his hazel eyes looking down upon the young officer.

"Yes, sir. It is a later model known as the Lifedetec bioscanner, though we have installed all of the newer enhancements seen in recent models; communications, metal detection, and motion sensor modules." The sensory officer said pounding on the communications/sensor control keyboard in front of him.

"Good. I want a bioscan of all life-forms within 1,500 meters, if you can exclude the troops on our vessels and focus primarily on the space station." Si Buu ordered to the man before turning to look back at the space station. With the Lifedetec bioscanner installed into the controls it would be quite easy for them to identify over three hundred different creatures, showing the approximate number of pirates in the station.

"Sir, I am bringing up the layouts of the Emikary on the visual screen, all lifeforms are going to be a crimson color. We have a visual delay as well, and you can expect the lifeforms to have moved by the time you have entered, Sir." The sensory officer reported to the Cerean commander.

Si Buu's hazel eyes looked intently upon the layouts, if his old eyes didn't decieve him there were sixty-nine pirates aboard the spacestation. Only sixty-nine pirates.

<><><>

"Commander, we are in firing range. Should I commence firing?" one gunner said, questioning the commander.

"What?! No, don't fire. The two concussion-missile launchers could disrupt the energy containment field indeed, but you could also annihilate the starcrafts. Malone, fire the retractable laser cannons at Emikary on my signal." Si Buu said to the head gunner, of the command shuttle, as he lifted his left hand into the air. In one brisk movement he flung his hand down. Crimson laser energy shot forth from the four retractable laser cannons of the shuttle, hitting the energy containment shield of Emikary. From behind the command shuttle the pair of Sentinel shuttles imitated the command shuttle's attack firing crimson energy from their laser cannons at the energy shield.

"Commander, the energy containment shield's capacitor has been hit. Power's been reduced to 15%!" The co-pilot shouted to Si Buu.

"Proceed into the landing bay!" the Cerean shouted as he turned on his heels, and moved out the electronic door. He would inform his men that they would board Emikary space station in just under three minutes.</FONT>



This is the first half of the attack on the Chiss Pirates space station; the other to be up as soon as possible. The first half is 1,165 words, give or take a single number.
  • Posted On: Apr 8 2002 1:06am
<FONT COLOR="Orange">Si Buu's command shuttle was the first Sentinel-class landing shuttle to enter into the docking bay. Commander Ri'tie; a middle-aged Twi'lek with rare redskin, and Commander Ge'lu'han; a blue-skinned Chiss with glowing red eyes, followed the command shuttle in with their own Sentinel-class shuttles. It was a tight squeeze fitting all of the shuttles in Emikary's landing bay, especially with the a large portion of its space being occupied by the half a dozen freighters and transport ships of the Chiss Pirates.

Upon entrance into the landing bay there had only been a handful of Chiss Pirates currently on guard in the area. All of them wore dark colored knee-high boots, mostly ebony and chestnut brown; their pants were more earth tone colors, dirt brown and baige, one man had offwhite as well; they all seemed to be wearing the same belt -- a black leather belt with a silver fastener in its center a markings embedded into them which wear unreadable by his eyes; most did not wear shirts, the others who did wore bright flashy colors; orange and red. Their weapons, even if they were outdated, would had costed them a fair amount of change; around four or five hundred credits. These Chiss Pirates were lucky. With one quick glance at the sixty feet long shuttles, its concussion-missile launchers targeted on them, they had laid down their weapons and surrendered. Si Buu had known his strike force and himself were going to get off this easy, and not have to fire a single shot at the opposition.

Once out of the Sentinel-class shuttles all of the strike force gathered around as Si Buu shouted out orders to the men. "Commander Eluh, take your force and head towards the control room. Stop at every door. If any of the Chiss pirates you encounter surrender, you will show mercy and take them captive. I repeat you will take them captive, not the alternative. Once, in the control room take all the technicians as captives if possible, do not kill them on sight. Go!" Si Buu shouted at the second strike force team, as all fourty-one of their infantry units rushed out the door and into the left corridor. "Commander Ri'tie, you are and your men know your assignment. My team follow me!"

<><><>

"Halt! Stay where you are at," the Cerean shouted back towards his remaining thirty-four men. His previous fifty men had been cut short to only thirty-four, several Chiss pirates had surrendered during their long path to the bridge of Emikary. Si Buu would not let one man escort a Chiss pirate to the landing bay, those would be the things that would eventually botch the mission up. The Chiss pirate makes a distraction or a commotion, which would lead to him stealing the gun from the soldier more than likely using him as bait to set up the whole strike force. A tingling feeling went up his spine as he reached for his comlink.

"Commander Eluh, what is your position? What also is the number of casualties and captives from this point?" the Cerean said through his comlink to the Chiss commander; maybe they had had better luck than his strike force.

"Commander Qudri, we have completed this side of the objective; We have both entered the control room and taken the technicians captive. Chiss pirate casualties and captives are; eighteen dead, thirteen captured. Your status, Commander?" came the voice of the Commander Eluh over the comlink.

"We weren't as lucky as you guys. Twenty Chiss pirates confirmed dead, captives a mere hand full. From the numbers we read aboard the shuttles there should be around half a dozen Chiss Pirates on the bridge. Move your strike force back to the landing bay, tell the others to load the captives into the Sentinel-class shuttles, order half of your team, and Commander Ri'tie will do the same, on to the shuttles. The rest board the freighters and transports, prepare to leave the landing bay that way there will be no delay once we are on board the freighters. Over and out!" Si Buu ordered as he turned back to his men. He gave a nod to them, turning around to face the electronic door that was the border between the corridor and the bridge. He moved his hand to the hilt of his lightsaber, his left hand placing his DH-17 Blaster into its holster attached to his belt. In one quick movement he pulled out his lightsaber, a blue energy emitting from the top. He gave another slow nod, as the electronic door slid open.

<><><>

Commander Qudri boarded the Aggressor, a modified Beta Class ETR-3 Escort Transport that had been comandeered by the strike forces.

"Sir, what took you so long?" came the voice of Commander Eluh, as he stepped up counting the ground forces that returned. "Commander, you do know you -- you are ten men short?" he questioned, pausing for a moment halfway through the question to recount the soldiers, just in case he had miscounted.

"You counted right, Commander." the Cerean said sadly before continuing, "I was not surprised that they knew we were coming, but I didn't expect this to go down. Some of the men ran in to fast and were plowed down with a devastating weapon that I didn't take the time to look at. Shall we be going, talking to Jedi Gash Jiren about our objectives would be the best thing." he said smoothly, as he taked a seat down behind the Chiss commander. By was this a hell of a first opertaion.</FONT>


OOC: There was the second half of it at 955 words. Coming to the grand total of 2,122 words; give or take five or so.
  • Posted On: Apr 11 2002 11:16pm
The Emikary Station hostilities had concluded favourably, with the inexperienced but seemingly talented Si Buu Qudri emerging with a solid and undeniable victory for Rogue Jedi forces. The station was quickly equipped for co-ordination of the Emik system defense forces, and the system was garrisoned according to Gash Jiren's succinct commands. The Admiral seemed hurried--and rightfully so. Communications uplinks with the Socccory system were delayed by several minutes due to the use of a Chiss holonetwork relay station, but from preliminary scans, all was not well.

Minor reports of damage flowed in, which very little leeway had been made against the Socccory forces. More ships were pouring into the system--and one key element had fallen into place, one which made Gash smile in front of his command console.

Sometimes, traitors were the most useful tools of all.

Within the very ranks of the Rogue Jedi Order, there were traitors. Not among the Jedi, but among the political officials; after the New Republic and Rogue Jedi Order had appointed more than a hundred Chiss to their respective governments in an effort to smooth the process of transition. Of course, Chiss appointed to heads of certain departments hired yet more Chiss themselves; a proverbial domino effect. The New Republic Intelligence and Rogue Order Intelligence systems were quick to run backchecks on these various new employees, quickly finding pirate sympathizers.

While it had been proposed that they be eliminated, Gash Jiren had devised a much... shrewder solution.

And now, the forces of the Chiss pirates gathered in the Socccory system under the assumption that the document leaked to them would be accurate. And that, perhaps, made this victory sweeter than any other. The Socccory forces had battled with the Rogue forces for a full thirthy one hours, with numerous lulls between fighting. Defensive perimeters had been set up around certain planets, and a prolonged exchange of fire had begun. The battle lines had moved little, and most losses were on the pirate sides; Admiral Solo had handled her forces masterfully, and she needed only hold on a small time longer.

Gash turned to Captain Tellien as another pirate vessel winked out on the tactical display below them.


"Our orders are now reversed, Captain. Move the Tachyon Fleet into the Vyrnaliq system."

'Sir?'

"The document originally outlining this mission has been leaked to the enemy, Captain. As was my intention, we now deviate from it; and as I not only command these ships, but own them, I suggest you do as I say."

'The Parliament will not take kindly to this, Admiral.'

"And when have I ever cared about what the Parliament would think?"
* * * * *

The Marauder Corvette, one of those appropriated from the Corporate Sector War, descended quickly throught the Vyrnaliq atmosphere, the grand towers of the Vyrnaliqan President far in the distance. As the ship descended further, the mammoth buildings began to surround on all sides, a Chiss version of Coruscant, and sharing the same ground-less nature. Slowly, the ship set down on one of the cat walks surrounding the Presidential Tower, the landing ramp smashing down onto the durasteel below with an echoing crack. The warriors within, Chiss, Human, Wookiee, and otherwise, rushed out, training blasters on those within range. Stun bolts struck some, while armed guards were met with outright hostile actions.

Around, more vessels landed, as in space, Gash Jiren battled onward.

* * * * *

The Tachyon lurched for a moment, as several Chiss ships attempted to lay a tractor beam onto them. With a quick spiral maneuver, the Rogue Super Star Destroyer shook off the locks, retaliating with a barrage of fire which destroyed all three ships. The relatively defenseless system had been left ripe for the taking, with the defensive forces in the Socccory system. Comm channels were left open long enough to allow the planetary forces to call for assistance, before all outgoing communications were jammed and the Abolisher fields activated.

Forces fled their combat with Admiral Solo's Pride Flotilla, attempting to jump into the Vyrnaliq system, unknowing of the dangers within. Most of the vessels which jumped in were destroyed by the fields, and those which were not surrendered under the duress of the Super Star Destroyer Tachyon.

A victory owed to traitors. What would later strike some in the Ossan Parliament as the ultimate betrayal by Gash Jiren struck the Admiral himself only as an amusement. Of course, those who had played their part-- unknowningly-- so well would face punishment, by law. But that did naught to subtract from the irony, or the brilliance of the Vyrnaliq assault...

<hr>
<font size="4">Epilogue</font>

The Abolisher fields finally came down, with the audible hum on the bridge of the Tachyon which signified the detection of one by the ship's sensors abating. Within the system were numerous hulks of the Chiss claw vessels, obscuring vision. The debris of Chiss fighters littered the orbittal area around Vyrnaliq, forming an artificial ring.

And Gash stood at the forefront of the bridge, speaking to the small hologram displayed.


'And as such, we present you with our full and unconditional surrender.'

"A surrender only in name, I assume?"

'True enough. I am truly not authorized, under the pirate rule, to issue surrenders. But,' The Vyrnaliqan president continued, 'I am, under Vyrnaliqan law. And I doubt the Vyrn Pirates are in much of a condition to stop me.'

"Indeed."

'Then, I resign my commission, too, I suppose. My planet owes you it's alleigance.'

"Yes. But again, only in name. You will no longer be the President of Vyrnaliq; but the planetary governer."

The man bowed. 'A noble gesture, and one I appreciate. I assure you, I will serve your order as if it were my own.'

Gash smiled slightly. "This is a new Chiss society, Governer. As of now, my order is your's."