Lucky Strike (A Star Wars SI)

MarkWarrior · Jul 21, 2025

Chapter 25

"Horizon, Starfury, and Eclipse, I want you to focus on keeping the Munificents distracted," Teskit ordered. "I'll coordinate with Admiral Yularen to get you backup as soon as I can."

Said frigates were clustered in two 'wolfpacks' of four. Of the eight star frigates, four of them were busy sending streams of shuttles to the snowy planet below. Most of them were carrying droids, tanks, and other ground-based troops to support whatever operation was being conducted.

"We'll keep them plenty distracted," I replied. "Godspeed, Captain."

"Move power to the thrusters," I gave the command, glancing at the navigation officer. "And tie the Starfury and Eclipse into our comms."

The problem was that we were still so far away from the action. As with all battles in the void, distances weren't over come in an instant. But, I did still have a few cards to play.

Grabbing my datapad, I began running through calculations, plugging in the exact number and triple checking them before sending the encrypted message to the Starfury and Eclipse.

"Plug in these coordinates to the jump computer," I handed the datapad to the navigations tech. "We're going to microjump."

"But sir, that puts us right in the middle of the wolfpacks!" he protested.

"Droid brains always have issues processing without organics there to give them instructions," I replied. "The main brain for the enemy fleet is going to be the Recusant dreadnought over there," I pointed out the massive form of the ship. And it's going to be a bit busy dealing with Admiral Yularen and Captain Teskit. So, if we do this properly, we can take advantage of that time to cause some damage."

I paused.

"Recall all fighters and bombers," I looked at the comms tech. "We don't need them completely locked in, just enough to jump with us. We'll relaunch after we're done and then redeploy."

A few long moments went by, the bridge a flurry of activity as personnel went back and forth. The systems needed to be prepped for a micro-jump, and all of the personnel throughout the Horizon needed to be ready as well.

Micro-jumps in the heat of combat were always risky. For a brief moment, you were going to be fully exposed to the enemy. Your shields would need to be brought back online, and if you screwed up then you were essentially turning your exposed belly to the enemy. So, the entirety of what I had planned was reliant on a handful of known enemy errors. After this, the Separatists would probably patch the issue I was going to exploit, but until then, it was perfectly viable.

So, once the Eclipse, Starfury, and the Horizon were ready, I gave the signal to begin the jump. There was a lurch, then seconds later we were in between the two enemy wolfpacks. The Munificents frozen in indecision as my teams raced against time to reactive the weapons systems, shields, and check on our power systems.

We were faster than the Munificents, the Horizon's first targets weren't ready yet. For some reason, the four that were discharging troops to the ground had less shields, and as our pilots got closer, they reported less weapons emplacements as well.

"Remember to shift more power to the port deflectors," I instructed. "All gunners focus fire on the ships that react first."

"This is the Starfury," the Arquitens reported. "We're going to move in and hit the frigates supporting the ground troops. Requesting bomber squadrons to assist."

"You've got it, Starfury," I replied, the Horizon shaking underneath us as the first of the Munificents finally returned fire. Its turbolasers scattered harmlessly against our shields, the old tech holding strong. Unfortunately for the Separatists, their shields were not as resilient. Our return fire shredded their shields, and a lucky shot removed their dual-heavy turbolaser as a threat.

"Shields are down to eighty-five percent! Expected to stabilize at fifty-percent if we can eliminate one or more of the Munificents."

"Keep up the pressure," I replied. "Where are the Eclipse's concussion missiles?"

"They're still powering up," the sensors office replied. "Seems the repairs we made weren't as effective as reported."

"Move us in front of them. We'll take fire for them until they're online."

As I said that, the frigate that the Starfury and most of our bombers were focused on went down, the power to its thrusters failed and the frigate began the long fall and crash to the planet below. Leaving the Starfury and the fighters and bombers to shift targets to the next one.

If nothing else, we were definitely the distraction that Teskit had asked for. Because the oversized Recusant had shifted and started powering towards us. The four ultraheavy turbolasers attempted to reach out and hit us from extreme range, but missed. When it got into range though… Well, we'd burn that bridge when we got to it. I needed to worry about things I could control, first.

Teskit nodded as he watched the trio of ships disappear into a micro-jump, the sensors picking up them harassing the Munificents he'd assigned them a few moments later.

Now it was time to deal with the rest of the enemy fleet. Yularen had his ships organized in a good defensive position around the planet except for where they'd punched through. His trio of Venators were holding the line against nearly ten Recusants, the sensor feeds patched through to his tactical console told Teskit that it would take a while, but eventually the Venators would win. So, he dismissed that area and focused on where the line was struggling.

A group of Carracks, CR-90s, and Pelta-Class ships were struggling against a large cluster of Auxilia and Captor-class cruisers, and there were more star frigates and destroyers headed for that part of the line. If the Seppies broke through there, then there wouldn't be a point in holding the ground on Rhen Var, the vid would have been completely lost.

"Sir, Admiral Yularen is telling us to hold our position. There's a ground-based Ion-cannon firing!"

"Execute holding pattern then full ahead," Teskit replied, watching his tactical table as the red white line indicating the firing pattern moved across the void, impacting one of the Recusants fighting Yularen's Star Destroyers and stripping it of its shields.

The journey across the system took time, but eventually, they came into range of the oval-shaped cruisers and the Inevitable opened fire. Large red beams flowed from her heavy turbolasers shredding shields, scarring

"New contacts!" The clone maning the sensors reported. "We've got four Acclamators leaving the atmosphere."

"They must be moving to reinforce one of the parts of the line," Teskit nodded. "See if they can split off assistance to the Horizon. After we've dealt with these poor bastards, we're going to group up and eliminate that monster."

Teskit's eyes focused on the Recusant dreadnought. There must be some high-level officer present, or this ship wouldn't be here. The problem was, Teskit and Battlegroup Huntress didn't have the firepower to deal with the oversized craft. So, until Yularen was finished. The Horizon, Starfury and Eclipse were on their own.

Author's Note: I'm going to have to make some changes to the version of the Interdictor-Class cruiser I use here. Honestly, the stats on the wiki don't
make sense. Especially not when at the same time it says.

"The Sith warships made by the Star Forge rivaled Star Destroyers of the Imperial Period.[9]"
So, I'll end up posting the modified stats once we've gotten to a Shipyard segment.

MarkWarrior · Jul 28, 2025

Chapter 26

After we had eliminated the first of the Munificents that wasn't discharging troops to assist the ground, our shields stabilized. The Star Frigates had a lot of firepower, but there was only so much of it that could be focused on an individual target at any point in time. As long as we stayed in one of the areas where the turrets didn't overlap, we could keep up our momentum.

The Eclipse had finally managed to sort out whatever was wrong with their missile launchers and as we began to fire on the second target, she joined in. Her missiles finding purchase in the gaps our medium turbolasers opened up.

Meanwhile, the Starfury and the starfighter squadrons savaged the remaining trio of Munificents that were dedicated to supporting the ground. Little by little, they wore them down, the heavier weapons of the Arquitens weakening sheilds for proton torpedoes and bombs to punch through.

Unfortunately, while we were punching way above our weight class for the moment, I could see the enemy that lurked in the distance. Whatever it was that we were hitting right now, it was important to the Confederacy that the ground forces stay supported. Which is why the Recusant dreadnought was headed our way.

Our best estimates put it at thirty or so minutes before it entered the range at which it's four Super-heavy turbolaser cannons could start opening fire. Sure, the odds of a successful hit and damage at those ranges was low, but each minute we spent letting it get closer meant that the odds of any of my small group taking a hit from the guns of it went higher and higher. Not to mention the other guns it brought to bear.

So, with us facing our eminent demise if we weren't very careful, I made a decision.

"Send the Eclipse to assist with the ground support," I ordered. "We're going to take them out and then program a micro-jump to the rest of our allies. We're not dying to that today," I stabbed my finger out at the icon that was the largest on the tactical map.

"Sending message, now sir," the comms officer reported.

"Helm, I need a course in between these two," I highlighted the two forward ships. "And have our tractor beams ready. We're about to see what the true reaction speed of droids and organics is."

The Horizon shifted, her prow now pointed directly between the pair of frigates that I had pointed out.

"Sir, that's going to put us in the firing arcs of everything," The weapons officer reported.

"I'm aware of that, ensign," I replied. "That's what I'm counting on. Helm, on my command, divert power from our forward turbolasers to our engines and rear deflectors."

I was planning on pulling a page out of Earth's past. By ensuring that our speed was 'slow', I'd have the enemy focus fire on where they thought we were going to be. Then, I was going to drag the Munificents closer with the tractor beams before dumping extra power into our engines. Hopefully causing them to shoot eachother and allowing us to kill two birds with one stone.

While we were working on the main enemies in the void, the Starfury, Eclipse, and our starfighters and bombers were putting in work. Whatever configuration those frigates were in, it wasn't as well armed or armored. It seemed like they'd exchanged arms and armor for more storage. Something they were now paying a hefty prive for as the duo sent another one burning towards the ground below.

If I had the time or ability, I would have been able to focus on both fights. But I wasn't able to multitask that well when executing something like what we were doing now. So, I shifted my attention to the maneuver we were pulling off in the Horizon.

A few minutes passed by and our shields began to drop as we entered the optimal broadside for both of the frigates. We could realistically only withstand this for another minute at a minimum, three at the most.

"Execute," I ordered, having sent the instructions to everyone responsible for their part of the plan.

The Horizon stayed in the middle of the twin enemy vessels, but our tractor beams lashed out and pulled them closer, allowing our our broadside to carve away at each of their shields before we cut the beams and moved energy to our rear deflectors and engines. We were soon out of the range of the enemy broadsides and in the weaker arcs of their rear guns. But the damage was done.

Fortunately for us, the Munificents weren't able to recalculate fast enough, and the shields and turrets on their sides, already weakened by our fire, were shredded by the frigate's own turrets.

It didn't eliminate either of the enemy ships, but it gave us some breathing room as we'd taken a large portion of their firepower off the board. Leaving us able to recharge our shields and dealing with the last and rearmost ship before we would need to regroup and head for the rest of the fleet.

I almost wished we'd had the Starbolt Assault Carriers with us. The slight bit of extra firepower and the starfighter squadrons would have ensured that we'd have crippled the pair. But if wishes were reality, I wouldn't be here in this universe at all. So, I made do with what I had.

"Sir, the Acclamators are splitting up. One pair is moving to assist us in holding this line, the other two are moving to assist Hull's element," The clone manning the comms reported.

"Understood," Teskit acknowledged. "All elements, pick a target and start working on it. If you need assistance, we'll dispatch fighter squadrons to assist."

"Captain, the Providence is falling behind, they're experiencing engine failures."

"They're to shut down and play dead for the rest of the battle. I'll not spend their lives today," Teskit replied, his hands clasped behind his back as he watched an Auxilia-Class light cruiser vanish underneath the guns of his Venator. "Everyone else, keep up the pressure. If we can take out the rest of the ships here, we'll free up the lighter craft to go help the rest of Yularen's ships."

Battle's were never over in an instant though, and Teskit leaned over the table in the tactical room, watching as more of the blue dots that indicated Confederacy ships winked off the screen. With the ground-based Ion cannon helping strip the shields of the Recusants, Yularen's trio of Venators and pair of Acclamators were able to finally start making headway against the twelve light destroyers. The distant explosions and updates via comms and the Inevitable's sensor suite gave Teskit the best picture of what was happening in the system.

The Captain grinned savagely as he watched the trio he'd sent off meet up with the pair of Acclamators and finish off the Munificents. Whatever was on the ground would be all that the Separatists were going to get.

Then, the last of what Yularen was facing went up in dazzling explosions and shattered debris. Allowing his his detachment to start moving to regroup with the rest of the Republic forces.

The larger dreadnought then jumped out of the system, abandoning whatever remnants of the CIS forces remained.

"Captain Teskit, I have admiral Yularen on the line!"

"Admiral," Teskit accepted the headset.

"We're going to start salvage and recovery operations," Yularen said, his hologram looking slightly stressed. "Thank you for the assistance, captain."

"I'm glad that we arrived at the opportune time," Teskti replied. "Now, I'm in need of repair and resupply, Do you know if the route to Lianna is open? We've been out of contact with HQ for several months."

"The route is open for now," Yularen replied. "I'll transfer whatever data we have to you. But I would be wary. The war shifts suddenly and without warning. So, it is possible that whatever hyperspace routes are open will suddenly be filled with enemy vessels and/or locked down."

"Then I request permission to depart the system and head to the shipyards, Admiral," Teskit didn't allow any emotion to leak out.

"You have my permission, captain," Yularen nodded. "We'll transfer the up-to-date authorization codes so you're not targeted by the System Defence Forces. Again, I thank you for your assistance, Yularen, out."

"Sir, we're receiving the codes," The comms officer reported.

"Good," Teskit allowed himself a brief sigh of relief. For once, he hadn't run into a political animal. "Transmit them to the rest of the battlegroup and give orders, we're moving to the Lianna system. It's time we got some proper rest and repair."

MarkWarrior · Aug 1, 2025

Chapter 27

Ronard had come up to the bridge and taken over command with the second shift crew of the Horizon by the time we regrouped with the rest of Battlegroup Huntress. The hope was that once we got to Lianna, we'd receive more crew, more ships, and new orders. Being out gunned behind enemy lines was stressful, and the Providence was basically just held together by spitshine and dreams at this point. Which left us with only the Horizon and the Ineveitable to be the main line holders if we ended up against another enemy fleet.

So, I shifted back into my role as XO. Even if I ended up simply being the XO of the Horizon when we (hopefully) expanded Battlegroup Huntress, I'd be fine with that. I was honestly doing far better than I'd ever expected when I first woke up here all those years ago.

That said, I did end up taking care of plotting the hyperspace route. It wasn't that Eron was bad at it. I just felt better if I had a little more control over that sort of thing.

We could have gone straight to Lianna, but we were concerned that the Providence might not make the full trip. So we ended up stopping at one small system to evaluate everything and send a message before our arrival.

Of course, it was in that intermediary system that a final decision was made. The jump to Lianna would be the final journey for the old Dreadnought-Class heavy cruiser. She'd fought a good fight, but we were barely able to hold her together as it was. Even if they could put her back together, it would be as if it were Theseus's ship.

The plan was to hold a full decommissioning ceremony once we were back in Republic-held space. Though, I had a feeling that thing were going to get both better and worse for us. Sure, we'd only been a minor thorn in the foot of the Confederacy. But now that we had access to the Holonet, we could see that even the small pinpricks we'd made had had an much larger impact.

In total, we had pulled at least two Confederacy Fleet elements after us when we started attacking behind their lines. Which in turn had freed up Republic elements to go relieve areas that were in danger of being overrun.

If we'd been successful with a tiny battlegroup, how much more could we accomplish with some proper firepower and assets?

My worry was that we would end up under the command of some idiot and that Teskit and the rest of us would be sidelined in favor of politics. That, or we were going to be given a lot more firepower and sent on a suicidal dash to the heart of the Confederacy. To be honest, either option was probably on the table depending on if the Admiralty had changed or not.

But we'd find out more once we got to Lianna. For now, I needed to make sure we weren't going to end up in the middle of a star, or a smear across the face of a planet.

–
–

The system and planet were a sight for sore eyes. In the asteroid belts, a decent amount of shipyards worked on producing new Acclamators and what looked like a handful of Dreadnought heavy cruisers. While the repair yards were working on a handful of Venators that bore heavy battle scars.

As for the planet, it was a far cry from the icy Rhen Var that we'd just departed. Large open plains, great lakes, and massive cities dotted the surface.

"Battlegroup Huntress, you're welcome here in Lianna," Admiral Lorn Hamne broadcast over FLEETCOM. "We've got some free yards negotiated for your ships, and the Republic has leased several compounds down on the surface for R&R."

"Good to hear it," Captain Teskit replied, all of us listening in. "We'll rotate in and out of rest and recovery while we wait on orders from HIGHCOM."

"Acknowledged," the Admiral said. "We're transmitting the pathing for your ships now."

A few seconds later, we had a designated berth and the route we were to take through the system.

–
–

"We'll get everything back up and running that's broke," the foreman passed me a datapad to sign. "This isn't the first Interdictor-Class cruiser we've worked on. Every few centuries, one of them gets brought back from wherever it was found in the void and we buy it for the boneyard," He jerked his thumb off towards a bunch of small lights in the distance. "We've got tons of parts for everything there when we don't scap things for the resources. Now, your Interdictor is the most intact one we've seen in the last five hundred or so years. That's why we're going to be refitting and repairing it instead of sending it up there," He gestured to the boneyard again. "Now, enjoy your leave. We'll have everything done in a few weeks and we'll send out a recall order when we're ready for you."

"Is there any way I can get information about what systems were already in place before the refits y'all do?" I asked.

"Gimme your coms info, and I'll send the report over once we have it," the foreman shrugged. "It's not like it's classified information or anything. Now, is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Nothing comes to mind," I replied, signing the datapad. "See you in a few weeks, foreman."

"You too, lieutenant," he accepted the datapad back.

Turning around, I picked up the dufflebag with all of my stuff in it. Turns out the MOD armor was able to be compacted enough to fit in with the rest of my uniforms. So I'd been able to fit everything I owned into the issued bag.

None of us who served aboard the Horizon had left the stuff we'd claimed as trophies behind on the ship. We all knew that RI or some historian would go over it and we'd never see it again if we did. So, we'd all sorted out how to get our stuff off the ship. Through bribes, smuggling, or simply making sure that it never left our person.

Thankfully, there wasn't any regulations on what we were allowed to have as we were military personnel. So, I simply boarded the next shuttle headed for the planet. Thanking God that I wasn't Captain Teskit. He was having to do a full debrief instead of get some rest. Meanwhile, I had simply submitted my report along with the other officers. If I were needed, they would reach me by comlink and I'd report to them. But for now, It was vacation time, and there was a beach, some sand, and some sun in my future…

"You are certain that these reports are accurate, Captain," Armand Isard asked.

"Yes, sir," Teskit nodded to the holograms of HIGHCOM thar surrounded him. "Those are the records that we seized from the factories as well as the DH-Omni."

"Your information works out well with ours," Isard said thoughtfully before allowing the rest of the Admiralty to take over.

"It has always been my opinion that competence is to be rewarded," Admiral Jerjerrod stated. "I have long fought for less compromise. And given the results we see here, I see no reason to deny promotions for himself and his officers."

"While I do not necessarily like Teskit or his record," One of the older Admirals thad transferred from the old Judicial forces frowned. "I see no reason to hold him back at this point."

"Captain, we'll send a message once we've sorted out the next assignment for Battlegroup Huntress," Jerjerrod nodded at Teskit. "We'll also work on getting replacement personnel shifted to your command. Until then, enjoy some leave. You and your team have earned it."

MarkWarrior · Aug 1, 2025

Interdictor-Class Cruiser Horizon

Armament

5 Medium Turbolaser batteries
3 light turbolaser batteries

40 medium turbolasers total
15 light turbolasers total

Firing arc: 16 forward, 12 port, 12 starboard,

8 Point defense batteries (40 quad laser cannons)

Firing Arc: 10 forward, 10 port, 10 starboard, 10 aft

3 tractor beam batteries

6 tractor beam projectors

Firing Arc: 1 forward, 2 port, 2 starboard, 1 aft

Capacity: 48 starfighters, various support craft

3 gravity well projectors

Lore:

Most Interdictor-Class cruisers required various work after first leaving the shipyards prior to the Jedi Civil War. While the Star Forge variants required no such work, many of the cruisers that were made by shipyards in the Republic were plagued with issues and needed various refits before they could be used in warfare. (This is made evident by the Leviathan being among the only Interdictors to leave the shipyards spaceworthy)

Among those that were refit for work against the Mandalorians, the Horizon was utilized by a now unknown Jedi Knight as his main vessel. Seeing as their gravity projectors were already plagued with problems from the shipyards, the Republic footed the bill to give the ship a full refit that added more firepower to the ship across the board. Ripping out the gravity well projector that was the most problematic. The Corellian shipyards that produced the ship used the removed mass to add light turbolaser batteries and more point defenses.

The ship served with distinction through the Mandalorian Wars under Revan before returning to the Republic at the end of said war. Then, vanished during the Jedi Civil War. Not to be seen again until the Clone Wars.

MarkWarrior · Aug 4, 2025

Acclamator Destroyer

Description: A rushed project intended to fill gaps in the Republic Navy's fleets, the Acclamator Destroyer was able to be built in the same size bays as the standard Acclamator-Class Transport. Built for escorting and fighting fleets in the void, unfortunately, the Acclamator Destroyer carried much of the same weaknesses of the original cruiser. Though, the heavier armament, hull, and shields did give it more staying power than older ships such as the Dreadnought-Class Heavy Cruiser.

Instead of carrying troops to the ground, the Acclamator Destroyer carried Starfighters in its bays. Using the space that once carried legions for honeycombed support structures and squadrons of fighters.

Armament: 24 Quad Turbolaser turrets, 48 point defense light laser cannons, 8 heavy missile launch tubes. Capable of firing concussion missiles or Proton Torpedos.

Fighter/Bomber Complement: 144 total starfighters.

Acclamator Battleship: One of a handful of prototypes built by Republic Seinar after Kuat Drive Yards licensed the Acclamator and Venator designs to help keep up with the Republic's new production requirements. While not quite at the level of the Maelstrom, Procurator, or other battlecruisers, this ship was capable of handling threats above that which even a trio of Venators could. Unfortunately, the project was discontinued after the CIS's initial land invasion of Lianna. The destruction of the data collected during said invasion ensured that it was never pursued beyond the four or five ships that left the shipyards in 22 BBY.

Armament: 4 Heavy Quad Turbolasers, 16 heavy dual turbolasers, 8 Medium Turbolasers, 56 point defense light dual laser cannons, and 8 Heavy missile tubes.

Fighter/Bomber Complement 120 total starfighter.

Author's Note: I stole these from the "Fall of the Republic" mod of Empire at War and then modified the fluff and armament to actually make some sort of sense.

MarkWarrior · Aug 4, 2025

Chapter 28

I hadn't been able to see trees or any sort of greenery in years. The things that grew Coruscant's undercity couldn't be called green, healthy, or anything resembling the sort of plant life that I saw around me. Which is why it felt odd to be in what qualified as a rural town in 'modern' society.

The town that the Republic Navy had leased out for sailors and clones on leave was built around a gorgeous lake. There were a handful of hoverskiffs for lease or rent if you wanted to go out on the water, shops for souvenirs and food that wasn't freeze-dried and nutrient dense, and plenty of other attractions.

To be completely honest. I didn't want to do all that much aside from taking my time and enjoying the quiet. After checking into the small hotel that I'd been assigned, I found a restaurant.

I had plenty of disposable income, and after six months of nothing but freeze-dried and 'nutrient-dense' foods, I was eager for something hot and fresh. So, I took a seat and waited for the wait staff.

After a few moments, a cute young waitress had stepped out and given me a menu and a list of drinks that were available.

Unfortunately, sweet tea didn't seem to exist here. So, I ended up just getting some water and the largest steak that was available along with whatever potato analog existed here.

Sipping my water, I spent the time waiting for my food to just look out at the water. There were plenty of crewmembers from Battlegroup Huntress sitting out there, either drinking, eating, or enjoying the sun and water. There were also crews from other ships and fleets out there, mingling and enjoying the R&R.

"Well, Doc's gonna have some fun dealing with the aftermath," I chuckled, knowing that there would be a lot of hangovers to deal with. And that was before getting into the possible STDs or injuries.

"What's doc going to have fun dealing with?" Aliya asked, taking a seat next to me.

"The aftermath of that," I gestured with my water cup at the party.

"He'll make them handle it on their own," She shrugged, waving down the waiter. "What're you drinking, water? On leave?"

"I don't know what brews are good," I shrugged. "I haven't had a drop of alcohol in nearly seven years. Besides, I don't need it to have a good time."

"Suit yourself," She shrugged, ordering some sort of alcohol and the same steak I had. "You got the right idea about the steak though."

"So, are you not planning on heading out there?" I asked, looking up at the waitress and thanking her for the massive slab of medium rare I'd been handed.

"Not a fan of the water," the engineer shook her head. "And I saw you in here and figured I'd come bother my favorite Lieutenant."

"Well, I appreciate the company," I bowed my head a moment and prayed before digging into my food. "But I'm not planning on doing that much with my leave. I don't exactly have much of a life outside of the Navy right now."

"Why not?" She asked, taking a sip of her beer.

"I'm a penal conscript," I replied, chewing some of the best steak I'd ever had. "Outside of the last nine months, I spent the last five years in a Coruscanti prison."

"Well, surely you had something before that."

"I wish," I scoffed. "You couldn't pay me to go back to the undercity."

"Oh," understanding flashed through her eyes. "Yeah, I don't blame you."

"It's just the way it goes," I replied. "I'm sure once my contract's up, I'll find a place to settle down, But until then, I owe the Captain. He's the one that got me out of the prison, he even worked the paperwork so that I got the officer training. It's why I'm collecting a paycheck and can do things like this," I gestured towards the steak. "So, I might just stay in until he retires."

"More power to you," Aliya raised her beer in tribute. "I started investing my check, and asked my brother to get me a house back on Chandrila. When this war is over, I'm gonna set up my own little garage. Hopefully have few kids, and just enjoy retirement. This deployment has had enough excitement for me."

"You don't like working on antiques?" I asked.

"The learning experience is great. The stress, not so much," She chuckled. "Don't get me wrong. I can appreciate the history and benefits that having the Horizon gives us. I just wish we had something with parts I could easily swap out."

"I just wish the Gravity well generators worked," I polished off the steak and started on the not-potatoes.

"I've heard some rumors that Seinar is working on modern interdictors beyond mines," Aliya said. "It's possible that they try to use the Horizon as a testbed."

"I doubt it," I replied. "Modern computers and hyperspace tech is better. The older generators don't work on the new hyperdrives."

"Sure," she agreed. "But if all they need to do is update something instead of building out new prototypes in full scale…" She trailed off.

"Yeah," I nodded. "I can see where that would be possible."

I finished my food and gestured for the waitress to bring me the check.

"Got any good books you recommend?" I asked, changing the subject away from work.

"Not really?" Aliya asked. "I never really was into reading all that much. I barely made it out of school. I've always been more of the hands-on type, myself."

"Well, there goes that idea," I finished my water and laid out the credit chits required to pay the waitress for the food and to tip on the table. "I'm gonna see if there's anything worth buying in the shopping center. I'll see you around."

"I'll probably move to the bar," Aliya shrugged. "I'd appreciate it if you came and played a couple rounds of Pazaak."

"I'll see what I can do," I laughed and walked out the door. Aliya was pretty. But I was more than a little hung up on being here without my wife and kids. You'd think after five years with nothing to do but think about it, that I'd have moved past it, but no. I'd need a few more years before I was ready for any new romantic connections in my life.

It was the sound of the communications console in his temporary quarters that woke Teskit up. Not the alarm he'd set for later in the day. No, this was a priority message from Admiral Jerjerrod. It seemed that he'd gotten confirmation on the next assignment for Battlegroup Huntress as well as what the fleet composition would be.

They were being pulled back towards the Core. It seemed that Greivous had broken through some of the lines, and that there were three or four fleet elements that were forcing worlds into the Confederacy at the point of a turbolaser.

In other words, leave was being cut short. Instead of the month they'd been promised, they were getting one week. Just enough time for the rest of the crews and ships to arrive. Commodore Teskit would be commanding one of the many battlegroups hunting down General Greivous.

Transferring the documents to his datapad, Teskit dressed in casual clothes and started brewing some tea. He wanted to know exactly what he was working with insofar as his fleet was concerned.

A set of six Acclamator cruisers to round out the ground forces and boost their fighter complement, one wolfpack of Pelta-Class frigates, one of the Venators that was currently in the Lianna shipyards undergoing repairs, another wolfpack of Arquitens, and then some ships that he was unfamiliar with to pair up with the ships he already possessed.

"Ahh, prototypes," Teskit sighed.

He'd probably transfer his flag to the larger of the two Acclamator variants he was being assigned, this 'battleship' as they were calling it. The details on the command and control made it too valuable for him to not do so. But at the same time, there was always a problem you faced when working with a prototype.

For one thing, they typically didn't use standard parts, for another, there were often small issues that popped up that weren't fixed or rectified until the final product. But the benefits of having it outweighed those downsides, and it looked like Seinar had used parts from the normal Acclamators as well as parts from the Venator. Things that should simplify the logistics chain.

The pair of Acclamator destroyers were probably going to be paired up with the Arquitens. The wolfpacks combined with the extra firepower from the larger ships would work well together. Though, the rest of the fleet composition would have to be considered after he had everything.

Their captured DH-Omni, was being hastily refit into a mobile repair station, she'd be responsible for keeping their fleet in the fight. The battledroids that were aboard her had their cores ripped out and everything was replaced by the same droids that many shipyards used for work. While it meant the B1s weren't able to fight anymore, they could serve as excellent repair techs and were more replaceable than clones or Republic Navy Personnel.

Leaning back, Teskit considered everything before composing a response message. While he was thankful that they were getting some real firepower, he was concerned that he was once again being thrown to the wolves of politics. Time would tell.

MarkWarrior · Aug 5, 2025

Here are the models of the ships I stole from the game (Empire At War). But it should show the differences fairly well.

https://i.imgur.com/sUugFO7.png

https://i.imgur.com/Cc2hCop.png

https://i.imgur.com/oSUQTJg.png

IDK why the images are broken the links show they're working when I insert them...

MarkWarrior · Aug 8, 2025

At first, I had considered going back to my hotel room to relax. But after about fifteen minutes of just lying on my bed, I found myself bored out of my mind. Without a book or something to help stave off said boredom, I would drive myself crazy. So, I decided to do something a bit risky before going to play Pazaak with Aliya.

Grabbing a handful of credit chits, I left my comlink behind and headed back for the shops. There wasn't exactly a shop for disposable cell phones here in the Star Wars universe, and I'd have to create a separate account on the Holonet from even the one I'd used previously to send a message to the Jedi Order.

I intended to send a follow-up to my first message. The first one had contained everything I could first remember. This second one would be my best attempt to fill in the gaps I'd pieced together. It wasn't going to be perfect. There were always going to be things that I never remembered. I hoped that even if it didn't save everyone, there would be some Jedi and others who survived. And maybe, just maybe, there would be less death and destruction in the end.

"Thank you," I internally winced at having to purchase another fairly expensive comlink for what was going to essentially be a lone message.

Walking away, I quickly transferred everything I'd written out on my datapad to the text function on the device and hit 'send'. Then, I disposed of the comlink and headed straight for the bar Aliya had mentioned. I hadn't played Pazaak since the KOTOR days. It would be fun to dive into a game again.

"I thought you weren't going to show!" Aliya waved me over as I entered the bar. "You looked pretty introspective back there."

"I just needed to clear my head a bit," I replied. "What about you? I expected you to be surrounded by the rest of the crew trying to get a hand in."

"Nah," She shook her head. "Most of the engineering crew's drunk and out on the water or trying to find some local girl or guy to spend some alone time with."

"Their loss," I pulled out a stool and waved the waiter over. "What ale is good here?"

"He'll have what I'm having," Aliya raised her mug so that the alien could identify it. "Now, do you have a deck?"

"I did," I sighed. "It was one of the personal effects that didn't get returned to me when I left prison. I figure the guy who patted me down was jealous of what I'd built and wanted to use it to cash in."

"For shame," the engineer chuckled. "Must have been some deck, though."

"I spent three years working on it in my spare time as I crawled my way up. You're damned right it was a good deck!"

"You can borrow my spare deck," Aliya reached into her bag and handed me the cards. "We'll start with the Republic Senate rules. Then we can branch out once you're comfortable."

"Sounds good to me," I shrugged, accepting the cards and the beer that soon came. "So, how does a nice engineer from Chandrila end up joining the Navy?"

"I dunno?" She replied, smirking and arching an eyebrow. "How does an undercity Criminal become an officer?"
"By virtue of good luck," I replied. "But seriously, I owe Captain Teskit. I don't know what he saw in me, but he's the one who pulled me out of there. Without that, I'd have sat there waiting for a court date for another five to ten years."

"Wait," Aliya paused the game. "How long were you in prison for?"

"Three, four years," I shrugged. "I'm not really sure how long I was in the Undercity for, though. I went to bed at home one night and then woke up there. Spent the rest of the time trying to get out of that hellscape, and once I reached the surface… Well, wrong place, wrong time, and I looked the part of a gang member."

"It's easy to forget just how backed up the courts must be on Coruscant,' The engineer resumed dealing the next hand. "What, with trillions of sentients. I can't imagine the nightmare that must be for the local judicial system."

"Or how corrupt it is," I replied. "Honestly, prison wasn't too bad. I got moved out of the nasty ones after they realized I wasn't going to act violently to anyone that didn't start shit."

I added a card and grinned as I won the round.

"But enough about me and the Undercity. You didn't answer my question."

"I got bored," Aliya replied. "Sure, there's work to be had there. But we grew up on freighters in the Mid and Outer Rim. Dad taught us that sometimes violence is the solution, and the problem all in one. Honestly, it seems like the rest of Chandrila forgot that. So, I'm here. I figure if I survive the war, I'll have a nice nest egg built up. Might get my own ship then, might buy a house. I dunno yet. I kinda have to make it through the war first. That said, if I do ever get my own ship. I might end up looking for a helmsman…"

"I'll keep that in mind," I sipped my beer and shook my head at my loss. This was comfortable. I'd almost forgotten what it was like.

"I need a refill!" the engineer raised her empty mug. "Now, you ready to play for some stakes?"

Teskit informed us the next day that our leave had been cut from nearly a month to only a week. So, we all made the best of it, enjoying the relaxation before packing up and boarding shuttles headed back for the void.

The Captain had been given a promotion to Commodore, Ronard had been given command of some sort of fancy ship, and I was now the commanding officer of the Horizon. Now, it hadn't come with a promotion, but honestly, that didn't concern me all that much.

What did concern both Aliya and me, though, was the modifications that had been made to the old girl. They'd kept the main weaponry intact, but had done something to the hyperdrives, power plant, and the gravity well generators.

"Mark, take a look at this," Aliya pointed out the new specs on her datapad as we waited for the shuttle to fill with some of the crew before taking us up to the shipyards. "Looks like that rumor was right."

"You think we're going to be able to act as an Interdictor again?" I asked.

"Maybe," She shrugged. "It's hard to tell with modern ships. They might have tweaked them and gotten them to work consistently. Or, they may have ripped the old ones out and installed new ones that they want us to test. We won't know until we test them."

"Well, now I'll actually let you test them," I snarked, only to receive an elbow to the ribs.

"Asshole," She shook her head, smiling. "Now, it looks like they didn't replace the power plant or hyperdrives as much as they simply modified them and made them more efficient. We'll need to check over those power conduits one more time, though. Last thing we need is for us to blow one and get half our firepower and shields shut down in the middle of a fight."

"Mavis, come take a look at this," Aliya said, catching a junior engineer's attention. "We got the updated specs on what Seinar did to our ship."

"We all got the details," He raised his own datapad. "Honestly, I'm probably going to be the happiest with the firmware updates."

"Oh?" Aliya flipped to that section of the documentation. "They modernized the consoles?"

"Brought up to spec with the rest of the fleet," Mavis grinned. "We'll probably still have to sort out a few bugs, but we shouldn't have any more system-wide crashes like what we were dealing with."

"Awesome," the two started discussing other minor things that had been done to the Horizon throughout the week, while I started going over the crew transfers. Oddly enough, we were keeping quite a few of the droids we'd stolen as crew aboard the Horizon. Sure, they weren't going to be operating as gunners or any of the extremely critical systems. But they'd be handling a lot of the busywork, the testing, welding, etc.

Janine was receiving command of one of the Starbolts, and a lot of the other officers were being spread out. Experienced crew and officers were being mixed with new ones and clones for as good a mix as could be had.

Eventually, the shuttle filled up and we took off from the resort complex we'd been staying at, the shuttle gradually leaving the atmosphere until we saw nothing but the void.

I set my datapad back in my duffel bag and started looking out the viewport at the system around us. There were far more ships present than there had been a week ago. Hundreds of ships filled the void, the sharp wedges of Venators and the dagger-shaped clusters of Acclamators, Arquitens, and other ships clustered up into battlegroups.

Resting in one of the docking bays, the repainted Horizon waited, a pair of red stripes adorning the ship to signal that it was a part of the Republic Navy. Soon enough, we'd see how the old ship performed as a part of the now larger fleet.

MarkWarrior · Aug 10, 2025

Personnel Report: Jedi Kalyna Durald

Jedi Temple Personnel Record: KD-10256782PRR (Post Ruusan)

Age: 30

Name: Kalyna Durald

Birthplace: Kuat

Species: Human

Height: 1.79 Meters

Hair Colour: Brown

Eye Colour: Blue

Jedi Master: Cin Drallig

Kalyna Durald was a one of the youngest Jedi to ever be brought into the Jedi Order. Her parents, struggling dockworkers in Kuat, already had six children, and were grateful that their youngest would have this great opportunity.

While she was not overly powerful in the force, nor among the most gifted of students in the Temple, Kalyna's gentle nature and willingness to devote her to whatever task was before her endeared her to the instructors at the Temple.

As she grew older, she was able to recognize that she would likely not be picked to be a padawan and later a Knight, and had prepared herself for joining the Agri-Corps or one of the other dedicated Temple branches. So, she began diversifying her studies to reflect that, becoming adequately skilled at most tasks, if not specializing in anything.

However, when she turned thirteen, she was shocked to find that Jedi Master Cin Drallig had requested to have her as a Padawan. He considered her preparations an uncommon wisdom and had felt that it was his duty to try and make her as capable a Swordswoman as possible and guide her towards seeing the heart of matters instead of complicating things unnecessarily.

The next decade was spent running missions around the core and mid rim. Master Drallig, while a harsh taskmaster, soon found himself deferring to his Padawan in negotiations as she possessed an uncommon capability to assess, see, and decide the best course of action for multiple parties.

While Kalyna would never become the master of the lightsaber that the Battlemaster desired, he did declare her 'adequate' at her chosen forms. Soresu and Makash. Which put her at a higher level than many other knights.

Eventually completing her trials in the years leading up to the Naboo Crisis, Knight Durald found herself assigned to the Outer and Mid Rim, running missions against pirates, lending her assistance in negotiations, and occasionally returning to the Temple to maintain her skills with the blade with her master.

Upon the start of the war with the Confederacy, Kalyna was offered the command of a Section as well as the rank of Jedi-General but turned it down in favor of operating as a mere "officer" under the command of more 'experienced' naval officers.

Little has been reported since Knight Dural embarked on a mission with Battlegroup Huntress. We expect to see more after debriefings.

MarkWarrior · Aug 11, 2025

"At first, it seemed like the normal inspection of a derelict," Durald explained to the Jedi Council. "As I have spent a lot of time among the Mid and Outer Rim, this is far from the first time I'd dealt with the aftermath of a skirmish between pirates, bounty hunters, or just an accident of some kind."

She paused, centering herself in the force and allowing herself to recall the exact order of events without being overcome by the emotions that had existed in those moments.

"Both ships were identified by our ship's warbook, and because the majority of Interdictor-Class cruisers had defected to Revan according to our records, I boarded the transports headed for that ship."

"Did you not consult the Force before boarding?" Master Mundi asked. "Would it not have revealed to you which ship you should have gone to first?"

"There was no warning of danger until the Dark Jedi had awoken and begun attacking the crew whom we'd sent to the Thranta. That the Interdictor had remained with the Republic Navy instead of going over to Revan wasn't clear until after we'd boarded the Horizon and made our way to the bridge. That was when the Force alerted me to the presence that was aboard the other ship."

"Your report says that you acquired the personal effects of the Jedi who perished aboard the Horizon." Windu finally spoke.

"Yes, the dead Jedi had a holocron and a lightsaber on his person when he died. I collected both and then moved to the Thranta, bringing with me a squad of Clones for backup. Following the Force's guidance, I regrouped with those aboard the Thranta and moved to engage the enemy."

"Were you so certain of your victory?" Master Tiin asked.

"No, master," Kalyna shook her head. "I entered into this battle with the knowledge that I was likely going to perish. I am not as strong in the force as many of my peers, and I lack the talents that would lend themselves to individual combat. But as I am the only Jedi who is a member of Battlegroup Huntress, it is my responsibility to handle these matters."

"Weakened, this foe was," Yoda said. "Recently awoken, hmm?"

"Yes, Master," the Knight replied. "He was extremely skilled at lightsaber combat, and if he had been in a calmer state of mind instead of berserking, he likely would have been able to kill me along with the rest of the Clones. He did not utilize any force abilities, only his blade. As it is, we were only able to survive due to the quick thinking of one of the engineers. Due to his distraction, I was able to kill the Dark Jedi."

"I wish you had preserved the body and the ship," Adi Gallia commented. "Such an ancient soul must have had some knowledge we could have used against the Sith. We still do not know Dooku's master, and that could have helped us narrow the search."

"I searched the Thranta for anything that might be of value to the order," Kalyna replied. "Apart from his lightsaber and the trail of corpses, he left nothing behind. Anything he knew died with him. As for why I didn't preserve the body, after seeing what had happened to the Horizon, I was not willing to take chances of spreading some sort of plague through the fleet or the Republic."

"It is the opinion of the majority of this Council that you made the right decision," Master Windu stated. "You are to be commended for your actions and those of your Battlegroup. You've not only dealt with a threat that we were unaware of, but have also enabled the Republic to regroup and save many civilian lives."

"Thank you," Kalyna bowed. "What am I to do with Val Harik's lightsaber and holocron?"

"Keep it for now, you must," Yoda said. "Speak clearly on this, the Force does."

"Very well," the knight replied. "I'm afraid this is all the time we had free for the comms. I have to rejoin the battlegroup. We've been assigned to hunt Grievous, and they're gathering now to depart."

"May the force be with you," Windu nodded.

"And with you, Masters."

The transmission cut out, leaving Kalyna in the dark room.

Giving a long-suffering sigh, she turned and left. It didn't matter who you were; meetings with the Council always left every Jedi exhausted. She was no different and would need to meditate later to recenter herself.

Despite bleeding her emotions off into the force, the sheer terror, rage, and worry of that short battle would sometimes come back up as she dealt with the darkness that had radiated off of the enemy Jedi. Rest would be necessary before going up against Grievous.

The High Council Chambers were rarely this empty, even during the last few months of this war; they had attempted to meet in person as much as possible. Communications could be intercepted, and it was good to give them time to decompress.

But in this instance, after the communications winked out, all that was left was Yoda and Windu in the chamber. The rest of the masters were out on deployment, and Windu would be joining them soon.

"Should we have informed them about this?" Windu asked, gesturing to the datapad in his hands.

"Confirmed all the information, we have not," Yoda shook his head.

"But parts of it we know are true," Windu replied. "Such as Skywalker's marriage to Senator Amidala. That means that there has to be something of value there."

"Hard to judge, this information is. When more clouded, the Force becomes."

"Obviously, we can discard some elements of it," Windu agreed. "Palpatine may be a politician, but a Dark Lord of the Sith?" He shook his head. "We would have noticed. But there are other things we can evaluate."

"Have Jedi Sentinals working on it, I have. Find out if there is more truth, they will."

"I hope that none of the rest of this is true," Windu sighed. "But we cannot afford to ignore the information when it's offered to us. Unfortunately, I cannot follow up on any of this myself."

"Keep you informed, I will," Yoda leaned on his gaffer stick. "Follow the Will of the Force, we will."

After that, the two parted ways. Windu had to rejoin his fleet in orbit, and Yoda was to spend time with the Crechlings today.

MarkWarrior · Aug 18, 2025

Chapter 30

The worst thing about being a part of a battlegroup that was attempting to track down an enemy fleet, was that we were reactionary. From what I could remember, not even Dooku was able to keep track of many of Grievous's movements from the old TV show dad had recorded back on our Tivo. Which meant that Republic Intelligence, Fleet Intelligence, no one that was a part of any major intelligence agency knew or could predict where the rogue cyborg was going to go next.

So, a lot of our job for the next few weeks was jumping into a system that had recently been hit, then guess at what the next target was and try to get there first. It was kinda odd, if I were completely honest. Grievous seemed to avoid a bunch of major shipyards in favor of hitting targets that wouldn't hit the war effort for the Republic all that much. But once I looked deeper, it clicked.

Grievous was hitting small fleet sections with larger amounts of Jedi. Sure, he was also attacking certain systems as he was probably ordered to by Dooku and the Confederacy. But Grievous was more focused on taking out his anger on as many Jedi as possible over completing those orders. At least for now, and currently wherever Grievous went, Durge went also. Maybe we would avoid the speederbike jousting this time around.

Still, it had led to us going on wild chases and only meeting a handful of smaller ships that barely did anything to our battlegroup. Essentially those that were left behind by Grievous's fleet, or those who were trying to join him.

After almost a month and a half of this game of cat and mouse, Teskit decided he'd had enough and called a meeting for all of the senior officers to join.

"No one in the Republic Fleet has been able to pin down General Grievous at this time," Teskit opened up the floor. "I tire of chasing this villain. So, we don't be chasing him anymore. Instead, we will bring him to us."

The Commodore nodded at Jedi-Commander Durald and gestured for her to take over.

"After some rough analysis, we've finally identified two patterns that Grievous follows. One of them is that he goes after Jedi. The second is that he will abandon the fleet in orbit to go after Jedi on the ground," Kalyna tapped the holotable and it showed a system in the core that was nearly in the colonies or the Mid-Rim. "Tinnel is the core world we have chosen for this. While not the most prominent system, they do have shipyards capable of producing Venators, Acclamators, and Dreadnoughts for the Republic Navy. Though in the past they tended to work with CEC and various starfighter companies instead of ships larger than corvettes, of late, Kuat Drive Yards has licensed them to begin producing the aforementioned ships."

The holotable shifted to show the void as well as the handful of defense stations that kept the shipyards safe.

"I have made a request to the Council and they have agreed to assist with our plan," Kalyna said. "We have four Jedi Knights along with their cruisers coming to join us here. We'll then leak that we're assembling a battlegroup to launch an attack directly at Raxus. When Grievous takes the bait, we'll eliminate his fleet in orbit while the other Jedi handle him on the ground."

"Lieutenant Hull, the Horizon will be crucial in this battle," Teskit looked at me, his holographic representation as stoic as ever. "Your ship's interdiction field generators will be required to keep the enemy locked into Tinnel. We cannot allow them to escape."

"Understood, sir," I nodded. "What if he doesn't arrive, or it's another one of the decoy fleets the Confederacy likes to use?" I asked.

"Then it will still be another enemy fleet that we have removed from the board," the commodore replied, the other officers nodding their heads in agreement. "Now, I'm sending you each your orders. All sections will be working under a subcommander for the duration of this operation. Should communications between the Hyperion and the rest of the fleet cease, you'll follow your section commanders orders as if they were my own."

The commodore waited until we'd all responded before leaning forward with a savage grin.

"Now, let's make sure that General Grievous regrets the day he decided to strike against the Republic."

Five days later…

Tinnel looked like most worlds in the galaxy. A wide varied climate, an abundance of flora and fauna, and a mixed human and near-human population. It had been settled a many millennia ago and had pretty much remained the same throughout the years it had been a part of the Republic for. Sure, it had sided with Revan during the Jedi Civil War, but many systems had done that, it wasn't like they were alone in that. The only other thing of note that could be said about it was that the massive crater where a city was once said to be. It had been destroyed so long ago, the only tales left were legends and myths.

Outside of those few facts, Tinnel had been a productive, if usually forgotten world among the thousands that made up the Galactic Republic. That is, until we arrived.

The entirety of Battlegroup Huntress had dropped out of hyperspace with enough space and time for the local PDF to detect us. They'd been informed of the plan in advance, but it was still better to not offend the people you were going to be relying on in a few short days.

"Horizon, you and your escorts are to move to the designated nav point," Commander Task ordered. I'll remain here with the rest of the section and act as a QRF for whatever the commodore needs."

"Aff," I replied and turned to see the helmsman already inputting the instructions for the engine crew.

I glanced down at my tactical display. We were being escorted by two ships we'd worked with on the last battle. The Eclipse and Starfury were on our port and starboard flanks, along with a pair of Acclamators that had been modified to carry starfighters instead of ground troops, and a couple of corvettes armed with anti-fighter weaponry.

It took a few hours for us to reach the place where we were supposed to be hidden, but eventually, we were safely secreted away in the mass shadow of one of Tinnel IVs two gas giants.

We'd be sitting the initial portion of the battle out. Only revealing ourselves once the main enemy fleet had ventured too far into the system for it to be practical for them to attempt escape. Sure, we'd be cornering the Separatists, but I wasn't sure how much harder droids would fight over people when push came to shove.

Protective instincts could be programmed into droids, loyalty could be programmed into droids. But that instinct to lash out and make others pay as much as possible for bringing you down wasn't something most droids possessed. After all, not every droids was HK-47, IG-88, or R2-D2. Those droids were special for particular reasons, they weren't the cannon fodder that made up the majority of the Confederacy.

Which is why I thought that the Commodore's plan had a decent chance of success. I was just hoping that the Force didn't decide to have other plans…

For now though, I had to make sure everything was ready. So, I had Aliya and the engineers going over everything to make sure that nothing would break too badly when we went back into combat. We knew that something would break, we just weren't sure what it was yet. Our hope was that it wasn't the grav well generators. Because our entire plan relied on them to work.

MarkWarrior · Aug 28, 2025

Chapter 31

The Separatist fleet that came out of hyperspace outnumbered Battlegroup Huntress by nearly half again our number. But come they did. From what little we could pick up from the few unencrypted channels that they were broadcasting on, it seemed that instead of one of the Providence-class carriers or dreadnoughts, Grievous was using a Munificent to manage the entirety of the fleet.

Which made sense to me, given the advanced sensor suites and communications gear that were standard onboard the star frigates. But all it really meant was that we had a priority target for our interdiction.

In our testing over the last two days, we discovered that we could use the gravity well generators to stop an entire fleet. In exchange, we had to sacrifice either offensive firepower if we wanted shields and point defenses. Or sacrifice having our shields dropped down to twenty-five percent efficiency. Unless we were willing to rip out the entire hypermatter reaction core and replace the thing, we were limited in just how much energy we generated.

Our most useful asset to the fleet made us a target. Thankfully, I did have the two Acclamators along with the Eclipse and Starfury as escorts. But anything other than a wolf pack of Munificents or light cruisers was going to require reinforcements. Lest we get overwhelmed and lose the ability to lock Grievous in the system with us.

One of the awful things about space combat was the sheer amount of time it took to get anywhere. Even with hyperdrives and modern engines, it still took the Separatist fleet several hours to reach weapons range for the main section of the battlegroup.

With our orders being what they were, we were on standby until both sides were fully engaged. If we launched the trap too early, then it was entirely possible that the enemy would pick up on what was happening and that Grievous or any of the other leaders would escape the trap we'd laid.

So for now, we watched what was happening across the solar system through a small relay, waiting for the signal to move out of the gas giant's mass shadow and do our part in this battle.

Two hours later, we got just that opportunity. The enemy was entangled in our own battlegroup, and reinforcements were going to be arriving soon.

General Kenobi had been tapped for assistance and was bringing another fleet to help us accomplish this. But given his position in the Outer Rim, it would take two days before he arrived. All we had to do was survive.

"Helm, get us a course out of the mass shadow," I ordered, standing with my hands clasped behind my back. "Everyone else, start planning on rerouting power to the grav well generators and shields. We're going to be relying on the rest of our section and fighters to ensure that we're kept in this fight."

I was answered by a chorus of yes sirs, and the Horizon emerged from the mass shadow along with the other four ships of our section. Hundreds of starfighters streamed from the pair of Acclamators, and our own complement joined them in formations around us. Then, thirty minutes later, the lights dimmed for a few seconds as we switched power to our generators, trapping both our fleet and that of the enemies in the system with us. There was only one way they were leaving, and that was by fighting their way out.

"Commodore, the Horizon has begun interdiction procedures," the communications officer relayed to Teskit, prompting him to lean over the tactical console.

The enemy had yet to even come close to breaking the shields of his new flagship, the Defender. A handful of enemy ships had broken off for the ground, but Teskit had to leave that to the ground forces to handle. It was his job to ensure that Battlegroup Huntress destroyed all of the enemy opposition in the system. With that in mind, he instructed one of the Arquitens wolfpacks to move onto the Defender's flanks as escorts along with a trio of Acclamator carriers.

He left a pair of Venators and the Acclamator destroyer Shards of Elysium behind to act as a QRF while he himself began shifting the Defender and the other fleet

"Captain, ground forces are reporting that there are Magnaguards on the surface. Force Recon believes that Grievous is likely on the surface somewhere."

"Good," Teskit kept his grin to himself. "Then all we have to do is eliminate this fleet, and he will have nowhere left to flee."

In any other situation, the tactical console would have been a horrible sight to see. After all, the blue shapes that were the ships and starfighters of the Separatists outnumbered his fleet, and the display showed that very well. But the Republic's ships were better on average than the most numerous CIS ships. With a Venator being capable of handling at least four Recusant-class destroyers without needing serious repairs, Teskit wasn't too concerned with them or the Munificent Star frigates that were the lynchpin of the enemy task force. No, his concern was with the Providence-class carriers and destroyers that were along the enemy's backline. Them along with what looked to be a hastily refit Lucrehulk were spewing out droid fighters and bombers at an alarming rate. So, it was up to his flagship and its escorts to remove them from the tactical playbook.

As they got closer, the Defender finally began taking hits that rocked her shields, dragging them down bit by bit before the massive battleship finally began to return fire. Her Turbolasers focused on the closest target, a Providence that was outfitted more as a carrier than a dreadnought. The Defender's heavy turbolasers first struck the CIS ships's shields, making them glow a brilliant blue, then a few moments later, had completely overwhelmed them.

"Have our escorts focus on taking out the enemy ships once we've stripped their shields down," Teskit ordered. "Our bombers can clean up. We're going to have to move on that Lucrehulk."

Teskit's reasoning for targeting the Lucrehulk and its escorts was twofold. For one thing, that ship carried enough starfighters to fight his entire fleet. For another, said battlecarrier and a wolfpack of mixed destroyers and frigates had shifted and were heading for where the Horizon was stationed. They could not be allowed to open the way out of the trap.

But as the Defender began to eliminate the enemy that stood in her way, it became clear that she wasn't going to be able to catch up to the enemy fleet section. Not before they'd engaged with the Horizon and her escorts. In any normal situation, they would have microjumped to assist. But with the Gravity Well generators locking everything down. Well, that wasn't an option anymore. The Horizon would simply have to hold out until the Defender caught up to the Lucrehulk. There wasn't any other way.

"Do you think we can take some of these home with us?" A Clone Commando nudged one of the still intact electrostaffs from a dead magnaguard with his DC-15 blaster rifle.

"Negative," one of the B-2 Super Battle droids that had been repainted and attached to the four-man squads replied.

"You're no fun," the Commando chuckled. "Hey Bruiser, we killed a lot of droids today, but I haven't seen any sign of the big guy yet."

"He's probably on his way to take on the Jedi, Crack," the leader of the Commando unit shrugged. "We're just here to help clean up. It's their job and that of the Arc Troopers to take him out. Besides, Trick hasn't picked up any communications signaling for help. So the trap is still good."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, Bruiser," the tech of the squad replied. "All I'm getting is static. Which means either we're being jammed."

"Or the comms relay is offline," Hulk offered. "Could be either or."

"What do you think, B?" Crack asked the droid.

"There is no sign of signal jamming," The deep voice of the vocoder responded. "There is a 70% chance that the relay station has been shut down and is in use by the enemy to observe our communications."

"Well, Kriff it all," Trick sighed. "Bruiser, we should to go clean that up. Otherwise, the whole op's blown."

"Copy that," the leader nodded. "Hulk, go commandeer a speeder of some sort that's capable of carrying our friend here. Crack, police these bodies and grab whatever ordnance you think we're going to need, and Trick, make sure that none of this stays on the grid. If they're listening in. Then we need to be sure that we have the advantage of surprise. Oh, and B," The B-2 seemed to look at the commando leader quizically. "Look menacing."

"Roger Roger," the droid's photoreceptors shifted from olive green to red, and its vambrance opened up to reveal the wrist rockets mounted there.

Whatever was going on, it was clear that this battle wasn't just going to be decided in the void. There was going to need to be something done on the ground as well. Otherwise, Grievous would slip through the Republic's fingers. Again…

Author's Note: Sorry for the delayed updates across all of my fics for the last week and a half. Had some big stuff that I had to deal with IRL. Should be back to regular updates soon.

MarkWarrior · Wednesday at 4:52 PM

"Sir, we've got enemy fleet sections moving toward our position. What are your orders?"

"Keep the grav well generators up and running," I ordered. "And divert as much power to rear deflectors and engines. The others will have to run cover for us."

We weren't going to be able to outrun the modern ships. At least not while keeping the interdiction field operational. So, we had to compromise. Even if I didn't think it was worth it to sacrifice four ships for the one in this battle. That line of thought didn't fall into the grim calculus of the long strategy of the war. The Horizon was valuable. Not only as something of a prototype for testing new gravity well generators. But also as the only ship in existence that could lock down a system and allow no hyperspace travel out of it.
So, we turned tail and ran. Our engines pushed out thrust as the Starfury, Eclipse, and pair of Acclamators turned and charged the Separatist section, pushing towards us. Even though pushing a Lucrehulk that had been converted into a battlecarrier was near suicide, the Acclamators stood the best chance of survival. Given we'd converted most of the extra internal space that was reserved for ground troops into extra starfighters, spare parts, and shield generators, we had at least some hope that they could hold out while the Defender caught up.

It still didn't sit right with me as I glanced over at the tactical display, watching the red icons of the other four ships charging the five blues that made up the Confederacy's attempt at erasing the Horizon from the system entirely.
"Tell half of our starfighers to peel off and join the rest of the section," I ordered. "Lieutenant Treal will have to make do without. If they break through our screen, it won't matter much that we have fighters to assist."

Half of the small dots that represented starfighters surrounding my ship moved away and joined the clusters that surrounded the other ships. Hopefully, they'd be able to make a difference.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of the 'good' news for the day. Because a pair of Consular-Class ships dropped out of hyperspace around us.

"Are you with Battlegroup Huntress?" the breathless voice of one of the ship captains asked as the communications tech handed me a headset.

"Verify their ship IDs," I muted the headset to order the sensors officer before receiving a nod of confirmation,

"IFFs confirmed," the woman replied. "The Kamino Defense Fleet's their last reported location, though."

"We are a part of Battlegroup Huntress," I replied. "What do you need, Exposition?"

"We need reinforcements." I could hear the captain's relief. "General Grievous and Ventress are attacking Kamino, and we've got orders to bring as many fleet assets to reinforce as possible. We ran into General Kenobi's fleet earlier, but he was wrapped in a battle worse than this one. We nearly burned out our primary hyperdrives to get here fast enough to see if you could assist."

"We have Grievous locked down in this system," I shook my head. "You must be mistaken."

A few seconds later, we were sent a hologram of Grievous cutting through clones on Kamino, the timestamp matching up with a few hours ago.

"Sorry, Horizon, but I'm afraid whatever HIGHCOM told you, we were all wrong."

"Understood," I replied. "Cut the gravity well generators and bring full power to our weapons," I turned to the viewport. "Helm, turn us around. Comms, patch the Consulars into our encrypted comms to the Commodore. We've got new that needs to be brought to his attention."

"Thank you," The captain of the Exposition said. "Now, what can we do to assist?"

"Get in formation and help keep starfighters off our flanks," I ordered. "We can't reinforce Kamino if we're all dead. So, we've got an enemy fleet to deal with before we head out."

The Horizon seemed to thrum with power as we dropped the gravity well generators and diverted the extra power back to our engines and weapons.

Our escort of Acclamators and Arquitens was currently engaged with the wolfpack of Munificents and Recusants that the Lucrehulk had been using as escorts. However, the Lucrehulk was focused on us, and more fighters streamed from her hangars to move through the void towards us. Sure, the massive converted freighter might be attempting to run, but now that they knew that the Horizon existed, we were going to have to be killed.

As we started to get into extreme weapons range, though, the Defender and her escorts micro-jumped directly behind the Lucrehulk. It was a risk, one that saw an Arquitens and a CR-90 ripped apart, but it paid off when the Acclamator battleship's guns began to sing.

Deflector shields had to be focused and cycled in the direction of the most enemy fire that was incoming to be utilized in the most efficient way. With the Lucrehulk now facing fire from us in her forward sections and in the rear from the Defender and others, she was vulnerable. Even with the extra generators that had been crammed into her hull.

Unfortunately, we couldn't prevent her retaliatory fire, and the Separatist vessel was ignoring the Defender in favor of hitting us. The Horizon shuddered as we took fire from the quad turbolasers that had been bolted onto the Lucrehulk's hull.

At first, things seemed fine. We were weathering the storm, even if our shields were beginning to wither under the assault. But then, the enemy fighter and bomber wings got involved. Our shields nearlty vanished, and it was only through a brief surge of emergency power through those reacotrs being activated that brought them back.

"Prepare an emergency jump to hyperspace!" I gripped the console in front of me as a bomb hit the ship, and I was nearly thrown to the ground. "Anywhere but here. Send a message to the Commodore, we'll rejoin him-" Another hit wrested my grip away from me, and the last thing I saw before my head hit the wall behind me was the streak of stars indicating hyperspace.

Teskit frowned as they watched the damaged Horizon leave the system. That last hit from a bomber directly on the bridge had been painful to watch, but if she were still able to effect an emergency jump, then he didn't need to worry about the ship until after the battle.

Refocusing his mind on what was in front of him, the Commodore began to issue commands to the rest of the ships in the battlegroup. The escorts with him diverted to either attack the sides of the Lucrehulk or to render assistance to the section that had been escorting the Horizon.

While the battle cruiser was a formidable opponent, the heavy turbolasers and missiles of the Defender were able to decimate her engines and leave her floundering and vulnerable in the void.

"Begin targeting her turbolasers," Teskit heard the Clone Commander who was in charge of the Defender order. "She's crippled; we may be able to board her and gather intelligence."

"Good call," Teskit nodded at the clone. "Begin recalling our ground forces. Our Arc Troopers and Commandos will be suitable for this task. We need to find out why our trap failed and where Grievous is located. If the Consulars are right and he is physically present on Kamino, then the means of deception must be revealed."

"Shards of Elysium, begin hunting down the wolf-packs. Destroyed or fled, it makes no difference to me."

"Yes, Commodore," Commander Ronard replied, the frown on his face evident. "We'll start cleaning house."

The Acclamator destroyer was among the fastest and most heavily armed ships in the fleet outside of his own battleship, and Teskit knew that when combined with the other fast elements of the fleet that they'd soon have that job done. It was his responsibility to keep the last Lucrehulk pinned in place as well as deter the last pair of Providence-class carriers from deciding to eliminate their chance for intelligence gathering.

One by one, the Lucrehulk's guns went silent, its hangars all bombed closed, barring one. That would be their entry point.

"Have the rest of our escorts move to assist the fleet," Teskit ordered. "Once the system is clear, we'll leave behind a section to ensure that there's no enemy elements remaining while we continue on to Kamino."

"Sir, what about the Horizon?" the Clone Commander asked.

"She'll have to find her own way home," Teskit replied, masking his thoughts behind a mask of calm. "Unfortunately, one ship and her crew is not worth sacrificing a world for."

"Yes, Sir," The clone nodded.

Hopefully, the emergency jump had only taken them to the next system. But there was always the chance that it tossed them out in the deep core or elsewhere. Time would tell. For now, though, he had a battle to win and a planet to reinforce.

"You guys, Theta squad?" A local militia man asked, his speeder stopping in front of the group of commandos and their B2.

"Who's asking?" Bruiser asked.

"Colonel Waters is recalling all of Battlegroup Huntress's ground elements," The militaman hopped off the speeder. "But Arc and Commandos have priority."

"Do you have a line of comms to the colonel?" Crack asked. "We've been jammed for hours."

"Speeder has an antenna that breaks through jamming," the man replied, pointing out the small strip that was the antenna. "There should be a channel you can reach him on."

"Thanks," Crack hopped into the speeder and patched the antenna into their communication lines.

"Colonel Waters, Theta Squad, here," Bruiser said once Crack gave a thumbs-up.

"Theta, good," Waters' voice was the usual calm and collected Coruscanti accent. "You're the last squad to make contact. We're pulling back to the void, there's a Lucrehulk currently disabled, and we're to do some intel extraction and then scuttle the ship."

"Sir, we're currently on our way to eliminate the local jamming. Mind if we take it off the map, first?" Bruiser asked.

"Go ahead," Waters replied. "Once you take that out, we can route transports to you."

"Thank you, sir."

"You're killing more clankers," Waters' bloodthirsty grin could be heard through the line. "Don't thank me, just execute."

The channel then closed, leaving the squad in silence.

"You hear that, B?" Hulk asked. "We get to finish the job. Today ain't turning out to be so bad after all!"

"Affirmative," The droid's eyes shifted from red to blue to indicate satisfaction.

Trick remained silent, the sniper always having prefered to only talk when necessary.

"We're keeping the speeder," Crack said to the militia trooper.

"Sorry, sir," the trooper shook his head. "I can't do that or the Captain'll have my head. I can go with you, though."

"Sounds good to me," Bruiser shrugged. "We just need to get there ASAP."

"I've got a route that circumvents most of the fighting. But there are some Droidekas we'll have to dodge."

"Weaklings," B stated.

"What B said," Hulk grinned. "We'll take them out along the way."

"Alright, Theta, first the jammer, then back into the void. We get to board another ship!"

"Is it too late to go back to Kamino?" Crack asked. "I had a nice bunk, great weather, and gravity there."

"No blankets, rain, and heavy G training," Bruiser reminded the tech.

"Still better than low-g missions," Crack shrugged. "But I guess it is a good mission. Can't let the Arc Troopers get bigger heads than they've already got."

"Exactly," Hulk slapped his brother on the back. "That's the way to think about it."

"Stow the chatter," the militia trooper said. "Moving up on Droideka alley."

"Hulk, man that gun," Bruiser ordered. "Let's finish this up."

"Yessir," Hulk moved into position behind the heavy repeating blaster. "Looks like you've got an infestation, good thing you called the exterminators!"

The speeder drifted into the alleyway, and Hulk began firing on the droidekas before they put up their shields, shredding a good portion of them before they turned and began firing.

"B, you're up!" Crack said, tossing a grenade over the side of the speeder.

"Inferior machine," B killed two droidekas with a well-placed wrist rocket and some rubble. "I will bathe in your oil."

"Get some!" Hulk continued firing as they finally left the alleyway and moved further to the comms station. "We should go back and get the rest of them."

"Negative," Bruiser shook his head. "We've got our missions. Let's see them through."

Lucky Strike (A Star Wars SI)

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