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Lucky Strike (A Star Wars SI)
- Thread starter MarkWarrior
- Start date
Chapter 35
New
MarkWarrior
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Chapter 35
The dragon had been gone for a couple of weeks now, which had given us enough time to strip the other two Interdictors of everything that was useful. Of the two, one had been a standard Republic variant, and the other had been among those used by Revan. The Republic variant had sustained some serious battle damage, but its internal power and infrastructure was easier to work with than whatever had been done to the one used by Revan's forces, so we'd mostly stripped parts from the Republic variant and used them to repair the damage done to the Horizon.
Thankfully, when it was all said and done, the Horizon was back up to full strength, if not a little better than before. We'd pulled the backup power generators from the 'spare' ship and wired them into our systems as well. If we turned them on, we could temporarily boost power to our shields or engines, but we'd burn them out through prolonged use.
As for the Reven Interdictor. We ripped the starfighters out of its hangar and left it alone after that. While at first, several of my crew had wanted to board and take it for ourselves, the sheer feeling of something being wrong had quickly changed that idea. It was a good thing that the cargo holds and hangar were adjacent to eachother, because it allowed us to quickly take whatever we thought we might need and leave.
While most of us were working on repairing the Horizon, a small group of people led by Aliya had done sruveys of the two other ships we were confident we could use to help fend off the dragon if necessary. She reported that while she'd have liked to use the Centurion battlecruiser, it was going to be hard to get it working to a satisfactory degree. Instead, her and her team had chosen the Sith Harrower.
Of course, it was while her team and the droids we were planning on using to help crew the other ship were busy that the Dragon returned.
"Sir, sensors are picking up the creature! It just dropped out of hyperspace on the edge of the system and is moving towards us."
"Just bring our power levels down to what we need to monitor the situation," I replied, moving to behind the sensors officer and looking over his shoulder along with the people beside him as the dragon dragged what looked an afwul lot like a whale behind it. "Looks like it went hunting," I felt nervous. "Did we ever get anywhere on the communications possibility?"
"The protocol droids kept glitching out and having to get reset when we tried getting a translation suite together," Vane shook his head. "To be honest, we're mostly just hoping that it ignores us if we attempt to leave."
"I really don't want to fight it," There was something intensely terrifying about the thought of facing a dragon the size of a Venator. Sure, there was still that masculine urge to fight the dragon, but that was being tempered by the thought of the men and women that were under my command.
So, we watched the dragon move through the system over the next few hours until it ignored us and the fleet of derelicts entirely. Instead, it moved through the planet's atmosphere, smoke trailing off the flesh of the space whale as if cooking it on the way down.
"Get me a line to the Harrower," I glanced at the comms officer. "We need to know her ETA. If this thing has to take its time to eat, we should be able to escape via jumping to hyperspace."
"Chief Engineer Aliya Alitas here," her voice graced the headset I'd been handed.
"How long before you and the ship are ready to jump to hyperspace?" I asked.
"Five, six hours," I could hear her shrug. "The systems on this ship are weird, and we've been completely locked out of the bridge. We're running things form the secondary control center. We should be able to leave once we restore power to the hyperdrives. But we're going to need you to feed us the coordinates."
"Alright," I replied. "Shrink that time as much as possible. We've got a window of opportunity here, and I don't want to waste it."
"I'll see what I can do," She sighed. "We'll contact you once we've reestablished power to the hyperdrive. Alitas, out."
–
–
Three hours later…
"I've got power to the secondary systems!" Aliya slapped the panel she was working on, grinning as it finally stopped glitching and flared to life. "Just needed a little percussive maintenance."
"Bridge is still on lockdown. But we've got power to the engines," Conor Jalatian the other lead engineer reported. "Say what you will about the B-1 battle droids, but the engineer variants are pretty good at this."
"I'm just glad that we've got enough to make the skeleton crew requirements work here," Aliya replied. "Keep working on the reactor and those power couplings. We need the backup hyperdrive up and running at a minimum."
"I've got a group working on that," Conor said. "I've got a team working on the bridge lockout. I can reassign them assist with working on the hyperdrive if you want."
"No, keep them working on restoring access to the bridge," Aliya shook her head before remembering that he couldn't see her. "We're going to need that access if we're going to gain full control of this ship."
"Aye, ma'am. We'll keep on it."
"Now that power's restored to the secondary command center, I should be able to help with narrowing down some of the problems from here."
The engineer droids around Aliya were already tapping into the systems and beginning to feed data to the teams working throughout the ship. Aliya herself was patching the ship into the battlenet that the Horizon used. Changing the frequencies and comms channels necessary to give the other ship a good IFF reading. Friendly fire wasn't, and she wasn't going to set things up for her or the other engineers to accidentally be killed if and when it came to an engagement with the creature that controlled this system.
–
–
Twelve hours later…
"Why won't the stupid bridge doors open?!" Aliya felt like slamming her fist into the console again, but instead simply hit the side of her thigh. "Please tell me that the rest of you have good news?"
"Primary and backup hyperdrives are finally online and staying that way," Conor reported. "I don't know why we had such massive power fluctuations earlier, but we seem to have fixed whatever was up with the reactors."
"Prepare to receive the hyperdrive coordinates from the Horizon," Aliya stopped trying to get the bridge door open. "I think we're still in that window of opportunity."
"Roger Roger," the B-1 manning the comms replied, it seemed that no matter what tweaks they made, they still wouldn't say anything else. "Sending confirmation of hyperdrive to the Horizon, standing by to receive coordinates."
A few seconds later, they had the coordinates and were ready to jump out of the system.
"Triumphant, we're preparing to jump, confirm reception of coordinates and sync up with us."
"Triumphant here, coordinates received, we're ready to jump when you are."
A few short moments later, the two ships left the system behind. The Dragon's Hoard had not kept its hold on them.
The Drake shifted in his sleep and cracked open a lone eye. Something had changed. It was as if a fog had been lifted from its mind, and now it could see clearly.
Moving away from his mate, he nudged her awake and bade her to look after the Creche while he explored their home. Flying through the atmosphere and reaching planetary orbit, he paused. Reaching through the system with his senses, he searched for something out of place, eventually, finding what was wrong.
Someone had stolen from his treasures. Two of them were gone, and a third had been scarred moreso than it had during his taking of it. Roaring his displeasure, he made to leave the system and give chase when there was a tug on the bond he shared with his mate.
The clutch of eggs had begun to hatch, he could not leave the system and abandon his mate and their young during this time. So, even as he sensed the treasures get further away, he turned and headed back to the planet. He would reclaim his treasures. He had all of the time in the universe to do so.
The dragon had been gone for a couple of weeks now, which had given us enough time to strip the other two Interdictors of everything that was useful. Of the two, one had been a standard Republic variant, and the other had been among those used by Revan. The Republic variant had sustained some serious battle damage, but its internal power and infrastructure was easier to work with than whatever had been done to the one used by Revan's forces, so we'd mostly stripped parts from the Republic variant and used them to repair the damage done to the Horizon.
Thankfully, when it was all said and done, the Horizon was back up to full strength, if not a little better than before. We'd pulled the backup power generators from the 'spare' ship and wired them into our systems as well. If we turned them on, we could temporarily boost power to our shields or engines, but we'd burn them out through prolonged use.
As for the Reven Interdictor. We ripped the starfighters out of its hangar and left it alone after that. While at first, several of my crew had wanted to board and take it for ourselves, the sheer feeling of something being wrong had quickly changed that idea. It was a good thing that the cargo holds and hangar were adjacent to eachother, because it allowed us to quickly take whatever we thought we might need and leave.
While most of us were working on repairing the Horizon, a small group of people led by Aliya had done sruveys of the two other ships we were confident we could use to help fend off the dragon if necessary. She reported that while she'd have liked to use the Centurion battlecruiser, it was going to be hard to get it working to a satisfactory degree. Instead, her and her team had chosen the Sith Harrower.
Of course, it was while her team and the droids we were planning on using to help crew the other ship were busy that the Dragon returned.
"Sir, sensors are picking up the creature! It just dropped out of hyperspace on the edge of the system and is moving towards us."
"Just bring our power levels down to what we need to monitor the situation," I replied, moving to behind the sensors officer and looking over his shoulder along with the people beside him as the dragon dragged what looked an afwul lot like a whale behind it. "Looks like it went hunting," I felt nervous. "Did we ever get anywhere on the communications possibility?"
"The protocol droids kept glitching out and having to get reset when we tried getting a translation suite together," Vane shook his head. "To be honest, we're mostly just hoping that it ignores us if we attempt to leave."
"I really don't want to fight it," There was something intensely terrifying about the thought of facing a dragon the size of a Venator. Sure, there was still that masculine urge to fight the dragon, but that was being tempered by the thought of the men and women that were under my command.
So, we watched the dragon move through the system over the next few hours until it ignored us and the fleet of derelicts entirely. Instead, it moved through the planet's atmosphere, smoke trailing off the flesh of the space whale as if cooking it on the way down.
"Get me a line to the Harrower," I glanced at the comms officer. "We need to know her ETA. If this thing has to take its time to eat, we should be able to escape via jumping to hyperspace."
"Chief Engineer Aliya Alitas here," her voice graced the headset I'd been handed.
"How long before you and the ship are ready to jump to hyperspace?" I asked.
"Five, six hours," I could hear her shrug. "The systems on this ship are weird, and we've been completely locked out of the bridge. We're running things form the secondary control center. We should be able to leave once we restore power to the hyperdrives. But we're going to need you to feed us the coordinates."
"Alright," I replied. "Shrink that time as much as possible. We've got a window of opportunity here, and I don't want to waste it."
"I'll see what I can do," She sighed. "We'll contact you once we've reestablished power to the hyperdrive. Alitas, out."
–
–
Three hours later…
"I've got power to the secondary systems!" Aliya slapped the panel she was working on, grinning as it finally stopped glitching and flared to life. "Just needed a little percussive maintenance."
"Bridge is still on lockdown. But we've got power to the engines," Conor Jalatian the other lead engineer reported. "Say what you will about the B-1 battle droids, but the engineer variants are pretty good at this."
"I'm just glad that we've got enough to make the skeleton crew requirements work here," Aliya replied. "Keep working on the reactor and those power couplings. We need the backup hyperdrive up and running at a minimum."
"I've got a group working on that," Conor said. "I've got a team working on the bridge lockout. I can reassign them assist with working on the hyperdrive if you want."
"No, keep them working on restoring access to the bridge," Aliya shook her head before remembering that he couldn't see her. "We're going to need that access if we're going to gain full control of this ship."
"Aye, ma'am. We'll keep on it."
"Now that power's restored to the secondary command center, I should be able to help with narrowing down some of the problems from here."
The engineer droids around Aliya were already tapping into the systems and beginning to feed data to the teams working throughout the ship. Aliya herself was patching the ship into the battlenet that the Horizon used. Changing the frequencies and comms channels necessary to give the other ship a good IFF reading. Friendly fire wasn't, and she wasn't going to set things up for her or the other engineers to accidentally be killed if and when it came to an engagement with the creature that controlled this system.
–
–
Twelve hours later…
"Why won't the stupid bridge doors open?!" Aliya felt like slamming her fist into the console again, but instead simply hit the side of her thigh. "Please tell me that the rest of you have good news?"
"Primary and backup hyperdrives are finally online and staying that way," Conor reported. "I don't know why we had such massive power fluctuations earlier, but we seem to have fixed whatever was up with the reactors."
"Prepare to receive the hyperdrive coordinates from the Horizon," Aliya stopped trying to get the bridge door open. "I think we're still in that window of opportunity."
"Roger Roger," the B-1 manning the comms replied, it seemed that no matter what tweaks they made, they still wouldn't say anything else. "Sending confirmation of hyperdrive to the Horizon, standing by to receive coordinates."
A few seconds later, they had the coordinates and were ready to jump out of the system.
"Triumphant, we're preparing to jump, confirm reception of coordinates and sync up with us."
"Triumphant here, coordinates received, we're ready to jump when you are."
A few short moments later, the two ships left the system behind. The Dragon's Hoard had not kept its hold on them.
The Drake shifted in his sleep and cracked open a lone eye. Something had changed. It was as if a fog had been lifted from its mind, and now it could see clearly.
Moving away from his mate, he nudged her awake and bade her to look after the Creche while he explored their home. Flying through the atmosphere and reaching planetary orbit, he paused. Reaching through the system with his senses, he searched for something out of place, eventually, finding what was wrong.
Someone had stolen from his treasures. Two of them were gone, and a third had been scarred moreso than it had during his taking of it. Roaring his displeasure, he made to leave the system and give chase when there was a tug on the bond he shared with his mate.
The clutch of eggs had begun to hatch, he could not leave the system and abandon his mate and their young during this time. So, even as he sensed the treasures get further away, he turned and headed back to the planet. He would reclaim his treasures. He had all of the time in the universe to do so.
readsalot
Versed in the lewd.
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Hmmm
Now does it mean there is something on the Harrow that caused it confusion or was it that his bird was disturbed and that's caused the "fog" to be lifted?
Let's hope it's the second one, no one wants to mess with crazy Sith ghosts.
Yikes they are now on the shit list of Space Dragon, good luck guys
Last edited:
MarkWarrior
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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The dragon has a link with all of the 'treasures' that it has acquired over the millennia.
frozone
Not too sore, are you?
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frozone
Not too sore, are you?
- Joined
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that's the benefit of foresite we enjoy as readers that can talk with the writer, they prob don't know about this link and think they got away scot free with two extra ships
Aeden Emrys
Getting sticky.
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Thanks for the chapter!
Love that our people choose the Harrower, I love the design of this ship! I do wonder what they will find on the bridge? Probably a Sith from the old Sith Empire? I personally hope it's one of the known characters from the Old Republic that our MC could work with, like maybe Lana Beniko 
?
In any case, I look forward to seeing what's up with the Harrower's bridge!
I also wonder what sort of trouble 
it will cause our MC and his people, that the dragon will eventually come after them!
Thanks again for your great work!
I'm looking forward to reading much more of your great works!
Love that our people choose the Harrower, I love the design of this ship! I do wonder
what they will find on the bridge? Probably a Sith from the old Sith Empire? I personally hope it's one of the known characters from the Old Republic that our MC could work with, like maybe Lana Beniko ?In any case, I look forward to seeing what's up with the Harrower's bridge!
I also wonder
what sort of trouble it will cause our MC and his people, that the dragon will eventually come after them!Thanks again for your great work!
I'm looking forward to reading much more of your great works!
Geraldrold
Know what you're doing yet?
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So who is ready for Sith shenanigans?
Because there totally is something on the bridge.
Because there totally is something on the bridge.
Lillie Jones
Well worn.
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Thanks for the chapter
Yacov
Not too sore, are you?
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Only for the dragon to come at the worst possible time. Maybe in the middle of a battle? Because what is cooler than a sudden third party in the form of a space dragon interrupting a fight.
Chapter 36
New
MarkWarrior
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Chapter 36
"Alright, we're clear of the immediate danger," I looked around at the assembled senior officers. "What's the status on the Triumphant?"
"We've got access to most of the systems," Aliya replied. "Only thing that prevents us from taking full control is that the bridge is completely locked down. We can't even get in from breaching the viewports. Whoever owned the ship before us replaced them with armored panels and sensors."
"We do have some other options there," Conor, the other lead engineer said. "But most of them involve not being able to close the doors there anymore."
"Let's leave that option for last if possible," I tried to hide my smirk, knowing that they were thinking about using explosives to breach the bulkhead doors. "Are we going to need access to the bridge to keep the ship moving with us?"
"No," Aliya shook her head. "We can do pretty much everything we need to from the secondary control center. The only issue we might run into is that we don't have access to the ship's databanks. Those are going to be locked away on the bridge."
"Then let's leave the bridge for another day," I said, stroking my short beard. "Now that we have time, I want a full inventory of the Triumphant. We've got our ARC-170s repaired, but I want a full squadron out there for recon if possible. There's a safety in numbers. Especially out here in uncharted space."
"Given we're going to be operating at efficiency below what our maximum is, we're authorizing the activation and use of reprogrammed droids to fill out crew roles," Lieutenant Crix Vane said, the holoprojector showing a handful of droids that were sitting deactivate on the Triumphant. "We're aware that this would have been a Sith Empire vessel, but several of our droid experts believe that they have a method to reset the combat and engineer droids and make use of them. Now, they're going to be testing their method first. But if we see results, we should see an increase in our crew complement."
"That's part of the reason we're going to be conducting a full inventory," I interjected. "We already pulled everything off the other Interdictor that we thought might be useful before we left. So, we've got half a full complement of Starfighters, even if they are dated, and a smattering of spare parts that should be somewhat useful for both ships. But we don't know what's in the stores for the Triumphant."
"There aren't any bodies," Aliya said quietly after that. "There were bodies on the other Interdictor. But there aren't any on the Triumphant. That's part of why I want access to the bridge. All of the lifeboats and escape pods are still present, there isn't any visible damage to the interior of the ship beyond the degredation of time."
"If you can find a way to get onto the bridge that doesn't involve removing the bulkhead doors, then I'll approve getting in," I replied. "Until then, we're going to proceed as planned. Now, moving onto navigation. The Astromechs and astronavigators are confident that they've found a relative location for our position. By best estimates, it's likely to take three months to return to known space. In all probability, it's going to take six months to a year if we're wrong about things."
I waited for the news to settle in before continuing.
"Thankfully, we were fully resupplied when we left the Core," I tapped a control and our list of food and water rations appeared. "We should be good for the return journey. But, we're going to be keeping an eye out for habitable planets. Fresh water and food are the sort of things that will keep morale high. We're also going to be moving to shift pattern Aurek. With how much work there is, I don't want anyone burning out or making critical mistakes. That goes doubly so for our engineers and other technicians. Make sure you're fully rested before doing any work on either of our ships or before we execute a jump. The last thing we want or need is for a critical mistake to cause us to get stuck out here for longer. Now, are there any questions?"
"Just one, sir," one of the last few starfighter pilots raised his hand. "There are only three pilots still present. Sure, we can probably use the rear gunners from our 170s to make up a gap or two. But I'm not sure that's a good idea out here in the Unknown Regions."
"You're right," I sighed, "It's not a good idea. Which is why we're going to be pulling some gunship pilots to fill in the gaps," I nodded at the clone that was in charge of our groundpounders. "It's not my favorite option, but it's all that's left to us. We'll have the two 170s, and four of the Aurek-Class running escorts. We need comprehensive scans of the systems that we're going to be jumping into."
"We're going to need to work out a rotation schedule for our deployments," the pilot replied. "We'll be spending a lot of time in the cockpit. There's going to be some issues if we don't get the proper breaks in-between."
"No better time to do that than now," Lieutenant Vane said. "We can sort that and the engineering schedules now. Get things sorted so we don't run into issues in the future."
Location: Eriadu
It had been weeks and there had still been no sign of the Horizon. If Lieutenant Hull or his people had deserted, there would have been a sign of them already. Instead, there had been no communications or sightings of the vessel whatsoever. Which meant that the vessel was another victim of the perils that came with utilizing Hyperspace.
Forcing the lost ship and crew far from his mind, Commodore Teskit instead considered the holographic map in front of him. Those systems that were aligned with the Republic were vastly outnumberd by the blue systems that surrounded them. Sullust was among them, the shipyards there produced ships for the Confederacy in great numbers. Well, it was time that the Republic moved to block such a vital resource here on the Outer Rim.
"Commodore Teskit," A smooth female voice interrupted his considerations.
"Maarisa," Teskit smiled as his old friend entered the room. "It's been a while."
"I see that you've finally managed to earn a promotion," the tanned woman smirked. "I was worried that you would be doomed to be a junior officer fro the rest of eternity."
"Competence always shines through," Teskit shrugged. "Now, how can I assist you, admiral?"
"The Republic won't be willing to contribute extra ships to assist you with taking Sullust," She replied, studying the Commodore's face for a reaction.
"I'm well aware of HIGHCOM's reluctance," Teskit replied, gesturing to the holographic map. "The CIS has been agressive and hit hard of late. I understand why they have pulled back to defend and rebuild lost forces. Clones and our personnel are not as easily replaced as the Confederacy's droids. But if we do no strike at one of the major worlds, then we will be ceding the initiative to the enemy. General Grievous is many things, unintelligent and unwilling to take advantage of weakness is not among them. If we sit back, he will strike as he did before, and we have no means to devise which fleet he will be with as of yet."
Admiral Zsinj considered Teskit's statement for a few short seconds before responding.
"All of that is accurate," She looked at the holomap and the systems it was focused on. "But the ORSF is not the Republic. If you can persuade me that with our assistance that your assault will be successful, then I will personally see to it that you receive the ships and assistance required to break through the Sullustian lines."
"We will use my battleship and destroyer as a spearhead," Teskit took control of the map and triigered a simulation. The ships of his fleet appearing and the known enemies in the system appearing as well. "Our job will be to focus on the enemy Providence and Lucrehulk-Class vessels that are in the system. The rest of the fleet will split according to our objectives. With wolfpacks of combined Arquitens and Acclamators hunting and destroying any stragglers. While I would like to capture the Sullustian shipyards intact, if we cannot, then we will need to deny them to the enemy. In the event that we are likely to fail, I will instruct my fleet to skuttle the shipyards. If the Horizon were with us, I would interdict the system. But alas, she is not, and so we will not be able to prevent the enemy from escaping or from contacting the greater Confederacy for Reinforcements."
"You still haven't told me where my fleet comes in," Zsinj crossed her arms. "Why do you need extra ships?"
"Because while we have the firepower to take out the majority of the enemy firepower," Teskit waved for the simulation to proceed. "We do not possess adequate anti-starfighter assets to keep my fleet alive. If the estimates are accurate, then we will win against every ship that comes against us. But we will still fail," the simulation showed all of the ships being swarmed by fighters, bombers, and boarding craft. The battleship and destroyer the last of the Republic vessels to be destroyed. "The ORSF has significant assest that can assist."
"Run through a few more simulations with me, first," Maarisa leaned over the table. "Let's see what othe tactics may work. I'd rather not spend my entire fleet on a gamble."
The lights that lined the Triumphant's corridors were dimmer than the lights on the Horizon. Instead of the harsh white that seemed to illuminate the Republic's vessels, they were a darker, more comfortable yellow-white in color.
I didn't even really want to be here. But Aliya had insisted that she'd found a way to get the bridge open, and as the acting CO of two ships, I needed to be present to help deal with whatever was on the other side. (And if I didn't come, then she'd open up the doors anyway but without sufficient backup. It was as if she was being compelled to open the doors)
Fortunately, I hadn't come alone. I'd brought two squads of Commandos, a handful of the old War droids we'd found on the spare parts Interdictor. I'd also put on the Republic Mod armor that I'd acquired, and made sure that all of my weapons were ready. I wasn't taking any chances on what might be on the other side…
"Alright, we're clear of the immediate danger," I looked around at the assembled senior officers. "What's the status on the Triumphant?"
"We've got access to most of the systems," Aliya replied. "Only thing that prevents us from taking full control is that the bridge is completely locked down. We can't even get in from breaching the viewports. Whoever owned the ship before us replaced them with armored panels and sensors."
"We do have some other options there," Conor, the other lead engineer said. "But most of them involve not being able to close the doors there anymore."
"Let's leave that option for last if possible," I tried to hide my smirk, knowing that they were thinking about using explosives to breach the bulkhead doors. "Are we going to need access to the bridge to keep the ship moving with us?"
"No," Aliya shook her head. "We can do pretty much everything we need to from the secondary control center. The only issue we might run into is that we don't have access to the ship's databanks. Those are going to be locked away on the bridge."
"Then let's leave the bridge for another day," I said, stroking my short beard. "Now that we have time, I want a full inventory of the Triumphant. We've got our ARC-170s repaired, but I want a full squadron out there for recon if possible. There's a safety in numbers. Especially out here in uncharted space."
"Given we're going to be operating at efficiency below what our maximum is, we're authorizing the activation and use of reprogrammed droids to fill out crew roles," Lieutenant Crix Vane said, the holoprojector showing a handful of droids that were sitting deactivate on the Triumphant. "We're aware that this would have been a Sith Empire vessel, but several of our droid experts believe that they have a method to reset the combat and engineer droids and make use of them. Now, they're going to be testing their method first. But if we see results, we should see an increase in our crew complement."
"That's part of the reason we're going to be conducting a full inventory," I interjected. "We already pulled everything off the other Interdictor that we thought might be useful before we left. So, we've got half a full complement of Starfighters, even if they are dated, and a smattering of spare parts that should be somewhat useful for both ships. But we don't know what's in the stores for the Triumphant."
"There aren't any bodies," Aliya said quietly after that. "There were bodies on the other Interdictor. But there aren't any on the Triumphant. That's part of why I want access to the bridge. All of the lifeboats and escape pods are still present, there isn't any visible damage to the interior of the ship beyond the degredation of time."
"If you can find a way to get onto the bridge that doesn't involve removing the bulkhead doors, then I'll approve getting in," I replied. "Until then, we're going to proceed as planned. Now, moving onto navigation. The Astromechs and astronavigators are confident that they've found a relative location for our position. By best estimates, it's likely to take three months to return to known space. In all probability, it's going to take six months to a year if we're wrong about things."
I waited for the news to settle in before continuing.
"Thankfully, we were fully resupplied when we left the Core," I tapped a control and our list of food and water rations appeared. "We should be good for the return journey. But, we're going to be keeping an eye out for habitable planets. Fresh water and food are the sort of things that will keep morale high. We're also going to be moving to shift pattern Aurek. With how much work there is, I don't want anyone burning out or making critical mistakes. That goes doubly so for our engineers and other technicians. Make sure you're fully rested before doing any work on either of our ships or before we execute a jump. The last thing we want or need is for a critical mistake to cause us to get stuck out here for longer. Now, are there any questions?"
"Just one, sir," one of the last few starfighter pilots raised his hand. "There are only three pilots still present. Sure, we can probably use the rear gunners from our 170s to make up a gap or two. But I'm not sure that's a good idea out here in the Unknown Regions."
"You're right," I sighed, "It's not a good idea. Which is why we're going to be pulling some gunship pilots to fill in the gaps," I nodded at the clone that was in charge of our groundpounders. "It's not my favorite option, but it's all that's left to us. We'll have the two 170s, and four of the Aurek-Class running escorts. We need comprehensive scans of the systems that we're going to be jumping into."
"We're going to need to work out a rotation schedule for our deployments," the pilot replied. "We'll be spending a lot of time in the cockpit. There's going to be some issues if we don't get the proper breaks in-between."
"No better time to do that than now," Lieutenant Vane said. "We can sort that and the engineering schedules now. Get things sorted so we don't run into issues in the future."
Location: Eriadu
It had been weeks and there had still been no sign of the Horizon. If Lieutenant Hull or his people had deserted, there would have been a sign of them already. Instead, there had been no communications or sightings of the vessel whatsoever. Which meant that the vessel was another victim of the perils that came with utilizing Hyperspace.
Forcing the lost ship and crew far from his mind, Commodore Teskit instead considered the holographic map in front of him. Those systems that were aligned with the Republic were vastly outnumberd by the blue systems that surrounded them. Sullust was among them, the shipyards there produced ships for the Confederacy in great numbers. Well, it was time that the Republic moved to block such a vital resource here on the Outer Rim.
"Commodore Teskit," A smooth female voice interrupted his considerations.
"Maarisa," Teskit smiled as his old friend entered the room. "It's been a while."
"I see that you've finally managed to earn a promotion," the tanned woman smirked. "I was worried that you would be doomed to be a junior officer fro the rest of eternity."
"Competence always shines through," Teskit shrugged. "Now, how can I assist you, admiral?"
"The Republic won't be willing to contribute extra ships to assist you with taking Sullust," She replied, studying the Commodore's face for a reaction.
"I'm well aware of HIGHCOM's reluctance," Teskit replied, gesturing to the holographic map. "The CIS has been agressive and hit hard of late. I understand why they have pulled back to defend and rebuild lost forces. Clones and our personnel are not as easily replaced as the Confederacy's droids. But if we do no strike at one of the major worlds, then we will be ceding the initiative to the enemy. General Grievous is many things, unintelligent and unwilling to take advantage of weakness is not among them. If we sit back, he will strike as he did before, and we have no means to devise which fleet he will be with as of yet."
Admiral Zsinj considered Teskit's statement for a few short seconds before responding.
"All of that is accurate," She looked at the holomap and the systems it was focused on. "But the ORSF is not the Republic. If you can persuade me that with our assistance that your assault will be successful, then I will personally see to it that you receive the ships and assistance required to break through the Sullustian lines."
"We will use my battleship and destroyer as a spearhead," Teskit took control of the map and triigered a simulation. The ships of his fleet appearing and the known enemies in the system appearing as well. "Our job will be to focus on the enemy Providence and Lucrehulk-Class vessels that are in the system. The rest of the fleet will split according to our objectives. With wolfpacks of combined Arquitens and Acclamators hunting and destroying any stragglers. While I would like to capture the Sullustian shipyards intact, if we cannot, then we will need to deny them to the enemy. In the event that we are likely to fail, I will instruct my fleet to skuttle the shipyards. If the Horizon were with us, I would interdict the system. But alas, she is not, and so we will not be able to prevent the enemy from escaping or from contacting the greater Confederacy for Reinforcements."
"You still haven't told me where my fleet comes in," Zsinj crossed her arms. "Why do you need extra ships?"
"Because while we have the firepower to take out the majority of the enemy firepower," Teskit waved for the simulation to proceed. "We do not possess adequate anti-starfighter assets to keep my fleet alive. If the estimates are accurate, then we will win against every ship that comes against us. But we will still fail," the simulation showed all of the ships being swarmed by fighters, bombers, and boarding craft. The battleship and destroyer the last of the Republic vessels to be destroyed. "The ORSF has significant assest that can assist."
"Run through a few more simulations with me, first," Maarisa leaned over the table. "Let's see what othe tactics may work. I'd rather not spend my entire fleet on a gamble."
The lights that lined the Triumphant's corridors were dimmer than the lights on the Horizon. Instead of the harsh white that seemed to illuminate the Republic's vessels, they were a darker, more comfortable yellow-white in color.
I didn't even really want to be here. But Aliya had insisted that she'd found a way to get the bridge open, and as the acting CO of two ships, I needed to be present to help deal with whatever was on the other side. (And if I didn't come, then she'd open up the doors anyway but without sufficient backup. It was as if she was being compelled to open the doors)
Fortunately, I hadn't come alone. I'd brought two squads of Commandos, a handful of the old War droids we'd found on the spare parts Interdictor. I'd also put on the Republic Mod armor that I'd acquired, and made sure that all of my weapons were ready. I wasn't taking any chances on what might be on the other side…
Yacov
Not too sore, are you?
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Oh hey it is the good Republican Zsinj. Shame how she got her serviced record wiped after what her kid did to her.