WotH-2 Chpt 10

==War on the Horizon - Chapter 10 / Book 2==
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===Markman in Sheep's Clothing===
Date: June 25, 3017 AD/25.06.7956 CRC (Coruscant Reckoning Calendar)Location: Cato Neimoidia, Cato Neimoidia system, Colonies Region, Galactic Republic
"Take us in easy," Paige ordered the Marine who was piloting the captured Profit Margin. "They still think that we're the last survivor of the battle on Beloria. We want them fooled for as long as possible."
 
"Aye, ma'am," the Twi'Lek wiped some sweat off of his brow and continued bringing the Lucrehulk in even closer. "The repair yards are signaling for me to stop soon."
 
"Follow their instructions," Paige replied. "I'm going to have the Marines board the shuttles in a minute."
 
She turned to the slicers stationed on the bridge. "Please tell me that we got what we came here for."
 
"Yes, ma'am," Kurassh grinned, the once Criminal now enjoying his role as a Marksman. "I've got the control codes for every droid in the system. And once we engage, I can lock them out and begin issuing orders."
 
"How long will it take for them to reset?" Paige asked.
 
"Depends on the skill of their techs," Kurassh shrugged. "Could be a few minutes, could be an hour, it could be days."
 
"Alright," Paige glanced at her watch. "We start the operation in five minutes. The other parts of PEDESTAL should be under way within the hour."
 
"I'll start spinning up my programs," the Togruta cracked his knuckles and began tapping rapidly on his datapad. "We're ready and waiting for your command."
 
"You already know the orders," Paige replied. "Execute once we're on the ground, and we'll see if we managed to time this properly."
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"Uh, captain," a B1 looked at the Neimoidian in charge of the local fleet. "The Profit Margin stopped moving."
 
"She's damaged," the robed figure shrugged off the droid and continued to comb through his recent investments. "Of course she stopped moving, they'll probably need to be tugged into the repair yards."
 
"They're sending ships to the surface," the droid relayed, only to be waved off. "Sir," the droid then seemed to shut down for a brief moment before it refocused. "You're uhm under arrest."
 
The surrounding droids all pointed weapons at the few living bridge crew members, surrounding them and putting them into the escape pods before jettisoning them.
 
Then everything slowed down for a moment as they received new orders and returned to their stations.
 
"Destination is set," the droid relayed, programming in the hyperspace coordinates.
 
"Execute."
 
The fleet that protected Cato Neimoidia vanished into hyperspace, those living aboard it were heading for the surface and the fleet never again returned to protect the brightest of the purse worlds."
 
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===Packing up in a hurry===
Meanwhile, on the surface…
"Get that Droideka factory packed up!" Paige yelled at the droids and Marines looting everything that could be useful. "This won't ever work again, so we need to grab everything we can now!"
 
The droid factories were packed up, everything that could be found useful, from blaster parts to droid brains were loaded up and shipped off towards the Profit Margin.
 
And around eight hours later, as they were trying to get the prototype factory loaded up, they received this message.
 
"Ma'am, enemy slicers are starting to break through," Kurassh relayed over the radio. "You need to leave, now!"
 
"Drop what you have and get on the ships!" Paige ordered. "Kurassh, I need you to shutdown the droids that are onboard the ships."
 
"Already done, but I can't do the same to the ones on the surface, you're going to have to fight your way out if I lose control."
 
The Marines began boarding the shuttles and heading for the surface as the droids began to start heading for the racks of blasters that hadn't been loaded onto the shuttles yet.
 
"Shuttles one through fifteen are onboard, Major," the report came, awash in static. "Fifteen through twenty five have taken off, there's only five remaining."
 
Paige watched as her Marines lifted off in the next few shuttles, her eyes shifting to her six as she felt something shift in the area.
 
"Weapons free," she barked. "Bravo Platoon, you're on me, we're going to cover the LZ until they're gone."
 
Her rifle tucked into her shoulder, she fired at the first of the droids heading for the blaster racks, the large projectile shattering the head and sending the metallic form to the ground.
 
But there were so many droids, this was the capital of the Trade Federation, and they had enough droids stashed away that they couldn't prevent all of them from arming themselves.
 
And as they began to fall back to the last shuttle, the Marines began to fall.
 
"Grab the bodies and get them on the ship!" Paige grabbed a magazine off of her fallen brother, slamming it into her empty rifle and continuing to fall back and cover her people.
 
The last few marines limped onto the shuttle and the door shut behind them, the sound of blaster fire being absorbed by the shields and bulkheads before the shuttle left their effective range.
 
They had been successful, almost all of their objectives had been completed, and they hadn't suffered the projected casualties. Paige just hoped that the rest of PEDESTAL was going the same way.
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===Flight of the Valkyries===
Date: June 25, 3017 AD/25.06.7956 CRC (Coruscant Reckoning Calendar)Location: Neimoidia, Neimoidia system, Colonies Region, Galactic Republic
"All ships are in position and the system is completely interdicted," Captain Jasiah Ali reported.
 
"Begin Battle plan Echo," Commodore Victoria Jewel ordered. "I want their ships to be shattered and dust before we deploy the troop transports."
 
The ships launched their new Dart-Class fighters and the bombers in the form of the new Stukas and Lightnings that had recently left the factories.
"All ships, fall into escort positions," Hober ordered his flights of Sting gunships. "Remember to coordinate fire with the fighter wings and call out your targets appropriately."
"Commodore, all Stings are in position and ready for further orders."
 
"Stick to your lanes of fire," Jewel replied. "We're going to break these bastards, shred their fleets, and leave them with a lesson that they won't forget while we're around."
 
"You heard the lady!" Blaze grinned as he replied. "All fighters, bombers, and interceptors, we've been told to leave nothing between us and the planet, and I don't know about you, but I aim to please."
 
"Colonel Hull, everything is ready and we're go for OPERATION PEDESTAL," Victoria reported to the CO of the Marksman where he waited aboard the Leviathan. "Your orders?"
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===R&R Part 3===
REPORT CLASSIFIED…
 
PLEASE CONFIRM RECIPIENT'S CLEARANCE…
WELCOME, DOCTOR ADAMINA ROGERS
 
BEGIN FILE TRANSFER…
 
ENCRYPTION CODE: ROMEO
 PUBLIC KEY: … UNAVAILABLE
 SUBJECT: PROJECT ARROW
 CLASSIFICATION: SECRET (RND Directive)
 DATE: JUNE 12, 3010/12.07.7949 CORUSCANT RECKONING CALENDAR
 
DOCTOR ROGERS, 
 
PRELIMINARY WORK ON PROJECT ARROW IS CONTINUING AS PROJECTED. FINAL TESTING ON THE SPACEFRAME IS CONTINUING APACE AND THE TESTFLIGHTS BEFORE PRODUCTION ARE BEING CONDUCTED AS WAS PREVIOUSLY PLANNED.
 
AS PER PREVIOUS INSTRUCTION, DOCUMENTATION AND PRELIMINARY FACTORY MACHINES ARE ALREADY BEING CONFIGURED. A DETAILED SUMMARY OF THE PURCHASE AND MOUNTING OF THE FIGHTER'S HYPERSPACE DRIVES WILL BE ATTACHED ALONG WITH THE REQUESTED DOCUMENTATION.
 
ALL CURRENT PROJECTIONS SHOW THAT THIS WILL BE A SUPERIOR FIGHTER TO OUR CURRENT AEROSPACE ASSETS, AND TEST FLIGHTS AGAINST OUR CURRENT STOCK OF FIGHTERS HAVE PROVEN OUR PROJECTIONS ACCURATE.
 
ESTIMATED FULL PRODUCTION AND COMPLETION OF PROJECT ARROW IS CURRENTLY AUGUST 15, 3010. WILL SEND MORE REPORTS AS WE NEAR COMPLETION OF THIS PROJECT.
 
REGARDS,
 
CHIEF AEROSPACE ENGINEER FRANCISCO DIETZ
 
END FILE TRANSFER…
 
Adamina smiled and shook her head at the sheer formality of the engineer. He was a friend, but he had a bad habit of focusing on whatever projects he'd been assigned at the exclusion of all else. 
 
The Aethersprite prototypes that had been captured a year ago were going to be the foundation of the Marksman's aerospace forces. They were working on reverse engineering the Stuka for bombing runs, and the Lightning for bomber and local interceptor purposes. 
 
And it was her job, and that of her staff, to do what Springfield Armory did for the United States of America prior to, and just after Terra's Second World War. They were to prototype the weapons and future designs, and then they were to figure out how to make the machines that would be needed to manufacture everything. 
 
Currently they had more than a few projects that required her to split her attention.
 
Project ARROW could be left to Dietz, he was good at his job and would ensure that his team finished the project up within the budgetary requirements and the timeframe he'd been given.
 
Project VULTURE was taking place in conjunction with a few minor shipyards that had agreed to do business with them, and would require both parties to be satisfied before completion.
 
But it was Project SHINCHOKU that was the most interesting to her and the one that she was personally involved in.
 
Stripping down, identifying every part of all of the 'Mechs and vehicles that they brought with them, and beginning to scan the dimensions and precise details of said parts. Then, they were working on building up stockpiles of spare parts, and then working from there to start production on entirely new machines.
 
Shinchoku had a lot of issues, and they were working on one 'Mech at a time. 
 
Luckily, they already had the specs and details on the Toro from previous salvage runs, so they had rapidly put that into production.
 
But that was all more things to be done in the future. Right now, the focus was on the void. Because winning on the ground didn't matter if someone could just bombard you from orbit. 
 
So she leaned forward and began typing her response to Dietz. There was a lot more to do today, and Dietz needed an acknowledgement.
*; Author Segment Notes (R&R) : This takes place roughly 9 years before the this chapter. I just wanted to explain what the Dart is. Essentially, the Dart is a fighter that's a mixture of BattleTech and Star Wars technology crammed into an Aethersprite frame that's been slightly enlarged. Removing the Astromech bay for a neurohelmet and a slightly advanced computer allowed for more firepower and a hyperdrive system that's imported from one of the smaller manufacturers. As far as armament goes, that'll be posted in informational at a later point in time.
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Chapter 2-10