WotH-2 Chpt 1

==War on the Horizon - Chapter 1 / Book 2==
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===Trade Federation Raid===
Date: March 26, 3017/03.26.7956CRCLocation: Beloria, Independent world
"Trade Federation ships, you are entering space protected by the Marksman Mercenary Corporation, please state your intentions or prepare to be fired upon," Jasiah Ali, the Togruta captain of the CR-70 Two Birds, One Stone broadcast to the Trade Federation ships before shifting position to look at his bridge crew.
 
"Launch our fighters, and get me a line to Commodore Jewel," Captain Ali ordered calmly. "That's not a trade fleet like the others that have shown up."
 
"Aye sir!" the bridge officers began to perform their jobs at their usual efficiency. "Fighters are deployed and taking up escort positions. Captain, they're asking for orders."
 
"Have them disperse and begin heading into the system. They won't be more than Vulture fodder here."
 
"Captain Ali, you put in a priority Comms request," Commodore Jewel appeared on screen, her appearance that of someone who had just stumbled out of bed.
 
"Yes, ma'am. There's a Trade Federation Fleet here at the Hyperlane entrance, they're refusing to respond to hails and outnumber our defense forces by ten to one."
 
"Get me scans of the ships," the commodore was now fully awake. "Begin transmitting now and then begin pulling back to the rest of our forces."
 
"We won't be able to make that," Ali glanced at the navigation officer who simply shook his head with a sad smile. "We'll do our best to stall them. But I'm fairly sure that you'll want to let the Colonel know to prepare for a possible invasion." The Togruta laughed a bit. "I'm hoping I'm wrong, but this isn't the usual fleet that stops by to trade with us before moving on."
 
"Captain, Lucrehulks are launching fighters, and the Munifex light cruisers are powering weapons and shifting into combat positions!"
 
"Commodore, we'll hold them off for as long as we can," Ali had the tech cut the transmission before shifting to focus on the battle in front of him. "Begin evasive maneuvers, and find me the ship that looks like it's in charge of the fleet."
 
"Analyzing signals," the comms officer turned and began to scan the fleet.
 
"Munifexes are opening fire!"
 
"Use our portside chemical thrusters," Ali held onto the captain's chair with a tighter grip than normal, his orange knuckles turning white. "Get us around. Ensign, I need those readings!"
 
"This Lucrehulk is sending and receiving the most signals," a Lucrehulk in the middle of the overlapping fields of fire of the other nine converted freighters was illuminated.
 
"Send transmissions to the fleet inside, and find me a weak point in the fleet, we're going to bleed them and then we're leaving."
 
"Captain?"
 
"Have our squadrons get under our deflectors and get me hyperspace calculations ready," Ali stood up and tapped the holographic display. "We're crippling one ship and then leaving the system. I'm not wasting our lives today. Not when we can go get the rest of our fleet."
 
"Understood, sir," the CR-70 shifted and approached one of the Munifex Light cruisers, the aerospace fighters grouped up under the corvette's deflectors until given the order.
 
"Fighters are to launch torpedoes. We're going to follow up with concussion missiles and then jump."
 
"Sending coordinates to fighters, all are signaling reception of orders and jump coordinates!"
 
The four fighters immediately split up and began to accelerate past the corvette, the sixteen Proton Torpedoes clustered on the Trade Federation vessel as a trio of Concussion missiles entered the fray before the fighters and CR-70 vanished into hyperspace.
 
The first four torpedoes detonated upon the deflector shields. The next four did as well, but the last eight tore a gaping hole in the side of the vessel that the concussion missiles detonated inside of, triggering secondary explosions.
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===Hard Tactical Decisions===
"Ma'am, the Two Birds, One Stone jumped to Hyperspace, and the Federation vessels just shot our Hypercomm relay!"
 
"Hopefully they manage to make contact with the rest of our fleet," Jewel stood over the tactical table. "But until then, we have a job to do. If they haven't detected us by now, they will soon. So we're going to go into hiding. The shadow of the gas giant should be sufficient to block our signals from the enemy until we're ready to move."
 
"But won't that leave the ground forces open to bombardment?"
 
"It might," Jewel sighed. "But I'm not wasting your lives. And the Colonel won't be wasting lives either. The main base and the big cities all have strong deflectors. It'd take more than a fleet of this size to take those shields down. Which means that it's going to turn into a ground fight."
 
"Then it's going to become a slugfest down there," her XO shook his head. "What's your plan here, Commodore?"
 
"Captain, we're going to be a thorn in their side, the sensor ghosts that go bump in the night. But we're going to have to wait for the right moment. Otherwise, we'll lose all of our ships and they'll still have to deal with a ground invasion," she sighed. "We just don't have the firepower to deal with what they brought."
 
"We're sending the Stings down to assist," Jewel looked at the comms officer. "Get Commander Hober on the line, he's going to need to move now before they get to deployment zones."
 
"On it," the XO moved to begin issuing orders to the rest of the fleet while Jewel began recording a brief message.
 
"Transmit this to Hober, he'll need to give this to Colonel Hull," The commodore moved back to the tactical console. "Then pull us back behind the Gas giant."
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===Standup and Fight===
"Colonel," Commander Hober handed me a Compad. "Critical information on enemy fleet strength and assets in the system are loaded onto here."
 
"We're evacuating the civilians to our bunkers now," I replied. "Keep your dropships under the shields for now. I really hope the Gungans didn't sell us shit for the defenses."
 
I stood up and stripped my external uniform off, revealing the cooling vest and shorts that I wore when piloting my Warhammer. "You should get back to the Archon's Favor," I strapped a holster to my thigh and slid my sidearm into it. "We're going to need the air support."
 
"You're joining the fight, Sir?"
 
"It's my base," I grunted. "And my world. The Trade Federation doesn't know that they've fucked with the wrong group yet…" I trailed off as I stepped out of the office and looked past the translucent shields at the descending droid ships. "But they will."
 
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Chapter 2-1