Battle of Ruaha

Glaston Pirates starfighters head into battle against Arrow Squadron

> "*They are pirate scum and will scatter at the first true show of force. They'd rather prey on the innocent and defenseless.*"
> ― Kostan Stodl
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> "*I wouldn't sell these pirates short, especially not with Ras leading the way.*"
> ― Vid Paratool in response to Kostan Stodl
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## **Overview**

**The Battle of Ruaha** was the first engagement fought between members of Arrow Squadron and the Glaston Pirates. The brief battle was fought in 2 ABY above the moon of Ruaha, which was located in the Chommell Sector. Technically a draw, the major takeaway from the battle was that Lieutenant Tolamael Benere and Arrow Squad learned that their campaign against the pirates would not be an easy one.

## **Probing Actions**

### **The Chommell Sector**

After their successful campaign in the Betseeda System, the surviving members of Arrow Squadron, with a small number of reinforcements from Alliance Starfighter Command, were dispatched to the Chommell Sector. Their mission was to destroy a band of pirates that had been ruthlessly attacking critical shipping and supply lines.

Those pirates, led by the cruel and charismatic Ras Moltar, were operating out of at least one hidden base. Prior to their arrival, Arrow Squadron had been given intelligence files, obtained by rebel spies, pointing the location of the pirate's base as the moon of Ruaha.

Believing the pirates would scatter in the face of veteran starfighters, Lieutenant Benere was confident that his forces could eliminate the pirates in one fell swoop. Mobilizing at the hidden rebel base on the moon of Rori, Benere and his fighters developed an attack plan.

Initially, two members of Arrow Squadron, Vid Paratool and S'Hral Glaso, both of which had familiarity with smuggling and the black market, made two long range sensor sweeps of the surface of Ruaha. They disguised their sweeps as routine mineral scans and scrambled the signals on their fighters to mimic those of freighters. These precautions were taken in order to prevent alerting the pirates of their probings. Their actions confirmed the presence of a base, but they were unable to give additional information regarding the size of strength.

Benere was now comfortable enough to formulate an attack plan, but some questions remained about just how many pirates were under Moltar's command.

With the death of the beloved Idolon Jdre at the Battle of Jonquil Station, Benere had promoted the Mon Calamari pilot, Udas, to be his second in command. Splitting into two attack groups, the plan called for Benere and his wing to attack the pirate base while Udas and his wing provided covering fire against any turret emplacements and starfighters.

Within three days of their arrival in the system, the plan was set into motion.

### **Jumping Into Battle**

> "*Nav systems are shutting down in all fighters. Something has a lock on us! I think it's a gravity well! All ships, brace for combat!*"
> ― Tolamael Benere just prior to being pulled from hyperspace
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As Arrow Squadron moved through hyperspace on its way to attack the pirate base, Benere had his fighters use a similar tactic employed by Glaso and Paratool of masking their signature. Given the large group of fighters couldn't pawn itself off as a simple freighter, he had Glaso adjust their frequency to display that of a corvette. This move would backfire.

The corvette was indeed picked up by pirate scanners on Ruaha. However, instead of ignoring the the corvette and allowing it to pass through the system, greed got the better of their senses. The pirates then deployed a secret weapon. Using stolen and experimental Imperial Navy technology, the pirates created an artificial gravity well and pulled the "corvette" out of hyperspace.

The move surprised both the Arrows, who had never been pulled from hyperspace, and the pirates who had never pulled an Alliance starfighter squadron out of of hyperspace. After a brief moment of confusion, with neither side expecting to see one another, the battle began as Lieutenant Benere opened fire.

## **The Battle**

### **Unexpected Guests**

> "*"I thought you said it was a corvette! Not a dozen X-Wings!"*"
> ― Farina to her sensor technician
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The pirates, expecting another easy score, were surprised to find a full armed and ready squadron of Rebel fighters now dropping out of hyperspace. Stunned, the leader of the fighters and deputy of Moltar, Farina, ordered her ships to open fire.

At the same moment, Arrow Squadron had just re-calibrated their sensors and realized they were about to come face to face with the pirates. Benere fired first and the battle began.

Almost immediately, Lieutenant Benere realized that the gravity well must be the priority target. The presence of this technology explained how so many ships had fallen victim to the pirates in such a short amount of time. Knowing that gravity wells required massive amounts of energy, he ran a quick scan of the planets surface and located the largest energy source in one of the many buildings on the moon's surface.

Ordering Udas and his flight wing to handle Farina and her fights, Benere launched a full attack against the gravity well.

On the Glaston Pirates side of the battle, Ras Moltar was furious that his base had been caught off guard. He had ordered the attack on the "corvette" and sent a handful of his fighters to intercept what he believed would be an easy target. Now, from his position in the command structure on the moon's surface, he began orchestrating a retreat, knowing he could never go toe to toe with the fighters, especially unprepared.

All Glaston ships and personnel knew of their fallback location, another secret base known as Vagabond's Rest. Within moments of the attack beginning, the first of the Glaston ships began to jump to hyperspace in retreat.

### **Dancing with Danger**

Farina and her pilots proved a better match than Tolamael had planned and his fighters, although taking no casualties, were not inflicting much damage against the nimble pirate ships. However, the pirates were fully concentrating on Udas and his ships which allowed Benere, Craal Noarnn, Danic Polis, and newcomer Callan Rychel to target and destroy the gravity well. Polis and Rychel also shot down two pirate fighters that had moved to protect the well.

Moltar, seeing the destruction of his primary weapon, ordered a final retreat of what forces remained on Ruaha and escaped himself. On his signal, Farina and her remaining fighters broke off their attack and also jumped to hyperspace.

The entire engagement had lasted less than 10 standard minutes.

## **Outcome and Impact**

### **Long Haul**

While no Arrow Squadron pilots were killed during the Battle of Ruaha and a handful of pirate fighters, and their gravity well, had been destroyed, the mission to destroy the Glaston Pirates was unsuccessful. Lieutenant Benere had inflicted damage, but the vast majority of Moltar and his forces had escaped and were now in an unknown location. The Arrows, upon returning to their base on Rori, understood that their tactics would need to be adjusted for future combat against the pirates.

Upon alerting Alliance High Command, of the mission's outcome, Tolamael received additional orders. He was now to destroy the pirates by all means necessary and prevent none from escaping. The Alliance had lost too much in terms of commerce and supplies at the hands of these pirates and they were not willing to bring him to trial for his actions.

Tolamael struggled with the orders, but kept them private for the time being. He knew that women, and possibly children, were among the pirates ranks.

Knowing that an intelligence campaign to locate the new pirate base would be their next course of action, Benere and his pilots set about planning for the possibility of another long campaign.

## Members of Arrow Squadron at the Battle of Vagabond's Rest

* Arrow Leader: Tolamael Benere
* Arrow Three: Vid Paratool
* Arrow Four: Danic Polis
* Arrow Five:Sorshara Bray
* Arrow Six: Udas
* Arrow Seven: Craal Noarnn
* Arrow Eight: Tozin X'ala
* Arrow Ten: Callan Rychel
* Arrow Thirteen: Kostan Stodl
* Arrow Fourteen: S'Hral Glaso
* Arrow Fifteen: Tularus Tonith
* Arrow Sixteen: Yol Aak
* Arrow Seventeen: Dapla Lydd