"Wretched place, isn't it?" Captain Jeremy Brogan turned at the voice of Moff Geoff Cole, giving a half-bow in greeting. The man was quiet, that was for sure. Brogan hadn't even noticed him arrive on the bridge. At present, Brogan's vessel, the ISD Cloak was holding steady just outside the endpoint of the Manda-Roon Merchant Route. The solitary Star Destroyer, it was preceded by a single EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate that was acting a communications vessel primarily and a defensive screen if things somehow went wrong. Its compliment of twenty-four TIE fighters were already deployed and stationed about it in defense. Ahead of said vessels by nearly three kilometers was the primary line of attack: a pair of Strike-class cruisers, and yet in front of them was even more redundant firepower in the form of a trio of Carrack-class light cruisers with a Lancer-class frigate in between each cruiser. To the rear of the Cloak sat the centerpiece of Cole's planning: the single Immobilizer 418 interdiction vessel allotted to the Moff as part of his sector fleet.
Brogan wondered why Cole needed so many vessels for his purpose here today. After all, a single ISD would, in theory, be more than enough. Most pirates turned and ran. Cole, as if able to guess Brogan's thoughts, turned and smiled slightly at the captain.
"Superior firepower, Captain Brogan. I want to make sure the smugglers and pirates I allow to remain on Roon hear of this. I want them to know a fraction of what can be brought to bear against them if they continue to strike at Imperial shipping. This is a lesson to be taught, Captain, and school is quite in session today."
Brogan was familiar with the particular being who had earned the ire of Moff Cole. A Corellian by the names of Lars Gemma. Gemma, a rogue and a smuggler, had earned quite the fortune selling arms from the Clone Wars, spice and other items of ill repute, not to mention running several gangs on varied Outer Rim planets, a supposed assassination racket and he'd now moved up to high piracy. This wasn't to say he hadn't been a pirate before. By and large, he'd likely been a decent one. Unfortunately for him, ego prevailed over sense and he'd begun striking at Imperial targets. This had the effect of making Cole rather unhappy. Today was the day, therefore, to bring an end to the nonsense.
Gemma, according to Cole's agents, made a bimonthly trip to Roon where the man spent extravagant amounts of money. This, of course, meant Roon was flourishing, but it flourished in the wrong manner, attracting all sorts of scum and villainy. The fact that he made these trips openly and with the backing of several pirate fleets (so the rumors said) was even more insulting.
"Captain, sensors report several dozen vessels emerging from hyperspace."
"Right on time. Thank you, Ensign." Brogan looked questioningly at Cole, who simply smiled. "It's your show, Captain. I'm just a bystander."
"Thank you, your excellence. Comms, instruct the Shatter to power up gravity wells. Inform all vessels of the forward line they are clear to open fire. Stand by to launch fighters."
On the sensors, Cole noted, there were quite a few ships. Nearly a squadron each of Cloakshape and Z-95s, with a good three squadrons of uglies intermixed. This was hardly surprising, of course. The sight of a half-dozen YT-1300s and two CR90 corvettes, however, was a surprise. It seemed as if Gemma had indeed been spending his money well. It was no surprise that he traveled without fear of other pirate bands: his fleet was by and far quite large for a private sector army. It just wasn't large enough though.
On the screen, Cole could see the pair of Lancer frigates, (Reliant and Horn) had already surged forward to engage the snubfighters while the trio of Carrack cruisers (Redoubt, Solaris and Night Sky) followed, blazing away as they moved on line with the frigates, heading directly for the CR90s. From the pair of Strike cruisers, a total of seventy-two TIE fighters, six squadrons, were launched for support as the larger vessels moves forwards to engage when their turn came. Under-gunned, outmatched and lacking the means to escape, Gemma's pirates were likely to loose the battle before they knew what hit them; a true show of Imperial might.
Cole, satisfied with the battle so far, looked up at Brogan. "Captain, I am retiring to my quarters. Call me when victory is achieved."
-----
Some time later, Captain Brogan roused the Moff personally to deliver the report. "Excellent, Captain, excellent. Brilliant tactics on both our parts. Total destruction of enemy capitol vessels. One freighter and a squadron and a half of snubfighters escaped, I see. Very good, letting the survivors run to carry the stories. You did well, Captain. Minimal damage to our own vessels. Half a squadron lost... a shame, that. I will need to compose letters to their families. Well done, Captain Brogan. Well done indeed. Take us home."
