Their uniforms were each their own, no single one the same, all unique in their way. The crew members wouldnt stop and salute, then again it was only because Ali'Zarin never got used to people saluting him. So he decided that it wouldnt be necessary while on his ship. Unless some anal retentive officer came on from another ship. Even those few transfers that did board the Dark Whispers learned quickly enough that no one saluted anyone on the ship. It didnt matter if they were an ensign or a lieutenant. No one saluted. Ali'Zarin's boot steps echoed through the halls of his ship until he reached the bridge. The lieutenant in charge handing him the orders they had been given. He nodded as his communications officer opened a channel through the ship for him to speak.

"This is Captain Ali'Zarin. In a few moments our mission will begin. I want everyone to their stations and be ready for anything. All pilots for the Tie Wings will be ready and assembled in the mission rooms just off from the hangers." The bridge crew nodded as they all moved to their positions. Ali'Zarin taking his place as he stood in front of the large windows before him. The ship beginning to slow until it dropped out of hyperspace. Its view set on Alurion, the radio picking up the last bit of the decree that was being shouted until the singing came and filled the bridge and the ship. Ali'Zarin motioned to his gunner officer. "Prepare to fire a warning shot, pick a location near the village, yet ensure that it doesnt do any damage. Communications, ready an open broadcast."

Just as the singing was ready to start up once more, Ali'Zarin motioned with his hand. The gunner nodding before a single blast was fire. The red beam of energy screamed through the atmosphere before a loud explosion filled the air. The farmland that had been targeted was now reduced to nothing more than a scorched crater as Ali'Zarin began to speak. "This is Captain Ali'Zarin of the Imperial Navy ship Dark Whispers. I do hope that you wont keep this silly notion of leaving the Empire in your mind. You see, I am not one for Diplomacy, nor is this ship really suited for it. So you have one option. Release the Imperial post master, or I destroy the village one house at a time. Oh and dont worry about collateral damage. My crew has done this to enough worlds to be able to hit a hay stack and leave the ground under it untouched. You have ten minutes to reply."

Imperial Navy
Alzarin Deamora
Black Ops Commander

Not being an idiot, he did not reply, nor did any operator on the planet, not much fancying the Imperial pigs landing at their location. He did though press the alarm button, the people in the town began to be woken and awakened men climbed out of their homes and walked the short distance to the town defences to join the ever present pickets.

The Mayor, and lately Major, placed upon his head the swiftly repurposed cap, having belonged to a former hotel porter, it was now sporting a printed picture of Alurion, pinned on to the peaked part. Picking up his rifle he moved towards the Imperial post office foyer where a large table had been erected, resting on the counter on one end and a pair of piles of Imperial propaganda at the other. In the corner a man slept quietly, tied up and gagged, the postmaster's uniform covering his frame was Ill fitting, the rebels had evidently neglected to feed this man for days...

At the table were the Aldermen of the town and the Chief of Police, along with Lieutenant Delors, a Former CorSec gunner in his youth, he now commanded the Battalions of Liberty's missile tubes in the town, concealed in chimneys these would be used to target the Imperials.

The Mayor-Major smiled to the bleary eyed men, all of whom had heard the Imperial threats, which had been recorded and notarised at multiple locations "I propose the resolution that we fire the first half of our dozen missiles at the Imperial Star Destroyer. They have directly threatened to open fire upon buildings containing their wives and children."

After some minutes a resolution was made and agreed on, that the missiles should be fired. The decision was agreed on by a consensus, then the meeting was placed in a recess until further news came to the Defence Committee for the town. The minutes so far were checked and read over by the lawyer present in the meeting, and all members signed that they were correct.

All the while things developed above... And the buttons to launch the missiles lay on the table. When the formalities were concluded, he pressed six of the twelve lit buttons on the table. In chimneys swiftly fitted with launch tubes primitive but powerful missiles streaked into the air, accelerating quickly to thousands of KM/h to escape the atmosphere. Their primitive targeting systems performing course alterations towards the ISD.

Two of the missiles failed to achieve orbit. One failed to ignite and simply sat inside it's tube smoking, much to the concern of the "Engineer" monitoring it, the second one's guidance system had been poorly calibrated and so corkscrewed away from the town to explode harmlessly in the sea some scores of miles distant.

"Sir, we have weapons fire from the surface. It would appear to be missiles. Sensors show that only one has managed to break into orbit out of the six fired. The houses that have fired them have been targeted. The missile is heading straight for us, reports say that with its minimal design, and from explosions picked up on the surface, that the missile will strike the shields and damage will be minor to nothing."

Ali'Zarin nodded as he brought his arms up and crossed them over his chest. He wanted to do this with as little blood shed as possible, of course it was what the Admirality wanted as well. He brought his hand up as he motioned to the gunner. "Be ready to fire on my signal, lets let them see how little their missiles will do to the Empire." Ali'Zarin smirked as the warning siren on the bridge continued to go off, an automated voice speaking.

"Impact in 5...... 4..... 3..... 2.... 1..."

At that moment an explosion went off just near the ship. Rocking it as the explosion hit the shields. The ship shaking for a moment, the entire time Ali'Zarin stood still and didnt even weave with the movement of the ship. The officer looking up as he turned from the console.

"Reports show minor damage to the hull. The section in question that was damaged is an empty storage room. The door has been sealed, and the hull as been dented. Nothing else is showing up on the scans of damage. Scans have also found a ship that has just entered the system."

Ali'Zarin nodded before he motioned with his hand. The gunners nodding as they targeted the six houses that had fired the missiles. A quick salvo of turbolaser fire tore through the atmosphere, screaming through the air. Each one striking the homes that fired the missiles. Those homes whose missiles had been fired were gutted by the selective fire, leaving the structure of the house up while the innards were torched completely, nothing more than an empty home. The single house whose missile hadnt fired quickly went up in a loud explosion, the missile tearing through the home and into the buildings around it.

"Sir, reports show that the last home had an unfired missile which caused the extra explosion."

"Contact the ship that just came out of hyperspace. Find out why they're here."

The communications officer nodded as they opened a channel to the ship. "This is the Imperial Ship Dark Whispers, you are entering an active security zone that has been set up by the Empire. State your reason for being here, or you will be deemed hostile, and appropriate action will be taken."

Imperial Navy
Alzarin Deamora
Black Ops Commander

The missile stuck in its house did not detonate, but simply continued to sit in its tube smoking. The houses fired on were of course leveled, with each containing families, around a dozen civilians were killed in addition to seven engineers. The people in the town, hearind the further bombardment, moved to their basements and storm shelters, hoping to be able to hide from the wrath descending from orbit.

In the town the spirit was high as they were able to see the missiles striking the Imperial Star Destroyer in orbit, even if the missiles had not been very effective, their bright flashes in the sky close to the Star Destroyer caused a ripple of cheering.

"Captain, we're just your friendly mercenaries looking for work. Heard this place was a hot-spot and figured sooner or later someone would want to hire on some guys for cash. Trust be told, we work for the highest bidder. Don't really care who signs the checks."

"In case of the untimely death of the Imperial Post Master, be ready to report to Imperial Naval command that when we arrived on scene, the rebels had already killed the Post master. We gave them ample warning to stand down and be ready to stand trial for their crime, at which point they opened fire on an Imperial Vessel. We took appropriate actions and returned fire to ensure the further security of the Empire. If the mercenary ship does not leave, include in the report that a Rebel ship arrive to try and help the rebels on world." The second in command nodded as Ali'Zarin looked to his gunners. Some of the best in the whole Empire, hand picked by Ali'Zarin to crew his ship. He nodded as he pointed to the head gunner in command.

"Fire on all targets. Selective firing, bring down their defenses, and hit any house with a chimney." The gunners nodded as they began to take aim. Soon enough loud thunderous roars of turbolaser fire ripped through the atmosphere. The lasers of the large guns slammed into their targets, emitting large thundering explosions as the bombardment of Alurion commenced.

Imperial Navy
Alzarin Deamora
Black Ops Commander

In the region close to the town, another dozen missiles streaked up, the mobile launchers being disassembled instantly after firing and being hidden in farm equipment or distant sheds, or else abandoned, the people moving off to woods and other safe areas to hide from the fire from above. Others who abandoned their missile tubes simply fled in small speeders and swoops, striking a blow. The twelve missile launched all functioned, and were targeted towards the exposed reactor bulb and hangar on the Imperial Star Destroyer, they were unlikely to do significant damage but the locals were determined to show they could still fight.

Records of the bombardment were broadcasted and stored across Alurion, a record was kept of this atrocity, and the rebels were planning to assure this massacre, the greatest the Imperials had enacted, this was a bigger massacre than Ghorman, and the slaughter here would be certain to turn millions of citizens and dozens of worlds to turn away from the Empire when the time to rebel came.

However, as they headed out, a new group of ships entered the system from a different vector; opposite to that which the shuttle was heading out. An odd collection, it consisted of a YZ-775, a JumpMaster 5000, a quartet of Planetary Defender starfighters, eight R-41 Starchasers and a Telgorn dropship. They entered with no communications and seemed bent on heading for the planet.

The trap was being sprung, the large contingent of small vessels prepared for battle, planning to use sheer numbers and shock to help overwhelm the single star destroyer which would be forced to split its fire across such a wide surface area as to make its weapons ineffective. The Dantooine vessels steaming majestically through the void, their bare metal hulls unmarked as they reached their hyperspace exit point...

"Start a mass orbital bombardment. Also ready the Ion Cannons to fire on the approaching ships. I want it clear that Rebels caused this destruction, and that the Empire arrived too late to prevent it." The gunners nodded and understood the orders. Each of them aiming before they fired. Letting off a heavy salvo that began to bombard the entire area of the city below. Slamming into homes and buildings like as they tore through the city. As the last turbolaser blast fell, the ship then turned its attention to the two ships that had entered the system.

Imperial Navy
Alzarin Deamora
Black Ops Commander

The message began go spread by wired communications across Alurion, Bastile, sitting in his tunnel command center got the news and shook his head.. he had no conception that the Empire was quite so barbaric.. to commit genocide for such a provocation was a disgusting travesty.

The missiles though, with the ISD rather distracted, were brutally effective (since it was not stated otherwise). Fully half piercing the shields, three making their way into the vulnerable hangar's interior, causing little structural damage but making havoc in the bays where pilots and techs worked to prepare the ship for battle. Struts and debris blocked fighters from launching in some areas, bodies were strewn across the decks and a carriage of fuel slugs was detonated, causing a further blast which impeded attempts to rescue those from the stricken hangars. Obviously though, not every hangar in the main bay was out of action, and while progress would be impeded, it was still likely the ship could launch some if not all of its fighters in a reasonable time frame.

The missiles targeted at the reactor bulb caused rather less havoc, but a much more severe long term problem. The three which hit there managed to hit a tight spread, cracking the outer armour and causing the primary coolant line to be severed. A cloud of coolant began to spray into space. Alarms would sound on the bridge as the coolant was severed, the auxilliary failsafes kicking in of course, but the leak having caused a decline in coolant levels before it was locked down. This leak would cause the reactor to have the problematic situation of being in battle with a reactor that could not be run at 100% of its capacity, this would leave them with a variety of unappealing options such as lowering the power on weapons or shields, or only using a portion of its weapons or shields in order to prevent the strained reserve coolant systems from being overloaded, causing a possible core overload and the destruction of the ship if they attempted to run the ship for any length of time at full tilt...

Also problematic would be the crack itself, providing a tempting target if the shields were taken down fully.

No further missiles came from Alurion, the people on the planet seemingly shocked into silence by the atrocity.

The Maurauder-class, in its effort to manouvre around the ISD had caused the ISD to have to turn itself to face it to keep its attention on it, meaning its rear was exposed to attack from the rebel forces from Shiva if its prow followed the Maurauder, but by not following it, it would risk the Maurauder itself descending and pouring fire into the vulnerable rear of the ISD, which would then find itself unable to shake off the smaller capital ship that could use the ISD's bulk as a shield and rain fire down upon the critical rear of the bridge.

The choices for the Imperial Captain seemed to be running out as the forces of freedom descended upon him.

The R-41 Starchasers were the first about and formed up in a wedge, acquiring firing solutions on their target: the port-side shield generator. Below and a bit behind them, the Planetary Defenders were in a diamond, with the at vessel being a bit above the forward vessel and their targets the same as the R-41s, aiming not at a spread, but a single point to punch through.

The Caliph's Sun, fastest of the larger vessels, was next in line, prepping proton torpedoes. To its left, the Telgorn dropship Hammer accelerated, boosting power to its weapon systems. Of all the ships, it needed to get the closest for its high-powered weapons to work. In the very rear, the deadly and tenacious Gloom prepared for a different target: the spire of the bridge tower.