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Part I: Dantooine
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| Shiva | Date: Wednesday, 16 May 2012, 0:15 AM | Message # 1 |
 Major general
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| A solitary R-41 Starchaser dropped out of hyperspace some forty-thousand kilometers from Dantooine, yet still well within the spacelanes implemented by the trade routes and such. It was not uncommon to see a snubfighter, and such a common model at that, utilized as a personal craft. It was not painted with any real distinctive markings, or even with anything more at the moment than a faded tan coat of paint, which in fact was freshly painted, then scraped and sand-blasted to make it seem more aged. This craft, moving at no real high-intrusive speed nor at one low enough to be suspicious, meandered towards Dantooine. It's scanners were up; passive and active, largely to watch out for traveling merchant vessels so that it could adjust its course and heading, though any military vessels near Dantooine would be likely to be picked up as well.
Shiva
The Shadowlord
The Lightbringer
Separatist High Commander (former)
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| General_Eel | Date: Wednesday, 16 May 2012, 8:49 AM | Message # 2 |
 Major
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| Hangin' around the area was nothing but the space station, Corvette and Gozanti Cruiser, as well as a couple of fighters on patrol. The full extent of the Militia's fire was not apparent as several squadrons of fighters lay at rest on the planet or in the hangars of the converted Medical Station etc.
General Trebor Eel
______________________
Commanding General of the Khoonda Militia
Major General Retired
Ex-Quartermaster-General 187th Clone Legion
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| Shiva | Date: Wednesday, 16 May 2012, 9:28 AM | Message # 3 |
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Major general
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| (( Just for clarification, what type of corvette is it? I was looking over Dantooine's requests and all I could find for defensive numbers is this. ))
As the Starchaser continued to vector in towards the planet, settling into a route that would eventually take it into orbit near Garang to allow for landing, the pilot opened a comm channel to the space station as he drew closer. "Dantooine Control, requesting landing vector for Garang City. Here for a spot of recreation or two." The scanners were still doing their scanning thing quite scanningly, but the R-41s pilot waggled his craft's wings in greeting to any of the fighters that came close by; the pilot's 'wave' to another; after all, who wanted to drive the large, slow ships when the speed and maneuverability of one's own fighter was so much more beautiful?
Shiva
The Shadowlord
The Lightbringer
Separatist High Commander (former)
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| General_Eel | Date: Wednesday, 16 May 2012, 9:43 AM | Message # 4 |
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Major
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| A DP-20 was the class of Corvette present. The fighter was given a landing vector in the airstrip outside of Garang "Ain't no Garang Central boy, but sure are welcome to come land on the closest darn thing, I'll give y'all coordinates. Welcome to Dantooin'" spoke a drawl over the communicator. The vessel was given landing coordinates near the capital at the landing strip.
While the Militia was on standby, it was not on full alert, as such the vessels in orbit were not yet at battle stations nor any fighters above the usual patrol picket launched. That said, the turrets and defenses across the planet were locked and loaded.
General Trebor Eel
______________________
Commanding General of the Khoonda Militia
Major General Retired
Ex-Quartermaster-General 187th Clone Legion
Message edited by General_Eel - Wednesday, 16 May 2012, 9:46 AM |
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| Shiva | Date: Wednesday, 16 May 2012, 2:50 PM | Message # 5 |
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Major general
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| "My apologies, Dantooine Control. Garang it is. I appreciate the vector." It would appear, by the description, that no trade vessels were at Dantooine at this time, rendering space rather clear. For an agricultural world, some would assume that various freighters of one type or another would be in orbit, but as there were none, it was an easier deal to pull, so to speak. Entering orbit, the R-41 would come in on the path given, landing lightly at the airstrip outside of town. From its battered cockpit, an older, weather-beaten man appeared. He wore a scruffy flight suit that had been patched a time or two in some spots and when he removed his helmet, he was fully bald, though he sported several days' worth of a beard. Stretching from the flight, he locked down his cockpit and ambled towards whatever shack or building passed for a portmaster's office at Garang, intent on paying the docking fee for four days.
Shiva
The Shadowlord
The Lightbringer
Separatist High Commander (former)
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| General_Eel | Date: Thursday, 17 May 2012, 4:13 AM | Message # 6 |
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Major
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| Weren't harvest season so there weren't many merchant vessels around, a few off season small time haulers were landed on the field along with assorted space trash returning home for the summer. The man was allowed his permit to keep his ship on the strip and aside from being kept an eye on by some
Of the xenophobic groups of good ol boys like Jamie's, they'd not be accused unless they stepped outta line.
General Trebor Eel
______________________
Commanding General of the Khoonda Militia
Major General Retired
Ex-Quartermaster-General 187th Clone Legion
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| Shiva | Date: Thursday, 17 May 2012, 7:43 AM | Message # 7 |
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| The pilot caught a local transport into Garang proper, where he'd locate the nearest cantina; ideally one that wasn't Jamie's Bar and Grill. Once he'd gone inside, ordered a drink and paid, he'd utilize the cantina's likely old and dirty holo-transmitter to place a call. To any listeners, the call was a message left to his brother and went a little something like this:
"Well brother-man, I finally made it to Dantooine. That Corellian gunman I chased down a few weeks back was still pretty fresh on my mind. His partner managed to escape Loquando Station on one of their fighters. Damned shoddy security the place had, but what can you expect from someone that far out? At least the raiders got stopped by that cruiser. Nasty piece of pirate-stopper there."
The recorded message continued like this for several minutes before the pilot finished his drink and sent the message off, ending with a, "Well, I hope we can meet up in the next few months. Tatooine is a hard place to get off of. I'll be headin' that way myself once I recollect my mind."
With the message sent, the pilot went back to drinking. He'd have another two or three drinks before hailing a public transport to take him back to the landing strip, where he'd prevail upon whatever customs officer or official to inquire as to where he might be able to conduct a few repairs and upgrades to his ship.
Shiva
The Shadowlord
The Lightbringer
Separatist High Commander (former)
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| General_Eel | Date: Thursday, 17 May 2012, 8:37 AM | Message # 8 |
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Major
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| The man was allowed to do his repairs. Jamie's Storehouse on the Landing Strip offering a very reasonable price and being the closest thing to an "official" vendor that existed, naturally the R-41 was a fairly standard model and so parts were in abundance.
Naturally there were several bars which weren't a branch of Jamie's, although largely they were frequented by militiafolk, the strange foreigner on his communicator would attract a few looks but nothing inquisitive, this was Dantooine after all.
General Trebor Eel
______________________
Commanding General of the Khoonda Militia
Major General Retired
Ex-Quartermaster-General 187th Clone Legion
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| Shiva | Date: Thursday, 17 May 2012, 9:31 AM | Message # 9 |
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Major general
Group: Users
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| What the good and native folk of Dantooine couldn't have known, was the 'message to his brother' was actually a coded signal that passed certain information to a receiver elsewhere. Never a direct link, it was piggybacked, switched around and in general, made hard to follow. It outlined the defense capabilities that had been witnessed by the pilot, including the gunship, the Gozanti cruiser, the station and the presence of snubfighters, as well as the relative distance of certain vessels, namely the station, from the planet, as well as the fact that there were no major Imperial forces.
The pilot would still be on the landing strip, largely under the premise of trying to rewire some of the components of his cockpit with aftermarket parts when the fun began, so to speak. Along the entry vector that R-41 had taken several hours prior; well out of range of standard weaponry and warhead lock, the Sword and Shield emerged side by side, albeit with a distance between them of several hundred kilometers. Both immediately activated their hyperwave jammers to prevent or make much more difficult any communications that would ideally call for help. With weapons hot and shields up, the pair of Munificent-class star frigates engaged the primary target: Dantooine's customs station.
While outside the range of conventional weaponry, the pair of vessels were indeed within the range of their prow heavy turbolasers and long-range ion cannons. Both vessels opened fire with their prow heavy turbolasers (four total) in a single salvo, followed by a second shot with their long-range ion cannons (four total), designed, if possible, to either pierce through the shields of the Haven-class space station and then allow the ion weaponry to proceed to damage and disable it. The current captain of the Sword hailed the Dantooine vessels.
"Dantooine naval forces! Stand down and you will not be destroyed. Mercy will be shown to you and to the people of Dantooine. There are certain items we require from Dantooine, and if they are freely given, no further weapons need be discharged."
Shiva
The Shadowlord
The Lightbringer
Separatist High Commander (former)
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| General_Eel | Date: Thursday, 17 May 2012, 12:19 PM | Message # 10 |
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Major
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| "ALL MILITIA FORCES SCRAMBLE, THIS IS NOT A DRILL" went out on the communicator across all the Militia stands around Garang even as the unexpected vessels were approaching, big unexpected Capital vessels were highly unusual in the region, and so preparations were already in place for this eventuality.
From a trio of batteries, the SPHA-T and SPHA-C weapons platforms which lay, always crewed, in undisclosed locations swung upwards. Four SPHA-Ts were now also in range of the opposing vessel (with their independent power generators giving them considerable reach past the space station in low orbit over Garang. A pair of heavy Concussion missiles were likewise sighted upon the Frigates in orbit even as they emerged from hyperspace.
From the Military Spaceport north of Garang the Sixteen ARC-170 Fighters and Eight Alpha-3 Nimbus-class V-Wings were launched alongside a pair of Z-95s from the space station. The DP-20 and Gozanti-cruiser came to battle stations swiftly, the DP-20 tumbling away to outflank and come in behind the attacking vessels.
The shields of the space station held as the initial volley slammed home, albeit struggling to remain at full power in the circumstances from such a sudden attack. The twin turbolasers of the station would turn impotently to the vessels out of range as the fighters streaked past in an assault formation, it's tractor beams pulling space debris and the assorted cargo containers surrounding it in orbit in an attempt to provide a form of "hillbilly armour" in the direction of the vessels, being as their guns had a fixed axis and they were at a long distance, this would be difficult to circumvent as hardened XTS containers were put in the way of their fire.
The Dantooine captain on the DP-20 opened his communicator in return as General Eel proceeded down to the ops room in the Garang Fort. "Unknown aggressors, you are targeting a civilian customs and medical facility, cease fire immediately." came his enraged voice as he locked on his vessels numerous weapons systems to the Munificent-class vessels primary cannons, not firing yet. "I repeat, stand down, you are firing at a Civilian Facility. We're going to wipe you out elsewise, back off now and we'll not stop you, we've got nothing of interest to you pirates, crops haven't been brought in yet so there's little for you pillagers to steal."
Seeing their hyperwave comms jammed in Garang they simply radioed in a call across the fibre optic comms common on small worlds round to a Militia station on the opposite side of Dantooine, sending a distress call to the Imperial Navy and all Planetary Navies in the vicinity. "This is Dantooine, we have two Munificent-class Frigates attacking civilian facilities unprovoked, requesting assistance urgently. Over." as the ships were on the other side of the world it was unlikely they could jam all angles.
Additionally, all weapon systems on the planet were brought online, and the Militia filed out into their ready positions.
General Trebor Eel
______________________
Commanding General of the Khoonda Militia
Major General Retired
Ex-Quartermaster-General 187th Clone Legion
Message edited by General_Eel - Thursday, 17 May 2012, 12:23 PM |
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| Shiva | Date: Thursday, 17 May 2012, 1:33 PM | Message # 11 |
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| Whether or not the Sword and Shield were within range of the SPHA-T and SPHA-C systems was open to debate; while they certainly weren't close to the planet, they were still well outside the station's range, yet still within the range of the star frigates' heaviest cannons. It would hurt as well that the ships were maneuvering now, splitting apart to a degree that would make it clear they intended to each turn outwards at a ninety-degree angle to the station. Before this move was completed though, they each fired their long-range weapons once again, aiming once more at the station, which was still likely to survive the assault.
Then might well come the shock to those present, largely to the captain of the DP20 as a heavily, heavily modified Providence-class carrier emerged between the pair of maneuvering vessels, just in time to catch the message from General Eel. There was a short pause, and the Dantooine forces would be able to see thirty-six fighters emerging from the sides of the ship. There was no sense in overkill, at least according to Shiva, and he would not waste resources to deal with a small group of craft. As such, two squadrons of tri-fighters and one squadron of Vulture droids made up this screen.
By now, the Dantooine general would be receiving a reply of sorts. His viewing screen would show a rail-thin man, rather older, who wore an eye-patch over his left eye and the hat of an Imperial Captain tipped jauntily to the side (this latter item had been taken from Captain Netan after his ship had been seized). "Dantooine forces, I am Captain Jorum Raithallo. We will cease and desist attacks on your vessel as soon as you turn over your gunship, cruiser and no less than six starfighters to us. We are not interested in your crops, or in remaining in orbit around your planet. However, my sensors note that you have notified the Imperial forces. As such, it seems a rather nice meeting must draw to a close. Either your forces abandon those ships, or we'll sweep through and glass your world, and I assure you, Garang will be the starting point. You have two minutes to decide."
Shiva
The Shadowlord
The Lightbringer
Separatist High Commander (former)
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| Tacitus_Corvus | Date: Friday, 18 May 2012, 12:47 PM | Message # 12 |
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| A detachment of the Outer Rim Fleet had in fact been deployed to the Raioballo Sector. They were training the new Sector Fleet, having previously covered the naval operations of the Raioballo Sector. With Moff Ribaldequin Augustus now in place, they had transitioned their command of the sector over to him and his High Admiral. Currently, they were on their ceremonial last patrol of the sector, with the detachment in fact moving nearby in deep space, preparing for a jump to Dantooine. With the Impavid long re-deployed, the Empire had no presence at Dantooine... until now. A minute into Dantooine's 'consideration' of the aggressor's offer, two groups of Imperial ships dropped out of hyperspace, towards the poles of the planet, angled towards the enemy force. They were under the personal command of Fleet Admiral Tacitus Corvus who had been overseeing the training operations and meeting with the Sector Fleet command staff.
There was no message, no warning; no offers of a chance to flee nor surrender. Only the locking of weapons by a total force of two Imperial-class Star Destroyers and two Tector-class Star Destroyers on the modified Providence-class Carrier/Destroyer and by two Neutron Star-class Bulk Cruisers and four Dreadnaught-class Heavy Cruisers of the two Munificent-class Star Frigates. Two Detainer CC-2200 Interdictor Cruisers remained behind, at the rear of each formation, which was divided evenly among one another, and would remain outside of firing range of the enemy force. They would however immediately begin to project interdiction fields around the enemy force, which would be up within minutes, far less time than would be required for the enemy force to retreat.
The force would approach from above and below of the enemy force, now deploying all of their fighters to form a fighter screen at the head of each formation, each fighter screen dividing into half and taking form at the top and bottom of each formation, allowing forward firing arcs. The Tectors were at the head of each formation, with the Bulk Cruisers and Dreadnaughts at the bottom of the formation. The Imperial Star Destroyer remained behind the other ships, at a higher elevation. They approached at an angle that would allow the Tectors and Imperials full use of their heavy batteries on the Providence. Silently, death strode on vengeful wings towards the Separatist rogues, mere moments standing between the present and the moment that the full fury of the Empire would be upon them.
Imperial Force
Upper Formation
Imperial-class Star Destroyer Singularity
Tector-class Star Destroyer Momentum
Neutron Star-class Bulk Cruiser Oscillation
Dreadnaught-class Heavy Cruiser Impulse
Dreadnaught-class Heavy Cruiser Symmetry
Detainer CC-2200 Interdictor Cruiser Causality
Lower Formation
Imperial-class Star Destroyer Dark Star
Tector-class Star Destroyer Vacuum
Neutron Star-class Bulk Cruiser Convection
Dreadnaught-class Heavy Cruiser Boson
Dreadnaught-class Heavy Cruiser Crystal
Detainer CC-2200 Interdictor Cruiser Turbulence
Fleet Admiral Tacitus Corvus
Imperial Navy
Outer Rim Fleet
"Loyalty. Fealty. Fidelity."
Message edited by Tacitus_Corvus - Friday, 18 May 2012, 12:51 PM |
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| Shiva | Date: Friday, 18 May 2012, 2:16 PM | Message # 13 |
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Group: Users
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| (( While I'm not inclined to make complaints of any kind in play, more or less, the amount of firepower currently directed at my forces does seem to insist I ask a few questions:
1) Presuming of course that the Imperial fleet in question was able to receive the message from Dantooine about the attack, how long (in terms of turns) would it be before they could appear? It seems unlikely that within such a short time that a response could be mustered. After all, 'deep space' does tend to cover a lot of space.
2) Without an actual location of the enemy forces (Shiva's), how exact can the placement of their attack spread be. I assume by your post that they have come in behind Shiva's formation and that they are attempting to drive them towards the planet. If I am incorrect, please let me know.
3) What precisely is the range of an interdiction field when either projected in diameter or at a specific target? ))
Shiva
The Shadowlord
The Lightbringer
Separatist High Commander (former)
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| Jace_Varitek | Date: Friday, 18 May 2012, 2:59 PM | Message # 14 |
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Group: Administrators
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| (( I can help on the third point. The range of an artificial gravity well varies, needless to say, depending on a lot of things. But in no source that I've encountered does anybody caught in one bother to make any attempt to escape from it. This suggests to me that the range is wide enough that "running for the border," as it were, isn't a realistic option. How wide that is we still don't know, but it'd need to be quite large. ))
Jace Varitek
Manager/Administrator from January 2003 to Present
My recent posts here, pre-2009 archives here
"When my information changes, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?"
—John Maynard Keynes
Furthermore, a dancing Wookiee:
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| Shiva | Date: Friday, 18 May 2012, 3:05 PM | Message # 15 |
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Major general
Group: Users
Messages: 386
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| (( If I may beg to differ, Jace, the diagrams shown here of an Immobilizer 418 utilizing its projectors tend to show them as specifically aimed. It also states that "First and foremost, it took some time to power up and activate the gravity well projectors after the cruiser positioned itself, and once activated, the tremendous simulated mass they generated made the ship very slow and cumbersome to maneuver. While there was rarely enough time for an entire fleet to make the jump to hyperspace before a newly-arrived Interdictor activated its projectors, fast ships and starfighters could often escape to the edge of an active gravity well, and then make the jump to hyperspace." Sort of stole the entire paragraph there, but it still applies.
Of course, in this case, the CC-2200 is not as advanced or as fast, I assume, than the Immobilizer 418, but the point does stand that it's possible to outrun an interdiction field. ))
Shiva
The Shadowlord
The Lightbringer
Separatist High Commander (former)
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