The Clone Wars: Force of Mind

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Re: The Clone Wars: Force of Mind

Post by Balsa »

"Yes, sir." That was rather harsh, Shu thought, but he didn't voice his opinions. There were times to express one's thoughts, and now wasn't one of them. Besides, he trusted the Captain to know what he was doing; Kasr had a way with strategy and tactics that though they may seem unorthodox, the plans typically worked in the end. "Captain, I'd like to see the LAAT test results and estimated performance analysis from the engineers. Providing that information when I brief my pilots will allow the flight leaders to better prepare for the mission. Aside from that, I have no other concerns."
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Re: The Clone Wars: Force of Mind

Post by Halomek »

“Actually, Commander,” Kasr said to him. “I want you to personally pilot the first of the modified LAAT’s so you have a firsthand knowledge of how they’ll operate. As the best pilot I have in my task force, you may be able to give the clones who will be flying them later some pointers.”
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Re: The Clone Wars: Force of Mind

Post by Balsa »

"That sir," Shu replied, "is certainly more preferable than pouring over readouts." He hadn't piloted an LAAT in a long time, but Kothinur was confident he'd be able to pick up the controls fairly quick. You never truly forgot how to fly a ship, no matter how long it's been, so he wasn't terribly concerned. "Have the techs given an estimate on when the ships will be ready for test flight?"
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Re: The Clone Wars: Force of Mind

Post by Pryde »

Hisani stood on the hangar deck staring up at the Theta-class shuttle she was to take with her on her mission. "This isn't any good," she muttered under her breath.

"What was that, General," Commander Kaldra asked, he stood next to her with his squad of commandos standing just a few feet away.

"We can't use this shuttle they'll know we're from the Republic," Hisani explained, "We'll have to find another."

She thought about that a moment then looked at Kaldra. "Do you know of any neutral worlds nearby where we can borrow a ship?"
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Re: The Clone Wars: Force of Mind

Post by Mir »

Kaldra thought for a moment before nodding his head slowly. "Kelarea." He said. "The Kelarea system is located in the same sector as Allanteen Six, so we shouldn't have that big of a difficulty getting back and forth. Also, I think there are some Republic elements there, which means we can get our hands on a non Republic ship without you have to use your Jedi skills on someone. Though you can go that route if you want, up to you." Kaldra said with a small smile. "There's bound to be a freighter or a transport that we can utilize there."
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Re: The Clone Wars: Force of Mind

Post by Halomek »

OOC: Hmm, we seem to have stalled here... Should we jump ahead to Hisani and Kaldra’s mission?

IC: “I understand the first prototype will be ready within a standard day’s time. Outfitting the rest should go much faster with the initial technical details worked out,” Kasr answered Shu. “I’ll make sure you’re informed as soon as the prototype is completed.”
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Re: The Clone Wars: Force of Mind

Post by Pryde »

OOC: I say yes, let's. ;)
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Re: The Clone Wars: Force of Mind

Post by Mir »

OOC: The Mir concurs with the delegation from the Pryde Lands.
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Re: The Clone Wars: Force of Mind

Post by Halomek »

OOC: Sounds good. Pryde, it's on you to get it started.
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Re: The Clone Wars: Force of Mind

Post by Balsa »

OOC:
I completely forgot about this thread! Let's bump it ahead.
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Re: The Clone Wars: Force of Mind

Post by Halomek »

Allanteen Six

Kasr could only imagine the enemy commander’s reaction to the sudden arrival of the Anaxes at Allanteen Six, especially since Kasr’s earlier estimation of the enemy’s strength proved to be accurate. One Venator-class against three Lucrehulks and an even dozen Munificent Star Frigates had to have seemed laughable in any scenario.

Kasr, however, had gone one step further to make the Venator appear like an even more tempting target to the Separatists. On the surface, the Anaxes looked to have suffered extensive battle damage. It was all purely cosmetic, but at the distance and range of the enemy vessels, and some creative flying by the navigators to simulate engines that were struggling to stay functional, the illusion of a damaged vessel would be quite convincing.

In fact, the disguise held another advantage in that it allowed certain other modifications to be built onto the hull of the Anaxes without appearing obvious. They were simple devices by virtue of the limited resources Kasr had available to work with, but they would also be devastatingly effective if employed properly. This first part of his plan carried the most risk, which was why it was the Anaxes that was carrying it out. Kasr wouldn’t trust anyone else to implement it properly.

“Incoming transmission, Captain!” one of the com techs reported. “The Separatist commander is demanding our immediate surrender.” He looked at Kasr with a smirk. “Shall I put it through, sir?”

Kasr matched the other man’s smirk with one of his own. “I don’t think that will be necessary. Commander Sly, why don’t you let the enemy know what you think of surrendering?”

The clone first officer nodded. Like the ship, Sly had also been disguised to make it appear as though he had been through battle. His face looked bloody and his uniform was torn and burned in several areas. Sly’s response would be sent through hologram instead to the viewscreen, meaning that all the enemy would see would be Sly’s body, which saved the bridge from having to go through similar cosmetic adjustments.

Sly gripped the holo-emitter and sent a response. “Clanker scum! Clones never surrender! We might not be able to make it back to the fleet, but we can sure as hell soften this place up for them! Your shipyard is going to burn! We’re going to ram this ship right down your ugly throats! Just try and stop us!”

As soon as the transmission was ended, Sly was his usual composed self. “How was that, Captain?”

Kasr smiled. “Excellent work. You’re a better actor than I expected.”

Sly cleared his throat self-consciously. “I considered it a rare excuse to break military decorum, sir.”

“Incoming vessels,” one of the scanner techs reported, “three Munificents and a starfighter escort have broken from the main fleet to engage us.”

Kasr’s smile remained, but it lost all warmth and turned predatory. “Move forward to engage, simulate engine failure at the predetermined coordinates, and prepare the squibs for detonation,” he ordered. “Let’s make the bait as enticing as possible.”

At the coordinates Kasr had specified, the Anaxes simulated an engine failure and ended up turning to the side, “coincidentally” presenting a front to the enemy vessels that allowed it to unleash full broadsides, however, at Kasr’s order only a few of the guns opened fire, and at that the shots were intentionally badly aimed.

The Vulture droids arrived first, strafing the Anaxes with their blaster cannons but doing no real damage since the shields were at maximum. The Munificents arrived next, firing as soon as their guns were in range. As the first shots crashed against the barrier, the “squibs” nearest to the impact site were detonated, creating harmless explosions on the hull to simulate the shields failing and designed to lull the enemy into a false sense of security and bring them closer at the prospect of an easy kill.

“A large contingent of Vultures are approaching the portside blister trap,” Sly reported. A few seconds later an explosion considerably larger than the other squibs, the blister trap, erupted in front of the group of Vulture droids, sending a mass of shrapnel and other debris into their midst and shredding through the fragile starfighters, destroying the bulk of them. Like the squibs, it was intentionally designed not to harm the ship after being detonated.

They were simple weapons, and would have been hard to conceal ordinarily on the hull of a Venator, but it seemed as though his crew had successfully hidden them amongst the fake battle damage. Additionally, they had the added benefit of simulating more battle damage.

As the Munificents approached close enough for their shots to start mattering, Kasr let them come in nice and close before giving the order. “I think we’ve played dead long enough. Target the middle ship and open fire with all batteries, let’s take it out of this battle with one salvo.”

The Anaxes suddenly seemed to spring to life as weapon emplacements that appeared to be dead opened fire in a sustained burst that clearly took the enemy by surprise, smashing through their shields and destroying the bridge from concentrated fire. The Munificent began to list without a command crew to keep it on course as secondary explosions erupted along its hull.

Kasr glanced briefly at the mission timer which was counting down how long it would be until his planned second wave, consisting of the V-16’s, arrived. He knew without even confirming it that the battle plan was right on schedule. “Target the leftmost Munificent and open fire,” Kasr ordered. “Let’s make it a mopping up operation by the time our pilots arrive.”
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Re: The Clone Wars: Force of Mind

Post by Balsa »

The Munificents were stubborn, so it wasn't the mopping-up operation Kasr would have hoped, but they were both heavily damaged by the time the Torrents broke hyperspace and descended upon the Separatist vessels like a swarm of locusts. One Munificent was consumed by the combined fire of the Anaxes and V-19s, while the final Federation ship lost its primary motive drives after being hounded by the starfighters while burning for the safety of the shipyards. The surprise attack gave the Republic forces critical moments to reinforce their precarious position before the Federation could reorganize.

Even while throwing his Torrent fighter into a downward spiral that took him out of the sights of an enemy Vulture, Commander Shu skimmed over his HUD's tactical display. Though it was a mess of flashing runes and contact beacons, it told his experienced eye a clear tale: the field of battle was free of enemy capital ships but was infested with swarms of droid fighters that were even now being culled. So far, it looked as if the friendly forces were holding the upper hand.

His craft shook violently as blast bolts glanced off the rear shields. Shu cursed and jerked sharply to port. It didn't break the droid's target lock, whose fire was only getting more accurate, but it did take the Vulture right into the waiting sights of Shu's wingmate. "You're clear, Commander," came her voice.

"Thanks, Medea," Shu replied. Lieutenant Medea Aburthnot was not a clone, but she was an accomplished fighter jock and had been Shu's wingmate since prior to the war. It only made sense for her to continue in that role, despite the massive influx of clone pilots. A message from the command frequency cut into Shu's headset and interrupted any further comment.

"Flight commanders," Shu relayed a moment later, "Taccom is reporting two Lucrehulks moving into range. It looks like they're holding one back just in case we have more surprises. That's our cue. Remember your objectives. Draw fire away from the Anaxes and thin out those Vultures. Give the next wave time to deploy. Good luck and good hunting."
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Re: The Clone Wars: Force of Mind

Post by Pryde »

Hisani frowned as more droids rounded the corner ahead of them. She immediately ignited her lightsaber and took a defensive position in front of the clones as they opened fire. Unfortunately for her team getting onto the station was the easy part, getting to the bridge, however, proved a bit more difficult. Everything was going well until the Anaxes jumped in system and things got tense. One of the droids began to scan them with more scrutiny and managed to uncover Hisani's illusion. Fortunately, the Jedi and her clones were able to get the drop on their escort before any of them could draw a weapon, now they had to move quickly to secure the station before word got out that it was under attack.

Hisani's attention was diverted with the sudden beeping of her communicator and without missing a beat she deflected a blaster bolt and switched it on. "General, we've succeeded in taking out the comm relay, the station will not be able to call for help," the clone trooper informed her.

Well, at least one thing's going well for us. "Thank you, trooper, now I want you and your men hold that position. If the Separatist get word to the fleet this whole station will be swarming with droids."

"Understood, Sir, we'll keep the relay out of the clanker's hands."

Hisani wasn't entirely convinced that they could. "If you get overwhelmed, trooper, seal the doors shut and take cover. Don't try to take on the entire droid army by yourselves."

"As you wish, Sir, I'll have Banks rig the doors with soldering charges," then he cut the transmission and Hisani returned her full attention to the droids in front of her.

With communications down it won't be long before the fleet suspects something. We need to get to the command center now. "Kaldra, where is the command center?"

There was a pause as he checked his instruments. "About three floors up from our position."

"Are there any other routes up from here?"

"Negative, Sir."

Hisani frowned, "Then I guess we'll just have to improvise."

She looked around and saw a vent in the bulkhead not far from her position. With a wave of her hand she tore the vent free of the wall and threw it at the attacking droids. "This way, Kaldra," she shouted over her shoulder and she hurried over to the now exposed vent and paused just outside of it as the clone troopers filed in behind her. The attacking droids were beginning to recover and were now firing their blasters at her, though she managed to deflect their shots just as the last trooper slipped through into the vent. Hisani followed behind him into the narrow passage just tall enough for the men to stand at full height but too narrow for them to stand side by side.

"Find us a way up," she called to Kaldra at the head of the column as the troopers and Jedi hurried along the narrow venting.

Kaldra once again checked his instruments then turned left at the next junction. "This way," he called to the others.

They hurried down that vent then came to a dead end when the vent turned sharply upward. The clones began taking out their climbing gear and one by one they each filed up the vent to the next floor. Once they were up they blew out a side panel and filed out into the corridor beyond. Hisani couldn't help but feel relieved after emerging from the vent. Being in such narrow quarters would have made it difficult to fight if the Separatists had cornered them.

"Alright, we seem to have made it around their security forces but there will be more droids waiting for us ahead," Hisani told the clone Commander, "Let's get to the command center as soon as possible, we can't risk getting cut off here."
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Re: The Clone Wars: Force of Mind

Post by Halomek »

The bridge of the Anaxes shook as it took sustained fire from the two Lucrehulks. The design of the Lucrehulk, although larger and bulkier than that of a Venator, was still based on that of a modified cargo hauler, and even the newest upgrades to them still had this inherent weakness. The Venator, on the other hand, was pure warship, from concept to conception, and on the whole was more reliable and durable than the converted systems used in Lucrehulks.

With a competent commander, the Anaxes could hold its own against its larger opponents and Kasr considered himself competent in the extreme, but even he would be hard pressed to destroy two of them with just the armament of his ship. He was reasonably confident that he could rise to the challenge if necessary, but the victory in such a situation would most likely be pyrrhic at best.

Fortunately, he wasn’t trying to destroy them on his own, merely move them into position, and he had them exactly where he wanted them as the second mission timer counted down to zero.

The other two Venators in Kasr’s fleet suddenly reverted to realspace on either side of each Lucrehulk. They were almost exactly where he had planned for them to be. As per his plan, the other two ships immediately began disgorging their remaining V-19 fighters and modified LAAT’s as the Venators unloaded their firepower into their respective Lucrehulks.

The move had clearly taken the Separatists by surprise as the enemy commanders struggled to redirect their forces to deal with this new threat. What had been an unexpectedly tough situation for the enemy was turning into a full blown disaster. The mass-driver missiles of the LAAT’s were doing their job, giving a heavy punch to the assault as multiple explosions wracked the Lucrehulks’ hulls. The vessel Kasr had been concentrating his fire on before the arrival of the rest of the fleet was already starting to fall apart as it received fire from all points.

Kasr smiled as he watched the enemy vessel tear itself apart. “Now we have the advantage,” he remarked quietly.
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Re: The Clone Wars: Force of Mind

Post by Mir »

Kaldra had to admit, this Jedi woman was able to back up her talk. Her ruse had gotten them this far, now it was on him and the rest of his team's blue bolts to get them where they needed to be. He nodded. They weren't too far from the command center of the shipyards and he had a feeling that with the Separatists' scrambling to deal with Kasr's arrival, things would go smoothly for them. However, the fact that that droid had singled them out a bit more diligently than expected had annoyed him, and he didn't like being annoyed, especially by deviations in behavior from constructs that had been created for the sole purpose that they didn't have deviations in behavior. He had deviations in behavior and he was damn proud of it. As they moved through the hallway, slowly but with a purpose, his fingers tightened on his blaster pistol. Kaldra knew that at any moment death was around the corner. He didn't think that it would be literal however.

They rounded a corner and there was a set of four droidekas. He sighed. This was not going to be fun. He spun back around and brought a hand up that crossed Hisani's chest. "Droidekas." He said as softly as he could. "I believe we may need another route, unless you'd like to try that Force conjuring again, General." He said.
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Re: The Clone Wars: Force of Mind

Post by Pryde »

Hisani carefully glanced around the corner and noted the positions of the Droidekas. Perfectly spread along the corridor to fill it with a hail of death. There was no cover between here and there and she couldn't hold off blaster fire from four of them by herself. "What about those--what do you call them? Droid Poppers?"

"Used our last one on the group before this," Kaldra replied.

Hisani bit her lip nervously. "Okay, I think I have an idea. The droids won't fall for the same ruse they did before but," she concentrated a bit, her eyes closed tightly as she summoned the Force. When she opened them again she was surrounded by a group of battle droids. "You boys just caught a Jedi, now lets go report to your boss," she said with a smile.
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