Bestine II The NR Response

[Redic Scott]

The eight ships are Task Force Justice closed on the reentry point quickly enough. Their staging location was only an hour from Bestine and no one had a chance to relax, which was good for the troops. As the ships flew through the tunnel of hyperspace, work on the ships was still taking place. Everything was combat stowed and all systems were rechecked. Pilots had started gathering in their fighters and awaiting permission to launch. The fleet was ready and waiting, but only time would tell who would return to their loved ones and who wouldn't. To Redic this was the part he hated. The part where his directions could put hundreds of people in danger.

Redic looked out of the bridge, eyeing vessels around him. He had wanted more of them, but time wouldn't allow it and HQ didn't know where the Imperials would hit next. He would have to make do with the ships he had on hand. When he looked at the Majestic Cruisers Redic couldn't help but smile. Those 800 meter long ships would give the imperials a very hard time. Something they wouldn't expect.

"Sir, coming up on reentry, T minus thirty seconds."

"Alright, get everything ready, just like we practiced."

"Yes, Sir. Lets give them hell." The officer smile and looked back at his display.
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Space opened up and expelled the New Republic Navy ships all at once. The formed force dropped out right before the interdiction field and plowed ahead at full speed. The ships lerched as the sublight engines took over. While the fleet consisted of eight ships, the imperial sensors would only make out six. The two Protector Class Frigates were stationed right under Republic MKII and the Rejuvinator, almost touching them. This maneuver had been rehersed for weeks now and was going to pay off.

As the ships began moving, their sensors instantly started recieveing targeting data for the Imperial ships and their locations from the Ferret drones all over the system. The Task Force, with the Massive Rejuvinator leading the way, turned towards the Imperial Centurions and picked up speed. All Shields came up at once and weapons powered on. Huge batteries rotated around towards the targets that were still out of range.

The first Nr response, however, was in the form of 32 Heavy Ion Warheads. These were launched from the hidden Protector Frigates using a new magnetic launch system. By magnetically accelerating the warheads, they couldn't be traced back to the ships location and emmited no form of emissions. This ment that they couldn't be seen. It also allowed them to reach speeds just over 1/3 of a laser bolt, allowing them to close the distance at a fraction of the speed it would take for a normal launching. By firing them in a spread, instead of a consentrated pattern allowed for even less detactions. All this ment that the warheads raced in virturally undetectable and unseen. They would catch the imperials off guard.

A second behind these ion Warheads came 32 Heavy Penetrator ones, designed to explode inside ships. These were fired the same way and had little chance of being detected. Both of these salvos were targeted against the closest Imperial MKIV. The magnetic launch allowed the warheads to fly almost any distance, without the need for ranges do to a lack of using fuel. The only Fuel in them was finall approach course correction, which would happen only a second before reaching the target.

As of that moment, the Second Battle over Bestine had started. The Imperial would now face a ready force. One with new ships and hightly trained crews. This was the start of something bigger, something greater. This was the New Republics answer to the Imperial aggression. It would not stand unnoticed and without response.

While the NR ships approached, the Imperial officers probably found the tactics puzzling, for the Task Force sent against them had not launched a single fighter. Even as the two fleets approached, not one attack craft had exited the NR bays.

[Kieran Devaneaux]

((Editing from previous context....right idea, wrong place!))

NRV Republic
Fleet Staging Area - Near Bestine

"Excuse me, Captain?" Kieran Devaneaux's eyes flicked open. "Come in." He stared quietly into the man's eyes. "What is it?"

"Message from Task Force Justice, sir. They've engaged the Imperials at Bestine."

Kieran thought for a moment on what knowledge the New Republic Navy had on the Imperials' strengths. Their forces included two Centurions, and those were notoriously difficult to kill. Plus whatever the hell else Desaria had in his arsenal - and plus, his father was somewhere out there. He knew that Artimus had pledged his support to Desaria in the hopes of claiming his homeworld for the Empire - so it seemed logical to assume Artimus would be at Bestine, commanding Kieran's old command, the Skyrider. Armed with skilled Imperial commanders and the dark side of the Force, the Jedi captain knew he had a lot of competition.

But Kieran kept his mind focused on the now. "Have they asked for us? For the Salvation?" The Salvation was a Restoration-class cruiser, similar in function to the Imperial Interdictor, that could help Redic and his task force disengage if things got too difficult. The lieutenant shook his head. "Not yet. But we're monitoring the comm channels. If Captain Scott calls us, you'll be the first to know." Kieran nodded. "Thank you, Lieutenant. Are we still at standby alert?" The lieutenant nodded. "Bring us to battlestations. Load all missile tubes, and stand by all guns. When Captain Scott calls us, we must be ready to fight. We escort the Salvation in, and Task Force Justice out if so need be. This will be the first true test of the Republic's abilities, and and let us hope that she proves worthy of her name, as the struggling New Republic did decades ago."

"I understand, sir." Saluting, the lieutenant returned to the bridge. Kieran followed him. "Gentlemen," he said when he reached the bridge, "we stand on the brink here. If we are not victorious, let's hope we survive to fight another day. And remember one thing: No deaths are allowed under my command. If you die, I swear I'll kill you. Again." There were chuckles at that. "Jests aside, gentlemen, this is probably the biggest battle some of us will ever fight...myself included. I'll lead, you follow, and hopefully, I won't make too many mistakes. Now get to battlestations, and prepare for the final battle."

[Jeremiah Neill]

"Let's hope we know what we're doing here, Kieran," Jeremiah Neill, the Republic's XO, commented. Neill had spent nearly fifteen years out on the Rim until he had returned to Kieran's service. It had been Neill, Kieran found out years later, who had pulled him from the wreckage of Artimus' throne room after the bombardment. "Not much going on at the moment....you need me on the Salvation, Captain? Or could you use the extra hand?"

[Telan Desaria]

Above Bestine


For nearly two weeks the largest dedicated combat vessels launched in the recent history of the galaxy blazed a path around the blue-green orb of Bestine. It was said that during the dead-calm of night on the largest of the southern continents, the pair of behemoths could be spied with the naked eye, silhouetted against the pale moon. Of course there was nothing of any importance on that most barren of continental expanses so no Imperial troops stood to gaze up alongside the partisans and remaining Republic troops who had been shelled into submission.


In the two months since conquering Bestine, the world had been fortified heavily. Troops had come and gone just as quickly, rushed out to serve in the expanding campaign that was pushing the Republic forces before it aside with great deal less effort than High Command had foreseen. Resistance was expected to stiffen as the spearheads of the advance pushed deeper into the Core but instead some lines disintegrated into nothingness.


Grand Admiral Desaria looked out into space as he had done so many times, picturing the skirmishes unfolding all long the border. Hunting groups of frigates and pickets had formed up around STL carriers and they themselves were securing the perimeter without any help from their larger cousins. The glories amassed from the barrels of the super turbolasers were being offered to the altar of Empire and accepted by the Gods of Destiny with a smile for Order was being restored.


Still, something was wrong.


The Imperial war fleets had been specifically designed to provoke a response, each unit robbed of most of its heavy ships such as battlecruisers and the mighty Star Destroyers. The light deployment was meant to draw the Republic into a counter assault that would then smash itself to pieces against carefully sited defenses and a large roving reserve. At the center of the salient into Republic space lay Bestine, a world that was being used unabashedly as a depot and waypoint for the invasion of the New Republic. Desaria had waited there, starving for a direct conflict with a worthy adversary. The Republic had robbed him of his battle.


However, when the Grand Admiral seemed downtrodden the most, the Gods rewarded his patience, sounding an alarm klaxon that ended any reverie.


Captain Agadir was the first into the crewpit, gathering the data coming in from the pickets and sensor networks. He turned towards Desaria who was sitting upon a chair of command, a look of steelen determination on his face.


" Admiral, enemy ships have reverted to realspace: six medium cruisers. They have opened fire!"


Glancing left, Desaria watched the Imperial IV-class Star Destroyer Katharis angle up for its fin al move into formation when a salvo of torpedoes rocked the vessel from stem to stern. It was if an invisible hand had wrapped itself around the hull and shook it like a child's rattle. A second volley followed on the heels of the first, bringing to life a great cloud of flame and ash.


Brigadier General Maxim, Chief of Staff to the Grand Admira, watched from the corner of the bridge his commander and was perhaps the only one to notice a smile tug at the corner of his lips. Quietly and confidently, Desaria ordered the shields brought online. Seconds later, a volley of the same weapons that had lain low a ship of the line careened towards the Relentless. Light washed over the bow as the weapons detonated but when sense had returned to normal, all saw the ship was in tact.


Fighters poured from their launch bays and made ready to tangle with their opposite numbers, assault craft forming up to make quick work of the enemy warships themselves. Several ships of the fleet fell in behind the two Centurions while Admiral Hagen took advantage of the delay his chief was buying to ready the defense itself.


Thank you for obliging me, Admiral el'Johnson.


" Warheads - fire."

[Demon-Kieran]

Modified YV-666 Freighter Demon's Will
Entering Bestine System

As his ship returned from meeting with his "father" on Corellia, Major Demon-Kieran Devaneaux of the Inquisitorate sat back silently, remembering how it had gone....

"Remember who created you, Demon-Kieran," Artimus Devaneaux snapped. "I expected regular reports. I have not gotten a bloody thing since we battled Kieran on the way to Deralia!"

"I am not your spy, Artimus." Demon-Kieran never called him father in any way. "I serve the Sovereignty. Not you."

"Ah, but you must realize the Sovereignty will not remain independent forever. Rumor on the fringe says that the Empire will reunite. Who will lead it, I do not know. Certainly, your Grand Admiral Desaria will be a part of it, as well all of his commanders. They are Imperials, through and through. But you..." The Warlord clenched his fist in the Inquisitor's face. "...are MINE."

Demon-Kieran did not flinch as he pushed the clenched fist out of his face. "You do not intimidate me, Artimus. And your intimidation probably did not faze the Jedi monk on your little excursion on Coruscant, while Kieran was sitting right there in front of your face, you blind fool."

Veins throbbed in Artimus' temples. He had not known Kieran was there, and he definately did not think Demon-Kieran would have known that either. "How do you know about that?!"

"I am of the Inquisitorate; our eyes are everywhere." Demon-Kieran smiled grimly. "I am sure your pledge to help the Sovereignty will be remembered by the Grand Admiral. I will be in touch."

Arriving on the far side of the planet, unnoticed by the Republic attackers, the Demon's Will glided across the atmosphere of Bestine to the capital city, where he was stationed. As soon as the ship landed, the commanders in his battalion came up to him. "Welcome back to Bestine, sir," one of them said as he stepped down the ramp. "You've arrived just in time for the festivities."

Demon-Kieran nodded. "Please inquire of the Grand Admiral where he would like my services. I would rather not be stuck behind a wall when I can surely do more in my service to the Empire."

"Right away, sir."