Aspiriational Ventures

[Anne Phoenix]

Stars faded back into their normal pinpricks of light as the Corellian Corvette Tarry dropped out of hyperspace, well within the limits of the system designated by Imperial Survey teams as system M2376. Nothing else in the way of sentient or technological life was present, as confirmed by sensor sweeps of the system.

Major Garrick nodded, satisfied at the readings from the system. Just as a precaution though, he ordered two X-wings deployed from the bow hold of the corvette. His command had originally been Imperial, a design variant in which cargo space had been removed forward to make room for a small hangar. Original complement was to have been four TIE Fighters, but with certain modifications made, they had been able to cram six X-wings into the hold, making the Tarry a very useful raiding ship for the Alliance.

But there were no targets here for her and her crew to hit today. Rather, they were on a scouting mission. The Alliance was ever on the scouting for new bases, and the commander of the Task Force to which the Tarry was assigned had come up with a novel idea for an outpost, among other plans, and now the corvette was here, checking to see whether the idea had merit or not.

"Gringold, give me a report on what's present," ordered Garrick.

"Major, we have a small asteroid belt, one planet, and the star. The planet is highly radioactive, not sustainable for life," reported Gringold, the sensors officer.

"What about the size of the asteroids?" inquired Garrick?

"Small to large, with several huge ones interspersed. Initial scans show some hollow, others filled with a variety of low grade minerals and ores," responded Gringold.

"Very good. Bring up the largest hollow asteroid your scanners can find," ordered Garrick. An image appeared on his personal screen, showing an asteroid some ten kilometers across, and a large hold where the excavation had occurred.

According to the records, Imperial Engineering had scoured the asteroid belt for useful minerals and ores, mining several of the larger and a collection of the smaller asteroids. However, nothing really useful was found, and so the project had been abandoned, the contracted miners moving on to the next dead system.

"Excellent. Shields to full. Helm, move us closer to this asteroid. Guns, power up your turbolasers, prepare to blast any smaller asteroids that pose a threat to us. Hangar, ready the tractor beam," Garrick went around ordering as he headed to sit in his small command chair.

As part of her modifications, the Tarry had one of her twin turbolasers removed and replaced with a powerful tractor beam projector. Using that projector, they would begin the first phase of Project Hidden Tempest. Her other armament, the remaining twin turbolaser cannon and four single turbolaser cannons, remained intact and would be used to great effect in defending the ship shortly.

The tractor beam latched onto the asteroid, and in between flashes of green light as smaller asteroids were obliterated, a slow but sure tugging process was begun as the asteroid, dwarfing the Tarry, was towed by the latter's powerful engines towards the radioactive infested planet.

"Comm, send a message to the rest of the Task Force. Code Green," ordered Garrick, nodding in satisfaction as they cleared the asteroid belt. Moments later, her partner vessel, the Tangent, arrived in system along with the Mon Calamari Light Cruiser Liberty's Fire, the flagship of the Task Force Commander.

Garrick sighed a breath of relief as the two other ships locked their tractor beams onto the asteroid. The most dangerous part of the operation was over. Now, they could begin work on actually constructing their new hidden base.

[Anne Phoenix]

Anne Phoenix glanced out the viewport at the asteroid, smiling slightly as she glanced at what would become their new 'hidden' base. The asteroid would do very well, having the docking capacity to take on capital ships up to a few thousand meters in length, and would be able to conduct repair work on them. Although this asteroid for the most part would be used as a docking and command base. Repair work needed could be sent off to what would come out of their Phase 2 work.

It wasn't too long before they were able to deploy the asteroid into an orbit around the radioactive rock based planet, and release the tractor beams. Once that was accomplished, Phoenix dispatched her orders to the commanders of the two corvettes; Initiate Phase 2.

The Tarry and the Tangent move away from her flagship, both outbound on different vectors. First one, and then the second one, lit their drives up as they jumped into hyperspace. One was bound for yet another dead system, while the second one was headed for a volcanic planet known by the name of Mustafar.

Mustafar was the key to completing Phase 2, and really would become the cornerstone of the Tempest Base project that they have devised and would be undertaking for the next few months.

Shuttles exited the Liberty's Fire as they headed for the base. They would be undertaking surveys of the inside of the asteroid. If things were safe and well enough, then her flagship itself would go ahead and enter the asteroid, tethering to its inside and disappearing from the view of all within the system, both from eyes and from sensors, a testimony to the effectiveness of the leftover mineral deposits inside the asteroid.

[Anne Phoenix]

The Tarry exited hyperspace well within the gravity well of influence exhibited from the volcanic planet of Mustafar. Looking at the roiling planet below him, Major Garrick wondered if perhaps the name of the planet had come from the explorers who found the planet truncating down the statement 'Must Stay Far Away From'.

The Corellian corvette launched a pair of X-wings from its bow hold, to escort down to the planet's surface the shuttle from its central hold, which contained the aforementioned major as he made his way back from the bridge in the hammerhead to the central area of the ship. Tempest relied a great deal on the resources that this world would provide, and if the old facilities used by the Separatists were at least partially intact, so the much the better for his commander and her project...

[Anne Phoenix]

Meanwhile, in another system somewhat nearby, the Tangent also emerged from hyperspace. This system, like the last that she had been in, was also a dead system. A single star orbited by an asteroid field from a destroyed planet. No other stellar bodies existed within this system.

Major Hern nodded to himself. This would be an ideal system in which to locate the space station that would serve as a waypoint for the transfer of supplies and resources to and from Mustafar to Tempest Base.

After scanning the system for a few more hours, he ordered the Tangent to come about and head to Mustafar, to join her sister corvette in getting that end of the project up and running...

[Anne Phoenix]

Admiral Phoenix tapped her fingers against her chin, mulling over the construction work being done on the inside of the asteroid. Tempest Base was well underway, with a trio of Gallofree Transports have hyped into the system with the smaller, spaceworthy construction droids and biosuits for the living space workers needed to oversee the former.

So far they had most of the living quarters, entertainment facilities, and defense arrays constructed. This would allow the workers, the base personnel, and herself to live on the asteroid even while it would finish being constructed. Part of the defenses included one hangar bay housing three squadrons of starfighters, two X-wing squadrons, and one B-wing squadron. These three squadrons of starfighters would be the primary defense of Tempest Base, in addition to whatever else was in the system during a possible Imperial or Pirate attack.

What would come later would be the dockyard and other hangar facilites that would fill out the rest of the asteroid. Anne took one last look around her, the bridge of the Liberty's Fire. She was about to transfer in a shuttle to the asteroid, and in her absence as commanding officer, the Mon Cal light cruiser would be reassigned to other duties. Right now she was due at Mon Calamari for a refit, after which she would be reassigned.

Sighing softly to herself, resigning to sitting around on a asteroid orbiting a dead radioactive world for sometime to come, Anne headed down to the hangar bay, where her shuttle awaited...

[Anne Phoenix]

Mustafar


Major Garrick flipped a switch, and with a flicker of lights activating, power was restored to the old facility. Computer consoles came alive, shields powered up to protect the damaged facility from the flowing lava, and the air conditioning activated.

"Hmm, good. Ensign Yelti, what do the computers read?" asked Major Garrick, striding around the facility from room to room. Cleaning droids laid here and there, now coming alive again after having been shutdown for so long, resuming their cleaning duties.

"According to the computers, the facility was shutdown some twenty odd years ago, Major. Same order that deactivated all of the Sep Droids. Apparently this was the control facility for all of the mining operations," said Yelti over the comlink.

"Good. Bring up the monitors to show all of the operational droids," said Garrick.

"Uhhh sir, the monitor shows no operational mining droids. Just the cleaning droids," replied Yelti.

Garrick thought about that for a moment, before the obvious answer came to him. The mining droids would have been deactivated too, and having been over the lava rivers collecting resources, would have fallen into the molten rock and been melted into free flowing scrap.

"No problem Yelti. Continue to work on restoration procedures. Comm., send a message to the Tarry. Have them flash a 'Mission Accomplished' to Tempest Base, along with a status report," ordered Garrick.

Receiving an affirmative reply, Garrick continued his tour of the facility....

[Anne Phoenix]

One Week Later

The initial work had been completed in getting Tempest Base up and running. Time had been of the essence here, and the Alliance had devoted a goodly deal of resources to get the initial work completed as soon as possible.

Admiral Phoenix was in the command center of Tempest, looking over the various consoles crewed by her former officers aboard the Liberty's Fire. In addition to the refit, the light cruiser would receive a new crew for her command, while her former subordinates transferred with her to the asteroid. Even now, as the light cruiser entered into the Mon Calamari system, a mere skeleton crew of Mon Cals, droids, and a few soldiers crewed her as she was probably approaching her designated space dock for the refit work.

She had been given an update report by a courier shuttle making the rounds between Tempest Base and the rest of the Galaxy. Sealed and coded messages informed her of the happenings in the Alliance, particularly planned operations concerning Sullust and the updates of efforts to replace the disastrous losses suffered in the Battle of Kashyyyk. Mon Calamari was ramping up production of the new MC-90 Star Cruisers, which outgunned even the Mark II Imperial Star Destroyers, but completion was still a ways off, so an interim type, classified the MC-80b Star Cruiser, was being produced as a stop-gap. One cruiser, christened the Mon Remonda, had just been completed and was working up prior to being commissioned.

She didn't know who Captain Onoma was, a Mon Cal officer, but she wished him all the luck in the galaxy for his command of the new powerful Star Cruiser. If they could get production underway in Mustafar soon, she might just be able to help send newly completed star fighters to help fill that cruiser's hangar bays.

But it was unlikely that things could come full circle that quickly. Just now the Gallofree transports bearing the big planetary construction droids would be reaching Mustafar. There they will begin construction of the droid factories, which would produce additional mining droids to complement the ones they had already shuttle in, and also the droids needed to construct the orbital dockyards that will contain the facilities needed to manufacture the star fighters and eventually capital ships. Those facilities could have been placed on the planet as well, but come on, it was a Volcanic planet. Why take the risk?

Anne strung in her wandering mind, looking over the reports of progress. She had her three squadrons of fighters in hand, and the engineers had installed ten heavy turbolaser batteries and twenty proton torpedo launchers on the outside of the asteroid, in camouflaged mounts. Now that Tempest base could be reasonably termed 'secured', she could begin calling in the ships needed to start their commerce raiding activities anew again.

Although Mustafar could provide many of the resources needed for new starship construction, it didn't provide everything. Taking full advantage of Bothan spy networks scattered around the Galaxy, Anne intended to command commerce raiding expeditions to gather what resources she did need.

Her rag tag taskforce was being assembled by Alliance High Command even as she thought this, a scattered motley array of older ships that she would be free to refit using her new resources as needed to become effective front line combat ships for her plans...

'And now the Empire will suffer even more...' she thought with a small smile adorning her middle-aged face...

[Anne Phoenix]

Tempest Base, two days later


For the most part, the task force that Anne would be commanding had arrived and was assembling to leave the confines of the base after re-stocking. The admiral looked over the array of ships with something akin to slight dismay, feeling her current rank and perhaps even her former one of Commodore was overkill for what she would be leading into combat.

Her two Corellian corvettes, the Tarry and the Tangent, were perhaps the most updated and ready combat ships in the fleet. In addition, also present was an old Recusant class destroyer, a Sep leftover, an partially broken down Dreadnought class heavy cruiser, and three Gallofree class medium transports. The two big capital ships had had most of their weapons removed, replaced by lighter, more readily available weapons while their former armaments had been sent off to arm more mainstream Alliance starships.

The dreadnought, formerly in Imperial Service as the Imperial Destiny, had seen plenty of combat, including the controversial battle of Nar Shadda, and had been renamed in Alliance service as Freedom's Destiny, a bit tacky but good enough none-the-less. Her armament was now comparable to an escort frigate, and she embarked a squadron of twelve Z-95 Headhunters. The Recusant destroyer was even worse, her weapons consisting of four turbolaser cannons and two ion cannons, less than what a normal Corellian Corvette carried. She embarked no star fighters of her own, but did carry a trio of boarding shuttles.

All together then, she could deploy two squadrons of star fighters, and could haul away a very useful amount of material. It was a decent taskforce for raiding, and from what Intel she had received from the Bothans, their first few hits could really helps the taskforce grow in fighting potential, if they managed to steal everything successfully. The destroyer had been known in service as the Demolisher. She renamed it the Starfire, and it would become the flagship of her new fleet, which she designated Task Force Tempest...

[Anne Phoenix]

Hydian Way, near Kuat, three days later

The Freedom's Destiny had been used to great effect in her former role as the Imperial Destiny. Most Imperial records hadn't listed her capture for the Alliance, and so she plied the trade lanes, offering 'protection' for merchants, traders, and commerce ships when in fact she was scouting them for potential targets.

When they had an adequate list of targets scouted out, the Task Force made its move. Three freighters were targeted in total. The first, and probably most difficult to combat, was the Bulk Cruiser Extinguisher. The ship was armed with thirty laser cannons and military grade shields. Rather than risk her smaller ship, Anne decided to attack it with both of her largest ships.

While the Freedom's Destiny rained a flurry of turbolaser and laser cannon strikes across the cruiser's shields, weakening them, the Starfire crept up from the other side. With the Extinguisher focusing all of her firepower on the tough shields of the Freedom, the Starfire was left free to open fire on the Bulk Cruiser without fear of retaliation. The four turbolasers targeted one spot on the bulk cruiser, drastically weakening the shields while the two ion cannons scattered energy across the cruiser, targeting and disabling first the engines, then the weaponry.

Once the cruiser was crippled and drifting weaponless, and the shields had been knocked out, Anne ordered the assault teams away in their boarding shuttles. They encountered little to no resistance, and within thirty minutes, standard time, they had the cruiser underway with a skeleton crew. Her cargo of one hundred heavy turbolaser cannons, manufactured on an armaments planet and being shipped to Kuat Drive Yards for installation on two new Imperial-II Star Destroyers, was intact and would be used to great effect.

The ship itself would be added to the fleet as well. Anne decided to issue it the name Constellation, and was deciding on what her role in the Task Force would be as they moved on to the other two targets.

A short micro jump brought the Task Force out of hyperspace near the second targeted freighter. Major Garrick of the Tarry had already secured the freighter, this one a more typical bulk freighter, its cargo having been deemed 'less vital' for defensive armaments in shipping. None the less, the freighter had been armed with single turbolaser cannon, which the Tarry had disabled before it could cause any considerable damage.

Admiral Phoenix knew Major Garrick could handle any mopping up operations here, so she moved on to the last target. While en route, she received a distress call from the Tangent, and upon exiting hyperspace, saw why.

An unexpected visitor had showed up to escort the third target, another bulk freighter. The visitor was an Imperial Escort Frigate, Nebulon-B2 class. Two dozen TIE Fighters swarmed around the Tangent, the corvette firing its quad lasers at the attackers, scoring a few kills while the frigate moved in for the kill.

"Deploy headhunters, have them help relieve the Tangent. Order the Freedom's Destiny to form up on us, and we'll take on the frigate," ordered Admiral Phoenix. The frigate was identified as the Warspite, one with a history in regards to anti-Rebel activities.

However, before they could begin to close, the frigate suddenly turned about, and headed away from the battle. The bulk freighter also turned away, but the surviving X-wings from the Tangent intercepted it, using their ion torpedoes to disable the freighter's engines.

The headhunters had reached the TIE Fighters now, intercepting them as they fled from the Tangent to rendezvous with the retreating Warspite. The Headhunters scored several kills before they approached too close to the withdrawing Imperial Frigate, and broke off.

Boarding shuttles from the Tangent and Starfire proceeded to board the freighter. The previous freighter was loaded with sublight engine components, while this freighter carried a supply of proton torpedo launchers, sensors, and the torpedoes themselves, enough to fully equip several squadrons of star fighters.

Even before the confrontation with the Warspite, Admiral Phoenix had planned to leave this area of space and move on to another raiding area. Knowing that the frigate was screaming for reinforcements only added to those plans.

Shortly after the Tangent jumped out of the system with her prize, Task Force Tempest departed the region, heading back to the base for a job well done.

[Anne Phoenix]

Tempest Base

The Task Force had arrived back at base several standard hours ago. The Freedom's Destiny and Starfire orbited around the planet, while the newly acquired Constellation, and the two bulk freighters Krayt and Bantha, were docked with the asteroid, unloading their supplies.

Anne had since taken a shuttle from her new flagship to the asteroid, overseeing the distribution of the new materials. The Tangent was also docked with the asteroid, undergoing repairs, while the Tarry had proceeded to Mustafar to check up with progress on the other end.

Before coming back to Tempest Base, Anne had plotted a series of jumps designed to throw off possible pursuit, and at one stop, had had her scanning crews go over the ships fine tooth and nail, searching for possible tracking beacons. Finding a disabling a few on the bulk cruiser, the possibility of the Imps finding Tempest Base ran back down into the single digits on the percentage scale.

A decision had been made regarding the future of the new ships. The Constellation would join the raiding fleet, but a Bulk Cruiser is not a nominal frontline starship, at least not anymore. It was decided to strip most of her thirty laser cannons, and adding a few weapons. Her new armament would consist of four heavy turbolaser cannons, six laser cannons, and a single concussion missile launcher with a magazine of ten missiles. Mostly, she would be used to haul stolen goods back to Tempest Base.

The two bulk freighters would be regulated to hauling supplies on the route between Tempest Base, the waypoint station, and Mustafar. Just to help ensure they weren't easy prey for potential roving pirates, the freighters would each recieve four laser cannons removed from the Constellation. That left a stockpile of ninety six heavy turbolaser cannons, sixteen laser cannons, and a number of proton torpedo launchers.

After mulling it over in her head for a while, Anne decided to refit the Starfire with thirty heavy turbolaser cannons and four proton torpedo launchers, while the Freedom's Destiny would recieve twenty heavy turbolaser cannons to complement her current array of twelve turbolaser cannons and twelve laser cannons. That would give her flotilla enough firepower to potentially beat an Imperial Star Destroyer in ship to ship combat, although Anne hoped she wouldn't be forced to fight one anytime soon with what she commanded.

Leaving the work of her subordinates behind her, Anne retired to her personal quarters for some much needed rest...

[Anne Phoenix]

Toweling her hair dry as she emerged from the refresher, Anne stared at herself in the mirror. The years had been blessful to her, and her figure was well maintained by her diet of Alliance rations and her strict exercise regimen. She had, at one point in the past, been compared by an Imperial defector to an Imperial Admiral named Daala, in looks, as they both apparently had red hair and similar figures, although she was several years younger than this 'Daala'. From what the defector had said, Daala was Tarkin's Pet Admiral, and the presumption among intelligence was that she had died aboard the first death star when it exploded, since there has been no sign of her since.

Sitting at the table by her vanity, Anne looked at the holopictures she had there, of her family, and friends, and homeworld. All three had been destroyed in a single stroke of the Empire, her home planet reduced to a collection of asteroids referred to as the 'Graveyard' far and wide. Once a pacifist that exemplified the politics and emotions of her people, Anne had been as utterly destroyed and burnt out emotionally as her planet had been physically. She had wandered, a lost soul, from planet to planet, doing what she could to stay alive, while trying to put her mind and emotions back together.

Eventually, she had hung onto one thing, one emotion that had seemed to help hold her poorly tattered mind together - anger. A smoldering rage against the people that had taken away everything of value to her. She had joined the alliance directly, not bothering with any of the other resistance groups.

Her early reputation in the alliance, before she had learned to control, focus, and temper her molten hot rage at the Empire, had led her to recieving the nickname Blackheart, the alliance's version of Iceheart, for the more often then not zero quarter she gave to Imperial prisoners during engagements. On one mission in which she captained a Corellian corvette, she ordered the vessel to destroy a freighter that was trying to surrender, shortly after the Battle of Hoth, a freighter with supplies that would have been very useful for the Alliance cause.

High Command had not been pleased when they had reviewed the report, and they gave Anne a choice; get counseling for her issues, or be dismissed from the Alliance. At this point, she had finally realized that, after Alderaan, she had finally found a place to call home, and not willing to lose it, had agreed to undergo counseling.

The anger had not disappeared, not by a longshot. But now, barring extreme emotional duress, it would not come to the surface again, would not cloud her mind and judgement. With her decision making free of it, she had risen steadily through the ranks again, commanding an Escort Frigate during the Battle of Endor. Her brazen point blank attack on the flank of an Imperial Star Destroyer had earned her an award for bravery, and the rank of Commodore, along with a larger command, the Mon Cal light cruiser Liberty's Fire.

Now, once again, she had moved up, to bigger and better things. Getting up from her mirror and laying down on her bed, she let her mind wander. How far did she aspire to climb up the rank ladder? Did she have it in her to eventually become the top military leader of the Alliance? Would her path of revenge even let her? So many questions would cause confusion to even the most advanced of minds, and for Anne, that confusion was the final lure that helped to blank her mind and help her fall into oblivion...

[Anne Phoenix]

Near Fondor

Intelligence had come through again in another coup that would aid the Tempest Base Project. Information had been intercepted about shipments in the region, and another three targets of interest had been zeroed out for capture by Anne for additions to her fleet and project.

Task Force Tempest reverted out of hyperspace right on top of the first target. This one was a bulk freighter, and was carrying not weapons of war, but tools of construction. In specific, a dozen space construction droids, the zero-g variants of the massive machines those were largely used to construction Coruscant.

Although these droids were smaller than their land based cousins, they were still impressive pieces of machinery. It they could capture these droids intact, which would solve a lot of the labor problems when it came time to begin construction of the actual shipyards in orbit around Mustafar.

The Task Force had been much reduced in size since its last mission. Anne had released the Starfire and Freedom's Destiny to join other fleets as needed, while she retained the smaller ships for her raiders. She had left the Tarry behind, which left her the Constellation and Tangent for this run.

Upon leaving hyperspace, both ships powered up shields and weapons, and the Tangent launched her six X-wing star fighters. The scanners on the corvette detected the Fondorian powering up her own shields and weapons, and launching from external docks four TIE Scout Fighters.

It was no contest. The six X-wings vaped the four TIE Scout Fighters at range with proton torpedoes, while the Tangent was able to batter down the Fondorian's shields with repeated turbolaser fire, the freighter's own small complement of laser cannons unable to penetrate the corvette's shields.

The freighter surrendered, and a shuttle with a boarding crew was dispatched to oversee the freighter's capture. As soon as it was secured and moving out, the Tangent recovered her X-wings, and the task force jumped out to the next target.


The second target nearly proved disastrous for the Task Force. It was another bulk freighter, but the task force came out of hyperspace only to be confronted with an Imperial Strike class medium cruiser, identified as the Asp. The Constellation dumped all of her power into shields, and protected the Tangent from the guns of the cruiser, while the two ships came about for an emergency exit into hyperspace. The X-wings fired off a salvo at the incoming squadron of TIE Interceptors, vaping four of the six torpedoes were fired at, before joining the two ships in escaping into hyperspace.

After eluding the pursuit of the Asp, Anne reorganized her squadron for the third raid, which she still wanted to try and pull off. This one was flown by an independent contractor, aligned with the Corporate Sector. The latter's Authority had sent a Marauder class Corvette to escort the Action IV Transport, underscoring how valuable the shipment was. This one was another arms shipments, intended for installation on new construction of cruisers in the small to medium range. It was a package of one hundred general purpose warhead launchers, along with their sensors and other equipment, and a supply of two thousand concussion missiles.

When they came out of hyperspace, the Marauder, which the IFF identified as the Exonerator, launched the remainder of her Z-95 Headhunters, the first four already out on picket patrol. The Tangent launched her X-wings and, along with the Constellation, moved against the Exonerator. These Z-95 Headhunters fortunately turned out to only be armed with laser cannons, and the X-wings were able to halve their numbers with proton torpedoes before it became a point blank brawl.

The Marauder choose to focus her firepower on the Tangent, hoping to knock out the smaller ship first. But their firepower wasn't concentrated, scattering their turbolaser fire over the length of the corvette's shields, making their power last longer. By contrast, the fire from not only the Tangent but the Constellation was deadly accurate, burning through the Marauder's shields in a hurry and leaving their shield generators burning. They next moved to the weapon mounts, burning each of them away until the Exonerator transmitted a request for surrender.

The X-wings had finished with the Z-95 Headhunters in the meantime. Half of the X-wings had been lost, with one pilot going EV, but in return ten of the twelve Z-95s had been destroyed or disabled, with three of their pilots EV. The remaining two turned back to the Exonerator, accepting the surrender.

The freighter had tried to flee, but a few turbolaser blasts from the Tangent, which was catching up, convinced the crew it was better to surrender, less they die a horrifically flashy death from the detonation of the concussion missiles.

Anne was deeply satisfied with this raid. First, they had given reason for the CSA to reconsider their supply agreements with the Empire, and secondly, they had captured more warships and freighters to add to their arsenal, even though one of their raids turned out to be a scramble and run. With another raiding expedition concluded, it was time to return to Tempest Base.

[Anne Phoenix]

Tempest Base

The convoy had exited hyperspace an hour ago and was now in the process of docking with the asteroid. The Constellation and Tangent actually went into an orbit near the asteroid while the captured freighters and corvette went straight into the main base. The crews of the freighters and corvette had already been dropped off and sent via shuttle to Sullust, to be processed and interrogated as needed by Alliance officials there. As usual, sweeps for tracking devices were executed before the ships and their cargo had finished their journey to Tempest Base.

The corvette would be added to the raider fleet, in which her services were badly needed. She had two medium turbolaser cannons functional after the battle, the other six having been destroyed during the engagement. Anne decided to strip these off, and gave her a uniform armament of six heavy turbolaser cannons, plus four of the newly acquired concussion missile launchers, each with a magazine of twenty five torpedoes. Four tractor beam projectors rounded out the armaments, with the hangar complement being replaced by a freshly rotated in squadron of X-wings. Adding in the shuttle complement for boarding actions, and the corvette was a big boost to her efforts.

She decided to rename the corvette the Tarantula, which was the name given to a particularly fierce Krayt Dragon that used to roam the Tatooine deserts before dying of old age, having deprived many hunters of his Krayt Pearls the same fate. While the corvette was being refitted, with droids and works in Zero-G suits swarming on the outside and inside of her hull, Anne headed into the command room for an update of the progress.

They still hadn't found a suitable refueling space station to send to the waypoint system between Mustafar and Tempest Base, but several leads were being run down.

[Anne Phoenix]

Mustafar


The progress was astounding, once the initial framework had been completed. Unlike human workers, droids needed nothing in the way of rest, and very little in the way of maintenance. They just went about their tasks with a very appropriate inhumane pace, completing one job before either repeating it one meter down the line or moving on to another task. Commander Garrick had given up his rank and command to become the official for the time being governor of Mustafar, for even though droids mostly inhabited the planet, the number of humans was growing as the facilities expanded.

Keels had been laid in the upper orbit for what would become the four shipyards in due time that would crank out the escort capital ships badly needed by the growing Alliance navy. Progress was nearly completed on the two star fighter factories. Already the munitions factory had been completed and was supplying the local forces with proton torpedoes and concussion missiles. The droid factory had been built a couple of weeks ago and was still pumping out droids, anything from additional construction models to mining and smithing droids, and even a few other odds and ends.

Currently Governor Garrick was cruising in the skies above Mustafar in a Lambda shuttle, inspecting sites for additional factories. Land was sparse and not very suitable for construction, depending on lava floes and the location of actual vents. Fifteen promising sites had been mapped out in a one hundred kilometer square area from the current factories, and now decisions had to be made.

"These three," said Garrick, highlighting three points on the map. One would be used for an additional munitions factory, while two others would be used to begin the manufacture of actual capital ship grade weaponry for the shipyards in orbit above, so they wouldn't have to keep depending on raids to supply the weapons for their new or refitted older ships.

"Yes sir. Shall I order new construction droids built from Alpha Two for these projects?" asked See One Pee Two, the protocol droid recently built from the same mentioned factory.

"Err no. We'll wait for the droids to finish with Delta One before we reassign them to these new tasks. Alpha Two shall continue manufacturing mining and smithing droids for the time being," answered Garrick.

"Inquiry. We already have sufficient stockpiles of minerals to begin star fighter production once Delta One is finished. Why need more mining and smithing types?" asked C-1P2.

"When the shipyards and weapons factories are completed, we'll be going into full time production. The current amount of smithing and mining droids are insufficient to keep up with our needs when that time comes. Even if we start stockpiling minerals now, which we are," explained Garrick.

"Very well, Master Garrick. Orders have been logged," said C-1P2, before going on to his tasks. The shuttle by this time was landing on the main platform at Mustafar HQ. Garrick and the droid debarked, the former heading for his quarters, the latter for a preferred but not necessarily needed oil bath.

[Anne Phoenix]

Tempest Base

More gifts had been received from Alliance HQ. Following the recent raids, and other work done by Tempest Base, including the refitting of three bulk freighters done on special request, additional star fighter squadrons and a couple more of capital class ships that needed refitting had been rotated in.

The two capital ships had been recently captured from the Galactic Empire in another intelligence coup. An Imperial Strike class medium cruiser and a B2 class escort frigate had been in transit from Kuat Drive Yards to the Koornacht Cluster for fitting out work, so that their former slips could be occupied by newer vessels under construction. The B2 frigate had no weapons or star fighters, but the Strike had about half of its weapons complement and single star fighter bay installed, and carried a dozen TIE Fighters.

That would have been enough to defend the ship from roving pirates or smugglers, but the Alliance squadron that ambushed the two ships was more than a match for them. Two X-wing squadrons and a B-wing squadron had hyped in from hyperspace, the latter wiping out the TIE Fighter squadron, latter launching Ion torpedoes and using their ion cannons to disable the two capital ships, for the troop barges and shuttles to move in with fleet troops, who proceeded to capture and navigate the ships to first Sullust, and then from there to Tempest Base.

Sullust had full slipways, which left the refit work to Tempest Base, which had just finished the modification work on the three bulk freighters. The ships IFF have identified the cruiser as the Taskmaster and the frigate as the Barham. Anne decided both of the names had to go, so first order of business was to rename the strike cruiser the Emancipator, while the frigate would be renamed the Shooting Star.

The frigate had two star fighter bays, but no weapons. Normally a B2 would be armed with three heavy turbolaser turrets in addition to a standard B's weapon complement, but they didn't have the precise weapons in storage for that. So instead, the Shooting Star would be armed with ten heavy turbolaser cannons, ten medium ion cannons, two concussion missile launchers with ten missiles each, and four tractor beam projectors. Not too good to go up against enemy star fighters, but then the two squadrons embarked would be able to handle that.

The strike cruiser would normally carry ten medium turbolaser batteries, twenty medium turbolaser cannons, and ten ion cannons. Five medium turbolaser batteries and five ion cannons had been installed for the transfer to Black Fifteen. The Emancipator would be rearmed with twenty heavy turbolaser cannons and fifteen ion cannons, plus two concussion missile launchers and twenty missiles, plus four tractor beam projectors. The five medium turbolaser batteries removed would go into storage. In addition, two replicas of the current star fighter bay would be manufactured at one of the factories on Mustafar and shipping in on the Constellation, a common mod on the strike cruiser, allowing the Emancipator to carry three squadrons of Alliance star fighters.

These two ships would be put up for grabs after their refits were finished. Anne had heard back that the Starfire had gone into the Fourth Fleet, while the Freedom's Destiny had ended up in the 1st Fleet, helping to defend Mon Calamari from enemy attack. She was glad that the old vessels had found new life after being refitted for service in her little yard.

Currently, besides brooding over the little details, she was enjoying a hand of sabaac with the captains from the various vessels in orbit around the planet. This was a friendly game that they would share before moving on to a mission briefing, concerning the final raid that they would launch before Tempest Base reaches the one month old date of being built. At that time, an official from the Alliance HQ would be personally visiting Tempest Base, before moving on two the other two systems that had been established. This upcoming raid would see a station secured for system M2468, a suitable waypoint between Mustafar and Tempest Base where minor repairs could be carried out, some mining of the local asteroid belt could be commenced, and two star fighter squadrons could be garrisoned to chase off anything smaller than a decent Imperial raiding force.

[Anne Phoenix]

Near Bilbringi

This time, the mission was much more risky. Intelligence hadn't been able to come up with anything solid, so they were going in blind. This time it would be more about disrupting Imperial supply lines, forcing warships away from frontline duty into commerce protection roles, and taking whatever they could lay their hands on. Even older transports would be a valued commodity to the Alliance, even if the Imperials using them would sooner see them scrapped rather than use them.

A trio of reconnaissance Y-wings had hooked up with Task Force Tempest and were being used to scout the hyper lanes leading into the shipyard for likely candidates. One item of interest caught Anne's eyes. It was a report from Stealth Three about an Imperial convoy that had just left hyperspace, possibly from Kuat that would be spending the next thirty minutes maneuvering through a system before making the final hyper jump into the Bilbringi Shipyards.

The convoy had a single Nebulon B2 Escort Frigate with its TIE Fighter complement as an escort, and consisted of six bulk freighters. It could be something as simple as an ore hauling shipment, heading to the smelters, or perhaps something as advanced as manufactured weapons or ship systems heading out to finish being fitted on new Imperial warships.

Literally just about anything those freighters could be hauling would be useful to the needs of Tempest Base, so Anne gave the order for the Task Force to prepare the micro jump needed to ambush the convoy. The Tarry and the Tangent came about and launched their combined squadron of X-wings, while the Tarantula launched her own complement of X-wings. The two star fighter squadrons, both containing hyper drives, would zoom in ahead of the three corvettes to engage the frigate's star fighter complement, and then break up to disable the freighters for capture.

The three corvettes came out of hyperspace moments after the X-wings did. The star fighters were already streaking ahead to engage the TIEs boiling out the Tyranny. A surprise came to the Task Force when the sensors identified the TIEs as being a mixed group, composed of twelve TIE Fighters, eight TIE Interceptors, and four TIE Bombers. The star fighters also split up, with one flight of TIE Fighters escorting the TIE Bombers as they came against the corvettes, while the remaining star fighters headed towards the oncoming X-wings.

Anne hated splitting up her own star fighters in response, but she had no choice. The corvettes didn't really have sufficient weaponry to deal with the incoming TIE Bombers, and the ordinance they carried posed a significant threat to any of the three ships. The six X-wings belonging to the Tarry split away from the group and headed towards the TIE Bombers. Sensors onboard the Tarantula warned Anne that the bombers were targeting her flagship, but they were still way out of range.

Flashes signaled the start of the battle, as both groups of X-wings fired their proton torpedoes. The sensor locks on the flagship faded, but then the Tarry's star fighter complement began juking and evading as the TIE Bombers turned about and started targeting them. The bombers fired four torpedoes, and the TIE Fighters fired their lasers at the incoming torpedoes.

Explosions blossomed in three of the four groups of star fighters. One X-wing from Tarry exploded after a proton torpedo found its mark. The other three bombers couldn't acquire signals fast enough, and their torpedoes streak harmlessly into the night. In comparison, three TIE Bombers, and one TIE Fighter from the attack group died by torpedo, and in the main group, four TIE Interceptors and three TIE Fighters died from torpedoes.

The four groups of star fighters became two then as the groups mixed it up. The trio of corvettes was closing in on the Tyranny, which had just opened fire at range with her heavy turbolaser turrets. Incoming fire splashed off the shields of the flagship, reducing the Tarantula's shield power by twenty percent capacity.

The three corvettes swiftly closed the range however, and the Tarantula opened up with her heavy turbolaser cannons, the other two with their complement of medium turbolaser cannons. They targeted the bridge and shield generators of the Imperial frigate, aiming to disable rather than destroy her.

In the meantime, the Tarry's star fighters had finished with the TIE Bombers and their escort, losing another X-wing to a TIE Fighter in the process. Anne ordered these star fighters into two pairs to go and attack the Bulk Freighters, the ones fleeing farthest from the battle so far. Hopefully this would convince the other four captains to come about and flee in another direction, buying her forces more time to corner and capture these ships.

Two X-wing symbols winked out in the main battle. It appeared the X-wing pilots were unaccustomed to dogfigting with the TIE Interceptors, and were paying the price for their lack of experience. Two of the four remaining Interceptors had just scored kills, although five TIE Fighters had died in the dogfight.

The Tyranny suffered shield loss just as the Tarantula herself did. The frigate's turbolasers gouged holes in the corvette's hull as turbolasers struck the bridge and shielding arrays of the frigate, destroying both of them. A volley of four concussion missiles streaked out from the Tarantula, slamming into the frigate near her primary weaponry. The heavy turbolasers and most of the medium turbolasers onboard the Tyranny stopped firing, having been knocked out by the missiles.

The frigate stopped firing all together, and a communication was received by the secondary bridge, requesting a surrender. Apparently the Imperial crew decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and decided to surrender instead of being destroyed. Anne didn't know why the Imperial frigate didn't flee, but perhaps the crew feared retribution by their commanders for failing to protect the convoy.

By this time the surviving two TIE Interceptors and three TIE Fighters were fleeing back to the safety of the frigate. Fourteen X-wings had survived the battle, with four more having been destroyed, all by the TIE Interceptors. The remainder split into two groups. One group of four wing pairs headed towards the remaining four freighters, while the other group headed to occupy the Tyranny until boarding shuttles could arrive.

By the time the Tyranny could be secured, the X-wings had finished their missions. Unfortunately, one freighter had reached the edge of the mass shadow and fled into hyperspace, but the remaining five had been captured. Two of them had their hyper drives damaged because of their resistance, so the Tarry and the Tangent would have to use their tractor beams to tow them along.

Once the Task Force was assembled, Anne ordered the group to jump into hyperspace. She anticipated popping open a bottle of Whyren's Reserve once they arrived back at base, for a job well done. The upcoming celebration for completing Tempest Base and the work they had done during the raids would be cause for a great big party indeed.