The Second Battle of Bestine: New Republic Counterattack

[TieFighterPilot181st]

The six corvettes of the 537th Infiltration Squadron dropped out of hyperspace and into the extreme outskirts of Bestine as Intel had reported an Interdictor Field which was operational and had to be avoided. The 537th moved forward on their sublight drives.
"Lieutenant, activate all stealth systems." the major in command ordered. With the flick of a few switches the Mistryl's expansive stealth features activated. The active cloaking shields activated and a series of small probes launched, which would allow the corvettes to manuever while utilizing the cloaking system. The six corvettes moved closer towards the planet. Imperial fighter patrols were active, but with data feeds from the probes, the corvettes managed to avoid them all. The corvettes now fomed a single file line, following a freighter that was heading towards planet side. A section of the planetary shield was deactivated to allow the freighter through, and the six corvettes slipped in without incident. The corvettes then moved towards a heavily forested area on Bestine's main continent.
"Are all the commandos in the pods?"
"Yes, sir they're awaiting your order to launch right now."
"Alright then, as soon as we get into final position begin launching

[Redic Scott]

Major Zitzev looked over his men as they stood in a line next to the drop pods they would soon board. In front of the pods enterance, stood the exo-skeleton robotic bodies they would soon get into. Their backs were open, split down the middle with the inside padding exposed.

Vladamir walked backed and forth and looked at the men under his command. They were all perfessionals and would soon be entering a combate zone, something they had done so many times before. This time, however, the mission had been hasty and there were many things that could go wrong. Although the team knew the area they were going into, they didn't know the lastest imperial troop movements. They landing zone could already be compremized. This would also be the first time the team would use their new exo-suits and they weren't combate tested yet. Sure the suits passed the tests and other training jumps, but that didn't mean they would work differently in combat. They weren't combat proven, but there was no time for those thoughts any more. The warning came on and Vlad turned to his team.

"Men, it's that time again. Once again we are going into hostile territory and we don't know what to expect. Trust one another and stay sharp and we will all go home after this." As he looked at the men and women, Vlad knew that some of them might not get to go home. Their enemy was well trained and had time to dig in. They would have a hard job ahead of them.

"As we practiced, we will go after the shield generators. Bravo Squad will take the medics and engineers to the base camp." Everyone stood motionless with expressionless faces. "Are you ready?!" Vlad yelled out.

"Sir, Yes sir." The team shouted as one, "Those Imps wont know what hit em sir."

The major smiled, "You got that straight, Milone." As he slapped the man's sholder, the lights dimmed and the ship lerched. On each pod a green light turned on.

"That's it people, get in and load up." With that, they all saluted and yelled. Each ran to their suit and climbed in.

As they stepped inside the suit, each said "close" and the voice recognition system instantly closed the two back halfs. Pulling them tightly together with a sealing sucking sound. The leg pieces sealed tight as well, ensuring an air-tight seal. With an energy burst, the small fusion pack in the rear powered up, giving the suit all the power it would need. The eyes light up red and adjusted to each person, giving perfect vision. Each of the team moved around, making sure everything worked. They grabed their heavy rifles and stepped inside the pods. With a hiss, all the pods closed as one and it was now only a matter of time.

[General Tohmahawk]

Good grief, how how had it been since he had done this?

His gear was piled up neatly, his foot on it as he laced up his combat armour. The armour itself was fairly light, able to be put on under a loose fitting set of clothing. What wasnt light were the guns.

Lots of guns

With ammo.

So far, he wasnt exactly sure of the sitrep with Bestine, having missed news of the original battle due to ... family commitments. He had to grin at that one. And to be honest, he would have preferred to keep those commitments. He had retired and the last falsehood to do with Tohmahawk was buried along with Hicks. Personally, he would have preferred it to stay that way, except for a call he had gotten from the Chief of State and Admiral Lion. They knew the secret.

They also were the only ones who could talk him into pulling on the uniform once again and taking up the rank.

So much had changed. New commanders, new ships, new tatics. Even the enemy had changed. But one thing he had discovered that hadn't changed was the excitement. The energy. The raw emotion that a coming attack could bring. The comradre.

Damn it, he missed it!

Yes, there was a war and yes beings would die. Yes, he would kill. Maybe he could be killed. But, this was where he felt a part of him belonged. The Commanders of this assault had been informed only after they were in hyperspace that he was onboard and coming with them. What their reaction was, he didnt really care.

"Sir"

"Yes?" he replied, straightening up.

"We are approaching Bestine" stated a young officer.

"Good. To your post"

He bend down again, picking up his pack and slinging it on his shoulder. as well, he put over the other shoulder his gun belt and ammo bandolier. He also picked up the softform bag that clinked as it moved and had the shape of some long barrel weaponry inside.

The drop ship that he would be going on was finishing prep. The new TRD war droids, the soldiers and his most trusted friends who were comign with him were makign final prep for their drop forward of the planned NR positions. Excitement, nervousness and the stench of the over full latrine filled the air.

"Hey who the hell forgot to flush the thunderbox?????"

Major General James T Tohmahawk grinned, even as he put a stoogie to his mouth and bit on one end. He was back exactly where he belonged.

[Telan Desaria]

Grand Admiral Telan Desaria stood motionless nehind the tall viewports separating his white-uniformed person from the icy expanse of space. From the position of the Relentless, he could look down into Bestine's broad continents, into her oceans, upon the orbital battlestation now flying the Imperial ensign, and the hundreds of craft, both military and civil, traversing the system.


He had arrived almost a day before on the two week anniversary of the system's conquest. No celebration had been planned for even the Imperial love of pomp and fanfare yielded to military neccessity. There was as little doubt in any officer's mind as there was oceans on Tatooine that the Republic would launch some sort of counter-offensive. The question unanswered as when.


As the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy, Baron Telan Desaria appeared to be the rock on the shore - calm, steady, and unmoving. He had not answered the question to his men but he did stand before anyman with the air of regal confidence only an Imperial aristocrat could. To his men, Desaria was infallible.


Secretly, however, he was as unsure as they as to when the attack would come. He did not need to know. He was making ready to receive them when they arrived. And every moment they delayed his position grew stronger.


" Admiral?"


Baron Desaria turned about, hands clasped at the small of his back. Looking into his chest was a very short Tylothian man of perhaps thirty. The severe gravity of his homeworld precluded height - - a comical episode in any culture for the Grand Admiral was just over two metres. He quickly brushed aside the notion and returned to his imposing self.


" Lieutenant?"


" Sir, several moments ago a TIE squadron from the 77th Destroyer Wing scanned their patrol route and noticed some miniscule fragments of debris moving in-system."


Desaria raised an eyebrow. " And what is unusual about this?"


" The debris is moving in a line. Our sensors cannot penetrate the material apparently - we suspect it burnt up in the atmosphere. Either way, I noticed something strange - the fragments were headed towards the planet. According to physics they should have been pulled into orbit until all inertia was lost and that orbit decayed resulting in their burning up."


Desaria hummed for a moment. He was no scientist, but abnormality was abnormality.


" Commander, bring the ship to full alert and pass the word for battle readiness to all other vessels on station."


The tiny - comparatively - officer lost all pigment. " S - S - Sir, I am only a Lieutenant, one of the ship's science officers. I am not permitted to issue such orders."


" Incorrect. Now you a Commander and the ship's Senior Science Officer. As a departmental commander you may issue an elevated alert status call to whomever you please - subject to review by your superiors. I approve. Dismissed, Commander."


Newly promoted, the diminuitive man grew several inches and puffed out his chest. He strode away from the Admiral and carried out his orders.


Desaria on the other hand, turned back into space. He swept up a belt mounted comlink from his waist and spoke into it. " Colonel Tavington, analyze all sensor readings from the 77th Destroyer Wing and report back to me in one hour."


" Aye sir," crackled the reply of the Intelligence Liaison on the Grand Admiral's staff.


Perhaps sooner than later...

[Teleran Balades]

Barely audible, rythmic clanging resonated off of the walls, emanatating from the hallway leading to the central section of the Inquisitorial vessel. The source of the sound entered the "bridge", a tiny, circular room with dozens of monitors ringing the chamber. One of the eight crewmen turned to see a gaunt man nearly two meters tall striding toward the middle of the room. The man's dark uniform had markings except for rank cylinders and a quartet of red tabs above his right breast pocket. His physique and dress coupled with his pale skin gave him an appearance akin to the physical manifestation of Death that many cultures believed existed.

"How did it go Inquisitor?"

The man replied with a voice that seemed as if it could leech the warmth out of any living organism.

"As expected, but well nonetheless."

A tiny hint of a smile appeared on the Inquisitor's face. Well indeed. Balades responded with his usual cold sarcasm, Hagan with the same distrust that almost every fleet officer had for the Inquisitorate, and Desaria..Desaria had the gall to avoid any contact me at all. Inquisitor Valten, stood silently as the Shadow Stalker pulled away from the Golan and floated through the mass of ships. Not since the end of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion had this large a fleet been mustered. Inevitably Internal Security sent an Inquisitor to ferret out any possible traitors.

"Inquisitor, while you were on Golan we detected an energy pulse out system. Similar to the surge from a ship emerging from hyperspace, but no ship has entered for the last 40 minutes"

Valten turned, intrigued. It had been a relatively uneventful meeting and he was interested in any thing abnormal. "Where? How long ago?"

"Outside the Interdiction field about 15 minutes ago. Several unidentified fragments where also detected moving towards Bestine."

The Inquisitor's eyes narrowed. "Bring us closer, bring our scanners up to full power."

The ghost-like ship turned planetside as her powerful sensor array hummed to life. The Spectre had been designed specifically for Intel gathering and detect almost anything. As the ship neared the edge of Bestine's atmosphere, the Inquisitor looked confusedly at the helmsmen.

"The objects dropped into the atmosphere a few minu..."

The helmsman was cut short as a fleet system wide communication came over the speakers.

"All ships to battle alert status. This is a direct order from Grand Admi..."

Valten slammed his fist down on the comm-console. All the people present stared at the Inquisitor.

"Desaria is anxious about something and I assume those 'fragments' are part of it. Activate stealth package. Find me those fragments."

The crew wasn't used to any sort of out-burst, even a small on like this, from their commander. Consequently none of them said a word and focused even more on their duties.

As the ship plunged into the atmosphere in the wake the objects, instead of the flames of reentry, the ship disappeared from view and completly vanished from all sensors, not even an exhaust signature from the engines could be picked up. The vessel truly transformed into a spectre.

Several tense minutes later one of the sensor officers spoke up.

"I've picked up some odd signatures in the wind patterns. The air is distorting around a concentrated area approximately 4 kilometers east. It's moving at a steady rate directly towards a nearby city"

Bestine was known for odd wind patterns, but distortion around a focused are that was moving was unheard of except for storms; and there wasn't a storm cell in sight.

"Go. Slowly, nothing to give us away."

The camoflagued ship turned on a intercept course with the anomaly. As the Shadow Stalker converged onto the location a jubilant cry came from another sensor officer. "Objects detected, small, no lifeforms." An image showed on a monitor.

The Inquisitor smiled wickedly. Probes. Short ranged. Looks like we're not the only ghosts here.

Target an area within the anomaly. Heavy weapons."

Pneumatic pumps hissed as several areas of hull receeded, revealing hidden double turblaser cannons and medium Ion cannons. For a brief moment the Shadow Stalker was visible as energy pulsed from the ship before it vanishing a second time.

[TieFighterPilot181st]

Major Strathmore stood on teh bridge, ready to giver the order to begin the insertion when all hell broke loose.
"Sir, an Imp Corvette has just opened fire on corvettes 2 and 5. Sensors read weapons fire as turbolasers and ion cannons." The Major swore as what was a textbook insertion rapidly became much worse.
"Signal all corvettes, begin emergency drop sequence." In each drop room of the corvettes the drop officers gave the go signal and the drop pods began firing.
"Get me a fix on that Imp corvette!"
"I cant sir, its a stealth ship, just intermittent contact when it appears to fire."
"Open fire on it whenever you can see it, or if you can guess where it is then, dammit."
The Major knew even though there was only one Imp ship out there right now he was outgunned, as his ships only carried 4 quad lasers each.
"Sir, Corvette 2's shields are down."
"Helm, flank speed get us out of here!" the Major shouted. The Corvettes turned and began accelerating to escape.
"Corvette 5's reactor just overloaded sir, shes gone."
"Imp starfighters, scrambling to intercept sir."

[Redic Scott]

The capsule vibrated around Major Zitzev. The vibrations even traveled through the armored suit he was in. Feeling this, the major knew that they had entered the planet's atmosphere and coming up on their drop point. "Almost there." He called out on the squad's secure link.

This was the moment they were all waiting for and now, in a few minutes it would be all over. Even after all the training and excitment, it never got old. Ever time he dropped was like the first. He craved the rush he felt as he screamed down at terminal velocity. The display on his helmet visior blinked and the number five came up. As soon as it did, it started to count down. With a smile on his face, Vladimir Zitzev braced himself.

As the number hit zero, he could feel the small rocket motors around the top of the pod ignite. In second the small, one person capsule cleared the ship and the motors became exhausted. The outside fared as it turned orange and red. The friction caused the inside of the pod to quickly heat up. Vlad was glad for the cooling system that the exo-suit had since it kept him cool even as the inside of the pod reached unbarible conditions.

Looking to the left side of his heads Up Display, the major could see the altimeter reading down toward zero. Suddenly, within seconds, the whole interior of the pod filled with a foam. It hardened into a cushioning material and within milliseconds the pods retor rocket fired, slowing it down a lot before it slammed into the ground. Instantly the outside panels peeled away and the foam returned to a gel that slide off the combat suit.

When the dust settled, a circle of amored suits could be seen. They were all kneeling with their weapons out, sweeping the area. The Major stood up, as did the rest of the squad and moved toward the other teams that had landed. Becons blinked on the inside of their helmets and allowed them to locate the rest of the squads that landed. In all 1 Medical squad, 3 Engineering squads and 2 Infiltarator squads were assembled. There was gear in crates to be gathered and Major Zitzev looked around, checking the time. They needed to get to the shield generators.

"Bravo Squad, you take the engineers and medics to the HQ. We're moving out toward to the shields. Good luck."

Patting the other commander's sholder, Vlad nodded and turned to leave. He gathered his men and checked their equipment before they all headed out toward the location of the shield generators.

[Jyanis Scorpion]

The magazine slid into the weapon quickly, producing a sound that could almost be called a 'crunch.' It was a Model B Railgun, one of the earlier versions that Jyanis had taken a liking to. Several other personal favorites of his decorated the otherwise spotless floor of his quarters. His mood was calm and cool, as if he was about to visit a familiar place where everything was good. Jyanis could remember being on the other side of these campaigns, waging a private battle with the New Republic to extend the arm of the Sith. Many of their casualities were of his own doing during this time.

Now he was fighting for them.

Announcements were barely audible where he was, as they were muffled by the door to his quarters. However, they were blaring throughout the rest of the ship. Jyanis had disabled incoming transmissions. He would know when it was time.

Jyanis paused from preparing his weapons to think about the division that was coming with him. Not even with him was the correct phrasing. It was under his command. It was his to control and to fight with. He would protect them and would give his life to try. These were good fighters. Good soldiers. Some of those that were coming had even defected with him, showing impressive loyalty. Unfortunately, however, most were dispersed through the ranks of the New Republic armed forces where they were specifically needed, and Jyanis knew he would never see many of his old soldiers again before his passing.

He was getting old, and he could feel it. His appearance would suggest he was around twenty-five standard years, but Jyanis had long passed that mark. Very often he would remember his real age and puzzle over the fact, unsure of the reason for the deception in his looks.

Jyanis looked around at the items within his quarters and raised an eyebrow.

I don't think I've ever owned a chronometer. Strange.

Clipping his railgun onto the left side of his belt, he rolled his shoulders, relaxing his neck and letting out a rough sigh in his throat. He picked up his lightsaber with an outstretched hand, holding it in front of his face. It was one of his own design. A dual-blade that would split into two seperate blades when appropriate. Jyanis stood up, letting the twin beams of pristine blue light fill his vision. It was not acceptable for a Jedi to crave violence, or destruction, but it was in his blood. He could taste the fight to come, and that was what made him more content than anything in life. Slowly, he let the blades spin before him in his steady control, gradually moving them faster and faster.

A muffled announcement was again barely audible to him, but he stopped. He knew the count was winding down, and Jyanis was once again in his life ready for a good fight. He was a Jedi Knight, a general, and he was off to war.

So this is it. I'm coming home.

[General Tohmahawk]

If anyone had asked him, he would have preferred to become a two man wrecking crew with Jyanis. His friend was more than just an able fighter, he had a keen mind and razor sharp wit. They were so common in their ways, many would joke that they could have been brothers.

What was concerning to Tohmahawk was that that joke was seeming not to be too far from the truth. They were both uncommonly alike, they also looked much younger than their real age, although Tohmahawk never told anyone exactly how long he had been alive. There was the same willingness to fight and same disregard for authority. Much to think about. And much to regret they would not be drawing arms together today.

I could use Jyanis today and I suspect he would love these droids. And the new guns.

The new Mark VI rail guns.

Many whom had used the NRSF issued Rail Guns thought the Mark II the best. Tohmahawk tended to agree and he himself used Mark II's. The new ones however corrected a balance problem and also superiour supercooling.

But, even as impressive as the punch of a rail projectile, the droids had something quite new from Alliance Tech. Laser rifles. Big, ugly, perfect for a war droid and packed one hell of a punch. Rapid fire.

For a gun nut as he was, the laser rifles and the deriviates were almost orgasmic. The multibarrel version dealt out destruction on a grand scale. Which was why he had one assigned to himself.

"All set?" called out the pilot

"Yep"

"Signal for Command. Status Green"

Tohmahawk settled into a chair and strapped up. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

--

The cruiser they had been in had departed in a different direction initially to the rest of the attack fleet, dropping the innoculous drop ship about 20 light years form Bestine. A jump so that their entry vector to Bestine was vastly different to the NR ships, then they did the final direct jump to the outer control space of the planet itself. disguised as an ordinary frieghter with a perfectly valid delivery order of machine parts and medicine, it would take a pretty good look to detect anything wrong. Standard Smuggling technique. Worked pretty well usually and for this one, they also timed it so in the initial confusion of the atack, they would merge in and sneak in along with other air traffic in the general rush to either escape to hyperspace or make planetfall.

Who in their right mind would want to hang around a battle zone? Not this little inauspicious frieghter. Thus, they joined in the regular traffic patterns, waiting their turn to clear and waited for all hell to break loose.

Tohmahawk checked his chrono, looking out the viewport to the sector they knew the ships would be coming in. He leaned forward, ignoring the chat between the pilot and Air Control.

"Hmmmm....... interesting"

"Sir?"

"Oh, nothing. If I'm not mistaken, it seems we got here a bit late. The lead force of the NR is already dropping to the atmosphere. Get ready to merge with civvies and dive for cover down to the planet"

"What the hell? I dont see anything and the scopes aint picking it up"

"That's why I'm the frelling General and your the grunt with a big gun. Now stow it soldier and get ready. Lets hope our sneak in works or we'll have to resort to Plan B"

"Plan B?"

"We throw you out the airlock as a diversion"