New Air for the Breath of an Old War Dog

[Park Kraken]

"Admiral, Excelsior reports that they are ready to fire when we're ready," Captain Ashland reported.


"Very well. Sound the alarm, set condition battlestations one, and tell them to commence," replied the orange haired figure standing in front of the much younger and more vibrant captain.


The scene was a somewhat odd mix of pieces, with an exploratory mining ship belonging to the Imperial Corp of Engineers rigging charges to a set of asteroids in a field. The purpose was to blow them apart and then search them for any rare minerals, particularly for nothing that has been discovered yet; new elements that could provide new advantages.


That in and of itself seems normal, but compare that to the sight, a short distance away, of a fully armed and operation Imperial Star Destroyer II gliding alongside four wrecks of civilian ships that had been pulled from scrapyards for one final service to the Empire.


"Suppressor, this is Exclesior, firing in t-minus five," came the reply over the Admiral's personal comm unit; he didn't want his crew to know exactly when the explosion would happen.


Moments later, a large series of explosions within the edge of the asteroid field sent a swarm of dangerous asteroids in the direction of the "convoy" with the armed escort.


"Captain, sensors detects multipule enemy warheads inbound for the convoy."


"Gunners, weapons free. Prioritize protection of the convoy over the Suppressor. Fire at will," ordered Captain Ashland in a calm and confident voice.


Moments later green lances of turbolaser fire leapt out from the batteries and cannons of the Star Destroyer, meeting with and pulverizing asteroids of various sizes that were heading directly for the convoy. After five minutes of sustained firing, hundreds of asteroids passed around the ships without harm, as a few minor ones struck the Suppressor, dropping her shield capacity to 98%.


"Damage report for the convoy," Ashland's voice now said with a bit of apprehension.


"Sensors recorded that the Taggert took a minor hit to her engines that knocked one of them off-line. No major damage to any of the ships, no minor hits for the other ships," reported the Junior Sensors Officer.


"Well done Captain. Secure from Battlestations, set condition Alert-2. Tell the Excelsior that they may now commence with the salvage," ordered the Admiral.


"Thank you Admiral Kraken," replied Ashland.


Stepping back from the chaos of the bridge hustle and bustle, Kraken gently stroked his chin with one gloved finger as he contemplated today's work. This training cruise held barely a skeleton crew of his old seasoned veterans; the rest would form the core crews for a dozen new escort frigates being built at Kuat. A week ago they'd come here with a dozen derelict wrecks but after a "perilious journey" through "pirate infested space" they would be coming home with half the convoy intact, a minor victory as things were going.


With a snort, Kraken took his leave of the bridge and retired to his quarters for the night.

[Park Kraken]

While most of the cadets and other officers preferred to be sitting on the sides of the craft, Park choose to stand in the middle as the hoversled transferred them from one area of the shipyard to the other. It had been three days since the Suppressor had returned from her training mission from the asteroid belt surrounding a dead and radioactive planet in the Inner Core. During those three days her training class had been disembarked and what remained of her old veterans had been returned to the ship.


Park had been excited at first to hear the news, expecting perhaps that the Suppressor would either be sent to the front lines for a new combat tour of duty, or perhaps there was some special secret mission that they would be sent on. But the news completely deflated him. Originally, it was deemed that these training missions using a ship as powerful as the Suppressor was a waste of resources, so the Suppressor would either be downgraded into a rolled training ship or be decommissioned entirely and either moved into mothballs or scrapped.


However the ship was a fabled vessel within the Imperial Navy, made famous by her exploits under her fire breathing Admiral in the closing days of the open conflict against the Rebellion. So instead, while she was still removed from her training regimens, she would instead have her original crew restored and would join one of the Grand Moff's personal sector fleets within the Core Regions, serving as perhaps an escort to one of their personal Super Star Destroyers.


The problem with this is that the Moffs don't want a hothead under their jurisdiction, so while his ship went to their command, Park himself wouldn't be joining. Instead, he was relieved of his command and would be given a two week vacation while his new command was being prepared at Kuat. In exchange for losing his fabled vessel, he would be given what he wanted, at least; more time at the front lines, as he was at least told he would command a flotilla of escort ships that would be out against the pirates and raiders.


In the meantime, he had two weeks of vacation. While he could theoretically spend it anywhere he wanted, he was a wanted man through much of the galaxy for his "crimes" against scumanity. So he would spend it on Coruscant, checking on his apartment while perhaps looking into upgrading on his furnishings. Perhaps he would look after his old relatives if any lived along with looking up his old girlfriend. Certainly he needed to blow off some steam as he took one last forlorn look at his old and beloved flagship.