Hey guys, just a reminder that I will be taking the 19th and 22nd off. Thank you for your patience!
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After we came to terms and shook hands on our new deal, Talon left to head back to his ship, his men returning with him. I could see that I had at least earned his respect by figuring out at least one layer of his plans, and while that was a good thing, it was also a double-edged sword. Sure, he likely wouldn’t try anything stupid next time, which, now that we had done business amicably, I could only assume there would be, but that also meant if he did try to get cute, it wouldn't be something simple.
“Dammit, this is why I didn’t want to get involved with him,” I said, shaking my head. “Too many layers to worry about.”
“Are you really complaining about the opportunity to hunt slavers?” Tatnia asked, and I shook my head.
“No, not really,” I admitted with a slight huff. “I’m being dramatic, though I am pretty sure it's going to be a pain dealing with him.”
"You seem so sure of that," Tatnia asked with a frown. "What makes him so different from, say, Han Solo? Both smugglers, both suave. Sure, it's at a different scale, but...?"
"Leia has Han wrapped around her finger," I said with a snort. "But if we were going against Han, I would be even more worried."
"... Is this a Force thing?" Tatnia asked with a frown, looking from me to Ahsoka. "It kinda seems like a Force thing."
"It could be," I admitted with a frown. "But it might run deeper than that. Or it might not exist at all, and I'm being paranoid. But tell me, would you rather we overestimate him and nothing happen, or underestimate him and have him come out on top in a major way?"
"I... fine, that's fair," She admitted. "What should I do?"
"At this point... not much. Increase patrols and warn the security checkpoint that when we get back, we want a deep clean."
Our forces, practiced in the process they were, made quick work of thoroughly inspecting the base, while most of the victims were brought back to the mining outpost. Two of them decided to come with us, and after an interview, I welcomed them both with a smile.
While we were going over the base with a fine-tooth comb, we sent Nal and a few others to collect the reward from the Mayor. Technically, we didn’t do anything, but I needed to set an example for someone screwing us over. We didn’t do anything dramatic, just took half of what he had promised us, and warned him about selling his soul to someone who would use him to get the attention of a group like ours.
He wasn't exactly happy about it, but knew the game enough not to complain. I think at least part of him was glad to finally be free of the web, but he did take a few long, sad looks at a wine collection and luxury goods around his office.
By the time we were ready to go, Talon had dropped off a data packet containing information about three slaver bases, including their location, forces, and general activity schedule. Compared to what we usually had, it was more than enough to confirm a mission and send a fleet to take down each target. I immediately sent the data for the two smaller targets, saving the larger third location for our group.
We lifted off from the base only six hours after we arrived, and only an hour after Talon had left with his people, along with most of the starships. He had left one behind, an off-brand corvette with decent features and in good repair, as an apology for trying to pull one over on us.
It did not convince me he actually felt bad.
I didn’t even want to take it off the planet, never mind bring it to the security checkpoint. In the end, a few members of Hope's crew volunteered to bring the ship to one of our sales yards, where it could be properly inspected, and since those sales yards were more public, revealing it wouldn't be an issue. It was a bit big for our public yards, but considering the Rebellion would likely happily snap it up pretty quickly, it would be fine.
Once we were gone, we ran several deep scans of the base, confirming it was clear and cleaned, before firing several turbolaser blasts into its landing pads as a sort of warning shot. We then waited fifteen minutes before opening fire again and flattening the entire facility. We then jumped to lightspeed, leaving the planet behind.
As we leaped into hyperspace, Ahsoka and I made our way from the bridge, heading down to the Cafeteria.
“We will likely attract some attention for being so persistent about taking down slavery rings,” she pointed out as we walked. “I’m not saying we shouldn't, but it bears mentioning.”
“I know,” I said with a frown. “But we can’t not do this, and it can’t wait. Plus, everything we steal will help pay for our next ship.”
“So you plan on having a second built when this one is complete?” Ahsoka asked, giving me a look.
“I do. I’m kind of hoping we can find the resources to make four of them, one for each of the fleets,” I admitted. “I’m not sure if we will be able to do that one after the other, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”
“Does each fleet need that?” she asked. “Wouldn’t it be better to make a second fleet?”
“We are hitting more and more Imperial targets, and I want our fleets capable of taking down multiple Star Destroyers with as little risk as possible,” I responded. “Our ship designers are already working on a few smaller ships. When those designs are done and our fleets are stocked, we will likely switch over to building whole fleets, rather than augmenting the already created ones. But that's months and months down the line, maybe longer.”
With a group like ours, plans tended to change pretty quickly.
After some debate, it was decided that we would be going straight to our chosen target, a staging point for slavers located in a system along the line between the Mid Rim and the Outer Rim. The base was likely to have a lot of slaves waiting for delivery to Nar Shadda or other slave distributing planets, and we would likely have to wait in ambush to catch the slavers that were already out on their gathering missions.
Thankfully, we had a bit of a trick up our sleeves.
Over the last few months, ever since we first got our hands on it, our shipwork station had been slowly chipping away at the improvements necessary to get the Immobilizer 418 Interdictor-class up to our standard. It was slow going, the repair platform was not built with full overhauls in mind, and we didn't have it staffed to do that kind of work full-time. But they had been chipping away at it, and it was finally complete.
With a new droid brain, streamlined systems, converted hangar bay, and some other adjustments, it was now run predominantly by droids, with a living crew of just over two hundred. At the moment, it was running on about half that, which considerably reduced its combat capabilities, but that was fine. Its intent wasn't as a combat starship, though it was still a six-hundred-meter cruiser that could likely hold its own against smaller capital ships. Instead, it was a backline asset, using its gravity well projectors to keep our targets from running away. At some point, I would likely build an escort group around it, but for now, it would be switching between fleets alone, wherever it was needed.
The ship, now called the Lockdown, was likely going to become our ace in the hole for hunting groups more likely to run than fight.
According to the data Talon gave us, the base was on the moon of a gas giant, neither of which had any recognizable name. The slavers had claimed and abandoned a mining outpost, all of it sealed since the moon didn’t have enough of an atmosphere to support life. There would likely be three ships defending the outpost, but none of them would come even close to our fleet, even if we didn’t deploy our starfighter first, which we fully intended to.
The trip would take a total of two days and a little more, which gave us time to get in some practice, mostly sparring. This time, I was taking on both Ahsoka and Mara, but I was using my shouts and magic, which, of course, gave me a pretty solid advantage, while the other two stuck to their swords.
Ahsoka was obviously an incredible duelist, with a ton of experience, and Mara was quickly becoming skilled as well, but my ability to throw around attacks, repel them with my Unrelenting Force, and zip around them with Whirlwind Sprint kept me ahead of them consistently. I intentionally kept my shouts to a lower level, both to keep from hurting my sparring partners, but also because I was realizing I recovered my ability to shout much quicker if I only used one of the words from a shout. Sure, that also drastically reduced the power, but for an up close and personal duel, being able to use them much more frequently was well worth the sacrifice.
“Dealing with your magic and those shouts is nearly impossible,” Mara said after I had appeared behind her in a blur, taking her out of the fight. “With magic, you can knock hands around or interrupt the casting, but the yelling is instant.”
“I think I might have underestimated how effective they would be,” Ahsoka admitted. “I assumed they would just add another dimension to your magic, but that movement one has changed your style completely. And you're only getting better at integrating them into fighting.
The more practice I got with them, the better I got at shifting what they did. At this point, I was starting to work on using FUS to knock aside smaller targets, tightening the impact so I could hit one person without knocking out the whole team. I was pretty sure it was possible, it just came down to control and mental gymnastics.
Sparring could only take up so much of our time, but we kept busy until we finally reached a stopping point outside our target system.
“Alright, according to the intel that Talon gave us, our target has minor ground defenses, just some turbolasers and point defense, with no shields to protect them,” I said, as we discussed our options for attack, the various captains and ground leaders listening in through comms as I stood on the bridge of the Hope. “We need those to be taken down by precision strikes. We can’t afford to fire down turbolasers and potentially damage the base.”
“Then getting the Heavy Arcs to do that would be our best bet,” Toggle, our starfighter commander, pointed out. "If they use laser cannons, they can be surgical enough."
“In that case, when we arrive, let's have a squadron break off and head down to the planet,” I suggested. “Accompanied by a squadron of MA-wings to cover them, as well as the Loyal Hound and the Brick. The starfighters will act as escorts until we are on them, as, according to our intel, there should be at least a squadron of mixed starfighters stationed on the ground.”
Toggle nodded, and I gestured to the holoprojector, which had a mock-up of the battle.
“The moment we jump in, I want the Lockdown to activate its gravity wells. Then we offer them the chance to surrender. I doubt they will take it, but it's better to offer, as it would make it safer for the prisoners,” I continued. “Now, all we should have to worry about are three capital ships: a Sphyrna-class, a CR90, and an off-brand light corvette that is barely above civilian level. None of them should get in the way of the two squadrons blitzing their way to the ground.”
“And when they refuse to surrender?”
“Then we knock out one of their ships and demand again,” I said with a shrug. “I want to use ion cannons after we take their shields down. We should have plenty to knock out one ship in quick order. Meanwhile, the ground group breaks off and heads down to the surface. When we arrive at our destination, the starfighters break off and target ground defenses, while we land and begin rapid pacification.”
As I talked, the holoprojector followed my basic description, drawing back out when I paused.
“The last step in orbit is Commander Frost leading teams to clear the ships and ground any that surrender. We should have control of the airlocks, which should provide enough room for the ships. If there isn’t, land them in the side hangars of the Hope,” I said, the aforementioned commander nodding. “This is your mission, so use your discretion, Frost, but I suggest breaking up your team and augmenting them with commando droids. Any questions?”
When no one responded, I clapped my hands and dismissed everyone before handing control of the bridge to the ship's captain. With potential victims involved and no one else who could heal others, I wanted to be on the ground in case someone needed emergency healing.
It took twenty minutes for everything to get prepared before we finally made the last jump into the system, appearing above our target planet. The Brick was sitting in the side hangar, which was cleared of all other ships, just in case. The moment we dropped out of hyperspace, Nal, our pilot for the mission, punched it, and we tore out of the hangar at speed, catching up with the rest of our little group in just a few seconds.
“Well, it looks like Talon’s info was good so far,” Tatnia said, looking over Nal’s shoulder. “Three ships, all the right class. Though there are also a few freighters. Nothing serious.”
I nodded, keeping an eye on the displays of the battle affixed to the sides of the ship's interior. It wasn’t as good as looking out the viewport, but it let me watch as we dove “down,” staying in formation with our sub-group and heading down towards the planet.
As we started to move, the gravity well was activated, and the demand for surrender was given, and of course, it was ignored. The moment the slaver ships started to move, all of ours opened fire. First, they would be working on disabling shields before disabling the ships themselves. With any luck, they would surrender before we had to damage all of them.
That said, I was focused on our target, which was the mining outpost turned slaver base. The Loyal Hound would be dropping Corvak and his men around outside of the base, but we would be riding to the center, making our way right into the landing zone and immediately looking for their prison cells. Once we had secured and could protect the kidnapped victims, we could move out and start disabling the slavers themselves.
Not long after we left the space battle happening above the moon, the mixed squadron of fifteen starfighters rose out of the base to greet us, and the MA-wings pushed ahead to intercept. By the time we passed by the dogfight, it was already turning in our favor. The Heavy Arcs pulled ahead of the Hound and the Brick, targeting the heavy weapon emplacements with precise attacks.
The heavy weapons landed a few shots on the Hound, a cost for our caution, but the corvette tanked them well enough.
Coming up along the ground, we used the Loyal Hound as cover before they deviated to land on the outskirts. We pushed through a cloud of smoke from a ruined turbolaser turret before diving down into a pit, which was sealed with a magcom field. Inside was raw rock, carved in the process of mining the moon for resources. Along the walls were several large hangars, the most empty of which we claimed for ourselves.
We were barely touching down before we all pushed out of the boarding ramp, weapons raised and magic charged.