Lucky Strike (A Star Wars SI)

[Yacov]

"That isn't a bunch of C-9979 troop carriers," Teskit watched as what looked like a Trade Federation Core ship with the innards split up rose out of Ord Cestus's atmosphere.

"Incoming transmission!" Franz handed a headset to the captain.

"Captain Teskit, we all know that we face a manpower issue in our small battlegroup," Colonel Waters' ever chipper voice brought a frown to the captain's face. "Well, it just so happens that our Commandos and ARC troopers managed to capture the guy with the command codes for this lovely ship and the droids on the world. With the freedom you gave me, we quickly retrieved said codes and decided that we would add to our fleet. The enemy CO has been disposed of, and we should have all the droids we need to crew our ships."

Click to shrink...

This might anger the more mercantile Confederates more than just blowing up the ships. It's one thing to blow up their assets, but to steal their assets is a whole new level of insult.

I felt exhausted, we had been working around the clock to bring the Horizon around to working order before jumping into combat. The only thing keeping us functional at the moment was combat stims and Caf. (And the latter only worked for short periods of time)

Click to shrink...

At least Hull is used to it given his introduction to the Star Wars galaxy. At least more than the other volunteers aboard the fleet.

Due to the issues with whatever lifeform was on the ship's scrubbers, we were all in our vacuum rated suits with helmets sealed and emergency air supplies beside each station. Any communications relayed through the local COMSNET before moving through as orders to the rest of the ship.

Click to shrink...

Getting some Gundam bridge crew vibes from that image. I wonder if there are any fishbowl helmets lying around the Horizon?

"Our capture and use of the command codes to overwrite the droids and take the ship being used to transport the majority of them is something we will likely not get the chance to accomplish again," Teskit stated. "After we've distributed droids and supplies throughout the fleet, as well as made repairs to the Horizon, we will make the jump to Botajef. If possible, we'll attempt to capture an officer and turn their own ships against them, but if not, we'll seize whatever's mostly finished in the yards, as well as whatever supplies we can before destroying them and moving on."

Click to shrink...

Considering the Jefi have a culture of being a bunch of bootlickers, that is actually a safe bet if you can find one in an officer's uniform. Although given the bootlicker status that may be difficult even if they make up 85% of the system's population,

Heck if Hull, Teskit, or a clone commander can appear competent and yell loud enough, some of them will try to hop on board the nearest Republic vessel and try to join the fleet.

 

[khatun]

I have a feeling that when the empire happens there's a large chance this fleet of privateers will go full pirate.

 

[Andrew1993]

Also unlikely to happen but id love to see them get ahold of some providence and recusant dreadnoughts the bigger 2km ones

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 18

"Try it now!" I called out to the B-Series engineer droid I was working with on one of the power relays.

"Roger, roger," the droid replied, tapping a control before looking at the readout on the console in front of it.

"Everything looks good on my end," I went to put the panel back on the wall. "Any issues with power flow?"

"Negative," The engineer shook its head. "All systems are operating at 85% efficiency."

"That's better than what we had before," I wiped sweat off my brow, grateful to be able to work outside of armor. "Let's go ahead and move on to the next section, we've got plenty of work to do."

Stepping through the corridor, I grinned at the sight of other personnel and droids filling the ship. Sparks flew out from small repairs being made to damaged circuits and conduits as I walked by, noting that each droid repair crew was being supervised by a clone or engineer.

As it turned out, the raid on Ord Cestus had been better than we'd expected. The Adjusted Interest had been exactly what we needed to get the Horizon close to full operational capacity. Her stores had extra of everything. From food, to common spare parts, blasters, hell, the spheroid cargo ship had even had air scrubbers that were compatible with the Interdictor-Class cruiser. Which meant that we'd been able to use some of the complement of Engineer droids to swap them out and jettison the compromised scrubbers into the local sun. Which is why I could now enjoy working without being encased in armor with one of those stupid fishbowl helmets.

The droid complement was plentiful enough that we'd rapidly filled up the Horizon and every other ship that was missing crew with said droids. Standard B1s and the upgraded engineer classes worked on the power conduits under the supervision of clones and techs. We might be using the droids, but we didn't trust that their programming was entirely ours yet.

Though, from what I understood, there were a couple of teams working on ripping out some engineering droids cores, reprogramming them, and then having those droids do the same to the others that were among the Battlegroup.

Gesturing for my companion engineer to keep following me, I grabbed my comlink as it chirped.

"Lieutenant Hull," I answered.

"I see you've finished up with most of the conduits on the port side," Ronard's tired voice greeted me. "Mind checking out the hangar bay there? If we can get those doors open, we should be able to report combat readiness to Teskit. I'd have Aliya do it, but I just sent her to go grab some bunk time."

"I'll go check it out," I replied. "Need me to check anything else?"

"Have some of the droids do a quick inventory of the starfighters we've got on board. I recognize the Aurek-Classes, but I've no idea what half of the others are or if they'll be able to compete with modern fighters."

"Copy that," I nodded at a handful of technicians hovering over a control panel. "I'm en route."

Fortunately, I was already on the port side of the ship, and all I had to do was find a nearby turbolift and take it up to the levels that made up the hangar. Now, if I were having to transition from the fore of the ship to the aft, I'd have to take one of the small railcars that ran through the spine of the ship.

Instead, I stepped into the hangar and noted that there weren't a lot of people working in this section.

"Hey guys, you might want to evac for now," I nodded at the trio of techs and handful of droid squads working. "I'm about to test the doors, and if we can't get the screen back up, we'll probably lose atmosphere."

"Thanks for the warning," The techs pulled the droids out and headed for the nearby sealed 'control tower' with me. "So, I take it the power conduits been repaired?" the lead tech asked me, his nametag covered in grease or something from whatever it was he'd been working on.

"We're not at 100%," I shrugged. "But at this point, I figure we'll take what we can get and grab yard time if we ever make it back to Republic Space."

"Fair enough," He chuckled. "Now, if we're gonna test this, we should probably go ahead and vent the atmosphere. Explosive decompression's a bitch to handle."

"Right," I nodded, waving for him to follow through and vent the atmosphere while I worked the console to power on the static shield again."

At first it sputtered, the blue glow fading out and then after the lights dimmed a bit, the shield and lights returned to their full brightness.

"Alright, shield's working," I checked the status of it and noted that it was well within operating capacity. "We're ready to check the bay doors."

With a groan, the massive doors shuddered and then slowly began to open, revealing the stars and dark inky void of space beyond the blue shield that was supposed to contain the atmosphere.

"Everything seems good," The tech leaned over his station. "I'm pumping the atmosphere back into the hangar now."

After waiting for several minutes, we rechecked everything and I grabbed my comlink, hitting the equivalent of the 'redial' button and waiting for Ronard to pick up.

"Portside hangar's back up and running," I informed him. "There's already techs working on inventory and inspection of the starfighters."

"Good," the older man replied. "I'll review the reports when they're done. Go get some rest, Lieutenant. We'll probably resume combat operations in the next day or so."

---

"Captain on Deck!" Ensign Franz called out as Teskit entered the bridge, his long legs carrying him to the center of the bridge of the Providence.

"At ease," Teskit replied, his eyes running over the crew, noting that they seemed better rested than they'd been over the last few weeks of travel. "Get me the scouting logs and the status reports from the rest of the battlegroup," He ordered Ensign Franz. "Commander, you have the con," the captain nodded at the Clone officer.

Stepping back into the tactical center, Teskit pulled out his datapad and transferred the reports to the small holotable.

They wouldn't be able to move forward with the initial plan. The ARC-170 squadrons had jumped into Botajef, gathered sensor reports, and then jumped back to the fleet.

Botajef had been reinforced in the last few days, instead of a lighty armed garrison fleet, the system had a handful of Recusant destroyers, a Lucrehulk, and a handful of Maleficent and other ships to fill in the gaps.

Basically the shipyards were going to be out of touch, but in order to reinforce the shipyards, they'd have to pull back forces from somewhere else.

Drawing his finger across the nearby hyperlanes, Teskit slowly mapped things out. Serenno might be a fortress at the moment, but if he made any moves to threaten it, then it would be fulfilling his mission objectives. Pulling enemy forces away from the frontlines to hunt his battlegroup down. So, if he made an overt appearance in Toprawa, tangled with any Separatist elements there and then made an accidental unencrypted transmission about their jump in the direction of Serenno, they would be forced to assume he was spearheading further into Confederacy controlled space.

Which they'd be assuming correctly. They just wouldn't have the destination correct. Instead, they'd jump into Yavin, a bit off the beaten path, but perfect to throw off any enemies chasing them before using the smaller hyperlanes to head towards the Galactic East. While he'd heard rumors from RI about shipyards in Rothana, he wasn't certain that his small battlegroup would make it there. No, he would instead head for Mon Calamari. They had fantastic shipyards and were Loyalists. Exactly what he needed to get more ships and have any damage repaired.

"Commander, set course for Toprawa," Teskit ordered, stepping out of the tactical room. "Feed jump coordinates to the rest of the Battlegroup. And Ensign Franz, tell the Adjusted Interest that she's to jump to the Yavin system along with two of our Arquitens."

"Setting course, captain," Task, the clone Commander replied.

A few moments went by before the navigators had the coordinates and relayed them to the Communications officer. Franz's hands darted across her controls as she fed the coordinates to the rest of Battlegroup Huntress.

"Relaying commands to the battlegroup, all ships are signaling ready status," She said, pausing and waiting for Teskit's orders.

"Execute."

–
–

"Enemy contacts are in system!" The sensors officer called out as the feed updated. "Reading twelve modified C-9979s, a pair of Munificents, a bunch of Gozantis, and some old Customs ships. Enemy ships are launching fighters and coming around to face us.."

"Fall into battle line Krill," Teskit ordered. "Have all fighters cover the gaps and bring the Horizon abreast of the Ineveitable. The Even Keel and Maverick will move to flanking maneuvers, I want those carriers dead and gone, send our Consulars and a pair of starfighter squadrons as escorts."

"Relaying Orders, sir," she replied. "We're ready for combat."

The ships moved into position and the slow sunlight voyage towards eachother seemed to simultaneously crawl and speed up as they slowly came into extreme weapons range.

"Hold fire until you're certain of hits," Commander Task ordered the crew of the Providence, Teskit nodding at the wisdom in the thought.

Even with the seized goods and the stores of Tibanna that were aboard the Adjusted Interest, they would need to conserve ammunition. Better to ensure that all shots were accurate and useful instead of wasted.

With that, the battle began. The smaller customs corvettes pulling ahead of the larger Munificents to act as a screening force and paying the price of being caught up in the middle of where the twin forces of Starfighters met.

Droid Vultures and bombers danced around the customs vessels while the ARC-170s and other assorted Republic Starfighters chased after them, missed concussion missiles and proton torpedoes detonating against the smaller corvettes and causing brilliant explosions to fill the void.

Then the turbolasers joined in, their song of red, blue, and green crossing the void between the capital ships, Ion cannons joining in with bursts of electrical energy that opened up holes in shields and allowed turbolasers to carve deep within a ship.

The Providence rocked underneath Teskit and but he remained calm as he casually stood on the bridge, looking for all the world like this battle was a routine inspection as power fluctuated, lights dimmed, and the bridge went to emergency lighting for a moment. Then, in a brilliant display, the void lit up as one of the Munificents detonated, spilling Tibanna gas all over the other ships as the Providence cycled her reactors and restored power throughout the ship.

"Damage control teams to section Aleph, decks fifteen, eighteen, and twenty!" The damage control officer instructed. "All sectors report to ready stations!"

Looking over his console, the officer tapped a few controls before continuing to give orders and call out damage.

"Turbolasers one, five, and seven are offline, have teams on standby to repair them."

"Enemy ships are retreating, sir!" The sensors officer reported as the handful of small carriers jumped into hyperspace, followed by the lone Maleficent remaining.

"Get a status report from the battlegroup and begin making emergency repairs," Teskit ordered. "Ensign, execute the 'accidental transmission'. There'll still be Separatists listening in, and we can hopefully lead them in the opposite direction."

"Sending the Seppies after a ghost fleet, aye sir!"

"All hands prepare for hyperspace coordinates transmission," She typed out and spoke into her headset. 'Accidentally' leaving the message unencrypted for a moment before encrypting the latter half of it.

After transmitting, the battlegroup sat for a few hours collecting the ejected starfighter pilots and hauling what starfighters could be repaired back into hangar bays before jumping out, seemingly in the direction of Serenno.

Immediately after they jumped out, another window opened and a Lucrehulk and her escorts arrived, deploying fighters and scouring the system for any trace of the Battlegroup Huntress.

 

[Andrew1993]

Hah, keep playing grand theft starship against the seppies, really build up a nice little warfleet

 

[Yacov]

It isn't Hull if he isn't repairing ancient starships. At least he has help this time.

 

[Andrew1993]

It isn't Hull if he isn't repairing ancient starships. At least he has help this time.

Click to shrink...

Wonder when he finds a centurion battlecruiser to fix up as his new flagship

 

[Ilovfanfic123]

"Enemy ships are retreating, sir!" The sensors officer reported as the handful of small carriers jumped into hyperspace, followed by the lone Maleficent remaining.

Click to shrink...

I think this is supposed to be Munificent.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 19

The Yavin system was considered an out of the way system with little to no value outside of potential colonization efforts in the future. There were a handful of habitable worlds/moons that orbited the massive gas giant that dominated the system. Thankfully, its out of the way nature was perfect for us to use as a halfway point for repairs and planning the next few jumps.

With the Horizon in (mostly) working order and us having taken minimal damage in the last engagement, we were assigned to guard the Inevitable and Providence while they affected emergency repairs before the next jump. The Providence had taken enough damage that she was still leaking atmosphere in some sections, and deep scars darkened the armor around her turbolasers.

That old Dreadnought had been damaged, but her heart was still beating and she was still able to put up a fight. She'd just need some help in order to keep conducting operations.

Unfortunately, even with the Adjusted Interest's help and the engineer droids swarming the ship, we wouldn't be able to fully repair the Providence. Not in any short timeframes at least. The ship had been hit by what was nearly a golden BB, a lone, lucky, heavy turbolaser shot having nearly ruptured her shield generators and overloaded the primary reactor.

While the reactor had been temporarily reactivated in combat, the shields were the main concern, repairing emitters and replacing the nearly fried generators would take days if not weeks of time. Time that we didn't have but would have to take anyway.

Which made me infinitely glad that Jedi-Commander Durald was not on my ship as soon as we entered the Yavin system. Sure, I knew that we weren't planning on heading to Yavin IV, but I knew what lay on that world. That Naga Shadow, Exar Kun, and potentially other Dark Side artifacts and horrors were waiting for the right Jedi to make the mistake of stumbling into them blindly.

But I knew that it didn't matter what the plan was. Yavin IV drew force users to it. Whether Jedi or Sith, it seemed that every world that had experienced great deeds (for good or ill) brought them to it and they either conquered whatever lay in store, or succumbed to it and came out twisted in the end.

I had hopes that Durald had a good head on her shoulders, she'd shown herself to be competent so far, but with the Force involved, there was no telling what would happen.

Despite all of my concerns, I was in charge of the Horizon, not Durald, and not the battlegroup. So, I focused on that. Well, that and the meal in front of me.

"Hull, we've made what repairs to the ship we can without a yard," Aliya sighed, digging into her ration and drowning out the tasteless food brick with a cup of caf. "And we got extremely lucky with the finding of those air scrubbers that the Separatists had. One of their Lucrehulks must be old enough to still take the antiques."

"I'm just glad that we managed to get rid of whatever that bioweapon was. I don't know who made it, but that it was still alive after being thrown into the void," I took a sip of my caf and grimaced at the 'not' coffee flavor that tormented my taste buds.

"What I wouldn't give for a proper cup of coffee," I muttered, considering the cup.

"Local beverages are always better than the mass-produced caf," the engineer agreed. "But the stuff works, and the stimulant keeps me awake and capable of working."

"Fair enough," I swallowed the gross liquid and allowing the mixture of caffeine and vitamins to do their job. "Anyway, I'm putting together a requisition list for when we eventually reach Republic Space again. You have anything you want to add to it?"

I slid a datapad with the Republic emblem on the bottom over to her.

"I'll take a look and see what I think we might need," She nodded and stood up. "I'll ask the other engineers and get this back to you after my shift."

With that, she stood up and tossed the disposable cup into the trash before vanishing into the hallway that led back to the turbolifts and then onto engineering. Leaving me alone to finish my own tasteless meal brick.

A stash of MREs would almost be perfect at this point. For all that they got a bad rep, they tasted infinitely better than the god-awful nutrient dense bricks that made up rations in the Star Wars 'verse. Still, I finished my 'meal' and dealt with the waste before heading out and up towards the bridge. I had taken a break for long enough.

---

"Captain, four of our ten medium turbolasers are down for the count, shields won't be able to be restored beyond fifty percent functionality, and the reactor is going to be running close to critical for the foreseeable future," The engineer in charge of the Providence informed Teskit, standing across at the desk. "Full details for the repairs and what's needed to get us back up to full are here."

"Thank you," Teskit replied, accepting the datapad. "Get done what you can, we'll make a decision on what we're going to be doing tomorrow."

With that, the captain dismissed the engineer and began going back over his notes. A map pulled up on the holoprojector and the repair datapad in his hand.

There were a few more out of the way systems that they were near to that could be used as step-off places, and even one that they might be able to get assistance from. Though, it would require him and the battlegroup to negotiate with a neutral system.

Arda didn't have any major shipyards, and he couldn't trust them to do anything with the Horizon, but there was a high chance of them having access to Dreadnought parts that would be needed for repairing the Providence.

"I need a channel opened to the Adjusted Interest," Teskit informed the ensign on duty.

"Yes, sir," the ensign replied, the sound of controls being used distant in the speakers. "Opening channel now."

"This is the Interest," Lieutenant Shrail's voice replied.

"Lieutenant, I need a full inventory of any valuables in the Adjusted Interest's stores," Teskit ordered. "With the damage to the Providence, we're going to have to stop for repairs in the Arda system. With them being neutral, we're going to need something to trade."

"Well, there's a lot of supplies here," she replied. "And we've enough droids here that we could destabilize the economy of a small Outer Rim World if we're not careful."

"Just get a manifest of anything we can use for trade. We're going to need it-" A knock came at the door.

"We leave tomorrow, I'll need the list before then, Teskit, out." The captain cut the feed and stood up to open the door, revealing Jedi-Commander Durald.

"How can I help you, Knight Durald?" Teskit asked.

"We need to leave," Her eyes flashed with worry as she stepped inside. "There's something dark in this system, something beyond my powers and that of our battlegroup. It must be reported to the Council Immediately."

"I wish we could leave immediately," Teskit sighed. "Unfortunately, until the main reactor is back online, we're stranded."

Teskit flipped through the datapad for the main reactor's status. "ETA puts us at three hours before it's back online, we can jump utilizing the backup hyperdrive then. But not a moment sooner."

"It will have to be enough," Durald took a calming breath. The Dark side thrives here. Let us hope it remains unaware of our presence."

Author's Note: Sorry for the shorter chapter. I'm a bit under the weather at the moment and this is what I could get out. I'll probably expand or improve it later.

 

[bloodyparty]

Thanks for the chapter and get well soon!
Please don't overdo it, if you're unwell it's better to sit it out than to force yourself to write, that way lies burnout

 

[Yacov]

"We need to leave," Her eyes flashed with worry as she stepped inside. "There's something dark in this system, something beyond my powers and that of our battlegroup. It must be reported to the Council Immediately."

"I wish we could leave immediately," Teskit sighed. "Unfortunately, until the main reactor is back online, we're stranded."

Teskit flipped through the datapad for the main reactor's status. "ETA puts us at three hours before it's back online, we can jump utilizing the backup hyperdrive then. But not a moment sooner."

"It will have to be enough," Durald took a calming breath. The Dark side thrives here. Let us hope it remains unaware of our presence."

Click to shrink...

Classic horror movie red flags. The Force just loves throwing Hull into systems with Dark Side shenanigans.

 

[Andrew1993]

Do we have any stats on the weapons and fighters etc of the interdictor?

 

[MarkWarrior]

Do we have any stats on the weapons and fighters etc of the interdictor?

Click to shrink...

The interdictor was modified from the original design, that'll be relevant later.

As for fighters, Aurek and Liberator class fighters for the most part.

 

[Andrew1993]

The interdictor was modified from the original design, that'll be relevant later.

As for fighters, Aurek and Liberator class fighters for the most part.

Click to shrink...

Awesome, probally get a list of kit and weapons on the ship at the shiyard id guess?

 

[Seyum]

The remains of Yavin Station fom Kotor still exist in the System. It's a shame he can't retrive them.

 

[MarkWarrior]

---

Chapter 20

"We're one jump away from Arda," Teskit looked at his command staff. "Now that we have a full list of things we can possible trade, I'll be taking the Inevitable and two escorts to negotiate with the system authorities. We need supplies, repairs, and spare parts."

Teskit gestured for Jedi Knight Kalyna Durald to take over the briefing.

"Arda is attempting to remain neutral in this war," She said, the hologram showing the planet in question. "However, Jedi have been allowed to use it to transition from one hyperlane to the next while on standard missions. Traders from both the Confederacy and the Republic had been using the system as a go-between prior to the war breaking out. Based on the last records I have, there's a small shipyard in the system and they have several Carracks and Dreadnought-Class heavy cruisers as a planetary defense force. They should have what we need to get our battlegroup back in working order."


"We also went over the original route, and have refined it," Teskit stepped back up to the holotable. "Lianna is much closer than Mon Calamari and will have the shipyards that we need to repair everything as well as the communications systems we need to contact HIGHCOM for further orders."

"Sir," Hull raised a hand, looking at the table and then back to his datapad. "Lianna is surrounded by Confederacy systems, and Republic Seiner sells vehicles to the Confederacy. We might be in more danger there."

"They might sell vehicles to them, but their shipyards produce vessels for us," Teskit sighed. "A corporation is not a planet, and despite my distaste for that, we'll have to deal with the Pazaak deck we've been dealt for this. Unfortunately, we don't have the firepower to carry out our original mission. While we can act as a distraction, any fleet with assets could easily erase us from existence."

"That Lucrehulk was identified as one of the ones that the Confederacy has upgraded to a battle carrier," Ronard tapped a control and the holotable shifted to the image of the circular shapes of one of the Confederacy's large vessels. "While their hulls might not technically be up to modern warship standards, their shields are beyond our ability to crack before their starfighters wipe us out. And that's without escorts."

"My hope is that HIGHCOM will be more agreeable in sending us ships we can use to bolster our fleet," Teskit nodded for Ronard to sit down. "Even a handful of Acclamators and some Peltor-class frigates would fill out areas that we lack. Now, I have the information on everything we have available to trade with Arda. Commander CT-1972 (AKA Task) will be in charge while I am absent, with Lieutenant Commander Ronard acting as XO. Are there any questions?"

"Just one," Durald smirked. "Any chance we can avoid any further ancient Dark Side planets or derelicts? I'm not Master Yoda or Windu and don't exactly have the expertise to deal with them. I was trained as a Healer, not a blademaster."

"I'll see what I can do," Teskit nodded gravely, a smile hidden behind his carefully crafted expressionless face. "I would be hesitant to make any promises. I've not been in the good graces of HIGHCOM since before this war, and I doubt that will cease simply because I survived where they did not expect it. In fact, should we make it to Lianna or to Republic Space, we should expect to be given missions with greater danger. However, we must not falter. Competence not only breeds excellence, but also gives a greater chance of survival. By necessity, we will not be a command that is able to do things by the book but that does not mean we can discard any attempt at discipline or good manners," The captain drove his fist into the table. "We are members of the Republic, and while it lasts, we will do our duty. Come danger or the void. Now, let us see where the Galactic Wind takes us and see how we fare."

Teskit waited one heartbeat, two, and then his deep voice rumbled again.

"You have your orders, carry them out."


–
–

It was a different atmosphere aboard the bridge of the Inevitable when compared to the Providence. In place of the quiet conversations, old terminals, workstations, and carefully worn surfaces was a sterile, almost silent environment only broken up by the sound of Clones working at their stations with diligence and the occasional murmor.

But the workspace and tactical room aboard the Venator-Class Star Destroyer was galaxies better than the aging systems aboard the Dreadnought-Class that was the Providence.

"Sir!" the clone manning the communications spoke up. "The Eclipse and Allegance are in formation and have signalled their ready to jump."

"Very well," Teskit straightened up. "Jump when ready."

A few minutes later, the solid lights turned into streaks and the Venator and both Arquitens were in hyperspace, headed to the next system.

---

Now that we were going to be stationary for a few days if not a week, I finally had some time to go over the equipment that I'd strategically transferred into my possession as well as manufacture something that would bring me some of the comforts of home.

Which meant that I found myself in the armory, suiting up in the Republic Mod armor, (now painted in the olive drab that was the current requirement.

It was comfortable, almost too comfortable. The old-style undersuit felt like a second skin, and the armor itself was lightweight and made out of some mixture of alloys that was more durable than the current-day plastoid and also able to deflect basic blaster bolts and had enough cortosis woven into it that lightsabers would be less of a problem.

As far as the helmet was concerned,it kinda looked like a mix between the Scout helmet from Halo with a couple of touches from the Phase I clone helmet. I'd felt a bit anxious at putting the old helmet on, but it immediately synced up with the armor and gave me a HUD and readout that felt almost familiar.

When I grabbed my Blaster Pistol out of my holster, the computer chips between them immediately communicated and gave me information such as the status of the blaster pack, how clean the weapon was, etc.

"Damn," I whistled, shaking my head. "To think I'd still be impressed after all these years."

Pulling the helmet off, I set it down on the workstation and pulled up the controls for the fabricator. It'd taken a while and some help from one of the engineering droids, but I'd finally managed to replicate the rough figure of one of the firearms from home.

While replicating a Glock might have been easier, I felt like it would be a shame if the first gun I carried from home here wasn't in honor of one of the great patron saints. So, after a few minutes, I pulled out a chromed and sleek looking 1911 and several magazines.

I knew the internal components weren't an exact replica of Browning's original design, but pulling it back and hearing the slid rock forward under the pressure of the spring felt good. The pistol a comforting weight and feel.

Grinning, I set the weapon to the side, I'd test it out on the range later, but I knew that it was going to end up being my primary concealed weapon. It was smaller than even my holdout blaster, and I was comfortable with pistols like this.

"Now, we just need to get you through two galactic wars," I chuckled. "Then we can really boost the claims."

Shutting down the fabricator, I put everything away and cleaned up the workstation. It was time to get certified on this new suit and helmet, and then to meet up with Aliya and a handful of others to get zero-g certified.

After all, it was better to do it now than later in an emergency.

 

[Frakir's brother]

If it kills a cow in one bullet, it'll do the same to an alien. Although you might wanna get some depleted uranium for the Droids

View: https://youtu.be/_iCxUXDn1sU?si=DtvNgow6qg-cTCNd

 

[Yacov]

While replicating a Glock might have been easier, I felt like it would be a shame if the first gun I carried from home here wasn't in honor of one of the great patron saints. So, after a few minutes, I pulled out a chromed and sleek looking 1911 and several magazines.

I knew the internal components weren't an exact replica of Browning's original design, but pulling it back and hearing the slid rock forward under the pressure of the spring felt good. The pistol a comforting weight and feel.

Grinning, I set the weapon to the side, I'd test it out on the range later, but I knew that it was going to end up being my primary concealed weapon. It was smaller than even my holdout blaster, and I was comfortable with pistols like this.

Click to shrink...

The bang of a gunpowder pistol is certainly going to surprise people more than a holdout blaster. Especially aboard a ship. Small loud bangs can herald Bad Things when aboard a ship.

At least Hull will get less odd looks for carrying around a slug thrower than most SIs, given his history as an undercity dweller. I wonder if Hull ever encountered any Coruscanti Orges?

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 21

"So, that brings our total quad turbolaser count to ten," I muttered, jotting down the information alongside everything else we'd uncovered about the Horizon. We weren't willing to touch the grav well generator, and the warbook had several variants of the Interdictor. None of which matched up to what we had on our ship. So we had to visually confirm systems before we tested and used them. While we'd (mostly) repaired the power conduits, we still wanted to make sure everything was there and was working properly. As well as get a solid count of all of the weapons systems that weren't showing up on the gunnery officer's screens for some reason.

Sliding my datapad back into the case, I headed for the turbolift on this level, nodding at other workers and crew as I did so, processing and working through everything that we'd done so far.

For one thing, there were extra power conduits running through the system and a beefed up hyperdrive and power core. Probably to handle all of the extra turbolasers, ion cannon, and point defense systems that had been added sometime after this ship had left the shipyards.

While there weren't any proton torpedo launchers or concussion missiles, there was plenty of firepower that could be used to bring low anything shy of one of the Confederacy's Providence-Class Dreadnoughts. When combined with the rest of the battlegroup, we actually had the second most firepower available to us after the Inevitable.

But anything past the exterior armament, shields, and other essential systems, we had left alone. Though given how out of our depth we were with regards to the antique systems, we desperately wanted a shipyard to go over this thing with a fine-toothed comb. Not being able to utilize the majority of our armament was a problem. And there was undoubtedly something else that we had missed.

Thankfully, we had finished dealing with the bodies, (Stacking them in a storage crate and sealing it before ejecting it towards the local star.) and were going through all of the armories. War trophies were something that existed across all military cultures, and the Republic was no different. And with Jedi Knight Durald had already secured all of the artifacts that might be important to the Jedi Order and moved them to her quarters on the Inevitable. That left the rest of the ship for us to do with as we pleased.

I'd secured my armor and the handful of weapons that I claimed, but everyone had claimed something. In place of the usual 'modern' Republic Navy uniforms that you saw on every other ship in the battlegroup, you had servicemembers dressed in hastily repainted armor and uniforms Strategically transferred to alternate locations. Equipment not seen in the last four thousand years finding itself in common use again.

Of course, the engineers and officers had had first pick, and Ronard and Aliya had apparently identified a couple sets of armor that was used by engineers millenia ago and had quickly claimed them. According to them, the HUD and software was able to be tied directly into whatever console they were working on or something like that.

Even the Clones had gotten in on it, with the ARC troopers and Commando units doing what I'd done and grabbing Republic Mod Armor before swapping out components for their various jobs and repainting them in the way that showed their rainks/jobs.

And then there were the droids.

We didn't want them to be easily misidentified as the enemy, so we'd painted them olive drab. (It seemed like that was the only paint we had enough of to do all of the droids in. (Why there was a massive stockpile of it on the Adjusted Interest, we would never know.) Most of the B-1s we were using were the engineer subclass, due to the better processing units built in and their ability to actually do the work that was needed. As for the handful of Super Battle Droids… Well, let's just say that Colonel Waters had seized them and no one knew what he had planned for them. Only that it probably wouldn't be fun for whoever the enemy on the ground was.

Thankfully, I wasn't a ground combatant, and didn't ever want to be. Tapping the controls on the turbolift, I hit the button that took me up to the bridge. I wanted to confirm with Hobbs that we were only able to control the stock turbolasers, point defenses, and tractor beams.

"Ensign, I've an update on what you asked for," I passed over the datapad with the notes on the armament I and other engineers had found. "Any update on why we can't see them?"

"I think with how long it was without power that the consoles reset themselves back to factory settings," The gunnery officer sighed. "Navicomputers have a black box that they back everything up to, but gunnery and communications consoles don't have backup power supplies that are designed to last millenia. So, while we can still pull up records of all of the systems the Horizon went to prior to her final destination, we're going to have to reprogram everything to gain access to the rest of the weapons systems."

"Well, we are headed to Lianna," I said. "Given Republic Seiner were the ones that built this ship-"

"They should be able to help with the consoles," Hobbs finished. "Lieutenant, I think I can build a workaround for some of the point defenses and a handful of quad turbolasers. But it'll have to be for the short-term. I don't want to screw something up and fry our only way to control our weapons systems. So, I'm hesitant to do more than that. If I had the manual for this console I could probably get everything back, but we haven't found one yet."

"Just do what you can," I patted him on the back. "That's all we can ever do."

---

Arda was not happy to see the trio of Republic Warships arrive in the system.

"This is Commodore Melcart Sinsume of the Arda Planetary Defense Force," a pair of Dreadnought-Class heavy cruisers, a trio of Carracks, and a couple of Corellian Corvettes blocked the path forward. "State your business."

"This is Captain Teskit of the Grand Republic Navy," the Captain spoke confidently. "I do not seek conflict at this time. I seek to make an equitable trade that will allow both of us to profit greatly."

Teskit knew that there were corrupt individuals within the Judiciary Forces and the Republic Navy, he'd worked with and underneath them long enough that he knew what they sounded like. Despite his distaste for acting like he was one of them, he clenched his jaw and did what he had to do.

The channel went silent and it was obvious that the Commodore was talking to someone on the ground.

"We're open to trades," Sinsume finally responded. "However, any deals might require my assistance. I have no small influence on the planetary council, after all."

"Depending on the cost, we will be happy to assist with any personal efforts," Teskit held back the growl that tried to fight its way up. He'd worked with Republic Intelligence before, he could do this. "While we do not possess a great amount of Credits, there are several goods that should fetch a grand price on the markets. Some… Antiques, as it were."

"Antiques, you say," The commodore's voice barely masked glee. "I can see this being a most profitable relationship. Please, come meet with me aboard the Allegance. We have much to discuss."

The channel then cut off and Teskit turned away with a frown on his face.

"Jedi-Commander Durald, if you and a handful of clones would escort me, then I believe we now have an opening for negotiations. If you or the Jedi Order have any contacts that can assist, then it would be of great aid."

"Unfortunately, I only have the reports left to me," Knight Durald sighed. "Any contacts or relationships that a Jedi cultivates are generally left for that individual Jedi. Relationships can be hard to maintain at a long distance, let alone when multiple Jedi are involved."

"Understandable," Teskit sighed. "Please prepare a shuttle. We have little time to waste."

–
–

The Emerald Crescent was probably the worst maintained ship Teskit had ever been aboard outside of several smugglers vessels, and it was hard for him to hide his distaste at the lack of order aboard the ship. Open wiring and malfunctioning control panels, uniforms rumpled and wrinkled. If this were the state of the Planetary Defense Force, he almost wished he'd brought the entire battlegroup. Huntress would have easily been able to handle the defense force, and with the help of the droids, he could have boarded and taken much of these ships for his own.

But he was locked into his current course and had already promised negotiations, so with the mask firmly in place, he continued through the ship, following the crewman deeper into the vessel with Knight Durald flanking him.

"Sir, you'll have to leave the escorts here," The crewman looked at the handful of Clone Troopers.

"Very well," Teskit nodded at them before leaning in to whisper into the Sergeant's ear. "If it seems that we are being detained, you are to ensure this vessel is no longer a threat."

"Yes, sir," The clone straightened up.

"I will be accompanying the Captain," Durald was still dressed in her Jedi robes, though she'd added a set of pauldrons, greaves, and an armored chestpiece to them sometime after the experience with the Derelict.

"Of course, Master Jedi," the crewman nodded, his eyes flicking over to her lightsaber. "The Commodore will see you now."

After a few minutes, they reached the Commodore's suite, both Durald and Teskit hiding their true feelings as the interior went from the stark nature of most ships to something more… Gaudy.

"Welcome!" A surprisingly pale and skinny man grinned, standing up from a table and gesturing for them to come in. "Welcome my friends. We have much to discuss, and little time to do it in. I fear a Confederacy trade group is on its way, and I doubt you want to get caught up in that sort of business. So, tell me. What brings a Republican Battlegroup into our quaint little system?"

There was the trap. Teskit and Durald had no way of confirming that what he said was true, but they also couldn't take on a whole enemy battlegroup with just the forces they currently had. Which meant that they were now going to be on the back foot in the negotiations.

"Unfortunately, it seems we were not as prepared for a journey as we thought we were," Durald smoothly took over at Teskit's nod. "And we've already exhausted several stores of our spare parts. We knew that your system is neutral in this war. Given we do not want to damage that, we decided that we would attempt to trade for the parts that we are missing before moving on."

"I see," Sinsume stroked his chin. "Well, our shipyards do produce a small amount of spare parts for our vessels. Though, I would hate to part with them with war and threats to every world among the Outer Rim. They would cost quite the premium."

Teskit bit his tongue. It was obvious that this PDF never used the spare parts that the local shipyards manufactured, or the Allegance would be in a better state. In fact, it was far more likely that they sold the parts at an outrageous upcharge before pocketing the extra.

"Of course," Durald's gentle voice replied. "We will be willing to pay the premiums, but we would need to see the costs first before we decide what might be worth trading for them."

A handful of moments later, a datapad was in front of Teskit and Durald with the list of spare parts available. It was pretty much everything that was needed to repair the Providence. But the costs were ridiculously high, even for Outer Rim prices.

But even then, it was within what they'd planned for, and after a few short whispers, Teskit took over.

"We will be prepared to pay this price in droids and in a handful of Jedi Artifacts," Teskit hid his smirk. The Jedi (Artifacts) were the robes and old junk that 'looked' valuable to the naked eye but were instead worthless. "We can begin the transfer of goods as soon as you sign off on it."

Rubbing his hands together greedily, the Commodore grinned and agreed.

–
–

Unfortunately, Sinsume hadn't been lying, and in the middle of the transfer of parts, a small handful of Confederacy ships jumped into the system, the trade ships escorted by a pair of Recuscant destroyers and a handful of Lupus missile frigates.

"Continue loading the Eclipse and Allegance, Teskit ordered. "We'll deal with the enemy."

"Captain, incoming transmission from the planetary defense force!"

"Captain Teskit, I regret to inform you that we have decided not to continue with our trade deal," Sinsume sounded smug. "It is currently unfavorable for us to continue our relationship. As you can clearly see. But as a sign of our eternal friendship, I will refrain from interfering in your conflict and will not take back what we have already transferred. Good luck, Captain."

The cargo ships and shuttles that had been transferring goods pulled back from the Arquitens.

"Signal the rest of the battlegroup," Teskit set his jaw. "Give them these coordinates," he forwarded the set to the comms officer. "We're done running."

 

[Andrew1993]

Welp, wonder if some boarding parties will be deployed to those reccies

 

[Asmodyne]

Looking forward to that dumbass getting his comeuppance.