Darius attempts to tend to the Chiss woman's wounds using his medipac. He asks any men who might have training in bandaging wounds to assist.
"Commander Yalson, your people need you. Now is not a time to give up. Open the civilian sectors. Send a station wide message to take up arms against the clones. Tell your ships to join the space battle."
Believing he has stabilized the woman, he radios the others.
*crackle* "Darius here. The command center is secure. The clone commander is dead. Commander Yalson is wounded but we are tending to that. Hopefully, she will be able to open the civilian sectors and communicate with the ships. How are things going down in the reactor? Do you need reinforcements? Darius out." *crackle*
Resting briefly behind cover, Arana calms her breathing and draws upon the Force to assist her endeavours.
Battlemind
Then, taking a deep breath , she rises up and throws a grenade towards the largest concentration of rocket troopers.
Frag grenade throw
Damage
*crackle* "Well done! We outnumber the clones by 3 to 1, but they are suicidal, not sure if you can do anything here. Could you eject the reactor core into space? Prevent any breach by these psychopaths?"*crackle*
The path to them seems tough. But using the explosions from Arana which hopefully has disrupted the rocket troopers; whilst provided some cover and smoke.
'Hope they only have very small arms.' he thinks as he dives out of the cover, tumbling and sliding towards the enemy.
;
Darius looks at the Chiss woman and asks, "Can the reactor core be ejected in to space?"
Janitor blows the head off of one of the clone rocket troopers and Arana's grenade throws a few of the others into a state of confusion for a moment and damages some.
Karval makes it to melee as do a few of the other Malaki. Clone troopers move forward to rescue their rocket troops. The Rocket troopers take the time to pull clear of the melee rather than fire their weapons.
Now Karval and the Malaki are fighting a group of clone troopers in Melee with no clear path to the rocket troopers. To reach them you would have to provoke attacks from half a dozen clones to do so.
The rocket troopers had to withdraw this round so none are able to fire their rockets. There are about seven of them at the moment though it is possible more will come.
The bleeding is stopped and the suit seals. Lilica stands weakly but with determination. When you ask about the reactor she shakes her head. "That is standard for starships but this is a space station. The reactor is too big to eject from the station. Furthermore, there are no backup generators big enough to power a station this size even if we could eject the reactor. Everyone onboard would die if anything happened to the reactor."
She Shakes her head. "No, we have to get in touch with the fleet. It is our only hope."
She heads over to the console and begins the process of setting up a hyperlink to the remainder of the Danaten fleet. She begins her speech.
A voice breaks out over all comm channels. "Attention Fellow Chiss of Danaten station. I am Station Commander Lilica Yalson and I am ordering all ships and troopers to stand down. We have been betrayed by Taintus and his clones and now our home and families are at risk. As I speak the clones are attempting to destroy the station's reactor and we need ships to come pick up civilians from the station. We can only hold for so long. I repeat, all Danaten ships, break off engagement with Aristocracy forces and return to base for evacuation of civilians at once. Once this is done we are to surrender to the Aristocracy forces. We have lost but it is best for our families and our people that we accept this and cut our losses so they be not worse than they already are. It has been an honor serving as your commander, Lilica Yalson out."
Soon after another comm comes to life on all channels. "Attention! This is Admiral Palis Hox of the Danaten Defense fleet. Belay the order given by Commander Yalson. She has been capture by the imperial pretenders and they are trying to decveive you to force our surrender. The battle of Danaten station is going well and Taintus has sent reinforcements. We can and will win this battle even at the loss of our beloved commander. Will will not allow the imperial userpers and their Chiss allies t fool us and we will not surrender the station to ANYONE but the true Empire. All hail Lord Taintus! For it is by his will that we shall rule the galaxy!" The channel ends.
Lilica slams her fists on the console. "Damn you Hox! You were always to bloated and arrogant for your own good."
She turns quickly to look at you. "That was Palis Hox, leading Admiral of the defense fleet. In military matters his word supersedes my own. I do not know how the fleet will respond, I have no way of knowing if they will listen to me over him or not. This may end up being a fruitless tug of war unless we can find a way to destroy that cruiser. but there is nothing we can do here."
You are blasting away and thanks to your superior movement, your are not suffering any return fire from the cruiser. However, you are only chipping away at the thing. You are sure you can destroy it but it might take a while to do so.
Darius attempts to contain his irritation, I didn't care about your civilians and saving their evacuation. MY goal was for your civilians to take up arms and stop the clones who are trying to blow the reactor and for your pilots to take out that cruiser!
After a brief pause, Darius looks at the Chiss woman and says. "The cruiser is fundamental on the space side but there aren't going to be any of your people left if we don't take out the troops trying to blow the reactor and secure that area!"
*crackle* Taking a deep breath and attempting to contain the frustration and irritation in his voice, Darius says, "Darius here. No way to eject the core. Admiral Hox's military authority is superior to Commander Yalson. What is our plan at this point? We can attempt to destroy the cruiser, leaving only Commander Yalson; this assumes we can defend the reactor while we continue that effort. Or we can abandon the station... Unless someone else has another idea. How are things looking with the clones at the reactor? How are things looking in the space battle? Where are me and my men needed? Darius out."
*crackle* "You might be able to get clear, but we cannot extract ourselves . In fact, a stray rocket in the next minute and everyone on the station is dead.... We've just gotta hope to be lucky." *crackle* he adds pessimistically.
*crackle* "Darius, Janitor. The fight here's not going well--we've got them by numbers, but they're fearless and determined to blow this thing, and they've got rockets. Do what needs done." *crackle*
Janitor leans up and fires again, relying on precision and attempting to pull off a tough shot--blasting a rocket as a clone loads it, hoping to disrupt them and maybe, just maybe, take them all out at once. He focuses, feeling something guide his carbine's muzzle, though the pressure of the moment weighs heavily on him.
Arana runs up closer to the melee and slides into cover once more. Gathering her strength, she throws another frag grenade into the midst of the rocket troopers, beyond the hand-to-hand fighters.
Attack
Damage
*crackle* "Darius here. We know they are more like machine than man. They will carry out their orders until they believe they are complete. Is there any way we can convince the clones that the reactor has been destroyed...?" Darius trails off before the comm disconnects. *crackle*
Darius poses the same question to the Chiss woman.
"Any ideas on how to stop them from destroying the reactor? It sounds pretty bad down there."
*crackle* "... If you are willing to lose a lot of lives to save more lives, you could leave enough of a force to hold off the clones while you three go and cut off oxygen to that entire level." Darius says with a grim chill in his voice. *crackle*
The fray is going better than expected.
Karval wheels into the melee and begins to maneuver through the bodies towards the rear. In two moves you will reach the rocket launchers though there are still bodies in the way so charging is out of the question.
Janitor fires off a shot and just barely hits a rocket trooper but the man is still standing.
Lastly a well placed grenade thrown by Arana finds its way into the middle of the rocket troopers blasting them good.
The rocket troopers are still standing but only two are able to fire and doing so.
The two rockets careen into the reactor but the huge power conduit is a lot sturdier and tougher than it looks. It took a good amount of damage but it seems not enough to cause an overload yet. Still, you better end those clones quick or it will be overloading sooner or later.
Lilica looks over at him. "Just fighting. That is all your people can do. We cannot get to them from here nor can we send any additional support. I have unlocked the civilian quarter. I need to get down there and get as many off the station as I can in the event your people fail to stop the destruction of this station. There is a Fighter in the personal hanger that we can use to get to the stations main hanger. I will order all civilians to the main hanger where we can pick them up. Do you have men able to fly shuttles who can help us evacuate? If we do not get these people off this station alive, then the Chiss civil war will not end."
Grasping the sword in both hands he swings in a heavy chopping motion.
The heavy swing puts the Mandolorean gladiator off balance as he tries to move towards the deadly rocket-troopers.
*crackle* "Darius here. I'm going to assist in the evacuation of the citizens from the station. I'll also see if I can't assist in the space battle. Darius out." *crackle*
Darius tells his men, "You eight come with me. The rest of you, make your way to the hangar through the station. On the way there, assist in escorting citizens and evacuating them."
Darius looks at the Chiss woman, "Let's go."
Darius makes his way to the personal craft with the Chiss woman and his team of eight. He orders six of the men to attach to the exterior while he, the Chiss woman, and the other two men ride inside the ship.
He attempts to pilot the team out of the wreckage and around to the hangar.
Janitor marvels at the agile melee fighting of his fellow Mandalorean as he lines up another shot. He sure knows how to use that thing. More elegant than a gun stock, and more effective, too. Still, one weapon's more convenient....
Seeing that it may not be prudent to throw another grenade at the rocket troopers, Karval was too close.
Instead, she waits for a rocket to launch an tries to use the Force to change its trajectory away from the reactor core.
Move object
Karval is now one move away from the Rocket troopers but he takes the butt of one of the clones rifles to the face. He takes 10 vitality. Karval doesn't connect with his weapon either.
Janitor fires off a shot and misses.
The rocket troopers fire off a volley at the reactor. Arana us unable to divert them. The collisions shake the chamber and alarms begin to sound. The reactor hasn't gone critical yet but it's integrity is weakening considerably.
You all figure that one more volley will blow the reactor. You all will likely die when that happens. You got one round to make or break. Good luck, I mean it, to the dice gods, good freakin luck.
You three may want to consider new character options if this goes south. Again GOOD LUCK. The suspense is killing me.
Sending a team to escort civilians will work out fine. You can carry eight people around the ship and try and rally any remaining chiss or imperial pilots left in the hanger to start the evacuation.
At this point the station begins to shutter violently and alarms begin to sound throughout the station.
You an your team make their way to the ship in the hanger and board up. Lilica seems completely in shock by the destruction you caused.
You exit the hanger and begin to make your way around the station to the main hanger. Moving at full speed you will arrive at the main hanger in the next round.
You see the horribly damaged cruiser being harassed by a hornets nest of Chiss fighters. At it's engines is a much larger imperial gunboat but relentlessly pounding the cruiser's backside. There is no sign of either Star Destroyer though. just a lot of wreckage that looks to be the remains of the two destroyers.
*crackle* "Zaleos, Darius, it's Janitor. The reactor's being hit bad, and there's a good chance it's going to blow. Get everyone off the station that you can--civilians, our troops, the Chiss, everyone. It's been a pleasure to serve with you." You hear a brief pause, the silence punctuated with blaster fire and the background of battle. "The Force be with you, for what it's worth. Janitor over and out." *crackle*
Sighing as he switches off the commlink, Janitor pulls of his helmet and takes a look at the face, glancing at the reactor as he does so. It's been a good run. I can't say I'm proud of everything... but it was good to serve and bring that much more order to the galaxy. With that in mind, he stands up and fires another shot at the rocket troopers, clearing his mind and allowing the galaxy and the moment to move through him.
Arana's heart sinks as the rockets pass overhead, their trajectories not even perturbed by her Force efforts.
Seeing that the situation was dire, she grabs her seonds last grenade as tosses into the midst of the rocket troopers.
CrackleKarval, grenade incomming!Crackle
Throw grenade
Damage
Karval waits at Arana's warning, then he uses the confusion of the grenade to charge into the rocket-troopers. Not waiting for the smoke or blast to clear, he dives through the debris and detritus blade in hand.
Swinging the heavy blade down upon what remains of the troopers.
If the grand order of posting, Arana's grenade will do it's work before Karval moves even without him holding.
Janoitor barely scores one of the rocket troopers just before Arana hurls another grenade.
The grenade Arana's throws rips apart more than half of the troopers leaving only two standing.
Karval rushes one of the two remaining rocket troopers and cuts the man down leaving one left.
The remaining rocket trooper moves away attempting to reload his rocket. Karval can take an AoO
There is one rocket trooper left and he alone won't be able to destroy the reactor before you kill him.
If you can keep any other rocket troopers from getting into the reactor chamber, you will win this fight.
This was close I kid you not, this was really close. If Arana had missed or had done 8 points less of damage wit that grenade, there would have been another volley that would have leveled the station.
Janitor lets out a shout of encouragement as the frag grenade slices into the troopers and Karval hacks into another, bringing him down. Sighting, he fires at the last rocket-bearer .
*crackle* "Darius here. Janitor, how are you guys holding up in there? I heard the alarms but the station hasn't blown yet. I'm landing in the main hangar. I've got a ship big enough to get the four of us off the station. Let the rest of the men handle the clones and the evacuation. We need to get to the Empress! Zaleos, how is it going out there? Darius out." *crackle*
Darius lands the craft in the main hangar and positions the ship so that it will be ready to leave the hangar on a moment's notice.
He orders his men to begin evacuating troops and citizens on any transports they can be commandeered.
He looks to the Chiss woman, "It seems that this may be where we part ways. Good luck evacuating your people from the station. May the force be with you."
He exits the ship and begins giving orders to fill up any ships with troops and citizens and fly them out immediately.
He waits to hear back from Janitor as to the status of the reactor team.
I may have to leave without them. I hope I hear back soon...
*crackle* "Not 'blown up yet' is a good phrase to describe it. The rocket-troopers are dying, but there's plenty more clones... though if we can push them back...." *crackle*
Karvals breathing is heavy, and there's blaster-fire in the background.
Arana raises her arm and crows when Karval finishes off the last of the rocket-troopers.
In the brief respite, she shouts at the nearest Malakai leader "Make sure no more of those rocket-troopers get in here!!"
She then fires on any troopers that are nearby
Blaster
Damage
*crackle* "Darius here. That didn't sound positive. Are you guys heading this way to evacuate? If not, I can try to aid the space battle. Darius out." *crackle*
*crackle* "Aid the space battle, or the evacuation. If it goes wrong - we won't be able to make it out." *crackle*
*crackle* "Darius here. Commander Yalson is leading the evacuation. I'm heading out to space with a small team to see if I can help Zaleos. We haven't had transmission from him a little while. They may be jamming us but I'll try to keep an open line. Darius out." *crackle*
Darius orders enough of his men as are needed, with piloting skills, to take up to five bombers and follow his commands. He tells the team that his plan is to have the bombers lay in with heavy weapons against the cruiser while he provides cover fire against enemy fighters.
He takes the helm of the phantom and has one of him men come with him to assist in piloting and weapons.
He flies out once the bombers are ready to go.
With the last rocket trooper down the fight for control of the reactor resumes. Much to your surprise the Malaki are pushing the clones back out of the reactor chamber. The Malaki have learned quickly how to fight the clones.
The Malaki have learned the clones tactics and are working to cut off any groups looking take advantage of ranged attacks. Most surprisingly is how the Malaki have begun to handle the grenades that were causing them so many problems in the beginning. When clones toss grenades, most Malaki now catch them and throw them back with natural precision. The Malaki are exibiting remarkable reflexes and skill now that they seem to have a grasp on understanding their enemy.
The Malaki are strongly turning the tide of the battle. The clones are getting shoved out of the reactor. It looks like this part of the battle is nearing an end with your side seeming to win. It's just a matter of time.
Darius you board the phantom and take to the stars. You are soon joined by five more bombers piloted by your own men.
From the looks of things, the cruiser is barely holding together. It is a vicious battle and the cruiser is still holding together. If you place your orders well with the squadron, you could bring it down.
Zaleos is piloting the gunship. he has completely blasted out the cruiser's engines and now it is near dead in space. It has a few guns left and is doing it's best to fight off the fighters harassing it.
*crackle* "Darius, Zaleos, it's Janitor. We're still alive down here, and it looks like we're in no immediate danger of losing the station. The clones are being held off by our forces, and it looks like we'll win the day. Janitor over." *crackle*
The trooper, having replaced his helmet after the last rocket trooper fell and it no longer looked like he could be obliterated at any moment, turns to the fray and looses another precise bolt of energy. These warriors certainly are quick learners, and fierce in combat... We should train them, if they'll let us. Or at least, we should have trained them for what they'd be facing.
Proud of his friends quick wits and the amazing skill of the Malakai to adapt to the combat; Karval tries to ensure he doesn't disappoint. He dives under the swing rifle butt and slams his vibroweapon into the side of the offending warrior. Describing a short circular arc with his entire lithe body, he spins away into the next man. Keeping to the thick of the fighting.
Darius orders the bombers to strafe the damaged ship in areas that the weapons are engaging fighters or from the rear, if the gunship has found a safe point to attack from.
He flies the phantom to provide cover against any fighteres that attempt to engage the bombers.
Arana cries out a Malakai war yell and exhorts the Malakai warrior to continue to push the troopers back.
Running from cover to cover, she sight a trooper momentarily separated for contact, aims with her blaster and fires.
Attack
Damage
You fillet the remaining clones in the reactor as the Malaki push the rest out. The remaining clones cannot get past the Malaki holding the reactor anymore.
In spite of the odds and disadvantages, the clones seem intent on trying and thus, force the Malaki to kill every last single clone. The fight for the reactor is pretty much over and the station is now safe and firmly under your control.
You lead the bombers to the cruiser. It take about three rounds but the bombers are able to get into position for their run. They do so successfully without any retaliation. The bombers dump their payloads into the ship's bridge and you watch them impact.
From that point it is a glorious light show as first the bridge blows in a great burst of fire. Then you guess the reactor goes critical and you start to see bursts out fire billow out of all sides of the ship. Then in a spectacular display, a mighty explosion from within tears the Chiss battle cruiser apart. Chunks of the war vessel float away from where the cruiser once was.
The space battle is won
*crackle* "Darius, Zaleos, Janitor. We did it. The reactor is held, the clones are fallen. The station is ours." *crackle* His voice is still quite serious, almost somber.
Janitor removes his helmet once more and walks over to one of the many piles of clone corpses. He looks around for any with the markings of an officer, or any with the stripes marking them as elites from the original template.
If he finds such a clone, he pulls his helmet off and sits next to the corpse; if not, he simply stands among the fallen and heaves a sigh, his carbine hanging on its strap.
Zaelos's voice echoes over the comlink, "Thanks for your assisstance Darius, it could not have been more timely. Also, I must thank all of you for a job well done. This was a hard-fought battle, and all of your efforts are much appreciated!"
He walks around the arena of battle, ensuring that all are tended too. Clapping others on the shoulder and congratulating them, whilst at the same time ensuring the Chiss are alright. He pauses and gets one of the leaders to record a message detailing what happened here and make sure it's broadcast to both fleets. To show how Taintus' troops are deceptive.
Moving over to Arana and Janitor, he adds: "That was lucky, well done to both of you - you are amazing." Then he looks down to Janitor and his ritual, with a nod for the fallen.
The battle for the station wraps up and Lilica is able to send word to the fleet that the station is taken and the remaining rebels must stand down.
Soon after that you receive word that the Chiss rebels have surrendered to the Aristocracy.
Immediately Chiss engineers set about making repairs to the damaged reactor.
The Malaki are probably the most bizarre sight to behold. They are ecstatic and celebrating. Laughing and getting playfully rough with one another. Taggard assembles the surviving Malaki in the hanger of the station where he begins a pep talk to them.
By this point all players are together in the stations hanger as Darius and Zaleos have docked their ships. You are able to hear Taggard's speech.
"My brothers and sisters! This is a day that will long be remembered by our people as the day we conquered the stars! We have proven there is no obstacle the Malaki cannot evolve past. Now the future of our tribes see beyond the horizon. We will sail forth into the sea of the sky and make our might known to the galaxy! Many more battles await us but for now, this is a joyous occasion where we have risen above the galaxy's best warriors in a land we have never step foot. We are the the MALAKI!!!" Taggard is joined by a thunderous cheer from the several thousand Malaki warriors in the hanger.
The shouts the Malaki let off can be felt deep into your chests and shake the very decks of the ship. The Chiss pilots in the hanger seem shaken by the display.
The Malaki then proceed to celebrate in their own way. You do notice that not once do any of the Malaki make any acknowledgement of those who died in this battle. In fact, the topic seems to be absent from any of their conversations. You see no tears being shed, just merriment.
As the Malaki celebrate Lilica Yalson comes to your group. "Thank you for all you have done. My people are safe and I am sure the Aristocracy will offer most of the soldiers amnesty. However, it is a fact that many of our leaders, myself included, will face execution at the hands of the Aristocracy. It sickens me to think of the loss that will cause as many of them are talented individuals but the Aristocracy must answer to the wealthy masses of their society. We did a lot of damage trying to get these weapons and other supplies. We did not attack innocents intentionally in those assaults. Much of it was unfortunate, and at times unavoidable collateral for our own survival. The biggest crime we committed against the Aristocracy was killing members of wealthy families. That's harder to avoid than killing innocents as they served in the military. Still wealthy families have the loudest voice in the Aristocracy and they hold grudges very well and are notorious for seeing them through. It's strange that the crime we will be punished for is fighting for our lives."
Lilica straightens up. "Well, enough about that. The reason I am here is to say thank you and good bye. Well the leaders of the Aristocracy arrive I will be taken into custody and that will be the end of that. In the meantime I intend to ensure that everyone on the station is in high spirits and that we can ensure a peaceful transition to the Aristocracy.
In the aftermath of the reactor victory, Arana felt a mixture of elation and horror at what had been accomplished and a what cost.
When she had the opportunity she grabbed each Karval and Janitor in a tight wordless hug, just holding the other, glad both were still alive.
Entering the hanger, she did the same to a probably surprised Darius, whispering "Well Done" in his ear, and Zaleos as well.
Upon hearing Taggard's speech,she frowns a bit, having a bit of a feeling of foreboding.
Turing to Zaleos, "Can't we do anything for the rebel leaders?"
Zaelos is quiet throughout the victory celebration, knowing full well the price paid for it. After hearing the news of the clones aboard the station left there by Taintus, he realized the price paid was necessary.
He holds Arana tightly for a moment before releasing her embrace. He replies softly to her question, "I believe I can negotiate for the rebel leaders lives here. It would be a colossal waste to execute them in any event. Perhaps the Aristocracy would accept exile as a suitable punishment instead. I know our Empress could use such talented individuals as she has already lost many of them in her war to reunify the galaxy." ...and lost also due to my own incompetence.
Janitor nods to Karval as he stands up, taking something from the fallen clone--a tag, a bit of the helmet, even just a power pack for a blaster. "Luck was some of it, and skill was some of it, and drive was most. We all fought well for a powerful cause."
As he readies to return to the hangar, Janitor is surprised by Arana's embrace. "Easy, girl--wait 'til I get my armor off!" He does return the hug, somewhat awkwardly, and then cocks an eyebrow. "You're getting better and better with that blaster, Arana, and a finer grenadier I haven't seen in years." It's obvious that this is the only good compliment the trooper knows how to offer, despite an apparent struggle to say more, and he ends up just striding off down the corridors to the hangar.
Once there, he stands still in an at-ease position, his helmet held in the crook of one elbow. Show the galaxy their might? Don't like the sound of it, but if they were to spread their existence... Who knows? As for the deaths of the enemy... Regrettable, but perhaps necessary. He shrugs, an external show of his thoughts.