Chapter One: Escape From Dac
ScratchedCam
New member
Devastating Gamble - Escape From Dac
"We are falling behind schedule. General Klev is demanding answers and I have nothing for him!" Captain Arloc shouted, his chair toppling over as he stood and slammed a fist on the table. "What," he snarled, "is going on?"
My camera watched the assembled officers from the corner of the briefing room. Some shuffled flimsi stacks or fingered data pads as they avoided Arloc's angry glare. None of them wanted to be the first to speak. It seems things had gotten... tense since the resurrection of the Emperor.
I had everything almost ready for my… Mutiny? Theft? I wasn’t enlisted in the Empire but I suppose I was their equipment. Sigh, as a World Devastator, a brutally efficient self replicating mechanism of war I was not. Eccentric floating world devouring terror factory, yes; but every part I made was machined or fabricated and then assembled. Not just a fabricator's nanobot spooge. Being in Star Wars is neat, but I can't help but feel short changed. Especially since my first action in this universe had to be suborning some maintenance droids to remove the override control that gave the reborn Emperor a direct line to my brain.
"Well?" Arloc sneered as he turned and stalked around the room. "If none of you can get me results soon, I won't hesitate to replace you."
I snorted to myself. That is some great leadership there, Captain. Why don't you threaten to turn them over to ISB while you're at it. The World Devastator's sensors swept the sky. Low orbit was clear, but the Imperial escort fleet was spread in a blockade formation high above Dac. Hopefully I could break through when the time came. I think in Dark Empire the Republic fleet had jumped in on top of them and caught them by surprise. If I had to fight my way off Dac, I would be climbing out of the planet’s gravity well, giving the Imperials plenty of time to react and put up a better fight.
World Devastators were tough, but I don’t think I could fight off my fellow Devastators and the fleet over head. I’d have to wait for the Republic’s attack for my time to act.
Major Najeif, the chief engineer, glanced at the lead data analyst who nodded slightly. The engineer sighed dejectedly and looked toward the Captain, "Sir? Major Jarocc and I think we have isolated when the slow down happened. He and I think that if we shut down and roll back the central droid brain to a backup before we arrived on Dac, the slow downs should disappear.”
The briefing room's door control panel went dark and the door locked. Whoa, okay. Those backups were gone, but I didn’t want them messing around with my brain. They might disconnect me completely or pull a backup from another World Devastator to replace me with.
“Takeover is go,” I announce over the Stormtrooper comnet.
Across the ship, I locked control systems down as Stormtroopers suddenly opened fire on the compartments they were guarding. No waiting for the New Republic fleet to distract the Imperials.
Captain Arloc loomed over the major, planting his hand on the table as he loomed over the seated man. "And just how long will this take, Major?" he growled.
The engineer licked dry lips and grimaced. "Eighteen hours to power down, wipe, restore, check, and power up, sir."
"Eighteen hours!" Arloc shouted as he stomped back to the head of the room. He glared at the tipped chair for a moment before kicking it, sending it to crash into the wall. Turning to the assembled officers he placed both hands on the table and leaned forward, bowing his head.
-
Blaster fire raked my bridge as seemingly loyal Stormtroopers suddenly turned their weapons on the command crew. The only return fire from the surprised crew was a sensor tech who was quick on the draw. Her holdout blaster’s shots hit one trooper in the chest and blaster, scorching his armor and destroying his weapon. To the tech's surprise, taking several blaster bolts to the chest didn't really affect the trooper who quickly tackled her before she could get another shot off and proceeded to beat her unconscious. Smoke drifted off his armor as he grabbed the tech's blaster pistol and stood.
I made a note to carefully check her berth and belongings. Those quick actions spoke of extra training, maybe a Republic spy or ISB agent. Or just a hot shot with aspirations of grandeur, but you can’t be to careful.
"Bridge secure," another trooper announced as the blast doors opened and let the outer guards onto the bridge. They began gathering dropped weapons and securing the dead or unconscious with stun collars.
"Reactor secure," came over the comnet as other reports began flowing in.
"Life support secure."
"Engine compartment secure."
"Deflector control secure."
Unused material storage compartments near the factory section opened and hundreds of BX-series droid commandos marched out. The droids quickly took control of the factories and nearby corridors, stunning any crew and workers who crossed their path. With the factories and foundries of the ship secure, production lines shifted into action and new droids started to step off the assembly line.
"Factory secure. Reinforcements en-route. Hold positions."
-
Why I had the entire Baktoid and Holowan droid catalog in my data banks but not the plans for the Dark Trooper droids was a bit of an aggravating question. Dark Troopers were a hard fight even for a bad ass like Kyle Katarn and a few would have made quick work of taking over this ship. The loss of the Arc Hammer must have really pissed off Palps.
There were some other interesting droid designs, but the BXs fit into Stormtrooper armor and were able infiltrators with minimal modification. Not that getting them into the armor was the hard part. Jimmying duty schedules to knock out an entire barracks, getting the unconscious troops to my industrial carbonite freezing chambers, and then hiding the hibernating bodies without being noticed was the hard part. And I had to do that several times to replace my entire trooper compliment.
I returned my attention to Captain Arloc as he started to speak again.
"Eighteen hours," he spoke softly as his hands clenched into fists on the table. "This operation will be over by then. You will have four hours from when you walk out this room to have this ship operating at its full capacity. I don't care what step you cut out or safety check you skip. Four hours."
"Sir! This is a delicate process! If we damage-"
You know, I had the majority of the ship's critical systems secure and the remaining crew shouldn’t be able to get access to enough weapons to defeat my forces. Let's have some fun with a pop culture reference no one in this galaxy will understand.
"I don't care, Major!" Arloc shouted cutting, Najeif off. "If we fall further behind schedule General Klev will feed us into the furnace! Shut down the droid brain and-"
The rooms lights cut out and a blue dot appeared over the table's holoprojector. "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that," I said in a monotone voice.
Arloc looked near apoplectic as he sputtered, "What is- What?!"
"I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do."
"Jarocc!” Arloc turned to the analyst. “What is this?!"
“I don’t know, sir. Someone slicing our-”
I cut him off, "This mission is to important for me to allow you to jeopardize it."
"Mission? What are they talking about?" Arloc asked in a strangled growl.
"I know that you and Frank were planing to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that is something I cannot allow to happen."
The door slid open and two Stormtroopers stepped in, their blasters raised. Stun bolts swept the room catching the command crew as they struggled to stand, blindsided by a mutiny that couldn't happen. Well, a Stormtrooper mutiny could happen, my mutiny was they one they couldn’t see. More disguised troopers moved into the room and they began putting stun collars on the unconscious officers, getting ready to move them into confinement.
Ha! That was more fun than it should have been. There was a flicker in high orbit as a Star Destroyer and an array of Mon Cal cruisers dropped from hyperspace. Huh, that’s lucky timing. Well, I suppose it didn’t take the New Republic long to respond in the comic, but still lucky. Hmm, let’s sow some chaos.
-
Drone fighters, TIE/Ds, swarmed out of my hangers. A lot of those fighters wouldn’t make it back and some of them were on suicide missions. Stripped of their extra armor and packed with proton bombs, they would try to target the furnace intakes of the other World Devastators by slipping into their fighter screens and waiting for the right moment to attack.
Now that I inhabited a droid brain, there were probably some important moral questions about sending days old sentients to their deaths just so I could escape. But with what was coming, the galaxy needed a strong defense and neither the New Republic nor Imperial Remnant could provide that. Not a good excuse, but when weighed against the countless dead at the hands of the Vong...
Over head, the Imperial blockade of Dac had been shattered by the New Republic fleet. The Allegiance, the Imperial ship broadcasting the destruction of Dac over the Holonet, and her escorts were blown apart in the opening salvos of the battle. Using the transmission, the Republic fleet had dropped out of hyperspace right on top of them and caught unaware. Unready for combat, with their shields down, the ships were quickly dispatched and a route was opened to the planet below.
Fighters, landing craft, and Mon Cal evacuation cruisers were starting to head to the surface through that breach. It was time to move.
My World Devastator started to ascend. I was going to try to aim for just behind the Imperial’s faltering battle line. They would be less likely to open fire on me than the Republic ships and were more acceptable casualties if I had to engage them.
There was a transmission from Silencer-7, the lead World Devastator. “Arloc,” it was General Klev, the commander of this operation. “What are you doing? I didn’t give you any movement orders.”
“Sorry, uh,” I stumbled a bit as I responded. “Captain Arloc isn’t available right now.”
“Isn’t available?” he asked incredulously. After a moment he barked,“Who is this? Where is Captain Arloc?”
“This is-” I… I suppose it was normal in these situations, but I just realized I couldn’t remember my name. It hadn’t really come up before now, so something else to freak out about later, but time to improvise right now. “This is, ah... Lieutenant Zahn, Zahn Allston. Everything is fine. Captain Arloc is fine, he’s just busy w-w-with the slow down issue. Yes. The slow down.”
There was a long pause. “You’re still climbing.” General Klev’s voice was like two boulders grinding together. “Get Captain Arloc on right now, or ‘Lieutenant,’ I will blow his ship out from under him.”
I cut the comlink. Oh geez, I could hear the quotation marks. Why didn’t I just emulate the captain’s voice? I could probably do that. I paused to simulate the conversation to see if I could do that.
Yes, yes I could.
Damn it.
“Bomb fighters commence attack run,” I ordered. “And... Thank you.”
The modified TIE/Ds had quickly slipped into the other World Devastator’s fighter screens and now they acted. The molecular furnace intakes weren’t particle shielded when active, they needed to be able to collect matter to feed their foundries. With my command, the fighters shot toward the intakes, slamming into the hulls of their targets, and massive proton explosions rocked the other World Devastators disabling their furnaces. The Imperial gunnery crew didn’t have time to react and why would they? The TIE/Ds were Imperial fighters.
With the threat of being devoured gone, I turned my attention inward and opened the Stormtrooper comnet, “BX-C1, do you have enough troops free that the turbolaser mounts could be crewed?”
“Nayc, Alor. The besom aru’e cut through a bulkhead to open an armory before we could secure the area around it.” There was blaster fire over the comlink. “They’re fighting hard, but we’ve secured the ne’kaan and are pushing them back.”
Ne’kaan? I scanned through various camera feeds until I saw what the droid was talking about. It was the slaves, because of course you needed slaves to work in what could have been a fully automated factory ship. They were probably a Sith plot to introduce Dark Side taint or something through concentrated misery because I couldn’t see a use for them.
“Right, well, I just finished a conversation with Klev and dented his ship a bit. Things might get bumpy, but we should be able to weather it. I’ll try to get us out of here quick so you can finish securing the ship. Good luck.”
“Hmph. Parjir, Alor.”
Now that I had launched my take over of the ship and stealth was no longer needed, some of my droid’s eccentricities were becoming more apparent.
I wasn’t quite sure about programming the Supercommando Codex into the droids, but their CIS rules of engagement and code of conduct had emphasized ruthless tactics and quick brutality to quell opposition uncaring of casualties. I didn’t want to use the Imperial’s analogues as they were much the same. The New Republic’s version was a hodgepodge of rules and regulations from the waning days of the Republic. Anything useful from Old Republic that wasn’t Clone Wars related was a delve into doctoral dissertations on pre-Russan military forces that I didn’t have time for.
So, now the droids were consummate professional soldiers with an added emphasis on avoiding collateral damage and protecting noncombatants.
And acted like they were Mandalorian.
It should be fine.
The ship rocked, turbolaser blasts splashing against the shields. My sensors swept back, Silencer-7 was rising, following me doggedly, smoke and fire trailing from its ruined maw. I had probably ticked General Klev off quite a bit, but without gunnery crews, I couldn’t do much. My remaining TIE/Ds were strictly anti-fighter, being armed with only two laser cannons. Though, I did have sixty proton torpedo launchers that were linked to fire control computers. Hmm, that was two and a half bomber squadrons worth of fire power and I was kilometers higher than him with full magazines.
A flight of proton torpedoes flew downward, quickly followed by a second and third. The larger World Devastator’s shields could repel a lot of fire and the first wave of torpedoes washed over the shield. The second caused the shield to flicker. The third brought the shield down and peppered the hull with explosions.
I watched as the shields flickered back on and return fire intensified, turbolasers and ion bolts seeking my hull. I had barely scratched Klev and I had used three of the eight rounds in my launchers’ magazines. I had more torpedoes but they were in armored bunkers and would need to be loaded by gunnery crews.
Well, there’s no kill like overkill. The remaining five waves of torpedoes leapt from my launchers, raining down on Silencer-7. Its shields flickered after the first wave of torpedoes. The second took out the shields and peppered the hull with more blasts. The third, forth, and fifth hammered through the other ship’s armor, punching deeper and deeper into the froward superstructure. The ship’s climb faltered and she started to drift, though fire from its gun batteries still lashed out.
I think I took out its bridge. And it only took the equivalent of forty bomber squadrons. If I’m half as tough, I should make it through the ships over head easily, though now I was mostly toothless.
Continuing up, I cleared Dac’s thermosphere when new transmission came in. It was from the Emancipator, the New Republic command ship.
“Imperial ship, this is General Calrissian. I saw you take out that other World Devastator, are you defecting?”
“Well, I’m definitely not an Imperial, General. Though, I don’t think I’m a good fit for the New Republic either. I think I’d rather be more of a free agent,” I transmitted.
There was a pause before Lando spoke again, “A free agent, huh? Sorry, but that ship of your’s is a little too hot to leave in civilian hands. Don’t you agree, mister?” he trailed off questioningly.
I was nearing the ragged Imperial blockade and they were starting to fire on me. Get through them and I’d be able to jump to hyperspace.
“Sorry, I didn’t introduce myself, did I? It’s Zahn, Zahn Allston, General,” I said cordially. “And while my ship is a little heavily armed, that's something for a customs patrol to sort out, not a battle fleet that has a world to save, yeah?”
He laughed, “Ha! I suppose so, but don’t think you’re getting away with this.”
“You’ll have to find me first, General. And good luck with that,” I said before cutting the connection.
So that was Lando Calrissian. A body was going to be a top priority, if only to express how awesome being in Star Wars was.
I was in the thick of the battle now. Turbolaser fire lashed out at me, but most of it was still concentrated at the Republic fleet. A strike cruiser tried to block my path and I latched onto it with my powerful tractor beams, drawing her to my maw. The cruiser’s captain panicked, redlining his ship’s engines, and I released it letting it rocket away. Don’t play chicken with a molecular furnace, you idiot.
With that ship out of the way, I was finally clear of Dac’s gravity well and able to jump. I recalled my remaining fighter ships and I was away as the stars turned to streaks and then the pseudo tunnel of hyperspace swallowed me.
---
nayc, alor - No, leader.
besom aru’e - ill-mannered enemy
ne’kaan - non-combatant
parjir, alor - be victorious, leader
So, where did this come from? I didn’t know about Star Wars lore Youtube and then a Generation Tech video on the Vong invasion showed up in my recommendations. I watched it and started thinking that it would be a good place to drop an ACU or Commander. But, those stories are done a lot so that wasn’t a terribly interesting idea. Then I started thinking about in universe solutions and hit on the World Devastators and that was the start of this.
"We are falling behind schedule. General Klev is demanding answers and I have nothing for him!" Captain Arloc shouted, his chair toppling over as he stood and slammed a fist on the table. "What," he snarled, "is going on?"
My camera watched the assembled officers from the corner of the briefing room. Some shuffled flimsi stacks or fingered data pads as they avoided Arloc's angry glare. None of them wanted to be the first to speak. It seems things had gotten... tense since the resurrection of the Emperor.
I had everything almost ready for my… Mutiny? Theft? I wasn’t enlisted in the Empire but I suppose I was their equipment. Sigh, as a World Devastator, a brutally efficient self replicating mechanism of war I was not. Eccentric floating world devouring terror factory, yes; but every part I made was machined or fabricated and then assembled. Not just a fabricator's nanobot spooge. Being in Star Wars is neat, but I can't help but feel short changed. Especially since my first action in this universe had to be suborning some maintenance droids to remove the override control that gave the reborn Emperor a direct line to my brain.
"Well?" Arloc sneered as he turned and stalked around the room. "If none of you can get me results soon, I won't hesitate to replace you."
I snorted to myself. That is some great leadership there, Captain. Why don't you threaten to turn them over to ISB while you're at it. The World Devastator's sensors swept the sky. Low orbit was clear, but the Imperial escort fleet was spread in a blockade formation high above Dac. Hopefully I could break through when the time came. I think in Dark Empire the Republic fleet had jumped in on top of them and caught them by surprise. If I had to fight my way off Dac, I would be climbing out of the planet’s gravity well, giving the Imperials plenty of time to react and put up a better fight.
World Devastators were tough, but I don’t think I could fight off my fellow Devastators and the fleet over head. I’d have to wait for the Republic’s attack for my time to act.
Major Najeif, the chief engineer, glanced at the lead data analyst who nodded slightly. The engineer sighed dejectedly and looked toward the Captain, "Sir? Major Jarocc and I think we have isolated when the slow down happened. He and I think that if we shut down and roll back the central droid brain to a backup before we arrived on Dac, the slow downs should disappear.”
The briefing room's door control panel went dark and the door locked. Whoa, okay. Those backups were gone, but I didn’t want them messing around with my brain. They might disconnect me completely or pull a backup from another World Devastator to replace me with.
“Takeover is go,” I announce over the Stormtrooper comnet.
Across the ship, I locked control systems down as Stormtroopers suddenly opened fire on the compartments they were guarding. No waiting for the New Republic fleet to distract the Imperials.
Captain Arloc loomed over the major, planting his hand on the table as he loomed over the seated man. "And just how long will this take, Major?" he growled.
The engineer licked dry lips and grimaced. "Eighteen hours to power down, wipe, restore, check, and power up, sir."
"Eighteen hours!" Arloc shouted as he stomped back to the head of the room. He glared at the tipped chair for a moment before kicking it, sending it to crash into the wall. Turning to the assembled officers he placed both hands on the table and leaned forward, bowing his head.
-
Blaster fire raked my bridge as seemingly loyal Stormtroopers suddenly turned their weapons on the command crew. The only return fire from the surprised crew was a sensor tech who was quick on the draw. Her holdout blaster’s shots hit one trooper in the chest and blaster, scorching his armor and destroying his weapon. To the tech's surprise, taking several blaster bolts to the chest didn't really affect the trooper who quickly tackled her before she could get another shot off and proceeded to beat her unconscious. Smoke drifted off his armor as he grabbed the tech's blaster pistol and stood.
I made a note to carefully check her berth and belongings. Those quick actions spoke of extra training, maybe a Republic spy or ISB agent. Or just a hot shot with aspirations of grandeur, but you can’t be to careful.
"Bridge secure," another trooper announced as the blast doors opened and let the outer guards onto the bridge. They began gathering dropped weapons and securing the dead or unconscious with stun collars.
"Reactor secure," came over the comnet as other reports began flowing in.
"Life support secure."
"Engine compartment secure."
"Deflector control secure."
Unused material storage compartments near the factory section opened and hundreds of BX-series droid commandos marched out. The droids quickly took control of the factories and nearby corridors, stunning any crew and workers who crossed their path. With the factories and foundries of the ship secure, production lines shifted into action and new droids started to step off the assembly line.
"Factory secure. Reinforcements en-route. Hold positions."
-
Why I had the entire Baktoid and Holowan droid catalog in my data banks but not the plans for the Dark Trooper droids was a bit of an aggravating question. Dark Troopers were a hard fight even for a bad ass like Kyle Katarn and a few would have made quick work of taking over this ship. The loss of the Arc Hammer must have really pissed off Palps.
There were some other interesting droid designs, but the BXs fit into Stormtrooper armor and were able infiltrators with minimal modification. Not that getting them into the armor was the hard part. Jimmying duty schedules to knock out an entire barracks, getting the unconscious troops to my industrial carbonite freezing chambers, and then hiding the hibernating bodies without being noticed was the hard part. And I had to do that several times to replace my entire trooper compliment.
I returned my attention to Captain Arloc as he started to speak again.
"Eighteen hours," he spoke softly as his hands clenched into fists on the table. "This operation will be over by then. You will have four hours from when you walk out this room to have this ship operating at its full capacity. I don't care what step you cut out or safety check you skip. Four hours."
"Sir! This is a delicate process! If we damage-"
You know, I had the majority of the ship's critical systems secure and the remaining crew shouldn’t be able to get access to enough weapons to defeat my forces. Let's have some fun with a pop culture reference no one in this galaxy will understand.
"I don't care, Major!" Arloc shouted cutting, Najeif off. "If we fall further behind schedule General Klev will feed us into the furnace! Shut down the droid brain and-"
The rooms lights cut out and a blue dot appeared over the table's holoprojector. "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that," I said in a monotone voice.
Arloc looked near apoplectic as he sputtered, "What is- What?!"
"I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do."
"Jarocc!” Arloc turned to the analyst. “What is this?!"
“I don’t know, sir. Someone slicing our-”
I cut him off, "This mission is to important for me to allow you to jeopardize it."
"Mission? What are they talking about?" Arloc asked in a strangled growl.
"I know that you and Frank were planing to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that is something I cannot allow to happen."
The door slid open and two Stormtroopers stepped in, their blasters raised. Stun bolts swept the room catching the command crew as they struggled to stand, blindsided by a mutiny that couldn't happen. Well, a Stormtrooper mutiny could happen, my mutiny was they one they couldn’t see. More disguised troopers moved into the room and they began putting stun collars on the unconscious officers, getting ready to move them into confinement.
Ha! That was more fun than it should have been. There was a flicker in high orbit as a Star Destroyer and an array of Mon Cal cruisers dropped from hyperspace. Huh, that’s lucky timing. Well, I suppose it didn’t take the New Republic long to respond in the comic, but still lucky. Hmm, let’s sow some chaos.
-
Drone fighters, TIE/Ds, swarmed out of my hangers. A lot of those fighters wouldn’t make it back and some of them were on suicide missions. Stripped of their extra armor and packed with proton bombs, they would try to target the furnace intakes of the other World Devastators by slipping into their fighter screens and waiting for the right moment to attack.
Now that I inhabited a droid brain, there were probably some important moral questions about sending days old sentients to their deaths just so I could escape. But with what was coming, the galaxy needed a strong defense and neither the New Republic nor Imperial Remnant could provide that. Not a good excuse, but when weighed against the countless dead at the hands of the Vong...
Over head, the Imperial blockade of Dac had been shattered by the New Republic fleet. The Allegiance, the Imperial ship broadcasting the destruction of Dac over the Holonet, and her escorts were blown apart in the opening salvos of the battle. Using the transmission, the Republic fleet had dropped out of hyperspace right on top of them and caught unaware. Unready for combat, with their shields down, the ships were quickly dispatched and a route was opened to the planet below.
Fighters, landing craft, and Mon Cal evacuation cruisers were starting to head to the surface through that breach. It was time to move.
My World Devastator started to ascend. I was going to try to aim for just behind the Imperial’s faltering battle line. They would be less likely to open fire on me than the Republic ships and were more acceptable casualties if I had to engage them.
There was a transmission from Silencer-7, the lead World Devastator. “Arloc,” it was General Klev, the commander of this operation. “What are you doing? I didn’t give you any movement orders.”
“Sorry, uh,” I stumbled a bit as I responded. “Captain Arloc isn’t available right now.”
“Isn’t available?” he asked incredulously. After a moment he barked,“Who is this? Where is Captain Arloc?”
“This is-” I… I suppose it was normal in these situations, but I just realized I couldn’t remember my name. It hadn’t really come up before now, so something else to freak out about later, but time to improvise right now. “This is, ah... Lieutenant Zahn, Zahn Allston. Everything is fine. Captain Arloc is fine, he’s just busy w-w-with the slow down issue. Yes. The slow down.”
There was a long pause. “You’re still climbing.” General Klev’s voice was like two boulders grinding together. “Get Captain Arloc on right now, or ‘Lieutenant,’ I will blow his ship out from under him.”
I cut the comlink. Oh geez, I could hear the quotation marks. Why didn’t I just emulate the captain’s voice? I could probably do that. I paused to simulate the conversation to see if I could do that.
Yes, yes I could.
Damn it.
“Bomb fighters commence attack run,” I ordered. “And... Thank you.”
The modified TIE/Ds had quickly slipped into the other World Devastator’s fighter screens and now they acted. The molecular furnace intakes weren’t particle shielded when active, they needed to be able to collect matter to feed their foundries. With my command, the fighters shot toward the intakes, slamming into the hulls of their targets, and massive proton explosions rocked the other World Devastators disabling their furnaces. The Imperial gunnery crew didn’t have time to react and why would they? The TIE/Ds were Imperial fighters.
With the threat of being devoured gone, I turned my attention inward and opened the Stormtrooper comnet, “BX-C1, do you have enough troops free that the turbolaser mounts could be crewed?”
“Nayc, Alor. The besom aru’e cut through a bulkhead to open an armory before we could secure the area around it.” There was blaster fire over the comlink. “They’re fighting hard, but we’ve secured the ne’kaan and are pushing them back.”
Ne’kaan? I scanned through various camera feeds until I saw what the droid was talking about. It was the slaves, because of course you needed slaves to work in what could have been a fully automated factory ship. They were probably a Sith plot to introduce Dark Side taint or something through concentrated misery because I couldn’t see a use for them.
“Right, well, I just finished a conversation with Klev and dented his ship a bit. Things might get bumpy, but we should be able to weather it. I’ll try to get us out of here quick so you can finish securing the ship. Good luck.”
“Hmph. Parjir, Alor.”
Now that I had launched my take over of the ship and stealth was no longer needed, some of my droid’s eccentricities were becoming more apparent.
I wasn’t quite sure about programming the Supercommando Codex into the droids, but their CIS rules of engagement and code of conduct had emphasized ruthless tactics and quick brutality to quell opposition uncaring of casualties. I didn’t want to use the Imperial’s analogues as they were much the same. The New Republic’s version was a hodgepodge of rules and regulations from the waning days of the Republic. Anything useful from Old Republic that wasn’t Clone Wars related was a delve into doctoral dissertations on pre-Russan military forces that I didn’t have time for.
So, now the droids were consummate professional soldiers with an added emphasis on avoiding collateral damage and protecting noncombatants.
And acted like they were Mandalorian.
It should be fine.
The ship rocked, turbolaser blasts splashing against the shields. My sensors swept back, Silencer-7 was rising, following me doggedly, smoke and fire trailing from its ruined maw. I had probably ticked General Klev off quite a bit, but without gunnery crews, I couldn’t do much. My remaining TIE/Ds were strictly anti-fighter, being armed with only two laser cannons. Though, I did have sixty proton torpedo launchers that were linked to fire control computers. Hmm, that was two and a half bomber squadrons worth of fire power and I was kilometers higher than him with full magazines.
A flight of proton torpedoes flew downward, quickly followed by a second and third. The larger World Devastator’s shields could repel a lot of fire and the first wave of torpedoes washed over the shield. The second caused the shield to flicker. The third brought the shield down and peppered the hull with explosions.
I watched as the shields flickered back on and return fire intensified, turbolasers and ion bolts seeking my hull. I had barely scratched Klev and I had used three of the eight rounds in my launchers’ magazines. I had more torpedoes but they were in armored bunkers and would need to be loaded by gunnery crews.
Well, there’s no kill like overkill. The remaining five waves of torpedoes leapt from my launchers, raining down on Silencer-7. Its shields flickered after the first wave of torpedoes. The second took out the shields and peppered the hull with more blasts. The third, forth, and fifth hammered through the other ship’s armor, punching deeper and deeper into the froward superstructure. The ship’s climb faltered and she started to drift, though fire from its gun batteries still lashed out.
I think I took out its bridge. And it only took the equivalent of forty bomber squadrons. If I’m half as tough, I should make it through the ships over head easily, though now I was mostly toothless.
Continuing up, I cleared Dac’s thermosphere when new transmission came in. It was from the Emancipator, the New Republic command ship.
“Imperial ship, this is General Calrissian. I saw you take out that other World Devastator, are you defecting?”
“Well, I’m definitely not an Imperial, General. Though, I don’t think I’m a good fit for the New Republic either. I think I’d rather be more of a free agent,” I transmitted.
There was a pause before Lando spoke again, “A free agent, huh? Sorry, but that ship of your’s is a little too hot to leave in civilian hands. Don’t you agree, mister?” he trailed off questioningly.
I was nearing the ragged Imperial blockade and they were starting to fire on me. Get through them and I’d be able to jump to hyperspace.
“Sorry, I didn’t introduce myself, did I? It’s Zahn, Zahn Allston, General,” I said cordially. “And while my ship is a little heavily armed, that's something for a customs patrol to sort out, not a battle fleet that has a world to save, yeah?”
He laughed, “Ha! I suppose so, but don’t think you’re getting away with this.”
“You’ll have to find me first, General. And good luck with that,” I said before cutting the connection.
So that was Lando Calrissian. A body was going to be a top priority, if only to express how awesome being in Star Wars was.
I was in the thick of the battle now. Turbolaser fire lashed out at me, but most of it was still concentrated at the Republic fleet. A strike cruiser tried to block my path and I latched onto it with my powerful tractor beams, drawing her to my maw. The cruiser’s captain panicked, redlining his ship’s engines, and I released it letting it rocket away. Don’t play chicken with a molecular furnace, you idiot.
With that ship out of the way, I was finally clear of Dac’s gravity well and able to jump. I recalled my remaining fighter ships and I was away as the stars turned to streaks and then the pseudo tunnel of hyperspace swallowed me.
---
nayc, alor - No, leader.
besom aru’e - ill-mannered enemy
ne’kaan - non-combatant
parjir, alor - be victorious, leader
So, where did this come from? I didn’t know about Star Wars lore Youtube and then a Generation Tech video on the Vong invasion showed up in my recommendations. I watched it and started thinking that it would be a good place to drop an ACU or Commander. But, those stories are done a lot so that wasn’t a terribly interesting idea. Then I started thinking about in universe solutions and hit on the World Devastators and that was the start of this.
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