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[Khyron Overmind]

It had been two weeks since the battle of Corellia. Damages to the hostiles was estimated at 25% of their numbers of ISDs. It still remained a mistery to know how the hostile fleet was able to break the blockade they had established and get their escape to freedom. Test had been done all over the Sovereign Class Interceptors that were present in the battle and none of them reported any malfunction or problem with their gravity well generators.

Comint and Elint units had processed all the data gathered during the whole battle. It took them a bit but they were able to work through the encryption and establish what the communications were all about. Most of the transmissions were routine orders for fighters to deploy to this or that sector, cover other units, attack such and such targets and so on. Another portion was directed to capital ships in order to coordinate their engagements in trying to break the blockade. However, one order was indeed highlighted as it was sent throughout the fleet. There were only six words, but they may have the key of the mistery: "Nemesis is operational.... proceed to Sanctuary"

[Khyron Overmind]

For Admiral OVERMIND it had only one meaning: Nemesis was a new type of wepon/propulsion system that allowed them to counter the effects of the gravity wells and jump to hyperspace. Sanctuary could mean a gathering point or even their main base of operations. The chase had been extended for so long now that almost all the corners of the Galaxy had been searched and none of them had given a clue about the location of the hostile fleet.

It was almost impossible to hide a fleet of that size in the Galaxy without anyone noticing. Granted, there were sectors of the Galaxy that were not under the control of the Imperial Republic, but the Navy had the resources to inspect and search those places without them knowing they were them in the first place.

The search had focused at first in the Outer Rim since most of the attacks and raids had been in that region but when the extensive searches did not have any result, the Navy modified the search parameters and expanded the search until it finally comprised all the Galaxy. That was the reason why the undeclared war had not been resolved just a couple of months after the search began.

Nevertheless, after the Battle of Corellia, the enemy sustained significant damages, losing 25% of their firepower in terms of ISD. The support ships loses had been slightly higher, but the backbone of that fleet were the ISDs. It was very unlikely that the hostiles would venture again with all their forces. The raids were most likely to continue, but they would not be taking much chances now.

[Khyron Overmind]

After finishing the battle, the combined Fleets had traveled to Alderaan in order to provide assistance to the local forces after the diversionary attack launched there in order to draw to IR Navy. It was diversionary, but it indeed caused a lot of damage. After a couple of days, there was no longer a need for them to stay there and they traveled to Kuat to make repairs. Emergency repairs had been made in orbit above Alderaan, but the major repairs needed the infrastructure that Kuat shipyards had to offer.

Since their operations had priority, Admiral OVERMIND had issued an emergency allocation order and they would travel to Sluis Van in order to pick up some ships that were finishing their trial testings and were almost ready to enter their operationa service in the IR Navy. They would cover almost all the loses they had suffered in the battle.

In the meantime, repairs progressed at a very fast pace. The last reports indicated that they would be ready to depart within 72 hours. In the meantime, everyone not working on the repairs was working on a different task: they were making drills of every possible scenario they could encounter. Flight crews were launched at all times and when they were not actually flying, they were in simulator sessions. Time to rest would arrive in the trip to Sluis Van and also there. Personnel not having free time on the trip to Sluis Van would have two-day passes during their five-day stay at the shipyards.

[Khyron Overmind]

Admiral OVERMIND finally finished the reading of the last reports that had arrived. Tons of things to be reported and tons of reports to be sent. The political situation of the IR was stable, even though certain parts of the population were not particularly happy when the Empress had concentrated the power on the Throne. But that was behind them now and the population continued with business as usual.

Admiral Sarriak arrived to the office with the latest analysis to the last minutes of the Battle of Corellia.

"Sir, the analysts have run the numbers once more trying to figure out what happened."

"Let me guess... No new information has been discovered."

"Err.... yes. The only abnormal fact was an increase in the tachion emissions from their hyperdrive engines. However, no indication was found that the increased emissions had anything to do with their departure despite the gravity wells."

"That is indeed strange. From what happened, we deduced that Admiral Bel Jones and his men have found a way to counter the effects of the gravity wells. The point is how they are doing it and how we can adapt our weapons so they can not do it again."

"The only way to do that would be for us to infiltrate one of his ships. But so far, we have not been successful in infiltrating any unit of them."

"Mmmmmm .... perhaps you are right...."

"Sir?"

"We will need to infiltrate them."

"And how are we going to do that sir?"

"Well, I happen to have a plan. I am not sure if it will work, but it is worth a try."

[Khyron Overmind]

Lieutenant (jg) Johnson was happy about his promotion to CO of Thyphoon Squadron. The EID Falcons assigned to his squadron were relatively new birds, having flown for less than three years. Granted, with the high level of practices, dogfighting exercises and actual missions, they had an accelerated wear compared to the rest of the fighters in the Navy. Maybe even as high as twice the rest of the Navy.

Despite being happy, he was indeed concerned about his ability to lead his new subordinates. He had talked a lot with his previous Squadron CO about it because he did not feel that he was ready, but eventually accepted the challenge after having long talks with his CO. One of the tips he had received from his old skipper was: "It does not matter if you do not have the answers and you do not have any idea of what to do, but you have to give answers and can not remain withou action."

It meant that he could not show hesitation in front of his subordinates since their lives were at risk at all times. He had to take decisions that could probably cost the lifes of more than one, but that is what they had chosen him for. It was not easy, but it was his job and he had to do it. Even if he was very likely to be wrong when making a decision, he had to take one anyway, because inaction could probably lead to a worse result.

One of the ways to be better prepared to make a good decision was to study about tactics and strategy, plus a lot of training missions in the simulators. Exactly he was preparing himself to do that. The Admiral had ordered and increased training program for all the members of the Avenger fighter wing and since his squadron was not schedule to fly this morning, they would cover that with a two-hour mission in the simulator.

[Jacen Fel]

No word from the triton yet? fourteen days after the battle of Corellia had gone by and Jacen never felt more confused in his life than today.. he didnt had a word from the triton or many of his comrades.. well.. that was another training Jacen thought.. always analyzing the strategies the enemy employed, they were like bees, attacking by swarms, using speed and number as their advantage(not a good combination for us).. now he is here, in a ship he does not know, in a house he does not own.. but he knew that there was nothing left but to destroy the enemy.. the was an emptiness.. something in his heart was missing..

(May be edited)

[Khyron Overmind]

(OOC: We will roleplay that the Triton is now officially considered as missing in action. When Commander Halcyon returns, we can always say that he had a problem with his hyperdrive engines and had to continue the trip on normal space until he arrived to the nearest facility where he found the spare parts he needed. To explain why they did not send their shuttles to pick up the parts, we can say that the docking bay was damaged during the battle and needed shipyard repair)

Lieutenant (jg) Johnson was on his way to the simulator room when he crossed a man that seemed familiar to him. He saluted him because he noticed it was a full grade Lieutenant. However, when he raised his hand to his forehead, he realized who that man was.

"Lieutenant Fel, sir, how are you doing? I had heard that you had been transfered to the Triton."

[Jacen Fel]

"At ease pilot" clearly something was wrong in him.. with his ship missing all he had to do is to adapt and go on, but will it be that easy? then he recognized the man standing in front of him. Lieutenant? my apologies, im awful at remembering names.. but i do remember that time during that smoke simulation.. you did well. the Triton you said? what do i say? Well Lieutenant, i think they are gone...

[Khyron Overmind]

"I am sorry to hear that sir. I was not aware. I guess the way to honor our fallen comrades will be to continue the fight and defeat the enemy. I did not have the chance to meet with Commander Halcyon, but the older pilots tell me that he was a good men."

It soon became clear to Lieutenant Johnson that Lieutenant Fel was affected by the fate of the Triton and his comrades. So he said to himself: "Mike, this men needs to get busy."

"Sir, I am on my way to the sim room. One of my pilots is off with some R&R, so if you want to tag along, you are most than welcome."

[Jacen Fel]

Jacen quickly checked his schedule on his mind and couldnt think of anything else to do besides doing nothing..

"I guess there wont be any hard on distracting my mind for a while so lieutenant

what do you think the next battle will be like?" Jacen thought

he didnt want to talk about it.. but his Mandalorian urge to massacre his enemy was almost intoxicating.. but for now he knew there wasnt very much else to do until the moment came..

try to keep up ok

[Khyron Overmind]

"Yes sir. This way please."

He lead the way to the sim room, while he engaged in a conversation about spare parts. They were not far from their destination, so the walk was short. Once arrived there, Lieutenant Johnson introduced him to the other pilots and they all took their seats for the briefing. The briefing officer then dimmed the lights and powered on the holoprojector. The image of an asteroid field appeared before the pilots' eyes.

"Gentlemen, you are seeind the asteroid field in the vicinity of Mortires V, a medium-sized planet located in the edge of the Balmora System. We have been informed that there is a base of the enemy located in that planet, but the presence of the asteroid field makes it difficult to launch a quick attack on the planet, since the enemy could take cover in the field to mask their escape. No capital ships should be nearby since it is almost impossible for larger ships to navigate around the field."

"Your mission will be to provide cover for a squadron of EID Hammers, Retaliatior squadron. They, along with other bomber squadrons will attack the presumed location of the enemy base. However, I have to warn you that navigate around the field is very tricky and it is very likely that the enemy has prepared a number of defense layers based on the asteroids. Plus, they could have part of their fighters in there. That is why we will launch simultaneous attacks from several directions."

"Any questions so far?"

[Khyron Overmind]

The briefing officer took a couple of second to look at all the pilots within the room. It was a rare time when nobody had a question. Granted, they all knew it was a simulation, but they always had questions. Probably the recent battle had shaken some of the pilots a little bit, but they were supposed to recover quickly in order to fight the next battle. It was no use to have pilots that could not overcome the strains of a battle and be ready for the next one. He was sure this was not the case, so he granted them a couple of additional seconds.

Finally, a pilot raised his hand.

"Go ahead son" he said in a conforting voice.

"Wha... What will be our ordnance sir? The regular payload?"

"Yes indeed. You will be carrying your regular concussion missiles. The bombers will be carrying heavy bombs and cluster bombs."

[Jacen Fel]

Jacen was in one of those moods where he hate speaking but suddenly he cut in..

"What do we know of the enemies numbers and technology?"

he knew it was just a simulation mission, but there was a saying, if you do war in training, war will look like a game

he had the urge to kill something.. training bots will do for now..

[Khyron Overmind]

"We do not have Intel on their numbers, but we do have Intel on their technology. They are flying a mix of TIE Fighters, TIE Interceptors and TIE Advanced. It might be possible to even find some TIE Defenders, but on very reduced numbers. However, we are sending attacking squadrons from multiple directions and they are to converge on the target."

[Khyron Overmind]

"Ok gentlemen, if you do not have any more questions, to your fighters."

Before going to his "fighter" Lieutenant Johnson told Lieutenant Fell: "Sir, you will have Typhoon 9 and you will lead the third flight. Good luck sir."

With that, the briefing was over and all he pilots stood up and head to the cockpits. Those were small pods where pilots slipped inside and were isolated from their surroundings. Once the simulated canopy was closed, the pilot was separated from the outside world. For a quick second, everything turned black for the pilot. After that brief moment, the displays in the simulated cockpit came to life.

They were in the hangar bay of the Avenger. Several other fighters and bombers were in sight, where several of them were already lifting off and heading to the exit. Lieutenant Johnson ran the pre-flight checklist and started to power on the systems. Finally, he powered on the engines and his "fighter" was ready to exit the hangar. He looked around and saw that the rest of his squadron was already powering on.

"Typhoons, roll call."

[Khyron Overmind]

"Typhoon 2, ready to roll."

"Typhoon 3, all systems are go."

"Typhoon 4, locked and loaded."

"Typhoon 5, systems are operational."

"Typhoon 6, ready to fly boss."

"Typhoon 7, all green."

"Typhoon 8, just say the word skipper."

[Locke Firecam]

The Admiral made his way out of the shuttle, returning salutes as he stepped out into the hanger bay of the Avenger. He had finally gotten a chance to catch up with the fleet, as there were other issues he was attending to when the fighting first broke out. Sighing to himself and muttering something about missing all the action, he was ready to be back close to the front line. He had recieved a basic briefing on the shuttle ride over, but was looking foreward to getting a full handle on the situation. Turning to the solider who had come to escort him, he put his datapad away. "Inform Grand Admiral OVERMIND that we have arrived and will be waiting in the officers lounge." With that the Admiral and his party made their way through the heart of the Avenger to the lounge. Taking the opportunity to pour himself a drink, the Admiral took a seat and awaited his longtime friend.

[Khyron Overmind]

"Sir, Admiral Firecam is waiting to see you."

"Let him come in" said the Admiral.

As the door opened, he stood up from his desk and approached the entrance. It has been a long while since he had seen his long time friend and when he entered, he shook his hand before he had a chance to salute properly. It was very unusual for the Admiral to breach protocol, but it had really been a long while since he had seen his friend.

"Admiral do come in and have a seat please. I take you had a smooth flight from the service, had you not?"

[Locke Firecam]

Locke stepped through the now open door infront of him into Grand Admiral OVERMIND's impressive office. Returning his friend's handshake he quickly saluted his superior officer with a smile on his face.

"Admiral do come in and have a seat please. I take you had a smooth flight from the service, had you not?"

He did not have to be asked twice, and quickly sat down in one of the chairs. "As smooth as a flight can ever be," he replied with a grin, "Whats the situation looking like here?"

[Khyron Overmind]

Grand Admiral OVERMIND took another seat and started talking.

"Well, seems that Admiral Bel Jones has an ace under his sleeve. As you know, we managed to be one step ahead of Jones when we went to Corellia and circled his Fleet. We were able to surround them between the MoD, the 1AF and the Kuat Fleets. The Sovereign Class Interceptors were in place to prevent the enemy from jumping to hyperspace. You could even say that it was the perfect hammer and anvil maneuver. However, when we were closing on them as they suffered heavy losses, they somehow jumped to hyperspace. We do not know yet how they managed to do it. Nevertheless, our Commint and Elint units picket up some transmissions and we managed to decrypt several of them."

"The one that I believe is the most relevant was just six words in length, but says a lot: 'Nemesis is operational.... proceed to Sanctuary'. We believe that this so called Nemesis is a kind of weapon to allow them to jump to hyperspace despite the blocking effects of the gravity wells that the Interdictors. Sanctuary would be either a rally point or the base they have been using and we have been unable to find so far, despite all the searching job that we have conducted over several months."

"This time we have captured some prisoners since the battle was so large. They did not have the time to evacuate all the exploding ships and rescue them. However, none of them has talked yet. One of the problems is that most of them are low ranks so it is unlikely that they are acquainted with the secrets of the High Command. Hopefully, we will get some results soon. In the meantime, we keep searching for them."

"We will finish with most of the repairs within 60 hours and then we will travel to Sluis Van. We have several capital ships undergoing trial testings and they should be almost finish by the time we arrive there. That will allow us to cover the losses we had. From then on, I am not sure exactly what we will do as they seem invisible and proven to be almost impossible to find. I have some theories, but I need to do some investigation to see if that turns into some leads. Besides that, we might get some information from the prisoners."

"That is a brief summary of the overall situation. So, what do you think of it? Also, do you want to stretch your legs and come to Sluis Van?"

[Locke Firecam]

"That is a brief summary of the overall situation. So, what do you think of it? Also, do you want to stretch your legs and come to Sluis Van?"

Locke listened closely taking notes on his datapad, replying with a nod when the Admiral had finished. "Well that is definately interesting. The nemesis device is something we should look at trying to capture for further study and development. Such technology would certainly be useful and it would be a shame to simply destroy such an advanced development."

He paused for a moment, working again on his datapad. "I'd be honored to join you to Sluis Van, I'll make preparations to leave immediately. Is there anything that I can assist you with at this time."

[Khyron Overmind]

"Well, repairs are already under way so there is little else we can do for the next 60 hours. However, we can take a shuttle and do an inspection tour. After that, I would like to come down to the planet and visit the Naval Headquarters. It has been a long while since I have been there. Other than that, we can watch the interrogations, but could be a waste of time until they are actually giving us information. We can do the follow up interviews though."

[Jacen Fel]

"Typhoon 9, lets just get on with it"

Jacen felt hours had gone by since the moment he entered the simulation room.. thirty minutes? he felt the urge to kill something.. even if it were simulated ships.. he was a mandalorian, humans breed for one thing.. war.. BUT! he had to be patient, he was now the leader of many pilots, good men, people who trust him..

"Commander, Typhoon is ready to go"

[Khyron Overmind]

"Typhoon 10, all in the green"

"Typhoon 11, ready when you are sir."

"Typhoon 12, all systems performing at maximum efficiency."

"Typhoon leader to Typhoons, time to take off."

Lieutenant (jg) Johnson powered up the repulsorlift of his fighter and quickly approached the hangar door. He checked his scopes and verified that all the other Typhoons were following him. As soon as they were all off the hangar, they flew a holding pattern around the Avenger to wait for Retaliator squadron, the Hammer bomber squadron to exit the hangar as well. Once they were out, they accelerated toward the asteroid field.

"Close formation gentlemen. Keep an eye on everything around us."

Moments later, they were inside the field. Navigation within the asteroid field was tricky, as there were a lot of asteroid that did not have a regular orbit; therefore, they were forced to make changes in course on a regular basis in order to avoid them.

"I definitely do not envy flying those bombers" thought Lieutenant Johnson. They were fully loaded and obviously less maneuverable that the lighter Falcons. He could only imagine the stress their pilots were subject to. However, he did not have much time to think about it, as the asteroid in front of him just exploded.

"Evaside maneuvers and transfer all available power to the front shields. Twelve, keep an eye on our backs and on the bombers. I have a feeling they are coming now."

[Jacen Fel]

"All hammers keep a 9 second distance from the fighters, all fighters spread ten meters from each other, all ships prepare for combat"

9 seconds to give the a reaction time, 10 meters for any unexpected piece of rock.. he wont lose them all because of an accident.. they had to spread

"All ships power up engines to improve maneuverability, the enemy must be here somewhere"

[Khyron Overmind]

Johnson dodged the first rock that was coming to his fighter by breaking hard to right and then applying full power to climb and avoid the next one. And then the next one and so on. After a couple of rocks had been dodged, he checked the rest of the squadron and, so far, they had avoided all of them. And so had the bombers. But it was not the time to rest yet, as he noticed in his instruments that an enemy squadron was converging on his position from the left and above.

"Watch out Typhoons, incoming enemy. All fighters proceed to block the paths to the bombers. Retaliator, avoid the enemy fighters and continue with the mission. We will catch up as soon as we can."

[Jacen Fel]

all ships engage the enemy, keep clear of those asteroids..

his words faded, he felt this sim like it was something real, remembering the last time he fought, remembering the many he lost.. they were gone, they wont come back.. our enemies will pay the same price.

all fighters, bost fire power! lets melt a clean hole for our hammers!

avenger is his new home, he wont lose it like the triton, and the keldabe before it

[Khyron Overmind]

"Break by flights" came the order from Lieutenant Johnson. That way, they would be able to lure and separate the incoming enemies.

"Typhoon 10 is with you 9."

"So is 11."

"Lead the way for 12 sir."

Before he had finished his transmission, blaster bolts almost scratched the windshield on his cockpit. He checked his scan and noticed that the enemy was right behind him. A little too close. Without delay, he cut the power and pulled the joystick all the way back, killing his forward speed very quickly. Following suit, he applied full power to the engines and pushed the joystick forward, bringing his fighter to the position he wanted: on the enemy's tail. Not too close so the enemy could not try that, yet not too far so he could fire. And so he did. The result was an expanding explosion where the enemy fighter had been just seconds ago.

"Typhoon 12 has just scored one hit for the good guys."

[Jacen Fel]

ok 10 and 11.. keep close and cover my six, full power to front shields..

Jacen and his wing men charged into the battle blasting everything on the way being followed by some of the same bombers they were protecting.. this just remembered him the last battle they had been in.. the enemy great numbers where overwhelming but their ships belonged to a museum or something like that.. old imperial antiques..

Johnson give me a update on the enemies numbers and fire power?

he could see many, but he knew there were many more

[Khyron Overmind]

Johnson dodged to the left and up to avoid another big rock and then made a tight spiraling turn downwards to pray on another TIE Fighter. As soon as it crossed his sights, he fired and destroyed it.

"With that I count 10 fighters, so we should be ok. I am more concerned on the flying rocks and debris. Those can hit us pretty much and..."

He had not finished talking when Typhoon 2 cut in.

"Leader, strike that out. One TIE Interceptor squadron incoming to our position. Their ETA is 30 seconds."

"You heard it boys, we have 30 seconds to clear the space from the remmants of this squadron before the next one hits us."

[Jacen Fel]

Johnson finish the ones here, 10 and 11 will come with me and delay the incoming reenforcements..

Mali a tear fell from jacens eyes.. why her? why is she in my heart again? why do i feel empty?
then suddenly Jacen came back to himself just to see that he barely missed one piece of rock..

10, 11.. move to my six, both shoot over my wing!!

this was only traning,, there wasnt any fun in this.. nothing gave him more pleasure than his sword

[Khyron Overmind]

"Hey, don't let me out of it boss" said Typhoon 12.

Typhoon 11 entered a double-scissors maneuver with a enemy fighter while 12 flew alongside him, covering his tail. As a rule, one would never leave his wingman unless there was a poweful reason to do so. As the enemy was flying alone, Typhoons 11 and 12 engaged in combat with him. While 11 led the way, 12 kept an eye on their surroundings to see if there was anyone near there.

The double-scissors ended with both the IR fighters on the tail of the enemy, but he started an immelman right away to avoid being in the sights. The IR fighters followed suit, but they accelerated and stabilized out of the maneuver before the enemy, so they were in position to fire before the TIE Fighter was out of the maneuver.

Johnson and his men cleared the field of the remaining TIEs, so the only one missing was the fighter that was being targeted by Typhoon 9, Lieutenant Fel's fighter.

[Jacen Fel]

that moment Jacen could taste satisfaction as he pursued the pilot who was clearly inferior to him.. always keeping an eye on the environment around him Jacen kept shooting burst of superheating laser at the enemy ship, just waiting for one of those to hit.. the enemy pilot was skilled in one way.. running, it moved from side to side and eveding many of Jacens shots until Jacen let go a full burst

[Khyron Overmind]

As Jacen's enemy disappeared, a voice cam over the tactical channel.

"Watch out Typhoons, the Interceptors are vectoring out and are trying to reach Retaliator squadron. Switch to missiles and fire at will."

Next, he accelerated to full power in order to gain terrain and approach the Interceptors. Using his hands on the controls, he switched from laser cannons to missiles. The targeting marks appeared on his Head's Up Display in vivid red color. As he approached his target, the two red signs converged into one and when they merged they turned to green and a sound was issued to signal the pilot that it was the time to fire.

He pressed the trigger and then selected the next target and waited for the tone.

[Jacen Fel]

yea they just dont stop coming! good thing they are only good for dying!

Jacen flew and formed with his wingman and waited till the enemy was in range.. jacen locked on the enemy and slowly moved his finger closer to the trigger... just like a hunter jacen kept his eye on the enemy, getting closer, getting ready for the kill