Dark Sun Station

[Adenna Alluyen]

A light hour away from where Dark Sun Station was hovering, a series of flashes interrupted the blackness of space. A half dozen or so Jedi ships emerged from hyperspace and reoriented themselves around the large MC90 cruiser. Adenna was on the bridge with Admiral Antilles as the streaks of hyperspace coalesced into small points of light. As soon as the fleet reverted, the bridge erupted into a dull roar as various officers began coordinating among each other with short range comms. The officers were nervous, excited, and full of anticipation mixed with a bit of dread that Adenna had become very accustomed to being around in all of the ships and squads facing apparent combat. It was a sense that she had grown to appreciate and enjoy because it kept her on edge and finely honed.

Scouts in stealth ships were deployed and made a micro-jump to get a closer look at the station before the rest of the fleet went in. It didn't take long for them to realize that their hopes for catching the station unguarded were wistful. As soon as word reached the fleet that a large Black Sun force was there, the mood on the bridge began to change to one of apprehension. Even if their Imperial Remnant allies were able to arrive in sizable numbers, this would still be a large battle and many would inevitably die.

It did't take long for Adenna to realize that they would have to bring even more ships than expected. She had hoped to catch the station without defenses, but that clearly wasn't going to happen. Now, instead of having a second fleet to enact the second part of the grand strategy she and the other officers had formulated, she would need to summon those ships as well to join the fight here.

"Contact Commodore Neldis," she said. "Inform him that he is to bring his entire task force to join us here. We will need far more ships than originally planned. Perhaps, if the Force wills it, we will be able to trap and crush the Black Sun's forces before their Sith masters can rescue them."

[Adenna Alluyen]

A second Jedi fleet that was previously from Borelias reverted from hyperspace and began to align itself with the growing formation. The Jedi forces had but two heavy capital ships, but did also offer a larger mix of smaller, more diverse craft. Coupled with the Imperial Remnant and the Galactic Alliance forces, it was a powerful fleet nonetheless. Another, smaller Jedi task force was also set to join them from Nar Shaddaa. When all had arrived and all plans were set, the fleet would make a microjump and launch their attack and rescue mission.

 

Jedi Forces:

Jedi Order Asset Google Docs (all Jedi fleet elements will be involved)

 

Summary:

Total AP 29 pts

2 capital ships

8 frigates

5 corvettes

 

50 squads of fighters/interceptors of various models though some have heavier weapons, 8 squadrons of bombers mix of B-wings and refurbished Y-wings. Details on Google Doc

Various Jedi ships are using older fighters/bombers or less lethal technology, though some have been upgraded with modern military capacities. Details are in the "Fleet" tab of the Google Docs.

 

Total Allied forces: 50 AP

5 Capital ships

2 Cruisers

8 frigates

8 corvettes

[Adenna Alluyen]

As soon as the order was given, fighters and capital ships of the Jedi Order's fleet got into position and joined the rest of their allies in the microjump that took them to just outside the enemy's position. Fleet Group One and the Reserve Flotilla were arrayed along their allies and the main attack force with the Golan between them and the Dark Sun Station. Their objective would be to destroy the Golan and the majority of the Black Sun fleet.

 

Jedi Fleet Group Two didn't join the rest of the force, but rather made a small detour, realigned themselves, and jumped in at another angle on the opposite side of Dark Sun Station. Their purpose was twofold: provide a potential second front while dividing the enemy's attention and to serve as the second point for the next part of their goal. As soon as all allied forces were in position, the two CC-7700 interdictor frigates powered up their gravity wells preventing the Black Sun's forces from escaping or any outside enemy forces from jumping directly on top of the allies. 

 

Jedi fighters, namely X and E-wing varieties, began to form up as a screen for the larger ships. Two squadrons of X-wings were sent to the Galactic Alliance to offer additional cover for their bombers. The Jedi bombers stayed in reserve behind the fleet, waiting for the fighter opposition to thin out before engaging. Admiral Antilles did not want to risk heavy focus fire on them that would result from an early charge and instead, waited until the larger ships were engaged and distracted before committing them in for bombing runs.

 

Though not all of the Jedi ships, especially the smaller corvettes, were heavy on firepower, they still served a purpose. Their role was to provide anti-fighter assistance and to withdraw if engaged by larger enemy ships. The four combat frigates in the main force and the Adi-Wan would focus their fire against either a Victory or one of the Kyber ISD's, whichever gave a best target. Antilles' hope was that, through dedicated and focused fire, they could quickly begin eliminating enemy ships entirely from play rather than going to a ship on ship approach that would see damage to all enemy ships, but not result in compete destruction as quickly.

 

Behind the main fleet was a small flotilla of boarding shuttles. The Jedi brought only around five thousand total troops to the battle. All but around three hundred were dispersed among the various Jedi ships to protect against boarding. Despite the low numbers of troops, there were several Jedi who were eager to rescue the Empress and deal out some justice upon her captors.

 

For now, Fleet Group Two in the opposite side would not actively engage. Their fighters and bombers were kept in defensive screens. Should an opportunity arise, they could move to directly engage Dark Sun Station. Just in case there was an easy opportunity, assault shuttles and an additional two hundred troops were among them waiting to strike at the station. Should the enemy fleet break off a group large enough to threaten that smaller force, the entire formation would begin a steady retreat, drawing the enemy farther and farther away from the main battle in hopes that the larger fleets could make much quicker work of what was left and assault Dark Sun Station.

 

Admiral Antilles was commanding the overall Jedi forces from the bridge of the Adi-Wan. Beside him, Grandmaster Alluyen stood calmly, trusting in the experience of her admiral rather than taking direct control. Instead, she was overseeing the Jedi themselves as well as keeping attuned to the Force and its various waves and patterns. She wasn't very well versed in Battle Meditation and wouldn't try to engage in that, but she could read the Force and get a sense of the sentients around her. She also served as a reassuring presence on the bridge of the main command ship. Plus, if any of their allies needed coordinating with, having her available and not focused on command would be a benefit. She didn't send any messages to their enemy: she didn't feel any were needed. This was war, negotiation was futile at this point until the situation here changed.

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna had to admit, she had not thought that the Black Sun commander would be so quick to negotiate. Yes, they were outnumbered, but that had never stopped Black Sun from fighting to the end. Perhaps only their dupes were suicidally fanatic. It would make sense for the leadership of such criminal scum to put their own interests ahead of all else. She had hoped that they would be willing to negotiate rather than execute Empress Zinthos, but she had also planned on that happening after the enemy fleet was defeated and all hope of survival was gone.

 

She did want to negotiate the safe return of the Empress, but not at the expanse of the opportunity. Black Sun's fleet was trapped and they may never get an opportunity to strike such a potentially devastating blow against them again. To simply give up and walk away would be a terribly foolish mistake strategically. These were the same scum that fought to the end on Kashyyyk after slaughtering and enslaving millions. They had caused problems all over the Galaxy and it was high time they face justice. She wasn't quite sure how any of their Imperial allies would handle things, but she wanted to see their fleet in ruins and justice dealt to these criminal terrorists.

 

Still, she wasn't going to rush into a decision unless absolutely necessary, especially. "Admiral," she said, "signal our allies. I will be in the briefing room, we need to discuss this offer. Until then, respond telling their commander that we will consider their offer." She didn't quite want to reveal herself directly, not yet at least. Better to let the officers respond to the enemy.

 

Admiral Antilles nodded and, as Adenna left the bridge, sent out a response, "This is Admiral Antilles of the Jedi Order Combined Fleet, we will consider your offer and will hold position until we have a formal response. If your fleet attempts to maneuver in any way, we will consider that an act of aggression and will attack." He ended the public transmission and switched to an encrypted fleet channel. "All ships, hold combat formations. We will be considering this deal, but I want everyone in position and alert in case this is a trap or the enemy tries to attack."

 

Adenna summoned Armenia and the other Jedi on board the Adi-Wan to the briefing room, and sent out a message for any other Jedi who wished to join via an encrypted channel.

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna stood in the briefing room with her hands folded in front of her blue Jedi robes. She was only minorly amused at the display by her Galactic Alliance counterpart, mostly because she understood the desire to attack and strike out against such evil. She herself had held a similar position for quite a few years while purging slavers and pirates on the Rim. In truth, she hated the idea of taking the time to summon everyone to consider what to do, but she realized that as Grandmaster now, she had to pause and consider the much larger scope that her decisions now affected. No longer was it simply a slaver nest and a small platoon of soldiers at play, but rather whole fleets and hundreds of thousands of people, and that was just at this one situation.

 

"Yes," she said in response to both Slaughter and Draygo, "our objective is to save the Empress. However, we can't simply let the opportunity to deal a hard blow against Black Sun slip by simply for one life, especially with Delta actually here in person. As cold as it can be, we can't allow anyone to hold hostages over us like this. I have fought slavers and criminal scum before who attempted this and the government I worked with acquiesced to hostage demands in the beginning in the hopes of saving captive slaves. It was a disaster as the slavers simply escaped and captured more slaves. It only ended when I helped enact a more direct policy of refusing to negotiate with hostage takers before the practice slowed. It was a hard decision, but in the end, it saved far more lives than it cost."

 

As much as she hated this decision, she knew that being the leader sometimes meant making the very hard but practical decisions. Too often the Jedi and their allies had refused to see reality by placing well meaning virtue and principle over practicality. "I can't speak entirely for  the Empress, but from what l know about her, I don't believe she would want us to let all of this scum loose upon the Galaxy for her sake. I personally would rather my life be forfeit if it means destroying this much evil. I do believe that we should continue with the original plan: wipe out the Black Sun fleet while sending in the assault teams to at least attempt to free the Empress. We can't be sure if they will actually execute her or not, but if they do, we shall give her justice."

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna nodded at Slaughter and, considering the lack of true opposition, sighed at the decision before them. "Then we attack. Master Vos, take your ship in if you can, as well as all with you. Work with the GA Marines and our other shuttles, we will assault the station from multiple locations. The Empress is Force sensitive, and likely her pain will be a beacon. Have all the Jedi to use that pain as a guide to her location while the Marines secure the way." To Slaughter, she said, "Civilian casualties are to be avoided, but there likely isn't anyone truly innocent on that station, so do not put your men in danger over them."

 

She addressed Master Draygo, "Once the Empress is secure, we will pull whatever intel we can quickly acquire and evacuate. Let the station melt along with any Black Sun ships that refuse to surrender. If the Empress is killed, evacuate and the fleet will slag it. That station is too valuable to be left in the hands of the enemy so they can continue to generate more and more money for the expansion of their criminal and terrorist enterprises. Any corporation who takes losses can suffer them as is their right for doing business with such a corrupt entity.

 

"The plan is as it was: the fleet punches a hole through to the station for our assault shuttles. The assault teams land and rescue the Empress and whatever other captives may be on the station. They evacuate once they have secured her. The fleet will destroy whatever Black Sun ships don't surrender. Any enemy ship that is firing is to be slagged, but any enemy ship that is disabled or powered down is to be spared until after the fight." With a pointed look at the Galactic Alliance commander, she said, "The Jedi Order doesn't condone indiscriminate slaughter. We bring justice to the guilty, but we also aren't going to massacre the helpless. Let the courts try any prisoners and give them fair justice after the battle is over.

 

"May the Force be will us all."

 

With one last somber nod, she turned and left the briefing room to return to the bridge so she could be there when the fighting began. As soon as she was there and received readies from all ships in the fleet, the attack would begin in earnest. One way or another, many scum would receive justice long overdue.

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna was on the bridge of the Adi-Wan when Delta's message asking for terms came through. Though she didn't want to respond, she felt it was needed. Without identifying herself, she spoke calmly and clearly over the general comms. "The Jedi Order will not allow terrorists to hide behind unarmed hostages, nor use them as shields. It is time for Black Sun to face justice. Any ship that does not want to be destroyed should remain powered down and their crews will be treated according to Galactic POW conventions. Any ship that is fighting will be destroyed. If the Empress is harmed, all Black Sun prisoners after this battle will be considered war criminals and tried as such."

 

When all were in position, Adenna watched as Admiral Antilles ordered the attack in conjunction with their Galactic Alliance allies. The ships of Fleet Group One and the Relief Flotilla commenced their assault. The Adi-Wan began to advance into a position to be able to use its substantial firepower against the Black Sun capital ships while the frigates, minus their interdictor, focused their firepower against the nearest Victory class Star Destroyer. The corvettes would primarily serve as anti-fighter screens. Several squadrons of fighters and the bombers remained out of the fray, waiting for the enemy to become engaged so they could escort the assault shuttles against the station itself.

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna stood watching the opening salvos of their battle commence, waiting to see what the enemy would do. They remained solid, not advancing or retreating, and opened fire with long range weaponry. Some of the Galactic Alliance's forward advances took a sizable amount of fire and some of her own fighters were reporting incoming missiles. There were a few reports of hits among her squadrons, but range was still too great for effective missiles on either side.

 

As the Allied fleet was beginning to close into effective firing range for their main ships, Adenna felt a pressure form in the back of her mind. It didn't have anything to do with going into battle itself: she had done that dozens of times on various scales. This was something different, something far darker.

 

Before she could parse what the source was, the source found them. Alarms blared as several massive ships dropped out of hyperspace right on top of them. Even before everything began to register, they were under heavy fire.

 

"Redirect power from weapons to reinforce shields!" Admiral Antilles shouted. Lights briefly flickered and the ship shook as it took some hits to armored hull. The Mon Calamiri designed this ship to take a beating, and it would indeed take that beating for the moment. He didn't know how they got so close to their fleet with the interdictor fields up, but that didn't matter now. The ship's shields were humming at overtime, but they were able to hold back most of the enemy fire for now.

 

Adenna could feel the massive oppression of the Dark Side as soon as the enemy fleet dropped in. There was no question that it was the Sith. She had been waiting for an opportunity to face them, just not in a situation of their choosing like this. She had battled many scum like Black Sun, but never gone up against the Sith themselves. She only wished that they had been on the attacking end, not the one that had been ambushed.

 

With the presence of such Force using evil among them, the Jedi needed to band together and resist now more than ever. She had never had experience with the skill Battle Meditation, but she did know how to reach out to other Force sensitives. She reached out with the Force and began touching every Jedi's mind in the system, urging them to stand strong, to link together, and to resist the Darkness. She tried to infuse all of the Jedi with her own personal conviction to stand against the Darkness, her determination not to fail here, and her defiance against such evil pressure that was now facing them. Even if they were to die here today, she was determined that the Jedi and their allies would die fighting.

 

While she was doing that, Admiral Antilles and his other commanders were not standing by idle. They knew nothing of the mystical, but they knew combat. "Increase speed to flank," he commanded, "we need to get some distance between us and that Super Star Destroyer. Launch all flak missiles, focus on their hangar. Bring us in closer to the Black Sun fleet and engage at close range, but do not stop until we are through their fleet."

 

The eight squadrons of bombers and their escorts that had been staying with their fleet swung around and faced the incoming Sith swarms. Rather than moving to engage, they fired a barrage of missiles at the gaping hangars of the Sith Star Destroyers and the area between the fleets. These missiles, rather than being directed at a particular target, simple exploded in front and slightly within the Sith's squadrons. Each missile had a ton of durasteel shards each the size of a human's forearm that sprayed toward the fairly clustered Sith fightercraft using their velocity to increase their mass to more dangerous proportions. It wasn't the most effective weapon against a widespread pitch battle, but it could prove more dangerous to gathered craft freshly coming from a central location.

 

As soon as their single salvo was unloaded, the bombers circled around and withdrew to return to their own fleet as it continued on its path toward the Black Sun fleet. The Sith fleet was starting at a slower velocity, not yet at full speed while the Jedi forces were already moving. Admiral Antilles intended on putting distance between the two fleets and getting their own forces between the Sith and Black Sun so missed fire might damage their enemy. Though it would be costly, he ordered the fleet to push through the Black Sun fleet at full speed then fully position the enemy forces between them to limit firing solutions. The Shii-Cho, a Lancer class frigate, remained in the front of the fleet, but not too far out. It would offer anti-fighter screening against Black Sun's forces as they pushed.

 

With the field of battle having changed drastically, the two CC-7700's shut down their gravity well projectors. The Solari with Fleet Group One began powering its engines for a jump to hyperspace using its contingency coordinates. Fleet Group Two under Commodore Neldis smiled slightly as he received orders to move against the Dark Sun Station and engage with ion cannons until its defenses were down. He was then to bypass the station and join the main battle, coming up from behind to engage with extreme prejudice.

 

Summary

Adi-Wan is now on defensive mode and beginning to take damage: it will only fire minimal barrages from energy weapons (turbolasers and ions) but will be able to fire missiles.

Jedi Fleet Group One and the Relief Flotilla, already advancing towards the Black Sun Fleet, are moving to flank speed to get distance between them and the Sith fleet while it gets up to speed.

Flak missiles are aimed at the hangar bays and surrounding areas of the Sith Fleet as they launch fighters.

Interdictors are powering down, the one closest to the Sith forces is preparing to jump to hyperspace.

Fleet Group Two is moving to engage Dark Sun Station.

Main Jedi fleet will focus on the VSD Sariel's Judgment when they get into range

Edited June 24, 2019 by Adenna Alluyen

[Adenna Alluyen]

((Jedi Fleet Post 3))

 

A constant stream of light played over the monitors of the Adi-Wan's bridge displays as the onslaught continued from the Sith fleet. The shields were doing their best, but they couldn't handle the amount of firepower being levied against the ship.

 

"Transfer control to the auxiliary bridge!" shouted Admiral Antilles as it becomes more than clear they cannot outrun or withstand the firepower against them. Even before the bridge crew could evacuate, the shields flickered under the strain and a series of explosions rippled metal and the bulkheads along the cruiser's dorsal. The bridge took a direct hit which tore apart a section of the hull exposing it to vacuum.

 

Adenna dove towards the central shaft containing the turbolift down inside the heart of the ship as everyone else who wasn't immediately killed or trapped attempted to do the same. As the atmosphere began to vacate the bridge, debris, consoles, and crew were sucked out into space. Adenna felt herself falling backward and reacted by reaching out to the doors of the turblift with the Force and pulling herself towards them. As she did, she grabbed one of the struggling bridge officers and pulled her along with her.

 

When Adenna reached the doors, she pulled herself in and to the side to escape the majority of the flow of air. Helping hands from those who had already made it grabbed the grandmaster and the other crewman and helped secure them. She looked back and saw only a couple of crew still left struggling to get to relative safety and pulled both of them in with some well placed tugs with the Force. With one more look over the ruined bridge, she slammed the control sealing it off and sending the survivors down into the rest of the ship.

 

Explosions continued to rock the ship as they sped down several score meters. Adenna looked at the mere dozen survivors and noted with great sadness that Admiral Antilles was not among them. She would mourn him later, but for now, adrenaline and determination kept her focused. Pulling out the commlink, she switched it to the third saved channel that linked her to the ship's command frequency. "Main bridge is down, as is Admiral Antilles. Shields won't hold, so dump the ordinance and evacuate the Adi-Wan. Repeat: abandon ship."

 

Adenna, along with the rest of the crew, began evacuating as a select few brave souls remained behind to do what was possible to keep the ship intact as long as possible. The shields were collapsing letting more and more shots melt the dorsal part of the ship until eventually they would collapse entirely and the Adi-Wan would be entirely at the mercy of the Sith bombardment. Even though the energy needed to fire the turbolasers and ion cannons was shunted to shields, the proton missile launchers required considerably less power to operate. With the Black Sun fleets looming ever closer, the gunners onboard dumped every single shot in their magazine at the Black Sun Victory class Star Destroyer Sariel's Judgment.

 

* * * 

Jedi Fleet Group Two continued its assault of the Dark Sun Station with a constant stream of ion cannon fire against the station in general and select turbolaser strikes against weapon placements. The goal was to disable the station and provide whatever cover was possible for the incoming assault shuttles. Commodore Neldis clenched his hands as he received reports of the impending demise of the Adi-Wan. With Admiral Antilles killed, he assumed command of the Jedi forces and began guiding their assaults.

 

The fighters from his fleet group were clearing out anything launched from the station or that had decided to poke its nose at them. The four squadrons of XJ7-wings from the Justice's Mandate formed up to make a proton torpedo run against the Golan I station with support from the Marauder corvette Shien's missiles. Once they launched two torpedoes each, they would continue past the defense station and launch another torpedo run against the engines of the ISD Holofernes while the Black Sun's fighters were engaging the GA A-wings.

 

Fighter forces from Fleet Group One in the thick of the battle would focus on defense against the Sith fighter forces while the bombers reformed to attack the Black Sun's Nebulon-B frigate Canto Bight Fiasco. The bomber force, once eight squadrons, had taken a few losses in their first bombing run against the Sith, but still had a tremendous amount of firepower to be focused on the weakened spine of the escort frigate. The main Jedi fleet continued to approach the Black Sun forces, engaging them at point blank range with the hopes of finishing off the weakened Sariel's Judgment then moving onto the next target of opportunity.

 

* * * * *

 

Summary:

Fleet Group One/Relief Flotilla (main Jedi force between the Sith and Black Sun)

The Adi-Wan is all but lost and is evacuating in escape pods and shuttles. It dumps the entire magazines of its proton torpedo launchers at the VSD Sariel's Judgement.

With the exception of the Lancer class Shii-Cho (which is providing anti-fighter support), all ships are focusing on the Sariel's Judgement.

Fighters are focusing on keeping the Sith fighters at bay while bombers are preparing a torpedo run against the Nebulon-B Canto Blight Fiasco.

 

Fleet Group Two

Taking unfocused but accurate fire from Dark Sun Station and returning with ion barrages and focused turbolaser strikes back at the weapons emplacements. All ships present take light damage and lose some shield energy

Most of the fighters focus on precision strikes against the station since there is minimal harassing fighter screen

Four squads of XJ7-wings make torpedo run on the Golan I supported by the Maurader corvette Shien.

Edited July 13, 2019 by Adenna Alluyen

[Adenna Alluyen]

From the small side viewport on the shuttle she had evacuated on, Adenna watched as the Adi-Wan erupted in a series of massive explosions. Thousands had either elected to remain on the ship or had otherwise been unable to evacuate in time. There was a small sense of satisfaction when one of Black Sun's Victory Star Destroyers shared a similar fate shortly after, but overall, Adenna was not happy to have lost so many.

 

With both fleets engaged at point blank range, the sight was something to truly behold. Had she not been feeling the pricks and stings of death with each fiery flower, she would have found the scene to be truly breathtaking. She had seen battles before, but nothing on this scale. She turned away from the viewport as the shuttle's weaving maneuvers increased and everything in it was just a dizzying blur. For the moment, she was completely useless to the battle's outcome and had to put her faith in the commissioned officers that were still in command.

 

The Jedi forces, in an effort to put distance between themselves and the Sith fleet while providing a protective sphere around Dark Sun Station, had rushed in towards the Black Sun forces at full speed and didn't stop once they were among their enemy. For the last several minutes, the two had been engaging fire at rapidly decreasing distances and alarmingly increasing deadliness. When the two fleets passed within mere kilometers of each other, the firefight reached its zenith as neither side was missing targets. Rows of hull plating were ripped off of ships on both sides by the intense fire as interior lights and gravity flickered or went dark.

 

The Marauder corvette Ataru took an intense barrage that overwhelmed its shields and splintered its spine within a handful of seconds. Its two wings were hurled in opposite directions as its front bridge tumbled forward due to its momentum. The Nebulon-B Crystal Heart shields buckled for a moment allowing it to take damage along its front downward facing in, but the ship remained intact and advancing forward with the rest of the fleet. It wouldn't be doing much fighting the rest of the battle and its captain would continue its path past Dark Sun Station and away from the fight until they could calculate a safe hyperspace trajectory to safety. The Carrack frigate Jar-Kai maneuvered between the Rhoads and the Totenkopf II. While it unleashed terrible salvos against both corvettes, it took damage from their return fire and from the larger Black Sun destroyers and was now bleeding oxygen, bodies, and parts of its interior from multiple places on its hull. It was hurt, but the hardy ship wasn't quite out of the fight.

 

All of the Jedi forces in Fleet Group One and its accompanying Relief Flotilla took a beating but the intensity of the bombardment quickly lessened as the two fleets flew through each other's formation and were presenting mostly engines at each other. Starfighters and bombers continued their dance with each other. While most of Black Sun's fighter forces were engaged with the Galactic Alliance and Imperial Remnant fighters, the Jedi fighters from Fleet Group One and the Relief Flotilla focused on defense from the overbearing Sith fighters. That allowed the fighters from Fleet Group Two to join the main fight and engage in sortie runs against the Black Sun fleet. X-wings launched multiple coordinated torpedo barrages against the enemy Star Destroyers hoping to knock out weapons batteries or engines, but they soon ran out of ordinance and resorted to extremely close range strafing runs that cost them fighters.

 

Even as the main Jedi force was passing through and away from the Black Sun Fleet, the practically untouched Nebula Star Destroyer Justice's Mandate and its three escorts from Fleet Group Two were rapidly passing the disabled Dark Sun Station and joining the fight. Their primary objective was to drive the Black Sun fleet away from Dark Sun Station and the damaged Jedi and Galactic Alliance fleets and keep the Sith checked. While they couldn't handle things alone, Commodore Neldis hoped that with the combined--though battered--Allied forces remaining, they would be able to at least make a showing for themselves. And, should the Sith advance and engage, he and the Grandmaster had an extremely risky but potentially effective plan for dealing with them. He didn't particularly want to try the tactic at this messy stage, but it might be needed if the Sith pressed the attack. The fleet needed to give their boarding parties on Dark Sun Station more time.

 

Summary:

Main Jedi forces advance full speed through Black Sun lines and are now between Black Sun's fleet and the station. The damaged forces are joined by the barely touched Fleet Group Two with 1 capital, 2 frigates, and a corvette

Most Jedi fighters are engaging Sith fighters and bombers. Some Jedi fighters have joined the remaining Jedi bombers in continuing to harass the Black Sun forces attacking weapons batteries on the capital ships.

Adi-Wan and the corvette Ataru are fully destroyed, the frigate Crystal Heart is heavily damaged and out of the fight but not destroyed. All ships in the main Jedi force are damaged, losing shield effectiveness and weapons capacity.

Jedi forces will not pursue Black Sun forces that are able to move forward and join the Sith fleet, but any remaining near the station or that are unable to evacuate will be attacked until they surrender or are destroyed.

[Adenna Alluyen]

The various fleets slowly began to disentangle and break off from each other. The Allied fleet still surrounded the dark and bleeding Black Sun Station while the Black Sun continued to retreat towards the safety of the Sith Fleet. Adenna didn't quite understand why the Sith didn't wish to press their advantage, but she wasn't going to argue against it because it would give them the time needed to fully evacuate the Empress and collect the escape pods of their destroyed ships. As soon as that was done, they would withdraw in an orderly fashion.

 

The shuttle she was on finally reached the Justice's Mandate and landed in its officer's docking bay. Adenna got out and was quickly escorted to the nearby bridge where she would remain for the rest of the engagement. There was a lot of bitterness to swallow here, but there was also some hope. They took heavy losses, but managed to inflict a great deal of damage against the Black Sun fleet. More importantly, it seemed that Tobias had managed to rescue Empress Zinthos which would help bring hope to the scattered Imperial Remnant and possibly a greater chance that their allies would be able to rally. They needed to wait until everything had settled to figure out exactly who came out for the better in this battle.

[Adenna Alluyen]

As both fleets further separated, the only combat left was from the occasional overly brave or fool hearty fighter pilots tangling with stragglers. For the most part, both fleets had pulled back and away from each other and were licking their wounds while keeping close eyes on each other. Adenna was happy to let them do that while the Allies collected their escape pods and consolidated the surrendered Victory Star Destroyer. Commodore Neldis offered Jedi marines and crew support to the Galactic Alliance if needed, but otherwise he left the situation in their hands.

 

As much as she would like to have given Tobias more attention, as soon as she was made aware of Empress Zinthos' condition, Adenna left the bridge and rushed down to the medical bay. There were other wounded there, but the worst was the target of their expedition. Doctors and medical droids had already started their work, but it would not be sufficient to restore the Empress to anything more than a broken husk without further assistance.

 

Adenna directed a standing chair be brought to the bedside at Raven's head and began drawing upon the Force. Placing her hands gently on Raven's head, she began channeling healing energies to the broken woman. While she wasn't the greatest of all Jedi healers, Adenna was not without her skills, though this would take her abilities to their limits. With so much skin missing and having been thoroughly tortured both physically and emotionally, Adenna wasn't sure how much of the old Empress could be saved, but she was going to try as much as possible to accomplish that task.

 

* * *

 

As soon as all of the Allied escape pods and shuttles were retrieved and salvageable ships readied, Jedi forces began to form up to make the jump to hyperspace. While the Jedi forces weren't dawdling, they weren't willing to leave their companions behind while the Sith fleet remained at a distance. Despite the Sith's inactivity, most of the crews didn't feel like testing them and wanted to withdraw as soon as possible. Not wanting to leave their allies vulnerable, Commodore Neldis informed Admiral Slaughter that the Jedi would remain until the Galactic Alliance was ready to withdraw.

 

((There may be some duels going on, but for the sake of getting things moving, they will be kinda in a bubble and the winners/survivors can evacuate with their selected fleet))

[Adenna Alluyen]

With all remaining ships reporting ready and all spotted shuttles and escape pods collected, the Jedi forces in conjunction with their Galactic Alliance allies made the jump to hyperspace headed to Nar Shaddaa.