Onderin Starlisk

Onderin smiled grimly, ignoring the comms of the Black Sun, SEED, and Imperial fleets. Nothing would change his mind now, and his fleet was in tactical position enough to make a stand and become victorious against odds and being outnumbered. Besides, they weren't outnumbered that much...just a pair of cruisers and some support ships. Admiral Starlisk sent a comm to his Vice, aboard the Star Defender. "Go ahead and roll--give them a fresh set of shields," he said. He sent a similar comm to the other MC90s that had taken extensive shield damage. While their weakened sides were protected, technicians would be scrambling to get new shield arrays in place, a task made much easier by the design of the starcruisers. The two Star Destroyers that had become victim to the initial strike fell into the atmosphere burning, no longer able to fight or move and being deserted by hundreds of escape pods, which filled the vaccum like gnats near a source of nectar. "It's time to take the offensive," Onderin decided. He sent a comm to the fleet, "Launch all B-wings and order them to attack that Super Star Destroyer. I want that thing dead. Additionally, devote seven squadrons of E-wings to the task." He had great faith in E-wings, having fought from one's cockpit in the past. Each carried a payload of sixteen proton torpedoes, and each squadron consisted of twelve ships. Those seven squadrons combined for an unbelievable one thousand nine hundred seven proton torpedoes, many of which were released within a few seconds of each other. The SSD's upper shields and bridge shields went down with a flash, and the remaining starfighters began to make runs at the bridge, hoping to sneak a few warheads in through the hazard zone of defensive turbolaser fire, many of them failing. Meanwhile, the MC90s were easily outlasting the Star Destroyers that assailed them, shrugging off turbolaser fire with their advanced shields and dealing out twice as much from concentrated turbolaser banks of their own, focusing damage in specific places and knocking shield banks out of commission faster than the Empire had thought possible. Already several smaller support cruisers had been destroyed in the chaos. Onderin knew that his fleet would not only endure--it would prevail.

With several blurs of motion, the Alliance fleet appeared from hyperspace with eight capital ships and full support compliment. One of the capital ships was a massive Star Defender, a Super Star Destroyer's match in single combat, making up for lesser armaments with far better shields. Admiral Onderin Starlisk, aboard not the Star Defender but one of the MC90a Starcruisers, the Knight's Defiance, immediately started giving orders. Because the Imperials were in a blockade around the planet, their defenses were less than thick in any given point. The Alliance took advantage of this. They quickly formed into an arrowhead formation and headed straight for a pair of Star Destroyers mostly alone. All eight ships scrambled X-wings and E-wings, having the A-wings stay near the capital ships as support and opting out of lauching B-wings until later on. "Target the two Star Destroyers with all our forward guns," the Jedi Knight and Admiral said firmly. Hundreds of turbolaser cannons opened fire, burning through space at the two severely outgunned Imperial ships. The Star Destroyers' shields failed on their port side within seconds, and soon holes appeared in their hulls. They would go down in moments, and the TIEs that they managed to launch would immediately be overtaken by vastly superior numbers of fighters. The cruisers move with as much haste as they could, lumbering into an octagonal formation in the space above Ilum, the Star Defender on the side closest to the SSD already moving to converge with the rest of the Imperials on the no-longer-outnumbered Rebels. With only broadsides to offer to the forward wedges of the Star Destroyers, the Alliance ships would be dishing out at least twice the firepower that any Imperial would be able to give. Admiral Starlisk furrowed his eyebrows in concentration, willing the Force to guide his actions and the orders he gave. The fewer ships they lost here, the more they would have for their next strategically-planned strike only hours later.

The Admiral's mind set, the fleet entered hyperspace with a series of staccato flashes, leaving only empty space behind.

The eight capital ships of the Alliance fleet turned away from their previous vector, changing course. They hesitated still, not yet certain that their next jump would be the best strategic move.

The Alliance fleet, under command of Admiral Onderin Starlisk, who was also a Jedi Knight, exited hyperspace one at a time, with tiny intervals in between. They would stop here to organize and Onderin began to transmit specific orders to the fleet.

--Comm to General Kirana Sunrider from Admiral Onderin Starlisk-- "Kira, I'm going to need you to oversee additional fortifications there on Selvaris. I'm not sure what the Empire's planning, but they could hit hard at any moment. We need that planet to be able to hold an Imperial assault off without any fleet support. "May the Force be with you. Onderin out." --End communication--

Onderin received the comm from Kirana and sent her back an affirmative. It was time to do something against the Empire. He had been inactive for too long already. He didn't know exactly what the outcome of the Senate meeting concerning the new government had been, if there even was one, but it was time to take control of the Alliance again. The Jedi Knight found the fresh Mon Calamari starcruiser without assistance and authorized the landing of the shuttles he had sent for. With proper crew, all he needed to do was christen his flagship and be off. "Helm," he said, "I christen my flagship the Knight's Defiance. Put that in the transponder." Sitting down in the Admiral's chair, he looked to his appointed captain, the Mon Calamari Captain Andmar. "Captain, take us to Coruscant." Soon the massive cruiser executed a slow turn until it was facing the correct angle to make the jump. "Engage," the Jedi said. The Defiance was soon in the endless tunnels of hyperspace.

OOC: Few remaining? Ha! IC: The huge impact slammed into the base, taking out a portion of it, leaving crumpled metal and destruction in its immediately-halting path. The other craft managed to take out almost a full battalion of troops, already battle-exhausted and low on ammunition. However, now that the transports were down, it was more of an even dogfight between the E-wings and TIEs. Several squadrons of E-wings regrouped and came about towards the Defenders, torpedoes evening the odds and giving them a bit of an advantage. On the ground the troops stayed in a defensive position. Although they greatly outnumbered the enemy troops and freedom fighters combined at least two to one, they wanted to keep losses at a minimum and the base turrets would provide them with anti-air and anti-infantry support. The Marines armed with PLX missile systems fired into the air, carefull to hit only TIEs and not friendly ships. The enemy's own troopers that were so armed were also rather effective, so Darin back at the comm relay (who had ordered that a portable tactical battle map be brought to him) designated two squads of E-wings to focus fire on those troops while being covered by other squads. Using proton torpedoes and heavy laser cannons, the E-wings effectively reduced the number on incoming missiles by more than half within a few minutes and continued their sweep, killing stormtroopers and rebellious citizens when not targeting a PLX-armed opponent. Marines dropped into trenches and manned anti-personnel turrets that they had set up to help in the inevitable firefight to come.

"Spast!" Darin cursed. "He's gone...the Emperor's apprentice." He looked at Trysis, "What happens now?" "It seems that all the electricity and power has been disabled by the EMP blast the Sith referred to. But at the same time the same blast should have affected the Imperials as well," Trysis figured. "But the reason that he ordered the Imperial ships to move back was so that they were out of range of the blast," Darin countered. "But he also mentioned the words 'at least half a mile'. That means that only about a circle one mile in diameter suffered from the blast." "Which means that most of our defenses are still operational, including our starfighters and at least twenty battalions of troops. However, we can't contact them due to loss of communications." "Exactly. If we can gain access to one of the communications relays not far from here, which should have been out of range of the blast, we can reassure them that the situation is more or less under control and the planet is not lost." Without another word Darin started to run. He ran out of the room and towards the communications tower. He was in perfect military shape so the half-mile only took a couple of minutes. Upon arrival, he bypassed the security and sent a message to the Marines, "Most of the defenses in and around the compound were knocked out by an electro-magnetic pulse. Continue to hold the planet, but bring battalions eleven through thirteen back for support. Have battalion thirteen armed with anti-air weaponry." His orders were carried out regardless that he was not next in command. The troops were extremely loyal to the Alliance and trusted that anyone with access to the command channel would be in enough authority to bring them through this. It would take a few minutes for the Imperials to return, but they would be ready.

A small one-man ship, identified as an E-wing snubfighter, flickered into existance through the dimensional barrier of hyperspace. Aboard was a single Jedi Knight, the current Admiral of the Alliance, Onderin Starlisk. He sent a transmission to the Mon Calamari shipyard. "This is Admiral Starlisk. I have received word that a new MC90 starcruiser has been constructed. It will become my flagship." He then sent a comm back to Coruscant for the sending of an adequate crew to supplement the Mon Calamari already aboard. Rocketing towards the orbital compound, he received permission to land and requested that a group of Mon Calamari be sent to meet him. He wanted to check up with them and have his flagship christened. The Jedi Knight had yet to think up a name, but it would come to him at the right time. Onderin landed in the hangar and waited patiently for the important Mon Calamarians to arrive to greet him. Becoming Admiral only a short time before, Onderin was not really sure how to handle this whole deal, and was only starting to get used to command. But the Force would again guide him. He knew it would and trusted it to. It was the only thing that would make the difference between Onderin helping to pull the Alliance through its change into a galaxy-wide government or the whole attempt failing outright.

OOC: No, that was completely legal. I never even suspected. Well done. IC: The two highly-trained sentinels standing guard outside the control room spun towards the door just as it locked shut. They needed to get in, and they needed in now. They heard Sunderland's words echo through the intercomm, but knew that things could not be secure. One of them, by name of Trysis Varden, quickly and efficiently placed a thermal detenator close against the door. He motioned to his partner, Darin Leonis, and the two stepped back. The baridium core of the grenade detenated, and the ten-meter sphere of flame disentagrated the door. Surveying the scene, Darin quickly realized two things--first, the corpse of who appeared to be a beheaded General Sunderland, due to the rank insignia and army uniform, was laying on the ground. Second, the perfect replica and only surviving being in the room, who was wearing clothes more common among Jedi, was not Sunderland. While Trysis sent out a comm to the troops claiming that a shapeshifter posing as the General was loose, Darin armed a special weapon that he had constructed since arriving on Artus. Only the elite guards carried them, and only for such a situation--they were force pikes crafted out of the cortosis ore found naturally on Artus. He thanked the Force for that coincidence and charged the Jedi/Sith changeling. The being's lightsaber connected with his pike and deactivated, putting a small notch in the shaft of the pike, but less than half-way through. Swinging the blade at the changeling, he managed to create a sizable gash in his arm, though hardly fatal. Trysis also armed himself appropriately and served to reinforce Darin. Soon another pair of elite guards moved in from the corridor, arming themselves with their own pikes. Outside the shattered window was a squad of marines, two of which weilded flechette launchers and the rest with blasters. The shapeshifter would not get away. Sunderland's death would not go unavenged. Darin would see to that, he promised himself. They had the being outmanned and surrounded.

Sunderland stumbled back from the blow, but didn't fight back. It was disturbing that such a trustworthy pilot was captured and in the hands of the enemy, but there was only a little he could do about it. "I assure you, I did not receive any such transmissions," he said, his voice made strange by his bleeding nose. He stood up and left the room, ignoring the blood on his face. He entered the command room again, taking back command from the Captain he left in charge. The Captain was alarmed by the blood, but didn't say anything looking upon the General's stony features. Sunderland looked at the Captain. "Send a message to the Admiral concerning certain activities of SEED involving Flash Taxso. I'm not sure if the Admiral's heard of it yet, but regardless the information must be made known." The General then turned back to the battle playing out before him.

OOC: I'm not sure exactly how many fighters I have, but I assume its a lot. IC: Sunderland's attention was focused entirely on the battle. He barely even caught Kyeian's words, but he looked at him and nodded. The General led the way into his ready room, where he asked not to be disturbed for a few minutes. A certain Captain Lyndern took over. He had a few changes to make on the General's tactics. First, he ordered the launch of five more squadrons of fighters, almost everything the Alliance had here. They should be enough to battle the TIE Defenders. Their arrival also boosted the morals of the rest of the fighters, who were regrouping in light of the Empire's minor retreat. They would be sufficient. Currently Lyndern also ordered the retreat of the troops back to within range of the defensive turrets. The base wouldn't take any damage until the transports were within range of the turrets, and no more casualties would be taken before then. And while the TIEs could evade the defensive turbolasers, the shuttles couldn't. The Empire wouldn't last forever, and Lyndern was quite ready to exploit that time extent. He smiled cockily, waiting for the Empire to pull something else out of their hat.

OOC: Where'd you get that? Oh, well. IC: Sunderland frowned as a few of the TIEs got through the line of E-wings and began to pound at the base's armor. He called for the launch of another two squadrons to intercept them and defend the base. They were far more maneuverable in the atmosphere than the TIEs were, as the enemy ships' solar wings decreased their maneuverability in the air. The turbolaser cannons and laser cannons on the ground also began to take out some of the TIEs, as well as those of the seventh and eighth battalions that were still back far enough to lock onto them with their homing missiles. But the majority of the two hundred rocket-armed troopers were concentrating fire on the transports. They fired missile after missile as fast as they could reload, and they brought down another one, which crashed into a group of retreating stormtroopers and exploded. The ground troops that weren't armed with rockets were pursuing the enemy to a certain extent--the General didn't want them getting too far from base. He ordered that battalions nine and ten move out to help even out the thickness of the troop mass. At the same time, Sunderland ordered that the troopers space themselves out into a staggered formation, greatly reducing the amount of damage a single homing missile could inflict. With a decreased threat from that, it would give the missile users and E-wings more time to bring the transports down. Another transport erupted into flame as a squadron of snubfighters broke through its armor with a volley of proton torpedoes. Meanwhile Talus Kyeian approached the General and spoke. "Then let's hear it!" Sunderland answered.

OOC: I don't want to get nasty, but there's no way you could have wiped out the entire fifth battalion in a single post. IC: General Sunderland sighed. The Imperial reinforcements had arrived--more fighters. "Launch secondary wave of fighters," he said with a bit of resignation. He had meant to keep them for later, but now he was forced into action. The second compliment of E-wings launched and provided cover for those retreating, who either returned to base for repairs or pulled a one-eighty and returned to the thick of the battle. They began firing proton torpedoes devestatingly into the waves of TIE Defenders, whose shields were incapable of handling the projectiles and were immediately destroyed by them. Marines were equipped with Missile launchers of their own in the base and sent out in battalions, the seventh and eighth moving out while the ninth through twenty-fourth remained defensively around the command base. The freshly-armed Marines moved into the front lines, their rockets tearing down enemy fighters and tearing up the ground to kill dozens of stormtroopers. Meanwhile, a group of Marines were confronted by Talus Kyeian. The captain among them responded in a slight accent and a hardened voice the common result of seeing many battles and men die before him. "We follow General Sunderland. Admiral Sunrider is on Coruscant. He's back in the command base," he pointed. "That way." Above the superior E-wings continued to win engagements with the TIE Defenders despite their shielding improvements over other TIE models. The E-wings were designed to be reliable and absorb incredible amounts of damage, while dishing out a load of firepower themselves, armed with triple-linked heavy laser cannons complimented by a torpedo launcher with a large magazine of sixteen torpedoes.

Sunderland smiled tightly. Did the Empire really think they could win on Alliance turf? The General had 2400 marines here to defend the base, each one more than capable of handling Imperial Stormtroopers. Even with the resistance from the civilians, everything would be in order soon enough. He called the retreat of the starfighter forces...there was little good they could do out there agaist the Empire's homing missiles. Before any more losses were taken, the E-wings and support craft fell into a retreat, their superior speed protecting them. Defensive stationary turrets opened fire as the tranports came into range, firing large rockets and heavy laser cannons into the oncoming waves. Sunderland ordered six more battalions up to the front lines to face the incoming stormtroopers and shoot down the pods. The Marines were well-armed and trained, commanders weilding flechette launchers that tore into enemy lines and killed multiple stormtroopers despite their plasteel armor.

The General furrowed his eyebrows. He spoke once more into the comm, "Consider your words marked. Good luck." Sunderland made the motion to cut off the communication and smiled, sitting back down. "All airborn starfighters, open fire upon the transports," he ordered. As he watched, a squadron of E-wings made a pass over one of the transports, unloading a volley of proton torpedoes while receiving return fire that destroyed three of them. Losses in this case were acceptable, however. The projectiles slammed into the side of the craft and detenated, tearing through the shields and hull. "Order the second battalion to move between the first and the third. We'll have three waves for the incoming stormtroopers to get through...and we'll have the defensive advantage," he continued. Sunderland sat back and watched his starfighters swarm over the enemy forces, who were without capital ship support. Their own turbolasers were quite sufficient, however, and more losses began to occur. He just needed them to take down as many stormtrooper-loaded transports as they could.

OOC: I'm taking over the defense of Artus in Chris' absence. IC: General Sunderland raised his eyebrows slightly. He didn't really want to believe that their intentions were truly peaceful, but that would explain the lack of a fleet to escort the transports. Reluctantly, he ordered the fighters to break off and the transports to be allowed safe passage. He still didn't like it, however, so he did not have the ships return to their hangars, and he told the troops to remain at their defensive positions, though not to attack. He then sent a comm up to the Imperial transports. "Imperial transports, state your cargo and intentions."

The Rebel Fleet began to break up and head for their hyperspace points. Their work here was done, and those who needed to be aboard apparently were. Onderin Starlisk ordered the Fleet back to Coruscant to aid in the holding thereof as well as their participance in the reconstruction of parts of the city and the formation of a new government for the galaxy to follow. Things were looking up. The Jedi Knight and Vice-Admiral gave the signal and the fleet entered the tunnels of hyperspace with timed precision that only came through years of being in the Navy and other branches of military service. As quickly as they had arrived, the six MC90s were gone.

Onderin watched in slight disappointment as the Imperial ships escaped into hyperspace. It was a pity that the Interdictor Cruiser had been destroyed, but there was no way to combat the Dark Side of the Force with turbolasers and shields. He gave the order for the ship to be salvaged as much as possible...the gravity-well projectors themselves weren't all that damaged, they simply didn't have the power they required to work. The remains of the Victory Star Destroyer had since tumbled to the earth and were no longer visible. The Jedi Knight and Vice-Admiral decided that there wasn't much left here for him to do, though he didn't want to leave until all the survivors were aboard the ships of the fleet. He sent out a comm to everyone in the area that was living, "To all survivors: board one of the Starcruisers if you wish to leave with the fleet. We'll be leaving orbit shortly." OOC: We'll leave tomorrow a few hours later than it is now, realtime.

OOC: Two deuces and two victories against six MC90s? Hardly in your odds. IC: Onderin was shocked at what happened below, but needed to remain focused. He ordered the fleet to move into an offensive pattern and attempt to knock out the Imperials as quickly as possible. How the Empire had suddenly come up with Star Destroyers he didn't know, but regardless, here they were. The Jedi Knight sent two cruisers along the left side of the Empire's defensive formation, two to the right, and the last two, including the ship he was on, headed straight down the gut. Ordering the scrambling of fighters, he watched as the TIEs were engaged by superior fighters such as E-wings and X-wings. The Force was constantly speaking to him, not only about the battle before him, but the matters involving his old Master and Master Gantoris. There was much conflict, and he had to work to put his full conciousness on the battle before him. With two Mon Cal Starcruisers targeting each Imperial-II Class Star Destroyer, already the larger ships' shields were beginning to weaken. The Victory Star Destroyers were posing a threat with their rows and rows of turbolasers, and Onderin knew they had to go. "Captain?" he asked. "Have our guns focus on the structural weak points on the left-most Victory Star Destroyer. Even with only a few good hits, it will break apart." Sure enough, with repeated pounding from the Rebel ship's turbolasers, the weak point was hit and the entire Star Destroyer tore itself in a half. It's remains began to sink down towards the ravaged Ryloth, showing stress in the atmosphere. Eventually what was left would crash into the ground and explode.

OOC: Sorry about not posting in space. I'm new to this whole fleet thing, seeing as I was promoted from Colonel a few days ago. IC: Vice-Admiral Onderin Starlisk wasn't quite sure what to do. The A-wings swept down over the ground and reported several fights involving lightsabers, but they managed to stay out of sight of the combatants. Several times tremors in the Force notified him of the passing away of Jedi Knights and Masters. Something big was happening down on the surface, but there was little he could do to help from aboard the Defiant. Already he wished he wasn't bound to the fleet. Only now did he understand Kirana's disliking of being Admiral. Her place was with her troops. And now Onderin only wanted to be on the surface fighting with the rest of the Jedi. If only he knew what exactly was going on... Looking at his battle display, he watched his Master's ship, the Strife Reborn, make for the fleet and enter its safety. He was apparently either running or protecting someone...his bond with the Master was strong enough to hint at the latter, although there was a good bit of conflict. He spoke to the Force to Keiran, "Master, what's going on? Can I help?" It made him feel like a padawan again, but he didn't mind. The mere presence of the fleet wasn't helping any, and there wasn't much Onderin hated worse than sitting somewhere when his help was needed.

Most of the Rebel Fleet exited hyperspace over Ryloth, each ship popping out at regular intervals of .3 seconds each. There were several Mon Calamari MC-90 Starcruisers with their escorts, as well as hundreds of fighters waiting to be launched, prepped in their hangars. Vice-Admiral and Jedi Knight Onderin Starlisk, in charge of the group, was about to order a more battle-ready formation when he noticed that something was wrong. There was no battle. "Where the heck is the fleet?" Onderin said aloud. The starcruisers scanners didn't pick up much many than a few ships, either. "Keiran?" he sent a comm to his old Master's ship. "What's going on?" Just then he felt the death of a Jedi Knight. Although it wasn't apparent, there was conflict here. He ordered the launch of a squadron of A-wings to act as recon and check things out.

A squadron of E-wings enters from hyperspace with a brief flicker of pseudomotion. They have arrived to pick up the clone army prepared for the Alliance. Colonel Onderin Starlisk, Jedi Knight, is the head of the squadron. He sends a communication down to the correct city, "This is Colonel Starlisk of the Rebel Alliance. I am here to take the clone army of the Alliance to Coruscant. Requesting permission to land." Kamino was a turbulent and stormy world, made up of a large ocean and spotted with a few cities. The architecture was beautiful, even from the outside. Storms were constantly raging, causing the oceans to be always rough and rocking with huge waves. The cities remained protected from these waves by being mounted upon stilts of sorts, Onderin noted. The Kaminoans certainly knew what they were doing. And they were very good cloners on top of that. Many excellent armies of clones had been produced on Kamino, and one more was about to make its departure after a complete bit of training. EDIT January 3rd, 2005: The Jedi Knight was given permission to land by a tall Kaminoan and did so. He told his squad to go ahead and land but not to leave their ships. Getting out himself, he walked across the rain-soaked walkways and met the Kaminoan at the door. "Your army is ready to go, Jedi, if you can produce the papers," the tall being said, leaning down a bit to get a clear look at him. "Ah, yes," Onderin said. He pulled from his robes the papers containing the order for the army and proof that he was sent by Kirana Sunrider, current Admiral of the Rebel Alliance. He handed them to the Kaminoan and followed the alien down the corridor. The Colonel was impressed as he was shown the army and its transports. He was offered a tour, but declined, saying that the army was already needed and he was taking them directly to the battlefront. The alien nodded understandingly and ordered for the launching of the transports. "Thank you very much. The Alliance will be most pleased, I can assure you," Onderin said with a smile. He bowed to the Cloner and left the building, hopping back into his sleek and deadly E-wing starfighter. He spoke to Halo Force next, "The clone-filled transports will be launching shortly. We are to escort them directly to Coruscant." As he and the rest of the squadron watched, the massive transports rose gracefully into the air. Onderin's Force senses were buzzing with the unique feel of clones, but he ignored it and commed the nearest transport once all were in the air. "Follow me," he said plainly. He turned his starfighter about and entered the darkness of space, sending the coordinates of Coruscant to the entire fleet and pulling back the hyperspace lever. Each ship, in perfect intervals, flickered with pseudomotion and disappeared from over Kamino.

"No questions, Admiral," Onderin said dutifully. "I'll get right on it." So saying, he left the office and sent a comm through his comlink to Halo Force. "I'll be right up. We're all going to Kamino to secure the Clone Army. We're going to Coruscant directly from there," he briefed. Upon reaching his E-wing, he lifted it off the ground again and reunited with the rest of the squadron. They formed up and he sent them the coordinates for Kamino, the stormy water-covered world of cloners. Several powerful armies had been turned out from Kamino, and the Jedi Knight had good faith that this army would be no different. Coruscant would soon change hands, he decided. There was no stopping it. He would do his part in the battle and then help the Alliance follow up with the after-effects of such a massive change of power. The twelve E-wings escaped the planet's gravity-well and Onderin pulled back the hyperspace levers, watching the star-points stretch into long lines and then mottle into the purple and blue soothing hues of hyperspace.