Let's Play: Star Wars Empire at War

[Darkdrium]

Crush the mafia! CRUSH THE MAFIA! ZAHN MUST DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEE!

[Samuel]

Take The Maw. There is supposed to be some old research facilities there- we can ransack their computers and hopefully their docks. It doesn't appear occupied in the high tech crayon map so we might be able to get that low lying fruit.

Next, hit Sullust. Its docks can pump out the superheavies as well as the planet formerly known as Kuat.

Also, Zahn must die before he taints our glorious worlds.

[Crossroads Inc.]

To expand on a few things...

I will agre with others that, while expanding to the north and securing a border is important, we desperatly need to secure a power base.

We have been fighting a war of attrtion thus far losing ships as we get them. We need to build up a siezable power so we can win decisive fleet engaments with minnimal loses.

I vote construction of Cruiser and battleships should tae priority thus far.

[Lord Relvenous]

We have been fighting a war of attrtion thus far losing ships as we get them. We need to build up a siezable power so we can win decisive fleet engaments with minnimal loses.

I vote construction of Cruiser and battleships should tae priority thus far.

Agreed. While our territorial power has been growing quite quickly, or military power remains hampered by losses. If we hope to survive being surrounded by our enemies, we will have to make every ship count. By bringing overwhelming force to each and every conflict, we can preserve our power base and make it harder for small losses to multiple foes combine into major losses to the fleet.

Samuel has the right idea. Sullust should be a major priority, as it's industrial value can not be understated. The Maw is a lesser priority, as the technology we get there might not be immediately usable, but we can always use more shipyards.

[Necromancer of Rath]

I would second Captain Crossroad's suggestion of building our power base before we make our next move. Following that, I would see the pirates to the galatic "northeast" as our next target to cut the space between the "northern" and "eastern" cells of cultists.

[Bluewolf]

Destroy the remaining pirates and warlords which should not be that powerful. After that I would suggest strengething our borders as said so if we are attacked from any side we can deal with it. Then, we should kill the Space Mafia to the North West before they start ruining our worlds. The Space Mafia to the South still have to fight through mostly the Survivalists and the Giant Slugs.

[Questor]

Can I have a Bellator?

Seriously, is there anywhere I can fit in die a glorious death?

Great Let's Play!

[Darth Yoshi]

Buh? How did the Travissites get a lone planet all the way into the core?

Can I have a Bellator?

Seriously, is there anywhere I can fit in die a glorious death?

Great Let's Play!

The Blood God could always use more emissaries. For some reason He tends to run through them pretty quickly.

[Chris OFarrell]

I too vote that consolidation is the name of the game here.

We can either take those couple of Pirate/Warlord worlds to cement our hold on the core, or, simply use them as a buffer zone against the REAL bad guys on the flank. Either way its good.

I suggest we then invest in heavier surface to space and orbital defenses on our most critical planets, while squeezing every deci-cred of output from the other planets to fund a massive shipbuilding program. At the same time, we need to consolidate the fleet into perhaps two strike groups, each covering roughly half of our Empire, at least until we can build a REAL offensive strike fleet (or two) and a construction/garrison fleet that can follow in its wake and occupy the worlds of our glorious New Empire.

Such is my advice...from the bunker deep underground...

[Force Lord]

I agree that the pirates and warlords need to be dealt with first, as they are the weakest foes we'll face. As Admiral Samuel suggested, we need to take Sullust: that planet's shipyards are almost as big as HPCA's, and we could use the extra capacity. Of the bigger foes, I recommend destroying the "Northern" Mafia first while fortifiying our other fronts, as the Mafia can suck our incomes dry or at least significantly reducing them. Less money means less ships, tanks, walkers and everything we need for total victory. I have little doubt that this will be difficult, but we must make an effort, or the Galaxy will forever be condemmed to insanity.

[Vehrec]

In the intersts of a secure border region, we're fucked. Too much area to defend, too little depth to allow for even one world to be lost. Suggest digging in along the galactic 'west' and 'south' borders, concentrating forces to the 'northeast' to assault cultist and droid rebel positions. This sill allow us to secure a portion of the outer rim and thereby prevent our total encirclement.

[Starglider]

Video Message : from Corporal Kendall, Bravo Company, 3rd Assault Regiment : sent 18:45 CST - 17th Selona 13 ABY

Hi mom! Yeah I know, strange isn't it, I had no idea who you were until the last batch of personnel records came through last month. It sucks not being able to remember you – really I'm lucky though, there's only two other guys in our company who have relatives who survived the Decimation – that they know about, anyway. Guess this is stranger for you though, at least I knew I had to have a mother, did you even know you had children? Well, maybe you did, I guess. I don't know, I can sort of remember flashes... mostly of a huge city, endless bright lights, like, stretching to the horizon, rivers of hovercars. So yeah, we definitely lived on Coruscant, I figure.

Anyway they say you're working in recycling on the south side of SDN City, what's that like? Boring I suppose, but then being out here in space is mostly boring drills. Some action coming up soon though, the Empire's shiny new fleet's shipping out tomorrow. Uh... the sergeant is coming, gotta go... I'll send another message as soon as I can.

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Video Message : from Corporal Kendall, Bravo Company, 3rd Assault Regiment : sent 07:51 CST - 18h Selona 13 ABY

Wow, and here we are! 'Ord Mantell', whatever that means. I guess I didn't say much about myself in that first message. I was recruited back when the Empire consisted of one ruined chunk of city... damn those were hard times. Seemed like we had a food riot every week, had to crack a lot of skulls. By the time the council got a proper army going they were desperate for NCOs, so I was drafted and bumped to corporal. Lucky me though, I didn't have to stay a ground pounder for long. Bravo company was chosen for training on the new assault walkers – I tell you, those things are sweet, they're fast, they go almost anywhere, two honking great laser guns... kinda fragile, but it sure beats being on foot. I tell you, the way the brass treat infantry is... ah... I'll tell you when I get a chance to visit.

So this is 'Task Force Exterminator'! Scary name huh? Like the scum we're clearing out are Eriaduan rats, I guess. You've probably seen it on the propaganda vids, but here, I'll attach the Oh Oh Bee – that's 'order of battle'.

Code: Select all

Task Force Exterminator - Admiral Samuel commanding
  Fleet Combat Squadron
    INS Necromancer     - Imperial II - Heavy Destroyer    - Captain Rath
    INS Loyalist        - Victory     - Destroyer          - Captain Force
  Space Superiority Squadron
    INS Dharma II       - Guardian    - Gunboat            - Captain Knight
    INS Knight          - Guardian    - Gunboat            - Commander Net
    INS Python          - Guardian    - Gunboat            - Commander Monty
    INS Monster         - Guardian    - Gunboat            - Commander Lag
  Deep Strike Squadron
    INS 'Gripper'       - Strike      - Assault Frigate    - Commodore Darkevilme
    INS Studibaker      - Strike      - Assault Frigate    - Captain Crossroads
    INS Thunder         - Strike      - Assault Frigate    - Commander Ryan
    INS Lightning       - Strike      - Assault Frigate    - Commander Raesene
  Starfighter Support Squadron
    INS 'Resistance'    - Venator     - Space Control Ship - Captain Vanas
    INS Revisionist     - Venator     - Space Control Ship - Commander Bluewolf

We're quartered on the 'Resistance Is Character Forming'. No, I don't know why it's called that.

Damn, haven't got long, the Admiral was on the PA saying that we'll be jumping over to the planet in another half hour. Not that we do much in a space battle, we're supposed to act as security against boarders, but anyone stupid enough to try that would likely get vaporised before they get anywhere near the hull. We've done plenty of damage control drills though, we might get drafted to fight fires, drag casualties about... or knowing these navy pukes, block hull breaches with our bodies.

Gotta go, I'll let you know how the battle goes.

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Video Message : from Corporal Kendall, Bravo Company, 3rd Assault Regiment : sent 13:10 CST - 18h Selona 13 ABY

Fuck yeah! The Exterminators came calling! First, here's a shot from one of the scouts of our fleet dropping into orbit.



You can bet those pirates started shitting themselves when they saw all that heavy metal coming their way. The Admiral sent them the standard demands, you know, surrender to the empire and all that. They didn't go for it – not surprising since we'd have to hang most of them anyway. They were all 'we have powerful friends, you'll regret this' and of course the Admiral was all 'remove this embarassment to sapient life' – what's the difference between 'sapient' and 'sentient' anyway? - and yeah we were 'all too happy to sir'. So the fighters go in first and scope out that rock of theirs – these small time types usually make their bases out of mined out asteroids, they're the only civvy strutures that have any sort of armour built in. Mostly an illusion since the turbos go through them like yummy-spread but anyway... so yeah we could hear the fighters coming out of the bays as quick as they could, Catwoman's... that's Commodore Darkevilme – anyway her ships next, then they big ships last;



So yeah, Catwoman's ships went after the enemy frigates, and Captain Knight's little gunboats went head to head with the enemy gunboats. I say little, but I tell you, those things are mean. Just power and armour and nothing else, with these honking six-packs of lasers that go pew-pew-pew-pew-pew-pew, like, some kind of death-dealing laser hosepipe I guess. Wish I could have one on my PeeTee – that's my walker. So anyway there were bangs and flashes and I got the impression we were just carving them up.



The night boats – Knight's boats, get it, ha ha - took a few solid hits and had to pull back, but that just lured the last of the enemy gunboats into range of the Necro's guns. They didn't have long to regret that mistake, before they got turned into space dust. Meanwhile those little TIEs were unloading on the station – commander is, err... Redleader is it? I thought I saw him in the mess... well anyway, they say stormtroopers have it bad, but I wouldn't want to climb into one of those things, things get the least bit rough and they drop like flies.

Anyway, that went on for another minute or two before the Necro and the Loyalist were in range, and the enemy station didn't last long after that.



Ok, we're gonna start loading up in a few minutes... this is the company's first real drop. Wish me luck.

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Video Message : from Corporal Kendall, Bravo Company, 3rd Assault Regiment : sent 20:54 CST - 19h Selona 13 ABY

I'd say that went pretty damn well, you know, all things considering. So we came down on the main enemy base, and it's basically in the middle of this totally vast scrap yard, which was in the middle of an even huger desert. Here's a pic from the dropship;



Yeah, that's my squad to the north, we had a platoon of tanks and a platoon of the new pulse arty backing us up. That guy on his own is Stark – yeah I know, having Stark accompany us on our first op, imagine that! In the middle you can see Captain Scottish with his hoverbike scout squad – theory is that speed's as good as armour and that they'll let the stormies dodge incomings – I'll believe that when I see it. Major Gaius was supposed to be in command of the operation – sitting nice and buttoned up in his tank of course. Captain Jonen was commanding the arty and boy, was he keen to blow something up.

So the hoverbikes zoom off first and find this bunker, and guess what, no matter how fast they zoomed around, they couldn't get close enough to lob grenades in there without getting splattered. Now Captain Jonen wanted to blast it, but those big guns move slow, and Major Gaius just rushed ahead and shot it up with his tanks. They have this funny drill where the lead tank keeps peeling off and moving to the back to recharge its shields – looks funny to me anyway, but it seemed to work for them.

So the first bunker was toast and Captain Scottish was off again and he ran into a whole mess of hostiles guarding some kinda installation. They blew most of the scouts away and the Captain himself only barely made it out of there – his bike was trashed and it gave out as soon as he made it back to the drop point. He managed to send a fix to the flyboys first though; they came in and blew away most of the enemy vehicles. Couldn't do much to the bunker though, not without taking out that sensor tower, which Major Gaius wanted bad for himself. So Captain Jonen got to open up, and boy did that bunker blow up good.



After that was done Stark came in – flying on a rocket pack, just like in the vidcasts – and hotwired the sensor tower or something. All I know is my tacmap lit up and we could see what we were facing. Of course Captain Jonen was in heaven; with the sensor feed coming in, he could blast away from beyond visual range. The next cluster of enemy went down real quick, but they were starting to get a clue.



Yeah, that's me, shooting up an enemy walker that's like an ugly copy of one of our Ess Tees. That big gun looks powerful, but believe me, the R-O-F on that thing is so low, it's really not much better against tanks than what I'm driving, and at least my guns are worth something against infantry.

So anyway we were doing ok but the arty was taking some hits, Captain Jonen was all 'my shiny new guns! Stop them!' and then Major Gaius turned up and was blasting away the enemy and taking all the credit. Then we started advancing again, taking out more walkers as we went, and the Major was still trying to steal the Captain's thunder, because he ordered down a turbolaser strike on the enemy repair yards before the arty could hit it. Must say though, it's pretty to watch.



Unfortunately while we were having all that fun another group of hostiles had circled round and started attacking the sensor tower from the rear. Stark had dived into the bunker and was plinking them with his blaster carbine, but they were ignoring him and blasting the tower. Major Gaius high-tailed it down there, with us not far behind, and we blew away the hostiles. Close thing though, one more shot and we woulda lost the whole thing.



So yeah, after that it was pretty straightforward, we just rolled them up with a combination of arty and airstrikes, with us and the tanks blasting anyone who tried to run. A pretty good op really, even the scout bike guys mostly pulled through – looks like the enemy stopped shooting when the bikes blew up, so we found the guys who jumped in time just lying there on the sand, after we took the position. Not that they were happy about it, jumping off a hoverbike at sixty kph is gonna leave a mark.



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Video Message : from Corporal Kendall, Bravo Company, 3rd Assault Regiment : sent 16:20 CST - 25h Selona 13 ABY

Thanks for the message! Good to see that you're ok – not sure about that guy you're seeing though. Hmph. Guess I should hold fire on that till I get back and scope him out in person.

So it turns out that this is a real whistle-stop tour, we spent a couple of days helping set up the garrison, then we were off again. The fleet jumped and now we're over a planet called 'Aeten Two' – don't think I'm gonna enjoy going down there, the whole thing seems to be covered in volcanos – but wait, I should tell you how we got here first.

So the Exterminators jumped in and it was pretty much the same setup as at Ordo, but the enemy had more ships and heavier fighters. Captain Knight was at the front again and I just gotta show you a picture of one of those Guardians – here look, like a big metal fist isn't it. It was deja vu with the comms, the hostiles were all 'you can't do this, you'll face the wrath of blah blah blah' again.



So the fighters came together in a giant furball as usual and this time it wasn't going so well for our guys, even with the night boats blasting away, they were taking pretty heavy losses. Luko – that's Lieutenant Commander Starkiller, he's the CAG on the Resistance – Chief Air Group that is, sorry, I mean he's in charge of all the fighters – well anyway, he was asking to withdraw, but apparently the Captain said 'like hell we will' and ordered us and the Revisionist to flank speed. I tell you, that was a bit of a pants soiling moment, the destroyers were still going at it full bore with Catwoman's assault frigates, it was like flying right into a hailstorm, only instead of hail it's turbo fire.



Well anyway that did the trick, the enemy fighters might be heavies but the guns on a Venator don't pay much attention to that. Our frigates had taken some nasty hits and were in no shape to assault the station, but the Necro and the Loyalist had caught up by then, so the frigates just dropped back and let the capitals finish the job.



Another engagement over with no losses for the good guys! I've gotta say, we're all impressed of Admiral Samuel down here, sure we had the superior force but taking two planets with no losses at all, that's good. Not that we've quite taken this one yet – time to get to the dropships.

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Video Message : from Corporal Kendall, Bravo Company, 3rd Assault Regiment : sent 11:55 CST - 27h Selona 13 ABY

Fuck, I feel like shit. Sorry... me and my foul mouth, it's just... well that was a pretty good taste of hell. We've hardly gotten an hour of rack time since... look, I'll start at the beginning.

The shit hit the fan before we'd even landed. We got under the shielding ok, skimming down a valley full of molten lava, but no sooner had we popped up than the SAMs started coming in. I saw the dropship ahead of us get taken out, spiralled right down and blew up in a big pile of rocks. Our pilot had a clue though, he took us straight out of the pipe and started circling back, looking for somewhere to put down. Only that wasn't so easy, since the air was full of some crazy chemical shit that fucked up our sensors real good. Eyeballs we're too useful either, with all the smoke and ash and cinders floating everywhere.

Now we didn't know it at the time, but one dropship did make it pretty close to the original site. That's because Stark was riding shotgun in that custom gunship he has, shooting the SAMs right out of the air! Anyway they made it down and dropped Stark and Captain Scottish, who had some hoverbikes but not enough for all his stormies.

Apparently the hoverbikes head off and scout the original drop zone, manage to take out some of the AA with their thermal dets, but then get pinned down by fire from a bunker. The infantry come running but of course they'll never get there in time to do any good, but Stark fires up his jetpack and flies right over the enemy position.



That's when we hear the comm message that the LZ is viable, hot, but viable. So we come screaming in and I can see Stark standing there over the fallen scout troopers – he'd shot the crews right out of the SAM launchers, and every time they tried to send more he'd shoot them too. But the guys in the bunker had missile launchers and they were firing them off as fast as they could. I was like “Hang on Stark, we're coming, we're coming!”



We were was too late though. I came off the ramp in time to see a missile hit Stark square in the chest. I know that's some fancy armour he had, but it couldn't stop an AT warhead. The team that secured that LZ later told me that there weren't any pieces left bigger than a credit chip. The scouts made it though – again – bet they're becoming mighty familiar with the inside of a bacta tank.

So yeah, the stormies rushed the bunker, with us supporting them as best we could, and soon had the thing cleaned out. The enemy had already been tipped off and tried to counterattack; it was pretty intense for a while, with the tanks blasting away and the arty going off and us trying to pick off their infantry. They nearly overran our position, but Major Gaius bullied the flyboys into showing up – they were still fucking whining about AA fire when we were about to get our guts blasted all over the LZ – and they plastered the rump of the hostile formation with proton bombs. Five minutes after that, we had the situation more or less under control, and Major Gaius ordered us to advance.



Do you see that sweet find I made? Abandoned mining facility just stacked with Quadrillium ore. Hope I get a bonus for that – yeah right. Well, doing my bit for the Empire anyway. So we moved on and took out a few more bad guys and by then we were really badly shot up, even Brother (that's Major Gaius) had to admit that we were in no state to advance. But does he pull us out of there? Like hell he does, he orders the techs up there with a crate full of droid parts, and within no time they had a field repair station set up. Got a funny pic here, all of us pushing and shoving to try and get repaired first... course the enemy just had to ruin the party.



Bastards. We killed the infantry, the arty was taking too long to get their heads screwed back on so Major Gaius got the bombers back to give the hostiles a proton enema. There were a few survivors who promptly ran for the hills, with Brother right behind them. Ran right into their ambush – a killzone set up with AV turrets. The tanks didn't stand a chance, caught in a crossfire like that – whole platoon was gone within ten seconds. We nearly bought it ourselves, but thank the Emperor for the arty, opened right up and blew away the whole enemy position.



With Major Gaius gone, Captain Jonen took command. We kept advancing, but real careful, inching forwards with the arty blasting anything that moved and most things that didn't, then blasting them again, just to be sure. I've gotta say, after that there are few things in this galaxy that could be more beautiful than a pulse artillery shell knocking out an enemy anti-vehicle turret.



No, I take that back, there's one thing that's more beautiful; an orbital turbolaser barrage annihilating the enemy command centre. You know, that ozone smell, nothing else in the universe smells quite like ground zero of a turbolaser strike. We went over that site afterwards and we didn't find one stinking pirate body, the whole place was just melted rock and metal.



Smelled like victory.



You know, saying that cheered me up a bit. I'm gonna have to go now... they say the system is going to be named after Major Gaius? Why him and not Stark, I don't know, guess he was better at licking brass ass.

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OFFICIAL CENSOR'S NOTE
In compliance with Directive LZ-RUS-6, all references to the death of Special Operative Stark were cut from this message before transmission.

[Raesene]

Two more systems added to the glorious Empire, were those the two marked 'Warlords' on your map ?

And I have my command walkway, although from the last battle report Lightning will be in spacedock for some time

Can I have a Bellator?

Draw a number - if something big enough to be worthy of the name should be in this mod, I (as one of the godfathers ) 'deserve' one first

[Vehrec]

In the name of the HAB, I'm requisitioning a Juggernaught. And asking to run enemy troopers over with it and call all smaller units 'crunchies'.

Alternatively, Group Captain Constantin Vehrec is willing and able to take command of the flight wing of a Legacy or Venator. Whatever hole needs plugged more urgently.

[Vanas]

Captain Vanas has a new picture taped to his bacta tank. He claims it's from the black box of a fighter that the DC teams are still scrubbing out of the superstructure.

The fallen fighter pilots have been remembered in the traditional way, in a highlights reel that will be played to the Resistance's officers. "Your Tax Dollars at Work"

[Crossroads Inc.]

Message Recieved:
From Captain Crossroads:
Starship Studibaker:

"We here at the Studibaker are saddend and deeply moved by the valiant sacrifice of Stark. While agree memorializing Captain Gaius is warnted, we feel something of equal significance needs to be done for Stark."

[MKSheppard]

From Admiral Sheppard; Strategic Space Command Vice Commander

Re: Death of Special Operative Stark

Gentlemen; in honor of SO Stark's death, I propose that we name the next latrine block refurbished in SSC's "MAN HIGH" construction ring after Stark.

[FaxModem1]

Ok, Well I guess I'm joining up. Sign me up for a command of a ship. I'll name her the Pinto . I think that suits me fine. And I'll be either on the side of the Imperials or on the Survivalists, take your choice.

[Starglider]

Video Message : from Corporal Kendall, Bravo Company, 3rd Assault Regiment : sent 16:14 CST - 22nd Selona 13 ABY

No enemy space base? Yeah, in this system all they had was fighters launching from the ground. I heard from one of the intel boys that they think this system was relying on 'protection' from the next one over? Well anyway, I have a kinda bad feeling about this one, it's too quiet you know? Planet looks sweet and all, not like that volcanic hell-hole we just left, but still.... ah, probably nothing. Ok, I'll send another message once we've cleared the place out.

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Video Message : from Corporal Kendall, Bravo Company, 3rd Assault Regiment : sent 07:30 CST - 24th Selona 13 ABY

Ha! Don't know why I was so worked up, that was a piece of piss... er... cake. No, not a piss-cake, gah, sorry. I'll start again.

So we came down, arty, our little walkers, scout troopers... no Captain Scottish, that guy is going to be in a bacta tank for a month! Scouts headed off of course and we were left there enjoying the scenery.



Real nice place actually, I've gotta say, I wouldn't mind settling down here after this war is over, have a little farm maybe. I hear there's good subsidies going for rim settlers. So yeah anyway the scouts found an emplacement, by now they've given up on trying to use their thermal detonators and just called in the co-ords. We advanced and what would you know, some hostiles tried to sneak around the back and hit the arty, but we were ready for them.



Bombers hadn't found a way under the shielding yet but that suited Captain Jonen just fine, he was itching to blow something up as usual.



So yeah, we kept advancing like that, arty blowing the enemy bunkers away one by one, hostiles coming in from all sides trying to stop them. The enemy were really pretty desperate, I guess cause once we got past the bunkers it was their homes we were blowing away. Orders are orders though, and we pushed on. It got pretty hairy and we were taking some knocks, arty took some hits as well before we could take out all the hover-skiffs.



Luckily for us, that's when Cardigan... that's Second Lieutenant Cards'... well his tanks caught up with us and helped us repell the last major enemy force. Most of the arty was unsafe to fire at that point, what with reactor leaks and barrel damage. I bet old Gaius would've just said 'fire away' and probably blown up half of his own troops, but Captain Jonen has more patience, he knew the enemy was broken, so he just waited for the bombers to turn up and finish the job.



So that's Weyland, shame we're not staying longer really, but you know, always more vermin to Exterminate. I'll be in touch again soon.

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Video Message : from Sergeant Kendall, Bravo Company, 3rd Assault Regiment : sent 20:14 CST - 24th Selona 13 ABY

Guess who just got a promotion? Yeah, yours truly, sweet huh? I'd say more but the whole platoon wants to buy me a round... yeah I'm coming... ok, going to the mess now.

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Video Message : from Sergeant Kendall, Bravo Company, 3rd Assault Regiment : sent 16:44 CST - 28th Selona 13 ABY

So here were are, at 'Korriban', according to the database it's another desert world. Oh well, it's not so bad, the Admiral gave us all a pep talk this morning and apparently this is the last stop on this tour of duty. Just one more engagement and I'll be able to come home to SDN and take leave! Sorry... I'm gonna have to continue later, sounds like we're closing with the enemy.

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Video Message : from Sergeant Kendall, Bravo Company, 3rd Assault Regiment : sent 22:10 CST - 28th Selona 13 ABY

Fucking A, another Extermination performed! Apparently the planet was run by this crazy-ass warlord, who thought he was some kinda demon? Or possessed by one, or, I dunno, he's dead now anyway. Kept screaming and screaming on the comm as the fleet blew away the station, word is that it serves the bugger right, civvies claimed that he was doing all kinds of sacrifices and rituals and sick shit up there.

So yeah, pretty standard engagement really, fleet microjumps into orbit, fighters go first, supported by the night boats, Catwoman's frigates next, then the capships and the carriers trailing. Unfortunately the scouts got unlucky, got jumped by some fighters running EW-silent and vectored in by the capships, took a hell of a beating. In fact I think they all got popped, most of them ejected though and we picked up quite a few later. Anyway...



Those enemy frigates we've been seeing on this tour might be a challenge if they were properly maintained, but I guess the kind of scum we fight don't have the skills or the industry the Empire does, because I've yet to see one that wasn't in bad shape even before the party started. Course it helps that Catwoman... err... Commodore Darkevilme is like 'no mercy, I don't care if the guns overheat, blow them away'.



Bet the maintenance crews hate her, but I'm sure the bridge staff love her. So yeah, not much to it really, as usual once the enemy ships were shrapnel the capitals close up and unload on the station.



These asteroid bases can't compare to a proper defence station, it never takes more that a few minutes of pounding from the Necro and the Loyalty to pop them right open.



So yeah, we're about to prep for the drop. There is one thing that sucks... the PeeTees are still down for maintenance, what with all the pounding they've been taking over the last three missions, they're looking kinda battered and we were just clean out of spare actuators. So we're going in with the training walkers – I mean, they can mount guns and they are supposed to be 'reserve' combatants, but damn those things don't even have a proper cockpit. It's like riding a damned mechanical chicken. We're going to be feeling mighty exposed, but it's just for this one mission. If it goes as smooth as Weyland did, we'll be fine. Ok, bye for now.

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Video Log of service performed on the main hangar deck of the INS Resistance Is Character Forming - 30th Selona 13 ABY

“Troopers, we are gathered here today to pay our respects to the late Sergeant Kendall, who was truly a model soldier, and champion of Imperial order in a galaxy gone mad. In that spirit, let us review the Sergeant's final mission.”

“Major Phongn chose this planet to deploy one of his new superheavy walker-tanks, requisitioning the heavy dropships formerly assigned to Captain Jonen's artillery. The first walker deployed and soon ran into a mixed enemy force of walkers and infantry with AT missile launchers.”



“Sergeant Kendall led his platoon in clearing out the enemy infantry before they could inflict significant damage on Major Phongn's vehicle. He then took his light walkers ahead to scout, and discovered a heavy emplaced enemy force. Major Phongn then took the lead, calling down an airstrike to soften up the enemy, then finishing the job with his AT-TE's heavy dorsal gun.”



“His vehicle was so effective in fact that by the time Major Phongn had captured a second landing zone, he simply requested a second AT-TE be dropped and for the rest of the ground force to stay back at the first LZ. The Major's AT-TE platoon proceeded to single-handedly wipe out the entire enemy base, resorting to further airstrikes solely to clear out infantry who were taking a 'tediously long time', as Major Phongn put it, to kill with the AT-TE's slow-firing guns.”



“It was at that point that the enemy launched their counter-attack, striking from a third outlying position that we had not previously detected. Their massed walkers and infantry rushed the first LZ, catching Second Lieutenant Cards' tank platoon by surprise. Sergeant Kendall ordered his walkers right into the heart of the fray, blasting at the enemy infantry and ultimately resorting to crushing them under the feet of his walkers. This allowed our tanks to take out the enemy walkers with no losses. Unfortunately however the lack of an enclosed cockpit proved fatal, as one by one Sergeant Kendall's pilots were shot out of their cockpits by enemy blaster fire. The Sergeant himself was the last to fall, charging the final squad of AT infantry. It is perhaps small comfort that the now-revealed enemy depot was quickly obliterated by intensive proton bombing.”



“After that it was just a matter of mopping up, and between them Major Phongn and Second Lieutenant Cards had the battlespace sanitised in less than half an hour.”



“Sergeant Kendall's personal sacrifice and unflinching determination to close with the enemy probably saved the lives of our entire armoured force.”



“In honour of the Sergeant's past achievements and heroic leadership in this mission, this system shall henceforth be known as the 'Kendall System'.”

------

“Excellent work men. I declare this Imperial Defence Station officially online.”

Captain Vortex had been assigned to oversee the frantic efforts to fortify the Empire's new acquisitions in wake of the swift passage of Task Force Exterminator. His replacement ship, the Acclamator-class INS Empire, had just finished shepherding a convoy of cargo haulers. They had brought the last components needed to complete Wayland's initial defensive cordon.

“Sir! Hypertraces on the long range array!” The ensign touched a control and a strategic map filled the main screen. The traces were indistinct at first, but soon resolved into a series of large contacts heading straight for Weyland. There was little else it could be other than an enemy strike fleet, less than thirty minutes out.



“Battle stations! I want every fighter we have that has a hope of flying, ready to launch in twenty minutes! Lieutenant Surlethe, flash message to Admiral Samuel, enemy strike fleet inbound, request immediate relief.”

“Sir, they'll never make it in time, and we can't hold against that kind of force. Shouldn't we try to evacuate in the Empire?”

“We'll never get our entire force packed up in time, and I will not abandon my men, or for that matter this outpost. No Lieutenant, the Empire will not retreat. If we are to survive in this galaxy, we can hardly let our enemies just waltz in and take our systems whenever they feel like it.”

For the next twenty five minutes the station was a hive of frenetic activity. Guns were test-fired, bombers were loaded with munitions, shield generators were overcharged to the limit. It was not long before the first cultist ship appeared, heading straight for the station with guns already spewing turbolaser fire. Captain Vortex had chosen to command the battle from the station, so it was Commander Ekiqa who led the INS Empire into the engagement.



The cultist ship was an ugly mess of boxes, festooned with crude runes and symbols, without the deadly aesthetics of functional ruthlessness that Imperial ships possessed. It was heavily armed and armoured though, and the Empire's guns gave it little pause. The enemy had advanced ahead of their fighter cover though, and the stations bombers were able to pour proton torpedoes into the cultist ship. It exploded into a huge fireball, but it seemed that the enemy were quite willing to sacrifice one of their light destroyers simply to get the measure of the Imperial defences. The main enemy force arrived and started pounding on the INS Empire.



Vicious dogfights had broken out all around the station as the Imperial fighters attempted to stop the cultist bombers from reaching their targets. Behind the enemy frigates and destroyers a wide, flat ship was slowly approaching.

“Scans show heavy shielding but minimal weaponary sir.” Lieutenant Surlethe reported “I'm not sure what... wait, incoming transmission.”

“Pitiful heathens, you will cower before the Blood God and his prophet HSRTG! Your victory over Darth Yoshi was merely an illusion, false hope to make your eventual defeat even sweeter! Now I shall have your skulls for my lord's dark throne!”

“Cut that off!” Captain Vortex shouted ”And target all our fire on that enemy command ship!”

The station and the damaged Acclamator threw everything they had at the cultist shrine-ship, but although its shields were pierced there was little effect. Damage to the hull seemed to repair itself as fast as it was inflicted, impossibly fast, as if some obscene arcane force was fortifying the ship. Even its close escorts seemed to be affected by the unnatural regenerative effect, though to a lesser extent.

“No good sir! She's just not taking damage!”

“Fools!” an almost incoherent voice filled the command deck “your puny weapons mean nothing to a true servant of the blood god! Now die like the weaklings you are!”

“I said shut that off!”

“I did sir, I don't know how they're doing it...”

“Never mind.” The station trembled as enemy torpedoes began to get through the shields. “Retarget on the frigate furthest from that command ship. We can at least take another one with us. Empire, do you copy that?”

“Sorry Captain, I think we're out of the”

Commander Ekiqa's voice cut out as the Empire's few remaining systems were fried by sustained ion bombardment.



“We've lost the Empire sir! Enemy ships closing in! The shields are nearly gone!” The pitch of Surlethe's voice rose as fear began to overwhelm his mind.

The insane voice spoke again, echoing through the corridors of the besieged station. “Die! Die! Deniers of the true lords of the galaxy, you will burn, burn, all of you burn!” Like the late Darth Yoshi, HSRTG seemed to subscribe to the 'maniacal ranting' school of oration.

“Keep firing damnit! Keep firing! We will take another of those bastards down with us!”



One of the spindly cultist frigates, clearly the product of some clinically insane naval architect, succumbed to the station's fire and exploded. That was to be Captain Vortex's final victory, as moments later the station's structure buckled and disintegrated under the merciless rain of cultist fire. Secondary explosions throughout the wreckage made a fitting pyre for the valiant defenders of Weyland.



The cultists were in control of Weyland space, but they had paid dearly for their victory.

[MKSheppard]

I demand Weyland be taken post haste NO MATTER WHAT THE COST. I suggest we send everyone to seize it.

[Thanas]

^Officer Thanas, who is still mulling around in drydock, heartily claps in support of the above solution. To not retake Wayland would be a tremendous blow to the prestige of the empire.

[Karmic Knight]

I agree with the sentiments of the SCC Vice Chairman and Officer Thanas, Wayland must be protected from the Blood Cultists.

[Darth Onasi]

I volunteer to be a cultist! As long as I get a nice ship, no fighters for me!

[Force Lord]

We must counterattack immediately. Long live the Empire!

[Aaron]

Thanks man, I was hoping to die in a loud, grotesque, military manner.