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(As I said, non-Mandal design. Oh, just so we're even, at least some of your Strills got taken down by whatever defenses I summoned. Oh, and I also mentioned the EMP range was just outside of my fleet. Hence the Battle Meditation. If it WAS in range, even your Strills would be shut down.)

As things were, it was chaos above Wayland. Hundreds of ships were either detroyed, almost destroyed, or under fire. Tens of thousands had died, and countless more deaths were racking up as more and more of the ships collided amongst each other, and attacked each other, and all in all rained hell.

Detre was dead, or at least dying. If he lived, it'd be a miracle beyond all miracles, but there was no point in thinking about him. Elladan was captured.

While the medics tended to the wounded, while the ships advanced, and while everything around them became a route, Elladan struggled in his containment pod. "Damnit!" He banged his fists against the walls but no avail. In no time, he realized they were in space, and even if the small fusion cuter and witch's lightsaber he'd borrowed did get him out, he'd be engulfed by the vacuum.

However, an idea came to him. He still had his radio. And it was still transmitting. Picking it up, he quickly relayed help in all directions.

~

"Sir, we've got word from the Conquerer!" the comm officer aboard Mandalore's ship called. On their front, the enemy was in ruins; his Canderouses and ships had easily broken apart the disabled Wombats and Gladiuses, and were raining hell on the Wombats and Beldon in range. A pair of cannon blasts easily split the larger ship in half, destroying everyone aboard.

He answered the comlink. "Yeah?"

The chiss' voice came through, covered in static. "......chhhhh... Help!...... chhhh ptured.... heading tor..... Canderouse....."

The man looked up at his viewchart and scanned the battle. Sure enough, he spotted the; the strillers, heading straight back for either the Canderouses or the Hektor's Shield. "Go for those Strillers! Ion Cannons, gravity wells, tractor beams, anything. Nab them all!"

Through all the chaos, the remainding Lancers and fighters shot forward to intercept the beasts. A few nailed them along the way, and hit them with ion blasts, but at least five fighters were destroyed. The Lancers, however, made it to the front of the fleet, ion cannons and ingle gravity wells blaring, capturing them all. Shortly, the Canderouses arrived to scoop them all up, and try to save the commander trapped in one of them. Even though they were taking heavy fire, and one of the Canderouses was forced to retreat early, the strillers were all sufficiently disabled and hauled aboard.

From there, the awaiting Mando teams began cutting the beasts apart, one by one. They had to find the chiss, and fast, or else all was lost.

~

The Mandalorian teams made their way into the ships, meeting resistance on all four ships, but it quickly became obvious it would be a battle. The ships being boarded were all locked down, as well as colliding around. Several times they were ambushed out of surpise places, but the commandos were still better warriors than run-of-the-mill stormtroopers. Within ten minutes, they'd made their way through the engines, and up to bridge-level.

As expected, the Hektor's Shield showed the most defense. The Mandalorian's push was slow, but steady there. At some points, the elites got tired of unlocking the doors, and began cutting their way through the ship.

On the Revenge II known as the Triumph, however, the ship was in shock. One of the commando teams had located the robotics bay, as well as the central defense station. In a matter of minutes, 90% of all autoated defenses and guard robots were turned on their masters, destroying all hostiles in sight.

(oh, sorry bout that. Just realized.... okay, ignore most of that post then..)

(btw, your ships are disabled. Your Canderous can't have picked up the strills, as they were still with your fleet, albeit on the edge of it. There's no way they could've recovered so quickly, especially amidst all the chaos. Unless of course you had a third stolen ship you never mentioned, or managed to board and take one of my own Canderouses)

The chiss gulped a bit, but shook his head. "Sorry, can't help you. I only ordered the ships to come with the Transverter and activate, but out of my own range. I would have been disabled just as much as your forces, otherwise." This much was true. He had ordered the movement and deployment, and Kathleen made it precise.

What he couln't afford telling him, however, was the ship's self destruct codes, and they know he knew them. "As for the self-destruct codes, they're of little use to you now. Thanks to your virus, we've been blocked access into the ship's comm systems, and thus the ports needed to activate the self-destruct. Besides, thanks to our own security measures, those codes have been deleted. "

"Good thing she did," he replied. "It certainly seems it was worth it. But what are the codes worth to you? I know I'm valuable, or then again I might not be valuable. In any case, you can't get close enough to use the codes; codes that I remind you, were deleted as a safety protocol."

He looked over, noting that he was thouroughly surrounded. "And besides, the Transverter's gone by now. You didn't expect it to stay in such a vulnerable place, did you?"

"And I suppose you want me to bargain with you, trading the device for my crews," he countered. "Why should I trust you? I'm a prisoner, yes, but I'm little use to you if you take away my own adavantages. If I'm your tool, ridding my own devices hurt yourself."

He watched as the ship, if you could call it that, left the hangar. "And if you must know, even a part-machine would fail against the device."

by now, with his slight stalling, the LT Transverter was well on its way back to the Mandal system. It was taking a very strenuous route, and covering nearly half the surrounding sectors in its journey, but by now, it was well on its way. It had left almost as soon as it had been activated. All they'd find there are the emnants of the two fleets.

(DunDunDun)
The chiss looked darkly at his captors, but said nothing. At this point, he was lucky to be alive. For how much longer, he couldn't say. It would be all he could do just to endure for a little while longer.

Almost as soon as the Canderous made off with Kenet, word spread of what had happened. The battle had been a loss. While the two forces had essentially forced a draw on each other, the Empire's sher numbers of reinforcements showed up and put the fleet in disarray. Few ships escaped, and those that did weren't in much shape.

Wayland was abandoned. s quickly as possible, as many ships and people were loaded and hauled, most heading for the Mandal system, in deep space. Most of the base, however, had to be left behind.

In all, just over ten Victories and Acclamantors survived what would be known as the Second Battle of Wayland. The Nemesis Conquerer also survived, though still wounded. Kathleen made through the battle unscathed.

Detre, however, was indeed a miracle. While he had indeed attacked the striller, the machine was still intent on the chiss. He was brutalized, burnt, and near death, but the other noghri on board, and partial help to Kathleen herself saved his life. He was broken, and all but destroyed, but he was alive.

The Mandalorians as a whole served only slightly better. There front was for the most part successful, and even though they lost several ships, the Empire suffered several times more casualities, losing more than forty Wombats and Gladiuses, two dozen Stalwarths, several Nemesises, and a single Beldon. The clone boarding parties didn't survive at all, though one of the Revenges came close to being overun; the ship in question was nearly completely devasted from the inside out. The Mandalorians retreated to mandalore to prepare for their defense.

The fleet at Contruum was a loss. While some local groups joined in to defend the area, including the Hapes Consortium to a minor level, their simply weren't enough forces to hold the line. Contruum fell shortly afterword.

Taris, Dxun, and Onderon were both left questionable. Now alone, they were forced to make what preparations they could, and prepare for the worst.

Imperial damages were heavy. While Kenet had lost the majority of his forces, the LT Transverter had done more damage than either of the fleets weapons. Hundreds of fighters and bombers, along with hundreds more support craft, dozens of frigates and Stalwarths, and no less than thirty Nemesises were lost. Most other ships suffered heavy damage, and would need extensive repair for weeks before the last battle scars would be removed. Total casualties were in the millions.

And Sven Da'courti, once a humble soldier on a back-water world, suddenly found himself the leader of a ravaged fleet alongside a dark Dathomiri witch, a broken Noghri warrior, and as the last hope for the Loyalist Empire.

(That's done for all them.)

"Like, did you just totally say 'Coruscant', dude?" Freya gasped in alarm. Still, considering what she knew, it did seem to make sense.

"Ok, so they totally took Angel to Mega-Sith Central itself," she sighed grimly. Replying to the comm, she said, "Thanks, dude. Where are you right now? My party and I are totally in Aduba Three space at the moment, regrouping."

Ferno was in meditation. More specifically meditating on the future winds. Predicting the future is hard, but Ferno had learned that some things are to be expected, and some things are not. Over the years, he had learned that there was a rhythm to the future, though he had not yet nailed the flow down, and the x factors always would plague even the most superb of seers, as proven by Palpatine. Yet, that Emperor had given him the skills, the drive, the power, and now the only thing he had left was to succeed where his predecessor had failed. Unlike Palpatine, he was not unchecked, and mistakes coudl be made without question. If he was to prove Maladi was obsolete, he would need to do it with every skill, not just that of murder.

The future showed many things. Link would become more influential in galactic affairs, but Ferno knew not how. He himself would no longer be a spectre, but a dealer of death. While he hated the prospect, he could not stay in the shadows any longer. Intelligence and torture would have to be second fiddle. His occupation he had pursued so vigorously would have to be cut short, as he took to the battlefield. His apprentice would succeed in becoming a great warrior, that was for sure, but Ferno could not tell how it would be told, as an assassin or lieutenant, the fog shrouded all. But most curious was Krayt himself. Agitation had pushed his features to the point of annoyance, and Ferno knew that only one thing could possibly make the emperor so irate. Chaos was brewing, and Ferno knew only one thing that was easy enough to stir such trouble on such a scale was possible. War was coming to the Sith's doorstep.

If he was to prepare for war, he had to advance his timetables. He would not be caught short when his enemies had time to build their armies. His forces must be fully prepared, fully constructed, and fully operational in the time demanded. Project Coldspear could not be sped up. The crystal would be off planet in about two more months and in a working power source. The construction site would need time to be determined, so far all the work had been done on Blackmoon. But the Coreworlds would not hide the project once the skeletal frame had been in construct...


~~~~


HM had noted the incoming transport containing Ferno's apprentice, and with all prudence, and by dictate of his master, would keep an eye on the boy to make sure everything went as plannet.

"Ah, young master Jaden. The master has something interesting to display to you. He feels that preparation would be most prudent, as your final test will not be easy atall. A glance at your future awaits. Then he'll instruct you on your skills with the force. I hope your sleep was worthwhile; many masters find it hard to deflect a storm from the tips of the master himself."