Operation: H

[Master Buggie]

Admiral Liszt confirmed the transmission and turned away from the transmission, addressing his bridge crew, "He didn't think I was funny. 'Spose I'll be havin' te apologize to Master Cooshiman again later..."

It probably wasn't the best first impression to leave upon the Blue Star Pirates' allies in this endeavor, but damn it, there was a fight coming, and if Admiral Liszt could get his counterpart already facing the unexpected, maybe his mind would be in the right place when the tooka poop really hit the fuel intake. Of course, Liszt wouldn't say, or do for that matter, anything so reckless when the turbolasers started hammering; he had a crew to think about, as well as all of those in the Jedi fleet. Nobody would die due to his showboating, that much he could promise.

"Let's be on with it, then," Liszt ordered, once the hyperspace coordinates had been loaded into the navigation.

Without further fanfare, the Blue Star Pirate fleet jumped into hyperspace along with the Jedi floatilla.

---

Buggie remained facing the cockpit viewport, silently debating whether or not to engage his Togruta companion, or let her latest barb go unanswered. Ashara was brusk, but she could think on her feet, and that was a quality that Buggie could appreciate. In all, Buggie silently measured that she had all the makings of a good pirate, and he found that she might be even better than himself someday, provided he didn't get her killed along the way as she feared.

Keeping his focus on the viewport, Buggie jabbed back, "If you can fire those blasters half as well as you pet them, you won't have to worry about dying."

His multifaceted eyes did catch something he didn't like out of his peripherals, so he spared a moment to turn his helmeted head and add, "And while we're on the subject, watch where you're pointing those things."

A tone sounded through the headsets of the Togruta and Verpine's boarding armor. A preset timer was indicating to them that the fleet should have departed from the rendezvous point according to the timetables that had been set up prior to their own launch. If everything had gone as planned, and there was no guarantee that it had as far as Buggie was concerned, the fleet would be emerging in system within a few hours.

For now, Buggie's small group of cloaked vessels were to continue moving into position and, once that was achieved, lie in wait.

[Rane DeCola]

Rane walked onto the bridge of The Wayward as the Captain gave the command to go to light speed. While he hadn’t interrupted the Captain or announced his arrival on the bridge, his presence hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“Mr. DeCola, glad you could join us,” the Captain said.

“Thank you Captain. At your service.”

“Of course you are. Wouldn’t have it any other way, it is my ship you know.”

“Aye, of course sir.”

“You've adequately prepared yourself then for the mission?”

“Aye sir,” Rane responded sharply. He had been read in completely on the mission plan at this point and because of his familiarity with the fleet’s final destination, Rane had been tasked with serving at the conning officer aboard the bridge of The Wayward. It was unusual for a White Blade to hold such a role during this type of mission, but Rane’s knowledge of the system would surely prove invaluable considering what the Blue Star Pirate fleet was attempting.

“Relax Mr. Decola. I’m sure that you’ll do fine. Besides, screw it up badly enough and I can have you ejected from the nearest airlock.”

Rane hoped the Captain was joking, which was confirmed by the sly grin that crept across the face of the Captain, along with the faces of most of the bridge crew. He relaxed a little, but knew that despite the Captain’s jocular comment concerning the situation, that what the pirate fleet was about to embark on was no joking matter.

“Aye sir, no airlock for me today hopefully.”

“Yes Mr. DeCola, let’s hope not.”

The viewport of The Wayward was filled with the swirling star field of hyperspace. It wouldn’t be long now before the fleet arrived on station and more than Rane’s navigational would be tested.

[Ben Kenobi]

***Mid Rim, Prelemian Trade Route, Roche Sector***
***Roche Asteroid Field - Q-8***

Hours flew by in a blur until all that was left was a countdown of minutes on down to seconds and finally towards the final tolling ticks of the time piece. With booms of successive percussion stolen by the vacuum of space, the Jedi Fleet, Coalition Group Skywalker, broke from hyperspace in a formation so solid that it’d have made any Alliance Fleet Coordinator weep. Spearheading the formation was the mighty dagger shaped form of the Skywalker itself, a Nebulae-class Star Cruiser of similar disposition to a Star Destroyer though her lines were less aggressive yet none the less dominating a presence as she sat at 1,040 meters in length from bow to stern.

Weapon batteries bristled as they were unmasked at the behest of the gunnery deck crews though none took to opening fire at this time. The sheer mass of firepower available to the capability of the Skywalker was daunting and surely enough to make any Sith Officer regard it with much respect. Shields also shimmered as they caught the interference of realspace re-entry which set off the scene nicely while Jedi Coalition fighters began launching from their hangars.

The first utterance to be issued was from the Master of the Fleet, Master Kushiban as he had been standing next to the Electronic Counter-Measure Station. “Comms, prioritization: Jam all incoming and outgoing communications that are not on the Jedi-Blue Star Tactical Channel. Double encryption verification. It’ll be more difficult for us to coordinate, but we already know our roles here.” A thumbs up was his response from the ECM Station as the powerful jamming arrays of the Skywalker, a battleship-class starship, issued a jamming net over the immediate area.

Jedi Master Kushiban took in the tactical display of Roche and noticed the surrounding elements of the Sith Fleet stationed for defense. It would take time to penetrate the asteroid belt though with the Alliance’s records still intact the Jedi Fleet held possession of the drift patterns of the asteroids already and thus the navigational hazards of this operation were greatly reduced. “Helm, flank speed to the entry zone of the belt, yield to any Blue Star vessels that set the same course.” Instantly the engines of the Skywalker began burning bright and hot, likewise the deck fell to a dense vibration as the massive engine profiles of the Nebulae Star Cruiser engaged and pressed the ship forward at speed whilst the nose oriented towards Nickel One proper, which was still deep within the belt itself.

It seemed that the first stage of Operation: H was midway through already, once the Jedi Fighters completed launching, they would engage Sith assets and in what was predicted to be a short time the Jedi would have poised themselves greatly towards the liberation of Roche…

[Kubu Midwan]

"Ok Padawans get to a fighter and remember be mindful." The master said to them as the Padawans went to the ships to get ready. "Birun Kursanta itik kia zo misini ir dovanoti buti qutze." The Droid translated for her. Kubu shook her head, she unstood, but didn't at the same time. The master stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder. "I know this will be challenging for you, it will be challenging for us as well. You'll have overcome more than just the mission. I think you will be helpful though, should any unknown tactics be used. Just stay close and be careful." He said.

" Nu zenoti pa sayu yikyr buti kovothis nuo j'us, zhol valia buti kovothis nuo mus vi duobé. j'us valia zinot tapti' vilio vel us tezn tave kelegaz. Nu minti j'us valia buti fanvake nors, sekleti jok thenoti gimsema buti elgtija. Tezn finsezi arti ir buti qutze." The Droid translated for her. Kubu still didn't think this the greatest idea, after all her Droid had been broken before.

[Ashara Rys]

"If you can fire those blasters half as well as you pet them, you won't have to worry about dying."

At that, sparkling blue eyes, filled with life, found themselves turning in the direction of her insectoid superior. Turning to her side so that she now laid on three consecutive seats in the cockpit, she put her left hand under her cheek to lift her head up while pointing her right hand towards Master Buggie, blaster aimed at the back of his head.

"Golly gee, I dinnae ken at all how good I am witha blaster... shall we find out?" she teased.

"And while we're on the subject, watch where you're pointing those things."

"... Che," she lowered her weapon. She knew Buggie could dodge it, even if she had fired. He had that weird Jedi thing going on. Ashara could never really got used to it, but it was fun to try and hit the Verpine when he wasn't looking only to fail. "Pew, pew..." she drawled sarcastically out of boredom, cheek resting on her hand.

Thus, time rolled on. The hours passed, with nothing but the beeping of the timer in her headset, and the occasion banter with Buggie. Despite the way she acted around him, Ashara had grown to admire the bug, even care for him. She knew what was at stake here, what all this meant, so she understood, and she waited. Buggie and his friends had saved her from getting herself blown to smithereens. She would put her life on the line for him in turn. So she was with Master Buggie on this, all the way, until the end.

Even if that chrono in her headset was unnerving her with its incessant reminders of elapsed time.

[Master Buggie]

The Blue Star Pirate fleet broke out of hyperspace a short distance away from the furthest assets of the Jedi Coalition's assembled forces. Keldabe-class battleships flanked by smaller Discril-class attack cruisers headed the formation, with aged, yet deadly, Venator-class destroyers following close behind. The fighters had not yet launched, but the comms chatter had already picked up on the bridge, indicating that the pilots had reported to stations and were ready to filter out of hangar bays in droves. Preliminary reports indicated that the Sith Navy had nothing that could stand up to StarViper-class attack platforms. Establishing fighter superiority was the first priority, and it was not expected to be a slugging match. Once that objective had been achieved, the Nighthawk Gunboats could fly in with their potent warhead loadouts and obliterate any pockets of resistance that had survived the mass driver cannons of the Keldabe battleships.

"Sir, Coalition Group reports that they're jamming all enemy communications and that they're switching to double encrypt," a voice called from further back on the bridge.

"Aye, confirm." Liszt called back, indicating that all Blue Star Pirate forces switch to the same standard, "Comm our support group and 'ave 'em send a slicer droid out te each commsat. We'll want te know what te Sith are passing along."

Navigation carried the Blue Star fleet forward into the outer limits of the asteroid field. Drift patterns had been analyzed extensively, and in order to avoid any disastrous collisions with the Coalition Group, it had been decided that the Blue Star fleet would advance far enough away so that the largest ships could maneuver through the field without endangering their allies. Both fleets were also well aware of any asteroids which contained colonies. In order to fit the fleets through the field, it was expected that their turbolasers would have to obliterate any asteroids that presented a danger, and each fleet worked extensively to devise a route that would bring them through without having to destroy any inhabited entities.

"Keep te shields balanced, boys," Liszt advised, "We don't want anytin' sneaking up on us. With that bein' said, forward; hard as ye can manage!"

---

Buggie had long since withdrawn himself from the Force, but he didn't need it for his sensitive eyes to spot the first flashes of turbolaser fire as the fleets began to maneuver their way through the asteroid field. Finally, the moment that he had been waiting for!

"Look!" Buggie called to his Togruta companion, "They're here! Did you see that flash in the distance? It was like a star winked out. Look! Again!"

It was unmistakable to someone who was looking for the signs, but all that meant for he and Ashara was that their work had just begun. He had maneuvered himself within one hundred kilometers of the colony Korpil, at an angle which aligned him to the Maternellence of Korpil's hive. When the time came, he would alert her to what was going on, and then move to Slayn, or Carbon Fifteen, or Nickel One if he could manage it. Certainly, some of the hive queens' warriors had survived and could be rallied to the Jedi and Blue Star cause. He longed to speak to another of his species in their unique form of communication. It had felt like an eternity, but now he was so close, he could nearly hear the chatter of the hive buzzing in the back of his mind.

[Rane DeCola]

As The Wayward dropped out of hyperspace along with the rest of the assemblage of capital ships and starfighters, the corvette diligently moved into position on the flanks of the assembled fleet. The Captain of The Wayward passed along commands as necessary and Treda, the first mate, had made a point to keep an eye on Rane as he tried his hand at the Con.

“Keep tight on that cruiser off our port,” Rane ordered the helmsman.

“Aye sir.”

As the fleet approached the asteroid field The Wayward had received her orders. The Wayward had been tasked with acting as a space tug of sorts using a modified tractor beam emitter to lock onto and tow some of the asteroids out of the way of the battle that was about to ensue. The target asteroids were inhabited and couldn’t otherwise be obliterated by the capable turbolasers of the Blue Star Pirate fleet. This was a new type of mission for the crew, as they were typically tasked with intercepting and boarding missions. Rane liked the challenge, and it seemed that the Captain did as well. It was a perfect opportunity to show his new associates his full compliment of skills and prove himself as a contributing member of the crew.

“Mr. DeCola, we are five minutes out, prepare to break us away from the fleet and move us into position to tractor our first target. Our fighter escort is launching now.”

“Aye, Captain. Helm, match course and speed with the rest of the fleet. Prepare to break away and rendezvous at Objective Alpha.”

It was at that point that the order came over the duly encrypted communications channel that the fleet was advised to begin their advance. The Wayward joined in, not to be left behind.

[Jacobi Wylcott]

---ROCHE
---COMMAND POST NICKLE ONE

Chest bursting with fire the young ensign, barely old enough to be called a young man out of his teens, nearly fell - collapsed with effort as he entered the command center of Nickle One, the primary Colony Hive of the Roche Asteroid Belt. “Commandant!” He screamed, holding up a datapad that was streaked with his own sweat and effort. “Commandant! We have a Red Alert!” Obviously the entire room went silent though even at that moment another officer from across the room stood up abruptly, he’d witnessed the same news and his ghostly pale features shot a look towards Commandant Abraham Steiner.

Not one to afford a subordinate for he’d attained his rank through guile and being at the right place at the right time, Abraham stomped forward and shot a hard look at the ensign, “This had better be good boy or I’ll have you working alongside the Verpine for a month!”

“Sir!” Again the boy began, ignoring the threat for he knew his information was vital - perhaps to their very existence. “A fleet of ships has just exited hyperspace in quadrant three just above the edge of the hyperlane. They’ve already jammed communications and one of the sections of capital ships are cutting their way right towards the colonies through the belt!”

“Already jammed us!?” He turned sharply around to the previous officer who’d been caught not doing his proper duty. So far Abraham didn’t say anything but the wry look was obvious that harsh recompense was due. Back to the ensign, he set his hands on the boy and lifted him up to his feet, “Tell me boy, what are the markings on those ships? You mentioned ‘one section,’ are you suggesting two separate fleets?”

“Sir I am, just from the look of their formation they are two separate entities. But I am not schooled in such things…”

“Nonsense!” Barked Abraham, “The markings boy! Out with it!”

“I brought the vid shots sir,” He offered up the datapad and brought up the image of a massive Keldabe-class Battleship, the image was distorted as seen through many leagues distant of asteroids though the scale and make of the vessel was without a doubt. On the hull was painted the stylized banner of the Blue Star Pirates, though the glyphs of the specific captain and fleet was unknown. The rabble of the Blue Star Pirates was not often recorded, the cowards didn’t take to a fight very often these days.

“Damn if you’re not right, boy.” The image shifted to a dagger shaped vessel and for an instant the Commandant’s heart stopped as he spotted a Star Destroyer - though another look and through his roughly experienced eye he noticed that this destroyer was shorter than the Imperial’s workhorse and the paint scheme was not as severe. It was further away from the recorder at the time of the imaging device than the Keldabe so the insignia was lost to distance and interfering debris though he highly suspected that the Galactic Alliance was involved. “Son,” he snapped, taking up a security card and shoving it to the boy, “take this as your clearance and get to the hangar as fast as possible. Take up as many hyperspace capable shuttles as we currently have and get them in space, scatter out and as soon as you’re clear of the belt, jump! Doesn’t much matter where, just get clear of the jamming range of that ship!” He pointed back at the pict of the nicely painted dagger ship. “Get help son, otherwise, don’t bother coming back.” He paused for just a moment and glared at the lad, “Why are you still here!?” Shocked, the boy raced away towards the hangar bay as the Commandant turned back inward of the command center and pulled his pistol free of its holster while eyeing the lazy officer.

---ROCHE
---BATTLEZONE

In response to the entrance of so many enemies, the patrolling assets that were already stationed here at the Roche Belt turned to face the twin fleets of the enemy. At this time the only set of fighters launching was from the Jedi Fleet and so the local Sith Starfighter Wing sped into the asteroid belt to intercept them. Six squadrons of the old model Mk. VII Supremacy Fighters, while they lacked in defense they made up for it in speed and maneuverability along with the pilot’s near suicidal mindset to be flying one of these things into a combat zone which was in a moderately violent asteroid belt made violent by the passage of the incoming fleets.

Back near at the colonies sat the Titan Patrol Frigate Final Decision and it was escorted by two Nebulon B Frigates, the Claymore and the [/i]Edge[/i]. All three ships turned to face the incoming enemies though they would remain near the defensive shadows of the Colony Asteroids. All around the asteroid belt, defensive missile turrets and laser turrets came online to deter the enemy as they ploughed through the belt while the guns on the Colonies themselves primed and heated their capacitors for the fight to come, once the BSP Fleet came within range the Colonies would open fire. Granted their fire wasn’t capable of doing much harm to the bigger ships, but enough massed fire and sustained, could cause the intruders some significant problems.

With the firepower established, the Colonies went on high alert. All work stopped as the shields came up and the workers and all non-essential staff were ordered to return to their secured quarters, of course the Verpine slaves were beat and cajoled and prodded into large empty rooms and locked away for safe keeping. Security patrols began to fill the corridors, for the size of the incoming fleets suggested they intended to occupy and as such with the time afforded until that moment in which the fighting would begin, barricades and fighting positions began to be erected. The main hangar blast doors began their slow shuttering close as well - the surrounding smaller vessels on holding patterns awaiting materials for shipping tried to rush the doors or others began to break away from the scene, making hard burns for the edge of the asteroid belt where they could make the jump to safety.

Things were about to get serious here at Roche, the Pirates and the Jedi had come to see salvation over an enslaved people - what they would receive when reality set in was an entrenched force of Sith who’d gone through this song and dance before though on a lesser scale. The defenders were prepared, experienced, and they’d be unforgiving hosts to their unwelcome guests.

[Ben Kenobi]

“Fighters incoming!”

The bridge of the Skywalker was alive with activity as the coordinators surrounded the holotable and directed their assets. Even now the Delta VII’s were breaking off from the rest of the Jedi Starfighters to move in an intercept the incoming Sith Wing along with support from the Emerald Knights in effort to delay the Sith Fighters from encroaching upon the BSP or Jedi Fleets before the full complement of fighters could be launched. Not that the quality of fighters in the Sith’s current arsenal was any threat to the incoming capital ships, in such massive numbers it was possible that they could mark a significant delay in the advance.

“Master Kushiban! The Roche automated defense matrix has been activated!” A network of asteroids, mostly hollowed out satellites that housed autonomous defense turrets and missile launchers, came online at the behest of the Sith in command and their fire was suddenly turned onto the incoming starships. Alone, their peppering fire was negligible but the sustained rate would wear shields down unnecessarily before the fight with the Sith’s static fleet. Missile fire rippled over the Skywalker’s bow, the warheads impacts lost to the mass of the vessel. “Damage Control reports shields holding.”

“Good,” Master Kushiban replied, “Get our point defense online and bring up firing solutions on the defenses. Fire at will.”

“Understood Master, though within the belt the targeting arrays will not be as effective.”

“Then get our fighters on it.” In effort to stem the tide of incoming fire, two squadrons of BTL-A4 Y-wings and two squadrons of A/SF-01 B-wings struck out into the depths of the asteroid belt as the Jedi Fleet shot their way through towards the Colony Center. Their objective was to move in and thin out or entirely eliminate the defense network as a threat to the allied naval assets. They were escorted by a squadron of R-41 Starchasers and a squadron of T-wings.

The rest of the Jedi Starfighter assets were being held in check in order to react better to any other surprises that the Sith could potentially throw at them.

“Launch the Strike Teams but keep them in the shadow of our flotilla, we’re almost in range!”

[Kubu Midwan]

When she headed towards the bay, someone went to stop her. "Excuse me miss, master Kenobi would like you to join him in his ship." The person said to her.
" Dovo nun nezek, meistras Kenobi valia kais j'us kia grizti jis is jiso kraud." The Droid translated. Kubu looked confused, but headed to where master Kenobi would be. 'What did I do now?' She thought.

She knew she had caused some issues on kashyyyk with master Kenobi, but she didn't know. When she got there, she noticed the elder. "J'us noret nun?" She said. "You wanted me?" The Droid translated. Kubu was supposed to be with the squadron, but she needed to see what the elder wanted.