Post by dcmurph on Jul 18, 2011 15:25:08 GMT -5
Password: Bylgia
Faction: Republic Military
Department: Navy
Rank: Admiral
Name: Joshua Tainer
Race: Human
Age: 59
Height: 6'3
Weight: 165 pounds
Birthplace: Commenor/Anteluma
Appearance: Joshua is a tall man in his Admiral's uniform with mostly grey hair and steely blue eyes. He has a scar right below his left eye where an explosion launched a piece of shrapnel at him.
Personality: Joshua is a man dedicated to his duty to defend the Republic, he's taciturn, dedicated, and utterly hates how many lives he sends to their deaths each battle. He's weary of the war even after such a short time, and is eager to end it so he can retire with his wife.
Skills: Tactics, Prediction, Logistics.
Attributes
Physical Strength: 5
Intelligence: 8 (Is this okay?)
Speed: 4
Leadership: 8 (I figure a 5, a 4, and two 8's is okay considering his position, age and bio)
Unarmed: 3
Melee Weapons: 3
Ranged Weapons: 6
Alignment: +5
Bio:
Joshua Tainer was born to Robert and Grace Tainer on Commenor. His parents were from a rich family that had many contacts within Commenor's upper social structure. As a child he wanted for little, as his parents had high hopes for him in the future.
As a young child it was quickly discovered that he would grow up to be a very smart man. He was on his feet and exploring almost in record time. When he was older he went through puzzles and holobooks like they were nothing.
His parents encouraged this behavior, understanding that intelligence would be highly valued for their son. When the time came they sent him to the most prestigious school in Anteluma.
His intelligence excelled there as he went through his lessons with amazing speed. He was always seeking more knowledge, asking questions, finding answers and studying hard.
He also had a habit of rallying the other students to whatever cause he had in mind, during recess he was the one who stood out, orchestrating games and races to see who was the fastest. He rarely participated himself, usually content to just sit back and watch.
However, it was during this time that he started to feel strained, like he was being boxed in and herded in a certain direction, which he was, by his parents as most kids that age sometimes feel.
Seeing this, his parents decided to send him off to a boarding school on Coruscant when he was 13, to let him have space. While there he was faced with the increased difficulty in his school work, the lack of people he knew, and his inner frustrations at what seemed to him like an attempt by his parents to herd him along a path.
However he decided to not let that stop him and quickly made friends, slowly but surely forming the same circles he had when in his previous school.
One of his friends, an avid game player, introduced Joshua to a simulation strategy game. It was a complex game and for weeks he had trouble discovering and mastering all the intricacies of the game, the little aspects.
But soon enough he had it mostly down and played with his friends on his off hours, reveling in how it tested his focus, determination, and problem solving.
The first game ended poorly with a complete draw as he and his friends were destroyed by internal strife. The second game fared much better and he barely scraped by a victory. The third game he won by a landslide.
Soon he was playing multiple opponents at once for the challenge, forming temporary alliances to gain an advantage and outwitting his friends at every turn.
And while it was fun and tested his knowledge, the game awoke something deeper in him. It all started with a simple question.
What if?
What if he could actually do this, with actual people? How would it change, could he still win? Did he want to rule the galaxy? Of course not, that would be far too much work even for him and he laughed away the idea.
What if?
What if he became a soldier though? What if he commanded vast navies and fought for truth and justice? That idea sounded far more manageable but he was young and the idea just sort of sat at the back of his mind for many years.
When he graduated at 18, his parents called him and told him that they had gotten him a job, managing a small part of a shipping company in the Colonies. Angry, spiteful, and probably not thinking quite as clearly as he should have, Joshua rebelled and thought back to an idea that had struck him during his early years.
With rebellion in mind he signed up for the Republic Navy and left for boot camp before his family could object. His parents were angry, but held off, sure that he would be turned away by the training and come back to them.
While the training was tough, Joshua found he was in his element. He was doing merely average on his physical training but in the more theoretical training he was excelling in studies of navigation, hyperspace routes, protocol and more. He was turning out to be good at his training.
By the end of his training he had done well enough to get himself assigned as a junior quartermaster for a cruiser patrolling the Outer Rim. He worked with that cruiser, under a rather strict officer, doing his best to not disappoint his commander and prove to himself that his rash decision was for the best.
Apparently he was doing something right because after three and a half years and two promotions he was recommended for Officer School on Kuat. Excited he sent a message to his Mother.
Officer School challenged every bit of Joshua's mental and physical ability, he pushed as hard as he could, with setbacks and failures alongside successes. He finally started to feel that his decision to sign up had been the right one after all.
He was so caught up in his training that he didn't get to read his mother's reply until his training was nearly done. He didn't like what he read.
His father had given him an ultimatum, retire and come home before he finished training or don't come home again. He sat up for hours rereading that message over and over, lost in indecision. He stayed up so long that he hardly got any sleep and suffered in training for the next few days while he tried to decide.
It took time, but he finally, and reluctantly decided to finish his training. Crying openly he sent an apology to his parents and graduated.
Now on his own, Joshua was forced to take more care than usual, while he was now the second lowest officers rank he still had to take care of himself.
He was assigned command of a corvette in the Outer Rim near Ryloth and Rodia. For a few years he patrolled his little section of space, dealing with the occasional pirates and smugglers. He kept himself busy, anything to keep him from thinking about his family.
Age twenty-six he was promoted again and moved to a Heavy Cruiser patrolling from Agamar to Bakura. Surprisingly he found that he'd been assigned to a corridor that pirates and smugglers frequented to get from one area of the Rim to another.
Those four years were the hardest of his career as he was almost always on call against reports of pirates hear or smugglers over there. He found himself stressed to the limit sometimes after being stuck on the trail of some pirates for over two weeks on end. He downed cups of stimcaf seemingly by the dozens sometimes.
However there were some benefits to this as he bonded with his crew, specifically the leader of his starfighter group, Vor'en Chandra. Together they worked together against the scum of the galaxy.
He was promoted again and left to serve on a Battleship in the Core worlds, he only later discovered that he was sent along that corridor to test him, though he never did find out by who.
He served in the Core for some time, an easy mission if there was one. The worst he was called for was to deal with a Senator whose ship had suffered a malfunction in the engine.
He spent more time on shore leave now, just to find something to do on his free time. By chance he met Vor'en while he was on Alderaan. They went to a bar together and Joshua remembers little more than drinking, meeting a beautiful woman and waking up naked in some hotel.
It was just a one-night stand, he never saw Alyn Fess again. But that did get him thinking, maybe he needed to find that special someone, he was starting to get up in years and if he ever wanted kids, now was the perfect window.
Luckily he met that someone not long after that night. Her name was Gracia and she worked as a waitress at a cafe he liked to frequent on his off hours. It started with idle chat, and eventually to friendly talks and well-wishes. Then came the first date, both nervous.
Six months and they were in a healthy, growing relationship. After a year he proposed and they were married. Oddly enough he received a message after his wedding that simply said 'Proud of You'.
He never did figure out who sent that message, but soon had other things to think about as at age 36 Gracia gave birth to two healthy twins, a girl and a boy. Also around that time he was promoted to Rear Admiral.
He loved his children, Rachel and James, and spent more of his off time at home with them. With his position he spent more time with logistics than with actually commanding ships but he did get chances to put ships through their paces when he had the time.
And as the years went by, he watched his children grow. He laughed at how much of a tomboy his daughter would become and joked about James becoming a doctor after he insisted on playing doctor when he was home.
Age 43 he was promoted again to Vice Admiral and was assigned command of the 3rd fleet. He took the Sojourn, a retrofitted and upgraded Inexpugnable-class tactical command ship, as his flagship.
It was around this time that the beginning murmurs of discontent arose among the Mandalorian populace. Joshua could hear the fearful murmurs among his compatriots at the possibility of a second Mandalorian war. Joshua thinks of his family and feels fear, fear for their safety creep into his mind.
At 52 he was promoted to Admiral, just as he received a message from Gracia that Rachel left to join the army. He was so proud he could hardly wait until the end of the ceremony to rush off and congratulate her.
At age 58 the war began and he led the third fleet into the Outer Rim against the Mandalorians. He transferred his daughter Rachel's special forces unit to his fleet to keep an eye on her.
He fought bravely in many battles, stretching his mind to the limit trying to constantly outwit his enemies and get as many of his people home as possible. He managed to pick up some unexpected allies along the way.
During many of his battles he always detailed men to ensure any refugees escaped alive. He did this so many times that eventually a volunteer militia, dubbed Tainer's Volunteers by his pilots, formed up. They weren't very big, 50 modified older gunships and 12 Moirail medium freighters each carrying a thousand troops but they helped.
At first he was reluctant to accept their help but after a while they grew on him and he started to actively utilize them in his battles and on solo assignments. It turned out that they were wonderful guerilla fighters.
For his family and the Republic he would do whatever it took to win.
RP Sample
In the wake of the Republic retreat from Yaga Minor, Sith forces pursued the fleeing ships, only to be stopped one system away by the 3rd fleet.
Joshua sat at the command chair for the Sojourn, eyes focused at the space in front of him, the Sojourn's wide bridge allowed for easy viewing of the battlefield and the Admiral didn't like what he saw.
"Sir, our interdictors have been engaged, the Sith forces are stuck here." His communications officer reported from his position on the bridge.
Well that was fine and dandy but the entire point was to hold them back until the Yaga Minor garrison retreated back to Republic space.
"Alright, launch fighters and give Major Chandra orders to hold his men back, don't get too close to their formation." Joshua replied.
The enemy fleet was roughly twice as large as his 3rd fleet, and as such he had to play a defensive game until his allies escaped.
"The enemy fleet is advancing, they've launched fighters and are closing fast. Major Chandra and his fighters have moved to intercept."
Well that was some good news, they had more fighters than the enemy, thanks mostly to the Sojourn and the two Vanguard-class Battleships in the fleet, one had been with the third already and the second was on loan from 1st fleet.
"What's the status of the enemy capital ships?" he asked, staring out at the viewport. The enemy fleet was huge, and he could hardly make out every ship classification.
"Enemy front ships are about to come into range of our long range turbolasers sir." The weapons officer reported, and Joshua smirked.
"Well, let's give them a volley, tell the Archon and Bulwark to open fire immediately, concentrate fire on the lead ships. Ready our long range guns and lets join them." He ordered and waited for the volley.
The two Vanguard's, Archon and Bulwark, opened fire with six of their 12 long range turbolasers, with the Sojourn's 15 joining them right after.
Turbolaser fire streamed across space towards the Sith formation, three cruisers at the head took the brunt of the fire. Their shields flickered under the combined might of 27 long range heavy guns split between them before failing. The cruisers broke off, taking fire the whole time until the first cruiser's bridge exploded, sending it spiraling slowly towards the planet. The other two retreated back to their own lines, heavily damaged. Maybe that would teach them to not advance so casually, this rek still had teeth.
Unfortunately all it did was prompt them to form a new strategy. The Sith formation broke apart, the right and left flanks spreading out to flank the 3rd fleet. Soon there were ranks of ships coming to envelope them. Joshua idly noticed that the enemy heavy hitters were in the middle of the formation.
"Clever, they're trying to force us to bring our own heavy hitters to the center so as to flank us with their smaller ships from the right and left to crush us. With our smaller numbers it would be a short battle.
"Sir, I've got reading's on two Daebolos battlecruisers and one Vengeance battleship closing from the front." his comm officer reported, a little nervousness in his voice.
That was understandable, Daebolos battlecruisers were terrifying monstrosities that would rip just about any ship in the fleet to shreds, with those droid pods if not they're guns.
The enemy was closing and those battlecruisers were getting really close to firing range, and at that point it would become a slugging match.
"Chandra, get as many fighters and bombers as you can and harass those battlecruisers, buy us some time Major!" The Daebolos class ships were deadly to capital ships, but against fighters they weren't worth much.
"I hear that sir, we'll give them the run around, try to destroy some of those droid pod launchers while we're at it. Hey Volunteers wanna join the party?"
There was a shout from the other end of the line as Chandra led his fighters and the numerous A-10's from the volunteer unit towards the battlecruisers. Joshua wouldn't admit it but their enthusiasm was good for morale, especially in this situation.
"They want us to go forward, so we'll go left and break that flank. Attention all ships, turn hard to starboard and break through the enemy encirclement. Steadfast, Bulwark take point alongside Sojourn. Archon, I want you to take point alongside the 101st fighter wing. Show no mercy, fire at will and push through fast."
Steadfast was an Avenger-class battleship with two capital-class heavy particle cannon turrets. They were deadly even to battleships, against the cruisers, frigates, and destroyers flanking them it would be easy.
The Sith responded almost immediately to their change, the heavy ships changed formation and shot towards them right as Chandra's men hit them hard, they fired back as best as they could but the Daebolos class just didn't have the weaponry to destroy fighters, and relied mostly on their fighters, which were busy with the rest of his fighter wing, and couldn't respond. Meanwhile the smaller flanks pulled inward to escape the oncoming wave, but they were already in range of Steadfast and suffered under the heavy fire.
The two particle cannon turrets tored chunks into the enemyas their shields were no match for the battleship's firepower. When Bulwark joined with its firepower the devastation was incredible. By this time the Daebolos were in range and firing away.
Archon returned fire as best as possible but most of it's heavy guns couldn't fire behind and it did little. The 101st surged towards the battlecruisers to assist Chandra but that barely slowed them down.
Three frigates went down under the intense fire and two corvettes followed, the battlecruisers were gaining with alarming speed. All the while the 3rd fleet plowed ahead, already beginning to escape the pincer. But would it be in time before those battlecruisers wittled away his defenses?
Tainer didn't get much time to think of a solution before his navigation officer shouted in alarm.
"Sir! Archon is turning about to engage the battlecruisers!" she shouted and Joshua's eyes widened momentarily. Angry, he opened the comm channel.
"Commander Tarmin, would you mind telling me just what the hell are you doing?" he said, a little louder than he probably should have.
"Buying time sir, those Battlecruisers are going to decimate the fleet if I don't." Commander Tarmin replied before closing the transmission from his end.
Tainer sighed, leaning back into his chair, his forehead beaded with sweat, even as his nav officer continued.
"Archon is no longer answering our hails, same goes for the 101st." the woman said, eyes wide.
Tainer thought about it, they had just cut a bloody swath through the enemies flank and now one of their heaviest hitting ships was staying behind along with about 150 fighters.
"What's the status of the Yaga Minor group?" he asked wearily.
"They are away sir, waiting for us at Kuat." his comm officer answered.
They had done their job, no point in sticking around. He hated this so much.
"Call Chandra and the Volunteers back and prepare to jump to lightspeed." he orderd, to the shock of his bridge crew.
"Sir, we're leaving the Archon behind." His comm officer said, starting to rise from his seat.
"Stow it, Ensign! They're willingly doing this so we can escape to fight another day, the entire point of this mission was to get the remnants from Yaga Minor to safety, what kind of victory would that be if we came back with more than half our fleet gone? They're doing this so we can get back in mostly one piece, so save your anger for the Sith. Because we will make them pay for this, you have my guarantee son."
The comm officer nodded slowly and sat back down, taking a deep breath.
"All fighters have docked, hyperspace jump ready when you are sir."
By now the Archon had moved in between the two battlecruisers, which now couldn't fire as many of their guns for the risk of hitting their allies. The Archon had no such problem and opened fire with every one of its many batteries, the 101st right alongside them. Joshua could see the minor explosions as droid pods were launched and they began to swarm the ship. He could imagine the onboard troops fighting valiently, running across the ship and trying desperately to buy themselves a few more minutes to keep trudging on.
However things must have taken a turn for the worse as the Archon suddenly exploded, the detonation was brief but it ended up taking half of one of the Daebolos battlecruisers with it, damaging the second and unfortunately vaporizing the 101st.
"Get us out of here Ensign." he said softly and the 3rd fleet jumped.
They took out 10 cruisers, 12 corvettes, 6 frigates, 1 battlecruiser, and 8 destroyers, while losing three cruisers, two frigates, one battleship and four destroyers. A victory, but it felt hollow.
Joshua Tainer, really hated war.
Faction: Republic Military
Department: Navy
Rank: Admiral
Name: Joshua Tainer
Race: Human
Age: 59
Height: 6'3
Weight: 165 pounds
Birthplace: Commenor/Anteluma
Appearance: Joshua is a tall man in his Admiral's uniform with mostly grey hair and steely blue eyes. He has a scar right below his left eye where an explosion launched a piece of shrapnel at him.
Personality: Joshua is a man dedicated to his duty to defend the Republic, he's taciturn, dedicated, and utterly hates how many lives he sends to their deaths each battle. He's weary of the war even after such a short time, and is eager to end it so he can retire with his wife.
Skills: Tactics, Prediction, Logistics.
Attributes
Physical Strength: 5
Intelligence: 8 (Is this okay?)
Speed: 4
Leadership: 8 (I figure a 5, a 4, and two 8's is okay considering his position, age and bio)
Unarmed: 3
Melee Weapons: 3
Ranged Weapons: 6
Alignment: +5
Bio:
Joshua Tainer was born to Robert and Grace Tainer on Commenor. His parents were from a rich family that had many contacts within Commenor's upper social structure. As a child he wanted for little, as his parents had high hopes for him in the future.
As a young child it was quickly discovered that he would grow up to be a very smart man. He was on his feet and exploring almost in record time. When he was older he went through puzzles and holobooks like they were nothing.
His parents encouraged this behavior, understanding that intelligence would be highly valued for their son. When the time came they sent him to the most prestigious school in Anteluma.
His intelligence excelled there as he went through his lessons with amazing speed. He was always seeking more knowledge, asking questions, finding answers and studying hard.
He also had a habit of rallying the other students to whatever cause he had in mind, during recess he was the one who stood out, orchestrating games and races to see who was the fastest. He rarely participated himself, usually content to just sit back and watch.
However, it was during this time that he started to feel strained, like he was being boxed in and herded in a certain direction, which he was, by his parents as most kids that age sometimes feel.
Seeing this, his parents decided to send him off to a boarding school on Coruscant when he was 13, to let him have space. While there he was faced with the increased difficulty in his school work, the lack of people he knew, and his inner frustrations at what seemed to him like an attempt by his parents to herd him along a path.
However he decided to not let that stop him and quickly made friends, slowly but surely forming the same circles he had when in his previous school.
One of his friends, an avid game player, introduced Joshua to a simulation strategy game. It was a complex game and for weeks he had trouble discovering and mastering all the intricacies of the game, the little aspects.
But soon enough he had it mostly down and played with his friends on his off hours, reveling in how it tested his focus, determination, and problem solving.
The first game ended poorly with a complete draw as he and his friends were destroyed by internal strife. The second game fared much better and he barely scraped by a victory. The third game he won by a landslide.
Soon he was playing multiple opponents at once for the challenge, forming temporary alliances to gain an advantage and outwitting his friends at every turn.
And while it was fun and tested his knowledge, the game awoke something deeper in him. It all started with a simple question.
What if?
What if he could actually do this, with actual people? How would it change, could he still win? Did he want to rule the galaxy? Of course not, that would be far too much work even for him and he laughed away the idea.
What if?
What if he became a soldier though? What if he commanded vast navies and fought for truth and justice? That idea sounded far more manageable but he was young and the idea just sort of sat at the back of his mind for many years.
When he graduated at 18, his parents called him and told him that they had gotten him a job, managing a small part of a shipping company in the Colonies. Angry, spiteful, and probably not thinking quite as clearly as he should have, Joshua rebelled and thought back to an idea that had struck him during his early years.
With rebellion in mind he signed up for the Republic Navy and left for boot camp before his family could object. His parents were angry, but held off, sure that he would be turned away by the training and come back to them.
While the training was tough, Joshua found he was in his element. He was doing merely average on his physical training but in the more theoretical training he was excelling in studies of navigation, hyperspace routes, protocol and more. He was turning out to be good at his training.
By the end of his training he had done well enough to get himself assigned as a junior quartermaster for a cruiser patrolling the Outer Rim. He worked with that cruiser, under a rather strict officer, doing his best to not disappoint his commander and prove to himself that his rash decision was for the best.
Apparently he was doing something right because after three and a half years and two promotions he was recommended for Officer School on Kuat. Excited he sent a message to his Mother.
Officer School challenged every bit of Joshua's mental and physical ability, he pushed as hard as he could, with setbacks and failures alongside successes. He finally started to feel that his decision to sign up had been the right one after all.
He was so caught up in his training that he didn't get to read his mother's reply until his training was nearly done. He didn't like what he read.
His father had given him an ultimatum, retire and come home before he finished training or don't come home again. He sat up for hours rereading that message over and over, lost in indecision. He stayed up so long that he hardly got any sleep and suffered in training for the next few days while he tried to decide.
It took time, but he finally, and reluctantly decided to finish his training. Crying openly he sent an apology to his parents and graduated.
Now on his own, Joshua was forced to take more care than usual, while he was now the second lowest officers rank he still had to take care of himself.
He was assigned command of a corvette in the Outer Rim near Ryloth and Rodia. For a few years he patrolled his little section of space, dealing with the occasional pirates and smugglers. He kept himself busy, anything to keep him from thinking about his family.
Age twenty-six he was promoted again and moved to a Heavy Cruiser patrolling from Agamar to Bakura. Surprisingly he found that he'd been assigned to a corridor that pirates and smugglers frequented to get from one area of the Rim to another.
Those four years were the hardest of his career as he was almost always on call against reports of pirates hear or smugglers over there. He found himself stressed to the limit sometimes after being stuck on the trail of some pirates for over two weeks on end. He downed cups of stimcaf seemingly by the dozens sometimes.
However there were some benefits to this as he bonded with his crew, specifically the leader of his starfighter group, Vor'en Chandra. Together they worked together against the scum of the galaxy.
He was promoted again and left to serve on a Battleship in the Core worlds, he only later discovered that he was sent along that corridor to test him, though he never did find out by who.
He served in the Core for some time, an easy mission if there was one. The worst he was called for was to deal with a Senator whose ship had suffered a malfunction in the engine.
He spent more time on shore leave now, just to find something to do on his free time. By chance he met Vor'en while he was on Alderaan. They went to a bar together and Joshua remembers little more than drinking, meeting a beautiful woman and waking up naked in some hotel.
It was just a one-night stand, he never saw Alyn Fess again. But that did get him thinking, maybe he needed to find that special someone, he was starting to get up in years and if he ever wanted kids, now was the perfect window.
Luckily he met that someone not long after that night. Her name was Gracia and she worked as a waitress at a cafe he liked to frequent on his off hours. It started with idle chat, and eventually to friendly talks and well-wishes. Then came the first date, both nervous.
Six months and they were in a healthy, growing relationship. After a year he proposed and they were married. Oddly enough he received a message after his wedding that simply said 'Proud of You'.
He never did figure out who sent that message, but soon had other things to think about as at age 36 Gracia gave birth to two healthy twins, a girl and a boy. Also around that time he was promoted to Rear Admiral.
He loved his children, Rachel and James, and spent more of his off time at home with them. With his position he spent more time with logistics than with actually commanding ships but he did get chances to put ships through their paces when he had the time.
And as the years went by, he watched his children grow. He laughed at how much of a tomboy his daughter would become and joked about James becoming a doctor after he insisted on playing doctor when he was home.
Age 43 he was promoted again to Vice Admiral and was assigned command of the 3rd fleet. He took the Sojourn, a retrofitted and upgraded Inexpugnable-class tactical command ship, as his flagship.
It was around this time that the beginning murmurs of discontent arose among the Mandalorian populace. Joshua could hear the fearful murmurs among his compatriots at the possibility of a second Mandalorian war. Joshua thinks of his family and feels fear, fear for their safety creep into his mind.
At 52 he was promoted to Admiral, just as he received a message from Gracia that Rachel left to join the army. He was so proud he could hardly wait until the end of the ceremony to rush off and congratulate her.
At age 58 the war began and he led the third fleet into the Outer Rim against the Mandalorians. He transferred his daughter Rachel's special forces unit to his fleet to keep an eye on her.
He fought bravely in many battles, stretching his mind to the limit trying to constantly outwit his enemies and get as many of his people home as possible. He managed to pick up some unexpected allies along the way.
During many of his battles he always detailed men to ensure any refugees escaped alive. He did this so many times that eventually a volunteer militia, dubbed Tainer's Volunteers by his pilots, formed up. They weren't very big, 50 modified older gunships and 12 Moirail medium freighters each carrying a thousand troops but they helped.
At first he was reluctant to accept their help but after a while they grew on him and he started to actively utilize them in his battles and on solo assignments. It turned out that they were wonderful guerilla fighters.
For his family and the Republic he would do whatever it took to win.
RP Sample
In the wake of the Republic retreat from Yaga Minor, Sith forces pursued the fleeing ships, only to be stopped one system away by the 3rd fleet.
Joshua sat at the command chair for the Sojourn, eyes focused at the space in front of him, the Sojourn's wide bridge allowed for easy viewing of the battlefield and the Admiral didn't like what he saw.
"Sir, our interdictors have been engaged, the Sith forces are stuck here." His communications officer reported from his position on the bridge.
Well that was fine and dandy but the entire point was to hold them back until the Yaga Minor garrison retreated back to Republic space.
"Alright, launch fighters and give Major Chandra orders to hold his men back, don't get too close to their formation." Joshua replied.
The enemy fleet was roughly twice as large as his 3rd fleet, and as such he had to play a defensive game until his allies escaped.
"The enemy fleet is advancing, they've launched fighters and are closing fast. Major Chandra and his fighters have moved to intercept."
Well that was some good news, they had more fighters than the enemy, thanks mostly to the Sojourn and the two Vanguard-class Battleships in the fleet, one had been with the third already and the second was on loan from 1st fleet.
"What's the status of the enemy capital ships?" he asked, staring out at the viewport. The enemy fleet was huge, and he could hardly make out every ship classification.
"Enemy front ships are about to come into range of our long range turbolasers sir." The weapons officer reported, and Joshua smirked.
"Well, let's give them a volley, tell the Archon and Bulwark to open fire immediately, concentrate fire on the lead ships. Ready our long range guns and lets join them." He ordered and waited for the volley.
The two Vanguard's, Archon and Bulwark, opened fire with six of their 12 long range turbolasers, with the Sojourn's 15 joining them right after.
Turbolaser fire streamed across space towards the Sith formation, three cruisers at the head took the brunt of the fire. Their shields flickered under the combined might of 27 long range heavy guns split between them before failing. The cruisers broke off, taking fire the whole time until the first cruiser's bridge exploded, sending it spiraling slowly towards the planet. The other two retreated back to their own lines, heavily damaged. Maybe that would teach them to not advance so casually, this rek still had teeth.
Unfortunately all it did was prompt them to form a new strategy. The Sith formation broke apart, the right and left flanks spreading out to flank the 3rd fleet. Soon there were ranks of ships coming to envelope them. Joshua idly noticed that the enemy heavy hitters were in the middle of the formation.
"Clever, they're trying to force us to bring our own heavy hitters to the center so as to flank us with their smaller ships from the right and left to crush us. With our smaller numbers it would be a short battle.
"Sir, I've got reading's on two Daebolos battlecruisers and one Vengeance battleship closing from the front." his comm officer reported, a little nervousness in his voice.
That was understandable, Daebolos battlecruisers were terrifying monstrosities that would rip just about any ship in the fleet to shreds, with those droid pods if not they're guns.
The enemy was closing and those battlecruisers were getting really close to firing range, and at that point it would become a slugging match.
"Chandra, get as many fighters and bombers as you can and harass those battlecruisers, buy us some time Major!" The Daebolos class ships were deadly to capital ships, but against fighters they weren't worth much.
"I hear that sir, we'll give them the run around, try to destroy some of those droid pod launchers while we're at it. Hey Volunteers wanna join the party?"
There was a shout from the other end of the line as Chandra led his fighters and the numerous A-10's from the volunteer unit towards the battlecruisers. Joshua wouldn't admit it but their enthusiasm was good for morale, especially in this situation.
"They want us to go forward, so we'll go left and break that flank. Attention all ships, turn hard to starboard and break through the enemy encirclement. Steadfast, Bulwark take point alongside Sojourn. Archon, I want you to take point alongside the 101st fighter wing. Show no mercy, fire at will and push through fast."
Steadfast was an Avenger-class battleship with two capital-class heavy particle cannon turrets. They were deadly even to battleships, against the cruisers, frigates, and destroyers flanking them it would be easy.
The Sith responded almost immediately to their change, the heavy ships changed formation and shot towards them right as Chandra's men hit them hard, they fired back as best as they could but the Daebolos class just didn't have the weaponry to destroy fighters, and relied mostly on their fighters, which were busy with the rest of his fighter wing, and couldn't respond. Meanwhile the smaller flanks pulled inward to escape the oncoming wave, but they were already in range of Steadfast and suffered under the heavy fire.
The two particle cannon turrets tored chunks into the enemyas their shields were no match for the battleship's firepower. When Bulwark joined with its firepower the devastation was incredible. By this time the Daebolos were in range and firing away.
Archon returned fire as best as possible but most of it's heavy guns couldn't fire behind and it did little. The 101st surged towards the battlecruisers to assist Chandra but that barely slowed them down.
Three frigates went down under the intense fire and two corvettes followed, the battlecruisers were gaining with alarming speed. All the while the 3rd fleet plowed ahead, already beginning to escape the pincer. But would it be in time before those battlecruisers wittled away his defenses?
Tainer didn't get much time to think of a solution before his navigation officer shouted in alarm.
"Sir! Archon is turning about to engage the battlecruisers!" she shouted and Joshua's eyes widened momentarily. Angry, he opened the comm channel.
"Commander Tarmin, would you mind telling me just what the hell are you doing?" he said, a little louder than he probably should have.
"Buying time sir, those Battlecruisers are going to decimate the fleet if I don't." Commander Tarmin replied before closing the transmission from his end.
Tainer sighed, leaning back into his chair, his forehead beaded with sweat, even as his nav officer continued.
"Archon is no longer answering our hails, same goes for the 101st." the woman said, eyes wide.
Tainer thought about it, they had just cut a bloody swath through the enemies flank and now one of their heaviest hitting ships was staying behind along with about 150 fighters.
"What's the status of the Yaga Minor group?" he asked wearily.
"They are away sir, waiting for us at Kuat." his comm officer answered.
They had done their job, no point in sticking around. He hated this so much.
"Call Chandra and the Volunteers back and prepare to jump to lightspeed." he orderd, to the shock of his bridge crew.
"Sir, we're leaving the Archon behind." His comm officer said, starting to rise from his seat.
"Stow it, Ensign! They're willingly doing this so we can escape to fight another day, the entire point of this mission was to get the remnants from Yaga Minor to safety, what kind of victory would that be if we came back with more than half our fleet gone? They're doing this so we can get back in mostly one piece, so save your anger for the Sith. Because we will make them pay for this, you have my guarantee son."
The comm officer nodded slowly and sat back down, taking a deep breath.
"All fighters have docked, hyperspace jump ready when you are sir."
By now the Archon had moved in between the two battlecruisers, which now couldn't fire as many of their guns for the risk of hitting their allies. The Archon had no such problem and opened fire with every one of its many batteries, the 101st right alongside them. Joshua could see the minor explosions as droid pods were launched and they began to swarm the ship. He could imagine the onboard troops fighting valiently, running across the ship and trying desperately to buy themselves a few more minutes to keep trudging on.
However things must have taken a turn for the worse as the Archon suddenly exploded, the detonation was brief but it ended up taking half of one of the Daebolos battlecruisers with it, damaging the second and unfortunately vaporizing the 101st.
"Get us out of here Ensign." he said softly and the 3rd fleet jumped.
They took out 10 cruisers, 12 corvettes, 6 frigates, 1 battlecruiser, and 8 destroyers, while losing three cruisers, two frigates, one battleship and four destroyers. A victory, but it felt hollow.
Joshua Tainer, really hated war.
