The Battle of the Masserix Belt: A False Approach

Posted on Wed Jan 4th, 2023 @ 6:08pm by Thane & Bomoor Thort & Amare & Valavai Tarses

2,515 words; about a 13 minute read

Chapter: Chapter VI: The Last Bastion
Location: Bridge, BSD Absolution, Masserix Belt, Bastion Space (Near the border)
Timeline: Night (Day Three, Week Four) - After "An Accelerated Coup"

OLD

Nevertheless, she was right. It had felt fitting to be so publicly addressed by his Sith name. His true name, as Lady Amare had so appropriately named it. Or, perhaps, 'the verity of that which you are and have been for longer than you know,' as the holocron of Darth Bane had so boldly claimed, all of that time ago.

He looked quickly to Bomoor, whose own intense gaze seemed more troubled beneath the surface than he really ever recalled in their storied past together; the thoughtful and once-kindly Ithorian seemed ill at ease, albeit confident and powerful, as if there would be no peace until he conquered whatever foe - real or psychological - plagued his reality. For the briefest of moments, he wondered if this was right, if that, in spite of the request from Rift Knight Theon, Bomoor would have even come to Bastion but for his lead and suggestion, or that he would have even countenanced speaking with Grand Moff Tarses and entering into this alliance, or into this galaxy-defining war.

He turned back to the viewport, the molten-gold invading his eyes once again as he assured himself that Bomoor made his own decisions, and that they both knew what they were doing - what they had done and what they would do, all three of them - was right. Right for them, right for Bastion, and, ultimately, right for the galaxy.

NEW

The otherworldly-blue of hyperspace melted away in a flash. The transparisteel viewport of the BSD Absolution adjusted to the shifting light rays in nanoseconds, shielding the naked eyes of any of the bridge crew that were absorbing the magnificent sight unfolding before them. Normal space stretched in all directions, the simple view of stars and blackness contrary to the scientific facts that had been broadcast regarding the 'mass shadows' of gravity that interrupted interstellar FTL travel. Asteroids of varying sizes decorated the near-distance, where two large arrow-shaped vessels could be seen adjusting positions towards the Absolution, whilst their turbolasers blasted into the nearest rock formations.

Consoles and lights flared to life across the Absolution's bridge. Officers and mouse droids were harrying themselves as deafening alert klaxons blared across the ship, ensuring that the entirety of the crew, already poised at their battlestations, recognised that the inevitable conflict had now begun.

Thane peered towards the gargantuan asteroid field, spying dozens of small grey and orange specks spreading out, like two great swarms of insects, from the two nominally 'adrift' Star Destroyers. Whilst a number of turbolasers were still devoted to swatting away the larger or more dangerous asteroids, both vessels were assuming an attack formation against the Absolution, perhaps confident of their superior numbers against Tarses' sole ship.

Insignificant against the power of the dark side, he seethed quietly to himself, in a rare personal affirmation of his faith in the twisted, mystic power he had come to know and regard as his own.

"Their hubris and reliance on small-minded tactical advantages herald their doom, Grand Moff," he said, stepping aside to be in line with Bomoor as Valavai Tarses came to the central platform.

A number of officers in the pits offered wary, confused, or suspicious glances toward their leader and his peculiar company. It was not the first time and was undoubtedly compounded by the reality of warfare now commencing, with grossly inferior numbers on their side, and seemingly at the behest of these foreign mystics. Thane forgave them their concerns; it was not unreasonable, and he did not expect them to fathom the might or majesty of what he, Amare and Bomoor represented.

“Most importantly,” Bomoor added as he stood to his impressive full height as his eyes gazed at the distant conflict already in progress, “We have forced them to spring their trap far earlier than they had originally intended, meaning they are exposed and under-prepared. Rather than their fleet descending on Bastion, forcing you into a corner, we now have them on the open battlefield where all their subterfuge and dirty dealings will be of no benefit to them.”

Amare turned away from the expansive forward view ahead and gazed about the command deck, glancing at the men and women hard at work at their duty stations. She was more interested in the people around her than the battle ahead. Relationships and emotions around her tickled her interest far more than battle strategies and the chaos of naval combat. She wondered if there was some way to improve their focus and confidence through the Force. The Sith holocrons had mentioned something called "Battle Meditation", but she had only the faintest understanding and was not yet able to manifest such an ability.

"Anthark knows my methods, my patterns, and my feints," Tarses remarked to Bomoor. "Approaching so brazenly like this in the open is not how I conduct strategy. He knows I've kept military secrets from him, and thus will suspect a trap. This may not work as well as either of you have planned."

Amare glanced at Tarses as he spoke and noted his usual way of standing at ease with his hands clasped behind his back. She turned and saw another deck officer in the pit below at the center of the deck doing much the same. The good student that she was, she mimicked the stance, straightened up her posture, and let her inner pride swell a little to help puff up her chest just as those men were. At first, it felt a bit silly and a little too masculine standing about in such a way, but then she began to let herself saunter around the pit with her hands together at her back, gazing about, turning to briefly inspect some of the nearby officers.

One such uniformed man who was speaking to an enlistee at a console locked narrowed eyes with Amare for barely a couple of seconds, long enough for the Nautolan to sense his annoyance with her unwelcome presence, then turned back to his subordinate. It failed to vex the Sith apprentice for she knew that she, her master, and Bomoor were not trusted by any of them outside of the Tarses men, and only tolerated their presence out of respect for the chain of command and their revered Grand Moff. If in their place, she would have felt precisely the same. She wondered, however, just how they would feel about the Sith after today. All the more reason for the Dark Lords of the Force to deliver the legitimate government of Bastion a righteous and decisive victory. It was the only way to earn their respect, but that wasn't enough for Amare. She wanted them to fear her, to be in awe of her, and to never roll their eyes at her with rudeness and contempt ever again.

Thane more physically turned himself to face Grand Moff Tarses, and he rested a hand on his apprentice's shoulder as he took on the position, offering a confident expression to the elder statesman. In spite of the different in age and height between them, Thane did not feel cowed by the Grand Moff nor the circumstances they now found themselves in. He silently noted that it had been a number of years since he had stood on the bridge of a capital ship, facing down the barrels of turbolasers; he knew he was largely untested in the field of naval conflict, and that his own age and experiences would equate to little in the minds of experienced battlefield commanders. Nevertheless, it was on that basis that he and Bomoor would now challenge the perceptions of their rivals and peers, and seize the conflict as their own.

"I believe it is integral that Anthark either suspects a trap or, perhaps also convincingly, that your belief in us as heralds of the Force - one of the key catalysts for his attempted coup - has resulted in us, mere foreigners and children, seizing control of your flagship and naval strategy," Thane said, not hiding his words from any of the assembled or nearby bridge officers. "Failing that," he continued, gesturing faintly towards the asteroid field, "we have conflicting commanders on the bridges of those two ships; you know Anthark's tactics and that he might remain committed to convening with reinforcements, but the GalactaWerks executive might be less conscious of Imperial or naval tactics. They might be less open to Moff Anthark's warnings or suggestions, believing this battle, and by extension, your throne, could be theirs. On this matter, of the Company, Bomoor and I do have some experience."

Thane tried to be mindful of overreaching, of causing offence to Tarses or even undermining him, but as he now turned towards the viewport once more, extending a hand properly towards their foes, he felt assured that this was appropriate - it was what, ultimately, he, Bomoor and Amare had been drawn into this conflict for. Glancing the far-off Destroyers against his gloved hand, the child-like beauty of perspective almost made it seem possible he could grasp the vessels within his fist.

"Your own tacticians advised me that the Enterprise-class has a greater weapons range than the Princeps. We must keep both the Enterprise and Servator within range of each other, avoiding them from separating to pincer us whilst we close our own range. The temptation for the executive to fire upon us will be too much, I wager. More so, if they think they can kill us, too."

Tarses nodded in agreement with Thane as he stared out into the distance where the two enemy ships were lying in wait. He stroked the gray stubble on his chin a few times, then turned to the lead flight control officer. "Helm," he ordered, "make your heading one-eight-five, then full-stop. Keep the engines on low burn and ready for flanking speed on my mark."

When the order was acknowledged, a junior officer in the command pit reported in, "Grand Moff, multiple sensor pings directed towards us from both opposition ships."

"Weapon alignments?" Tarses asked.

"Affirmative, sir," the officer replied. "Both vessels' turbolasers are focusing us now. Their fighters and bombers are deployed. They're slowing to station keeping now. We're not yet in range of their weapons."

"Standby primary and secondary shields," Tarses called out. "Have point-defense turrets on high alert for incoming bombers. Scramble all wings and have the main batteries establish firing solutions on Anthark's ship."

A thought occurred to Amare just then, "Grand Moff, is it possible Anthark has access to ship cloaking tech?"

"We've considered that already and the answer is no," Tarses informed her. "We abandoned cloaks years ago due to today's military sensors having a very good chance of defeating such gimmicks. Why do you ask?"

"I've had a run-in with a cloaked ship before," Amare answered. "It was...a very deadly encounter."

Tarses turned from her and did not respond in any way. It was an interesting tactical question from someone so young and inexperienced in the ways of military strategy, but it was also a distraction he didn't need for the moment.

Amare bit her tongue slightly, silently cursing herself, embarrassed that she probably asked the man a very dumb question in the middle of a crisis.

Thane offered a small nod to Amare, offering some measure of assurance and approval for her having deigned to ask the Grand Moff a sensible question, before he then looked to Bomoor. "Will Mentis and the smuggler be joining our allies on the field?" He queried.

"I shall pose the situation to them," Bomoor answered, "This will be a good test of Mentis' commitment to our values. I trust he will believe in this cause as we do, but he does lean a little too heavily on the smuggler's opinion as well. It would be good to have the strength of the Raptor in the fight after all the upgrades that have been made to it.

Pulling out his comlink, Bomoor took a few paces away from the centre of the bridge to make the call to the Red Raptor, which should have dropped out of hyperspace alongside the Absolution.

A lean young woman about Amare's height dressed in a solid black Bastion uniform strode onto the bridge with a datapad in gloved hand. The woman had an almost chalk white pallor to her skin, and her very short military cut silvery hair came close to matching. Upon noticing her arrival, Amare immediately took note of the pointed ears and clear gray eyes, features that were familiar to her from someone who quite literally haunted her past.

The albino handed Tarses the pad, his hand reaching for it without looking at the woman, as if he expected it right at that very moment.

The Grand Moff needed only a few seconds to assess the intel before he granted a single nod. "I concur," he said quietly. "I commend your classical thinking, Lieutenant Jax." He used the attached stylus pen to sign off on the plan and sent the pale alien back to her post with the pad. On her way out, Jax turned and threw a quick narrow-eyed glance at the dark Force-empowered trio before exiting through the open blast doors.

Tarses stepped closer to Thane and his cohorts and spoke almost conspiratorially, "In two minutes, the officers will execute a Faulx Approach. The strategy is to harass their two ships enough to keep them close together whilst using one ship to cover us from fire from the other. We'll flank to port, approach Anthark at high speed to his starboard, and then we knife-fight him. Close proximity, heavy broadsiding, recklessly bold. We will take casualties, especially if our hulls collide. Morthart's ship will be ignored which we anticipate will encourage her to lend support to Anthark as much as possible, especially if his ship is blocking her turrets. That is the plan."

He then gazed more sternly at Thane, "Under the circumstances, such a maneuver is incredibly risky, and I've chosen it specifically due to your presence. I've placed an incredible amount of faith and trust in the three of you so far. Much more than is reasonable in most regards. This is the moment you can prove to all of these honorable people behind us that you're worthy of the uniforms we've given you. If the Sith have indeed returned, give them a reason to believe it as I have."

Bomoor had now returned, having contacted the Raptor, and heard the bulk of the plan and Tarses' comment about the strength of the Sith.

"You will see not only the power of the Sith but the omnipotence of the Force itself at work here today, Grand Moff," Bomoor spoke with a renewed confidence, "Our crew will support your fighters in the asteroid field and we shall demonstrate abilities that neither your rebel Moff nor GalactaWerks can fathom."

TBC

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