Msst Orbit

[DarKnight]

Taking in the fabulous scent of the pizza, Zanatos smiled contentedly.

"Finally, I'm starved! Anyways, down to business. As Vanstone told me, you need some help. Do you want it or not?"

[Fleet Admiral James Cook]

"I would never turn it down, of course. But then again, what do you have to offer to me?" asked Cook.

At that precise moment, he felt something odd. Something was about to happen.

"Sound the alarms, Melee!" he yelled, jumping out of his seat.

Melee, too, got up. "Sir?"

"We will soon be under attack. Alert Msst to turn on the planetary shield generators."

Admiral Vanstone was already on the comlink with Fleet HQ.

[Inquisitor Camulus]

Death Hammer Fleet consisting of:

Sovereign-Class SSD
- Athena's Revenge

Armament:
axial superlaser (disabled)
heavy laser cannons
turbolasers
gravity well projectors
tractor beams
ion cannons

Complement:
1 Squadron TIE Starfighters -auto compliment-
1 Squadron TIE Bombers -auto compliment-

4 Imperial Star Destroyers
-Imperator
-Crucious
-Kadavra
-Orlais

Armament:
Dual heavy turbolaser turrets
Dual heavy ion cannon turrets
Quad heavy turbolasers
Triple medium turbolasers
Medium turbolasers
Taim & Bak XX-9 heavy turbolasers
Borstel NK-7 ion cannons
Phylon Q7 tractor beam projectors

Complement:
1 Squadron TIE Starfighters -auto compliment-
1 Squadron TIE Bombers -auto compliment-

2 Immobilizer 418 Interdictor Cruisers
-Destro
-Immobulus

Armament:
SFS G-7x gravity well projectors
Taim & Bak GX-7 quad laser cannons

Complement:
1 Squadron TIE Starfighters -auto compliment-
1 Squadron TIE Bombers -auto compliment-

3 Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser
-Patronus
-Excrucio
-Sirius

Armament:
Quad turbo laser cannons
Heavy Turbo laser batteries
Turbo laser cannons
Warhead launcher (concussion missiles)

Complement:
1 Squadron TIE Starfighters -auto compliment-

10 Squadrons of TIE Fighters
- Death Eater
- Blackout
- Nightshade
- Carnage
- Stalker
- Venom
- Dark Star
- Abbadon
- Nightwing
- Death Dealer

Armament:
SFS L-s1 laser cannons

5 Squadrons of TIE Interceptors
- Razor
- Battlestar
- Osiris
- Firefly
- Slipstream

Armament:
SFS L-s9.3 laser cannons
Blaster cannons

4 Squadrons of TIE Advanced Fighters
- Rejects
- Irregulars
- Nutjobs
- Pschyos

Armament:
L-s9.3 laser cannons

Athena's Revenge and the rest of the Imperial Death Hammer Fleet as well as Vanstone's Star Destoyer, now dubbed the "Inglorious" bursted out of hyperspace in orbit above the secluded world of Msst. Camulus grinned darkly as he observed the world. He then activated the Fleet wide comms. "All ships, raise shields and weapons to maximum. Do not fire until given the order!" The tactical officer looked up from his console. "My lord. It would appear that the planet has a planetary shield activated. Somehow, they knew we were coming for them." Camulus growled and his body began radiating a dark red aura. "Son of a bacchae. They must've planned this from the beginning. They knew we'd take his ship."

He looked down for an instant and then at the communications officer. "Contact Grand Admiral Tuulk. We're going to need the Atrocity and its Solar Ionization Cannons. Get ahold of him now!" He yelled at his comms officer, his eyes glowing a red color. The comms officer, scared to death of his Imerial Lord nodded his head. "At once my lord." He began trying to locate the Grand Admiral to activate the comms. The comms officer looked up. "My lord. We have them on comms. Go head sir." Camulus nodded his head. "Grand Admiral Tulk, this is Imperial Inquisitor Camulus. The traitors have enabled a planetary shield around Msst. We're going to need the Atrocity's Solar Ionization Cannons."

He glanced at Zairon and Athena and smirked. "If these traitors thinks this planetary shield will protect them, they're in for a bloody rude awakening."

[Lord Ire]

"Why is this not surprising? This little womp rat keeps on giving us problems."Tuulks deep voice replies over the comline with his own growl, as it would turn out this mess with the rouge Admiral Cook has made quite a stir already. Unknown to Camulus and Zairon, the Imperial Senate has already began a push to send a commission to Yaga Minor to discover what really happened there thanks to the shoving of a Senator from Yaga Minor.

"I'll be there as soon as possible, Inquisitor. Don't fire until fired upon and if he proves to be that stupid, unleash Hell." Tuulks says as he closes the comlink before ording the Atrocity to Msst space.

[Inquisitor Camulus]

Camulus nodded his head in understading. "Of course Grand Admiral. I've ordered the Fleet to maximize weapons and shields and hold unless ordered or fired upon." He grinned darkly when he heard the Grand Admiral give the order to head to Msst. He looked at Zairon and Athena. "Well, looks like we're going to have fun once they get here. We might even have us a new base here soon. Can't wait for the fireworks to start."

[Lord Zairon]

Zairon glaned out the viewport at the captured Star Destroyer. "Nice name choice by the way. We can return it to those inglorious bastards."

As he listened to the communications, Zairon frowned. "Don't fire unless fired upon? We were fired upon back at Yaga Minor. They committed treason. Sitting here and giving them the first shot is foolish." Zairon said confused. "I understand the honor of not attacking a defensless foe, but they've attacked and their shields are up. If anything combat should be more than engaged before they open fire on us. Basic strategy. At the very least shouldn't we at least require his surrender instead of sitting here stupidly?"

[Inquisitor Camulus]

He heard Zairon comment on the name of the Destroyer and burst out laughing maniacilly. "Thanks Zairon. Glad you approve." He stood up and walked over to glance out the view port as well and then looked at him. "Well, I suppose you're right, but we can't do much damage with the damnable shield up. The Atrocity's Solar Ionization cannons will disable them and then the damage can begin." He shook his head in anger. "I so want to pay them back for what they've done. Traitors to the Empire." He paused and looked down for a minute and then back up at Zairon. "You're right. Let's see if he'll answer on the comms. We'll give that mir'osik a chance to surrender. If he doesn't, too bad for him."

He walked over to the communications console and opened a comms transmission to the planetary base. "Attantion Admiral Cook. This is Imperial Inquisitor Camulus Ambrosinus speaking. I am here with the Imperial Death Hammer Fleet. I'm giving you the opportunity to lower your shields and surrender at once to the Empire. If you refuse it will be met with deadly force. Your choice. Think of the lives of your men that can be spared if you surrender. Once again, the choice is yours."

He killed the comm and shook his head, knowing full well that he knew Cook wouldn't surrender. He looked at Zairon. "Now we wait and see."

[Lord Zairon]

Zairon crossed his arms and looked out the viewport bored. "Shame he won't surrender. The egotistical elitist will probably run like the honorless coward he is." Zairon said with a shrug. "Still we offered him the choice, he has nobody to blame but himself when he refuses."

Athena glanced down at his chrono. "Should you give the order to raise the Intridictor fields now or are you waiting for his response?" Lady Athena asked.

Zairon glanced out the planet, "You know, I think I'll send him a message myself. I want his men to see his lack of honor so they know his cowardice." Zairon turned on the communications and nodded, "May I Lord Camulus?"

[Inquisitor Camulus]

He looked at Athena and nodded his head. "Yeah, you're right. We'll activate the Interdictors." He looked at his tactical officer. "Lieutenant, inform the Interdictors to power up their gravity well generators." The lieutenant nodded his head. "At once m'lord." Camulus looked at Zairon and grinned. "Be my guest Zairon. This should be interesting."

[Lord Zairon]

Sir Zairon bowed, "Thank you my lord." He said before stepping up to the communicator and powering it up. The Imperial Knight had the communications crew broadcast it on all open channels.

"To the esteemed James Cook, former admiral of the RGE and admiral of this rogue squadron of yours. As a man of your all knowing intellegence should know I am Sir Zairon, Imperial Knight. You're fleet is surrounded. The Imperial Death Hammer fleet has you cut off with no hope of escape. You have no allies to come to your rescue while more RGE ships will be arriving in moments." Zairon glanced at his chrono and saw the reinforcements should be there in minutes.

"You have but three options. I'll list the one that a foolish, idiot of a tactician would pick. You can fight and all of you will die." Zairon paused to let the seriousness trickle. "Option two, you can surrender. A court martial will be held, and the courts will determine your fate." Zairon said. "A risky move, because you put it all on the line. You could be executed or you could be released." Zairon shrugged, "Who knows?" Then Zairon smirked, "However, I'm willing to offer you a final choice that can spare lives and ships on both sides." Zairon said, "I'm sure I can convince the RGE to go along with it." He said.

"Your final choice is this. You and me can meet in a neutral location we both find agreeable. Just the two of us, and have a duel of honor. No helpers, no blasters, no lightsabers, just two honor blades." Zairon said, "If you win, your crimes are dropped and you and your men are free to go and we will only engage you if you attack the RGE. However, if you lose you will surrender and order your men to do so as well." Zairon said. "Unless you are a coward I'd recommend that choice. An honorable duel between honorable men, unless you admit that you have no honor and would like to turn that offer down." Zairon said trailing off.

Then he shrugged, "But hey, a man of your intellegence should be able to make the right choice correct? You can fight and die, surrender and let the courts determine your fate, or accept an honorable duel to determine the fate of this entire battle." Zairon said. "I await your response, James." He said closing the channel. Then he turned back to Camulus. "I hope I didn't overstep my bounds, sir."

[Lord Ire]

-the Atrocity-
Eclipse-class Super Star Destroyer

Armament:
Axial superlaser (disabled)
Heavy Turbolaser cannons
Solar Ionization cannons
Ion cannons
Tractor beam projectors
Gravity well projectors

Complement:
1 squadron TIE/Interceptors - auto compliment
1 squadron TIE/bombers bombers - auto compliment

**********************************

As Camulus and Sir Zairon converse, the Atrocity appears over Msst from hyperspace. Tuulk sits in his command chair looking at the tactical readouts at his station, it shows the Death Hammer fleet in position with the Interdictors powering up their gravity wells, as well as the technical data on Msst indicating the planetary shields being up. Tuulk taps the screen to begin getting the sensor data on the shields, unfortunately the scanners are unable to determine what shielding system Cook's base is using but its of little concern to him.

"You think you're safe don't you?" Tuulk asks the non-present Cook as he reads his screen. He looks over to Ensign Ricky and orders him to open a channel to Inquisitor Camulus, who promptly does so.

"Channel open, Sir."

"Inquisitor Camulus, SITREP. Please tell me that the traitorous slime has opted to not surrender." Tuulk orders as he slightly begins to salivate at the thought of crushing the insolent rouge Imperial with the full might of the Empire. He awaits word and hopes the words are music to his ears.

[Inquisitor Camulus]

Camulus laughed quietly hearing Zairon talk to Cook. He looked at Zairon and shook his head. "No, that's fine Zairon. It was great. Wonder how he'll respond to that!"

At that time, he looked out the view port and saw the Atrocity as it emerged from hyperspace. He grinned. "Ah, looks like the Atrocity has arrived my friend. Show time."

He walked over to the communications console as he heard Tuulk speaking. "Grand Admiral, all ships are combat ready, shields and weapons at maximum. I've offered Cook the terms of surrender, but he has not replied as of yet. The planetary shield has been activated as well. What do you suggest sir?"

He then glanced at Zairon and chuckled lightly. "Also sir, Imperial Knight Zairon has given Cook an ultimatum. He can either fight and die, surender and let the courts deal his fate, or meet him on a nuetral ground and fight in a duel of honor. That about sums it up sir."

[Lord Ire]

Tuulk sits back and takes a deep breath, he then slams his fist down on the armrest of his chair when he hears that Cook hasn't replied to the option of surrender. But then the words of Zairon's personal challenge and ultimatum to Cook raises his opinions of the Knight who shows ingenuity and cunning intellect in the situation. It was obvious why Zairon was first among Ire's Imperial Knights. "Interesting, very interesting..."

Tuulk sits back and begins waying his options in the situation, he hopes Cook is foolish enough to refuse a peaceful ending but then he also doesn't want to see millions of Imperial credits go up in smoke either. Tuulk opens the line to Camulus' ship and relents to reason. "Let us see what he says to his given options, let's hope he's foolish to decline."

[Inquisitor Camulus]

Camulus nodded his head, hearing Tuulk. "Of course Grand Admiral. I don't know why, but I'm getting a strong feeling its not going to turn out well for him. We'll wait and see how he replies to Zairon's ultimatum. This should be interesting sir." He then smirked hearing his last comment. "Sir, he probably will be foolish and not surrender. Like I said. its going to get interesting."

[Fleet Admiral James Cook]

Cook gazed at the incoming message, his brow furrowed.

"There is but one option, Melee."

"That being?"

"FIGHT THEM CORRUPT BASTARDS!!" This came not from Cook, but from behind them both.

Cook turned to see an officer, wearing full medical recovery clothing, limping his way over to them.

"And you are?" asked Cook.

"Corporal Zamora's m'name."

"And why do you say such for this situation?"

"Them idiots out there darn near killed me."

"And you want revenge?"

"Yes."

"Then you won't get it." Cook said simply.

"Sir?" inquired Melee.

"We are hopelessly outnumbered, Melee," Cook said. "To fight would be to lose lives in vain."