[center][i]A collaboration between [@Letter Bee] and [@CaptainBritton][/i][/center]

[b]Orbit of Kintan[/b]
[b]1400 hrs, Unknown Date, 4 ABY[/b]
[hr]
Leonard had finished his date with Ken, received the information on Kintan's defenses, and now, his Venator ([i]The Gamechanger[/i]) filled with the latest military technology, jumped to Lightspeed to the Kintan System itself. While the discovery of the Nikto species' lingering loyalty to the Hutt Cartel was...surprising, the fact remained, his retrofitted Venator wasn't his only asset; he had buzz droids, Droideka Mk. IIs, and mercenaries that can serve as boarding parties. He'll prove himself the next [i]Thrawn[/i] soon enough.

Ken Neumann looked around the windows of the bridge, blinking at what he saw, or rather, didn't see. "The computers say we're in the Kintan System, but where's Planet Kintan? All I see are asteroids."

Raj VIzla looked at Ken darkly. "That's because we're in the Kintan System's [i]asteroid belt[/i], a few million - or was it billion? - miles away from the planet. Leonard's strategy is to pull in some of those juicy asteroids and use them to manufacture droid starfighters, some of which shall be stored in this ship, others which shall be seeded all throughout this region in order to arrive as reinforcements at pre-arranged times during the battle, or harass other installations in the star system itself."

Rule Findos, the Nemodian logistics officer, then interjected. "Here's hoping that the Hutt Cartel fleet does not notice our preliminary operations here, then. Either way, we should scramble some of the starfighters we [i]do[/i] have as an escort; the ship's forges won't work if the weapons are running at the same time, and vice versa."

Lumbering nearby Kintan itself was the, albeit small, but powerful defense forces entrusted to the command of a Togruta with green skin, named Kalo Zysh. This associate of the Hutt Cartel entrusted to the governorship and defense of Kintan had shilled to the Nikto, and had constructed a formidable group of not simply criminals, but partisans, citizens truly attempting to do good for their planet, being led by a slaver and trafficker. The Dreadnaught-class Heavy Cruiser, the flagship of the small flotilla above the planet, was easily picked up on sensors, flanked on both sides by Lancer-class frigates, and a Ton Falk-class Escort Carrier lingered nearby the main force. They were not alert, nor alerted, by the presence of the new arrivals.

Which was a good thing, as Leonard's Venator, whose factory ship upgrades were functioning at max efficiency, was now seeding Kintan's asteroid belt with Droid Tri-fighter and Hyena-class bomber squadrons. It also kept a full wing of the newly-manufactured starfighters for itself.

Leonard would then give new orders: "Have the droid starfighters behin zooming towards Kintan at Sublight, while [i]The Gamechanger[/i] will deactivate its forges and jump to lightspeed some distance from the Dreadnought, then, without waiting for a hail, deploy its own wings of fighters and bombers en-masse to screen our advance. Now that our forges have been deactivated, our armament will be able to function at full capacity, and focus fire on the Lancer frigates each; turbolasers first, then torpedoes - both proton and buzz droid - and after that, ion cannons as I want as many vessels intact as possible. After that, we can begin boarding operations on the larger vessels. Any questions?"

There were none. And so, some minutes later, the Venator-class Star Destroyer would appear right before the Hutt Cartel armada, deploying a thick cloak of droid starfighters that would fire as they deployed, making their hostile intent clear.

The Hutt flotilla didn't bear a hail even as the Venator drew closer, the starfighters blotting out the sun as they sped towards the unsuspecting fleet. Despite being off-guard and otherwise unprepared, the ships scrambled into formation. It was made obvious that these were not pirates, nor citizens pressed into service. Spared no expense, the vessels were manned primarily by trained men, Imperial defectors and former spacers at the helm and guns of each vessel, though yet still corners were cut, so arguably "non-essential" crew were hordes of Nikto pressed to service. Loaders and gunners swarmed their stations and a formation took shape, the Dreadnaught bearing its five fore turbolaser batteries at the forward of the formation, the Lancers making an arrow formation, the maneuverable frigates manned entirely by quad-lasers dedicated to making a starfighter pilot's life hell. A wall of lasers and flak clouded the advance of the droid starfighters, as the Ton Falk stayed at the rear, not yet ready to deploy its wing of fighters.

Leonard surprisingly kept his cool. "The Lancers are focusing on our starfighter screen; keep our armament on them as I ordered before. As for the dreadnought...focus as much spare energy as you could on the forward shields; get their attention. At the same time, deploy our Seperatist Troop Transport and two L/AAT shuttles at full speed towards that capital ship; use only droids as they can survive much more G-Force than an organic." 

A smile. "Once our Droideka Mk. IIs enter that vessel, it's as good as ours."

The Dreadnaught unleashed its turbolaser batteries full force in volley, being the only vessel with real anti-ship capabilities. The Lancers, under constant assault from both starfighters, bombers, and the Venator itself, crumbled, the two frigates attempting to adjust before disjoining the formation slightly. The flak wall opened slightly, but resumed, all fire forward in a last-ditch attempt to cease the starfighter onslaught at the very least. Finally, the wing of fighters poured from the Ton Falk, numbering six ARC-170s, seven V-Wings, seven X-Wings, and four TIEs, all marked distinctively with red symbols, the crossed tridents of the Hutt Cartel. The fighters swarmed over the flak wall, and scattered immediately, attempting to catch the droid fighters as they either began to fly into the flak wall or began to peel away from the flak wall.

"The Lancers are down!" Leonard said. "Have the remaining Droid Tri-fighters focus on the enemy 'Aces' - for I am sure they must be 'Aces' in their own way - while the Hyena-class bombers are to keep escorting the transports boarding the dreadnought; we need our Battle Droids and Droideka Mk. IIs inside if we're going to have a chance to win this!"

The fighters made their valiant effort, but they were sheerly outnumbered, swarmed on all sides by droids without concept of retreat or loss. The Hutt fighters attempted to peel away from the swarm of droid fighter surrounding them, but met their fates, all but extinguished. The Lancers, meanwhile, were continuing the effort, however their hulls were weak and their deflector shields essentially gone, and the first was cut whole through by torpedoes, and the second simply went dark under sustained fire from the horde of fighters. The Ton Falk went to make a valiant escape, speeding off, essentially unarmed regardless, attempting to make it to range for a hyperspace jump.

But the Dreadnaught, it would stand and fight. It may be the last ship left, but it was not about to give up. The turbolaser batteries redoubled their efforts, with the Dreadnaught, half the size of the Venator and much slimmer, attempting to make itself a small target, slimming itself while forward facing and letting fly turbolasers by the volley.

Leonard, impatient, would then say: "Rule, hail the Carrier; offer its crew 50,000 credits in gold nuggets to stay, and another 40,000 to attack the Dreadnought with its remaining starfighters."

A response followed, the Ton Falk halting in its tracks. The response was as follows, albeit in the form of encrypted text, easily decoded by any other vessel with comms equipment. "NO STARFIGHTERS LEFT. WILL STAY."

The Dreadnaught, oblivious to the betrayal from its ally, continued its barrage, but was also oblivious to the next flaw. As the bombers strafed its hull, the transports full of droids made it inside, through brute force breaking the hangar doors away. Though, nothing outwardly occurred at first, and the vessel kept up its attack for a tense few minutes.

However, in the halls, the bulk of the crew, the Nikto conscripts, were crumbling under the onslaught of the boarders. The veteran defectors, pirates, and spacers among them were too few to mount a coherent defense, and pods went out, arrayed in all directions, lifeforms present in almost all of them, before the Dreadnaught went dark, no lifeforms present aboard.

Now was the moment of truth. "Use Tractor beams to pick up the escape pods! Broadcast messages to them offering payment to defect! Also, recall the Seperatist Troop Transport and the L/AATs - we are going to begin the ground phase of this liberation."

Raj turned towards Leonard. "What forces will I lead?"

The reply was, "You mean [i]we[/i], because I am going down as well. Also, we lead 1,500 mercenaries, 50,000 Battle Droids, 500 Droideka Mk. IIs, and 6 Leonard-class assault tanks. Oh, and 80 Hailfire-class Artillery Droids and 80 recon craft." Leonard then went to Ken. "You're coming too; let's see how good you are with a vibroblade."