[h2][b]Aboard the [i]Warspite[/i][/b][/h2]

Araunda stood looking at the display of the ships in the system as a group of X-Wings and Y-Wings flanked from a nearby asteroid belt and struck at the [i]Punisher[/i]. She cursed under her breath as the ships moved in on the vessel and struck it. She turned to Admiral Quint. “Pull the [i]Punisher[/i] back, have it shielded by the body of the [i]Vronskr[/i]. It will still take some hits, but her big cousin will help her out.” Quint nodded in affirmation, as he walked over to relay the command to the formation. Quint was a good man, perfectly capable of running the fleet by himself. This however was her fleet, and her command and so long as she was on the ship she would command it. Her experience vastly outnumbered that of Admiral Weltin Quint. 

She smiled as the [i]Vronskr[/i] pushed into position to help the [i]Punisher[/i]. She could see the lasers lashing out in space against their opponents, glancing off the shields. It truly was a work of beauty, she still preferred the older style Venator over that of the Imperial Star Destroyer however she couldn’t argue with the amount of firepower that an Imperial, or even an Imperial-II could bring to bear. Sure a Venator like the [i]Absolution[/i] had a greater fighter complement, but it lacked in the structural integrity and firepower departments. She still couldn’t quite understand why Tarkin being a Clone Wars Veteran hadn’t chosen to improve on the design of the Venator. 

“Send the light cruisers to flank the Rebel Fleet-” she didn’t expect the cruisers to be able to cause much in the way of damage to the Rebel Fleet. Her main hope that was that with the firepower of the [i]Vronskr[/i] and the damaged [i]Punisher[/i] depleting their shields was that her other vessels would be able to cause some damage. In the meantime the [i]Warspite[/i] and [i]Vengeance[/i] were rapidly approaching the planet unhindered by any rebel vessels. This meant that the next stage of her plan was about to come to into place, they had purge her world of these terrorists. The failure of the colonel reflected poorly on her. He could argue all he wanted that Tarkin had given him the greenlight, and that it was her fault for the appointment of a Prime Minister. However the Prime Minister had never been her choice, there were still some portions of the New Republic that persisted in this modern day and age. The appointment of a ‘civilian’ Prime Minister, Senator or even Governor was a requirement of every system within the Empire. Until the Emperor did away with this system, she was a victim of it.

On the bright side, she wouldn’t need to worry about that while Uslam was in a state of emergency. Right now she was in complete and full control of the planet, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Araunda smirked as she looked at the hologram of the theatre of war. The planet lit up green as the vessels started to get closer to the planet. “Ready the gunships, and the the prefabricated bases aboard the [i]Vengeance[/i] and [i]Warspite[/i]. I need them ready to deploy in a half rotation. Contact the Colonel, tell him I need an up to date map of what’s going on. I know that he’s been pushing his way back to the capital, I need to know where they’re digging in so I can deploy our forces to maximum effect.”