[center][h1] Daxini, Lokoid, and Pirates, Oh My! [/h1][/center]

[center][h2][color=39b54a]Collab with Daxini and Lokoid[/color][/h2][/center]

[b]Soundtrack: [url=https://youtu.be/LKBdeEJWcb4?feature=shared] Xmillsa - F-777 Space Battle [/url] [/b]

[hr]

[color=8dc73f]Lokoid operations had already begun a few cycles ago as soon as they arrived via wormhole jump. The ships immediately began salvage operations with hundreds of small drones working around the clock to gather up what they could. Large asteroids were broken apart and processed, derelict ships were torn apart and melted down for parts, and deactivated droids were sent back for assessment and reactivation if necessary. However, lingering munitions did pose a problem as there were already a few drones that had been lost because of volatile substances contained within ship holds or floating missiles that had hit their targets but failed to detonate or homing space mines that had simply continued to float never having been triggered. These accidents were minor, however, unpleasant as the cleanup meant that not everything could be salvaged and therefore some losses could not be recuperated.

Despite this, Kajuto’s salvage operations continued on schedule and he cooperated closely with the Hunter hierarch when searching for pirates to hunt down and destroy. However, there was one derelict base that seemed to be a hive of scum and villainy worse than any other Pirate haven – a Lokoid pirate haven. It was one thing to fight fair and square Lokoid who could be turned away at the very notion of unprofitable outcomes, but it was another to fight cutthroat Lokoid pirates with no backing and nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Initial drone scouting revealed that they were already aware of Kajuto’s presence, but were not aware of the Hunters observing them at all. The Hunters could engage, however, they could not guarantee that they’d be able to take out the outpost shielding and the outpost itself before pirates could launch their own drone swarm attacks. Judging from the collection of ships small and large making up the outpost, some fairly recently acquired, suggests that the pirates are more adequately armed than they first seem. The outpost itself is massive with several corvettes and destroyers of different make, manufacturer, and origin docked all around its rugged exterior.

Hunter Hierarch of 289th Tactical Hunter Taskforce, Urta, a female Lokoid chittered her chelicerae and clicked in frustration. Simply put, the pirates in the region were expected to be smaller sporadic groups that the Hunters could’ve handled on their own with minimal support from the destroyer groups, however, this was a distinctly different outcome from their expectations and presented a tactical and strategic difficulty that they simply had not prepared for. What was worse was the Hierarch council had declared that the Hierarchy as a whole would have a zero tolerance policy towards piracy. It was simply not good for business nor was it good for client trust if the Hierarchy could not defend itself from piracy. The Annihilator Dreadnought could have been the perfect battering ram if it did not have such expensive and sensitive modules for salvage operations onboard. Any damage sustained to the dreadnought, while in the grand scheme of things would be minor, would still be an expensive risk, one that the Hierarchy would rather not take.

“Suggestion. Must request heavier reinforcements.”

Kajuto could not quite refuse, however, “Not feasible. Arrangements for immediate reinforcements would take four cycles. Cannot waste time. Pirate activity abnormally low. Attack probability high. Attack imminent, likely.” [/color]



[color=fff200]Meanwhile in the same region of space, Commander Lennnox had reviewed the after action reports submitted by the battle group commanders. Lennox pondered if there were more pirates in the area who might have their coordinates. The signal transponder that had been planted on the Adventurer’s hull had been disabled. It also demonstrated that there might be other groups of pirates in the area. After giving the matter some consideration, Lennox decided to move the battlestation back to the area around the Vulcan. The Vulcan had excellent shields but was lightly armored and had no real offensive capabilities. The large mining and refinery station was meant to be deployed into secure space. The battle station would be able to protect Vulcan station, freeing up their ships to explore the area. The Vulcan had been hard at work and had made considerable progress in processing the debris cloud around the location they had come in.  

Lennox had received a communique from the council, they were extending their orders. They would send supply ships in a few weeks. The council felt the advantages of recycling the material in the area was worth pursuing. They were hoping that they would find lost tech that could be reverse engineered from the debris. Lennox had sent back a report detailing the issues that the battle group had run into. He also sent Narrel’s more detailed report of the pirate attack and the pirate station they had found and the information they had gleaned from the contact. 

Now that the battle station Leviathan and Dreadnaught Gallant was covering Vulcan. Lennox ordered the Stormbringer, Xi’s Axe, Iron Talon, and Scimitar to begin exploring and building navigational routes through the debris field. The stealth ship Adventurer was sent back to keep an eye on Black Cloud Station. They were under orders to maintain stealth and track who comes and goes from the station. The two stealth ships, Shadow and Nightweaver were sent back out in new directions to explore. The stealth ships, Lucky and Viper, were sent with the battle group to provide stealth operations if needed. 

[hider= Images of T’Klanak and Stormbringer] 

[img]https://i.ibb.co/SBT3r62/T-Klanak.jpg[/img]

[url=https://ibb.co/Pr5PzKf][img]https://i.ibb.co/Pr5PzKf/Daxini-Destroyer.jpg[/img][/url] [/hider]

The Flight Chief of the destroyer Stormbringer, T'Klanak, was put in command of the exploration battle group. T’Klanak had taken the lead towards where their astrogation experts believed was in the general direction of one of the planets in the solar system. Their records of the area were outdated and old. The heavy debris certainly made trying to pinpoint a location in the system difficult. The debris field was so thick that spotting any navigation points such as a star, planetoids, or known oort fields was almost impossible. Sensor data was almost useless as the debris field blocked signals from going out very far or sent back corrupt data with overlapping ghost signals. The smaller battle group was making faster progress by leaving the two stations behind. So far other than some larger derelicts, they had run across nothing of interest. They had seen further signs of pirate activity along the way. There had been some newer ships among the debris field with signs of battle damage. 
[/color]


[color=8dc73f]Unbeknownst to the Stormbringer would find itself in the middle of a collection group with several unmanned drones breaking down asteroids, large metallic debris, and desolate hulks of abandoned ships, what’s more, they were being escorted by very fresh looking Lokoid interceptors and two destroyers. However, what really would bring awe would be the super dreadnought looming in the background, so large as to completely make miniscule the interceptors and destroyers nearby it. Upon closer inspection the collection group seemed to be one of many working all around this area and indeed the sensors would soon show.

The ship hierarch aboard one of the destroyers immediately issues their declaration through a filter that translates their transmissions. The Lokoid were aware of the Daxini’s efforts and the Daxini were aware of the Lokoid’s efforts and they’ve both tried to stay out of each other’s way. However, it seems today is the day that formal contact may occur.

“Daxini vessel…” The transmission started, “... Identify yourself and state your purpose or face appropriate action.”

The Lokoid were not exactly good communicators, this was a well known fact, translated further for the common folk, the Lokoid would have meant, “identify yourself and state your purpose, we are on high alert and you are not supposed to be here.”

To anyone that did business with the Lokoid, the Lokoid usually attempted to sound less hostile despite it not being in their nature, this heightened aggression in communication already would show that there was something that had rattled the hornets nest and the hornets were still thinking about what they were supposed to do.

Aboard the super dreadnought with its title proudly painted in Lokoidian as “K’rattak Nak Ur” which in commons would be, “The Forge” Kajuto and the second in command of the fleet, Urta was informed of the Daxini pushing into the Lokoid’s area of operations. Almost immediately they tuned into the conversation, ready to intervene to avoid complications regarding the future engagement with the pirates.[/color]


[color=fff200]The Daxini Battle Group had slowed to scan and explore some of the more current wreckage they had found. The technology in the ships was more up to date than the older derelicts around them. Interestingly enough, the ships had been scavenged. Their engineers had noted where weapon systems, reactors, and engines had been removed. The carbon scoring on some and plasma scars on others indicated that the battles had happened less than a year ago. 

T’Klanak stood on the bridge in his dark grey work uniform with his rank insignia on the collar. His reddish brown and gold feathered wings framed his body. He had reddish brown feathers layered with off white feathers off the back of his head and around his neck. He had a sleek sharp looking beak. He didn’t bring his ornate silver colored clan armor with him on missions. He had a spacesuit for combat that doubled as armor while he was on the ship which was much  more appropriate to the setting. His clan armor was not designed for the vacuum of space.

T’Klanak had that itch between his shoulder blades that he couldn’t explain. He always got this feeling just before a battle. It was a feeling as if he was being watched or stalked by a predator. It was always accompanied by a sense of impending action. T’Klanak snapped his beak at that thought. Whatever was stalking his group would soon find out that he was no prey. Still he had enough experience to be cautious. He knew there had to be others in the area. The main battle group had been attacked by a pathetic excuse for a pirate group. There were obvious signs of hostilities in the area. The Scorched Line had been a battle zone between two of the larger nations in the last reclamation war. He was surprised that there had not been more nations investigating the area. 

T’Klanak’s instincts were proven to be tried and true once again. The battle group came around the edge of a large piece of debris and sensors began sending up alerts. The bridge crew came alert and stiffened as adrenaline flooded their systems. 

T’Klanak’s communication officer was the first to speak. “Contact commander. The Lokoid are hailing Flight Chief. The message translates as “Daxini vessel…... Identify yourself and state your purpose or face appropriate action.”

The Tactical Officer was the second to speak. The man’s voice was calm but held a note of uncertainty as he reported what his sensors were telling him was out there. “Flight Chief, we are registering multiple contacts of Lokoid design. Multiple Interceptors, two destroyers, and one Super Dreadnaught sir. We are no match for that much firepower, sir.” 

T’Klanak retained his calm poise. He was not surprised to find Lokoid in the area. The only thing that did surprise him was finding a Super Dreadnought. He almost laughed to himself since he had thought that the council sending a Battle Station and the Gallant was overkill. He could admit they heeded their wisdom and experience for a reason. He had assumed that they would run into a group of them eventually. Besides, the Eagle Eye group off the Adventurer had reported seeing Lokoid on the station they visited. The Lokoid and Daxini knew of each other but they were so far apart in known space, they rarely interacted. T’Klanak was grateful they taught Xeno Relations and diplomacy to their officers. He would be out of his depth without it. 

T’Klanak nodded regally to his communication officer. “Open a video channel to the Lokoid command vessel. Include full translation protocols.” 

T’Klanak waited for the transmission to connect. He bowed his head in greeting to the Lokoid on the screen before introducing himself. 

T’Klanak: “Greetings. I am Flight Chief T’Klanak. I am commanding this Daxini Group. I am the Flight Chief on the Daxini Vessel Stormbringer. We are conducting salvage and search operations in the area. I apologize for not greeting you sooner. As I am sure you are aware, the debris field does a good job of bouncing sensors and signals around. To whom do I have the honor of addressing?” 
[/color]



[color=8dc73f]The Lokoid were already gathered around the holotable and the projection of the leader of the Daxini battlegroup appeared to them. Kajuto, being the ranking officer of the Lokoid collection and pirate suppression force in the area, was clad in armor himself, his prosthetics and battle scars still visible as he did not have a helmet on.

Kajuto: “The hierarchy’s greetings K’tanak. You speak to Kajuto, assigned fleet hierarch of the Lokoid salvage fleet and overall commander of anti-piracy operations conducted by Lokoid special operations forces in the system. You have come at a time where we are on high alert.”

Urta by Kajuto’s side was a younger and more junior officer, she didn’t understand why communication with people that weren’t even connected to the Hierarchy either as friends, trade partners, or allies was worth their time. This showed even with the manner of speech that Kajuto addressed the Daxini. Most Lokoid commanders are harsh, however, the fleet hierarch was as respectful as a hierarch could be.[/color]


[color=fff200]T’Klanak didn’t take offense to the fact that the Lokoid got his name wrong. He knew things didn’t always translate accurately. But he did feel the need to correct him. 

T’Klanak kept his tone firm but respectful. “My apologies Hierarch but my name is not K’tanak it is T’Klanak. I would hate to be confused with someone else.” 

T’Klanak paused for a moment before continuing. “I understand no offense was meant. The Daxini battle group was attacked by a small pirate flotilla near here. We captured a few pirates and destroyed their ships. We have seen evidence of additional pirate activity in the area.” 

He offered up a bit of intel that they probably already knew. After all, they were operating in the immediate area and had to have seen the same battle damage his group had found and reported on. [/color]


[color=8dc73f]Kajuto adjusted himself as he had blundered the man’s name.

Kajuto: “Understood, [i]T’klanak[/i]. My speech is not as coordinated as it used to be…”

The battle hardened Lokoid paused to show the left side of his face had been mauled by weapons fire and parts of his jaw and chelicerae that he used for speech had been damaged beyond feasible medical repair. The Lokoid then returned to face the well dressed feathered Daxini,

Kajuto: “... Piracy is rampant in this sector of the scorched line. We Lokoid have discovered another source of piracy –”

He turned to Urta for her to step forward still clad in power armor and transmit a live feed from the stealth cruisers monitoring the large pirate structure they had discovered.

Urta: “Intelligence and observation show that this is the strongpoint of pirate activity in this sector. It is made up of several derelict hulks and littered with guns. Further observation shows the use of drone swarms utilizing Lokoid technology. We believe this to be the hideout of a rogue Lokoid commander turned to piracy that escaped into this area three cycles ago. Activity also indicates that there are several destroyer and cruiser sized vessels in the vicinity indicating that a small flotilla may be present. Number of ships is, unfortunately, unknown”

Urta further transmits additional visual information through the supplemental feed to show the Daxini commander what they’re up against.

Urta: “We have several destroyers and cruisers acting as escort for the dreadnought. We cannot commit forces against the pirates. The dreadnought contains sensitive equipment. Costs of damage is high, operations in the area will be slowed, and cannot afford to commit dreadnought to combat unless there is no choice.”
[/color]


[color=fff200]T’Klanak watched the Lokoid on the screen. It was the first time he had met any personally. He had seen pictures of course. The Daxini knew of the Lokoid through second hand accounts. T’Klanak knew they had a very structured hierarchy to their society but not exactly what that hierarchy looked like. T’Klanak’s instincts were telling him that it was rare to speak with a Lokoid as high in rank as Kajuto. He also found the information they shared disturbing. He looked down at the screen at his station as he looked over the data they had sent. T’Klanak didn’t believe that his battle group was a match for an entrenched Lokoid pirate position and an unnamed number of large battleships. T’Klanak stilled as he thought through the implications of his group running into those ships and why the Lokoid would share that information so freely with them. 

He tilted his head to one side as he regarded Kajuto and Urta on the screen. He decided to be direct and ask. “I appreciate the Hierarchy sharing this information with the Daxini. May ask I why you have shared it? I must admit I don’t believe my group is a match for an entrenched Lokoid position and an untold number of destroyers. I have one destroyer, one cruiser, and two light cruisers. What are you proposing Kajuto?”  [/color]


[color=8dc73f]The fleet hierarch said simply, “Piracy is everyone’s problem…”

Kajuto understood that it might be a stretch to say that they together could handle the pirate threat, however, leaving the threat alone would open them to attack. With an unknown number of ships and drones, there was no telling how much damage they could wreak and how far. Kajuto continued, “... I propose a temporary alliance against the threat. In exchange, half of all salvage from the battle is yours barring any ships from our battlegroup that may end up as casualties of anti-piracy operations in this region.”

Kajuto was also straightforward, he did not mince words, he did not say anything that was out of line for him or his battlegroup. Urta, however, was surprised at how quickly the Hierarch proposed such a thing knowing that their battlegroup had classified technology being field tested for battlefield use. It was not a good idea to allow a potential future foe to know their capabilities. But Kajuto looked to Urta and instantly it was clear to her – Kajuto did not care about secrets. To the fleet hierarch, a veteran of war, he knew that no matter what would happen the Hierarchy would adapt.
[/color]


[color=fff200]T’Klanak waited to hear out the Hierarch. He watched the two Lokoid carefully for any microexpressions or body language that might help him understand them. He thought that Urta might have been surprised by Kajuto’s offer but he didn’t know the very alien looking Lokoid well enough to make that decision. His brain caught up with processing what Kajuto had said. His eyes widened in surprise at the offer to team up to take care of the pirates. It was a generous offer that T’Klanak couldn’t overlook. He knew his group by itself would be no match for a pirate group of that size. He would need to clear this through the chain of command though. He was inclined to take the Lokoid up on the offer but he would have to run the offer past Commander Lennox. 


T’Klanak inclined his head respectfully to Kajuto. “That is a very respectable offer, honorable Kajuto. I will need to contact my commander and run this proposal past them. I will be in touch with an answer after I have conferred with them. I hope that is acceptable?” 
[/color]


[color=8dc73f]Kajuto twitched his antennae in agreement, “That is acceptable. Let us know at your earliest possible convenience. We will prepare our forces to be battle ready by the time you have a reply. Regardless of the decisions you may come to, we must eliminate the threat to our operations. We will begin operations in earnest within two galactic cycles.”

One of his many arms simply made one gesture and Urta retreated out of view of the holotable and was immediately moving out of the bridge. She was heading to the hangar to grab her fighter and move back to her ship as soon as possible.[/color]



[color=fff200]T’Klanak nodded his understanding even as he verbalized unsure how the gesture would translate. “Thank you Hierarch Kajuto.” He gave a hand signal to his communications officer to cut the feed. T’Klanak took a seat in his chair. This was a lot to take in. He took a deep breath to center himself allowing some calm to wash over him. The tactical officer reported a shuttle sized ship leaving from the super dreadnought.  T’Klanak acknowledged the tactical officer’s report before he looked at the communications officer once more. 

T’Klanak: “Get me Commander Lennox.” T’Klanak waited as the communications officer sent the request over the secure quantum link to the Leviathan. He didn’t have long to wait before the Commander was on his screen. 

Commander Lennox; “I understand you needed to speak with me Flight Chief? What have you to report?” 

T’Klanak straightened a little as he gave his report. “Yes Commander. Our group ran into a Lokoid battle group. They are doing the same thing we are. They have several salvage drones, Interceptors, 2 destroyers, and a super dreadnought. They are conducting salvage operations in the area and are hunting a group of a Lokoid Pirates active in the area. They freely shared that intel with us. The Lokoid Pirates have made their home in several derelict hulks and littered with guns. They are using Lokoid drone technology for salvaging the ships they take out. They shared that they believe it to be the hideout of a rogue Lokoid commander. They said there is an unknown number of Lokoid pirate ships active in the area. They had seen activity that indicated several destroyer and cruiser sized vessels. They asked for our help in attacking this pirate base. They offered half of all salvage from the operation barring their current active ships. I told them I would need to report back to you for clearance.” 

Commander Lennox looked surprised and thoughtful. “This is the first time the Lokoid have offered any kind of an alliance to the Daxini as far as I know. That Lokoid pirate group makes that rabble we took care of look like school bullies. What was your impression of the Lokoid and your feelings about this matter, Flight Chief?” 

T’Klanak looked thoughtful before he answered. “The Lokoid I spoke with was an Hierarch named Kajuto. I got the impression that it is rare that a Lokoid of that rank would speak to outsiders. They did say they can’t afford to commit the Super Dreadnaught unless they have too. I think that this is an opportunity to get some help with these pirates. I am not sure I like our chances without the Lokoid and this gives us something to build future diplomacy on Commander.” 

Commander Lennox nodded before coming to a decision which you could tell as she stood her posture straight, her arms tucked behind her back. “T’Klanak, commit your forces to help with this pirate hunt. I would prefer we do our reconnaissance to determine the exact numbers we will be facing. Send a stealth ship into the coordinates given by the Lokoid. Then plan the assault with them but only if you feel the odds are favorable after you know exactly what you will be facing.” Commander Lennox gave T’Klanak a bright smile. “Good job T’Klanak. This will be a mission for the books.” 

T’Klanak was grateful his face was covered in feathers and he didn’t blush. As it was his feathers ruffled slightly in pleasure at the confidence Commander Lennox was showing in his judgement and leadership. “Thank you Commander Lennox. T’Klanak out.” 

T’Klanak turned to the communication officer again. “Get me the Flight Chiefs for all the ships in the battle group.” T’Klanak waited till he had all the ship commanders on a conference call before he began to fill them in on what had been going on and what their new orders were. 

T’Klanak: “The Lokoid are conducting salvage operations in the area and are asking for help with a rogue Lokoid Pirate Fleet in the area. Commander Lennox has approved the temporary alliance. The Viper and Lucky will be heading out towards the coordinates given to us by the Lokoid to scout what ships are in the area. The Lokoid said they had evidence of activity but didn’t know the exact number of ships or the make. I would like that information before we commit to a battle we can’t win. This will be a joint operation with the Lokoid. I will transmit more details as I confirm them.” 

The commanders signed off and T’Klanak once more asked his communications officer to contact the Lokoid Hierarchy. He waited patiently for the call to connect. He asked to speak to Hierarch Kajuto. “Greetings Hierarch Kajuto. I spoke with Commander Lennox and they have agreed to a temporary alliance to eradicate this pirate threat. However they didn’t like the vague nature of the intel. We will be sending two of our stealth ships in to get better intel on what ships are in the area so we can develop a good plan knowing what we will face. I am to pull our ships out of the operation if I deem it an unwinnable scenario. Are you comfortable with this compromise?” [/color]


[color=8dc73f]Kajuto’s reply came plain, “That is acceptable, our electronics officers will initiate handshake procedures to connect command and control. Please standby.”

As he said that several destroyers that have been conducting salvage and escort operations started to move towards the staging area where the dreadnought was stationed. Several drone interceptors were launched from the dreadnought’s limited hangar space.

Urta reappeared on comms through the Lokoid network, she was aboard her ship now, “IFF requires an electronic handshake procedure between our systems to synchronize battle data. It would be best to make sure our ships do not mistakenly target any of yours.”[/color]




[color=fff200]T’Klanak waited patiently for the Lokoid’s answer. He would leave their area of operations if they didn’t agree. He knew he didn’t have the firepower to take on their battlegroup. He managed to withhold the breath of relief even as the amenable answer caused relief to sweep through him. He had been worried that the Lokoid might try to conscript his ships forcibly. They were not the friendliest of nations and somewhat mysterious. There was no denying that they were a major military player in the region. T’Klanak was grateful they were seeking a willing partnership. 

He was a little concerned about the request for an electronic handshake. He gave Urta a strong look as he said. “One moment please.” He made a gesture to the communication officers to mute the channel and put Urta on hold. 


“Isolate our systems but set up the handshake. Make sure the incoming signal can not infiltrate our systems. I don’t want any nasty surprises later. Make sure they can’t implant any kind of tracking or viruses that we won’t be able to disable later.”

The communications officer worked with the tactical officer to set up the necessary protocols to link their tactical systems and IFF with the Lokoid but in a way that kept them out of the main ship’s systems. When they were ready, the link resumed.  
 
T’Klanak’s hands were folded in front of him as the call resumed. “My apologies for the delay Urta. We needed to prepare our systems so that we could make that work. My communication’s officer is ready to initiate that link with the Lokoid systems. Once that is done our stealth ships will immediately head out to recon the pirate base. They will communicate that information back to us. They are faster than our larger ships. We should have access to that information before the main battle group arrives. On your mark. Urta.” [/color]


[color=8dc73f]The Lokoid begin creating the link via the electronic handshake and marking friendlies on their holomaps and ship displays. It was relatively simple really and something that would have been done for any occasion. Urta then looks towards T’Klanak and says something that only the Lokoid and their close allies would’ve heard since the last conflict.

“Link established. Hunt well and may the ichor flow...”

Interestingly, aside from the additional destroyers from the Lokoid fleet’s escort, the handshake revealed that there were three other Lokoid ships that were showing up on sensors that were not there previously – Urta’s hunting party. They were loitering in stealth just a hundred kilometers off the bow of the Daxini battle group.

“... My squadron shall join your scouts.”

She then looked to her crew, “Ready all weapons. All pilots standby for immediate deployment. We will bear our mandibles to the enemy. The hunt begins!”

As Urta’s stealth ships move, the light distorts the images around the hull, if one were to look closely, the ships were at least were cruiser sized and yet slender and narrow all along the length like a knife cutting through space. These were optimized to operate as hit and run ships dedicated for small bursts of firepower. They seamlessly moved into the Daxini scouting party’s formation and spaced themselves accordingly.[/color]


[color=fff200]T’Klanak watched as their integrated systems filled in the holotank in the middle of the bridge that marked ships and objects in space around them. He didn’t manage to hide his surprise as the Lokoid stealth ships appeared near his group. He managed not to show the depth of his surprise but he didn’t relish feeling like prey. He preferred the role of hunter. He appreciated the phrasing the Lokoid used about hunting. It was an area they could find common ground on. 

T’Klanak was pleased to note how easily their two groups merged and took off in formation. The Daxini stealth ships were very different than the Lokoid. Daxini stealth ships were designed to seamlessly fit into civilian trading traffic. They looked like normal ships such as small freighters. They had hidden weapons, sensors, and stealth systems. They had a stealth technology that refracted light away from the ships and things like heat sinks and shielding to hide the ship’s power output. Clearly the Lokoid had better stealth technology than they did. They focused on technology to hide their ships where the Daxini’s approach was to hide in plain sight with additional options to support their crew on their information gathering missions. The Daxini ships would not engage their stealth modes until they were closer to their destination. 

T’Klanak gave a regal nod to his communication officer. “Open a channel to all ships.” 

He waited for his officer to indicate that they were ready. 

“This is Flight Leader T’Klanak. May our hunt be fruitful and prove us worthy of remembrance.” 
The Daxini Battle Group ships joined the larger Lokoid formation. The Daxini ships seamlessly slipped into the formation and locations that Urta had indicated. Together the battle group left for battle.  
[/color]


[color=8dc73f]As the stealth ships moved closer to the pirate's location, the looming shadow of the outpost came into view. It was the size of a small space station, its structure made up of a hodge podge mess of ships and debris wrapped around an asteroid. What was worse was the patrolling formations of drones. On the scanners it seemed to be about ten flights of five fighter sized craft. Floating around it were several destroyer and corvette sized vessels. The station itself looked to have several hardpoints for defensive emplacements. This was as well guarded as a minor Lokoid military base. All of it scavenged from this scorched battlefield and made to work through sheer Lokoid ingenuity.

How did they know it was Lokoid? Simple, the transmissions from the outpost were not as well encrypted, the language heard in the intercepted calls – calls that the scouting party are now privy to at that very moment – are in Lokoid. The transmission they intercepted talked about a new haul of weapons and parts from a nearby derelict battleship, what stood out was that the main cannons from the battleship were intact and could be made operational to further bolster the station’s power.

Urta had her comms officer send an encrypted message to the fellow scouts in the formation and indeed, to the rest of the allied battlegroup skulking behind them, “Capital class weapons en route to station, must strike now or additional investment must be made to dismantle them later.”
[/color]


[color=fff200]T’Klanak was seated once more on the bridge as their battle group made their way towards their destination in conjunction with the Lokoid ships. Their stealth ships had moved ahead of the main group and were sending back telemetry on what their ship’s sensors and scanning technology was picking up. They intercepted the unencrypted transmission from the Lokoid base. Urta was quick to send an updated translation about what they had discovered and were worried about. 

T’Klanak was reviewing the information with his tactical officer. They were confident with the Lokoid’s help they could take out the target. T’Klanank accepted suggestions from all the ship’s commanders. 

T’Klanak opened a secured and encrypted communication channel to Urta. 

T’Klanak wasted no time with responding to Urta’s urgent communication. “I agree with your assessment Urta. We need to strike now. One of my stealth ship captains had a question for you about a possible tactic to use against the facility. You know your own technology much better than ours. While they are using Lokoid technology, they offer the observation that it’s implementation is not as well done as it could be. They took shortcuts in places. In your opinion, would it be worth pursuing tactics to disable the base such as an electromagnetic pulse? Would it impair their abilities by cutting off power or shorting out equipment? While the base is well fortified with weaponry our scans are not indicating any kind of shielding on the facility. One of my flight chiefs believes that they can rig one of our defensive EMP missiles to overload creating a stronger EMP pulse. They can get in close to the facility before firing the missiles. If it works, it should disable anything not shielded in the area. That would reduce the danger to our group allowing us to deal with the ships before going after the base itself. I am sending our proposed targets and telemetry. I await your response.” 

T’Klanak ordered the battle group to battle stations knowing that battle was imminent. He just wanted to make sure before they went in that everyone had a target and knew their field of fire. T’klanak sent Urta the proposed allocation of Daxini ships with targets for approval. The Stormbringer would go toe to toe with one of the destroyers. The cruisers would each take on one of the cruisers while the stealth ships would try to confuse and eliminate the drones. T’Klanak was sad that the Daxini Battlestation was not with them on this attack. Their fighters would come in handy taking out those drones. It would have been a glorious battle for their fighter pilots. Alas they were not with the current group and wishing about it didn’t make it a resource he had access to at the moment. Now that the battle was upon them he was eager to get on with it. He agreed with Urta that this pirate group could not be left to continue to grow. [/color]


[color=8dc73f]The Daxini were correct in their assessment. Finding a working shield generator that hadn’t overloaded through the sheer volume of fire seen during the battles on the scorched line would be near impossible. However, Lokoid ingenuity always found a way. They may not have a shield generator, but they must have redundant systems of some sort. The best the Daxini attack would do is give them a moment. However, a moment is all that the task force needs to inflict withering damage.

Urta replied, “There may be redundant systems on that station. We may only have moments before they bring command and control back online. There is also the back up logic cores onboard the drones that will allow them to operate semi-effectively without orders. With that being said, they’d be a lot less coordinated. However, in that moment we would have a chance to strike would be enough.”

Urta similarly had her force split into firing positions for their graviton torpedoes targeting the fleet of corvettes and destroyers loitering around the station. They had six launch tubes each. They would have to partially drop stealth and appear on scanners for the moment of firing and disappear again. Additionally, she also had them prepare the cluster missiles to target the hardpoints on the station. It is likely not all the hardpoints would be destroyed or damaged as there are likely hidden weapons emplacements all over the damned thing.

“T’Klanak, once the systems momentarily go down, my group will destroy and disable what we can of their ship fleet and the hardpoints on the station proper. However, this will only be enough to prepare the hammer blow that will be the main battlegroup. My group will engage and launch fighters first. We will be vulnerable for whilst we conduct launch operations. We request your cover.”[/color]


T[color=fff200]’Klanak acknowledged Urta’s response. “I will send out the timing of the operation so you know when the strike will occur. The larger Daxini ships will move in to help cover your ships as you launch your fighters. May our mutual hunt be successful.” T’Klanak gave Urta a respectful gesture as he signed off and gave the orders to move the ships into position. He coordinated the attack across his group and included a kickoff timer for the Lokoid so they could follow and know the timing of the attacks and when the missiles would strike. 

The larger Daxini ships didn’t have any stealth. Their shields could block some sensor readings but they didn’t have active stealth shielding like the smaller stealth ships. The larger Daxini ships were hiding behind Lokoid ships of larger size or were using the debris ridden environment to confuse sensors as to where they actually were.  The stealth ships could get close enough to deploy their EMP missiles. They would be close enough to their targets that evading all the missiles should be almost impossible. T’Klanak did his best not to leave things to chance. 

T’Klanak had the Viper target the station and the Lucky target four of the largest Lokoid pirate ships. Each stealth ship would be able to fire a single volley of four large EMP missiles each. The crews of the stealth ships tinkered with the missile’s payload hoping to make them more effective. They would release an explosive package prior to contact to penetrate into the ship or station. They boosted the EMP output to increase the range. T’Klanak wished his ships luck as they moved into position. 

T’Klanak snapped his beak as he gave the attack order.

The Lucky and Viper were in position and fired their missiles. All the ships had the countdown and tracking data as the rest of the Daxini battle group moved quickly into blocking positions to protect the Lokoid ships as they deployed. Four missiles hit the pirate base targeting what they hoped would be power and the control center. One EMP missile was sent to 4 separate Lokoid destroyers. They had a better chance of evading or stopping the missiles but even if they missed the noise from the radiation should help confuse their sensors and communications.[/color] 


[color=8dc73f]The EMP knocks out several key systems on the station, it appears the desired effect was indeed achieved and for a moment, the command and control of the drone fighters was disrupted. Urta used this opportunity to clear out the field for the main force.

Stealth was disrupted but for a mere five seconds, but in those seconds, eighteen gravitic torpedoes and countless high-yield swarm missiles flew out of Urta’s three stealth cruisers. The high powered particle lances also fired, cutting through four of the visible destroyers and rendering them inoperable. This also allowed them the opportunity to launch their hunter squadrons. Three flights of fourteen ace pilots flew out of the stealth cruiser’s compartments and locked their wings into attack position almost immediately.

The Gravitic torpedoes hit several destroyers and corvettes whilst also pulling apart and compromising the structural integrity of the station. However, whilst the damage was substantial, it was not enough to stop the analog defense systems. Several manned defensive turrets rolled out of hidden doors all over the place. Some were ballistic in nature, others were energy weapons that had fortunately been shielded from the EMP.

Urta swiftly ordered a return to stealth and activating electronic warfare to confuse anything that would target them. They once again entered stealth, the optical camouflage concealing them from view and electronic warfare systems messing with enemy sensors and generally creating havoc amongst the defenders.

The main force slowly maneuvered around the debris and began to engage as the pirates themselves reorganized their defense and began launching their small destroyer squadrons to strike at the combined Daxini-Lokoid force. Additionally they launched squadron after squadron of drone fighters. They all had automated logic cores that allowed them to operate independently from the command and control systems fielded by the station. This meant that while these drones could fly, they were severely limited in tactical and combat ability. Despite that setback, the pirates still had numbers on their side as the first salvo of missiles, ballistics, and energy weapons fire were exchanged between both sides.

Urta once again addressed the task force, acting as a adhoc Spaceborne Warning and Control System (SWACS) for the entirety of the task force, fully utilizing the highly sensitive and sophisticated sensor suite that her cruisers could afford her. One of these warnings was for the Daxini’s lead ship, “T’klanak, inbound, destroyer group heading for your side of the formation. Torpedo attacks are likely given the vector. Fighter-Bomber escorts are present, two flights of five. Coordinates are on grid X-112, Y-031, Z-240 relative to your ship. Two allied Lokoid destroyers are nearby to assist but are currently engaged. Do you need them?”[/color]


[color=fff200]The Daxini ships worked together on cue. As the stealth ships fired their EMP missiles at their targets, the larger Daxini ships moved into blocking positions ahead of the Lokoid ships. Their shields have been increased to maximum, their anti missile point defense lasers were all active and tracking any incoming missiles. The Digital Entities on board the ships took control of these point defense systems and worked. The tactical officers focused on the overall battle plan and the offensive side of the Daxini battle strategy. The tactical officers fired antimatter warheads targeting the largest Lokoid destroyers and cruisers. The Daxini targeted different ships to the Lokoid. They wanted to spread the destruction around hoping for a disabling strike for each target. T’Klanak knew that was too much to hope for but it was necessary to disable as many of the pirate ships as possible. The initial response from the Lokoid pirates began to come in as they began to see manned firing turrets revealed as they came out of concealment and began to fire at the battle group. T’Klanak was watching the holotank as sensors with the help of the Kronar on board filled in the data as soon as they were receiving the telemetry. T’Klanak had just noted the incoming group with Urta offered assistance. T’Klanak used the priority command channel link that had been set up for all ship captains in their combined force to use to answer Urta. “Negative Urta. Our shields are holding so far. We have a surprise for those drones.” That was a Daxini version of the human’s “Hold my beer.”  

T’Klanak had the stealth ships follow up by firing prepared tactical nanite missiles towards the oncoming drone swarm. The missiles hit just in front of them releasing the nanites to create a swarm that the ships would fly through. The nanites were programmed to attach to the hull and begin working on hacking into the drone’s command systems and set up communication between the drones and the Kronar in the battle group. They would attempt to take control of the Lokoid Pirate drones and use them for their side, turning them on the pirates. In the meantime, T’Klanak gave the order for the troop carrier on the destroyer to launch for a boarding action on the pirate station. Xi’s Axe would provide cover fire and support to get the troop transport to the station. 

T’Klanak watched the shield numbers carefully. They were holding steady but were slowly being chipped away at. The point defense lasers had begun targeting incoming torpedoes while the Stormbringer and the Scimitar continued to fire antimatter warhead missiles at enemy ships along with their railguns and plasma cannons. The combination of attacks was taking a toll on the pirate vessels. The Daxini  were moving to the next target as soon as a ship was confirmed to be disabled. They were also trying to use precision targeting on drive systems and power systems to disabled the ships. Only time would tell whether the Kronar Digital Entities would be able to take control of the drone swarm using the nanites as a communication bridge for them to hack into the Lokoid pirate systems. 
[/color]


[color=8dc73f]Urta watched carefully as the Daxini’s weapons turned old Lokoid tech against their owners. The destroyers the drones were escorting quickly fell apart under the barrage of plasma and high yield bombs that were being peppered along their hull. In the meantime, Urta repositioned her cruisers for another decapitating strike. More drones would be joining the fray now as the field of battle became increasingly chaotic.

Pirate destroyers returning from patrol began to join in the fray, whilst Kajuto and Urta’s forces continually pumped out more fighters and continued to lay down withering fire against the pirate scourge. From when the battle began there were now hundreds of contacts all over the place, not including the debris. However, Urta and the other Lokoid SWACS kept the entire fleet appraised and informed on what was happening. The Lokoid battle order had turned from hammer stroke, to maintained battle flow. They kept the pressure high and maintained the advantage that was afforded to them by the joint surprise strike that T’Klanak’s Scouts and Urta’s Hunters had dealt them.

The Hunters stalked the field completely hidden and moving between the missiles and gunfire. They had identified the most problematic gun batteries on the station. There were three swarm missile launchers harrying the Daxini’s right flank, and a high yield beam pressuring the shields of the Lokoid main force – priority targets. Additionally, Urta had been monitoring the battle for a while and had identified several leading vessels, one of which was the spearhead of the station’s defense – she would decapitate the beast.

She alerted the whole force, “Prepare. Their defense shall fall in a moment.”

Her ships once again decloak and a barrage of torpedoes, missiles, and high powered beams struck their primary targets whilst also forcing the pirate destroyers to refocus their engagements. However, by the time they had gotten their guns on target again, Urta’s hunters had once again cloaked. This broke the center of the Pirate formation and significantly reduced the pressure coming from the station. Things were progressing smoothly as Urta’s elite ace pilots weaved into the gap and further damaged the ships lying behind, weaving through the enemy’s point defense systems.

Things were looking as if they were coming to a close for the desperate pirates. But it was too soon to count them out. In a flash, Urta noted an energy spike – capital ship yield beam cutting straight through the battlefield, three of the Lokoid ships had been hit and destroyed whilst others had to pull back due to the intense energy output.

Urta monitored the pirate comms again and made a chilling report, “Capital ship class weaponry online with mobile powersource. They have modified it on the spot for the emergency the station is in. Advise all ships to spread formations immediately.”


Another energy spike, “Alert, pirates are recharging their weapon. Estimated time for firing is twenty seconds.”[/color]



[color=fff200]T’Klanak snapped their beak in excitement and pleasure as their tactics bore fruit. Some of the Kronar in the battle group had managed to take control of that initial drone swarm, turning them into a weapon for their side. The drones were used to get close and disable the pirate ships that had been relying on the drones for protection. No battle plan survives  contact with the enemy. Their initial surprise attack had damaged the ships that had been at the station or around it but as the battle continued, Lokoid Pirate ships continued to join the battle. The incoming pirate ships were coming in fresh to the battle while those who had already been fighting for some time were starting to show the damage from battle. The Daxini battle group fought on as they were fully committed.  The battle became one of attrition as the Daxini focused on disabling ships before moving to the next. All the while the Daxini fleet was being pounded by the pirates and their drone swarms. The Kronar were limited on how many drone swarms they could control and maintain the rest of their duties on board the Daxini ships. Just as the battle seemed to be coming to a conclusion a Lokoid Pirate vessel managed to fire capital ship weapons of high power at the fleet. 

T’Klanak didn’t hesitate. “Target that ship. Full salvo!” 

[hider= Talon Squad Chief Prarrel]
[img]https://i.ibb.co/bJYNH3M/Talon-Squad-Chief-Prarrel.jpg[/img]

[/hider] 

[hider= Kronar Brayden on Stormbringer]

[img]https://i.ibb.co/B6dGkfy/Kronar-Brayden-on-Stormbringer.jpg[/img]

[/hider] 

[hider= Talon Squad 2nd Chief Rayorten] 
[img]https://i.ibb.co/VHcNTn3/Rayorten.jpg[/img] [/hider] 


In the meantime, Talon Chief Prarrel was leading a team of Daxini ground troops in the boarding action against the station. Prarrel was a tall lithe muscular figure with sharp claws and teeth. His battle armor was in good repair but scarred from past battles. Prarrel was from the Rapaxani clan but his squad was a mix from all the clans. The troop drop ship had landed at one of the pirate base’s airlocks. They could have landed against the hull and blown an opening into the station. They were trying not to do the kind of damage that would kill everyone on the station not wearing a space suit from explosive decompression. The Axe had given them cover fire all the way in. The Axe had knocked out a few automated turrets that were in position to give them trouble while they were docked. Obviously whoever was in charge of the pirates didn’t trust that everyone docking with the station would be friendly. The Axe communicated they were rejoining the battle now that the troops were on station. 

Prarrel ordered his troops ready to move. One of the troopers attached a communication device to the control panel that would open the airlock door. One of the Kronar in the battlegroup used the device to hack the door for them cycling the airlock. The Kronar, Brayden of the Stormbringer, informed the trooper that there were troops waiting on the other side and showed him what the station’s cameras revealed to him. He set up a simple menu for the trooper holding the tablet so he would be able to open doors and access the cameras on the station. Then Brayden withdrew his focus back on the battle the Stormbringer was fighting.  The battle for the station began as the Daxini troops charged into the ambush planned by the pirates as the two sides exchanged fire. The Daxini’s heavy combat armor gave them a slight edge on protecting them from the heavier energy weapons. The Daxini troops closed to go paw and claw with the pirates. Some of the pirates had armor but not all of them had armor that offered the same level of protection as the Daxini.  

T’Klanak hadn’t lost any ships yet but the Axe had taken damage as it gave supporting cover to the Daxini Troop Ship on its way to the station. The Axe had returned to re-engage in the battle. They had been hit from debris that had flown off one of the Lokoid vessels hit by the capital ship weapon. The Axe’s power systems were damaged and their shields were failing as power began to fluctuate on the ship. The Axe was withdrawing from the battle limping away at a slow pace as the other Daxini Cruiser, the Iron Talon, gave them cover on the way out of the battle. The Iron Talon fired at the Lokoid ship with the capital weapon on its way by. They had shunted extra power to shields on that side of the ship as they hoped to get the Axe past the ship and away from the battle. 
[/color]


[color=8dc73f]Urta made no hesitation in reorganizing her ace pilots. At this point, none of them had taken damage and they had conserved their ordnance well.

“All squadrons redirect efforts. Take down that capital weapon.”

As she spoke through the radio, another high energy burst sliced through the void, melting through debris and searing the surface of ships that had managed to maneuver out of the way. Fortunately, the blast only hit the Lokoid’s drones. The ace fighters moved independently from each other. What was to be noted was that each fighter never slowed, flowing into each maneuver and completing high G-turns despite the strain it would cause the pilot. They were darting across the holo maps as if they were themselves highly sophisticated drones. They were able to weave through the thick debris, complete bombing runs whilst avoiding enemy fire, and leave only destroyed drones in their wake. One of them, under the callsign Arrow, had flown through one of the open drone hangers inside the station. The hangar was a through-and-through construction allowing the fighters to flow through the station wherever they needed to deploy. Arrow lined up the bomb to drop right in the middle of the hangar, it wasn’t required of him, he simply did so because they were trying to stop the flow of drones.

His actions rendered the drone hangar inoperable as the bomb detonated in his wake destroying the outgoing drones and the deployment mechanisms. As he flew through the station, he received the order through his squad leader.

“Steel Squadron, redirect. Kill order priority on enemy capital ship weapon. Hierarch Urta is updating our radar now.”

Steel squadron and Arrow redirected themselves to intercept the capital ship weapon several hundreds of Kilometers away. Another pack of drones were coming their way, these ones were more sophisticated and yet, the squadrons broke into their respective packs and tore into the enemy. Arrow however focused on evasion – he was looking for another killshot. Arrow queued up whatever was left in his arsenal, he was running low on munitions after destroying several drones and engaging the station’s gunmounts. What he still had were a pair of low yield, anti-fighter missiles.

Listening to his Hunter Hierarch’s updates, he awaited for the moment the weapon was once again charging. Incoming fire from friendly ships bombarded the enemy capital vessel, which was no problem for Arrow, however, he’d observed that the oncoming fire wasn’t doing anything to the capital ship weapon. It was basically being towed by two destroyers and jerry rigged to the weapon were capital ship grade reactors and shield generators. While the weapon charged the shield gradually weakened but never really went down. Arrow had reckoned that the shield being this strong with a makeshift system meant that it needed to be lowered for a moment of firing.That was the moment Arrow had to wait for, the moment where the weapon had to contain a volatile amount of energy and disrupt it with two well placed missiles.

Meanwhile, the battle inside the station would be fierce as pirates from within battled Prarrel’s forces. The pirates would be pushed back further inside preparing more ambushes with heavier and heavier equipment. This was also around the time the Kajuto’s boarding forces arrived. Several squads of Mk.1 and Mk.3 combat automatons. The Mk.3s were a mix of Melee, Fire Support, and Standard patterns. They had breached from another part of the station and had informed over the shared network that they would be working towards rendezvousing with Prarrel to reinforce his team.

A Mk.3, CA-KR-11521 otherwise known as Unit-0 for this operation, was leading the assault. They had taken some damage from determined pirate defenders. Some of the pirates were armed with their own power suits and high powered weapons making the boarding action fiercely brutal. However, replacements for the automatons had started to steadily flow into the station. A squadron of Lokoid destroyers had secured a corridor for transports to flow in. Remaining Lokoid forces around the station pivoted towards combating the Pirate vessels and assisting the Daxini. That being said, several destroyers and cruisers had already needed to be pulled back after being rendered combat ineffective from the combined firepower of the station and its ad hoc fleet. Kajuto had calculated that at least a quarter of his forces are still combat capable, however, if things don’t turn around soon, he would have no choice but to commit the K’rattak Nak Ur into the fight. He turned from his thoughts to look at the holoprojections on the bridge and observed the battle in order to determine when it is time for the Lokoid’s Super Dreadnought to come into play.[/color]



[color=fff200]T’Klanak watched the battle unfolding in the bridge holotank. The fighter designated as Arrow drew his attention. T’Klanak remarked on the pilot’s performance to Urta even as he once more wished the Leviathan had been here to take part in this battle.The Daxini starfighters deployed off their mobile battle stations. The Leviathan had been left to guard the Vulcan though and was not available for this attack. “My compliments to your pilots, they are excellent in battle. Arrow serves the Lokoid with honor and distinction.” 

T’Klanak was debating what their next move would be. They needed something decisive to break the pirate’s number advantage. The Daxini were already fully deployed and all the Lokoid had left to deploy was the super dreadnought. T’Klanak’s thoughts were interrupted by Brayden the Kronar in charge of computer systems on the Stormbringer.

Brayden: “Chief T’Klanak, Talon Prarrel reports that there are injuries in his squad. They have made progress deeper into the station and are coordinating with the Lokoid for support. His team has not found the control center yet but request Kronar support. If Kronar are able to hack into their systems they might be able to shut them down remotely. Kronar Vilkas is available for this task. The Axe is withdrawing from the battle due to damage they sustained. Engineers have managed temporary field repairs but they report the repairs will not hold long. They are operating at 25 percent power. Vilkas is currently powerless to help them since he is operating on portable battery power from his AI core pod. It is possible to have Vilkas transfer to the Iron Talon sir before the two ships pull away from each other. Time is of the essence chief.” 

T’Klanak nodded understanding what Brayden was telling him. “Brayden, send the orders to Vilkas and Firehawk. Get the transfer done as soon as possible so that the Axe can leave the field of battle. Tell Vilkas he is ordered to devote his attention to bringing down the weapons on that station and supporting the boarding parties.” 

[hider= Kronar Vilkas] 
[url=https://imgbb.com/][img]https://i.ibb.co/pWrN8qK/Kronar-Vilkas-of-the-Xi-s-Axe.jpg[/img][/url] [/hider] 

T’Klanak smiled as Brayden’s mechanical tones indicated some pride and eagerness to have his plan implemented. T’Klanak was always surprised by how much some of the Kronar who served with the fleet looked forward to battle. He turned his attention to that ship with the capital weapon that was putting holes in their side. He had ordered a full salvo at the ship. The ship had shrugged off the plasma and laser cannons. The rail gun had hit and some minor debris showed that the ship had taken some minor damage. T’Klanak grinned and turned to his tactical officer. “Continuous rail gun fire on that ship with the capital weapon. Keep it on target until we have to shut it down due to heat. Use the plasma and laser cannons to target the surrounding ships. Keep us in dancing and set the shields to alternating frequencies. This is no time to get complacent. Let me know when shields fall to 25 percent.” T’Klanak noted that the Strombringer’s shields were at 63 percent. 

Viltas was elated to be able to help out and the transfer to the Talon was completed quickly using a small drone flown by Viltas himself. He had plugged his core into the drone and launched off the Axe. The drone was small enough and agile enough not to draw much attention from the pirates. The Axe was relatively close to the Talon as it was providing covering fire. It only took Viltas a little over 5 minutes to make the transfer. The Axe continued its slow progress away from the battle. It had picked up a little speed as the engineers on board managed some quick field repairs. Viltas was quick to get to work. He had plugged his core into a docking station near engineering that was designed for that purpose. Viltas used the encrypted communication link to chief Prarrel’s tablet. 

Viltas’ voice came out with a slight growl of eagerness as he let Chief Prarrel know that he was joining him. Viltas: “Chief Prarrel I have been sent to support you. My orders are to try and hack into the weapons systems on the station and support you. What do you need me to do?”  

Chief Prarrel had been firing at an entrenched Lokoid pirate location when he was startled by the Viltas’ voice over the comm line. He recovered quickly as he managed to hit a Lokoid pirate who had popped up to fire over their barricade. 

Prarrel: “I need you to give us an idea of where the pirate reinforcements are coming from. Monitor any surveillance cameras to let us know what’s coming and share that intel with the Lokoid boarding forces.” 

Viltas’ voice was full of satisfaction as he growled back to Prarrel. “My pleasure Chief.” The digital entity immediately saw that the hack that Brayden had done had been detected by the Lokoid and shut down. Viltas began his own hacking and was faster to respond than the Lokoid pirates trying to keep him out of the system. 
[/color]


[color=8dc73f]Kajuto had deployed several companies from the 782nd Rak’aru Automaton Legion stationed on board the dreadnought. The automaton companies had begun spreading out in platoon strength and had ground through the pirate defenses working their way towards Prarrel’s approximate location whilst attempting to overwhelm and stretch the pirate defense effort. Whilst mass produced and simple, the Mk.1s still had basic tactics programmed into them, they also had more sophisticated and heavily armored Mk.3s with heavy weapons, some modified with better predictive A.I. and strategic computers that greatly increased the effectiveness of a large formation of combat automatons. These acted as squad leaders with independent networks from other automatons making it more difficult to simply hack through the network. The pirates certainly tried, however, this was premier Lokoid military technology, electronic warfare suites had been installed on select units for the purpose of dispelling these attempts.

However, the rogue pirate commander still had tricks up their sleeves. Older generation, SDS-40A1 ripper drones had started to be deployed as a countermeasure against the Lokoid military’s own Automatons. No doubt Prarrel’s boarding forces were about to encounter these buggers soon. Measuring in a foot tall and a foot wide armed to the teeth with little tools to literally rip apart mechanical components and strip flesh, these were the horrors of the Scorched Line battlefields for infantry, tanks, and even spaceborne fighter units as even one of these rippers were enough to seriously injure personnel or severely damage mechanized components.

Kajuto’s forces suffered setbacks and were pushed back to the initial breach they had made. More boarding forces were being funneled through and mobile sentries were fortifying their landing zone. Unit-0 reported the setbacks to Prarrel, “Warning, SDS-40A1 Ripper Drones have been deployed in swarming fashion. Lokoid Boarding Force repulsed and delayed. Be prepared. Pirates are attempting to delay the advance with more expensive equipment. Denser fortification preparations are possible. Pirate actions indicate desperation, HVT escape possibility at 36.580%, possibility of pirates destroying the station rising as HVT escape possibility lowers. Prioritize Armory and Reactors as high priority targets.”

Meanwhile, Arrow had been dodging fire and weaving through debris waiting for his time to strike. The Daxini assault on the super heavy particle lance barge had doubled. The shields were starting to falter as rounds penetrated through and scratched the weapon’s surface. However, the destroyers and cruisers towing the contraption had been disabled. The weapon lurched to one side using thrusters to adjust its aim, it once again charged its beam gathering energy deep within its focal point. Arrow positioned himself several meters in front of its gaping barrel locking on to the heat signature deep within. Usually, capital ship weapons like these had fail-safes or physical measures to stop the weapon from being destroyed by oncoming fire, but this stripped down particle lance was reconstructed and it had not been put together with safety in mind, but rather to get it working as fast as possible. The pirates did not count on several squadrons of ace pilots to cut down their escorts and weave through their point defenses like they were nothing and certainly not a lone craft barreling towards the business end of the lance, but it happened. At the pinnacle of the weapon’s charge, the shields went down and just a meter away from the tip of the barrel, Arrow released his last remaining pair of heat seeker missiles. Arrow vectored away from the weapon as the missiles met their mark and the particles being accelerated within were released wildly in all directions breaking the machine apart from within.

The aces break off once again and execute evasive maneuvers as they return to the fight against the station proper and defensive fleet. The pirate’s reinforcements had started slowing down and with the particle beam gone, the Lokoid and Daxini forces could now reorganize their formations to properly destroy the pirate force in front of them.[/color]


[color=fff200]T’Klanak squawked in victory as he saw the capital weapon go up in a glorious cloud of destruction. He turned his attention to the bridge holotank as the field of battle updated. T’Klanak knew now was the time to press forward. He hoped that Prarrel would be able to complete his objectives without further casualties. 

T’Klanak began to issue orders. “Stormbringer is to move up and engage that destroyer on the right. Hammer an opening with the rail guns followed by targeted laser and plasma blasts. Target their engines and power centers. Have Scimitar and Talon work together to target the destroyer closest to the station.” 

Meanwhile on the station Prarrel’s wounded had been stabilized by their field medic. They were able to offer ranged support but were no longer mobile. The Daxini forces had set up a mobile shield barrier to protect them as they held an intersection in the hallway shooting around the edge of the wall. Prarrel had gotten word that the pirates had sent a swarm of ripper drones after them. He had cursed before asking Viltas if there was anything he could do to stop them. Viltas: “No, Lokoid ripper drones are hardened against these kinds of attacks. I will try to keep you in front of them. I have identified one of the high priority targets. You are close to the reactors. They are a hundred meters from your location along the corridor. You will have to cross the intersection to the other side to reach them.” 

Prarrel considered his options and looked at his remaining squad. They were being held in position to stall them. He gave a decisive nod before he began issuing orders. “Half the squad will remain here and hold this position. If the opportunity presents itself, take out that enemy position. 2nd Talon Chief Rayorten will be in charge here. I will be leading the team to take the reactors.” Prarrel pointed to who he wanted to take with him. He was taking 6 heavy fighters with him and 6 of their fast strike team. He left the remaining squad here to hold the corridor. 

Prarrel looked at the squads. “Rayorten, on the count of 3 your squad will provide covering fire as my team moves as quickly to the other side as possible.” Rayorten acknowledged his orders with a simple head nod. The teams got ready and were in place. Prarrel gave the countdown as they all surged into action as one unit laying down suppressive fire as the infiltration team sped across the hallway and were already well on their way towards the reactors. The push had taken two more pirates out but they seemed to be getting reinforcements from behind them someplace. As soon as they took someone out, another was there to take their place. 

Rayorten sent a message back to the command team. “Please advise the Lokoid that we have run into an entrenched enemy position. They seemed to be getting reinforcements as fast as we could take them out. Chief Prarrel has taken a team to try and capture one of the reactors.” [/color]


[color=8dc73f]The combat automaton forces were now pressing hard against the ripper drones. The column of automatons marching down the halls and firing volley after volley of withering fire had whittled down the enemy resistance. They were well on their way to cutting off the enemy reinforcements giving Rayorten so much trouble. With the Lokoid’s automaton forces flooding into the station, it was only a matter of time before the pirate captain was apprehended.

Outside the station, the battle continued. Arrow and the other Hunter squadrons were now slaving allied drone fighters and organizing them into smaller fighter squadrons. They were now picking apart the enemy formations. Urta reorganized the Lokoid formation and redoubled the effort in surrounding the station. Once again, several missiles and torpedoes flew from uncloaked cruisers devastating their targets once again. Ship Hierarch Dek’an reported that their destroyer squadrons had neutered the station’s final hardpoints leaving the station relatively defenseless.

Urta was pleased with the progress, “Fleet Hierarch Kajuto, permission to scour the debris with my squadron to hunt down remaining pirate ships?”

“Negative. With primary threats dealt with, reinforce the boarding action. Be aggressive and strike deep. Let the ichor flow Hunter Hierarch.”

To Urta these words were just as welcome, she addressed all ships, “Attention, my second in command will take over SWAC duties. I and the other Hunters will be boarding the station. We shall make the ichor flow, the final hunt is upon our foes.”

The Urta headed off the bridge and made way for the armory, by her side were trusted Hunter commandos ready to don their power armor. These tier-1 warriors were to board the station and slaughter any in their path, they were well armed for it. Their armor amplified their already heightened awareness, speed, and strength. Armed with wrist mounted blades and coil guns and a singular back mounted heavy plasma cannon, these heavily armored veterans of the firestorm wars that created this scorched line were now arming themselves once again for something all too familiar, boarding actions against an entrenched and prepared enemy.

Urta could still remember it. Back then, the Hunters didn’t have as many fancy toys, boarding with only the old commando armor used by Lokoid shock troops. The ship-to-ship fighting against the Augustans was brutal. Urta could still remember the shock on the Augustan’s faces every time her team would enter their reactors to set a graviton demolition charge amidst the chaos of disposable automatons boarding alongside them. Their methods were considered, necessary losses. They were now going to do what they had done many times before and break through enemy defenses to capture a rogue officer.

Unbeknownst to both forces, the rogue officer had one last trick up their sleeve. They were making their way to a hangar that had yet to reveal itself to the outside. It would take time to power up their corvette that would speed through the Lokoid-Daxini blockade of the station. To buy himself time, the heaviest of his outdated automatons had gathered here and prepared a bastion for a final stand. Two stripped down heavy assault walkers, four anti-personnel assault crawlers, and ten mobile sentry bots bolstered by a hundred and twenty outdated Mk.1 Combat Automatons, only half of which are armed with ranged weaponry, the other half had makeshift melee weapons.

With the rest of the station’s defense forces still active and the ripper swarms still doing their work, the rogue commander may still eke out a narrow escape.
[/color]


[color=fff200]T’Klanak received the message from Rayorten and informed Urta of what was happening with the Daxini forces inside the station. He then turned his attention back to the holotank on the bridge as the destroyer being targeted by Stormbringer hit the reactors causing a chain reaction explosion that blew the destroyer in half. It was listing badly and floating along the trajectory of kinetic energy from the blast. T’Klanak clicked his beak in pleasure at having taken out one of the last targets of concern to the squadron. There was a large explosion off the back of the second destroyer as the other two ships managed to take out the ship’s engines. 

T’Klanak sent an update to Urta. “The remaining two heavy destroyers have been neutralized. Since the Lokoid are moving to support the boarding parties. The Daxini ships will begin targeting any remaining pirate ships. We will look to disable first. Happy Hunting!” 

T’Klanak ordered the Daxini ships to begin taking out the smaller pirate ships that were now trying to flee the field as the heavier hitting weapons had been neutralized. 

Meanwhile deep inside the pirate station, Prarrel’s team had made it to the reactors. The section of the station was being guarded by a group of Lokoid pirates. Prarrel’s team charged into the group of five soldiers. They put up a good fight but ultimately the well trained Daxini troopers in heavy power armor took the day. Their armor reflected the heavy fighting with scarred pot mocked surfaces. One or two troopers’ armor had black scoring from laser fire and smoked in a few places. Prarrel pulled out his tablet and searched for a good place to plug it in so that Vilkas could take control of the reactors. Viltas informed him that their plug systems were not compatible and guided Prarrel through how to pull the panel apart and hardwire a connection for him. While he was doing that, the men were applying first aid to those who had sustained injuries from the heavy fight for the reactor control room. Viltas confirmed his connection as he began to work on infiltrating deeper into the station computer systems now that he had a hard connection to their network. 

Prarrel left Viltas to work as he used his encrypted communication to report to T’Klanak his progress. “Chief T’Klanak this is Prarrel. We have successfully infiltrated and secured one of the reactor control rooms. Viltas is hardwired into their systems and is attempting to infiltrate.” 

Prarrel ordered Viltas to shunt all power from all systems but life support and gravity. Viltas began to execute his orders as power for weapons systems and the like were shut down. Lights dimmed as power was reduced in that section of the base. Armory doors were locked out and could only be opened by prying them open using manual overrides. [/color]


[color=8dc73f]As Urta arrived with her several fireteams moving quickly with their power armor through the corridors of the now darkened sectors of the Space Station, they were met with several pirate automatons and ripper drones that were cut off from reinforcing the rogue commander. They reacted to Urta’s fireteam but were too late, as the moment their weapons were leveled, Urta had closed the distance and began ripping through them with their claws. The mass of their armor smashing into the lighter Mk.1s and pushed them down onto the floor. Urta’s second came in and followed up by stomping one ripper drone as he moved up and raised his arm cannons to blast whatever came to rush them in the dark.

Urta then updated Prarrel as they continued to swiftly clear a way to Automaton taskforce.

“We are making good time. We are on our way to push into the fortified hangar. Our sensors indicate several power signatures there. A host of automatons and a few larger signatures, vehicles and ships. Heavily entrenched position.”

As Urta spoke, the second team had landed where the Lokoid automaton reinforcements were flowing in from and had taken control from Unit-0. “Hunter unit 02 and 03 are now in position. We will converge on the hangar, Hunter Hierarch.”

From there the Hunters began to break up the Automaton squads further and lead them through flanking positions and rendezvous with Prarrel and Rayorten’s squads.

“The final hunt is upon us.” Urta spoke, cutting through squads of pirate automatons. Their armor was state of the art at this point and had proven itself in this operation alone by taking heavy hits from Lokoid pirates using heavy weapons emplacements. Urta’s back mounted plasma cannons had proven far more impactful as the gun crews were reduced to ash and melting flesh. Urta’s fireteams and their leadership among the automatons completely turned the battlefield situation around faster than what was projected from the usual tactics that the Automaton leader, Unit-0 predicted. The impact of their actions could instantly be felt as the shock of seeing elite units within the station could be heard on pirate communications. The panic and fear became very real for the holdouts with many either surrendering outright or attempting to flee as they sighted the crimson painted composite armor of the Hunters turn their corner. The remnant pirates and their automatons were being torn apart and hunted down like animals – mercy was not shown to any pirate, their punishment for resisting was death.[/color]


[color=fff200]T’Klanak received the reports from Urta and Prarrel. T’Klanak responded to Prarrel first.

T’Klanak: “Understood Prarrel. Support and share information with the Lokoid who are infiltrating the base in support and search of their rogue commander. Have Viltas share any tactical information over our shared link with them.” 

T’Klanak then responded to Urta. 

T’Klanak: “Understood Urta. Prarrel’s teams on station will support yours. You should have some tactical support feeds coming to you as Viltas has managed to gain control of the station systems. Camera feeds are on their way. The Daxini teams have locked down all power to the station except for life support and gravity systems.” 

In the background Daxini ships continued to mop up the space battle as they hunted down the pirate ships now trying to flee the area as the tide of battle had turned. 
[/color]