Albringi Station

[Jalua Solast]

Far from the sounds of civilisation, a station orbited a large volcanic planet known as Mira. The station contained a gathering of scientists, civilians, miners and some military personnel. The scientists had been working for the last few years on improving the rate at which ediable food could be grown in harsh environments. Their project had begun to show signs of progress, and also the potential to scorch worlds and stations with a disease which would hinder attempts at growing food. Although the station and this planet was in a quiet system with almost no connection for the Coalition or Empire, it was gaining attention. Because of this, the Coalition had stepped in to help support the project and protect it from threats. Although usually quiet of activity, the system was very harsh. Mira was one of the few colonised planets in the system and none had a population larger then tens of thousands.

The MCAV with it's escorting fleet from the 3rd Imperial Task Force approached Cerlon, a small icey world at the fringes of the system. Although it wasn't worth much, the planet had recently gained a small signal garrison to help detect incoming threats to the Station and Planet. It immediately hailed the incoming fleet, which it had not been expecting. "This is Cerlon Base to incoming vessels, identify yourselves" called the controller, seeing a mass of dots on his screen. "This is HRN Galacia, approaching Albringi Station. Is route clear?" came the reply. There was silence for a long while, which was the result of information gathering on the base. "This is Cerlon Base, path not clear, repeat, not clear. Be advised that smaller craft can use the jump lanes. Expecting a clear route in five hours and fourty-three minutes". With the information being processed throughout the fleet, the MCAV, now HRN Galacia informed it's Black Moon allies.

"This is HRN Galacia to Black Talon. We have received word that the route is not clear for vessels larger than gunboats and transports. We have an estimated clear route in six hours. If your pilots wish to proceed with small craft, then they can send a hailing request to the lane and it will speed them through. There are hundreds of thousands of loose asteroids, nebulas and other hazards in the system. The jump lane will provide a fast and safer way of travelling, you may send any craft deemed necessary through the jump lane. We sending you chart of the jump lanes". The chart was processed and sent from the flagship. It detailed that there was several jump lanes needed to dock with to proceed to the station which was near to the sun.

Actually on board the MCAV, crews had been waiting for the drop out of hyperspace and ready to deploy their vessels into space. Over the communication relay, the names of which ships could go and that all transports were clear. Although most had to get out of their ships, those that had been standing in the hanger bay and could fly raced into their ships or starfighters. Transports powered up with a thunderous roar, starfighters with a clear whine and other ships like gunboats, mine layers and troop carriers raised themselves partly into the air. With so much going on, the Empress' walk to her own luxury yacht was unnoticed by most, but with her came two full squadrons of Royal Marine Commandos and several military advisors. The yacht raised into the air and streaked out of the hanger bay within minutes, the rest began to slowly follow, zooming out at different paces for the first convoy. With the Royal Yacht being escorted by two wings, or eight squadrons of R-Wings and the new Mk. II model, it began to dock with the first jump lane.

Looking down from the first lane was like looking into a mirror. There was many jump lanes on the route which kept the ships passing through propelled at high speed each time they passed. If one of these was malfunctioning, the ships would decelerate rapidly and fall out of the lane, although reconnecting could be achieved half-way. As such, the white circle which appeared before the first lane glowed, signalling that it was ready. With a slow approach, the ships suddenly got yanked into the lane and achieved glorious speeds. The huge convoy which streched back for several hunded kilometers passed near a hazardous nebula before the lane took them straight into the heart of less serious one. Even so, the dark blue glow from within made it very erie, but within a minute they were out the other end and the first planet could clearly be seen. The trade lane however ended before they reached the planet, showing them a station in ruins. It looked like it had been there for centuries, crushed and ripped by asteroids into an almost indistinguishable shape. Ignoring the only half completed lane which seemed to strech into a giant and sinister looking nebula, they took the better one, which took them over the top of a ring of asteroids.

In total it took them almost fourty minutes to get to Albringi Station, it was clear that this wasn't an easy place to reach. With the Station's capsule-like design extending for several kilometers, the station was a glorious white angel in front of a burning red devil. The Planet Mira was volcanic on almost all of it's surface, where there wasn't a volcano or lava flow, there was the ashes of the ground where one had passed. However, there was good rock to be found crushed further below the black ash and this was perfect for strengthening the hulls of warships. As such, this quiet system found itself home to miners who were willing to be on the surface of this unrelenting planet for good credits. On the station however, there was a more kinder side of life, with 'batches' of planets growing in different rooms. There was chemical labs where they were cooking up a variety of mixtures to find the best (and of course the worse with the help of some military scientists) for speeding up the growth and returns of the plants they were growing. If this research succeeded, the Coalition might not only find itself with the perfect mixture to destroy food supplies and stop invaders getting a grip, but also the chance to make their own supplies grow much faster and give so much return compared to most places in the galaxy. With the demand for quality foods so high amongst the military and worlds outside the Coalition, this could be the key to continued progress and the source of much revenue.

Docking with the station, the yacht was still moored to the outside, hooked into a large tower which sprewed upwards from the station's main block. The Empress and her guards walked inside the lift waiting for them and they descended down to the main levels of the station. When opened, the sight of the bearded professor and his loyal staff was waiting for her. They had much to argue about.

[Dan Zorko]

Dan looked at his comm officer. "They just call us Black Talon?" he asked. "Uh... Yes sir." said the comm officer. "Anyone ever tell them the Black Talon has been destroyed for a while now?" Dan muttered under his breath. "Sound the alarm. Troops to the transports, and launch the starfighters. Capital ships in as soon as the way is clear." he said and turned to go to the turbolift.

Dan made his way through the hangar, where his CAMELOT gunship waited for him. He adjusted the helmet to his AVALON armor on his lap, and gave the signal to launch. The gunship lifted off and joined the stream of starfighters and transports moving towards the gate. Dan's squadron of REAPER TIE Defenders were in escort formation with Dans CAMELOT.

"Uh... REAPER 6 to squadron... What's a jump gate"
"REAPER 1 to 6, it launches us through this maze safely. It makes us go fast pretty much."
"Anyone ever use one before?"
"4 here, once. I'm not a fan really."
"Son of a-" THWOOOM!

[Jalua Solast]

OOC: Opps, sorry!

Oh btw, nice sound effects

---

After talking to the professor who ran the station and various people who stayed there, Jalua was shown to her quarters so they could be prepared. The Marines went in first, scanning for bugs and things which might not only crawl in the night. When all clear, Jalua entered and began packing her stuff. On the way here, she had noticed how drastically different the system had become since her last visit. She remembered racing down the jump lanes with a couple of pilots, not caring for anything. In her mind, back then, the lanes were only used for speed rather than safety. Today however, she had seen asteroids flying around the lane, old mining lasers attempting to re-direct them away from the stream of traffic flowing through. Also, there had been a restriction on the larger ships from entering. Back when she first came here, the warship followed just outside of the lane. They could not fit inside these small lanes, but she remembred a cruiser flying next to one. Whatever had caused the system's new erratic behaviour was something to do with that sun she imagined. It seemed to be a beast, spinning things in all directions. Even in the force, she couldn't truely settle her mind here, there was too much going on around her.

After placing her things away, she exited her room and was led by the Marines back to the main level, where she greeted the Professor once again on a viewing platform. He had various plants lined up, some basically in ruins, with leaves brown and crumbling away. Others were tall and carrying many exotic fruits, they also seemed to be wider than those she saw in the holovids. Giving a smile and nod to Dan, who she imagined had been pretty bored by the professor's ramblings while they waited, she joined them. "These are your samples?" Jalua asked, seeing the old man's moustache follow his widening mouth. He was always pleased to see people take an interest in his work, and although Jalua wasn't exactly thrilled, she did at least have the genuine respect and courtesy to listen and take in what he was dedicating his life to. "Yes yes... yes..." the professor mumbled as he hurriedly walked over to the table. Picking up one of the plants, he held it in front of Jalua so she literally could see it. Nothing but it, infact. "This was a normal plant six hours ago" he said, placing it back on the table. Picking up another, Jalua could see his face gleaming with delight, as such, she leaned in to take a closer look with him, studying the plant with an amazing expression of interest. "This was normal six hours ago. We sprayed one of our mixtures onto it's stem and it is beginning to carry almost three times the fruits it was this morning". He gave it to Jalua to hold, indicating for Dan to come and also have a look. "The mixture isn't perfected, but this was our best result. From our estimations, we could make enough mixture once our machinery is assembled to grow another two thousand a day" he said with a smile, his pride showed in his work. Jalua guessed that Dan would not see the importance of such projects, but this could solve many problems with the increasing the food exports. It would also if grown on supply ships, help solve the food shortages for the Navy and Army, allowing them to be deployed for much longer periods. Sure, this plant was making exotic fruits right now, but if the Professor continued with this project, he could hopefully create the perfect mixtures for dozens of different plants. As such, supply ships could move between destinations on a cycle, growing the food on the way. The navy could also use these for increasing the length a warship could remain away from home.

"Well professor, I can truly say I'm impressed. The results are fantastic, considering the last time i visited you was working on a microbe level, this is really astonishing". The professor smiled and glanced at his plants, while Jalua gave a quick smirk at Dan's face. He was obviously bored out of his mind, and probably was wondering if he could make an escape without anyone noticing. Looking back at the samples, she caught the professor's look of alarm when he believed he had spotted a sudden infection on the stem on his good sample. Smiling with a bit of nervousness, he picked it up and hesitated for a moment. "I just need to go check something" he mumbled, "I will talk to you both later" and he hurried off out of the room, no doubt towards his lab. Jalua laughed silently and turned to Dan. "He'll realise it was just an illusion, there is nothing wrong with that plant. Now then, let's talk tactics" she said, walking over to the large balcony. It was a platform which came out of the hull of the station, it was surrounded by the same hull, but there was a large twenty meter viewport where people could stand and look out at the planet and the stars. The way the station had been designed, it was on a slow rotation which meant that during the daylight of the planet, the view would be on the planet and when it became dark, the station would be rotated towards the stars. This meant that under no circumstances would the sun be shining directly onto the station for anyone to be blinded. As such, this gave an amazing view from this balcony, where currently there was half of the planet in view and half of the nebula and stars behind it. Jalua finally felt a bit more relaxed, there was this fiery red planet but otherwise, things actually seemed peaceful.

Turning to Dan, she looked at him before back out towards the stars. "Where the fleet entered, I was thinking of deploying mines with a single channel for access to the lane. We have been producing billions of mines recently, I'm sure we can spare enough. But what about when the Empire reaches that ruined station?". Jalua looked out into space, as if in a trance for a moment. "I'm thinking we could deploy a Battle Carrier there. It should be strong enough to hold off the gunboats and smaller ships when we finally get it there".

OOC: Any suggestions let me know. Remember that there are several lanes to go down before they reach the station, I'm hoping each point could be defended for weeks. This isn't going to be played out in a battle as such, just more of a log in the holonet for how they are holding out. I've got some future stuff maybe planned for this station.

[Dan Zorko]

"What if we rigged some asteroids with explosives and manuvering jets? Nothing fancy, just big enough to get into the middle of the Imperial fleet and cause some damage when it blows. If I remember correctly, Thrawn used a similar tactic in the attack on Coruscant. With all that debris, and if we mine the area around it, it would be a big help in delaying the Imps. And what if we took some asteroids and turned them into gunboats in themselves? Gun ports are easily disguised, and the Imps would be a lot more cautious if they didn't know which asteroids were threats, and which weren't."

[Jalua Solast]

Jalua was amazed and in deep thought at the possibilities that would bring to the defenders. "I agree, nice idea! I'll see if it can be done quickly enough, I'm sure we could use them very effectively". Jalua walked up to the terminal on the balcony and opened up the data card slot. She inputted the one out of her datapad and quickly saw an authorisation screen appear. Inputting a series of codes into the terminal, she connected to her Coalition Network. Filtering through a list of contacts, she found Admiral Price and selected his name, then continued without selecting any more. A blue hologram appeared once the connection was complete and the Admiral could be seen in his uniform on the bridge of his Star Destroyer. "Admiral Price, congratulations on the defence of Commenor" she said with more of a authority tone in her voice. The Admiral seemed surprised to be hearing from her, but still maintained his cool and collective personality when speaking to her. Unlike some of the people Jalua had to speak to, Price wasn't afraid of her, which was a nice change. "Thank you Empress, We are expecting them to eventually come back in full force" he said calmly. Jalua nodded and was silent for a moment, and wondering what to do. "It maybe best if you stay at Commenor for the moment then. However, I need your help on defending the Rajon System. We are going to make sure it's got sufficient defences to keep the Station at it's heart protected for months after the Imperials reach the system". Price looked uneasy for a moment, and seemed to type in some controls of his own. With his eyes focused off the hologram, he studied a chart of the system. "This will not be easy" he muttered, his tone now very weary. "Get back to me when you have some ideas, I've got some defences to put into place for the time being. I just want to know how you would do it". Price nodded and looked back at the hologram. "I'll get to work on a plan and send it to you. Let me know what you are doing in that system as well, or else our final plans will just give the Imperials some weak spots they know they can hit". Jalua nodded, she didn't mind Price telling her what to do, he liked to get the job done and in some ways, she could work better that way. "Agreed, I'll look forwards to seeing what you come up with". Price nodded as Jalua turned off the hologram and turned back to Dan. "From what I learnt from my father, an isolated and difficult system like this is great for holding out great numbers with a small force. The Imperials will get to realise what the jump lanes are for, so my guess is that we can position just a few warships in the system at strategic locations. It will be unlikely that they will get an opportunity to bring in their own warships once we have our patrols in place. With bombers stationed here, we should be able to destroy them before they ever get into a position to strike at us". Jalua unplugged her datacard as she spoke and dropped it into her pocket. Turning to Dan fully, she walked back towards him. "Once we drive the Imperials out, we can focus on other things" she said, looking down at her still mostly flat stomach. "I don't want to bring up a child in such a difficult time though, not when we should be fighting for our freedom".

[Dan Zorko]

Dan followed Jaluas eyes to her stomach. "Agreed. The sooner this is over the better."

OOC: Sorry, I haven't been feeling good the last couple of days, can't really think enough to type a lot.

[Jalua Solast]

Jalua nodded and looked out into the colourful space beyond the balcony. Her mind was at ease, but still flooded with thoughts of defence. "If we have our first Battle Carrier at the end of the first lane, we can hold them off there for months. Then have two Battle Carriers, one at the station, the other at the trade lane. Then leave the next lane but the fourth should have another Battle Carrier. Gunboats with fighter escorts patrolling the lanes with Destroyers ready to assist. Starfighters also patrolling the asteroid fields and near the nebulas for signs there. We also found a route where we can possibly smuggle supplies into the station, we should position some of those asteroids around there and try to get ourselves a clear lane we can disguise but protect to the station. It will save us a lot of trouble, although the freighters will be constantly changing bearing to get through safely". Then Jalua decided she had enough of discussing the defence. "Price will no doubt get back to us, I should stop worrying. I'm going to get some rest, I'm getting tired" she said, beginning the journey back to the yacht which had recently docked to the station.

OOC: No problem, I haven't been very well recently either.

[Dan Zorko]

"Ma'am." said Dan at the retreating figure of Jalua. He looked around. "Now where do I go..." he muttered. He decided that he'd just sleep on the CAMELOT, since it appeared that everyone had disappeared. He headed back and climbed on to a surprised pilot. "Sir?" "No one told me where to go." said Dan. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in the back." he finished as he made his way to the rear and stretched out on the bench, put his helmet on his chest, and fell asleep.

[Jalua Solast]

Finally after careful movement, the first Battle Carrier Endurance, took up position next to the ruined station. The Battle Carrier was unlikely to move for several months now, dealing as a command centre and battle station for the defence of the system. Unfortunately, leaked Imperial plans showed that convoys would soon be using a part of the system for sending supplies out to the Invasion Fleet. This would usually provide a great target, but it meant that the Coalition was more likely to be detected here earlier, sparking a large Imperial force to arrive and attempt to take the system. With the jump lanes the only possible method of travel without scanning the system for weeks, large ships was unlikely to make it through. However, this would not stop an Imperial tactician, who would know that they could make use of the smaller ships and starfighters to attempt to push further into Coalition defences. At Albringi Station, another convoy of freighters had arrived and proceeded to dock with the station whenever possible. Supplies were being unloaded and new turrets set up upon the station's perimeter. As such, the Empress' Yacht had moved away from the station to provide a free docking port and was now positioned between two gunboats with a Wing/Four Squadrons of R-Wings for protection.

On her Yacht, Jalua had awoken and had finished looking at the plans from Admiral Price. He had gone far more in depth with his plans and had plotted courses for starfighter patrols to follow and how specially adapted Coalition freighters should be used to attempt smuggling through the asteroid fields and nebulas. The system was dangerous and that was why the jump lanes had been set up, but there was another way to get to Albringi System, although it would take almost a week of careful travel and at great risk. With her mind now somewhat at rest, she decided that her presence in the system was now going to be unnecessary risk. She had seen what the system could do if defended correctly, and supplies were now streaming in. Soon another Battle Carrier was predicted to make it through the system and station itself next to the Endurance. There it would wait until able to predict another safe gap in the system and take it down to the link of two jump lanes further in the system.

[Dan Zorko]

Dan woke to the pilot shaking him gently. "Sir, Admiral Clemence is on the comm. He's asking for you." Dan groaned and sat up. "Patch him through to my helmet." He put it on. "Zorko." "Sir, the other Admirals want to know where we are." said Clemence "And did you tell them?" said Dan. "Yes sir. But they're getting a bit antsy with all this disappearing you've been doing lately. I recommend we start to head back." Dan sighed, but realized Clemence was right. "Yeah, I guess so. Bring the 1st back to the Coalition/BM border and hold there. I'll rendevous with you ASAP." He cut off the comm, and called up to the pilot. "Raise the Empress. Time to say our goodbyes and head back, I think they're sufficiently defended, and I don't know when she plans on leaving."

[Jalua Solast]

With so much happening, Jalua didn't receive the message. In fact, she had travelled off the station and towards the Endurance for an inspection. There was going to be a lot happening in this system, and she wanted the troops to know that they had her full support. At the station, the turrets were finally being tested and the troops which would defend the station was being deployed. Down on the planet, there was also another five garrisons and the construction of an Ion Cannon to help in the defence. Hopefully, this would provide adequate protection for the station from approaching Imperial Warships.

Out in the asteroid field surrounding the station, mines were being deployed to provide barriers to help starfighter patrols to secure areas of the fields. The twisting lane which had so far been considered too dangerous to pass through, was slowly being mapped. With the rotation of the asteroid field, the path was constantly getting invaded by loose asteroids and plans were being developed to stop this. Freighters would need to travel possibly more than a couple of galactic week's worth of cruising. It would be a long journey, but the supplies should be received without much risk of Imperial detection. Large freighters were unlikely to be able to pass through with sufficient speed, so smaller freighters were now being fitted with tractor beams. These were fitted usually to the sides or top and bottom of the ship, with a deflector switch. The tractor beams would re-direct the flow of incoming asteroids around the freighter, enabling them to move down the path with less risk of collision. Although this would no doubt mean the freighters moving cautiously, their agile frames would enable them to go at a much higher speed than conventional freighters. Starfighter patrols would secure the regions between mine walls around the lane and stop any Imperial starfighters or perhaps gunboats from approaching. At least, that was the plan.

[Dan Zorko]

OOC: Not so sure what to say now...