Battle of Bormari

At the end of the campaign against Grand Admiral Grant, the Imperial Grand Admiral chose the Bormari Nebula in the Bormari System to meet with a possible Imperial contact. Admiral Kre'fey of the New Republic planned to trap the Grand Admiral there with the help of Rogue and Wraith Squadron. However, Grant had anticipated the trap, and had planned one of his own. Once the New Republic had hyped into the peculiar system, Grant hyped in his own fleet, effectively trapping the NR between his force and the Bloodlust.

The Battle

Part 1

Prior to the battle, Face Loran had managed to infiltrate the Bloodlust, and make contact with an undercover agent, Katerina Allistre, who was one of the bridge officers on the huge ship. From her, he obtained a detailed set of plans of the ships shields. Once the NR fleet had hyped in, Face sent a message to Wedge Antilles on the Arrow informing him of a particular area of the ship to assault.

Wraith Squadron arrived next, chasing Firestorm who were hidden in the leftmost of three shuttles. The elite Special Forces Unit were attempting so smuggle themselves onto the Bloodlust using an Imperial transponder code stolen/created by Dru Kargin. The unit was successful in their infiltration attempt, and (led by their leader, Will "Locker" Bevan) they blew up the decoy shuttles and began to run riot inside the larger ship.

Meanwhile, the Sacul had successfully transmitted their altered missile code, and was attempting to get back to the saftey of the NR fleet. However, they were set upon by the picket force of two squadrons of TIE Fighters. Fortunatly, Rogue Squadron were nearby to assist. Whilst doing so, Wes Janson inadvertently sent a message out over a frequency monitored by MB-1, causing the mongrel droid AI to start a droid revolution on the Bloodlust.

With the Firestorms presence on the large ship, plus the additional droid revolution, Grant was soon becoming overwhelmed. He launched a gunship class ship to attack the Sacul. However, once the ship had a lock on the inviting Wraith ship, it launched it's missiles. Missiles that had been altered by the Wraith's new code! The small ship exploded without warning! Soon after, Grant launched his fighters, many of them also armed with the altered missiles. In one foul swoop, the Bloodlust lost 90% of it's fighters, as they launched into the vacuum of space, the ensuing explosions damaging or destroying even the craft that had not been armed with the missiles.

With the Bloodlust damaged (although it had yet to arm it's own missiles) and his fighter corps in ruins, Grant initiated his trap. A gravimetric pulse was sent out, rocking the incoming ships slightly. Whilst the Admirals and Generals tried to work out it's meaning, Taz Krayli and Dru Kargin worked it out... Grant had sent a signal, and the trap was about to close!

Interlude 1

Katerina Allistre, at the request of Grand Admiral Grant, goes to the quarters of Shira Brie. There she finds the Dark Lady preparing to escape, as she can somehow sense the imminent arrival of Face Loran. Knowing that the Colonel will be gunning for his ex-lover after his sabotage mission is complete, Katerina takes the Sith Lady by surprise, stunning her to ensure she stays on the ship long enough for Face to have his revenge.

Part 2

Incognito as a technician aboard the Bloodlust, Face positions explosives in a shield relay conduit near a relay station serving the area he indicated as a strike zone to the Rogue Task Force. When confronted by a stormtrooper, he messily -- but quietly -- disposes of the problem. Meanwhile, in her X-Wing, Jesmin Ackbar bemoans her dependence on her prosthetic arm before receiving a startling transmission from Danni Bullers, chief communications officer aboard the Rogue's Arrow.

A group of young hooligans peruse the Bormari system, taking no notice of the epic battle raging nearby. Their gossip mongering is cut short, however, by the introduction of an incoming Star Destroyer virtually on top of them, destroying their small craft against its shields without notice. Commander Astren, commander of the incoming Star Destroyer and leader of Grand Admiral Grant's reinforcement fleet, orders fighters launched from the twelve new Star Destroyers and their support craft.

Aboard the Sacul, Wraith Squadron warns the rest of the Rogue Task Force of the incoming fleet. General Antilles, General Horn, and Major Halcyon plan a precision strike against the Bloodlust, to allow the Rogue's Arrow to slip beneath the massive ship's shields. The Rogue Task Force fires a full spread of torpedoes from every available craft, blasting a hole in the Bloodlust's shields, which are prevented from cycling power from adjacent generators by the explosion of Face's booby trap. The Rogue's Arrow, along with the Basher flight of High Flight squadron and Knave squadron, a K-Wing unit, slip beneath the shields before repairs can be effected, and begin to clear the strike zone of weapon emplacements.

On the bridge of the Bloodlust, Grant receives news that his technicians have all but solved the problem of their exploding fighters, and that fighters are being reequipped and launched. Captain Katerina Allistre informs him that the droid uprising has been largely defeated, but that their electronic attacks have heightened. She recommends spacing the lower decks, which Grant accepts. He is in for a surprise, however, as the bugged missiles were offloaded into cargo bays on the lower decks, and detonate upon exposure to vacuum, causing significant damage to the lower portion of the Bloodlust.

In retaliation, Grant, assisted by Admiral Benadier and Colonel Allistre orders a full barrage on the Rebels Heart destroying the Mon Calamari cruiser in a matter of moments. The New Republic's first loss of the battle.

Katrin Halcyon conceives of a plan of attack on the incoming swarm of enemy fighters, utilising several Rogue/Wraith tactics at once. A Kettch's Drill followed by a Loran Spitball with a modified Kaiu'kes Spitball. The tactic works, allowing the Sacul to decimate enough of the incoming fighters to taking out almost a third of the attacking force, allowing the Rogues to pounce on the disorientated enemy.

Corran Horn along with his wingmate, Moor Myomor dogfight amongst the fragmented Imperial Squadrons, the General picking off several fighters before they can re-organise themselves. Flight Officer Leefa Do'Fey is not as lucky, being shot down and killed by a TIE Defender. The Rogues' first casualty.

Meanwhile, Wedge Antilles pilots the massive Rogue's Arrow to the designated spot, fastening his flagship to the behemoth using a tractor beam, the Arrow begins to pound down on the Bloodlust, assisted by High Flight and Knave Squadrons.

Inside the Bloodlust, Locker leads Alpha Squad through the upper levels of the large ship, destroying a communications tower. Whilst Waves and M'at Lin plant explosives, Lanooh Haf provides lookout, alerting the Squad to the arrival of a detachment of Stormtroopers. With brilliant lightfight tactics, the Firestorm Unit takes out several of the enemy, before utilising the blueprints provided by Dru Kargin, to make good their escape.

Interlude 2

Arriving at Shira's quarters, complete with ysalamiri, Face wakens the unconscious Shira (who had been dreaming she was turning into Asha Loran). Shira and Face verbally spar until the effects of being in the Force-empty bubble begin to show on Shira, as she slowly loses her grip on sanity. The pair continue to argue until Shira initiates physical violence. This is perfectly fine with Face, who finally gives in to his urges as the pair start their final fight.

Part 3

Making use of an adapted drilling laser, the Rogue's Arrow carves through large sections of the hull of the Bloodlust, slowly but steadily making progress towards the dreadnought's vital systems. Insanity Flight, under the leadership of Colonel Tyria Antilles, engage a squad and a half of TIE/ln starfighters after a heroic dogfight, Tyria narrowly averts the death of Ailie Datul, Rogue 6, by sacrificing her own starfighter to buy the younger pilot time while Yub-Yub Flight and the second wingpair of Insanity finish off the remaining TIEs. Shortly thereafter, Tyria is rescued by Wraith Squadron's Sacul, and returns to the fight aboard Colonel Loran's X-Wing.

After suffering a crippling shot from an Imperial fighter, Jesmin Ackbar drifts out of the protective magnetic field of Bormari VI B, and into the deadly storm of the Bormari Nebula. Her ship lost beyond rescue, and stranded from her squadmates by the fierce ionic storm disabling her ship, Jesmin eventually resigns herself to a peaceful contemplation of the afterlife as her ship is incinerated.

After a fierce, internal battle, Adorni Glamel opts to "hijack" an X-Wing and join the battle surging around her. Before she can launch, however, General Antilles orders her to do exactly that, and she joins the dogfight flying the General's own X-Wing. Meanwhile, the Arrow is taking considerable damage, and begins to suffer some system failures.

Admiral Kre'fey, seeing the significant addition to Grant's forces in the incoming reinforcements, opts to run the blockade in an attempt to minimize losses. His forces pull away from the battle, leaving the Rogue Taskforce alone against the Bloodlust.

After a brief internal power struggle, Firestorm's Omega Squad joins Locker and his Alpha Squad in a successful strike against a security substation on the Bloodlust.

On the bridge of the Bloodlust, Grand Admiral Grant frustratedly surveys the battle scene, and grants Katerina Allistre full access to all his ship's systems to aid in her attempts to foil Firestorm.

Interlude 3

Face and Shira continue to fight, both trading vicious blows and displaying amazing acrobatic ability. Face eventually defeats Shira, the final move throwing Shira through the door, and into her small refresher unit. However, this places Shira outside the range of the ysalamiri's influence. Face, not realising this, follows her outside of the Force empty bubble. Once there, Shira tries to invade Face's mind, trying to convince him that she is actually Asha. Although confused at first, Face's powerful thoughtshield comes into play, literally tossing Shira across the room.

In response, Shira unleashes wave after wave of Force Lightning, practically crippling Face. As the Colonel falls to the floor, Shira stops, taunting the man. She prepares for the finishing blow, only to find herself staring into Face's Redemptor. With a final comment, Face pulls the trigger, killing Shira as she flies backwards into the 'freshers mirror. Face sinks to the floor, exhausted, and waits for the Bloodlust to be destroyed.

Part 4

Threatened by three Nebulon-B frigates, the Rogue's Arrow and its attendant fighter squadrons briefly disengage the Bloodlust. Knave Squadron is able to deal with one of the frigates. In defense of the Arrow, Rogue pilots RDM and Adorni Glamel are forced to eject, crashing against the side of the Bloodlust, where RDM takes advantage of his inorganic nature to walk to Adorni's fighter and tend to her while they await recovery.

As the Arrow continues its fight against the remaining frigates, General Antilles and Captain Baltrod call for an abandon ship. As the crew scrambles for their escape craft, Squeaky collects some of the command staff's personal effects. With an unorthodox use of the drilling laser meant for use against the Bloodlust, General Antilles and the Rogue's Arrow defeat a second of the frigates moments before they are forced to join their comrades in abandoning the ship. Captain Baltrod is killed by a falling beam as the third frigate continues its assault. Wedge is the last man off, escape aboard his Naboo N-1 Starfighter.

Detecting that the Rogue's Arrow would detonate too soon to accommodate the evacuation of New Republic forces onboard the Bloodlust, as well as ensure the Arrow's escape craft could clear the blast radius, Dru Kargin and the rest of Flight Yub-Yub land on Arrow, now crash-landed into the Bloodlust, and attempt to contain the reactor breach. They are joined by Wraiths Voort saBinring and Zraix K'Implex. Zraix is severely wounded while attempting to patch a plasma conduit. Following an impact against the Bloodlust of a large piece of debris, General Janson orders them to evacuate as Dru is rescuing the Verpine. Seeing that the programs left in place would not be enough to ensure the safety of the infiltrators, Taz Krayli opts to stay behind, knowing that doing so will ensure his demise. In the meantime, Firestorm begins to plan their escape strategy, a plan likely to involve significant explosions. Yub-Yub prepares to make their own space-walk to board the Sacul.

Interlude 4

Gav enters Shira's quarters, coincidentally -- or perhaps not so coincidentally -- confronting a resigned, injured Face. While Face seems ready to solve the encounter with violence, Gav throws his pistol to the ground, only to be shot in the leg by his supposed victim. After some further ado, Gav reveals and opens a hidden chamber in Shira's 'fresher unit, which seems to hold some interest for Face, his son, Jaden Loran. Leaving Face to his own devices, Gav returns to Shira's corpse and attempts to aid her spirit in a peaceful transition, before leaving a Wraith patch on her and composing her body in a somewhat more honorable state. As he leaves, the ship is rocked by what he deduces to be an impact by another capital ship.

Part V

As they make for the evacuation point, Firestorm loses Gar "Phones" Willem, with a handful of the others sustaining injuries.

Sacul, on route to collect the repair team on the Arrow, continues to suffer from the damage taken throughout the battle, and Red is scrambling to keep systems operating. The Wraiths are forced to evade a large chunk of debris, and at the same time avoid presenting a target to the Warspite, the final Nebulon-B frigate, and in so doing the Sacul takes considerable damage to her dorsal systems, including both of the top turrets. As the vacuum-tolerant and suited pilots make their jump through space to the Sacul, Piggy boards Taz's fighter, but Nitro, Taz's astromech, refuses to grant him control, and makes an emergency jump within the gravity well. The X-Wing and its pilot vanish from the scene.

True to form, Firestorm blasts a hole in the hull of the Bloodlust, and exits through it to await recovery. Locker, severely injured, remains behind, handing over command to Zackitt before making a last stand against a squad of heavy troopers to ensure the Firestorms' safety. After Grant furiously oversees Firestorm's escape, he orders the Bloodlust crew to abandon ship ahead of the impending destruction of the Rogue's Arrow.

Callista, piloting one of High Flight's A-Wings, rushes to the Sacul's aid to protect the ship and Firestorm from a flight of TIE Advanced. Calling deeply upon the force, she valiantly destroys the assailants, sacrificing herself for the final kill. The remainder of High Flight Squadron diverts from the refugee escort to perform a precision strike against one of the Bloodlust's primary starfighter command comm towers. Though they lose one pilot, the strike is successful, and buys Rogue Squadron a few seconds to discourage Colonel Allistre's Black Epsilon Squadron from further harassing the escape vessels.

Meanwhile, Sacul detects recovers an escape pod containing Captain Katerina Allistre, who is mysteriously protected by Black Epsilon 3, apparent double-agent Rillao Flynn, after an emergency jury-rigging of a stabilizer by Dru, Sacul, and Rrowv.

En route to his escape pod, Grand Admiral Grant is confronted first by MB-1 and second by Bowman Gavin, who work together to end his life in an alliance of convenience. The accord is just as easily discarded, as Gavin destroys MB-1 to take the key card for Grant's escape pod, leaving with the slicer droid brain mysteriously embedded within MB-1's frame.

Sacul detects and recovers another escape pod containing their own Colonel Face Loran, who is met by Red with a mixture of pain and jubilation, after Red greets Captain Allistre, and gives her a small deathstick case that had belonged to Katerina's father.

In the final moments before the Rogue's Arrow detonates, Taz reflects on his life in Rogue Squadron, and comms out to thank his comrades for their friendship. As the small carrier explodes, it takes the Bloodlust with it, both ships igniting in a fiery explosion that destroys the two Star Destroyers nearby, and forces the Sacul to "surf" the shockwave, sustaining nigh-crippling damage in the process. As New Republic command staff discusses their options as they face Grant's second fleet, Colonel Allistre interrupts, seizing command of the Imperial fleet, and allows the "Rebels" to collect their dead and wounded and evacuate the system, not wanting to devote any more materiel to a cause that is "not Imperial."

As they jump out, victorious, General Horn reflects on all the death and destruction of the day.

Fleet Strength

The Bloodlust Task Force Capital Ships Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Bloodlust (Destroyed) Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Majestic (Destroyed) Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Pillar of Destiny (Destroyed) Support Vessels 3 Nebulon-B Class Frigates (Destroyed) 32 Lambda-Class Shuttles Starfighter Squadrons 27 TIE Fighter, Interceptor, Bomber, Advanced, and Defender Squadrons (324 Fighters) 20 Assault Gunboats 4 Gamma-class Assault Shuttles 16 Skipray Blastboats Grant's Second Fleet Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Ashen Valley Imperial II-class Star Destroyer (2) (Destroyed) Imperial II-class Star Destroyer (3) (Destroyed) Imperial II-class Star Destroyer (4) Imperial II-class Star Destroyer (5) Imperial II-class Star Destroyer (6) Imperial II-class Star Destroyer (7) Imperial II-class Star Destroyer (8) Imperial II-class Star Destroyer (9) Imperial II-class Star Destroyer (10) Imperial II-class Star Destroyer (11) Imperial II-class Star Destroyer (12) Numerous support craft (approx 20) 80 TIE squadrons of various classes (960 Fighters) First Wave: 16 Squadrons (192 Fighters)

New Republic Fleet Capital Ships MC90 Mon Calamarian Cruiser Stormsword (Flagship) MC90 Mon Calamarian Cruiser Liberator MC90 Mon Calamarian Cruiser Rebel's Heart (Destroyed) MC80 Mon Calamarian Cruiser Morning Tide (Destroyed) MC80 Mon Calamarian Cruiser Ocean's Pull MC80 Mon Calamarian Cruiser Seagate (Destroyed) Support Vessels Cataclysm-Class B Cruiser Rogue's Arrow (Destroyed) Nebulon-B Frigate Sunfire (Destroyed) Nebulon-B Frigate Bador (Destroyed) Corona-class frigate Guinness (Destroyed) Corellian gunship Bela Vistal Corellian gunship Coronet CR90 Corellian Corvette Sureshot CR90 Corellian Corvette Ahto (Destroyed) The Sacul Starfighter Squadrons 12 X-wings of Rogue Squadron 4 X-wings, 4 B-wings, and 4 A-wings of High Flight Squadron 35 X-Wing, B-Wing, A-Wing, E-Wing, and K-Wing Squadrons (420 Fighters)