Battle 107 :
Battle name: Farewell to old Friends

Baron Jahn Compton, newly appointed Tactical Officer of the Emperor's Hammer Strike Fleet, 
strolled down the ramp of the modified Lambda-class shuttle Hawk 3 and onto the deck of the ISD 
Vanguard.  As he sniffed the air he was not surprised to find out that absolutely nothing smelled 
familiar.  After all, he had only been stationed aboard the Vanguard for 2 days as Wing Commander
before joining the admiralty, and that had been years ago.  Still, the old warhorse of the EH had
a comfortable feel to it, even in this slightly worn-looking hangar bay.
He waved at the honor guard that had been standing at attention while he landed.  Instead of the
complement of Stormtroopers that usually greeted Command Staff members, Compton had requested 
that his honor guard be made up of pilots.  As he walked between the two rows of black-clad 
warriors, he couldn't help but grin at the mixture of apprehension and the desire to impress.  
He had once been a pilot on the front lines, and he had once been stationed on this vessel.  And
it's always an honor to have one of the Command Staff pay your ship a visit.
As he reached the end of the line, he stopped to greet Rear Admiral Horn, Commodore of the 
Vanguard. Horn smiled and snapped off a sharp salute.  "Welcome aboard, Admiral.  The Vanguard 
is at your service." Compton grinned back,  "Thanks."  He returned the salute, then offered Horn
a hearty handshake to the officer he had appointed to command this Star Destroyer.  "You wear 
your command well.  I brought along the latest copy of the newsletter with me.  You can download 
it from my shuttle."  The usual pleasantries were exchanged, then Compton turned back to the 
honor guard of the Hammer's finest.
"Gentlemen."  Compton's low voice rumbled slightly as it carried throughout the hangar.  "I'll 
be giving a flight lecture at 17:30 in the main pilot's lounge.  Bring your datapads, as I'll be 
covering a lot of material."
Compton could see the shoulders on a few of the pilots sag ever-so-slightly at this news.
"And bring your favorite ale mugs, too.  Once we get through the lecture, drinks are on me."
He turned on his heel and marched out of the hangar, followed by the cheers of his favorite 
people in the Fleet- pilots.

"...and then switch to single-fire to try and take out some of the guns on a capital ship.  
For practice, the Command Staff has decided to let the ISD Intrepid out of the Aurora system.  
We'll be joining her in orbit in a few minutes and she'll be training with us for the next few 
days."  As Compton looked out at the eager young pilots many cliches ran through his head; most 
of them concerning age.  "And that's about it for tonight.  Time to grab those mugs."
Compton's cocksure grin spread across his face as the pilots, almost in unison, all reached 
below them and brought out their ale mugs, slamming them on their desktops.  "Gentlemen, I've 
got a special surprise for you.  Tonight I've brought along..."
Compton was interrupted by an alarm.  He quickly crossed to a communications terminal, punched 
in his access code, and was greeted by a junior bridge officer. "S-s-sir!"  The young man seemed 
quite surprised to be facing a Fleet Admiral. 
	"What's the situation, Lieutenant?"
	To Compton's surprise, the officer regained his composure almost immediately.
	"A Rebel Dreadnaught, sir.  It seems to have been in orbit on the far side of the planet.  
Our arrival must have scared them." Compton frowned.  "A little surprising that they didn't 
show up on the Intrepid's sensors.  Pilots..." Compton turned around, about to order the pilots 
to their ships, but the Wing Commander interrupted him with orders of his own...



Mission the First: Quick Response

	During inter-group training maneuvers, the ISD Vanguard and ISD Intrepid are visited by a Rebel dreadnaught.  The dreadnaught launches 2 shuttles that take off in opposite directions.

	Primary Goal:
		Inspect the Dreadnaught.



	During the mission, Baron Compton personally flew his shuttle from the Vanguard to the Intrepid.  He stood to join RA Thedek in debriefing the Intrepid pilots after the battle, and he looked a little concerned.  As the pilots filed into the briefing room, he could feel something nagging at him through his connection with the Dark Side, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it might be.  As Thedek started to speak, he decided to ignore the feeling for the moment.
	"Gentlemen, I commend you on your excellent job in following orders on this mission."  Thedek's voice somehow managed to sound soothing and menacing at the same time.  "By allowing the shuttles to reach hyperspace, we should be able to track them down.  We expect to find larger groups of Rebels when we find these ships.  Good luck, and good hunting."



Mission the Second: Searching the Wreckage

	Fearing a Rebel spy patrol and hoping to catch the Rebels, the Int and Van split up, each chasing one of the shuttles.  Being assigned to the ISD Intrepid, you are assigned to track down and capture one of these ships.

	Primary Goals:
		ISD Intrepid must survive
		SHU Tup must be captured



	"What the hell happened?" Compton slammed his fist on a control panel.  During the battle, the Intrepid's lasers did not function, leaving the ship open to assault.
	"Something seems to have disabled all fire control subsystems.  We're trying to reboot, but nothing has worked so far."  Thedek's voice sounded unnaturally relaxed through the ship's intercom.  He had decided to direct the attempts at repairs from the systems control center rather than remain on the bridge.
	"You mean like a virus?"  Compton's eyebrows knitted together in an unpleasant-looking manner.
	"Yes.  It seems we've been compromised."
	A disgruntled silence was his the only reply.

	Meanwhile, on the Vanguard, operations were under way to capture the other shuttle...



Mission the Third: The Other Side of the Coin

	While the Intrepid pursues the SHU Tup, the Vanguard has chased after the SHU 'Silver.  Capture the shuttle.

	Primary Goals:
		ISD Vanguard must survive
		SHU 'Silver must be captured



	After the shuttles had been captured, the two Commodores and the Tactical Officer took a meeting over the holonet to compare notes.
	"Gentlemen, if you look at the information obtained from both shuttles, I'm afraid that there's only one conclusion to make."  RA Horn's holo-image danced slightly as he leaned over his desk.
	"A trap."  RA Thedek crossed his arms and sighed.  Baron Compton just lightly massaged the back of his neck, trying to relax in spite of the feeling of dread he was sensing through the Dark Side.
	"Of course it's a trap." Compton said, perhaps a bit too sharply.  "It's not the trap that's worrying me.  The Rebels have set countless traps for single ISDs, and they've yet to destroy one.  No, there's something more serious about this.  Something we're not seeing."  Compton closed his eyes, drawing his eyebrows close together.  "I just wish I knew what it will be."
	Horn and Thedek eyed each other through the hololink.  They knew Compton more by reputation than through experience, and if there was anything publicly known about Jahn Compton it was the fact that his moods tended to shift between moderately-annoyed-at-the-galaxy-around-him to fiercely violent.  The fact that Compton almost seemed to be calm worried the two rookie admirals more than anything else.
	"Now what about this problem with the lasers?" Horn asked, and not at all pleasantly.
	"I guess you can blame me for that one."  Compton scowled, his voice barely audible.  "Looks like the copy of the Newsletter I brought with me was corrupt.  When you downloaded it to your ships, you caught the bug as well."
	Thedek was the first to respond.  "So until we can slice and scrub this thing, we'll have no lasers."
	Compton sighed.  "Exactly."
	"So do we keep chasing these Rebels into the trap, defended only by our starfighters?"  Horn didn't really sound confident.
	Compton seemed to brighten up a little.
	"Yes, yes we do.  Have LG Longshot prepare the pilots for battle."



Mission the Fourth: Do You Smell Something...?

	The Int and Van compare notes, and it looks like the Rebels are trying to set a trap.  With the information gathered from the shuttles it seems that the Rebels have a moderately-sized base in a nearby system.  Instead of charging in guns blazing, the COMs of the two ships decide to stay separate to track the flow of Rebel space traffic.

	Primary Goals:
		ISD Intrepid must survive
		CRV Summer (random) must be inspected



	LG Rich paced in front of the briefing room.
	"Boys, now that we've got those shuttles we can start tracking down the rest of these Rebels.  From what we've been able to decipher from the Reb computers, there should be some Modified Corvettes hypering in to an area near here.  We'll be there to intercept them when they leave hyperspace.  Get out there and scan their systems before they can escape.  We'd usually want an Interdictor with us for something like this, but there isn't one near enough for us to use.  Don't dare forget that the Vanguard's lasers are still down.  It's your job to make sure it's protected as well.  Now get out there and do your jobs."



Mission the Fifth: ...it's starting to stink!

	Meanwhile, the Vanguard runs into some trouble of it's own...

	Primary Goals:
		ISD Vanguard must survive
		M/CRV Winter (random) must be inspected
		CRKC Nick must be destroyed
		CRKC Nora must be destroyed



	The noble Star Destroyers Vanguard and Intrepid fairly limped through space as they joined forces once more.  Because of the debilitating effects of a virus hidden within the Fleet's own Newsletter and a merciless assault by Rebel forces, the ships had barely made it through to their rendevous point.  Barely.  The only thing reason the ships were making this stop was because the Intrepid's hyperdrive engines were having trouble sustaining long jumps, and they needed to make a few repairs before the last jump to the Aurora system and safety.  Pulling rank for one of the few times in his career, Fleet Admiral Jahn, Baron Compton had ordered all but the most necessary of skeleton crews to abandon ship and head for safety in the Aurora system.  Aboard the Vanguard, the number of people still on the ship had dwindled to a few technicians back in the engine rooms, two flights of pilots and three very unhappy senior officers.
	Baron Compton stood very still as he stared at the floor of the Vanguard.  He felt responsible for the predicament these fine ships were in; it was his shuttle that had transported the virus to both ships.  The bones in his neck cracked loudly as he finally lifted his head to look at his fellow officers.  Compton, when he was still Flight Officer, had assigned Rear Admiral Horn to lead the Vanguard several months earlier.  Rear Admiral Thedek had only received, also from Compton, command of the Intrepid a few weeks before the current mission.  He and Compton had flown over from the Intrepid to meet with Horn to discuss their tactics for the Rebels' inevitable attack.  The junior admirals looked at each other, then back at Compton.  And then an alarm sounded.



	Mission the Last: Farewell to Old Friends

	The Vanguard and Intrepid regroup in an effort to destroy this band of Rebels once and for all.

	Primary Goals:
		ISD Vanguard must complete mission
		ISD Intrepid must complete mission
		SHU 10-245 must complete mission
		SHU 10-246 must complete mission
		ATR 20-250 must complete mission
		SHU 10-352 must complete mission
		SHU 10-353 must complete mission
		ATR 20-251 must complete mission



	Looking out of the space station's viewport, Baron Compton sighed in relief as he saw the Vanguard exit hyperspace.  The empty ship followed the Intrepid along its pre-programmed course to the Aurora spacedocks, still managing to look majestic in spite of the damage it had sustained.  He turned to see Horn and Thedek looking forlorn as their ships were met by TUGs to assist them to the repair bays.
	And then Compton smiled.
	"Gentlemen, I've spoken with Admiral Darth Vader concerning the fates of your crewmembers."
	Thedek raised an eyebrow, and Horn just took in a large breath.
	"They'll be reassigned to the other ISDs, to help fill out the crews."  Compton was still smiling, and it was really starting to make the others nervous.  "Your new assignments will be coming later."
	Horn was the first to break.
	"But what about our ships?!?"
	Now it was Compton's turn to raise an eyebrow.
	"You
_________________________________________________
plotline compiled for Project Phoenix by 
FL/LT Chei-Ras/Iota 3-1/Wing VIII/ISD Colossus