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| - The lush, terrestrial world of Demos loomed before the viewscreen on the bridge of the Vesetroika-class destroyer, Katonaja, flagship of the Srav Outer Rim Exploration Flotilla. White clouds stretched across the luminous blue surface of the planet, which had been used as a staging area for Taung and Zhell raids against the Srav Flotilla since it had first entered the system. Now that the Sravs had found the planet that the barbarians had been striking from, it was time to teach them a lesson. A nervous-looking lieutenant approached the two figures staring out across the planet’s surface and clicked his boots together as he came to a halt, snapping a crisp salute. “Captain Bliad, Kommisar Malenkov. The fleet is assembled just out of range of the Taung scanners and our bombers are prepped to soften resistance for our infantrymen. We are on standby awaiting your orders, Captain.” Captain Bliad turned his helmeted head to the side and nodded once. A low, deep voice issued from him, “Very good lieutenant. We will hold position here until Kommisar Malenkov gives the order.” The other man standing with Bliad drew in a sharp breath as he looked at the nearby scanners. “Our scanners report a very strong Taung presence. There are at least several thousand of them on the planet.” Bliad turned back to the viewscreen. “I pray that Comrade Yuiln's decision to send you along to incite moral was not misplaced, Kommisar Malenkov.” Malenkov simply chuckled. He turned his face up towards the sky and watched as the verdant world of Onderon spun lazily overhead. It didn't seem to have a care in the world, and in fact it didn't, at least not yet. Some found it disconcerting to look up and see a planet so very close in the sky that it looked as though it might fall at any moment. Mandalore the Uniter, leader of the Taung Confederacy, found it to be intoxicating. As far as he was concerned, the galaxy already belonged to him, the war that was to come was merely a formality. The final measures were being taken; the last steps were being made. Soon, he thought to himself, very soon. It would be from here, the jungle moon of Dxun, that the Taung would finally have their glory and honor against a worthy opponent. It was time for them to fight a war to end all wars, and it would all start here. It had been here that the Taung had settled after their defeat by the Battalions of Zhell on Coruscant, but that defeat had quickly been fixed as the Taung had conquered the Zhell after they too had been forced to leave Coruscant. It had been here that they rebuilt their forces after their defeat. Forced into hiding until the time came when they could finally rise up and claim their birthright as the greatest warriors in the galaxy. The Taung were originally only a group of scattered nomadic clans, the clans which had innhabited Coruscant before the rise of the Zhell. The Taung were a warrior race beyond the abilities of any other. Their lives were devoted to combat. They felt that the true measure of a being was tested and found in conflict and war. A being could not know who he or she truly was, they believed, until they faced down their enemy. It really didn't matter in the end to a Taung whether they won or lost. It was the battle that was all important, that was the only thing that mattered. If they lost then they found honor in being bested by a superior opponent and would be stronger for it, making them even more likely to win the next time. But glory came to those who could best even the greatest combatant. To be the ultimate victor was to be immortal. Taungs of the present really weren't all that different in ideology and practice than the original Taungs on Coruscant. The main difference was really only the fact that the Taung were now no longer separated into various, warring clans. Over time other tribes had been conquered and united by Mandalore, and as is the case almost everywhere else in the galaxy, Mandalore had ultimately triumphed. But they still held the same beliefs. War was still that which defined a Taung's existence. To live in times of war was to be blessed, for each day meant a new enemy and a new battle, a new chance for glory. Mandalore the Uniter was the first leader of the Taung Confederacy since Mandalore the First. However; his real name was not Mandalore, Mandalore was merely the name given to each leader since Mandalore the First, leader of the Taungs on Coruscant, and the being from who their name was derived. Mandalore was always he who was held above the other Taung, the greatest warrior of the great warriors. This Mandalore, however, was determined to carve his own destiny like Mandalore the First before him. His plans were far more ambitious and he felt he was the first Mandalore that had ever come this close to such a victory as the one he felt he would achieve. The Taung Confederacy had long believed that they, other than the Zhell, were the only major galactic civilization in the galaxy. Now, however; new enemies had appeared such as the Sravs, imperialistic explorers who had ventured into Taung space uninvited. Mandalore was almost saddened by the fact that he didn't truly believe the Srav Federation to be a worthy enemy. The only thing that would make this fight one to remember was the size. The Srav Flotilla outnumbered the Taung forces on Demos at the moment almost ten to one, but it didn't matter to Mandalore. One of his best Taung could take down fifteen Srav soldiers. Mandalore looked around him at the jungle that seemed to have an almost persistent desire to overtake the various Taung cities and bases scattered across the planet. One of the main reasons the Taung had chosen this moon, besides the fact that this was one of the best staging grounds for an assault on the Zhell Battalions, and the fact that this is where Mandalore the First had decided they should go, was the connection they felt to the jungle of this place. The Dxun jungles were some of the most dangerous in all the galaxy. The beasts that dwelled here the most vicious and tenacious. It was commonly believed by the top Taung xenobiologists, that you could take a cannok or drexl from Dxun and put it anywhere else, on any other planet, and before long it would dominate all the other species. Life here was a constant struggle, a constant conflict. It was a proving ground for life and it was here that the Taung had honed themselves and tested themselves. Dxun's jungles were strong, and so, by having survived them, the Taung too were strong. As if cued by Mandalore’s thoughts, a maalraas, an indigenous animal that was a mix somewhere between large predatory cat and reptile leapt from one of the low bushes near where Mandalore stood and started running at full speed towards him. On other planets, most animals tended to shy away from humans and other sentient beings, keeping some distance away from them and their habitats unless they were hungry and unable to find any other prey or if they felt under attack. The animals of Dxun almost seemed to desire to attack humans, as if enacting some personal unknown vendetta against anything that walked upright and on two legs. It was because of this nature of the animals here and on the planet of Onderon that the Zhell had, at the dawn of their civilization on Onderon, built high walls around their main city of Iziz, hoping to keep themselves protected from these vicious, almost hateful beasts. The Taung themselves thought this indicative of the weakness of the people of the Zhell Battalions. Were they strong they would merely have found a way to conquer the beasts instead of hiding from them. Mandalore saw the maalraas make its run towards him. He didn't flinch away or cower. In what seemed like one fluid motion, he merely pulled his weapon from its holster, leveled it at the charging beast and fired. The maalraas caught the blast just over its left eye and its head swung back from the force. Two more blasts to the beast’s body and its forward momentum was finally halted as the beast slumped down. The beast was dead and Mandalore was once again victorious. Of course there wasn't as much honor in taking down a maalraas as there would be in taking down a zakkeg, but since his men had not see one of the tank-like beasts in some time, it would do. As he returned the gun to its holster one of his men came running up to his side. It was his second in command Skardan Karanga. Mandalore trusted Skardan with his life, at least as much as one Taung trusted another. Taungs believed in brotherhood and the strength of his or her clan, but in the end, all Taungs knew that the only being you could truly trust was yourself. "My Lord Mandalore!" Skardan exclaimed saluting his leader. Like any other Taung, everything that Skardan did, or thought was for the glory of Mandalore, and by giving glory to Mandalore one gained glory for them self and their clan. "What do you have to report Skardan?" Mandalore said sparing another glace back and the maalraas, dead and crumpled in a heap where he had dropped it. He looked back at Skardan and stared into the T-shaped visor on his helmet. All Taung had a hard exoskeleton that functioned as head-to-toe armor. No part of their body was exposed. This served several purposes of course. Firstly it provided the Taung with total protection during battle as well as from the elements. On top of this it tended to be rather menacing in appearance to most beings. "All is at readiness. The men are prepared...and anxious. We merely await your leave Mandalore," Skardan said returning his gaze to Mandalore's own. "You have it. Tell the men to begin launch procedures, we will engage the enemy within the hour," Mandalore said looking back up into the sky at Onderon as it hung there. "Demos will soon be ours again," he said in a low voice, mostly to himself, "and then we shall take the galaxy." The trip from the moon Dxun to the planet of Demos was made tremendously easier by the fact that the two galactic bodies were both located in the same system, the Japrael System. Fifteen Scimitar interceptors rushed through the hard vacuum of space on their way to Demos followed by three Mandalore Cruisers, and four Storm Frigates. Coming through the space to join them was a new Taung warship, a ‘’Despot’’-class destroyer known as ‘’Kishmet’’, which held another sixty Scimitars in reserve. This was the extent of the Fourth Taung Home Fleet, composed of members of all of the Taung clans from all over the Japrael System. It had taken them some time to construct this new class of warship and they had taken great pains to keep it hidden from the Zealots of Demos by keeping it safely secured on Prael, home to the Dragon’s Nest shipyards, at the far fringe of Taung space. The idea that the Srav would be able to take on the Taung with such a small fleet seemed ludicrous to even the most loyal of Taung, though they would never say as much. It had honestly seemed impossible to Mandalore himself. After all, the Srav Federation, weak as it was, still had over five destroyers, two orbital platforms, and hundreds of assault fighters, not to mention the several thousands of soldiers who made up the Srav fleet. Were the Taung ever to bring the full might of their Armada to bear, they would be able to crush the Sravs outright, but still there was no need to risk it. Mandalore knew this but he also knew some other things about the Srav Federation thanks to the work of Taung Intelligence. Because of their weakness bred by their ideals of socialism and arrogance bred by throwing a weakened Infinite Empire off of Sviat, the Srav capital world, the Srav Federation would not see the Taung as a threat. At most Mandalore expected them to send one, maybe two of their destroyers in a punitive expedition to stop them, in addition to the few Republic ships already in this sector which would need to be dealt with very soon. This would not be enough for them to stop the Taung. A part of the goal of retaking Demos was also to take the Srav fleet in orbit over it which itself contained Commander Dyermo Bliad, the commander of the Srav flotilla’s, capital ship Katonaja, as well as several orbital platforms and destroyers. These could then be added to the Taungs’ own fleet. Though these ships were mostly a show of the Srav Federation’s supposed “military might”, under the command of battle hardened Taung they would serve well enough. Mandalore then planned on continuing the trend to other planets and systems as they made their way toward Sviat, slowly building his fleet until it could match anything the Srav Federation could throw at it. When Mandalore had revealed this plan to his men they had no more doubt. The only thing better than defeating your enemy, was to defeat your enemy with their own weapons. What Mandalore had not told his men was that he also was expecting a reinforcement of several more capital ships, frigates, and cruisers from his “suppliers” who had insisted on remaining in the shadows, even to Mandalore’s own trusted soldiers. He had no real problem with keeping this information from them. After all, Mandalore didn’t necessarily trust those who had made the promise of reinforcements to him. They weren’t Taung after all. Because of this he didn’t want his men expecting something that might not arrive. This would not do him any favors as far as leading them into battle went. There was also the fact that Mandalore knew that if his men thought they were working with such a reduced fleet it would make them fight that much harder in order to gain victory. A Taung with a stun stick would still fight an opponent with an assault rifle, he would just fight much harder, and smarter, in order to defeat his enemy. His men would still win the war, even without a larger fleet, and they would gain more glory for it, and more glory for them meant more glory for him. Taung Commander Kelborn Beviin flew point for the squadron of Scimitar interceptors, known as Zakkeg Squadron, hurtling towards Demos. The name was a reference to the sizable (growing to between 1.2 and 1.5 meters in height) predatory reptiles that could be found on many of the more “untamed” planets from Dxun to Arca. They possessed four main legs and a large mouth full of very sharp teeth that protruded from the top of their mouths and introduced deadly poison into anyone they struck with them. Zakkeg were huge, violent, very hard to kill, and tended to be as armored as a Boma-class assault tank, a perfect name for his squad as far as Kelborn was concerned. He kept the fourteen other Scimitars in seven rows of two lined up behind him in order to help reduce their visible numbers to the planet below. Of course Kelborn knew that the Sravs weren’t watching the skies for them. During the Great Crusade against the Zhell almost three standard years earlier, the Taung had first attempted to take Demos and had severely defeated the Zhell. They had retreated, ending up colonizing the other planets in the Japrael System, and even those planets had soon fallen under the rule of the Taung Confederacy. Most Zhell blamed this defeat on their corrupt military leaders rather than the strength of their military and the prowess of their soldiers. Some saw this as the Zhell submitting themselves to outsiders. And after all, if the Zhell were the greatest of all the human races, how could they be subjugated by the Taung, who they had defeated decades earlier on Coruscant, the original homeworld of the two races? It had been because of this defeat over three decades ago, that the Zhell had grown arrogant about their abilities in war. They would never expect the Taung to attack again because they would never believe themselves capable of defeat at the hands of the Taung. To the Zhell it would be so much foolishness on the part of Mandalore to even think to attack them again. This time it would be different, Kelborn thought. The Zhell would be broken, massacred, and enslaved once the Taung retook the jungle world of Demos, and the surviving Zhell would be forced to serve in the new military of the Taung Confederacy, to be used against the imperialist Srav Federation, who had so foolishly invaded Taung space, and had aided the Zhell in rebelling against their masters. Kelborn opened a channel to his squadron through his Scimitar which was still blazing a course for Demosia. For him a lot was riding on the success of this battle. Though he had distinguished himself many times over in other battles, this one would be the beginning of a greater glory for Clan Beviin and for Mandalore. “This is Zakkeg Leader, all Scimitars report battle readiness,” he said through his helmet comm system that was linked through his Scimitar to the other interceptors in his squadron. It was the first thing that had been spoken on the squadron channel, Taung did not engage in idle comm chatter. “Zakkeg Two, ready.” “Zakkeg Three, ready.” “Zakkeg Four, ready.” Down the line all fourteen pilots reported their readiness. Many had to fight to keep from adding a report of their willingness. Kelborn knew that all his men were anxious to get to the battle. Taung weren’t the type to enjoy the journey much, it was all about the battle, and the Scimitars were the front line. They would be the first to engage the hated enemy. It was their job to take out any Yukels that were launched or any orbital platforms that would pose a threat. “Alright, form up on me and keep the line tight. Zakkegs Two through Nine prepare to break formation on my mark!” Kelborn heard eight clicks over the comm system signaling that the wings had received and understood orders. The plan was simple but effective. The eight Scimitars directly behind Kelborn would break off on his orders and form four groups of two Scimitars each. Two groups from either side would break into port and starboard flanking positions. Each group with their pair of wing mates would then target all air defense towers in the path of the remaining Scimitar flight as well as any peripheral air defense towers that might cause problems later. The job of the remaining seven Scimitars, including the one Kelborn himself flew, was to act essentially as a fist that would come smashing into the walls of Demosia, causing as much destruction and confusion as possible and then landing in the most defendable spot and protect the Dragon dropships while they are unloading the Taung to start pushing their way to the Srav command center. The initial eight Scimitars in the air would then work as air support for the ground troops as well as continuing to take out any air defense towers or Yukels the Sravs managed to launch. The reason for having groups of two was to allow each Scimitar to watch the other’s back, increasing the chances of both surviving. Each Scimitar interceptor contained two Taung, one to pilot and one to man the railguns and torpedo launchers. Kelborn’s Scimitar was the only one in the squad that contained just himself, but he was enough of a Taung, in his opinion, to handle both flight control and weapons systems effectively. Besides that, he had flown this same Scimitar interceptor in his last ten engagements. He and it had a special bond, and Kelborn Beviin shared his Scimitar with no man. Of course all Scimitars had a measure of intelligence and could perform limited maneuvering and fighting on their own if its pilot needed to be occupied with something else for a moment, but it was the Taung or Taungs within it that made it a truly spectacle weapon of mass destruction. With two Taung in each Scimitar interceptor plus Kelborn himself who would lead the ground troops, there would be a total of seventeen initial ground troops. This would be more than enough to secure the landing area and start making an advance until reinforcements could be deployed. Kelborn though was betting his men wouldn’t even need the reinforcements by the time they took the road to the Srav command center. Kelborn Beviin loved war, and he was very, very good at it. This battle would be over before it was begun and he would receive much praise from its success. Maybe even Mandalore himself would honor him. In the end, that really didn’t matter. Even if no one recognized his success, he knew, and that’s all that mattered to Kelborn. His Scimitar’s control panels alerted him that the drop point was fast approaching and Kelborn started double-checking his system to ensure final battle readiness. His system showed green across the board and Kelborn reopened the squadron channel. “Alright men, this is it. Anyone feel like wetting themselves, do it now, and then go find yourself a hole to crawl into. The rest of you get ready for insertion. Zakkeg Two through Nine break off on my mark.” Kelborn looked again at the rapidly descending count down on his heads up display that told him how close he was from the surface of the planet. “Three, two, one…Mark! Alright men, lets take what should have been ours in the last war!” With the fateful words of his commander still echoing in his helmet’s headset, Zakkeg Two broke to port away from the rest of the squad still heading straight ahead, and immediately paired up with Zakkeg Four who was designated as his wing mate. The wing pair increased speed until they had pulled slightly ahead of Kelborn Beviin’s Scimitar designated “Zakkeg Leader” or “Alpha Zakkeg” and before too long “slightly ahead” became significantly ahead. Zakkeg Two's pilot was named Reeza and he had served under Kelborn Beviin on only one other campaign. So far he already liked his wing commander. He appreciated Commander Beviin’s zeal for the battle. He himself found it hard to concentrate as completely on such things. He believed, as all Taung did, that conflict determined who one was and who one would become, but he did not seek it openly like many other Taung. He welcomed it when it came, but never did much to try and hunt it down in the way that Commander Beviin seemed to. Reeza looked over at his gunner and Scimitar companion Kex. Reeza seemed to be completely engrossed in monitoring the weapons displays, preparing for the time when he would get to unleash the might of their Scimitar interceptor on the unsuspecting garrison and populace of Demosia. Reeza was not too impressed with the gunner yet. He seemed to have the same zeal for battle that Commander Beviin had, but none of the intellect for strategy. In Reeza’s opinion men like Kex were nothing much more than autocannon fodder. The only thing that saved Kex in Reeza’s opinion was the fact that, if nothing else, he was still Taung. The only other attack run Reeza had been on had been nothing like this. There were two main differences between this attack run and what would be called a normal run. The first was the fact that they had flown their Scimitars from launch point to destination. Normally the Scimitars would have been loaded onto a frigate or cruiser, taken to the far edge of the planet’s atmosphere and dropped to the planet below. The Taung or Taungs would only be exposed to space for a moment and then would fall to the planet until they passed into the lower atmosphere where they would then be able to turn away from their fall and begin their assault. The pilot too would be forced to wear highly pressurized armor for the few moments when they were exposed to the lack of atmosphere since it took several seconds for a Scimitar’s atmospheric generator to come online. This made it a little harder for anyone trying to shoot a Scimitar out of the sky since they were smaller and more maneuverable then most starfighters, but it also made it a little harder on the pilot if they were then forced to land and become ground troops, as pressure suits tended to make close combat even more difficult. Because of the unique nature of the attack on the Srav and Zhell rebels on Demos, Mandalore had decided that the Scimitars would take off from Dxun and make the entire flight to Demos without the aid of another ship to act as a carrier for them. This would allow the larger ships to hang further back during the initial advancements so that the Sravs might be less likely to see them coming, and because they had several minutes before they broke Dxun’s atmosphere, the pilots didn’t need any additional armor or pressure suits, they merely wore their regular armor. It was an odd sensation for Reeza. He had been able to breath as if he was flying just above the surface of a planet instead of towards one through space. The only noticeable effect of the entire trip had been the subtle yet quick change in the perceivable pull of gravity. Initially it had been at his rear as he pulled away from Dxun, but suddenly had started coming from his front towards Demos. Instead of seeing ignited air burning past him as he hurtled toward the planet, as he had seen the first time he had done an attack run, all he could see was the planet of Demos getting larger and larger and all he could feel was the gravitational pull getting stronger and stronger in that direction. It was quite a different experience, but far less violent then a regular run, for which Reeza was secretly grateful, though he knew most, if not all of the squadron would not agree. Reeza watched as his Scimitar ticked off its relative location to the planet, watched as it counted down to 3040 meters. Then suddenly they were there and their Scimitar made a course change to a twenty-five degree angle down from perpendicular relative to the planet. The descent was slowly angling off towards ninety degrees or a parallel route to the planets surface. This part of the drop was completely done by the Scimitar. It wasn’t his job as pilot to worry about such broad course adjustments. He was to handle the sharper juking and jinking, and fine evasive maneuvering of a battle that has been met. For right now at least, he and Kex were just along for the ride. By the time the Scimitar reached 287 meters it shifted course drastically to follow a path almost completely parallel to the planets surface though still descending, and then there it was right in front of him, the closest Srav Air Defense Tower. Reeza knew without looking at his sensors that his wing mate, Zakkeg Four was still with him and that Zakkegs Six and Eight had taken up a position slightly to starboard and were coming up on their own air defense tower. Reeza could also see, even from this distance that the air defense tower in the targeting reticle had its large twin guns aimed in the opposite direction, away from his and Zakkeg Four’s position. The Sravs had absolutely no idea what was happening yet. It was just as Mandalore had predicted. As they rocketed toward the air defense tower, Reeza could see that it was finally starting to turn towards them. He imagined that right about now the Srav military was in a panic because they had finally seen fifteen fast moving blips on their radar screens. He was still sure they didn’t know exactly what was going on because he could see no signs of any starfighter activity. They were relying on their air defense tower to do the job of taking down the flight of Scimitars. That would be a big mistake that they would finally realize in just about one minute. Reeza could see Kex tense slightly out of the corner of his eye. He knew the gunner was getting ready to start firing, which meant that he needed to start getting ready to start flying. Then they were there and Kex unleashed an unholy barrage of weapons fire from the forward autocannons. They were still twenty meters above the air defense tower and closing in on its position. Reeza halted their decent and rolled the Scimitar slightly to starboard so that he would be able to keep it on the other side of the tower’s railguns which were turning anti-clockwise on the port side. The railgun still hadn’t come more than halfway around before Kex’s onslaught hit the tower, but Reeza didn’t want to give them a chance to close the gap. Zakkeg Four matched their movements and then flipped over and placed themselves below Reeza’s Scimitar. Their gunner started firing their own railguns, placing them just behind Kex’s shots. Kex’s shots impacted on the tower just below the rotating turret base at the joint that separated the turret from the tower. The ferrocrete started to crumble away under the rounds and the machinery underneath began to show through. Kex followed his weapons fire with a double shot from the Scimitar’s torpedo launchers which finished the job he and Zakkeg Four’s gunner had started, and transformed the small holes they had created with their railguns into large pits. The turret emitted a loud groaning noise as parts of the remaining ferrocrete started grinding against parts of the exposed machinery. The turret was having obvious difficulty continuing its turn, and Reeza had managed to keep its rear side between them and the turret’s deadly railguns. By this time their Scimitars had started passing by and over the air defense tower, but Kex still had more shooting to do. From the rear cannon he let loose one more well placed volley, putting it right in the massive hole they had just created. Then Zakkeg Four’s gunner followed it with a volley from their own rear railgun. The effect was spectacular. The twin volleys had obviously hit something critical because the turret was suddenly engulfed in a massive fireball that emanated from the Taung made hole at its base. Before Reeza even had a chance to turn their Scimitar around, the turret exploded, taking out most of the top of the tower with it. One tower down. Reeza started looking for their next target and found it five hundred meters to starboard. He also saw that Zakkegs Six and Eight had managed to take out their own tower, though Reeza noticed they hadn’t done it in as violent and explosive manner as Kex and the gunner from Zakkeg Four. Reeza designated the tower in front of him as target, and noticed Zakkeg Six’s pilot designate another tower further starboard as his own target. Slowly but surely they had gone from a far port flanking position relative to Commander Beviin’s own flight, further and further inward in a pincer action. Relative to the Commander’s flight they were now almost a kilometer ahead and moving to a position almost directly in front of him. If everything worked out as planned they would be meeting up with Zakkegs Three, Five, Seven, and Nine somewhere in the middle. Essentially they were taking out any towers that could fire on the core flight’s sides and were moving to take out any that would threaten it from the front so that their pilots could focus on the city walls and on landing. Zakkeg Two finished off the second tower and was moving onto the next one further starboard and ahead when the air suddenly became a lot more crowded as a squadron of ten Srav Yukel assault fighters finally managed to launch from their bays. It wouldn’t be nearly enough, Reeza thought, but it would definitely slow things down a little. Three of the enemy fighters peeled off from the main squadron and headed towards the position held by Reeza and the rest of the left flank while three more took off towards the right flanking flight. The last four headed straight up the middle towards Kelborn Beviin and his core flight. Reeza started to alter course to intercept the fighters but remembered their third and final tower. Looking up at it he noticed that this one had managed to lock its railguns on him and Zakkeg Four. The turret began to let loose with a volley from its railgun. Reeza took quick evasive action and noticed Zakkeg Four doing the same. The bolts sizzled past Reeza’s Scimitar a little too closely for his comfort. Reeza looked down at his sensors and noticed that in the interim two of the three enemy fighters had engaged Zakkegs Six and Eight while the third was heading to engage Reeza’s own Scimitar and Zakkeg Four. Unfortunately for Zakkegs Six and Eight, they also had to contend with their own air defense tower as well as the two fighters. Quickly a plan formulated in Reeza’s head and he transmitted his intentions to Zakkeg Four over his Scimitar’s control panels. At first Kex looked over at him and Reeza could imagine the quizzical look on his face followed by what must have been a grin. All he actually saw was Kex’s helmet move in a nod and turn back to his instruments. From Zakkeg Four’s pilot he got a comm click denoting his acceptance of the plan. Reeza angled his Scimitar towards the starfighter and Zakkeg Four fell back and in line with him. He poured on the speed in order to close the gap faster and fighter began to grow larger in his sites. It started firing and Reeza kept flying straight towards it letting the bolts ping against the Scimitar’s hull. He needed to close the gap before too much damage was done. Finally the two ships met and Reeza rolled sharply to starboard while the Srav Yukel pulled drastically up. The two ships missed each other by a mere meter and a half, close enough for both hulls to rattle with the vibrations of their passing. Rather than turning around to engage the Yukel again, Reeza instead throttled up even more and continued straight on this new course which happened to be, not at all coincidentally, directly towards the tower that was harassing Zakkegs Six and Eight who were still trying to engage the two starfighters they had picked up and avoid the heavy fire from the air defense tower near them at the same time. Zakkeg Four, rather than continuing to follow Reeza stayed on the original course which took it hurtling towards their own tower which was spitting bullets towards them at an increasing rate. By the time Zakkeg Four arrived at their target tower, Reeza’s Scimitar was reaching the one meant for Zakkegs Six and Eight who were still trading shots with the two fighters. The tower now in front of him was still trying to pin Zakkegs Six and Eight down and hadn’t yet noticed that Reeza was even there. Reeza watched as Kex lined up his shot and let it loose. In an amazing display of marksmanship the shot managed to shoot right up into the barrel of the turret’s port railgun in the brief pause between its own shots. The explosion that followed moved up the barrel until it reached the turret walls and then kept going. In a matter of seconds the turret was vaporized and Reeza was flying through a cloud of smoke where it used to be. Now that they no longer had to worry about evading the turret as well, Zakkegs Six and Eight made quick work of the two starfighters. Reeza looped his Scimitar up and over turning it back the way he had just come. Ahead he saw that Zakkeg Four had managed to take out the other tower as well. He also noticed that the other fighter that he had narrowly avoided had managed to get itself turned around and was heading straight for Zakkeg Four which hadn’t yet turned around from its run on the turret tower. Reeza set a course to intercept the fighter and Kex caught it by surprise as it focused on Zakkeg Four. The fighter went up in a brief ball of fire as Zakkeg Four turned to head towards the fighters moving at Commander Beviin’s flight. Their gunner managed to take out two of the four fighters that had begun engaging the core flight’s Scimitars. The other two were dispatched by Commander Beviin and one of the Scimitars in his flight. By the time all this was done the starboard flanking flight had managed to take care of two of their three starfighters when a call came out over the squadron comm from Zakkeg Seven. “Turret took out my thrusters, I’m going to….” The rest of the message never came and Reeza saw a small explosion as the Scimitar with its two Taung riders went up in flames. The first casualty for the Taung Confederacy in the Cruentusian War. Reeza put on the boosters and came up on the air defense tower that had just fried Zakkeg Seven. It was already suffering a lot of damage that the starboard flanking flight had dealt to it before the enemy fighters had engaged it. Kex made quick work of it while the remaining three Scimitars from the flight pinned the last fighter down and blasted it to so much durasteel dust. Out of the corner of his eye Reeza saw an explosion. Turning his head that way he saw that Commander Beviin’s flight had just smashed through a large portion of the great wall of Demosia and were now firing at every building in the area. From his position, Reeza could see tiny Sravs fleeing back and forth in a panic. Turning his Basilisk around Reeza headed for the carnage. It was still his job to act as air support once Commander Beviin and his men touched down. In the back of his mind Reeza felt a touch of disappointment. While it was true they he didn’t relish conflict as much as other Taung, the Sravs hadn’t offered up anything even close to a challenge. The Scimitars alone had cut through Demosia’s defenses like a vibroblade through cloth. If the Srav Federation didn’t offer up more resistance than this, this would be a very short war, and even Reeza found no comfort in that thought.
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)