417.18 | Breaking Supply Lines

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Kiara O'ren
Jedi Master | High Councilor
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417.18 | Breaking Supply Lines

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Breaking Supply Lines
Name: Kiara O'ren
Rank: Jedi Knight
Date(s): 417.18
Location: Deep Space, Suarbi Sector
Members of the Jedi Order present: Masters Serbithar Muunen, Xintr Wolfe
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Public Information
Publicly Available Information on the events
Level of Exposure: Sector
  • The sudden attack on such an important supply line will likely not go unnoticed by our enemy, nor uncelebrated by our allies.

On 417.18, at approximately 1500 GST, the Praxeum received intelligence from the frontline sensor probes, previously deployed by Master Wolfe, that the Wyld Empire was moving a lightly defended freighter through the Suarbi system. The convoy appeared to be en route to Vohai. Convoys designed to reinforce enemy fortifications on Vohai often dropped out of Hyperspace in Suarbi to calculate their final jumps toward the world.

In this incident, the probe data indicated one heavily armed bulk freighter escorted by two to three flights of various fightercraft. Masters Serbithar Muunen, Xintr Wolfe, and I decided to self-dispatch to see if the freighter could be intercepted. Our intent was not only to interrupt supply lines but also to potentially either appropriate the supplies on behalf of the Coalition or board the freighter and investigate the contents so as to discover the origin of the supplies or discover any potential third party involvement. This concern originated from Padawan Healof's report, which seemed to indicate that elements of the Hutt government were ready to deal armaments to both sides of the conflict. Refer to his Mission Report, here: [Mission Report Attachment]

Master Muunen, newly promoted to Squadron Leader by the Jedi Council, was placed in tactical command of the mission. During our briefing, we were contacted by an officer from the Coalition, who indicated that he had a frigate on standby ready to jump in and engage the convoy in the event we could disable the turbolasers on the heavy freighter. Master Muunen's plan was to focus our fire on the freighter, targeting comm dishes first and engines second. From there, it would be a facile effort to disable the turbolasers on the vessel.

We deployed to the Suarbi system without incident. Upon exiting hyperspace, I immediately began a jamming attempt on all frequencies except the ones our flight was utilizing. Our sudden appearance combined with the jamming attempt appeared to be effective at sowing confusion. Their defense was unorganized, but still dangerous. Facing conventional enemies that stick to formations and traditional tactics offers a certain level of predictability. Their disorganization lead to what almost seemed to be an unintentional Marg Sabl enclosure.

The result was damage sustained by both Wolfe and I, forcing us to adopt hit and run style turbolaser runs against the freighter until it's shields were finally compromised. A protective ray shield on an aft cargo hold, or perhaps hangar, appeared to go offline as well. Master Muunen ordered us to land in the hangar. I followed Master Wolfe into the hangar and landed shortly before Master Muunen. We encountered no resistance inside this cargo hold. Shortly after we landed, we all noted that we could feel the fear of multiple beings emanating from the rest of the ship. It felt unusual and unfitting for soldiers preparing to repel boarders. That would simply be apprehension and anxiety. This was abject dread.

The source of this dread was discovered when we accessed the next compartment. The cargo hold of this freighter had been completely retrofitted as a stark holding area for prisoners. It appeared as though this was a prisoner transport. Many of the captives appeared to be in weak physical condition. Based on our interactions with one of the captives and what we were witnessing, it appeared that the Wyld Empire was transporting these captives for the purposes of slave labor. A few appeared to potentially be prisoners of war from the Republic fleet which was routed at Vohai. Others appeared to be civilians, indicating that the Empire may be engaging in a form of social confusion tactics in order to keep the populates of occupied worlds under control.

The captives indicated that their guards would often enter the hold from the door on the catwalk above, but mostly left them unsupervised since they were fully contained within the hold. Masters Wolfe, Muunen, and I jumped to the upper catwalk and ascended a short turbolift to the upper deck. The turbolift let us off on what appeared to be a large observation deck. There were multiple platforms around us and they were all occupied with enemy soldiers. This was clearly a pre-planned trap. They immediately ordered us to surrender so that we could be taken to the captain of the vessel. Seeing as we were massively outnumbered, I could not devise any way to resolve the situation through combat as that would surely lead to unnecessary loss of life.

We surrendered our Lightsabers to one of the soldiers and were restrained in binders to be lead to the bridge. It turned out that our surrender was the correct decision as they willingly separated us from this army they had ambushed us with and lead us to the command center of the vessel with a mere two soldiers to guard us. Whatever reason for this oversight, it gave us not only latitude to act without engaging in slaughter but also the opportunity to encounter the unusual Captain.

The bridge was roughly circular in shape with a set of stairs that emerged in the middle of the room. The stairs were bracketed by a semi-circle of circular platform-like steps that lead up the Captain's chair.

The Captain of this vessel was of an alien race I have never encountered before. He resembled a Gand but with average humanoid height. Based on our interactions, it seemed that he belongs to whatever race considers themselves the ruling class of the Wyld Empire. However, I sensed no palpable connection to the Force within our lead captor. This is possibly why he was relegated to a leadership role on a single transport ship.

Master Muunen subtly indicated to me that he had taken advantage of his prosthetic hand to slip out of his binders. That, and the soldier, who had confiscated our weapons, was in the room and still in possession of the Lightsabers. Seeing this, I lunged forward and attempted to strike the Captain with a jump kick, aimed at the alien's chest. However, the combination of odd, circular shaped steps up to his position and my hands still being bound behind my back made me fall short. He responded and knocked me off my feet and nearly slashed me with a downward swing of a vibroblade, but I managed to roll off the circular steps and into the stairwell they surrounded. It was a hard fall and it took me a moment to get to my bearings.

When I got up, I heard the sounds of a physical struggle from the bridge, so I assumed that Masters Wolfe and Muunen were successfully defending themselves. The soldier in possession of our Lightsabers appeared at the top of the stairs and seemingly had his focus elsewhere on the bridge. I attempted to sneak up behind him and retrieve my weapon from his belt, but the Captain yelled a warning toward him and compromised my position. He turned toward me and jumped down the stairs. I attempted to jump straight up to the Captain's Chair platform but could not avoid his kick and he sent me tumbling down the stairs.

The stairs were approximately 30 meters in length and I was severely injured by the fall, so do not recall details of the struggle at the bottom of the stairs. Master Muunen came to my aid and forced the soldier to retreat before he could further injure me. He then used his Lightsaber to cut free my restraints before returning to the bridge to assist Master Wolfe.

I was left at the bottom of the stairs with the soldier that had injured me. I appealed to the pride, that I've noticed in Wyld soldiers, and coaxed him into surrendering my weapon to me so that it would be a "fair fight." While the soldier was undeniably well trained with the weapon, and made good use of switching between it and his blaster, he eventually overextended himself and I was able to knock him off his feet with a quick sweep of the leg. I held him at saber point and told him that if he returned to the bridge I would be forced to end the engagement in a more severe manner. I ordered him to return to his comrades below and not to interfere further. I returned to the bridge to assist my fellow Jedi Knights and did not see that soldier again.

I re-entered the bridge and saw that my fellow Jedi were in the forward area of the bridge. Master Wolfe had somehow subdued his attacker. It was later revealed that the attacker was a cyborg and Wolfe, using his expertise, had somehow overridden his ability to fight us. Master Muunen on the other hand appeared to be severely injured and I witnessed the alien Captain stab him with his vibroblade. I leapt forward with the assistance of the Force and managed to physically crash into the Captain and force him back away from Muunen and into the nearby bulkhead. At that point it appeared that combat had ceased. For details of Master Muunen and Wolfe's struggle on the bridge, refer to their mission reports.

While he was in custody, the Captain made two attempts to end his own life. First, he attempted to impale himself on my Lightsaber but I managed to deactivate it just before he lunged forward. Shortly afterward, the Captain attempted to self-inflict damage to his own life support breath mask. Master Wolfe managed to repair it before the alien suffocated it. I then used the Force to restrain the Captain against the bulkhead to prevent any more self harm. Either Master Muunen or Wolfe revealed that the Captain had some sort of device monitoring his vital signs that would trigger the ship's self-destruct system if said vital signs were terminated. That doubled the importance of keeping our captive alive.

While I held the Captain, Master Wolfe rendered aid to Master Muunen's injuries. Thanks to this, Master Muunen was able to at least get ambulatory again. I was content to maintain my grip over the Captain with the Force, but Master Muunen approached our captive and rendered him unconscious with a quick, closed-fist strike to the head. I released my grip and the Captain fell prone. This freed me to investigate the bridge.

I came upon a console that looked to be controlling the ship's lockdown procedures and summoned Master Wolfe to see if he could access it. Master Wolfe was able to slice into the system and ensure that the prisoner's compartment was secured against the Wyld soldiery. I then had Wolfe prepare to vent the atmosphere from all sections of the ship minus the bridge and said cargo hold.

I approached the Captain's Chair and used the shipwide intercom to broadcast a message of warning to the ship. I gave them fair warning that we were going to vent the atmosphere and that they would either evacuate the ship immediately, or perish. We began getting notification from all over the ship that escape pods were being launched.

Shortly after this, it appeared that whatever override that Master Wolfe employed on the cyborg assailant expired. Before either Master Wolfe or Muunen could restrain the cyborg, it executed the Captain with its vibroblade. This immediately triggered a countdown to the ship's self destruction. Master Wolfe was able to use the lockdown console to safely jettison the cargo hold containing the prisoners while I commandeered the helm and put the ship on a course that would maximize its distance from the ejected hold.

I overheard Master Wolfe telling the cyborg that his only chance for survival was to peaceably accompany us, but apparently the cyborg refused. We departed the bridge and had to commandeer three of four remaining starfighters that were docked to the observation deck level of the freighter. I commandeered a Z-95. While it's activation chip was already slotted, likely due to combat readiness in the face of our attack, I could not determine how to release the docking clamps so had to simply go to full burn and tear free from the docking ring.

The freighter began to detonate. Once at a safe distance from the resulting explosion, we were able to summon the Coalition frigate and begin a rescue operation of the jettisoned cargo hold. It is unknown how many of the escape pods, and enemy combatants, were recovered and detained.

This concludes my involvement in this mission.

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Related Events
Potential: N/A
Confirmed: Campaign against the Wyld Empire invaders.
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Summary and Actions

Based on the above, I believe it would be advantageous to implement new protocols in these types of engagements and recommend similar protocols to the Coalition. Since we are now aware that the Empire is engaging in forced labor and transporting sentients from world to world, we must ensure we are scanning the contents of freighter convoys before making summary judgement on simply destroying them.

It seems that typical supply ships are ran by skeleton crews during times of war. An inordinate amount of life-signs on a vessel could indicate another prisoner transport and should not be destroyed.

Secondly, I encourage the Order to closely monitor the long-term effects of this mission. If it is revealed that the Empire is suspected of enslaving civilians of occupied worlds, and prisoners of war, it could generate support for continuation of the war against the Wyld Empire. While in and of itself this may not be a bad thing, it could spiral out of control into desires for revenge-based total warfare, or incidents of "street justice" perpetrated by Coalition and even Republic ground forces.
___________|- Name: Kiara O'ren | Born: 372ABY | Image
|- Initiation: 382.27 ABY -|- Apprenticed: 386.01 ABY -|- Knighted: 397.25 -|- Padawans: Eli Tzineda, Donan Healof, Tarsi Morga -|
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