Floating in space, the space station collectively called Watchpoint was going about its regular business. It was a very busy station as it was the last resupply point before entering wild space. Its size was massive, it looked like someone had thrust a pillar into an asteroid. Almost three kilometers in length and three hundred meters in diameter it displayed a very impressive sight. Managing to service about half a thousand ships each day, it could be said to be an extremely lucrative enterprise. In more ways than one.
Most people would of course never find out, but a third of the station was directly under the thumb of House Rrud. That is to say, while they owned the entire station, a third of it was inaccessible for anyone not directly working for them or their allies. And for good reason too.
It's where they processed all the slaves they procured with the help of their 'Patrol fleets' or the various forces that dealt in them. Of course, they also stored valuables acquired and narcotics of various designs before they could be shipped off into regulated space and sold. Their main attraction though was the Specialty clubs, where those wealthy enough could indulge in almost whatever they wanted.
House Rrud made a lot of money on Watchpoint, for this reason, they made sure it was well protected. With three patrol fleets, two of which were always stationed around the station as well as hundreds of laser batteries spread across the asteroid and station. This made sure that they were rarely attacked, and if they were, it didn't work out so well for those involved.
Each fleet had a cruiser with three frigate escorts, commanded by a person with a direct blood relation to the noble house itself. They considered this place unassailable for the most part, but they were wrong.
Very wrong.
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Watchpoint Station, Close to the Command bridge.
Dominik Rrud was making his way towards the bridge because he was sent a jarring message when he was showing a wealthy Hutt their services. Long-range scanners had picked something coming their way, something huge.
The Hutt had been quite displeased for being left with a protocol droid, but then again, most Hutts acted like spoiled children if they didn't get the respect they felt they deserved. He didn't like dealing with them, but hey, that's the job.
He had been made Commander of the station after having done many shady things for his House and those they served, the Hutts. The galaxy in his eyes was a shitty place, filled with even shittier people. So he decided when he was very young that he'd at least be shitty AND rich. After all, there are only a few things credits cannot get you.
When he entered the bridge he quickly asked with his gravelly voice. "Can someone tell me exactly what's going on?"
The people working on the scanners glanced at each other before the highest-ranking member among them spoke up timidly. "Sir, our scanners picked up a ship heading our way."
Before he got any further with his report Dominik's face twisted in anger as he yelled. "A SHIP!? Did you call me up here because of a single ship?" Before the officer could offer anything in defense he was hit into the ground.
One of the other men working on the scanners quickly spoke up in the defense of the man. "No Sir! That's not what the problem is!" He said in a hurried tone. Dominik's face turned to him as he struggled to continue. "I-I-It's the size that caused us to contact you, sir."
Dominik stalled a bit as his anger receded. He cocked an eyebrow as he asked. "Explain, what are you talking about?"
The man glanced at the man bleeding by his feet as he took a deep breath. Looking into Dominik's eyes he answered. "The vessel seems to be by all indication, around seventeen kilometers in length..."
Dominik's eyes stretched open as he felt fear wash over him. "WHAT?! CHECK IT AGAIN!" He screamed over the entire room.
The operator gulped as he spoke in a low voice. "We have sir. We've run it at least ten times by now, it isn't a mistake."
His whole body trembled as he fought to calm himself down. Taking a deep breath he spoke up. "Sound the alarm, code black. Tell the fleets to assemble in front of the expected exit point and tell everyone to gear up. How long do we have until it gets here?"
"Twenty minutes at most sir, we thought the scanners were wrong ourselves so we didn't report it right away." He said fearfully.
Dominik glared at the man before deciding they had bigger problems. "Sound the alarm now!" He said in a hurried tone before looking out of the viewing window. Hopefully, they aren't hostile. What the hell is going on?!
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The Prometheus, Bridge.
RG2 stood on the bridge as they were en route towards Watchpoint station. They had gotten a message from Lady Beatrix almost two hours ago with new orders to mobilize, PRIO Max.
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Someone or something had decided to invoke their Lord's ire, and now they were tasked to deliver the full force of his wrath upon the impudent offenders. Running over the new data from their scanners he made a threat assessment.
Estimated fleet size: Eight vessels, none above cruiser specifications.
Threat level: Negligible.
Estimated ground forces: Currently unknown, size of the station indicates garrison under three thousand.
Threat level: Negligible.
Estimated defense installations: Calculations of station size indicate power-grid cannot sustain over five hundred laser batteries.
Threat level: Negligible.
Conclusion: Success rate all but guaranteed, engage according to mission parameters.
Having run the numbers, RG2 started giving out orders. -("Attention all units. Operation Atlas is now in effect. Assume battle stations and standby to sortie.")-
Inside the ship, lights turned red as an alarm went off. At the same time, a thousand units entered where they were keeping the prisoners that weren't slaves and aimed their plasma rifles over the group. The prisoners were understandably afraid at this development as fear spread through the group. One of them decided to stand up and started to shout in a self-righteous tone.
"You can't do this! I'm a member of the Hutts and I demand to..." He suddenly stopped speaking as he looked down only to see that a unit had come up behind him and stabbed him with some sort of black blade. Coughing up blood he fell to his knees as his eyes started feeling heavier, dying in confusion.
The unit reformed the black matter on his hand as he slowly looked over the now quite shaken people and said. "You will be quiet, or we will make you quiet." Nobody spoke up again as they looked at the indifferent droids around them, for some reason their eyes were giving of red light as they watched over them.
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Dominik was staring at the blood splatter on the floor left by the man they'd sent to medical when someone spoke up. "Sir, it's almost here." He said in a shaky voice.
Turning his head towards the viewport Dominik asked. "Have we already sent the distress signals? Also where the fuck is that useless cousin of mine, Zinda?"
The tactical officer in charge answered. "Sir, we went over their expected route and it aligns with where this ship came from. It's safe to assume that they encountered the vessel." He said with an exasperated tone.
Zinda!? Did that ingrate do something to piss these people off? If he's still alive, I'm going to fucking end him! Dominik thought to himself. As he was about to ask another question, it arrived.
The only view out the viewport now was a massive vessel, it made their ships look like toy cars in comparison. His face blanched because even if he understood what seventeen kilometers were in terms of distance, it was something else entirely when used to describe a ship. Also, whoever was piloting that monster was certifiably mad, it had dropped way inside safety standards used by ships. It was only a bit more than half a kilometer away from their fleet.
They soon noticed that it instantly deployed a gravity well generator that blanketed the entire area. Likewise, it started jamming long-range transmissions. Civilian ships that were flying towards the station made to turn around, but that provoked a response from the vessel as multiple tractor beams locked onto them, effectively holding them in place.
Dominik stood frozen, to his credit, most people on the bridge were frozen in shock. Suddenly the communication officer yelled out. "It's broadcasting something!"
Turning towards him, Dominik ordered. "Put it up on the screen!"
As the holo-screen flickered into life they saw a white unassuming human in some kind of military uniform, the only strange thing about him was the red glow in his eyes. Without warning, he spoke.
"Attention Watchpoint station. You will power down all defenses, dock all vessels, and lay down all arms. You have five minutes to comply. Failure to comply will result in hostile action being taken. As of this moment, no ship will be allowed to leave the area, failure to comply will result in termination." The man spoke slowly and clearly with an indifferent tone.
Lay down arms? That's suicide! They can't seriously expect us to go through with these demands, can they? Dominik thought to himself. He was stuck in thought for two minutes until his Tactical officer spoke up in a hurry. "Commander Dominik! Patrol fleet Argyle is powering up weapons! They're about to fire on the vessel!"
Shock ran through Dominik. Argyle you mongrel! What are you doing?! His Uncle had always been a rash man but even that had to have limits, right? Before he could open up comms towards his Uncle's fleet they fired upon the titanic vessel.
They fired salvos of missiles as well as a deluge of laser fire at the ship. This caused two things to happen in rapid succession, the automated defense system marked the vessel as an enemy and engaged on its own. Secondly, all the chaos must have made his cousin that controlled the other patrol fleet to think they were engaging causing them to attack it as well.
Within seconds their entire force was attacking the ship all at once, lighting up space with explosions and laser fire. Dominik didn't even move when the tactical officer yelled over the entire bridge. "THEY'RE POWERING WEAPONS!''
He didn't mean to respond out loud but he did so unconsciously. "It doesn't matter... It's too late."
Like a vengeful god, the ship opened fire causing the entire area to light up with blue and purple plasma fire. The entire station started shaking chaotically as lights flickered and explosions could be heard.
Dominik had been thrown to the floor by the shaking, shaking his head he tried to restore his hearing as he seemed to be shellshocked. Looking around with his vision hazy he could see the blast shields had dropped over the viewport as the emergency lights were flashing. His officers were probably yelling something if their movements were something to go by. Glancing at the weapons stations officers panel he knew instantly that things weren't good, it was showing almost nothing but red.
Suddenly he felt someone grab his arm and try to drag him up, struggling to stand up his hearing started returning. "Come again?" He asked the man helping him as he rubbed his ears with his hands.
As he looked at who was assisting him, he noticed it was the tactical officer. The officer spoke again, this time he could make out what he said. "They targeted our defensive installations, we've lost almost all of them facing the vessel. They're deploying fighters and our ships have been disabled. What are your orders?!"
Running through the things he just heard, he didn't respond to him. He only said one word.
"Fuck."