Battle for Balmorra 1

In the midst of Hyperspace, a lone starfighter could be seen moving through it. It had a sleek chrome like color palete. It boasted four barrels of weapons, two if which were medium sized plasma canons. The other two were ion canons. It resembled that of a TIE Avenger though the armor plating was far more extensive. Within it was a grey armored male who sat silently. His eyes remained closed before hearing the tall tale signs of exiting Hyperspace. His eyes opened to see himself exiting right outside of the system. He could see a few light-years ahead of him was an intense battle. One that was being fought between several dozen Imperial era warships and many more New Republic warships.

Without a another moment to waste, he sped off in his starfighter, aiming for the flank of the New Republic fleet. He turned his transponder on, allowing the Imperium fleet to know of his arrival.

As he soared ever closer towards the battlefield, he got an incoming transmission from the Imperium flagship, Invicta. Once he answered it, the holographic form of a middle aged Imperial could be seen staring at him. "Pilot, where is the rest of your fleet!?" The Admiral demanded, "We need reinforcements, not a single starfighter!"

The pilot tilted his head to the side before responding to the Admiral. "I am your reinforcements, and don't worry Admiral", the pilot stated through a deep neutral tone, "I'm all you need."

The pilot ended transmission with the Admiral and accelerated towards the New Republic fleet. He could see a squadron of X-Wings and A-Wings on an intercept course for him. A normal pilot would move away from the number of enemy starfighters heading for them. Though this pilot was not a normal one, in fact to show that the New Republic pilots were dealing with someone else, he barely moved away from facing them. That was when he began to do the one thing that would forevermore change the course of the battle.

The pilot watched as an X-Wing fired a lock on missile at his TIE. With pinpoint accuracy, he fired a single ion bolt at the missile. Then once the New Republic starfighters got in range, the Imperium pilot began showcasing his pilotting skills. He stirred his TIE into doing a spinning maneuver at them, then began firing into the enemy squadrons. The ion bolts impacted their deflector shields, then the hulls before they exploded. Of course the enemy starfighters returned fire, but their shots missed him entirely. He soared past them, then with a quick turn, he was behind them and laying into them with ion bolts. One A-Wing stirred themselves to flank him, instead of turning to intercept, the pilot remained focused on the other New Republic pilots ahead of him. He was taking them out one by one within several seconds of just seeing them. The A-Wing pilotted themselves behind him, but try as they might, they couldn't blast him into smithereens.

Unfortunately, the Imperium pilot seemingly knew where the next shot would be before it could even reach him. Once the last of the New Republic squadron sent to intercept him were destroyed, the Imperium pilot turned off his engines for a moment, allowing the A-Wing to speed past him. Without locking onto target, the pilot blasted the A-Wing, destroying the ship and pilot.

The Imperium pilot then return back to his objective, which was to turn the tide of this battle.

He was beginning to pilot his ship towards the New Republic flagship. As he flew past the first enemy capital ship, it seemed as if they were dumbfounded that the squadron they had sent was not behind him. Then they began to open fire with their anti-fighter weapons. Just like before, he dodged and moved out of the way of any attacks that would connect with his starfighter. His eyes were locked onto a customized looking Stawhawk. The warship was larger than a normal Starhawk, it even boasted more armaments than normal. He passed by crippled, damaged, or destroyed Imperium warships. They had a perimeter now which stood steadfast against oncoming New Republic ships. At the front of the defensive perimeter was a Imperial Super Star Destoyer. It looked to be damaged but it remained strong for the most part.

The Imperium pilot drew closer and closer to the New Republic flagship, even as other pilots began to intercept him. Instead of turning to face them, he stayed on course. His ship was easily faster than normal TIEs, having kept the New Republic pilots behind him in the dust. As he reached the New Republic Starhawk, he fired his ion canons to disrupt it's shield around the hanger. Then he piloted himself into the hanger, much to the shock and dismay to the New Republic personnel inside.

Before any of the personnel could draw their blasters, the hatch for the pilot's TIE opened and out jumped the armored individual. He flipped through the air before landing on his feet in a crouched position. In his hand was a strange hilt, similar towards a lightsaber but supremely different.

The armor he wore was dark grey with black and red markings over it. It held the Imperium insignia which was a star surrounded with a hexagonal shape on his chest. His helmet looked similar to the Phase 2 armor of Clone Troopers with the T shaped visor reaching down to his chin like a Y. The first New Republic soldier to get themselves out of their stupor was a female human. She gritted her teeth and was about to demand his surrender until he did something that shocked her to her core. The armored pilot ignited the hilt that was in his hand, the blade that sprung out of it was unlike any lightsaber. One could even say that it wasn't a lightsaber, in some cases they would be right.

The blade had a golden hue to it, looking like a rectangular sword with no sharp end. The blade itself looked flat on both sides and reached to be 10 inches long. The hilt was roughly 6 inches long, long enough so that he could wield it with both hands. A guard was around it, shaped in that of a raiper.

The armored pilot dashed forward with inhuman speed and cut down the first New Republic soldier to raise their blaster rifle. What ensued next could only he described as a massacre. The man weaved through New Republic personnel as if they had been standing still. They opened fire on him of course, but each shot that was made were either missing him or being deflected back at the shooters. He moved with brutal efficiency and elegance mixed into one. Not once did he need to look at anyone before making his move. His body moved without a single thought leaving his brain besides the mission in mind. As he finished off the last New Republic personnel, he pressed a button on his armor's built in comlink.

"This is Imperial Knight Markus Numenor, I have boarded the New Republic flagship, Inferno." He reported to the Imperium flagship, Invicta. The response that he had gotten was to be expected, but it amused him all the same. Paelleon stared wide eyed at Markus through his holographic frame. Then knocked himself out of his stupor, gaining a look of professionalism. "Well done Knight, continue onwards while I hold the line." Paelleon ordered then ended transmission.

Markus turned his attention to the door leading out of the hanger. With a wave of his hand and usage through the Force, he used the console to close and seal the hanger bay doors so that no one else could help.

Moments later, Markus is going into a light jog down the hall. He had already downloaded schematics for the ship, so now he was making his way to the bridge. What he had in mind with it was to be seen, but it didn't mean that there was kind intentions in mind. As he bounded a corner, he narrowly dodged a volley of blaster fire made by the ship's crew. They had mostly been sent to intercept him. Even so, it hardly deterred Markus.

Markus ignited his blade once more then began to rush the New Republic soldiers, even as they opened fire on him. He deflected much of the blaster bolts aimed at him, making sure that they didn't hit anything vital. Unfortunately some stray bolts connected with his armor, though strangely enough it did not stop him. Actually the bolts themselves left scorch marks on several parts of his armor, even on the side of his helmet. He was on the soldiers before they could retreat, cutting each of them down with the same breakneck speed as before. Though he spared one, a Twi'lek male whom was sent flying into the wall with a Force Push. The male groaned and felt himself go into a dazed state, though he could vaguely see the armored Markus finishing one of his comrades with a stab from his lightsaber. With a turn, Markus turned his visor onto the Twi'lek who tried to reach for his blaster pistol. Before his fingertips could even graze it, his body was flung upwards and towards a waiting Markus.

The man's hand was outstretched towards the Twi'lek, using the Force to make him move over to him. Then before the Twi'lek could spout nonsense of telling him no information and spout profanities. Markus began to drain the Twi'lek's mind of anything blocking his path to the bridge. He was wasting no time talking or conversing with the enemy, they were at war and he was using every asset available to him to make sure that the Imperium succeeded. Once he was finished, he dropped the unconscious Twi'lek onto the floor with a thud. His attention landed further down the hall where another defense was being prepared for him.

Markus could storm his way through them but it would be wasting energy and time. He turned his gaze towards an airlock and an idea came to mind. Beneath his helmet he smirked, beginning to formulate a new plan.

On the bridge of the Starhawk, Inferno, the crew were running about reporting on the infiltration of a "Jedi". From the security cameras they were assuming that Markus was a Jedi in service to the Empire. The Captain and in extension Admiral of this fleet was in trying to wrap his mind around this predicament. He was expecting possibly Imperial special forces, not anything like this. He had no tactic or plan for the Jedi, only to barricade the entrances to the bridge and wait.

That said, the Admiral was getting reports that the infiltrator had seemingly disappeared. It was nothing short of terrifying, despite him trying to keep up appearances.

'How could a single man just up and vanish!?' He thought, trying to figure out a way to find them. His thoughts were disrupted once he heard heavy footsteps sounding off outside of the bridge. He was about to relay an order until his eyes locked onto the visor of the man who had disappeared. He realized then how the man "disappeared", he used the airlock to track across the ship and up to the bridge. One of the guards on the bridge moved to fire, but he was beaten to the punch. Markus swiped his ignited lightsaber across the bridge's window and watched as the glass blew outwards and into open space. Nearly everyone inside were sucked out by the air being released into the vacuum that was space. As this happened, Markus crawled his way in before the bridge viewpoint could be closed. Once inside, he heard the viewpoints emergency hatch close shut.

Markus' eyes scanned around the bridge, looking for anyone who was still there. His eyes landed on a single person gasping for air on the floor, a female Zeltron. The Zeltron tried to catch her breathe, sucking in air before her eyes landed on Markus. For a moment she simply stared at him, before stumbling onto her feet with a blaster pistol in her hand. "What the hell is a Jedi doing working for the Empire!?" she exclaimed, trying her best to sound intimidating towards Markus. Her hand was shaking with the weapon in her hand, she was alone and he was supposedly a Jedi. To her surprise, Markus made no sudden moves and simply stared at her.

The eerie silence coming from him was unsettling. She kept her eyes glued to his suit's visors. Then suddenly he lifted up a single finger before speaking. "Your first mistake was thinking that Balmorra was an Imperial world, we are not the Empire", he stated then with a gesture of his finger she was flung backwards into the main entryway of the bridge, "The second? Who said that I was a Jedi?"

When the Zeltrons' back collided with the bridge door, it was sounded off with a crunch. Markus had used a bit of force in order to end the woman as a threat. In other words, he had sent her flying intending to break her bones.

Markus turned towards the targeting computer console for the Starhawk and began messing with it. He turned the ship's main weapon, the gravity gun, and targeted it on the nearest Starhawk. With a smirk, he powered up the weapon and fired at the New Republic Starhawk. He used the now captured New Republic flagship to send the Starhawk into a Mon Calamari MC80b on a collision course. The two ships collided and became crippled after his work was done. He did so again on the next Starhawk, and the one after that for the next 30 minutes. Of course, he made sure that during that time the bridge doors would be locked from the inside.

Markus could tell that the other Captains in the New Republic fleet were trying to get in contact. He ignored them, just as they ignored the Imperium's sue for peace.

"Get that door open!" Ordered a large man from the other side of the bridge doors. Markus didn't spare a glance back as he moved the Starhawk on an intercept course towards a MC80. His mission was done, the New Republic fleets' Admiral was dead, the Starhawks were either crippled or destroyed, and the Imperium now had a fighting chance in space. Now all that needed to be secured was Balmorra's ground battle. Markus turned to the bridge door and thought about returning to his ship through the main door. Then he remembered that he had just locked the Starhawk on an intercept course towards an MC80. His gaze then went back towards the main viewpoint on the bridge.

Resolute on his escape plan, Markus jogged to the window and ignited his lightsaber just as the New Republic Marines stormed in. Before they could open fire on his back, he hurled his lightsaber at the window and blew it open once again. The vacuum of space had been unleashed inside once again, sucking Markus out and a few other New Republic soldiers behind him. His body spun around a bit before he fired a grappling hook from his left wrist bracers. The hook connected to the Starhawk and pulled him back to the ship's hull. Just like that, he was hiking his way back to the ship's hanger bay which his TIE was parked. Outside, the tide of the battle had significantly turned. Imperium forces were now pushing back at the New Republic fleet. The Super Star Destroyer Invicta could be seen spearheading the counteract with TIEs, Star Destoyers, and cruisers around it.

Markus reached the hanger bay and used his lightsaber to carve a hole for him to enter. Just like before, the air inside was being sucked out, along with anything else inside. The mag boots that he wore made sure that he wouldn't fly around like a weightless baby while in space. For the moment, he had them remain active until he would enter his starfighter. As he entered the hanger, he saw New Republic soldiers trying their best to hold onto something. A few noticed him and immediately opened fire upon him. Markus spared them not a moment of time as he rushed at his TIE, he moved his blade to parry or deflect any stray laser bolts that were accurate enough to find him.

Markus used the Force to jump up towards the hatch and entered his ship. Moving quickly, he powered up the vessel and began to pilot himself around towards the hanger bay door. The small hole that he made with his lightsaber became bigger as the air inside of the hanger bay was sucked out. Bodies and equipment alike were flung towards the hole as Markus' TIE Avenger Advance began to hover over the floor. He piloted the ship to turn and fire a few shots at the sealed doors so that he may have a better opening. Once done, he didn't wait for the smoke to clear and just shot out of the Starhawk. As he did, he could see that the tide had turned. Imperial forces were now pushing the New Republic fleet back, routing them. Just as the New Republic flagship rammed right into another Starhawk.

Markus notices that he is being contacted, then opens transmission to find Admiral Paelleon is the one contacting him. "Admiral." Markus greeted as the holographic form of Paelleon nodded his head to him. "Congratulations Knight, Numenor", Paelleon congratulated, "Now with the New Republic fleet routed, our ground forces could use your skills on Balmorra to turn the tied. We have been able to contact the commanding officer on the ground. His name is General Forel Xen, find him and coordinate a counterattack with him. Do whatever you must to secure Balmorra, Paelleon out." Markus began to pilot his ship towards the planet now. His ship soaring past the Imperium fleet as it formed another blockade around the planet. The space battle of Balmorra had been won, now it was time for the ground battle to be decided.