Lucky Strike (A Star Wars SI)

[firis]

I think it's more of a plot issue.

Its not about the protagonist being overpowered... It's about them being powerful enough to accomplish anything. Right now, the protagonist appears impotent. He may know some things, but he's shown no inclination to actually use that knowledge. I look to the future and I honestly wonder what's the point? If he's just another soldier serving in the war, he's just another cog. Right now, despite his knowledge, he has acted exactly like a native. And he seems to have no plans to change anything.

If he was using his knowledge to either advance himself or try and delay/slow down Palpatine, that'd be interesting. Even if he has no force presence, he is still making changes. He doesn't need force presence to be an interesting character... but he does need potential and the will to use it. As things are... he's no different from any other Republic officer. And is ultimately irrelevant.

 

[Lillie Jones]

thanks for the chapter

 

[MarkWarrior]

I think it's more of a plot issue.

Its not about the protagonist being overpowered... It's about them being powerful enough to accomplish anything. Right now, the protagonist appears impotent. He may know some things, but he's shown no inclination to actually use that knowledge. I look to the future and I honestly wonder what's the point? If he's just another soldier serving in the war, he's just another cog. Right now, despite his knowledge, he has acted exactly like a native. And he seems to have no plans to change anything.

If he was using his knowledge to either advance himself or try and delay/slow down Palpatine, that'd be interesting. Even if he has no force presence, he is still making changes. He doesn't need force presence to be an interesting character... but he does need potential and the will to use it. As things are... he's no different from any other Republic officer. And is ultimately irrelevant.

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So, you're right. The Self-Insert doesn't have agency right now. Not to change things, not to do anything. But, that's because he spent five years in the undercity and then got thrown into prison. After that, he's spent so much time doing his job so he doesn't go back to prison that he's been less concerned with getting any sort of information to anyone important. Now that I've got some planned downtime for the character, I can change some of that.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Republic Intelligence Personnel Report Summary

Personnel Record: JF-89588977818

Age: 25

Name: Janine Franz

Birthplace: Alsakan

Species: Human

Height: 1.73 Meters

Hair Colour: Blonde

Eye Colour: Green

---

Janine Franz joined the Republic Navy immediately after the war with the Confederacy of Independent Systems began. A family legacy of service in the Alsakan Planetary Defence Force meant that she was already familiar with shipboard operations with a specialty in communications.

Due to already possessing training in excess of the base requirements for the Republic Navy, Franz was immediately given a position as Petty Officer First Class and given the option of waiting for a larger ship to become available or joining Lieutenant Condev Teskit's crew immediately.

Petty Officer Franz chose the more dangerous option and joined Teskit's crew.
(Having already participated in several antipiracy raids, Franz was quite possibly the third most veteran member of the Firebird, barring Lieutenant Teskit and Ensign Ronard.) immediately becoming a valued member of the Bridge Crew and serving with distinction in the initial battle above Christophsis as well as in skirmishes along the hyperlanes until the Firebird was rendered inoperable.

End Current Report Summary…

Full Access to Personnel Record requires Security Clearance Zerek or higher.

 

[Yacov]

Birthplace: Alsakan

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Huh, I didn't get the haughty attitude of superiority from her. Must be one of the genetically altered subspecies.

Edit: whoops I mistook that for Arkanian.

 

[Stickypiston]

Ugh another one of these story's where the main character doesn't have any sort of out of context power or he's not even Force sensitive or anything. This would at least be interesting if he had almost encyclopedic knowledge of Star wars lore. As he could at least go on the net and reveal things he really shouldn't know to troll and cause chaos. As it would be really funny and pretend to be a powerful force user with a massive talent for Force visions. Unfortunately doesn't seem like he even has encyclopedic knowledge of Star wars and just passive which makes him not much better than any other grunt realistically.

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Jesus christ. This got to be an ironic statement, or else I would risk consider that I actually live with these people on the same planet.

 

[Stickypiston]

So, you're right. The Self-Insert doesn't have agency right now. Not to change things, not to do anything. But, that's because he spent five years in the undercity and then got thrown into prison. After that, he's spent so much time doing his job so he doesn't go back to prison that he's been less concerned with getting any sort of information to anyone important. Now that I've got some planned downtime for the character, I can change some of that.

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Be warned though, what these people consider as agency is having superpower or influence to control galactic wide events or even destiny and fate. Not the agency of a character who have the will to change and control the things that they can reach.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 8

It was the single coolest thing I'd ever seen in my life. After disembarking the Starfury and going through debriefing I was directed to one of the monorails that spanned the shipyards.

The superstructures spiraled above me, ships in various stages of assembly and repair filled the skies, tugs and repair vessels moved to and fro, and off in the distance, the massive planetary defence force kept the system secure. The trio of Mandators dwarfing the fleet of Venators and smaller ships.

"They're a sight to see, aren't they?" Janine's voice broke through my internal thoughts. "Single largest ships in the galaxy. They're slow, but I don't think anything can stand up to them in actual combat."

"I think piloting one of those would be like losing something," I shrugged. "There's no way you can actually feel what's happening on the ship if you're on the bridge."

"Who cares about how it feels?" Janine asked, shaking her head at me. "Now, c'mon prisoner," She said sarcastically. "You'll get lost and we'll never see our helmsman again if you wander off."

"I don't even know what to do with two weeks of leave," I laughed. "So, lead the way."

She gestured for me to follow her and slung her bag over her shoulder, using my taller frame to assist with breaking through the crowds of Clones, Kuati employees, and other Republic Navy personnel.

"Navy sprung for a hotel on one of the lower docking rings," Janine explained once we were on the monorail. "Teskit's trying to talk the Admiralty into having better escort fleets, but there's no telling if he'll be successful."

"There's not enough personnel to go around," I shrugged. "There's only so many clones, and despite the Republic buying more of them. They're still having to go through the growing process."

"I hate how much like slavery that sounds," Janine frowned. "But what else can we do?"

"Recruit more people," I offered. "I dunno about you, but I don't see any ads or posters about recruiting. It's like the Republic thinks this is just going to go away in a few months."

I concealed my real thoughts, because if I casually mentioned that Palpatine was behind this whole thing, people would think I was crazy or something.

"Ha!" Janine laughed. "An anti piracy operation takes three months, I don't wanna think about how long the war's going to last."

Eventually, we started getting looks from the clones and employees so we allowed the conversation to die out in favor of looking at the shipyards around us.

While the silence endured, I took the time to start thinking about the galaxy. I (hopefully) knew some things that could change the core of the galaxy. But given how easily I'd been thrown in prison for just climbing out of hell… Well, I wasn't planning on taking any chances. Sure, I had some thoughts on things I might do to maybe change the fate of the galaxy. But at this point, I'd have to find out how to do it while being anonymous.

"So," Janine said after we reached the hotel complex. "I finally got to peek at your personnel file."

"And?" I asked, curious to know what it said.

"Turns out Teskit may have pulled some strings," She stopped outside the hotel door. "Because you're not listed as a penal officer. But as a standard one," she glanced over her shoulder at me. "You should probably speak to accounting, but if you haven't collected a paycheck since starting, they'll have back pay for you to collect."

With that, she walked in and spoke to the receptionist before exiting, tossing me a keycard, and vanishing into the turbolift, leaving me on my own.

I almost went to a nearby terminal to locate a Republic Navy post, but then remembered that I still had my duffle bag on my back. Sure, I didn't have all that much, but I should still toss it in the hotel room.

Taking the keycard, I entered the turbolift once it'd come back down and hit the correct floor before spending the next five minutes tracking down the right room.

It was so large, a full tub and shower? Sheets that weren't stupid thin and made by the lowest bidder?

I could figure out how I was going to get a message out to the Jedi Order later. Right now, there was a shower and a nap in a comfortable bed calling my name.

---

"Congratulations on your promotion, Captain," Admiral Howerl Vargance grinned. "Once the Starfury is repaired, we'll add it to the battlegroup you'll be taking command of."

Teskit hid the grimace at those words deep inside. Instead of the mixed battlegroup he'd hoped for, Acclamators for the cargo, Venators for the combat, he'd been 'gifted' a battlegroup made up of two true capital ships and a host of smaller vessels.

"Thank you, sir," Teskit accepted the poison pill with a straight face, accepting the handshake and stepping back. "Now, I've a ship to see to."

"I understand," Vargance smirked. "I'd want to inspect my new flagship as well."

The admiral left the debriefing room and Teskit to his own thoughts.

Stifling the urge to rage at how the Admiralty and top brass acted, Teskit exhaled long and slow before sitting down and picking up his datapad from the table. His thoughts churning as he considered the battlegroup he was to command.

The Providence, a Dreadnought-Class Heavy cruiser, was to be the new 'flagship' of the escort fleet. She was a relic, a prototype of the Katana fleet. A ship so old,that she'd been refit three times, four if you included the prototype systems she'd been tested with.

Her droid brains were inefficient, a relic of their time and probably untrustworthy.The weapons, while powerful, were somewhat anemic in comparison to other ships of her size. Thankfully, she had modern deflectors, and one of the many refits she'd undertaken had fixed the inefficiencies in the power supply and had updated her hyperdrive to a class 1.

The funny thing was, Teskit had gotten one of the things he wanted. But he wasn't going to be able to make it his flagship. The Inevitable was a modern warship, a Venator coming fresh off the shipyards that surrounded them.

But for some reason, the Admiralty had decided in their infinite wisdom that Clones were the only ones allowed to crew and operate the vessel. So, he was stuck with the Providence as the flagship, the Inevitable as another heavy cruiser for dealing with large enemy formations, and a handful of Arquitens and Consular-class refits.

Teksit sighed, he'd have to put together a crew request to fill out the Providence, and he'd also have to do some research into the droid brains that helped with the ship's automation. The last thing he needed was a ship that could be shut down by Separatist jamming techniques.

Ronard would be happy at least. The now-lieutenant had started his career on the Dreadnought-class ships and he'd know exactly how to fine-tune everything to his expectations.

As for the rest of his bridge crew, well. He'd just have to wait and see.

So, groaning and standing up, the Captain straightened his uniform and headed out. If he insisted that his crews get rest, then he should as well. They deserved nothing less than his best.

---

I had money. I had money and I didn't know what to do with it. I glanced at the handful of physical credit chits I'd asked for, and remembered the balance I'd had at the standard bank the Republic Navy used.

Because I'd worked for over three months without any idea that I was collecting a paycheck, it'd piled up and I didn't want to blow it all on anything. So, I'd glanced at some of the investment options and picked one that I hoped would be a good choice. Given Incom had a good reputation for starfighters, I thought that it'd at least turn a profit over time and had tossed most of my money in one of their investment funds. Then, I cashed some of it out and bought a handful of things.

A datapad that I owned instead of the one issued to me was now in a small backpack, a holdout blaster was tucked into a holster in my waistband, and a comlink now sat on the belt of my uniform.

I'd also stopped along the way and compiled a message to send to the Jedi Order. I wasn't quite sure how well it'd be received, or if anyone would believe it at all, but it'd pointed at several inconsistencies among the Clone Wars, and how Republic Intelligence seemed to be completely right or completely wrong with no in-between. I was hoping that if I sent things that were provable, and could be investigated, that eventually I could work my way up to sending messages that would expose Palpatine or others.

But I honestly wasn't all that hopeful. I knew how ignorant the Jedi Council were, and how corrupt the Senate was as well. Hell, if I didn't know how awful Palpatine would be as Emperor, I might have even supported a Julius Caesar style takeover of the Republic.

None of that mattered right now though. I'd set up an anonymous account with premade messages to send at specific points in time. If that changed things, then I would be happy for it. If it didn't, then there wasn't much more I could do right now. I mean, it's not like the Jedi would believe that someone without access to the Force could have reliable visions of the future.

And that's without getting into the fact that as soon as anything changed, I'd now be unreliable.

I snorted at that thought. No, life wasn't that simple. I didn't have the Force, I didn't show up with magical powers. I got lucky in the first few days and had worked my ass off to survive until this point.

Besides, the fall of the Republic was all but inevitable at this point. If not Palpatine, someone else would come along soon and pull something similar. Just without the Sith backing. The question was how bad the fall would be.

 

[MovingTarget]

Hull should buy himself a good blaster, a good holdout blaster and some low vis body armor.

Get a customized DL44 with an extended barrel and a holster stock for extra style points

 

[Bishop 7053]

Be funny if those messages he thinks aren't gonna do shit somehow lead to like 90 percent jedi survival on a fluke. Like he mentions it now and doesn't remember them till the end of the story and it just surprises him that it actually worked

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 9

Ensign Mark Hull​

"I'm coming," I groaned, waking up to the knocking at the door, stretching, and sitting up from the hotel bed before sleepily stumbling my way to the door. I'd spent most of the two weeks of leave time resting and exploring the shipyards around us. Knowing that I only had a few days left, I hadn't gotten back in until 'late' station time the night before.

"Morning, Hull," Janine had her duffle bag slung around her shoulder. "You packed and ready to go?"

"Go where?" I raised an eyebrow. "I thought we had another day of leave left."

"It got cut short," She tossed me her datapad and let me review the orders.

"Shit," I swore. "No, I didn't see the orders. Let me get everything together and then we can head out."

It only took a few minutes to toss the handful of belongings into my duffle and for me to change into a fresh uniform before meeting the Communications officer back at the door.

"So," I asked after we'd turned in our keycards. "I know you're plugged into the comms in ways I've never dreamed of. Got any idea how things went after our debriefing?"

"No," She shook her head. "While Teskit has a few people who vouch for him in the Admiralty, a lot of people don't like that he refuses to play the political games that the rest of them do. All I know is that our leave got cut short by a couple days and that we're to report to Docking Bay Thesh-5297."

"That's the opposite side from where they were working on the Starfury," I commented. "You think that we finally got something with a bit more firepower? I mean, I like being a part of a ship that has the ability to turn on a dime, but after the last few battles…" I trailed off.

"There's only so much enemy fire we can avoid," she agreed, and I could tell she was thinking about the skirmish against the Munificent and how narrowly we'd avoided dying.

We both settled into silence, joined by other members of the original Firebird as we all converged on the docking bay.

"Lot more troopers here," Ronard pointed out the armored clones.

"A lot more personnel, period," I replied. "There's gotta be a couple thousand here, at least."

"Still a lot less than the full complements supposed to be," Ronard gestured towards the Dreadnought-class cruiser on the other side of the bay. "I mean, you can run a ship like her on a skeleton crew, but you'll be having issues with maintenance."

"The crew count for the Providence comes to three thousand five hundred and two," Teskit's voice cut into our conversation. The tall man now had the rank stripes of a captain on his uniform. "The full details of her refits have been sent to you. Familiarize yourselves with them. She's going to be our home for the foreseeable future."

It seems I wasn't going to be a pilot anymore. With the chirp of the datapad, it clicked that my position as helmsman was more of a supervisor and manager than the person steering the ship with my own two hands.

"Five credits says we get into a fight during the first convoy run," Franz leaned over and whispered to the rest of us.

"You're on," I agreed, laughing as I stood up from the bench we'd been sitting on. "Now, I dunno about y'all, but I want to get familiar with the old girl, here. I've gotta learn how to make her dance, after all."

---

Captain Condev Teskit​

Captain Teskit looked around the bridge of the Providence. The familiar space of a Dreadnought filled him with a sense of nostalgia as he watched his bridge crew settle in and begin learning how their work on the new ship would go from here.

Eventually, his gaze settled on the man responsible for the weapons coordination of the ship. Marian Hobbs, the replacement for Mattix was another veteran of a local planetary defense force just as Janine Franz had been, and had clearly served on a Dreadnought before, because his motions and speech were fluid.

"Ensign Franz," Teskit called out to the communications officer by her new rank. "Please signal to Kuati System Control that we are ready to begin heading out of the system, along with the rest of Battlegroup Huntress."

"Relaying signal, aye sir!" She replied.

"Receiving Slaving command," Lieutenant Hull tapped a few controls. "Granting access to the controller."

"Very good," Teskit stood at the holotable, his hands clasped behind his back as was the norm.

Battlegroup Huntress was made up of his Providence, the Venator that command had graciously allowed the use of, four Arquitens, a pair of Consular refits, and a trio of CR90 corvettes that had been refit for differing roles.

Instead of being on the backfoot though. They were going to be on the offensive. The Republic's Hyperlanes were intact for the most part, a few stragglers from the separatists always made it through blockades to hammer convoys, but for the most part, the Navy was stopping them an dable to deliver supplies.

However, the Republic had no one harassing the enemy's own supply lines and convoys at this point. So, Teskit's orders were to get behind enemy lines and begin disrupting and breaking the enemy supply lines where they were able. Ground targets, navy, space stations, everything was authorized for attack as long as they did their job.
Though, with the slack in the rope, he also had been given enough to hang himself with. If Teskit failed, or had a string of bad luck, then it'd all come crashing down around him when the rope went taut. But if they won, or pulled off victories, then he and his crew would get all of the credit. Crews, bounties, captured ships. All of it would be credited to them instead of the Admiralty.

Freedom had its consequences. Both for the good, and the bad. They would see how Battlegroup Huntress fared against the rest of the galaxy.

Author's note: A shorter chapter, but given this is a transitional bit… I figured I should cut it off here.

 

[Fanof1]

This chapter just screams capture and repurpose battle droids and ships. Please let this happen. I want a doughnut!

But being less crazy for a second, I'm interested in seeing how wolfpacking will go.

 

[readsalot]

Receiving Slaving command," Lieutenant Hull

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He got promoted?

Also great chapter

 

[Yacov]

but for the most part, the Navy was stopping them an dable to deliver supplies.

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Probably should be "and able"

However, the Republic had no one harassing the enemy's own supply lines and convoys at this point. So, Teskit's orders were to get behind enemy lines and begin disrupting and breaking the enemy supply lines where they were able. Ground targets, navy, space stations, everything was authorized for attack as long as they did their job.

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Everyone is going to be expecting Hull to be good at looting. Either that or be surprised. He probably has the "roughest" background out of all of the officer corps.

What exactly is command expecting this raider group to take? I mean yay you blew up a station or disabled a convoy, but what then? Most of the enemy are droids, so food and supplies to sustain the crew are probably minimal. Fuel and spare parts are probably going to be the most commonly seized items. Raw resources is probably more volume than it's worth. I guess high tech resources and salvage to repurpose is the best outcome.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Probably should be "and able"


Everyone is going to be expecting Hull to be good at looting. Either that or be surprised. He probably has the "roughest" background out of all of the officer corps.

What exactly is command expecting this raider group to take? I mean yay you blew up a station or disabled a convoy, but what then? Most of the enemy are droids, so food and supplies to sustain the crew are probably minimal. Fuel and spare parts are probably going to be the most commonly seized items. Raw resources is probably more volume than it's worth. I guess high tech resources and salvage to repurpose is the best outcome.

Click to shrink...

They're not expecting them to take/loot. More just be a disruption. Split the enemy focus. (And if they get rid of the captain they don't like very much in the process…)

 

[Lillie Jones]

thanks for the chapter