Relaxed around my pillar, I watched as the tactical hologram of the shuttles redirected a five hundred meter wide nickle/iron asteroid towards the planet.
Heavy cargo shuttles might lack hyperdrives and more than the most basic of shielding, but they did have powerful sublight engines and tractor beams.
The Jedi were not happy with my solution to the problem. They would have preferred to capture him and honestly, so would I... and as soon as he surrendered, they can.
But that shield made things more difficult. It kept my Crows from providing the close air support that would be needed to take the base intact. Best they could do now was to keep any ships from leaving.
Swan stood next to my pillar as we watched the small asteroid's orbit change, nudged and accelerated by the two shuttles.
"I don't like this, Captain. A lot of people are going to die," she finally said.
"They have another ten hours until impact. If they surrender within seven, we will still be able to save them by diverting the asteroid." I answered, flattening my feathers. "I do not like this idea either, but sometimes uncomfortable things need to be done."
"I know, but it just seems so...cold," she said with a frown. "There is nothing they can do."
"They can surrender," I said before my pillar beeped at me.
I tilted my head and accepted the transmission. "Ah, Mr Krayt. Have you changed your mind?"
"I see what you are doing, Captain," Krayt said, his voice calm. "I refuse to live out the rest of my life in a Republic prison. I'm sure you and I can come up with a deal that might profit both of us?"
"I do not think so, Mr Krayt. There will be no negotiation. Surrender or die. Your people have the same choice." I answered him just as calmly. "You have seven hours to make up your mind."
The crime-lord snarled and cut the connection.
As his hologram faded completely, my second-in-command frowned and sighed. "Do you think he will surrender?"
I shook my head. "I do not know. I hope so... either that or his people might capture him and surrender. Hopefully, either of those happen. I would very much prefer not to drop that rock on them."
Also hopefully, those cruisers were all in a fleet and wouldn't drop in one at a time. If they did, we would be in real trouble and we would need to run.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Contacts, twenty of them. Light and medium freighters leaving the shield," Jack reported from his console. "Crows are engaging."
I simply nodded and watched the fight. We had lost thirteen Crows in the fight against the fighters earlier, but there were still plenty of them to handle this last attempt at escape.
The Crows had orders to disable the ships if possible but to stop them from reaching the hyper limit at all cost.
"Target the larger ships and open fire, Jedi Dooku." I ordered as I tightened around my pillar.
He simply nodded and the Hapan turbo lasers started to sing their song of death.
"Captain, the shuttles have disengaged from the asteroid and are returning to dock." Swan said after a moment "Impact in ten minutes."
"Acknowledged, Commander." I answered, ruffling my feathers unhappily. At least the planet was mostly lifeless anyway, and the rock was neither fast or large enough to be a world killer.
By the time the asteroid impacted almost directly on top of the base, the last freighter engines were already slagged, all of the ships drifting dead in space. Seven of them were destroyed, the rest disabled.
I shook my head and pressed a button on the pillar, transmitting to the entire system.
"You are all now my prisoners. Surrender and you will not be harmed. You will be turned over to the Republic justice system. Now be patient and don't do anything stupid, we get to you when we get to you." I said before I cut the connection, pressing another button.
"Crows, disable all transmitters and weapon mounts." I ordered before I turned my head to the two Jedi.
���Jedi Dooku, the last crew of smugglers I turned over to the republic was released. Will these be prosecuted?"
He nodded. "They will. This crime syndicate have had operations in Republic space and as such there can be prosecuted as accessories to a crime in addition to what they already have arrest orders out for. I... admit that I did not think you wished to capture them when you explained your plan to drop a asteroid on them."
I shook my head. "Why kill them if I don't have to? It was simply a way to get them out of the shield. And if they didn't try to escape... well, they wouldn't be a problem anymore. Now when that problem is solved, let's proceed to phase two."
"Phase two?" Jinn asked with a frown. "You mean picking up the prisoners?"
I shrugged my wings. "That is part of it. I'm talking about three cruisers that are at at most two and a half day away.
"Captain, you can not take out three cruisers in a frigate. Even with the help of those drone fighters of yours. Not even if they arrive one at a time," said Dooku. "We should recover the prisoners and leave the system."
"I think not. If they are important enough to command cruisers, they are close enough to the top of the chain of command for each of them to be able to take over the organization... If we leave them, they will be coming after us or more precisely, me and my people." I explained as I brought up a map of the system. "Commander, set course towards the closest disabled ship."
Swan simply nodded and went on with her task as Dooku crossed his arms and asked, "And how exactly do you plan to take out three cruisers with a frigate?"
I raised my headfeathers in amusement as I looked down at the small Jedi.
"With trickery and Illusion, of course. With trickery and Illusion." I answered before I uncoiled from my pillar to make my way down to the engine room and see how the preparations are going while hoping not to much would go wrong.
If we needed to escape, things might become difficult in the future.