AN: This is a space combat chapter, and it is in Star Wars. Ergo it's WW2 era combat techniques: close, gritty & bloody. Also, you can hear turbolasers and explosions in Star Wars space, everyone knows that!
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Hovering over the planet of Malastare was the permanent garrison force comprised of the 812th Legion. 50 Acclamators, 6 Venators, and a dozen XQ Platform space stations.
Between the carriers, the stations, and planetary installations, this force could field 10,000 starfighters, a full 4,000 more than the typical 6 Venators deployed.
Such a force was under the command of Rear-Admiral Nils Tenant. The middle aged brown haired, mustachioed man was aboard the bridge of his flagship sipping on some coffee, and looking out into space.
"How go the preparations, Captain?" Tenant asked a uniformed clone.
"Sir, the reinforcements are due to arrive within the week. The men of the 812th are eager to take the fight to Geonosis, and avenge our brothers." The Captain saluted.
"At ease. Very good, I'll be in my office should you need anything-" Tenant said about to stroll away when suddenly many lights flashed, and alarms blared.
"Status report."
"Sir! Our long range probes have detected a massive shadow in hyperspace, a fleet's arrival is imminent!" The Captain said with great concern.
"Oh? Our relief has arrived sooner than expected. Prepare the ceremonies to hand off command of Malastare, I'll give a speech to the men, I'm sure they'll appreciate it. Our time spent defending this backwater is finally over." Tenant said in a dismissive tone.
"Sir, the relief fleet is due to arrive via the Hydion Way…this fleet is emerging from the Dustig Trace! It's highly likely to be from Geonosis, sir!"
"Impossible. The space storm wiped everything out." Tenant said to himself, more than to the Captain in disbelief.
"Admiral, orders sir?! The fleet is due to drop out of hyperspace within minutes!" The Captain hurriedly exclaimed.
"Give the command, scramble all fighters, maneuver the Acclamators into formation, position the Venators into zones A-11, and D-56. I want to pincer them between our minefield." Tenant succinctly gave his orders.
As the Captain was about to give the command to the rest of the fleet, a priority call bearing the seal of the Imperial Inspectorat went through.
Tenant accepted the call, and motioned the Captain to hold.
"This is Agent 007 of the Inspectorate, accept these credentials, and prepare your fleet for lightspeed. The Kamino homefleet is inbound, a horrible accident has befallen the cloning facility, and we are inbound to refuel."
"His codes check out." The Captain whispered, and gave Tenant a thumbs up out of the vision of the Agent's hologram.
"Agent? Where is Admiral Trace? Why have you only now waited to communicate with us when Kamino is 5 days away?" Tenant demanded.
"...all will be revealed when we arrive. Needless to say, the information is classified, and any leaks over subspace relay would have proved disastrous to the Empire. 007 out." The mysterious masked man said before cutting the call.
"I don't like this one bit." The Captain muttered.
"Neither do I. It stinks of subterfuge." Tenant said, frowning.
"You think it's one of those commander droids? They're getting craftier the longer this war drags on." The Captain muttered. "Should I belay your orders, sir?"
"...no, scramble the fighters, and move the ships into a V formation…I've got a bad feeling about this." Tenant stroked his mustache, and frowned.
Tense minutes passed until a fleet of Acclamators and Venators darted into real space.
"Sir, it's the Herald, their IFF's check out, everything is up to date!"
"Hmm. But why would they come here? Abandoning Kamino is a surefire way to get sacked. This makes no sense." Tenant watched on as the newly arrived fleet began to creep towards their defensive line, splitting into two groups so as to avoid the minefield.
Drumming his fingers across the glass of the viewing window on the bridge, Tenant was deep in thought. "Hail them."
"Sir, we're going ignored!" A comms officer shouted out.
"Our starfighters are in position, and have flanked the Kamino homefleet. They're within 50,000 kilometers and closing, should I give the order to open fire, sir?" The Captain asked in a low tone.
Tenant took a deep breath, clenched and unclenched his teeth, then grinded his teeth. Every second the opposite fleet drew closer, he felt something queasy in his stomach. Yet if he blatantly took action, and it turned out he murdered Imperial men, it would be his head on the chopping block!
"30,000 kilometers." The Captain said in a tense tone.
…
..
.
"10,000 kilometers, sir, they're practically on top of us!"
Tenant was going to give the command, and say to hell with it all, when suddenly a flashing light alerted him to something.
"Sir, incoming transmission, it's from the Herald!"
Showing up on a hologram was his peer, Admiral Trace.
"Hello my old friend. Terribly sorry for the Agent's coarse demeanor, he isn't like us." Trace said in a posh accent common amongst most officers.
"Ah, Trace, it's so good to see you, I had feared the worst. Could you explain to me what the situation is? Why have you left Kamino?" Tenant asked in a curious tone.
"Treachery! The kaminoans had sided with the Separatists, and sabotaged our fleet. Thankfully, due to my quick thinking, I took us out of that rather nasty situation. Both our comms and fuel deposits had been critically impacted, I feared we wouldn't make it to Malastare!"
During this entire conversation, the Captain had been waving for Tenant's attention, but he was engrossed in the conversation, almost like he had to pay attention to it. He didn't know why, but he trusted that this was his fellow Admiral, and what he said was truth. It was an odd feeling, one he wanted to deny, but it just had to be right, otherwise, how could he possibly believe the alternative? That all 50 Acclamators were taken by the beaten & bloodied CIS? Preposterous.
"Captain, withdraw the starfighters, and prepare a banquet for Admiral Trace." Tenant said in a somewhat absentminded faraway tone.
The Captain glanced at him, then at the comms officer.
"Captain? Do your duty, sailor, or must I find someone who will?" Tenant demanded.
He had been trying to get the Admirals attention, to let him know that the other fleet were right beneath them, where they were most vulnerable. But the Admiral simply refused to listen!
The Captain struggled with the command. His blind obedience induced by Order 66 warred with his inner thoughts. Experience was screaming something in his ear. He had seen someone act just like the Admiral before…this was a Mind Trick!
Pulling out his service pistol, the Captain shot Admiral Tenant, much to the shock of the bridge crew.
Lunging for the comms station, he pulled up an open mic to the 812th, and addressed the entire battle group.
"The Jedi have Mind Tricked Admiral Tenant, all forces open fire on the Kamino homefleet, kill the traitors!"
However, he was a few seconds too late, the enemy had acted before them!
Turbolasers began to blast into the defenseless underbellies of the Imperial ships, and bombers scrambled from the Republic Venators.
Meanwhile, the Imperial starfighters that had already been scrambled before started to close with the enemy ships.
The Captain felt his ship shake, and was going to begin commanding the rest of the fleet, however a concentration of firepower from multiple ships at close range burst his ship's shields, and fire erupted all around him.
"Damned Jedi." The Captain spat before he was consumed in a massive fireball.
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Within the Herald's hangar, men were running into their starfighters, and last minute checks were being run on systems. Every 10 seconds, 10 starfighters would launch off the magnetic catapult, and hurtle at the enemy.
Boarding an ARC-170, CT-800000A took his seat in the co-pilots chair. Nervous excitement filled his veins, as this was his first engagement after spending the last 10 years of his life in training.
A counter ticked down on his HUD, letting him know that their time to departure was within two minutes.
Taking deep breaths to steady his nerves, he went through all the buttons, switches, and consoles, making sure everything was where it should be.
"Just like the simulations." He muttered to himself.
"Ha! We got ourselves a shiny, boys! Doesn't even know he's connected to the internal comms!" The pilot laughed, and was soon joined by the rear turret gunner, and the astromech droid.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, at least I didn't turn on my General."
At that, the laughter suddenly ceased.
"What was that, shiny?" The turret gunner growled.
"So the FNG takes part in one skirmish, and thinks he's hot bantha shit. Let me tell you a little secret, shiny. General Revan may talk a big game, but he's a politician just like the rest of them." The pilot spat in a bitter tone.
"No way. He already paid the men in cash. Far as I'm concerned, he means to keep his promise of land, of a home!"
"Is that so, Cash? Well maybe we'll just have to see if he's legit, but I wouldn't put my money on it." The pilot darkly intoned.
"Just live to the next battle, then we'll see if this Jedi is worth keeping around." The gunner added.
Cash-wow he had a name!-wanted to keep on bantering with the guys, but the timer on his HUD had runout, and a small alarm shook him out of his fugue.
"Get your head in the game, rookie, I'm going to need you working the aux power, deflector shields, laser output, and radar, they teach you all that in school?" The pilot good naturedly mocked.
"Sir! All systems go!"
The ARC-170 thrummed to life as soon as Cash finished his system check, and they began to taxi the starfighter towards the runway.
"Phah, cheeky bugger." The pilot laughed, then turned on the comms for the unit. "This is Devil 1, all wings check in."
"Devil 2, online."
"Devil 3, present."
"Devil 4, let's kick some ass!"
"Devil…12 standing by."
"Good, good. Listen up, Devils! Our brothers out there are still under the control of the brain chip. Our objective is to minimize casualties, but we all know how war works out, hurrah." Devil 1 said in a no-nonsense tone.
"Hurrah!" The men cheered.
Just as they were about to take off, a new frequency cut into the chatter like a hot knife through soft butter, silencing everyone at once.
"Devil Squadron, form up on the Millennium Falcon."
"That's the General!" Cash quietly cheered on the internal comms.
"Agh, don't get your panties in a twist there, Cash. Jedi are something special, I'll grant ya that, but what's one ship going to do against 10,000 more? We're outnumbered almost 2 to 1, the only advantage we have is our better positioned capital ships." Devil 1 admonished.
Cash silently shook his head. He had done countless simulations, and learned all there was to learn about fighting alongside, and killing Jedi. What he saw from that man Revan during the fight for Tipoca City had flipped the table on everything he thought he knew.
As if to confirm his thoughts, an invisible wave of morale spread amongst the men who were within Devil Squadron, and suddenly he was feeling invincible.
"Hell, Cash, tell you what, I'm feeling mighty charitable. We all make it through this, and drinks are on you? How's that sound?"
"Huh?" Cash said, the goofy grin and aura of invincibility was quick to leave him like a dirty stain power washed off a set of dishes.
"Hear, hear! Good thing ya got paid, huh Cash?" The gunner laughed, and the astromech beeped.
Cash was going to defend himself, but the magnetic catapult took a hold of them, and flung them deep into the Voru's jaws! (space lion).
The sound of explosions, turbolasers, the whine of his engine, and the sight of an endless stream of green lasers almost overwhelmed his senses, and he was almost paralyzed into inaction. Thankfully, whatever that feeling was when the General first spoke stuck with him, and his nerves were calm & steady.
"Form up, follow me, and shoot anything that doesn't match our IFF." Revan ordered, and then his bulky ship began to glide.
Cash's eyes widened in awe as the Falcon erupted forward at speeds that they could barely keep up with. At the same time, it wrecked havoc upon the enemy, eliminating a ship every 3 seconds.
Witnessing this, he couldn't help himself.
"For the Republic!"
A beat passed, and the two vets also couldn't contain themselves.
"For the Republic!"
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AN: Read up to chapter 174 at: patreon.com/KarpQQ
I update there every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday