You readers might have seen me slowing the pace of chapters down. With the initial fervor ending, the upload schedule will go as follows: Sunday/Monday/Wednesday/Friday.
Happy reading!
*
Apart from the noise the constant lasers were making as they kept shredding bits and pieces of the ongoing debris into space dust, the Malevolence drifted silently through the star system. Its hull glowed with the residual energy that scattered from the first blast of its ion cannon. It was blue, and it highlighted the ship's contours, which cast its giant shadow over the void of outer space.
Unbeknownst to the mechanical monstrosity, a small twinkle of light that it couldn't see appeared. Wooosh!
Adam guided the gunship completely away from the debris of Master Plo's fleet, and even evaded all of the laser fire from the ten vulture droids. The blockade it tried to erect served absolutely no purpose other than being an annoying fly. These droids also fired off their lasers, causing Adam to dodge attack after attack. We cleared the way quickly and well within the three-minute limit he initially gave me.
The Malevolence was equipped with a high-frequency reflector shield that could soak and reflect no matter what got shot at it. We were going to test its durability and see how long it lasts before leaving the Abregado System. Since we're still cloaked, I feel we could continue with what Master Plo suggested. If I didn't have such a cloaking ability, I wouldn't even consider doing such a thing. By the time I could get close to it, I would have likely had hundreds of droid fighters swarming me.
Adam continued flying the ship silently. I held my breath with each passing moment, as the vulture droids didn't stop sweeping their surroundings. We might be flying away from them, but we had to be careful. One of their lasers could bounce off my gunship, and that would be game over. This was a stealth mission if I've ever seen one. Scorch marks soon dotted the battlefield from the constant laser fire. You couldn't even identify that the wreckage used to belong to the Republic. That's how desperate they are trying to find us.
This allowed me to get a good view, panning across the side of the Malevolence. We soon arrived behind it.
"We are now in position.", I stated, speaking to everyone else on the gunship.
"Ahsoka here. I'm locked in and ready.", Ahsoka said.
"Right turret standing by. At your call, Samus. Let's make some noise and disrupt these clankers.", Commander Wolffe said. Anticipation appeared in his eyes. He even formed a fist. A hint of anger followed. After all, he saw thousands of his men die by this thing. Clones see themselves as brothers and not just clones, so that anger was justified. He also knew he couldn't exactly get his revenge, not yet anyways. The actual fight where General Skywalker directs a fleet of his own to battle this flagship won't happen until we regroup. And by then, I'll be out of the picture. But for now, this was the next best thing.
I took a deep breath in. The next action we took, it would reveal where we were, ending this stealth mission. While thinking that, I saw Adam's face appear on the control panel before me.
[All missiles are ready to be launched, Samus. Just say the word.] Adam stated.
Hearing that, I turned around to look at Master Plo one more time.
"You sure you want to launch an attack like this?", I asked Master Plo.
"What's the chance of escape?", Master Plo questioned. This time, he looked at Adam, and not me.
[One-hundred percent. I've already engaged the boosters to initiate the jump to hyperspace. We just need one moment to leave them in a state of disarray.] Adam answered.
This time, a cold glint streaked across Master Plo's eyes. He was holding the droids with zero remorse.
"Do it.", Master Plo declared.
Hearing that, I smiled beneath my helmet.
"You heard the Jedi, Adam.", I happily said.
[Initiating firing sequence.] Adam replied.
In response to that, the gunship's targeting systems locked in. Adam veered the controls, pointing it directly at the Malevolence's colossal engine cluster. Compared to the dreadnaught before us, it was like night and day. Its engines were as tall as skyscrapers, so it was hard to determine where I should fire these missiles. Should I pinpoint it, just striking one area, or should I them off, scattering them in different positions to see how a wide blast would effect this shield before me?
You see, the missiles in my gunship aren't your standard missiles. They're coated in thin layers of dense, green-like plasma energy. Very similar to the energy you'd see lightsabers use. They can destroy and rip things into pieces if you shoot enough. My gunship in particular is designed to assist in infiltration on a large scale, allowing other troops to invade areas, and take on large structures. The Malevolence is pushing it though. I think these missiles will serve its job and penetrate the shield it has. But I didn't use all two hundred and seventy-five of them at once.
Woosh. Woosh!
With a low whirring noise, the gunship changed its structure ever so slightly. Some panels on the frontside shifted inward, revealing small holes. A full volley of ten missiles screamed outward. Pew! Pew! Pew!
Immediately following that, Ahsoka's eyes focused and saw the missiles being launched.
"That must be the signal.", Ahsoka uttered. Seeing the attack, Ahsoka moved her seat around, placing her hands on the turret's firing controls. Commander Wolffe did the same on the right turret, both waiting for the right moment. A second or two later, both of them pressed their fingers on the trigger. A green streak of plasma suddenly echoed around them, hammering the rear of the Malevolence. It was a coordinated attack!
Once all ten missiles and the two plasma blasts hit one of the engines, it lit up the void of outer space. BOOM! BOOM!
Each missile exploded against the shield, scattering its plasma energy. Adam thought it was best to fire in one area to wrack up as much damage as we can. One missile hit. Then the next, and the third one followed. The plasma started piercing through the shield. Hummm!
[Shield integrity is decreasing. Initiating a second volley.] Adam suddenly said.
Pew! Pew! Pew!
Adam sure didn't wait around for the enemy to start taking action. We launched the first ten missiles, hitting the shield on que. We launched twenty more this time!
Seeing a second attack already, Commander Wolffe grinned.
"No rest for the weary, I like it. Eat turret fire, clankers!", Commander Wolffe exclaimed, pressing his fingers against the buttons of the turrets again. Woosh!
With the second round of missiles drastically lowering the shield integrity with each passing moment, the plasma from the turrets was icing on the cake. You could see visible cracks start forming!
And yet, this didn't go unnoticed. Within the bridge, those classic sirens you'd hear in Star Wars started blaring.
"One of our engines is under attack, General.", The operator droid announced.
"So they decided to come out of hiding. Lock onto their position and open fire. Get a reading on their ship if they try to escape.", General Grievous ordered. He wasn't alone anymore, Count Dooku could be seen with him again.
A cold glint streaked across his eyes.
"I did not expect that it would be us who would come under siege. Just who is this individual who is acting so brazen?", Count Dooku murmured to himself. "Change of plans. Do not launch an attack on whoever it is that is firing against us. They are likely testing the waters, get close enough to deploy tracker pods.", Count Dooku commanded, causing General Grievous to turn around and look at him.
"My lord? Did you not just say that we are to destroy them at all costs? I will send out more vulture droids if we need to.", General Grievous responded, not expecting Count Dooku to say that.
"It is too late for that, I'm afraid.", Count Dooku replied, sighing. A look of disappointment appeared in his eyes while he shook his head at General Grievous. He had hoped for him to immediately take action after hearing Count Dooku's new command but enough time passed.
"We lost the target, General. They fled into hyperspace.", The operator droid said, causing General Grievous to come to a sudden halt. Once we launched our attack, we appeared on their radar, but it was so swift that General Grievous couldn't do anything. Seeing the Malevolence still with a broken shield around one of their engines, he could only form a fist while anger appeared into his eyes. As for Count Dooku, he didn't seem angry while he left the bridge again. In fact, he had an interested look, just wondering who it was who had attacked their flagship out of the blue.
"I'll have your heads for this!", General Grievous roared, unable to do anything.
We had departed the Abregado System just like that, and entered hyperspace!
It happened so swiftly that even I found it surprising. A total of three volleys which used fifty total missiles and six turret blasts was enough to break through the shield. We could have caused some severe damage on the ship itself, but that wasn't the second task I was given. They wanted data, not destruction. I can leave that to General Skywalker like he did in the original Clone Wars. That's way more up his alley.
But we managed to gather what we needed. The shield could definitely be penetrated, and by the time the vulture droids started scrambling again, Adam triggered the jump to hyperspace. We left General Grievous a nice parting gift, haha!
And now, it was time to collect payment!