Chapter 25
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MarkWarrior
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Chapter 25
"Horizon, Starfury, and Eclipse, I want you to focus on keeping the Munificents distracted," Teskit ordered. "I'll coordinate with Admiral Yularen to get you backup as soon as I can."
Said frigates were clustered in two 'wolfpacks' of four. Of the eight star frigates, four of them were busy sending streams of shuttles to the snowy planet below. Most of them were carrying droids, tanks, and other ground-based troops to support whatever operation was being conducted.
"We'll keep them plenty distracted," I replied. "Godspeed, Captain."
"Move power to the thrusters," I gave the command, glancing at the navigation officer. "And tie the Starfury and Eclipse into our comms."
The problem was that we were still so far away from the action. As with all battles in the void, distances weren't over come in an instant. But, I did still have a few cards to play.
Grabbing my datapad, I began running through calculations, plugging in the exact number and triple checking them before sending the encrypted message to the Starfury and Eclipse.
"Plug in these coordinates to the jump computer," I handed the datapad to the navigations tech. "We're going to microjump."
"But sir, that puts us right in the middle of the wolfpacks!" he protested.
"Droid brains always have issues processing without organics there to give them instructions," I replied. "The main brain for the enemy fleet is going to be the Recusant dreadnought over there," I pointed out the massive form of the ship. And it's going to be a bit busy dealing with Admiral Yularen and Captain Teskit. So, if we do this properly, we can take advantage of that time to cause some damage."
I paused.
"Recall all fighters and bombers," I looked at the comms tech. "We don't need them completely locked in, just enough to jump with us. We'll relaunch after we're done and then redeploy."
A few long moments went by, the bridge a flurry of activity as personnel went back and forth. The systems needed to be prepped for a micro-jump, and all of the personnel throughout the Horizon needed to be ready as well.
Micro-jumps in the heat of combat were always risky. For a brief moment, you were going to be fully exposed to the enemy. Your shields would need to be brought back online, and if you screwed up then you were essentially turning your exposed belly to the enemy. So, the entirety of what I had planned was reliant on a handful of known enemy errors. After this, the Separatists would probably patch the issue I was going to exploit, but until then, it was perfectly viable.
So, once the Eclipse, Starfury, and the Horizon were ready, I gave the signal to begin the jump. There was a lurch, then seconds later we were in between the two enemy wolfpacks. The Munificents frozen in indecision as my teams raced against time to reactive the weapons systems, shields, and check on our power systems.
We were faster than the Munificents, the Horizon's first targets weren't ready yet. For some reason, the four that were discharging troops to the ground had less shields, and as our pilots got closer, they reported less weapons emplacements as well.
"Remember to shift more power to the port deflectors," I instructed. "All gunners focus fire on the ships that react first."
"This is the Starfury," the Arquitens reported. "We're going to move in and hit the frigates supporting the ground troops. Requesting bomber squadrons to assist."
"You've got it, Starfury," I replied, the Horizon shaking underneath us as the first of the Munificents finally returned fire. Its turbolasers scattered harmlessly against our shields, the old tech holding strong. Unfortunately for the Separatists, their shields were not as resilient. Our return fire shredded their shields, and a lucky shot removed their dual-heavy turbolaser as a threat.
"Shields are down to eighty-five percent! Expected to stabilize at fifty-percent if we can eliminate one or more of the Munificents."
"Keep up the pressure," I replied. "Where are the Eclipse's concussion missiles?"
"They're still powering up," the sensors office replied. "Seems the repairs we made weren't as effective as reported."
"Move us in front of them. We'll take fire for them until they're online."
As I said that, the frigate that the Starfury and most of our bombers were focused on went down, the power to its thrusters failed and the frigate began the long fall and crash to the planet below. Leaving the Starfury and the fighters and bombers to shift targets to the next one.
If nothing else, we were definitely the distraction that Teskit had asked for. Because the oversized Recusant had shifted and started powering towards us. The four ultraheavy turbolasers attempted to reach out and hit us from extreme range, but missed. When it got into range though… Well, we'd burn that bridge when we got to it. I needed to worry about things I could control, first.
Teskit nodded as he watched the trio of ships disappear into a micro-jump, the sensors picking up them harassing the Munificents he'd assigned them a few moments later.
Now it was time to deal with the rest of the enemy fleet. Yularen had his ships organized in a good defensive position around the planet except for where they'd punched through. His trio of Venators were holding the line against nearly ten Recusants, the sensor feeds patched through to his tactical console told Teskit that it would take a while, but eventually the Venators would win. So, he dismissed that area and focused on where the line was struggling.
A group of Carracks, CR-90s, and Pelta-Class ships were struggling against a large cluster of Auxilia and Captor-class cruisers, and there were more star frigates and destroyers headed for that part of the line. If the Seppies broke through there, then there wouldn't be a point in holding the ground on Rhen Var, the vid would have been completely lost.
"Sir, Admiral Yularen is telling us to hold our position. There's a ground-based Ion-cannon firing!"
"Execute holding pattern then full ahead," Teskit replied, watching his tactical table as the red white line indicating the firing pattern moved across the void, impacting one of the Recusants fighting Yularen's Star Destroyers and stripping it of its shields.
The journey across the system took time, but eventually, they came into range of the oval-shaped cruisers and the Inevitable opened fire. Large red beams flowed from her heavy turbolasers shredding shields, scarring
"New contacts!" The clone maning the sensors reported. "We've got four Acclamators leaving the atmosphere."
"They must be moving to reinforce one of the parts of the line," Teskit nodded. "See if they can split off assistance to the Horizon. After we've dealt with these poor bastards, we're going to group up and eliminate that monster."
Teskit's eyes focused on the Recusant dreadnought. There must be some high-level officer present, or this ship wouldn't be here. The problem was, Teskit and Battlegroup Huntress didn't have the firepower to deal with the oversized craft. So, until Yularen was finished. The Horizon, Starfury and Eclipse were on their own.
Author's Note: I'm going to have to make some changes to the version of the Interdictor-Class cruiser I use here. Honestly, the stats on the wiki don't
make sense. Especially not when at the same time it says.
"The Sith warships made by the Star Forge rivaled Star Destroyers of the Imperial Period.[9]"
So, I'll end up posting the modified stats once we've gotten to a Shipyard segment.
"Horizon, Starfury, and Eclipse, I want you to focus on keeping the Munificents distracted," Teskit ordered. "I'll coordinate with Admiral Yularen to get you backup as soon as I can."
Said frigates were clustered in two 'wolfpacks' of four. Of the eight star frigates, four of them were busy sending streams of shuttles to the snowy planet below. Most of them were carrying droids, tanks, and other ground-based troops to support whatever operation was being conducted.
"We'll keep them plenty distracted," I replied. "Godspeed, Captain."
"Move power to the thrusters," I gave the command, glancing at the navigation officer. "And tie the Starfury and Eclipse into our comms."
The problem was that we were still so far away from the action. As with all battles in the void, distances weren't over come in an instant. But, I did still have a few cards to play.
Grabbing my datapad, I began running through calculations, plugging in the exact number and triple checking them before sending the encrypted message to the Starfury and Eclipse.
"Plug in these coordinates to the jump computer," I handed the datapad to the navigations tech. "We're going to microjump."
"But sir, that puts us right in the middle of the wolfpacks!" he protested.
"Droid brains always have issues processing without organics there to give them instructions," I replied. "The main brain for the enemy fleet is going to be the Recusant dreadnought over there," I pointed out the massive form of the ship. And it's going to be a bit busy dealing with Admiral Yularen and Captain Teskit. So, if we do this properly, we can take advantage of that time to cause some damage."
I paused.
"Recall all fighters and bombers," I looked at the comms tech. "We don't need them completely locked in, just enough to jump with us. We'll relaunch after we're done and then redeploy."
A few long moments went by, the bridge a flurry of activity as personnel went back and forth. The systems needed to be prepped for a micro-jump, and all of the personnel throughout the Horizon needed to be ready as well.
Micro-jumps in the heat of combat were always risky. For a brief moment, you were going to be fully exposed to the enemy. Your shields would need to be brought back online, and if you screwed up then you were essentially turning your exposed belly to the enemy. So, the entirety of what I had planned was reliant on a handful of known enemy errors. After this, the Separatists would probably patch the issue I was going to exploit, but until then, it was perfectly viable.
So, once the Eclipse, Starfury, and the Horizon were ready, I gave the signal to begin the jump. There was a lurch, then seconds later we were in between the two enemy wolfpacks. The Munificents frozen in indecision as my teams raced against time to reactive the weapons systems, shields, and check on our power systems.
We were faster than the Munificents, the Horizon's first targets weren't ready yet. For some reason, the four that were discharging troops to the ground had less shields, and as our pilots got closer, they reported less weapons emplacements as well.
"Remember to shift more power to the port deflectors," I instructed. "All gunners focus fire on the ships that react first."
"This is the Starfury," the Arquitens reported. "We're going to move in and hit the frigates supporting the ground troops. Requesting bomber squadrons to assist."
"You've got it, Starfury," I replied, the Horizon shaking underneath us as the first of the Munificents finally returned fire. Its turbolasers scattered harmlessly against our shields, the old tech holding strong. Unfortunately for the Separatists, their shields were not as resilient. Our return fire shredded their shields, and a lucky shot removed their dual-heavy turbolaser as a threat.
"Shields are down to eighty-five percent! Expected to stabilize at fifty-percent if we can eliminate one or more of the Munificents."
"Keep up the pressure," I replied. "Where are the Eclipse's concussion missiles?"
"They're still powering up," the sensors office replied. "Seems the repairs we made weren't as effective as reported."
"Move us in front of them. We'll take fire for them until they're online."
As I said that, the frigate that the Starfury and most of our bombers were focused on went down, the power to its thrusters failed and the frigate began the long fall and crash to the planet below. Leaving the Starfury and the fighters and bombers to shift targets to the next one.
If nothing else, we were definitely the distraction that Teskit had asked for. Because the oversized Recusant had shifted and started powering towards us. The four ultraheavy turbolasers attempted to reach out and hit us from extreme range, but missed. When it got into range though… Well, we'd burn that bridge when we got to it. I needed to worry about things I could control, first.
Teskit nodded as he watched the trio of ships disappear into a micro-jump, the sensors picking up them harassing the Munificents he'd assigned them a few moments later.
Now it was time to deal with the rest of the enemy fleet. Yularen had his ships organized in a good defensive position around the planet except for where they'd punched through. His trio of Venators were holding the line against nearly ten Recusants, the sensor feeds patched through to his tactical console told Teskit that it would take a while, but eventually the Venators would win. So, he dismissed that area and focused on where the line was struggling.
A group of Carracks, CR-90s, and Pelta-Class ships were struggling against a large cluster of Auxilia and Captor-class cruisers, and there were more star frigates and destroyers headed for that part of the line. If the Seppies broke through there, then there wouldn't be a point in holding the ground on Rhen Var, the vid would have been completely lost.
"Sir, Admiral Yularen is telling us to hold our position. There's a ground-based Ion-cannon firing!"
"Execute holding pattern then full ahead," Teskit replied, watching his tactical table as the red white line indicating the firing pattern moved across the void, impacting one of the Recusants fighting Yularen's Star Destroyers and stripping it of its shields.
The journey across the system took time, but eventually, they came into range of the oval-shaped cruisers and the Inevitable opened fire. Large red beams flowed from her heavy turbolasers shredding shields, scarring
"New contacts!" The clone maning the sensors reported. "We've got four Acclamators leaving the atmosphere."
"They must be moving to reinforce one of the parts of the line," Teskit nodded. "See if they can split off assistance to the Horizon. After we've dealt with these poor bastards, we're going to group up and eliminate that monster."
Teskit's eyes focused on the Recusant dreadnought. There must be some high-level officer present, or this ship wouldn't be here. The problem was, Teskit and Battlegroup Huntress didn't have the firepower to deal with the oversized craft. So, until Yularen was finished. The Horizon, Starfury and Eclipse were on their own.
Author's Note: I'm going to have to make some changes to the version of the Interdictor-Class cruiser I use here. Honestly, the stats on the wiki don't
make sense. Especially not when at the same time it says.
"The Sith warships made by the Star Forge rivaled Star Destroyers of the Imperial Period.[9]"
So, I'll end up posting the modified stats once we've gotten to a Shipyard segment.