Saga Call of Honor: Arctic Peril - CW era fan fic (action, drama, intrigue)

Part 9

“When the Nexus broke free”

Kosmo Spaceport, Kosmo City

Xinaghar, 5034 hours

Soon the sun was going to rise, though they would not be able to see it given the overcast weather. Nevertheless, even the dim light will reveal the whole extent of the devastation that was wrought on the spaceport. Once a big and modern facility, now a hollowed out shell littered with twisted metal and other debris. Craters pockmarked the once vast landing strips. Charred remains of blown ships and ground vehicles lying abandoned where they were blown.

Some still active walkers were guarding different positions. The damaged ones were refurbished to serve as either armoured bunkers or stationary cannon emplacements. There was even a still active juggernaut which was protecting the main road towards the spaceport. There were several fighter tanks still floating on their repulsors. A single vehicle arrived in a hurry a few hours back carrying the wounded General Tan, a small group of Clones that had accompanied her in her mission and a couple of Y-wing pilots who survived the crash of their bomber.

Clones and non-clone soldiers were spread around the perimeter trying to cover as much ground as possible. Which was a difficult task given the size of the spaceport and the fact that the amount of the reinforcements that arrived from the neighboring small towns and villages decreased considerably. At least there was artillery support from outside the city that managed to keep at bay the enemy advance. The still active SAM sites along with the few surviving AA guns stopped most of the bombers, but it was a matter of time until the enemy floods them with Hyenas so they will not be able to hold them off for long.

Ro’oland paced back and forth. His fifteen year old mind was confused. He did not have enough experience in these matters. He was just a padawan, who got thrown in the war. He barely entered puberty and now he was supposed to deal with life-and-death situations. Since his Master was incapacitated for the next few days the lives of all Clone and non-Clone soldiers were in his hands. A responsibility no teenager was supposed to carry… not even an adult. No one is supposed to carry such a burden.

The lobby of the spaceport was littered with debris, pieces of masonry, broken furniture, broken computers and glass. A part of it was separated and made into a triage centre of sorts. This was where his Master was brought. The fact that she was a Jedi General put her at first place on the list of people waiting for bacta treatment. Which was rather unfair towards the men who were fighting under them. She was not supposed to lead this suicide mission. This was always an issue with the Jedi, they had to lead from the front.

Ro’oland, being an introspective and a bit of a passive person, was not lucky for having a warrior Master. On one hand she pushed him to his limits and managed to make him more active. On the other hand, she relied more on her gut feelings and charged headlong into danger. Both Master and Padawan combined made a balanced person. Maybe that was why the Force brought them together each to teach something the other. He could remember the day when Master Tan picked him to be her Padawan and the almost imperceptible smile on Master Yoda’s lips. At least Ro’oland thought that the diminutive Jedi smiled.

He was pacing around, kicking the occasional piece of garbage or masonry. There were several cleaning droids still active but even they could not manage to keep the spaceport tidy, not with the constant shelling. The Padawan went to the line of benches that the travelers used to sit before their flight, he swept some debris and snow off the surface and sat. He was still feeling jittery when Commander finally appeared. This insane mission that Master Tan undertook could have easily beheaded the command structure but wherever she went the Clone Commander always followed. It was no secret how Rem felt about the Jedi Knight, Ro’oland was sure that she knew of this, but did nothing which was very careless of her.

The Clone swept himself a place and sat next to him.

“How is she?” Asked the Padawan.

“The General is stable, sir. The medical droid says it will take a couple of days before she can get back into action.”

Ro’oland snorted, but swallowed his comment that they might not survive that long. Then just nodded. He was aware that the Commander was observing him, they had their disagreements in the past. And as if taken out of a holomovie they were forced to work together if they were to hold the line. Lucky for Ro, as his friends called him, there was a non-Clone officer in the spaceport, so he had someone to rely upon when he was supposed to make important decisions. After he heard that Master Tan was incapacitated he went to Lieutenant Thane to speak with him. Fortunately for him the man was cooperative enough and agreed to help him in this task. They were to come up with a plan to stall the enemy as much as possible until reinforcements arrived. The young Padawan hoped that the officer was able to device some way to do that or they will all die for sure.

“Commander Leih, Commander Rem, could you come to the command room?” The commlink crackled as Lt. Thane summoned them.

“Right away.” Replied both in unison.

The command room, as they called it, used to be several administrative offices joined together by cutting down parts of the walls that used to separate them. In the middle of this makeshift command center there were several computer and communication terminals. At the centre there was a big holoprojector displaying the map of the area of the spaceport. Different figures were moving around, some were blinking out as they were destroyed. Shouts and screams could be heard from the comm units.

The ground shook again, pieces of masonry trickled down. The holomap flickered, along with the lighting. A big explosion, possibly close by. It was soon revealed that a lucky shot from an incoming missile blew up the juggernaut. There goes the main defense. There was a stream from a still functioning holocam showing a missile striking the front section of the vehicle. Then a sudden explosion showered the nearby field with twisted pieces of metal. Some of the Clones and non-Clone soldiers who were in the vicinity were either killed or maimed.

The fire of the burning vehicle lit the night, casting eerie shadows of the twisted pieces of metal lying around. On the map the enemy advance was visible. Possibly a hailfire droid got lucky and managed to destroy the juggernaut. If only they had such luck, probably by now they would have driven the Separatists out of the planet.

The three commanding officers remained silent for a moment. They were observing the 3D projection of the battlefield. There were red dots indicating droids and small representations of the CIS vehicles that were coming from the city towards the spaceport. At least between Kosmo and the Republic defenders there was a wide field which was bombarded by the surviving artillery emplacements in the nearby villages and small towns. But the barrage did not stop the enemy attack. The sheer numbers allowed them to swarm the spaceport. Hopefully the Republic would send the reinforcements soon enough, if they were to keep the city.

This time he would have to lead from the front. The lines were too stretched so he will have to fill in some of the gaps. He, Rem and the few troopers who could carry a weapon and were not given other tasks.

Finally something that he could agree with the Clone Commander as they both moved away from the command center to pick their gear.

Ro’oland turned towards the Lieutenant “Again you will be in charge of the defense of the spaceport. May the Force be with you.”

Thane just nodded and concentrated again on the holomap trying to find a way to improve the situation.

********************************
First line of defence of Kosmo spaceport
Xinaghar 0601 hours

Jay-El or JL8214 was sitting behind the E-web repeater in the makeshift bunker. It was actually a downed AT-TE with a couple of slits on the side for two repeaters. Jay and CeeTee, his buddy who was as lazy and unimaginative as him, were overseeing the field, waiting for the oncoming droids. If it was not for the flashes from the explosions around the city and for the fires from the burning buildings it the night might have been fully dark, due to the overcast weather. It is always darkest before the dawn. Exhaustion was taking its toll, they have been fighting constantly in the last few days. He was supposed to have a shuteye for several hours, but the news that most of the city had fallen and the enemy was marching towards the spaceport Even at the moment they were expecting another push. Probably the last one, if they were lucky…

Something caught Jay’s attention, there were skeletal figures moving towards them. Tinnies, for sure. So they came after all. Jay relayed the information of the oncoming assault to the command center. The response was swift, brilliant blasts came raining down on the enemy. The artillery was on high alert so they were quick to react. Unfortunately since some of the batteries had already been destroyed the artillery cover was not so intensive. But even the fewer blasts were deterrent enough. The skeletal figures of the B1s were torn apart, the B2s were kicked around as puppets and a couple of AATs were torn open. Someone from the spaceport launched a flare, then several more followed. They were to illuminate the field as the soldiers could not waste that much energy from their helmets for the night-vision. Even if they could use it, it would have been useless as the blasts were bright enough to temporarily blind the troopers. That is why they had to resort to slow falling flares.

Jay and Cee opened fire on the surviving enemy forces mawing through their lines. It was almost too easy. Other defensive positions were blasting at the droids too. Jay did not want to be in the tinnies’ position. Though he used to be as some of the non-Clone officers considered him and his ner’vods to be nothing more than disposable droids. He was in a similar situation in the first battle of Geonosis and after that in numerous other assaults. So in a sense he could empathize with the droids.

Unfortunately the barrage was not so intensive and some of the groups were able to move forwards towards the first defensive line. It was his job to keep them at bay. Crimson blasts struck the downed AT-TE, at least the armour was thick enough and it prevented them from hitting the two clones. Sparks were raining everywhere and the body of the walker was shaking violently. The e-webs spitting blue blast after blue blast which slagged the incoming droids. A dwarf spider droid managed to shoot once before its “face” got perforated. The crimson shot hit the ground just in front of the improvised pillbox followed by an eruption of snow and dirt.

A Persuader-class droid enforcer appeared and was slowly rolling towards them. Its main cannons shooting at the retrofitted speeder that came. It used to be a civilian vehicle which had some armor welded on and a medium cannon mounted on the back. It had lain waste on the enemy for some time. Its “life” was cut short by the Persuader as the tank’s main weapons blasted it to oblivion. He could hear the debris knocking on the hull of the AT-TE. Jay and his companion concentrated their fire on the monstrosity. But the blasts were not strong enough to penetrate the armour so most of them ricocheted causing small eruptions of snow.

The two cannons were trained on the AT-TE and a couple of blasts struck it. Jay was kicked back by the force and crashed on one of the personnel seats which was in the middle of the main body. Smoke and sparks filled the interior of the vehicle. The blasts had penetrated the armour and had melted parts of the interior. Jay was lucky to be alive, but Cee not so much. His body was bent in an unnatural way and the lack of movement showed that the man was dead.

Luckily the helmet cushioned the blow somehow. The visor was cracked in several places and the HUD was flickering unpleasantly so he turned it off as it was getting very distracting. He also felt discomfort from some of the parts of the armour as it was bent from the impact. Jay felt lucky that he wore it in the first place as this much force could have easily crushed and killed him right there in the makeshift pillbox. For a second he wondered what killed Cee, but there was not time for that.


The insides of the walker were filled with smoke. He managed to crawl to the opposite hatch and to wrestle it open. Luckily for him the filter was still working, if it was not he would have died from asphyxiation. He keyed the controls for the hatch but they were unresponsive so he kicked it. The hit reverberated over his whole body, followed by extreme pain. It did not open, but he felt it move a bit. Maybe another kick? He calmed his breathing and struck again. This time the hatch opened with a bang. Jay crawled out and fell on the soft snow. It was then when he saw the sky being illuminated by a huge explosion caused by the destruction of the only surviving Juggernaut.


“Well it was a good run, while it lasted...”

**********

Unit 83123 was marching forward as it and its comrades entered the perimeter of the spaceport. Their lines were thinned by the Republic’s defenses but it was against their programming to run away, unless commanded to do so. A blue blast struck the head of the Unit next to him kicking the droid back causing it to hit the one marching behind. There were still living defenders in the area they were assaulting. The Clones were notoriously hard to exterminate but eventually the overwhelming numbers of droids will smother them very soon.

It saw one of the “big brothers” a B2 Super Battle Droid raised its hand and shot a burst of crimson blasts towards the enemy. The Clones had barricaded themselves inside one of the smaller terminals of the spaceport. That was from where the shots came. Its comrades were firing at the defenders and small puffs of masonry erupted as the blasts struck the walls of the building.

As it marched forward Unit 83123 opened fire as well. The B1s were notoriously inaccurate but when they were shooting in concert the probability of a hit increased. At least in this way the Clones were pinned down and could hardly fire back.

The droids were passing by destroyed vehicles. Gutted transport ships were lying there. Twisted pieces of metal of all shapes and sizes were strewn around. The once perfectly even landing strip was pockmarked by craters. It was a lunar scene… a post apocalyptic lunar scene.

But this was beyond the simple mind of Unit 83123. Its programming at the moment told it to shoot and move forward. It was firing shots after shots at the general direction of the Clones.

Suddenly a new threat appeared in the face of a Jedi. The blue beam of the lightsaber cut through a couple of battle droids. After that the boy lunged forward and cut the arm of the SBD and then cut it in half. Unit 83123 turned towards the new threat and started firing at the Jedi but he deflected all of his shots. He even redirected some of them towards its comrades destroying them in the process. It was then when the enemy decided to deal with Unit 83123 and jumped in front of it. The droid tried in a futile attempt to save itself to fire. But just as it pressed the trigger the lightsaber cut in half the blaster and then with a swift swing decapitated the droid. Thus ended the short and relatively uneventful life of Unit 83123…

********

Ro’oland and Rem, along with a squad of Clones, rushed to assist the defenders of Terminal 4 of the spaceport. It seems the enemy had a breakthrough in that sector. So he and his men were to save the Clones and non-Clone soldiers who were barricaded inside. The sun was slowly rising, illuminating the snow cover and revealing the extent of the devastation. Whoever was going to clear all this will have a very tough time.

“Commander Leih, we received reports that a column of AT-TEs had broken through the enemy lines and is drawing their attention from us.”

Ro’oland almost jumped when he heard the good news. But he had to keep his serious demeanor. They might be able to hold off the enemy’s assault after all. Maybe even survive until the reinforcements arrive…

But this would happen in the future. If it happen at all. Now he had to concentrate on the present. There were still droids within the Republic defense line. He saw the fighter tank that brought his Master dueling with an AAT. The bigger agility of the Republic’s vehicle allowed it to prevail. It shot a couple of missiles which tore open the enemy tank.

The situation was getting better and better. He saw a group of droids pinning down the Terminal's defenders. It was then when he realised that he was alone. Rem and the Clones with him were engaged with another group of droids around the hangar area.

The blasted Clone had decided that he could modify his orders. This showed to Ro’oland that he did not carry much authority in front of his troopers. Not that he cared that much but such situations could easily put him in a very dangerous situation. He quickly dealt with the assailants and received the thanks from the soldiers inside the building.

A droideka was rolling towards Rem’s position. The shielded droid could easily maul through the squad. This was not a time for grudges and authority contests. He had to think fast as the blasted thing was rolling at a high speed. Then an idea came to him… to use the droid’s momentum to his advantage. He made a pushing gesture and the droideka changed its trajectory. It struck the hangar’s wall at a high this the impact destroyed it before it could enter its attack mode.

Rem nodded in acknowledgement, maybe they will end up best friends after all. Ro’oland nodded in return, there was no point being hostile, not right now though. He deflected a couple of stray blasts coming in his general direction. There were lots of them flying around, even a couple of blue ones came close to hit him. He did not believe that the Clones could ever betray the Jedi, it was not part of their training.

He started looking for another target. There was another group of droids marching towards one of the defensive positions. The sudden burst of blue blasts took care of them. They would not need his assistance after all. Everywhere he looked there were defenders engaged in a battle with the oncoming assailants. He had to choose a target and to try to avoid staying in the crossfire.

A Super Battle Droid was headed towards Ro’oland. Its arm pointed at him and as soon as it approached the killzone it started shooting. The constant stream of crimson blasts were flew towards him. The Padawan deflected them. Most of them struck the ground and one hit a B1 in the neck beheading it instantly. He decided to change his stance so that he can redirect the shots more precisely. The strategy paid off immediately. He managed to “hit” the SBD in the chest but unfortunately the chassis was made of a sturdy material and the blasts left only scorch marks. The Jedi had to think quickly, then a sudden calmness engulfed him as he decided to leave himself to the Force. Using the Force Speed ability he rushed forward before the automaton could react. With a diagonal slash he cut it in half.

Just as the smoking pieces of metal fell on the frozen tarmac a familiar sound could be heard coming from the distance. The morning sky was getting clearer so it was hard to see the incoming objects. But they were definitely LAATs, you could not mistake their distinct engine sound. And judging from the strength of the noise they were a lot. The Republic had decided to reinforce them after all.

The dots in the sky were getting bigger as the Republic forces approached the spaceport. At some point the stream branched into three streams directed at different parts of the city. Probably they have received communication from the still surviving defenders of Kosmo. The largest stream was coming towards the spaceport, since it was the most important piece of infrastructure still in Republic hands, which can be used as a beachhead for the retaking of the city and for the counter-attack.

Ro’oland was attacked again, this time by a couple of regular Battle Droids. Seeing that he had been distracted they decided to attack the Jedi. A blast grazed his arm, burning a piece of cloth which took him out of his stupor. He quickly deflected the subsequent shots, all of them missed their marks. He then decided to speed himself forward and with one wide slash he cut the droids in half. The pieces clanged on the ground and the Padawan grunted from the satisfaction.

The approaching gunships launched missiles and shot with their particle beam cannons. All of those barrages were laying waste to the oncoming droids. Some of the vessels opened bay doors and ropes fell to the ground so that the Clones inside could swoop down. They wore the new cold weather armor with grey markings and a white wolf’s head on their shoulders indicating that they were part of the 104th Battalion or also known as Wolfpack. Master Koon was the Jedi Master that lead them. This heightened Ro’oland’s spirits, finally some serious reinforcements had come, the chances of victory soared. He could hear the cheers from his men could be heard all over the comm. channel.

The good mood did not last very long as several squadrons of Vulture droids had arrived to meet the new threat. That was when some of the gunships came down crashing. One of these falling vehicles caught the Padawan’s attention as he could sense a couple Force users, probably a Knights or Padawans sent by the Kel’dor Jedi Master to assist them. The LAAT/i’s backside was burning as it ploughed the ground, the cockpit was smashed by the impact, one of the bay doors flew away and some of the Clones inside were spilt on the ground luckily they were alive, at least that was what the Force told to him. The wreck stopped at some point as it lost momentum, its passengers ran away as the munitions that it carried could detonate from the fire.

Ro’oland saw two figures running towards him, one was a Togruta female and a human female with blond hair tied in a ponytail. The near human looked familiar, could it be? Was that Ahsoka Tano, Master Skywalker’s Padawan? Does this mean that he had come as well? He was about to find out very soon. Everywhere he looked the droids were driven back. A burning carcass of a Vulture droid crashed in one of the terminals as several squadrons of Z-95s and Y-wings swooped by and engaged the enemy.

All in all, this day was shaping up pretty good...

 

Finally, to be able to post again. I would like to thank Jerjerrod-Lennox and Corellian_Outrider for their contributions!

Part 10

On-board Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ship “Grandeur”

In orbit of Xinaghar

N’erot was sitting in his command chair on-board the Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ship under his command. It was in high orbit over the planet of Xinaghar along with the four Lucrehulk-class Battleships covering most of the probable approach vectors that the enemy could take when their reinforcements arrive. Count Dooku was gracious enough to send some vessels; 5 more Lucrehulk-class battleships, three more Munificent-class Star Frigates, a couple of Recusant-class light destroyers and even a Providence-class Dreadnaught as additional support and were covering the other side of the planet. There were more on their way and their estimated time of arrival in the system was in a couple of hours.

So far, the liberation of the planet was going according to plan, with some hiccups, which was to be expected. After all, the Republic would not fall without a fight. Anyway, the Separatists would drive them out of the planet within a couple of weeks give or take. Or even sooner. At normal circumstances this would not worry N’erot too much, but this time they were on the clock as the Republic reinforcements were surely on their way. He was sure that the freighter that escaped… correction, that General Sheerah allowed to escape, was full of Republic spies. Unfortunately he could not prove it, as all sensors were fixed on the enemy forces. Besides, as he later found out, the small craft was flown by another Togorian, the name of whom eluded him. That piece of information gnawed the Quarren as suspicions started to form. This was a potential disaster, to suspect your leader in treason while the enemy was going to strike possibly soon. That was why he ordered several of the droids that accompanied the General to observe him and hopefully they would not find anything suspicious…

Vultures and Tri-Fighters were crisscrossing the space between the capital vessels. There were squadrons sent to patrol the system and a Munificent-class frigate was stationed at the edge of it acting as a communications hub due to the still damaged satellite network and the system’s peculiarity they had to utilise the same method the enemy had used before. It made good sense to copy useful ideas, even if they came from the enemy. He wondered how the Xinaghari society prospered within the greater Galaxy under these strenuous communication conditions.

Reports were coming from the boarding teams at the orbital shipyards. There were still pockets of resistance, but soon they were going be mop the stations clean. The Mandalorians wanted the captured Republic ships. For what purpose was beyond N’erot, also the fact that the Count had agreed to the deal was also surprising. He did not care that much, as long as those warriors remained loyal to the CIS. They needed to capture the shipyards so that they could begin the repair works of the captured vessels.

The good old orbital bombardment or also known as Base-Delta-Zero would have sped up the process of getting rid of the Republic forces from the planet, but the infrastructure was too important to be blasted from space. Also it would be a PR disaster, though it was not N’erot’s problem to consider such issues. After all he was just a captain…

Claxons started ringing, the forward post had detected a Republic fleet coming Xinaghar’s way. That was not good, they were not supposed to be here so soon. He had to inform General Sheerah for this unforeseen circumstance…

*******************************************************

On-board LAAT/i A716 and Z-95 Magenta 3

Approaching Xinaghar

Dennii felt sick in the stomach. The vessel that she was appointed to was shaking heavily from the enemy fire. Ahsoka told her that this was not an ordinary procedure, to launch the ground assault while there were enemy ships in orbit that can blow them up. The situation on the planet was getting bleaker from what the sensors and the chatter picked up on the comms. Her new friend tried to explain all that in layman’s terms. Dennii hoped she understood it correctly. There was so much to catch up with and so little time. The fact that she was to be together with Ahsoka reassured her as she would surely fail if she was to lead troopers into battle.

She decided to follow her new friend and to try to emulate her actions as best as possible. Dennii was aware that she did not possess the necessary skills to survive the coming battle. She knew that Ahsoka had a lot more battle experience, so in her eyes she was like a safety line. Dennii was no coward, but was not a warrior too and her instinct for self-preservation kicked in. The black coveralls felt uncomfortable as the light armor, usually worn by the Clone scouts. Commander Wolffe and Captain Terric suggested that she wore one for her own protection as they had reviewed her combat experience. She was not aware that the Republic army had a dossier for every Jedi describing their fighting style, some statistics, even some combat footage.

Hanging on tightly, Ahsoka strained to hear the chatter from the soldiers at the forward bulkhead of the gunship. They were closer to the pilots and had more inkling of what is going on in the space battle outside. A cacophony of electronic pings, shrills and alarms sounded through the hold which warned of inbound threats. It also made it hard to make out what they were saying. There was a sudden sense of urgency and dread, the intensity of the sounds became more rapid and louder.

Ahsoka closed her eyes and took a deep breath. ‘One, two, three-’ There was sharp jolt, as though something had slammed into them and jostled them about. Automatically her left hand reached out to Dennii to keep her fellow Jedi steady and hooked arms. A series of dull thuds could be heard from something impacting the outside hull. She held her breath and listened as everyone righted themselves. Had the hull been punctured? There was no telltale indications of venting atmosphere. She looked about and then to her fellow Jedi. They had to be alright.


Dennii’s Scout Trooper helmet that she was given had limited access to all the functions that the Clones had. As the technician explained to her, this was due to her not having been trained to use it and it would just confuse her. The explanation was good enough for her, even now it was confusing, it was as if she had another set of senses. As if the Force wasn’t enough. Dennii felt claustrophobic, but there was nothing she could do. Better safe than sorry. She had spent far too much time on diplomatic missions and all this felt alien to her. The coverall made her itchy, the fabric was uncomfortable. Even though it was the lighter version, she could feel the armor’s weight.

The gunship jolted again and Dennii felt a familiar touch as Ahsoka tried to assist her. Her friend seemed relatively at ease in this environment. She relaxed a bit, if such thing was possible under the circumstances. She had to find some balance between being relaxed and to be ready to spring in action when the situation necessitated it. This proved to be an impossible task, as her heart was racing wildly as she was slowly realizing that she was about to enter combat with an enemy that does not feel anything and that it is bent to kill her. Dennii probed with the Force the Clones in the gunship. She was surprised to find out that some of them were afraid too, some were anxious and very few seemed calm.

The inside of the cockpit was a carnival of different colors flashing. If the pilot CP-1435 “Bab” did not have his helmet on to protect him from it he surely would have had an epileptic seizure. At least that was what he thought, and if the medical books he had been reading due to his hypochondria were right. But there was no time to check on one’s health in the middle of an assault. The whole gunship was shaking violently as Bab and his co-pilot tried to navigate the utter madness that was the spacebattle.

He had made numerous such assaults, but every time he was scared to death. The flying coffin as he called the LAAT/i were big and tasty target for the Vultures and the Tris. At least it was armed, whoever designed this thing was gracious enough to provide them with armament. Not that the Larty could do much against the more agile foes, but still it helped to think that he was doing something. Crimson blasts flew around them, one grazed the left side shaking the LAAT/i. Another battle scar to add to the collection.

One of the side Ball-guns took a shot, Gev, the gunner, was lucky enough and pierced a Vulture in half sending the pieces cartwheeling into the nothingness. The other gun produced an emerald beam but was not successful. Anyway, it had an effect of chasing away the incoming fighters. The gunship was approaching the enemy vessels in orbit of the planet. That was the tricky part, unlike Ryloth or Muunlist, the Republic fleet could not protect them. Luckily the droids seemed more preoccupied with the fighter escort and the capital vessels. Maybe they would be able to pull this off with minimal casualties. If only there were no Vultures or Tris to harass them, but you can’t have everything…

Magenta 3 (or Mag 3 for short) was trying to protect the transports from the never ending waves of enemy crafts. The Z-95 was shaking from the near misses and hits that the shields were taking. The rest of the squadron did not fare better, they were engaged in dogfights around him and the gunships. It was an absolute madness, a flurry of colors and moving targets. CP-8171 “Clov” was trying to both stay alive and protect the gunships.

He did a barrel roll to avoid some debris. Just as his fighter settled a Tri-fighter registered on his sensors. It was coming from behind, a blast grazed the shields as the enemy passed over him. It was a miscalculation from the droid’s side as Clov managed to target it and shoot a couple of crimson shots. The blasts tore its engines apart and the enemy disintegrated. He banked left to pass the debris. He almost collided with another droid…

The gunships were approaching the planet’s atmosphere. They were shaking wildly, the bottoms heating up from the friction. The helmet’s visor protected Bab from the bright light from the entry. He and his co-pilot struggled to maintain control over the craft. Soon after that the brightness was replaced by a bluish-orange dawn sky. They had entered the atmosphere. The external sensors indicated that the temperature was decreasing. Now came the difficult part, trying to maintain control over the LAAT/i while navigating the air currents. Large parts of the land beneath were obscured by a thick metal gray clouds. From above it looked pretty how the system’s star colored them. That was about to change as they were descending fast...

The Z-95 escort accompanied the gunships during their entry in the atmosphere. Several Magentas were destroyed and only one of the pilots survived. Probably not for long, unless they send a vessel to pick him up. The nimble fighter was shaking wildly as they had entered the cloud cover. Condensation covered the viewscreen and the velocity with which the fighter is going made the droplets race. The steely grey cloud cover was replaced by a desolate view. A city in ruins covered by snow. He could see numerous fires and plumes of smoke were billowing from multiple places.

Enemy bogies were incoming. Clov was hoping that the cloud cover would have been enough hide their approach but you cannot escape the sensors. Atmospheric dogfights were difficult enough. The sky brightened behind him as the clouds were blown away and the morning sun was shining. The snow cover reflected the light making the ground shiny. If the situation was different he would have been happy to see some sunlight. This reminded him of Kamino and the steely grey sky and the rare “holes” that brought light. Here thought it meant that the reflected light would irritate him, despite having a protective visor.

The sensors starting beeping as there were incoming targets. The Separatists had sent fighters of their own to stop the assault. Also trails from surface-to-air missiles were visible. The gunships and the support Z-95s started evasive maneuvers. Some were not so lucky. Clov saw a LAAT/t got struck and the clamps that held the AT-TE broke and the walker plummeted to the ground. The poor chakaars were in for a nasty death being squished and crushed to death. A Z-95 was hit by a missile disintegrating it immediately and the pilot did not have enough time to eject. Crimson shots from the incoming Vultures were flying around. One grazed his shield shaking the fighter wildly. He had a target lock so he hit a droid which in turn cartwheeled into a gunship. Clov winced as this was the Larty that carried the two Jedi Padawans sending it smoking to the ground. This was not going to be a good day…

*******************************************************

On-board VenSD “Unstoppable”

Approaching Xinaghar

The bridge of the Star Destroyer was a cacophony of sounds and lights. Reports were coming in from all over the fleet as they had engaged the enemy. The numerical advantage was on the enemy’s side but the experience and better skills were on the Republic’s side. Fighters and bombers were flying around locked in intense dogfights. A couple of Vultures passed in front of the viewscreen chased by a V-wing. Unstoppable was yet to engage the enemy but that was about to change as the vessel was approaching an enemy Munificent-class frigate.

Lieutenant Hicks was checking the sensors “One minute until reaching firing range captain.” he turned towards Captain Terric as he informed him of the situation.

The other 3 Venators and the 4 Light-cruisers were already engaged in fierce duels. Unstoppable was flanked by a Light-cruiser and a Dreadnaught which were going to be acting as support.

Terric has his arms folded across his chest, deep in thought, tactics and calculations crossing his mind as he thought about how best to destroy the monstrous ship in front of him.
“Very good Lieutenant, order all ships to get ready to fire on my mark. Order the Dreadnaught to come in first, their armour is superior and should hopefully withstand the first assault. Also lasers only, lets save the torpedoes for the more important bits and pieces”.

The Dreadnaught “Pride of Rendili” acknowledged the order and moved to intercept the Munificent. The problem was that they were facing the enemy headlong and its forward section was heavily armored. There was a small chance to hit its bridge but Hicks did not like depending on luck. Also the enemy sported an oversized cannon designed for ship to ship combat. As soon as they were in range the Munificent opened fire and as predicted they attacked the Pride. The old dreadnaught was built to withstand heavy pounding so the Lieutenant was not so worried for his fellows. The Light-cruiser “Courageous”, a fitting name for a vessel so small, had engaged the fighters that tried their luck making strafing runs. The Z-95s and V-wings had engaged the Hyena bombers that were incoming, so they were occupied for now. Knowing the CIS’ persistence they were going to throw droids at them until all the Republic vessels were destroyed or the Separatists ran out of droids.

Something got Hicks’ attention, there were reports coming that there were some Venators docked in the orbital shipyards. Also at least one of them was getting back online. He turned towards Terric again.

“Sir, we just received reports that at least some of the Star Destroyers that were protecting our forces on the ground were captured intact. For some reason the enemy is repairing them and one of them is powering up.”

This wasn't good at all, most Captain’s feared friendly ships being used against them. To differentiate friend from foe from even a friendly ship would now become a lot more difficult.

We’ll have to stop those ships from even leaving the shipyard. Task some fighters to fly over there and disable them, whether it be their engines, weapons systems, I don’t care. Just make sure those ships don’t leave the yard where they can come at us”.

The Lieutenant relayed the orders to a couple somewhat idle bomber squadrons. They were to join up with a squadron of ARCs and a squadron of V-wings. They were to engage the Venators before they even clear the shipyard docks. Until that moment only one “friendly” was powering up. The sensors indicated that the other two still were being fueled. So there was a potential disaster waiting to happen.

“Sir, we have reached firing range, should we open fire to the Munificent?”

Meanwhile Green and Yellow squadrons had broken through the enemy defense and had started their strafing runs on the Venators. A wave of proton torpedoes struck the powering vessel. Luckily for Y-wing pilots the enemy’s shields were not yet up. All missiles found their targets. Explosions erupted on the superstructure. The left bridge was torn away and it floated towards the planet as its gravity was pulling it. More explosions followed as the ARCs were making their attack run. The shipyard did not have adequate defenses and the sporadic shots were only for the defenders’ comfort and did not have any effect at all. Some Tri-fighters were trying to harass them but the V-wings kept them occupied. The two Y-wing and the one ARC-170 squadrons moved to the next target. The same procedure was repeated, but this time a huge explosion followed. One of the proton torpedoes struck the huge fuel tank of the dock, the Separatists did not have time to retract the fuel line so the Venator’s fuel cell blew from the inside tearing the vessel apart. Huge chunks of the ship and from the blown dock flew everywhere, one half of the blown Star Destroyer struck the powering up Venator tearing it in half thus adding to the flying debris. Another fuel tank exploded followed by a chain reaction that was decimating the shipyard. For some reason the failsafes did not work and the whole installation was reduced to debris, which in turn would fall to the planet. The poor sods on the ground would have to deal with the environmental impact of this catastrophe.

Hicks did not wait for the captain’s order and turned towards Terric again “Sir, Green and Yellow squadron reported that the shipyard was destroyed along with the captured Venators.”

Terric nodded in acknowledgement, it was sad to lose so many good Venators, the Republic needed all the ships they could spare. However in this case it was better for them to be destroyed than to be used against them.

“Very good Lieutenant, let’s get those starfighters back into action, get them to attack as many Separatist ships as they can, perhaps get the bombers to assist our ground forces. Meanwhile all ships, engage the Munificent, let’s take the fight to them”.

Hicks keyed the commands for the gunnery crews to open fire at the enemy frigate. The brilliant salvo followed but there was little effect as the Munificent’s shields were still in full power. The Pride of Rendili was not successful in bringing them down. Unstoppable shook as the enemy opened fire at them. They also did not do any damage. Another volley followed, this time followed by some explosions on the surface of the vessel. Mostly superficial as the huge platings that covered the main body absorbed most of the blasts. The enemy vessel was trying to maneuver and to get its enormous frontal cannons to bear on them. This would also reduce its size, thus making it harder for the gunnery crews to hit it. Though it might give an opportunity to hit the bridge and effectively destroy the ship, but the big canon at the front would be firing at point blank range and Hicks was not sure whether the Unstoppable’s shields would hold for long.

“Sir, the Munificent is turning, shall we match the maneuver?”

Terric narrowed his eyes, the Munificents were big beasts to kill, if those frontal cannons were brought to bear, the shields would be gone in seconds.

“Lieutenant, match the maneuver, get the Dreadnaught to get over the other side and flank him. Meanwhile get the light cruiser up top and pummel that thing!

A blue shimmer appeared around the enemy vessel. The droids managed to bring the shields up again. According to the readings it was not full power, but could buy them a few more minutes. The sensors blared, there were multiple hostiles incoming. A bright light came from the Light-cruiser, it was hit by several torpedoes, a squadron of Hyena bombers had struck it. The cruiser started venting atmosphere and bodies of the unfortunate crew members to be near the holes in the hull. Also it was losing altitude as it was climbing to get on top of the Munificent. Unfortunately its trajectory passed over Unstoppable and now they were on a collision course which would certainly drain the shields. Also there was the bomber problem, where was that blasted fighter screen to keep the Hyenas at bay?

“Sir, Courageous is falling and will most certainly hit us. Should we...” he stumbled on what he was going to suggest, but it was for the best then cleared his throat “Should we shoot them down?”

A stunned silence fell on the bridge, some people stared him in shock and disbelief, the rest were just glaring at him. He felt his face going hot, his suggestion was too outrageous, but the current predicament required such a solution. A Clone officer stepped in CT-1411 “Don”.

“Sir, if I may, we can use the topside tractor beam to move Courageous or at least change its trajectory a bit so that we can avoid the collision.”

In battle you always tried to preserve as many crew members lives as possible, unfortunately, thanks to this miscalculation, many lives had been lost on that light cruiser.

“Good thinking” said Terric finally finding his voice after watching the horror happening outside “Fire the tractor beams change their trajectory or at least avoid a collision. Meanwhile I want any spare fighters to provide support and take those Hyenas out. Keep our trajectory and the Dreadnaughts the same, I don’t want those front cannons even getting a whiff of a targeting lock on us”.

He then turned his gaze to the Lieutenant.

“Lieutenant, that was an outrageous statement. We do NOT shoot friendly ships unless they are in the hands of the enemy. Is that understood?”

Hicks was still flushed but remained silent, now was not the time to make excuses or explain himself. That would come at the debrief, if they survived that long. He turned his attention to the computer console again. A flight of V-wings came back to protect the Unstoppable. At least that was a relief. The hard part was coming, they were to both maneuver, drag the Light-cruiser and try to avoid the Munificent’s main canon. And since the enemy was more maneuverable it managed to take a couple of shots, one of which missed the Unstoppable but the other struck the Pride of Rendili in the middle. The readings showed that the sturdy old vessel’s shields were down and that they have sustained some damage to the hull. Then the Venator shook wildly, the computers blinked out for a second then were restored to normal. A console nearby blew from a power surge wounding the Ensign that operated it.

“Sir, the Munificent managed to hit us with its main cannon. It temporarily overpowered our shields and it seems the starfighter command bridge was hit. Almost everyone on it is dead, the bulkheads are sealed. The survivors are moved to the medbay, some suffered contusions and the others were burnt.”

There was a clanking sound on the viewport as pieces of debris floated from the sister bridge followed by the ghastly image of the dead body of an officer that must have been sucked into the vacuum of space. His face still bore the frozen shock.

“Sir, engineering reported that they managed to restore some power to the shields but they say that they will not survive another attack.”

Meanwhile the Dreadnaught was still pounding the Munificent bringing down its shields again. This time the barrage took its toll as explosions started erupting on its hull. A particularly strong one tore a big chunk of its forward wing protecting the bridge. It was still turning so the open “wound” was within the Unstoppable gunners’ sight so they took advantage sending a salvo into it. The unprotected skeletal hull was pierced like butter sending pieces of debris and droids in the vacuum of space. The Pride of Rendili started climbing so that it could continue its fire on the topside. The Venator sent another stream of turbolaser fire, this time it was a bit more chaotic but effective nevertheless. Meanwhile the Dreadnaught took out the topside communications array then another shot blew up the bridge. The frigate started losing altitude but not before the Unstoppable tore it in half by another salvo.

Hicks turned to report to the Captain but the sensors started beeping again. There was a new enemy fleet coming from the opposite direction of the planet. It consisted of 3 Providence-class Dreadnaughts, 5 Munificent-class Frigates, 5 Recusant-class Light Destroyers and 3 Lucrehulk Droid Command Ships. The sensors indicated that the enemy had started deploying its ground troops so they will be delayed a bit but nevertheless, the situation just became hopeless. The sensors started beeping again and new contacts appeared behind them. This time were friendlies, the Republic fleet had arrived which consisted of 6 Venators lead by the Pride of the Republic, 10 Acclamators, a single Victory-class Star Destroyer and a host of Light-cruisers. The situation was not so bleak anymore.

Terric breathed a sigh of relief wiping the sweat off his forehead. The cavalry had arrived just in time, and they had managed to slay the big beast. It wasn't over yet, not by a long shot.

“Lieutenant welcome the new arrivals, time to bring out the welcome mat, Meanwhile, anyone now spare is to turn their attention to the new arrivals, this includes the starfighters. Send some starfighters to take out any ships preparing to launch troops at the ground, I don’t want them getting within an inch of the planet.”

 

Part 11
On-board Venator-class Star Destroyer “Pride of the Republic”
En-route to Xinaghar, 2 hours until arrival

Alpha was getting restless, he hated the hours before entering into combat. It was compounded by the fact that they were going in blindly, there was hardly any intel regarding what they were going to face or even if there were Republic forces still active on the ground. They were to make a leap of faith and plunge right into the enemy hands. The only intel they got was from General Mundi, the other Jedi on board somehow managed to communicate with him. So the quality of the information was of dubious quality.

He stifled a groan as he was not alone and it would not be nice to the Jedi Generals who were trying to sound convincing during their briefing. Alpha could see the faces of the other officers, the blank expression while covering how terrified they were. They were actually going in blind. Even that Knight, Etain, was not entirely convinced, good girl, she had spent enough time with that sentimental fool Skirata but at least he taught her something. Ordo, the Null that was assigned to to this mission, did not hide his contempt and Alpha couldn’t blame him. The other one of the nutty boys, Mereel, stayed on Coruscant trying to dig up information from the Clone Intelligence network. Delta Squad were unreadable, probably were used to suicide missions by now.

He could see some of the officers tensed as the General said that according to Clone Intelligence this CIS General was known to be employing Mandalorian mercs. They must be on the lookout for sudden and unexpected attacks. The Deltas remained passive, Ordo as well, but Etain seemed worried. The girl sure had not yet learned that infuriating ability to look unmoved by anything and be above everything. Mandos could be a problem, Alpha wondered if they were Death Watch or Journeymen Protectors. Not that it mattered much, but being trained by Jango Fett himself made it a tad more personal. Not that he considered himself a Mando, unlike some units.

General Monn changed the holoimage, it showed a quadriped walker - All Terrain Armored Transport, or AT-AT for short. Alpha had experience with these ugly machines as they first were deployed on Jabiim where a serious flaw was revealed, their vulnerability to missile fire. It seems it had undergone some refurbishments and that this battle will be a testing ground for the upgrades. Hopefully it won’t perform disastrously, Alpha shuddered from the memory of him and General Kenobi trying to help the crew of a downed walker. It was then when he and the Jedi Master were captured by that psycho witch Assajj Ventress and were brought to Rattatak for questioning and extensive torture.

“What if the Seppies use tow cable to trip the walker?” one of the Deltas with yellow markings on the armor asked. It was Scorch, the Squad’s demo expert and occasional wiseguy, according to the files he read after they were assigned to the mission. A wave of nervous laughter and some groans followed the silly question. The Shistavanen Jedi simply ignored the bait and proceeded with the briefing. They were to use the lumbering monstrosities in their assault of the CIS controlled territories and were not so suitable for urban combat. This time there were no AT-XTs to provide close fire support, the AT-PTs and AT-RTs would be carrying that role.

The briefing ended soon after that, one of the shortest that Alpha had ever attended. There was not much to say, so they were to improvise. That was why they needed an Alpha ARC, a Null and a ReeCee Squad, because they were good at that. As they were about to move out of the room a report came from the hypercomm, a small Republic fleet had engaged the enemy. It was lead by General Koon, also Commander Tano was there along with some other Padawan. He wanted to meet the young Togruta about whom Rex spoke so much about. It seems Alpha got replaced quickly, maybe it was because of the name, there would have been too many As - Anakin, Ahsoka and Alpha.

According to the report that force was enroute towards Fresia but they split. So the part of the fleet that contacted them continued its journey towards their intended planet. Hopefully when General Tiin’s forces arrive, the ones that have already engaged the enemy should have made some recon to share with them. At least it was an encouraging piece of news.

He made a second attempt to go out of the briefing room but the blasted Null approached him. Alpha’s muscles tensed as both types of ARCs did not like each other, to put it mildly. His paranoia flared as he expected trouble, but no blow or something like that followed. It seems they learnt to be civil. Ordo looked cordial enough so Alpha relaxed a bit, but was on the lookout for any sign of trouble.

“It would be a fun mission...” Alpha tried to start a conversation.

Ordo just grunted, the Alpha ARC was still confused what did he wanted. Who can understand a Null?

“Does it bother you?” Alpha ask.

Ordo frowned.

“What?”

“That we could face Mandalorians in the field.”

“Mandos have been fighting Mandos for centuries, so the fact that they are there does not bother me. I am more worried what they could do.”

Alpha nodded.

“The girl seemed worried. You know word has reached Kamino of her and the other Jedi boy…” he paused “Jusik was it, have been playing Mando. Sooner or later this will end in tears.” he watched as the Null clenched his fist, maybe he pushed him too hard.

“Don't worry about it…” replied Ordo as if Alpha cared. Then he just walked away to rejoin Etain.

Alpha shrugged, he didn't care much. Blasted Skirata and his private army. Everyone these days seemed to be having an agenda. It was clearer working with Generals Kenobi and Skywalker. Now he was going to meet the young Togruta pup … or cub. He caught a turbolift going down to the hangar area. He wanted to check how the preparations were going. There was a couple of regular Clones going down as well. Alpha could see the sidelong glances they gave him. The boys in white were always interested in the ARC armors. Maybe it was because of that idiocy of promoting them to this status, like those fools Fives and Echo. The Kaminoans said that there was no time to breed new ones, besides Jango was dead so there was no one to train them. ‘Keep dreamin boys...’ he thought, it was good that he had his head covered by the helmet hide his smug expression.

The main hangar was a busy place. There were technicians, pilots, droids running around, along with troopers moving aimlessly about. Everyone was preparing for the coming battle. Alpha passed along some of the gunships which were being serviced. Gave some directions to some troopers to assist the engineers with a task. Scolded a couple more for not wearing their armor properly.

Something caught his attention, it was a painting of a pin up girl. It showed a female Togruta in an alluring pose wearing something exotic. What shocked him was that the painter at first had depicted Ahsoka Tano, then realised that she was still too young then tried to change her to General Shaak Ti. He will have to find whoever did this before any of the Jedi found out as it could cause complications. Like that group which had the bright idea to depict Senator Amidala.

He shook his head and sighed. After all they were boys barely entering puberty. The girl Etain passed by, he could hear her chuckle. Well it couldn't be avoided. Alpha checked his chrono, there was an hour so he had to go and make preparations.

************

Kosmo spaceport
Xinaghar, 0723 hours

Dennii’s heart was racing and her body shaking by the sheer terror. At first, their gunship were struck at the front. For a moment she thought the pilot was killed as the craft plummeted suddenly and then finally levelled out. The pilot must be a resilient man, Dennii thought to herself, as she felt the change of the cabin pressure. Just before they approached the landing strip, the back end of the gunship sharply tilted and they were jostled forward as they were hit by another blast.

The troop cabin filled with smoke as the red emergency lighting and klaxons kicked in. Another hard hit from below the deck had jolted through their legs, and then another. The whole cabin shook and rocked them about. A deafening screech of metal on metal cried out as the left bay door flew open. They were unprepared for the rush of cold air and the roar of the wind that assaulted them immediately and Dennii witnessed in surprise, as the scenery whip by outside, several unfortunate soldiers were yanked from the craft.

Ahsoka had strapped her in securely and Dennii felt grateful as she could have easily be one of the thrown out. She reached and grabbed her newly found friend over the elbow. Maybe a bit too hard, she realised so she softened her grip. As the gunship came to a creaking halt, Dennii was asked a series of questions from Ahsoka, asking if she was okay, if it hurts anywhere, all the while she felt Ahsoka's fingers unfastening the straps that held her in place. Still dazed, Dennii was unsure of the urgency until she smelt acrid smoke from somewhere in the cabin. Was there a fire? They had to leave the vessel for risk of the fire spreading and if it catches the fuel lines…

The smell was getting stronger and she urgently assisted Ahsoka in unfastening the last of the straps and took her hand as the Togruta lead her out of the burning gunship. There was a creak from the wing above, Dennii glanced up and ducked as a fragment from the damage wing broke off and connected with the side of her helmet and cracked the visor. Her visor obscured, Dennii took it off and threw it aside and then her senses became aware of the sounds and smell of the battlefield and it almost overwhelmed her.

The rest of the troopers had gotten clear and had pulled the pilot out. Dennii felt so ashamed and lost and was on the verge of a panic attack. She was not sure what to do so she looked around and saw Ahsoka. Her friend was scanning the battlefield. Dennii ducked as a crimson shot flew over her head. A damaged Z-95 cartwheeled in the distance taking out Clones and droids ultimately crashing into a hangar. More and more troopers were disembarking, as well as different kinds of walkers. Dennii saw that Ahsoka headed towards a boy with a lightsaber standing in the middle of the landing strip. A fellow Padawan, his face looked familiar, but she couldn’t place a name. Dennii decided to follow, best to stick together.

“Boy I am glad to see you two!” exclaimed the Padawan “I am Ro’oland Leih, Master Tan’s apprentice.”

Before anyone could say anything else a blast flew their way. It was from an AAT. Dennii threw herself to the ground. Ro’oland jumped left and Ahsoka right. The shot struck the tarmac sending plumes of permacrete and snow. The enemy tank was hit by a blue blast coming from an incoming AT-TE. The hull of of the AAT was torn open and the turret was sent flying upwards. The repulsors stuttered and the remains crashed on the ground.

“That was close...” said Ro’oland as he approached to help Dennii to her feet.

********************

Rem gathered a squad of soldiers and pressed forward as he saw General Tan’s Padawan meet up with the other two Jedi who had just arrived. They ran towards the hangers on the far side of the smaller tarmac. The droids were trying to break through there, they were always probing to find a weakness in the defence line and when they manage to pierce it then it was hard to stop them.

Before they could take a defensive position they were met by a stream of blaster fire. A trooper got wounded and his comrade pulled him away towards the relative safety of a transport container. Rem managed to hide behind a half demolished wall and snuck some shots. One blast managed to behead a battle droid and his men did a short work of the rest. This allowed them to press forward. The wounded soldier could not walk so he was to remain behind and provide cover if needed as he could still shoot. Hopefully the enemy won't try to retake that position.

As they passed the ruins of a hangar Rem could feel the ground tremble as the skeletal foot of a Homing Spider Droid stepped on the roof of the building. The sound of the collapse was deafening and plumes of dust billowed. The huge automaton did not notice them, but his escort did. So once again they had to take cover as a Tri droid was lumbering towards them. A crimson particle beam blew up a gunship and sent the remains crashing to the ground killing some troopers who were unlucky to be caught there. The Tri rotated its canon and sent a shot towards them, which missed but destroyed a portion of the wall they were hiding behind.

One of the soldiers carried a portable missile launcher and Rem sent him some coordinates to his HUD where to take up position. An acknowledgement followed and the man and another soldier disappeared heading towards the indicated position. After their curt confirmation that they were ready to open fire Rem sent them the confirmation. A fireball appeared followed by a plume of smoke as the projectile flew towards the Tri. It struck its skeletal body in the middle sending shrapnel and sparks everywhere. A groan of twisting metal could be heard as the weight of the top part snapped the droid in half. The balloon-like head crashed through the roof of the hangar bringing the rest of it down with a deafening crash.

A Y-wing made a strafing run and sent a couple of missiles at the Homing Spider Droid, tearing the spherical body apart. Pieces of metal were raining so the Clones took cover behind the ruined wall. Their chances were improving by the moment as Rem heard on the comm. channel that a column of AT-TEs had arrived and were tearing the rear of the CIS forces apart.

*******

The “Walker Caravan” as the troops jokingly called the column finally reached its destination. Just after dawn the seven surviving AT-TEs and the two AT-PTs formed a battle line. All the Clones had disembarked and were advancing as well. Their “big moment” was overshadowed by the sudden but welcome arrival of the Republic reinforcements. A few more hours and the spaceport would have been overrun, now they had a fighting chance.

“Bantha” was leading the charge as they formed a spearhead. They were ploughing through the droid positions. The AT-TE stepped on a battle droid stupid enough to stand in its way. They were making a steady progress. The line was going to split, one half was going to take on the enemy’s command position in the back, and the other one was going to engage the advancing forces and “Bantha” was to take the charge.

Loken was hunting for targets. There were plenty, but not big enough to warrant the use of the main canon. Clones were exchanging shots with droids, dwarf spider droids crawling trying to pierce the thick armor of the walkers with their built in weaponry, but to no avail. He saw a group of Super Battle Droids engaging an AT-PT. The small Walker took some shots scorching the outer hull and then returned fire scrapping the lumbering battle droids.

Pieces of blown fighters, bombers and gunships rained from the sky as the aerial battle was still raging. Loken had to filter the comms as the lines were filled with screams, barking of orders and strong language. All in all it was the usual madness. Loken ducked as a stray shot flew overhead and missed the top of his helmet by a few centimeters. After he regained his composure he resumed his work of looking for a suitable target. It did not take him long as he saw a lumbering Persuader-class Droid Tank rolling over the snow. The targeting reticle was trying to lock on, there, a chirping sound could be heard so he squeezed the trigger on the joystick. The whole Walker lurched back and the shot pierced the side of the droid. Its innards spilled and the ruined track fell apart. Smoke and sparks came out of the gaping hole, the momentum that it had gained carried it for a few more meters when it stopped dead. On to the next target.

*******

The Y-wing was banking left and right to avoid the stray shots, alarms were blaring as there were target locks and near misses. CP-14359 “Hal” wanted to turn them off, but was too focused trying to survive. Their fighter cover had engaged the enemy Vultures but some had slipped through and were going for the kill. The Gunner in the back was cursing profusely as he was trying to shoot the fast moving crafts down. They called him “Gardner” as he was weeding the skies, one of the best in the fleet, but even he was not a miracle worker. An excited exclamation indicated that he managed to blow up a Vulture. One down, hundred more to go.

Hal and the rest of the Green Squadron were trying to maintain course as they were going for another bombing run. They couldn’t go deep in the city as the droids had managed to bring their AA emplacements and SAMs closer to the spaceport. They were providing for now close air support to the troops on the ground, who were securing the beachhead. The computer was calculating the intervals the bombs will be released so that they could maximize the damage and also to avoid friendly fire. The troops frequently complained from the close calls, and there were some cases of blowing their own positions by mistake. But usually this was due to bad intel. The problem was that both sides were too close to each other and in some cases it was very hard to distinguish the targets. At least the targeting computer could calculate the necessary approaches.

He saw a smoky trail as one of his fellows shot a missile towards an AAT that was going to overrun a Clone position. The Y-wing shook as it flew close to it and was shaken by the shockwave. They were circling around the battlefield and Hal took a good look of the wreckage, after the battle was over they had to find a place where they could land safely. Most of the hangars were destroyed, the landingstrip was pockmarked and the support infrastructure was wrecked. All in all it was all one big mess. Poor chakaars, the locals, they would have to restore all of this when the war was over. An unenviable job for sure. Blue and crimson shots crisscrossed over the battlefield. Missiles flew everywhere, followed by sudden eruptions from the explosions. Lucky the bombers had shields as they would have been downed pretty quickly.

The radar showed a group of big targets converging at the edge of the field leading to the spaceport. The bombers made a sweeping turn towards it, they had found their prey at last. By the looks of it, the targets were MTTs, probably carryings loads of droids that were to be thrown at them. A sudden flash came from the left as a shot from an AAT pierced the cockpit of Emerald 5 sending the craft crashing to the ground. The rest flew over the tank as there was no time to target or shoot at it so they continued on their way. The Vultures had stopped harassing the other Y-wing squadrons and the fighters covering them and were driven back. Which was something positive for a change.

It seems they had unloaded another wave of droids. The targeting computer chirped and Hal could see the suggested approach vector and where the bombs will be released. He relayed the information to the rest and received confirmation. They were in synch so they entered attack speed. Crimson shots flew around as the droids were taking exercises in futility. The shields could withstand such punishing so he was not so concerned. The bomber shook as it unloaded its payload and he could see bright flashes coming from the ground. The rest of the squadron were also making their attack runs and the system showed that the attack was successful. They managed to neutralize a large portion of the incoming ground forces. Now to destroy the transports and the supply area. Probably this would break the enemy attack.

They found their queries, the lumbering brown colored monstrosities were still in the outskirts of the open field leading to the spaceport. The sensors were picking electronic activity coming from a nearby building. That meant that the enemy had set up a command post there, so Hal relayed the information to bomber command. The response came quickly “Level it.”, short and clear. Just the way he liked it. The targeting computer had a lock and they were free to engage. Hal pressed the trigger and the Y-wing shuddered, he could see the smoky trails of the two missiles that he had launched. One of them struck the MTT just as it opened its door to unload another wave of droids. The monstrosity blew from inside damaging the one next to it. The second missile struck another transport, but this time at the command deck, but nevertheless it got destroyed. The rest of the squadron did the same and within a couple of minutes the MTTs were reduced to smoking scrapmetal. He and Green Four made another turn, they were to destroy the building. Hal could see an armored figure, along with several droids trying to make a run for it. He frowned, was that a Mandalorian? Either way he was a legitimate target and he did a quick job finishing the person off with the frontal canons. Four more missiles flew from the two bombers followed by the spectacular destruction of the building sending smoke, dust and debris erupting into the sky.

The battle for the spaceport was essentially over, the Republic had its beachhead, now the battle for Xinaghar could begin.

**********************

Meanwhile in orbit of Xinaghar

The V-19 banked left to avoid some debris, their number have been increasing in the last few minutes. The destruction of the shipyard surely “helped” a lot. Cyan 12 was trying to reach his squadron as he had chasen a couple of Vultures, one of which he managed to shoot down and the other just ran away. It was a nightmare navigating so many obstacles at the same time. Different colored blasts were flying everywhere, along with missiles. The fighter’s sensors were blaring from the many near misses and were getting on his nerves.

“Cyan Squadron you are to intercept a flight of Hyenas attacking the Empress Theta...” the rest got garbled.

“It seems the Unstoppable’s fighter control tower got hit.” came the voice of Cyan 1.

“Woah, new bogeys incoming!” this was Cyan 4.

The sensors indicated that a new enemy fleet had joined the battle. Wave after wave of different droid fighters were pouring out of the vessels. Cyan 12 saw General Koon’s customized Delta-7 dodge a Vulture gracefully and blow it up with a couple of blasts afterwards. A flight of Y-wings flew towards a Lucrehulk sending streams of missiles, which hardly did anything as its shields were too strong. It was an exercise in futility as they did nothing to damage the huge ship. The ordinance would have been better utilised on some of the other vessels. Several Tris attacked them from above decimating several, sending pieces cartwheeling towards the shimmering shields.

There was nothing he could do about it, not because of the standing order, but because until he managed to reach them they would have been destroyed anyway. Besides the V-19s are not as maneuverable as the Tris and there would be hardly anything they could do. A squadron of V-Wings engaged the enemy. Talk about last second deliverance. Cyan 12 or J’on as he was known sighed in relief, hopefully his colleagues would be able to chase the pesky Tris away. He banked left to avoid colliding with a huge piece of debris that had flown the destroyed shipyard. These molten pieces of scrap metal were flying everywhere causing further havoc to the already chaotic battle. Hopefully this one would crash into an enemy vessel. An ARC-170 was not so lucky and it winked out of existence in a fireball. Poor chakaar… He thought.

The sensors indicated that he managed to catch up with his squadron, or at least what was left of it. The fighters were avoiding debris and other flying objects. J’on could see the Hyenas engaging the VenSD Empress Theta. The vessel’s shields were still holding but not for too long. Cyan squadron divided into pairs and each group headed towards its intended targets. Cyan 12 was flying alongside Cyan 4, their movements were synchronised and the two fighters flew in unison. They were to attack the three bombers which were diving to try and strike the Venator from underneath at its hangar.

V-19’s targeting computer was trying to get a lock, the droid was very elusive. There was a sudden chirp as it acquired a lock so he pressed the trigger. It was just then when the Hyena banked left and the blasts overshot it. J’on cursed audibly and got reprimanded that he was misusing the squadron channel. There was a Tri-fighter coming from the side. J’on’s actions got frantic as the shots got disturbingly close. ‘Calm down… calm down… calm down...’ he repeated in his mind as the pilot’s worst enemy was panic. The enemy fighter overshot him so he turned his head to see where it was going. “Stay on the bombers.” came the squadron leader’s orders “Z-Squadron is going to take care of them.” the squadron was named after the fighters they were using Z-95 Headhunters. J’on sighed in relief as the sensors indicated a couple of friendlies engaging the enemy interceptor.

His wingman managed to destroy a Hyena. One down two more to go. He could see the remaining two shooting a couple of missiles towards Empress Theta causing some damage to the tower structure. He cursed again, this time not over the squadron channel. Cyan 12 took a couple more shots, but still not effective. Calm down, calm down… He repeated the mantra as there was a creeping nervousness. He took a deep breath and switched the concussion missile targeting computer. It started chirping as it locked on “Target is locked, sending a CM.” he announced to the rest of the channel. A brief shake as the missile launched from its tube and headed towards the enemy. Good thing that those Hyenas were not as maneuverable “Splash one, target is hit.” he said as there was a brilliant fireball where the enemy was. The payload that it carried detonated thus compounding the explosion destroying its comrade.

*************************

Unit Epsilon-1535 was hunting for targets as its programming dictated. It was a diminutive Tri-fighter built to hunt down enemy bombers or intercept other light crafts. It was built for speed and maneuverability, which made it the perfect hunter. It danced and pirhoueted around its enemies blowing them out and leaving small debris fields and floating Clone remains. Now it was hunting an ARC-170, a big target, but unfortunately shielded. Either way it was doomed, even the back facing guns could not save it. Epsilon took a couple of shots, but the enemy’s shields survived them. It banked right to avoid the return fire and took another shot. This time it grazed the right engine sending destabilizing the enemy fighter.

Its meticulous droid brain tried to calculate the chaotic movements. If it could feel emotions it would have been frustrated, it could not achieve a target lock. Finally the Clone pilot managed to stabilize the ARC-170 and Epsilon climbed up to attack it from above. The Tri made a diving maneuver and fired several shots from its main cannon. The first one struck the middle cabin of the main gunner followed by another one “drilling” in the main body of the enemy. It was enough to split it apart sending bort parts cartwheeling in different directions.

 

Oh very well done.

That first instalment from 2008/9 was steeped in high adventure, great descriptives - I could see everything - and you wielded English like a first language.

Very entertaining.

 

Thank you! I will try to keep it updated more frequently!

Also in the meantime you can check my second fic:

https://boards.theforce.net/threads...era-fan-fic-thriller-drama-intrigue.50050927/