Saga Ep II: "Duel of the Fates"- new post and PARTY INSIDE!!!

Oh, that would be excellent.

Except, of course, you've now made me want to go back and start looking for them, and I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT have the time for that.

Not nice to post that little nugget about there being other references scattered through here.

Shaindl

 

And back up...

 

Okay, okay, so sorry about the delayed update. Seriously, I hope to have the next post up in a couple days.

-Tim

 

Fantastic, Tim! You are sealing your reputation as King of Space Battles. Gripping and fast-moving, with great glimpses of Anakin's thoughts as he engaged.

And an evil cliffhanger - I think you've been hanging out with Luney too much.

I don't think anyone here thinks you're trying to exploit the war, Tim. I for one know how long you've been working on this, and I think it's very timely, right down to the poignance of the Freedom's death.

 

The Mandalore fighter, its genetically engineered pilot eager to engage the enemy and score a first kill, blasted from the hangar behind its squadmates.

The pilot did not see the proton torpedo.

Naval engineers and architects producing military designs had long known that hangar doors were a potential fatal weakness even in an otherwise well-armored warship. To counter this vulnerability, the Lord Maul's design incorporated polarized, selective shields in her huge hangar bay, which would permit relatively slow-moving starfighters to pass, but were rated as impervious to multiple proton torpedo or heavy turbolaser direct hits.

Anakin's shot, timed with a precision aided by the use of a Force no engineer had factored into the equation for what was believed to be an impossible scenario, had managed to subvert the battlecruiser's otherwise formidable defenses.

The proton torpedo impacted just forward of the fighter's canopy on the starboard side, just as the ship's nose emerged from the shield barrier. The ship's forward section exploded when the torpedo hit, and as the explosion travelled farther toward the ship's stern section, it reached the fuel tank just aft of the wings, and the fighter became in effect a conduit between the vacuum and Lord Maul's hangar.

One of the interceptor's ion engines, blown rearwards from its mounting, was flung onto the fighter immediately behind waiting to launch. The glowing mass of engine detonated the small craft and in turn, those nearby. In the tightly packed hangar full of over 750 fully-loaded starfighters, it was disastrous.

Ships, fuel carts, and ammunition carriers detonated one after another in a rippling chain reaction. The hangar shields now held fast against the high-velocity debris and expanding fireball. The crescendo of explosions was unable to vent through the hangar openings, and instead, turned its heat and pressure to the interior of the Maul herself. The blasts ripped through layers of decks and armored bulkheads, killing thousands and reaching other stores of explosive materials, including the vessel's fuel cells.

The stern half of the ship, larger than several Victory cruisers, vaporized in a sudden flash, leaving what remained of the bow a drifting, burning, glowing hulk of twisted durasteel floating helpless in space.

**

General Fett swore, trying to contain the overwhelming urge to destroy everything and everyone around him in his fury.

In a single instant, his strategy had literally vaporized.

The Bane continued exchanging volleys with enemy cruisers with little to show for either side. His battleline was starting to evaporate as Republic cruisers penetrated the gaps and frigates swarmed his flanks and rear.

?Orders, General?? one of his staff officers asked.

Fett whirled to face the man, resisting the temptation to send him flying across the bridge. He wanted to order his ships to charge in and take as many of the enemy with them as possible, as a fate befitting great warriors. Yet Sidious and Raptor had denied him this option. Their orders were clear: if the situation became untenable, escape, and the Sith Lords alone were the two beings in the galaxy Jango Fett truly feared.

?All ships, general withdrawal,? he said, forcing the words between clenched teeth. ?Use the prearranged rally point, each vessel is to plot a separate course with at least 4 waypoints.?

?Yes, General.?

**
One moment, a raging battle, and the next, almost nothing. Admiral Haas let out a breath he did not realize he was holding. Space in front of Victory was almost empty, the enemy command ship turning tail and vanishing into hyperspace with surprising speed.

The threat to his rear, too, vanished. Haas was uncertain as to the cause, only that several transport captains and fighter crews reported the after portion of the ship was obliterated, the rest a burning hulk.

Haas believed very little of fate or destiny, but it seemed that now, as he stood on the Victory?s bridge, that event

 

It continues to amaze me how many wonderful writers we have here. Wow, Timmy boy - that was awesome. One little proton torpedo from Anakin at the right time effectively ending the battle - and Anakin probably didn't even waste a breath. Now he can go back - or should I say 'has at least a kind-of chance of going back'? - to Amidala and start with his mushy stuff (which hopefully will be behind the scenes ... )

Well, if they had Sebby writing the podracing scenes, you writing the battle scenes, Mel writing the mushy scenes, Cyn or one of us more sympathetic Obi-lovers writing Obi-Wan, and JG writing the rest of it, TPM novelization would have been a mind-blowing translation of the movie. Unfortunately, what we have ... ehem - never mind.

Aunecah

 

Thanks, Aun, and flattered you place me in such company...actually, I had an idea simmering about getting a bunch of FF people together and doing a fanfic take on the novelization of AOTC, but that's for another day in the far future and I don't even know what the interest level would be.

I hoped Anakin's attack didn't seem too "deus ex machina" but it's nothing more spectacular than what Luke did with the Force and ANH, and I was thinking of the Japanese carriers caught by the American dive bombers at the Battle of Midway in 1942 with decks full of aircraft armed and waiting to take off.

Oh, and the battle is hardly over. Remember, Haas had to clear the blockading ships before the ground forces could make their assault. Padme's on an assault shuttle ready to launch for Aldera and Ani is flying around in a fighter looking for a ship to land in...

BTW, I realized I may have given the impression with the last line that Haas was in overall command of the operation...he and Organa are essentially equal in rank, but Organa doesn't really take control over the ground forces until the landing actually begins and they are off their transports.

(this will, of course, be addressed shortly, and there will be mushy stuff, but you'll have to stay tuned...LOL)

-Tim

 

I hoped Anakin's attack didn't seem too "deus ex machina" but it's nothing more spectacular than what Luke did with the Force and ANH, and I was thinking of the Japanese carriers caught by the American dive bombers at the Battle of Midway in 1942 with decks full of aircraft armed and waiting to take off.

I was thinking of the very same thing when I read this story! and a couple of other instances that it happened as well. No, don't worry, Tim, it was completely fine.

Aunecah

 

Yeah, there was a similar passage in the EU (Darksaber) where Callista blew up a hangar full of TIE bombers, gutting the Knight Hammer's engines.

-Tim

 

Well, Timmy, me boyo, I swear yer bound ta have a wee touch of the Irish in ya, ta hae sich a gift o' the blarney. Really, nicely done - and I don't smell a trace of deus in the house. Masterfully plotted, viscerally visual - and a perfect blend of historical perspective and futuristic speculation. I bought it every step of the way, and it seemed imminently logical.

I also thought your nod to the terrible weight of responsibility borne by commanders worthy of the rank was deftly handled.

You really are good at this.

CYN

 

Thanks, Cyn...as for Haas dealing with the responsibilities...I wanted to touch on it but to have him keep it under wraps while operations were still going on.

For the record I'm mostly Scotch and German, with only a bit of Irish, though on St. Patrick's day I was drinking green beer with everybody else....LOL

-Tim

 

kicking this back up for the day...

-Tim

 

Ohhh nice action posts Timmy Boy! (Sorry I'm late...though I spared myself that mean cliffie )

 

Well, Luney, better late than never

-Tim

 

Exciting, as I have come to expect, Tim! Once again, you've provided adrenaline and just the right amount of detail. And I love the parallels with Midway.

Haas thought of Admiral Tahan and Freedom, with her 5,000-strong crew, none left alive but a scattering of fighter pilots, and the casualties on the other ships damaged or destroyed. He remembered the energetic young Rear Admiral who had shown so much promise in excercises, now dead when he should never had needed to face an overwhelming enemy. In the end it was he who gave the orders, and he who bore the final responsibility.

The burden of command is heavy, and in the end, Haas can only bear it alone. I daresay that many of our officers in Iraq are feeling much the same right now. Not even the most gung-ho soldier ever relishes killing, but sadly, it too often comes with the territory.

 

Thanks Jae. I think combat commanders have probably been thinking the same thing ever since organized warfare was first invented.

-Tim

 

Well done- I for one would like to see your take (and that of other notable authors here) on AOTC.

 

Hey, everybody.

In deference to my non-military-saavy readers, I've decided to preface the next post with a little bit of useful information. More details will be included with the "companion website" in development for those interested in an "essential guide to military forces, characters, vehicles, and vessels" for this story.

Many people with little military knowledge are confused by the various organizational units of which armies are composed, so here's a relatively short, succinct listing:

(Note: This refers to COMBAT units. Logistics and support are of course extremely important, and it is said that while amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics. However, I've decided to focus mostly on the combat elements because hey, I don't want to bore you. Secondly, some of this is a mishmash of WW2 and more modern stuff, and any differences between Earth and the story can be ascribed to trying to keep it a little different.)

Squad: 9-12 soldiers consisting of a squad leader, several riflemen, and a fire support team armed with a light repeating blaster.

Platoon: Several squads or vehicles, commanded by a Lieutenant.

Company: Several platoons, one of which is usually a fire-support unit equipped with light mortars and heavy automatic weapons. In addition, a number of anti-armor teams are incorporated in "leg infantry" units, typically dispersed among the platoons.

Battery: Artillery (either surface to surface or air defense) formation of 2-6 guns/rocket launchers/mortars/artillery vehicles.

Batallion: Several companies, again, one of which is usually a fire-support unit. Commanded by a Lt. Colonel. The headquarters company usually has signal (communications), engineer, and recon units plus other supporting units. In artillery units, several batteries.

Regiment or Brigade: Several batallions, commanded by a Colonel plus supporting units. Also, several artillery batallions.

Division: Several regiments plus various support units of varying size including signal, logistics, transportation, reconnaisance, engineering units, military police, heavy artillery, air units, etc. Commanded by a Major General.

Corps: Several divisions plus various batallion/regimental units attached, the types of which vary depending on the corps mission. Commanded by a Lt. General. The Republic IX Corps is a "balanced" formation designed to perform various types of missions on varying terrain against varying enemies. It is equipped with a suitable mix of infantry, armored, mechanized, and support units.

Obviously, various differences in composition exist between armored, mechanized, and infantry units. In addition, a Republic and Mandalore unit will differ in numbers and organization.

IX Corps is not formally designated as an elite formation, but for all practical purposes, given the quality of troops, number of experienced officers and NCO's, intensive training, and high readiness, it is elite in all but name.

In the Republic military, the designation of "Corellian" or "Naboo" with the name of a unit is a time-honored tradition. However, as an example, a Coruscant and Naboo light infantry division have exactly the same organization, strength, and equipment.

Different types of infantry:

Light: Light infantry units are "foot" infantry formations with a reduced amount of heavy artillery and equipment. They can be deployed quickly and are very well trained in infantry skills, being more dependent on them than in heavy supporting weapons.

Heavy: "Standard" foot infantry that are less easily deployable than their light counterparts but carry more heavy equipment, transport, and artillery firepower. Also sometimes called assault infantry or grenadiers.

Mechanized: Infantrymen mounted in light armed and armored vehicles trained to work in close cooperation with armored units and provide infantry support for them. A mechanized infantry brigade/division is also equipped with heavy armor, while armored divisions contain mech. infantry, but in obviously different prop

 

Awesome as always, Tim, and thanks for including the notes, which were incredibly helpful for people who aren't military buffs. And you explained it well - very clear (just like your prose...)

Can't wait for the next post!

Shaindl

 

Thanks, Shiandl! Glad you found it helpful (and enjoyed the post as well).

-Tim

 

I have only one thing to say: AHEM - promises, promises! We who proudly carry the banner for Obi-fans everywhere are not so easy to please, you know. Although . . . . OK, I'm convinced you can do it!

The post was excellent - as always, Tim - concisely written, painting the onslaught as the precision exercise it must be, leaving nothing to chance, while ratcheting up the tension by a factor of two hundred or so. But the information you provided in your note was every bit as interesting - and will probably be of great use - to those of us who have (or had) no clue about the organizational charts for military forces. And while I know there's a tendency on the part of some fic writers (and - ugh - critics - what IS that awful smell? ) to decry the use of earth terminology in a SW story, I think it would be foolish to lose the meaning of the terminology in some misguided effort to be true to the extra-terrestrial spirit of that GFFA. I mean, one of those horribly witty, terribly original writers could change the name of a rainbow to a googleblatt - but then no one would have a clue what he was talking about, would they? Unless, of course, they happened to be natives of Ord Mandell!!!!

Good job, Timmy - and don't think for a minute I'm not going to hold you to your promise for us Obi-lovers!

CYN

 

And while I know there's a tendency on the part of some fic writers (and - ugh - critics - what IS that awful smell? ) to decry the use of earth terminology in a SW story, I think it would be foolish to lose the meaning of the terminology in some misguided effort to be true to the extra-terrestrial spirit of that GFFA. I mean, one of those horribly witty, terribly original writers could change the name of a rainbow to a googleblatt - but then no one would have a clue what he was talking about, would they? Unless, of course, they happened to be natives of Ord Mandell!!!! >>

Well, I see it like this:

Many of the ranks (General, Admiral, Commander, Ensign, Lieutenant, Colonel, Pilot Officer, etc) on Earth exist in the films and EU and seem to have the same relationship to each other.

"Carbine" seems to mean "shortened infantry rifle" in the GFFA like it does here.

Fighters, too, are organized similar to on Earth. The basic organizational unit is the squadron, which is divided in turn into flights (groups of 4 fighters) and leader/wingman pairs.

Naval ship names seem to be broadly similar as well. Cruisers, frigates, and corvettes exist both on Earth and the GFFA and seem to have a similar relationship in relative power and size. I modified things slightly. I don't use "destroyers" in the Earth context because IMHO, it's confusing in relation to the Star Destroyer, which seems more like a heavy cruiser (and also because the Victories were so designated). I've opted to use "battlecruiser" to replace "battleship" though in Earth terminology, they are two different things (a battlecruiser is a vessel with heavy guns of similar caliber, but less armor and more speed than a battleship.)

I can assume then that while the exact composition of a GFFA batallion-size unit may be far different from its Earth counterpart, a squad is probably still a lot smaller than a division.

I seem to recall a type of mortar mentioned in the EU but the exact source escapes me at the moment. Most of the artillery we've seen in SW looks to be energy or beam-weapon based, but in AOTC we saw surface- to -air and surface-to-ground rockets during the Geonosis battle. I picture something like a gun which uses a propellant (probably nothing like gunpowder) to fire a projectile which resembles a concussion missile or proton torpedo warhead, or a rocket launcher similar to that in AOTC.

However, I do have this nagging tendency to want to type "machine gun" when I mean to say "repeating blaster" (which, IMHO, sounds weird. IT reminds me of a "repeating rifle" which was what a rifle using multiple cartridges was often called in the Civil War timeframe.)

-Tim

 

I hate to up this again, but since only 2 people replied, I figured maybe some of you hadn't seen it.

-Tim

 

*Ehem* - I caught this thread right after you updated (before you changed the title) and saw your notes. Since I was in Graphics class at the time, I figured I shouldn't use the time I'm supposed to be doing assignments for reading JCF stories. Hence, I missed it.

Anyway, you say we are going to have an Obi-post that we're going to like. Wonderful!

As far as this post goes - yes, Timmy boy, at the risk of sounding repetitive, you write action scenes WONDERFULLY!

Aunecah

 

Thanks, Aun!

Obi-Wan: Well, let's just say he's going to earn his eventual General's stars.

-Tim