Well there goes any chance of winning. I was banking on being able to overwhelm the Providence on one side while isolating one of the Munificents on one side of the battleship, keeping it out of the fight. I could still pull back. Or …

  “Move the Baros’ Fist to the opposite side of the nebula now. We will be committing to hit and runs within the nebula. Bring the frigates up too, best start them off a couple miles above the enemy Providence’s control tower. Move the Teardrop to where the Baros’ Fist ends up. Move Bastard, Little and Justice Squadrons a couple miles below the picket Munificent’s position. Keep Fist Squadron with us.” I order.

  “Sir?” Mi-Kus asks.

  “We’re going to be working outside the box for a bit, Captain. I want our first salvo to prioritize the Gazontis and the leading Munificent. If we’re lucky they have a droid in command. Our tactics may befuddle the machine and the ships may be in the way of them maneuvering easily.” I say.

  “You’re trying to limit their movements?” Mi-Kus asks for clarification.

  “While leaving me options to react.” I finish.

  “Sir, the enemy ships are entering the nebula, as you predicted. Modified spearhead formation. The Gazontis are parallel to the second line Munificents a couple hundred meters above them. Providence is about a third ship's lengths ahead of them and the picket Munificent is about two ships’ lengths ahead of the Providence.” Sargent Welder says.

  “They’re more spread out than the droids usually do it.” Mi-Kus says.

  “Could be a new update to their programming, or a sentient commanding officer.” I muse, something about the formation was familiar.

  “Baros’ Fist in position, fighters in position, frigates and Teadrop need another minute.” Sargent Slas says.

  “Maker preserve us. Hold fire until the Providence is almost started passing our nose.” I order.

  “Sir, our angles wont be great.” My head gunnery officer says from her trench.

  “Adjust for a better angle, minimal propulsion.” I order. The Little Revenge shifts slightly until I see the gunnery adjutant gives me an okay sign. The ship stops and I watch the tactical display show the Separatist convoy moving forwards.

  “Sir, frigates and Teardrop in position.” Sargent Slas says.

  “All ships are to hold fire unless I say otherwise.” I order, “This will take more precision than usual.”

  A minute passes then another. The lead Munificent passes past the Baros’ Fist, then below the frigates and fighters. The Providence follows suit until.

  “FIRE!” I bark and the portside and prow batteries unleash a salvo into the Munificent, the weakened shields don’t even last two impacts before shattering. The turbolaser and lasercannon fire smashes into the ship.

  “The Jabiim’s Justice is to fire a volley at the lead Munificent, then pull back, down three hundred meters minimal. Helmsman bring us alongside the Munificent, let’s see how they react.” I order.

  “Shields to our rear.” Mi-Kus follows up.

  The Munificent appears to fire a semblance of a volley, though it is too scattered for them to have triangulated our current position. The Little Revenge races forwards as the ordered volley leaves the batteries of the Jabiim’s Justice. It smashes into the picket Munificent and the ships starts listing.

  “Have the frigates open fire on the Gazontis, second priority to the rear Munificents.” I order.

  The Providence and the rear Munificents start firing at our former positions. The Gazontis are separated from the formation and follow the salvo of turbolasers towards our former location. Almost too suddenly they simply blip out of the tactical display one by one and a series of explosions ignite the area around them as the Republic frigates dive vertically towards the three Munificents, firing their payloads towards the heavy armored top of the ships.

  “Deploy the fighters from below, prioritize the Providence, at least two of them make an attack run on the lower tower. Deploy Justice Squadron to make a run on the top tower.” I order as we finally come up alongside the already listing Munificent.

  “FIRE!” MI-Kus barks and the turbolasers asnwer his call. A full volley smashes into the side of the Separatist ship, their returning volley breaks our weakened shields, but break on our armored hull.

  “Ship’s power signatures going black.” I hear the secondary sensors officer say.

  “Helmsman, bring us up and around, starboard broadside to the Providence and allow the Baros’ Fist to engage the Providence.” I order. We move above the drifting hulk of the Munificent and finish coming about as a large explosion rocks the nebula.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “SIR, JABIIM’S JUSTICE HAS SUFFERED A REACTOR HIT!” Sergeant Slas shouts out.

  “Enemy fighters swarming the Jabiim’s.” Sergeant Welder reports.

  “Finish the maneuver. Divert Fist and Little Squadrons. Status on our frigates.” I order.

  “Lucky Kelp and Prince’s Duty have engaged one Munificent together, the other has turned and is engaging the Jabiim’s Justice, the third is moving to engage the Baros’ Fist. Lucky Kelp has suffered multiple hull breaches, still in the fight.” Sargent Slas reports.

  “Pull the Lucky Kelp back behind the Baros’ Fist. Have the Teardrop provide cover.” I order.

  “Shouldn’t we deploy Hope Company and the other boarding parties, sir?” Mi-Kus asks.

  I don’t move my eyes from the tactical display, one of Little squadron’s fighters had just popped out of existence and I frown at that. Our fighter casualties were higher than usual, especially for Little Squadron’s relatively elite status. They were fighting about three times their number, but still the heavy laser cannons of the Dreadnoughts should be assisting them in that.

  “If we deploy them now, we risk the entire transports in transit. The point defense batteries are not eliminated, neither their command and control and the enemy still contests our fighter superiority. Hold them for now.” I answer.

  We move to the broadside and I can finally get a good visual on the Baros’ Fist. It was still facing the Providence fully head on, not even adjusting her angle to give the approaching Munificent a full broadside. It’s fire rate was passable, but it wasn’t even attempting to assist the approaching Republic ships or even position itself in any way that might help.

  “OPEN FIRE!” Mi-Kus barks.

  “I’ll court martial her for this if I live through this.” I mutter angrily, “Slas you are to order Price to move to cover the Lucky Kelp and to broadside that Munificent.”

  Finally the Baros’ Fist moves and begins firing at a better angle and covering the retreat of the Lucky Kelp. A turbolaser smashes into the Lucky Kelp’s engine block and one of the engines in the array goes dark. The Little revenge shudders as our salvo receives one in response from the Providence. The bridge shudders.

  “Hull breach, near Starboard C Battery.” The Engineering adjutant says.

  “We hold our current position, cut engines and put all available energy into the shields!” I bark out.

  The Little Revenge slows as the engine power stops. The Providence still moving forwards despite the friendly wreckage in front of them. Another exchange of volleys and our shields only hold half the incoming fire. The Little Revenge shudders again from the impacts.

  “Starboard D Battery has suffered direct impact. All hands lost.” The head gunnery officer says, sadness creeping into his voice.

  “Shit, Helmsman pull us back a half click.” I order. The engines flare back to life and we start pulling back, firing off a salvo as we do. Then I realize my mistake as the returning salvo smashes into our armor causing the ship to shudder and move further back.

  “Hull breach in the Hangar bay and within decks five through seven.”

  “Helmsman spin us one eighty degrees!” I order and the ship starts spinning. We take a volley on our top armor, then finally end up with our portside facing the enemy Providence. The portside batteries unleash their volley into the enemy ship’s hangar bay.

  “ANOTHER!” I bellow out as I watch the following turbolaser salvo smash into the enemy hangar bay. Then, the ship’s engines and they don’t return fire. One of the engine exhausts explodes in a flurry of yellow fire.

  “It’s passed us fully.” My Helmsman reports.

  “Bring us ab-” I start before the ship shudders and I hear an explosion in the rear.

  “SITREP!” Mi-Kus bellows.

  “We’ve lost engines one through three!” My engineering adjutant reports.

  “Damn karkin schei? lizardshit! Fine. Move us between the Munificents engaging the Justice and Prince’s Duty. Fire any trackers we have at the Providence. Rotate us back, I’m getting dizzy.” I order.

  The Little Revenge rotates back and fires off a broadside as it passes the two retreating Munificents. One of them suffers a hit to it’s bridge while the other suffers damage to its forward gun. Another exchange of volleys and the portside Munificent begins listing.

  “Order the Baros’ Fist, the Prince’s Duty and Teardrop to move to pursue the Providence once they’ve finished off the other Munificent. They are to prioritize the engines. Send whatever is left of Bastard and Justice Squadron to assist. We can take these two damaged cruisers down ourselves.” I order.

  The ships split off from their engagements to pursue the fleeing Providence, leaving a burning Munificent listing in their wake. The fighters were still racing around trying to mop up the remaining droid fighters. Ten casualties from booth fighter squadrons so far. I frown as we exchange volleys with the Munificents. They’re returning fire is sporadic and a final volley from us disables the remaining Munificent.

  “Move us closer to the Jabiim’s Justice to provide support. I doubt we’ll be able to rescue our POWs at this point.” I order.

  The Providence has already left he nebula while the Teardrop is on it’s tail, firing its lasercannons at the Providence’s engine block, while staying out of the firing arc of the ship's batteries. The Baros’ Fist is trailing behind while the Prince’s Duty is catching up. I watch as the Providence leaves the nebula and then.

  “Sir, the Providence has prematurely entered hyperspace.” Sergeant Welder says.

  “Fuck.” I mutter.

  “Sir?” Mi-Kus asks.

  “Damn it all to the nine Hells and back. Bring us closer to the Jabiim’s Justice. We’ll help with any repairs or evacuations, whatever is necessary. Assemble the taskforce. Have the Prince’s Duty finish off the Munificents. Have the Teardrop begin scouring the battlefield for escape pods. Send the Baros’ Fist to begin towing the Lucky Kelp to our exit jump point and kill off the rest of the enemy fighters already!.” I order, feeling the tension in my shoulders double.

  “Yes, sir.” Mi-Kus says.

  I had failed. I had failed the mission and my friend. I had lost three quarters of a squadron’s worth of fighters and almost a squadron’s worth of bombers. The Little Revenge had suffered multiple hull breaches and probably at least a hundred dead. I had failed my damn objective. I wanted to throw something, break something. R4 nudges my leg and I take a deep breath to calm myself, later. I could smash something later, now I had to finish this.

  “Sir, Senior Captain Thorr is requesting permission to abandon ship. Their secondary reactors are damaged and won’t last long and their hyperdrive has suffered crippling damage. The Primary reactors had to be shut down to stop a violent reaction.” Sargent Slas says.

  “Permission granted. He is to fully scuttle the databanks alongside the ship. The Jabiim’s Justice will not be used against us. Deploy the LAATs and LAAT/cs to begin mine-laying, we’ll dock with the Jabiim’s Justice.” I order.

  My orders are carried out. We dock with the Jabiim’s Justice and the crew begin evacuating, midshipmen and gunners first, their stations being the easiest to sabotage. Ammunition and rations next, wouldn’t do to waste them after all. Machinery and spare parts alongside a couple of the techs and hangar crew. Next the few personal belongings every trooper, midshipman, technician, gunner, arms-man and officer was allowed to bring aboard. Finally the bridge crew and the remaining techs and arms-men. I oversee the transfer of materials personally.

  Finally Senior Captain Thorr gives me a salute at the edge of his ship's docking port. I return the salute and open my arms awaiting an embrace. He takes a step back after stomping on the floor and I lower my arms.

  “Senior Captain Luke Thorr, have you left any crewman behind?” I ask.

  He stomps as he answers: “NO SIR!”

  “Senior Captain Luke Thorr, have any sentient or sapient been trapped within your ship?” I ask.

  “No sir, no longer.” The Captain replies after a lothcat passes through his legs, causing a couple laughs from the surrounding officers.

  “Senior Captain Luke Thorr, do you believe that the ship will be scuttled to an adequate level after you leave?” I ask.

  “I believe so, sir.”

  I open my arms again: “The in the name of the Navy of the Galactic Republic I embrace you. Will you accept the Navy’s cold embrace?”

  The man stomps his right boot takes a step forward. He takes a deep breath before stepping over the docking port edge. He takes a few more steps until he and I embrace. It doesn’t last very long as he moves back and salutes me. I lower my arms.

  “I find you have done no wrong in scuttling your vessel, Senior Captain. Your honor and loyalty is true. May you find a home in your next ship.” I say returning the salute.

  With the ceremony complete and the mines laid I and the Senior Captain gather on the bridge of the Little Revenge to watch the Jabiim’s Justice detonate. I hope I never have to do that to my ship, my Little Revenge. We spend a few minutes moving some men and supplies to the other ships before jumping to Hyperspace on our return voyage to Dac.