I receive the last communication for the plan a day before execution. The primary taskforce was assembled and en route and my unit had already departed Dac and was simply waiting for the countdown. The Little Revenge was on point with the Lucky Kelp to her starboard and the Prince’s Duty to her Port. The Buckler and Falchion were on the frigates’ flanks while the Dagger and Avarice were on the outer flanks. The Teardrop was in reserve below the Little Revenge while Bastard and Little Squadrosns were fully assembled in a loose picket formation around my Dreadnought.
I was quite happy to have the V-19s replaced by the R-41 Starchaser. I had convinced Kaine to let me oversee some of their battle trials before greater scale implementation. The man seemed to appreciate my willingness to experiment and acquiesced to my request by giving me enough of the small fighters to outfit Little Squadron with. Though it did take a promise of collaboration for future projects, I felt it was a safe enough bet to ensure my fighter pilots had a better survival rate.
The navigations officer speaks up: “Exiting in five, four, three, two, one.”
Hyperspace spits us out back into realspace and we have their rear. I start smirking at that. We had their rear! The Republic ships were already engaging the Separatists, three Venators, three Consulars and an Arquitens engaging in long range and dangerously close range exchanges of fire. The Light cruiser was already being boarded and based off of the tactical display Skywalker’s shuttle had docked with the Recusant heavy destroyer.
“Shields to front, prepare the fore batteries, launch all fighters. Helmsman half speed. Let’s see how well Grievous adapts to being outnumbered.” I order.
The Jedi taskforce is doing less than optimally, which was by design. The three task-force Consulars were being used like bombers instead of point defense and anti fighter coverage. I fell my smirk turn bloodthirsty as the Lucky Kelp and Prince’s Duty move ahead of the formation to target the outlying Munificents. They won’t be able to resist the added firepower.
“Break Little and Bastard Squadrons in half. One half of both to join the Lucky Kelp and the other to assist in the attack with the Prince’s Duty. Pull the Dagger and Avarice in closer and hold your fire until I give the order, We can’t afford to hit our own ships.” I order.
The fighters and bombers split and move in behind the rapidly advancing frigates, the rest of my formation closing up and following the advance force. The Munificent in the rear starts banking towards us, but it won’t be in range until the Mon Cala frigates are on top of the other cruisers.
The tactical display shifts to the side as the other half is replaced by Admiral Yularen who speaks: “Commodore, we were not expecting you for another ten minutes.”
“Admiral, we used a smaller smugglers route a Republic asset knows of to shave off a couple minutes north of Junkfort Station.” I reply.
“You are using the Mon Calamari frigates to assault the outlying Munificents?” The Admiral asks.
“Yes, sir each escorted by half of Bastard and Little Squadrons. The rest of my unit is advancing to engage the Munificnt in reserve.”
“Excellent, we will keep our distance for the most part and launch further fighters. Hold off any fire upon the command ship until I give the all clear. Yularen out.”
“Yes, sir.” I say as the tactical display returns in full, “You heard the Admiral. We stay the course.”
The rear Munificent was about half way around and the droids were wasting ammunition by firing her portside batteries in my ships’ general direction. The Lucky Kelp meanwhile had reached her target Munificent and unloaded a salvo of proton torpedoes and laser cannon fire into the engine block of the Separatist ship. The fool of a droid in command had failed to reapply their shield arrays to cover the entire ship and the torpedoes impact the engine block causing multiple detonations and the yellow light of the engines to go dark.
The following fighters and bombers unleash their payload of concussion missiles, light laser cannon fire, light ion cannon pulses and proton torpedoes which all smash along the upper armor and spine of the Separatist cruiser. The entire ship seems to buckle under the pressure and it’s only half way up the ship that the payload from the fighters and bombers start impacting the shield, leaving the Munificent stuck in her current position and crippled behind the frontal armor plates.
The Prince’s Duty meanwhile was less lucky, the droid in command of their target Munificent having readjusted her shields, causing her payload of torpedoes and lasers to smash into the rear shields instead. The fighters hold off from using their concussion missiles while unloading light laser and light ion cannons into the rear shields. Finally a proton torpedo from a Y-Wing smashes through the local shields and they buckle trying to readjust. A simultaneous volley of heavy turbolaser fire from one of the Venators finally break the Separatist ship’s shields and smash into the heavily armored front.
“Sir, rear Munificent facing us, corvettes have cleared firing area.” I hear Mi-Kus say as I return to my ships’ position.
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“All ships, FIRE AT WILL!” I bark and watch as streaks of turbolaser and ion cannon fire soar past the windows on the bridge, crisscrossing with the incoming Separatist fire. Our volley smashes into the Munificent with malice and the shields, already weakened by sporadic fire from the Venators and Consulars break with multiple turbolasers impacting along her armor.
“Sir, Lucky Kelp’s Munificent is drifting, they’re awaiting orders.” I hear Sergeant Slas say.
“Have them move back behind us, we’ll keep them as a reserve. Have her fighters and bombers regroup with the rest, baring any in critical condition.” I order as I watch another volley of Republic fire impact on the armor of the Munificent, her returning fire punching against the shields of my ships.
The fighters race across the battlefield flying below the Recusant to link up with their fellow pilots. Another exchange of volleys and the Munificent bridge disappears in a spray of fire and debris. The returning fire is more and more sporadic, especially with ion cannon fire disabling parts of the ship for vital moments.
An explosion rocks the battlefield and I turn to give a closer look at the tactical display. Something was missing, It wasn’t the Prince’s Duty or her assigned Munificent. The Recusant heavy destroyer was still intact, the task-force Consulars were down one, but it was marked in gray to show a drifting vessel. Then I realize the Arquitens is gone, it’s gray debris scattering around the Recusant and a larger piece having an odd trajectory to boot.
The tactical display shrinks and is again replaced by Yularen: “Generals Skywalker and Gallia have rescued General Koth and are currently extracting. General Kenobi and a couple of his men are on route to rendezvous with them.”
Another volley smashes into the shields of the Little Revenge and the returning fire finally hits something explosive. A detonation caused by a lasercannon from the Avarice and a turbolaser blast impacting where the bridge used to be and a chain reaction starts from within the Munificent. The ship buckles and explodes.
Yularen’s voice interrupts my thoughts: “The Jedi have exited the command ship all vessels engage at will.”
“You heard the man, Helmsman, bring us up to the engine block of the Recusant. Inform the portside batteries to adjust for a broadside. Adjust shields as well.” I order.
The Little Revenge pulls past the burning Munificent and is only a couple hundred meters away from the Recusant, close enough to see individual windows and armor plates. We come alongside the engine block, then slightly closer, then-
“FIRE!” I shout and the batteries answer. They smash into the weakened shields and after two volleys the shields break and I feel a smirk come across my face. We’re in the closest thing this ship to a blind spot with only a single turbolaser battery firing off sporadically and we’re punishing the damn ship hard in return.
A few more turbolaser blasts impact our shields while we return the favor twenty-fold. They smash into the engine block and the connecting bridge between the engines and the rest of the ship again and again. Fuel starts leaking from a destroyed piece of piping and I realize the danger.
“HOLD FIRE, SHIELDS MAX, HELMSMAN, ALL AHEAD FULL NOW!” I shout, more than a little concern leaking into the urgency behind my voice.
Too late.
“OUT NOW!” I shout and I make sure the door remains open as the bridge crew evacuate the bridge. I make sure I’m the last one out and I can see the fires and debris pinging off the shields, the doors close behind me as I see the shields buckle and finally break under the strain. I pull out my comlink and punch in the emergency locking codes as we run deeper into the bowels of the ship. Only after the codes are through I bark my orders as I tail the bridge crew: “All personnel make for the inner rooms and emergency bunkers of the ship, lock the hangar, turn off all non alpha priority systems. I blastdoors to the docking hatches and the bridge have been closed. May the Maker preserve us all and the Force be with us.”
I trail behind the bridge crew and any other crew members we pick up along the way to the inner bowels of the ship. The ship shudders multiple times, either systems failing or incoming debris. Damn it I should have known better! This was basic training for why you don’t get too close to an enemy ship any larger than your own.
The bridge crew managed to get into the innermost bowels of the Little Revenge among most of the other crew, some two thousand crew, arms-men and clone troopers, all gathered within the bowels of the ship. I put in the commands on one of the terminals to close all blastdoors and we start waiting. They quickly take up their stations at the emergency bridge, yet there is little we can do. The sensors were overwhelmed from the fire and with the shutdown it would be difficult for us to move without crashing into anything.
Eventually it has been a couple minutes since the last rocking of the ship. The entire two thousand souls are quiet, only the occasional mummer disturbing the silence. The innermost spine of the ship filled to the brim with people.
I pull out my comm again and begin to speak: “Attention all crew of the Little Revenge. I must apologize, I made a tactical mistake and brought us too close to a ship suffering major structural failures. We should be safe in our current position until the shields can re-calibrate. If that is not the case I will be taking full responsibility. Any questions?”
Nothing. It’s silent.
“Alright then,” I turn off the comm and turn to my astromech, “R4 can you give me the status of the shields?”
The droid whistles an affirmative and plugs herself in. It takes another couple minutes until she whistles the all clear and I open up a single blastdoor to the spine next to me. A moment of hesitation, then certainty as I march into the hallway before closing the door behind myself and a too loyal R4. I open up the next door and step through. Going blastdoor by blastdoor, closing the previous one behind me after marking the side I originated from with a sign that the next room is safe. Finally I manage to get back to the bridge and give out an all clear signal for the bridge crew. A few minutes later the bridge crew followed my route and with the rest of the crew carefully peeling off whenever they reach their stations.
The bridge is less of a mess than expected. Half of the systems are fried, though luckily comms and navigation are still functional. Half of steering is barely still operable and the sensor station is almost molten to slag. Reports start coming in from the batteries, the turbolasers are either fine or decently damaged with about half of our ammunition unusable and in need of jettison. The Hangar is in better shape thanks to the increased armor after its previous destruction.
“Alright, I want to signal the rest of the 97th we’ll be needing a towing back to Dac if we want to keep up with them. It’ll slow us down, but by less than if we tried it on our own. I want some repair crews sent over here and all unstable ammunition jettisoned and remotely detonated at safe distances. Inform Senior Captain Hugh she is in charge of rescue operations on our end. See if the derelict Consulars have any survivors and scour the area for escape pods. I will be taking one of the LAATs to our command ship, both LAATs will assist in rescue operations and then ammunition removal afterwards. Mi-Kus I am leaving you the bridge, Captain Chain I am placing you in charge of the disposal. Any objections? No? Alright. If there is anything inform me.” I order before marching down to the hangar.
It takes a bit longer with the groups of men gingerly moving ammunition through the corridors and elevators. Eventually I make it to the hanger, some of the tools and forklifts are damaged beyond repair, but the LAATs are both luckily fine. I board one of them to see a couple clones in aegean blue and black alongside a couple arms-men in sealed gear. I nod to them and the doors close behind R4. We leave the ship and I see the damage thanks to a good angle to the co-pilot’s viewport. Half of the ship is burned black, the occasional streak going further or halting thanks to one of the blisters on the ship. I frown as I see it.
A few minutes later the LAAT lands within the bowels of the Venator and I dismount. “Good hunting.” I tell the Sergeant and the gunship’s doors close again. I watch the transport leave the shields of the Hangar, then move to meet with my superiors.