“Exiting in thirty.”

  Here it was, my first large scale offensive action. Not some small sized raid into Separatist space, not a skirmish and certainly not a desperate defense, but a true offensive battle. This would prove my effectiveness and prove to any idiot lizardfucker that my victory over Mon Cala was not some fluke of a young flag officer grasping above his station. I had a taskforce of over fourteen capital ships and twenty two cruisers. Thirty six ships of the line in total. Less than what I commanded at Dac, but not by too much. I had more auxiliary ships now, though not by a lot.

  “Exiting in fifteen.”

  We would probably not have numerical superiority. May even have less men than the enemy, but that’s how I fought best. Unconventionally with my back against the wall. I already had a couple plans in the works. All that was left was the swirl of Hyperspace to recede and the might of the Republic to fall on a secessionist stronghold.

  “Three, two, exiting.”

  The Little Revenge isn’t the first ship to have arrived, a couple Corvettes bearing the markings of the 598th L.O.R. Section beating us to the punch. Not even a second later, our growing formation is joined by the materialization of our first Acclamators and the Fondor’s Daughter.

  “Map up.” I order as our first proper capitol ship, the Archduke, temporary headquarters of Brigadier General Krugwolt’s 53rd Volunteer Corps, alongside her escorts, the Little Star and the rest of my 347th O.R. Section arrive in system.

  “Sir, sensors picking up a large number of enemy ships.” Lieutenant Welder barks. A well deserved promotion to Junior Lieutenant now under his belt.

  “Give me more precise data here. And prepare all channel broadcast, divert it through the Archduke, Arkania, Fondor’s Daughter and Constellation before final release.” I admonish as the first Mon Cala Star Cruisers enter system alongside the light cruisers of our attached light sections. I do get a nice view of the Archduke releasing one of our DP20s from her hangar.

  “Establish our line from just south of that Banking Clan gun platform towards the north of the planet to the other gun platform near the south pole. Concentrate the Constellation’s 707th, our ground force’s transports and my 347th in the north. We’ll break whatever semblance of a line they’ve established there.”

  “Channel ready.” One of my comms officers reports.

  “Got a better read, sir. We’ve got two Recusant heavy destroyers, eight Recusant light destroyers, a Duel Hemisphere-Omni support vessel, twenty thr- four, twenty four MC30c frigates and four hostile Gozantis, sir.” Welder says.

  “About what we expected.” Mi-Kus mutters.

  “They could be hiding hostile vessels throughout the system, never mind the world’s shadow or the planetary drydocks.” I say, half a dozen Republic cruisers entering system as I speak. As the next handful of seconds pass by our entire force has entered system, the only minor delays being the three other corvettes emerging from the holds of the Venators.

  “Begin broadcast.” I order.

  “You’re on, sir.”

  “This is Rear Admiral Dericote of the 120th Battlegroup and Taskforce Black Javelin. I hereby place this system under cordon. All civilian ships are ordered to leave the area surrounding Pammant and to locate themselves near one of the civilian platforms near the gas world of PT-93712-Cresh-2. All Separatist ships, this is your one and only opportunity to surrender without bloodshed. You have thirty seconds.”

  “Launch all fighters and begin skirmishing maneuvers with rapid response units Aurek, Besh and Cresh.” I order as the formation starts taking shape, the ten Mon Cala Star Cruisers’ Engagement Groups race towards our enemy’s own rapidly forming line.

  These groups are headed by one capital ship, Mon Cala Star Cruisers for the front line and the Arkania and Mon Cala’s Joy for our reserves. Each of the units would be joined by an Acclamator or Arquitens and a Corvette or two, essentially creating self sufficient taskforces to hold the line while the exceptions to the rule, Unit Little Revenge, which consisted of four Dreadnoughts, my two MC30c frigates and two Consulars, Unit Constellation, which had two Arquitenses and my MC40a light cruiser to support the Corellian destroyer, and Unit Archduke, which consisted of the two Venators of Generals Krugwolt and Kota, as well as four out of our five Pelta transports filled to the brim with the Mon Calamari and Quarren volunteers of the 1st Dac Volunteer Regiment, 2nd Mon Cala Volunteer Regiment and the 1st and 2nd Tidal Circuit Volunteer Regiments.

  After breaking through the north and depositing our ground forces, Units Little Revenge, Constellation and Archduke will head south along the line to break their formation and hopefully force a surrender by blocking any exit to a hyperspace route. The remaining corvettes, Arquitenses and frigates formed the three alphabetical rapid response units that were currently racing towards the enemy formations.

  “Their line looks a tad light in the center, should we divert the Constellation’s engagement group there?” Mi-Kus asks.

  “No, we’re sticking to the plan. We’re pressing hard on the north and using the world’s rotation to bring our ground forces on top of their drydocks.” I reaffirm.

  “Sir, enemy ships exiting planetary shadow. Stars, that’s a dreadnought.”

  “So what? We’ve got four.” I ask.

  “Sorry, sir. Scanners registered one Subjugator class star dreadnought, carrier model, two Providence battleships and two additional Recusant heavy destroyers.” Welder self corrects.

  “Well that’s closer to what I expected. See if there’s any identifiers on the Subjugator.” I mutter. I could still work with this. We still held fighter supremacy and star dreadnoughts were slow. I can work around this.

  “Incoming transmission from the Subjugator class, sir.”

  “Put it up.” I order.

  The tactical display changes to reveal a battle scarred Quarren, one of his eyes has been replaced by a bionic and the poor fuck has scars running across his face. The Separatist officer speaks only a moment after his reveal: “Republic Vessels, I am Vice Admiral Ocka Tikkes of the Free People of Pammant. We will not submit to your grandstanding. We reject your offer of surrender. Tides damn any fool who would trust such an offer from Republic dogs. We will however comply with your orders to any civilian ships within system. Head for Oxix for the duration of the battle, you will be compensated for any delays to your operations.”

  “Well at least he’s reasonable.” I hear one of the strategic Adjutants mutter.

  “Cronau radiation detected?” A sensors officer reports.

  “Could be residue of one of ours.” Mi-Kus says, his voice betraying his optimism as a falsehood.

  “I’ve got new ships exiting from the east exit point. Another Recusant light destroyer and four Captor class cruisers.” The previous officer reports.

  “Bad timing, that.” I mutter.

  “Lines are forming. Enemy isn’t trying to stop us from our preferred area. Units Prince, Wave, Torrent, Cyclone, Downpour and Riptide already in phase one terminal positions.” Mi-Kus mutters.

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  “Good” I answer, “We need to try and keep up with the 707th and our ground force’s transports. General Kota and General Krugswolt’s Venators are high priority for screening. Divert extra fighters for their support from our reserve.”

  “Reserve line units Mon Cala’s Joy and Arkania in position.” Mi-Kus says.

  “Adjust Engagement Group Arkania further south.” I say as I adjust the positioning of the tactical display.

  “707th reports first exchange of fire between Constellation and hostile gun platform.” Lieutenant Slas reports, another well deserved promotion, though she did jump to full Lieutenant due to my unwillingness to steal a higher ranking comms officer from somewhere.

  “Well then, begin cordoning off our area of attack with an advanced fighter screen, I trust Commander Solo will lead it well.” I order.

  “We’ve got a couple smaller ships making a run for the enemy lines, civilian transponder codes. Two Gazontis, a Diamond class, a CR70 and a couple personal shuttles.” One of the sensors officers reports.

  “We gave them a way out, let’s give them the chance to use it.” I order.

  “Unit Little Revenge in max weapons range.”

  “Open fire, Split spread between picket Gozantis and the gun platform.” Mi-Kus orders. Not even three seconds later the arcing trails of nine concussion missiles leave the new turrets of my 347th’s Dreadnoughts, the Pride of Toong’l a Model 4-I retrofit, firing off its heavy ion cannon alongside the barrage of missiles.

  The Gozantis start picking off the missiles, catching three before the others smash into their targets, followed by the ion blast. Two of the missiles impact one of the Gozantis right after another and the small ship explodes in a fiery flash of reds and white. The other’s shields barely hold on, her frontal face blackened before two turbolaser blasts from the Constellation break her back. The remaining ordnance starts pounding into the gun platform.

  “Unit Archduke ready to pass them by.”

  “They have my leave. Wish the Generals luck. May the Maker keep them in their embrace.” I order.

  “Sir, units Icecap, Riptide and Downpour are suffering from heavy pressure from multiple ships and heavy fighter suppression.”

  “Divert the,” I take a moment to consider the options, with the Recusant heavy destroyers that had been escorting the Subjugator pushing our center hard. I need my back line to be able to respond to enemy actions, but … we can take the north alone, “Divert the Mon Cala’s Joy and her unit alongside half a mixed wing to engage the enemy spearhead at our center.”

  “Gun platform has suffered multiple hull failures. Constellation and escorts are pulling back to safe distance. Senior Captain Sever is requesting permission to claim the kill.”

  “Fuck if I care. Sure, he can have it as long as that damn thing no longer blots the heavens. Begin rotation towards the enemy line’s north. Time to see them bleed.” I order, finally feeling the bloodlust pumping and revealing itself in a cruel snarl of a smile.

  “Unit Archduke breaching atmosphere.” One of the strategic Adjutants mentions.

  “Sir, we’ve identified the markings of the Subjugator, carrier variant. She is indeed the flagship of Vice Admiral Ocka Tikkes. Her designation is the Red Castle.”

  “Keep up their fighter cover. They are required back in orbit sooner rather than later.” I order in turn.

  “Enemy fighter swarm dead ahead.” Sargent Welder warns.

  “Trying to force our hand?” Mi-Kus wonders.

  “Deploy our fighter screens on an intercept, pull our formation in closer, I want our corvettes to move to the front, but hold the Little Revenge’s picket in position for extra covering fire. Keep our bombers in current positions, they’ve permission to break off for intercepts once the enemies have broken our screens.” I order as sixty fighters race towards our enemy’s Vultures. Outnumbered two and a tenth to one based off of our readings. They shouldn’t have this many fighters, unless they had another carrier section somewhere, or a Lucrehulk we somehow hadn’t detected.

  “First intercepts.” Sargent Slas reports, her voice emotionless.

  “Keep me posted.” I order as I watch us move into effective range of our first true target of the day. A duet of Recusant light destroyers alongside four MC30c frigates exchanging long range fire with the ships of units Prince and Wave, the MC75s and their escorting pairs of Acclamators and Consulars.

  “Order the fighters and bombers of units Prince, Wave and Torrent to begin close engagements with the enemy formations.” I order.

  “We’re encroaching on the fighter melee.”

  To break through or delay by moving around. We didn’t have Venators that were vulnerable from below, but the answer was clear none the less: “All ships of units Little Revenge and Constellation, we’re heading down a kilometer as we advance, supporting fire upwards permitted, but be careful not to hit friendlies.”

  “In missile range, sir.”

  “Wait until we’re at our new plane, then the units may fire their payloads as they will. We’ll hold our turbolaser fire until we’re in effective range.” I order.

  “Prioritize the far destroyer.” Mi-Kus orders as an addendum.

  “Arrived on new plane, sir.” The realspace navigations officer reports.

  “Fire at will.” I order calmly.

  As the last word leaves my mouth over a dozen concussion missiles emerge from the missile tubes of the two unit’s vessels. Each ordnance racing towards one of the hostile ships. A few seconds pass until one of the Separatist frigates intercepts a missile with its lasercannon. Another missile impacts a droid Hyena bomber, the ordnance laden droid exploding in a large cacophony of colors, enrapturing half a dozen other droid fighters, a lucky hit.

  “Impacts.” Lieutenant Welder calls out as the first missiles smash into the quickly weakening shields of the Separatist destroyers.

  “Entering effective turbolaser range, sir.” One of the strategic Adjutants reports.

  “Open fire.” I order, the words coming easily, despite the magnitude of force they unleashed. Over a hundred streaks of blue racing towards the enemy ships as one. A single thought passes through my mind as I watch the turbolasers impact again and again in a single devastating volley. This was terrifying.

  “Maker on high.” I mutter, had something like that targeted a planet’s surface whatever was below would be turned into a smoldering crater of glass. The weight of my position slams onto my shoulder again, harder than before.

  “General Krugwolt reports successful landing at point Mug. They’ve begun securing the first planetary dockyard and the surrounding area.” Mi-Kus reports.

  “Enemy Subjugator and escorts are heading our way, sir.”

  “Almost insulting to call two Providence battleships escorts.” I mutter as I watch the ships turn towards us on the tactical display. Those three ships could very well outgun my current formation, even if I managed to eliminate the two-

  “Enemy Recusant dead in space, sir.”

  -one Recusant and their escorts. I needed the Venators up here now. My voice carries the urgency of the situation as I bark my question out: “Where is Unit Archduke?”

  “Exiting atmosphere as we speak, sir.” Lieutenant Slas reports.

  “Missiles ready and loaded, sir.”

  “Fire again. Then switch to anti fighter fragmentation.” Mi-Kus orders, causing me to raise my eyebrow at him, before nodding. We’d need to break through the Subjugator’s screens first, might as well break out the specialized ordnance for it.

  “Enemy frigates pulling back toward the Subjugator. Our line’s stabilizing too.” Lieutenant Welder reports.

  “Enemy fighters pulling away from the brawl. They’re moving towards the Red Castle and her escorting Providences. Should we order pursuit?” One of the newer strategic Adjutants asks.

  “Casualties from the brawl?” I ask.

  “Did pretty well. We’re down to thirty eight fighters, but the enemy lost about seventy.” The Sergeant reports.

  “That still leaves around sixty. Better odds than they started with, but not worth the risk, especially after using up a decent chunk of their concussion missiles to gain range advantage.” I advise the surprisingly young officer. He couldn’t be older than eighteen! I continue despite it, keeping the thoughts of an increasingly young officer corps from my mind for the time, “Pull them into picket formation and get their damaged fighters into our hangars for repairs and rearmament.”

  “Sir, General Kota is requesting a size four bombing run on enemy facilities. He has disabled anti aircraft emplacements, but the enemy bunker complex is providing his men trouble.” Lieutenant Slas relays.

  “What does he want two squadrons of bombers for?” I mutter, a quick glance at the tactical display confirms their availability, if nothing else, “You heard the General, divert Bastard and Daughter squadrons alongside whatever’s left of Little Squadron for the run. Change our combined unit’s formation to a spearhead, two lines, our cruisers won’t be worth risking at this scale. Constellation has point, we’ll take her right, Little Star the left, the Mon Cala Star Cruisers after that, the Venators on our flanks. Fondor’s Daughter has the second line. Corvettes on picket duty, consolidate our fighter formations, bombers to light front.”

  The ships begin the adjustments as the approach the Separatist dreadnought and her escorting battleships. The Separatists launch a salvo of missiles at us, followed closely by swarms of Vultures and Tri-fighters. I glance at the almost complete formation. It will have to do, the Venators are almost in position.

  “Change missiles to anti fighter fragmentation, once loaded they are to fire at will.” I order cautiously.

  “Well then, let’s lead the pack, FIRE! If we manage our second before everyone else's first I’ll spend a round for our loaders,” Mi-Kus barks and our first ordnance races forwards.

  “Well at least we know its not a droid leading them in truth, they’re terrible at using their missiles at range.” I mutter to myself as the second, much larger salvo of missiles race away from my formation, Mi-Kus smiling in victory at the good form of the battery.

  “Missiles in range.” One of the sensors officers reports

  “Pickets have their orders.” I reply, the first hostile missile exploding as it’s intercepted by a laserblast from one of our corvettes.

  “Impacts.” One of the strategic Adjutants reports, “First volley, confirmed kills, twenty two.”

  Just then the few missiles that made it past our pickets smash into our shields. The Little Revenge shudders under the force of two impacts, while a further three smash face first into the frontal bridge of the Constellation, her shields taking a heavy beating in the process.

  “Impacts.” The same officer from earlier repeats himself, “Second volley, confirmed kills, eighty one. Enemy forward screen down to six squadrons at most.”

  “Well there goes their fighter screen.” One of the strategic Adjutants mutters.

  “Don’t be so sure. The Seps aren’t exactly known for standardized capital ships.” I admonish. I was expecting at least another wing’s worth of screens for the Subjugator, maybe even a wing of bombers as well. It was hard to be sure at this scale of battle. Instead of a difference of a single frigate or corvette making a battle hard won, an entire wing or three of fighters could hide from battle until it was far too late.

  I doubt I’d ever get this lucky with destroying an enemy fighter screen again. The tactic only really worked in decent battlefield conditions. The space between forces had to be quite open, the enemy fighters had to be unshielded and they had to be unable to avoid the missiles, such as through being in a large formation, or boxed into a smaller space.

  “Sir, enemy Subjugator unit has halted its position.”

  Now the question, would it be better to try and soften them up with our fighters and bombers, risking them to possible enemy fighters, or to go for the brawl: “What is the situation of the rest of our battle?”

  “Bombing run has concluded, General Kota has continued his offensive from point Saber. General Krugwolt reports his corps has almost seized the entirety of their first drydock and plan on moving to point Glass once they’ve secured the area and detached a regiment to set up the explosives. Colonel Xubar of the combined aquatic regiments reports successful completion of preliminary objectives. Commodore Strom’s southern line is holding up well, as is Senior Captain Praut’s center, despite being forced back a dozen clicks.”

  Not terrible, not great either. With my line bent it means either continuing as we were and risking our rears to the Subjugator’s unit, or isolating units Constellation, Archduke and Little Revenge. A defeat in detail stratagem. However it could backfire if not done right.

  My decision made I begin barking orders: “Tighten our formation and begin acceleration. Recommend our central ships focus shields double front. Fire a salvo of long range missiles when in range, hold turbolaser and ion cannon fire until we’ve entered optimal range. We’ll hold our fighters as they are until further notice.”

  This could get risky. I was gunning for something akin to an envelopment here. Using the position of the Venators at our flanks to eliminate the Providences, before coming about and taking the Subjugator from behind. Our other ships would be splitting into a group to go between the Providences and the Subjugator, maximizing our firepower while subjecting us to the heaviest damage. The Constellation would make a run along the Subjugator’s keel, before coming about with her Arquitens escorts to start the targeting of the Subjugator’s engines. Hopefully it will go to plan. Maker I hope so.

  “Missiles away!”

  Maker I hope this will work.