“Missiles away!” Lieutenant Miles reports as Mi-Kus keeps his eyes on the ship’s tactical display. It had gotten cozier the last few weeks, new officers coming aboard to take up mostly minor roles required of a Rear Admiral’s flagship. Stars he was the Captain of a Rear Admiral’s flagship! It still boggled the mind of the twenty four year old.

  “Shields double front.” He orders, the Rear Admiral hadn’t lead them truly wrong yet. Sure there had been many a close call, but they had survived Dellalt under him, they had survived fighting General Grievous, the Separatist Commander and Chief under him and Stars he would fight for him anywhere at this point.

  The Rear Admiral’s eyes snap into focus again, whatever mad plan he had decided on finally certain to him. His voice comes out in the usual barking pattern: “The force is splitting in five. Constellation and her escorting Arquitenses are going along the Subjugator’s keel. Senior Captain Sever is to do as much structural damage as possible before coming about to destroy the ship’s engine block. The Venators are to take our flanks and take the sides of the Providences.-”

  Oh dear. Mi-Kus thought. Already guessing where the Rear Admiral was going with this.

  “- Everything else is splitting in two and going in between the Providences and Subjugator. Full broadside action, frontal batteries focusing on the Subjugator if possible. At my mark I want our fighters and bombers to make a run for whatever is left of the enemy screens alongside a quarter of our pickets. The cruiser line is to hold a hundred clicks ahead of the Sep unit. They’re to stop them from moving without my, or in case of my passing, Commodore Jim’s express permission. Understood?”

  It … wasn’t a bad plan. Which was probably the politest thing Mi-Kus could say about it. Sometimes he wished Dericote would just … go full throttle with the crazy parts of his plans instead of half measures. The part with the Constellation was genius, too many ship designers, and to his chagrin fellow officers, forgot they fought in space, a three dimensional area. And yet …

  “Sir, what if they attempt to move upwards?” Mi-Kus asks.

  The Rear Admiral hesitates a moment, Most likely trying to figure out how to threaten the enemy from simply escaping his plan with a relatively simple maneuver.

  “If they make a move for it, I want the Dac’s Guard to push them downwards with her tractor beam array while the Constellation and later the Venators pull her back with their tractor beam arrays. Best move the Dac’s Guard to the center of the cruiser line then.” Is his answer.

  Would that even work? Maybe if the engines were being disabled, or the shields were being overloaded by incoming fire … oh. Mi-Kus forgot that his commanding officer may be … unconventional, but he wasn’t one for missing details either. Mi-Kus nods in affirmation. He knew the Rear Admiral enjoyed seeing people acknowledge his … solutions.

  “Impact. Enemy shields holding. Fighters exiting hangar bays.” Lieutenant Welder reports.

  “Fire another salvo.” Rear Admiral Dericote orders.

  “Constellation wishes to begin her descent.” Lieutenant Slas reports.

  “Hold off until we’re fifty clicks away. She should be able to manage that.”

  “Missiles ready, sir.” Lieutenant Miles reports.

  “Sir?” Mi-Kus asks.

  “Wait until all ships are ready.” His commanding officer orders.

  It takes an agonizing ten further seconds until, “All ships report ready, sir.”

  “Fire at the Red Castle.” Dericote orders.

  The missiles fire off as one, each and every one racing towards the enemy flagship, the Republic ships following behind. It comes out of nowhere when half a wing of Vultures emerge from the myriad of flak and turbolaser batteries along the ships upper spine to intercept the missiles, each and every one of them crashing into the ordnance and exploding in fiery balls of fuel and ordnance.

  “Well, that’s certainly an interesting way of using a fighter screen.” Mi-Kus hears the Rear Admiral mutter.

  “A bit wasteful, isn’t it.” Lieutenant Hursk says, the man’s face mildly disgusted at the thought of using that many fighters to spare the rechargeable shields some damage.

  “An advantage of droid fighters.” Rear Admiral Dericote replies absentmindedly.

  “In max medium turbolaser range, sir.” Lieutenant Welder reports.

  “All ships may fire at will.” The Rear Admiral orders.

  “Hold fire until we have a good lock.” Mi-Kus orders in turn as three dozen turbolasers unleash their fire towards the enemy formation.

  “Give me a hit rate.” The Rear Admiral orders as the first impacts hit.

  Once the last turbolaser smashes into the starboard Providence, Lieutenant Welder starts speaking: “New blood’s first shots ending at about 70%, the couple shots our experienced backbone made had an 85% hit rate.”

  “Expected from the range. We’ll need to run more firing drills when this battle is over.” The Rear Admiral mutters to himself.

  “Sir, we’ve got lock.” The internal comms officer, Sergeant Kyrasam reports.

  “Fire.” Mi-Kus orders. As one each and every turbolaser of the little Revenge unleashes their torrent of fire. The blue arcs race towards the enemy ships as they unleash a final salve of missiles towards the Republic formation. A couple of the missiles end up intercepted by the turbolasers as they arc through one another. As the blue flames smash into the shields of the Subjugator and her escorting Providences the Republic’s pickets start picking off the incoming ordnance.

  Only one of the missiles impact the Constellation as the first Separatist turbolaser salvo emerges from the frontal portion of the Separatist warships. Mi-Kus had already decided that after this salvo he’d order the shields to be redistributed to cover the entire ship, yet as the swarm of turbolasers raced towards the Republic force he hesitated. Would it even matter at this scale? How much larger would a battle need to be for something like shield distribution on a single ship to matter as much as a single fighter? A terrifying thought he decides, one he doesn’t wish to know the answer to.

  The turbolaser fire chooses that moment to hit the formation. Coincidentally it is the moment just after every turbolaser of the Republic force has unleashed the last unified returning salvo. Despite that hundreds of turbolaser blasts impact the formation. The first large casualties of the battle happen in the blink of an eye as two Corvettes and one of the formation’s Arquitenses break. The Little Revenge’s shields absorb the handful of impacts, but hold firm.

  “We’ve lost the Austerity V, the Waterfowl and the Ikti’s Serenity.” Comes the nervous report from Sergeant Ivytch.

  “We’ll keep to the plan. Begin splitting the formation.” The Rear Admiral orders, his voice colder than usual, slightly detached from the world surrounding him.

  “Spread the shields about and rotate our missile tubes towards the Subjugator. Load proton torpedoes and prepare first targeting solution.” Mi-Kus orders.

  “And keep the Lucky Kelp close to us, advise Commodore Jim the same of the Prince’s Duty. Their firepower in close proximity is dead useful, but I don’t trust their hull strength against the current barrage.” The Rear Admiral adds, nodding at Mi-Kus’ decision.

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  “Adjusting vectors.” The Helmsman says after a short comparison with the notes of the realspace navigations officer.

  “Formation’s splitting apart well.” Lieutenant Welder reports.

  “Order the Constellation and her escorts to up their speed. Inform our rear line that this is the very last chance they can recalibrate their shields and prepare for-” The Rear Admiral’s orders are interrupted by a smattering of incoming turbolaser fire smashing against the shields of the Little Revenge. He continues on as if nothing had happened, “-for imminent heavy fire.”

  Mi-Kus wasn’t sure but he thought he heard the Rear Admiral mutter one of his quick prayers after he finishes the orders. Despite it the ships begin peeling off into the smaller groups and making a run for their destined positions. Mi-Kus hated running the gauntlet of a double broadside and knowing the Rear Admiral this would be less of a running and more of a crawl as they’d attempt to smash the enemy to bits.

  “All bombers and half our fighters to advance on the Red Castle!” The Rear Admiral barks as another salvo of turbolaser fire leaves the turrets of the Little Revenge and her remaining group, “Prioritize the destruction of the enemy’s shield generator arrays, their hangar bays and any strategic object of opportunity.”

  Mi-Kus halts at the last order? Why would they need to target the Subjugator’s hangar bays? If the enemy was following standard tactics the droid fighters were either already deployed, or currently mulling about on the ships’ hulls.

  “Sir? Why the hangars?” He asks.

  “If the enemy hasn’t deployed all of their fighters yet, it’ll either force their loss or a premature deployment. If they have deployed them it’ll stop any ad-hock repairs and refueling efforts here.” His superior officer answers easily.

  “Entering the gauntlet, sir.” The Helmsman reports, his voice calm despite the absolute hellish situation they had just entered.

  “All ships, fire at will.” The Rear Admiral orders, his voice cold and calm. All hell breaks loose.

  “Break neck pace, fire in own time!” Mi-Kus barks, receiving a nod of affirmation from the Little Revenge’s gunnery Adjutant. The given order was one rarely given, naval doctrine believing a well coordinated battery firing as one was better long term in comparison to a battery where each gun fired off as many shells as possible while only making critical repairs if necessary. At least in the newest model of Dreadnoughts any failure shouldn’t lead to a voiding.

  “Torps away!”

  “Move the Wave above us, I want a better shield against their upper batteries!” The Rear Admiral orders as fighters and bombers swarm one another while trying to break the enemy shields. Streaks of blue, red and cyan racing throughout the melee brawl of fighters, smashing into enemy ships before new arcs emerge from batteries to find their own targets.

  “Shields at half!” One of the techs warn.

  “We’ve lost the Nimble II.”

  “Enemy Providence’s shields broken!”

  “Concentrate port fire on the Providence’s batteries, we need to lighten the flack.” Mi-Kus hears himself order.

  “Hold position until further notice!” The Rear Admiral barks, his order followed by a streak of red barely missing the bridge. That would have been bad, Mi-Kus thinks. The Rear Admiral continues as if the ship isn’t being fired upon, “Give me our shields and the position of the Constellation and the enemy shields!”

  “Shields holding at just short of half.” One of the techs answers first.

  “Constellation has slowed her unit’s speed, going about a third of the way along the bottom of the Subjugator.”

  “Providence’s shields have broken all arou-” the officer is interrupted by a shuddering of the ship as the shields take another volley of turbolasers, “-nd”

  “Subjugator’s shields holding, can’t be sure, but I’d put it at about sixty, maybe fifty percent, sir.” Lieutenant Welder finishes.

  “Order the Venators to begin moving towards the rear of the Subjugator. What’s our fighter situation?”

  “With the reinforcements from unit Archduke we were at about two wings and a half, now we’re down to about a wing and a quarter.”

  “Active enemy fighters down to about a wing themselves.” Lieutenant Welder reports.

  “We’re suppressing their hangars, the won’t be able to launch until it’s too late.” Mi-Kus adds. Another point towards the Rear Admiral’s strategy it seems.

  “Keep up the pressure. Be sure to cycle any vulnerable corvettes, frigates and light cruisers towards our cruiser line for emergency repairs and shield recalibration” Throughout the conversation on the bridge streaks of desperately fired turbolaser fire and ion blasts were hurled between the participating ships.

  Then a shout of surprise, making Mi-Kus, alongside all of the strategic Adjutants, snap his head around to the point of origin. One of the sensors operators was pointing out of the viewport towards the Providence as part of her hull suddenly exploded from seemingly nowhere. A lucky shot? Then another explosion at the ship’s hangar bay, then another near her engine block. The entire ship seemed to be burning out from the inside. Some ship must have hit a poorly maintained fuel line, or maybe a cash of munitions.

  “Pull the ships remaining on our port to above the Providence to give their maximum firepower towards the Subjugator.” The Rear Admiral orders calmly. As Mi-Kus looks back towards him he finds his commanding officer with his eyes still locked on the tactical display.

  “Wave’s suffering shield failure.”

  “Keep her in position. She should be able to take a decent pummeling.” The Rear Admiral orders, his voice snapping at the strategic Adjutant.

  Mi-Kus agrees, command and control was vital for a battle like this. It would certainly be decided with the fate of the Subjugator, but it could certainly last for a couple days, especially if reinforcements from Mintooine arrive. Keeping the Rear Admiral, and his flagship, alive would be far more beneficial than having two Commodores arguing over tactics. He frowns at the thought. From his experience with Commodores Strom and Jim, they would likely not fight one another. More probable would be them fighting with Brigadier General Krugwolt and General Kota. The Captain shakes his head to clear his mind. This was not the time for probabilities of the future. The shields buckling under another smattering of turbolaser impacts seemingly agreeing with the man.

  Finally the joyous cry is heard in the bridge: “Subjugator’s shields are down!”

  The Rear Admiral frowns slightly, but nods in affirmation. The Republic vessels continue to exchange fire with the Subjugator, pummeling one another into slag as the vessels with broken shields find their armor taking heavy hit after heavy hit.

  “Shields are down!” One of the techs warns.

  “Hold firm.” Mi-Kus orders.

  A squadron of Y-Wings take that moment to strafe the hangar bay of the Subjugator. Their proton torpedoes exploding within the vessel’s hull. The explosions seem to ignite something, a munitions cache maybe? A couple Hyenas that hadn’t moved from the hangar? It doesn’t matter as the entire hangar bay starts spewing fire.

  “Bastard froze up.” The Rear Admiral mutters in disgust, “Should’ve just locked down his hangar. Make a note of it.”

  One of the Adjutants nods and makes a quick note on his datapad. Another series of explosions rock the outer hull of the Separatist warship. The Little Revenge shudders in turn as her hull receives a handful of impacts from the Separatist warship’s batteries.

  “Hull breach at the secondary life support system.” One of the techs warns.

  “Lock it down. Send out a detachment of damage control teams and mechanics asap to ensure it’s still functioning.” Mi-Kus orders.

  “Why would we be getting an alert for the Life support … unless,” The Rear Admiral mutters, before snapping to attention and barking out orders, “Helmsman, rotation one eighty on axis. Addendum to the Captain’s orders, send a large detachment of damage control teams throughout to affected area. We must have been hit by something harder than a turbolaser to break almost to our spine!”

  The ship shudders again as further turbolaser blasts smash into the armored hull of the command ship. Then an explosion rocks the side of the ship. Mi-Kus rapidly punches in a quick sequence to replace the strategic display with that of the ship’s interior. She’s missing a chunk of data between the secondary life support system and the outer hull, but nothing else is marring her.

  “What was that?” Lieutenant Hursk asks, fear in his voice.

  “Damn, that was the Vambrace II.” Lieutenant Welder mutters.

  Mi-Kus changes the display back to the strategic display and finds a grayed out Consular depicted just beside the Little Revenge. Clearly haven taken the hit for the command ship and suffering for it.

  “Maker keep ‘em.” Mi-Kus hears the Rear Admiral mutter to himself.

  “Red Castle’s lost her primary bridge, sir.” One of the sensors officers reports.

  Mi-Kus gazes through the windows for a second to confirm the sensor officer’s words. Her words ring true, as the entire bridge has been replaced by scrap and debris, a small fire leaking from the elevator shafts connecting the bridge to the rest of the ship.

  “Any escape pods?” The Rear Admiral asks, as another shudder goes through the ship.

  “Can’t say yet, sir.” Lieutenant Welder answers.

  “Keep an eye out for any. Nabin’ a Sep Admiral would be worth all the paperwork.” The Rear Admiral answers.

  “Sir, damage control teams have a preliminary report. Decks twelve through fifteen have suffered damage from outer hull to the secondary life support system. We’ve essentially got a Tri-fighter sized hole in our starboard. Found the droid too, but it’s been turned to slag. We’ll need to go into drydock for full repairs.” The damage control lead reports.

  “We’ll keep our current position. Once the Red Castle’s down we’ll move to a safer position for the rest of the battle.” The Rear Admiral orders, causing Mi-Kus to frown. They really should pull back. A lucky turbolaser blast could disable the Little Revenge. Though he supposes they’re lucky that they haven’t been hit near the rear of the ship, fuel lines and tibana reserves are always a dangerous weak-point in ships and either fortified to all hells or placed at the edge of the ships for emergency jettison.

  He goes to voice his objection, but Lieutenant Slas interrupts him: “Sir, enemy forces have broken through our center, they’re trying to box in our southern forces.”

  Lieutenant Welder adds his own bad news to the mix: “Sir, I’ve got another enemy formation heading towards us. They just emerged from the horizon of Pammant. One Recusant light destroyer, four Captor class cruisers, six Gozantis and about two wings of fighters screening them.”

  The Rear Admiral looks over the strategic display for a moment before barking out his orders: “Divert unit Arkania to the center, they’re to rally the rapid response units and any remnants from the two central units for a counter. See if they can reconnect the line and force the enemy back. Sitrep on the Red Castle?”

  “She’s suffered over twenty major hull breaches, sixty minor ones and she’s lost around half her batteries. Enemy battery efficacy and accuracy down to forty four percent, sir.” One of the strategic Adjutants answers.

  The Rear Admiral taps on his holster repeatedly, continuing the grating practice through an explosion rocking the ship.

  “We’ve lost engine two!”

  “Constellation reports destruction of all but one of the enemy’s engines.”

  Finally the Rear Admiral comes to a decision: “Any ship unable to sustain engaging the Subjugator class Red Castle until she has been disabled, move towards our line. All ships which still can are to finish her off. Second line, spearhead formation. Fondor’s Daughter has point, damaged ships will take the second line. Pull half our fighters with us and a quarter of our bombers with us!”

  “Sitrep on our shields!” Mi-Kus barks.

  “Need another minute, sir. The hit on our life support jostled the recalibration.” He hears in reply.

  Mi-Kus suppresses a curse. He wasn’t sure how many more hits the Little Revenge could take. Thank the Stars as he realizes the Rear Admiral has given him an option to pull out of the broadside engagement.

  He pounces: “Get us out of here, NOW!”

  “Give ‘em a parting gift. After that right ourselves.” The Rear Admiral addends the order.

  A volley of proton torpedoes and a smattering of turbolaser and lasercannon blasts leave the Little Revenge as they begin pulling away from the Separatist dreadnought. Another shudder shakes the ship and Mi-Kus almost falls into the technician’s trench before righting himself.

  “Just lost engine one!” Comes the bark from the Tech he had almost fallen on.

  The Little Revenge slows slightly, but keeps pace with a handful of other damaged and limping Republic warships. A semblance of a formation begins to develop through habit and drill, the Little Revenge taking point of the arrowhead, the other ships falling around her. Then a large explosion behind. Mi-Kus turns to the tactical display to see a large chunk fall away from the Red Castle’s aft section.

  “Pull the Constellation’s unit to follow our position, Unit Archduke is to hold their position, I recommend they use the wreckage as cover.” The Rear Admiral orders, his voice surprisingly calm for how close Mi-Kus feels they had just come to their fiery and freezing death.

  “We’ve fully entered the speartip formation, sir.” Sergeant Tibbs reports, the Toong strategic Adjutant speaking up for the first time during the battle.

  “Senior Captain Sicato is to pounce on the enemy heavy destroyer’s engine block, time to break up the enemy formation.” The Rear Admiral says, the unnervingly bloodthirsty glint in his eyes and an unsettling smirk growing on his face. Mi-Kus felt a shiver sneak down his spine.