Star Wars: The Thrawn Campaign
"Grand Admiral Thrawn!?" An angry shout ruptured through the Chimaera's command bridge. Thrawn continued sifting through a report. "Thrawn!" The voice bellowed again. He looked up as if in annoyance, though it was impossible to tell with a genius such as Thrawn. After what seemed like a standard hour, Thrawn looked up. Not a single hint of emotion touching his face, just the cold, calculating look of a mastermind.
"Yes?" Thrawn said solemnly, a stark contrast from Joruus C'Baoth's emotional voice.
"Two Star Destroyers were damaged during the battle. Of course it was not..."
"Your fault, and my men were too slow to react to your command." Thrawn said coldly.
"Well, yes!" Joruus C'Baoth, the dark Jedi screamed.
"After reading through the reports of the engagement I have come to just the opposite of conclusions..." But before Thrawn could finish the screen vanished. The dark Jedi Joruus C'Baoth was recruited by Thrawn to serve as a communicator between ships, he had an incredible talent when it came to controlling others. Now, Thrawn needs him to perform unprecedented tactics if he wants to beat the vastly more well equipped New Republic. Which he will do with the end goal in mind: Restore the Empire to its former glory. Of course C'Baoth had bargained a great deal for his labor, and so Thrawn agreed to bring the dark jedi two jedi, Luke and Leia.
Thrawn looked around the command bridge eyeing for the Captain of the Chimaera, Thrawn's Star Destroyer that served as his flag ship. He looked around at the cluttered desks of the Officers and spotted Junior Captains yelling orders to their subordinates. Finally he spotted Pellaeon, who was speaking to a Tactical Officer, laying out high priority targets for the upcoming attack on Dantooine. "Pellaeon come here."
"Yes, sir?" Pellaeon stuttered in a serious tone, an edge of fright to his voice.
"We are going to be two Star Destroyers short on the raid. Please tell the Bilbringi shipyard command that there will be more to repair than planned."
"Of course sir, right away!"
General Chey, a tall plump man in a black New Republic uniform, was enjoying the view from his command tower. All around massive grasslands with fertile soil, and of course farming goods are the primary export of Dantooine. All of this he had to defend tomorrow. Chey might have been a bit scared due to the reputation of Thrawn and his destructive capabilities. Though he also knew that he had a great advantage, he knew that Thrawn himself was attacking. However, even with Thrawn in command, his pitiful little Empire stood no chance against the huge fleet of New Republic ships! And better yet, they are to land right on top of the Empire's fleet from all directions, sending the Empire scrambling! Chey turned around to walk back to his desk and grab his dessert, but by his second step the door boomed open and a short Communications Officer stepped in.
"Yes?" General Chey boomed.
"New Republic forces will be here at 0300 standard hour, exactly to your specifications."
General Chey smiled; this would be a change of the tide, so far all attacks of Thrawn's have succeeded and had brought the New Republic to shame, many times the New Republic outnumbered the Empire 2 to 1, or even 3 to 1, but this time Chey's victory will bring the New Republic back and defend democracy for all beings. The Rebellion against the Empire had become the New Republic and General Chey would do anything in his power to keep the New Republic from becoming a savage primitive Rebellion again.
"And I can safely assume that they will be dispersed and arrive from all directions, according to my specifications as well?"
"Yes, General!"
Thrawn gazed at hologram sculptures and paintings. As Pellaeon entered he gazed at the art. "Is this all from Dantooine?" he stuttered.
"Yes, you are learning Captain Pellaeon, maybe someday you could exploit art as unbelievably as I do." Thrawn murmured.
"Hmm, thank you, Grand Admiral."
"Now, I have called you down here for a simple command, though not easily understood and I wish you to understand, because you may have to make vital calls on your own."
"What? Oh, very well then." Pellaeon lifted an eyebrow in puzzlement.
"You are to order all the interdictors away from the battle and disperse them randomly around the planet." Pellaeon eyes went wide in surprise.
"Half of their population could escape in the amount of time that the battle will take!"
"Now we do not have too much time to discuss this since we are getting ready to leave hyperspace soon. Listen closely, after studying their art I have learned of a... misconception on my part, and I believe they are planning to surround us. After all this is only General Chey's style."
"So General Chey is leading this defense? How did you know?"
"Simple, some Imperial Viper Droids in the area mapped out the formations of his ships and I could safely assume it was him. I also was given a clue to the planned reinforcements due to his unusual reservation of his ships; it is not in his nature."
General Chey stood at the bridge of Rogue Fire a newly commissioned MC80 Home-One Class Star Cruiser. Out of thin air, star destroyers flooded in, General Chey was looking forward to this battle. But his eagerness vanished a second later when he realized there were no interdictors. He knew they were vital for a battle such as this, after all they prevented any ship in the area from jumping to lightspeed. All the color drained from his face as he tried to comprehend the situation. No interdictors!? Chey grimaced, Thrawn had some tricks up his sleeve.
After the brief hesitation, he forced himself back into the battle. "Intelligence, I need some theories on why there are no interdictors, now. Bring up some data, as well, hmmm maybe they do not have any left?" And then, the first shot bellowed out of the cruiser and the battle began.
Aboard the Interdictor class Star Destroyer Vindakit, soldiers ran to their stations. From all directions of the light gray hallways gunners jumped to their stations and started firing. The conference door opened and Jacen stepped out. He was mid-height, and had a very confident look. Walking around corners with incredible speed he headed towards his cabin.
Jacen knew his team would do great, he just knew it. Jacen walked over to his TIE Pilot Uniform, and began to put it on. TIE Pilot Uniforms were very clunky this was mostly due to their oxygen masks, something that standard TIE Fighters lacked. The Interdictor class Star Destroyers were coming in later than the main fleet. They were doing this so they could intercept the New Republic reinforcements; he was excited to show the worthless Rebels who is boss.
Pellaeon watched in wonder as the huge fleets attacked each other. Pellaeon saw as the Star Destroyer Terror Chase fired off hundreds of blue bolts. Huge lasers streaked across Terror Chase, 10 Y-wings bombarded the main guns of the Terror Chase and TIE Fighter Interceptors flew in behind them. Taking out one by one, the TIE Fighter Interceptors managed to whittle the attack down to 2 Y-wings. Out of the corner of his eye Pellaeon spotted a huge red laser, and watched in terror as the Interceptors were taken out. Pellaeon knew this battle could not be lost. And he hoped Thrawn's plan would work out.
Pellaeon activated his comm-link. "Grand Admiral sir, the Terror Chase has just sustained major damage. Are you sure your scheme will work? If we cannot win the main engagement, how can we manage to hold off the incoming New Republic reinforcements!?"
"Do not worry, I believe I am capable... Once our dark jedi friend arrives, we will be working much more efficiently. Assuming his rage has cooled since the last time I spoke with him. Return to your duties Captain." He said with a smile.
Pellaeon did not understand, how could the Admiral be so confident? Though, he was a Grand Admiral so he must know what he is doing. A blinking light caught Pellaeon's eye. There it was, around one hundred unidentified ships were careening in from all directions. Pellaeon gulped he now realized that the tide of this battle might turn now. And if on queue a blaze of words whizzed across the screen, Tormenter is incoming. That is Joruus C'Baoth's ship, Pellaeon thought to himself as he gulped. Joruus C'Baoth was unstable, and even with the benefits he added, Pellaeon resented having that dark jedi around.
A huge sardonic smile crept across Jacen's face, the New Republic soldiers were not going to win this conflict. That he knew! Jacen opened the door to his command room and prepared to brief his squad. "Pilots! Are you ready to fight for the glorious empire!?"
"We will exercise every power in service to the Galactic Empire, and shall, whensoever I am asked, be prepared, as a loyal servant, surrender my life for this oath." They started chanting, reciting the classic oaths of the Empire.
After their traditional oath, the men stormed towards the hangar bay. Passing battalions of repair droids and massive turbolasers along the way. Finally they reached their designated hangar section. Jacen smiled, a dark black starfighter that only he could call his, a TIE Fighter. His fighter had thirteen red skulls lining its left wing. Marking each of the X-Wings it had taken down. Twin ion engines, powerful turbolasers that can really pack a punch, and of course missing a shield, actually a compliment to some ace pilots who believed they did not need shields to get even the most dangerous jobs done.
After Jacen's moment of wonder he climbed into his monstrous TIE Fighter. Flipping a black switch to his left, the main system activated. A moment later he flicked the switch on, activating the ion engines. Then he ran the diagnostics. All systems were running just great. Jacen smiled; his TIE Fighter took a pretty bad hit during the raid on Saarn; back when he was stationed on the Star Destroyer Stormhawk, he had been promoted directly from a moff to Vindakit. Finally, all the display boards came to life. A view on his left showing a visual of his ship and where incoming bolts would hit. In the center, data showed him every detail he could need, and a comm-link to his right, plus a navicomputer showing where he and the rest of his squad were currently located.
A screech echoed through the hangar and Jacen took off, a moment later the other four members of his squad zoomed into position. "Delta T checking in, over." Drave, another incredibly skilled pilot checked in. A moment later, he heard chants from the other members and they formed up in a V formation.
"Remember who we are up against! Delta Squad! And our mission! Scatter the New Republic Ships and do not give them a chance to take on our main fleet, over."
"Hit 'em when they are weak!" That was Blek.
After two patrols around the Vindakit, bulky mon calamari cruisers blasted into view. Jacen smiled, he could not even imagine the faces of the New Republic fleet commanders. They were pulled straight out of hyperspace at least a minute before they were supposed to. And he knew that by the time they managed to send out their defense ships, their shields would be almost completely obliterated.
"Incoming ion shots!" Blek screamed.
Jacen forced his ship in a hard right spin, as a blue ion bolt shot straight past his port. He looked out into the ever growing battle and spotted Mrax spinning left and right dodging tens of ion bolts. Jacen was far to the left of Mrax and did not have to worry about that many ion bolts. Jacen and his team were creeping incredibly close to the enemy cruiser.
"Approaching target prepare to drop the charges!" Jacen shouted.
Jacen primed the charge, three... two... one... and Jacen slammed the drop button.
Jacen watched as his charge dropped on the shield of the lumpy mon calamari ship. He saw as the shield went down and reactivated, but far lighter in tint. A massive turbolaser bolt flew straight past Jacen's TIE Fighter. Jacen's eyes widened, as green filled his field of view. Yanking the throttle straight up, Jacen checked for any emergency blinkers going off. There were none to be seen. Jacen let out a huge breathe that he did not know he was holding. As Jacen's brain unscrambled itself, Jacen looked to see where that bolt had come from. There it was, the X figure was distinguishable anywhere. It was, of course, an X-Wing.
Jacen yanked his ship to the left, the X-Wing glazed past. Jacen could not believe it, there were black stripes across the X-Wing. Any ace pilot who has done their research knows what that means, Wraith Squadron. Jacen gulped, he had not run into any Wraith Squadron members and he knows their reputation.
"Delta Squad we need you to take down the shields soon! We do not have much time. Over." Command from the Vindakit stated in a coruscanti accent.
"Roger that." Jacen spat. He was beginning to get nervous, taking down a cruiser's shield is one thing, but with a master Wraith Squadron pilot defending the shield! Jacen did not know how he was going to pull this off, but then again, he is not considered an ace pilot for nothing!
Jacen spotted the black striped X-Wing and got on his tail. If he could provide a distraction while the rest of his team took down the shield... But before he could even finish the thought T-Wings flooded in. Spinning left and right he dodged bolts from the T-Wings. "Sithspawn!" He barked. T-Wing bolts zoomed past Jacen. His whole ship shook as one slammed his left wing. And there it was, a buzz in his ear, but not a bad one! He knew what this meant and he dodged T-Wing shots left and right feeling energized. He prepared his charge and fired! Boom! The X-Wing shuddered and flew downward. A moment later and the shield was down. Jacen, along with everyone else in the battle knew that the dark jedi had just arrived!
Pellaeon watched as Mon Calamari ships flared red and broke apart. Left and right, only two mon calamari ships remained. And Pellaeon smiled, with Thrawn, the Empire will defeat the New Republic and bring back its former glory.