A/N: I do not, nor do I claim to, own Harry Potter or Star Wars
Confederate
Chapter 1
Hunt
War grips the galaxy!
As the CLONE WARS extend across entire systems, SEPARATIST and REPUBLIC supply lines grow longer and more under-protected. Pirates and convoy raiders alike harass convoys civilian or otherwise, striking fear into all spacefarers. Few of these convoy raiders are as feared, nor as successful, then the mysterious Captain HARRY POTTER of the SEPARATIST ALLIANCE. His fleet of destroyers has left two entire sectors in chaos as desperately needed aid is unable to reach the REPUBLIC loyalists! It is up to ANAKIN SKYWALKER and his padawan, AHSOKA TANO to bring this privateer to justice!
The door to the bridge of the Resolute slid open rather noisily, allowing a pair of figures access to the bustling station.
The taller of the two was a young man perhaps in his twenties with a head of unruly, dusty hair. His uniform, far from the military sharpness typically seen in Republic officers, was a mix of dark blues and reds, bearing the emblem of the Jedi Order on his shoulder pads. Though he did not look like much, this Jedi Knight was one of the most infamous of his order, known across the galaxy as the 'hero with no fear'. Justifiable, as this Jedi was one to lead from the front with a lightsaber in hand, commanding his legion in glorious combat.
The other, more diminutive Jedi was a young woman in her early teens. Her orange skin certainly contrasted with the pale tone of her fellow, though given the presence of other species in the galaxy beyond human, her kind was not an uncommon sight. The most stand-out part of her appearance was, however, her 'lekku', tentacle-like appendages on her head, a defining feature if the Togruta race.
These two were, in order, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his Jedi Padawan: Ahsoka Tano. These two were the Jedi commanders of the infamous and skilled 501st legion, and commanders they certainly were. Though they had a tendency to be hard-headed and brash, the duo were competent as they were skilled.
"General on deck!" A trooper dressed in a drab, blue uniform barked, snapping off a crisp salute to the duo of Jedi. The rest followed suit, even the wizened admiral.
"The council has a mission for us, Admiral?" Anakin asked in the form of greeting, the men returning to their stations and tasks soon after. The 'Admiral' as he was called was taller than even Anakin, his brown hair and mustache beginning to show shades of grey, as per his age. However, the life in the man's eyes was of a far younger man, a younger man not yet ready for his age to slow him down.
To the man's side was one Captain Rex, a clone Captain serving as a commanding clone officer of the legion and Anakin's most trusted accomplice. He held his helmet under one arm, standing stock straight with only the slightest hint a grin at his lips.
"Indeed, sir." The Admiral stated, manipulating the console attached to the table that now separated the Jedi from the two officers, "We have received reports of several squadrons of Separatist convoy raiders operating in this sector. Our task is to either capture or kill their commanding officer."
"Who is this slimeball, then?" Anakin asked, crossing his arms as a hologram took shape before them.
"Captain Harry Potter of the 4th Destroyer Squadron and acting commander of the 23rd Convoy Raiding Fleet." The man that appeared was not a neimoidian, nor any of the other primary races leased out to the Confederacy from their many (shadow) supporting companies. He was a man, though one that seemed to have reached the end of his golden years. Lines of exhaustion and age had taken form across his face, only bringing the lightning bolt scar on his forehead into sharper relief. His hair, a mop of black, seemed to still be healthy, though for how much longer remained to be seen. His expression was severe, that of a practiced and disciplined officer of the military. His piercing eyes glared forwards, hidden behind a pair of rather archaic spectacles.
His crisp uniform, likely the grey of the Confederate Admiralty, was all they could see of his thrust forward chest, his officer's cap held under one arm.
"Certainly no Grievous," Commented Ahsoka off-handedly as she stared up at the severe face of this man.
"The most normal looking ones tend to be the worst, what do we know about this Potter, Admiral?" Anakin asked, redirecting his attention back to the Admiral, who was now reading from a datapad.
"Harry James Potter, aged 42 standard years, formerly ship officer of the Commerce Alliance Enforcer Fleets Division. He is Five foot five inches and is a legal resident of Raxus Secundus."
"Legal Resident?" Ahsoka repeated, eyeing the Admiral with confusion.
"His place of birth is not listed."
"Not important," Anakin said dismissively, waving a hand, "What do we need to know about this sleemo?"
"Captain Potter commands four squadrons of raiders, though only one does he do directly. His ship," The hologram shifted to that of a Light Destroyer, though one that seemed seriously stripped down, "Is the Ginevra's Revenge, signified by the lightning bolt painted off the port bow."
A brief flash on the hologram displayed the rather simplistic marker for all to see.
"Seems he takes pride in that scar of his." Rex commented, eyes narrowed as he took in the ship, "And that is no regular Destroyer."
"Correct, Captain," The Admiral agreed, bringing one of the gun decks into view, "Captain Potter's danger comes from his quick and devastating attacks, relying upon fast and lightly armed ships to pursue and destroy convoy ships." The hologram quickly changed to display four other ships alongside the Ginevra's Revenge.
"Captain Potter's preferred fleet is made up of five similar Destroyers."
"You said the Captain commands several other squadrons?" Anakin brought up.
"Aye, sir. He commands the three other squadrons of the fleet, all made up of, primarily, heavy frigates."
Anakin nodded slowly, scratching his chin as he studied the fleet, which appeared in its entirety on the hologram.
"Where did a Captain get a fleet this size?"
"Allegedly, his superior suffered a serious injury which led to his death aboard a medical station. In the period that the Separatists looked for a replacement, Captain Potter more than proved his competence in subsequent raids, showcasing a 100% success rate. As such, the Seps have put a permanent hold on the search for a replacement Admiral, though refuse to promote the Captain."
Anakin scoffed, looking at the man's face again with a sneer.
"Odds are he was the reason for his commanding officer's injuries?"
"Most likely, sir."
"Huh… Typical. Why did the Council decide to send us, then? He's just one man with a few underpowered Destroyers."
"I wondered as much as well, sir," The Admiral brought up a new hologram, a Sullustan that Anakin quickly identified as a Jedi, based on his robes, "That is, until I learned they had sent another Jedi General after the venerable Captain. General Ruuan," Anakin silently admitted he was unfamiliar with his fellow Jedi, a regrettable case, "was dispatch to engage the Captain. He went silent and it wasn't until a week later his fleet of three Venators were found destroyed, alongside the convoy they were escorting."
Shock rippled through the crew at that announcement, it was rare for entire fleets of Venators to be wiped out with news reaching someone. Fear and hints respect for Captain Potter rose among them, not that any present would admit as much.
"All of them?" Ahsoka repeated, more stunned than truly disbelieving. The Admiral nodded, bringing the damage on one of the Venators into sharper relief.
"The damage suffered in indicative of proton torpedo scoring, a task I believed impossible given that fact that the Captain stripped his ships of hangars to make room for light turbolasers."
"So they sent us after this guy?" Anakin asked, leaning onto the table and taking in the full damages suffered by the Venators, their bridges ripped apart and their hulls split.
"General Yoda spoke of your… hem, unorthodox manner of fighting, sir." Anakin cracked a smile at the rather uncomfortable expression of his Admiral and words of the Jedi Master.
"I can't tell if that is a roundabout way of insulting or complimenting me." Anakin mused aloud.
"Probably a bit of both, Master." Ahsoka joked, earning an amused glare from Anakin.
"Regardless, sir, I've taken the chance of writing up a few preliminary plans. The simplest would be the send forth a decoy convoy," The hologram displayed a line of four convoy ships, unescorted, "Upon the Captain's arrival to destroy them, we arrive with the Resolute, Saviour, and Treatise, engaging the fleet."
Anakin watched the hologram for a moment before shaking his head.
"No, even a womp rat would smell this as a trap. We'll have to send at least one ship in as an escort, giving the convoy a sense of authenticity. Admiral, have the Saviour move half its fighter and bomber compliment into the Treatise, the latter will act as the escort."
"Sir?" Asked the Admiral, a request for an explanation.
"The Treatise will need the fighters to help deter the squadron until we can arrive. The moment they are engaged, we will jump in and engage Potter's ship."
"What if we aren't attacked by his fleet?" Ahsoka asked, clearly incredulous at how successful this plan would be.
"Then we capture one of the ships and track Potter to his base, either way, he'll be gone," Anakin shrugged, evidently still not seeing this Captain as much of a threat. There was, likely, a good reason that he had never heard of Ruuan.
"Indeed, sir. We have been granted a collection of four dummy convoy ships, all filled with damaged or destroyed equipment. This should trick the Captain's scanners should he be suspicious."
Anakin gave a sagely nod before clapping his hands together.
"Well, everything seems to be in order, then. Let's get to work."
Sometime later, Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, and Admiral Yularen stood aboard the primary bridge of the Resolute, listening to the radio chatter of the Treatise and its convoy.
"Arrival at the junction in T-minus twenty seconds." One of the operators on a convoy ship stated.
"Copy, cycle shields and hyperdrive upon arrival, we will be five seconds behind you."
"Copy that, Treatise."
The Resolute and Saviour sat in the open void of space, a minute jump from the junction that the Treatise and its convoy were making a brief stop at. Despite his incredulity at Captain Potter's abilities, the man was a Seppie after all, Anakin was prepared for anything. What they lacked in skill, Confederate officers made up for in slime.
"We've arrived at the junction, making way to the hyperspace point."
"Copy, convoy, repositioning."
"Jump in T-minus fifteen seconds- Wait, abort!" All attention turned towards the voice now, which was a mix of panic and anticipation, "Five ships are dropping out of hyperspace!"
"Copy, convoy. Resolute, a squadron of five… Destroyers have dropped out of hyperspace. Repeat, five destroyers!"
Anakin allowed a smile to slip onto his face, it was almost too easy.
"Copy, Treatise," Yularen took over from there, speaking to the Captain of the vessel, "Scramble your fighters and order the convoy ships to retreat to your stern."
"Aye, sir." The radio chatter became incomprehensible for a period, Yularen barking orders across the bridge.
"Well, that was easy," Ahsoka echoed Anakin's thoughts, walking up alongside her master to watch as the Resolute jumped into hyperspace.
"The battle isn't here yet, Snips," Anakin warned, though it was an empty admonishing.
"You're worried?" Disbelief coated Ashoka's words as she regarded her master with a raised eyebrow.
"Hardly. One glorified privateer is hardly a threat." Anakin scoffed, amused as well as annoyed that he was wasting time that could have been spent fighting the war chasing what was, for all intents and purposes, a pirate.
The short, loud ride, however, came to an abrupt and wholly unexpected end when the Resolute and, by extension, the Saviour wrenched from hyperspace. So unexpected was it that both Jedi were sent stumbling forwards, unable to catch themselves in time to stop from falling. Yularen, who had been standing at a holotable, managed to catch himself only by luck.
Much of the crew were not so lucky.
"Ugh… Report, what was that?!" Anakin demanded, stemming the blood streaming from his nose as he rose back to his feet.
"I… I don't know, sir! Something dragged us out of hyperspace!" Yularen called from his position, staring out the window with shock written out on his face, "Though loathe I am to admit this, that is far from our biggest problem."
Anakin, rather confused and incredulous at the thought that the Confederates may have managed to create a machine capable of replicating a gravity well, rose and stared out into the void of space.
They were still several hundred kilometers away, but it was clear the ambush was not going as planned for the Republic. Two of the four convoy ships were already disabled, floating away with flames erupting from their damaged hulls. Somehow, the Treatise had been separated from the rest of its convoy, forced to engage four of the five ship squadron. Two of the destroyers had made their way before the large Republic warship, firing their lightened weapons viciously into the shielded hull of the Venator. The other two attacking it dodged around above, dipping in and out of the effective range of the main turbo lasers. The last destroyer was engaging the remaining convoys, who had abandoned any semblance of order in their desperate bid to escape the larger and faster ship. It had been peppering the hull of the nearer convoy ship when the Resolute and Saviour made their surprise arrival. There was no pause, displaying the reactions only capable of droids, all five ships made instantaneous and simultaneous about-faces, making their way towards the same vector they had, probably, arrived from.
"Admiral put the engines on full, we can't let them get away!" Anakin ordered, but he knew it was a hopeless endeavor. It would be ten minutes, give or take, until the duo of Venators would arrive, and the Seppies would be long gone by then.
"Aye, sir!"
The squadron did make their escape no more than a minute after the fleet's arrival, but that was no longer Anakin's primary concern.
They were now down two convoy ships and fifteen troopers. Each convoy ship was crewed with a skeleton team of four troopers each, the remaining seven lost in the resulting battle of fighters. The Captain of the Treatise stood before the commanding staff of the fleet in hologram form aboard the Resolute, his face set in equal parts embarrassment and anger.
"The squadron of ships jumped in and dispatched fighters attached to their hull, my scanner team believes the droids may have been attached via magnets or some such way. I ordered the convoys to attempted moving behind the Treatise, but two of their number managed to slip below us while we attempted to deal with the two peppering out shields from above. This forced the convoys to flee into the waiting guns of the final ship, which managed to dispatch two of them prior to your arrival."
"Very well, Captain. Is that all there is to your report?" Yularen asked as Anakin mulled over the new found information, waving away the medic that continued to try and inspect his nose. Its bleeding has since stopped, but it now seemed rather inflamed. Ahsoka, on the other hand, seemed to have held on to some of her Jedi grace and got out of the fall without so much as a scrape.
She, thankfully, did not comment.
"Admiral, hail the commander of the Saviour."
"Aye, sir." A moment passed, and the Treatise's Captain was soon joined by that of the Saviour.
"Now, we need to address what happens next, and on that same note, how did they pull us out of hyperspace?" Anakin asked, thoughtful looks taking the many expressions of his fleet's command crew.
"There are very few things in the galaxy capable of activating the emergency stop of a ship, and I am certain that Seppie didn't have a moon stuck on a tow cable behind him," Rex commented lightly, the Captain's attempt at humor earning a few wry smiles from the collected officers.
"The power source needed for a gravity well generator is also far too great to be merely dragged along by a destroyer, nor would one of them be capable of powering it as well as their weapons and engines."
Anakin, who had been deep in thought about how they would proceed perked up at Yularen's words.
"Admiral, what if they were to lower the strength on the ship's weapons and engines?" All eyes turned to Skywalker, understanding beginning to wash over them all after a few brief moments of confusion.
"Perhaps," Yularen seemed the most hesitant to agree, "But that would leave the ship with underpowered weapons, nearly nonexistent shields, and severely weakened engines. The only thing a ship in that state could battle would be a gunship or perhaps a light… convoy… ship." Realization filled Yularen's face, pushing him to quickly pull up the hologram of one Destroyer, "Of course, General, that's ingenious."
"It is?" Anakin repeated, he hadn't really much of an idea past the fact that one of the ships might be purposely weakening themselves to power a generator.
"Yes, sir. The main for destroyers are there to engage or distract the escorts while the weakest of the five destroyers focused on the convoy ships. They, being incapable of fighting back, would be easy pickings even in its weakened state."
"If that's the case, how'd the destroyer keep pace with the other four clanker ships?" Rex asked, clearly not a naval man.
"The Seps just switched it off and redirected power to the engines and shields."
"They can just… do that?" Ahsoka asked, shocked more than anything. Redirecting power like that wasn't an easy task, and required several sections of the ship working in tandem to complete.
"With a droid crew purposely reprogrammed and drilled, as well with good enough communication between one another, anything is possible. The advantage of having a droid crew.." Yularen muttered, drawing glares from the many clones present on the bridge. Quickly realizing his mistake, the man put his hands up in surrender, "I meant in the engineering department! The remainder of the crew is far better suited to be organic."
"Regardless," Anakin brought the Admiral's attention back, the man clone crewman still seeming put out, "Captain Potter is shaping up to be more and more of a problem than originally expected."
"Is that… respect, sir? For a Seppie?" Rex's tone was joking, but the sheathed warning was still there. It was paramount to treason to compliment or speak positively of a Separatist officer. So much of the Republic propaganda portrayed them as mindless, incompetent terrorists who rarely if ever won.
"Only roundabout, he's still a sleemo, and I will rest easy when he can't destroy any more convoys. Back to the subject at hand, how do we find him? He'll be cautious, now, likely not directly involving himself in any raids until his nerves calm."
"Then we fall back to your earlier plan, sir," Yularen explained, altering the hologram to display a squadron of four heavy frigates, "If we can manage to capture one of the other ships, we will likely be able to trace it to wherever Potter is operating from."
"So, we have the basis of a plan, but we've got two convoy ships and Potter's going to be on the defensive." Rex summed up, silencing the growing excitement among the officers. They had the trap, now they needed to bait to draw Potter out…
"Sir!" A communicator officer turned in his seat, addressing Yularen with his headset still on, "A convoy is reporting that they are under attack about five minutes out from here!" Silence reigned for a few moments, suspicions growing within the minds of the crew. This seemed… painfully convenient.
"Captains, prepare for jump in two minutes. Commsman, report our imminent arrival," Yularen ordered, the officers quickly set to work. As the holograms of the other two officers vanished, Anakin turned his attention upon the comms officer.
"Commsman, what is the cargo of those convoy ships?" Confused, the officer repeated the question to the convoy. His confusion only grew as he responded to Anakin's inquiries.
"Nothing, sir. They were returning from a mission." Anakin fell silent, his suspicions roused only further at the unveiling of this information.
"A man of Potter's acclaim would never make the rookie mistake of attacking an empty convoy," Anakin noted, earning a confused glance from the communications officer. Anakin's musings were soon joined by the arrival of his trusted Admiral.
"This is, in all likelihood, a trap to draw us out into battle on his terms." Yularen commented at the Resolute jumped into hyperspace, "But, we cannot waste a chance to catch him."
Anakin was hard-pressed to disagree, but he loathed the thought of knowingly marching into a trap set by a Seppie. Potter was, at least on initial inspection, a cut above the usual crop of Confederate officers.
The bridge was alight again with movement, excitement as well as anticipation mingling among the crew as they prepared for another meeting with Captain Potter. Only the older or more perceptive of their number seemed to realize that they were flying headfirst into a trap, but their trust in Anakin and Yularen proved to be the more controlling belief.
The young Jedi Knight hoped to not disappoint today.
He remained stoic on the bridge, sensing Ahsoka's own excitement intertwined with that of his men, an amusing if slightly worrying sign. A Jedi excited for battle was always a recipe for disaster, filthy rich coming from him. However, he knew not to grow too overconfident, his hand a grim reminder of what could happen. Ahsoka, hopefully, would not learn a lesson as harsh, or more so, than her master.
"Arrival in T-minus thirty seconds, sir!" One officer called up to Anakin amid the chaos of readying crewmen. Anakin nodded, looking back out of the glowing viewports.
"Brace yourselves, the clankers will probably have a gravity well up!" The helmsman warned, strapping himself into his seat and bracing. Most everyone else present did the same, Anakin rushing for one of the seats around the holotable. Yularen, Ahsoka, and Anakin braced themselves - Rex seemed to have made his escape elsewhere on the ship -, expecting the ship being dragged to a sudden stop.
Yet, it did not come. The ship stopped, but far closer and far more stable than any of them expected. Anakin blinked, look out the viewport as the Treatise and Saviour soon joined the capital ship. Before them, the quintet of destroyers decimated the under armed convoy fleet.
"Lieutenant?" Yularen asked, quickly unfastening himself and rising to his feet.
"It seems the Seppies weren't expecting new arrivals, sir. Their generator is down!" The mentioned officer responded, looking from his seat over at the sensor array a few stations down. Amusement bubbled through the crew before they rushed to ready the Resolute for combat. Anakin used the moment to study the 'battle' before him.
The Dreadnaught sent to protect the fleet was left to face four of the five destroyers on its own. Had it been only one, it might have had enough firepower and shielding to win, but all four was too much for the smaller ship. Flames and explosions erupted across its battered hull, signifying the battle was soon to be over. The final destroyer, on the other hand, was engaging the remaining convoys. Instead of the hail of crimson bolts its kin fired, the ship sent scattered, but accurate, shots after the smaller craft. It was clear which one was carrying the gravity well generator.
"Sirs, the Seppies have raised their gravity well!"
"What?" Yularen exclaimed with shock displayed on his mustached face as he regarded the sensor officer, "Why now? Why after we already arrived?"
"It doesn't matter, Admiral," Anakin announced, leaving the bridge with Ashoka hot on his tail, "Order the Treatise to engage the lone ship and move the Saviour and Resolute to assist the Dreadnaught."
"Sir? Where will you be?" Anakin grinned at the tired question of his trusted second in command.
"Doing what I do best, Admiral."
There was nothing more relaxing, and exhilarating, for Anakin Skywalker then flying his ETA-2, weaving around Seppie starfighters in a glorious show of prowess and blaster fire. Hundreds of Vulture Droids had detached themselves from the hulls of the destroyers to engage the fighter complement of the three Star Destroyers, but their effectiveness was limited. Evidently, Potter's fleet was not prepared to fighter nor capital ship warfare. Strangely enough, however, his four destroyers refused to break off from their attack on the Dreadnaught.
"Blue-2, Blue-3, on me, we're clearing a path for our bombers on Potter's ship."
"Aye, sir," The clones responded, their fighters falling in behind Anakin's starfighter. The massive destroyer took up his viewport, glancing shots of red roaring by as Anakin sped through the cloud of fighters.
"Hey, Slammer, loser pays for drinks?" Chattered one of Anakin's wingmen.
"You got it, Ghost, but I've already got fifteen-"
"Focus, guys," Anakin admonished them over the radio, moving his fighter slightly to avoid one of the heavy cannons of the destroyer, "I don't want losses from a lapse of attention."
"Copy, lead." Came their slightly subdued responses, the green bolts of their fighter's laser cannons flickering out past Anakin. A pair of vulture droids erupted in flame, the rest of their wing scrambling out of the Republic fighters' ways.
"Sir, Tri's are flanking around, they're moving to intercept the bombers!" Another pilot warned over the radio, Anakin's sensor warning him at the same moment. With assistance from the force, Anakin spotted the wing of interceptors making a run on the under protected bombers.
"Blue-2, Blue-3, pull back and support the bombers; I can handle things up here."
"Copy, Blue-lead, pulling back." Both of the fighters twisted around, darting into the cloud of fighters battling. Anakin allowed himself a brief grin, now that he didn't have to mind his wingmen he could really have some fun.
"Okay, clankers, let's go for a ride…" Anakin murmured, activating the boosters to give his fighter the kick it needed. The vultures were fast, but not that fast. Pulling up, Anakin ignored the sensor warning him about the three dozen fighters giving pursuit. He weaved to and fro, dodging the hail of missiles and crimson blasters. Certain he had a good enough number of fighters, Anakin dove down on the Ginevra's Revenge, namely one of its heavier cannons. Given how the ship was orientated, only one side of its sides were facing the damaged dreadnaught. That meant an entire complement of heavy cannons were merely pointed off into the endless blackness of space, doing nothing.
That had always been a question of Anakin's, why were Seppie ships built like this? A ship designed for broadside runs seemed highly inefficient for modern combat, especially given the fact that they were (allegedly) purpose-built and dedicated warships.
Ignoring that train of thought for a time, Anakin flew directly at one of the new slowly turning turbo lasers. Its twin barrels raised simultaneously, beading in on Anakin as he closed the distance between himself and it.
"Come on…" He growled, flinching as a blaster bolt glanced off his wing, "Fire…"
After the gunner seemed to take its sweet time, the twin barrels erupted and spewed forth a pair of titanic plasma bolts, hurtling through the emptiness of space and directly at Anakin's tiny fighter.
That was, however, what Anakin had been banking on. With a twist of his yoke, he watched as the bolt roared by and directly into his pursuers.
"Good work, sir! Bombers making their run, let's send this Seppie back to whichever cave he crawled out from!" Anakin grinned like a madman, looking out his cockpit at the massive destroyer, spying the yellow bombers diving towards its bridge.
It took Anakin a moment to notice something was wrong, a dark mass was moving against the backdrop of the destroyer, moving as one continuous group. They were flowing out from beneath the larger ships 'armor'...
"Echo squadron, break, more fighters incoming!" Anakin barked over the radio as he spun his fighter around. There was no time, however, as even the bomber's escorts had broken off earlier, assuming the way to be clear. The wave of reinforcements roared in and decimated the bombers, now engaging the hopelessly out of position and out-numbered clone fighters.
At least there was a ray of hope.
"This is the Treatise, we have engaged the lone destroyer!" Anakin allowed a glance towards the ship in question, relief dawning on his features as the Star Destroyer engaged the smaller Seppie destroyer. They exchanged fire, but it was clear the destroyer was outmatched even at full power, and definitely so at its current state.
Just when it seemed the destroyer's shields were about to fall, however, Yularen's confused and terrified voice came in over the radio.
"Treatise, there are incoming ships off your port side… they have Separatist call signs!" Anakin's eyes widened, shifting in his seat to look out at the Treatise once more. The massive ship was slowly turning to face where the newcomers were coming from, but it was too late. A squadron of four heavy frigates appeared, dragged out of hyperspace by the gravity well generator. It took Anakin a moment to realize that this was all part of Potter's plan.
The heavy frigates, all arranged 'above' the Treatise, quickly gunned their engines and opened fire with their array of under-hull turbolaser batteries. Unlike Potter's destroyer's, these frigates were fully armed.
"Treatise, pull back!" Yularen ordered, but it was a hopeless gesture. The newcomers quickly closed around the Star Destroyer, forcing it to face them all lest it expose its engines to their overwhelming firepower.
"We can't! Resolute, we'll buy you time!" One of the Treatise's turbolasers made one last desperate shot, somehow managing to sheer the back of the destroyer apart. Evidently, that was enough to shut down the gravity well.
"Negative, Treatise, we aren't leaving without you," Anakin stated over the radio, his tone brooking no argument.
"We can't move- Wait… Are those… Boarding craft, inbound!"
Anakin stood in the medical bay thirty minutes later, arms folded behind his back as he looked out the window, into the vastness of space. All around him, the injured pilots from the battle were tended to by their brothers and medical droids alike.
"Blame yourself for the loss of your ship, you should not." Yoda's calming voice spoke in the form of a hologram, the diminutive Jedi standing alongside Anakin. Anakin sighed, lowering his head and closing his eyes.
"How could I have fallen for such an obvious trap?" Anakin wondered aloud.
"Captain Potter, if our records are to be believed, is far more crafty than his counterparts. He likely knew how desperate you were to catch him, even if that meant marching straight into a trap." Obi-Wan's hologram joined them, the Jedi calling in from a battle elsewhere in the galaxy.
"And it cost me the Treatise to realize that."
"No difference a single ship can make, but the last of Captain Potter we have not seen."
Some folks are born, made to wave the flag.
"Fortunate Son, Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1969. Come on, 188, are you even trying anymore?" Harry James Potter, Captain of the Ginevra's Revenge, bemoaned, leaning back in his Captain's seat and glaring balefully at the droid in question. 188, or TV-188, was a tactical droid designated to assist the Captain in his work commanding the fleet.
"I am unable to find a single song on your playlist, Captain, that you do not recognize by the first few words." The droid, somehow, managed to sound annoyed, despite its inability to inflect. Harry groaned theatrically, rising to stare out the viewscreen of his ship, towards his newest catch. The Venator-Class Star Destroyer, formerly known as the Treatise, floated aimlessly around the fleet, being field repaired by the crew of the Inquisitor. The gravity-well ship had suffered heavy damages, forcing them to abandon it. Harry wasn't too proud to admit he got a rather neat reward out of the deal in the form of a new capital ship for his fleet.
"I believe Admiral Tulleron's earlier appraisal of your kleptomania was correct, Captain. Your love for stealing enemy ships will be your downfall." The droid continued, joining him in staring out at the newest addition to their fleet. Harry scoffed, waving the droid off.
"I don't think I'd take the evaluations of a man who managed to shoot himself in the chest with a blaster seriously, 188."
"Admiral Tulleron's brain was well functioning, even if his blaster and hands were not." Deciding that arguing with a droid was a recipe for disaster, Harry returned to his seat and pushed down an unmarked button at his right hand.
"All ships, upon the completion of the Turncoat's repairs, please return to you designated bases, Captain Potter, out." Releasing the button, the Captain leaned back and regarded the fleet for him, fingers steepling on his lap.
The Republic hunting him more actively would prove to be troublesome, so he was now forced to redesign his operations in the local sectors… and he had just the idea.
