Ch 7: The battle begins
Poe sat in the cockpit of his E-wing fighter, BB-8 locked in his position.
Poe heard BB-9 chirp.
"No, I've never been to Coruscant, I always heard it was a dump."
BB-8 beeped.
"Maybe it was the capital of the old republic, but times change."
BB-8 went off again.
"Maybe, who knows."
"Poe, we're getting close." One of his wingmen said.
Poe took a deep breath.
"Alright, get ready." Poe said as he eased up the hyperspace motivator.
Poe's ship dropped out of hyperspace. Poe and BB-8 able to see the great planet before them. More lights than could be counted lit up the planet surface.
"Coruscant." Poe said, BB-8 beeping.
"I see them." Poe said as he saw the Greartok defenses. Dozens of carriers around the massive fin shaped superdreadnaught.
"Looks like the Supremacy figures. Alright BB-8 transmit the data to the fleet." Poe said as his droid began sending the data.
Onboard the Eclipse Thrawn and Eli were with the admirals and Leia via hologram.
"A strong centered defense." Eli said.
"Indeed, we could come out of light speed directly in front of them, but they could overwhelm us in firepower far faster than we could them." Thrawn said.
"Only the Eclipse has the firepower to take down the Supremacy" Antilles said.
"Yes, we will move in and engage them head on, try to close the distance. Admiral Antilles will take half of the forces and screen right , Grand admiral Ar'alani will take the other half and screen left."
"A pincer movement." Leia said.
"Exactly, we'll draw their carriers and craft away from the center." Thrawn said.
"And get interdictors behind them." Eli said.
"We can do that sir." Admiral Yultz said.
"Good, but we also need to open up a gap for admiral Lyra to get our ground forces on the planet's surface."
"Rogue squadron will help them get to the surface."
"My task force will assist as well." Wolik said.
"The fate of the galaxy is in our hands. May the force be with us." Leia said.
Leia stood with Lando and Wedge aboard the Ackbar. Wedge looking at the crew while taking a deep breath.
"Are you ok Wedge?"
The fleet admiral slowly nodded.
"I shouldn't be the one doing this, he should." Wedge said as Leia put her hand on his shoulder.
"Ackbar was one of the finest men I ever knew, but if he could see you know. What you've accomplished in this war. He'd want you to lead in his place."
"Come on Wedge, you and I destroyed the second deathstar." Lando said.
"A part of me wishes it was as simple as that fight."
"Me too." Leia said.
"All ships, prepare to drop out of hyperspace." Wedge said.
Poe watched behind him as the coalition armada dropped out of hyperspace. The distance between the two colossal space forces slowly decreasing.
"Alright buddy, one more time." Poe said as BB-8 beeped.
The Greartok fleet stayed where it was, allowing the coalition forces to close the gap.
Thousands of star fighters were deployed. But not just Republic and First Order, mandalorian ships, trandoshan mercenary craft, Naboo fighters, umbraran shadow craft, and other craft, all unified together.
Ar'alani stood aboard the bridge of her resurgent class star destroyer, the Ascendency .
"Grand Admiral, all ships are standing by."
"Direct them along the path specified, we need to draw those carriers away from the center."
"Yes ma'am." Ar'alani's ships began moving left while Wedge's moved right.
The Eclipse and a number of support ships moved in the center.
Rogue squadron stayed close to the Finalizer. Many tie silencers joining them.
"Keep up Je'daii, if you can." Poe said.
"Don't get cocky Dameron. The force is guiding our controls." Ben said as he flew an E-wing, R3 latched inside.
The astromech droid shook in the port as she saw Coruscant.
"What? You're afraid? No I'm not going to let buzz droid's cut your head off. I know it happened the last time you were here but these are different circumstances."
R3 beeped.
"Just relax." Ben said.
Moments later they were joined by another ship.
"You kids need any help." Han said as the Falcon flew beside them.
"I don't know, if that bucket of bolts can provide any." Ben said smiling.
"Still don't have any respect for your old man's ship." Han said as Chewie roared.
Anakin flew in a tie silencer with BB-9 in the back.
BB-9 began violently beeping.
"Hold on, we've got incoming!" Anakin shouted.
Thrawn and Eli saw the space in front of them light up as hundreds of not thousands of guided blasts flew from greartok craft.
"Evasive action!" Poe shouted as the coalition fighters and light corvettes began scrambling to avoid the incoming blasts. Poe and Rogue squadron avoiding the blasts only to see dozens of allied fighters get wiped out.
"Speed it up! We have to close the distance!" Poe shouted as BB-8 boosted the speed.
Poe finally saw movement on his motion tracker.
"Alright BB-8 mark em, we're going in." Poe made a sharp bank and spin as he opened up taking out one of the Greartok craft. The others moved as BB-8 marked them and transmitted the data. Poe's wingmen coming in fast and firing.
Poe and BB-8 watched in delight as the other three craft were destroyed.
"Alright! Let's keep it up!"
Across the space above Coruscant, the coalition fighters were in a fierce melee with the Greartok craft.
The each fighter transmitted data to the cruisers which used the data to target the craft. The Finalizer opened up with its fifteen-hundred gun emplacements and tore apart dozens of Greartok craft and combined craft.
Wolik saw three of his kessex class cruisers get enveloped by the fire from Greartok combined craft, sighting a nearby carrier.
"Cruisers Justice and Flight, full power to shields and move in. Phoenix and Blue squadrons close the gap."
A pair of mediator class mon calamari cruisers put all their power into their shields and sped ahead. Most of the nearby Greartok craft began bombarding the cruisers with their weapons. Despite the sheer amount of punishment, the overpowered shields of the two capital ships held.
With most of the attention drawn to the cruisers, two squadrons of E-wings flew in from below and above tearing apart dozens of Greartok craft and smaller combined craft.
"Frigates, hit those combined craft! All power to weapons!" Wolik shouted.
The remaining kessex class cruisers and nebulan-k frigates opened up on the remaining Greartok combined craft managing to destroy them. Wolik's mediator class mon calimari cruiser fired all of its weapons at full power, Phoenix and Blue squadrons backing them up as they hit the nearby carrier. The overwhelming firepower tearing through the ship's shields and then hull.
Wolik's crew cheering as they saw the ship get torn apart.
Yultz stood on the bridge of his resurgent class star destroyed as they moved along the left.
"Keep the long range fire concentrated on their carriers, we have to draw them to follow us." Yultz said as Mitth'raw'nurodo looked at their fighters from a terminal.
"Dusk squadron, ease up and come port." He said as the Tie defenders slowed down. A salvo of Greartok blasts coming at them.
"Full speed now!"
The Tie defenders rushed forward and past the blasts which began to turn and follow them. However, they had managed to calculate the data from the blasts and sent it back to Yult'z ship.
"Fire at these coordinates!" Mitth'raw'nurodo shouted as dozens of long range guns from the star destroyer opened up and hit several of the craft. With many of the blasts now vanishing, it allowed the free'd tie defenders to back up their wingmen and shoot down the remaining craft.
"Fullminex come port you're drifting too far towards the Greartok." Yultz said as one of his imperial class star destroyers took fire from a large number of Greartok craft.
The star destroyer tried to move away, but the craft kept swarming it with fire.
"Concentrate your fire on those craft!" All of the ships under Yultz's command opened up, but the nearby carrier kept away many of their fighters with its own fire.
Yultz could only watch as the star destroyer's shields shattered and the blasts began crashing into the command deck.
"Sir, if we come about just enough we could get in range of that carrier."
"Do it, cruisers Fire and Temperance move fast and draw those craft away." Yultz said as two First Order cruisers began moving faster and further away while firing. Many of the craft followed them with fighters focusing their fire on the rear.
"That's it, now!" Yultz shouted as his resurgent got in range.
"Fire!" Mitth'raw'nurodo shouted as the fifteen-hundred guns opened up. The carrier had discovered this but had fallen for the bait. It's shields shattered under the barrage of blue plasma fire before its hull was turned to scraps of burning metal.
"Carrier destroyed."
"Excellent, keep moving as directed."
Anakin steadied the controls of his Tie silencer as Tratha and Arkorous formed up behind him.
"Are you ready Ben?"
"I'm ready." Ben said as R3 gave a nervous chirp.
Ben did a barrel roll near several Greartok craft, drawing their fire as R3 marked their data.
Anakin, Tratha, and Arkorous flew in and tore the two combined craft apart, hitting them from below.
"Nice work." Anakin said before Ben was nearly hit, his shields buckling from the nearby explosion.
"What was that?" He said before R3 wailed, Ben finally seeing five hornet like craft flying after him while firing plasma bursts.
"Damn it, I need help over here, I can't shake em." Ben said as he tried his best to lose the craft.
"We're trying." Anakin said as more Greartok blasts began to follow them.
"I've got you." A member of Rogue squadron said as he came in from behind and shot two down.
"Just a few more." He said before two of the craft turned and flew at him.
"Ahhh!" The pilot shouted as the craft crashed into him and ripped his ship apart before returning to Ben.
Ben tightened the grips on his controls before hearing explosions behind him.
R3 chirped in delight as she saw the Millennium Falcon fly in and shoot them down.
"Still think she's a bucket of bolts?" Han asked as Ben exhaled.
Poe moved fast, shooting down several of the hornet like craft with the Fang Claw backing him up.
Each one Poe missed, Taul hit.
"You're a pretty good wingman Mandalorian."
"It's Mandalore now slick." Taul said as Poe smiled before seeing a mediator class mon calamari cruiser get torn in half.
Poe's eyes widening as he saw one of the energy serpents fly through space.
"Incoming!" He shouted as the serpent flew right at them.
A blinding flash of green light enveloped Poe's view screen as he saw the laser hit the serpent and turn it to ash.
The Eclipse coming closer and firing thousands of its guns. The guns tore apart two Greartok carriers before several ship sized blasts of green energy flew from the Supremacy crashing into two mon calamari cruisers and a resurgent class star destroyer, the three ships turned to scrap.
"Keep your distance from that ship!" They heard from Wedge over the com link.
"Come on, we need to clear a path for the ground forces!" Poe shouted.
Rogue squadron and the Je'daii pilots flew at a pair of Greartok carriers.
"If we can take out those carriers, we can make a gap in their formation." Poe said.
"Clear out those craft and the Finalizer can take out those carriers." Lyra said.
"Rogue squadron draw em out." Poe said as he and his pilots began flying past the hidden Greartok craft.
The craft opened up and began combining while hornet craft were deployed.
The Falcon flew in fast and shot down several of the hornet craft. However, the combined craft managed to shoot down three of Poe's pilots.
"Je'daii!" He shouted before Anakin and the others flew in from above and below, they hit the combined craft and destroyed them.
"Admiral we're in range!"
"Fire!" Lyra shouted as the Finalizer opened up with eighteen-hundred gun emplacements. The Errant Venture and other ships in the Je'daii and Mandalorian fleet joined in as the two carriers were torn apart.
"We're clear! Into the breach!" Lyra shouted as the ships raced forward. Poe saw as the fleet made it past the blockade and towards the planet's surface.
"Rogue squadron! New orders, you're to escort the Eclipse until it's axial gun can get in range of the Supremacy." Wedge said as BB-8 beeped.
"I know, who would of thought we'd be guarding star destroyer. Alright Rogue squadron you heard him, let's go!" The E-wings flew back towards the Eclipse Thrawn staring out at the Supremacy while Rogue squadron and ten Tie defender squadrons flew around the monster super star destroyer.
The Finalizer and other coalition ships reached the lower atmosphere of Coruscant. Below them was the vast city, much of it had remained as it was, other areas modified with Greartok structures.
"We all remember our missions, we must draw the Greartok forces away from the palace so that the Je'daii can kill Snoke. You have your designated areas, prepare for deployment." Hux said as troop transports began to be deployed.
The sky soon lit up as Greartok craft and ground defenses began firing.
"Evasive action!" Lyra shouted as several transports were hit and destroyed.
"Enemy fire is too thick! We need to pull back!" A captain shouted.
"Are there any civilians in that city below?" Lyra asked
"Everyone was either evacuated or killed by the Greartok." The twi'lek smiled.
"Return fire."
The Finalizer and its support ships opened up on the city below. Dozens of Greartok craft caught in the crossfire were vaporized as massive buildings were hit and torn apart.
The city below engulfed in fire and destruction.
"No civilians to worry about, it's a bombers dream." A republic pilot shouted as she flew in with dozens of Y-wings and Tie bombers.
The ships strafed the ground hard, focusing on the areas where the Greartok had terraformed and built around.
"Clear an LZ!" Hux shouted as the Finalizer flattened a Greartok structure area.
"All clear, save the galaxy!" Lyra shouted.
The transports began moving down to the cleared areas. An AT-M6 dropped down with Hux and FN-0001 inside.
"Deploy the stormtroopers!" Hux shouted as more acclamator class transports landed and began deploying hundreds of thousands of stormtroopers.
In other areas republic and allied soldiers poured out. Wookie warriors, trandoshan mercenaries, twi'lek extremists, Talz warriors, and many more.
The soldiers rushed through the burning streets before they felt the ground shake and a loud marching sound.
Hundreds of thousands of Greartok drones marched in lockstep formation at them, above them flying drones and centipede tanks crawling on fallen buildings.
Standing near the front were Finn and Nines. Behind them, thousands of stormtroopers from the FN corps backed up by dark troopers, AT-KTs, AT-ATs and AT-M6s.
Finn and Nines noticing the stormtroopers turning to them and the other MAC troopers near the front.
"Do you want the honors?" Nines asked.
"No go ahead."
"Thank you, FN corps, attack!" A deafening chant from the stormtroopers began as they charged forward. The Greartok forces charged as well, just before colliding, the FN corps made incredibly efficient maneuvers into the debris and half destroyed buildings. They took up firing positions and began firing into the drones, killing them in droves.
Finn and Nines got into a position near some debris providing them cover.
"Form up! Set up a line of fire!" Finn shouted as he shot down flying drones that came over them.
Groups of stormtroopers carrying riot shields took position as stormtroopers with gatling guns opened up over them.
Nines joined them as he shot down flying drones over them and combined flying drones with mortar rounds. Finn saw combined drones crawling across the buildings trying to get the stormtroopers inside. He put an attachment onto his carbine and fired it at three of them before pressing a switch on the attachment, the three combined forms exploding.
Inside the buildings the stormtroopers were backed up by Chiss operatives who used sniper rifles and rapid grenade launchers.
"Clear the way!" Finn shouted as he saw a group of dark troopers march forward. The mark IIs opened up with hand held turrets while the Mark IIIs fired their wrist turrets and rocket launchers, blowing apart combined drones.
However, as they got closer, Finn saw a mark II get lifted up and ripped in half by a Greartok warrior who shouted as ten others revealed themselves.
The metal centipedes crawled over the buildings and began firing into them, killing groups of stormtroopers and chiss.
Similarly on the ground, Finn and Nines saw as the Greartok warriors absorbed the ocean of fire harmlessly and tore their way through the dark troopers as well as any stormtroopers in their path.
Two saw their position and made a mad dash towards them.
"Finn the mask!" Nines shouted as Finn nodded.
"Eat this!" Finn shouted as he fired the attachment three times at a Greartok's neck.
He then detonated them, the Greartok crying out as his helmet was knocked off. Nines fired a mortar round into the warrior's face.
The second one revealed ten massive blades from his armor and literally cut through the debris around Finn's position, he knocked the two commandos back before cutting down a few stormtroopers near them.
Finn tried to get up as the Greartok ran at him. However, Finn was picked up and hurled backwards by the red blast. His armor slightly singed by the explosion, but when Finn got up he saw the Greartok's armor with a massive hole in it.
The ground shook behind Finn as the AT-M6s and AT-ATs came up behind them.
"Fire!" Hux shouted as the walkers opened up on the centipedes and Greartok warriors.
The centipedes were torn apart and the warriors shot down by the blasts of the AT-M6s. Tie defenders and Naboo fighters soaring overhead before strafing the Greartok position, causing heavy losses.
Finn saw more drones trying to swarm over their position only to be gunned down rapidly by blue blaster bolts. Finn saw Phasma step over him , a drone trying to attack her only for the captain to grab it by the throat and snap his neck.
"FN-2187, get up." She said in a cold tone as Nines helped Finn up.
"You're both working for me now."
"…Yes captain."
Across the city , the coalition forces battled the Greartok defenders intensely. Wookies and trandoshans fighting beside each other in the old galactic market sector.
The umbrans fighting in the darkness of the lower levels, republic soldiers in the upper streets with the stormtroopers, and squads of twi'leks in the works. The battle for Coruscant now raging on and above the planet.
Author's note
The battle for Coruscant has now begun
So until next time,
Please review, comment, suggest or ask(VIA PM)
