Authors Note: Okay, here it is, the long-anticipated Second Battle for Kashyyyk! This chapter is all about space, space, and more space. That being said, this was a challenge for me to write, I've never done a space battle as large as this one before. I hope I didn't do too bad.
I also took some liberties with the Infinity's main armament. I know she doesn't technically have a Super-MAC, but I feel that she's large enough to where she can wield one. It won't be able to fire every five seconds however like an ODP, as it draws power off of the main reactors like everything else. Hooray for alternate universe.
Please feel free to leave a review if you have any suggestions for improvement or saw anything you liked.
Enjoy
Disclaimer: I own nothing, but all original content is mine.
Chapter Fourteen: Second Battle for Kashyyyk
Bridge of the UNSC Infinity, Kashyyyk Space
"Admiral! We're getting a message from the Port Stanley!" said the comms Lieutenant.
Lasky's head bolted up at that. He looked around the room, and saw that everyone's eyes where on him. They all knew what that message signified.
"Let it play LT." said Lasky.
The bridge-wide comm crackled to life, and the message began to play Captain Osman's curt, no-nonsense voice.
"Infinity, this is the Port Stanley. We've made positive ID's on the Imperial fleet, composition is as follows: Twenty-five Imperial II-class Star Destroyers, twenty-five Imperial I-class Star Destroyers, fifty-five Victory-class Star Destroyers, thirty-five Acclamator-class cruisers, forty Tartan-class cruisers, forty-five Carrack-class light cruisers, and five Escort Carriers. Two hundred and thirty warships in all. I repeat: Two hundred and thirty ships. We've also ID'd forty troop transports, thirty freighters, and a few fuel tenders, all ranging in size and tonnage. As of this message the fleet is reorienting itself to prepare to jump towards Kashyyyk. Estimated time to arrival: thirty minutes. The Port Stanley will depart as soon as we confirm the Imperial jump, we'll get there as soon as we can. Good luck, Osman out."
The bridge was silent for a moment as the crew processed what they had just heard.
Lasky quickly ended the brief seconds on inactivity. "Well you heard the lady, alert rest of the fleet and the ground elements. Has Admiral Ackbar checked in yet?"
The comms officer replied, "Yes sir, the Alliance fleet is waiting just outside the system, waiting for your word."
"Good." he replied, nodding. The plan was once the UNSC fleet engaged the Imperials, Ackbar's ships would jump in behind them and catch them by surprise. It would be no means be a killing blow, but hopefully would even the odds a little more in their favor.
"What's the status on the fleet-wide MAC upgrades?" Lasky asked.
"All ships reporting upgrades complete sir." he heard.
That piece of news gave Lasky a little bit of relief. Without the modifications, this battle would probably be a lot more one-sided.
"What about our upgrades to the secondary weapons systems?" asked Lasky.
"They're almost complete sir. The engineers just have a few more Mini-MAC's to install."
"Get them back inside," Lasky ordered, "Their lives aren't worth the extra firepower. And bring up the Infinity on the secondary holotank."
"Sir!"
Lasky walked over to the tank and saw the UNSC Infinity materialize, the familiar outline of the ship colored a soft blue. He pressed a few holographs and brought up the weapons diagnostics. Lasky smiled inwardly upon seeing them. The Imperials are going to have their hands full with this, he thought.
On the Infinity's bow side lay her main heavy weapons. Two energy projectors, four regular MAC cannons, and the crown jewel of the ship in Lasky's opinion, a single Super MAC. Almost fifty percent of the ships front half was devoted to the Super MAC alone, but Lasky knew it was well worth the space. That MAC gun could put a round clean through a largest Covenant capital ship, and it had performed much the same against Imperial Star Destroyers during the First Battle for Kashyyyk.
The armaments to her port and starboard side had also been extensively revamped, with each side now sporting sixteen Mini-MACs and twenty Onager Mass Drivers. The top face now had an additional nine Mini-MACs in addition to the one that it already possessed, bringing it up to ten, along with another six Onagers. The bottom now had six Mini-MACs, and the stern side had four. Add to that the thousands of missile pods and point defense guns scattered throughout the ship, and the Infinity was armed to the teeth.
It would be a long, hard fight, but Lasky had faith that his forces would prevail.
The next thirty minutes or so was spent preparing: Moving ships into formations, shoring up ground defenses, and ensuring weapons were functioning properly.
Then, it happened.
Warning alarms blared, emergency lights flashed, and the main holotank flared to life, showing a holographic representation of the system.
"Admiral! New contacts at the edge of the system!" said the sensors officer. "It's the Imperials."
Lasky walked over to the main holotank. UNSC ships were shown as blue, while Imperial ships were shown as red. He noticed that there was a significantly larger amount of red than blue.
"Broadcast this across all of our channels," Lasky ordered, "This is Admiral Lasky of the UNSC Infinity. All UNSC and Separatist personnel are to report to battlestations immediately! Repeat, all personnel report to battlestations! This is not a drill!"
The transmission ended, and the Admiral turned his attention to Roland, who had just appeared on the main holotank.
"Alright Roland, what do we got?" he asked the AI.
"Two-thirty warships and assorted support vessels, just as Osman had reported. They're moving towards us on an attack vector, increasing speed, loose formation. Wait, there's a group breaking off from the main fleet, ten Acclamator cruisers, along with all the troop transports. My guess is that they're heading towards the planet to conduct groundside ops."
"Notify General Mason, let him know the numbers he'll be facing. And break off Task Force Delta to harass those Acclamators." ordered Lasky.
Said Task Force consisted of the Refit Halcyon Cruiser Justifiable, and the two Charon Frigates Manhattan and Houston. Their task was to ensure that the Acclamators encountered some resistance on the way down and to provide fire support for the ground forces.
"Admiral, they're launching their fighters. Sensors are showing a little over four thousand."
"Four thousand?" said Lasky, his brows furrowed in worry. The UNSC, Separatist, and Alliance combined only amounted to around a thousand fighters. "Roland, tell our squadrons to stay within range of our ships point defenses, they'd get overwhelmed in open combat."
Lasky looked over to the secondary holotank were the Infinity was shown, and saw the single dark green circle that represented the fleets deadliest weapon. A single NOVA bomb.
Roland followed Lasky's gaze and said, "I know what your thinking sir, and the NOVA's out of the question. The Imperials jumped too close to the asteroid belt extends all the way to Kashyyyk's sun. Use the bomb, and the whole system will be destroyed."
"Nukes?"
"Possible. If we launch them from too far away, the Imperials will undoubtedly destroy them. Once we get into nominal engagement range, we'll still have to screen them with other missiles, and even then, Commander Cracken told us that Imperial scanners can pretty effectively pick out radiation signs. And besides, once the Alliance fleet hits the Imperials from behind, we have as much a chance as damaging them as we do our enemy."
"So we'll have to do this the hard way." he said. Lasky remembered something that Ackbar had told him about shielding though. In this galaxy, energy-based weapons were so common that ship shields were especially tuned to counter it. That didn't mean that projectile shielding was forgotten, it was still implemented to protect against collisions with various objects in space, it just meant that they were weaker than normal. Hopefully it would give the UNSC forces an edge due to their heavy reliance on projectile weaponry.
"Status on the rest of the fleet?"
"Green and ready to go sir."
"Our weapons?"
"All MACs, energy projectors, and pulse lasers are charged, and the safeties are off for our missiles and point defense guns."
"Shields?"
"One hundred percent sir."
"Admiral, the Imperials will cross the Infinity's maximum engagement range in fifteen seconds!" heard Lasky.
Lasky found that his left hand had unwittingly reached into his pocket and grasped the dogtags of his late friend Chyler Silva. He looked down at them and ran his fingers over the smooth metal.
"Very well. Weapons, target lead II-class SD, heavy MAC." said Lasky.
"Aye sir, target locked."
"Target has crossed into range!"
"MAC heavy, fire!" shouted Lasky.
"Firing MAC heavy!"
Despite the internal compensator, the deck shook under Lasky's feet as the massive cannon fired, sending the three thousand ton slug towards the Imperial ship at a fraction the speed of lights. The Star Destroyer tried to turn, but the round was too fast, and it impacted right under the bridge.
The shields instantly failed, and the sheer kinetic force of the round shattered the back half of the ship into hundreds of pieces. The vessel broke apart, secondary explosions rippling throughout the doomed vessel. The MAC round wasn't done yet though, as after passing through its main target, it still had enough power to more or less vaporize an unfortunate Carrack light cruiser following along behind it.
"Two confirmed kills! MAC heavy recharge time, one minute."
"Sir, they're in range of the fleets energy projectors!"
"Weapons, pick your targets, coordinate fire with R'tas and the Separatists, tell them heavy tonnage vessels only!"
"Aye sir, projectors firing!"
A pencil-thin beam of extremely powerful and energetic particles lanced across space like a streak of lightning. It impacted another II-class Star Destroyer, boiled through its shields, and cut clean through the ship stern to stern, dissecting it.
The Separatist Assault Carriers and Battlecruisers followed suit, and the Infinity rotated a few degrees then fired her other Projector. Eleven more silver-white beams raced through the inky blackness and impacted their respective targets. The results were much the same, with the result being eleven heavy Star Destroyers separated into halves of varying size.
"Twelve more confirmed kills, energy projectors recharging."
As far as a first salvo went, it wasn't bad. Fourteen kills, all of them I or II-class Star Destroyers, excluding the unfortunate Carrack-cruiser.
"Sir, the fleet will be entering main weapons range in fifteen seconds."
"Yes, but so will the Imperials," replied Lasky, "Tell the commanders of our cruisers to focus on the larger ships only, Victory's, Acclamators, and I and II-class SD's. Frigates and Destroyers are to focus on the smaller Imperial ships."
Lasky's plan was as follows: The Infinity, Marathon cruisers, Halcyon cruisers, and R'tas's Assault Carriers and battlecruisers would create a rough line of defense between the Imperials and Kashyyyk. They would hold this line as best they could, due to the fact that they could soak up more damage and dish out more firepower, until Ackbar's fleet arrived to engage the Imperial flanks. The UNSC's smaller Paris frigates and Thanatos Destroyers would be split into three task forces of six ships, three of each class. These task forces, Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie, would travel up and down the line acting as rapid response groups, providing extra firepower when needed or shoring up holes in the defense.
"Sir, MAC's will be in range in a five seconds."
"Weapons, have MAC's one through three combine fire on heavy targets, while MAC four fires on light targets." said Lasky.
"The Imperial fleet is in range!"
"All ships fire!" shouted Lasky.
The Infinity shook as the force of four MAC's simultaneously firing was absorbed into the hull. Since Lasky had been so adamant about improving the secondary weapons, there hadn't been enough time to upgrade the Infinity's standard MACs.
This was not the case however, to the UNSC fleet's Marathons and Halcyons. The Marathons, possessing two MACs, fired their top cannon, took a brief second to acquire a second target, then fired again. The Halcyons fired their triple shot MACs as well, along with the fleets destroyers and frigates regular cannons.
It was an awe inspiring display. One hundred and twenty-four slugs of six hundred ton nanoferroccic depleted uranium streaked out of the barrels of the UNSC ships towards the Imperial fleet. The Sangheili vessels also fired a volley of plasma torpedoes, a bright sparkling blue in the darkness of space. Though they lagged behind the MAC rounds in speed, they more than made up for it in power and damage potential.
Not to be outdone, the Imperials responded in kind, sending their own turbolaser and ion cannon blasts at the UNSC and Separatist line.
Lasky felt a pit of dread form in his stomach when he saw the Imperial volley. Coming towards them was a proverbial sea of blue and green energy.
"Roland, rotate us so that our port side is facing the enemy. Have R'tas and his Carriers do the same, and get our frigates and destroyers behind us! There's no way they'll be able to survive that amount of firepower." quickly ordered Lasky.
"Aye sir," responded Roland as he maneuvered the Infinity. "All shield strength has been diverted to the port side."
Lasky strapped himself into his command chair and brought up the long-range cameras. He watched as the UNSC's MAC volley struck home. Lasky saw two MAC rounds strike and bounce off a II-class shields, the sheer kinetic energy physically forcing it back despite its forward acceleration, stripping it of its shields. A third shot clipped the left wing of the Destroyer, shearing off a large amount of that side, including its heavy turbolasers. A fourth and final round impacted dead center under the bridge, blasting a hole clean through the ship, disabling it for good.
The Admiral saw a MAC round hit the front of a Tartan cruiser, gutting it all the way through, and emerge out the back, ricocheting off the shields of a Victory Star Destroyer. That same Destroyer then received a Covenant plasma torpedo, which burned through the remaining shields and boiled through the hull, leaving a large black canyon in its wake. The torpedo must have hit something critical, as the Destroyer started listing to one side and decelerating. The ship was put out of its misery when it was 'decapitated' via a MAC round to the elevated bridge.
And so the scene played out across the Imperial fleet. MAC rounds hammered down shields and burrowed through ships, while plasma torpedoes melted through vessels like a hot knife through butter, slagging large portions of hit vessels.
Lasky glanced at the sensor data. Forty-seven Imperial warships had been destroyed in the UNSC's first full salvo. Add to that the fourteen long range heavy MAC and energy projector kills, and that added up to sixty-one, almost a fourth of the Imperial fleet strength.
But now Lasky would see how the UNSC would pay for it.
The green and blue bolts of turbolaser and ion energy raced ever closer to the Infinity, and Lasky gripped the armrests of his chair ever tighter.
"Brace for impact!" he yelled.
The laser volley hit the port side of the Infinity, and the hexagonal shield shield sprang up to dissipate the energy. The ship tilted maybe twenty degrees, but maneuvering thrusters quickly corrected it. The whole bridge vibrated and Lasky clenched his teeth, but surprisingly, that was as bad as it got.
"Roland! Status report!" shouted Lasky
"No damage reported sir, all systems functional. Shield strength holding at eighty-one percent and climbing."
"What about the rest of the fleet?"
"The Sangheili vessels are fine, I'm getting reports of thier remaining shields anywhere from fifty percent to eighty. Our ships didn't fare so well. The Marathon cruiser Say My Name is heavily damaged, she took the brunt of the volley meant for Task Force Charlie. The Halcyon cruiser Austin was hit near her reactor, she's leaking a heavy amount of radiation and the Captain has given the order to abandon ship. Her systems have been slaved to us though, so we can still utilize her weapons. Sheilding is averaging about forty percent for the Marathons and twenty for the Halcyons."
"We can't take another salvo like that," said Lasky, unbuckling his crash webbing. "Get Ackbar and his fleet to move in and flank the Imperials!"
Roland put a finger up to his ear, "Admiral, they'll be here in about ten seconds."
"Sir, Imperial fleet is still advancing! They'll be pretty close before we can get off another MAC salvo!"
"Admiral, main weapons are ready to fire again!"
"Pick your targets and fire at will!" ordered Lasky, "Roland, comm R'tas, tell his ships to move forwards alongside us so we can take some of the pressure off of our cruisers!"
"Ackbar, now would be a very good time to show up." muttered Lasky, as the report of the heavy MAC sounded through the bridge.
As if on cue, a mass of new ships appeared form hyperspace almost right behind the Imperials. Wasting no time, the Alliance MC80 Star Cruisers, Assault Frigate Mark II's, Nebulon B's, and Correllian corvettes opened up on the Imperials with everything they had. Before they even had a chance to turn around to address this new threat, almost thirty Imperial warships were destroyed as red turbolaser bolts hammered down their shields and blasted away hull sections.
Suddenly, the Imperial advance towards the USNC ships halted, as the rear half of the fleet maneuvered to deal with the unexpected appearance of the Alliance.
"Admiral, we're being hailed by Admiral Ackbar!"
"Put him though." said Lasky.
The UNSC Admiral glanced out the viewport as the Sangheili fired another energy projector volley, the bright white beams lighting up the surrounding space. Hopefully ten more kills, he thought.
He walked over to the vidsceen, where the pearly white background of the Home One's bridge had appeared. Ackbar walked into view and looked at Lasky with his large eyes.
"Admiral Ackbar, I'm glad you could join us." said Lasky.
The Mon Calamari's voice said back in his gravelly voice, "As am I Admiral Lasky. I must tell you, our fleet won't be able to stand up to the Imperials for much longer."
"Understood Admiral. Do what you can, and we'll cover your egress back to our lines."
Ackbar turned his head to look at someone off-screen. "Concentrate all fire on that Acclamator!" he said, then turning back to Lasky. "I can do that Admiral. Home One out."
As the vidscreen winked out, and Lasky glanced at the main holotank. The Imperials had stopped their advance, and turned the rear half of their fleet to acknowledge the Rebels. The half engaged with the UNSC had fired off another salvo, but the Infinity and the Sangheili ships were moving in position to take the brunt of those bolts meant for the Marathon and Halcyon cruisers. To Lasky it seemed that the Imperials could fire more often, but the UNSC and Separatist's weapons packed more punch.
He noticed that the Infinity's heavy MAC had annihilated an Acclamator cruiser, and that the regular MACs were ready to fire. As soon as he thought that, the UNSC ships let loose another MAC salvo.
The Imperials were ready this time, as their ships started taking evasive maneuvers, accelerated every which way. Lasky frowned, from this distance it wouldn't be hard to avoid the straight-shooting MAC rounds. He was right, as a majority of the rounds missed, with only a few unlucky ships being destroyed.
Lasky took a few seconds to listen to the myriad of comm chatter on the general channel.
"Reaper flight, this is FlightOps. Enemy TIE bombers are on an attack vector aimed at the Heracles, break off current engagement and intercept."
"Nav, new heading 44 mark 20. Weapons, new target, Victory-class in sector 3-9, fire MAC two!"
"We've got a hull breach in the aft maintenance sections, sealing bulkheads now."
"Shield strength at thirteen percent, we can't take another hit like that!"
"Activate emergency maneuvering thrusters!"
"Fire Archer pods C-1 through H-11 at that II-class!"
"Dammit, someone get this TIE off my tail!"
"Calm down, I got him, I got him."
"Captain, that turbolaser strike took down the last of our shields!"
"Well don't just sit there, fire back!"
"Shit. Heracles get outta there! You won't be able to withstand another volley with the damage you've sustained."
"Roger, we're withdrawing to the Cradle for repairs."
"Archer missiles have impacted! Their shields are failing!"
"Coordinate our MAC fire with the Orlando, lets smoke that bastard!"
"Sir, Task Force Alpha is being sent our way to fill the hole the Heracles left."
"Excellent, we could use some extra guns."
"MAC round confirmed hit, we destroyed their bridge."
"Sir, the magnetic coils are on the verge of catastrophic failure!"
"Then cease fire dammit! We can't keep this up for much longer."
"Engineering's been hit! The reactors are redlining!"
"Abandon ship! All personnel abandon ship!"
Lasky took his gaze away from the viewport where he was observing a dogfight between a couple of TIE Interceptors and a Broadsword, and looked at the main holotank. His well-trained eyes spotted something unusual, the Imperials seemed to be redeploying about half of the ships engaged with the UNSC to combat the Rebels, even though they had more than enough ships to deal with them. That was, unless they were going to try to...
"Roland! Contact Ackbar, tell him his fleet is about to be encircled!" said Lasky urgently as he realized what was happening.
"I'm trying Admiral, but the signal isn't getting through, there's probably too much interference."
"Dammit!" angrily exclaimed Lasky, banging his fist on the holotank. If the Imperials completed their maneuver, there would be no escape for the Rebels, and they would be systematically destroyed. The fact that Ackbar didn't seem to be noticing his fleets impending doom troubled him even further.
Lasky needed to act quickly, else the UNSC lose their only allies in this new galaxy.
"Roland, get me a link to the Shadow of Intent!" he yelled.
The Infinity's AI pointed at Lasky, signaling that he had gotten the connection.
"R'tas! I need you and your battlecruisers to advance on the Imperials right side and create a distraction! I'm taking the Infinity to punch a hole for the Rebels to escape from."
"Aye, we can do that Admiral, my warriors are eager for more battle! All cruisers, fire at will! Burn their blasphemous hides!" said the veteran Sangheili.
The transmission ended, and Lasky turned to his bridge crew.
"Nav! Plot me a slipspace jump to sector H-23! Shield strength to full! Weapons, get me firing solutions!"
"For which weapons sir?" a crewman asked.
Lasky looked him dead in the eye.
"All of them."
The Admiral could have sworn he saw the officer give a small smile. "Aye sir!"
Lasky glanced at the main holotank where he saw R'tas and his vessels attacking the right side, unleashing a boiling hell upon the Imperial ships with flurries of plasma torpedoes and pulse lasers, the green return fire of the Star Destroyers splashing against the Covenant shields.
As the UNSC Admiral had expected, the Imperials diverted some of their ships from the left side to rebuff the Separatist attack, clearing the way for the Infinity.
"Slipspace jump, now!" ordered Lasky.
A short distance away from the front of the Infinity, a purple and black portal came to life, crackling with the energy of the alternate dimension of slipspace. With a mighty surge of her engines, the Infinity burst forwards into the portal...
...And almost immediately arrived right in the center of the Imperial left.
The bow of the Infinity collided with an Acclamator cruiser as it came out of slipspace, the ridiculous velocity gained by the UNSC ship crushing the unfortunate cruiser like an insect.
Lasky wasted no time, "All batteries open fire!"
The Heavy MAC was the first to speak, shattering the front half of a I-class Star Destroyer and demolishing the bridge of a Victory behind it. The energy projectors were next, the twin beans bisecting a II-class SD into three sparking pieces. The four regular MACs punched four separate holes into another II-class, leaving it no more than floating space junk.
But it was Infinity's secondary weapons that stole the show this time. On all sides of the ship, Mini-MAC's, Onagers, heavy deck guns, pulse lasers, point-defense cannons, and hundreds of missiles rained a fiery hell upon the surrounding Imperial ships. If Lasky had to describe it, it was akin to a shotgun blast at point blank range.
Hyper-accelerated slugs of superheated matter hammered down shields and sheared off sections of hull, high-explosive armor-piercing rounds blasted craters and divots, pulse lasers burned holes down multiple decks into critical areas, and missiles coordinated to strike where ships were at their most weakest, causing them to buckle with crippling explosions.
Where there had been almost twenty-five battle-ready Imperial ships surrounding the Infinity, now there was only their shattered, twisted remains. The attack was so quick, so devastating, that the Imperials hadn't even been able to return fire.
The deck was still shaking from the Infinity's full salvo, and throughout the bridge Lasky heard cries of exuberance from his crew.
"Hell yeah!" yelled the weapons officers, examining the space-born carnage they had just inflicted.
Roland put a hand to his ear and motioned at Lasky to get his attention, "Admiral, I've got a link with Ackbar!"
The familiar gravelly voice of the Mon Cal sounded throughout the bridge, "Admiral Lasky, that was quite a show you just put on there, I'm glad you're on our side. I apologize for not recognizing the trap when I saw it, and for you having to risk your men."
"Forget about apologizing Admiral, just get your ships out of here and reinforce our line!" said Lasky, closing the link.
"Sir, the Imperial task force headed our way, one II-class, four Victory's, and about ten Tartans."
"Hit that II with a heavy MAC round, that should make them think twice."
"But sir, the heavy MAC's only at sixty percent charge."
"That should be more than enough considering what we've seen today, do it."
"Aye sir, MAC heavy firing!"
The gargantuan slug flew out of the barrel, and after a few seconds of travel time, impacted the II-class SD right on the nose. Going all the way through the Imperial ship, the round must have hit the reactor, as the Destroyer summarily exploded, engulfing a couple of Tartan cruisers in its fiery death. There must have been some hesitation amongst the Imperial Captains after that, as the task force stopped their advance.
What was left of the Alliance fleet quickly disengaged and fled through the hole the Infinity had created, with the UNSC ship dissuading any potential pursuers with her heavy weapons.
The Rebel ships took a wide arc back to the UNSC line, where they positioned themselves to further strengthen it.
Lasky let out a heavy sigh when the Infinity made it back to the center of the line. The Imperials had retreated a short distance out of engagement range and appeared to be regrouping.
"Roland, I need numbers." said the Admiral.
"Right sir. The Imperials are down about a hundred ships. Remaining are eleven II-class Star Destroyers, twelve I-class Star Destroyers, thirty-three Victory-class Star Destroyers, eighteen Acclamator cruisers, twenty-seven Tartan cruisers, twenty-nine Carrack light cruisers, and three Escort Carriers. One hundred and thirty-three vessels."
"What about us?"
"All eight of our Marathon cruisers are good, save for one who got her MAC's disabled, she's headed to the Cradle for repairs. One of our Halcyons were destroyed, we're picking up the lifeboats that managed to launch, and another is badly damaged, leaving eight. All eighteen of our frigates and twelve of our destroyers are fine, your strategy regarding them worked like a charm. R'tas and his ships are combat-ready, except for a battlecruiser that took some heavy fire and is having trouble with its reactor. Be advised Admiral, almost every ship is reporting some kind of moderate damage, and a few vessel's shielding is offline or damaged due to the strain of the battle. I've run some simulations, the chances of us surviving another engagement like that without heavy casualties is pretty slim unless we get some time to make repairs."
"I know Roland. I doubt we'll get that time either. What about Ackbar and his fleet?"
"They didn't fare as well as we did sir. Most of his smaller ships were destroyed before we broke the fleet out of the encirclement. Although I will say, those Mon Calamari Cruisers can dish it out just as well as they can take it."
Lasky agreed with the AI on that, the MC80's certainly made remarkable warships. He checked the numbers of his fleet again. Even with the Rebel fleet bolstering the line they still only possessed a little under a hundred ships.
"Roland, status on Task Force Delta?"
"They managed to take out two Acclamators and a few troop ships before having to retreat to the Skyhook. They're standing by to offer fire support for our ground forces, and the Acclamators are moving into position to deploy their troops outside of our defensive lines."
Lasky pursed his lips. An Acclamator cruiser could hold a lot of troops ad vehicles, the garrisons of eight would put a real strain on Kashyyyk's defenders. He couldn't spare any more ships to commit to ground defense, he would need every one he had in space if the Imperials were to attack again anytime soon.
It was then when Lasky had an idea.
"Roland," he said, "When the Osman and the Port Stanley left for Kuat, did they have a full armament?"
"Yes sir."
"Including nuclear stealth mines?"
"Correct Admiral."
"Can you detect the Port Stanley anywhere? Osman said in her transmission that she would be jumping immediately after the Imperials." asked Lasky.
"If she's here, than she's not showing herself Admiral. Hang on, let me try something..." said Roland as he brought up some holographic panels. "Aha! Found her! She's actually behind the Imperial fleet, I've got an encrypted text channel with Black Box."
Lasky breathed a sigh of relief. "Perfect. Tell Osman that I need her to do something for me."
Hopefully that wasn't too horrendous for you all to read.
Next up: the Ground War. Tanks, Planes, Wookies, Force-sensitive Spartan's, oh my.
So here's an idea. I feel that Halo is lacking in the Armored Personnel Carrier region of vehicles, and I really feel like there should be one. Bridge that gap between the Warthog and the Scorpion. So, if you have any ideas of one you'd like to share, your APC might be featured in the next chapter.
Also, if you're still wondering about the Master Chief and his whole deal, hop on over to my other story "Prelude to Eternity" if you haven't all ready.
Hope you enjoyed, and feel free to review.