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Admiral's Quarters, Kuat's Might, Interim flagship of the Imperial Navy, Lunar orbit
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Grand Admiral Yutu was awoken by the door chime. He would have been annoyed at the early hour of the interruption but he had been expecting it for some time.
"Who is that?" A sleepy voice said next to him.
"Duty." Yutu rose from the bed. "Go back to bed." He told the Pantoran Lieutenant from Fleet Ordnance. She had been welcome distraction after the debacle on Earth to relieve the army trapped on the lesser continental mass. His anger at the failure of his first command action still simmered. The Terrans would pay for their success.
The door chime signaled that repayment was near.
Yutu pulled on a pair of sleeping pants and walked to the door. He flicked on the entrance light and deactivated the lock. The door slid open to reveal Commander Murp from FleetIntel.
"Commander, you have news?" Yutu asked, giving the hint of warning that the early morning interruption had better been important.
"You wanted to be informed the moment the ready signal from the Terran President was intercepted. TIE/WAC Dorn just decoded fifteen activation encryptions. The Bothan Spynet has intercepted three more activations and turned them over to us. All of them sent within the last ten minutes to various Terran commands."
"Any secondary confirmations from our allies?"
"Our MI6 double 00 agent within Prince Harry's unit of irregulars has sent word that they are on move. They received their activation order several hours ago." Murp reported.
"Read it to me."
"John has a long mustache."
Yutu's eyes went wide. He had been waiting for those words for several weeks now. "So . . . Ragnarok."
"Yes, sir. TIE/WAC Dorn is reporting thousands of small vessels in the North Sea as well as the English Channel. The make-shift airspeeder bases we have had under surveillance have seen a flurry of activity in the past orbital rotation."
"Your assessment, commander?" Yutu asked.
"Their air armada should launch within the next hour. There is minimal heavy lift capabilities left that are available to them so we should see only a limited amount of large weapons brought in with their air assault operations. The aquatic ships at sea are small to medium size and capable of carrying solely infantry units. Up to this point the vessels in the enemy armadas have been small enough to escape the attention of our anti-transportation efforts. Unhampered they should be able to land sixty to eighty thousand troopers along with another twelve thousand aerial troopers from the airlift operation. Prince Harry is moving to secure the drop sites now according to our agents."
"A reverse Dunkirk." Yutu said.
"Sir?"
"The little ships of Dunkirk, a battle in the Terran's past. No doubt that's the inspiration for their gamble."
"As you say, sir." Murp sounded like every officer before him who had no idea what their commander was talking about.
"Have our preparations been detected?"
"No, sir. Not as far as we have been able to discover. The 2nd and 4th Battalion from the Home Legion was able to land undetected yesterday after dark. Surely the Terrans would have called off their operation if they had seen us."
"Excellent. Order our reaction force to stand by. Tell the Captain to put the ship to General Quarters. I will be joining him on the bridge shortly."
"Yes, sir." Murp snapped to attention and saluted.
Yutu returned the salute. "Dismissed." He pushed the release and the door slid shut.
Yutu turned and entered his bedroom, flipping on the overhead lamps as he did so. The sleeping Lieutenant stirred. "You should get up. The Captain will be calling General Quarters very soon. You will be needed at your station." Yutu said as he entered his fresher.
Though the thought of staying in bed with the energetic and flexible young officer was enticing, wild gundarks couldn't pull him away from the bridge today.
"Are we going into battle?" She asked as she sat up.
"Shortly. The Terrans have blundered and left a sizable portion of their military exposed. I intend to capitalize on their mistake." Yutu called before activating the sonic. He was in and out in half a minute, cleansed by the sonic's vibrations.
"Smash them into the dust. End this kriffing war. It's becoming dull." She said. "There's a whole new galaxy out there for us."
"The war will go on as long as it has to. The only one who can end it is our Empress."
"Her father got us into this mess; she will get us out."
"And I will give her the best opportunity to do that." Yutu slid on his white uniform slacks and reached for his tunic.
"Of course, my Lord. I have no doubt that the Empire will have nothing but victory from here on out. I serve the Empire." She stood up and helped him don his tunic. She fastened the clasps and then pulled his sash of office under his arm and across his shoulder.
Her nakedness went unnoticed. Yutu was focused on the battle that lay ahead. He would humiliate the Earth's commanders as they had humiliated him at Las Vegas a month ago. "I will see you tonight, after the battle. We shall celebrate."
"Of course, sir. I look forward to another round." She replied with a feminine purr.
Yutu pulled on his boots and went for the exit. He paused for a second to stare at the novel on his nightstand. He hoped he had learned enough from Sun Tzu's Art of War to give the Empire a victory today. Without another word he was out the door, leaving the Lieutenant to don her own uniform and leave for her station.
Outside his room a pair of his Shadowtroopers, in their black snowtrooper armor, fell in behind him. He ignored the silent troopers as his mind was elsewhere. He reached the officer deck's turbolift just as the General Quarters alarm rang out. He could make out the commotion from behind dozens of closed doors as officers poured from their bunks and readied themselves for duty.
Thankfully he didn't have to share the turbolift to the bridge with anyone but his guards. He needed the time to get his thoughts in order. Naturally his concerns returned to his embarrassing premier as Grand Admiral. His plan had been foolproof. Who could have imagined the Terrans would be suicidal enough to trip Imperial Walkers with synthetic durasteel cables? And, shavit, why did they have to be so good at it! A dozen AT-ATs lost within a stone's throw of breaking through to the embattled army trapped inside that ruined city. A full squadron of experienced crews had been lost. It would take months to replace them.
Thank the core the laughable Confederacy hadn't been able to capitalize on their gain. Offensive Imperial operations in China had been suspended after the defeat on the lesser continental mass, but the Terran commander, Admiral Akfar, and why does it bother me that his name sound so familiar, had pushed another attack to the north of water-logged Target East. That attack had been rebuked with little effort, which was probably one of the reasons Yutu still had his job.
He couldn't keep depending on the Terrans' blind arrogance for luck, however. He needed to make his own. He was willing to admit that ground command wasn't his strong suit, but when it came to intelligence and preparation Yutu was unequaled in the Empire. Today his skills at culling secrets and datum from thousands of insignificant sources and combining them into a larger holopic was finally going to pay off. Today the Terrans were going to try to take back the United Protectorate. And Yutu was going to be there to greet them as only an Imperial could: With a cold blaster.
The doors opened onto the busy command bridge. A chime sounded out that Yutu had arrived. Captain Lenoan, the ship's commander, Bridge Commander Daragon, Lenoan's executive officer, and Commander Murp snapped to attention. The rest of the bridge crew stayed busy at their stations. Yutu was no narcissist like the officers who had orbited around the late Moff Seco. He didn't need constant adoration. He preferred for his men and women to be ready for combat at all times. A moment of distraction could lead to defeat, a lesson he knew all too well.
"At ease, gentlemen." Yutu told the three officers.
"Good morning, sir." Captain Lenoan greeted him. "May I offer you some caf?"
"Yes, I could use some. I fear it will be a long day." Yutu answered. Lenoan nodded to his XO and Commander Daragon left them to retrieve several cups for the group.
"Oh, I don't know about that, sir. The Terrans have surely overstepped on the main continental mass. We shall make short work of them." Lenoan sounded confident. It was the same confidence Yutu had heard from his generals before the advance on Las Vegas.
"Let's not count our bantha before they're birthed." Yutu turned to Murp. "Commander, order our garrison commander in the United Protectorate to bring Moff William here."
"Already done, Admiral. His shuttle is in route and should be docking with us in fifteen minutes." Commander Murp replied.
"Excellent." Yutu appreciated it when his subordinates anticipated his needs. It saved time.
"There is one disturbing development though." Murp added.
"Oh?"
"Moff William, the Queen and Princess Charlotte were all moved from Windsor Castle according to your plan; however, Prince George seems to have vanished from his protection detail. We've searched the grounds of the castle and there's no sign of him, according to the garrison commander."
"No doubt he has abandoned his kingdom and joined his rebellious uncle. I doubt his father would have stopped him." Yutu said. The British royal family was far from the most loyal of the Empress's allies as far as Yutu was concerned. As such he was more than content to spill English blood over that of his stormtroopers.
"I will alert our units in the United Protectorate. Shall I add a bounty?" Murp asked.
"That will be fine. We will have to rely on a traitor among the rebels to turn him over to us. Our own Bounty Hunter's Guild is in no shape to pursue anyone after what happened to them in that Nebraska place yesterday. I suppose Moff William would prefer that the Prince was captured alive, though I don't have a preference one way or the other."
"Capture is too good for a traitor." Lenoan offered.
"His actions have yet to be proven traitorous, but I will admit the timing is suspicious. Have there been any updates on Prince Harry's movements."
"Confirmation sightings of his men moving into the air drop locations around Southampton, Portsmouth and Brighton. We've already deduced that the Dover site was a ruse and arrested or executed the rebel agents in that sector. TIE/WAC Dorn has reported that neither the French or German armadas seem to be heading to those beaches."
"Outstanding. Notify our ground forces in the United Protectorate to begin moving into their preplanned positions. Once the fleet arrives they may begin their attacks on the drop sites." Yutu ordered.
"That would put those landing zones in our hands in a matter of minutes. I'd love to see the faces of those earthling pilots when they bring their airspeeders over ground teeming with AT-AAs." Lenoan chuckled.
"Precisely, though I doubt few will make it through to their targets after our TIEs get through with them. You, Captain, only have to concern yourself with their aquatic fleets." Yutu said.
Commander Daragon returned with four steaming mugs of caf. Yutu thanked the man and took a sip.
"At least five groups are at sea at the moment. We shall have the honor of attacking the France one." Lenoan said.
"French, sir." Murp corrected the Captain on the proper pronoun. "The last armada to set sail. We weren't sure it would even leave on time, as it had quite a bit of trouble clearing the Seine Estuary."
"They've had to use their rivers as embarkation sites. The Actinium bombing has rendered their coastal port facilities useless." Yutu explained.
"That is simply stellar, sir. I must say I was confused when you initially ordered those remote sites to be bombed with such an expensive weapon, but after watching the Earth's coastlines basically transform themselves I can see the sheer brilliance our the move." Lenoan said. The man was a sheb-kisser, but considering he'd initially served with Moff Seco before turning sides at the Battle of Four Navies, Yutu could hardly blame him. The man would have a phantom vibro-axe hanging over his career for the rest of his life.
"It's a moot point. The bigger vessels that would require such large port facilities were long ago sent to the bottom of their world's oceans. The largest ones they still have can only carry a few hundred men and only a handful could haul vehicles or heavy equipment required to support their invasion." Yutu said.
"We've actually identified fishing vessels amongst the ships in all five fleets carrying troopers." Murp chuckled.
"They must have scraped together every last barge they had afloat to carry this thing out." Daragon suggested.
"My thoughts exactly. They've done the same with their airborne operation. If it has wings the Terrans have stuffed aerial troopers into it. From military to civilian airspeeder models." Yutu said.
"It will be a massacre." The XO said.
"Indeed. And we shall have a front row seat. Commander, what is the status of our reaction force?"
"They are standing by on the far side of the local moon." Murp reported.
"Who shall be joining us?" Lenoan asked Yutu, who nodded to Murp to answer.
"The Slash shall engage the Russian fleet near the Shetland Islands, The Kuat's Lightning will be to our west engaging the Spanish and African ships, while the Bloodshed is off to our east confronting the Germans. Lastly, the newly repaired Purgatory with her freshly replaced crew will be in the North Sea engaging the Scandinavian vessels. We are being escorted by twenty-five secondary vessels that will fill support roles during the engagement."
"Like I said, a well crafted plan, Admiral. You have every contingency covered." Captain Lenoan said.
"I believe so, but I warn you, we thought the same when we tried to relieve the Army at Las Vegas. I do not want to repeat the same mistake of hubris here today." Yutu could feel anger creeping down his spine as he recalled the embarrassment of defeat. He would not let it happen again.
A crewman in the bridge pit said something to Daragon who nodded in acknowledgment. "Admiral, Moff William's shuttle is currently docking with us."
"Good. Make sure the Queen and her daughter are comfortable and bring Moff William here." Yutu ordered.
"Yes, sir." The XO replied then said something into his comm to his subordinates elsewhere in the ship.
"How is the Dorn doing?" Yutu asked about his signal warfare craft.
"Still, scanning on passive systems sixty kilometers over the flooded city of Rotterdam. The last German infantry barges set sail from there three hours ago." Murp said.
"Any reaction?" Lenoan asked.
"None, sir. SigInt reports the Terrans seem more concerned with the Humbarine II, she's a Nebulon B on patrol near Malta and the only Imperial vessel in European orbital space. At the moment the Terrans in Europe are undergoing the best communication conditions they've experienced since the outbreak of hostilities."
"They must be taking that as a good omen for the success of their invasion." Lenoan said.
"That will change swiftly enough." Yutu predicted. "When I give the go ahead, Dorn will deploy the full range of her jamming capabilities. She will be joined by TIE/WACs Aurek and Esk which will do the same. I don't want one aquatic boat or airspeeder in communication with each other. Am I clear?" Yutu asked. The plan was for the Terrans to be left deaf, blind and dumb when his fleet arrived.
"FlightOps has reported the TIE/WAC craft are standing by in their ready racks." Daragon reported.
"Where is the enemy's air armada?"
"The bulk is just now passing over the French and Belgian coast. Their forward reconnaissance elements are already over the United Protectorate's coastline." Murp reported. He walked over to the bridge imagecaster and entered his personal code cylinder. A map of the westerly half of the main continental mass of Earth appeared. Tens of thousands of red icons showed the known positions of the invaders slowly moving towards the United Protectorate. Yutu kept a wary eye of the first of those transports and an imaginary line in his mind somewhere mid-channel.
"What is the meaning of this?" A voice with an accent that had fooled many in the Empire into thinking the speaker came from the Core Worlds, called out across the ship's bridge.
Yutu turned to see King William V, Moff of the United Protectorate marching towards him. Yutu had assumed the royal would still be in his bed clothes due to the early hour but he had turned out smartly in his gray Moff's uniform. For a second Yutu had a fleeting memory of a younger Grand Moff Tarkin.
"Greetings, my Lord." Yutu said, trying not to sneer at the thought of addressing a Terran so properly.
"My country is in a state of emergency. The Thames has spilled her banks, flooding my capital, and the East Anglian countryside has been swallowed by the North Sea. I must return and manage the ongoing crisis at once." William firmly stated.
"I'm afraid that is out of the question at the moment." Yutu said.
"Why not?"
"Your Lordship, are you not aware that your country is about to be invaded for the first time since William the Conqueror?" Yutu had been studying the Earth's military history in depth after Las Vegas.
"Impossible. You can't have. . . Inconceivable." William seemed more upset that Yutu knew of the invasion than the fact foreign invaders were approaching the shores of his kingdom. Yutu wondered just how little King William was putting on. "The rest of Europe is in disarray after the French Uprising. The Chinese are rebuilding for another strike at Shanghai and the Americans are focused on retaking Las Vegas."
"Be that as it may, five international fleets are sailing with thousands of troopers aboard. They mean to come ashore and link up with rebel forces under the command of your brother. They will dispose of you and put him or your son on the throne." Yutu said.
"My son? Where is he?"
"I would have thought you'd know better than I. He has slipped his security detail and has surely gone over to your brother's forces. I must say the timing is quite suspect. Did you know this was his intention?"
William paused for a moment, evidently thinking of the safest answer before he spoke. "George's actions were unknown to his mother and me. If he is located I insist he be returned to my custody at once. I believe the Prince is doing what he thinks is right."
"Do you condone such subversive action against the Empire?" Yutu feigned surprise.
William's eyes squinted in anger for a second. Yutu could tell the monarch hated living under the boot heel of the Empire. If it hadn't been for the cowardly actions of the now disbanded Parliament the United Protectorate would still be the United Kingdom and there would be no need for Ragnarok.
Instead of answering William changed the subject.. "Why wasn't I notified earlier? According to Imperial law I am commander of all British forces under service to the Empire."
"Your senior commanders were notified an hour ago. All commands have been mobilized by orders through the garrison commander at Windsor." Yutu said as he studied the map. The European tasks forces crept closer and closer to Yutu's imaginary point of no return.
"Why didn't he tell me what was going on? The High Colonel's office is next to my security detail's barracks at Windsor."
"I wanted the pleasure of informing you myself. You see, you will be in command at your country's greatest victory since your defeat of the Axis powers last century." Yutu said as a couple of yellow lexicons lit up in the interior of the United Kingdom. "You'll notice, your forces are already engaging your brother's scum. Where are those rebel bases we uncovered, Commander?"
Commander Murp leaned in closer to the map. "Exeter, Reading, Crawley and Inverness in the north. One of the yellow icons turned blue. "The southern bases are newer and more numerous but we've taken action against each one of them. Looks like the British 12th Armored Infantry Brigade just recaptured the airfield outside of Canterbury from the rebels, sirs."
"They made quick work. You should be proud of your troopers, my Lord." Captain Lenoan told the king.
Instead William looked as white as stormtrooper armor as he watched the holomap. It was obvious the red icons were flying and sailing into a trap that would lead to the doom of the lot of them and there was nothing he could do but watch. No one could prove that King William had contact with the so-called British Underground and the planned invasion but Yutu had his suspicions. The problem was that in the Empire it was stang hard to call a Moff out on suspicion alone, even a Terran one.
A flight of seven Italian Air Force C-27s crossed the mark. The small transports were some of the largest the Terrans had left. Yutu doubted they would be able to claim the same tomorrow. "Notify all Imperial commands to initiate Vegas Vengeance."
Captain Lenoan sent the order. Commander Murp stepped forward and held out his comlink to Moff William. "My Lord, if you would send the code word 'Fortitude'. It will alert all British forces that the invasion is imminent and will be repulsed."
William looked at the offered device as if it were a pile of lizard monkey poodoo. After several seconds he took the device, perhaps he knew he had no real choice in the matter. Strangely he held the device to the side of his face before speaking into it. "Fortitude."
Immediately hundreds of blue icons lit up on the imagecaster. British and stormtrooper units started moving towards the expected landing beaches to meet any invaders that made landfall. Yutu hoped things would go as planned and they would all have a dull day.
"Task Force emerging from behind Luna. All four Star Destroyers and their escorts will join us here momentarily." Captain Lenoan reported.
"Excellent. Order all ships to form a Vader's Dagger formation." Yutu started shouting orders to the crewmen in the bridge pit. He was eager to taste his first tactical victory. "Alert Dorn to begin jamming operations and launch Aurek and Esk."
Yutu turned back to the bridge imagecaster. Within seconds the neat formations of airspeeders started to drift away from each other. At sea, the quick destroyers sped ahead of their escorts. Some of the transports began to circle in confusion. Sol had still not risen over this part of the Earth and Yutu wondered if some of those ships and airspeeders would collide in the pre-dawn darkness. He harbored no sympathy for them if they did.
Outside the viewports four Star Destroyers, two on each of the Kuat's Might's flanks, emerged from the dark side of the local moon and joined the formation. Yutu nodded to Captain Lenoan and the battle group advanced through Luna's new ring of dust and debris.
Moff William turned away from the imagecaster and stepped towards the viewports. Yutu left the command group and joined the Terran out of ear shot of the others. Earth grew larger by the moment across their stern.
"Why did you bring me here? Do you intend to rub my nose in my fellow earthlings' defeat?" William asked.
"It was as I said. I brought you here to keep you and your family safe as we put down this threat." Yutu said.
"You lie well, Admiral. I suppose that is to be expected from a former spy."
Yutu almost smiled at the barbed compliment. "Europe's military will be gutted after this. I doubt they will be able to manage another major operation during this war. Their leaders will lean on President Harris to end the war after this."
"He won't. I have enough friends still in America. He has your bullocks in a vise in Las Vegas and he knows it." William said. Yutu tried not to wince as the truth was put so bluntly. "If your army falls how many men do you have to hold Los Angeles? And after that, Shanghai?"
"He can have those cities back the day he realizes this war cannot be won. The Empire has no desire to stay on this world of yours. And after we leave the United Protectorate shall dominate her cousins under the turbolasers of the Imperial Fleet. Today's battle will give the Imperial Navy and the Army of the United Protectorate a shining victory that they can look back on with pride and rub the rest of the Earth's nose in. Prove to them once and for all that they are defeated. Then we can leave your world with our heads held high."
"He won't let you. I've met the man. I considered him a friend. The Americans have sunk their teeth into your stormtrooper legions and they are not about to let go." William said.
"Then what will it take, then? How much is Harris willing to lose? More countries? A continent?" Yutu asked. There was nothing he would enjoy more than leaving this cursed planet behind and the thought of that being thwarted was not a pleasant one.
"I hope not." William sighed. "Two billion people was enough."
"Three according to our most sensitive life sign scanners." Sometimes Yutu thought the number so immense as to be absurd. Those deaths itched at his conscious in his private moments. "It is certainly enough. I know you have contacts in the Confederacy. Ask them to surrender. Look at these ships around us. The Confederacy cannot win." Yutu explained.
"Your overconfidence is your weakness." William declared.
"And your faith in your friends is yours." Yutu snapped back.
"At least my friends are not genocidal maniacs." William said without regard to the fact that it was due to Emperor Yos's grace that William and his family were still among the five billion Terrans who still lived.
Yutu bristled. The Terrans were an infuriating lot but he wasn't going to stand and trade barbs with one of them when there were more important issues at hand. Yutu turned to the bridge pit and spoke to the officers below. "Launch the TIE wings."
"Aye, aye, sir." The FlightOps officer responded.
From underneath each of the battle cruisers, as well as flight bays from dozens of the battle group's escorts, emerged a swarm of snubnose fighters. They grew like a cloud in front of the fleet where each wisp and mote was a Starfighter, Interceptor or bomber.
Earth loomed large in the viewport. Sol was climbing over the horizon far to the east but Europe would remain dark for a few more hours. By Luna's light Yutu gazed down upon Europe and fixated his view on the narrow channel of water that separated the United Protectorate from the western half of the main continental mass. He tried to imagine the hundreds of packed ships at sea below them. Could they sense their doom as the Star Destroyers took up positions over their heads? For Yutu it wasn't personal. It was a means to an end and he hoped that their deaths came quickly. But for every hundred who died he hoped for a handful of survivors to carry word back to their countries of the futility in further resistance to the Empire.
"Deploy the fleet to their assigned sectors." He ordered. Each of the fat, gray Star Destroyers rolled away from the Kuat's Might, taking their share of the escorts with them.
"We are getting recall orders across almost every enemy comm channel." Murp reported. "A few of their airspeeder stragglers over France are attempting to land."
"The German fleet is turning tail." Captain Lenoan added. "Same with the Spanish."
Hundreds of small flares lit in the Earth's upper atmosphere as the TIE fighters descended. The quicker ones were already blasting on lumbering airspeeders flying kilometers beneath them.
"We are tracking the La Fayette." Commander Daragon reported.
"Ah, our first catch of the day." Captain Lenoan replied. "Is it their largest remaining ship?"
"There are a few transports that are slightly bigger. But she is emitting the most comm signals. She should be the French flagship." Murp answered. "It's a quick destroyer. Could be a difficult target."
"Assign those big transports to the bombers in the 390th Bomber Wing." Yutu ordered. "Dip our bow and bring our main batteries onto the La Fayette."
"All six of them? Isn't that over kill, Admiral?" Lenoan asked.
"What better way to announce ourselves." Yutu said.
"Tracking target." The XO reported.
"Open blast." Yutu ordered. The deck slightly vibrated as twelve heavy turbolasers rocked in their casements. Their massive, blue bolts flashed past the diving TIE fighters and impacted the waters on the English Channel around the La Fayette. Eleven of them boiled away the salt water around the French sailors in their destroyer. The twelfth neatly sliced the aft section off the nimble aquatic vessel. The resulting explosion, caused by a mix of fuel and ammunition lit up the sea on the imagecaster. The French Navy began to scatter.
"Hit." Daragon announced. The La Fayette traveled for another hundred meters. The rear half of the ship was aflame. The imagecaster did not omit any of the details. Burning French sailors jumped into the sea. Within two minutes of being struck the destroyer rolled to its starboard side and began to sink.
"What battery struck her?" Yutu asked.
"Gunnery says it was Turret 3." The XO reported.
"Send them a case of Ebla with dinner tonight, with my compliments." Captain Lenoan laughed.
Moff William came back to the imagecaster and watched the French destroyer settle beneath the waves. Yutu noticed the King's gaze went to inflatable rafts pulling away from the wreck. "There are men in the water there. What rescue assets do you have in your fleet."
"None. Those men are the enemy, Moff William." Yutu leaned heavily on William's title. "There are hundreds of hostile airspeeders over the channel right now. I won't send my troopers on a fool's errand when there is a battle to be fought."
William kept his features emotionless, but Yutu wondered what anger simmered beneath the surface. It would be many years before William had the proper Imperial spirit. The sailors of the French Navy were watching the La Fayette go down and were experiencing firsthand the effects of the Tarkin Doctrine. Hopefully they would spread those feelings of despair when they washed ashore in the coming days.
Reports started coming in at a pace of several score every minute as the five Star Destroyers took up positions over their designated targets. Dozens of the bridge's holoprojectors showed various images of the battle. The Slash caught three Russian transports in a single fusillade off the coast of Scotland. The Purgatory pounded the Norwegian fleet that stubbornly continued to steam towards Newcastle. Their speed was picking up astonishingly fast for nautical vessels.
"Gunnery is having trouble tracking some of them." Daragon reported.
"How fast are they going?" Yutu asked.
Murp scanned his datapad. "Average enemy fleet speed is thirty knots but some of those transports are doing forty-five."
Yutu wasn't familiar with nautical speeds but even he knew that was fast for an aquatic boat. "Some new kind of engines?"
Suddenly a German boat exploded after taking a heavy blast from the Bloodshed. A blue flame rose like a mushroom over the ship momentarily illuminating the scattered German and Dutch Navies.
"Hyrdogen fuel cells? I thought the Terrans were limited to petrol-turbines." Lenoan said.
"We knew they were working on the conversion before we arrived in system. Due to costs they hadn't made a dent in converting large numbers. Seems the expediency of war has changed that." Yutu said. He didn't like how fast they were adapting. "It must be allowing them to attempt newer and faster propulsion systems as well."
"Must be a hell of a ride. It's a surprise they don't batter their hulls to pieces in the chop." Lenoan said.
"Indeed. You will find we Terrans are made of sterner stuff than anything the North Sea can throw at us." Moff William said. "Perhaps even more than the Empire can throw at us."
"And where is the British Navy? How come they haven't sortied against these invaders?" Lenoan demanded to know.
Yutu answered for Moff William this time. "The British Navy is in no shape to stop anyone. It was heavily targeted by our fleet in the opening days of the war. The few destroyers, mine sweepers and sub handlers they have left have been put on alert as of a few hours ago, but I have not allowed them to set sail out of fear our gunners may target them in that confusion." Yutu nodded to the imagecaster with a view of the French Navy. Ships were scrambling in every direction in crazed zig-zag patterns. Some were racing towards England while others had turned tail for France. Every other minute or so another Terran ship exploded.
"They should have known better." Yutu heard Murp whisper. He caught the young officer's eye and nodded. He couldn't agree more. But if they were willing to try, then he would capitalize on their mistake.
His eyes went back to the battle. A huge Landing Ship Tank was dead in the water four kilometers short of the French town of Calais. Yutu blinked just as the Kuat's Might's Turret 6 hit it in its fuel storage tanks. The flash of explosion took with it the lives of several hundred French marines.
"TIEs are on approach in all five sectors." Murp said.
Yutu looked to the imagecaster where hundreds of blue icons were racing towards five times their number of red icons. Yellow missile alert icons came from the ships in the channel as anti-ion stingers and cabled missiles rose to meet the threat. Blue icons vanished from existence. A bloodless way to not think of the TIE pilots blown from sky as primitive missile explosions turned their bodies into pink mist. The TIEs ignored the few casualties they endured and pressed on. From an orbital drop they were easily able to evade the fighter escorts and tear into the grand formations of bombers and air transports.
Three TIE/sa bombers, barely skimming the waves, put three proton torpedoes into the side of the Russian flagship, the Petr Velikiy. Unknown to the bomber pilots but immediately clear to the bridge crew of the Kuat's Might was that those bombers had knocked out communication for the entire Russian fleet. A Russian hovercraft, the Mordoviya plunged into an unseen reef near the Shetland town of Kirkwall and quickly settled to the bottom.
Red icons by the dozens disappeared from the imagecaster as airspeeder transports were shredded by blaster bolts over the English Channel. Terran fighter escorts attempted to close with the TIEs who raced back into orbit whenever they were confronted with the much faster but extremely limited airspeeders the Terrans used. Seconds later the TIEs would dive again on some other area of the battlefield, free to hunt the slower transports down unmolested by the escorts that futilely raced from one area to the next to protect the dwindling air armada.
"Focus on the fleeing ships. Do not let them return to the safety of the continent." Yutu ordered.
"Aye, sir." Lenoan replied.
"I thought your intention was to protect the United Protectorate. You are leaving half of those ships to drive on England." William protested.
"We shall drive them ashore. We have already intercepted the locations of the landing beaches and have a squadron of walkers at each site." Yutu smiled at the thought that some of those walker crews had been among the defeated at Las Vegas. Kneeling on the bluffs above the beaches would prevent the same cable-tripping trick the Terrans had come up with during Yutu's defeat. In such a low position they would be unseen or appear as buildings in the dawn's early light. "I'm afraid the landings won't get within a thousand meters of shore.
"We have submersibles off the coast of Portsmouth!" A crewman shouted from the bridge pit. "We've got a second flotilla off of Dover."
Everyone's' head turned to the imagecaster covering that sector. Sure enough black, tubular vessels were breaching the water near the English coast. They were so close British and Stormtrooper units defending the beaches took the submarines under fire. Sailors and marines swarmed the decks and pushed gray inflatable boats into the water. The boats were quickly filled with what Yutu assumed were marines and special landing commandos.
"Open blast on those submersibles!" Lenoan urgently yelled at the sailors in the crewpit. Already the first submersibles to empty their decks of the inflatables were diving once again under the surface.
"We don't have a blasting solution yet. Targeting is working on it." Another pit crewman reported.
"How long?" Lenoan asked.
"Two. Maybe three minutes, Captain."
"Forget it." Yutu said. Those submarines will be long gone by then. "Notify the AT-ATs behind the beaches to engage them. Tell them to break cover. The surprise should stun the invaders."
"Aye, aye, sir." Murp said then relayed the orders to the crew in the pit.
AT-ATs rose slowly from their cover. Some of them had been covered in vegetation for camouflage. They did not advance, instead choosing to engage the enemy from stationary positions atop the white cliffs in that area. Their plunging fire punched huge holes in the hulls of the submersibles still on the surface. One blast caught a crew launching the landing boats and the impact pitched dozens of burning, mauled sailors into the surf.
After a few minutes Yutu focused on the greater battle raging far below him. He realized it wasn't that enjoyable an affair to watch. The Terrans launched their missiles and drone airspeeders just to have the Empire jam their guidance systems and drive them kilometers off course or send them crashing into the sea. The TIEs slashed in and out of the transport formations refusing battle with the Terran fighters, while the Star Destroyers perched safely in orbit slowly whittled down the ranks of the ships at sea. "A rather one-sided affair." He observed.
"The Americans have a colloquialism that seems rather fitting," Moff William spoke up. "They'd call this a curb stomp."
"A curb stomp?" In all of his studies Yutu didn't believe he'd come across that particular phrase.
"Supposedly it's where you make your opponent put his teeth on a street curb. Then you stomp on the back of their head with your boot." Yutu winced and William added, "They do things a little differently in America."
"Not very sporting." Captain Lenoan observed.
"Neither is this." William nodded to the screen where a heavy turbolaser eviscerated a French ferry craft. The channel ferry had been towing three barges full of artillery pieces and their crews that were now frantically cutting their tow cables before they were pulled under by the sinking ship. Rescue boats were split wide open by incoming turbolasers as they rushed to save their comrades.
Yutu tried to find the glory here but failed. This was butchery, plain and simple. The Terrans had made a horrible mistake and he had capitalized upon it. Against the Star Destroyers there simply wasn't anything the Terrans could have done. This was the work of a murderer not a sailor.
"Hubris." Willaim suddenly said. "I told them this would fail."
"Excuse me?" Yutu inquired.
"It's true. I had been warned by elements in my country that something like this was afoot." William admitted. In response to Yutu's questioning glance he said, "No, I am not involved with my brother's so-called rebels. But they thought the recent defeat in America of your armored relief force, coupled by the destruction of a large portion of the Imperial Navy at Four Navies had left the Empire vulnerable to something like this."
"And you failed to warn us what your planetary brethren were planning this?" Captain Lenoan growled.
"To be fair, we probably knew more than Moff William did though our own SigInt channels." Commander Murp suggested.
Yutu agreed with that assessment. "So that's why they attempted such a folly. Can't they remember what we did to their navies at the start of this war?"
"We Earthlings tend to fight the last war instead of the one we are currently involved in. Those European commanders down there have failed to grasp the scope of the fourth dimension that an orbital navy brings to a battle. They can dominate land, sea and air but none of that matters as long as the Imperial Navy controls orbit." William explained.
"The penultimate high ground." Yutu said. "I daresay the next Terran commander that orders an invasion like this will be just as responsible for the murder of his countrymen as the gunners of the Imperial Navy."
"Sadly, that is true. Hopefully, after this he would be sacked for simply suggesting such a campaign."
A fuel tanker exploded in the North Sea so brightly that they witnessed the flash through the forward viewports of the bridge. ARC-170s tore into a transport formation that managed to find its way back over Belgium, their proton torpedoes ripping three or four airspeeders from the sky with every explosion. The few transports that dropped their paratroopers over southern England were met with the crushing firepower of stormtrooper and loyal British units strafing the vulnerable paratroopers as they fell from the sky.
"Emergency developing over the Channel." Murp announced.
"What is it?" Lenoan asked.
"One of our fighter wings is engaged with one of the larger bomber formations. Several of those airspeeders have been launching cruise missiles into the United Protectorate so our TIE fighters didn't want to let up on them. We've got four formations of enemy fighters converging on them from Belgium and the Netherlands. They're a mix of French Rafales and Royal Netherland's F-35 Lightnings."
"Tell our men to get out of there. No need to incur needless casualties at this point." Lenoan ordered.
"They're heavily engaged with the bombers, sir. Their commander is claiming to FlightOps that his pilots are too busy at the moment to cleanly break from their current vape-fight."
Yutu looked over to the area Murp was indicating. Sure enough TIE icons were blasting a rather large formation of bombers and transports from the sky. However, several large groups of impossibly quick enemy airspeeders were converging on them from the continent.
"I will show them what's what. Patch me through to their squadron comm channel on the bridge's main audicaster." Lenoan demanded. "For the love of Palpatine, they will listen to a proper officer."
"Aya, aye, sir." The Comm sailor in the pit responded.
There was a second of static as the sailor reset the comm controls then the voice of a TIE pilot cut across the bridge from a battle a hundred kilometers away. "You get a laser, and you get a laser and you get a laser!"
"Bloodstripe, you got two fat nerfs breaking from the pack on your chromo 3." Another pilot said.
"Wampa. Zap, get on them."
"Burn all these babies!"
"Fierfek that's four more for Striker. No one is going to ever catch him."
"Officers. Ahem, officers." Captain Lenoan attempted to address the occupied pilots.
"Haha, Belly Runner you just punched that bomber in the chooblies." A TIE pilot laughed.
Yutu looked to Moff William, who just shrugged. Yutu recalled the King had been a pilot earlier in his life and therefore may have understood the mentality of bucketheads better than anyone else on the bridge.
"Gentlemen, please, gentlemen listen, I have an announcement." Lenoan spoke more loudly this time.
"Who the hell is this piss-for-brains on my comm channel?" The first TIE pilot demanded.
Lenoan looked flustered. Yutu tried not to grin. Most Kuati naturally lost their cool when faced with the illogical. Perhaps that's why there weren't a lot of them in the TIE corps. "This is Captain Lenoan, commander of the Kuat's Might. What in the kriffing blue blazes is your operating number?"
"This is Jabba's Sexy Pants. Get the hell off my comm channel! We are in combat here!"
"Pilot, you are speaking to a superior officer and you are being obstinate!" Lenoan started to rant.
"My apologies, Captain who-ever-the-hell-you-are, but we're just a bunch of dumb fighter jocks. We don't even know what obstinate means." There was a chorus of laughter from the rest of the pilots on the comm channel.
This was getting nowhere, Yutu thought. Pilots and troopers needed to be allowed to perform their duty in combat and not have superior officers jostling their elbows at critical moments. This was how Moff Seco and leaders in the Old Empire would have led a battle, but that got men killed. The New Empire could ill-afford the casualties, stretched as thin as they were.
"Commander Murp what is our nearest ship to that TIE wing?" Yutu asked.
"The corvette Trakata, She's directly over them now. She's been busy preventing German ships from retreating back to main continental mass.
"Good. They will have Pistoekas aboard. Have them launch a full spread of discord missiles into the paths of those approaching fighters." Yutu ordered.
"Aye, aye, sir." Murp quickly relayed the orders to the nearby escort ship.
Yutu stepped forward and held out his hand to Captain Lenoan indicating for the officer to yield the comm to him. Yutu took it away. "Pilot Jabba's Sexy Pants, this is Grand Admiral Yutu. You have inbound enemy fighters from the south-east. Counter-measures have been launched. Destroy any stragglers that get through. Acknowledge."
"Acknowledged, Admiral. We can see the bogeys on the horizon now." The TIE pilot responded, with more discretion than he had shown Captain Lenoan.
To the south-east of the TIE pilots and nearly two hundred meters forward and above the approaching Terran fighters erupted several large clouds of green and gray. Looking closer, one could identify that each mote of those clouds were Pistoekas, or as they were more commonly called, buzz droids.
The mechanical menaces utilized powerful magnets and repulsar lifts to quickly close with the fighters. Within seconds they had latched onto nearly every fighter that was approaching the TIEs. Supersonic speeds did nothing to deter the droids as they began ripping panels and flight surfaces off of the primitive airspeeders. Some of them crawled on top of the cockpits and burst them with their drills, killing a handful of the near-humans with rapid depressurization. Within sixty seconds the majority of the fighter icons disappeared from the bridge's imagecaster as they plummeted into the sea. The remaining fighters turned tail and fled back to the relative safety of their airbases on the Main Continental Mass, not knowing that gunners aboard a dozen Imperial ships were watching them in the hopes they'd lead them back to their clandestine airbases.
"Commander, notify the Trakata to self-detonate all of their Pistoeka droids." Yutu took the comm again. "Commander Sexy Pants, threat has been eliminated. Clear skies and good luck."
"Thank you, sir. We saw that from here. If I ever have a kid I'm going to name it Grand Admiral. QI2-1-1, out."
Yutu handed the comm back to Lenoan.
"I want that man reprimanded. He did not show proper authority to the chain-of-command." Lenoan whined.
"That man is Major Roblin, currently serving off the Slash. He is also one of the Empress's favorites. Do you wish to explain to her why you are punishing one of her shining stars?" Yutu asked.
Lenoan stepped back. No Imperial officer wanted to test out the young Empress. There were still rumors of terrible things that had been done to Seco's Admiral Neptu, who had been arrested after the Battle of Four Navies. "No, that won't be necessary, sir. Heat of battle and what not."
"You would do better to let your men perform their jobs when it is called for. Combat is not the place to have an academy school yard squabble. Especially not across a fighter squadron's comm channel. Am I understood?"
"Yes, Grand Admiral." Lenoan clicked his heels together.
"Astral. No we have a battle to finish. Now is the time to finish the Europeans once and for all," he turned to Moff William, "and secure the safety of our allies in the United Protectorate for the remainder of the war."
"May it be over soon." Moff William said.
Yutu agreed with the sentiment. Earth had turned into a sinkhole. Glory for the Imperial Navy will be won exploring the new Galaxy over the next century, not battering stupid, primitive Terrans into submission. This battle would erase the shame of the break through attempt at Las Vegas, at least in Imperial histories. Considering, of course, that the army there never buckles under. The shame of such a defeat could topple the Empire, and Yutu wouldn't blame it if it did. He'd be protesting right there in the roadways of Culter City if they lost an entire army.
"We've met our goals, at least those set out by our last Emperor." Yutu watched as the seas were swept clean of the last ships. The attempted invasion was a catastrophe for the Terrans. Long may they remember their folly, he thought. Yet he could find no cause to gloat. There simply was no more honor to be found on Earth. "Now we just need to find a way to leave on our own terms."
"You may find that once engaged the Earth is not easily quit." William said. "There are still a lot of graves that need to be dug before this is all over."
Yutu thought of Vegas and wondered how big the grave needed to be to bury an entire army. Would the whole earth be their funeral pyre if he failed to break them out? What would make the Empress and the Empire quit this draining war? Yutu had much to think about. "Indeed."
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Up next: New Order (And no, it won't include Vader's kids, the Solo boy or Palpatine's granddaughter)