Destroyer Imperial II, ESV262 "Destiny Blade", command post.
"We're taking it hard" said the engineer.
"As long as we keep moving, it's okay" replied the helmsman.
Suddenly all the rays converged on the bay.
"Take cover!" shouted the helmsman as he dove to the ground.
The bay exploded under the energy of the lasers. A A cloud of shards silently riddled the command post. The coxswain lying on the ground felt the impact from the vibrations of the structure.
"The station is untenable" he thought. "We'll have to order directly from the engine room"
He crawled to the mechanic and told him to evacuate. When he got to him he realized he had been killed. The shattered visor of his suit left no doubt.
"All I have to do now is get out. Hopefully the ship is still moving..."
He continued to crawl to the threshold of the airlock. The flashes of gunfire forced him to keep his eyes closed as much as possible.
"A blind coxswain is no use anymore" he thought.
Once there, he waited for a lull to quickly get up and open the door.
"Luckily it's bulletproof" he thought. "I would have had to jump out the window..."
He entered the airlock and managed to close the heavy leaves before the next salvo. The laser blasts shook the armoured panels. He ordered the re-establishment of the atmosphere only to realize that the procedure was stuck.
"Damn it! The whole floor is depressurized! Let's hope the manual override still works!"
He opened the hatch in the frame and pulled the red handle, breaking the seal. The inner panel opened in a fluid motion.
"Phew... it still holds..."
He started running down the corridor towards the rear elevator when suddenly the whole ship was shaken like a rattle. He sprawled out on the floor without being able to do anything.
One thought suddenly saturated his mind: "We've collided! I'd better hurry up now!"
Assault frigate "Hoth's Revenge II", command bridge.
The inevitable had happened. As in a cinematic slow-motion movie, everyone had seen the enemy ship advance, slow down under the blows, at least they had the impression, to finally fill the whole field of the panoramic bay of the frigate.
The fires were perfectly discernible, as were the leaks of various fluids that gushed out in geysers and then vaporized in the vacuum of space. Despite its damage, the destroyer continued on its course, as though indifferent to the flashes of light that harassed it.
"Full starboard helm! Full power!" Ordered the captain.
The order had been given just at the right time, at the extreme limit of the collision. The ship started to speed up and everyone had to hold on to what they had on hand to avoid falling. The frigate was grazed by the destroyer.
"Neutral! All engines stop!"
"Nice manoeuvre, Commander!" Approved by the navigation officer.
Indeed, everything was going well. The enemy ship passed within a hundred yards of the frigate, which was still firing at close range, when, about halfway across the destroyer, a shot triggered a violent explosion.
The blast then rotated the frigate's front, which brought its rear dangerously close to the advancing Imperial ship.
The commander reacted immediately:
"Full ahead! Emergency!"
The order was immediately transmitted to the propulsion system, but given the response time of the engines, it was already too late. The rear of the frigate slammed against the port side of the Imperial ship, bounced back, and the ship moved forward and collided head-on with the destroyer.
In the command post, shaken in all directions, nothing coherent could be emitted anymore. The operators were at best on the ground, at worst wounded or stunned. The captain and the admiral had been thrown to the lower deck and the lights had been cut. Only the instruments were still working on the emergency lines, which added to the confusion, as most of the alarms had been triggered.
A moment of chaos ensued, and then, as the destroyer passed by, the frigate stabilized in the din of the sirens.
The navigation officer then got up painfully.
The ship had a strange attitude, the floor was steeply sloping forward, and most of the operators had rolled against the large bay of the post, forming a motley magma of arms, legs and heads mixed together in the greatest confusion.
He climbed up the station, leaning on the pedestals of the consoles to reach the wheelhouse. When he reached the wheelhouse, he used the trim controls to return the vessel to a horizontal position.
"I hope it still works" he thought to himself. "Otherwise, we're going to be in a hell of a mess..."
The ship's nose slowly rose. He sighed deeply. It was the first step towards regaining control.
A few operators emerged from the overcrowding and came back to their posts. One after the other, horns and alarms went off.
The captain and admiral also appeared and climbed back up to the bridge. He asked the officer:
"Where are we?"
"The three forward sections are depressurized and will remain so for a while"
"What about propulsion?"
"It doesn't look too bad, I'm going to send a team there"
The captain turned his head and saw that the detection station was unoccupied. He then looked out over the bay and saw the bodies lying down surrounded by a few crew members.
"Detection! Return to your post!"
"He has a broken arm, Captain" said a voice against the glass.
"He still has one left! We're deaf and blind! At the station, that's an order!"
Destroyer Imperial II, ESV262 "Destiny Blade".
The helmsman didn't use the elevators, but the rapid escape tunnel. He opened the cylindrical door and threw himself without hesitation into the shaft leading to the engine room.
The walls of the shaft had a coating which ensured the braking of the free fall towards the technical floor. Once at the bottom of the then, he pushed the door and found himself on the landing of the airlock leading to the various engines of the ship. He looked at the displays and saw that the floor was still pressurized.
"That'll make my job easier" he thought.
He took a quick look at the floor plan and walked over to the helm room.
Arriving in front of the airlock, he had a brief moment of hesitation.
"I hope they've disabled the passcodes" he thought. "If this doesn't open, we're going to be in big trouble..."
He applied his badge to the reader, and to his great relief the door opened immediately. He crossed the threshold, passed the airlock and headed for the rudder control cabinet.
Arriving in front of it, he opened it and saw the row of modules that controlled the movements of the ship. He spotted the trim rod control blocks, removed a small cap on the front, took a thin screwdriver out of his pocket and began turning the tiny screws he had unmasked.
The light bars on the displays changed from green to yellow.
He took out the transmitter and pressed the call button.
"Destiny Blade" to Admiral. I'm in the bar room and I've set the plate to dive. Is that enough?"
"Admiral to Destiny Blade. Go red for five seconds and return to neutral"
"Copy that. I do"
He turned his screws again, and a red dot appeared on each module. He counted down approximately five seconds and then turned in the opposite direction to turn the displays back to green.
The transmitter crackled. He grabbed it and hit the receive button.
"Admiral to Destiny Blade. The maneuver is good. You can block the ship now"
"Copy that, admiral. Doing"
"Good luck"
"Thank you, Admiral. I deactivate the line"
He threw the transmitter to the ground and crushed it with his heel.
When he did, he exited the room, re-entered the airlock, went into the thruster room and shut it down. He had barely done that when the ship began to shake.
"They pass me over. Good luck, Admiral!" he thought.
Without hurrying, he then took the direction of the central hospital.
"To me the joys of the Republican prisoner camps!" He says to him.
Assault frigate "Hoth's Revenge II", command bridge.
The sensor operator moved forward carrying his right arm and sat down in front of his post. He rested his forearm on the edge of the keyboard and began to type with his left hand. After a moment he announced:
"Imperial Destroyer on rapid descent two minutes behind us. Ship... he hesitated for a moment. "Emancipator" ahead on the same course. Imminent crossing"
A voice echoed from behind the gunnery post:
"Shall I open fire?"
The captain hesitated for a moment and finally answered:
"No. It will be useless and we risk killing our people. Let him pass"
He spoke to the communications console:
"Pass the word to the other frigates!"
The admiral then spoke in a shrill voice:
"Are you going to let him go?"
"They won the round, admiral"
"You are just a defeatist!"
The navigation officer who had joined the injured operator at the console interrupted the conversation:
"Captain, I've got them at the theodolite. Contact the other frigates to do the same!"
"Well seen! Pass the word!" said the captain to the communications station.
"What will it be used for?" Barked the admiral.
The commander sighed inwardly and answered:
"To at least know their course. We won't know where they stop, but at least we'll have the line"
"But how did you become an admiral?" The navigation officer asked himself. "By lottery?"
"They grab them too!" Confirmed the communication.
"Crossing in progress!"
That was the sensor console.
Everyone looked silently across the bay. The "Emancipator" passed within five hundred yards from the frigate. It passed, as if on parade, indifferent to the Republican vessels that were making a semblance of a hedge of honor.
He left their field of vision and they could see the four hyperdrive thrusters already preheating.
The silence was not broken and the feeling that something terrible was about to happen overran the station.
Republican flagship RSV115 "Emancipator", command post.
The admiral put the transmitter down.
"Last message from the Destiny Blade. The mission was accomplished to the end. May everyone remember!"
"Yes Sir!"
"Navigation, have the coordinates been loaded?"
"Programmed and controlled!"
Jed didn't miss a beat of what was going on. He'd seen the Destiny Blade charge against the frigates, and the damage it had taken and inflicted on the four frigates that stood in its way. The Imperial vessel then dived to give them a clear way.
They were less than a minute behind the destroyer to take advantage of the cleared space and were about to reach the frigates when the fire control post spoke:
"Admiral, we have 50% of the ion cannons operational. No turbolasers, power's been cut by the fighting"
"Return fire with everything you've got. They can't stop us now anyway"
Jed saw the frigates that framed them now, motionless, hanging from the big black like heavy metal fruit. Two of them had collided with the ram which had cleared their way and were lying in unlikely attitudes. The two survivors, a little apart, made no movement.
"They must have been ordered not to move" Jed thought. "It seems they're giving us the point..."
The communications console announced:
"Admiral, the jamming of the Destiny Blade has just ceased. Shall I take over?"
"No, that would cost us too much power. Let them chat"
The ship had just overtaken the first frigate whose bow was crushed by the destroyer. Not a shot was fired. Jed recognized the vessel.
"This is the "Hoth's Revenge II"..."
He thought of the sergeant he'd sent on that frigate. Is he still alive? Where is the third one?
"There was definitely no good place on this mission" he thought to himself.
He couldn't recognize the other ships, they were too far away. The destroyer passed the second frigate on its other side. She didn't fire either.
"They let us go..."
Below them, he saw the fire-ravaged Destiny Blade.
"Must be hell in there. The frigates will waste a lot of time collecting everyone ..."
He had understood from conversations that the prisoners and the wounded had been transferred to the Imperial vessel. He appreciated the ruse at its true value.
An announcement of propulsion drew him out of his reverie.
"Hyperdrive in four seconds!"
Then the stars became lines.