"We're working under adverse conditions here!" Rise'hara yelled. His tone was not directed towards the frightened lieutenant, but rather the Rebels. The unexpected battle had pitched each person into high alert.
Rise'hara's nerves were on end as he shouted orders that were passed to the fleet. The fleet had already been in formation, ready for an attack, but it hadn't expected one to come so early. Without a unified Empire, it was harder to track the movements of Rebel ships.
Imperial ships exploded in the distance.
Luckily, the Binder, was far away from the front line that Rise'hara had time to prepare. He didn't know every last detail about an Interdictor-class cruiser. But he knew enough. His ship's greatest strength lay in its gravity projectors.
"Bring shields up. Seventy-five percent forward, twenty-five back." That would help dispel the energy from the laser blasts sure to be scurrying their way across the battlefield. The Binder was fortunate enough to have redundant shielding.
"Sir, are we going to make it?" a fearful man asked.
"Of course, we are," Rise'hara said through clenched teeth. "Get our batteries firing."
The Rebel fleet had encroached farther, carving a path through the middle of the Imperial fleet. The edges of both fleets sparkled with exchanged fire but the heat of battle was in that path. Imperials did not slouch in battle—the Rebellion had lost over two dozen capital ships. The enemy might be pushing through the Imperial fleet but the action left many of their straggling ships dead.
A cone of ships was attempting to split his forces in half. A common tactic. Divide and conquer.
Another beep indicated additional ships approaching through hyperspace.
"Turn gravity generators on. Focus the fields on the point of that force." Rise'hara watched, clenching his fists, as the gravity field was focused invisibly on the front of the enemy force. They were breaching quickly towards the Binder.
Rise'hara looked out of the viewport just in time to see a half dozen vessels jump into the battle at the tip of the cone. Exactly as he'd thought. The ships were attempting to jump through the hole in the Imperial fleet to the other side of it, pinching the ships in between two forces.
The enemy ships crashed into each other, several smaller vessels exploding as they collided with allies.
Despite the chaos, a fresh Mon Calamari cruiser pushed forward towards a damaged Star Destroyer. "Fire at the forward section of that cruiser."
The Binder's laser batteries opened on the Mon Cal ship. A dozen more Imperial ships fired at it. The obstinate Rebel ship soaked up the damage as if it were nothing. He could see the Mon Cal ship's shield sparkle, but the Binder's shots seemed to do nothing to the threat.
"Give me status of the fleet," Rise'hara yelled over the din of bridge activity.
"Sir, we've lost half our fleet!" ensign Karave shouted. "They're trying to split our forces in two."
As if I couldn't already tell that. Rise'hara nodded at the man. If he could get rid of the Mon Cal cruiser, the rest of the enemy cone would lose its momentum and the protection of a large ship. Rise'hara looked out the viewport. Sitting to the starboard and front of the Binder, the damaged ISD he'd seen earlier was slugging it out with the Mon Calamari ship. Perfect.
"Arm concussion missiles. Target that damaged Star Destroyer." Rise'hara grimaced. He didn't want to sacrifice one ship but if it meant the fleet survived, he'd do it. The badly wounded Star Destroyer floated by itself, still firing. The only ship close to the Mon Cal cruiser.
"But sir—"
"Do it."
The targeting computer was set. The damaged Star Destroyer sat by the Mon Cal ship, damaged but fighting. "On my command."
Rise'hara saw two of the ISD's three engines go dark.
"Fire!"
A wave of yellow orbs shot out from the underbelly of the Interdictor, directly at the bow of the ISD. Imperial technology would have kept the ISD alive under normal conditions. But with its shield pointed exactly opposite of the Binder, it took a massive hit.
The point of the ship began to rock towards the Mon Calamari ship. Perfect, Rise'hara thought, watching the commotion. The point of the ISD slammed into the Rebel ship, overloading the shield and punching into hull armor. Massive portions of the two ships exploded in all directions. A piece of the ISD hit the Binder, rocking the bridge.
Sparse batteries continued to fire from the Mon Cal cruiser—the rest had gone dead. The Rebel ship was a dead husk floating in space.
Cheers went up all around the bridge. Rise'hara allowed himself a smile. He had vanquished the massive Rebel beast—but would it sway the battle in the Empire's favor? That's to be determined.
Both sides had suffered catastrophic losses, dozens upon dozens of ships dead and destroyed in space. The cone of Rebel ships stuttered in space without the forward momentum of the lead ship. Imperial ships picked off more and more enemy corvettes and frigates.
We might actually win this. Hopeful but still wary, he turned towards the crew to congratulate them.
A wave of torpedoes connected with his ship and slammed him to the deck.