Chapter 4
The Fais system was unimportant to the galaxy. A few hyperspace routes came and went out of the system, but they were very sparsely traveled as newer and more efficient lanes had been opened up. There were no habitable worlds in the system and while it did contain valuable minerals, the rest of the Zoloch sector was full of them in places that were much easier to reach. Only people who wanted to be avoided came here.
Which was exactly why one of Admiral Zut Gorky's fleets was hiding there. The 62-year-old leader of the Free Confederacy had found plenty of places to hide over the past few decades, and many had gone undiscovered. In these places he had docked his fleets and exploited whatever resources were in that area, biding his time until opportunities to strike the Empire. Then, he would fade away until they let their guard down and repeat. But now things had changed, and Gorky now thought that it would be for the better.
The fleet was made up of a single Subjugator-class heavy cruiser, the Eviscerator. Built and commissioned at the end of the Clone Wars, it had barely seen service before the war ended and it became his flagship. Alongside it was two Lucrehulk battleships and a single Providence Class dreadnought. Supporting them were a dozen Munificent Class frigates and Recusant-class destroyers, supported by several smaller ships. All of these vessels had been extensively modified in the past couple of decades, to the point some looked unrecognizable when compared to their former selves.
All these assets combined were formidable for a non-Imperial fleet in this region of space, far from the Alliance territory. And this wasn't even all of his heavy combat assets. He had dozens of other ships scattered across this and neighboring sectors.
"Sir, I have intel you might want to see." A modified ST series tactical droid said, entering his office. Strengthen, the name adopted to this droid served as his aid and helped him command his forces. While several decades old by now, he had been constantly upgraded with the latest technologies to help him command the fleet."
"What is it?"
"An unidentified group has attacked an Imperial convoy in this sector, and it was not one of our forces. They managed to capture an interdictor cruiser and several smaller ships, along with heavily damaging a Star Destroyer. The ships used match descriptions of one's Earth used in defending itself against the Imperial attacks. But it would appear that they have created a capital ship that is about the size of an ISD, with at least an equivalent amount of firepower."
"This is an intriguing development. I want you to inform our intel assets to alert us if a follow-up attack occurs. And tell them to intensify their search for Earth's coordinates." After the reports of the rogue planet had come in, Gorky had ordered his spies to search for its coordinates. However, they had been unsuccessful in their endeavor and other operations had taken precedence. Now that would change.
Is there any information on how long that Star Destroyer will be out for repairs?"
"It will be several months, minimum."
"How is the situation on the ground?"
"Reports of conflict have been decreasing across all worlds in this sector. But it hasn't been long since the last major crackdown ended."
"Good, the Empire will be in for another surprise. Contact all of the fleet's captains and tell them to meet here in six hours."
Six hours later the captains of the fleet had gathered in Gorky's lavish wardroom. Most of these men and women of all different species had been fighting for him since the confederacy had fallen, and didn't seem ready to stop. As time went on, however, a new generation of leaders was emerging, recruited from the planets in the sector or birthed from the older generations.
"I have received intelligence that what appears to be the mysterious people of earth have struck an Imperial convoy and heavily damaged it. Preliminary reports indicate that they have captured an Interdictor cruiser along with several freighters, and damaged or destroyed many other ships including a Star Destroyer. These ships were supposed to reinforce the sector's defenses, as the Imperial's ill-fated expeditions against Earth have resulted in almost total casualties in both attacks. And factoring in our ongoing campaign against the Empire, the Zoloch Sector Forces are at about half strength."
He paused for a moment for dramatic effect and then continued. "An Interdictor Cruiser is unequivocally an offensive weapon, and there is no questioning its effectiveness in convoy raiding groups or first strike missions. If you are using one in an offensive you intend to stop the enemy from fleeing, which means you have a superior force. What I'm trying to say is that I think Earth is going to go on the offensive. When they attacked, they had a new ship with them. It was the size of a Star Destroyer."
He pulled up an image, retrieved by his slicer teams from a classified Imperial document. It showed this new ship, its industrial grey form longer and leaner than a Star Destroyer, but just as if not more heavily armed. "None of the reports indicated they had anything the size of this last time the Empire attacked them." He looked around. "How do you think they got this?"
"They built it." Captain Tan Kenu replied sarcastically. The blue-skinned rodian got a chuckle from a few of the officers but most ignored him. "It doesn't look like any design we or the Empire know of. And they had some sort of shipbuilding capabilities before the Empire attacked."
"Maybe someone helped them. Perhaps they contacted the Alliance, who helped them make the ship." One of the other Captains said.
"It would be useful if we could ask them, but unfortunately that is out of the question for now. We still have no idea where Earth is located, despite our spies extensively looking for it. I will have them put that on first priority though." Gorky said.
"Maybe we should go on the attack." Captain Kisto Borr, the Quarren commander of one of Providence dreadnaughts suggested. "Our forces could make a serious stand and at this point, we could probably take control of the sector. That might get Earth to help us."
"We still don't know anything about their capabilities, and any large-scale attack would likely mean that other sectors will come to reinforce. I would not like to cause trouble in the Tibannas Sector." Kenu responded.
"I agree with Captain Kenu, we will wait until there is a better understanding of the situation before striking. However, I want all of our combat assets to be battle-ready at a moment's notice. And for the relocation of some to this sector." The various officers nodded. "Good, then I think we all have some work to do."
Major Petrova sighed as the surviving members of her squad walked into the conference room aboard the Revenge. While their capturing the cruiser had been an overwhelming success, it hadn't been unopposed. They had lost privates, Perry Fennell and Zhu Huang, with Leo Virtanen, wounded from the brief firefight on the ship's bridge. He was still recovering, with parts of his body being obscured by bandages. But thanks to treatment with bacta, he would be fully healed in a few days.
They had fared better than the other squads, some of which had suffered 50 percent casualties. Petrova was gloomy, despite the victory. She had expected to lose people and was prepared for it as any commander should. But after the fact, she wondered what she could have done to minimize it. And she also wondered how it affected her perception as a leader.
Her father, once a member of the Russian Spersnev and now a drill sergeant in the United Nations Marine Corps had brought her up ruthlessly. Her father had told her that emotional attachments could lead to great loss, and she had stuck with this belief throughout her life. She had only a handful of friends and was not too close with any of them. Even with her squad, she had only the barest minimum of anything outside a purely professional relationship with them.
"We did well." She said as convincingly as possible. But those words didn't stick. The normally cheerful Jim Fennell looked glum and confused as if looking for guidance that wasn't there. That made sense since he had lost his brother, and from Petrova's understanding, they had been close. Virtanen and Bunt looked neutral, though she felt the Finn was suppressing a scowl. He has good reason to, considering that he was wounded. Taylor and oddly Hans looked somewhat supportive, which gave her slightly more confidence.
They began discussing the operation in detail. Everyone agreed that the beginning seemed to be well-executed, though there could have been some improvement in the time it took to get to the bridge. However, their inability to stun the stormtroopers that were hiding there was a critical point of failure. They had counterattacks right as the Earthen squad rushed in, knowing they only had seconds before the blast wore off. This had led to the loss of two members of the squad but had not significantly hurt them further in the mission.
"So we just need better flashbangs?" Hans said, chuckling slightly.
"If we had some with better range and power we could have beached more effectively," Taylor said in agreement.
"Or if we breached somewhere else," Virtanen said. "Detonated a charge on the hull and forced our way in."
"The goal of the mission was to capture the ship, not damage it. We would need some heavy charges to breach the armor and could have potentially caused significant damage." Petrova replied.
Soon, the three other squads filed into the room and a larger breakdown of the battle began.
Squad 2 under the command of Sergeant Anderson Smith (formerly USMC) had been tasked with taking and holding the ship's engineering section to prevent the ship from being scuttled. While they had been successful, a heavy Imperial counterattack had led to half of the eight members being killed, including Smith. Two others had been critically wounded and were receiving treatment in the revenge's ward. While they had succeeded in their objective, it had been a costly victory.
Squad 3 under the command of Sergeant Italio Brou (formerly Carabinieri) had been tasked with reinforcing Squad 2 and had reached the area along with squad 4 in time to prevent Anderson from being overwhelmed. They had also lost three of their men and women and had an additional 3 receiving treatment for their wounds. Squad 4 had a similar story, albeit suffering only 1 dead and 2 wounded due to a slightly late entry and the skill of their commanding officer, Captain Sato Takidawa (formerly of the Japanese Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade).
Every move made was broken down and analyzed by everyone, but the results were still clear. Nothing that any of them could have done would have significantly changed the outcome. And the few things they could have done to make the outcome better such as breaching through the hull instead of through airlock were avoided for other reasons such as potential damage to the vessel. While in many ways costly, they had succeeded.
As they were finishing up the breakdown the door opened. In stepped Major General Abicus Grant, the commander of the UN Extraplanetary Marine Corps. Next to him was Supreme Commander Paul Harrington. All of the soldiers in the room jumped to attention, wondering what such high-ranking officers had come to them for.
"At ease, ladies and gentlemen," Grant said as everyone related.
"First of all, I would like to congratulate all of you for your impressive victory today. That mission was critical to the future offensive we have planned, which is exactly why I came here to talk to you."
"The secretary-general and other officials have decided that the offensive into the Zoloch Sector will begin in 3 months. But before that begins, we need to lay some groundwork. There appears to be a large resistance movement in the sector that dates back to the end of the clone wars, and we need to make contact with them to coordinate our actions. Additionally, some strikes deep within the sector will help sow confusion and cripple more of their combat assets. All of you are at this point the most experienced soldiers when it comes to fighting the Empire and also some of the most skilled in the world. This is why Major Petrova will lead half of you in 2 months to Garnison II, the sector's capital and Captain Takidawa will lead the rest of you to Zoloch Prime. In both of your missions, you will attempt to meet up with local rebels and strike at the Empire when the fleet starts their offensive."
"How will we get there General?" Petrova asked.
"The cover story is that you are a private military contracting group that has been tasked with finding the local rebels. This will allow you to get information off of the Empire without suspicion, as well as get your weapons to the planet without complaint. Once you find the rebels you will fake your deaths and stay with them until you start an uprising. You are to report back to us regularly with your findings, especially knowledge of space-based rebels. We are sending a cruiser to try and find them, though we might not be able to without intelligence from the ground." The General paused, more than answering her question.
"Over the next two months, you will be trained to perfect to increase the likelihood the operation succeeds. But in celebration of your victory and because you won't be getting a lot of it going forwards, you all get a week of leave. After that, you will report to Marine Camp One for further training and exercises. Thank you for your work." With that, both officers left and everyone eagerly left to go pack their bags for the week ahead.