Admiral William Johnson paced across the bridge of the revenge, waiting for it and it's supporting fleet to come out of hyperspace. They were about to arrive at Njmok, the first major Imperial world they would be attacking. There were two habitable planets with a combination of six billion people between them, with over 100,000 Imperials on the surface. In space there were two Imperial Star Destroyers as well as an older Venator Star Destroyer and Victory Star Destroyer, along with five cruisers, an escort carrier, 12 frigates and 20 corvettes and fast attack systems patrol craft. A formidable force, one larger in firepower than the ones on the past three planets combined.
At his disposal he had three revenge class battleships and one captured Imperial Star Destroyer, the Impassable. That ship had been the one to lead the Empire's first expedition against Earth, and ironically would be fighting it's creators. He had four carrisers, nine cruisers (including the Senali to prevent the Imperials from fleeing into hyperspace). This was rounded out by 21 destroyers, 49 frigates, and 16 corvettes. The largest offensive space force in the history of Earth. Over 150 warships, with dozens more of non combat and support vessels ready to jump in once the system was clear. This fleet constituted over 1 / / 3 of earth's entire fleet, and could probably win against any Imperial fleet in the sector, though some would give a quite a fight before going down.
"One minute until return to real space." The helm officer said."
"Bring weapons online and raise shields to full strength. Copy to the rest of the fleet." He ordered.
Soon they emerged in the Njmok system, ready for battle. There would be no demands of surrender in this case, it would waste time. The Imperial in command of the fleet was a fanatic and would not surrender, so there was no use asking.
"Tell all fighters to start launching and give Admiral Rosa's assault group the go ahead to begin their attack runs. But not to get top cocky, those corvettes and frigates only have so much armor." Johnson ordered. "And tell Commander Davis to suppress Imperial TIE's."
Aboard the frigate Morgador Rear Admiral Valintina Rosa received her orders and told her ships to accelerate.
Under her command were four frigates and 16 corvettes, including the Morgador. They had all been modified for the role of fast attack, with more powerful engines and more missile launchers with a larger missile magazine.
"How long until we are in range of the first Star Destroyer, helm?" She asked.
"Two minutes until maximum missile range." The helmsman reported.
"Tell half of the ships to target the first Star Destroyer and half to the other Destroyer and fire ion torpedoes when they get in range. Then reload with proton torpedoes." She ordered her fleet.
This would be the first real test of her tactics in battle.
The next couple of minutes felt longer than they should be. Rosa looked calm on the outside, but inside she was almost a nervous wreck. What if something went wrong and the plan failed? If she didn't die, her tactics would be relegated to secondary battles and flanking maneuvers supporting other movements rather than a decisive first blow. At worst they would be completely abandoned and she would find her career in a dead end, perhaps even being demoted.
She pushed those thoughts away. She needed to concentrate on the task at hand.
"We are in range sir." The helmsman said.
"You know what to do." She ordered the gunnery officer.
A moment later each of the ships launched ion torpedoes at their respective targets, with over a hundred hitting each target. Alone or in a much smaller group those weapons wouldn't have done much, but in these numbers both ships were temporarily disabled. Cheers could be heard in all 20 ships as they celebrated their first victory.
"Relaid the tubes with proton torpedoes. Fire as soon as they are loaded on the same ships." Rosa ordered.
Several moments later a number of proton torpedoes were fired on the two helpless Star Destroyers. With their shields down, the impacts heavily damaged them. Neither would be rejoining the fight anytime soon, and even if they could retreat they would be spending months in dry dock.
"Ma'am we have incoming contacts, some of the Imperial corvettes are coming to intercept us." The sensor officer reported.
"Take us back to the fleet's battle line." She ordered and the ships turned around. "And fire a salvo of ion torps at that Venator. " She could see it's large dorsal hangar doors that ran almost the length of the entire ship open to allow its large complement of fighters to exit.
"Scratch that. Tell all ships to fire proton torpedoes, concussion missiles, whatever will cause damage to that ship. Target the open hanger." She ordered. The old clone wars vessel would have to lower its shields in order to allow its fighters to depart. And the interior of the hangar was less armored than the rest of the ship, and filled with fuel and munitions that would go up in an instant.
Some of the point defense guns aboard the ship tried to shoot down the oncoming munitions, but were mostly unsuccessful. The assortment of missiles and torpedoes impacted the ship, causing a massive explosion. When the dust cleared, the entire front of the ship was gone, and the remainder was drifting powerless through space. The impact would have likely superheated the entire ship, killing everyone aboard. A Nebulon B frigate that couldn't get away fast enough was destroyed when the hull hit it.
There were more cheers onboard the ships as they retreated back to the battle line. Rosa couldn't help but smile, she had helped win an undeniable victory with these attacks. Her tactics and ideas would not fall to the sidelines or be discarded, they would be instead studied, refined, and embraced.
"Good work Valentina." She could hear Johnson over the comms. "You just made our job a lot easier."
"No problem, I am always happy to kill Imperials." She replied.
Commander David Davis, callsign "Deadlock" sped through space in his F-1500b fighter, approaching the mass of Imperia fighters. The commander, air group (or CAG for short) of the revenge would be in command of all of Earth's fighters during the battle, which constituted well over a thousand space frames, the largest collection of Earth's space fighters in battle. \
"This is Deadlock, we mostly have clean skies today. Thos 's and that Venator didn't get many fighters out before being disabled or destroyed, so we don't have nearly as many bogeys as expected. But still watch out and don't get cocky. Good hunting." He said, ending the communique to all the fighters.
He could see a dozen TIEs in front of him by one of the disabled Star Destroyers. They must have gotten out before the mass of ion torpedoes them.
"Let go get those TIE's ahead." He said to his squadron mates under his direct command.
"Copy that, are we using missiles or doing this the old fashioned way?" His wingmate, Captain Vanessa "Redeye" Sundrey said.
"Why get close when you can kill them from afar." Deadlock said. "Everyone go pick a target and get them out of our sight." The internal networking of the fighters would make this a lot easier, and ensure they would not fire on eachothers target, making the most efficient use of their limited missile supply.
Each of the 12 members of the squad fired their anti small craft missiles, and all hit their mark. The bas fighter completely lacked electronic countermeasures, which made them especially vulnerable to guided munitions.
Davis could see on his sensor system that most of the Imperial fighters were being destroyed with little issue, inflicting very few casualties on his fighters. This meant he could focus his attention on the smaller Imperial ships without having to worry about being attacked by TIEs.
He noticed an Arquitens light cruiser nearby and contacted the rest of the squad. "Let's take that cruiser out." He said, moving to intercept the target.
"Are we using the anti-ship missiles?" Lieutenant Paul "Corndog" Dawes asked.
"Only half of us are going to, at least in the first wave." He replied. "We don't want to be overkill. We do have later cannons as well, remember."
The fighters launched anti-ship concussion missiles held in their underslung bay. These impacted on the 315 meter cruiser (though by the anaxes system it would be a frigate)!, causing some damage but nothing critical. As the fighters got closer, they fired with their forward facing laser cannons, dodging laser fire. The F-1500b had three laser cannons, a heavier one in the nose similar to an A-10 warthog and two medium ones on the wingtips.
Their shots also had some impact, but didn't cause any critical damage. The group kept circling the ship, making attack runs with various degrees of success.
"We're not doing much damage. Should we use the remaining ship to ship missiles?" Lieutenant Penny "holdup" Garrison asked.
Davis thought for a moment before replying. "Do it. All fighters with anti-ship weapons are to use them."
The rest of the missiles were launched at the ship. Combined with a few more strafing runs, the ship was destroyed. A number of cheers from the squadron could be heard as the 12 pilots began to identify other Imperial targets. But these were few and far between, and most were already engaged.
Admiral Johnson stood on the bridge of the Revenge, watching the battle unfold. Vice Admiral Rosa's attacks had been an overwhelming success, neutralizing or destroying 3 / 4 of the Imperial's Star Destroyers. His forces were making short work of the remaining Imperials, suffering only a handful of casualties.
He looked at the comms officer as a Vindicator Class Cruiser went up in a fiery explosion, one of the largest ships remaining in that fleet. The rest of the Imperial fleet would probably be dealt with within the half an hour.
"Tell General Grant he is free to bring his troops here and to prepare for landfall." He ordered over the comms officer, who transmitted the message to the net sector where he was waiting.
"Are you sure that isn't a little preemptive sir?" Haffard asked. "The Empire could call for reinforcements?"
"They might but I don't think they would push us out of the system. Speaking of that, have the intel teams check the footage from our recon drones across the sector. If there are any major Imperial movements, notify me." Johnson ordered.
He allowed himself to smile. This campaign has been going well so far.