Star Wars: Broadsides
Chronological Note: This series exists in the Legends continuity, before the Disney buyout. This story takes place in between Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi.
Rear admiral Venrak looked out the starship viewport. He was the captain of the Victory-class Star Destroyer Broadside. Even though the ship was out of date and no longer on the front lines of combat, he still felt a sense of pride in commanding it. The ship was patrolling a known smugglers route in the Dantooine sector. His gazing out the viewport was interrupted by the ensign manning the scanners.
"Sir, we have an unidentified craft on our scanners," asked the ensign, whose name was Kasdak. "Should we approach?"
"Does our scans show any weapons?" Admiral Venrak asked.
"We have found twenty laser cannons, and several military grade turbolasers. Highly illegal ones, I might add." The ensign responded.
"Any sign of cargo?"
"No sir, but it's not uncommon for them to have scan resistant materials around their cargo."
"Then alert the laser batteries. Prepare the sublight drives. We're going in."
20 minutes later, the ship was in view. It was a BFF-1 cargo ship, but from the looks of it it had been heavily modified.
"Try and get their captain on the viewport." Venrak ordered.
Soon, the screen flickered to life. It was an alien, a Bith from the looks of it.
"Greetings!" Rear admiral Venrak exclaimed. "This is the Imperial Star Destroyer Broadsides. Prepare to be-"
He was cutoff by the alien. "Urkt chi chuthi…" He declared. "Onk dey Thoom!"
The viewport shut off.
"Prepare the turbolasers. Soften them up for boarding!" Venrak declared. That declaration was followed by a buzz of activity. Men scrambling for stations, yelling into comlinks.
The first shot was fired by the cargo ship. It slammed into the side of the Star Destroyer, but fortunately the shield absorbed most of the blow. The Broadside retaliated with a volley of turbolaser fire at the opposing ship. While the lasers seemed random, they actually were pinpoint targeted to hit the weapons and drive systems of the ship, so the crew members could be taken for questioning. The cargo ship returned fire, and for a solid 15 minutes fire was exchanged between the ships. The Broadside seemed to be gaining the upper hand when the hangar of the cargo ship opened. Out flew a dozen assorted fighters and bombers, and what looked like an old Republic gunship.
"Scramble the fighters! Quickly" Venrak screamed at his crew.
"Yes sir!"
Despite the Rear admiral's orders, the fighter took a full ten minutes to prep. For those ten minutes, the ship was pounded by the fighters. The laser batteries tried to shoot them down, but had minimal success. Out the viewport, Rear admiral Venrak looked on as flames erupted from portions of the ship. The gunship scored a direct hit on the bridge, and a shower of sparks erupted from one of the screens, blasting back one of the officers.
"Sir, the shields are down!" Ensign Kasdak exclaimed.
But Venrak didn't respond. The gunship was coming in for another run. They couldn't survive a direct hit again.
"BRACE YOURSELF!" He screamed.
The gunship was readying its missiles. Then out of nowhere, it was torn apart in a massive fireball as a Tie Interceptor flew past.
A voice crackled over the comlink. "This is Black leader, reporting in. Do we have all of Black squadron?"
The inferior smuggler fighters were chased down and destroyed by the superior Tie fighter. Then, the imperial fighters turned their wrath back upon the cargo ship. Plumes of fire erupted from the enemy ship. It had now lost most of its weapons and had its engines destroyed. Then, Rear admiral Venrak came over the com.
"Black squadron, stand down. Ready the tractor beams, and prepare for boarding!"
To be continued…