They waited for almost a full hour before the fleet was ever so rudely ripped out of hyperspace. Cronin had spent that hour creating a strategy to save his men, always one for the tactics it didn't take long for Cronin to come up with a plan. He could only hope that when the time came it would work.
Exactly an hour and fourteen minutes elapsed with no event. At the fifteen minute mark the Akurish Sun shuddered and lurched back into realspace. Even before Cronin orientated himself from the sudden stop enemy lasers raked against there hull.
Cronin flipped on the commlink himself this time. The Ensign was nowhere to be seen.
"Carrier, release your fighters," he ordered. Ahead of him lay a few small imperial ships. Cronin was surprised at the lack of response. There was only a Interdictor cruiser, a pair of Lancer Frigates and several squadrons of TIE fighters. That could only mean one thing: reinforcements were on the way.
"All fighters head for the cruiser, and disable it if possible. Akurish Moon and Bilbringi, engage the Frigates at once."
Cronin watched as the dreadnoughts twisted in the air and went full throttle for the two frigates. The Akurish Sun shuddered as a flaming TIE fighter slammed into the already weak shields. Sirens screamed and lights flashed. Cronin walked briskly over to the shield generator station and watched as a young officer struggled to keep it online.
"What's the situation Capriano?" asked Cronin quietly as more of the status symbols turned from green to red. The officer grunted and toggled a few switches. Slowly green light began to reappear on the computer station. "Sir, shields should be coming back online...now!"
A shimmering haze seemed to engulf the ship. Another salvo from one of the frigates dissipated on the new shields.
"Sir, I was forced to reroute some energy from the ships core to the shield generator."
"What exactly does that mean Capriano? Do we still have a forward thrust? Can we still return fire?" asked Cronin suspiciously. The shields were important, yes, but if they were forced to sacrifice something Cronin wanted to now what it was going to be.
"Sir, we lost the power needed to fire the remaining turbolasers and proton torpedo launchers."
"Sithspawn," Cronin spat. He wanted to be able to return fire, not just absorb it. They would be forced to withdraw from the battle. "All ships, the Akurish Sun is unable to return fire, and we are pulling back. Marauder Corvettes, you have the go ahead to engage the enemy ships. You may fire at will."
Cronin watched as the scenes of battle faded from the viewscreen and slowly walked to the HUD. The X-wing squadron, the aptly named Interceptor Squadron engaged a flight of TIE's heading for the Akurish Sun. The A-wings were cutting up the Interdictor, destroying the shield generators and most of the turbolasers.
The fleet status light flickered as one of the corvettes took a direct hit. Cronin watched as the light representing the corvette went from green to red. He briskly strolled over to the makeshift communications center. "What's the status on the Huntington?" he asked seriously. He already new the answer, but had to ask anyway.
The young man working the station turned away from the numerous wires, mics, and speakers to snap a salute at Cronin. "Sir, the Huntington is no more. She took a direct hit to the core and blew, all while trying to repair their shields."
Cronin felt like he had been punched in the stomach. The anger that had taken hold of him after the Akurish Sun retreated and the fear of the loss of his mission was replaced by a cold, hollow sensation. A crew of one hundred gone, Captain Horj Andell gone. All gone.
"Sir, Captain Andell was a good man." The young man looked up at Cronin with sad eyes. "My brother was on that ship."
There was absolutely nothing Cronin could say to that. He merely nodded, the cold spot feeling more and more like a black hole, sucking his innards out.
"Sir your going to want to see this," called Gilmar from the HUD display. Cronin jogged to Gilmar's location and glanced at the status reports coming in from the other ships. One of the lancer frigates was breaking up. The interdictor cruiser was trying to disengage from the A-wing squadron, but without much success. Then something caught his eye. An Imperial Star Destroyer was slowly moving towards the battle. Its TIE bays already empty, the new fighters adding a dangerous element to the dogfights heating up the space.
"All ships disengage and fallback at once. I repeat all ships fall back."
Cronin stared at the HUD watching as the destroyer was slowly advancing on several of the ships. In a minute the fleet would be trapped and destroyed by the imperials. They only had one chance.
"Gilmar, can you put the Akurish Sun between the Star Destroyer and the rest of the fleet?" he asked sharply. They had to move quickly now.
"Sir it is possible. Do you want me to give the order."
Cronin thought for a moment. This would be the death of his ship and most likely the end of his life. But all that matter was the bulk of his men get to Endor where they were needed. The mission came first. The mission was above all. "Give the order Ensign, then prepare to abandon ship."
The Akurish Sun hurtled through space en route to disaster. The shields had been turned off, all power was running to the ion engines. Lasers crisscrossed the deadly expanse of space ahead of Cronin.
"Sir both dreadnoughts have disengaged and are preparing to make a jump. They need coordinates. Shall I begin the transmission?" called out Gilmar.
"You may. Prepare to route all power to the shields as soon as we are between the destroyer and the rest of the fleet."
"We will be there in less then a minute. Preparing to reroute power...now!"
The ship shuddered to a halt and hung in space for a moment. For one minute the Akurish Sun was at perfect peace. She floated in space gracefully for a beat up ancient warship, and not a laser touched her.
A moment later the Akurish Sun was a flurry of activity. Escape pods launched from the hull of the ship giving it the appearance of tears. Many of the shuttles shot towards the bulk carrier who was quickly picking up as many as possible. The remaining Corvette was busy trying to keep TIE's off the carrier. A few short minutes later both were gone, headed directly for Endor, towards liberty and freedom.
As the Carrier left the system the Imperial Star Destroyer pounded the Akurish Sun with its entire range of weaponry. In an amazingly short time the Akurish Sun was reduced to scrap and whatever legacy it had left was now dead and gone. But the Destroyers sensors still picked up lifeform's aboard the dying vessel.
Several boarding vessels rocketed towards the wreck. They collected what they were searching for and returned to their mothership. After that the remaining Imperial ships left the deserted solar system and headed back to more mainstream space. Soon there was nothing left of the engagement except a burnt out rebel dreadnought drifting towards a volcanic planet, on its last orbit.
Exactly an hour and fourteen minutes elapsed with no event. At the fifteen minute mark the Akurish Sun shuddered and lurched back into realspace. Even before Cronin orientated himself from the sudden stop enemy lasers raked against there hull.
Cronin flipped on the commlink himself this time. The Ensign was nowhere to be seen.
"Carrier, release your fighters," he ordered. Ahead of him lay a few small imperial ships. Cronin was surprised at the lack of response. There was only a Interdictor cruiser, a pair of Lancer Frigates and several squadrons of TIE fighters. That could only mean one thing: reinforcements were on the way.
"All fighters head for the cruiser, and disable it if possible. Akurish Moon and Bilbringi, engage the Frigates at once."
Cronin watched as the dreadnoughts twisted in the air and went full throttle for the two frigates. The Akurish Sun shuddered as a flaming TIE fighter slammed into the already weak shields. Sirens screamed and lights flashed. Cronin walked briskly over to the shield generator station and watched as a young officer struggled to keep it online.
"What's the situation Capriano?" asked Cronin quietly as more of the status symbols turned from green to red. The officer grunted and toggled a few switches. Slowly green light began to reappear on the computer station. "Sir, shields should be coming back online...now!"
A shimmering haze seemed to engulf the ship. Another salvo from one of the frigates dissipated on the new shields.
"Sir, I was forced to reroute some energy from the ships core to the shield generator."
"What exactly does that mean Capriano? Do we still have a forward thrust? Can we still return fire?" asked Cronin suspiciously. The shields were important, yes, but if they were forced to sacrifice something Cronin wanted to now what it was going to be.
"Sir, we lost the power needed to fire the remaining turbolasers and proton torpedo launchers."
"Sithspawn," Cronin spat. He wanted to be able to return fire, not just absorb it. They would be forced to withdraw from the battle. "All ships, the Akurish Sun is unable to return fire, and we are pulling back. Marauder Corvettes, you have the go ahead to engage the enemy ships. You may fire at will."
Cronin watched as the scenes of battle faded from the viewscreen and slowly walked to the HUD. The X-wing squadron, the aptly named Interceptor Squadron engaged a flight of TIE's heading for the Akurish Sun. The A-wings were cutting up the Interdictor, destroying the shield generators and most of the turbolasers.
The fleet status light flickered as one of the corvettes took a direct hit. Cronin watched as the light representing the corvette went from green to red. He briskly strolled over to the makeshift communications center. "What's the status on the Huntington?" he asked seriously. He already new the answer, but had to ask anyway.
The young man working the station turned away from the numerous wires, mics, and speakers to snap a salute at Cronin. "Sir, the Huntington is no more. She took a direct hit to the core and blew, all while trying to repair their shields."
Cronin felt like he had been punched in the stomach. The anger that had taken hold of him after the Akurish Sun retreated and the fear of the loss of his mission was replaced by a cold, hollow sensation. A crew of one hundred gone, Captain Horj Andell gone. All gone.
"Sir, Captain Andell was a good man." The young man looked up at Cronin with sad eyes. "My brother was on that ship."
There was absolutely nothing Cronin could say to that. He merely nodded, the cold spot feeling more and more like a black hole, sucking his innards out.
"Sir your going to want to see this," called Gilmar from the HUD display. Cronin jogged to Gilmar's location and glanced at the status reports coming in from the other ships. One of the lancer frigates was breaking up. The interdictor cruiser was trying to disengage from the A-wing squadron, but without much success. Then something caught his eye. An Imperial Star Destroyer was slowly moving towards the battle. Its TIE bays already empty, the new fighters adding a dangerous element to the dogfights heating up the space.
"All ships disengage and fallback at once. I repeat all ships fall back."
Cronin stared at the HUD watching as the destroyer was slowly advancing on several of the ships. In a minute the fleet would be trapped and destroyed by the imperials. They only had one chance.
"Gilmar, can you put the Akurish Sun between the Star Destroyer and the rest of the fleet?" he asked sharply. They had to move quickly now.
"Sir it is possible. Do you want me to give the order."
Cronin thought for a moment. This would be the death of his ship and most likely the end of his life. But all that matter was the bulk of his men get to Endor where they were needed. The mission came first. The mission was above all. "Give the order Ensign, then prepare to abandon ship."
The Akurish Sun hurtled through space en route to disaster. The shields had been turned off, all power was running to the ion engines. Lasers crisscrossed the deadly expanse of space ahead of Cronin.
"Sir both dreadnoughts have disengaged and are preparing to make a jump. They need coordinates. Shall I begin the transmission?" called out Gilmar.
"You may. Prepare to route all power to the shields as soon as we are between the destroyer and the rest of the fleet."
"We will be there in less then a minute. Preparing to reroute power...now!"
The ship shuddered to a halt and hung in space for a moment. For one minute the Akurish Sun was at perfect peace. She floated in space gracefully for a beat up ancient warship, and not a laser touched her.
A moment later the Akurish Sun was a flurry of activity. Escape pods launched from the hull of the ship giving it the appearance of tears. Many of the shuttles shot towards the bulk carrier who was quickly picking up as many as possible. The remaining Corvette was busy trying to keep TIE's off the carrier. A few short minutes later both were gone, headed directly for Endor, towards liberty and freedom.
As the Carrier left the system the Imperial Star Destroyer pounded the Akurish Sun with its entire range of weaponry. In an amazingly short time the Akurish Sun was reduced to scrap and whatever legacy it had left was now dead and gone. But the Destroyers sensors still picked up lifeform's aboard the dying vessel.
Several boarding vessels rocketed towards the wreck. They collected what they were searching for and returned to their mothership. After that the remaining Imperial ships left the deserted solar system and headed back to more mainstream space. Soon there was nothing left of the engagement except a burnt out rebel dreadnought drifting towards a volcanic planet, on its last orbit.