"All right you whomp rats, get your measly asses into the drop ships and load your weapons"
Sergeant Johnson walked into the mass of Marines stationed aboard the Corellia and huffed. "All you ladies who wanted to take Stormtroopers head on, well... here is your chance. "
As the Marines loaded themselves aboard a UNSC Pelican class drop ship and prepped their firearms, He strapped himself into the copilot's seat, and giving the departure command.
The long rotating wings of the Pelican let off a rush of energy, propelling the long ship into the air. The LAAV class four Warthog, the UNSC choice ground vehicle, was attached to the back,loaded with ammunition, explosives, and extra medical packs.
"When we hit the ground," Johnson continued, "I want that hog prepped for combat! We are not down here to give them sons-of-a-bitchen Imperials a gourmet buffet. Am I correct Marines?"
"Sir, Yes Sir!" the marines shouted in perfect unison.
"Mmm-hmm. Damn right I am. Now strap in. I ordered a bumpy ride."
The Pelican began to accelerate once leaving the docking bay. The pilot gasped as she saw hundreds of other Pelicans file in around her, and saw Alliance fighters roar overhead. The hundreds of battleships loomed around the moving fighters. Ahead was Deneb I, the first planet in the system; the one they would fight to control.
"Commander Tyson to all ground forces. Boarding parties will fight for control of their relay station in orbit. UNSC Marines, Starfleet personnel, and United States troopers are to liberate and take control of Maltan City, the capital of Deneb. Our primary target is their gound to orbit ion cannon and their smaller turbolasers."
"Damn Imperials fortified the place." Johnson muttered without moving his lit cigar.
"The Ion cannon," Tyson continued, "Is to be destroyed as soon as possible. Siege and Scorpion tanks will be deployed as soon as a landing zone has been secured. Tyson out."
"Alrighty pilot," Johnson said with glee, "Take us in. Get tactical Marines!"
Commander George checked his fighter one last time, and climbed in. He interfaced with his Astromech droid, R1-D5, and lifted off. The view outside the Corellia was amazing, ships everywhere, prepped for battle. George fell in behind the leader of all squadrons, Gold Leader Jeremy Duloc.
"This is Gold Leader to all fighters. All wings report in."
"Red Leader, standing by," Commander Gavin Darklighter reported.
"Blue Leader, standing by," Lieutenant Tamer Morrison followed Darklighter.
"Twin Suns One standing by," the familiar voice of Commander Luke Skywalker said. His astromech, R2-D2, chirped energetically before he closed his comm. channel.
"This is Rogue Leader," General Wedge Antilles chimed in, "standing by."
"Hidesquadron One, standing by," George reported, last.
Gold leader again spoke, "Other fighter groups will be joining us mid-battle. We are the spearhead, the first to fight. Let's kick some Imperial Ass!"
Cheers of approval came from across the comm. system as they grew closer to the Imperial installation.
"Alright then," Gold leader continued, "Lock your S-Foils in attack position."
George pulled a lever next to his flight stick which opened his wings. Ships with these "S-Foils," like the X-Wing and the B-Wing starfighter, needed their S-Foils to be opened in order to discharge their weapons. Closing them would increase their speed.
"Turn you deflector shields to maximum, watch for Ion blasts," Antilles warned. "The fire from those forward shield ships should be the most daunting. Make sure you have room to maneuver."
"Commander Duloc, this is Commander George," Jim said, looking at his radar. "AWACS reports two interdictor cruisers closing in on their station. They think they can project their gravity wells beyond us."
"Copy that, Hide one. Gold two and three, follow me in. They need to be neutralized in case we need to retreat."
"Gold leader, this is the Corellia, we are sending the USS-Napoleon and the USS-Rampart to destroy the interdictors."
"I copy Corellia. We will cover them. Red group, Blue group, concentrate all fire of their fighters and assult craft. Rogue and Hide groups, you are to draw the fire of their capital ships away from Twin Suns while they escort our boarding party to their communications relay."
"Copy that gold leader," Antilles and Skywalker answered at once.
The communications relay was a large station, almost as large as the Corellia. Its upper dorsal surface consisted of numerous antennas and relays, as well as what Jim thought was Covenant technology.
"All ships are not to move in without my order," Gold leader said.
"This is battle group Corellia control to all allied capital ships, open fire!"
All the battleships began to fire toward the Imperial Starships orbiting the planet. Beam cannons, shock cannons, turbolasers, and MAC cannons all flew in the direction of the ships, hitting their outer shields with hundreds of fiery explosions.
"Second barrage, Fire!"
Another wall of fire moved toward the Imperial Fleet, passing thought the already weak shields and impacting the Star Destroyers. Suddenly, thousands of green blinking lights were seen from the surfaces of the destroyers, which became large green turbolasers as they grew closer.
"All capital ships, engage forward shields!" shouted Gold leader, "Fighters take evasive action."
The barrage from the imperials was a thick one. The static from shield impacts distorted Jim's radar. He threw his fighter into an intense barrel roll to avoid what made it through the shields in front of him.
"Fighters, coming in!" Antilles announced.
Thousands of TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors flooded the battlefield. Dog fighting commenced all around Jim, who had already taken out six TIEs. The Star Destroyers had moved in to engage their fleet, and he was already taking hits from cannon fire. So far, he had already done his job.
"All hands, to your stations!" shouted Captain Whitmer, as his ship, the Napoleon, got the order to take out an Interdictor cruiser. "I want suppressive fire at section fourteen. Anyone hear from Hide 1?
"Sir, Commander George has disappeared from our sensors," his communication officer responded, "He may have flown to the other side of the Corellia, which may put him in a blind spot."
"Right, we need a patch into the Corellia's comm. system. Get on that ensign."
An explosion rocked the Napoleon's hull, warning lights flashed on Tom's head up display. "Get a containment field on that abrasion. Where the hell are our support fighters?"
".....om.....tzz....oaching...."
"Clear that static ensign "
"Yes Sir."
The static began to clear, and the familiarity of Commander George's voice came through.
"Captain Whitmer, what the hell is going on? Why aren't you taking out the Interdictor?"
"George, we need an escort. Our fighter group has been routed, and we need cover."
"Captain, Gold group has the assignment of your cover. Patch me in with Gold Leader"
The comm. officer looked over to Tom and silently made the kill signal across his neck.
"Aww, Jim, Gold leader has been killed. As far as I know, you are in charge now."
The bridge gave a silent farewell to Commander Duloc, and Jim spoke again. "Hidesquadron will be rerouted to your position. Charge your particle beam; I'll be there to give further orders."
"Copy that."
He switched off the comm. with Jim and turned to his helm officer. "Set out. We need to get to the Interdictor with or without an escort. If we don't destroy that ship this will be the shortest offensive of all time."
Major Brenton Galbraith flung his fighter into a steep roll as the TIE behind him tried to keep up. His Protoss class Scout's joints strained under the pressure of the maneuver as he pulled level with the Corellia's surface. The TIE didn't pull up in time and slammed into an apartment building in the lower city. As he turned his ship toward his next target, he received an order from Commander George.
"Hidesquadron pilots are to redirect to the USS-Napoleon. We need to have it covered as Captain Whitmer attempts to destroy the Interdictor cruiser."
"Hide 1, this is Hide 4, we have a containment failure in the city."
Brenton listened in as Lieutenant Barnsheer explained to George.
"Somehow two Victory class Star Destroyers slipped into the city, and are causing havoc. Three skyscrapers have been collapsed due to turbolaser fire, and swarms of TIE fighters are harassing fleeing citizens. I recommend that Hide group remain to mop up, we can't afford to allow the city to take much more damage like this."
"How did two Star Destroyers make it that close? The containment field should have never been breached."
"I don't know sir, we lost three beam cannons to their turbos, so all I see is a hole in the grid."
"I need Hide with the Napoleon, but you take Hide 2 and 3 and mop up what you can. The Vengence is deployed in the city, relay orders to destroy the destroyers."
"Yes sir. Galbraith, Goodwin, did you copy that."
"This is Hide 3," Captain Max Goodwin responded, "I'm with you four."
"This is Hide 2," Brenton keyed, "Standing by."
"Let's do this then. Flank me as we run down Hanover Boulevard. There are a few landing ships that need our attention."
They formed on Barnsheer as they entered the financial district of North Corellia city. Two squadrons of TIES flew from behind a building, and the dogfight began. Galbraith imediately got behind two TIES and targeted the one on the left. He unleashed a barrage of laser fire and banked as the fighter exploded. The remaining fighter veered right just as he leveled off. He spun his ship laterally to allow his nose to be slightly ahead of his target, and locked a proton torpedo on it. "Hide 2, cyphon six!"
His warning to all in range of the torpedo's blast allowed him time to clear the field. The chute let out a thump as the missile left his craft. He rolled to the right to avoid the area effect as the TIE exploded in a brilliant flash of red and yellow. "Hide 2, mark two more skulls on my hull!"
"Add skulls? I didnt think that alien junk heap could handle manuevers like that!" Goodwin taunted him with his usual banter. He took pride in his F/A-34 Super Pheonix Fighter.
"Alien or not, I have the kill count now Max."
He saw the plane Goodwin was flying take a few hits to the tailfin. Goodwin didn't panic, though. He threw his fighter into a steep climb, and cut his engines. Galbraith was not concerned, Goodwin performed this manuever before. By cutting his engines, Goodwin was able to roll his fighther again, putting his nose directly toward the city's surface. He engaged his afterburner and leveled behind the fighters that were pursueing him. A volley of chain gun fire took care of it, and he was also able to outfly another that tried to pull his ariel dive spin. "Take that, bitch. Got three now Brenton."
"You didnt get him, he crashed."
"I dont care, you pull off an immelman and say you lived through it."
"Cut the chatter, two and three," Barnsheer cut in. "You allowed three deop ships to land. AWACS reports twenty AT-AT class walkers, an entire legion of Lion class Mechs, and nearly two thousand troops are now in the city heading for the command deck."
"Shit," Goodwin and Galbraith said in unison.
"Exactly," Barnsheer replied. "I called out the defense platoons. Land and join the fight."
What the hell happened here?
Kyle Katarn was still on foot in Corellia city when the Imperial forces landed. He took off his cloak, taking care to toss it over to Galvan. "Get out of sight. You are still part of the Empire, remember?"
Galvan, now extremely on edge, nodded and took off down the street.
Kyle, now alone in the middle of the street, drew and ignited his lightsaber. He looked on as two AT-AT walkers drew closer to him and Stormtroopers on foot led. He swung into a defensive position as troops on speeder bikes raced around the corner. He force jumped into the air and sliced the nose off the lead bike, which slammed into an abandoned car. The explosion's shockwave threw him against a building and he fell to the permacrete. He walked back into the street to see a few Alliance fighters fly over and drop proton bombs onto the walkers, which had little effect. He picked up a killed Alliance soldier's comm. system and keyed the fighters.
"Alliance fighters, this is Jedi Master Kyle Katarn requesting immediate cover. Do you copy?"
"General Katarn?"
It was Brenton Galbraith.
"Galbraith, good to hear from you. I'm all alone here on the ground. I have AT-ATs bearing down on me and I dont think ill be able to hold them all off."
"Command ordered in our Mech and Zoid ground forces to take care of them. Do what you can. I'll be down to help soon. Galbraith out."
Great, he thought, Now I have to wait for the heavy artillery. Perfect.
"All pilots, to your stations. Repeat. All pilots to your stations."
A rumble from an explosion from somewhere in the city shook the mech bay. Captain Evan Darian, leader of the Lone Wolf mech squadron, climbed into his JackalX class mech warrior, and booted up the system.
"This is Wolf one, all mech prepare for departure."
Other class mechs were coming alive across the bay and began lumbering slowly toward the bad blast doors. There were no two mechs alike, each represented the uniqueness of the pilot. The doors opened, and immediately they began to pick up speed. Suprisingly fast for walkers, they were only beaten in speed by Zoid combat warriors.
"This is Wolf five, AWACS online. The walkers landed in the center of Albatross square and are working their way up toward the command deck. It seems that a lone Jedi is holding back a few of their stormtroopers."
"A Jedi, huh?" Darian smiled. "Looks like the battle finally hit home fellas. Lets go."
"Wolf one, this is Seraph twelve. Where is Flyheight's battlegroup?"
Darian looked around the abondoned street to see no Zoids preped for combat. Van Flyheigfht was to have his group ready to go."Command, this is Wolf one, Where is Commander Flyheight's Zoid squadron?"
"They are pinned down at their own docking bay. Four At-Ats and a legion of Goliath mechs. We need to get them free before we continue to the battlefront."
"I copy that. Wolf Squadron, move out!"
The squadron of mechs lumbered down Well's Avenue, racing around corners and down long streets. The path was littered with abandoned rubble and wreckage from the battle above. Suddenly, as the residential district came into view, a squadron of Goliath-X1s came to engage Wolf squadron. These advanced Terran mech unit, capable of flying and hovering, came from behind a tall apartment building.
"Bogies, ahead right. Open fire!"
Wolf squadron halted and targeted the flying goliaths. Bullet and blaster fire lit up the sky around Well's Avenue as the two sides duked it out. The Imperials evaded behind buildings, which caused Wolf squadron to hold their fire. Who knew what civilians didn't evacuate to the inner hull yet?
The chase began. Wolf split up and pursued the goliaths all the way to North Avenue Park, where thy met up and continued to battle. Metal and permacrete littered the area as mech after mech was destroyed. Darian hit his booster ignition and his mech launched into the air. His mech has limited hover power, which was nothing near what the goliaths could accomplish.
"Wolf one, hammer down!"
With the warning came his homemade barrage of missle and blaster fire. With an instantanious explosion, all goliaths were eliminated. Wolf squadron lumbered its way to the Zoid bay. Freeing the Zoids was essential, so the unit got to work right away. Within fifteen minutes, the Zoids were free, and Commander Van Flyheight was on the comm.
"Thanks for the quick release, Darian. We will meet you at the front on Hanover Boulevard."
"I copy that, Flyheight."
The Zoids, capable of reaching incredible speed for a walker class mech, rocketed down the street, towad the North City, where the real battle had already begun...
"Sir that shield is too strong. We cant land anywhere near the generator unless we find a way to punch through. I recommend a mission abort until we get a picket down here."
"Negative on that shit." Sergeant Johnson chuckled. "Land us on the outskirts. My hog will get me where we need to go."
Johnson held on to the bar above the pilots station of the Pelican. The battle raged on around the drop ship groups, and the Myrmidon Class fighters escorting them kept turning back to avoided the intense beam supression from the surface.
"I need containment. Get me an charged blast from the Corellia."
As if on command, the Corellia let out an amazing blast of blue ionized light, which hit the planetary shield. The visible effect lit up the sector, as a huge hole was torn through it. Like flies to a candle, the Pelican landing group descended into the planet's atmosphere.
When they dipped below the clouds, the forests of Deneb became visible. They landed in a clearing outside the main complex, and began the slow march toward it. Firefights began in the dense wood, which Marines were trained to endure.
"I want defensive patrols taken out now Marines!" Johnson shouted as he shot a Stormtrooper. The stormtrooper armor wasn't that hard to penetrate with a bullet based weapon; most could be taken out with a well place blaster shot, but Johnson unloaded two clips from his assault rifle into the troop's stomach.
He glanced to his left where a Republic drop ship landed with several Jedi and Alliance Clone Troopers. "Those damn clone freaks have arrived marines. Can we get the kill count higher please?"
"Sir, Yes sir!" came a shouted response from all in hearing range.
He turned around and whipped another with the butt of his gun, smiling when he heard the crack of his neck. "Did I hear a bell? Cause school is now in session!"
The soldiers next to him rallied under his enthusiasm, as Y-Wing bombers flew overhead to bomb open an entrance to the complex.
"This is Phantom squadron," the lead bomber clicked in, "Rain of fire commencing."
"Fire in the hole!" Johnson shouted as the bombs fell from the sky, shaking the entire area.
"He turned to his right as two stormtroopers with wrist mounted shield generators closed in on him. He fired at them as he backpedaled, but it had no effect on their shields. Without warning, a Jedi Knight dropped from a drop ship overhead, slashing one in half with her crimson lightsaber and force pushing the other underneath a falling tree. He nodded a thank you to the Jedi Knight, who smiled in return, and then force jumped out of sight.
Couldn't even get her name and number, chuckled Johnson to himself.
He backtracked to the clearing where they landed and saw more troops landing. Time to get physical.
As the bombing continued, he boarded his prepared Warthog. The smoke started to clear as he roared over the wall, machineguns blazing. The stormtroopers, caught off guard from the bombing, were startled by the group of Warthogs flying through the curtain of smoke. Many were killed by Johnson's driving. He had run over some like he was bowling with the vehicle. It wasn't long before the complex was overrun by Alliance troopers. The shield was deactivated, allowing the ships in orbit to finally approach the Communication Station.
"We have achieved victory Marines!" Johnson shouted from atop a platform.
"Horrah!" The Marines shouted in unison, some discharging their weapons into the air in celebration. A wing of American Jets flew overhead in formation, which excited the troops even more. The Jedi who saved Johnson earlier walked in from the control room with a satisfied smile on.
"You fight well Sergeant," she said with a smile, as she clipped her lightsaber to her belt.
"Ma'am." He said as he tipped his hat.
He turned his attention from the beautiful Jedi to the battle above, which raged on.
"Go left! Go left!"
Skywalker and Antilles were dodging and spinning in order to not take a turbolaser hit. In order to allow the Napoleon and the Rampart to engage the Interdictor they had to draw the fire of any passing Imperial capital ships. Taking on one Star Destroyer was already considered suicide, but now both Twin suns and Rogue had to take on nearly twenty.
"Got three from the right," Luke said into his comm. system. "Go left!
Wedge dove down to the left, barely missing the two turbolaser blasts aimed at him. He was going to bank back to the right when a horde of TIE fighters caught sight of him and began to fire. "Too much crossfire Luke, I'll have to double back!"
Suddenly, as if on call, a laser blast took out one TIE fighter, causing it to crash into one of its wing mates, destroying them both. Another X-Wing dove thought the resultant explosion, and accelerated across the dorsal surface of the Star Destroyer.
"I got you covered Rogue Leader, never fear."
It was Landreneau.
"Thanks James, but you have two more on your tail," Wedge replied in alarm.
James tried losing them with evasive maneuvers, but to no effect. The TIEs seemed to have incredible turning ratios, being able to keep up with Landreneau's moves.
"I can't shake 'em!" Shouted James as green laser fire flew past his cockpit.
He rose up across the surface of the Destroyer again, now taking fire from its turbo lasers. He pulled up and saw the gap above the bridge of the destroyer. Thinking quickly, he shut his s-foils and accelerated through the small gap. The TIEs, not small enough in height to break the gap, slammed into the side of the Destroyer causing incredible damage to its shields. James, seeing a window of opportunity, opened his wings as he did a loop back toward the front of the bridge. He launched a torpedo through the hole in the shields, destroying the command deck.
"Wow, that got 'em!" hollered Wedge, as the Star Destroyer dipped downward toward the planet. Gravity caught hold of it and it rammed into another Star Destroyer passing underneath its position, destroying them both in a gigantic explosion of blue and gold.
"Watch the shockwave!" Shouted another pilot.
The blue ripple in space sped toward Luke and James, who scrambled to avoid the blast. They dove behind the hull of the Interdictor they were sent to destroy, and it took the blunt of the energy released in the explosion.
"General Skywalker, General Antilles, this is Captain Whitmer, pull your fighters away from the Interdictor. We are in range to fire."
"I copy that, Captain," Skywalker replied, "pulling back."
"This is Hidesquadron1 in sector. Is everything alright here?"
Commander George and his fellow pilots arrived from the other side of the Corellia to aid in the Napoleon's protection.
"Hide 1, this is Whitmer, stay clear of the Interdictor."
Suddenly, a large particle beam emitted from the Napoleon's four primary beam turrets, which hammered the side of the Interdictor's shields. The Rampart, also supposed to destroy the Interdictor, opened fire as well. Their combined effort hammered the hull of the Interdictor, and caused the bridge to separate from the hull in a fiery explosion. The remains of the Interdictor drifted away from the station, and fell toward the planet.
"One down, one to go," said James tiredly, who throttled toward the next Interdictor.
"Squadron commanders, this is Commander John Lorenz of the Corellia. We have picked up several Covenant ships drifting toward the second Interdictor. They appear to be...latching on to their hull."
Luke looked toward the interdictor out his cockpit window. Lorenz was correct, about twenty Covenant ships had attached to the outside of the Interdictor's hull.
"What are they doing?"
Suddenly, a light started to emit from the rear of the Interdictor, which began to lumber away from the battlefield.
"Warning, picking up incredible slipspace vibrations coming from the Interdictor, recommend all Allied ships pull back."
The light got brighter and brighter as dozens of fighters and several destroyer gained distance from the Interdictor. "They are trying to return to Corscan! This dangerous technology. The Covenant must think they can achieve it!" Jordi LaForge from the Corellia commed in.
"They could tear a hole in subspace large enough to engulf the entire station. We must fall back farther!"
"Right," George said, "All ships return to the edge of the system immediately. This is a full scale retreat. Recall the ground forces, prepare to leave system."
"All right Marines, the big dog upstairs called for a retreat. Let's saddle up and get the hell out of here."
Johnson began to sweat, looking at the sky. The bright light was definitely a slipspace drive heating up, but it never took this long. The Covenant technology was truly state of the art.
"Move Marines, we don't have all day."
Landing on the outskirts of Hanover Boulevard, Galbraith and Goodwin ran to help General Katarn. Brenton, already with his teal lightsaber drawn, began to cut down straggling stormtroopers as Max followed behind.
"Save some kills for me, Jedi"
"Comon Max, these kill are simple. You aren't capitalizing. I have 12 already."
"You god damn super freaks can't kill anyone normally."
"Thirteen, Fourteen..."
"You always have to draw fire from the sky, or lift them up and toss them miles away"
"Fifteen, Sixteen..."
"Or burn them with fire that you just happen to pull out of your ass."
"Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen..."
They made it to Katarn's position just as Lone Wolf squadron and the Zoid core arrived. The battle became intense as the two Jedi fought against the large number of stromtroopers on the ground. The Zoid and Mech units hammed the AT-ATs.
Suddenly, a red lightsaber ignited in the smoke beyond the walkers. The blade cut down Alliance soldiers, and deflected all that Max could throw at him. Galbraith and Katarn moved to defend Max, who had run short on ammunition.
"Who the hell is that?" Galbraith muttered as he deflected another stray blaster bolt.
"It's a Sith, I don't believe it."
The Sith warrior launched into the air just as the two Jedi moved to intercept him. He flung a force bubble down toward the Jedi. Galbraith used his free hand to wave in front of him, causing a wall of fire to rise out of the permacrete, deflecting the force bubble.
"Ahh," commented the Sith in a loud, booming voice, "An elemental. I've seen your kind before."
He walked toward the wall of fire, raised a hand, and parted it with ease. "Lord Landreneau does not need to deal with your kind."
He again leaped into the air, throwing several force bubbles. Galbraith dove to avoid it as Katarn threw a force bubble of his own. They collided in midair, causing a shockwave that knocked them and Max off their feet.
"GOD....DAMN...GUN WON'T FIRE!"
Max howled in anger as he threw down the gun and tackled a nearby stromtrooper.
Brenton, still recovering from the shockwave, used his hands to blow an incredible gust of wind toward the Sith, who flew backward.
Suddenly, a light appeared on the horizon, which seemed to come from the Deneb Station.
The Sith, now teeming with anger, jumped onto one of the fleeing Imperial transports, and flew away.
"This is Corellia Control. Prepare for a full retreat."
Brenton and Max looked at each other in disbelief as the hundreds of Alliance ships were flying overhead, away from the battle zone.