Chapter Four.

Chapter Four – Help is on its way!

"Status?" Yelled RA Manitsas as another blast rumbled with dull thunder off the heavy hull of the ship. The Challenge was built for heavy combat and could withstand significant punishment, but given enough time and enough damage, they could indeed be destroyed or disabled. Luckily it wasn't close to that. Yet.

"Sir, we've just lost our portside deflector shields." came the voice from one of the officers on the bridge.

"Shut down all power to the engines, and put it into shields. We've got to hold out!"

"Yes, sir."

"I want a an update on our losses, stat!"

Moments later the Tactical officer spoke up.

"Sir, Damage Control estimates a thirty percent loss in our fighter craft."

"And the enemy?"

"Well, we don't know the extent of their forces, sir, but if they're using a standard Battle Group, we estimate around sixty percent losses to their star fighter craft and fifty percent losses to their capital ships.

"Good, we might get out of this in one piece after all"

The New Republic MC-80 lost its shields and as if that was a signal any friendly craft nearby started to attack it, however even without shields the MC-80 still is powerful, its started to turn and headed straight for the Challenge lasers blaring.

"I want that blow apart, we cant stand a direct hit from that to our bridge" Manitsas yelled throughout the bridge.

"All Torpedo tubes, get them ready to fire"

The Mon Calamari starship closed in, the shields slowly started to dwindle as the lasers impacted on the Challenge.

Manitsas watched the distance indicator tick down, until it was where he wanted, "ALL TORPEDO'S FIRE, HARD TO PORT".

All the torpedo tubes launched their Advanced proton Torpedo's directly at the incoming ship, all impacted on its hull.

The Mon Calamari star ship exploded almost directly above the Challenge, the Challenge rolled hard to port trying to escape the blast, thankfully the starship took a few moments to explode. However the blast hit the rear of the ship.

"Sir, we have lost the use of our engines and our rear shields" one of the officers said.

"Call the fighters, I don't want any fighter to get a hit on us" Manitsas replied "And see if you can get the DeathFyre to protect our flank, they haven't taken much damage yet and there guns should stop the fighters".

"Typhoon One, take your squad and get them to protect the Challenge's flank"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time, Typhoon group, lets go" Captain Boliv said to his squad.

"Right with you boss" the Flight Leaders radioed in.

Boliv shot a blast from his lasers and ion linked at a nearby B-wing, it stopped dead in space so Boliv ignored it.

Thankfully the Y-Wings they were flying has such large shields, Boliv hadn't lost anyone in his squad yet, and even if the Y-Wings were as slow as hell he was happy they were flying them.

Another wave of B-Wings headed towards the Challenge,

"Break off and take out those B-wings" Boliv said.

He grinned a little, you fly your best when under pressure.

"Sir another wave is approaching." Manitsas head shot up. From his view port, he could see that the NR Star Destroyer was heading towards the Challenge, with several fighters closing in with it.

"ETA?" he asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Approximately three minutes, sir. Then they'll be within the Challenge's torpedo range."

"And the fighters?"

"ETA one minute, sir."

"Very well. Make sure all missile racks and torpedo tubes are filled to the hilt, hit the Star Destroyer with everything we have."

"Yes, sir."

"And where's Typhoon Squadron?"

"They're engaged with several B-Wings sir."

"And the Malice's status"?

"Shields down, engines destroyed, it's fighting off the remaining gunship but it's a losing battle"

Manitsas frowned, "Get some fighters to help it, I want them to abandon ship, and where the hell are our re-enforcements, they should be here by now"

"No sign yet Admiral"

Manitsas cursed under his breath, while normally the Challenge being an ISD Mark Two could have taken out an ISD, with its rear shields gone and the front shields fading things weren't good.

"Chris! Cut to your left!" Locke swore as the X-Wing on Chris's tail fired twin missiles.

"You've got two hot ones! Watch yourself!" Locke struggled to watch his own tail, pulling his Gunboat through a series of complex manoeuvres he managed to keep their blaster bolts from hitting him. Being an ace helped immensely.

"I see them!" A defensive flare shot out from McCollum's ship destroying one missile.

Chris pulled his Gun Boat into a twisting dive and the second missile shot past him and began to circle around, still on his tail. "Uh Locke, I'm out of flares."

"Come to twenty degrees. Gamma Manoeuvre."

"Yes sir!" To all appearances, Locke and Chris seemed to be playing a game of hi-tech chicken, each flying at high speeds toward the other.

"Now!" Locke yelled and at the last moment, Chris's Gun Boat shot straight up flying at a 60 degree angle above Locke's.

The missile flew right into Locke's stream of rapid-fire laser shots, exploding into hundreds of tiny fragments.

"Got it!"

"Thanks sir. Now only heaps more bogies to go."

Flash of light followed flash of light as torpedo followed torpedo to impact with explosive devastation on the gunship.

"You go Cyclone!" Chris yelled in delight.

"Tempest Squadron, this is COL Renegade. Pull clear of the ship, she's gonna blow."

Locke pulled his Gun Boat away from the gunship, and his squadron followed suit, momentarily dodging the enemy on their tails as well as putting some distance between them and the failing gunship.

The Gunship exploded and as the blast cleared several enemy fighters had been destroyed and the Malice had survived although heavily damaged.

"Sir, Typhoon has destroyed the waves of incoming B-wings and have reached the defensive position around the Challenge and are engaging the enemy fighters encroaching into our kill zone." An officer said.

"Good. Keep them there for now. Can we get our rear shields back on-line?"

"Not in this battle. Sir, the enemy Star Destroyer is in range and our shields are taking a pounding."

"Engage with everything we've got. Don't let them get close."

"Yes, sir. Fire at will." The command was given to the gunnery crews and torpedo after torpedo, missile after missile lurched into the darkness of space. Yet even though the Destroyer was taking damage it seemed to do very little as it continued firing.

"Now we're in for it." RA Manitsas sighed.

The blasts from the enemy Star Destroyer rocked the bridge.

"Enemy fighters coming from the Destroyer. Z-95 Head Hunter class. I count four squadrons."

"Get Inferno on them."

"Yes sir!" The command was given and chaos broke out. Inferno Squadron was enveloped in a cloud of Z-95 Headhunters.

With the assistance of the Challenge's large guns and missile racks, it was clear that both sides were taking a beating. The heavily armoured hull of the Challenge only took medium damage from the ensuing laser and missile attacks. But RA Manitsas was forced to think, that it was only a matter of time as the Star Destroyer was fired mercifully on the Challenge until the Challenge was no more

"Sir, incoming transmission?"

"From the enemy?"

"No sir. These have just hypered in. Their IFF readings don't match the enemies " the aide's face broke into a wide grin which spelled relief. "They're our's sir. Our re-enforcements have arrived."

"Challenge, this is Battle Group 1, here to assist."

"Thank the stars! Put them on screen." Manitsas ordered. The gigantic display of the battle showed one Nebulon Frigate closing at rapid speed on the New Republic ships as well as a Victory Class Star Destroyer and two Assault Frigates.

Fighter craft consisting of Tie Defenders, Missile Boats and Tie Advanced began jetting from the hanger bays and moving into intercept position.

"Sir. VA Oldham aboard the VSD Monitor, VA Adrenaline asked me to come.

You are now in command of the reinforcements in this Battlegroup. We're currently launching fighters to intercept."

"Thank you, Vice Admiral." Nodded RA Manitsas. "It's good to see a friendly face. Did you bring the package?" The package referred to was the much-needed Shuttle Craft from Aurora carrying the sphophisticated equipment and crew with the technical know-how to install retro-fit and install the hyperdrive engine.

"Yes sir, we've got what you need."

"Good work, Admiral. Have your forces clear the way. When it's safe to do so, transfer the package to the Challenge. I want to get this ship to port as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir!" Oldham said, saluting smartly. "Our forces are now engaging."

From his control screen, RA Manitsas could see that remaining squadron or so of Z-95's quickly fell under the onslaught of missile and laser fire. And from the viewport bright flashes of light punctuated the darkness of space as fighter after fighter exploded into the silent darkness of space.

"All gunnery crews target that last approaching destroyer."

"Upload our full tactical situation to the rest of the Battle Group and let's clean the rest of this mess up." Manitsas said.

"There's still that Star Destroyer inbound, take it out as soon as possible, shields at full, we need to survive until it's destroyed".

Briefing Room

ISD-II Challenge

Two hours later.

RA Manitsas looked at the reports from the battle, they had lost a good 50 of their fighters, luckily most of the pilots had been picked up were unhurt, several were in bacta tanks being treated, but overall the Challenge was in fairly good shape.

Manitsas stood, and looked at the people in the room, "As you all know, we now have the techs to install the hyperdrive and they are working on it as we speak, however the Challenge is also heavily damaged in our recent battle.

The techs are working overtime to fix our shields & lasers. Our engines have all been damaged so therefore we are stationary for the moment, thankfully we managed to salvage parts from the NR ISD that attacked us as well as parts from the captured base so the techs assure me we will be back up to 100 in three days at most and due to the re-enforcements arriving we now have a ample fleet in-case we are attacked again, also due to our re-enforcements and current fighter parts our fighters should be up and running again by the time we are ready to leave" Manitsas nodded in Oldham's direction, he just nodded in reply.

"The craft we sent gathered no information on the Mon Calamari starship so once we are repaired we are returning home, with the large amount of New Republic activity in the area EH command agrees that we should return for repairs and downtime for our pilots before we go on our next tour of duty".

"Go and brief your pilots, commend them on the job they did in the recent battle, we can finally see the Light at the end of this dark tunnel".

Bridge

ISD-II Challenge

Three Days later.

RA Manitsas smiled, they were about to enter hyperspace, the Challenge had been completely repaired, and the remaining fighters were in the process of being fixed.

All other craft had been informed that they would be jumping momentarily.

"Sir, all craft report they are ready to follow us, the Malice has been completely striped of any valuable parts and fitted with a bomb as requested, and its set up for remote piloting" an officer said.

"Good, count down to jump" Manitsas said.

The counter counted down, with less than a minute to go several warning lights came on.

"Sir we have an enemy fleet exiting hyperspace directly behind us, I count two MC-60's, One MC-80b, one MC-90, three Imperial Class Star Destroyers and an……..Super Star Destroyer", the radar officer said not believing what the readout was telling him.

Manitsas swallowed hard, "Ignore all enemy ships, we jump into hyperspace in 10 seconds, All hands prepare for lightspeed".

Oldham who was next to Manitsas, groaned the spoke, "That SSD in NR hands can cause a problem later"

"I don't care at the moment, we are getting the hell out of here" Manitsas said.

The Challenge and its escorts jumped into hyperspace, as the NR fleet approached the jump point, the Malice blew apart in a spectacular fashion taking out one of the ISD's.