Chapter 6: Tides of War

"Everyone knew that the war was unsustainable from the start, that while we could cause significant damage, in the beginning, the empire was just too big. We didn't have endless resources unlike the empire but perhaps we were small enough to be ignored. The scale of the galaxy was vast and overwhelming, to the point that I sometimes wondered if we were insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

I was glad to be proven wrong."

-Admiral William Johnson

Willam Johnson sighed as he looked at the monitor of his computer.

He was running a strategic simulation of the war and doing so over some time to predict losses of the war going forwards.

As time went on the situation did not look favorable to Earth.

Even though the Empire had responded sluggishly to its advances if they dedicated more and more effort to crushing it Earth would eventually break. Even keeping the same kill-death ratio they currently had the Empire still had a massive numerical and industrial advantage. Factoring in the Alliance and all the other anti-Imperial groups across the galaxy it still made victory improbable, at least through conventional means. Perhaps they could have a stalemate and a negotiated peace, but Johnson knew the Alliance wouldn't pursue that if there were other options. And if that were the case the Empire would likely not accept such a proposal.

He was at his and Allison's house since they both stayed there during the weekend. Will still work a lot during the day but less during the weekends.

This war simply would not get better. There was no other way of saying it. The Empire was too strong. Johnson looked and saw that Earth would probably continue diving into Imperial territory for about another year before losses would become unsustainable and any gains would come at too high of a price. Earth would also be stretched thin and even a substantial explanation of its fleet would not be enough. With most of the fleet at the frontline or in Major systems, any imperial breakthrough would be devising and potentially cause a rout. Of course, the Empire would face massive damage to its fleet if it pursued an all-out offensive, but Earth would still eventually lose. It might take 10 years and in some cases, the Empire would lose 5 percent of its entire fleet. And local rebellions would spring up all across the galaxy as the Empire shifted forces all across the galaxy.

"We can't win." He murmured. Allison walked in just as he was saying it.

"You're running those simulations again?" She asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, I'm not exactly getting stellar results." He sighed. "The empire is too large and their industrial capacity is as well. We along with the Alliance can hold out for a while but it doesn't look like we can last more than 10 years."

"Will, has anyone predicted the future correctly?" She asked.

"Some might have gotten bits and pieces I guess but nothing substantial." He replied.

"The further you get away from now that you get, the less reliable it gets. You're trying to predict the future, Will, so I think you're going to get some things wrong."

"The specifics are probably wrong, but we still have an issue with the other stuff. The general message is right, we simply won't be able to win this war."

"Not conventionally." She said. "Think about how the Rebellion succeeded before Yavin. They fought a guerilla war."

"Doing so would mean abandoning Earth to the empire and I don't think anyone wants to do that."

"What I'm saying Will is that if we are going to win this we need to be unconventional. Just like we did before we graduated."

Will thought back to when the fleet was still a secret and he had been a cadet in training for a fleet that was only a tiny fraction of its current size. The final assignment had been a mock campaign that pitted two factions against each other in a simulated war. Johnson had been the commanding officer of one of the teams and led it to victory by using some unconventional and underhanded tactics. He feinted attacks to get the opposing teams to defend locations that he didn't intend on attacking and instead attacked areas that they left lightly defended. He abandoned useless systems and defended only what he needed, forcing the opponent to overextend himself with his supply convoys attacked. He focused on destroying industrial centers and crippling the opponent's ability to replace losses along with destroying major capital assets and disrupting his war-fighting ability. He used civilian vessels as Q ships which struck in major offensives and caused heavy casualties for his opponent. Will even used civilian distress signals to lure the enemy into traps, and controversially used hospital in this role. This angered the other side but doing so was not against the rules. Allison had provided the ship designs that also were a major contribution to the victory.

Many of the lessons learned had formed the basis of Johnson's strategies he used against the Empire, and for the most part, the opponents he had faced in war games were more competent than the ones he had faced in the empire so far thanks to how Earth put more thought into their officer training.

"Alright, but crippling their industrial capacity is simply not possible. Every rebel attack on Kuat has caused only minor damage and has often been more costly to the rebels. And that's the most industrially productive system in the entire Empire, at least when it comes to shipbuilding. I don't think we can knock the Empire out of the war that way."

"Will I have a few ideas for an unconventional weapon? These could level the playing field in these areas and give us a chance to do a lot of damage against the Empire?" She went on to explain the plans.

"Those are so crazy they might work." He said with a smile. He suddenly had a thought that might have sounded crazy, to begin with, but made increasingly more sense.

"The Empire is too big to manage effectively. If the emperor and lord Vader were to be assassinated it would throw their command structure into utter chaos. You'd have a dozen different guys who are trying to claim they are the emperor and hundreds to splinter groups. If the Empire starts to fight among itself then we have a fighting chance." He said.

"Won't assassinating the Emperor be a bit difficult to put it lightly? The Jedi tried to back in the Clone wars but failed. Plenty of rebel agents have tried to as well and I don't see any of them succeed." Allison said.

"That fucker might die of old age soon as far as we can tell. When he had his scuffle with the Jedi he probably got seriously wounded, though he certainly has the best medical care in the galaxy. Though I still think that one of these days he'll do something dumb enough to get him killed. Maybe he'll oversee the construction of some sort of mega project, maybe even another goddamn superweapon." Will said.

"There were a lot of projects the surviving members of Rogue One saw before the place blew up, and the Empire could have continued any number of them." Allusion said in agreement.

"The alliance should consider some sort of project like that. I know that the resources would be hard to come by but even if it would be just a tactical weapon instead of strategic it would help them a lot." He said.

"They don't have the resources," Allison murmured. "Something like the Deathstar or even just the super laser would require an immense amount of power and even if successful would have little point. We're not going to blow up any planets right?"

"No, but as a bunker buster or some sort of mobile anti-capital weapon, something like that has potential. We already do that with the prow-mounted super heavy turbos on the Revenge.

Something like that would mean a bad day for a Dreadnaught."

"Would it be worth the resources though?"

"Maybe." He said.

"I've toyed with the idea for a while and the resources would probably be about equivalent to those needed to build a small Dreadnaught. And it doesn't have much more than a big ass super laser, some point defense, a big reactor, engines, and just about it. Won't have much armor or shields on it and wouldn't be particularly fast."

"It would be escorted though of course," Johnson said. "What about its super laser range?"

"Would be decent and probably with escorts would mitigate that issue. I just don't think it's viable… yet. But if you want me to look at it again I will do so. I haven't touched the design in over a year and it was just a thought experiment.."

"That would be nice," Will replied. "I want this kept top secret for obvious reasons, and I don't want to tell the rebellion either."

"Why?"

"It wouldn't look good, and they might fear we wanted to use a super weapon against an Imperial planet. While I would do such a thing if it meant securing victory it would probably deeply sour relations between the rebellion and us. They have exiled those who commit mass violence against innocents before such as the Partisans, and I don't want to fall into that club. Even though their doctrine is not well established on the matter they might be fine if a few cities were blown up and if it was used in a purely tactical sense they would hardly be able to complain. It could be jumped into Coruscant, blow up the Imperial Palance and get the fuck out."

"A big super laser might be a little overkill for a capital ship killer. Maybe just have a larger version of the Munificent frigate's prow mounted heavy turbolaser."

"So could you investigate that then?" Will said.

"Yeah, I will, though I'd like to investigate you first," Allison said with a smirk.

"You know what, it's the weekend and I need some time off. Be my guest." Will said with a sly smile as he stripped off his clothes and began to kiss Allison passionately...