Here we go. Part Three. Hope you like and don't forget to comment. :)
Pride's Prize - Part III
"Exit from hyperspace in three seconds ... two ... one."
With a flicker of pseudomotion the large imperial fleet left the realm of hyperspace, more than three million kilometers away from Yrr-17 the planet farthest away from its sun. An irregular-shaped piece of rock with a maximum diameter of two thousand kilometers, escorted by fourteen small moons and hundreds of asteroids. All of it displayed as a hologram inside Teshik's Command and Information-Centre aboard the "Gamerrah".
After looking over the readings collected by the fleets scanners Martel Uther turned to Osvald Teshik. "There are massive artificial structures on the planet and its moons. Our information seems to be correct, the Yirrho have a ship-depot here." A moment later. "Starfighters are launching from inside the asteroid-field. They are followed by capital ships."
"Launch our own fighters to intercept them. What can you tell me about those capital ships?"
"We counted thirty-two. Eight of them destroyer-sized, the rest seem to be frigates."
"Destroyer-Squadrons Four and Six shall engage them." Teshik ordered. On their tactical hologram the Imperial Officers could see how twelve Star Destroyers and their frigates left the fleet and turned towards the defenders of Yrr-17.
"Why don't we attack with the entire fleet?" Uther asked. "We could be finished in five minutes and move on to the main world of the Yiirho."
"Patience, Commander. We don't know, where the main fleet of the enemy is and I don't want them to trap us in the gravity-well of Yrr-17." Admiral Teshik explained.
"You think this is a trap?" Martel Uther asked.
"Yes. And those brave fools of defenders are the bait."
"On the other side we have divided our fleet for the second time. If things continue this way we have no ships left, once we reach Yiirho."
Inside the hologram the fighters of the Yiirho and the GalacticEmpire met for their lethal dance.
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- Mandator-Class Star Dreadnoughts - nine.
- Bellator-Class Star Destroyers - twenty-four.
- Imperator-Class Star Destroyers - hundred-twenty.
- Acclamator-Class Star Frigates - five-hundred-fourty.
- Evakmar-Military-Transports - eighty.
"How good that those Cruiser-Squadrons are elsewhere." commented Zaar after reading the identification of Imperial vessels inside the system. "Otherwise I would really start to worry."
"Keep your sarcasm to yourself." Rugar admonished his second-in-command. "Speaking of those Battlecruiser-squadrons, they have appeared at Fernus, Liira and Semtem, fired a few shots and disappeared again." That caused Zaar to become serious again.
"Any losses?" the Muun-Eleven asked concerned.
"A few automated freighters and a defense-station. No lifes lost so far."
"It won't stay this way." Zaar noted glumly. He pointed at the tactical hologram, that displayed the situation in the outer system. "At Yrr-17 the battle has already started."
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One million kilometers outside the asteroid-field, that orbited Yrr-17 and its moons the Imperial TIE-fighters met their Yirrho-counterparts, fighters with an ovoid main body and three pylons, that ended in dagger-shaped heat-radiators. A laser-cannon emerged from the tip of each radiator and a pair of stronger ion-cannons from below the cockpit.
Soon the endless night was interrupted by hails of green and blue laser-fire, the flashes of exploding fighters and the occasional missile. It was here, that the Imperials faced their first bad surprise.
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"The TIEs of destroyer-squadron Four and Six have engaged the enemy-fighters." reported the starfighter-coordinator of the "Gamerrah".
"How many hostile contacts?" Uther asked.
"Around thousand." came the answer.
"That is good." the Commander said to the Admiral. "The fighters from our destroyers outnumber them four to three."
"You might be overly optimistic." Osvald Teshik had transferred the data from the starfighter-coordinator directely to his datapad. "Take a look at those performance-evaluations. The Yirrho-fighters are as fast and agile as our TIEs and - contrary to them - they are shielded and armed with torpedos. Our fighters better get capital-ship-support as soon as possible."
Martel Uther shot a dark look at the datapad, cursed the superior technology of the Yirrho - which was without a doubt at work - in silence and ordered destroyer-squadrons four and six to hurry.
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The capital ships of the Yirrho reached the battlefield first and for the first time the Imperials could get a good look at the major warships of their enemy. Looking like cog-wheels from the front the main bodies of the cylinder-shaped ships were five times as long as wide with six beams forming six trenches parallel to the keel-line, adding to their height and width. Dome-shaped turrets of heavy cannons emerged between those beams and elongated blisters covered parts of those trenches.
Point-defense-lasers and light turbolaser-cannons started to support the fighters of the Yirrho and forced the TIEs to turn back.
But not for long.
The arrival of the two destroyer-squadrons caused the battle to turn again. Each squadron consisted of one Bellator-Class and five Imperator-Class Star Destroyers (one of those five ISDs was modified to act as starfighter-carrier for eight wings of TIEs) and fifteen Acclamator-Class Star Frigates. The surviving TIEs re-grouped around their big warships and the capital ships of both factions started to fire at each other with their heavy weapons.
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"Target-look on hostile cap-ships aquired, Admiral Bejan. Targets were designated HF-1 and HF-2."
"All firepower into our frontal batteries. Once those frigates are disabled we can take care of their destroyers." Vice-Admiral Bejan, Commanding Officer of the Empire's destroyer-squadron four ordered.
A slight tremble run through the bridge of the 2.2kilometers long Bellator-Class Star Destroyer "Avenger of Humbarine".
"What was that?" Bejan asked.
"Enemy-fire from HF-1. Shields are holding."
"Impudent non-humans. Show them whom they are dealing with."
"Yes Sir."
Like with all destroyer-designs build by KuatDriveYards the heavy weapon-turrets of the "Avenger of Humbarine" were aligned parallel to the dorsal superstructure. Contrary to the eight heavy turrets of an Imperator a Bellator-Class had twenty of those, sixteen for very heavy double-barrelled turbolasers. All the energy, that usually went through those guns in a broadside-fight was now directed through the two frontal turrets and the axial cannons on the dorsal side of the heavy destroyer. Basically the entire power produced by an ISD in one second slammed evenly divided into the shields of the two Yirrho-frigates.
"What the ... ." Vice-Admiral Bejan, who had expected the two frigates to be vaporized, didn't complete his curse, because HostileFrigate-1 and HostileFrigate-2 opened fire again. This time the trembling of the bridge was a lot stronger. And then the bow of the first Yirrho-destroyer appeared behind the two frigates, blue-white glowing. For a short second Bejan remembered the dreaded Munificent-Class Star Frigates of the IntergalacticBanking-Clan during the clone-war and their superheavy turbolasers. "All available power into forward ... ." the Vice-Admiral had wanted to say "shields", but then the world went white.
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