Chapter 11
"Sierra 117 to Infinity, where's our air support?" Chief requested through the comms.
"Standby 117. Longswords just entered the battlezone."
"This is Longsword strike team Bravo, inbound from the East; ETA 30 seconds."
The rapid gunfire from the UNSC forces mixed with the semi-auto blaster fire from the Imperial forces, with an occasional burst from a rapid-fire blaster turret the Imperials set up within the city perimeter. While the Imperial forces were distracted from the frontlines, several more USNC pods had been deployed within the city itself, allowing an ODST field engineering team to hijack, hack into, and sabotage Imperial auto defenses and vehicles. Very little fire was exchanged and the UNSC forces inside were never heard as their weapons were equipped with suppressors, their dark combat gear making it relatively easy to hide in the shadows in the dark alleys.
"Strike team Bravo ETA 10 seconds."
The sound of jets were heard as the Longswords flew over the Imperial position, their air-to-surface bombs and missiles nailing their designated targets with devastating accuracy. This was a kind of warfare the citizens of Lothal and Imperials alike weren't used to. Normally the Empire relied on overwhelming force on the ground and the air, while the air groups used their blaster cannons to strafe the enemy's position. Occasionally Imperial TIE Bombers strafing the battlefield, the proton bombs dealing incredible damage, but a relatively small explosion of dispersed energy, shrapnel usually down to a minimum. The UNSC wasn't like that. They were about efficiency. Their bombs were guided, designed for nailing targets with little strafes. The explosions usually relatively large while shrapnel was another large problem. Stormtrooper armor was designed to disperse energy across a broad surface, but were ineffective against slugs or bullets, frag grenades, even shrapnel. The body glove beneath the armor helped only a little against the shrapnel.
The UNSC gear was designed against bullets, but since their war with the Covenant, they've adapted to both anti-bullets and anti-energy defenses. The Spartan Mjolnir armor was tougher than the toughest armor a droid or person could wear for the Empire, probably equal to Mandalorian armor, if not better. Not to mention the personal shields they carried providing first-line defense against enemy fire. However, as the UNSC knows but fortunately not the Imperials, a well placed sniper shot could disable the shield temporarily leaving only the armor to defend against the blaster-fire.
Chief looked up at the fading Longswords watched them climb into the clouds as TIE air groups began to chase them down. Their close air support was going to be delayed yet again, but this last strike threw the Imperials into near chaos. The perimeter was breached.
"Move up!" Chief ordered as his ground team trained their weapons on anything around them.
As they marched past the city barricades, they were forced to step over the bodies of dead Imperials, stormtroopers and officers alike. Fortunately, this area was restricted for civilians so there were no civilian casualties. They continued their advance down the streets, meeting wave after wave of counter-advancing Imperials. Usually after the quick fire-fights, a few civilians would poke their head up from a window to watch the UNSC soldiers march past, though they had to follow procedure and clear the houses.
"BREACH!" somebody called out from outside a house. Immediately, the door was thrown open and the ODSTs trained their weapons on the civilians, who cowered in the corner, their hands raised in surrender.
"Friendlies. We've got friendlies here!" one of the soldiers shouted.
They lowered their weapons and approached the civilians in the corner. It was a small family of two children and a mother... but no father. The father of the household, it turns out, was standing in a separate corner, pistol drawn and aimed at the soldiers. However he was already spotted.
"Gun! Gun!"
"Drop the weapon! NOW!"
The man instantly dropped the blaster and fell to his knees.
"Please don't fire! I beg of you please spare my family!"
The ODSTs looked at each other and lowered their weapons yet again.
"We're not going to hurt you. We're fighting for you," the ODST squad leader said.
"Y-You are?" the man asked in disbelief.
"Please, find some better cover. We can't guarantee your house being safe. If you have access to anything underground, we advise you to hide there."
"There's a hatch to a small room under my house. It's reinforced with durasteel thick enough to withstand Imperial bombardment," the man said.
"That should do. Take all you need, food, water, any belongings you need, and get down there. Spread the word to other houses via radio if you have to."
"Are you guys going to break into every house here?"
"To make sure it's clear of Imperials, yes."
The man nodded with understanding, but before the ODST could leave, the man grabbed his arm. "Who are you people?"
"United Nations Space Command, Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, or ODST, at your service."
"Where are you from?"
"Not from here, obviously. Look as much as I'd like to stay and chat, I have a job to do," the ODST said.
"Glenn, let the soldier go," the woman said from the corner.
"Sorry sir," the man said, finally letting the ODST leave.
...
The entire ship shook from the firepower of the two super star destroyers, plus a few other ships from the regular fleet. Thrawn really does not like making it easy. Lasky looked up and out of the Infinity's main viewscreen and didn't see much through the heavy barrage. The the shields were holding for now, though they were slowly dropping 5% every 10 seconds, only because Roland rerouted unnecessary power from abandoned decks and rooms leaving those select areas without power, gravity, and life support. Red lines appeared all along the Infinity's infrastructure and hull, indicating at least 20% of the ship is damaged.
"Combat DC units, see what you can do with the damage now that the shields are stable!" Lasky ordered through the ship's comms just as they took another heavy hit.
"Sir, a shuttle attempted to board us!" the XO reported.
"What happened?"
"Shields. They can't detect our shields I'm guessing," XO said.
"Lasky, this is Hera! Come in, Infinity!"
"We hear you, General. What is it?"
"Our young Jedi is anxious to help on the ground assault. He knows the place well," Hera said through the spotty communications.
"It's too dangerous," Lasky said.
"Not for a Jedi," Hera said. "At least that's what he says. Also Sabine, of course, is wanting to go with him. All they need is cover."
"Get them into Infinity. Your ships will never make it, but our pods will!" Lasky said.
"I thought you said they wouldn't survive the landing!" Hera replied.
"If they do what they're told, they can. Not only are there airbrakes built into the pods, but the maneuvering thrusters can also help slow down their approach enough."
"I suppose that could work. Prepare to receive!"
"Roland, on my mark, lower the shields around the ventral hangars! Give them a 3 second window!" Lasky ordered.
"Yes sir!"
"Three seconds?"
"There's fire everywhere, we can't risk taking a hit to the ventral hull," Lasky said.
"Understood. Chopper, reroute auxiliary power to the engines. If they blow that's fine. We might not make it out of Infinity anyways with all this firepower."
The Ghost flew into position, ready to move. "I'm in position, Captain!"
"Alright, full power, General!" Lasky said.
The Ghost flew closer and closer. To the Empire, it looked like the Rebels turned on the UNSC, but to their surprise, instead of hitting shields or hull, they just watched the small, yet heavily armed freighter disappear from their scopes as it entered the UNSC's shield perimeter.
"Captain, the shield is closed. Ghost is inside our hangars but we seem to have picked up a straggler," Roland reported.
"Who?"
"A TIE tried to fly after the Ghost, but as it tried, the shield closed on its wing..." Roland paused a moment. "Detected lifesigns from the crashed TIE in Hanger 3."
"Send a security and medical team, now!"
There was a loud Bang heard from the starboard side of Infinity and the bridge crew watched in horror as a Strident heavy frigate lost shields and was literally torn to shreds by the heavy firepower, the muffled boom heard loud and clear. They looked to the port side and watched as a TIE bomber formation severely crippled another Strident, enabling fighters and capital ships alike to destroy that one as well.
"Captain, our fleet can't take much more of this. We must either use the MACs or withdraw!"
A well placed shot shook the entire ship once again, but this shot was different.
"Captain! Shields down at 35%!"
"35? How?" Lasky asked.
"Captain Lasky, this is Spectre 2. Spectres 5 and 6 are at the pods! Awaiting drop command!"
"We'll need to hold the drop! There's too much firepower!"
Several Star Destroyers were destroyed alongside the Rebel and UNSC fleet, with more than half the Rebels gone and a quarter of the UNSC also gone, most of which were fighter squadrons.
"The Empire takes overwhelming force way too seriously," Lasky said. "All ships..."
Silence...
"Brace for MAC! Roland, both bow MACs target one of the super star destroyers. Flank MACs..."
"What about them?" Roland asked.
"All ships... prep for launch as soon as the Infinity's bow MACs fire. We're going to give these guys a surprise," Lasky said.
Roland frowned, "We doing that?"
"Yes. It's now or never. We have the tech and the skills, we can do this."
"MACs spun up, sir!" XO reported.
"Roland, FIRE!"
The shockwave of the fired MACs pushed the nearest Imperial fighters and bombers away a few hundred meters, many of them crashing into one another or even losing power all together. The MAC rounds connected with the SSDs shields and immediately, the shields disintegrated, the round still traveling at a fraction of the speed of light straight into the hull of the massive ship.
Moments later, the ship began to lose power and fall towards the Lothal surface.
"All ships, micro jump!"
All the UNSC vessels slipped into slipspace and immediately, more ruptures appeared behind the Imperial lines, the flank side of Infinity facing the second SSD.
"FIRE!"
The two flank MAC guns released their Tungsten charges, the shots headed straight for the engines and the power core.
With the second SSD incapacitated, it was up to the Imperial-II SDs to fight the UNSC fleet, now only 5 of the original 10 Stridents completely destroyed into nothing but bits of metal.
Both sides held their fire for the moment as they tried to rearm and repair, not a single UNSC, Rebel, or Imperial ship was unscathed.
"Did you launch the pods?"
"Yes sir. They should have made ground contact by now," Roland replied.
"Good. Reload all our weapons! I need a status report of the fleet and Infinity ASAP! Get General Syndulla up here," Lasky ordered.
...
Two pods. That was their reinforcements for the time being.
"Great. Who's in those?" a marine asked.
The doors popped off the pods and Ezra stepped out of one and Sabine out the other, both very unstable from the ride down.
"Never doing that again," Sabine said.
"Agreed," Ezra said.
"Hey what's with the jelly legs?" an ODST asked.
"Cut them some slack," another said. "They've never done this sort of thing before."
"Yes sir, sorry sir!"
"What's the plan, kid?"
"Kid?" Sabine growled. "We're both literally 18!"
"Well I'm 18, you're 19, Sabine," Ezra said but Sabine punched his shoulder.
"Close enough!"
"Alright, sorry I asked."
"What do we have to deal with so far?" Ezra asked.
"Several hundred stormtroopers, few dozen or so walkers and tanks. All that fun stuff. Don't get me started with the enemy air support," an LT replied.
"We've had worse," Sabine stated.
"Really?" the LT asked.
"Technically, yes. AT-AT walkers," Ezra said.
"AT-AT?"
"All Terrain Armored Transport. AT-AT. Those suckers are very hard to take down with few weaknesses. A direct hit with the strongest launcher-fired rocket or missile couldn't dent the armor," Sabine said.
"What are the weaknesses?"
"Joints and neck. That's just about it," Sabine answered.
"Under belly?"
Sabine shook her head, "Equally tough as the rest of it. Even the head and face is heavily armored, not to mention the big guns on it. Best chance is to fire a homing rocket at its neck from the side. It can only turn its head so much before having to turn the entire structure."
Suddenly, there were loud creaks and crunches in the distance from behind the enemy lines.
"What's that sound? Another walker?" a marine asked.
"Sounds different from the rest," the ODST said.
Ezra and Sabine paled slightly, "Yeah you should get your men into position. That sound we're hearing? It's the AT-ATs making their way to us."
"Thanks for the info kid," Chief said out of nowhere, startling the young commander.
"Oh uh, no problem," he replied nervously.
The Spartan picked up a new weapon Ezra and Sabine haven't noticed. "Is that a rocket launcher?" Sabine asked.
"No." Chief simply said before walking off.
Ezra looked over to another Spartan who was standing next to Chief, "Is he always like that?"
Spartan Fred-104 looked down at Ezra, "Yeah, afraid so. We can't blame him either. He's been through more things in his lifetime that most don't experience in ten lifetimes."
"Really..." Sabine asked.
Fred nodded, "It's hard to be a Spartan. We're one of the last Spartan II units. All the other Spartans you see on Infinity are Spartan IVs. Buck being one of them."
"Spartan IIs?"
"Chief, Linda, me, everybody we have in Blue Team are one of the first teams in the Spartan program. Blue team being the first Spartan team ever deployed since the program began. And it began with us."
"How did it..." Ezra began but Sabine stopped him.
"Ezra, he needs to get going. He shouldn't have to talk about his past. Any of them."
Ezra nodded, "You're right. Sorry for everything."
"It's no trouble, kid. But your friend is right, we don't talk about our past. Most of us don't remember it anyway but we know it was a hard past."
The two teens nodded and the Spartan turned and caught up with Chief, some carrying rocket launchers while Chief carried something else.
"Alright everybody!" Ezra began. "Get to your positions! They're coming and it's not going to be easy!"
"Whatever you do, stay hidden from the big walkers. Don't fire at them either, let the rocket teams take them out!" Sabine added.
All the soldiers instantly stood at attention.
"One last thing," an ODST leader called out. "Remember who you are! Remember what you're fighting for! Remember who you're fighting for! Not just the people of this oppressed galaxy, but also our people back home! If we fail, this Empire could very well attempt to spread into our galaxy! We will not let that happen! Now let's get to work!"
All the soldiers grinned and shouted in unison, "OORAH!" before scrambling to their weapons and battle positions.
"That was some speech," Sabine stated.
"They need the motivation."
Meanwhile at the Imperial encampment, they could hear the battle cry as if they were right in front of them, though technically they are.
"What was that?" a trooper asked.
"I think they're coming," another said.
"Why don't we have something like that?" a third trooper asked.
"We do. FOR THE EMPIRE!" an officer shouted receiving a cry from the entire Imperial force.
"FOR THE EMPIRE!"
Two AT-AT walkers stepped on an abandoned building, completely destroying it as it walked closer to the UNSC line. However, they were not prepared for what happened next. They saw a flashing red line pointed at the knees and that very line began to grow. The two Rebels alongside the UNSC forces all could see the line and many of the soldiers grinned.
"You asked what the Chief was carrying? Well here's your answer," one of them said.
The stormtroopers watched in horror as a huge, red beam disintegrated the two front legs of the AT-AT walker, throwing the walker forward onto its face. But the UNSC wasn't done there. Another Spartan fired a rocket at the weak point near the head and completely destroyed the command pod. The stormtroopers instantly began firing at the UNSC frontline and they returned fire. The other three AT-ATs advanced on the enemy position and destroyed any known location of the UNSC forces. However the very same thing that happened to the first AT-AT happened to a second. A large, red laser beam destroyed a knee joint, but this time it was a rear leg, causing the AT-AT to fall more on it's back. To prevent the walker from falling over completely, the pilots bent the last remaining rear leg, setting the walker to a sitting position, revealing the under belly and the neck.
A marine took aim and fired a rocket at the walker's neck, completely blowing the command pod off the body. The pod, having hit the ground pretty hard, collapsed in on itself, killing anybody inside the pod.
"Stay below cover until the last two walkers have been taken out!" Ezra ordered.
"Yes Commander!" the soldiers all replied.
The ODST team leader smirked at the young man's leadership skills. Clearly he's not new to commanding a squad. he thought to himself.
...
"Captain the enemy fleet is burning away from us and towards the planet," Roland reported.
"Can we engage with long range guns?" Lasky asked.
"Negative they are out of range."
"Blast. Can we jump closer?"
"I'm afraid not, sir. Another close calculated jump like that could severely fracture Infinity's structure."
Lasky thought for a moment and looked to a flight commander. "Do we have any bombers left?"
"We have one squadron of GA-TL1 Longsword and some B-65 Shortsword bombers. Chances are they can intercept the enemy fleet and keep them distracted, but they'll need fighter cover."
"How many fighters do we have?"
"We managed to recall several wings of F-41 Broadswords, but we're not sure how long they'll hold out. Compared to the amount of fighters the Empire has, our fighters are heavily outnumbered and our bombers wouldn't last any longer."
"We can't get to them. What do you think they're doing?" an LT asked.
"I don't know, but I don't like it. Roland, I need a sitrep on shields, armor, and hull strength!"
"Shield strength 80% an increasing. Armor at 60% efficiency, and the hull is at 90% strength."
"Armaments?"
"Primary armaments are online at 90% efficiency, secondary armaments online at 70% efficiency."
"Engine power!"
"Engines online at peak efficiency."
"Slipspace drive?"
"Slipspace Drive online, but not recommended."
"Captain, I'm reading a massive power signature from the fleet... They're going to bombard the surface!"
Lasky quickly turned to the Imperial fleet, which finished maneuvering within orbital bombardment range.
"All ships full burn to the enemy fleet! We cannot let them fire on the surface!"
Before the ships could move, however, something completely unexpected happened.
"SLIPSPACE RUPTURES!"
"How many?" Lasky asked.
Before anybody could answer, however, dozens upon dozens of warships thundered past the remains of Infinity's small battle group. Several wings of TIE fighters were met with swarms of fresh new fighters while the now heavily outnumbered and outgunned Imperial Star Destroyers were met with a hail of heavy cannon fire from the fresh warships.
"They're UNSC!" somebody cheered.
"I don't believe it," Lasky muttered.
Surrounding the remains of Infinity's small battle group, was the biggest war fleet the UNSC has ever formed:
Halcyon-class light cruisers x20
Halberd-class destroyers x20
Strident-class heavy frigates x20
Marathon-class heavy cruisers x10
Paris-class heavy frigates x20
Poseidon-class light carriers x4
Epoch-class heavy carriers x2
Valiant-class super heavy cruisers x20
Orion-class assault carriers x4
Punic-class supercarriers x2
Infinity-class supercarrier x1 (which launched another 10 Strident-class frigates forming a total of 30 Strident frigates)
"Mother of God..." the XO sighed in disbelief as the destroyers and frigates moved to engage the primary Imperial fleet while the cruisers and carriers stayed back to protect Infinity.
"UNSC Infinity this is UNSC Eternity. How was our timing?"
Lasky chuckled as he reached for the comm switch. "Impeccable. Your timing was perfect, captain."
...
Now some of you may be wondering the heavy cruisers. One of you, you know who you are, and some of you are asking, "Shouldn't it be Autumn-class heavy cruisers?"
My answer to that question is not exactly. There's always going to be different classes of ships in Navy, usually each carrying a different role. The Autumn-class is just one of the many kinds of heavy cruisers, the Marathon-class and Valiant-class also being heavy cruisers. Also, the Valiant-class is apparently a 'super heavy cruiser' if that makes any sense. If you guys want to see the Autumn-class here, feel free to tell me and I'll be happy to oblige.
Also, if you feel I'm making the UNSC a bit too OP in this story, just hold on. The Empire isn't finished with their fight yet. And there's still a certain familiar weapon the UNSC will have to deal with. ;)
