Chapter Seven: Engagements in the void.

Captain Carolus watched the enemy fleet move towards them, and his fleet was spreading out, to prevent them from being able to concentrate their fire.

The three battleships had engaged their counterparts and were fighting in relative close combat. The Star Hammer lead the charge, its thermal shields, immensely powerful deflector shields were taking a viscous pounding and returning fire with its quad turbo lasers and heavy guns. Macro cannon fire and lances scored its shields but failed to penetrate.

"Concentrate fire on the dorsal ridge of the ship, I want all droids in storage to be activated and prepared to fend off boarding actions!"

A massive barrage of quad turbo laser fire struck the void shields of the enemy Lunar class cruiser. Carolus remember what he had read from a enemy officer who had defected, that the enemy's ships had a very powerful type of shielding and while fighters and slow moving projectiles could penetrate it, it would resist the firepower of his ships for a long time while they battered each other to pieces.

What he wished they had were the massive ion cannons mounted on the Subjugator class heavy cruisers, those would allow him to knock out the shields of every single vessel in their battle group and destroy their exposed hulls.

"Have our fighters target the enemy bridge, the sooner we remove the ship's ability to command, the sooner we will defeat it and destroy a large chunk of their firepower."

"Sir we are receiving a transmission from the Star Hammer," a battle shouted from the communications relay.

"I accept it."

A the monotone voice of HK- 247 sounded in the bridge.

"My thermal shields are holding but the enemy is concentrating fire on my battleship. Yours is therefore open to engage the weaker sections of their cruisers with your heavy guns. Their escort craft will engage us should they destroy our frigates, we need to eliminate that threat so the heavy prow cannons can be brought to bare…"

The sound of a large crash and explosion resounded throughout the bridge.

"I have to cut you off HK but we are being boarded by the enemy. Internal scans show that we have a three temporary penetrations of our shields in areas where we diverted power from, and roughly one hundred soldiers are inside our ship."

The link had closed and Carolus watched his ship edging closer to the Lunar class and tilted it so that every gun on the top of his vessel could aim at the enemy.

"All power is to be diverted to fire and shielding, the engines are to be powered only when necessary."

Meanwhile on the left arm of the Lurcehulk a pair of OOM battle droids were leading a group of droids to counter engage the boarding party.

They reached the end of a corridor and made a sharp turn.

In front of them were twenty of the soldiers at disabling a bank of escape pods. Three were wielding the weapons designated Melta guns and were systematically blasting apart the launch controls to them as they went.

Three of them turned around to face the droids appearing to be the ones who were supposed to be watching for them.

"We got company here!" One of them shouted and the rest started moving to take cover.

"Open fire!" The OOM battle droid in charge of the group shouted.

The six super battle droids started firing their Tri-shot weapons at the enemy. The laser shotguns took the two leading Armsmen in the chest and sent them sprawling.

"Kill the big ones first!"

The Battle droids had joined their own fire to that of their larger counterparts killing a few more of the soldiers.

Than a return volley from the armmen disabled several battle droids. Their Lasguns scoring hits easily at this range.

A thermal detonator was tossed down the corridor and several of the droids started backing up. It exploded and the screams of some of the armsmen registered on the droids audio sensors. Than something else as well, the roar of an engine starting up.

"Fight you cowards, we need to make sure nothing can escape this vessel."

The clank of metal feet on durasteel had also joined the cacophony of the skirmish. They had reinforcements approaching from both sides and soon the boarders would be caught in a metal pincer.

Than a chainsword cut through the chest plate of the OOM battle droid and it collapsed.

A super battle droid loomed over the sergeant and fired its blaster, which was discharged ineffectually into the carapace armor chest plate of the sergeant at arms.

He slashed the Super battle droid through the midsection below the main chest armor. It toppled onto him and he pushed it off.

The sound of whatever these foul machines were approaching him, was now his chief concern. This ship was probably filled with them.

Cutting down one of the smaller machines with his chain sword and failed to hear the sound of something rolling, until they were around the edge of the hallway. The Armsmen were taking cover as best they could in the corridor putting pieces of durasteel between them and the oncoming droids.

Six large bronze colored wheels came rolling down the corridor each of them stopping in formation.

At the other end sixteen of the large sliver colored ones appeared. These lowered their blaster arms and began firing.

They were trapped between the two forces. Behind each of the two groups at least forty of the of the regular droids appeared. The large bronze balls deployed standing nearly the height a grown man, and a shield appeared around them and they started firing. Raising his chain sword and las pistol he fired at the droid.

They glanced harmlessly off the shield and they returned fire, bursts of laser fire filling the air. An explosion behind him and cut short scream told him that they were going to die here. Desperately he swung his chain sword into the shield. Screams of pain came from his soldiers as the droids' shots found their marks.

It bounced off harmlessly and he fired struck at it again. Nothing he did could harm these droids.

"Use the Meltas on these."

Turning around he realized that only three armsmen were still standing the rest lay on the floor, in pieces or sporting large holes in their chest. All of the men carrying melta guns were dead and the large sliver ones were kicking the meltas into the mass of smaller droids who were picking them up and carrying them away.

One of the larger sliver droids walked over to him and raised a large laser cannon.

It spoke in a deep monotone angry sounding voice.

"Surrender now."

The rest raised their weapons.

He considered his options, he had two.

He could give into the thing's demands and be taken into captivity. Second he could attempt to kill it and take down as many as he could before they felled him.

"Drop your weapons, you have fifteen seconds to comply."

Raising his Las pistol he aimed it at the droid.

"Lower your weapon you have ten seconds to comply."

As he was about to pull the trigger, the droid fired.

Its large laser cannon sent his body sprawling and it bounced off the shields of the droidekas his head had been disinter grated and the stump of his neck was smoking.

"Neutralize them." It said.

A burst of laser fire killed the remaining armsmen whose lasguns once again were ineffective against the shields of a destroyer droid.

The B2HA activated a comm's channel and spoke.

"Boarding party has been neutralized, moving to intercept others. Deploy an engineer squad to my location to repair the fallen."

The droids marched out of the corridor and were moving to the next location. Several boarding torpedoes had slammed into the hull launched at close range by one of the cruisers and as the particle shields flickered for one moment under the intense barrage they struck the hull. He had been tasked with eliminating them.

Meanwhile on the bridge Captain Carolus was fighting to keep the battleship from being surrounded. HK-217's plan had left his ship exposed to lure in the two cruisers into positions where they would receive maximum damage from the other ships in the fleet. Several hundred fighters were fighting around the Lurcehulk and while the Vulture Droids and Tri-Fighters vastly outnumbered the enemy craft they could not match them in firepower.

Quad Turbo laser and heavy gun fire smashed into the void shield of the Lunar class cruiser closest to the battleship. Macro cannon shells slammed into shields of the ship and explosions rippled across the shields.

"Sir our shields are being over stressed by this bombardment, we need to change our course and disengage!"

"That is not an option at this point, the trap is being sprung. In a few moments our frigates will began bombarding their cruisers with their heavy turbo lasers and the other two battleships will have decimated their frigate force."

A group of fighters streaked by the viewing screen and Carolus watched the massive ships the Imperium considered fighters being chased by three time their number in Tri-Fighters and at least six times their number in Vulture droids.

A alarm began blaring and explosions could be heard.

"Sir, one of the boarding parties is approaching the bridge. They carry Melta guns and have brought a pair of Heavy Bolters."

"Seal the blast doors!"

The two Super Battle Droids aimed their wrist weapons at the door, and Carolus pulled out his blaster.

"When they blast their way through the door, use your rockets to kill the Guardsmen with the meltas."

They heard the bark of a trio of meltas blasting away at the steel.

"Activate the comm for the door, set it to one way, them to us."

A OOM battle droid moved to carry out the order and shortly after the sound of las gun fire and melta guns filled the speakers.

"Melt a hole through the door, we only have maybe a minute before the clankers arrive."

"Sergeant, I hear something."

"What is it?"

"They're here!"

The sound of destroyer droid blasts and the tramp of Super Battle Droid feet gave away what was coming.

"Neutralize them."

The sound of laser fire filled the comm and Carolus closed it.

"Guard the door, but we have more important things to do now."

Resuming his place in the captain's chair, he pulled a map of their local area. Several of the enemy frigates were engaging in a chase with the Munificents, who being half the size outmaneuvered their slower counter parts. This had the effect of preventing them from using their prow mounted cannons.

Around the three battleships a massive fighter dual was happening . The thousands of Vulture droids were fighting the hundreds of enemy fighter craft. The Tri-fighters which normally were considered superior to their counterparts were forced to gang up on the enemy craft. The size of gunboats these fighters were considerable heavier armed than his and were significantly more durable. But they were still struck down by massed fire.

One of the two cruisers was on its way to deliver another barrage from its broadside and Carolus shouted,

"Concentrate fire on its gun batteries, unload our full weapons output into their broadside."

The battle droids started carrying out the commands and making the adjustments to the instrument panels targeting the gun decks of the ship, and all around them turbo lasers, long guns and heavy guns were turning to engage the enemy guns.

Turrets along the dorsal ridge of the Lunar were turning to engage the Lurcehulk and it was turning to give them a full broadside on the frontal section of the ship.

It was well within effective weapons range and it was moving into a position where the bridge would be in vulnerable to the brunt of the fire from the cruiser.

"Sir," a OOM droid said "all weapons are ready to fire."

"FIRE!"

The cannons all over the battleship erupted in a fire storm. All over the Lunar shields flared and for the first time in over an hour of continues bombardment failed. Bolts of turbo laser fire struck through the first three layers of void shields. The last layer however held firm and Carolus knew that his ship alone would not be capable of smashing threw.

"Reroute all of our bombers into that spot, we need to force an opening in their protection before this vessel is destroyed."

The Lunar returned fire with similar ferocity and another barrage of macro cannon fire and lance strikes smashed into the shields of the Lurcehulk, bright flashes as the shields halted the weapons from impacting the hull. Than nothing.

"Sir our shields have failed!"

Carolus felt a bead of sweat roll down his face. Without those shields, shields requiring a floatilla of Republic star destroyers to bring down, the next bombardment would surely deal either crippling or mortal damage to his battleship.

"Devote full power to fire, we need to pierce those shields and strike their hull."

As the weapons prepared for one last desperate barrage, a hail from the Star Hammer appeared on the screen closest to Carolus. He hit the accept button and a display screen opened.

"Captain Carolus this is HK-217 you have successfully done your duty the enemy cruisers and frigates are pinned between the Star Hammer, Captain Roidic's ship and frigates."

"Excellent but there is one major problem, my shields have been disabled and my ship will not be able to handle the fire power of those cruisers."

Silence answered him at first than HK responded.

"You are not capable of disengaging, your Lucrehulk cannot accelerate fast enough to escape those Cruisers, hold your position and if necessary abandon the vessel."

He nodded and then saw the picture grow fuzzy than disappear.

"Sir they have destroyed our communications relay. We only have short range communications."

Every gun capable of traversing to engage the cruiser started firing. A massive barrage erupted and the turbo laser bolts could be seen striking the shields of the ship. The three shields that had been taken down had yet to come back online and only one void shield remained.

"Concentrate fire upon the gun batteries!"

The stream of fire collapsed onto one point, the blasts all striking in an area twenty meters across.

Than the final shield flickered out and the turbo laser fire struck the hull for the first time, tearing into the thick hull plating. Heavy gun fire hit harder smashing into the armor plating of the Lunar Class Cruiser and several macro cannons suffered disabling damage.

"We have roughly thirty seconds before the next barrage, brace for impact."

The lance turrets fired first, a blast striking near the bridge and destroying a few quad turbo lasers. The others struck the arms of the battleship and blew holes in the armor plating.

"Sir our battleship can only withstand one or possibly two full strength bombardments from the broadside of this ship. Unless our shields come back online we'll be destroyed within a few minutes."

A group of frigates were approaching firing off blasts of laser fire into the hull. The battleship returned fire and the cruiser's macro cannon batteries were taking heavy damage. The crippled battleship was giving the cruiser everything it could.

Than something flickered on the view screen. Looking past the ships that were swarming in to destroy the Lurcehulk, Carolus saw the other cruiser. It was being engaged by the Star Hammer and Captain Roidic's ships. The combined firepower of two battleships and three of the frigates was tearing the ship apart. Blasts of turbo laser fire were streaking past it. The Vulture droid and Tri-Fighter screen was preventing any of the Imperial bombers and fighter craft from striking at the vulnerable sections of the Confederate ships.

Than the Lunar class cruiser engaged with the Star Hammer started listing aimlessly no longer preforming a circling attack against the squadron.

The continued unrelenting bombardment upon the cruiser finally halted its movement slowing it to a halt. It engines had stopped and the glow of the plasma drives faded.

The Macrocannons that had not been destroyed by the fire from the battleship were firing into the hull of the battleship, large holes in the armor plating being punched by the shells and soon afterwards explosions ripped through the hull of the ship. Lance strikes scored the hull in multiple places and soon afterwards a large portion of the right arm of the ship suffered cataclysmic ordinance detonations. It was also suffering power failures throughout the main portion of the ship, with the sole exception of the Core.

A Sword Frigate was on terminal course with the Lurcehulk, having been crippled by the combined firepower of three Munificents and was going to ram the devastated battleship.

"Can we detach the Core?"

"No captain, the clamps were welded together by laser blasts from a pair of enemy Frigates."

A trio of blasts from macrocannons shook the bridge and Carolus glanced at a screen giving the general status of the ship, the right arm had been devastated and was leaking the atmosphere of the battleship into space, the blast doors closing off major sections of the ship as the bombardment intensified, like sharks to a kill, more of the Imperial ships joined in on the vessel in the hopes of destroying it.

An entire bomber wing had been repurposed to bomb the dorsal spine of the Lunar and the damage it suffered varied, in sections already weakened by the battleship's gun their bombs often detonated inside the hull, destroying several power conduits for the Lance batteries. In other places the bombs merely blasted off parts of the armor plating and nothing more.

A Turbo Laser blast from a munificent struck the bridge of the cruiser, vaporizing part of it.

That hit caused the cruiser's armor on its bridge to be severally weakened and a squadron of Tri-fighters used this to their advantage, discharging their entire complement of remaining torpedoes into it releasing a swarm of buzz droids into the bridge of the ship. Several hundred buzz droids were swarming over the surface of the bridge like flies over an open wound, all trying to get in.

Than it suddenly shifted towards the Lurcehulk, falling towards it, while the frigate that was moving to ram the battleship was being devastated by the combined firepower of three frigates was joined on it, their main weapons blasting its sides and rear, but failing to stop it.

Carolus could see the five kilometer long cruiser moving towards the battleship, the crippling damage leaving it no other alternative but to spiral out of control towards the battleship.

"Are our escape pods still functional?"

An OOM battle droid turned to him, and said those damning words, "No sir, the boarding party that cruiser launched destroyed them with their Melta weaponry. The only way off the ship is in a fighter or transport."

Carolus immediately pressed the button to open the blast doors and started running, the two super battle droids coming in behind him to escort him to the hangars.

The sounds of battle echoed down several of the corridors of the ship, and Carolus sprinted past them, avoiding it. Than a voice in front of him caught him off guard.

"Enemy routed moving towards hangar."

A B2-HA flanked by eight super battle droids were running down a corridor towards the hangar.

"Quickly follow them, if the boarders can destroy our transports there goes our only hope of getting off this ship."

The two droids followed their comrades and Carolus stayed a good twenty feet behind them.

The entrance of the hanger open into a fire fight, the surviving members of the boarding party having been hunted down systematically by B2-HA and were now confined to this hangar. The pair of B2 battle droids were firing at them alongside the remainders of the hunting party and several OOM and B1 battle droids were encroaching from behind them.

Carolus watched as several of the soldiers began taking cover behind stacks of supplies and other crates. A pair of rockets from the B2s went flying past them and exploded on the hangar shields. Las gun and plasma gun fire returned fire and a few of the armsmen threw grenades at them.

Carolus ducked behind a support and the blast shook him. He knew that he had at most a minute or so before the cruiser smashed into the ship and he had taken long enough to get from the central core ship to the left arm of the ship.

"Suppressive fire on the enemy, as much as possible!"

He heard the droids shifted to maximum rate of fire to suppress the soldiers, less concerned now about accuracy than the amount of rounds they could put out.

The sound of something massive shifting its weight sounded in the hangar and Carolus looked up and saw a massive droid moving in for the kill. One of the massive B3 Ultra Battle Droids was moving in for the kill, hangar lights shining off its armor plating. Resembling nothing more than a giant Super Battle Droid it loomed over the group of armsmen whose jaw's collectively dropped. Raising its plasma cannon it fired. It's blaster arms stared firing as well in a board sweep to catch any survivors in a blistering hail of fire.

The smell of charred flesh filled Carolous's nose and he turned away to cover his nose.

The B2s began maneuvering around the hangar attempting to find any remaining boarders and the B2-HA turned to Carolus.

"Captain all boarders have been neutralized."

"Excellent work." He replied.

He started walking towards a Droid tri-fighter to make his escape and just before he could seal the cockpit around himself, he heard the impact of the cruiser on the outer section of the right arm of the Lurcehulk.

The engines of the Tri-fighter engaged and lifted the fighter off the floor and it accelerated towards the hangar door, looking behind him he saw the armored prow of the Lunar class Cruiser slice through the wall behind him, smashing the droids who had fought to make an opening for him to escape through. He shot off the hangar and made a hard left to avoid crashing into the central ball of the Lurcehulk.

Unknown to him a Fury class interceptor was coming in fast behind him. He made a short turn towards the planet's surface, and he noticed a pair of las cannon shots streak past the Tri-Fighter.

Turning around in his seat he saw the seventy meter long monstrosity the Imperials called a fighter. It opened up with a burst of autocannon fire and he banked hard to the left, causing one of the shells to impact the top ridge of the fighter and sent it reeling.

He tried to accelerate faster to get away from the Fury but it maintained its position having hit one of his thrusters with the auto cannon shell. With only two remaining he couldn't make use of the main advantage of the Tri-Fighter over the Fury, its maneuverability.

"This is Captain Carolus to all nearby squadrons I am under attack by a Fury Interceptor, I require immediate assistance!"

A voice sounded over the comms channel, robotic and monotone.

"Belay that order continue on your attack runs."

He froze in his seat turned towards one of the Munificents and noticed another Fury swooping up underneath him, its auto cannons firing.

The auto cannons shells smashed the central pod of the Tri-Fighter and splintered its two remaining short wings. The craft's debris floated briefly in space before the original Fury smashed through them.

From the bridge of the Star Hammer HK-217 observed the captain's desperate flight and continued on his course, using the might of the heavily modified Lurcehulk to smash the remainder of the fleet.