Hey, guys. Back with another chapter.
So, this will be the last battle of the Terran campaign. Next chapter will show the Separatist finally being driven away and the Republic's reinforcements arriving. I know some of you have gotten a little weary of this, because it's been so long, but I promise, this is the end of the Terran campaign, and then we get to the Clone Wars show.
Alright. Let's get to it.
Chapter 18- Battle of Vladivostok
A laser bolt narrowly misses Sergeant Ivankov's head. Growling, he fires his blaster pistol and takes out the offending droid, then charges towards the droids approaching him. As he cuts down several B2 droids with his lightsaber, a droideka opens up on him, forcing him to duck behind an abandoned car to avoid getting hit.
The Battle of Vladivostok has been going on for 48 hours by now. Initially, the Separatists had landed an army of 320,000 battle droids and 3,300 heavy droid units on the northern edge of the city of Artem. However, only 10 hours into the battle, another army had been landed, numbering 240,000 battle droids and 2,000 heavy droid units had been landed near Shtykovo.
The main Soviet army engaging the Separatists had been sundered soon after the droid reinforcements arrived. The bulk of the army began retreating down the peninsula towards Vladivostok itself, while the rest of the Soviet troops began retreating towards Romanovka.
Soviet commanders had been fairly confident prior to the battle in Vladivostok's ability to defend itself. 210,000 Soviet soldiers, with 5,000 tanks, were stationed at the northern edge of the peninsula in Artem, and much of the Soviet Pacific Fleet was in the Zolotoy Rog, ready to lend assistance. However, Hyena bombers had caused some devastation among the Soviet troops, and had sunk a number of Soviet ships before the droid armies even landed.
Something even worse had happened further into the battle. Just 8 ½ hours ago, General Grievous had been spotted in Artem. All other battles across Earth were already over. Soviet commanders in Vladivostok guessed that Grievous wanted at least one victory in this series of battle, and had come down to see personally that the Soviets were defeated.
Now, things are getting very critical for the Soviets. The eastern army, which had been driven towards Romanovka, is now being pushed back through Tsarevka. Meanwhile, on the peninsula, the western army is being pushed back through Vladivostok itself, with almost a third of the city now in the hands of the Separatists. And, General Grievous has been spotted in Vladivostok. Worst, the Soviets, which had 210,000 men and 5,000 tanks to start with, are now down to about 129,000 combat capable soldiers and just under 2,000 tanks. Land reinforcements are on their way from the eastern Soviet Union, but they're still hours away. Soviet commanders are starting to fear that they won't be able to hold Vladivostok long enough for the reinforcements to arrive, and that the reinforcements will have to retake the city.
Soviet air power has also been heavily hit. Heavy numbers of Vulture droids have devastated any Soviet aircraft to arrive in the skies over the battlefield, and strikes by Hyenas have devastated their airfields.
All of this is meaningless to Sergeant Ivankov, who is determined to fight to the death to defend his homeland. Seeing one of his comrades' bodies lying just a few feet from him, he reaches forward, pulls the dead soldier's last grenade from his belt, pulls the pin, and throws it towards the droideka that almost blasted him. A few seconds later, the grenade explodes, destroying the droideka and several B1 droids.
Ivankov charges out of his hiding place, with several of his comrades following him, firing their blasters as fast as they can.
Ivankov leaps towards the closest droids, cutting them down with his lightsaber. Around him, his comrades fire at any droid within reach, trying to dodge the hail of blaster fire coming at them.
As Ivankov cuts down a B2 droid, he turns around to see two B1s aiming their blasters at him. But, before he can react, a green lightsaber blade cuts off their heads.
Ivankov grins as he sees Warrant Officer Yamazaki, one of his ASAT teammates, standing behind where the droids had been standing. Yamazaki had originally been in Japan, but when it was clear Japan was in the clear, and that Vladivostok was under attack, the Japanese had sent him to help. He had arrived 4 hours into the battle.
"Good to finally be scrapping droids with you," Ivankov says to Yamazaki in English.
"Indeed. Let's get back to it," Yamazaki responds before whipping around and cutting another B1 droid in half.
Yamazaki then ignites his second lightsaber, and he and Ivankov charge towards the incoming droids, determined to destroy as many of them as they can. Behind them, several hundred Soviet soldiers charge along with them, firing their blasters, and some firing grenade launchers. Several AATs fire their main cannons, taking out a number of soldiers, but the Soviets continue their charge.
Ivankov and Yamazaki attack the droids with a vigor, cutting down any droid within reach. As they rage through the droids, Yamazaki sees an AAT close by and runs right at the tank. Reaching it, he leaps up onto the top of it, using his lightsaber to cut open the hatch. He then grabs the handle and rips the hatch off. Before the droid manning the turret can react, Yamazaki stabs his lightsaber through its head. He then picks the droid out of the turret and throws it aside before jumping down into it himself.
Yamazaki swivels the turret around, taking aim at another nearby AAT and firing the cannon, taking out the AAT.
As Yamazaki starts taking out other AATs and Persuaders, Ivankov sees an AAT really close to him. He takes a running start right at the droid tank. Right before he is about to run into the tank, he hits the ground and slides under it. As he does, he lifts his lightsaber up, letting it cut right down the bottom of the AAT. As Ivankov slides out from under it and pops back to his feet, he is able to leap away before the AAT falls to the ground and its insides explode.
Ivankov smirks at his work. Then, a blaster bolt hits him and knocks him back. However, the special body armor that has been made for the ASAT team absorbs the worst of it, leaving Ivankov just a little breathless. A moment later, one of the Soviet soldiers shoots the droid that shot Ivankov.
Several droidekas roll up and begin firing into the ranks of the Soviet troops. Several dozen are killed before Yamazaki uses the AAT he's commandeered to destroy them. A few moments later, Yamazaki has to leap free of the AAT to stop from being killed by a bolt from another AAT further down the street.
Several Persuaders make their way down the street, firing into the ranks of the Soviet troops. Several Soviet tanks that have just arrived in the street engage them, destroying three of them before they are destroyed. Soviet soldiers with grenade launchers destroy the last Persuader.
Ivankov and Yamazaki form up with each other, and turn to engage the droids. Then, to their shock, they see General Grievous stalking out of the midst of the battle droids.
Both ASAT members narrow their eyes at the sight of Grievous. They ready their lightsabers and say to the surrounding Soviet soldiers, "Leave him to us."
The soldiers around them continue to engage the droids while Ivankov and Yamazaki slowly walk towards Grievous.
"Well. You are not Jedi," Grievous says.
"No. We're not. We're members of the Anti-Sith Assault Team. And we know who you are, General Grievous. Your campaign of terror ends here," Ivankov says.
Grievous laughs as he separates his arms into two, with each of his now four hands grabbing one of his lightsabers. He activates them, then spins them a few times as he settles into a battle stance.
"Attack. Terrans," he says.
"If you insist," Yamazaki says as he charges towards Grievous. Privately, Grievous is surprised as using all four arms like this usually causes his opponents hesitation, or at least causes them to wait for him to come to them. Still, he feels confident.
Yamazaki slashes with one of his lightsabers, but Grievous easily blocks it with one his sabers. Yamazaki follows up with a quick slash from his other saber, but Grievous blocks that one too. Grievous tries to push Yamazaki back, but Yamazaki holds his ground. Then, Ivankov charges to the attack, swinging his saber at Grievous' side. Grievous is forced to step back to avoid getting hit by Ivankov's saber.
Grievous takes a leap back to recover himself. He adjusts his stance, just in time to counter Ivankov and Yamazaki's attacks.
Ivankov and Yamazaki attack Grievous with everything they've got, drawing on every lesson and training session with Mace Windu and Anakin. Grievous is quietly surprised at the level of ferocity behind Ivankov and Yamazaki's attacks. He never would have thought that anyone not a Jedi would be able to resist him like this.
For several minutes, the two ASAT members duel with Grievous. As time goes on, Grievous gets increasingly surprised at their skill and endurance.
All around them, the battle is continuing to go badly for the Soviets. The droids' advance is seemingly unstoppable. No matter how much the Soviets are able to slow them down, the droids continue to advance further into Vladivostok.
After several minutes, Grievous manages to get under Ivankov's guard and kick him in the chest, knocking him back several feet. Yamazaki jumps back and helps Ivankov back to his feet.
"Shake it off, friend," Yamazaki says before turning to face Grievous again, along with Ivankov.
The two glare at Grievous, who laughs at them.
"You will lose. I may have lost other battles on this planet. But I will win this one. You will die, and this city will burn!" Grievous declares.
Suddenly, they hear something. Looking up, they see three Hyena bombers approaching in a V formation from down the street, heading right for the battered Soviet troops behind them. With no anti-aircraft weapons left, they Soviet troops are defenseless against them. And further down the street, about 40 AATs and Persuaders are moving in to help finish off the Soviet troops after the Hyenas are done with their bombing run. Thousands of B2 battle droids are marching behind the AATs and Persuaders.
Yamazaki and Ivankov look at the incoming Hyenas, then at each other and nod, knowing they're doomed, but determined to go out fighting.
However, as they look up, the two rear Hyenas suddenly explode in mid air. Ivankov and Yamazaki feel confused, knowing it couldn't have been any of their men's actions that destroyed them.
Then, a split second later, just below and to the right of the third Hyena, a small speck of light appears from out of a cloudbank. Ivankov and Yamazaki are just able to make out the outline of a missile before it pulls up and to the left, connecting with the Hyena and blowing it to pieces.
Grievous, his attention caught by the three explosions, turns around, and he and the two ASAT members stare at the clouds of smoke and debris, shrinking back a little bit to avoid some of the debris.
Then, the mystery of the missiles' source is solved as two F-14 Tomcats streak over the clouds of smoke, banking away from each other to search for more targets.
Suddenly, more missiles streak down from the sky, hitting the AATs and Persuader one after the other, blowing them to pieces one by one. Finally, the last of the droid tanks is blown apart in particularly large explosion.
Ivankov and Yamazaki are still confused. Then, a flight of six F/A-18 Hornets appears from the east, heading straight for them.
In the cockpit of the lead Hornet, a US Commander named Henry Thurston calls out on his radio, "Locked on target!" He and the rest of his flight separate and form a line of six Hornets, one after the other. Thurston dives towards the B2 droids marching down the street towards Grievous and his two opponents. He presses the pickle button, dropping six 1,000 pound bombs on the droids. As he pulls out of his run, the rest of his flight follow suit, dropping 20 more 1,000 pound bombs on the battle droids, shattering their front lines and destroying 1,500 droids.
As the Hornets pull up out of their runs, a massive strike force of US Navy aircraft arrive of Vladivostok. The strike force is comprised of 36 F-14 Tomcats, 76 F/A-18 Hornets, and 60 A-6 Intruders. They have been launched from the carriers Kitty Hawk, Independence, Nimitz, and Abraham Lincoln, four of the US Pacific Fleet's 6 carriers. The carriers had been stationed near Midway in the event of landings in Asia. When they received word of the landings near Vladivostok, they began making their way there at top speed. Now, they're just a few hundred miles from Vladivostok, and ready to lend a hand.
As the Soviets notice the massive American strike force appearing over Vladivostok, they start cheering, realizing that maybe now they have a fighting chance.
The Tomcats attack first, firing their missiles at any Vulture, Tri fighter, or Hyena in range. As they get to work clearing the skies, the Hornets and Intruders begin their attacks, diving down to drop their bombs or fire their missiles at Separatist targets.
As the aircraft arrive, Ivankov and Yamazaki start to chuckle. "Well, General. It looks like things are starting to turn in our favor," Ivankov says.
Grievous growls at them. Right then, several B2s get within range and start firing at Ivankov and Yamazaki. The two are forced to disengage, allowing Grievous to slip away.
The US Navy's aircraft continue their attack, destroying swathes of droids, and providing close air support for the beleaguered Soviet troops.
After about 20 minutes, the American pilots start to pull back. But, as they do, Soviet troops along the eastern shore of Vladivostok notice something. As they look out to the sea, they see a formation of US, South Korean, and Japanese warships approaching. 10 frigates, 14 destroyers, a cruisers, and at the center of the formation, the battleships New Jersey and Missouri. The New Jersey had been assigned to the Pacific Fleet following her recommissioning, and the Missouri was already in the Pacific. They had been in port in Yokosuka, Japan when the Battle of Vladivostok started. They had sortied immediately with their American and Japanese escorts and sailed north, meeting up with their South Korean escorts along the way.
Now, the two American battleships are coming within gun range of the droid armies attacking Vladivostok. On order from Captain Kaiss, captain of the Missouri, the Missouri opens fire, hurling 1,900 pound high explosive shells at the area of Vladivostok occupied by the droids. New Jersey opens fire seconds after her sister.
The two battleships begin a general bombardment of the droid forces in Vladivostok, with each shell claiming at least a few dozen droids. Once their escorts are within range, they join in with their 5 inch guns. The two battleships also begin firing off their Tomahawk cruise missiles.
A few Hyena bombers slip through the patrolling Tomcats and dive to attack the Missouri and New Jersey. Their escorts begin firing surface to air missiles, downing most of them. However, one Hyena gets close enough to fire four proton torpedoes at the New Jersey.
As the proton torpedoes get within a mile of the New Jersey, her two Phalanx CIWS weapons systems on her starboard side automatically train themselves on the incoming threat and begin firing, their systems tracking their shells and altering the training of the gun to make the shells connect with the target.
The torpedoes prove harder to destroy than the missiles or aircraft that the CIWS was designed to destroy. However, the CIWS does prove its worth, destroying the first two torpedoes about 500 yards from the ship.
The two CIWS retrain on the other two torpedoes. The fore CIWS successfully detonates its torpedo. However, the aft CIWS, is not able to detonate it in time. The proton torpedo strikes the New Jersey on her starboard side, just 20 feet above the waterline, almost directly amidships.
The torpedo detonates in a massive explosion. A cloud of smoke and flame encompasses almost half the ship, and the New Jersey rocks backwards in the water so much that, for a split second, she's listing 45 degrees to port before she rocks back upright. She rocks back and forth several times before steadying.
The rest of the task force watches the New Jersey anxiously, as the smoke still obscures about half of the ship. After a few moments, the New Jersey moves out of the smoke.
Everyone in the task force breathes a sigh of relief. The New Jersey is remarkably intact. One of her 5 inch gun turrets is badly mangled, and one of her Tomahawk launchers and her rear-starboard CIWS mount are destroyed, but her thick 12.1 inch armor belt has withstood the blast of the torpedo with little more than a scorch mark. The proton torpedo that hit her was not an armor piercing weapon. As a result, the New Jersey is still in fighting shape, and continues her bombardment.
The offending Hyena is quickly shot down by a Tomcat. The downing of the Hyena leaves the skies completely in the hands of the Americans.
By now, most of the strike force has left Vladivostok airspace and are returning to their carriers to rearm. However, friendly air support is not over. As the two battleships continue their bombardment, a massive strike force of 92 US F-16s, 20 US F-15s, 20 Japanese F-15s, and 32 Japanese F-4s. Although the Japanese Air Self Defence Force was only meant to engage in defensive measures for Japan, the Japanese government that the situation in Vladivostok was serious enough to warrant a breach of policy.
Right behind the US and Japanese strike force is a Korean strike force, comprised of 36 South Korean F-4 Phantoms, 20 South Korean F-16s, 10 North Korean MiG-29s, 8 North Korean Su-7s, 10 North Korean Su-25s, and 10 North Korean Il-28s. Much of the North Korean military had chosen to help fight the Separatists after the events of Operation Thunderstrike, and was operating under command of South Korean military leaders.
The US and Japanese planes head to support the Soviet forces defending Vladivostok itself, while the Korean aircraft head to support the Soviet army currently trying to hold their positions in Tsarevka.
The aircraft begin their bombing runs on the droids, who are unable to resist due to the destruction of most of their anti-aircraft weapons.
The attack lasts almost half an hour. As they begin to retreat, the Soviet forces in Tsarevka begin to counterattack and push back against the droid forces, while the Soviet troops in Vladivostok begin to push the droids back out of the city, reclaiming the city slowly, street by street. The Separatist army is now down to just 310,000 battle droids and 1,900 heavy droid units
As the US, Japanese, and Korean air forces retreat, another air strike begins as the US Navy's aircraft return. As they begin their attacks, a few Hyenas attempt to attack the American ships, but are shot out of the sky by escorting cruisers.
The Navy's strike force begins their second attack against the droid armies. As they do, 8 US Los Angeles class submarines off the coast of South Korea begin launching a volley of 72 Tomahawk cruise missiles. The Tomahawks end up striking a Separatist position in Artem, destroying a large number of AATs, Persuaders, Hailfires, and spider droids.
In Vladivostok, Ivankov and Yamazaki grin as they watch the Navy's aircraft return and resume close air support strikes for the Soviet troops. But, as they begin engaging droid targets at low altitude, a flight of four aircraft flies over their heads at a higher altitude. Taking a moment to examine them, Ivankov recognizes them as Chinese JH-7 fighter bombers. They are the first aircraft in massive strike force of 220 Chinese aircraft, comprising JH-7 and Q-5 fighter bombers and H-6 bombers. While the US Navy's aircraft conduct close air support strikes, and the two US battleships continue their supporting bombardments, the Chinese aircraft start bombing droid forces far behind their lines.
In the matter of just a few hours, the tide of the Battle of Vladivostok has turned dramatically against the Separatists. General Grievous has already retreated back to the fleet, and has now ordered that the rest of the droid armies be pulled out.
C-9979s come down from the fleet to begin evacuating the droid forces. Unfortunately for them as they descend through 20,000 feet, a force of 36 F-15 Eagles arrives from Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. The Eagles, loaded with air to air missiles, begin firing on the descending C-9979s and their few Vulture droid escorts. With the Vultures quickly destroyed, there is nothing left to protect the vulnerable transports, which have no way to escape. It's not long before they're all shot down.
Angry, Grievous orders more C-9979s down to the surface, with a much heavier escort. The Eagles engage them as soon as they come within range. The Vulture droid and Tri fighters are able to keep the Eagles off of the transports.
Unfortunately, the transports don't escape. Right then, Soviet air reinforcements arrive from the western USSR. The first reinforcements are 60 Su-27 Flanker fighters, which easily shoot down the descending C-9979s.
As the Chinese aircraft begin retreating back towards China after expending their weapons, the next wave of the Soviet attack begins. A few minutes earlier, a force of Soviet bombers from the east comprised of 40 Tu-95s, 6 Tu-160s, 40 Tu-22Ms, and 20 Tu-16s had fired a combined total of 592 AS-16 cruise missiles and 120 AS-4 cruise missiles. The cruise missiles rained down on Separatist forces behind their lines, destroying about 45,000 battle droids and 700 heavy droid units.
As the last of the cruise missiles find their targets, a massive Soviet air strike arrives. The strike force numbers 720 aircraft, 200 MiG-27s, 180 Su-22s, 200 Su-24s, and 140 Su-25s. They are escorted by 116 MiG-29s.
The Soviet attack fighters tear into the remaining droid forces, destroying thousands with ease. At the same time, the US Navy's aircraft head back to their carriers to re arm, and the battleships continue their bombardment.
The Battle of Vladivostok will last for another 7 hours, making it the longest battle of the Terran campaign.
It was also the bloodiest battle of the Terran campaign. The Soviets lost over 110,000 men and almost 6,000 tanks, as well as almost 200 aircraft and 16 warships of their Pacific Fleet, with many of the rest damaged. Multiple cities in the area suffered heavy damage, especially Vladivostok itself.
However, it proved to be the biggest victory of the Terran campaign. The Separatist army, numbering 560,000 battle droids and 5,300 heavy droid units, was completely wiped out. Not a single droid committed to the Battle of Vladivostok survived the battle, thanks to all the C-9979s being shot down. Despite the losses they inflicted on the Soviets, the Battle of Vladivostok was perhaps the Separatist's most humiliating defeat of the entire Terran campaign.
And, I'll end the chapter there.
I hope you liked how I did this chapter. I really pulled out everything I could to make this chapter exciting. I decided I had to include a fight between General Grievous and one or two members of the ASAT team. And, since I included the Iowa and Wisconsin in the Battle of New York, I felt I should include the Missouri and New Jersey here. Also, if you didn't pick up on it, the US reinforcements arriving was modelled after the end of the final battle of the movie Battleship, when the fighters arrive to save the Missouri and destroy the aliens. If you want, watch that scene on Youtube, and you'll kind of get a visual on how I imagined that happening.
Also, some of you may disagree with me on the ability of an Iowa class battleship to survive getting hit by a proton torpedo. But, given that proton torpedoes seem to be high explosive rather than armor piercing weapons, and how thick an Iowa's armor is, I think they could take one to their sides with little damage. Their deck may be a different story, but I think their sides could take it.
Alright, next chapter will feature the official end of the Terran campaign. After that, I'll take a few chapters to transition from the Terran campaign back to the galaxy, and then we'll get into the episodes of the Clone Wars show I will cover.
Next chapter will be up soon. Until then, leave a review, and stay tuned.