Hey, everyone. Back with another chapter.
I greatly apologize for this taking so long. Over a week ago, I got a concussion while at work, and unfortunately, one of the side effects seems to be an effect on my thinking ability. Multiple while writing this chapter since I got the concussion, I lost inspiration or couldn't think properly about what I wanted to write. However, I'm well on the way to recovering from it, and my thinking seems to be returning to normal. So, hopefully there won't be such a gap again.
Let's get to it.
Dalej0523: No, America is not divided as we are now. If only because we're only in 2015 right now. Also, because of the fact that the entire planet has been in a cold war with the Empire for two decades before the Galactic Civil War, and I feel like that would prevent some of the division in the world. By necessity, really the entire planet has come together like never before.
Amelia831: Not entirely sure what you're referring to.
Guest221: Yeah, the third story will be a fair bit different, but also the same in a number of ways.
Earth Godzilla: The terran Alliance uses both walkers and tanks. Both have advantages that the other doesn't have, so the Alliance uses both.
Jayhawk: Obviously, it will be a bit different. I'll also say that the kiss in Empire Strikes Back won't happen given that Luke is with Kelly.
Guest DCDGojira: We may.
pervy sage: They are treated humanely. They aren't tortured or treated as slaves. They are treated well, in part to try and convince them to defect once they are released.
GOldmember: Well, the coronavirus is still five years away at this point. But, we may see it and other diseases weaponized by the Alliance.
Chapter 31- End of the Phantom
(April 3, 2015)
Ahsoka watches as the blue of hyperspace rushes past the cockpit of the shuttle she and her team are travelling in. At long last, she's going on a mission again.
The Terran Alliance had spent months attempting to locate the site where a new TIE variant, the TIE Phantom, was being designed and built. After a lengthy search, they located the production facility on the moon Imdaar Alpha. They had also discovered that a Super Star Destroyer, the Terror, was guarding the facility
Grand Admiral Thrawn had proposed a two pronged attack against the facility. The first phase of the attack would be a stealth incursion made by a small team to destroy the facility, to ensure that the Empire would not be able to evacuate any Phantoms or the design data before the facility was destroyed. Once the factory was destroyed, a Terran task force, including the battleships Bismarck and Prince of Wales and battlecruiser Hood would arrive and destroy the Super Star Destroyer.
Ahsoka had been assigned to lead the team, which was comprised of 8 Zulus, 8 members of the Jaeger Corps, and 10 Spetsnaz. Their goal was to locate the reactor room, which reportedly was heavily defended and armored from the outside, and set demolition charges. This would set off a chain reaction that would destroy the entire factory. Once the charges were set, they would make their way to the hangar to steal a shuttle to escape in and send out a signal to the task force, which would be waiting in a nearby system.
"Two minutes to the end of the hyperspace run, General," one of the pilots says. Ahsoka nods once in response. Ahsoka had been recommissioned into the military following the outbreak of the war, this time with the rank of General.
Ahsoka watches the instruments as the pilots prepare to bring the shuttle out of hyperspace. Finally, the pilot reaches for the hyperdrive throttles as the copilot calls out, "Five, four, three, two, one, mark!"
The pilot pulls back on the throttle, and the shuttle drops out of hyperspace. Up ahead, Imdaar Alpha comes into view, with the Terror in orbit over the moon.
"We're coming in. Hopefully we're still off their scopes. We should reach the surface within a few minutes," the pilot says.
"Understood. I'll go prep the boys. Let me know once we reach the surface," Ahsoka says before she turns and heads into the back.
As she gets into the back, she sees the Jaegers and Spetsnaz checking their assault rifles and loading their magazines into the chambers. At the same time, the Zulus are strapping on their jetpacks and making sure all their gear is in place.
"We're descending towards the moon's surface. We've got just a few minutes," Ahsoka says. The team all nod and continue checking their gear.
Ahsoka double checks that both of her lightsabers are strapped to her belt, then grabs hold of one of the straps hanging from the ceiling as a bit of turbulence hits the shuttle.
After several minutes, the shuttle finally touches down. The pilot calls out from the cockpit, "Alright, We're touched down! Lowering the ramp now!" As he says this, the boarding ramp lowers from the shuttle.
Ahsoka hurries down the ramp, with the commandos hurrying behind her. As soon as the last member of the team is off the shuttle, the ramp is raised, and the shuttle takes off again, heading back up out of the atmosphere.
The team watches the shuttle go, and then Ahsoka says, "Alright, men. Let's move."
Ahsoka turns in the direction of the factory and starts moving at a quick pace towards the factory. The commandos follow quickly behind her, all moving silently.
In complete silence, Ahsoka leads the team across the moon's rocky landscape, moving around small hills and crossing a shallow gorge.
Finally, after over an hour, they come around a large rocky outcropping and see the factory come into view up ahead. A squadron of normal TIE fighters is patrolling overhead, and a number of AT-AT walkers are also patrolling around the factory.
Ahsoka and the commandos keep low as they examine the sight before them and make a determination on how to proceed. After a minute, Ahsoka says, "Okay. Look over there. It looks like there's a slight ravine that leads almost to the factory. We'll circle around out of their view and approach through the ravine. That should get us past their patrols. Sounds good?"
"We're right behind you, General," Major Lawrence, one of the Zulus, says.
Ahsoka nods, then stands up, still keeping low to stay out of sight. She leads the rest of the strike team back around the rocky outcropping, heading in the direction of the ravine she spotted, making sure to keep out of view of the factory.
It doesn't take the team too long to reach the ravine. Once they get there, the Zulus fly the other members of the team down into the ravine. Once they're all at the bottom, they begin the trek towards the factory.
Ahsoka keeps her lightsabers in hand, ready for action at a moment's notice. As she climbs over a small boulder in her way, Major Lawrence walks up beside her. She looks at him and asks with a slight smile, "How's your family doing, Major?"
Lawrence, who has his helmet off at the moment, looks at her in surprise for a moment before he smiles and says, "Very good, General. Lacy hates that I'm gone so much, but that's what comes in wartime. Thankfully, we live very close to the rest of her family, so it's not like she's alone."
"And your son, Eddie. He's what, eight?" Ahsoka asks.
"Actually, he just turned nine. Thankfully, I was able to go back home for his birthday," Lawrence says with a smile.
"I'm sure he was excited to see you again," Ahsoka says.
"He about tackled me when I walked through the door," Lawrence says with a chuckle, making Ahsoka chuckle as well.
"What about your family, General?" Lawrence asks.
Ahsoka smiles brightly before she says, "Dakota is really enjoying being on flight instructor duty. It lets him be home with the kids when I'm gone. And the kids…oh my goodness they're growing up so fast. Sarah turns ten this year. She's actually scheduled to go to Mars to build her first lightsaber in late September. And Jacob, well he is just the most rambunctious little boy ever." She and Lawrence share a laugh together.
"Ah, the joys of parenthood. Right?" Lawrence says, and the two laugh again.
"General, there it is!" one of the Spetsnaz calls out. Ahsoka looks up ahead and sees that while she and Lawrence were talking, the factory had come into view, and they're just a few minutes away.
"Alright, everybody. Get ready," Ahsoka calls out as she speeds up her pace a little bit.
Ahsoka leads the team up and out of the ravine. Less than fifty yards from the edge of the ravine is a large door into the facility. Ahsoka ignites one of her lightsabers and cuts through the lock with it. She then uses the Force to force the massive door open before leading the team into the facility.
The commandos are on maximum alert as they follow Ahsoka into the facility, weapons at the ready and aimed in every direction to make sure they are completely covered.
Ahsoka pulls out a device from a pouch on her belt. The device is an energy scanner recently developed for special ops teams that should be able to locate the energy being put out by the reactor.
Ahsoka activates the device, slowly moving it in a wide arc in front of her. Finally, at about her two o clock position, the device begins beeping.
"This way," she says in a soft voice as she moves down a hallway leading in the direction that the device is indicating.
The team follows Ahsoka down the corridor, moving as silently as they can. Then, as they round a corner, they run right into a patrol of four stormtroopers. Four Spetsnaz instantly raise their assault rifles and fire, killing the four stormtroopers before they can even have the chance to react.
"They'll know we're here. We have to move," Ahsoka says, and the team hurries along the corridor.
As they round a corner into a large hall just outside the reactor chamber, Ahsoka and the team come face to face with at least fourty stormtroopers. The two sides face each other for a second before Major Lawrence says loud enough for all of the stormtroopers to hear, "Hi." As soon as the word is out of his mouth, the Zulus beginning firing their blasters as the Jaegers and Spetsnaz open fire with their assault rifles.
Fifteen stormtroopers are gunned down before they realize what is happening. Several try to react and open fire on Ahsoka, but she quickly ignites her lightsabers and blocks the bolts without any problem. The commandos continue to fire on the stormtroopers, gunning them down one after the other. One of the Spetsnaz is hit on his right arm by a single blaster bolt, forcing him to double back. However, only a moment later, the rest of the commandos kill the remaining stormtroopers, with the leader of the Jaegers, Major Ulrik Boysen, killing the last one with a bullet to the face.
"Lawrence. You and Major Boysen stand guard with your men. Major Chuikov, you and your men with me," Ahsoka says. The Zulus and Jaegers move to set up outside the door leading into the reactor chamber, while the Spetsnaz follow Ahsoka into the chamber.
As they enter, Ahsoka pauses for a moment to examine the reactor, then motions with her hand. The Spetsnaz spread out around the reactor, removing explosive charges from their large backpacks and setting them against the reactor. The Spetsnaz arm the bombs and begin linking them to a timer so that the charges will go off simultaneously.
As she watches the Spetsnaz setting the charges, Ahsoka gets on the radio to alert the task force to begin Phase 2 of the plan.
Outside, a patrol of eight stormtroopers comes running around the corner, drawn by the sound of gunfire. Before they even have time to register that anyone is standing guard outside the door into the reactor chamber, two of them are shot dead by Jaegers. The remaining six stormtroopers have enough time to see the Zulus and Jaegers ahead of them before they are also gunned down.
"I swear these stormtroopers have the worst training," Lawrence says, drawing some laughs from the others.
Inside the reactor chamber, Ahsoka monitors the Spetsnaz as they finish setting the charges. It's not much longer before the final charge is set against the reactor, and the Spetsnaz make their way back to Ahsoka. "Charges are set, General," their leader, Major Chuikov, says.
Ahsoka nods and turns, leading them back out of the reactor chamber. As they exit, they see the Zulus and Jaegers gun down another patrol of stormtroopers.
"Charges are set. Let's move!" Ahsoka orders as some of the Spetsnaz use special equipment to seal the door shut to reduce the chance of stormtroopers finding and removing the charges.
The strike team forms around Ahsoka as they head in the direction of the hangar. As they get out of sight of the entrance, Ahsoka pulls out the trigger device and presses the button to activate the charges. The charges are set on a twelve minute timer, giving them twelve minutes to reach the hangar and steal a shuttle to escape. However, it should take the team only 6 or 7 minutes to reach the hangar, unless they are delayed.
Ahsoka and the team make their way through the corridors, moving fast enough that they're running. They encounter three patrols of stormtroopers, but kill them all in a matter of seconds on each occasion.
Finally, seven minutes after leaving the reactor chamber, Ahsoka and the rest of the team reach the hangar. As they enter the hangar, they see dozens of stormtroopers, as well as TIE fighters, including a TIE Phantom, and several shuttles.
"Lawrence, get to the Phantom! We need to take it! The rest of you, with me!" Ahsoka orders.
Lawrence breaks off from the rest of the team, heading towards the spot where the TIE Phantom is parked. Meanwhile, Ahsoka starts running towards one of the shuttles, igniting her lightsabers. Behind her, the remaining commandos open fire on any stormtrooper in sight. Stormtroopers begin dropping all over the hangar. Some of the stormtroopers try to fire back, but their blaster bolts all miss before they are gunned down.
Ahsoka leads the team over to the shuttle. She waits outside the shuttle, blocking incoming blaster bolts with her lightsabers as the commandos rush onto the shuttle. As the last commando rushes aboard, Ahsoka runs after them and races to the cockpit. She quickly powers up the shuttle and raises the boarding ramp. As soon as the engines power up, she pulls the shuttle off the hangar floor at almost the same moment as Major Lawrence lifts the TIE Phantom off the floor of the hangar. Lawrence fires the Phantom's laser cannons, killing more stormtroopers. Ahsoka then flies the shuttle out of the hangar, as Lawrence follows in the Phantom, the two craft leaving the hangar with just under two minutes left until the charges go off.
Ahsoka and Lawrence together circle the factory at a distance, waiting. Finally, a minute and 52 seconds after they leave the hangar, the charges go off, destroying the reactor. The destruction of the reactor sets off a chain reaction that in a matter of a minute destroys the factory.
Ahsoka smiles a bit as she watches the factory blow apart. Finally, as the fireballs begin to die down, Ahsoka gets on the comms, setting it to a Terran frequency. "This is General Ahsoka Tano. Fleet Admiral Zambellas, do you copy?"
"Copy you, General Tano. We are 60 seconds from end of hyperspace jump," comes the response.
(TAS Bismarck)
On the bridge of the Bismarck, Fleet Admiral Zambellas waits for the task force to come out of hyperspace. The entire task force is waiting tensely. The bombardment cannons on the Bismarck and the Prince of Wales are fully charged and ready to be fired, and pilots across all the ships are in their cockpits with the engines on, ready to take off as soon as the task force comes out of hyperspace.
"Sir, coming out of hyperspace!" a bridge officer yells out. A few moments later, the task force comes out of hyperspace.
Up ahead, Zambellas sees the Terror in orbit over the moon. "Fire the cannons and launch the fighters!" Zambellas orders.
The gunners on the two battleships begin to take aim. Given that the Terror is equipped with cloaking tech, it makes it difficult for their sensors to detect it and automatically target the cannons, meaning that the gunners have to aim them manually.
However, the gunners have been trained to do so, mainly in the event of loss of power to the targeting systems. The gunners quickly target the ship and fire. The Bismarck targets the bridge, while the Prince of Wales targets the engines. The Bismarck's shots don't have the best angle, and don't destroy the bridge, but do succeed in causing heavy damage to the bridge and the surrounding area. The shots from the Prince of Wales have better luck, destroying 11 of the Super Star Destroyer's 13 engines.
The damage caused by the blasts disrupts the ship's cloaking technology. Taking advantage of the ship now appearing on their scanners, all 9 ships of the task force open fire on the Super Star Destroyer as hundreds of starfighters launch.
On board the Super Star Destroyer, the Imperial crew is caught completely off guard by the sudden appearance of the Terran ships. Crewmen race to their stations, try to get into a position where they can fight back, but they are still in too much shock.
As the Terran starfighters near the Super Star Destroyer, the Terran warships cease fire. Then, the starfighters continue on to begin their attack. They target the remaining engines, firing missile and proton torpedoes.
As the fighters blast away at the engines, the explosions begin to reverberate through the stern of the ship. As the remaining engines are destroyed and fires begin to take hold, the ship begins to lose power. With the engines gone, and power being lost, and the ship being in such a low orbit, it can no longer remain in orbit. Gravity takes over, and begins to pull the Super Star Destroyer towards the moon.
The fighters pull back, waiting to see if the ship can manage to regain orbit. But it doesn't. The massive Super Star Destroyer continues to fall towards the ,moon, eventually crashing on the rocky landscape below.
As Fleet Admiral Zambellas watches the ship crash, he hears a radio transmission sound throughout the bridge, "Fleet Admiral Zambellas, this is General Tano. Requesting landing."
"Granted, General," Zambellas says with a smile.
Outside, Ahsoka guides the shuttle towards the Bismarck, eventually landing in its hangar bay along with Major Lawrence in the TIE Phantom. The Terran fighters all return to their ships, and the task force soon retreats into hyperspace. The entire engagement with the Terror has lasted just 21 minutes.
As Ahsoka reaches the bridge of the Bismarck, she finds Zambellas waiting for her.
"Admiral," she says in greeting.
"General Tano. How did it go?" he asks.
"Perfect. Not sure how it could have gone better," Ahsoka says.
"Good. Now, we have to go give our report to Joint Command," Zambellas says. Ahsoka nods, and they make their way towards the admiral's quarters.
And, I'll end there. I hope you liked this one.
So, for those who don't know, the Jaeger Korps is Denmark's best special ops team, and is recognized as one of the top special ops teams in the world.
I promise you that the next chapter will be up soon. Until it is, please leave a review, stay safe, and stay tuned!