Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
Alright. This is going to feature the return of some old faces, and kick off the Imperial attack on Earth.
Lets get to it.
Guest: Most of those younglings were also lost in Order 66. I may, however, have one of them still be alive and be discovered at some point during this story.
the mysterious Mr.E: He'll definitely be in for a shock.
Sectrooper: I got 'em.
Mark: I may include a chapter like that.
Guest: I may have them have kids.
Guest: Yes, Riley is Calvin's wife. They don't have kids yet, but they will.
Guest: I'll try and do a wiki page for the Terran Jedi order soon enough.
Dalej0523: It will happen after the Battle of Jakku, but the whole story of the end of the war won't be the same as in canon.
Chapter 43- Operation Thor's Hammer
(January 26, 2016)
Jonathan slowly runs his hand along the side of his SF-15 as he walks along it, inspecting every inch of it to make sure the fighter is in top shape. He runs his hand over the nose, and the painted tiger's mouth on the nose. He looks back at the ground crew who are busy securing the final bomb to the airframe.
His thoughts turn to the mission ahead. The mission that will begin in just a matter of minutes. A mission that will test his skills as a fighter pilot as never before.
In the aftermath of the defeat at Hoth and subsequent advances by the Empire, the Terran Joint Command had decided they needed to send a message to the Empire and the galaxy at large that they were not out of the fight, nor would they take such humiliation lying down. In light of that, they had commissioned the Hammer Squadron for a special airstrike against the most dangerous target the Terran Alliance had ever gone after. Coruscant itself.
The strike itself was not going to be very damaging. The specific targets would be two large weapons storage facilities and a weapons production facility. Militarily, neither would be a terrible loss to the Empire. The real blow from this strike, codenamed Operation Thor's Hammer, would be to show the Empire that even Coruscant was vulnerable to attack. They also wanted to shake the Emperor's confidence in his protection, as Jonathan and his wingman, Abigail Peretz, also had orders to make at least one attack run against the Imperial palace. Both Jonathan and Abigail were of the opinion that attacking the Imperial Palace would be suicidal, but were also determined to follow their orders and strike a symbolic blow to the Empire.
This mission would also be the longest mission they had been on so far. Given Naboo's distance from Coruscant, the squadron had redeployed to Saleucami, and would be launching the mission from there. Even then, it would take two days of travel to reach Coruscant. Each Space Eagle would be carrying enough food in a special compartment in the cockpit to keep the pilots going. Each pilot would also be able to sleep while in hyperspace, with their astromech droids keeping the fighters on course.
Jonathan walks back to inspect the ordnance hanging from his fighter's belly and wings. His fighter is carrying a pair of SIM-9 Sidewinders, a pair of SIM-120s, a pair of SGM-65 Mavericks, six proton torpedoes in their launchers, and 8 Mk82 unguided 500 lb bombs. Jonathan checks to ensure each weapon is properly secured.
Jonathan looks up as he hears some footsteps, and sees his WSO, Lieutenant Alexander Whitmore, walking towards him with his helmet under his arm.
"She ready to fly?" Alexander asks.
"She's in perfect shape," Jonathan says, running his hand along the Space Eagle's wing.
Right then, Abigail and her WSO come walking over. "Ready for this, Johnny boy?" she asks in a teasing tone.
"Couldn't be more," Jonathan says.
Right then, alarms sound. Jonathan and Abigail look around to see their fellow pilots racing to get into their aircraft. They then turn back to each other and Jonathan says, "See you in the air." The two then turn and hurry away.
Jonathan and Alexander race around to the other side of their SF-15 and bound up the ladders, leaping into the cockpit. Both of them settle in and start strapping in, helped by ground crew. Once all the straps in the cockpit are tightened, Jonathan and Alexander strap on their oxygen masks, then Jonathan closes the canopy.
Jonathan powers up the engines as he finishes his pre-flight checks. Then, he hears the voice come over the radio of the air traffic controller, "Hammer Squadron, you are cleared for immediate takeoff! Godspeed and good luck."
Jonathan grips the control stick and eases the Space Eagle off of the ground. He looks around, seeing the dozens of other fighters parked on the tarmac, and the remaining 17 Space Eagles of the 69th lifting off the ground.
Jonathan keeps the Space Eagle rising. Then, as it reaches the proper height off the ground, Jonathan rotates it in midair. He watches as the other Space Eagles of the squadron begin to fly past him and up into the atmosphere. Jonathan throttles up and falls into position in the squadron, Abigail pulling her fighter right up off his wing.
The squadron climbs up into orbit and sets the proper course to make their hyperspace jump to Coruscant. As they make their way away from the planet, a controller on board the battlecruiser TAS Constellation contacts the squadron commander, Captain Sharvit, and says to the captain, "Captain Sharvit, you are cleared to make your jump to hyperspace. Good luck."
"Copy," Sharvit responds. Then, Sharvit gets on the radio and calls to the squadron, "Hammer Squadron, we are cleared for hyperspace jump. Prepare for jump."
The whole squadron confirms they received the message, and each pilot rests their hand on the hyperspace throttle. Moments later, Sharvit calls out, "Jump to hyperspace on my mark. Three. Two. One. Mark." And simultaneously, the pilots of the squadron shove the hyperspace throttles forward, and the squadron jumps into hyperspace.
(January 28, 2016)
"30 seconds to the end of hyperspace run," Sharvit calls over the radio to all of the squadron.
In the cockpit of his SF-15, Jonathan inspects the displays to ensure they're all working, and double checks to make sure all the switches in the cockpit are in their proper places. Then, he calls back to Alexander, "Arm the weapons, Alex."
"Got it," Alexander says.
Jonathan watches the clock mounted in his cockpit. He and the other pilots of the squadron will be jumping out of hyperspace just outside the reach of Coruscant's planetary shield. The attack had been specifically planned to take part during a time when the shield would not be up. However, they were taking no risks in case it was somehow raised when they arrived.
"3, 2, 1, now!" Jonathan says to himself, and pulls back on the hyperspace throttle. The SF-15 drops out of hyperspace along with the rest of the squadron, all within three seconds.
Up ahead, Coruscant comes into view, with at least a hundred warships in orbit over the planet.
"Full throttle! Begin your bombing runs!" Sharvit yells over the radio. The squadron all pitch down and dives toward the planet's surface, trying to get under the reach of the planetary shield before it can be activated.
On board a Super Star Destroyer in position over the planet, the captain of the massive vessel stares in shock at the sight of 18 SF-15s diving towards the planet's surface. After finally getting over his shock, he shouts, "Contact command! Tell them Terran fighters are diving towards the planet's surface!"
As the Imperials on the ship try to radio out the warning, Jonathan scans the cityscape below searching his target, the weapons factory. It doesn't take long for him to spot the factory as he dives closer to the surface.
"Contact with target," Jonathan calls over the radio.
"All pilots, begin your attack. Godpseed," Sharvit says before nosing to the left slight to aim his fighter right at the weapons storage facility.
Jonathan, meanwhile, lines himself up for his run on the weapons factory. He lines up the factory in his bombsight, then presses the pickle button, dropping four of his 500 lb bombs. The bombs fall freely before striking around the main entrance into the factory, blasting apart a large portion of that part of the factory.
Jonathan pulls up out of his dive and banks into a left turn as Abigail and the two other SF-15s line up for their attack runs on the factory. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he sees motion. He glances in the direction he saw the motion, and sees the second flight meant to attack the factory closing in, with a swarm of TIE fighters closing in on them.
"Halberd Flight! TIEs on your tail!" Jonathan says. He quickly shoves the throttles forward and streaks towards the incoming TIEs.
"Lock 'em up!" Jonathan yells back to Alexander, who is already working furiously to lock up the incoming TIEs.
"I've got one! Shoot!" Alexander shouts. Jonathan pulls the trigger, and one of his SIM-120s launches, tracking into the middle of the TIE fighters and blowing one of them apart.
Only a second late, Alexander says, "I've got another one!" Jonathan quickly launches his remaining SIM-120, blowing another TIE out of the sky.
Moments later, Jonathan gets within laser cannon range, and squeezes the trigger, sending laser bolts into the midst of the TIE fighters and blowing another one out of the sky. The TIEs start firing back at him, but Jonathan pushes the nose forward and dives for the deck. The TIEs streak right overhead.
Jonathan keeps the fighter in its dive until it nears the cityscape below, then yanks back on the stick and shoves the throttle into full power. The SF-15 pulls up just 200 feet over the cityscape below and streaks away at low altitude.
Jonathan looks down at his radar scope, and sees the dots of several TIE fighters approaching from behind. Jonathan scans his surroundings and sees a large group of buildings not far away all built very close together.
He grins to himself. "That'll do nicely," he says to himself. Then, he snaps the SF-15 into a hard right turn towards the towering buildings. The TIE fighters turn right after him, firing their laser cannons, the bolts streaking wildly across the sky.
Jonathan keeps his eyes focused on the buildings up ahead. Then, right as he's about to crash into them, he wings the fighter into a 90 degree bank, and flies right between two buildings.
Jonathan snaps the stick back and forth, keeping the SF-15 turning between the buildings. He glances out of his canopy and watches the buildings flash by just feet away from his canopy. He's flying so close to the buildings that his vertical stabilizers almost clip the side of them several times.
The TIE fighters try to follow Jonathan. However, the wide wingspan of their TIE fighters and their lack of quality piloting skills starts sending one TIE fighter after another crashing into the buildings. Pretty soon, only a single TIE fighter is left. This TIE pilot, a little smarter than his comrades, pulls up and over the top of the buildings to follow Jonathan.
Jonathan looks up through his canopy and sees the TIE high overhead. His mind races, and quickly forms a plan. He looks up ahead, and sees a large skyscraper up ahead.
Jonathan waits until he closes in on the skyscraper, then pulls back on the throttle and deploys the speed brake from the back of the fighter, slowing the fighter down drastically. He then yanks back on the stick, pulling the nose up just in time to avoid hitting the skyscraper. Then, he retracts the speed brake and shoves the throttles forward again, and the SF-15 streaks up into the air.
Jonathan looks straight up, and sees the TIE fighter start to fly overhead. Jonathan quickly locks the fighter up and fires one of his two SIM-9s. The missile tracks smoothly upwards and detonates just behind the TIE, ripping it to pieces.
Jonathan's SF-15 shoots up out of the midst of the buildings. He pulls the fighter into a right turn in the direction of the factory. However, as he heads towards the factory, he can see flames and smoke rising from the spot where it was.
Then, he hears Captain Sharvit call over the radio, "Hammer Squadron, main targets are destroyed. If you have any weapons left, then hit whatever targets you can find."
Jonathan smiles a bit, then recognizes what his next task is. "Abigail!" he calls over the radio.
Right then, another SF-15 rejoins on Jonathan. Then, he hears Abigail call over the radio, "I'm with you, Jonathan."
"Alright. I hope you trust me, because we're about to fly into hell," Jonathan says.
"I've got your back," Abigail replies.
Jonathan smiles, then says, "Let's roll."
Jonathan and Abigail then shove the throttles forward to full power. The sonic boom of them breaking through the sound barrier shatters multiple windows of buildings around them.
Jonathan glances around the sky as he and Abigail streak towards the Imperial Palace. Other members of the squadron are bombing smaller targets on the surface, while others are engaging in dogfights with TIE fighters.
As the two of them near the Imperial Palace, Jonathan scans the ground ahead of them. Then, he sees a line of anti-air defenses in their flight path, with the batteries training towards them.
"Abigail! Triple A batteries! Scatter and hit 'em!" Jonathan yells over the radio.
The two of them separate and wing over in opposite directions as the anti-air batteries begin firing at them. Jonathan dives away to the right before pulling back to the left. He arms his bombs and lines the anti-air batteries up in his bombsight. Once they're properly lined up, he presses the pickle button, releasing his four remaining bombs. When the bombs hit, the explosions tear apart half a dozen anti-air batteries. Moments later, Abigail makes her bombing run, destroying another five batteries.
"We got our opening! Take it!" Jonathan yells over the radio, and they fly straight through the gap in the defenses. Remaining batteries try to fire at them, but miss by a long shot.
Up ahead, the massive Imperial palace rises against the skyline. Jonathan and Abigail stare at it for a moment before Jonathan says, "Target the roof. I'll hit targets around the base.
"Got it," Abigail says. Abigail pulls her fighter into a steep climb while Jonathan noses his down and turns to the left. He quickly spots a group of AT-AT walkers protecting the outside. Nosing down towards them, he fires two proton torpedoes at them. The torpedoes streak down and strike in the middle of the walkers, destroying most of them and damaging the rest.
Jonathan pulls up into a climb. Then, laser bolts go flying past his canopy. He swivels his head around, and sees half a dozen TIE fighters heading straight for him.
Jonathan snaps the stick into his gut, pulling the SF-15 into a tight left turn to avoid the incoming laser fire. He merges with the TIEs then continues his left turn to re-engage them. His SF-15 is in such a tight turn, he's feeling a force of 8 Gs. His G-suit inflates, squeezing his legs to send blood back to his brain.
As he completes his turn, he sees a TIE fighter just off his nose. He lines it up in his gunsight and squeezes the trigger, sending laser bolts at the TIE and blowing it apart, scoring his fifth kill for the day.
Jonathan barrel rolls before turning left again, knowing he has to keep moving. He then sees a TIE fighter about half a mile ahead, flying away from him and turning. Jonathan immediately locks up the fighter and fires last missile. The Sidewinder tracks smoothly to its target, blowing it apart.
Jonathan pulls up into a climb, climbing about 500 feet before levelling off and pulling into another left turn. As he turns through 160 degrees, he sees a TIE coming right towards him, starting to fire its laser cannons.
Jonathan barrel rolls up to avoid the incoming laser fire. Then, while upside down, he noses down slightly and fires his laser cannons, blowing the TIE fighter apart. He then turns his fighter rightside up as he flies over the fireball.
Then, more laser fire streaks past him. Looking down at his scope, he sees a TIE fighter on his tail. Reacting instinctively, he wings over to the right and dives for the deck. The TIE tries to pursue Jonathan, but quickly realizes he can't keep up with Jonathan.
Jonathan levels off just above the ground. He flies about a mile and a half to extend away before turning back around to re-enter the fight. As he turns around, he sees one of the two remaining TIEs pursuing him. He flies right for the TIE, centering it in his gunsight. As soon as he's in range for his laser cannons, he squeezes the trigger, firing his laser cannons. The TIE tries to fire as well, but fires about half a second after Jonathan. Jonathan barrel rolls to avoid the TIEs fire, just as the TIE is hit by one of his bolts, and explodes.
Jonathan quickly turns towards the final TIE fighter. However, as he does, he sees that the TIE is much closer than he thought.
The two fighter shoot past each other. Jonathan, thinking quickly, pulls the SF-15 into a steep climb and shoves the throttles forward, zooming up into the sky. The TIE tries to pursue him, but quickly realizes how much faster the SF-15 is as he quickly falls behind.
Jonathan monitors his scope to see how far behind him the TIE is. Then, once he's put a significant lead ahead of the TIE, he pops the speed brake and flips his fighter around. He then dives towards the TIE, still climbing after him. Jonathan centers the TIE in his gunsight and squeezes the trigger again. The stream of laser fire blows the TIE apart, and Jonathan zooms past the fireball.
Jonathan glances around, not seeing any more TIEs around him. However, he quickly sees a target of opportunity. A large landing pad on the outside of the Palace leading into a hangar. Jonathan quickly lines himself up and targets the landing pad. At about a mile out, he fires two proton torpedoes. The torpedoes blow apart the landing pad, sending shrapnel into the hangar and damaging or destroying several ships.
Jonathan banks away from the Imperial Palace. He again puts some distance between himself and the Palace before back towards the Palace, ready for his final attack run.
"Power up the Mavericks," Jonathan says to Alexander.
Jonathan takes the SF-15 down to just 100 feet off the ground, flying right towards the entrance to the Palace. He holds the fighter steady, despite several small ground batteries firing at him. As he closes in, he says to Alexander, "Lock the missiles on the entrance."
Alexander's hands dance over the controls, hurrying to lock up the missiles. As soon as he finishes, he calls forward to Jonathan, "Missiles locked."
"Missiles away!" Jonathan calls as he squeezes the trigger. Both of his Mavericks drop away from the launch rails and ignite. The missiles streak towards the entrance to the Palace. Reaching it, they streak right past the columns and into the Palace itself. Both missiles penetrate about a hundred feet into the palace before striking the ground. The missiles detonate, their 300 pound warheads tearing through the floor and columns and killing dozens of people inside the Palace.
Jonathan pulls his fighter into a climb. As he climbs up over the top of the palace, he sees that Abigail has already destroyed several of the towers, but is now in a dogfight with several TIE fighters. She's pursuing a TIE, but another one is on her tail.
Jonathan throttles up and closes on the TIE pursuing Abigail, closing the distance very rapidly. Smiling a bit, he flips the armament switch to his 20mm cannon. Centering the TIE in his gunsight, he squeezes the trigger. A stream of 20mm cannon shells streak out ahead of him, tearing through the thin armor of the TIE fighter and shredding it into pieces for Jonathan's 11th kill of the day.
"Thanks, Jonathan," Abigail says right before she fires her laser cannons and destroys the TIE fighter ahead of her.
Right then, they hear Captain Sharvit call out over the radio, "Hammer Squadron, it's time to get out of here! They tried to close the shield! We hit one of the generators to weaken the shield, but it won't last long! All pilots, form up on me at point 25."
Jonathan and Abigail from up on each other and streak away from the Imperial Palace, some more TIE fighters trying to pursue them.
The 18 pilots of the Hammer Squadron all congregate towards the point specified by Captain Sharvit. As the last of the pilots reach the rendezvous point, Sharvit calls over the radio, "All pilots, on me!"
Sharvit pulls his SF-15 into a sharp climb and shoves the throttles into full emergency power. His Space Eagle quickly accelerates past Mach 2 in its climb as the rest of the squadron follows him. The squadron streaks up through Coruscant's atmosphere before finally reaching orbit.
"Prepare for hyperspace jump!" Sharvit calls out.
"TR4, program the hyperdrive!" Jonathan shouts over his radio to the droid, who beeps back at him as he gets to work on setting the coordinates.
In his cockpit, Sharvit listens as the members of the squadron begin to call out that they're ready to go. Then, he sees an interdiction cruiser up ahead, and several squadrons of TIE fighters converging on them from all directions.
"Everybody, standby for lightspeed on my mark!" Sharvit yells.
On board the Imperial interdiction cruiser, the captain orders his officers, "Are the generators ready?"
"Yes, captain," one of the officer says.
"Engage," the captain says
Sharvit watches as the TIEs close in. Then, his systems show that the gravity well projectors on the interdictor are starting to power up. Then, he hears Jonathan and Abigail both report that they are ready.
"Jump! Now!" Sharvit shouts over the radio. He shoves his hyperspace throttle forward, and jumps to hyperspace. In the space of a few seconds, the remaining 17 pilots of the squadron also jump to hyperspace.
On the bridge of the interdictor, the captain stares out the viewport in frustration as he sees the last SF-15 jump to hyperspace before the gravity wells can be fully activated. After several moments, he says, "Contact command. Let them know the Terran fighters were able to escape."
(Imperial Palace)
Palpatine looks at a display screen showing the known targets that were hit by the Hammer Squadron.
"Report," Palpatine says.
An officer steps forward. "Sir, the Terran pilots made their jump into the system at a point when the shield was down. They were able to reach the surface and destroyed two weapons storage facilities and a weapons factory. They then separated into pairs and attacked a number of smaller targets, including shuttle depots, stormtrooper barracks, fuel storage facilities, and anything else they could find. Two of their pilots attacked the Palace and caused moderate damage to several areas of the Palace. We also have confirmation they shot down over 200 TIE fighters. We attempted to activate the shield to stop them leaving, but they hit one of the generators which left a weak spot they were able to escape through, and they were able to jump to hyperspace before one of our interdiction cruisers could stop them."
Palpatine feels the fury welling up in him. He continues to stare at the data coming in from the attack. Then, he says, "Contact Lord Vader. Inform him he must return to Coruscant at once." One of the officers bows and hurries out of the room to call Vader.
Palpatine then turns around to face the other senior officers in the room. "The Terrans have reigned free in this galaxy for too long. Their insolence and defiance has cost us much. No longer. It is time to take the fight to Terra itself."
And, I'll end there.
For those wondering, I chose the name of the operation because, one, it's the hammer squadron. Two, it was meant to be "lightning fast". Three, January 28, 2016 was actually a Thursday. Four, it just sounds cool.
I thought it about time for another appearance by the Hammer Squadron other than the brief mention of them during the rescue from Cloud City.
So, Palpatine has finally decided to attack Terra. I decided that if anything would convince Palpatine to order an attack against Terra, a direct Terran attack against Coruscant, especially one where the attacking force was untouched, would do it.
So, there's gonna be two chapters showing the build up to the invasion. I hope you guys are excited. Until the next chapter is up, please leave a review, and stay tuned!