Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter. Let's get to it.
Alright, this is gonna be the final chapter of the Empire's Terran campaign, and is going to be set almost entirely in space.
Also, before we get to the chapter, I have something I must say first. Just last night, we learned of the passing of Chadwick Boseman. I am shocked that we lost him at such a relatively young age. Let us all remember all of his work, and give our prayers to his family. Wakanda Forever!
Let's get to it.
MrBogus: So, the Empire concentrated its landings in the United States, western Russia, and Southeast Asia, with the plan to take those places first and use them as bases to spread and subjugate the rest of the world. So, they didn't reach China and Europe yet.
Jake: Terrans use both normal firearms and blasters. Firearms are more common, but the choice of whether to use blasters or firearms is up to the individual.
Guest: No, the Terran Alliance will not downsize its fleet after the war.
Chapter 51- It's a Trap!
Admiral Jones grits his teeth as the bridge of the Warspite rocks again as a series of explosions rock the ship.
The battle in orbit has been going on for over 12 hours. The Home Fleet has been resisting the Imperial fleet with everything they have. So far, they have whittled down the Imperial fleet from 788 ships to 573 ships. However, they in turn have suffered heavy losses. So far, the Home Fleet has lost 61 heavy and light cruisers and Star Destroyers. Of the 15 Rebel Mon Calamari cruisers also stationed with the Home Fleet, 6 have been destroyed. Almost every other ship in the fleet is damaged to some extent.
So far, the Home Fleet hasn't lost any of its biggest ships, its starfighter carriers, battleships, and battlecruisers. However, they've all taken damage, and the battlecruiser Kirov is currently fighting for its life against 7 Star Destroyers.
Jones makes his way back to the CIC. "Get me Grand Admiral Thrawn immediately!" he shouts.
One of the communications officers places a call through the commlink to the Pentagon. Within moments, an image of Thrawn is projected from the table.
"Thrawn! We're taking a pounding up here. We've lost 64 ships, and we're on the verge of losing many more, including the Kirov! Where are our reinforcements?" Jones demands. He knows that the planetary shield has been raised, so he knows Thrawn's plan is beginning, but he's worried it's moving too slow.
He also has another worry. He's always been a bit skeptical of Thrawn's appointment. Maybe this is Thrawn finally taking his chance to betray the Alliance.
"Do not worry, Admiral Jones. Your reinforcements are just five minutes away from arriving in the system. Wait just a little longer," Thrawn says calmly.
"I hope you're right here, Thrawn!" Jones says before the call is cut off.
Jones walks back onto the bridge, just in time to watch another Anzio class light cruiser explode from turbolaser fire. His face grows a little bit more grim.
(Pentagon)
"Thrawn, we're cutting it close. If this lasts too much longer, our losses will start reaching dangerous levels," Dempsey says.
"Don't worry, General Dempsey," Thrawn says. He looks down at the displays showing the progress of the other three sections of the Home Fleet, as well as the status of Outpost X-Ray.
"All good things come to those who wait," Thrawn says simply.
(Earth orbit)
Jones watches out of the viewport as a laser CIWS battery not far from the bridge springs to life blowing apart a TIE bomber trying to make an attack run on the bridge.
"Those reinforcements don't get here soon, we're screwed," Jones says to himself.
Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Executor, Piett is watching with satisfaction. The ship is currently subjecting a London class Star Destroyer to heavy levels of turbolaser fire.
"Sir, we're detecting several groups of ship emerging from hyperspace," an officer suddenly calls out.
Piett turns to him, confused. "What?" he asks.
"Yes. We're counting three small groups of ship emerging from hyperspace," the officer says.
Piett looks out of the viewport. Given the Executor's current location, he can see out towards the outer parts of the solar system.
For several moments, he sees nothing. Then, almost simultaneously, he sees three small groups of warships drop out of hyperspace.
Piett takes out a pair of binocks and looks out at the three forces. He smiles mockingly as he sees their composition. The first one, the one in the middle of the three, is made of 3 interdiction cruisers and a Baltimore class Star Destroyer. The second one to appear, the one on the left, is a single interdiction cruiser and two London class Star Destroyers. The third one to appear, the one on the right, is two interdiction cruisers and a single London class Star Destroyer.
Piett laughs a bit. "Six interdiction cruisers and four Star Destroyers? Do the Terrans really think those ships can make a difference?" he asks rhetorically. He then looks around and says, "Send a few ships to deal with them."
Piett doesn't pay much attention to the new arrivals, not considering them a threat, and instead refocuses his attention on the ships the Executor is currently engaging.
However, after several minutes, he glances to the side, and is a little confused. The four Star Destroyers are advancing to engage the Imperial fleet. But the interdiction cruisers are hanging back a bit. Then, he hears one of his officers call out, "Admiral, the Terran interdiction ships have activated their gravity well projectors."
Piett feels more confused. His thoughts make their way out of his mouth, "What are the Terrans doing? They're trying to stop us from escaping? Why? We have them vastly outnumbered. By doing this, they also prevent themselves from escaping. What are they doing?"
Another few minutes pass. Two more Terran starships are destroyed by Imperial turbolaser fire. Then, all of a sudden, an alarm sounds, and an officer says, "Sir, I'm getting new readings! Dozens of ships jumping out hyperspace!"
"What?" Piett asks in shock.
"Yes, sir. They seem to be using the gravity wells projected by the Terran interdiction cruisers as their destinations," the officer says.
Piett is shocked hearing this. Then, all of a sudden, he sees the ships begin to drop out of hyperspace. First, a task force drops out of hyperspace right behind the cruiser on the left, comprised of a Dreadnought class battleship (the Dreadnought), 2 Repulse class battlecruisers (Constellation and Renown), 2 Argus class starfighter carriers (Ark Royal and Kaga), 3 Baltimore class Star Destroyers, 32 London class Star Destroyers, 4 Jutland class heavy cruisers, and 3 Anzio class light cruisers.
Then, behind the cruisers on the right, another task force drops out of hyperspace. Two Dreadnought class battleships (Bismarck and Prince of Wales), one Repulse class battlecruiser (Invincible), one Argus class starfighter carrier (Kitty Hawk), 5 Baltimore class Star Destroyers, 38 London class Star Destroyers, 6 Jutland class heavy cruisers, and 4 Anzio class light cruisers.
Then, a third task force drops out of hyperspace behind the middle cruisers. Two Repulse class battlecruisers (Hood and Scharnhorst), 6 Baltimore class Star Destroyers, 30 London class Star Destroyers, 8 Jutland class heavy cruisers, and 10 Anzio class light cruisers. Then, finally, after the entire rest of the task force drops out of hyperspace, the Freedom finally drops out of hyperspace.
Piett stares on in absolute shock. Not only did he just watch another 159 Terran warships drop out of hyperspace, but the Terrans have a Super Star Destroyer that seems to be even bigger than the Executor or Annihilator.
Aboard the Freedom, Fleet Admiral Gortney takes a few moments to take in the situation. Then, he calls out, "Alert Thrawn. Time for the next phase."
(Pentagon)
"We just received word from Fleet Admiral Gortney. They've arrived in the system and are in position," an aide says.
Thrawn nods once in response. "Good. Begin the next phase," he says.
(Orbit)
"Redeploy the fleet! Send our best ships to meet those new ships!" Piett shouts.
The Imperial fleet begins to reorganize. However, the temporary confusion gives the Home Fleet an advantage to press their attack with little retaliation.
However, as the fleet begins to reposition, Piett looks towards the Moon, and to his surprise, sees swarms of fighters and bombers flying away from it. Prior to the battle, Thrawn had stationed almost all of the Starfleet's bombers and many of its multirole fighters on the dark side of the Moon, waiting for exactly this moment, once the reinforcements arrived.
As the bombers and accompanying fighters streak towards the Imperial fleet, on the Moon, a captain from the Starfleet watches his systems in a small control facility. This facility is the command post of Outpost X-Ray.
"Missiles ready?" the captain asks the other officers around him.
"Yes, sir," one of the officers responds.
Outpost X-Ray was a station built on the Moon to serve as a defense for Earth in the event of an attack. It was a massive nuclear missile facility. It was home to the brand new Starkiller nuclear missile. These massive missile, each one about the size of a Saturn V rocket with a 1 megaton thermonuclear warhead. But, even more impressive was its long range. When launched from the Moon, a Starkiller could destroy a target within Earth's atmosphere. They were powered by new, special engines that gave them such a range.
Outpost X-Ray was began construction in 2010. The goal was for a facility equipped with 500 missiles. Currently, the facility has only 239 operational missile silos.
"Prepare to launch," the captain says.
Several officers finish programming the missiles and setting up the systems properly. Then, one of the lieutenant commanders calls out and says, "Captain, missiles ready!"
The captain twists a key to open two slots in the control panel. His XO walks up, holding his missile key. Both the captain and his XO stick their keys into these slots.
"On my mark. 3. 2. 1. Mark," the captain says, and both officers turn their keys simultaneously.
Across the surface of the moon, all of the operational silos open, and 239 Starkiller missiles launch. The missiles climb away from the Moon's surface and angle towards the Imperial Fleet.
The Starkiller has a unique guidance system. When they first launch, they are guided by a navigation system. Each missile is programmed with the rough coordinates of its target prior to launch, and the system guides the missile towards those coordinates. Once the missiles are close enough, their original guidance system shuts down, and a radar system takes over. The system selects a target with hostile ID codes and guides the missile to its target.
All 239 missiles set course for the Imperial fleet as the three newly arrived task forces begin to engage the Imperials. The missiles have just switched over to their radar systems when the Imperial ships begin to spot them.
"Target those missiles!" Piett orders. Across the fleet, Imperial ships begin to fire their turbolasers at the incoming missiles.
The only real disadvantage of the Starkiller is its massive size, which is necessitated by its necessary fuel load. The size of the Starkiller makes it a much easier target to hit than any other kind of missile, and even many fighters. However, this is also partially made up for by the tremendous speed of the missile once it reaches full speed.
The Imperial ships begin firing at the incoming missiles. However, they quickly find how hard it is to aim sufficiently when the missile is moving so fast. The missiles are moving so fast that human eyes can't properly keep up.
The Imperial gunners try their best to destroy the incoming missiles. One is finally destroyed, then another. But the gunners can't keep up. In the end, they are only able to destroy 4 missiles before the first missile finds its mark.
The leading missile streaks into the midst of the Imperial fleet and finds its target, an Imperial II class Star Destroyer. The missile's warhead detonates, destroying the ship instantly. The EMP wave thrown off disables a nearby Victory II class Star Destroyer.
More missiles streak in and destroy Imperial warships. One after another, Imperial warships disappear in massive nuclear fireballs. Aboard the Super Star Destroyer Annihilator, Grand Admiral Danetta Pitta is watching as Imperial warships are disappearing.
"Sir, a missile is incoming!" an officer calls out.
"Destroy it!" Pitta orders
Gunners on the Super Star Destroyer open fire on the incoming missile. However, the missile streaks in amidst all the turbolaser fire, heading straight for the bow of the massive ship. Finally, the missile reaches the ship and detonates.
The Super Star Destroyer's shields absorb or deflect a large part of the blast. But not nearly enough. The blast tears apart much of the bow of the ship. The entire front third of the ship is destroyed, and heavy damage done to more of the ship.
On the bridge of the Annihilator, Grand Admiral Pitta stares at the massive missing part of his ship. Then, one of the officers yells, "Sir, ship incoming!"
Pitta looks in a different direction out of the viewport, and sees the Freedom moving in for the kill.
"Bring the ship to port. Power up any weapons still intact and prepare to engage!" Pitta yells.
The heavily damaged Super Star Destroyer turns to engage the Freedom. As it moves towards the Terran ship, one of the weapons officers shouts, "Grand Admiral! We've lost 40% of our weapons!"
"I don't care! Engage that ship!" Pitta yells.
On board the Freedom, Gortney smiles a bit. He had received intelligence that Pitta was with the fleet, and had guessed that as this was not the Executor, Pitta was probably on board. "You've bit off more than you can chew, Pitta," he mutters. Then, as the two ships get close, he shouts, "Open fire!"
Within moments, the Freedom's thousands of weapons batteries open fire on the Annihilator. Thousands of turbolaser bolts slam into the Super Star Destroyer, wearing down what shields are left on the ship. The Annihilator quickly returns fire, but Pitta quickly realizes that the Freedom has much better shields than the Annihilator.
As the two ships are exchanging fire, and the Annihilator is slowly being blasted apart, on board a nearby Imperial I class Star Destroyer, the captain is watching as his ship's weapons are exchanging fire with a Jutland class heavy cruiser.
Suddenly, the displays in front of him fizzle and shut off. Then alarms start to blare before shutting off. The captain whips around as he can hear devices powering down. Then, looking back out of the viewport, he suddenly sees two of his turbolaser turrets turn and start firing at a Tector class Star Destroyer.
"What is going on?" the captain yells.
"Sir, something is happening to our systems. Some are shutting down, and others are doing what we're not telling them to do, but we have almost no control of anything!" one of the bridge officers yells. A moment later, he continues, "It looks as if something has gotten into our systems and is shutting it down from the inside and controlling our weapons!"
(Cheyenne Mountain Complex)
Deep in a new facility with the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, a small team of a few Starfleet officers grin as their fingers are dancing across the keys of their computer screens, watching the displays of the Star Destroyer's systems.
"This is working. And they can't even fight back," one of the young Lieutenants says.
"Well, they've never had to deal with anything like this," another Lieutenant says.
A Commander watching them calls out, "They've succeeded. All systems are go!"
Throughout the massive chamber, which is about the size of two football fields, hundreds of other cyber warfare officers get to work. The new Cheyenne Mountain Cyberwarfare Center, built in the mid 2000s, was designed for cyber warfare to defend Earth from attack. It was especially designed to fight the Empire.
The center was first built because the Terran Alliance realized that the Empire had next to no defense against cyber attack. Their systems were incredibly vulnerable. Even astromech droids could breach their defenses. The main reason they couldn't use this kind of warfare across the Andromeda Galaxy was because of the room it took up for all of the equipment and the amount of necessary power. So, the Alliance decided, for the time being, to keep the Alliance's cyber defenses on Earth.
Now, it's time to really put the Cyberwarfare Center's capabilities to the use. At the back of the room, an Elvish Vice Admiral watches as his officers begin their cyber attacks on the Imperial fleet.
(Orbit)
Aboard the Annihilator, Grand Admiral Pitta is thrown off his feet as a large volley of turbolaser fire causes the bridge to shake violently.
The Annihilator is taking heavy damage. It's shields are completely gone, and the Freedom's weapons are blasting away parts of the Super Star Destroyer.
"Sir, weapons are failing!" an officer yells.
Pitta regains his feet, then looks out of the viewport. As he watches, he sees several railguns along the side of the Freedom aiming right at the bridge. As he watches, they fire. He has just enough time to regret ever having taken on the assignment to help lead the assault on Earth before the projectiles from the railguns tear through the bridge.
Fire erupts from the bridge. Right then, two squadrons of Mirage 5000s fly in and fire missiles and proton torpedoes at the Annihilator's engines. The Mirages succeed in destroying 8 of the ship's 13 engines, including its biggest ones.
With the Annihilator crippled and now without most of its engines, the gravity of Earth takes over and begins pulling the Super Star Destroyer into Earth's atmosphere. Its quickly clear to the crew that the ship is doomed, and they race for the escape pods as the ship continues on its new course down towards Earth until it strikes the planetary shield and breaks apart.
On board the Executor, Piett watches in horror. This battle has turned from something he thought was a guaranteed win into a disaster. The nuclear missiles launched from the Moon destroyed or disabled 253 Imperial warships, and further nuclear missiles launched by Terran warships or bombers have destroyed another 67 Imperial warships. Now, Terran reinforcements are blasting Imperial warships apart with massive amounts of turbolaser fire and extensive attacks by fighters and bombers. More than that, Imperial warships have suddenly begun turning on each other just shutting down. Apparently, according to what transmissions have gotten through from them, the crews of these ships have lost all control of them. Some of them are starting to believe that it's cyber attacks from Earth. The most dangerous part is that these attacks are shutting down these ships' shields, leaving them vulnerable to Terran fire.
"Admiral Piett."
Piett turns around and sees Vader finally striding back onto the bridge.
"Lord Vader!" Piett says.
"What happened, Admiral?" Vader demands.
"Lord Vader, I'm still not entirely sure. We were on the verge of crippling the Terran fleet we found in orbit. Then, Terran interdiction cruisers jumped into the system. They generated gravity wells, and just a few minutes later, three large Terran task forces jumped into the system, using the gravity wells from the cruisers to jump extremely close to us in positions that left us trapped. That Terran Super Star Destroyer jumped in with those forces. The Terrans then launched hundreds of bombers and fighters, as well as over 200 of their nuclear missiles, from Terra's moon. Now, it seems that the Terrans are using equipment on their planet's surface to invade our ships' systems and take remote control of our ships and their systems, either shutting the ships down completely or turning the ships on each other," Piett summarizes what has happened.
Vader takes that in, wondering how the Terrans came up with all these defences. Then, he recognizes one of the tactics Piett just mentioned, and instantly recognizes why the Terran counterattack has been so devastating, and why the Terran Alliance has been getting even more dangerous and effective in their attacks recently.
"Thrawn," Vader says softly.
"What?" Piett asks.
Vader ignores Piett's question. Instead, he orders, "Order six of our ships to ram those interdiction cruisers. We have to destroy them at all costs if any of our forces are to escape."
Piett hesitates for only a moment before he says, "Yes, Lord Vader." He then turns to his officers and issues the orders.
Six Imperial II class Star Destroyers separate from the Imperial fleet, work their way around most of the Terran warships, and set a collision course for the interdiction cruisers. Hundreds of TIE fighters and bombers move to escort them on their mission to protect them from Terran ships.
It doesn't take long for Admiral Gortney to realize what is going on. He immediately orders any ship in range to engage the Star Destroyers. However, not enough Terran warships are close enough to intervene in time.
Before too long, the Star Destroyers are in range of the interdiction cruisers. The interdiction cruisers open fire with their turbolasers, and the Imperial Star Destroyers return fire. The Terran ships try desperately to stop them, but they don't have enough firepower.
Finally, the six Star Destroyers reach their targets, ramming the six interdiction cruisers, destroying all but one of them and crippling the last one.
As soon as he sees this, Vader orders, "Order all forces: Retreat at once!"
The remaining Imperial forces hurry to find a way to escape the system. A number of ships have already had their hyperdrives disabled by Terran cyberattacks.
Finally, the Imperial ships that can are able to program their hyperdrives are able to fix their navigation coordinates in their navicomputers, and finally make the jump to hyperspace. Of the original 788 ships in the Imperial fleet that arrived in the system, less than a tenth of them are able to escape.
The Battle of Earth is over, and it has ended in disaster for the Empire.
And, I'll end there. I hope you liked how I did that.
I hope you like Thrawn's trap, and how well it worked. Honestly, Thrawn has pulled off even more spectacular victories with fewer ships in Legends, so this isn't too far fetched.
Also, wanted to confirm something I did not confirm two chapters ago when I should have. The young Jedi, Jared Hansen, that I introduced in Chapter 49, is the character based on me. I choose his initials as me initials, and a number of other things about him will be based on myself. He'll show up throughout the rest of the story and throughout the next story as well.
So, the Freedom has finally seen combat. I hope you liked her entrance, and how I had her destroy the Annihilator.
Now, I want to address the on major weapon that the Terrans deployed in this that they never have yet. Cyber warfare. Many people, and even some experts as I understand it, have commented that if the Empire actually invaded Earth in real life, our best defense would probably be our cyber warfare capabilities. From what we've seen of Imperial systems in the movies, they're very vulnerable. We saw R2 was able to get into the Imperial network and access almost everything in Episode IV. If the Terran Alliance has spent over 20 years developing cyber warfare techniques specifically to disable an attacking Imperial fleet, I can see them actually being even more successful than I hinted at in this chapter.
So, Vader has figured out that Thrawn is working for the Alliance. And, of course, I will show the Emperor learning this fact. That will be part of the next chapter, which will deal with all the aftermath of the battle. That's also when I'll give the final casualties and outcomes of the battle.
Next chapter should be up rather soon. Until then, please leave a review, and stay tuned!